After hitchhiking for another two days' time and getting in TWO more fights with Shy Guys that had tried to jump them, Bowsette, Peach, and Toadette finally made it to Whomp Fortress, floating island in the sky. Two Whomps guarded the entrance and looked particularly dopey this time.

"You guys look pretty nice," Bowsette said. "You mind letting us use this lift here to see your boss?"

The Whomps made absolutely no change in expression, no movement at all. That was probably the most likely reaction to be had here. But Bowsette knew she needed to control her temper, so she breathed in and out with herself, allowing her lungs to breathe without fire coming out of her nose like it usually did in times like these.

Then Toadette jumped at them and began hitting away at their rocky bodies with her weak stubby arms. "Let! Us! In! We're too tired! Let us rest!"

Why did they let Toadette go on this trip with them again?

...Oh, that's why. The Whomps, petrified by this Toad's brazen act of hostility, stepped aside and let them enter.

They soared into the sky and entered Whomp Fortress itself, a towering structure built to defend against any type of assault, anywhere in the planet. It slowly moved across the continent, but at this time rest in the Midlands in the point between Dark Land and Mushroom World, a mostly-lawless area home to many smaller and more tribal communities. The Shy Guys generally made their home around here, as did breakaway Toad factions. One spot Bowsette hadn't been to but could see from here was the Dino Dino Jungle, the homeland to the plentiful Dorrie species. She felt like she was created to go see those behemoths run around a vast enclosed jungle, and probably to beat a few of them up too as she did last time she met the T-Rex in the Cascade Kingdom. Life wasn't all about fighting, but sometimes... it just needed to happen.

"So, you told us that the Whomp King helped out, but you never said how," Toadette said. "Wanna give us the background?"

Peach raised her eyebrows at her. "Go ahead."

"Eh, my backstory and stuff is kinda... complicated..." Bowsette put a hand behind her head and rubbed her neck.

Peach took her other hand and squeezed it tightly within hers. Too tightly. Ow. Owwww. "You're going to tell us, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Bowsette said. "Okay, so I had Seven Generals by my side when I went to fight Morton Koopa, gathering up their own armies and unifying them into the Koopa Troop you know today. It took me years to go around recruiting the best of the bunch, and I had to beat most of them in fights to make them submit to me. But I was young, I was strong, and I persevered.

"Whomp King was the third General I took under my command, so pretty early on but I had enough experience to deal with him. Not too difficult, a huge difference from the second one. Which was Goomboss, bless his soul.

"He had the fortress just like this back then, and it was floating around the continent just like this. But after I beat him, I got him to steer it towards Dark Land so that we could use the whole place as a massive airship and flagship for our whole fleet. It worked pretty well, but the whole thing almost came crashing down from the sheer damage done to it. Morton was... very powerful."

"How powerful is he now?" Toadette asked.

"As Dry Morton? About twice as strong as me in this form, I'd say. But if he is able to bring himself back to life... We probably can't stop him."

"So what is our specific plan here, then?" Peach asked. "Convince the Whomp King to join our cause and once again donate his fortress to help us?"

"That's the goal," Bowsette said. "But after the war he was one of the first Generals to functionally leave us. I don't know how he will react now, since it's been so long..."

"I thought you'd never ask," said Whomp King. "I've been waiting for another battle like that for decades!"

"Uh... really?" Bowsette asked. "No strings attached? No hidden motives?"

"Listen up, Lady Bowser."

"Bowsette."

"Listen up. We Whomps are not a peaceful people. We are giant slabs of rock and our main purpose in life is to flatten things. Up here in the fortress we get to do that maybe, once a year when Mario comes stomping through for whatever reason? It's pretty boring these days. I was thinking about invading the Mushroom Kingdom just for the heck of it."

"That would not have been appreciated," Peach said.

"Well anyway, you're saying Morton is back, and that's bad news for the planet. He was a bad hombre."

"So, you're in? Officially? That easy?"

"Yep."

"Put'er here." Bowsette extended her hand for a handshake, but Whomp King didn't reciprocate, because his hands were too much of nubs to really do anything with. Oops. "I really though you were going to challenge me to a duel or something."

"Well, I heard about you taking over the Mushroom Kingdom. I already know you've still got your stuff. I can still remember the day you used me as a battering ram and stormed a fortress with no backup whatsoever! Those were the days!"

"Kakaka... Yeah, they were..." She almost missed them.

"So... I can't imagine I was your first choice. Who've we got already?"

"Actually... you were the first. I have an, uh, ally who's been asking people, but the other Generals I pretty much need to convince myself. Except, no Goomboss, of course, and no King Bob-omb because he's still aligned with Dark Land for some inexplicable reason. General Guy's fighting in some rebellion too, last I heard So that makes... just King Boo and Crystal King left to talk to?" Man, Bowsette really hoped Nabbit actually pulled through with some extra help, because the original Generals were almost fresh out. Maybe they'd get Big Bertha or something this time.

Peach counted on her fingers. "Wait, Bowsette, that's only six Generals. I thought you said there were seven?"

Whomp King let out a hearty laugh. "To her there's only six, that's for sure!"

Peach raised an eyebrow.

"It's not important," said Bowsette. "We'll get seven new Generals and it'll be all cool with explosions and fighting and stuff. Whomp King, thank you for being easy."

"I'm saving it all for the battlefield, old friend," he said. "See you then."

Now it was time to go see King Boo, and for that they would need to go to Boo's Mansion near the Gusty Gulch, not too far from here. Only, Bowsette and King boo hadn't been on the best terms lately. That was going to be fun...