Foreword: Wow! Last chapter was liked quite a bit more and I've gotten up to...99 reviews! Its scary, it really is. But I'll tell you more about my exuberance and joy later. But I am saying that the 100th review gets a cameo in the next chapter, which I'm holding off finishing until that bit. (See, I normally have 2 chapters done before I update with one of them. That's why I always tell you about next chapter.)
Anyway. This chapter is fun for me, kind of a diving board into new realms in the story. Yes, the ending is nearing, but not without a few twists and subplots. ;)
And of course, all characters are Nintendo's. I do love borrowing them, though.
The plumbing convention seemed like its one purpose was to use all the paper they possibly could by giving all the participants as many handouts as they possibly could. It apparently didn't occur to anyone that plumbers weren't exactly interested in reading handouts.
Trying to be understanding, Mario and Luigi were sifting through and sorting the dozens and dozens of pamphlets, brochures, ads, and diagrams they had been given. The "keep" pile was quite empty compared to the "throw-out" and "use as paper-airplanes" piles. Luigi picked up a blue paper on oiling wrenches and pulled it taunt. "What-a you think o' this un, Mario?"
Mario put his yellow brochure down and inspected Luigi's paper. "Keep it-a. Good-a quality, si?" Nodding, Luigi tossed it neatly onto the tower of future paper-airplanes. As the brothers went back to "work", Luigi's phone rang. Mario watched his younger brother's face light up as he saw the caller-ID. Grinning, Mario said, "It's-a Daisy, right?"
Luigi nodded as he put the phone up to his ear. "Ciao, Daisy!...It's-a go'in fine….Si, Good-a food...No….Of-a course not!... Oh, he's-a fine…No, I haven't….are you-a sure?...But I just-a got on-a the phone!...Alright…." Luigi's face had fallen as he handed the phone to Mario. "She-a wants to-a speak to you."
Mario furrowed his eyebrows. "A-Me?" Luigi nodded as his brother took the phone. "Ciao, Daisy."
"Mario! Luigi said you haven't told him about Peach's thing yet, is it okay if I tell him?"
"What-a thing?" Mario sat himself on the edge of the bed as he listened to Daisy. It sounded like she was playing tennis on the other end.
"Y'know, the thing Peach called you about! Her little trip!"
"What little trip, Daisy?"
Daisy audibly sighed. "Mario, don't act so stupid. Y'know, the thing she called you about! The thing that's giving Toadsworth an ulcer."
"Toadsworth has an ulcer?"
"No! Well, maybe, I dunno, but Mario, seriously. Don't you know what I'm talking about?"
"Non-a clue."
"You serious?" Daisy sighed again. Then she yelled. "Mario, you made me miss a shot!"
"It's-a your fault you're-a playing tennis on the phone."
Mario could almost hear Daisy rolling her eyes. "It's not tennis, it's badminton. Seriously Mario, has Peach called you?"
Mario got off the bed and dug in his luggage for his own cell-phone. Mario only used it for business, really, but he had decided to bring it with anyway. "Si, one missed call."
"Well have you listened to her message yet? You might want to do that, like, really soon. Can I talk to Luigi now?"
Mario handed off the phone and listened to Peach's message. He smiled and said to Luigi, "Peach is-a on vacation. She's-a enjoying herself." Luigi mouthed 'good' between talking to Daisy. Within fifteen minutes, the couple had gone from talking about what had gone on in their lives to flirting.
Mario was almost done 'sorting' through the papers (meaning he was now throwing them all away after a single glance) while Luigi and Daisy talked. Mario frowned slightly under his mustache. He wished he could talk to Peach like that, but deep-down, Mario knew he couldn't. The love Luigi and Daisy had for each other ran so deep, it was no surprise Daisy had called on the first day after promising she wouldn't bug them during their "brother-bonding week".
The prime example of opposites attracting, Luigi and Daisy were the perfect dynamic. Daisy's drive and Luigi's caution melded perfectly and they hadn't had an argument for months, finding their differences invigorating and wonderful.
Mario and Peach were different…Mario had no doubt in his mind that if Peach wasn't the princess and Mario her ever-constant savior, they wouldn't be dating. In fact, Mario wasn't even sure they were dating. That wasn't saying Mario didn't care for Peach, no, not at all. Mario loved being around Peach, she made his heart skip a beat and was definitely the prettiest human he had ever laid eyes on. He just…wouldn't be hoping to marry her quite so much if she wasn't princess.
If she wasn't princess, he would still try and save her from kidnappers, he would still be best-friends with her. Peach was definitely his best-friend and Mario knew she always would be. Thinking about her having feelings for Mario gave him the chills, the thought of them married and him as the Queen's Husband made him giddy. But…they didn't have what Luigi and Daisy had. They didn't have that abstract emotion that made Mario sigh in want. They didn't and they probably never would. If they hadn't found it after so many years, all they would ever be able to do is pretend they had. And so pretend they did.
Mario hadn't told his parents about his mixed-emotions; he wanted them to meet Peach first. It didn't bother him too much anyway- he just figured that not everyone found true-love, that people settled. And it was a lot better to settle with someone like Peach with a relationship like theirs than what other people had to live with.
Mario ended his inner-battle smiling, feeling slightly foolish that he had to pull himself out of depression the same way every time. You've got it better than most people… He turned around and saw Luigi's face had turned beet-red. Mario assumed Daisy had entered her favorite form of conversation with her timid boyfriend and hoped, for her badminton coach's sake, that she had finished playing by now.
"Well-a, Romeo, aren't you-a goin' to flirt back?" Mario laughed as Luigi shook his head rapidly. Daisy was obviously doing enough talking for both of them. "Why-a don't you hang-up then-a?" Luigi shook his head even more fervently. Mario laughed louder. As awkward as it might be for Luigi to have a girlfriend who never held back, he sure enjoyed it.
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"Oh, and that's my fault?" Peach crossed her arms as Bowser accused her for his 'only' getting about 400,000,000 golden bars for the strip of water he had auctioned off.
"Yes!" Bowser exclaimed with a twinkle in his eye. "If you hadn't shown up and distracted me, I could have made Tchital pay more."
"I thought you just said I didn't bother you that much." Peach and Bowser had been talking over empty lunch plates for a good two hours. When she had told him he was hungry and they had gotten lunch, they had fallen into conversation and couldn't seem to climb out. Peach enjoyed Bowser's compliments and humorous personality a little too much and Bowser loved Peach's presence a little too much.
"Well, there's a difference between 'bothering' and 'distracting'."
"Oh, really? What exactly is it?"
Bowser promptly began poking Peach's arm with his claw. "This is bothering. This," Bowser stuffed his face directly next to Peach's, "is distracting".
Peach laughed whole heartedly and brushed hair behind her ear. She smiled at Bowser. It was his grin again, if he kept throwing her those goofy smiles, she would break a jaw by the end of the week. "Y'know," she started, "I still haven't gotten my tour. You were supposed to finish it after lunch, and," she gestured to the plates in front of them still, crumbs still evident from their sandwiches, "that obviously didn't happen."
Bowser raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? It's still 'after lunch'. We still have time to tour. Not the whole palace, just the important places."
"Which is every room you've stepped foot in, right?" Peach asked with a half-smile.
Smirking, Bowser answered, "Pretty much". He jumped down from his barstool and offered a claw to Peach. As she accepted, a rush ran through Bowser's arm. Even gloved, Peach's hand left a feeling he couldn't really describe.
Peach jumped down from her own stool, assisted by Bowser's loving claw, and she brushed out her skirt. "Alright, where to?"
Bowser grinned. If Peach kept acting this happy, he was sure his cheeks would burst. "Just follow me, highness."
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After a few good hours of touring, Bowser parked his Bowserkart. He had grabbed one as soon as he saw one- walking through stone halls in high-heels for hours straight wasn't something the KoopaKing wanted Peach to endure. Bowser turned to face Peach. "I think it's about dinner-time, but we have a lot to do. Want to just pick up something from the center-west snack hall on the way up?"
Peach perked an eyebrow. "You have a hall just for snacks? What else do you have here, a McGoomba's?"
"Yeah, do you want that instead?" Bowser asked, completely seriously.
"Wait, whoa, you really have a McGoomba's? In your palace?"
Bowser nodded. "Of course we do. We have a mall here, Peach. You name it, we've got it."
Peach smiled. "Hmm, do you have…a petting zoo?"
Bowser nodded.
"A concert hall?"
Bowser looked up, as if searching his brain. "Two halls, three auditoriums, and two dinner-and-a-show rooms."
"A theme-park?"
"Well, we have a roller-coaster, does that count?"
Peach looked at Bowser in shock. "How big is this place, exactly?"
Bowser placed his chin in his claw and rested his elbow on the steering wheel. "Let's just say I haven't been able to finish walking through it yet and I've been here since birth. But there's one room I definitely want you to see before tonight's over."
Peach was still in a slight state of shock. It had finally dawned on her as Bowser was talking to her that almost every time she was kidnapped, she was taken to a different castle. As Bowser had said in his explanation video, Mario seemed to blow up his castles a lot. Having a palace like VolcanoPalace and dozens of castles that just get blown up was, regardless of how punny it sounded, mind-blowing.
"How do you afford it all, Bowser? The palace, the castles, everything you keep telling me about…how in the world do you afford it all?"
Bowser beamed and lifted his head as he answered. "It's part of how brilliant my empire is. You saw just one example of it today, when Tchital bought that land.
"What you saw was a Robin-Hood type thing. I thought it up. That's why it works. Someone has a problem with something, finds something new, or something else happens and there's an argument over it. So I claim it. Poof, argument over. Now, most of the time, people still want it. In this case it was provinces wanting more territory. Usually it's the yuppy individuals who buy the stuff. They spend lots of money to buy it, give the government the lots of money, and we use it for things we need."
Peach crossed her arms. "Things you need like roller-coasters, or things you need like new roads?"
"Both. Whatever I say is best, because usually what I say is best."
Peach laughed. "You are so conceited, you know that?"
Bowser grinned as he gripped the steering-wheel. "Only because I have a lot to be conceited about. And you do know the only reason you're getting away with saying that is because I'm letting you, right?"
As the Bowserkart lurched forward towards the McGoomba's, Peach answered "Yeah. And I wouldn't have it any other way." It was the truth- although she felt kind of guilty for it, Peach loved the attention and affection her love-struck arch-enemy never stopped giving.
Finally they arrived. Bowser and Peach climbed out of the Bowserkart and walked over to the window. The menu was splayed all over the walls and Peach noticed that, besides the currency, it was the same as it was in the Mushroom Kingdom. "Do you know what you want, Princess?"
"Yeah, I do." Peach stepped up to the goomba wearing a visor. "I'd like a number 2, please." The goomba nodded and Bowser stepped up, putting his claw on Peach's shoulder again. This time she didn't shudder, but she did try and ignore the pleasant warmth that spread from his touch.
"Peach is with me." Bowser was silent for a second, letting the thought resonate beautifully in his head. "And I'd like a number three with extra sauce."
The goomba smiled and, within seconds, their meal arrived on a red platter. Bowser took the food and put it on one of the tables for them to sit at. "We don't have to pay because I'm King Bowser."
Peach hungrily took out her meal, a large burger and fries with a soda. She glanced at Bowser, taking his larger version of her own meal out. "Were you surprised I didn't buy a salad or something?"
Bowser bit into his burger, elbows propped on the table. Through his burger, he asked, "why?" Apparently, fast-food meant he didn't need to have any of the manners he had tried so hard to have the previous night.
Peach shrugged and bit voraciously into her own burger. After swallowing, she explained, "Most people are surprised I don't eat 'princess food' everyday."
Bowser shook a fry at Peach as he replied, "That would get really boring. And besides, why would someone ask to go to McGoomba's if they wanted to eat healthy?"
Peach laughed in agreement. "Exactly what I was thinking." She smiled as she ate her burger. For a second, she remembered what had been going on the same time the night before. She was enjoying herself a lot more tonight, but it made her feel weird. She was sure being Fair and Good was better than being rude, but was she, Princess Peach, really supposed to be enjoying the company of the king of the Mushroom Kingdom's arch-rival country?
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Ice-cream dripped down Lemmy's face as he bit into his cone, laden with mint-chocolate dessert. Just like the two brothers on either side, Iggy and Larry, when Lemmy bit down the ice-cream sizzled and started to melt. The brothers laughed as they tried to eat their treats without them melting or getting a brain-freeze.
Face covered in melting green ice-cream, Iggy raised his claws triumphantly. "I won! I beat you both! I beat you both bad!" He hollered in glee. Larry took his final bite and snarled at Iggy.
Hurridly trying to keep up with his brothers, Lemmy chomped as fast as he could, finally finishing. "I'm done!" He called in excitement. "I finished too! I finished- ow, ow, ow, brain freeze!" Lemmy's claws gripped his skull as he rocked back and forth, hissing in the sudden cold.
Larry laughed and grinned. "If you could blow fire properly, you wouldn't ever get brain-freezes, Lemmy."
Iggy sucked the rest of the sticky ice-cream off his finger, a resounding pop! sounding before he spoke. "He did better than last time." Iggy grinned as he added, "But I still won!"
Larry stuck his tongue out at Iggy while Lemmy recovered. Changing the subject, he asked, "So whatchu guys think Daddy's doing with Mama Peach?"
Iggy grinned. "Well, I think my shrink-session work wonders, so they're probably out enjoying themselves."
"What's a shrink? Isn't that when you make things really little? Like your shrink-ray, Lar."
Larry shook his head. "Naw, it's different. The shrink Iggy's talking about is a psychiatrist. They make people figure out their problems. But Iggy's just being full of himself; he didn't do any good."
Iggy scoffed. "Sure I did! I did more good than you could have."
Larry raised an eyebrow, staring down his elder brother. "That's what you think. I could do way more to make them get together within the week than you could."
Iggy folded his arms and looked down at Larry from over his glasses. "How much you wanna bet?"
Roy walked in and shouted, "Who bettin' on what? I want in." He sauntered over to the trio and saw Lemmy start to get out of his chair to run. Roy stopped him. "Lem, game's over. We tied, remember? So who bettin'?"
Larry looked over at his brother and answered for the trio. "Iggy thinks he can be a better cupid than I can for Mama Peach and Dad."
Roy's eyebrows raised and he nodded, thinking. "Y'know, we ked get the whole gang inter this and have one big pot. Whatchu think?"
Larry folded his arms. "I think I'd win, that's what I think. And Lemmy's on my side."
Iggy glanced over at Larry. "I'm fine with that. You two won't even be able to do half as much as me anyway. You're on."
Roy grinned. "I'll get de others in on dis."
Now it was Ludwig's turn to walk into the conversation. "Others into what, Roy?"
Roy groaned. Of course, the only sibling that would be whole-heartedly against the plan would be the one to walk in on their planning. Sighing, he answered honestly, "We're setting up a betting pool."
Ludwig walked over, glancing between the three suspiciously. Larry had plastered his hand over Lemmy's mouth, knowing that Lemmy would be more than willing to spill to Ludwig unneeded details. "A betting pool for what, may I inquire?"
"Er, just friendly bet between the siblings," Iggy suggested.
Ludwig folded his arms and glared at his brothers. "I'm a sibling. I am entitled to know the purpose of this bet if it is, as you suggest, just a friendly bet. What are you up to?"
Larry tried to look innocent (or as innocent as he could with his claws forcibly over Lemmy's mouth) as he replied, "We're not up to anything, Ludwig!"
Ludwig narrowed his eyes. "I want to hear it from Lemmy."
Larry reluctantly lifted his hand, and Lemmy shouted ecstatically, "We're betting on who can get Mama Peach and King Dad together!"
Larry slapped his hand to his forehead and Ludwig gasped. "You can't do that," he growled, "it's off-base! It's not your business! It's absolutely uncalled for! Father and Mother Peach's relationship is their dealings, not ours. We cannot dapple in the affairs of others, and especially not for some pocket change! Hearts are not things to be bet on, I'm ashamed to even call you all my siblings!"
Roy snarled at Ludwig. "Then you dun hafta bet. Everyone else will put up hundreds of dollas in cash on peeps of their choice, leavin' a few the obvious, butchu don't hafta be a part of it. You can go on, ranting 'bout whatever it is you was ranting about while we make piles o' cash."
Ludwig blinked slowly. When his eyes opened, the seemed to see things with a new light. "I…I still don't approve of this in the smallest amount. But…I'll keep mum about it."
Roy smiled. "'ts all I ask."
"And…" Ludwig played with his claws in self-guilt. "I'll toss in a few chips. For entertainment purposes only, I still don't condone this sort of activity at all, and don't forget that!"
Roy's smile broke into a grin. "Even bettah."
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"Bowser, would you slow down?" Peach laughed as she tried to run after the Koopa King scaling a huge spiral staircase. After touring a bit more once dinner was over, Bowser had stopped abruptly and told her to follow him up a seemingly never-ending staircase.
Bowser laughed as he turned to face the out-of-breath princess. "Maybe you just need to go faster," he told her with a grin, "or let me escort you like I suggested."
Peach caught up with him and thrust her hands on her hips, trying to frown and look threatening as she hollered, "suggested? You practically yanked me up those few stairs!" Bowser's contagious grin broke through Peach's attempt in anger and she ended up giggling. The situation wasn't really funny to her, so she didn't know why she was laughing. As soon as Bowser had noticed Peach lagging up the stairs, he had gripped her hand and pulled her along. Peach didn't remove her hand from his for quite some time, actually. It was as if she forgot, yet again, that she didn't really like Bowser.
Bowser glanced up the stairs and spun around to face Peach again. "Well hurry up this time, or we'll miss it!"
"Miss what?" Peach asked, but Bowser was already racing up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time. Peach bent down and removed her pink heels, chasing after him with her gloved hands clutching her dress and her shoes together. "Bowser! What will we miss?"
Finally, after a while more of running, Bowser abruptly stopped, Peach almost running straight into his spiked shell. Bowser stepped slowly into the room they had arrived at and lit the torches, lighting up the room. Gleaming stones shone at them from the walls. A bench, white with a lush red padding, sat in the center of the room, and faced a window, sheathed with the same red fabric.
Bowser smiled and walked back to Peach, offering his claw to her. Peach folded her arms and arched an eyebrow, surely telling him you don't seriously think I'd let you this time, did you? Bowser tried to smile as he shrugged, but his frown showed through. He gestured toward the bench and Peach sat herself down as Bowser walked to the window, drawing back the curtains.
Peach gasped. They were obviously near the top of the volcano, as she could see for miles and miles. Lights dotted the land and she could just barely make out the mountains. Streetlights shone down on rivers passing under bridges, all sorts of vehicles moving over them. Other rivers, rivers of lava, Peach presumed, lit themselves and the areas around them. "Bowser…it's stunning…"
Bowser faced Peach and saw her. With the torch light, she looked so radiant, so beautiful…True, her hair was ragged and caught in her earrings and she had just a bit of ketchup on the side of her mouth, but she was gorgeous all the same. "Yeah…I know."
Peach looked over at Bowser and blushed slightly, realizing they weren't talking about the same thing. "The-the landscape, I mean. The city." Bowser looked out the window and grinned.
"Yeah, it is. It always is. But that's not what I wanted you to see. What I wanted you to see only happens once a year. My mother used to tell me it was an early birthday present for me." Bowser sat next to Peach on the bench and pointed towards the mountain, the faint remainder of the sunset outlining their tops. "Watch the horizon."
After a few moments of silence, a rainbow of color shot out from behind the mountains. The sky was soon lit with shades of green, yellow, and blue; waving and gliding through the sky, as if gentle waves on the sea. If Peach had been watching the people on the ground, she would have seen them all stop their commotion and watch the sky, craning their necks to see the colors weaving through the smog. If she had been watching Bowser, she would have seen his eyes glued to her own, reveling in her joy and thrill in the miraculous sight. But no, she was watching the sky, mesmerized by the lights.
Making their way through the sky, the lights twinkled and glided. They seemed to dance, some spots the dark grey sky simply tinted, at other places, bright primaries. They shone brightly, the ground below reflecting just so softly and subtly so that the illusion of a fantasy world was held throughout the entire landscape. The white stones lining the walls of the observatory Peach and Bowser were in flashed multi-colors, shining and sparkling, almost as many colors dancing along the walls as were dancing through the sky.
The lights in the sky moved and flowed, slowly changing to darker and darker shades, purple and reds slowly becoming stronger in the illusion. Silently, slowly, and as god-like as it had come, the colors faded into oblivion for another year.
Answering her unspoken question, Bowser said, "Larry says it has something to do with the smog, the lava, our location on the globe, and the moonlight reflecting off the ocean. No one really knows, no one really cares. We just use it as our half hour of peace, silence, and mystery. We have the best view in this room, better than anyone else in the empire. Anyone in the entire world, actually."
Peach was silent for a moment, slowly looking towards the ground again, where the citizens had once again begun moving. "Why haven't I heard of that…thing…before?"
Bowser grinned. "Same reason you don't really know where you are. It's our secret and we don't plan on telling you." Bowser's grin melted into a smile as he bent slightly, his hand finding rest on the other side of Peach, careful not to touch her with his arm. "But I wanted you to see it."
Peach looked into Bowser's eyes and saw something so wonderful, so honest; she just wanted to stare at them for awhile. That is, until she remembered whose eyes were radiating that love that she desired so strongly. Bowser's eyes, not Mario's.
She tore her eyes from his and looked out the window again. The sky was now completely dark with no sign day had ever shone on its clouds, let alone the mysterious light-show. "I liked that," she murmured, the double-meaning pounding on her skull.
Bowser grinned, tempted, oh so tempted, to grab her into his arms and cover her in kisses. "I had hoped you would." Bowser allowed himself to lean forward just-so slightly, his arm now touching Peach's back.
Silently, Peach stared out the window. Feeling warmth along her back, Peach realized Bowser was trying to discreetly touch her. Purposely overlooking his purpose, she used his arm as a backrest. Peach leaned back and watched the land outside the window again.
Bowser, pushing his luck, snaked his hand up onto Peach's thigh, encircling her in him. Gingerly, Peach lifted his claw off her thigh and back onto the bench. She'd let herself lean against him, but that was as far as she'd let him go. I shouldn't even be going that far… she chastised herself.
They sat together for a few moments longer, admiring Bowser's country, until Peach yawned. Bowser reluctantly stood up and offered his claw to her. "Come on, I'll show you to your room." He didn't expect what happened next- Peach accepted the claw and used it to pull herself up.
Bowser led Peach back down the stairs, Peach's eyelids growing heavy as Bowser told her something she wasn't really listening to. Guiltily, Peach realized she was enjoying having her gloved hand encircled in Bowser's warm one, feeling him rub his thumb-claw along the crook between her thumb and index finger. She dug her hand just a bit more into his scaly hand as a tingle ran through her spine for reasons she didn't want to imagine.
Bowser eventually stopped mumbling, grinning like a fool as he felt Peach's touch, imagining how her hand would feel ungloved. He longed to feel them- being gloved so much; they must be very supple and sweet, unlike his scaly, dry hands.
Scaly and dry as they might be, the radiated that same strange warmth that seemed to run through Bowser's entire body, and Peach felt at ease with her hand encircled by them. Finally they arrived at the foot of the stairs and Bowser led Peach to the KoopaKar, slowly, painfully, removing his claw from her hand. He sighed as she placed both hands in her lap and tried to blink back sleep. Although Bowser suspected she was only letting him lead her down the stairs because she was too tired to do it herself, his wishful thinking kept a grin on his face as he drove down a few choice halls.
They arrived at Peach's room and Bowser stepped out. Peach lifted herself out, much to Bowser's disappointment. The king opened the door for Peach, lights flickering on automatically. Peach stepped into her doorway and smiled at Bowser politely.
"Peach…thank you."
"For what?"
Bowser smiled slowly. "For giving me one of the best days in my life. I…I think you've made up for it."
Peach furrowed her brow. "Made up for what?"
Bowser shuffled his feet as he continued holding the door open. He had suppressed the memory all day; it hurt him to bring it back to the surface after such a dream-like day. "For yesterday."
Peach was silent as she tried to recall yesterday and then let loose a loud "oooh" followed by a short laugh. Her casual feelings about the matter stung Bowser, causing him to frown as she smiled. "You helped me forget about yesterday. Thank you. And I really liked those lights."
Bowser smiled, feeling her breath just so slightly on his skin. "I did too." He stared at Peach, looking into her eyes. He loved her so much, it made him ecstatic to be so close, and he was surprised he wasn't yet short of breath. She made the mighty monster he was melt into a whimpering puppy from just a single smile. "Goodnight, my princess." Peach returned the polite salutation and Bowser closed the door.
Maybe Peach being here wasn't so bad.
Author's Note: Have I told you how crazy it is to have so many reviews? I never thought I'd get past 20, honestly! You all are so amazing to me, I don't lie when I say that you keep me going, make my friends jelous, and give me major ego boosts. ;) I love writing this story for me, I've been doing so from the start, but even more I love writing it for you all because it is such a joy and pleasure to know I am, even in the smallest amount, pleasing the wonderful people who make my day and give me grins a mile wide.
And oh, look at that, I swore I wasn't going to fawn on you all until next chapter! Speaking of which, next chapter is kind of funky. Its the entry into a great scene that I was -planning- on fitting into next chapter, but I'm not sure if it'll fit. I will be adding a snippet inwhich I have cameos, though, as another way of thanking you. Because as long as my crazy ANs are, I still can't fit in enough thanks. :P
Right. Until next chapter! Razzi
