Author Notes - Alright, theatre production is now over. There should hopefully be less delays now!

Kruller was so much fun to write in the original story. He just presented me with a slight problem in that the animations alone already provided him with buckets of personality, so giving him dialogue was a little tough. I got the idea to give him a thick Brooklyn accent from a review on Hotel Horror, surprisingly enough. ... You sick of me mentioning that story yet?

CHAPTER SEVEN - SHOP TILL YOU DROP DEAD

'Okay Officer Kruller,' Charles's voice came over the walkie talkie on the officer's belt. 'If you see that green guy, lock him up immediately. Got it?'

The titular Officer Kruller, an overweight purple ghost wearing police uniform, ignored the order coming through to him as he paced around the top floor of the hotel shops. He had a flashlight in his hand, and he strutted with confidence.

'Officer Kruller?' Charles's voice came again.

Kruller hummed a little tune to himself, blissfully unaware of the guy trying to talk to him.

'Oh for goodness... PAUL!'

'AHH!'

He yelped and flinched. 'Uh, um, I...' He cleared his throat, and spoke much more boldly. 'Officer Kruller, hearin' you loud an' clear, over!'

Charles sighed. 'Just look out for the stupid green guy. Got it?' Just quietly enough so the cop couldn't hear, he muttered, 'Ya bloody moron...'

Kruller shone his flashlight across the entire top floor. Leaning over the guard rails, he took a quick glance across the bottom floor too.

'Everythin's clear on my side. Over!'

The elevator rides always stretched the boundary between too long and too short. And Luigi really didn't like it. Simultaneously too early and too late, the doors opened up to the new floor. Luigi stood up against the wall, and peeked his head past it while darting his flashlight back and forth. His breathing relaxed; no ghosts to be seen. Yet.

'O-Okay.' He said. 'We're safe.'

Daisy sighed in exasperation. 'Oh come on, Luigi. What're you so scared of?'

'O-Oh, nothing at all.' He gulped. 'Just a bunch of angry ghosts who want to hand me over to their boss. Nothing at all!'

She scoffed. 'No need to be scared when I'm around!'

His flashlight wasn't necessary due to the ceiling light illuminating the entire elevator hall. To their left were a couple of bathrooms which weren't needed quite yet, and to the right was a revolving door that led to the actual shops.

'Well?' Daisy said, flexing her gloves. 'Let's get going! We oughta find something here. Maybe another elevator button!'

Without waiting for him, she headed for the revolving door. He picked himself up and went after her.

'I don't like revolving doors...' He muttered. 'They make me dizzy.'

Daisy smirked as she reached for the door. 'Really now? They're not that-'

She promptly got caught up in the spinning vortex of terror - I mean, doors - and pinned in-between the glass walls.

'WHOA-HO-HO!'

It took a few seconds until the doors spat her out on the other side of the wall.

'You know smoke!' She blurted out. 'When you see smoke, her pennies pinch back!'

She shook her head, and got over her dizziness. Now that the world had stopped spinning, she got a good look at the shopping centre. Aside from the usual feeling of dread associated with sneaking into the mall after it closed, it seemed a little nicer compared to the rest of the hotel. There were two shops on the first floor, and another two on the second. Each had a card symbol associated with it, and all were locked behind steel bars. A pair of escalators led from the bottom floor to the top and back again. Gardens decorated the edges of both floors; the only part that really piqued her interest.

'Hey Luigi!' She called. 'You co-?'

'WAHH!' Luigi cried as he was launched out of the tornado.

'OOF!' Daisy exclaimed as he knocked her to the floor.

'Owie...'

Polterpup waltzed on through the solid door like it was nothing.

Daisy got back onto her feet, helping Luigi up too. 'And people say we have nothing in common.' She said with a grin, making him laugh.

Luigi's laughter ended quickly, as something caught his attention. He noticed Officer Kruller marching across the top floor. His eyes fell upon a glowing light on his belt.

'Do do do, searchin' for dat green bud...' Kruller sang to himself, his jiggling keys providing the background music. 'Bah ba bah, gonna show 'em I ain't no dud...'

Luigi gasped, and grabbed Daisy's wrist. 'Hide!'

He pinned himself and her against the wall. Polterpup yelped and joined them. Kruller continued to sing his surprisingly-well-rhymed improvised song, totally ignorant of our hiding heroes.

'Badda bum ba, hope I'm not down on my luck. Badda do dah, cos den I'd be totally-'

A small bump came from down the hall that led to his office.

'AHH!' He nearly dropped his flashlight from the shock. 'H-Hello? W-Who's there? Come out wit' your h-hands up!'

With his flashlight in hand like it was a gun, he leaned up against the wall, shining his light down the hall.

'I-I warn youse... I have a gun! ... S-Somewhere.'

He readjusted his sunglasses and sucked his (very shaky) breath in.

'A-Alright. We have a possible 4-5-9 in the Hotel Shops. Over.'

He gulped, and floated down the hall. Nothing could be seen except for the vending machine at the end; the perfect place for a criminal to hide.

'Uh... I-I might need back-up. 10-75, 10-75! Over!'

Shaking more than jelly in an earthquake, he arrived at the vending machine. The bump came again, making his entire body flinch.

'A-Anything youse say or do will be used against youse! Maybe?'

A mouse stuck its head out of the vending machine. In spite of the anti-climax, it seemed to be rather pleased with itself.

'Huh?'

He stared at the smug mouse for a little while, until it grew bored and rushed into a mouse hole in the wall. The scene went still as Kruller let what happened sink in.

'Oh thank goodness...' He muttered, wiping the sweat off his brow.

Certain that the 'threat' was gone, he put on his courageous façade once again.

'False alarm. Da intruder was nothin' more than a simple rodent. Fortunately I was dere to handle da situation. Now, uh... I will return to my office.' He paused. 'Call anyone else to handle anymore problems. Over.'

He sprung into the red door to his office head-first, pushing to get himself and his, er, girth through. A key dropped out of his pocket and clinked on the floor. The clinking sound echoed throughout the otherwise silent shops. Our heroes heard it, and it made Daisy smile.

'Awesome! Sounds like he dropped something.' She said. 'If we're lucky, that was the elevator button and we can get out of here already.'

Luigi frowned. 'Knowing my luck, I doubt it.'

With the coast clear, the duo and their doggy assistant left their hiding spot and ran up the unmoving escalators. As soon as Luigi reached the top, he stopped and looked back at them.

Daisy ran past a little black table and a stack of chairs by the time she realised that he wasn't following. 'Uh, Luigi, what's the hold-up?'

He was silent for a few seconds. 'There are escalators here. They're ghosts. They can float. Why do they need escalators?'

'Luigi, that's… a good point. Maybe this hotel used to belong to people who used to be alive? Or… something worse. Let's, uh, not think about that.'

Polterpup helpfully interrupted the conversation with a happy yip. He was already down the hallway, sniffing at the shiny object on the floor.

'Nice one, Polterpup!' Daisy said before running after him.

'W-Wait for me!' Luigi cried as he followed her.

The object was not the elevator button, but instead a key. A weirdly shaped key to boot. He didn't know many keys that had a crimson diamond at the end of it. Regardless, Daisy yanked the key and looked at it with twinkling eyes.

'Ha! That cop's just left the key to his office right here for us to take!' She said, twirling it around her finger. 'And I doubt he'll be that hard to take on.'

The door to Kruller's office had a lock on it, and as Daisy went to put the key in Luigi couldn't help staring at it. Like the diamond-shaped key, this lock was an oddity on its own: it was yellow and shaped like a star. When Daisy tried to turn the key, it did nothing.

'Oh come on!' She yelled. 'Why won't this stupid key work?!'

Luigi grabbed the key, and held it up so the diamond was right next to the star lock.

'See the shapes? They're not the same.' He said. 'We'll need a star-shaped key for this.'

Daisy put her chin in her hand. 'Ah. I'm an idiot.'

'Don't say that about yourself, please.'

'Maybe one of those shops needs this key. It's a lead. Let's go! Okay, there's four shops. The key has to fit one of them.'

Luigi's attention fell on the shop - a gift shop judging by the sign of a present - they now stood in front of. His eyes drifted to the symbols at its entrance. He recognised them as spades from a deck of cards. He held the key up, aligning the symbols next to each other. Unsurprisingly, the diamond didn't match up with the spades.

'Hey Luigi!' Daisy called. 'I think I found something!'

She looked up at the symbols of the other shop on the second floor, on the other side of the escalators. The big diamond on the sign identified it as the jewellery store. Fittingly, the symbols on the entrance were diamond-shaped. Luigi ran over to her, and held the key up to check; it was a perfect match.

'Found it!' He said, smiling.

Daisy fist-bumped the air. 'Progress! Sweet, sweet progress! Now where's the lock?'

The bars blocking the door didn't have a lock attached. Daisy ran her hands across the bars as she and Luigi searched for a lock that wasn't there. Even Dark-Lighting the gate accomplished nothing.

'Maybe the key isn't for the gate?' Luigi suggested.

'Then what would it be for?' Daisy asked. 'It's a key. This is a gate. Hello!'

A moving white object caught his eye. Polterpup bounced around, next to the cash register. Somehow, among all the pretty jewellery on display, it was the register that interested him the most. It had a lock on it, shaped like a red diamond.

'Polterpup thinks it's for the register.' He said. 'What do you think?'

'With that diamond shape for a lock, absolutely. But how are you gonna get in?'

'Oh!' Luigi snapped his fingers. 'Gooigi!'

Daisy snapped her fingers too. 'Dang it. I was just about to say that.'

Luigi threw the big key on the floor, and imagined himself as the goo in his Poltergust. Upon feeling that cramped sensation, he pushed himself out of the container, and reformed as his gooey counterpart.

Daisy flinched. 'I am never getting used to that...'

Luigi, now in the body of Gooigi, picked the key up again and stored it in his torso. The red glow could be easily seen through the translucent green skin. He squeezed through the bars with ease, and turned back to his partner.

Daisy laughed nervously. 'Please go unlock the register now. Please. I'm still not used to this.'

He nodded, and made his way over to the register in the back corner. Now walking in the Gooigi body for real, he noticed how squishy his steps were. They left behind a tiny puddle of goo that dissolved into the air before returning to his body. Polterpup took this moment to lick his owner's jelly legs. The taste of coffee made him wince. Pulling the key out of his stomach, Gooigi put it in the keyhole. It turned with ease, and the tray launched open. Instead of the money he had been expecting, another key flew out and fell on the floor. This key had its own symbol, a pink heart.

'Wha...?' Daisy questioned from the sidelines. 'The cop put a key in the-?! Never mind.'

'Gooigi' stared at the key for a couple seconds, giving plenty of time for a Goob to emerge from behind the register with a smirk on his blue face. Polterpup yelped and jumped into a bow, growling.

'Uh, Luigi? Gooigi?' Daisy said. 'There's a ghost right there!'

She spoke as if Gooigi didn't notice the ghost right next to him. He stood perfectly still, not even bothering to turn his head.

'Boo!' The Goob yelled, his arms in the air.

Still, Gooigi did nothing, even though Luigi's mind inside of him wanted to run.

The Goob frowned, and put his hands on his hips. 'What? Was my scare not good enough for you?'

Once again, the gummy human didn't respond in any way, as if refusing to dignify him with a response.

'Um, hello? Anyone in there?'

He peered closely at the face. There was definitely no emotion behind those green soulless eyes. He poked Gooigi's nose a couple times, convinced he was talking to a malleable statue. Hey!

The Goob pouted. 'They told me you were really jumpy. Where's the fun if you don't scream?'

His empty eyes fell upon the shiny key on the floor. With a shrug, he picked it up. He ran his fingers across its golden body.

'I suppose this is good enough. Not that ghosts really need keys. Maybe I can sell it for money.'

Gooigi wanted to yell at him to give it back, but nothing came out. Polterpup snarled, leapt off the floor and, just like how he did it in Evershade Valley, snatched the key away and held it in his mouth.

'Hey!' The Goob yelled. 'I stole that key first!'

Before he could swing a fist at the ghostly dog, Gooigi flashed him in the eyes. How the Strobulb still worked was a question Gooigi did not care about. Without a sweat, if he even could sweat, the man made of goo got a grip on the Goob.

'You're not jumpy at all! THEY LIED TO ME!'

Gooigi did not feel like dealing with this guy for any longer, and so slammed him all around indiscriminately.

*SMASH*

Destroying one of the glass cases in the process. Glass shards scattered everywhere. If he was in his regular body, he'd be covered in cuts, but they passed through Gooigi harmlessly. With the ghost gone, Gooigi could stare at his destruction without interruption. Some of the jewellery, that now lay on the floor, survived, but the rest of it had been broken into at least two separate pieces.

'Oops.' He said. 'Sorry.'

'Forget about that!' Daisy said. 'You got the key. So get outta there!'

Gooigi gave her a thumbs up, his only real means of communication. He concentrated not on getting back into his fleshy body, but instead transporting himself back into the container. His body broke apart into green droplets. He lifted his head up, and the green filter over everything vanished. The container on his Poltergust refilled. The weirdest part about jumping between the two bodies was how it wasn't weird at all.

'Oh thank Grambi, you're back.' Daisy said, sighing in relief. 'So where's the key?'

'It's right… uh oh.'

He glanced through the bars again. Polterpup walked towards him, key in mouth, with a proud smile on his snout. Phasing through the wall, he dropped the key in front of his owner while wagging his tail.

Luigi knelt down to stroke his head and pick up the key. 'Thanks boy! You wanna bet we'll have to check all the shops before we find the key?'

'There's a chance we'll find the right key before then. But don't tell me the odds.'

Following the shape led them to the store in the southeast corner of the shops, on the bottom floor. The purple dress on the sign indicated it was a clothes shop.

Luigi 'activated' Gooigi and slipped through the bars, Polterpup following him in. The shop had several outfits, mostly dresses, on display. He liked the look of a lot of them, certainly more than Daisy would. She'd look good in them; she looked good in everything. An orange dress with deep blue accents especially stood out to him. The cash register, this one marked with a pink heart, rested at the back left corner. Gooigi put the key in, and with a quick turn the tray opened up. The key inside it, this one with a blue spades symbol at the end, didn't launch out this time.

'Now grab that key so we can move on already!' Daisy yelled, as if he wouldn't do it anyway.

Gooigi reached for the key, but then it rose up into the air, slowly and still. He went to grab it, but it swung out of his reach. A visible blue aura emanated off the key, a similar aura to those of the Goobs. Wait, can I see ghost auras like this? He got his Strobulb ready for the ghost to materialise. What he wasn't expecting was the Goob in question to be smaller than his head. She held the key up over her body, like it was the sword in the stone itself.

'Ooh, pwetty key! I want da pwetty key!'

Her voice would've made his hair stand on end if he had any at that moment. Her voice was far too childlike. She sounded no older than five.

'Get the key off her, Luigi!' Daisy ordered.

Gooigi wanted to gently and carefully coax her into giving him the key, but - with how limited his speaking capabilities were - he had no chance of being anything but direct.

'Give me the key.'

The Mini-Goob hugged the key like it was a teddy bear. 'No! Da pwetty key is mine! If you want da pwetty key, you gotta take it from me and my fwiends!'

Daisy scoffed. 'You and what friends?'

Polterpup shuddered, picking up the vibe of many, many more ghosts. Right on cue, more Mini-Goobs emerged from the floor. There had to be about ten of them, surrounding Luigi on all sides.

'Uh... forget I said anything!' Daisy said.

'Look at the liddle puppy!'

'Da key is for us!'

The swarm of Mini-Goobs was getting closer, each of them expressing their own unique form of gleeful aggression. Gooigi winced. I... I don't wanna capture them. They're just little bambine...

The first Mini-Goob waved the key in front of him, smirking. 'I know you want da pwetty key. But you can't haff it!'

He sighed. If only Gooigi could close his eyes, so he didn't have to look at them. He unleashed the charged-up flash, capturing about three of them without any effort. The cries they let out only made him feel worse. Don't think about it, Weegee. Just worry about the key...

The first Mini-Goob shrieked. 'Your vacuum cweaner is so scawy! Dat's unfair! You're a gween meanie!'

One of the tiny ghosts behind him swung around like a ballerina and hit the back of his neck.

'Ow!'

The pain faded away quickly, like the goo absorbed it. Gooigi spun around and dealt with more of them, getting rid of a large chunk of them for every round. He flashed a fifth time, only to find that they had all disappeared into his Poltergust. The spade-shaped key rested on the floor, the ghost aura gone. He held his flashlight close to his chest. I hope those little bambine are okay...

'You okay, sweetie?' Daisy asked.

Gooigi handed the key to Polterpup. 'They were kids.'

Daisy's heart sank. 'Well, we got the key. That's all that matters.'

Sighing in agreement, Gooigi gave his unconscious body a thumbs-up and returned to his glass home. Polterpup carried the key out and gave it to the re-awakened Luigi. He stared at the key with regret, hoping he wouldn't have to fight anymore young ghosts.

'Still no star.' He said, putting that behind him. 'We're never getting that button back.'

Daisy patted his back with perhaps a little too much force. 'And you're never saving Mario with that defeatist attitude!'

He sighed, and gave her the strongest smile he could. 'Where would I be without you, Daisy?'

'In tip-top condition, but definitely more sad.'

The gift shop provided almost no challenge, beyond a couple of Goobs Luigi and Daisy made their way down to the final shop on the bottom floor via the escalators. As soon as Daisy put her foot down on the escalator, it moved from beneath her, jolting her forward.

'Whoa!'

She fell onto her face as the now-moving escalator carried her away.

'Daisy!' Luigi cried.

He got on and, while stumbling a few times, ran after her. The moving platform threw off his balance.

'Are you okay?'

Daisy got up like nothing had happened. 'You expect a little fall to hurt me? I just wanna know what made these escalators move all of a sudden.'

Luigi shivered as an eerie vibe settled over him. It was a similar vibe to that he felt from the hotel staff, but somehow stronger. Polterpup, unaffected by the movement underneath him, sniffed around. He picked up something that worried him.

Daisy shrugged. 'Eh. It's convenient.'

The escalator brought them down to their final destination. The moment they arrived at the store, they noticed a major problem.

'Oh.' Daisy stated simply. Luigi added in a groan.

The entrance of the store was blocked off, not by bars like the others but by horizontal panels of solid, albeit rather flimsy, plastic that left no room to squeeze through. Luigi peered closely at the 'gaps' between the panels; they were hardly there at all. Looking through the window, he could see not only floating scissors cutting the hair of non-existent people but the register at the back as well. The lock matched the purple club key he had on him.

'Well, that's just great.' Daisy sighed, rolling her eyes. 'I'll bet that place has the key we need. You're good at puzzle solving. What do you think?'

Luigi stepped back to get a view of the entire store, and scanned his eyes across for any sort of notable detail. The clubs next to the big pair of scissors on the sign had a joint in the middle of both of them. He aimed his Poltergust up at one of the clubs, and once air flowed out from his weapon, it proceeded to spin. When he stopped using his Poltergust, the spinning slowed down and quickly ceased.

'Those clubs spin.' He said. 'Maybe if they both spin at once, it'll open the door... maybe.'

Daisy crossed her arms and groaned, not because of Luigi but because she was losing her patience. As she thought about this frustration, the lights on the Phantasma-Gloves glowed bright, the brightest they had yet. She gritted her teeth, and without thinking about it swung her fist at the panels.

'But they stop spinning when I'm not Poltergusting them.' Luigi continued, chin in hand. 'I think I need to get Gooigi to-'

*SMASH*

The ear-piercing sound shattered his thoughts. He screamed, stumbled over his own feet and fell to the floor. Even Polterpup had fled the scene, convinced he heard thunder.

'Oh my gosh!' Daisy cried. 'I... I didn't think that would actually work!'

That smashing sound, unsurprisingly with how loud it was, reached Kruller's office. The police officer had been leaning back in the chair at his desk, until the crash greeted him.

'AHHH!'

He jumped and fell out of his chair, hitting the ground with a very audible thud. His sunglasses fell off his face and landed on his chest. Once his hyperventilating came to a stop, he leapt to his, erm, tail, and darted his head around.

'W-Who's dere?! I-I am armed, and I ain't afraid to shoot!'

A few seconds of silence passed. He sighed in relief, and picked up his walkie talkie. It wasn't on.

'I t'ink we have a break-in here in da Hotel Shops. Dis is definitely a 4-9-5. Everyone must be on patrol at once!'

He floated over to the security camera feed behind him. Wait, no, he got back on the floor and rolled over to his computers like a cop from the 70's. After getting a little dazed upon slamming into his computers, he stood up and peered closely at his security cams.

'Alright you hooligans, you're about to find out dat crime don't pay.'

He found the 'hooligans' almost immediately, thanks to the lack of activity on any other screen. Camera 05, the one for outside the salon, showed two people. One of them, the woman, had just managed to demolish his security measures in a single punch.

'O-Oh no...' Kruller gulped. 'Uh, it s-seems we got ourselves a 5-0-7 here, wit' a possible 2-4-2. And a...'

He gasped. The man who stared at the woman in shock looked eerily similar to the wanted posters. In fact, downright identical. Shivers overcame his body.

'D-Dat's him! D-Dat's da green bud! H-He's da one who's been capturin' my friends...'

After fumbling around in an attempt to find them, he picked up his sunglasses and slipped them back on.

'W-Well, I suppose I'll have to wait for him to come to me. Over!'

Luigi stared at what remained of the blockage with blank shock. Daisy shared the look. Polterpup returned to his owner's side, only once he was certain it was not thunder. Somehow, with one swift punch, Daisy had totally demolished the admittedly weak panels that had blocked her way.

'Wh... what?' Luigi stammered out, finally getting off the floor.

Daisy glanced down at her fist. The lights on the glove flashed rapidly and faded away. She grinned as the realisation sunk in.

'Aw, sweet!' She said. 'These gloves let me smash walls if I really want to! Noice.'

Luigi tip-toed over to her, unable to take his eyes off the shards scattered all over the salon floor.

'Uh, c-can you not do that?' He suggested.

She raised an eyebrow at him. 'You serious? This could save us all of the puzzles.'

'I-I know that, but... it creates a lot of noise. If we keep doing this, we might attract unwanted attention. Or, uh, demolish the entire hotel with us inside it.'

'Oh.' She said, letting her arm relax. 'Good thing you're here, or I would've destroyed the place by now.'

They made their way over to the register, the only distraction being Luigi flinching a little from the scissors dropping to the floor.

'Please have the office key...' He murmured as he went to put the key in.

Just as the key was about to be put inside the lock, five big balls of fire resembling blue will-o'-the-wisps emerged from the wall.

'Uh, Luigi, what are those?' Daisy asked.

'Spirit balls...'

'Spirit what?'

The spirit balls floated hypnotically around the register, and without warning flew into it and made it seemingly vanish into thin air.

Daisy jumped back. 'Oh! They're the things that make objects seemingly disappear, right?'

She glanced down at her Phantasma-Gloves, her attention caught by the lights that grew brighter every second.

'Yeah.' Luigi said. 'So I'll need to use the-'

'Hang on. I wanna try something.'

She reached her hand out to where the register used to be, and the lights on her gloves glowed more intensely. To both her and his surprise, her hands collided with what appeared to be air. Feeling around, she felt the distinctive shape of what was there before.

'Okay, it's official.' She said. 'These gloves are the best thing E. Gadd's ever invented. Can I take that?'

Without waiting for his response, she took the key away from him. He frowned, but said nothing. She felt blind, having to feel around for something that she couldn't see. That rectangular object at the bottom had to be the tray, so if she went a little to the right...

'Aha! That's gotta be the lock! So if I...'

She inserted the key into the slot, after about eight failed attempts. That's what made Luigi stare with his mouth agape.

'Now watch this!' Daisy declared like a magician on stage.

She gave the key a quick turn, and - in case the sound of the tray opening didn't prove it enough - another key flew out of thin air and directly into her hand.

'How d'ya like that?' She said, twirling the key on her pinky.

Every minute it seemed Luigi found something new to gape at. What he had just witnessed went against all (okay, maybe not all) he knew about the spirit balls. At the same time, if the Phantasma-Gloves could touch ghosts, they already had some physics-breaking capabilities.

Then he noticed the shape of the key. 'A yellow star? This has to be the key to the cop's office!'

'Finally! Let's just get him and the button so we can get out of here.'

Luigi reached out to grab the key, but Daisy just threw it into her other hand. Polterpup bent his knees, ready to leap up and take it from her.

'I think it's best if I carry it.' She said. 'Just in case.'

'What?! Why?' Luigi asked, glaring at her before his expression softened. 'I-I mean, you can carry it if you want, but why? Don't you trust me with the key?'

She strutted out the shattered remains of the salon's security door, swaying her hips just a little bit too much. Luigi followed after her when he realised he was being left behind.

'Just saying, not many people have managed to lose the keys to their kart for a month.'

He blushed, and stammered out nonsense before saying something coherent. 'I, uh, I only lost them for a couple weeks. It was getting lost on my way to the course that set me back so much.'

She used all her willpower to resist giggling. 'And I should trust you with this very important key when you manage to lose yourself, because...?' Her smirk faded away. 'Uh, but if you want to carry the key, I'm fine with that too.' She said, handing it to him though he didn't take it. 'I mean, it's a pretty big key. I'm sure you won't lose it.'

'N-No. You should have it.' He replied.

Daisy groaned. 'Just ignore my stupid joke! Alright? I'm not funny. Let's just put this whole thing behind us and… bust this cop already!' She giggled. 'Get it? Bust the cop? Because he's-'

'Yeah, I get it.' Luigi said, giving her a look.

She crossed her arms and pouted. 'Well, like I said. I'm not funny.'

With the key now in their possession, the trio made their way onto the moving-upwards escalator. It was all fine and good, until they reached the halfway point. The escalator on both sides came to an abrupt stop, sparks popping out of the sides. The Poltergust on his back, weighing him down, prevented Luigi from losing his balance. Daisy on the other hand...

'OOF!'

She fell rather unceremoniously onto her face. Fortunately, the gloves absorbed most of the impact from her hands, which had hit the ground first. Not waiting for her to get up, the escalator began to move once again. Downwards. Her eyes widening, she shot to her feet and tried to walk against it. It matched her speed, keeping her in place no matter how many steps she took. Luigi, on the other hand, didn't fight back against it at all and allowed it to carry him to the bottom.

'Hang on Luigi!' Daisy yelled, speeding up. 'I nearly got it.'

But no matter how fast she ran, she remained in place. The moving platform beneath her feet managed to keep up with her speed perfectly, regardless of how quickly she tried to fight. Polterpup, totally unaffected, sniffed the walls of the escalator again. That odour was anything but good.

She grunted. 'Okay! There's obviously some undead joker who thinks this is funny. Come at me!'

Two big red arms emerged from the floor and gripped onto the sides of the escalator, as a deep growling could be heard. Unlike the meagre arms of any other ghost seen before, these were noticeably big and muscular. Big enough that those hands alone could snap her spine.

'I repeat...' Daisy said between exhausted breaths. 'COME AT ME!'

Author Notes - I said I was going to explain the Phantasma-Gloves, so let's do that now. The idea behind them was simple: to give Daisy a way to fight ghosts, without her having a second Poltergust since that would make Gooigi less important. The gloves give her a totally different way of fighting, and even the occasional boost to her power when she's angry. I can't remember my exact thought process behind them, but that's about the size of it.

The original chapter had a bizarre bit where Daisy lied about liking shopping. I genuinely don't understand why I did this. Something about her having a reputation? I think it had something to do with her being a tomboy, but she shows her love for shopping without any shame, so...?

The exchange of 'where would I be without you' followed by 'in tip top condition' is probably a reference to that Cosi performance I did. I say 'probably' because I don't even remember writing that exchange. At all.