(A/N: Did I really just take this story to a 6th chapter? Huh, this is turning out to be bigger than I thought! Okay, I know what you want, so I'll get this show on the road!)

A few nights after Mario showed up on the island, the Koopalings and Kamek were watching the news again to see how things were going on Isle Delfino. This time, they learned that not only was the island all cleaned up, the Shine Sprites had returned, and the island was back to the way it was supposed to be, a sun-drenched tropical paradise.

"Perhaps King Dad has no other choice but to come home now." Ludwig said.

"Good. And I hope he told Jr. the truth about Princess Peach." Lemmy said.

"He had to have done it. Mario must have put everything right and saved her by now. And surely he and Peach were letting Jr. know that King Dad was a lying liar who lies. Peach doesn't need a husband who does that, and Mario would never lie to her." Wendy replied.

"That's true, and you know what? Mario can have her because I still don't want her to be our mom." Larry put in.

"Neither do we. Not after what King Dad did." said Roy.

"Kids..." Kamek started. He was wondering if they really meant it.

"Oh, don't worry, Kamek. We're not saying this just to spite King Dad for betraying Queen Mom's memory. Yes, we're still mad at him for doing that, but we decided that we really mean it when we say that we no longer want her to be our mom. She hates this place. And just why would he want Peach to be our mom, anyway?" Iggy asked.

"Because he really wants Jr. (and the rest of you) to have a mother in your lives again, and she's the perfect candidate for the job in his eyes." Kamek said.

"Yeah, well, Peach isn't going to work. She doesn't like us, and I'm sure she already hates Jr. more than anything. It's bad enough that he looks like a miniature version of King Dad, and what he tried to do to Mario before their vacation even began wasn't going to make her like him. Can you imagine what she must have been feeling when Jr. referred to her as his mother?" Morton asked.

"I don't like the idea of your dad lying to your brother any more than you do, but when they get home, you kids might not want to bring that up out loud, just in case your father still hasn't told Jr. the whole truth." Kamek said.

"No, after Mario got her back, Jr. has probably seen how in love Mario and the princess really are. He's probably asking King Dad to tell him the truth about Peach being his mommy." Lemmy said.

"Yeah. There's no way he can deny it if Mario and Peach started making out right in front of them." Larry said.

"Didn't you used to think that adults making out was gross?" Wendy asked.

"Yeah, but that was before King Dad decided he was going to betray Queen Mom's memory." Larry told her.

"Good point." said Roy.

"Yeah. So we're not going to be the least bit surprised if King Dad and Jr. return to us without the princess." Ludwig said.

Several days passed before Bowser and Jr. returned to the castle. Sure enough, they did not have Peach with them, which didn't surprise the Koopalings or Kamek. They were actually expecting the pair to return empty-handed.

"Well, King Dad, what a surprise!" Larry said, even though he didn't sound all that surprised.

"So, where's Jr.'s mom?" asked Morton. He couldn't resist asking that question.

"MORTON, YOU BIG MOUTH!" Kamek and the other Koopalings yelled. (A/N: A little nod to the "Super Mario" cartoons that featured the Koopalings. Morton's name in the cartoons was "Big Mouth".)

"Relax, everyone! I told Jr. the truth about Peach after Mario bested us and rescued her." Bowser said.

"You did? Well, it's about time you confessed! You should've told him that from the very start!" said Roy.

"I know! So I told him! Are you happy now?!" Bowser asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Lemmy replied.

"So Jr. knows the truth? That Peach is not really his mother after all?" Larry asked.

"I kinda suspected that's what Papa was going to say when he said he had something difficult to tell me about her..." Jr. said, sounding unhappy.

"Jr., you had to suspect that something was up from the very beginning of King Dad's story. For one thing, you were informed that Peach is a princess. You couldn't really consider her a princess if she was married to King Dad." Wendy told him.

Jr. remembered his father telling him that the wife of a king was called a queen, and he realized that it did sound pretty suspicious now that he was thinking about it. He shrugged and said, "Huh... I guess I never thought about that detail before..."

"And in case you haven't noticed, she's not a Koopa like the rest of us are." Iggy said.

"I have noticed that, and in case you've forgotten, Papa told me that you guys were adopted." Jr. told him.

"That's true, but didn't you also find it a little odd that, like us, you really don't look anything like her? That you look more like King Dad than you do her?" asked Ludwig.

Jr. was quiet as he thought about that. He'd looked in the mirror lots of times before, and he had to admit to himself that he really did look like a miniature version of his father, as Peach had stated. He mentally compared himself to Peach and realized that there were no similarities between them.

"You're right. Peach did mention that to Papa." Jr. said.

"Because she knew that she's not your mother." said Lemmy.

"But you should know that even though she's not really my mama, that doesn't change anything." Jr. began.

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!" Roy yelled. He thought Jr. was going to say that he had a feeling that he was still going to think of Peach as his mother. If that was the case, then he was going to drag Jr. into the dirty bathroom and give him a swirly.

"I'm not finished. I told Papa that someday, when I'm bigger... I wanna fight that Mario again!" Jr. finished.

"And you made your papa very proud." Bowser said, picking up Jr. and holding him close.

The Koopalings should've seen that one coming. Their little brother wasn't going to give up on wanting to defeat Mario, even though the truth was out. Roy even said, "Okay."

"Well, we're sorry that you had to find out the truth the hard way, Jr. If we had known that King Dad was going to lie to you, we would have just told you about Queen Mom right away." Morton said.

"Okay." said Jr.

Months had passed since Bowser and Jr.'s failed attempt to ruin Mario and Peach's vacation, but by now, Jr. realized something else. While his father may have said that Peach wasn't his mother, Jr. still had no idea what happened to his real mom, or who she was. In that case, he decided that he still really wanted Peach to be his mom. Perhaps he could try and convince her to accept the idea.

But he had a problem. He couldn't do that on his own. He was going to need help. He first went to the Koopalings to see if they wouldn't mind helping him make Peach consider the idea of being his mom. Unfortunately for him, they weren't going to help him convince Peach to marry their dad because they were still angry that he didn't tell him the truth from the beginning.

"Sorry, Jr., but the princess is staying in her own castle. We can't let her come here because it would be like rewarding King Dad. He had you so convinced that she was your mother, he began to believe that his lie was the truth, and that only convinced you that he was being truthful." said Iggy.

"And because of that, we decided that we don't want Peach to be our mom. Ever." Lemmy said.

"You're going to have to get used to that fact. If you want to help King Dad find someone to marry who isn't a human princess, maybe we'll be more willing to help you." said Morton.

And Jr. could not convince Kamek to help him, either. He was also against the idea.

"Jr., I can't do that. Your father asked me to help him lie to you about Peach, and he refused to let me talk him out of the idea. I'm very sorry, but I'm not going to help you turn his lie into a reality." Kamek apologized.

Jr. hesitated before talking to his dad about his idea. But then he decided it was worth a shot. Maybe he would approve of the idea and tell him to go for it. So he walked into the throne room, where Bowser was quietly sitting on his throne, reading the latest issue of Badder Homes & Gardens.

"Papa...?" Jr. called out softly, hoping to get his father's attention.

Bowser lowered the magazine and saw Jr. looking up at him.

"Hey, Jr. What's up?" Bowser asked.

"I... I had an idea... and I need your approval on it." Jr. said.

"What kind of idea?" Bowser asked.

"I... well, I know you said that Princess Peach... is not my mama..." Jr. said.

"Yeah, I never should have lied to you about her..." Bowser sighed. He didn't need to be reminded of that fact...

"But I was thinking... maybe I could still try and convince her to become my mama?" Jr. suggested.

"Oh? Color me intrigued. How do you plan to do that?" Bowser asked, sounding interested.

"For starters, I'm still going to call her 'Mama'." Jr. replied.

"That's good." Bowser said.

"And then I'll find a way to bring her here to show her just how much fun living with us can be." Jr. added.

"You know, you may be on to something." Bowser said, thinking about it.

"What do you say?" Jr. asked.

"Go for it!" Bowser told him.

A few weeks later, it was spring, and Mario and his friends (and rivals) got into playing baseball around that time. They all went out and found players for their teams. Now Bowser enjoyed a good game of baseball as much as the good guys did, so he talked to Jr. about it, and he was eager to help his old man win some games (and be a captain of his own team). The Koopalings stayed out of this one, since they had a bad feeling that they knew what Bowser and Jr. were planning.

After finding players for their teams, Bowser decided it would be fun to challenge Mario, his friends, and their teams to his own team. Jr. was happy to join in the fun for once, and he was pleased to find that one of the team captains was none other than Princess Peach.

"Oh! Mama! Play a game with me! Don't run away!" Jr. said as he ran after Peach.

Upon hearing him, Peach stopped, spun around real fast, and saw Bowser Jr. approaching her. She rolled her eyes in annoyance, showing that she was not surprised that he was still calling her his mama. When was Bowser going to tell that boy the truth?!

"Are you talking to me?" Peach asked Jr. in a sharp voice that clearly indicated that her feathers were still ruffled from the incident on Isle Delfino. However, she didn't really know if Jr. heard the anger in her voice. If he did, he must have been pretending that he didn't, because he replied, "Yeah! Come on, Mama! Let's play!"

"Tell you what: stop calling me 'Mama', and maybe I will play against you." Peach said.

"Huh? Why can't I call you 'Mama'? I thought maybe you would appreciate the fact that I want you to be my Mama." Jr. replied, more than a little surprised and trying to sound hurt. He was also trying to make puppy dog eyes at her, but that didn't work. Peach wasn't falling for it.

"Well, I don't want to be a mother because I'm not ready for motherhood just yet. However, I will tell you that I'm pleased to hear you not adding my name to the parental title this time, since it was very disrespectful to me. But I'd rather that you don't refer to me as something I'm not. The Toads would not handle that sort of thing very well if they heard it." Peach said. She could see Toadsworth going into cardiac arrest if he heard that and put two and two together.

Jr. knew that she was telling him to not call her 'Mama' anymore. His plan to convince her to be his mama was not going to work.

"Fine. You win." Jr. sighed. He hated the fact that Peach didn't like him referring to her as his mama. If that was the case, he wondered if she was ever going to have kids. Well, at the rate she was going, she probably wouldn't ever be ready to experience motherhood.

Secretly, Peach did want to have kids someday, but only after she married Mario. She loved him, and she saw how good he was with children during festivals in the Mushroom Kingdom. Kids adored him, for they would run to him and give him a big hug as they thanked him for all he did for their homeland.

Mario would simply return their kindness by giving them a smile, saying that he was happy to help, and give them a pat on the back before sending them on their way. He'd make a wonderful father; a lot better than Bowser. But she wasn't going to tell that to Jr., and she was sure Bowser already knew it.

"Hey, Jr. I'm pretty sure I saw you playing a game of baseball with Peach and her team earlier today. It's great that you were able to convince her to do that. How did it go?" Bowser asked when Jr. returned to him after the game against Peach's team.

"Not so good, Papa. I lost miserably, and I know it's because Peach was still mad at me for what I did to her and Mario at Isle Delfino. She told me not to call her 'mama' anymore." Jr. replied with a sad sigh.

"That bad, huh?" Bowser asked.

"I don't understand it, Papa. Won't she have to become a mama someday?" Jr. asked.

"Of course she will. She's royalty, and when you're royalty, you have to have kids, like it or not. Royal kids are known as heirs who can take the throne when you feel like you have to step down; when you know it's time to stop ruling and give them the chance to try it themselves. And if Peach is smart, she'll come around and realize that you are the perfect kid for her." Bowser told him.

"I am?" Jr. asked.

"You are!" Bowser replied.

"How?" Jr. asked.

"It's like this, Jr. If Peach agreed to adopt you, then she would be safe." Bowser began.

"Safe? From what? It can't be from Mario, because she told us that he makes her feel safe. I don't get it." Jr. said with a slight shrug of his tiny shoulders.

"She would be safe from having to go through the pain and suffering that women who want kids of their own have to endure, and she could also keep her slim, gorgeous figure. Most women have to kiss it good-bye when they want to be moms. And when they have children, they have the tendency to let themselves go. Peach can't afford to let herself go. She has an image to maintain, and she knows it better than any woman." Bowser explained.

But even as he spoke, he realized the futility of the idea. He knew for a fact that Peach would never agree to the idea. Adopting his kids was completely out of the question for her. She had to have her own children, with her spouse, and he knew that if she must have children of her own, she'd rather have them with Mario only. Still, he hoped Jr. wouldn't realize it.

"Okay, Papa. I'll keep trying to get Peach to like the idea of being my mama!" Jr. said.

A few months later, Jr. came up with a plan to get Peach in his clutches, and it might actually work. He was going to ask Bowser's newest minion, Lakithunder, to join him on a visit to the Mushroom Kingdom. Lakithunder would attack Peach's Castle while she and Mario were out. The idea was to make Mario leave Peach's side to find out what was going on at the castle, and then Jr. could snatch her up and deliver her to his father.

"You know what? It sounds like a great idea, Jr.! Talk to Lakithunder, and tell him that I told you to put that plan into play as soon as you can!" Bowser told him when he ran the idea by him.

So Jr. and Lakithunder went to the Mushroom Kingdom to carry out the plan. But they had to make sure that Mario and Peach were not in the castle before they could make this plan work.

To Jr.'s good fortune, Mario and Peach were not in the castle. They had gone out for a short walk, but it seemed that now they were on their way back to the castle, so it was time to put Jr.'s plan into action. And it went off without a hitch. When Mario and Peach were close, they saw that the castle was under attack, and the Toads were running out of the castle, scared out of their minds.

Mario quickly recovered from the initial shock and told the princess to wait there while he hurried to the castle to make sure that everyone was okay. Peach didn't argue with him. She trusted Mario with all her heart, and she was sure that he would be able to set things right. However, because she was so busy watching Mario, she didn't see Jr. sneaking up behind her before grabbing her around the waist and making off with her!

It didn't take long for Mario to realize that the attack on the castle had been a diversion just so Jr. could get his filthy little hands on Peach. He felt like a stupid dummy for leaving her side. He felt the need to apologize to the princess after the rescue, saying that he was wrong to leave her by herself while he checked on the Toads. He said that he should have remembered that bad things happen to her when he's not by her side.

(A/N: The games "Super Mario Sunshine" and "Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga" are very good examples of this.)

But even though Mario felt really bad, Peach told him that she could forgive him. She knew that he made a mistake by leaving her side, but she wasn't going to stay mad at him for it. Although he was concerned about her safety, she felt that maybe he didn't want her going near the castle on the off-chance she might suffer an attack from that cloud. He would never forgive himself if anything like that happened to her.

Jr. tried causing mischief in the Baseball Kingdom, but he failed to do that. He and his father lost to Mario's team in the end. But in spite of that, they were still allowed to attend the after-party on the Daisy Cruiser. However, they weren't really enjoying themselves, and they didn't get much of the treats like everyone else did, but the food was forgotten as the homerun derby/fireworks show got started, with Mario and Donkey Kong putting on quite the show.

And that was where the unthinkable happened. Someone (Bowser and Jr. didn't know who) put a big Bullet Bill in the cannon that fired Bob-ombs for Mario and Donkey Kong to hit. The Bullet Bill was coming at Mario too fast for him to dodge, and his bat would never be able to counter it. But to everyone's complete surprise, Bowser leaped out in front of Mario with his own bat at the ready and sent the weapon the other way, saving Mario from very certain death.

"PAPA! What did you do that for?! Mario was going to die! You could have taken Peach to join our family if you let that Bullet kill him! But you went and saved his life?! How could you do that to us; to him?! What were you thinking?!" Jr. asked his father in incredulous anger after he walked off of the field.

"Look, Jr., I hate Mario as much as you do, but there's a reason why I did that!" Bowser began.

"Why?! So Peach can marry him?! I thought you wanted her to be my mama! She can't do that if she marries Mario, and you know it!" Jr. unhappily asked.

"Listen to me! Someone else was trying to kill Mario, and you should know as well as I do that if anyone is supposed to do him in, then it's got to be me, or you. Or maybe even both of us. Not someone else!" Bowser told him.

"Ohhhh, okay." Jr. said, understanding.

It took a long while after that before Bowser Jr. had the guts to go near Mario and Peach again. And when he did, he happened to overhear a conversation between the couple. Peach told Mario that her birthday was coming up, and she was going to have a party to celebrate it, which surprised Jr. greatly. Thanks to his father, he never thought of Peach as someone with a birthday before. But now that he knew about it, this was news to him.

He ran back to the castle as fast as he could, and after catching his breath, he excitedly told his father about what he heard from Mario and Peach. Bowser realized that he never once thought about Peach having a birthday. He quickly went online so he could find out when Peach's birthday was. To their surprise, it was only two weeks away!

Before long, Bowser Jr. came up with a plan to kidnap Peach on her birthday. On the day of the party, he would hide himself in a huge cake that would be delivered to Peach's Castle, and when he got there, he would jump out, take the princess, and bring her back to their own castle, where she would find that they were regular party animals, and the right people for her to celebrate with. Then she'd like the idea of living with them.

"Jr., while your plan sounds like a great idea, I really don't think you can carry out the plan all by yourself. You already know that the princess has already invited Mario to this shindig, and if he sees you, there will be trouble. He'll quickly leap into action and stop you in your tracks before you can lay even one hand on Peach." Bowser told him.

"Hmm... You're right about that, Papa. If I go to Peach's birthday party alone, I'm not going to be able to kidnap her from the party she's having that easily. Not if Mario will be there to protect her. I'm going to need some extra help." Jr. said as he thought about his father's words. So he had to get some help with this. At a lack of better options, he went to look for the Koopalings, hoping they might be willing to help him this time.

"Guys, can I ask for your help with something?" Jr. asked the Koopalings, who were busy in the entertainment room. Roy and Morton were having a team battle against Iggy and Lemmy in a "Super Smash Bros." game with Wendy and Larry cheering them on, and Ludwig was busy trying to come up with another Koopa symphony in his head, writing down the notes for the song.

"What is it?" asked Ludwig, looking up from his work.

"I... I'm going to need your help with a plan that I have." Jr. replied, sounding a little nervous.

"What does your plan involve?" Wendy asked.

"Kidnapping Princess Peach." Jr. replied.

"Absolutely-" the Koopalings began in unison.

"YES!" Jr. cheered. He was afraid they were going to refuse.

"NOT!" the Koopalings firmly finished in unison.

"Aw, come on! You guys didn't even let me explain what I have in mind this time around!" Jr. exclaimed.

"Because we don't wanna hear it! And we don't need to hear it! We get what's going on inside your head!" said Lemmy.

"You do?" Jr. asked.

"Yup. It's obvious you still think that Peach is your mom. You said you knew that she wasn't, but we can tell that you were lying about it. You haven't given up on the idea." Larry said.

"I wasn't lying! I know she's not my mama. She even told me to stop calling her that a while back." Jr. said.

"Then why do you insist on kidnapping her when you know that she never wants to be your mom? That she's never going to accept the idea of being your mom?" asked Iggy.

"Because Papa and I found out that her birthday is coming up. I was thinking that maybe we could kidnap her from the lame party she's planning and bring her over here. Then we can show her what a fun party is really like." said Jr.

"Well, we are natural-born party animals..." Morton said.

"And a party does sound like a lot of fun." said Lemmy.

"So you'll help me?" Jr. asked hopefully.

"Never!" said Roy.

Jr. let out a frustrated groan. He knew they could help him out, but now knew that he was going to have to offer them something really big if he wanted their cooperation. After a few minutes, he had an idea, but it was not a really good idea for him. This wasn't going to be fun at all, but he was willing to make them an offer they couldn't refuse.

"Listen, if you'll agree to help me do this... I promise to do all your chores for a whole week." Jr. suggested.

"6 months." Larry said.

"No way! How about two weeks?" Jr. tried.

"5 months." said Lemmy.

"1 month." said Jr.

"3 months. Take it or leave it." Wendy replied.

Jr. knew what that last sentence meant. If he didn't take it, then they weren't going to help him. And so...

"You win. I'll take it." Jr. sighed.

On the appointed day, Bowser took the kids to Peach's Castle. Once there, they used their magic wands to conjure up a huge, two-layer cake, which they leaped into, hoping that no one would be suspicious about this huge treat that was popular at birthday parties. They somehow managed to get inside the castle, and at the right moment, they leaped out, threw the big cake on top of the princess, picked it up, and got away with her, much to Mario's anger.

Bowser even got Kamek to help him out (against his will). The idea was for him to make Mario think he'd found Peach, but it would be a trap so Bowser could finish off his enemy once and for all!

"All right, I'll do it, but you're going to tell that boy about his real mother after this plan fails." Kamek told him as he made himself look like Princess Peach. A short and ugly-looking Princess Peach.

"What?! How can you think this plan won't work?! More importantly, how did you know I haven't told Jr. about Clawdia yet?!" Bowser asked incredulously.

"Sire, none of your plans have worked before, so I don't see this one working, either. And you can't think that I don't know what's going on around here. You're acting as though I didn't notice that he was still referring to Peach as his mother during the first time everyone got bitten by the baseball bug!" Kamek said.

"So what? Can't he want her as a mother?" Bowser asked.

"After everything your son has done to Peach so far, she hates him about as much as she does you. There is no way that she's ever going to think of accepting him as her son, especially after you lied to him and let him treat her with the utmost disrespect." Kamek said.

"He wasn't disrespecting her, Kamek! Jr. was simply referring to her as his mother! How was that disrespectful?!" Bowser said.

"I heard that when he addressed her as his mother, he was adding her name to the parental title. That is disrespectful." Kamek said.

"You mean when he was calling her 'Mama Peach'? No way! It was meant to be flattering!" Bowser said.

"But she wasn't flattered, and you should've warned Jr. about the chances of that! You screwed everything up, so it's well and truly over! You're going to have to bite the bullet and tell him about Clawdia, no matter how painful it is for you!" Kamek demanded in a serious voice.

"Okay, keep your robe on! I'll tell him!" Bowser said.

But will Bowser stay true to his word and tell Jr. about Clawdia? Well... you'll just have to stay tuned if you want to find out the answer to that question!