Author Notes - I'll probably be keeping most of the chapter titles, but some of them will definitely change. Some of those puns were amazing, like 'Shop Till You Drop Dead', but others weren't really even puns. AND I LIKE PUNS!
CHAPTER THREE - GOING BACK TO THE BASEMENTS
'I don't believe it...' King Boo muttered. 'I let that coward get away.'
After our green-clad hero hopped into the laundry chute, King Boo and his new 'partner' Hellen Gravely returned to the highest floor of the hotel. Hellen sat at her desk, watching the security camera footage playing on all the screens that covered the back wall. King Boo paced back and forth, grumbling to himself that he failed such a simple task.
'Every piece fell perfectly into place.' He continued, his scowl growing. 'Except for the most important piece! If it was one of the mushrooms, or the princess, or - heck! - even Mario, that would be fine. But why did Luigi have to be the one to get away?!'
As he ranted, Hellen scanned the security footage. They showed her all seventeen floors of the expansive hotel, everything between her own Master Suite down to the Boilerworks. She could see all seventeen of her main workers on the look-out. Well, sixteen, since one of them was too preoccupied with shooting a movie.
'I'm certain it will be fine.' Hellen said, her voice just slightly skittish. 'It seems that Luigi is a dirty coward. He shouldn't be a problem!'
He turned to her, absolutely furious. 'WHAT ABOUT THE LAST TWO TIMES HE WAS A PROBLEM?!'
Hellen leaned back and blinked a few times. He just stared at her, breathing like a bull ready to charge.
'Don't fret, my sweetie.' She said, smiling. 'I'm sure my staff will take quick care of him.'
His furious expression softened just a little, now merely frustrated. 'They best. If he gets his hands on that blasted vacuum cleaner, your entire plan could collapse at the seams.'
He paid attention to the screens on the wall. Despite of all Hellen's claims of her staff often refusing to cooperate with her plans, they seemed to be following her orders without any hesitation. Then again, that was to be expected, when they had a little more 'convincing' than usual.
'I must applaud most of your plan, Ms Gravely.' He said. 'You certainly had everything under control for a moment. Your staff made quick work of the others. It makes me wonder what went wrong there.'
'My plan seemed to have a... slight error.' Hellen said. 'I intended for Luigi to be your own little personal victory. I expected him to charge right in and fight, like the flowery princess did. I didn't account for him running away, like the dirty coward that he is!'
'I trust you, Ms Gravely. I've heard great things about your hotel trap, and all these little ghosts floating around managed to convince me that you are capable of this task. Do not disappoint me.'
She grinned. 'I can assure you, sweetie. My exceptional staff will take care of him for you.'
The last thing Luigi remembered before blacking out was plummeting downwards into the darkness. He barely had any time to worry about surviving the fall, focusing more on the fate of his brother. Whether it was the fall or the impact that made him lose consciousness, he would never know. An unknown time later, he regained consciousness. He felt something wet on his cheek. He opened his eyes slowly, and saw Polterpup standing on his chest and licking his face. Fortunately for him, the wet kisses helped wake him up.
'Okay, okay!' He said between giggles. 'I'm up now! Down boy, down.'
Polterpup obeyed his owner and hopped off, before scampering off into the darkness. The darkness...
'O-O-Oh... b-boy.'
Now everything came back to him, everything from hearing Peach's scream to running away from his worst enemy. As the darkness stared back at him, his breathing turned tense.
'No... no no no...'
His eyes refused to adjust to the darkness, but fortunately a couple of lightbulbs still functioned. From what little he could see, he seemed to be in the laundry room. There were a few washing machines - that were still on - up against the wall, and stacks of clothes and rags lay on the short tables.
'M-Mario?' He called into the darkness.
He knew he'd get no response, but part of him prayed that Mario would come dashing out and save him.
As he fumbled around searching for his flashlight, he noticed that he lay in a big basket full of soft clothes. What a miracle; he did not wish to think about what would've happened if his landing weren't so soft. He found his flashlight right where he left it, and turned it on immediately. By another miracle, it continued to work, and pierced through the otherwise thick-as-bricks darkness that surrounded him.
He took a deep breath. 'O-Okay, Mario. I'm-a coming, big bro.'
Checking his surroundings again, he vaulted himself out of the clothes bin and settled his feet onto the floor. The flashlight illuminated most of the room, revealing a door on the other side. His footsteps squishing in the puddles added a quiet sound to a void filled otherwise only by the soft rumbling and rattling of washing machines.
'G-Gotta save big bro...'
He walked around a table, making sure he made as little noise as possible. His nerves stood on end, and he couldn't stop shaking. The air smelled quite musty; it was enough to make his nose burn.
'Wah!'
The stack of rags, with no disturbance at all, fell over onto the floor like someone pushed them. The moment they moved, his nerves tensed as a yelp left his mouth.
'C-C-Come on! It's just rags!' He slapped his cheek. 'Get it together, Weegee...'
His eyes darting around the room, he walked towards the only door in the room.
'ARF ARF!' Polterpup leapt out through the door with an enthusiastic (and very loud) bark.
'YAH!' Luigi yelped for the twentieth time that night. 'R-Really, even you?'
The Polterpup then proceeded to laugh at him, albeit innocently.
'Okay boy, just don't do it again.' He chose to ignore the fact that it was the tenth time he had to say that to his doggie.
Polterpup nodded, and ducked back through the door. Luigi shook his head with a smile, opened up the door and stepped on through. It opened up to a long hallway, barely lit up by hardly-functioning ceiling lights that hung rather precariously. Polterpup stuck his head out of a bin, covered in old confectionery including two donuts over his eyes.
'Do you have any idea where I should be going?' His asked his loyal pet.
Polterpup nodded, and hopped through the wall behind him. Luigi took his 'word' for it, and walked down the hallway to the door that stood right next to the bin. His footsteps echoed in that long empty hall, which served merely to remind him of just how alone he was.
On the other side of that door was a huge underground carpark, that was far more lit up than the last few rooms. It allowed Luigi to easily see all the suitcases, puddles, and bits of trash that littered the cracking cement floor. All the way on the left behind a fence was the powerbox, which certainly should not have still been functioning with all the sparks flying out of it. To the right were a few abandoned cars parked in the lots. The mustiness of the two previous rooms got replaced by the feeling of walking into an empty parking lot at night.
He ran across the carpark over to the giant automatic gate. He didn't expect it to work, but it was worth a shot. Upon having the button pressed, the gate began to slowly move up, jerking several times.
*SLAM*
Of course. No way his escape would be that easy, and even if it worked, he wasn't leaving by himself.
'Arf arf!'
Polterpup's happy barking caught his attention. He saw his Canis lupus exspiravitis running around an old car. As Luigi ran to catch up with his pet, he couldn't help but wonder... hadn't he seen this exact vehicle before? Unlike the other cars, that had rusted over from a lack of care, this one still shone like the day it was made.
'What did you find, boy?'
The doggy pointed at the hood of the old car, so Luigi lifted it up. As his eyes lay upon what awaited him inside, he gasped. His eyes sparkled as he couldn't believe his luck. He'd recognise that red vacuum cleaner anywhere.
'No way. It's... it's the Poltergust! I-I can't believe it. Luigi got lucky!'
For once in his life, King Grambi and Queen Jaydes decided to throw him a golden bone and give him the ticket to save the day. It seemed a little incomplete though, considering that the glass container at the back was totally empty. The sensation of slipping the straps of that baby over his shoulders brought him all the way back. If it was a new model, he doubted it'd take him long to get used to it.
He stepped back and allowed Polterpup to marvel at him. 'Ta-dah!'
A little victory dance followed, made even cuter by him humming his own little theme song he made up on the spot.
'You go on ahead, boy.' He said. 'I'll catch up! With this, I think I'll be able to handle things on my own.'
Now given an order, the Polterpup did indeed go on ahead... by flying straight upwards and through the ceiling.
'Hey!'
Sometimes Luigi envied his dog's ability to completely ignore the terrain. He glanced down at the Poltergust nozzle in his hand. It certainly felt the same as the 5000. When he pressed the right button, the Poltergust proceeded to suck in air like a regular vacuum cleaner. Using the 'blow' function to work went just as well.
'Oh yeah!'
Before he continued on his spooky adventure now fully armed, there was one more thing he had to check. Holding down the third button, the nozzle transformed in the blink of an eye into a flashlight. He let go of the button, and...
'Wah!'
He had to cover his eyes from the intense flash given off by that bulb. Well, at least he didn't aim it directly into his eyes this time.
'Woah... did the professor make the Strobulb even brighter this time?' The professor... 'The professor?!'
It only now dawned on him that if the creator's creation lay in this hotel, then its creator must not be too far away.
'O-Oh no... I-I hope he's okay...'
He had no time to sit around and wonder about E. Gadd's safety, as every second he spent thinking about it was another second his brother went without saving.
'And... there!' A blue ghost (known as a Goob) said as she finished painting the last 'X'.
She floated back and admired her work. In the dark lobby, which was now occupied by jack-o-lantern balloons and gargoyle statues, the pictures of their newest guests were still hung by a rope. The Goob smiled at the sight of each face covered up by a big black 'X'. She threw the paintbrush behind her and dusted off her hands.
'What do you think, Charles? Is this not the best paint job you've seen?'
She spoke to the only other ghost in the room, another fellow Goob. He sat on the floor with his head in his hand, and the most unenthused look at his face.
'Congrats, Sam.' He said as monotone as possible. 'Ya painted a bunch of X's. Well done.'
She puffed out her chest. 'Yes, it is well done, isn't it?'
Charles sighed, not at all surprised that she was making a big deal out of a job as simple as that.
'I just don't get it.' He grumbled. 'I mean, we've been working with Hellen since literally the beginning! Why does she keep assigning us such menial jobs?'
'I don't think this is so menial.' Sam said, crossing her arms. 'And anyway, have you seen what she makes the other guys do? We have the easy job here! That, honey, is the power of nepotism.'
Charles, partially ignoring his afterlife-long partner, glanced up at the marked posters.
'Just one thing confuses me.' He said. 'So Ms Gravely herself said that we got the red guy, the fun guys, and the princesses. But the green guy is totally unaccounted for. You sure you should mark him off?'
Sam chuckled. 'Did you see what happened to him? He fell down the laundry chute! That's like, what, five or six floors he dropped down? Honey, he is dead! Problem solved! Unless, of course, that bin at the bottom was full, in which case... Wait, didn't we have a washing delivery just an hour or two ago?'
The smile on her face vanished.
'... Oh crap!'
Luigi stood in front of the elevator, and pressed the button. To his shock, it actually worked. With a ding, the doors opened up. Compared to the musty basement, the elevator contrasted itself with its shiny walls, clean floor, and polished mirror. It was as if the elevator was not affected by the dark transformation. He entered the elevator, turned to the buttons while debating which floor he wanted to go to, and... his question was answered for him.
'Huh? There's... there's only one button?'
Indeed, every button except for one had been removed clean from the wall, leaving sixteen holes where they should've been. And just to add insult to injury, the only button left was the one labelled 'B1'. As in, the floor he was already on.
'Um, well... I-I guess that makes my decision easier.' He said, grumbling.
Luckily for him, he saw another door at the end of the hallway. With his luck, he was betting the darn thing would be locked, but by another small miracle it swung open like a charm. It opened up to a smaller room, consisting of simple stairs that went up and around to the first floor (ground floor?). He headed up the staircase, the Poltergust dragging him down just a little. The cobwebs that dotted the walls and corners made his spine shiver. As he walked up the stairs, he approached the windows.
Rain beat down against the glass. The sound relaxed his nerves, so he stood there for a little while and let the calming sound sink in. It brought him back to the days of when he and his brother were children, sitting by the window watching the rain fall. The two of them would run outside and play around in the rain… until Luigi ended up getting sick, and had to be brought inside by Mario.
Mario...
He continued walking up the old but still strong stairs, distracted by the wall in front of him. A golden carving of a mural stared him down, depicting Hellen Gravely surrounded by rays like she was the sun itself.
'Wow... OOF!'
He ran right into something as he approached the corner of the stairs. Backing up a bit, he saw a knocked-over bin resting in his way. A kick only resulted in a hurting foot.
'Uh, maybe I could blow it out of the way?'
Pressing the 'blow' button, he got his weapon to exhale on the bin. It accomplished absolutely nothing, except for scattering bits of dust into the air. Sniffling from the airborne particles, he somewhat absentmindedly hit both the suck and blow button at once.
'WaaaaAAAAH!'
Much to his shock, surprise, and terror, it launched him a few feet above the floor as air burst from the back of his Poltergust with the force of a speeding train. His legs flailed about for the second or two he was airborne. It felt as though a ghost had grabbed him and lifted him up, before dropping him back down. He stumbled around for a little bit.
'O-oh my Grambi! The Poltergust can do that?!'
Before he could even piece together any thoughts when it came to this device's new capability, the bin that had once blocked his way had been thrown into the air by his newest attack. It slammed into the ground and practically burst into pieces, leaving nothing behind but rubble and dust.
Upon seeing his accomplishment, he smiled wide. 'Oh yeah! I do it! Luigi number... ah... AH-CHOOO! WAHH-CHFFFP!'
Aiming his Poltergust upwards, he took advantage of its more mundane use and vacuumed up the dust cloud.
'Yay, allergies...' He muttered, somewhat bitterly.
With the dust cleared and not in his respiratory system, he glanced back at the Poltergust nozzle. If that burst move was something the previous models could do, he never found it. The most likely explanation was that he had a new model on him. Either way, he needed to know what that bursting thing was about. He pressed both buttons at the same time, bracing himself for the rush.
'Whoa-ho!'
Just as he anticipated, he flew off the ground, scattering rubble and trash with the explosion of air. His landing was a little smoother this time.
'Gotta ask the professor what that was about... i-if I find him.'
'Where... where did you get this wood from?'
'Don't question me, Charles! Just barge up that dang door!'
'Do we really need to do this?'
'Yeah, let's just give the green kid a free ticket out of here. Be quiet and start drillin'!'
'I'm already drillin'.'
'Then drill more!'
Luigi couldn't believe that this dark, solemn room was once the beautiful and golden Grand Lobby. It was like night and day, almost literally. Gloomy blues and purples had replaced those eye-bleedingly bright oranges and yellows. Gargoyle statues and balloons stared at him with glowing eyes. The whole time while he stepped into the centre of the room, he couldn't shake off the feeling that someone was watching him with obsessive intent. He looked up...
'Oh s-s-sweet Luvbi...'
... and saw the pictures hanging up with X's covering up all their faces. It was like a murderer marking off their victims. He turned around, and was so shocked from the sight that he dropped his flashlight.
'Uh oh...'
Several wooden boards and chains covered the wall, to the point where the doors behind them were hardly visible. Two ghosts drilled into them further, as if they needed more security added.
'Hey Charles, you think that's enough?' One of them asked.
'You tell me, Sam. This was your idea.' The other answered, his arms hanging low.
The first one put her chin in her hand. 'You think the green kid had any way of getting through this?'
While these two Goobs had a conversation, Polterpup arrived onto the scene... dragging his rear across the floor.
'Honey, this has been impenetrable since we started.' Charles said. 'I'm sure it's enough.'
'Hm... yep, I think we're done here. ... Oh hey, that's a cute doggie!'
'Oh thank Jaydes...'
Sam spun her drill around like she was a smug cowboy with a gun, before causally tossing it over her shoulder. It knocked off the head of one of the statues as it came in for a landing. Charles, instead, simply dropped his to the floor.
'Right.' He said. 'Let's get out of here.'
'Couldn't agree with ya more.'
As they drifted away, Luigi stood perfectly still in silence. He prayed that maybe - just maybe - if he didn't draw attention to himself, those ghosts would leave and he'd be safe for now. And watching them float off, he almost sighed in relief.
'BOOOO!' Sam yelled as she suddenly got into his face.
'YAAHHH!' He screamed as his body turned stiff.
Sam just fell into a fit of laughter, one so hard that tears came to her eyes. Luigi wanted to grab his Strobulb and flash her in the eyes, but his petrified body didn't move, aside from his shaking fists.
She wiped her eyes. 'Oh man... that never gets old!' She turned to her partner. 'Lookie here, honey. The green kid practically gave himself to us. Let's bring him to Ms Gravely and reap the rewards!'
Charles did not celebrate. He peered at our green-clad hero, looking him up and down. Then, he gasped.
'He's got the Poltergust!' He yelled. 'Sam, we gotta get out of here at once!'
Sam stopped laughing and yelped. Even though Luigi fumbled around as he tried to grab his Poltergust, she flailed her arms about and fled into the air. She flew around like an out-of-control RC airplane, before she finally disappeared into the ceiling.
Charles sighed, and whistled to seemingly nowhere. 'We found the green guy! We need back-up!'
By the time Luigi finally got a grasp on his weapon, Charles followed his partner through the ceiling. The plumber sighed and wiped his sweaty brow... only for tall gates swirling with purple energy to emerge from thin air and slam into the floor, blocking him off from going anywhere but the main room.
'Oh no... o-okay, how do I do this again?'
Another blue ghost, seemingly unrelated from the two Goobs from before, popped up through the floor. The moment he saw the timid man, he chuckled.
'This is the chump you were worried about?' He said. 'Alright then.'
The Goob approached him slowly, almost certainly intentionally just to mess with the apparently weak man. Luigi, though rather unnerved, knew what to do. He grabbed his flashlight and began charging it. The Goob pranced over to him, moving as daintily as possible.
'Oh look at me guys!' He said. 'I might get punched lightly by the big scary man.'
Two other Goobs watched him from the balcony at the top of the stairs. One stared at him dumbfounded, whereas the other had his head deep in his palm.
'George is doing something dumb again.' The staring one said, her mouth wide open. 'Should we-?'
The facepalming one waved his other hand around. 'No, no. It's unnatural selection.'
The cocky Goob stood in front of Luigi, and slowly - very, very slowly - raised his hands to attack. Luigi smirked a little as he raised his flashlight up.
'Oh no, the big scary man might beat me to double d- AH!'
Luigi unleashed the fully-charged flash right into the ghost's eyes, covering his own for a moment. The Goob stood still with a look of shock on his face.
'Ah-ha!' The plumber said. 'Gotcha!'
Before the Goob could get over the sudden light, Luigi got the ghost's tail caught in the Poltergust's nozzle. The whole move happened so smoothly, you'd think ghostbusting was his profession.
The Goob quickly realised his tail was stuck in the weaponised vacuum. 'GAH! Hey, get your thingy off me!'
He flew around the room quite wildly, dragging Luigi along. The plumber refused to let his grasp go, even as his shoes scraped against the ground. He could feel the grip on the ghost he dug his heels in, trying to get a grip on the floor. Holding on tight, he pulled the nozzle up. It took some strength to fight against the struggling phantom, but the vibrations travelling through the pipe grew much stronger. In a bout of adrenaline, he lifted his weapon up far higher than he intended to, throwing the ghost over his shoulder and slamming it into the ground.
'Whoa!' He exclaimed.
The Goob twitched. 'Owww...'
Luigi blinked a few times. Was that a new feature of this Poltergust? For the first time in a while, he grinned, making a mischievous face you would never expect him to make.
'Oh yeah! Take this!'
He spun around, flung that ghost over his shoulder and slammed him into the ground again.
'O-Okay, I underestimated you.' The ghost said. 'Please stop!'
Unfortunately for him, Luigi beat him against the floor again. And again. And again. Upon this final slam, the Goob finally gave up, and disappeared into his Poltergust.
Luigi smiled wide. 'Yeah! Luigi did it!'
The female Goob's jaw hit its limit for how far it could fall. 'Sweet Jaydes! I knew that vacuum was strong, but that green guy has more power than he lets on.'
The male Goob scowled. 'Let's get him before he causes more trouble!'
Luigi had heard both of them, and lost his smile. The other two Goobs vanished into thin air, and his spine shivered.
'Oh no...'
He looked around, shining his flashlight everywhere. He could've sworn he had once used something to make invisible objects visible. Alas, the Dark-Light Device did not seem to come with this model. The hairs on his body drifted subtly from the slight gusts of wind the ghosts picked up.
'Grrr...!'
He flinched. His eyes immediately darted to the source of the sound, meeting his Polterpup growling at nothing. The doggy barked aggressively, his eyes narrowed.
'Boy? What are you-?'
A lightbulb went off, quite literally. He Strobulbed exactly where his pet was barking, and the flash materialised the female Goob.
'GAH!' She yelled. 'You TRAITOR!'
Luigi took advantage of the Goob's stunned state, and quickly got her into the Poltergust. No matter how much she flew around, Luigi didn't let go.
'I could use a little help here!' She cried, feeling her essence drain into her new prison.
'Stop moving so I can get a grip on the guy!' The other Goob said, from wherever he was.
'Oh yeah. That's a good idea!'
Despite being dragged around in a circle, Luigi noticed his dog standing still as a statue, his tail out straight and his nose pointing ahead.
'Hey!' The male Goob said. 'Don't give away a fellow ghost like that.'
Once Luigi was sure he had the captive ghost in prime slamming position, he swung her above his head in the direction of where Polterpup pointed. The female Goob didn't get whacked against the floor, but instead her friend who lay down, crushed beneath her.
'Oof...'
'Oh... oh, that hurts...'
Luigi's mind couldn't quite catch up, and he smashed the two ghosts together several more times. The female Goob disappeared into the Poltergust, and the one who had been thoroughly mashed was sucked into it like he was nothing more than a small dust cloud. Luigi stood still in waiting, his eyes darting around for anything glowing blue. After a couple of seconds, the supernatural gates lifted and disappeared, and silence fell upon the lobby once again.
'Phew...' He muttered, wiping his brow with his sleeve. 'Oh yeah! Luigi's still got it!'
'Woof woof!'
He turned his attention to the balcony on the second floor, where Polterpup stood like a proud lion.
'Oh. C-Coming, boy!'
Luigi chased his pet up the stairs, and once he arrived at the top, he stood on the balcony; he had to admit, even the creepy hotel still looked pretty impressive. He turned back around to the grand set of doors behind him. Polterpup jumped on through, so Luigi followed him. His hand shook as he placed it on the door handle, and he stared at the closed doors for a little while.
What awaited him on the other side? Ignoring that thought, he gulped and pushed the door open. A big ballroom waited for him on the other side, and aside from the chairs and tables stacked on the sides, it was totally empty.
Luigi's attention couldn't focus on anything else but what lay at the end of the ballroom.
'E-E. Gadd?!'
There was no doubt about it; that was the professor.
Trapped in a portrait of his own.
Author Notes - Charles and Sam were kinda interesting when I was first writing this story. I just gave them random names and personalities to make them feel more real, with the intention of them getting captured. But I quickly fell in love with their dynamic and couldn't bring myself to do it. This somehow led to them becoming supporting characters throughout the whole story. Especially when their son got involved.
Something I don't think I brought up in the last version was the genders of the regular ghosts. Most other video game adaptations I've seen, such as fellow LM3 story 'Hotel Horror', typically make the minions, like the Goobs, ALL dudes. Like, every single one of them. As though there are no female Goobs or Hammers or whatever out there. It's a small and kinda dumb thing, I know, but it always kind of annoys me. Something something 'men are seen as the default and women as special' something. So, in my stories, the redshirt minions also consist of women.
