This is the last chapter to this two-shot, obviously. I have nothing else to say for now.
So now, please enjoy…
"Flurrie! Flurrie! Flurrie!!!" Doopliss yelled, his voice echoing in the quiet, monochromatic Boggly Woods. Pale Piranhas, Clefts, and even the Punies from the Great Tree wondered who or what was creating the boisterous disturbance.
The white Duplighost spotted the wind actress' house on the far cliff beyond the Great Tree. Sighing in discontent, he moved on towards the Warp Pipe that lead to the cliff, ready to bear out the news that he was about to join forces with a psychotic jester. His body stealing abilities and current allegiance to no one particularly important had attracted Dimentio, seeing the Duplighost as a valuable asset for his plans for usurping the Chaos Heart and selling Demented as a side occupation. As he neared the gray Warp Pipe, he stopped upon hearing a voice addressed to him.
"Excuse me, mister, but are you looking for Madame Flurrie?" a small, timid voice asked. Doopliss searched around, discovering the squeak coming from next to his orange shoes. A small female Puni with a pink orb hanging off her antennae gazed upon him curiously.
"Uh, yeah. See, I'm a fellow actor of hers and I have some business to discuss with Madame Flurrie," Doopliss explained.
"Oh! Are you Flurrie's boyfriend?" the Puni asked. Doopliss' immaculate white sheet glowered a bright red. He stepped back uneasily.
"It's nothing like that, slick!" Doopliss stuttered, waving his arms in denial. "I-I'm just one to see her before I say au revoir for good!"
"For good? What kind of boyfriend are you?" the little Puni asked, tilting her small body to the side.
"Geez! Get off my case, you tiny insect thing!" Doopliss shouted, slowly shuffling towards the War Pipe. "I have no time to play, kid. Scram!" The Puni followed innocently, drawn to Doopliss' curious design.
"My name is Petuni! Not 'insect thing' or whatever it was you said!" the Puni retorted defensively. As she approached forward, Doopliss started to panic.
Just great… My life is in the hands of an insect thing, Doopliss thought, scowling to himself. As if Dimentio barging in on me during my 'me time' was bad enough, how am I supposed to get to get to Flurrie now?!
"Oh, Doopliss! How long does it take a Duplighost to say ciao to his love interest?" a familiar, haunting voice sang. As if on cue, an Italian opera-like theme played in the background, which was none other than the intermission of the Charming Magician. Dimentio had appeared above Doopliss and Petuni, disarming his invisibility with his unique warp animation. "I must say, good-byes are bittersweet like cherries floating in a mug of hot chocolate."
"Hey, Mr. Jester Person!" Petuni yelled suddenly. "Where'd you get such a cool theme song? It's very catchy!" Dimentio laughed his signature lighthearted laugh. Doopliss felt chills whenever he laughed.
"That, my dear Puni, is something you'll learn in the next life," Dimentio said, floating down to the ground. "I'm afraid I can't have you prolong the inevitable futures of both Doopliss and the fate of all worlds." He waved his hands in the air; a transparent box materialized and trapped Petuni.
The little Puni was frightened, trembling from her sudden capture. She saw the light of Boggly Woods reflect off the transparent box, signifying that there was no escape from whatever punishment the twisted jester had in mind.
"Wh-What are you doing to me?!" Petuni asked, quaking in horrified apprehension.
"It's time for the earliest final bow you've ever had, little one!" Dimentio exclaimed, raising his hand high in the air for position. "Cia—!"
"DIMENTIO!!" a shrill voice shouted in phenomenal fury. Dimentio's fingers froze in motion, right before they were about to snap and end Petuni's short game. He grinned to himself.
"This had been quite a magical day, wouldn't you agree, Mimi?" Dimentio asked, watching from the corner of his gleeful eye a dimensional square flip, revealing the vain green shape-shifter steaming her square head off.
"Whoa! Not good! The chick with the freaky, cracking head-spinning has returned!" Doopliss exclaimed, immediately diving into the Warp Pipe. He was immediately transported to the other side, to the cliff that supported Madame Flurrie's lavish house.
"Ah, Mimi! To what do I owe the pleasure of your simple-minded presence?" Dimentio asked, hovering lazily into the air. Mimi fumed, glaring at the carefree jester. His sadistic smile irritated her the most, always undermining her own pride.
"You know what I'm here for, you big meanie!" Mimi shouted, stamping her feet furiously on the monochromatic grass. "I want revenge for you stealing my diary yet again for your insane amusement and for giving me such a spanking back on Lineland Road before the sweet ol' Count came to my rescue!"
"So the Count himself did come to your aid after your downfall," Dimentio mused. "I was sure Nastasia would send that lovable oaf to pick you up from Lineland Road like a parent returning to a nursery. Naughty, naughty!"
"Uh, should I even be hearing this?" Petuni asked, forgetting about her predicament in Dimentio's explosive box. Dimentio and Mimi glanced at her. "I'm listening to things my big brother told me not to listen to until I'm older."
The supposed followers of Count Bleck ignored her pleas, resuming their umpteenth quarrel in a row. Dimentio loved toying with useless emotions, such as fury and confusion. Mimi, on the other hand, was plain mad.
"You are so going to get it now!" Mimi shouted, jumping and stomping on the ground. She had it. "Mimimimimimimimimimi!"
Mimi twisted her head to her right, noticeably making cracking sound from her neck. Eerie, suspenseful music played as she started the grotesque transformation into her true form. Dimentio floated to a safe distance, watching the transformation while pretending to read Mimi's open dairy in his hand as a mocking gesture. Petuni screamed from watching Mimi's horrible metamorphosis as the latter sprouted six thin spider legs from the sides of her head; Petuni's blood-curdling screams echoed within the box. After ten seconds, she had passed out from hysterical trauma, lying on the ground lifelessly as her pink orb limped by gravity.
"My revenge on you will be the sweetest of them all, Dimentio!" True Mimi shouted; her voice distorted with a devilish tone. "I will SO end your game! And when you think you're finally safe from me in the Underwhere, I'll end your game there again! Wha-pah! And again! And again! AND AGAIN!!!" Dimentio merely glanced at her, thinking that she might actually mean business this time around.
"I think I will leave Doopliss to his final performance in the theater while I deal with a live horror drama department," Dimentio said. "And thus I leave like aimless red leaves in the brisk autumn wind!" With a quick twirl of his stylized poncho, he warped away, out of sight from the Boggly Woods dimension.
"Oh no you don't, dummy!" True Mimi growled, calling out a large dimensional square to flip her to the dimension Dimentio fled into. Another game of "Hide-and-Go-End-a-Game" was on…
"Hey, Flurrie!" Doopliss hollered in front of the actress' house. "Madame, you in there? It's Doopliss!" There was no answer from inside the grand house. "O-kay! I'm-a coming inside unless you get your cloudy butt out here now!" There was still no response inside the quiet home.
With no other initiative left to depend on, Doopliss slowly turned the door knob. It was unlocked. The white Duplighost found it to be somewhat suspicious, but then again, not many people he met were the brightest out there. Flurrie did not seem to bright either, but she was an exceptional actress, which meant to Doopliss that she can be deceiving if she wanted to, at any time and at any place.
The time and place, however, was unexpected.
"… Oohh…"
"… Mother," Doopliss mumbled quietly in shock; his pointed eye holes widened. Flurrie was lying on her velvet red carpet, moaning in distress and in pain. She looked like she was about to slip into unconsciousness at any given moment.
"… D-Doopliss, dear? Is… that y-you?" she asked, weakly glancing towards the doorway. Doopliss quickly ran to her side, holding her head up.
"Flurrie, what is it?" Doopliss asked urgently. "What's wrong?" Flurrie reached for something underneath her puffy cloud body.
"H-Help… can't… open mayonnaise," Flurrie cried, holding the said jar in her grip. Doopliss glared at her, grimacing dully as he dropped her head.
"So I came all this way to say good-bye, just for a crazy plea to open mayonnaise?!" Doopliss shouted, outraged. Flurrie gasped disgustedly, holding her hand near her mouth in astonishment.
"How dare you talk that way to me, Doopliss! I'll have you know that this mayonnaise is used in a routine that gives me my ultimate complexion!" Flurrie explained, clasping her mayonnaise jar. "… Wait, what did you say about saying good-bye?"
"Ah, cripes," Doopliss grumbled, cursing within his mind. Flurrie hovered closer to him; the shine from her special ruby necklace reflected the grayscale light of the outside Boggly Woods onto Doopliss' forehead.
"Is there something you need to tell me, darling?" Flurrie asked.
"Please, for the love of Fawful, no pet names," Doopliss said, glowering, "I'm strangely having trouble saying good-bye as it is now."
"Why?"
"Ehhh," Doopliss groaned, unable to come up with the right words while twiddling his nonexistent fingers. What else could he say to one of Mario's former partners aside from helping a demented jester rule all worlds and sell perfume? "Oh! Speaking of which! Here…" He handed her a fresh bottle of Demented, by Dimentio. Flurrie examined it carefully.
"What's the perfume bottle in the shape of a colorful jester supposed to be?" Flurrie asked, examining it from top to bottom. Doopliss had to think on his feet, not wanting to distress her with the fact that his life now belonged to Dimentio, no telling what results could come from it.
"Uh, let's just say that, um, I owe a long-time pal and, uh, we're in the perfume selling business; yeah, that's it! We're in the perfume selling business," Doopliss explained; his face twitched. Flurrie glanced at him before trying out the perfume herself. One spray from Demented convinced her.
"My, my! What a mystical fragrance!" Flurrie exclaimed, sniffing upon the arm she tested Demented upon.
"My, um, friend did say that a guy or gal would receive some standing ovation when they enter a room," Doopliss said, looking away bashfully. His piercing red eyes softened from seeing Flurrie happy with the perfume fragrance. "Look, I did not want to say good-bye to you because I actually liked working in the theater biz, but I just don't have a choice in the matter. Flurrie, I—."
Flurrie pressed a finger upon Doopliss' mouth, quieting the fidgety Duplighost. She did not look angry or sad, nor did she look happy. What in the Overthere was she feeling anyway?
"Doopliss, just do what you have to do," she simply said. "The glitz and glamour will miss your dramatic presence, but whatever ails you, you must seek out whatever is necessary to fill your heart whole again. For me, it was getting back to stardom after traveling with that lovable hunk with the mustache and all his wonderful friends. And to think back then, you used to be a clueless enemy."
"Eh, right…"
Flurrie grabbed both sides of Doopliss' sheet that formed his arms, looking him straight in his bewildered red eyes.
"Doopliss, wherever you have to be, I beg of you to never forget me!" Flurrie requested, suddenly placing him in a powerful lip lock. The color of Doopliss' body sheet matched Flurrie's lipstick. Doopliss' muffled yells were hysterical, struggling to get away. As much as enjoyed smooching, he knew where his limits stood; before long, Flurrie ended her kiss. "So Doopliss… Oh, my…"
The sheet that covered Doopliss was gone in the wind, including both his party hat and blue bow tie. The only things left of the Duplighost were a pair of beady red eyes floating in the air and orange shoes on the ground. Flurrie looked below her and discovered Doopliss' sheet; it never really left after the strong kiss. An awkward moment of silence took hold of the house.
"Can I have my sheet back?" Doopliss' voice echoed in the house. "It's cold in here!"
"I must've given you a little bit too much sugar, more than you can handle from this bodacious charm of mine… Oopsie me!"
Somewhere in the Land of the Cragnons…
A playfully psychotic jester floated over two strange beings. One was an injured green girl, lying upon the dirt in shameful defeat. The other standing over her was a red-armored, muscle-bound warrior stripped of his will by a peculiar sprout on his bald head. The jester hovered towards the girl, wagging his finger tauntingly.
"Silly Mimi dearest, you should have heeded Nastasia's words and eaten your vegetables during mealtime to grow bigger, stronger, and greener," he mocked. "Unfortunately for you, a vegetable has eaten you in this case. Isn't that right, 'O'Cabbage'?"
"CAB-BAGE!" the brainwashed fighter roared, pounding his hulking chest furiously.
"Ah ha ha ha ha ha! I'll leave you two to finish the last minutes of your play date like two rambunctious siblings in a meaningless quarrel," the jester said. "Ciao!" With a quick snap of his fingers, he warped from the Cragnon dimension, continuing his business of stabilizing his only two henchmen.
A dark-hole glob was flung towards the bulky warrior, who was about to finish off the girl under the jester's orders. The projectile struck him at the back of his head, sucking him in and rendering him unconscious while forcibly removing the sprout from his head into its black void. The one who stopped the mind-controlled warrior glided towards the beaten girl, who could only help but smile from seeing him again. A dark, yet soothing and catchy theme song played, announcing his entrance into the scene.
"You're quite the center for dangerous attention, aren't you, Mimi?" the dark, cloaked man asked.
"G-Golly gee… C-Count!" the girl exclaimed weakly. "That stupid-head troublemaker… ow… is at it a-a-again!" The new figure pulled the rim of his top hat over his face, shaking his head in dissatisfaction. His velvet glove gripped his diamond-tipped cane tightly.
"This has gone far enough… said Count Bleck. No more will you suffer like this, by Dimentio's hands, any longer. So says Count Bleck! Bleh heh heh heh heh! BLECK!"
Well, I'll be working on other things after this, but I should be able to get back on track for my main plans.
If you would please review, it will be appreciated. I want to listen to your final thoughts about this two-shot.
Ciao!