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Chapter 1: A Kingdom in Stagnation
The king of the Koopa Kingdom was not in a good mood. This was usually the case for him, but on this day in particular, the monarch of the koopas was feeling extra bitter from yet another ruined plan. There had been a heavy amount of planning on Bowser's end to put this particular scheme together and he had been so sure that it would work this time, but that pesky plumber, Mario, arrived unexpectedly and thwarted it so easily.
Now, the king was sitting on his throne, pondering the source of his distress. Why..? Why was it always that Mario managed to drop in, even when he had assured his plan took place as removed from him as possible?
Even when his victory was all but assured, the plumber always found a way to trip the koopa king up. It was needless to say rather demoralizing. At this point, Bowser was starting to fear that he might be cursed with perpetual failure. Mario's interference happened far too much to be mere coincidence.
The large doors leading to his throne opened, their groans got the thinking king's attention. He looked across the throne room to see the eldest of his adopted children, Ludwig, entering and approaching him. Despite their recent defeat, Ludwig looked rather excited.
``King-Dad! I have discovered something very interesting.''
Usually, the king would have indulged in his children's little moments, but he was in no mood right now.
``Not now, I am trying to find out how to prevent that troublesome plumber from ruining my future plans.'' The king grumbled.
``Oh, but that is exactly why I am here!'' Now that caught Bowser's attention.
He sat up straight, giving Ludwig his full attention and motioned for his son to continue. And Ludwig was all too happy to elaborate on what he found.
``Do you remember when you asked me to investigate how Sarasaland and the Bean Kingdom became so successful and prosperous literally overnight?''
Bowser nodded. Those two kingdoms were doing about as average as a kingdom could, but all of a sudden, their size, power, and influence skyrocketed at a breakneck pace. It was so abnormal that he had wanted to find the cause of it and put Ludwig to investigate.
``I do.'' Bowser confirmed.
``Well, I have found the answer!'' Ludwig approached his father and rather than explaining, he handed the king a newspaper with a certain section marked in red sharpie.
``Royal Advisers Inc celebrates its newest success story of creating great prosperity for the bean kingdom." That was a name that the king had never heard before. "Specializing in advisers for all sorts of royalty, Royal Advisers Inc can find the best suited advisor for your kingdom, our record is spotless, so don?t you worry, our advisers will help fix any royal problems you might have." Bowser finished reading the article.
`Royal advisors, that was the reason they prospered?' Bowser thought and huffed ``This doesn't help at all.'' he growled annoyed.
``Oh, but King-Dad,'' Ludwig soothed. ``What if we were to get one? If they can make those no-name kingdoms into something close to decent, imagine what they could do for the Koopa Kingdom?''
The king had already written off the idea and was now being annoyed by his eldest son's further prying. But in the back of his mind, the monarch was reminded of failure after failure. Perhaps it was time for a change within the Kingdom? He felt it and himself as an extension had stagnated as of late and needed to shake things up.
But the thought of getting an advisor felt so inane, what could he, the greatest king, of the mighty koopa empire possibly learn from a mere hired advisor?
Without warning, Bowser pounded his fist against the arm of his throne's arm-support. ``Guard!'' he yelled.
Hardly a second later, the helmed head of a koopa knight nervously peeked through the large set of doors.
``Y-yes, my liege?''
"Bring me my phone, I have a call to make." Ludwigs face lit up, it was so rare that his dad took any of his ideas seriously.
***
A yellow bean secretary was sitting and filling her nails when the phone suddenly rang, she picked it up nonchalantly. "This is Royal Advisers Inc speaking, how may I help you?" she said disinterestedly.
"This is King Bowser, I would like to hire one of your people, give me your best, nothing less will suffice" he demanded and the koopa king was mildly amused to hear a scuffling on the other end, no doubt the secretary and others were sent to fetch something.
The office went into chaos and people fell over themselves to inform their higher ups of the possible high-profile contract.
The CEO himself hastily took over from the secretary.
``Greetings your highness. This is the president of R.A.I. speaking, I apologize for the rudeness of my employee King Bowser. Am I to understand that you are in the business for one of our advisors?" On the other side of the line, the koopa king wore a smug grin. He could almost hear the tone of greed in the toe-kissing executive's voice.
"Yes, but only the best will suffice. I won?t tolerate any second-rate advisor.'' There was a sudden silence on the other end for a few moments, letting Bowser hear the sound of papers being hastily switched from hand to hand.
The executive found the perfect candidate, but there was an issue. He gulped and cleared his throat before he spoke again. "I can assure you that we have just the right one for you. In fact...our top advisor asked me to put him on the case if the koopa kingdom ever called us." Bowser did not like his tone, it was like the suit was waiting to throw in a ``but.''
``However he is currently fulfilling a contract right now, however...I have several others that you will surely fi-''
``Rejected! I want ONLY your best!'' If he was going through with this he wouldn't settle for less than the best the company had to offer.
Once more the office turned into chaos and numerous calls were made and contracts pulled up and looked over.
``W-well...'' The executive stalled for time before finally being handed a solution by an employee ``Ah, we can recall him for your most important kingly needs, but it will incur some additional fees.''
Bowser huffed and rolled his eyes.``As if money is an issue for me. Just make it happen!'' He demanded half-shouting.
The voice on the other side was shaky and clearly fearful. ``R-right away, sir!''
The king smirked, it was good to know he still could make people sweat.
``W-we will send you the contract as soon as possible.'' Bowser huffed ``Good.'' He ended the call.
The koopa king felt a small bit of satisfaction, pushing suits like that guy around to get what he wanted was mildly entertaining, but there was one thing he had said that had caught his ear.
The suit had said their ace advisor had wanted the advisory role of the koopa kingdom if it ever became open. Now that either meant they saw potential, Bowser chuckled, which was of course not wrong, the koopa kingdom was quite powerful or they had some sort of agenda, perhaps even wanting to usurp the koopa throne?
Bowser told himself to calm down. He could feel his anger was influencing his thoughts, trying to make him make assumptions about and dislike the advisor before they even met. It was partly because he was still not completely on board with the idea of an advisor. He still felt like the kingdom didn't need one; someone who might tell him things he didn't want to hear.
Telling him that the way things currently were done was all wrong. But then again, it was that same line of thinking that seemingly brought about this unfavorable streak of losses and humiliation, not only to himself but to the kingdom as a whole.
There was still time before the advisor would arrive. Rather than just sitting around until they did, the king decided to think of other things that needed to be addressed at the current moment. They would keep him busy and distracted...
That way he would be able to judge the advisor fairly...mostly fairly...as fairly as he could given his admittedly strong dislike of this idea as a whole.
***
The call was unexpected, even more so when it was the CEO on the other line. But the moment he heard `Koopa Kingdom,' the top advisor literally dropped everything.
He took a short pause to pinch himself to ensure this was really happening. After confirming that he indeed wasn't in a dream he felt immensely excited. He had begun to lose hope that the koopas would ever send out the call.
``Where are you going, Ace?'' The baron he had been advising asked him as was hurrying out.
``I have been recalled, my replacement will arrive shortly.'' That was all Ace said before he opened the door to the outside and hurried away from the manor. He ignored the calls and shouts of his former client. There was nothing that could have swayed him to turn around, not when the Koopa King himself had finally called upon his services.
***
The koopa troopas stationed as guards outside Bowser's castle looked baffled at the odd person who stepped out of the carriage and began walking toward the gate. His physique was strange, he was bent forward ever so slightly and his skin was an odd yellow which had a subtle green sheen when light hit it from a certain angle. The thing that really stood out was the advisor's body itself. His features were like someone had blended a koopa and some other creature that wasn't immediately recognizable, but one that was similar to a koopa.
Needless to say the guards were a little off-put by his appearance and promptly stopped him, but he merely handed one of the guards a card who jumped a little when he had read it.
``Let him in, the king is expecting him.'' He told the others. They looked confused at first, but complied.
Ace took in the atmosphere as the guards opened the gate, his heart was beating faster due to his excitement to finally be in the koopa kingdom. He asked for a bit of assistance with his luggage, while he could take care of it, his meeting with the king was paramount and he rather not be slowed down. First impressions were important.
The many halls of Bowser's mighty castle were quite impressive to walk through, but it felt like a slog to the advisor to reach the throne room in good time given their frankly unnecessary length. As he reached the gate to the throne room he held up a finger to the guard to signal them to pause as he caught his breath from his brisk walk. He liked to keep up a good appearance and arriving out of breath would simply not do, but his body often disagreed with that policy of his. It was weaker than most others, and the lengthy halls had done more of a number on Ace than he wanted to admit.
When his breath was caught and he was able to stand as tall as he could, Ace gave the signal for him to be announced and allowed before the likely waiting King.
***
Bowser had to admit, he was slightly curious what sort of person this advisor was. But when the doors to his throne room opened, the creature who stepped inside was definitely not what he had expected. He hadn't even seen someone like him before.
``Greetings most powerful king Bowser.'' The advisor greeted and bowed slightly, but even though his words were flattering, his tone was formal as if what he had said was simple fact.
``I am the advisor you requested, my name is Ace.''
`So, this is the top advisor?' Bowser thought. He didn't look like much at a first glance. However the king would give him a chance to prove himself.
The best way in the king?s mind to do that was putting him to work and see how he fared.
``Yes yes, now...how can you aid my kingdom?'' He asked.
``Right now? Not all that much I am afraid.'' That was not the answer Bowser was looking for.
``Why not!?'' He heatedly questioned.
``I mean...I suppose I could, but I would be in a much better position to do so if I got some time to inspect your kingdom. Until I do so, I will naturally not be able to give you sound advice.''
Bowser growled to himself, he could not deny that it made sense. He was used to having things done right away, but it made sense this wouldn't be work that could be picked up immediately, he didn't like it, but he would allow this supposed top advisor time to do as he asked, but afterwards he'd better deliver.
The king was everything Ace had expected and more, he knew he had to maneuver carefully lest he incur his wrath. The advisor was given an emblem and the titles needed to survey any area of the kingdom he wished, but Ace started out with the castle itself.
He had left the king in the throne room for some time before he returned.
``Well?'' Bowser asked.
Ace cleared his throat, knowing that the king wasn't going to like what he would hear, but it just couldn't have been helped...
Fortunately there was a records room that had helped speed up his investigation, otherwise it might have taken a few days to do. He also asked around to the many attendants and guards with the castle. Most were too afraid to speak ill of their king, but a few clued Ace in on some more recent and glaring issues.
``I have done a surface inspection and I can already say without reservation that the kingdom has some rather immense issues.'' He put it bluntly to the king.
``Huh?'' Bowser was not used to being spoken to so directly. ``What issues?!''
``Industry and infrastructure is in tatters and if not fixed could very well ruin the kingdom." Ace let the king know.
``W-what!?'' That couldn't be true, he knew there were a few issues in those sectors, but not to that extent.
Ace continued his evaluation. "But fortunately you have the funds stored up to turn it around, and your people have strong work ethic and spirit." Knowing the king's short temper, the advisor was clever enough to follow up the bad news with a compliment and praise to ease the blow.
But Bowser was still having trouble comprehending what he was told. As far as he could see, his kingdom was in more than good enough shape. But then again... Ace was a professional and the look on his face was serious...
``I can back up my claim with evidence if you require it, your highness.'' Ace said evenly as he pulled out a couple of quickly written points of data from his sleeve.
Bowser waved it away, he'd trust the advisor knew what was talking about if he could produce something to back up his claim.
``So, what do you suggest we do?'' the king asked. He wasn't one for changes, but if it would improve the quality of his kingdom, Bowser was willing to hear his advisor out.
``A complete gear-shift. Completely abandon military production and have your engineers work on improving the kingdom's various other sectors instead.'' Nothing less would be enough to turn things around. A large portion, much too large, was put solely into military and conflict affairs, leaving the other needs of the kingdom with far too little resources to work with.
Bowser thought he was prepared, but the words left him stunned nonetheless. For longer than the king himself could remember, the military was the Koopa Kingdom's strongest asset. It would be one thing if it was reduced, but to halt its development entirely...
While the king was considering his words Ace took the opportunity to continue. ``If you keep going like you are currently, I estimate you will in...five or so years not even have any capacity to support a military anymore."
While Ace's previous words were slightly incomprehensible in scale to the king, THAT was something that Bowser could understand clearly. The darn advisor even had proof to back up that claim.
``I hope your plan goes further than just redirecting resources,'' Bowser growled annoyed.
Ace smirked and pulled his wand out of his sleeve and with a quick flick made a table appear between them. The sight surprised the king, the unexpected show of magic making him forget how angry he was. Instead, he leaned forward a bit to see what his advisor had planned long-term.
In addition to the table, Ace produced a neat little document. He rolled it out across the surface of the table, showing maps, plans and even schematics.
"I have not been idle as you can see."
Bowser had to pause, in the back of his mind he had expected Ace to perhaps slack off, but if he had complied this much in such a short amount of time, then perhaps the odd looking advisor deserved a sliver of respect.
Ace started to go over his plans with Bowser, giving explanations to anything the king found objectionable in his comprehensive document. Every question was met with a solid and seemingly already prepared answer.
This went on for a solid hour, the entire time Ace had a full explanation for every little action and how it would influence the kingdom as a whole.
But after an hour of just that Bowser couldn?t concentrate anymore and called their meeting off. He was not used to such lengthy contemplation. Just trying to keep up with Ace was making his head spin. After relieving his advisor for the time being, the king himself got up from his throne.
Bowser expected his advisor to further explore the kingdom or return to their library. But Ace started to follow close behind him. Thankfully he didn't say or ask anything, but it felt a bit odd.
The koopa king was sure when he went out into his training field that Ace would find something else to occupy his time, but the strange advisor observed him train, he did catch him occasionally scribbling something down in a notepad, but otherwise Ace didn't do anything but observe him train.
Bowser ended up shrugging it off and just ignored his presence as he got all the stress out of his system. It was clear to see that the Koopa King's training was to combat a certain famous plumber. There was even a punching bag with Mario's face taped to it. Very subtle.
Ace said nothing, not wanting to interrupt the king. He stayed the entire time, taking notes of all kinds. When Bowser finished, the advisor had a whole two pages of scribbles, with a nod to himself, Ace went about his way much to Bowser's confusion.
Clearly his advisor was a bit of an oddball, but he didn't really care as long as he could produce results.
The king didn't see Ace for the remainder of the day and he had to admit that nothing had gone as he had thought it would, but he was still on the bench whether that was a good thing or not.
***
The next day Bowser listened as Ace continued going over his extensive plan. But when Bowser couldn't take anymore and dismissed Ace for the rest of the day, the advisor suddenly asked if he could make use of his men.
It was a strange request. What would an advisor need with his forces? Out of curiosity, Bowser allowed it, if just to see what Ace would do with them.
That answer did not come until a few days later. Ace, rather than summon the table and discuss with the king again, he instead asked the king if he could follow him to his training yard.
Naturally Bowser got curious, so far he hadn't been able to predict what Ace would do and wondered what he had cooked up this time. Once more the answer was something completely unexpected.
"What is this?" Bowser pointed toward a shadowy creature that had the approximate form of Mario.
"I figured you needed a sparring partner. And who better than your nemesis? I used my own notes and video footage of Mario training to make this copy; if you can beat this "shadow mario" you will stand a much better chance at stomping the real one." Ace smirked at the result of his little project.
Bowser snorted at the sight before him. A mere imitation of Mario? The koopa king was sure that it would barely be able to put up a fight.
He stomped right up to the copy and reared back to throw a punch, but it jumped over it as he swung and it landed right on his head like Mario would.
"Gahh!"
Ace had expected what just happened. "The video footage was to ensure it would move like Mario does." He idly explained as he opened his notebook again and took more notes as Bowser chased after the clone.
"Stand still!" Every punch he threw was dodged easily. "W-why...why can?t I hit it!?"
``Hmm...'' Ace said as he continued to write. "It seems Mario?s style counters yours, Lord Bowser. It's little wonder he tends to defeat you. Mario's speed and maneuverability lets him negate your superior strength."
Hearing that analysis only made the koopa king even angrier. No matter what he did or how fast he tried to move, the mock Mario eluded him so easily that it felt like it was almost mocking him. When Bowser gave up chasing the shadow, he looked like he was about to blow a blood vessel in sheer frustration.
He was brought out of his seething thoughts by claps and turned to see his advisor who had done so to get his attention.
Having observed the king's and imitator Mario's interactions Ace had gotten some ideas about how his liege might improve.
The advisor pointed his wand at the copy, making it stand completely still. ``There is a way to beat him. You just need to change your usual way of fighting. But first take a few deep breaths and calm down a little."
Bowser felt almost insulted that the weak figured advisor intended to give him advice on how to beat this fake Mario, but given his own lack of success and downright humiliation he was ready to try just about anything.
Taking his silence as approval Ace pointed his wand at the shadow and it jumped towards Bowser who flinched, but it suddenly froze mid-air.
``Mario's greatest strength is his speed. However in the air he loses his ability to maneuver and that makes it the perfect opportunity to counter-attack.''
The shadow Mario was still frozen in mid-air. Ace nodded to the king and Bowser reeled his fist back before throwing it at the clone. It felt a little weird throwing a punch at a frozen foe, but it felt darn good actually hitting that damn thing after it had made a fool of him for the last ten or so minutes. His fist made contact and he could feel the power behind the blow. The fake Mario got launched quite a bit of distance from that punch.
Surprisingly the clone got right back up and jogged back to the pair as if nothing had happened. It was yet again just standing there, as if waiting for a command.
``Very good!'' Ace praised. "But what you really need to focus on...is grappling. If you can get ahold of Mario, you can turn the tables on him; your strength will be the one to negate his speed."
That sounded much easier said than done to the monarch. With all the jumping and flipping that even the clone Mario was capable of, Bowser very much doubted he would ever be able to actually get ahold on him.
Ace waved his wand and the shadow clone was suddenly jumping all over the place. "For that, you need to train your reaction time. So let us get started." There was a bit of a smug grin on the advisor's face. The look of shock on Bowser's face as the clone jumped all around said it all.
Ace knew he could give Bowser some tips, but the koopa king felt like the kind of guy who needed to learn his limits the hard way so he just let him get to it.
It was by utter luck Bowser at first managed to grab the copy, but it quickly squirmed out of his grip as it had not been very solid.
``You will have to act quickly the moment you have him.''
Bowser huffed, but tried again, little by little and through the various advice from Ace, he started to get better and better at catching the clone. He even managed to get a few satisfying hits in after Ace suggested he wait for the shadow to come to him instead of chasing it.
That strategy allowed him to react much faster, but he had to keep up with where it's position was as a downside, but the more he practiced waiting and reacting, the better results he got and Bowser really felt he was finally improving.
Another wave of Ace's wand came. "Alright, practice rounds are over. Now I will let the copy actually attack you at full speed!"
The warning came just before the clone jumped into action against the unprepared king.
A short while later Bowser sat on his throne with a bag of ice pressed to his head, lightly flinching when his bruises were touched.
Ace was at his side, apologizing profusely. ``You were doing so well that I believed you were ready, My Lord.''
``How about an earlier warning next time?'' Bowser said, groaning as he sat back into his throne.
He wouldn't say it, but he was slightly impressed by the training tool that Ace had made for him, it moved just like Mario did. He flinched at another sting, but the darn thing certainly also hit like him too!
``Well...despite my overeagerness, I'd say this was quite a successful round of training.'' The advisor chuckled.
Bowser did not reply, he was wondering how Ace had come up with all that advice for him, given his body, he didn't expect him to know how to fight at all. Perhaps there was more than what meets the eye when it came to Ace?
Over the next couple of days, Ace tried a new approach to informing and suggesting changes to the king, just like he had with Bowser's training. The advisor had a much better understanding of the king's mindset after helping him train. Using his notes as a guideline, Ace simplified his documents and cut the length of his sessions by more than half. The issues were brought up one at a time rather than as a comprehensive, collected package.
Sure enough, Bowser was able to understand the issues better when presented one by one. Each day, Ace assisted him with something new. Slowly, but surely, things were starting to shift within the kingdom.
The king's attention was brought to more internal problems. Putting his usual plans of conquest on hold for the time being, but Ace made sure to keep helping Bowser train, it helped vent the koopa king's frustrations and made him much more pliable and willing to try out new things and take his mind off ideas off conquest.
Ace was teaching the king how to react to attacks rather than rushing towards his opponent. Learning from his prior mistake, Ace always warned the king well before the clone was put into `attack mode' so Bowser could prepare himself...
That wasn't to say that the koopa king still didn't get his fair share of bumps and bruises though. It was a process, but even Bowser could see the steady improvements in his reaction time and his overall reflexes.
He had been irate at first when Ace had explained that with his bulk he would never achieve great agility nor speed, so he should rather focus on his strengths. It felt so dumb at first, just waiting to react to what the fake Mario would throw at him, but the change in tactics quickly showed its results, he steadily started to improve against the shadow even when it fought him seriously.
Ace eventually left Bowser alone with the clone. It could be controlled and set to do automatic movements. While the king continued his training, honing his skills, Ace would take the time to continue surveying the changes within the kingdom.
It was when he was walking down a hall that he noticed a glaring issue. The workers set to fix some of the infrastructure were still there. That wouldn't have been an issue, but Ace noticed that they had been working almost non-stop for a solid three days now...
Some of the koopas looked ready to drop from exhaustion.
Ace had learned that Bowser was a demanding king, but this was going overboard!
Bower was watching the movements of the clone closely and was ready to counterstrike. But the clone froze in mid-air. The doors to the training room opened and the advisor was quick to voice his grievances.
"Your majesty...you have been running your workers ragged. They won?t be efficient like this." Ace tried to be reasonable. But to Bowser it felt like the advisor was being nitpicky and trying to step beyond his station.
"Oh what do YOU know?" Bowser did not like being challenged, least of all his way of doing things.
With the clone unable to move, the king huffed and loomed over Ace. But the advisor held firm.
"How about I prove it then?" Bowser paused briefly, he couldn't read Ace's expression at all.
``Fine...you wanna prove me right, then go right ahead!'' Bowser smirked, assured his way was superior to any other.
***
Bowser did not see Ace until the following day as the advisor had been busy setting up a challenge. That challenge was shown to the king; two teams of koopa engineers, both just as skilled as the other Ace assured, they stood before a wide but shallow pit.
``The challenge is simple; you and I will lead separate teams and direct them to build a bridge over this hole before us.'' The explanation from Ace was kept curt and Bowser understood well enough.
The king chuckled, he would show that stuffy advisor why his way was superior.
``Of course we cannot assist our team directly, this is a test of leadership, but other than that, everything goes except for sabotage of the other team.''
Bowser complied and selected his team, picking the koopa squad that had some of the most talented and efficient members. He knew this team, if his foreman's praise was to be believed they were the best men he had.
Ace had a feeling the king would pick that team, for all his faults, Bowser did know the people working under him quite well.
Once Ace had talked to the remaining koopa squad and both teams got into position, the contest commenced.
Bowser was quick to start barking orders at the koopas under his command. He smirked as he saw Ace going over a blueprint with the koopas on his side, he hadn't even begun...HA!
Ace wasn't bothered by the king's taunting smirk, planning was an essential part of leadership, everyone had to understand what role they had to fill so they could work together efficiently.
They had a whole day to build the bridge; a few hours in, Ace allowed those on his team to take a break, even going as far as to having prepared sandwiches and drinks for them.
Bowser on the other hand was relentless, not letting a single member of the team fall behind, even for a moment.
The king knew his way to be superior, but then why was Ace's team, despite all the things they did that wasted time, almost just as far ahead as his own team?!
The contest continued, both leaders of their respective teams gave orders in wildly different fashions. While Bowser kept pushing his team, Ace inspected his own team's work and pointed out possible issues or encouraged them, even complimenting them on their work so far.
Bowser could not stand how close the race was and so he started to really put the pressure on his koopas and the fearful engineers worked even faster, but what the king didn't realize, also sloppier, as they skipped steps to work at the breakneck pace he demanded out of them..
When the sun was nearly set, both bridges from either team were almost complete. Seeing his initial lead shrink Bowser had feared his team might be overtaken, but due to him pushing them even harder they just barely managed to finish ahead of the other engineering team.
Now all he had to do to win was march across the bridge with his team.
While the other team was putting in the final touches on their bridge Bowser ordered his team to gather and with a triumphant smirk he walked with his exhausted team over the bridge, he could not wait to rub his victory in the advisor's face.
But no sooner had he reached the center of the bridge did it start to crackle, a result of the many shortcuts his team had to take and how unstable it had turned out to be.
Bowser and his team cried out as the structure gave way, dropping them all into the pit underneath. Thankfully a very short drop, but it gave them all a scare nonetheless.
The king blinked dumbfounded as to what had happened, turning his head in time to see Ace and his team march across their far sturdier bridge without any issue.
Not only that, his own team didn't even bother getting up after the fall, they were all exhausted, but Ace's team looked like they could construct another bridge if they had to. They were still fresh and ready.
Ace sat at the edge of the pit and looked down on the koopa king ``Do you understand now?'' he asked, his tone was even and held no smugness, but was rather like that of a teacher who'd shown a demonstration to a student.
Bowser was still trying to comprehend what had just happened ``understand what?'' he asked with only mild confusion.
Ace brought his wand into view and used his magic to carefully lift the fallen team from the pit. "That a king?s job is not just to push his people, but work in the background to ensure their success and to ensure everything runs smoothly."
Bowser tried to come up with a reply, but he felt so downfallen from his defeat that he couldn't think of anything. He just left deep in thought while Ace was compensating the two engineering teams for their work. Giving just a little extra to Bowser's team for ``hazard pay'', which cheered them up a bit after having been put through all that.
Rather than return to his throne, Bowser retired to his chambers for the night. But even as he lied in bed, he was restless, constantly asking himself the same questions over and over. How had he lost? How had Ace's way of leadership matched and even surpassed his own?
Annoyed by the lack of sleep he was getting, he snarled and threw away the blanket and went down to the place they had held the challenge.
There Ace's bridge still stood.
Grumbling to himself, the king stomped up to and onto the structure. He could even feel how much stronger it was than his own just by standing on it. So he hadn't lost just because Ace was lighter than himself. That had been the one idea he had come up to explain how he had possibly lost.
His mind tried desperately to think of other reasons he might have lost, but he kept coming up short and it made him angrier and angrier. Without thinking, he jumped up and brought down the massive force that his body could exert upon the bridge. But even then, it stood firm. All it did was groan slightly from the sudden force.
The fact it held firm shocked Bowser, he had broken far bigger bridges by doing that, showing him just how carefully it had been constructed. Finally...he admitted defeat...
Somehow, admitting his defeat made the king feel better. It was a strange feeling, but his anger subsided to a degree. His tiredness finally set in, making him yawn.
He would think about it all tomorrow, maybe it made more sense then?
