A/N: Well, I can't believe it. I've almost caught up with myself! I have three more chapters in reserve before I'm fully caught up! The good news is that there will be no lost data due to hard drive failure, the bad news is that with the advent of school starting and lack of reserve chapters, updates will be a little slower than what you all have been used to seeing. Thanks so much for all the reviews, they're super encouraging and often are rich with great ideas. I hope you all continue to enjoy the story!

The citizens of the Darklands slowly crept out of their tents to wash up and eat breakfast as the sun rose the next morning. Bowser hardly spoke or gave a glance to anyone as the competitors ambled their way back to the coliseum's arena for the second day of action.

Bowser let a low growl rumble in his throat as he caught sight of the offending Magikoopa, pacing about in his usual nervous agitation. He would give that creep plenty of reasons to be nervous.

All the competitors exited their dugout as Raphael announced the first competition of the day: a beauty contest. Lawrence smiled shyly at Ludwig above him, while avoiding eye contact with the royal sister. However, Ludwig would not look at Lawrence; instead, he stared straight ahead into the distance, a stony expression covering his features. The cold reception confused Lawrence and shook his fragile courage. Then, for the first time, he felt the Koopa King eyeing him as if he were a particularly nasty roach that the king would very much like to squish.

Did he change his mind about me? The four remaining competitors took their poses as the judges began evaluations.

Meanwhile, Peach was wondering how she might objectively appraise a Koopa's attractiveness. The only Koopa with which she had spent any volume of time was Bowser, and thus he was the only model she had by which to judge reptilian standards of beauty. After a good fifteen minutes of various poses and procedures, the judges began to vote.

Kamek felt a bit odd voting on the physical attractiveness of a group of primarily male Koopas, but vowed to do his best to be fair. He looked over Konas; Kamek figured he was supposed to be conventionally attractive, but his airs and his smirks were off-putting and irritating, to say the least. Bowser, his own charge that he had raised over the years had grown into a handsome, strong Koopa. However, he could see the infatuating timidity and youthful charm of Lawrence, who reminded him very much of himself in his youth. Poor Ms. Kai; she was a mighty warrior Koopa, with the unfortunate side effects of battle scars and rippling muscles making her quite a frightening sight.

Kammy also quickly dismissed Kai, her putrid pink shell and thick, brawny neck just did not hold any appeal for the aged Magikoopa. To her, all others paled in comparison to the illustrious Konas. She hated his banal, mentally tedious movies, but as far as raw attractiveness was concerned, she would not mind if she were trapped on a deserted island with him.

Peach had mixed feelings. Toadsworth had always told her that if she did not have anything nice to say, she ought to say nothing at all. How could she, in good conscious, vote in a contest where the most unattractive party would be asked to leave? I suppose I have no choice. She reluctantly submitted her paper with her votes on it. She briefly glanced at Bowser. And he had better not ask who I voted for.

Toadsworth talked and hummed happily to himself as he thumbed though the directory of the Silver Club, feather plume pen in hand. "Mmm, yes, the Puni elder, we must invite her. Puncilla? Is that the old girl's name? I must confess, I never knew!"

He proceeded to address envelopes to Koopa Koot, Mayor Dour, the Mayor of Shiver City, and many others until he stopped abruptly. "Why, that must be Mario's dear mother! I had no idea she was a member of the Silver Club; we very well must have her at the castle!"

Noticing he was feeling peckish, he picked up a small brown telephone on his desk and connected to the kitchen. "Ahem, yes, hello. This is Toadsworth, yes, I am in my office and require a bit of sustenance, eh? Yes yes, whatever you've got leftover from today's lunch will be just fine. Ten minutes? Delightful! Oh and do bring up some of those little watermelon candies, I'm afraid I've grown quite fond of them."

Koolani walked away, not saddened in any way by her loss in the beauty contest. Her job was to be strong; some other Koopas could spend their time worrying about what they looked like. In her estimation, the games had been a complete success. She had made it to the final four, and had gotten to meet her biological son, who was currently pouting and shouting at nobody in particular. "'Ey, that's my mom! She's a beautiful lady!"

For the next event, Raphael passed Peach and the other judges small slips of paper and asked them to each give one example of an unusual building material. The oversized raven then announced the start of the penultimate contest, a contest of engineering genius. Bowser smirked as he received his slip of paper from the raven. He had built so many castles over the years; he could practically build one in his sleep. A few committed troops rushed to his side to be his dedicated labor force for the hour he had in which to start and complete his construction.

Lawrence felt reassured, finally something he was comfortable with and reasonably good at doing. He would not even have to build the structure with his own hands; just lead a troop to carry out some of his architectural designs. He gingerly unfolded his small slip of white paper on which Kamek had written the word "paper" in tidy blue ink. Suddenly, an immeasurable mountain of paper appeared next to the group of Koopas. Similarly, a stack of chocolate blocks appeared next to Bowser while an enormous heap of dung appeared next to Konas. The actor scoffed in incredulous disbelief. Nothing was worth this indignity! When the competition began, he immediately ordered his laborers to roll themselves in the filthy excrement of unknown origin before he fixed the entire audience with a murderous glare, threw up a lewd hand gesture, and marched out of the arena.

"We have a forfeit!" Raphael cawed, feeling nothing but the utmost sympathy for Konas' laborers, who were now helping each other out of the sticky sludge and cleaning themselves off.

Wendy stomped her feet and screamed in frustration. "That good for nothing jerk! This has been, like, the worst twenty-four hours of my life!" she whined, stomping off to console herself with sugary refreshments.

Bowser smiled maliciously as cleaning crews moved to clear the piles from the arena; now it was only the Magikoopa and him in the final event. Every year, the final event was always the same, now was his time for revenge.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please prepare yourselves for the final event between His Majesty King Bowser Koopa and Lawrence Koopin! The final two competitors shall engage in the most ancient of Darklandian contests: an all-out hand-to-hand combat brawl!"

Lawrence's eyes widened; he was going to have to fight the King? He glanced over at Ludwig, whose face remained stony, his eyes closed, and his heart broken.

"Don't even think about giving up," Bowser growled menacingly. Peach covered her mouth with both hands. Bowser was so much bigger than Lawrence was; the Magikoopa was barely older than a child, and Bowser had already assumed a brutal air about him. She was not so sure she wanted to see this.

At last, an ancient gong announced the start of the fight and Bowser quickly advanced on Lawrence. "I'm going to enjoy this, you little rat." Lawrence took several steps backwards; he had no idea why the king was acting so hateful towards him.

"Don't act so confused!" he bellowed, aiming a deadly claw swipe at the boy's underbelly. Lawrence tried to produce a magic barrier to protect himself, but between the stressful situation and Bowser's relative strength, the barrier was easily shattered. The smell of blood awakened a primal rage in Bowser's heart. "Did you think I wouldn't find out about last night?"

Lawrence gasped in realization; someone must have seen him and Ludwig and reported! Bowser continued his advance, kicking and swiping with every strained sentence. "Trying to put your filthy claws on my kid?"

"I-I'm sorry…" he choked.

"You after a throne? After my crown? What were you thinking, you disgusting little worm?"

"No…please, I don't know, sir…" Lawrence cried weakly. The sight and smell of his own blood was making him squeamish and he could no longer manage to get off the dirty arena floor.

The blood was pounding in Bowser's ears, he did not hear Raphael announce him the winner, nor would he have cared if he had. This was much more personal. He continued his vicious attack as Lawrence coughed and groveled on the ground. "Well, I know what I think," he sneered, "I think you're a disgusting pervert and I think it's time for you to say goodnight."

Peach peeked out from behind her hands. She had not seen this side of Bowser before, and she hated it. Even Junior looked worried and frightened. Determined to do something, Princess Peach flew down the stairs of her balcony, into the arena towards Bowser and his victim. She arrived by their sides just as Bowser was about deliver a fiery doom with his molten breath. Fortified by Peach's inner magic and sheer emotional power, Lawrence's wand responded to the presence by creating a barrier powerful enough to knock Bowser back onto his tail.

"What is wrong with you?" she screeched at the stunned Koopa King. "The contest is over, you've won, why do you continue to harm him? Stop it!"

"Peach, this low filth tried to get his claws on Wendy last night! You want me to just let him get away with that?"

Wendy!? Lawrence gasped. Oh no, Princess Wendy, the girl, the sister. Everything made sense to him now; that is, he had as much clarity as could be expected from a young Magikoopa with near fatal wounds. He knew he had to exonerate himself somehow. The sorceress…in pink. I must…she is my last… Drifting in and out of consciousness, he raised his head and croaked "I-I n-n-never…"

By this time, Kamek and Kammy had already entered the arena to inspect the situation, while Peach had cried for the medical assistance of Kitty and Kamea. Kamek, upon hearing the story, looked sadly upon the unconscious boy and took Bowser aside to tell him of his mistake. Kamek carefully explained the emotional connection he felt when he was evaluating the competitors. The crowd was in an uproar as the Koopalings stepped into the arena to be closer to the action.

"Wait, if it wasn't Wendy—what are you saying Kamek?"

Ludwig had heard all he needed to hear; he rushed to Lawrence's side and cradled his head in his lap. Lawrence, who was now conscious due to the efforts of Kitty and Kamea, looked earnestly into Ludwig's eyes. "I would never betray…"

Ludwig looked down, slightly ashamed, "I…am aware."

Bowser looked over at his eldest son and the Magikoopa with a strange expression on his face. Peach placed her hand on his arm as both a supportive and restraining gesture. "Ugh, why? Does this mean that my kingdom is gonna have two kings or something?" he growled, ashamed of his overreaction.

Peach looked at Bowser with gentle eyes. "No Bowser, your kingdom will have only one king: your son. He'll be happy with whoever he chooses to love." Bowser huffed and Peach continued, "I hope you'll give them your support and blessing; I think after this trial by fire, they've earned it."

Bowser grumbled; kings did not apologize. Still, he thought about how much he loved Peach and how his love might be considered non-traditional, Peach being a human and all. Eventually in a magnanimous gesture, he granted a full acquittal to the Magikoopa and during the awards ceremony, declared the contest a tie. "Because," he added enigmatically, "it turns out we were both fighting for the same thing."

On the podium, Raphael handed Junior the microphone first, it was time for him to make his wish. He really wanted to wish for Mama Peach to come live with him, but since Kammy had told him that was against the rules, he stated in a loud, clear voice, "I wish for a day off school so I can have a big picnic tea-party with Mama Peach! There has to be all of my favorite foods and nobody else is invited!"

He handed the microphone to his father, who thought for a moment. "Well, I want to be invited! That's my wish!"

Junior smiled, "Okay King Dad, nobody else though, especially not Morton or Larry!" The two siblings in question glared at their gloating little brother. Peach smiled and flushed; she was surprised that the two Koopas would give away their wish on something as trivial as a picnic with her. Moreover, she wondered how she might once again excuse herself from her royal duties to spend time with the Darklandian Royal Family.

Raphael then handed the microphone to Ludwig and Lawrence. The latter was looking much better now that he was cleaned up and on the road to recovery. It was clear from the mirthful glances they threw at one another that their wishes had already been fulfilled beyond their wildest expectations. However, Lawrence spoke into the microphone, "This is a great honor. I would like an edifice to be constructed in veneration of High-Priestess Peach." Ignoring Lawrence's mistaken address, the crowd went wild as the royals exited the arena and prepared to journey back to the castle.

Ludwig shook his head. "Princess Peach," he corrected as he walked arm in arm with his love.

"A princess? Truly? I cannot believe it," Lawrence shrugged his shoulders. "A pity, what a waste of talent."

Catching sight of his father chatting happily with Peach, Ludwig deftly sidled up to his side. He whispered in his father's ear the wish that he would not announce to the public at large. Bowser smirked a little. Ludwig was still a chip off the old block. He fixed his eyes on Wendy, who had been hiding away to escape blame. Thanks to her brother, that girl was going to be in for a very difficult week of punishment.

Peach clasped her hands together in delight as fireworks burst all around her. The view of her send-off ceremony from the Clown Car was breathtaking. Peach had decided that the pink and champagne colored fireworks were her favorites, and 'ooh'ed appropriately when three lit up the sky around her, crackling with metallic sparkles. As a nation of fire-breathers and magicians, the Darklandians had always taken pride in their advanced pyrotechnics, and this year Bowser had demanded the technicians spare no expense and make every effort to impress the princess.

The fireworks became increasingly distant as the Clown Car moved steadily away from the Darklands, toward the Mushroom Kingdom. The booming explosions absent, the duo traveled in relative silence until Peach looked down at her hands clasped in her lap and sighed.

"You alright?"

"Yes…I'm fine. It's just been a very busy weekend; it's a lot to process."

Bowser shifted in his seat, "You didn't have fun?"

Peach looked up, "No, no, of course I did. It's just so surreal to be going back to real life after having such an exciting and fun weekend. It already feels so far away, like a dream."

"Nobody's making you go back, you know. Just say the word and I could turn this baby around and you could stay at my castle for as long as you wanted!" Peach looked at him with a headshake and a playfully annoyed smile. "Sheesh, can't blame a guy for trying."

The continued to travel though silence until Peach, uncomfortable, finally spoke up, "You know, that was quite frightening back there…"

"The fireworks?"

"No…the arena, with you and that poor boy. It was like, you were so vicious, so unrelenting. It wasn't like you. It was really uncomfortable to see."

Bowser growled, "What do you mean it's not like me? I've always been vicious and unrelenting!" Peach gave him a beseeching stare and he sighed. She knew that he knew what she meant. "Look, I love my kids, hear me? I love 'em! When I thought that guy was trying to hurt my family, I just lost it. Nobody in the whole world will ever get away with that, and I would gladly crush anyone stupid enough to try, without apology. I've got a lot on my plate; I don't need any loser running around trying to make things difficult for me. Wendy's my only little girl; she's tough as nails, but she still needs protection. I guess I'm sorry you had to see me get like that, but, the way I see it, there's no permanent damage done, and anyone who was thinking about getting their claws on my kids can see what they're up against. I'd risk my life a million times over for the little brats; they're the best things I've got in this world."

The Clown Car was drawing nearer to the Mushroom Castle. "I see," Peach said quietly, touched by Bowser's devotion to his children. "I guess I can understand why you reacted the way you did. Who knows, I might have done the same thing."

At least, the Clown Car pulled up to Peach's sweeping balcony, and the princess thanked the Koopa King for his hospitality and jumped onto her balcony. Bowser was stricken by the now familiar urge to say or do one last romantic gesture. "Peach," he called after her. "I'd definitely do the same for you."

Peach spun around. "Do what?" she called back.

"If anyone ever hurt you or made you sad, I'd totally kick their ass without a second thought."

Peach smiled awkwardly. "That's…that's nice. Thank you." What am I supposed to say to that? Recovering slightly as he piloted away, she called to him one last time, "Bowser!"

"What's up?"

"I just remembered; there's this guy who comes around every once in a while. He's pretty tall, he drives a floating copter thing, and he's got big horns and a spiky shell. He laughs like 'bwa ha ha ha' and sometimes he tries to take me away from my castle!"

Bowser's face fell at Peach's rendition of his laughter. He did not sound anything remotely like that! Is that really what she thought he sounded like?

"Anyhow, if you run into that guy, could you give him a stern talk? I think-- I think he's a nice guy and would listen to someone like you."

Bowser smiled, "I'll keep my eye out for that jerk, and when I see him, I'll beat him up for not coming around often enough. Sweet dreams, Princess."

Peach rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Goodnight…Bowser."