Author Notes - I'm beginning to think that my compulsive need to write is a 'side-effect' of my hyperlexia.

So, uh, Polterkitty. I'm sure at this point it's fairly obvious what I plan to do with her, but I won't bring it up yet because... I dunno, immersion or something? Originally this was going to end after the PK encounter, but since this chapter was so short and the next one was getting too long, I decided to transplant a bit of the next into this one.

I'm thinking about sketching (read - electronic art without any colour, shading, or possibly backgrounds) various scenes from this story and putting them up on my DeviantArt account. Look for that.

Thanks to Megan Romero and animegamefanatic for the favourites, and Xanderq and Phoenix Champion for the follows! (Seriously, everyone reading this is by default awesome).

CHAPTER TEN - NOT POLTERKIT-ING AROUND

Parr T watched the ghost container unit with utter awe. The big green light glowed intensely for a couple seconds, before it faded away.

'Ooh... ahh!' He turned to the professor. 'What's the glowing light mean?'

E. Gadd, who had been hacking into Hellen Gravely's cameras to follow where our heroes were headed, spun his chair around to face his Toad friend.

'That means that another ghost has been sent to that containment unit.'

'Woah. You mean, without it even connecting? That's awesome! How?'

Parr peered into the peep hole. Sure enough, another ghost had been dropped in. The old pianist was dropped off in with the other unique ghosts, while the Goobs and the Hammer had their own seperate section.

The five ghosts inside floated around rather aimlessly.

'By using similar technology to my Pixelator - or Pixelshifter for those in Europe - I can have the ghosts transferred directly to my container unit without needing to attach the Poltergust to it! That way, Luigi's shouldn't get overfilled. Because if that happens... hoo boy.'

'Oh, that's so cool! I bet Lou's happy about that convenience!'

E. Gadd sat in silence. Disturbed by the awkwardness, he continued his attempts to hack more cameras.

'You didn't Lou about that, did you?' Parr asked.

'I'll admit, that never crossed my mind. But I'm sure it's not important!'


Amadeus did not know what to expect when he disappeared into the Poltergust. Alas, no one who got trapped inside it 'lived' to tell the tale, at least anyone he knew.

He certainly did not expect to be transported to a giant room, surrounded entirely of grey walls made by a material impossible for ghosts to pass through.

'F-FREEZE!'

Amadeus didn't even need to look to know whose shaky voice that was. He glanced at the mall cop, who had his water gun aimed at his face.

'Greetings, Paul.' Amadeus said.

'D-Dat's Officer Kruller to youse...! Oh. It's just you, Mr Wolfgeist.' He lowered his aquatic weapon. 'Sorry.'

'That's quite alright, my good man. Are the rest of our captured friends here?'

His answer came in the form of aggressive yelling and grunting. Chambrea threw her entire body at the wall, attempting to break it down through any means necessary.

'I'll break outta here and get you, Green Boy!' She yelled, bashing her feather duster against her prison walls. 'You hear me?! I'll get that briefcase back if it's the last thing I do!'

Steward floated beside her, wanting to intervene but terrified to get any closer to her. He noticed his pianist friend dropping by.

'Oh, hey Amadeus.' He said. 'Sorry about Chambrea. She hasn't stopped yelling about a briefcase since she got in here. Before you ask, I have no idea what she's on about.'

Amadeus rolled his eyes. 'No doubt something she stole again. I know we all have our nasty habits, but...'

The maid stopped her attacks just to glare at him. 'I deserved that stupid briefcase after everything Ms Gravely puts me through without a scrap of pay!'

The pianist didn't even flinch from her anger. She had always been one of the more defiant ones, getting the closest to saying 'I resign' to their boss out of all of them.

Chef Soulfflé was lying on the floor, lamenting the frying pan that he lost, when Amadeus caught his attention.

'What are you doing in here?' He asked, approaching him. 'Zat green gentleman seems to prefer being nice over attacking without question. Surely he would've left you alone.'

Amadeus, unable to look at his fellow ghosts, turned around and faced the giant metal panels that blocked the only way out. He rubbed his hand down the wall, only to give himself something to focus on.

'You... you attacked him?!' Soulfflé accused. 'Why on earth did you do zat?'

Kruller stepped in between the murderous chef and the regretful pianist, though horrified at the possibility of the former knocking him unconscious.

'N-Now Soulfflé,' He said. 'I-I'm sure dat Wolfgeist has a reason for attackin' da green bud.'

'Indeed, I did.'

The already rather quiet room plunged into complete silence as everyone turned their attention over to Amadeus.

'I wanted nothing to do with Hellen's plan, until she lied to me and told me that...' He paused. 'That Luigi hurt Gloria.'

Everyone else shared a universal gasp, except for Soulfflé who just glared.

'And you believed such a blatant lie?!' He yelled. 'Gloria is all zee way on zee fourteenth floor! Do you know how many of us zee green gentleman would need to defeat before zen? Do you see Ug? Or Serpci? Or even our delusion king?!'

Kruller aimed his water gun at him, though it failed to tame the chef in any way. Soulfflé just knocked it out of his hand.

'Don't blame him!' Steward cried. 'We all know that Ms Gravely is capable of some horrible mind games, and with that boo guy amplifying her power we stood no chance!'

Chambrea crossed her arms. 'Hmph! Frankly, that green boy deserved to be attacked. With how he captures our kind without a care and steals what we rightfully deserves, he needs someone to teach him a lesson!'

The other ghosts all looked at her with contempt. With the container unit sparing them from Ms Gravely's mind games, she didn't even have that excuse.

'What do you mean, he captured you without a care?' Soulfflé asked. 'Zere is no need to place all your anger for our boss on him!'

'If he just let me have that briefcase, I would've left him alone!' She yelled back. 'It wasn't even his! His stuff has that green L on it, which that briefcase did not. But MAYBE, if our boss actually paid me-'

'Oh, so you think you have it hard?' Steward brought himself into the conversation. 'At least you kinda like cleaning things. At least you get some help. I have none of that!'

Soulfflé approached them. 'I ask for no pay and Ms Gravely rewards me by eighty-sixing zee vast majority of my menu! Do you know what it is like to have a yearning to create zat you cannot satisfy?'

The three of them launched into a three-sided argument over who was the most screwed over. The points made couldn't be heard as they yelled over each other.

Kruller frowned. 'P-Please stop fightin' among yourselves. O-Or I'll hafta arrest youse for a public disturbance.'

It was times like this when Amadeus cursed his role as the only sane one. He stretched out his arms like he was ready for a performance.

'BE QUIET, ALL OF YOU!'

It succeeded at getting everyone to shut up and look to him. He straightened out his hair and cleared his throat.

'Though I lack the leadership skills of Serpci or William MacFrights, the teamwork of the triplets, or even the clever strategies of Ug or Fishook, I'm certainly the best we have right now. And I suggest that fighting among ourselves is going to accomplish nothing.'

Chambrea cocked an eyebrow. 'What, and if we band together and sing a song about how friendship is magic or whatever, we'll magically break out?'

Kruller smiled. 'Ooh, we're doin' dat? I'll start!' He cleared his throat. 'I used to wonder what friendship could be.'

'SHUT IT!' Soulfflé yelled.

The security guard did as he was told, and the three bitter ghosts continued their pointless argument. The only things anyone could make out were Soulfflé swearing in French, Chambrea insulting just about everyone, and Steward worrying about his 'sweet Johnny'.

Amadeus sighed, and stared off into his new metallic prison. What had happened to them? They used to get along so well, like the best of friends, but now they fought more than the Capulets and Montagues.

He blamed their boss. Whether she intended to or not, she drove a wedge between her workers. The thought of her would've made his blood boil if he had any, but unfortunately there was nothing they could do to escape her.

Chambrea and Ug's failed escape plan from years ago still ran strong in everyone's mind. It was surprising how painful electro-shock collars could be for a ghost.


'Hey!' Daisy yelled at the spectral kitty. 'Give that back!'

Polterkitty responded exactly how any cat would to a scolding order - complete and utter indifference. It was as if Daisy wasn't even there at all. She simply strutted away with her nose in the air as the mortals watched.

'Mrow.' She 'said', not even giving them the dignity of looking at them.

Polterpup bowed down before her, barking in joy to signify the start of the friendly game. She glanced at him for a moment, her eyes going wide, before she responded by making him talk to the tail. His head and tail drooped.

'Okay, that's it!' Daisy said. 'Come back here!'

She ran out of the elevator and charged after the cat.

'Uh, Daisy, I don't think that's gonna-' Luigi tried to explain, following after her.

She went to grab all three of that cat's long curvy tails.

'And, GOTCH... hey!'

Polterkitty, like any cat, was not going to let herself get captured as easily as that. Avoiding the crazy woman's grasp took little more than a slight change in direction. She scampered off down the hall, with Polterpup in no mood to chase after her.

Daisy threw up her arms and groaned. 'We don't have time for this! Now we have to deal with a stupid cat taking the button.'

She was about to chase the cat down again, but Luigi grabbed onto her wrist. It stopped her on the spot, and the face of anger he expected was instead one of confusion.

'Uh, I think that, um...' Why was explaining himself so difficult? 'I should go after her. Cats, uh, don't do well with people running at them screaming.'

He dreaded her response, but the dread went away when she smiled.

'Okay! I'm right behind you.'

Luigi looked down to his loyal dog, whose call to action from his owner served as a pick-me-up. Already this reminded him of those times in Evershade Valley before Polterpup became his pet, and instead stole keys or clock hands away from him.

Polterkitty seemed to be quite a bit more malicious, though.

Tracking the kitty down was not a difficult task. She sat on the podium, licking the back of her paw and rubbing it against her forehead, faced away from Luigi and Daisy.

Luigi smiled. That little kitty looked so cute, all relaxed on her little throne. Suddenly, the fact that she had stolen something from them vanished. All he saw was a cute little feline.

'Luigi!' Daisy whisper-yelled to him, bringing him back to reality. 'Don't just sit there and gawk. Go after her!'

'Uh, d-do we have to?' He asked, as confident as he sounded. 'She's just a kitty. She probably doesn't know what she's really done.'

Daisy groaned. 'Cats don't just pop their heads out of walls and randomly take the one thing you need the most. She totally knows what she's done.'

Even Polterpup nodded in agreement. Luigi rubbed the back of his neck.

'But... she's just a kitty.' He said.

Daisy sighed. 'Alright, I'm taking over now.'

'Please, no...'

She ignored him, a rare event, and approached the ghostly cat as silently as possible. Polterkitty either hadn't noticed her, or didn't care to. Considering her species it was most likely the latter.

While Luigi had to give credit for her trying to be sneaky for once, he wasn't sure if he agreed with her logic.

I guess if Daisy said it, then it's right. That kitty probably is doing this on purpose. But why?

Daisy smirked. With how close she was to the kitty now, it was all but guaranteed that she had her.

'Gotcha!'

She grasped Polterkitty's middle tail, and pulled on it just a little. The cat's eyes shot when open; clearly, she didn't expect the mortal to actually be able to grab her without her wanting to.

'You're not getting away from me n...' Her confidence trailed off.

Daisy did not expect what happened next. At all.

'MIAOW!'

A blinding pink light emerged from Polterkitty and covered her entire body. From behind her bright veil, she grew in size tremendously. Her body and tails became thicker and more defined, and her claws expanded enough to make Wolverine jealous.

'RAWRR!'

The light vanished, and Daisy was now face-to-face with a purple, ghostly panther, bigger than her. This new form of Polterkitty stood on her hindlegs, her front paws and their long claws in the air.

'OH MY GRAMBI!' Daisy cried, falling onto her rear and backing away.

'WAAAHHHH!' Luigi screamed, nearly dropping his flashlight.

'YIIIP!'

Polterkitty lashed out, aiming her sickles at Daisy's face. The princess leaned back just enough to avoid it.

'Uh, sweetie, wanna help me out here?'

Luigi fumbled with his flashlight, and ran for the spectral panther with the Strobulb charging. Polterkitty flashed him a look, and upon seeing the light coming for her she turned around and jumped.

'Get back here, you coward!' Daisy shouted.

Polterkitty perched herself on a little balcony barely big enough for her near the ceiling, snarling at the mortals down below. Spittle fell fell down from her sharp teeth and onto our heroes. Daisy took it like nothing, but Luigi cringed.

The flash from the Strobulb couldn't make it all the way up there. Even if it could, Polterkitty put a paw in front of her terrified face.

Luigi's heart sank. 'Aw, she's scared.'

Daisy sighed. 'You're too innocent for your own good sometimes, you know that?'

'But look at her!'

At this point, our heroes now faced each other and not their catty enemy. As they bickered, Polterkitty leapt off her perch and began to stalk towards them.

'Of course she's scared of us. They all are! As they should be.'

'But... she's just a kitty.'

'Not now she isn't! Now she's a giant hulking pan-'

Both heroes turned their heads to the panther, who was just a few feet away from them. The moment their eyes lay upon her, she high-tailed back to her little platform, roaring on them once again.

'You... you saw that right?' Daisy said.

'Um, you mean seeing that we were a second away from being torn apart?' Luigi replied.

'Yeah, that.' She gasped. 'Turn around!'

Against his wishes, she grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around to face the other wall. She faced the same direction and side-stepped a few feet away from him.

'C-Can I ask what you're doing?' He asked.

'You'll see.' She said. 'Just, whatever you do, don't turn around. I repeat, do not turn around.'

With a gulp, he nodded. Against his better judgement, he trusted her. Polterkitty seized this opportunity, and resumed her attack.

Luigi shuddered. He could hear that cat's footsteps getting closer and closer, every second bringing him closer to being teared to ribbons.

'N-N-Now what?' He asked.

Daisy stepped backwards a bit, once she was certain she was out of Polterkitty's view. 'Just trust me. I got this.'

He wanted to go against her. He wanted to turn around and Strobulb the panther, or at least scare her off. He fought this urge, and placed all his trust in his princess.

Daisy tip-toed behind Polterkitty, staying out of her vision as she approached the tails.

'That's right, girl. Have your little green snack.'

She grunted; referring to Luigi as nothing more than bait left a bad taste in her mouth.

Luigi was about ready to have a complete nervous breakdown. He could feel the cat's warm breath on his neck, and hear the growling coming from her throat. Still, he did as he was told.

Polterkitty rose up onto her hindlegs and roared, spreading her forelegs out to trap him in a horrible embrace.

'DAAAAIIISSYYYY!' Luigi screamed, losing about fifty manly points in the process.

'I have you now!' Daisy declared, grabbing hold of Polterkitty's left tail.

The panther cried out in pain. Luigi dared to turn around, and saw Daisy keeping her grip on Polterkitty no matter how much the feline struggled.

'No one tries to hurt my Luigi and get away with it!'

Luigi smiled, wide, at the sight of his princess's plan going perfect. His smile faded, however, when a feeling of guilt overtook him.

I doubted her... how could I? I should've known she had it under control...

Though Daisy pulled hard, Polterkitty stood her ground. Suddenly, Daisy fell backwards to the floor, the tail still in her hands.

'What the...?!'

The tail was no longer attached to Polterkitty, and had been ripped clean off. It flailed around like a Blooper's tentacle that had just been cut off, before it disintegrated into dissipating ghostly particles.

Luigi winced. Despite how painful it looked, Polterkitty barely reacted at all. It took her a few moments to even realise that one of tails had been ripped off, and when she did she looked at her remaining tails in horror before directing a glare at Daisy.

'RAAAWWR!'

Polterkitty did not expect this much might from the princess. In fact, she didn't expect the princess at all. With how much her owner went on and on about King Boo and the green guy, she hardly ever mentioned the orange one.

A pink light consumed her, and disappeared in moments. By the time it vanished, Polterkitty had returned to her much smaller form, as seamlessly as before, standing among the rubble of the podium. Except now she looked even more like an Espeon, with only two tails.

Daisy groaned. 'What are you, a lizard?'

Polterkitty hissed at her, and high-tailed it for the doors that led to the grand stage. She got her head through, but the rest of her got stuck. Whining and kicking her legs about, she managed to press herself out all the way.

'Arf arf!'

Polterpup wagged his tail and chased after her, getting himself through the door far easier than she did.

Daisy pinched the bridge of her nose. 'So, this is how it felt when Polterpup ran off with those keys, huh?'

'Pretty much, yeah.' Luigi replied, sharing her frustration. 'Except he was just being playful. I'm not sure about, um, Polterkitty I think her name is?'

'I say she's doing this just to spite us. Come on!'

The mortals opened the door up to the stage no less empty than it was when they left, aside from Gustavo trying to swipe up the remains of the piano to no avail.

Daisy grunted. 'You're kidding. They could've gone literally anywhere! How are we supposed to find them?'

Luigi turned the Dark-Light Device on and aimed it at the floor. The rainbow light revealed two sets of paw prints, one set pink and the other white.

'What are you doing?' Daisy asked.

Luigi thought the question was a little weird; wasn't it obvious what he was doing? He walked forward, following the prints, and leaving her behind in confusion. Regardless of how obvious he believed the answer to be, he gave it to her.

'Following the paw prints.' He said. 'The Dark-Light reveals where Polterpup and Polterkitty were.'

'Oh! Right, it can do that.'

Luigi followed the trail of paws with Daisy behind him. They carried him all the way onto the stage and behind the curtains to the left. Turned out that a door stood there. When the Dark-Light shone on the door, the imprints of both Polterpup and Polterkitty could be seen.

'I really hope they're in that room.' Daisy said. 'Okay, I want you to stay out here, and flash the kitty if and when she comes out. I'll go after her myself.'

'Uh, okay.'

Daisy stepped through the door while Luigi charged up the Strobulb. What welcomed her was a simple dressing room, with the only notable thing being the big picture of Amadeus himself hanging on the wall.

Oh, and the small piano in the corner. Daisy shivered; it was far too early to be in the midst of another one. Luckily, it was not a grand piano, and thus was unlikely to be hiding a set of teeth.

Polterpup stood before it, bowing and yipping.

'You say she's hiding in that... piano?'

'Yip yip!'

She gulped. 'Of course she is.'

Of all the things to scare her, it had to be the musical instrument. She hoped no one ever asked about her PPSD. Still, she approached the piano as briskly as she could.

'So how do I-?'

The piano began playing itself.

'Eep!'

The tune was near identical to the one that Luigi heard a ghost playing in a certain library in the Gloomy Manor.

'So glad Luigi isn't here to see me acting like an idiot...' She said, unaware that he could hear her every word.

The lid of the piano opened up.

'Oh boy!'

Meanwhile, Luigi remained in place with the Strobulb fully charged. The pulsating sound it made got on his nerves fast. He was about ready to walk into the room himself, when Polterkitty finally got her head out.

Once again, it took her some struggling before she got fully through. It made him wonder, why was it so difficult for her when the others slipped through no problem?

He obeyed the orders given to him and flashed Polterkitty the moment she got her whole body out the door. She froze for a second and mutated into a giant panther of death once again, hissing into Luigi's face.

The cat spittle flying onto his face made him wince, and he had to back away.

'N-Nice kitty! Nice kitty!'

The panthergeist leapt over him, and grabbed onto one of the few spotlights still on its hook. It supported her weight well enough - ghosts usually didn't weight much - but without any real ground to stand on she had to hug it for dear afterlife.

Daisy burst through the dressing room with Polterpup running past her. 'Good! Ya got her. Now let's repeat the strat!'

'You mean the one where I have to play bait?'

'Yes.'

Luigi sighed, and turned away from the panther who was beginning to slip. Daisy walked away from him, and watched Polterkitty in the corner of her eye.

The spectral feline dug her claws into the support beams, darting her head back and forth between the two mortals. Which one should she go for? The green guy was the one that Master wanted, but the orange lady had too much of a punch.

She lost her grip and fell to the floor, landing on all fours. Choosing quickly, she settled on the green one, the one that Master asked her to get.

She glanced at the orange lady, not trusting her for a moment, and ran for the green bait much faster than before. Daisy jumped around with a yelp.

'Whoa now! You weren't supposed to do that!'

Polterkitty pounced at the shaking man, her 'arms' and claws out. She gave out a big roar as her paws reached out, ignoring the dog barking aggressively at her. Luigi turned his head just slightly, to see the panther's claws getting far too close to his face.

He unleashed a scream that no doubt every ghost in the building heard.

'GET AWAY FROM MY MAN!'

And no doubt every ghost heard the pure rage dripping from Daisy's voice. Operating on furious instinct and nothing else, she grasped Polterkitty's right tail and slammed her into the ground.

'ROWWW!' The panther yelped in pain.

Daisy gave her no time to think and bashed her into the floor a second time, making sure this strike was even stronger than the last. Polterkitty looked up to her assailant with wide, terrified eyes.

'You lay a claw on my Luigi,' Daisy yelled. 'And you won't have any claws left!'

Polterkitty couldn't believe it. Why hadn't Master warned her that the orange lady would be this powerful? This was what she was up against? What was Master expecting of her? All the other guests she had been sent after before were far less difficult to deal with.

As for the one she was supposed to go after... was she really meant to go for him? Compared to the violent orange one, the green one seemed far nicer and far more frightened.

Was he really the one who the kingly phantom wanted mounted on a wall? The one who Master wanted so desperately to get?

'Now you better spit out that button before I yank it out of you myself!'

Polterkitty hissed at her. No matter what she thought of any order given to her, she would obey Master until the end.

Luigi watched the whole thing, divided between two different emotions: admiration and pride for his princess coming to his defence and kicking butt, or sadness and horror for the poor kitty getting beaten up.

She deserves it, he tried to tell himself. She took the button.

'Alright then.' Daisy said. 'So I'll just force it out of you!'

She yanked the panther's tail and threw her into a never-ending cycle of being slammed against the floor. Compared to Luigi's slams, which had a second delay in between in one, Daisy's had no delay whatsoever, like she was pressing 'A' at just the right time to maximise how many she could do.

Luigi stepped forward, about to tell her to quit it before stopping himself. Despite believing Daisy's claims that the feline knew exactly what she had done, Polterkitty's cries hurt to listen to.

Polterpup barked happily. Only five minutes ago had he wanted to be the kitty's friend, but now he seemed to celebrate her getting beaten. The fact that she tried to kill his owner probably had something to do with it.

After the seventh slam, the tail detached just like the last one. Polterkitty rolled across the stage, until she hit the wall.

Daisy threw the disconnected tail aside. 'Dang it! I hope you realise that if I can remove two tails, I can certainly remove the third one!'

Polterkitty backed up into the corner, the shadow of the approaching orange princess falling upon her. With her struggles to get through walls, she was essentially stuck there.

'Remember Panthergeist, the hard way is only hard for you.'

Daisy stopped approaching when the ghostly feline began hacking, like a regular old cat about to have a hairball.

'That's it. Hack it up.'

After three heavy heaves, Polterkitty opened her mouth and the elevator button spilled onto the floor, no worse for wear minus the cat slobber and bits of half-digested fish. Luigi nearly puked himself looking at it.

Daisy merely picked it up and wiped it off against her sock. As if their clothes weren't rank enough already. Polterkitty, not even changing back into her smaller form, jumped into the ceiling and disappeared in a flash, aside from the usual struggles she had with phasing through objects.

Despite her success, Daisy did not smile. 'We are absolutely going to see her again. And I know she'll try the exact same stunt again.'

Luigi approached her slowly, his fumbling hands indicating he had something to say that he wasn't totally confident about.

'Did she really, um, deserve to be treated that badly?' He asked.

She sighed. 'She stole the button. I just did what I needed to get it back.'

'But... she's just a cat.'

'She tried to kill you! Or at least deliver you to Ms Gravely. For some reason, I doubt that she's just a cat.'

She would've continued to argue her point, had she not noticed his sad eyes looking at her. As much as she genuinely believed the kitty was malicious, she realised she had no need to completely dismiss his belief.

She sighed, more forlorn this time. 'Look, whether the kitty is mean or misunderstood is not important right now. What's important is that we have the button.'

'Y-Yeah. That's true.'

'So let's just go to the next floor, and try to pretend this never happened. Okay?'

A few seconds of hesitation. 'Okay.'

Though she wanted them to forget the whole thing, Luigi couldn't help but think about that kitty. Being the animal lover he was, he thought about her cries with equal pain.

Granted, he knew that animals could do some pretty awful things. No way would he claim that they had the best grasp on morality. But, just like Polterpup, Polterkitty was certainly a step above the regular cat.

So then why did she steal the button? Perhaps Daisy was right...

But what if she wasn't?


The entire climb up, Polterkitty feared returning to Master. She knew better than anyone that if you failed Master, then Master got mad. Very mad. And with how high the stakes were to succeed in this particular mission, no way Master would let anyone off lightly.

Polterkitty ignored these silly fears. Master loved her too much to get mad. If only Master let her take off the pretty necklace that made travelling through objects hard.

By the time she arrived back into the room covered with screens and filled with the scent of King Boo, she completely forgot that she was still in her panther form.

Hellen Gravely smiled upon her arrival. 'Ah, Polterkitty! You've finally returned! Help over that button please.'

The panthergeist couldn't bare to look at Master. She immediately regretted her decision to return. Hellen's smile faded, and she tapped her fingers on her desk.

'Well, I... suppose that this minor setback is fine. Of course, it would've been much better if you, ya know, succeeded at your task, but this is fine. Just fine. This had potentially screwed us over, but fine.'

Polterkitty hated that tone that Master used sometimes. It was that 'you failed me but I will pretend you did not anger me' tone. She had heard it too much.

'But there is one thing we must absolutely fix!'

The cat's eyes widened. Upon seeing Master pull out one of her many make-up cases, she knew where this was going.

'Come here, darling. We cannot have you looking like a horrid beast!'

Polterkitty thought the panther form was better than being a prissy little cat, but Master got what Master wanted.

Hellen grabbed her pet by the neck and reeled her in, keeping her in place by wrapping her arm around her neck. Polterkitty tried to get herself free, but only barely.

Master applied that special make-up all over her face, dabbing so thoroughly that her whole body got consumed by the pink cloud. The irritating particles gave the cat a horrible sneezing fit.

By the way the pink clouds vanished, a small kitten stood in place of the hulking panther. Polterkitty's sneezing persisted a few seconds after the powder dissipated.

'There you go!' Hellen said with a great big smile. 'You're looking cute and beautiful again!'

Polterkitty couldn't look at Master any longer, and returned to her bed. What was she so doing wrong to receive such copious amounts of that horrid Gheistpaint?

She failed Master. Such a simple answer gave her so many anger, fury she directed at herself. How could she fail Master the way she did? She felt so ashamed.

Next time Master gave her an order, she was going to make sure she did it right.


Luigi was no stranger to dark, ominous castles. Bowser had at least twenty of them, including a couple in the sky. But a dark, ominous castle with ghosts within it? That was a combination that he never wanted.

The elevator doors opened up, and immediately Luigi felt like he had been transported to Medieval Europe. Between the dusty old brickwork, the tattered flags and rugs, and the crackling fireplace, it gave off the authentic experience.

Well, authentic enough for a hotel, at least.

The musty smell had returned, but this was unlike that of the basement. It reminded Luigi of an old ashy fireplace.

The only thing that broke the illusion was the light hanging from the ceiling, which was near identical to those in the other floors aside from being a little bit dirty. If it wasn't for that light, he'd actually think that he had been transported to a completely different building.

'I don't remember this being on the map...' He muttered.

He could recall the pamphlet mentioning a 'medieval experience', but he had not expected the full experience.

Daisy peered past him. 'Um... are we sure this is the same hotel? Or any hotel for that matter? I mean, I like it, but why?'

Luigi took one step out the elevator. Two suits of armour stood on the sides of the opened doors, guarding them with an axe and sword.

'I guess a haunted hotel doesn't have to be normal all the way-'

An axe fell past his face, the sharp blade missing his nose by less than an inch.

*CLANK*

'EEEK!'

He went stiff as his every nerve locked up. His eyes darted down to the axe now resting harmlessly on the floor. Polterpup growled at it, as if it were anything more than a regular old axe. Which it wasn't.

Daisy blinked a couple times, then burst into delirious giggling, much to Luigi's reddening cheeks.

'Why are you laughing?' He asked. 'That wasn't funny...'

'It wasn't!' She agreed, wiping her eyes.

I beg to differ. That was hilarious. He looked at her in utter confusion; the pieces didn't make any sense. Perhaps it was one of those 'laughing so you do not cry' moments?

Daisy tapped the axe with her foot, checking to see that it wouldn't lash out. 'That's a bad omen if I've ever seen one. Chances of survival?'

He gulped. 'L-Low.'

She grinned. 'I like those odds!'

'I don't.'

The trio entered the elevator hall, which aside from the fallen axe remained as still as an undisturbed room should. The cackling fire helped fill what would otherwise be a creepy silence. The only way out was through a small hallway to the left.

Except that it wasn't a hallway. It instead opened up to a rather large room in similar size to the fourth floor's theatre. The stony floor that took up only half of the room turned into a grand bridge over a moat, one that led to a castle wall.

The castle itself had grey bricks that, despite the moss that grew in their cracks, stood out as far more grand compared to the brown floor bricks.

But it wasn't an actual castle, or a real moat. Nothing of the sort.

'Did we just stumble into a play?' Daisy questioned.

Though it looked realistic, at the end of the day, it was merely the set of a castle wall. The moat was actual water, yes, but it could hardly be considered a moat considering how shallow and small it was. The popcorn stand in the corner especially shattered what would've been an awesome set.

Vaguely adventurous music began to play from a low-quality speaker. Now more than ever, it felt like they walked into a theme park attraction, and not an actual castle.

'This place looks... really cool.' Luigi said.

'I guess that's one way to describe it.' Daisy added.

She knocked on one of the stones in the wall. It felt and sounded like she was punching styrofoam. Probably because she was.

'I gotta see this.' She said, stepping forward.

The moment her foot hit the ground, a second, barely higher in quality, speaker turned on. Luigi shuddered at the voice.

'Welcome guests, to Castle MacFrights!' A recording of Hellen Gravely's voice announced. 'Get ready for the full medieval experience! See genuine castles, traverse dangerous traps, and watch the king himself engage in a joust. This and more at Castle MacFrights.'

In a much lower, quicker voice, she added: 'The Last Resort and its owner Ms Hellen Gravely are not responsible for any damage, injury, mugging, assault, or anything that could potentially result in death. Castle MacFrights is trademarked by the Last Resort Inc.'

The pre-recorded message came to end, allowing the cruddy music to continue uninterrupted. It only played for a few more seconds before the music distorted and ceased playing entirely. The speaker let off several sparks, and fell to the floor into a pile of rubble.

Daisy cocked an eyebrow. 'I see they spared no expense.'

She approached the foot of the draw bridge, with Luigi and Polterpup close behind. Compared to the rest of the realistic set, the 'wooden' bridge looked noticably plastic, straight out of a children's play-set.

She stamped her foot into it twice. 'Alright, it's stable. Let's go.'

Luigi gave the plastic bridge a quick tap himself, just to be sure. Though the water was shallow and he was a very good swimmer, he dreaded to think about how much the Poltergust would drag him down.

Polterpup cared little for the potential danger, and blissfully licked up water from that moat. He immediately spat it out; chlorine did not taste good.

Daisy opened the door - nice red wood panelling did little to prevent the regular old door from breaking the illusion - to a short hallway. In contrast to the well-lit room behind her, the hallway was dimly lit only by the light coming from the... windows?

How could there be windows? Weren't they far away from the walls of the hotel?

Four helmet-less suits of armour stood in front of each 'window', rattling just slightly as mice scampered past them and across the red carpet. To be completely fair, compared to the previous set this one was quite a bit better.

Luigi shuddered upon seeing the suits of armour, and not just because of what happened five minutes ago. At least there was a rug he could use to flip them over.

'I just want to remind ourselves that we're in a hotel right now.' Daisy said as she walked along the carpet. 'A hotel. Which was perfectly normal before we went to bed.'

'Yeah. I understand.' Luigi said, following her and unable to take his attention away from the armour.

He thought about that comment a little longer than he really needed to, considering that Daisy immediately forgot about it.

The silence of the hallway only made the paranoia of the armour springing to life so much worse. Luigi found himself involuntarily getting closer to her, as if she were Mario. And thinking about Mario just made him feel that much more lonely, despite the princess and ghost dog by his side.

Fortunately, nothing attacked him in that hallway aside from a chilling breeze against the back of his neck.

Daisy put her hand on the door handle. 'So, what are we expecting here?'

'Misery.' Luigi answered, in an appropriate tone. 'Mayhem. Madness.'

'Marvellous. Let's go.'

She opened the door and... well, it wasn't quite what they were expecting, to say the least. The first thing that caught their eye was, um, the sky? It seemed like the door had opened up to an open sunny sky, but once they got over their initial shock it was clear it was just a blue sky painted onto the walls and ceiling.

Aside from that, the way that this set was built made them feel like they were standing on and looking over a castle wall. To the left was a door blocked by bars, and to the right was a fruit stand asking to be destroyed. Near that was a small wooden gate.

Luigi couldn't focus on one particular detail, whether it was the painted sky, the fruit, or the stones that made up the 'castle wall'. Despite the fakeness of it all being obvious if you looked at it closer for two seconds, the amount of detail astounded him.

'Wow...' He muttered.

Polterpup knew exactly where he wanted to be, and rushed over to the fruit stand to gulp down a watermelon whole.

Daisy grinned, and marvelled at the set. 'Okay, this is pretty cool. Why do they need to do all the kidnapping stuff? They'd make so much money with just a little bit of advertisement.'

The one thing that managed to hold Luigi's attention was a lowered circular platform in the bricks, right in the middle of the wall. He walked over to the edge and peered over.

The set just got better. He was so occupied with letting the whole thing sink in that he didn't notice Daisy standing next to him.

The wall allowed him to overlook a mini-stadium with seats made of the finest wood he had seen in quite some time. Against the back wall, parallel to where he was standing, stood a glorious throne that had its own grand platform to stand on.

That throne is fit for a king.

As if reading his mind, two Goobs emerged floating on either side of the throne, each holding up and playing a big old-fashioned horn. The tune they played was just the one that you would play to introduce a member of royalty.

After playing the royal song, they lowered their instruments and motioned to the seemingly empty chair.

'Hear ye, hear ye. Presenting,' They announced, as deadpanned as ghostly possible. 'The ruler of this grand and dangerous castle... King MacFrights!'

A ghost materialised, floating in front of his royal seating, one that quickly caught Daisy's attention as well. Compared to the featureless Goobs, he was a small skinny guy with an impressive red beard.

'I ameth ye ruler of this magnificent land!' King MacFrights declared with a heavy Scottish accent. 'And I am readyeth to introduceth thee to me wonderful but deadly castle!'


POLTERKITTY, THE FEROCIOUS FELINE

AGE - Ancient, but still seemingly a juvenile

GENDER - Female

CAUSE OF DEATH - Drowned by owners

Polterkitty is Hellen Gravely's pet. She obeys Ms Gravely's every command, no matter how dangerous or vile. She does so not to receive treats, but out of loyalty to a woman she believes will return to her nicer persona.


Author Notes - So from this first encounter alone it should be clear that the Polterkitty in my story is very different from the panthergeist in the game.

It's no secret that Polterkitty is in a rather poor relationship here. My goal was to make Ms Gravely 'subtly abusive', if that makes any sense. No yelling, no hitting, just sweet manipulation.

It is canon, after all, that Luigi cares a lot about animals and hates to see them suffer. To quote him in LM1 - 'How could anyone treat an animal that way? I won't stand for it!' As if I didn't love him enough already...

I've noticed that Polterkitty, in contrast to the other ghosts who slip on through effortlessly, struggles a little each time. So, me being me, I was like 'Imma gonna take this little thing and expand it into something bigger'.

A random question - how would you feel about the Super Suction upgrade being obtained earlier on? It's a shame it's available so late when you can't really do anything with it.


The Mario Star tennis tournament had to be put on hold for a little bit, as not one but two of its star athletes got injured on the field. Luigi sat on the sidelines, holding an icepack to his blackened eye. Mario had apologised a lot for hitting him with the ball, but Luigi blamed himself for not paying attention. He was too busy thinking about the girl he met earlier that day.

'Hey Mario!'

Princess Peach arrived on the scene, and she was not alone.

'Oh, ciao Peach!' Mario greeted. 'And how's...? Oh.'

Luigi gasped. The person next to Peach was Daisy, the girl he fainted in front of earlier that day. Except she looked... horrible. She had a bloody nose, bruises all over face, and bandage covering a cut on her forehead.

The weirdest part? She smiled like she was totally okay. She hardly seemed to notice her own injuries at all.

He couldn't help but stare at her state. 'D-Daisy, are you okay? What happened?'

She chuckled and grinned. 'Strap yourself in, cos it's a wild ride.'

He leaned forward like a child being read to by his parent. Peach just rolled her eyes.

'See, I was on my way to totally destroy Yoshi in my next match. But then, Boom Boom showed up to attack me!'

Luigi gasped.

'And, man oh man, was it a tough fight. I barely made it out alive! But he was no match for-'

Peach cleared her throat, stopping her story. 'Mind telling Luigi the real story?'

Daisy sighed and slumped her shoulders. Luigi could've sworn he saw her blushing slightly.

'Okay, okay. That's not what happened. At all.'

Peach smirked. 'Go on.'

Daisy glared at her. 'I was training with Peach here, when I tried to do this epic trick shot by jumping over the net, and... Icaughtmyfootonthenetandfellflatonmyface. Turns that it really hurts.'

Mario and Peach chuckled, to which Daisy responded by playfully shoving them both aside. Luigi himself found it hard to contain his childlike giggles. The 'offical' couple laughed it up, much to the embarrassment of the injured players. Daisy sat next to Luigi, smiling.

'It's kinda funny, actually.' She said. 'Usually I can make a jump like that like it's nothing.'

'What happened?' Luigi asked.

'It's between the two of us, but... I was a little too busy thinking of you.'

Both sides blushed.

She giggled. 'You too?'