I'm in the middle of revising all my stories and organizing everything. I'm removing the old versions of my stories and uploading the new ones as I go along.

One day Ludwig arrives seriously injured. Bowser wants to know who did it but it may be a force too strong to deal with.

Question Box

Box 03: The Dilemma of Prince Charming

Bowser Koopa sat in his throne feeling rather bored. Maybe he would kidnap Princess Peach later that day. At least that would give him something to do and she was always peasant company. Or he could send Kamek off to spy on Wendy and see if she had found a new boyfriend. Then he would throw him in a pool of boiling lava and watch him melt hoping it would serve as an example for any other unworthy boys who tried to get near his little princess.

As Bowser thought of his possible recreational activities for the afternoon, the door to the thrown room was slightly opened. It was as if the one opening it had a hard time doing so. The door was rather heavy but not too heavy for an average koopa. He was surprised to find that it was none other than his oldest son Ludwig Von Koopa who came in.

The boy was a mess. His spiky blue hair was spiked messily in every direction instead of just left and right as it usually was. Bowser was tempted to ask if he had received an electric shock from a faulty invention lately. However he held the question as he noticed other things that were off besides the hair.

Ludwig had a few scratches here and there, nothing too serious but unusual none the less. One thing that caught Bowser's attention was that he held his hand over his shell as if he was afraid it would break. Of course that was impossible, or was it? Bowser watched in horror as his son approached revealing a large crack on his shell branched into smaller ones.

Snapping out of the initial surprise, Bowser quickly rushed to help his son sit in the throne. The poor boy looked as if he had consumed his last bit of energy just to get there and he would collapse soon. "Ludwig what happened to you?" If this was the work of the Mario brothers by tomorrow there would be two less plumbers in the world. "Was it Mario?" Ludwig only had to say the word and Bowser would have his entire army surrounding Mario in no time. That plumber would wish he was never born. Bowser would personally make sure of that.

Ludwig, who was too exhausted to speak, weakly shook his head.

"Was it Luigi?" Bowser then asked.

Again Ludwig shook his head.

"Yoshi? Toad? Somehow that seems very unlikely," Browser continued reviewing the possibilities.

Ludwig shook his head once more.

"Peach? No, it couldn't have been Peach."

Ludwig shook his head and having rested enough to finally catch his breath he spoke, hardly above a whisper. "Do we have glue?"

It took Bowser a moment to understand why Ludwig would ask for glue at a time like this. He wanted to glue his broken shell back together. The poor boy! Who ever did this to his son would pay. "I'll have Kamek fix your shell for you," Bowser spoke in an uncharacteristically gentle voice. Then as if he had forgotten his fragile son was right next to him, he roared at the top of his lungs. "Kamek!" His voice echoed all over the castle. Ludwig closed his eyes tightly as he felt his headache grow worse.

The magikoopa rushed in following the roar of the king's voice to the throne room. He arrived precisely three point five seconds after being summoned. "Yes your high-"

"Cure him!" Bowser did not let Kamek finish before he roared an order as he pointed at his son. Yet he sounded more worried than harsh and Kamek took note of that.

The old magikoopa approached the young koopa prince and adjusted his glasses. "Oh dear..." Kamek was surprised that a strong koopa like Ludwig would end up in a state like that. The boy was not only strong but also smart. He should have been able to avoid a dangerous situation as easily as it was for him to compose one symphony after another. The young prince was quite talented. Neither his father nor his used to be babysitter ever thought that it were exactly those positive traits which got him into trouble.

"Can you heal him?" Bowser asked with slight desperation in his voice. This was his son, his oldest son, the heir to the throne of the Koopa Kingdom. He couldn't go around with a broken shell.

"I believe I can." Kamek focused his magic in the jewel at the end of his wand. He took a step back and nodded in Bowser's direction indicating for him to do the same. Then three shapes surrounded by light emerged from the wand. There was a yellow circle, a blue square and a red triangle. The magical energy floated towards Ludwig as the three figures danced around each other.

When the magic reached him, Ludwig's shell began to glow. He sat perfectly still letting the healing magic do its job. The cracks on his shell started to heal becoming smaller until they were mere scratches and then even those scratches began to fade away. His shell was left polished and in perfect conditions. Ludwig reached behind him and touched the shell's smooth surface between the spikes. "It's much better now."

Kamek looked a bit tired, that healing magic certainly took it out of him. To fix a broken shell was not an easy spell. "I'm glad you approve young prince." The old magikoopa had been the family's caretaker his entire life. He took care of Bowser ever since he was little more than an egg and then he took care of his children, so in a sense Kamek was like a grandfather to them. Satisfied that his work was done, Kamek left the throne room. He glanced at Bowser as he left. He certainly looked relieved that his son was alright.

Feeling a lot better Ludwig stood up. "Ludwig you still need to tell me who did this to you," Bowser asked again. He needed to know. He needed to teach the one who did it a very hard lesson.

Ludwig looked down and stared at his feet as if it was the first time he saw them.

"Ludwig just tell me what happened I won't be mad," Bowser insisted. He would have to use psychology if he was to get any information out of Ludwig. "Whatever it is you know I can help."

Of course Ludwig knew that by help Bowser meant he would literally destroy the problem but this particular problem could not be destroyed. Ludwig's problem was one that was better off being avoided. They were too powerful, no one could stand up to them, not even his father's armies and the Mario brothers put together.

"Ludwig," Bowser persisted, hiding his impatience quite well.

Ludwig looked up at his father. Was that a hint of red on the prince's face? "Fan girls," he grinned.

Bowser stood there for a moment, letting his son's words sink in. Fan girls... they were so dangerous and so deadly that no even the mighty Koopa King would dare to anger them. Those terrible obsessed rabid creatures were after his little boy. Unconsciously, Bowser hugged his son as if to protect him, as if one of the terrible monsters known as 'fan girls' could pop out thin air at any given moment.

"It's okay King Dad, I'll be alright," Ludwig smiled. As painful as it was, nothing could boost a young man's ego like a fan girl attack.

Bowser slowly nodded and let him go. Ludwig wasn't a little boy anymore if he was old enough for the fan girls to leave him in such a state. For his shell to be cracked like that, he must have endured severe glomping.

"I'm going to go write a song I thought of this afternoon while I was running for my life," Ludwig announced and headed to his room.

Bowser watched him go and made a metal note to increase the defenses around the castle ten fold. If Ludwig had fan girls and boys were chasing Wendy, then it wouldn't be long before the other koopalings started to attract unwanted guests. It was only a matter of time and he had no time to waste. He wouldn't let those stalkers go near his kids. Tomorrow the training of his army would be intensified in preparation for any possible fan attacks. To try to win the war he knew would be impossible, but if he could only win a few battles against them, then he would feel like he accomplished his duty as a father to protect his children.

Meanwhile, Ludwig sat in his room in, humming the melody he had created as he looked out the window. Suddenly a female sounding scream was heard followed by a loud growl and the sound of something being chewed and swallowed. Then a chain chop passed by looking quite satisfied. Ludwig watched from his window high above in one of the castle's towers. The chain chop appeared to have a blue ribbon in his mouth. Shaking his head Ludwig sighed. "Such is the dilemma of prince charming."

End of Box 03

Disclaimer, I don't the Mario games or characters.