"Byyyeee! Bye bye!" Luigi was at the back of the bus, waving goodbye to a white-haired professor and a gooey counterpart of Luigi. He kept waving until they were out of sight. He turned back to sit on the seat. He slid to the window seat and yawned. Just as he was about to doze off, a ghost dog, being Polterpup, suddenly appeared, catching Luigi by surprise. "Ah! Polterpup!" He then breathed a sigh of relief. "Ah, phew, hahaha, good doggy!" He scratched Polterpup's head, which got the dog panting. Polterpup licked Luigi's face. "You did good too, Polterpup." Luigi laughed. The dog then rested his head on Luigi's lap and fell asleep. Luigi looked out onto the horizon from the window of the bus. "I did it..." He yawned and then was out like a light.
Mario and Peach turned round to the back of the bus to find the green hero sleeping.
"Should we wake him up?" Peach asked.
"No no." Mario denied. "I'm sure he's-a had a long night of busting ghosts and-a saving us." That is true. Ever since they arrived at The Last Resort, Mario, Peach, and the three Toads (Red, Blue & Yellow) had been trapped in a prison portrait by King Boo. With the help of Luigi and E. Gadd, they finally got free. During the entire night, Luigi had gotten zero sleep.
"Let's just get home as quickly as possible." Blue Toad said while juggling his baseball.
"Right."
Those were the last words that Luigi heard before he drifted off into the Dream World.
"...Master, are you absolutely sure about this?" A female figure was questioning another female figure behind a few trees. These figures looked human, but they... were not. One of them was in fact a nine-tailed kitsune with a white hat covering her kitsune ears. The other was another blonde female wearing an extremely poofy purple dress, and that blonde also had a mob cap. She wore an umbrella despite it not being raining.
"Ran, Ran, Ran..." The other female replied to the kitsune named Ran. "There's always a time and place for a little fun. Besides, I thought I'd have fun before that red-white miko declares an incident." She had a smug look.
"...So what will you do?"
"A little bit of border manipulating. Never hurt anyone." The female lied as she went into a 'gap' with eyes to plan her move.
"...AAAAAAAAH!" Peach's screams filled the air.
"Wah-huh?!" Luigi woke up from that scream. He looked at the front of the bus, well, first off, it was night time, which is weird, because it was sunrise when he first drifted off. The bus seemed to have crashed into the tree, but the engine was still on. Luigi went to the front and turned the engine off, but as he crawled back to his back seat, he noticed something peculiar.
"..Polterpup...?" No response. Polterpup was not there.
"...Toads...?" No response either.
"...Princess?" ...Silence.
"...Mario...?" And no answer from his bro. The bus was completely empty except for Luigi. He questioned to himself before opening the door, his eyes adjusting to the dark since he didn't have his trusty flashlight. "Hello...?"
"Hello." A tall blonde human woman was suddenly behind him.
"WAAAAAAAAGH!" Luigi screamed as he turned around, tripping up and landing on his behind. He scurried back and looked at the woman.
"My my, a jumpy one." She had a smug look again. "Don't worry, I'm not going to harm you.. as of now." She shifted her eyes as she added her last part.
"W-who are you...?" Luigi breathed.
"Ah, Yukari. Yukari Yakumo. A pleasure." She kept holding her umbrella.
"U-um.. introductions are fine and all, but I appear to be-"
"Lost? Confused? In search of friends?"
"Huh...?" Luigi raised an eyebrow. "You know the situation?"
"Of course. I even know where they went." She pulled out a paper fan and hid her face which had a smirk.
"Y-you do..?"
"Mhm." She nodded. "But you see, it may be very-"
"Please tell me!"
Yukari grinned, seeming as Luigi fell into her little fun trap.
Luigi paused and then halted. "Very what?"
"Dangerous." Yukari finished and then... a gap with eyes was right under Luigi. "I trust you'll find your friends soon. Have fun."
"AAAH!" Luigi started panicking and fell down the gap. "WAAAAAAAH!"
Just then, another female appeared from the bushes, but she was a child-like figure with a red dress, brown hair, and what appeared to be cat-like features except she had two tails instead of one. "Ran-sama! Where did the funny green man go?"
The kitsune turned to the cat. "He has taken Master's trap, Chen."
Yukari grinned. "Well, don't want to leave him completely helpless. If I give him the correct tools, he may even be strong enough to solve an incident. Maybe. Time to go to that newly built hotel and get him his stuff, yes?"
"Yes, master."
"Okaaaay!"
"..." Luigi slowly regained consciousness. Where was he? He looked up at the sky, thank god it was daytime. He stood up and looked around... an average looking forest. He looked around to see if anyone had shook (or in the last case, licked) him awake. But to no avail. He was all by himself, not even Polterpup could manage to save him. Just as he got up on his feet, he got bonked on the head with a flashlight. Wait, that was the flashlight he always carried around! He grabbed it and turned it on, and it still worked.
"Huh..." He looked up and saw a gap quickly close. That strange blonde girl gave him the flashlight. He checked to see if the Strobulb worked... but the Flashlight only had two features. On and off. He grabbed the flashlight and quickly got up on his feet again and then tried his classic trick.
"Mario?" Call for Mario.
Still no reply.
"Hello mister!" That was a voice.. Not Luigi's... Not Mario's... Not Yukari's... But when Luigi turned, he found a small child, also with blonde hair, and what appears to be a T-Pose. Luigi groaned to himself, who was this female to assert dominance?
"H-hello? W-who are you?" Luigi nervously pointed his flashlight. When he got a good luck, she had blonde hair, a black dress, and a little red bow. A more simplistic design compared to that gap hag he saw earlier.
"My name is Rumia!" She introduced herself with the most gleeful attitude.
Luigi breathed a HEAVY sigh of relief and calmed himself down on his nervous shaking.
"Can I ask you a ques-"
"Nuh-uh!" Rumia interrupted Luigi. "I gotta ask YOU a question first?"
"Huh?"
"Can I eat you?"
"...h-huh..?" Luigi started shaking.
"Pleeease? I'm so hungry!" She opened her mouth, showing tiny little fangs. Luigi screamed.
"YAAAAAGH!" He then booked it, carrying his flashlight with him and RUNNING. He looked back while running and saw Rumia still chasing him, while T-posing. He saw a house in the distance, he then picked up his speed, nearly tripping over everything. He burst through the door and quickly slammed it shut, locking it to oblivion. He took deep breaths. "Huff.. Huff.." He quickly turned off his flashlight as the house was already lit.
...Already lit? Luigi's eyes shrunk as he turned around and saw... yet ANOTHER blonde female. She had blue eyes and had a red band in her hair. She wore a light blue dress with long white sleeves and two pink ribbons, one going round her neck and another one around her waist.
"...You could have knocked too and I would've let you in."
"AAAH!" Luigi got scared again and turned on his flashlight toward the stranger.
"...Do I look like a ghost? Relax, I mean no harm if you mean no harm." She looked like she was conducting magic. "Although you are the first in a while that doesn't immediately flee from me."
"W-w-w-w-who are you?" Luigi still pointed, shaking his flashlight.
"Alice. Alice Margatroid." She introduced herself. Although not as gleeful and 'innocent' as Rumia. "If you wish, I could make you some tea."
"B-b-but don't you look a bit busy?"
"I'm not that busy, I have help." Alice slowly confirmed. "Plus you might want to rest up."
"B-but it isn't night time!" Luigi kept stuttering.
"It is?" Alice pondered and then Luigi got confused. He looked outside and sure enough, it was night time. "It was dawn when you barged in."
"Ah, s-sorry!" Luigi apologised. "I had to get away from this dominance-asserting girl!"
"Ah, the youkai? She's always like that. As long as you can fight back, she won't put up much of a fight at all."
"B-but I don't have anything! Only my flashlight!" Luigi indicated.
"Hm. Do you still want tea?" Alice tried to drive away the subject.
Luigi groaned and caved in. "Fine, sure."
Alice then stood up and went to the kitchen. Just then a few dolls flew in and took her place on where she was originally seated.
"WAUGH!" He pointed his flashlight at the dolls. "H-h-h-h-h-h-haunted dolls!"
Alice just simply smiled. "They're my two most known dolls. Shanghai and Hourai." She introduced the dolls as they waved. Luigi was chattering his teeth to oblivion. "Don't worry, they're also harmless unless in battle. I have plenty more than just two." She already finished the tea and made her way back to the table and set the teacup down for Luigi. Luigi sipped it rather quickly.
"Woah... this is really good, thanks Alice."
"Really?" She smiled again. "I'm glad."
Luigi was done in no time, probably because he was stressed from the dolls staring him down. "R-right... I should head out again... and face R-rumia.." Luigi shivered again.
"You could rest up here in the morning." Alice suggested. "Mister...?"
"Luigi, b-b-b-b-b-but there's only one bed..." Luigi pointed. "Unless you plan to share-"
"Sleep on the floor." Alice quickly finished.
"Wah... uh... okay... fine..." Luigi laid down on the floor. Gotta admit, not the most comfortable sleeping position... But once Alice threw him a spare pillow he was out like a light. Alice was... surprised on how quickly and deeply Luigi could fall asleep. "Goodnight... Luigi..."
Luigi in fact did not have a good night. He had a vision, or more rather, a nightmare.
Everyone being trapped in portraits again. There they were, stuck. Red Toad, Blue Toad, Yellow Toad, Mario and Peach.
They were all scattered throughout this strange new world.
"Wagh-huh!" Luigi forced himself to wake up to the smell of more tea, blinded by the sunlight coming through the windows. He fixed his eyesight to find Shanghai and Hourai looming over him. "AAAH!" He quickly got up and breathed heavily. There he goes, another rude awakening.
"Good morning, Luigi. Sleep well?" There was Alice again.
"Thank you very much for the stay."
"It's nothing. I'm surprised you don't find me eerie with all my dolls about."
Speaking of the dolls, Shangai tapped Luigi on the shoulder. Luigi paid attention and Hourai was pointing towards the front exit.
"It seems they found something." Alice pondered.
"...Like what?"