Author Notes - For those awaiting for Daisy to return, you shall have your wish! Will she get her own Poltergust to use? Actually... no she won't. I'm doing something a little special for her.

You may have noticed I'm cutting down on a lot of the random ghost encounters. That's because writing the ghostbusting scenes get really tedious to write sometimes.

Alternative title for this chapter: Maid For Goo and Me. That was the original title, but the multilevel pun-itude in THIS title was too good to pass up.

Random note - tried a Luigi's Mansion 3 any% speedrun. In-game time was about 3 h 50 min. For my first attempt at doing this, I'm quite proud. Then I immediately tried it again. I shaved off 26 min. Wait, wait, I know how to do this... weird flex, but okay. Th-That's how it's done, right?

Thanks to rebelhunter7151 for the favourite and the follow! (Usually I only count the follows of those who haven't favourited).

UPDATE 14/05/20 - Moved beginning flashback scene to end.

CHAPTER FIVE - GIVE ME YOUR ANSWER GOO

Thanks to the Dark-Light device revealing her imprint on the door, Luigi found the room Chambrea had disappeared into with ease. She skipped 505 and went straight for 504, the leftmost room in that hallway.

With the red luggage and golfing equipment - which included a golf club embedded through the chair - it had to be Soff T's room.

Chambrea floated above the bed, and this time she was ready. She glared right at Luigi, and held a golf club in her free hand. She swung it upwards as a form of intimidation, not afraid to use Luigi's head as a golf ball.

'Don't come near my briefcase!' She yelled. 'Or your head will be soaring with the eagles!'

And like in most situations like this, Luigi totally forgot about all that 'confidence' stuff and was reduced to his usual shivering mess.

'O-Okay, h-here's my deal again.' He said, approaching her slowly - each step he took made her wind up her club more. 'I'll let you go, if you give me that-'

'NEVER!'

He groaned. Polterpup growled, and leapt at her with his teeth bared. If he had to remove that briefcase by force, he would!

'Get away from my briefcase, you mangy mutt!'

*WHACK*

'YIP!'

Chambrea delivered a strike directly into Polterpup's chest.

'POLTERPUP!' Luigi cried, every part of his body going tense.

Polterpup slammed into the ground, and slid against the carpet. He lay still for a moment, before he leapt back onto his paws. Past the snarl, one could easily see his pained breaths. Luigi sighed in relief upon seeing his pet (relatively) okay. He glared back at Chambrea, giving her the same death glare he gave to opponents on the go-kart track.

She flinched. She, honest to goodness, flinched.

'Uh, uh...' She stammered, then cleared her throat. 'You can't defeat me! Not even the Poltergust can suck me up.'

He hated to admit it, but she was right. Though absolutely furious with her, he had to look past the anger clouding his judgement and focus on a possible way to defeat her. The shiny E. Gadd symbol on the briefcase inside her reflected the ceiling light, catching his attention. The proverbial pieces came together in his head.

If I could plunger the suitcases, then maybe...

He aimed the nozzle at the E. Gadd symbol, and fired. It passed right through her translucent skin, and nailed its target. She flinched again.

'Huh, what's this thing?' Chambrea questioned. 'Get it off my briefcase! It's the only thing I have!'

Wasting not a single second, Luigi ran over and got the plunger's rope into his Poltergust. Chambrea still didn't move at all, but she didn't need to.

She chuckled. 'We've been through this before, Green Boy. It won't work!'

He paid her no mind, and the moment the rope got tight he flung her into the air, over his shoulders and into the floor. If she had any air to knock out of her, she would've lost it all on impact.

'Owww!' She cried. 'That's not f-...!'

Luigi gave her no time to finish her sentence, and just slammed her against the carpet again, and again.

'If you just listened to me, you'd be free to go!'

He poured all of his strength into a great final whack.

'Nooooo!'

In slow motion it seemed, the briefcase came flying out of her body. She reached out for it as it soared, but it was no use. Luigi grabbed it in midair, and shoved it into his deep pocket. She was about to question how he did that, but realised she didn't care.

He released her from the plunger's hold. It took her several seconds to get back off the floor and look at him. Her angry look was gone, and sadness took its place.

'Why...?' She pleaded. 'Why did you take that from me? Ms Gravely gives me nothing. It was all I had!'

Luigi's own glare softened. The trembles in her voice sounded genuine. Between this and the bellhop, it made him wonder what Hellen Gravely was putting her workers through.

'Please, just give me my princess back.' He said, his voice just as weak. 'I need her back.'

'What makes you think you deserve that more painting more than me?' She retorted, leering at him. 'You have a mansion, with that big L on it. I have to clean this entire hotel, top to bottom, and for what? Let me have SOMETHING!'

She turned around and phased through the wall to Room 505. Luigi's death stare returned.

'Hey! Get back here!'

It was the most angry he had sounded in years. Not a single shred of his usual cowardly demeanour could be heard. He was in such a rush to get back to that room, that he didn't notice Polterpup chasing directly after that maid.

Room 505, which via process of elimination had to be Gus T's, clearly hadn't been finished yet. The wallpapers were tearing, there wasn't any carpet, and most of the furniture had tarps placed over them. Just Gus's luck to get the unfinished room.

Luigi barged on in, his body running on nothing but rage.

'Let Daisy go, you-!'

He did not expect to see Polterpup grabbing onto the portrait through Chambrea's body, and trying to pull it out directly. He gripped his paws into the floor, and seemed to be making slow but clear progress.

'Yeah, do it boy!' Luigi cheered, hiding the fact that he found the display quite horrific.

Chambrea tried - and utterly failed - to get him with the feather duster. How she wished she stayed in the other room...

'You stupid mutt! How could you obey someone like that Green Boy?!'

'Grrr...!'

'Hey, you leave my father out of this!'

After a few good yanks later, Polterpup ripped the portrait out of her stomach, bringing her face-first to the floor. He held it in his mouth like it was a bone. Chambrea barely reacted at all, aside from having a tantrum over losing her prize.

Luigi stood over her, looking down at her pleading face with his signature death stare. Despite how much bigger she was than him, he towered over her.

She pounded her fists on the floor like a spoiled child. 'I thought I'd like you Green Boy, but all you did was take away what little I got over decades of work!'

Luigi rolled his eyes. 'If you just gave me my stuff back, I wouldn't have done this.'

He was shocked by the words coming out of his own mouth. It seemed that coming to a loved one's defence can really change someone.

'You think I'm going to give up? I'm never going to give up. You hear me?!'

He decided to make it quick, and flashed her right in the eyes. Getting her tail into the Poltergust was just too easy now, and unlike before she was actually going down.

'Hey, this isn't fair! Get... get over here...!'

She tried her hardest to tickle his face with her duster, hoping it'd set her free again. Unfortunately for her, her arms were on full panic mode and flailed around aimlessly, getting nowhere near her target.

'I hate you, Green Boy! If I ever get out of your dusty vacuum, I swear, I'll-!'

She vanished without a trace.

'And good riddance!' Luigi yelled.

His anger went away along with the maid. And his fear, that he had ignored the whole time while it was building up, returned with a vengeance.

'AHHHH!' He screamed, for seemingly no reason.

He had to breathe slowly to calm himself down. It almost felt like someone had taken over his mind when he got angry.

'Arf arf!'

Polterpup caught his attention. The spectral hound pointed at the portrait leaning up against the bed upright. It snapped Luigi back into reality.

'D-Daisy!'

For a moment, he forgot about the Dark-Light. He fumbled his flashlight around, the sheer anxiety that overwhelmed him making any sort of calm movement impossible. Eventually, he shone the rainbow light upon the portrait containing his princess.

Even though it took the same amount of time as E. Gadd's reemergence, hers seemed to take forever. After what felt like an eternity, she was separated from the tapestry. She wobbled a bit before face-planting onto the ground.

He gasped. 'Daisy!'

Of course, he knew that she could survive a mere fall onto the ground. His heart was simply about to give out as it was.

She lifted her head up with the biggest smile on her face. 'Luigi!'

With no second thoughts she leapt to her feet, and pounced into a big tight hug. She held him like she could lose him again at any moment, which considering the situation she absolutely could. He could barely breathe, but the embrace was so warm he didn't care.

'Oh, Luigi! I knew the moment I saw you walk into the room that you would save me!'

Wait, so they are conscious while in those portraits? That's... that's horrific! Uh, I mean... her excited statement seemed to confirm to Luigi that those in portraits were completely aware of what happened outside. And he chose to ignore that revelation.

'Y-You did?' Luigi stammered, losing oxygen fast.

'Of course! If anyone could save me from that maid, it was you.'

He felt his cheeks flaring up, contrasting with the rest of his air-starved face.

'Well, with everyone else captured, it wasn't like anyone else could do it.'

She intended this as nothing more but a little joke, knowing well that even Mario would've struggled with that neat freak worker.

'Oh...' Luigi said with many layers of disappointment.

Daisy's eyes widened. She broke up the hug - allowing Luigi to get oxygen at last - and guilt washed over her when she saw the defeat on his face.

'N-No, I-I mean...' Typical for her words to fail at the most important moment. 'You were great! You are great! Maybe I should stop talking now.'

He chuckled. 'No. I like your voice.'

She laughed along with him. Polterpup entered the conversation by hopping up and down on his hindlegs. Daisy knelt down and stroke his head. He responded instantly by wagging his tail around wildly.

'Don't think I forgot about you, boy! Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?'

To Luigi, the sight of his princess showing affection towards his puppy dog was the best that night. It allowed him to forget about the horror that surrounded him, and ignore the torment everyone was in.

Daisy, while still patting Polterpup, turned her head to Luigi. 'I couldn't believe it. You were furious at that maid! I don't think I've ever seen you that angry before. And I've seen your death stares!'

'I-I was so worried about you.' He admitted. 'When I-I saw you in her stomach, and when she refused to let you free, I... I lost it.'

She smiled, more than incredibly grateful that her plumber (or 'boyfriend' as some liked to call him) cared for her that much.

She gasped and jumped back onto her feet, a movement quick enough to make Luigi flinch. 'The briefcase! That professor... um, what was his name again? Egon?'

'E. Gadd.'

'E. Gadd, right. He'll want that briefcase back, right? We gotta return it to him, right now!'

He was taken aback by just how suddenly she leapt into action again. Before he could object in any way, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the door.

'R-Right now?' He managed to say. 'B-But we just-'

She stopped pulling on him to give him a soft smile. It differed completely from her usual determined smirks.

'I know. We can spend time together when we bust these ghosts together.'

'W-Wait, what?'

'But that briefcase contains a key to saving our friends, I just know it! The longer we just chill here, the longer we spend in this Grambi-forsaken hotel. You understand, right?'

He gulped. 'Y-Yeah?'

'So let's get outta here!'

While Luigi appreciated her willingness to keep going - he definitely needed it - he was too caught up over her words to notice that she kept on dragging him along.

'When we bust these ghosts together...'

She didn't mean it, did she? Was she actually going to be throwing herself into this risk, by her own free will?

'Wait, I-I don't think that's a-'

'Why should you be alone when I'm here? When I get my hands on those ghosties, I'm telling ya, they'll wish they never messed with this princess!'

Right on cue, three Goobs emerged through the door just as Daisy was reaching for it, and fanned out. Luigi jumped back with a yelp, but Daisy didn't even flinch. All three wore little maid hats and held a duster.

The middle ghost laughed. 'Well well well, look at this, girls.' She said, putting her hands on her 'hips'. 'The green guy thinks he's all confident just cos he caught our boss.'

The other two ghosts giggled, as if laughing at the very thought of the green guy being 'confident'.

'And look!' The middle continued, pointing at Daisy. 'He somehow landed himself a girlfriend! I never thought he could even talk to girls.'

To her surprise, her friends didn't laugh alongside with her. They instead stared at Daisy, one in shock and the other in fear.

'What?' The middle Goob said, glancing at her friends. 'Why aren't you two laughing?'

'Uh, Gina...' The shocked one said, scratching the back of her head. 'Not to make us all panic or anything, but that princess there-'

'Aren't we meant to make sure she's still in the portrait?!' The third one yelled.

The middle ghost, Gina, blinked at Daisy a few times. After a few seconds, she slammed her hands into her face many, many times.

'Stupid stupid stupid! Chambrea ATE the dang portrait. How did she lose it?!' She growled and glared at the princess. 'I'll go for the green guy. Grace, go for the princess. Glenda, go for the briefcase.'

The scared one, Grace, gulped and did as her 'leader' commanded. She flew over to the princess, who stood her ground with her fists ready.

'Ha!' Daisy declared. 'As if I'd be afraid of a harmless little-'

She blinked, and found that the Goob had a grip on her shoulders. A fairly strong grip at that, even though Grace looked completely horrified. Daisy wiggled about, but the blue hands were clamped on her.

'Hey! Let go of me, you heap of ectoplasm!'

'Y-Yeah?' Grace stuttered. 'W-What are ya g-gonna do to me?'

Daisy smirked. 'Better question is, what are you gonna do to me?'

'Uh... s-something.'

Gina would've told Grace to get her act together, but she was too focused on Luigi. While in an invisible form she floated around him, waiting for the time to strike. If it wasn't for that ghost dog tracking her every movement, she would've latched onto him by now.

'I-I'll be over there, Daisy.' Luigi said.

'Don't fret about me. I'm not going anywhere!'

Luigi suddenly found himself quite a bit lighter. He saw the third Goob, Glenda, holding onto the briefcase. How she grabbed it from his pocket was beyond mortal comprehension.

'H-Hey!' He said. 'Give that back!'

Glenda pretended he wasn't there, and focused on her prize. 'Wait, why was Chambrea keeping hold of this again?'

With a groan, Luigi fired a plunger at the E. Gadd symbol once again. Before Glenda could even guess what was going on, he got a grip on the rope and plunged the briefcase right out of her hands.

'Hey!'

Gina growled to herself. 'Just let me hurt you, you stupid green ar- OW!'

She creaked her head around, and saw Polterpup biting her tail. Those teeth could rip apart even the strongest of steaks.

'And THIS is why Ms Gravely prefers cats!' She yelled, pointing at him.

The briefcase went flying, just barely missing Daisy as it soared past her face. It slammed into the floor in front of her feet, and the force of impact opened it up. A couple objects bounced out of it.

Daisy's eyes widened. The objects were metallic gloves that called her name. Though they were grey, they had a green sheen. Better yet, they were a perfect fit. She had to don them.

She didn't even know why. Was it because they looked cool? Or because she figured they may help her bust ghosts? She just needed them.

Though they were right at her feet, she couldn't reach down with Grace on her shoulders. So, she simply slipped one onto her foot, and kicked it into her hand. She put it on, and despite its metallic exterior it felt comfortable on her skin.

'Yeah!'

She kicked the other one into her grasp, and now donned both the mechanical gloves. They were definitely a lot better than her regular princess-y gloves. The lights on each finger turned on, glowing different colours. A strange energy pulsed through her arms like electricity through a copper wire.

'Whoa...'

Luigi just got done busting Glenda while Polterpup was taking care of Gina. He aimed his flashlight to suck up Gina, but the green glistening of the gloves distracted him.

'Daisy!' He pleaded. 'What are you doing going through the professor's stuff?'

She rolled her eyes. 'These just landed at my feet, okay?'

'But it's still the professor's! You can't-'

Gina got sick of these mortals and their inane banter, flicked Polterpup away, and socked Luigi in the back while he was occupied. He dropped to the floor, his flashlight falling out of his hand. He groaned as his chest slammed into the ground.

'Luigi!' Daisy cried.

She struggled against Grace's grip, but even the anger she felt couldn't break her free from the grasp of a spirit.

'P-Please stop that.' Grace whimpered.

Daisy gritted her teeth. 'Get your spindly arms OFF ME!'

She delivered a punch directly to the Goob's face. Had she been thinking, she'd know that punching a ghost would be completely ineffective. Something ethereal like a ghost simply couldn't be punched.

In most situations.

Her fist made contact with Grace. Both could feel the impact, though for the ghost it was far more painful. Grace floated far back, rubbing her cheek.

'T-That wasn't very nice...'

Daisy gave Grace her own death stare, and while it wasn't as good as Luigi's it certainly terrified the timid ghost. With one squeak of a scream, she flew into the ceiling faster than one can blink.

Luigi stared with his mouth agape. 'Did... did you just...?'

Gina scooped her hands under his underarms, and lifted him up off the ground. His legs dangled and flailed around. The nozzle of the Poltergust rested on the floor, far beyond his reach.

'Listen to me, green guy.' Gina whispered in his ear. 'Cos of my useless friends, Ms Gravely will be furious with me. So you better let me hand you in, alright?'

Luigi's teeth chattered too much for him to speak. With all the buttons to the Poltergust out of his reach, he couldn't do a thing to her.

And Daisy wasn't going to stand for it. She jumped behind Gina, and grabbed the tip of her tail. Instead of her hands passing through harmlessly, getting nothing but ectoplasm all over her, it was no less solid than squeezing a bunch of rolled up socks.

Gina let go of Luigi, and he plummeted to the floor. He landed on his knees, and looked up to the blue ghost above him. Gina cartwheeled her arms like a olympic freestyle swimmer, her body only stretching as she tried and failed to get away.

'How...?' She said. 'How can you do that?!'

Daisy yanked her in. 'I dunno, but I ain't complaining about it!'

With the ghost in her hands, she imitated exactly what she saw Luigi do; she heaved Gina into the air, and bashed her against the wooden floorboards.

'H-How...?' Luigi couldn't come up with anything more.

Daisy did exactly as she saw Luigi do, and continued to slam the Goob until she... vanished. Not into the Poltergust, or turning invisible. Gina's very molecules broke apart and dissipated into nothingness.

'Warn your little ghosty pals that what just happened to you will happen to them if they come near my Luigi!' Daisy yelled at the vanishing particles.

Said Luigi was still on the floor, his mouth wide open. Not at the princess's awesome display, of course; he was used to her performing acts of awesomeness. It was the simple fact that she punched the unpunchable.

His eyes glittered as they fell upon the devices she wore on her hands. 'Those gloves... they let you touch ghosts...'

He couldn't believe E. Gadd's inventing talent sometimes. What was that guy doing in solitude when he could be helping (and making) millions with his inventions? Yes, they could pat Polterpup, but that was only because he allowed them to touch him. Any other ghost was out of question.

Daisy marvelled the gloves and their odd green sheen. 'Niiice! And here I thought I might be dead weight.'

Luigi finally got off the ground, and was about to tell her that she could never be dead weight when the shine of the briefcase caught his attention. It was still open, and something green inside it reflected the light. With a yelp, he ran over to it and slammed the lid shut.

Daisy pouted. 'Oh come on. I gotta know what that was!'

He shoved it into his pocket. 'It's the professor's stuff. It could be dangerous if handled wrong.'

She wanted to argue with him, but saving her friends came first. Plus, arguing with her Luigi did not sound appealing.

'Well, then let's get it back to E. Gadd as soon as possible, eh?'


'Wait, where are all the buttons?' Daisy asked, seeing all the holes in the wall.

'Taken.' Luigi said, nice and to the point.

She couldn't quite believe it. Only three buttons remained: 1, 5, and B1.

'That doesn't give us a whole lot of options, does it now?' She remarked. 'It's either the place we're at already, a lobby that gives us nothing, or the basement that's connected to the lobby anyway.'

'The bellboy had a couple buttons.' Luigi said. 'But I don't think the maid...'

The Poltergust nozzle, which had been hooked back into the Poltergust itself, began rattling. It started off small, but grew progressively intense.

Daisy stepped back. 'Is it supposed to do that?'

'N-No.' Luigi muttered.

Watching it in the mirror, he braced for anything to pop back out again, half-expecting Chambrea to re-emerge and suffocate him with dust some more. Daisy got her armed fists ready.

An elevator popped out of the rattling nozzle, and hovered in the air. The rattling stopped almost instantly. Luigi sighed in relief. Daisy slumped her shoulders in disappointment, until she realised what the hovering object was.

'Hey, that maid did have a button. You gotta-'

It flew over Luigi's head, spun itself around in the air, and locked into place as the key to floor number three.

'Oh yeah!' He said.

Daisy grinned. 'Nice!'

According to the floor tracker, it was the hotel shops. Judging by the map, it seemed to be rather simple. Thank goodness.

'Aight, let's get going!' Daisy said.

Luigi shook his head. 'We have to return the professor's briefcase first.'

She wanted to complain and argue with him again, but honestly, she just wanted to know what was in that briefcase and why E. Gadd wanted it so badly.

'Well? Let's get going!'


Luigi felt awkward in the elevator. The basement couldn't arrive soon enough. He could feel Daisy watching him, awaiting any sort of response, even as he stared at Polterpup, who was rolling around on the floor.

'Luigi...' Daisy said, in a way that cannot be described in any way but seductively. 'You may pretend but I'll always be here.'

He gulped, and turned to look her in the eye. The moment his eyes met hers, he froze. If only looking people in the eye didn't make him lock up.

'S-Sorry.' He stuttered.

She giggled. 'For what?'

He played with his hands for a bit, glancing around. It hadn't yet sunk in that he saved his beloved princess, and with how long he had spent with her captured it was something he had trouble comprehending.

'You okay, sweetie?' Daisy asked.

As much as he didn't want to, he stared at her. He looked her up and down, letting the fact that she was standing in front of him properly sink in. Daisy would've objected, but allowed him to do whatever he was doing.

Tears came to his eyes. It finally sunk in.

'Daisy!'

She flinched, blinking a couple times. Giving her no time to react, he ran over and jumped into a tight embrace. He wrapped his arms around her like his life depended on it, tears flowing down his cheeks.

She went stiff. 'Whoa! Where did this come from?'

Whenever he did something she found weird, she remembered what Mario told her about him when she and Luigi first met. It certainly explained a few things.

'I-I can't believe it...' Luigi uttered. 'Y-You're here with me.'

And adorably simple sentences filled with heart like that were why Daisy loved him so much. Unable to resist, she returned the hug. The both of them could feel Polterpup rubbing up against their legs.

'That's right, sweetie.' Daisy said, patting his back. 'And I'll beat the ectoplasm outta any ghost that tries to seperate us again!'

The elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened. They didn't notice. The embrace was too good to break up.

'Arf arf!'

'Dah!' Luigi cried, flinching out of the hug.

Polterpup sat in the open doors, panting in anticipation for his owner to follow him. He proceeded to waltz off, assuming his owner would go after him immediately.

Luigi cleared his throat, his cheeks turning red. 'Uh, let's-a get going now.'

'I'll follow you anywhere!'


'Welcome back, Luigi!' E. Gadd greeted the moment the plumber entered the lab. 'And who's that missy behind you? One of your friends, I assume?'

Daisy walked in after her plumber, and waved at the professor. 'Oh, so you're the professor that Luigi's told me so much about. Nice to meet ya! ... I think.'

E. Gadd adjusted his glasses upon getting a good look of her, and chuckled. 'Ah, you must be Luigi's girlfriend! He talks about you a lot.'

Luigi's cheeks proverbially exploded into red, and Daisy's resulting giggling just made the colour more intense.

'Professor!' He whined like a kid embarrassed by his parents, making Daisy laugh more. 'I... I haven't even told you about her! How do you know that?'

'The cameras I have in your bedroom, of course! I must say sonny, you write beautiful love poems.'

He turned redder than his brother's hat. He couldn't even care about the revelation that E. Gadd had cameras in his room. Unable to bare it anymore, he lifted his cap over his eyes while slightly praying a sink hole would swallow him up.

'Is that true, Luigi?' Daisy asked between giggles. 'You write poetry about me?'

He nodded weakly. 'You weren't supposed to find out...'

By the by, his poems are beautiful, if sometimes filled with questionable rhymes. There's only so many times one can rhyme 'Daisy' with 'crazy'.

E. Gadd stopped laughing as he remembered the matter at hand. 'Oh, forget about the poetry. My briefcase, chop-chop!'

Most of Luigi's blushing went away as he pulled out the briefcase from his pocket with a smile - smiling because he was just relieved to be moving on from the poems.

'Heh heh heh!' E. Gadd said, rubbing his hands together like a villain. 'This is what I wanted!'

Daisy crossed her arms and huffed. 'What? Not even a thank you? Luigi had to fight against some crazy maid ghost to-!'

She stopped when Luigi held his arm out in front of her. 'Don't.' He said. 'It's not important.'

Though she wanted to dig into E. Gadd further, the sweet smile that came her way convinced her to be quiet.

E. Gadd opened up the lid, basking in the glorious green light. 'The time has come to use it in battle!'

Both Luigi and Daisy leaned forward in curiosity.

'The latest invention from the brilliant mind of Professor E. Gadd! I give you...'

Finally, he pulled out the object that he had so desperately wanted back. The now-empty briefcase fell to the floor as he held up his invention for all to see. And it was...!

A glass case bigger than his body containing some weird green goop. Okay then.

'Gooigi!' He declared like he invented the lightbulb.

Luigi and Daisy, to the say the least, had no idea how to react to this. Luigi stared at it totally dumbfounded, trying to process the fact that - after all that build-up - he had been presented with slime.

'Welp, E. Gadd's finally lost it.' Daisy said, turning around. 'Come on Luigi. Let's get out of here!'

E. Gadd laughed. 'Don't underestimate the power of Gooigi! The development process was a real challenge, to say the least. Fortunately, I had a little help from someone to test the prototype!'

He looked at the confused Luigi as he emphasised 'someone', which just made him even more confused.

He never helped E. Gadd with a 'Gooigi prototype'. Or did he? Vague memories of a gooey green counterpart came back to him, mostly consisting of the two of them capturing the portrait ghosts. But he also had memories of capturing those same portrait ghosts without that gooey counterpart.

Which ones were real?

'Don't fret about it too much, sonny.' E. Gadd said. 'That's just the result of time-travelling shenanigans.'

'Wait, time-travelling what n-?' He tried to question.

'That's great and all.' Daisy said, rejoining the scene. 'But how in the great depths of the Underwhere is that, um, goo going to help us out at all?'

She had a closer look at the stuff, and still didn't get it. At all. At best it would make a fine lubricant.

'Now, now. Take it easy.' E. Gadd continued. 'Here, Luigi! I'm going to attach this to the Poltergust G-00. Turn around for me, would you?'

Luigi, having no idea what else to do, followed his orders, turning around so his Poltergust was directly in front of the professor. E. Gadd attached the end of the glass case to the empty container on the back of the Poltergust.

'Quick warning, you might feel a weird tingling.' E. Gadd explained. 'It's perfectly normal, so don't worry about it.'

'A tingli-? Ooo...'

E. Gadd injected all of the slime into the glass container, filling it up completely. The 'tingling' coursed through Luigi's every vein, feeling like a spa worker got him in just the right spot.

'Good.' E. Gadd said. 'That tingling feeling means it's working. That's the goo connecting to your consciousness.'

Luigi turned his head to him. 'Um, connecting to my what now?'

E. Gadd gave his creation a good pat. 'And it's all set. Let's practice a bit. Follow me outside!'


Hellen Gravely growled in disgust, the very thought of that maid alone leaving a sour taste in her mouth. Only by stroking Polterkitty, who per her orders now slept in her lap, did she managed to stop herself from getting angry enough to cause it to happen.

'That useless, useless maid!' She yelled. 'And she wonders why I never paid her! Why did I trust her with that portrait? Why am I trusting anyone with the portraits?! My entire staff is absolutely useless!'

In her rage, her nails dug into Polterkitty's skin far deeper than she intended, scratching the feline's back like a tiger.

'MROW!' Polterkitty cried out in pain.

Polterkitty forget about the order, and ran off to her bed in the corner. She curled her body up, purring to help ease the pain.

Hellen gasped. 'Oh, my sweet little Polterkitty! Why do you run away after a little accident? You know I would never do that to you on purpose.'

The spectral cat looked up at her with wide eyes. For a reason she couldn't explain, she had trouble believing that last claim.


CHAMBREA, THE KLEPTOMANIAC MAID

AGE - 54

GENDER - Female

CAUSE OF DEATH - Mesothelioma

Chambrea works as a maid just to keep her neat freak nature in check. Her constant exposure to dust did wonders for her lungs, as you can tell. Due to Ms Gravely never paying her, she's developed quite the kleptomaniac nature in an attempt to compensate herself for her hard work.


Author Notes - Oh, Gooigi! What fun it is to come up with your own unique interpretation as to how you work! This chapter originally included the 'tutorial' (of which I changed up quite a bit), but things were getting too long. As usual. This chapter and the next had to be further divided into three because writing concise is impossible for me.

I like what I did with Chambrea, but not quite as much as Steward. Regardless, the idea behind the 'kleptomaniac' nature came out of nowhere, as usual. Anything I can do to apply darker interpretations of these loveable goofs.

I also really like Grace, for someone whose personality (say it with me now) came out of nowhere. We will almost definitely be seeing her again.

Slightly-unrelated, I very recently realised that I'm a fan of Star Wars. Not a BIG fan, but a fan nonetheless. So now, the dynamic between Luigi and Polterpup will be intentionally based on that of C-3PO and R2-D2. Granted, I think I was doing that already, but will now do so intentionally.


E. Gadd loved the taste of his Lunoman Greenie blend, made from the Lunoman beans found only in Evershade Valley and even better than the drinks from the Starbeans Café. It helped him for when the work nights continued far later than he intended. Science stopped for nothing! Certainly not for sleep!

He had spent all night working on his newest experiment - this strange liquid that he collected from the friendly ghosts. He knew this liquid was the key to many great inventions, but the darn stuff wouldn't do anything!

He exposed it to both heat and cold, he poked it with iron, he poured it on rubber, and he even dipped his donut in it! Nothing seemed to do anything.

After hours of no progress, he downed half of his coffee in an attempt to get his brilliant brain going. He tapped his fingers on the desk while peering at the liquid he had stored in a vial.

'I must be missing something!' He said. 'I know this odd liquid can do something. I just know it! I just gotta find the right-'

'BOO!'

'Whoa!'

A Hider had snuck up behind him, and spooked him just for the laughs, laughs she was having at that very moment. After E. Gadd recovered from his near-heart attack, he spun his chair around and looked at the giggling ghost with a grin.

'Hanna, I thought I made it clear that I do not like ghosts spooking me while I'm concentrating.'

'I know, I know. But it's just so fun! Scaring people is just what ghosts d... uh, is it supposed to do that?'

E. Gadd looked back to his vial of liquid, to see that the stuff was now glowing. The previously clear energy turned a bright green almost instantly as his spilled coffee mixed into it.

'Egad!' He cried.

Hanna slinked away. 'Did... did I ruin it?'

'Ruin it? Not at all! I can't believe I never thought to simply pour my coffee into it. I gotta write this all down...!'

He grabbed his clipboard and got to jotting down notes. Before his eyes, the green ghost energy stabilised and turned to a semi-solid form. Without delay, he poured a few drops of the new creation into his hand. It seeped through his fingers and onto his desk, before it reformed into a singular puddle.

'I can't believe it... it stabilised into a new element! I shall name this new element...'

Looking at the gooey substance once again, the name was a no-brainer.

'Goo!'

To commemorate his accidental breakthrough, he ran over to his periodic table of elements, and slapped on a new green sticker. Symbol - G.

And through all his experiments with Goo (and a couple near-death experiences) he had the perfect name for his coffee-flavoured creation.

'Gooigi!'