Chapter 8:
As Bowser neared Mario, the platform that they were standing on began to break away from the rest of the ledge and formed the shape of a star, reminiscent of the star-shaped platform that Mario had faced Bowser on in the level Bowser in the Sky in Peach's Castle a few years ago. As Bowser and Mario rose, Kevin cried out to his father, "Wait Father, don't do this! Let us kill the Marios and their allies now!"
"Shut up Kevin!" Bowser roared as the platform rose into the air. "I have to do this! I have fought Mario for so long. I want to finish him off now, once and for all!"
"But…"
But the Koopa Prince was cut off with a dark glare from his father. Kevin sighed and went back to join the rest of his family. Wendy came over to him and tried to cheer him up, saying, "Don't worry so much, Kev. Dad's gonna slaughter Mario. With that wand you gave him, there's no way he'll lose."
Kevin was not so sure. He had studied his father's fights against Mario and had come to the conclusion that Mario was a lot stronger than either his father, or his siblings gave him credit for, despite the fact that they had suffered constant defeats at the plumber's, and sometimes at Luigi's as well. He could only watch in horror as the platform continued to ascend, and pray that his father managed to defeat Mario. The star-shaped platform ceased its ascent when it was approximately fifty feet above the platform that they had once been standing on. A quartet of spiked bombs then appeared to surround the platform in a square-like pattern. The battle seemed to be reminiscent of Mario's final fight with Bowser in Peach's Castle during his first takeover of the castle. Luigi and Mario's comrades gazed into the sky as the platform stopped and the two bitter enemies faced one another, standing on opposite ends of the platform. They also did not miss the spiked bombs that were floating alongside the platform as well. Many of them had also heard about a battle Mario had against Bowser that was similar, if not identical, to this, save for the platform's location.
"Be careful Mario," Luigi called up to Mario, knowing full well that his brother was going into this fight with a disadvantage. While Mario had defeated Bowser without the use of his power-ups and items before, the younger Mario brother had a feeling that Bowser came prepared to fight this time. He noticed the wand in Bowser's right hand and he could not help but think that it would be key to Bowser's strategy against Mario. "Watch out for that wand! He's up to something," he called up to Mario.
Mario looked down and winked, indicating that he had heard the call of his younger brother. Kevin looked up toward Bowser and eventually called, "Father, don't underestimate Mario. He is still a highly dangerous opponent, even without his superpowers!"
Bowser growled as he looked back at the Koopa Prince. "Don't worry about me, Kevin," Bowser retorted. "Without his powers, Mario is no match for me!"
Kevin could only shrug, seeing as his father was too stubborn and arrogant to see that he was endangering his absolute victory over Mario and his allies. The Marios and the allies that he and the others had captured were the only army that the Mushroom Kingdom had. Without them, the Mushroom Kingdom would fall to any one of the members of the Koopa Royal Family. Heck, Kamek or Kammy alone would be more than enough to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom, they were that pathetic. Kevin knew why his father was so eager to accept Mario's challenge, though. It had been Kevin who had defeated and captured the Super Mario Brothers, Kevin who had discovered the infiltrators and captured them, Kevin who had found out about the rescue force and alerted Kammy and Kamek to the assault and allowed them to intercept the attacking force before they had managed to get very far in the Koopa Kingdom. Kevin was responsible for all of the Koopa Troop's recent victories over Mario and his allies. Bowser was worried about how the rest of the kingdom would look at him, as well as his oldest son, who was now more powerful than ever. He had to find a way to show the rest of the Koopa Kingdom that he was just as powerful as his son; and the only way to do that, in his mind, was to defeat Mario in single combat.
Bowser stared at Mario, who returned his glare. For a moment, neither combatant moved. They merely sized each other up as they stared at each other. Bowser then suddenly began the battle by curling into a massive spiked ball and rolling towards Mario. Mario, following the restrictions that he placed on himself, thus deciding not to use his Fire Flower or Metal Cap, merely got out of the way and fled from the onrushing King of the Koopas. He moved to his left and Bowser rolled on by, overshooting his target. The Koopa King then swerved to his right to try and reestablish a bead on the plumber, sending up rock and debris as he quickly made his turn and rushed after Mario once more.
The Koopa King continued to charge towards the plumber in an attempt to flatten him into a Swiss cheese-like pancake. The human, however was too quick and agile for the massive Koopa King, though. As soon as Bowser managed to reach Mario, the red and blue clad plumber merely dove out of the Koopa King's way, allowing Bowser to overshoot his target. This plan of attack continued for quite a while, but met with no success. This infuriated Bowser. "Why won't you just stand still and let me crush you?" the Koopa King roared in frustration as he once again attempted to crush Mario. Mario dove to his right and let Bowser sail on past once again. The plumber smiled as Bowser began to feel even more frustration at his failed attempt to kill him. The Koopa King repeated the same style of attack again and again, meeting with no success. He gritted his teeth as he was beginning to lose his patience and take more foolish risks.
Bowser picked up the pace when he rolled towards Mario in his next attempt to steamroll the plumber. Mario quickly noticed the increase in Bowser's speed and dove out of the way of the onrushing Koopa. He successfully managed to evade Bowser's rush, but the Koopa King was much closer to actually killing him now than he had been on his previous attempts. However, Bowser was also slower to decelerate after missing the plumber and his turn to try to regain his bead on Mario was far wider than it had been during the previous attempts. This gave the plumber an idea.
He went over towards the closest edge of the platform that was one of the points of the star. As he did this, Bowser quickly grinned from underneath his shell. The human was making himself far more vulnerable moving away from the center of the platform, where he had a great deal of room to maneuver, and towards edge, where he had no ability to maneuver at all. From below the platform, however, Kevin could see Mario standing perilously close to the edge. He moved from his seat towards one of the stands that was closer to the level of the platform so that he could get a better view of the battle. That was when he realized Mario's plan. And it was obvious to the Koopa Prince that Bowser was playing right into his nemesis's hands as he began to roll towards Mario once more.
"Wait, Father! It's a trap!" Kevin called out in warning. If Bowser managed to roll off of the edge and strike the ground, then the battle would end in a ring-out and Mario would be declared the winner by default. Even though there was no referee, Bowser would still be seen to have lost the fight. And by accepting Mario's challenge, as well as the terms of the challenge, the Mario Brothers, as well as all of Mario's allies that had been captured would have to be released.
Bowser paid his son no heed, though, as he rolled straight towards Mario. Mario then turned around and waited for the Koopa King to approach, which Bowser took to be a sign of surrender. As Bowser approached Mario, the plumber crouched before springing up into the air, performing a back flip over the oncoming Koopa. As Mario sailed over the Koopa King, Bowser realized Mario's plan, a little too late. Bowser rolled on by, failing to hit Mario and as soon as Mario had landed behind him, Bowser did his best to slow down and stop before he sailed off the edge. It was not to be, however, as Bowser was unable to dig in and arrest his momentum before sailing off the platform. As he was skidding to a halt, he ran out of space and proceeded to fall over the edge of the platform and plummet towards the platform below.
As Bowser was beginning to go over the edge, Kevin immediately stood up and prepared to use his magic to push Bowser back onto the platform. He pulled out his wand and was about to act when both Kamek and Kammy appeared beside him and gripped his arm. Kamek shook his head solemnly. "As painful as it is to watch, you can't interfere in this fight, my student," Kamek told him sagely. "If you do, Mario will automatically win and the others will be allowed to go free as per the conditions of this match."
Kevin gritted his teeth and sat back down. Kamek was right. There was nothing he could do except watch the scene unfold. Bowser proceeded to roll off the edge and fall to the ground. Kevin could only watch as his father continued to fall. Time slowed down for the Koopa Prince as his mouth was agape in dread at what was about to unfold. His father was about to be humiliated by Mario once more. The only difference here was that the entire Koopa Kingdom, and probably a good portion of the Mushroom Kingdom, would get to see it live, either attending the fight itself, or watching from their homes. The fall would not be enough to kill him, for he had survived farther falls in the past. The problem would be that he had had the Mario Brothers right where he wanted them, and had been manipulated into allowing them to be released by losing his fight to Mario. It would be his father's greatest humiliation of all time, even worse than the humiliation he suffered in the Glitz Pit. As Bowser was falling, he uncurled himself and prepared a ground pound, beginning to fade away. This sight gave Kevin hope as Bowser began to grin. Just before Bowser was about to hit the ground, which would cement the battle in Mario's favor, the Koopa King became translucent. A few moments later, on the verge of striking the ground and giving Mario the win, the Koopa King vanished entirely.
Bowser reappeared a couple of stories above Mario in the center of the platform. The plumber was not caught unawares, though, and he promptly fled the landing zone of Bowser. The Koopa King came crashing towards the ground and as he struck the ground, the platform began to shake and crack as if the platform was having an earthquake and a red ring of energy spread out from the epicenter of Bowser's landing. Mario had jumped into a back flip the instant before Bowser had landed and, thus, the shaking ground did not affect him. As soon as he touched the ground, Mario jumped again as the red ring of energy nearly cut his feet out from under him. Bowser grimaced as he saw that Mario had suffered no damage at all from the attack. Still, he was not out of options, not by a long shot.
Bowser proceeded to back away from Mario, causing the plumber to tense up. The massive Koopa King then reared back and a ball of flame appeared in his mouth. This prompted Mario to run to his right as Bowser proceeded to unleash a massive stream of flame towards the location where the plumber had been standing moments earlier. The stream of flame, however, failed to find its mark, though Bowser saw Mario running in a large circle out of the corner of his eye. He then swept his flaming breath in the direction of the plumber, not managing to catch up to the human, but preventing him from being able to launch an attack from behind. Eventually, Bowser ran out of breath and he had to cease his attack on Mario as he caught his breath. Unfortunately, this gave Mario a chance to run behind the Koopa King and grab his tail. With a tremendous yank, Mario pulled Bowser off of his feet, causing Bowser to emit a squawk of surprise. Mario then proceeded to spin the Koopa King around and around. As the velocity of Mario's spin increased, the spinning body of Bowser proceeded to rise as well. Eventually, Mario let Bowser fly, saying, "So long King Bowser." Bowser, unfortunately, was hurled directly into one of the spiked bombs, which detonated upon Bowser's meeting with the device.
Upon the bomb's detonation, a massive wave of fire erupted from the bomb, along with a concussion wave that was powerful enough to hurl the Koopa King forty feet into the air, and fortunately back towards the platform. Bowser flipped over and landed on his stomach as he fell back onto the platform. This did him little good, though, as Mario quickly rushed towards him and performed a flying side kick towards his head. The kick made contact with the Koopa King's head and dazed him for a moment as the king was sent skidding backwards a few meters. Bowser grunted. "Man, that hurts," he complained, though he seemed to indicate that it was the bomb's explosion that hurt him more than the ensuing kick. Bowser attempted to stand, but was slow to do so. The explosion had affected him more than he had initially believed, and Mario was quick to take advantage of the situation.
He quickly rushed behind Bowser and attempted to grab his tail once more. Bowser was clearheaded enough to realize that such a strategy would likely be Mario's next move so before the plumber could grab his tail a second time and hurl him into another bomb, he jumped high into the air, just as Mario made his swipe for Bowser's tail. Mario then proceeded to run towards the edge of the platform, knowing that as soon as the Koopa King landed, a massive quake would be produced. Bowser soon descended from the air and immediately upon striking the platform, Mario jumped, so as to avoid the massive earthquake that ensued. Once again, the platform shook under the power of Bowser's landing and a flaming ring spread out from Bowser upon his landing. Mario deftly jumped over the flaming ring as it approached. Upon landing, Mario charged Bowser once more.
As Bowser saw Mario begin to charge him, he backed off a bit and began to spit blue flames towards the human. Blue streaks of flame erupted from Bowser's mouth and approached Mario, forcing him to jump to the side of the flames in order to evade them. As soon as the flames hit the ground, though, they broke off into three smaller flames that skipped along the platform. Mario recognized this attack and quickly noted where the blue fires were and where the directions they were traveling as they split. As the fires were bouncing towards Mario, Bowser charged him and surprised him when he drew back his fist and let fly at the plumber. The Koopa King scored a solid hit on Mario and knocked him off his feet. The plumber was sent tumbling through the air and nearly struck one of the blue flames that was bouncing towards him. However, Mario stuck his hands out and pushed off of them just as the flame was about to hit. Mario flipped over the flame and landed on two feet, skidding backwards a few feet before coming to a stop. As he was recovering, Bowser unleashed a stream of orange flame towards him. Mario moved to the side to avoid it and, just as before, Bowser swept the flame once more towards the plumber. Mario was faster this time, though, or Bowser was slower, and the Koopa King was unable to keep up with his archenemy.
Mario went to run behind Bowser's back once more and grab his tail, but Bowser began to spin faster and faster in his attempt to prevent Mario from managing to grab his tail and hurl him into one of the three remaining spiked bombs. As Mario tightened the circle that he was running, though, Bowser kept increasing the speed of his spin so as to keep up with the plumber. Despite Bowser's ability to keep up with the plumber, though, Mario continued his circle. As Bowser continued to try to keep up with Mario, he was beginning to feel dizzy. That was when he realized Mario's plan and went, "Oh crud." Bowser then stopped the spin but the damage had been done, so to speak. He wobbled around on his two legs for a bit before falling to the ground, dizzy from his spin. Mario then rushed over to the fallen Koopa and grabbed his tail. Just as he did the first time, he began to spin Bowser around and around. As his own spin was increasing in speed, Bowser began to rise into the air. Once Mario had lined him up with a second spiked bomb, he let the Koopa King fly a second time. Bowser flew straight into the spiked bomb, which detonated upon Bowser's impact with it. Again, a massive explosion resulted, which hurled the Koopa King high into the air, and back towards the platform. Bowser landed on the platform with a thud on his stomach once more and groaned as he attempted to rise. Things were looking bad for him. He knew that despite the fact that Mario did not have access to any of his superpowers, he was still a formidable opponent. There were only two mines left, and he was already beginning to feel the strains of the battle. However, he was not out of the fight yet. In fact, the fight was just beginning. He then took out his magic wand and fired it down at the platform's surface. The platform immediately began to rise higher into the sky, out of sight of the rest of the crowds. As the platform rose, two of the airships released several robotic cameras to broadcast the action to several jumbotrons that were located throughout the castle grounds. In addition, several Magikoopas waved their wands and produced a hologram of the platform and of Mario and Bowser, the latter of which stood up and turned to face Mario.
Kevin looked at the hologram and watched as Bowser cautiously backed away from Mario for a few moments. So far, Mario was handling Bowser pretty well in the fight, with Bowser only having gotten one punch in on the hero. Kevin watched as Bowser clutched the wand that the prince had given his father. Kevin knew why Bowser had waited so long to use the wand. He had hoped to defeat Mario without any help from his son. While he, and Kevin, would have told the media and the rest of the kingdom that the wand was built by Bowser, both Bowser and Kevin knew the truth. Bowser did not want to have to rely on a magic wand given to him by Kevin in order to defeat Mario. Still, given how badly Mario was creaming him at the moment, he felt as if he had no choice.
High above the castle, Bowser gripped the wand and its head began to glow. The Koopa King then began to chuckle, "Heh, heh, heh. I must admit I'm impressed. You're just as powerful as I remember, even without any of your superpowers. However, things are different now from what they were in all of our other battles. I don't have the same problem that you do right now. Not anymore!" Bowser grinned menacingly before continuing, "I've had enough screwing around with you! It's time I showed you my true power." He proceeded to give a chilling laugh. "I've been waitin' for this for a long time, Mario. This wand's a special item that's gonna give me power, here, and you're without any of your superpowers, as per your restrictions in the challenge." The Koopa King then showed Mario the magic wand that Kevin had made for him and broke out into an almost maniacal laugh. "You should have limited the use of my superpowers as well!" he cried as he waved his magic wand and activated its power, wishing to transform into the equivalent of Fire Bowser. His normal green shell was immediately replaced with a fiery red shell that matched the color of his hair. In addition, Bowser willed the effects of the Life/Super Mushroom to take effect. Immediately, he grew to twice his normal size, and also gained twice his usual physical strength and durability. "What'da'ya think of this, Mario? This magic wand grants me the same superpowers that you usually possess."
Mario grimaced as Bowser began to approach him. Things just got a lot more complicated, but even with this new development, he was not too concerned. He had beaten Bowser before when he had special powers; he could do so again. Mario did not move and waited for the Koopa King to make the first move.
Bowser pointed his right and left hands towards Mario and proceeded to unleash a volley of fireballs towards the plumber. Mario's eyes went wide with shock and he was caught off guard by Bowser's attack. Three fireballs from Bowser's first barrage scored direct hits on the plumber, knocking him off his feet and to the ground, also setting him ablaze. Despite the pain that Mario was undoubtedly suffering, he did not cry out and merely proceeded to roll on the ground in order to extinguish the flames that were burning him alive. After rolling on the ground for a few seconds, flames were extinguished and Mario rose to face Bowser once more, his body smoking but the plumber was still alive. Bowser intended to change that by waving his wand once more.
The ghostly image of Zess T. soon appeared before Mario, prompting the plumber to go evasive and flee from Bowser, for he knew all too well what was about to happen. A blast of energy erupted from Bowser's wand and targeted Mario. Mario was easily able to evade the blast of energy, but the trouble would be the ensuing explosion. Sure enough, Mario was already running towards the other end of the platform when he was cut off by a stream of Bowser's fire breath. The plumber glanced back at the pulse of energy, which was about to detonate, and he looked away, jumping over Bowser's fire breath as the Zess Dynamite spell exploded. A massive wave of fire erupted from the center of the spell and spread across the platform. The wave of fire and the concussion of the blast washed over Bowser, not affecting the Koopa King in the slightest. Mario, however, knew that the same would not happen for him should the explosion hit him. Mario stood at the edge of the platform, waiting for the explosion to hit, hoping that the damage would be limited. Much to his surprise, the wave of fire suddenly dissipated a few feet away from him. The concussion of the blast was merely a gust of wind that did not even push the plumber backwards. Mario uttered a silent prayer of thanks that the Zess Dynamite did not expand to cover the entire platform. Bowser, however, gave a roar of annoyance. He then attempted to launch another Zess Dynamite but Mario quickly charged Bowser, catching the Koopa King off guard, and punched his wand, pointing it straight up. The Zess Dynamite blast was sent sailing into the sky for a few seconds before it erupted into a massive explosion, far too high to inflict any damage to Bowser's target.
Mario quickly backed away from Bowser as the massive Koopa unleashed another blast of his fire breath, supported by a barrage of fireballs. Mario deftly dodged the fireballs and managed to evade the spreading stream of fire that Bowser had launched against him. He continued to back away from Bowser, who showed no signs of slowing down. Mario, however, was beginning to breathe a little more heavily than before. He knew that he had to do something quickly because Bowser had managed to score some good hits on him and while the magic of the Mushroom Kingdom gave Mario superhuman strength and durability, as well as enhanced speed, he knew that he could only take so much damage before succumbing to his wounds. While the same could also be said of Bowser, the problem was that with that magic wand of his, Bowser would constantly be able to use Mario's own power-ups and use them against the plumber. With a Life Mushroom, that would mean that Bowser could get infinite life energy. He would be nigh unkillable. Bowser was already a difficult enough opponent with only his normal array of powers and skills, especially since Mario was without his own superpowers. With the ability to copy and use Mario's superpowers, he was just that much more dangerous, especially since he could use Mario's superpowers as often as he needed to without fear of running out. Mario had to find a way to end this battle before it dragged on for too much longer and he began to succumb to fatigue. The only way he knew that he would be able to bring this fight to an end with his victory would be to get that wand away from Bowser.
Mario began the next phase of the battle by charging towards Bowser once again. Bowser grinned as Mario came towards him and held out his hands, pointing his fingers towards the plumber. Mario immediately began to go evasive as Bowser unleashed a barrage of fireballs in the plumber's direction. Not being caught off guard this time, Mario was able to evade Bowser's fire and began to run around to Bowser's rear. The Koopa King soon stacked another power on top of his Life/Super Mushroom and Fire Flower power-ups and a massive, brown, furry Tanooki Suit appeared on Bowser. The appearance of a Tanooki Suit astonished Mario. How many of my powers does he have in that wand? the plumber wondered. Mario quickly went to grab Bowser's now longer and stronger Tanooki tail, but the Koopa King jumped as the plumber approached and turned into stone statue version of himself in midair. This action prompted Mario to skid to a halt and flee in the opposite direction as the petrified Koopa King came crashing down to the platform. Again, just as Bowser struck the platform, Mario jumped so as to not be knocked off his feet by the resulting earthquake. However, since Bowser had turned into stone, he was unable to unleash a fiery ring of energy upon landing back on the platform. However, the force of the impact was so great that the ground continued to shake even as Mario landed. The shaking ground caused the human to lose his footing and stagger in place, trying to keep himself from falling to the ground.
Immediately upon hitting the ground, Bowser transformed back to normal once more and quickly turned to see the stumbling Mario. He took advantage of Mario's momentary loss of footing to unleash another volley of fireballs towards the plumber. Mario, seeing the fireballs coming, jumped into the air and managed to avoid the first few orbs of fire. However, for the last few, Bowser pointed his hand up into the air, and got lucky. One of the fireballs managed to hit the hero squarely in the chest. Unlike the first strike, though, Mario did not catch fire this time. That gave him little comfort, though, as the force of the fireball's impact and the instant damage done to him forced him backwards, sending him sailing through the air. He landed hard on the platform and skidded close to the edge, emitting a soft groan as he came to a stop. His eyes then went wide in shock and even fear as he immediately went on all fours and bolted from his current position microseconds before a stream of Bowser's flame breath would have reduced the plumber to ashes.
Bowser gave a grunt as Mario skittered away from the his fiery breath. Mario was a lot tougher than he had given him credit for. The large Koopa still grinned, though. He had the clear edge on Mario, and now it was time to use his oldest son's gift to its fullest potential. He reared back and pointed the wand towards Mario and unleashed a blizzard of ice and snow towards the plumber. Mario jumped to one side and allowed the freezing winds and snowflakes to sail past him. However, Bowser was not finished. The Koopa King then used the wand to summon a storm of lightning bolts, each and every one of them targeting Mario. Mario ran around the platform, performing quick jumps and flips, constantly changing directions as searing bolts of electricity rained down from the sky. This was clearly reminiscent of a Thunder Rage, an item that Mario had used against Bowser's minions all too often at the time that the Koopa King had acquired the Star Rod and captured Princess Peach's Castle. Still, despite the speed at which the lightning bolts had traveled, the spell's power had a difficult time zeroing in on Mario, so every time it fired a lightning bolt at Mario, Mario was able to evade it by constantly moving away from his spots in random directions, not allowing the spell to predict where he would run to next.
Bowser roared in protest as the plumber continued to evade his each and every attempt to kill him. Bowser soon added the Penguin Suit's effects to his power set, but the Penguin Suit did not appear over his Tanooki Suit. And Bowser still had another item spell that he could use. Bowser soon waved his wand once more and pointed it at Mario. The head of the wand glowed and suddenly, a torrent of golden shooting stars rained down upon the platform. Mario looked down at the ground to see where the shadows were appearing so he could evade the storm of stars that were targeting him. As soon as each star struck the ground, it promptly shattered, inflicting no damage to the ground, but the plumber knew that the same would not happen should he suffer a hit from any of those stars.
Down below the platform, Kevin and his siblings stood, riveted to their positions, watching the battle above them unfold. Kevin smiled as he saw his father finally take the fight to Mario and begin using all of the powers and abilities of the wand he had made for his father. He had been greatly concerned by Mario's early success in the fight, but now, he was far more reassured of his father's dominance. He was sure that his father would finally kill Mario. While he was surprised at the evasiveness of the human, he did not let that worry him too much. His father had him. Mario was constantly on the run, unable to even consider the possibility of launching any kind of attack on Bowser. All he could do was run and hope that Bowser would run out of energy, which he would not thanks to the Life Mushroom power-up, which could completely refresh him as well should it be necessary. If the Koopa King were smart, he would continue fighting Mario at range, not letting the plumber get in close, which was Mario's only chance given the fact that he had no superpowers to speak of for this fight. With Bowser's own natural abilities, combined with the powers of the wand, there was no way that he should lose. His only real concern was the fact that the Zess Dynamite had not encompassed the entire platform upon its detonation. He shook off the thought, though. He did not need a super attack like that to kill Mario. He was already doing fine with the powers he was currently using right now.
The rest of the audience in the courtyard was riveted to the action, standing on the edges of their seats. They had been quite worried in the earlier stages of the battle, where Mario had the upper hand on their king, wincing each time that Bowser had been hurled into a spiked bomb. However, as the fight went on, they had become much calmer and much more certain of their king's eventual victory. They watched as Mario got in close, evading the remaining stars from the Shooting Star attack that the Koopa King had unleashed on him and attempted grab Bowser by the tail, only to be knocked off his feet by a flick of the Koopa King's Tanooki tail, which struck the human squarely in the chest. The audience cheered at the sight of Mario suffering a direct hit from Bowser. The watched closely as the hero stood up once more, but was beginning to breathe heavily. They saw it. The end was coming. Mario was on his last legs now. That last hit had been critical. Several audience members and guards shouted up to the Koopa King, "You rock, King Koopa!" Others said, "You're the best!" Yet others, "Take that you worthless plumber!"
Lady Bow and Vivian watched with concern from the shadows as Mario was struggling to match Bowser's new power. They looked down at the captives and knew that each and every one of them shared their concerns as well. Some could scarcely believe what they were seeing. Others had a bad feeling all along that this would be the result. Bowser had never been this tough an enemy for Mario before, minus the Star Rod incident. But even then, once Mario got the Star Beam, and later the Peach Beam, he had trounced the Koopa King. In this battle, though, Bowser did not have an item like the Star Rod that made him invincible. If he had, he would have used it already. Instead, all Bowser had was a special magic wand that gave him some of Mario's superpowers and the attacks from certain attack items that he had used in the past. "Come on, Mario," Goombella said quietly, with noticeable concern. "You can do it."
"No he can't," one of the Koopatrols retorted mockingly. "Face it, your hero's gonna die. And after him, then it's gonna be you." He then chuckled and added, "But hey, look at it this way. At least you'll get ta see him again once you die."
Goombella scowled at the guard. "We'll just see about that," she retorted harshly. The other captives echoed Goombella's sentiments with a nod. However, they too were concerned with Mario's performance against Bowser in the later portions of the fight.
Back on the star-shaped platform high above the crowds, Mario quickly recovered from Bowser's tail whip, flipping through the air and landing on two feet. Two balls of ice quickly formed in the Koopa King's hands and he hurled them towards the plumber. Mario evaded the attacks, which bounced along the ground for a few bounces before breaking apart, and ran towards Bowser once again. Bowser laughed. "Again? Try something new, Mario. Oh, that's right. You can't!" That last bit was shouted towards the plumber.
The Koopa then began to swing around and perform another tail whip. Bowser whipped his Tanooki tail around towards the onrushing plumber once again, but this time, Mario jumped above the tail and ground-pounded the tail. Bowser cried out in pain as his tail was crushed by Mario's ground pound. The Tanooki Suit promptly disappeared and Bowser fell to the ground, his shell still fiery red. Mario then charged towards the giant Koopa before he could recover, and grabbed the giant turtle's tail. Mario then began to swing Bowser around, causing the Koopa to rise into the air as Mario's spin increased in speed. Mario then lined up Bowser with one of the two remaining spiked bombs and let him fly towards it. Bowser sailed into the bomb and it detonated upon impact, hurling the Koopa King into the air, turning his shell back to its normal green color, and back onto the platform.
Bowser landed on back on the platform with a thud. He groaned as he attempted to stand and face down Mario once more. Had he seen the crowds below, he would have seen his subjects and the children wince and groan, while Mario's allies all cheered. The Koopa King gripped his wand once more and, pointing it towards the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom sent another blizzard of freezing wind and snow towards Mario. The hero dodged the icy storm of ice and ran to his left. Bowser turned to his right to try to keep the plumber in front of him, but the plumber was able to maneuver behind him. He continued to spin to try to keep up with the plumber, but was unable to do so. Mario then dove for Bowser's tail and managed to grab hold of it. Still, since he had to dive, the Koopa King was able to drag the hero on the ground. That did not stop Mario from giving a tremendous jerk, pulling Bowser off his feet. The Koopa King fell to the ground, roaring in pain and surprise as he hit. Mario then stood up and planted his feet firmly as he began to spin the king around. After about ten revolutions, Mario let Bowser fly towards the final spiked bomb. As with the previous three, Mario's aim was true and Bowser sailed into the spiked bomb. The bomb detonated in a massive blast of fire and sent the Koopa King sailing through the air, and back onto the platform.
Bowser landed on his back and bounced on the ground. He gave a groan as he attempted to move. Kevin saw this via the hologram that was situated on the ground where the platform used to be and kept saying with increasing desperation, "Father, right yourself. Get up."
Try as he might, though, Bowser was unable to get off his back and stand up. He gripped his wand again and began to wave it once more so he could activate a Raccoon or Tanooki power-up, but Mario had other plans. The hero charged towards Bowser's tail and performed a spin attack, striking the tail and the backside of Bowser. This sent Bowser spinning and rocketing towards the edge of the platform. Bowser tried to right himself but it was of no use. He found that his momentum was not slowing, and he resigned himself to the fact that he was about to sail off the edge of the platform. He sighed and readied his wand as he sailed off of the platform.
Mario then headed towards the edge that Bowser had fallen off of, expecting a surprise from the Koopa King, and was not disappointed when Bowser appeared. He was sitting inside a Koopa Clown Car and was rising into the air, maintaining a distance of a few yards away from the platform. He held his wand high in his right hand and looked down at the plumber, laughing. Mario took this opportunity to rush the Clown Car and he jumped towards it just as Bowser pointed his wand at the platform and fired a single bolt of lightning. The bolt of lightning sailed just underneath the plumber as he jumped towards the Clown Car, and struck the star-shaped platform. The bolt of lightning promptly reduced the platform to ashes, which fell back towards the ground, covering many members of the audience. The Magikoopas and Koopalings, however, raised their wands and erected protective barriers over themselves so that they would not be covered by the ashes raining down on them.
Back in the sky, Mario's jump from the platform just before its annihilation took him directly to the Clown Car. The plumber landed on the edge of the top of the Clown Car, spreading his arms out in an attempt to maintain balance on the car. Bowser took this opportunity to point the wand towards Mario and attempt to fire a blast of magic at the plumber and kill him, but the hero grabbed the wand and forced it down towards the Clown Car. A blast of magic was unleashed upon the Clown Car and it burned a hole into the vehicle. The Clown Car immediately plummeted towards the ground, with the audience below holding their collective breaths as the car continued to fall. As the car continued to fall, Bowser attempted to fire another blast of magic towards Mario, but the plumber pulled back his fist and punched the wand with all of his strength, cracking the crystal-like head. Golden energy leaked from the wand as Bowser dropped it to the ground, where it fell and struck, headfirst, and shattered into thousands of pieces, creating an explosion of energy that gouged a twenty-meter hole in the ground.
Back in the falling car, Mario punched Bowser repeatedly in the head. The Koopa King was taking a pummeling as Mario continued to strike him. After a few moments of nonstop punching, he looked past Bowser and saw the ground fast approaching. He proceeded to jump as high as he could as the now deadweight Clown Car fell to the ground and hit, crumpling and deforming as it struck. The Clown Car exploded an instant later, sending the Koopa King flying. Bowser sailed through the air and landed on his back a few meters away from the explosion of the Clown Car. He looked up and found Mario coming down straight towards him, his foot extended as if he were about to perform a kick: his target, Bowser's head.
Kevin stood up at the sight of Mario coming down towards Bowser, preparing to finish the defeated Koopa King, his eyes wide in horror. He glanced back at Kammy, Kamek, and his siblings for a second but saw that they were going to do nothing. Knowing that he had not choice anymore, he charged towards Mario in attempt to intercept him before he managed to strike Bowser and severely injure, if not kill, him. Kamek and Kammy then both rose and yelled after him, "No! Don't do it! If you do, your father will lose the fight!"
Kevin did not care about that right now. His father had already lost to Mario. The rules of the fight did not matter to him anymore. All that mattered was saving his father. To that end, he ran towards his father, drawing his wand. He arrived at his father's side just as Mario was a few feet away and he pointed his wand up at Mario. Goombella and the others saw Kevin charge in to support his father and cried, "Wait! Kevin has intervened in the battle! That means that Mario is automatically the victor!"
The members of the Koopa Troop ignored her cry and went to try to support the prince. As he pointed his wand at Mario, Mario noticed him and, seeing the head of the Koopa Prince's wand glow, realized that a second battle against the Koopa Prince was now unavoidable, pulled out his Metal Cap and Fire Flower. Just as he grabbed his power-ups, Kevin fired a rainbow-colored blast of magical energy that would annihilate the plumber if it hit. The blast streaked towards Mario just as he was about to put his Metal Cap on. The blast then hit the plumber and a there was a massive explosion in the sky.
For a split second, Kevin thought that he had actually managed to kill Mario. He soon learned otherwise as the metal form of Metal Mario descended through the cloud of smoke and landed on Bowser's torso, knocking the wind out of the Koopa King, and likely breaking a few of the Koopa King's ribs in the process. Mario then charged Kevin far faster than the Koopa Prince would have thought possible and punched him, sending the prince flying into a wall not too far away. Kevin collided the wall and fell to the ground, dazed but still alive. The Koopa Prince remained on the ground, leaning against the wall. He then pointed his wand at Mario and fired another blast of magic, this one a blast of lightning. The bolt of lightning struck Metal Mario but inflicted no damage at all to the hero. Kevin grimaced. The Koopa Prince then rose and looked Mario straight in the eyes. "So, this is it. This time, Mario, I won't hold back. I will kill you."
Mario's Metal power-up then wore off and the white shirt and hat, and red overalls of Fire Mario appeared before Kevin. "Neither will I," Mario said in response to Kevin's statement. The second battle between Mario, the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, and Kevin Koopa, the Prince of the Koopa Kingdom, had begun.