Paper Mario Party (User Interactive)

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Grand Finale

"Remember my ingenious plan," Flavio reminded them. "Now we remove the paint can from the inside."

"And how the heck are we going to do that, exactly?" Mr L raised a brow. 

"Shut up. Listen to me for a sec here." Bombette spoke up. "We caused the problem by insulting something he'd worked so hard on, letting his guard down. We could try the opposite to see if we can bring him back." 

"Like... complimenting it...?" The Green Thunder gagged. "Yeah, no. I'd rather-"

"Game-over?" The Bob-Omb pointed towards the massive laser. 

"Yes."

"Whatever. Hey, red-hat, gimme a boost." 

Before Inky could do anything more with his giant death laser, a hat smacked him in the face - specifically, Flavio's feathered one. With a huff of annoyance, he stopped charging for a moment and prepared to speak - only to be interrupted by Bombette. 

"HEY! HUEY!" Standing on the tips of her shoes, the tiny pink girl screamed up at her opponent. "I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE SOMEWHERE! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR US! SO UH, THE PARTY! YEAH! THAT!"

"...what?" Inky raised a nonexistent brow.

"Ah, yes! The party! It was... good enough for Flavio to participate!" the young man underneath Bombette added, placing her back on the floor - and upside-down at that.

"What?" 

"Uh, you didn't suck THAT bad," Mr L added. The other two just stared at him before the Bob-Omb walked over and kicked him in the shins.

"And... you had, uh... listened to my honorable request...? There is some drama. Although this is a bit too much for Flavio," the Rogueportian continued.

"It was actually... pretty cool? You put a lot of work into it!" Bombette cheered.

"...hmph. Maybe that one part of it was a LITTLE enjoyable...." The masked man crossed his arms and looked away.

Inky shook his head violently, a few splatters of Dark Paint landing on the ground around him with a hiss. When he stopped, though, his eyes had changed. They weren't the slanted triangles the group had gotten used to - instead, a pair of bright ovals looked back.

"You... really don't hate it?" Without the scratchiness or echo of Inky's voice, they could easily hear the slightly choked-back voice from Huey. 

The three exchanged glances before Mr L grabbed Flavio and lifted him over his head, the Rogueportian holding Bombette up. In their exceedingly weird formation, the Bob-Omb began screaming. "YEAH! WE DEFINITELY DON'T! SO PLEASE, COME BACK!"

Blinking rapidly, the inkwell began to shake. Then two voices rung out, shouting at each other.

"Get back here, you little-"

"Let me go-"

"Don't you dare-"

"I think I WILL!"

With a loud popping noise and a flash of white, the Dark Paint receded into the floor as Huey tumbled down, alongside with the cape of black. After some quick encouragement, the paint can staggered up into the air and opened his lid. Faced with an angry paint can, a Bob-Omb, two... maybe humans and six unconscious blobs of paint, the Dark Paint entity simply floated in shock before Huey sucked it into himself. 

"Not bad for someone who was forced into fusing with it a few hours earlier," Mr L shrugged. "A fitting end, though. A pathetic fizzle-out trapping for a pathetic excuse for a villain."