Summary: Many years of kingdom conquests lead King Bowser to a deal that he couldn’t refuse. The deal, long and forgotten, is now buried under his new life with Princess Ari. A pleasant day with his newly beloved goes haywire when he gets a visit from his creditor – Ridley, leader of the Space Pirates – whose hellbent on taking back the equivalent on what is owed: the Koopa Kingdom.
Authors Notes: This is an AU that @trashyourash and I came up with, where our inserts meet, Super Smash Bros fashion. This Metroid and Super Mario Bros crossover has the potential to expand into multiple chapters.
Rating: T
Word Count: 2,213
The paced clip clap of Princess Ari’s heels sent echoes from the royal floors of Bowser’s castle as she made her way to the dining hall. There was an odd smell of the typical volcanic fumes that made its way through the many windows and panels above her that clashed with the growing smell of a delicious dinner; it was truly only a scent that could be experienced in King Bowsers domain.
Ari’s stomach rumbled in anticipation of what was on the menu. Bowser’s henchmen never let her down before, and this dinner date was no exception, especially if Bowser himself had anything to say about it: “Only the best for my Ar-Ar, or I’ll smash your skull in!” she heard him say once.
Two small Koopa took notice of Ari’s arrival at the dining hall, and immediately took a respectful bow before working together to open the large doors. The opening of the entrance doors to the dining hall sent a slight draft to blow over her, with it carrying the delicious smells with it. Her eyes immediately landed on the elaborately decorated dining table, among it a red tablecloth adorned with a variety of foods for the occasion, and flowers freshly picked from what looked like the Gusty Garden’s Galaxy.
“Oh, Bowser, this is lovely!” Princess Ari exclaimed, her arms outstretched as she gestured towards the table.
Just as quickly as Ari’s excited expression of gratitude left her lips, a series of thumps rumbled from a door adjacent to Ari. Soon after, the doors burst open, as none other than Bowser himself entered the room.
“Babe!” He cried, a large smile plastered onto his expression. “You are here just in time; Kamek will be bringing out the Starbit cake shortly, and we’ll be ready to feast!”
Bowser quickly made his way towards the table itself, lifting a chair—directly beside his of course—outwards, and set it down, specifically for Ari. He gestured towards it, inviting his beloved to take a seat.
As Ari made her way over, the commotion had caused the other Koopa and henchmen to begin arriving in the hall, including Kamek, who lead a handful of henchmen carrying the Starbit cake to be planted on the table with the rest of the feast. Like a timely queue, once Ari had taken as seat at the table, everything was set, and the henchmen took a step back, bowing before Bowser and Ari.
“Your dinner, Sire… Princess…” Kamek said.
“It looks perfect, just as I told ya.” Bowser replied. He placed his large claw gently on Ari’s shoulder, and asked her, “Do you like it, Babe?”
“Bowser, you know I do,” Ari responded. Yes, it was over the top, and a bit unnecessary, but she loved being doted on by Bowser.
“I’m glad…” Bowser replied; his muzzle reached her ear as he gave her a smooch before taking a seat at his chair next to her. Once seated, he began to fill his plate, and help Ari set hers up as well before they both jointly began to partake in their dinner.
“I heard it’s gonna be a beautiful week at the Isle,” Bowser mumbled through bites. “Next time we oughta have dinner at your place.”
Ari lifted her napkin, patting her lips before responding, “You bet! The crowds aren’t supposed to come for another few months, so the season is ripe for fresh cuisine and space. We could hold the dinner outside wherever you want: Sirena Beach, Bianco Hills, you name it, Hon.”
“Ah, too many decisions,” Bowser grumbled. “Kamek, maybe you should flip a coin.”
“Yes, Sire…” Kamek noted. “What are your conditions?”
“Heads say we reserve the entirety of Pinna Park! Tails Sirena Beach and reserve the whole hotel!”
“Bowser, don’t you think that’s a bit much?” Ari said, although the instant she said it she knew better: she loved the idea. There was so much they could do besides dinner with all that space.
“Of course, Your Majesty,” Kamek nodded. With a twist of his wand in the air before him, a series of blue and green sparks would erupt before a single golden coin appeared and levitated within reach for him to grab. Kamek would take a second, putting away his wand, before he tossed the coin into the air.
As the gold spun round and round, a violent rumble overtook the castle. This startled everyone in the room as the eyes of all took their gaze away from the golden coin and around the ceilings. The coin would hit the floor, sending a high-pitched echo of its drop throughout the hall, but practically going unnoticed, just before a second violent rumble overtook the castle.
“Where is Bowser Junior?!” Bowser yelled, assuming his son was up to trouble.
“Your Majesty, your son has been visiting the Yoshi Isles, don’t you remember?” Kamek responded. “He’s has not returned yet.”
A third violent rumble escalated everyone’s alertness, causing Bowser to stand up. “Well then go and investigate, Kamek! What do I even pay you for?!”
Kamek sighed, “You don’t pay me at all,” before twirling his wand around himself, disappearing from his seat at the table.
“Hmmm, it’s probably nothing, just another earthquake is all,” Bowser justified aloud.
“Bowsie… I don’t think that was an earthquake,” Ari responded, contemplating to herself that as long as she had been visiting, intermittent quakes quite like this were not the norm.
A fourth quake erupted suddenly, this time accompanying it the sound of an explosion.
“Sire!” Kamek yelled, his return just as sudden as the eruption outside. “We are being invaded!”
“What!? By who?” Bowser replied aggressively, his sharp teeth appearing as he grimaced. “Who would possibly—not only invade me—but try and ruin my dinner!?”
“It appears to be the Space Pirates… if I recall, didn’t you work with them some years ago before your conquest for the Power Stars?”
Bowser’s grimace disappeared, his eyes dilated, and he seemed to go silent for quite some time. It was as if he was remembering something important… something he hadn’t even considered for quite a long time. “Oh… shit,” Bowser finally mustered. “Oh, SHIT!”
“Bowser, what is going on!?” Ari fussed, sitting up from her chair now and slamming her hands on the table. “Who are the Space Pirates? And you never told me you worked with anybody like that before!”
“Babe, it was a long time ago when I was doing my kingdom conquest,” Bowser said. “I don’t have time to talk about it right now, but you… you gotta hide.”
“No, I demand an answer right now!” Ari screamed, but Bowser was set in his ways, and his muzzle was sealed.
Quickly, Bowser would pick up Ari, and jot across the dining hall to the door he had arrived through, setting her down just on the other side of the door, before closing it shut and locking it. “There is an escape corridor down the hall to the left,” he said through the door. “Take one of the airships and get out of here!”
He was met with the response of Ari pounding on the door, frantically screaming at him, “You tell me right now what’s going on!”
Another blast hit at that moment, this time, in the castle itself. Only a few seconds later did the dining hall doors burst open in a bright eruption, emerging from it a woman, a _human _woman, in modified Space Pirate armor, and with her a flood Space Pirate henchmen.
Bowser turned from the door, prepared to put up a fight as he stared down his unexpected guests, walking forward to face them before he stood bravely just a few yards before the invaders.
During the stare down, and the continued sound of explosions outside, the woman lifted her hand to the side of her face, pressing a device in her ear. “He’s here,” was all that she stated, before her arm lowered again.
Those brief few moments of silent confrontation gave Princess Ari enough time to drop kick the door down, inviting herself back into the picture as she witnessed the woman and Space Pirates now present in the room.
“Who is she!?” Ari fussed, her finger pointing at the stranger in aggression as she barred her teeth.
“Ari… I told you to get out of here,” Bowser responded, this time his tone softer, but with it a cautious air that she had not seen in some time.
A loud screech then filled all the halls of the castle, causing Ari to cover her ears. A swoop and a _thud _foretold the Koopa King and Princess that this woman and these… monsters, were not the only invaders that had arrived.
Ari could see just behind the woman, in the now darkened hallway, a set of glowing orange eyes in the abyssal darkness. As the huge figure grew closer, she could finally see an intimidating creature—a dragon—as his wings spread over the woman and Space Pirate henchmen before them.
“Bowser… we finally have a chance to chat,” the dragon spoke. “You are lucky I didn’t just decide to kill you just now.”
“I’ll kill you first!” Bowser replied in anger. “How dare you come on this special day!”
“How dare I?” Ridley replied, mockingly. “After all these years… you had so much time to repay your debt to me, and yet I have seen nothing. I’ve decided to take back what is rightfully mine, and since you obviously don’t have any means of paying me back, I’ll just take what is owed….”
“Get lost, I don’t have nothing for you!” Bowser yelled.
“Tell me who these monsters are, Bowser,” Ari whispered from behind him. “I swear, if you don’t tell me right now, I am breaking up with you.”
“Ari, please, not now,” Bowser tried to convince her.
“Oh, how sweet, I see you’ve finally found a ‘princess’ you’ve so much desired,” Ridley mocked. “I’ll tell her for you, if it wasn’t already clear to everyone in the room: I am Ridley, commander of the Space Pirates. Your King, here, owes me a debt that has yet to be repaid from his days of kingdom conquests. Since he so obviously has and will never have any intention of paying me back, I will simply take his kingdom. It’ll be a great place of operations… as a matter of fact, it is reminiscent of Lower Norfair, which I particularly prefer.”
“You can’t do that!” Ari yelled. “Bowser, tell him to fuck off and go somewhere else!”
“You will die, soon enough,” Ridley said maliciously, taking joy in the confrontation. “Lieutenant Kat, I give you my command… tell the troops to kill, and to have fun.”
The woman who had arrived, now obvious to Ari and Bowser, was the Lieutenant in question. Kat raised her hand once again to the comm-link in her ear, and said, “Ridley commands you to kill as you wish and take the kingdom.” She paused, only for a moment, as she processed her command. “And troops… have fun, and report back to high command once your task is complete.”
Ari screamed as she ran forward, her bravery outmatching her caution, as she pulled a knife from her clothing, having taken it from the table just before Bowser had tried escorting her out. Before she could even get close to the Lieutenant, Kat raised her right arm, shooting a single shot of a laser beam from a gun-like weapon mounted on her forearm, that hit the knife out of Ari’s hand, and sent it flying across the room.
Ari grabbed hold of the hand that had been holding the knife and hissed in pain.
“You know what they say: ‘don’t bring a knife to a gun fight’,” Kat said.
“Very well played,” Ridley commented towards Kat. “Bowser, your pet can play another time. Or not at all, actually… unless you can escape my army’s wrath.” He paused, continually amused with the situation. “I’ll give you five minutes for your princess to escape. If she escapes, she will be spared from my wrath. If not… I’ll kill her myself.”
“Ari, for the millionth time, I need you to leave, now!” Bowser ordered.
“As if,” Ari responded, blowing a tuff of her blue of hair away from her face. “What’s the point of going back to Delfino without you? You know you’re the only guy that has stuck with me.”
“Ari…” Bowser muttered.
“How sweet, two lovebirds, sticking it out to the end,” Ridley said sarcastically. “It’ll be fun to squish you both!”
Ridley’s wings raised as he sent a gust at Bowser and Ari before he opened his jaws and blew a hot wave of plasma upon them that engulfed the entire room. His troops before him scattered, heading for the other Koopa to begin the takeover, as the Lieutenant stood still in her spot, watching the flames, bright and eerie, burn before her.
Once Ridley’s flame ceased, Ridley and Kat watched as smoke and ember replaced the fire. The dinner table was destroyed, the food ash, and the room filled with soot, and crumbling.
Yet remaining was Bowser, covering his beloved with his body, and having withstood the attack.
I have quick question about your brush settings. I tried using your brushes for a drawing but there's white spaces between the lines and the color. How do get rid of that in your pictures? Do you do something special or increment the selection or something?
ah, i assume you’re referring to this:
the base brush i use is designed for painting, ive just tweaked it for my own purposes. the spaces tend to be more visible at larger sizes, but most of the time my lines are small enough that it isn’t noticeable, at least to me. however sometimes ill still duplicate the lineart layer and that seems to get rid of them too.
(this canvas is shown at 100%)
in conclusion my choice of lineart brush is kinda funky, but its what ive gotten used to using most of the time ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
