Author Notes - Castle MacFrights is a great level, cos it's when the game stops fooling around and throws you into the bizarre theming and deadly traps. Seriously, that room with the spiky walls can go screw itself.
Regardless, a room or two may be cut, or even combined with another. I wanna get this floor done in two chapters, if at all possible. Don't worry, I'll make sure we still get to see all the stuff this floor has to offer. Why do I do this? Because I'm worried about this story getting too long, and I want most floors to be done in two chapters max. The exceptions for now are the Boilerworks and the Tomb Suites, which I will allow to go into three chapters if necessary. And the Master Suite/Rooftop will take as many as it needs.
I'm going to try to make the chapters a little shorter from now on, even if only by 500-to-a-thousand words or so.
BTW, if anyone's wondering how I'm fairing with a certain pandemic going on right now, I was one of those lucky few to be that 'my reclusive life barely changes at all' type. Not to mention that I live on that tiny island under Australia, so it's somewhat remote. For now, everything is fine.
Thanks to yorukakusaku, Cyan Quartz, Zen9, WhyareUsernamesTakenAlready, hesalreadyhere, RisingSonic17, and LovelyTeng2002 for the favourites! Sweet Grambi did I get a lot since last chapter!
CHAPTER ELEVEN - HASSLE IN THE CASTLE
'Hellen Gravely, I would like a quick word with you.'
The hotel owner yelped; she hadn't quite expected her darling to drop in like this. She spun her chair around and put on a bashful smile.
'Oh, darling! Why are you here? Shouldn't you be... wherever you were, watching over my brilliant plan?'
'Funny. That's precisely what I wanted us to talk about.'
Hellen kept up her smile, but on the inside she felt like doing what the previously-living ghosts called 'dying for a second time'.
'W-What is there to talk about, darling? My plan is working perfectly!' She then muttered, 'If my useless staff were to stop acting like morons...'
'Yeah, I'm not so sure about that, 'darling'. Haven't you noticed that Luigi and his tomboy friend have already saved a Toad?'
'Why, yes! I have noticed that. Now, if my Polterkitty only managed to successfully steal that button...'
The cat in question, who had been trying to sleep but simply couldn't, glared up at her.
King Boo sighed. 'I think there's a problem when your master plan relies on a cat.'
'Look, it's just a minor setback. I promise. My hotel trap has worked since the beginning. I'm sure Charles and Sam alone are proof enough of that. I can assure you that we will have Luigi captured.'
'You better.'
He turned around and looked at the portrait of Mario. At least he could always marvel at the terror in that heroic plumber's eyes. It helped him forget the desperation.
'That Luigi...' He muttered. 'I would possess his body and throw him off a cliff if I could.'
'Then, if you don't mind me asking, why don't you?'
He groaned. 'Boos aren't very good at possessing people. The victim has to be pretty dang scared for it to work.'
She chuckled. 'Then surely possessing that dirty coward would be an easy task.'
During their exchange, Polterkitty growled to herself. Why couldn't Master give her attention? Why did Master have to care so much about a doomed romance?
'You'd think so.' King Boo continued. 'But surprisingly Luigi's never been that terrified of me.' He smirked. 'But I know someone who is.'
The Goobs continued their deadpanned speech that they probably had repeated hundreds of times before. 'On your tour you will experience thrills and spills as you traverse the castle of King MacFrights. Be warned, as there are several traps along the way, and...
The Goob on the left threw up his arms in exasperation and stopped his speech dead. 'Oh, I can't do this anymore.'
He looked straight up at the mortals, caring none about the looks his king and fellow Goob were giving him.
'Sorry for the confusion, humans.' He said. 'But he's not a king. Nor was he ever. Sorry, I can't do this stupid speech anymore.'
MacFrights gave no delay and smacked him upside the head. The Goob took it rather well, and just looked at him with mild annoyance.
'THOU WILL NOT GIVETH THY KING SUCH INSOLENCE!' The 'king' shouted. 'Ow dare thou questioneth me royal status! If thou weren't already deadeth, I'd 'ast thou be'eaded for thy disdainful acts against me!'
The Goob just rolled his pupil-less eyes. 'Sir, you don't-'
'I AM THY 'IGHNESS! Refereth to me as such!'
'Your highness, you don't have the power to do that. Ms Gravely is the one who-'
'Do not speaketh yon name around me! Ye 'ussy 'ast tried to ASSASSINATETH ME far too many times!'
The two Goobs, Polterpup, and the mortals stared at the 'king', all sharing the same incredulous expression. Needless to say, no one, not even Luigi, was taking this guy's threats seriously.
'Uh-huh. Right. Your highness!' Daisy called, leaning over the edge of the castle wall slightly. 'You wouldn't happen to have a small glowing thing, would you?'
MacFrights grinned. 'As a matter of fact, thee dear peasant, I doth.'
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the exact object the mortals wanted - an elevator button. Luigi could barely make out a '7'. The 'king' held the button up and shook it around, like a dog owner taunting their pet with a doggy treat.
'If thee peasants wanteth it, there be a way ta geteth it.' He said. 'If thou manage to reacheth me glorious stadium, thou may entereth a jousting tournament with me. Ye winner getseth thy sparkling gold thing! But I warn thee, I am nigh undefeatable. So, what do thou sayeth?'
Daisy put her foot onto the stone wall she leaned over, and gave her opponent a cocky smirk. 'I accepteth thy challenge, your highness!' She groaned at the realisation that she was doing it too now.
Luigi yelped. 'Uh, D-Daisy? Shouldn't we think this over f-?'
'So it's settled!' MacFrights declared. 'Maketh it to ye arena and thou two shall challengeth me for ye grande prize! I predicteth that thy battle will not disappointeth.'
Ignoring Luigi's pleads to at least take things slow and carefully, Daisy rushed to the small wooden gate that lead to the arena. Sure, it was closed, but there was literally nothing preventing her from just vaulting over it.
'Whoa!'
Uh, on second thought, there was something stopping her from merely vaulting over. Paranormal gates emerged and locked into the ground, baring off not just the gate but the entire wall as well.
The latter was especially frustrating, as throwing herself off the wall was her next option.
'Ah ah ah!' MacFrights said. 'We wouldn't wanteth thou cheatin' and going througheth me gates to geteth to me early, would thou now? If thou want to challengeth me, then thou must go througheth ye full gauntlet of Castle MacFrights! Guards, open ye olde door!'
One could assume 'guards' referred to the two suits of armour standing by the blocked off door to the left, but considering that they weren't sentient at all it seemed unlikely. On his cue, the bars that blocked the door rose up, allowing mortals to pass through.
'If thou mere mortals succeedeth in navigating me domaine, I will considereth ye worthy of a fight! But I warneth thou, ye olde castle be filledeth to ye brim with traps. I 'opeth thou art quick in ye brain and on ye feet, or ye traps will giveth thou a one-way-trip to me graveyard.'
Daisy could barely pay attention to his words thanks to his utter butchering of old-styled English, but she got the message.
'Um, what is he saying?' Luigi asked, unable to understand him through his thick accent and abuse of Ye Olde English.
'We just accepted a challenge to go through a bunch of death traps. You okay with that?'
He blinked at her. 'You know the answer to that.'
'Look, it's a set where the walls are made of foam. We'll be fine.'
The second she finishing saying that, Luigi already knew that he wouldn't be fine.
The trio entered the first door, Luigi stepping through last. The next room was not unlike the hallway, just a little wider and lacking windows. The absence of windows made everything so much darker to the point of barely being visible, with Luigi's flashlight providing much needed illumination.
The only real difference was that the armour had been moved into the corners, and various weapons like axes and swords hung from the walls and racks.
Daisy noticed the flashlight beam jittering about. 'You okay, sweetie?'
'O-Oh yeah.' He said. 'I'm just great. C-Couldn't be happier!'
She chuckled. 'Like I said, walls made of foam. This is basically a Disneyland tour.'
While the mortals conversed, Polterpup picked up a scent far less inviting than that of the fruit stands. He put his nose to the floor and followed it up to one of the suits of armour. The metal emitted a ghostly aura.
'Yip!'
He yipped over and over while pointing at the armour. Neither Luigi nor Daisy noticed him.
'Oh, and I'm sure this fifteen storey deathtrap is just a hotel, right?' The man in green said.
'Well that's just... a really good point, actually. But I'm still waiting for a tour guide. I'll convinced if,' She put her chin in her hand. 'I dunno, one of those suits of armour came to life.'
She immediately regretted those words.
Polterpup yelped and jumped back as the armour's foot jolted forward. It caught the humans' attention, just in time for them to see it lifting its entire leg forward. Its helmet snapped to them, and it lifted its battle axe into the air.
'Luigi, I know what you're about to say.' Daisy said. 'And to that I say, shut up.'
He was in no mood to say anything along the lines of 'told ya so'. That would require him to not be in a state where his knees moved more like his gooey counterpart.
Though it moved slowly, the suit waddled forward like a soulless robot set only to kill. As it lumbered towards them, it repeatedly muttered a single phrase in a low, lifeless voice.
'Treguna, mekoides, trecorum satis dee... treguna, mekoides, trecorum satis dee... treguna, mekoides, trecorum satis dee...'
Luigi's eyes fell onto the rug they walked across. He hoped he could pull it out from under the sentient armour, just like how he did back in the Treacherous Mansion. One problem - the rug extended all the way under both doors, leaving said method that much harder to pull off.
'It's okay sweetie!' Daisy announced. 'I can handle this!'
She leapt forward and slammed her fist into the chest of the metal being, like a movie star striking the bad guy.
*bonk*
'... ow.'
To say the least, her punch did nothing. It was solid metal; what was she expecting? Had she not been wearing the metallic gloves, she would've broken her hand.
The armour, making no sounds over than its repetitive muttering and the usual metal clanking, held its axe into the air and swung it down. It aimed for her neck.
'Oh no you don't!'
Without thinking, she held her hands out and blocked the axe by its very sharp blade. What would usually be a suicidal move, followed up by bleeding hands at best, became a strong defensive manoeuvre.
Polterpup snarled at it, and ripped one of the leg plates clean off its body. Despite it only having one leg now, it stood perfectly. In fact, it continued to use the detached foot no problem.
Luigi looked behind him; the door to the next room stood undisturbed, with not a single paranormal gate or blockage of any kind to be seen.
'Let's-a get outta here!' He yelled to his princess.
Daisy pushed the axe away and backed off. 'Right behind ya!'
They rushed for the door. Daisy reached her hand out for the doorknob.
*CLANK*
'Yah!'
An axe swung down, barely missing her fingers. Unlike the last axe, that had fallen randomly, this one was wielded by a 'living' metal solider with malicious intent.
'Treguna mekoides trecorum satis dee...' It muttered, no different than the last.
It stepped in front of the door, slapping its axe into its other hand like a ruler.
'Okay Luigi, any ideas?' Daisy asked.
'Why is it always me?'
'My idea was to punch the thing. You're the smart one out of the three of us.'
He gulped. If I'm the smartest, then we're all dead.
Before he could berate himself further, he noticed something on the chest of the stationary guard. It had a small round plate in the middle, with an emblem of the hotel's icon on it. Compared to the rest of the suit, the emblem was as flat as could be.
He smiled. 'I got it!'
Daisy sighed in relief, just quietly enough so no one could hear it. 'Don't explain it to me. Just do it!'
Giving her a nod, he fired a Suction Shot at the emblem. It stuck on without a problem. The armour did not response at all, still muttering those incoherent words like its only function was to kill. Luigi pulled on the rope with his Poltergust until it couldn't be pulled further.
Daisy turned around and yelped. She threw her arm up to block an oncoming axe blade.
'No pressure, but we're running out of time here!'
'Thank you for that added pressure.' He muttered.
For a quick moment, he studied the distance between the two living statues. Unfortunately, maths was not his strong suit.
'Get out of the way!' He ordered.
Daisy nodded, and threw the axe up so she could do as he said. Once she was clear from the impact site, he plungered the suit of armour over his head, smashing it not into the floor but instead the other metal being.
Both suits collapsed into a pile of iron, showing no ghostly being having possessed them. But still, the two voices repeated their mysterious incantation, slightly out of sync and creating an echoing effect.
'Treguna mekoides trecorum satis dee...'
Polterpup tugged at his pant leg, whimpering in desperation. He stared at the mangled pile with wide eyes and tiny pupils.
'What's that, boy?' Luigi asked. 'You still sense something?'
'Yip yip...'
Now that the man in green thought about it, he definitely still felt something emanating from what remained of the suits. A glove, lying on the floor, twitched and slowly floated over to the end of an arm piece.
'I'm not the idea guy here or anything,' Daisy said, returning to his side. 'But I think we should skedaddle.'
The glove's fingers opened up, and pointed right at them.
Daisy grabbed her male counterpart's wrist. 'Oh yeah, we're leaving!'
And they were out the other door before the armour could return to its 'proper' forms. Daisy slammed the door shut behind him and prayed the beings behind it were not smart enough to open doors.
'What, in the heck, was that about?!' She yelled. 'I know you've mentioned something about possessed knights or something, but those things didn't even have ghosts inside them!'
Luigi placed his hand on his heart, and only spoke once it slowed down. 'I don't know. I don't think even the professor would know.'
Our heroes took a moment to breathe, as this room was far more quiet. Windows - however they were there - on the right allowed soft moonlight to fall onto the wooden platform they stood on. The platform became a small set of stairs, which came to another platform before continuing down the other way.
Polterpup sniffed at what he thought was a bloodstain, but turned out to be merely dried tomato sauce.
Another pre-recorded message by Hellen proceeded to greet our heroes.
'Well done, intrepid explorers! You have passed the sentient husks of heroic knights, known for attacking without emotion and uttering a seemingly nonsensical message.'
Daisy groaned. 'Would've been nice to know that was coming beforehand, but alright.'
'You are one step closer to completing our deadly tour. Keep on your toes, because you never know what could happen next!'
The message ended there. The princess looked at the speaker with her mouth agape.
'That's it?! Not even going to tell us what horrific trap you have laid out for us next? Good lord, I'd rather deal with that stupid cat another ten times first!'
'I think this tour is supposed to kill us.' Luigi added.
'Ya think?'
Alas, they had no choice but to move on, lest they return to that room. Luckily, the walk down to the next door had no dangers, beyond the crows that flew away anyway.
'I hate this.' Daisy said as she reached for the door. 'I really hate this. I love a good ghost tour, but I like ghost tours where my life isn't literally in danger.'
'Well, I, um...'
Luigi always felt the need to be more optimistic than her, despite being the pessimistic one.
'Yeah, I hate this too.' He admitted.
'Oh, I love it when we can agree.'
She opened the door up to the next room, and thus the next 'challenge.' It looked similar to the last 'challenge room', albeit without any suits of armour so already our heroes liked this one more.
Three barrels big enough for all three heroes to fit into at once lay on their side against the wall, their green lids each adorned with a picture MacFrights' face pointing at them. The stone floor got divided in two by a strip of metal going straight from the left side of the room all the way to the right. Above them was a platform, holding smaller barrels in big stacks. More barrels stood in the corners of the room, filled with tomatoes that were only slightly rotten.
On the other side of the metal strip was the next door.
'Prediction time!' Daisy said. 'I predict that metal plate thing is going to grow spikes when we approach it.'
'In that case, I say it'll cause the walls to close in when we step on it.'
'Arf arf arf.' Which roughly translated to 'the room will fill with poison gas'.
The trio approached the metal plate slowly, watching for any sort of discrepancy. Luigi's eyes darted to something that turned out to just be dust particles sparkling in his torchlight.
They stopped dead, Luigi jumping back with a yelp. Rows of skinny spikes taller than Polterpup sprung from the metal plate with a ssshing! sound. Polterpup sniffed the red stuff on the tips; half of it was tomato sauce, the other half blood.
'Called it!' Daisy said, carefully tapping the tip of one of the spikes.
'Dang it...' Luigi muttered. 'What now?'
Daisy took a closer look at the spikes. They were certainly sharp enough to impale her if she just fell on them. At the same time, they had little gaps in between them, albeit very tiny ones. She figured her legs could just barely fit through them.
No way her partner was going to make it past though.
She turned to Luigi with a sigh. 'Go back to the elevator. I'll do the rest of 'ye gauntlet' myself.'
'What? No!' He cried. 'I can't let you do that! We're supposed to be a team. And... and what if you get hurt? I won't be around to help you. A-And anyway, I'm not sure you'll be able to walk through those spikes without getting hurt. They're really sharp.'
He looked at her with such effective puppy dog eyes that not even Polterpup would be able to beat them. It was moments like this that almost made Daisy hate how much she loved him. Anyone else giving her that attitude would immediately be slapped, but his genuine concern drilled into her core.
She sighed. 'Alright. You have any better ideas?'
Her eyes fell upon a black ball hanging by a rope in the back corner of the room. The rope travelled across the ceiling, attaching the ball to the spike trap.
'Ooh, I got something!' She said. 'If we pulled on that, it might just lower the spikes. But how are we supposed to - DAH!'
She jumped as she turned back to Luigi. A monochrome green guy stood right next to her, staring with his soulless eyes. Her heart relaxed once she realised it was just Gooigi.
'Oh sweet Grambi... can ya warn me when you do that next time?'
'Sorry.' Despite the distortion in his voice, Daisy could still hear the remorse.
Just as Luigi had expected, Gooigi passed through the spikes without a problem, aside from walking a little slower. He reached the other side like the spikes weren't even there.
'And that's why you're the idea guy.' Daisy said. 'Not me.'
She did a stellar job hiding her bitterness and frustration upon saying those last two words. Gooigi, seemingly paying no attention to her compliment but actually enjoying it, walked over to the hanging ball and got it into the Poltergust.
He walked backwards, dragging the ball along with him. Once it was dragged as far as it could go, the spikes slid down back into floor.
Daisy gave him a thumbs-up. 'Good job!'
Luigi transferred his consciousness back to his regular body, a sensation that felt so natural now, and Gooigi still held onto the ball.
'Congratulations, explorers!' Hellen's pre-recorded voice returned. 'You have bypassed the dreaded spike trap!'
It ended there, being oddly short. Our heroes walked over the now-harmless spike trap and towards the door. When Daisy tried to open it though, they found one tiny, insignificant problem.
The door was locked.
Hellen's voice continued. 'Oh, did I fail to mention that the door is locked? Sorry. You'll have to find a key first. Oh, and there will be ghosts throwing tomatoes at you too. Have fun!'
Right on cue, Oozer ghosts popped their skinny little heads out of the smaller barrels, armed with an endless supply of the red produce.
Luigi knelt down to his ghostly dog. 'You're good at finding keys, boy. Go find it!'
Polterpup gave him a salute, and ran off to do as he was ordered. Given the lack of any visible shiny objects, he figured his best bet was the giant barrels in the corner.
'Good boy!' Luigi said. 'Good - ah!'
He got interrupted by a tomato striking him square in the face. It didn't hurt too much, but bits of it fell into his mouth and made him gag from the taste.
'Hey!' Daisy yelled.
She charged back over to the other side of the room, where the tomato had come from. Following the path to a barrel, she gave the wooden vessel a kick.
'I know it was you buddy!' She said, glaring down into it. 'Come fight me like a real ghost!'
No response.
'So that's how it's going to be, huh? I can work with this!'
She lifted the barrel into the air with the lights on her gloves glowing strong, and slammed it into the floor. It broke apart into a mess of splinters and tomato sauce, leaving a very dizzy Oozer in the middle of it.
Not willing to leave it at that, she picked him up by the tail and cracked his body like a whip. If he had a spine, it would've snapped.
Polterpup ducked into the barrel on the left undetected. Unfortunately, all that was in that one was a small colony of mice, mice now squeaking in fear from the big scary dog.
Luigi got done wiping the tomato splatter off his face, only to receive another one thrown directly at the back of his neck. Unable to make any sound other than a low growl, he turned around to the Oozer sticking her head out of the barrel behind him.
He picked up his Strobulb and got ready to charge.
'Hang on, sweetie!' Daisy said. 'I got this!'
She spun the Oozer in her hand around like he was a lasso, taking a bit too much delight in doing so, and - like she was competing for the Hammer Throw gold medal - she chucked her Oozer directly at the other.
Their faces crashed into each other and they fell flat to the ground, barely conscious.
Luigi let the Strobulb go off without him noticing. She's so much better at busting ghosts than me. And I thought I was the experienced one. If a newbie is that good, then I must be garbage...
'Uh, Luigi, your Poltergust!'
'Oh! R-Right.'
While his owner got to slamming the Oozers into nothing, Polterpup ducked into the next barrel. His tail wagged when he saw the key lying up for grabs. He grabbed it with his mouth and jumped out to meet up with his owner once again.
Luigi had just got done eliminating the ghosts when Polterpup dropped the key at his feet. The sight of the shiny object brought a smile to the plumber's face.
'Good job, boy!'
Daisy returned to her boys while Luigi used the key. In that whole mess, Gooigi had not let go of the ball once, leaving the spikes covered. As Luigi opened the door, the speakers spoke to them once again.
'See? That wasn't so hard, was it? Now, the question is, what horrors await you around the corner? You'll have to wait and see! But I'm sure that it'll be something ghastly!'
Though Luigi knew it wasn't what she meant, he couldn't help but think of a Gastly. He didn't use Ghost-types very often, with the delightful exception of Mimikyu.
He stuck his head through the door, and wrinkled his nose as the musty smell from the basement came back to him. Actually, the basement's air was fresher than this. At least that air didn't carry the heavy scent of suffering and decay.
'Blegh...' He muttered, getting his whole body out the door.
Our heroes stepped onto some wooden floorboards, the reason for which becoming clear the moment they looked around.
They were on a small bridge, one that led to a solid wall covered up by a MacFrights banner. Upon realising this, Luigi found that the floorboards beneath his feet seemed to creak way louder all of a sudden. Candles halfway through burning gave the room an orange glow that did little to mask the feeling of despair. A couple of round metal cages hung from the ceiling.
Polterpup focused on a wooden elevator shaft that led to the ground level. Chains travelled down, and connected it to a wooden fan attached to the wall.
Daisy leaned over the edge. The drop down led to an entirely different storey, one filled with chains.
The speakers spoke again. 'You have arrived into the brigs. Here, we keep prisoners chained to the walls until they cannot fight anymore. Will you be among those chained-up, or will you succeed past this harrowing room? Goeth forth, thou travellers!'
The princess had no words for the constant patronising. She attempted to judge the distance between her and the floor. Deciding that she had no time to do that, she lifted her leg over the railing.
Luigi, who had been looking at the wooden fan, turned around to see her borderline suicidal act.
'Ah! D-Daisy!'
He grabbed her by the arm and reeled her in. Only afterwards did he think about how that act may have offended her.
'S-Sorry!' He yelled out his go-to word. 'I-I just...'
'Why do you apologise for everything?' Daisy asked.
She meant it as a genuine question, but she failed to realise that an annoyed tone seeped into her words. A tone that Luigi did not fail to hear. She doesn't like me apologising? Then, what am I supposed to do?
'Seriously, every time you do something even remotely wrong, the first thing you do is apologise. Even if you've done nothing wrong at all! Why is that?'
His eyes averted her, glancing at literally anything else: the fans, the candles, the cages, anything. Should he explain why? He hardly knew the reasons himself.
'Um, you okay?'
Now he felt the pressure to answer. How could he? All he wanted was for something, even a ghost encounter, to interrupt this conversation.
'Arf arf!'
That would do. The humans turned to Polterpup, who was now floating next to the wooden fan looking pretty proud of himself.
Luigi internally sighed in relief. 'What did ya find, boy?'
Polterpup grabbed one of the fan's blade, and spun it around. It pulled on the chain in the shaft, bringing the elevator cage up until it reached the top. The bar in the way rose up, allowing entrance.
Daisy reached over and gave him a rub behind his non-existent ears. 'Who's a clever boy? You are! Yes you are!'
Luigi chuckled; though her 'fragile' moments were rare, they were no less precious.
The princess stepped into the cage at once, but the plumber hesitated. The floor did not seem especially stable. Regardless, it held up even once Polterpup spun the fan the other way to lower them to the floor.
When Luigi stepped out onto the dirt floor, he found that the smell of decay only got worse at the bottom. How Daisy could handle it was a mystery to him. Many chains hung from the walls, yet there was a surprising absence of any bodies or skeletons. He figured they must've been cleaned up afterwards.
'Uh, so what now?' Daisy asked.
Luigi looked around, and gasped. Seemingly nowhere was there a door to enter.
'Oh no...'
His heart rate increased, like it typically did whenever he felt trapped.
'I have a solution.' Daisy said. 'Insult my favourite band until I get angry enough to break down the walls.'
He shook his head. 'Th-There's gotta be a better way than that.'
'What, exactly?'
He wished he had an answer, but at the moment it seemed like they were trapped, forced to eventually starve and join the undead. His breathing rate sped up to match his heartbeat. The world began to lose its focus around him.
'Arf arf!'
His heart relaxed. Once again, Polterpup arrived to get him out of a stressful situation. He floated down from the bridge above, and settled on the floor next to the wall, pointing to a seemingly inconspicuous spot.
No one noticed the elevator going back up.
Daisy cocked an eyebrow. 'Hate to break this to you Polterpup, but we're not ghosts. We can't just go through walls like you can.'
Polterpup whined at her.
Luigi glanced the spot up and down. 'I don't think that's what he's trying to tell us.'
'Then what?'
He pulled out his flashlight, and set it to Dark-Light mode. The rainbow light covered the wall, revealing the translucent shape of a solid door.
'Oh!' Daisy said. 'Of course!'
As Luigi kept the Dark-Light on the reforming door, waiting for the Spirit Balls to emerge, Daisy's attention was caught by the sound of the elevator moving. The fan attached to it broke off its axis like someone ripped it off.
'Uh, Luigi?'
He stopped using the light and turned to her. 'What?'
The elevator cage crashed into the ground, shattering its own floor. Well, there was no going back now. Luigi flinched, and his terror only got worse when he saw the occupants who sent it crashing down.
'Pound mean man!'
'Hattie smash green man!'
'Harry make scary princess pay!'
Hammers. Mini-Hammers no bigger than the Mini-Goobs from the shops at that. All fifteen or so of them spilled out the elevator like water, each riling up their fists for a battle and yelling their own little battlecry.
One floated much higher than the others, not getting his hands ready for battle but instead keeping watch.
Daisy merely scoffed. 'We don't really need a little distraction right now.'
Luigi stared at the Mini-Hammers, but not out of fear. They reminded him of the tiny Goobs he had to capture in the clothing shop, and they sounded no older. One particularly small one sounded like she was two.
Were they the ghosts of previously-living children? He didn't want to think about that for a moment longer. It didn't matter. Children were children.
The apparent two-year-old floated over to Polterpup, and reached out to pat him. He responded by barking furiously in her face. She squealed in fear as she retreated.
'D-Daisy?' Luigi squeaked out.
'Yeah?'
'C-Can you take them out? P-Please?'
Any question she wanted to ask got answered by the misery in his eyes. She nodded, and got to demolishing. She swiped her hand through three of them, and all three vanished into red particles as easily as that.
She chuckled. 'Yeah, I don't think this will be hard.'
The yelps the Mini-Hammers made as they disappeared convinced Luigi that he couldn't watch. He turned away, listening to the child ghosts get defeated one by one, indicated by their screams. He quickly lost count.
Even though he couldn't bare to look, he knew Daisy was plowing through them. How could she attack them without any hesitation?
The sounds of them getting defeated ceased. He still didn't want to look, just in case it wasn't actually over yet.
'Hey, you! Up there!' Daisy yelled, presumably to the one just watching. 'Get down here and... hey don't fly away!' She groaned. 'That works too. Alright sweetie, they're gone now.'
He finally dared to look, and found the room totally empty. Trying his hardest to put that behind him, he got to Dark-Lighting the invisible door again.
'How can you do that?' He asked. 'They're... they're children. What if they're kids who died?'
Daisy watched the silhouette of the door fully form, and five Spirit Balls floated out of it. They scattered around, and in his deep thoughts he ignored them.
'Can you just suck up those balls already?' She asked.
'E-Excuse me?'
'You know what I mean.'
Complying to her request, he succeeded in sucking up the fiery balls. Once they all disappeared into his vacuum, the door reformed for real.
Daisy reached for the door handle. 'Good. Now we can-'
'How?' Luigi asked.
It took Daisy a couple seconds to understand what he was asking. When she did, she sighed.
'Simple. I just don't think about it.'
As she opened the door, he sat there to think about her answer. How could she simply not think about it? He could never not think about something. Once a thought implanted itself, it was there to stay.
Daisy stepped through the door, unaware of the bucket balancing above her.
'GAH!'
She looked back at Luigi, with the most 'done with this' face imaginable. Water dripped from her hair and down her clothes. He tried his best to hide his laughter, but ultimately failed. Polterpup didn't even try to hide it.
'What happened?' Luigi asked between giggles.
She wiped some of the water off her face. 'Cos that's what I want! Stupid bucket pranks in the middle of a life-threatening tour. That's exactly what I want!'
'I'd rather the bucket than the spikes.'
'True, true. Never mind the bucket. Get out here!'
Luigi did just that and arrived in a room quite a bit different than the last, though the decaying smell was no different. This room was one of the biggest so far, and was divided in half by metal bars spanning the entire floor from one end to the other. Judging by the prison beds and chains, that room's purpose was clear.
The floor returned to being made of stone, much like the rooms above. Other than the bars and the beds, hardly anything stood in this area, making for a frighteningly bare room. Luigi could already see the ghosts ambushing them.
'Oh hey.' Daisy said. 'The door's right there! How much do you wanna bet it's locked?'
She ran over before he could even answer. Unsurprisingly, the door was locked.
'Great.' She muttered. 'Where's the key? On the moon?'
Luigi only had to glance around for a second to see the key behind the bars, hanging by one of the chains above a pool of water.
'There it is.' He stated simply.
Daisy walked up to the bars. Yeah, no way in heck she was getting through those. There was another ball-on-rope near the exit door though. Maybe if Gooigi pulled on that they could-
'Go get the key, boy!'
'Yip yip!'
She huffed. That worked too. Once again, an idea of hers quickly got usurped by her male counterpart.
Polterpup grabbed onto the key, and pulled on it. It didn't unhook. He whimpered, and pulled again. Still nothing.
'Arf...' This bark clearly meant 'help'.
Luigi stuck his head through the bars as far as it would go, which wasn't very far. He squinted, unable to see what prevented the key from unhooking.
Daisy approached him. 'How about you use Gooigi?'
He shook his head. 'The key's above water. That won't work.'
'I mean for that.'
She pointed at the ball hanging from the wall.
'Why does Gooigi have to do it?'
'No way I'm leaving your side in a place as dangerous as this.'
His heart warmed. How he managed to befriend such a loyal person was beyond him. He deployed Gooigi, and with his 'Poltergoo' grabbed onto the ball and pulled it back. He had to pull it a fair distance, but after about a metre or two a gate in the bars lowered into the floor.
Switching back to his real body, Luigi smiled at his princess. 'Good idea, Daisy!'
Daisy let that sink in. It had to be the first time in years someone said that to her. It made a little flame inside her grow.
She smirked. 'Finally, someone gets it. Now let's help Polterpup get that key.'
The humans walked through the gate and into the water. It dawned on Luigi just how murky it was, and it smelled like rotting bodies. It made him back away, lest he threw up. Daisy cared not for the dirty water, and knelt in it to get a closer look at the key.
She yanked it from the chain, and nearly tumbled backwards as it flew off like it wasn't stuck at all. She glanced at it, and blinked at the chain.
'Um, Polterpup, are you sure this was stuck?' She asked.
The ghost dog nodded, just as perplexed as she was.
'Maybe the ghosts wanted to lure us in here.' Luigi suggested. 'M-Maybe. But I don't know why-'
'Ha HA!'
Everyone's attention fell onto a Goob, who had appeared from thin air with a bucket in his hands. He floated over to the stationary Gooigi, snickering to himself. He gave a cheeky smirk to our heroes, as that extra little salt in the wound while he poured the bucket of water over the gooey man.
'AHHH!'
'HEY!'
Gooigi dissolved into a green puddle in moments, flying back into the Poltergust. The rope retracted into the wall, and with it the gate rose back up.
Trapping the mortals inside.
'Have fun getting out now!' The Goob yelled, followed by some good evil laughter.
Daisy ran to the wall, grasping the bars. She glared at the ghost, the lights on her gloves glowing intensely.
'You think you're so brave!' She yelled. 'Hiding away from us like that!'
'Daisy, it's okay.' Luigi said, surprisingly optimistic for him. 'I can just use Gooigi again. That's fine.'
No sooner than he finish that sentence did the walls at the ends of the room grow spikes.
'Oh yeah!' Daisy said. 'That looks fine to me! And if anyone here says that 'at least the walls aren't closing in', I will have to hurt you.'
Luigi gulped. 'Uh, I-I think you've done that for us already.'
Right on the cue, the walls jolted forward at least a metre with a horrid loud THUD, sparks flying off the metal arms pushing them forward. Before Luigi could even think 'please stay there', they jolted forward another metre.
Daisy grabbed the bars tighter than before, and tried her absolute hardest to rip them off from the wall. She succeeded in bending them, but not much else.
*THUD*
The walls got even closer.
Luigi's head darted between the two walls, his heart getting closer to giving up with each look. His claustrophobia came down on him, hard, and only got worse with every second.
For the first time in a while, Ms Gravely's pre-recorded voice spoke to them.
'Sorry my intrepid explorers, but few people make it this far. This is the dungeon where all the worst convicts were kept. No need to worry about convicts once they're squished, is there? You must act fast if you are escape this trap!'
That was what did it. Luigi's brain hit its limit and snapped. He had only thing that he was capable of doing now.
'AAAHHHHHHHH!'
Author Notes - I could've done it the speedrunner way and jumped straight to the boss, but that's no fun to read! Or write!
King 'William' MacFrights derives his first name from William Shakespeare. MacFrights in general takes inspiration from MacBeth. And yes, I am intentionally butchering 'Ye Olde English' when he speaks. I'm trying to make him seem like the biggest fraud in the world.
The suits of armour repeating 'treguna mekoides trecorum satis dee' when 'alive' is indeed a reference to Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks. It seemed appropriate.
As for these ending flashbacks, I won't say I regret putting them in, but I feel like I could've done something better with them. And since I've dedicated myself, there's no going back. But from now on, they will be quite a bit shorter and will mostly focus on the ghosts instead of Luigi.
'Can you believe it, Charles? We're the first ones to be invited to this place! Isn't that cool?'
'Yes, it is. Now please stop bringing it up. I get it.'
Charles and Sam, two humans hailing from the Mushroom Kingdom, were on their way to a recently-opened hotel called 'The Last Resort', so-called because you'd never want to go to any other hotel again.
It seemed like a pretty good second honeymoon idea.
Sam was the one driving, doing so poorly out of her excitement. 'I hope it's a nice place. What about you? We've only been driving there for hours.'
'I'd hope so too. The kid's getting restless.'
He looked in the back seat of his car to see their eight-year-old son Lou punching the windows. Granted, it was in a rather playful manner, but still.
'Are we there yet?' Lou asked.
'Wait, are we there yet?' Sam echoed.
'You're the one driving.' Charles stated.
'Oh yeah.' A pause. 'I think the answer's no.'
When they finally did arrive, they had a fantastic time! Hellen Gravely was such a welcoming host, and the attractions were amazing.
Sam went straight to checking out the pyramid replica, kept in check by the beautiful Serpci. Charles opted to stop by the seafood restaurant. Meanwhile, Lou wondered off by himself to try out the 'Medieval Gauntlet'.
They never returned. Everyone forgot about them the day they disappeared.
Not too long afterwards, twins Owen and Olivia hailing from Pi'illo Island received invitations to the luxury hotel. Deciding they had nothing better to do, they immediately left to check it out, along with their 'pwetty key' obsessed niece.
