anomander-dragnipurake - Tumblr blog

[anomander-dragnipurake]

I'm Plenty Warm

Summary: The Grand Prix's held in winter this time. Bowser doesn't fair well in the cold.

~

The cold seeped into every inch of Bowser’s being, settling deep into his bones. It took every ounce of his self control to keep his shivering to what was hopefully an invisible minimum. Why did the damn Grand Prixhave to be held in winter this year? There was simply no need. Yeah, the Xmas lights were pretty but not exactly the kind of thing one typically thought of for racing.

Of course Mario with his warm blood and fuzzy coat didn’t look the least bit bothered by the cold. Punching him for that would be nice but would get Bowser kicked. He was not going to let all the effort and suffering he’d already put into this damn thing go to waste just because he was annoyed at Mario.

Instead he huffed and looked towards the other racers mingling about, waiting for the call to push their karts onto the track. He shuffled his feet, trying to make it look like impatience instead of the desperate attempt to get some feeling back into his feet that it was. After the race though he was totally going to…

“You okay?”

Bowser almost flinched as he looked the green Mario brother who’d apparently come up to stand next to him. “What?”

“Are you okay?”

“Why are you asking?” It had to be a trap, right? He was looking for weakness.

Greenie shifted, breaking eye contact. “It’s cold and uh, from what I understand you’re cold blooded so the cold is even worse for you. So I figured I’d come over and ask how you were doing.”

As far as Bowser could tell he seemed sincere in his concern but that didn’t mean that he was. He’d learned the hard way early on that sometimes people liked to lie and take advantage of others, especially people in positions of power such as himself. No matter how hard he tried, he’d never gotten good at spotting when someone was trying such a thing and thus made it a rule to never fully trust anyone other than Kamek and the kids. So whatever Greenie was trying here, he wasn’t going to fall for.

“I’m fine.” He put a slight growl in his voice, making Greenie flinch a little. “I breath fire, remember? So I’m plenty warm.” He let out a small puff of it to prove his point. It provided only a small burst of warmth to his face and mouth though as it didn’t ignite anywhere inside him. Measly humans shouldn’t know that though.

“Oh, uh, I guess so, huh? Well, good luck.” Greenie gave him a thumbs up before turning and fleeing. What had he even been trying to get out of Bowser? He was so far down in the rankings, getting Bowser out somehow wouldn’t have helped him much. Maybe it was for Mario’s sake. … Yeah, probably. No way was he genuine.

Bowser shuffled his feet again. The damn race better start soon before he froze solid. Driving with numb hands and feet was going to suck but he’d managed up until now somehow even if just barely keeping himself in the running. All he had to do this race was come in place ahead of Mario and his final score would be higher than Mario’s. Winning the whole tournament – something only possible if he made first this race and the current leader scored low – would be ideal but beating Mario was what mattered most. He could do that at least, no matter how cold it got. He had this in the bag… basically.

~

A hand shook him, pulling him towards consciousness. He could’ve fought it and almost did but a voice accompanied it. The words he didn’t understand, they were in a different language, the voice though, he did. Mario’s brother… Luigi was his name, wasn’t it? Odd that it would come back to him now but such was often the way with remembering forgotten words.

He sounded worried. Why would he sound worried about Bower taking a nap when he was so tired he clearly needed the sleep? Heck why would he sound worried about Bowser at all?

It was odd enough to spur Bowser into clawing the rest of the way awake himself. His eyes fluttered open to see Luigi looking down at him, his frantic expression matching his worried exactly.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re not dead,” he said. “I’d thought for a moment I’d let you go too easy and…” He let out a sigh, cutting himself off.

“What happened? And why can’t I feel anything.” Everywhere he wasn’t numb he was so cold he couldn’t feel anything else.

“You crashed into a snow bank. It shouldn’t have hurt you much but you didn’t get up and it collapsed back onto you and you still didn’t move. And then I remembered what I’d worried about earlier before the race and I thought for a second you were freezing to death so I rushed over to…”

“I am,” Bowser interrupted his worried ramblings.

“Huh?”

“Freezing to death.” Prior Grand Prixs had had single tracks in cold places, all of which had sucked and been hard to get through but he was tough and stubborn. Every single race being cold though and there being no real warmth in between them, it compounded into a serious problem for anyone cold blooded. It’s why he was the only one in the race who was. He’d thought he could handle it long enough to get through it but seems Kamek had been right again and he couldn’t. And now not only had he humiliated himself but was going to die for it. Already sleepiness pulled at him again, threatening to pull him under against his will.

“Ah, mamma mia!” Luigi mumbled something else in Italian before standing and shaking himself off. “Okay, okay. I’ll… hook you to the back of my car and pull you out and get you somewhere warm and then…”

“Why? Wouldn’t it be easier to let me die?”

Luigi, already moving back towards his car, gasped but didn’t pause. “That would be wrong.”

“I don’t want to be in your debt.” He’d almost rather die than let someone save him just so they could extract something from him. Only almost though which is why he didn’t try to fight when Luigi returned to him with a chain. It had a hook on the end for towing.

Luigi didn’t respond as he hooked the chain to the inside of Bowser’s shell. His exact expression was still hard to read but he looked more determined than scared now. A new look for him, normally he was a scaredy-cat. Seems he had a backbone after all.

“Can you at least try to take me somewhere where no one will see?” Probably a futile ask but he’d never live it down if Mario saw him almost frozen to death, curled up in his shell as it was dragged behind Luigi’s car.

“I suppose I could. We’ll have to go off road a bit but there’s a cabin not far from here. You could start a fire in the fireplace to warm yourself until you’re no longer immediately in danger. I’ll have to come back for your car but I would’ve anyway.”

Which would put Bowser even further into his debt. Not a good scenario but his fate was already sealed on that and it was better than allowing everyone else to see him like this. So… “Thanks,” he said before pulling as much of himself into his shell as he could. He was still too stiff and frozen to get all the way into it but it should still make getting dragged along by the chain a bit easier to bear.

Perhaps if he were lucky Luigi was sincere in his implied motivation being nothing more than being a good guy. Probably not but it sure would be nice if such was the case.

[anomander-dragnipurake]

Happy 13th day of Halloween!

And new icon because why not?

[anomander-dragnipurake]

[anomander-dragnipurake]

I just got done watching the Mario movie and it's pretty good I liked it. Which is about what everyone else I've seen talking about it said too. Parts of it were rushed which kinda annoyed me but its for the sake of run time so let it go. And there weren't any additional Bowiugi moments that weren't in the trail but I didn't expect there to be too much more of that anyway for obvious reasons. It being canon isn't something I'd actually want anyway, as much as I love it (I'm still working on Bowser's Castle, I promise, just slowly T.T). And Chris Pratt's voice is till very 'meh' but I knew that going in so it's whatever.

I loved all the references to the games though, the sound effects, the music, and the environments. All that was a lot of fun and absolutely delightful. Bowser was great of course and bonus: he plays the piano and sings which is very 👀 to me as someone who writes Mario fic. Also, new ship unlocked: Donkey Kong and Mario. They had some nice enemies to lovers potential going on there with the ways they interacted. Am I'm going to do any content for them? Maybe. Super Mario isn't currently my main fandom but it's definitely one of my staple fandoms so I might write them in the future. I do intend to try to draw something though, no promises because art hard.

[anomander-dragnipurake]

Bowser's Castle Chapter 8: Don't Need Saving

[A/N] I said I wanted to update again at the end of January or start of February and I am! Yay! Even despite the fact that I don't have as much of a backlog as I would've liked before posting another chapter. But I kept my sort of promise and I am working on this fic again, just slowly because it's not my main project. So when's the next chapter going to come out? I have no idea. It might be a while though if I decide I want to get a good backlog of chapters going again before updating so don't hold your breath. I'm excited to be working on this fic again though.

~

“We’ve managed to cast basic protections over the castle. Of course, making exceptions for our boos and dry-bones is something we’re still working on. I have also found a suitable candidate to spy on the Boo Kingdom, ready to be seen by you at your leisure, sir.”

As Kamek spoke Bowser paced in what little space the secret room behind the throne room had to offer. He stopped now to look at Kamek, standing in front of the part of the wall that turned into the door. “That’s it?” It’d been more than a week since the whole thing with Luigi and King Boo, Bowser had expected more. “He didn’t show up at all?”

“I would’ve informed you if he had.”

If it were Bowser, he’d have gone for vengeance the next day. … Maybe that was why he struggled to properly enact his vengeance so much though. Perhaps taking time to properly plan and do whatever King Boo was doing was the way to get things done. … Nah! He’d lost to Luigi three out of four times, not a good win rate at all. Bowser’s way was still clearly superior. King Boo was not only being a fool in whatever patient planning he was going for he was also being a pain. Bowser wanted his easy victory sooner rather than later; he was starting to get bored of this.

“Damn coward.” With a huff Bowser started pacing again. Why had he decided to hold this meeting here again? It’s not like a spy overhearing it would have anything useful to pass on to anyone. “Send the boo spy to me tomorrow around noon.” He wasn’t in the mood to deal with that right now.

“Noted. Now, out of curiosity, how goes your plan with Luigi?”

Bowser stopped pacing again to looking properly down at Kamek. “You’ve seen it so you tell me.” He may have originally invited Luigi to dine at his table purely on a whim but it had proved to be a genius move in that it had set a precedent to invite him every night. After being fed such great food and treated like a high-ranking minion, Luigi had to be so thoroughly on Bowser’s side by now he’d probably be almost willing to betray Mario.

“I still have my doubts and believe you’re being friendlier with him than is wise. Even if we did save him and even if he is now officially your minion, he’s still Mario’s brother and thus not to be trusted.” No doubt that’s why he’d asked the question because he’d wanted a chance to say that. He almost never agreed with Bowser’s intuition about people and always went out of his way to make that known. Yeah sure, he was often right, but this time he was wrong. “Letting him stay at the castle is one thing but having him dine with us and letting the kids talk to him unsupervised as much as they have been may not be a good idea. It puts him in a good position to spy on us even more than whatever spy the Mushroom Kingdom already has watching us.”

Maybe he had a point but Bowser had already made his decision. “I have it under control.” During the occasional run in and sub-sequent conversations they’d had, Bowser was careful not to reveal anything important – he always was when it came to practically everyone except for Kamek and sometimes the kids. Rarely was anything important discussed at dinner. And the kids were all smart enough to know not to tell secrets to just anyone… probably anyway.

Kamek was silent for a few seconds before replying. “Of course you do. Your people skills are as sharp as your spikes, Your Royal Astuteness. Now sir, if we’re done here, I have work to get back to.”

“Yeah, yeah, dismissed.”

With a wave of his wand Kamek vanished in a puff of smoke. Bowser took a step towards the secret door, lifting a hand to open it but paused before actually doing so. His spikes weren’t sharp; maintaining them as such was more effort than he was willing to put in. Did Kamek know that though? … Maybe not, they did look sharp after all and thus it was an easy assumption to make.

With a shrug, he opened the door and stepped out. He waited for the wall to finish closing behind him before stepping out from behind the throne’s dais. He intended to keep going and head off to take his boredom induced frustration out on something but paused instead as his eyes met the goomba’s standing in the middle of the room. It was too late to pretend he hadn’t seen them either, they were already rushing over.

“Lord Bowser sir! Mario’s here! He said he’s come to save his brother. But E. Gadd’s here too and said not to worry about him and that he would make sure he didn’t cause trouble. We weren’t sure what to do and they were insistent about being let in and E. Gadd’s never been barred entry before so we let them in. Captain sent me to tell you but that was a while ago because no one could find you so I don’t know what’s going on anymore.” They spoke so fast it was almost hard to understand their words especially as they hopped from to foot during their whole spiel.

Normally Bowser would’ve been furious to learn that Mario had been just let into the castle basically uncontested. This time though he had a surprise weapon. It was a bit earlier than he would’ve liked but whatever, King Boo was failing to show up to finish being dealt with while Mario had delivered himself to his doorstep. He’d gladly accept the opportunity to rub Luigi being on his side and his minion in Mario’s face. “I’ll handle it.”

***

The green dress did actually look good on Luigi, better than Peach’s. He’d never had a problem with wearing dresses but also he’d never had one fitted specifically for him. It made more of a difference than he would’ve thought both in terms of how it looked as he examined himself in the newly added full-length mirror and how it felt on his body as he swiveled the skirts a bit. It was comfortable and looked good. He’d have to thank the tailors later when he…

The bedroom door slammed open. He yelped, already gathering his skirts up so they wouldn’t trip him as he ran away from the danger even as he turned to look at it.

“Luigi!” Mario shouted as he jumped in.

Letting out a heavy shaky breath, Luigi relaxed as Mario ran over to give him a hug. They’d talked on the phone almost every day but it somehow felt like a long time since they’d last seen each other in person.

“I’m here to rescue you!” Mario said as he stepped back, grabbing onto Luigi’s wrist to try to tug him towards the door.

Luigi pulled back. “I don’t need saving.” He’d already been saved.

Mario scowled but obediently let go of Luigi’s wrist for now. “It’s Bowser though, Bowser.”

“We’ve been over this.” Several times on the phone until Mario had seemed to drop but apparently he’d only been biding his time until he got here in person to bring it up again. “But, uh, now that you’re here in person I can finally tell you…” Luigi took a step closer and leaned in, lowering his voice to a whisper. “I was thinking that I could spy on him for you.” Bringing up his vague idea to convince Bowser to be better likely wouldn’t be met favorably by Mario and thus there was no need to bring it up when things were already this tense. “So that I’m not being totally useless while hiding here. I think I’m actually in a good position to…”

“No. It’s too dangerous.”

Despite his initial relief Luigi was already tense again and had to struggle to keep a calm demeanor. “Leaving is what’s too dangerous. King Boo’s still out there. And he’s mad at me still… even more than before. If I leave he’ll get me for sure.”

“No, no.” Mario shook his head as if to emphasis his point. “We know what to expect now so we can fight him off when he shows his face again. You don’t gotta rely on Bowser and Kamek.”

“We already talked about…”

A familiar bark cut him off, making him jump to look at the door again. Polterpup barked again before rushing over to zip around Luigi and Mario in a circle a few times before lifting his paws up onto Luigi in demand of pets. Which he got of course even if, seemingly unlike him, Luigi hadn’t gotten over their last encounter. Obviously the bite had been for King Boo but it had still hurt and even now still wasn’t fully healed yet. He was a good boy though, deserving of a bone if only Luigi had one.

“Hey, sonny.”

Once more Luigi’s gaze was drawn to the door. E. Gadd now stood within it, breathing heavy as he leaned into the door frame. “Your bro sure can run fast, huh? Almost as fast as you when you’re fleeing from ghosts.” He chuckled as if that were funny. “Anyway, I brought Gooigi too, as promised.” He stepped into the room, allowing Gooigi to step in behind him. They raised their hand in a greeting as well.

Luigi returned it. “Hey. It’s good to see all of you. I missed you guys.”

“I brought the Poltergust 3000 that you had stored in your room, safe from King Boo’s wrath.” E. Gadd went straight over the bed pulled it off his back to plop it down on the bed. “I would’ve liked to bring the upgrade I was working on and was almost done with but it was in my lab so it’s a small piece of the mess in there now. We will have to make due with this old model.” His tone typically quite jolly grew a bit bitter with those words. “My lab being in such a state also means however that I don’t have any other ghost hunting or even detecting equipment. We’ll have to depend solely on Kamek for a bit. Which shouldn’t be a problem. Knowing him, he’s probably been…”

“No,” Mario interrupted again. “I already told you, I’m gonna convince Luigi to come back home with us.”

“And I already told you I’m not going back yet. I’m safer here.” He was thoroughly convinced of it now. During dinner and while hanging out with the Koopa Kids he’d overheard or straight up been told of the preparations Kamek and the magikoopas were taking to defend the castle from King Boo. It wasn’t exclusively for him of course but because Bowser had angered King Boo and that likely meant King Boo would attempt vengeance on him too. Knowing the castle would be attacked wasn’t a pleasant thought but if he left, he’d be exposed and hunted down for sure. At least here he had a chance. “And… and I know I’m a coward but… I don’t… I, I can’t face him again. I just can’t.”

Honestly, he'd always felt that way and had only done so to save Mario. Now though, it was even worse than before because what if King Boo possessed him again? Maybe expecting it, he’d be able to fight it but… could he really win in any mental battle against King Boo? Probably not. And then, having been forced out once, King Boo would likely be far more careful not to end up in such a situation again. Dooming Luigi to his whims until he decided he had enough fun and either killed or put Luigi in a painting.

“And you won’t have to,” E. Gadd said, the bitterness gone from his voice. “With Kamek’s help I’m sure we’ll have King Boo under control as soon as he dares show his face here. So really Mario, there’s no need to make a fuss.”

Mario shot him a glare before turning a concerned look onto Luigi. “Is this about how I couldn’t do anything? All those times you saved me from King Boo and then when you needed my help against him I…”

“You couldn’t do anything but I could.” It was Bowser coming through the door now, wearing a smug grin that grew as Mario turned to look at him. Bowser walked right past him, placing himself next to Luigi before turning to face him. “I saved Luigi after you failed to.” He put a large hand on Luigi’s shoulder, pulling him closer. “And now he’s my loyal minion.”

Mario’s face grew red with held in anger as he clenched his fists and glared up at Bowser. “I… I… thank you for saving my brother. But he’ s not your minion and I’m not going to let you keep him locked up here. Is that why you want to stay, Luigi? He’s making you?”

“No.” Nor was he staying because he was afraid of what Bowser might do to him if he left. “And as I was telling you earlier before you interrupted me, I, uh, am kind of Bowser’s minion now.” He winked, hoping Mario would get it because he liked his little plan to spy and maybe convince Bowser to stop being a bad guy. He was a weak coward but he was determined not to be useless any longer.

Bowser chuckled triumphantly, his hand still on Luigi’s shoulder, jostling him slightly. He was surprisingly not being overly rough though. Luigi could probably easily escape his grasp if he wanted to. There was no need to yet though.

Mario took a step back. “That’s dangerous.” At least he got it though and didn’t assume Luigi actually meant he agreed with the idea of being Bowser’s minion. “Far too dangerous.”

“I assure you he’s perfectly safe with me.” The smugness in Bowser’s voice and possessive hand on Luigi’s shoulder was a good reminder that this was indeed dangerous. He was clearly viewing Luigi as a pawn here to get to Mario and that wasn’t a position any wise person would relax in. But regardless Bowser had already proven himself to be not as bad a guy as he seemed so...

“Yeah. I’ll be fine here. Trust me.” Luigi put more confidence into his words than he felt right now but he was staying here no matter what so he was going to do his best to enact his plan too.

Mario flexed his hands, his gaze going from Bowser to Luigi and back again. “I can’t stay here with you to help protect you though.”

That was downside but there was no choice. “I’ll be okay, I promise.”

And with that all of the fighting spirit seemed to finally drain from Mario as he let out a heavy sigh. “Okay. But you,” he pointed at Bowser, “you’ll pay if you ever hurt him, got it?”

Bowser chuckled again even louder and more triumphantly than before. “I’d like to see you try.”

Mario’s only response was to take a deep breath before turning and marching out. Probably for the best otherwise a fight between him and Bowser would likely break out sooner rather than later.

“Ha-ha!” Bowser patted Luigi on the back. “That went even better than I thought it would. Keeping you around was the best idea I ever had.” He stepped back at last, moving to the door as well; his business apparently done here. “That dress looks good on you by the way, be sure to wear it tonight during dinner.” And with that, he was on his way out too.

“Hmm… that went well.” Whether E. Gadd was being sarcastic or not was hard to tell as his tone and expression remained jovial. “I should probably be off too, got to talk to Kamek about our now shared ghost problem. I’ll leave Gooigi and the Poltergust here though in case you need them.”

“Okay. Thanks for coming.”

“Of course. See you later, sonny.” Unlike the other two when he left he had the manners to close the door softly behind himself.

With a sigh, Luigi looked around the room. Polterpup had run off somewhere, probably chasing a ghost scent or something. That was perfectly all right though, he could use some quiet time with just Gooigi as company. He’d have to catch up with Mario later but for now he should probably show Gooigi around and make sure they knew that Bowser’s boos were temporarily on their side and thus not to be vacuumed up.

[anomander-dragnipurake]

Peeking isn't Allowed

Summary: Kamek's friend has brought Xmas gifts over for everyone. Junior can't wait for Xmas and takes a peek at his.

~

It was not the first time Junior had seen the strange old man in the white lab coat. He was apparently Kamek’s friend and thus came over occasionally. Normally Junior would’ve continued to not care about Kamek’s visitor – he was old and so he and Kamek no doubt did boring old people stuff whenever he came over – but today he was carrying a stack of peculiarly balanced Xmas presents in his arms. Wrapped in brightly coloured wrapping paper with bows – looked like the pre-tied one with the sticky backs who were made for people who couldn’t tie actual bows – stuck on seemingly randomly, they wobbled, threatening to fall over, as the old man made his careful way down the entry hall.

A quick count revealed there were ten. One for Junior, each of his siblings, Dad, and Kamek? Maybe. It made sense, right? Now, while Junior didn’t really know the old man – If they’d been properly introduced at some point he didn’t remember it – a gift was always welcome. And of course one of those had to be for him. Or maybe all of them were because he was the crown prince and thus the most important of his siblings – not that they weren’t important too, just not as much him.

Too excited by that thought to continue trying to figure anything out via just spying, Junior carefully slid out of his hiding spot behind one of the entry hall’s potted plants and ran over. Before he reached the old man though, the stack titled just a little bit too far to recover from. The presents tumbled to the ground with a clatter. Oof, hopefully nothing fragile was inside any of them.

“Oh dear,” the old man said as he looked over the carnage, pushing his large round glasses back up his nose. “Well I supposed that’s what I get for not bringing something to carry them in.” He looked up as Junior came to a halt just outside the circle of present carnage. “Junior, lad, good to see you again. Help me gather these up, would you?”

“Uh, are they for me?” Not that Junior wasn’t going to help, this guy was Kamek’s friend after all and if they were for him Junior should act nice lest they get taken away, but he needed to know now.

“One of them is.”

Oh, a little disappointing but that had been Junior’s first guess anyway. So in the interest of his one gift not getting taken away, he called over a troop of passing shyguys to come over and gather up the presents and then follow behind as the old man led the way to wherever he was planning on taking the gifts.

“Hmm… I suppose it’s handy having folk around to carry stuff for you,” the old man said as he watched the shyguys do as commanded. “Perhaps I should invent something to help me around the lab.”

“What’d you get me?” Junior asked, falling into step with the old man as he started on his way once more.

“You’ll have to wait until Xmas to find out.”

Dang it. Junior wanted to know now. “What’d you get my siblings? Or Dad? Or Kamek?” If he knew all that, it’d maybe be a clue on what was in whichever gift was meant for him. Before ordering the shyguys to gather them up, he should’ve looked at them closer to see which one was marked as his so he could at least know the shape of the box it was in.

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

Xmas was a week away though and that felt like forever. He pushed a bit more anyway in hopes of having his impatience somewhat stated. The old man wasn’t budging though. And then when they reached Kamek’s lab, Kamek sent him away. Ugh, stupid boring old people.

Later that night

Finding where Kamek had had the presents hidden was easy, he was predictable like that. They were in the basement lab. Junior and all his siblings weren’t allowed in and thus it was always locked. Unbeknownst to Kamek and Dad though, he knew where the spare key was, allowing him easy entry.

The presents were all laid out carefully on the table in the center. It didn’t take long to find the one marked as his. It was in a large rectangular box. It wasn’t as heavy as it looked though and giving it a shake didn’t reveal much. Luckily, as the stick-on bow had hinted, it wasn’t wrapped super securely. Allowing him to very carefully peel the tape off, only tearing the paper a little bit on accident.

It took a nerve wrackingly long time but he eventually revealed enough to see the logo on the box. It meant nothing to him though. So he carefully freed it fully and opened it.

A giant paintbrush, almost as big as he was. Weird. It was probably magic though, right? This was from Kamek’s friend after all. So taking it out for a quick test wouldn’t hurt, would it? Before he could even touch it though…

“What are you doing?”

Jumping with an unfortunate small squeak of surprise, he turned to see Wendy had come in. She stood in the doorway with a judgmental glare, her hands on her hips.

“Peeking at your presents isn’t allowed,” she continued.

“Yeah. That’s what you were coming in her to do too though, right? So we’re both bad.”

She gasped as if offended. “I was not. I was just… just coming down here to make sure no one else tried to peek. Xmas is only a week away, we can all wait until then. So close that and wrap it back up this instant.”

“So you can sneak a secret peek at yours, right? You can go ahead and just do it. I don’t care.” He’d be a hypocrite if he did.

“No.” She huffed, crossing her arms. “I wasn’t going to, honest. Sneaking a peek at your Xmas presents is something little children do and I’m not a small child so I wouldn’t do that unlike some people.”

“I’m not a small child either.” They were around the same age, he was pretty sure. “I just want to know what the old man got me.”

“You don’t even know his know his name despite him being Kamek’s dear old friend?”

Junior should probably try to remedy that next time the fellow came around. He was the crown prince after all, it was his duty to know things and important people. But… “You don’t either. So stop being hypocrite and just look at your present or leave already.”

“I… uh… whatever.” Stubborn as always. “You should really put that back the way you found it though before we’re caught.”

She had a point. Kamek sometimes kept odd hours and thus might catch them at this if they hung around here for too long. Seems he would just have to wait to figure out what was up with the magic paintbrush on Xmas. With a sigh, he closed the box again and fixed the wrapping paper as best he could. It didn’t look quite the same but hopefully no one would notice or if they did, they’d attribute it to the fact that the presents had been dropped. After placing it back where he’d found it, he hopped down from the chair and joined Wendy in exiting the room.

He locked the door and started back down the hall. She followed but not without a regretful glance back. Likely she’d come back later for a secret peek. All of them probably would as evidenced by the fact that upon turning a corner, they almost ran into Ludwig. He took one look at them before quickly switching to be leaning against the wall and instead of sneaking down the hall as if he wasn’t guilty.

Junior chuckled. He’d been the first… probably. One of the others could’ve possibly gotten in and out before he had but he doubted it. Not that it really mattered who was first – before Xmas came, they’d all probably sneak down here for a quick peek even if not all of them would actually open the present – but it felt good to be so anyway. Though now, he’d have to wait to figure out what was the purpose of the paintbrush, if it even had one or was just a weird novelty gift. So really all he’d done was gain a new kind of anticipation. Too late to do anything about it now though, he’d just have to live with it.

[anomander-dragnipurake]

It would have worked for you, but would it work for a general audience? The answer is no. Too often fans forget that for a film to be successful, it needs to appeal to a wide audience.

I disagree. The animation is expressive enough that I personally think it could hold up on its own even with the dialogue removed or changed to be more like he speaks in the games. There's no reason why a character who expresses himself mostly visually in a largely visual medium would make it inaccessible to general audiences. I mean, the Mario games appeal to a pretty general audience already so I doubt many people would have much of an issue adapting to it.

What do I know though? I've never worked on a movie and my grasp on what a general audience would be okay with is probably skewed. So I could be wrong, doesn't stop me from voicing my opinion though.

Also, I would like to add, it's a Mario movie and thus ideally it would appeal to Mario fans first and foremost. Obviously, it doesn't, because they wanted big name Hollywood actors to advertise it with. Which, I think we can all agree hurts the movie as a whole but that's how the movie industry is right now. Animation in particular isn't as appreciated as it should be, same with actual voice actors. With that being how it is, I think I'm allowed to complain about it just in general but especially when it makes something I like worse than it could be.

[anomander-dragnipurake]

Maybe this a hot take but after watching the new clip from the Game Awards, I feel the animation is expressive enough that they could've made Mario non-verbal or only semi-verbal (like he is in the games) and have it work perfectly fine even for a movie. (Not to say having such a protagonist is bad for a movie in anyway, just that I think it'd be harder to write for in a movie, especially one meant to be accessible to children and thus are gonna have a harder time picking up on subtle things, as opposed to in a video game.) And honestly, I think that would've been really cool. Too bad though, they just had to have Chris Pratt. :/

[anomander-dragnipurake]

I still don't like Chris Pratt's voice as Mario. Though, maybe I'm just biased because I suspected I wouldn't like it even before hearing it in the first trailer. Peach with a halberd though, that I like a lot, yes please to that. I'd draw if I wasn't too busy with Xmas stuff right now (if I still feel inspired to come the New Year, I'll do it then). Here's to hoping she gets to actually use it.

[anomander-dragnipurake]

Try Again?

Sequel to Game Over. So Content Warning for major character death.

~

Gooigi had never had to escape from the tank before. Luigi had always been there to let them out and when creating them, E. Gadd hadn’t intended for them to gain sentience and thus there was no internal mechanism to let themself out – later, if possible, they would have to talk to E. Gadd about installing one. And so they had to struggle and push until at long, long last the seal holding them in the tank broke just enough to allow them to ooze out and through the hose.

The process was far slower than it usually was but eventually they were out and able to take shape again. Stepping back, they did a little stretch in imitation of how they’d seen Luigi stretch numerous times before. They could not feel stiff but it was nice to be out of the tank after being stuck in it for so long.

Speaking of that, they looked down at Luigi’s body. Limp and lifeless, it reached in vain for the Poltergust’s nozzle; he’d been trying to free Gooigi before dying. His face was slightly turned up, his eyes half lidded and milky in death. If Gooigi could cry, they would’ve.

Death was not the end though; Luigi was a ghost now, a boo even, and in King Boo’s clutches. And so there was no time to waste in mourning or worry. Gooigi had to save him, simple as that. And to do that, they needed the Poltergust because what would happen to them if they melted when miles and miles away from it? Death probably, right? And what were the chances whatever sentience they had could come back as a ghost? They weren’t ready to find out.

They bent down to grab Luigi’s hand and drag his body out of the congealing pool of blood beneath him. Allowing them to safely step around to his side for a better angle for getting at the Poltergust. His body was heavy and quite stiff, making it hard but as before, Gooigi kept at it until finally they got it off him. Unsurprisingly given how much blood was on the floor, there was also quite bit on the back of it. It looked even more congealed than the pool on the floor but no good judge of blood, as they didn’t have any of their own, Gooigi didn’t want to risk touching it lest it still be wet enough to melt them. So instead, they hooked the hose back to its side, grasped it by the handle and set off, dragging it behind themself.

Upon stepping out of the haunted house building, they were surprised by how low the sun was in the sky, dipping towards setting again. It had been middle of the night when they’d gone in. Meaning it really had taken them a long time to break out of their tank, longer than they’d thought or hoped.

As they continued through the amusement park, Gooigi didn’t sense a single ghost or boo anywhere nearby. They’d all left apparently, their goal in killing and capturing Luigi complete, leaving the place abandoned. Luckily, they’d never given much credit to Gooigi, always thinking them still an extension of Luigi’s will and thus not a threat with him dead. Well King Boo and company were about to regret that because Gooigi was mad now. … They’d never experienced being angry before, that was pretty neat.

E. Gadd had set up his mobile lab in the parking lot, not far from the gates. It was still there when Gooigi exited. It’s door hung ominously open though and upon reaching it and stepping inside… it was trashed. Every machine smashed and rendered unrecognizable. E. Gadd was nowhere to be seen.

Unsurprising in hindsight; why wouldn’t King Boo go for him next and free the ghosts that had been captured and stored in the lab during the night. That left Gooigi with a dilemma though; what next? Could they take King Boo on by themself? … No, not when they were so easily defeated by mere water. They needed help. But with Mario captured too then who could they…

Well, there was one person; Bowser. Like Mario, he tended to be reckless and hotheaded which didn’t serve well when fighting ghosts but there might not be any other option. Besides he would want to know what had happened to Luigi.

Getting to Bowser would be difficult though as Gooigi had never driven before and thus wasn’t sure of all the mechanics of it. But the van they’d arrived here on was still in the parking lot so it seems it was time they learned how to. Learning new things was always fun at least.

***

Pacing the length of his room did not help but it was the only recourse Bowser had for his anxiety. If he knew where Luigi might possibly be, he’d have long since gone out there himself to check on him. The whole idea of a vacation road trip was to move around a lot after all so surely he’d have ended up in a place with cell service and thus would’ve returned Bowser’s texts and missed calls. So almost for sure, something bad had happened to him.

Or perhaps, Mario had done something. The vacation road trip had been his idea after all. Maybe he’d planned from the start to somehow stop Luigi from having any contact with Bowser. Even if he had eased up on it lately, he’d still never liked that Luigi and Bowser were…

A knock came on the door. Bowser wasn’t in the mood to talk to anybody but everyone should know not to bother him unless it was important. And if it wasn’t, he could let off a little bit of steam via assigning whoever had disturbed him to cleaning the bird poop off the castle parapets. So he strode over and opened the door.

It was Kamek. “Hello, sir. You have a guest and they bring news you will want to hear.”

Normally Bowser wouldn’t have deemed that important enough to disturb him with when he was in his private room but it was Kamek, not a standard messenger, and his tone was serious enough that even Bowser picked up on it. Meaning this was likely very important indeed. “What kind of news?”

“The kind you should hear from the source. I put them to the private meeting room to wait while I fetched you. If you have no other urgent matters to tend to currently, I suggest we head there now.”

“Very well. Lead the way.”

With a nod, Kamek turned began leading the way down the hall. Closing the door behind himself, Bowser followed.

Great, this was just what he needed. Luigi MIA and some other serious something going on at the same time. Well, whatever this was should at least serve as a distraction from his worry over Luigi. Which was likely unnecessary anyway; it had only been a few days since Luigi’s last text, a long time sure but not inordinately so. It could easily be that he was just on a long stretch of road that didn’t have any cell service or maybe he’d accidentally dropped his phone and broke it or something. Regardless, he could take care of himself and didn’t need Bowser nursemaiding over him. So really, it was probably nothing.

For an old koopa, Kamek could walk pretty fast when he wanted. And right now he wanted to. And thus they reached the private meeting room fairly quickly. As usual, Kamek held the door open for him, gesturing him to enter before following and closing the door behind them.

Inside the rather barren room, furnished only with a carpet and a single table stood Gooigi in the middle of room. At their side, within easy reach of their hand, was the Poltergust. But… no Luigi. Not super strange, Gooigi hadn’t gone on the road trip with Mario and Luigi, staying with E. Gadd instead for the time, but they’d never shown up here without Luigi before.

Bowser strode over to look down at them. “What happened?”

“Weegee’s dead. A boo now.”

Dead! Luigi was dead? Surely Bowser had misheard that, Gooigi didn’t exactly have the clearest of speaking voices after all. And yet… there was no way he’d misheard, the room was too quiet and Gooigi too intent on being understood. So… Luigi was dead and Bowser hadn’t been there to do anything about it.

“He’s… a boo now though… you said.” Bowser had long since welcomed boos and ghosts into his castle, any who wanted to stay and work for him. So he could handle Luigi being a boo. It’d be a difficult adjustment to make but given time he could do it as it was better than losing Luigi entirely.

Gooigi nodded, their whole body jiggling with the movement. “King Boo got him. Trapped him in painting. Help save him and Mario and E. Gadd?” They reached down and picked the Poltergust up by the handle to hold up in offer to Bowser.

The moment the news had been dropped Bowser should’ve known King Boo was responsible. And with that being the case, not only was Bowser going to go rescue Luigi, he was also going to make King Boo pay for daring to harm Luigi in the first place. Even if he was a ghost, Bowser going to find a way to beat him into bloody pulp anyway.

So, his chest starting to warm with the beginnings of fire breath, he snatched the Poltergust up from Gooigi. “All right, let’s go. Kamek, you’re in charge of the castle while I’m gone. Don’t tell the kids what happened yet or where I’m going.”

“Um, sir, are you sure about this? Just marching in there without much of a plan will be dangerous. King Boo is not a force to be trifled with, especially while on his home turf.”

“I’ll bring an army.” Bowser was too angry to wait around long and strategize. Besides, what could a bunch of squishy little boos do against him and his army anyway? This was something he should’ve done a long time ago to prevent Luigi from getting hurt like this. He’d deal with the reality of Luigi being a ghost now later, after he’d crushed the fools responsible. It was going to be the most thorough, violent\ victory of his life.

~

Whether or not Bowser is successful or is also beaten is for you to headcanon how you please. It could go either way though; Kamek is right to advise caution.

[anomander-dragnipurake]

This one was supposed to be doubled sided too but accidents happened that I couldn't recover from.

[anomander-dragnipurake]

Bowser's Castle Chapter 7: Spooky Interlude

Special Halloween interlude, yay! Originally I was thinking I would be doing an interlude with King Boo way later as like a prelude to his plan going into action since I'd already established that there's breathing room for the Bowuigi to take root but a little interlude here as like 'he's still around and he's mad' works too especially since I have to otherwise go on hiatus with this fic for the holidays. So happy Halloween month!

~

“You’re back! Welcome!”

“Did you do it?”

“Yeah! Is Luigi a painting now?”

“Where you gonna hang it up? In the central room of the mansion, right?”

“What happened to your crown?”

“Did Luigi get away again?”

“Did you get E. Gadd too? Or Mario?”

“What about…”

“Hush!” King Boo snapped, silencing all the boos and ghosts hovering around him. He’d hoped to sneak into the mansion unnoticed so he could have some time to cool off. But such was not to be the case; they’d found him and called over every other ghost and boo within earshot even before he’d quite reached the forest clearing that housed the mansion.

“I take it things didn’t go well,” whispered someone in the back of the group because not even the dead could stay silent for long.

“No, they didn’t. Luigi got away again.” Just when King Boo had had him firmly in grasp too. “He’s apparently allied with Bowser now.” Not in the mood to talk about it, King Boo moved on, floating over the gathered ghosts and towards the mansion once more.

They of course followed. “So we’re mad at Bowser now too?” “Are we gonna go after him?” “A Bowser painting would look real good, right? Especially next to Mario, Luigi, and Peach.” “What about your crown?” “Yeah, it’s all cracked and stuff.” “Did Bowser do that? I heard he was pretty strong.”

Approaching the castle drew more boos’ attention who inevitably joined the crowd, adding their own questions and voices to the barrage. By the time King Boo was phasing through the wall and floating into the central room of the mansion, the whole place was abuzz with news of his return and rumors. Thankfully they were starting to direct their questions and comments at each other instead of at King Boo himself even if they continued to hang around in hopes of getting real answers too.

Perhaps King Boo should give an official announcement on what happened, get everyone up to speed on the fact that Bowser was their enemy now too, and clear up any rumors that might be problematic before they could really take root. But… ugh, he just wasn’t in the mood. He’d do it later. For now... “Dismissed! You’re all dismissed!”

With groans and murmurs of disappointment, they dispersed. No doubt to talk and speculate about what happened among themselves but it hardly mattered right now. In the blissful silence that followed, King Boo floated up, phasing through the floors and ceilings, until he reached his private room. Where he immediately magicked the vase sitting on the coffee table into the wall. It shattered into a million piece with a satisfying sound but… did little to ease his frustration. He flipped the coffee table next. Still not good enough. So next he…

No, no. Trashing his room or any room would do no good. If anything, it’d only make him more frustrated in how little it helped. What he needed to do was start working on his next plan.

He floated over through the wall and into the adjacent room that acted as a workshop of sorts. His magicked his crown off and onto the stand in the middle of the room. All its magic had leaked out of the cracks by now, leaving it as just a useless clear crystal, not even worth much monetarily. Creating these things took so much time and effort, making losing them a real pain in the ass. At least this one was just broken, not stolen away while he was trapped in a fucking vacuum. Repairing it might be possible… though not likely to be as structurally sound if he did. So perhaps creating a new one was in order after all. A stronger one that Bowser couldn’t crush with his bare hands.

With a huff, King Boo turned away from it. On three of the four walls he’d put up cork board on which he’d pinned up everything he knew about all his current enemies. He had one more now though so over-top of info about a now long dead foe, he levitated up a fresh sheet of paper and pinned it place. On it, he wrote everything he knew about Bowser. Which wasn’t much but he did know Bowser had been possessed once upon a time. A very interesting tidbit of information. Useful? Hard to say yet but interesting and something worth looking into.

Next he moved to the section he had on Luigi and added to it. Not that he’d learned a whole lot from possessing him as he’d known from very near the start that Luigi was a pathetic wimp – which had always made losing to him so many times that much worse. He had a few things he needed to add about Mario and E. Gadd too.

Once he was done, he felt calmer. The urge to head out for reckless vengeance as soon as possible was mostly quelled. On top of needing a new magic crown, he also needed to think about this if he wanted to come up with something that would actually result in him finally winning for good. Giving Luigi and company time to lower their guard a bit could only serve King Boo well too.

Turning towards the fourth wall, the one with the planning whiteboard, he levitated the eraser, intending to erase the whole thing. But… this possession plan of his, come up with on a whim, had been the closest he’d ever gotten to being successful against Luigi. Of course just trying it again with no changes wasn’t likely to work. He needed to adjust it and find a way to pull Bowser into this revenge plan too. So… he lowered the eraser and levitated up one of the markers instead. Whatever he came up with next was going to be perfect. No one would dare cross him afterwards. He’d make an example of the whole of Mushroom Kingdom and Bowser’s Kingdom too if he had to.

[anomander-dragnipurake]

Happy 13th day of Halloween!

[anomander-dragnipurake]

Bowser's Castle Chapter 7: You're Joining Me for Dinner

Luigi shouldn’t have been surprised to turn a corner on his way to the dining hall and almost walk directly into Bowser. But somehow, he still was, even letting out a small squeak that he tried unsuccessfully to muffle with his hands.

Looking up from his phone, Bowser turned his head to look at him, letting out a slight chuckle. “I’m that scary, huh?”

“Well, uh, I didn’t expect to just run into you out of nowhere. Which in hindsight is silly, it’s your castle so of course I might run into you. Sorry.” Was a ‘sorry’ even necessary? Bowser liked being scary, didn’t he? Though, he might not actually, considering all the other stuff Luigi had learned of him lately.

Bowser looked for a moment like he was going to move on but instead scoffed and put his phone away. “Come on. You’re joining me for dinner.” He started walking again, clearly expecting Luigi to follow without further prompting.

Which he did because what else was he to do? “Uh… what? Did I… hear that right? You’re… asking me to…” Luigi trailed off because surely he’d heard wrong, right?

“You’re having dinner at my table tonight.”

“Why?” It was out before Luigi could think to bite back on it. Questioning his supposed boss probably wasn’t a good idea.

Bowser didn’t seem to mind though. “Because I just decided you are.” Ah yes, just doing things on a whim seemed like something he’d do.

They walked down the hall in silence for a few seconds before Luigi had to break it. Maybe he shouldn’t and probably it wasn’t his place but while he had a chance, he wanted to make his thoughts heard. “Your kids, uh… they’re a lot. I admire you for taking them in. Can I ask how you ended up adopting so many? If that’s an okay thing to ask anyway.”

Bowser shrugged. “It just happened that way. They needed saving so I took them in. Besides Junior needed some playmates.”

“Ah, yeah. Growing up without anyone to play with would probably be lonely, huh?” Luigi couldn’t imagine what it would’ve been like to grow up without Mario.

“Yeah, it sucks pretty hard.” Bowser’s tone remained light but there was a slight edge to it.

There was more there that Luigi suddenly found himself curious about. He’d never thought about Bowser as a kid outside of that one time traveling adventure he’d gone on with Mario. It had seemed as if Kamek had been his only caretaker, no sign of his parents. Now it seems Luigi also had confirmation that he had no siblings or possibly even friends either. He was almost tempted enough to ask for more information but before he could find the courage they reached the dining hall.

It was quite large and now that it was officially dinner time, bustling. Similar to the dining hall in Peach’s castle during diner hours but also very different. Instead of mostly a bunch of different coloured Toads and only a few odd ones out there was a vast array of different kinds of folk. Koopas and goombas seemed to be the bulk of them but there were also a lot of shy guys and sniffets and even a few boos and dry bones hovering around – sending a slight chill down Luigi’s spine at just the sight – even though there was no way they could eat, right? Why was it that Bowser had so many more different kinds of followers than Peach?

Luigi didn’t have time to ponder that for long as Bowser led the way straight through to another smaller but fancier dining room with a lush rung under the table and a large expensive looking chandelier hanging over it. The chairs looked fancier and sturdier as well, especially the one at the far end of the table, its size as well as its sinister design indicated it was for Bowser.

Kamek, Ludwig, Roy, and Morton were all already seated at the table as were a few magikoopa, sniffets, a couple shyguys, and even a single goomba. Presumably these were all high-ranking officials in Bowser’s kingdom and army. This was the ‘important people’ table and for some reason Luigi had been invited to it. For tonight anyway, that probably wasn’t always going to be the case.

Bowser leaned in slightly to speak to Luigi in what probably counted as a whisper for him. “Sit wherever. If Kamek tries to give you crap about his seating arrangement, don’t listen to him. It doesn’t matter.” Without waiting for a replying, he moved on to sit at the head of the table.

Not wanting to come off as aloof, Luigi sat himself in the next available seat, next to the goomba. They gave him a look that was so openly curious it was uncomfortable but didn’t say anything so Luigi didn’t venture anything either.

“Lord Bowser,” Kamek said as he stood up, speaking loud enough for the whole table to hear before Luigi was even fully settled. “If you’re going to invite our newest guest to the table, I feel it would be wise to insist on following the proper seating arrangement to ensure our ranks are made apparent.”

Bowser scoffed. “Nah, who cares?”

Kamek stood firm for a few seconds longer before letting out a long suffering sigh, not too unlike how Toadsworth could get when Peach insisted on breaking protocol. “Very well. It’s been a long time since any degree of proper formality has been upheld in this room anyway. If you want to keep an informal table with no regard to anyone’s rank but your own, that’s clearly the superior option. Who am I, merely your royal advisor, to question you on matters of royal protocol? Carry on, Luigi and everyone else.” He sat back down with a silent but no less defeated huff.

Bowser chuckled, sounding surprisingly lighthearted. Roy, Morton and Ludwig also seemed to find it quite funny as they laughed along with him. Everyone else seemed to remain strictly neutral, though it was hard to tell for sure with so many of them having at least part of their face covered.

From there it was only a few minutes before the rest of the Koopa kids arrived as well as a few other stragglers, allowing dinner to properly began. Bowser set the tone of having lively conversation with those seated near him and everyone else seemed to follow suit without a hint of awkwardness, indicating this was likely the norm. Junior ended up sitting next to Luigi and with only a little prompting continued his tale about how he’d rescued Queen. No doubt he embellished several aspects of it but his excitement for the tale and having a new person to tell it to were plain enough to see to make it forgivable.

The food was as extravagant as one would expect a king to be served. The main course was roast pig and Luigi would be lying if he tried to claim it wasn’t the best roast pig he’d ever had the pleasure of consuming.

In all, between the food and fun, casual atmosphere, Luigi ended up enjoying himself so much he forgot to be afraid until it was over and he was headed back down the hallway that housed his room. Huh, even now that he was thinking about it again, he wasn’t really afraid. He was too warm and sleepy; not exhausted and weary but just pleasantly sleepy. A feeling he hadn’t felt in what felt like forever now. Maybe his time here would actually be kind of pleasant.

Hmm… speaking of that and the idea he’d had about being a spy earlier. Maybe given how Bowser was proving to not be as bad a guy as he sometimes seemed, perhaps Luigi could take advantage of this unique opportunity to try to convince Bowser to end his conflict with the Mushroom kingdom. He could justify his cowardice need to hide here and do something good. … Maybe. It was something to think about anyway when he was more awake. Regardless spying was something he was definitely gonna try to do if he could.

Having reached his room, he opened the door and almost didn’t jump when he spotted Booella floating in the middle of the room. It was fine though, he was safe here. Taking a deep breath, he stepped in and closed the door behind him.

“Hi hon!” She gave him what probably counted as a friendly smile amongst boos. “I was just fixing to go looking for you if you didn’t show up soon. The healers want to do a check up on you, make sure you’re doing okay and starting to heal up and all that. Their usual messenger for these kinds of things is a boo, we tend to be very good at getting around quickly so I’m sure you can guess why. But I know you’re still nervous about boos, especially ones you don’t know. So I figured I should come inform you myself since you already know me and know too that I ain’t gonna hurt you.”

“Oh, uh, okay. Thanks.” His nap earlier had helped a lot and thus even if he was kind of tired, it was too early to go to bed. “Um, can you tell me where I’m supposed to go for that.”

“Of course dear, anything you need. I can even write down the directions for you. And now that I think about it, if you’re gonna be here for a while I should probably get you a map as well. They’re useful when you’re new here, especially for you poor corporeal folk and your unfortunate lack of being able to phase through walls and floors.”

“That would be nice. Thanks.” Even despite his status as Mario’s brother none of the Toads back at Peach’s castle had ever been so considerate of him as this boo in Bowser’s castle. How weird was that? He wasn’t going to question it though.

~

After getting approval from the healers for how well he was taking care of his wounds so far, a fresh round of bandages, and a checkup to ensure his mild concussion wasn’t getting any worse, he was allowed to go free once more. With the map Booella had kindly gone out of her way to acquire for him, he found his way back to his room even quicker than before.

Upon entering and closing the door behind himself, he paused at the sight of the small wardrobe that had been added to his room. A note was attacked to it via what looked like boo magic based of its slight ghostly glow. The writing on it though was Booella’s distinctive and now familiar large looping cursive so his hand only trembled a little bit as he pulled it off the door, causing he glow to thankfully dissipate.

‘More clothing shall be provided for you soon. For now, this should hopefully do. If you need more though, don’t hesitate to ask. Put your dirty clothing in the hamper next to it. One of my darlings (have no fear, I’ll make sure not to send a boo to your hall) will be by to pick it up at the end of the week.’

Inside the wardrobe itself was, as promised, a few more articles of clothing. Most of it was clearly intended for Peach, though a few pieces were of a more mysterious origin. But regardless all of it looked like it would probably fit him, probably not super well in some cases but that hardly mattered. Having a store of clean clothes was more of a relief than he would’ve thought it be. While there were plenty of things worse than having to wear the same outfit for potentially multiple days in a row, it was still rather uncomfortable and miserable.

He really was welcome here, huh? He’d be safe and comfortable until King Boo was dealt with. It almost seemed too good to be true and no doubt more hang ups would occur but… for now he was just going to be grateful for all this and go to bed. He’d think more about the future and everything that would come with it tomorrow.

[anomander-dragnipurake]

Bowser's Castle Chapter 6: Phone Call

I've decided that before going on hiatus in September to begin focusing on Halloween stuff, I'm gonna go ahead and drop most of the backlog chapters I have written for this fic. For a number of reasons, one of them being putting this fic into a more comfortable break point (because we get there soon) before going on said hiatus. Also, no promises but there might be a Halloween appropriate interlude chapter that wouldn't fit in where we are in updates right now but would after a couple more. So expect that maybe sometime in October but for sure expect one more chapter after this one probably right before September starts and then probably nothing else until after New Year's because I just can't handle working on this and a bunch of holiday stuff at the same time. Which is what lead me to taking like a year plus to return to this fic initially, I'm gonna do my very, very best not to do that this time though.

~

The kids were curious and wanted to know everything there was to know about King Boo’s possession of Luigi and whether any of the rumors they’d heard floating around the castle concerning the situation were true or not. Most weren’t and a few had been exaggerated to quite a degree as often tended to happen with rumors. Somehow talking about it, correct the rumors, putting it into simple terms and laying it out almost like a story, helped Luigi feel slightly better. It cemented in his mind that that part of all this was done and in the past now; an event to be tell others about instead of something he was actively living through. Things weren’t entirely fixed yet but they were better.

That being the case coupled with the distraction offered by the kids’ general intensity made the conversation as a whole almost pleasant. Junior and all his siblings really weren’t so bad when they weren’t trying to be. Upon finally convincing them that the full tale was told – mostly the truth as Luigi had left out the worst parts for his sake as well as theirs – and that Luigi did really need to make an important phone call, they even not only told him exactly where to find a phone but escorted him to it.

It was just outside the main dining hall. In hindsight an obvious place for a phone meant for use by anyone in the castle. By some miracle there wasn’t much of a line for it, allowing Luigi to have it only a handful of minutes after wishing the kids farewell.

As he stepped up to it, he didn’t quite take it off its hook yet. Letting Mario and his friends know he was okay was important and something he wanted to do because they must be worried but… he was also going to have to say he didn’t want to go home yet. That he wanted to stay in Bowser’s Castle for a time until King Boo was dealt with because… he didn’t trust Mario, or Peach and her Toads, or even E. Gadd himself to protect him from King Boo’s inevitable return. That wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have but… he had to have it eventually so with a sigh he picked up the receiver.

First he dialed Mario’s home phone but got no answer. He probably wasn’t at home though so next was Mario’s cell but again, no answer. He had to try twice more before Mario finally answered with an annoyed, “What?” Even if he was annoyed and even if it hadn’t been that long ago since Mario had last spoken to him, it was still nice to hear his voice again.

“H- hey bro. It’s me, Luigi.”

“Luigi? Is that… really you? Or is this a trick? You’re really King Boo and you’re just…”

“Nope, not King Boo. I’m free of him.” For now. “And, uh, to prove it uh… hmm… I don’t think he speaks Italian, right? So here’s proof?”

A short pause on the other end before Mario burst into reply, also speaking Italian. “Luigi! It really is you! I’d give you a hug if I could. I’m so glad you’re okay. You are okay, right bro? You’re somewhere safe? I can run and jump in the car and rush over if you need me to. Just tell me where you are and I’ll be there as soon as possible, okay?”

“Uh…” This was Luigi’s chance to change his mind and escape the castle after all. Mario could come get him and take him home. … Then what? It was already proven that Luigi wouldn’t be safe from King Boo in his own home. Maybe he could live in Peach’s castle? He’d never felt fully comfortable staying there for any significant length of time though as he was seen almost exclusively as ‘Mario’s inferior brother’ by everyone there – not to mention the handful of Toads who treated him less than politely because of that. Something he’d be willing to put up with if it meant safety from King Boo but that didn’t feel very likely.

E. Gadd could maybe create something to protect the castle. But if he couldn’t contain King Boo for long, he probably couldn’t reliably keep him out either. And with his lab in shambles, he’d have trouble making much of anything for a while. Which was also why Luigi couldn’t stay with him or have him create something for Luigi’s home.

Kamek, on the other hand, had been able to contain King Boo’s magic. And Bowser had gotten him to leave. Maybe both of those things were due to King Boo underestimating them, luck, or a combination of the two but they’d still done it when the others had failed to help. Due to no fault of their own or lack of trying and Luigi would never...

“You okay?” The worry in Mario’s voice was disconcerting. Rarely was he ever that worried about anything.

“Yeah, I’m… okay. I’m safe. You don’t need to come get me.”

“Good, good. That’s good.” Obviously Luigi couldn’t see it but he was sure Mario was nodding as he spoke. “Glad to hear it. Now uh… how’d you do it? How’d you beat King Boo this time? I wanna hear the whole tale.”

Luigi squirmed, clutching the phone a bit tighter. Mario wasn’t going to like this explanation but well… “I didn’t...”

“Wait, before you answer…” Mario’s voice moved away from the phone as he spoke to someone else in the room with him. “Yeah, it’s Luigi. He says he’s okay.”

The reply sounded like Peach and probably was. Her exact words were indecipherable but her tone was pleased.

“Yeah, he beat King Boo again.” Mario actually sounded proud of Luigi.

A few more indistinct voices chimed in, indicating that Mario was even less alone than Luigi had hoped he’d be for where this conversation was going. Unfortunate but unsurprising; when not at home, Mario was most often with other people.

“All right, Luigi,” Mario continued, speaking into the phone properly again, “I’m going to put you on speaker phone. Peach wants to talk to you.”

Oh no, that was even worse. Before Luigi could even try to start voice an objection though…

“Luigi! It’s so good to hear from you,” Peach said, her voice much clearer now. “I’m glad to know you’re all right.”

“You really gave us quite the fright there,” Toadsworth added in that almost lecturing tone of his that meant he’d been worried. “We were really scrambling on trying to figure out where that dastardly King Boo might’ve run off with you to.”

“I knew you’d beat him again,” Mario said. “Not that I wasn’t worried. But I knew you was strong enough to overcome him. I didn’t doubt it for a moment.” A lie no doubt, he of all people knew Luigi wasn’t strong by any metric.

“It wasn’t me,” Luigi said before anyone else could chime and possibly agree with that idea. “I… didn’t beat him. Someone saved me. Two someones actually.”

There was a short pause before Peach replied with, “Oh! Who might they be? You being a close personal friend of the crown means we must thank them properly for helping you. I’ll send a limo to pick you and them up, bring you back to the castle for a celebration. I’ll bake some cake and we’ll have a grand time.”

“It was… it was… Bowser and Kamek. And uh, I’m still at their castle and I intend to stay here because when they beat King Boo they couldn’t capture him and he left, saying he was going to come back and that this wasn’t over. So I think this is probably the safest place for me right now. Kamek managed to seal his magic and Bowser got him to leave. And uh… they’re fine with me staying and even said I’d be safe if King Boo tried to come back to get me.” No need to add that he was now Bowser’s minion and maybe some kind of family member. “So… so, no need for a limo or a party or anything else. I’m staying for a little while until it’s safe to go back home. Sorry.” Luigi almost slammed the phone back into its cradle but stopped himself, clutching it tight in his hand instead.

“You can’t be serious?” Mario of course sounded confused and… maybe a little mad? “Bowser? Why would he of all people save you? And how?”

“Uh… remember the whole Cackletta, thing? Apparently, that affected him enough that he now has a thing about possession so he got mad at King Boo about it. And uh…” No need to mention the whole thing with the shackles and iron cage, “he broke the crown, King Boo’s crown, after Kamek used magic to suppress his magic.”

“It’s still Bowser though. Even if he did save you its not safe for you there. You can stay in Peach’s Castle if you don’t feel safe at home right now. E. Gadd will build something to keep you safe.”

“No offense to E. Gadd but King Boo has escaped from him every time he had him. So I don’t exactly trust him to be able to keep King Boo out of his lab or Peach’s castle.”

“That’s fair,” came E. Gadd’s voice out of nowhere. If Luigi had known E. Gadd was there too, he’d have tried to word it better. Too late now though as E. Gadd continued on, seemingly unfazed. “It’s difficult to keep someone like King Boo contained for long.” He sounded as if some of those times King Boo had gotten free weren’t at least partially his fault, typical. “I would say you probably are safest there, sonny. Especially since you said Kamek can seal King Boo’s powers, right? I’m gonna have call him later and ask him about that.”

“Who’s going to keep him safe from Bowser though?” Now Mario was for sure a little mad. Mad at Luigi though or just the situation?

“I don’t think that’s an issue. He seems like he has no interest in hurting me.” Of course Luigi couldn’t know for sure but that risk was far less scary than the threat King Boo for sure posed. “I will of course, uh, remain wary.” Over the phone probably wasn’t a good time to talk about his thoughts involving possibly spying while he was here in case the phone was tapped or something “I think, if he does try anything I can protect myself from him.” And Mario couldn’t argue with that, right? Luigi had proven himself capable of at least that much on several occasions.

“Luigi,” Peach said, her tone firm, indicating she was displeased. “I trust your judgment, especially given what I know about Bower and the people who reside in his castle but I feel this is unnecessary. You’ve beat King Boo three times before and now you know to expect him and what he might try to do. So I’m sure if he comes back and tries to possess you again, you’ll be able to best him again. If you want to stay with me for a while, I’ll tell my Toads to be on the look out for him or any other ghostly activity. And of course E. Gadd will build you something to help too. There’s no need to live in fear, cowering in Bowser’s castle, okay?”

A convincing argument that probably would’ve persuaded him if he’d heard it earlier. But he’d already had reassurance from both Bowser and Junior that he was safe here. It wasn’t guaranteed, King Boo was powerful and driven hard by vengeance, but based off his experience he had a better chance here than at Peach’s castle. So here he was staying. “Sorry, I’m a coward. I don’t want to risk it when he’s still out there.”

“So you’re planning on staying there forever?” Mario again.

“No. Just until something is done about King Boo.”

“Like what?”

“I… I don’t know. Just something. … I mean, Kamek could probably do something, right? His magic contained King Boo’s before so… maybe he can do it again and take care of King Boo more permanently.”

“Now that you mention it,” unlike the others, E. Gadd didn’t sound the least bit upset or even aware of the current tension, “I should’ve called Kamek up for help holding King Boo ages ago. He’s good at dealing with all things magical and whatnot.”

“How do you even know Kamek?” Toadsworth asked with a frown in his voice.

“Oh, we go way back. Went to college together, the two youngest there at the time. If you can believe either of us were ever young.” E. Gadd chuckled. “But don’t worry Luigi, my boy, Kamek will keep you safe, especially once I get there to help out. And I’ll bring along Polterpup and Gooigi so you won’t be without friends. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“See, guys? I’ll be fine. It’ll only be for a little while.”

“Well okay then. If you’re sure.” Peach’s tone was cold but at least she was giving in.

Mario on the other hand let out a loud huff that then turned into a heavy resigned sigh. “Fine. I’m just glad you’re safe. Please try to stay safe too, all right?”

“That’s what I intend to do. I should um, probably go now though. I don’t want to hog the phone for too long. I’ll call you later, like tomorrow sometime? Around the same time, maybe earlier.”

“Yeah. Sounds good. Hear from you then.”

With that, Luigi hung up and stepped back from the phone. That… hadn’t gone as bad as he’d feared. Not good by any means but far better than it could’ve gone. He was still shaking from it though. Part of that was likely just general exhaustion again but certainly the stress hadn’t helped. He really needed to go lie down for a bit. And then, the kids had told him dinner was held in the dining hall in like… two hours according to the clock on the wall above the phone. Yeah, a quick nap and then food seemed like a good idea.

[anomander-dragnipurake]

Bower's Castle Chapter 5: Part of the Family

Apparently, updates for this fic are just gonna be infrequent. I am still working on it though, just not as much as I wish I were able to. I will try to get at least one more chapter before I start holiday stuff in September but I can't promise anything.

~

In hindsight, Luigi should’ve asked where he could find a phone in addition to getting permission to use one. Somehow it hadn’t occurred to him until now as the throne room doors closed behind him with a small thud. It was too late now. … It would probably be fine though. It was a castle full of people living in it, there had to be phones all over the place, right? And it’s not like he had anything better to do anyway even if he was starting to feel like lying down would be nice.

As he wandered the halls in his search, he naturally got looks and mutters from passersby. None of them approached to talk to him though and he didn’t dare try to speak to any of them on his own. Maybe he should though as his exhaustion grew and he still hadn’t found a single landline. There had to be some in the castle somewhere though, right? Otherwise, Bowser would’ve said he would need to borrow a cellphone or something, right?

Eventually he had to pause and take a breather, leaning against a wall in an out of the way hall. He wasn’t quite tired enough to sit on the floor but he was close. … Yeah, escaping was not a real possibility right now. One didn’t just recover from everything King Boo had caused his body to go through in a single sleep, huh?

Speaking of that, if he was going to stay and be Bowser’s minion apparently, he wasn’t going to blindly trust Bowser to be entirely a good guy now. Doing so would be stupid. Maybe he could even put his time here, hiding from King Boo to good use like spying or something. … Hmm, it was something to think about.

But if he did stay how long would it have to be before he was safe from King Boo? … What if it would never be safe to go home? He couldn’t live in Bowser’s castle forever. Something had to be done about…

“Haha!” a triumphant voice came from down the hall, making Luigi flinch. … It was Bowser Junior.

Luigi looked around for a place to hide but… there was nothing. It was too late anyway; Junior was already jogging over. He wasn’t exactly his enemy right now though so… maybe it would be fine.

Junior slid to a halt in front of him, pointing up at him in triumph. “Finally found you Green Mario! We’ve been looking all over for you! Boy you really know how to get lost, huh?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that I’m… uh, maybe I am a little lost.” He hadn’t exactly been paying the most attention to where he’d been going for the past little bit now. He might’ve been going in circles for all he knew which would explain why he hadn’t found a phone yet.

Junior chuckled, not his evil one though but instead something that sounded almost friendly. “Yeah, the castle’s confusing at first, lots of hallways and stuff. But uh, why are you wearing Peach’s dress?”

“Um, first, my name’s Luigi. And second, I’m wearing Peach’s dress because there’s nothing else available for me to wear right now.”

“Hmm… I guess that makes sense. But anyway, I heard Papa saved you and decided to keep you so you’re like part of the family now, I think. Which, now that I think about it is weird ‘cause you’re Mario’s brother and that means…”

“Wait what? ‘Part of the family’? What do you… mean by that exactly?” That was entirely different to being Bower’s minion.

“That’s how it works. Papa saved all my siblings and decided to keep them which is how he adopted all of them. You’re an adult though so I don’t know if that’s how it works for you too. Maybe you’re an uncle now. I’ve never had an uncle before so that could be fun. Or maybe you’re something else entirely. I don’t really know.”

“But why would that make me part of your family at all?”

“I just told you. That’s how it works. That’s how it’s always worked.” He gave Luigi a look as if he were an idiot, making him feel quite stupid in the process because he still didn’t really get why it would work that way. Was that just a Bowser’s family thing or a cultural thing? It was strange no matter what it was especially when considering how it differed so much from seemingly a lot of Bowser’s other policies. “Like I have a cat now because I saved her from the street so she’s mine now. She had kittens recently because she was pregnant when I saved her even though I didn’t know that at the time. They’re mine too by the way. You want to see them?”

Change of topic or not, Luigi was actually quite into the idea of seeing some kittens. After how horrible the last few days had been surely he deserved that, right? And maybe afterwards he could ask where a phone was so he could call Mario and E. Gadd and tell them what happened and where he was. For now though… “Sure.”

“Awesome. Follow me.” Junior took the lead with a small skip, forcing Luigi to hustle to catch up. “Oh but wait, first…” He paused to reach into his shell and pull out a cellphone to quickly type something into it, presumably texting someone, before putting it away and moving on.

“What’s that about?” Maybe Luigi shouldn’t ask but he was curious and well, it seemed Junior was currently his ally so why not.

“My siblings. I was texting our group chat to the tell them I was taking you up to see the kittens because we split up to look for you. We wanna ask you what happened with King Boo because Dad and Kamek won’t tell us the details. We also want to know how he possessed you in the first place which Dad and Kamek don’t even know so we have to ask you about it.”

That wasn’t really something Luigi wanted to talk about so soon after being freed from it. There were probably worse things to explain to a bunch of curious children though. And he could leave out the death threats and the whole almost killing E. Gadd thing which had been the scariest parts anyway. So maybe it would be fine.

~

The kittens were kept in one of the bedrooms in the sleeping quarters in the upper part of the castle. Seemingly it was set up specifically for them; the door had cat flap and inside wasn’t much furniture other than a large cat bed with a fancy water bowl – the kind that water constantly flowed through – and a rug positioned perfectly for the sunlight streaming in through the window to hit it. Cat toys were strewn across it and a litterbox sat in the far corner of the room.

Junior led him straight over to the cat bed where mama cat and her kittens were currently resting. “This one’s name is Tommie.” He pointed the kitten on one end of their lineup. “Then this one’s Oreo and then Morgana and then Lucky and Midnight.” The pride in his voice made it pretty clear that the reason he’d offered to show Luigi the kittens was because he just wanted to show them off to anyone willing to give him the time of day to do so. “And the mama’s name is Queen because she’s the queen of the castle since we’ve never had a real queen. You can pet her and her babies but you have to be gentle and you’re not allowed to pick them up, they’re fragile and sleeping. If you aren’t gentle or if you hurt them, even if it’s on accident, you’ll regret it big time, got it?” Ah, there was some of that familiar tendency for violence.

How much weight that threat held though was hard to guess, but regardless Luigi had no desire to test it. “Got it.” He crouched down beside the cat bed and reached out a gentle hand to rub the top of Queen’s head. She started purring almost immediately as she lifted her head into his touch. Her blue gray fur was soft and warm and she and her kittens were perhaps the most beautiful precious things Luigi had ever seen.

“Uh… are you crying?” Junior asked, drawing Luigi’s gaze back up to him. “

“Oh! Uh… sorry.” Still gently stroking Queen with one hand, Luigi lifted his other to wipe away the tears that has started pool in his eyes. “I’ve just had a rough few days.” And he was so relived to finally be done with it. … Except maybe he wasn’t done with it, maybe this was just a break that could be shattered at any time by King Boo’s return. He’d said this wasn’t over after all, that he’d be back.

“Yeah. The whole thing with King Boo. You don’t have to worry about him any more though. Papa will punch him in the face if he ever tries to come back.” As if to illustrate his point, Junior punched a fist into his own palm, grinning as if he anticipated witnessing such violence.

“He will?” And Bowser had said earlier that Kamek would take care of it. Would it be enough though? Would Luigi actually be safe from King Boo here?

“Yeah. He did that with Ludwig’s biological mom when she tried to take him back after he ran away from her because she was mean to him.”

Luigi was learning a lot about Bowser and surprisingly a lot of it involved him being not as bad as he seemed. It didn’t make any sense but there’d be nothing to gain from lying to him about it, right? Of course he couldn’t let his guard down about Bowser completely. But it seemed very likely he was safe here from King Boo – or at least safer than anywhere else – and that Bowser wasn’t likely to hurt him.

Which meant… he was staying huh? For a time at least, however long it took for someone to figure something out about King Boo. A cowardly move perhaps but he didn’t care, not anymore. He was that much more afraid of King Boo now and no one could rightly fault him for it.

He was going to have to tell Mario that when he called him later and undoubtedly Mario wasn’t going to be pleased by it. He could worry about that conversation later though, for now he was busy petting cats. Surely he deserved the chance to do so for however long he felt like after everything he’d been through the past few days.

So mentally shaking away those thoughts for now, he turned his head to look at Junior sitting beside him again. “Can you, uh… tell me how you got Queen? You said you saved her?”

Junior’s face lit up, evidently eager to share. “Okay so Kamek likes to make sure that we all get out of the castle occasionally, especially me and Dad, to have the people see us or something like that. He never wants to come with us though which is dumb because he’s important to the kingdom too so if we all have to go around and be important people occasionally, so should he, right? Dad forces him to come sometimes though which he always complains about so serves him right. But um, anyway, it’s super boring, hanging out with Dad and being all formal and stuff, so I always try to sneak away as soon as I can and go explore on my own or with my siblings. Which is what I did during…”

“I’m here,” came a sing-songy voice from the doorway as it opened.

Luigi looked over to see one of the Koopalings had entered, the one with the pink bow. “You better not have told Junior everything while I wasn’t here or I’ll be mad.” She looked like she intended to say more but paused as Luigi stood up to greet her. She eyed him up and down as if measuring his worth. “Pink’s not really your colour. I suppose it’s better than what you were wearing before and far better than whatever it is you usually wear but… still not your colour.”

“I… needed a change of clothes. This was the fastest option. Now uh… I don’t think we’ve ever been properly introduced.” If he was going to stay here for any significant length of time he should probably get to know the names of all the important people in the castle. Also, he was actually quite enjoying hanging out with Junior so maybe the rest of the Koopa Kids were also not so bad. “I’m Luigi.” Forcing a smile, he offered her a hand to shake.

She didn’t take it, frowning at him instead. “You really don’t know my name? Everyone’s supposed to know my name. I’m the only…”

“That’s Wendy,” Junior interrupted, also standing up from where he’d sat beside the cat bed. “She can be a real b-word sometimes but you get used to her.”

“Uh, maybe don’t call your sister…” Luigi began before Wendy cut him off.

“I’d be offended if you weren’t too much of a baby to just say the word ‘bitch’.”

“We’re not allowed to swear. You know that.”

“Yeah. And we’re also not allowed to interact with the prisoners. But here we both are.”

“He’s not a prisoner though. Dad claimed him so he’s… something else now. I don’t know what but not a prisoner. Regardless he’s an ally now so he’s going to tell us what happened with King Boo.”

“Not until everyone gets here though,” said a new voice from the doorway. Another of the Koopalings. This one had dark blue hair and a slight scowl. “We all agreed it’d be easier if we got the story at the same time.”

Before either Junior or Wendy could reply or resume their argument, Luigi walked over and offered his hand to the new arrival. “I’m Luigi.” Not only should he know the Koopalings’ names but also he was going to make sure everyone knew his name too. He was tired of being called ‘Green Mario’ and other worse nicknames. He’d been through too much to continue to put up with being forgotten and ignored.

The kid looked at his hand for a couple seconds before with a slight shrug, accepting it. “Ludwig.”

From there the rest of the Koopalings arrived swiftly. Luigi made sure to introduce himself to each one and learn their names in turn. Larry, then Morton and Iggy as a pair with Roy not far behind. Lemmy came in last but also with the most noise as he slammed the door open, earning a scolding from Junior about how the cats need quiet. Which led to Junior ushering everyone back out into the hall and then to the empty room across the hall.

Once inside with the door closed, they all turned their gazes upon Luigi. He’d never quite fully thought it through before but, having them all together in the same space made it quite clear how many eight kids really was. Even with all the help he no doubt had from castle servants and probably Kamek too, how did Bowser manage? Luigi’s respect for him had officially grown.

“Now tell us what happened with King Boo,” Iggy said, getting straight to the point.

“Yeah. Tell us all the gritty, gory details!” Larry said with an uncomfortable amount of excitement.

Luigi really had no choice but to tell them, huh? “Okay. All right.” He couldn’t fault them their curiosity, they had only been witness to small parts of what had happened, who wouldn’t want to know more? He wasn’t going to go into all the ‘gritty, gory’ details though; he didn’t want to talk about any of that and they were children and thus didn’t need to know.

[anomander-dragnipurake]

Spoilers for the bad end of 'Bowser' Castle'. (This is a joke by the way. This piece was just inspired by a thought I had about a theoretical bad end.)