Author Notes - Oh boy, look at the time. Is it 'holy crap time really gets away from me how do I keep forgetting that time moves stupidly quick now' o'clock? I really need to get a grip on this. ANYWAY, back to the story!

CHAPTER THREE - PREPARE FOR (A LOT OF) TROUBLE

'What do you think about this killer beat, Daddy-O?'

Amadeus Wolfgeist never understood why his daughter felt the need to ask how he felt about her music. The answer was always the same - it was fantastic.

'It's really good, sweetie.' He said, smiling. 'Like always.'

Ever since this wedding was arranged, Amadeus was rather confused by the decision for them to provide the music. If it was just him, he would understand - his talent on the piano was perfect for a wedding. But with the request to create their usual classic/disco mix, it seemed odd to say the least. What kind of wedding had disco music? Princess Daisy's, evidently.

As he thought about the wedding, he continued playing music on his favourite instrument. In a moment like this, even the bright disco lights on the Great Stage couldn't distract him from his music. He didn't think about the notes, and simply let his heart do all the guiding. This is why Gloria - who was practising on her turntable nearby - became so alarmed when the notes being played shifted from one of hope for the future to something much more melancholic without him even realising.

'Woah now!' Gloria exclaimed. 'That's, like, a totes grody tune, Daddy-O. It's like, totes bringing down the boppin' mood!'

Anyone else would've struggled to understand what she was saying with her still-incredibly-outdated language, but Amadeus had known her for more than long enough to easily comprehend it. Only with her words did he realise how sad his subconsciously-created music had become.

'Oh my!' He yelled, jumping back a little. 'That… hasn't happened in a while.'

Gloria adjusted her wig so she could get a better look at him. 'Bruh, you only, like, play a draggin' tune like that if you're totes feeling down. Is there, like, a prob?'

He leaned back in his chair (not that it had a back) and sighed. 'Well, you see… everyone won't stop talking about this wedding. And rightfully so. To see both our saviours getting married, much less to each other is a big deal. But, thinking about our soon-to-be Queen Daisy and how excited she's been about this for months, it… it reminds me perhaps a little too much of Marie.'

The DJ slumped her shoulders. 'Oh… right.'

He continued to play his melancholic music for a bit, before he gave up and slammed his head into the keys in frustration. Now that he was thinking about Ms Marie, he could hardly focus on the music at all.

'Oh, Daddy-O!' Gloria cried, as she floated out of her seat. 'You boppin'?'

He lifted his head up and sighed. 'Debatably. I'm so proud of Luigi and Daisy. I really am. But there's no denying that I miss my sweet Marie. And… listen, Gloria, I will always love you. Just because you're adopted doesn't mean I love you any less. But sometimes I wish… I could see my other kids again. Especially little Anne…'

Gloria cringed. It was well known among the Last Resort staff that Gloria was not Amadeus's biological daughter, but they never bothered with the distinction themselves. Something he rarely talked about, however, was the family that was biologically his. It was a loving family, you see, which consisted of a doting wife and six beautiful children… only one of whom lived to become an amazing adult.

'I don't know if this is, like, totes insensitive,' Gloria said, resting her head on the piano. 'But maybe you could, like, reach out to those homies!'

Amadeus shrugged. 'Perhaps. But I'm not sure if it's worth it. I've been around for hundreds of years, and I've never seen any of my other kids since my death. Of course, there's a few billion ghosts out there and I've only met so many, so I suppose it's a possibility.'

Gloria smiled. 'Then you should, like, do it! Invite your kids to our crib!'

'I would, except I have no idea how to even start something like that. It isn't like they have phone books for the undead. Unless, of course, the Professor has one. Perhaps I should check with him. I'm willing to do a lot to - OH!'

A little white ghost puppy suddenly popped out of his piano, making him jump right out of his seat. Gloria giggled and cooed at the sight of such an adorable animal, helped by how it wagged its tail in the air.

'Hey!' She exclaimed. 'I think that's, like, one of Polterpup's baby dudettes! Snowdrop, I think.'

Amadeus brushed his hair back into place. 'If she's here, then Luigi must be here too. And no one told me?'

Snowdrop wasted no time, and hopped right into the keys. She jumped when they all played at once, creating a loud and unpleasant sound, which caused even more keys to play at once. It didn't take her long to make the connection, and in just a few seconds she was running all over the keys and creating an utter mess of classical music as we know it.

'Hey!' Amadeus yelled. 'Get off my piano, you silly mutt!'

The little Polterpup ignored his orders, and danced around on the keys like they were a dance floor. The 'music' created was nothing more than a cacophony of distorted notes, and she couldn't stick with a style of dance for more than two seconds.

'I told you to get off!'

Gloria giggled at the puppy's antics, and was the only reason why Amadeus didn't deal with this dog using more extreme methods. With his daughter watching, he reigned in his impatience and bore witness to Snowdrop making a mockery out of his job and afterlife-long hobby.

'So this is why so many people don't want kids…' He muttered to himself.

'Hey Daddy-O,' Gloria said. 'Can I, like, put this boppin' li'l dudette on my Gravebook?'

'On… on your what?' Amadeus was not one to deny that he knew little to nothing about whatever the 'youth' of today was into it, and he never held that against them.

While Snowdrop continued to drain Amadeus's usually-plentiful patience, the doors to the Great Disco Stage opened up.

'I found one!'

Luigi ran across the disco-coloured dance floor and climbed onto the stage, with Daisy right behind him. Once Snowdrop saw him, she hopped off the piano and into his arms instead. Both Luigi and Amadeus sighed in relief once the little one was safely in his grasp, and Gloria squealed even harder from the cuteness factor.

'Well, that's the first one down.' Daisy remarked, wiping her brow. 'Only… seven more to go?'

'Eight.' Luigi corrected. 'Since Polterkitty's up and disappeared too.'

She groaned. 'Of course.'

Once Luigi realised he was in the presence of the most powerful ghost in the hotel - and his daughter too - he gasped and bowed before him while making sure Snowdrop stayed in his arms. Daisy did her best curtsey, if only to copy Luigi.

'S-So sorry for the trouble, Mr Wolfgeist!' Luigi said, struggling to keep hold of the squirming puppy. 'I've just lost track of the kids.'

Amadeus sighed. 'That's… quite alright, Luigi. I can't stay mad at you.' He narrowed his eyes. 'But I can certainly stay mad at your puppies.'

Snowdrop just laughed at him, which didn't help his frustrations at all. Only the cheerful giggling of his daughter soothed his nerves enough to stop him from hurting someone.

'Well,' He said. 'I suppose I am happy to see our lucky man and lady standing before me, and I feel privileged to perform music for the special occasion. The decision to combine traditional wedding music with my daughter's disco jams is strange to me, but it isn't my wedding now, is it?'

'OH, it's gonna be boppin'!' Gloria declared, shaking her hips. 'Our homies are gonna make the ceiling fall. It's gonna be the most tubular shindig ya home fries have ever seen! Dig it?'

Daisy gave her a nervous smile, still struggling to understand her language. 'Uh… y-yeah, my homie! It's gonna be, erm, totes tubular!'

Snowdrop laughed at her, even though she understood Gloria's slang even less than Daisy did. She squirmed around in Luigi's arms some more, but he made sure to keep her in his hold. Seeing as she was a ghost who could simply phase through his body, she must've been staying there just for the fun of it.

'And I feel so lucky that we have someone so talented to play the music for our wedding!' Luigi said. 'How's the music coming along, anyway?'

Amadeus groaned. 'Difficult. We're trying to capture that happy feeling that getting married to your loved one is supposed to give you. I've tried thinking back on my own wedding with Marie, but of course… that doesn't exactly make me happy.'

Luigi frowned. 'Oh. L-Look, if it's getting hard, you can just stick with something you've already written.'

The old pianist gasped. 'Now what kind of composer would I be if I did that?! I promise you, Mr Luigi, that my daughter and I will present our best work yet for your magical day. … Or, if we fail to do so, we will make sure whatever song we choose is the best of our best.'

Daisy gave him a thumbs-up. 'Hey, look, nothing wrong with half-assing it. In fact, I'm pretty sure your half-ass is everyone else's whole ass.'

Her rather inelegant way of putting this got her odd looks from both the ghosts, and her fiancé. She backed away slowly with an awkward smile on her face, as if to say 'I will shut up now'.

'Can I keep playing on that funny-sounding thing now?' Snowdrop asked.

'No you may not!' Luigi said, before he looked back at Amadeus. 'Sorry Mr Wolfgeist, but Daisy and I have to look for the rest of our troublesome puppies and kitties. But we'll definitely talk later!'

Amadeus bowed to him. 'Understood, my fair man. It may be for the best, because I work much better when with no one but me and my fair daughter.'

'Don't forget to, like, totes come back to our crib later!' Gloria said, waving them off.

'We won't!' Daisy said. 'See ya!'

Nikki sighed. 'Alright, let's take it from the top. We distract them with this piddling little thing, until we-'

'I already know the bloody routine!' Ginny yelled. 'Why are we going through this again just cos this gibbon over here can't get it through her thick skull?'

'Because we gotta make sure we get it right!' Lindsey replied, aware of what her sister was saying but not really caring. 'And you never really listen so much yourself.'

Ginny scoffed. 'What do ya mean? I've remembered every single step!'

Nikki rolled her eyes. 'Alright then, what's the first step?'

'That's the… uh…'

'You're doing a bang-up job of this.'

'SHUT UP!'

To say the least, practising the glorious fireworks act for the wedding was not going so well. Nikki was quickly hitting the limits of her patience, mostly thanks to Ginny's unwillingness to cooperate, though Lindsey wasn't being much help either. Even when by themselves on their special floor, they found more than enough distractions in each other.

'Girls, come on!' Nikki said, spreading her arms out in frustration. 'We have one thing to get right. I'm sure Mr Luigi won't mind too much if we screw it up, but Ms Daisy certainly well and I don't think we should be peeving her off.' She groaned. 'It's a simple trick, alright? Distract the crowd and make them think our performance is lame and terrible, before we swoop in and surprise them with an extravaganza! Why is this so difficult to understand…?'

Ginny crossed her arms and huffed. 'If Lindsey just got her bloody act together, we could-'

'Ginny, I was talking to YOU.'

Lindsey giggled as the middle child pouted. 'Looks like Nik's all mad at you again, GinGin!'

Nikki sighed in frustration for what must've been the fifteenth time that day. Sometimes, this insanity made her wish that they did age in the afterlife, if only so her little sisters would become more mature, but unfortunately only those born as ghosts could age. After bashing the end of her wand against her forehead about ten times, she took a deep breath and continued.

'Alright! For the umpteenth time, we begin with a piddling little sparkle. Like this…' She waved her wand about, and it sparkled. 'Oh magic wand, make sure they know. That they are in for a fabulous show!'

The end of her wand let out some red flower-shaped sparkles, which piddled out and fell to the floor before they disappeared completely.

'And then,' She continued. 'The audience is all like…' She pointed to Lindsey.

'Awww!' Lindsey feigned disappointment. 'That was it? I was expecting something with a little more… jazz. Pazzazz. Sparkle! Glory! BEAUTY! Or even-'

'Yeah, okay, you're overdoing it. Anyway, once we do that, we act like…'

'Oh, it looks like our wands aren't quite working. Gimme a moment, and maybe we'll work something… OH!'

'That's right, Lindsey! When the fireworks start going off, we feign surprise and then they'll all be in awe! And, since the fireworks are just an illusion…'

'They won't hurt anyone!'

'Correct again, Lindsey!'

Lindsey happily clapped like a child younger than her age, while Ginny sat there pouting. If only she had listened, she may have appeared less silly.

'Wow, look at that, GinGin!' Nikki said, faking shock. 'Lindsey got everything right and you didn't say a word. It's almost as if Lindsey's actually paying attention or something.'

'MROOOOOOW!'

'Oh, come on now, GinGin. There's no need to whine.'

'Are you a git or something?' Ginny replied. 'I didn't make a bloody sound!'

'Okay then. If you didn't, then who…?'

'MROOOW!'

All at once the triplets realised that the source of the sound was not any of them, but instead a little white ghost kitty who had wandered onto their floor. If that wasn't enough to reveal its identity, its two tails certainly did.

'AWWWW!' Lindsey squealed. 'It's Li'l Whiner!'

'MROOOOOOOOOW!'

Ginny groaned. 'I've never seen anything with a more apt name before…'

Li'l Whiner - slowly and carefully - approached Ginny and stared at her wand. Her big blue eyes had little to no effect on the tomboyish triplet, and Ginny just glared down at her.

'What do ya want?' She asked.

'MROOOOOOW!'

'To be an annoying git? Yeah, I got that.'

Lindsey shook her head. 'Nah. She said she wants your wand!'

'WHAT?! No way in hell I'm giving my wand to some irritating little twit!'

Li'l Whiner continued to, well, whine for the wand. Why she wanted it so badly was beyond the triplets, but she wouldn't stop asking for it in the whiniest way you can imagine. It didn't take long before one could see the veins popping on Ginny's head.

'WOULD YA SHUT UP?!' She yelled. 'Why the hell are you whining so much?!'

The little kitty yelped and jumped right into Lindsey's arms. The youngest triplet held the frightened kitten against her chest, able to feel her shivering and shaking. She gave Li'l Whiner a little scratch under the neck, and she relaxed almost instantly.

'You big meanie!' Lindsey yelled at Ginny. 'You've frightened the poor thing, you have.'

'It isn't my fault if she's so bloody annoying!' Ginny retorted. 'Am I just supposed to give her my wand or something?'

'No, obviously.' Nikki replied. 'Giving up your wand to a kitty - whether she's Mr Luigi's kitty or not - would be a terrible idea. What you're supposed to do is either decline her request kindly, or use your wand to create a fake wand for her to play with. It's really not that hard.'

Lindsey cooed at the whiny little kitty in her arms, getting her to purr intently and loudly in the process. Ginny crossed her arms and turned around, fuming to herself some more.

'Looks like someone's jealous!' Lindsey teased.

'I'M NOT BLOODY JEALOUS!'

Just to rub it in - though certainly not intentionally - Lindsey lifted Li'l Whiner up to her face and rubbed noses with her, making sweet little cooing sounds as she did so. Ginny groaned even louder than before.

'Looks like someone deserves the name Li'l Whiner more than the cat does.' Nikki remarked.

'SHUT UP!' Was Ginny's terse but loud response.

'Either way, I don't think she's supposed to be here. And we certainly can't practise with a little whiner in the room. Or the cat for that matter.'

'HEY!'

'We oughta go find Mr Luigi and Ms Daisy, so we can return this little cat and continue practising.'

Ginny clenched her fists and uttered several unrepeatable swear words to herself, over and over again. The last thing she wanted to do today was listen to Nikki assert herself, but going out of their way to return a whiny cat was second-to-last on that list. Lindsey, on the other hand…

'Oh I can't wait to reunite Luigi with his beloved little cat!'

Waluigi nursed his sore shin as he dragged himself away from Gus. He was certainly not expecting such a little pipsqueak to deal so much damage, much less for it to linger like this. It left him a little frightened of going near those table snacks again, in case that pipsqueak decided to hurt him in, er, a more sensitive area this time.

'Stupid Toad… with the stupid strong muscles…'

He dragged himself away from the lobby too, just to be safe, and entered what he had assumed to be some innocuous room. When he plopped himself down at a bench, however, he was shocked to find himself in the middle of a gym, right next to the swimming pool. Well, that explained the heavy chlorine smell at least. Or was that sweat?

'Hey dude!'

The surfer-esque voice caught Waluigi's attention, and he bore witness to a muscle-bound ghost swimming around in the swimming pool. Thank goodness Wario wasn't there, or he would've been very mad to see his lover ogling another man's muscles. Not helped, of course, by the fact that Johnny Deepend was quite known for liking lanky dudes, a fact that Waluigi was very much aware of.

'What are ya doing in my bodacious gym?' Johnny asked, swimming up to the edge of the pool. 'Hear to get a gnarly workout?'

Waluigi scoffed. 'Get lost, Beefcake. I know how you feel about guys like me, and I'm taken.'

The surfer ghost laughed. 'Dude, seriously? Do you really think I'm that disloyal? Or disloyal at all, for that matter? That's totally bogus.'

'Oh my Rosalina, can you speak normally for two seconds please?'

The ghost shrugged. 'I could, but where's the fun in that?'

Waluigi groaned and leaned back against the wall. Great. First it was the irritable Toad, and now it was obnoxious surfer slang. He wished Wario was here, but the moment he freaked out over the gold walls Officer Kruller had him kicked right out. Well, at least the surfer dude wasn't kicking him in the shins, so he decided to stay there.

'No offense dude,' Johnny said, moving his goggles over his forehead. 'But I'm not sure why Luigi invited you here. You don't seem happy about it.'

'It's because we're friends now or something.' Waluigi replied. 'I couldn't tell you why, but I guess it's nice to be not at each other's throats every two seconds. Other than that, I have no idea why I bothered to come here.'

'Jealous?'

'Well what the hell do you think?'

'Well, at least you're honest about it. And in such a snarky way too. That's gotta be a good sign, dude.'

'Good. Ya figured it out. Congrats.'

Johnny frowned. Sure, this guy was clearly mean and bitter, but he recognised genuine jealousy when he saw it. Also when he was told directly, but that wasn't important. He placed his arms on the edge of the swimming pool and rested his head upon them.

'Yeah, I've dealt with jealousy before.'

Waluigi cocked an eyebrow. 'No, reeeeally?'

'I'll pretend you asked that for real and say yes. See, I wasn't always so buff and sleek, and I got made fun of a lot. I was even a little jealous of the other lifeguards I worked with. I'm not jealous of them anymore, seeing as they were some of the only people willing to defend me when everyone else started hating me.'

Waluigi's attention perked. 'Wait, what? Why did everyone hate you? Look, I ain't keen on you either, but you're not that bad.'

'You try being a gay man growing up in the 60's.'

The lanky man winced. 'Ah. Okay, that makes a little more sense.'

Suddenly, Waluigi heard someone clearing their throat. He had no idea who, since it was far too high-pitched to be from Johnny, and he turned his head to where he heard the sound. He yelped when he saw, sitting right next to him, a little white kitten ghost sitting like a king.

'What are you doing here?!' He demanded.

'Oh no…'

'Oh no? Why is this an 'oh no' situation?'

'I recognise that furry dude from anywhere. Now you gotta deal with… Prince Meowse.'

'Prince WHO?!'

Author Notes - Not even gonna try to hide it: this 'find the ghost pets' thing is meant to serve as a framing device of sorts to see what the Last Resort staff are up to these days.