Hello, and welcome back to the Feels Festival! Today's special event stars a back and forth spectacular between both Mario and Bowser, featuring Luigi and Bowser Junior! Plus, we'll have a few special guest stars join in on all of the other drama! You may or may not need some tissues! So, clear some time, and enjoy the chaos unfold! (No really, this is another long chapter, so read it when you've got some time.)

...

[Mario]

We made our way to Peach's Throne Room, where Toadsworth led us to a familiar bright face in an orange and yellow dress that turned from a window to greet us.

"Peach, hey!" greeted Princess Daisy and she hurried over a bit before she stopped short. Her delighted smile switched to a visibly confused expression. "I…wait. Mario? You're back already?"

"Yep," I breathed out. "Special thanks to the most successful rescue attempt we've ever had."

"Rescue? Who—?"

The Red Toad cleared his throat and proudly placed his hands on his hips.

"You? That's really impressive!" Daisy congratulated.

"Aw, thank you, Princess Daisy," the Red Toad giggled.

Peach walked up to Daisy and hugged her lightly. "It's nice to have you here." She then let go and studied the other princess. "So, what brings you here, Daisy?"

"Well, here I thought I was going to help you out," Daisy explained and gazed over each of us. "But, I guess I'm a little late to the party."

"As per usual," Peach sighed. "But it was a nice effort."

Daisy raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" Uh-oh.

"Well, our kingdoms are meant to share an alliance," explained Peach. "Yet, whenever I find myself kidnapped, or threatened, Sarasaland is never at my defense, nor the defense of my kingdom. So—"

"Wow, hold up," Daisy interrupted. "One, my kingdom has its own issues to resolve on a regular basis. Two, you're the one that gets kidnapped so often, and we can't help that. Three, we support you whenever there are some kind of sporting events that you need multiple kingdom representation to attract more publicity."

Princess Peach shook her head. "That last one barely holds any weight and you know it. The first one is a strong argument; I'll give you that. But my getting kidnapped is either so frequent that you can't be busy for every single occurrence, or not all that common after all, in which case you should be more supportive."

"Oh no, you listen—" Daisy started again, but glanced down at Peach's hand. "Wait, is that your Royal Scepter?"

Peach shifted her attention down at the rod and back to Daisy again. "Yes, why?"

"That thing shouldn't be out, Peach," Daisy chastised. "Have you been using it the whole time? You know what it costs!"

"I do, and it's worth it," Peach answered curtly. "I'm beyond exhausted of leaving my people to worry about their princess and the state of this kingdom. I'm through with having it taken over and run to the ground until I have to rebuild it back again." Peach hoisted the wand up. "This time, no holding back."

Daisy shook her head. "Peach, that's still not the right way to go about this."

"I've already tried that," muttered Toadsworth.

Peach folded her arms and looked away. Still, Daisy persisted. "You do realize that it messing with your emotions is only the first—"

"You don't need to go over them, I know what I'm doing," huffed Peach, and visibly became more angry at Daisy.

"Did you at least think about any precautions or countermeasures?" asked Daisy. "I think you should at least—"

"Will you quit babying me?!" snapped Peach.

Now Daisy became more annoyed. "Well, apparently someone has to, since…!" She suddenly trailed off and her aggravated face became fearful.

"Since they're not here," Peach finished for her. "Yes, I understood that."

"Oh, no, Peach, I didn't mean—"

"No, of course you didn't," Peach tersely broke in. "So, if you'll all excuse me—"

"Please, Peach," Daisy grabbed Peach's hands into her own. "I'm sorry."

"Don't—"

"I'm here to help, not argue!" Daisy fired out. "Do you want me here or not?"

Both princesses stared one another down. Peach pursed her lips together, still visibly agitated, but nodded slowly.

"Ok, then…let's…" Daisy trailed off to think a bit. "Let's go to your room and devise some strategies. Just us, how about it?"

Again, Peach nodded, but she took a second to glance at me. She took her arms from Daisy and walked over to me.

She stared into my eyes and asked, "Will you be all right, Mario?"

My eyes met hers and I nodded. "Don't worry about me, Peach. I'll be fine."

"You still need some rest," Peach analyzed. "At least don't do anything strenuous while you're here. Go somewhere quiet where you won't deal with…well, everyone."

"I'll keep him in a guest room," Luigi offered. Suddenly, I felt the need to run off anywhere else, even if that meant getting swarmed by concerned Toads from all around.

Peach nodded. "Good, you watch over him, Luigi." She turned to her steward. "Toadsworth, get a heavy meal prepared for everyone, but go ahead and serve Yoshi first. He'll probably eat for a while. And make sure the Toads get a great helping too, for all of their hardwork."

Yoshi and the five Toads cheered over Toadsworth's sigh. He led the group off to the Dining Hall while Peach and Daisy made their way upstairs. Luigi took me from the Throne Room and guided me to one of the guest rooms.

"So, we're having that talk now?" I inquired.

"As soon as we're alone, yes," answered Luigi.

His voice sounded so leveled, controlled…serious. I felt a lump in my throat and swallowed hard.

[Bowser]

Hastily, I barged into Kamek's Study. The old Magikoopa jumped backwards as the door slammed open, tripped over his blue robe, and crashed into the nearest stack of books.

"Uh…" was all that came out of me at first. After an awkward pause, I added, "Sorry."

"I should hope so!" screeched Kamek. "Since you were a child, I don't know how many times I've specifically asked you not to slam doors open on me!"

Quickly, I placed my hands over my mouth and suppressed a fit of laughter from bubbling out. This intrusion wasn't for my amusement.

"Kamek," I composed myself, "where is my son?"

"His room," Kamek solemnly answered, "and he specifically requested to not be disturbed by anyone."

"Not to…? Tough!" I snapped. "I'm his father and the king! He'll deal with me whether he wants to or not!"

The Magikoopa sighed. "If you walk in with that attitude, you'll certainly push him further away."

My scowl lowered. "Well…I need to talk to him."

"So go do it," advised Kamek. "But don't be a blowhard or hotheaded about it. He doesn't understand and needs you to go about this gently."

"I'm…pretty bad at gentle," I admitted.

Kamek shook his head. "No, you just don't like acting that way because you think it's weak. You need to show some vulnerability, at least to your son."

He stared at me through his spectacles as I clawed through my hair.

"You're right," I relented. "And I hate when you're right."

"Then you must be filled with a lot of hatred, huh?" prodded Kamek. I answered with a fist over his head and stomped out as he sank against his books on the floor.

Even though I felt the heated floor against my feet as I cross the bridge, then the cool stones as I entered the staircase to the pipe, I couldn't stay too focused on anything. A few things kept nagging at me repeatedly:

How was I going to get Junior to listen to me?

What was I going to tell Junior?

Could he really understand what I felt about Mario?

When will I be able to get Mario back?

Why do I keep asking myself questions that I can't immediately answer?

With a growl of frustration, I bashed open the nearest door and found myself in the hallway to our bedrooms.

Calm down, Bowser; just take it one step at a time.

Slowly, I trudged over to my son's door and knocked, not as roughly as he'd probably expect from his gruff father.

"Junior? It's me," I called.

"Go away!" He yelled out, in a voice that had a painful mixture of sorrow and anger. "I don't want to talk to liars."

"Son, please—"

"Just leave me alone!"

"I…I can't do that, Junior."

"Yes, you can," he snapped. "That's how you kept everything else to yourself!"

My teeth grinded together and I held my tongue. I hate it when people call me out on my screw-ups.

[Mario]

Luigi pulled the door shut behind him, quickly, quietly. I glanced around the guest bedroom quickly; red curtains and carpet, blue bed sheets, white closets and desks, nothing too spectacular, save for a nice window, but nothing too great, for a castle room. My brother turned to me and folded his arms together. His eyes were lowered and he already wore a frown.

"Can you explain to me what this is about?" I blurted out.

"Well, to start, you lied to me," murmured Luigi.

My eyebrows shot up. "Lied? About what?"

"I'm not exactly sure where it begins," sighed Luigi. "Were you actually kidnapped?"

"What?"

"Mario, don't make me repeat myself," Luigi groaned.

"Yes, Luigi, I was really taken by Bowser," I snapped, and felt a burning temper flare up. "Why would you accuse me of otherwise? Did you think I wanted to be taken away from everyone and forced to be a prisoner?"

He shook his head. "Not exactly that, but something along those lines."

"Did you hit your head recently?" I questioned, flabbergasted at where this conversation already went.

"No…wait, yes, actually," he admitted. "That, however, has nothing to do with this…"

Luigi dug around his overalls and pulled out a piece of paper, slightly torn, clearly wrinkled, and visibly aged a bit.

"And what's that rubbish?" I spat out.

The paper was abruptly thrust in front of my face. "Here, let me know when you recognize it."

My hand snatched the paper as I glared up at Luigi, while he stared back nonchalantly. It took maybe a second to register my handwriting, but another minute to…

No. It was the love letter.

"W…Where did you get this?" I demanded.

Looking at him now, his eyes were more alert, focused. "Remember when you were kidnapped?" he asked me. "That's all I found afterwards. And for a while, I assumed it was just some nonsense you wanted to read and rally the Toad Town citizens." He took in a deep breath through his nose and slowly exhaled through his mouth. "Imagine," his voice wavered with a mix of sorrow and anger, "my great surprise, when I finally did manage to read it."

I was at a loss for words. "Luigi…"

"No," he curtly stopped me. "No, this doesn't get to suddenly get washed away. Explain that to me." When I didn't answer right away, he snapped, "Mario, tell me the meaning of that letter."

"It's exactly what it is," I fired back. He pulled his gloved hand over his face and left it covering his mouth as he turned away from me. "What are you looking for? What do you want from this?"

"To understand it, for starters," he spun back around to face me, his voice barely containing a wave of rage. "Mario, do you even realize the idea of it?"

"I should, I wrote it—"

"No, no, you don't get it," he interrupted, and his voice rose. "You are meant to be the hero of this kingdom, of the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser is the enemy. He's not some misunderstood creature, some unfortunate monster that's down on his luck."

"How would you even know? Were you kidnapped recently?"

"Mario, that wretched beast is not a thing you can find compassion for," he darkly laid out for me. "You cannot feel love for a freak that terrorizes people you defend, that tries to destroy innocent lives!"

"You don't understand," I retaliated. "He does stupid things for…we're not that much better! Luigi, we've murdered—"

"We fought back against monsters that wouldn't give us a choice, Mario!" he thundered. "We are protecting people, not enslaving them! We are in the right!"

"Are we?"

"You did not seriously just ask me that."

"And what if I did?" I questioned.

Luigi massaged the temples of his head. "Then we're going to be here a while."

[Bowser]

I sat quietly in my room and waited. After the first ten minutes, I stopped counting. My hand gently brushed over the bed and slid near the pillow where he had slept.

How the hell could someone turn a sanctuary like your room into a mental prison?

A series of knocks rapped against my door. Before I could rise and open it, the Koopalings poured in through it and fell into a heap on top of one another as they crashed to the ground.

"Idiots," snapped Ludwig. "I told you I was knocking."

"Yeah, well, who wanted you to play leader anyway?" countered Roy.

"Oh, will you two please stop arguing already?" moaned Wendy.

"What's the meaning of this?" I boomed. "Get in here and shut the door!"

The seven scrambled and dragged themselves inside, and Larry kicked the door shut. They stood up and gazed at me.

"Uh, you did call us here," reaffirmed Larry. "What did you want?"

"You seven held me up earlier," I blamed, to which the Koopalings looked to protest, but noting my glare, they ultimately remained quiet. "So, you twerps are going to help me get back in my son's good graces."

The seven exchanged glances with one another. "Are you really asking us that? And are sure you want us to help out with that?" questioned Lemmy.

"Yes. Not too long ago, you were on an assignment with my son, correct?" I recalled. "And he works fairly closely with all of you. If anyone was able to help me right now, at least one of you should be the best one for it."

Again, they faced one another. With a closer look, I noted an uncertainty in their eyes.

"We're…um, not really sure what to do," Iggy admitted.

"Well, you better get sure and get busy coming up with a way to help me!" I ordered.

The Koopalings huddled together and began shooting whispers back and forth with one another. Just before I could lean in to listen better, they pulled away from one another and turned to me again.

"Ok, how about you go over there, knock on his door, act like there's an emergency, and then that'll force him out," suggested Lemmy.

"…Is that seriously the best you've got?" I questioned, not hiding my disappointment.

"It's the first and fastest idea, just try it," recommended Wendy.

With an exasperated sigh, I relented, "Fine."

They pulled the door open for me and sent me across the hall. It just dawned on me that I had no idea what kind of emergency I would act out. Without much thought, I quickly pounded on Junior's door.

"Junior, come out, quick!" I shouted. "We've got trouble—"

"No we don't, I would have heard someone come running to tell you," replied Junior quickly.

"Ah…I, uh, noticed first?"

"Papa, go away."

And with a heavier sigh, I slumped my shoulders and hauled myself back to the Koopalings in my room.

"That was such a stupid idea," I grumbled.

"Well, give us a few shots," suggested Ludwig. "We're just getting started."

[Mario]

Luigi continued to pace around the room, and still pondered over my responses to my letter. I had flopped over onto the bed, and alternated between squeezing and punching a pillow.

"So, you and the Toad just…jumped from the roof and flew off?"

"Yes, Luigi, yes," came my annoyed answer. "We knew where we needed to go."

"Neither of you even thought about the idea that they'd fire cannonballs at you?" he asked again, thoroughly unconvinced.

"No, we were thinking about getting shot down and wanted to experience the fall," I retorted.

"Mario."

I threw my hands up. "What?! We wanted to escape with one of the fastest routes we could use! That's what we came up with! And no, I didn't want to be captured again, I wanted that Toad to get out of the castle."

"The Toad," he repeated, "and what about you?"

"Sure, I wanted to get out too, but the Toad's life was more important," I insisted. "If they had found him, he wouldn't have made it back here."

"Fair enough," Luigi relented. "It just seemed like a really stupid plan."

"It's called spontaneous, ok?" I snapped.

"Right, impulsive," Luigi continued. "Kind of like your feelings toward Bowser."

"Oh, for the love of—"

"Seriously, you think he loved you?" Luigi almost laughed at his dispute.

"Think nothing, he outright confessed to me," I blurted out.

"Yeah, after you did, got it," he double-checked. "And yet, he still kept you locked up in that room."

"He got me out of the dungeon," I muttered.

"Were you still locked up?"

"…Yes."

"Then that's not really an improvement, is it?"

"Damn it, Luigi," I barked. "He was just starting to think of different ideas and that's what he came up with first!"

"If that's how you want to look at it," Luigi shrugged.

"How do you want me to look at it?" I countered.

"Realistically," came his flat and stubborn response.

Still annoyed, I lobbed the beaten pillow at his head. He glared at me while I reached for the next one and pounded away again.

[Bowser]

Morton crept up to Junior's door. He looked back at the rest of us while we waited a little way down the hall. Wendy waved her arms to urge him forward, to which he nodded and knocked on Junior's door.

"Excuse me, sir?" I whirled around and peered down at a gray-shelled Buzzy Beetle. "Glaucus, sir. I was wondering if you—"

"Hush," I quieted him. "Not now."

"Oh, right," he observed. "I'll come back later." And he crawled away.

"Package delivery," called Morton in a higher pitched voice. "Got something for a Prince Bowser Junior."

"Morton, I know that's you," I heard Junior deadpan.

"W-Who's Morton?" Morton tried to uphold his charade. "I'm a delivery Koopa."

"Ok, delivery Koopa," challenged Junior. "Why are you personally bringing me that package, without the rest of my mail, when it's usually brought to me by another servant completely?"

"…Uh…he's sick?"

"Morton, just give up already," sighed Junior.

The Koopaling hesitated and turned back to us. A few Koopalings sighed and Iggy took off his glasses to pinch his forehead. I waved Morton back over and he slowly came back to us.

"Delivery Koopa?" asked Ludwig. "That was your best?"

"Hey, it beat the lunch delivery idea!" argued Morton. "This was more realistic!"

"That was brilliant, and you know it!" defended Iggy. "Roy just screwed it up."

"Hey now, how's that my fault?" contended Roy. "Lemmy's the one that let out a burp and screwed the plan."

"It just came up, ok?!" cried Lemmy. "It's Wendy's fault for shoving soda down my throat earlier!"

"Sorry, that was just me trying to get him to laugh," hissed Wendy. "It was better than Larry's scheme to guilt him back outside!"

"I wanted him to open the door already!" snapped Larry. "Not like Ludwig's plan to trick him into thinking he forgot something was going to work."

"Oh, so now it's my fault again?"

"When isn't it your fault?"

"Uh, how about when it's yours?"

"All of you are too dense for these things."

"Hey, I don't see you having any more luck than us!"

"At least we're trying! Unlike some people…"

"What makes you think I'm not?!"

My eyes lowered and I slouched as the seven continued to bicker and banter with one another. I had already yelled at them to stop arguing four times before and was just too fed up with it to bother trying again.

Instead, I marched back over to Junior's door and knocked.

"Junior, it's me again," I called in.

"Tell the Koopalings to get lost already," he ordered.

"They're…not exactly listening, right now," I clarified. "Or can't you hear their argument?"

"No, I hear it."

A chuckle escaped from me. I glanced over to see the Koopalings still arguing with one another and leaned my hand against my son's door.

"Um, Junior? I'd really like to talk to you." My voice sounded hollower than I cared to let out, but I had grown desperate.

"Why?"

"Because you're my son," I persisted. "Because I love you, and I did a really brainless thing by not telling you the truth."

"Yeah, you did," even his few words were like daggers.

"Son, please," I begged. "Can't you just…give your Papa a chance?"

For a minute, I waited and only heard the Koopalings as they continued their squabble. Then, I heard a faint click from the door. Gently, I turned the handle and opened it.

Junior sat on his bed, with his legs huddled against his body and his bright green blanket wrapped around his back. As I moved in closer, I winced at the tear stained pillow. I'm certainly not the Kingdom's Greatest Father material, but this just made my heart sink further into my stomach.

Quietly, I sat next to him on his bed. "Hey."

"H-Hey," he sniffled.

"Thanks for letting me in." He only nodded softly. I took in some air and exhaled a heavy breath. "Your Papa's pretty dumb, you know that?"

"I learned," he coughed and I bit my cheek.

We sat together in silence, with only the Koopalings yelling outside in the hall to make up for our lack of discussion.

"Why didn't you tell me?" came Junior's sudden question.

"Honestly, I'm not really sure," I confessed. "It happened so quickly, and everything I did felt spontaneous. And I was…scared of how you might react. Last time, I had you believe Peach was your mother; I didn't want to bewilder you again. Really, I did plan on telling you, and I almost did a few times. It's just…I didn't want you to feel so confused or hate me. But now, that's what I ended up doing anyway."

He didn't answer me, and I watched him as he blankly stared at the floor. I inhaled again, but the breath came out choppy. Tears sat in my eyes and I shivered.

"The only thing I'm getting good at is pushing everyone away," my voice broke.

"That's not true, Papa," I heard Junior disagree.

"Isn't it?" I choke out. "I lied to you and pushed you away, I've been losing touch with the majority of my troops and my kingdom, I did something wrong to make Mario leave, and I just don't know what to do anymore." And the last of that line echoed repeatedly in my head as I shook it, in an attempt to get the tears to stop sliding.

Junior took my hand into his. "Papa," he started and I hastily brushed away at my face. "It's ok, Papa."

"No, it's really not, Junior. You deserve better." I watched him as he gazed back into my eyes. I felt uncomfortably weak in front of my own son, and that's the last thing I should be for him.

Still, he shook his head. "There isn't anyone better than you, Papa. You're all I have. And that's ok." I heaved a bit and he patted my hand. "I don't really understand what you want to do, but I like seeing you happy. And…Mario makes you really happy, and you talk to me a lot more because of spending time with him, which I like. So, I think that…I can be happy if you guys are."

My heart froze and I stared at my son as a smile slowly appeared on his face. Is my little boy growing up already? He pushed himself into me and tightly hugged me. Though my arms shook, I wrapped them around my son and held him back.

"Thank you, Junior," I murmured. "I love you."

A chorus of sniffling filled the air and we broke out of our hug. At the door, the seven Koopalings watched us and fought against the tears that were coming out.

"What are you twerps crying at?" I snapped. More softly, I added, "Get in here."

They slowly made their way in and I wrapped all eight of the kids in a group hug. And I felt some peace, holding my family in my arms.

"Excuse me, sir," interrupted a voice and, with a grumble, I looked up. Glaucus. Am I not allowed to have my heartwarming moments?

"What?" I growled. "I'm still busy."

"Sorry sir," he came again, and I caught on to his leveled voice. Calm, even though I could hurl him out the nearest window for interrupting. "There are several troops asking about what are next strategies are. The Princess will most likely continue her campaign in recovering the rest of kingdom."

"So, we'll stop her," sounded Larry.

"Yeah, and any of her friends too!" agreed Lemmy.

"Do you have an official word you want me to convey, sire?" inquired Glaucus.

"Are there troops already posted at the next location?" I asked.

"Seaside? Yes, sir."

"Good, that should…" A thought buzzed through my mind. "Kids? Why don't we take a little trip over ourselves?"

"You'll go, Lord Bowser, sire?" questioned the Buzzy Beetle. My only response was a nod. "Very well, I'll inform Master Kamek and spread the word." With that, he slowly toddled away, and I caught glimpse of a brooch on the end of his shell.

"We're going to meet Peach and her posse?" asked Roy.

"Yes, we will," I murmured. "And most likely, Mario will be with them."

Junior bounced up. "Then we can kidnap him back again!" As I nodded, he and the Koopalings cheered in delight. "Come on! Let's get our Clown Cars ready!"

The seven Koopalings jumped up and hurried out of Junior's room. My son followed them, but stopped and gazed back at me. We smiled at one another as he ran back over, took my hand, and pulled me out of his room.

[Mario]

The pillow rested on my face as I let out a heavy sigh. Luigi was still wandering around the room, and puzzled over the odd equation of my romantic interest and involvement with the Koopa King, Bowser.

"I just…I don't get it," he conceded.

"You don't want to get it," my muffled response sounded from beneath the pillow.

"Nonsense, that's not true."

"Yes, in fact, it is," I accused as I threw the pillow off of my face and sat up. "You don't want me to be in love with him. You don't want to accept that it's a real thing, that's it possible for such a situation to even exist."

"You're…sort of right," he gave in only a bit.

"Luigi, what is this all about?" I complained. "What's your problem with all of this? You haven't even told anyone else, so as far as the rest of the kingdom is concerned, they just think I've been to hell and back again. The only one who can't look at me without this glare of disgust is you."

My brother stared at me and stood quietly in front of the door.

I shrugged. "I don't know what your problem is, and you're only demanding answers from me. How can I help you if you're not willing to help me?"

He rolled his shoulders and sighed. "I don't know what bothers me the most, honestly. You're gay, or you're starting a same-sex relationship, that I've got. But you lied to me. You didn't even tell me or think to trust me with something like this." He paused his rant to pinch his brows together. "You already cast a big enough shadow for me to drown in, now this?" Once he released them, he looked directly into my eyes. Different shape, but we shared the same iris color. "Doesn't that bother you?"

My hand grasped the letter from the edge of the bed and I held it up. "I thought you read this."

"I did."

"And yet you don't get it," I chastised. "I struggled with this very concept of you ever learning anything about this, about me. I didn't want you to know this because I knew you'd be upset, unable to understand. You think I like keeping this a secret? You think I enjoy tormenting myself with whom I love and who can know about it, about me? The very last thing I wanted to come from this was you hating me."

Luigi blinked, bewildered. "I don't hate you."

"Yes, you do."

"No," he persisted. "No, I don't. Mario, you're my brother. We disagree, we don't always see eye to eye, and I'm definitely not ok with a lot of this. But…" he trailed off to pull his thoughts together. "But we're brothers, Mario. We've been through way too much for me to ever really hate you." He sighed. "I may need some time to figure this stuff out, but I still love you. We're family."

Though I wasn't entirely sure if I could believe him, or if he even believed in what he rambled off to me, Luigi was right, and ideally, that's how we should see one another. He walked over to me and patted my shoulder.

"I'm really glad to have you back here, bro," he smiled. "Safe, alive, home."

Home. I nodded, but something hit my stomach hard.

"Get some rest, all right, Mario? I'm sure the princesses will have us marching off to the next fortress soon." And with that, Luigi strolled out the door and gently shut it behind himself.

Slowly, I pushed myself back against the bed and tossed my letter aside, deciding to pick it up later before I left. I had trouble shutting my eyes, and I kept waiting for Bowser to walk into the room and lay beside me, reassuring me that everything would work out in the end.

Back at his castle, I might have believed him. Here, after Luigi's interrogation, after facing off against his army myself, I wasn't so sure anymore.

...

And I thought last chapter was a feel trip.

So, here's Daisy! Yeah, I over hyped the newcomer for Peach's party, and she was probably your most guessed addition to the team. (What's that? You didn't even guess or were totally impressed? How kind of you!) I tried hard to have her and Peach pass the Bechdel test, but I don't know if they passed. But Daisy's purposes are more than just filling in quotas! (And don't mock me for that, Nintendo/Camelot did it too.) To be honest, the spunky princess has been around for years in various spin-offs, and yet, she has yet to be utilized in a main series game. Now, I get that she doesn't want to be kidnapped, but I'm pretty sure Daisy would have a few choice words for Bowser after he constantly grabs her best friend Peach and runs off. At the very least, she could just make a quick cameo and represent her kingdom/series.

Oh, and introducing the latest, and hopefully the last, of the Paper Mario-like Bowser minions, the Buzzy Beetle, Glaucus! Oddly enough, I hadn't used a somber and calm personality for the side characters yet, so I dumped it on him. And why a Buzzy Beetle, you ask? Well, they've been around since the very first Super Mario Bros. game, and yet, they're not quite so recognized. Even more astoundingly, they have yet to appear in a 3D Super Mario title (64, Sunshine, Galaxies, 3D Land/World, etc.), along with Paratroopas, who got cheated recently by Parabones (which are kind of cool, so can't hate). Excuse me while I jump on my soapbox and cry for additional representation of characters that no one really cares about! (Well, ok, I know we all love Beetles, but Daisy? I must be crazy! …Please don't hate me, I try really hard to be funny.)

Anyway, drama central with Peach, who has more parent issues, as well as calling out Daisy on her large amount of absences. That was the most critical plot point, huh? Gosh, Peach sure does have a lot of emotional issues coming up lately! She should really watch her Royal Scepter usage! …Stop glaring at me.

Onto the main event, yes, Junior joins the Koopalings in not really processing Bowser's interests in Mario, and not really sure if they'll be ok with it, but they'll give it a shot because they care. Also, younger generations are more susceptible to change than older ones. Guess who's not totally on board with acceptance? If you guessed Luigi, you are correct! Although, I didn't want to suddenly have people hate Luigi, since he's really confused and trying to piece things together himself. Really, he does love his brother. Sure, a lot of people can hate family members, but I think, ideally, we'd rather love our relations than hate them. And Luigi agrees with that idealism, and he still very much loves Mario. He's just…confused, like everyone else. (Hopefully not including you, readers!) I tried my best to have the perspective switching keep a reflective bounce back and forth, and tried to have the situations mirror one another, concept wise. Idk how that went either, so if I failed a lot this chapter, oops.

Meanwhile, Bowser and Mario are really starting to miss each other. Everyone go, "Aawwww!" Do it. Do it now. (You better have done it. I can't hear you, but I can pretend! Just look at how ridiculous my imagination is. LOOK AT IT!) So, what will our main lovers do with one another? Well, Mario's still trying to figure that part out, while Bowser's solution is simple: kidnap Mario, again! Seems like a great idea, right? Truly, it's a foolproof plan, it most certainly is.

Ok, I've written far too much, and somehow, this isn't the longest chapter. Crazy, I know. So, with both kingdoms plotting their next moves, who will come out on top? Oh, you don't even know the half of it. Not yet, anyway. The upcoming plot is still in full throttle drama, but we'll also being jumping into some action sequences as well! But fear not; the romance remains! Thank you again for reading! If you've got any comments or suggestions, send me a review or message! Yes, even you, guest readers! It warms my heart to see happy guest reviews. Actually, it warms my heart seeing anyone and everyone review/message me. You're all such beautiful and patient people for reading this far! So, pat yourselves on the back, and thanks once again!