(A/N: This idea hit me a while back, and I knew I was going to have to write it out sooner or later. It's an alternate opening to "Super Mario Odyssey", starring Princess Daisy! Let's get this fic started and see what's gonna happen!)
It was a rather calm morning in the Mushroom Kingdom. The sun had risen, and the birds were just beginning to sing their songs to help wake up the people. On a day that's starting out as nice as this, it seems as though nothing can possibly go wrong...
Apparently, I spoke too soon, because, unfortunately, something did go wrong. A big airship was floating through the Mushroom Kingdom's skies. The worst part was the fact that everyone who saw it knew whose airship it was. It belonged to none other than... BOWSER!
Yup, Bowser, King of the Koopas, was spotted in the Mushroom Kingdom, standing proudly at the airship's bow, but he looked different today. He was rather spiffy-looking, wearing a white tuxedo with a big, purple bow, shoes, and a top hat that matched his fancy attire.
Even his airship has undergone a big change, being colored white and purple (like his suit) and heavily decorated. The airship also appeared to be sporting fifteen propellers instead of five, sails, and a variety of smaller embellishments.
Now you're probably wondering why the Koopa King got himself cleaned up really nice and changed the appearance of his airship. Well, that's simply because he's got marriage on his mind. Yes, you read that right. Bowser is thinking of the 'm' word, and the girl he wants to marry is... you guessed it: Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom. And he was on his way to her castle right now, to claim her as his better half.
This time, Bowser was taking a different route to Princess Peach's Castle, approaching the building from behind. He really wanted to surprise the princess, without her seeing him right away.
"Hmm... is she out here?" Bowser thought as his ship hovered over the familiar castle. He began to carefully look at the castle grounds below, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of the lovely Peach.
There was no sign of Peach in the courtyard, and she wasn't out by the front doors. She wasn't hanging around the pool area, either.
"Where the heck is she?" Bowser thought in annoyance. He wondered if maybe Peach was inside the castle, but he knew that he would never be able to get close enough to the castle windows to have a look without someone seeing him and giving the princess a warning that he was here (while calling Mario at the same time).
But most importantly, Bowser hoped that the princess hadn't left the kingdom, or went out running errands in Grambi-knows-where. If either of those things had happened, then there was absolutely no point in hanging around here. If she was in another kingdom, he could go over there easily (by threatening the Toads to tell him where), but if it was errands, then he was most likely screwed.
There once was a time when Bowser showed up to kidnap Peach, but she wasn't at the castle. She had picked that day to run errands, but it seemed that she was going to be out all day, because after 5 miserably long hours of waiting around for the princess to return to her castle, Bowser got so fed up, he decided it was time to leave the kingdom and try again another day. The best part was the fact Peach had returned later that night, long after his departure.
Suddenly, Bowser looked down at Peach's balcony, and that's where he spotted a flash of yellow. Yellow... that was the color of Peach's beautiful hair! That had to be Peach he was seeing! And what's more, the princess appeared to be intently looking below and ahead. She didn't seem to notice that Bowser was here!
"Perfect! Now to claim my princess, who will soon be my queen!" Bowser chuckled to himself as he removed his top hat, which had boxing gloves come out of it. He then threw the fruity-looking hat like a boomerang, and it made its way down to Peach's balcony.
However, Bowser had failed to take into account that all he was seeing out on that balcony was yellow, rather than yellow and pink. Peach had long blonde hair and wore a pink dress. The figure on the balcony was wearing a yellow dress, and she also had shoulder-length auburn hair. Yup, the girl on the balcony was not Peach, but her tomboyish cousin, Princess Daisy of Sarasaland!
Daisy was in the Mushroom Kingdom to visit with Peach. She had arrived in the kingdom yesterday, and this morning, she was standing out on Peach's balcony, keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of Mario, and if she was lucky, Luigi. Peach would have done it herself, but she was currently inside the castle, taking a hot shower.
"If Mario shows up, I hope Luigi decided to come with him. He'll be so happy and surprised if he sees me here!" Daisy said to herself as she looked to see if the Mario Bros. were coming down the path.
Suddenly, something grabbed the princess around the waist, which really startled her!
"Huh?! What in the-?!" Daisy asked in surprise as she looked at the object that grabbed her, and she wasn't too pleased to see that it appeared to be a boxing glove attached to a mechanical arm. This wouldn't do. It wasn't exactly fair that someone decided to sneak-attack her with something that wouldn't feel pain if she tried to attack it with moves she learned when she was taking self-defense lessons.
Daisy struggled mightily to get free, but she had to stop when the object began to rise, lifting her off of the balcony! Even though the tomboy princess wanted to be free of whatever it was that had her in its clutches, she knew that she might get hurt if she got it to drop her in the wrong place, and she really didn't plan on suffering any injuries!
"Put me down! Let me go!" Daisy yelled, really angry.
But the glove didn't set the princess down until it reached a giant airship. Daisy soon found herself standing on a purple carpet that was spread out on the deck of the airship, and now she could see that the arm the glove was attached to retracted into a top hat, and the hat was caught by... (no surprise)... Bowser, who put it back on his head!
When Daisy saw who was behind her capture, to say she was furious would be an understatement. The anger she felt right then would be enough to make even the worst villain look like a big softie.
"...YOU!" Daisy shouted, enraged at the sight of the Koopa King. She should have known that only he would possess the gall to attempt something so monumentally idiotic!
Bowser had been wearing an enormous cheesy grin on his face when he saw his hat grab the figure on the balcony, and he was still grinning as he looked at his victim. However, it didn't take long for him to realize that the scowling girl standing before him was not Peach, and as the realization sank in, that grin slowly turned into a look of horror!
Bowser then remembered that not only was Peach's hair yellow, that color was also worn by one Princess Daisy, a princess he didn't want to mess with! He learned that because he lacked an eye for details, he ended up grabbing... THE WRONG PRINCESS!
"OH NO! NOT YOU!" Bowser screamed in shock as he looked at Daisy. He could just slap himself for being stupid enough to believe that she was Peach!
"Oh yes! It's me, Bowser! I should've known you were the idiot behind this! Just what did you think you were doing, snatching me up like you did?!" Daisy asked, unrestrained anger clearly written all over her pretty face.
"I... I-I-I wasn't t-trying... to get y-you! Honest! I was... a-after P-Peach!" Bowser began nervously. It was obvious that he was afraid of getting a beating from Daisy, because her beatings were painful! Heck, they made a beating from Mario seem more like a typical beating from the school bully.
"Of course you were going after Peach! Since when are you not planning to kidnap her?! But what, might I ask, were you planning to do with my cousin this time?" Daisy asked. She didn't know what he was planning to do, but she was going to make sure that whatever it was, he was going to pay for it. He was not about to ruin her visit with Peach, that was for sure.
"Oh, well, that's easy! I was planning on marrying Peach and making her my queen!" Bowser said. He wasn't at all shy about his lust for Peach, and he proved it by telling the flower princess about it. Besides, Daisy was a girl, and girls usually like the idea of weddings. He was hoping that perhaps, because of that, she might let him off and ask if she could come to the wedding.
Daisy looked as though Bowser just said he was going to take a bunch of nude photos of Peach and put them up all over the Mushroom Kingdom in an attempt to make Mario believe that she was not the kind of woman he wanted to be with, thus making her his for the kidnapping.
"...What did you just say?" Daisy asked in a dangerously quiet voice, not sure if she had heard the Koopa King correctly. Surely he didn't say what she thought he said...
"You heard me! I'm planning to marry Princess Peach! She's going to be my queen, and then I'll be ruling the Mushroom Kingdom with an iron fist!" Bowser said.
For a moment, there was silence, save for the sound of the airship's propellers. And then...
"Hiiiiiiiii-YAH!"
The next thing Bowser knew, Daisy had kicked him in the gut so hard, he was sent flying towards one of the airship's masts, smashing into it with his spiky shell and breaking it, causing the ship to slightly lose some elevation.
"Ugh..." Bowser groaned as he landed on his stomach, not prepared for what had happened. He knew Daisy was a tough girl and not afraid to show it, but he hadn't expected her to do that to him.
"Are you out of your freaking mind?! What makes you think Peach is actually going to say yes to the idea of marrying a monster like you?! She'd much rather die alone than agree to be the wife of someone she absolutely hates!" Daisy shouted as she approached Bowser.
"Peach knows she wants me as her husband... and a king for her subjects... She just hasn't figured it out yet... She's going to thank me for doing this..." Bowser mumbled, clearly in pain.
"Wow, you really are delusional! But I think we knew that a long time ago, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Daisy said as she socked the Koopa King right in the eye, blackening it.
"OW! Cut that out!" Bowser said, putting his hands over his hurt eye.
Unseen by Bowser and Daisy, a small, female ghost that resembled a bridal tiara flew out of the pocket of Bowser's wedding pants, feeling frightened and surprised, for the monster who had the gall to kidnap her earlier on was now under attack.
The ghost hadn't expected this sort of thing to happen, but she knew now that she had to find safety, or end up getting killed while the monster was being beaten. But even if the monster wasn't under attack, she still wanted to get away from him. She didn't want to spend another minute in his grasp.
She looked around nervously, trying to find a safe place where she could hide and not be spotted by the monster in case he realized that she had gone missing. Then she spotted a castle below the ship, and on that castle was a balcony. The creature quickly flew down to the balcony and managed to hide behind a potted plant by the French doors that led inside the castle.
"I should be okay here..." the ghost thought to herself, feeling nervous. She didn't really know if the person fighting the monster was a good person, or worse than him, but she sure hoped it was the former.
"You give up, Bowser, or are you thirsty for more?" Daisy asked Bowser, her voice daring him to just try and continue moving forward with this sick plan of his.
Bowser knew that he was taking a long chance since he was dealing with Daisy and not Peach, because, unlike Peach, Daisy was no sweet little innocent. However, he promised himself that he wasn't going to let Peach go without a fight. And Daisy didn't seem to realize that.
"You... you think I'm just... gonna give up and... and go home... after a... a cheap shot... like the one you gave me?!" Bowser asked, struggling to his feet.
"Oh, so that's what you think that kick in the stomach was? A cheap shot?" Daisy asked, venom in her voice, which actually frightened Bowser.
"Y-yeah..." Bowser said, trying hard to hide his nervousness but failing miserably.
"Okay, then! If that move was just a cheap shot, then what do you plan to call this?!" said Daisy as she grabbed Bowser by the tail and pulled hard, causing him to fall again.
"Whoa!" Bowser yelled as he fell down.
Then Daisy did something Mario never did before. Gripping his tail as tightly as she could, she lifted him up and started slamming him on the deck, multiple times. This also caused his wedding hat to fall off his head and roll to one end of the deck.
(A/N: What Daisy's doing is a little nod to what Luigi would eventually learn to do to ghosts after acquiring the Poltergust G-00 in "Luigi's Mansion 3", which was released two years after "Super Mario Odyssey".)
"OW! OW! OW! STOP DOING THIS!" Bowser yelled, in pain.
Daisy stopped, but she didn't let go of his tail as she said, "On one condition."
Bowser hated when people fed him that sentence, but he asked, "What is it?"
"Leave the Mushroom Kingdom, and Peach, alone. And while you're at it, do us all a favor and get the sick idea of marrying my cousin out of your stupid head! We all know that it's never going to happen because you and her aren't meant to be, and you should just learn to accept it." Daisy replied.
Bowser knew he was going to hate Daisy's answer before he heard it, but he decided not to heed it. Instead, he decided to let her know how much he didn't appreciate it.
"No way! I came to the Mushroom Kingdom to claim my better half, and everybody knows that it's Peach! Now that you know it, I'm not planning on leaving this castle without her, and I refuse to let you, or anyone else, stop me from getting my princess so I can marry her and live happily ever after!" Bowser said.
"I can see your mind is made up. But unfortunately for you, so is mine." Daisy replied, letting go of Bowser's tail.
"Ha ha! You let go of me like a dumb dope! Now I can go down there and get Peach! She's as good as mine, and you'll never see her again, because my first proclamation as king will be to banish you and the Stupid Mario Bros. from the Mushroom Kingdom FOREVER!" Bowser yelled, ready to jump down to Peach's balcony, get in the castle, and claim the princess as his own.
Despite being below the ship, the ghost heard all that and looked up in horror at the airship. If that monster came down here, he would probably see her, and after the wedding, he would kill her for even thinking of trying to escape from his grasp. She shook with terror and braced herself as she waited for him to come down to the balcony.
"Oh, I beg to differ!" Daisy said, and with that last word no more than spoken, Daisy began to beat up the Koopa King, and she was using moves that she learned from watching "Power Rangers" shows, which she got interested in while she was learning self-defense.
Bowser was clearly no match for Daisy, because Mario never used moves like the ones she had learned. So he was not at all prepared for the beating Daisy was giving him this time around. He was learning that he really should have just given up and left the Mushroom Kingdom while he still had the chance.
About 5 minutes later, Bowser was lying unconscious on the deck of his airship, bruised and beaten, his wedding attire completely ruined. No way could he get married like this!
"Hmm..." Daisy said, checking Bowser to make sure that he still had a pulse. He did.
"Okay, so I didn't kill him. Good enough." Daisy thought, although she wasn't entirely sure if this was a good or bad thing, because if Bowser wasn't dead, he'd be able to go after Peach again when he recovered. But after the beating he just got, perhaps he might think of avoiding the Mushroom Kingdom for a very long time.
"Now to get rid of you." Daisy muttered to Bowser's unconscious form as she set the airship's course for Bowser's own kingdom, which is where he belonged. As the airship turned around and began to fly east, back to Bowser's Kingdom, Daisy leaped off of the ship, landing safely on the roof of Peach's Castle.
"Bon voyage, you imbecile!" Daisy cheerfully called after the airship as it left with the unconscious Koopa King lying on its deck.
Then Daisy jumped down from the roof, landing neatly on Peach's balcony. She couldn't wait to tell Peach what just happened. She was ready to open the French doors to get back into her cousin's room.
"Huh, boy. If Peach knew what Bowser was planning to do with her this time around, she would have had a..." Daisy suddenly trailed off as she spotted what looked like one of the potted plants shaking. That wasn't a normal thing.
And this is where Chapter 1 ends. This story's going to need another chapter, so stay tuned!