Serpci is one of my favorite boss ghosts in Luigi's Mansion 3, so making this chapter was a treat.
A lovely morning had passed at the Last Resort hotel. The staff were working, the visitors were enjoying themselves, and Serpci was coming back to her floor, the Tomb Suites, from the Mezzanine. She had just had a nice breakfast cooked by the no one other than Chef Soufflé.
But the breakfast couldn't calm Serpci down. Her precious snake Niawai was acting more different than normal. She was so... protective now
Nevertheless, Serpci wanted to stay positive about her pet's new behavior. There had to be a reason of the cause though, and Serpci was determined to find out that cause.
Niawai has a secret, Serpci thought. I don't think that it's a bad one, but I would still like to know what she is hiding.
As Serpci exited the elevator, she noticed that the atmosphere was more different than normal. It was making Serpci nervous, something was added in the area, but the pharaoh didn't know what.
"Niawai!" Serpci called out. "Are you there? Maybe okay?" Silence still overtook the Tomb Suites.
Serpci made her way to Niawai's favorite area of the pyramid, but she was nowhere to be found. But other than the different vibe that Serpci felt, she also felt that something else was wrong.
A chill ran down Serpci's spine as she floated slowly down the hallways of her pyramid. Where was Niawai? Worrying thoughts raced through Serpci's head. Was Niawai sick?
Nia is just sick, that's all. Serpci told herself while making her way to a couple of sand dunes. Okay, I searched everywhere, Nia has to be around here somewhere.
Hoping that she'd find her snake, Serpci used her magic sand wristbands to lift the sand in front of her. A surprise was brought to her though.
Niawai, a cobra that wasn't made of sand and had super exotic colors for her scales, was wrapped around seven baby snakes. Naturally, Serpci was shocked.
"Niawai! You- you are a mother!" The pharaoh beamed. "I just can not see why this is something to hide! Why didn't you tell me?"
The snake didn't show much reaction to her owner's question. She only hissed but not in anger.
"Ooh! I have got to get someone who likes this kind of event! Someone like..." Serpci paused for a moment to think of who she could invite.
"Someone like Chambrea!"
Serpci began to leave the room, but looked back at her snake and her babies. She looked comfortable, and god knows how long Niawai had been a mother, so Serpci decided to leave the eight together. She was sure nothing bad could happen while she was gone.
Serpci left and raced to the elevator to get to the fifth floor. By now Chambrea should be on her break so maybe she'd want to come to see the babies.
As expected, when Serpci busted into the break room in the RIP Suites, Chambrea sat at a table drinking a bottled water. She was used to the wacky actions at the hotel, so she barely reacted surprised when her friend crashed into the room.
"Serpci! Are you in a hurry or something?" Chambrea asked worriedly. She didn't know that this special occasion was for something good.
"You will never believe it!" Serpci gushed. "My snake, you know Niawai right?"
"Yeah, how could I not know her? She's your only snake that isn't made of sand."
"Well, Nia-" Serpci leaned into Chambrea's face, right to her ear. "She laid eggs and I didn't know she was even having kids! Nia had seven snakes in total!"
"Oh my god, really?" Chambrea squealed with joy. "Can I see these little ones? Please?"
"I actually came here to ask if you wanted to do that actually! Come!" Serpci and Chambrea smiled and laughed as they were both excited to see the new snakes, especially Serpci. After all, she was now a grandma.
"Now let's see, I haven't thought of names for them, but I'll come up with something good. And here they are, my grand babies that I am proud to introduce to you. Meet Niawai and her-" Serpci and Chambrea gasped with horror.
Niawai was searching frantically for her children, totally aware that they were gone. Chambrea dusted away a pile of sand, but the snakes weren't anywhere to be seen.
"Oh great!" Serpci shrieked. "First Nia, and now my grandchildren are missing! What do I do, what do I do?!?"
Chambrea looked up at her panicking friend, and saw just how scared she was, but then an idea hit her.
"Serpci, all you need to do is use your sand powers or whatever you use to search for your missing sand snakes!"
"But that's the problem! These are snakes, not sand snakes! I can't see where they are unless they are sand snake!" Serpci bit her lip.
"Wait a minute," Sudden thoughts hit the pharaoh. "Nia was once the only actual snake I have ever cared for, so the father must have had to be a sand snake! Maybe if I concentrate really hard, I might be able to see the babies' locations!"
"Amazing idea!" Chambrea exclaimed. "Concentrate, like you said. Concentrate!"
Serpci closed her eyes and focused deeply into her sand wristbands. My snakes, my snakes, my snakes... Serpci thought. At least one snake location could appear, and it did. All of them at once too.
Serpci almost choked on her own saliva as she saw the snakes in areas throughout the hotel. How did they get to the places so fast?
It was really obvious that she should pick up the closest snake, so she focused on that one snake, and Serpci choked again as she saw her first target.
A vision of the Twisted Suites appeared and Sepci saw a snake slithering its way into one of the triplet's top hat.
As the vision cleared, Sepci began too realize that any second one of the triplets could put that hat on, completely oblivious to the fact that she was wearing a hat that was now the temporary home of a venomous baby cobra. Sure if it decided to bite, whoever got bitten would survive since she was dead, but it would still hurt a hell of a lot.
"I am going to the Twisted Suites!" Serpci announced. "The closest snake is there, and it made its way into one of the triplet's top hats!"
Serpci was going to make a break for it, but Chambrea stopped her. "If you are going, I'm coming too! You could use backup. Plus, I overheard Steward saying that your snakes both Niawai and sand snakes are apparently 'bad for business'."
...
The two burst out laughing to the point that tears started to stream down their faces. The snakes weren't bad for business, but Serpci and Chambrea realized that if they didn't get the snakes back, they would soon actually be bad for the hotel's business.
"Presto! Abracadabra! Witness our magic! Let's show you a trick that's a popular classic!" Nikki, the ponytailed triplet cried out. She and her sisters were practicing for their upcoming magic show.
"I kinda think you might be a little too enthusiastic on that line Nikki." Ginny, the short pigtailed triplet declared. "Maybe something that shows people a more calm vibe."
"I think you need to tune down only a tiny bit Nikki." Lindsey, the long pigtailed triplet agreed. "By the way, did our hats get cleaned a little while ago?"
"Yeah, why?" Nikki and Ginny asked. "They were cleaned I think last Thursday."
"I guess it was my imagination." Lindsey mumbled. "Wait, do you hear that?"
Serpci and Chambrea were rocketing through the Twisted Suites, trying to find the hat that a snake got into.
"Here's the room the hat was in when I got the location vision." They entered the main stage of the Twisted Suites.
Serpci's and Chambrea's jaw dropped at the sight of the hat not being there. The only way it could've moved was either one of the triplets moved the hat to a closet or one of them put it on.
"Shit, the hat's gone!" Chambrea blurted. "Now we don't know it's real location!"
"Think of another way to find the hat!" Serpci tried to pull her coworker together. "Hold up, I think someone is coming! Hide!"
The two scrambled to find a hiding place but they made it just in time before Lindsey came in to check out the area.
Chambrea slid and phased under the stage and Serpci hid behind one of the curtains. After a not so close inspection, Lindsey turned around and left the room, only to reveal to Serpci and Chambrea that a snake's tail was hanging out of her hat.
Oh crap.
"What do we do?!?" Chambrea whispered to Serpci. "One wrong move and Lindsey is going to be a hot mess of pain!"
"I quickly grab the snake's tail without any of the triplets noticing, and I get out of the little crime scene." Serpci answered. "Come on, I need my grandchildren back!"
"I? What about me?" Chambrea asked.
"I was getting to that. You go to the Unnatural History Museum, I saw five snakes in my vision there. They are all in the museum's main exhibit."
"All righty then, what's your plan?" Chambrea questioned. "I mean you're dealing with venomous snakes and three unruly teenagers, you have to come up with something."
"I will come up with something." Serpci let her irritation show. She needed to get the snake and soon.
"Okay, I'll be back at the Tomb Suites with your snakes." Chambrea rushed off to the Unnatural History Museum leaving Serpci alone.
She flew off to get the snake stuck in Lindsey's hat, but she had no idea what to do. What was Serpci going to do, a quick dash and grab? The mission of retrieving all of the Niawai's children was certainly easier said than done.
Chambrea made her way to the Unnatural History Museum where she looked everywhere. Luckily for her, Ug was asleep and seemed to be going to be knocked out for a while.
If I were a small group of snakes and was on the run, where would I be? Chambrea speculated to herself. This might be challenging, but I'm sure I can find these snakes!
Chambrea whipped out cleaning supplies from her pockets and gave a brave look at the main exhibit hall. I am a maid and kind of a thief. I know a thing or two about finding stuff!
As she rushed throughout the room, Chambrea quickly moved things from their places to look for the snakes. Quick and agile, Chambrea searched-cleaned and made it look cool, somewhat like an anime character.
With no luck, Chambrea sulked as she did all her hard work for almost nothing. Almost because the room sparkled brighter than the sun.
But that wasn't the point, Chambrea couldn't find the babies, and now Sepci would be more depressed and disappointed than ever.
No, I refuse to stop looking, Chambrea told herself. The snakes' futures are in my hands, I can't let them down even if they cause trouble.
Chambrea was about to move to the higher areas of the room, but froze as Ug mumbled in his sleep as if he was going to wake up.
"No do not airport Johnny!" Ug talked and then silenced once again. Feeling a tiny bit more hopeful, Chambrea redid her cleaning frenzy. But just like last time, almost no luck. Almost.
She noticed a dusty looking area and there was a painting that was covered by a navy green cloth and it looked like it needed cleaning right away.
Chambrea took off the cover to the painting of a dinosaur, and there a snake was. It was slithering on the front of the dino painting.
"Oh thank God!" Chambrea sighed with relief, scooped up the cobra and stuffed it into a small paper bag.
The finding of the cobra brought a ton of hope to Chambrea, but there was still a thought preying on her mind: just where were the other cobras?
Serpci said there were five snakes in this floor in total, but Chambrea could only find one of them. She gave a thorough inspection of the Unnatural History Museum, and she was positive that the other snakes weren't there.
Chambrea knew that another search wasn't an option since Ug was on the verge of waking up if even a pin dropped. Seeing that there wasn't much she could do now, Chambrea sadly made her way to a chair in a dark corner and sulked.
I guess I could use this opportunity to think. Chambrea thought. Why am I just sitting here and sulking though? I could do more, there isn't anything for me to do anymore.
Even though she had dusted the corner twice before, Chambrea took out her duster and quietly cleaned the small area. The thought of Serpci being terrified that her new 'grandchildren' wouldn't ever return overtook Chambrea's head.
Wait a minute, Chambrea paused all of a sudden as a thought hit her. This place has cameras, right?
The maid dashed to the elevator hall without waking up Ug, and brightened up as she saw a sign that lead her to the security room.
Oh yeah! Triple points for Chambrea! She thought and floated into the security room. Just like Chambrea thought, camera screens were at the desk, just waiting to be checked for baby snakes.
"Yes, yes, yes!" Chambrea sang to herself as she checked present and past footage of the museum. But it didn't exactly take very long before terror overtook Chambrea.
There were absolutely no snakes on the floor. There must be a mistake, oh no. Chambrea turned on the thermal sensor settings on the cameras. Since the snakes were alive, the new setting should be able to find the snakes, and should is right.
The thermal sensors didn't pick up anything of the snakes. Panicking, Chambrea kept rewinding the camera footage in hopes of finding the cobras.
If they left, they couldn't have gotten far. I know it. Chambrea thought. Finally, an image of a snake showed up on the screen which made Chambrea scramble to see the video.
There all of they were, the snakes were slithering towards two Slinkers that were heading to the elevator.
"And then I went, 'oh shut up!' I swear, do you think that was the right thing to say to Henry?" One Slinker asked.
"I think so. I mean, Henry did cheat on you with Amanda so I agree that you did the right thing." The other Slinker replied.
"Henry was with Amanda?!? He told me that Riley was the only one who he cheated on me with!"
"Oops... I guess that's more reason to say shut up."
"You kept this from me?!? I am your one friend that tells you everything, and you didn't tell me that Henry was with Amanda?"
"Well, I know that you once got so drunk that you mistook Daniel for Henry and-"
"Oh no you don't say that to my face!"
Chambrea felt a tiny bit bad for watching a friendship collapse on the cameras, but Morty might love to hear this! Forgetting the real mission, Chambrea went back to focusing on the four snakes. She really wanted to check the gossip on cameras more often.
All four of the snakes entered the elevator with the Slinkers who had no idea that they were with deadly animals. Oh no. The elevator could have taken the snakes anywhere.
Where did they go?!? Chambrea thought. Maybe Morty was right about movies were more exciting than real life, but the Last Resort always experienced moments like this.
"Fine, I need to go to my room and pretend I never met you in my afterlife! Good day!"
"But I need to go to my room too!"
"Then there's one solution. Bye bye!" The Slinker shoved her friend out of the elevator and closed the doors.
Although the fallen friendship didn't seem all that good, it was amazing for Chambrea. She now had a vital clue on where the snakes were, the fifth floor.
Hold up. The fifth floor?
The fifth floor! The hotel guests were now completely vulnerable to the venomous baby snakes! If they could reach residents' rooms, then Steward might've actually been right about the snakes being bad for business!
Luckily, being the main maid of the RIP Suites, Chambrea knew she could find them easier than the Unnatural History Museum, but she would need to be faster to find them because there were guests on the floor Goddammit!
As she snuck into the practice room of the Twisted Suites, Serpci somehow made it in without the triplets noticing. Now to just grab the snake.
"Falling raindrops require gravity, but see the opposite for what it can be!" Nikki calmly announced but then dropped her tone to an angry one. "Does that performance meet your expectations Ginny?"
"It does, and don't make it sound like I'm demanding perfection! Otherwise I might been seen with the attitude of Mister Wolfgiest or Mister Soufflé!" Ginny shot back. "Come on Linds, isn't Nikki being just a bit dramatic?"
"Uh, maybe a little." Lindsey stammered and itched her head. Serpci began to see that Lindsey was starting to feel the snake slithering on her head.
"Are you okay?" Ginny asked. "You're looking nervous."
"Yeah, there's sweat on your forehead! Lindsey has to be keeping something from us!" Nikki exclaimed. She and Ginny were putting their fight on pause if it meant finding out a sister secret.
"Spill the beans! You got to at least say a bit of your secret!" Ginny begged. "Please?"
Serpci felt bad for the middle triplet when she saw her overwhelmed expression. The pharaoh could see that Lindsey was obviously trying to escape sister pressure.
"I swear, nothing's wrong guys! Get away!" Lindsey took off her hat in hopes to shoot out a random object at her sisters.
Don't be the snake, don't be the snake! Serpci thought as Lindsey launched an item at Nikki and Ginny. Just as she feared, Serpci felt like everything was in slow motion as Lindsey launched a tiny cobra at her sisters.
"AHHHH!" Nikki screeched like a toddler as the snake hit and landed on her shoulder. Being who she is, Nikki flung the snake to the floor with full intention to seriously injure it.
All three of the triplets scrambled to the walls, screamed in terror and then just watched the snake as it lay on the floor.
"Lindsey what the hell was that?!?" Nikki hissed. "What would you send a cobra at us?!?"
"Yeah!" Ginny joined in. "I get we were being annoying with your secret, but that was a cruel and unusual reaction!"
Great. Serpci thought. Now they are angry at her, and she didn't do anything! I feel so bad for you Lindsey!
"I didn't mean to! Just so y'all know, my little secret was that I felt that thing in my hat! You satisfied?!?" Lindsey shot back. She then sighed and released her anger with an offer. "Wanna put this in mister Wolfgiest's piano?"
"Yeah!" Ginny and Nikki released their anger as well and went back to their sisterly selves. Amadeus Wolfgiest would certainly not like the little prank, and Serpci didn't ether.
"Okay, so we'll-" Lindsey smiled, but then the snake twitched on the floor which resulted in her and Ginny being terrified again. Nikki scoffed and picked up the snake by its tail.
Still hidden, Serpci's jaw dropped for the third time that day. Nikki had some nerve picking up the pharaoh's grand baby and treating it like it was nothing!
"Come on girls," Nikki teased. "It's just a cobra. Ginny, remember the time when we were ten and you preformed a magic trick with a tiger?"
"It was a tiger cub!" Ginny stuttered. "Just a few moments ago you sounded like a baby Toad when you first saw the snake, so don't act like you were never afraid of it!"
Irritation filled Serpci as she watched the sisters arguing. Clearly they didn't know how to handle the snake situation. But if they were arguing, it cave the opportunity for Serpci to grab the snake and get out of there.
All she needed to do was wait until all of the triplets turned around and they couldn't see her. Just wait my grandchild! Serpci thought. I'm coming!
She grabbed Lindsey's top hat, which she left on one of the desks, and stuck her hand inside of it. Okay, how do they do this? I'm not a magician! Serpci struggled to retrieve the snake with the hat.
I got it! Serpci thought while hoping that she'd get her snake, but instead she pulled out a bright red rose from the nearby vase.
Ugh... Serpci threw the rose and hat aside. She knew there was a better way to get her snake back. You know, without getting caught and beaten into a magical pulp.
After getting rid of Lindsey's hat, Serpci rose her arms up and used her sand bands. She saw the way more effective than a hat that she didn't know how to use.
Go. Serpci commanded in her head. A small pile of sand appeared next to her, and she used it to create a small hand.
Controlling the hand, Serpci silently grabbed her snake as the triplets were arguing and unaware of their friend's presence.
And, got you! Serpci grabbed her snake by its upper tail. Excitedly, she controlled the hand back to her, and the triplets didn't notice a thing.
I promise, I'll never let go of you again! Serpci thought excitedly. She made a break for it to the elevator, still the triplets weren't aware of her being around.
"You need a name!" Serpci gushed. "Uh, you know what? Finding you has given me name inspiration. Your name is Illusia!"
The snake didn't show a true reaction, but Serpci knew in her heart that her grandchild loved her new name.
"Your name means Illusion. Oh the triplets will love this when this mess is all over!"
Serpci nearly made it to the elevator, maybe Chambrea would be done with her mission. Unfortunately, that wasn't exactly the case.
The elevator door opened to reveal Chambrea and Steward which made Serpci stop after-dead in her tracks.
Steward angrily shoved Chambrea towards her pharaoh friend, who seemed just as nervous as her. The bellhop/receptionist was giving the most hateful stares to his coworkers.
"I knew from the very start that one day that something would go wrong!" Steward scolded. "I heard the screams of one guest, and when I get up to the fifth floor, there is one man who's room is infested with cobras!"
Serpci's and Chambrea's face flushed red. It made things even worse when the triplets burst into the elevator hall where the conflict was taking place.
"What the heck is going on?" Ginny shouted at the adults. "Can't you guys have your argument somewhere else?"
"Well, this kind of might involve you sisters." Serpci admitted. Tension formed on all of the triplets' faces and then they looked at each other as if they were speaking to one another.
"My pet snake Niawai lay eggs and the babies just happened to hatch. They escaped the Tomb Suites, and one of the snakes got its way onto your floor." Serpci hoped that the triplets wouldn't strangle her to second death now that they knew who was behind the snake launching.
"Y-you what?!?" Nikki erupted with fury. It took all the strength of Lindsey and Ginny to stop their oldest sister from after-murdering. But they weren't exactly fine with the fact ether.
"Yes, you heard me. Lindsey, did you feel a movement on top of your head while you were wearing your hat?"
Lindsey let go of Nikki who wasn't as angry enough to kill anymore. "Yeah, I got scared when that happened. Why didn't you just say something though? Only Nikki would injure you."
"Well, I'm sorry for causing you and your sisters panic and disbelief." Serpci concluded, and awkward silence came from everyone in the room, including Steward.
Only then he broke the silence. "Chambrea brought me up here to show you how bad the problem got." Steward looked right at Serpci. Then he took of his glove which revealed his once perfectly blue hand, was all swollen and slightly red.
The girls winced as the hand was shown. This moment showed them just how serious the cobra problem was.
"Damn!" Chambrea uttered. "Did a snake bite you or something?"
"Yeah, but luckily it only nibbled on my hand before enough venom was put in it. But it hurt one hell of a lot! Oh, sorry girls." Steward nervously looked at the triplets for his language.
"You're fine. We've pranked people enough to hear much, much worse than that." Nikki replied.
"TMI, but I'll take it." Steward then continued. "Serpci, please look after your snakes more often, the guests could potentially be injured."
"Of course Steward. I'll admit though that I didn't even know Niawai was going to be a mother." Serpci shared. "How must I ever repay you?"
"Oh lord, you could pay for my hospital bills... AHHHH! My god, it hurts!" Steward shrieked. "I need an ambulance!"
"Steward, you are supposed to go to a hospital as fast as you can before you lecture your staff!" Serpci gasped. "What were you thinking?!?"
"This makes the chapter more interesting! I have plot armor, my injury doesn't matter!"
And then by the time Serpci, Chambrea and Steward got to the hospital, his hand looked like a balloon.
What ghosts would you like to hear from? Tell me!