Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sunlight beamed onto Toad Town and not a single cloud was in the sky that summer day, but the screams of terror overshadowed the nice afternoon. Columns of smoke filtered out of the castle as toads ran out in a mass hysteria. Two similarly dressed men pushed through the crowd to the source of the attack. The throne room was in disarray. Rubble and debris littered the floor, part of the carpet was ablaze. Their view of the Mushroom kingdom's princess was blocked by the gigantic, forest green shell of the tyrannical lizard king standing before her throne. With ease, the bulky chair was flung into a pillar. Her pleas drowned out by the koopa's cruel laughter.

"That's enough Bowser!"

The koopa quickly turned to the broken doors. There, standing in his classic navy overalls and cherry red shirt with a giant hammer in his hand, was Mario. Beside him was his similarly dressed brother, Luigi, who was striking a heroic pose that was ultimately ignored. The princess let out a screech as Bowser yanked her into his claws. Her elegant pink dress, singed and torn, swayed as the koopa held her in the air by her wrist. 

"Back off Mario! Peach is mine!" Bowser growled. "One wrong step and she’ll have a one-way trip to the Underwhere!"

Immediate panic overcame the younger of the brothers yet Mario was unfazed. Placing a hand on Luigi's shoulder, he offered a reassuring smile.

"It's alright bro. He's just bluffing."

"AM NOT! This is a legitimate threat!"

"B-Bowser... You're hurting me-" Peach squeaked out, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

"Shoot- My bad."

Gently, her magenta slip on shoes met the ground. Silence washed over them. A shaky breath from Luigi following soon after, accepting his brother's words. His hands tightening around his hammer.

"THAT DOESN'T PROVE YOUR POINT! DIE!"

Throwing the princess aside, fire blasted from the draconian koopa's mouth. Both plumbers jumped into the air. Luigi swung his weapon up. Mario landing on the head of the hammer and sent charging towards the koopa. One good swing to the face was all it took to send Bowser stumbling back into an untouched column. Bricks and concrete burring him. Landing safely on the ground, Luigi made his move. Dashing over to Peach and pulling up onto her feet. It wasn't over yet though. Readying his weapon, Mario stared down the plie of rubble.

BAM!

A piece of debris flung into Luigi's face, throwing him against the wall. With a yelp, the princess fled the room. Rocks and tile scattered across the room from a whirling shade of green. They were easily returned to their sender as Mario wacked the pieces like he was up to bat. It was now or never. Bowser sped across the ground to Mario. Unsurprisingly, the plumber dodged the spinning shell but with a sharp turn, Bowser was behind him. The world around him playing in slow motion. This was going to hurt. Mario braced for impact, yet it never came.

Opening an eye, an inch to his face was the spiked shell, held in place by a glowing, pale light. From the doorway, hands against her chest was the princess and beside her, floated a yellow orb with shoes. Using their combined wish and star power, the pair had stopped the beast in his tracts.

"Good thing I started living here, huh?" Starlow smiled.

Poking his head out, Bowser was able to witness Peach send him off. Pointing a finger in the air, the koopa lifted up high. With just a flick of her wrist, the turtle was launched through the ceiling leaving a large, comical hole. The hero barely making out Bowser's plea for her to wait. Rubbing his neck, Mario smiled softly as he walked up to the pair.

“Thank you. I almost got bulldozed.” He chuckled.

“I should be thanking you!” Peach retorted. “I don’t know what the Mushroom kingdom would do without you around Mario.”

Attention quickly shifted to a destroyed wall as a low groan was heard. Sitting up, the younger of the brother rubbed his head as debris toppled off him.

“Luigi!” Mario rushed over to him, gently grabbing his hand.

“D-did we stop Bowser?” Luigi mumbled as he was helped up to his feet.

“Yeah, we did. You enjoy your nap?” Starlow snickered. Peach gave the star sprite a disapproving glance. “He knows I’m joking princess. How about we go take Luigi to the infirmary? What do you think Mario?”

The plumber in red gave a small nod. Hopefully Bowser, wherever he was sent soaring to, won't attempt to attack the kingdom again for a good while.

<------>

CLA-KAKAKA!

What sounded like glass and wood shattered as the koopa king slammed onto the ground. Did he really just get defeated in less than five minutes? Was he growing to soft? Bowser popped out of his shell, fuming. Broken shards stabbed into his scales, not making a dent as he shouted.

"ALRIGHT, NOW I'M MAD! WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE INTERUPTING OUR EPIC SHOWDO-"

The koopa fell silent. Hundreds of eyes from mushrooms of all sizes were locked on him. Toads of all shapes and sizes, dressed in formal attire had gathered deep in this heavily dense forest. Not just toads. Purple mushrooms with glowing red eyes and claw like hands were in attendance. The alien race known as shroobs. Last time he saw these creatures, they were hellbent on destroying everything on this planet, especially the toads, yet here the two species were, partaking in a formal gathering and staring at him blankly as if he was the oddest thing here.

Slowly, classical music from a string quartet started back up and the mushrooms went back to their party. Taking a quick glance to either side, two pairs of eyes stared at him in shock. He had landed right on one of the circular, dining tables and destroyed whatever these two toads were doing.

"Uh... My bad."

Pulling himself up, Bowser meandered through the crowd of mingling shooms with bewilderment. This little forest clearing was its own small town with at least seven log cabins and one bigger home near the middle of town. It was extremely out of place as if someone had plucked a home from the 1800s and smacked it right down between the others. Fold up tables with pristine white cloth and fancy dressed mushrooms grew in quantity as he approached the main attraction. Was he dealing with a concussion? Most certainly, but watching these mushrooms mingle in a forest of all places was rather humorous. Even looking at their outfits was enough to laugh at. He had seen toads dressed up before in tiny, black suits and knee length dresses before yet, shroobs weren't known for their style. Being mostly heads, wearing anything would be a challenge. Heck, it was even hard for him to get anything to work with his shell. The shroobs had managed to find a solution though, albeit a goofy one. Some wore floor length skirts which was reasonable. It was what some of the others wore. That being just a pair of classy shoes and a bowtie.

Yep, this was definitely a dream or something along those lines. Surely he would wake up soon but why couldn't he enjoy what his mind has cooked up for him in the meantime? Finally saw it; the snack table standing by the steps leading up to the large cabin's patio. Shoving a high classed mushroom to the side, Bowser bee-lining it to the table. It was nothing but charcuterie boards, shrimp with tiny swords poked into them and high priced juice. He grabbed the sides of the buffet, ready to lift it up and slide all the food he into his mouth. Silverware be damned.

“Could you please not?”

Bowser stopped, eyes darting over to a toad standing next to him. He was a normal toad in every way, wearing the same white puffy pants and a open vest as any other toad. However, he had some differences. For one, his vest was purple instead of the normal blue and instead of showing his bare chest, this toad was wearing a white, button up shirt with the sleeves pulled up to his elbows. The only other really noticeable thing, besides the purple spots on his cap, was a strange, white stone attached to a thin, steel chain around the toad's neck. Stunned by this gutsy toad who took one look at the beastly koopa and asked him to stop, Bowser plopped the table down causing some of the bottles rolling off and busting onto the ground.

"Normally I would of just incinerated you but I'm willing to humor this fever dream."

"Uhm." The toad glanced around them, puzzled. "Well, this isn't some fantasy. This is a celebration! You're welcome to join us though."

"Uh huh. What exactly are you celebrating? Little Shoobie's quinceañera?"

The toad squinted at the koopa king, baffled. He honestly didn't know how to reply. Letting out a mighty guffaw, Bowser snatched a tray off the table filled with sausages wrapped in dough. His jaw snapped open like a snake's as he tilted the contents of the tray into his mouth. Then he tossed it to the side without a second thought. 

ClAnG!

Someone shouted in a harsh language as the tray hit a party going shroob in the face. Some of the other guests go over to help them up but it rushed over to Bowser, screaming and pointing at him angrily. However, Bowser had no clue what the alien was saying nor did he care. The shroob huffed, stomping up the stairs into the main house.

"Can you please knock it off?" The toad with the purple spots pleaded. "We're trying to celebrate our leader and you're... c-causing a... disturbance..."

Bowser had stepped up to the toad as he spoke, his shadow covering the small mushroom. Leaning down with a toothy grin, the koopa chuckled.

"You do know who I am right? Bowser? King of the koopas?" He poked the squishy mushroom on his head, making the toad stumble back slightly. "Your so called leader should be happy to drop by on this special occasion."

"Dropped by is pretty dead on..." The toad muttered.

"HEY!" Bowser's claw angrily poked the toad on the chest. "I make the snarky comments here mushroom head! Who do you think you are? Acting like I don't scare you!"

"W-well." The toad gently pushed the koopa's hand away. "My name is Tragee Toad! I didn't realize you were full grown now!"

Tragee extended his arms, awe struck as his eyes met with Bowser's.

"Just look at you! A true powerhouse!"

Bowser cackled at the toad's admiration. It wasn't often he received genuine praise from a toad of all people.

"Okay, now you're just trying to butter me up now! I love it! Go on, keep telling me how great I am!"

"Oh! You need to meet our leader! I'm sure he would be super grateful of your presence! I-if you're not too busy that is."

"Hm... " Bowser grabbed another tray from the table, shoving a macaroon into his mouth. "Fine. I'm taking these though."

Bouncing excitedly, Tragee led the way to the home stolen from time, passing several mushroom civilians as they stepped onto the veranda that wrapped around the front of the home. As the door opened, a snap was heard as a gust of wind blew past the pair. It was like stepping into a victorian home. Pristine and shining wood floors with deep grape colored rugs, a complicated golden chandelier hanging above and vibrant scenery paintings hanging from the walls. Bowser cautiously moved from the doorway to the reception hall, trying to avoid knocking over any of the decor. Beckoning to him, the toad headed up the nearby stairs. To his right, he could hear music and laughter from a nearby room along with seeing a few mushrooms going back and forth with alcohol poured into tall wine glasses.   

Shoving another hors d'oeuvre into his mouth, Bowser headed up. The second floor was vacant with only three rooms. Two of which appeared to be locked. With only one place to go, he headed through the archway and into a library. Built into the walls, books lined the shelves and another rug with a small, black leather couch sat in the middle of the study. There was only a handful of mushrooms within but they were not attendants of the party. Near the back of the room, beside a large curtain with matching purple curtains drawn back by a golden rope was a single, dark oak desk facing away from the pair. Several papers, writing instruments, an elaborate lamp and large glass jars of glue cluttered the table. A pair of toads, one standing on the other, held an open jar and a brush, painting on whoever sat in the chair. The other mushroom in the room, standing beside the chair and complaining, was the shroob who was brutally smacked with the tray. That was until they saw Bowser. The shroob started screeching to the leader, pointing furiously at Bowser. A gloved hand patted the mushroom and shooed them off, responding back in shroobish. 

"My king! I hope I'm not pestering but the king of the koopas is-"

"Yes, I've heard."

The toad standing on the other jumped off, running to the other side of the dark colored, victorian chair. Both toads proceeded to lift the chair up with a struggle, trying to turn the chair to face Bowser. Their leader sighed, snapping their fingers. In an instant, the chair lifted and swung around, revealing a familiar face, or rather mask. Bowser dropped his tray, scattering macarons on the floor. Before him sat Dimentio, someone who was presumed dead this entire time. He dawned a new outfit yet, still retained the black, puffy pants and pointed shoes. His white, button up shirt was tucked in and a large, golden diamond brooch kept a night blue cape from drifting off his shoulders. Sadly, his iconic jester hat had been retired, now replaced with a silver crown.

"HOW THE SHELL ARE YOU ALIVE?!" 

Dimentio snapped his fingers at one of the toads, causing them to rush off for whatever reason.

"Sometimes fate changes their mind. As I exploded and Castle Bleck was swallowed whole, I too thought it was the end." The toad rushed back, holding a little tray with two wine glasses filled halfway. Dimentio graciously took the left most glass, speaking again as he brought the drink to his mouth. "Yet, fate said otherwise."

The toad walked up to Bowser, holding the tray up over his head.

"Nah, I'm good." The toad nodded, placing the tray on the desk before going up to Tragee, proceeding to converse in shroobish before walking off. "So what's your angle then?"

"Would you believe me if I claimed I was a changed man?" He asked, swiveling his drink. Bowser scoffed.

"When charging chucks fly! You of all people will never change!" Without being ordered, the mushrooms had brought over a stool for the koopa. Tragee tapped Bowser, motioning for the koopa to sit.  Without a second though, he cemented himself into a conversation with the former pleaser of crowds. The stool crumbled under his weight yet, he didn't bother to get up. "I bet you're just trying to get some standing again before attacking!"

Dimentio chuckled, glancing to the koopa.

"You are a sharp one. It's hard to see why some think otherwise." Dimentio shut his eyes, waving his hand as he spoke. "Yes, I am attempting to be in a more stable situation before making my presence known to the kingdom. But world annihilation? Unfortunately, my goal was too ambitious. What I needed was to start smaller."

"Smaller as in, secret village in the woods smaller or...?"

"Yes! Precisely that! To rule, I needed to understand the people I governed like a therapist to an emotionally unstable teen. These toads and shoobs mean everything to me now, despite their appearances and skills being constructed to my design.”

“Uh huh sure. You probably just brainwashed them like you did with green stache.”

The clown beckoned to one of the toads and Tragee strutted over. With a snap of his fingers, the toad began to levitate and tilt so the top of his cap could be seen. He seemed completely fine with the whole thing. That or Tragee was just the type of guy who didn't complain.

"Do you see any vegetation?"

"Well no-"

Tragee was lowered and the toad quickly scampered off, not wanting to interrupt the two monarchs' conversation.

"I have put things behind me Bowser. Choose to believe me or not." He responded, taking another sip of wine. Bowser sighed, grabbing the untouched drink on the desk. The red liquid swished around, showing his hesitant expression. "A hard pill to swallow i presume?"

"Duh! I just-" Bowser chugged the glass down like a shot, holding the glass out. Immediately, a shoob grabbed it and rushed off to refill it. "If I were you, I would be plotting my revenge! You were so close to your goal!"

"And who was apart of that group that stopped me?"

"Listen," The shroob returned, handing Bowser a new glass of wine as he spoke, "your goal threatened my kingdom. I had to get involved. If not, I normally ignore other baddies. If Mario was on their butt though..."

Dimentio smirked, placing a hand up to his mouth like he had just heard the latest tea.

"Are you proposing an alliance king of koopas?"

With a grin, Bowser swallowed another glass of alcohol. Having these guy on his list of allies would be pretty sweet. He already had a list of other people willing to follow his lead with their kingdoms lending support. Goomboss, Petey, king Boo; having someone with a knack for magical prowess on hand could help him out of some sticky situations. Additionally, moving troops wouldn't require much if Dimentio could just teleport them wherever Bowser needed them to be. Something was eating at his mind however. Bowser didn't recall their past too well. During the fight with count Bleck and later super Dimentio, he was more focused on beating the crap out of whoever stood in his way instead of the banter between everyone. The alcohol was already starting to cloud his judgement as the koopa decided to shrug the feeling off.

"You know what, yeah! Let's do an alliance. I bet if we teamed up, we could get rid of Mario!"

The clown placed his still rather full glass on the desk before folding his hands on his lap. Another shroob wondered up, handing the koopa king another glass that he graciously took.

"By all means, give me the details of this partnership. I will attempt to soak up all your ideas like a sponge."

Over the course of an hour, Bowser rambled strategic plans to the jester. He went over his troops, battle plans, the lay out of Peach's castle, flaws in the Mario brothers' fighting styles he had kept note of for years. All the while chugging down more and more alcohol. Parts of their conversations even drifted to their past. Yet, most of it became fuzzier and fuzzier. Until, eventually, Bowser passed out on the floor. Dimentio had mostly sat there the entire time, listening to the ramblings or the beast. Ten. That was how many times the koopa had received another glass. Yet, for Dimentio, he was still on his first round. Picking up his cup, he traced around the edge absentmindedly. 

"Tragee?" The toad rushed over, hanging onto the words of his leader. "Do you recall those special seeds in the town's shed?"

"Yes sir! Of course!"

"Bring me one." His eyes drifted over to Bowser who was snoring loudly and sprawled out on his rug. "Fate has decided to offer us a feast on a silver platter and I intend to take full advantage of this free, three course meal."

Chapter Text

Bowser's latest attack had left the castle in shambled. All toads, ones that worked in the castle to others who were just common civilians, had banded together, attempting to fix the mess. Mario couldn't just stand idly by however. With arms filled with trash, the plumber walked over to a grey, half full trashcan and tossed it in.

Chapter Text

Pastel colors swayed and morphed, trying to replicate the image of a thick, wooded forest. A bright, red radish tremored in the ground before the koopa but Bowser was fixated on his hands. His now highly saturated scales were hurting his eyes, leaving behind a ghostly after-image as he lifted a claw. Turning his head, Bowser locked eyes with Peach. Princess Peach's dress, now a bright hot pink, spun around her yet, she stood still, watching Bowser stand before the veggie. Placing her hand to her mouth, she giggled at the koopa. Despite her nose being smack in the middle of her forehead, this felt normal to the koopa. The green leaves of the radish felt warm and soft in his claws as he tried to pull it from the dirt. Bowser took a deep breath and pulled again with all his might, the radish left its soil. 

It glitched, phasing back into the ground for a split moment before shooting up into the sky. Luckily, it was sat next to his foot once again in the blink of an eye. The koopa smiled a wide toothy grin, looking back to the princess. His stomach immediately dropped, seeing Peach's head shake violently as her mouth started to foam. Bowser rushed over, holding her at the hip. Gently, he tipped her, watching her eyes flutter and her face blush. She was cute. Oh so cute. Even if her face, appearing normal at this moment, was flipping upside down every odd second.

"Don't worry Peachy, I'll always be here with you." Bowser leaned in, going for a kiss.

Only to pull back, witnessing her head shift into the purple, squishy sphere of familiar cephalopod. Bowser dopped the mimic, feeling sick to his stomach as a dry heave escaped his jaw. Chakron stood up, instantly apologizing. Not for ruining the so called romantic scene but for something else entirely.

"Apologies, I meant to arrive sooner but these plants prove to be difficult roadblock."

"WELL I DON'T WANT YOU HERE! I ALMOST KISSED YOU ON YOUR WEIRD SQUID MOUTH!" Bowser screeched. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"

"Grab a pin and place it here. We cannot afford to talk pleasantries at this time. The world is at stake."

"DON'T CARE! DIDN'T ASK! I WANT TO GO BACK TO ME SHOWING OFF TO PEACH!" The koopa crossed his arms, turning his snout up.

"Must I remind you? Anger benefits you not." Chakron spoke calmly, repositioning himself in front of the koopa.

The dream around them was starting to melt. Once bright and colorful, now greys and muted browns bled. Desperately, it was attempting to stay together, occasionally flashing back to the fever dream Bowser was in before.

"Ease your mind. Where are you?"

"Uh, the forest stupid."

"Describe your wear abouts."

"Uh..."

Bowser opened his eyes, looking at everything melt around him. He could see something though. Between the streaks of decaying dreams. It looked like a wedding chapel. To his right, there was an alter with some sort of homemade book with fancy, curvy writing. Left were several pews. He didn't recognize anyone there but they were definitely from the mushroom kingdom. There was a yellow stained glass box in front of him. Someone was inside, crying softly in her hands with a bouquet of flowers laying at her feet.

"Peach?"

The princess looked up, watching the florosprout withered and crumble.

"B-Bowser?"

One of the shroobs shouted, alerting the ten random followers of the clown that Bowser was now thinking freely again. The koopa was now surrounded by the shroobs, all armed with blasters while the remaining toads cheered the aliens from behind the pews. With a grunt, he swung around and sent each mushroom flying from a direct hit from his tail. They weren't an issue he needed to fret over.

"Peach!" Bowser stomped to the box, pressing his face to the glass. "What are you doing in there?"

"Bowser, Dimentio is back! Please go find Mario and warn him!"

Balling his fists, the koopa slammed his hands into the box, trying to break it. He tried again. Not even a dent.

"We don't need him! I'll save you and we'll go back to my place!"

"You know these don't break with brute force!"

Bowser felt a sharp pain hit his side. Slowly he placed a hand to his hip, feeling a warm ooze touch his skin. With a growl, the koopa looked to the culprit; a shroob that didn't pass out from hitting the wall head first. Taking a sharp breath, Bowser shot a fireball at the mushroom, instantly setting them ablaze. He then looked around the room, seeing the toads cower and the shroobs, that were slowly regaining consciousness, cowardly slink back to the pews.

"Anyone else?!" Bowser questioned. The mushrooms shook their heads, taking cover as Bowser put his attention back to the princess. "Did they get me good?"

"N-no, the shot grazed you." Peach looked at Bowser, her eyes red from crying. "Please, we're going to need Mario for this. I know you don't want to admit it but we need all the help we can get. This is Dimentio we're talking about."

"I concur." A voice echoed through the koopa's head. Yet, Bowser couldn't see anyone else speaking. "Relay this information. I have contacted the stars for assistance."

"How about you tell her?"

Peach squinted, trying to see if there was still part of the florosprout in his skull or if the koopa was just losing his marbles.

"Only our minds are bonded. Unfortunately, I cannot act on your request." 

The koopa groaned.

"The voice in my head said he contacted the stars for us."

"The voice in your..." Peach blinked, trying to process the sheer bewilderment she was suddenly flooded with. "Okay... Does this voice say anything else?"

"Lift up the alter. You will find a chakroad."

"OHHHH. You're the teleport guy from awhile back!"

Bowser grabbed the alter, ripping it from the floor and tossing it into the pews. The mushrooms scattered as it crashed down. There it was; the swirling orb that saved the koopa a ton on gas. Though, only Bowser could see this orb, as Peach stared at the koopa absolutely dumbfounded.

"Alright, so tell me how do I get Peach out?"

"Unfortunately, even with your mighty girth, breaking her prison is impossible."

"Impossible for you maybe! I only saw your face but you looked scrawny!"

"Hey, uhm." A toad poked his head out from behind a pew, concern on their face. "Is he having a stroke? Should we call for someone."

"SHUT UP!" Bowser shot a fireball in the toads direction, making the mushrooms scatter again.

These shenanigans were going on too long. Dimentio could be back at any moment, Peach knew this. There was no way she would be able to leave with him. She had to get Bowser to leave without her. The Chaos Heart could not be summoned again.

"Bowser, we need all the help we can get." Peach spoke, he voice shaky. "Why not get your troops? We can overpower Dimentio with that amount of man power."

The koopa paused, contemplating the idea. Ultimately deciding this was a great plan.

"Okay but I'll be right back! Don't let that freak put any seeds in your head!" 

With that, Bowser stood in the chakroad, closing his eyes. In an instant, he was gone, leaving everyone even more flabbergasted by the koopa than they already were.

Chapter Text

Bowser hastily headed back to his castle. Leaving Peach to fend for herself in the hands of someone that wasn't his, turned his stomach into knots. Only he, the koopa king, could take the princess as his captive! That was his whole gimmick! His purpose even! For his role to be swiped away from him just like that, well that clown has another thing coming! He was still quite a way from his castle yet, despite the distance, he could see smoke seeping out of one of the towers, making him freeze. The castle was just high enough so the lava wouldn't start melting the foundation of his lovely home so if there was smoke, that means something had gone horribly wrong. Either that or Morton is baking cookies again. 

"Hey! Down there!" Bowser looked up and saw a clown copter changing course, now heading his way. Iggy hovered the copter above the ground as Lemmy jumped out, embracing his dad. "King dad, we're so glad we ran into you!" 

"Hey! I didn't run into him! Ha ha!" Bowser gave a small smile at Iggy. "But uh, we are sorta glad we found you ha.." 

"Yeah, I can see the smoke from here! I told you guys not to let Morton in the kitchen anymore!" Bowser chuckled as Lemmy and Iggy looked at each other with worry. 

"We wish that's what the smoke was from..." A loud explosion went off behind them. The three quickly turned around and saw that a new column of smoke was starting to rise. Lemmy gulped as he continued. "We think that the Mario bros think that you stole Peach and they're like, really mad this time! Most of the troops have already been defeated and the rest of them are hiding!" 

"THOSE DARN PLUMBERS! WHY DO THEY ALWAYS ASSUME I HAVE HER WHEN SHE'S GONE?!" 

"So, you don't have the princess with you?" 

"Lemmy, does it look like I do?" Lemmy took a step back and put his hand up in defense. Bowser sighed, looking away from his son and back at the castle. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at ya, I'm just a bit grumpy because a DUMB CLOWN I THOUGHT WAS DEAD CAME BACK FROM THE GRAVE TO STEAL PEACH FROM ME!" 

"Pfh- Haha! King dad got out played by a clown!" Iggy giggled. 

"Look, I need you two to fly over to your grandpa's and hang out there for awhile! I'm going to go deal with those pesky plumbers!" Bowser shouted as he ran towards his castle.

"King dad! Wait!" Lemmy stopped himself from following.

In all honesty, he was fearful of what was happening inside the walls of the castle. All he could do was hope his father could handle the brothers this time. Bowser walked through the now doorless entrance to his keep. Ever since Fawful showed up that one time, this part of the castle became a little cafe room for his minions to relax in since the majority voted to keep it as such. However, keeping it a cafe holds one major con. Any minions who were currently taking their break there would not be ready for a frontal attack such as this one. Several members of his troop were either bleeding out or already dead. The doors, now lying on top of broken tables, chairs and corpses, had several blast marks from what most likely was a bob-omb attack. Scorch marks were littered across the walls and floor. Part of the carpet was even on fire due to the haphazard throwing of fireballs. Bowser stomped the flame out with his bare foot. With how often he gets tossed into lava, this little blaze did nothing. Carefully kicking rubble to the side, he headed down the hall as his anger started to boil. Those plumbers usually try to avoid property damage. Heck, they usually tried to avoid killing his troops unless they really had to! Yet, here he was, walking down a ruined hall with torn paintings and bodies. The eerie silence started to fill Bowser with dread. Where were the rest of his troops? His kids?  

A loud scream made him turn around in a panic. That voice, no doubt it was... 

"JUNIOR?!"  

Bowser bolted down the hall, filled with terror. He had never in his life heard his son scream like that. While yes, the Mario Bros do fight his kids from time to time, Mario admitted once after a tennis match that he and Luigi always took it easy on them since, despite all the trouble Bowser and his kids caused them, Mario still considered Bowser as a friend, albeit a bit of handful at times. Whatever caused him to scream like that must be something worse. Perhaps it was that dumb clown starting stuff up? Oh yeah, that's definitely it. With a heavy tackle to the door, he busted into the throne room yet all he was met with was an eerie silence. The whole room was shrouded in a pitch-black darkness, with only the faint light from the hallway daring to enter the dark chamber. He could have sworn the scream came from- 

"So, he's arrived at last! Figured as m-uch from the failure of a king!" A voice rang out.

As soon as the sentence was finished, a light filled the room, causing Bowser to take a step back from the sudden brightness. Relaxing on the throne, was the slightly chubby plumber, Mario, yet he was fitted with a different outfit. There seemed to have been a struggle in the room, for the carpet leading up to the throne was burnt in multiple spots and most, if not all the head busts that were elegantly crafted into Bowser's head, were smashed into pebbles on the tile floor. Why were those always the first thing that got destroyed? Don't people know how much work it took him to carve those?

"Why are you in all black Mario? You becoming emo or something? Also, WHERE'S JUNIOR!?" 

"I am NOT emo and don’t call m-e M-ario!" He stood up on the throne and smirked. "Obviously you need a refresher course for you see, I'm not this so-called M-ario! I am the m-an with the plans, the red flame..." 

He quickly did a quick spin before lifting his leg and bending his arms in a way so they looked like an M.

"Mr. M!" 

Bowser let out a tired sigh as he rubbed the space between his eyes. If this was under different circumstances, the koopa might of found himself doubled over with laughter. 

"You've gotta be kidding me... Your brother already did this lame charade a few years ago! Just tell me where my son is before I beat ya up!" 

Mr. M took a deep breath, as his annoyance turned into irritation. Raising a hand, he spoke to himself. 

"This is fine! Totally didn't rehearsed that in m-y head for twenty minutes just to be-" M let out a soft exhale before finally regaining his composure. "It doesn't m-atter! I was told to just stall you anyway so let's have some fun! Fun m-ostly m-eant for m-e that is! Oh Junior!" 

From behind the throne, stumbled out Junior holding a long wrench. His eyes were glazed over, and he seemed drained of energy due to the large florosprout on top of his head. Mr. M took the wrench and gave a small head pat to the mindless prince. The king clenched his claws, furious at what had happened to his precious boy. How could this all happen so fast while he was at Marrymore? 

"WHAT GIVES MARIO!? YOU’VE DONE SOME GARBAGE STUFF BUT THIS IS TAKING THE TRASH CAKE!” 

“DON’T CALL M-E M-ARIO! USE THE STAGE NAME M-ORON!” A grin appeared across Mr. M’s face as he pointed his wrench at the koopa king. “Besides, you had this coming! M-aybe this will teach you the lesson I have been trying to get in your head for years! Have at you!” 

There was no hesitation from Mr. M as he bolted over, swinging down his wrench at Bowser but luckily, he managed to dodge the attack just in time. The wrench smashed into the floor, causing the tile to crack into multiple pieces. With a quick crack of his knuckles, Bowser went in for the punch but in the blink of an eye, Junior stood in between the fight. The koopa king barely stopped his attack in time, his fist mere inches away from Junior's face. That was a close call. Before Bowser could say some wity remark, a powerful wrench smack to the face caused Bowser to tumble backwards. Mr. M laughed, standing behind Junior as if he was a shield.  

"Oh, so now you’re using dirty tricks!?" 

“You’re such a hypocrite...” Mr. M retorted, twirling the wrench in his right hand like it was a baton.

Bowser couldn't bring himself to hit his son, brainwashed or not. There must be a way to get around Mr. M's vile trick. If he were to breathe fire, that would just be a direct hit to his son since he had no control where the flames would go once they left his mouth. He couldn't exactly stop them either without taking the attack himself, so fire attacks are out of the question. Bowser jumped back as another wrench attack swung at him. He needed to think fast. What was an attack that Mr. M wouldn't expect but would also somehow move Junior before he unleashed the attack? The dusty gears in Bowser's head slowly turned until he finally thought of something that might just work. 

Closing his fist, he made a dash fpr Mr. M, preparing to punch this guy right across his dumb smiling face and, as expected, Junior stepped in the way, prepared to take the blow. All was set in place. Bowser was a foot away now and you could see in the plumbers's face a bit of concern as he thought Bowser would actually hit Junior, but this was all part of the plan. At the last second, he uncurled his fist and swung his arm around, picking up his son. Now with one arm holding Junior, Bowser knew he wouldn't be able to kick or punch so he quickly did a sharp turn, launching Mr. M to the wall with a loud thud from the weight of his tail. 

"BWAH HA HA! YOU FELL FOR IT! AND NOW FOR PLAN B!"

A silence swept over the room as the suspense of plan B loomed over head, however this plan was not as brilliant as the previous plan. Taking a hold of the florosprout and started to pull as hard as he could, letting out a grunt in frustration. Mr. M eyes widened, obvious worry showing all over his face as he quickly sprang back onto his feet, somehow unfazed from slamming right into a cement wall. 

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU M-ORON?!"

Bowser let go for a second and huffed, the plant had barely budged and wasn't even bruised from the tight grip he had on it. 

"Why is this stupid plant so hard to pull out?!"

Bowser grabbed on again and started to pull once more, much to Mr. M's dismay. Surely if a band followed Bowser everywhere he went, they would be playing a tune of some sort to empathize the mere ridiculousness that was Bowser's plan B. Mr. M, in anxious panic, started an attempt to get Junior away from Bowser's and his last two brain cells. 

"Y-you can't just pull on it!" 

"And you can't tell me what to do emo plumber! Back off!" 

"No, I'm being honest! You're going to hurt him like that!"

That seemed to have gotten through his thick skull. Bowser slowly moved his hand off the sprout, still holding Junior under his left arm. Despite all the brute force, Junior still looked as expressionless as before. 

"Wait really?" 

"YES REALLY! ...Probably! I don't really know what happens, but I still wouldn't do it!" 

"Alright then wise guy, what do I do to get it off then if not pull?" 

"Oh! That's simple! You see the florosprouts are weak to fi- WAIT WHY WOULD I TELL YOU!?" 

"Because you hold sympathy for him still..."

A familiar voice chimed in sounding extremely agitated. Mr. M's face turned pale as he met his brother's gaze. There in the door stood the green thunder, Mr. L. 

“Oh great! You’re both brainwashed!” Bowser said sarcastically. "I was hoping for that actually!"

"L-L! I was just-" 

"Failing to stall. You're lucky I decided to check on you." Mr. L reached into his pockets, staring Bowser dead in the eyes with his cold, grey glare. "You wanna do this the easy or difficult way meat for brains?" 

"Meat for-" Bowser scowled as he grind his teeth. "YOU'RE THE ONE ON MY HOME TURF PAL! ALSO, WHAT'S WITH THIS REUSED GAG GREEN STACHE?" 

Mr. L just sighed as he took his hands out of his pockets, revealing a small remote now in his left hand. With a gentle touch, he carefully pushed one of the buttons and soon, out from the hall, the sound of whirling blades grew louder and louder until two small robots hovered in and stood on either side of Bowser, circling around him like buzzards. The bottom parts of the drones creaked open, and a small ray gun popped out, aimed right at the koopa king. The robots were about the size of a shy guy, with a big, bulky battery as a base and a propeller on top that seemed to defy physics as the blades were so thin you wouldn't think it could hover due to the rest of the contraption. 

"You should know by now that you can't win by your l-onesome so just head on back over to your wedding in Marrymore and I'll pretend this didn't happen." Mr. L spoke calmly yet you could hear the annoyed tone in his voice as he hovered his thumb over one of the few buttons on the remote.  

"Well, I was here to get my troops so I could beat up frilly pants but now I'm gonna kick both of your rears out of my castle first! So start packin' your bags now!"

The lanky mechanic snickered, moving his thumb away from the button. 

"Yeah right! L-et's go over some facts. You have never won before in your l-ife unless it was at golf or kart racing! Yes, you successfully steal the princess from time to time, but you never kept her, which was your goal! Unless the previous thing was your goal but that's a very stupid goal." 

"LIES! I BEAT UP THAT SMITHY GUY!" 

"And who exactly was with ya during that fight?" 

"...Alright, I'll admit, Mario was there too but there was also the time with that green freak and the evil clone of me I beat up by myself!" 

"Wrong again l-oser. Mario and L-uigi were in your gut helping. They even brought you back to l-ife after your own castle fell on top of you! You can't do anything on your own and you want to know why?" 

Bowser took a small step back, shaken. Had it always been like that? Were the past few years really just failure after failure? When was the last time he truly won? A growl escaped him, glaring at the former coward. Knowing he had Bowser on the verge of a midlife crisis, L walked over and took Junior from him, carefully placing the prince to the side. 

"It's because you're incompetent. You rush into everything without a plan and rather fight first and think l-ast and that is why you have never won..."

His words cut Bowser deep, like a blade through a cake, yet despite the pain of realization, he wasn't one to back down. Even if he was always on the losing side. Bowser inhaled sharply, ready to BBQ Mr. L to a crisp, though it seemed he had already caught on.  Without batting an eye, the button was pressed and the two tiny robots shot out a powerful bolt of electricity. Bowser reeled back from the pain before falling to his knees. Pressing the button again, the robots stopped yet they continued to hover around Bowser with watchful eyes. 

"What? Ya thought those were just decorations?" He smirked. "Now l-et's stop with the games and head back to Marrymo-" 

"GENO FLASH!"  

A blinding, white light covered the room for only a few seconds. When the light finally started to fade, and the brothers could once again open their eyes, they found the room empty of their newly caught captive. 

"What. The. HECK?! HOW DID THAT L-UMP OF FAT ESCAPE THAT FAST?!"

Against better judgement, Mr. M tried to ease the tension and anger. 

"H-hey, I'm sure everything will fine! We both know how..." He paused. "...Incompetent Bowser is from all the times we beat him up! He doesn't pose a problem!" 

"Alright then! You tell Dimentio that his stupid repeat plan isn't even in motion yet and that one of his key components just disappeared!" 

"M-m-e?" 

"No, I meant Junior. YES YOU!" Mr. L pushed past him, heading off. "Come on now! Maybe if you seem pathetic enough, he'll finally l-isten to my back up plan..." 

"Wait, backup plan?" Mr. M hurried after him, unaware of what his brother had cooked up behind the scenes. "YOU HAVE BACK UP PLAN???" 

Chapter Text

The sun poured down on Bowser's scales and the salty air washed over him as he slowly regained consciousness. Light attacking his eyes as he slowly sat up in the sand, rubbing his head. 

"Ah good. You're awake." Bowser quickly looked over to see a wooden puppet sitting on a pearly white rock with deep dark spots littering the sides. A ocean blue cape and a matching hat sitting atop his head with two strains of orange yarn sticking out. It had been several years since he saw this living toy but the koopa king could still remember his name perfectly. 

"Geno? What are you doing here? Also, why am I at the beach?!"  

"Chakron said the world was in dire straits so here I am." 

"Who?"

Geno let out a sigh, already slightly annoyed by Bowser's antics. He didn't bother to look in Bowser's direction, staring off to the nearby woods as if troubled. 

"The octopus who let you access the chakroads." 

"OH, THAT GUY! Look, I can handle this! I don't need help dealing with the bozo and his seeded cronies.” Geno looked at Bowser, unamused. “Don’t look at me like that! It’s the truth!” 

"Odd, I recall having to save you just a few moments ago..."

"Shut up! You didn't help me cause I couldn't do it on my own! I let you help me!"

“...Right. Listen carefully Bowser, for what I am about to tell you is incredibly important.”

Bowser let out a groan. He knew exactly what was about to happen and he dreaded the thought. Geno was about to dump a boat load of exposition on him.  

<---> 

The air wavered in the throne room as Dimentio arrived with princess Peach. Already, Bowser's castle had been rearranged to suit the jester. Once an intimidating throne room with statues of the mighty koopa placed along a deep red carpet up to a giant, spiked throne, now appeared more regal. Deep violet carpets with a golden throne sat at the end of the room while a few of his toads worked nearby, trying to replicate Dimentio as a bust sculpture to place on the now empty pedestals. The clown floated over to his throne, feeling the engravement on the side of the chair. Bowser was running around doing who knows what and he had no idea where the koopa ran off to. He had escaped the grasp of the underhands at the bottom of the river of Twygz, fought against both Shaydes and D-men, tricked queen Jaydes into opening the path to the underwhere road, passed the doorguys’ several riddles, did errands for three annoying hags to learn of a way to be revived and defeated a three headed chain chomp, yet this turn of events was its own kind of hell. He’d seen his plan crumble around him before yes, but he knew this was his last chance. If he were to die again, Jaydes would make triple sure that the jester could not escape her domain again. 

“Humor me if you will princess.” Dimentio snapped his fingers. The glass box surrounding Peach disappeared as the jester sat down. “I ask you answer this hypothetical truthfully.” 

“Okay...”

The princess glanced at the exit. She could easily bolt out of the room now that she was freed from her prison. He’s had her in that box for hours, yet he released her now for some reason. She slowly started inching for the door as Dimentio posed his question. 

“Suppose you were a simple anchovy living in a coral reef.” He took a sharp breath as he adjusted his diamond studded cufflink. “Other fish avoid you like the plague, for you are not important enough to be given time of day. One night, a shark eats everyone in the reef out of a blind rage and you managed to barely survive the attack. How would you feel?” 

Dimentio gazed up at Peach who immediately stopped in her tracks. It wasn’t apparent she was moving but she doubted the jester ignored the growing distance between them. 

“I’m going to be very upset obviously! Maybe even a bit angry at the shark for senselessly killing innocent fish!” 

“I expected no other answer from the kindhearted princess of the Mushroom kingdom. Although, I question this reasoning. These fish never gave the anchovy the time of day, so why should the anchovy feel sorrow for them? The shark had done what the anchovy wished to do himself. He had missed his opportunity for vengeance like a customer arriving at a fast-food establishment for breakfast at eleven am.”

A slight frown showed itself briefly across his porcelain face.

“Is it wrong for the anchovy to feel jealousy towards the shark?” 

“This doesn’t feel like a hypothetical anymore.”

Peach didn’t realize she outwardly expressed her thoughts until the jester sadly chuckled in response. 

“Rather sharp as well I see. You’re a princess of many talents. Perhaps you are correct on your assumption but why bother to waste your precious time finding out? Were you not escaping? I hate to distract you when you’re so close to tasting freedom.” 

She couldn’t help but stare at him. He was letting her go? After everything he pulled today? It seemed too good to be true.

No. Something was wrong.

Very wrong. 

“You... What have you done?” 

“Me?” Dimentio pointed his finger at himself, puzzled. “I’ve done nothing dear princess other than claim this castle as my own. Do you really hold so much mistrust in your heart for me that my offer for you to leave appears as a trap in your eyes? I promise that I do not plan on hurting a hair on your precious head.” 

Peach looked back to the door then back to the clown. Sure, Dimentio had captured Bowser’s castle but what else could he have done in the small timeframe she was left alone at Marrymore? She wasn’t about to let this chance go to waste. The princess knew the layout of this castle just as well as her own due to all the years of being kidnapped so she immediately ran towards the exit, her footsteps echoing throughout the empty halls. The entrance of the castle was restored to its former glory and the little café, unlike the rest of the castle, was filled with a hoard of toads and shroobs. Stopping dead in her tracks, attention immediately went to her. They weren’t going to let her leave. Unfortunately for them, Peach was done with all the nonsense today. Grabbing the edges of her dress and giving a small, regal bow, Peach spoke.

“Gentletoads, I apologize for the outburst I am about to have.” 

RIIIIP!

This dress was nothing special. She had about twenty of the same outfit anyways. Although nice, it would just get in the way of her upcoming outburst. Now it was up to her knees and bits of fabric slowly fell to the floor. Taking the longest piece, the princess tied her hair up into a ponytail. Only one thing was important right now.

She needed to get out of this castle.

Running up, Peach grabbed a toad by his head, giving them a hushed apology as everything went ballistic. Shroob blasters proceeded to fire at her. Enemy toads attempted to latch onto her..

She wasn’t having any of it.

All the projectiles were flung back at the shroobs as Peached used the poor toad like a bat while defenseless toads too close to her received a heel to the face. The toad in her hands was screeching nonstop as bits of green ooze started to run down her arms. Making a mad dash to the exit seemed so near. From her right, she heard more shrieks. Charging up to her was a giant shroob holding what appeared to be a lolipop. With all her might, Peach tossed her screeching weapon at at the shroob. With a splat, the toad smacked against the giant shroob, painting the mushroom's face in a green liquid. While stunned by Peach throwing an entire, bleeding person at them, the princess took the chance to snatch the lolipop from it's claws. She shattered the edge of the treat against the table, making it into a makeshift spear. Chaos flourished in the café supported by high-pitched shrieks. This was her chance. Bolting to the door with the deadly weapon pointed in front of her, the path was now clear. Mushrooms dodged to the side, avoiding the rampage.

Except for one.

One shroob failed to move quick enough, the sharpened sweet stabbing into them. Fear in their eyes, the princess almost stopped as regret washed over her. Until oddly, the mushroom just melted away, leaving a fuzzy, dreamy residue on the candy. Her mind started to race about who or what these followers of the clown really were. But these questions could wait as the exit was now in reach. With the power of a quarterback, Peach sent the weapon she held hurling at what remained into the crowd of shroobs. As her hand touched the handle, darkness swept over the room. Whatever was happening, she didn't want to be apart of it.

As she went to open the door, Peach felt someone grab her hand, spinning her around in the darkness. Like a beyblade, the princess spun away from the door and landed perfectly in a comfortable, padded chair. Things started to whirl by her. She squinted her eyes, trying to make out anything in the pitch-dark room. Faint outlines of mushroom people rushed around her, moving the café furniture around. As quick as it came, the darkness was gone. The room was lit dimly by candlelight now, yet Peach understood perfectly what was before her as her cheeks flushed a bright red. One of the café tables, fitted with a white tablecloth and candelabra, blocked the door. The path to it was smothered with rose petals as the romantic melody of a violin played in the background. A new threat had appeared in place of the toads and shroobs in the form of a romantic date with an infatuated Mr. M. 

“M-y darling princess. How nice of you to grace m-e with your beauty.” He spoke in a silky tone, his elbows propped against the table as his hands held up his head. 

Peach let out a gasp as the seeded koopaling Morton lifted her and her chair over his head, carrying her to the table. The horde of shooms she could now barely see were quietly helping their injured members in the corners of the room while Ludwig, sharing the same fate as Morton, stood nearby with his instrument. Peach gripped the side of her chair as Morton abruptly dropped her in front of the table. It was just the two of them now, staring at each other awkwardly as Ludwig continued to play. 

“Well, this is... certainly new.” Peach let out a nervous laugh, glancing at the door. “M-Mario this is really nice of you-” 

“Please, call m-e Mr. M for now.”

He smiled, moving his hand towards her. She subtly inched away. 

“R-right. Uhm, Mr. M, this is..." She held her hands together, taking a breath. "Very nice of you to do for me but I really need to leave. You’re obviously not in the right state of mind...” 

“Oh, but what’s a few m-inutes m-ore princess?” Two plates clattered against the table as Morton dropped them and left the room again. “Surely you m-ust be hungry after everything that has happened.” 

Peach put her hand to her stomach as a soft grumble escaped her. Bowser had attacked during breakfast that morning and she had been in Dimentio’s hands for several hours now with only a single bite of a cheese omelet giving her energy. Mario was clearly on the opposing side. Dimentio was one thing but to fight the man she fancied? She couldn’t do it; brainwashed or not. Peach let out a sigh, nodding her head slowly. 

“Excellent!”

His smile brightened as Morton reappeared with a huge pot of spaghetti. Two lumps of ragu covered noodles splatted against the tablecloth, missing both plates.  

“Oregano...” Morton grumpily muttered, stomping away from the table for the last time. Peach gently started to scrape one of the piles onto her face with her fork as Mr. M carefully grabbed a noodle, staring at it with his cold, grey eyes. 

“Sooo...”

Peach looked behind the black and red clothed man then to the door. No wonder Dimentio allowed her to humor her desire to escape. The clown knew his biggest threat was now a close ally. Freedom was impossible but nothing was stopping her from prying information from her forced date.

“You two don’t plan on seeding me, are you?” 

Her eyes shifted to Ludwig. The green plant swayed back and forth as the surprisingly pleasant tune emitted from his violin. 

“Not that I know of no.” Mr. M shoved his pasta onto his plate and scooted it over to her, annoyed. “Here. I’m... not hungry.” 

“Are you sure Mar- Mr. M?” She asked, taking a rather large bite. “It’s pretty good.” 

“Well, I’m sure it tastes fantastic if you haven’t eaten all day. I, personally, refuse to eat store-bought pasta." He shot an angry glance to the crowd of mushrooms. One of the shroobs immediately ran off into a different part of the caste. "Besides, I have an offer for you.” 

“Mhm?”

For the princess, Mr. M’s offer was about to leave her stunned and having her mouth filled with spaghetti posed a choking hazard. His hands reached for hers, gently holding them as he looked longingly into her eyes.

“Run away with m-e princess.” 

<---> 

Bowser had plopped himself up against a palm tree as Geno paced back and forth across the sand. If there was one thing the koopa despised more, it was people overexplaining nonsense to him like a long-winded novel. 

“Wishes are often formed during the dreams people have.” Geno started. “Star beings closely work together with the Pi’illo people for this reason. They help wishes form in the dream world, also known as Subcon, which are then sent to Star Road to be officially formed into wish stars. We then send these wish stars down to the world and they land on Star hill. However, some wishes are considered bad wishes and cannot be granted. Bad wishes cloud a person’s mind, making the user lose sight of who they truly are and will stop at nothing to make their bad wish a reality, even if people die in the process. When we find these wishes, we destroy them before they can fall onto Star Hill. Are you still with me?” 

“Yuh huh.” 

“Dimentio, somehow, realized the connection between dreams and wishes and decided to tamper with our wish production by strengthening certain bad wishes. He used a new creation called a florobud, planted them in two captured pi'llos and waited for the right time.” 

“Yuh huh.” 

“Chakron attempted to warn us that something was wrong, but it was too late by the time his message arrived. The brothers had no idea of the trap they had walked into. Once both of them were asleep, the florobuds possessed their dream selves, causing their worse desires that most suppress to be in the forefront." 

“Yuh huh.” 

“Since they were the Mario brothers, we, uhm, sort of just allow their wishes to pass through without issue. These bad wishes, formed by the florobuds, were sent to Star Hill.” 

“Yuh huh.” 

“We attempted to smash them at Star Hill, but they are too strong in physical form.” 

“Yuh huh.” 

“So, you and I must find the two Pi’illos and destroy the wish from inside their minds. Do you have any questions?” 

“Yuh huh.” 

“What is your question then Bowser?” 

“Yuh huh.” Bowser looked at Geno who was tapping his foot angrily against the sand. “I mean no! I was listening! I don’t have any questions! Let’s just get going back to my castle already so we can beat up those darn plumbers!” 

“You weren’t listening to me at all were you?” 

“You’re lucky I didn’t fall asleep! Dreams and wishes this! Star Hill that! Bla bla bla! Just tell me what we gotta do and I’ll do it!” 

Geno let out a long sigh. He had forgotten how irritating it was working with Bowser. There was only one way to get the information through the dragon koopa’s thick skull. 

“We find two Pi’illos. We go into the dream world. We save Mario and Luigi. Everyone then beat up Dimentio.” Bowser went to speak but was swiftly cut off by Geno. “So they help us and not Dimentio.” 

“Ok that’s a fair point. So where are these two pillow guys?” 

“Oh, I have a hunch where they may be...” 

<--->

Mr. M found himself on the receiving end of slightly chewed spaghetti noodles directly to the face as Peach spat her lunch out in astonishment. Ludwig, despite being no more than a talking vegetable currently, threw his violin to the ground before grumpily leaving the room. The murmurs from the mushroom onlookers started to fill the entrance hall. Peach pulled her hands over her mouth before instinctively reaching her hand towards Mr. M. 

“Ah! I-I'm so sorry! I didn’t- That was just really out of left field you know?” 

Mr. M wiped the noodles off his face and onto the floor. He wasn’t angry but his disappointment was clear as day. 

“So yes? No?”  

“You... Want me to actually answer that?” 

“Yes, I do Peach. We can run away right now together without anyone knowing!” His hand wandered back over to hers. “And we could live together far away from Bowser and his nonsense! M-aybe New Donk would be a good place?” 

The foggy minded plumber started to ramble on about changing their names and the possibility of being recognized in New Donk which then quickly turned into an audible, incoherent thought process. Peach slammed her hands against the table as she stood up. This was getting ridiculous and she wasn’t about to humor this awful idea. Aggressively, she pulled her hand away.

“Are you trying to convince me of leaving my people defenseless!?” 

“Don’t put it like that! It M-akes the idea sound bad-” 

“BECAUSE IT IS A BAD IDEA MARIO! I’m not about to-”

The princess paused. She wasn’t stupid. This brainwashed Mario was clearly feeding off the idea of being with her. For a brief moment, she wondered if the decline she gave to him on the moon had a part to play in this. With a small head shake, the thought left her mind. Perhaps, she could snap him out of this trance with the right words. Crossing her arms, Peach responded, 

“If you’re so set on being with me, you might as well start kidnapping me too.” 

“W... What?” 

“I...” 

She was never sure if Mario had pieced together her past with Bowser nor if Bowser even mentioned it to him. Telling him now might stun him long enough for her to escape and if not, well, at least it would finally be off her chest. Expelling some air, she finally bit the bullet.

“Me and Bowser used to date.” 

There were several loud gasps in the room along with a garbled, non-English shout that was probably shroobish for ‘shut up’ but Peach was more focused on Mario’s expression. He was clearly in shock but there was a hint of disgust present as well. Maybe he was too stunned to stop her from standing up. She went to stand but he quickly gripped her arm. 

“You dated Bowser?!”

His grey eyes stared daggers into her soul but she knew this would be his reaction regardless of his state of mind. Even then, when they were at the table and he gazed upon her in a lovestruck trance, they were darker before. No, they had a bit of color to them now. She had managed to reach whatever bit of Mario was still there.  

“I-It was a long time ago! Besides, I cut it off with him and you see how he keeps trying to patch things up with me.” She motioned over to the spaghetti covered table with her freed hand. “He pulls little dates like this too! Well, normally he growls at anyone who enters our dates so the shroobs and toads watching us is a bit off putting... ” 

Peach raised a hand to her cheek, getting stuck on her own words.

"Actually, he growls a lot." She mumbled ti herself. "Maybe it's purring? Can koopa's purr?"

“I can tell Tragee Toad’s wish to leave if that’s what is bothering you...” 

 “T-that's beside the point!” Tragee’s wish? No, she wasn’t about to ask what he meant by that. “You are the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom Mario! If you’re so set on me and not the lives of my people, then I-I'll cut you off just like Bowser!” 

“P-Princess-”

His grip loosened but she had witnessed it this time. His eyes had shifted to a dull blue now. It was like whatever thing had rooted to his subconscious was starting to wilt with each remark. This could be the final blow. 

“Now either let go of me or lock me back up!” 

“That can be arranged.”

Peach screeched as a familiar voice snatched her from Mr. M, pinning her to the disgusting table. She attempted to move her head off the cheap noodles, but she knew who it was. Of course, Dimentio wouldn’t be satisfied with just one of the brothers as his puppet. 

“L-Luigi?” 

“Oh, so NOW you know my name. Where was that earlier today hm? You’re to call me, Mr. L!”

The man in green grabbed her by her ponytail, forcing her to stand by her side. Mr. M was standing there with his hands up in defense. He didn’t even attempt to help her yet worry covered his face.  

“Is this what you’ve been doing?! Have you even done what I told you to?!” 

A nervous chuckle escaped the older brother’s lips.  

“Uhm... I M-ight of forgotten-”  

“...Some of you L-osers get over here and deal with Peach. Also, GET THE L-IGHTS ON!”

He had tossed her to the side without a care. She had expected her face to meet the even dirtier tile floor but found several hands and claws grab ahold of her. One of them quickly bounded her hands and she was left sitting on her knees with a circle of mushroom people surrounding her.  The florescent light filled the room and now she could see Mr. L more clearly now but she was more focused on the item he was holding under his right arm. As if he could sense her curiosity, he held it up. It was a pillow covered in roots and vines and atop, standing proudly, was a flower with neon green petals. 

“We do not have time for you to be playing L-ady and the L-oser! Bowser is still out there with Geno you know! If they find out about these Pi’illos it means I go back to l-iving in your shadow!” He took a breath as he placed the thing back under his arm. “I’m about to close my eyes and if you’re still in this castle when I open them, I will L-et Dimentio know.” 

Mr. M darted to the door and hastily left the castle shouting an apology towards Peach before L had the chance to close his eyes. With a smirk, he passed off the pillow to a Shroob before squatting down to look the princess in the eyes. Cold and grey without a single ounce of sympathy behind them. 

“Try to commit this room to memory princess, ‘cause this will be the closest you’ll ever get to escape.” 

Chapter Text

Trudging through Dimple woods, Bowser felt extremely lost. Despite being there before, Geno seemed to know where to go. For the koopa, it was highly suspicious but in reality, the puppet was following a feeling. A feeling of a lost dream. Geno raised a hand as the pair arrived to the hidden village. An eerie quiet swept through the town. It was like everyone had just disappeared into thin air.

"Where the shell did everyone go?" 

The puppet put his index finger to his mouth, shushing the beastly koopa. Silently, the star took the lead, attempting to keep a low profile despite Bowser stomping behind him. Looking around, something was off. He had been here mere hours ago yet, that fancy house he went in was seemingly gone. Did he make that place up? Bowser couldn't recall. In fact, most of that morning had become hazy due to the brainwashing on top of the alcohol. He just had to give the clown the time of day. Show that he was giving the proposition actual consideration and that he was a koopa that understands the villainous struggle of failing over and over. After all, that's how he allied with other kingdoms like king Boo. Hearing a voice, the pair fell silent, hiding behind one of the cabins. Cautiously, they poke their heads around the corner. Exiting one of the cabins, was the plump, brainwashed plumber. He was talking to himself, using one hand to mock someone else. In his other hand, a pillow with a saturated red rose popping out.

"If you don't get the pi'illo I'm going to tell. Meh mehmeh meh meh!" M mocked. "I don't like it when m-y crush is angry at m-e. Do what I say so he'll give m-e the time of day!  Pfssh..."

Geno turned to whisper to his partner, ready to discuss their options. No one was there. The puppet shot his head around and proceeded to witness Bowser cartoonishly tiptoeing on up to M.

"Stars above you must be joking-"

No. Perhaps this could work. While Bowser distracted their foe, he could snatch the pi'illo. Maybe this was the koopa's plan all along. No, that was unlikely, but the thought of Bowser thinking a step ahead instead of acting on his impulses put the puppet at ease. He smiled slightly, allowing the koopa king to entertain Mr. M while he waited by the sidelines for the perfect moment. Bowser was now within arm's reach, still undetected or so it seemed. He swung his arm, aiming directly at the head only for M to duck at the last second.

“Oh shoot- You're here already.” Mr. M quickly jumped back as the beast attempted to grab him. “You didn’t think that would actually work, did you?”

Refusing to respond to the snarky remark, Bowser swung several punches at the plumber. Each easily being dodged with simple side steps. M moved a hand up to his mouth, yawning as the koopa’s fist barely grazed his mustache. With a loud grumble, Bowser threw another punch only for Mr. M to toss the Pi’illo up into the air, catching the punch with his hands.

“Why are you even trying?”

Digging his heels into the ground, the foe squeezed his gloves around the king’s arm. Using Bowser’s girth against him and flinging him into one of the cabins with a loud crunch.

“It’s always the same.” M held his hand out with a smirk on his face, waiting for the pillow to fall into his hand. “I win... and you lose.”

Yet, it didn’t return to him. In a panic, he hastily looked up and back down to his hand. When he heard a charging electrical hum. Slowly, his gaze looked up to one of the cabins, meeting the glowing barrel of Geno’s arm cannon. The vine covered pi'illo sitting by the puppet's foot. A hushed apology was barely audible as a laser blasted. The heat from the shot swarmed Mr. M as he narrowly dodged as his former panic morphed into a scowl. He was now the main target. Several, less powerful blasts fired at the man as he darted up to the cabin, hoping up to the roof with one jump. 

Yet the puppet wasn't there.

Swiftly, Geno appeared behind him, throwing a sneaky sucker punch. Sadly, it was caught at the last moment and M swung the puppet down onto the roof top. Heat started to inch closer to the two. Both turned to look, seeing a massive fireball mere feet from them. Just mere seconds before he was to be cooked, Mr. M set his own hand ablaze using an old power gifted to him, stopping the flaming meteor in its tracks. The puppet rolled off the roof, trying to avoid the fire. It was soon sent right back at him. Unable to fully dodge, his leg turned to ash left in a crater in the dirt. Mr M was already atop of the puppet. A powerful yank attempted to snatch away the Pi’illo from the puppet and for a brief moment, the two locked eyes. One holding nothing but sorrow and regret. The other, desperation.

“HA!” Bowser snarkily laughed as he landed another punch against the hero turned villain. “Another hit landed!”

“Tsk...”

Geno raised his arm again, directing his gun at Mr. M, who was wiping blood from his nose with his sleeve. He could still stand at least but being handicapped, he wouldn't be able to dodge many attacks.

“Where’s the other one?” He questioned. “This one is yours. Where’s Luigi’s?”

Bowser glanced over to the Pi’illo in Geno’s other hand. It almost reminded him of his visit to Pi’illo Island with all those weird, pillow-shaped rocks lying about. Of course, without the wilting red poppy poking out the top. What was it Geno had said? Something about bad wishes and florobuds but what kind of so-called ‘bad wish’ could Mario have?

“And why would I tell you that?” He smirked, reaching into his pants pocket. As he spoke, M pulled out a long, staff like wrench from his inventory. “M-aybe it’s still here. M-aybe it’s not.”

“Oh, that means it’s not here in villain. He must of-” Bowser jumped it.

Why do you have to ruin everything?!” Mr. M slammed his weapon against the ground. “Every turn I take; It’s like you’re already there !” 

“Hey! I’m not a stalker if that’s what you’re implying!” 

Bowser felt a nudge against his arm, looking down to see Geno. His expression was one of worry as he held the frozen Pi’illo in both hands. The florobud was glowing an ominous red as Mr. M seemed to have reached his breaking point, his manic laugh filling the now burning town.

"I never wanted this you know." His face was obscured but the forced smile was plain to see. "I wanted to be a doctor."

"Take a class then? No one is stopping you.” 

His laughter resumed, painful and shaky. Snapping his head up, tears at the edges of his mask as he extended his arms wide.

"GREAT IDEA BOWSER! OH WAIT, THAT WON'T WORK! Want to know why????"

M held the wrench close, speaking into it like a microphone as his voice pitched up mockingly.

“Oh Mario! The kingdom is in danger! Bowser did this. Bowser did that. Bowser took the princess again because he can’t get over the fact that Peach dumped his ass!” 

“...Wait, how did you-” 

“Because she told m-e!" He screamed, pointing the weapon at Bowser. "Everything I do, you are always m-essing up m-y plans, one way or another!” 

Hold his wrench, a malicious smile grew across his face. 

“But m-aybe...” Unsheathing blades sounded as the ends of the wrench turned into swords. “If I kill you , I can finally pursue something else besides being the hero of the mushroom kingdom.” 

<--->

Far, far away, beyond the sky and hidden among the stars, sat Star Haven. A private city meant just for celestial beings as they worked to make the world turn. After centuries of struggles due to the lost contact they had with the people of Pi’illo island along with other issues, things were finally starting to work again like a well-oiled machine. Gathered in the central sanctuary, were the seven leaders of Star Haven; the Star Spirits, sitting upon their crystal pedestals. Learning from the past, the Star Rod that used to sit in the center of the building had been fortified and guarded in an undisclosed location. Now the building was used to aid more in the production of wishes. 

“We have had another good haul for wishes my dear Star Spirits!” Prince Dreambert spoke enthusiastically as his entourage proceeded to move dream chunks from a portal to the dream world via cart to the center of the room.  

“It does indeed appear that way.” Eldstar nodded along with his fellow comrades.  

Compared to the purple crystal sphere of a nightmare chunk, dream chunks were crystal clear and were about the size of a hand, compressed into the shape of a star. Mamar was the next to speak, happy to get this show on the road.  

“Shall we start going through them?” 

“Honey, they haven’t even unloaded of them all yet.” Kalmar teased. 

“Sorry. I just really enjoy this part.” 

“Actually,” Dreambert interjected, “I am quite curious. I don’t tend to see this part of the process.” 

“I suppose there's no harm.” Klevar smiled with his eyes. 

“Unfortunately, I think I agree with you.” Skolar scoffed. “Dreambert isn’t much of a threat.” 

The prince forced a smile, disgruntled by that comment. Using his magic, Eldstar lifted one of the dream chunks out from a passing cart. Holding it up near the ceiling, light filtered through, projecting a small snippet of the dream onto the floor. Everyone in the room witnessed a lone shy guy, suddenly being whisked away and finding themselves on, what was presumed to be, their favorite television show; Snifit or Whiffit. They appeared so excited, swooning over the chance to win big. 

“First, we judge the dream.” Eldstar started. “Do they wish harm on someone or themselves? Is their wish rooted in selfish gains? If we grant this wish, what would they do with it? Maybe this person needs a small pick me up.” 

“Based on this one, I’d say it’s good.” Muskular added.  

“This person just wants to step out their comfort zone.” Misstar joined in. “They seem happier to just be on TV with a famous TV host rather than wanting the prize at the end.”  

“All who say grant, say I.” Eldstar proclaimed. The seven of them spoke in unison, agreeing to grant the wish. “Those who oppose?” 

Silence. 

“The wish is granted!”  

The dream chunk sparked, emitting a bright, pink glow as Eldstar flung the now newly formed star out the window. 

“HANG ON WAIT-” Dreambert floated up to the open window, watching the star fall down to the Earth below in utter dismay. “I thought you said it was granted! Why did you throw it out!?” 

“A little slow, are we?” Skolar smirked. 

“Stop being such a snub! Of course it would appear that we just threw it away as someone who is not in our position.” Misstar hovered over to the Prince, patting him on the back with her nub like arm. “Once we grant the wish, we send it down Star Road and to Star Hill. Once the wish lands on the hill, the person’s wish will form on the planet, helping fate change events so that the person may see their wish be reality.”  

“Ah. May I suggest you give a little warning next time? That was a roller-coaster of emotions you put me on.” 

“Apologies. We’ll keep that in mind.” Eldstar lifted another from the pile and proceeded to do the same as the first. This time, a Beanish woman could be seen wearing an extravagant one-piece swimsuit, swimming in miles and miles of coins. “What do you say for this one Dreambert?” 

“You want me to decide?” 

“Just tell us your reasons on why this wish should or should not be granted.” 

“Well...” Dreambert floated to the projection, his hand on his chin as he debated. “I wouldn’t grant this one. It seemed too defined by greed. If this wish were to be granted, I doubt this person would use their newfound wealth for unselfish reasons.” 

“A very good argument! Those of those who agree with the prince?” The spirits unanimously agreed. “Any who oppose?”  

None spoke. 

“Wish denied!” 

Loud crackling filled the sanctuary, bringing panic to the prince as the elder spirit slowly pulled apart the bad wish.  

BANG!  

Light engulfed the room as the wish shattered into dust, sprinkling the floor with sparkles. 

“FOREWARNING PLEASE !” Dreambert shouted, feeling his heart beat out of his chest. 

“Oh right. Sorry, I forgot. Hopefully that enlightened you some at least.” 

“Honestly, that wasn’t worth the heart atta-” 

Before Dreambert could finish his sentence, one of the carts filled to the brim with undecided wishes shook, tipping over onto the floor. Two of these wishes proceeded to float in front of the council, much to their confusion. 

“Eldstar? Are you doing that?” Klevar questioned. 

“I thought it was one of you.” Without even knowing whose wishes they were, the two were flung out the window. Panic filled the sanctum as reality hit them all. “♥♪!?! Come to the sanctum immediately! There’s been a breach!” 

<--->

Death. 

It’s something easily avoided in the kingdom with the simple one up mushroom. Even without access to one, if your body was intact, someone with enough power could revive you. When someone is hunting you down with the only intention of killing you though, the mind tends to forget logic. That was the position Bowser was in now. Ignoring the fact that he could fight back, the koopa king was running and crashing through burning buildings as a deranged Mario made several attempts at his life. 

“IT’S ABOUT THE PIZZAZZ MARIO! YOU’RE FAILING EVIL ONE-O-ONE! YOU DON’T ACTUALLY KILL- GAH!” 

Screeching to a halt, he barely avoided Mr. M as he had somehow appeared in front of him, slashing his weapon at the koopa.  

“Pizzazz? PIZZAZZ!? ” 

Bowser lifted his arms up, shielding his face from another attack. He was barely dodging the back-to-back attacks, taking multiple steps back as the blade made small grazes against his scales. 

“I HAVE BEEN RISKING M-Y LIFE SINCE I WAS A CHILD. IT HAS NEVER BEEN ABOUT PIZZAZZ! IT’S BEEN ABOUT YOU BEING A GREEDY, POWER-HUNGRY JERK!”  Warm liquid started to drip down Bowser’s arm and onto the ground below as Mr. M managed to slice deeply into one of his arms. "BECAUSE YOU CAN'T GET IT THROUGH YOUR SKULL THAT OTHER PEOPLE MATTER!"

The koopa spun around with a grimace, trying to knock M down with his tail. Only to feel a sharp pain shoot up his body, as the sword was stabbed through like a fish that had been speared. Copper attacked his tastebuds as he bit his tongue, stopping the painfilled roar from escaping. The rough bristles of M's mustache clashed against Bowser's knuckles as his fist met the man's jaw, sending him stumbling back. Before he could regain his balance, a laser blasted at him, sending him flying several feet into an untouched cabin. Geno ran over yanking the weapon out of Bowser’s tail, already charging another shot aimed at the cabin. Somehow, within the five minutes of Mr. M solely focused on Bowser, Geno had regained his foot or rather, wrapped a thick branch around his burnt leg with part of his cloak, giving him a temporary pegleg.

"Are you okay?" He didn't take his eyes bits of the building crumble, tossing the doubled bladed sword to the side and kicking a bit of rubble over it.

Mario was actually trying to kill him. 

The idea had finally registered to the koopa. This wasn't the normal back-and-forth banter the two had; Mario was actually angry at him. Deep down, he despised Bowser and his antics and he was finally able to see it for himself. Magic sounded as a small, mushroom shaped window appeared beside the flabbergasted Bowser. In a haste, the puppet swung his arm around and blasted the window, barely missing the koopa’s face. 

“GAH-” 

“Focus! Go into one of the unstable houses! When I shout, retreat into your shell! We can talk about this later!” 

Another window formed this time behind Geno. As the glass panes swung open, Bowser pushed him to the side, protecting him from being grabbed and pulled in by Mr. M. With an inhale, fire shot out of the koopas mouth, but the plumber quickly retreated into the magic window. With a grunt, Bowser swiftly headed to another vacant home as he attempted to ignore his wounds. Several shots rang out behind the koopa as he busted into the house. It was quaint and minimalistic with very basic furniture and with little personality. The only thing to note was a single photo on the wall of a very basic Toad wearing a quartz stone necklace standing next to,

"Frilly pants..."

Magic sounded above him, bringing the koopa back to the fight. Knowing the attack, Bowser allowed himself to collapse, forcing Mr. M to forcing M to land directly onto the spikes of his shell with a painful screech. Using every force of his being to not turn and laugh at him, Bowser got to his feet and body slammed the man into the wall, crashing through into a painfully bland kitchen. Gloved hands grappled his arm and an intense heat burned against his scales. Pulling away to comically blow on his burn, he glanced back at Mr. M. A magic window faded from the floor as another spawned behind the koopa. 

CRACK!

Bowser wobbled, dazed by the hammer that collided with the side of his skull. His hand grabbed onto the kitchen countertop. Mr. M, with a familiar hammer carried on his shoulder, wavered in and out of his vision as the plumber advanced.

"Pathetic." M tilted his head to the side, pure disgust on his face. "You're already struggling. How you m-anage to run a kingdom when you can't even beat m-e once is baffling. What do your citizens or even your kids think when you fail and fail, over and over. How could they be proud of a failure like you?"

"SHUT YOUR TRAP!" 

Fire blasted at M as Bowser flew into a rage. Flames still in the air, Bowser charged headfirst into the fire. Glass shattered as Mr. M was retreating back into the pocket dimension of his magic window to escape the fiery attack but Bowser, angered by his comment, had smashed into him before he could. The kitchen was now starting to go up in flames around them as Bowser pinned the disillusioned hero onto the wood panel flooring.

"NEVER BRING MY KIDS INTO THIS!" The koopa screamed, slashing his claws directly at M's face.

His mask slipped off into several pieces as three large cuts went down his face and to his right cheek, blood pouring out from the wound with bits of torn skin clumped together. Yet, Mr. M let out a spiteful chuckle, glaring at the koopa king with his cold, greyed eyes.

"You're just as guilty, perhaps even m-ore so of bringing your kids into your fights. All I did was call you out Bowser."

"I don't-"

Suddenly, the ground around them started to rumble as a shout from outside sent a warning. 

“NOW!”  

Quickly, Bowser retreated into his shell as beams of light rained from above. Support beams and flaming wood fell around Mr. M, unprotected from the collapsing building. Summoning another special attack, he attempted to retreat. 

Only to be knocked out by a falling beam as the two were consumed in the rubble. 

<--->

“Ow. Ow.” 

“Hold still. I’m almost done bandaging you up.” Geno spoke calmly. Smoldering ash of the former village lied around them while Mr. M lied unconscious nearby.

Bowser couldn't get the comments out of his head yet, the koppa couldn't understand why. He cared about others; his citizens, his family, Peach. Mr. M made it sound like he didn't during that fight. If Geno hadn't unleashed his attack then, who knows how much damage Mr. M- no, Mario, would be in. That was Mario just misguided by darker, repressed ideas in his mind. There were no truth to these thoughts. What he said what just emotionally driven attacks; nothing more.

“Ok. You’re good.” 

The puppet stepped back, watching Bowser thump his now bandaged tail against the ground.

"...Thanks." He grumbled rubbing his bandaged up arm. It felt off not to have his spiked bands on but the wrapping made it difficult to return them to their home.

His eyes wondered over to Mario. Geno was worried the plumber would bleed out but as the two of them knew nothing about medical knowledge and didn't want to risk him choking on a mushroom being shoved down his throat, the star warrior pulled out at a fail safe; bottled HP rain magically casted by the young Nimbus prince Mallow. There was no way to tell his face was brutely deformed just minutes ago but as Bowser stared at his hand, the image of how far he went was starting to haunt him. Geno lifted up his hat revealing just two orange strains of yarn on top of his mostly bald scalp. Reaching inside it like a bag, he pulled out the Pi’illo they obtained. 

“Unfortunately, we can’t save both of the brothers at this time but we should be able to save Mario at least.” 

“Yeah, then you can go save the day with him. Whoopie doo.” 

Geno glanced back at Bowser, witnessing him sulk as he stared vacantly at his hand. In the tense silence, Geno placed the Pi’illo on the ground as he made his way over to the Koopa to sit with him in the grass. Clearing his throat, he attempted to ease Bowser’s sadness. 

“Apologies, Mallow is usually the one good with emotions; not me.” 

“I still can't believe you still hang out with that crybaby.” 

“I’m going to ignore that comment.” Taking a deep breath, Geno glanced at his hands. “You know what I am yes?” 

“Some star dude controlling some wood toy?” 

“I’m the general of the stars. When we first met though, I was just a cadet. The star spirits never thought we needed a military or any kind of security. After all, a person needs to be granted access to the Star Road to get to our haven. After you stole the Star Rod, the seven-star spirits decided to form the warriors of the stars.” 

“How is reminding me of another failure supposed to cheer me up?” 

“You are good at certain things. For example, You’re good at long strategy. Intimidation. Building armies. Commanding troops. Just because some of your plans-” 

“Most.” 

“Okay, most of your plans fail, it does not mean you...” Geno waved his hand, unable to find more professional words. “Are absolute trash. You’re capable of having a good idea. Honestly, you tend to get too cocky and tend to let your emotions get the better of you. That’s your true downfall.” 

Bowser scoffed. Geno was definitely right on that emotion part. He could of killed Mario today. Despite his goals of taking over the Mushroom kingdom, he never wished death on his rival. Maybe he thought of banishing him to the Dark Lands but to kill him? 

The koopa felt the wooden puppet’s hand against his knee. He was struggling to find the appropriate words, starting to speak only to stop three words in. The last thing he needed was a pep talk from a being unable to properly relate to his emotions. Bowser knocked Geno's hand off him, pulling himself up and stomping over to Mario. Still passed out, he threw the plumber over his shoulder.

"Let's just get this adventure over with..."

Chapter Text

“This is the place.” Geno spoke with haste, making his way into the clearing. 

A large tree stump sat in the middle of the clearing, sunlight filtering through the trees giving the area a mystical feel. Leaping onto the stump, Geno placed the Pi’illo down smack dab in the middle.  

“Where should Mario go?” Bowser questioned. Mario, or Mr. M as he was demanding people call him for now, was slumped over the koopa’s shoulder. For their plans, he was fortunately still unconscious. “I can feel him drooling on my shell and its gross!” 

“Just lay him somewhere.” 

 Repressing the urge to just toss him onto the ground, the koopa placed Mario up against the stump. His head slumped to the side, snoring softly despite the uncomfortable sleeping position he was in. The rope the pair had scavenged from the burning town would hopefully hold him if he were to awaken.  

“We don’t know how long he’ll be out, so we need to be quick.” Geno was now laying his head against the pillow, hands held together across his chest. 

“I will open a dream portal for you to enter. Once inside, we’ll go over the rest of the plan once you’re in.” 

“Aren’t you gonna be asleep?” Bowser asked as he pulled himself to the top of the stump. His eyes glanced at the puppet, only to realize the portal to the dream world was open.  

Geno was already asleep. 

“HOW THE- You know what? I don’t care.” 

Touching the edge of the portal with his claw, the koopa king was instantly swept in, landing on a lavender colored cloud. A warm haze covered the dream version of Star Haven. Strange glowing cyan trees bore star shaped fruits, and in the distance, a familiar sanctuary could be seen. Being in the dream world, all the bright, saturated colors were starting to cause a small headache to form as Bowser squinted his eyes. 

Something chirped beside his head, making the koopa almost jump out of his skin. Turning to look, Bowser saw a small star colored a pale blue with a face. He was unable to hold back his laughter, busting out with a hearty guffaw as the little star chirped again, this time sounding a bit annoyed. 

“DON’T TELL ME THAT’S WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE!” Bowser kept laughing, holding onto his sides. “AND YOU CAN ONLY RING LIKE A BELL! BAH HA HA!” 

Despite sounding like Tinkerbell, his tone was able to get across his anger. That and smacking his small arm nubs against Bowser’s head helped too although, it felt like gentle tapping. With a final wheeze, the koopa wiped a tear from his eye as the star started to tweet and ding more rapidly. Realizing this was going nowhere, the star responded in a disgruntled chirp, zipping off past the clouds.  

“Hey! Don’t leave me!” 

Bowser hopped off the cloud, making contact with the cold, marble rock surrounding the sanctuary. Several tent shaped crystals encased Star Haven and faint memories of stars flickered in and out of existence, replicating their lives that Geno had only glanced at. Their simple faces morphing together as the finer details had been lost. Following a speeding star, Bowser found himself in one of these crystal huts, watching the tiny cosmic being angrily enter a chest that sat beside a sky blue, silk hammock. 

This home, most certainly Geno’s, had an other-worldly feel. As these tents had four large openings, there were no walls to hang decor. Instead, many translucent treads hung above them holding a wide range of items. A single sword, several boxes of gun ammo, and a few cans of wood varnish were just some of the items hanging high above the koopa’s head. 

Bowser couldn’t help but rip one down, jumping about an inch off the ground to reach something random. He had ripped a photograph down, leaving part of the top right corner on the string. It wasn’t damaged too bafly fortunately, as he could clearly  make out Geno and the now pubescent cloud prince, Mallow having lunch at a cafe in his kingdom. 

A sharp screech rang throughout the haven, the chest glowing brightly as it rattled from side to side. The lid popped open, blinding the Bowser as he raised his arm up to his eyes. A familiar form emerged from the light. 

“Remind me” Geno spoke, yanking the photograph away from him, “to never assume that you can act decent.” 

“You were ringing like a bell! How was I not supposed to laugh at that?!” Bowser retorted, extending his arms in pure outrage.  

The corner of the photo descended and Geno lined the torn memory up with it. Through dreamy magic, the picture reattached as if it was never damaged in the first place. 

“I’ll keep that thought in mind if you ever gain a speech impediment.” Choosing to no longer humor the koopa, Geno tapped his foot on the ground. Instantly, a stairway appeared in front of them. Peeking down, there was nothing but forests as far as the eye could see. “Also, I would also appreciate as little tampering with my memories as possible.” 

“Wait what?” Bowser followed closely behind the puppet. 

“First, you can fall asleep almost instantly,” He badgered, treading on Geno’s heels down the spiral staircase as stars whooshed past, “and now you’re tellin’ me we’re in your memories? I thought I was in your dream, not your mind!” 

“Celestial beings do not require sleep. ‘Sleep’ for us is more like searching through an archive of our memories. Think of it almost like lucid dreaming.” 

Soon the two had made it to the bottom, finding nothing but velvet colored bark trees with swirly leaves and miscellaneous pipes coming out from almost everywhere. Glancing about, the puppet seemed almost confused as the surroundings. Some things in this dream landscape clearly reflected Mario’s mind; the clothing line outside his home, strains of spaghetti noodles hanging down from some of the tree branches, yet someone else’s mind was somehow linked. It couldn’t be Luigi’s since he wasn’t asleep near the dream point the pair entered so who else was asleep? 

“Strange... Does this not look like-” 

“FINALLY! SOME FAMILIAR FACES!” A voice shouted, interrupting Geno. It was an unwelcoming voice for Bowser, grimacing at the sight of a yellow sphere with shoes. Happily kicking her feet, Starlow rushed over to the wooden toy. “Can you show me where the portal is? I’m tired of being here.” 

“What exactly are you doing here?” Bowser grumbled, scowling at the star. Immediately sensing hostility, Starlow floated right into Bowser’s face. 

“I could ask you the same thing!” She floated back to Geno, positioning herself behind him. “I get ♥♪!? coming to save me but I was expecting Mario; not you Bowser!” 

“Listen,” the puppet turned around, facing the star, “We unfortunately do not have the time to explain. Things are bad right now.” 

“I can see that.” Her dot eyes shot over to Bowser, smirking at him. 

“I hate you.” 

“Both of you stop!” Geno took a deep breath, placing his hand on Starlow’s back as he directed her to the staircase. “Do us a favor. When you get out into the real world, you’re going to see Mario tied up. Do not untie him.” 

Starlow went to interject, most likely something relating to Mario being held prisoner but was unable to get a single word out as Geno just covered her mouth.  

“I’m looking for an ‘alright! Can do Geno!’ and not anything else.” His hand moved away. She responded plainly by sticking her tongue out at him, floating up the first step. It almost seemed like she was going to storm off, but she stopped to ponder a moment. Looking back at Bowser.  

Swiftly, she floated up to the koopa. The two staring at each other in an awkward silence with a mixture of hate and concern. 

“Listen, fair warning since you’re actually being helpful this time. There was a toad who’s in here too.” 

“Okay? And why do we care about a-” 

“AH BUH BUH! I'm talking!” Bowser scoffed as he crossed his arms. “His name’s Tragee. I was following him for a bit, but this place keeps changing! Then I thought I saw Mario running around. It’s a maze and I hate mazes! I’m sure Peach would really appreciate it if you saved him.”  

With that, Starlow floated up the staircase to finally leave the dream world. Geno strolled up to Bowser, shaking his head disapprovingly.  

“She’s a handful at times...” 

“ Pfh ! Tell me about it.” The koopa grumbled. 

“I think our best course of action will be to split up.” He spoke softly, walking over to one of the several, winding paths that lay before them. “Based on Starlow’s testimony, Dreamy Mario should be around here.” 

“You got a crush on the plumber, puppet boy?” 

“That’s just what dream selves are called. Celestial beings don’t have those feelings. If you find Dreamy Mario or that Toad, think about Star Haven and you should go directly back to my subconscious.” 

With that, he walked off into the dream forest, the spaghetti noodles extending like vines behind him and tying themselves into a neat bow. 

“Maybe for you they don’t...” 

At last, the king was alone with his thoughts as he hiked the opposite direction. There was something familiar about these trees along with the ominous feeling of thousands of eyes upon him. Almost like there were faces etched into the bark of the trees, their hushed voices being dragged along by the wind. Technical whirring buzzed overhead, freezing Bowser to his core. Slowly, raised his head. Pure white metal, modern and clean zoomed over the trees. 

A Shroob ship. 

The koopa walked over to one of the trees, forgetting the whole reason for being there as he ran his claw against the wood. Dry and flaky, almost like clay. That wasn’t right. It was the dream world though, so expecting a perfect replica might be high expectation. 

It didn’t change the facts though. He had been here before, as a kid. The memory of it though was faint. Mushrooms. Green liquid. Cries of agony. What was the name of this forest? Why did he block it out of his mind? The memory of leaving these woods with Kamek though was clear. Following closely behind his guardian in his clown-copter, clutching two triangle crystals in his hands. They felt malicious, staring at him like there was something inside. But what was below them? Feelings of anxiety filled his mind as Bowser shook his head, taking him out of his trance.  

Then he heard it. 

A metallic bang followed by woeful filled profanity.  

Placing the mission to the back burner, Bowser headed toward the shout, finding himself at an abandoned factory. Stained green tubes were torn from the building, laying filled with mud at the bottom of a dried moat with shattered glass from the windows. The bridge leading to the overgrowth covered entrance now piled together to make a ramp.  

It was there the koopa saw the familiar toad. The same, basic toad that led him to be brainwashed by that jester.  

“Hey!” Tragee screeched, tumbling backwards down the rubble and into the mud. “I’ve uh... come to rescue you? I guess?” 

The toad shot an annoyed yet surprised glance at the koopa, crawling back up to the door. 

“I’m terribly sorry...” He responded, returning to his futile attempt to pry the airlock doors open. “But I can’t... leave... yet...!” 

At this rate, the fragile toad was going to throw his back out trying to force these doors open with his bare hands. Bowser rolled his eyes. After climbing up the slope, the koopa pushed Tragee to the side with the back of his hand. His nails pried themselves under the latch, metal collapsing in on itself. 

CRA-CRUNCH  

As Bowser pulled the door off with ease.  

“Woah!” The toad was absolutely starstruck by the king’s strength, watching Bowser crumble the door and discarding it like a soda can. “Tha- gaHk-” 

His gratitude was swiftly silenced as Bowser grabbed Tragee by his squishy mushroom top, holding him so their eyes could meet each other.  

“Now why exactly do you want in here?” he asked, raising his eyebrow. 

“Ah- well...” The toad started to fiddle with his hands, his eyes nervously looking away from the brute. “Something is familiar about this place. I can’t recall why, but I want to find out! This factory just seemed important so... yeah...” 

Their eyes met again, and the pitiful expression the toad made it abundantly clear that he was being truthful. Sighing, Bowser put Tragee down. 

Glancing into the factory, the place looked even more confusing than the woods. Corridors upon corridors illuminated by sparce holes in the ceilings showed nature taking back the factory, growing over rusted iron beams and destroyed machines. Lining the top of the walls were those same tubes; cracked and dripping lime colored oozed on to the floor. 

The koopa turned back to speak to the toad yet Tragee had already slipped past him, wandering into the factory with blissful curiosity.  

“HEY!” Bowser quickly caught up to the mushroom, exasperated by these careless antics. “You’re just going to walk into this place without any sense of fear?” 

“This is the dream world correct? I doubt there’s anything dangerous.” Tragee smiled, stopping before a large metal beam in their path. “Besides, you’re here!” 

“I said nothing about babysitting you! I said I was here to rescue you. AKA: take you out of the dream world!”  

Bowser watched the toad squeeze his body under the beam with the cap on his head squishing flat and popping back into shape once on the other side. There was no way Bowser would be able to replicate the maneuver, so he opted to push the metal out of the walkway. 

“Yet, you’re still following me.” 

“W-Well... I just so happen to need to go this way!” Tragee giggled, clearly not buying it. “Don’t laugh at me! You know who I am!” 

“Oh!”

Ignoring Bowser, Tragee rushed into a side room. With a scoff, the koopa followed him. Dead center in the dilapidated room was an ancient tree that had managed to break through the ceiling through the years of being unattended. Light from above filtered through the leaves revealing four shattered orbs surrounding the oak. One could assume no one had stepped into this place in a decade or two. 

Except for the tree’s face. 

The mushroom kingdom was no stranger to living trees so seeing a big, bulbous nose protruding from the trunk of the tree. What was strange though was the medical tubes placed in their nose, almost like the tree was on life support. Bowser’s eyes followed the tubes behind the tree. A large container the size of a standard car had been imbedded into the back of the tree. Snoring, green ooze flowed from the tree’s nostrils, through the tube to the metal box. 

“YUCK!” 

It was a wave of disgust the koopa hadn’t felt before as his mind instantly assumed this contraption was extracting snot. Bowser shot his gaze at Tragee. The toad was just staring at the tree, frozen. His hands rubbed together anxiously as he took a deep, shaky breath.  

Before the lizard had the chance to remark on the toad nearing a panic attack, the container dinged like a microwave after warming up a frozen dinner. Crankily, an old crane lowered from what was left of the ceiling. The doors to the container hissed, ejecting a toad sized capsule filled halfway with green liquid into the crane’s claws. Slowly, the crane lifted the capsule up and carried it out of the room, a new capsule sliding up from the bottom of the box, barely seen as the metal box sealed back up and started the process again. 

“Alright, so we learned someone is collecting dream tree snot. Can we leave now or...?” 

Tragee shook his head, his eyes looking to the doorway. 

“It... feels like deja vu...” He mumbled. 

“Huh?” The toad walked after the crane, following with unease to the doorway. “Okay great. We’re doing this.” 

Bowser went up to Tragee and grabbed his arm, feeling the Toad’s almost cold skin as he pulled him away from the fixation. 

“We can’t just wander around here all day! I’ve got things to do and babysitting you isn’t on the list!” 

His gaze looked to the koopa, pitifully, his saucer-like eyes overflowing with confusion and disappointment. Sounds tumbled out of his mouth, attempting to form a word but his nerves were getting the better of him. Finally, he meekly spoke, 

“I-I thought-” 

“Thought what?! That I’m fine wasting my time with a stupid toad?!” 

“T-that you were a hero.” 

“PAH!” Bowser held back his laughter. “Why in shells name would you think that ?” 

Tragee took a breath, trying to steady himself. 

“I... Don’t really know much about current kingdom affairs; king Dimentio avoided such topics when I asked. I figured this whole thing where you acted ‘evil’ was just something you would grow out of...” 

“Well news flash! It wasn’t! I’m a mean, cold-blooded tyrant!”  

“... Are you? ” His voice squeaked out. 

“Of course I am!” 

“I... I don’t think you are. I never thought so. M-maybe a bit jealous of that Mario kid, but there’s good in you that you just don’t see! Y-you were willing to help me search this factory to an extent! O-or...” 

“Or?” 

“You’re curious too? About this place.” Bowser rolled his eyes, releasing his grip on the Toad’s rather sticky skin. “This place feels familiar to you too, doesn’t it?” 
 
“Wasn’t there some dream snot you were following...” 

Tragee gave a nod. He didn’t need to pry for information that was clear as day. The duo followed the conveyor’s path on the ceiling in silence. Luckily, the branching paths of conveyor appeared broken so following where the claw went was easy, even after the gears above stopped. The maroon metal of the factory shifted to cool colored steel as they arrived at the loading bay. The conveyor belt’s gears screeched as the crane clattered over the pair’s head, returning to the dreamy snot tree. Before them was the capsule, slotted into one of several empty indents on a long, thick piece of plastic and a large, overhang door. Suddenly, the door started to rattle as it rose, revealing a familiar silhouette stepping into view. 

Dimentio. 

No, there was something off about him. He wasn’t floating, limping into view. His face was shattered, the cracks glowing a faint yellow light as magic forced the mask from crumbling apart and his clothes were visibly singed. Parts of his form even appeared to flicker in and out of existence. He didn’t seem to notice them and if he did, Dimentio cared little about their presence. Pointing a finger, the capsule lifted into the air and closer to the magician. 
 
“YOU”RE DONE FOR NOW CLOWN!”  
 
Bowser charged the clown, guns blazing. As the clown turned, looking unamused towards the shout only to meet Bowser’s fist head on. Dimentio’s face shattered onto the ground and his body fell to his knees; yet his body never fell to the pavement, disappearing in an uneventful glow of light. The capsule clattered to the ground, cracking from the impact. The koopa king let out a hearty laugh as Tragee walked over, stepping over the green goo that was now seeping onto the floor. 
 
“...You know that was a clone, right?” 

His eyes darted to the Toad; brows furrowed in confusion. In an attempt to play it off, Bowser crossed his arms with a scoff. 

“Yeah. Of course, I knew that...” Shaking his head, with a small smile on the toad’s face, Tragee stepped through the open bay door. Bowser followed behind, continuing to talk but he was only digging a deeper hole for himself. “He looked fake! I just hate looking at his stupid face, even if it’s all broke up. It was a reflex honestly!” 

“Shh-” 

“...Did you just shush, ME ???” 

“D-do you see this?” 

Bowser raised his head, finally noticing his surroundings. 

The hangar bay was desolate. The latches of the roof that once opened for arriving Shroob ships, had mostly fallen off as many metal slates littered the ground. Nature was reclaiming the space as well as vines creeped along the walls and ceiling, pulling up the metal that was once bolted down. Directly infront of them though, was a large tree. Not the same as the snot tree, but one of the many trees that could be found in the forest. The tree, however, was not the thing that had shaken the toad. 

Wrapped around the by the bark of the tree was a mummified toad. Skin clinging to their bones, the toad’s eyes appeared hallow and his mouth agape as it struggled to find air. An IV was stuck into the toad’s head, dripping the green ooze into the dying mushroom from a nearly empty capsule that was sat nearby. A wheeze escaped the toad, almost like it was trying to speak to the pair. Nothing but a dry huff escaped their dried lips but their vacant, glazed over eyes watched the pair carefully from the crevasses of their skull. Words failed to form, as the koopa was mortified by the sight before him. Had he seen some awful things? Of course he had. But this? This was something unimaginable for him. Bowser watched the toad run over to the living corpse, placing his tiny hands against the tree.  

“W-we have to help him!” 

He was hesitant. A scene as horrifying as this could put anyone on edge; even for someone who claimed to be a brutal, evil tyrant. However, Bowser soon came to a realization.  

This was the dream world.  

Bowser chuckled, leaning his body against the tree. The rough bark rubbing against his scales. 

“Listen uh, Tragee, I don’t think you need to worry about ol’ dry face here. We’re in the dream world so this guy is just a nightmare or something. You said it yourself. There’s nothing dangerous here.” 

Tragee stepped back, his eyes fixated on the toad before him. As he processed Bowser’s words, he took a deep breath, rationalizing the scene. 

“R-right... Right!” Tragee smiled, looking at Bowser with admiration. “Perhaps this is someone’s repressed memory. You got here through some dream portal so who’s asleep now?” 

“Mario and Geno. I dunno if you know Geno though. Puppet guy with guns built into his arms. Like actual guns.” 

“Then one of them must of saw this and tried to forget about it! Though, it makes me wonder why one of King Dimentio’s clones was here.”  

Tragee started to ramble, hypothesizing on what they knew. Though, Bowser wasn’t listening. It wasn’t his sort of thing wondering why such and such happened. Normally, he would have just punted the Toad at this point, tired of listening to the nonsensical rambles of how a person’s mind works. However, this small quest with Tragee had eased some of his troubles of the past and it was nice for a toad not to be inherently petrified of him. Perhaps this mummified corpse is what he saw as a kid. Bowser resituated, the bark scrapping against his scales. His mind raced back to the forest, before he found Tragee. Bowser had touched a similar tree yet, the wood flaked off his hands like dry clay. This tree... 

It felt real. 

The koopa, with an ominous revelation setting in, slowly turned his head to the toad on the tree. He could see the toad’s chest stagger as it painfully stole some air. Lifting his claw, his hand was shaking as he reached for the toad. As his hand made contact, Bowser felt exactly what he expected. Dry skin, cold to the touch, but that’s not what he was looking for. Growing up, Kamek was like a father and teacher to the koopa so he knew basic medical knowledge. The toad’s arms, ingrained into the tree, were impossible to check so Bowser’s hand gently pressed against his neck. Faint, but it was there.

A pulse. 

Bowser pushed himself from the tree, hearing it creak as he made over to the still babbling toad. Hastily, he grabbed the mushroom, turning around so he was facing him. 

“Uh, is everything okay Bowser?” 

“I need to check something.” 

Holding up the toad’s arm, he placed a finger against where a vein was. 

Nothing.

Cold, clay like skin without any form of a heart beat.

“You’re... not real.” Bowser stepped away, mortified over the reality he was facing. “How were you able to- How long- WHAT???” 

“What are you talking about? O-of course I’m real! What do you mean I’m not real?” 

“YOU DON’T HAVE A PULSE!” 

Out of sheer exasperation, Bowser extended his arms unknowingly too close to the withering tree. With a loud crack, the tree uprooted, crashing against the floor. The koopa froze, mortified as the toad on the tree was crushed under the weight of the oak. Tragee was equally as shocked, hands to his mouth as his eyes darted back and forth to the koopa and the toppled over foliage. Green ooze slowly dripped from underneath where the toad was attached as the capsule had busted, spreading shards of glass about and most definitely into the poor, decaying mushroom. 

Panicked, Bowser lifted the log over his head to make eye contact with the toad. The substance, whatever it was, was dripping from his head and mouth, as it coughed. Glass had embedded itself into his body as his lungs gasped and screamed for air. His ribs had most definitely snapped, lodging into whatever working organs he had left. 

“B-Bowser?” 

He darted his head, looking over to Tragee. The toad was fading in and out of existence, looking at his hands as they became translucent. Tragee, no, dreamy Tragee was disappearing as the real Tragee was dying. 

“I-IT’S FINE!” Bowser shouted, laying the log on the ground so that the Toad was facing up towards the sky. “We just need more green snot! So just stay alive! For one minute!” 

Bowser was trying to rip the real Tragee off the tree. He didn’t have the time to run back to the other tree and grab whatever green goo it had collected in five minutes, but he couldn’t carry the entire oak over there either. Maybe there was some he could scrape up off the ground and shovel it into the Toad’s mouth. Maybe there was a full capsule nearby they hadn’t seen. Maybe- 

A loud gasp escaped the mummified Toad’s mouth, his head falling to the side as the dream world crumbled around them.  

“Crud. CRUD!”  

Bowser searched around him for dreamy Tragee as the memory of the Shroob factory faded away. He was nowhere to be seen, gone as soon as his real self took his last breath. In an instance, the factory, Toadwood forest, everything around the koopa, faded. All that was left was the oak, the metal capsules filled with ooze and the snot tree. His eyes looked down to the deceased toad, witnessing an oddity as with a poof, a purple mushroom the size of his hand replaced Tragee’s body. Now, the koopa was left alone with his thought. Bowser closed his eyes, recollecting. 

Those events were complicated as the plumbers had teamed up with their baby-selves and stole a strange crystal he had found. Kid Bowser needed to reclaim what was his, but those aliens were a threat to his kingdom. They needed to be dealt with immediately. After landing the cruiser, kid Bowser commanded his troops to scout the area and learn what the shroobs were doing. Being inexperienced, he had joined his troops in this mission. Only a few minutes later, they heard a loud explosion and returned to see the cruiser destroyed. The shroobs saw them land and now had them surrounded. Their fight didn’t last long. Many of his troops perished trying to protect the young prince while others were captured. Somehow, he had managed to get away but now lost in Toadwood Forest. A call for help came from the tree.  

Tragee Toad. He had met him before, the tree leeching the newly attached body of life slowly. The toad pleaded with him, begged for help, but the prince was mortified at what he saw. He ran, leaving the toad to face his demise. Bowser felt tears starting to form. Quickly, he wiped them away, looking at the mushroom in his hands. If he had helped this toad then, maybe they wouldn’t be in this predicament now. Or maybe this was proof.  

Proof that Mario was right.  

Did he even grieve the troops he lost that day? Or any day? Sure, death was only temporary in this world but that doesn’t stop the mental trauma. So many deaths were on his hands. Not just the intentional one from his teen years. Hundreds of unintentional casualties he merely repressed. Taking a breath, Bowser pulled the mushroom into his shell. He will make this right; one way or another. 

Standing up, he finally noticed the changes from Tragee’s dream being destroyed. Pipes stuck out of the baren, cement landscape with the occasional apartment complex breaking up the green clutter. Of course, dreamy italian cuisine was scattered about as well like strands of spaghetti littering the ground like discarded leaves. A voice shouted in the distance. From the plumbing nightmare before the koopa, ran out a humanoid figure wrapped in vines with a red flower on top their head. Several bullets flew after the vine covered man as Bowser heard another shout. Geno emerged, giving chase to the oddity. Not in the mood for a goose chase, Bowser lifted his leg up as the vine monstrosity attempted to dash by the koopa. It tumbled to the ground and Bowser swiftly swooped the creature up as star warrior ran up, letting out a relieved sigh. 

“Thank you. Now we need to get the vines off. There should be a start to these vines... Maybe if we pull the flo-” 

Bowser inhaled, breathing a powerful spray of fire onto the vines. Now in his claws, was dreamy Mario. The dream version of the plumber smiled, waving to the puppet as Bowser put him on the ground. 

“Perfect! Great job Bowser!” Geno praised. “Now, let’s get out of-”  

“Yeah, yeah. You go on ahead. I need a moment.” 

Sensing something was amiss, Geno debated on confronting the issue. He ultimately decided against it as the former staircase descended from dreamy Star Haven. Giving a final worried glance, the puppet headed up to wait for the koopa. Dreamy Mario didn’t follow, choosing to stick with Bowser for the moment. Not speaking, Bowser headed to the stairs, avoiding the plumber’s concerned gaze. Hushed, the koopa spoke before quickly ascending the stairs. 

“I’m sorry.” 

Chapter Text

Silence.

Nothing but the sound of lava boiling under the castle filled the disheveled halls. Forgotten paint rollers, covered in a regal, dark violet, abandoned on the carpeted floor leaving half painted walls. A golden chandelier, shattered on the ground in the throne room beside a toppled over ladder. Beside the throne, a fallen tray now soaked in tea from a formerly filled kettle. All of them were gone; disappeared into thin air.

One of the few rooms not yet touched were the bedrooms belonging to the royal koopas. With a massive stone headboard colored and carved like his shell and spikes protruding from the side, the king sized bed took the majority of the room. Despite being a king, it was a surprisingly modest bedroom. The only thing worth noticing was a large, obsidian dresser pressed against the far right wall. Several photographs lined the top of the dresser. A camping trip with all his kids around a campfire. Bowser, obviously asleep, soaking up the sun in a fold-up lounge chair with Junior drawing on his face with a sharpie. Solo photos of his kids and their multiple achievements and an older photo. One that was worn and had several folded lines. A photo of Bowser as a teen beside a younger Princess Peach.

Seeing the koopa king's room was a rare occurrence. To lay in his bed however, it was unheard of and downright disrespectful. Of course, the jester didn't care, ordering Mr. L to sleep atop his pi'illo and open a dream portal. It wasn't more than five minutes before the clown appeared. Floating from out the portal, Dimentio placed his gloved hand to his mouth, stuck in thought as L quickly awoke. The portal quickly dissipated as the mechanic let out a soft grunt as he stretched his arms.

"So? What did you see?" He questioned, reaching for the black eye mask he tossed onto Bowser's bedside table. "I told you that toad would kick the bucket pretty soon. You should of-"

"No." Dimentio interrupted. He didn't hide his worry, shooting L a worried glance. "Not deceased. Gone."

Mr. L's eyes widened, realizing what this meant. Someone had entered the dream world. Someone other than them. It was impossible, they assumed. The man in green's ability was a legendary power formerly assumed to be lost to time. Summoning dream portals was considered a myth until recently. Somehow, their foes had procured another with this ability, entered the dream world, and took the one thing that gave them an army.

"So what's the plan now? No princess, no koopa king and now no army." He couldn't help but smirk, pulling himself off the bed. "Maybe now you'll l-isten to my ideas hm?"

The jester paused, slowly turning his head slightly; his voice cold and monotone.

"Are you under the assumption that I don't have backup plans?" 

"Honestly? YES!" L extended his arms, outraged. "You're too hung up on bringing back the Chaos Heart! Give it up!"

With a heavy breath, Dimentio pressed his hands together as he faced the mechanic. Pointing his hands at L, he spoke.

"Let's ponder why shall we? You are thrown into the possession of a precious, family heirlo-"

"NO! No!"

Immediately, the clown was shut down as Mr. L stood up. Fear, timidness, kindness. With his true self locked behind the florobud, the plumber's most common characteristics were lost. Without a shred of hesitation, L was japping his finger into the magician's chest, laying out his frustration in full.

"I don't need your charming, manipulation tactics! Just tell me, point blank, why!"

His silvery eyes locked with the gentle, glowing light from one of the eye holes in the clown's face. There was annoyance there, sure, but something else was there too. Something only the jester could see. A small chuckle left him as he swatted L's hand away.

"You sure know how to spoil the mood don't you?"

"Answer me..." The words crawled out through his teeth. 

Shaking a finger, Dimentio floated over to the bed. The pi'illo, still trapped in their pillow form, lay there frozen. Vines were inching themselves around the pillow, pulsing like veins. Whoever they were, before Dimentio tricked them into being a mental safe for Luigi's mind, was just a rectangular pile of deep green roots. Gently, he took hold of the leafy pillow.

Why the man in green thought he was on the same standing as the pleaser of crowds, Dimentio couldn't understand. He had freed him. There were no negotiating plans. No compromises. Mr. L was freed for the sole reason of following orders. He was a pawn and nothing more. With a wave of his hand, the pillow was teleported to a more secure location.

"Tell me, how is your... project fairing?"

The mechanic's eyes lit up but instantly grew hesitant, squinting his eyes before his anger resurfaced. 

"Don't change the subject! I-"

Around Dimentio, the air wavered as he teleported to the basement. There was no reason to continue such a frivolous discussion. 

Like Peach, Bowser had multiple castles with different functions. Unlike the princess though, who used her castles to hold things like her collection of paintings, Bowser used his castles solely to advance his military. This castle just so happened to house a hangar bay underneath the castle with a runway extending out of the volcanic cliff, illuminating the sweltering area in a faint, orange light. Previously, there were two airships docked but now they sat nonfunctional, stripped for whatever parts deemed useful. Among the discarded vehicles were several race karts, disassembled with one kart left as a single, pink frame. Their parts scavenged for the monstrosity that stood before him. 

Impersonating the mechanic was a mech that was slightly bigger than an average toad house. As like the other two iterations, the cockpit hid in the green tinted, metal hat. The bulbous nose, brown sheet metal for his mustache and yellow, derpy eyes on either side of its face. Somehow he had managed to learn, to a T, how to recreate his entire head perfectly. That was where the replication ended however. Mr. L seemed to finally be branching out, finally giving his brobot a torso, albeit a short one. Two brobot heads wide, a pair of metal poles protruded from its shoulders. Only one was attached to a huge, thick hunk of metal at the time. Using what appeared to be hydraulics, the arm was sectioned into two pieces. Once this thing was up and running, this mech would be able to demolish a building with just a single punch.

Of course, this machine couldn't rely on just its arms to walk around. It needed speed. A familiar designed thruster was attached under the torso, giving the impression that this powerhouse could go airborne. Not only that, the middle of the torso seemed to function as an overly complicated wheel, allowing the thruster to move to the front or back of the machine without moving the head. It was impressive that he managed to design and almost complete an entire battle mech in just a few short hours. Though less impressive when it was apparent he had forced a few of the brainwashed koopalings to help with this project. Now, with the seven koopalings being the last bit of their army, all of them were working on the machine.

Using a crane, Roy was slowly attaching the second arm as Wendy shouted various vegetables at her brother, directing his movements in her mind controlled state. Meanwhile, the other koopalings were working on other parts like Larry bolting down some of the metal on the left shoulder while Lemmy and Iggy were in the cockpit doing.... something. To Dimentio, the pair didn't act brainwashed at all. He started to float up, curious to see if he was just misreading their movements only to be interrupted as Mr. L finally joined the magician in the hangar.

"WHAT IS YOUR ISSUE?!" 

His screeching voice made all the koopalings turn in his direction. Dimentio watched Lemmy pull his lanker brother down behind the control panel, hearing a muffled chuckle from the green haired koopa. Even as L stomped up to him, the clown's concern was focused on something more pressing.

"Why do you have such a problem with just talking to me?!" As he pleaded, Dimentio planted himself on the ground, still giving the mechanic a sliver of his attention. "I want to help you but we need to actually discuss the next course of action!"

Slowly, he looked to Mr. L. The florobud was able to repress many parts of a personality but sometimes, bits and pieces slipped through the cracks. Tinted with a cold, steel blue, his eyes were starting to tear up as his voice cracked. Yelling was something the plumber hated to do and it was showing even now. Last thing he needed was for Luigi to break free. Guess the best course of action was to give in. Not fully but enough to please him at the moment. Positioning himself beside L, he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Relax dear, I just needed to see your progress first before laying out my next plan to you."

"D-dear?"

Under his mask, a bit of red started to overtake his face. Dimentio walked over to the brobot, placing a hand on the metal arm of the beast.

"I think this will work perfectly for our next course of action."

"And that is...?"

A smile crept across the jester's face as his eyes shifted back to L.

"We are going to invade Star Haven and steal the Star Rod."

Poking their heads up slightly, Lemmy and Iggy listened to the clown, petrified, glancing at each other with worry. Mr. L seemed shocked to this plan as well, staring as Dimentio, dumbfounded.

"Star Haven. You want to invade Star Haven when all we have is you, me, my newly revamped brobot: mega L-type, M and eight, brainwashed dragon koopa children. That won't work."

Waving his hand, Dimentio brushed aside the concern. L's words went in one ear and out the other. The mention of Mr. M was even ignored despite the secret issue Dimentio had not yet revealed.

"Oh? And what is your reasoning for that?"

"You do know that Star Haven has a military now, right? Ever since the Smithy gang, the seven Star Spirits-"

"I made sure to read up on the planet's politics after I escaped hell Mr. L. You need not remind me."

"Then you should know that fighting an entire puppet army is a terrible idea! Geno-"

The air wavered behind L as Dimentio appeared beside him, placing his hands back on his shoulders, gently reassuring him. His head rested beside his as he floated on his stomach and his legs kicking slightly, as if he was telling his bff the hottest new gossip over the phone.

"And Geno is where now?"

"With Bowser I assume..."

"So no one with actual battle experience is there to command this army?"

"Well, yes, but there's-"

"You know what would be marvelous?"

Dimentio placed a finger to Mr. L's chin, forcing him to look into the jester's eyes. His intangible arm crept onto the mechanic as his other hand rested against his chest. L was like putty in his gloves, his face already turning cherry red. Whatever kept his pawn in check was on the table, despite not being to the jester's own personal tastes.

"You should add a flamethrower to one of the arms. That way you can incinerate the army in one fell swoop while I snatch the rod from the Star Spirits."

"H-H... Y-yeah- That's-" Mr. L pulled at his bandana, avoiding the magician's eyes as he turned his attention back to his invention. His voice was hushed as he failed to hide his fluster. "I-I l-ove that idea. I'll get on that o-once my brother returns..."

Oh right, Mario. Another hiccup in the plan. When he went into the dream world, not only was Tragee missing, so was the florobud that belonged to Mario. This either meant he was dead or had broken free. Judging that the toad was gone though, Mr. M was obviously gone and the plumber in red was now helping the koopa king and the star warrior. Having such a threat on the opposition was bad enough but letting the brainwashed Luigi know would make it ten times worse. There was no way of knowing how he would react. Best case scenario, he would shrug it off and take it as a challenge to prove that he was, in fact, more than just Mario's brother. At worst, he could completely break out of the mental prison at the thought of fighting his brother and dearest friend.

He could not risk that outcome. Dimentio shifted himself in the air, rolling himself onto his back in the air as he looked at his hand nonchalantly.

"Forgive me but I forgot to inform you that I sent Mr. M on a different mission."

"Different mission?"

Letting out a sigh, the jester told a bold faced lie.

"Princess Peach escaped so I sent him to recapture her."

This was a lie. For all intensive purposes, Peach was in dimension D. An upgrade from a cold, dank cell what with the renovations he made. His pawn didn't require this information however.

A scoff left Mr. L as he crossed his arms. Pressing his lips, he seemed more disappointed than annoyed from this information. From studying the brief interactions he allowed the two brainwashed brothers to have, L, or rather Luigi, deeply despised how others deemed Mario as more capable. Seeded, he actively took out this anger on Mr. M. It wasn't Mario's fault though and he knew it. His eyes regained a bit of color as he looked down at his boots.

Not good.

Dimentio floated beside him, grabbing a hold of one of the mechanic's hands. Granting the man in green so much comfort was starting to make him sick.

"Don't be like that. We both know Peach isn't a threat. Additionally, it's apparent that your brother doesn't desire to fight. Like a child unattended in a pet store, I am giving you both what you truly desire. Put aside your concern for your brother and focus on what you want for a change."

"What... I want..." 

Watching his pupils shift back to a colorless grey, the jester was satisfied. Floating in front of the mech, he clapped his hands. The koopalings, at least the six that were seeded, quickly appeared before the clown while the other two inched in to the group. Most of their eyes were glazed over, staring at Dimentio as they waited for new orders. The small, green sprouts digging out from their skulls and through the hair of certain koopas. Lemmy and Iggy however, didn't have these sprouts or at least, in the right place. Lemmy's sprout was actually just a fire flower with its head cut off and taped onto his snout. Meanwhile Iggy didn't have a sprout at all. Or did he? His hair was so tall, perhaps it was in that mess of a ponytail. At a glance, it was impossible for Dimentio to tell if the lanky koopa was actually seeded. He seemed absentminded like the others but Lemmy seemed to be quietly fretting over his sibling.

"However, we need to address the elephant in the room first." Snapping his fingers, Lemmy was raised in the air, abandoning his act as the destroyed power up fell off his nose. "This one isn't seeded."

"Hah... uh..."

The young koopa showed an anxious grin as the magic had him floating into the air. Averting his gaze from Iggy, who just let out another one of his iconic laughs, the koopa's sight went to Mr. L. Seeing the fear in the young boy's eyes made him falter in his dedication to the wannabe king.

"H-Hi Luigi. Listen, I'm all for an evil arc b-but I think it's starting to go a bit too far... Can you and your boyfriend tone it down? I-I'm starting to get scared..."

For a split moment, the former blue in his eyes returned. But then he said one word.

Boyfriend.

Scowling, Mr. L stabbed his finger against the boy's nose, outraged but in reality, flustered.

"Dimentio is not my boyfriend."

"F-fiancé?"

"NO! WH-I-I-"

L cupped his hands against his face, hiding his tomato colored cheeks and he quietly screamed into the void.

"I-it's okay if you're gay Luigi! Roy thinks he is too!" Lemmy covered his mouth with his hands, shooting his eyes back at his pink, glasses-wearing brother before looking back to the mechanic. "He won't remember I told you that when you free him right? I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that-"

"When I- I'm not freeing him L-emmy!"

"Ahem." Dimentio cleared his throat. "Hate to interrupt but I also suspect the laughing one to be unseeded as well."

Iggy let out another, frantic chuckle followed by another. Surprisingly, if he wasn't seeded, he was doing a good job acting like he was. He hadn't moved from his spot and didn't appear panicked from his brother being captured. It was just the random laugh that was throwing the clown off.

"Oh no, Iggy has tics. That's normal." Giving a shrug, Mr. L reached into his pocket, pulling out a hard coated seed the size of his fingertip. "Besides, Iggy is one of the easier koopalings to deal with."

"Hey!" Lemmy interjected, swiping at L's face. "Take that back! Iggy is sooooo difficult to deal with!"

Rolling his eyes, Mr. L reached for the child. Dimentio released his magic once L had Lemmy in his arms.

A grave mistake.

Headbutting the mechanic, the koopa dropped to the ground as L stumbled backwards, holding his forehead. He was outnumbered but he had a plan. Darting to Roy, the young koopaling crawled up his brother's purple shell and grasped the florosprout on his head. Pulling with all his might.

Yanking.

Tugging.

It was starting to get loose.

Mr. L, dazed, looked at the sight before him. The rest of the koopalings didn't bother to help as they weren't ordered to, watching Roy screeched about asparagus while Lemmy kept pulling at the sprout, blood starting to drip from the older koopa's skull. Eerily, the pleaser of crowds watched on. He didn't attempt to stop the dire situation. The grin on his mask wide as a crescent moon.

He couldn't get his warning out in time.

With a loud thud, Roy's body fell to the floor. Blood and brain matter flung through the air along with the young koopa. Landing on his shell, he slowly sat up, now covered in blood. He still had the bloody plant with bits of brain on its roots, in his claws, frozen from the sight. As he watched the blood pool under his brother, his voice cracked as he called out.

"R-Roy?"

Taking his chance, Mr. L slammed the seed against the koopas head. It was the perfect moment. Not just due to the distraction but for the boy. He needed to forget the carnage that happened. Lemmy's body jolted as his eyes glazed over. Slowly, L lifted his hand and watched the new sprout grow.

"Well." Dimentio snapped his finger and the blood that splattered on his shirt instantly vanished. "That was a spectacle! Shame we lost the pink one. He was rather strong. Guess It wasn't in deep enough. My apologizes."

"Why." Mr. L looked at the clown, shaken. A mix of emotions were starting to flood him, bringing him close to the brink. "Y-You could have stopped that! But you just watched!"

Shaking his head the clown floated over, magically snapping away the blood on Mr. L's clothes. His eyes were regaining their color again as Luigi, deep within his mind, fought for control of his body. Holding his arms close to his chest, L was starting to shake. 

"H-he was just a child..."

Every little thing was setting this guy off. Contemplating for a split second, Dimentio sighed. Yes it would save him a headache having to balance the emotional state of the man in green if he just got rid of him but unfortunately, Mr. L was a useful asset. Letting him break would leave him with another prisoner in his pocket dimension. If he were to kill him, that would just send Mario on a quest for revenge. Mr. L was still required for his plan.

Grabbing L by his shoulders and turning him away from his sight, Dimentio let out a long, tired huff. Unfortunately, he had to play into one of Luigi's other repressed desires. His porcelain face pressed against the mustached man's warm lips. He could feel his lunch starting to creep out from his stomach as the mechanic's hot, humid breath merged with his. If only he wasn't forced to scrounge for whatever little leeway he could find. At least it would keep the mechanic in check for a while.

Once he could feel the heat perminating from L's face, he let go, turning his back away so the lovesick loser didn't witness the jester wipe his mouth in disgust. At least he was distracted, now struggling to find his words and his heart pounding in his chest. Floating back to the seeded koopalings, Dimentio singled out two koopas.

"Iggy and the brown scaled one, pull the pink one's corpse to the end of the airstrip and toss him into the lava. The rest of you, clean up the mess before I come back with Mr. L. Okay? Fantastic."

The air wavered around the lovestricken mechanic and the jester as they disappeared. Once the order was given, the brainwashed koopalings went about cleaning the crime scene. Iggy and Morton grabbed either side of Roy's arms, dragging the body down the runway as Larry cleaned up the blood streak they were making.

"Ha... Ha... hic-" 

Iggy was finally able to lower his facade, tears streaming down his face. He couldn't look at his siblings, especially Roy. But he would avenge him. All he needed was to keep faking. Whatever it took, he would save the rest of his family.

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