Mace and Otto crashed into the floor.
The twosome looked around. They were in a very spacious room. Almost immediately, they noticed important things. Firstly, there were two main "islands" in the room, separated by a pool of lava about five metres below. Secondly, there was a sturdy-looking bridge connecting the two parts of the room. Thirdly, there was a small window at the top of the room, near the ceiling. Fourth of all, a large cage hung from the ceiling, containing none other than Princess Peach. Fifth of all, there was a large throne that appeared to be the made of bones. But the most important thing in the entire room was Bowser.
Bowser was a mutant Koopa that had a spiked green shell, viciously sharp claws, and a wild mane of dark, red hair. He wore two spiked bracelets on each wrist and had thick, muscular arms. His mouth was lined with sharp teeth.
"Well, well. Look who came to visit." the King said smugly.
"Do you know why we're here? We have already killed all of your children, and now we're here to kill you, as well!"
"Hmph. I should have known that those incompetent Koopalings would die, sooner or later." Bowser grumbled.
"We also killed Bowser Jr." Now, strictly speaking, this wasn't true, but Bowser Jr was dead anyway, so he wasn't around to challenge that statement.
"What? Curse you! I was about to have a normal lunchtime for once and you two come here and tell me that all my kids are dead. Well, guess what? I forgot to eat breakfast today, so I'm feeling extra mean and extra hungry. When I'm done with you, you'll be my afternoon snack!"
With that, Bowser attacked the two unprepared Koopa Troopas.
He commenced the battle with his devastating tackle. He launched himself from his throne at the space above the Koopas' heads and then changed direction when he was directly over them. Otto and Mace barely managed to dodge as Bowser smashed, back-first onto the spot they were previously standing.
"Take this!" Otto yelled at the top of his lungs. He flung three of his hammers at the deformed Koopa. The King sidestepped the barrage easily. Behind him, the hammers created a triangle figure as they dented three different spots on the stone wall.
"Ha! Too easy!" Bowser countered by slashing at them with his claws. Mace dodged by ducking and rolling to the left, where an unattended frying pan with a fried egg lay on the arm of the chair.
Otto was not so lucky. Bowser's claws connected with his armoured chest and he was sent flying into a wall.
"Ohhh..." Otto could see stars, despite the fact that he had a helmet, which made no sense whatsoever, since helmets were supposed to protect the cranium from all damage. Not only this, but the three were fighting indoors.
Bowser advanced on the fallen Hammer Bro. Suddenly, Mace came out from behind, the frying pan in hand, and smacked Bowser in the head. Bowser stumbled back as he cried out, not from the pain, but from surprise. A squashed Yoshi omelet covered the back of Bowser's head.
"Hey! That was for my lunch! You'll pay for that!" Bowser vowed, and started walking towards Mace angrily. He took in a deep breath.
"Mace! Look out for his flame-breath!" Otto called desperately.
Mace took his advice and darted underneath Bowser's legs a millisecond before the withering flames were unleashed. He quickly ran to Otto.
"What are we going to do? He's way too powerful! There's no way we'll be able to defeat him! There must be some way to defeat this monster." Otto said to Mace.
"I don't know! There should be a way, but he's keeping us too distracted to find it."
"Well, think about it later, 'cause here he comes!"
Bowser ran at them. Otto pulled out some more hammers and threw it at them as Mace, still holding the pan, jumped out of the way and stuck his leg out.
Bowser, disoriented by the hammers and unable to stop, tripped over Mace's extended foot and fell, headlong, towards Otto. Otto ducked.
Thud! The Koopa King smashed headfirst into the wall, and made a hole the size of Texas.
"Urgghh..." Bowser got up. "You know what? I've had enough of you guys. It's time to really heat things up!"
Suddenly, something strange happened. It was almost as if time had slowed down for a moment. During this strange event, Otto thought he saw, out of the corner of his eye, something glowing hit the Koopa King from the side. The object, if it wasn't a hallucination, apparently caused Bowser to grow stronger. The Koopa suddenly grew larger and larger, until he was almost three times his original size, or about ten meters tall.
Bowser roared. He shot fireballs at the frightened Koopas. This forced Mace to act. There was no possible way to get both Otto and himself out of the way in time, so he decided to divert it. He flung the frying pan at the incoming missiles and ducked and covered his eyes.
The result of the collision was both deafening and blinding. The remnants of the cooking tool clattered to the ground. On the handle of the extremely burned piece of metal, unless you were temporarily blinded you could clearly read: "Not for use in an open flame. Failure to follow these directions will result in spontaneous combustion."
The frying pan did exactly that.
While the combatants were recovering their vision, Mace, who had smartly covered his eyes, saw something important.
"Otto, listen to me," he whispered. "I know you probably can't see right now, but here is the plan..."
A few seconds later, the two blinded Koopas had fully recovered their vision. The battle recommenced.
Mace edged around the giant Bowser. Otto was busy distracting the mutant Koopa. His target was the ax in the corner of the room. If they could get that weapon, they might be able to finally end this desperate fight.
"Hey, brainless! Over here!" Otto yelled.
"Rrrrrr..." Bowser growled. He slowly moved towards the bait and each threatening step shook the room.
Mace took advantage of the momentary distraction. He sprinted to the ax. The ax looked like it was stuck welded into the ground. Well, that stinks, but I might as well give it a try.
He pulled.
A huge tremor shook the room, even worse than the ones Bowser had been causing. Bowser looked up.
"You fools! You've just activated the collapsing bridge!"
For once, it seemed that he wasn't lying. True to his word, the walls shook as if an earthquake had struck the castle. Then, it happened.
In the middle of the room, where the bridge Bowser was standing on fell apart and he fell into the seething orange liquid.
"Aarrghh!" came the cry of the dying King.
Bowser was being consumed alive. The lava seemed to eat him up as if he was a cookie being devoured by a monster.
Then, with one last cry to the heavens, the enormous body sunk beneath the surface of the magma and disappeared, leaving nothing that would suggest that Bowser lay, dead at the bottom of the lake of lava.
Mace and Otto were about to celebrate when they heard someone clapping.
They both spun around at the exact same time, and spotted the newcomer. It was an old Koopa that wore blue robes and held a magic wand in his fist. The Magikoopa was levitating on a magic broomstick. He didn't look to happy, even though he was clapping for them.
"Well, done. What a great battle. Who are you? And what have you done with the Koopa King?" he said, despite the fact that he already knew.
"Oh, nothing much. He just decided to take a swim." Otto replied, even though he knew it was a rhetorical question.
"What? Don't you know what that lava can do to a healthy mutant?"
"Of course! Do you think we were born yesterday?" Mace snapped. "Actually, even if we were born yesterday, we'd still know what that lava can do."
"Are you serious? What the heck do you think you're accomplishing, doing away with your ruler?"
"Nothing. Just a little word called freedom."
"Do you know who I am?"
"No. Should we?"
The Magikoopa ignored the question. "I am Kamek, the greatest, and most powerful Magikoopa in history!"
Otto yawned. It was his turn to reply. "Yeah, and I'm the Queen of England."
"Shut up! It was I who was the father of Bowser. It was I who raised the little freak so that he would eventually become the King of the Koopas. It was I who taught him how to rule a kingdom with his iron fist. It was I who started a movement to bring down the old Kingdom and make way for a new one. It was I who-"
"Yeah, yeah, we get the point."
But little did Mace and Otto know that the wicked Magikoopa was simply trying to distract them from his true intents.
Kamek stared at the Koopas, defiance on their faces. "You really don't know who you're dealing with, do you?"
The Koopas shook their heads.
"Well, guess what? Because you were so ignorant that you believed I couldn't cast spells without speaking, you didn't stop me from casting the necromancy spell that would resurrect my son, so he can finish you two off, and rule once again! Ha!" he said with triumph as he finished the spell he had been casting with a wave of his wand.
Bowser, normal-sized again, came out of the lava as a skeleton and grabbed the two with his clawed hands. Then, he turned towards the pool of lava that surrounded the chamber. The two clutched at each other as they were raised above the liquid of doom.
"Well, looks like this is a goodbye!" Otto said. "It's been nice knowing you!"
Just then, a window was smashed open. Furaido flew out of the shattered glass.