Forward: This is my (Razzi) first fanfic, and first ever Mario fanfic, so just a warning in case it's terrible. This specific chapter's pretty long and focuses only on Bowser, but trust me, there WILL be fluffiness (and an actual plot) in a few chapters. I do write a chapter or two ahead of what I publish, so hopefully that'll stop any change of plans or whatever. But if you have suggestions, please tell me! But if your suggestion is not to have a BowserxPeach fic, then I can't do that for you. ;) I know the pairing's a bit unorthodox, but I think it's sweet, and I've been a shipper of it since before I knew the word.
Disclaimer: Only thing I own in this chapter is Cookoopa, Jakob, Kardon, and some of the Darkland provinces.
Chapter One: Good Morning
Koopaworld's giant Volcanopalace began its morning ritual of grinding up the inside of the volcano's rocks. Cooling lava began sizzling hot, gears clanged, rocks smashed, and all other kinds of commotion began the day. It was 8:30 on the spot, and Bowser was awake.
The mighty king opened his eyes and grinned. Oh the melodious music of his Volcanopalace! The sign that a new day had truly started, that the world was continuing, and that his kingdom was still one of the most powerful in the entire world. Bowser flung off his steel wool blanket and climbed off his bed. The superkoopa stretched his limbs and let out a mighty roar-like yawn while the Volcanopalace let out its first blast of energy of the day. The eruption rumbled his room and automatically turned on his shower. Bowser grinned as he heard the hot water tumbling into his bathroom shower and he headed towards it. The constant flow of motion and power, completely undisturbed for generations, continued to astound him. What kingdom other than his own had the wealth and power to be able to constantly make "disposable" castles and headquarters to fulfill entertainment purposes? None. Not even the Mushroom Kingdom, or so Bowser had been told.
He removed his pajamas and stepped into the shower, letting the steamy water stream over his body and through his fire red mane. The eruption ended and so did the flowing water. Bowser stepped out and concentrated his energy as if to blow fire. He held in the flame, and successfully let all the water steam off his body. Bowser grappled through the white mist of steam and clutched his newly polished green shell, adorned with spikes. The king slipped it on and stared in front of his mirror. The mirror frame was shaped of tiny Bowser replicas as well as other KoopaKings of the past. Bowser pulled his claws through his mane and grabbed an igneous toothbrush with rock-firm bristles. Bowser wet it and scrubbed his horns until they shined then did the same for his menacing teeth. He snapped the head, now with frayed bristles, off and into a trashcan. Bowser tossed the rest of the brush into a separate bin for the maids to re-attach a new head.
As he left his room, draped in red and black satin with statues of himself dotting the benches, lighting, and his own bed, he secured his spiked arm bracelets and choker. The rumbling of the Volcanopalace's energy source vibrated his feet and gave the mighty king a tempo to his walking as he ambled down the long, stone hallway. As he drew closer to the big black door with his engraved image on it, (biting a cheep-cheep on a stick,) he could hear voices. Two bickering, high-pitched ones, a loud, boastful one, a quiet, humming one, and the scratching of a quill along with random notes bellowed out. Bowser pushed the door open and announced his presence.
"Daddy!" Bowser jr. rushed up to his father and grasped onto his leg.
"Hello, Junior," Bowser gruffly said and stepped over to the large, wooden (and quite burnt) table where five of Bowser's eight kooplings were sitting. "'Morning." They all returned his greeting graciously. Bowser pulled out a steel chair and shook his leg before sitting. In response, Bowser Jr. scrambled off and into his own chair, watching his father excitedly. "Where's Larry?" Bowser asked his kids, noticing his second youngest koopling's absence.
"Drawing designs," Ludwig, Bowser's oldest son with crazy blue hair, replied over his stacks of parchment. He picked up his parakoopa quill, dripping blue ink, and looked to his father. "How does this sound, Pa? Do fa do mi di di, ti mi ti do…"
"It's great, Ludwig." Bowser said with a wave of his claw. Although Ludwig knew his father wasn't paying attention, he grinned in pleasure and scratched down more notes. "And Wendy…?"
"Bedroom vanity." Lemmy, Bowser's second oldest son with a lazy eye and rainbow hair, replied. "As usual."
"What's foh breakfast, Pops?" Roy, Bowser's third oldest and bald son with outlandish sunglasses asked.
"How'm I supposed to know, Roy? Ask Cookoopa."
"'Ey! Cookie! What's foh breakfast?"
Cookoopa, the Royal Koopa Family's professional koopa chef was a fat, but cheerful koopa. "Fried eggs with Goombread, hunny."
"North or South?" Iggy Koopa, Bowser's middle child with heavy glasses inquired.
"Goombread? North." Cookoopa replied cheerfully.
"You know," Ludwig mumbled over his composing, "South is a lot healthier. It has more fiber."
"Your face has more fiber, fiber-face!" Morton Jr. shouted in reply. Ludwig simply rolled his eyes.
"Cookoopa, put my eggs in the Goombread, I have to get going. Roy, tell Wendy and Larry to get out eating their breakfast or I'm feeding it to Chomp." Bowser commanded. He stood up and grabbed his breakfast from Cookoopa.
"Sure thang, Pops." Roy slid out of his chair and walked over to one of the four spiral staircases, each leading to two of the koopling's bedrooms. He howled up one of them, "Larry! Gecho tail down here before Pops throws your eggs to Chomp." With a squeal, the door banged open and closed and Larry soared down his stairs. Roy shouted the same warning up Wendy and Bowser Jr.'s staircase.
"Then let Chomp eat them! I'm busy!" Wendy yelled down to the Dining Room, adding, "I hate eggs anyway!"
Cookoopa gave a little laugh. "You tell her if she doesn't eat her protein, she'll get wrinkles like ol' Cookoopa."
"'Ey Wendy! Cookie says if yous dun eat your eggs you'll get wrinkles on yoh face!" Roy yelled up to his sister. Wendy ran down her stairs in reply, high-heels clicking like horse hoofs as she hurried. In the drama-queen fashion she was infamous from, Wendy popped her claws onto her hips.
"You serious? 'Cause my hair isn't done yet."
"You don't have any hair, baldy!" Morton bellowed.
While Wendy gripped her bow defensively, Ludwig retorted with "And you do?" Morton's chair leapt back with a screech as he stood, cracking his knuckles and approaching Ludwig. In reply, Ludwig lovingly placed his quill back into the ink well and placed his hands behind his shell defensively.
"Hey, hey, hey, no fighting until I get back from the meeting." Bowser warned with a shaking claw. "Cookoopa, give me eggs, I gotta get going." Bowser stuffed the eggs in Goombread into his mouth as Cookoopa passed out the other eggs to the kooplings. His boiling 'salvia glands' (that would ignite into flame when met with air) quickly disintegrated the breakfast and Bowser swallowed the remains without a single chew. "Make it bigger next time. See you when I see you," the king dismissed himself with a waving claw. As he pulled the heavy door open and stormed into the next long, dark hallway he could hear his children squealing farewells.
Bowser's feet clicked regally on the stone floor as the Dining Room's doors swung shut. Scurrying workers of all kind raced through the many corridors, bowing and saluting as each passed the king. Bowser nodded proudly to each greeting until one especially enthusiastic hammerling appeared at his side.
"Your Majesty?" Bowser grunted in reply as he kept walking. The short hammerling raced to keep up with the superkoopa's strides. "I'm Jakob. I'm on an internship here; it's an honor to meet you!" Bowser grunted yet again. "Perhaps you've heard of my father, Bokaj?"
Bowser stopped in his steps and turned to the hammerling, nervously straightening his showy helmet. "Yeah, I've heard of Bokaj, used to be Thundering Turtle's Tosser. How's he doin'?" Bowser continued his pace down the hall, turning down every few corridors to get to his destination.
"Good, a bit slower than normal what with his foot injury. Dropped a hammer, y'see."
"Shame. He was a good defensive player on the team. You going to replace him as the new Tosser?"
The hammerling laughed, "I wish! I'm no where ready for that right now."
"That's right. Loose some of that flab and thicken your shoulders before you even look at Equipment manager, kid." With that, Bowser reached his door.
"Thank you, sir!" Jakob squealed. Thrilled with his conversation, he scampered down the opposite direction.
Bowser pressed his claw against a char black door with a large golden star on it. Upon opening the door, he entered a large room with a high ceiling and a huge round table in the center of the room. Bowser nodded formally to all those sitting at the table and climbed a small flight of stairs. These stairs led to a large puff in the center of the table itself where the mighty Koopa King sat. He looked down at those around him and his assistant, Kammy Koopa, rushed up to sit near his puff. "Everyone present?" Bowser mumbled. Kammy nodded happily. "Then let's get this over with."
Kammy signaled to a very tall magikoopa, who launched four green flashes into the room to gain attention, as if Bowser's presence hadn't already done that. "Let the Meeting commence."
Bowser drummed his sharp claws against his knee as the representatives from the North Bay and the representatives from Tchital bickered over who owned the gulf between them. Two of the more tourist-y parts of the Darklands, the gulf was a big moneymaker. Bowser rolled his eyes and spoke up. "Tchital can own the half closest to them. North Bay gets the half closest to them. No one goes in the middle, that'll be owned by me."
"Excellent idea, your lordship!"
Bowser ignored the compliment and turned to Kammy. "Is it over now? That was the last item on the itinerary for today."
"I don't know, majesty. Let me check-" Kammy spoke in whispers with the tall magikoopa who had called the meeting's beginning. "My lord, Kardon says that there is one other matter to be discussed."
Bowser rubbed his temples impatiently. "What is it?"
Kardon looked his king in the eye. "The council of Magikoopas is wondering what your current plans for the Mushroom Kingdom are."
Bowser glared at Kardon. "You've got some nerve. Those plans are between Kamek, Kammy, and myself."
"Yes sir, but you've been lagging in activity since the incident in Rougeport, and we were wondering if we could help."
"No. I'm letting the kingdom simmer. As soon as we have control over Ekrobak-"
"Sir, Ekrobak's been resisting us for 5 years and-"
Bowser plowed on past the interruption. "-we will produce plans for the Kingdom. Ekrobak is still in a weak alliance with King Toadstool, we can't risk the Mushroomies trying to help those at Ekrobak."
Kardon looked defeated by his reasoning. "Yes sir. That was all."
"Then end this."
Kardon stood and cleared his throat. He launched four more green flashes and cried in a booming voice, "We now adjourn this Meeting for one week. We will meet again on the Eighth of Rekorb." With that announcement, the meeting's attendants quickly began to disperse, some headed towards exits, others gathering together to chat. Bowser glanced up at the giant clock with his face engraved behind it. 1:28, was the meeting seriously that long? Bowser stretched out his arms and headed for the door, letting his thoughts wander to things more pleasant than his monarchial duties. His children, his power, and…Peach.
Author's Note: Much more to come! Hopefully all that wasn't too tiring to read. It was fun to write! Please R&R and you'll get more. Whatever you write (or don't), I will keep writing, But I may not publish. ;)