Author Notes - If you guys thought you were excited for this floor, you don't know just how THRILLED I am! I haven't been giving any credit for my inspirations, which isn't so much me refusing to give credit but more so just forgetting. Whether or not that's any better is up to you. SO!
Aside from the obvious inspiration from TheGameNguyener and his great story 'Luigi's Mansion 3: Hotel Horror' (which you should totally read in addition to mine by the way), but credit has to be given to TAWOGfan2000 since the way they write their Boss Ghosts helped influence the way I wrote mine. As well, the storyline involving Mario's trauma at the hands of King Boo is inspired by Fantasyfan4ever's LM fanfic 'I'm Here For You', which you HAVE to read. Not because it's important to understand the plot points in my story, but because it's just that good.
This chapter is named after the Australian show Round the Twist, a show that I surprisingly don't hear much about.
Presto chango, HeroineXAlter has added a follow!
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - ROUND THE TWISTED SUITES
The electroshock collar around Grace's neck fell to the floor. After all, Grace couldn't wear it if she was no longer around. Charles and Sam stared at the collar in horror, the former almost breaking down into tears while the latter's jaw fell.
'Wonderful!' Hellen Gravely cheered. 'That coward is not a problem anymore. Now, what do you say about helping me find the other ghosts who ran away? In fact, why don't we start with the wimps in the Paranormal Productions?'
Sam clenched her fists. 'Not even if you paid me the value of this entire hotel, treasures included! Those ghosts are pacifistic and don't deserve your wrath.'
'Exactly.'
Sam looked to her husband. He seemed to be getting closer to breaking down with each passing second.
She scoffed. 'Well, we're not gonna do it! I bet you have no idea where our little Lou is. Not a single clue. So don't go thinking that your blackmail will work on us!'
Hellen giggled. 'Oh really? I received a report from Little Miss Ginny Kahdabrah, and - oh! Look who's coming now!'
Charles and Sam turned around to see a Slinker approaching them. And in his arms, was...
'LOU!'
They needed that rest. Big time. Daisy finally had the time to properly deal with her exhaustion, and Luigi had his wounds disinfected and bandaged up. Now, it was time to embark to the Twisted Suites. Before the doors to the eleventh floor even opened, our heroes could hear faint music that could only be described as 'a mystical circus'. When the doors did open up, the reason for the bizarre music became clear.
This elevator hall looked nothing like the previous ones. It was done up with many paintings and rugs, the former of which all depicted ghosts dressed as magicians. Almost everything, from the walls to the tables to the chairs, was a bright passionate red. It felt like waltzing into an amusement park attraction. The ceiling light was a glorious chandelier that enveloped everything in a beautiful sparkling light.
Not that anyone could focus on the gorgeous décor of the room, thanks to the three floating purple top hats flying about in circles around each other. Luigi nearly dropped his flashlight at the sight.
'Oh good lord...' Daisy muttered. 'Now what?'
The magical hats continued to loop in the air for a few more seconds, before they settled on their position. A sparkling puff of smoke popped out of the middle hat, and when it dissipated it revealed a ghost wearing the hat while spreading her arms out. This ghost appeared to be a young girl, no older than twelve, wearing a purple tuxedo the same shade as her impressive hat. She held a magic wand in her hand, and wore her blonde hair in a single ponytail.
Luigi and Daisy stepped back.
'Presenting...' The young ghost announced. 'Nikki!'
Nikki's audience waited with anticipation for her next move. Silence. For a few seconds, the only thing that happened was her expression slowly shifting to frustration.
'I said... Nikki!' She repeated.
Still nothing. She balled up her fists.
'Uh, not to interrupt,' Daisy said. 'But is that it?'
Nikki grumbled, and tapped her forehead with her wand. 'Oh for... NIKKI!'
The hat on the right shifted a bit, and a quiet 'oh, sorry' could be heard coming from it. It unleashed a puff of smoke, revealing another young ghost just like Nikki. Except this one was facing the wrong way.
'Lin...! Oh. Whoops.' She turned around. 'Lindsey!'
Lindsey looked almost identical to Nikki, to the point where she had to be her sister. The only difference was that she wore her hair in two long pigtails instead.
The third hat emitted a groan, and with no puff of smoke the third ghost simply popped out of it. No special effects at all.
'And Ginny.' She said, in the most annoyed tone she could manage.
Ginny had to be their sister too. Even the outfit was the same. Like before, the only difference to be seen was her hair. Though she had pigtails like Lindsey, they were much shorter, and she had a few extra strands of hair hanging off to the side of her forehead. All three also shared an accent - a very thick London one at that. Visitors from an olden Cap Kingdom, perhaps.
Nikki, without even turning around, sighed. 'Ginny, can we have a little more enthusiasm please?'
Ginny scoffed. 'Ya bloody kidding me? Not after Lindsey cocked it all up!'
Luigi gasped. And he thought Daisy's language was bad! Ginny crossed her arms and faced away from her sisters, to which Nikki groaned.
'You serious?' She said. 'Come on, Ginny. Things go wrong with performances all the time. How many times have you, quote, cocked it all up?'
'I NEVER COCK IT UP!' Ginny yelled, before frowning and puffing up her cheeks.
Neither Nikki nor Lindsey seemed at all shocked at her petulant display. Lindsey played with her hands for a bit, before speaking in a very small voice.
'Sorry...'
'Yeah, you should be.' Nikki stated, nonchalantly.
Now that got a shocked reaction out of Lindsey. She gasped, and then frowned. Looking at them gave Luigi an uneasy feeling. These triplets could not have been any older than twelve. No matter what had happened to them, it could not have been good.
'Beautiful performance.' Daisy said. 'Do you mind giving us the elevator button now?'
The eyes of all three triplets fell onto Luigi. Green hat, big nose, smooth moustache... he matched their boss's description perfectly. Nikki and Ginny narrowed their eyes and grinned like a cat playing with its next meal. Lindsey, on the other hand, smiled like she just saw a kitty. Which she did, but she wasn't looking at Polterkitty.
'Awww!' She said. 'He's so adorable!' She giggled.
Luigi blushed, and hoped that this was an innocent little kiddy crush at most.
Ginny snickered. 'Yeah! I bet he'd look even cuter on the wall!'
Lindsey gasped. 'But... that's mean!'
'I don't know what you're talking about, Lindsey,' Nikki said. 'But I'm with Ginny on this one. And I'm thinking, that lady would look really pretty next to him!'
'That's mean too!' Lindsey whined. 'And look at them! They're hurt. They're all bandaged up. It would be mean to lock them away like that!'
Nikki and Ginny paid their youngest sister no mind, treating her like she wasn't there at all. Lindsey tried to speak up multiple times, only to get interrupted.
'That's-'
'What do you think, Ginny?' Nikki asked. 'Should we just hand him over to the Boss now?'
'We shouldn't-'
Ginny laughed. 'Hell no! I don't know about you, but methinks we should have a little fun with 'im first.'
'Oh, I like f-!'
'Now now, GinGin. I am the leader, remember? So I say what we do.'
The triplets stood still for a moment, with Nikki pondering, Ginny pouting, and Lindsey smiling at the adorable man.
'Uh...' Daisy said. 'Are any of you going to-'
'BOO!'
Nikki suddenly got up in their faces, laughing as she flailed her arms about. Luigi and Daisy screamed and fell to the floor, and even their ghostly pets jumped back. The two older triplets giggled, and Ginny even pointed at them as she laughed. In fact, she laughed so hard that tears came to her eyes. Lindsey stood back, frowning.
Daisy groaned. 'You serious?!'
Nikki regained her composure, even as Ginny continued to laugh. 'Serious? Why, it's just a little game. Do you want to play a game?'
'No.' Luigi answered. 'Not re-'
'Wonderful! And you'll love this game. All you have to do is navigate our twisted floor and find us! Good luck!'
The eldest of the triplets soared like an airplane through the door on the left, laughing as she phased through it.
'Have fun, ya bloody gits!' Ginny yelled as she followed Nikki through the wall.
Lindsey remained in her spot for a bit, smiling at Luigi's cuteness, before she turned her head and saw her sisters missing. It took an extra second for her to understand the situation.
'EEK!' She yelped. 'D-Don't leave me behind, please.'
'Then hurry the hell up, you bloody pillock!' Ginny yelled from the other side of the door.
'Y-Yes, Ginny. Coming, Ginny!'
The youngest of the triplets held onto her hat and flew through the door. A magic wand fell from her pocket right as she was doing through, and she had to reach her arm back out to pick it up again.
'Oh goody.' Daisy muttered as she helped herself and Luigi get to their feet. 'And I thought the twins were bad enough. Now we've got triplets. Fantastic.'
She approached the door they disappeared into and reached for the doorknob. Only then did she realise that the door wasn't actually a door, but instead a hanging carpet meant to look like one.
'Really?'
She ripped it off the wall, and couldn't anymore annoyed that there was not a real door behind it but just a small hole in the wall.
'Did you really think it'd be that easy?' Luigi asked.
'No, but I sure as heck hoped.' She peered through the hole. 'Wait, I can see them...'
She bore witness to the three hats, owners invisible, flying around a small bathroom. They travelled in a loop while spinning like a record. Everything broke apart when one of the hats stopped, causing the one behind to crash into it. The third hat in the back 'skidded' to a stop before it could add to the accident.
'Oh, for the love of Rosalina!' Ginny yelled as she popped out of the middle hat. 'You're useless as all balls, Lindsey!'
Lindsey appeared from the hat that had stopped, and gave her middle sister a fearful look. 'I-I'm sorry. I-I was just thinking about that-'
'Well STOP thinking about whatever it is you think about, and think about bloody PERFORMING!'
The third hat sighed, and Nikki emerged from it. She had her arms crossed, and rubbed her forehead with her wand.
'Ginny, you-'
'All you have ta do is stay in time, and you can't even bloody do that!'
Nikki got between her younger sisters and pushed them apart. Lindsey smiled while Ginny just pouted.
'Now now, girls.' Nikki said. 'No need to fight with each other.'
'But I wasn't-' Lindsey tried to defend herself.
'Let's all just get along and work together, hm?'
Ginny scoffed. 'With you bloody tossers?'
'Ginny, language.'
Polterpup peeped through the hole too, and growled at the triplets. Daisy grumbled; to say the least, she did not feel like going the long way when the triplets were right there.
'Alright, I'm done with this.' She murmured.
She dug her hands into the little hole, with the lights on the gloves glowing bright, tugged on the wood and ripped out a massive chunk from the wall.
Luigi yelped. 'Don't do that!'
Daisy ignored his warning, and tossed the wooden chunk to the floor behind her. She tore away another piece almost as big, and even Polterpup managed to bite off a little bit and eat it.
'I'm coming in, girls!' Daisy declared as she dismantled one last slab and chucked it away.
What remained was a hole more than big enough to contain a door. The triplets stood on the other side, with Lindsey and Ginny hiding behind their leader. Polterkitty yowled, but no one paid her any attention. Polterpup growled at the girls, while Daisy stood with her arms on her hips.
'Alright, I don't wanna hurt you girls.' She said. 'So hand that elevator button over to me now, and I'll spare you.'
Nikki giggled. 'Oh, what a shame. It appears that you and your doggy have disobeyed the rules of our game. Ginny, tell them what they've done wrong.'
Ginny gave her a death glare and pouted again. Regardless, she cleared her throat and puffed out her chest.
'Rule 16 of the Twisted Sisters game: Participants must navigate the full path to our location.' She explained. 'Only official shortcuts are permitted. And tearing through one of the bloody walls is definitely not one of them.' By this point, Daisy had her arms crossed and was rolling her eyes. 'And, as per rule 3, anyone who breaks any of the other rules must be punished.'
'What are you gonna do? Pull a coin out from behind my ear?'
Nikki chuckled, almost to the point of guffawing. 'That's not fun at all! Now watch, as the amazing Nikki makes this princess and her pooch... disappear!'
She waved her wand around in the air, and it emitted a mass of pink flower-shaped sparks.
Daisy's eyes widened. 'Wait, WHAT?!'
'Arf?!'
'Poochie and princess, I hope you lead an ear. To my spell that'll make you disappear!'
Nikki pointed her wand at the princess and the canine, and consumed them in a big puff of pinkish smoke.
'Daisy!' Luigi yelled, running across the room.
The smoke cloud disappeared, and took Daisy and Polterpup with it. Nothing remained of them.
Luigi fell to his knees. 'Daisy... Polterpup...'
Lindsey, in a moment of her conscious biting her hard, floated up to the sad man and pat him on the shoulder. Though the faces of her sisters showed nothing but malice and contempt, hers showed kindness and sympathy.
'It's okay, Green Man.' She said. 'Your friends aren't really gone. They've just been poofed somewhere in this floor.'
Luigi's eyes lit up. 'Wait, really?'
'Yep!' She scratched her head. 'But I'm not quite sure where, exactly.'
This elicited groans out of both her sisters. Ginny gave her a 'backwards peace sign', while Nikki put her hand to her forehead.
'Damnit Lindsey!' Ginny cried. 'Telling him that removes all the fun!'
'Look, whatever.' Nikki said. 'It doesn't matter. If you wanna see your friends again, you gotta beat our game the legal way. Go the long way by navigating the rooms and solving puzzles. Some rooms may not be entirely necessary to win, and may be skipped if you know the right way. Have fun!'
With another wave of her wand, paranormal gates doubled up and blocked the quick way in. Both her and Ginny mockingly laughed at them, but Lindsey just frowned.
'We await your arrival!'
Luigi clenched his fists. 'Why are you doing this?'
'Duh!' Nikki replied. 'Cos it's fun!'
The plumber never thought he'd feel such anger towards kids. Not even Henry and Orville from the original mansion got this kind of a feeling out of him, but that may have been because they only messed with him and not his friends. Polterkitty grabbed him by the seat of his pants and dragged him away, before he could get himself killed or poofed away.
'Polterkitty?' Nikki questioned. 'What are you doing here? And why the heck are you helping him out?'
The Panthergeist growled in response.
Ginny laughed. 'I can't believe it. Ms Gravely actually disowned you! HA!'
Polterkitty growled more, this time harsher. Otherwise, she ignored their words. As if Master would ever disown her.
'Hello, Pudding!' Lindsey said, waving. 'Wanna cuddle?' *SMACK* 'OW!'
'Ya bloody Duck Hunt!'
Polterkitty didn't stop dragging Luigi until they had reached the other wall. He knelt down to her level, and gave a quick scratch behind the ear.
'Okay Gattina, it's just us for now.' He said. 'Is this game a regular thing with those girls, or did they just make it up now?'
'Oh... you have no idea. They play this game with anyone who steps into this floor, whether they be a mortal or a ghost. The ghosts find it annoying, but the mortals usually don't come back alive.'
'Well that's a good omen.'
'Well, that's usually just because of the, um, surprise at the end. But I know the way around, so you'll be okay. Starting with...'
She walked over to the spot parallel to the paranormal gates, where there was seemingly a bookshelf standing against the wall. Like the door, it turned out to be a mere cloth that Polterkitty tore clean off. Unlike the tarp with the door, there was seemingly just a blank wall behind this one.
'Erm, how does that help?' Luigi asked.
'There's a door here.' Polterkitty said. 'But thanks to those wispy ball things, it's intangible.'
He snapped his fingers. 'Oh, I see! So I just have to use my Dark-Light.'
He shone the rainbow-y light on the wall, and lo and behold the mystical silhouette of a door appeared. Five Spirit Balls emerged from it, but Luigi made quick work of them. Once he did, the door reappeared. He gave the kitty a soft stroke on the head, to which she purred.
'I'm glad you're here.' He said. 'You'll make this endeavour a little less difficult.'
Polterkitty said nothing, and just revelled in the affection. So warm! So nice! So sweet!
'Let's not waste too much time. Wherever they are, Daisy and Polterpup are counting on us.'
She did not want the cuddle time to end, but it simply wasn't the time. Luigi opened the door, let her through first and only went in after her.
This room had a more reddish-indigo look to it, but otherwise didn't look too different from the Elevator Hall. The bed and the drawers made it clear this was one of the bedrooms. The otherwise normal-looking room had a big target mounted on the wall, and a long wooden box on a table in the middle of the floor. The box had a saw jammed into it.
Luigi shone his flashlight across every corner of the room. That target on the wall gave him bad vibes. He had to choose between a door right in front of him, or the one to the far right.
'This room is simple.' Polterkitty said. 'The left door just leads to a bathroom. The right door lets us skip that room entirely, so we should-'
The sound of metallic rattling hit her ears. The metal cabinet that rested in the nearby corner shook about, and opened up its multiple drawers at one. Shiny sharp tips peeked out.
'LOOK OUT!'
Polterkitty pushed him to the floor, right as swords emitting a pinkish glow flew out of the cabinet and passed where his head would've been. They pointed their sharp tips at the target, and zoomed towards it like they were arrows. They emerged from their home one at a time, and many popped out and jabbed themselves into the now-rotating target. By the time they had stopped, they revealed not some random shape but what appeared to be a silhouette of Luigi himself.
He got to his hands and knees. 'Did... did those swords nearly-?!'
'Yep. I forgot that was a thing.'
He wiped his brow. 'Right. You were saying? The door on the right?'
'Uh, yeah. That door. It's our best bet. Assuming you wanna get through this as quickly as possible.'
'Absolutely.'
As Polterkitty lead him over to the next door, he thought about how weird it was to be relying on the pet of Hellen Gravely to help him out. As far as he was aware, though, she was the former pet of Ms Gravely.
The door opened up to a hallway, most of which they didn't even need to bother with as the next door was right in front of them. Though, Luigi could've sworn he saw that carpet from some horror movie. Pictures of various ghosts - such as a Slinker pulling a rabbit out of his hat or an Oozer sending her cards flying - hung from the walls. A bin stood next to the door.
Wait, was that a pearl in that cage up there?
'Oh, the next door's right there!' Luigi said, reaching for the handles.
Polterkitty shuddered. She could feel a familiar vibe coming from the bin. It felt similar to her own vibes, and almost identical to those of the special Spirit Balls she could create. Wait, scratch that 'almost' part. Thanks to the energy of the pink Spirit Balls within it, the bin sprung to life with a ferocious roar. It grew two glowing white 'eyes' on its lid, and lifted its lid up to reveal a row of sharp teeth. It hissed and growled like an angry Chain-Chomp, and lunged at the frightened plumber.
'AHH!' He yelped as he jumped back, tripping over his own feet and falling backwards.
The bin slammed into the floor, creating a small shockwave that just barely tapered off before it could hit Luigi. He, in a burst of panic, used his Strobulb on the rubbish beast. It didn't react to it at all.
'GET AWAY FROM HIM!'
Polterkitty delivered a headbutt into the sentient bin, and slammed it into the wall. It kicked and squirmed about, seemingly oblivious to how she had it pinned.
'You are my creation, and I can surely destroy you too!'
She knocked it to the floor onto its 'back', where it wiggled about like a Koopa who had fallen and couldn't get up. All that went on in its 'mind' was bloodlust.
'P-Polterkitty, what in the heck-?!'
'That doesn't matter! It's down. It can't go through doors, so hurry!'
Luigi climbed to his feet and rushed through the door. For a moment, he feared what would happen if he left Polterkitty behind, but she followed after him not a second later. She slammed the door shut behind them.
He underwent vertigo just looking at this bedroom. A ceiling fan on the floor? A table and chairs on the ceiling? A bed up against the wall? Every bit of furniture seemed to obey its own law of gravity.
The plumber wiped his brow. 'Uh, you said that thing was your creation. Care to explain how?'
'Errr...'
Luckily for her, the conversation came to an abrupt stop with the sound of a young girl singing.
'AAAAA very merry unbirthday to you! A very merry unbirthday to me! Let's all congratulate us with another cup of tea!'
The singing came from the upside-down table, where none other than the Twisted Sisters sat. Lindsey sang cheerily as she poured her sisters some gravity-defying tea. Nikki happily sipped her, while Ginny looked to be about ready to strangle them both.
'Come on, Ginny!' Nikki said, giving her a pat on the back. 'Just enjoy your tea like the rest of us.'
'Hmph! I'll enjoy this bloody tea once the both of you sod off!'
The eldest triplet rolled her eyes. 'Ginny, language.'
'I'LL USE WHATEVER BLOODY LANGUAGE I WANT!' Ginny yelled, slamming her hand on the table.
Lindsey just giggled. 'Aw, you feeling grumpy today? That's okay. I'll give you some extra sugar. After all, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Medicine go down. Medicine go down!'
Ginny pulled at her own pigtails. 'SWEET JAYDES, KILL ME A SECOND TIME!'
Luigi and Polterkitty stood still, apparently with the thought process that the girls were like snakes and based their sight on movement. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work. Lindsey's eyes fell into Luigi, and she smiled and waved.
'Hey look, it's that adorable Green Man! Hi there!'
All Luigi could do was wave back sheepishly.
Ginny sighed in relief. 'Good. Anything to get me away from this bloody tea party...'
Nikki giggled, and flew out of her seat. She still floated upside-down like the ceiling was the floor.
'Now now now, look at this.' She said. 'I guess the guy really wanted to join us.' She turned to Ginny. 'You wanna have some fun, dear GinGin?'
Ginny lifted her magic wand, and cursed something about her nickname under her breath. Her wand emitted blue lightning-shaped sparkles as she waved it around.
'And now,' She chanted. 'My plumber and big Polterkitty. Walk on the ceiling as you defy gravity!'
She pointed her wand at our remaining heroes, and those same blue sparkles surrounded them both. Whatever vertigo Luigi already felt just got a lot worse. The world became a blur, and his feet left the ground. He felt like he was on a rollercoaster, a sensation he and his sensitive stomach would never like. Once he had gotten over the desire to puke out his own intestines, he came back to the world to find that the ceiling fan was now correctly on the ceiling.
Because now he was on the ceiling, looking down at the floor. And there was that icky feeling in his stomach again.
'AH!'
It should not have affected a ghost, but thanks to the magic in her pendant Polterkitty found herself on the ceiling too.
'Mirow?!'
Ginny laughed like a schoolyard bully. 'You gits don't know what you're up against!'
Luigi turned green around the gills. Now he remembered why he didn't want to accompany Mario on that first space mission.
Lindsey gasped. 'But he's done nothing wrong! Why are you being so mean?'
'Boss's orders.' Nikki said. 'Didn't you hear? Her news is kinda hard to miss when it goes straight to your head.'
'Orders? What orders?'
Polterkitty growled and hissed at them, to which none of them reacted at all. The three just left their teacups behind and flew through the door on the right. Or was it the left? Luigi couldn't tell anymore. The unoccupied teacups fell to the floor. The real floor.
Luigi moaned. 'Aw, please don't tell me we have to do the entire floor like this.'
'I hope not.' Polterkitty said. 'I'm feeling ill...'
With very good timing, one of the triplets stuck her head back through the door. Lindsey frowned at the sight.
'Aw, you poor things.' She said. 'I'll help you out!'
Her arm joined her head, and held her own magic wand. As she waved it about, it emitted green heart-shaped sparkles that flickered and faded.
'Green cutie and adorable little kitty, once again obey the laws of gravity!'
The blue particles surrounding the duo disappeared, and both Luigi and Polterkitty plummeted to the floor.
'Owie!'
Polterkitty's innate reflex helped her land on her feet, but Luigi hit the ground back first. Thank goodness the restored gravity had some time to re-orientate him; otherwise, he'd have hit his head.
'AH, sorry!' Lindsey cried. 'I was supposed to make it so the fall was slow. Sorrysorrysorry! Oh, I'm not very good with magic yet...'
Luigi grunted, feeling like an old man whose back just went out. 'That's... that's okay. It was only an accident.'
'Oh, I'd help you out, but I think my sisters want ME-!'
Someone, most likely Ginny, yanked her back through the door without even asking for permission. It left Luigi wondering, why was Lindsey seemingly so much nicer than her sisters? Or was she just pretending to be sweet to catch him off guard? He wasn't going to take any chances. If there was a possibility of her being nice, he couldn't simply attack her.
'Get off the floor and let's get going.' Polterkitty said. 'Those girls are impatient. Especially Ginny.'
'Deserts, forests, endless streams... this is what we call geography...'
Once the pink smoke cloud of death cleared away from Daisy's eyes, she did not at all expect what she saw. She was in a room, still on that floor judging by the whimsical aesthetic but nothing like the elevator hall. Adopting a more purply look for its walls and floor, hardly any of the carpet could be seen underneath the newspapers scattered across it everywhere. There was a piggy bank on the bed, and Daisy could see many animal cages containing ravens and rats.
And was that a little runway for the rats, set up along the walls? One that went through several golden loops too.
'Yeah, okay.' At this point, she was out of Poison Mushrooms to give.
'Arf arf!'
To her relief, Polterpup had been teleported to the same room as her. He stood on his hindlegs in the middle of the room, staring up a bird cage sitting on a table. There was no bird to be seen within it, but instead a key hanging by a hook.
'I have no idea why, but I feel like I'll need this key later. Better pick it up, just in case.'
But, when she reached to grab it, she found herself groaning as those confounded pink Spirit Balls emerged from the floor.
'Ugh... these things again?'
'Arf?'
'Yeah, it's a bit of a story.'
The pink wisps floated around aimlessly, before zipping into the key itself. The golden object emitted a rosy colour.
'Oh lord, what are you gonna do?'
The key proceeded to do just about the last thing either Daisy or Polterpup expected - it took the shape of a very fluffy and very shiny golden rabbit with glowing pink eyes. It made vaguely mewing sounds as it glanced around the room. It hopped out of its cage and onto the floor, where it appeared to be begging for lettuce.
'AWW!' Daisy cooed, against her better judgement. 'That's adorable!'
Polterpup gave her a look, one that said 'did you just forget that was a key two seconds ago'. She returned to reality when the bunny leapt off the table and ran away.
'Hey, hey!' She yelled. 'I need you!'
She pursued the metallic rabbit around the room, only to find that it managed to just barely exceed her speed. Polterpup watched her make an idiot out of herself as she chased after a target that could not stop.
She stopped to catch her breath. 'I think... I'm starting... to HATE... bunnies now!'
Polterpup decided to give it a quick try, but even he couldn't quite catch up to it. Daisy glanced around the room, hoping she could find something to catch it with. Her eyes fell upon an upside-down top hat resting on the bed, and a proverbial light bulb went off.
'A-ha!'
She picked up the top hat, and showed it off to Polterpup. She took care to make sure he could see that it was empty.
'Do you see how this ordinary hat is empty? Well then feast on your eyes on this trick, as the Amazing Daisy pulls a rabbit out of it!'
She didn't need a translation to know what Polterpup was thinking. It was obvious in his incredulous look. It had to be something along the lines of: 'What the heck kinda glue have you been sniffing?'
'Hey, if we're gonna go through hell, we might as well make the most of it.'
Not wanting any more of his silent snark, she reached her arm into the hat and managed to get her entire arm up to her shoulder in. After a little bit of fiddling around, she grabbed something that felt like shredded steel. She pulled her arm back out, and through some magic she had no hope of understanding the golden bunny was now squirming in her hand. It wasn't fighting back particularly hard.
'Ta-da!'
'YIP?!'
'Heck if I know, but it worked. That's all that matters. Now, how do we get out of here?'
Polterpup barked and ran over to one of the walls. He sat on some red carpet that appeared to be embedded in the wall.
'Um... is there a door there?'
The spectral hound nodded. Daisy slumped her shoulders.
'Uh, problem. I can't see it. It needs to be dark-lighted, and without Luigi and his Poltergust...'
She narrowed her eyes. After that mishap with the portrait, she did not feel like having to wait for Luigi again. With the bunny tucked under her arm, she reached for the door that seemingly wasn't there. Sliding her hand around, she could felt the bumps and valleys of a door. Feeling around a little bit more, she found what felt like the door handle. It could move in her hand. She turned it, and pulled. Whatever she had grabbed onto was anchored to the wall and moved in an arc.
'Yip yip! Yip YIP!' Polterpup cheered.
'Wait, so I actually opened it?'
'YIP!'
Polterpup jumped through where Daisy assumed the open door was. All she could see was a solid wall. The real question was - could she go through the invisible door? With a gulp, she inched her foot forward. It went right through the wall like it wasn't there. Which, of course, it truly wasn't.
'Sweet!'
With no regrets whatsoever, she leapt into the 'wall' and went straight through it like she was a ghost herself. On the other side, she was greeted by another hanging cloth that she was trapped under. She ripped it off from its spot and threw it to the floor.
'Alright! I don't even need that Dark-Light thingy anymore! ... Now where am I?'
She and Polterpup had ended up in a small bathroom, one that looked totally normal once one ignored the shower filled up to the brim with water and covered by chains with padlocks. The sight of it made Daisy cringe.
'Okay, either I've just discovered how someone died or someone on the floor is into some... freaky stuff.' She paused. 'Good for them, I guess?'
The bathroom had a second door, the thought of which made Daisy uncomfortable. No bathroom should ever have more than one door. But hey, it gave her another way out of this mini-hellhole - until she opened it. It opened directly to the back of a vending machine, one that took up the entire doorway. Her expression was not of anger or even annoyance; it was more 'yeah, that seems about right'.
'Really?' She sighed. 'Poltiepup, I'm gonna start talking about why I unironically love Bubble Gusties. I want you to insult it in any way you can.'
'Arf?'
'Just do it, okay!'
Luigi found where the triplets did their performing. It was like a mini-Great Stage, but with a reddish-brown motif. The stage in the middle of the room was decorated with purple curtains that were currently open, bright stage lights, and a sign of an upside-down purple top hat. It had a staircase on the left leading up to it, hidden by a concession bar stacked with popcorn. Two hanging chandeliers flooded the room with light, and a few tables had been set up to enjoy the show.
Luigi shuddered. Aside from the 'whimsical circus' music playing in the background, everything was way too quiet. The smell of popcorn just made him hungry.
'See that door over there?' Polterkitty said, pointing to the one at the other side of the long room. 'That's where we wanna go next.'
They had only made it halfway through the scarily silent room when a familiar purple cloud of smoke poofed on the stage.
Luigi jumped. 'Aw, now what?'
Lindsey and Ginny emerged from the cloud, flying in a little infinity symbol before coming to a stop. The sparkles vanished and revealed a top-hat floating on its own. Nikki popped out of it with a glorious 'TA-DAH!', and the hat disappeared into smoke from beneath her. The younger triplets held their arms out, pointing mostly at their leader. Polterkitty sat down and smiled, apparently just happy to be witnessing the show.
'Our next trick will be a simple one!' Nikki said. 'A good old classic. But there's nothing wrong with old tricks. They're classics for a reason!' She pointed at Luigi with her wand. 'You, sir! May you please step forward?'
Luigi gulped. 'Uh, a-alright.' He said as he followed the direction.
Nikki waved her wand around. 'Now sir, don't be angry and don't be sour. Because I shall present you with...'
She jabbed her wand into his face, until it was only a few inches away from his nose. He flinched, fearing that it would jab him in the eye. Nothing of the sort happened.
'A flower!'
A flower popped out of the end of the wand, and blossomed into Luigi's face. Just one problem - it was a Glowing Hibiscus. It only took a second for its sparkling pollen to cloud his face. His eyes stung and watered, and he felt like it was drilling into his sinuses.
'AAAH-CHOOOO!'
He stepped away from the hyperallergenic flower, sniffling and wiping his stinging eyes. Polterkitty snarled at the girls, the fur on her back standing up.
Lindsey gasped. 'Aw, he's allergic! We should do the trick again with a different flower.'
To her shock, Nikki and Ginny just laughed at the sniffly man. She couldn't believe her sisters.
'That's the point!' Nikki said. 'It wouldn't be funny if he wasn't sneezing up a storm.'
Ginny snickered. 'Yeah! Don't be so daft. That's why the bloody joke is funny to begin with. We chose those glowing thingies for a reason, ya blooming divvy!'
Lindsey puffed up her cheeks and frowned. 'Hey, that's mean! Why are you being so mean? How would you like it if I did something like that to you?'
'Pfft, yeah right.' Ginny said, rolling her eyes. 'You're such a bloody pushover, you'd trip on the air if you had any feet. Not to mention that you're pants at doing magic.'
Lindsey's brave face deflated, figuratively and literally. She fiddled with the wand in her hands, unable to look at her sisters at all.
'You've nearly won the game, Sir!' Nikki announced. 'Only a few more rooms to go, and you will have beaten our challenge! Cheerio, old chap.'
They disappeared into their hats and zoomed towards the next room. Lindsey waited a second before following her sisters, and lagged behind them considerably.
Luigi narrowed his bloodshot eyes. 'Do they always treat Lindsey like that?'
'Ginny does all the time.' Polterkitty said. 'But she usually doesn't mean it. Nikki typically isn't mean to Lindsey at all. It must be Master's doing.'
'But if it was Ms Gravely's mind tricks, then why is Lindsey not affected? Is she just pretending to be nice or something?'
'Lindsey? Sweet Jaydes, no! She's always been one of nicest souls I've ever met. But I don't want to think that her sisters are being mean on purpose. I dunno, maybe Master is forcing Lindsey to act nice to throw you off or something?' She prayed that was a convincing enough lie.
Whatever the answer to this was, Luigi refused to let that stop him. He and Polterkitty made their way over to the next door, but when he tried to turn the handle he found that it would barely budge.
'Oh great.' He muttered. 'It's locked. Got any idea where the key could be?'
'Um, maybe in the-'
Their conversation got interrupted by the vending machine at the back left corner being slammed to the floor and shattering on the ground. Behind it was a door, and through that was a Daisy and a Polterpup. The former had her fist out in front, while the other looked terrified for his afterlife. The princess had an odd golden rabbit tucked under her arm.
'Oh, Luigi!' She cried. 'That's where you were.'
Despite his shock over the shattered remains of the vending machine, his heart soared at the sight of her again. Polterpup ran towards Polterkitty, yipping excitedly.
'Kitty, kitty!' He yipped. 'Oh, am I happy to see you!'
Polterkitty flinched as the doggo got a little closer than she expected. Slowly, she managed to smile for the tail-wagging dog.
'Uh, what's with the bunny?' Luigi asked.
'It used to be a key, believe it or not.' Daisy replied, walking through the remains of the machine. 'Before some pink Spirit Balls morphed it into, uh, this thing.'
'Pink Spirit Balls?'
'I dunno either. The point is, we need to get it to turn back into a key. Got any ideas? Mine's to shove it into the lock, so whatever you come up with has got to be better.'
She held it out in front of her with both hands. It squirmed in her grasp, but only a little. It seemed only slightly aware of what was going on.
'Uh, you said it changed because of pink Spirit Balls, right?' Luigi asked.
'Yeah.' Daisy said. 'You onto something?'
'Maybe the Dark-Light Device will help.'
'Ooh, yeah. Shine it, Sweetie!'
Luigi bathed the bunny with the rays of the rainbow flashlight. That same oily glow that covered invisible objects enveloped the creature, and soon five pink Spirit Balls flew out of it. They floated around in a ring, becoming quick victims to the Poltergust. Once every Spirit Ball was gone, the bunny disappeared and a key took its place in Daisy's hands.
'Oh sweet!' She said, apparently not caring that the key was alive just two seconds ago. 'Kay, so now we know that these weird pink ball objects can be un-pink-balled with the Dark Light.' She paused, staring at the key. 'Wait, so do we actually need this key?'
'Actually, we do.' Luigi answered, pointing the door. 'Polterkitty says we need to go through this door, but it's locked.'
'That's it? Easy, easy, easy!'
She jabbed the once-living key into the keyhole, turned it, and watched it disappear into the lock.
'You know, I'd love to make a snarky comment.' She said. 'But I know that it would make our chances of success plummet, because Queen Jaydes likes to mock the haughty.'
Daisy opened the door, and...
'EEP!'
She jumped back in horror at the sight.
'Daisy?! What's wrong?' Luigi asked.
She stared at the being in front of her, and blush overtook her cheeks. 'Oh... it's just my reflection...'
Polterpup snickered behind her, but stopped the moment Luigi gave him his signature death stare.
'It's alright, Daisy.' Luigi said. 'I've been scared by my own reflection too. Many, many times...'
It was not just a simple mirror that frightened the princess with her own image, but instead a giant block of glass that the king-sized bed rested on, nearly touching the ceiling. The entire room had a brownish-magenta vibe to it, and aside from the massive glass slab looked like a regular bedroom - except for the little tea table. The teapot appeared to be floating by its infinitely-pouring tea, but in reality the 'tea' was made of solid plastic.
'Were the people who made this floor actively trying to make it as weird as possible?' Daisy asked. 'Wait, on second thought, don't answer. Whether ghosts built this place or just took it over, they just want to be as annoying as possible.'
If it wasn't for our heroes seeing their own reflections, it would seem as though the bed were floating on its own. Which, frankly, wouldn't be too shocking in a place like the Last Resort.
Daisy peered around the glass, and saw another door opposite to the one they went through. 'Okay, I found a door. Is that the one we're supposed to go through?'
Polterkitty shook her head, and headed for the wall in between the two doors. Red curtains akin to ones you'd see on a real stage hung from the ceiling. She sunk her teeth into one of them and ripped it off its rails. The actual next door lay behind it.
'Geez, these girls are tricky.' Daisy remarked.
'Did you have to rip them off?' Luigi asked. 'There had to have been a better way of doing that.'
'Oh, who cares? I'm gonna send a demolition crew after this place after this is all over anyway. Forget about the minor damages and let's get going!'
Daisy pushed the other curtain aside and ran straight through the door with the most zeal she had that night. Her possible reign of destruction upon the ghosts came to a swift and rather ridiculous end as an oversized top hat fell from the ceiling and fell on top of her head. It managed to encapsulate her body all the way down to her knees. Her muffled cry of surprise and frustration could just barely be heard. Polterpup laughed again, and this time Luigi couldn't help but chuckle a little. Just a little, of course.
'My arms are stuck!' She cried. 'Help me out here!'
Luigi approached the stuck princess and activated a burst. Aside from making her tumble around a bit, the hat went flying off her and landed upside-down on the floor.
She kicked it over. 'On a good vacation, a little thing like that wouldn't matter at all. But on a vacation that makes you want to decapitate yourself, the little problems and the big problems all just blend together into a mess.'
This room was just a small hall that branched off to the left, but that didn't matter. Polterkitty scratched at the door right in front of them, meowing.
'She says we're getting close.' Luigi translated. 'Just a couple more rooms to go.'
Daisy wiped her brow. 'Good. Cos I'm sick of this confusing place.' She said as she opened the door.
They could practically feel the presence of the triplets as they stepped into the subdued-red room. Unlike the ones before it, this room was rather empty. Most of it consisted of a hexagonal wooden 'stage' in the floor with nothing on it, surrounded by a few candles and a mattress leaned up against the wall.
'I don't know why,' Daisy said. 'But I have a strong inkling that this will be where our inevitable battle takes place.'
She stepped onto the middle of the stage, where upon a spotlight turned on and shined on her. The origin of the light seemingly did not exist.
'Come at meh, girlies!' She declared, puffing out her chest. 'I can definitely-probably-maybe (possibly?) take you on, three-to-one!'
A few seconds of nothing passed. Upon realising that her 'friends' had not come to visit, she groaned.
'It just can't be easy, can it? Or would that be defined as cheating?' Her eyes fell upon the - hopefully - final door on her right. 'Well, if they won't come to me, I'll gladly come to them.'
As if the door itself were listening, it opened up on its own with nothing but blue lightning-shaped particles surrounding it.
'Welp,' Daisy said. 'I was never one to refuse an invitation. Clearly.'
By sheer luck it felt like, our quartet had finally arrived into the bathroom that Daisy had tried to break into before. The hole from her failed attempt remained. And, just like before, the Twisted Sisters were awaiting their arrival. Their hats were off and floating on their tops in front of them. Like before, Nikki stood in the middle with her younger sisters by her sides.
'Hi there!' Daisy greeted. 'I am the princess of Sarasaland, and I am here to prove that I am not above beating up children if need be.'
Nikki giggled. Ginny laughed alongside her, while Lindsey was too busy 'aww'ing at the green-clad man.
'But Ma'am, our tricks are not done yet.' Nikki said. 'We have so many we want to show you! Wouldn't be a shame to end our fun so soon?'
'No, not really.'
'I'm so glad you agree! So my sisters and I will present to you a few more magical tricks! We hope you enjoy them. Now watch, as my sisters and I summon objects from our hats!' Nikki waved her wand above her hat. 'Now my headwear, do something quite funny. Let me pull out from you a cute fluffy bunny!'
Raising her wand into the air, she made a stuffed bunny toy rise from her hat. Lindsey cooed at the adorable plush, before performing the trick herself.
'Now, my cute little topper, do something to impress! From your magical pit, pull out... uh, something, I guess?'
Despite her faltering on the chanting part of the spell, much to the annoyance of Ginny, something had indeed emerged from the cap. It was... a couple of vinyls? Daisy and Ginny groaned at almost the same time.
'Look at that!' Lindsey cried, her smile as wide as a mile. 'I did it! It worked!'
'You pulled out some vinyls.' Ginny remarked.
'I know, right! I told the hat to pull out something, and it pulled out something!'
Meanwhile, all the way on the disco-themed fourteenth floor, DJ Phantasmagloria was in the middle of playing one of her jams when her vinyl suddenly vanished into a puff of green flower-shaped sparkles.
'Woah!' She exclaimed. 'That was, like, totes grody. Where did my tubular record, like, go?'
To circumvent this predicament, she simply went into her backstage to get another one.
Ginny cracked her knuckles. 'Please, I can do better than you bloody gits.' She cleared her throat. 'Watch as I do something grand before your eyes. I'm sure you're in for one hell of a... SURPRISE!'
She flung her wand towards the ceiling so fast it nearly left her hand. The object that she had summoned from her hat was, indeed, quite the surprise. It was Luigi's cap. Taken right off his head.
Nikki floated back, her face contorting. 'Erm?'
Ginny saw what she had summoned, and groaned. 'UGH!' She cried as she pinched her nose. 'Ew!'
Luigi felt around his head, and found to his shock that his cap had truly vanished from the top of his head.
'Ah!' He yelped.
Daisy did a double-take. 'Wait, what? How did you just...?'
Ginny held the cap as far away from her face as she could. 'Eugh, id smells worse den Johnny's old bloody jog-drap!'
'Hey!' Daisy yelled for her plumber.
Only Lindsey did not react to the cap like it was a smelly old sock. In fact, she looked very confused by such reactions.
'Oh come on.' She said. 'It can't smell that bad!'
She got up close and personal with the cap, and sniffed it. It took her a few seconds to come to any sort of conclusion.
'Come on, girls.' She said. 'It smells just fi... just f-f-f...'
The youngest triplet proceeded to spasm quite a bit, taking in a shaky breath with each odd change of pose. Her limbs went everywhere with each twitch. Her sisters, and our heroes, could only look on in confusion.
'Uh, Lindsey?' Nikki said. 'You okay there?'
'Eh... ah... OH... ha-chee-hee-he...'
'Lindsey?'
'Ah... ah... AAAHH-CHOOOO!'
Thanks to the force of her kitten-like yet incredibly loud sneeze, she flew backwards through the wall faster than you can blink. Everyone stared at the spot that she disappeared into, for a few good silent seconds.
'Ooo-kay then.' Nikki said, before resuming their show like that had never happened. 'We've got one last grand trick for you all! All I'll say is, come and get us.'
Ginny, fed up with the apparently foul-smelling cap, threw it into Luigi's face far harder than she needed to.
'Better yet, leave us the bloody hell alone.' She muttered. 'Seriously, you pillocks are just bloody annoying.'
They both disappeared through the door, laughing manically to themselves. And, clearly, Daisy and Polterpup had hit their limit. Both growled at the door, and rushed for it without any second thoughts.
'I'm going to destroy you!' Daisy yelled as she flung the door open.
Both were so intent on teaching those triplets a lesson, that they didn't notice that the entire doorway was full of a blinding white light. They charged right into it without a care in the world.
Luigi screamed.
'Oh no...' Polterkitty muttered.
'W-What just happened?'
The Panthergeist hung her head. 'I knew this would happen. See, what we just went through isn't the part that drives the mortals crazy. They just scrambled all the rooms.'
Luigi went pale, and gulped. 'M-Meaning?'
'Things are about to get a whole lot worse.'
'Then we can't just sit here! We have to save Daisy and Polterpup!'
Luigi went through the door with Polterkitty right behind him, expecting to at least see his friends waiting for him on the other side. He didn't even get that. But he knew that this wasn't the room with the wooden stage in the middle, like it should've been.
It was the room with the magical swords, which were still imbedded in the target.
Author Notes - Okay, I need to say something. When I proofread these chapters, I usually play music from the respective floor using the music-player thing in the game. Today, when proofreading this chapter, I found that a lot of the music tracks in this floor have very ominous and spine-chilling vocals in the background. Like, they legitimately creeped me out.
The personalities of Nikki, Lindsey, and Ginny (known collectively as the Twisted Sisters) are based on the Three Good Fairies from Disney's Sleeping Beauty. But if you guessed the Powerpuff Girls, you wouldn't necessarily be incorrect. More specifically: Nikki is based on Flora, the pompous leader, Lindsey is based on Fauna, the ditzy sweetheart, and Ginny is based on Merryweather, the impulsive tomboy.
Their British accents are a reference to the - very British - Harry Potter series. The 'London' part specifically is where Daniel Radcliffe is from. It just seemed very appropriate to me. How many of Ginny's British swears do you think I can get away with? I'm making sure I don't go too far with them, but as an Australian most of these swears mean nothing to me.
Centuries ago, the Cap Kingdom was home to more than just Bonneters. Humans inhabited a small village by the name of Fedorvilla, very close to the still-standing Bonneton.
When the triplets were born, suspicions were already raised. Three identical daughters, each surviving birth? Their mother had to be a witch! Fortunately, these accusations didn't get very far.
While the eldest Nikki was perfect, the village noticed something seemed off about Lindsey and Ginny. Their development, especially socially, seemed far behind. Turned out that just because a disability hadn't been documented yet, didn't mean that people weren't still born with it.
The triplets discovered their love for the art of illusion, and were so proud of their talent that they decided to show it off to the rest of the village. Now watch as Nikki saws Lindsey in half, only to be just fine afterwards! Of course, Ginny pretended to be the legs. They waited in anticipation for how amazed their audience would be.
'SHE'S A WITCH!'
