Bowsette: A New Life

Chapter 44
Bowsette tries to help

Bowsette organized the volunteers by their ability and left the actual assignment of tasks to Toadsworth and the Chancellor. As soon as the storms outside would let up the Mushroom Mages, the Guards, and whatever fighters they could muster would leave the castle to clear out the creatures from Toad Town. Ever since the attack where Peach had been taken there never were very many, so it didn't take long. The things were savage and relentless but seemed to be stupid and directionless without a commander, they seemed to just wander off once the clouds let up a lot of the time.

Securing Peach's Castle itself hadn't taken too long, so anyone who could began making sure the buildings in town were locked and barricaded. The people would quickly take shelter inside Peach's Castle whenever the lightning storms began again. Between the storms after the town was cleared out, Kamek and the mages got to work laying down more dampening wards around all of Toad Town. The process would take 3 to 4 days, however, before they would be ready. Thinking ahead, Kamek insisted on the wards being placed in a circular fashion a bit outside the town so Bowsette wouldn't have to wait until the enemy breached the town's borders to help fight them off.

Bowsette was bored out of her mind, not being able to do much other than sleep. Initially she tried to help with moving supplies or whatever needed doing, but the residents made it clear they would much rather not have her around. The residents were wary at best of her and outright hateful at worst, so Bowsette ended up spending most of her time down in the dungeons. Occasionally she would change again and then step outside the otherwise locked cell's broken wall to get out of the wards around Peach's Castle briefly to return to how she was. It was painful, but definitely an improvement over the first few days she was having serious transformation issues.

-

Finally, the Toad Town wards were set up and activated. With that done the residents waited for the latest lightning storm to pass and the last clearing out of the enemy before the residents that couldn't help much began returning to their homes and locking themselves inside while the others would be working on building makeshift barricades around the town. The guards and fighters would patrol around the barricades to keep the enemy out as best they could.

Bowsette finally stepped out of the castle for the first time in over a week. "God of Koopas… I didn't think I'd ever actually get tired of being in a dungeon but here I am." Bowsette said to herself as she stretched. "My Queen, I've done my best to get a lab set up down in the sewers, but you know how worthless their magical equipment is here." The wards would only be effective above ground, so Kamek set up down there as best he could. "The mages have spread out to set more wards around the kingdom." Kamek spent a while reporting to Bowsette on the situation. "If they can even do it at all."

"Kamek, stop that." Kamek made no secret of his disdain for the mages of the Mushroom Kingdom, and it was starting to annoy Bowsette. "Show some gratitude! We wouldn't have gotten this far without the Mages; they're doing their best. Everyone is doing everything they can, including you." The rest of the Mushroom Kingdom would just have to fend for itself for the time being. "Any idea how to stop these attacks entirely?" Bowsette asked. "Um… Mistress, I'm not entirely sure. I'll need some test subjects and I believe the Super Crown remnants will aid greatly. However, until I get some time to research, I can't say for sure." Bowsette could tell Kamek was being evasive, even with her, but she decided not to press. "Humph. I'll get you that time then. Go back to your lab."

-

'What is wrong with her?' Kamek thought as he left to return to his lab. Kamek been busy setting it up as best he could, meanwhile the healers tended to him. Now that the wards were up Kamek could finally get some proper healing done when he rested. Still, he wasn't going to be back to full strength for at least a couple weeks. Kamek busied himself with preparing the makeshift laboratory but as always had been the case though, his thoughts kept going back to his Queen.

'Show some gratitude?' Kamek thought about what Bowsette said. Since when has she ever cared to be thankful for anything? 'We wouldn't have gotten this far without the Mages, they're doing their best. Everyone is doing everything they can, including you.'The words of his Queen disturbed him. As far as he knew in either reality Bowsette was evil incarnate, and now she seemed to be… different in a way that made Kamek shiver at the sight of it. 'Maybe trying to get those two together wasn't such a great idea after all.' Kamek noted. It HAD to be spending time with Mario that was doing this.

"Humph." Kamek would keep an eye out for an opportunity to turn things around, but right now he couldn't see any way to do so. Kamek had bigger issues now however, determining what the creatures were, the source of the storms, and how to stop them. Kamek was all but certain the enemy was formed somehow from the reality changes from the Super Crown accident, but he neither had proof of that nor any idea how to reverse things.

Kamek sighed and continued doing as much as he could. He could only hope that the Plumber would return soon and Bowsette could be cured so he could get his Queen as far away as he could from this place. Kamek didn't like what being in this kingdom and with that man was doing to her. The more time she spent here the worse she seemed to get.

***

Bowsette watched Kamek go and then decided to join the defenders. It was better than simply sitting in the castle waiting for Mario to get back. Yeah, Mario would approve of that too. 'Wait, Mario would approve of that too? Since when did I ever care what that pasta freak thought?' Bowsette noted. 'Though… that doesn't sound bad…' Bowsette admits to herself.

'Does he like me? He finds me hot that much is obvious, but does he actually like me?' Bowsette stops in her tracks. 'And why does that feel so important to me right now?' Bowsette was at once scared to death at the prospect of Mario actually liking her and scared to death of him NOT liking her in equal measure. 'Well, he'll like me helping out.' Bowsette tried to leave it at that.

The residents would stare at her as she passed moving to the southernmost barricades, she could feel their eyes bore into her and it made her feel sick. Bowsette never used to care at all what other people were thinking of her, but lately she couldn't stop thinking about it. Their judging looks just made her more determined to prove them wrong.

The clouds covered the sky, and the pink lightning began again so Bowsette picked up the pace. The enemy would be trying to get into the town soon. Kamek had asked her to somehow capture at least one of the creatures alive for his research so Bowsette had swung by and requested a coil of rope and a couple bags. Kamek had said that as long as they were inside the wards their infection lightning couldn't be used.

The barricades around town were largely the same, placed where the walls had no gates to protect the town. They were mostly made up of stacks of whatever wooden crates the town could muster and packed with random junk designed to weigh them down plus wooden planks nailed together to keep the crates in place. It wasn't the best, but it was all they could do on short notice. The guards and fighters stationed at each barricade did their best to keep the enemy from climbing up or pushing through.

Bowsette heard someone scream just as she was reaching the barricade. She leapt to the top with a couple of hops. Bowsette looked past the barricade and saw several of the evil Toads clustered around it. "Someone save Tod!" The Toad woman with a spear yelled. That's when Bowsette noticed that on the ground of the outer side of the barricade the creatures had a Toad man in their grasp and were pulling him away.

"I'll handle this." Bowsette said. She had to hurry before the creatures took the Toad beyond the wards and infected him. With a leap, Bowsette dropped like a missile and struck the ground with her fist, creating a small shockwave that pushed the enemy away from her. "RAGH!" Bowsette put her head down and charged horn-first like a bull into the swarm of enemies, easily knocking them aside and destroying most she hit.

Before long Bowsette reached the group holding the Toad and straightened up, slicing her claws skillfully and taking out the Toad's captors. "Bowsette! You…" Tod tried to speak. "No time." Bowsette grabs Tod in her arms and leaps above the creatures, landing on one and using it as a springboard to reach another, and another before landing on the top of the barricade again.

Placing the Toad down, Bowsette then turned around and decided to clear the area out. Taking a deep fiery breath she shot a fireball at the enemy on the ground which exploded, showering them in flames. Bowsette continued to fire fireball after fireball until there were only a few left, which the guards took care of. 'Alright, I better get going.' No doubt the Toad guards wanted her gone as quickly as possible. Bowsette turned and started to walk away when someone grabbed her hand.

"Wait… um…" The woman said and released Bowsette's hand. "Thank you." Bowsette just stood there for a moment. She had never expected that. "Well… um…" When was the last time anyone actually thanked Bowsette for anything? Aside from her minions and they didn't really count. "You're… welcome?" The words felt odd coming from her lips. "I should go." Bowsette rushed off, she wasn't entirely sure what she was feeling but it wasn't unpleasant.

The eastern barricade was clear for the moment, so Bowsette went on to the northern barricades near the road down to Koopa Village. She heard panicked yelling and moved faster. "What's wrong here?" Bowsette asked and then noticed that a little Toad boy at the top of the gates. "Wait… what's a bra…" Bowsette caught herself. "I mean, child, why are you here? You're supposed to be safe at home." Bowsette did her best to speak to the child sweetly. The children in town were either locked up in the barricaded houses watched by those Toads who otherwise couldn't do much to help or still taking refuge in the castle while the fighting was going on. "Mama works here. She fights the bad guys!" The kid said cheerfully. "The boy keeps getting out and coming back here. I really wish he wasn't here to see this." One of the guards said.

"See what?" Bowsette followed the guard's finger pointing and spotted the creatures beyond the barricade… one of which looked like a normal Toad woman, except she had a furious expression and pink glowing eyes. "Oh great…" Bowsette lamented. "Here we go again…" Bowsette copied her earlier moves, the shades being dealt with quickly with a claw swipe or a bit of fire, but the Toad woman who had changed was proving to be a problem.

The changed woman swung at Bowsette with her sword, Bowsette dodging her strikes and leapt backwards. Bowsette spat a stream of fireballs at the shades that remained as the infected closed in to attack. "Destroy… Must show the truth…" The creature babbled as it struck. "This is all YOUR fault! YOUR FAULT!" The woman screamed at Bowsette. Bowsette did her best to avoid the woman's strikes as Bowsette took care of the remaining shades. Not that the shades could do much to Bowsette, but they could get in the way of this fight.

"Maybe it is my fault." Bowsette said as she turned to focus her attention on the woman. "So what?" Bowsette responded to another strike by the Toad woman with a roundhouse kick to the face. "A lot of things are my fault. This would hardly be the worst." The woman went flying and hit the ground. Bowsette could hear the boy yelling at her but paid no attention, focusing on her target.

Bowsette grabbed the coil of rope around her shoulder and advanced carefully. As she suspected, the woman wasn't done and struggled to get up. "Stubborn one." Bowsette said and placed her hand over the woman's chest to hold her down. She was getting stronger but she still was less than nothing to Bowsette. "Go to sleep." Bowsette said and knocked the thing out with a punch to the face.

After tying it up, Bowsette stuck the thing inside one of the bags and tied it shut as well. Bowsette grabbed the bag and leaped up back onto the top of the barricade. "Mama! What did you do to Mama!?" The boy was crying and yelling at Bowsette angrily. "What I had to. I'm sorry." Bowsette responded and turned to the guards. "Kamek will fix her, get her to him quick before she escapes." Bowsette would've liked to take the creature to Kamek herself, but she couldn't afford to be gone long. She handed the captured woman off to the guards and continued on.