Bowsette: A New Life

Chapter 54
Kamek's plan

Bowsette and Mario makes their way up to Shooting Star Summit again. "No!" Mario exclaimed at the sight as they climbed up to the area where Merluvlee's house is located. Merluvlee's house is little more than a blown-out husk and dozens of Remnant creatures including several Bob-ombs were swarming the place.

Mario was about to rush forward to take them out when Bowsette grabbed his arm to stop him. "No, not yet." Bowsette pulled him back. "It's too dangerous. Both of us could be infected now." Bowsette shook her head. "Besides, if they're still in there they're dead or one of them now."

Mario sighed. He knew Bowsette was right. They couldn't risk getting infected, especially not when Kamek would have a countermeasure soon. As for the rest… Mario's heart fell at the realization that the best care scenario was that Merluvlee and her brother had long since fled and Mario and Bowsette would never find them.

***

Kamek returned to his laboratory and began working on the anti-infection countermeasure. With the Super Crown parts, it would only take a day or two, but…

Kamek couldn't help but be distracted while he worked. His Queen had changed a lot, and it was disturbing him more and more. Her ancestors would be ashamed of what she'd become, and assuming it was the same for Bowser, his ancestors as well. Koopa royalty were supposed to be ruthless and relentless conquerors. Even Bowsette's father, the previous king, had been a monster towards everyone for the fairly short time Kamek had known him before his Queen died and the king lost all desire to continue living.

However, as Kamek checked and double checked his research, he confirmed his plan could work. The Super Crown magic could be… tuned and if used correctly could do the job. Kamek's mind raced as he realized what he could do with this magic, it could both help eliminate the Remnants and turn Bowsette back to normal. All it would take is the right adjustments and then the magic could be on his Majesty to...

However, in the end Kamek dismissed the thought. Kamek couldn't bring himself to use this magic on his Queen, no matter how easily it would solve the issue. Besides, the results could make Bowsette go completely off the deep end. It would need something to regulate the manipulation or…

Kamek puzzled over the problem as he worked on a way to block the pink lightning. That would be the first concern he had to deal with, then a means of removing the infection. A spell designed to do either would take weeks if not months to develop, and Kamek wasn't going to let he and his Queen stay here that long.

A light bulb went off in Kamek's brain. They didn't need a spell specifically to do the job. It would be a quicker and more makeshift solution, but Kamek believed it would do for now. As he finished and tested out the results of his new creation, Kamek then got another idea. He couldn't use this on Bowsette but there was someone else that would do quite nicely… Kamek cackled at the thought.

***

Bowsette and Mario returned to Toad Town only for another lightning storm to greet them. The two divided up the work of keeping the town safe and fought off the Remnants for a few hours. Before they were finished Bowsette received a letter that Kamek had finished his work. When the clouds finally cleared, Bowsette got Mario to head down to the Sewers with her to check out what Kamek had come up with.

As they entered Kamek's laboratory Kamek was busy working on something. "Oh! Your Majesty! Bear with me one minute while I finish up." True to his word, one minute later Kamek pulled away from his lab table and turned to them. "Here is the answer." Kamek held up his results.

Bowsette chuckled. "Badges? Since when have I ever needed stinking badges?" Still, Bowsette walked up to Kamek and took one, one was red, and one was blue. There was Koopa writing that said ANTI-REMANT BADGE #1 on one and #2 on the other. Kamek handed Bowsette the Blue #2 and motioned the plumber over to take the Red #1.

Kamek sat back and looked at the two, who put theirs on. "These have been tested by me personally and work for their purposes quite well." Kamek began. "To put it simply, if you wear this, any pink lightning that hits you will be gathered up by the magic in the badges and purified, preventing infection and indeed, any harm at all. However, that's not all. Come on in!"

Kamek gestures to a door to his right which opens. A Toad woman steps out, she looks ragged and exhausted but otherwise okay. Bowsette's eyes widened as she recognized the mother of that kid. "Developing a counter spell for the infection would take far too long, so I developed a workaround. When a person with this badge is struck by pink lightning, the badge will store the newly purified energy. Once enough of the energy has been stored, at will the bearer can release their own version of the lightning at an infected which will reverse the infection on the subject. So, in other words you'll have to be hit by pink lightning a few times before you can cure an infected. In theory it should work on any of them."

Bowsette's eyes glittered with amazement. "Really? You're sure?" Bowsette waited for Kamek to nod before sweeping him out of his chair and hugging him tightly. "I knew you could do it! You're the best Kamek!"

"My Queen! I still have a few broken bones!" Kamek squealed. Bowsette stopped squeezing and put him back in his chair. "Ahem, yes, I am brilliant. The energy will quickly dissipate on its own, so it needs to be recent strikes. I've tested both badges and they will work. However, keep in mind that they are prototypes. I will cure the remaining infected and begin mass production within a few days."

Mario nodded. "Thank-a you Kamek. You're not-a such a bad guy after all." Mario turned to Bowsette. "What-a should we do now? How can we find Peach now? Or my brother?" Mario wanted to go back and stomp those Remnants around Merluvlee's house, but there wasn't any reason to bother right now. The biggest question was how to find Peach and Luigi, and heading to Dry Dry Outpost to find Merlee was likely out at this point. Mario doubted the trains were running anymore.

Bowsette pondered for a minute before turning to Kamek. "You said that these Remnants have all our memories before the change, right? That means that Remnant Bowser running around knows everything I did back then, right?" Kamek responded with a nod. "Well… Really with a Koopa Copter they could be anywhere, but the vehicle would still need to stop and refuel every so often, so they'll need a base that can refuel those." Bowsette deduced. "Koopa Keep is obviously not an option for them."

"The small forts wouldn't do the job either, so that means..." Bowsette reluctantly turned to Mario. "As you know Pasta Freak, I have several auxiliary castles around the Koopa Kingdom I use as a backup to my main castle. Some you've been through before, and many more you don't know about. They are the only places I know of that have the facilities needed. Your brother might in one of them too."

Mario nodded resolutely. "And-a if they're not?" Mario asked. It was as good as any place to look.

"Then we'll be back to square one and have to look elsewhere." Bowsette shrugged. "If not, we can at least clear out those Remnants while we're at it." That at least would be a benefit and put a chink in the Remnant forces.

"Right! Let's-a go!" Mario and Bowsette left the Sewers and got to work. This would probably take a while…

***

Kamek watched the two leave and sighed, half in relief that the two had bought everything and half in worry. "I'm sorry My Queen, but it has to be done. You need to be an evil tyrant, it's the only way our kingdom will survive." He could only hope that his plan worked. However, Kamek put it out of his mind for now and turned to speeding up the badge production process.