This chapter gets confusing, starting with its title. Though it's called "The Finale", there are still at least two chapters left in this second enstallment to the King of the Koopas trilogy. That's right, people, once I'm done with this and G.I.R.'s shadow's challenge (another origin story, only dealing with Cackletta from Superstar Saga), I will begin the third and final installment to the trilogy. It will deal with the events before the original KooK, an origin story about Kamilia Koopa, how she became a Magikoopa, where her spellbooks came from, and why the parasol in this story is so important.

It is also confusing because...well, I'm not entirely sure why, but it just is. I wrote this at around...oh...3 in the morning because I needed to get it done before the end of school (my school gets out in a week). So, yeah...bear with me and, if it's not good, at least pretend it's good.

(I listened to One-Winged Angel while writing this. It seems to fit somehow. Oh, and For Good, so if you have any of those available to listen to, do so while reading. Hopefully it adds to the effect)

shadow-spawn180: Oh, it's all good, dude. I hardly ever keep up with other people's fan fictions (which I feel kinda bad for), but yeah, it's fine. Glad yer just keepin up with the story thusfar! And wait...are you meaning to tell me that you saw Idina Menzel while she was in Wicked? explodes with jealousy

Queen B of Randomness 016: YAYSIES...wow...you need to wite some sort of Queen B Dictionaryfor these fantabulous words!

MysticalTears: Hey, yer new to me...so, HI! How's it goin?

Bowser flew to the ground, screeching in pain. How did Mario become so strong? Could it be that the Princess had failed him? Somehow, Bowser was expecting that. She was but a child and he forced such a large task upon her. He didn't expect her to get it right.

For that matter, Bowser didn't expect to live. The whole mission had failed. Well…it was worth a shot.

Mario walked up to Bowser, untouched and untouchable, as he kicked him hard in the side. Bowser was crying inside. This was exactly how Toadstool had treated him before the Koopa went Giga. But Bowser didn't have such power this time. He was by himself, without magic, without a mentor to come to his aid at the last second.

He choked. This was what he told Kammy he wanted.

His eyes filled with rage. Kammy believed in him. She told him he had a destiny! A destiny that would free all Koopas! He wasn't about to give up on her now! He forced his sore body up in attempt to fight back. He was going to win. He knew so…

Mario jumped up and kicked Bowser square in the jaw. Blood spewed out of his mouth as he flew back, hitting the ground hard once again. He let out a cry of pain as he tried to get back up. Was his shell broken?

'Shit,' he thought. 'I can't fight like this. I feel like Toadstool when he was fighting me as Giga Bowser, only Mario doesn't have a weakness like the Stars…'

He thought back to when the Princess said that his weakness was his hat. A dozen ideas popped into his head, but he quickly got rid of them. Mario didn't need his hat now. He had the power of the Stars. That's why Bowser was getting such a beating.

Bowser knew that he was going to die. Somehow he just knew it. Maybe it because of the fact that time stopped right as Mario jumped into the air, ready to kick Bowser once more, and the King's life flashed before his eyes.

It was a sad, tragic sight. And Bowser didn't want to see it.

He saw his cottage at Keep Canyon, back when it was frigid and cold. He was his siblings…Oh, Brilette. Brank. He didn't want to see their destinies in this flashback. He wouldn't be able to bear it. He saw himself grow up from a Koopababy to a Koopaling. He then saw that fateful day in the West Wood, running through the trees, completely oblivious to what was coming. Oblivious to how much his life would change.

He saw the Toad Troops, Kamilia Koopa, her magic. He saw his first time defying gravity. He saw the horror on his face when he discovered his siblings were gone. King Wart's transformation. The Fire Fields. The Koopas forced into slavery.

He saw Toadstool, still a young man, fighting him. He saw Toadstool beat him without mercy. He saw Brilette, teary eyed, bidding farewell to him as he was thrown out of the castle.

He saw himself grow up. He saw his innocent standard green shell replaced with the spiked one he wore now. He saw himself becoming the Koopa leader, fighting for their rights. He saw himself invading countries, killing innocent people, forcing them to join him in his rebellion against Toadstool.

His eyes watered up. Was that really him? Was he really that ruthless? How could he have been? He was doing the right thing…fighting for what be believed in. Was Brank right? Was what he did really evil?

He saw his army taking on the Toad army, Toadstool and Brilette…Oh, God; he didn't want to see that. He saw the terrible battle that unfolded after. He saw him crashing into the castle, getting captured by Toadstool. He saw Kammy freeing him and the battle between him and Toadstool afterwards. He saw Him go insane with power as the Giga infected his mind and spirit.

He saw…no. NO! He didn't want to witness this again! For some reason, this part of his life unfolded before his eyes in slow motion, torturing him. Brank…no, please, just run away! Brank…NO! Brank…why? Why did this have to happen? Why…?

"WHY!" he jumped up and bit Mario's leg as time returned to normal. He didn't wish to see the rest of his life. Not yet. It wasn't over just yet!

As Mario grabbed his leg in pain, Bowser grabbed his arm and threw him off of the arena. Mario landed hard on a bomb that was floating around the arena, something Bowser's hatred must've added while he was chanting the spell. He jumped off quickly, the bomb exploding just milliseconds after.

Everything then appeared to happen super fast. Punches, swipes, kicks, bites, and a wide array of other attacks went back and forth between the two fighters. Mario was stronger, but he lacked one thing that Bowser had a lot of: determination. Bowser had a lifetime of mistakes to make up for. And this was his chance.

She was chanting the spell as she ran up another flight of stairs. She tried memorizing it so that she wouldn't need the book. It had become a distraction. Mips was hopping by her feet, breathing hard, trying not to look tired in front of the Princess.

Peach didn't care if Mips was tired or not. Heck, she hardly cared if he was with her at all. She was simply trying to memorize this stupid…

She stopped dead in her tracks. She had just reached the top of the stairs and was standing where the main lobby should've been. There was no lobby. No castle. Just debris and the smallest remain of a solid floor. Everything else had been disintegrated by the Star Storm.

The sky, once dark navy and beautiful, was now red and cloudy, like blood. Everything around the castle seemed to be gone, including any signs of cities miles away. The grass had been uprooted, for crying out loud! Nothing remained. Nothing.

Save for a parasol. It was propped up against a tiny hint of a wall. The Princess hadn't recognized the parasol, which was pink and red in hue. She didn't think much of it, but did seek shelter by the tiny remain of the wall. It wouldn't do her much good, but she needed a place to read the spell.

For some odd reason, this time around, the words of the spell weren't trying to kill her. They weren't forcing themselves out of her mouth. They were giving her the control now. Could it be the Magic was testing her before and had gained her trust now? She didn't know exactly how magic worked.

"Princess…the twister…" Mips began. Peach looked up and saw that the tornado had simply grown bigger and was slowly bursting out of the floor, coming up from the basement like a giant. Her eyes narrowed as she went back to the book. The spell was sticking itself into her mind. It was making her memorize it.

"Aleke Menah Shigeru, Aleke Menah Shigeru …" she chanted, the spell coming back to her, embracing her, welcoming her back home. Peach hardly recognized these feelings the Magic was giving her, but she didn't take much time to think about them. The Star Storm was coming closer.

Bowser and Mario were evenly matched. Both unstoppable forces, driven by different circumstances, different lives. They each had a different propose: Mario's was to kill Bowser, no questions asked. Bowser's propose…he didn't know it all, but he knew, at least, that he was changing his plan. His original idea was to fight Mario until he was killed by the creature. That way, the Princess would have enough time to lock the Stars in their cage.

He had a different plan now. He was going to win this fight. Mario wasn't that powerful, even with the Stars on his side. Bowser would come out victorious.

Mario then slid under Bowser's legs and grabbed his tail. Shocked, Bowser tripped over his own legs and fell to the ground. Mario's strength increased greatly as he began spinning Bowser's giant body around the arena.

Bowser's vision blurred once again as he dug his claws into the floor of the arena, attempting to slow himself down enough to regain his composure. No such luck. Mario was too strong now.

The Princess put the spell book down. She had it memorized. She faced the Star Storm head on, its wind nearly knocking her over. She needed to confront this force. It didn't seem possible, but it was stoppable.

She began waving her arms around, contorting her hands into strange positions, as the spell began to pour from her mouth again. "" She chanted as her hands waved faster, her hands twisting and turning. Mips starred at her, cocking an ear and tilting his head. He didn't realize what she was doing. She was saving their lives. She just hoped that it wasn't too late to save Bowser's.

As her chanting got louder and faster, the twister stopped moving toward the girl. Her breathing was heavy, for the spell was draining her energy, but she kept shouting the spell nonetheless.

It then occurred to her that she needed to get inside the Storm. She would need to have all of the Stars see and hear her in order for the spell to work. How could she accomplish such a dangerous task without hurting herself? It probably wasn't possible. It was a bad idea.

Peach, still chanting the spell, ran over to the half-wall and grabbed the pink parasol. Mips's ears popped up in shock as the Princess ran towards the Star Storm.

"Princess, what are you doing!" he cried out. Peach had no time to answer. She knew what she needed to do. She swallowed hard as she approached the twister, which seemed to get bigger and bigger the closer she got. She was scared. Yes, very scared, indeed.

She knew it wasn't safe. She knew she probably wouldn't survive the trip inside. But she decided it was time for her to trust her instincts and just do it. She closed her eyes, opened up the parasol, and leaped into the Star Storm. Mips cried out in agony as he watched the Princess soar into the spinning death trap, thinking he would never see her again.

Inside the Star Storm was Hell. Stars were flying every which way, moving so fast that Peach couldn't even see them as they slashed at her delicate skin, cutting deep, blood flying out of her veins at maximum speed. She got very dizzy, her eyes, on occasion, rolled to the back of her head for a second or two. Still she chanted, the spell seeping into tiny black eyes of each and every Star.

She began screaming the spell as she let go of the parasol, the high winds keeping her in the air. She flew into the very eye of the cyclone, the Stars surrounding her, as if in respect for a queen. She raised her hands high in the air, a beautiful blue light emerging from her palms. The Stars each got sucked into the light, despite their desperate attempts to escape. They had their freedom and they wanted to keep it. But Peach's magic was too strong for them.

"ALEKE MENAH SHIGERU!"

The Stars soon all feel into the blue light, which encased them in their magical prison. They all then exploded in a brilliant golden shimmer as they teleported to their own realm, where they would forever stay until summoned once again. The winds died down and the Princess fell to the ground, apparently lifeless.

The Stars then regained the castle to its normal state.

Mario suddenly stopped swinging Bowser's body. He groaned. Bowser jumped up, ever ready to attack. However, he was puzzled. Mario looked weak, as if Bowser's body had suddenly become too heavy for him.

Bowser knew that this was his chance to strike. He ran up to the creature, claws ready, revenge and justice in his heart. His dreams were coming true before his very eyes!

One misstep can change everything…

Bowser had forgotten that the arena was falling apart, and he tripped. He fell into the darkness. He let out a terrible screech as his body kept falling into the abyss. There was nothing to catch him. He was falling to his death.

He had nothing more to think about. This was it. The final bow. He was already dead. He just needed to die.

The Princess, Kamilia, Brank, Brilette…he had failed them all. So then what was his destiny? What was his propose in Life? He never knew…and he never would know. He simply kept falling into the darkness, completely happy in his solitude. The King of the Koopas had finally fallen off of his throne.

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