The front door to the mansion creaked open on its rusted hinges, followed by a puff of dust as the house's seal was finally broken, fresh air sweeping into the house to replace the stale. It was as if no one had used that door for decades, and had simply let it to rot - though, the inside of the mansion didn't look much better.
Inside stood what must have once been a grand foyer that took up half of the house and stretched all the way up to the third floor of the manor. 'Grand' was the last word any of them would use to describe the place now, however, as it was now desolate and barren. Other than a staircase that led up to the second floor, all that was there were a few decrepit pillars, a green couch whose springs had begun bursting through the cushions, a small, wooden desk with a sign-in book, and a lonely bookshelf pressed up against the far wall. Mario could tell that the floorboards were once painted blue, but by now they were so covered in dust and other grey filth that it was almost impossible to notice. The wallpaper was already grey, however, so it didn't look too much worse for wear, even if it was peeling. Though, there may have been some water damage…
What surprised the group the most, however, was how well-lit the mansion was. They had expected the place to be almost pitch black, or that whatever lights there were would go out the instant they closed the front door behind them, but instead they could see everything perfectly thanks to the light emanating from the bulbs on the chandelier hanging above their heads.
It was the complete opposite of what they were expecting. And yet…
"Brr… did any of you guys just get the chills?" Koopie asked, shivering.
"Yeah… and not the good kind, either," said Bombette, rubbing her arms for warmth.
"Well, we're technically in a haunted house, so we better get used to it," Goommaria said as she walked over to the sign-in book. "So… think we should sign this?"
"I don't know… what if it's one of those books where, if you write someone's name in it, they die!?" Koopie asked frightfully.
"Oh please, those can't be real… right?" asked Goommaria, pen in hand.
The book's pages suddenly began to flip and rattle as a deep laugh emanated from deep inside its spine.
"Gah!" Goommaria gasped she slammed the book shut. "Nevermind… I think I had a cramp in my hand anyways."
"Bark bark!" Chompy barked approvingly.
"So, Shaid said we have to get to the top floor so we can meet her 'master', right?" asked Mario. "Well… as far as I can tell, the stairs don't actually reach the third floor landing for some reason, so we should probably take a look around for a way up there."
"Good idea," Goommaria agreed. "Anything to get us away from this book…"
There wasn't much to explore on the first floor of the building besides a single, solitary door on the far wall, so the group naturally went there first.
"Be careful, everyone," Goommaria said as she put her hand on the doorknob. "They're called 'Boos' for a reason - chances are there's one on the other side just waiting to jump out and scare us."
"Ooooh, why did you have to tell me that?" Koopie moaned. "Now it's going to scare me even worse!"
"Sorry!" Goommaria quickly apologized before slowly creaking the door open - only for there to be no Boo on the other side waiting for them. "Huh, guess I was wrong."
"Darn it… now the anticipation is going to be killing me!" Koopie groaned. "Now I'm going to be walking around waiting for something to scare me until something finally does… please, someone just get it over with!"
"Bleh!" A voice suddenly called out behind them as they each felt a long, cold tongue drag against the backs of their necks.
"Eeeeeep!" Koopie squealed as she ducked into her shell and all her friends simultaneously jumped. "I… I don't know whether I should thank you… or punch you…"
"Bleheheh… you're welcome~" a Boo woman laughed as she floated above the ground. The ghostly woman resembled Shaid in several ways in that both her skin and her hair were both bone-white, but that was where the direct comparisons ended. Unlike the ghostly maid, this Boo's hair was much longer and unkempt, and likely would have swayed in the breeze if the air could have touched her. Also, unlike the restrained and demure expressions of Shaid, this Boo had a constant smile on her face that showed off the sharp fangs that Shaid had kept well-hidden. She was wearing a white sundress whose skirt seemed to conceal whether or not she had legs - though it didn't seem to make much effort in concealing her breasts at all.
"Well? Aren't you going to come inside?" the Boo asked teasingly as she floated through Mario and into the room - causing him to have another involuntary shiver in the process.
"Uh… sure," Mario said before following in behind her. The inside of the room was similarly desolate to the foyer, with nothing but a poorly boarded-up floor, a lone rocking chair, a large vase lying on the floor, and some rotting boxes. "So, do you live here?"
"No, I haunt here," the Boo replied as she 'sat' on the rocking chair, though her rear didn't actually touch the seat. "There's a difference."
"Uh, yeah, sure," Goommaria said somewhat uncomfortably. "Could you help us out a little? We're trying to get to the third floor and there doesn't seem to be any stairs in the foyer that reach that high."
"Oh, that's because there aren't any," the Boo woman replied. "They collapsed a while ago, but we didn't bother getting them fixed since none of us have to walk."
"Well… that doesn't really solve our problem since we're all firmly grounded," Bombette pointed out.
"Oh, I know that," the ghostly girl said, somehow rocking her chair without even moving. "You're not supposed to make it up there normally! That would be way too boring!"
"What? Well, how are we supposed to get up there then?" Mario asked in confusion.
"Easy - all you have to do is pass each of Lady Bow's special 'tests'," she explained with a wink.
"Tests? What tests?" asked Mario. "Do I need to use Boo substitution to pass them?"
"No no, nothing like that!" the Boo cackled at that, each laugh giving the group a good look at her fangs. "You just need to prove that you have all the qualities that Lady Bow wants in a worker, and you'll find your way up to her chambers in no time at all."
"Oh, so this is some kind of weird job interview?" asked Goommaria.
"Kinda - let's just say that Lady Bow doesn't let just anyone work for her," the ghost girl continued. "Each room in the mansion has a test you need to pass, and if you pass them all, you'll be able to get up to the third floor in no-time flat!"
"And let me guess… a lot of those tests are going to involve having sex, aren't they?" Mario asked with a heavy sigh.
"Heheh… I never said that…" the Boo replied, her grin widening even more as her eyes glanced down towards Mario's groin.
"I think I already know where this is going," Mario said as he began taking off his overalls.
"Wait, Mario, what are you doing?!" Koopie gasped in shock. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to!"
"Don't worry, it's fine!" Mario tried to assure her. "I don't really mind, and I have you guys here in case something goes wrong."
"If you say so… just, don't trust her, okay?" Goommaria asked as Mario removed the last of his clothes - aside from his hat, of course.
"Hehehe… you certainly are eager, aren't you?" the Boo asked as she reached out and flicked Mario's already hard cock with her finger. "That lick I gave you must have scared you stiff~"
Mario blushed but didn't say anything, instead simply standing there as the pale woman began to stroke his dick with hands as soft as air.
"Aw, what's the matter? Are you too scared to talk?" the Boo asked teasingly while she used her spare hand to move her hair away from her face. "It's because of my teeth, isn't it? You're afraid that I might sink them into your delicious dick here, aren't you?"
"N-no!" Mario replied, shivering in spite of how much he tried to hide how scared he was. "I know you wouldn't do that."
"Oh yeah?" she asked before moving her mouth forward and biting down with her fangs.
"Yeaaaaaaaoooh, wait," Mario said, cutting off his own scream. "That doesn't actually hurt at all."
"Heheh, phased them right through the skin~" the Boo teased as she stuck her long, slick tongue out and began to rub it along the length of his cock - and this time, he really did feel it. "Don't worry, I promise I won't hurt your adorable little ego here… but only if you stay fun~"
Mario gulped loudly as the Boo took his rod deeper into her mouth, filling his mind with nervous pleasure. He could feel her tongue try to swirl around his dick as she thrusted her head back and forth, but she clearly didn't have that much control over the thing. Instead of dexterously attacking every sensitive spot on his cock, she was instead mostly just shoving his cock against her tongue on the way to her throat. This ended up absolutely drenching Mario's throbbing prick with her drool, which dripped as she furiously increased her pace. The desolate room was soon filled with the sounds of her lips slapping against Mario's groin and her copious spit sloshing around her mouth.
"Mmm… not bad, not bad…" the Boo said as she finally pulled her mouth off his sopping, saliva-strewn sausage. "You taste as good as you look, and you even last more than a minute! The last boy who was here finished before I even touched him!"
"Well, men do sometimes finish early if they're nervous, so I wouldn't be too hard on that guy," Goommaria pointed out.
"Well, it was pretty fun to see him squeal like that, but I personally like it when they last a bit longer~" the Boo said before giving the tip of his cock another sloppy lick. "Because now… we can get to the really fun part! So go on… take a seat!"
"Uh… alright, if you say so," Mario said before sitting down onto the ghost-girl's lap and passing right through it to the rocking chair on the other side. "Brrr… still not used to that chill."
"Aww, what's the matter? Does the baby need his blanky?" the Boo teased before she pulled up her dress and revealed that she did indeed have legs. "No? Good, because we're about to get so hot, you'll miss the cold~"
Mario let out a small gasp as he felt his shaft suddenly pressed in between the Boo's bare thighs, her soft skin caressing its sides as she slowly moved her legs up and own.
"Heheh… you can feel it, can't you?" the Boo asked, glancing back at Mario as her legs kept moving. "That I'm slowly moving your cock closer and closer to my pussy… you can't see it, but it's going to reach it any second now…"
"Yeah… I can feel it... " Mario confirmed, his voice raspy as he imagined his dick lying right outside the entrance to her dripping cunt.
"Yep… any… sec- boo!" she suddenly shouted as she shoved herself onto Mario's length, her wet snatch clamping down so hard it felt like she was trying to strangle his prick. "Ahahaha! The look on your face! So priceless!"
All Mario could do to reply was gasp as he struggled to adjust to the new sensations overwhelming his cock. Her folds were constantly squeezing and pulsing around his prick as her wetness slowly dripped down his prick and pooled on the rocking chair below them, joining the puddle of spit that was already there.
"Oooh, I'm impressed once again! Almost every man cums when I give them a pussy surprise~" she said as she ground herself from side to side, forcing his prick to press even harder against her walls. "It's a shame Lady Bow already has her eyes set on you, or I would have kept you for myself."
"But, you won't, right?" Bombette asked as she cracked her knuckles and jiggled her tits.
"Yeah yeah, don't get your bra in a bunch," the Boo said before finally thrusting up and down. "I'll let your stiff go… but only once he's not stiff anymore~"
Mario simply stayed silent as the white-haired woman rode his dick as hard as she could. Even though she seemed to be a ghost, the Boo's pussy was very much alive, and tried its best to milk every single drop out of him that it could. The rocking chair, predictably, rocked every time the Boo girl thrusted downwards, which forced Mario's hips to thrust upwards the second after she moved away. It didn't take her long to learn the timing well enough that she would thrust down the instant his hips were thrust up, allowing her to bury his cock even deeper into her grasping snatch with every rock.
"And you do an excellent job of digging up my graveyard, too!" the Boo complimented, her hands firmly clasped onto Mario's arms to give her better leverage to fuck him. "You know what? For doing such a good job, I think I'm going to give you a little reward~"
The Boo thrust her sexy body a few more times before she slowly began to fade away into nothingness. She was definitely still there, as evidenced by the slapping sounds and the warm sensations around Mario's prick, but as far as Mario and his friends could see, the only thing touching his dick at the moment was air.
Even without the sight of a beautiful girl bouncing up and down his cock, however, the feeling of her snug snatch milking him for all he was worth was still enough to send him over the edge. After only a few more rocks, Mario felt himself start to unload into the invisible girl on his lap - but, much to his shock, his sperm didn't turn invisible with her. Instead, he was able to watch his cum as it sprayed into her womb and coated the walls of her squirming pussy.
"Well? How's that?" Mario heard her ask as she teasingly moved her hips from side to side and his sperm sloshed around in her womb. "You actually get to see your little ghosts knock me up from the inside! How many times do you get the chance to see that?"
"Not many, I'll admit," Mario said, shaking as the Boo reappeared and lifted herself off Mario's shaft. "So… I passed the test, right?"
"Test?" she asked, letting the skirt of her dress fall back down and obscure her legs. "What test?"
"What!?" Mario and his friends all gasped at once.
"Hey, that's no fair!" Koopie complained. "You promised that Mario-"
"If I recall correctly, I didn't promise anything," the Boo woman swiftly interrupted. "There is indeed a test in this room for you to try and pass… but fucking me isn't going to help, no matter how well you do it~"
"Drat… that's what I get for jumping to conclusions…" Mario said as a Boo from behind him held up a sign that had a picture of a sucker, but quickly vanished upon being seen.
"Bleheheh… don't worry, I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually," the Boo replied as she slowly floated up through the ceiling. "Even stopped clocks like you are right at least twice a day…"
"Well… at least she didn't attack us," Goommaria said, trying to look the bright side. "That's something, right?"
"Maybe, but that's kind of a sad standard to have for 'things going well' if you ask me," Bombette replied, crossing her arms. "So, if that wasn't the 'test' you were supposed to pass, what was it then?"
"I'm not really sure," Mario admitted as he looked around the room again. "There's not much else here besides the weird floorboards and the boxes".
"Well, maybe the test is in here?" Koopie suggested as she walked over to the large vase and rummaged through it. "What the… a blue and-purple-striped sweater? What's this doing here?"
"It smells like… spaghetti," Goommaria said after giving it a few sniffs. "Did this used to belong to you, Mario?"
"Ha ha," the Italian laughed sarcastically as he took the shirt. "Hmm… it seems to be my size."
Mario decided to try it on and was instantly greeted by a strange ethereal voice filling the room.
"After putting on the shirt, you can tell that something is different from the ordinary. As though there's something strange in the air. A chill wind, perhaps? The scent of a decrepit mansion?" the voice said.
"Uh, actually, I'm pretty sure it's the fact that I suddenly have narrator," Mario responded.
"You decided to ignore the beautiful voice for now, and instead observed your surroundings more closely," the voice continued over Mario's annoyed objections. "Loose floorboards… musty boxes… all of them could likely be broken with the right tool… perhaps you could look elsewhere for something that might help?"
"Ahah!" Bombette said triumphantly as she lifted one of the boxes up and found a Boo wearing headphones hiding on the other side. "There you are!"
"The narrator sticks her tongue out and decides that, if you're not going to play along, she might as well leave," the new Boo said, doing exactly as she described before slowly disappearing.
"Why do I get a feeling they're only going to get worse from here?" Bombette asked herself.
"Well, Boos are kind of notorious for messing with people," Goommaria replied. "At best it's just playful joking, but at worst they can be real bullies."
"I guess that'll happen when you can avoid consequences as easily as they can. But, if they know anything about the missing Star Spirits, we'll have to play along with their games for now. " Mario said to himself, taking his sweater back off and tossing it aside. "Come on, let's keep exploring the mansion."
"If you say so…" Koopie said as she followed him out. "Someone stand behind me so no one can sneak up on me again, okay?"
"Bark bark!" Chompy barked loyally behind her.
With nowhere else to explore on the ground floor, Mario and his friends made their way up the rickety stairs to the second floor, each step carefully taken to make sure to avoid any unnecessary splinters and unwanted sudden trips back to the first floor. Much to their surprise and delight, however, everything held the whole climb up - even if the creaking made it sound like it didn't want to.
Once they were safe on the second floor landing, they got a good look around. Similar to the first floor, there wasn't much to look at except for two old wooden doors and some old paintings lining the walls.
"Hmm… somehow, these flowers make this place even creepier," Goommaria said as she passed what used to be a bright and happy picture of a bouquet, though now it had long turned grey and faded. "Hey… how come that frame at the end is just empty?"
"Maybe they wanted to do some redecorating?" Koopie suggested as they walked over to it.
"Well, something like that," the picture frame replied, suddenly shaking.
"Gah!" Koopie gasped in shock, jumping back a little. "Darn… I can't even trust inanimate objects here…"
"Actually, I'm anything but inanimate," the picture frame countered, still shaking. "But I didn't mean to scare you, believe it or not. Frightening strangers is more of my friends' thing than my own."
"Oh… sorry for insulting you, then…" Koopie said apologetically.
"It's quite alright," the frame replied. "I understand that it's hard for normal people to not to be on edge in here. I've heard more than a few wild screams ring out from below over the years - including just a few minutes ago, if I'm correct."
Koopie blushed and turned away that, obviously feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Uh, yeah, anyways…" Goommaria quickly jumped in, changing the the subject. "Why is your painting missing from your frame anyways?"
"Oh, that's because Lady Bow took it out," the voice from the picture frame explained. "You see, I can open up a portal that can take you all the way to the third floor, but I can't as long as my picture is missing. You find my picture, and you get to meet Lady Bow."
"That's it?" Mario asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep, that's it," the frame replied. "Of course, you'll still have to find the picture, and Lady Bow made sure to make that interesting for all of you."
"Of course… her 'tests'," said Goommaria. "I suppose we should keep looking through the rooms then, huh?"
"I guess so," Mario said before opening the first door and walking into another derelict room. This one had a group of armoires lined up against the left wall, a bed frame without a mattress on the right, and a set of windows overlooking the weed-wrapped backyard in the back.
"Hmm… no tests in sight here, either," Goommaria said curiously as they walked into the room.
"Say… do you think any of the Boos actually sleep in this bed?" Koopie asked as she examined the old bedframe.
"Boos don't sleep in beds; they sleep over them," Goommaria explained. "No mattress needed."
"Unless, of course, there's a cute boy over, I'm guessing," Bombette added as she opened up one of the windows. "Find anything yet, guys?"
"Not yet," Mario replied as he headed over the center armoire. "Let me check in-mmmph!"
Mario didn't have time to finish his sentence as he opened the doors of the armoire and a big, curvy Boo woman flopped out of the cupboard and crushed him beneath her heavy body.
"Ooops~" she said playfully as she smothered Mario's face with her massive tits that were barely contained by her skimpy dress. "Did I do that?"
"What the heck?" Goommaria gasped as she turned around. "An Atomic Boo! You girls get off our friend right this instant!"
"Are you sure about that?" the Atomic Boo replied, rubbing her panty-clad groin against the bulge in Mario's overalls. "I think he likes it~"
"Don't make me go off on you," Bombette threatened as her fuse began to burn.
"Oh fine, fine…" the Atomic Boo said as she suddenly became weightless and floated up off the man who was crushed beneath her breasts. "I was going to have to split anyways…"
Mario expected her to 'split' by disappearing or phasing through a wall like the others had, but instead, she disappeared in a burst of smoke; and when the smoke cleared, there were seven Boos with identical white dresses and hairstyles floating where the Atomic Boo once was.
"So, you finally decided to show up," their leader said as she floated up to Mario. "It's rude to keep a lady waiting, you know! Especially if that lady is Lady Bow~"
"Sorry, but this place isn't exactly easy to find," Mario explained as he picked himself up. "We're more than willing to do your Lady's tests now - as soon as we can find one, that is."
"Well then, look no further~" the lead Boo said as she took a record out from behind her back. "Your test for this room is simple - take this record from us, and you're good to go!"
"A record?" Koopie asked in confusion. "Why do we need that?"
"Oh, you don't need it, but a friend of ours in the next room would certainly like it, if you know what I mean~" she said with a wink. "But, before you can do that… you're going to have to take it from us."
The Boos quickly began to spread out, flying through the air and forming a circle that spun around the center of the room. Then, the Boo holding the vinyl record tossed the disk into the air and it fell down in between the breasts of one of the other Boos, hiding it from sight. Mario tried to keep his eye on the Boo who had hidden the record, but they promptly sped up their spinning now that the prize was hidden, and he promptly lost track of her.
"Alright… get to hunting!" one of the Boos announced as they finally came to a stop. "Oh, and no outside help! This test is for Mario and Mario alone!"
"Don't worry, we'll still be here to help in case something goes wrong," Koopie said, placing a reassuring hand on Mario's shoulder. "I'm sure you can do this, though."
"Right…" Mario said before taking a deep breath and stepping forward.
The Boos were frustratingly difficult to tell apart, but Mario could see there were subtle differences between them. Some moved slightly faster, some wiggled their rears a bit more while they flew, and one or two had some distinct laughs. No matter how hard he tried, however, Mario couldn't remember which one it was who had the record.
"Well? Are you going to just stare at us or something?" one of the Boos giggled. "I'd tell you to take a picture, but we aren't exactly the photogenic type."
"Alright, alright," Mario said as he approached one of the Boos. "Here I go…"
The Boo smiled devilishly as Mario reached into her silky dress and shoved his arms in between her soft, plump tits. The ghost woman couldn't help but giggle as he rummaged around her bosom, shaking her tits from side to side as he searched.
"Hmm… doesn't seem to be there," Mario said before pulling his arm back out.
"Are you sure? Maybe you should check again~" the Boo said before shaking her bosom at Mario once again.
The plumber just ignored her, however, and moved onto the next girl who was more than eager to stretch out the hem of her dress and give him direct access to her ample chest.
Mario didn't want to waste time, so he shoved his hand right in and once again found nothing - other than more bulbous breasts, soft skin, and…
"Is that… a belly button piercing?" Mario asked her curiously, his hand way past her breasts at this point.
"No, we don't peirce - we phase," the Boo corrected. "Go a little lower and you can feel what I've phased through my clit as well~"
"Uh… maybe later," Mario said as he pulled his arm back out and moved onto the next one. "Not in here either… hey, wait a minute! I can't get my arm back out!"
"Huhuhuh, looks like someone got caught in my Boobytrap!" the boo giggled, pulling off a triple pun. "Don't worry, I'll help you out."
The Boo then grabbed onto Mario's arm and pulled upward, pulling both his arm and her bra out in the process.
"Oooh, you naughty boy you! Stealing a girl's underwear," the Boo laughed, her bust now jiggling even more now that it was unrestrained. "Feel free to keep it, though. Think of it as a consolation prize~"
"No thanks," Mario said, tossing the lacy white garment onto the floor. "I'd much rather have the record, if you don't mind."
"Suit yourself, but I can give you much more than just my bra if you just ask~" the Boo replied with a wink.
"Don't get distracted, Mario!" Koopie cheered from the sidelines. "There's only a few left it could be!"
"Don't worry, I'm still on it," Mario replied before reaching down the dress of the next girl and finally finding something other than breasts. "Hey, I think I've got it!"
Sure enough, Mario pulled his hand back and the vinyl record was there in his fingers.
"Nice one, big boy! You passed the test!" the Boo congratulated as her friends all floated towards her.
"Awesome!" Bombette cheered, pumping her fists. "Wait… what exactly was being tested by this anyways? Mario's ability to find outdated recordings?"
"No, it was to test how well he can handle the female form - and I'd say he passed with flying colors~" the lead Boo replied, causing her friends to break out into snickers. "That's one test down, three to go! Good luck solving the rest, meatbags!"
The Boos then flew into each other to reform the Atomic Boo that crushed Mario and disappeared after giving him one last, collective wink.
"I'm starting to get the feeling that these tests won't be very fair," Koopie said worriedly.
"You're not the only one," Goommaria concurred. "Come on, let's go check out the other room on this floor."
"Bark, bark bark!" Chompy said, running over to Mario and nuzzling her silver-haired head against his leg.
"Don't worry, nothing bad is going to happen to me if we keep looking a bit longer," Mario assured her. "I hope, anyways…"
With that, Mario and his friends walked over to the room next door and found themselves in yet another mostly-barren room. The three things that stopped it from being completely empty were a small table with an antique record player sitting on it, a small wooden box, and a Boo floating in front of said box, presumably guarding it.
The Boo in question was dressed a bit more colorfully than the others - instead of all white, she had a tight, black top underneath a looser green top, as well as a pair of black tights she was wearing for pants. On top of that, her arms and neck both had blue and green glow sticks wrapped around them, making her much more luminescent than the other Boos had been so far.
"A Boo wearing glowsticks?" Gommaria asked in confusion as the group walked over to her. "Doesn't the light annoy your skin at all?"
"Nah, light doesn't do that as long as it's in spooky colors," the Boo replied dryly. "I kind of wish it did, though - at least that would be interesting."
"What do you mean by that?" Koopie asked curiously.
"I'm talking about how boring it is to guard this stupid box!" she replied. "A girl like me shouldn't be in here collecting dust like some old lamp, especially not on a night like this! I should be out dancing, meeting new people, having fun! Not… whatever this is!"
"Well, why don't you just leave?" asked Bombette.
"I can't… Lady Bow said I can't leave this room, and I especially can't do it while there's someone here who might steal what's in this chest," she replied, eyeing Mario and his friends suspiciously.
"Uh, well... if you can't leave the room, then why don't you just bust a move in here?" Mario asked as he headed over to the record player and inserted the vinyl disk from the last room. "I've got just the song to help you get started."
It took a few good turns of the crank attached to the record player to get the contraption going, but once it did, it started to emit cheery, if creepily static-filled, music. Mario had hoped that she'd get taken in by the music and start dancing away from the box, but much to his disappointment, she didn't do anything but keep floating there at her post.
"What's the matter?" he asked, confused. "Aren't you going to dance?"
"What's the point?" she asked in response. "I mean, yeah, I like dancing, but there's not really much point if you're doing it alone."
"I could dance with you if you'd like!" Koopie said, stepping forward and shaking her shell around awkwardly.
"Hmm, I think I'll pass," the raver Boo said before floating over to Mario. "You, on the other hand, look like you would make an excellent dance partner…"
"Alright, fine…" Mario said with a sigh of resignation. "Let's get started then."
"Now that's what I like to hear~" she said before taking Mario by the hand and leading him to the center of the room.
Once there, the Boo wasted no time dropping to the floor so her white sneakers could start tearing up their makeshift dancefloor, sending plumes up into the air as Mario tried his best to keep up.
He wasn't sure if it was his amnesia at work, but Mario couldn't remember any dance moves to help keep his new 'partner' distracted while his other partners moved to open the chest the Boo was guarding. The raver Boo didn't seem mind, however, as she was more than eager to show off her own moves for Mario to copy. She was quite quick on her feet for a girl who spent almost all of her time in the air, and she seemed determined to use that skill to show off her fit body as much as possible.
"Come on, open up…" Bombette said quietly to herself as she tried to open the mysterious chest. "Dammit, it's locked!"
"Hold on, let me try something," Koopie whispered as she took Bombette's place. "I've got a bobby pin, and I've been locked out of my own home more than once…"
"Hey… what are you looking at?" the Boo dancing with Mario asked when she realized he wasn't staring at her.
"Oh, nothing, just… it's… hard to look at you for very long…" he replied nervously.
"Ooooh, I think I know that you mean~" the Boo replied as she stepped closer. "Don't worry, I don't mind one bit. Feel free to stare as much as you want!"
By then she was so close that her breasts were starting to press up against Mario's chest, so he didn't have much choice but to stare deep into her blue eyes as she moved rhythmically to the beat of the music. Mario tried leaning back a little bit to give her more space, but the Boo simply leaned forward with him, her tits jiggling ever so slightly against his chest as she shook her shoulders back and forth. Eventually, Mario tried to lean himself back, but the Boo seemed reluctant to cede even an inch and relished the feeling of their bodies pressing even harder together.
"See what I mean?" the raver Boo asked sultrily, her lips only a few inches from Mario's as they glowed purple with the light from her glowsticks. "Having a dance partner is so much more fun, isn't it?"
"Yeah… it's certainly exciting…" Mario gulped, hoping she wouldn't try to take this too far beyond just dancing.
"Oh, I can tell!" the Boo said as she reached a hand down and started massaging Mario's cock through his overalls. "You know… we can go find someplace more private to dance if you'd like. Not all my moves are best shown in mixed company~"
"Well… I'm not so sure about that…" Mario replied, not moving her hand away. "I think we should take things slow…"
"Slow?" she asked seductively, her body slowing as she spoke, but still pressing hard against him. "It's not usually my style… but if it's what you like, I can go as slow as you like~"
"Bingo!" Koopie suddenly said triumphantly as the chest unlocked. "Quick, open it up before she notices!"
"Already on it!" Bombette replied as she kicked the lid open. "It's a… hundred-pound weight?"
"Huh?" the raver Boo grunted as she turned around and saw what happened. "Dammit! I've been tricked by the power of music again! That's probably the only reason those jerks put that thing in the room with me…"
"Alright… on the count of three…" Goommaria said as she and Bombette clutched the handle on top of the weight. "One… two… three… heave!"
The weight popped out of the box and landed on the floor with a loud thud, shaking the whole room and sending the dust that covered everything flying.
"I just hope Lady Bow doesn't punish me too bad for my failure…" the raver Boo whined, doing the exact opposite of raving. "She might make me get rid of my glowsticks, or worse… make we switch to red and orange ones!"
"Aw, I'm sure it won't be so bad! I'm sure she'll be forgiving," Koopie said when trying to offer a comforting hand on her shoulder, but accidentally tripped when she passed through the Boo's body instead.
"Maybe… but even if she would get mad at me… I'll be fine as long as you guys don't figure out how to use that thing," the raver Boo said, perking up a little. "See you later, losers! Oh, and thanks again for the dance, handsome~"
And with that, the raver Boo began to slowly disappear while giving Mario one last look at her wiggling booty before vanishing completely.
"She kinda has a point, you know," Goommaria pointed out. "We might have passed this little 'test', but that's not going to do us any good unless we can pass the next one."
"Well, that one Boo said that there's a test in every room, right?" asked Mario. "Well, I don't think this weight is going to help much in the room with the vase, but… maybe we missed something in the main foyer we can use it on?"
"That sounds like it's worth a shot," Koopie replied. "Do you think you girls can carry the weight all the way downstairs?"
"No… problem!" Goommaria grunted as she struggled to help lift the hundred pounds of iron while Bombette stood there with her hand on it casually. "We've got it!"
Together, the group headed back down the rickety stairs and placed the weight by the front door of them mansion, doing so gently lest the entire building collapse on them.
"Alright, we're here…" Goommaria said, panting profusely. "Now we just need to figure out where to use it…"
"Bark bark bark!" Chompy suddenly barked, wagging her tail and nose pointed towards the ceiling.
"Huh? What are you looking at up there?" Mario asked, craning his neck upwards.
"I think she's looking at… the chandelier?" Koopie said, raising an eyebrow.
"No, not the chandelier! The hook attached underneath it!" Goommaria said, pointing to the bottom of the light fixtures. "It looks big enough to hold the weight."
"You don't honestly think that thing could hold it though… right?" Bombette asked skeptically.
"Well, that thing probably already weighs a ton… what's an extra hundred pounds going to do?" Goommaria asked, only partly nervous. "Though, I'm not even sure yet how we'd even get the weight up there at this point."
"Yeah, it's not like any of us can fly," Koopie said sadly before Chompy cut in with her trademark "Bark bark bark!"
Before anyone could react, the Chain Chomp swung her tail behind her several times, tossed it up into the air using nothing but her rear, latched onto the hook on the chandelier, and began tugging it towards the ground. It was clearly a bit of a hard pull, however, so Bombette and Goommaria both joined in to help pull it down.
As the chandelier was forced ever downwards, the foyer began to rumble as unseen gears attached to the chandelier began to turn. It didn't take them long to notice that, the further the chandelier lowered, the more the solitary bookshelf in the room moved to the side, revealing a hidden stone door that was hidden behind it.
"Well, what do you know?" Mario said as he walked over to it. "That was it after all! Can you girls get the weight attached so we don't get stuck down there?"
"Waaaay ahead of you," Bombette said as she lifted the weight up and placed it on the hook. "Let's head on down!"
"Looks like this leads to the basement," Koopie said as they entered another barren room with nothing but a box, a chandelier, and a staircase in it. "Hey, look, another box! Do you think another weight's inside?"
"I hope not! I just lost a lot of weight, and I don't think it would be healthy for me to gain it back so quickly…" Goommaria complained, stretching her back.
"Well, let's check it out anyways," Mario said before walking over to it and opening it up. "Huh… all there this a note that says 'Gullible is written on the ceiling'."
"It is?" Bombette asked as she looked up just in time for the chandelier to start falling "Gaaaaah!"
The Bob-Omb's friends quickly started screaming too and dashed to shield their heads - only for the collision to never come.
"Huh?" Koopie grunted as she peeked back out of her shell. "What happened?"
"Eheheh…." a group of unseen women laughed, the chandelier dangling only an inch away from Bombette's head.
"Hey, that wasn't even funny!" Mario shouted over the laughter, though they didn't seem to deter them from laughing their invisible asses off. "What are these girls' deals, anyways? How can they keep turning invisible and passing through stuff? Are they actual ghosts?"
"No, but they'd like people to think they were," Goommaria said as they all carefully got out from underneath the chandelier. "They're Mono, just like everyone else. They live, they eat, they die… they're just made from the same stuff ghosts are, so they can do crazy stuff like that."
"Wait… so you mean ghosts really exist in this world?" Mario asked curiously as he pulled open the door to the basement.
"Yeah, of course they do," Bombette replied. "Don't they exist where you came from?"
"That's… a very good question," Mario replied while they all walked into the chilly cellar. The room inside was only barely lit by a buzzing light bulb on the ceiling, but they could tell that it was absolutely cramped down there. There were mattresses, grandfather clocks, bed frames, dressers, and just about every furnishing in between was pressed against the dusty walls down there.
"Well, it looks like we know where all the furniture around here is being kept," Koopie said to herself as they walked through. "I wonder if they cleared everything out up there just for our little 'tests'."
"I think it was probably all there when they bought the mansion," said Goommaria. "They absolutely love buying run down, creepy places and just… floating around them on the off-chance someone walks by. Plus, they have some kind of phobia of cleaning equipment, so they probably liked a place that hadn't been properly cleaned or sorted in a while."
"Is that really what they do all day?" asked Mario.
"No, but I guarantee you we're making more than a few of these women's nights just by being here," Goommaria replied as they finally reached the other side of the room and pulled open the door to the next one. "Oh look, another box… how much you want to bet that this one is trapped or guarded too?"
"I'm guessing it's going to be guarded," Mario said as he followed in.
"No way, I bet the room's going to be another trap," said Bombette.
"Well, I think it's-eeep!" Koopie said, cutting herself off with a scream as the door behind her fell to the ground and disappeared, leaving nothing but a barren wall in its wake. "Oh my… that can't be good."
"Eh, it's not all bad," Bombette replied with a shrug. "At least I was right."
"Well, hopefully that won't be the last victory we have here," Mario replied as he reached the lonely box in the center of the room. "Let's get this open and find a way out of here."
Wary of any more tricks, Mario slowly opened the lid of the chest and found… a pair of green boots, just about his size.
"Shoes? What are we supposed to do with shoes?" asked Mario.
"Wait a second… those aren't just any shoes!" Goommaria said, walking up behind him. "Those are Super Boots!"
"Super Boots?" Mario repeated, confused. "What makes them so super?"
"Well, do you remember that power jump badge mi Abuela gave you when we first met?" she asked. "Well, this is a bit like that, except you can use these easily all the time, and they're just plain tough shoes to boot! Er, pun not intended."
"Well, I guess we could use something like this," Mario said as he reached down to pick them up, only for the right boot to suddenly rise up and hit him in the face. "Ow! What the…"
"Heheheh… sorry, my foot must have slipped," a female voice said as a Boo in a white tank top and shorts slowly appeared out of nowhere, wearing the Super Boots.
"Hey, careful with those!" Goommaria warned as she went over to check that Mario was okay. "Those things are dangerous, you know!?"
"What? I was just giving him a better look at my lovely boots," the Boo teased as she floated up out of the box. "That is why you opened the box, right? To get a look at them?"
"Actually, I was kinda hoping I'd get the chance to take those with me, if you don't mind," Mario replied, rubbing his cheek.
"Oh, so you want them for yourself, huh?" she asked, raising an alabaster eyebrow. "Well, are you sure you want these boots? They're nice and all, but my friends all have nice pairs too~"
The Boo woman then put two fingers between her lips and whistled as loud as she could, summoning over half a dozen more Boos from the walls, each wearing outfits identical to the first Boo and wearing green shoes similar to - but not exactly like - the boots the Boo over the box was wearing.
"Uh, no, we'd just like the Super Boos, please," Mario countered even though he knew where this was likely heading already.
"Are you sure?" the Boo wearing the Super Boots asked as she floated towards the circle that had formed around Mario. "Why don't we give you a good look at them all before you make your final decision."
The circle then began to spin around Mario and his friends, moving so fast that none of them could properly keep track of which Boo was which.
"Alright, do you still want those Super Boots?" one of the random Boos asked as the circle finally came to a stop. "Well then, you're going to have to find them!"
"Not this unmerry-go-round again…" Bombette sighed to herself. "I'm guessing that Mario's the only one who's allowed to try and find them, right?"
"You got it, Shrapnelrella," another Boo replied. "But look on the dark side; at least you were right~"
"Augh… I hate it when I'm right," Bombette groaned as she walked over to a corner and sat down with her friends, leaving Mario alone to hunt down the right shoes.
"Don't worry, girls, I'll try and get this over with quickly," Mario tried to reassure them. "Now then… which one of you has the real pair?"
At first, Mario thought this was going to be easy compared to the record challenge, but he quickly realized that he didn't get as good of a look at the original pair of boots as he thought. Every single time he thought he spotted the right pair, he would glance over to the next Boo in the circle and start rethinking his decision.
"Huhuhuh… looks to me like someone's a little bit lost~" the Boo whose shoes Mario was currently looking at.
"Come now, I don't think you're giving him enough credit," the one to her right cut in. "The only thing he's getting lost in is our thighs~"
"Uhu, I see! So you're doing all this just to get a good look at our delicious legs, are you?" the Boo above Mario asked as she spread her legs wide, giving Mario an even better look at her inner thighs and groin. "Well then, why don't I let you get a better look at what's on the menu?"
"That, uh, won't be necessary," Mario said, backing off. "I think I know which one of you has the real pair of Super Boots."
"Oh really?" one of the Boos giggled as Mario walked over to her. "Oh, this should be good…"
Undeterred, Mario knelt down and took off the ghost woman's shoes, leaving her feet bare as he tried them on himself.
"Well? Do you feel any more powerful?" Koopie called out from the corner.
"No, not really…" Mario replied. "Though, the green makes me feel a bit like I'm my brother."
"Eeeeeh, you picked the wrong pair!" the shoeless Boo shouted as all her friends laughed. "Better luck next time, meatboy!"
"Drat!" Mario said as he moved to take off the shoes, only to be interrupted when he felt the Boo's bare foot latch onto his groin. "Hey, what are you doing?"
"Oh, just keeping my foot busy," the Boo said with a casual shrug as her soft foot began to move up and down his concealed cock. "I've got to do something to keep them warm now that you've so callously stolen my boots, after all~"
"Right… I'll just… keep going then," Mario said as he tried to ignore her, though that grew to be much harder when the Boo phased through his overalls and he felt the soft bottom of her foot press against his bare cock.
"By all means… don't mind me~" the Boo insisted even as her toes played with the tip of Mario's prick.
"Of course…" Mario grunted, struggling to concentrate as he walked over to the next Boo in the circle and tried on her shoes as well.
"Well, as much as I like your taste in footwear, you chose wrong again!" the newly-deshoed Boo said. "I hope you're the kind of boy who prefers two feet to just one~"
"Ah!" Mario gasped as he felt a second bare foot press up against the other side of his dick, and they began moving up and down in tandem with one another. "Don't worry… I've always been attached to two feet myself, so… this shouldn't be a problem!"
"Are you completely sure about that?" the one on the right asked teasingly. "Because it feels like your precum is getting all over my toes right now… getting them all sticky, and making your dick even stickier as we give it a nice foot massage~"
"Oh, I know something that might help!" another Boo from the circle said as she turned around and pointed her rear towards Mario. Staring at it, Mario could see it stretch against her tight shorts just before she gave it a healthy smack that sent it jiggling. "How about you focus on this instead? That way, you won't be thinking about their feet!"
"That doesn't really help…" Mario replied, his cock throbbing reflexively in his pants.
"Really? Maybe I should shake it up and down instead," the Boo said before doing just that. "How's that work for you?"
"Can… can I just take off your shoes, please?" Mario grunted, trying to look away from the bouncing bottom in front of him.
"Suit yourself!" the Boo replied before kicking off her shoes. "Oh, and by the way - you were wrong again, and you know what that means~"
Mario could only grunt in reply as he felt a third foot press up against his rod and start moving up and down. He tried his best to ignore this one too, but now there was so much pressure on his groin that he could barely move.
"Heheheh… looks like someone can't move~" one of the Boos laughed evilly. "What's the matter? Do you need a foot?~"
"I think he's good on that front," another Boo replied, now focusing on swirling the bottom of her foot around the tip of Mario's trapped dick. "What I think he needs is a nice orgasm to get him to calm down. Maybe then he'll finally be able to concentrate~"
"No… what I need… is to find the right pair of shoes," Mario grunted, only to be knocked down onto his rear.
"Face it, boy; you're not going anywhere," the third Boo countered as the rest of their friends removed their shoes as well. "Why don't you just sit back, relax, and we'll spook that troublesome cum right out of you~"
"But I… I…" Mario stammered, only to be cut off as he felt the rest of the Boo's feet start stroking his rod. It was a very tight fit, but every single one of the seven Boos managed to touch him at least a little bit, making sure no inch went unmassaged as he writhed on the floor.
"Huhuhuh… how pathetic!" another Boo laughed as her foot stroked the center of his dick. "He doesn't even have the courage to stop some pretty girls from giving him a footjob… are you really that desperate for pleasure? Or… maybe you just like the thrill of it?"
"No… I…" Mario grunted as he was reduced to a babbling mess on the floor, unable to focus on anything besides the army of feet massaging his cock. The soft skin on the bottom of their feet felt incredibly good against his dick, even though they were being incredibly rough with it. It was as if their feet had never been set on the ground before in their entire lives.
"Don't worry, it's okay if you like being bullied~" one of the Boos assured him as she teased his sack. "Some boys come all the way through the forest just to have us do this to them, so you're practically getting the VIP treatment."
"Nah, more like the trash treatment," another Boo cut in, her foot on the side of Mario's dick. "Lady Bow is the only VIP around here, so he's lucky we even pay him any attention at all!"
"I don't know about that… I'd bully this boy even if Lady Bow hadn't told us to~" another Boo said as she licked her lips.
All this stimulation proved to be too much for Mario, and he soon found himself ejaculating inside something that he hadn't in a long time - his own pants.
"Hehehe, feel him go, girls!" the lead Boo giggled as she felt Mario absolutely plaster all of their feet. "I guess he couldn't stand up to us after all~"
"Alright, alright, you girls had your fun," Bombette said as she and her friends got up from the corner. "Now leave Mario alone or you'll find out what it's like to be real ghosts real soon."
"O-or we might just force you girls to leave," Koopie cut in, tempering her language. "But either way… you need to stop tormenting him now!"
"Oh, don't worry, we're done for now," the lead Boo said as they all removed their feet from Mario's underwear - each naturally leaving the sperm behind to dappen his boxers even more. "And good news; he passed the test with flying colors! Or rather, flying varying-shades-of-white, but still… he did it!"
"Wait, what?" Goommaria asked in confusion. "But he didn't find the Super Boots!"
"Oh, but that wasn't the test, mush brain," the lead Boo countered as she picked up the real pair of Super Boots and handed them to Mario. "The test was to see how submissive he was, and I must say… you live up to Lady Bow's tastes perfectly~"
"Thanks… I guess," Mario replied awkwardly.
"You're welcome, fleshy boy~" the lead Boo replied as they all floated towards the ceiling. "If you ever want us to step on you again, remember… our feet are always free~"
"I'll… keep that in mind," Mario said as he slowly stood back up off the ground.
"Hey, I think I just realized something kind of important…" Koopie spoke up. "They didn't give us a new door when they left…"
"Well shit… that's not good," Bombette said as Chompy whined next to her
"I'm thinking that we're going to have to use the Super Boots to get out somehow," Mario guessed as he began taking off his shoes again. "Just… give me a moment to change into them… and some new clothes…"
"Bark bark bark!" Chompy suddenly barked as Mario removed his overalls and boxers, and she began to lap up all the excess sperm that had pooled inside his underwear.
"Whoa there!" Mario gasped as he felt her long tongue lap along the sides of his deflating prick. "Thanks for the cleanup, but we're really going to have to play later!"
"Hmm…" the Chain Chomp girl whined as she gave her last lick, but she nonetheless backed off long enough for Mario to get changed.
"Alright, they're on," Mario announced as he stretched his toes around his new shoes. "I still don't feel any different, though."
"Maybe you should try jumping or stomping in them, or something," Bombette suggested.
"Okay, here goes…" Mario said before stomping the floor, causing it to collapse in on itself.
"Gyaaaah!" they all howled out at once as they plummeted into the room below them, landing in a big pile in middle of what appeared to a convenience store hidden underneath the manor.
"Oh my!" gasped the Boo who was running the shop as the dust slowly cleared. She wasn't dressed as skimpily as the other Boos they had seen floating around, and was instead wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, long white jeans, and a white apron over that as well. Her hair was pulled back into a long ponytail, and she didn't seem to bother hovering more than an inch off the ground. "That might be the first time a fleshy has ever gotten the jump on me…"
"Well, it was more of a fall on you…" Goommaria groaned as they slowly stood up. "Sorry for crashing in like that."
"Oh, no, it's fine!" the Boo shopkeeper said, quickly turning away as Gommaria tried to look her in the eye. "I'm sure that ceiling was bound to cave in eventually anyways…"
"That's… surprisingly understanding," Bombette said, dusting herself off. "Oh, is this a store down here? With fresh food!? Awesome! Do any of you guys want to grab something to eat?"
"Oh, well, actually…" the Boo interrupted before any of Bombette's partners could reply. "Lady Bow said that I can't sell you anything until you complete all her tests… and you're definitely here early."
"Aw, are you sure?" Koopie asked as she walked around to get a better look at the Boo's face. "We promise we won't take much."
"Eeep!" the Boo suddenly squeaked as she blushed, covered her face, and turned invisible. "I'm sorry, but orders are orders! Just… come back after you talk with Lady Bow!"
"Alright, alright, calm down!" Goommaria assured her. "Can you at least show us how we can back upstairs at least?"
A button over by the cashier's counter suddenly clicked and stairs descended from the ceiling, leading back to the area full of old junk the group ran into when they first entered the basement.
"Alright, thanks for the help!" Mario said as they walked back to the foyer. "We'll let you know when we're done, okay?"
"Okay… good luck on the rest of the tests…" she said with a whimper as she slowly reappeared.
What Mario and his friends couldn't see, however, was that as soon as all their backs were turned the Boo shopkeeper's face shifted from a shy and demure expression to one of pure lust. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth as she began panting heavily, and a hungry smile spread across her lips while she pretended to stroke a dick with her hands. Although none of them could see her do it, she was clearly reveling at poking fun at them behind their backs.
Sensing that something was up, Mario glanced back at her over his shoulder. By then the Boo had already turned invisible, however, so he just assumed the feeling he felt was just paranoia and kept on walking - only for the Boo to reappear with an even lewder expression, her eyes rolled back in faux-pleasure while her long tongue drooled all ever her chin and her hands were both flashing 'v' signs with their fingers, her body practically trembling with lust. This time, it was Chompy who glanced back at her, and she managed to move fast enough to get a good look at the shopkeeper. The Chain-Chomp girl wasn't too offended, however, and simply copied her expression as a way of saying 'goodbye' as she walked up the stairs
"I hope they come back… it'd sure be nice to play with another toy for once~" the shopkeeper said to herself as Mario and his friends finally disappeared from sight.
"She seemed to be a bit shy for a Boo," Bombette commented as they walked.
"Actually, that was partly my fault; I forgot that Boos actually really don't like it when you look them directly in the eye," Goommaria explained. "That's actually one of their few weaknesses,"
"Wait, so they're afraid of eye-contact and cleaning products?" asked Bombette. "And they make fun of us for being cowardly…"
"Hey, careful!" Koopie cut in, shushing Bombette. "We don't want to make our hosts angry, right?"
"Right, right…" Bombette said, annoyed, over the sound of giggling in the background. "So, now that we have the shoes, what are we supposed to do with them? I don't think they're powerful enough for us to jump to the third floor, and even if they were we'd still have to get the rest of us up there somehow."
"Good point…" Mario said, stroking his chin. "Well, we never did figure out what the test in the room with the rocking chair was, and it had some pretty weird looking floorboards. Maybe we could try the same trick again there?"
"Okay, but try not to collapse the entire floor this time" Koopie advised. "We barely avoided getting splinters the last time."
"I'll try my best," Mario said as they entered the room in question. "Alright, here goes!"
Mario's feet came down on the floorboards with a loud thud, followed shortly by a loud crack as the wood gave way and he fell into the room below.
"Well? How is it down there?" Koopie called down the newly-created hole. "Are you okay? Wait, maybe I don't want to know… if you're dead, please don't tell us!"
"Don't worry, I'm fine," Mario replied. "I think I'm in some kind of library beneath the manor."
"Is it safe?" asked Goommaria.
"It's dusty," he replied.
"Of course…" Bombette mumbled to herself. "Be ready to catch me, okay?"
The Bob-Omb then cannonballed her way down the hole and into Mario's waiting arms - followed shortly by Goommaria, Koopie, and Chompy jumping down as well. Mario may have had Super Boots, but he didn't have a super spine or super legs, so he quickly collapsed onto the ground under a pile of soft bodies and Koopie's shell.
"Ooops! Sorry about that!" Goommaria quickly apologized, her rear sitting atop Mario's head.
"Don't worry… it's fine," Mario insisted as he crawled his way out from under his friends. "So, now that we've passed that 'test', what do you suppose the next one is? Reading comprehension?"
"I hope not; I always got the worst scores on that when I was a hatchling," said Koopie.
"Hey, wait a second…" Bombette said as she stared up at the top of one of the many bookshelves that lined the room. "I think I see some kind of painting up there… it looks like a Boo in a fancy dress drinking some tea with her eyes closed."
"Really?" Koopie asked as she glanced up to where Bombette was looking. "Oh, and it doesn't have a frame either! That must be the one we're looking for! Now, how do we get it down from there? Do any of you see any lad-"
"Bark!" Chompy swiftly interrupted before lashing her tail out and pulled the parchment down.
"I suppose that works too~" Koopie smiled as she patted Chompy lovingly on the head. "Thank you very much!"
"Bark bark!" Chompy replied with a blush, her tail wagging.
"Finally!" Bombette sighed with relief. "Now, let's get out of here so we can finally meet this 'Lady Bow' woman people keep bombing on about! Er, wait… how do we get out of here?"
The group quietly looked around and noticed that there weren't any doorways in the room, and the hole in the ceiling was too far away for them to reach.
"Oh right, Boos don't use doors…" Goommaria mumbled to herself. "Well… there has to be some way out of here, right? I mean, this couldn't just be some kind of cruel trap, could it? Eheh…"
The group went silent for a moment and heard the soft sound of giggling from all around them.
"Oh no! I don't want to have to eat old, moldy words to survive!" Koopie said, starting to panic. "I don't even like eating my own words!"
"Calm down, calm down," Bombette said, trying to sound as soothing as she could. "I'm sure there's a way out of here somewhere, we just have to look!"
The group quickly fanned out and began searching through the library until Mario spotted some lines in the wallpaper.
"Hey, I think I found a door!" Mario said before tearing away the paper and revealing a bricked-up passageway. "... nevermind."
"Wait, hold on a sec," Bombette said as her fuse burned and she pulled back her fist.
With a 'boom' so loud it shook all the dust off the books in the library, the Bob-Omb smashed through the wall and back into the storage area of the basement, across the room from where they originally got the Super Boots.
"I guess that works too!" Koopie said through her own coughs as the dust cleared. "Hey, wait… why didn't we just have Bombette smash through the floorboards herself earlier?"
"Well, because, uh… oops," Mario replied.
"Eh, don't beat yourself up about it," Bombette said, lightly punching him in the shoulder. "We have the painting, right? All we have to do now is return it to its frame, and we're as good as Goldbob!"
Bombette wasted no time in leading her partners upstairs to the frame and slipped the painting inside, at which point the Boo in the portrait opened her eyes.
"Ahhh… this is so much better," the woman in the painting spoke as she put her teacup back down. "Thank you so much for returning me back to my frame. I feel practically naked without it."
"Huh, so you're actually a painting," Mario said, scratching his head. "I was actually expecting you to just be another Boo in hiding."
"Really? Haven't you ever seen a ghost painting before?" the painting asked curiously, to which Mario shook his head. "That's surprising; one of the greatest artists of all time were ghosts, you know. Women like Van Ghoul, Moaning Lisa, and Frida Gallow all have their artwork in museums around the world, and you can still talk to them to this day."
"Er, sorry!" Mario quickly apologized. "I kinda got a hit on the head recently, so there's a few gaps in my memory."
"Apology accepted," the Boo painting said before taking another sip of her tea. "Now then, you are more than welcome to use my portal to get to the third floor."
"Thank you," Mario said politely before looking around in front of him. "Where is the portal exactly?"
"Just like the ones at Peach's Castle!" Bombette explained. "Oh, right, memory loss… just, take my hand and follow me."
The next thing Mario knew, Bombette and his other friends jumped into the portrait and emerged from another, identical portrait on the third floor landing, right outside a pair of large, ornate wooden doors.
"Please say 'hello' to Lady Bow for me, would you?" the painting said behind them as they stood up. "And good luck on completing her quest."
"Quest?" asked Mario. "What quest?"
"Oh! Perhaps I said too much!" the painting replied. "Why don't you head inside and find out for yourself?"
"Alright… but if this is a trap, don't be surprised if you wake up one day with a moustache," Bombette said as she followed her friends through the pair of large doors.
On the other side, they found themselves in another dusty room, though they could tell that it was much better kept than the rest of the rooms in the mansion. The silky, black sheets on the bed in the center of the room were clearly well-laundered and the antique vases were kept shiny and clean. Above the room sat two glittering chandeliers whose diamonds that hung below the unlit candles helped disperse the dim moonlight that was coming in from outside. In one corner of the room was a relatively new-looking television set and, in the other, a desk covered with makeup set up in front of a mirror.
"Ah, so you have finally arrived," Shaid said as she suddenly appeared in the center of the room. "Very good. Now, without further ado, allow me to introduce my master… the ever lovely Lady Bow!"
"Gwahahaha!" cackling voice suddenly rang out, filling the room from seemingly all directions in a way Mario was learning was very characteristic of Boos. "So, you've finally arrived, eh? You certainly took your sweet time."
Mario looked up towards the ceiling just in time to see another Boo start to appear, though this one looked a lot different than the others. For starters, while most of the Boos had been almost universally monochrome with white skin, white hair, and white clothing, this Boo was actually sporting a variety of colors. Her skin was a light green and her short hair was a complimentary dark green. Said hair was adorned with two red bows, one on the left side of her head and one on the right, and she was wearing a dark black dress that contrasted sharply with the pure white stockings she wore underneath.
What stuck out most to Mario, however, was the fact that she wasn't wearing any shoes. He supposed that she didn't really need them if she could float, but that just made him wonder why so many other Boos were wearing them.
"I'm sorry, but we didn't really have much choice when it came to the time," Koopie replied. "We had that awful forest to get through, and then your tests...:"
"Speaking of, what was up with those tests anyways?" Bombette cut in. "Were you trying to just test our patience or something?"
"Hmmph! Of course not!" Bow said as she took out a pink fan and began fanning herself with it. "I was merely seeing if Mario here truly lived up to his reputation, and if he had what it took to become one of my employees. After all, everyone who works for me needs to be clever, strong, good with women's bodies, and most importantly… submissive."
"So… that was all just some kind of extended job interview?" Mario asked in confusion.
"I suppose that is one way to look at it," Lady Bow replied, closing her fan and floating down closer to Mario. "And I must say, you met all of my expectations wonderfully… even if you could use a few better screams of terror."
"That's great and all, but we still don't know what exactly we're being hired for," Goommaria pointed out.
"Don't worry, your task is so simple that not even you simpletons could fail to complete it as long as you stay focused," Bow replied, blinking her long eyelashes. "As you are likely aware by now, I am a lady, and as such, it is my duty to oversee the land I own and all who reside in it. This includes the manor, Forever Forest, and a small town east of here called Gusty Gulch. It's a farming town full of Boos who actually like the sunlight, the weirdos. But, as much as I disagree with their tastes, they have every right to be there."
"Cool, but what does that have to do with us?" asked Bombette
"Well, my subjects are being driven from their homes as we speak… or worse," Bow replied, her expression turning even more grim. "A monster of a woman calling herself the 'invincible' Tubba Blubba has been raiding Gusty Gulch from her nearby castle and has been… eating whatever Boos she finds."
"Wait, eating!?" Mario gasped. "But… how?"
"She's a Clubba - their big mouths can eat just about anything. Even us," Bow replied. "We've tried stopping her ourselves, but not matter what we do, we can't seem to harm her. She says that it's because she's invincible, but I know that isn't true. She must have a weakness somewhere, and you… are going to find it for me and defeat her once and for all."
"We would absolutely love to help you, Ms. Bow," Goommaria began to say before Bow cut her off with "That's Lady Bow to you!"
"Right… Lady Bow," Goommaria continued as respectfully as she could. "We would love to help, but I'm afraid we might not have the time. You see, Queen Bowsa is currently trying to take over the world, and we're trying to rescue all the Star Spirits she's captured to stop her."
"Hmmph, and you think I didn't know that?" Bow asked, turning her cosmetic-covered face away in disgust. "That's partly why I summoned you here Mario, and not some random mercenary I knew I couldn't trust. I knew that you and I would be able to help us achieve both our goals."
"What are you talking about?" Mario asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.
"Ah, yes! Shaid, if you would," Bow said, gesturing to her maid.
"Yes, my Lady," Shaid replied before taking out a red button and pressing it.
A second later and the candles on the chandeliers suddenly lit up and a large, metal cage was lowered from the ceiling. Several cackling, white Boos floated down with cage, making faces at whatever was inside.
"Hey, is that…" Goommaria mumbled as she tried to get a good look at what was in the cage. "It is! It's a Star Spirit."
Sure enough, standing there awkwardly in the middle of the cage was a man with brown hair, purple skin, reading glasses, a short moustache, and bookish green clothing with little stars patterned on his pants.
"Why, hello there, Mario," the man greeted, nervously adjusting his glasses. "My name is Skolar. I'm sorry to meet under these unfortunate circumstances, but I'm afraid I've been captured… Again."
"Yes, this starry fellow managed to escape from Tubba Blubba's capture, only to get lost in Forever Forest," Bow explained. "Fortunately for him, we came along and rescued him."
"It looks more like you're holding him hostage…" Koopie pointed out nervously.
"A rather small detail, I assure you," Bow countered. "What matters is that he is staying in our care until our Blubba problem has been dealt with."
"Hey, that's not fair!" Bombette complained. "You can't just keep him prisoner like this to make us do what you want!"
"Well, what are you going to do? Tell Prince Peach on me?" Bow teased with a flutter of her fan. "Besides, if it wasn't for us, he probably would have been captured by Tubba Blubba again anyways, so you owe us for saving him!"
"Well… I guess we would have ended up fighting Tubba Blubba anyways," Koopie pointed out, but her friends still looked distrustful.
"You're not taking advantage of him or anything while he's here though, right?" Goommaria asked suspiciously.
"Of course not," Bow quickly replied. "Well, other than innocent Boo fun, of course."
"Boo!" one of the ghost girls floating around Skolar shouted as she lifted her shirt and flashed the Starman her tits.
"Gya!" Skolar gasped as he backed away.
"Boo!" another Boo said behind him as she lifted her shirt as well, eliciting a similar response.
"Don't worry, I gave them explicit orders not to rape him, or any other man on my manor grounds for that matter," Bow assured them. "But as long as Tubba Blubba threatens my people… my friends… then I am afraid he is going to have to remain here."
"What do we do, Mario?" Goommaria quietly whispered. "She and her friends seem kinda jerkish… can we trust them?"
"I don't know… but if her friends are really in trouble, we can't just leave them to be eaten, can we?" Mario whispered back before turning back to Bow. "Alright, we'll do it!"
"Excellent! You made a very smart choice, I assure you," Lady Bow said as Shaid pressed her button again and the cage retracted upwards. "Of course, since I will be accompanying you personally, you shouldn't have anything to worry about Tubba or her goons at all. How lucky for you~"
"W-w-w-w-wait, what!?" Shaid suddenly gasped, her calm face suddenly becoming horrified. "You never told me you were planning on going with them on this! I am afraid I am going to have to put my foot down, Lady Bow! I cannot allow you to partake in this… suicide mission!"
"Suicide mission?" Bombette asked with an eyebrow raised, though both Boos appeared to ignore her.
"Still your tongue, Shaid," Bow countered, floating a little higher so she could look down at her servant. "I've seen Tubba Blubba cause too much suffering, take too many of my people, to just stand idly by. I am going to see her punished with my own eyes."
"Very well, my lady," Shaid replied, her neutral expression returning. "But I insist that I accompany with you to make sure you are safe. I swore an oath to protect your family, and that includes you, Lady Bow."
"If you insist, Shaid." Bow said, floating back down to her maid's level. "Now then… shall we depart, Mario?"
A/N: So yeah, that's the end of that. As you can see, both Shaid and Lady Bow are accompanying Mario for this "Chapter" of the story. Partially because the actual "choice" between the two doesn't come until the end of the "Chapter", and partially so you'll get a better impression of their personalities and quirks. Anyways, I hope you liked it, and I'll see you on the next story.