Chapter One:
Long Live the King
Long before the birth of my lord, Bowser, his father, Bronx Koopa, ruled the Clan. He was a terrific sight to behold: His shell was black and his scales were of a darker tint than his son's, he always wore a silver helmet that allowed his hair to escape through the top, and the hair itself crowned his head with a fiery Mohawk. His bravery and prowess on the battlefield earned him the respect of his people and the fear of his enemies, so he was given an equally respectable/terrifying name: the Black Dragon. He also possessed a few traits lacking in his son: honor, commitment, and generosity, to name a few…
Ruling at his side was Nagiana, his loving wife. Her shell was a dazzling blue, her hair was a cascading fall of violet, and her eyes were rubies… Like Bronx, she was quite compassionate to those of poor fortune. Unlike her husband, however, she gravely despised war; whenever Bronx began discussing military strategy, she'd occupy her full attention with her children. There were two of them: Boom-Boom, a strapping young lad with a brown shell, unusually-muscular arms for his age, and a fourth birthday only a week away—and Bowser, who hadn't even hatched from his egg.
Age 15 at the time, I was still very naïve, yet my (please don't mind my bragging) prodigal talent with magic made me Chief Magikoopa – the youngest one to date, I might add. I wore the traditional blue-robe-and-hat uniform, and I had my glasses then, too. On that last exam I took, I had an accident which crippled my sight, hence the glasses… Oh, I'm rambling again. Let me get back to where we were.
It was that night—with Prince Boom-Boom's birthday a week off and Bowser's hatching at hand—that I was summoned to the throne room. The moon shown through the windows—us Koopas had not been banished to Dark World yet—and Nagiana stared sorrowfully at it. You see, the second war between the Koopa Clan and the Mushroom Kingdom (known then as the Mushroom Tribe) was well under way, and unlike the first, this one had taken a turn for the worse. The Mushroom forces had penetrated all the way to the Keep, and they were attempting to break down the drawbridge at this point. Bronx had grown frail over the years and Nagiana was never in any condition to fight.
He beckoned that I approached him, and I did so. He smiled to me and said, "It's good to see you, Kid." He then sighed, and continued heavy-heartedly. "You know we are going to lose, don't ya? This is our last stand." Bronx glanced over to Nagiana, his gaze returned to me, and commanded, "You, Kamek Koopa, will not engage the enemy."
"But Sire!" I began to object.
Bronx raised his hand and I reluctantly fell silent. What is he, mad? I thought to myself at the time. He's in no condition to fight, and besides, I got all this youth and power going for me. Why, I could turn the tide of this whole thing! I know I could!
My bitter thoughts were silenced as Bronx began to speak once more. "I need someone to look after Nagiana and my sons when this is all said and done. Now, I want you to take Boom-Boom and Bowser away from here. Those heartless Mushroom savages will likely kill them if they stay. Am I making myself clear?"
With a sigh, I told him I would. I then walked over to where Nagiana and the kids were. "I have… er… some very bad news to tell you," I began uneasily.
"We already talked about it, Bronx and I," she sighed, beginning to tear up in the eyes. She looked at me for a moment, the torchlight's interaction with her tears causing her irises to actually sparkle like rubies. She then looked away as if these circumstances were somehow my fault and sobbed softly, saying, "Boom-Boom, go with the nice man." Boom-Boom walked to my side, giving the grin of an innocent, ignorant child.
After an awkward moment of inertia, I let out a deep breath and said more firmly, "Your Majesty, the egg, too." Her head snapped in my direction a look of nigh-disgust on her face, as if she was, yet again, placing the blame of her misery on me. Her eyes shifted towards the floor, and her expression became that of guilt and of lost hope. Silently and gently, she placed the unborn son in my hands and turned away. I let out a depressing sigh of my own, looked down at Boom-Boom, and whispered, "Come, young master. We have a long way to go." Boom-Boom looked perplexed by the whole situation, but he seemed happy to follow when I began heading for the door. As I reached for the door handle, it flung open. The egg went soaring through the air as I was slammed into the wall on the right of the door from the throne's point of view.
Boom-Boom caught the egg with ease as one of our guards shouted, "Bronx, sir, the enemy has penetrated our walls and are pouring in! They'll be here any minu-" The guard was stabbed in the back of the neck by an intruder, and little Toads poured into the room. Most of them had spears, but the one presumed to be their leader carried an impressively long sword for his size. I signaled for Boom-Boom to get behind me, and he did so quickly.
Toadifis Shroomsky… I will never forget that name. Now, he is first in line to become the Princess's steward after that Toadsworth retires, but then he was a mighty warrior. Simply referred to as "Toad" his allies, we mocked him with the name "Poison Shroom". But that was before the night I am recollecting for you now. Toad charged straight for his majesty, swinging that sword of his. Bronx hefted his familiar flail and charged the little demon. Nagiana, her sanity broken, rushed to her husband's aid. Boom-Boom and I watched in horror as Bronx and Nagiana were overwhelmed and slain by their mushroom-crowned nemeses. Boom-Boom handed me the egg, and the two of us moved slowly towards the door, but then Toadifis caught sight of us. We froze as the tiny warrior strolled over to us.
"Hello, turtle," he said mockingly once within sword's length of us. "S-st-stay back!" I stuttered in a poor attempt of defiance.
"Oh?" Toad grinned. He then turned his head back to his troops and shouted sarcastically, "We better be wary of this one, eh!" They all began laughing heartily at this. I wanted to teach that shrimp a lesson then, but I wouldn't endanger the lives of His Majesty's sons.
"I-I mean it!" I warned, scared out of my mind and my wand raised.
"Hey, we ain't lookin' for more trouble," Toad informed me unconvincingly, "but you lost this. Tell your little shell-shocked pals that, by decree of the Mushroom King, you and yer whole lousy Clan get banished to Dark World. Kapeesh?"
"D-D-Dark World!" I gasped in horror. Dark World was a place under ground only reachable by the warp pipe system or by traversing jagged cliffs and mountain ranges littered with volcanoes—I always preferred the first option. The few areas of Dark World on the surface were always veiled in eternal night, and the underground portions were always lit by the fires and magma flows that never died out. It was rumored to have a multitude of nightmarish monsters that preyed on all sorts of creatures.
Without a word, Toad and his party stole away into the night, leaving me to give all the bad news to my people…