Chapter Text
In the castle’s dining hall, Mario and Daisy sat at the table and had a calm discussion about a possible rescue mission- “Is there a plan!?” Daisy shouted in a desperate tone . . . Right in my ear . . . Ow.
“Yes!” Mario said gleefully. “I was gonna go out there and find him myself! It should take me around… ten hours. Maybe. To find him and rescue him.”
“Really?” The desert princess asked skeptically, “And… how do you plan on finding him?”
Mario shrugged. “Usually I just go and there’s a path leading me to where I need to be.”
“Oh… that’s reassuring.” Daisy sarcastically stated.
“It’s the best plan we got, Princess!” Mario pouted.
SLAM! The door to the dining hall crashed open and Toadette gleefully strolled in. “Okay! So-” she rolled out a hastily made chart of . . . the two princesses and different toads in the castle on the table. Weird. “Peach told Daisy and the chef toad told Peach and one of the cook toads told the chef toad and another one of the cook toads told that cook toad and the butler toad told that cook toad and a maid toad told the butler toad and a soldier toad told the maid toad and Smart Toad told the soldier toad, but I haven’t found Smart Toad yet, so I don’t know who told him , but, whoooo BOY, I’m getting to the bottom of this! I can feel it!”
Mario and Daisy stared quietly as Toadette stood frozen with her hands held triumphantly in the air and breathed heavily. “Um… Toadette, what are you talking about?” Daisy inquired; a little concerned for her friend.
“I’m getting close to whoever told everyone I’m pregnant, Daisy. Don’t you see?” Toadette answered in a rather… alarming tone. “I can feel it in my gut! Oooooh, whoever started spreading this rumor… better hope they can afford a good doctor…” She smiled creepily as she rubbed her hands together.
Feeling a little freaked out, Daisy cleared her throat and then began to roll up the chart. “Maybe you should take a break from this-”
Immediately, Toadette grabbed Daisy by the collar and shoved her face to Daisy’s. “I’LL TAKE A BREAK WHEN I’M DEAD!” They paused… as Toadette realized Daisy was genuinely afraid. “Oh…” she began, “I’m so sorry…” she backed off embarrassed, “Maybe I – should take a break…”
“. . . Yeah,” Daisy answered.
Toadette gathered her chart, then walked back towards the door. “Thank you for listening to my ramblings.” She walked out.
Mario and Daisy stared at the door in fear and confusion before Daisy turned her attention back to Mario, “So, uhm, when were you planning on leaving?” She asked, trying to change the subject.
“I was, uh… thinking now would be a good time.”
“Yeah, now is probably a good time.”
- - -
King Boo began his attack by slamming down his large tongue on Luigi; which Luigi dodged. The mustache man then tried to use his flashlight and suck up the king with his vacuum, but it was useless. King Boo just smacked him away.
"Do you really think that'd work on me again!?" King Boo taunted. "You're dreaming!"
As much as Luigi would hate to admit it, King Boo may have been right. He needed help. Luigi looked up at the floating picture of Bowser and sighed. "He'll have to do." He turned his attention back to King Boo and waved the Poltergust's nozzle in the air. "Hey! Bet you can't get me!"
Angered by the taunting, King Boo shot out his tongue once again towards Luigi, which Luigi dodged again, except, this time, he grabbed the tip of the round King's tongue and leaped as high as he could over the unsuspecting poltergeist and wrapped him in his taster. "That should hold him for long enough." Luigi ran to where the Bowser picture floated, then pointed the Poltergust's nozzle at it and used it to extract Bowser from the frame. Considering Bowser's size, it was a challenge pulling him from the frame. Like trying to shove a Banzai Bill through the eye of a needle. Once Bowser was fully extracted, he crashed down on the platform; making it shake like an earthquake.
Bowser, as he laid on his stomach, shot his head up in shock and terror as he tried to register what he was seeing. "What the-"
"King Boo! Fight! Help!" Luigi said hastily.
King Boo managed to release himself from his entanglement and darted his body around to where Bowser and Luigi were. He shot up into the air and attempted to squash both characters. The duo managed to dodge; Luigi jumping in one direction and Bowser retreating into his shell and spinning off in the other.
Bowser popped out of his shell and observed Luigi. The plumber dodged and weaved everything King Boo threw at him; except for maybe one or two hits. Bravely, Luigi continued to try to fight the giant boo by hopping on his head, flashing his light at him, and vacuuming him. However, as Boo said, it doesn’t work. Boo just taunted and countered with tongue whips and the like. Finally, after putting all the pieces together, which took him long enough, like, wow, Bowser cuffed his clawed hands around his mouth. “Hey! Ghost face!” King Boo wasn’t interested in the Koopa King whatsoever. He continued to engage in his fight with Luigi. Bowser took that personally. As Luigi attempted to land another attack, Bowser stomped up to the boo’s ghost butt and smacked him away, causing the ghost king to spin like a helium balloon, making the plumber unexpectedly land straight on his foot and topple over onto his face. “What’s a king gotta do to get some respect!?” Bowser said.
Once King Boo was done spinning away and shook the daze off, he came back fuming. “Respect!? For what!? Existing!? Please, a king needs to do more than just exist to get respect.”
Luigi raised an eyebrow in confusion and curiosity as he made his way back to an upright position. “Do… you guys know each other?”
Fully ignoring Luigi’s inquiry, Bowser spoke to King Boo, “I do more than just ‘exist!’”
“Oooh, my bad, you kidnap a princess every week. Wow, you do so much for your kingdom.” The boo smirked.
“I don’t kidnap her every week-”
“You serious?” King Boo laughed, “It’s an obsession at this point!”
Bowser scowled at the spirit ball.
“I find it shocking that anyone shows you respect. Even your own kids .”
This got Bowser boiling mad. He clenched his fists and jaw as he stared daggers at the floating apparition. “Don’t talk about my kids…”
“Your kids… are going to grow up… wise up… and leave you… like she did…”
That… was the last straw. A fire burned in Bowser’s belly as he readied his fire breath. He blew blue flames at the ghostly king. It was the brightest and hottest fire breath he had ever created and King Boo wasn’t ready for it. He shielded his eyes and face from the bright blue flame as he curled up in fear. Luigi took this opportunity to take the Poltergust and vacuum up the cowering king. He struggled for a bit as the boo tried to fight it, but Bowser’s constant fire stream helped a lot in keeping him vulnerable. After what seemed like an hour of constant vacuuming and fire breathing, the Italian plumber managed to fully suck up the problematic poltergeist.
This, although, didn’t stop Bowser from breathing fire. He continuously spewed flames as a stream of tears fell down his face. Unsettled by this, Luigi jogged up to King Koopa’s side and shook his arm. “Hey! Bowser! I-it’s okay! You can stop!” Bowser gradually let the flame go from its total capacity to half, then finally gone. Tears streamed from his eyes continuously as he took deep breaths. The two stood quietly as Luigi continued to rest a hand on Bowser’s arm to subconsciously attempt to soothe the beast.
“I-” Bowser finally spoke, “I didn’t – know I could do that.”
“. . . Me neither.” Luigi stated, “Are you okay?”
Before Bowser could answer, the purple void dissolved away and they found themselves back in the forest, but it looked… less pleasant and more like a forest from a classic horror story. “W-What? Is this the same forest?” Bowser wondered.
Luigi scanned over the scene and noticed a burnt, shriveled, tree around the same area where the tree from before was. Luigi sighed, “Yeah… Looks like another one of King Boo’s tricks to lull us – me into a false sense of security.”
“Oh…” Bowser cleared his throat, “Well, in that case, we better get going.” He began to walk off before he was stopped.
“Hold on! We can’t just ‘get going’ when we have no idea where we’re going.”
Bowser’s face gave Luigi a slight scowl.
Luigi rolled his eyes, “Look, we can’t just keep wandering aimlessly hoping for something to happen. We need a plan.” the green plumber groaned, “You’re a king. You gotta know of something or . . . someone that can help.”
For once in his life, Bowser paused to think, like, actually think of what could help or, in this case, who … “The Book Keeper…” He said.
“The what?” Luigi asked.
“The Book Keeper, er – the Destiny Wizard. He knows everyone’s past, present, and future. He has to know where my kids are!” Great job! This is the first good idea you’ve had all day!
“O-Oh! Wow, okay, where does he live!?” Luigi beamed.
“In a moving house!” Bowser smiled.
Luigi’s grin immediately left his face, “. . . Huh?”
“I-In a moving . . . house.”
“S-So . . . is he . . . never in the same place?”
“. . . Never.”
An awkward silence fell over the two. The one good idea they had, squandered by the cursed wizard's desire to be alone- "Wait!" Bowser yelled as he hit his forehead. "Duh! I put a tracking device on him years ago!" . . . He put a what on where? How did I not know this!?
"Really?"
"Yup!" Bowser pressed one of the spikes on his wrist bracer and a holographic screen popped up that showed a map of where he was and where the wizard was.
Luigi batted his eyes in confusion at the contraption. "You have a tracking device on a wizard, but not your eight kids?"
"I'm not gonna put trackers on my kids! What kind of father do you take me for!?" Bowser sounded genuinely insulted.
Luigi put his hands up defensively, "O-Okay."
Bowser looked back at his map and studied it. "Huh… looks like he's not that far away." He turned his body, almost robotically, in several different ways as he tried to figure out which direction to go. "This way!" He began marching, then immediately turned around, "No, this way."
"Okie dokie," the lanky brother took one step, "WAH!" he screamed as a shockwave of pain went up his leg. He keeled over and grabbed his ankle as he took a sharp breath through his teeth.
Bowser whipped his head towards the yell and raised his eyebrows, almost like he was concerned. Maybe. I dunno. "You good, Greeny?"
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," Luigi said. "I just – I think I injured myself while I was fighting King Boo and the pain just now kicked in."
". . . You serious?" Bowser groaned, "Can ya walk!?"
"I-I think so." He took a couple of steps before falling over again in agony. "Nope. I can't…"
"UGH!" Bowser grunted.
Luigi sighed, "If this is such an inconvenience for you, then just – go on without-"
Luigi was interrupted by being yanked up by the Poltergust and roughly slung over a large, scaly, shoulder. "Shut up," Bowser ordered before he began stomping in the direction his map pointed out to him.
Batting his wide eyes, Luigi decided to make himself comfortable on the shoulder and not question Bowser's motives too much. Even with an offer given to him by Luigi, Bowser chose to take him with. Was the king planning something sinister for his long-time enemy's brother or does he have a different motive for letting him tag along and carrying him? Who knows? Oh, wait, I do.
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I'm not telling. Have a great day, friends!