Author Notes - Y'all seem to be hyped for the 'final' Hellen Gravely boss fight. Hate to break it to ya, but...
I'm running out of clever ways to say this, so I'll just state that CapitalClassShip has dropped a favourite/follow! (Seriously, for someone who basically came out of nowhere I am impressed with how much attention I'm getting with this story, and I am sooo happy about it!)
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR - A GRAVE MISTAKE
Daisy leapt to her feet to punch that witch in the face, but Hellen simply ducked into the floor. Daisy was not impressed.
'I hope you realise who you're up against!' She yelled. 'No one messes with my Luigi and gets away with it!'
Polterpup joined her side and snarled at the spot where Ms Gravely vanished. Daisy wouldn't tell anyone, but she already had doubts in her chances for victory with three members of her party now out of commission. The princess brushed aside the debris from the smashed table, and saw some small white circle in the middle of the floor. It wasn't just some weird symbol, but instead a pillar a little taller than Daisy herself that emerged from the ground. Daisy backed away from it immediately.
The many screens on the front wall of the office turned to static, and when they came back online they displayed nothing but Hellen Gravely herself. The Siren laughed at the princess, and with each screen containing their own speaker it made it sound like hundreds of ghosts were mocking her.
'Do make this enjoyable, dear princess!'
She snapped her fingers.
One of the four panels going down the pillar's sides opened up, revealing three glowing lights aimed directly at Daisy. She instinctively jumped to the side, which ended up being the right idea when three lasers shot out of those holes and reached the wall.
'Oh lovely!' Daisy cried. 'Just amazing!'
Polterpup took the sky, while Daisy had to think of other ideas. The lasers began to spin, and with a shriek the princess charged the other way around the pillar. As she ran around the room, the lasers just barely matched her speed. Had they gone any faster, Daisy would've been reduced to chunks. Once the lasers had finished one rotation, they stopped. Before Daisy could sigh in relief, they continued their revolution the other way.
'AH!'
Luigi could barely watch as his princess evaded the lasers. The paranormal gates protected him from getting sliced to ribbons, but that was all the good they did for him. It made him realise just what it was like to be Mario locked away in a portrait, forced to watch his little brother putting himself in danger for the sake of someone else.
'Don't worry, my dear princess!' Hellen's voice echoed from every speaker. 'There's still time to surrender!'
'You'll take Luigi over my cold dead body!'
Hellen shrugged. 'Oh well. What a shame.'
With another snap of her fingers, the red lasers disappeared. Daisy had no time to relax though, as all four panels on the pillar opened up. Each generated a solid barrier of coloured energy that extended all the way to the walls, dividing the small room into quarters. All four energy barriers had their own colour - pink, orange, blue, and green, matching the keys - and if that wasn't bad enough, they began to slowly rotate across the room.
'Oh dear lord!' Daisy cried, finding herself sandwiched between the orange and pink barriers.
Hellen laughed. 'I wouldn't touch those energy walls if I were you. They'll incinerate any organic material that they touch! Not to mention, any ghost who was previously-living won't like them either. Lucky for me, I was never living to begin with!'
Polterpup, even though he was in the air, whimpered.
'Wait, you used to be living too?' Daisy asked him.
He nodded.
'Oh, that's good to know... I guess. But let's discuss that later, huh?'
The energy barriers moved slowly, but that did not make Daisy any less nervous. It wasn't like there was anywhere for her to go, and nothing was stopping her from slowly running out of energy until she fainted. She thought about destroying the pillar with the Phantasma-Gloves, but didn't feel like risking losing her hands. Polterpup hovered just above her, out of the way of the lasers.
'Don't be fooled by the speed, sweet Daisy!' Hellen said. 'You never know when they might speed up.'
'Oh thanks for that advice!'
Luigi shuddered as the green barrier moved across his cage, even though it couldn't get through the paranormal gates. He could see Daisy sweating up a storm, with a confused Polterpup not knowing what to it. He bashed his head into the bars - his overly-trusting nature got him locked up into this cage, and now he couldn't do a thing to help her.
'I have to watch Daisy fight Hellen alone...' He muttered. 'And there's nothing I can do about it...'
'I don't get it.' Gooigi said. 'Big bro never needed might. It was always your smarts. Wasn't it?'
He gasped. What was he thinking? Most of his help on this 'vacation' was not his might or his strength, but his mind. His puzzle-solving skills were the one thing he had that was not affected by his ghostly prison.
'DAISY!' He cried out.
Fortunately, Daisy was still in a state where she could listen to him. 'What is it?!'
'If we could turn off the lasers in Hellen's other rooms, we might just be able to turn them off here! You just gotta find the switches for them.'
Daisy smiled. 'Good idea, Sweetie!' That smile faded. 'Uh, just one problem. WHERE ARE THE SWITCHES!'
'They have to be hidden somewhere... Polterpup!'
The spectral hound perked at the sound of his name, and he puffed out his chest in waiting.
'If there are any switches, they might be hidden in the walls or the floor or something. A mortal like Daisy won't be able to reach them, but they won't be any problem for you!'
'Aye aye, Master!'
Polterpup did a backflip in the air and vanished into the floor. It left Daisy as the only person still standing in the battlefield, and it only made her nerves and anxieties a thousand times worse. Through the pink barrier between him and her, Luigi could see her skin turning as pale as a bedsheet ghost.
'Daisy, listen to me!' He said. 'I've been held capture multiple times during this trip. You saved me from the twins and Serpci, and nothing is stopping you from saving me now!'
Daisy chuckled like she was about to die. 'Thanks for the encouraging words, but they're really not helping my nerves here!'
'There's... not much else I can really do like this...'
'You're helping us just fine!'
When Polterpup emerged on the other side of the floor, he did not expect the labyrinth that greeted him. It was a white mess of walls, grates, and rotating barriers that surrounded him on all sides. Lucky for him, none of it bothered him too much thanks to his ethereal nature, except for the fact that it was near impossible to see where anything was. Alas, ghosts usually did not come with x-ray vision. With a grumble, he leapt through the nearby grate and investigated. He followed the sparkly clean hallway until he came across dead end.
'Yip!'
Even though it was a dead end, it was certainly not useless. The wall had a switch attached to it, one that surged with orange energy. With an excited bark, he gripped it with his mouth and pulled on it. It had rusted over a little thanks to a lack of use and evidence of water damage, so he struggled to move it a bit, but with a little extra force he flipped it down. The orange energy circulating through it faded away.
Meanwhile, Daisy was being careful not to let the energy barriers touch her while being ever paranoid that they would speed up at any given moment. Hellen continued to laugh at her, taking great delight in killing her slowly.
'Why bother, princess? Just jump into my barriers now and save yourself the trouble!'
'I go down fighting or I don't go down at all!'
Then, the orange energy wall vanished.
'What?!' Hellen shrieked. 'I didn't order it to do that!'
Daisy fist-pumped the air. 'Oh yeah! Whatever Polterpup did, it worked!'
Through all of this, that managed to get Luigi to smile. Not just because his beloved pet helped out his princess, but also because Daisy looked so darn happy about it. Hellen, on the other hand, didn't find it so enjoyable. She slammed her powder puff onto the floor, and screamed out. Her rage once again forced her to reveal her ugly persona, and this time she didn't seem to care.
'I see we're fighting dirty!' She screamed. 'If you're going to be like that, then I won't wait for you to die!'
She disappeared from the view of all her screens, and reappeared from the floor on the other side of the pink barrier. The sight of her made Daisy shriek - she seemed even more terrifying up close. The Siren pulled out her broken mirror, which had a big crack going down the middle of its glass.
'I don't need my security system to kill you. I CAN DO IT JUST FINE MYSELF!'
Daisy scoffed. 'With a mirror? Yeah, have fun with that.'
Hellen screamed out in anger and slammed the mirror into the nearest wall. The reflective device went straight through the wall and left a massive crack that travelled all the way up to the ceiling.
'EEK!' Daisy squeaked, stepping back.
'See what my little mirror can do this wall? IMAGINE WHAT IT COULD DO TO YOUR BONES!'
Luigi bashed his fists into the cage. He would figure out how to break it apart with his bare hands even if it killed him. He wanted to bash that ghost's face in himself, not just because she was trying to kill his closest friend but also because she was forcing him to watch.
Daisy looked around for any available space to run, but of course all she had was her half of the room. The barriers meant nothing for the eternally-ghost Hellen, who yanked her mirror out of the wall and floated straight through her own security system.
'YOU'RE GONNA GET IT NOW, PRINCESS!'
She wound up her mirror and aimed it directly for Daisy's skull. The princess jumped out the way as Hellen swung it past her face. Not one to give up, Hellen swung at her again, just barely missing her and getting her mirror stuck in the floor for a moment.
'C-Can we talk about this?' Daisy asked, attempting her plumber's usual methods.
'Unless we're talking about you surrendering, NO!'
Polterpup heard her struggles from up above, and leapt into action. He dashed down the hallways, forgoing the barriers and simply jumping through them instead. He arrived at a blue switch, and flipped it. Above the floor, the blue energy wall turned off. The one problem was that it was the middle remaining wall, meaning it just doubled the space of the other half the room, which didn't help Daisy out much at all.
'Uh, Polterpup?' She called while leaping out of the way of another attack. 'Maybe try another laser!'
Polterpup heard her order, and ran off to find another. More hallways, more grates, more dead ends... another switch! This time, it was green. He threw his entire body onto it, and slammed it down without much effort at all. Back with Daisy and Hellen, the green energy wall disappeared. Now, with only the pink one still on, it opened up almost the entire floor for Daisy to run around.
Daisy laughed. 'HA! How's them apples?'
Hellen pulled on her dishevelled hair. 'ARGH, I HATE mortals! I hate them so much! And this is why!'
'What, because they always outsmart you?'
That seemed to be the tipping point for an already furious ghost. Hellen screamed again, and chased after her. Daisy stood by the wall further away from the still-active pink barrier, sticking her tongue out to the Siren.
'Uh, D-Daisy?' Luigi stammered. 'A-Are you sure you should-?'
'YOU CAN'T ESCAPE FROM ME, MORTAL SCUM!'
Hellen swung that mirror with all of her might, now aiming for Daisy's neck. The princess ducked and rolled out of the way, making Hellen imbed her mirror into the wall once again. The ghost screamed out incoherent sounds of rage as she tried to pull her improvised weapon out.
'I'M GONNA KILL YOU ALL!'
'Have fun with that, honey!'
With Hellen stuck to the wall, Daisy had no trouble grabbing her tail. She bashed her into the floor as quickly and as unrelentingly as she possibly could, cheering like a cowgirl with each slam.
'Get 'er, Daisy!' Luigi cheered from the side-lines. 'Daisy, Daisy, she's the best! She's something something than the rest!'
Daisy was almost certain that Hellen would be like the other 'Grand Ghosts' and couldn't have her particles separated by mere mashing, and even if they could she wouldn't want her to escape elsewhere, but she didn't care. Slamming the daylights out of her was more than enough to make it all worth it. Every cry of pain was oddly satisfying, and Daisy didn't care how psychotic that sounded out of context.
'This is what you get for trying to hurt my Luigi!'
However, with each slam more and more Gheistpaint scattered into the air. Daisy didn't notice the thickening pink cloud nor the tingle in her sinuses before it was too late.
'AH-CHOO!'
This little moment allowed Hellen Gravely to break free from her grasp, and float back into the air. Luigi gasped, and sneezed a couple times from the powder himself. Once Daisy realised what just happened, she groaned.
'Damn it!' She cursed. 'Ugh, why does your stupid make-up have to be so potent?'
'Simple darling.' Hellen replied. 'It's the only thing that holds back this hideous side of me!'
'If it's supposed to keep your hideous side at bay, I don't think you have enough!'
Hellen chose not to dignify that with a response, and simply disappeared back into the floor. She reappeared on her many many screens, where she proceeded to lather herself up with seemingly more Gheistpaint than was in that entire room. As far as Daisy was concerned, she wasn't any less ugly looking like that, but not because of her outer appearance.
'Just so you know, my sweet little Daisy,' She said. 'I won't stop until I know you are dead! None of this cursed 'you could not have survived that' bullcrap tonight. I'm not stopping until I've consumed EVERY BIT OF YOUR FLESH!'
Daisy gulped. 'Well, I guess you'll have use for my body.'
With another snap of her fingers, the last remaining energy wall disappeared. The three-laser-wall returned, but not quite in the same way. There wasn't just one wall of lasers anymore - there was two. The second wall stood on the other side of the first, perfectly dividing the room in half with deadly lights.
'Surrender now, princess!' Hellen spat. 'And I won't slice you to pieces right this very minute!'
'Do I need to repeat myself? I go down fighting, or-'
'Yes yes yes, or you won't go down at all. Let's see if we can prove that wrong, HM?!'
The lasers began to move. Once again, they started off slowly, giving Daisy a head-start. But then, they sped up. They sped up exponentially. With a scream, Daisy got to running. The lasers perfectly matched her speed, ensuring that if she slowed down for just a moment that it would be the last thing she ever did.
'There's a downside to being a mortal, you see!' Hellen yelled. 'YOU RUN OUT OF ENERGY!'
Daisy gave her a glare through the screen for as long as she could. She thanked her lucky stars that she had the strongest lungs out of anyone that she knew, but she could already feel the sweat pouring down her face. She ran. And ran. And ran.
The lasers stopped for a moment, but just for the smallest of moments. They only stopped so they could spin the other way, and Daisy had that tiny moment to react to it. Nearly slipping onto her face, she turned around and dashed away. Luigi looked the other way - overwhelmed with a feeling of helplessness, he could not stand to watch his princess's inevitable death.
Polterpup stuck his head out of the floor for a second, only to duck back down when the lasers nearly cut straight through his head. If only those lasers had an obvious off-switch too, but after he had explored every inch of this hidden area he had only found the missing pink switch. As much as he didn't want to abandon his friends, he knew he had only one option left. He left the hidden area and hopped out of the floor on the other side of the vault. He could hear Daisy's panicking from the outside, but he did not let that deter him.
He picked up on Polterkitty's aroma in seconds, and ran off in the direction of her scent. Wherever she went, he was certain that he could find her.
Daisy wanted to curse out Hellen Gravely some more, but she had to conserve her oxygen. Sweat poured down her face and onto the floor, and she could feel herself getting lightheaded. No matter what, she refused to give in. And, apparently, Hellen had run out of patience.
'Grrr... THAT IS IT!' She shouted, her beautiful façade fading once again. 'If you won't die the easy way, I'LL MAKE IT EXTRA HARD FOR YOU!'
She snapped her fingers yet again, and the lasers disappeared. Daisy had all of three seconds to catch her breath again when the energy barriers returned all at once. She had to leap out of the way before the pink one sliced her down the middle as it formed. There was one major difference from the last time - they moved at least twice as fast. It was just slow enough that Daisy could easily outrun them. Just.
Hellen returned to the arena, emerging from behind the green barrier. Her mirror was bent beyond belief, and its glass had shattered beyond use - it still functioned as a wonderful weapon, however. Luigi shook the bars of his cage as aggressively as he had the energy to. They didn't even move a tiny bit.
'HOW COULD A SCAREDY-CAT LIKE YOU REACH MY FLOOR?!' Hellen shrieked. 'GAH! It was just because all my workers were just a bunch of useless cowards!'
'Probably not the nicest thing to say about the ghosts who are the only reason why Luigi hasn't captured you already.' Daisy remarked. Hey, if Hellen was as angry as she could possibly get there was no harm in taunting her further.
Daisy had to take full advantage of her dodging skills - the last thing she wanted was any broken bones. She leapt to the left. She ducked to the right. With each missed hit, Hellen got more and more furious, if her increasingly dishevelled appearance was anything to go by. After a few more dodges, Daisy decided she was sick of playing defence and wanted to play offence.
'Let my boyfriend go!'
She punched Hellen right between the eyes. The ghost cried out and fell to the floor, her appearance just collapsing further. Before she could get back up, Daisy placed her hand on her chest and stared directly into her burning red eyes.
'I said, let my boyfriend go!' She yelled into her face. 'Or I'll punch you again!'
Hellen did not respond by letting Luigi go, or even with any words for that matter. Without really thinking about her actions, she punched Daisy back square in the face.
'AH!' Daisy screamed as she fell backwards.
'DAISY!' Luigi cried, tears trickling down his cheeks.
The princess got up the moment she could, feeling no weaker than she did just a few moments ago. She did, however, feel something warm dripping off her chin. After putting her hand to her face and checking it, she realised just what she was feeling.
Her nose was bleeding.
'Bloody hell...' She muttered, borrowing a phrase from Ginny, as she wiped the blood onto her shirt.
Hellen got back to her 'feet'. 'See what happens if you don't surrender to me? I am no ordinary ghost. I am a Siren! And a Siren's strength is beaten by no one, not even that bodybuilder man!'
Daisy groaned. 'Geez, you don't even care enough to memorise their names. His name is Johnny Deepend! You should know that. Then again, you think making a ghost think that his daughter is in danger is okay, so maybe I shouldn't be so surprised.'
That just angered Hellen Gravely more, if that was even possible at this point.
Polterpup did not stop until he found Polterkitty. To his surprise, she hadn't gone far at all. She hadn't left the building or even travelled to a lower floor like he expected. Instead, he found her perched by the elevator. She sat on a couch just barely big enough for her to lie on, and stared out the window. In contrast to the hectic battle scene, the lobby of the Master Suite was shockingly quiet.
'(Polterkitty?)'
The Panthergeist flinched and yelped, jumping back so far that she fell off the couch. The fur on her back stood up and she got into a defensive position, staring at the 'threat' with wide eyes.
'(Oh. I-It's just you.)'
'(Sorry! I didn't mean to spook you.)'
The Polterpets stared at each other silently for a spell, Polterkitty just barely containing the tears threatening to fall again.
'(Why are you here?)' She asked. '(Haven't I done enough for you and your master?)'
Polterpup sighed. '(Look, I hate you for what you did. What you did was awful, and I'm not sure if I can ever forgive you for it. Heck, I'm not even sure if my master will be able to forgive you.)'
Polterkitty closed her eyes as hard as she could, trying to hold back her tears. She didn't succeed.
'(I-I'M SO SORRY!)' She cried. '(I-I don't know what I was thinking. I-I just didn't want M-Master to hate me, and I thought that if I presented your master to mine, that she would forget all my failures and love me again!)'
Polterpup shook his head. '(Kitty, you don't need your original master to love you. And you know you don't. Forget about her. I know it hurts to know, but she just doesn't care about you anymore. She's far too obsessed with getting into King Boo's... whatever his equivalent of pants are to pay any attention to you.)'
His words did not make her feel any better. In fact, they made her feel so much worse, and he hated himself for it.
'(B-But... where can I go?)' She asked. '(Master was the only one who ever loved me. No one else would ever love a three-tailed monster like me...)'
'(You sure about that? Hasn't my master been adoring you since you first met? Remember how he said that he didn't want to hurt you, even though you took a button from him? Remember how he tried his hardest to prove to you that he meant no harm? No? Okay. What about all those times he cuddled you and adored you and gave you love even though you didn't do anything? You wanna tell me that he doesn't love you?)'
'(I-I know, but... I thought he was just trying to butter me up or something. Or at least I did until he said that he wanted to adopt me...)'
Polterpup's jaw fell straight to the floor.
'(Wait, he told you that he wanted to adopt you? Then why do you think he doesn't love you?! My master absolutely adores you! Why else did you think he felt so betrayed when you handed him over to your master? He genuinely adores you Polterkitty, but now... he's in trouble.'
Polterkitty shuddered. She didn't want to imagine the cruel things that Master was doing to Green Man or Mean Lady.
'(Listen Kitty, I don't care what you do. Destroy that cage my master's trapped in. Ruin that laser trap. Get Daisy out of the way of the energy barrier things. Whatever you do, we need your help.)'
'(I... I don't think I can do it.)'
'(Kitty, we need you! We have talked for far too long as is. If you don't get into action right now, Daisy could die!)'
Polterkitty gasped. With how many times she had called that orange-clad princess 'Mean Lady', the thought of her dying to one of Master's traps made her feel ill. Now, she didn't care about earning Master's love or Green Man's forgiveness or anything like that. Furrowing her brow, she bared her teeth.
'(Alright).' She said. (Let's teach my master a lesson.)'
Luigi wanted to look away, but he couldn't. With Daisy having just a mere quarter of the room with constantly advancing walls of death, he couldn't bare the thought that he would witness Daisy dying in front of him. On the other hand, the princess had long proven herself capable of holding a fight. He just had to pray to Grambi. It was all that he could do.
'Daisy...' He muttered. 'Mi dispiace di non averti potuto aiutare...'
'Big bro worried. I'm worried too.'
Luigi yelped. Gooigi had just suddenly deployed himself and now sat next to his 'big bro', adopting a much more relaxed posture than that of the mortal. Though his eyes lacked anything resembling pupils or anything of the sort, Luigi could see fear and sadness in those gooey eyes of his.
'I wish I could get out of this cage.' He said. 'But paranormal gates are too strong.'
'I wish I could escape too...'
Daisy grabbed onto Hellen's tail and slammed her into the floor. Instead of slamming her multiple times like before, she settled with punching her in the face some more.
'Let my boyfriend go, you witch!'
'I MUST WIN KING BOO'S LOVE!'
The princess delivered an uppercut into the Siren's chin, which was apparently enough for Hellen. She shoved Daisy away, and slapped her across the face. Luigi cringed, rubbing his own cheek. Daisy wiped her bleeding nose and stared Hellen down like she was the devil himself.
'You wanna kill me? Fine. Just let me remind you that you'll never win. Elvin will come back, and he will destroy you. Polterpup's on our side. And if we're lucky, your monster of a kitty might realise who she should be rooting for.'
Hellen's red eyes glowed with fury. 'You think it's funny to slam ghosts around? LET'S SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT!'
Before Daisy could react to anything she was doing, Hellen disappeared into the floor. Daisy looked around for wherever she might emerge from, but did not account for a quick surprise. Hellen popped out right behind her.
'DAISY!'
But Luigi's warning came far too late. Hellen grabbed Daisy by the shoulders, and hurled her into the wall.
'MARGHERITA!'
Every nerve in Daisy's body locked up and twitched as pain consumed every inch of her body. Barely holding onto her consciousness, she glared at the Siren in front of her. Within moments, she fell face-first onto the floor. She was simply too hyped up on adrenaline to stay down, however, and got onto her hands and knees in seconds.
'It's gonna take... a hell lot more... to kill this princess...'
She got onto her feet, or at least tried to. The moment she shifted any weight onto her left leg, it seized with pain.
'AAHHH!'
The pain was so bad that she fell right back onto the floor again. Luigi couldn't watch anymore.
'See what I can do to you, mortal?!' Hellen shouted. 'A SIREN IS FAR STRONGER THAN MEETS THE EYE! And now... because you refused to surrender when you had the chance, MY BARRIERS WILL INCINERATE EVERY TRACE OF YOU!'
Daisy tried to get up again, but the pain in her leg held her down. The green barrier was approaching fast, and with the horrible pain weighing her down she had no chance of outrunning it anymore. Deciding to go out with dignity, she closed her eyes and waited.
'I'm sorry Luigi...' She muttered. 'I just couldn't do it...' She began to weep. 'I'm such a failure...'
'ROOAARRR!'
The familiar roar caught the attention of just about everyone in the room. Daisy opened her eyes once again, and witnessed a certain Panthergeist leaping above her with all her teeth and claws out.
'P-Polterkitty?!'
'GATTINA!'
Polterkitty cringed as two energy barriers phased through her skin, causing pain to erupt through her entire body. Despite the agonising pain, she lifted up her massive paw and slammed it right into the white pillar in the middle of the room.
'NOOOO!' Hellen cried.
The pillar stood no chance against the Panthergeist's might and crumbled into dust. With nothing left to support them, the energy barriers disappeared in a flickering light, leaving the room free of its security traps. With that taken care of, Polterkitty turned towards her owner and snarled as she stalked towards her.
'My darling Polterkitty, what are you doing?' Hellen asked as she backed away. 'I-I am your owner! You can't be doing this to me... YOU TRAITOR!'
Polterkitty cringed, but just for a moment. She lowered her head, shook the pendant off her neck until it fell to the floor, and squeezed it between her powerful jaws.
'No... NO!' Hellen yelled. 'Don't you DARE break that! You know what the consequences are. ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO BE ANYMORE?!'
The Panthergeist ignored any and all orders that 'Master' had ever given her, and slammed her jaws shut. The pendant shattered in her teeth, reduced to nothing but mundane shards that scattered on the floor. A red wisp of magic popped out like steam from a kettle and dissipated.
'You... YOU TRAITOR! BACKSTABBER! DOUBLE-CROSSER!'
If she hadn't already, that was the moment where Polterkitty decided that she was fed up with her owner's bullcrap.
'RAAAOORR!'
She pounced.
'YOU TRAITOROUS FELINE!'
She pinned Hellen's shoulders to the floor, and growled directly into that witch's face. With her shoulders pressed again the ground, Hellen had no hope of escaping no matter how much she squirmed. Polterpup popped through the vault door right after her, snickering at Hellen's expense.
'I HATE YOU, YOU RAT!' Hellen screamed. 'Do you not remember the time I found you, and saved you from your horrible life? Do you not remember the wonderful times we had together?'
'That would be kinda hard,' Daisy remarked. 'Considering how long ago those moments were.'
'I NEVER ASKED YOU, PRINCESS!'
Daisy dragged herself to the cage containing Luigi, and found him with his face pressed out as far as he could manage. He reached his hand through one of the gaps and Daisy held it against her chest, no matter how much it pained her injuries.
'It's okay Sweetie.' She said. 'We'll get you out soon. We just need to deal with this witch first.'
Polterkitty told herself that she would not let 'Master' go until 'Master' agreed to never hurt her real friends ever again, which she highly doubted would happen any time soon. Unfortunately for her, she didn't notice a fatal flaw in her plan - Hellen's arms were mostly free.
'UNHAND ME AT ONCE, YOU MONSTER!'
The Panthergeist roared right into her face, soaking her with panther slobber. If ghosts could be killed, Polterkitty would be going for the kill that very moment. She didn't see Hellen reach into her pocket and grab the last bit of Gheistpaint she had left.
'I can't believe it... my own darling... BETRAYING THE ONLY PERSON WHO EVER CARED FOR HER!'
Polterkitty growled again. If Hellen could understand her like Luigi could, she would've been angered even more.
'You weren't the only person who ever cared about me. I know that now. Someone else gives a crap about me, and he's standing right in the corner over there.'
'G-Gattina?'
Hellen realised that her pet was too far gone to persuade anymore, much to her displeasure, and held onto the Gheistpaint in her hand tightly.
'If you really want to side with that mortal scum instead of your real owner, THEN SO BE IT!'
Hellen slammed that powder into Polterkitty's face. Though she tried her hardest to fight it, the irritating particles threw Polterkitty into an awful sneezing fit almost immediately.
'HEY!' Daisy yelled.
Polterkitty sneezed hard enough to weaken herself, just enough for Hellen to escape from her grasp and push her away. Before Daisy could get up and grab her again herself, Hellen high-tailed right out of that room. But not before screaming at our heroes once more.
'THIS ISN'T THE END, LUIGI! I'LL GET YOU AND THAT TRAITOROUS FELINE YET!'
With her gone, the room fell into silence. The only thing that filled the quiet void was Polterkitty's non-stop sneezing. Without Hellen's magic in the room, the paranormal gates trapping Luigi and Gooigi faded away. The first thing Luigi did upon realising he was free was embrace Daisy.
'Daisy, Daisy!' He cried. 'Are you okay?'
She scoffed, and tried to stand back up again. 'Okay? I'm just - OW!'
She was most certainly not okay. The pain in the leg whenever she stood up was unbearable, and caused her to sputter about fifty curse words under her breath to help her deal with it.
Luigi gasped. 'Oh no... your leg might be broken!'
'Broken? Ha! A broken leg never held me - oh god. Oh god!' She seethed. 'Okay, maybe it can.'
'What should I-?'
'You should free your brother. He's right up there. Just... just forget about me, or any of us, for a moment.'
Luigi nodded, and made his way over to the wall that held his brother captive. As he walked across the room, he took a moment to glare at Polterkitty. Now that her sneezing fit was over, she could sense every bit of anger and betrayal in those big blue eyes. She couldn't look at him much longer. Luckily for her, Luigi didn't care to deal with her at this moment.
'Sono io, fratello maggiore...'
He shone his Dark-Light directly up at the portrait, unable to ignore that sickly feeling in his stomach. That ickiness wasn't caused by fear but instead anticipation. Despite how quickly the process was as always, it felt like he was staring up at that painting for hours, waiting for his brother to finally escape.
*THUD*
'M-Mario...?'
The red-clad plumber had completely forgotten about the fall in his joy, and landed on his stomach. He got up in moments, and when his eyes landed on his little brother his heart nearly exploded from the joy.
'WEEGEE!' He cried out in complete and total happiness.
Tears came to Luigi's eyes again, but certainly not sad ones. 'MARIO!'
As far as Mario was aware, the rest of the world didn't exist anymore. He ran across the floor and literally leapt into a massive hug that nearly sent the both of them falling to the floor. Luigi hugged him right back, and held him tighter than he ever had before. Luigi found himself crying into his brother's shoulders, and he could've sworn he heard his brother doing the same. Mario wanted to back out of the embrace so he could talk to his little brother a little easier, but Luigi was having none of that and just hugged him even tighter.
'I-I missed you, big bro... I-I thought I'd lost you for good this time.'
Mario moved his fingers through his brother's hair. 'It's okay, bro. I knew you wouldn't fail me. You never do. I know you too well to think anything else. You would go through hell itself to save me...'
Luigi finally let up on the tight embrace, but only because all his conflicting emotions made his grip weaker. Mario took this opportunity and carefully freed himself from the brotherly hug. Seeing the tears of joy flowing down his cheeks gave Mario the will to keep going which he had lost after getting kidnapped once again. But those injuries... they made him cringe just looking at them. Bandages wrapped around his ankle and shoulder, that paper cut on his cheek... and that was without accounting for all those bruises hidden by his clothes.
'Wow...' He said. 'And judging by those injuries, you really did go through hell to save me.'
Luigi laughed. 'Y-You don't know the half of it. I-I'll tell you the rest of the story later. R-Right now, we have to-'
Mario gasped. 'Oh my gosh... is Daisy okay?'
He ran over to the injured princess, paying no attention to the ghostly animals in the room. Daisy gave him a smile, but he could tell that it pained her to do so.
'I'm just fine.' She lied. 'Well, if you discount literally everything. Namely the possibly broken leg...'
Luigi walked up to them. 'We have to return to the professor's lab at once.'
Polterkitty knelt down by Daisy's side, and the princess climbed on top of her. The Panthergeist looked back to Luigi, shuddering upon seeing that the anger in his eyes had not yet vanished. He remained silent, as if he didn't even want to acknowledge her beyond that death stare even as Daisy cuddled her neck for safety.
'I'll take her back.' She said. 'I did it before, and I can certainly do it again.'
All Luigi did in response was nod. Yes, he wanted to hunt down that Siren and make her properly pay for what she had done, but they had more important priorities at that moment, and they were getting Daisy and his brother to safety.
'... and that's what I had to get through to save you.'
While E. Gadd set up an x-ray device to scan Daisy's leg, Mario and Luigi sat themselves down on the bed as Luigi talked about the entire adventure. He mentioned just about every important detail, from who Gooigi was to how none of the other ghosts wanted to help out their boss. He did leave out a pretty big part about the story though: how he first met Polterkitty and got her on their side, even though he did bring up the translator.
Gooigi stood right next to Luigi, and he was quickly beginning to creep Mario out. Not that he said anything about it - Luigi did explain who he was, after all, even if the explanation was weird as all get-out.
'Wow.' Mario said. 'That sounds just... awful.'
'It was.' Luigi admitted. 'So many times, I thought Daisy and I were going to die. The only thing that kept me going was the promise that I would be able to save you.' He smiled. 'And I did.'
'I expected nothing less. There's just one last thing to explain...'
'What's that?'
Mario pointed to the proverbial elephant in the room - Polterkitty. While Polterpup had joined the Toads in watching the ghosts in the container unit, Polterkitty stared up at Luigi with big eyes. She had been floating around and hopping through walls now that she could do so with ease, thanks to the destruction of that cursed pendant, but now that the joy of it had worn off she remembered what she had done.
Luigi glared at her once more. 'Of course. Her. She's Hellen Gravely's pet. I thought I had won her over during this adventure... but I found out that I didn't.'
Polterkitty cringed, but she was not surprised. She rubbed her cheeks up against his legs, but nothing changed that icy stare.
'What do you want?' He demanded.
She hung her head in shame. 'Luigi... I am sorry. I should never have done that. I-I thought that if I presented you to Ma-... Hellen Gravely, that she would love me again.'
'It worked out really well for you, didn't it?' He sighed. 'I really thought I won you over, Gattina. I thought for sure that you could indeed be good if you just had someone who would actually take care of you. Turned out I was wrong.'
She couldn't take it anymore, and hopped into his lap. Of course, she was far too big to fit, but it didn't stop her from trying. She ended up pressing him against the wall in her attempt to cuddle him.
'I'M SORRY! I thought that Hellen Gravely was the only person who could ever love a monster like me, but you proved me wrong. You proved her wrong. You're the sweetest person I've ever known, Master. Please, when this is all over... take me home with you. I love you, Master.'
Now, Luigi was a lot of things, but unforgiving was not one of them. One look into those begging blue eyes of hers touched his heart, and he simply couldn't stay mad at her. He wrapped his arm around her neck and cuddled her back, causing her to purr like a motor boat.
'I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to forgive you for what you did to me,' He said. 'But I will never hold it against you. Now I get to say this and mean it... welcome to the family, Gattina. Wanna say hi to my big bro?'
Polterkitty directed her begging eyes at Mario. Though the very idea of her being the former pet of the woman who captured him made him feel uneasy, that sweet look in her eyes helped him forget all about it. He stroked her under the chin, and she purred louder than a plane engine.
'You're a carina piccola gattina, aren't ya?' He said. 'That's Italian for 'cute little cat', by the way.' He turned to Luigi. 'So, how do you think the guests are going to feel about a giant ghost panther in the house?'
Luigi chuckled. 'Lucky for them, Polterkitty here is the cuddliest little girl in the world.'
Though she sat still as per E. Gadd's instructions, Daisy could barely do it. All she could think about was the ghost who got away.
'How could that witch do that? To her own pet, no less! Well, not that Polterkitty is her pet anymore, but still.'
'Daisy, you need to sit still for just a few more seconds.' E. Gadd explained.
'Good. Hurry it up already.'
The results of the x-ray scan appeared on one of E. Gadd's screens - after he gave it a good hit or two first - and they weren't exactly pretty ones. The sight of the scan made E. Gadd cringe. Daisy's femur was definitely broken, and slightly displaced to boot.
'Ooh!' E. Gadd exclaimed. 'That would explain a lot. With an impact that powerful, it's a miracle you stayed conscious. Heck, it's a miracle you didn't break anything else!'
Daisy scoffed. 'Great. So it is broken. So what? Broken leg or not, I'm going to help my Luigi take down that witch and-!'
She tried to get up, and the pain instantly sent her back down to the floor. Polterpup rushed to her side and helped her back onto the seat. The princess crossed her arms and pouted.
'I'm sorry Daisy,' E. Gadd said. 'But there's no way you'll be able to keep going. With an injury like that, you'll wait on the side-lines at best. At worst, I hate to say it, but... you may even be a liability.'
'I can't be a liability now! This is the home stretch, and I can't let Luigi take on King Boo by himself! What use will I have if I can't help out when it's most important? I might as well not have come on this stupid vacation!'
Luigi winced - that was the last thing he wanted his princess to be saying. Leaving his brother alone for the first time since he freed him, he walked over to Daisy and put his hands on her shoulders.
'Daisy, listen.' He said. 'You haven't been useless. Not in the slightest. You saved me from the hillbilly twins using a weapon you had no experience with. You freed me from Serpci's hold, even though she was incredibly powerful. You've helped me get through this hell by simply being there and doing so much more. If it wasn't for you, I would be in a portrait by now. I know you've been worrying about how much use you've been this entire adventure, so let me make it clear... I think you've done so much more than I have.'
He gave her a hug, making sure to avoid contact with her broken leg. She returned the gesture with a soft smile.
'Dang it...' She muttered with a giggle. 'I don't like showing this side of myself, but at least I know I can show it in front of you guys. And I'm so glad that I have a man as sweet as you for a boyfriend.'
'So... when are ya going to propose?' Luigi asked, somewhat jokingly.
'Before Mario and Peach do, that's for sure.'
The unlikely couple shared a laugh, ignoring the look that Mario was giving them. His failed attempt at proposing to Peach in the Moon Kingdom had become the Mushroom Kingdom's favourite inside joke ever since, even though Peach had thoroughly explained that she only denied his attempts because he had done so at the worst possible time.
'And besides,' Luigi continued. 'I won't be alone. I've got Gooigi, Polterpup and Polterkitty by my side.'
'And me too, bro.' Mario said as he stood up.
Luigi gave him a worried look. 'Are... are you sure bro? I mean, I just saved you maybe an hour ago. And it's going to be...' He gulped. 'King Boo.'
Mario shuddered at the mere mention of the royal phantom's name, to no one's surprise.
'Because Weegee,' He said, adopting a much more determined tone. 'He's taken Princess Peach up to the rooftop.'
'He's done WHAT?!' Daisy exclaimed.
Mario nodded. 'It was all Hellen's plan. I just know he's waiting for me up there, but... I just can't step out of the battle now. Not when he has my princess. We all know how much King Boo terrifies me, but I will not let him take Peach away from me.'
Luigi looked around the room, focusing on all the little details as he debated this choice. Of course, he didn't want to put his brother in danger, especially right after saving him. Still, he knew how stubborn Mario could be. If Mario wanted to do something, he was gonna do it no matter what anyone else said, and no matter how often it got him into trouble.
With a sigh, Luigi answered. 'Okay, we're gonna do this together. But, I want you to stay by my side no matter what happens. Go with Polterpup or Polterkitty if you have to. Or even Gooigi. The point is, I don't want you to go alone.'
'I'm worried for Mario.' Gooigi said. 'Big bro did so much to save you. I don't want it to be for nothing.'
Mario nodded. 'I promise. It makes me angry just to admit this, but my fears may cripple me too much to fight against King Boo on my own.'
The brothers and their crew did not leave immediately; they stocked themselves up on fried dandelions and a quick bathroom trip before heading out. Luigi couldn't stop feeling uncomfortable with bringing his brother along, but he said nothing. He wondered if his gut was making the right call once again.
As the brothers, with Gooigi and Polterpets following, no one realised the young Mini Hammer following them all the way back up to the fifteenth floor.
Author Notes - You probably noticed that the fight with Ms Gravely herself barely involved Luigi, and had Daisy and Polterpup mostly doing the fighting instead. Let me just say that I did this for a very good reason, and you'll understand that reason once we get to King Boo himself. Who, as you may be able to guess, will not be working alone. Daisy's out of commission to, uh... keep the final boss as simple as possible. Cos there's gonna be a lot of other stuff going on.
I wanted to do more with Hellen Gravely as I realised, intentionally or not, that I was building her up far more than I was King Boo. It got to the point where I was tempted to have King Boo be defeated before her, but then they would take out the whole 'getting vengeance for my brother' thing that we're supposed to end on.
As for what's gonna go down... remember when King Boo said that Boos can only possess the bodies of those absolutely terrified of him?
'I mean, I'm only dating you cos you're the closest I'll get to Mario, so...'
Daisy regretted that joke the moment she said it, but didn't realise just how bad it was until Luigi took it literally. And he did not take it well. What was Daisy thinking? When Mario explained to her that he was on the spectrum, it made her feel even worse. Turned out that Luigi was truly worried that Daisy had feelings for Mario instead, and her little 'joke' only confirmed his fears.
Daisy made it all better, though. How? She admitted that she herself had similar fears, that Luigi was only dating her because she was the closest he would ever get to Peach. Despite how this little incident threatened to break them apart, they ended up closer than ever before afterwards.
