The time of the hour was unknown as there was no sky to indicate such a thing. This vast expanse of a cavern held a musty smell in the air; it was dark only to be lit by small crevices that let off a blue glow. The walls were moist and worn away with the rushing water that made its way down to a dark abyss. A loud roar could be heard throughout the caverns as multiple waterfalls flushed through the area. It was an underground sewage waste, all this human dump just flushing down the drain; it varied in what flooded through, most of it was always human garbage, old parts, empty boxes, bags, etc. There was a variation of other things among it too, a scatter of yellow flowers would pass by floating ever so delicately on the water only to fall daintily down the endless abyss. A large spiny turtle sifted through the murky water, disgusted when it touched his scales.
The sewers were bad but this, is a whole new level, he thought.
He was large in comparison to anything else, hoisted on his back was a green spiny shell with silver spikes jutting outwards. His underbelly was a tan, scaly color, with silver claws poking out of his hands and spiked collars decorating his body, he looked like a dragon/turtle hybrid. He held a menacing glare and a genuine smile, his hair was a dark red color. He was infamously known as Bowser, and he held the name and title with pride. He couldn't help it, mischievousness and conquering was in his nature. His love for power was like a child's addiction to sugar, he wanted it. He owned a kingdom, and not just a kingdom, but an army as well. His army was… Well it was mediocre at best, this he could admit to. None the less they got the job done, most of the time. He had a vast land that expanded for miles, but he wanted it to be bigger. His thirst for power would begin with taking over the neighboring kingdom, The Mushroom Kingdom. This, was not an easy task, as weak as the kingdom might be, there was always a mishap or an oversight on his part that lead to his defeat, every single time.
But this time, he assured himself, this time will be perfect.
Except for the one, tiny, miniscule oversight that always seemed to happen, he didn't know where he was. He had his plan mapped out in detail and reviewed it once more;
First priority was to fool the enemy, lay out a mock attack and make their guard go down, check.
Second, secure all the exit pipe systems as to prevent any form of escape, check.
Third, sneak attack the enemy, make them force surrender, not check.
Fouth, obtain their source of power, from there use the newfound power to crush remaining resistance of neighboring kingdoms, we're getting there.
Here he was on step three, and embarrassed to admit it, he was lost. Just a little while back he was sneaking through the pipe system, taking a less known route to the Mushroom Kingdom, the next thing he knew, he had somehow ended up in a barely lit underground cavern. This was the most perplexing to Bowser.
Maybe I took a wrong turn, or an incorrect pipe? He thought.
This expanse cavern was unfamiliar to him, never in his life had he seen something like this. Bowser stopped and looked back at his army, only a quarter of the original army was left, most of them were separated and lost on the journey. His current army consisted of ten green Koopas, five Goombas and Kamek who constantly kept grumbling to himself as he floated on his broom in the air. He was a magic Koopa, or a giant oversized turtle for those who might not know, dressed in a light blue robe, huge glasses and a small wizard's hat.
Bowser glared over, "What exactly are you mumbling about?"
Kamek stopped his grumbles and looked over to Bowser, surprised. "Ah! Sorry Sir Bowser, I just can't rattle my brain over how we ended in such a dump, I could've sworn we took the right pipe to the Mushroom Kingdom!" Kamek said.
Bowser grunted, this wasn't anything new, "Make yourself useful and just teleport us out of here, aren't you a wizard?"
Kamek shook his head, "I can't lug that much back to home! You've been eating too many of them cupcakes, lose some weight for Peach's sake!"
Bowser's eyes grew wide and he furrowed his brow and glared at Kamek, "Don't bring my weight into this! I'll have you know I have a strict exercise schedule, I don't just sit there all day and obsess over a sticker book collection!" he said in a coarse tone.
"Those are top of the line! You're just jealous you don't have a shiny sticker set like I do." Kamek mocked Bowser.
"You mean that meaningless childish collection? I'm so jealous that you're a hipster." Bowser said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes and looked over to the flower expanses that were scattered and varied from time to time.
These were different from the floating yellow flowers; they were blue and let off a soft glow. These blue flowers were rooted deep to the ground and seemed to be native to this cavern. Sometimes a huge blue cluster of flowers would appear, other times there would just be one. They seem to whisper and echo things, most of the time nonsense.
Bowser shook his head as he sat down on a pile of garbage, "So much for my perfect plan, I'd rather be home stuck in a cat costume then be in this stupid cave."
Kamek laughed "That was a riot! I- I mean terribly horrifying, never should happen again boss!"
Bowser glared at Kamek, he preferred the cat incident in the Sprixie Kingdom to remain taboo.
"Alright, if you can't whisk us back, whisk yourself then, get a crew and come back to rescue me. Whatever you do, we can't let Mario, or anyone else from the Mushroom Kingdom, know! The last thing I need is a plumber finding out I got lost on my way to overtake a kingdom," he insisted.
Kamek nodded his head quickly. He pulled out his wand and let out a shout, some sparkles shimmered from his wand and in an instant, he was gone. Bowser leaned back, looking around and surveying the area, he couldn't seem to tear his attention away from the flowers. The flowers in this cave had to be the oddest of sorts; he began listening to them taking notice at how some of them repeated sentences.
I wish I could see real stars, said a flower.
Bowser looked up to the ceiling of the caverns; he never took notice at how the glowing minerals mimicked the look of a starry night sky. How depressing it must be, I wonder who lives here he thought. Bowser realized that someone must have come by here on more than one occasion, or at least multiple people. Most of the flowers had different voices, indicating that it could be a colony at least. Not worth his time to destroy, it needed to be larger than a colony. He coughed and one of the flowers repeated his cough. He tilted his head. Bowser got up and leaned towards a flower,
"Mario stinks" he said.
The flower stopped and then began repeating what he said, over and over. Bowser laughed, he turned to another flower and did the same. Then he turned to one more flower, not noticing that it was a different colored flower, a yellow flower, rooted to the ground, and repeated the same thing. The flower didn't repeat his words.
"Wow golly! You must really hate this Mario huh?" said a voice.
Bowser stepped back, almost tripping on his tail.
"What, who said that?!" He looked around, realizing he was alone; the rest of his army was gone.
"Look back down silly!"
Bowser glanced at the direction of the voice, there was only a yellow flower and it held a grinning face.
"What is this, some sort of joke?" Bowser exclaimed annoyed. He couldn't believe his eyes.
"Howdy! I'm flowey. Flowey the flower!" said the seemingly talkative flower.
Bowser held a face of half disbelief and half confusion. This thing is talking to me, and responding. Have I gone off the deep end? He thought.
"Gee whiz, you must be so confused!" Flowey happily piqued.
Bowser stood over the flower, studying it "Well, this isn't the first time I've seen an animated flower... But a responsive one is definitely new."
He held is foot over the flower, debating if he should crush the apparent goody two shoes. He didn't want to deal with anyone currently as his frustration was welling up inside of him; his thoughts were focused on leaving the caverns.
"Whoa, whoa hold on a sec greenie! No need to get ahead of yourself heh-!" Flowey said as his smile faded quickly, he dug a few inches deep into the ground. "I was- going to offer some help, but since you're soooo inclined to be stuck here forever, I might as well make my merry way on my own-"
Bowser stopped and moved his foot back down, as much as he didn't like it, he was going to need the help of this flower to get out of this place, just temporarily.
"You know how to get out of this dump?! Tell me already!" he grumbled.
Flowey pushed himself up out of the ground, grinning "Oh noo, you seemed so fine on your own, you don't need my help, you and your- whatever crew seem to be doing just fine. Honestly it seems like they all ditched you- and now your all alone~" he said as he winked.
Bowser frowned, "I don't need those unreliable scums, I can take over an entire kingdom on my own, as long as that plumber and his annoying brother don't get in my way. If I just had the tools I needed, I could easily eradicate them and fulfill my quest for power."
Flowey's eyes grew wide as he chuckled, "Two annoying lameos in your way? I know that feeling, I'd be having loads of fun too if it wasn't for that smiley trashbag, and his annoying brother. Also not forgetting to mention the little brat who thinks playing the nice guy role can make everyone love her! If only I had the necessary tools..."
They both stopped and stared at each other. Bowser laughed and began to speak proudly, "You're just a flower. I doubt the bugs you talk about are bad. What are they, a pile of cockroaches? I could stop them easily."
Flowey gave an angry grin back, "Says the turtle who can't take care of a couple of plumbers!" he looked down to the ground, thinking before looking back up to Bowser.
"Sayyy how about you and I settle on a deal, I think I know a little something that can help you with your plumbing problem, but in exchange I need you to help me with an annoying child problem."
Bowser's face scrunched up. "Honestly you're asking for child's play. This power you say better be good," he let out a deep laugh of enjoyment. The feeling of being so close to a newfound power made Bowser exhilarated, he couldn't contain his excitement.
"Just keep in mind your not in your world anymore, the rules play differently here- much differently." Flowey said as he grinned, "Just take out the kid first and then I can do my stuff and you'll be swimming in power in no time!"
Flowey winked and then he dug into the ground and disappeared. Bowser stood there, thoughts racing. With a strange new ally he had a good feeling about- he knew this was going to be fantastic. He let out a loud laugh as he began to move forward again. He moved a few inches forward before pausing in his tracks.
"Wait a second, I still don't know how to get out of here!" Bowser shouted.