This Fanfic is based on "Super Mario Bros. The Movie"
Toad walked down the hall, looking for the throne room. Since Princess Daisy had turned almost everyone back into their original forms, Toad was no longer a Goomba, but he did tend to lapse into times where his mind worked like one. He couldn't remember where he was going. When his mind worked like a Goomba's, Toad would find himself wondering where the girl was and if she was okay, and if she was hungry at that time. He didn't know who this girl was or why he was concerned with her, but often he let it slip. He stopped at the doors to the throne room. He knocked.
"Enter," came the light voice of Princess Daisy. Toad opened the door.
"Hello, princess," Toad said cheerfully. "I don't seem to remember what I'm doing here."
"I called you here."
"Oh. That's right! What is your wish, Princess?"
"We're almost ready to evolve my father back into his original form." A goomba walked past Daisy, startling her and Toad. "Hello?" she asked. The goomba paid no heed. It barreled past Toad. "Toad! Follow that goomba!"
Daisy and Toad gave chase to the goomba, who was running through the halls of the complex at an incredible speed. The goomba stopped before a wall. Daisy and Toad caught up with and stared at the goomba. The goomba placed its hand against the wall. Toad instantly joined it. The wall swung in, opening to a hidden corridor. Toad and the goomba raced in at top speeds, Princess Daisy right behind them. The corridor was dark, but at the end there was a lit chamber.
Toad and the goomba stopped at the room, looking around. It was a cozy room, a bit warm, with books on shelves that lined the room, a red overstuffed chair in the center of the room, and an ottoman of the same description, over which a woolen blanket was thrown. On the far side of the room there was another dark passageway. Daisy caught up with Toad and the goomba.
She wondered what they were doing, just standing there. Then she heard a sound. It was heavy, raspy breathing, and footsteps, very soft, though very audible, as if the person making them was shuffling. Every once and a while the footsteps would stop, and a few minutes of some very bad sounding coughing were heard. The person making these noises finally came into view, on the far side on the chamber, leaning heavily against the wall, bleeding all over herself as she stepped into the light that the room cast. She was a girl, no more than thirteen, with strawberry blond hair and a straight figure. Toad and the goomba rushed forward to help her.
"Lyle," she said, limping forward, and letting go of the wall. She almost fell over, but Toad and the goomba, Lyle were there to support her. "And Toad. I see they evolved you back, my friend…I was shot…again. I was going to see Toadstool once more." She moved her hand, which was over her stomach, revealing several very nasty looking bullet holes, on different parts of her body. "I'll be okay. Here, help me to my chair." Toad and the goomba carefully set her on her chair. She looked in Daisy's direction. Though she was hidden in the shadows, Daisy had a sinking feeling that the girl saw her. She was right. "Who're you?"
Daisy braced herself and stepped into the light. "I am Princess Daisy, the ruler of this place."
The girl nodded. "Yeah. I heard about that. You got rid of my old lady, and my old man, yes?"
"What? I'm afraid I don't…"
The girl smiled a bit. Her mouth was red from her own blood; her lips dotted crimson. "Koopa and his wife?"
Daisy was taken aback. "Koopa? But I thought…"
The girl coughed, sputtering blood into her hand. "Just because they didn't get along didn't mean they didn't have anything to show for their marriage." She looked down at her hand and made a face. "I'm Bowser. Bowser Koopa." She lay further back into her chair, putting her somewhat bloodied, booted feet up onto the ottoman and letting her right arm flop over the arm of the chair and drip scarlet from her hand and the bullet hole in her lower arm onto the stone floor, creating a small pool next to the chair. "I would offer you my hand to shake, but it's covered with blood." She laughed weakly at her own minor joke.
"Who were you going to see?"
"Toadstool. Your father, yes? Nice fungus, he is. I used to talk to him for hours on end. But people started guarding him. I used to be able to get in, but lately…I don't know why I even tried. I knew I was going to get hurt." Bowser looked down at herself. She wore a black leather jacket, under which was a green vest and a white t-shirt, a green skirt that came to her knees, a pair of huge black boots that came just past her ankles, laced until the middle while they were left as is at the top, and a green bandana over her strawberry blond hair which was shoulder length and very thick. All had at least one spot where there was a shiny ruby spattering of blood. On her jacket there was a black pin that said, in red, 'I may not be much of a rebel, but…I still hate you.' It had a few drops of her blood on it. She smiled. She had worn that pin whenever she was made to see either parent.
Bowser sighed. "Will you make me leave your castle?"
"What?" asked Daisy.
"Will you make me leave your castle?"
"Why would I do that?"
"I don't know. I don't really belong here anymore."
"Well, where do you belong?"
Bowser shrugged, and gasped in pain. "I don't know," she said through clenched teeth. "I can't get a job that'll support me yet, and I don't have parents anymore. Children are rare jewels in the city nowadays. Why that is, I don't know. I suppose things will get better once you have fixed everything, Princess. I hear that Toadstool's going to be coming back into the world of the intelligent. Exciting news, yes?"
Daisy came to stand next to Bowser. "You need a doctor," she said looking down at the bloody girl. Bowser was a grisly sight and it took all of Daisy's will to even stand next to her without retching.
"I know." Bowser tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling of her room. Colors swam in her vision. A vignette of black surrounded her field of view, advancing inward ever so slowly. She was blacking out, and she knew it. "Lyle…Toad…help me," she rasped. "Great goomba! Help me, please…" Without a sound both Toad and Lyle moved forward and lifted Bowser's now unconscious form, and leaving the way they had come, Daisy following every step of the way.
"She'll be around soon…"
The voice was muffled, as if behind several layers of velvet. All was dark…and there were colors all over, so many colors, swirling all around…it made her sick to her stomach. 'So,' wishing with a mental sigh that she could retch, she thought, 'I'm still alive.'
"Why hasn't she come around yet…?"
"She's lost a lot of blood…"
Bowser opened her eyes a crack and immediately closed them. "Would someone be so kind as to turn down this God-forsaken light?? I can't see! Are you trying to blind me?" The light turned down. Bowser opened her eyes. Four anxious faces peered down at her. "Princess…Toad…Lyle…and who're you?"
The fourth face adjusted its glasses. "I'm Dr. Sage. I revived you, child."
Bowser made to sit up, but found she couldn't. "Why can't I sit up?" she asked.
Dr. Sage once again adjusted his glasses. "Oh, ho, ho, you are too weak to do anything like sitting up just now, Ms. Koopa."
"BS," she answered sharply. "I'm strapped down."
"Well…" said Dr. Sage. "You were not cooperating. We had to bring you under control. You flailed even while in a state of full unconsciousness. Quite an interesting medical phenomenon! But, it didn't agree with our surgery plans."
"Surgery plans!?" screamed Bowser. "What the hell did you do to me, you quack!?" Bowser struggled fervently with her bonds.
"Bowser, it's okay," said Daisy soothingly. "All he did was sew you up and stabilize your condition."
Groaning, Bowser stopped flailing and lay back on the bed that she was on. She looked over at Toad, who watched her intently. "How long have I been out?" she demanded of him.
Toad counted for a moment. "Three days," he told her.
Bowser stared at the ceiling. Four minutes passed in utter silence. Bowser was shouting when she spoke again. "Three days!! Damn it!!!! Why didn't anybody wake me up before then!!!???"
Dr. Sage looked down at her. "You needed your rest. You lost a dangerous amount of blood. You're lucky you survived at all."
"Shut up…" whispered Bowser, tears flooding into her eyes.
"Please forgive her sharp tongue, Dr.. She's been through a lot."
"Scars?"
"What did she say?" asked Dr. Sage.
"I said, 'Will I have any scars?' you boneheaded loony!"
"Boneheaded loony!?"
"You heard me, Dr. Numbskull!!!"
Lyle and Toad both were needed to restrain Dr. Sage, and Bowser was strapped down, though she fought to get at Sage as vehemently as he fought to get to her. "Dr.," said Princess Daisy soothingly, "she did not mean it."
"Like hell I didn't!!!!"
Daisy ignored her. "She's been through a lot, and she's frustrated. She woke up to find a stranger had operated on her, and so she's taking her frustrations out on you. She doesn't mean it."
Dr. Sage nodded. Toad and Lyle put him down. "I see my dear. I am sorry, Ms. Koopa; you must feel horribly violated. I have other patients to tend to. Toad, there is a button on the far wall to unbind Ms. Koopa. But she cannot stay out of bed long. She is still very weak." Dr. Sage turned heel and left the room, motioning to the right of the door to get it to open. The silver door slid to the left, and Dr. Sage walked through, motioning to the right again to get it to close, which it did with a soft hydraulic hiss.
Toad walked over to the wall. After a moment of searching, Toad found a small green button. Shrugging, he pushed it. Bowser pushed herself into a sitting position. "Damn him. There was no need to strap me down. Stupid medical shits," Bowser spat.
"They saved your life, Bowser."
"You don't think I know that?"
Princess Daisy sighed. "Bowser…"
Bowser sighed and looked away. "I know. I should apologize to Dr. Sage. I'm sorry for my many slips of tongue in your presence, Princess. And…" Here she paused, looking thoughtful for a moment. "Thank you…for helping me."
Lyle was speaking in the guttural language that the goombas often used to speak to each other. "No, Lyle. I don't need anybody whacked. Thanks for asking," said Bowser, smiling a bit. Bowser looked down at herself. She was decked out in a thin paper medical gown. "Okay, saving my life by operating on me is one thing, but taking my clothes is another!"
Princess Daisy bent over and picked up a plastic bag off the floor. "I had them cleaned. They were covered in blood and dirt." She handed the bag of clothing to Bowser. Bowser looked up at Toad and Lyle.
"Can I…change?"
Toad and Lyle left the room. "Would you like me to leave, Bowser?" asked Princess Daisy.
Bowser shook her head. "I might ne…No, it's okay. You're a girl." Bowser crawled out of bed, standing very carefully. She took of the medical gown and pulled on all her clothes, excluding her boots. "Whoa, hold on. Where's my pin?"
Princess Daisy looked down. "Your pin…" She reached into her pocket, producing Bowser's pin. "Is this the one?"
"Yeah. That's it."
Princess Daisy read it, causing Bowser a wee bit of discomfort. "We're going to evolve Father back later today. You want to come?" Daisy asked as she handed Bowser the pin.
"Yes. It'll be cool to see what he looks like…you know, as a person." Bowser fastened her pin to her jacket and pulled on her boots.
Princess Daisy smiled at Bowser gently. Bowser stood up straight, a bit uncomfortable. She noticed Daisy's smile. "What?" she asked, rubbing the back of her neck, allowing her nervousness of being around Princess Daisy show through despite herself.
Daisy shook her head, her wavy golden locks moving with the movement of her head. "Nothing. Come on. Let's go see if it's ready yet." Bowser and Daisy joined Lyle and Toad outside the room.
"Evolve," said the machine. "Now."
Bowser watched the helmet go down over the bulb of the fungus that was King Toadstool. She leaned against Toad for support. Lyle would be the second to be evolved that day, so he was standing over by the machine. Bowser smiled a bit. Dr. Sage was going to have a heart attack when he found she wasn't in bed. Ah, well.
She watched the electricity dance over the massive amount of fungus that had had to be collected to change Toadstool back. It was a beautiful process, evolving. And to think that her despicable father had come up with it! Bowser allowed herself to imagine such a thing; that her father had been but a humble scientist, taken the wrong path, and her mother, a helper to him, seeking only to love him for all her life. She shook her head and looked away from the final stages of evolution. No, he had stolen the machine, and everything else. He never cared about anything but power. Her mother had had power, and had wanted someone desperately. This was why Bowser existed. She closed her eyes, allowing a single tear to blaze a clear trail down her cheek.
Bowser heard some coughing from the direction of the machine. She turned. A man sat in the evolution chair where once there was piled a lot of fungus. It was a man nearing his fifties, with brown hair, streaked with gray. He had penetrating blue eyes that seemed to give all his feelings away, yet which kept him shrouded in mystery. He stared around him for a moment, taking in his surroundings. The chair moved forward, the king's eyes making him appear somewhat like a caged animal.
Bowser walked up to where the chair would stop. "Your Majesty," she said bowing at the waist. "The reign of Koopa has ended. You are once again in power. Welcome back to your domain."
The chair came to a stop, and Toadstool stood. "I know you," he said.
Bowser straightened. "That is doubtful. You've been a fungus for twenty years, and I am but thirteen."
"No," said Toadstool slowly. "I know your voice. Just as I knew Koopa's."
Bowser looked away. "I've been speaking to you almost everyday since I was four and accidentally found the former throne room. My father never knew…I am Bowser Koopa, daughter of Koopa."
Toadstool took a step away from her. "And these?" he asked, gesturing about him, paranoia creeping into his eyes.
Bowser pointed to and named each in turn. "A royal retainer referred to as Toad, two other retainers, a goomba whose name is Lyle, Dr. Frankenbob." Here Bowser paused, looking at Daisy. "Shall I, Your Majesty?" she asked.
"I just asked you to," said Toadstool a bit crossly, tapping his foot impatiently. Daisy nodded.
"All due respect to one of your standing, milord, I was not addressing His Highness. I was addressing the lady on the platform above us. That is your daughter, the Princess Toadstool, Daisy." Bowser motioned to Daisy.
King Toadstool looked up at his daughter of twenty years in amazement. "She is Daisy?" Toadstool's eye flooded with tears. "My daughter. She is twenty…I have missed a lot during Koopa's reign…"
Bowser nodded. "It was the plumbers, Majesty, who freed the city from Koopa. Koopa and his wife are dead. Daisy is rebuilding the city and the inhabitants are happy now that the name of Toadstool is in the ruling house again. But…she is inexperienced. You were peaceful reigning monarch for many years, yes?" Toadstool nodded, eager to hear more. "Your daughter and several others finally gathered your essence, which took a year in itself, the fungus that was choking Koopa's city. Today they were finally ready to evolve you back, and did. And here you are."
"And what of my lovely wife?"
Many of the others looked away from their monarch. Bowser furrowed her brow and frowned. "I do not know the whole story, Majesty, but it would seem that she smuggled herself, your daughter, and the stone to the other dimension; the one in which the plumbers oriented. Once through, she seems to have...breathed her last, leaving her daughter with the stone to be cared for by an orphanage until she was nineteen, when Koopa made steps to combine the dimensions, for which he needed the princess, and the stone. He had both in his grasp in the end, but his inability to pay attention to his wife for the span of a sentence foiled his plan, and led to their ultimate destruction."
"And where do you play a role in this, young Koopa?"
Bowser winced. "Please don't call me that, milord. Please. I beg of his Highness…please."
"Very well…Answer my question."
"I am but an observer. I have been so for quite some time. I was glad that no goombas were hurt severely in the unpleasantness, though two very humorous friends of mine were done away with by the hands of my own father." She paused, looking away so she could maintain her composure. "I have been locked away most of my life. Father knew that I was a threat to him. I…" Bowser shook her head. "Will you make me leave?" she whispered, looking at the floor. "I have no where else to go…"
"What?"
"Father, Bowser is a friend. She is daughter of your old enemy, I realize that, but she's just a child. She did nothing against you in her entire life, and I'm sure that she won't start now. She opposed Koopa as much as anyone here, perhaps more. In the short time I've known her, I've found Bowser to be a trustworthy and sweet young girl."
Bowser smiled. "I am not worthy of your praise, highness," she said, bobbing a bit to Princess Daisy.
Princess Daisy smiled. "You deserved every word, Miss Bowser."
King Toadstool considered Bowser for a moment. "You may stay. I suppose." The way he said it hinted that he didn't like her, but his eyes told a different story.
Toad walked down the hall, looking for the throne room. Since Princess Daisy had turned almost everyone back into their original forms, Toad was no longer a Goomba, but he did tend to lapse into times where his mind worked like one. He couldn't remember where he was going. When his mind worked like a Goomba's, Toad would find himself wondering where the girl was and if she was okay, and if she was hungry at that time. He didn't know who this girl was or why he was concerned with her, but often he let it slip. He stopped at the doors to the throne room. He knocked.
"Enter," came the light voice of Princess Daisy. Toad opened the door.
"Hello, princess," Toad said cheerfully. "I don't seem to remember what I'm doing here."
"I called you here."
"Oh. That's right! What is your wish, Princess?"
"We're almost ready to evolve my father back into his original form." A goomba walked past Daisy, startling her and Toad. "Hello?" she asked. The goomba paid no heed. It barreled past Toad. "Toad! Follow that goomba!"
Daisy and Toad gave chase to the goomba, who was running through the halls of the complex at an incredible speed. The goomba stopped before a wall. Daisy and Toad caught up with and stared at the goomba. The goomba placed its hand against the wall. Toad instantly joined it. The wall swung in, opening to a hidden corridor. Toad and the goomba raced in at top speeds, Princess Daisy right behind them. The corridor was dark, but at the end there was a lit chamber.
Toad and the goomba stopped at the room, looking around. It was a cozy room, a bit warm, with books on shelves that lined the room, a red overstuffed chair in the center of the room, and an ottoman of the same description, over which a woolen blanket was thrown. On the far side of the room there was another dark passageway. Daisy caught up with Toad and the goomba.
She wondered what they were doing, just standing there. Then she heard a sound. It was heavy, raspy breathing, and footsteps, very soft, though very audible, as if the person making them was shuffling. Every once and a while the footsteps would stop, and a few minutes of some very bad sounding coughing were heard. The person making these noises finally came into view, on the far side on the chamber, leaning heavily against the wall, bleeding all over herself as she stepped into the light that the room cast. She was a girl, no more than thirteen, with strawberry blond hair and a straight figure. Toad and the goomba rushed forward to help her.
"Lyle," she said, limping forward, and letting go of the wall. She almost fell over, but Toad and the goomba, Lyle were there to support her. "And Toad. I see they evolved you back, my friend…I was shot…again. I was going to see Toadstool once more." She moved her hand, which was over her stomach, revealing several very nasty looking bullet holes, on different parts of her body. "I'll be okay. Here, help me to my chair." Toad and the goomba carefully set her on her chair. She looked in Daisy's direction. Though she was hidden in the shadows, Daisy had a sinking feeling that the girl saw her. She was right. "Who're you?"
Daisy braced herself and stepped into the light. "I am Princess Daisy, the ruler of this place."
The girl nodded. "Yeah. I heard about that. You got rid of my old lady, and my old man, yes?"
"What? I'm afraid I don't…"
The girl smiled a bit. Her mouth was red from her own blood; her lips dotted crimson. "Koopa and his wife?"
Daisy was taken aback. "Koopa? But I thought…"
The girl coughed, sputtering blood into her hand. "Just because they didn't get along didn't mean they didn't have anything to show for their marriage." She looked down at her hand and made a face. "I'm Bowser. Bowser Koopa." She lay further back into her chair, putting her somewhat bloodied, booted feet up onto the ottoman and letting her right arm flop over the arm of the chair and drip scarlet from her hand and the bullet hole in her lower arm onto the stone floor, creating a small pool next to the chair. "I would offer you my hand to shake, but it's covered with blood." She laughed weakly at her own minor joke.
"Who were you going to see?"
"Toadstool. Your father, yes? Nice fungus, he is. I used to talk to him for hours on end. But people started guarding him. I used to be able to get in, but lately…I don't know why I even tried. I knew I was going to get hurt." Bowser looked down at herself. She wore a black leather jacket, under which was a green vest and a white t-shirt, a green skirt that came to her knees, a pair of huge black boots that came just past her ankles, laced until the middle while they were left as is at the top, and a green bandana over her strawberry blond hair which was shoulder length and very thick. All had at least one spot where there was a shiny ruby spattering of blood. On her jacket there was a black pin that said, in red, 'I may not be much of a rebel, but…I still hate you.' It had a few drops of her blood on it. She smiled. She had worn that pin whenever she was made to see either parent.
Bowser sighed. "Will you make me leave your castle?"
"What?" asked Daisy.
"Will you make me leave your castle?"
"Why would I do that?"
"I don't know. I don't really belong here anymore."
"Well, where do you belong?"
Bowser shrugged, and gasped in pain. "I don't know," she said through clenched teeth. "I can't get a job that'll support me yet, and I don't have parents anymore. Children are rare jewels in the city nowadays. Why that is, I don't know. I suppose things will get better once you have fixed everything, Princess. I hear that Toadstool's going to be coming back into the world of the intelligent. Exciting news, yes?"
Daisy came to stand next to Bowser. "You need a doctor," she said looking down at the bloody girl. Bowser was a grisly sight and it took all of Daisy's will to even stand next to her without retching.
"I know." Bowser tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling of her room. Colors swam in her vision. A vignette of black surrounded her field of view, advancing inward ever so slowly. She was blacking out, and she knew it. "Lyle…Toad…help me," she rasped. "Great goomba! Help me, please…" Without a sound both Toad and Lyle moved forward and lifted Bowser's now unconscious form, and leaving the way they had come, Daisy following every step of the way.
"She'll be around soon…"
The voice was muffled, as if behind several layers of velvet. All was dark…and there were colors all over, so many colors, swirling all around…it made her sick to her stomach. 'So,' wishing with a mental sigh that she could retch, she thought, 'I'm still alive.'
"Why hasn't she come around yet…?"
"She's lost a lot of blood…"
Bowser opened her eyes a crack and immediately closed them. "Would someone be so kind as to turn down this God-forsaken light?? I can't see! Are you trying to blind me?" The light turned down. Bowser opened her eyes. Four anxious faces peered down at her. "Princess…Toad…Lyle…and who're you?"
The fourth face adjusted its glasses. "I'm Dr. Sage. I revived you, child."
Bowser made to sit up, but found she couldn't. "Why can't I sit up?" she asked.
Dr. Sage once again adjusted his glasses. "Oh, ho, ho, you are too weak to do anything like sitting up just now, Ms. Koopa."
"BS," she answered sharply. "I'm strapped down."
"Well…" said Dr. Sage. "You were not cooperating. We had to bring you under control. You flailed even while in a state of full unconsciousness. Quite an interesting medical phenomenon! But, it didn't agree with our surgery plans."
"Surgery plans!?" screamed Bowser. "What the hell did you do to me, you quack!?" Bowser struggled fervently with her bonds.
"Bowser, it's okay," said Daisy soothingly. "All he did was sew you up and stabilize your condition."
Groaning, Bowser stopped flailing and lay back on the bed that she was on. She looked over at Toad, who watched her intently. "How long have I been out?" she demanded of him.
Toad counted for a moment. "Three days," he told her.
Bowser stared at the ceiling. Four minutes passed in utter silence. Bowser was shouting when she spoke again. "Three days!! Damn it!!!! Why didn't anybody wake me up before then!!!???"
Dr. Sage looked down at her. "You needed your rest. You lost a dangerous amount of blood. You're lucky you survived at all."
"Shut up…" whispered Bowser, tears flooding into her eyes.
"Please forgive her sharp tongue, Dr.. She's been through a lot."
"Scars?"
"What did she say?" asked Dr. Sage.
"I said, 'Will I have any scars?' you boneheaded loony!"
"Boneheaded loony!?"
"You heard me, Dr. Numbskull!!!"
Lyle and Toad both were needed to restrain Dr. Sage, and Bowser was strapped down, though she fought to get at Sage as vehemently as he fought to get to her. "Dr.," said Princess Daisy soothingly, "she did not mean it."
"Like hell I didn't!!!!"
Daisy ignored her. "She's been through a lot, and she's frustrated. She woke up to find a stranger had operated on her, and so she's taking her frustrations out on you. She doesn't mean it."
Dr. Sage nodded. Toad and Lyle put him down. "I see my dear. I am sorry, Ms. Koopa; you must feel horribly violated. I have other patients to tend to. Toad, there is a button on the far wall to unbind Ms. Koopa. But she cannot stay out of bed long. She is still very weak." Dr. Sage turned heel and left the room, motioning to the right of the door to get it to open. The silver door slid to the left, and Dr. Sage walked through, motioning to the right again to get it to close, which it did with a soft hydraulic hiss.
Toad walked over to the wall. After a moment of searching, Toad found a small green button. Shrugging, he pushed it. Bowser pushed herself into a sitting position. "Damn him. There was no need to strap me down. Stupid medical shits," Bowser spat.
"They saved your life, Bowser."
"You don't think I know that?"
Princess Daisy sighed. "Bowser…"
Bowser sighed and looked away. "I know. I should apologize to Dr. Sage. I'm sorry for my many slips of tongue in your presence, Princess. And…" Here she paused, looking thoughtful for a moment. "Thank you…for helping me."
Lyle was speaking in the guttural language that the goombas often used to speak to each other. "No, Lyle. I don't need anybody whacked. Thanks for asking," said Bowser, smiling a bit. Bowser looked down at herself. She was decked out in a thin paper medical gown. "Okay, saving my life by operating on me is one thing, but taking my clothes is another!"
Princess Daisy bent over and picked up a plastic bag off the floor. "I had them cleaned. They were covered in blood and dirt." She handed the bag of clothing to Bowser. Bowser looked up at Toad and Lyle.
"Can I…change?"
Toad and Lyle left the room. "Would you like me to leave, Bowser?" asked Princess Daisy.
Bowser shook her head. "I might ne…No, it's okay. You're a girl." Bowser crawled out of bed, standing very carefully. She took of the medical gown and pulled on all her clothes, excluding her boots. "Whoa, hold on. Where's my pin?"
Princess Daisy looked down. "Your pin…" She reached into her pocket, producing Bowser's pin. "Is this the one?"
"Yeah. That's it."
Princess Daisy read it, causing Bowser a wee bit of discomfort. "We're going to evolve Father back later today. You want to come?" Daisy asked as she handed Bowser the pin.
"Yes. It'll be cool to see what he looks like…you know, as a person." Bowser fastened her pin to her jacket and pulled on her boots.
Princess Daisy smiled at Bowser gently. Bowser stood up straight, a bit uncomfortable. She noticed Daisy's smile. "What?" she asked, rubbing the back of her neck, allowing her nervousness of being around Princess Daisy show through despite herself.
Daisy shook her head, her wavy golden locks moving with the movement of her head. "Nothing. Come on. Let's go see if it's ready yet." Bowser and Daisy joined Lyle and Toad outside the room.
"Evolve," said the machine. "Now."
Bowser watched the helmet go down over the bulb of the fungus that was King Toadstool. She leaned against Toad for support. Lyle would be the second to be evolved that day, so he was standing over by the machine. Bowser smiled a bit. Dr. Sage was going to have a heart attack when he found she wasn't in bed. Ah, well.
She watched the electricity dance over the massive amount of fungus that had had to be collected to change Toadstool back. It was a beautiful process, evolving. And to think that her despicable father had come up with it! Bowser allowed herself to imagine such a thing; that her father had been but a humble scientist, taken the wrong path, and her mother, a helper to him, seeking only to love him for all her life. She shook her head and looked away from the final stages of evolution. No, he had stolen the machine, and everything else. He never cared about anything but power. Her mother had had power, and had wanted someone desperately. This was why Bowser existed. She closed her eyes, allowing a single tear to blaze a clear trail down her cheek.
Bowser heard some coughing from the direction of the machine. She turned. A man sat in the evolution chair where once there was piled a lot of fungus. It was a man nearing his fifties, with brown hair, streaked with gray. He had penetrating blue eyes that seemed to give all his feelings away, yet which kept him shrouded in mystery. He stared around him for a moment, taking in his surroundings. The chair moved forward, the king's eyes making him appear somewhat like a caged animal.
Bowser walked up to where the chair would stop. "Your Majesty," she said bowing at the waist. "The reign of Koopa has ended. You are once again in power. Welcome back to your domain."
The chair came to a stop, and Toadstool stood. "I know you," he said.
Bowser straightened. "That is doubtful. You've been a fungus for twenty years, and I am but thirteen."
"No," said Toadstool slowly. "I know your voice. Just as I knew Koopa's."
Bowser looked away. "I've been speaking to you almost everyday since I was four and accidentally found the former throne room. My father never knew…I am Bowser Koopa, daughter of Koopa."
Toadstool took a step away from her. "And these?" he asked, gesturing about him, paranoia creeping into his eyes.
Bowser pointed to and named each in turn. "A royal retainer referred to as Toad, two other retainers, a goomba whose name is Lyle, Dr. Frankenbob." Here Bowser paused, looking at Daisy. "Shall I, Your Majesty?" she asked.
"I just asked you to," said Toadstool a bit crossly, tapping his foot impatiently. Daisy nodded.
"All due respect to one of your standing, milord, I was not addressing His Highness. I was addressing the lady on the platform above us. That is your daughter, the Princess Toadstool, Daisy." Bowser motioned to Daisy.
King Toadstool looked up at his daughter of twenty years in amazement. "She is Daisy?" Toadstool's eye flooded with tears. "My daughter. She is twenty…I have missed a lot during Koopa's reign…"
Bowser nodded. "It was the plumbers, Majesty, who freed the city from Koopa. Koopa and his wife are dead. Daisy is rebuilding the city and the inhabitants are happy now that the name of Toadstool is in the ruling house again. But…she is inexperienced. You were peaceful reigning monarch for many years, yes?" Toadstool nodded, eager to hear more. "Your daughter and several others finally gathered your essence, which took a year in itself, the fungus that was choking Koopa's city. Today they were finally ready to evolve you back, and did. And here you are."
"And what of my lovely wife?"
Many of the others looked away from their monarch. Bowser furrowed her brow and frowned. "I do not know the whole story, Majesty, but it would seem that she smuggled herself, your daughter, and the stone to the other dimension; the one in which the plumbers oriented. Once through, she seems to have...breathed her last, leaving her daughter with the stone to be cared for by an orphanage until she was nineteen, when Koopa made steps to combine the dimensions, for which he needed the princess, and the stone. He had both in his grasp in the end, but his inability to pay attention to his wife for the span of a sentence foiled his plan, and led to their ultimate destruction."
"And where do you play a role in this, young Koopa?"
Bowser winced. "Please don't call me that, milord. Please. I beg of his Highness…please."
"Very well…Answer my question."
"I am but an observer. I have been so for quite some time. I was glad that no goombas were hurt severely in the unpleasantness, though two very humorous friends of mine were done away with by the hands of my own father." She paused, looking away so she could maintain her composure. "I have been locked away most of my life. Father knew that I was a threat to him. I…" Bowser shook her head. "Will you make me leave?" she whispered, looking at the floor. "I have no where else to go…"
"What?"
"Father, Bowser is a friend. She is daughter of your old enemy, I realize that, but she's just a child. She did nothing against you in her entire life, and I'm sure that she won't start now. She opposed Koopa as much as anyone here, perhaps more. In the short time I've known her, I've found Bowser to be a trustworthy and sweet young girl."
Bowser smiled. "I am not worthy of your praise, highness," she said, bobbing a bit to Princess Daisy.
Princess Daisy smiled. "You deserved every word, Miss Bowser."
King Toadstool considered Bowser for a moment. "You may stay. I suppose." The way he said it hinted that he didn't like her, but his eyes told a different story.