"uoY era detneserp eht eciohc fo noitagujbus ro noilleber. yarP uoy ekam eht tcerroc eciohc." Elline looked down at the other ghosts. "You all keep Maxill away from this thing. Me and Vinny will handle this." They all silently obeyed her order. Despite being tired from her fight with Maxill, Vinny still stood tall. "We will never bow to a beast like you. Not ever again!" Jailer floated there indifferently. "fI uoy era a taerht, uoy tsum eb detanimile. sihT si eht larutan redro." Elline spawned her katana to her side. "Yeah, we really don't care what you think is right. Just back off, and leave us alone." Jailer tilted it's head back. "uoY lliw yebo... rO uoy lliw hsirep." With the mere snap of his fingers, the illusion around them began to change!
The sea of clouds below them morphed into an ocean of bubbling lava, jagged mountains rised up in the distance, creating a circle encompassing the area. And a dark aura flowed out of him, distorting the sky near him to be pitch black, without stars. "Look lively, Vinny. This will be anything but easy." Elline muttered. Jailer then dawned shackles on his fists, using them as brass knuckles. Vinny gulped. Her mother's statement couldn't look any more true.
(The music "You Are All Bad Guys Part 2" from A Hat in Time plays)
Jailer, having command of the chains sunken in his skin like tentacles, reached them out to smack at them from afar. Vinny used her ice powers to freeze any chains in this tunnel of confinement as she raced closer to Jailer, while Elline used her incredible agility, left over from her time as Oni. Not wanting to be put on the defensive, Jailer closed the gap in an instant, and started throwing punches at Vinny. For a complete freak show, Jailer was fast. She successfully evaded his first few jabs, but he ended up hitting her square in the nose! Something that hurt like heck, causing Vinny to wheeze as she resisted the urge to cover it. Seeing this, Elline rushed him from the side. "NO ONE does that to my angel!" She went to town on him with her blade, amazed as he was perfectly blocking her assault with his shackles. "tnepeR." Jailer ordered, as he caved in her arm against her rib cage with his foot. "You little...!" Using the precious seconds of his attack to exploit an opening, she carved her katana clean into the side of his jaw...!
...But to her horror, it didn't appear to hurt him at all. He lazily pulled out the sword, and bent it into nonexistence with his chains. He then winded back to throw in another blow, but Vinny hastily blew her mother out of harms way with a gust of wind. "I'll have a go at this schemin' billdrat!" Captain Vincent shouted, as he rushed in and relentlessly blasted Jailer with his pistol. Vinny flew over to Elline. "Get to safety, mother! We'll take it from here." Elline shook her head. "I won't just stand by while you're in danger. My weapon may be gone, but that doesn't mean I'm helpless." Having no time to argue, the two of them focused back on their main objective. Vincent launched a wave of his doom sharks to gnaw on Jailer, but the monster was able to summon chain chomps on the ends of his shackles, leaving them to ferociously bite into the flying fish, before tossing them away like trash. "sihT lliw ton dnats." Jailer stated, as he used his chains to rip Vincent limb from limb. "Arrr! You eye-offending guttersnipe! Do ye have any idea how long it took to put meself back tegether!?"
Vinny bombarded him with a storm of hail from a distance, till she could spot a weakness. "Why are you doing this!?" Jailer blinked questioningly. As if not understanding the very nature of the question. "yhW? erehT si on yhw. I tsum od siht. tahT si lla." Vinny gritted her teeth. "Well, I 'must' do this too. What do you say to that!?" Jailer didn't have an answer. And probably didn't care either. He was not created to care, he was created to obey his orders. Phantasmagloria then jumped in. "Let me see you dance, boy!" She jeered, as she tosses her literally flaming records at the soulless beast. She managed to chop the chains on his shackles, connecting the chain chomps to him. But reacting fast, Jailer created a slide for them with his chains to send them sliding towards his foes. "Oh, hot pockets! How do you destroy something that was never alive to begin with!?" Vinny created an updraft that blew the sentient balls of metal straight over them and into the lava below, but she was getting dangerously tired. Barely having the energy to float anymore.
Elline picked up her daughter in her arms, to protect her. "I don't think we can beat him, guys! He's too strong! Fall back, while you can!" She shouted, carefully maneuvering the maze of chains, winding and weaving to impede her escape. "tI sraeppa ew tsum tuc ruo sessol." Jailer skulked, as he sent one of his chains straight towards Phantasmagloria. She tried to block with her records, but it barreled straight through them and punctured her through the chest! Hellen Gravely sicked her polterkitty on Jailer to buy them a few precious seconds. Phantasmagloria was just suspended in place by the chain, like a puppet on a string! "What did you do to her, you monster!?" Polterkitty slashed at his face like it was a scratching post, but Jailer ended up impaling it as well with his fell chains. "fI uoy lliw ton timbus, ruoy efil ecrof lliw eb deniard sa a nwod tnemyap." He coldly remarked, without a hint of remorse in his voice. Only now was the grim sense of perspective alluded to by Maxill starting to show itself.
"Please... Stop this madness..." Vinny weakly begged Jailer, in her mother's arms. This must've been a power of his, but even being touched by Jailer was draining her vitality. And though not to the same extent, Elline felt it too. Enahs swooped in and blasted him with a Nintendo zapper. "The game ain't over yet, punk. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!" All the other ghosts then started dog piling onto him, some of them getting chained before even reaching him, and some being lucky enough to start doing some damage. Clem was beating him senseless with a wrench, Chef Saragossa was setting him ablaze, and Amadeus Wolfgeist was playing the trumpet obnoxiously in his ear. But Jailer blasted them all away with a shockwave before chaining them all! And he didn't seem hurt in the slightest! Enahs looked solemnly at Elline and Vinny. "I'll hold him off. You two go somewhere safe." But before he could even get to defending, he got chained as well. Leaving only Elline and Vinny.
Chains wrapped around them, preventing them from getting away. Maybe it was their exposure to him, or perhaps he was speaking more clearly on purpose to convey how serious he was, but Jailer spoke clearly and concisely. "This is your last chance to concede. We would highly recommend you reconsider." He threatened, tightening his grip upon saying 'highly', for emphasis. Elline stared angrily up at him, despite knowing they had little hope left, she still wouldn't give him the luxury of seeing her afraid. "You have no right to exist. You don't feel, you don't think, you are nothing but an empty shell holding onto what little purpose you have." Jailer paused. As if trying to assign entirely logical meaning to her words, and failing. "Irrelevant." A chain came spiraling towards them, with the threat of draining their life force like the others, but something came in the way of it. Someone.
"Maxill!?" Elline shouted, as her husband bravely held back the chain with his bare hands. Vinny looked up, barely even conscious at this point. "Fa...ther...?" Maxill strained, as he tightened his grip with all his might. Jailer merely gazed down at him, disinterestedly. "You too wish to defy? I do not understand." Maxill groaned. "Of course you can't understand, you brute! I made a promise, and I won't allow anyone, not even YOU to break it!" Jailer didn't respond for a full 4 seconds. "Promises are an unwanted variable. Any source of disloyalty cannot be permitted. Initiating deletion." He sent in a swarm of chains, lashing and whipping him like a swarm of angry hornets. And eventually, his grip got too sweaty, and he was chained. Elline then watched in horror as Jailer chained the both of them as well. The last thing they saw being the tunnel of black chains around them. "Threat eliminated. Subduing other targets." He definitely meant Luigi and his friends, completely defenseless without the poltergust...
Black... Black... Blackness...
Nothing, as far as the eye can see...
What had happened...? Was she dead? Like, more-so than she already was...?
No... The fact that she's here at all means she isn't.
But then... Where is she...?
She got up off of the floor, even though she couldn't see any floor. Amazingly, she saw all the other ghosts here, with her. And then, they heard Maxill's voice. "Jailer was a creature created by King Boo to enforce the contract. I wasn't consciously aware of his existence until just now..." His pupils were back. This is the Maxill that they knew and loved. "So what's... gonna happen?" Phantasmagloria asked. Maxill looked at the ground. His posture much more firm. "I don't know how long it will be, before Jailer absorbs us completely. When that happens... it's all over. Everything." Vinny walked up to him. "There has to be something we can do. I'm sure none of us wanna stay here, and just wait to be devoured." Maxill then looked around at everyone. "Perhaps there is."
All of the ghosts formed a circle around him and Vinny. As if all of them already knew what to do. "What's going on?" She asked, wanting to know. Maxill smiled. For the first time in many many years. "We need a champion to stop Jailer. If you can defeat him in time, there's a chance we'll all be saved." It took a moment for Vinny to realize what he meant. "You want... me? I mean, I'm flattered and all, but are you really sure you wanna place the fate of your lives in me?" Elline laughed. "There's no one else better fit for the job, dear. After all, you got past all of us." Vinny looked shyly to the side. "Well yeah, but I had some help along the way." Everyone looked at her with a giddy expression to show their confidence in her. Vinny sighed. "Okay... I'll do it. Just don't place your expectations too high." The other ghosts then started pooling their power into Vinny. A blue aura forming around her, and glowing brighter the more strength she received.
And then Vinny saw a white butterfly touch the blue gem in her hat, and the faze into it. Looking back at her father, she saw he was now dressed as Hawkmoth. "Daydream. I gift unto you the power to end this nightmare once and for all. Do you accept?" Vinny chuckled, and started smiling. "...I do." And then, the world faded to white...
Meanwhile, out in the illusion...
Jailer was closing in on Luigi and his friends. His slow pace showing he didn't feel threatened by them at all. "For meddling in our affairs, your lives shall be taken as well, as compensation. You have no case to plead." Everyone was backed up against a wall, with no hope of escape. "Please tell me you have some way to get us out of this mess, professor." Daisy said. E. Gadd didn't look much more confident than her. "I'm not even sure if he's a ghost. This is out of my field." He replied. Jailer did not smile. Because he could not smile. Joy, anger, sadness, these and more were all beyond him. He was not made with emotions, and hence could not feel them. "We thank you for your cooperation." He stated, as he sent in some chains to drain them like he did the ghosts, but a bright light came in from out of nowhere, obscuring his view. A slashing sound was heard, and he pulled back his chains. They were shorter now. Something cut them! When the light faded, he saw something he could barely comprehend.
It looked like Vinny, but she appeared to be made up of the northern lights themselves! Beautiful greens, blues, and even pinks swirling around in her body. She also had angelic wings, also made of light. Her wardrobe consisted of knight-like armor, and a circlet on her head, both matching the colors that made up her form. And in her hand was a rapier, with a blade of blue and purple light. "What is this... interference?" The heavenly being stood protectively in front of Luigi and co. Peach looked at the radiant sight before her. "Wait... is that... Vinny!?" It was Vinny's mind. But this being went by a different name: and that name was Daydream.
(The song "Worlds Collide" from League of Legends plays)
Daydream opened her eyes to her opponent. "What I am is the hopes and dreams of everyone in this hotel. What I am is everything your creator tried to crush. This is our home. This is our family. AND YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!" Jailer scoffed. "Unimportant. You shall submit. Or you shall fall. That is the way it must be." Daydream swung her blade at the air, creating a force powerful enough to blow Jailer back a quarter of a mile! "I'll show you how flimsy your rationale truly is." In the distance, the sun started rising, creating that beautiful sky where the sun is out, but the stars haven't gone away yet. Daydream then zipped into the sky, after Jailer. With the intent of ending his reign of terror. Jailer sent his chains out to destroy her once more, but Daydream effortlessly sliced through them, not even looking in their direction as she flew swiftly through the morning sky.
Upon reaching Jailer, she slam dunked the top of his head with her fists, sending him spiraling towards the crackling lava below. Jailer managed to stop himself just before he got fried, but Daydream hadn't even begun to get angry. She swung at the air with her rapier, creating a sword beam sprinting towards him with incredible speed. Scurrying out of the way, he began flying up to regain his footing in the fight, failing to see the sword beam's immense force slamming into the molten sea and splashing lava up into the heavens. By the time he saw the tsunami of magma rising up to engulf him, he was buried in it. And yet, he flew out of it. This time however, his shocked and appalled expression showed that it actually hurt him. "I cannot grasp your power. So you must be destroyed. This is what my role entails." He told her, as he shot a giant ball of fire into the air, causing it to break apart and come raining back down in a meteor storm. "I hope you've enjoyed taking orders. Because that's all your pitiful existence will have meant." She taunted, as she swerved through the storm of flames.
The two raced towards each other, and when they connected, sword to shackle, the impact birthed a loud crash comparable to a clap of thunder! Blow for blow, shot for shot, Jailer was starting to see how outmatched he was, and thus decided he needed to scheme his way to victory. He caught her sword with his hands. Knowing he wouldn't be able to hold it there for long, he launched every chain attached to his body towards her chest to drain her, but upon contact, each and every one of them shattered like a glass vase hitting the floor. His effort being for nothing, his grip on Daydream's sword slipped, and sliced right into his lower thigh. Howling like a dying animal, Jailer headbutted her to knock her off him. And though he was successful, the sword being pulled out of him in the process, he had a bad feeling she was playing along for her amusement.
He clutched his injury, and looked at her in pure disbelief. "Why do you resist...? I do not understand..." Daydream placed her hands on her hips. "If you really need to ask me that, an answer isn't gonna help you in the slightest." Jailer clenched his fists. All he needed was one clean hit. "You... MUST BE... destroyed!" He charged at her like a starved lion, and landed a punch straight on the nose. But his shackle shattered, and he reeled back in pain. Clutching his fist, feeling like he just punched a tree. "I don't know if there's gonna be an afterlife for you. But if there is, don't do me the displeasure of having to see your garbage heap of a face again." Jailer's brain felt like it was imploding on itself. He was simply incapable of getting a hold on anything about her. Her beliefs, her power, anything! And he couldn't allow unknowns in his task. He ran at her one final time, attempting to affect her in some way, any way! But Daydream calmly leapt over him, slicing him clean in half as she vaulted over him, and blasting him to kingdom come with a laser of light.
Jailer spent his last few seconds, watching his body burning away in the light. All the while he still could not compute Daydream to any capacity. His final words, were much a poem about his look on life itself. "I... do not... under... ssssssssssss..." And it was over. Jailer was dead. The contract. The curse had been broken. The illusion faded to nothing, as all of the ghosts claimed by Jailer faded back into existence. And Daydream's form dissipated back into that of Vinny. It appeared that in all the chaos unfolding in the illusion, the ceiling, and most of the walls of floor 15 had been completely obliterated. But that didn't matter. Everyone was free, at long last. And the sun was rising, just as it was in the illusion. The stars fading out of sight. Maxill knelt down, and picked her up in his arms. His smile as bright as the rising sun. "Thank you so much, Vinny... for not giving up on me. Even when I gave up on myself." Vinny hugged him. "That's what family does, isn't it? Well, what ours does, anyway." And after all this was over, there was one last person who needed saving.
Luigi propped up Mario's painting against what was left of Maxill's desk, and used the dark light in his flashlight to set him free. Now out of his painted prison, Mario embraced his brother, and the whole group expressed how happy they were to see him. "So Luigi, how did you survive that tumble out the window?" Vinny asked. Luigi explained that before he hit the ground, Gooigi used his body to break Luigi's fall. Sacrificing himself to save him. It was ironic. Both Jailer, and Gooigi gave themselves doing what they were made to do. And yet, Gooigi's purpose was a noble one. Making all the difference. Maybe E. Gadd would remake him one day. After filling Mario in on a brief summary of everything that happened, Vinny and her family said their goodbyes to their new friends. "Will we ever see you again?" Peach asked. Elline shook her head. "Probably not. Now that our spirits are free from the contract, we're all moving on from the mortal world." Luigi actually felt kinda sad, seeing a partner he'd been through so much with leaving.
Vinny smiled cheerfully. "Don't worry, guys. I mean, yeah. We are parting ways. But we'll always have the happy memories we shared. Even if some of those memories involved robot alligators in sewers." Maxill nodded in agreement. "This hotel was the dream of my family for centuries... but now it's time to form a new dream to strive for. And right now, my only dream is being with the people I love." Daisy dawned a sad smile. "Well... I guess this is goodbye, then." Vinny walked over and held Luigi's hand. "Our era may be over. But yours is still beginning. Take that time to make yourself happy for me, okay?" Luigi nodded. Putting on a brave face for her. Vinny then walked over to her parents, looking back one last time. "Until next time..." and with that, she joined them. Every single ghost present, all vanishing in a flash of light. Finally able to rest after all these years.
Vinny had entrusted her childhood drawing to Luigi. Something he would go on to frame at his house. As the crew descended down the elevator, each of the floors they passed disappeared. Giving the space back to Mother Nature. Once at the bottom, they exited through the front doors and saw the shuttle bus they came here in, waiting for them. They collected their luggage, and hopped on. It was lucky that E. Gadd had the foresight to call the bus back here a few hours ago. And as Luigi found his seat again, waiting for the bus to start, Polterpup came in through the window and happily barked at him, while wagging his tail. Yeesh, Luigi had almost completely forgot about him over the course of his journey. As they drove away, back through the lush green landscape, the last of the hotel had faded away. An empty space, ready for someone else to build something on one day.
As he sunk into his seat, and enjoyed the satisfaction of a job well done, E. Gadd came over and took a seat next to him. "Another stellar ghost hunting job, eh Luigi? And boy, this one really made me think about the emotional capacity of ghosts." He placed a hand on his chin. "I'll have to look into that subject more, when I get back to Evershade Valley." He then jumped in his seat, as if remembering something. "Oh! And I almost forgot amongst all the craziness." He took a piece of paper out of his suitcase, and handed it to Luigi. Luigi took it, and read what it was. He was dumbfounded by what he read. It wasn't some congratulatory letter, or some new blueprint for an upgrade to the poltergust...
It was the bill, for E. Gadd's car.
(The song "Live Life" from Sonic and the Black Knight plays)
(And there you have it, folks! I hope the ending was up to your expectations. Now that this story is neat and tidied away, I can safely say this is one of the best stories I've ever written. But that's not to say, I shouldn't aim as high in the future. Now that we're done, and no stone is left unturned, I wanna ask you guys for your opinion: what did you like best about this story? A favorite chapter, favorite character, favorite moment, maybe all three, doesn't matter. I wanna know what you guys thought. So until next time, this has been Blueshade Seraphim, and we thank you for checking in.)