After a handful of close calls, Junior finished the final race and completed the grand prix. He beamed at his accomplishment as the virtual first place trophy hovered on his TV screen. Shutting off the system, Junior turned to exit his room. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned pale when he saw Bowser standing in the doorway; arms crossed, his massive foot repeatedly tapping the floor, and a glare that kept Junior frozen in place. He could feel himself starting to sweat.
"Dad! I…," Junior started.
"Unbelievable…," Bowser replied as he stalked right past him. "I can't trust you to do anything!"
"I-I just thought…," Junior stammered. "I thought I could finish my game real quick."
"I didn't tell you to play a game, did I!?" Bowser exclaimed. Junior could feel his lip quiver with guilt.
"N-no…But…,"
"I told you to take a bath and get ready, and you couldn't even do that!" Junior was trembling. He was terrified to know where this was going. By the time he pieced it together, it was too late. Bowser stopped in front of Junior's Switch.
"Dad!" Junior called out to him. Bowser gritted his teeth and could feel his blood boiling.
"WHY DO YOU LISTEN TO THIS STUPID THING MORE THAN ME!?" Bowser roared. He grabbed the console firmly in his claws and threw it at the bedroom wall with all of his rage. The device crashed and shattered into pieces as it scattered across the floor. Junior's eyes began to water. But before he could start crying, he felt Bowser pluck him up by his shell and carry him out of the room. Bowser plopped him in the bathroom and violently turned the bathtub faucet. Water began to pour and fill the tub. He violently yanked Junior's bandanna off from around his son's neck, picked Junior up once more, and dropped him into the tub.
"STOP CRYING!" Bowser roared. He scooped up Junior's chin in his fingers and tilted his head upward until their eyes met. "You've got ten minutes to get yourself cleaned up and march downstairs to the table! If you're not there when time's up, I'm feeding your breakfast to the chain chomp instead and you'll go without eating! Do you understand me!?" Junior sniffed and nodded slightly. Bowser stomped out of the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.
Junior wiped away the tears with his arm. No matter how heartbroken he was at that moment, Junior knew deep down that crying wouldn't help. His father was never one to comfort Junior when he cried thanks to his stupid tough love mantra. Junior had always turned to his mom when he needed to cry when he was little. But she wasn't here anymore. She hadn't been for a long time. Junior had to be tough. He knew exactly what he was going to do now. If Bowser thought he couldn't be trusted to do anything, Junior would just have to prove him wrong. He'd make his dad feel so guilty that he'd regret breaking his Switch like that.
Bowser violently dropped down into his chair in the dining hall and stabbed his pancakes with his fork without saying a word to anyone. Kammy gulped and approached him. One sharp glare from Bowser stopped the witch in her tracks.
"What?" asked Bowser.
"We heard quite a commotion up there…," Kammy began. "Is everything alright?"
"You know why I'm not gonna answer that."
"Lord Bowser, please. Be reasonable. You don't think there's the slightest possibility that you're being too hard on Prince Junior?" Bowser froze as the same sentiment of his wife from the dream flashed through his mind. He slammed his fork down on the plate.
"I KNOW HOW TO RAISE MY KID, DAMMIT!" Bowser roared furiously. "Will everyone just get off my case already!?" Desperate to change the subject, Bowser shooed away his on-looking henchmen, ordered Kammy to stay put, and summoned the Koopalings into the dining hall so they could receive their assignments and Bowser's plan could get underway. The faster the better as far as Bowser was concerned.
Junior quietly meandered into the room at roughly the same time. He sat alone at the far end of the table and aside from a minor glance from his father, went otherwise unnoticed. He halfheartedly listened to Bowser detailing the grand strategy as he ate his breakfast. Not that he really needed to pay attention. This plan was no different than the dozens before it.
Princess Peach was to be kidnapped, and each of the Koopalings would impede Mario's attempts at rescuing her with a series of individual castles across the Mushroom Kingdom. Junior began to wonder why his father hadn't noticed by now that this plan never worked. Mario always beat each of them with ease. Repeating the same tired process wasn't changing anything. Junior figured that if anything, it probably made Mario's job easier because he would know what to expect after a while. Junior was only paying partial attention when Bowser finally addressed him. He had a feeling he knew what his position was going to be; piloting his Junior Clown Car, tricked out with weapons and traps, and try to stop Mario before he gets to Bowser. But to Junior's surprise…Bowser had something else in mind.
"Junior, I want you to stay here," said Bowser. Junior's jaw dropped.
"What!? Why?" Junior asked.
"Because I want you to run the castle maintenance," Bowser explained. "Water the piranha plants, polish and reload the Bill Blaster cannons, fill the lava pools, and oil the skewers. Everything has to be in top shape before Mario comes through here." Junior couldn't believe he was being relegated to busywork.
"B-but I always come with you to beat Mario!" Junior argued.
"Not this time you're not," Bowser denied. "I need you here to get this place ready for attack." Junior slammed his tiny hands on the table.
"Why'd you even wake me up this morning if I don't get to come!?" Bowser challenged his son's aggression by placing his own palms to the table as well; creating a much larger tremoring.
"Because you needed to hear your assignment just like everyone else! You would've never thought to do this stuff after waking up on your own if I didn't tell you to!" Kammy and the Koopalings all stood awkwardly together as Bowser and Junior began to argue.
"Why don't you just tell me the real reason…," Junior muttered quietly.
"What?"
"You don't trust me anymore! You don't think I can do anything right!" Junior accused. Bowser paused, then decided that trying to lie was no use.
"Well can you blame me!? After all the stunts you've been pulling lately, how can I trust my lousy son with anything more important!?" Tears formed in the corners of Junior's eyes.
"You never trusted me! You don't even love me! Mom was the only one who ever did!" Junior exclaimed. Without waiting for his father to rebuttal, Junior jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room as quickly as he could. Bowser fell silent. He didn't have any response to that. He looked around at the other inhabitants of the room.
"What're you all standing around for!?" Bowser exclaimed. "You have your orders, so move it!" The Koopalings sporadically sprinted out of the room in terror.
"What about…?" Kammy began.
"Leave him," Bowser finished for her. "He has his assignment. He can pout as long as he wants to as long as he gets the job done before Mario shows up." Bowser coldly strolled out of the room with Kammy following a few feet behind him.
Larry Koopa finished his own preparations, but decided to check up on Junior before leaving. Out of all the Koopalings, he was the closest to Junior thanks to the two of them being relatively closer in age.
"Hey Junior….you okay?" Larry asked as he knocked on the bedroom door. No answer. There wasn't even the sound of Junior crying inside. Larry opened the door to find that there was no one inside. Weird…I thought for sure he'd be here…. Larry thought to himself. He had another idea now of where Junior might be.
Descending a winding staircase, Larry reached the garage deep in the heart of the castle basement. Sure enough, Junior was there. He seemed busy working on his clown car mechanically.
"Whatcha doin' down here, small fry?" Larry called out to him. Startled, Junior bumped his head on the rim of the clown car from inside. He pulled himself out and stared at Larry; nursing his head.
"I could ask you that too," Junior rebutted. "Don't you have a castle to guard?"
"Well, yeah," Larry admitted. "I was just getting ready to leave. But I wanted to see how you were holding up," he explained. Junior immediately turned his back to Larry and resumed whatever he had been previously doing. "That was pretty rough back there. Everything okay?"
"Who cares," Junior denied. "I know he doesn't."
"But don't you care?"
"Tch, no. Why should I?"
"Well, I'd be pretty steamed too if someone called me a lousy son," Larry explained.
"It doesn't matter, cuz he's wrong," Junior argued. "And I'm gonna prove it."
"How?"
"By doing what he can't. I'm gonna beat Mario all on my own. Then Dad'll be sorry he ever doubted me." Larry scratched his head.
"If you wanna get back on King Bowser's good side again, wouldn't it be easier to just do the chores like he asked?" Larry proposed.
"No way!" Junior exclaimed. "Then he'll think that's all I'm good for. No, I have to blow him away somehow. And the upgrade I'm making to my clown car will let me do just that."
"Whatever you say…," Larry replied as he shrugged and turned to walk away. He and Junior might've been friendly with one another, but they weren't blood brothers. It wasn't Larry's job to baby Junior like an overprotective sibling. Truth be told, Larry wasn't confident that Junior's plan was going to work, whatever it was. But if it didn't, well, Larry figured that Junior would just have to figure that out on his own.
About ten minutes after Larry's exit, Junior's modifications to the Junior Clown Car were complete. Now he just needed to put it to the test. Smirking confidently, Junior hopped inside and powered the vehicle on. The garage door leading to the outside world opened at the press of a button, and Junior prepared for take-off. There was just one stop he'd have to make first before he could put his plan into action.