An Absent Mother

A pre-canon to Super Mario Sunshine explaining where Bowser Jr.'s mother went, and his motivation.


"Dears, I must tell you some bad news. By today's end, I won't be here anymore." Clawdia began to tell the young Koopalings.

"You're leaving? Tonight?" Lemmy said with a disappointed tone. "Why?"

Suddenly Larry stood up angrily. He started yelling, "Is it because of that dumb baby? It is, isn't it!? I knew he was just a bunch of trouble!"

"No Larry, calm down please. It..." Her eyes began to tear up. "It's hard to explain. Your father and I had some... disputes, and we both think it would be better if I left."

The kids had on wistful faces. "Isn't there any way to change your mind?" Wendy stammered.

"I'm afraid not, sweetie." Clawdia looked up at the doorway, to see Bowser staring at her, arms crossed. "I must go now." She got up and slowly walked out of the living room, trying to avoid making eye contact with her former spouse.

As she walked through the halls of the castle, she passed by a certain room. She opened the door. In the green colored room were some small toys all over the floor, along with crayon drawings of various things. Clawdia walked to the corner of the room where a crib stood. Inside the crib was a sleeping baby Junior. She picked him up gently and cradled him one last time. "Goodbye, my baby," she whispered softly. Then she put him back down, and quietly left, never to return again.

Early the next morning, as Bowser walked by the same room, he heard his baby boy crying out. He opened the door, and he heard who he was calling out for.

"Mama?"
...5 years later...
Junior returned home from school. He went over to the kitchen for a snack. After getting his cookies, he walked to the dining room and sat at the table. Larry and Morton were already there. "Hey there! How was school?" Morton said. Larry didn't even look up.

"Ah, you know, boring and stupid as usual." he said blandly.

"Is there something wrong? Usually you're all over those cookies, but now you're kinda just picking at them now."

Junior sighed. "It's nothing, just... at school, I always see my friends being picked up by their moms. And they were always having such a good time together. So when I saw that, I realized; I know absolutely nothing about my mother."

Then Larry got up and started walking away. "You don't deserve to know," he grumbled to himself. The other two just watched him leave.

"Um, don't listen to him." Morton looked back at Junior. "How about you go ask Dad?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, okay." He got up to go do that. Then he came back to get some cookies, and left again.

He found his dad in his room, mumbling over a bunch of papers with writing and some drawings on it. He walked up to him and tapped his leg. Bowser jumped, as he was not expecting company. "Oh hey son! How was school?"

"Lame and dumb. Dad, I want to ask you something."

"Sure, what can I do for you?"

Junior took a deep breath. "Will you... will you tell me about my mama?"

Bowser's face fell flat at the mention of "mama". He started thinking of something to say fast as his son waited for an answer. Then it hit him. He smiled. "Why yes, I shall tell you aaallll about your mother."

Junior's face lit up. "Really?" he squealed happily.

"Yeah! Her name is Peach!"

"Peach? Isn't that the human princess? She lives in the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Oh no no no no no, she was... kidnapped. Yeah! Kidnapped by a bad man named Mario!"

"Uh, why...?"

"Because Mario's a bully. He never fights fair!"

"...Okay."

Then Bowser had an idea. "Hey, you know what? Why don't you help me get her back!"

Junior looked up at him with a curious face. "Me?"

"Yes, you." He patted his head. "You're an intelligent young boy. Junior, you gotta try to outsmart Mario!"

"I... I don't know, Dad. What if I'm not strong enough?"

"Oh, nonsense, Junior! You're my son. Besides, don't you want to see your mama?"

Junior thought about it for a moment. Then he smiled and said, "Yeah, Dad, I'll help you!"

"That's great, son! Now, go and start making your plans!"

"Okay, Daddy!" He left, and started toward his room. As he walked, he drifted into his thoughts.

"Dad... he was lying to me. I know he does the kidnapping. But he wants me to help him. I've always wanted to help Daddy with his plans! I guess I'll go along with it for now..." He began to frown. "...But I don't get it...Why would Dad lie about my mom? What could have happened to make him do that? I might have to ask him for the story of my real mom one day..."

Junior got to his room, and opened the door. He noticed his strange dark blue bandanna. He found it while walking through Dark Land one day, and it let him change into a shadowy blue formation of whatever he could think of. He picked it up.

"Hmm. What if I could frame him...?"



Retrospective:I had said this was my favorite story I'd written. I'm not too sure nowadays, but I still like the concept at least. When I wrote this I had a specific character in mind for Clawdia. But I'm not very sure about it now either. I made a character sheet and everything, but I never finished it.