(A/N: Now Bowser has been told by Mario that his own son may have lied to him! Will he find out the truth? I'll start this chapter now so you can find out fast!)
When Bowser entered the Great Hall of his castle, the first thing he saw was Kamek, pacing back and forth. As soon as the Magikoopa saw Bowser walk into the room, he looked up.
"My king! You're back! There is something you need to know!" Kamek said as he rushed over to Bowser.
"You're right. There is something I need to know. Where is Jr.?" Bowser asked grumpily.
"Ahhh, that's just who I wanted to talk to you about. He's currently in his room, taking a nap after what he's been through." Kamek replied.
"Well, I hope he's not too deep in sleep by the time I get up there, because when I do, he and I are going to have a little talk!" Bowser said through clenched teeth.
"And I really think you should." Kamek replied.
"Huh? Why do you say that?" Bowser asked, suspicious.
"Well, let's start from the beginning. When I saw how badly beat up Jr. was, I'll admit that I was completely shocked when he told me that Mario had done that to him." Kamek began.
"Or did he?" Bowser thought, thinking about what Mario told him not too long ago.
"But I did just as you told me to. I took him upstairs and I gave him a nice, warm bath. In fact, I used my magic to have him float up the stairs because I didn't want him to have to limp up the stairs. That would be far too painful." Kamek said.
"I know." Bowser said. He once suffered an injured leg (in a battle with Mario, where else?), and it took him a while to get up and down the stairs with his bum leg. So Kamek used his magic to help Bowser get up and down the stairs.
"In fact, while I was giving Jr. his bath, I happened to notice something really odd about him, making me question whether or not he was telling the truth about Mario beating him up." Kamek said.
"What did you notice?" Bowser asked, nervous. Was Mario telling the truth after all? He didn't like to think that Mario was right and his son was wrong.
"Well, when I was scrubbing the dirt off of Jr., I saw that his body didn't seem to have any bruises, a tell-tale indicator that he'd been in a fight. Unless it's too soon to tell. I'm not entirely sure how long it takes for a bruise to become visible." Kamek said.
"You're implying that Jr. was fine?" Bowser asked.
"I should think so. And if the lack of bruises wasn't enough, Jr. wasn't exactly saying 'ow!' when I was scrubbing him, either. I would have expected him to feel some pain, due to the way he was limping after me when I asked him to follow me to the stairs." Kamek said.
"Uh-oh... I'm beginning to think that Mario was right all along..." Bowser thought, putting a hand to his mouth in shock. Kamek was confirming his worst fear: the puny plumber he hated so much was telling him the truth, and his own son had lied.
"Jr. seemed to be perfectly fine throughout his bath, my king. He still has the black eye, of course, but that will most likely heal up before tomorrow arrives." Kamek said.
"You really think Jr. might have faked his injuries?" Bowser asked, not the least bit pleased with what he was hearing. But he knew Kamek wouldn't lie to him about something as serious as this.
"I'm inclined to believe that he's lying, Your Majesty. When I got to his bad leg and began scrubbing it, I made sure to be gentle with him, but here's the odd thing: you know well that I've bathed the Koopalings after Mario beats them up, but no matter how gentle I am when I bathe them, they still holler in agony." Kamek said.
"Yeah, I recall hearing them yowling like angry cats when you're scrubbing them, even though you told me you were being as gentle as a butterfly the entire time. But unfortunately for them, I know you well enough to believe you." Bowser said.
"But your son... he is something else, my king. He didn't yell at all when I scrubbed his bad leg. He didn't look like he was in pain at all throughout the bath, and because there were no bruises, I saw no reason to bandage him up. He wasn't feeling any pain when I was drying him off. And he had no problems getting into bed, either. I thought his bad leg might make that a little hard for him." Kamek replied.
Bowser hated to admit it, but it seemed to him that Mario was really telling the truth about Jr. That's what he was afraid of.
"So as you can see, the whole story about Mario beating him up is highly suspect. I wanted to question him about it, but I figured it might be best for you to do that. You are his father, after all." Kamek said.
"And because of that, I think I'd better go and see him now; find out how much of what he told me was the truth." Bowser said, and he started towards the staircase.
"You do that, my king. I'm going to start preparing lunch. Perhaps Jr.'s favorite lunch will be best. If you can't get the truth out of him, I think the promise of his favorite meal might make him want to tell us what's true and what isn't." Kamek said.
So Bowser went stomping up the stairs, making his way to Jr.'s room. He was angry at the thought that his own flesh and blood had the gall to lie to him. And the worst part of this whole ordeal was that Kamek had been confirming Mario's words to be true. As much as Bowser hated the thought, he was probably going to have to face the horrible fact that Jr. may have been lying to him.
When Bowser reached Jr.'s room, he opened the door to find his son lying in his bed, snuggled under the blankets while cuddling a plushie of a ferocious-looking T-Rex. He was sleeping like a baby, so sweet and innocent. If Mario and Peach saw him sleeping, they would be surprised that he looked adorable and peaceful. And he's such a rotten little tyrant when he's awake!
"Grr... He's lucky that he's too cute and innocent to wake up when he's sleeping like that. I guess I'll have to wait for him to wake up on his own. I just hope he's not planning to stay asleep for too long... I want him to tell me what really happened, and I haven't got all day..." Bowser muttered to himself as he sat down in a corner of the room, wondering how long this was going to take.
Around noon, Jr.'s eyelids fluttered open, and he slowly sat up in his bed. Was he ever surprised to see his papa sitting on the floor in a corner of the room, looking unscathed as he looked at a Dr. Seuss book. Apparently, he had no trouble teaching Mario an important lesson. He wanted to hear all the details.
(A/N: Yes, Bowser was looking at a book by Dr. Seuss, but for all we know, he didn't really see what he was reading.)
"Papa! You're back already! Did you teach that rotten Mario a lesson for what he did to me?!" Jr. asked excitedly.
Bowser snapped his attention from the silly book to his son, seeing that he had woken up from his little nap. He was pretty surprised, judging by the way he quickly closed the book and put it back on the shelf.
"No, Jr. I'm afraid I didn't." Bowser replied, keeping his voice calm. A little too calm for a villain like he was.
"You didn't?! Why not?! Don't you care about me at all?!" Jr. asked, upset that his father hadn't done what he'd hoped.
"I do care about you, Jr. You're my son." Bowser replied.
"Then why didn't you take care of that Mario?" Jr. asked, still pretty upset.
"I was going to-" Bowser began, but he was cut off by Jr., who said, "'Was going to' and 'actually doing it' are two different things, Papa."
"I know that. But I didn't follow through with it because, believe it or not, Mario told me some rather interesting things about what he did to you, and for some strange reason, I'm actually inclined to believe him." Bowser said.
"He did what?! You don't really believe him, do you, Papa?" Jr. asked, feeling worried. Mario must have known what he was up to, and that wasn't a good thing. It was obvious he told Bowser what really went on.
"Now why are you asking me that? You weren't, by any chance, telling lies to your old papa, were you?" Bowser asked, getting real close into his son's face.
"What?! No! No, Papa! I'd never think of lying to you!" Jr. exclaimed, but he was beginning to sweat. What gave his old man the idea that he'd think of lying to him?
"Are you sure about that?" Bowser asked, sounding very dangerous as he noticed that his son was sweating. Mario and Kamek had to be right!
"Y-yes!" Jr. replied, a little nervous. His papa never spoke to him in that way before, and it was pretty spooky.
"Okay, then. I believe you." Bowser said, backing away from his son.
Jr. sighed in relief before Bowser quickly pulled back the covers to look at Jr. and see if his son had been lying like Mario and Kamek implied, or if he really had been telling the truth.
"Hey!" Jr. yelled, pulling the covers back up over himself.
"What's the matter?" Bowser asked.
"I'm cold. I'm always cold after I get out of the bath, and my bandana is in the wash..." Jr. said, wrapping the blankets tightly around himself.
"But you just had a long nap after your bath, so you should be feeling nice and warm. All I want is to see how you look now that you're cleaned up and no longer covered with dirt!" Bowser said, trying to pull back the covers again.
"No! You don't want to see what I look like, Papa. I look horrible." Jr. said.
"Really, Jr.? I was talking to Kamek a while ago, and he said you looked just fine." Bowser replied.
"Yeah, well, Kamek knows magic. For all you know, the bath I got had magic in it that makes me look that way." Jr. said.
"No way, Jr. Kamek doesn't give magic baths. I should know because he pretty much raised me, which means he bathed me like he did you. Now let me see you!" Bowser said, feeling unhappy. His son had just lied to him. Unbelievable.
"Do I really have to show you, Papa?" Jr. asked, not wanting to comply with his father's wishes.
"Let me make this easy for you, Jr. If you don't let me see the damage, then you won't get to have lunch. And it's your favorite lunch, too. You know, grilled cheese and tomato soup." Bowser said.
Jr.'s stomach growled when he heard that, and he almost began to drool. He loved grilled cheese and tomato soup! But if his papa saw no bandages or bruises on his body, he was going to wonder what really happened to him, and he didn't want to tell him.
"O... Okay..." Jr. sighed, letting go of the covers and sealing his fate.
With that, Bowser pulled back the covers and looked at Jr. Sure enough, it seemed that Mario and Kamek were right. Jr. didn't appear to look like he'd been beat up at all.
"Hmm..." Bowser said as he carefully looked over his son, the way Kamek had while he bathed him. He didn't see anything really wrong with his child, except for that horrid black eye.
Jr. was getting nervous. He knew that his papa was going to find out that he'd been lied to, and he had a bad feeling that Bowser wasn't going to be laughing about it.
"Does this hurt?" Bowser asked as he began moving his son's bum leg in different directions, trying to find out whether or not his son had been faking his injuries.
Jr. was trying to look like he was feeling pain from some of the movements, but he was really bad at faking it, for Bowser was not exactly convinced.
"Jr., I'm going to ask you something, and I want you to tell me the truth: What happened?!" Bowser asked in a stern voice.
Jr. realized that Bowser must have found out he was lying. Mario apparently told him, and he knew that even Kamek was feeling suspicious. Kamek had to have told Bowser about it. Jr. knew that he couldn't lie anymore. He bowed his head and replied in a low voice, "I can't tell you, Papa. You'll be mad at me if I do."
"Well, it's a bit too late for that, Jr. I'm already mad at you. Tell me what really happened!" Bowser demanded, anger evident in his voice.
Jr. figured that once Bowser found out the truth, he wasn't going to be getting that grilled cheese and tomato soup at all. He sighed miserably and said, "At first, the plan was going along well, like I'd hoped. I used the thundercloud generator, and the big thundercloud appeared right over Mama Peach's Castle. You should've seen what happened when the lightning struck it! All these Toads ran out like scared rats."
"That's good. I should've come with you." Bowser said. He wished he could've been there to see those Toads run. He probably should have been there to turn them into statues as soon as they came running out of the castle. They'd all be spazzing because they knew that they were going to be dead no matter what they did!
"But then... something I didn't plan on happened. As you know, the idea was that Mario was supposed to leave Mama Peach's side and run over to her castle to find out what was going on. While he was doing that, I could go over to Mama Peach and grab her, then bring her back here to you." Jr. explained.
"What went wrong? Did Mario see you before he was supposed to?" Bowser asked.
"No, but that was a good guess. But he did ruin my plan. What happened was that he... he picked up Mama Peach and started carrying her over to the castle! That idiot just had to go and ruin my great plan! He wasn't supposed to take Mama Peach with him, and he knew it!" Jr. growled, pouting as he remembered.
Bowser frowned. He recalled many a time where Mario had thrown a monkey wrench into his plans and ruined them. Because of that, he needed to make sure he had one or two back-up plans ready in case Mario did something he hadn't counted on.
"I should have told you to make sure you had one or more back-up plans in mind on the off-chance Mario tried something like that! It's just like him to pull some stupid trick on us, right when we thought we had everything planned to the letter!" Bowser said.
"I got so angry at Mario that I leaped out of the bush I was hiding in and demanded that he put my mama down!" Jr. continued.
Bowser listened as his son told him everything, leaving nothing out. Bowser felt disappointment as he realized that Mario and Kamek were right. His own son had been a lying liar who lies... to him...
"Now correct me if I'm wrong, Jr., but didn't you also say that Mario said something to you? You know, something along the lines of 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a... you-know-what'?" Bowser asked.
Jr. sighed again, hung his head, and replied, "No, Papa. That was also a lie."
"I'm not surprised..." Bowser thought, before asking, "How did you even hear that line? I never taught it to you, and neither did Mario."
"Oh, I'm afraid that one's on me, Bowser." Kamek's voice said from the open doorway.
"You taught him that line, Kamek?" Bowser asked.
"Yes and no. I talked the kids into watching "Gone With The Wind" with me last weekend." Kamek admitted sheepishly as he stood in the doorway with a tray of food in his hands.
"Well, that was a bad idea." Bowser told him.
"I'll say. They kept fading in and out, missing a bunch of important scenes. But they were all wide awake for the scene where Clark Gable said that famous line." said Kamek as he walked into the room. Bowser saw that the tray held a plate with two grilled cheese sandwiches cut into two neat triangles, a bowl of tomato soup, and a glass of grape-flavored Kool-Aid with ice in it.
Jr. almost started drooling, but he didn't want to let his papa know that he wanted that food. If he did that, Bowser most likely wouldn't let him eat.
"Okay, then." said Bowser, before adding, "Now Kamek, give Jr. his lunch, and let's step out of the room for a minute. I need to talk to you about something."
"All right." said Kamek, placing the tray on Jr.'s bed before following Bowser out of the room.
"Whoa! I thought Papa would tell Kamek not to feed me after all that! I guess I just dodged a pretty big bullet!" Bowser Jr. thought in surprise as he picked up one of the grilled cheese triangles.
Once they were out of the room, Bowser closed the door, and Kamek said, "Hmm... This must be pretty serious if you're closing the door."
"It is. You and Mario... were right." Bowser admitted with a defeated sigh. He hated realizing that his worst enemy was right.
"No bruises have appeared on him, Your Majesty?" Kamek asked.
"Nope. And his bum leg is fine, too." Bowser said.
"So he's fine, save for the black eye." Kamek realized.
"Yeah. He told me the truth about everything before you came in and told me how he learned about that famous line from "Gone With The Wind". Mario didn't know how he even learned that particular line because he never said it. And I knew for a fact that he didn't learn it from me, because I never said it before, nor did I show him the movie." Bowser said.
"Well, now you know." Kamek said.
"Yeah. If you ever plan to show the kids that movie again, wait until they're able to really appreciate it, okay?" Bowser asked.
"I'll be sure to do that." Kamek replied, before asking, "So, what are you going to do about your son and his lying problem, my king? Are you going to change his name to Pinocchio?"
"No, even though that would be fitting. But I am going to have to punish him for lying to me." Bowser said. He went back into Jr.'s room, where Jr. was slowly savoring his favorite lunch as if it was going to be his last meal of the day. He also had a bad feeling it was the last time he'd ever get to enjoy grilled cheese and tomato soup.
"All right, Jr. You and I need to have a talk." Bowser said.
Jr. knew this was coming. He was feeling very nervous.
"Why did you feel that you had to lie to me? Why didn't you just tell me the truth about what really happened when your plan to capture Peach failed?" Bowser asked.
"Because... I was afraid..." Jr. began.
"Afraid of what?" Bowser asked.
"If I told you what really happened... you'd be really angry... with me... when I told you... that my plan... which I said couldn't possibly fail... had failed... And I... I really wanted you... to knock Mario into next month... for ruining my plan... by taking Mama Peach... to her castle... when he wasn't supposed to." Jr. said., still nervous.
"I can't deny that I would have been mad that your plan didn't work, Jr. But I'd get over it by simply going after Mario and Peach myself." Bowser said.
"I just... didn't want you to think of me... as a complete failure." Jr. said.
"I wouldn't have done that, Jr. You're still young, a villain-in-training, so I'd know that this sort of thing was expected to happen." Bowser explained.
"Not to me." Jr. said.
"It happened to me and your siblings lots of times before, so it's really not all that surprising that it happened to you." Bowser told him, before adding, "And I would've told you to have back-up plans ready in case something didn't go right. However, because you lied to me, your own father, you have to be punished."
"Are you going to make me go to bed an hour earlier each night for the rest of the year and never let me have grilled cheese and tomato soup again?" Jr. asked.
"No. I should, but I'm not going to do that to the heir to the Koopa throne." Bowser replied.
Jr. let out an inaudible sigh of relief, but he knew he wasn't out of the woods yet.
"I'm grounding you for two weeks, and during that time, you are not allowed to have any kind of fun whatsoever!" Bowser said.
Jr. groaned. This was going to be torture.
"But I also want you to tell me the truth to the question I'm about to ask you." Bowser said.
"Ask away." Jr. replied.
"Who taught you how to lie? Was it Larry?" Bowser asked.
"No." Jr. replied.
"Okay, how about Roy?" Bowser guessed.
"No, he didn't do it, either." Jr. answered.
Bowser thought for a moment before asking, "Could it have been Wendy?"
"Nope, because she hates when the others lie to her." said Jr.
"You're right. She does hate that." Bowser mumbled, before making another guess, "What about Iggy and Lemmy? They lied to me once."
(A/N: See "A Little Learning", an episode of the "Super Mario World" cartoon.)
"No. It was a good guess, though, but they didn't do it." Jr. said.
"Kamek?" Bowser tried.
"After the way he got suspicious of me during my bath? No, Papa. He wouldn't have taught me how to lie." Jr. reminded his father.
"Who, then?!" Bowser asked, angry.
"Look in the mirror, and you'll have your answer." Jr. said.
Bowser realized what Jr. was saying, and then the camera zoomed in on his incredibly shocked face.
"I did that?!" Bowser almost screamed.
"Yup. You did that when you told me that Princess Peach was my mama! Also, when we got back from Isle Delfino and I told my siblings that you admitted to lying about Peach being my mama, Iggy and Lemmy did tell me that you once said lying is an excellent trait." Jr. said.
Bowser felt like a moron. He never should have told Jr. that stupid lie about Peach! The Koopalings even told him it was a bad idea from the get-go (even if lying was an excellent trait), but did he listen to them? Nooooooo!
"What was I thinking?" Bowser asked himself, ready to smack his head against the wall a thousand times out of frustration. But he didn't do it. He didn't need to make his headache even worse than it already was. Plus, he didn't want the Koopalings to see him like that.
But the Koopalings had noticed Bowser's odd behavior. He was quiet and not making eye contact with them all afternoon. They'd tried to engage him in conversation during dinner, but he didn't reply to them at all whenever they spoke to him. The kids knew that something was up, and they wanted to know what.
That night, after Bowser put Jr. to bed, the Koopalings cornered him outside the room.
"All right, King Dad. You've been awfully quiet since lunchtime ended, and we all want to know what's up." said Wendy, and her brothers were standing behind her. The way they looked at him let him know that they meant business.
Bowser figured that this was coming, after the way he behaved at dinner.
"Can we... discuss this far away from Jr.'s room? I just got him to go to sleep, and I don't want our talk to wake him up." Bowser said.
The Koopalings nodded, and Bowser followed them to the room where they all watched movies and played video games. They turned on the light, and Bowser stood before the kids, ready to explain himself.
Bowser sighed and said, "I... I should have... listened to you guys..."
"Listened to us?" Lemmy asked.
"About what, King Dad?" Ludwig asked.
"Do you kids... remember that time... Jr. was asking you... if he had a mother... after watching a Mother's Day program on television... and you all asked me for permission... to tell him about her?" Bowser asked.
The Koopalings thought back to that day, and they remembered it as though it had been just yesterday.
"Oh yeah, we remember that time! You told us not to tell Jr. about Mom, and we later found out the reason why. It was because you wanted to feed him a big, fat lie about Princess Peach being his mom because he didn't remember Mom and you decided that Peach would be a good replacement for Mom." Morton said.
"And we were really angry with you for that. Not only did you decide to lie to your own flesh and blood, but what you did felt like a complete betrayal to Mom's memory, like you didn't love her anymore and wanted us to forget about her! Fat chance, King Dad! We loved Mom as much as Jr. would have, and you know it." Iggy spoke up.
"And... you kids were right to be mad at me for that. I still love your mother, and I really shouldn't have lied to Jr. like I did. Thanks to my stupidity, Jr. decided to lie to me today." Bowser said.
"Ooooooooohhhhh..." the Koopalings chorused, realizing that their dad was the one who got Jr. in trouble.
"Watch your mouths! I just grounded your little brother for two weeks for lying, and if you don't stop making that sound at me, then you can join him." Bowser said.
The seven Koopalings quickly went quiet. They even zipped their lips and threw away the key.
Then Bowser said to the kids, "But I'll ask you to promise me something: if I ever get the idea of lying to Jr. again, I want you to hit me."
The Koopalings pulled out their wands. Upon seeing their weapons, Bowser got freaked out, and he shouted, "Not with those! Not with those!" He was afraid that they might use their wands to turn him into a flea inside of two boxes that they would smash with a hammer.
So the Koopalings put their wands away and produced (aluminum) baseball bats instead, but that didn't make Bowser feel any better. He told the kids, "Oh, come on, kids! We are not barbarians! We are Koopas!"
The Koopalings put away the bats, and Ludwig produced a 12-foot paddle with poison spikes on it. Bowser smiled and said, "That's much better."
Maybe I'll add at least one more chapter, so we can find out how Peach's Castle is after the attack, and see how Peach has been since Luigi took her to his mansion for safety. Stay tuned!