Mushroom Kingdom - Koopa Castle
A dark castle built atop an active lava flow, Bowser would have no less for his fortress. Guarded by Thwomps, robots, magical traps, and Koopa Elite, this place is impenatrable to all but the most resolute of plumbers, er, heroes. Bowser hatches all of his schemes here, as well as making it the home for himself and his extended family, including his children, who terrorize the countryside freely. If anything in this place is scarier than Bowser, it's them.
Contents:
Doom Ship
Wendy's Room
Bowser's Throne
Obvious exits:
<S>outh leads to Mushroom Kingdom - Koopa Kingdom.
Well, it's a hot as always in the Koopa Castle. Having Lava as one of your main decoratives will do that. The Koopa Troopa soldiers patrol the halls as always, while the King himself is coming up the stairs from the absolute lower levels. Work on the Doom Ship in the construction area is still underway, it was damaged more than Bowser initially thought.
And in all the heat, does /anybody/ notice a tiny bat flitting about? No, not really, except for target practice.
*BOOM*
Now there's a chunk of statuary that won't see the next day. With an annoyed sqeak, the bat continues its quest . . find who owns this place.
Who? Why the giant spikey backed turtle/dragon/kappa/thing that is stomping down the hallway. He shouldn't be too hard to spot. He's not in a good mood either, blasted reconstruction. His own soldiers mostly ignore him and step out of his way as he stomps down the halls, they know better.
And there's the likely Koopa! With a chitter, the bat swoops down, and latches onto one of the spikes on Koopa's back, shrinking a little to do so comfortably. Yess . . now it is time to wait, to see if there's an optimum place to talk with this King.
King Bowser finally reaches his throne room. Yes. Stomping down the spike-lined pathway, towards his eerie chair, he grumbles to himself incomprehensibly. He plops down on the stone seat, and rests his face on his fist, grumbling in thought in the way that only megalomaniacal supervillains can do, even incompetant ones.
"Nice castle. Can't say I like all the spikes, but the lava's a nice touch."
High, female, and vaguely fruity. Yup, that's Flea's voice all right.
The little bat flits off of Bowser's spike, and after circling his head once or twice, lands before him. But by the time it lands, it's not a bat, but Flea. "Hiyas, Bowsy-baby."
What the... Bowser gets visitors now? Since when? Bowser doesn't recognize the voice immediatly, but figures out who Flea is before long, s/he's been the only one with the nerve to call him 'Bowsy'. He grunts, not all too happy to have to deal with the guest, he's too busy grumbling and stuff. A bit of smoke escapes his mouth right before he speaks "What the hell do YOU want?" He demands, unfriendly as always.
Flea smirks, settling her hands on her hips. "Oh, just poking around, annoying the local population, wondering if you've got a picture of that chickie-poo you're mooning over, setting fire to the homes of the innocent. Stuff like that."
King Bowser narrows his eyes. He's slow, but not so much so that he wouldn't pick up on that little comment thrown in there. "First of all, that 'chickie-poo's name is Princess Toadstool. And yes, I do have pictures (lots of em), not that I'm showing any to /you/." He folds his arms, and leans back on the throne "Any OTHER reason you decided to drop in, aside from bugging me? I'm a busy Koopa you know..."
Flea begins to wander around the room as Bowser talks, taking in the decour. Briefly popping out the door, she returns with a large ball of pure fire swirling over one hand, and drops it in one of the spikes, where it continues to burn merrily. "How rather gothic it all is . . mm? Another reason?" Starting to sculpt the flame, her replies are rather absent-minded. "No, not really . . mostly curious. After all, faking a princess with that much will is much more challenging than replacing a 'missy' one."
King Bowser arches a thick, red eyebrow "Faking? What're you up to?" He grunts at the fire sculptage. Showoff. He's the flame master here! "And as for the castle... this is how I like it. You got a problem with it, leave." He seems to imply the word leave quite a bit.
Flea snips, "If I leave, you won't find out what I'm up to." Carefully, she begins shaping a long, flounced skirt out of the flames, gathering some up and leaving it there to be later turned into a torso, head and arms.
King Bowser eyetwitches "And what ARE you up to?" He growls, knowing perfectly well what that fire sculpture is starting to shape like. He doesn't like other villains messing around with Peach, he made THAT perfectly clear with the whole Dracula thing. He still has to wring Waluigi's neck as well...
Flea says, "Why, a little bit of subterfudge, of course . . who would suspect the princess to be gone, when the 'princess' is still there, hmm?"
King Bowser hmphs "You think /I/ need help kidnapping the Princess? Gwahahaha!" Yeah, it helps to have a huge ego when you always try to forget your past failures "Forget it. The Mushroom Kingdom is my gig. I don't need any help from anyone else."
Flea snorts, smirking. "Just to get your ass handed to you again, hmm? And just /how/ many tries have you made, hmm?" With a sharp laugh, she returns to her sculpture, finally getting in the last details. "I suspect you'll be the last to get an invitation when she marries her hero, then."
Whoa, don't go there. Before Flea finishes her sentance, a hammer is thrown through the air, going through her little fire-sculpture the second she finishes speaking. "My personal goals are my own business. At least I've come closer to them than most of the other pathetic excuses for bad guys we got on our side. I may have failed many times, but I've had the power, and the might to carry out all those plans. And each time I just BARELY lost! Mario's day is coming, oh yes...."
Flea gives Bowser a miffed look when he destroys her sculpture, scowling at him. Very slowly, she turns, heading towards him. "Do you have /any/ idea how often I hear that? 'just barely lost', 'nearly won' . . . "
King Bowser bahs "I dunno, how many times have YOU said it? I don't recall any glaring successes on YOUR record." He narrows his own eyes, he is NOT about to be lectured by someone in his OWN castle.
Flea growls at that, outright growls, her eyes narrowing. "Perhaps not, but I don't have /your/ crappy track record!"
King Bowser growls back, let's save the growling for those naturally inclined to do it, hm? "Maybe I do have a 'crappy' track record, but one thing I have never done is given up! I NEVER give up!! You may see it as a bad record, I see it as a reminder of all my painstakingly brillaint attemps, and how close I came each time, and that ONE DAY I'll have what I'm after!" He grunts "What about you? Do you admit defeat so easily?"
Flea says, "I don't see the point in going after one target, time after time, until they know /all/ of your tricks, old fool!"
King Bowser growls again "I've desired to rule the Mushroom Kingdom since I was a child! And I'm not about to 'change' who I love just because I fail once or twice! This is more than just a vendetta against Mario! This is my life's work!!"
Flea scowls at that, folding her arms in front of her. "Why the hell do you want to do it in the first place?! The kingdom's /useless/!"
King Bowser slams his fist down on the arm of his chair, the echo of the impact thundering through the chamber. Oh, she dundidit now... He narrows his eyes. "I won't have you insulting my home, OR my life's work! If you're not going to do anything but criticize what I do for a living, ally or not, I'll throw you out of here myself!"
Flea laughs, the sound sharp, bitter, and irritated. "Then what the hell do you call rejecting /help/ with it, hmm?" A slow, sly smirk crosses her face. "Or is it that you don't want anybody getting near 'your' princess, hmmmm?"
King Bowser narrows his eyes again "No I /don't/! That was tried with the Sinistrals and Dracula, and I showed just how serious I was by bringing THAT plan down real quick! Anyone does ANYTHING to Peach, and they'll regret it!" He lowers his voice, pretty much showing he's about finished "If you don't have anything else to say, get out."
Flea's eyes narrow, and with a small growl . . she's gone. Completely and utterly gone. No puff of smoke, no glowing, nothing. Just no Flea left. "Then maybe she should be my /next target/."
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