Author Notes - Before we take a swing over to the Boilerworks, we'll be getting a chance to see the movie that Morty has finished. After all, we need a break before the dreaded sewers. A sneak-peek as to why the Boilerworks are going to be tough: not only does a certain redneck have a 'helper' now, but we'll be returning to how the first few chapters were.

The one problem is that we've already seen the movie for the most part, so this will focus more on the bits we didn't get to see, the viewers' reactions to it, and the consequences of finishing it.

While we're discussing Morty, I'll recommend you check out Infinite's Ruby's Morty-centric story 'A Dilemma'.

It appears that egenemagi and dbot have discovered the ancient treasure of a favourite/follow. On a more serious note, this is now my most viewed/favourited story. I'm... not sure how to react to that.

(Also, my family just adopted a new Tabby kitten. My parents call her Obi, but I'm calling her Chopper. It's a Star Wars Rebels reference.)

CHAPTER NINETEEN - THE CREATION OUTLIVES ITS CREATOR

Daisy felt her knees buckle. She tossed the Poltergust off her back, and fell to the floor. What little energy she had went into keeping her chest off the ground.

She sighed. 'Oh Grambi... oh Grambi...'

She knew that if Ug hadn't cooperated and instead kept fighting, she probably would've been dead. Though she wouldn't blame herself too much for not knowing how to use a weapon the first time she picked it up, she dreaded what her kind of ineptitude would lead to.

'Meow?'

Polterkitty, back to her house cat form, nudged Daisy's cheek. Daisy did not have the energy to punch her.

'Yeah yeah, I'm getting up.'

Getting back onto her feet was not easy, but she couldn't show any weaknesses. Especially not now. As she stood up, the Poltergust began to rattle quite violently. Before she could worry about it imploding on her, it coughed out - with great struggle - the entire Toad painting. The portrait dropped to the floor, and within it Daisy noticed the petrified Toad holding an elevator button. Talk about flattening two Goombas with one stomp.

But the neither the Toad nor the button mattered to her at that moment.

'Luigi!'

The man-in-green hadn't moved from his spot, and all Polterpup could do was lay next to him. Luigi did not, at all, respond to her call.

'Luigi, sweetie!'

Still nothing. If anything, he seemed to be retreating further into his knees. With a grunt, Daisy put the Poltergust back on, grabbed the portrait, and approached him.

'What are you doing?!' She yelled. 'First you just shutdown in the middle of a battle, and now you're not even responding to me? What is going on here?'

The way she stood over him, she felt like an angry mother looking down at her spoiled son. She certainly felt like she was dealing with a child.

'Luigi, can you at least look at me?'

He whimpered. Which prompted her to groan. She grabbed his shoulder and forced him to look at her.

'Luigi! Look at-!'

She stopped. Dead. Any anger or frustration that had overflowed from the fight vanished. How could she continue yelling when those frightened blue eyes shook her to the very core? He almost looked scared that she'd slap him again, and that very thought made her feel sick to her stomach.

'S-Sweetie?'

He pushed her away - an effortless endeavour for once - and returned to his position. She couldn't believe herself. Despite still having no clue what prompted his behaviour, it only now hit her how serious it was.

'Oh, Luigi... I'm so-'

'Just... just leave me alone.' He said, just barely loud enough for her to hear. 'I'll... I'll be good in a few minutes. I just need to... relax, for a moment.'

Had she known what was going on, she would've known that him talking at all was a good sign.

'Okay. That's fine. I'll free the Toad while you relax.'

The ringtone of the Virtual Boo interrupted the silence, causing Luigi to flinch. He felt around all over his overalls, trying to find where he kept that dang device. Unfortunately, they hadn't used it since after the fight with Amadeus, and he couldn't remember where he put it. The pressure to answer was merely added to the stress he was trying to recover from, and Daisy knew by those distressed whimpers that another meltdown was imminent.

With a yelp, she remembered that last time they answered it, she had put it into her own pocket without thinking. Checking her pocket, she found the cumbersome device right where she left it.

'Luigi, relax!' She said. 'I have it!'

He looked up to her, breathing heavily as if on the verge of tears. Seeing the ringing invention in her hand managed to calm him down a little.

'I'll answer it.' Daisy offered.

When she did so, she could see E. Gadd in his lab - as expected. 'That's another Toad you and Luigi have managed to save! That's all of the Toads, right?' The looks given to him by Daisy and Parr T told him 'no'. 'Oh, right! There's still one more! And Mario. And Princess Peach. You're making excellent progress! Now, let the sonny relax while you free that Toad and send him down to me.'

'I wouldn't bother to do anything else. See you, Professor.' And Daisy ended the conversation by returning the VB to her pocket.

Polterkitty stood on the sidelines, not wanting to do anything that might earn her Mean Lady's wrath. Daisy stepped away from Luigi, and settled the Toad painting against the wall. It took her a minute or two to find the Dark-Light device.

Just like with Parr T, when this Toad fell flat on his face as he emerged Daisy did not need to check his colour to see which one he was.

'Gah! It took you this long to free me?' Gus T complained as he stood up. 'I mean, I'm grateful for being saved at all, but you waited way longer than you needed to! Do you know how traumatising it is getting eaten by a freaking dinosaur? I swear, I-'

'Give me the button.' Daisy said, flatly.

'Oh. Right.'

Gus handed her the button, and she was just a little surprised to see it didn't read '10' like she expected it to.

'B2? I wonder where-'

'I get Luigi's in a distressed state, but what's your excuse? How 'bout you just tell me where I can stay to not die?'

Daisy rolled her eyes. 'Elevator. B1. Down the hallway. Door to right. Lab dead ahead. Got it?'

'Got it. I swear to Grambi, if the princess ever invites us along for a vacation again, I am giving her the big 'N-O'.'

He continued to complain about his current situation even as he headed for the elevator. Daisy simply did not feel like dealing with it right now. She rubbed her temples and sighed. This was all a nightmare, right? She awaited the moment she woke up.

She looked back at Luigi, expecting him to be in the same position he was in a few minutes ago. Imagine her relief when he was standing up, with a smile on his face, looking at the many fossils on display.

He chuckled. 'Look at that one, boy. It kinda looks like a helix fossil.'

His voice still sounded weak and near-to-tears, but joy managed to seep back into it. Daisy, taking her steps calmly, joined him in admiring the ancient artefacts. In particular, the one that did look a lot like a helix fossil. Praise the helix lord.

She grinned. 'Wanna get the professor to revive it so you can have an Omanyte?'

The smile on his face gave her something to live for. Her mood dropped significantly when it turned to a frown.

'I'm... I'm sorry.' He said.

'You're apologising to ME?! Luigi, what are you apologising for? I don't know what that behaviour was about, but I'm sure it was-'

'The sounds.'

'... what?'

He sighed, and fumbled his hands like he always did to relax himself.

'It got too… loud for me. The thunder, the barking, the crashing, the roars...' He choked. 'I just couldn't handle it anymore. I don't know how you do it, but I... can't.'

Daisy's eyes widened. 'That's what it was. Gah, I should've known!'

They stood in silence for a bit. Luigi was so occupied with checking out the fossils that he didn't know if the one rubbing up against his leg was Polterpup or Polterkitty.

'Luigi,' Daisy said, breaking the silence. 'I'm sorry. I didn't understand.'

'It's okay. You understand it now.' He sighed. 'This is nice, but we should get going. Did Gus have a button?'

'Yep.' Daisy said. 'B2. You thinking what I'm thinking, Luigi?'

'I, uh, think I am.'

The quartet turned around, ready to advance to the very bottom of this hotel. Only to find someone waiting behind them.

'AHHH!'

'Oh my!'

But it wasn't some horrifying ghost ready to bring them to the boss. It was just Shinypants, fully-repaired.


'We gots anodder one!' Officer Paul Kruller announced to his fellow ghosts in the container unit.

Just as they predicted, Luigi caught MacFrights and Potter but skipped Morty. So, if their guesswork was correct, Ug would have to be the next one. And, lo and behold, the old caveman ghost carrying a massive bone club was indeed the one who popped into his new jail.

'Ug's back!'

'Dat's anodder friend freed from our boss's freaky mind tricks.'

'Thy clever caveman hath returneth!'

'I did not expect zat you would be defeated.'

Amadeus watched the boys greeting their prehistoric friend, while Chambrea ignored him in favour of slamming her body into the wall some more. The determination of that maid never ceased to astound him.

The old pianist moved himself through the crowd, and bowed before Ug. 'Greetings once again, Ug. I see your plan did not quite work out.'

'Ug surprised.' The caveman said. 'Ug knew Green Man strong, but Flower Lady even stronger! But Flower Lady not very nice. Call Ug stupid!'

Everyone looked at him in shock.

'She called youse stupid?' Kruller questioned. 'Yer da smartest guy in dis entire hotel!'

Ug shrugged. 'Ug not sure. Ug think Flower Lady had preconceived notions. Even thought Ug eaten by T Rex.'

Dr Potter growled. 'I expect nothin' less from that murderin' lass!'

From all the way across the room, Chambrea groaned. 'Oh, would you shut up about her being a plant murderer already?!'

The gardener glared at her. 'Only when yeh shut yer yap 'bout tha briefcase!'

Amadeus pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned, long and hard. Every time he thought that they were getting along, the universe came a-knocking saying 'Ya'll mind if I ruin your hopes and dreams'.

'Let Ug guess. Green Man take Chambrea 'possession'. Chambrea get mad. Flower Lady crush Ramos plants. Ramos get mad. Is Ug correct?'

'Ug be very correct.' Amadeus answered, as exasperated as always. 'Ug couldn't be more correct.'

'That isn't even half of it.' Steward said. 'Lemme catch you up. I gave up, Chambrea is insane, Paul got traumatised, Gordon lost his temper, William is delusional, and Ramos makes Chambrea look sane.'

'Sound like old news to Ug.'

A small fight broke out, between Dr Potter and Chambrea. The more irritable of the lot engaged in a battle of pettiness. The others zoned out the fight almost immediately.

'Ug got news though. Do friends remember Polterkitty?'

There was no need to ask that question. Everyone in the hotel knew Polterkitty, and they knew her well.

'Ah yes, zat little feline.' Soulffé said. 'Ms Gravely doesn't seem to pay her much attention anymore. I have managed to slip her some fish far more now zen I ever had before.'

'Youse gots dat right.' Kruller added. 'I remember when our boss woulda shocked us fer even lookin' at dat kitty!'

'And yet,' Steward said. 'We still can't be seen going near her. Something about us not being worthy enough to give her love or something... why would you bring her up?'

Somehow, part of Amadeus already knew the answer. In all his confrontations with his insane boss, he couldn't help but take notice that the kitty never looked especially happy. She always lit up when he entered the room, though.

'Ug found this weird, but... Polterkitty hang out with Green Man.'

'Aye, yon two-timingeth kitty!' MacFrights yelled. 'Luringeth thou green prince intoeth a trap!'

'No no no.' Ug said, shaking his head. 'Polterkitty not attack Green Man. Not even want to, Ug think. Polterkitty want stay with Green Man.'

Silence befell the crew. Even Chambrea and Dr Potter - who two seconds ago were ready to commit re-murder - had stopped. Surely they had misheard him.

'Wait wait wait.' Chambrea said. 'You're kidding, right? Polterkitty. Gravely's literal teacher's pet. That Polterkitty?'

'Ug know Polterkitty when Ug see. Ug know three-tailed ghost cat anywhere. Definitely Polterkitty.'


'Oh thank Grambi.' Daisy sighed in relief. 'It's just you... Wally, was it?'

Shinypants made a sound similar to a human groan. 'For the final time, it's-! Oh, never mind. Master Morty has sent me to inform you that he has finished editing his movie.'

'Wait, already?'

'It has been approximately seven hours, which is surprisingly longer than it usually takes Master Morty to edit his movies. I have no doubts he wanted to make this one extra special. Seeing as you are the stars, he was wondering if you'd like to see the finished product.'

Luigi smiled. He hadn't expected it to be done so quickly, and the thought of watching it almost made him dance on the spot! His only fear was that Daisy wouldn't want to waste time watching it.

'Oh hell yeah!' Daisy declared.

Luigi looked at her, surprised. 'Really?'

'After what we just went through? We really need it.'

Though Shinypants's face didn't emote at all, his slightly-tilted head indicated confusion.

'Wait a moment... wasn't it Master Luigi who wore the vacuum cleaner?'

It was only then Luigi noticed that she, indeed, had the Poltergust. She wore it for five minutes and already beat a grand ghost with it? And, apparently, Shinypants either didn't notice or didn't care about the bloody bandages wrapped around her chest.

Daisy shrugged. 'We'll deal with it after the movie. Why are we still waiting? Let's go!'

Shinypants led the mortals and the spectral animals back through the simplistic layout of the museum. His manner of walking was rather, well, robotic and thus a little slow, but for once Daisy wouldn't complain about something being slow.

'I do feel bad for you, Luigi.' She said. 'No one watching the movie will be able to hear your real voice. I mean, Wally's voice is beautiful, but I still prefer yours.'

Shinypants stopped walking, for just a moment, so briefly that no member of the quartet noticed it.

'You'll be happy to know,' He said. 'That your original voice remains in the finished product.'

'Woah, really?' Daisy questioned. 'I thought you were going to redub him or something.'

'That was Master Morty's original vision, but we found that my voice simply did not fit the character as Master Luigi created him. And,' He paused. 'I simply thought that Master Luigi deserved to have his real voice in the movie.'

That last sentence came out noticeably faster, as if he was embarrassed to admit he did something out the kindness of his 'heart'. Now Luigi felt just slightly less excited to watch the movie. He had doubts he'd like to hear his voice talking back to him. Still...

'Um, t-thanks, Mr Daniels.' He said. 'I-I hope Mr Morty still gives you credit for, um, something.'

'I would certainly hope so!'


The entire backstage area had been transformed. Morty had set up several rows of chairs - far more than he needed for his relatively small group of friends, considering that Gustavo was too busy and Grace couldn't be found - and a projector screen over the doors to the City Set. All the ghost friends had already taken their seats, leaving two seats in the middle front row for the main stars. He even left two little 'reserved' signs for them. Better yet, no one commented on Daisy's battle scars; it seemed too intrusive to ask.

Luigi and Daisy took their seats, the former getting that slight nauseous feeling he often got when walking into a movie theatre. Polterkitty took no delay perching herself on his lap. Polterpup, not too concerned, settled for Daisy's instead. The plumber found it a little upsetting that Shinypants - who was incapable of sitting down with ease - had to stand behind him instead of relaxing along with them.

Morty stood in front of the projection screen, gesturing wildly. 'Ladies and gentleman, robots, cats, and dogs alike, I present to you... Serlida and Beegio! What a masterpiece! Filled with gripping action, dripping with emotion... Oh, and the suspense! It has it all! Feast your eyes on THIS! If it is not the very definition of true art, I do not know what is!'

At this point, his overdramatic speeches were perfectly normal to the mortals.

'Meryl, roll the film!'

And thus, the movie properly began. The words 'Written, Edited, and Directed by Morty Spookus' appeared on the screen for a second, before grand music began as it cut to everyone else's names. Each name was on screen for a few good seconds, with great big font that flew dramatically into view.

Luigi! Daisy! Scarlett! Brad! Polterpup! C... wait, that name must be an error.

But not just the people on the floor got credited. Music by Amadeus Wolfgeist and DJ Phantasmagloria. Sets built by Johnny Deepend. Lights wired by Clem and Billie Hayseed. Plants grown by Ramos Potter.

After the credits, it cut to a bold opening crawl describing the plot in an overdramatic fashion. A HORRIBLE BEAST HAS ATTACKED THE BEAUTIFUL HOME PLANET OF BRAVE HEROINE SERLIDA AND HER GREATEST FRIEND BEEGIO. That kind of stuff. Before you could let that whole thing sink it, we immediately went to that odd-shaped spaceship soaring through space.

And in the cockpit, were the titular heroes.

'We barely escaped with our lives, Beegio.' Serlida said overdramatically. 'That horrific beast decimated all we knew and loved. Worse yet, she gave us cookies that were TOO CHEWY!'

Luigi's flat 'what' had been edited out.

'If we have even a chance to survive, we have to go... wherever the heck we're going. Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night...'

Beegio proceeded to stutter out his next line, edited to sound far more coherent. 'Y-Yeah, the Evil Beast i-is gonna w-wipe us out!'

The mortals knew, for a fact, that was not what Luigi said. Morty's editing powers were beyond them. The rest of the scene played out almost the same way it did on scene, including Serlida pressing the wrong buttons.

'Oh my!' Shinypants yelped as the ship got shot at. 'AHHH!'

Luigi, who knew the movie incredibly well at this point, turned around to look at his robot friend. Even through the blank face, he emanated fear. The way he seemed to be trying to back away into the row of chairs behind him didn't help.

'This... scares you?' Luigi asked, more snarky than he intended.

'What? It... it certainly does not!' Shinypants retorted. 'Why would I be scared of such silly special effects?'

Inevitably, when part of the ship exploded in a way that absolutely did not happen on the set, you can guess the punchline.

'AAHHHH!'

Luigi felt bad for laughing. 'You're scared of everything too?'

'Well, I-I wouldn't say everything.'

Polterpup snickered. 'But I'm sure toasters are on that list.'

'You stay out of this!'

Just as Morty had described earlier, it seemed the ship would need to make a crash-landing on the nearest planet.

'OH MY STARS!' Serlida yelled. 'Our thrusters were shot!'

'I-Is that bad?' Beegio asked.

'You're darn tooting it's bad! We MUST make an emergency landing THIS VERY MOMENT!'

Morgan shook his head. 'I keep telling him, this dialogue is dumb.'

'And you're complaining... why?' Scarlett asked. 'The awful dialogue is what makes these movies great!'

The setting shifted to the Fairy Forest, which looked the same as before aside from the wreck of the ship in the middle of a field.

'Hey!' Daisy cried. 'I would never crash my ship like that!'

Serlida, Beegio, and Buddy emerged from the wreckage. Serlida was a little scuffed up, but otherwise everyone emerged unharmed. Somehow.

'I don't know where we've landed, Beegio.' Serlida said. 'But we cannot give up! We must find a way to find back against that horrid beast, even after her space soldiers gunned us down from the sky!'

'But... how do we do that?' Beegio asked. 'Our ship has been reduced to mere scrap! We have no chance of surviving her wrath!'

'Not with that attitude, we ain't!'

Brad laughed to himself. 'You can always tell which lines were edited in.'

'Absol. Lutely.' Sigourney agreed.

Cue the dragon fight. Yes, you could still see the gears exposed.

It made Leonardo laugh. 'Exposed gears. Ah, classic Morty.'

'That's the joy of it!' Morty declared. 'It is far more fun seeing the literal nuts and bolts behind every great production!'

Beegio was grabbed and had his arm ripped off and chomped to pieces. Luigi was brought out of it a little by the sounds of Shinypants rattling behind him. He said nothing, but he noticed a look of annoyance on Daisy's face.

'Miaow?'

That annoyed look got worse. Luigi paid it no attention, and gave Polterkitty the gentle stroking on the head that she deserved. If he had to be honest, he was more surprised he got along with Polterpup instead of his feline counterpart. He had always been more of a cat person.

When Serlida punched the dragon in the face, the scene continued even after Beegio plummeted back to the ground below. By that, I mean that Serlida proceeded to punch the daylights out of her.

'It's over, Dragon!' She yelled, knocking a tooth out. 'I have the high ground!'

Daisy tried to contain her laughter, only to spit everywhere. 'Oh wow... I wish I came up with that one.'

'Really?' Luigi asked. 'I thought 'you repulsive reptile' was pretty good.'

'But randomly declaring that I 'have the high ground'? Unbeatable.'

The dragon fell to the ground, making the gears that made her up even more visible. For a split-second, you can even see the Mini-Trapper who possessed him.

'Oh my Jaydes, are you kidding me?' Morgan groaned. 'You can literally see me!'

Scarlett snickered. 'Don't act like it doesn't make you enjoy it more.'

'It does.' Sigourney said. 'And it also makes me think I need to fire my agent.'

Serlida and Buddy rejoined Beegio at the well, where Sadamura Yamako gave them directions in a language that only Beegio could understand.

'Flylolvdwlrq lv wkdw zdb, brx vwxeeruq lglrw!' Sadamura yelled in frustration.

Luigi laughed just like before, but now Shinypants joined in on it. Daisy, with a groan, turned around to the robotic being.

'Mind telling me what she's saying?' She asked.

'A literal translation would be, and I quote, 'civilisation is that way, you stubborn idiot'.'

'Hey!'

'Don't you get angry at me! I am merely translating what she said.'

She scoffed. 'You're just saying that so you can get away with-'

'No, he's right.' Luigi said. 'Word-for-word.'

Daisy plopped back in her seat, pouting just a little.

The movie cut to a quick montage of our trio - minus Beegio's arm - waltzing through the forest. They came across many things: a trio of bickering fairies, a group of about one hundred Dalmatian puppies, a lion hanging out with a meerkat and warthog, a monkey with a fez... a lot of weird things that the trio did not acknowledge.

'Alright, we get it Morty.' Brad said, swallowing his popcorn. 'You really like referencing your influences.'

'Well, zat is how zee director sees eet.' Meryl said. 'He believes zat he must give credit to zose who came before him.'

The trio arrived at the sunset cliff. Serlida had scraps all over her bare skin, but showed no signs of slowing down. Beegio, on the other hand...

'My power is running low.' He explained. 'Fortunately, I am solar-powered. But if we don't take a quick break to recharge I may have to shut down.'

Serlida gritted her teeth. 'Dang it! I underestimated your power levels severely! Oh well, I suppose we can take a break. Look over there! There's a conveniently-placed bench that we can rest on.'

Daisy stole a handful of Brad's popcorn without him noticing. 'Ah. So that's why we randomly stopped by a cliff when the city is literally in frame.'

Luigi leaned forward in his seat. This was the scene he had been waiting for the most, aside from literally any other scene of course. Unfortunately, he forgot about the feline resting in his lap.

'Mroooow!'

'Oh, s-sorry!'

Just as Luigi anticipated, Beegio talked about his mechanical woes. Surprisingly-effective piano music, likely composed prior by Amadeus, amplified the emotions in the already cheesy-yet-sweet scene.

'Do I... really belong?' Beegio asked with a shaky voice.

Beegio may have been ninety-five percent machine, but the sadness in his voice was real. Any audience member getting too deep into it would weep.

'Woah!' Serlida yelled. 'Where did this come from?! Did our 'script' foreshadow this at all?'

Granted, the fact that Morty didn't edit that line out ruined the mood a bit, as the stifled giggling from most of the audience could attest to. Yet, it didn't take any of them out of it completely.

'I-I don't know, but... look around.' Beegio continued, motioning at everything with his one good arm. 'Everything is living. I'm... I'm not really living, am I? I just don't feel like I fit in.'

Daisy found herself leaning over too, much to Polterpup's annoyance. It was all to hear Serlida say those immortal words as the music shifted from sad to sweet and almost romantic in one flawless transition.

'Beegio... you're alive to me.'

The entire ghost audience erupted with a simultaneous 'awww!', some putting more heart into it their others. Morgan and Scarlett's 'awwws' were brief, and Angelina didn't dare have anyone hear her, but Brad and Sigourney went full out with theirs.

When Beegio's organic cheeks blushed, it just made the bizarre scene even cuter. And when Buddy did a little backflip to celebrate the scene got that much better.

'Okay, seriously, why does this work?' Daisy questioned. 'Is it freaky ghost powers, or is Morty some sort of genius we cannot comprehend?'

Morty chuckled. 'Neither! I would NEVER use such ghastly methods to convince my amazing audience to like my movies. Anyone can have whatever opinion they desire to have! As for me, I am no genius. I simply take what has been done before and breathe new life into it!'

He was shockingly close to talking over the next brilliant exchange.

'Um, I, uh... I-I'm sure it's, uh, unorthodox to fall in love with a cyborg.'

'Listen honey, 'unorthodox' is my life.'

Daisy laughed. 'Oh, I am way more proud of that one than I should be. Just the perfect combination of stupid yet awesome.'

Watching it again from an audience's perspective, Luigi noticed something he didn't before. Serlida was beginning to lean into a kiss, before Buddy alerted them to the beast. Well, more correctly, Daisy was.

But, speaking of which, the loving scene came to an abrupt end as a shadow loomed over the trio. The music changed from the sweet romantic tone to one more harsh and horrific.

'HEEEEEEEEEEEERE'S Beastie!'

Sigourney laughed in a way that was half 'this is hilarious', and half 'oh my Jaydes, kill me a second time please'.

'You can still see my tail.' She wheezed. 'OH, I love it when Morty leaves this stuff in. Oh ho... it looks AWFUL.'

'ANGELINA LIKE CHEESY SPECIAL EFFECTS. ANGELINA WANT NOTHING ELSE.'

Like on the set, Serlida and Buddy tried to confront the massive Beast... only to get caught in her grasp.

'How did she get so big anyway?' Daisy asked. 'I know ghostly special effects and everything, but... actually, I think I just answered my own question.'

Serlida, in true Worf Effect fashion, could not break free from the Beast's grasp.

'Let me go, you lousy lizard!'

'Ha ha ha ha! As if I would give you up that easily!'

Daisy's eyes widened in realisation. 'Wait a moment! When I heard Sigourney on set, I just heard a bunch of growls. You telling me she was speaking English this whole time?!'

Luigi shrugged. 'I-I guess. I just assumed her dialogue was being translated for me.'

The Beast emerged from the water as the camera almost intentionally focused on the bare Goob tail. Though the scene ended there on the set, here it kept going.

Beegio ran after the Beast, begging her to drop his friends. She ignored his cries, and waltzed directly through buildings in the fortunately-evacuated city. The best part? One of the buildings she destroyed was indeed a scientist's lab. A ray-gun looking thing flew out of the building, and pointed at Beegio as it hit the ground. It fired out a bluish beam of light that consumed the cyborg, making him rapidly grow up in size until he was bigger than most of the buildings in the city.

'May I ask how this manages to answer how Beegio got so big, yet raise many more questions at once?' Shinypants asked.

'Don't question it, Hal.' Scarlett responded. 'It's Morty.'

Beegio looked down at his gigantic body, slowly coming to the realisation in a manner that gave Luigi some flashbacks. It was near identical to when he first turned giant in the Dream World. Which helped remind him of the 'lovely' Dream Stone spirit.

'Creaking circuits! I must be fifty feet tall!'

Shinypants was about to comment that fifty feet was an understatement considering how he towered over the bridge, but decided it simply wasn't worth it.

'BEEEGIIOOO! I need your help!'

Beegio heard Serlida's cry for help, and looked as though he nearly shut down from fear.

'I... I can't possibly save her. I am just a simple cyborg. I'm weak. I'm scared. I can't possibly do this.'

'Stop giving yourself such horrible insults!' Shinypants said. 'Of course you can do it!'

Daisy chuckled a little. As if listening to the golden robot, Beegio put on a determined glare. How fitting that a character played by Luigi had such a perfect death stare.

'How do you have such a creepy stare?' Daisy asked.

'Competition on the tracks.' Luigi said. 'Then it circulated as a joke. Now I have to appease people.'

'Is this it?' Beegio wondered out-loud. 'Is this the time the scared little robot becomes the hero? When I finally get to do something awesome?' He held his fist into the air. 'I CAN BE A HERO! I'll save you Serlida! And Buddy too.'

A somewhat anime-ish effect of dramatic white streaks surrounded Beegio, right before he charged into battle.

'You can do it, Beegio!' Luigi cheered.

The ghosts cheered the not-so-little robot on. The epic tone kinda faltered a bit when Beegio accidentally knocked a car into the water.

'Sorry!'

Daisy giggled. 'Of course. Even when he's about to be awesome he still has to apologise for something.'

The props of Serlida and Buddy tied to the top of a building looked impressive from a distance, but in the singular close-up shot they looked like tiny cardboard cut-outs. Mostly because they were. Beautiful.

And then the Beast showed up. To be fair to the crazy director, the effect of making Beegio and the Beast gigantic looked very convincing. Just ignore the boom mic that appeared for a split second.

'Beegio! Get outta here while you still can!'

'Where would Beegio even go?' Leonardo asked, chuckling.

Beegio tried to convince the Beast that they could be friends, only for her to brush it off by claiming a robot couldn't understand friendship. In response to this claim, Shinypants put his hands on his hips and made a 'hmph!' sound.

Need I tell you how this scene plays out? You read it back in chapter sixteen. But, dang, did things become strangely dramatic thanks to the ominous disco-y music - yes, really - playing in the background. And yes, that 'power of justice' line was even crazier thanks to said music.

Just like how it played out on set, the deflected fireball ended up destroying Sigourney's costume. While the confusion in the actors' faces was still obvious, most of the lines that made it really blatant that this was a mistake were removed.

Beegio gasped. 'Beast? You were a ghost possessing a beastly costume this whole time?'

'Um, uh... yes! I definitely was this whole time! Not at all intended to be a beast from the gecko - uh, get-go.'

Sigourney slammed her face into her hands. 'Oh, but you still kept that in! I am never getting hired after this.'

In spite of how awkward the poor Goob felt - both in and out of the movie - Beegio managed to convince the Beast (which is supposedly still her name now) to be friends as the music turned into a delightful classical/disco hybrid.

'Beast, I, uh, think this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship.'

'So, is the movie going go on, or...?' Daisy asked.

The answer to her question came swiftly, as while the credits rolled - which consisted of people barely involved - a happy little montage showed the heroes and the Beast returning to various planets to help the giant ghost fix what she had broken. After returning Beegio back to normal size, of course. Since Morty had no real footage of these 'planets' to work with, the shots looked a little off. The backgrounds were blatantly CGI, and the characters were photoshopped in. But who would care, aside from the purists? The scenes were too oddly adorable for any bad special effects to ruin.

The credits lingered on one trio of names - Lucille, Harrison, and Adriana, all ending with the last name 'Spookus'. Everyone watching erupted into applause. Even Shinypants, though he struggled to move his joints quite a bit.

'WHOOO!' Daisy cheered. 'I don't know what I just watched, but I loved it!'

Luigi cringed, not from the movie but because of the loud clapping. Polterkitty didn't seem to like it either, as she allowed Luigi to wrap his arms around her. While she loved the movie, she had a sad look in her eyes.

'You okay, Gattina?'

'I want to be in a movie.'

He stroked her behind the ears. 'If there's sequel, I'll make sure you're in it.'

As the audience continued to cheer, Meryl removed the film reel from the projector and turned the lights back on. Morty could contain his excitement no more, and flew around the room like an out of control airplane. He stood in front of the projector screen as Meryl rolled it back up.

'I've done it! I've finally done it!' He declared. 'Thanks to my brilliant actors, I have produced the greatest movie that I will ever make! I have tried for decades and decades, never quite hitting that spark. But now... now? I have finally NAILED IT!'

The other ghosts in the room continued to cheer him on, as he bowed and clapped for them too.

Then, something strange happened. Morty's body began to glow, the light getting progressively brighter. The applause died down, slowly, as the revelation as to what was going on sunk into every one of them.

'Uh... what's happening?' Daisy asked, she and Luigi growing uneasy.

Morty, in an uncharacteristically calm manner, floated over to Luigi and lifted his hands into his. The plumber seized up from the unexpected contact.

'Luigi,' Morty said, surprisingly relaxed. 'I would just like to thank you, one last time.'

Luigi gasped. Tears came to his eyes, but he still managed to smile. Daisy watched in shock.

'L-Luigi?'

'Morty,' Luigi said. 'I have to thank you too. I never thought I'd get to be in a movie. And for the button. And the, uh... you get it.'

Luigi turned to Daisy. The princess looked more than distressed, in contrast to Polterpup who understood what was going on.

'Say goodbye, Daisy.'

Daisy breathed in slowly. 'Goodbye, Morty.'

'Yip yip.'

'Meeeooow!'

Morty let go of Luigi's hands, and floated back. Luigi reached out, as if trying to anchor him down, but chose to wave instead.

'Goodbye, everyone!' Morty announced, waving to the entire audience. 'See you on the other side!'

The glow grew so bright, it consumed his whole body. Polterkitty hopped out of Luigi's lap and ran over to the blinding light.

'Miaaa-ooow!'

She reached out to him, but it accomplished nothing. The light slowly faded away, as all the other ghosts and even Shinypants said their goodbyes.

'Bye Morty.'

'Bye-bye!'

'May your maker treat you well.'

'Goodbye...'

When the bright light vanished, Morty was gone. Silence befell the studio. Luigi wiped his eyes, and continued staring at where Morty stood with a genuine soft smile.

'You're welcome, Morty.'

'Um...' Daisy stammered. 'W-What just happened? W-Where did Morty go?'

Polterkitty jumped back into Luigi's arms, burying herself into his chest. He held her close enough to feel her shaking.

'You were good friends with him, weren't you?'

'Mmrow...'

Daisy turned around to the rest of the audience. She had never seen such a combination of happy yet sad before. Strangely, most of the mix was happiness. Scarlett and Brad held hands. Angelina beat her chest triumphantly. Leonardo tipped his hat. Morgan continued to clap. Sigourney had her hands on her chest. Meryl saluted.

'If I may, Mistress Daisy,' Shinypants said, catching her attention. 'You might be aware that when people die, they may become ghosts.'

'Uh, yeah duh. Mind explaining what just happened?'

'People become ghosts when they have something to finish. It could be anything between yearning to tell a joke's punchline, needing to make sure they had a fulfilling life, or even wanting to say goodbye to their loved ones one last time. Master Morty wished to make the greatest movie ever made, and you and your counterparts helped him finish what he set out to do.'

Luigi stood up, and hoisted the Poltergust back onto his shoulders. Daisy's eyes widened as she started to get it.

'And when we helped him do that...'

'He had no reason to remain as a ghost anymore. Thus, he finally got to fade away peacefully.'

Daisy fell into stunned silence. She stammered out some words that couldn't possibly be anything coherent. She looked around. The other ghosts had smiles on their faces, as if they hadn't just witnessed their old friend vanishing. Even Luigi took it well. Only Polterkitty seemed to be saddened by it.

'And we're... okay with that?!' She questioned. 'He's gone now!'

'Oh Daisy, you don't get it.' Leonardo said. 'He's not truly gone. He's still with us. Just in a... different way. We'll never know how it feels until it happens, but they always seem happy when they pass. I've only seen it myself twice before.'

'And he was the first ghost here to go to boot!' Morgan added. 'The both of you oughta be proud of yourselves!'

Pride wasn't exactly the emotion Daisy felt; it was bewilderment instead. She stood up from her seat, and placed her hand on Luigi's shoulder.

'You sure you're okay, sweetie?' She asked. 'If this has got you down, it's okay to show it.'

He put his hand over hers and smiled. 'I'm fine. It's sad, but happy. Uh, you know what I mean.'

Daisy managed to smile too. 'Yeah. I get it.'

The mortals and their pets remained in silence for a few seconds, even after Angelina began putting the chairs away.

'You guys wanna stay for a while?' Brad offered. 'Judging by those, um, scratches on your chest this adventure has been quite the tough one.'

Daisy shook her head. 'Fraid we can't do that. Not yet, at least. The movie was fantastic, but if we wanna save our friends we have to move on now.'

Sigourney shrugged. 'Eh, that's fine. But if you guys ever get stressed, you know just where to go.'

The floor seemed far more quiet without Morty around to give big dramatic speeches, almost on par with the museum floor above. It made Luigi shudder.

'Are, um, you guys gonna be fine?' He asked.

'Don't worry about us!' Scarlett said. 'The movie industry doesn't end just because one director has passed, especially when his creations continue to live on.'

'ANGELINA HAD MOVIE IN MIND. ANGELINA GET BACK TO MOVIE RIGHT NOW. ANGELINA BE SURE TO PUT DEDICATION AT END.'

Meryl took the film reel back into the director's office, which she decided from this moment was going to be hers now.

'Where you going now?' Sigourney asked.

'Floor B2, the Boilerworks.' Daisy answered.

Immediately all the ghosts cringed at once. It helped give Luigi and Daisy a horrible feeling of dread.


Hellen Gravely was smiling. Not because another one of her workers had been captured, nor because Morty finally got to move on, and only partially because that movie was hilariously awful. Her attention, when it wasn't spent on the movie, had been focused on the footage of her catty pet.

She had watched Polterkitty fight back against the plumber and the princess, leaving deep scars on the latter no less, but that wasn't why she was so proud. The way her pet feigned crossing over to the good side like that? One of the most brilliant moves she had ever seen, and she hadn't even thought of it herself.

'Good job, darling.' She said, laughing to herself. 'That plumber will never see it coming! I should've known my own pet wouldn't settle for just dragging his sorry hind to me. But this... let him feel the pain of betrayal before we hand him over to our sweetheart. King Boo will adore me for sure!'

The hotel owner knew that she could at least rely on her precious feline to get the job done. Unlike King Boo - poor guy simply couldn't get his minions to work for him this time. Apparently, they said that King Boo was 'too insane and off-the-rails' even for them. What joy they were missing out on...

Hellen could rest somewhat easy now, knowing that even if her remaining workers failed to deliver Luigi, her pet certainly wouldn't.


MORTY, THE OVERDRAMATIC DIRECTOR

AGE - 30

GENDER - Male

CAUSE OF DEATH - Unknown

Mortimer Spookus fell in love with making movies at a very young age. He desired to make the greatest movie ever made, but failed to before his untimely death. So, he keeps making movies until he succeeds at his goal. Once he does so, he'll finally be able to join his parents and sister.

GUS T, THE GRUMPY MUSHROOM

Gus T is the blue Toad who tagged along, and was kidnapped by Ug. He has a habit of complaining a lot, and often yells at others who annoy him. Granted, he seems to get the short end of the stick a lot, and in most cases his whining is justified.


Author Notes - I have no idea why I couldn't be bothered to proofread this damn chapter for a while. The next chapter is already finished, what is my schedule any more? Because I am simultaneously working on a few other projects, which includes a retelling of WALL-E with the droids from Star Wars if you care to read that, production on this story may slow down a little. We'll see. Especially since the Boilerworks are the worse.

So... why are ghosts ghosts? They have something they have to finish. Once they finish that, they can move on. Originally, that scene was going to be far more brutal, with Luigi breaking down crying, but I decided that I needed less brutal scenes and went for something still sad but much more uplifting.

As for Luigi's meltdown... Sensory Overload: overstimulation of the senses. To say the least, I have indeed done what Luigi did at least once or twice. Meltdowns are hard, as society doesn't want to see them and considers it childish behaviour. If you wanna know what sensory overload feels like, there's plenty of videos online that emulate it. I do warn you, they are far from a pleasant experience. There's a reason why I f***ing hate coffee shops.


Morty's little sister Adriana hadn't heard from him in ages. Last time she saw him, he had been working on that 'greatest movie ever' project, so he could recreate the feeling that the makers of Snow White and the Seven Toads had when everyone loved that movie.

His movies were... a special kind. For all intents and purposes, they were awful. Loaded with silly dialogue and cheesy special effects. Yet, the charm and love poured into every frame made them so much fun to watch. Just as Morty intended.

While he was exceedingly proud of every single one of his crew members, he never seemed proud of himself for 'failing his friends' by never producing the best he could. Adriana loved that about her big brother.

She found him dead in his home, leaning over an unfinished treatment labelled 'The Heroine and Her Robot Friend'. No one knew why he died. A jealous actor? An unknown health problem?

Adriana initially thought she was going insane when she heard his overdramatic speeches about her at night. She died earnestly believing his ghost was trying to tell her that he was okay.