Author Notes - Good news, everyone! (Can you tell what show I've been watching lately?) I have now used Excel to plot out a table that tells me how long it's been since I've updated a story, provided I remember to punch in the numbers. Expect updates from me in general to be a little less... sporadic. No promises though. This is still ME we're talking about here.

Appreciations to Armanduxbstds, Samantha Coutts, rileyschulberg, and Golden Eye 65 for favourites/follows!

CHAPTER FOUR - GHOST TRACKING

'Uh… do we need a chalkboard for this?'

'There's nothing a good chalkboard can't help with, sonny!'

With the wedding set to happen in just a couple of days, the last thing everyone needed was a bunch of puppies and kitties running around the place. So, while the ghosts were busy trying to organise everything, Luigi got most of the other mortals together into the top floor. Instead of it being a trap-filled hell like the Master Suite, the Owners' Office was much nicer and had a big lab in place of the vault.

The Professor had brought out a blackboard - in case you couldn't realise - with a bunch of doodles already drawn for his guests who were already seated like it was a lecture at college. He even used a laser pointer to help his discussion. Luigi had Snowdrop in his arms, while Polterpup sat by his feet. Verde was in the room too, standing alongside the Professor.

'So, we've got seven ghost animals running around the place.' E. Gadd said, spinning the laser pointed around the big 7 he had drawn. 'And we're not entirely certain where they are. They could be anywhere in this hotel, and-'

'Question!' Daisy said, holding her hand up. 'How does this help us? Is there something on that chalkboard that'll help us figure out where the kids are?'

E. Gadd paused. 'Uh… oh dear.'

Daisy groaned. 'Now what?'

'Um… I may have gotten a little carried away when it came to the doodling and forgot to do the actual planning part of it.'

Polterpup and Snowdrop both snickered at the Professor, and even Verde facepalmed at his expense. The gooey man wanted to erase some of the chalk off so he could write it himself, but he only got goo all over the board.

'Oops.' He muttered. 'That wasn't supposed to happen.'

Queen Peach put her hand up. 'We have a couple of days, don't we? Maybe we should just go around the place and ask our friends if they've seen anything.'

E. Gadd perked at this idea. 'Brilliant idea, prin- I mean, queen! I'm sure I was just getting to that.'

'Finally…' Daisy remarked. 'An actually good idea. Keep doing the thing we were probably gonna do anyway. The real question is, where the heck do we start?'

'W-We could see who's left.' Luigi replied. 'A-And guess where they might be. We found Snowdrop, and Polterpup's right here, so that leaves… Pepperoni, Li'l Whiner, Stanley, Cookie, Prince Meowse, Pluto, Luigi Jr, and Polterkitty.'

Peach laughed. 'I will never get over the names you gave those kids.'

Verde took the chalk from E. Gadd, and wrote the names of the remaining animals in what few spaces there were left on the board.

'Good job, Verde!' E. Gadd said. 'I'll stay here and keep track of who we've found, and scratch their names off as we go.'

'Nice contribution, Professor…' Daisy murmured. 'Now, like I said, how do we-?'

Her answer came fairly quickly.

'GET AWAY FROM ZAT FISH, YOU CRETIN! ... MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL AND FETCH ZEE LAMB SAUCE!'

Daisy jumped to her feet. 'Sounds like Soulfflé's found someone, and he's only about a couple floors down. Seems like a good place to start! Come along, Verde, we might need your help.'

'Oh. Okay. I'm coming.'

Most of the mortals rushed out through what used to be the safe-like gate to the office, but Luigi stopped himself before he could leave the room for he could see something red in the corner of his eye. Mario stayed in his seat, staring at the corner and hardly moving.

'Mario?' Luigi called.

Everyone else stopped when they realised that Luigi had not followed them, and the green-clad plumber walked over to his brother.

'Are you okay?' He asked.

When he got close to his brother, Luigi noticed exactly what Mario was staring at - the ghost container unit, lying dormant in the corner of the office where E. Gadd could watch over it yet easily ignore it. It wasn't moving at all, but Mario could've sworn it was shaking about just a little.

'He can't break out, right?' He said, his voice low and trembling. 'H-He's stuck in that unit forever… right?'

Luigi knelt down in front of him to break his line-of-sight. 'He'll be stuck there forever. He won't be breaking out to scare you anymore. And just remember that even if he did ever escape, he'd have me to deal with. No ghost is gonna scare or hurt you while I'm still around.'

'Y-You mean it?'

'If I don't, may Lady Rosalina herself strike me down!'

His response got a small laugh out of Mario. There was no denying that even after a few years, Mario was still struggling to deal with his trauma relating to King Boo. No matter what, though, his brother would help him through it all until he could finally overcome it for real.

'Come on,' Luigi said, standing up. 'You seem a little stressed. Maybe you should take a quick pizza break in your room.'

Mario managed a smile. 'Yeah. I would like that a lot.'

'Come on, yeh stubborn sprouts! Yeh gotta get ready before tha weddin'!'

Dr Ramos Potter was, to say the least, in a bit of a tizzy. Not only did he have to deal with wedding guest ghosts invading his double-storey floor - when he made it VERY clear they weren't supposed to - but he was put in charge of the flowers. Which would actually be great, if it wasn't for a few annoying sprouts refusing to grow no matter how much he watered them.

'Do yeh know who yeh're gonna disappoint if yeh don't grow?' He asked the potted plants. 'Why, only tha very princess of Sarasaland herself! This is her weddin' after all, and here yeh are refusin' tah grow fer her!'

Of course, the plants weren't capable of understanding human speech at all, and weren't even sapient. But this is Dr Potter we're talking about, and this hasn't been odd for him for many, many years now.

'Arf arf arf!'

The only plant in the entire double-storey floor that could understand his words was Audrey 2, a rare variant of piranha plant sitting in her own special pot. Dr Potter may have lost Audrey 1 to Hellen Gravely's insane attempt at pleasing King Boo, but he loved this new plant just as much. When Luigi and Daisy first met her, Audrey 2 was tiny. Now, she was bigger than even Audrey 1 ever was, easily towering over even Waluigi. Fortunately, she was much kinder than her ancestor.

'I know that, Audrey 2!' Dr Potter cried. 'I'm tryin' tah be gentle, but they ain't makin' it easy fer me.'

He sprinkled the potted plants a little bit more, and they grew just slightly but nowhere near enough to even blossom.

'Now listen here, yeh sprouts.' He said. 'Luigi requested a small bundle of Glowing Hibiscuses fer his lovely bride, but I can't present yeh tah her IF YEH DON'T GROW!'

He placed his special watering can down and took a deep breath. No need to get so mad at his own family, after all. He just hoped they would grow in time for the wedding, or he would be leaving a lovely green-clad man disappointed.

'GRRRRRRR!'

'Now what is it?'

Audrey 2 rarely ever growled, so Dr Potter knew in an instant that someone had intruded upon his plant-filled home without permission. Growling a little himself, he pulled out his hedge clippers from his belt and turned around.

'I thought I told yeh, STAY OUTTA MA-!'

He had expected to see another troublesome Goob, or maybe a Hider, or even the Hayseed Twins wreaking some havoc upon his precious plants. What he saw instead, however, was a little pink kitten sleeping on a leaf in the setting sun's light.

'What?!' Dr Potter yelled. 'What're YEH doin' here?'

The little kitten hardly stirred in his sleep, and simply lashed his tail around once before he simply stopped moving. Dr Potter muttered unpleasant words to himself as he approached this sleeping kitty.

'Didn't yeh hear me, ya whippersnapper? Git out!'

The kitten woke up slowly, and blinked his big blue eyes at the gardener slowly.

'Miaow…'

And suddenly, things started to make a bit more sense. That scraggly little meow could've only belonged to Stanley, one of Polterkitty's kids and the kitten who would always chase down the sun. Apparently, this little leaf by the window was the best place to be. This new knowledge didn't make Dr Potter feel any better about it though.

'I said, GIT OUT!'

He pointed an accusatory finger at the kitten, who didn't even flinch. Instead, Stanley got up, had a good stretch, and climbed onto Dr Potter's arm instead.

'What? What're yeh doin'? Stop that!'

Stanley paid him no mind, and didn't stop running until he reached Dr Potter's shoulder. There, he circled around for a bit and planted himself on the spot, where he proceeded to fall asleep again while purring like a motor boat. Dr Potter clenched his fists and readied himself to shout as loudly as he could, but… he simply hung his shoulders and sighed.

'Alright, fine. Yeh can stay there.' He quickly checked for any intruders. 'Don't tell anyone I said this, but yeh hafta be tha cutest li'l kitten in tha world.'

'Arf arf arf?'

'You can't tell anyone either, Audrey 2!'

Polterkitty may have been able to transform between a little house cat to a massive panther beast whenever she wanted, but she hardly ever stayed in a little kitten form anymore. Why would she stick with being a tiny harmless cat when she could be a giant un-living death machine? Hellen Gravely never let her stay in that form for long, but Luigi allowed her to do whatever she wanted. The only times she shrunk down was when she wanted to sleep in Luigi's lap, or - just like today - when she needed to be a little more stealthy.

'Zis stupid cake… I can't get it right! I can't give Luigi an imperfect cake. Might as well serve him a slab of raw chicken! Maybe if it was some random ghost… no. Not even zen! Zat is not how I cook!'

The kitchen was big, but Chef Gordon Soulfflé had an entire smaller kitchen just for him. Even though he was more willing to have more workers in his kitchen - provided they didn't set anything on fire - he still wanted his own workspace. Chambrea complied, and Soulfflé couldn't complain for once. And now, the poor guy was stressing himself out trying to get the cake ready.

'GAAAHHH!'

He picked up a frying pan and tossed it against an old bag of flour, which was there for no other reason than to give him a punching bag. With that done, his temper and nerves relaxed just a little.

'Okay Gordon, zink about zis…' He muttered. 'If you don't control your temper, zee cake will never get finished. Now, let's look at zee designs.'

He looked over the tens (possibly hundreds) of drawings he had on the wall, each depicting a new design for the wedding cake. Some with just two layers, others with ten. Some were green, some orange, some rainbow. Green and orange made a poor combination on a cake, as he had learned the hard way. Many of these drawings had great big 'X's on them, a sight that infuriated Soulfflé but would have delighted Captain Fishook. After all, the big ol' shark got all the cakes considered 'unworthy'. And, well, it was the letter X. Pirates had a thing for them.

As he wondered which design to try next, a certain little ghost cat snuck around the room. She stayed close to the walls, snickering to herself while she escaped detection from this short-tempered ghost. Except, she happened to be behind that bag of flour when Soulfflé tossed his frying pan. It didn't hit her, thank Jaydes, but it scattered little grains of flour everywhere. And, well…

'AH-CHMPT!'

Her stealth mission didn't exactly last long.

'QUIET!' Soulfflé shouted.

'MROW!'

Polterkitty, in a panic, jumped out of her hiding spot directly into the open. Now that Soulfflé had her in his sights, she looked around the room for her target. She smiled when her eyes fell upon her object of desire: a fresh bit of salmon, recently cooked for Soulfflé's own enjoyment.

'GET AWAY FROM ZAT FISH, YOU CRETIN!' Soulfflé yelled, going to pick up another frying pan.

The ghostly feline ignored him, and gulped that bit of salmon down in one bite. She purred as loudly as she could, for it was some of the most delicious salmon she had ever eaten. Even Luigi, who tried to find his pets the best he could find, could not make anything as good as this.

'If you're gonna be a menace, at least MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL AND FETCH ZEE LAMB SAUCE!'

Polterkitty glanced around the room, unaware of where 'zee lamb sauce' was or even what it looked like. She flashed the chef ghost a nervous grin, and backed away slowly. Transforming into her panther form was quite tempting, but the kitchen was a little crowded and knocking over more things would surely just make him angrier.

'You know zee rules, Rosemary! If you intrude into my domain, you either have to make yourself useful or TASTE ZEE FRYING PAN!'

Then, with the greatest timing ever, the door to his private kitchen burst open.

'Don't hit that kitty with the frying pan, Gordon!' Daisy yelled, pointing at him like she was Phoenix Wright.

The chef just groaned. 'Do you really zink I would actually hit her? I don't abuse animals, you know. I just want to make sure zat she knows zat…' He turned around to the kitty. 'ZIS KITCHEN IS SUPPOSED TO BE ANIMAL-FREE! Zat is one of zee first rules of zee kitchen: NO ANIMALS ALLOWED!'

Polterkitty yelped much like a frightened puppy, and leapt into Luigi's arms. The warmth given by his embrace calmed her nerves, and the sight of (some of) her children made her happy in spite of the angry chef ghost in the room. Paying no attention to any of this insanity, Daisy walked into the kitchen and leaned on the table - or, at least, what she thought was the table. From there, she could easily see all of his rejected designs and a lot of spilled cake ingredients.

'Okay, you are putting way too much thought into this.' She said. 'As long as it looks decent, is delicious, and can feed a lot of people, it's good. Don't stress yourself out by worrying about the decorations or whatever.'

'But zis is a big deal!' Soulfflé claimed. 'It could be - and hopefully will be - zee only time either of you get married. Zis is a serious moment in your life! What kind of chef would I be if I did not…? Erm, you are aware zat zee stove is on, right?'

'The stove?'

She glanced at the 'table' she had placed her arm on, and found out that it was not a table but instead a stove. Better yet, said stove was on. By the time she realised, her glove had already caught on fire. It was a small flame, yes, but a fire was still a FIRE and she stepped back while screaming and flailing her arm about.

'I'm burning!' She cried. 'I'M BURNING!'

Verde was unsure of what to do, thanks to his weakness to fire. Luigi yelped, and dropped Polterkitty in a panic. His eyes darted around the room to find something to put out this fire with, while Daisy yelled and screamed all the while.

Luigi spotted a bucket of water, lying by the sink.

'Hold on, Daisy!' He yelled. 'I've got this!'

He rushed over to that bucket of water and tossed it onto Daisy's burning arm as quickly as he could. Perhaps not the most efficient way of dealing with a kitchen fire, but it got the job done.

'Oh thank Rosalina…' Daisy murmured.

It worked a little too well, for the water kept going until it ended up splashing Verde in the face. And, well, I'm sure we all know how he deals with water. As soon as that liquid struck him and travelled down his body, he began to lose shape and melt.

'Oh no…' Luigi said, dropping the bucket. 'Verde!'

Verde glanced at his arm as his hand fell off. 'Oh. Look at that. I'm melting. What a world. Never would've thought you'd melt me by accident again. Well, here I go.'

In just a few seconds, there was nothing left of him except a big green puddle on the ground. Before Soulfflé could yell at them to clean it up, the puddle disappeared drop by drop into the air and through the air vent.

'Oh no!' Luigi yelled. 'S-Sorry guys, b-but I gotta check up on him on the top floor. Keep looking for the others, cos I'll be back soon!'

And with that, Luigi disappeared from the kitchen and rushed to the elevator as quickly as he could. Like always, Verde could only reform once he returned to the Poltergust G-00, which was now resting unused in the office. He rarely got splashed by water nowadays, but sometimes something went wrong. Such as today. Daisy turned to the chef, only to see him even more angry than before.

'Uh… w-we can help ya out, if you-'

'GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN NOW, BEFORE YOU GET A FRYING PAN UP WHERE ZEE SUN DOESN'T SHINE!'

Waluigi could not stop groaning. His groaning was so constant that if Clem and/or Billie were nearby, they would've thought he was a malfunctioning machine and tried to repair him. That demanding little kitten had led him back to the snack table, where Gus wouldn't stop glaring at him. The lanky man already had the scratches to prove what would happen if he didn't listen.

'Okay, here's your stupid cupcake.' He said through grinding teeth, placing said cake in front of the little ghost cat. 'Happy now?'

Prince Meowse sniffed the cupcake, and purred for a moment in approval. He didn't eat it, however, and instead just stared at Waluigi and mewed.

'What?! I already gave you the dang thing! What do you want me to do? Unwrap the thing for you?'

'Mew!' Prince Meowse responded, nodding his head.

Waluigi was very close to tearing this kitten a new one, and only stopped himself when he could feel Gus staring him down. Mumbling curse words to himself, he took the wrapper off the cupcake, and watched Prince Meowse eat it slowly and 'properly'. Whoever felt the need to name this cat 'Prince Whatever' was going to get their butt whooped at the next tennis match.

'Mew!' The kitten chirped once he was finished.

'Good. Am I done now? Or do I need to brush your fur into perfection again?'

'MEW!'

Prince Meowse lay down on the table and bared his stomach to the man in front of him. Waluigi stared at him for a few moments, before he reached out for his bare stomach.

'MROW!'

Except the kitty lashed out at him, and Waluigi barely got his hand out of the way on time.

'What do you want from me?!' He yelled. 'And people wonder why I don't like cats. They're so… impossible to figure out!'

While he was screaming his head off at this uncooperative feline, a Toad approached him. He shrieked and panicked, holding his shin well up into the air, until he realised that this Toad was yellow and thus definitely not the same one. That grumpy blue guy would never have such a cheery look on his face anyway.

'They're not impossible to figure out, silly!' Parr T said with a giggle. 'It's actually really easy once you get down to it.'

'How would you know?' Waluigi retorted.

Parr ignored the question and continued. 'See, when a cat has its belly out like that, it isn't asking for a rub. That's actually a really sensitive part of the body, and where all the nasty mean predators would attack them, so touching them there must activate their instincts or something.'

'Okay, so why is he doing that?'

'That's easy: because of all the stuff I just mentioned, cats'll only do something like that around someone they really trust!'

Waluigi's eyes widened. He couldn't tell if he was flattered or horrified, or even both. He glanced back at Prince Meowse, who purring like crazy and giving him a smile.

'H-He trusts me?' He repeated. 'Who would trust me?! No one ever trusts me!'

'Aw!' Parr cooed. 'You're so used to no one trusting you, that you don't know how to handle someone who does.'

'... Are you, like, a psychic or something?'

'I was right!'

While Parr danced around the room, Waluigi reached his arm out for the kitten's head. Prince Meowse replied with a little mew, and rubbed his cheeks up against him. The lanky man wished there was no one else in the room to witness him, so he could freak out over how adorable it was.

'Mew!'

'What do you mean you're hungry again? I JUST FED YOU!'

Author Notes - I am mildly disappointed in myself for not including a 'Gooigi melting like the Wicked Witch of the West' joke in the first story, so I'm fixing it up by including it here. Stanley is not only named after my own late cat, but his personality is based on him too. That guy would always try to chase the sun, and would move throughout the house. His meow was also incredibly scraggly.

"Many of these drawings had great big 'X's on them, a sight that infuriated Soulfflé but would have delighted Captain Fishook." - Is quite possibly the dumbest joke I've ever told, at least in a while.