Okay, readers! This is the 32nd chapter of this story!
Now, there isn't going to be much to this chapter, since it's focused on Bowser this time, just like the previous two Bowser interludes.
Essentially, Bowser and Kammy Koopa make it to the Great Tree upon hearing that a Crystal Star is there, some dialogue changes will be made to fit Andrew's presence, and tension occurs between them and the Puni Elder, particularly between Kammy Koopa and the Puni Elder.
And some other stuff will occur too. How will this go for them? Read and find out now!
IN THE GREAT TREE:
Elsewhere, in the Great Tree, we see two regular Punies hanging around near the entrance of the tree. They were 'basically' minding their own business when suddenly, they heard a stomping sound that seemed to have come from a giant.
The electronic door that was the entrance to the tree opened up, and this caught both of their attention. They looked at the entrance and saw something that was both big and menacing in appearance. This was enough to get both of them to shiver and stutter in complete fear.
"Th-That thing's...humongous!" One of the Punies yelled in fright. "Everybody! HIDE! NOW! Save yourselves!"
Both Punies then scurried off to safety, as this got the rest of the Punies to hide in the bushes, with Puniper, Punio, and Petuni hiding in the two bushes in the front.
The giant beast was revealed to be Bowser. He was huffing and growling to himself. It was clear that he was sore about having been beaten by Andrew when he arrived suddenly in the Glitz Pit. Not only that, but he realized that he was far stronger than he assumed. The last thing he remembered was being knocked out cold before the security of the Glitz Pit came in to drag him away.
He had regrouped with Kammy Koopa sometime after the Security Guards of the Glitz Pit sent him on his way out of Glitzville when he met up with Kammy sometime later. Still, he was 'really' grouchy about having his butt whooped by Andrew, as he was heard uttering to himself.
"That Andrew is a stupid, cheating punk..." Bowser grumbled under his breath. "Who would've thought that fool would be in Glitzville..."
It was then shown that Kammy Koopa was standing right beside him, as she just heard him say something under his breath.
"Did you say something, Your Rudeness?" Kammy Koopa asked him while adjusting her glasses slightly.
"Uh, no! Nothing at all, as far as you know!" Bowser huffed and dropped the topic altogether before pointing something out. "Hey! Did you see those little bite-size shrimps? What were those things?"
"Those were some Punies. One of them should know about the Crystal Star..." Kammy Koopa exclaimed to him. "They fear you, so they're all hiding. Let's find them all and get the info we need."
"I'm on it! Awesome!" Bowser bellowed. "Time for these puny little pipsqueak Punies to come on out and give us the information we needed about that Crystal Star!"
At that, Bowser started storming through some of the bushes nearby.
It would appear that she had alerted him about a Crystal Star being in the Great Tree, so she had assigned both of them to come here and find it for themselves.
Shortly after, Bowser saw an orange orb attached to an antenna, which was 'actually' Puniper as Bowser kneeled towards the bush and sniffed him. This got Puniper to react and he then yelped.
"Yuh-Yuh-Yuh-Yikes..." Puniper squealed. "This...guy...is...big...and bad! He's large and in charge!"
"Pffft! Yeah! What do you think I was, you runt!?" Bowser snorted. "I'm the big bad Bowser; King of the Koopas! And I'm here to get the information that I want! You're not telling me that you've never heard of me, are you?!"
Seeing that Puniper clammed up and fainted, Bowser decided to check the bush right above it, which had two Punies. One had the pink orb attached to its antenna, the other was green. These were 'obviously' Punio and Petuni. As soon as Bowser approached this bush and sniffed at it, both of them jumped in fright as they quivered.
"Eek! Y-You're scary, Mister Giant Bad-Breath Monster!" Petuni yelled, completely scared.
"D-Don't worry, Petuni! Your big brother is here!" Punio tried his best to put on a brave act, to no avail. "We'll...gulp...get through this!"
"Bah! Both of you runts aren't worth my time either!" Bowser stormed off in a huff when he decided to check the bush that was close to the pipe that led up.
This bush happened to show a light purple orb on a drooped-down antenna. This was 'clearly' the Puni Elder, as Bowser assumed that she'd be scared of him too as he went over to sniff that bush.
Unfortunately, the moment he did that, he saw that he wasn't staring at a scared little ol' granny Puni Elder. He was staring at an extremely peeved-off granny Puni Elder. The Puni Elder then reacted to this immediately on the spot.
"BEGONE!" The Puni Elder bellowed, growing to the size of a bulldog before she shrank back down.
This caught Bowser by surprise as he jumped up briefly before sporting tha shocked expression on his face...
LATER ON...
Sometime later, the Puni Elder managed to come out of the bush as she stood in front of Bowser and Kammy Koopa. Behind the Puni Elder were Punio, Petuni, and Puniper, who were hoping that the Puni Elder would drive the Koopa King and his old hag of an assistant out of their tree.
As for the Puni Elder, she was quick to figure out exactly what they were doing in their home, and what they were looking for. She needed them to hear her voice.
"You're one of them, aren't you?" The Puni Elder asked before she declared. "One of the evildoers! You want our Crystal Star!"
Upon hearing that, Kammy Koopa approached her before pointing her magical staff at the Puni Elder and then proclaimed.
"Ha! See?! I KNEW it!" Kammy Koopa pointed out. "This ugly thing knows where the Crystal Star is! Tell us!"
This proved to be a big mistake on Kammy's part as the Puni Elder didn't appreciate being called an ugly thing. And she was going to let this elderly Magikoopa know exactly how she felt about that insult, right here and now.
"How RUDE!" The Puni Elder bellowed while growing to the size of a bulldog again, causing Kammy Koopa to jump in fright at that before she shrank back down. "'Ugly thing'? How DARE you, you wretched crone? I am the great Puni elder!"
"EEEEEEEEEP! My heart!" Kammy Koopa nearly had a heart attack from that reaction coming from the Puni Elder as she exclaimed. "Don't startle me like that! I'm too old for this stuff!"
It was then Bowser crossed his arms and started thinking about this predicament. It was then an interesting thought had crossed his mind all of a sudden.
It's hag vs. hag! Awesome! Bowser thought in such amusement.
The Koopa King then pictured something else that was also amusing. It was 'basically' Kammy Koopa and the Puni Elder in a boxing ring, planning on duking it out on each other. Kammy Koopa had red boxing gloves while the Puni Elder had blue boxing gloves; even though the latter didn't have any arms to box with, so to speak.
Unfortunately, before they could even begin boxing, both Kammy Koopa and the Puni Elder suffered from a sudden case of back pain, causing both of them to fall over and require some medical attention from the ER.
Just the thought of it was something that he would've loved to see for himself.
While he was making murmuring sounds, Kammy Koopa looked at his face and realized that he must've had something on his mind that he needed to share with them.
"...Ahem! Uh, yes, Lord Bowser?" Kammy Koopa got his attention. "You look as if you're just dying to say something!"
Bowser got out of his musings as he looked at Kammy Koopa and decided to brush his thought off entirely, seeing that it was nothing important she needed to know about.
"Uh... Nope! Nothing!" Bowser informed her before looking back at the Puni Elder. "Let's move on, shall we?"
Bowser cleared his throat, as he then pointed towards the Puni Elder and glowered at her.
"You! Elder hag-thing! Where's the Crystal Star?" Bowser demanded in a growl. "And don't try pulling rank again: your answer, not your age, will determine your fate!"
The Puni Elder, for her part, was completely unfazed by his little threat. Never mind the fact that he just referred to her as a hag-thing. Still, she was willing to give him the piece of information that he demanded, albeit in a huff.
"Hmph! 'Hag-thing'? Honestly!" The Puni Elder huffed before getting to the point. "In any case, you're too late! The Crystal Star is gone!"
It was then Bowser had that shocked expression on his face again as he suddenly shouted. "Huh-WHAT?!"
He couldn't believe it. He did NOT just hear her say that. Did she say what he thought she said? Did she tell him that the Crystal Star that was located in the Great Tree...was gone? Surely the Puni Elder had to have been jossing with Bowser right now, was she?
"That's right, you rude thing!" The Puni Elder explained to him. "We gave it to a muscular man named Andi-roo! He said he was collecting the legendary treasures as a favor for someone by rescuing some princess... What did he call her? Princess Pinch? Yep! He was off to save that lucky lass!"
Now, Bowser was completely dumbstruck by this. He couldn't believe it. Could it be that the Andrew punk, the same guy who trounced him in the Glitz Pit, and officially humiliated him on live television, had trumped him once again by claiming yet another Crystal Star that was in his possession?
Meanwhile, Kammy Koopa decided to comment on what the Puni Elder just revealed to them.
"It's 'ANDREW'! Not 'ANDI-ROO'! And it's not 'Princess Pinch'! Her name is 'Princess PEACH'!" Kammy Koopa corrected. "...But your senility is beside the point! The princess and the treasures must be connected!"
It was then Kammy Koopa started tapping her chin as she was thinking about how all of this was going down.
"This Andrew character is 'clearly' trying to get it all!" Kammy Koopa proclaimed. "Treasures, princesses... This Andrew is not only greedy for the treasure, but he's also wanting to snatch the princess from behind our Lord Bowser's back. Andrew must be some lady charmer. Does his greed and lust for money and women ever end?"
It was now shown that Bowser was no longer shocked as he took all of this in. He was now clearly furious. On top of being sore at Andrew for publicly humiliating him by beating him up in the Glitz Pit along with his four friends, Andrew managed to claim another Crystal Star before he could get to it.
Why must he be given the short end of the stick, no matter what he does to try claiming what he wants? Even with Mario not being involved with this quest? This Andrew character was turning out to be no different than Mario.
"That jackal! I don't even know anything about this Andrew twerp, but I'm already growing to HATE his guts!" Bowser bellowed angrily. "Both Princess Peach and the Crystal Stars belong to me! To MEEEEE!"
It was then Bowser growled before yelling darkly. "If I find him, I'm going to finish him off once and for all! I SWEAR IT!"
"Ahem, uh, nicely put, Your Grouchiness!" Kammy Koopa agreed. "Now, shall we take our search for the Crystal Stars elsewhere? This tree 'clearly' has nothing of interest for us."
"No kidding! I'm getting out of this place!" Bowser snarled before storming out of the Great Tree to get back into his Koopa Clown Car.
Kammy Koopa followed after him as she went back onto her trademark broom. They then left the area of the Boggly Woods, allowing the Punies to go back to enjoying their lives again in the Great Tree.
It was clear that Bowser was determined to get a Crystal Star if it's the last thing he does. But of course, knowing his luck, he won't have any better luck with getting a Crystal Star in the other locations that they were possibly placed in. And he would be left shorthanded, as always.
There was no doubt about that at all...
END OF CHAPTER 32...
Yeah. That's it for this chapter. This is 'definitely' shorter than the previous chapters. This is without a doubt, the shortest Bowser interlude chapter I've written, and quite possibly, the shortest chapter in this story yet.
But hey! This chapter 'really' didn't have much to add to it. It's just another Bowser interlude that takes place in the Great Tree. The whole musing thought that Bowser had of Kammy and Puni Elder trying to box only to take out their backs was hilarious though. It seemed rather fitting for this chapter.
Also, all of the longest chapters in this story are focused on the main segments, on Andrew and his team. So of 'course' the Peach interlude and Bowser interlude are 'definitely' gonna be shorter than those parts.
Anyway, the next chapter will focus back on Andrew and his four partners as they plan on leaving Glitzville upon retiring from the Glitz Pit. Andrew will start reconsidering his thoughts on the adventure, Yoshiam gets to see Rogueport for himself, along with the Rogueport Sewers, and will see the Thousand-Year Door for the first time. Not to mention Andrew gets an e-mail from Peach, informing him about how the X-Nauts are after world domination, and a few other things will occur. How will things go for the five travelers? Find out next time, readers!
For now, only if you like, you can leave a review and let me know what you thought about this chapter.
Otherwise, I 'really' don't have anything else to say. So until next time, I hope you take care of yourselves. And on that note, thanks again for reading, everyone!