Bowsette: A New Life

Chapter 30
Plumbing

"The Toad Town sewers?" Bowsette said incredulously as the two made their way back through the Toad Town gates. "That's probably a sewer I'll grant you that, but why that one?" Bowsette asked. "I go-a down there all the time. I know it as well as I know-a my own mustache." Bowsette snickered. "You sure trim it obsessively enough. I swear if a single hair on that brush is too long you have to stop and cut it." Bowsette snarked.

Mario ignored her teasing as they soon reached the entrance to the sewers. Mario hopped up and helped Bowsette up. He couldn't tell if she was scowling or smiling at the gesture that had started to become automatic. Bowsette, for her part, was starting to get used to it and didn't get so flustered. The two entered the pipe and were whisked away to the dark depths.

As they exited the pipe, Mario took a quick look around the area. "No sign of-a anything, but I know she's down here somewhere." Mario noted. "And just how are we going to find her Plumber? Who knows how big these sewers are! And… ugh… it smells horrible here. I'm going to need another new dress after this. This one is going to go in the garbage." She grumbled. "There's a reason I-a always wear these overalls. They're durable and cheap to-a replace." Mario noted.

"The sewers down-a here are huge." Mario said. "I didn't recognize the-a exact spot or see a number anywhere." Mario admitted. "We could be looking for days." Mario scratched his head. "Well then! The answer is simple." Bowsette grunted. "You go one way and I go another way." Bowsette said. "No Bowsette! You could get…" He turned to find the Koopa Queen already gone. "…hopelessly lost."

***

"Yep. It's official. I'm completely fucking lost." Bowsette grumbled. She had only left the plumber 5 minutes ago and she had taken so many turns Bowsette didn't even have a clue even what side of town she was on. "That'll teach me." Bowsette sighed idly kicking a bit of concrete. "Pasta Freak! Peach!" Bowsette yelled out. "Anybody?" Bowsette wasn't too worried at the moment, she could blast her way through one of the steel grates to get back to the surface if she really had to.

'If that Pasta Freak got himself hurt I'll wring his...' Bowsette shook her head to banish the thought before it finished. "Ugh, if that Italian Fatso gets eaten by a blooper or something it's not my concern." Bowsette said half heartedly to herself. Bowsette continued wandering the sewers looking for any sign of Peach or at least another way to the surface. She wasn't going to go into any pipes while she could avoid it. She was already having enough trouble on the first level thank you very much.

As Bowsette turned yet another random corner, she suddenly felt pain as something landed directly on her head and forcing her to the ground. She managed to look up and spot a familiar figure landing aways in front of her and facing away from her. 'That Pasta Freak jumped on my head…!' The thought was interrupted as it turned and she got a better look in the dim light. The purple overalls, the angry pink eyes…

"It's YOU." Bowsette spat and got to her feet as the figure turned. "So you decided to attack rather than run away this time huh? Maybe you do have some guts after all." The figure didn't answer, only entered an all too familiar battle stance. "Look buddy, I don't know who or what you are, but I've fought the real Mario and he's not even in my league. What chance do you have?" Bowsette boasted. Not that her pride would ever let her admit it, but if this thing was as good as the real Mario like Green Stache said it was she could be in trouble.

***

Mario gave up looking for Bowsette before long, he'd find her eventually. Grabbing out a map he usually kept on his person for his plumbing jobs he got back to the entrance and started a systematic search. He hoped Bowsette wasn't foolish enough to leave this level, if she strayed downward there's no telling where she could end up.

Shaking his head, Mario decided that he'd focus on finding Peach first and worry about finding Bowsette later. The Koopa Queen could take care of herself anyway. Mario thought back to the vision in the crystal ball, the area around the cell looked old and rusty. He chose to cross off any of the recently built or well maintained areas, they probably weren't the ones in the vision and besides, some workers would have found Peach already and reported it if she was there.

Turning down a tunnel, the filthy water rushing by made it difficult to hear much of anything else. Mario found a few Dark Goombas and Dark Koopa Troopas down here, but they weren't one of those things, just the standard variety. They were territorial but didn't work for Koopa Kingdom or anyone else so they probably didn't care about Bowsette being Queen and would just attack on sight. Chuckling, Mario pitied these creatures if they ran across Bowsette, she'd probably rip them apart. As for Mario they were tougher than the normal Goombas and Koopa Troopas but Mario had fought them before and so didn't have much trouble taking care of them.

It was a couple hours of searching before Mario heard a familiar scream from far off. "Mario! Someone! Anyone! Help me!" Mario would recognize the voice anywhere, it was definitely Peach! Mario put away the map and rushed off towards the voice. Maybe if he was lucky Bowsette wasn't far away and heard it too. Mario navigated expertly through tunnels and leapt across the occasional platform, why those were down in the sewers he had no idea but for some reason there were random platforms in a lot of places that seemed to serve no purpose.

Finally, in a filthy old tunnel that probably had been shut down years ago Mario found the Princess. She sounded hoarse, probably from screaming for help for hours. Rarely had Mario seen Peach in such a state, her clothes ragged and filthy, her hair a complete mess sticking out in all directions. She was clutching the bars, shaking them as hard as she could, and looked completely exhausted.

"Mario!" Finally, she noticed the plumber approaching. "I knew you'd come!" Those words didn't thrill him like they used to. "Of course. I'll always-a help a…" A what? "an innocent." Mario decided to conclude. Mario turned his thoughts towards Peach's predicament and thought about how to get her out of there. She was in a small drainage room and the bars could be raised for maintenance, it was just a question of finding the lever or switch that would do it, which should be nearby.

It wasn't long before he found it right to the left of the door on the ceiling. Few people could jump high enough to reach it, but Mario managed effortlessly. As the bars dropped Peach wobbled out unsteady on her feet. "Come on, follow me. Let's-a get outta here." He spoke reassuringly to her as best as he could manage.

Mario turned to head back, and it was only a lifetime of combat experience that helped him as Peach struck him with her fist from behind, harder than he would've guessed. Mario rolled and flipped around to face whatever had hit him, then stood in shock. Peach had changed, her dress was a dark purple and her glowing pink eyes looked at Mario with a fury that made Bowsette's worst looks of rage look like the hissy fits of a child. "Peach…?"

"You won't…" Peach didn't even sound like herself anymore, her voice was distorted and deranged. "You won't cause the truth to fade! We won't let you!" Peach screamed at the plumber. "This is our world Mario! OUR WORLD!" Peach suddenly launched a stream of magic blasts at the Italian hero. Mario of course easily avoided each one, Peach wasn't much of a fighter.

"Your world? What do-a you mean?" Mario asked. "You all tried to forget us. Forget the truth." Peach said quietly and rushed up to him. "We'll kill you all." Peach managed to grab Mario by the arm and threw him across the room. Apparently whatever had been done to her made her stronger somehow. Mario flipped and landed on his feet. "We'll kill you all and take back our world! Then everything can go back to how it's SUPPOSED TO BE!" The thing that had been Peach yelled before charging at Mario once more.

***

The Mario look-alike simply charged forward at Bowsette without a sound. Bowsette answered with a fireball the thing jumped over. It was so familiar… it either jumped over or batted away Bowsette's stream of fireballs with it's hammer. Familiar or not however, Bowsette didn't feel the kind of excitement she usually felt when Mario would fight her, not even a hint of arousal either. She simply felt irritated that this… thing would try to copy her rival.

After a moment it closed the distance, blocked a swipe of her claw with it's hammer, then struck Bowsette across the face. "RAAGH!" On instinct Bowsette slashed out with blindly her other arm and struck it, slicing it across the chest. The fake leaped back clutching it's chest, then pulled out a Mushroom from it's pockets. It's wounds were healed instantly upon consuming it and it continued the attack.

Bowsette managed to hit it with a punch and knock it back, which the shadow responded with it's own stream of fireballs. However, Bowsette was already hurt a bit from being jumped on plus the other wounds and was starting to slow down. Even as she tried to avoid or knock the fireballs a few got past and struck Bowsette in the stomach dead on. The fireballs wouldn't do much on their own, but the thing takes the opportunity to hit Bowsette in the stomach and then the head with it's hammer, once again knocking her to the ground.

"You… I'll get…" Bowsette's vision was swimming as she struggled to stay conscious. The Mario facsimile stood there arrogantly as Bowsette struggled to get up. It's hand slowly rose, pointing out a finger which started to spark with a pink lightning. "Not… gonna happen!" Bowsette managed to say as she finally got to her feet. Bowsette tried to avoid the pink lightning as it shot out, but she could barely even stand. "AAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Bowsette screamed as the bolt struck.

A bright pink light surrounded the Koopa Queen. The scream of pain continued… and grew deeper and deeper, less and less feminine. Finally, an explosion rocked the area and dust obscured the place. As it cleared, a large spiked shell appeared, a short orange mane, large horns, clawed hands… Bowser let out a massive roar that shook the sewers like a brief earthquake.

Bowser took a moment to look down at himself. 'I'm me again? How?' Bowsette had never expected nor really cared to become Bowser again. The fake Mario might have shown confusion, surprise, or even fear on it's face if it was capable of any other expression except pure unadulterated rage, but still it stepped back for a moment at the sight. "Humph!" Bowser quickly got over his surprise, set his own hate filled pupils onto the figure, and growled. "Pal, you just made a BIG mistake!" Bowser smirked. "IT'S SHOWTIME!" Bowser roared and rushed forward at his enemy.