All characters and content of this work belongs to their respective owners, I own nothing other than my Original Character and the plot of this story.
For nearly five years, Rosalina trained Calla (now nearing her 23rd birthday) extensively to prepare her for the big mission she was about to partake in. She taught everything like how to swing and strike with her greatsword to sparring against disembodied entities she conjured up. She even taught her several magical abilities that she could use to her advantage.
During that time, Rosalina became her unofficial caregiver and guardian, raising her like a daughter that she never had. Calla even went on to occasionally but accidently call her "Mom" from time-to-time, causing Rosalina to requite the title she unofficially gave her.
On her final day of training, Rosalina tested her to use everything she had taught her disciple to battle actual opponents to help ready herself for actual combat. She had recently battled and defeated Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Wario (all of which she was shocked and excited to meet in-person), but her real challenge was Mario's long-time archenemy Bowser, who despite being a villain, had allied himself with the regular enemies to support the young warrior girl in her journey to defeat an individual more evil than himself. Bowser agreed to fight Calla in a [mostly] friendly match, but under one condition: he would not go easy on her like her previous opponents and include several sneaky tricks up his sleeve to teach the young warrior that many of the enemies she would face ahead would be very difficult, if not nearly impossible to defeat.
"Okay Calla," Rosalina instructed, "Bowser will be your final opponent, but remember, this battle will not be very easy. Consider this your "Final Exam"."
Calla nodded, readying herself for her final test.
"On my signal, the two of you will battle each other with the best of your abilities to defeat the other as quickly as possible."
Bowser gave a short laugh, "Sure, whatever you say lady," he then turned to Calla, "And don't feel bad…when I defeat you haha."
Calla was clearly annoyed by Bowser's arrogance but shrugged it aside "We'll see about that."
"May the best fighter win, now begin!"
Bowser took the first shot by quickly lunging at Calla to body slam her, but Calla reacted in the nick of time and jumped to her right, she then took a quick strike at Bowser with a counterattack, hitting him from behind. Bowser flinched, before responding by breathing a stream of fire from his mouth towards Calla. Calla blocked the fire breath but was caught off guard when Bowser swiped at her with one of his claws, knocking her to the ground.
Calla regained her footing and responded by backing away from Bowser.
"Come back here you coward!" Bowser shouted out.
But Calla wasn't being cowardly, she was actually luring Bowser into a trap. When Bowser finally seemed to be catching up to her, she jumped and performed a drop kick, connecting directly to Bowser's face and knocking him back on his shell. She then responded by sprinting in his direction before jumping and striking him in the chest with the stiletto heel of her sandal, causing the Koopa King to grunt in pain.
"Good work Calla dear!" Rosalina cheered.
But Bowser wasn't through, he took advantage of his downed position to grab Calla by the ankle and throw her over his head, causing her to land face first nearby.
"Ha, gotcha!" Bowser laughed.
He then jumped into the air and retreated into his spiny shell, before he began to spin very fast, preparing to finish Calla off.
Fortunately, Calla noticed this as she was regaining her footing and watched as Bowser's sheet threw all his weight at her. Just as Bowser was about to strike Calla hard, she responded with a powerful upward swing of her greatsword, countering Bowser's finisher and sending his shell flying across the entire observatory, causing him to hit numerous obstacles like a pinball reacting to bumpers.
Bowser's shell then started to head towards Calla direction once more, but once again she was prepared. Calla then jumped and brought the blade of her sword down in a battle-ending strike. The attacked successfully landed on Bowser, knocking him down as he cried out in pain.
"Gaah, Curses!" Bowser screamed, "I didn't see that coming."
"Well done, Calla, you defeated Bowser and passed your final test." Rosalina commended her disciple.
The Koopa King regained his footing, but this time not to continue fighting, but rather to hear him out.
"I hate to admit it, but you are much tougher than I thought. However, don't bother celebrating early, as in this case I simply conceded early." Bowser commentated, before giving an evil chuckle.
Calla was worried, believing that this was another test of some sort. She turned to Rosalina and asked her for reassurance, "Is this true?"
"I'm afraid Bowser's right dear," Rosalina replied, "Many opponents you'll come across in your journey will not be as relenting to defeat as Bowser is; some will even try to fight you to the bitter end if they are given the chance unfortunately."
Calla turned back to Bowser, "My advice kid, don't get too cocky, and expect the unexpected whenever possible. Lastly, don't feel bad…when you lose hehe".
Calla rolled her eyes once more, but felt that deep down, Bowser's lecture was meaningful to her.
After the battle ended, Calla walked up to Rosalina.
"I'm very proud how far you've come in years after the tragedy that befell your old school." Rosalina praised her disciple.
Calla's expression turned to one of guilt "I just can't believe it's been nearly five years; it feels like only yesterday since the whole disaster happened."
"I know child," Rosalina comforted her, "But despite the bad things that came out of that incident, I managed to rescue something important that I waited so long to give you."
Calla was confused, "what is it Mo-…I-I mean Rosalina?"
Rosalina giggled at the young woman she came to know as a daughter "Hear, it's something meaningful to you that you'll recognize instantly."
She then took out her wand a conjured the object in question, upon glancing at it momentarily, Calla instantly recognized what it was.
"It's the painting I made for my Senior Year project," she replied in awe, "How did you manage to salvage it?"
"After I rescued you from Nightmare after the disaster that occurred at your school, I returned to the ruins sometime later to search for that painting that meant so much to you. I managed to find it nearly untouched, clean it up from all the dust it had collected overtime, and wanted to give it to you as an early birthday present."
Calla smiled "Thank you Rosalina."
"Your welcome child," Rosalina replied, "Now get as much rest as possible, because tomorrow you'll be leaving for your journey to find allies to help stop Nightmare's deadly mission.
Calla nodded and parted ways with both Rosalina and Bowser, completing a few last-minute tasks she wanted to finish before leaving for her quest the next day.
And there you have it, a short but action-packed second chapter. I admit Bowser does sound a little out-of-character in this chapter, but I wanted to make him sound a little generous to Calla considering that she's going to be battling a more sinister villain that he ever was, after all Bowser on occasion has helped Mario, albeit rarely.
Anyways, thanks for reading this chapter and stay tuned for the next one.