Peach whacked her frying pan forward, sending a gust of wind towards Bowsette. She leapt away from it, but that left a great opening.

With that in mind, Peach stuck her hand forward and a piece of earth crumbled up from the ground and a rock shot into Bowsette’s stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She fell to the ground and clutched herself.

“Holy crap,” she said. “You beat me.”

“First time for everything,” Peach said.

“That’s what you said the last three times.”

“First time for my fourth victory over you,” she corrected.

Bowsette didn’t seem too pleased by her comments. She WAS a bit of a sore loser, even in a practice sparring match.

But she was also wearing one of the brightest smiles Peach had ever seen on her beautiful face. So it was a bit of a mix of frustration and happiness.

“I love you so, so much,” Bowsette said. “Have I ever told you that before?”

“Practically every day.”

“And the fact that we’ve trained you from start to adept in just a couple months is like... holy crap. Even with Mario and Luigi gone on their stupid planetary adventure, our group has been pretty awesome, hasn’t it? You literally have a crack team of ninja swordsmen Toads now.”

“Not literally. They’re literally Knights of the Toadstool, an honorable guild of noble adventurers. They’re only FIGURATIVELY a crack team of ninja swordsmen Toads... and Koopas and other races.”

“Yeah, can’t forget Koopie Koo and Lakilulu. They’re friggin’ warriors by now,” Bowsette said.

“I’m just.. glad that we’re getting closer to a real battle. I want all of this to be over with. I want to figure out where my life goes after this, and I’ve really been thinking--”

A Wiggler frantically ran through the woods and arrived in the castle grounds in front of the two women, red either from exhaustion or from being stomped on at some point.

“M...Message...!” it shouted. “Message for Lordess Bowsette...”

“You have a letter?”

“No... No time...” it panted. “Morton Koopa is ready to begin... his ceremonies! I ran as fast as I could. The Conqueror assigned me to give this message to you. If you have an army, please, take... it...” The Wiggler promptly collapsed and passed out.

“Well, shit,” both of them said in unison.