Author Notes - Oh boy, the Garden Suites. Gorgeous atmosphere, rather painful gameplay.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - GOING UP THE BEANSTALK
Daisy couldn't contain her excitement during the entire elevator ride. She couldn't sit still, preferring to run about the elevator cart like a four-year-old high on sugar, while Luigi and Polterpup watched her from the middle of the room.
'Can you believe it?!' She said, prancing around the room. 'We're going up to the garden! The GARDEN! Are you excited? Because I'm excited. Like, really, REALLY excited!'
'I'm excited if you're excited.' Luigi said with a smile.
The elevator dinged, and came to a stop. Daisy emitted high-pitched sounds of joy and charged out through them. Once she ran out into the elevator hall, she quieted down almost completely. She looked around the room, gasping in joyous awe.
'Wow... oh, you have to see this.' She murmured.
Luigi stepped out of the elevator cage quietly, not wanting to disturb her peace. As opposed to the horrid odour of decay of the castle, the aroma of various plants was much nicer. He felt like he had walked into Daisy's own garden.
The hall was noticeably dimmer than those before it, but in a way that relaxed Luigi instead of giving him fear. Two trees grew by the entrance and another in the opposite corner, their shiny leaves falling every few seconds and littering the floor. A stone path could barely be seen underneath the foot-deep grass. Flower pots hung from the ceiling, and little gardens filled with many kinds of flowers rested by the walls.
Polterpup sniffed at one of the little gardens, particularly in the fire-hydrant-red bunch. Once certain it was fine enough territory, he lifted his hindleg up and did his business.
Luigi gasped. 'Polterpup, don't do that!'
Daisy gasped as well, but much more happily. 'Oh, never mind him. Look at this. There's even MORE!'
Like the floor before, the elevator hall had a hallway leading to the left. And Daisy disappeared down it faster than you can say 'hi I'm Daisy!'.
'Ah, Daisy!' Luigi yelled. 'We have to stick together.' He glanced at the dog guarding his territory. 'That includes you, boy.'
The boys ran after the princess, expecting to find her long gone. Instead, she was barely halfway down to the next turn, merely waltzing down quietly and glancing around at the flowers and vines taking over the walls. Paintings had been hung on the wall, but Luigi couldn't tell what they looked like through the sheer amount of greenery growing over them. The only 'path' was simply the grass being a couple inches shorter.
Luigi gulped. He wasn't going to get lost amongst all this green, was he?
Daisy moved her hand through the many leaves, noting the genuine sheen they reflected from Luigi's flashlight.
'They're real...' She muttered, just loud enough for Luigi to hear. 'I can't believe it. How do you grow this many real plants inside a dim hotel?'
'Um... ghost magic?' Luigi guessed.
'Can't argue with that. I gotta find this gardener. If they hate working for Ms Gravely as much as the other guys do, I'll gladly hire them myself. Come on!'
The excited princess ran around the corner, leaving her plumber lost in a sea of green. Unlike Polterpup, whose bright white fur stood out gloriously, Luigi's green and dark blue clothes made him blend into the background.
'Daisy!' He yelled. 'I can't keep up with you with the Poltergust on my back!'
The corner led to another long hallway, which led to another corner, which led to yet another hallway, each no less covered in flora than the last. Luigi and his ghost dog arrived at a set of golden doors, which stood out due to the lack of any plant-life covering it. Even then, the carvings on it resembled invading vines. Daisy waited for him right in front of the doors, dancing on the spot and emitting adorable squealing sounds.
'You ready, sweetie? I'm just waiting for you.'
'Y-Yeah, I think I'm ready.'
'And AWAY we go!'
Once the doors were opened, both mortals squinted from the light that hit their eyes. Once their eyes adjusted, they gaped at the sight.
'Oh... my...'
'Dang...'
'Yip?'
The cramped hallway opened up to the inside of a tower, seemingly tall enough to rival even Tall Tall Mountain or Grumble Volcano. Stairs wrapped around the walls, leading to three great storeys and presumably the guest rooms. Moonlight seeped in through the giant mossy window that took up almost the entire back wall. Stone paths and a couple benches took up most of the bottom floor, but some flowers still managed to break through.
Luigi stared, his eyes constantly moving and scanning for new details.
'H... How?' Daisy gasped. 'This is... there are... how is this here?! It's like the one of the Haunted Towers was just... just... put in here!'
'Arf arf!'
Polterpup brought their attention to a small ceramic stand in the middle of the room. A certain shiny gold object rested upon it.
Luigi's eyes lit up. 'There it is! There's the button!'
He looked left and right, seeing nothing more than greenery. There the button was, up for the taking.
'Careful, Luigi.' Daisy said, putting her hand on his shoulder. 'I smell a trap. All it's missing is a great big neon sign.'
His eyes widened. Though he saw no threats to speak of, he could sense some ghostly aura. Without thinking, he ran over to the button.
'Luigi? What are you doing?' Daisy asked, running after him.
He yanked the button from the stone platform and held it close, bracing for any sort of attack. Nothing seemed to happen.
'I had to grab the button quickly,' He said. 'Before anything ha...'
His voice trailed off when something moved in the corner of his eye. A watering can, seemingly on its own, floated over the ground and watered a spot in the grass. A blue stem sprouted up from that spot, a flytrap-like head at the top opening up.
Daisy cocked an eyebrow. 'Uh... oookay?'
Luigi stared at it, waiting for it to do, well, anything.
'GED OFFA MA LAWN, YEH WHIPPERSNAPPERS!'
'Yah!'
An elderly voice yelled from nowhere and made Luigi flinch. And drop the button. The button bounced off the stand, and straight into the plant's mouth. Its jaws clamped over it tight.
'Luigi!' Daisy yelled, far harsher than she intended to.
The plumber had no time to think about what he just did, as a green ghost materialised and revealed himself to be the one holding the watering can. His human-like appearance made his status as one of the 'grand ghosts' clear. And he did not look happy. Compared to the grand ghosts before, who were mostly young, he was much older than even Chambrea, or Nana from the original mansion. He had to be at least in his eighties, and his long scrawny beard added to his visible age. A small daisy grew out of his woven hat.
The real Daisy smiled. 'Wait, are you the gardener of this place?'
'Yer darn tootin' I am!' The ghost replied. 'Only Dr Ramos Potter coulda grown a garden this impressive. And I don't appreciate tha damage yer causin'!'
'Damage? What damage?'
The ghost pointed at her feet. She lifted her foot up, and saw that she had crushed a petunia.
'Oops.' She said. 'Sorry. I didn't-'
'I suggest yeh ged outta ma garden right this minute!' Dr Potter continued to yell. 'If yeh get yer rear ends out right now, I might be nice ta yeh. Such disregard fer ma flora friends is why I don't let strangers in!'
The gardener ghost glanced to his right, and saw Polterpup marking his territory once again, this time on a lily.
'And that! I don't need no mutt doin' his business on ma flowers!'
Luigi gulped. 'Uh, y-yeah, we can do that. If we could just have that button back...'
Dr Potter looked him over and chuckled. 'Yeh want the button? Alright...'
He sprinkled more water onto the button-snatching plant, and it immediately shot upwards like a beanstalk. Its 'trunk' was thicker than most trees.
'WHOA!'
Daisy tackled Luigi to the ground, throwing them both away from the sprouting stalk and the rubble it left tumbling down in its path. Little stones plinked against her face as the stalk tore through parts of the staircase. It only stopped growing once it practically reached the ceiling, leaving the giant blue beanstalk looking like it was supporting the whole floor. Luigi couldn't even see the top of it.
If only I didn't drop that button...
Dr Potter laughed. 'Have fun geddin' that button now! Ma friends ain't happy wit' yeh messin' wit' their family!'
Daisy growled. 'You kidding me?! Dude, if you just gave us the button we would've just left! That... that doesn't even make sense!'
The old ghost, along with his watering can, vanished into the air, leaving our heroes with the skyscraper of a plant to climb.
Daisy stood up and helped Luigi get onto his feet. 'Well, we could've gotten out of here in two seconds but I guess that old fart thought it'd be funny to make things hard for us.' She sighed, and grinned. 'But we can get through it. I know we can!'
He tried to smile too. 'Yeah. Yeah! We can do it! ... Right?'
'Arf arf!'
Polterpup, who had marked his territory with impunity while the plant had been growing, rejoined the group and sat by Luigi's feet.
'You too, boy.'
'And,' Daisy said. 'If you can, please don't scent-mark anything else.'
Daisy looked up to the very top of the stalk, nearly falling backwards. She put her hands on her hips before she sighed.
'Yeah, no way we're climbing this flora beast.' She said. 'We gotta find another way.'
'We have to climb the stairs.' Luigi said. 'That'll get us up there.'
Daisy huffed. 'Oh great. Did I ever tell you how much I hate stairs?'
'I don't trust them whippersnappers. Did yeh see what that missy did ta ma Penny? She crushed her beneath her foot wit'out a care!'
Dr Potter went into hiding in a bedroom filled with thorny vines, a room chosen due to it being unreachable to mere mortals past the overgrown door. He floated around the room, pacing about as he rambled.
'That missy is heartless. She don't care about our family. We're all innit together, and she mercilessly murders one o' us!'
He stared at a lonely zinnia.
'Why, yes Zeke! Yeh're correct! That green kid is certainly not much bedder. He didn't react to tha cruel killin' at all.'
He turned to a tulip, as if it actually spoke to him.
'What's that, Tully? Yeh doubt he'll make it out o' our garden alive? Oh ho, don't I know it! We're too close ofa family ta let some mortals destroy us all. Isn't that right, my friends?'
He imagined them cheering all as once, celebrating their inevitable victory over the murderous mortals. In reality, only one sound other than Dr Potter's own rambling could be heard: low, vaguely dog-like sounds coming from the corner. In that corner, stood a venus flytrap in a pot. One with scraggy orange skin and glowing yellow eyes. She cheered on her ghostly friend the best way she could.
'O' course ma little Audrey would cheer tha loudest oudda all o' yeh. That's right, sweetie. We will join together and show those mortals what they ged fer messin' wit' tha family!'
'WAH!'
They had only reached the first storey, when a branch from the behemoth plant broke through the floor between the door and a hole in the wall further down. Nothing remained of that section of the walkway except for dust and rubble as the plant extended through it, branching off like it was trying to overgrow the entire wall.
'Oh…' Luigi groaned.
'Don't worry about that, Luigi.' Daisy said, opening the door next to them. 'We'll just go around.'
'If we can...'
The door brought them into one of the several suites on the floor, something not very obvious aside from the bed. Leafy vines and overgrown grass covered most of the bedroom. The ceiling lantern barely emitted any light, and a thick layer of leaves prevented much moonlight at all from shining through the window. All Daisy was focused on were the sizeable buds on tall stems growing on various spots in the room. The mostly-hidden pink petals glowed in the dark, and they emitted little white specks of illuminating pollen.
She approached one of the buds with wide eyes. 'Oh... my... gosh! I never thought I'd see one of these for real!'
Luigi walked up to her, his eyes stinging a little. 'You know what that is?'
'This, sweetie, is the incredibly rare Candentis Rosea, commonly known as the Glowing Hibiscus. I've seen these in pictures and TV shows, and I can't believe there's one in front of me right now!'
Polterpup floated up and sniffed the bud, smiling blissfully from the aroma. Luigi rubbed his watery eyes - why were they watering now?
'See, the Glowing Hibiscus displays bioluminescence.' Daisy explained. 'And it is gorgeous. But they only bloom when exposed to a strong light.'
'A strong light?' Luigi repeated. 'Oh, I bet the Strobulb could do that!'
The unleashed flash consumed the entire plant, and the Glowing Hibiscus soaked it all up. Its petals opened up into a pink star, and its pollen burst into the air.
'EEEEE!' Daisy squealed. 'It looks even prettier in person!' She leaned over and inhaled its aroma. 'Oh... and it has an aroma that I just can't describe! It smells like... a misty forest under the moonlight.'
Luigi really wanted to experience its aroma too, but he was too busy rubbing his itchy eyes.
'You okay there?' Daisy asked.
'Yeah, I'm...' He paused to sniff. 'I'm okay.'
She frowned. 'Aww, you must be allergic to its pollen! You poor thing. Let's get you out of here. The door to the next room is right there.'
'Oh. Sorry.'
'Nah, don't be. Ya can't help what you're allergic to.'
Before our heroes could leave the room, a paranormal gate formed and blocked off the door.
'Seriously?' Daisy said, rolling her eyes. 'This again?'
A Goob popped in through the floor, holding up one of those glowing flowers by the stalk. She inhaled the lovely scent, deeply.
'Ah, you gotta love these glowing things.' She looked at our heroes. 'What are you guys doing here?'
'To bust you!' Daisy yelled. 'Get 'er, sweetie!'
Luigi nodded, and unleashed a strong flash into her face. However the Goob held the flower in front of her as the flash went off. The flower bloomed on cue, spewing its pollen directly into Luigi's face.
'Ah... AHH-CHOOO!'
Daisy gasped. Luigi sneezed a few more times and dropped his flashlight.
'Hey!' The princess yelled at the ghost. 'Stop hiding behind that flower and fight him for real!'
The Goob chuckled. 'If he gets defeated by a flower, I doubt it'd be a fun fight.'
She threw mocking laughter at them, and wouldn't stop laughing at their expense until Polterpup grabbed her flower and tore it to absolute shreds. She held her hands up and backed away from the rabid dog.
'Okay, okay, I surrender.' The Goob said, causally. 'Let's not go crazy here.'
Daisy sighed, and delivered a quick punch to the ghost's face. 'You better. Now get out of here.'
The Goob nodded. 'Yes, yes! Right away!'
She waved our heroes off and disappeared through the door faster than they could blink. Luigi's eyes continued to sting. Despite knowing it wouldn't help, he rubbed them like he was trying to sand them down.
'Speaking of which,' Daisy said. 'Let's get you out of here.'
Luigi still didn't feel right with forcing his princess to leave the glowing flowers behind, but followed her through the door. Away from the sparkly pollen, his eyes began to sooth.
Daisy squealed once again. 'Oh, this place just keeps on getting prettier and prettier!'
Thanks to the tree branches holding up the ceiling, cherry blossom petals fell like snowflakes, blanketing the floor with soft pink piles. Polterpup yipped in joy and belly-flopped into one of the piles. The petals scattered everywhere. With all the blossoms around, you'd be forgiven for not realising the room was a regular bathroom underneath.
Luigi looked up at the falling petals, and sighed blissfully. With all the terror his ghostbusting adventures always brought, it made him appreciate the quieter moments more.
Daisy grabbed a handful of petals and rubbed them against her face. 'I just don't understand it... why bother with the kidnapping? I would absolutely pay to come here.'
She noticed light seeping into the room through a hole in the wall. It clearly wasn't a hole for a door, as it looked more like someone crashed their way through it. She kicked a large pile of cherry blossoms away and looked out.
'Hey Luigi, if we go through here, we'll be able to keep going!'
Daisy, brushing off a few of the petals, ducked through the great hole in the wall. Luigi, followed by a very pink and flowery Polterpup, ran through and smiled at the sight of the rest of the Garden Suites.
'That... that was lucky.' He said.
'If that hole wasn't there,' Daisy cracked her knuckles. 'I would've made one. Let's make a mental note to come back here, and keep going.'
They almost reached the top of that flight of stairs when the floating watering can reappeared, accompanied by Dr Potter's mocking laughter. The very sight of it made Daisy groan.
'Really?' She said. 'Again? Listen Hairy, I've already had enough of you.'
Dr Potter, remaining invisible, laughed again. 'I could say tha same thing to yeh too, yeh whippersnapper. Tha way yer doggy tore right through one o' ma Glowing Hibiscuses was heartless! Yeh're murderers, tha lot of yeh. But if yeh want plant life ta mess wit'...
He sprinkled water on a little fern, that did not remain little for long. Leaf by leaf it grew ten times its size. Then, it grew a pineapple. Not a regular-sized one, mind you, but one big enough to provide a makeshift shelter for all three heroes. The hulking fruit towered over them.
Daisy chuckled very nervously. 'Uh, hehe... a p-pineapple?' She squeaked, her confident persona crumbling at its seams. 'W-What do you expect to do with that? Make a fruit salad or-'
Luigi, for once, took her wrist. 'We gotta run!'
And that's precisely what they did, back down the stairs. The fern 'spat' the giant pineapple into the air, and it slammed back into the ground. Juice splattered everywhere, but the fruit bounced back up. Like a slinky, it made its way downwards. The loud squishy THUD each impact made only got louder each time. Daisy glanced back. Never did she think a pineapple would scare her this much. She took a moment to judge whether or not jumping off was a good idea.
Nope. Absolutely not.
They were approaching the end of the flight. She eyed the path to the right.
'Hang on, sweetie!'
She grabbed Luigi by the Poltergust and threw both him and herself down, out of the way of the tumbling pineapple as it crashed into the wall and shattered into pieces. Luigi breathed heavily, coughing from all the various particles in the air. Daisy winced from the pain in her knees.
'Ooh...' She muttered. 'That could've been a smoother landing...'
Despite the pineapple breaking apart and leaving fruit chunks everywhere, another came tumbling after it. And another. And another.
Daisy stood up. 'How many pineapples are there?! Apparently, that watering can turns tiny ferns into infinite giant pineapple dispensers!'
The chunks began to pile up, before the ones on the bottom dissolved into mulch and disappeared back into the floor.
The princess sighed. 'How did we end up in this mess?'
Luigi glanced away from her. I'm sorry...
'Luigi!'
'Uh, y-yeah?'
'Got any ideas?'
He gulped. Approaching the railing, he peered at the pineapple-generating fern. In spite of its now-magical properties, it looked to be no stronger than a regular fern. If anything, it seemed weaker due to having to expend so much energy into creating gigantic fruits.
'We have to destroy that fern.' He said. 'It's the only way it'll stop.'
'Yeah, I kinda got that.' Daisy said. 'But how do we actually - oh!'
She noticed Polterpup sitting right in the middle of a major impact sight, the pineapples passing right through his ghostly skin. He nibbled at the fruit chunks in front of him.
'Hey Polterpup!'
The spectral hound perked his head at her call.
'You think you could break that fern for us?'
With a cheerful yelp, he got to his paws and pranced up the stairs. The pineapples hit him every time without fail, but none managed to strike him for real.
'I gotta ask.' Daisy said, turning to Luigi. 'You seriously got through two - wait, no, six - mansions by yourself? How did ya do that?'
The plumber shrugged. 'I just did, I guess.'
Polterpup reached the haunted fern, and saw an organic rope-looking-thing resting on the ground. Polterpup yanked this odd rope, and unravelled the entire thing. The leaves opened up and fell to the floor in pieces. No more pineapples came tumbling down.
Daisy threw her fist into the air. 'Yeah! Teamwork!'
'You did it, boy!' Luigi cheered, making his way up the stairs. 'Good boy!'
Polterpup, always ecstatic to receive even the weakest of compliments from his owner, wagged his tail and leapt into Luigi's arms. The man in green hugged him tight like he was a beloved teddy bear, and wouldn't stop babbling about how much of a 'good boy' Polterpup was.
'Please don't tell anyone I did this.' Daisy said. 'But... EEEEE! You and Polterpup are the cutest thing ever!'
As Luigi cuddled his loving pet, a random question managed to sneak its way into his thoughts. I wonder if Polterkitty gets this much love...? Whether he realised it or not, that spectral cat hung in the back of his mind all the time. Little debates over her innocence went on in his brain without him even knowing.
'Uh, Luigi, we have a slight problem.'
Luigi set Polterpup down and joined Daisy on the next flat platform, almost immediately seeing what the 'slight problem' was. A large vine covered in great red thorns had grown over the path and the railing. It, alongside about five other branches, seeped out from a giant hole in the wall.
Daisy knelt down, and inspected the obtrusive vine. 'Yep, just as I thought. I've dealt with one of these before. This is the Thorny Menace. But us gardeners prefer to call it the Plant Equivalent of Stepping on a Lego Brick. If this thing sprouts up, your flowers are doomed. And it's a pain in the butt to get rid of.'
'So, uh, how do you get rid of it?' Luigi asked. 'You know how to, right?'
Daisy stood up, and followed the vine through the hole, stepping slowly to make sure the thorns didn't scratch her. She entered a bathroom, hardly visible due to the vines covering the sink and bath. Not to mention the broken floor tiles. Piles of autumn leaves from the branches above covered more of the floor than the cherry blossoms in the last room did.
Its respective bedroom? Unreachable past the aggressive vines covering the door. Luigi poked his head through the wall, looked around for danger, and walked in as carefully as he could.
'There's only one way to get rid of the Thorny Menace, and that's to kill it at the source.' Daisy said, looking around the room. 'The problem is that the source is nearly impossible to find under all that dirt. In fact, sometimes the source will be buried deep, deep underground. In fact, I once needed to call some excavators to get even close to the-'
She found the source, a green ball of wrapped-up vines, resting perfectly in reach in the toilet bowl.
'Eh.' She said with a shrug. 'That works too.'
She reached for the vine's source.
'What are you doing?' Luigi asked, wincing.
'Er, going for the source. Why do you ask?'
He wrinkled his nose. 'In the toilet?'
'Yeah. That's where it is. Surprisingly this is the third time I've reached into the toilet to pull put some weeds.'
Luigi had many questions, and locked them away into the vault because he wanted to never think of this again. Daisy pulled out the source - which fortunately was dry - and crushed it into a salad in her hands.
'There we go.'
Without its source, that branch of Thorny Menace twitched and jerked until it disintegrated into green dust, disappearing inch by inch.
'The one good thing about the Thorny Menace is that when you finally do find the freaking source, it becomes pathetically easy to get rid off.' She said. 'That should've cleared the way. Come on!'
Luigi nodded, and headed for the way out.
'Wah!'
He jumped back as a set of paranormal gates implanted themselves in front of the hole.
Daisy rolled her eyes. 'This again, huh?'
Luigi shivered, feeling a chill breathing down his neck. His nerves tingled, similar to how they did when he first connected with Gooigi.
Daisy's eyes widened. 'Um, I'm not the paranormal expert here, but... leaves aren't supposed to do that.'
The orange and red leaves moved around like they were in a swirling breeze, despite there being no wind in the room. Polterpup intently watched seemingly nothing.
Luigi gasped. 'It's like the Sneakers... where is it?'
He turned around...
'BOOYA!'
'AHHH!'
A pink ghost with shoulders above his face popped out behind him, reaching his arms up like a theme park zombie.
'Luigi!' Daisy cried.
The pink ghost - a Slinker - floated away, leaving behind afterimages as he dissipated into thin air.
'What's a Sneaker?' Daisy asked. 'And most importantly, should I be worried?'
'Ghosts from Evershade Valley. They were great at hiding themselves. But they sometimes gave themselves away, by water, or dust, or... leaves.'
The leaves swayed like someone moving their invisible hand through them. Polterpup followed the movements perfectly, growling at the unseen foe. Luigi watched the dog hunting for the Slinker, seeing the swirl of the leaves approaching-
'Daisy!' Luigi yelled. 'Look out?'
'For what? The ghost's invisible!'
Something grabbed her arms and pulled them down to her side. Something shook her around. Something stopped her from punching it.
'Hey!' She yelled. 'Get off me, ya ectoplasmic twit!'
'Oh no.' The Slinker whispered in her ear. 'I wouldn't want to do that. I won't get paid otherwise.'
Luigi clenched his fists, and did the only thing he knew to do when angry: yell.
'GET AWAY FROM HER!'
Without giving either the ghost or Daisy any warning, he fully-charged the Strobulb and unleashed the blinding light.
'Gah, Luigi!' Daisy cried, covering her eyes with her hand. 'Warn me before you do that! Wait, I can move my hands now…?'
She turned around, and jumped back with a small yelp. The Slinker stood behind her, totally visible, stunned by the Strobulb.
'Gah, I hate light!' The ghost said. 'I hate it when mortals can see!'
Daisy flashed Luigi a quick wink. 'Thanks sweetie. As for our ghostly pest...'
'Hey!'
Before the Strobulb's effects could wear off, Daisy grabbed his two tails - one in each hand - and flung him into the floor. He broke free of her grasp, and shuffled away with his hands until he once again turned invisible.
Daisy sighed. 'Now you're just stalling out the fight! Shame you forget that my sweetie has the Dark-Light Device.'
'Excuse me, the what now?' The ghost replied. 'If you mortals think that you can beat ghosts with your silly technology...'
Luigi switched the Strobulb over to the Dark-Light Device, and used it to scan the area. Thank goodness it no longer overloaded after overuse. He followed where Polterpup was looking, circling around. Clearly, the Slinker was looking for a weak spot. So, Luigi turned the other way.
The Slinker's transparent skin fell under the light, turning translucent and the same colour of oil on the water's surface.
He gasped. 'What kind of supernatural power is this?'
Luigi just flashed the ghost for a second time. The Poltergust got a grip on one of its tails, and wouldn't let go no matter how much the Slinker panicked.
'No one told me you had such power! No one ever tells me these things...'
The Slinker swung his arms around like a drowning Olympic swimmer, before Luigi got a good enough grip on him to slam him into the floor. Orange leaves scattered everywhere with each bash.
'You're not very nice!'
And that somewhat childish comeback was the last thing that the ghost said before he disappeared into the Poltergust. The leaves settled back on the floor, and the paranormal gate vanished.
The man in green wiped his brow. 'How much more to go?'
Daisy stuck her head through the hole and looked up. 'I'd say we're about half-way up. … Well? What are you doing just standing there? We won't make any progress at all if we just sit here.'
The plumber stepped after her, hoping with all of his heart that the rest of the journey wouldn't be so painful. Part of him knew that he was wrong.
Little did our heroes know, Dr Potter watched over them from the very top of the towering plant. He slammed his fist into one of the giant leaves in frustration.
'Can yeh believe them whippersnappers, Venus?' He spoke to the plant. 'They just keep killin' our family! How can they tear through ma plants tha way they do?'
He watched the mortals making their way up to the next room. Though part of the behemoth stalk ahead would block their progression, forcing another detour, he did not appreciate how quickly they were making progress.
'Them darn whippersnappers...'
Many, many seconds of silence passed. He turned around to the giant flytrap behind him.
'What's that, Venus? Yeh say yeh have a brilliant plan ta stop them, and all yeh need is for me ta sprinkle yeh wit' some water? Oh Venus, I never should o' doubted yeh!'
Our heroes were only halfway up the next flight, when...
'Oh no...' Daisy muttered, slumping her shoulders.
'W-What?'
'The can's back.'
The floating watering can sprinkled a little of the mystical water onto a random spot of the hulking blue stalk. Daisy bent her knees, ready to jump out of the way.
A branch sprouted from the watered spot, and grew out about fifty times faster than even cress grew. The mortals jumped backwards as the branch pierced through the solid wooden staircase, leaving a massive hole between the heroes and the next door. Another branch shot out, breaking even more of the staircase a little higher up.
The watering can vanished, with the sound of Dr Potter's laughter echoing throughout all layers of the overgrown tower.
Luigi choked from the dust that had been thrown into the air. Luckily, the flying floorboards didn't quite hit the mortals. Daisy stepped up to the edge of the broken stairway, trying her hardest not to look down.
'Oooh, yeah...' She said. 'We're not making that. If we had another way around - oh!'
Upon looking at the extended branches, she hatched a brilliant idea. One branch had connected itself to one side of the hole, while the second grew over to the other side. Each grew big leaves, and between the pair was a vine growing down from a higher branch. She walked across the one attached to her side, barely wobbling thanks to its fair width.
Luigi didn't approve so much. 'D-Daisy! What are you doing?'
Daisy stepped onto one of the big leaves, which managed to support her weight with hardly any drooping. Taking a breath, she leapt for the vine.
'Daisy!'
She didn't understand his concern, but greatly appreciated it. The force from her speed propelled the vine forward like a swing. It swung back, and forth. Once she was satisfied with her distance, she let go of the vine and landed firm on the next branch, with only a little bit of toppling. She gave him a determined grin to counter his look of utter horror.
'What are ya looking at me like that for?' Daisy said. 'Come on!'
His eyes darted down, for a millisecond, and still the sheer height made him shiver.
'Um... b-boy?' He said. 'Could you, uh, make sure I'm safe?'
Polterpup barked in affirmation.
'You'll be fine!' Daisy said. 'Didn't you fall off the top of Tall Tall Mountain and only, like, half die or something? And then you swam into the water and got fully healed or... something?'
'The water inside those paintings had weird properties.'
'That's just a technicality.'
Luigi began making his way across the surprisingly sturdy - sturdier than the stairs themselves - branch of the massive plant. He stood by the base of the leaf, needing a few seconds to actually step onto it.
'Take your time, sweetie.' Daisy said. 'But I assure you, it'll hold your weight.'
With a gulp, he stepped onto the leaf. It wobbled under his weight, but otherwise held him well. He sucked the vine up into his Poltergust and, taking a deep breath, jumped. He held onto his 'harness' for dear life, trying to swing his dangling legs back and forth.
Daisy reached out for him. 'I'll catch you! I promise.'
Polterpup floated behind Luigi and pushed him forward, like a parent at the swing-set. The man in green began to get vertigo, and the dizziness only made him feel worse.
'You promise you'll catch me?' He slurred.
'With my life, babe!'
He mentally counted down to letting go. Three... two... one-and-a-half... one-and-a-quarter... oh just let go! And that's what he did, closing his eyes and praying for the best.
Daisy gasped. 'Oh boy!'
She grabbed him by the straps of the Poltergust and tried to rope him in. Luigi's feet finally met solid ground again, and he almost fainted from the relief. He embraced Daisy like a safety pole, hugging her so tight she could barely breathe.
'Am... am I alive?' He asked.
Daisy, carefully and slowly, unhooked his strong cuddle from her body. 'Yes. You are alive.'
Before he could get his bearings, Polterpup came in and gave him all of the doggy kisses. Luigi giggled, and gently pushed him away.
'Okay okay, boy. I'm good.'
Him and Daisy walked across the second branch, and couldn't be more relieved to be on solid ground again. Luigi knelt down and moved his hands through the moss and grass, as if to assure himself that it was real.
Daisy looked back at the branches, and groaned. 'When I get my hands on that Potter, I swear to Grambi...'
Luigi frowned. Don't blame Dr Potter. It wasn't his fault...
'And we have to go through the suites again. Let's hope those Glowing Hibiscuses aren't in the rooms, eh?'
'Uh, y-yeah.'
The next room highly resembled the suite with the glowing flowers - a very similar layout, and the same dim lighting. Except, instead of those pollen-spamming plants, heavy cyan vines grew on the walls and all the furniture. A little workbench with a circular saw resting on it sat in the middle of the room.
The beds and couches looked unusable past the invading pest. And the vines covered up the hardly visible door to the bathroom.
Luigi's arms hung lifelessly. 'Oh no... what do we do now?'
'Now hang on.' Daisy said. 'I think I know what this is.'
She approached the vines covering the door, and looked at them as closely as she could before her vision got blurry. She took note of the subtle purple lines swirling down like spilling paint in a river.
'I've read about this.' She said. 'The Hardy Creeper. Far less annoying than the Thorny Menace. No need to find a source or anything obnoxious like that. You just gotta saw right through it.'
'A saw?'
He walked up to the circular saw resting on the table. It had a Strobulb-sensitive light on it, so of course he gave it a flash. It turned on in an instant, not requiring anything to pull or press. It began to cut right through the wooden boards it lay on.
'Ooh, a mechanical saw is even better!' Daisy said. 'Seems like even Hairy Potter thinks these have grown out of control.'
She picked up the chugging saw, grinning like a horror movie villain. The furniture piqued her interest.
'I'm not the only one tempted to saw right through everything, right?'
'Yes, you are.' Luigi said, stepping away from the saw.
She pouted. 'Fine then. Ruin my fun.' She paused. 'That was a joke, by the way.'
Wielding that saw like a true weapon, she returned to the blocked-off door and lowered the spinning blade into the vines. Though the Hardy Creeper had a tough exterior, the saw cut through them no problem. It passed through the vines like a hot knife through gravy.
'Oh yeah!'
Large roots of the vine fell to the floor as she cut them at the base. She tossed the saw aside perhaps too casually, and dusted off her hands.
'Alrighty! That was easy.'
Luigi shuddered, but he didn't know why. His gut told him something horrible was about to happen. And he wasn't about to ignore it again.
Daisy reached for the door.
'Daisy! Look out!'
She looked at him with an incredulous expression. 'What?'
A wrinkly blue vine smashed through the wall, scattering debris everywhere.
The princess jumped. 'Oh my good lord!'
She didn't even have time to turn around. The vine wrapped itself around her torso like a constrictor, and grasped her so tightly that she could hardly breath.
'DAISY!'
The vine lifted her up and grabbed her even tighter, leaving her legs hanging and her lungs almost entirely empty. She tried to yell out for help, but all that came out was a raspy sigh.
Author Notes - Dr Potter is kind of interesting. When I got to writing him, I went with the typical 'get offa ma lawn' stereotype. Like, his first line of dialogue in the story is literally him yelling 'GED OFFA MA LAWN, YEH WHIPPERSNAPPERS' in all caps. Somehow, I ended up exaggerating the 'really loves his plants' part until he saw his plants as a literal family. Funny how things turn out once you actually get to writing, huh?
