The dark gloomy sky flashed with intermittent lightning strikes over the Koopa Kingdom. The crowd of koopas watched as the great dark shape of the airship drifted over them, heading for the enormous imposing castle. They cheered for their fearsome ruler and chanted his name.
"Bowser...Bowser...Bowser."
The huge wooden ship, propelled in the air by numerous magical spinning blades, came to dock at the palisade of the mighty castle. A Koopa-Troopa lowered the gangplank onto the stone walkway. Soon the hulking Koopa-King walked down, carrying a birdcage covered in black cloth. The old magikoopa flew past him on hir magic cloud, heading into the castle.
One of the Koopalings, Lenny was there, his tall blue Mohawk waving in the wind. He approached his King and bowed his head reverently. "Welcome back, Sire. Was your mission successful?"
"It was," said Bowser in his deep growly voice. He held up the covered cage.
"Then we will make preparations to fight off Mario."
Bowser nodded his large horned head, "Get to it."
Lenny scurried away as Bowser Junior came running up past him.
"Daddy, Daddy, did you do it?"
Bowser looked down at his son with a sharp-toothed grin. He pulled the cloth away from the cage and held it down for the smaller, younger version of himself to see. Junior peered into the cage with wonder. He saw Princess Peach standing and holding onto the bars, an angry expression on her pretty face.
The young koopaling let out a squeal of delight and grabbed the cage, shaking it and knocking the Princess back off her feet. "Mommy. Oh wow, she's so little."
"She's not your mother, Junior."
He looked up at his father with a hint of embarrassment. "Yeah, I know. But can I play with her?"
"No." He said pulling the cage away. "She had her opportunity to join our family. We will need to overthrow her if you're to rule the Mushroom Kingdom one day."
Junior nodded his head. "I will. I will rule the Koopa Kingdom and the Mushroom Kingdom and lots of others. I'll be a big strong King like you."
"That's my boy," said Bowser proudly.
Then the little Prince looked concerned. "Mario isn't going to take her away from us again, is he?"
"Not this time. This time I will defeat him."
"Yay!" Junior jumped up excitedly with his hands in the air. "I'll help you."
"Okay. Go and get ready for him."
"Buy Mo...eh, Peach."
Bowser grinned as he watched his son run off excitedly. He held the cage up to his face. He looked Peach over with her pink dress and long yellow hair blowing in the wind. She did not look happy. "We have some things to discuss, Your Highness."
"Your breath is horrendous!" she yelled. The Koopa-King chuckled as he walked into his castle, flanked by Koopa-Troopas.
+++++
In the cavernous throne room, Peach was left in her cage, sitting on a large stone table. She sighed at the familiarity of the situation. It was a repeating cycle, Bowser would kidnap her, Mario would come and defeat him and take her home. She did not like being shrunk, though. It made her feel more vulnerable. She was surrounded by giants.
And then the impossibly enormous Bowser approached her. She wasn't scared of him. She knew him. He would never hurt her. She knew he was besotted with her. He tried to force her into marriage many times. The last time he even went to extremes to make it the most lavish, over-the-top wedding and to keep Mario away.
"Welcome back, Princess," he said, stooping his head low to the cage.
"Deshrink me, you unscrupulous fiend!" She said loudly, so that her small voice could carry.
"When I'm ready."
"I thought maybe you would give up this pointless game after last time. But you are incapable of change, aren't you?"
"Actually, I have accepted that you will not be my wife."
Peach looked surprised, "Wha...you have?"
"I thought it was because you loved Mario. If I could crush him, you could accept me, the stronger male. But...he defeated me, and you still turned him down. Nobody is good enough for you, are they Princess?"
"No, that's not it," she said, balling her fists in anger. "I will always do what's best for my Kingdom. You only ever serve yourself."
"How is marrying Mario bad for your Kingdom?"
Peach turned away from him and let out a resigned grunt, "You wouldn't understand."
"I don't. But do you understand that giving up on my foolish pursuit of marriage makes me more dangerous?"
Peach turned back to his giant face with her lips pursed tightly. She shook her head, "You're not as evil as you pretend to be."
"I haven't been. But maybe I am capable of change after all," he said with an evil grin. The Mushroom Princess just gave him a sceptical look.
"Let's get down to business." Bowser motioned to Lenny in the corner of the room. His right-hand Koopaling came forward and placed a familiar chest on the far end of the table.
"Where were you taking this when I captured you?"
Peach kept her expression stony. "That's not even important."
"Isn't it? I've tried to smash it open with my most powerful hammers, blow it open with bombs, but it's quite indestructible." He looked over to the dark corner of the room, "Kamek?"
The short, robed and bespectacled mage stepped out of the shadows. Shi approached the chest. "It has strong enchantments, my Lord. It would take me a long time to dispel them. It would seem that the chest only opens for one person."
"I wonder who that would be," said Bowser, looking directly at Peach. "You will open it for me, Princess."
"I will not."
"We'll see about that." Lenny was carrying another box and placed it on the table. He opened it up and then jumped back with a yelp as something snapped at his hand. Peach could see that it was a Piranha Plant in a stone pot. She was familiar with them, a very dangerous invasive species in her Kingdom. She was sure they had been deliberately introduced by the Koopas.
This one looked enormous to her, though she knew in reality it was a small one. They could grow bigger than bowser. She steeled herself and tried to look unimpressed by the threat. She knew Bowser wasn't going to hurt her.
Then Lenny come forward with another box and presented it to his King. Bowser reached in. "What do we have here, then?" He lifted out a thin piece of cord with something dangling at its end. No not something, it was someone.
Peach gasped in shock, "Toadette!"
"Princess!" The shrunken mushroom-headed girl cried out as she swung about.
"You thought she got away from us?" chuckled Bowser.
"Leave her alone!" yelled Peach.
"But my poor Piranha Plant is hungry." He held her up to the vicious plant, just out of its reach. The spiky jaws snapped at her repeatedly and the toad girl screamed in terror.
"Stop it!" screamed Peach. "You wouldn't dare!"