So I thought I would take a break from working on my Disney Academy sequel fanfic to continue this story, since it's been awhile since I've worked on it. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Chapter 10: The Search for Spirits

While Luigi Daisy and Toad were spending the night near the Sarasaland Warp Pipe, Bowsette had decided to sneak out of her bedroom. To get past Mario, who still insisted on standing guard outside the bedroom door, she slipped slices of a Poison Mushroom that she obtained in Rogueport onto his pizza during dinner. This in turn made him sick and leave the table, though she heard retching noises coming from one of the castle bathrooms.

"Serves you right," Bowsette muttered to herself as she closed the bedroom door behind her. "Now let's see if I can find some actual booze in this place. I'm tired of always drinking tea."

Down the hallway, she glared at some Toads who ran away in fear before heading down the stairs into the main foyer. From there, she went down a hallway that was opposite the main doors before coming upon a door with a golden lock on it. Angered, Bowsette felt her teeth grow sharper along with her nails followed by a stream of fire that escaped her mouth. The flames hit the lock and melted it in a matter of seconds.

"Hmm, guess that's one way to let off some steam," Bowsette remarked and turned the handle on the door.

Inside, there was a stone staircase that went down into the darkness. Unafraid, Bowsette walked along the side of the staircase clinging to the wall for balance. At the bottom, she used her fiery breath to light an unlit torch and illuminated a long gold-plated hallway full of pits and mushroom-shaped axes that swung back and forth.

"Huh," Bowsette remarked. "I never expected the Princess to have a dungeon filled with traps. Maybe this is where she keeps the booze, so no one else may have it. But, having planned my own dungeons, I can probably figure this one out no problem."

So Bowsette leaped over the pits and avoided the axes, having grown more accustomed to her new body's agility following the tennis match with Daisy. But upon reaching the end of the hallway where a gold brick wall stood, some spikes appeared below Bowsette's feet. Narrowly avoiding them, she almost fell into the pit behind her but grabbed onto the ledge closest to the wall dropping the torch in the process. As Bowsette watched the torch disappear down below her, she looked up at the spikes and noticed they were time-based.

"There's got to be a hidden passage behind that wall," Bowsette guessed as her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the hallway. "Otherwise, what's the point in putting spikes in front of a dead end?"

Examining the wall, she noticed an obvious line that cut horizontally at about the same height as a Toad. But above it, there were four linear holes arranged in a circular pattern.

"Interesting," Bowsette observed. "My Super Crown has four points revolving in a circle, just like those holes. Perhaps if I time myself correctly, I can put my crown into those holes and open the hidden passage before the spikes appear again."

Watching the spikes for another round, Bowsette waited till they were just about to go down before getting back up. Leaning forward, she positioned her head till the crown's points lined up with the holes and ran full speed at the wall. However, her crown had round bulbs at the end of each point which couldn't fit into the thin holes in the wall. By the time Bowsette realized this, the spikes had come back. She screamed in pain and found herself falling backwards again. This time, she barely grasped the ledge.

"Bowsette!"

Hearing a familiar voice, Bowsette looked over her shoulder and saw Mario leaping over the pits and avoiding the axes. He was also throwing fireballs from his hands to illuminate the torches along the sides of the hallway as his clothes had changed from blue overalls and a red shirt to red overalls and a white shirt, indicating he had eaten the Fire Flower from earlier.

"What are you doing here?" Mario asked as he stood across from the pit Bowsette was currently dangling over.

"Trying to find a way out of the castle," Bowsette lied.

This made Mario fold his arms.

"Okay, I was looking for a cellar that might have some booze and found this dungeon by accident," Bowsette corrected reluctantly.

"Is that another lie?" Mario demanded.

"No, I'm telling the truth this time," Bowsette claimed.

"I don't believe you," Mario responded bluntly.

"Ugh!" Bowsette groaned. "Stupid Plumber!"

"What did you say?" Mario snapped.

Before Bowsette could retort, her hand lost its grip and she fell into the pit. In a flash, Mario jumped over the pit grabbed Bowsette's hand and gripped onto the ledge on the other side.

"Care to repeat yourself, Koopa?" Mario said between breaths as he tried to lift himself up while still holding onto Bowsette.

In turn, Bowsette said nothing.

"That's what I thought." Mario then took a deep breath and used his strength to pull himself up enough to getting footing on top of the ledge before trying to pull Bowsette up.

"Hurry up, Mario!" Bowsette insisted. "Or the spikes will—

Just as Mario was close to pulling Bowsette out of the pit, the spikes came up under his feet causing him to cry out and let go of Bowsette forcing her to catch herself on the ledge again. Meanwhile, Mario flew backwards and almost fell into the pit himself when Bowsette grabbed his hand. However, his clothes had changed back to the blue overalls and red shirt.

Sighing, Mario looked up at Bowsette. "You…saved me."

"Yeah, you did the same for me just now," Bowsette reminded him. "Now let's get out of here."

"How?"

"I'll toss you back to the ledge behind you," Bowsette explained. "Then after you get up, I'll follow you. Okay?"

Mario looked back and then he nodded up at Bowsette. In turn, she tossed him back and he caught onto the ledge. Once he got up, Bowsette followed his example and together they left the trap-filled dungeon and ascended the winding staircase.

To be continued…