"Look, I already told you; I ain't doing any more Rookie auditions. You're cut out for the gig, but I don't want any more trouble after the last few I took in." Popple dusted off his gloves before walking away, hoping the Lakapea he was talking to would understand.

He did not, however, and started hovering over the thief's shoulder, "That's not fair! How was I supposed to know you canceled the auditions? I stole a bunch of junk just for practice last week and almost got caught!" The Lakipea yelled, gesturing back to where the kingdom was.

"Win some lose some kid, that's just life. Now leave me alone." The bean shooed him off his shoulder and continued walking, but the Koopa still stayed, "Leave. Go. Go steal something besides my time, see," Popple said as the Lakapea stuck his tongue out and flew away.

Popple was a long way away from his base in Teehee Valley, he was kinda impressed that the Lakapea had found him pacing the Chucklehuck Woods trail. The trees were getting taller and taller, their oval leaves colored just right to create smiling faces. Some trees shook as a beanie ran by or some other creature fell from the leaves, bouncing and running about.

Despite the fun scenery, Popple kept his eyes focused ahead and on the compass, he stole a while back. It was pointing west, and eventually off the main path. The lighting got considerably darker once off the trail and the creaking and shaking of trees was multiplied tenfold. Every creature that ran past now got uncomfortably close and the thief had to quickly step out of the way multiple times so he wouldn't step on a pestnut spikes.

Eventually, he made it to the end of the woods, where the Oho Oasis shore wrapped around the kingdom to form a small sandy cove. He double-checked the compass before taking three big robotic steps to the right, ending up next to a palm tree. Out of his hammerspace came a shovel and he started digging.

And digging.

And digging.

He stopped once he realized he would be trapped in a cartoonish sand pit if he kept going. The thief hopped out and scratched his head, inspecting the hole, "I coulda sworn I hid that weird treasure map here…" he turned towards the shore, "Cripes, was it three steps to the right? Or three steps after or before the wo-"

"OUCH-! What in the…?!" The thief rubbed the back of his head where it now suddenly hurt. He quickly turned around but nothing was there besides sand, the woods, and a twig now sitting at his shoes. The thief grabbed it and shouted into the forest, "Hey! Who or whatever just shot this sticks' gonna be sorry, see! Now show yourself!"

Nothing happened so he demanded again; "I know ya there idiot, so quit hiding!" After a small pause, he grumbled and threw the stick back into the woods rather violently, turning to grab the shovel.

He felt the pain in his head again and saw the stick land beside him.

The Shadow thief, now fuming, spun around one last time, holding the shovel like a baseball bat, "QUIT IT BEFORE I GO IN THERE AND WALLOP YA, SEE!"

Nothing happened. He cautiously took a few steps closer, his grip on the shovel tightening as he heard a soft, eerie, buzzing sound.

Looking past a tree, he saw what he assumed was a hovering device of sorts with a red light at the top. It was shaped like a UFO but the colors looked too extraordinary with its green, blue, and white paint. It had a mechanical arm that was holding a stick, dangling it in a taunting fashion. The thief readied his weapon at the sight of the stick, "Oh ho, YOUR IN FOR A WORLD A HURT, SEE!" Before Popple could take a step forward, however, the drone flung the stick right at his face, causing the bean to lose balance for a second. The robot gave a robotic giggle before heading deeper into the forest. "HEY!" Popple called, "WE AIN'T DONE TILL I RIP OUT YOUR CIRCUITS, BOLT BUCKET!" He began giving chase to the drone as it sped threw the woods, holding the spade over his head like a giant flyswatter; ready to smack the flying bug when he caught up to it.

Unfortunately, he lost sight of the drone before he could. The thief looked around, realizing he was now lost. He slammed the shovel to the ground. "YOU STUPID THING!" He screamed, kicking what he thought was a large rock. He stepped back in surprise when he noticed it felt squishy instead of hard. "What the…?" The bean looked down at it, confused at its pitch-black, metallic look. He picked up the spade and gently tapped the thing's side, prompting it to flash two glowing blue eyes directly at the bean. The goo under the creature's eyes parted, revealing an unnerving, toothy, grin. The eyes still followed Popple as he fell back in alarm. He's witnessed many odd obscurities in the Beanbean Kingdom, but this was beyond weird.

"What are you supposed to be; some kinda ink creep?" He questioned, standing up and dusting his pants off.

Surprisingly, the creature spoke after glancing around, as if it had just woken up, "Fawful is not an 'ink creep' he is a Beanish creep who chortles at logic with the armor of plot, despite the body-lessness!"

Popple stared at him for a second, trying to wrack his head around what the heck that meant, "Did I kick you too hard or somethin'? Cause I understood three words in that sentence, drip."

"Do not call Fawful a leaky faucet, and how dare you call the great Fawful's perfect sentences imperfect! They were almost as perfect as the nut butter and jellyfish sandwiches!" Fawful hissed, "It is the uncultured oldness of you that has you not understanding and getting LOST"

The bean thief understood that part, "I AIN'T LOST, SEE! Some dumb flyin' thing made me lose track ova way outta here," Popple grumbled, grabbing for the compass in his pocket. "Least I gotta way ta get out, see ya sucker."

"HAVE THE HALT, YOU FINK-RAT! Do not leave the great Fawful to become reduced to moldy bread!" He spat.

Popple ignored him and began walking east, but before he could get two steps in, the drone from earlier flew right in his face, laughing in its usual robotic tone. Popple stepped back to where he was as Fawful perked up, "CK 1.75!?! Is that you?! Fawful has had the missing syndrome for you!"

Popple looked back in surprise, "You know this thing!?"

"Correct! I am Its creator! Come to Fawful my Fawfulcopyer!" The drone flew over to the ink-black blob as Popple watched in annoyance and disbelief, noticing a familiar thing in its mechanical arm. He had to do a double-take to make sure it wasn't just another stick.

"Wait a secon'-" he squinted at the paper rolled up tightly in its claw, "Yeah! Hey! That things mine, see! I was lookin' for it earlier, give it 'ere!"

The fawfulcopter scooted back, making several clicks, whistles, and whirls toward Fawful, who seemed to understand what it was saying. "That is the good idea.." the former Beanish said with an even bigger smile than before. The drone retracted his arm, putting the map inside a compartment, as two free hands came out, picking up Fawful.

"What's the big idea," Popple yelled, "what do ya think you're doing with my map, see?" The thief clenched his fists.

"If the dumb bean wants the map in 1.75's possession, then he will lead the way out of this forest! AND Help Fawful regain a body, yes?"

Unbeknownst to Fawful, CK 1.75 slowly revealed a laser gun, pointing it directly at Popple's hat. The bean's hands flew up, "Fine, ok! We're goin'" He looked at the compass and mumbled, "This way; Kingdom's due East-"

The fawfulcopter followed the thief, holding Fawful's head just below Popple's height. Popple trudged threw the undergrowth, grumbling while the robot skillfully maneuvered around branches and bushes, "Can't your drone thing just fly you outta the woods? Why you goin' the hard route and annoyin me with dat stupid buzzing bot?"

"CH 1.75 has the intelligence, not the strongness," Fawful replied, "You are neither. Only the idiot of foolishness gets lost in a forest this small of stature! But Fawful does not have a compass or outstanding sense of direction either, so you get the ugly pass."

Popple would've strangled Fawful right then and there if he had a neck, "Then how did you even end up in 'ere, gloopy?! What were you, blasted outta the kingdom or something unflattering like?"

"Yes! Exactly!" Fawful exclaimed, "It appears the bean of oldness does have crumbs acting as the functioning brain cells!"

"DATS IT"

Popple spun around and began yanking on the robots arms, causing Fawful to fall and the drone to instinctively try to shake the bean off, "GIVE ME BACK THE MAP YOU!" One more jerk to the right forced The shadow thief to let go, as the robot flew away with a distressed cry.

"You Fink-rat!" Fawful cartoonishly bounced to face Popple, "Fawful's favorite prototype became the banana split thanks to the actions of you!"

Popple couldn't clench his fists anymore, "Well call your stupid bot back!"

"Fawful's prototypes do not work in that way! Fink-rat!"

"Then how do you suppose I get my treasure map back, bozo!?"

"If you have the PATIENCE, 1.75 will come back to its favorite bean, which Is I, eventually!"

Popple took a deep breath as he rubbed his temples, "Fine, I can be patient, see. We'll get outta here, do whatever the heck you need to ta get your head back on a pair a legs, and then we go our separate ways after you give me my map back. That a done deal?"

"I say to you yes." Fawful without warning, jumped (somehow) towards the thief, who clumsily cought him, "Upward and onward, Fink-rat!"

"Yeah, no," Popple dropped him. "You can hop, come on, drippy" he continued walking where the compass led

"You are Even more of a Fink-rat then before! You mega fink-rat! Have the waiting-ness for Fawful!" The Bean hastily bounced behind the theif as the two made their way back into the kingdom.