Livi was very quickly turning into a very large problem.
It had been a rather peaceful ride in the plane on the way back to the castle, Mario and Peach keeping to themselves up front. Luigi and Kamek had quickly taken to each other, finding it much easier to talk to each other than to tolerate Livi's nonstop chattering. So, they had wound up pretending to listen to her ranting, tuning her out completely (she didn't notice) and talked to each other about nothing in particular for the majority of the trip.
But, of course, such peaceful occurrences could never last with Livi around.
As soon as the plane doors opened, Livi was gone. Luigi chased after her (Kamek having no choice but to follow), but the fangirl disappeared down an indoor pipe. After the other two jumped down, finding the pipe to lead to the castle sewers, Livi had already disappeared entirely.
Luigi and Kamek had been wandering around the sewers for quite a while, calling out for the troublesome young fangirl. Unfortunately, there had been no sign of her yet.
"Luigi…" Kamek moaned, leaning against the wall. "This is getting ridiculous… we've been down here for hours!"
"Well, we have to keep looking…" Luigi said. "We can't leave Livi alone down here… she might stumble into the warp zone."
"What if she's not even down here anymore? How do we know she didn't already go back upstairs?"
Suddenly, a loud scream sounded from another part of the sewers, not very far from where they were. Luigi smirked at Kamek. "That's how."
The two ran off down the corridors, following the screams as they continued to ring out, echoing off the hallways. Once, and only once, they saw a glimpse of the fangirl as she disappeared into a dead-end hallway. Luigi, knowing there was no way for her to escape, signaled to Kamek to slow down. The two ran in, much slower now, Luigi planning to catch Livi by surprise and drag her upstairs (which, he later explained, was really the only way of reasoning with her).
Suddenly, there was another scream, this one much louder, followed by a heavy thump, and Livi screaming out "Gotcha!!"
Luigi and Kamek exchanged a very confused glance, then crept around the last corner. At the end of the hallway, Livi was sitting on her knees on the floor, pinning something to the ground. All that was visible was a bright red cloak.
Luigi ran over to Livi, Kamek nervously following. "Livi? Are you alright?"
"What is that?" Kamek asked, gripping his wand firmly in reassurance.
Livi turned around, though still pinning the squirming cloak to the ground, and smiled ecstatically. "Oh, hey, guys! Omygosh, look who I found!!"
Before either Luigi or Kamek could say anything, Livi yanked the thing off the ground, grabbing it before it could get away. She hooked one arm firmly around its neck to hold it still, then grabbed the hood of the cloak (making it scream out in protest) and yanked it off. Luigi gasped in surprised, taking a reflexive step back.
"Fa… Fawful?" Luigi whispered.
The sewer-dweller was, indeed, the young bean. He struggled against Livi's grip, glaring up at Luigi from behind his thick glasses, though unable to say anything for Livi nearly suffocating him.
"Wait a minute… Livi, who is this?" Kamek asked, thoroughly confused at Luigi's obvious discomfort, and Livi's ecstatic smile.
Livi's death-grip turned to a tight hug as she pulled Fawful closer. "Kamek, this is Fawful… Fandom Number 3…"
A short while later, back upstairs in Livi's room, Luigi and Kamek were busy playing a video game together, trying to ignore Livi and Fawful. The two kids were currently rolling across the bed in a fist-fight, Fawful trying desperately to get away as Livi tried to figure out a way to keep him still. It was quickly becoming obvious that if she wanted his help in her journey, she was going to have to practically hold him prisoner.
The gamers jumped slightly at a loud thump, noticing Livi and Fawful had rolled off the bed and onto the floor. Fawful tried to run, but Livi grabbed the back of his cloak, yanking him back and nearly choking him, and the two were instantly at it again.
"Shouldn't we do something?" Kamek asked, cringing as they rolled past.
"Nah…" Luigi waved him off, not looking the least bit worried. "Fawful's harmless… he doesn't have any of his weapons with him, so he shouldn't be able to hurt Livi…"
"And what about the fangirl?" Kamek asked, watching them closely now, distracted from the game. Fawful had given up on running, now more focused on winning the fight. "Do you think she could hurt Fawful?"
Luigi laughed. "You're kidding, right? Clearly, you've never seen Livi fight…"
"I take she's no good?" Kamek turned back around to face Luigi now.
"No good?" Luigi lowered his voice, not wanting Livi to hear, though he was still smiling. "She's pathetic. She couldn't stomp a Goomba to save her life…"
Kamek laughed. "That bad, huh?"
"OW!!" Livi suddenly shrieked. Kamek and Luigi whipped around just in time to see Livi throw Fawful down on the ground. He shrieked in pain, groaning as he rubbed his sore head.
Luigi jumped up and yanked Livi back, his arms around her waist, before she could hit Fawful again. "Hey! Livi, calm down!"
"Don't tell me to calm down!!" Livi shrieked, still trying to grab Fawful, who backed away nervously until his back was against the wall.
"Livi, stop, you're going to seriously hurt him!"
"Heck yeah, I am!! That little freak bit me! Lookit!" With that, she stopped struggling, shoving her hand in Luigi's face. Indeed, there was a bright red bite mark on the back of her hand.
"What was I supposed to be doing?! She tried to have killing of me!!" Fawful screamed in protest.
Livi instantly forgot her previous troubles, squealing with delight. This was the first time since they had met—hours ago—that Fawful had spoken a single word. Luigi rolled his eyes at Livi, relieved she was feeling a tad less homicidal, while Kamek stared at Fawful, mouth hanging slightly open.
Fawful noticed Kamek staring at him, raising an eyebrow, and not looking very happy. "Whating?!" He finally snapped.
Kamek shook his head slightly, looking like he was thinking carefully, then turned around to Luigi and asked. "What did he say?"
Livi screamed again, running over to glomp Fawful, much to his displeasure. He started screaming at her in his broken English, trying desperately to squirm free, but to no avail.
Luigi ignored them, taking a seat on the bed, looking down at Kamek, who was still sitting on the floor. "Fawful speaks kinda… off…"
"I gathered… why is that?" Kamek asked, watching Livi swing Fawful around the room as she started ranting.
Luigi shrugged. "We don't know. I suppose he's been like that forever… we don't really know where it came from… Hey, Livi!" he called.
Livi suddenly stopped spinning, turning around to Luigi. She was still holding Fawful firmly around the waist, his arms pinned to his sides. "Yeah?"
"Ask Fawful why he talks like that…" Luigi said, smirking.
"Oh, ha ha ha, that is possessing hilariousness…" Fawful sneered, noticing that they had been making fun of his speech patterns.
"NO!!" Livi suddenly shrieked. "Then it won't be a mystery anymore!!"
"But, don't you want to know why he talks like that?" Luigi insisted.
Livi thought about that a moment, then she shook her head firmly, closing her eyes and hugging Fawful tighter. "Fawful is Fawful. He is how he is, and he always has been. End of story."
Luigi rolled his eyes. "But, that's no fun at all…" He said, sinking down to the fangirl's level.
"Well, too bad. The same concept goes for Dimentio." Kamek noticed that Luigi cringed a bit when Livi said that name. "Sure, I'd love to know his past, but then that would ruin the mystery, and there's no fun in that at all—OW!!"
Livi suddenly dropped Fawful as he sunk his teeth into her arm again. Livi jumped forward as he tried to run, narrowly missing and striking the ground face-first. Fawful laughed at her stupidity, then ran out the bedroom door.
"No, crap!!" Livi shrieked, looking very panicked. She jumped up, running after him. "Fawful, come back!!"
Luigi watched them go, then turned to Kamek. "So, yes, we know nothing about Fawful."
"I see…" Kamek mused, still trying to sort everything out. "Nothing at all?"
"Well…" Luigi leaned back on his hands, looking up at the ceiling. "We know that he was Cackletta's apprentice… he's from the Beanbean Kingdom… he helped Cackletta steal the Beanstar and Peach's voice to take over the world… and he talks funny. That's about it." The green-clad hero smiled down at the Magikoopa, finding it humorous how Kamek was vexing himself over something as insignificant as Fawful's past.
"Alright then…" Kamek sighed, giving up. All was silent for a while, then Kamek looked back up at Luigi and asked, "Who's Dimentio?"
Again, Kamek noticed the same reaction as before—Luigi cringed when he said the name, this time paling over slightly. "…wh-what?" he finally stammered.
"Who is Dimentio?" Kamek asked plainly. "You're obviously very unnerved to hear the name… who is he? And what is he to you?"
Luigi stared at Kamek a moment, then shook his head, looking away. "It doesn't matter…" he mumbled quietly. "It's all in the past… He doesn't matter anymore…"
Kamek noticed Luigi didn't seem to be talking to him anymore; more like he was attempting to re-assure himself. Sighing in defeat, the Magikoopa decided it would be best not to press the matter for now, but made a mental note to come back to it later—maybe even ask Livi if Luigi wouldn't talk.
Suddenly, the tension in the air was shattered as the fangirl burst back into the room, dragging Fawful with her by the hood of his cloak. She threw him roughly onto the floor, then turned and locked the door before he could get back up. As soon as he did get up, she seized him again, holding him tightly by the hood (which proved surprisingly effective for avoiding bites).
"So, what we talkin' 'bout?" Livi chirped, trying to hold Fawful still.
"Superstar Saga." Luigi lied, before Kamek had a chance to say anything.
"Omigosh, I love that game!" The fangirl squealed as she finally succeeded in scooping Fawful up in a tight hug.
"I know." Luigi said, smiling. He seemed back to normal, forgetting Dimentio for the time being. "You love every game we talk about."
"Oh, shut up!" Livi said. She finally gave up on holding Fawful still, instead simply throwing him back on the bed. Luigi got up and sat back down on the floor beside Kamek as Livi flopped onto the bed behind him.
Fawful quickly untangled himself from his cloak, pushing himself up. Livi gave him a warning glare, suddenly looking rather frightening. "You might as well give it up. You're staying, like it or not." She said firmly.
The beanish child considered the situation a moment, then growled under his breath, flopping back down beside Livi, giving up at last. Livi beamed ecstatically, realizing she had won, but at the same time, thinking it wasn't the best idea to flaunt a victory over someone as arrogant as Fawful.
"Have you beaten the game yet?" Kamek asked, trying to defend Luigi's case that they were talking about Superstar Saga. He noticed the hero shoot him a look of gratitude.
"Nah, I just got past Larry… soon as I can beat short-stuff here—" Livi gave Fawful a hard clap on the back, earning her a murderous glare. "—I go to the final battle! Bowletta and the Ghost of Cackletta!"
Fawful glared up at Livi when she brought up the final battle, but rather than arguing with her, he simply sighed and laid his head down on his crossed arms. Kamek thought that was a tad odd, considering how easily provoked he was. "Bowletta?" The Magikoopa inquired.
"Bowser possessed by the ghost of Cackletta." Luigi explained. Kamek saw Fawful bite his lower lip, looking away.
"Do I want to know what that is?" he asked.
"Knowing how much you respect Bowser, probably not."
Kamek smiled, almost amused. "Really now?"
"Omigosh, yes! He—she—it's friggin creepy, man!" Livi blurted out. Kamek noticed how she tripped over the gender of the beast, and immediately decided that Luigi was right—he was probably better off not knowing.
"This is possessing stupidness." Fawful suddenly said. Kamek noted that he was still avoiding eye contact. "Is there not something else we can be doing?"
"Oh, uh, lessee…" Livi thought, her eyes rolling up to the ceiling. "Oh! C'mere! I'll show you around the castle!"
Without waiting for a response, Livi jumped off the bed, grabbing Fawful's cloak and pulling him outside with her.
Luigi and Kamek had gone back to their game soon after the troublesome two had left. However, over three hours had since passed, and they still weren't back. Kamek saw no problem with this—better out bothering the castle toads than bothering them—but Luigi was getting very worried. Just as they were about to decide to go out and look for them, however, the door to the bedroom was suddenly flung open, the fangirl running inside and diving under the covers of her bed.
"Livi?" Luigi asked, surprised. He jumped up and ran over to her, yanking the covers off. "Livi, what happened to you?!"
Livi was staring up at Luigi, her eyes wide with fear, trembling violently as she gasped for breath. The fangirl's ratty brown hair had a few twigs and leaves caught in it, her shirt and jeans torn slightly. She was cut and bleeding in a few places, a few rather nasty scrapes on her hands and cheeks, looking like she had fallen and hit the ground face-first. The thing that puzzled Luigi the most, however, was a large bleeding mark running down her left leg, showing through the ripped denim—it looked almost like something had bitten her.
When Livi didn't say anything, just sat there shivering violently, Luigi sighed and sat down beside her, placing a gentle arm around her shoulders. "Shhh, Livi, it's okay… calm down… just tell me what happened, alright?"
"I… I d-don't…" Livi started to stammer, glancing around nervously. "Th-there was… it was a…"
Before Livi could actually say anything, Fawful entered the room. The fangirl shrieked as loud as she could, diving behind Luigi and covering her head with her arms. The bean, meanwhile, was rolling on the floor, howling with laughter at the sight of her.
"What?" Luigi snapped. "What's so funny?"
"The fangirl of the stupidness! She is possessing the hilarity!!" Fawful said between fits of his insane little giggles.
"That wasn't funny!" Livi shrieked. "You could have killed me!!"
"Exactly, I am saying!!" Fawful said, sitting upright to look at Livi. "That was being the point, as you have seeing!"
"SHUTTUP!!" Livi screamed.
"Livi, what happened?" Luigi asked again. "I thought you two were just looking around the castle?"
"We were!" Livi snapped. "But as soon as we got to the gardens, he decided it would be funny to use this on me!" The fangirl held up a hollow orb made of see-through red plastic. Upon seeing it, Fawful burst into laughter, Livi going as red as the orb with rage when she saw him do so.
Luigi gently took the orb from her, looking it over. He then gave Livi a very stunned, confused look. "He used a Pocket Chomp on you?" He asked in disbelief.
"Yes! I heard it pop open, spun around to see what he was doing, and the biggest friggin Chain Chomp I've ever friggin seen started chasin' me all over the place!"
Luigi gently stroked her hair to calm her down, removing a few stray leaves as he did. "And the scratches and bruises? How did you wind up with them?"
"Well, when I first saw the thing, I started runnin' and I hit that big stone wall out there and got this big knot on mah head and I needed to get away from it so I ran for the hedges and I forgot that they were spiky, thorny hedges so I ran straight through 'em and got all these scratches and I slipped on something I think a few stray leaves but anyways I rolled down this stony path and got all these bruises and then I tried to run back to the castle and then the Chain Chomp snuck up behind me and bit me on the leg and I ran back to the castle and thank GOODNESS it didn't follow me inside so I ran up here to come tell you guys that it was after me but don't worry I think it's gone now and… that's it." Livi explained, panting for breath at the end of her tale.
Kamek rolled his eyes. "And here I was worried I was going to miss Morton…"
"Oh, shuttup!" Livi snapped.
Luigi ignored her, smiling at Kamek. "Yeah, she does that a lot."
"I'm starting to pick up on that…" Kamek groaned.
"What is it being?" Fawful asked Livi, raising an eyebrow. The other two noticed that Livi was glaring murderously at him, saying nothing at all.
Finally, after a moment or two, Livi threw herself at Fawful, the beanish child barely dodging with a scream of surprise. They were soon rolling across the floor again, beating each other to death.
Kamek got out of their way, moving to sit on the bed with Luigi. He hugged his knees to his chest, watching both of them closely. "I'm starting to notice a patter with the fangirl…"
"Which is?" Luigi prompted.
"Yelling, spazzing, and violence, but mostly yelling."
Luigi laughed lightly. "Don't worry… you'll get used to it after a while…"
"I see…" Kamek said, still watching Livi and Fawful. Suddenly, he perked up, as if he had just realized something. Turning to face Luigi, he asked, "How long am I going to be held her prisoner?"
"You're not her—" Luigi was about to deny Kamek being forced to stay, then realized that he kind of was. He shrugged offhandedly. "However long she wants you here."
Kamek gave a low groan of disappointment, his head dropping down to his folded arms. Luigi just smiled, wrapping an arm around his shoulders in comfort as continued watching Livi and Fawful fight.
"Are you at least going to tell me who Dimentio is?" Kamek asked quietly, barely looking up.
Luigi didn't look at him. He was silent for a very long time, before whispering to him, "We'll see…"
Okay, am I crazy? There's a such thing as a Pocket Chomp, right?
Fandom count: 3
Left to find: 2
Whoo-hoo! This is fun! Isn't this fun?
Sorry, guys, I'm trying to keep the updates speedy. We don't have long to go now! :)