King Bowser slammed his fist into young Bowser's face, sending him flying across the room. The Yoshies scattered, each of the babies exclaiming in panic. All but baby Mario, who had grown used to this sort of thing.
Mario grabbed the back of Yoshi's head, trying to lead him around King Bowser. The baby Ape got over the panic with ease, and followed Mario's lead.
Young Bowser noticed this, and at first suspected the two of them were simply running away. But then he saw them circling back, and decided to aid their plan.
"Hey snot stain!" young Bowser shouted. He already had King Bowser's attention, but now that attention was focused. "If you're what I grow into, I would've thrown myself off the castle too!"
"You ungrateful--" King Bowser charged forward, but suddenly he toppled. The Ape had jumped on top of him, smashing into his head. Meanwhile, baby Mario had grabbed hold of-- and was now gnawing on-- King Bowser's tail. "Hey! Get off of me!"
"You brats!" Kamek hissed. He aimed his staff and fired a bolt of energy at baby Mario. However, the Ape had forced Bowser to turn, and the bolt ended up hitting King Bowser. "No! My King!"
Kamek raced forward, but Wario rode in front of him on his Yoshi, snatching the staff out of his hand before he could do anything. Kamek took a step back, but then found himself surrounded by the Stork and the Princess as well.
"You can't use my staff!" Kamek growled. "It's magic will not w-"
Wario smacked Kamek with the staff, then the Yoshies began their attack.
The King however, was in just as bad of shape. The Ape wouldn't get off, and young Bowser had realized his claws could be used for more than just scratching his head. Mario wouldn't let go of the King Koopa's tail, and that threw him completely off balance. King Bowser kept tripping over himself, trying to swat the babies away and defend himself from the Ape and the Yoshies.
"ENOUGH!!!" King Bowser roared, bellowing fire in every direction.
Everyone was thrown back. The Yoshies skid across the floor, the children were thrown against the walls, the Stork went spiraling... and Kamek cracked his head against a stone.
"This is over!" King Bowser shouted, unaware of his advisor's injury. "You are children! You are insects! You are worthless! How do you STILL, DEFY, ME!? I am BOWSER! King of All! Ruler of Galaxies! Nothing should be able to stop my reign of terror!"
The Yoshies forced themselves to stand, facing King Bowser. The children also stood, but they turned away.
"Cowards now!" King Bowser scoffed.
But they were not cowards. They turned away not to hide, or flee, but to crawl towards the fallen Kamek. He lay motionless on top of the stone.
King Bowser saw where the children were headed. "No," he hissed. He hurried to his advisor's side, dropping to his knees. "No... Kamek... I... I'm sorry."
The children sat beside the King, none of them fully understanding what had happened, only that something was wrong. Even Young Bowser seemed confused and worried.
"Back!" King Bowser roared, startling the children. "Back away! Go away!"
"Tsk tsk tsk," Kamek sighed, shaking his head as he entered the room.
King Bowser turned in shock, forgetting for a moment that the Kamek from the past had been locked away nearby. He didn't care how he'd freed himself, it didn't matter. "Old friend," King Bowser sighed, staring at his Kamek. "I-"
"You screwed up," Kamek said disappointingly. "Look at what you've done... Was the climb to power worth it? The journey back here?"
"You were so sure- He was so sure that those children had the power I desired," King Bowser shook his head. "But I let my anger get the better of me. Again..."
"Go home," Kamek told him. "I will take care of things here."
King Bowser looked at the frightened children. "Yes, of course." He got to his feet, carrying his advisor. "Take care of things here... I... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
As King Bowser left, Kamek turned back to the kids. "We'll consider this a victory for you all, for now." He approached the young Bowser. "As for us, it seems we were used by ourselves in a game we didn't know we were playing. I suggest we cut our losses, and take our leave."
"Yeah," Bowser nodded. "It's getting boring here." He looked at Mario. "This was fun! We should hang out again some time!"
Kamek led Bowser to the exit, but turned around as he reached the door. "The children are just down the hall," he said. "I'd retrieve them before the castle leaves. And Mario... thank that brother of yours for me."
The doors shut behind Kamek and Bowser.
___
<Directors>
Takashi Tezuka
Toshihiko Nakago
Shigefumi Hino
Hideki Konno
<Novelization>
Lincoln Reign
<Producer>
Shigeru Miyamoto
<Executive Producer>
Hiroshi Yamauchi
The Stork called for his allies, and the rest of the Stork's helped quickly remove all the children from the castle. They were soon returned to the world below, to their homes and families. As for the "star children" as Kamek had called them, they also returned to their proper places, snuggling back into their warm beds.
The Yoshies once again knew peace at last, and the Stork promised to continue watching over the family for as long as he could. The Castle disappeared as quickly as it came, and the world forced itself to forget the tragedy of that horrible night. The magics that guided the Storks was used to muddy the minds of those who were witness to the events of the past twenty four hours, but the scars would remain... even if no one remembered why. Mario and Pauline had even moved back to Italy, wanting to raise their children in their family home.
As the years passed, the Stork grew old, appearing only once to the twins a final time before returning home at last. His job was done, the kids were safe, and Kamek and Bowser hadn't been seen in a long time. He could know peace at last as well.
But the years pressed on, and soon nearly thirty years had gone by in the blink of an eye.
"'Ey Mario!" Luigi called, stepping back inside the little Italian house. "Th' train t' th' airport leaves in like, thirty minutes! Get'cha toosh movin'!"
"Yea' I'm movin'!" Mario countered, setting the picture frame back on the mantel. It was a photo of their family, old papa Jumpman, their mother Pauline, themselves the twins, and the Stork that their father seemed so found of. They'd only seen that bird once, but it was such an occasion their father felt the need to have a picture taken, but he never said why.
"Mario!" Luigi called again.
"Yea'!" Mario grunted, picking up his bag and heading to the door.
They might not have remembered their adventure, but they still have dreams of an island. Colorful dinosaurs, wicked creatures, towers and caves. A child's imagination is what they wrote it off as, but deep down, part of them knew.
It was real, their adventure through Yoshi's Island.
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Epilogue: Farewell
This was another one I'm more proud of than I should be. Especially the ending. Seeing Mario and Luigi all grown up with no idea what they'd already done or what they're about to step into.
I know when most people think Yoshi's Island, they think "Oh that odd one with all the crayon drawings, that was meant for the younger audiences right? I never played them myself but I've seen pictures. It never really interested me though."
Well, it should. Maybe even give the original games a second chance. They might not be perfect, it's definitely not Mass Effect levels of epicness. But on it's own scale, there's a sense of nostalgia I think people could use again these days.
Then again, I wrote this while basically in a lucid drunken stupor, so what do I know?