Hey, guys. It is Lovemet123, as you live and breathe. This is very much a surprise for some of you that may have thought I disappeared off the face of the Earth. As far as writing was concerned, I kind of was absent as I had terrible writer's block and a yearning to write better. This new story that I am posting to you guys is the result of an idea I thought would be cool to write about and would be a good way to practice writing, which might still be horrible from when I last posted something. Though I do think this idea is worth sharing, so I hope you enjoy this first chapter of my new story, The Prince.

Echoes of laughter filled the hallways of Bowser's Castle, gradually becoming louder as minions approached the gigantic double doors. They look at each other before coming to a decision. Putting their hands on the doors and, with as much force as they managed to muster, pushed them open. The two Koopa Troopas came forward and knelt down before their king.

"Lord Bowser."

The big turtle stood up with his arms crossed, a cocky smile on his face.

"So, have you brought good news? As you can see, I am in the middle of an important discussion."

Bowser put a hand out to the cage hanging next to him. Inside of it was none other than Peach Toadstool, princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. This wasn't the first time she had been kidnapped by the big brute, and it definitely won't be the last, much to the princess's annoyance, which is greatly shown on her face. Time and time again, he manages to take her and the end result has always been that he is defeated by Mario and Luigi. The question becomes if he will ever realize the results will never change?

"Uh…not quite your Surliness." One of the koopas spoke up before nervously adding. "Mario and Luigi have broken into the castle."

Bowser closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt like a vein could pop out of his skull from pure frustration. He could feel the fire of killing intent grow more destructive, replaying that message in his head over and over. The many times he has had to hear those words he wanted to encompass their necks in his palms and rid them of the air they breathe, but he refrains from doing so as he unfortunately still needs them

"You came…all this way...just to tell me THAT!?"

The deep boom in Bowser's voice made everyone in the room jump, including Peach. Bowser knew how to throw good temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way or if any of plans do not go right. Everyone could see just how mighty he was when pissed.

"You act like that is even news around here anymore. Return to your posts at once, and do not come back if you can not produce to me a captured Mario and Luigi. Understood!?"

The koopas nodded quickly and scurried away. Bowser took a deep breath and sat back down on his throne, trying to calm himself. He wondered to himself how his troops manage to function on a daily basis if that statement is something they perceived as important.

"You won't win this, you know."

Bowser looked up at the cage and grinned, excited to hear such sass from the princess. It sometimes amused him how much fight he can hear the princess has, but sees that she obviously can't do much about it if anything at all.

"You know Peach, it is useless for you to keep fighting me. At some point, you will be mine, and so will your kingdom."

"In your dreams. I would never marry a monster like you." Peach refused. Bowser gave a loud, hearty laugh. Peach felt like her words were not getting through to Bowser as he was clearly dismissing her refusal. "You think you have a choice in the matter? You are a princess. I am a king. I can rule without a queen, but you cannot rule without a king. You will marry me and you will hand your kingdom to me."

Peach only crossed her arms. Bowser was certainly right that she cannot properly rule over her kingdom without a king, but she is still not willing to hand it to him.

"I will marry whomever I believe is right to rule my kingdom. Your tyranny towards my people is unacceptable."

Bowser rolled his eyes and chuckled. They have been over this many times, having the same conversation.

"Do you think I give a damn about what your people think about my rule, Princess? You know I only live for one reason, World Domination. The planet is my oyster to explore, and I will seize it for myself."

Peach could only sigh at the empty words that were being tossed her way. She hoped something or someone would come to rescue her from another one of Bowser's lectures and trash talking, which seemed to be the only thing he was getting better at. As if someone was answering her prayer, there came a loud bang in the distance and a child's laughter

"Heh heh, looks like my boy found me again. He is definitely a chip off the old block if I do say so myself."

Bowser watched as his son charges in, some of the soldiers chasing after him. Bowser Koopa Junior, a mischievous little boy modeled after his father. He had been playing hide and seek with the king, though he was not able to tell that his dad had other ideas when he agreed to play with him. Not that he minded. As fast as his legs could carry him, the little koopa ran to the middle of the room and pointed at Bowser.

"Ha! I found you, Papa. Now it is your turn to find me."

Bowser gave a small chuckle, ruffling the red hair that sat atop the green skull. Before anything else was said, Bowser Jr. noticed the princess in the cage. Something that never made sense to the young heir was the fact that every time she 'visited', she had to be locked up. Crossing his arms, he opened his mouth and said something that put Bowser in an uncomfortable position.

"Papa, why do we always have to have mama Peach locked up every time she comes here? I know she isn't my mama, but you said she would get to play with me too."

Bowser could feel sweat trying to break out through his tough reptilian skin as the question loomed in the air. Bowser never explained the importance of Peach being in a cage, feeling that doing so would reveal a side of him Jr. was very unaware of. He decided he would try and approach this topic carefully, hoping that once they were finished, Bowser Jr. would still have no idea what was actually going on, but would be okay with it happening anyway.

"Well son, you see-!"

Before he could begin, the doors were busted open by the red and green duo that annoyed Bowser to no end. All eyes proceeded to give them attention as Mario walked forward, Luigi following closely behind. Both of the bros gave all the others the feeling of danger as if they were ready to strike.

"Bowser! We have come for the princess, yet again. Return her back to her people!"

Bowser grit his teeth. He was tired of seeing the two brothers succeed in reaching their way to the castle. He wished they would stop following him and let him go on with conquering the Mushroom Kingdom, but Bowser knew they wouldn't leave it at that and would continue to pursue him when the princess is kidnapped.

"You pesky plumbers. How dare you come into MY castle and declare me to give up MY princess and what is soon to be MY kingdom."

Mario got in his battle stance as Bowser rose from his golden throne. The man in red knew he was going to have to fight the turtle-like creature again. It discomposed him to no end how anyone keeps stealing a princess and then gets their ass handed to them on a silver platter, only to return and take her again. He wished himself that he had a way to end this constant cycle as quickly as he would end this battle in victory. He turned to his brother.

"I need you to go and get Peach out. I will handle Bowser."

Luigi hesitated at first, but decided that his brother could handle himself, having done so many times before. He nodded and separated himself from Mario. Bowser stepped down and mirrored Mario's action, smoke flowing out of his nostrils.

Before Luigi could reach the large cage, a cannonball shot towards Luigi that hit him directly on his side, sending him flying into the wall. Luigi underwent heaping amounts of pain from the strike, but slowly recovered. The green adorned bro scanned around to find the offender in a mini clown cruiser, which blocked the way to the cage

"Don't you dare touch Mama Peach! I wont let you take her, again!"

Luigi brushed the dirt and debris off of himself and shot forward. Bowser Jr. opened the mouth of the clown car and blasted a couple more cannonballs, which Luigi barely managed to dodge and readied his own green fireball. He moved behind Bowser Jr. and launched his attack, only for the little koopa to counter it with a swing of his metal mallet. Luigi shot some more quick fireballs as he raced to the princess, the young prince following behind. He jumped and kicked up against the wall and to the cage grabbing onto the bars.

"Heh, so it does help to watch my brother from time to time."

Peach felt numerous signs of relief seeing him.

"Luigi! The cage is locked. There is a key at the very top of the pole."

She pointed up, Luigi's eyes following its direction. Sure enough, there was a gigantic key floating atop the cage's antenna. Luigi was unimpressed by the typical, almost predictable hiding spot the big Koopa chose.

"Either he has run out of good hiding spots or he really isn't trying this time around," Luigi noted as he climbed up the cage's bars. Bowser Jr aimed his cannon and set off a barrage of cannonballs, all missing Luigi.

"Hey, it is dangerous to be shooting things like that at someone who is trying to climb to get something."

Bowser Jr. gnashed his teeth together at the unintentional taunt. He hated the bros, always trying to take what is important and beating him and his father. Luigi inched closer and Bowser Jr. took out a hammer from his clown car. The little turtle chucked it and watched it fly toward the younger bro.

Luigi saw the hammer coming his way and did the only thing he could think to do. He stuck his hand out and to his surprise, caught the handle of the iron mallet, the force of the hammer spinning him around the pole a bit. Keeping his grip on the pole, Luigi tossed the hammer in the other hand and sent it flying back to Bowser Jr., knocking him out of the Clown Car.

Bowser caught sight of him and ran to the unconscious koopa kid, calling his name. Mario couldn't stand to see this and went up to the worried father.

"Bowser, this has to stop. Can't you see how much trouble you are causing for yourself? And now his life is in peril!"

Mario saw Kamek out of the corner of his eye and dodged the magikoopa's attack. The determined protector faced the King's right-hand koopa.

"How dare you speak to your future king that way." Mario grit his teeth and he readied himself to fight again.

Luigi slid down the pole back to Peach's cage and unlocked the door. He took her hand and they jumped from the cage to the floor safely. They met up with Mario and started after the exit. However, they were stopped by the troops pouring in, forcing them to the back, against the wall.

Surrounded and unsure of what to do, Mario opened his arms in protection of his brother and the princess.

"This is the end of the line for you, Mario, and your precious friends."

The three braced for a big attack from the magikoopa until it was stopped by Bowser, much to the confusion of everyone in the room. Bowser's eyes were red from the obvious tears he had shed, and his presence was giving off ominous vibes to all, especially Kamek.

"Back off! That plumber is mine. I am going to incinerate you into ash!"

Bowser's rage was unlike any anger he had shown before. The troops wanted to back away from this dangerous scene being played out, but they dared not move as to not face the same treatment. Bowser was too irate to hear a faint "papa" call him.

The little koopa was regaining consciousness, his eyes slowly opening and his body beginning to move again. Taking one step after the other, he tried to balance himself on his feet. Almost immediately, he felt a chill down his spine. Despite his head hurting, his vision blurry, and his hearing deafened, he called out a little louder. "Papa?"

Bowser unfortunately still couldn't hear his son as he took a breath so large, his stomach quickly expanded. WIth one big blow, the Koopa King unleashed a gigantic fireball hurling it toward Mario at a great speed. Mario waited for it to get closer and took out his yellow cape he had on hand, waving it once and sending the fireball back.

Bowser didn't anticipate the small man bringing a reflector weapon with him but nonetheless jumped out of the way. Only now did he realize just how big his projectile was as his tail was barely singed. He watched the fireball rush toward its next victim.

Bowser Jr. wobbled trying to keep himself still as his senses started coming back. When his sight came back, he saw a huge ball of fire heading straight for him. Alas, it was a bit late for him to do anything with the last thing in his vision been his father, who only watched in horror.

Troops outside of the castle jump as the wall of the throne room of the castle was blasted to smithereens. None of them noticed a small child being thrown from the area with great force. He soared through the sky, completely blacking out.

Bowser heard his own heart shatter as he just witnessed an explosion that wiped away one of the VERY few people he actually cared about. The waterworks began again, unable to make a move or a sound.

The troops were also paralyzed from the scene that just played out. Kamek put a comforting hand on his king, who surprisingly pulled him into a tight hug as he finds his voice, letting out a cry no one was familiar with. All they could do was bow in silence as they mourned for the could-have-been future heir.

Mario tightened his grip, wanting so much to sucker-punch his rival for a careless attack. He never wanted any battle to end like this, despite the many things Bowser had done to them. Luigi cupped Mario's shoulder and led him and Peach to the exit. Mario looked back one last time at the grieving monster before finally turning away and heading home.