Bowsette’s Princess Lessons: Chapter 14

 Bowsette’s Princess Lessons

Chapter XIV: In Which Bowser Falls for Princess Peach

Bowser struggled to do a pullup, inches away from the top of the orange warp pipe that would drop him near the end of the obstacle course. “Ugh! Stupid women and their inferior upper body strength! Why did God have to make them so wimpy?”

With an effort, Bowser climbed to the top of the pipe and stared down. Inside, the magic glowed with a soft, rainbow light. “Freedom!”

Just as Bowser lifted his foot to hop in, Luigi came sailing over the brick staircase, diving down for a midair tackle. As they slammed against the ground, Luigi grappled to pin Bowser, and realized the monster’s supernatural strength was gone. “Bowser! Please stop! If you go down that pipe, you’ll kill–”

Bowser swiped Luigi across the face, knocking off his hat and leaving behind four thin, red scratches. Without either his former true strength, nor the magical strength of a mushroom, Bowser began to panic. But even without his raw power, he still had primal fighting instincts. Planting his dainty, bare feet, Bowser twisted to escape Luigi’s pin, slamming Luigi into the ground behind him, then kicked free of Luigi’s grasp entirely. “You…you can’t stop me! I’m–”

Luigi landed a knife hand strike against Bowser’s slender throat, and as Bowser fought for air, something clicked in his mind. Luigi was stronger than him now. Worse than that, Luigi was a better fighter, fundamentally. 

But that didn’t make sense. Bowser, after all, was Bowser. The King of the Koopas. The baddest of the bad. 

Sure, Bowser lost fights, but he never doubted that he was a great fighter. Indeed, as much as he loved fighting, Bowser had never really had to think much about fighting. He was simply born to be one. Do Cheep-Cheep think about swimming? Do Pidgits think about flying? Of course not!

But now, Bowser was getting his tail kicked by Luigi, and there was nothing he could do about it. Dimly, at the back of his mind, he remembered something about eating a mushroom? It seemed like he’d been eating a lot of them, somehow. 

Then, the memory of the blond woman, with the face so like Peach’s, flashed in his dazed eyes, holding up a red mushroom for him on a silver platter. It was like she was offering him a cheat code. An instant win button.

All this occurred in the time it took for Bowser to feel the impact of Luigi’s fist against his face. 

Bowser was so pissed off, he somehow forgot his fear. Bowser didn’t want a cheat code. Bowser didn’t need a cheat code. He swung wildly at the ghostly woman, knocking away the phantom image of the power up, and felt the back of his hand connect with Luigi’s face. 

Bowser knew that he was weak. But for a moment, he forgot all about being a woman. He was himself again, in spirit if not in body. In slow motion, he saw Luigi’s next strike coming, and had to admire the technique, even as he read Luigi like an open book. Bowser blocked and counter punched, feeling the weakness in his own fist as he sprained his wrist, but pressed forward regardless. As if in a dream, Bowser took Luigi’s second punch on the chin, then landed three solid punches on Luigi in a row: a jab, cross, hook combo. Luigi lost his balance and cracked the back of his head against the stone wall behind him, his legs sinking. 

And as he saw his opponent was down, Bowser curb-stomped Luigi, full on the chest. 

As Luigi felt his ribs crack, he didn’t scream. He didn’t have enough air in his lungs to scream. 

Luigi tried to rise, only to feel Bowser’s foot pressing him down, digging into his broken ribs. 

Trembling with joy, Bowser leaned over to look Luigi in the eyes. “You lose, Luigi…No surprise,there…Because you’re a loser, Luigi…You’ve always been a loser…You will always be a loser…” 

Bowser leaned in close to Luigi’s ear, as if for a kiss. “...You’re nothing but a discount Mario.”

Luigi gurgled. “You’re…gonna…kill them! If you go through that pipe…Mario…Daisy…”

Bowser guffawed, then dug his heel into Luigi’s chest one final time as he stepped back. “Hey, I was already gonna’ escape. You don’t have to convince me!”

Bowser turned, and strolled to the warp pipe. But as Bowser gripped the edge and lifted himself up, Luigi gasped one final name. “Peach…you’re gonna’ kill Peach…is that…what you want?”

Bowser froze, then rounded on Luigi, roaring. “What are you babbling about? I’m not hurting Peach! I just want to be free!” 

With his full weight, Bowser stomped on Luigi’s chest again. “How am I hurting Peach? ANSWER ME!!!”

Luigi whimpered, then swooned dead away. “I think…you broke something…”

Bowser heard an echoing crack in the distance, like thunder. As he turned, he recognized one of his old fortresses, collapsing in on itself.

…

Carrying Goombario on her back, Peach saw the goal post that marked the end of World 3-4: a hologram of one of her own Toad retainers. Once she reached the finish line, they would only be one course behind Bowser. But even if they did everything perfectly, would they have enough time? What if she couldn’t save everyone? If any of them died…if Mario died…it would all be her fault. But she couldn’t dwell on that, not now. As she rode on Kooper the Koopa’s back, Peach reached out her hand to activate the hologram that represented the goal post, and–

A stone ten times her size tore loose from the crumbling wall and flew into her, knocking her up and away from Kooper. Goombario went spiraling over the top of the stone and came crashing down the other side, just short of the goal post. Daisy reached a hand out and screamed to Peach, but she was already helplessly out of reach. The tornado had caught her.

Peach pointed at the goal post. “Load the next world! Get everyone out of–”

The stone spiraled as it flew a mile upward, sending Peach flying wildly into nothingness. The world and the sky spun around her, until she had no sense of which was which.

…

Mario saw everything. “Spike! Catch her! You’re her only–”

As the wooden bridge snapped and fell away beneath them, Gonzales Junior scrambled to run in mid air. “Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!”

Spike snatched at Mario’s overalls again, and Mario pinned the baby Yoshi between his legs to keep him from falling to his death, still cradling Ms. Mowz with one arm. Vivian slipped into his shadow, atop Gonzales Jr’s back. 

Then, a line of bricks and question mark blocks slammed into Mario’s chest, carrying him away into the tornado. As Vivian felt Mario ripped away from his own shadow, she grabbed at his pant leg and reached for his hand, only for gravity to carry her away along with Gonzales Jr.

Spike instinctively grabbed for Vivian’s hand as she pulled free from Mario’s shadow. Vivian caught Gonzales Jr. with her freehand, while Spike caught Ms. Mowz with his free hand, He was forced to juggle the masked mouse a few times to keep from dropping her. 

“Mario!” cried Spike, Vivina, and Ms. Mowz all at once. 

“Gonzales!” cried Gonzales Jr. 

Mario clutched tight to the pillar debris. “Spike! Leave me! Get them to safety!”

Spotting the Question Mark block by his face, Mario slammed his fist into it, and found a Red Mushroom. Stuffing it down the collar of his shirt, Mario secured his grip and tried to get his bearings. 

And there she was. A tiny flicker of sunlight caught a sliver of Peach’s strawberry blond hair, her pink tennis uniform fluttering in the wind, as she tumbled toward him from above.

…

“Peaches!” howled Bowser. As he charged toward the tornado that had torn through the Mario Maker’s recreation of his old fortress, Bowser managed to run on mid-air for several feet, before noticing that he was defying the laws of gravity, and dropped like a stone, howling like Goofy.

Trying to swim, Bowser felt his lips flapping from the wind resistance, and tears formed in his eyes. So this was it. Thanks to his own hubris, he had killed the only woman he ever loved, and would now die alone, in a vain struggle to rescue her. A noble, if anticlimactic, death for the King of the Koopas. It’d probably make for a great, Shakespearean tragedy, one day.

But in what he believed to be his last moment on earth, Bowser could only think of one name. “...Peaches!”

From far away, an irate female voice seemed to whisper in his ear. “Peaches? Who the hell is–”

Deep within Bowser’s skull, the spirit of the Crown of Queen Toadstool, AKA Bowsette, was doing some dusting. When was this dullard ever going to catch a hint? Obviously, she had been the one helping him, yet he stubbornly insisted on being the one to drive, leaving her sitting on her shapely haunches, when she could be helping. At the sound of Bowser’s distressed cry, Bowsette glanced up to look through Bowser’s eyes, as if they were a television screen, and saw for herself who “Peaches” was.

Bowsette squealed as she dropped her feather duster. “The Heir!”

As he flailed his arms, Bowser saw a flaming Fire Flower appear before him, just barely within his reach. Two voices screamed in his mind at once, “Take it, or the Princess dies! Take it, or you die! You have no choice! Just take it!!!”

As Bowser grasped the Fire Flower, eyes flashed from red to blue, his hair shimmered from blood red to pale gold, then back again to blood red like a billowing flame, and the torn remnants of his black dress shone blood red, with accents glowing white as sun-light.

And as Bowser felt his hands moving of their one accord, he became aware of the tingling sensation of pink flames engulfing his fingertips, and then his feet. The weightless, sinking pit in his stomach disappeared, and with a rush, Bowser knew that he was flying, though he didn’t know how.

…

Both Spike and Piff the Puff were approaching their limit. “Vivian, can you reach Mario’s shadow?”

Vivian’s eyes watered as she watched Mario carried farther and farther away. “Nuh…not if he’s in mid air.”

Ms. Mowz twitched her nose. “Why must the most useful superpowers always come with fine print?” 

As Spike started to drift lower, Gonzales Jr. flailed his feet to reach the collapsing path before them. “Spike! Tag me in, dude! Tag me in!”

Defying gravity, Gonzales Jr. caught the sole of his shoe against the edge of the falling stone and leapt back up onto the pathway, carrying his friends behind him as they held hands in a long chain.

Ms. Mowz squeaked as she lost her grip on Spike’s hand, only for him to snatch her by her long tail. “Squeee-EEEEK!!! What about Goombella’s shadow?”

“With all three of you? I’ve never done it before! If we lose one another in the shadows, you’ll be gone forever!”

Spike shook his head as they all whipped back and forth. “No thanks! I’m good! We’ll just catch up the old fashioned way!”

As a section of the floor tore away underneath them, Gonzales Jr. leapt lightly to run along the wall. As the wall crumbled at the base and began to tilt forward, Gonzales Jr. was forced to drop back to the floor, narrowly missing the edge of the hole, and galloped forward. The passengers screamed as they saw the shadow of the collapsing wall pressing in on them. Teardrops flew from Gonzales Jr.’s eyes as he pushed himself with all his might and dove forward, knowing he’d never make it. Then the wall smashed down on the floor, flattening everything underneath it into a pancake.

…

“We’ve gotta’ load the next level!” screamed Goombella, still clinging to Princess Daisy’s back as Koops the Koopa carried them both on his shell.

After Princess Daisy saw her Best Friend Forever From Princess Academy (B.F.F.F.P.A.) carried away by the tornado, she didn’t cry. Like her dad always said, “There’s no crying in baseball!” 

Daisy called over her shoulder to Goombella. “Hang tight!”

Leaning into a turn, Daisy scooped up a dazed Goombario with her free hand, and all four careened through the hologram that marked the end of the level. The holographic Toad retainer flickered, and began to speak like a stuck record. “Th-Thank you, Mario! B-but our Princess is in another cast–‘nother cast–‘nother castle!”

As Koops skidded to a halt before the locked and bolted wooden doors, Daisy hopped off his shell and came to an awkward halt. “Huh? Why isn’t it opening?”

Goombella swallowed. “Bowser’s already loaded world 4-1. Maybe the door is glitched?”

As if in answer, the door buzzed, flickered, and reappeared with a heavy slam, the wooden latch rattling. Daisy set down the two Goombas and stretched her arms. “Don’t panic, I’ll just open it the old fashioned way. Goombella, Koops, do a headcount for me. We don’t want to leave anyone behind”

Goombella’s breath caught as she cradled Goombario’s head in her invisible hands, cartoon stars spinning around his skull. “Right! Me, Goombario, Daisy, Koops…Kooper?”

Kooper popped his head out of a crack in the wall, where the tornado had thrown him, and rushed to Goombario’s side. “Here!”

Goombario shook his head, blinking back stars as he slowly recovered from blunt force trauma.

Daisy squatted, gripped the underside of the wooden latch, and deadlift it above her head.

Koops rubbed his head. “That leaves Koopie-Koo, Toadette, Madame Flurrie, Lady Bow–”

“Boo!” said Lady Bow, as she poofed into existence behind Koops.

“Here we are, darling!” cooed Madame Flurrie as she flew alongside Toadette and Koopie-Koo.

Daisy dropped the wooden latch to the floor with a clatter, then slammed her shoulder against the door, leaning her full weight into it. “Help me with this door!”

Madame Flurrie belly flopped into the door, smashing it aside.

“Everyone with arms who can’t fly, on a Koopa!” called Toadette, scooping up Goombario as Koopie-Koo popped back into her shell and prepared to launch another power shell technique.

Goombella searched the horizon, looking for their missing friends. She saw the collapsing ground steadily catching up to them. “We’re still missing Mario, Spike, Gonzales Jr., Ms. Mowz, and Vivi–”

Spike, Gonzales Jr., Ms. Mowz, and Vivian erupted from Goombella’s shadow. Vivian held Goombella in a tight embrace, while the others clung to her back. “Goombella! I found you!”

“Run while you talk!” roared Princess Daisy as she scooped up Goombella and Gonzales Jr. then jumped on Koop’s back. Ms. Mowz artfully climbed up Daisy’s back and rested on the back of her shoulder blades.

As the Koopa’s launched past the empty door and down the torn remains of World 4-1, Vivian trembled as she clung tight to Goombella’s shadow. “...Goombella, I’m sorry…I couldn’t save Mario!”

Everyone felt their hearts freeze, even as they all ran for their lives. Goombario broke the silence. “Don’t worry. Mario always finds a way!”

Her whiskers flaring, Ms. Mowz pointed to the sky. “There he is!” 

They all looked up. A mile above them, a tiny, red speck was flying upwards, to intercept a tiny pink speck as it tumbled down.

…

The force of the tornado carried Mario up higher and higher to meet Peach in mid air. Before, the 500-foot drop had already been lethal. Now, it was almost comically overkill. Mario would have time to recite the entirety of the Lord’s Prayer, which his beloved “Mama mia” had taught him to pray every night as a boy, before going splat.

Over his years of adventuring, Mario had learned a thing or two about how to fall from a dizzying height toward certain death, and not actually die. In the first place: it was essential to never panic. This was Princess Peach’s first mistake, though you can hardly blame her. After all, she had never tried skydiving, at least not willingly.

The human body was not made for flying. While falling, it’s easy to begin a death spiral, with no way out. You have to relax, then twist your body against the wind to create drag. Sure, controlling your fall doesn’t do much about the sudden stop at the end, but at least it gives you time to think. And as long as you have time to think, you have all the time you need to act.

Before the tornado could carry him to the highest height, Mario leapt off the stone pillar and intercepted Peach in mid air as she fell toward him. They spiraled around one another, holding hands, as Mario counteracted her death spiral. “Peach! I’ve got you! Just look at me!”

Peach began to regain her equilibrium, and there was Mario, hanging onto her, the only stable thing in her entire world. Tears of relief filled her eyes, falling upwards. “Mario! I knew you’d come!”

Mario reached into shirt, and produced a Red Mushroom. “Princess! Take this! If you eat it…it will protect you!”

Mario forced himself to sound more confident than he felt. The power of a red mushroom could grant magical endurance against many a lethal blow, but Mario had never tested one from a fall at this height.

Peach’s hand touched Mario’s as he held out the Mushroom, but she hesitated. “But what about you? How are you going to–”

“I’ll think of something! Just take it! Hurry!”

“No! I know what you’re doing! You promised me you wouldn’t throw your life away!”

“I promised you that I’d never throw my life away, for nothing. And I’m not throwing my life away, Princess! Your life isn’t nothing! Your life means everything to me!”

“It’s not right! You shouldn’t have to die, just so I can go on living! My people need you, Mario! I need you! I…I…” She tried to say it. Tried to say the word she had thought when Mario first came to her rescue, all those years ago. But it caught in her throat.

“Your people need you more! Don’t you see? You’re a Princess! And your life is worth more than mine!”

“I can’t do it! I won’t! You promised me!”

A single tear appeared in Mario’s eye, but his face remained firm. “And you promised me that if I told you to save yourself, and leave me behind, that you’d obey! If you don’t take the power up, then I will have died for nothing! …Please, Peach, I want you to live…”

Wordlessly, Peach felt her fingers gripping on the Mushroom. What she would have done next, she never knew. They heard a brash, familiar voice echoing from above, “Peaches! Don’t worry, baby! Daddy’s coming for ya’!”

As they turned to look, Bowser was diving like a falcon to intercept them, propelled by four pillars of pink flame. His very hair seemed to be made of shifting flame, billowing red, then orange, then rose gold. As Bowser snatched Peach around her navel, his velocity carried them down even faster. As Mario and Peach were jostled by the impact, Mario’s hand was knocked away from the mushroom, leaving Peach clutching to the mushroom with one hand. 

The entire obstacle course flashed by them in a blur as they rocketed toward the hard ground, before Bowser twisted to face his feet to the ground. They pulled out of the deadly swan dive a few feet above the forest treetops, before rocketing back up, towards the obstacle course. The whiplash nearly tore Mario free from his grip on Peach’s other hand, but she held on just long enough to give Mario time to wrap around one of Bowser’s legs in mid air. His hair flashing from yellow to red, Bowser snarled at Mario as he started to careen off course. “Hey! Cut it out! Do you have any idea how hard it is to fly this thing? Leggo!” 

…

At the sight of Mario and Peach falling to their doom, Spike the Lakitu released his grip on Vivian, and flew to the rescue. But Lakitu clouds are built more like rescue helicopters than like hypersonic aircraft. Just as Spike realized Mario and Peach were hopelessly out of reach, he saw Bowser diving down to catch them. Spike skidded to a halt then angled his flight path to intercept as Bowser came rocketing back up toward the obstacle course. Focusing on Bowser, Spike saw that he was flying shakily, and acted on instinct. Spike’s plan was to grab Mario and Peach by the hand, then pull them away from Bowser. But just as Spike dove to intercept them, something strange happened. Bowser’s hair shimmered and flashed gold, and his/her blue eyes locked on Spike. “Filthy peasants!”

Bowser’s flight suddenly grew steady, controlled, and the last thing Spike saw was Bowser lowering his/her blond head, the sharp points of the crown aimed directly at Spike as he/she shot forward on a collision course. It all happened so fast, Spike didn’t have a chance to course correct. The crown smashed into Spike and Piff, and as Bowser reared his/her head like a bull, the unconscious Lakitu and his loyal cloud steed were both tossed up and out of the way. Knocked unconscious, Spike and Piff both drifted through the air, almost lazily, before they disappeared into a group of puffy cumulus clouds.

Bowser flashed his/her eyes down at Mario. “How dare you lay your hands on a Princess?”

Tightening his/her grip on Princess Peach, Bowser began to pilot in a tight spiral, a perfect aileron roll, trying to shake Mario loose.

…

As Daisy watched Bowser, Peach, and Mario flying back up towards the obstacle course, she remembered something her dad had told her when he taught her to play catch as a little girl: “Keep your eye on the ball, and put your glove where you’re looking!”

Daisy took a deep breath. “Toadette, I need you to take Goombella. Junior, can you run?”

Gonzales Jr. grinned, and started pumping his feet to prepare to hit the ground running. “Want to ride on my back?”

Daisy did not take her eye off of Bowser, Peach, and Mario as they rocketed steadily closer. “No. I have a plan.”

Daisy carefully tossed Gonzales Jr. to the ground to let him run ahead, then handed a nervous looking Goombella over to a nervous looking Toadette, who was holding a nervous looking Goombario. “What plan?” muttered all three at once.

Without blinking, Daisy unhitched the yellow sash Peach had given her to cover her underpants, and tied it around her shoulders like a superhero cape. “I’m going to catch them.”

Toadette started to yell a warning, but too late. “No! That’s not how a super cape works! It won’t let you–”

Stretching her arms out like Superman, Daisy used Koops’ momentum to leap up and into Bowser’s path, the yellow cape fluttering behind her. Daisy had never used a super cape before, though she’d heard stories of how Mario and Luigi had used one to fly on their many adventures. Unfortunately, as Toadette had attempted to point out, wearing a super cape does not in fact, allow you to fly. Also unfortunately, Daisy couldn’t hear Toadette through the rushing whirlwind. But, very fortunately, as Princess Daisy dove into nothingness, she fully believed, with all her heart, that she could fly, so she didn’t panic.

Bowser’s blue eyes went wide as he/she spotted the tomboy princess of Sarasaland appear from nowhere.

Daisy landed a solid downward punch to the crown on Bowser’s head as she intercepted them, then pulled Peach and Bowser into a bear hug as she was carried along with the momentum. “Bowser! You cheat! Unhand my friends!”

It was as if Daisy had just punched the blond color right out of Bowser with one blow. Bowser’s head spiraled, and as he blinked, his eyes blazed red again to match his hair. “...The hell?”

His hands shaky, Bowser did a double take as he realized he didn’t know how to fly, and as he plummeted, he slipped loose from Mario and Daisy’s grip, clinging tightly to Princess Peach in his terror. “Yaaargh!”

As Peach called Mario’s name, Daisy spun in mid air and caught Mario. “Up, up, and away!”

But as she turned to fly after Bowser, she finally noticed she wasn’t actually flying at all. She felt the cape fluttering above her as she and Mario started to drop. “Mario? How do you work this thing?”

Mario reached up and snatched the loose ends of the cape, twisting them in his wrists to secure his grip. “Untie it and hold on for dear life!”

As Daisy did it, the cape caught the wind like a parachute, and felt it tugging at both of their arms with a snap. “Ooh! Whiplash!”

Below them, Peach clung tight to Bowser as they fell head-first, her voice surprisingly steady. “Bowser! Start flying, right now!”

Bowser wailed like a little boy with a boo-boo. “I don’t know how!”

“Yes, you do. Now do it!”

Waving his hands, Bowser felt the flames spark to life and held his arms and legs steady, arcing them back up, and away from the obstacle course. “Hey! I’m getting the hang of this…Say, now that I can fly, I’ll just fly us home to the Koopa Kingdom for our honeymoon! I’ve been thinking, Peachy, I’d like us to renew our wedding vows. For this marriage to work, I think we need to work on our communication–”

Peach wrenched at Bowser’s throat, pulling him off course. “Bowser, watch out! You can’t go that way!”

“Agh! What? It’s a wide open sky. Now, shaddup and let me drive, wom–”

Bowser’s face smacked against what felt like a sheet of unbreakable glass. Fortunately, Peach had pulled him off course just enough for it to be a glancing blow. Bowser took most of the brunt of the impact as he squeaked against the invisible wall for a few feet, before the reverberating force bounced him back off it. “Grrargh! What’d I hit?”

“An invisible wall! Listen to me, the Mario Maker creates a self-contained magical world. You can’t just blast your way out of it! Please, come back with us! We’ll get everyone home safe, togeth–”

“Ugh! Really, Peach? You added invisible walls? I hate when they put these things in video games. Makes everything feel like you’re stuck on some sort of railroad plot. Lazy game design if you ask–”

Peach looked Bowser in the eyes. “Bowser! You’ve caused enough trouble for one day! You take me back to the others, right now!”

Bowser’s mouth twitched into a simpering smile. “But Peach, we’re together again! I’ll be your knight in shining armor!”

“I’m not your damsel in distress! I don’t need saving!”

“Oh, c’mon Peach, you definitely needed saving back there!”

“Only because you put all of us in danger in the first place!”

“See, everytime I try to make things right, you have to bring up old drama. How many times do we have to have this old argument?”

“We’re having this argument again because you never listen to a word I say!”

Bowser sighed as he aimed toward the hidden warp zone above World 4-2. “And here comes the gaslighting.”

As Bowser and Peach flew eastward, Mario grimaced as he realized there was no hope of catching up. 

Daisy caught his attention as she twisted around, looking for any way out of their slow descent. The obstacle course was slightly below them, but still well out of reach. “We’re drifting! We need to catch an updraft!”

Madame Flurrie fluttered around them, puffing her cheeks. “Ask, and ye shall receive!”

 

With a gust of wind, Madame Flurrie gave them a lift, and Mario and Daisy dropped lightly to the course. Daisy fixed the yellow cape around her waist like a sash again, to cover her underpants. “Hey, Mario, thanks for not calling attention to my underpants. You are a true gentleman!”

Toadette, Goombario, Goombella, Gonzales Jr. and Lady Bow called from a distance as they approached. Goombella and Goombario were now Koopa surfing themselves. “Mario! Daisy!”

As Mario turned, Vivian leapt out of Mario’s shadow and embraced him, trembling. “You made it! Goombario was right! You found a way!”

The exhausted Koopas came spinning to a halt. Goombario bounced as he hopped off of Kooper’s back. “Mario! You should have seen it! This Piranha Plant grabbed Toadette, and yanked us all down into a hidden chamber, and Goombella and I had to team up to–”

Goombella interrupted Goombario as she pushed forth. “Goombario! Walk and chew bubble gum!”

Goombario nodded as they all started to sprint, “Right, right, right!”

Princess Daisy examined the group, and felt like something was missing. “Where’s Spike?”

Lady Bow shook her head as she floated along beside them. “Señor Spike suffered a nasty blow. I fear for his valiant soul!”

Gonzales Jr. scoffed. “Spike’s a champion. As long as he has Piff with him, he’s safe. He may be down for the count, but never out!”

Goombario looked like he suddenly remembered something important. “Princess Daisy? Where’s Ms. Mowz?”

Daisy tensed. “Huh? She isn’t with you?” 

Toadette shook her head. “She was on your back before you jumped.”

“But she wasn’t on my back when I jumped. There’s no way I could have missed that. I would have felt her when I put on the cape. Where could she–”

There was a shuddering groan, like a mighty giant scratching his nails against a chalkboard. And with a low, reverberating snap, the entirety of the obstacle course broke loose from the stone staircase. The horizon seemed to tilt as their path rose in front of them, bringing them all to their knees. Mario called the entire group. “Gather together!”

Then, their entire world fell away beneath them, not just a small piece of the floor, like before, but as far as the eye could see. There was no hope of outrunning it. As Mario and Daisy held hands, they started to float away from the falling world. Vivian clung to Mario, but as Mario drew farther and farther away from his shadow, Vivian knew in her heart that she was about to lose him forever. The Mario Maker was dying. It was the end of the world.

[End of Chapter 14]

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to my supporters on Patreon and Ko-fi. You are helping me commission artists and do more creative work!

Adam-12

Anonymous

K. R. R. Smisk