A Nutcracker and the Beast

A Boo watches the castle from afar, getting worried. He came to the Darklands as Mario just finished saving Peach with all the other gullible humans helping him as they carried him back home. At first, the Boo was happy, Mario got a good beating that showed that Bowser would get his revenge soon, and he just had to wait to see him leave.

However, after what he thought would be only a 2-day thing turned into 4, then a week to now. A whole 2 and a half weeks had passed, and he could tell this was bad. Bowser was quick to anger; that's how King Boo trained him to react to situations like this, and he has yet to act. The Boo knew that if he came back to King Boo without any good news, he was going to be dead again.

He needs something that could be good enough to bring back to King Boo since he can imagine that his not being back after only a few days has already upset him. He floated towards the castle, hoping to find anything useful. He wandered outside the castle, eavesdropping on the Koopas that were around; most were talking about other Koopa or how this harvest event was happening. He even got stressed when he couldn't go through the wall; it looked like the annoying Magikoopa finally got the time to enchant the whole castle, for ghosts couldn't just float in. He tried windows and doors, but it was the same thing, so he tried to look for open areas to see if he could enter that way; as he moved, he stopped when he heard a Koopas talking about a toy.

"That little guy has been really helpful, don't you think?" said a Koopa with a red shell and wings

"You mean that toy Junior was playing with? Doesn't it have a name?" asks another Koopa with a red shell but without wings.

"Yeah, but I've heard two different names...Greenie is the one I heard the most."

"Either way, he sure is helping us with the Kiddio. No more babysitting for us." which got the two to laugh. Were there two talking about who he thought it was? He needed to at least see if he could spot the toy before leaving. He looked through every window he could find, and just as he looked in one and was about to leave, he saw Junior. He looked back in the window and saw Junior dressed up in a green plumber outfit, and behind him was a tiny thing dressed up as a Koopa. That's when he noticed that the toy was a Nutcracker. He had found Luigi! That must be why Bowser hasn't done anything! The Boo quickly leaves to go back to Evershade Valley.

King Boo was annoyed as he drank some wine that Neville had Mr. Shiver brought in for the two. King Boo had these little meetings with the head of the mansions to see if there was any other problem in these godforsaken places. It went in one ear and out the other as Neville talked, not listening at all as his anger sat as he watched the other Boos playing jokes with one another. He watched them, and seeing how they were doing nothing but goofing around made it worse.

"That's enough," King Boo shouted, making everyone quiet.

"Is something wrong my King?" Neville asked

"You know exactly what's wrong. That Boo isn't back yet." Boo said, getting a refill in his glass, "where is he?!"

"Maybe it took longer than what we thought, we're not in a hu-" Neville said but cut himself off when he saw a new Boo come in. All the other Boos soon move to the side of the room to give the newcomer the center stage.

"Took you long enough!" King Boo said in anger, "where were you?"

"I'm sorry, my King. I was only doing as I was told by watching the castle for Bowser to leave. H-he never left." The Boo said. This left King Boo dumbfounded as Neville got up from his seat and floated toward the Boo to get away from King boo.

"AHHHH!" King Boo yelled angrily, throwing his glass of wine at the wall. All the Boos ran and hid at his anger as Neville stood in the center of the room. He had lost all his patience at the news of Bowser still in the Darklands; his plan backfired, and he didn't know why.

"Why didn't that Beast attack the Mushroom Kingdom?!" He yelled at Boo, who had hidden behind Neville as well.

"W-well I don't know" That wasn't a good answer as King Boo's crown started to glow. "I-I mean! Um, he was going to attack. I saw Koopas getting ready for an attack but stopped after 3 days."

"Why did they stop?!" King Boo hissed as he got closer

"Not to be rude, My King, but let the poor thing speak. I'm sure he has some kind of information on this or an idea at least." Neville said as he moved over to the wine on the table. He poured himself a glass for King Boo. King Boo took it and slammed it back in one gulp, waiting to see what the Boo had to say as Neville sipped his drink.

"I-I do! I overheard some of the Koopas talking about a new talking toy that the prince was playing with! A-and looking through one of the windows and I saw it! It was Luigi!" The Boo hurried to say; this caused Neville to spit out his wine.

"Luigi?" King Boo said as he was face to face with the tiny Boo, "YOU found MY Nutcracker?"

"Y-yes, he was playing with the little Koopa son of Bowser." Boo said as he stared into the purple-glowing eyes of his King.

"ALL OF YOU GET OUT!" King Boo yelled as all the Boo started to leave, even Neville, "but not you Neville."

Neville stopped in his tracks when he heard his name. He has to be careful with what happens next; if he gets caught that he was guilty of leaving Luigi in the Darkland, then it would be bad news for both of them. Once everyone was gone, it was just the two of them as King Boo got close to Neville.

"Care to explain why a simple Boo was able to find Luigi but," King Boo said as his crown glowed brightly; he soon blasted Neville as he hit the wall, "MY OWN RIGHT HAND MAN WAS ABSOLUTELY USELESS!"

Neville groaned as he tried to get back up, but he saw a glow surrounding him as he got pinned where he lay on the floor.

"My King, I know this look bad-"

"Looks bad? LOOKS BAD IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT!" King Boo said as he yelled at Neville. He sent another blast at Neville, causing him to scream in pain. "You lied to me.'

"I did no such thing!" Neville said as another wave of pain was sent at him, "I searched for your beloved nutcracker in that rotten castle but he wasn't there! He must have come when Mario did!"

But King Boo didn't believe him; there was no way that Luigi wasn't there last time if he managed to stop a mad Bowser. King Boo was going to get him to admit to his crimes. However, Neville wouldn't throw Luigi to the monster that wanted to hurt him. He had sided with him years ago and wasn't going to break that trust even if he had to act like a fool as well as get beat as one. King Boo kept at it, trying to get him to spill the beans, but Neville kept his fake innocents till King Boo called in his Boos to go get Nana. When she came in, King Boo made one last threat to him.

"Admit that you lied to me! Admit it or she goes back into the painting!"

"HA!" Nana laughs in his face, "You were already planning on doing that for when Luigi left. Blaming me for his escape. Neville my boy, I'm fine living in a painting, so whatever this false ruler wants then just give it to him."

Neville knew what she meant by that; she wanted him to lie to King Boo. His own mother wasn't afraid of King Boo, but he still needed to be his right-hand man and not break the false trust he had.

"I didn't see Luigi in the Darklands when we went," Neville said, keeping the same story. King boo turned to Nana and hit her with a blast, screaming as her body dislocated and morphed into a painting, hitting the ground with a thump.

"Take her to Luigi's Room! He'll be happy to see her again after we bring him home," He ordered the Boos as they did as told. King Boo then turns back to Neville, "Next time you fail me like this again; the rest of your family will be thrown into forgottenness."

King Boo soon started to leave, his anger still at its peak.

"Where are you going?" Neville asks as he tries to get up

"TO GET MY NUTCRACKER!" King Boo shouted as he floated through the door. All the ghosts got out of his way as he made his way down the hall.

I finally got you, Luigi. There's nowhere to run now. King Boo thought as he exited the mansion, heading towards the Darklands.