*Heads up: This takes place after the 2023 movie in a sort of alternate universe incorporating potential ideas for what could happen after the movie.
Chapter 1
The cage swung and shook as the creature inside it paced and growled in anger. How could he, the King of the Koopas let himself be shrunk down in size and caged like a bird? It was ridiculous and humiliating! Bowser, the once feared and proud ruler of the Koopas, grumbled. He was sick of looking at the iron bars before him. To him, they were mocking and irritating. He did have his piano which he greatly enjoyed playing, but even so, it did nothing to appease him entirely. If only he hadn't gotten lost looking into the princess's deep blue eyes. The same eyes that showed nothing but hatred and disgust for him.
Bowser couldn't help himself and be attracted to Peach, Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. As he had previously described to his troops, her heart shaped bangs, her immovable tiara, and the way she would float in the breeze drew him in. Her hatred of him made him love her more as well. He had to win her heart back somehow. He wanted his happily ever after with the fairy tale wedding and to rule side by side with her. He sighed with annoyance when thinking back to the two plumbers that ruined everything for him. They had nabbed the Super Star and used it to beat him down. That was his star! He had taken it rightfully away from the Penguin Kingdom!
He shook his head and mentally spoke to himself. 'No matter. I will get myself another Super Star…as soon as I get out of here.' He sighed. 'Kamek should have been here by now. I've been waiting in this darn cage for 3 weeks now! I'm over it already!' He gently tapped his head against the bars, gripping onto them tightly with his claws as his red eyes closed.
In another part of the world, Kamek, a fellow Koopa and wizard to Bowser, had been working on a spell to help free his lordship. He had seen his majesty get taken away as soon as the princess fed him a blue mushroom shrinking him in size. He then witnessed Toad, a mushroom person, picking up Bowser and putting him in a jar. He was horrified and frustrated to see his king be treated in such a way. He vowed to free his master as soon as he could. He needed the perfect spell to sneak in and get Bowser out. He had been hard at work perfecting a spell that would make him invisible and unable to track. It would allow everything he did to be silent as he moved around and figured out a way to free Bowser. He had worked on a spell that could, potentially, help break locks too. He hadn't practiced the spell for very long as it was new to him. He hoped if he needed to use it, everything would go smoothly with it.
Kamek was very close to perfecting the invisibility spell now. He needed to make his wizarding hat invisible as it didn't turn invisible like the rest of him, and his clothes did. He sucked in a deep breath and let it out, focusing again on the spell. He stood in front of a mirror hung up on the wall of his workshop, waved his wand and chanted, "Beetle dee do, beetle dee dawn. Make me an invisible spawn!" Green sparkles began to swirl around him from his wand and slowly, he started disappearing. As he stared into the mirror, witnessing his body turning invisible, he looked at his hat as it too began to finally disappear.
"Yes! At last! It is perfected!" Kamek jumped up and down in excitement. "Do not worry Sire. I shall free you soon!"
"Ah man! I'm running late!" A young woman ran frantically around her apartment as she grabbed her work clothes packing them into a small duffle bag. Y/N knew her boss wouldn't be happy with her being late. She had only had this job for a week, and they were extremely strict about being on time. She understood that well and always strived to be on time. Unfortunately, time got away from her along with sleep and she ended up getting ready much later than anticipated.
She had hurriedly fixed her (hair length and hair color) hair by curling it and applying basic but pleasing makeup for her eyes. She dabbed on light foundation and blush while putting on a neutral color of lipstick. She wanted to wear something that said natural, but not overbearing. She wasn't one to wear heavy makeup, so she always did it lightly. Y/N sighed as she made quick work of zipping up her dress and putting on her 2-inch high heeled sandals. She grabbed her jewelry, a matching pair of earrings and necklace, and put them on. The earrings and necklace were silver in color along with her sandals.
Y/N practically ran out of her apartment as she grabbed her keys, purse, and duffle bag. She locked the door and made her way towards the elevators. She would've taken the stairs, but she didn't want to risk tripping down the stairs. Never again did she want a repeat of what happened a couple of days ago in these very same shoes. It was so embarrassing, but she was thankful that someone stopped by to help her stand up again.
The elevator doors chimed open, and she stepped inside. She turned towards the buttons to press the first-floor button. The elevator began its descent only to stop after passing a couple of floors. She groaned as the doors opened and an older couple slowly made their way in.
'C'mon, please move faster,' she thought irritably.
The older couple took their time stepping inside, the man helping his wife in who had a walker. Y/N felt bad for getting irritated, but this was not helping her. She was going to be so late at this point. She knew it was her own fault though so she could only blame herself. She gave the couple a polite smile as she made as much room as she could for them. The elevator finished its journey to the first floor. As soon as the doors opened, Y/N bolted out of the elevator and outside of the building to her car. Thankfully, she was able to park her car in a close spot to the building. That didn't happen too often with how packed the city could get with residents and tourists.
Y/N opened her car door and threw in her purse and duffle bag onto the passenger seat as she then ran around to get to the driver's seat. Buckling her seat belt and turning on the ignition, the car sounded off and sped away from the parking spot. She looked at the car clock and realized she only had ten minutes to spare to be at work on time. She did her best to maneuver around the cars and to be first at any stop light. Not an easy thing to do, but she quickly learned the ways of navigating in no time.
Brooklyn was a city that Y/N never expected to move to. Sure, she thought New York would be an interesting place to visit, but to live there? She wasn't sure about that. It was expensive and making a living in such an expensive place could prove to be difficult if you didn't have a high paying job. She was very thankful and lucky to get such a break. She always loved singing and wanted to try to pursue a career in it. Finding out about a karaoke bar called Heart and Soul Karaoke Bar greatly helped her.
Having done research online about the place, she was happy to see the mostly positive reviews from the customers and employees who currently or previously worked there. It sounded like they really took care of everyone and provided decent benefits to the workers. Y/N applied, had two phone interviews and one video interview. After the video interview, she got a call saying they would like to have her join their team.
Y/N was absolutely delighted in getting hired for the job. She knew this would be life changing both mentally and physically. It made her nervous that she would have to move away from her parents and family who all lived in (name of state/country). She had lived in the same area as all of them for so long. However, she was grateful for all the help she received in getting everything moved to the apartment she found in Brooklyn.
Seeing the bar in sight and seeing she only had a minute left, Y/N pulled her car into her usual parking spot, grabbed her bags, and dashed to the door of the restaurant as she locked up her car. She was grateful to have a fob for her car. She was greeted by her manager who stood at the podium with his arms crossed.
"Hi Mr. Winters," Y/N said with a bit of an awkward smile.
"Y/N. You just barely made it here on time," he said with some disappointment.
"I'm very sorry sir. I'll do better next time." She looked into his brown eyes seeing them slightly warm up to her.
He gave her a small smile. He knew she was usually very good about being on time. This was obviously not the best day for Y/N. "Now that you're here, go put your bags in the locker room and get up on stage. The musicians are all ready for you."
"Yes sir," Y/N said with a relieved smile. She thought her manager would've been much harsher with her.
Y/N made her way to the locker room, did the combination for her locker, and put her bags in. Before closing the locker door, she looked at the little mirror that hung on her door. She ran her fingers through her hair quickly. Satisfied that her hair didn't look too wild now from all her rushing, she exited the locker room and made her way to the stage.
Lights illuminated the stage showing the silhouette of Y/N. Her (favorite color) dress shimmered under the lights along with her jewelry. She grabbed the microphone from the stand and said, "I deeply apologize keeping all of you waiting for me. Thank you for your patience!" She turned toward the musician at the piano and nodded her head to him. The musician nodded back and began playing. The violins joined in and soon, Y/N's voice chimed in with the toon.
The words from her lips came out with much ease thanks to all the practice she had been doing. She spent a lot of time working on memorizing the lyrics. The musical notes from the instruments flowed in rhythm as she continued singing out the words of an artist from many years ago. As the song came to an end, the audience clapped and cheered.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Y/N smiled as she took a bow.
"Sing another song," a voice called out from the audience.
Y/N got slightly flustered. Yes, she was to sing the song she finished, but then she was supposed to help the waiters and waitresses this evening. "Um, well…" She saw Mr. Winters give a nod of approval for her to sing another song.
"Okay. Sure, I can sing another song." She went over to the musician on the piano and whispered in his ear, "Play the acoustic version of Iris by Jada Facer."
The musician nodded in understanding and began to play the melody. Y/N had very much enjoyed this version of Iris. It was very calming and heartfelt to her. She closed her eyes and really began to get into the song and the piano sang its notes out with her voice. The song soon came to an end and applause could be heard.
"Thank you!" Y/N took a bow. "Would anyone like to come up on stage next?"
"I do!" A young man with auburn hair exclaimed.
"Come on up then! Show us what you got!" Y/N's (eye color) lit up with happiness.
The young man stood up from his table in excitement and took the mic from Y/N's hands as he reached the stage. Y/N stepped off the stage and quickly made her way to the locker room to change out of her dress and into her work clothes and shoes. After changing, she walked out of the locker room and grabbed her notepad and pen making her way over to her tables.
The evening had flown by quickly for Y/N. Since it was a Saturday, she knew the night would be extremely busy. Customers left and more kept coming in. It was the last hour of Y/N's shift and she had to take a seat at an empty table.
"Hey now, no slacking off on the job," Y/N's coworker Maria said.
Y/N chuckled, "That goes double for you then. Says the one who is also sitting at a table."
Maria laughed and Y/N joined in with her. "Oh man. I am tired. I can't wait to get home into my pjs and snuggle under the blankets."
"You and me both Maria. I am wiped out!" Y/N got up from the chair she was sitting in and stretched her limbs. "I'm glad we only have a little less than an hour left of-"
Before Y/N could continue her sentence, the front door opened indicating another customer had walked in.
Y/N walked up toward the front door, "Hi, welcome! How can I help you?"
The customer in question appeared to be very…out of sorts. He looked like he'd been through a heck of a day. His red shirt was a little disheveled and the overalls he was wearing only had one strap on. His red hat with the letter M on it was a bit crooked on his head. "Uh, yeah…we need a table…please…" His voice only proved how worn out he was.
Y/N gave him a confused look. "You and who?" There wasn't another person with this man dressed in red.
"Huh?" The man turned behind him only to see he did indeed come in alone. "Oh no! Where's Luigi?! He was right behind me a second ago!"
Y/N, sensing the urgency in the man's voice, wanted to help him out. She turned to Maria. "I'm going to help him look for this Luigi. I'll be back as soon as we find him."
Maria nodded in understanding and Y/N then turned to the man. "I'll help you look for him."
The man smiled. "Thank you! I appreciate it! My name's Mario by the way." He held out his white gloved hand for her to shake.
"Y/N," she introduced herself and shook his hand. "By the way, you might want to fix your overall strap." She pointed toward his left shoulder.
"Huh?" Mario glanced to where Y/N pointed at. "Oh! Yeah, I should do that." He blushed out of embarrassment and snapped the strap back in place. Y/N giggled at him.
Y/N and Mario then walked out of the restaurant and Y/N asked, "Where were you two coming from?"
"We had just finished up a job when Luigi suggested coming to this place to eat at. We came from a couple of blocks over here." Mario started walking in the direction he and Luigi were coming from and Y/N followed behind him.
"I see. What is it that you two were doing if you don't mind me asking?" The outfit made Y/N curious.
Mario looked up at Y/N who was a few inches taller than him. "Luigi and I are plumbers. We were fixing up a sink for a client before walking over to your restaurant."
"Ah, okay." Y/N looked down at him and then something registered in her mind. He did look familiar from somewhere. "Wait a minute…aren't you and Luigi The Super Mario Brothers? I recall now seeing a commercial with you two in it."
"Yep, that's us. Always at your service." Mario smiled at Y/N.
Y/N giggled, "Glad I could call you for help if it's ever needed."
"Anyway," Mario said. "We're almost to the house Luigi and I were at."
It was a little more of a walk and then in front of Mario and Y/N was a tall white condo. It had large windows and when looking at the windows, a large chandelier could be seen.
"Wow, talk about high class," Y/N commented.
"It is, but the folks are really nice," Mario said. "Lu! Lu! Are you around here? Answer me!" He was starting to worry more about his brother.
"Luigi! Where are you?" Y/N called out.
"Lu! L-" Before Mario could continue, a man dressed similarly to him but wearing green came out of the fancy condo.
"Mario!" Luigi said.
Mario ran up to Luigi and hugged him. "Mama Mia! You had me worried sick! I thought something bad happened to you!"
Luigi let go of Mario and looked down. "I'm sorry. I just realized I forgot the tools and so I came back to get them." Luigi was indeed carrying the plumbing tools he and Mario used.
"Well, why didn't you call me?" Mario asked, a little annoyed.
"I did try to call you, but you didn't answer," Luigi replied. "I really didn't want to leave the tools behind and so just went back to get them anyway."
"You did call me?" Mario felt around in his pockets only to discover his cell phone was not on him. "Ah…I must have left it in our car…" Mario looked embarrassed and awkwardly chuckled.
Luigi sighed. "Well anyway, I'm alright. Want to head over to the restaurant again?"
Mario turned to Y/N who had been silent during his and Luigi's exchange in conversation. "Would the place still be open?"
Y/N smiled at Mario. "Yeah, it should be fine if you two still want to come in."
"Uh, who is she?" Luigi asked confused.
"Oh! Sorry! I'm Y/N and I work at the Heart and Soul Karaoke Bar." Y/N stuck her hand out to Luigi.
"Ah. Nice to meet you Y/N." Luigi shook her hand.
"Shall we?" Y/N asked.
"Yes!" Mario and Luigi replied excitedly.
Y/N laughed. "Let's a go then!"
Mario and Luigi looked at her puzzled.
"Sorry, I was thinking about your commercial again and I remembered you two had those accents. Couldn't help myself." Y/N giggled.
"I see," Mario said smiling at Y/N.
The brothers and Y/N all made their way back to the restaurant and as soon as the door opened, Y/N led the brothers to a table. She grabbed a couple glasses of water and gave them to the brothers. She then took care of their food order and helped the chef that was still in the kitchen cook the food. Y/N wasn't an expert in cooking, but she helped with what she could so that the chef and the other kitchen staff could be finished with their closing duties faster. It was much closer to closing time now.
Y/N brought the food to Mario and Luigi and asked, "Do you mind if I join you?"
Mario and Luigi shook their heads no.
"Not at all," Mario said. "Thanks for helping me out earlier."
Y/N sat down next to Luigi who sat across from Mario. "You're welcome."
"How long have you been here for?" Luigi asked.
"I've been here for a week. I moved up here two weeks ago," Y/N replied.
"Ah. Where did you move from?" Mario asked.
"I moved from (name of state/country). It was…an interesting move," Y/N said.
"How so?" The man in green looked at Y/N with his full attention. Mario did the same.
Y/N began, "Well…I almost lost one of my suitcases. I was flying out of my hometown and had most of my things delivered by air in the weeks prior. Anyway, I got on the plane, flew to Brooklyn, and landed in the airport. When I got off the plane and went to baggage claim, I couldn't find my suitcase.
"I almost thought I had gone to the wrong baggage claim area. I looked at the signs to see that I was in the right area. I went to talk to some of the airport staff about my missing suitcase. They helped me out and then, as we were walking through the airport, I happened to spot someone with my suitcase."
Mario and Luigi stared at her in anticipation as she continued her story. Y/N took in their expressions and laughed. "It's not like I had anything special in it if that's what you two are thinking. It just had my clothes and other personal belongings."
"Ah, I thought maybe you would've been like a secret agent or something and the case would've had important information stored in it," Mario gave Y/N a smirk.
"What, do I look like the secret agent type?" Y/N smirked back.
"I would say so yeah," Mario said.
"Uh Mario, we should let Y/N finish her story," Luigi said.
"Oh yeah. Sorry about that," Mario apologized.
"No worries," Y/N said, smiling. "So, the staff member that was with me, he and I walked up to the girl with my suitcase. The girl was so embarrassed that she made the mistake of thinking my suitcase was hers. Turns out, we had the exact same suitcase! We all went back to the baggage claim area and found hers."
"Glad nothing worse happened," Luigi said.
"You and me both Luigi," Y/N replied. "Sometimes, people will have freakouts and blow up. I'm glad that the girl didn't. She was very nice about it and kept apologizing to me about the incident. Turns out, she had a 13-hour flight and was extremely exhausted. I would be too if I had flown that long."
"That's quite the story," Mario said. "I'm happy everything got sorted out for you and that girl."
"Yeah, me too." Y/N covered her mouth as she yawned. "So, tell me about yourselves," She was very curious about the plumber brothers.
"Well, what do you want to know?" Mario asked.
"Anything you would want to talk about," Y/N replied.
"This could take some time," Luigi said.
"I think it'll be worth it," Y/N said optimistically.
"Alright," Mario said. "Well, we did have an interesting event you could call it happen to us over a month ago…"
Bowser groaned as he leaned against the iron bars of his cage. This was all too much. The waiting of being rescued was agonizing. He shouldn't need rescuing. Trespassers and anyone else who dared get in his way should be the ones needing rescuing. Just as he closed his eyes and let his mind wander on how much longer it would be before anyone came to his aid, the door to the room he was in opened. Bowser opened his eyes and looked to see that no one was there. It couldn't have been a breeze blowing by. The toads were always heavily guarding his room too. They wouldn't let just anyone in. What, or who, could've opened the door? He tried to peer through the iron bars. Night had fallen and the room was dark, so it wasn't too easy to see. Especially since the room had no windows.
"Sire," a familiar voice called out.
Bowser furrowed his eyebrows. "Kamek?" He was a bit confused. He could hear Kamek but couldn't see him.
Kamek saw Bowser's puzzled expression, "I finally mastered an invisibility spell and put the guards to sleep."
Bowser was impressed. "I see, good work."
"Thank you Sire," Kamek said. "Now, let me just get this lock figured out."
"Make it fast," Bowser said. "My patience is already wearing thin."
"Yes, my King. I shall work at this quickly." Kamek began fiddling with the lock and tried to use a few different spells to see if the lock could be broken. "Hmm…this lock is very different from what I expected."
"Don't tell me that I'm still stuck in here for another long period of time," Bowser was beginning to rage. "I can't take this height and this stupid cage anymore! Get me out of here!"
"I will Sire, I promise," Kamek said trying to calm the king down. The spell that was still new to him came mind, "I haven't tired that spell yet." He looked at Bowser. "My King, please stand back as a far as possible in the cage."
Bowser had a slightly nervous look on his face but did what Kamek said. He hoped this wasn't going to be painful. He ducked down and held his head down.
"Yellow bellow light, grant me a key for this lock tonight," Kamek chanted the spell. His wand glowed red, and a yellow light shot out of it and into the lock for the cage. The lock came undone and fell to the floor.
Bowser, hearing the lock fall, cautiously looked up to see that the door had been opened. He smiled the biggest grin he could muster, "Yes! Finally!" He pumped his fists in excitement.
Kamek's heart filled with joy upon seeing Bowser happy. "I'll change you back to your normal size at your place. For now, I will need to carry you."
Bowser rolled his eyes, annoyed. He wanted to be big again now, not stay shrunken down. "Very well." He figured Kamek would've done what he could and if this was all he could do for now, he would go along with it.
Kamek reached out and gently grabbed Bowser, holding onto him close to his chest. "We'll be taking my broom out of here. It's just outside of the castle doors."
Kamek opened the doors with his wand and carefully got onto his broom while still holding onto Bowser. "We'll be back home in no time."
"Good. I can't wait to be my normal size again," Bowser said. "I have some plans in mind on how to get Peaches to fall for me."
"Excellent Sire!" Kamek exclaimed. "I look forward to hearing all about them from you!" The two Koopas flew off into the night with the light of the moon as their guide.
In her room, Princess Peach awoke in a cold sweat. Her dream felt very real, and she had a sinking feeling. It involved Bowser succeeding in ruling over the Mushroom Kingdom and all of the toads becoming his slaves. She was sitting on a throne by Bowser as they both looked down at the toads working tirelessly to build a new kingdom. She hoped it was nothing more than a nightmare. 'Please don't be real,' she mentally tried to calm herself down.
Perhaps she could invite Mario and Luigi for a visit. It had been a while since she last saw them. She knew Toad would be excited to see them again too. She decided first thing in the morning that she would invite the brothers for a visit.