Bowsette: A New Life
Chapter 31
Adjustment
Peach's calm delicate sensibilities were all gone now. "RRAGH!" She screamed and rushed at Mario blindly. Mario avoided her magic blasts without trouble as she closed in. She tried to strike him, but Mario was a seasoned warrior and Peach had never fought in hand to hand combat in her life and just threw uncoordinated punches in his direction. Despite their falling out though, Mario couldn't bring himself to hit back and simply leaped away, trying to think of something.
Sparks of pink lightning shot across Peach's body and she screamed. 'Kill him.' Something that sounded like her own thoughts said in her head. 'Kill them all. Destroy this fraud of a world! Make them see the truth!' Peach clutched her head. "No, I don't… I don't want to…" Mario watched as Peach started to spasm and talk to herself. "You must die… no no no I don't want…" Her eyes grew pink and filled with tears. "Mario… please see the truth… no no… that's not what I wanted to say." Peach tried to focus. "Mario! Please! Please stop me!" She managed to get out.
As her resistance faded the expression of Peach's face turned back to unbridled rage. She rushed forward to attack again, unable to stop herself any longer. That's when Mario heard Bowsette scream from far off… soon followed by the roar of some sort of monster that shook the sewers. Mario turned towards the sound, the distraction proved costly though, as Peach took advantage to strike Mario right in the chest hard enough to send him flying. The plumber had had worse however and quickly flipped and landed on his feet again.
Mario looked at the thing Peach had become and sighed. "I'll always save-a you Peach." That's when Mario made a decision and clutched his hands into fists. Peach was already on her way to follow up on her attack. "No matter what it-a takes!" Mario found his resolve and avoided the clumsy attacks of the Princess, easily found an opening, and struck Peach right in the stomach. The Princess clutched her stomach in pain and fell to the ground, only to soon stand up and strike out at Mario again savagely and mindlessly. Mario leaped into the air to avoid her strikes and came down right on Peach's head.
Hopping off and landing, Mario turned around and saw Peach's form lying on the ground. He approached cautiously and tapped her with a foot. "I guess she really is-a out cold." Mario noted. "Sorry Peach." As much as the two had their difficulties lately Mario never wanted to see Peach hurt. 'She's not going to-a be out for long.' Mario realized and looked around. "There should-a be an emergency supply locker for the-a workers around here somewhere…"
It didn't take long for Mario to find one, old and decrepit as it might be. He opened it and took out a length of rope, partially rotted but serviceable. The flares and flashlight would probably be useless by now Mario had his own flashlight on hand anyway. He returned to the unconscious Princess and tied her up as best he could. Remembering what Luigi said about his other self's electricity attack, Mario paid special attention at wrapping and covering up her hands.
***
Bowser rushed forward and tried to strike the Mario fake with a downward punch, but it jumped out of the way causing him to strike the floor and shatter a few bricks. Firing off a few fireballs at the figure, Bowser kept up his relentless attack. Bowser felt great, whatever had caused his change had healed his wounds and filled him up with energy. Mario's shadow tried to strike at Bowser with his fists but he barely felt it. Bowsette wasn't any less strong or resilient, but Bowser was far heavier and could add much more weight to his blows and keep himself in place when struck. What really made the difference though, was that Bowser was far more used to fighting in this form.
Bowser struck out with a punch which the imposter plumber managed to dodge, right into his incoming other fist. The thing was thrown against the wall so hard it cracked and fell to it's knees upon landing on the floor. "Humph, you might be just as strong, just as quick, and just as skilled as him, but NOBODY is better than the King of Koopas!" Bowser boasted. Of course, he knew that the real Mario could actually beat him, but his pride wouldn't let him admit anything less.
The thing was already winded from the earlier fight with Bowser's alter ego and struggled to get to it's feet. That same rage filled glare didn't change one bit, but it backed away. "Oh no, I'm taking you out right here and now!" Bowser declared and stomped after the creature. Looking around, the Mario fake did what Mario would rarely ever do, and never when it mattered. It ran away down a passageway and took a turn.
"Coward! Get back here!" Bowser yelled and started to go after it, but he suddenly felt pain shoot through his entire body. "N… no… ARGHHH!" Bowser suddenly spasmed and something jolted through his body… and it began to change. Bowser fell to his hands and knees as the immense pain got worse and worse. He couldn't help but scream as loud as he could, and his voice got higher and higher pitched. His hair grew longer, a dress appeared covering his modesty and shrank along with his body.
After a moment Bowser looked down as the pain stopped. His hands were humanlike again, his… her bust was back, her scales much like human skin… "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!..." The pain came back and made Bowsette scream to the heavens. Her body swelled, her hair grew shorter, her scales grew larger and rougher… "ARRGH! GOD OF KOOPAS MAKE IT STOP!" Bowsette yelled. Whoever was up there clearly wasn't listening as the Koopa kept shifting.
***
Hoisting the woman onto his shoulder, Mario worked on heading back to the entrance. 'I'll go-a back up, drop Peach off with the Toad guards, and come back to find Bowsette.' Mario decided. He wasn't too far from reaching the entrance to the sewers however, when he heard the monster roaring again. It sounded odd even for a monster, distorted somehow… and then he heard Bowsette screaming in agony. The sound brought Mario to a halt, she sounded like she was a ways away from the entrance.
Mario considered for a moment, and then heard Bowsette's scream, also sounding distorted, getting deeper somehow… and then the monster roared again, the sound getting higher pitched. Deep down Mario knew his decision was made for him the moment he had heard someone scream in pain, but he felt a slight tug on the inside. Putting Peach down, Mario took part of the rope he tied Peach up with to tie her to a large sturdy pipe nearby. Mario was strong and had endurance rivaled by few, but carrying a full grown woman around was still taxing and slowed him down. "Please don't go-a anywhere."
***
Mario followed Bowsette's screams of anguish down one turn after the next. Mario still could remember where he was, more or less, and worse came to worse he still had his map. Mario didn't know what was worse, when the screaming of Bowsette began, the unknown monster to follow, or the brief times it seemed to stop and everything was silent for a few minutes, all drove Mario onward with a feeling of worry that surprised him. Running as fast as he could Mario turned a corner and found an creature that he had never seen before, some sort of dragon turtle thing. It kind of reminded him of Bowser Jr. actually, now that he thought about it.
It looked up at Mario and saw him. "M…Mar…" It tried to speak. The creature was sweating buckets and looked like it had just gone 20 rounds with Bowsette. It could barely lift it's head to look at Mario. "You. Where's Bowsette? What did you-a do to her?" Mario said, more sharply than he probably would toward some lifeform he hadn't met before, but he was too concerned for niceties. "HACK!" It coughed hard. "HACK HACK HACK!" It was spitting up blood onto the floor.
"Are you alright?" Mario remembered Bowsette's screams and his concern drove him. "Listen, whatever you are, I'll be right back. I've gotta find-a her and fast." Mario turned away when the creature finally managed to speak. "Mario… please…" Mario turned back and saw tears in it's eyes. "Please don't go. Don't leave me here." It pleaded. Suddenly it struck Mario that there was something familiar about it. Whatever it was, it needed help. Mario took a few steps toward it when the creature started to spasm.
"No… not again… AAAGGH!" Now Mario recognized the roar of the monster as the creature screamed in agony. It was twitching violently and roaring out in anguish. The roars grew higher pitched as it start to shrink. It's reddish orange mane grew longer, it scales grew smaller and changed color, more like human skin but still scales. It's hands changed shape, still with claws at the ends of it's fingers where human nails would be. A black ragged dress appeared and covered it's body instantly. It's pupils changed to a more reptilian shape, it's face became smaller, more feminine. Mario could do nothing but gape as Bowsette laid before him.