"I was so sure I was gonna win that time…," said Bowser as he gazed off into the distant sunset.
"Well, this 'Mario' does sound like someone pretty special if he was able to stop you from taking over the galaxy," she commented. Bowser sighed and took a heavy gulp of his wine.
"I bet if we played another round of tennis…but with the title of 'ruler of the mushroom kingdom' on the line, I'd crush him for sure." she chuckled at that.
"I'm sure you would!" The two shared a moment of silence before she changed the subject. "So tell me again. Who is this Princess Peach and what exactly is your relationship with her?" Bowser nearly coughed up his drink. That wasn't going to be easy to explain.
"Well, she…," Bowser began but was interrupted by the distant sound of a thump. "Did you hear that?" he asked.
"Hear what?" She replied.
"I thought I heard something just now…" Another thumping sound followed, although this one was slightly louder. "There it is again."
"I think you've had a bit too much to drink," she joked.
"I'm serious!" Bowser argued.
"I'm sure it's nothing," she replied calmly. The thumping sound repeated a third time. This time it was loud enough that Bowser knew what it was. He didn't say a word. He simply looked at her. She smirked playfully. "But if you're really so bothered by it, then why don't you wake up and go investigate?"
Bowser immediately jolted awake and sat up in his bed. He was back in the bedroom of his castle, which was eclipsed by the shadows of the night. It was just another dream… Bowser thought to himself. He nearly flew out of bed when he heard yet another thump. This time he knew for certain what it was, and he wasn't happy about it in the slightest.
Meanwhile upstairs, Bowser Jr. was hopping around his room excitedly. He was completely enthralled in his copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch his father had bought him a few days ago. This was the final lap. His identical on-screen counterpart dodged and weaved around banana peels and Koopa shells which chaotically populated the racetrack. Just one more victory and Junior would have completed all of the Grand Prix cups. Victory was so close the little Koopa could taste it!
Immediately, Bowser burst through the door. The sound startled Junior enough that his controller flew out of his hands and tumbled to the floor. Miraculously, it landed on the pause button; halting the game so that Bowser would have his son's undivided attention.
"Hey, brat! What're you doing in here!?" Bowser roared.
"Uhhh….nothin'…?" Junior lied.
"Oh really? Then I guess I must've just imagined the sound of you jumping up and down in here from downstairs, huh?"
"Yeah…m-maybe!" Bowser glared at the clock on the wall behind him.
"Junior, it's two hours past your bedtime!" Bowser complained, anger consistently flowing through his tone. "You get to bed this instant!"
"But Daaaad! I'm not tired!" Junior whined.
"You're gonna be tired when I drag your sorry butt outta bed first thing in the morning for the invasion of the Mushroom Kingdom tomorrow!"
"Do we have to do it tomorrow…?"
"Yes! I've been planning this scheme for two weeks now and I'm not gonna delay it just because you're too tired to wake up on time," Bowser declared. He sniffed the air. "And did you take a bath tonight like I asked you to do after dinner?"
"I…sorta forgot…," Junior confessed. Bowser rolled his eyes. He wasn't surprised by this in the slightest.
"Well, you're taking one before we leave tomorrow. Now get your little tail in bed right now!" Bowser ordered. "If I hear any more noise in here tonight, you're grounded!" Without waiting for Junior's acknowledgement, he slammed the bedroom door shut and stormed off. Defeated, Junior powered down his game console, turned off the light and climbed into bed. He was more tired than he thought, and Junior drifted off to sleep with bitter resentment towards his father. Stupid Dad. He never lets me have any fun…
Bowser slipped under the covers of his own bed and wasted no time falling back asleep. Before he knew it, he was back on the balcony with the woman he loved. Bowser sighed heavily and took another swig of his whine without uttering a word to her. She waited for Bowser to speak. When he didn't, she did so herself.
"Don't you think that was a little harsh?"
"What, that? It's what I call putting my foot down and being a parent," Bowser defended.
"Sure but…Bowser, he's only seven," she reasoned.
"Kids'll never do what you say if you don't remind them whose boss every now and then." Bowser was completely unfazed by her words. She placed her hands tenderly on the sides of the white rim of Bowser's shell.
"I know you're scared. But raising your son shouldn't always feel like a chore. You're supposed to love it too," she explained. Somehow Bowser believed she was right deep down. But he just couldn't bring himself to admit his agreement. He swallowed the sentiment.
"I would 'love' it if he would just listen to me when I ask him to do anything," Bowser replied.
"Do you give him enough reason to?" Bowser froze and looked at her. He didn't know how to answer that. "Junior has always had a little bit of a rebellious streak in him. It's just part of growing up. If I recall correctly, you were like that too when you were his age." Bowser sipped his wine and looked away.
"That was a long time ago…"
"Time has nothing to do with it, Bowser," she countered. "All I'm saying is that instead of holding Junior down and treating him like a problem…maybe you could show him you understand and care about how he feels?" Bowser snorted at that proposal.
"It's easy for you to say all of this," he blurted out.
"Why's that?"
"He's not your responsibility anymore." Bowser turned to her and gave her an icy glare. "You left me all alone to figure this out by myself."
Bowser woke up bright and early the following morning to begin putting his plans into action. He marched up the stairs to Junior's room, entered, and firmly shook his sleeping son as his hand nearly covered the little Koopa's entire spiked shell.
"Junior…," Bowser whispered. "Junior. Wake up," he commanded in a slightly louder tone. Junior shifted in his bed slightly, but didn't open his eyes or even acknowledge his father's presence. "You know what today is. Up and at 'em," Bowser continued. Junior groaned. "Get up and take a bath. I want you downstairs for breakfast in thirty minutes, got it?" Junior opened his eyes slightly and nodded. Bowser exited the bedroom. He knew his dad was right about him regretting being up so late the night before. Junior was exhausted. But he also knew he would get an earful of yelling if he went back to sleep. So the little Koopa wrestled with his blankets and climbed out of bed.
Junior stopped en route to the bathroom when his foot kicked something on the floor. It was his Switch controller. Right where he dropped it last night. Instantly, Junior was reminded of the progress he lost by turning off the system. All that work for nothing. Suddenly, an idea lit up his mind. He looked at the clock on his wall. Thirty minutes is plenty of time, Junior thought.
Meanwhile in the dining hall, Bowser downed his third cup of coffee while waiting for the pancakes his Koopa chef was preparing in the kitchen behind him. He was reviewing plans for the troop formations in the invasion when his elderly assistant–Kammy Koopa–approached him.
"Good morning, your nastiness," she greeted pleasantly. Bowser grumbled but didn't say anything that sounded like actual words. Kammy frowned. "Are you alright, sire?" Bowser rubbed his hand across his face.
"Just a little tired," Bowser answered. "I didn't get enough sleep last night."
"I see…well, are you sure you want to go through with the plan today? Perhaps we should postpone it." Bowser glared at the small Koopa witch.
"Why does everyone keep suggesting that?" he complained aloud. "No, we're not cancelling. We're doing this today, got it?"
"Of course, your malevolence," Kammy obliged. "But you seem upset this morning…more so than usual. Is there something troubling you?" Bowser remained quiet as he shuffled through the documents scattered on the table around him. His meaty fingers stopped when they reached a letter that made him wince.
It was a note from the principal of Junior's school. He was reporting to the Koopa King that Junior was misbehaving in school; not listening to instructors, failing to complete assignments, and pulling pranks on the other students. Normally, Bowser of all people would approve of such activities; being the tyrannical Koopa dictator that he was. But even Bowser knew there was a time and place for acting out. Junior was the future heir to the throne. If he was going to be an effective strategist and a leader worth following someday, being educated to a certain extent was important. The fact that his son wasn't investing in his future at all didn't sit right with Bowser. But this letter only reminded him of all the other ways Junior was acting out recently.
"It's this kid of mine," Bowser answered Kammy at last. "I don't know what to do with him. He's causing trouble at school; more than he should be. He's staying up past his bedtime, not doing his chores like feeding the chain chomp or cleaning the castle's cannons. Last night I couldn't even get him to take a bath," Bowser explained. He cupped his claws around his eyes and hunched forward, releasing a heavy, stressful sigh. "What am I doing wrong?" Kammy placed a hand on Bowser's arm.
"There, there. Don't be so hard on yourself, sire," said Kammy. "It might not be anything you're doing that's wrong. Perhaps the young prince simply needs to develop responsibility on his own." Bowser wasn't convinced.
"The more I seem to yell and threaten him with punishment, the more troublesome he gets. I can't snap him into shaping up. I just don't get it." Kammy understood her superior's frustration, but didn't know how to comfort him. Truth be told, she wasn't used to seeing Bowser like this. He always acted so loud, proud and in control; never letting anything bring him down. Seeing the Koopa king out of his element like this was unsettling, to say the least. But Kammy had a feeling she knew the real reason why Bowser felt this way, and it wasn't because of Junior.
"You've been dreaming of her again, haven't you?" she gathered. Bowser's eyes widened as he sharply turned to the witch.
"What? No! Of course not. Don't be ridiculous," Bowser denied. This response only confirmed Kammy's suspicions. She didn't have to argue. She could tell just by looking into Bowser's eyes that he was lying and he knew he wasn't being very convincing. Bowser sighed and admitted an early defeat. "I don't know how she did it. She and the brat just always seemed to hit it off together in a way that I can't," said Bowser.
Kammy knew it. Bowser had been dreaming about his late wife again. Kammy had only ever heard stories about how close Bowser was with his wife, but the Koopa witch could tell that losing her to a fatal sickness had been devastating to Bowser. He was surely terrified that he was alone in raising Junior and heartbroken at losing the love of his life. There was also no telling what kind of effect having no mother was having on Junior. "Raising a kid is supposed to be a two-man job," Bowser rambled on. "How in the world she expected me to do this on my own, I'll never know…"
"Sire…perhaps you need to see a psychologist about this. It isn't healthy to dream about her as much as you do…"
"No way!" Bowser yelled for the first time all morning. "I'm not gonna sit there and listen to some crackpot try to tell me what's wrong with my head. It's my head. I know it better than anyone ever will!"
"But Bowser, your wife is gone. She has been for several years now and you're clearly still grieving. You need closure somehow."
"Maybe, but I'm doing it on my terms. No one else's. You know that." Bowser's plate of pancakes arrived before Kammy could say anything more. Bowser gathered all of the papers on the table and moved them aside to make room for his breakfast. But before he could eat, a thought had occurred to him that greatly upset him. It had been well over thirty minutes since he'd sat down at the table. Yet there was no sign of Junior. Bowser aggressively shoved back his chair and stomped out of the dining hall before Kammy could ask where he was going. But judging by the look on his face that she'd managed to catch a glimpse of, she knew this wouldn't end well.