Interlude 1

Guess who's birthday it is today? This guy.

The first interlude chapter, where we get to see what our favorite villains are up to while our heroes are off mucking about doing good deeds, or some other goody two shoes stuff.

Anyway, Mario and Crash are owned by their respective companies.

Meanwhile, at an undisclosed location.

"N. Gin! Status report!" Cortex ordered his lackey as they stood in a metallic hallway.

"Yes, master!" N. Gin began detailing while Cortex paced back and forth. "After a good week of fighting, you have come out victorious. Turns out investing in that sports seminar for the lab assistants was an even greater idea than expected."

"Of course it was great you imbecile, it was my idea."

Tiny Tiger, standing behind N. Gin, raised his hand. "But, I came up with-"

"Quiet Tiny. Continue." Cortex shushed the possum and beckoned N. Gin.

"The Lab Assistants defeated Bowser's army in the tennis match, 22 to 12. Before, our army's were tied with one victory each."

"Hmmm, and if my calculations created by my incredible intellect are correct, 1 + 1 equals 2." Cortex muttered to himself as he made the calculations with his hands.

"Yes, meaning that we are now 2 to 1 in our great war against Bowser!" N. Gin's grin grew larger. Tiny himself realized what this meant, as he started bouncing in place.

"And two is one higher than one! We are in the lead!" He finally figured it out. The evil scientist did a little celebratory dance as he cheered. "We are winning!"

"YOU HEAR THAT, TURTLE BOY!"

Bowser grumbled to himself as Cortex yelled at him. "Yeah, I heard you, we're standing next to each other."

They were in fact right next to each other, standing in front of the same bulletin board showcasing the details behind every battle the two have had over the past month.

It had started out as your usual, bog standard war, with an army of lab assistants and mutant animals fighting his army of koopa's, sentient missiles and other miscellaneous creatures, with many casualties on both sides. Thank the grand star for 1-Up's and replaceable robot armies, otherwise there would have been consequences.

At some point, though, the two warring leaders realized that this practice wasn't really sustainable. Which is why they decided to switch to a method of competition with a far lower fatality rate, and that was much better as a test of skill and power. Sports.

The strikers game went well on Bowser's side, years of experience playing the Mushroom Kingdom's bloodsport giving them the advantage.

After that came a good old fashioned game of Mario Party. He lost that, given the fact that the scientists were a lot better at the whole cheating than he was. Super science seemed to help in that regard.

And with the tennis match, the super scientists were now in the lead of their best out of 4 games.

"Alright, chump, I'll admit you've surprised me." He said to the vertically challenged scientist. "But now it's time for round 4. And I've got the perfect game in mind."

With a whistle, Bowser summoned his goomba minions, who were carrying a very spiffy looking kart on their heads.

"A good old fashioned game of kart racing. You up for that?" He offered to the scientist.

Cortex simply smiled smugly as he pulled out a remote from out of his pocket. "Funny you should say that." With the press of a button, a kart of his own was teleported into the room. "I had the exact same idea."

Bowser glared at Cortex as the scientist paced around his kart, and walked towards a nearby window.

"And just to make things fair, I get to choose the venue."

Bowser looked out the window, and for a moment was surprised by what he saw. And then he smirked confidently.

"Alright, I'll admit, you've got me on the ropes." Bowser poked Cortex on the head, to the latter's annoyance. "But don't think you've got it easy. I'm gonna grind that big head of yours into dust when I win that race. And I will win that race."

Cortex chuckled, extending his hand. "Challenge accepted then?"

Bowser grasped the scientist's hand. Cortex winced in pain at how hard Bowser held it. "Challenge accepted."

Letting go, Bowser walked away, leaving behind Cortex to grasp his hand in pain.

In a different area, Bowser Jr was wandering around, looking for a way to entertain himself as he waited for his father to finally kick that mad scientists stupid butt. Total waste of a good month, in his opinion.

He sat down on a chair, and pulled out his gaming console, which was not a Nintendo Switch, no sirree, and began playing.

"Whatcha playing there?"

Junior was startled by the voice of someone that was too close for comfort, falling out of his chair. He looked up to see a human girl, one in a school uniform, and with some very distinct features. Specifically, the buck teeth, the metal hands, the bluish gray skin tone, and the lowercase n on her forehead.

"Oh, hey Nina." Junior greeted her. Nina Cortex, daughter (or niece, who knew) of Neo Cortex. Apparently, Cortex felt it necessary to drag her into the whole war against Bowser instead of letting her enjoy getting kicked out of Evil Public School. Something about "learning how to be evil" or whatever.

She and Junior ended up encountering each other, forming a bond over video games, technology, and having a low opinion of Cortex. It was a wonderfully evil friendship.

"I'm just playing some Smash. Wanna join?" He offered her one of the not-Joy Cons.

"Sure. Uncle Cortex is being stupid with your dad, so I got time." She joined in on the game. "When do you think this stupid war is gonna be over?"

"Soon. You might have noticed this already, but my dad is awesome."

"He's a giant kaiju turtle that can destroy anything in his path. Of course he's awesome."

"Yeah. He's gonna have Cortex beat pretty soon."

They played their match in silence for a moment. Nina came out victorious, celebrating to herself and feeding her ego, when Junior asked her something.

"That betrayal thing is still on, right?"

"Yeah, it's still on. I'm still working on it."

Before she could go on any further, the two heard their respective guardians calling for them.

"Drat! Father- I mean, uncle Cortex is calling." The mad scientist prodigy got up from seat, handing Junior his not-Joy Con back. "Believe me when I say I'll have it ready for you the next time we meet. Give me a few hours."

"It better be good!" Junior shouted as Nina ran off down the hall. The young prince walked leisurely down the hall, heading the other way. He was already imagining how proud his father would be about how he successfully got the enemy to betray their leader.

He couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. Maybe this month wasn't so stupid after all.

Next time, spooky things happen, a friend returns, and a psychologist/museum owner coughs up a key.

Enjoy, review, critique.