Chapter Text
The ground beneath the Koopa guards rumbles. They immediately straighten up and swing open the huge iron doors to Bowser’s throne room.
As if following a schedule, Bowser storms through, all patched up with bandages and medical tape.
He plops himself on his jagged throne of skulls, smoke pouring out of his grimace as he lets out a low yet threatening growl.
“Whatever is the matter, Your Grouchiness?”
Kamek appears next to him, seeming somewhat confused, albeit hard to see from behind his glasses.
As soon as Kamek asks, Bowser’s anger turns to rage. He jumps out of his chair and breathes fire everywhere, which Kamek dodges like it’s second nature.
“It’s that damn plumber again!! Always ruining my plans! The Princess is supposed to be MINE!”
He screams out, the sound of his voice booming across the room.
After a few more fireballs, Bowser sits back down with his arms crossed, letting out a raspy growl.
“...I need something different. Something that’ll catch that blasted plumber off guard.”
He thinks, as his tail flicks impatiently.
Then it thumps to the side of his throne as he finally gets an idea. It’s a stupid idea, no doubt, but it seems like the best one he’s had yet.
“Kamek. Name another person dear to Mario that isn’t Peach.”
All the anger seems to just disappear from his voice as Kamek stares at the back of his head.
Kamek thinks for a while, before having some ideas.
“...The Toads? His cowardly brother? That green dinosau—”
Before he could even finish, Bowser immediately grabs Kamek and yanks him up to his face.
“THAT’S IT!”
He screams out, as if Kamek isn’t right in front of him.
“...That dinosaur?”
Kamek asks, confused, which seems to annoy Bowser.
“No you geezer! His wimpy little brother! I’ll take him instead!!”
Bowser growls at Kamek, as he holds him closer.
After a moment, everything clicks for Kamek and he realises where Bowser is coming from.
“Ahhh… I see what you are implying!”
Kamek smiles wickedly as he looks at Bowser.
Bowser groans as he throws Kamek over his shoulder and slumps down on his throne.
Kamek easily catches himself from hitting the ground with his broom, then goes back to floating next to Bowser.
“God you’re old… Alright, enough of that. Here’s the plan.”
Bowser sits up as he continues, while Kamek listens intently, matching wicked smiles spreading across their faces.
“Ascoltami, Luigi. Il vino freddo è più buono!”
Mario continues, as he grabs a small cake from the picnic basket and hoovers it in one bite.
“Ma, stai impazzendo Mario! Il vino deve essere caldo!”
Luigi shoots back as he wipes the crumbs off his face with a pink napkin.
After a moment of thinking, Luigi breaks.
“Sorry Princess, but we don’t exactly know that much Italian…”
Which earns a soft giggle from Princess Peach, who covers her mouth as she does so.
“No need to apologise, Luigi. I just really love hearing you guys speak it.”
She says with the softest look one can have, which reassures Luigi and earns a fond smile from Mario.
“We can still talk in Italian if you’d like! What’s another topic we can talk about…”
Luigi turns to Mario, who thinks about what else they could talk about.
But before they could even start, a Toad who seems quite worried comes crashing into Luigi. He jumps, startled by the sudden contact, until Mario rushes over to the Toad and he realises that’s all it was.
“What’s wrong? Are you alright?”
Mario quickly says with a concerned look, as he helps the Toad up.
“I-It’s Bowser!! He’s—”
But before the fretting Toad can say anymore, Bowser’s ship appears flying up ahead.
Mario and Luigi jump in front of the Princess, guarding her as they get ready to fight.
“Get ready Luigi.”
Mario gets into his fighting stance
“You got it MarioooOO—”
Suddenly, Luigi gets yanked by a huge robot hand and thrown onto the deck.
Mario screams out something Luigi can’t hear over the roar of the ship’s fans, as he holds his stomach, forcing himself up while shaking.
He and Bowser lock eyes, Bowser’s gaze piercing into him. Despite being absolutely terrified, Luigi notices that Bowser isn’t… taunting Mario?
It feels… off. Luigi decides it’s best to play this logically.
He pretends to struggle standing up and falls face first onto the deck.
Bowser raises an eyebrow as he makes his way from the steering wheel down to Luigi lying on the ground.
He stares at the green plumber on the floor. How pathetic, he didn’t even throw him that hard, he thinks.
That is until Bowser stepped closer.
Luigi suddenly springs to his feet, rubbing his gloved hands together as thin streamers of electricity crackle around them.
Bowser barely has time to look up in disbelief before Luigi thrusts his hands forward. A huge ball of electricity slams straight into Bowser’s face, causing him to stagger backwards with a roar.
Luigi lands on his hands and feet, looking over to the edge of the ship. It’s not far from the ground. He could jump down and make it in one piece—
Luigi yelps as he suddenly feels a massive arm clamp around his torso, pinning his arms to his sides.
He’s yanked forwards, up to Bowser’s face, where he gets spooked by Bowser’s rage-filled expression.
Smoke pours out of Bowser’s mouth, as he snarls and stares daggers into Luigi’s bright blue eyes.
Luigi’s widened eyes frantically dart everywhere as the grip tightens.
This damn plumber, he’ll pay for this.
…Wait. Did Luigi seriously just… fight back? And do, as much as it hurts Bowser to say this, a good job of it?
…He could use this. Maybe his plan needs some rearranging.
Bowser, still holding Luigi, walks back up to the steering wheel and chucks Luigi behind him, into the wooden boxes.
Luigi groans, trying to steady himself, but all he sees is Bowser’s spiky shell before eventually passing out.