(A/N: I actually took this story to 4 chapters, but Jr.'s got 7 challenges ahead of him! How are they gonna go?! Well, maybe we'll find out if I get this chapter started, so settle down and read!)
The following morning, Bowser Jr. was awake before his papa, which was common.
"Papa, it's morning! Time to get up and start the day!" Jr. told Bowser, trying to rouse him.
"Think again, Mario. I've got Peach in my clutches, and she's going to be all mine... You're not going to take her away from me again. Not this time..." Bowser said in his sleep.
Jr. noticed that his father's eyes were closed, so he realized that his father was in the middle of a dream. He managed to free himself from his father's hold and said, "All right, Papa. You can have your fun with Peach, even though she's not really here."
Then he got out of the bed, left the room, and started making his way downstairs, where breakfast was about to be served. But on his way there, he bumped into his older siblings.
"Well, lookie here! It's Jr.!" said Ludwig.
"And he looks bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!" added Wendy.
"Does that mean you're ready?" asked Iggy.
"Ready for the day? You know it!" said Jr.
"He meant the challenges, stupid. You know, the ones we told you about last night." Roy reminded him.
Jr. thought for a moment, and then he said, "Oh yeah, those! I'm ready for them, so bring it on!"
"We will. After breakfast." Lemmy promised, and the kids made their way to the dining hall.
Kamek was pleased to see Jr. and the Koopalings in the room, but he noticed that Bowser was absent.
"Kids, where's your father?" Kamek asked.
"Last I saw, he was still asleep, and he was dreaming that he was telling Mario to forget about Princess Peach." Jr. responded.
"If anyone needs to forget about the princess, it's King Dad. He knows that she hates him, which means that she's not good for him, or any of us." said Larry in a quiet voice.
"You know, I've learned that there are a few tricks to waking up your father when he has dreams like that. Come with me, and I'll show you how it's done." said Kamek, beckoning for the kids to follow him.
"Aww, Kamek, do we really have to wake King Dad before we eat? I'm starving! I want pancakes, or a waffle. I don't wanna go wake up King Dad. Not right now! Can't I have something to eat before we do that?" Morton complained as they began walking up the stairs to Bowser's room.
"All right, you big wuss! You want something to eat? Fine! You can eat a knuckle sandwich!" said Roy, punching Morton right in the kisser. But Morton retaliated by grabbing Roy's fist and gnawing on it.
"Hey! Leggo my fist!" Roy yelled, pounding on Morton's head with his other fist.
"Kamek, Roy just punched Morton in the mouth!" Lemmy tattled.
"And Morton's eating Roy's fist!" Jr. added.
Kamek turned around and saw that the youngsters were right about the two older ones, and he yelled, "Knock that off!"
Morton and Roy did as Kamek ordered them to, but that didn't stop them from pointing the accusing finger at the other and saying, "He started it!"
"I don't care who started it. Your father is going to hear about this when I get him up." said Kamek as they continued making their way to Bowser's room.
A few minutes later, they were standing outside the door leading to Bowser's room. Kamek slowly and quietly opened the door, and they saw Bowser lying in his bed, still asleep, and still sawing logs. His spiky shell was to his family, so if he was awake, he had no idea they were there.
"All right, kids. Watch and learn." said Kamek. The Magikoopa walked over to Bowser's bed, climbed onto it, and shook the Koopa King a little, saying in a gentle voice, "Come on, Sire. It's morning. Up and at 'em!"
Bowser turned over in his sleep and grabbed Kamek into his arms and held him close like a teddy bear. Kamek was so surprised that he dropped his wand and it fell on the floor.
"Okay, so the idea is to let King Dad grab you, then cuddle you as if you were his very own teddy bear?" asked Iggy as he and his siblings tried not to laugh.
"No! This isn't part of the plan!" Kamek told him, before nudging Bowser in the arm, saying, "Wake up, Sire!"
"Oh, Peach... I love you, too... Now come a little closer and give Daddy some sugar!" Bowser said, and then he started to kiss Kamek in his sleep.
"WHY WON'T YOU WAKE UP?!" Kamek shouted, which, unfortunately, did not wake Bowser.
The children hadn't expected anything like that to happen, especially to Kamek, but they thought it was hilarious as they lay laughing on the floor. The sound of their raucous laughter was enough to get Bowser to stop the kissing, and it woke him up. Imagine his surprise when he saw Kamek in his arms, rather than Princess Peach. He didn't seem to be amused.
"What the-?! What's going on?" Bowser asked as he let go of Kamek.
"Sire, when it comes to your unhealthy obsession with Princess Peach, I'm going to have to insist that you do like Elsa said in her song and let it go!" Kamek demanded as he got down from the bed and picked up his wand.
"Yeah, King Dad. It's really simple. You just do this!" said Larry as he pulled out his smartphone and brought up a video of the overly-famous song, and the chorus line played.
"See?" asked Larry as he stopped the video.
"You do realize that it's going to take a lot more than some overrated Disney song to make me give up on Peach, right?" Bowser asked in a flat voice.
"Well, we tried." said Ludwig.
"Anyway, let's get downstairs, breakfast is ready." said Kamek.
"Okay!" said Bowser as he got out of bed.
"Finally! I was afraid that we were never going to eat. I was about ready to keel over and die." said Morton as they started making their way downstairs.
"You'd be fine! I already fed you, so quit your belly-aching!" said Roy.
"What you gave me doesn't qualify as food! And it'll stop aching when I actually eat something!" Morton retorted.
"Oh yeah, King Dad. While we were coming to get you up, Roy punched Morton in the mouth, and then Morton tried to eat Roy's fist." Lemmy tattled.
Well, Bowser didn't need to hear something like that first thing in the morning. He grabbed the older Koopalings and held them real close to his face as he said in a very stern voice, "Let me make this perfectly clear. If you boys ever try to do anything like that to each other again, and I hear about it, then the both of you will be grounded until you're my age. You got that?!"
Roy and Morton, scared, rapidly nodded their heads.
"Good. Now promise me that you'll cut the crap. I really don't need to hear about you guys causing trouble after I was forced to wake up from a wonderful dream about Princess Peach. That's one of the very last things I need to hear first thing in the morning." Bowser told them.
"Yes, King Dad." the boys replied in unison.
The Koopa family enjoyed their breakfast, and Jr. ate quite a bit more than normal. Something told him that the challenge ahead of him was not going to be easy, and it wouldn't be fun, either. He knew that he had to be ready for whatever his siblings wanted him to do.
After they finished eating, the Koopalings led Jr. to the castle's entertainment room, which was set up for the week of challenges. The Koopalings made sure it was ready before turning in last night.
"Okay, Jr. Are you ready to begin the first challenge?" asked Ludwig.
"Yes!" said Jr.
"All right." Ludwig replied as Wendy turned on the T.V., and Larry handed him an NES controller.
"Oh, I'm going to play an NES game, huh? This is going to be a piece of cake!" Jr. exclaimed.
"So you say." Larry thought, snickering to himself as he turned on the NES.
Jr. looked at the screen, and at first he was excited as he hit the 'Start' button, 'cause the title screen looked a lot like that of "Super Koopa". He loved that game, and it was so easy for him to play! But when the next screen came up, he was very confused.
The next screen showed what appeared to be an 8-bit Mario next to the number of lives the player was starting with. And when the game began, he found that he was controlling Mario, and the enemies looked the way they always had!
"What the-?!" Jr. exclaimed as he paused the game and reset it. This time, he got a real good look at the title screen, and what he saw made him gasp. The title screen was that of the original "Super Mario Bros. 2" (the one released only in Japan)! But that wasn't the worst part. It allowed him to play a 'Mario game' or 'Luigi game'. This game was not "Super Koopa", nor its more difficult sequel!
"Hey, what gives?!" Jr. asked.
"What do you mean, what gives? You barely even started playing when you hit the 'reset' button." said Larry.
"Yeah, because at my first glance, I thought this was "Super Koopa", but I can see that I was wrong! Dead wrong! It turned out to be a stupid "Mario" game instead! What are you guys thinking, making me play a "Mario" game?! I can't play "Mario" games! You know that!" Jr. complained.
"Oh, yes you can, and there's a reason why we're making you play a "Mario" game." said Wendy.
"It had better be a good one." said Jr.
"It is. Do you remember when we told you that you have to atone for what you did to Mario and Peach on Isle Delfino?" asked Iggy.
"Yeah. You told me I was going to play video games to do so." said Jr.
"But it seems to me that you neglected to put two and two together, Jr. You didn't seem to realize that you were going to play "Mario" games to do so." said Ludwig.
"Wait a minute! Hold the phone! Are you guys saying that I have to play seven different "Mario" games?" Jr. asked, his eyes nearly bugging out of his skull.
"Yeah! Doesn't that sound like fun?" asked Lemmy.
"FUN?! I'm not playing as Mario! He's no fun!" said Jr.
"It doesn't matter whether or not you think he's fun. You're the one who got him into big trouble, so now you're the one who's going to guide him through it and to Princess Peach's side!" said Larry.
"No, I'm not! I refuse to play as Mario and help him take the princess away from Papa!" Jr. retorted as he turned off the console and folded his arms.
"Okay, then. Let's go upstairs and start packing our bags. That also includes you, Jr." said Ludwig.
"What do you mean? Where are we going?" asked Jr.
"If you forfeit the challenge, then we're going to Isle Delfino earlier than we planned to. So pack up! We're going now!" said Ludwig.
"No way! I told you, I'm not going there! I'd rather lick the toilet bowl in the dirty bathroom than go there!" said Jr.
"All right, if that's really what you want to do, then that can be arranged right now. Come with me!" said Roy, and he grabbed Jr. by the arm and started dragging him through the castle.
"Wh-where are we going?" Jr. asked nervously.
"Where do you think? We're going to the dirty bathroom so you can lick the toilet bowl, just like you wanted!" said Roy.
"NO! You can't be serious!" Jr. exclaimed, trying to break free and run away.
"Sorry, but if that's what you'd rather do, then you're gonna do it!" said Roy, picking up his baby brother and carrying him over his head.
"What is it gonna take to get you to change your mind about making me do this?!" Jr. screamed.
"You're going to have to decide which choice sounds more pleasant to you. Playing the games in order to possibly avoid going to Isle Delfino, or forfeiting and going there right now. And if you don't decide, perhaps a swirly in the dirty toilet bowl is in order as well." Roy told him.
Jr. was caught between a rock and a hard place. What was he gonna do? He really didn't want to play "Mario" games, but he also didn't want to go to Isle Delfino! But if he didn't pick one of those things, Roy was going to give him a swirly and make him lick the dirty toilet bowl, which was even worse than confessing! But he had to pick something now, or else!
They were rapidly approaching the dirty bathroom when Jr. finally yelled, "STOP, ROY!"
"What is it? Have you come to a decision?" asked Roy.
"Yes... I have." said Jr.
"So, what have you decided? What do you want to do?" Roy asked as he held Jr. a challenging quarter-inch from his face.
"I... I'm going to... play the "Mario" games..." Jr. said, hanging his head. He really didn't want to go to Isle Delfino, so he may as well bite the bullet.
"Great! Now let's go rejoin the others!" said Roy, and he set Jr. on his feet as they walked back to the entertainment room, where the other Koopalings were standing around, waiting for Roy and Jr. to return. They were also hoping that Jr. was okay, since they knew what Roy was like if you said the wrong thing to him.
That's when Roy walked in, keeping one hand on the shoulder of an unhappy-looking Jr.
"Hey, you're okay!" Lemmy said when he saw Jr., who quickly ran to him for a hug.
"What's up?" asked Ludwig.
"The whiny pinhead finally came to a decision." said Roy.
"What did he say?" asked Wendy.
"He's going to play the challenges." said Roy.
"All right!" said Larry. He looked at Jr. and said, "Bear in mind that you have to play as Mario, not Luigi."
"I know..." said Jr. as Lemmy released him. He picked up the controller and was just about to turn on the game.
"Now before you begin playing, you need to let me explain the challenge to you." Larry said.
"You mean there's more to it than just playing the game?" Jr. asked.
"Yes. It's actually pretty simple: you have to play through the game..." Larry began.
"The entire game, including Worlds A, B, C, and D?!" Jr. asked incredulously.
"Oh no, you don't have to play those extra Worlds. You'd probably be on the game all day if I made you do that! I'm not that cruel!" Larry said with a laugh.
"So you're saying I just have to play the main game and that's it?" Jr. asked.
"Kind of. I still need to explain the main idea of my challenge to you." said Larry.
"What's the main challenge?" Jr. asked, sure he wasn't going to like it.
"Don't hit any of the Warp Zones. If you do that, then you fail." Larry warned.
"So I do have to play the entire game? Great..." Jr. muttered.
"No, just the main eight Worlds. Playing the ninth World is optional." Larry said.
"Okay, so I just have to play it without warping, huh? I think I can do that. But what if I find a Warp Zone that takes me back? What then?" asked Jr.
"You'll still fail if that happens, Jr. If you see a pipe and the words "Welcome to Warp Zone!" appear over it, then I'm sorry, but your goose is cooked." said Larry.
"That sounds pretty good. We should ask Kamek or King Dad if we can have roast goose for dinner sometime..." said Morton, licking his chops.
"Morton, that was just a figure of speech. I was saying that if Jr. hits any kind of Warp Zone, he fails the challenge." said Larry.
"I know that, but hearing it made me want roast goose with sage and onion in the stuffing." said Morton.
"Right..." said Larry, before telling Jr., "Start playing!"
Jr. turned on the game and started playing. Now Jr. may be a kid, but he did play enough of the "Super Koopa" games to know what had to be done, and he pretty much knew where the Warp Zones were. But it felt so weird and wrong to be playing as Mario, going up against the kind of characters who were inhabitants of the Koopa Kingdom.
As Jr. played, he got pretty frustrated. This game was so much harder than the Koopa version of this game.
"Look Jr., you got off pretty lucky, because I could've made this game a lot more challenging than you wanted. I could have said that you have to play the entire game as Small Mario, or even challenged you to use fireballs to destroy King Dad in each World." Larry told him.
"What?! Larry, are you out of your mind?! You guys told me a while back that you can't beat Papa with fireballs in World 3 of this game! I can't even take out Mario like that in the 3rd World of "Super Koopa 2"! It's not possible!" Jr. replied.
"I know. And Ludwig told me to be realistic with my challenge, so I did as he said and picked something a little easier for you to attempt. Besides, you know where the Warp Zones are in the Koopa version of this game. They're in the same place here, so don't panic." Larry told him.
"Well, at least you had the common courtesy to pick something that isn't next to impossible for your challenge." said Jr. as he continued to play.
For a young kid, Jr. was doing quite well, thanks to watching his siblings play and trying it himself.
"This isn't good. He might actually win this challenge." Lemmy whispered to Larry as Jr. completed World 7.
"Unless he hits a Warp Zone by accident." Larry whispered back.
As Jr. played World 8-1, it happened. He went down a pipe that took him to an underwater area he didn't know about.
"Wow, I didn't know about this! Did you guys know this was here?" Jr. asked, thinking he'd found a shortcut.
"Maybe..." Larry quietly replied. He knew what was gonna happen when Jr. reached the end of the underwater area. It wasn't going to please him...
Sure enough, when Jr. reached the end of the underwater area and got back on land, he had a big problem. He learned that, to his horror, he had just discovered... a Warp Zone! And if that wasn't bad enough, it was a backwards one that would take him back to World 5!
"NO!" Jr. screamed, realizing what he had done!
"FAIL!" Larry screamed as he shut off the game.
"That is so not fair! Why did that stupid pipe have to lead me to a backwards Warp Zone?! I was THIS close to beating your challenge!" Jr. said, showing with his claws just HOW close.
"Sorry, Jr. I thought you knew not to take that pipe." said Larry as Ludwig took out a red pen and put a big 'X' on the note card with Larry's challenge on it, indicating that the challenge had been failed.
"Don't worry, Jr. You've still got six more challenges left to try. You can try and make up for this one tomorrow, and it's going to be my challenge." Lemmy assured him.
"Okay, Lemmy. What is your challenge?" Jr. asked
"Uh-uh. I can't tell you what it is, or what game you're playing, until tomorrow morning, when it's time for you to play." Lemmy replied, shaking his head.
"You sure?" Jr. asked, a little disappointed.
"Pretty sure." Larry replied.
"Don't let this failure get you down." Wendy told Jr., patting him on the shoulder.
"Okay, I'll try yours tomorrow." Jr. said to Lemmy, feeling a little more confident. He would not let himself be beaten.
Will Jr. be able to redeem himself in the other challenges? I'm not telling! You have to stay tuned if you want to find out!