Bowsette: A New Life

Chapter 39
A familiar but not so familiar trek

Mario jogged out of the castle and into Toad Town. While he could rush onward to World 8 at once, he decided to make a quick stop back his home, change his clothes and grab a bit more of his savings. He had been too distracted to bother to do so the last few days and had gotten drained dry by the supplies Kamek needed. He was returning to head to the shopping district to grab a few powerups for the trip when he noticed that the Toad Town residents were all heading in the direction of the castle.

"Hey, what'-a going on?" Mario asked a passing Toad. "Mario! Didn't you hear? The town got the order from the chancellor that all residents are to evacuate to the castle." The Toad explained. "There hasn't been a lot of those… things attacking Toad Town, but the chancellor is having us take shelter there." Mario nodded. It was a good idea, Peach's castle was probably the area with the best defense in town, and Kamek did say the wards would be set up there first.

"Are the shops still-a open?" Mario asked. "Yeah, they're going to be closing last. You should hurry though." The Toad continued on, and Mario left to get his supplies. Luckily there was a shopkeeper still busy packing up that was willing to sell Mario a few supplies. Mario grabbed a few Mushrooms, one of which he ate for extra pep, and a couple 1ups just in case.

With his supply run done, Mario left through the main gate to Toad Town and put the Koopa Kingdom badge on his overalls. The skies were currently clear, but Mario knew it wouldn't be long before they were to be filled with dark clouds again. Mario ran through World 1-1 as fast as he could, Dark Goombas and Koopas sometimes were already there to try to bar his path, but they weren't any more difficult to deal with than the usual kind. Still, Mario did his best to avoid them where he could, all it would take is a hit from one pink lightning bolt from one of them to turn him into the greatest threat either kingdom had ever seen, and the very thought made him shiver.

Mario reached the flagpole quickly and didn't even bother stopping at the fortress. He entered the pipe to go underground. Mario decided he would avoid the surface as much as possible, there were probably few if any of the creatures down there. Returning to the surface of 4-1 from 1-2's pipe definitely convinced Mario he made the right decision. There were far more of the creatures here than there were around Toad Town.

What was worse however was the many Goombas and Koopa Troopas that had been changed. The shades were easy enough to deal with, but the ones that had been… infected for lack of a better word were quite a bit harder. They moved faster, hit harder, and took more jumps or hammer blows to bring down. However, they weren't too much trouble, and where he could Mario simply avoided them. The infected he took out seemed to become inactive rather than perish, so Mario didn't linger in case they awoke again.

It was a struggle to get through 4-1 and to the pipes in 4-2 that led to 8-1, but Mario managed with the occasional powerup lost. Mario usually didn't have to try this hard before getting to World 8, and all he could do was hope that it didn't get worse from there. As he exited the pipe and continued forward into 8-1, those hopes were dashed as Mario came to a battlefield. Normal Koopa Troopas, Buzzy Beetles, Goombas, and so forth were locked in combat with the shade versions of Bowsette's army.

The storm was raging above once again, more and more shades appearing with every bolt of pink lightning. Mario considered taking shelter to simply wait the storm out, but he didn't want to waste time and besides, Bowsette's minions needed help. Mario literally leapt into the fray, jumping on one Dark Goomba to use as a springboard to leap onto a Dark Koopa, which he kicked to take out several more Dark minions. "Mario! You…" One of the normal Goombas said. "Look-a out!" Mario threw a fireball and destroyed a Dark Koopa that was coming up behind the Goomba.

Left in the clear for the time being, Mario turned to the Goomba. "I have a letter from-a Kamek! I need to get to-a Bowsette's castle fast!" Mario said. "What's the-a situation?" He asked. "Bowsette's orders were to be on alert for an attack, but it's getting pretty bad Mario. All the things are trying to get to the castle. Last we heard the castle is under siege and… they're coming again!" The Goomba rushed off as Dark Lakitu dropped spineys.

Now aware that he needed to really hurry, Mario avoided the spineys and pressed on, making his way toward the castle. He jumped on, fireballed, and hammered the Dark creatures that were in his way as he passed through but left most of the enemies to Bowsette's minions. He took a brief stop for a break at the 8-1 fortress before making his way to 8-2.

Mario saw the same as he continued, the creatures only growing even greater in number as they seemed to be heading the same direction he was. Bowsette's minions were putting up a strong defense, especially where there were Bullet Bill cannons in place as the enemy didn't seem to have them, but it wasn't looking like they were doing more than slowing the tide of the creatures. Luckily he hadn't seen many of the infected so far, perhaps Bowsette had the forethought to include information on that pink bolt attack they have.

Once again, Mario went through the waves of enemies defeating them where he had to and passing where he didn't. It didn't take long before he was at 8-3, nearly on the doorstep to Bowsette's castle. He remembered just how many times he had come through here including just recently and it was always difficult enough, but Mario had already used up all his regular Mushrooms and had been in too much of a hurry to find much else along the way.

Mario reached sight of Bowsette's castle and had to stop. There were hundreds of the Dark creatures surrounding the castle from every side. Thus, Mario decided on a stealthier approach. Mario knew a few less obvious ways in, he just hoped the creatures hadn't found them yet. "Ugh… only one I can-a be sure of…" Mario balked but pressed on. He jumped down a particular pit not far from the castle and landed on top of a pipe he knew was down there.

The sewage outflow pipe to Bowsette's castle was still active and dumping, he never used this entrance if he could avoid it. 'I might be a plumber, but this is still disgusting.' Mario thought as he grabbed the top edge of the pipe and swung inside. Mario pulled out a flashlight from his pocket and continued onward.

Author's Note: The next few chapters are going to be completely from either Mario's or Bowsette's prespective.