This is a long chapter guys! I am warning you now. It is also a very exciting chapter, so I hope these 6+ pages go by quickly because you will be hanging off your seat!
Enjoy! There'll probably be one more chapter, an epilogue or something like that.
…
Chapter nine: The chapter in which King Boo is fought and unexpected things are happening.
Fawful sat on the floor, leaning his back against a corner in the room. He sat there for the longest time and waited.
He thought they said that King Boo would be there faster than he said 'boo'? He said "boo" a few times. Nothing happened. He groaned.
They were doing this on purpose. He wouldn't be surprised if they were already there, invisible, just waiting for him to fall asleep…
He closed his eyes, sighing. He tried to keep himself calm. Clearly King Boo was trying to get Fawful nervous by making him wait so long, and Fawful refused to play into his hands like that. So he sat and waited, assuring himself that he had the Poltergust now, he knew how to use it, he'd taken out plenty of Boos already and he'd be able to defeat their King as well.
He felt a chill. He jumped to his feet and clutched the nozzle of the Poltergust, knowing that the ghost king was surely nearby.
Suddenly the room broke out into laughter, thousands of ghostly voices all chuckling at him. Fawful struggled to keep his heart from beating out of his chest as he stood there, looking as confident as he could manage.
"Have showing of yourself," Fawful said.
A countless amount of Boos appeared all at once. They all stared directly at him from every point in the room, obscuring the walls and the ceiling so that all Fawful could see was the floor and an envelope of ghosts surrounding him in every direction.
And then he appeared: King Boo himself, in the middle of the room. He was somewhat bigger than the other Boos, with a golden crown atop his head and a malicious grin on his face. His tongue stuck out of his mouth. He laughed as though the sight of Fawful with his little vacuum was the most amusing thing he had ever seen.
"I am knowing why you are in the place which is here," Fawful said. "You are not going to have ability to trap me in a picture of paintedness!"
The ghost king laughed harder, and finally spoke. "Sorry kid, but you're wrong. See, I can trap you in a painting, and that's exactly what I'm gonna do."
King Boo pointed forward his nub-arm, and bolts of lightning shot forth at Fawful. Fawful, however, wasn't bothered by this in the least; after all, he had spent his whole life as Cackletta's toady! One cannot survive for long as Cackletta's henchman without knowing how to dodge magic lightning. And so he nimbly dodged this simple attack, and then proceeded to switch on the Poltergust and pointed it at King Boo.
The ghost dodged the vacuum's suction and, quick as a flash, flew to the other end of the room. Fawful ran to get closer, but slowed down as another barrage of lightning came at him.
The other Boos in the room chuckled and giggled at Fawful as he dodged the attacks. Fawful huffed and, as soon as the lightning ceased, he pointed up to the ghosts and yelled. "Cease your giggles! I am trying to have concentration!"
That was the point at which a bolt struck Fawful. He flew backwards from the force of the blow, but managed to fire his rockets just enough to right himself and landed, clumsily, on his feet. He groaned, clutching his chest.
"Not being fair," Fawful said.
Fawful caught his breath and rushed forward at King Boo again, who just moved out of the way once more. Fawful wasn't going to give the ghost king another chance to attack, and he fired his rockets to chase after him. Turning on the Poltergust, he managed to catch King Boo in the Poltergust's suction. King Boo flailed for a moment before pulling away and moving out of range again.
King Boo raised his arm. Fawful readied himself to dodge more lightning bolts, but none came. Instead, all of the Boos in the room began to move. They encircled Fawful, speeding around him in a swirling mass. None attacked, but the constant motion around him was enough to make the poor little Bean dizzy. He tried to suck up the Boos, and though they were certainly close enough, they were moving too quickly and the vacuum couldn't keep a grip on them. Fawful tried shining the flashlight on them, but it didn't do much. This all made him very uneasy.
He could hear King Boo's voice from outside the vortex of Boos. "You know, kid, I'm the king of ghosts. All ghosts. Every ghost."
Fawful wasn't sure where King Boo was going with this. The wall of swirling Boos widened, so that now he could see King Boo, whose eyes were glowing red. Fawful wondered what in the world the ghost was doing, when out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of purple in the wall of Boos.
He looked over, but didn't see anything aside from the thousands of Boos. While he was distracted, a few Boos swooped down and hit Fawful before flying back into the swirling mass. Fawful fell over, but pulled himself back to his feet as quickly as he could, returning all attention to King Boo.
He saw the purple again, this time on the other side, just barely flashing by in his peripheral vision. He didn't look this time.
"I am not knowing what you are trying to do," Fawful yelled, "But you are not going to have the distracting of—"
And then he heard it.
A faint voice, hardly audible over the whirling and chuckling of the Boos, but he heard it. It rung in his ears, that familiar sound he had longed to hear for so long…
"…wful… Fawful…"
It was her. It was her voice.
He whirled around, searching the mass of ghosts. "Cackletta!" he screamed, "Cackletta, I have hearing!"
Some Boos swooped down and hit him again, knocking him over. He continued to search, trying to get up. "Cackletta! Where are you being?!"
The voice continued, but sounded farther away.
"… Fawful….. wful…… ul…"
"Cackletta! O great Cackletta!" He cried, "Have returning! Do not be leaving me again!"
More Boos came down at him. This time they didn't swoop away, but hit him hard and pinned him down. Fawful struggled. He lost his grip on the Poltergust's nozzle and had his hands pinned to the floor by little ghostly hands. He screamed and thrashed, but to no avail. They laughed harder than ever before at his plight.
"No! No! Be releasing me! Allow me to be seeing the great Cackletta! Let go! Let go!"
They started to drag him across the floor. He could, just barely, see a giant canvas, frame and all, waiting for him on the other side of the room. He screamed. "No! You ghosts of stupidness! Let go of the one who is me!" He tried to pull himself free, to no avail, "Cackletta! Where are you being?! Cackletta!!"
They continued to drag him along as he kicked and screamed and tried his hardest to grab the Poltergust's nozzle, but he couldn't manage it. He could hear King Boo laughing at him… laughing as though he had already won.
Fawful could feel tears stinging at his eyes. "Cackletta…"
He saw the purple flash past again. He thrashed harder. "Cackletta! Cackletta!!"
Her voice rang out. "What are you doing, letting them distract you with me?! I thought I taught you better than that!"
"I-I have apology, O great Cackletta, but—"
"You're perfectly capable of getting yourself out of this mess, so do it!"
"Y-Y-Yes, O great Cackletta!"
Fawful tried to think of something, still trying to pull out of the Boos' grips. He couldn't grab the nozzle. He realized he could reach his FuryZAP 9000, but what good would that do against the ghosts? And they were getting so close to that canvas, and…
The canvas!
He grabbed the FuryZAP 9000 and started firing wildly, scaring the Boos just enough to loosen their grip on him. He then proceeded to blast the canvas to shreds. While the Boos looked on in horror at what he had just done, he grabbed the Poltergust's nozzle and sucked up every one of the Boos near him. He jumped to his feet, holstering the FuryZAP and pointing the Poltergust at King Boo, who looked as though he was trying to hide how disconcerted he was. Fawful laughed.
"You thought you had the defeating of me! But it is now when the one who was almost defeated is striking back and defeating you!"
He switched on his jetpack and flew at King Boo, who fired several spells in Fawful's direction. Fawful dodged them with little difficulty. Some Boos came flying at him, but he spun in a neat little barrel roll, sucking up each one of them. He grinned to himself at the thought that Cackletta was there, that she would bear witness to his defeat of the king of Boos! He chuckled as he came upon King Boo and caught him in the Poltergust's suction. He tried to run away, but Fawful followed, not going to let his prey escape. Some more Boos came at him, and he momentarily took the nozzle away from the king to suck them up, before once again setting his sights on King Boo. He was glad he had done those upgrades to the Poltergust. Without them this would have been much more difficult. He continued to pull at the ghost king, until King Boo shot out a shockwave, knocking Fawful away.
Fawful hit the ground hard and rolled over a few times, but jumped to his feet quickly and grinned at the specter. King Boo was no longer so confident.
"Punk kid," a new canvas appeared behind the specter. "You're gettin' in this canvas. I don't care how much you scream and fight, but it's gonna happen."
"You are full of delusion!" Fawful laughed, "It is not I that will have trapping in the canvas, but you who will have trapping in this vacuum!"
A mass of Boos came at Fawful, but once again he sucked them up, not giving them the chance to pin him down again. He then shot off toward King Boo again, who ran in the opposite direction in an attempt to get away. More Boos attacked Fawful, meeting the same fate as the ones before them.
Fawful caught King Boo in the suction again. He could tell that he was beginning to wear the royal specter down by now, as his thrashings were more desperate and his spells were aimed more sloppily. Fawful noticed that the Boos that surrounded them had been slowing down in their circling, and eventually stopped, all staring as Fawful wore away at their leader.
King Boo motioned for more Boos to attack Fawful, but this time nothing happened. He looked up at his followers, panic overcoming his features.
"What's wrong with you all?! Attack him!"
The Boos hesitated. Finally, one called out, "You're on your own, boss!"
"We don't want to get stuck in that vacuum!" said another.
"Good luck, sire!"
And so all of the Boos turned and flew away, disappearing one by one.
King Boo was mortified.
Fawful laughed. "I have hilarity! All of your followers who may have been able to defeat me have turned and run like the cowardly cowards they are being!"
King Boo growled and shot magic of all kinds at Fawful; lightning, fire, ice—everything he had. Fawful dodged easily, laughing all the while.
Eventually King Boo stopped, frowning deeply.
"A million coins isn't worth this," he grumbled, "I'm out of here."
"Ah! There is no escaping now!" Fawful cried, flying forward and getting in King Boo's face. "You have had causing of me much paining and troubles, and I am not one to be letting anyone, not even the King who is Boo, have getting away with such things."
Fawful then jammed the Poltergust's nozzle against King Boo's forehead and flicked the switch. The ghost was sucked in, screaming all the while, leaving behind nothing but his crown, which clattered onto the wooden floor.
Fawful set himself down on the ground and picked up the crown. He placed it on his head; it was a little too big, but nevertheless he proceeded to dance around in it, pleased with himself. Soon enough he stopped, clutching his sides and mumbling a few "ouches" under his breath. He was terribly sore, and would probably be covered in bruises by the next day—but he didn't care. He had won!
He looked around, holding the crown on his head so it wouldn't droop down. He didn't see anything in the room except for the walls themselves.
"Cackletta?"
Nothing.
He paced around. "Cackletta? O great Cackletta? Did you have seeing?"
Still nothing. He started to feel panicked at the thought of her being gone once again. "Cackletta?! Where are you being?"
"Fawful."
He turned around and found a vague purple form floating a little way away. He felt a wave of relief wash over him.
"O great Cackletta! I had the fear that you were being gone again!"
"Stand up straight, Fawful! No wonder they got so many hits on you, with posture like that!"
"Y-Yes!" Fawful straightened his back. "But—but did you have seeing?"
"And look at you! I thought your cloak was tattered before… honestly, can't you take care of yourself without me?"
Fawful smiled nervously. "I have apology! I will have the acquisition of new clothings as soon as I am able! B-but… did you not have witnessing of my amazingness?"
She sighed. "Yes, Fawful."
"What are you thinking of it?"
She paused. "I'm quite pleased with you," there was another pause, "But tell me… how can you be so proficient in battle and not be ruling the world yet?"
Fawful faltered, pulling the crown down on his head in embarrassment. "Well—that is to be saying—er…"
Again she sighed. "No, I'm sure it's just a matter of time."
"I say to you yes!" Fawful spouted, "You are seeing, I have a brilliant base of operating, and I have had the building of many machines and the collecting of so many beans you would not believe the number and soon, so soon I will have my revengings!"
"Good," there was a length of silence, before finally she said. "You make me proud, Fawful."
Fawful was overcome by happiness. He couldn't find the words to express how glad he was.
"And you'd better continue making me proud," she said, slightly threateningly.
"Y-Yes, O great Cackletta!" he said.
She started to fade away.
"Cackletta!" Fawful cried. "I am not wanting to be alone again!"
"Stop blubbering," she said, "You've done well enough on your own so far, you can continue like that."
He bit down on his lip. "But…"
"We don't have a choice, here," she said. "Goodbye, Fawful."
She disappeared. Fawful sniffled.
"Goodbying, Cackletta…"