The Good Life
Bowser was never easy to get along with, especially when he was angry. And ever since he's been trying to take both the Mushroom Kingdom and Princess Peach by force, he's been coming home angry a lot.
The koopalings stayed huddled together as they watched their father stomp across the floor to the meeting room, angry as he's ever been. "What do you think is going on?" Iggy was the bravest to ask as soon as Bowser slammed the door behind him.
Ludwig was the first to answer. "Isn't that easy to see? He's coming up with another idea to try and get rid of that nasty plumber."
"Plumbers." Roy reminded. "Don't forget, there's two of them."
"Yes, but why?" Wendy asked.
"Um, I don't know, 'cause they're brothers?" Roy replied.
"No, that's not what I meant." Wendy continued. "Why does Father focus so hard on getting rid of them? We all know it never works."No one had an answer.
They remained huddled for a little while longer, listening to the voices in the meeting. The castle was always so quiet when the koopalings were. Anyone from anywhere within the tall, dark castle walls could hear a pin drop to a carpeted floor. It was always warm in there, even in the winter, and it always seemed to smell of hard, dusty rocks. Bowser like to rule by the magma, but no one ever minded this, no, the koopas were happy in this environment. If only the king was happier.
"What do we do?" Lemmy cried. "Let him go through with it?"
"Well," Morton scoffed. "It's not like we can convince him not to do it! You heard Bowser Jr., he will give up anything to get what he wants."
Wendy sniffed. "Even us?" Then the silence came back, and they stared at the door with teary eyes. Bowser meant everything to the koopalings, even if he wasn't their real father. They wanted him to be happy, but they also wanted to see him happy with the things he already had. He was always striving for something else, and he always will if he doesn't realize this issue for himself.
Larry spoke up. "Where is that kid anyway? He knows the king the best, why don't we talk with him?"
"All right!" Wendy replied, wiping her tears. "Let's check the throne room! He's usually there when we don't know where he is."
All at once, from silence to stampede, they ran together down the halls. The hallways were just as tall as any other room with every wall around them made from the strongest obsidian. Well carved out windows passed them like the speeding wind, and the floor thumped with every footfall until they came to the opening of the throne room.
And sure enough, Bowser Jr. was not only there, he was sitting proudly in his father's throne itself. The koopalings heard his demanding voice before they even reached the end. "You there!" He cried. All the koopalings peered around the corner. They were in the side hall, and could only see his dangling feet and his claw pointing at a hammer bro at one end of the room. "Send scouts to watch the Mushroom Castle! Dad's planning another attack, and the more ready we are for his plan, the better."
The hammer bro nodded and skittered across the red carpet until he was out of sight. To the koopalings' dismay, Bowser Jr. looked back from his seat at them and grinned. "I thought I was being watched! What are you doing today? It has been quiet for a while, up to no good?" All the koopalings moved shyly in front of the throne. Bowser Jr. was much to small for the seat, but he didn't seem to mind that a little bit. He was slumped on the thick, red cushioning and leaned only the top of his back against the golden rest behind him. He continued to hold his mischievous smile as the group fumbled for words.
"We were just thinking..." Larry started.
"We wanted to know if there was a way to get the big dragon to give up on planning today." Roy finished.
Then Junior's smile faded into confusion. "What? Why?"
"What Roy meant was," Lemmy chimed in. "Father is always planning to kidnap the princess, get rid of the plumber, or capture the kingdom."
"He never has time to enjoy being home!" Iggy exclaimed. "He doesn't play a lot of games with us anymore."
"It's always been about him, fighting for something he doesn't have." Wendy stated.
Now Bowser Jr. looked concerned. He hopped down from the throne and stood before them. "And this is a problem? Guys, don't you want him to have these things? Don't you want to be rid of that plumber too?"
"He's thinking too hard about this." Morton answered. "We think it's important for him to not think about it all the time. It's not healthy."
"It's not just him striving for this!" Junior raised his voice, looking angry now. "We all should be working together! And that's my decision! We're done talking about this, so it's your choice; will you help him take full on those plans, or not?"
the koopalings exchanged worried glances, but said nothing more. Junior placed his claws on his hips impatiently. "Well?"
Meanwhile in the meeting room, Bowser had just finished explaining his plan. As expected, Bowser's troops didn't know what to think of such a thing. They first sat quietly in their seats across the large stone table before they began to bicker and give ideas of their own, but Bowser's mind was made up. This is how he wanted to do it.
"Silence!" He growled, his deep voice reached the ends of the wide, but shorter, room. "Do you dare deny your king's orders? This is the way it will go! I don't want it anyway else."
Kamek straightened her glasses. "Of course, Your Nastieness."
But King Goomba spoke up. "I'm not objecting. I'm just more thinking that you should wait until you have some magic power. You know Mario can defeat-"
"Hush!" Kamek quickly interrupted.
But Bowser already heard. He chose not to respond with words, but the troops knew he was upset with them. He sat still and glared at them with a rumbling growl. Bowser wanted nothing more than those two things; to be rid of Mario, and to have Princess Peach in his possession. With those two goals met, he will be happy. "I need you all to work with me here, so either you go find something else to do and be done here, or you obey my orders and finally get our hands on the kingdom."
All of the generals agreed, stood up, and headed for the door. There was plenty of room for all of them, despite some of the miscellaneous junk that stacked in the corners. But really, the only reason why they became stuck trying to go out the door was their own clumsiness.
"Sorry Sir..." The drybones leader cackled. Bowser didn't respond, he just waited maddenly quiet for them to straighten up.
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The koopalings, having given up on trying to convince Bowser to stop his plans, not only went along with it, but were the ones to creep into the Mushroom Castle itself. It was in the middle of the night, and they had used their remarkable teamwork to sneak in through the window in the courtyard without being noticed. They had snuck up, perfectly silent, to the toads on guard duty, to knock them out, or drag them, tie, and gag them where they wouldn't warn the others. They had even used each other for distractions when they needed to.
But now, their work has finally paid off. Larry was in front, and he slowly reached up for the door leading into the princess's bedroom. It was dark enough in the usually bright colored hallway, and Princess Peach's bedroom was even more so. At first, not one of them could see anything within it, but they stepped lightly in anyway.
They had all winced when the door creaked calmly open, but nothing else seemed to stir. As a matter of fact, they didn't hear anything else within the room. "Is she-" Morton started, but was hushed by Wendy, and punched in the stomach by Ludwig. As soon as Morton was quiet, even he heard the slight breathing of someone asleep.
And it didn't take their eyes too long to become used to the darkness. Very soon, they were able to mark the outlining of a large bed next to them. The room itself was well kept and very clean. Every single item was put away, nothing lingered where it shouldn't be. She even had the luxury of her very own fireplace on the opposite wall from the bed. The entire room reeked of strong perfume.
They got into their positions. Wendy, Ludwig, and Morton moved to the other side of the bed, Lemmy and Iggy ran to the foot, and Roy and Larry remained where they where. Wendy readied the gag, and all at once, they jumped up on the bed and choked Peach with the gag before she could scream. She thrashed and fought, but they had dealt with her before, and with all of them together, they managed to tie her arms and legs so she was completely harmless.
Getting into the castle was the hard part, now they could just leave the way they came in without worrying about the guards.
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"Perfect! You've done great, my koopalings!" Bowser roared with laughter at the sight of the still tied up princess. "Soon, they'll figure out what happened, but they wouldn't be able to help her. My troops will attack the town, and Mario will be by himself, fighting not only me, but my most trusted children and generals!" The koopalings were still not convinced, and stood there with uncertainty. Bowser Jr., however, was just as excited as his father was.
"Now," Bowser said after he calmed down. "What does the princess have to say about this?" He bent down and loosened the gag in her mouth.
"How dare you!" She accused. "This was most uncomfortable! You will regret doing this, Mario can't be stopped, you'll see."
Then came another flood of laughter. "Yes, we will! But don't worry, when all this is done, you may be returned to your castle, and we can rule it together as Queen and King."
"Never!" She yelled. "No matter what happens, I will never be your queen! I don't love you!"
Surely Bowser saw that coming, but still, he remained silent after hearing that. "Let me know if you change your mind." He replied quietly. "Lock her up in the cell."
The koopalings obeyed and took her away while Bowser and his true heir stayed behind to prepare for battle.
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Once the news spread of Princess Peach's kidnapping, Mario and friends had little time to react before an army marched for the town. They welcomed themselves right in, like it was no big deal. Mario and his friends stepped up to meet them. "Bowser has the princess at his fortress." A koopa explained. "And only Mario is allowed to go and get her. And if any of you think you have a trick up your sleeve, we will attack!"
At first, no one even dared to move, and the whole of the town became just as still. Bowser's army stood patiently, and the messenger koopa folded his tiny arms. Bowser didn't have a small army, they came in from one end of the town and filled that space completely now that they met with Mario's people in the central square. They all stood just next to the gate that led to the princess-less castle.
"Come on, Bro!" Luigi cried out to his brother. "You know what to do! Here, take these." He handed him some strong power-ups and gave him a light shove. Mario nodded and walked past the army. As he passed every one of them, they seemed to look quite relieved, like they were glad they didn't have to fight with him today.
Mario marched steadily across the even stone pavement, and passed by all the buildings and shops. The friends he left behind weren't deterred, they cheered and smiled for their hero.
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"Here he comes!" Bowser exclaimed. They all stood right outside Bowser's towering, black-as-night castle. The dark grey rock of the volcano they stood on sloped downward, offering several miles of clear sight, they could even see the speck they knew was Mario in the distance.
Bowser pointed over to the hero, and his generals nodded, understanding the order. They ran down the volcanic slope and readied their attacks, but Mario didn't slow. He sorted the items his brother gave him, and chose the gigantic fire flower. His gloves was sent aflame, but he hardly cared, he threw his arms in front of him, and a fire large enough to engulf the entire castle was released from his flaming hands.
Bowser's best generals were all toasted to a crisp without them even getting an attack in. They lied there in front of the hero, black from the ashes, and putting out what little flames were left. "No!" Bowser yelled. "How did he do that!?" He then angrily beckoned for Bowser Jr. and the rest of the koopalings to give their best. Junior led the charge while in a clown car, and while the koopalings still didn't like the idea, they all yelled as they ran down.
When Bowser Jr. was close enough, he flew high and breathed down on the hero. But Mario reacted quickly, he darted under the car, and jumped up, punching the bottom of the vehicle. Junior was pushed up and out of the seat and he fell to the ground.
Now it was the koopalings' turn, they took their various weapons, staves, cannons, or whatever they wanted to use, and attacked! But at the last second, Mario slid, crashing right into Wendy, Morton, and Ludwig. After the missile fired from Roy's cannon sailed safely above Mario's head, he jumped and landed on the cannon itself. Using that momentum, Mario soared into another leap back and thudded down on the solid rock right behind Wendy who was trying to stand. Mario kicked, punched, and pushed so the first four, including Bowser Jr. and his fallen clown car, rolled down the slope screaming.
That left only Larry, Roy, Iggy, and Lemmy left. The cannon that Roy had, slipped from his hands when Mario jumped on it, and they both make a desperate move to grab it, but Roy had backup. Lemmy and Iggy darted in Mario's way, and Larry threw himself and grasped onto the plumber's back. Mario didn't take a moment to flinch, because he was already grabbing both Iggy's and Lemmy's arms. He quickly spun around with them and let them go. They soared through the air and rolled down where the others were.
Roy was already preparing his cannon to shoot, and Mario turned back to him and ducked. It was too late for poor Larry, the missile shot from the cannon and loosed him free from Mario's back. Roy was the only one that was left now. Knowing this, and not wanting to fight in the first place, he dropped his cannon and ran for his siblings down the volcano.
Bowser looked frightened now, but it was too late to give up, Mario was already running up to meet him.
For the kids and troops down the slope, there was nothing they could do but watch the battle between the archrivals. "Well, Bowser is the one who wanted this fight." Larry stated as Mario was already winning. Bowser Jr. groaned and covered his head in shame.
"If only we could have convinced him otherwise." Wendy agreed.
"Yeah, just think about how mad he'll be after this." Lemmy added in. And with that last comment, they remained quiet and winced with Mario's every hit.
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Once Mario left with Princess Peach back to her castle, the army sent down there didn't even bother with fighting. They fled back to the Koopa Kingdom. Leaving Mario and friends to their celebration.
Bowser slumped and entered his own castle. Again, he had failed. He had lost the Mushroom Kingdom, but more importantly, he had lost Peach. He lost the princess he wanted so badly to spend eternity with. She was right, he thought, she will never be his queen, and she will never love him.
But despite his unhappiness, Bowser didn't realize that he already had everything he needed all along.
When the koopalings and Bowser Jr. entered the castle gate behind him, there was no anger, no flash of fingers, and no crying. Bowser Jr. was just as upset with the defeat, but without any spoken words, he hugged his father's leg, and the others quickly joined him.
"Don't worry, Sir." Kamek spoke when she came in with the other generals, still dirty with ash. "We'll get rid of Mario one day."
But Bowser hardly heard her. The koopalings looked up at him and smiled, thankful that the battle was done and they were all home.
"Why don't we not worry about Princess Peach for a while?" Ludwig asked.
"Yeah, you always have us!" Roy responded.
First Bowser didn't have an answer. After all this time, he wanted those two goals most of all. He thought if he was rid of Mario and had Peach by his side, he will always be happy. But now, he thought, he had his kids. His obedient kids, who did his bidding and then didn't even accuse him when he was wrong. "I don't see how that can hurt." Bowser answered, the happiest he's been in a long time. "Let's stay home for a while."
"I love you, dad." Junior whispered.
A genuine smile spread on Bowser's face. He had people who cared about him, and nice home, willing allies, but most of all, his kids who missed him. This was what he needed for the good life. He just needed reminded how happy he was here.
Author's Note: Again, thanks for reading! This is part of the 180 Writing Prompt contest that I'm doing with IreneT447! It's inspired by question 18, called "All I needed for the good life", and it asked what two things you need to be happy. Go read Irene's fanfics too! She has Writing Prompt inspired fanfics as well as other cool stuff!