A diamond hidden within the gray line

Chapter 103: Max's change.

-Bowser pov-

It's been a week since we brought max home, and it pained us all to see him look so...drained. I'm still pissed at the fact that no one helped him when he needed it most, ESPECIALLY when it comes to daimao. The thought of him being around...i don't know how or why he's returned, but he's gotta go! That, and i know him far too well to know that he won't settle for taking orders from anyone...not long term anyway. What surprises me the most is the fact that both the darklands and the koopa kingdom were all there for him in terms of just being there for him and i didn't even demand it! How is doing that? It almost seems natural for him to bring out the best in others...normally that would make me wanna gag myself with spoon considering that it's incredibly mushy, but not this time.

Even with that, i'm still shocked that max actually came close to killing king boo even though he's been dead for who knows how long! That starlight saber max has...it's really that powerful? Heh..mario wouldn't even stand a chance against that!

As for me, i still had paperwork to do and kamek...he's been dealing with kammy, who i hear has taken an interest in max and actually wants to meet him. Since when has that old hag taken an interest in wanting to meet someone? Before i could finish off the last of the paperwork in my office, i could hear rushed footsteps coming up the steps and find roy coming up to my office and getting ready to probably bang on my office door even though it's not closed considering that i didn't have as much paperwork to fill out.

Strange...he never does that...

-Narration-

"The hell do you want?" Bowser asked, acting impatient yet curious as to why roy was coming up to his office. "Um..max told me to get you the moment he looked at his phone. He got real serious about it!" Roy quickly answered, hardly hiding the fact that he got rattled by max sounding authorative. Bowser sighs, hardly surprised by this, yet he did wonder why nate texted him after not saying a word to him after yoshi's island. "Why am i not surprised? I'll be right down..." Bowser grumbles, as roy heads back downstairs. Meanwhile, mike is currently back at his place with tyson, who quickly noticed max's aura shift. "Hm..it appears something has happened." Tyson says in ominously calm tone.

"Yeah..i can sense it too. Best head over there and see what's going on..." Mike responds. He was worried about max the entire week max had come back upon seeing how different max was in an emotional sense, as did tyson.

-Mike pov-

The fact that max slept the rest of the day until the next morning after we brought him home...he deserved to rest, that much had been made abundantly clear that he had been through the worst of it. That, and he was DEFINITELY hungry the moment he woke up. Ha, ha..that was fun to see.

It didn't take us long to head over to bowser's place, but it seems like max knew that we were coming since he opened the door before we even got the chance to. Yeah..this is definitely serious.

-Narration-

"Nate texted you, huh?" Mike asked to which max nods as both pokemon come inside. "Why didn't he give you a letter at yoshi's island? Did he forget or something?" Morton asked upon hearing mike. "No, from what he texted me, he was captured by daimao, but never explained why." Max answered to which bowser grunted just as he had finished his paperwork. "Typical. Always gotta be so damn vague. So, where do gotta go to now?" Bowser says to max. "Metro kingdom. Here, it's better if i show you." Max replied before giving his phone to bowser which looked rather small in his hands, but he could see well enough.

-Bowser pov-

Looking at this text is nothing short of trouble i do not need...however, that doesn't matter anymore. The peace treaty that peach made is becoming insignificant, which i would love to break, but these magishadow punks...this..zöhm and my father...they broke it first and i can no longer do nothing. About time i got to do something about it! "Metro kingdom, huh? Never imagined zöhm would even care about it." I say with a sigh. I can't help but think that something about this is just...different.

-Narration-

Bowser hands max's phone back and looks down at him with concern. "I guess i gotta get prepared...but..." Max says before trailing off. "...There's no way i can do this alone. Yeah, I know that there's someone over there that can help, but i have no way of knowing if they're alive. That, and i can't just put y'all in danger over there if it's truly as dangerous over there...dammit, i don't know what to do!" Max says after a few seconds of silence before bowser puts his hand on his shoulder. They all saw that max is frustrated and conflicted with what he should do.

"I'll go with him!" Said the voice of larry, who had been listening in. "ARE YOU OUT OF MIND?!" Morton yelled in shock. "Larry. Do you even have the slightest idea what you're walking into? Facing candymaker is one thing, but this? This is different!" Mike protests while bowser just stood there, wanting to shut larry down and stop him from going. "You don't think i know that?! C'mon! To hell with that peace treaty peach wanted signed, those cloaked assholes, zöhm and whoever daimao is have long since pissed all over it!" Larry replied sharply.

Silence and shock permeated the living room for what felt like an eternity even though it was only about a minute. No one, not even bowser expected to hear that from larry! As for max...rather than talk down to larry, he simply chucked a bit before walking towards him.

"You sure about this? You already had your fourteenth birthday a few months ago, and now you think you're ready to face whatever is waiting over at the metro kingdom? This ain't mario you're dealing with, and you'll likely have to make some choices that will probably haunt you." Max says in deeply serious tone brought an air of raw tension in the room which brought larry into a frightened standstill.

"So i ask again: You sure about this?"

-Bowser pov-

"ENOUGH." My voice boomed loud enough for even max to stop in his tracks. "Larry, you're right about that treaty. It's practically on the fritz! But i won't have you risking your neck just because you wanna be some sort of badass! We'll ALL go with him, but i get the feeling that going in the middle of what's happening is DEFINITELY not what i wanna do." I say firmly. The fact that larry wanted to blindly follow max is something that infuriates me since he CLEARLY has no idea what he's getting himself into. And..the way max got serious like that is actually...scary. Heh..max has definitely changed and not only is he one hell of a trooper, i also couldn't be more proud. Would maximillian?

-Max pov-

They're ALL coming with me..? Ok, maybe they're not following me in the middle of it all, but still...i like that. "I don't know what to expect over there, but i know that there's probably gonna be a lot of confusion and panic by the time we get there." I utter. "Then let's not delay! Oh, this adventure will likely lead to many things and it sounds so EXCITING!" Marx quickly says, who almost sounded...girly? "Says you..." Mike mutters while looking at Marx strangely who is just sitting there on the couch with a seemingly innocent look in his eyes while his little tail simply wags a bit.

What does he mean that this will likely lead to 'many things'? It's almost as if he knows what will happen but either he never admits it or has some sort of weird perception thing if that even makes sense.

Can't help but wonder how he would react if he actually did know something...can't imagine what would happen then...

-Narration-

"What are we waiting for? Let's get going!" Bowser asked impatiently even though he was hardly looking forward to it as they all scrambled to get ready. "Take your mask with ya. I wanna see for myself just how they will react while and once you take that off." Bowser says with a bit of a wicked grin which max chuckle at. "Might as well take a ride on the helicopter. Better to surprise them even further." Max says to him, which made bowser chuckle a bit. "Now THAT is a genius idea." Bowser utters with a hefty chuckle.

Max had no idea what will happen or even encounter over at the metro kingdom, but at least he wasn't going to arrive alone!