Chapter eight: He Has Fury

(Unknown Location)

Daisy looked around the room she was in. She was still in the same room as before, but it was so dark that Daisy couldn't tell if there was anything familiar in it. The princess figured that if she could see something that looked familiar, she'd be able to figure out who was behind her kidnapping in the first place. Alas, it was still dark out, except for a light hanging above the door. But even that didn't help at all.

The brunette princess sighed. She had given up on trying to break free of the ropes holding her to the chair long ago, as her wrists were becoming sore. The only thing she could do is hope Luigi and the others could save her before this group of villains could get all of the Power Crystals.

"This is starting to become annoying." The dark figure growled as he paced around the room. "Five of my minions, eight if you count the other three Koopa Brothers, have gone up against this team, and they've all failed to bring even one of them down." He sighed. "Well, at least they've been collecting Power Crystals. That's the main thing."

The figure rubbed his chin. "Well, here's hoping that my next minion can do this."

Daisy started letting out muffled shouts at the figure. The figure turned around to face his bound captive and walked over to her.

"Did you say something, my dear?" The figure asked, peeling the tape from Daisy's mouth.

Smacking her lips a couple of times to get rid of the bad taste, Daisy glared up at the figure angrily. "Don't count on it!" She shouted. "From what I've heard, Luigi would do anything to save me! Your minion won't stand a chance!"

The figure turned away and walked away from the princess, deciding to leave the gag off of her mouth. "Don't be so sure, princess." He said. "My next minion has been training hard since meeting defeat at the hands of the Mario Bros."

"Hey, man who is my leader!" A short figure said as he floated into the room with something attached to his head. "Is sparkly thing that is not a Diamond where you have informed me it is?"

"Yes, now get going before Luigi and the others find the crystal." The figure ordered.

The short figure floated into the light, revealing a short, green creature with glasses and a red cloak with a strange mechanical device on his head. "Have not any fear, man who is my leader!" Fawful laughed. "I have resentment against the green man that isn't Mario!"

Daisy raised an eyebrow. Luigi had never told her of this guy, and she was beginning to understand why.

(Yoshi's Island)

"Toadette, I'm so sorry for putting you in danger like that." Toad said as he and Toadette followed the team away from the spot where Fice T had defeated Congo Quint. "If I had known that the crystal I gave you was something that these villains were looking for, I promise I wouldn't have given it to you."

"Toad, it isn't your fault." Toadette smiled. "You just saw it, thought it was beautiful and gave it to me. At first, I admit that it couldn't get any better, but when you were willing to take on that whole Shyguy Tribe for me while I ran to safety, it touched me when realized how much you really cared."

"But...I can't help but feel guilty about all this." Toad whispered as he looked at the ground.

"Oh, Toad." The female mushroom said as she hugged her boyfriend. "I felt honored when you did all that for me. I felt like a somebody, because I knew that someone cared for me. Toad, you're the best boyfriend any mushroom girl could have, and I feel so touched that you chose me."

Waluigi sighed, having heard the whole thing. "Mushy stuff is so disgusting." He said.

"Ah, save it." Goombaria said. "I happen to like romance."

"So where do we go now? We have no clue who could possibly be one of the explorers that found the original crystal." Melody said to the leader of the team.

Luigi shrugged. "I don't know, but something tells me we should ask Raphael."

(Big Tree)

"So you're thinking that I would be one of a group of explorers that found something called the 'Power Crystal'." Raphael said to the team.

"Yes." Melody nodded. "We must find the next crystal before this group of villains do."

Luigi continued. "These jerks have five out of five crystals already. Not only that, but they've also kidnapped Princess Daisy of Sarasaland. I don't know why they want her, but my team and I must locate the remaining crystals before the villains do."

Raphael stared into space for a few seconds, his eyes wider than usual. "You must travel to the Beanbean Kingdom to locate the next crystal. It's hidden deep within the castle sewer system." He said. "And you must hurry. I think I know why Princess Daisy was the target."

"Really?" Luigi asked. "Why?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you." Raphael shook his head. "Your time is short and the story is too long. Anyway, once you find the crystal in Beanbean, search for Lady Lima. She holds the location of the final crystal."

Everyone thanked the giant raven as they rushed off back towards Yoshi Village with Toad and Toadette in tow.

Soon, they arrived at Yoshi Village. After dropping Toad and Toadette off, the team rushed off again, down the beach to get back to Merlon in the quickest way possible.

The team ran along the beach, either avoiding the Jungle Fuzzies or kicking them aside.

When they finally reached Merlon, they saw the old wizard lying on top of a rock, sound asleep.

"Um...Merlon?" Luigi asked, poking Merlon.

The wizard suddenly shot into a sitting position. "Wha? Huh? The answer is seven!" He suddenly saw the team. "Oh, you're all back! Perfect! Now we can go back."

"Not so fast, Merlon." Sonar said. "We need you to warp us to the Beanbean Kingdom."

Merlon was silent. "So Raphael has told you about the next crystal?" He asked. The team nodded. "Very well. I'll have the bunch of you in the Beanbean Kingdom in no time."

Nodding once, Merlon summoned a bunch of lights, which surrounded the team, making them all vanish into thin air.

(Beanbean Fields)

Luigi looked around once the white light faded away. He wasn't surprised to find himself standing in Beanbean Fields rather than Yoshi Island. He was the only one on the team that didn't look around in awe, as he had been to Beanbean before.

"It looks surprisingly similar to the Mushroom Kingdom." Sonar observed as he looked around. "I never would've guessed."

"Well, we'd better get to the castle." Goombaria said. "The quicker we get there, the quicker we can find the crystal."

Everyone agreed as they ran off, again leaving Merlon behind, playing rock, paper, scissors with himself.

The team walked through the fields, towards the middle of the kingdom, where the castle was. It took them around five minutes, but they finally saw the castle come into view.

"Remember, don't be surprised if the guards have never heard of you." Luigi told Waluigi. "When I first came here, they had no clue who I was."

"Ouch."

As the team approached the gates of the castle town, the two guards saw them coming.

"Hey, look! It's...Uh...It's that...Uh...Guy." The first guard pointed out when he saw Luigi.

"Yeah...He came with Mario, I think...I believe his name was...Linguine or something." The second guard added.

"Luigi." Luigi said flatly.

"Geshuntiet." The first guard said. "So what is your business here?"

"We've come to look around the castle." Sonar said. "We have heard that there's a very dangerous crystal called the Power Crystal hidden below the castle in the sewer system."

The second guard jumped. "What? Oh, that's terrible! We must do something quickly!"

"The sewer system? That's so gross!" The first guard added.

"This Power Crystal must be found or our kingdom will be a target for some ruthless villains!"

The first guard stopped and looked at the second. "Psst...What's a Power Crystal?"

"Shh! No idea." The second guard replied.

The whole team fell facefirst to the ground.

(Beanbean Castle)

Luigi pushed open the doors to the castle and walked inside, the rest of the team following him. It didn't take too much talking to get the guards to allow them to pass.

"So where did you say this secret entrance to the sewer system was?" Melody asked.

"It should be right..." Luigi said as he walked over an area on the floor of the castle. "Here."

Everyone quickly jumped up and down on the area Luigi had said where the entrance was in an attempt to open the trapdoor.

However, unknown to everyone, a short figure stood in the shadows, holding a remote. Jamming a button on it, the remote opened the trapdoor from right under everyone's feet. Everyone quickly fell down, into the sewer system, as the figure stepped out of the shadows and walked over to the open trapdoor.

"Hahahahahahaha!" Fawful laughed. "Foolish humanoids and friends fell for the trap that was set by me, and are now within the perimeters of the system of the sewers!" Suddenly, his laughing stopped and his grin faded. "Is not the system of the sewers where the man that is my leader informed me where the shiny object that is not a Diamond was located?" He stood in silence for a few seconds as the trapdoor closed. "...Oh, crapiness!"

Without another word, Fawful turned around and charged off in the direction of the staircase leading to the sewers.

(Sewers)

Goombaria screamed as she fell down the long hole, falling straight towards the floor of the sewers system. And she would've hit the ground too, if there wasn't a pile of bodies directly below her. The Goomba girl bounced off the top of the pile and landed on the floor safely.

"What the heck?" Goombaria asked aloud as she turned to the pile of bodies, seeing everyone else in the team stacked up into a pile.

"Wow! That was fun!" Sonar said. "Can we do that again?"

"We need to get off of each other first." Waluigi moaned.

"If you'll remove your elbow from my stomach, then I'll get out of your way." Luigi said.

"Everyone...Please...Off now..." Fice T gasped for air from the bottom of the pile.

After everyone had gotten off of Fice T, they all stood straight and looked around. The water in the sewers flowed through pipes, leading outside the castle. The whole floor of the sewer system was actually amazingly dry. Dry enough for several Fighter Flies and Spinys to roam around. The gate leading to the next part of the sewer was closed.

"How do we get through there?" Melody asked, pointing at the gate.

"We defeat all of the enemies roaming around the area." Luigi explained. "Take whatever enemies you want, but Goombaria? Make sure that you only attack the Fighter Flies. You won't be able to defeat the Spinys with a headbonk."

Everyone agreed as they split up to take out the different enemies in the area.

With the power of Luigi's Thunderhand, Waluigi's dark fireballs, Melody's Firebrand, Fice T's spear, Sonar's brute strength and Goombaria's headbonk, the enemies scattered around the area were quickly defeated.

Luigi stomped down on the head of the final Fighter Fly, defeating it. He looked around at the rest of the team. "That's all of them." He explained.

"Wait." Sonar pointed out. "If that was the last of them, shouldn't the door open?"

Everyone looked at the gate blocking the way to the next room. Everyone saw that it was still closed.

Luigi rubbed his chin. "That's strange." He said, confused. "The gate should be open."

"But that must mean that there's still an enemy hanging around." Waluigi concluded.

"Opa!"

"Opa!"

Everyone looked up, in the direction of the voices. They saw two small, black figures soaring down from above, heading straight towards them.

"Oh, crap!" Fice T said when he saw that the two figures were coming straight at him. He ran to the side and allowed the figures to hit the ground. Once they hit the ground, the two figures started jumping in place.

The team took this time to look at the two newcomers. It was clear that they were Ninjis, judging by their looks and how they were jumping in place.

"Hallo, eveirybody!" The first Ninji greeted in a Swedish accent as he jumped in place. "I am beingk Sven tha Ninji, and thees ees by brather Ben!"

"Hallo!" The second Ninji added.

Waluigi sweatdropped. "Just when we thought the Shyguy Tribe was weird, we run into a couple of Swedish Ninjis."

"Ve have been vatchingk you guys dafeet our freends in thees room!" Ben said as he continued jumping. "Ve are not likingk thees!"

"Ve must eevenge our freends!" Sven exclaimed as he shot a stubby arm into the air. "Ve must dafeet thees teem of freend-dafeeters eef eet ees tha last theeng ve do!"

"I'll take these guys." Melody explained. "That talking is already starting to get on my nerves."

"Okay." Luigi nodded. "Just be careful and don't judge these guys because of how they act. Ninjis can be deadly."

Melody nodded as she stepped forward to face the two Ninjis.

[BATTLE: START]

[MINI-BOSS: SWEDISH NINJI BROTHERS – SVEN'S HEALTH: 3]

Before Melody had time to attack, the two Ninjis sprang high into the air and leaped towards opposite walls. Soon, both Swedes were bouncing all over the room. At first, melody thought that this would be a hard battle, but suddenly, both Ninjis stopped, both of them hanging on the different walls.

"Take THEES!" Sven shouted as he threw a ninja star at Melody. Ben did the same.

Melody's eyes sprang open as she leapt into the air to avoid the ninja stars. Luckily, the ninja stars struck the ground below her.

While in midair, Melody thrust her hand out at one of the Ninjis, firing a fireball. However, just as the fireball was about to strike the Ninji, a shield appeared in front of the Swede, blocking the shot.

"Your attacks are beingk puny against my sheeld!" Sven taunted as he continued zipping around the room.

Melody found herself looking up at the two Ninjis. "This is insane!" She thought. "I can't tell the two of them apart!" She narrowed her eyes. "I guess I'll just have to dish out everything on both of them and hope that I strike the right one."

Suddenly, Melody saw that the Ninjis had stopped again and were preparing to throw another star each. As quick as she could, Melody charged her Firebrand, and just as the Ninjis threw their ninja stars.

As Melody leapt over the ninja stars, she hurled the fully-charged fireball at one of the Ninjis, hoping that it was the right one.

Melody expected the Ninji to activate a shield like last time, but no shield appeared. The fireball struck the Ninji, sending him to the ground.

"Ben!" Sven cried as he leapt from the wall and rushed over to his brother's side.

Rather than attack, Melody rubbed her chin, trying to think of what had just happened. Sven had a shield, Ben didn't. The fireball that just struck Ben didn't register as a hit, yet it still sent him to the ground. Melody deduced that none of her attacks would hurt Ben, just stun him. That meant that she'd have to go for Sven to attack, but the strange shield posed a major problem.

In the meantime, Sven had snapped his brother out of the daze. Once Ben was back on his feet, both Ninjis ran at Melody and drew a Katana each.

Melody's eyes snapped open as she suddenly decided to run, as both Ninjis were swinging their respective Katanas at her. Melody leapt on top of a pipe and jumped backwards, flipping over the Ninjis at the same time. Melody continued running, as the Ninjis quickly noticed that they were no longer facing her.

Luckily, the running stopped. Both Ninjis sheathed their Katana and leapt into the air again, going back to the walls. As Melody looked around and the Ninjis, she decided to prepare ahead of time, charging her Firebrand before the Ninjis stopped.

Melody quickly noticed that the Ninji brothers had stopped and were preparing to throw the ninja stars. Melody quickly threw a fireball at one of the Ninjis, hoping that it was Ben.

Luckily, it was. The shield didn't activate and Ben was sent to the ground again.

"Brather!" Sven cried as he rushed to Ben's side.

Melody, decided to try something, charged towards Sven, pulled her foot back and landed a hard kick to the small figure's body, knocking him away. [HIT]

Sven grunted as he quickly got to his feet. "That vas a cheep shot!" He shouted at Melody. Ben quickly got to his feet as they both pulled a Katana from a holster on their back.

The former ghost quickly turned tail and ran from the oncoming Swedes. As much as the Ninjis tried to attack Melody, the girl was just to fast. Melody avoided the many swings the Ninjis were dishing out, but only narrowly. Both Ninjis suddenly sheathed their Katanas and leapt back to the walls.

Melody quickly charged her Firebrand and waited impatiently for the Ninjis to stop. When the Ninjis DID stop, Melody quickly threw a fireball at one of them, and just as the Ninjis threw the ninja stars.

The young woman leapt into the air to avoid the ninja stars and quickly looked at the Ninji she had just thrown the fireball at. She growled in frustration when she saw that she had just fired the fireball at Sven and not Ben, as the Ninji had activated a shield, blocking the attack. The Ninjis quickly got back to leaping all around the room.

As Melody charged the Firebrand for the second time, she kept a close eye on Sven, making sure that she threw the fireball at the other Ninji this time.

Once the Ninjis stopped, Melody quickly spun around and threw a fireball at the Ninji she predicted was Ben. Luckily, it was. The ball of embers struck Ben, sending him to the ground.

"Ben!" Sven cried as he rushed to the other Ninji's side.

As Sven shook his brother to snap him out of his daze, Melody rushed towards Sven and delivered another hard kick to the Swede, again knocking him away. [HIT]

"Oh..." Sven moaned as he stood up. "Thees not good, brather! Ve are losingk!"

Ben quickly shot to his feet and pulled out his Katana. Sven did the same. Both Ninjis ran at Melody, swinging their respective Katanas wildly in a blind attempt to kill her. Melody quickly turned and ran.

Melody found that these guys were trying harder to kill her now, as they were running much faster than the first time.

Melody ran towards the nearest wall and, much to the surprise of the rest of the team, ran up it several steps and flipped off of it, landing behind the Ninjis. She continued running, hoping that the Ninjis would stop soon.

Luckily, they did. Sheathing their Katanas again, the Ninjis leapt back towards the walls and started jumping around again.

While charging the Fireband again, Melody kept looking around, trying to decide which one she should throw the fireball at. When the Ninjis finally stopped jumping back and forth, they each threw a ninja star at Melody. Luckily, the former ghost had just enough time to send her fireball at a random Ninji, hoping that it was Ben.

Melody was half-expecting a shield to appear, but when the fireball struck the Ninji instead, she knew that she had thrown the fireball at the right Ninji.

"Ben!" Sven shouted as he rushed to his brother's side.

Taking her last chance, Melody ran at the distracted Sven and gave him another hard kick, sending him away. [HIT]

"Oh, vow..." Sven said as he slowly drifted into unconsciousness. "Look at all ze preety birdees..."

Melody jumped into the air and clapped her hands quickly a couple of times with a wide smile. "Swedish Ninjis. The author of this fanfic is REALLY running out of ideas."

[END BATTLE. MELODY WINS]

(Sewers)

Everyone watched as Melody walked away from the defeated bodies of the Swede Ninjis back towards the team.

"I'm impressed, Melody." Luigi said. "Those Ninjis didn't hit you once"

"Where did you learn those gymnastics moves?" Waluigi asked. "You ran up the wall and backflipped over those two."

"Mom and dad put me through a gym course before I became a ghost." Melody explained.

"To keep muggers away from you?" Sonar asked.

"No. To keep Mr. Luggs away from the fridge."

Everyone else looked at each other and shrugged.

"Hey, look!" Goombaria said as something caught her eye. "The gate's open!" Everyone turned to look at the gate and saw that it was, indeed, open.

"Let's get going!" Fice T said. "The sooner we find the crystal, the sooner we can get out of here!"

No one argued with the mushroom guard, as they all ran through the open gate.

The team continued going through the few rooms of the sewer system, defeating whatever enemies that were around. A couple of rooms through the sewer, the team came across a room without enemies, yet it had a locked gate in the room. It was also bigger than normal. On the far right of the room was a set of staircases leading up, back into the castle.

"The crystal must be in that room behind the gate!" Goombaria said excitedly.

"But there's no enemies around." Sonar said as he looked around. "How do we get in?"

"This way." Luigi said as he walked over to a control panel on the wall beside the gate. Activating his Thunderhand, Luigi generated a quick bolt of energy, which was enough to energize the control panel, opening the gate.

"Quick! Let's find the crystal before the villains do!" Luigi told the team.

Everyone quickly complied with Luigi's request as they all piled into the small room behind the gate.

Inside the room, there looked like there was nothing. It looked like just an empty room with nothing special to make it look different.

"Weird." Melody said as she scratched her head. "If there's nothing in here, then why was the gate blocking the room?"

"Because there IS something in here." Fice T said as he walked over to the far wall and started feeling around.

"Uh...What are you doing, Fice T?" Goombaria asked.

"Just a minute." Fice T said as he continued feeling around. Suddenly, he felt his hand sink into one of the bricks, pushing it back. "Aha! I found it!" He said in triumph as a section of the wall slid away, revealing a secret compartment. "There wouldn't be a locked gate blocking nothing for no reason. That usually means that there's a secret compartment somewhere."

As Fice T reached into the exposed compartment, the team gathered around him. When the mushroom guard pulled his hands out, everyone saw that he was now holding a sparkling crystal in his hand.

"The Power Crystal!" Melody gasped.

"Finally!" Luigi grinned. "We've beat the villains to the punch!"

"Oh, this scene is not anything that remotely resembles good!"

Everyone turned around to look at the owner of the voice, but Luigi already had a feeling on who it was. Everyone saw a short, green figure wearing glasses, dressed in a red cloak.

"You AGAIN?" Luigi moaned.

"Yes! It is I, man dressed in green that is the brother of the man that is Mario that I hate!" Fawful shouted.

Everyone except Luigi sweatdropped. "Who the heck is THIS wierdo?" Sonar asked.

"Fawful." Luigi explained. "Determined crony of the late Cackletta and master of Engrish."

"You have great knowledge of the one that is me, green man that isn't Mario." Fawful said. "But I have meaning of business in this perimeter. Hand that shiny object that isn't a Diamond over to the one that is me!"

"No way!" Luigi shouted.

"Then I shall require the need to beat you into the ground in order to obtain it." Fawful said.

"Not on my account!" Waluigi shouted. "No one beats up on the green twerp but ME!"

"Wow, saved and insulted at the same time." Luigi whispered to Melody. "Even MARIO'S not that fast."

Fawful smirked. "The strange man that needs a nose job and bares resemblance to that of a branch wishes to challenge the one that is me? So be it!"

Rearing back, Fawful sent a ball of light flying from the mouth of his headgear. The ball of light touched Waluigi, engulfing him and Fawful.

(Nth Dimension)

Even before the light cleared, Waluigi knew where he was going to end up. Looking around, Waluigi saw that he was indeed in the Nth Dimension. This time, the battle arena was a simple disk lying on its side.

"How original." Waluigi said sarcastically as he looked up. Fawful was floating around overhead.

"Are you feeling the emotion of fear yet, man that bares resemblance to that of a twig?" Fawful taunted.

"Afraid? Of you?" Waluigi asked. "Not a chance, buddy!"

"Maybe in after a short amount of time has transpired, you will!" Fawful laughed.

[BATTLE: START]

[BOSS: FAWFUL – HEALTH: 3]

"Fink-rat!" Fawful shouted as a ball of green energy was sent flying from the mouth of the machine on his head. Waluigi quickly dodged to the side, allowing the ball of energy to strike the stone platform.

"Fink-rat!" Fawful repeated as he fired another shot. Like the first, Waluigi easily avoided it.

"Fink-rat!" The strange creature shouted for a third time as he fired yet another shot from the machine on his head.

"That is starting to annoy me." Waluigi thought as he leaned t the side, avoiding the ball of energy. "He'd better start something new."

Waluigi expected Fawful to call him a fink-rat for a fourth time, but something new instead.

"You shall now be eating of THIS!"

Looking up, Waluigi saw Fawful swooping down at him, the mouth of the machine baring a sharp set of teeth. The dark plumber's eyes widened as he started fleeing from the incoming creature, whom was flying close to the ground to allow his machine to bite Waluigi.

Looking back, Waluigi saw that the machine's teeth were getting dangerously close. He started sweating. "Man! It's getting closer!" He thought. Out of desperateness and lack for a better plan, Waluigi started gathering energy in his right hand. "Here's hoping that this'll slow him down!"

When the energy in his hand had reached its peak potential, Waluigi quickly spun in place and flung his hand out at the machine's mouth, firing a ball of dark purple flames into it.

The dark fireball went straight into the mouth of the machine, suddenly making it stop. On closer inspection, Waluigi saw that the dark energy from the fireball was being contained in the machine's chamber. The mouth of the machine suddenly started couching as it malfunctioned. The machine suddenly rocketed into the air, Fawful still attached to it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Fawful screamed as he flew around the arena in all directions. "I HAVE MOTION-SICKNESS!"

Waluigi looked up as Fawful continued soaring around the arena. Suddenly, a light went on inside his head. Crouching low, Waluigi allowed his left fist to gather up some more energy and waited for Fawful to come along.

Once Fawful was overhead, Waluigi sprang up, his extra-long legs giving him more air. His left fist was engulfed in a ball of purple fire. Waluigi's powered-up fist landed a direct hit to Fawful's jaw as he was sailing by. The vertically-challenged creature was sent spinning in several midair cartwheels until he landed face first on the ground. [HIT]

"That shot that just struck the one that is me has the unfairness of being used by that of a cheater!" Fawful shouted as he jumped to his feet. The dark energy in the container was now gone. "I have fury!"

As Fawful regained control of the mechanism on his head, Waluigi thought. Out of pure luck, he had found out how to defeat Fawful. He would merely have to avoid the energy shots long enough to shot a fireball into the machine's mouth, and then deliver a flaming uppercut to finally do damage.

"I HAVE FURY!" Fawful shrieked, breaking Waluigi's chain of thought.

Again, Waluigi looked up. Fawful reared back in midair as the mouth of the machine started gathering up energy.

Suddenly, Fawful lunged forward, firing a steady beam of energy from the mouth of the machine. Waluigi's eyes sprang open as he started running away from the laser beam that was hitting the ground just behind his feet.

Looking down, Waluigi saw the laser starting to catch up on him, starting to hit the ground between his legs. "Oh, crap!" He thought. "I've gotta pick up the pace, or else I'm toast!"

Right then, much to Waluigi's relief, the laser beam stopped firing. Quickly turning around, Waluigi expected Fawful to start flying closer to the ground again, but that wasn't the case.

"Fink-rat!" Faful shouted as he fired a quick ball of energy from the machine on his head.

Waluigi quickly avoided the oncoming energy ball, as well as the two more that followed it.

"You shall now be eating of THIS!" Fawful shouted as he swooped closer to the ground, the teeth of his machine's mouth constantly snapping like a Chomp.

Waluigi quickly took the time he had to charge another fireball before Fawful got too close. Once it was fully-charged, Waluigi thrust his hand out again, firing the ball of dark flames into the machine's mouth.

Like before, the machine started coughing as the fireball's energy showed up in the container. Suddenly, it took to the air again, carrying poor Fawful with it.

"I SHALL BE DYING! I SHALL BE DYING!" Fawful screamed in terror. "I SHALL BECOME SICK! AND THEN I SHALL BE DYING!"

"Don't worry." Waluigi chuckled as he crouched low again. "I'll get ya down."

Just as Fawful was flying overhead, Waluigi sprang into the air again, his left fist covered in purple flames. Waluigi struck Fawful in the jaw again, sending the strange, grinning creature spinning until landing heavily on the ground. [HIT]

"Oy." Fawful moaned as he got to his feet. "That shall be leaving of a mark in the coming morning."

As soon as Fawful was on his feet, he activated the rockets on his machine to go full blast. The small creature was rocketed high into the air, much higher than ever before during the battle. Waluigi looked up at Fawful, whom was getting smaller by the second, wondering what he was planning.

He soon found out, as once he was at the peak of his jump, Fawful spun around in midair and started falling straight down, behind first, towards the arena floor.

Waluigi's eyes widened, realizing what Fawful was about to do. As quickly as he could, Waluigi started scrambling towards the other end of the arena, and just as Fawful came crashing down. Hard. So hard that the arena started tilting. Waluigi found himself scrambling upwards on a rapidly-increasing slope.

The purple plumber felt relieved when he felt the arena returning to normal. The arena fell back to its original position so fast that it launched Fawful into the air again. While in midair, the rockets on the machine activated again, allowing Fawful to hover over the battlefield again.

"You shall now be eating of THIS!" Fawful shouted.

Waluigi was expecting Fawful to start throwing balls of energy again rather than go straight to swooping down. As quick as he could, Waluigi charged up a final fireball before Fawful approached.

Once Fawful was close enough, Waluigi thrust his hand out, launching the dark embers straight into the mouth of the machine.

As the purple energy appeared in the container, the machine started coughing again. Suddenly, the rockets started backfiring again, sending the poor Beanbean creature straight into the air again.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Fawful screamed. "THIS IS NOT BECOMING THE EMOTION OF FUNNESS!"

As the watched Fawful fly around, Waluigi crouched low and prepared. Once Fawful flew overhead, Waluigi sprang high into the air, his fist wound up for a flaming uppercut. For the third and final time, the first scored a direct hit to Fawful's jaw, sending the rocket machine off his head. Fawful hit the ground again, this time for good. [HIT]

"Oooooohhhhh..." Fawful moaned as he drifted into unconsciousness. "That just reeks...Of the stench of...Impossibility..."

Brining his foot into the air, Waluigi slammed it down and laughed heartily. "I hope you realize that I understood next to nothing of what you said."

[END BATTLE. WALUIGI WINS]

Waluigi knew that Fawful didn't have the Power Crystal, so he simply waited until the white light blinded him again.

(Beanbean Castle)

When Waluigi could see again, he wasn't surprised to find himself back in the sewers of Beanbean Castle, the team surrounding him. Fawful lay aside, stars spinning around his head.

"Hey, Waluigi did it!" Goombaria said.

Before anyone could do anything else, they saw Fawful become surrounded in light before fading from sight, just like everyone before him.

"Hey, this is great!" Luigi said as he looked back at Fice T, who was still holding the bright crystal he had found. "We have one of the Power Crystals now!"

The mushroom guard nodded. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't hurry and find the last one."