Super Mario Universe

19 | Bowser's Galaxy Castle

Mario gulped. This was it. This was what the past few days came down to. It was either do or die. The stakes had never been higher for a Mario/Bowser battle, so he was pretty nervous!

"I'm nervous," Mario said to Rosalina and Luigi, walking up to the castle. "Even though Bowser's never won a battle."

"Let's just get in & get out of here," Luigi laughed. "It's creepy."

And creepy was right. Planet Bowser had a shade of dark red, almost black. Lava spewed out from random spots all over the place. And on the center of the extremely tiny world stood a huge castle. Towers sprouted out everywhere! It was like walking up to the Mushroom City skyline!

Mario looked back at everyone once his hands were on the ginormous front door. "Alright, you guys, this is it!" he announced.

"Hooray!" Cheep laughed. "This has been the best ten minutes of my life."

Toad chirped with joy. "Let's save our princess!"

And Piantette stood with an annoyed expression. Waiting for her to say sow thing, Mario leaned over with a hand on his ear. Piantette grunted. "You do you and I'll do me."

Mario flung the doors open, and the group walked into Bowser's Galaxy Castle.

--🌎--

Bowser Jr. was waiting for them. "Hello, hello!" he yelled. He had an evil expression on his face. He practically gleamed at Mario behind his flying Koopa Car.

"Step aside!" Sprix laughed. "I actually mean fly aside . . ."

Mario turned to his loyal followers. "We don't have time to deal with Bowser Jr.'s nonsense," he explained. "I need three volunteers to . . . take care of his situation."

Snowden, Kylie Koopa and Cheep stepped forward.

"Let's go!" Kylie looked at the people by her side.

Mario waved to the other people. "Come on!" he yelled. Rosalina, Luigi, Starlow, Sprix, Toad and Piantette ran upstairs.

Kylie, Snowden and Cheep dealt with Bowser Jr. They easily overcame over the child's weak tactics with no sweat.

Up with Mario, the group ran in a hallway until mysteriously the lights turned out one by one. A minute later, a blue glow appeared that circled around the Intergalactic Travelers.

"What is that?" Mario asked.

The blue circle stopped, slowly forming into a figure they knew all too well . . . Kamek. "Hahaha! And yet we meet again!" he cackled.

"Stop talking," Mario said. "We don't have time for your nonsense either."

Toad looked up at Mario. "Hey!" he waved. "Why don't we take care of this?" He pointed to Starlow and Sprix.

Mario hesitated. Kamek, in some ways, was even more powerful than Bowser himself. But Toad and the gang had gone through so much lately he was sure they could take him.

"Go," Mario waved out. He and his friends took off running.

Kamek yelled at Mario. "Nice getaway!" he laughed. "We'll meet again soon!"

Who knows? Mario thought. Maybe they would meet again soon. But Mario would be prepared.

Mario ran up more flights of stairs after Bowser. Suddenly Piantette stopped.

"What's wrong?" Mario asked.

"You . . . you . . ." she trails off.

Rosalina stepped forward. She grabbed Mario and Luigi. "We need to get out of here," she said. "Piantette is INSANE."

"What are you talking about?" Luigi asked, breaking her grip.

"She's evil!" Rosalina wailed. "She almost killed me back on board the ship! And she's the one who sunk our boat!!!"

"Stop talking," Mario said. "Piantette isn't . . . isn't . . ." He stopped talking himself. He couldn't say Piantette wasn't evil if he didn't know himself. She had changed recently. Ever since Kamek had hit her with that spell on Planet Frostbite . . . it hit Mario.

"Stop!" Mario yelled. "Piantette, it's Kamek's spell on you --- its corrupted your mind."

Piantette jumped to put her hands on the ground. Her blond hair was flowing in the soft breeze inside the castle, and an angry look crossed her face. "NO!!!!!!" She yelled. "It's NOT ME!! IT'S YOU!!!! ALL OF YOU!!!! YOU'VE CORRUPTED ME!!!!! KAMEK IS GOOD!! YOU ALL ARE WICKED!!"

Rosalina's jaw dropped. "See what I'm talking about?" she asked the Mario bros. "She's pure evil."

Mario knew his friend was right. So he turned and grabbed her and his brother, and ran. He ran far away from Piantette, because he knew she would hurt them if she got the chance. She had become an evil monster.

--🌎--

A minute later, they emerged on the roof of the castle. Mario looked to the right. There was the Ultimate Star!!

"Grab it, and maybe we can shut down Bowser's grip over this galaxy!" Rosalina yelled to Mario.

So Mario ran to it. It wasn't hard to do. He took the Ultimate Star out of the machine. That wasn't hard to do either.

As soon as the Ultimate Star was gone, the planet started crumbling under Mario's feet.

"What's happening?" Luigi cried.

"You!!!" came a voice behind them. Mario turned around and wasn't surprised to see Bowser, holding Princess Peach in his left hand, er . . . paw.

"We need to rescue Peach," Mario breathed softly to the others.

"I'll distract Bowser. You guys take Peach," Rosalina said. Mario nodded.

So while Rosalina and Bowser went back and forth, Mario snuck over to the princess.

"Mario," she laughed. "You made it."

All of a sudden, he grabbed Peach from Bowser. They ran back over by Luigi and Rosalina, who was holding the Ultimate Star.

"ARGH!!" Bowser cried in agony. "THIS. ENDS. NOW."

He breathed a humongous breath of fire that would incinerate them in a second.

However they were prepared. The flashed the Ultimate Star as a bodyguard.

"Good . . . will . . . triumph!" Mario yelled out.

The Ultimate Star then did something weird. It all of a sudden started glowing until its own light was besting Bowser's fire.

"Noooo!!!" Bowser cried in pain. "This isn't over!!!!"

All of a sudden, Bowser was blown away in a huge explosion that rocked the Bowser Planet. Everything was crumbling.

"We have to get out of here!" Peach yelled.

In an explosion of light, glitter and flashes, the Ultimate Star was no more. Or so Mario thought.

And then Mario started feeling dreamy . . . in a hazed sight, he almost could see his old friends climbing on board the Comet Observatory . . . odd.

Mario collapsed. It was over.