A Nutcracker and the Beast

Chapter 14: The Rat King Is On The Hunt

Bowser watches as Peach and Junior play. Kamek is next to his side, reading the news in his and the other Kingdoms, and he can see Greenie up in the ceiling hiding in a corner. Bowser never looked up until he started talking to the wired toy, but now he did, and he's gotten good at finding him.

"Dad! Dad!" yells Junior as he jumps in front of him, "When can we pick the peaches from the peach tree? I want some peach pie!"

"Soon, Junior. We still need at least 2 weeks before we reap them."

"Two whole weeks?! Awww...but what if Mama is gone by then?" Bowser looked over to Peach, who had shrugged her shoulders. It was a shock that Mario hadn't come in to 'save' her, especially since it would be his first idea to come to Bowser if she was gone, but it's been a good month and a half - two months, really.

"Don't worry, we can always buy some peaches or some other fruit at the farmers market." Peach reassures Junior, which puts a bittersweet smile on his face. Bowser was about to get up so they could go out, but soon the room went dark. Everyone started to look around to see what was going on.

One by one, the torches lit up with purple flames, not having a purpose but signaling the arrival of a nuisance. Bowser growls as Junior runs up to Peach, as she holds him, wondering what is going on.

"Look at the flawless family..." said a chilling voice before barking and growling followed afterward. Even the sound of giggling could be heard, "The only thing that's missing is a pet."

"Hey!" yelled Peach as a ghost dog that almost looked like a bulldog started to tear her dress. She let go of Junior as she began to pull on his dress. The dog thought of this as a tug of war, and then more laughing could be heard as King Boo appeared in front of them. Neville also appeared in the archway of the throne room; his only job was to look out for Luigi. He looked around, trying not to get anyone to notice him, and when he looked up; there shaking in fear behind a beam was the very person he was looking for. Luigi also looks down to see if it is just King Boo and Spooky, but his eyes lock with Neville when he looks down. He almost fell off the beam but stayed on, making a run for it; he wasn't going to stay in that room.

"What are you doing here, King Boo?" Bowser demands, narrowing his eyes at the laughing ghost.

"Well, hello to you too, Bowser. Long time no see." King Boo said as he looked at everyone in the room. "I hope that you're having fun."

"Your type of 'fun' is problematic. A dog ripping Peach dress isn't fun."

"It is if you get to see her play tug of war with it," King Boo said as the fabric of her dress ripped off, exposing the lower part of her left leg, just above the knee. Spooky also shallow the material that was in his mouth.

"Look at what he did!" Peach yells at King Boo before turning to Spooky, "bad dog bad!"

But Spooky didn't understand her, as he started to bite at the rest of her dress. Peach pulls her skirt back, but Spooky still tries to bite it. It leads to her running around the throne room as a dog chases her. Junior tried to help her, but he wasn't as fast as the two, and King Boo was laughing at the scenes. Bowser decided to help, too, giving King Boo a chance to look at Neville, who was still looking around the throne room. When Neville saw King Boo looking at him, he simply nodded as he left the throne room.

Meanwhile, Luigi was running for his life. How did King Boo find him? Did King Boo know that he was here? What if he finds out that he managed to tell someone about the curse? Will he try to make it stronger? Will he try to turn Kamek into stone? Question after question ran into his head, getting worse and worse as he ran to Junior's room. Before he could make it down the hall to turn into the hallway that Junior's room was in, Neville popped out from the wall.