Hmm… a short chapter, I guess.
Not much to say today…
…
Chapter ten: The chapter in which Fawful is hiding out.
He knew that Bowser's Paratroopas couldn't hope to catch up with him as long as his primary boosters held up.
What worried him, unfortunately, was the fact that the jet fuel he was using wasn't quite as effective as he'd hoped. His main boosters would only hold up for maybe an hour or so, then he'd have to use his slower secondary rockets.
It didn't help that he was lugging around a thrashing Princess and a load of gold.
He really didn't know where to go. He hadn't put any thought into it at all. All he knew was that he was leaving Bowser's castle and all the horrible people in it—although, inevitably, those horrible people would come after him…
He realized, after a while, that he was instinctively heading west, toward the Beanbean kingdom.
To home.
He couldn't go there, he knew. Too dangerous. He already had enough people chasing him, he didn't need more. But he couldn't turn around now…
He was over the Oho Ocean now. His primary rockets had broken down and his Headgear was automatically switching to auxiliary boosters. His speed was cut by at least half.
It wouldn't be long now. He had to think of something.
Maybe he could fight them off. After all, his Headgear's weapons systems were something to be feared.
"Headgear," he said, "Radar."
The Headgear produced a small screen, which positioned itself over Fawful's right eye. It made a few noises, showed a blank screen for a moment, then showed a few little dots.
And then a few more dots behind those dots.
And a whole lot more where those came from.
There goes that idea. He couldn't hope to fight off every one of them…
He looked around. Nothing but ocean as far as he could see. He looked at the radar. They were gaining on him, now. He looked down. Somehow, this portion of ocean looked familiar.
He grinned. He had an idea.
"I would be recommending that you have taking of a deep breath, Princess!" He said before plunging straight down.
"Wh-What!" She cried.
And they hit the water.
He zoomed down to the bottom. Sure enough, at the bedrock was a hole leading into an underwater cave.
This was where he fell after the castle exploded.
He went into the cave and turned off his rockets. He set himself and the Princess down on the seabed and looked around. He saw a tunnel a little ways off that might be worth exploring.
He looked back at the Princess to see she was practically turning blue. The look on her face amused him, and he let out a bubbly laugh.
"You may have breathing here, Princess!" He said, his voice garbled by the water but still understandable.
She looked confused, but was emboldened by the sight of Fawful being able to breathe underwater. She took a breath of the strange water, and was relieved to find that she was not going to drown. She sighed in relief.
Fawful looked upward, and saw the vague shadows of what were probably the Paratroopas passing by overhead. He grinned. The stupid things would never think to look down here.
He grabbed onto the rope around the Princess and started swimming toward the tunnel with the Princess in tow, turning on a flashlight imbedded in his Headgear as he swam through the dark waters.
Eventually he found a place where there was air. He remembered having flown by a small rock formation sticking out of the water, and this area must have been under it because it had a few holes that allowed air and moonlight through, which wouldn't be possible unless part of the ceiling poked out from under the water.
There was even an area of flat rock in the open air, just big enough to make a temporary living space. He pulled himself and the Princess out of the water, and walked in a circle to assess the place.
This seemed like as good a place as any to hide out. In fact, this was the perfect place to hide out—no one would find him here!
He found himself smiling wildly. And he could wait here and prepare, maybe sneak out to buy some things with the money he stole… things to build horrible weapons with! And when he was ready—and only then!—he would lure Mario to him… lure him to his doom!
He started laughing. Peach looked at him funny. Usually villains thought out loud to her before laughing. She couldn't tell if this made him more or less insane than the average captor.
And then, he continued thinking, he would obliterate Bowser's armies, and Bowser himself…. And that traitorous fink-rat Kamek!
"Kamek!" he screamed, pointing upwards symbolically, "You will have many regrets! How dare you have betraying of me!"
He was suddenly very angry. Cackletta never would have done that to him. Cackletta never did anything like that. The only people she betrayed were the good guys, which was okay because that was what she was supposed to do. She never turned her back on him. Cackletta would never…
"Never would have calling me 'guy of littleness,' either," he mumbled. "Stupid Bowser! 'Guy of little,' he had saying! Speaking to Fawful as if I was a child of youngness!" he had resumed yelling by now, and was now stomping his feet frustratedly into the rock, "I am not being a child! I am— I am—" he paused, thinking. How old was he? He never had bothered to keep track. Surely he was at least adolescent? "—I am NOT a child!" he said again.
He circled around furiously, trying to shake those unpleasant thoughts. It didn't matter, he assured himself. He'd destroy them all soon enough, and then…
… and then…
He blinked, and looked to the Princess.
"Excusing me," he said, "But how, exactly, does the kidnapping of the you equate to the conqueredness of the world?"
She thought about it for a moment, and shrugged. "I'm not sure. No one ever really got far enough to do anything other than kidnap me and rant about how they'll somehow take over the world."
Fawful sighed. "Perhaps maybe the Mushroom Kingdom would be wanting to let me be king in exchange for me not having the killing of you?"
"I don't think so," Peach said, "Usually when people try that, Mario comes and rescues me."
Fawful scoffed. "So when Mario is being out of the way, I am having a chance?"
Peach frowned, but didn't argue. There was no reasoning with villains.
Fawful crossed his arms, nodding. Okay, that seemed simple enough. Blowing things up would probably help too. And maybe he could execute a few high-ranking Mushroom Kingdom officials. Yeah, that sounded like a good plan.
He sat down, leaning against the rock wall. He'd best get to work as soon as possible, then. Of course, with the skies full of angry Paratroopas out looking for him, he'd also be better off waiting at least a few hours before he went out for supplies.
He yawned, tired. It had been a very long day. He could do with a good night's sleep about now…
He laid down, turning his Headgear's flashlight off.
He fell asleep quickly and dreamt of global conquest.