"A body racked with pain will exact Revenge to disguise the wounds infected by Confusion." –Rhah the Last Warlord

Vendetta: The Story of Midbus by Rhah the Last Warlord

Disclaimer: I don't own Midbus or a vast majority of characters that appear in this story. I wish I did, 'cause then I'd be rich…but I don't.

Plot: After being locked in prison for ten months, Midbus escapes…and he feels himself unraveling. Fragmented memories, strange new powers, powerful desires for violence…all of these things culminate in Midbus finding the answer to some simple, yet complicated questions: where did I come from…and where am I going?

Notes: Well, I noticed that there weren't any stories focusing on this awesome character from Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (well, not that I could see), so I decided I'd do one. Now, this story has some pretty dark overtones like most of my stories. It also has a heavy amount of violence. And of course, this story contains minor spoilers for the aforementioned game, so if you haven't finished it or you plan on playing it, think about that before you read this story. With that, enjoy.

Part I: Lusting for Power; Chapter I: The Starting Line

Ten months had passed in the Mushroom Kingdom after the Dark Star was seen to have destroyed itself. Fawful, the mad scientist who wanted to destroy the Kingdom with the Star, was nowhere to be found; he was presumed to be dead. Both Bowser's and Peach's castles had been repaired of damage that had been done and they both had agreed to a momentary truce until the Kingdom had settled down from the trouble caused by the blorbs and the Dark Star. Those ten months proved to be the time that the Kingdom needed seeing as everything was mostly returned to normal life. However, there was still one offshoot from Fawful's failed plans that still remained in the Kingdom…that offshoot was rotting in the deepest cell of the rarely used dungeon in Peach's castle.

He was a giant warthog (though also commonly referred to as a warthog/armadillo crossbreed) who was generally magenta colored all across his body, except for his belly area which was more of a pink color. His nose was pink and his muzzle was peach colored from which pearl white tusks protruded from. He had a shell-like coating over his entire back area that was a gold color and he also wore large braces on his wrists that were made of obsidian, a black crystal, and had silver rounded studs around their diameter. He had huge hands and muscles that spoke to his immense strength; each hand had four fingers and he had black talons on the three toes on his feet. Similarly, he had two black horns coming out of the very top of his head and he had black ridges running straight down his spine. The top of his head area was furrier than the rest of his body, but it had the appearance of being rolled back into a suitable hairstyle for him. His name? It was…

"Midbus. Here's today's meal." A prison guard said, as he tossed the pig a prison plate. Midbus looked up from his daydream and watched as the Toad guard started to walk away.

"I've been here for ten months…" Midbus started. He had been in prison long enough to refine his speech patterns, but not his attitude. "When do you bastards plan on letting me outta here?" The guard laughed at the pig's audacity.

"Let you out? Ha, ha! We'll get back to you on that." The guard laughed, as he walked away from the cell.

"…you're lucky you're on the other side of this gate…" Midbus growled.

He looked around the rather small cell that he was placed in; looking at the same walls for ten months straight had taken a toll on his mind and the lack of any real protein in the prison food that was given to him was slowly causing his body to deteriorate, especially considering that he refused to eat unless he was desperately hungry. He seemed more fat than muscular and he always had a tired, drained look in his ice-blue eyes. Those eyes…even though they were blue…there was no mistaking the empty, coldness that they embodied. The only one that wasn't ever afraid of or intimidated by those eyes was Midbus' former master, Fawful…he thought that the darkness that those eyes hid was "tasty". The pig lifted his slowly weakening body and strode over to the plate that was given to him; the slop that was on it disgusted him. In response to this, he picked it up and threw the stuff against a nearby wall.

"They expect this to be eaten…?" Midbus said, as he watched his "meal" slide down the wall like a sloppy pile of excrement.

He looked at the small window in his cell and forced himself to stand a few inches taller than he was so he could see the world outside. It was winter in the Mushroom Kingdom and there was snow on the ground from an earlier blizzard; from the looks of the clouds, it looked like there would be another coming soon. Midbus knew he had to get out of that cell; he couldn't possibly survive in there. He wished that he would have just been executed for treason or something; as far as anyone was concerned, he was from the Mushroom Kingdom and by working with Fawful to take it over, he may as well have committed treason. However, Princess Peach was opposed to the Death Penalty to anyone…something both Midbus and Bowser never quite understood. The result of this was that Midbus was to sit in a cell for who knew how long until he was released. For now though, Midbus thought he'd curl up near a wall and go to sleep…he had been sleeping a lot lately, usually twelve or more hours out of the day. Something was dying inside of him…was it his power?

-20:31 hours; that night-

The moon looked like a pearl in the sky that night, surrounded by that white dust…oh, yeah, those were called stars. Midbus lay in his cell, rubbing his stomach as it was continually growling and rumbling, cursing at him for not putting anything in it. He looked at the cell door in a forlorn manner…he wished he could somehow get a substantial meal. However, he was working out some kind of a way to escape this hell hole…he desperately needed it. He got up and walked over to the sink a few feet from him; the pig stared at it for a bit…and then kicked the sink bowl as hard as he could. It snapped off of the pipe that it was attached to and started to fall to the ground, but Midbus caught it just before it could make a sharp noise. In seconds, however, a sharp pain shot through his body.

Normally, he'd be able to do something like that with no drawback, but the lack of substantial nutrition weakened his strength and his ability to ignore mundane pain. He held back cries of pain and sat the sink gently on the floor, afterward ripping the curved pipe out of the wall (as best he could) until he had a long enough sample to accomplish what he was hoping to do. By now, Midbus knew that around this time, a guard usually walked by his cell…probably on night watch. He stood with his back to the bars and hid his weapon well, as the guard started to walk by just as he predicted. As soon as the guard was within a close enough distance of him, Midbus furiously stuck the pipe through the bars, wrapped it around the guard's neck and pulled him over as hard as he could.

Being caught off, well…guard, the Toad was easily forced in Midbus' direction and his head was smacked really hard against the metal bars, causing a severe wound that spilled blood. However, the only thing that Midbus was after was the key on his belt. The pig took the item and shoved it into the lock on the door, turning it and then opening the door…freedom.

"Sigh…luckily, or unluckily, my arms have shrunk due to your shitty food…" Midbus growled. He looked at the guard that was bleeding on the floor start to get up.

All at once, a foreign sensation took over Midbus and he picked up the guard with one hand and threw him against the wall on the other side of the cell. A blood splatter appeared on the wall and Midbus charged for him once more, ripping him off the wall and slamming him to the ground, causing rocks to erupt from the gravel floor…it seemed like his strength had recovered momentarily. The guard looked at the face that he had taunted earlier that day…something was different about Midbus. Something frightening…something…EVIL. His ice blue eyes flashed to a toxic green for a moment than changed back as Midbus roared in his face and proceeded to ferociously beat him. Screams were heard and blood splattered against the walls as Midbus continually shoved his fists into the guard, breaking bones and knocking out teeth as he did.

When the pig (or whatever was beating the helpless Toad) had his fill of savagery, he lifted himself from his victim. Midbus stared down at the Toad he had mercilessly assaulted and smirked at the blood and gore that was splattered along the floor. He slowly strode over to his victim's head and lifted his right foot over the head…and then brought it down with as much force as he could muster, causing the Toad's head to be completely destroyed and reduced to a mess of blood and gore. The pig closed his eyes and opened them in a few seconds, refreshing his mind of what he had done. He had never committed this level of violence before…at least, as far as he could remember, but it actually didn't bother him.

"Well…that's enough time spent here. More of 'em will probably show up once they realize that this guy's gone missing. I guess I should stop by the dinner hall to get something to eat…or maybe…" Midbus said.

He shrugged and raced down the hall as best as he could, considering his legs were quite short. He was praying that he wouldn't run into anymore guards; whatever euphoric strength had come over him minutes ago was gone and whatever he had was slowly waning. The door to the dungeon was straight ahead and Midbus used more of his waning power to shoulder charge straight through said door. He rolled as he made contact with the floor and dashed up the stairs, crashing through the door that came, shielding his eyes from the light of the main hall. Memories were coming to him…of taking over this castle with his Master. He stood for a few seconds until he heard a female yell; he looked up and Princess Peach was standing over the banister surrounded by guards.

"He's escaping! We can't let Midbus out into the Kingdom again!" Peach screamed.

"Shit…" Midbus muttered.

The pig wasted no time in crashing through the double doors and running down the long path, finally ending up in Toad Town. The cold weather and snow was daunting…especially without his transformation ability. However, the adrenaline running through his body was enough for him to continue to run from those who were chasing him. The pig ran through streets, leapt over vehicles and sometimes leaping on them, crushing roofs and hoods in as he made his way out of Toad Town. He could see the gates in the distance; he was going to escape…but then, a swarm of Toad guards blocked the gate and formed a horseshoe formation to stop Midbus. The pig stopped in his tracks, allowing the reality of his situation to sink in…the forlorn expression took his face quickly.

"Give up, Midbus. You are surrounded. You cannot escape!" One of the guards said through a bullhorn.

"Damn it…I can't let them capture me here…not again…not again!" Midbus thought to himself.

All at once, almost out of nowhere, pure rage came over Midbus. He did not want to let them capture him again…no more. He would not survive in prison. The pig kneeled down slightly…and he felt a dark shadow creep over his body. His eyes filled with a glowing green and he grit his teeth; a purple aura slowly rose from his body and looked like a huge fire plume. He brought his fists into the air and they started to radiate with the same aura.

"He's going to resist! Fire at will!" A Toad commander ordered.

Every guard in the formation whipped out the guns that they all held and started to rapidly fire at Midbus. Strangely enough, the bullets were having no realistic effect on the pig; the bullets seemed to just feed whatever aura was around him as it grew in size along with the aura around his hands. After a few minutes of this, Midbus let out a low growl and pushed his hands down toward the ground, palms first. His palms didn't actually hit the ground, but stopped just before touching the ground (about a foot above the ground); despite this, a shockwave rung out from the epicenter that was Midbus. It was a shockwave of an unknown force, yet all the same a familiar force. Any tall buildings within two miles of Midbus rocked because of whatever power he had mustered. Smaller houses either shook ferociously or collapsed under the sudden force and many cars simply exploded as they crackled with the energy that Midbus released. The guards were all shaken and tripped up as though an earthquake had occurred. Midbus took the chance to plow through the defensive line, but…

"What was that? Why did it leave me so…drained…? Whatever it was…I can't stop running. I have to get away from here…even if it…kills…me…" Midbus thought.

The pig had no energy but he kept moving. He eventually made it through the gates, not minding whatever screams he heard coming as a result of the chaos he caused. He disappeared from Toad Town and the news quickly spread: the last remnant of the Dark Star incident, Midbus, had escaped from prison.

End Chapter I, next chapter: Recovery

Rhah: I actually had this sitting on my computer for a while, but I'm posting here and now to garner interest.