As Phantom and Mario and friends split their ways, Phantom began wandering endlessly around the haunted maze-like entrails of Spooky Trails. Unsure of where to go, he merely drifts searching in vain.
He was completely lost and uncertain of where to go, there was practically nothing guiding him forward, leaving only but himself to trust. The ambient around him was starting to get to him, as he was still not used to it. Despite his ghastly frame, he felt not at ease.
At one point, he merely stops, not fully knowing what to do. Staring vacantly at the musky ground, he was starting to doubt himself.
"..."
"... What am I thinking?!" He huffed and puffed before recollecting himself. He was completely unsure of what to do but he didn't want to just stop.
"There has to be something out there... something to help me figure out who I am..."
After a bit more of wandering in vain, he comes across a seemingly large mansion, ridden in vines and musk, not too far from him. Its looming presence was far from welcoming and its exterior seemed to suggest it was abandoned a long time ago. Cobwebs resided in the corners of the windows, showing how unkempt it was. Due to its location, suspicions grew in him as he stared.
"... Should I really go there?" He muttered to himself. "There may be nothing there for me..." He soon thought. "... There's nothing here outside for me as well though..." He sighed as the wind grew stronger, as he felt a slight chill going through him, making him shiver ever so slightly.
Having only but himself to trust, he felt he was going nowhere with this.
"... I might as well..."
He slowly drifted towards the house, fully knowing of the chances of it being haunted or of people possibly living there. As soon he reached one of the mansion's doors, he realized that it was open.
"Hello?" He tried to check if there was anyone there. As the door was left wide open creaking, he tried to peek inside the house.
"... Anyone here?" He insisted, while trying to make sure if he could hear someone. There were no lights inside the mansion, only but the moonlight shimmering from the windows themselves. As he delved deeper into the darkness of the mansion, he realized something terrible.
"... It's getting too dark in here..." He soon realized that the darkness of the house was making him vulnerable. His lower half was no longer transparent and showing the once-clear gramophone, but instead revealing his full exterior, completely white with his skin-toned round mark in his belly. He knew he was no longer invulnerable. "... At this rate, I'm going to end up regretting this..." He stopped before a unknown room after crossing the hallway.
He suddenly heard a noise from the back room.
"Thunk!" It seemed like the mansion's doors closed shut, although he didn't spot anyone there.
"Who's there?!" He tried to prepare himself. "Show yourself!" He valiantly tried to show courage, even though sweat was still streaming from his forehead. He swore he heard giggles as he looked around searching someone in this place.
"Cowards! Show your face!" He kept insisting, pulling a brave facade. His face was drenched in fear regardless.
A rotund familiar shape suddenly appears from behind and reaches for his shoulder. The minute he felt it, a melodious shriek of terror came from the bottom of his throat. "Eeek!" He quickly turned around.
"Who did that?!" He quickly spotted a Boo before it quickly faded into the darkness.
"H-huh..." He tried to recollect himself before realizing another presence was near him.
"You!" A voice came from behind him. "Who are you? What are you doing inside our manor?" He turned around once more only to stumble upon another presence. He looked upon another Boo, except this one sported a crown instead and was much larger than any other than he has ever seen. It was none other than King Boo himself, the largest of all Boo and the king and leader of them all.
"What are your reasons for invading our house?" King Boo swiftly interrogated him.
"First of all, your house was wide open! Second of all, I've got no reason to give my reasons to you!" He quickly responded.
"Who left the front door open?!" King Boo furiously asked, while another Boo recoiled in fear in the back. "That's the third time this week!"
"But that's besides the point." King Boo quickly got to the point. "What I want to know is; who are you? What are you? What is your business around here?" He soon realized that the Phantom beared resemblance among his kind. He wasn't sure of what he was. He had the head of a rabbit, but body wise, he seemed to be a ghost.
"Not unless I get a proper introduction!" Phantom owed nothing to no one. "Hmf!"
"Aren't you sassy..." King Boo soon realized Phantom had no qualms in standing up against him. He soon felt his position at stake. "Very well then, I'll satisfy your needs. The name's King Boo." He properly introduced himself, further marking his own role. "Pleased to meet your acquaintance!" He grinned as Boos began to swarm all around them, giggling on their own. Phantom felt uneasy with the sudden number of them.
"They don't call me king for nothing, I'm the strongest and largest of all Boos, I'm treated as their Majesty." He grimaced, trying to mark his spot as the king. "We, the Boo, choose our own leader among ourselves and as such, they happened to pick me as their leader." "We happened to pick this mansion as our very own and as such, we live here in the vicinity, haunting these once happy trails."
"But let's cut to the chase, what brings you to our lair?" He pondered and politely asked. "More importantly, just what are you?" He couldn't help but be curious over the Phantom's mysterious guise.
"My name is Tom Phan, but you may feel free to call me Phantom for short." He gave away his properly given name, he might as well. "And I am a opera-singing Rabbid!" For some reason, he remembered Beep-O's words which stuck with him ever since. He wasn't sure why he said that, but maybe he felt more like a Rabbid than anything else.
"A Rabbid?" It was the first time King Boo ever heard such name. "What is... a Rabbid? A different kind of Boo?" Phantom was unsure of what he meant.
"What do you mean?" He asked in surprise.
"Well, I ask this because you seem like you are a spirit yourself!" He stared longingly at Phantom, wondering about the Phantom's lack of awareness.
"The nerve!" He felt insulted. "Not this again! I'll have you know, I'm alive and well!" He re-stated.
"Hee hee, what makes you say that?" King Boo almost musters a giggle upon such claim.
"Because I have a beating heart!" Phantom affirmed himself while showing himself under the light of the moonlight, leaving the shadow of the darkness inside the room. Having done so, his once-vulnerable state was now gone as his lower body gained its transparency back, showing the gramophone inside him beating to the rhythm of one. The Boos soon caught wind of this as they merely stared.
"... A beating heart?..." King Boo was caught in dismay over such sight.
"Hee hee... Hee hee hee..." He tried to hold his breath but in vain.
"Hee hee haa haa haa!" "Hoo hoo hoo!" King Boo soon caught himself guffawing at his claim, several Boos giggling with him. Surprisingly, some of the Boos were neither laughing or saying anything. They were merely staring at how different and yet similar the Phantom was compared to King Boo himself at a distance. Not even bringing into mention how big Phantom was compared to him.
"That's rich - a beating heart! Haa haa! That looks nothing like a heart! You call that a heart?" Hearing these words made the Phantom distressed.
"What do you know, you probably never even had one!" Phantom stood against him.
"You have a lot of nerve to say that!" King Boo inches towards him, as he sneers towards such claims. "So what if I never had one? What even makes a beating heart that much of a big deal?" He threatens the Phantom, filled with vanity.
The Phantom paused for a moment before he answered right to his face. "Because it allows me to live for myself and stand up on my own!" King Boo felt like he didn't even know what he was saying. From this point, thoughts drifted through King Boo's mind.
"... What..." King Boo had nothing but a pure look of apathy in his face.
"... Has this guy lost his marbles?!" King Boo was still trying to make sense of what he just said. To him, Phantom's words meant nothing. "Does he really expect me to sit here and lick my wounds with that sort of reply?!"
"W-wait..." King Boo soon realized something, jumping haphazardly into conclusions and trying to make of his intentions.
"... Is he trying to steal my place?!" King Boo soon made up a whole scheme on his head of Phantom possibly trying to steal his reign.
"He is, isn't he?!" King Boo soon thought of him as a usurper to his throne. "And he wants to take my Boo minions with him!"
"As if I'll let that happen!" He immediately strikes back, trying to come up with a plan to drive him away from his house or bring him down at least.
"You sure have a lot of gall to come up to MY place and invade MY property!" King Boo felt disgusted by him. "I no longer care what kind you are, I no longer want any of YOUR kind lurking around my palace!" The Boos felt betrayed as he claimed the house entirely his.
"YOUR property?! What about your servants, isn't this their place as well?!" He interrogated King Boo himself about the Boos.
"They own nothing! They oblige to my orders! No one else's but mine!" King Boo did not feel like taking any of his interrogations, making sure to affirm his position in front of everyone. "I'm the one who took them in, I treat them well enough as it is!" The Boos felt more and more unsure. Some of them were even interrogating each other.
"I've had just about enough with you..." King Boo bares his fangs, tongue out, ready to attack Phantom. "Let's see if your heart still beats long after ripping it out of you!" As King Boo was ready to strike, three Boos giggling caught Phantom off guard, trying to hold him from behind, exposing him to King Boo.
"W-what are you-?!" Just as he looked back towards the Boos and again towards King Boo, King Boo inched nearer with his fangs open wide.
"I'm going to rip that heart right out of your soul!" King Boo was salivating, eager to find out whether Phantom continued to live without it. Seeing his fate drawing near, Phantom didn't hold back. His life was at stake, as his eyes widened while King Boo approached, fear slowly creeping in.
He started to breathe in, trying to fill in as much as he could. The minute he could not hold it in any longer, he sang with all his might, not holding back. "Bwah-bwah-bwah-bwah-BWAAHHH!" He sang a high C, straight towards King Boo, catching him off guard, his vocal power allowing him to blast King Boo away with a projectile of pure sound waves, which made King Boo bounce all the way across the room.
"Gyaahh!" King Boo shouted as he was delivered the blow. Both the Phantom and the Boos recoiled from the amplified power of his voice against a bookshelf in the room, which trembled with the impact and made books scatter all over the floor, as they remained knocked over the floor.
"Ugh..." Phantom shortly gained consciousness of what just happened. He took a book off from the top of his head, as it happened to fall on him.
"Just great..." Phantom was still trying to recollect himself as he leaned in the bookshelf. The Boos that once held onto him were by his side, knocked out.
"... Are you okay?" He asked without realizing as he tried to reach for them. He stared at them as they laid hurt on the ground. He felt bad for them even though he barely knew them despite being forced to attack the only way he knew how. He tried to pick one of them to comfort them before he realized.
"..."
"... Why am I feeling bad for them?..."
He was holding a wounded Boo in his hands in a soft embrace. The Boo could only quietly whimper as he held it closer. Hearing the whimper made him feel torn apart and filled him with tremendous guilt. Something about it simply made him succumb and act more concerned than before.
"Uiunnn..." The small Boo's whimper even made his gramophone almost skip a beat.
"A-ah..." Phantom's voice trembled. He was worried about hurting the Boo further, even though he tried his best to gently hold it.
"... This is all my fault, isn't it..." He told himself, thinking they were better off if he had never entered their mansion.
"... I'm sorry..." He softly said while regretting all that he did.
From across the room, King Boo was clearly delivered damage, even though still not knocked out.
"Haaah! Gasp!" King Boo tried to catch his breath together as he tried to float haphazardly back into place. "W-what kind of attack was that?!" King Boo was caught off guard by him. "W-what sorcery is this?! Where did you come from?!"
Phantom didn't really feel like attacking him any further even though he still had to worry about King Boo striking again. He was still catching his breath after that long note. For some reason, he didn't want to let go of that Boo.
Whatever it was, King Boo didn't want to take none of it.
"That is IT! That was the last straw! My Boo minions! Take this peasant away!"
King Boo suddenly noticed their absence of action as they all stared at him.
"Hey!" King Boo shouted. "I'm talking to you! I told you to get this runt away from me!"
The Boos weren't taking any action whatsoever, they felt pressured by something.
"Have you gone deaf?! I'm speaking to you! - Take this THING and get rid of it!"
What King Boo didn't notice was that the Boos were staring at Phantom and the hurt Boos. Boos are usually tricksters, but they don't take lightly of any of their kind being hurt. This however, took them by surprise. They were looking straight at Phantom and the fact he was holding one of their kind as if it were one of his own. Meanwhile, their king was ordering them to take action post haste.
"Hey! Are you even listening to me?! Dispose of him - IMMEDIATELY!" King Boo was losing control of his anger, not even realizing what he was contributing to.
Albeit hesitant to take his orders, they slowly tried to reach Phantom.
"It's okay." Phantom spoke to the Boos. "I'll leave... You won't have to do anything... I know when I'm not wanted..." He felt remorseful over the hurt Boos more than anything, filled with great regret.
"Here - they need your help." Phantom merely tried to gently carry the Boos in his hands towards his friends. "I'm sorry I hurt them..." He felt overwhelming guilt for some reason. "I shouldn't even be here..."
King Boo soon took advantage of this. "That's it! LEAVE! You've caused nothing but trouble!" He was infuriated at this point. "You're nothing but a disgrace, intending to ruin what I've built! You're nothing but a freak of nature!"
Phantom soon left without saying another word, leaving only but King Boo and his servants in the mansion.
All that could be heard is the sound of the doors of the mansion locking behind him, as he came and left like a ghost, bearing the burden of knowing the consequences of his actions. It didn't take long for King Boo to take notice of this, as well as the rest of the Boos.
"Your Majesty?" One of the Boos tried to warn King Boo of the wounded ones. "Some of us got really hurt when they took your order..."
"So what?! What do you want me to do about it, kiss it on the forehead and tell them everything's gonna be alright?!" He frightened it as he still had his pent up rage, forcing the Boo to recoil in fear.
"B-but..." The Boo tried to calm him down, albeit in vain.
"Boo hoo! Put a band-aid in it!" King Boo was neither in the mood to help or collaborate.
The Boos soon realized what they had to do.
They all started looking to each other with a determined look on their faces. It almost seemed like they had a plan.
Apparently, this was already going on for quite a while.
"Your Majesty!" One of the Boos soared from the swarm.
"What do you want?" He breathed heavily as he stared down all of them.
"We've been thinking a whole lot lately - maybe it's about time we got rid of some things around the house!" The Boo suggested.
"Spring cleaning?" He pondered. "But it's the middle of Fall!" King Boo wasn't really understanding what was going on. "To be fair, the house is getting a little bit dusty... And some furniture is starting to pile!"
As Phantom was about to leave the front of the house and back into the crevices of Spooky Trails, he was suddenly caught off guard with a scream.
"Gyaaah!" King Boo was thrown out the doors and into the stone floor outside of the mansion, as he skidded through it.
"What is the meaning of this!?" He shouted, as he turned towards them.
"Huh?!" Phantom was rather astonished with all the uproar as he looked upon a King Boo just outside his own house, yelling at his own subordinates.
"We've decided to run you out of this house!" "Yeah!" The Boos cheered for the fall of their King. "We ain't taking more of your sassy mouth!" They giggled to each other.
"Well, at least give me my crown back!" He harshly replied. The Boos threw the crown at him, bouncing off from his head and into the ground afterwards.
"Hah!" King Boo guffawed. "Suckers! You've got no way to crown a new king now!"
"Joke's on you, we've got a better one!" The Boos laughed out loud. As they chuckled, they waved a bigger replica of his crown on their side, teasing their king with it.
"Wait, what?!" King Boo was at a loss for words, as even he didn't know about this crown's existence.
As King Boo was still trying to get a hold of things, a swarm of Boos ran past him without him even realizing. As he turned his head around as he trembled, he was yet to see their true intentions.
"GYAAAAAHHHH!" King Boo screamed from the top of his lungs as he watched Phantom being picked and hurrah'd by them.
"Wait, where are you taking me?!" The Phantom nervously questioned as the swarm tried to lift him and take him in.
"We're taking you in, of course!" The Boo cheered. "Yeah, we've had just about enough with him!" As they took him into the mansion, King Boo tried to scurry inside the house only for the door to be slammed shut in his face.
He screamed once more.
"GYAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Lucky were those who weren't near him to witness such a sound, as even the crows flew off from the dead trees unsettled by his shout. "Caw caw caw!"
"Open the doors! OPEN THE DOORS RIGHT THIS INSTANT - I COMMAND YOU TO!" King Boo haplessly tried to order around as he banged and slammed the door until it was opened. A Boo emerged from it only to stick his tongue out at him while pulling a eyelid down on him and close the door on him again.
"GYAAAAAHHHH!" King Boo shrieked as he continued to pound the mansion's doors.
"YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME - I'M YOUR MASTER - YOU WILL OBEY MY COMMANDS!" King Boo was demanding control over them, asking them to bid for him once more. All you could hear were the doors being hammered down by King Boo out of desperation.
"Hee hee hee hee hee!" As the Boos giggled and laughed inside, one approached Phantom.
"Mr. Phantom, this may seem unexpected, but can you please do that thing you did earlier?" The Boo politely asked, slightly tugging at his sleeve.
"Huh, what do you mean?" He was still trying to understand what was going on.
"You know, the thing! When you sang so high, you fended off our master!" The Boo begged.
"A-are you sure? I really hurt you back then..." Phantom nervously asked. He could still hear King Boo yelling just outside the door, making quite a ruckus.
"Yeah! Yeah!" They cheered, asking for a encore.
"Sing us another song, please!"
"H-huh, well, if you insist..." He wasn't sure about this, but it seemed like they were depending on him to blast King Boo away.
"Ahem..." He tried to ready himself.
As he tried to breath in and they cheered, King Boo could still be heard just outside the door while music coming from his gramophone was slowly building up, a small orchestrated track.
"Make sure to aim towards the door!" The Boos had no qualms on their intentions.
As they were about to get ready, King Boo was still just outside, begging for their attention.
"HEED MY ORDERS! OBEY MY RULES! YOU WILL REGRET THIS BETRAYAL FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES! I SHALL MAKE YOU PAY FOR EVERYTHING YOU HAVE DONE TO ME!"
Phantom could barely hold it in any longer, as King Boo kept pleading for his servants to serve him, he sang another high C to the climax of the music flowing deep from his gramophone.
"Bwah-bwah-bwah-bwah-BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
Stronger than his last, probably one of the strongest he has ever delivered, straight into the door, blasting the door wide open while impacting King Boo with his amplified sound waves. The floor rumbled with the strength of his waves, furniture and all.
"GYAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
King Boo screamed as he was blasted all the way through the sky, struck with melody that came from his gramophone. The amplified sound waves were too much to bear for King Boo as he was engulfed in it. The force was enough to send him far away, enough to hear his scream fade away as he distanced. Along with it, the force of the sound waves as well.
A twinkle was heard from afar.
The only sound you could hear was but of silence.
Peace could be heard once more, as King Boo was no more.
This was a quite lengthy chapter! But I'm not done yet! Next chapter's going to be even bigger. If you bothered reading this far, I commend you to it! But next chapter might be the point I might lose most of my readers and perhaps you as well - For I will attempt to make a approach for a more creepy and perhaps unsettling chapter, one that may or may not play out the way one would might expect. Alas, a approach to make the reader doubt the unknown and question even the author itself as to why it was exactly written in such a way. If you so wish to turn back now, then I bid you farewell and I'm already well content with the fact you've read this far. If you wish to continue, then proceed, as I have given my fair warning.
Anyway, any criticism is appreciated.