(A/N: All right, here's an interesting idea I came up with a while back. It doesn't have anything to do with "Super Mario Odyssey", which I'm sure you guys were probably sick of. This one mainly has to do with the royal Koopa family. Since I know what you wanna see, I'll start this fanfic for you.)
It was Mother's Day in Bowser's Kingdom. Not much was going on outside, but there's probably something interesting going on inside of Bowser's Castle. Let's head on over there and see what's up!
In the castle, Ludwig, Roy, Morton, Wendy, Iggy, Lemmy, and Larry, who were better known as the Koopalings, had gathered in the entertainment room with plenty of refreshments. They were watching the T.V., and the channel was turned to Nickelodeon. They knew well that the network was getting ready to air a 'Mother's Day Mama-thon', which was a marathon of mom-based episodes of every show they aired so far.
Now this marathon sounded very interesting to the Koopalings, and they had always liked watching Nickelodeon, so they decided that they were going to watch it, even though they were sure that it would remind them of their adoptive mother, who had died shortly after Bowser Jr. was born.
The marathon was just about to kick off with the Mother's Day special of "Rugrats" (the original series), and that's when their youngest sibling, their half-brother, Bowser Jr., walked into the room.
"Hey, guys! I was wondering where you had gone. What are you up to?" Jr. asked his older siblings.
"We're watching Nickelodeon." Larry replied as the show began.
"Okay. Hey, can I watch it with you?" Jr. asked. There were at least one or two programs he liked watching on that channel.
The Koopalings conversed in whispers. This particular special did get pretty sad near the end, but it also answered a pretty big question that viewers had been asking since the show's earlier years. But Jr. was really young, so maybe the sad part would go right over his little head. They turned to Jr. and said, "All right. You can stay."
"Great!" Jr. said as he obediently sat down and watched the show with his siblings. He was quiet and attentive as he watched the show, and he talked only during the commercial breaks. That made the Koopalings happy. It allowed them to focus on what they were watching.
About an hour later, after watching a few episodes of "Rugrats" that had to do with moms, and learning that he was watching a 'Mama-thon', Jr. began to put two and two together.
"Okay, I think I'm getting it now." said Jr.
"What are you getting?" asked Lemmy.
"The announcer says that we're watching a 'Mama-thon', and the episodes we've watched so far have a lot to do with women being parents, like Papa. Plus, the kids on the show are referring to these women as their mommies." Jr. said.
"Hey, that's very good." Iggy said. Jr. was pretty smart to have figured that out.
"But now that has me wondering: don't we have a mommy like they do?" Jr. asked.
The Koopalings all exchanged nervous glances. He had one, but Jr. didn't really remember his mother. He was far too young to remember her when she died, and Bowser told them never to tell Jr. about her. He didn't say it to be mean; he just didn't want to reopen the old wound in him and the Koopalings, and open a new one in Jr.
"Oh man, what are we going to say to him? We can't tell him the truth. King Dad made us promise that we would never tell Jr. about her." Morton whispered to his siblings.
"Yeah, that poses a big problem. He asked us about her, but what can we say when we were told to keep quiet? We can't just say, 'Sorry Jr., but we promised King Dad that we wouldn't talk to you about this topic.'" Wendy said.
Ludwig thought for a moment and whispered back, "Okay, during the next commercial break, I'll go tell King Dad about this and see what he says." And his siblings nodded in agreement.
"Well? Do we have a mommy, or don't we?" Jr. asked, a little impatient for the answer.
"Jr., we're not really in the position to tell you about that sort of thing." Larry said.
"But we're sure that King Dad will be glad to tell you about her." Roy quickly added, hoping that Jr. wouldn't ask why they couldn't tell him.
Jr. thought about it for a moment, and he must have decided that that would work best because he said, "Okay, I can handle that. But I wanna see the rest of this 'Mama-thon' before he tells me."
"Fair enough." Wendy said as she and her siblings inaudibly sighed in relief.
During the next commercial break, Ludwig quietly left the entertainment room and hurried to the throne room, where Bowser was lost in thought, trying to come up with a brand new plan to kidnap Princess Peach. But so far, he was having no such luck.
"King Dad!" Ludwig said in a loud voice, getting Bowser's attention.
"What?! Oh, Ludwig, it's just you. Is something wrong?" Bowser asked, turning to look at the oldest of the Koopalings.
"Well..." Ludwig replied, a little nervously.
"Is Mario here?" Bowser asked, sensing that something really was wrong.
"No, you know that Mario only shows up here whenever you take Princess Peach away from him. He wouldn't come here and belt you around without a valid reason. He's also one of the good guys, in more ways than one, which means that he has an image to maintain." Ludwig said.
"Oh, okay." said Bowser in relief. He was afraid that Mario had become some sort of mind-reader who was going to prevent him from chasing after Princess Peach. That's the last thing he needed.
"It's actually Jr. that I was going to tell you about." Ludwig told him.
"What's going on with your little brother? Is he sick? Did he get hurt?" Bowser asked, concerned about his youngest child.
"No, he's fine." Ludwig said.
"Then what's the problem?" Bowser asked.
"I was going to tell you that he's... curious." Ludwig finished.
"Curious? About what?" Bowser asked.
"About a very delicate yet difficult subject." Ludwig began.
"Oh... I don't like the sound of that." Bowser muttered. The last thing he needed right now was to hear that he would have to talk about something embarrassing that you can't really talk about with children at that age.
"I know, King Dad. We all know, because the subject happens to be someone who is no longer with us. Someone we all knew and loved, and will miss until we die. That someone was known to me and the other Koopalings as... Queen Mom." Ludwig replied, feeling a little uneasy at the look of dread on his adoptive father's face.
"Are you telling me that Jr. asked you kids about his mother? How in Grambi's name did he find out about her?" Bowser asked, a little angry.
"We didn't tell him about her, King Dad, I swear! It's just that... we've been watching the 'Mother's Day Mama-thon' on Nickelodeon, and Jr. wanted to watch it with us. As he watched, he began to put two and two together. He figured out what a mom is, and now he wants to know if we have one." Ludwig explained.
"So you're saying he doesn't know about his mother?" Bowser asked.
"Pretty much. He only asked us if we have a mother. We didn't say anything about her because we were told not to tell him. You're the one who told us to keep our mouths shut about her. We didn't forget that. So we decided that since he asked and you told us to keep quiet, the responsibility of telling him should fall to you, the one who knew her better than anyone else!" said Ludwig.
"All right." said Bowser.
"But you can't tell him about her just yet. He said that he wants to see the 'Mama-thon' to the end, and it's... kind of an all-day thing." said Ludwig.
"Really? Well, that's a good thing, because I know I'm going to need plenty of time to figure out just how I'm going to tell Jr. about this delicate subject." Bowser said.
"Okay." said Ludwig, and then he hurried back to the entertainment room, hoping that he hadn't missed anything from the next episode of the 'Mama-thon'.
"So, what did King Dad say when you told him?" Lemmy asked in a soft voice as Ludwig sat down with the rest of his siblings.
"At first, he thought we told him, but when I told him how Jr. learned what a mom is without us mentioning her, he said that he'll tell him, and he doesn't mind the long wait. It'll give him plenty of time to figure out how he's going to word his explanation." Ludwig replied, keeping his voice low.
"Yeah, telling Jr. that Queen Mom died won't be considered an easy chore. How in the world does one explain death to a small child? It's not gonna be very easy for them to comprehend." Iggy pointed out, also keeping his voice quiet.
"Perhaps Kamek will help him figure out something to say? He knows a lot, so I think he can help him figure out how to explain it to Jr. in a way he'll be able to understand." said Wendy in a whisper.
Two hours had passed, and Bowser was feeling unhappy. He really didn't know how to talk about a delicate subject like this one with his youngest child, a constant reminder of his late wife, Queen Clawdia Koopa. This was going to be hard for Bowser to do because a few years after her death, he still missed her like crazy, and the pain of losing her continued to cut him like a knife.
It was even harder than he first thought because he was still trying to come up with a plan to kidnap Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom. He had been interested in the lovely princess when he first saw her, but she did not return his feelings. Then he met Clawdia, who made him forget all about Peach and leave her alone. More importantly, she loved him as much as he did her. He finally found someone to love; someone of his species, and she made him very happy.
But when Clawdia died, Bowser felt sad and lonely, and he hated being a widower, so he decided that he would go after Princess Peach again. Even though he'd loved Clawdia to no end, he knew that his kingdom needed a queen, he needed a wife, and now his kids needed a mother. Peach was the perfect candidate for all 3 roles, and perhaps she would be willing to give him a chance after hearing about his motherless children.
However, Peach still had no interest in being married to Bowser. She said that she was sorry to hear about his wife, but she did not love him enough to be his wife and a mother to his children. Plus, she was currently courting Mario, and they were in love. He did not like that answer.
Then he realized something important: since Jr. was too young to remember his mother, and Bowser really wanted Peach to be a mom to his kids, he could easily combine the two things into one. He decided that he would tell Jr. that Princess Peach was his real mother, but she was kidnapped by Mario. Not only would this story make Jr. hate Mario, he was sure that Jr. would be willing to help his papa get back the princess! That would work!
"Oh yeah! I am so bad!" Bowser gloated, laughing to himself as he thought about his fiendish plan. Now all he had to do was figure out how to word his story about Peach to Jr. And that was actually pretty easy.
As he said the story out loud to himself, he imagined himself telling it to Jr., and the child was sitting on his lap, listening intently to his explanation about Peach. But that was when Bowser came across a new problem. In his mind, he heard Jr. asking him, "Is she pretty, Papa?"
"You'd better believe she's pretty. She's the prettiest sight you'll ever see." Bowser replied.
"Then that means you took some pictures of her, right?" Jr. asked.
Bowser froze as he realized what Jr. was asking.
"Uhhh, why do you want to see pictures of her?" Bowser asked nervously. He had pictures of her, and the internet had lots of pictures of her, but none of them really showed her with his family to help prove his point.
"Well, Papa, you know that I have to know what my mama looks like, so I'll know who we're looking for!" Jr. said.
"Can't I just tell you what she looks like?" Bowser tried weakly.
"Oh, come on, Papa, describing her isn't enough for me to know what I'm supposed to be looking for. It will make finding her a little easier, but not much. You still have to show me what she looks like." Jr. replied.
Bowser snapped out of his daydream as soon as he realized that he didn't have any good pictures of Princess Peach around here. He knew that he could easily go online and print some out, but that wouldn't work. He knew that Jr. would need concrete proof that Peach was a member of this family. If he found the photo albums and saw that Peach wasn't in them...
But then Bowser knew that this problem could be easily remedied.
"KAMEK! Get in here!" Bowser yelled for his right-hand Magikoopa and guardian.
"Yes, Sire?" Kamek asked, flying into the throne room on his favorite broomstick.
"I need you to do me a huge favor." Bowser said.
"What is it this time?" Kamek asked, trying not to sound displeased. Bowser was notorious for asking him for favors he didn't think were very good... or smart.
"You know about the photo albums in my room? Well, I want you to look over them very carefully and put a spell on the ones that have photos of Clawdia in them." Bowser said.
"This doesn't sound good." Kamek thought. He warily asked, "Any particular reason why, Sire?"
"Yes. Jr. inquired about his mother from some cartoons he's watching with his siblings." Bowser began.
"Oh, so he finally asked about his missing mother, eh?" Kamek asked.
"Yeah. I should have known that he would figure out what a mom is sooner or later, but he found out a lot sooner than I hoped he would." Bowser said.
"You're right, Sire. It does seem too soon for you to discuss the matter with him. He's still so young, and death is a very tragic subject to discuss with children. But at his age, it would probably go right over his head..." Kamek mused, before asking, "So, what are you going to say to him? How are you going to make him understand what happened to his mom without making a mess of things?"
"That's what I was trying to figure out, but then I got the greatest idea ever. I'm going to tell him that Princess Peach is his mother." Bowser said.
Kamek was silent for a moment, then asked in a flat voice, "You're kidding, right?"
"No, Kamek, I'm serious about this." Bowser said.
"You're telling me that you're actually going to lie to your own flesh and blood about the woman who brought him into the world?!" Kamek asked.
"I'm not lying to him. I'm just... keeping the truth hidden." Bowser said.
"Sire, listen to me! There is a big difference between lying and keeping the truth hidden, and you're thinking of doing the former. That is not a good idea!" Kamek told him.
"It's not really lying if he doesn't remember her, Kamek." Bowser replied.
"It is, too! I don't care if Jr. wasn't old enough to remember his mother when she died! You're still lying to your son about who she was, and that's wrong! It's so wrong it should be declared illegal!" Kamek shouted.
"Hey, do you really think I want to tell him that his mom is dead?! That she's no longer with us so he'll never get to know her?!" Bowser asked.
"I know that no child wants to hear that he doesn't have a mother, but..." Kamek started.
"And just how do you explain death to a child his age?" Bowser interrupted.
"I know it's not the easiest thing to do... I had to think of an easy way to explain the death of your parents to you... But if he ever finds out that you were lying to him about who she really is..." Kamek started.
"He won't find out because I'm taking precautions. And one of them involves asking you to take the pictures of Clawdia and replace her image with Peach! Jr. will need proof that Peach is a member of this family!" Bowser explained.
"But she isn't! And even if I do play along with your stupid little game, the real truth will come out in the end, and when it does, your son is going to have trust issues! He's never going to be able to trust you again! And we all know that trust isn't something that can easily be repaired once it has been broken!" Kamek warned him.
"He'll never know, because as soon as Peach sees the motherless child and learns that he thinks of her as his mom, she isn't going to mind. She'll be flattered." Bowser told him.
"That's what you think! You already tried that idea before! Surely you can remember how well that went!" Kamek said. He remembered how the princess was vehemently against the idea of being Bowser's wife, as well as a mother to his kids. She was so against it that Bowser hired a hypnotist to brainwash her into going along with the wedding. Until a horde of Yoshis fixed that.
"There is just no way that Peach will be able to resist Jr. because he's cute as a bug's ear! Plus, she's a girl, and girls love cute things, so I can't possibly see her turning him down!" Bowser replied.
"Okay, I'm not going to deny that Jr. is cute, because at his age, he really is. But you also have to realize that Peach is not going to be very easily fooled, Sire! She's not going to like him because he looks so much like you, and you know how much she hates you! She's not going to like this idea at all! And she'll know that you lied to him about who she is, which is going to make her hate you even more!" Kamek warned.
At those words, Bowser looked like he was going to reconsider his decision, which made Kamek feel hopeful. If there was one thing he wanted right now, it was to see Bowser change his mind and realize that lying to his son about his mom was a stupid idea. But then Bowser shook his head and said, "No way! She'll love him too much to care because of how adorable he is! Now go get the albums and change those pictures!"
Kamek quietly let out a disappointed sigh as he flew to Bowser's bedroom. On the way there, he said to himself, "Why do I even bother trying to talk some sense into that big, stupid head of his? Talking to him is like talking to a brick wall; you're never going to get anywhere by doing that. I really don't want to do this, but he's not giving me a choice. And I just know that I'm gonna regret this."
He reluctantly went to the box of photo albums in Bowser's room and looked through each album very carefully (except the wedding album, which had too many pictures of Clawdia in it). If he found pictures of Clawdia in them, he set them off to the side. He knew what he had to do, even though he really didn't like the idea.
After carefully going through each album, the Magikoopa lined up the books, produced his wand, then looked away as he cast the spell on them. When it was over, Kamek opened up one of the albums, and sure enough, every picture of Clawdia had been changed. In her place stood the fair Princess Peach. But he wasn't the least bit happy about what he had done. Instead, he was very disappointed in himself.
"Well, I've done what you asked me to, Sire. Jr. won't have any problems believing you, for now. But mark my words. The truth will be revealed to him in some other way, and my magic can't change that." Kamek muttered darkly to himself as he put the albums away.
Uh-oh! Bowser decided that instead of telling Jr. the truth about his mom, he's going to lie to him so he'll have a mother. And despite Kamek's warning, he didn't listen! What'll happen? Stay tuned to find out!