Chapter Text
Bowser hated the fact that he couldn't figure out his soulmark.
It should have been soooo easy with the depiction of a human — he had confirmed with Kamet about 10 billion times at this point — holding a Superstar close to their heart, and the fact that there was only one known human in this damn world.
Wasn't that easy? NO! It was not as freaking easy as he had thought when he saw the mark appear on his 14th birthday.
He had even once become an ally with the Mushroom Kingdom, when he was still in his teens, just for a chance to meet and interact with Peach, and finally get with his soulmate.
But they didn't match... When they had shaken each other's hands without gloves, it had felt like... nothing. NOTHING????
How is that even possible? She was the only sensible answer, and yet here he was... not seeing any change or feeling anything when they finally touch?
"Maybe, it's a different species that looks similar to humans?" Peach said softly, hoping that her calm demeanor would also stabilize Bowser's emotions, but that was not enough to make peace with the King. He had groaned and quickly left, leaving the girl calling out for him nervously before running back to her toads.
Young Bowser had glared at his left hand, the image clear, yet no Initials under it. He felt his eyes stinging while trying to hold back the tears that were just so close to falling.
It was just unfair!
Everyone at least got two hints to point out who their soulmate was, and he only got one. Now, he had no idea what to do next after his only hope of a soulmate turned out to be nothing but a false analysis.
"Sire, maybe we're just missing something?" Kamek tried to comfort his sorrowful King, yet only got back a loud snarl from within the closed bedroom. Although he wasn't scared by the sound, he gave the ruler a few seconds of silence to calm down before starting again.
"My awfulness, I know you have also noticed that the princess doesn't have a mark of her own." The Magikoopa softened his tone a bit when he heard some small rustling, followed by heavy footsteps. "It could be that she needs the Superstar to activate her own mark. I mean, our King is so powerful and a one-of-a-kind, that it would only make sense that his majesty's soulmate would be even more challenging to persuade."
"...You think so?" The door clicked open to reveal a red-eyed ruler who definitely had seen better days. Bowser had become much stronger and bigger over the year of growing, but Kamek knew well that his King had yet to reach his most stable and mature state in both physical and mental strength.
The Magikoopa nodded before continuing. "We just need to get the Super Star, and you can get Peach to see that you guys are meant to be!"
Young Bowser had looked at his caretaker with some suspicion at first, but that quickly turned into relief and excitement.
That's right! That must be what was wrong with their interaction.
Peach was just waiting for him to prove his worth before recognizing him as her only soulmate.
He's going to get that stupid star and win her over! So he planned, for years, on every step that could get him closer to achieving that Powerup.
And finally, going through great lengths, he got it!
What was left was the princess, and they are on with their long-awaited wedding. Bowser even ordered Kamek to cast some spells to not just protect but also make the item more fundamental to the union of him and his Peach.
But somehow, right now, there was one damn problem! There was someone else trying to get a little too close to his soon-to-be soulmate. And seemingly, that same someone has sent his friend to Bowser's land to try to distract him from the human's scheme.
However, the King was smarter than that. He would not let the coward in green create any disturbance for his brilliant plans!
The capture of the poor existence was uneventful. He was a useless coward at best, only knowing how to run and hide without any way of fighting back against his little troop of Shy Guys.
The creature couldn't even say much without whimpering when faced with the powerful King of the Dark Land. He screamed and dodged in a futile effort to get as far away as he could in his little cage.
What a pity! It almost made Bowser feel bad for the small thing, as his eyes seemed to fill with water when he stepped closer to the human's containment.
In all honesty, Bowser was just trying to scare him a little bit — shaking the cage once or twice — since the King found his exaggerated emotions to be quite a hilarious scene to observe. But... that was when he felt the back of his left hand warm up all of a sudden.
The slight pain was definitely a strange sensation for a fire-breathing dragon, who was also covered with scales and a hard, armor-like shell. It startled him enough that he had dropped his prisoner on the ground without meaning to do so in the first place.
What was that?
He glared at his hand, then back at the cage — where he could now hear some soft sniffling coming out of — and huffed. Kamek did warn him that doing those spells he asked for was going to cause some discomfort to his physical state, though he did not expect it to come so soon after the magic ritual.
Whatever, he had more important things to do anyway. So he would let the human off for now!
Now, thinking back to that moment. He definitely should have broken the human's damn legs before he got the stupid idea of trying to escape. Even worse, the obnoxious thing dared to take his Super Star on the way out!
---- Present, Dark Land, Throne room ----
"Where the hell is that DAMN WIMP?" Bowser roared at the troopers, causing them to retreat into their shells in fear. Their little husks moved violently and rattled against each other when they shook under the furious gaze of the King.
"W-we're searching right now, your highness!" One of them said, though Bowser couldn't be sure which one.
"Try harder then!!!" The King roared and blew out a flame that wiped out 2 koopas, scaring the rest into a run for the exit, before turning back to look at his advisor. "Kamek, have you found the green human yet?"
"Unfortunately not, my awfulness." The Magikoopa furrowed his brows at the quick views search on his magic orb. He couldn't be sure of whether the other creature had used the item or not, but being that near to the Super Star could allow him to be somewhat resistant to the tracking magic.
That fact was to be expected, but 'why the protection system he had set up for the Power-up didn't work in the first place' was a question that he couldn't figure out.
It should not have allowed the intruder to grab the Super Star without a magic attack and an immediate alarm sent to the King's advisor. So, either the human knows some great magic that could rival the Magikoopa's, or-
"KAMEK!" The sound of Bowser's booming voice being so near all of a sudden almost caused the wizard to drop his magic sphere in shock. And it was enough for the advisor to lose his train of thought.
"Y-yes, sire?" He shook slightly under the intense gaze of the King.
"That damn human can't run far in the new environment. What I need you to do now is get everything else ready before the Princess is captured. Are we clear ?" Bowser's eyes seemed to glow red with irritation as he once again repeated his order. And if that was not a bad sign for Kamek, then the smoke bellowing from his slightly open snout was definitely a level-5 threat warning.
"Y-YES, my frightfulness!" The Magikoopa stuttered out and teleported himself away from the danger zone.
However, in his mind, there seemed to be a small whisper telling him that he had forgotten something important. Something that definitely would impact their plan.
----Present, Dark Land, Somewhere Outside of the Castle ----
Luigi tried to make himself smaller in the tight space between the large boulders where he had been able to squeeze himself into about 10 minutes ago.
The structure seemed to have been formed long ago — if he had to guess, likely when the castle was getting built — by randomly stacking large rocks over each other, probably to make place for the massive architectural project.
The ashes from lava had stuck to the outer surface, allowing the thing to appear like one united object. The plumber only recognized the interior gap by accident when he tried to hide behind the rock pile.
Although there was some risk of the thing buckling down onto him, Luigi couldn't think of a better place to hide. Especially when considering the acute sense of smell of turtles and the likelihood of getting found by scent, the ashes layered so thick on the exterior shell were definitely a comfort to have.
The human hugged his knee while holding the Super Star little orb thing close, as it was his only light source in the dark space. The star glowed quite brightly in a rainbow pattern that reminded him of the modern lighting-led trends, which he couldn't help but smile a little at. He wondered what his brother would think about the strange object. Mario would probably think that it's cool and wants to hold it closer to look at the mechanism.
The happy thoughts were cut short, though, as he started hearing a loud engine sound echoing outside the walls of rock, and the ground shook under all the movement of — what he thought was — war machinery kind of vehicles.
Went along with it was the roaring war cry of all the Koopa soldiers and foot traffic, as some started to run around, likely with the intention to find the human, who was now surrounded by the unknown environment and a bunch of hostile creatures.
Luigi hugged himself a little bit tighter as he prayed for the safety of his brother and that they would soon be united.
Mario, please hurry!
---- Present, Rainbow road ----
"Wait, Wait. You're telling me your world has a mark for job title?" Donkey Kong yelled into the loud wind, catching the attention of Mario, who was talking with the princess about Soulmates and Soulmarks. "That sounds ridiculous!"
Although Mario couldn't say that he fully accepted the concept, he could say that the princess was much better than the loud Kong at explaining what the concept even was. The human signed and glanced at his 'fated half.'
"Yeah. Though people don't always go with their given roles, it still gives us some idea of a direction to take for a career." The plumber explained with even a higher volume, finding the wide grin on the other creature's face obnoxious and just wanting to find an excuse to start yelling at him. "If it's so damn ridiculous to you, then think about how I felt about this whole thing about soulmates!"
"What? Your kind don't believe in 'the right one'?" The Kong raised an eyebrow at the exclamation and pouted his lips when he saw the obvious side-eye given by the male human. "What? Don't you?"
"I think they do! It's just that it's not as big a thing for them as it is for us." Peach couldn't help but giggle at the two's interaction. They were both as stubborn as can be and had a mismatched type of communication that she just knew would cause more trouble in the future.
"And how do you know?" DK questioned with some hostility and used his feet as the main maneuvering tool, while he crossed his hands to show his annoyance with her presence. There was a closeness between the two humans that he didn't really like, especially when Mario hadn't fully accepted him as his soulmate yet.
It was likely because they were both the same kind of being that the male human had much more dependence on the princess; DK can understand that mentality well — as he would probably do the same thing if dropped into a strange world — but that did not make the experience of seeing the love of your life being closer to someone else any more comfortable.
"Don't be rude!" Mario sternly said after recognizing the abrasiveness present in Kong's tone, and the prince reacted with even more pouting as he glanced at the too-close distance between their vehicles.
DK knew that it was quite unfair of him to be so petty with the other monarch, yet he couldn't really stop himself from being upset and somewhat lashing out at her.
Damn it, he was a prince too! He was kind of used to the idea of getting what he wanted most of the time, and he wanted this human to love him back so damn bad that it hurt when it didn't happen as he wished it did.
"It's okay. I mean, I would react similarly if I met my soulmate!" Princess Peach smiled and pulled away slightly from her companion to be closer to where Toad's vehicle was, while also giving DK an assured nod of understanding.
Great, she was an extremely kind and graceful person, too. What the hell is she even bad at?
"No, you won't." Donkey snarled at the comforting words, causing Mario to roll his eyes at the little one-sided, petty conversation. Yet before he could add any personal opinion about the childishness of the Kong, the creature's features abruptly turned serious — which was very alarming since the human didn't realize he could even do that — as he stared forward with a growl.
In front of them, there were small dots on the horizon lines of the road that signified some not-so-friendly company, especially so when you considered how loud their war cry was that it travelled all the way to them, against the loud winds and the sound of engines.
And for a few seconds, Mario felt as if he couldn't breathe. He was not ready for this many enemies.
Even with all the training, only shortly by Peach, and mentally convincing himself that he was okay going to battles, being used to fighting with other humans for some respect, he was still just a plumber who had never even thought about the concept of being in the middle of a war.
This is impossible!
He couldn't do this. He's going to die here and fail at saving his brother, and then Luigi is going to suffer, all because of his stupid decision to 'follow their fate.'
How is Mom and Dad going to take the news? Would they be more disap-
Mario felt a large hand land softly on his head and took in some big, struggling breaths as he looked up.
DK smiled back at him. The human didn't notice when the Ape had gotten so close; He was now practically being embraced by him, as his posture had gone back to its more relaxed state while he steadily drove Mario's vehicle with his other hand, using his feet for his own race cart.
The Kong fingers tapped lightly on top of his head in a slow rhythm, and Mario recognized it as a way of soothing his nervousness. He glanced at the tips of fingers that were poking out behind the brim of his newsboy cap in his perspective, then back at the creature, and gave a soft nod as thanks.
Princess Peach's lips twitched up a little at the strangely romantic scene. She could definitely see why they would be a good match. "Eyes on the road, boys!"
DK shrugged at the advice and released the wheel after he was sure that Mario was calm once again, before staring back at the army in front of them.
"It seems the Koopa sent his little army to greet us. How thoughtful!" The Kong Prince said with a big grin and slightly tilted his head to take a look at his dad, who was not far away. "Although we should recommend that they not bring weapons next time!"
"Don't be over-confident now!" Cranky signed but couldn't help but smirk as well at the sarcastic remarks from his son. "They aren't as physically strong, but they do have a lot of long-range weapons."
“We will be alright!” Donkey Kong said while glancing at Mario. “We have our carts too!”
“Don’t worry, we got this!” Toad yelled excitedly before pressing on the gas to move up to the front line. “LET’S GOOOO!”
“Ha ha ha!” Mario laughed at the little guy's thrill and started to speed up, too.
On the opposite side, the Koopas dispersed into smaller groups and moved in a ‘V’ form. The leading soldiers launched their rockets at the Kong army, causing the team to split up as they tried to dodge the attack.
Mario, DK, Princess Peach, and Toad instinctively moved closer together, with the three boys surrounding the woman. The Kong watched the missiles being added to the sky and gently alerted her, “Be careful, Princess! It seems they’re trying to separate you.”
“Thank you!” Peach nodded slightly at the warning, her delicate eyebrows furrowed thoughtfully. “But I think we should separate, because standing so close together is like giving them a target to shoot at.”
Mario turned to argue, “No! If we do what they want, you’ll be-”
“Mario, I’ll be fine!” The princess interrupted his reasoning with a shake of her head and a confident smile. “Don’t forget, I taught you how to fight! What you can do, I can do too!”
“But-”
“Besides, I also have something I’m fighting for. Your younger brother is waiting for you! Trust me, splitting up will increase our chances of success.” Peach said firmly and glanced at Donkey Kong, driving to her left.
“I really don’t like the fact that you’re decent at everything. Not. One. Bit!” DK chuckled while adding his little joke before moving aside to let her drive out, followed by Toad’s huge cart.
“Are you crazy? Weren’t you the one who said that the enemies were trying to separate her?” Mario glared at the gorilla, who was rapidly increasing his speed to catch up, then leaned over to watch the princess and her subjects running further and further away.
“Did you really think you could stop that woman? I’m pretty sure she’d kick your ass if push comes to shove.” The Kong shrugged at the man's anger and replied with a nonchalant air that made the plumber want to tear his hair out.
"BOOM! BOOM!" Loud explosions rang out around them, bringing the argument to a halt as both sides focused on dodging the enemy's deadly attacks.
Admittedly, the Koopas were well-prepared for close combat, as they all successfully made sharp turns on the road — which was almost completely packed with heavy vehicles at this point — to close in on the Kong's army.
“You’re done for, human!” A soldier scowled at Mario as he sped up to ram his vehicle into the plumber’s. His angered and dangerous move got the human stunted, not fully prepared for the Kamikaze being enacted on him.
“Not on my watch!” DK snarled and threw a banana peel on the road before the other creature could react, causing him to spiral out of control as his cart spun across the rainbow road — hitting many on his way and causing quite a dizzying scene — before being flung over the edge by another Kong, who was wearing shade.
“Nice throw, DK!” The other Kong gave them a thumbs-up before quickly speeding up again to join another group in fighting the turtle-like creature.
“You ready for the fight?” The Prince pulled out a Power-Up box from his cart’s storage with some concern in his tone; His eyes stared straight into the plumber as he continued. “Just stick close to me, yeah?”
“Got that!” Mario nodded and accepted the item. He scoffed down the Super Mushroom and stepped on his gas pedal with determination.
As they moved up in line, several Koopas closed in with the mission of pushing the pair to the edge of the road. However, with the prince of Kong right beside, it is almost impossible to outmaneuver them as Donkey pushed and swiped the enemies off the ground with his obstacles and vehicle.
Mario, in the meantime, was also able to get rid of some of the soldiers by dodging their attacks at the correct time.
At some point, the road split into many smaller sections that seemed to swoop around and all over the place, reminding the human of roller coasters that he used to go on with his twin.
The scenery was so breathtaking that Mario almost forgot that he was in an active battlefield, as he stared at some of the sections that seemed to go up through the clouds.
“Bam! Bam! BAM!” A series of sounds of something hitting metal awakened Mario from his amusement, and he turned back to see what had made the noise.
DK was now standing up with only one hand on the wheel, his eyes glaring at one Koopa, knocked out and was actively falling from a, presuming, throw.
“Don’t even fucking try me!” The Kong growled at the already defeated enemy before sitting back down in his seat.
“Mario, watch out!!!” He heard Peach’s voice somewhere
"Crap!" The only thing that the plumber could do at that point was to swear under his breath.
After all the trouble, and he still failed, huh?
His heart pounded rapidly as he tried to figure out any way to escape from the imminent threat of falling to his death, but the sound of his heartbeat was too loud for him to focus on anything helpful. He was going to die!
"Didn't I tell you to stick by my side, idiot?" The Prince of Kongs spoke —his voice much closer than Mario had expected — and the human looked back at him in awe, and somewhat of a panic.
Following the plumber, the Kong and his cart were now also on their way to being plunged into the cold, dark water beneath them.
"What the hell? Why are you-" Mario started in horror. He wanted to yell at the creature for being so dumb and jumped down with him, because the thought of someone whom he had just gotten to know not so long ago dying because of his mistakes was just unbearable for him to stay silent before his own demise.
"Just shut your little mouth and curl yourself up for me, okay?" DK stopped the human-dreading monologue and pulled out a Power-Up Mushroom to consume, which was followed by him leaping across the air using his cart as a launchpad — and embracing Mario with his entire body. "My body and the Power-Up will allow me to take the full impact, so just focus on protecting your organs!"
"I-" The Plumber wasn't sure what to say at that point. And, before he could even figure out his statement, he felt the muscular body surrounding him tensed up, and-
"Bamp!"
They had finally hit water.