#donkey kongs severed head

[thinkingaboutbones]

i think about the naddpod donkey kong one-shots every single day of my life, theyre literally the peak of entertainment im so obsessed with them

[kcuf-ad]

Eggman's Reaction

To say that Doctor Ivo Robotnik, or better known as Eggman, was shocked to see the results of his Invasion has ultimately ended in his own defeat by the hands of Bowser, The King Koopa, was an understatement.

During his bout against him and his entire army, his army did fairly well against Bowser’s, with him surprisingly using a decoy very early on the battle with Infinite The Jackal coming along to try and destroy Bowser’s army with the Phantom Ruby, in rather quick succession before King Boo sent a Thwomp on his way, not killing him, but enough for him to question his existence, it did lead to Metal Sonic to come shortly and practically tore apart the army on his own.

While Sage, Eggman and Metal Sonic worked in tandem with each other, the combination of Kamek’s Magic and Chance Time, Bowser Junior’s help with a magical rod and making sure that his dad survived, and Bowser’s fury and basically reincarnation, made them lose at the end even if they were insanely close to death.

While Eggman did die at the end, with only Sage, Cubot, Orbot and Infinite being alive at the end of the war, he was revived.

To Eggman’s shock, it was by a magic mushroom that brings people back to the death after the son of Bowser, Bowser Junior, gave it to Sage as he didn’t want someone to lose their dad even if they were an evil person or tried to wage war on their side.

Apparently, death was as common in their world like brushing their teeth as it happened several times, with Mario coming back after being defeated by Sonic and vice versa, Shadow coming back to life twice to beat his favourite anime character, Knuckles after eating Donkey Kong’s bananas, Luigi by a punch through a pipe by Tails, Wario after being blown up by a fat penguin and even Bowser when he died to a dude named Ganondorf.

It was a weird thing, though he wouldn’t complain about it.

Eggman was told that they weren’t able to invade the Koopa Kingdom ever again, however he was allowed to come there if he wanted to make an alliance, which considering there were several beings with Magic there, and even Junior rolling in a machine that shouldn’t work, it honestly could work if they want to rule several planets or even the Universe together.

Heck, they could even beat that blasted hedgehog and that plumber once and for all.

Right now, Eggman was rebuilding Metal Sonic from the previous data that he has on him at all costs should he be destroyed as he was basically one of his kids with Infinite sitting on a chair, listening to Cubot and Orbot chattering with an irritating fashion, which to Infinite, was always.

“How are you feeling, Infinite?” asked Eggman as Infinite groaned.

“I am feeling better than before, but not enough for the feeling of hurt to subside.” answered Infinite.

“Oh suck it up. It couldn’t have been that bad.” said Eggman as he connected the wires, ignoring Cubot and Orbot.

“I lost to a Thwomp, powered up by my powers. Of course I would be upset!” yelled Infinite. “I should have created illusions to the Deadly Six, or Chaos, or to those plumbers.”

“If you decide to get a second round with that King Boo, go ahead.” said Eggman with Infinite grumbling, still not over the fact that was how he got defeated. Eggman then noticed someone wasn’t there.

Eggman looked around to see just 4 people around, “Hey, have any of you seen Sage anywhere?”

“Shouldn’t you know where she is?” asked Cubot as Eggman shook his head.

“No, I was too busy rebuilding Metal from scratch with only his data that I probably didn’t hear from her.” explained Eggman, “I haven’t heard from her for a few hours now, do you know where she is?”

“Sage? No, haven’t seen her.” said Infinite as Eggman turned to Cubot and Orbot.

“Probably having lunch?”

“You don’t eat, Orbot. Neither you Cubot. Nor does she.” said Eggman as his patience was coming to an end.

“Oh! I remember! She said that she was going to the Koopa Kingdom with a sort of playdate with Junior!” explained Cubot with Eggman’s eyes nearly popping out of his skull.

“Ahh, yeah him! Yeah, they are probably having a good time.” said Orbot, but he couldn’t continue as Eggman screamed at the top of his lungs.

“WHAT?!” he yelled as they turned to him, “SAGE IS WITH BOWSER’S KID?!”

“Wait, that brat? Wow, her standards must be low to go after him.” said Infinite.

“YOU WERE AWARE?!”

“Partially. Didn’t know that Sage was going with that brat. Although the signs were there, I just didn’t bother to care.” said Infinite as Eggman wanted to attack him, but knew that would have been pointless.

Eggman sighed as he turned to the 2 robots, “Were you aware of this?”

“A bit? The most that I could remember was that after you were killed, we decided to defect from the Empire to join the K-” Cubot stopped once he saw Eggman’s expression, “I… Uh meant that after you were killed, Sage was devastated in more ways that an AI could have ever achieved. I mean we were robots, we felt grief for you, but we had to move on, but to see Sage’s reaction… it hurt to look at.”

Eggman turned to Orbot as he continued, “While we tried to get her to cheer her up, it didn’t work out, and even the Koopa Kingdom saw her reaction as she was floating around the entire Kingdom to try and find a solution, but either most tried to ignore it or stop her, Junior saw her and felt pain of what he saw.”

“He… felt bad for her?” asked Eggman, as he didn’t know how to react by that.

“Uh huh. We heard their conversation and even Infinite chimed in,” Orbot felt a massive glare coming from Infinite, “And heard that he felt bad for his dad to kill you, so he tried to make up to Sage by reviving you, which it did work. The thing is that Bowser allowed it since he didn’t like the feeling of a kid being alone without a parent.”

“....huh.” said Eggman as he sat down next to Metal Sonic. Unsure on how to react.

“With that and after your revival, they started hanging out a few times as gratitude of doing something like this.” explained Orbot.

“Even if he tried to kidnap Sage while you were away.” said Infinite.

“Well that is ni- WAIT WHAT!?” yelled Eggman.

“Yeeeaah… Apparently… Junior had a crush on Sage shortly after. And, from what he knows about his dad, he thought that kidnapping and trying to court her was a good sign of showing love.” said Orbot.

“I guess it runs into the family.” Cubot guessed.

“And you didn’t notify me?!”

“Doesn’t Sage teleport? Kidnapping her is useless.” said Infinite.

“I mean- She can.”

“That did happen and after a small conversation, he didn’t mean anything bad… even if it was morally questionable, so he went and asked a lot of people for advice, many times over, with varying results. However, after showing up with a clown car that he owns and asked her nicely compared to the other times, Sage eventually agreed for a date.” explained Cubot as Eggman tried to process things over.

Sage was to him his daughter, and even though she might not be his blood related daughter, she still meant everything to him and the same was for Sage as he was her father.

So the fact that Junior wants to be in a relationship with her, even if he wasn’t aware that his methods were less morally correct, was shocking to feel.

Eggman thought to himself, “Is this how it feels like when your daughter gets a boyfriend?” Eggman wasn’t sure how it was possible, and yet… he didn’t want to ruin his daughter’s happiness.

Eggman sighed, “I am going to talk to Bowser about this. You three, don’t touch Metal for now.” said Eggman walked off, letting Cubot, Orbot and Infinite to look at each other, knowing full well what they are going to talk about.

Sage and Junior.

[tokuvivor]

Well, last night, we had the first of three Halloween Movie Nights for this month, all with a broad supernatural/parallel universe theme to them. So, the highlights:

Skeleton Dance

Me: “That’s gotta hurt” (the cats pulling at each other’s tongues)

@writebackatya falling into the well and @tealottie pulling him back out

The stream cut out, so we didn’t get to finish the short. But if you want to check it out, you can do so right here.

Magica’s Shadow War

The fact that the episode was the original inspiration for Lena

Everyone wanting to smash Magica

@spamtoon: “i fucking forgot about 87 poe”

@puffyducks: “it’s ok the writers forget about 87 poe too”

Gyro’s invention being a camera with a spotlight

Puffy: “they just fucking flashbanged her”

Will: “me when Webby kicked the flash grenade back to Gandra”

Scrooge’s girly apron

The guy at the airport (Gus Goose?)

Scrooge White and the Seven Nephews (courtesy of @shewhowantsmouseears)

Evermore/nevermore

Scrooge covering all the bases with the shadow’s pronouns

Scrooge wearing a moose head

Me: “Keel moose and squirrel”

Mel: “They had to make a moose joke, given how her voice is clearly based on Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle” (Since June Foray voiced both Natasha Fatale and ‘87 Magica.)

Magica’s shadow looking like Madam Mim because of the hair (plus some lore droppage from Mel and @emeraldcity1900)

“Magica’s raven” That’s her brother!

AUGH

Launchpad!

Will: “Do you think every family member immediately groans to themselves whenever Scrooge starts his sentences with “I made my fortune””

Several people: “Yes”

Surprise Webby!

@alex31624: “is like... some shadow war...”

Endless drama with the dime (as usual)

Caro: “I was hoping Scrooge would SHPEDEHOOING the dime out of her hands”

The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck!

Lena time!

Scrooge in a deep sleep

Lena: “Aaaah…”

*theme song plays*

Will and Caro discussing how the theme song playing would impact the characters in real time

@spamtoon: “hi mark”

Webby’s long-ass speech about Scrooge

Magica being a terrible person

Blink-and-you-miss-it animation error where Lena isn’t wearing shoes

Gavin subplot!

Louie’s Kids

Darkwing Duck and Paperinik references (leading into Donkey Kong reference)

Will: “And then there’s Della! She’s dead.”

Sword horse!

Huey and Dewey being jerks to Louie in this episode

Puffy: “dewey time travel adventure is a touching story about him spending christmas with his missing mother and then louie time travel story is him just going to a 23rd century film set”

@godfrey-the-chaos-duck: “huey needed a time travel story”

Puffy: “I think huey experiencing any time travel would cause him to spiral”

Louie finding out Gavin’s conning them (and that his name is Gavin)

Gavin being like Bradley Uppercrust III

“Bigfoot, you just poked the bear.”

“The power…the body…”

Everyone losing their shit at Lena’s dream scene

Louie beating Gavin

“i win”

“Now go back! From whence you cameee!”

Everyone losing their shit again at the last scene

A Nightmare on Killmotor Hill!

The fact that it’s a peak episode

Violet!!!!

Lena’s song and everyone else’s reactions (including Louie’s “TF did I just watch” face)

Friendship bracelets!

Violet being relatable AF

The fact that Boyd and Gosalyn should’ve gotten friendship bracelets in the show

“Let’s eat pure sugar!”

Us watching this episode coinciding with the server’s one-year anniversary

“Me!” “…Sleep.” (plus Dewey’s offended face)

“YOU’RE IRRITABLITY!”

The boys and Violet sleeping

Glowy stars ✨

The fact that we should’ve gotten a second sleepover episode

The sword horse returns!

The finale foreshadowing

What would Boyd dream of? Does he even sleep? (Plus this incorrect quote from Will)

The sword horse disappearing without so much as a sound effect for it

Dewey High!

Dewey’s love interest (queer allegory)

Puffy: “bro thinks she’s bill cipher”

Godfrey: “if they ever made a deal all of reality would collapse”

Cat Louie!

“Meow. Everyone pat my head.”

Wolf Lena!

WHY HUEY WHY

Seriously, long-legged Huey is cursed AF

Phooey!

Whale Launchpad!

“My dream is just to read more.” “Awesome!”

@hueberryshortcake: “the bond between a girl and her librarian is unbreakable”

Now for Lena’s dream

She looks cool in green, though

Lena would make jokes about Poe

Everyone in their dream forms rescuing Lena

Lena and Webby’s conversation (and the feels that come with it)

Mel: “friendship is magic, the ponies were right”

Alex: “friendship is the best magic”

Magica is dead! (Welllll…)

She actually just lost her magic. Which explains her white feathers. (LOL what a loser)

These drawings from Puffy (minus Violet, she will be added later):

Magica trying (and failing) to do a Darkwing-esque speech at the end

Ghoul Friend

Adorable or horrible style? (It was a joke, though.)

Zombie Goofy!

Screaming Squirrel

Goofy Holler!

“You wouldn’t hit a mouse with glasses, would ya?” (Also the only line in the short, which says a lot about how you don’t necessarily need dialogue to tell a story.)

Goofy died because Max failed the perfect cast

Coraline

Alex: “Coraline won, and everyone leaves”

Keith David being in the movie

Looking ahead to Coco, and talking about how much we will (or will not) cry

@ducklooney: “Skeletor robot on motorbike!” (Wybie)

(About Coraline’s dad)

Puffy:

Will: “Are ya winning dad?”

Blue boy in a painting

Puffy: “woah you know who ELSE is a blue boy in a painting”

I ❤️ Mulch

Coraline’s parents being too absorbed in their work to pay attention to her

The fact that her friends in Michigan gave her a whole billboard to say goodbye to her (courtesy of @story-blossoms-ducks)

Kangaroo mice!

Puffy: “woah.. mirror dimension... just li”

“wait everyone that watched infinity train with me is gone”

The food in the other dimension looking fantastic (even though it’s not real)

The mice are friends

Mr. B’s confusion over Coraline’s name

Puffy: “we're not even in the scary world and everyone is still a fuckin creepy weirdo”

Will: “yeah, isn’t it great?” “they’re good people. Just weird”

The fact that everyone is telling Coraline to not go through the door, yet she still does

Will: “I mean they had mango milkshakes”

Puffy: “wait you’re right I hadn’t considered that”

The garden in the shape of Coraline’s face (feat. the mantis cart)

Mouse circus!

How Lena would fit into the role of Coraline

Keith David is the cat!

Me: “That is a lot of Scotties”

Brain bleach moment with Other Spink and Forcible

Shit gradually will start to go down (Coraline given buttons for her eyes)

John Linnell of They Might Be Giants being the Other Father’s singing VA

Cocoa beetles

DuckLooney: “"You will eat ze bugs and you will be happy."”

Puffy: “-the lion king”

“Bad.” “Lost.” “Bad.” “Lost.”

Coraline and her pillow parents

CAT STARE

Mel: “dammit, beldam, spit will out right now”

Breaking the mirror=seven years’ bad luck

Will: “And she’s hanging out with a black cat who’s always crossing her path”

Into the trap!

Puffy: “girl that is NOT your mother”

@kaitosduckmania: “she is mommy tho”

Coraline trying to collect the ghost eyes (and thinking she’s out of time when it’s still going) (shoutout to the cat on the assist with the last eye)

People having the hots for the Other Mother’s spider form

Destroy the key!

Webby Wybie to the rescue!

That’s all folks! (Not really, the sound was messing up)

Will’s cat watching with him

Puffy and Mel with a Simpsons reference (We’re Sending Our Love Down the Well)

Why is Mr. B’s skin blue?

Will: ““So your sister’s dead. But good news; her soul is no longer held captive by the spider woman.””

It was a good movie. Very unique.

[lore-of-the-mushroom-kingdom]

Some Lore About Donkey Kong '94

So Long before Super Mario Odyssey brought forth New Donk City and the Metro Kingdom, before Donkey Kong Land introduced the name Big Ape City, and before Yoshi's Island established Mario was from the Mushroom Kingdom there was Donkey Kong '94.

In this game Mario starts off facing off against Donkey Kong Senior in Big City which would later be known as Big Ape City, and would chase Donkey Kong across many locations. Eventually facing off against a King Kong sized Donkey Kong who had eaten a bunch of Super Mushrooms, this btw could add to my hypothesis there is different species of Super Mushrooms with differing effects. Afterwards Donkey Kong is defeated and the final scene of the game establishes the game ends in the Mushroom Kingdom. This all the way back here establishes that the Mushroom Kingdom and Big City take place on the same planet and not a separate planet.

On a side note there is a few people who think this is where Mario first enters the Mushroom Kingdom to rescue Peach, and that this game is just a retelling of the original arcade game. The first problem with this is there this game is shown to be it's own separate thing and there is no time for Donkey Kong to have done all this, alongside the original 3 games with the third have DK head back to the Kong Archipelago.

In addition Donkey Kong is wearing a tie in this game, and Mario is wearing his modern outfit. When in the original Donkey Kong games and Super Mario Bros. Mario was in his Classic Outfit. There is also the absence of Luigi, and the fact Nintendo with Did Somebody Call A Plumber heavily implies Super Mario Bros. takes place directly after Mario Bros. Donkey Kong '94 probably takes place when Mario had already been to the Mushroom Kingdom saving it several times, probably sometime after Super Mario Bros. 3. But also when Mario is still living in Big City and probably still with Pauline.

[uchidachi]

Tonight I’m remembering how my brother used to bite me. It’s common for children to be biters. From when he grew teeth to when he was 10, whenever he was mad at me, he’d lunge at me, bite down hard, and not let go. I really feel like this was the root of our poor relationship as adults.

But I’m not remembering how much it hurt, or how scared I was of him. I’m remembering all the rules my parents put in place for “what do do when your brother bites you.” They framed this as me helping them to help him break the biting habit.

I was not allowed to bite back. Well that goes without saying. If I did i would be punished as severely as he was. Or more, because I was older (by a whole 22 months) & “he started it” was not an acceptable excuse.

I was not allowed to hit him or pinch him or kick him or shove him after he bit me. Any attempt I made to extract myself from his grasp would be reported to my parents as hitting.

If i did anything to preempt the biting, I was at fault for instigating.

I was permitted to call for help.

Tonight I’m remembering how one time he bit me because I wouldn’t give him the controller to play Donkey Kong, and i screamed my head off for help. I’m remembering how I was yelled at for scaring my mother. She thought it was something serious.

I’m thinking about how much I tone police myself now, as an adult, whenever I am hurt and upset. How I write and rewrite messages to express my own pain, just to make sure they are as palatable as possible. I did it to this post, too.

Is this learned helplessness? Is it something else? What do I call this?

[blueskittlesart]

PLEASE elaborate on the mario movie i want to know how bad it sucks

i took notes while i was watching it because i'm insane so here's what i wrote down:

objectively bad. especially if you are not a mario fan. sorry. specifically that special illumination flavor of bad. despicable me bad. you know what i mean

clearly more emphasis was put on aesthetic/worldbuilding than story. the spectacle is incredible but the story is barebones at the best of times. several plot points seem VERY rushed and very few character relationships are given the time or attention they really need to have the character-driven story that this movie clearly WANTS to be

ESPECIALLY mario and peach’s relationship is not given nearly enough time. they get a meet-cute scene in which peach instantly takes mario in for seemingly no reason and then one training montage (both within the span of about 30 mins of runtime) and after that they’re sharing intimate secrets with each other and we’re supposed to see mario as a potential romantic partner for peach. the relationship is not NEARLY established enough for any of this and the audience is left to assume that a ton of development must have happened off screen, which makes the relationship seem REALLY rushed and flat.

the only genuinely well-written relationship imo was mario and donkey kong and they fucking hate each other

that being said the world design is REALLY good and it’s clear the designers were fans and put a lot of effort into it!! it just kind of makes it more obvious that the story is bad when it’s painted over such a fantastic backdrop

the way the references to the games were built into the environment was, again, very well done. every reference i got was well-placed and funny. i just wish the story that held all the references together was good lol

peach’s body proportions were throwing me off for the entire movie. her head is SO huge in comparison to her tiny skinny body that it’s super distracting

sometimes chris pratt makes an effort to sound like a new york italian and sometimes he just Is Chris Pratt and i genuinely don’t know which one is worse

peach’s voice honestly threw me off more than crisp rat it just does not fit her at all

animation is over rendered in that new age disney-pixar style that i really hate. i think that a movie based on retro pixel-art video games could have benefited a lot from a more stylized art style instead of so much realism

the soundtrack is incredible tho

bowser is the best character in the whole movie (we knew this)

final fight was very good. that’s all i have to say about it it was good

i honestly think this was doomed to happen with a movie like this because mario as a game doesnt have a ton of story to hold it together so any story you try to make out of it is inevitably going to rely on game references over plot ESPECIALLY if you have diehard fans writing for you. i think they could have benefitted from a few writers who DIDN'T know or care about mario to look objectively at the script as a narrative because if you take away the game-reference spectacle the story is just. not great unfortunately. I don't think it was AWFUL per se but from purely a writing standpoint it could have been WAY better than what we got imo.

[trashyswitch]

Short People Advantages

Donkey Kong knows about Mario's ticklish spots super well. He had taken advantage of it so many times. But...Mario finally gets his chance to get his revenge at the worst place: in the fighting ring in full view by everyone.

Part 2 to 'Short People Problems'

This fanfic was suggested by @UndertaleSansluv3. I hope you enjoy the sequel!!

Ever since finding out about Donkey Kong’s little secret, Mario had been trying to keep his hands to himself. As much as he wanted to get revenge and try it out, he wasn’t sure he wanted to be tickled to hiccups again like the last time. Besides, tickling wasn’t the only way to tease a person. There are always other ways to get the gorilla back. 

Donkey Kong on the other hand…would not keep his monkey claws off him. At first, Mario assumed it was because he was handsy like a typical gorilla. So at first, he tolerated it because it was simple things like slaps on the back and pokes on his side. But when it started including picking him up without asking and patting his head just to belittle him…that was when it began to get on his last nerve. 

But nothing could prepare Mario for the humiliation-turned-triumph that would take place a couple days later.

Mario was fighting against Donkey Kong in the arena at DK island. There was a large crowd of creatures sitting in the audience. Included in this audience was Cranky Kong in his rightful seat, Princess Peach beside him, and Luigi in a seat beside her. The audience was currently cheering as Mario fought DK using a power-up.Though the use of the power-up gave Donkey Kong more of a challenge, it still didn’t phase him much. 

Mario shot several fireballs at Donkey Kong, following him around the arena to get a better shot. “You're afraid, Banana man?” Mario teased. 

Donkey Kong was running around, avoiding the fireballs as best he could. “So what if I am? Can you blame me?! I’m covered in fur!” Donkey Kong reacted. “If you land a fireball on me, I might burst into flames!” Donkey Kong told him. “But if you don’t attack me, I won’t ever lose the power-up.” Mario reminded him, stopping in place as he made another ball of fire with a smirk.

Donkey Kong turned around and soon took the chance to attack. He ran up and tried to punch him or smash him with his fists. But Mario kept dodging and jumping up onto his hands every time. Donkey widened his eyes and kept repeatedly trying to punch him, only for Mario to jump up and land on his hand. After a couple more go’s, he growled and just slapped him from the side. Mario yelped in pain and landed on another floating floor bar, having lost his power-up. “Ow…” He got up onto his feet and dusted himself off. “Okay-” He looked up at the bars above him, and gasped with horror. “OhNONONO-!” Mario sprinted backwards as he saw Donkey Kong falling to his bar. When Donkey Kong landed, it caused the bar to vibrate and knock Mario onto his stomach. 

Peach gasped and covered her mouth, terrified for the man. 

“Well…He’s gonna die.” Cranky Kong said before opening a banana. 

“Oh no…” Luigi mumbled, covering his mouth with his fists. 

“Come on, Mario…” Peach muttered, looking determined. 

Mario sighed and readied himself. 

Donkey Kong threw several punches, while Mario dodged as best he could. He crouched down to save his head, before pushing the other fist away from him. When he threw another punch, Mario dodged it, grabbed his thumb and held onto it as Donkey Kong pulled his hand back again. With Mario holding onto DK’s thumb as the gorilla moved his hand back, Mario flew towards him in full force and landed a good kick into his jaw. 

The whole audience cooed in shock as Donkey Kong yelped in surprise. Everyone was surprised Mario had managed to land such a good hit without a power-up. Not even a mushroom! 

Cranky smiled a bit. “Alright, I’ll give him that point.” He said. 

Peach cringed at the idea of being kicked in the jaw…before lighting up with excitement. “Not bad, Mario! Not bad at all!” Peach reacted. 

Meanwhile, Luigi was cheering. “WOO! GET ‘EM, MARIO!” Luigi yelled, surprisingly getting into it. 

Mario landed on the ground, and ran to the closest power-up box he could find. But as he ran to the box, Donkey Kong had stomped his feet, knocking Mario onto his feet due to the vibrations again. Mario tried to get himself back up, but he couldn’t get his right foot forward in time! Donkey Kong had grabbed Mario’s foot and lifted him up for the audience to see him upside down. “Aaaaw, is the shorty upside down?” Donkey Kong teased. 

Mario widened his eyes before frowning at him. “Don’t test me.” Mario warned. 

“Test you? Why would I test you, when the audience could test you?” Donkey Kong asked with a smirk. Mario shot him a death glare, but softened it when Donkey turned the man to face the front. “Hey guys! What do you say we make a mess of this man?” Donkey Kong asked before poking his belly playfully. 

The audience cheered and clapped, excited to see Donkey Kong getting his revenge against the little red man. 

Mario jumped and pushed his fingers away. “Donkey Kong, I swear to god!” Mario warned. Donkey Kong’s smirk widened as he poked his armpit, making Mario jump again. “NO. I will destroy you.” Mario warned. “Or I’ll die trying.”  

Donkey Kong rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah. Keep digging yourself that grave.” he said, still poking him. Mario tried to block his fingers, but struggled. It was 3 fingers against 2 arms, and it was already a losing fight. 

Peach was looking at Cranky Kong, confused. 

Eventually though…one of his fingers poked him in the armpit just the right way, it made him screech. And this wasn’t a normal little, typical shout…It was more like a girly scream. So not only was it loud for anyone to hear, it was utterly embarrassing! He had covered his mouth with both his hands, and failed to hide the bright red blush that filled his face. 

The entire crowd went silent. 

Donkey Kong widened his eyes and stared at Mario with pure shock on his face. Cranky was more confused than anything, and Peach quickly became worried that Donkey Kong had critically injured him. Cause why else would he scream like that?! 

But Luigi’s shocked face slowly grew into a smile. “Oooohoho no…” He muttered, covering his mouth. 

Peach looked at Luigi. “Is he hurt?” Peach asked. 

“Nnnope. But I know that sound way too well.” Luigi admitted. 

Peach tilted her head. “What…does it mean?” She asked. 

Luigi looked to Peach and Cranky, who were looking back at him with confusion. He sighed. “Mario has this thing where if you poke his armpits enough times…he’ll squeal like a little girl.” Luigi admitted. “Done it for years…and the sound is forever imprinted in my brain.” He admitted. 

Peach still didn’t get it. “So…Donkey Kong is…” 

Peach widened her eyes and paused her words, looking over at Donkey Kong the moment the gorilla started giggling like an evil villain. “Is someone a little ticklish?” Donkey Kong asked, before playfully tickling his upper ribs. 

Mario let out a more muffled scream, before letting go of his mouth and hugging his ribs to protect them. “NO! DONKEYKONGNO!” Mario yelled. 

“That’s gotta be cheating…” Luigi reacted. 

Peach looked at Luigi, before looking at Cranky. “Is it?” She asked. 

“Nope. Tickling counts.” He replied. 

“Well in that case…” Luigi paused his words right as Mario’s laughter began to fill the arena. “Heeee’s screwed.” Luigi mumbled. 

Donkey Kong was now holding the man upright by the arms, tickling Mario’s armpits almost mercilessly. “A coochy coochy coo! A coochy coochy cooooo!” He teased evilly. 

“WAHAHAHAHA- IHIHI’M GOHOHONNA KIHIHIHIHILL YOHOHOU!” Mario yelled at him. 

Donkey Kong laughed. “Wow! Was that threat supposed to scare me?!” He asked, before throwing Mario into the air and catching him by the ankle. “Cause newsflash: It didn’t.” He took off Mario’s shoe and dropped it onto a lower arena floor. “Now what about these feet?” He asked, looking at the sock on his foot. 

Luigi winced slightly with a nervous smile. “Oh, that’s not good.” He muttered. 

“NO! DON’T YOU DARE! I’M WARNING YOU!” Mario shouted at him. 

“Or what? You’ll laugh at me?” He teased. Mario shot him a death glare…though unfortunately, it didn’t phase DK in the slightest. The gorilla only laughed at him. “Face it, Mario…You can’t do anything to stop me.” He told him. “All you can do…is laugh.” He brought his fingers closer and closer to his foot. 

“NO!” Mario yelled, his face growing more desperate. He tried to kick his foot out of Donkey Kong’s grip, but he just wasn’t strong enough to stop him. Seeing the fingers getting closer and closer to his foot, Mario knew there wasn’t anything else he could do. So, he gave up the fight and just tensed up in anticipation for the tickling of a lifetime. 

He waited for the fingers to finally touch down…to finally skitter all over his socked foot…to drive him batty with laughter from just a couple scratches. 

He knew it was coming. It had to be coming. He could sense it coming super, super soon…

He tried to stay tense…but the anticipation was killing him. What in the world was he doing?! 

Mario soon opened his eyes, and looked up at his opponent. Donkey Kong…was just staring at him with a confused look on his face. But quickly, his confusion turned to confidence. “Alright, I think we know who the winner is.” He gently threw Mario up so he would land onto his back on the ground. As the whole arena started cheering, Donkey Kong waved his hands around to further rev up the crowd, and started doing his signature ‘dancing pecs’ move. 

Luigi sighed in defeat, thinking his brother lost. But Peach elbowed him and pointed to the arena. Luigi looked down at the arena, and widened his eyes in surprise. Mario had noticed a power-up block on the other side of the bar, and was sneaking his way over to it. When he made it to the block, Mario hit it and took the power-up. Mario’s curiosity quickly turned to disappointment the moment he saw what it was…

A regular mushroom. 

Mario was about to throw it away, but happened to look up at Donkey Kong mid-throw. He paused his throw and brought his hands down the moment he had an epiphany…He knew exactly what he could use this mushroom for! 

He ate the power-up to make himself bigger, and ran up to Donkey Kong. “So you wanna play games, huh?” Mario asked with a smirk as he noticed Donkey Kong turning around and seeing him coming. Donkey Kong growled right away and tried to smash him to the ground. But Mario dodged his hands and snuck up to his side, sneaking in as many tickles as he could in that second. 

Donkey Kong gasped and yelped as a big smile grew on his face. “WaaaAAHAHAhaha!” He shoved his arm into his side as he fell over. Realizing the sound he had let out, Donkey Kong quickly covered his mouth in horror. Oh no…Mario just showed everyone in the arena that he was ticklish…

Cranky Kong chuckled to himself with a proud smile. He looked over at Peach, who was covering her own mouth with her hands, just trying not to laugh. “And that, my friends, is why tickling counts.” He told Peach. 

Luigi ran to the watch fence, to watch the commotion go down. “Come on, Mario!” Luigi yelled. 

Mario had rolled up his sleeves and cracked his knuckles. “Now let’s see what tickle spots lie on the Kong prince himself.” Mario declared, skittering his fingers on Donkey Kong’s ribs and sides. 

Donkey Kong covered his mouth as soon as possible as he attempted to knock Mario off with his other free hand. But Mario would keep poking in new spots every time DK tried to knock him off. This would surprise Donkey Kong and pause his attack. “Get off me, you stuhuhupihihid- HahahahaHAHAHAHA!” Donkey Kong laughed, pulling his hand back down to the ground. 

“What’s so funny, smash monkey?” Mario asked. “Somethin’ tickling your funny bone?” He asked. 

“SHUHUHUT UHUHUP, REHEHEHED!” He shouted back. 

“Nah. This is too fun.” Mario admitted. Though Mario was tempted to try out his armpits, he quickly decided against it when he began to imagine the idea of having his hands crushed in his underarms. 

But technically…If he grabbed Donkey Kong’s arm and held it up, he could tickle his upper ribs that way…So, Mario gave it a try. When Donkey Kong attempted to slap him with his big right hand, Mario caught his wrist with his left arm, held it out and tickled his upper ribs with his right hand. 

“Oooh, good spot.” Cranky Kong said with a smile. 

Donkey Kong threw his head back with a wheeze and started laughing and kicking his left foot like a puppy. “OHOHO NOHOHOHO! HAHAHAHAHA- STAHAHAHAP!” He shouted. 

“Do you give up?” Mario asked. 

“NEHEHEVEHEHERRR!” Donkey Kong yelled back. Peach was giggling into her hand. “Never knew he was this ticklish.” She admitted. 

The auditorium was still filled with laughter and cheers, despite the lack of typical fighting going on. Diddy Kong was clapping his hands and hopping around in his seat, loving the fact that tiny Mario was beating his Uncle using such a childish strategy. It was hilarious to him! And he almost wanted to help Mario out! But, he decided to leave him be…he seemed to already know where his tickle spots are. 

Mario put his fingers into an L shape, and started making strange noises. 

Peach tilted her head, confused. “What’s he doing now?” She asked. 

Luigi widened his eyes and chuckled nervously. “Ohooo no…Not the drill…” Luigi mumbled with embarrassment. Peach looked at Luigi, even more confused. “What’s a drill?” She asked. 

Luigi looked at Peach. “It’s a hand-held device we use to put holes and nails into wood. Mario used to pretend his hands and pointing finger was a drill, and…added noises to make it more amusing…” Luigi admitted, visibly sheepish from the memories alone. 

Peach’s attention turned to Donkey Kong, who was now cackling, yet still. It looked like Donkey Kong had given up struggling in his arms due to the tickles, and had gone completely limp. 

“ZZZZZ! ZZZZ- Oh! You giving up yet?” Mario asked. 

Donkey Kong was breathless in his words. He looked absolutely exhausted. “F…Fine. Yeah…you…youwin…you win.” Donkey Kong replied. 

Mario smiled brightly and threw his arms in the air as the entire arena cheered. Mario had won! He actually won! Mario jumped up and threw his arms everywhere, proud of himself for winning. 

“Donkey Kong’s one weakness…exploited by Mario.” Cranky Kong said with a smirk. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him get tickled like that.” He admitted. 

Luigi was jumping around, cheering loudly. “WOOO! YES! WOO HOO!” Luigi yelled. 

“Boop!” 

Luigi jumped and held his side, before looking at Peach, and growing an evil smirk. “Ooohohoho. Big mistake, Princess~” Luigi warned. 

Peach smirked. “Oh please…what are you gonna do? Call Mario over?” Peach teased. 

Luigi smirked and wiggled his fingers. “Fun little fact: Mario uses the drill strategy often…” Luigi brought himself closer and closer to Peach. “But don’t think for a second that he was the one who came up with the drill tickles.” Luigi warned. 

Peach gasped as she felt her back hit a wall. “Uh oh…” Peach muttered. 

Cranky Kong chuckled. “Hey Mario!” Cranky Kong yelled to him. 

Mario turned to Cranky Kong. “Yeah?” He responded. 

“You’ve inspired tickle fights from up here, as well.” He told him. 

Mario laughed a bit and looked down at Donkey Kong. “You alright?” He asked. 

Donkey Kong grumbled with his eyes slightly open. “I hate you…” He mumbled. 

Mario laughed a bit and poked his side. “Hate you too, smash monkey.” he replied. 

Donkey Kong grunted from the poke, and hid his face in the bar. He didn’t want to face Mario, or the audience. He couldn’t use anything as an excuse as to why he lost…not this time. 

Mario looked up and couldn’t help the giggles that left his mouth when he heard Luigi’s squeaky laughter from down in the arena. Looks like Peach was tickling him right now. “HEY PEACH!” Mario yelled. 

Peach paused her hands. “YEAH?” She responded. 

“GO FOR HIS BELLY BUTTON!” Mario yelled at her. 

“MARIO!” Luigi shouted at Mario in protest. 

“THANKS!” Peach yelled down to Mario, giving him a thumbs up before disappearing into the upper balcony. It didn’t take much time at all, for Luigi’s strong cackles to fill the upper balcony. 

With that figured out, Mario helped Donkey Kong up, and patted his lower back as the gorilla walked away. It looked like nobody was hurt in the making of this arena fight. Though, their dignity would probably have something else to say about it…

[bearmemesreviews]

Skylanders Review: Trigger Happy

Oh yes, my first fave. Let's talk about one of the many "subspecies" of Skylanders: The Gremlins. You see, since a major part of the Skylanders are the collectible figures, they would obviously need a way to make manufacturing them easier. So, while each figure is obviously unique in how it's detailed, they will often use a specific body type as templates for multiple figures. Similarly to how Neopets and their alternate forms work. Spyro shares the "Dragon Template" with several other characters, which we'll see soon, but for now we have the "Gremlin Template".

[Image: Trigger Happy is a short Gremlin with a Firey orange and sandy tan color scheme. His body is covered in uniformly orange fur, with the inside of his ears and the entire front of his body/the area acting as his face being tan. He has small stumpy feet and muppety three fingered hands with forearms thicker than the rest of his limbs. He has yellow eyes with black irises, almost always crooked, alongside fur around & in-between his eyes that's orange - making a pattern resembling a domino mask. He is almost always smiling with his comically large tongue hanging out, with teeth that are almost human-like with sharp canines. He wields two large pistols designed to fire gold coins, and in this specific image, he's straddling a golden cartoon missile Dr. Strangelove style.]

With Trigger Happy you'll be able to get what the body type is all about. A neckless and round being, more like the head itself is its entire body, supported by four limbs. There's not many of them, but each one is so unique it really does highlight how you can stretch one body type in so many ways.

Trigger Happy is a mysterious little guy, being the token "crazy loose cannon" as his name would suggest. He simply showed up one day, explicitly role playing as a western hero type, and protected frontier towns from bandits with custom-made guns that used coins as ammo. He's a Tech Skylander, as being an engineering savant is basically second nature to all fictional Gremlins, and he can even bring out a Coin Gatling gun as a special move.

He has a high pitch, kinda grating, voice; but in early Skylanders trailers he has an accent that sounded like an incomprehensible mix of Spaniard and Frenchman - almost like he's a Team Fortress 2 character.

In fact, doesn't that game have its own...

Anyway, I love these reviews because it really does highlight why I love my favorites. Trigger has a simple design, but making one of your playable characters marketed towards children a gremlin packing heat is just instantly hilarious. And it's only today, as I'm writing this, that I realize that the pattern of fur on his face is meant to resemble a domino mask. That really ties together his "Goldslinger aesthetic," though I still think he needed a ten-gallon hat.

Alternates: I don't know if I'll talk about all the recolors and occasional redesigns some Skylanders get, but I feel like I should tell you guys that Tigger Appy gets to wear an Evel Knievel Daredevil's costume for Superchargers, the game where the Skylanders get to Mario Kart with Bowser and Donkey Kong. Both he and the other two I reviewed by now have another-other form, but they're so weird we'll have to review those things by themselves down the road.

We'll get to Gimmicks once we get to Giants.

Trigger Happy is a fun exploration of his trope, and it's nice to know that the Skylanders team had bangers right out the gate considering he's one of the first few original Skylanders designed after the beta five.

Motto: "No Gold, No Glory." - Great Catchphrase, even if it's very obvious that it doesn't apply to him specifically. His lore outright states that the townsfolk that he saves get rich from the amount of gold coins his battles leave behind. I think that concept applies to the NPCs of Mario and Sonic games too, considering those two mascots become ATM machines whenever they walk into anything with a sharp corner.

The same thing happens to babies by the way. 4/5.

Trigger Happy gets 5 Chompies. The first of my personal roster.

Those cowards couldn't even be bothered to arm this child.

[creativesnek]

Going Against the Current: Finale

Unbeknownst to the now engaged royals, they had a witness. An imp with purple tentacles for hair watched from afar, chortling to themselves. They grinned, pearly white fangs glistening in the light. The imp reached into their suit jacket and produced a piece of chalk. With precision, they wrote a circle with symbols around it on the nearby wall and then leaped into it.

.

.

.

As the creature disappeared into the circle, a portal opened up elsewhere and they re-appeared to a dark, underground lair. The walls were lined with shelves filled with ancient tomes and strange artifacts; the scene was illuminated by floating blue fire. The imp made their way to a large stone table in the center of the room where none other than King Boo sat. The glistening purple crown sat on his head. King Boo’s vibrant mauve eyes turned to the imp, a devilish grin stretching across his fangs. "Ah, Marquis Masque! Welcome back, friend," he said. "What is your report?"

The marquis bowed. "My lord, I bring interesting news from the Darklands: King Bowser has proposed to his consort!” he said.

"Interesting news indeed," King Boo said, tapping his nubby appendage on the armrest of his chair. "How… heartwarming. After so many misses, the mighty Demon King has found love, and to that deplorable, cowardly plumber in green no less.”

Venom laced his voice. The magical crown on his head glowed brighter; several books were thrown out of their shelves. King Boo snarled, “Six wretched years! I’ve been confined in this infernal mansion for that long!” he shouted. “Meanwhile those two are enjoying their freedom and basking in their love for each other!”

“King Boo, if I may, what better way to get revenge on the green plumber than to crash his wedding~”

King Boo laughed, “This is why you and I are friends, Masque. You always come up with the most devilish of plans.”

Masque chuckled, their tentacled-hair bouncing as they moved. The marquis jumped onto the stone table and adjusted their tie. “I have already called an ally to aid you in this endeavor.”

“Masque, you spoil me,” said Boo. “Who is this ally you speak of?”

Suddenly the doors opened. A hulking figure walked into the room, the rustling of a cape followed behind. King Boo rose from his chair and floated forward, “Well, this is a surprise.”

“Hello, Boo.”

King K. Rool stomped into his office; the light from the floating flames reflected off his gold armor and crown. His bulging eye stared off into the distance while the other focused on the ghostly ruler; needle-like teeth peeked out of his snout. Rool snorted, “Heard you’ve got revenge plans and needed a way outta here,” he said. 

“Marquis Masque has just informed me that the Mario brother, Luigi, is getting married. I plan to crash his wedding!”

Rool scratched his chin, “Hmm… Crashing weddings ain’t really my style, but I have been out of the game for a while,” he mused. “I do miss causing chaos.”

After their final defeats, both villainous rulers were imprisoned in their own way. This “era of peace” or whatever has truly put a damper in their schemes. Rool approached the stone table and sat down. Boo crossed his arms. “You know, Luigi isn’t the only one that’s going to be present,” he said. “Donkey Kong might be there~”

Rool raised an eyebrow at Boo's statement. "Donkey Kong? That big ape?" he asked with a growl. "What could he possibly have to do with this?"

Boo smirked. "DK is close friends with the plumber boys. His presence at the wedding is guaranteed,” he said.

Masque’s tentacles twitched with excitement. “Oh~” they purred. “Two for one! Nobody could have ever foreseen such a dastardly duo would crash a royal wedding; you both get revenge against your greatest enemies!”

Rool leaned back in his chair, considering the possibilities. He had always been a fan of elaborate schemes and grandiose plans, but lately he had been feeling restless and bored. Maybe crashing a wedding was just what he needed to shake things up. 

"Alright," he said finally, standing up from his seat. "I'm in. Let's crash this wedding and cause some chaos."

Boo grinned wickedly, his eyes glowing with anticipation. "Excellent," he said. "Let’s give good ol’ Luigi the best wedding gift ever~”

.

.

.

The morning after their double proposal, the soon-to-be husbands initiated the wedding preparations. Bowser had pretty much handled the planning for the most part, all the information kept safely in a large leatherbound book in his office. However, now, the two could sit down and discuss those plans, tweaking them here and there. The two held hands as they reviewed vendors and locations, the rings of silver and obsidian glistening in the kingdom’s volcanic glow. Luigi flipped a page, “Oh! Are we having the wedding here?” he asked.

Bowser’s tail wagged, “W-well, I was thinking we could just have it here as opposed to the Moon or something,” he snorted. “But! We can always have it somewhere else if you’d like.”

“No, no, tesoro. I- I do want to have it here, at home! I’d feel safe knowing our home would keep our special day safe; plus, I-I a-am going to be ruling this kingdom too…”

I’m going to be ruling this kingdom too… Those words sent him into overdrive, purring louder than an engine. Luigi laughed and smiled, squeezing his hand. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have found someone like Luigi. Not only was he kind, loving, and supportive, but he also understood the weight of his responsibilities as a future ruler. It wasn't easy to balance personal desires with the needs of the kingdom, but Luigi made it all seem effortless.

As they continued to plan their special day together, Bowser felt a sense of comfort knowing that they would be celebrating in the safety of their own home. It was a small gesture, but it meant the world to him.

Luigi's laughter and smile were infectious, and he couldn't help but feel grateful for every moment they spent together. He knew that ruling a kingdom would come with its challenges, but with Luigi by his side, he felt confident that they could overcome anything. And having someone to go to when he wasn’t being a king would do wonders; to wake up feeling those tiny arms around him every morning would be the best feeling in the world.

Together, they would build a future filled with love, happiness, and prosperity for their kingdom and each other. And on their special day, surrounded by the warmth of their home and the love of their friends.

“Your Highnesses, the Toadstool King and Queen have arrived.”

Bowser and Luigi looked to the side. Kamek had appeared beside them, accidentally interrupting their moment. The advisor leaned on his wand, “They are waiting for you in the foyer,” he said. The engaged couple stood up and followed Kamek out of the office. As they made their way to the foyer, Bowser and Luigi couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and nervousness. They took a deep breath and entered the room, where they were greeted by the Toadstool King and Queen.

“Fratellino!”

Mario ran to him and trapped him in a powerful hug, even lifting Luigi off his feet. The younger twin smiled and patted his arms. Peach approached the group, cradling her swollen belly, “We received the news this morning! We just had to come here and congratulate you!” she exclaimed. Mario let go of Luigi, allowing him to walk over and hug Peach. 

The expecting queen giggled, “You have no idea how happy I am.”

She broke away from their hug and wiped her face, then she turned her attention to Bowser. “Well? Where’s my hug?!” The Koopa King jumped slightly and obliged, gently wrapping a hand around her and pulling her into a side hug. Peach smirked, “I’m pregnant. Not made of glass,”

“I’m just being cautious, Peach!”

Despite their past, the two treated each other like best friends. And ever since Peach revealed her pregnancy, Bowser has been protective and cautious around her; he would be very wary of his strength and during their outings, he’d sometimes growl at those who got too close. Mario didn’t help in any way, too busy enforcing his own protective tendencies; Peach essentially had two very powerful bodyguards around her. Well, three. Luigi couldn’t lie that he would sometimes shock people if they got too close. Queen Peach didn’t seem to mind this at all. Mario clapped his hands together, “So! When’s the big day? What’re the plans?” he asked.

Luigi grabbed Bowser’s free hand, “We were just discussing that,” he replied. “Bowser actually had the majority of it planned out!”

Bowser rubbed the back of his neck, “I-I’ve been planning this for a while now, okay? Everything should be set up within a month or so,” he said sheepishly.

“Did you ask the kingdoms to cater for the wedding?” said Peach. “I’m sure they would be happy to, now that their supplies are being used for a genuine wedding.”

She jabbed an elbow against Bowser’s stomach; the massive koopa turned scarlet with embarrassment over the reminder of his final stunt. Even though it was all water under the bridge, they liked to tease him about his past villainous career. Bowser let go of Peach, “I’d actually like that. Make it symbolic that I really am leaving all of that shit behind me by asking if I could have those items.”

Mario adjusted his hat, “Just say the word. We can get in contact with the other rulers in no time!”

“Oh, we have to call Daisy! We absolutely cannot exclude her from this!” added Peach.

Bowser chuckled. “Already taken care of.”

The two stopped a moment to look at him, then each other before smirking at Bowser. The king hid his red face in his hands; Luigi chuckled and hugged his side, “Why don’t we discuss this in the dining room? We still have to send the invites and get the venue ready!”

Willing to spare any more teasing, the Toadstool Queen and King relented. The group of royals headed towards the dining room, excitedly chattering about the upcoming event.

.

.

.

The wedding planning took slightly longer than intended; nevertheless, everything was ready! Guests from all over the world made their way to the Darklands’ capital, excited to attend the union. As Queen Peach predicted, the other kingdoms were more than happy to help in the preparations; an outdoor venue was booked and the coronation would take place after their honeymoon in the Sea Kingdom. Rosalina was, in fact, in the galaxy and was going to make it to the event. 

Clothes were tailored, catering was meticulously planned, and the entertainment was carefully selected to ensure that everyone had a great time. The Darklands' army was on high alert, making sure that the wedding went off without a hitch. Everything was perfectly in place. With everything being handled by others, the grooms were allowed to get ready. 

Luigi stood in front of a vanity, standing still as Mario focused on tying in his bow tie. Luigi couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. This was a big day for both him and Bowser, and he wanted everything to go smoothly. He took a deep breath and looked at himself in the mirror. He was wearing a black tuxedo with a white shirt and a bright green bow tie. Mario was wearing the same, except his bow tie was red.

"Hey, you look great!" Mario said as he finished tying his bow tie.

Luigi smiled back at him. "You think so?"

Mario nodded and fixed his hair. They both took one last look in the mirror before turning to each other. "You ready for this?" Mario asked.

Luigi nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

Mario put his hand on Luigi's shoulder. "Don't worry, everything's going to be perfect."

Luigi smiled again, feeling reassured by Mario's words. He knew that they had each other's backs no matter what happened. Luigi felt his anxiety wash away as he thought about the bond he shared with his brother. They had been through so much together, from battling enemies to traveling galaxies. But no matter what obstacles they faced, they always had each other's backs.

Mario's words reminded Luigi that he would always have his back, and that together they could overcome anything. He knew that if he ever needed help or support, Mario would be there for him without hesitation. And he doesn’t have anything to be afraid of! It’s his wedding day, he should be rejoicing!

“Sorridi, fratello. Stai per sposare il re dei tuoi sogni!” said Mario.

Luigi chuckled. He had been waiting for this day for so long, and he wasn't going to let anything ruin it. Suddenly they perked up at the sound of running footsteps. Daisy burst through the door, effortlessly catching her breath before speaking. “You two ready?” she asked.

Mario raised an eyebrow, “Uh… yeah. But, what’s the rush?”

A cheeky smile pulled at her lips. “There’s been a small change in plans,” said Daisy. “Luigi needs to get to the altar like yesterday.”

The green-cladded groom reached towards the vanity and quickly put on his earrings. While Luigi rushed to put on his shoes, Mario tried to get an answer from Daisy about the sudden change since he was going to walk Luigi down the aisle but the Sarasaland Empress refused; such behavior was not uncommon for her, but this was out of the ordinary even for her. In fact, she’s been acting odd ever since the engagement announcement. Mario hoped she didn’t decide now would be a good time to play one of her pranks; he swore to Grambi, if she does anything, he will crucify her. Luigi adjusted his sleeves, “Come on, Mario. Everyone’s waiting!” he said, “We’ll figure it out later!”

Mario quit grilling Daisy for answers. He followed his brother out of his room and out into the wedding hall. Luigi’s footsteps echoed off the walks. He focused on the sound, lest he be distracted by his racing heartbeat. The sudden change doesn’t bother him one bit; at the end of the day, he will get to call Bowser his husband. The thought caused his steps to quicken. The feeling of pure happiness and excitement was overwhelming, and he couldn't contain it. His heart raced faster and faster, as if trying to keep up with the pace of his thoughts. He felt alive, invigorated, and unstoppable. This was the moment he had been waiting for, and he knew that nothing could bring him down from this high. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, savoring the feeling of pure joy that filled every inch of his being.

He reached forward and opened the large entrance doors.

The wedding altar stands tall and proud, its grandeur commanding the attention of all attendees. Its formidable structure is adorned with abundant greenery and fragrant blooms, illuminated by the warm glow of flickering candles. As Luigi approached the altar, his heart pounded with anticipation for what would soon transpire under this majestic canopy. The delicate lace curtains billow in the gentle breeze, framing the focal point where vows will be exchanged and lives forever entwined. His stepson, Ludwig, sat by a grand piano; ready to get everything started.

Guests sat in their seats, watching with excitement in their eyes. Peach stood by the altar, beaming with just a small glimmer of confusion. Luigi could only smile and shrug in response as he continued his way down the aisle, Mario and Daisy walking closely on his heels. The two diverted once they reached the altar; Daisy went to stand by Peach, while Mario stood by DK and the other groomsmen. Kammy stood by the altar, ready to officiate the ceremony. The verdant groom stood in his place, anxiously fiddling with his tie. Everything was in place…

But where was Bowser?

They waited patiently for the other groom. Perhaps he was still getting ready; Luigi knew it took him some extra time to get ready, considering his size and his own personal preferences. Luigi couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he thought about his fiancé's grooming routine. He knew that Bowser would never settle for anything less than perfection, especially on such an important day.

As he waited, Luigi took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. He had been looking forward to this day for months, and now that it was finally here, he couldn't believe how quickly the time had flown by. He glanced around at the other guests who were also waiting patiently for the ceremony to begin. Some were chatting quietly amongst themselves, while others were lost in their own thoughts. However, such lack of activity was not settling well with Luigi, whose anxiety was going through the roof as minutes ticked by.

One… 

Ten….

Forty-five minutes…

An hour passed and still nothing. Luigi glanced over his shoulder to look at Mario; he approached him and whispered something to him, but he could barely register it. The whole cathedral started shaking violently. Guests gasped and yelped. A loud roar tore through the peaceful calm. And just as quickly as it came, the tremor was gone. Luigi and Mario exchanged worried glances. They knew that something was not right. The shaking had been too intense to be a mere earthquake. And what was that roar? But they were stopped by the sound of the piano starting.

Everyone gathered themselves as best they could and stood up. A pair of Paratroopas nearby pulled open the door. Luigi reached into his pocket and retrieved a handkerchief, promptly wiping away his nervous sweat. In came Junior, looking adorable in his little green suit.  Rosalina floated nearby, casting a faint celestial glow as she guided the little prince. Luigi couldn’t help but notice the outfit she wore; a white blouse with a navy blue skirt with silver lining. I made that… Wait! That’s why she was nearby! Bowser had already sent her an invite, he thought. That kooky koopa and his scheming. 

Junior arrived at the altar, giggling and holding the rings over his head, accidentally tipping them over; Rosalina discreetly pushed the pillow up, covering her mouth to muffled her laugh. Luigi smiled at him and signaled for them to get to their positions. With a dramatic flare, Wendy walked down the aisle and threw petals flowers into the air. The awaiting groom took a shaky breath, tears welling up in his eyes as he saw her in her red dress. It also meant the moment he’s been waiting for was looming closer. Wendy stopped by the altar, “You’re going to absolutely flip, Mama.” she said.

Luigi raised an eyebrow and before he could even ask what she meant, the princess walked away. He looked over at Mario again, who shrugged, not having a clue on what Wendy was referring to. His gaze quickly moved to Daisy; the empress responded to this by smirking. The sound of heavy footsteps caught his attention. He looked up and his jaw just dropped.

Gasps and whispers broke out through the wedding hall.

The photographers went into a frenzy.

And Luigi nearly crumbled to his knees. 

The King of the Darklands walked into the wedding hall, his father walking beside him. Bowser walked with grace, showing everyone present he was absolutely owning the white wedding dress he wore. His scarlet locks were styled in waves and neatly held back by a red veil. As he walked down the aisle, the guests couldn't help but stare in awe at the King's stunning appearance. Luigi took in as many details as he could possibly handle. His movements were unhindered by the lengthy skirt, indicating Bowser knew what he was doing. The dress complimented his physique and his scales beautifully; he even wore a pair of crystals hanging from gold around his horns, simulating earrings. 

Luigi felt a sense of admiration for Bowser's confidence and bold fashion choices. It was clear that his King had put a lot of thought and effort into his appearance, and it paid off in spades. He even held the bouquet of flowers and writhing baby Piranha plants with absolute ease. The guests whispered amongst themselves, marveling at the sight before them. It must certainly be shocking to see such a prominently masculine man in such a beautiful dress; however, Luigi wasn’t focused on that. He felt… like he knew why he was doing this and the events from a few weeks ago started to make sense; the epiphany caused a tear to spill.

He reached into his pocket for his handkerchief, but was stopped by a scaled hand wiping his face. The soft glove and rough scales indicative of its owner. Luigi looked up, meeting Bowser’s red eyes. He handed the deadly bouquet to Daisy, without looking away. The king gently cupped his face. "My deepest apologies for the delay, everybody," Bowser said in a surprisingly calm voice. "There was a slight problem with my dress today."

A collective sigh of relief broke through the silence. A deep rumbling laugh built in Bowser’s throat; he signaled everybody to sit down. Then, he took Luigi’s hands into his own. Kammy rubbed her hands together, “All right, let’s get this show started, dearies.” she whispered to herself. She waved open a book then cleared her throat. “Dearly beloved! Friends, allies of the Darklands, and others! We gather here today to witness the union of King Bowser Daemon Koopa and Duke Luigi Charlie Mario!”

Kamella started with a deep speech about the power of their marriage and what this brings for the New World. As the mage continued her speech, the guests looked on in awe. Bowser and Luigi stood in front of each other, holding hands and smiling at each other. It was a sight that many had never thought they would see - the King of the Darklands and the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom coming together in marriage. And with those words said, Kamella moved onto the next phase of the ceremony.

“Now, we move onto the vows; my king, you may go first.”

Bowser nodded, his tail swishing from side to side anxiously. He took a deep breath and looked into Luigi's eyes, feeling his heart swell with love. He had never imagined that he would find someone who could accept him for who he was, flaws and all. But Luigi had shown him that love was not about perfection, but about accepting each other's imperfections and growing together.

"My dearest Luigi," Bowser began, his voice trembling slightly. "From the moment I met you, I knew that you were the one for me. You have brought light into my life where there was once darkness. You have shown me what it means to love unconditionally and to be loved in return."

He paused for a moment, taking in the sight of Luigi's smile and the tears glistening in his eyes.

"I promise to always be there for you, through thick and thin. In times of need, I’ll be by your side, to support you in your dreams and aspirations, and to stand by your side no matter what challenges we may face. And in battle, I vow to be your fury; if you feel your bravery has been stretched thin, I will not hesitate, not for a second, to lend you mine.”

Bowser said the rest of his vows with pride and ended them with a strong huff of smoke, fighting his tears back lest he ruin his daughter’s work on his makeup. Luigi squeezed his hands. The verdant groom smiled and began his own set of vows. “Bowser, since the moment we got together, I knew that you were the one for me. Your strength, your determination, and your fierce loyalty to those you love have always inspired me. And now, as I stand here before you, I vow to be your partner in all things.

“I promise to support you in your endeavors, to stand by your side through thick and thin, and to always be there for you when you need me. I will cherish you, respect you, and honor our commitment to each other for all time. Together we will face whatever challenges come our way, and we will emerge stronger and more united than ever before. Bowser, I love you with all my heart, and I am honored to be your husband."

A muffled wail marked Luigi’s end of his vows. The grooms turned to the side. Mario (who was biting down on his knuckle to muffle his cries) was trying to console a hysterical Kamek, who covered his beak with a handkerchief and apologized for his outburst. Kamella turned around and wiped her eyes before returning to her original position, “All right, dearies. Let’s get this over with; I don’t think our hearts can take this,” she said. Multiple, weepy guests agreed as they tried to wipe their tears. The two nodded and put their rings on. With a wave of her hand, the book closed and the podium disappeared. 

“By the power vested in me and with everyone present as witnesses, I declare you husbands!” she said, raising hands. “You may now kiss the Italian!”

“FINALLY!”

Luigi leaped into Bowser’s arms and wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled his king into a deep kiss. Bowser held onto him, refusing to ever let go, and spun in a circle. The guests leapt out of their seats, clapping and cheering. Mario couldn’t hold in any longer and started bawling his eyes out; Peach reached out and hugged him, gently patting his head. Kamella left her pot to console an even more happily crying Kamek. Even Daisy stood like a soldier with her arms crossed with a smile and tears on her face; there was not a single dry eye in sight. After a long moment, the two separated (only because they needed to breathe) and hugged each other. 

The new married couple walked down the aisle, Luigi sitting comfortably on his husband’s arm. As the grooms exited the wedding hall, so did their families and guests. 

.

.

.

The reception was in full swing! The music was loud and upbeat, filling the room with energy. Guests were mingling and laughing, drinks in hand. The dance floor was packed with people showing off their best moves. The aroma of delicious food wafted through the air, tempting everyone to indulge in the feast. The decorations were stunning, creating a festive atmosphere that added to the joyous mood of the occasion. It was clear that everyone was having a great time and enjoying themselves to the fullest.

Bowser and Luigi stood in the middle, swaying with the music, stealing a kiss every now and then. On occasion, a guest would stop by and congratulate them, wishing them nothing but the best in their marriage. The human leaned against his chest, “So this is the reason for the sudden interest in dresses.”

The Koopa King smirked. “I wanted to show you that you don’t have to be afraid. As long as you aren’t hurting anybody, you shouldn’t have to hide your form of expression.”

Luigi smiled up at Bowser, feeling grateful for his understanding and support. He had always been self-conscious about his love for fashion and dressing up, especially in front of others who might judge him. But being with Bowser made him feel safe and accepted. Maybe he has already been lending him some of his bravery since the very beginning. 

“Hey, you two!”

The kings turned around to the sound of Peach’s voice. The queen walked over to them, a puffy-eyed Mario held onto her arm; Daisy walked behind them with her hands on her head. The Toadstool queen beamed at them, “Look at you two! You’re practically glowing!” she said.

Bowser wrapped an arm around Luigi’s waist, purring and nuzzling into his curly hair. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for years.”

“Feeling is mutual, tesoro.”

The crowd watched the two loving husbands, not caring about the public display of affection. Daisy leaned forward, “So, Bowsy, guess my lessons paid off~” she said with a smirk.

Peach looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, you just think the muscle man over here just knows how to walk in a dress? I had to teach him, so he wouldn’t face plant on his own wedding day!”

“Hey!”

Daisy laughed and snorted. Rosalina bumped her hip against her side, “Daisy, play nice.”

“I am. Just reminding him of the princess who saved his tail,” replied Daisy. 

“Thank you for helping me, Daisy,” said Bowser with an eye roll. “And thank you for coming all this way, Rosalina.”

The celestial sorceress smiled. “I’d never miss my friends’ happiest day.”

The group continued talking and drinking, enjoying each other’s company. As the night wore on, the conversation became more animated and lively. They shared stories, jokes, and memories, laughing and teasing each other in equal measure. The drinks flowed freely, and they toasted to their friendship and the good times they had shared together. The festive mood seemed to last eternity. That is… until Luigi felt the air grow cold.

He grabbed Bowser’s arm in a deadly grip.

The king looked at him with a worried expression. He kneeled down, pushing the layers of fabric away. “Luigi? Babe, what’s wrong?”

“Don’t you feel that?”

Bowser pulled him close, his eyes turned into slits and a growl built up in his throat as dark clouds formed overhead. Guests in their proximity looked around nervously. Suddenly phantom gates appeared, blocking the exits and the guards. Kremlings jumped out of the bushes, brandishing all sorts of weaponry, laughing and snapping their claws to elicit fear. The Koopa king pulled his husband closer, “EVERYONE GET BACK!”

Cold malevolent laughter cut through the panic and confusion. 

King Boo materialized in the center of the area, cackling like no tomorrow. Luigi started to tremble at the sight of his formerly imprisoned enemy. Bowser growled, “What the fuck are you doing here, Boo?”

The ghostly ruler smirked and floated towards a table, chuckling as a set of Toads ran away from him. He grabbed a glass of wine and swirled it around, “Oh~ I’ve just come to congratulate you both. Your love is just like a fairy tail! Two souls going against the current to be together~ How sweet…” then his expression soured. “Too bad I was too busy trapped in a mansion to witness the ceremony.”

Luigi flinched at the sound of his words, but then glared at him. He gently pushed away Bowser, “Like I’d invite you.”

King Boo choked on his wine, then started laughing even more, apparently finding Luigi’s defense humorous. Bowser growled and stepped forward but a gunshot stopped him. One of the phantom gates opened and in walked a familiar yet unwanted guest. King Rool stomped through, holding the musket on his shoulders. “Yo, KB! Why don’t you just sit back and relax? I got this!”

The reptilian king slapped his belly and laughed, then readied his weapon. People screamed and made a run for the exit but the armed kremlings stopped them. Rool looked at the guests, smiling and enjoying the fear in their eyes… Until he saw the bride. Or well, the groom wearing a bride’s dress. His jaw dropped and so did his musket, “B-Bowser?”

The Koopa King’s eyes narrowed. “Krusha?”

Rool dropped his gun. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“THIS IS MY WEDDING, YOU DIPSHIT!”

The gears seemed to be turning in Rool’s head. King Boo raised an eyebrow, “Hehe. It seems you two know each other.”

Rool turned to him and snarled. “BOO, YOU MOTHERFUCKER! YOU DIDN’T TELL ME THIS WAS MY EX’S WEDDING!”

…

One could hear a pin drop.

Everyone turned to look at Bowser, who closed his eyes and turned his head away. DK muscled his way through the crowd. He put a hand on Bowser’s shoulder, “I’m sorry. What did you call him?”

Bowser snorted smoke. “What? That’s his name. Krusha K. Rool.”

“You two used to date?!” piped Daisy.

“Listen! My taste in men got way better!” Bowser said defensively and picking Luigi up.

A glass breaking disrupted their conversation. Boo floated upwards, looking rather peeved at being ignored. His crown glowed violently, “I don’t care about this! Rool, we have a deal!”

Rool adjusted his own crown. “Oh, yeah? Well, you can stick that deal where that purple light of yours don’t shine!” he hissed. “What kinda asshole do you think I am? I never would have agreed to this if I’d known this was Bowser’s wedding.”

DK raised an eyebrow, “You’re perfectly okay with starving an entire nation for hostile takeover, but draw the line at crashing your ex’s wedding?”

“You shut up and stay outta this.”

Thunder rumbled overhead. The two arguing kings looked at the source; Luigi stood by Bowser’s side, eyes glowing a vibrant blue. The Koopa King exhaled flames and took off his veil and horn decorations, “Hey, Peaches. Hold these.”

“Yep.”

Rool and King nervously backed away as the angry husbands plus their wedding party approached them. It was a mistake to come here, on this day. Boo wished he’d stayed at the mansion and Krusha wished he had never left Crocodile Isle…

.

.

.

Bowser plopped onto the bed, letting out a yawning roar; Luigi plopped right next to him. After giving Krusha a first-hand lesson in the powers of electricity and sending Boo running back to the Underwhere, the two resumed their wedding festivities like nothing happened. Bowser threw the bouquet (Rosalina caught it to everyone’s shock considering how determined Birdette and Daisy were) and they got to cut their cake (the koopalings were coming down from their sugar highs in their hotel rooms). And so, the husbands finally had time for themselves.

The beastly king slowly stood up, “I’m way too tired for anything tonight.”

Luigi let out a muffled reply. Bowser reached behind him, struggling to reach his dress’ zipped. His husband raised his head, “Need help?” he asked.

“Yes, please. The dress hype is officially gone-so.”

The new King chuckled and stood up; Bowser turned around, exposing his back to him. Luigi quickly unzipped the dress, and just as quickly his husband wiggled out of it. The human laughed at his husband’s actions and took off the stuffy tuxedo. He yawned, feeling the exhaustion of the day catching up to him. Bowser shuffled onto the pillows, “Come here, I’ve got enough energy for a tiddy hug.” 

“Yippe!” 

In a less than graceful way, Luigi jumped into his outstretched arms and burrowed his face into his pectorals. Bowser laughed and began to purr, enjoying his husband’s warmth. Luigi couldn't help but feel embarrassed by his lack of grace, but Bowser's warm embrace made him forget all about it. He felt safe and loved in his husband's arms, and he knew that nothing could harm him as long as Bowser was there to protect him.

As they laid there, wrapped up in each other's embrace, Luigi couldn't help but think about how lucky he was to have found someone like Bowser. Despite their differences, they had managed to build a life together filled with love and happiness.

And as Bowser continued to purr contentedly, Luigi knew that he would do anything to keep this feeling of warmth and safety for the rest of his life. He made a silent promise to himself to always cherish Bowser and their relationship. He knew that there would be challenges ahead, but he was willing to face them as long as they were together. With a smile on his face, Luigi hugged Bowser tighter, feeling grateful for the love that they shared.

[seandwalsh]

Since Banjo the Bear and Conker the Squirrel both debuted in a Donkey Kong game (Diddy Kong Racing) and DK is part of the Mario universe, do the Conker and Banjo-Kazooie games take place in the same world as the Mario games?

Good question! The Banjo-Kazooie and Conker games are not and have never been part of the Mario Universe.

While yes, both characters made guest appearances in the original Diddy Kong Racing, the developers of their games have clarified that they do not share a universe with Mario and Donkey Kong - or even each other!

Gregg Mayles, designer on Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest and Donkey Kong 64, as well as the Director of Banjo-Kazooie, stated:

“Does [Donkey Kong Country] and [Banjo-Kazooie] take place in the same world? Easy answer this. No. In my head, each game existed in its own world, but characters could travel between worlds to feature in each others games.”

[Source: Gregg Mayles, His Personal Twitter Account, January 2019]

When asked if the Conker and Banjo series take place in the same universe, Chris Seavor, Director and Designer of Conker’s Bad Fur Day said:

No.

[Source: Chris Seavor, Gory Detail Twitter Account, March 2020]

As you can see, Banjo and Conker in Diddy Kong Racing were no more from Mario’s World than Link, Isabelle, Villager and the Inklings are in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

I say were, as in past tense, because as of now Banjo and Conker’s connections to the Mario and Donkey Kong World have been completely severed, including their cross-world travel. Diddy Kong Racing received a remake on the Nintendo DS, aptly titled Diddy Kong Racing DS, in which Banjo and Conker were outright removed from the game’s cast of characters and replaced with the much more appropriate Dixie Kong and Tiny Kong.

Diddy Kong Racing DS, was developed by much of the same staff who worked on the original and, of course, retcons the original game. Banjo and Conker have therefore never actually appeared within the Mario and Donkey Kong World!

Hope this answers your question!

[thinkingaboutbones]

if i was seeing naddpod live i would make a bracelet that said donkey kongs severed head. might fuck around and do it anyways.

[im-captain-basch]

Something that's only hitting me now is that while I love making the joke that Cranky's had his fourth wall-breaking ability since he was a little kid, it's also possible it's something that showed up in the aftermath of Donkey Kong Arcade.

Most people I've seen who have that particular area of their DK world thought of at least in part metaphorically agree he sustained a major injury after being defeated by Jumpman (usually him breaking his back, which is something I also agree on). It is rather logical, seeing as there is graphics showing him falling from the scaffolds that are what we can assume are 100 meters (~328 feet, or 30 stories/floors) tall but consider this: the graphics show him landing on his head.

Sure, that could just be a side-effect of the era and the limited ways they could show what happens on-screen. Surviving major head injuries can result in some wild neurological shit happening, usually things like seizures if not outright severe disability, so it wouldn't be too farfetched to assume that this ability his something gained from it.

I am almost DEFINITELY overthinking it, but that's what I do.

[tigers-eyes-26]

Aftermath (Explanations)

It had been days of clean up. Houses had been destroyed when Bowser’s Airship crashed through the road. Luckily it was only half of the Airship and not the whole thing. Another miracle was the area of Brooklyn it had crashed though had been the area that was flooding. It had been roped off and the water main had been shut off causing many of the residents to stay elsewhere while the city worked on fixing the broken water main. Not all the houses were empty though and people had still been buried. No one died but many were injured. The underground infrastructure had to be totally rebuilt.

Peach’s soldiers and The Kongs were working with the locals to round up the leftover of Bowser’s minions. They were escorted through the pipe and into the prisons of the two kingdoms. Princess Peach had promised to pay for the cleanup. To her surprise, the pure gold coins were worth more on Earth than they were in the Mushroom Kingdom. Because of all this Mario, Luigi, Peach, and DK had been in and out of meetings with Pauline the Mayor of New York City.

Mario hated these meetings. He felt like he was being called into the principal’s office. After all it kinda was his fault that a huge lava filled airship had crashed into Brooklyn.

A secretary popped her head out of the study room, that served as Pauline’s temporary office in Brooklyn. “She will see you now.” Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach stood up. Donkey Kong had been standing anyways they couldn’t find a chair that he wouldn’t crush. They all shuffled into the room.

Mayor Pauline was sitting at a desk, her hands steeped in front of her face. She looked mad… Mario wished he had a mini mushroom so he could shrink and run away.

“I’m going to get to the chase here.” She eyed them all with her brown eyes. “The FBI is coming.”

Luigi and Mario grimaced, Peach and DK looked at them confused.

Pauline continued. “They will want an explanation of what happened in Brooklyn. I’m giving you that task.” She pointed toward the brothers. “They will also want a solution so that this doesn’t ever happen again.”

“The FBI would probably want the portal be shut down completely between worlds.”

Everyone frowned. The princess spoke up. “We….we don’t have that power. It is a natural magical connection. I’m not sure I know of any magicians that could sever a natural magical connection.”

Pauline thought for a moment. “We could brick it up from both sides…”

The 4 friends looked at each other. The princess spoke up. “I doubt that a brick wall would have stopped that huge magical suction.”

“So how do we control what goes in and out of that pipe?”

Mario smiled as he imagined having to use a passport to enter the Mushroom Kingdom.

Luigi might have read his mind, “Hows about we put security up on our end and the princess will put security up on her end. Then if anything fishy happens there will be a report to each end?” Luigi looked around the room for approval.

“Who would give the report?”

“Me and Luigi!” Mario volunteered as he slung his arm around Luigi.

 Luigi pouted in thought “Yeah, Yeah we could couldn’t we?” He nodded in agreement.

Pauline looked at the two. “You feel… qualified to become a liaison between worlds?”

Mario waved his hand in explanation, “More qualified than any joe shmo the FBI will find. They wouldn’t know about half the things we experienced over there.”

“I’ll propose it. I’m not sure they will agree to it. If they don’t agree to it the second option would be to brick it up.”

“You wouldn’t brick it up without telling us? Would you?” Luigi spoke up.  “I mean if we were on the magical side, and you bricked it up you would be separating us from our family. Stranding us forever in another world. That wouldn’t look good for the FBI or you.” He added slyly.

Pauline raised an eyebrow at him. She looked at her watch “Well why don’t you tell that to them…now.” A knock came to the door. “Come in.”

*****

“I can’t believe it!” Luigi Joyfully jumped and fist pumped. “We are Liaisons! And we get paid more than everyone in the family combine! AHAHAH I can’t wait to rub this in Spikes face!” He ran towards the cleanup to do just that. Mario laughed as he watched his brother go. Peach touched his shoulder. He turned to address her and DK.

“Everyone has been mentioning something and I need to know…..What is 9/11?” Mario’s eyes widened. Peach continued. “I understand it was a tragedy, or disaster. Buildings collapsed and buried people. But I still feel lost as to what 9/11 is.” Dk nodded behind her.

“Oh, ah geeze…. Its not an easy story to tell.” Mario rubbed his arm. He directed them to a stoop so they could sit while they talked. “Some bad men thought that this country should suffer.”

“Why?” DK asked like a toddler who had just learned the word.

Mario shrugged he wasn’t going to get into the nitty gritty details. “It was a lot of things. Years of wars and us vs. them kinda thinking. People forming groups to do one thing and other groups to do another. It’s a whole mess.” He hoped that would suffice. “So, a group of bad people came together who hated America. They sent people to hijack planes. The things you keep seeing up in the sky.” He pointed up to a plane that would probably be landing in La Guardia.  “Flying transports that hold a lot of passengers. These men killed the pilots and drove the planes into the world trade centers.”

“World trade centers?” Peach questioned.

“Here let me show ya.” He got up and led them to the fire escapes on the side of the building. They all climbed, swung, and jumped to the top. “You see that tall building over there? That has the spear looking thing on it?” He pointed to the One World Trade Center. “In there they keep track of all the trades that go on in the world. Before 9/11 there was two of those buildings. They each had over 100 stores with many offices on each level. People were just working like they did every day and then suddenly-Bam!” Mario punched his palm making Peach and DK flinch. (But DK wouldn’t admit that.) Two planes crash into the two towers. The towers fell crushing everything around…” Mario’s eyes glazed over. “…Many people died. Me and Luigi were around 11 years old. Many of our friends lost their parents and other family members….” Mario’s eyes shifted as if they were looking at a list of names. “We were lucky our whole family worked and lived in Brooklyn. Papa and our uncles volunteered to help dig people out of the debris. Even worse is that the debris was poisonous. We were also lucky that our Nonna told them all to wear face masks and gloves.” Mario’s face got contemplative. Peach reached out and gently touched his shoulder.

DK scratched the back of his head.  “Man…That’s intense…”

“Papa would tell us it was hell…” Mario looked down at his hands sadly.

“So, when Bowsers airship crashed through some houses. It probably brough back some bad memories….” Peach’s hand slid off his shoulder.

“I feel bad too because I caused that to happen.” Mario slumped a little.

“Yeah, this is all pretty much your fault.”

Both Peach and Mario glared at DK, he just smiled and held up his hands in surrender.

Peach took Mario’s shoulders in her hands so he would face her. “You couldn’t have known that this would happen.”

A whistle rang out over the neighborhood. Dinner time. Mario leaned over the edge of the building to see the mamas’, aunties, and grandmamas had combined their tables to form a long food line for the workers helping to clean up. His own mama, announcing it was time to eat over a megaphone. He smiled at his community.

“Horrible things happen, but people seem to be pretty resilient when they work together.” Peach commented. Mario gave a tiny smile no wonder Peach was chosen to be a princess. She could say all the right things sometimes.

The quiet moment was interrupted as DK jumped down from the building with a yell of. “Smells Great!” He startled some of the women with his sudden entrance.

“C’mon” Peach nudged Mario’s shoulder. “Let’s make sure DK doesn’t eat everyone’s portion.” Mario chuckled and got prepared to jump down the building with Peach.

 --------

Author’s notes: There was two shots of the movie that had the One World Trade Center as part of the skyline and it made me think, “OH man 9/11 happened in this world!” Then at the end when Luigi was dodging debris and the dust billowing, I just thought of all the live footage on the ground when the towers came down. I wrote this as a result.

In my headcannon the Mario movie happens in 2015. I’m getting older and the thought that Mario would be younger than me makes me feel weird. So, I had to set the date back.

Aftermath (The Round Up Begins):

Aftermath Chapter 1:

[stobotnik-is-canon]

Hello, I was wondering if you can do a Donkey Kong x shy/quiet human female reader and Kranky Kong finding out about their relationship? I thought this would be a certain amount of time after the movie and Kranky kong is just finding out that they are in a romantic relationship together.

I'll do my best!

If I Can't Have You

Donkey Kong x F!Reader

It has been several months after Bowser's defeat, and since then, (Y/N) and Donkey Kong have been dating. (Y/N) was very shy upon asking DK out, but she eventually confessed to him, and he confessed as well. Fast forward to the present. (Y/N) was chatting with Toad and Princess Peach until Funky Kong came along and asked (Y/N) to come with him.

"(Y/N), King Cranky Kong would like to have a word with you."

(Y/N) gulped and followed behind Funky Kong nervously. Was she in trouble? Did she do something wrong? Then, another thought came into mind. One she didn't like. What if Cranky found out about her and DK's relationship? She shook her head. He couldn't have found out. Could he?

She and Funky Kong made it to the castle. Cranky Kong was waiting, a frown on his face. (Y/N) looked at him nervously. She didn't like where this was going.

"(Y/N) (L/N), I'd like to have a chat with you. It's about you and my son."

(Y/N) shifted nervously. She had a bad feeling about this.

"I know you two have been dating for a while now," he continued.

"How'd you find out?" (Y/N) asked with dread in her voice.

Cranky Kong gave her a look. "Word gets around." He sighed. "Look, I'm not mad. Just don't break his heart." He leaned in closer. "Or else."

"Y-yessir," (Y/N) stuttered. Then, she was dismissed. Wow, that went better than expected. Donkey Kong stood outside the castle, waiting for her.

"Hey (Y/N)," he greeted. "I heard that my dad wanted to talk to you. What all did he say to you?"

(Y/N) waved it off. "He just said not to break your heart. He really seemed like he meant it, too."

Donkey Kong was a bit taken aback. "Wow, that's it? You're lucky that that was all you got. He's usually not that chill."

(Y/N) laughed a bit. "Yeah, no kidding."

Donkey Kong chuckled and pulled her into a side hug as the two of them walked. "You know, I think you're starting to grow on him."

(Y/N) looked up at him hopefully. "Wait, really?"

He grinned. "Well, yeah. If he just let you off with a small warning, then I'd say that he sees you as family." He nudged her with his elbow playfully. "Just don't let it get to your head."

(Y/N) laughed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

Hope you enjoyed! 😊

[xserenemeadowsx]

Unconditional Love (Chapter 8)

By xSereneMeadowsx

Link for Chapter 7: https://www.tumblr.com/xserenemeadowsx/724798091751030784/unconditional-love-chapter-7

A/N: Thank you everyone for the likes and follows. I really appreciate it! :) I hope all of you enjoy this chapter.

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Chapter 8

“So, this friend of yours. Who is it that got captured by Bowser?” Donkey asked as he, Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad were sitting around a table having some breakfast. The table consisted of bananas. Lots and lots of bananas. The dining room they were in was large and matched the rest of the jungle décor that was found throughout the large castle.

“It was our new friend Y/N. She comes from the same place as Mario and Luigi,” Peach answered.

“Ah. I see. I bet this is all a trap.”

“It has to be.”

“We have to get her back though. One way or another,” Mario said.

The doors to the dining room burst open with such force. Luigi and Toad jumped in fright from two guard Kongs coming in.

“Your highness, there are some Koopas here attacking the city,” one of them spoke, clearly out of breath.

“There’s a lot of them. They’re pillaging everything!” The other guard spoke.

Donkey sighed, “Great. Let’s just hope a few karts were done before they got here. Gather more guards for battle.”

“Yes, your majesty,” both guards replied and scurried out of the dining room.

“Ugh! What a pain!” Toad said.

“Yeah, really,” Luigi agreed.

“We need to get moving. I knew Dad was going to get up early along with a few of the mechanics to work on the karts this morning.” Donkey got up from his seat and everyone followed behind him.

Everyone made their way toward the garage where karts were built. It thankfully hadn’t been broken into and a good number of karts were finished. A lot of them had guns that shot out banana peels, turtle shells, and coconuts. They also were large, and some could seat up to four people.

“These are looking good!” Donkey said as he inspected some of them.

“Yep, just finished the last one,” Cranky replied.

“That’s great! We need to get going and help the city. Koopas are here attacking.”

Cranky’s eyes widened, “Yes, let’s go. Everyone! Pick your karts and hustle!”

The mechanics along with several other Kongs were scrambling around, picking out karts that would best fit them. While everyone was doing that, Peach, Mario, Luigi, and Toad had headed out of the garage to help some of the guards fight off the Koopas. Power ups were used along the way by the princess and her three companions. The Koopas had broken into the stadium and had grabbed some of the power ups that were left in there from the previous day.

With most of the Koopas knocked down, the Kongs in their karts came out and shot down more of the enemy. Peach opened up the entry doors of the kingdom and saw that the Yoshies were unharmed. Relieved, she climbed up onto her pink Yoshi. Mario, Luigi, and Toad got to their Yoshies and climbed up. The Kongs in the karts had used a different exit/entrance area made specially for karts. They met up with Peach and the others.

“Alright. To Bowser’s Castle everyone! Let’s go!” Peach shouted as she got her Yoshi going. Everyone followed her as she led the way.

A crowd of turtles was waiting for the princess, plumbers, Kongs, and mushroom man not too far ahead of them. The turtles had spears at the ready with a few of the turtles hovering in the air with their white wings keeping them aloft and weapons out.

“We can do this!” Peach said encouragingly.

“Attack!” Cranky shouted.

Everyone started attacking the turtles. Spears flew and coconuts hit the turtles. Banana peels were shot out to have the turtles on the ground trip over them. Shells were fired at the turtles which made them extremely angry. Yoshies were jumping, dodging, shooting eggs, and ground-pounding whenever they could.

“Lu! Behind you!” Mario shouted as he could see a couple of turtles trying to sneak up on the plumber in green.

Luigi turned around, had his Yoshi jump up and ground-pound the turtles, “Phew! Thanks Mario!”

Mario shot a quick smile to his brother before taking care of more turtles.

Toad was struggling a bit, but eventually was able to get the Yoshi to do the ground-pound on a turtle. He then moved over to where Peach was as she was surrounded by six turtles.

“Need some help, Princess?” Toad asked.

“Yes. Let’s get rid of these guys!” Peach answered.

She and Toad worked on getting their Yoshies to coordinate the ground-pound move. The pink Yoshi used ground-pound and laid an egg to shoot at one of the other turtles. Toad’s yellow Yoshi followed the moves of the pink one. Everything looked good until more Koopas arrived.

“C’mon! Is this ever going to end?!” Toad asked frustrated.

The princess glared at the crowd coming and before she could move herself and her Yoshi, spears were flown and landed in a circle around her. Her eyes widened and her Yoshi panicked from almost getting skewered.

“The king wants to see you at his castle right away,” a Koopa wearing blue armor and a blue shell said. He walked up to the circle of spears that surrounded Peach and the pink Yoshi.

Peach gave a glare to the blue Koopa, “That’s exactly where we’re going.”

“His majesty wanted us to bring you to him specifically if we happened to see you.” The blue Koopa had more troops surround Mario, Luigi, Toad, and the Kongs, “If you refuse to come with me, we’ll turn your companions into shish kabobs. You wouldn’t want that would you?”

Peach was infuriated, but not surprised, that the Koopas would go this far. She knew everyone was starting to get tired from the fighting. They had been at it for a while now. She didn’t want to see them get hurt. She glanced behind her at everyone and stared into Mario’s eyes.

Mario’s gaze at the princess showed concern but understanding. He nodded his head telling her to surrender.

“Okay. I will come with you,” Peach responded. “Do not hurt them.” She got off her Yoshi.

“Worry not. They’ll be fine,” the blue shell Koopa said.

A cage was brought out and some of the Koopas went to remove their spears. Peach was put inside the cage. The pink Yoshi tried to follow the princess but was pushed back by some of the troops.

“Princess!” Toad shouted as he had tried to get his Yoshi moving. He wanted to go after her, but Mario on his red Yoshi stood in front of them. He shook his head no to the mushroom man. Toad made fists, hung his head low and then stared up at where the princess was in the cage.

Peach looked back at Toad with saddened eyes, but soon turned her expression into a smile. She wanted to give them hope that everything would be okay.

The Koopas soon started walking or flying off. There were four Koopas who carried the princess away by air. They knew their king wouldn’t want to wait too long to see the princess. Meanwhile, other troops were scattering about to try and find more power ups to search for the SuperStar.

The Kongs all were worn out from the driving and shooting at their enemy. The Yoshies were exhausted from the physical work they did. Mario, Luigi, and Toad had gotten off their Yoshies and let them rest.

“So, now we have two people captured. That’s just fantastic,” Donkey said.

“We need to head over to the castle. They’ll be expecting us,” Cranky replied. “For now, let’s all catch our breath and fix up the karts if they need any fixing. Luckily, we’re not too far away from our kingdom.”

All the Kongs got out of their karts and rested under some nearby trees for shade. The plumbers, mushroom man, and Yoshies did the same.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The lava castle came into Peach’s view, and she sighed irritably. At least she should be able to see Y/N. She hoped Y/N was okay. The four Koopas who were carrying her cage slowed their wings down and landed gently on the ground. They walked toward the towering doors, and they opened thanks to two guards who were right there. The Koopas walked inside and toward the throne room.

Peach took in her surroundings. It hadn’t been too long ago that she was in Bowser’s place. Although last time, his place had been a floating island with some of the same scenery. This time, the castle was back in the ground. She wasn’t sure if Bowser had two different castles or if this one in the ground was the same as the floating island one.

It shouldn’t matter though. What did matter was making sure that Y/N was alright and settling whatever scheme Bowser had up his sleeve. Two other large doors greeted the Koopas and Peach and they again opened with ease by two other guards. Seated on the throne at the other end of the room was Bowser with Kamek standing beside the throne.

He had left his piano room and decided to go to his throne room for a bit. He had then been informed by his intelligence team about the capture of the princess. So here he was, happily waiting for her. His eyes softened at seeing his Peaches. He was thrilled to have her in his sight again.

“Princess Peach. Wonderful to make your acquaintance again,” Bowser said as he got up from his chair and the cage was set down.

The princess gave Bowser a disgusted look, “Enough of the pleasantries. Where is Y/N?” She stood up in her cage, wrapping her hands around the iron bars.

“Relax, relax. All in good time. She is fine. She resides in the dungeon below,” Bowser answered.

“Bowser, what is it that you want this time?” Peach wanted to get straight to the point.

“Cutting corners I see,” Bowser smirked. He found Peach attractive when she was angry. “It’s really simple my dear.” He began walking closer to the cage as she narrowed her eyes to him.

“You see,” Bowser began. “What I want is…to show you how much you mean to me.”

“By keeping me in a cage?” Peach asked with irritation.

“No. Of course not. I will have you released from there.” Bowser turned to Kamek, motioning for him to come to where he and the princess were.

The MagiKoopa followed his king’s command and met up with them.

“Release the princess from her cage and bind her wrists,” Bowser said.

“Y-Yes, Sire,” Kamek said. He used his wand to open the cage door and immediately sent out pink bindings around Peach’s wrists. Her arms were forced behind her back with her wrists tied.

Peach grimaced at the slight jolt she felt from the bindings. Unfortunately, the bindings had some lightning bolts in them. Not enough to cause severe injury, but enough to give a sting.

“That is so you don’t get any ideas about trying to escape from me,” Bowser said. “Now, transport us to the music room Kamek.”

“Right away your majesty,” Kamek said. He spun his wand and cast a transportation spell on the king and the princess.

The two were instantly taken out of the throne room and moved into the music room. A distinct clicking sound could be heard from the doors of the music room indicating that Peach was locked inside with Bowser. She saw a grand piano sitting in the middle of the room and the king walking towards the piano.

Bowser sat down and motioned for the princess to sit with him at the piano. Peach stood in her spot, not moving an inch. He grumbled and walked over to her. He picked her up causing her to gasp. He gently sat her down on top of the piano and opened the lid.

“I have a song that was written especially for you Peaches. I hope you will like it,” Bowser said as he positioned his hands above the keys.

Peach rolled her eyes and thought, ‘Great. A song to put me to sleep.’

Bowser hit the first key and then the next one with ease. The melody played softly and then he began to sing. He sang each word he and Y/N had written with all his heart. He stared at Peach as she looked at him with her eyes widened. She gasped when the scenery changed to a grassy field with a waterfall.

He continued his song looking at Peach and noticing she was paying more attention to the scenery than to him. It hurt slightly, but it was probably because she hadn’t experienced anything like this before. As he was reaching the end of the song, Peach turned to look at him. He smiled as the princess had her gaze focused on him.

He hit the last note and stared longingly into her eyes. Red clashing with blue. Peach’s expression was one of…how would Bowser describe it? Uncertainty and audacity that he would play such a lovey, dovey song for her. She felt sick.

“Princess?” Bowser asked with pleading eyes. “What did you think?”

Peach couldn’t answer right away. Why in the world was he trying to show her his affection again? She already rejected him once and when it came down to it, she wanted to do it again. “The song…has a nice melody. As for the words…No…I do not feel that way…”

Bowser could feel his heart split and crack in two. How could his song fail him? He had hoped she would’ve paid more attention to see that he would do anything and everything for her. He loved her so much. He hoped she would look past his misdeeds and give him another chance. That was not going to be the case.

He had to ask anyway though, “Does this mean you will not marry me?”

Peach looked at him with disgust, “Of course it means I will not marry you! I told you before, I do not want to marry you. I still don’t. I never will.”

Bowser felt tears pricking at the corner of his eyes. Rejected again by his love. He wanted this time to be different and the same result occurred. He growled and slammed the piano lid down. This caused Peach to jump slightly.

Bowser got up from the piano seat and looked at Peach, “Since you have once again rejected me, you should know that I have my troops ready to attack your kingdom. If you want to change your mind now, I will give you this moment to.”

Peach, once more not surprised to hear that, stared daggers into him, “You may have your troops at the entrance to my kingdom; however, you should know that my kingdom will not go down so easily. Mario, the Kongs, and everyone will be helping my kingdom and set me and Y/N free from you.”

Bowser chuckled, “Oh please. As if I didn’t see that coming. Yes Princess, I’m very aware of the Kongs and those pesky plumbers coming to your aid. I have everything sorted out for them when they arrive.”

“They’ll take your troops down. Of that, I am certain.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure, they will. Are you certain you do not wish to change your mind?”

“Yes. My mind will not be swayed. The answer will always be no.”

“Humph. Very well then. Kamek!”

The wizard appeared in the music room, “Sire?”

“Take the princess down into the dungeon and bring Y/N to me. Inform the troops that they may attack the Mushroom Kingdom,” Bowser said.

“Right away,” Kamek replied sadly.

Bowser didn’t notice the change in tone from Kamek. He sat down in his piano seat again. Kamek had cast a spell to lift Peach up into the air from the piano and transported her and himself to the dungeon.

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Y/N had been resting against the stone wall when she heard the door to the dungeon open. She peered over to her left and saw a very familiar pink dress, “Peach?”

Peach turned to the voice, “Y/N?” She smiled at seeing the girl again. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. You? Are you…okay?”

“I’m okay.”

“In you go Princess,” Kamek said as he opened the cell next to Y/N’s. He gave the princess a gentle push. He locked the door and removed the bindings from her wrists. He then walked to Y/N’s cell. “He wishes to see you now.”

Y/N looked up at Kamek, her (eye color) eyes full of determination and some nervousness. “Okay.”

“Y/N, you shouldn’t go- “Peach tried to stop them.

“It’s okay. I must,” Y/N said.

“Why?”

“Because…I know that he…he needs someone to comfort him…” Y/N turned her gaze away from the princess. “I know that you rejected him. He sang his song for you, and you said no. I knew you would. I tried to tell him that and he didn’t listen to me.”

“Y/N, are you…are you actually friends with him?” Peach was shocked.

She turned to back to Peach, “I…I don’t know. I mean, I want…I want to be…”

“Wait. Wait a second. You want to be friends with him? Did he have his wizard brainwash you?”

Kamek gave Peach a glare, “I did no such thing.”

“He’s telling the truth,” Y/N said to Peach. “I haven’t been brainwashed. I was captured here because Bowser wanted someone to help him write his song for you. I’ll tell you everything.”

Peach sighed, “Okay. Go on.”

Y/N began, “I did help him write the song, but I felt there would be no point in it. He had been a bit rough at first with me.”

Peach stared at Y/N as she continued her story.

“We worked on the song and then he…he had me sing for him. It was to help bring some inspiration for writing the song for you. I sang the song Unconditional by Katy Perry. It was at that point that he seemed to be less aggressive with me. I was even given a room to replace the cage I was originally in.”

I got to walk around the castle and Bowser showed me his library. It was amazing. All kinds of documents and pictures about various places. We had a nice time together and I got to eat a meal with him. I really got to see his softer side.”

Peach looked at Y/N in surprise, “It sounds as though you…you have feelings for him…” She gulped, “Do you…have feelings for him?”

Y/N stared at Peach with a slight blush, “I-I…”

“Y/N, you realize what he has done right? You can’t be with someone like that. Besides, if he really has a soft side, why did he have you put into a cell? He gave you an upgrade only to downgrade your accommodations.” Peach couldn’t bear the thought of Y/N being beside the king of the Koopas. “I don’t want to see him hurt you more than he already has.”

“Peach, it’s all really complicated. I have been hurt by him, but I know he’s lonely. He wants a companion. If I could be there for him as a friend, I want to try.” Given that Y/N had more time to think over what Kamek told her earlier, she really wanted to believe him.

“Y/N please don’t go with the wizard. Stay here. Mario and the others are coming, and they’ll get us both out of here.”

“I know you’re just looking out for me, and I appreciate it, but I must go. If I don’t, I think Bowser’s heart will be in more turmoil. I know he’s hurting right now from your rejection.”

Peach stared at Y/N with concern and understanding. She sighed, “Okay. Please be careful. If he tries anything on you, run away.”

Y/N nodded to Peach.

“His majesty shall not try anything on Y/N. I think his heart will soften from her,” Kamek said. “Now, we’ve kept him waiting long enough. Let’s go Y/N.” He opened the door to Y/N’s cell, and she walked out.

Kamek and Y/N walked out of the dungeon and Y/N gave Peach a quick glance and smile. Peach stared on as the two closed the door and she slumped down, leaning against the stone wall of her cell.

‘I hope nothing happens to you Y/N,’ Peach thought.

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“Well, it’s about time you two got here,” Bowser said impatiently as Kamek and Y/N walked into the music room.”

“Apologies Sire. Y/N was speaking with the princess,” Kamek replied.

Y/N looked up at Bowser. She was a bit nervous, but she hoped to be able to give him comfort.

“I see. Leave us alone Kamek and lock the door.”

The wizard bowed and walked out of the room, locking the door. Although Bowser ordered for him to have the troops attack the Mushroom Kingdom, he decided to be nosy and listen in on Bowser’s and Y/N’s conversation. He stuck his head against the door to hear them.

“So, Y/N, you told me that the princess would like this song. The only part she enjoyed was the melody. She didn’t even like the lyrics. You ruined everything for me.”

It hurt Y/N to hear him say that to her, “Bowser, I know this is hard on you-“

“I’m not finished. You said the lyrics were much better. They weren’t coming off as being possessive. They were meaningful and had promises written within them. You call yourself a songwriter? I would say you are anything but.”

Y/N felt her body shake. This was extremely difficult to take in. She knew he was getting some of his anger out on her. The way he was going about it though was not good. It caused a sadness to build up in her. She almost couldn’t think when he said she’s not a songwriter. Music was everything to Y/N and to be insulted in such a way…she moved her down and stared at the floor. Her eyes were beginning to water.

“You have no further use for me. I will have Kamek escort you back to the dungeon,” Bowser said as he stared at Y/N’s downcast expression. He could see tears forming.

Y/N, feeling his red eyed gaze on her, lifted her head back up and the tears flowed down. Her (eye color) eyes became a lighter shade of their usual color, and she gave him a glare. “I know this hurts you deeply. I didn’t want to see your heart break. I know you’re getting your anger out on me. I’m hurting too.”

Bowser stared at Y/N intensely.

“What you said to me just now. I don’t appreciate it, but I know it’s your irritation and hurt talking. I…” She took a deep breath. In and out. “I wanted to try and comfort you right now. I’m not sure on how to go about it…if you want a friend, I’m willing to try and be here for you. I know you said I don’t have any further use for you, but still…”

He was flabbergasted by what Y/N said. He was very harsh on her, which she greatly expressed, and yet she still wanted to…be there for him. His eyes widened as he looked at Y/N who still had a few tears cascading down her face.

“Everyone needs a friend. That includes you. If I can’t be of use to you as a songwriter, perhaps I could help you out as a friend.” The tears were slowing their stream down and Y/N’s body was beginning to relax. “Even though the princess has said no to being by your side, I’m saying yes to you. If you…want to take me.”

Bowser never had anyone speak to him the way Y/N did. He was shocked that she still suggested being there for him. He had hurt her so much with his words and actions. How could she possibly want to be with him?

“The time we had together a few days ago was very nice. I would like to have more moments like that,” Y/N said interrupting his thoughts.

He knew what she was referring to and he did enjoy those moments. Maybe…he could have someone else in his life. Even if it weren’t the princess, he could, hopefully, be content with another. He felt wanted and he wanted that feeling. He wanted to be noticed and cared for by someone special. Even if this were to be a friendship, perhaps it could bloom into something more later?

Bowser knew how he felt about Y/N, but he kept denying the feelings. Now that Y/N was offering her hand to him in friendship, he felt he needed to take it. He needed to make up for what he had been done to her, “Y/N…”

“Yes?” This was the calmest she had ever seen Bowser be. Is he taking her offer?

“Y/N, I…I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for hurting you.” He then walked up to her and reached out to take her hands into his.

She gasped at the contact and looked up at him. Her cheeks were slightly reddened. He was staring so sincerely at her as he grasped her hands. He ran his right thumb over her entire left hand.

“I’m sorry for how…how I treated you,” he continued. His grasp around her hands had tightened. “I…appreciate your offer.”

She continued staring into his red eyes as he spoke more.

“I want to take what you’re giving. I want…your friendship.” He smiled down at her.

She released a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding and gave a small, shy smile, “That makes me very happy.” Her cheeks were beginning to turn crimson.

He found her blushing face adorable. He reached a hand up and used one of his fingers to caress her cheek. She gasped once again from the contact and looked like a tomato at this point.

“U-Uh Bowser…um…friends don’t usually have this kind of….in-intimate contact…” She couldn’t help stumbling over her words. She also was not used to this kind of touch.

He retracted his finger and had let go of her hands, “Sorry.”

“N-No, it’s okay…d-don’t feel ashamed. It um…” She stopped herself from finishing her thought allowed.

“It was…” He felt like teasing her a little.

She looked at him with her blushing cheeks and then back down to the floor.

“I’m waiting. It was what…nice?” he asked with a smirk.

She couldn’t deny it, “Um, y-yes…” She held her hands together in front of her and her eyes were still downcast.

“Well, I’m glad you found it to be so nice, Y/N. Perhaps…we could build up to more kinds of contact as time goes on.” He chuckled, enjoying the teasing.

She widened her eyes, mouth hung open. She then covered her face with her hands. How embarrassing! This teasing and to go so far as flirting in such a way! She could hardly handle it. He was so open now and didn’t seem to care all too much about what he was saying. He loved seeing her get flustered like this. He would have to do this more often. He laughed at seeing her cover her face. She moved her hands from her face and gave him her an embarrassed look.

“Couldn’t help myself,” he said.

She cleared her throat, “Clearly…”

“Well, to get more serious now, I would like to have you stay in your room again. Keep you out of the dungeon.”

Her eyes glowed, “R-Really? For real this time?”

“Yes, for real this time.”

“Thank you! But…”

“But what?”

Would he still keep the princess locked up? Does he still want to find the SuperStar? Would he have his troops go off to another battle? Is he still going to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom? These questions plagued her mind, “Are you still going through with your plans?”

“I…” What was the point in going through with his plans now? Things hadn’t totally gone as thought out originally, but he still got a companion to have beside him. “I will…stop them.”

“That’s a relief. So, you’ll have Peach go back home and bring all your troops back here then?”

“Right.”

She smiled at him.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you like to have dinner with me this evening?”

“Sure! That would be great!”

“Okay. I’ll have Kamek escort you to your room.”

She gave him a grin and went to give him a hug, being careful to avoid the bracelets he wore. The king was adorned in black bands with spikes on them. He was surprised, not expecting the hug, but he wrapped her in his arms, being mindful of the spikes on his bands.

“Thank you, Bowser.”

“You’re welcome.”

The two let each other go and began walking towards the large doors. Kamek, on the other side, quickly moved out of the way so that he wouldn’t get smacked in the face.

“You were eavesdropping,” Bowser said to the wizard.

“Uh,” the wizard started and cleared his throat. “Y-Yes…”

Y/N chuckled and gave Kamek a gentle smile.

Bowser scolded the wizard for a moment and had him escort Y/N back to her room.

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“We’ve made decent progress in getting to Bowser’s castle. We should arrive there by tomorrow,” Cranky said.

“That’s good,” Donkey replied.

“I hope Bowser hasn’t hurt Y/N or Peach,” Luigi said.

“Me too,” Mario replied.

“I hope so,” Toad said. “I want to think that both of them are still in one piece.”

The Kongs, plumbers, and mushroom man all had worked on making their way toward where Bowser resides, and they had traveled a long way. They found a forest to stop at for some more rest and to get some shut eye. Everyone did their own thing by getting a few fires going, eating some food, and getting in some water. Everyone was worn out from the day’s events, but they were happy with the progress they made.

Mario laid down on the grass and stared up at the treetops. He had a feeling that everything was going to get extremely difficult tomorrow. It was to be expected, but he couldn’t help thinking that something more was going to come their way. He tried to put the thought aside and focus on getting some sleep. Thoughts of seeing Peach and Y/N again filled his mind. He wanted both to be safe and sound.

Link for Chapter 9: https://www.tumblr.com/xserenemeadowsx/726226684321333248/unconditional-chapter-9?source=share

[simiansmoke]

@timid-plumber , @geniusdonkey , @koopzilla

Despite attacks from every angle, purest rage granted their foe temporary invincibility! Ice balls chill him to the core but burst into nothingness against his charge. He would crush them both...! Perfect teamwork arrived to challenge his anger. It started from the rear: a fuzzy boulder clipped his leg and tossed him up into the air! Bowser crashed aboard his back... but in true koopa fashion, that did not cease his assault! Spinning aboard his shell, the train still came! However, its wheels are quickly chilled: several balls of ice freeze him to the floor.A turtle stuck on its back is in its most vulnerable state...Bowser swiped and kicked, but it was to no avail. His head rolled upward, smoke lifting from his nostrils. His face is a sign warning of an obvious threat: fire breath.

However, Luigi has an ace that protects both Tadano and him... the king is reluctant to ignite Princess Toadstool. The flames stay in his belly. It proved to be a perfect opening: the net fell over his head in that stalled moment of weakness. Behind an electric cage against three powered up opponents with the king flat on his back... it looks rough. Any attempt to rise shocked his horn, the ice locked him in place... he raised his claws in surrender. "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT!!! ENOUGH!!..."

As he rolled alongside the oversized Koopa, DK could feel some of the missed ice attacks underneath them had frozen the ground, turning it into intermittent patches of ice skating rink. Which certainly helped him reach an even more extreme spin right before bashing the guy's legs out from under him.

The Kong himself is flung back from the blow as well, landing with all fours out and on his tummy, sliding along the ice patches. Brr! That's chilly.

He recovers quickly - in case another counter attack is needed, but mainly out of the desire to not get his nips stuck to the ice rink. When he notices his help is no longer needed, he grins at the sight of a big, flipped over turtle in the last throes of a tantrum and a net encasing him.

Sidling up to his current boss's side, he plopped down with a smug snort. This was going to come back and bite him later, but he had to. "...you look like trash~"

With that, DK rises and heads over to Tadano. "Oh, cool! You're all icy now." Inspecting the even bluer donkey, the Kong - still in his red fur from the fire power up had a look a kid might upon finding a cool new thing. "...maybe later we can shoot stuff at each other and see what happens in the middle. Like a water explosion or something!"

Ok he needed to calm down. Tadano still had that thing on his neck.

With a sigh, he reached out but stopped short in case the donkey flinched. "It's...cool if you don't trust me. I understand." With closed eyes he focuses on the tether between his collar and Tadano's...it feels like an orange line of flames in his head, but it's helped and held together with some green electricity too. Why did it feel...sad? He grimaced, borrowing some of bowser's captive energy and snapping the line. The collar popped open around the donkey's neck and the flames on either side of their connection burned out.