Chapter 7 Princess Who?

Junior scribbled down the notes as fast as he could. It had already been about five minutes since his Dad told him the story, and he was determined to get every last detail down on paper. Every. Last. Detail. What would be the point of capturing history if he didn't capture it correctly? He needed to do it in its entirety.

"I...made...the….right...one." Junior pressed the point of the pen down on the paper, creating an inky black period. He blinked at the page. There were a few misspelled words, but hey! Junior was nine; he could cut himself a break! Besides, the story that the misspelled words told…

Was actually quite heartwarming. Junior didn't realize that this was the case when he was in the process of writing the notes. But now that his brain was in a resting state, he could absorb the information. He gently gripped the page, his mouth hanging open slightly as he read the scenario through. This was his Dad? This was his Dad in the story? Wow. Just….wow.

"That's amazing, Dad," Junior said softly. He looked up at the beaming Bowser. "That really was an amazing story."

Bowser nodded. "I know. Believe me, I sometimes can't believe that I did half of that stuff. Dad was….yeah. It took all the courage in my heart to stand up to him."

Junior snickered. "And it's a good thing you did, too!" His face grew exceedingly warm. "And, uh...don't tell anyone I said this, but I'm glad you managed to keep the Koopalings."

Bowser blinked before putting on an awed smile. "Aww, Junior! You really do love your siblings!"

"Well…..yeah." He cleared his throat. "You did not hear this from me."

Bowser laughed, sending the sound bouncing off the walls of the cabin. "Don't worry, Junior. I'll make sure to keep your secret...well, a secret."

Junior smiled. "Thanks."

With that, Bowser slapped his hands on his knees. "Well now…." He went over to the window, which displayed glowing white clouds. "It appears that we still have some time before we get back home. Would you like to hear another story?"

Junior hesitated. He looked down at his notes. They had already taken up four pages of the notebook; a lot to write for just a measly little nine year old. He probably shouldn't. But then again, he did have fun listening to the last story.

"Ummm…..sure? I guess?" He bit his lip. "I just don't know what story you can tell."

"Well, I do have a lot of them!" Bowser started counting down on his fingers. "The first time I kidnapped Princess Peach, the second time I kidnapped Princess Peach, the first time I got beaten up by Mario, the one hundred and fiftieth time…."

Junior snickered. "You've really kidnapped Peach that many times?"

Bowser paused and shrugged. "Yeah. So?"

Junior giggled. "Nothing; I just find it funny." He gripped the pen. "I don't really know if I want to hear about a kidnapping. I mean, I was a part of many of them."

Bowser's face fell. "True. That's true."

"I mean…." Junior struggled with the words to say. "I guess….one thing I don't know is how you started kidnapping Peach in the first place."

Bowser grinned, his eyes appearing to glow. "Oh! That's a great story; you're gonna love it!"

…

It wasn't very long ago; about nine years ago, in fact. You were just a little baby at the time; six months old. You were so cute; you were just learning how to walk! Sometimes, you would hold onto Ludwig's hands as he took you down the hallways. Other times, you would sit in your highchair and color on it with crayons. You really were the cutest little cuddly koopa button, Junior!

…

"Daad!" Junior's face grew as hot as the surface of Venus. "You're embarrassing me!"

"Oop. Sorry." He paused before giggling. "But seriously, you were so sweet, Junior. I have a ton of pictures of baby you that you can put in your little notebook thingy, if you want to."

Junior felt his stomach squirm. He didn't want to put his baby pictures in the book! Not when people like Peach were going to see it. And Mario….

"I think I'll pass," Junior said, shoving down his vomit.

"Oh" Bowser said, his shoulders slumping and his face falling. "Okay."

….

Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. Well, as I was saying, you were just beyond cute. And, I see you're glaring at me as I bring this up again, so I'll just move on.

One day, as I was feeding you some applesauce, Larry came into the room. Normally, he would have said something really snarky and attitudinal. He was like that even when he was a four year old. However, he actually didn't do something like that. He just stared at you, getting applesauce all over your bib and your face.

Then, Larry asked me something that I will remember for the rest of my life.

"Bowser, who's my mommy?"

I nearly dropped the applesauce on the front of your highchair. I mean...I guess, in hindsight, I should have expected him to ask something like that. After all, he watched a lot of TV, and usually, characters on TV had Mommys. While none of the other Koopalings had asked me questions like that before, I guess in a sense, it was inevitable that one of them would do so. But still. It caught me off guard.

I slowly turned toward Larry, all while wiping the applesauce off of your sticky front. "You...you want to know who your mommy is?"

"Yeah."

I hesitated and started asking myself some questions in my head. Should I...tell him the story of how I found him? I mean, I guess I could? But, then again, he was only four. There were just some things that he wouldn't understand, as well as some things that he was probably going to forget in the end.

No, I decided. Best to leave that story for later.

So, I turned toward Larry with a smile. "She's a very special person."

"Really?" Larry asked. "How is she special?"

I had to think fast on my feet in order to answer that. "Well, she loved you so much that she brought you into existence! Isn't that cool!"

Larry's eyes grew wide. He nodded his head. "That...that is cool." He grinned. "I like being in exwsitence."

I chuckled. I loved being a father sometimes.

Larry turned toward you, sitting in your high chair and trying to put your hand in your mouth. "Does Junior have a mother?"

I seized up. "Junior?" I looked at you. "Uh, no. He doesn't."

Larry gasped. "What happened to her? Did she died?"

I shook my head. "No. She didn't died. She just...never existed."

Larry blinked and tilted his head. "I'm...confused."

I sighed and patted you on the head. "Yeah. It is kind of crazy how he came along."

Again, just like how he was found, I didn't want to tell Larry the story about how you were a clone. There were some things children his age just wouldn't understand.

Larry nodded. "So...can we have pizza tonight?"

I blinked and chuckled. "Sure."

"Nice! Thanks, dude!" With that, he bolted away. Meanwhile, I was left chuckling over the fact that he had called me dude.

However, when I looked back at you, the laughter died. You stared back at me with your big black eyes. I petted you on the head.

"You feel okay, buddy?" I asked. "I mean, that was probably a lot to take in, knowing that you don't have a mom." I sighed. "I can tell you from first hand experience that it is not fun to be motherless." I growled. "Especially when you had a Dad like mine."

You blinked back at me, pulling your hand out of your mouth. A string of drool travelled down the table as you reached for the applesauce. I picked it up and spooned some more in your mouth.

"You know," I said as I shoveled it in. "You would think, since I'm the king, I should be able to do whatever I want." I stirred the applesauce. "But nooo, I have to follow that stupid tradition." I took a bite of the applesauce for myself. I remember it tasting really good. "I really wish I didn't have to do that. You deserve a mother. Everyone deserves a mother."

I looked back at you, my firstborn, my one true child. You had this look in your eyes, as if you were begging me to give you a mommy. That was when a thought hit me.

I smiled. "You want a mommy, Junior?" You didn't respond, but I still chuckled regardless. "If you want a mother, then I'll give you a mother. And she'll be the sweetest mother of all time."

With that, I ran up into my room. Kamek waa there, and he was overseeing a Koopa troopa servant tidying up. I ignored both of them. They didn't ignore me though.

"Your highness, what has gotten into you?"

Instead of responding, I just leaned down so that I was level with my bookshelf. I knew that there was a book that I wanted to find somewhere in there.

"Come on, come on, come on….YES, I FOUND IT!" I reached my arm into the back of the bookshelf and pulled out a red notebook. I chuckled and plopped it down on my side table.

Kamek raised an eyebrow at me. "Bowser, what on the Mushroom World are you doing?"

I laughed. "Behold, Kamek. This book contains the names of all the important people." I began flipping through it. "The first name that I point to in this book will be the person who I will make Junior's mother!" I closed my eyes and still flipped through the book at high speeds. "Beep beep beep beep…" I slammed my pointer finger down on the page. "BEEP! Junior's mother will be…." I looked at the name and blinked. "Myself?"

Suddenly, an image flashed across my mind. I was tucking you, as a six year old, into bed. "Night Mama!" You said.

I then smiled back, wearing a pink dress, white apron, a blonde wig, and heavy makeup. "Nighty night sweetkins!"

I shuddered just thinking about that. Pushing that image out of my mind, I turned back to the book. "Yeah, I'm just gonna pretend I didn't see that." I flipped through the pages again. This time, Kamek got in close, leaning forward in interest. "And….THIS ONE!"

I rammed my pointer finger down on the page again. However, the name that I saw confused me to no end. "Princess Ph? Who's she?"

Kamek cleared his throat. "Sire, I think you need to move your finger."

So I did. I moved it to the right. "Princess Peh?"

Kamek sighed. "Lift your finger, maybe?"

I did that, and I blinked at the name. "Ohhh. Princess Pea Suh Heh." I instantly became confused again. "Wait, I don't know who that is."

Kamek facepalmed. "It's not pronounced Princess Pea Suh Heh; it's Princess Peach!"

"Oh." I put my hands on my hips. "Princes Peach. Why does that name sound so familiar?"

Kamek reached into his robe and pulled out a rolled up piece of paper. "Maybe because she is familiar?"

He unrolled the paper, and my eyes bulged out of my sockets. There she was. Princess Peach. The most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Or at least, beautiful for a human; she didn't come anywhere close to being on the Koopa beauty level. But still, with her shiny golden hair and lapis blue eyes, she certainly looked physically appealing.

I smiled. "I think I'm in love."

Kamek scrunched up his brow and rolled the picture back up as he glared at me. "Well, I'm afraid that you can't exactly go out with her."

I blinked. "Why not?"

"Because. She is the daughter of King George and Queen Rosemary."

I put my hand on my chin. "George and Rosemary, George and Rosemary….ohhhhh. I remember now; I killed them!"

"Yes," Kamek said with a nod. "You did. Which means any hope you have of garnering Peach's affection is long gone."

I smirked. "Pfft. You think too negatively, Kamek. I'll be able to win Peach's heart and make her Junior's mother without breaking a sweat."

….

SLAM!

I blinked as I stood in front of Peach's Castle door, which had just gotten slammed in my face. I turned toward Kamek. "Well, that didn't go the way I planned."

"I told you; she hates you with a burning passion. You can't exactly win the heart of the girl whose parents you murdered."

I glared. "Okay, first off, it was because they were planning an invasion. And second…" I eyed the door again. "What if I don't win her heart? What if I steal it?"

Kamek blinked. "Steal it?"

With that, I kicked the door down. Within seconds, I was back outside with a screaming, struggling Peach strapped over my shoulder.

"Well," I said to the incredulous Kamek with a grin. "Mission accomplished."

Kamek's face fell. "You can't be serious."

"Of course I'm serious! Now, I order you to teleport us back to the castle."

There was a pause before Kamek sighed, waved his magical stick, and teleported us back.

….

"And there you have it!" Bowser exclaimed. "That's how it all began."

Junior gave his father a raised eyebrow. "That was…an odd way of starting a long rivalry."

"Well, the rivalry with Mario, if that's what you're thinking about, didn't start until he came by to save the Princess later that week. After that was when kidnappings became a weekly thing." He sighed. "If I could only have just stopped him the first time."

Junior nodded and scribbled down the notes. While this story didn't take up nearly as many pages as the first (two as opposed to four) it was still long. Junior nearly had a thumb cramp when he was finished.

"Oww!" He said as he held his wrist.

"You okay?"

"I...I'm fine." Junior grinned. "This is a lot of fun!"

Bowser laughed. "That's good. Maybe when we get back home, you can ask your siblings some questions."

Right at that moment, Harry the hammer bro came into the cabin. "We're almost home, your majesties."

"Thanks, Harry!" said Bowser. He grinned down at Junior. "Looks like you'll be able to ask them sooner rather than later."

Junior nodded. "Good. I'm excited already."