FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

In the last week, Nathan had slowly gotten used to the way of life in Castle Bowser. The Koopas that roamed the halls didn't make it easy, but they didn't try to make it harder than it needed to be either. Probably because they didn't want to get on the bad side of the King, his owner.

Yes, his owner. It was still a little hard for Nathan to get his head around that concept, but it was the truth. He wasn't his own wolf anymore; he had a master, and he was a slave, and more than that, he was a foot slave, something that he had never imagined becoming.

Admittedly, it wasn't the worst fate in the world. Those that had been captured with him and brought to the castle were a week dead, while he was still alive. Even the last member of the group that had been captured, another wolf that had been allowed to live at the cost of being shrunken down like Nathan was, had been executed just yesterday for his treasonous activities. And Nathan had been the one that kept him from being able to get away, getting him caught in the middle of his escape.

He still didn't know what he thought about doing that. The other wolf had been working against Bowser before he had been brought to the castle, and had only been doing what he had been ordered to do. At least, that was the way that Nathan understood it. He hadn't had a chance to really talk to any of them before they were caught and executed, and Bowser had been keeping him too busy to visit the jail that the wolf had been put in. But orders or no orders, he had been fighting against the guy that had grabbed him off of the road, imprisoned him, and stuck him into a place that msot people wouldn't want to be stuck in if they had any other choice.

By all rights, he should have been working against Bowser as well, doing things that would trip him up and maybe give himself the chance to escape. Yet, instead, he didn't. He had fought against his fellow canine to keep him from getting away with information on Bowser's Koopa army, and he had done it without a second thought. And in the week that had passed since the wolf's re-capture - and the day since his execution - Nathan still didn't know if he had done the right thing.

The slam of a fist on the table above him shook him away from his moral musings, and he turned his attention back to the matter at hand. His ears perked up as he listened to one of the Koopa generals shouting. "We have to attack Aqua Land now!" one of them shouted. General Kaert, if Nathan didn't miss his guess. "After what Koal did, we have to show that we can react to those that try to get spies in our ranks. We can't afford to show any kind of weakness now," Kaert said.

"And where are you going to get the forces for that, General?" The voice came from the opposite side of the table. Nathan turned to follow the source, and saw a pair of stubby Goomba legs. Colonel Gomme, then. "We're already stretched out as far as we can be without letting some of the Mushroom Kingdom forces through. We pull any of the brigades back, and we'll have a hole so wide that they'll be able to put a castle down on the empty space."

Nathan shook his head as they continued to argue. It was more of the same conversation that the officers always went through when they were short on reports. When fresh news came in, the debates were a little more interesting, and it was the only time that the King usually spoke, but lacking that, they latched onto the most recent problem and worried it to death between them. So far they'd gone through whether they should attack Aqua Land more than six times, and each time it was agreed that they would wait for a little while longer before taking any action. The wolf approved of that. He honestly didn't want there to be any sort of open war. Not because of the people living down there, but because he was sure that Bowser would have to go out to the front, and that would mean that he would be left behind in the castle without anyone to look after him. A mini-wolf in a castle as large as this one could only survive for so long before someone stomped on him, either unintentionally or intentionally.

Even Kelt wasn't around anymore, and he'd been the only one other than Bowser to spend any time with him. The King had sent him off to the Bob-omb Factory a few days ago, wanting to keep it safe. Very logical reason for that too, as he remembered Bowser explaining to him that night. The Bob-omb Factory was the biggest source of weapons and explosives in the entire Mushroom Kingdom, and in the outlying territories and badlands that Bowser controlled, it was basically the prize gem in his crown, rivaled only by Castle Bowser. Kelt needed to be there to hold it, just in case there were problems. After deal with Koal, Kelt was one of the few Koopas that Bowser trusted implicitly.

That was all well and good for Nathan, but he didn't like being alone so much. Bowser could only be around during the evenings, and that was only for some stress relief before he went to bed. If the wolf was lucky, he was kept in the bed with the big lizard, able to cuddle up against his legs or his feet for warmth and cushion, but that was the most he got out of Bowser after being trampled underneath his feet and made to lick them clean after a long day.

He was so starved for something to do, some way to be around people, that he had even agreed to try something new for the Koopa King. Bowser, worried that there might be more traitors in his officer staff, had ordered him to sneak under the table after the meeting was started, and watch for anything suspicious from his men. Notes being passed under the table, any sort of pocketing of different figures or papers or anything that didn't belong in the room.

In other words, he had become a spy for the King, and while he didn't particularly like the task, he did admit that he was pretty good at it. At three inches tall, Nathan was one wolf that the Koopas would never see, and if they did, they would never think twice about him. After all, he was nothing more than Bowser's foot slave, stress relief for the King. The most that they'd do was brush him out of the way with their feet before getting back to the business at hand.

Still, the wolf had to fight to keep his eyes open. The conversation above was repetitive as hell, and when there wasn't anything happening under the table for him to watch or report, it was about as boring as watching grass grow. Well, that would actually be more interesting, as there wasn't any grass around Castle Bowser, but the point of the phrase was still meant.

About the only thing that he did enjoy about being down under the table was the variety of sights that he got to see. One almost never saw the Koopas and the Goombas without their footwear, but at the table, they were relaxed enough to shed their boots and shoes and stand there barefoot. Perhaps it was because their King did the same thing, and they didn't want him to think that they were putting themselves higher than him by wearing shoes while he couldn't, or maybe they just wanted to take advantage of their position to let their feet breathe outside of their quarters.

They needed the chance to air out, the wolf had to say. The first time that one of the Koopa generals had pulled off his shoes and kicked them over to the corner of the room, the smell almost bowled the wolf over. They were pungent, sweaty, but they were also masculine in a way that most feet never were. They did wash them, for which he was thankful, but that was only once a week, and the last time that they had done that had been at the communal bath that Bowser shared with his officers, about six days ago. Even a day after that, the first time that they had taken off their shoes for him to see, the smell was back with a vengeance.

But he had gotten used to the sweaty stink eventually. It hadn't been so much of a choice as a necessity, but he had gotten used to it. Looking over the brown Goomba feet and the three toed, yellow Koopa feet was almost a treat for him now. It let him imagine how it would feel to be under them compared to the way that it felt to be under Bowser's feet.

Nathan rubbed his head, shaking it a few times. It always came back to comparing others to Bowser lately. It wasn't something that he consciously did, but he'd noticed that he was doing it all the time. He would look at a Koopa carrying a weapon, and think that it wouldn't stand a chance against Bowser. He'd look at a few of the magical Koopas, practicing spells, and he'd know that they would be children against the power that Bowser mysteriously used. And now, he was comparing the feet of the army's generals to those of the King. It was starting to get out of hand.

He could even tell the difference between them by scent now, his nose able to sort through the different scents and attach each one to a pair of feet, and a name to the scent and the feet themselves. It wasn't that hard, he realized, and it was an easier way to recognize them than by faces. They all looked the same, save for shell colors, and whether or not they had wings.

Legs started shuffling, and Nathan took his attention away from their feet to listen again. "So, we're agreed to wait a little while longer?" Colonel Gomme asked.

"Stupid if you ask me, but I can't get anyone else here to listen to me," General Kaert said. They started walking away from the table, all of them getting their shoes back on. "But mark my words. Aqua Land is the first one that's going to rebel, the first one that's going to secede. If it's not, then it's the one that's going to make the most trouble for us. Why do you think that they had a spy here if they didn't already have something in the works?"

"We've heard all of this before, General, but until you can give us evidence, then there's nothing that we can do. We're already spread too thin." The Goomba colonel and the other Koopas nodded their agreement. "There will be no re-assignment without proof, General. And besides, the King hasn't given you permission to make any war on Aqua Land."

The King. The King always ended all the arguments in their favor. He hadn't sat in on this meeting, and the colonel was able to use his title like a bludgeon, getting through all sorts of arguments by using the lack of Bowser's presence as a reason not to come to any sort of decision. The Goomba was clever, really; the other Koopas could have made some sort of decision without their King in attendance, and if it was a good one, Bowser wouldn't reverse it. But they were more concerned with staying out of trouble than they were with getting things done sometimes, and this was one of them.

Thus, nothing was decided, and Nathan sighed as he was left alone in the room again. "The same thing, again, and again, and again," the wolf muttered to himself as he slumped against one of the table legs. "But at least there's no war. That's something."

Nathan looked at the closed door. Bowser would come down sometime to make sure that he was able to get back to the cage in the bedroom, but in the meantime, he was on his own.

Looking up at the table, Nathan fought the temptation to go up and look at the situation up there. It wasn't something that he needed to know, really, and if Bowser came in while he was looking at it, he'd probably get into trouble. After all, he was just a foot slave, and foot slaves that questioned things too much probably found themselves having a very short trip down to Bowser's stomach.

Then again, he might find the meetings here a little more interesting if he had some idea of the situation, and considering the fact that his only sources of information right now were Bowser - when he was in a very good mood - and the bits he could pick up from the messengers whispering when they arrived, the map table was probably his best chance.

Fear and common sense warred with his curiosity. It was fierce, brief, and utterly humiliating for his common sense and fear when they were trounced handily by his curiosity, and he scrambled up one of the table legs. Luckily they were at the sides of the table directly rather than a little bit under it, so he was able to make his way up it and onto the top of the table without trouble, the carvings into the legs making it easier by giving him handy foot and handholds.

As small as Nathan was, the miniatures on the map were just a bit smaller, about two inches tall each, an inch smaller than his own height. He walked over to one of them, taking a look at it.

It was one of six different Parakoopa miniatures, the wings carved remarkably well on the stone piece. Carved like it was flying, it was attached to a small stand at the base with a thin, toothpick width bit of stone. Experimentally, Nathan reached out, trying to pick it up.

He groaned as he stopped trying almost right after he started. It was like trying to lift a gargoyle off of its plinth, and he could have thrown his back out if he had kept trying. Then again, he thought to himself, it was probably for the best. If he could move them, he might have been tempted to move all sorts of things on the board, just to deal with some of his boredom. THAT would get him hurt pretty badly by the King. Considering that all Bowser needed to do to inflict massive injury was to not give him the mushroom before a 'playtime', he didn't want to risk that kind of anger.

So, instead, he walked around the map. Colonel Gomme was pretty much right, he realized. The last time that he had seen the map, Bowser's armies had been organized in units of no less than twenty Goomba miniatures or fifteen Koopa miniatures. He was told that these miniatures, at least most of them, indicated about twenty soldiers, so groupings of that size were pretty significant in terms of numbers. Compared to that, a group of a hundred twenty Parakoopas was pretty small, and definitely wouldn't be able to hold a position if a decent sized force of Mushroom Kingdom soldiers came knocking.

And there were more than a few of those out there, he saw as he walked along the more 'civilized' parts of the Kingdom. Along Bowser's thinly stretched lines of soldiers, there were four 'camps' of Mushroom soldiers, each one holding at least twenty miniatures, and the biggest holding sixty. If they pushed forward, they could snap the Koopa line without much effort, and really without much tactics, either.

Then there were the third players, the ones that Bowser had stretched his army out so much for. Nathan walked across a roughly drawn river on the map to look at some of the varied pieces that marked the forces of the potential seceding worlds. They were not large, but they were growing. In the week since he'd seen the map table last, they'd gone from a few hundred men in total - all across the map - to at least a hundred twenty in each army. Nothing truly powerful, yet, but definitely growing.

Aqua Land. He paused on the map as he stood on the border with it. It was reasonably close to the badlands and the rest of Bowser's territory, and it had the second largest army of the different groups. A good eight miniatures were marked on the map, assembled about a day away from the border of the world. He didn't recognize just what they were, but they were worrying, just because they they were as numerous as they were.

And finally, there was the Bob-omb Factory. He walked through the assembled bristles of Goomba Spearmen at the border, and looked down at the marker for the factory. That particular piece was nearer to the border that Bowser might have wished, and due to all the forces that were deployed along the borders of the Mushroom Kingdom, it was manned by a smaller force. Kelt was there, keeping it organized, and there was a marker on it for the blue-shelled Parakoopa, but Nathan couldn't help but think that probably wasn't enough. Particularly if the Kingdom forces were able to penetrate the battle lines.

"Why are you so interested in the map, worm?"

Nathan jumped well off of the map, as well as above most of the miniatures, and only barely avoided falling down on a Goomba spear. He panted as he turned to look up at the King, a hand held over his heart as he caught his breath. "I'm...I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I just wanted to see what the generals and other officers were talking about."

Bowser chuckled softly, shaking his head as he lowered his hand down to the map. "I see. I imagine hearing all of them talk for hours on end about things you don't know about is a little bit boring." He wiggled his fingers a bit, curling and uncurling them. "Get on."

Having learned to not hesitate when Bowser gave him an order or a question, the wolf hurried across the map and leaped onto the lizard's hand. The fingers curled upwards as it lifted off of the map, and Nathan grabbed hold of two of the fingers, using them as leverage to keep from falling off from either the currents of air that blew against him or the King's own movements. Both were something he had to consider at this size.

Using his other hand, the King pointed down at the map. Nathan leaned forward a bit - careful to keep his naked body away from the King's fingers for the most part - and looked.

The King pointed at the factory. "You were looking here. Are you thinking about Koopa Kelt?" he asked.

"I was," Nathan admitted. There wasn't a point to hiding things like that from Bowser. He only got annoyed if the wolf tried, or if any of the Koopas tried, for that matter. "I can't help but think that he's being wasted there at the moment, and if there is anything that gets through the lines, I don't want to see him hurt."

"I don't think you need to worry about Kelt, slave," Bowser said with a shake of his head. "He's more there as a precaution, and to make sure that the things that the factory makes are done on time. I need more weapons for the army out there. Right now, they're fine just posturing, and the way that the people talk, one Koopa or Goomba unit quickly multiplies into a hundred by the time the word gets to those in charge, but if anyone in the army comes up there to deal with them, I need more weapons and numbers."

A part of that made Nathan curious. "Numbers?" he asked. Weapons, he could understand. Factories made weapons all the time, and that was the main purpose of this one. Bombs as he understood it, though walking ones. Sometimes really BIG walking ones, if he remembered the way that some of the officers had talked about the place right. "What kind of numbers?"

"Fighting numbers." Nathan's face must have been quite confused, because Bowser laughed again. "Oh, you really don't know how things work for the Koopa army, do you?"

Nathan shook his head.

"Heh, you'll learn. You'll learn." Bowser snorted softly, looking at the door before walking over and closing it. He made sure that it clicked shut, and he pressed his ear to it before turning to look at Nathan again. "So, is there anything that I need to worry about with my officers? Were they doing anything suspicious? Anything that I need to worry about?"

The wolf shook his head. "No. There weren't any notes, no little gestures under the table. Nothing." He looked up at the King, and chose his words carefully. "Are you sure that there's anything to worry about, Your Majesty? I know that Koal was spying for other people, but why do you think that the rest of them are so suspicious?"

"Why do you think that they aren't?" Bowser asked, one of his eyebrows lifted.

"Well...I was thinking."

"Yes?"

"And..." He took a deep breath. "And, I was thinking. Why would any of the other lands need a trooper Koopa as a spy if they had a general? Wouldn't they just use the general to feed them information?" Bowser was silent, and Nathan looked down again. "I just think that they would be a better source of information than a trooper. I guess that was a stupid thought, huh?"

The silence lasted for a second longer before Bowser laughed. It was a bigger laugh than usual, and the vibrations that it sent through Bowser's body were enough to make Nathan hug the big lizard's fingers, modesty be damned. He pressed his entire body against those fingers, feeling their warmth through his fur, and getting a light buzzing vibration against him from the King's laughter.

When Bowser finally calmed down again, he looked at Nathan with a glance that was, dare he say, approving. "You are a smarter insect that I give you credit for," Bowser said with a chuckle. "You figured that out already? I was thinking that you'd just obey without even thinking about the situation."

"Then..." He stared at the King. "Then I was right? Then what's the point of what I'm doing?"

"The point is that the officer staff might not be spying for Aqua Land, but that doesn't mean that there aren't spies for other worlds in their ranks," Bowser explained. He gestured to the map again. "What do you see about pieces that aren't part of my army or the Mushroom Kingdom forces?"

The wolf wasn't sure just what point there would be, but he looked. His first reaction was to say that they were different shapes, but that was too obvious. Besides, that was the same difference between the Mushroom Kingdom forces and Bowser's. They were all different to show what kind of forces were deployed where. So, he looked at them for a bit longer, wracking his mind. Until...

"They're all different colors?" he said, almost questioning his own answer. That was the only thing that he could come up with. All of Bowser's miniatures were colored green, while the Mushroom Kingdom pieces were red. Yet, the worlds that were developing their own forces didn't have a unified color. One land was blue, and another was brown, and yet another was pink. The world's units might share the same colors, but there was no unifying color scheme throughout the rebellious worlds.

Bowser nodded his head. "Right. None of them work together, probably because they don't trust anyone else to not out them to the Mushroom Kingdom throne. So, why would I think that they share information with each other?" The King walked away from the table, holding the wolf up to his face. "Koal worked for Aqua Land, and that was probably because they couldn't get anyone higher ranked to do their work for them. The rulers there were always cheap with their treasury, so I'm not really surprised. But some of the others are a little smarter about how they spend their funds, and a little more selective in how they get their minions. One of them might have been able to get a colonel, or maybe even a general on their payroll."

That made sense, Nathan admitted. It was a twisted sort of thing, but he had been thinking of the world as three different sides. Bowser, the Kingdom, and the rebel worlds. But if the worlds were doing something illegal, like seceding from the Kingdom, then why would they trust other people? Yeah, one world or another might find something in common with each other, but he would bet that most of them wouldn't want anyone to know what they were doing until they were ready. That would make them suspicious of anyone, so even if another person offered information to them, they wouldn't believe it until they verified it themselves.

He rubbed his head. The whole thing was starting to give him a headache. Politics were NOT his best subject.

The King's laughter rolled over him again. "Looks like you're having a bit of a stressful day too, worm. I think that we need to work off a little stress."

Nathan's eyes lit up at that. "I think that would be a great idea, Your Majesty," he said. "Your foot slave is at your service, as ever."

"Save your service until we get to my chambers." Bowser smirked as he opened the door, stepping through into the hallways. "And shut up for a while. After explaining all that, I don't want to think about the Kingdom for a little bit. Giving me a headache too."

Couldn't blame Bowser for that, Nathan thought to himself. He barely had any of the information, and understanding it gave him something close to a migraine. The stress for the Koopa King probably was a good bit worse, and without some relief, would have probably needed king sized painkillers.

He watched the hallways slide away in silence, riding on the palm of the King's hand as they made their way through Castle Bowser. Even after a week, it was hard to find one's way around. Maybe if he was normal sized, it would have been easier, but as a micro wolf, it was nearly impossible. Rooms soared over his head at heights that looked like mountains, and even the smallest room took him nearly half an hour to get across. Maybe twenty minutes if he ran and was less careful, but after nearly getting caught under an armored Koopa boot, he was more careful.

Still, even though he had no idea of the layout of the castle, he was able to tell where they were going once they reached a landmark. Well, he thought of them as landmarks, due to how big they were compared to him. Sometimes it was a suit of armor, other times a tapestry, and still other times a portrait or a shard of this or that artifact that the King had hung on a wall for some reason.

This time, the landmark was the red carpet. It was easily one of the most recognizable parts of the castle for Nathan, as it was the path that he'd been led on to see Bowser the first time. It ran all the way from the Throne Room to...well, he wasn't sure where the other end went, but he knew that if he followed it in one direction, he could always get to the Throne Room. He'd used it for that once to make sure that he could get to his cage after Bowser had left him alone in the war room for a little too long, and it had worked well. It had taken forever to get from one place to another, of course, but it had worked.

To get to Bowser's quarters, though, one needed to navigate a Byzantine maze of different hallways, ones that were bare rather than marked, and though Nathan had been carried through them more times than he could count, he still didn't know the way to get there on his own. Sometimes, he'd swear that the hallways themselves changed direction on the way, deliberately confusing anyone but Bowser and his chosen servants.

So, he'd stopped trying to figure it out and just gone with the flow. After all, Castle Bowser seemed to be full of different soldiers that were allowed back there, and as long as he was useful to the King, then he would always have a way to get there.

Bowser was quiet as he opened the door, stepping through quickly before pushing it shut behind him. He touched one of his claws to the doorknob, and Nathan heard it click shut. That was new. Usually Bowser didn't mind having some Koopas coming into the room during his stress relief time. He must have been really stressed out to not want any kind of interruption this time.

The thought of being used by a really stressed out Bowser provoked mixed reactions for the wolf. On one hand, he did love being trampled hard by the King during these sessions, but on the other hand, there were times when the King taunted him by not giving him the mushroom for his regeneration right away. Usually it was only a taunt, something that he did to make it a little bit more exciting, a little more dangerous, but each time Nathan wondered if the King was serious. Bowser had an amazing poker face, and he could never tell if he was teasing or just being ruthless, wondering whether his usefulness was up or not.

Still, he was quite excited, and he forced himself away from the King's hand before Bowser could feel the reaction he had from feeling excited. "So...what do you want your slave to do for you today, Your Majesty?" Nathan asked, his eyes angled down at the King's palm.

"Why don't we start by getting you on the floor where you belong, slave?" To the wolf's shock, Bowser flipped his hand over without warning, and he fell.

His eyes went wide as he fell, his stomach feeling like it was still up on the level of the King's hand. His arms flailed and his heart leaped into his throat as he watched the King's hand get further and further away from him. Facing upwards as he was, he couldn't tell how far away the floor was, but he could measure it getting closer by the second. Looking at Bowser's body, he could tell just how much further he had left approximately, as he fell past the King's chest, his stomach. He closed his eyes, praying to be saved as he fell past the King's waist.

Just as he was about to scream for help, Nathan grunted as his back hit something. For a moment, he thought that he'd hit the floor early and was about to crack his spine in two, but when he found he could still move, he realized that the surface against his back wasn't hard enough to be the stone floor. Nor was it cool enough, for that matter.

Opening his eyes, he looked behind him, and groaned. Bowser had stood on one foot at the last minute, allowing him to fall down onto the bottom of one foot. No wonder it felt as puffy and warm as it did, not to mention moist and wet with sweat. He should have guessed what this was when he felt his fur get matted down with moisture, for that matter.

He looked up at the King. "That...that wasn't funny," he said, panting as his heart slowly started slowing down again. It slid out of his throat, back to where its proper place was, and he held his hand to his chest. "Not. Funny."

"It was to me, worm," Bowser said with a shrug. He tilted his foot, probably to roll Nathan off of it, but the wolf reacted quicker this time and grabbed hold of the big toe. Well, grabbed hold of it as best he could, with how smooth and wet it was, but he managed to get a grip on it without losing too much friction. His arms flailed around a few times before he got a solid grip, but once he got it, he got it good.

He looked down. He could probably survive the fall - it was about a foot for Bowser, but for him, it was four body lengths of open air - but it wouldn't be comfortable. "Not nice," he muttered under his breath.

Slowly the foot lowered, and he was lowered with it. Twelve inches, ten, eight. When he was six inches off of the ground he let go of Bowser's foot, landing on his feet without trouble. No injuries either, which was a double plus.

He looked up to thank the King for lowering him down a little more, but the foot was still descending. "Oh...that's what he wants," Nathan muttered to himself as he hurriedly laid himself flat out on the floor. No sooner had he done that than Bowser had his foot atop him, the massive expanse of warm, giving, sweaty, musky flesh pressing down on top of the mini wolf with enough pressure to keep him effortlessly pinned.

This time the King didn't leave him with his head free between the toes, either. His nose and mouth were locked against the foot flesh above him, and Nathan's eyes went wide as he realized that his air was completely cut off. Even as he opened his mouth to try and get a little more room to breath, he was forced to take some of Bowser's foot into his mouth. It was just a little bit of skin, but it was a solid bit of skin, and it worked amazingly as a gag. He squirmed and grunted against the King's foot, but there was no movement, no pulling back.

Nathan's eyes widened further as he squirmed futilely against the hot, wet foot pinning him down, his cock throbbing despite the situation, leaking pre against the sweaty flesh that pushed against it. His little squirms accomplished nothing for him, neither freedom nor release, and he could already feel his air supply diminishing.

Was this how he was going to go out? Not by crushing, but through choking to death? On the sexiest foot in the castle, of all things? Nathan had never imagined that he'd die this way, not once, not even when he had come to the castle. What did he do to deserve this?

When a bit more squirming didn't get him free, he just...went still. The wolf didn't quite know why. So many of his instincts pressed him to keep trying to get away, to go out fighting if he had to go out at all, but he went still anyway. Something told him that it was the right idea. Aside from the fact that squirming and fighting had been useless for him so far, he was reminded of the other spies a week ago, how they had fought and died. Maybe...just maybe...this sort of surrender was the answer to survival.

Whether it was or not, Bowser's foot lifted off of his face just before he could go unconscious from lack of air. Nathan gasped, sucking in the deepest, most satisfying breath of air that he could remember taking in his life. Reeking of sweat and musk, the air hot and humid enough to feel almost like he was taking a drink of water, it was nevertheless the best, clearest, sweetest air that had ever graced his lungs.

As he caught his breath, Bowser looked down at him with an approving nod. "That's for implying that what I did wasn't funny, bug. Good for you that you learned not to fight it. If you kept fighting, I'd have just kept you under there."

"You'd...you'd have killed me for that?" Nathan asked through gasps for breath.

"I didn't say that. I said I'd keep you under my foot," Bowser corrected him. He chuckled. "Whether I'd take my foot off after you fainted but before you died, you'll have to figure out for yourself."

Times like this really made Nathan wonder what he was doing here, why he was so eagerly following Bowser's commands. It was the only way to live, yes, but sometimes it felt like the King was just waiting for an excuse to get rid of him, no matter how much fun he gave the monarch, or how much fun that the King had with him under his feet. Any rational person probably would have been plotting ways to get out of here, but all he did was follow commands and enjoy the time he spent under the big yellow feet.

Bowser wiggled his toes, and Nathan immediately stared at them, putting his thoughts of 'why' away for another time. For now, he was working as a foot slave, and he needed to do his job right. He bowed his head, though he kept his eyes locked with those wiggling toes as he asked, "How may I serve, my Master?"

"Just stay right there. Let me do what I want this time," Bowser said. Then he laughed. "Heh, I do what I want every time, anyway."

Nathan nodded his head, laying down on the floor spread eagle, and waited.

The foot came down beside him, the majority of it at his left side with the toes pointed at him. The three large, puffy, clawed toes drummed over him, one bouncing lightly off of his face and muzzle, another around his legs and feet, and the last one around his middle. The wolf wasn't able to suppress a moan at the way that it felt, drumming along his groin and rubbing against his crotch, but he doubted that the King could hear it, considering how far away his head was.

Then again, maybe Bowser had heard him, as the toes changed their movements. The two outer ones continued to tap and drum against his legs and face, but the middle one stopped. Instead, it rubbed back and forth, grinding against his crotch and drawing squirt after squirt of pre from his cock.

Moaning again, Nathan stuck out his tongue, dragging it along the underside of Bowser's toes. They were the least sweaty of all the different parts of the King's foot, but they had their own particular kind of musk. It was sort of lighter, different, but still Kingly and manly to him. Every lick was like a favorite appetizer from one of those restaurants that people bragged about all the time. And it was sort of an appetizer, he knew. The toes were a great part, had a great taste, but they were only the first part of his duties today. A taste of what was to come.

And possibly to cum as well, if that toe kept rubbing his crotch. He moaned repeatedly between his licks, barely able to keep himself from arching his back and humping up against the toe. More than not wanting to make a mess on his King's foot - which was only a minor worry to him, anyway - he didn't want to lose his mood. As long as he was aroused, he was able to do a better job of pleasing his king. Mostly because he knew that he had to work for his orgasm that way, but also because he knew that it maintained the mood. But damn Bowser if he was making it REALLY hard to keep himself restrained this way.

Just as the toe was about to push him to the point of orgasm despite his wishes, Bowser pulled his foot back. Nathan gasped and moaned softly, his hips twitching upwards futilely and instinctively to get that stimulation back, however much his mind didn't want him to cum yet, humping air for a few seconds before he got control of himself. He looked up at Bowser, questioning with a look what he wanted next.

The King answered him by throwing down a mushroom. "I don't feel like teasing you with denial today," he said, dropping a second mushroom after a moment. "You better eat both of those. I plan to go a little further today than usual."

Further? That could either be extremely good, or extremely bad. He had never seen more than one mushroom consumed at a time, save for that wolf spy that had been shoved into Kelt's shoes for a day or so. If he was going to need two mushrooms for just one session, Bowser probably had a hell of a time planned for him. So he wasted no time shoving them down his throat. If the King was THAT stressed out, he wasn't going to make him wait any longer than he needed to.

Just as he swallowed the second one, Bowser lifted up his foot. "I've been wanting to do this all day. Hold still, worm," Bowser instructed.

The wolf nodded, spreading his arms and legs out as he was commanded. He wondered, would the foot come down fast, or slow? Would Bowser stand on one foot and see how flat he could make the wolf with his weight alone, or would he grind his heel against his body until he felt like he was going to be ground right through the stone? There were many options.

Fast. It was fast. The foot slammed down in a blur, and Nathan's eyes went wide at just how hard Bowser must have shoved his foot down to get that kind of velocity. He forced his eyes to remain open as it came down, taking in every detail of the smooth foot, the yellow flesh speckled with droplets of sweat, droplets that ran along the contours of the foot as it stomped down.

WHAM! Nathan felt the impact through the stone almost as much as he felt it through his body. He grunted in some discomfort from the sheer level of pressure, stronger and harder than anything that the King had done to him yet. He felt like he had been punched all over his body, slammed down into the floor by a meteor rather than a simple giant of a reptile. Then again, would there be any difference in the feeling? He wasn't sure at this point; the meteor might not have hit as hard, though.

The King's foot flesh swallowed the majority of his body in yellow, with his head pinned between the middle and right leftmost toe of his foot. Nathan grunted a bit as his body was pressed harder, feeling himself flatten out a bit, but thankfully kept alive through a mixture of the mushroom and whatever the King did that kept people under his foot alive through the pressure. His cock was pinned down by the foot as well, ground against his belly fur with the slightest shifting of the King's position.

Smirking down at him, Bowser lifted his foot, and then brought it back down, three rapid stomps one after the other. The impacts were so hard and so powerful that the wolf was bounced off of the rock floor a little further with each one, the last one sending him almost six inches off of the floor.

Despite the mushroom, he was almost afraid of the fall down from that one, but he didn't have to worry. Bowser's foot took care of that for him again, stomping down on him and sending him against the stone faster, harder than any fall could have.

Each of the impacts could have driven the air out of his lungs on their own, but combined, they completely robbed Nathan of the ability to breathe for a few seconds. He stared upwards, wondering if he could he was as flat as a pancake from all of the stomping, but considering how his arms and fingers could still move - barely - and they didn't feel like pieces of paper, he doubted it.

Even breathing through his mouth as he recovered, he still took in the musk, humidity, and sweaty air that permeated the space around Bowser's feet. He could taste the musk and sweat from the foot without even touching his tongue to the skin, though not as strongly, and he almost felt like he was drinking water rather than breathing air.

He coughed a few times as Bowser took a break from stomping, gasping as his lungs slowly started to inflate again. His whole body was pounded from the application of pressure, barely able to summon the energy to squirm a little bit under the King's foot. If it wasn't for the mushroom, he would have been dead four times, five times over, he was sure.

Yet, despite the rough treatment, his body cried out for more. He groaned as his cock throbbed harder than ever beneath the yellow, slick, puffy flesh, sure that there was an imprint on it - however small - from his cock being as hard as it was against Bowser's giving footflesh. He wanted more...he needed more.

And Bowser could see that, he was sure. At least that's what he thought that the smirk on the King's face was for. Slowly the foot came off of his chest, Bowser walking over to a small drawer that was on his nightstand.

Deciding to take advantage of the brief respite from the stomping, Nathan took a look at himself.

It wasn't as bad as he had thought it would be, though not as good as he had hoped, either. His body was flattened by the repeated stomps from the King's foot, not to the point of being a pancake, but definitely more than a normal person could take and survive. He was maybe a third as wide - as measured from belly button to spine, straight through - as he had been before, and his body was spread out over a wider area as a result.

Yet, he was coming back together. His body was rising up like a loaf of bread as it recovered from being pounded into the rock again and again. "Who'd have ever thought...shrooms would save a life?" Nathan muttered to himself as he watched the process.

He was only about halfway back to normal when he felt a pair of claws grab him by the arms. Fingers wrapped around his head and chest and picked him off of the ground, his scream of surprise muffled against fingers that were as chubby and puffy and giving as the foot he'd been under. Carried through the air at high speed, Nathan rode along blindly for the moment or two before he stopped again.

The fingers opened again and dropped him on Bowser's foot. This time, his head was stuck right at the skin between the middle and left toe, his nose literally pressed right against the skin as he was forced to inhale the potent musk between the toes. He groaned, his back arching and his hips thrusting forward from the smell and the contact of the big foot against the rest of his body.

As he shoved himself against Bowser's foot, he felt a rubber feeling against his back, followed by a strong jolt of pressure against his spine. The toes tightened against his head as he tried to look around, preventing him from moving, but he could guess what it was, particularly as a similar pressure was applied slightly higher by the same thing. He was being rubber-banded to the King's foot.

"There we go!" Bowser said, and though the wolf couldn't see the King's face, he could hear the smirk in Bowser's voice. "I can't wear shoes, but this way I can keep you against my foot while I walk around the room. I hope that second mushroom lasts long enough for a good few laps, because I feel like pacing for a while. Have fun down there, you little insect."

This was going a little further than Nathan expected, but he would be lying if he said that there wasn't some bit of excitement in his body and mind amidst the worry. This was the source for the second mushroom? Just how long was Bowser going to keep walking? Was he going to be crushed if the King kept walking for longer than the Mushroom could last? Was this going to be the last time that Bowser kept him underfoot?

The questions were swept from his mind as Bowser lowered his foot down to the ground again. The pressure of the King's weight returned with a vengeance, and from the way that he was tired up, Nathan was forced to breathe by sucking in the sweaty musk from between the King's toes. Between the pressure that held him down and how closely his nose was forced against the strong scented flesh, he could barely get in enough air to keep conscious. He was helped by the crushing pressure that came down, snapping him awake every time that he got too close to falling unconscious, but it wasn't enough to keep him from feeling woozy and dizzy as he was walked on.

Step. The king lifted him up, and the pressure was off of him for a moment. The air whistling by him brought a few bits of fresh air to his brain, but the wolf wasn't sure if he wanted them. The musk that filled his nose was strong, and it turned him on. Were it not for the pressure of the bands against his back, he would have been thrusting against Bowser's foot while it was up in the air.

Slam. The foot came down again, and the weight slammed against his body again. Jolted by the impact, he groaned against the foot flesh, whatever noise he made mostly stifled by the slick skin against his face. He panted and moaned, sticking out his tongue and licking, tasting the sweat, the salty liquid, before swallowing it.

Step. Into the air again, and Nathan tried like hell to grind, even if he couldn't thrust.

Slam. Into the stone again, smothered by hot flesh, by sweaty skin. He was drenched, he was flattened. Groaning, he took it, waiting for the -

Step. He licked, ground himself against the foot. It was a slow process, more teasing than satisfying, but he could feel himself getting just a bit closer to an orgasm, too. Just out of reach, but if he could get a little more grinding in before the -

Slam. The wolf groaned as he was pinned again, not given even the bit of movement that he had when the foot was aloft. What little progress he had achieved drained away, orgasm just a bit out of reach again, going away.

Step. Slam. Step. Slam. Step. Slam. Every time the cycle continued, the pressure driving him mad as he was paralyzed bit, unable to work towards an orgasm, unable to move or do anything but be smothered by potent, musky, yellow foot flesh. Every time he was lifted up, he ground and licked like mad, desperately trying to get to the edge, but it was never long enough. Just enough to keep him hard, eager, aroused, but never quite enough to take him over the edge to his full climax. If it wasn't impossible, he would have sworn that Bowser was doing this on purpose.

After who knew how long, he could swear that the pressure was starting to get more...noticeable. Distracted from his lust by a sudden desire to not be crushed, he paid more attention to it. It wasn't just him. The pressure was more than simple weight on top of him now, but actually starting to get uncomfortable. The mushroom must be wearing off, Nathan realized, and his eyes went wide as he also noticed that the King was showing no signs of slowing down, no signs of his pacing stopping.

He would have beat his fists against the foot if his arms were free. He would have kicked against it if his legs weren't already flatter than pancakes. Hell, he would have bitten against the flesh between the toes if his mouth was more free than it was. Yet, he was too well tied to the foot, and there wasn't even a chance for him to shout up at the Koopa King. He just had to stay there and take whatever he was given, whether that ended with him living or dying.

Step, slam, step, slam, step, slam. The process continued, and each time, Nathan worried if it would be the last one that he would feel. Already he could tell that his body was giving under the strain as the mushroom's influence started to fade. His legs were feeling some pain, particularly his feet which stuck out a bit more, and though his cock throbbed harder than ever, he could tell that his hips and his chest were on the verge of caving in.

Step, slam. That was it. He could only take one more. He was sure of it. Nathan groaned, wondering how it had come to this. He felt the foot lift off of the ground, and braced himself for the final impact.

Which never came.

Nathan looked up, pulling his head back the little bit that he could to see that Bowser was smirking at him. "Heh, I know the limits of the mushrooms, little slave," the King said with a chuckle. He reached down, big fingers pulling the rubber band back and catching the wolf before he could fall down from the big yellow foot. Lifting him up to just in front of his face, Bowser smiled. "I'm not crushing you into paste. Not yet, anyway. You're still a little too useful for something like that."

Unsure whether to be thankful for still being alive or scared at the threat that he would be squished eventually, Nathan remained silent. His Master just chuckled again, carrying him across the room before putting him down in the cage. "I have a few more things I need to do before I come back here to sleep. Why don't you get a little water and a little rest before I get back? I'm going to want a little more relief then, and maybe you'll even get a chance to deal with that erection of yours."

Blushing as Bowser left, Nathan looked down at his crotch. Sure enough, he was still throbbing hard, and his cock didn't show any sign of flagging. Considering the fact that he reeked of Bowser's feet and sweat, he wasn't really surprised. Every time that he breathed in he was reminded of being under those massive soles, the arches that allowed him a bit of space to breathe, those big, sexy, soft toes with the claws on the tips that reminded him of just what he needed to be doing to keep himself useful enough to go un-crushed...

There. That was the thought that killed his cock. He watched it go back down again, and he sighed a bit. "What am I doing?" Nathan wondered as he walked over to his water dish. It was icy cold to his fingers as he shoved his hands in, and he trembled as he picked some water up and splashed it over his face. It didn't do much to get rid of the smell, but it did do a good job of getting him clear-headed, and it cooled him down, both in temperature and in regards to his libido.

He sat down on one of the bunched up parts of the blanket on the bottom of the cage after he had a few drinks, setting his head against his hands. He had a few hours. He would think about what he was doing here, before Bowser came back and messed with his head again.

"Okay," he said to himself. "Right now, I'm stuck in a castle, I'm smaller than the big spiders that wander behind the tapestries, and I'm staying here when I know that the King of the castle is going to get me squashed to death when he's tired with me? Anything else?" He thought about it for a moment. "No, I think that's it."

Saying it all aloud made the situation seem all the more ridiculous, but it did explain one thing. Why he didn't try to get away. The spiders that wandered around the walls were only one danger, though it was one that he didn't have to worry about here in the cage. Bowser sleeping in the room kept all the different spiders away, and he didn't have to sleep with one eye open as a result. But out in the hallways, and out in the rest of the castle, if he didn't have an escort, it was a high risk operation to move around. The one time that he had made it to the Throne Room on his own, he'd brought a small army of the things trailing behind him.

But still, dangers like that could be overcome. And the Koopas here didn't all seem to be that bright. Well, there was Kelt, but he was away for the moment. Maybe he could find some way to lie to the Koopas, find a way to get away from here. He knew that it wouldn't work for all of them, but if he could get a Koopa to carry him to one room by fooling them into thinking that Bowser wanted him there, then get another ride from a different one...it'd be like a relay to the escape point.

Of course, there was the problem of getting over the moat when he got to it, but that was something else to consider after he got past the problem of getting to the drawbridge.

That still left him with the problem of why he was staying here in the first place, though. What was keeping him here? Had Bowser cast another spell besides the shrinking one? He didn't think so, but then again, he didn't know much about magic, both the sort that they used here in the Kingdom or in general. But he was pretty sure that Bowser wouldn't have been able to cast two spells at the same time, and he hadn't seen the Koopa King use another one on him since he had been shrunk.

The only thing he could think of - and the idea was so ridiculous that he almost dismissed it out of hand - was the idea that he was so attracted to the Koopa King's feet that he had stuck around just for the chance to stay under them.

Nathan wanted to think that it was an utterly ridiculous idea, just his brain's idea of a funny joke, but the more he thought about it, the more things fit into place. He hadn't really considered running after he had taken a look at Kelt, and after seeing the King's bare feet. He had gotten an orgasm out of the King's feet on his first day, so he was definitely attracted to them. And even now, when he was trying to think of how to get away, he always came back to the memory of looking up at the undersides of King Bowser's feet. Regardless of the pressure that had tried to crush him, despite all of the pain that he had started to feel at the end of the last one, and however many taunts that the King threw his way, all the disrespect and the danger to life and limb...Nathan found that he didn't care. As long as he got to have some fun, he was enjoying himself.

And more than that, he thought that the King was having some small soft spot for him. He had been told at first that he would only see the King after the day was over, when he needed some time to get rid of stress. But after he had dealt with the wolf under the table in the war room, after he had saved the information on Bowser's army disposition from getting out of the castle, Bowser had started...well, it hadn't been enough to call it 'liking' him, but Bowser did seem to value him. As a spy, as someone to keep an eye on other people, perhaps, but as someone more than just a little insect for his own relief.

"Does Bowser like me like that?" Nathan asked himself. That was really the question, and it was the only one that he'd asked himself so far that he didn't have an answer for. He didn't know if Bowser simply saw him as a tool - albeit a multipurpose one - or if he saw him as a small, but living person, someone to get to know. There were too many conflicts between him and Bowser to be completely sure one way or the other. Most of the time he was sure that he was just a tool to Bowser, but there were times when the King did something so out of character, so strange, that he just didn't know.

Like yesterday, at dinner. Usually he had to remain under the table, keeping an eye on things or pleasuring the King's foot. But yesterday, Bowser had put him up on the table, and under the eyes of all of his officers and high officials, he had given him food right from his own plate. It wasn't the best food, of course, as the chefs were not the best that he'd seen in the world, but it was better than the stuff that he had been getting. Good meat, and good seasonings. The King probably hadn't missed any of it, considering that he had been filled up with a tiny portion of meat, but the gesture still meant something to him. Maybe he was worth something more than a tool in the King's eyes.

He shook his head. The whole thing was ridiculous, and pointless. As long as he was stuck here, he had to do his best to please the King, not try and find a way to get away. If he could please the King, he lived. That was what he had to remember. Whatever feelings he might have....well, that he did have for Bowser didn't matter. Unless Bowser for sure returned them, there was no reason to dwell on them for now. He needed to live. Then he'd find out what Bowser felt.

The thought that Bowser might have been as confused as him was considered for a moment, but then dismissed. The King was so sure of himself that it must have been impossible. Stupid.

Shaking his head a few times, Nathan found his way to the section of the cage he used for a bed. It was closer to the water than it was to the bathroom corner, but it was a little cooler as a result, which in this castle meant comfort. Laying down on the blankets, he slowly closed his eyes, letting the soft trickle of the water and the cool air around it lull him into slumber.

#

To Nathan's surprise, he wasn't woken up by the King. Nor was he woken up by his bladder, or a soldier, or anything of the above. His stomach woke him up, and he groaned as he rolled over, his hunger reminding him that he needed to get some food into his belly.

"Ugh," Nathan moaned to himself as he got to his feet. Leaning on the wall of his cage, he rubbed his eyes before looking out.

The King wasn't on his bed. The wolf blinked, and blinked again as he realized that Bowser wasn't in the rest of the room either. More than that, the door was shut, and the sun came through the ceiling on the opposite side of the room as it had when he had gone to bed. Considering that it had been evening when he had gone to sleep, that meant that he had slept through dinner and through the night until morning. Late morning at that, judging by the angle of light. No wonder he was hungry as hell.

"Hello!" Nathan called out, his voice echoing in the room. "Your Majesty? Someone? Anyone? Anyone there?"

His voice echoed around the room briefly before fading away into nothingness. The wolf pulled back from the wall of his cage a little bit, suddenly worried. Where was Bowser? Why was he left alone in the cage, and why was there no way to get out?

He hadn't really looked for any way to get out on his own before, considering that Bowser or one of the Koopas had always been within earshot before. That, or he'd been comfortable enough at the moment to not need to look for a way out. But now that he did look, he found the situation wasn't very good. The walls were smooth, without any sort of handholds, and the metal corners holding the cage together were almost as smooth. The little nuts and screws and bolts that were pressed into it looked like they could be useful, though.

Walking over to one of them, he reached out, touching one of them experimentally. Almost as soon as he touched it, though, he whipped his hand back, whimpering as he cradled his hand against his chest. That was hot, very hot. So hot that he was worried that he had burned himself on that touch, but when he looked, it was just slightly red, like he had taken a bit too much sun, but not really burned. Slight consolation.

"Of course it would be burning hot," Nathan muttered under his breath. With a lava fountain in the middle of the room, he should have assumed that it would be. The stones and other building materials might not hold heat so much, but the metal...oh, the metal would hold onto it for a while.

But they were the only way for him to get out of the cage. Nothing else provided handholds, and the little hut covering for the bathroom corner didn't reach high enough for him to jump off of it to the tank rim.

No, he'd need to climb. Much as it would hurt his hands, he needed to find some way to climb up the metal.

But how? That was the question. The wolf looked down at the blanket that covered the bottom of the cage. That could be useful, he thought, but then he looked at another corner of the cage. Where the blanket touched the metal, the blanket had pulled back, darkened by the heat, having a half-melted look to it. That was not promising, not promising at all, he thought to himself.

Then he got it. Grinning, Nathan bent down at the edge of the blanket. Using claws and teeth, he slowly managed to get a few strips of it off of the main body. It took some work, but he managed to get them tied around his fingers and toes, around the parts of his hands feet that would come in direct contact with the metal. Again, it wasn't perfect, but he managed to get them mostly covered.

Now it was time for the second step. Walking back to the water dish, he climbed into it. Crouching on all fours, he was able to submerge both his hands and his feet as well. The blanket immediately started sucking up the water, but there was more than enough water to keep it from being drained too much. He could feel them soaking it up, getting colder against his pads. "Yes, that's it...get nice and wet, nice and cold," Nathan muttered under his breath.

If his hands were protected by the blanket, it would allow him to get some protection, but if he got them wet as well, and with cold water, then he had the chance to keep the blanket from getting singed or burnt on the way up the metal handholds, keeping his hands and feet even safer.

Still, it would be a race. The moment he touched the metal, the cold water would start heating up, and each handhold would be cooled a little less than the one before it. If he had the choice, he would bring the water with him, throw it all over the metal, but it was too heavy to take off of the cage wall, and he didn't know if he could throw the water far enough anyway.

After a few minutes of letting his blanket coverings soak, he took a deep breath. "Okay...fast as you can, fast as you can," Nathan muttered under his breath. He leaped out of the water dish and ran for the nearest corner, wincing as he felt the water around his feet start to leak away. His feet were going to hurt by the time he got to the top, he was sure.

Leaping from the ground in as high a leap as he could make, the wolf landed about half of his height off of the ground, grabbing onto a pair of bolts. His hands steamed as the water was partially evaporated before the bolts cooled down. Right around his feet, the steam came up too, but he could tell that there was a difference in water level already. He couldn't afford to stay on any handhold or foothold for long, he realized.

Taking a deep breath, he looked up. The cage was about seven times his height. If he did this quickly, he could still get out without injury...if he was quick enough.

A big if.

One more deep breath, and he was off. He felt like a fire squirrel or something, surrounded by steam as he ascended the wall. It was hot, and more than once he started coughing on the steam in front of his face, but he made himself keep going, hands constantly grabbing hold of a new handhold as soon as he had a firm grip on the last one, pulling himself up before the moisture could be completely sapped from his hand and foot coverings.

About the halfway point, he thought that he had managed to outclimb the steam. Then he realized that there was no steam. No steam, but a great deal of heat against the blanket gloves. The water was gone.

The next bolt reminded him of how much help the water had been. Not only had it been able to cool the bolts enough to make them bearable to touch, but they'd taken the brunt of the heat on the first touch too. Now it was just cloth between him and the heat, and he could already feel the blankets coming apart. Nathan didn't dare pause to take a look directly at the blanket pieces, but he was sure that they were starting to blacken from the heat.

Rather than stop and go back down - which would have been difficult if not impossible - Nathan pushed himself to climb faster, further. He panted as he worked his arms and his legs, almost kicking off of the footholds as soon as he felt himself touch them, and yanking himself up on the handholds as fast as his arms would do it. It hurt his body, and he could feel himself start sweating. He welcomed the sweat. Any moisture that might soak into the blankets would give him that much more of a micro-second more time to keep moving.

The first blanket came apart one body length from the top of the tank. It slipped from his right foot, and when his now bare foot came down on the bolt, he howled in pain as the pad blistered in less than a second. He almost lost his grip, and for a moment he was sure that he was going to fall back down, all that way down to the bottom of the cage.

But with all the willpower he had left, he managed to keep his grip, and not just that, but keep pulling himself up. It was only three more bolts to the top...then two...

The last bolts burned through the blankets on his hands, and he winced as his pads touched the hot metal for a split second. Not as long as his foot had touched the other metal pieces, but enough to really, really hurt. Nathan groaned as he forced himself up the last bit of distance...

And then fell.

As he fell, he realized that he had not planned for how to get down from the top of the cage. He had gotten all the way to the top, and he hadn't figured out how he was going to get down on the other side. Not that it mattered now. He was falling, and not towards the nightstand, but towards the stone floor below, many, many body lengths below.

Nathan thought he should scream. That he should flail around, or try to catch some invisible rod or something that would slow himself down. He thought that there should have been something he could do to keep from falling. But he didn't. Maybe it was shock, or maybe it was the pain and exhaustion catching up to him from the fast climb, but he fell in silence.

A sudden puff of smoke billowed out below Nathan, and before his eyes a Goomba appeared out of the smoke, a Goomba with a monocle and a tiny tuft of white hair on his head. The wolf had just enough time to stare before he collided with the - thankfully - soft brown mound of the Goomba's main body.

"So as I was...wait...where did the court go?" The Goomba looked side to side a few times. "I was just speaking to a court and then...Hey, what's on my head?"

The Goomba bounced around a few times, swinging its head around to try and look at the top of its own head. Nathan, for his part, could only hang onto the white hair that poked out. He groaned softly at the way that the hair felt on his raw pads, but he would be damned if he died from a fall now after his life had been saved by this Deus ex Goomba.

After a few moments, the Goomba stopped swinging itself around, and waddled towards the door, grumbling all the while. "Teleporting me out of an important meeting...into a bedroom of all places...the nerve..." the Goomba muttered under his breath as he waddled from side to side, Nathan slowly pulling himself up to the little blunt point on his head. "Gonna give him a piece of my mind...magical little twerp..."

The wolf panted softly atop the Goomba's head as he rode him out of the King's quarters and down the hallways. The Goomba seemed to know his way through the castle remarkably well, and for a change, he was moving slow enough for Nathan to get an idea of where things were.

Of course, it was different again, so the slowness didn't matter one bit. Nathan was sure that the halls were changing now, but whether it was Bowser, some mechanical method, or something that the castle did on his own, that was something he would need to figure out later.

When the Goomba reached the red carpet, though, and seemed intent on following it, Nathan leaned back. He didn't really need to pay much attention now, he thought. Either he was going to the Throne Room or the other end of the carpet, and whichever it was, he didn't need to be on the watch for that. Besides, he needed a little rest. His hands hurt, his feet hurt, and he wasn't entirely convinced that he didn't have some sort of concussion from that fall. Hell, he might have actually hit the floor and dreamed that he'd hit this Goomba and was riding him towards the Throne Room or wherever they were going.

He wasn't sure how long it took the Goomba to get to the Throne Room, but he knew when they entered by the loud footsteps that overwhelmed all the other sound in the room. The wolf pulled himself back up a bit to see Bowser rapidly crossing the room towards him...or the Goomba. Might have been the Goomba Bowser wanted.

No, it was him. Bowser gently picked him up from the Goomba's head. Nathan couldn't quite make out what the Goomba was saying, and Bowser seemed to ignore it. He pulled out a mushroom from mid-air once more, and before Nathan could say anything more than "Than-", his mouth was full with the bitter fungus, forced to bite through it a few times and swallow it.

Almost instantly, Nathan felt his various injuries fade away. It wasn't painless right off the bat, but he felt the burns on his hands and feet go away, as well as the bruises along the rest of his body from falling on top of the Goomba's head. It hadn't been completely painless, after all, considering the long fall to it.

The King sighed in relief, and in that moment, Nathan couldn't help but blush just a little bit. In that little gesture, and in that sigh, he felt that part of his question had been answered.

Before he could pursue that line of thought, however, the Goomba below caught his attention again, and Bowser's too, by his grumbling. "Hello? Your Majesty? I'm still talking here."

"And I was checking on my slave. You can wait for a minute," Bowser said with a shake of his head. He looked Nathan in the eye for a moment before nodding his head. "Alright, you'll be okay for now. Might want to get a lid for your cage, though."

"Or a ladder on each side. That'd be nice too," Nathan muttered.

"Don't backtalk. There's a cage for a reason." Bowser lifted his hand and put Nathan on his shoulder, giving the wolf a moment to get a grip on his shell before turning back to the white haired Goomba. "You were saying?"

The Goomba opened his mouth again, paused, and shut it again. He shook his head. "First, what was that magic that sent me into your quarters just now? I have a right to know what kind of magic you put on me this time, Bowser. That wasn't just cosmetic you know."

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" Bowser asked.

"Considering you put something on me that teleported me halfway across the Castle without any warning at all? No, I'm not." The Goomba glared up, wrinkles around his eyes more obvious from this angle. "And don't you go trying to stare me down, sonny. I've been in this army and castle almost as long as you have, and I've seen everything you can do. I don't get scared anymore."

Despite the Goomba's words, there was a stare-down for a short time. To Nathan's surprise, though, Bowser was the one that looked away from the Goomba rather than the other way around. He shook his head a few times. "Alright, alright," Bowser muttered. "I put a spell on you since you were the least active Goomba in the Castle. I knew that my slave would try to get out of his cage sometime, and I needed to make sure that there was something to keep him from dying in a fall."

"There are other things that you could have used, Your Majesty. Pillows, perhaps, or perhaps a rare object that you nevertheless have many of. They're called blankets. I believe you've heard of them." The Goomba hmmphed softly to himself, turning around before waddling off. "Arrogance, no respect for his elders," he grumbled as he made his way out of the Throne Room, his waddling gait far more pronounced than most other Goombas that the wolf had seen in his time at the castle.

Both the Koopa King and the wolf stared at the departing little guy, shaking their heads in unison. Nathan didn't know what Bowser thought about the Goomba's actions or words, but he was shocked. So far, there hadn't been a single creature in the castle that had shown anything but the greatest respect for Bowser. Well, other than Koal, and that didn't really count. Koal was a traitor. But this Goomba had been loyal, and yet had stared down his King and then berated him for his decision.

More interesting, Bowser had allowed it. There had been plenty of times for the King to cut off the Goomba's tirade, but Bowser had never done it. Nor had he punished the Goomba as he walked away. It was strange to him.

It was soon forgotten as the Throne Room started buzzing with conversation again. Now that he wasn't riding on a Goomba and not in a great deal of pain, Nathan could see that the generals and other officers had been gathered here, as well as a new Parakoopa that he hadn't seen yet.

This one had a green shell, and didn't have the sunglasses that Kelt or Koal had worn. He wasn't using his wings, either, and held a messenger case in his hands. A mailman? Or some sort of runner from one of Bowser's armies? Either one could be the case here.

Nathan looked down and saw a piece of paper, still rolled up and sealed, in Bowser's hands. "Your Majesty? Did I interrupt something?" he asked in a whisper.

"We'll see if you did or not," Bowser muttered back as he made his way to the stone throne. He sat down, looking down at the piece of paper. "Our messenger here came from the Bom-omb Factory. He said that this was an emergency message from Kelt. Sometimes the messengers exaggerate to get to the Throne Room quickly, but I'm not so sure that's what happened here."

An emergency? Nathan's mind flashed back to the war map from yesterday. There hadn't been any Mushroom Kingdom soldiers near enough to the factory to be a threat to it then, not that he could remember. The other worlds were holding fast as well, not well enough armed to break through the admittedly thin line of Goombas and Koopas on the borders. It probably was just an exaggeration, after all.

At least, he hoped so. He didn't know Kelt very well, but the blue shelled Parakoopa had saved him from Koal. And he'd been a pretty nice guy, overall, particularly when he didn't have to be.

The officer staff fell silent as Bowser lifted up the message to his face and unrolled it. Nathan leaned in, reading it at the same time as the King did.

"To His Royal Majesty, Bowser,

This is Koopa Kelt. Requesting immediate assistance and reinforcement to the Bob-omb Factory. Unknown forces have breached defenses and laid siege to the factory. At time of writing, they have not breached walls, but only matter of time with current weaponry and soldiers.

Enemy leader unknown, but soldiers are Koopas as well, dressed in gray, white, and black suits. Well armed, and well supplied. Also present, Shy Guys, possibly more. Unsure of available enemy reinforcement or of motivations behind attack.

Send as many forces as possible. Soon.

Koopa Kelt."

Nathan stared at the missive, his eyes wide as Bowser lowered it to his side. The Factory was under attack by other Koopas? That didn't make sense. Bowser was the Koopa King, and that should give him authority over all of the different Koopas, shouldn't it? Why would they be attacking their fellows?

"Kaert!" Bowser shouted. The general in question leaped to attention, a gloved hand hitting his helmet. "Gather as many Parakoopas and Lakitus as you can. I want at least a hundred ready to go in an hour."

Even as the general saluted and rushed out of the room, Bowser had turned his attention to another officer. "Colonel Gomme! You're in charge of putting together as many more soldiers as can be spared from Castle Bowser, to follow within the day. Get it done. Strip the Castle of everything but the Throne Guard, if you have to, but get me a force to send down there!"

As the two officers rushed to fulfill their orders, Bowser turned to face Nathan. "It looks like there's going to be a little more fighting today than I really wanted, but then again, when do I ever get what I want?" He shook his head. "You're coming too."

"Me? Why me?!" Nathan said, just barely keeping his voice to a tone of curiosity rather than protesting.

"There's no time to get you situated and taken care of. And this is going to be a fight that's going to take a few days, I'm sure. I'm not leaving you in the castle when there might be others that would take advantage of you without my permission." Bowser chuckled. "Besides, I think you need to see a bit more of the world than just the castle. And when the battle's over, I don't want to wait a few days before I can work out a bit more stress on my favorite slave."

"Only slave," Nathan muttered softly, though he still blushed a bit at the compliment.

"Don't argue." The King looked at his guards as he walked down from the throne. "Take care of the place while I'm gone, boys. I got a factory to defend."

The wolf rode on Bowser's shoulder through the castle. It was different from riding on his hand, that was for sure. There were less places to hold onto, and it was easier to feel all the different moves from the King's strange walking. The way that Bowser was built, he was forced to swing his legs around a lot more than an average anthro or Koopa, so he had a wobbling, swaying sort of gait. When Nathan rode in the King's hand it wasn't so noticeable, but when he was on the shoulder, he was forced to kneel down and hold tight to the edge of the King's shell. Even then there were a few close calls, and he hoped that Bowser would reach the end of the hallways soon.

His wish was granted after nearly fifteen minutes of flailing, nearly falling, and other dangerous moments. When Bowser finally stopped, Nathan looked up, panting softly as he recovered.

They were at the drawbridge, and ahead of them was a mix of soldiers. A quick count told Nathan that about three quarters of them were Parakoopas, with the last quarter mostly Lakitus, with a single officer one in their ranks. At least, he thought that Lakitu was an officer. He had sunglasses and had a different colored cloud, at any rate, and that was the only thing that set him apart from the rest of the group.

General Kaert hurried to the King, giving a quick salute before bowing his head. "The force is assembled sir," he said. "Do you want me to lead them out?"

"No, I'll take this group," Bowser said. He held up his hand as the general stared at him. "There's going to be some heavy fighting there, if there are other Koopas that are fighting mine. I want to make sure that this group can hold until Colonel Gomme gets down there with the rest of the reinforcements if things go bad. And I want to see just what is going on to make my men fight each other." Bowser's lips twisted in a snarl that showed most of his teeth, clenched against each other tightly. "When I find out just who is in charge of this attack, they're going to wish that they'd never been born."

The tone in Bowser's voice was deeper, darker, and more dangerous than Nathan had ever heard it get. Even when he'd been talking to the traitor Koal, and when he'd been dealing with the other wolf, he'd never seen him get this angry. Annoyed, yes, and definitely not happy, but he hadn't been angry.

The wolf was a little scared to see the King like this. It was a part of him that he hadn't seen yet, and he worried that one day, this angry Bowser would be directed at him rather than his enemies. He wasn't sure if he could take something like that.

"Get moving!" Bowser shouted. As one, the Koopas and the Lakitus started moving out of the castle, each one floating over the drawbridge a little bit faster than the groundbound units would have been able to run. Rather than follow, however, Bowser turned around, and went back into the castle.

Nathan was confused for a moment, but after a few turns through the confusing labyrinth of the castle, he understood what Bowser was doing. They entered a room filled with various different aerial vehicles, some that were smaller and probably suited for different Goombas, some that were basically brooms for...well, he could only assume witches or something else along those lines. Bowser skipped those, going to the larger, cup-shaped vehicles with helicopter blades underneath.

He hopped into the biggest of them, the jump almost dislodging Nathan from his shoulder. In fact, it would have if the King hadn't grabbed him at the last second, lowering him down to the floor of the vehicle. "I think you should stay down here for the trip," Bowser said. He lifted up one foot. "Hold still."

"Wait!" Nathan shouted. The King blinked. "Don't I get a mushroom? I don't want to die!"

"Oh shut up." Before Nathan could protest again, the King lowered his foot downwards. The wolf squirmed back a bit, but it wasn't enough to avoid being pinned under the King's foot. His face was thankfully free, so he could keep breathing, but the pressure of Bowser's weight effectively prevented him from moving any further away.

The wolf waited for the pressure to increase, to crush him, to give him pain instead of simply holding him down, but the pressure remained stable. He blinked.

"I have better control than you give me credit for," Bowser muttered under his breath. He shook his head as he started the little copter up.

Immediately a buzzing filled the wolf's ears. It was loud and very distracting, but at least it was muffled by Bowser's toes at either side of his head. Not much, perhaps, but anything that made the sound less loud was good in his book. Better still, the pressure from the King's foot on top of him muted the vibrations that came from being on the ground, just a little above the rotating blades. Instead of a maddening tickle, it was a barely felt buzz.

Then they took off. The sudden movement made him feel like he'd left a few internal organs behind as they went into the air, and he shook his head a few times to shake of the feeling. He couldn't see where they were going, as they just went up and out through the roof, and there were no windows down at foot level for him to look through. All he could see was the sky, and considering that there were no clouds out today, he couldn't even tell if they were moving forward or upwards.

Shaking his head, Nathan closed his eyes. If they were going to be traveling, and he couldn't talk or see where they were going, he might as well take a nap until they got there. And at least he had a blanket, even if it was a fleshy, musky...sexy one...that covered him with sweat...and was so warm that he sweated against it...

Oh, this was going to be a fun ride, he thought to himself as he drifted off into dirty dreams.

#

"Hey, wake up slave!" Bowser shouted at him. "We're almost there. Get up."

Nathan groaned softly as the King's shout woke him from his slumber. The foot pulled off of him, and he pulled himself to his feet. He noticed that the vibration and the sound of the helicopter cup had stopped, so he could only assume that Bowser had landed somewhere near the factory.

He had a second to wonder how he was going to get out of this thing before Bowser grabbed him by the tail. He winced as he was lifted up and out of the cup, his tail feeling like it was going to snap off for a second before the King put him down on his shoulder. After getting a good grip - remembering how he had had such a hard time in the castle - Nathan looked around to get his bearings.

The small force of flying Koopa soldiers had already gone ahead, but the Lakitus remained. Not too far off, the wolf could see the flying force tangling with some other Koopas gathered outside a squat, square structure. Smoke billowed out of the top of the building, occasionally tinged yellow with tongues of flame shooting up through the stacks of smoke. Other Koopas were on the top of the buildings, throwing little circles of black down onto the ground forces around them. Whenever one of those dots hit something - whether it was the ground or the enemy - it went boom with a shattering force, the explosion loud enough to be heard where they were.

His eyes found the Parakoopas they'd brought along, watching them fight. Their aerial capabilities had given them a chance to make one hell of a surprise attack, and the various Koopas and other soldiers that had surrounded the Factory had broken apart in surprise. Various hammers and other weapons littered the ground, as did gray shells and a few more colorful ones.

"Through the gap! Now!" Bowser shouted to the remaining soldiers. The Lakitus followed him, some ahead and some behind, screening their King from any surprise attacks.

The terrain wasn't on their side. From where they'd emerged to the factory itself it was only open ground, and while the Lakitus weren't having any trouble with it, the King was having to charge the whole way. Nathan groaned as he was bounced up and down on the shell from the way that Bowser's running flung him around, and he desperately wished that the King had just carried him in his hand like usual. At least he didn't get motion sickness, he thought to himself. Small consolation, but he'd take anything here.

Now that the element of surprise had worn off, the Parakoopas were being pushed back. Various hammers and thrown shells went flying from the enemy, and some of the flying Koopas were hit in the back before they could get out of the way. More of the colorful shells joined the monochromatic ones of the enemy fallen before Bowser's Parakoopas could escape.

Despite that, the Factory was open, and one of several metal panels opened. Even from this distance, Nathan could tell it was Kelt that had the door open, waving for them to hurry and get inside.

The enemy could see that as well, though, and they surged forward at the same time. Weapons of all kinds were turned towards Koopa and Lakitu, and those that thought themselves lucky even aimed for Bowser.

It was a desperate race. More Parakoopas fell, jumping in front of the shots that were sent towards Bowser or caught from behind by a lucky shot from the enemy. Ten, twenty Parakoopas had fallen, almost a third of the total force, and several Lakitus hit the earth as well, taken down by a shot that should have gotten the King.

As they reached the door, Bowser stopped. "Inside!" he ordered all of them. He turned around to face the oncoming swarm of Koopas, forcing Nathan to do the same.

They all looked the same, he saw. Most of them were dressed in two color suits, pinstripe ones, almost, and the shells were all the same sort of gray-black color. Among their ranks were a few Shy Guys as well, carrying something on their backs. Nathan didn't know what that was, but he didn't want to find out.

When Bowser's men had all gotten inside of the factory, the King smirked. "I am the King of the Koopas!" he shouted at them, his voice carrying over their shouts with ease. "I am Bowser!" Leaning his head back, Bowser sucked in a massive breath of air. The wolf stared as the King's belly expanded further, further, and still further with all of the air he had sucked in, and he swore he could hear a rumble building inside of the King's body as well.

Just as the swarm of soldiers reached the range to threaten them with their weapons, Bowser leaned forward again, thrusting his head forward. A massive gout of flame shot from his jaws, burning the ground itself with its heat. Several Koopas were able to leap out of the way, but the majority of the soldiers were caught in the hot blast.

Whatever the Shy Guys were carrying didn't like the heat, and exploded on contact with the fire. Holes formed as the explosions carved out sections of the undisciplined army, and more than a few of the Koopas were sent flying backwards by it. Those that weren't caught in the explosions were caught in the fire, and even those Koopas that were heat resistant shouted in pain from being burned by Bowser's fire.

The fire spewed for seconds from Bowser's mouth, forcing the army back from the open gate. As they fell back, Bowser slowly walked backwards, still bent forward and breathing fire. Only when the army was fully in retreat did he turn and run inside of the factory.

Kelt shut the door behind them as soon as they were inside, and Bowser leaned against the metal wall, taking a few deep breaths. "Heh...that should teach them a lesson," he muttered under his breath. His stomach growled loud enough for Nathan to hear, and Bowser groaned, patting his belly. "Okay, I'm going to need a little more fuel if I want to try something like that again anytime soon," he muttered.

"I hope you don't have to do anything like that again for a LONG time," Nathan muttered. There were no windows around here, so he couldn't see outside, but he could imagine that there were a fair few more shells around the factory now that weren't there when they'd arrived, as well as a few Shy Guy bodies.

The King shook his head a few times before turning his attention to his forces. "Losses?" he called out.

Parakoopas and Lakitus muttered to each other for a second before they called out their numbers. It was a punch to the gut for Nathan. They'd arrived with a hundred soldiers, seventy five Parakoopas and twenty five Lakitu. The former had lost thirty men outside, bringing them down to forty five, and the latter had lost ten. They'd lost almost half their force just getting to the factory. And how many men did the soldiers here take out? He didn't know, but he had a bad feeling that it wasn't enough.

As he worried, Kelt approached the two of them before going to his knees in a bow. "Your Majesty. Thank you for coming," the Parakoopa said, gratitude heavy in his voice. "Are there any others coming?"

"Gomme is leaving Castle Bowser with another army, probably two hundred fifty to four hundred. He'll be leaving in a few hours, I think," Bowser said. "I had Kaert get me the fastest soldiers so we could get here quickly. Not enough for a breakout, but they should be enough to relieve what you have here."

Kelt nodded his head. Before he could say anything else, Bowser spoke up again. "What are your casualties? Has there been any sign of the enemy leader?"

"We HAD a hundred fifty standard Koopas, two Hammer Bros. A couple of Mech Bros, too, but we haven't had the chance to use them yet," Kelt said.

The King's eyes narrowed. "Had?"

"Had, Your Majesty." Kelt shook his head as he got to his feet. "We're down to twenty five Koopas and one Hammer Bro. The others are too injured to be on defensive duties, so I had them put down in the Factory, producing Bob-ombs. That's been the only thing keeping the army out there at bay, but I don't think it's going to work for much longer. I think they're starting to figure out how to make their own."

Bowser went silent, lifting a hand to his chin as he thought. Nathan looked at the various Koopas that he could see. He could only assume that the different ones down here were the injured ones, and he was amazed that some of them were still walking. Most had some limb or another in a cast, and a few even had two broken. Several had to be led around by the more healthy wounded Koopas before they were able to do their tasks, and even then they seemed to have difficulty.

The wolf was amazed that the factory had been able to hold out this long against the force out there. Admittedly he could only see the force on one side of the Factory, but even then, it was pretty big. Easily a thousand Koopas, and probably more supporting staff. Whoever the leader of this army was, he was throwing a lot of resources at this factory to try and take it away from Bowser.

"Okay, right now, I need to go upstairs to get a better look at the situation," Bowser said. "I have a few ideas to delay this guy until Gomme can get here with some new forces. Not enough numbers for a field fight, but we got some surprises here." Kelt started to protest, but Bowser smirked. "Some top secret surprises. I didn't tell you everything about this place, Kelt."

The King grabbed the wolf from his shoulder, and held him out to Kelt. "Here, take him for me for now," he told the Parakoopa. "I can't be worrying about him while I get us ready for a fight."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Kelt said. Nathan would have protested if it was anyone else, and even with Kelt, he felt like he should ask to stay with the King. However, Bowser had turned away and started walking up one of the many staircases of the Factory as soon as Kelt had taken hold of him.

Would Bowser ever stop being so confusing, Nathan wondered? He'd thought that maybe they'd gotten a little closer in the Throne Room, but then Bowser did something like this. Leaving him behind, no goodbye? What in the world was going on in the Koopa King's head?

As he watched the King leave, Nathan felt Kelt's fingers tighten around him for a moment. He grunted as the air was squeezed out of his lungs, coughing as the grip loosened again. "C-careful," he muttered softly.

"Sorry about that," Kelt said. "I just...I'm a little worried."

He understood that. Turning his head away from the King after he disappeared up to the second floor, Nathan looked up at Kelt. "Just how bad is this going, really? Is it really so bad?"

"This battle? Yeah, it's pretty bad. But if we lose the factory, then it's going to be LOT worse in the future."

"Why is that?" Nathan asked. "I mean, I hear a lot about this factory, and I know Bowser sent you here because it was important and all, but just what's so important about this factory?"

Kelt looked at him for a moment, then looked around. He looked at the other Parakoopas and Lakitus around. "Not here," he muttered. Taking to the air, Kelt flew upwards, past several catwalks, cranking gears, and other machinery that looked do complex that Nathan didn't even want to try and figure out how it worked. He had too many headaches already without trying to decipher strange machines.

Eventually they reached a higher level. It wasn't quite the top level, but it was close to it, and they were offered a very good view of the rest of the factory. Various conveyor belts carried large chunks of metal and powder towards their destinations, and others took the finished product and started putting them into bins. Several bins were constantly surrounded, with Koopas carrying the contents up to the roof for defensive actions.

Kelt and Nathan watched the progress for a few moments, and the wolf started to understand some of the importance of this place. There were other parts of Bowser's lands that might have had some production capabilities, but this was obviously the biggest and fastest producer of weapons that the Koopa King had. Perhaps the only place that made Bob-ombs, too, for that matter.

"So...it's important for all the explosives and weapons it makes?" Nathan asked.

"If you said that a few weeks ago, you would have been right," Kelt said. "But some of the inventor Goombas came up with something new that we can make here. The Mech Bros."

"What are those?" Nathan asked. He had heard of the Hammer Bros, but 'Mech Bros' was a term that he had never heard before. "I heard you say that you had a couple here, but I don't know what they are."

Kelt looked upwards, and Nathan followed his glance. Bowser's silhouette was moving around in the foreman's office of the factory, but the door and window were closed. That apparently satisfied Kelt, because he leaned down and whispered. "The Mech Bros are the newest part of our army. It took us a while to get it perfected, but they're going to be what hands Bowser the Mushroom Kingdom throne, and helps him keep the lands together until he can seize it."

"But what are they?" Nathan asked, getting impatient.

"They're mechanical soldiers. Robots, almost, but a bit smarter than that. We can keep making them here, and they'll have better armor than most of our own soldiers. They can't march on their own of course, and they won't attack Koopas, but they'll be able to supplement our numbers a lot. No more Goomba cannon fodder." He chuckled. "I think that might have been one reason that the Goombas were working so hard on this particular project, now that I think about it."

Nathan could understand why. The Goombas had always been the cannon fodder of the Koopa army from what he remembered. They were the weakest of the group, and generally were only good in numbers. Extreme numbers, at that, and even that could be turned aside by a half competent army. They were probably sick of dying in droves, so had come up with something else that would allow them to be in a place and position more suited to their skills.

Still, mechanical soldiers. That sort of thing would be a massive improvement to the Koopa army, particularly when supplemented with all of the other soldiers and weapons they had. With something like that, Bowser would be able to keep all of the Mushroom Kingdom worlds together out of sheer fear of the mechanized army. Nobody would turn down the aid of the Mushroom Kingdom allied army if there was as big a threat as a robot army on their borders. Constantly replenished, it would be impossible for any one world to stand against them on their own.

It also explained why they hadn't been able to use them against the army out there. If they couldn't attack Koopas, then it would be useless to send them outside. More than that, Nathan realized, they could capture them and learn how to make them, too. Kelt had said that they were already reverse-engineering the Bob-ombs. If they could do that with something that had exploded, then doing the same to something in one piece would be cake.

"I see why that would make this such an important place," Nathan said after working through his thoughts. "If you lose this place, you lose the Mech Bros., and Bowser's army loses a lot of potential numbers. Do you think he could still win without it, though?

He expected the Parakoopa to smile and answer quickly. Hell, he thought that Kelt would answer with confidence, at the very least. He wanted to hear that Bowser wouldn't lose if he lost this one factory. The wolf couldn't say why he wanted to hear that, but the thought of Bowser losing...well, he didn't know what kind of ruler he might be, but he wanted to hear that the Koopa King could take this loss in stride and take the throne anyway.

But nothing of the sort was said. Kelt simply stared at him, and Nathan could see that he couldn't bring himself to say that Bowser could win, nor could he say that his King might lose. He couldn't lie, and he wouldn't say anything against Bowser. The wolf lowered his head, sighing. Things were worse than he thought.

Kelt lowered him down to his knee, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, little foot slave, but that's just the way things are." The blue-shelled Parakoopa smiled. "Look on the bright side, though. It's only going to get that bad if we lose this place, and with His Majesty here, I don't think that we will. And when Gomme gets here with the reinforcements, and the King leads us out there? Those ugly looking Koopas are going to go running for the hills."

A small smile slid across Nathan's face at that, and he nodded his head. "That fire breath at the door was really cool. Does he do that all the time when he fights?"

"Heh, are you kidding? He doesn't need to. He was just showing off," Kelt said. "Why don't I tell you a bit more about the King, and how cool he is?"

The wolf nodded, the smile spreading a little further across his face as he got comfortable on the Parakoopa's knee. "I'd like that," he said.

Kelt was full of different stories about Bowser, and Nathan listened intently to each one of them. He paid attention to the stories of the Koopa King's protection of the various Koopa species, and the stories of his battles against the Mushroom Kingdom. Stories of Bowser's power against the other lords and powers of the worlds were particularly amazing, as it always seemed to come down to one on one fights with the lords of other lands. Some of them were utterly incredible, hard to believe, but Nathan didn't say anything against them; Kelt clearly believed them, and for some reason, that belief was infectious.

It was comforting, for some reason, to listen to all of these stories. Nathan had thought that he knew about Bowser, but it was clear that he only knew some few things about the large Koopa King. There were many other things that were more of a history than some vague rumors of his ambitions.

During the story of Bowser's fights against the forces of Mushroom Kingdom when they tried to break down one of the other worlds, when the Kingdom's army had been trying to empty the world and inhabit more of the other ones around it, Nathan closed his eyes. It let him imagine everything that was told better, he thought, and it was a better show than just listening to it. Fireballs and shells were flung in the battlefields of his mind as he saw the battles between the Koopa King and his opponents, and he was stunned by the sheer ferocity that Bowser had in the tales.

He wasn't quite sure when he slipped from imagining the battles to dreaming of them, but he did. And in his dreams, he walked at Bowser's side, fighting for him.

#

BOOOOOOM!

The factory shuddered at the explosion, and Kelt stood up so fast that Nathan almost slid off of his knee. The wolf barely woke up in time to grab hold of the Koopa's legs, and he was forced to use his claws to get enough friction on the smooth yellow leg to keep from falling off of him. A look down told him that even a normal Koopa would have suffered deadly injuries from this height, and he didn't want to think of what it would do to him.

"Sorry," Kelt muttered, lowering a hand.

Nathan jumped into it and looked around as he was lifted up. "What's going on? What was that?"

"It's an attack," Kelt said. He got down on his knees, pulling off one of his shoes - a flip-flop sandal, Nathan noticed, rather than a boot - and put Nathan down on it. "Sorry, but I'm going to need my hands free if there's a fight. You just stay right there, and hold on tight."

He was starting to get used to the fact that he didn't have a say in things, but Nathan didn't think he'd ever get used to how fast the Koopas could do things when they set their minds to it. Whether it was Bowser, Kelt, or some generic Koopa that he had come across, he never got a word in before they did what they said they were going to do.

In this case, he couldn't protest as Kelt's foot pushed down on top of him. The Parakoopa was in the air before he'd fully pulled on his sandal, so there was some relief for Nathan there that the full weight of the Parakoopa wasn't on him, but it was still rather cramped in the flip-flop. Smelly too, for that matter, as if Kelt had been sweating in them for days. Maybe he had been. Nathan didn't really know.

But he did know one thing. This was a flip-flop, which meant that there was no back to it, and there were no sides. He squirmed against the foot on his back towards the piece of plastic that was always at the front of these kinds of shoes, and just managed to grab it before Kelt went flying.

Trapped as he was, Nathan couldn't see anything. His face buried against the flip-flop for almost a minute, forcing the smell of Koopa feet into his nose, and by the time that he managed to flip over, all he could see were Kelt's toes. However, he could feel the tugging feeling of gravity as his carrier flew around, and his arms were wrenched and pulled at as he held tight to the flip-flop's little toe separator. He almost thought he'd prefer to have Kelt walking around, pressure and weight atop his body be damned. At least then he'd be able to be sure he wasn't going to fall out to his death, and he'd be able to keep his arms in his sockets.

At least there was some pressure coming from above. If it had been in a different situation, one where he wasn't being flung from side to side, or feeling like some invisible grip was trying to yank him off of the sandal to his death on a metal floor who knew how far beneath him, it would have been kind of fun. The pressure was just enough to imply helplessness without actually inflicting it. Hell, if his hands were free, he would have grabbed one of Kelt's three toes and started having some fun with it.

But as it was, he needed his arms to keep hold of the shoe and keep from falling off. The pressure was not nearly enough to keep him in place, and he went sliding back and forth along the underside of the Parakoopa's foot. The undersides were nearly as sweaty as Bowser's, and he could feel his fur getting soaked with the liquid, matted against his skin in a wet, sopping mess.

The smell was powerful as well, and at times it almost overwhelmed his common sense, weakening his grip before he forced himself to hold tighter to the only source of safety. Currents of air, bringing with them chills that sent him shivering on contact, were blessed, because they waved away the smell and let him keep his focus. Sadly, they were rare and far between.

Shaking his head and trying to ignore his body's reaction, Nathan turned his attention to the sandal piece that kept him from falling. It was a sturdy piece of plastic that held his weight well, so far. He rolled himself onto his belly so that he could look forward. There was still too much of the sandal for him to see where they were going, but he slowly started to tug himself forward.

Suddenly Kelt pulled himself to a halt, flip-flops almost coming off of his feet and taking Nathan with them. If he hadn't curled his toes at the same time, more or less closing them down like prison bars in front of Nathan's face, the wolf would have gone shooting forward off of Kelt's sandals. Considering that he could see in that instant that they were still more than thirteen stories above the ground floor of the factory, he was thankful for the barrier, however much it hurt his muzzle to crash into the toes.

Rubbing his face lightly, Nathan cautiously edged forward, taking advantage of Kelt's time hovering to get to the tip of the sandals. He wrapped his legs around the plastic toe spreader and leaned over the edge of the flip-flop. The sight that greeted him was not pleasant.

A hole had been blown in the side of the factory, and various members of the army outside were streaming in at top speed. Koopas in suits cackled and grinned, followed by Shy Guys in their suits and carrying those backpacks. As they pulled the triggers on the stick-like attachments they carried, Nathan realized that they were primitive flamethrowers, shooting small puffs of flame where they were directed. They didn't work all that well, though; some blew up on the first pull of the trigger, spreading fire in their immediate area and destroying the Shy Guy, and others went off later with the same effect.

Regardless, they were doing more than a fair bit of damage against the defenders of the factory, and the wolf winced as he watched the injured Koopas working the factory get burned, shoved back by the assault. Even the healthy ones were taking a beating as they tried to stem the tide, and the Parakoopas were spread too far around the room to be able to help at peak efficiency.

Suddenly, the entire factory shook again, this time with a roar. Kelt and the other Koopas defending the factory looked up as a yellow blur fell from the top floor. It slid past Kelt and Nathan with a whoosh of air, and hit the floor with a powerful thud that knocked down all of the Koopas and Shy Guys in the area. It was a curled up ball of yellow and green and red. Slowly it unfolded itself, standing up and taking two solid steps out of the crater that it had created from the impact on the ground.

"I'm going to say this once," Bowser said as he advanced on the army. He sucked in a breath. "Get." Then thrust his head forward. "OUT!" he shouted, fire roaring from his mouth again as he screamed. Once more, the enemy forced was pushed back, burned and harried by the Koopa King's fire. They ran away from it, retreating as fast as they had rushed forward. A few Shy Guys tried to return fire with their flamethrowers, but the fire did absolutely nothing to Bowser. He was immune to it.

Cries of triumph and victory went up from the various Koopas, and Kelt was no exception, throwing his hands in the air in victory at Bowser's repelling of the the assault. The wolf was nervous as Kelt danced in mid-air in glee, but he was thankful that the Parakoopa was conscious enough of his presence that he didn't start kicking his legs around. He honestly didn't think that he'd live through that, not in this position.

The wolf was the only one that didn't cheer. Instead, he looked down. Not to measure the distance to the floor, but because he had seen something on the floor below them. A shadow, a big one, moving around by one of the locked doors.

CLANG!

Kelt turned at the sound, and so did the rest of the Parakoopas. A silhouette almost the size of Bowser stood at one of the doors, and it had a Koopa sized piece of machinery in its hands. Nathan could only assume that it was one of the Mech Bros, and he shouted, "It's a diversion! He's stealing that while his men attacked!"

"12th Floor, Parakoopas!" Kelt shouted. "We have an intruder! Take him down!" The blue shelled Parakoopa adjusted his sunglasses and suited words to action, swooping down with his wings held tight to his shell. He grinned. At least, Nathan thought he was grinning. It was hard to tell down at the sandal. But Kelt was showing all of his teeth.

The silhouette turned at the last second, but moved at startling speed as it brought the metal Koopa up. It bashed Kelt on the side of his shell, and the blow was powerful enough to send the high speed Parakoopa flying off to the side. Nathan grunted as he held tight to the flip-flop, pleading for them to stay on Kelt's feet rather than fall off as they bounced across the catwalk.

His carrier dazed from hitting the catwalk so hard, Nathan pulled himself upwards and outwards of the flip-flop, wanting to see what was going on.

The other Parakoopas were getting much the same treatment as Kelt had gotten, the big thief using the metal Koopa to slap away the different soldiers. Some of them, the fastest, were able to get in close and hit the thief on the sides. One even got him in the stomach, but all of them were swatted away after getting a single hit.

As the last one was sent flying, the figure laughed. It was deeper, darker than Bowser's laugh, but just as powerful and thick. Nathan could only stare as the big guy started walking their way, finally stepping into the light.

He wore a pinstriped suit like the Koopas outside had, but he was massive. He stood maybe half a foot shorter than Bowser, and was just as thick in the belly and arms. However, instead of being yellow, he was green, and had a cigar in his mouth. The catwalks shook and bucked as he walked along, and Nathan could only stare in awe at the big thief, staring at him from his big belly that seemed to stretch at the sides of the suit to the spikes that stuck out of his shell, barely visible over his shoulders; from his shockingly sharp white teeth to the big green feet that shook the catwalk with each and every step that the big man took.

The Koopa reached into a pocket of his suit and pulled out a communicator, looking like a walkie-talkie in a way. "All Koopa-Troopas, pull back. We're going back to Crime Land!" the big guy said. Someone on the other side said something that sounded like "Yessir, Mr. Koopone," before the big guy put the communicator back in his pocket.

He paused at the knocked out Kelt, and chuckled. "This guy'll be good to talk to later," he said. Nathan gasped as Kelt was grabbed by the ankle and the big guy - Koopone - started dragging him away.

The wolf couldn't let him do that. Not when Kelt had done all that he had for him. Not after Kelt had kept him safe as best he could. He ran as fast as he could, his small paws barely managing to not slide through the holes in the catwalk as he sprinted across it. Several times the wolf almost did fall through, just managing to turn the stumble into a leap to keep from falling down or losing speed.

After a running start, he leaped, just managing to get a grip on Kelt's shell. He pulled himself up onto the Parakoopa's shell, grunting as he was nearly bounced off twice. Koopone was almost to the stairs off of the catwalk. He had to stop him, delay him somehow. But what could he do, he thought as he kept climbing. What could someone as small as he was do against someone that was the size of Bowser?

A flicker of a memory. Kelt's flinch during the fight against Koal. It hadn't been much, but it was enough to allow Koal a chance to get free. And it had come from a wolf that was no bigger than him. And while he couldn't get to Koopone's feet - nor would he bite them if he could - he could get to Koopone's hand.

Scurrying across the shell plates of his guardian, Nathan fixed his gaze on Koopone's hand. His vision narrowed as he got closer and closer to it, until it was the only thing that he could see. Fingers pulled him along the Parakoopa's shell, and then along his legs. He would apologize later for the marks that his claws left in Kelt's legs, but he wasn't going to let his friend get dragged off by this guy. Not without some kind of fight.

Knee. Koopone had taken the first step onto the stairs.

Calf. He had taken another step onto them, and was just getting ready to pull Kelt up them, to the solid walking space against the wall and off of the catwalk.

Ankle. Kelt was just starting to be lifted up when Nathan reached the Parakoopa's ankle, and he scrambled along the sweat slick leg to Koopone's fingers.

He was so small, and so light, that he doubted that Koopone felt it when he touched his hands to the big green finger on Kelt's ankle. But Nathan knew he'd feel the bite. Snarling and growling in a way he couldn't remember doing before, he bared his teeth...and bit down as hard as he could.

"OW!" Koopone shouted, his fingers releasing their grip out of instinct, as Nathan had known they would. He hung tight as the big green lizard swung him around, and dug his teeth in deeper. Some trace of blood leaked over his tongue, tasting terrible to him, but he kept on. He bit, and tore, and shook his head from side to side to tear the cut in deeper.

In the back of his mind he could hear the rushing footsteps of Koopas, and the heavier ones of Bowser as they ran up the stairs towards the catwalk. He just needed to hold Koopone here for a minute or two, and then he'd have a chance to get this over with. Bowser would get here, and they'd all be safe.

Several times, Koopone reached out with the hand he held the Mech Bros thing in, but while holding it, he couldn't get a good enough grip on the wolf to pull him free, and there was no room on the catwalk for him to put it down and take the wolf from his finger. Every time that Koopone failed to get him off of his finger, Nathan felt a deep sense of satisfaction, a sense that was only enhanced by the grunts of pain and growls of frustration that he was able to drag out of Koopone with each second he bit him.

When it was clear that he wasn't going to be shaken loose, the hand stopped flailing around. Nathan felt it rising up, and he opened his eyes. Big eyes looked at him, each eye taller than he was, and each one filled with anger. "You little pest..." Koopone muttered. His eyes darted away from the wolf, Nathan could only assume to look down at Bowser and the others, and then looked back. "Well, if I can't have an officer, I can have you. Let's see if that 'King' will choose to chase you or his soldier."

A shudder went through the floor as Koopone stamped his foot, the vibrations even traveling through the finger that Nathan had bitten into, rattling his teeth around his mouth for a second and almost knocking him free. Koopone took a step backwards -

And with a sheering sound of ripping, twisting metal, the catwalk that they'd been standing on collapsed.

Shouts and cries for help filled Nathan's ears, and he finally took his teeth from Koopone's finger to look behind him, his arms wrapped tight around the finger to make sure that he didn't fall.

The framework of the catwalk had collapsed from Koopone's weight in several places. The stomp had just been the last thing that the catwalk couldn't take. Before the wolf's eyes, revising Parakoopas took flight and flew after the descending Kelt, and the other Koopas ran to the floor, Bowser amongst them. Nathan wanted to call out for them to help him too, but he knew that his voice wouldn't carry across the carnage of the factory. Not with the added shouting of all the different Koopa soldiers in the factory and the noise of the building itself.

"I knew it. Bowser will save his soldier first, and his slave last," Koopone said with a laugh. He lifted his hand again, licking his lips. "Heh, he probably thinks you're already dead. Or maybe he was already getting tired of you, and decided you're not worth chasing after."

Nathan shook his head, but said nothing. He hoped that Bowser thought that he was dead, or maybe still with Kelt, thinking that he would find the wolf with his officer. It was a comfort to think that, rather than think that he had been dismissed by the King like that.

"Heh, he always did like the quiet types." He suddenly twisted his hand around in a way that brought the wolf into his palm, and Nathan gasped as the fingers - thinner than Bowser's but no less strong - wrapped around his body, squeezing tightly. The air was forced from his lungs as Koopone squeezed tighter, and tighter. "Don't worry...you'll talk plenty for me when we get back to my offices in Crime Land."

The last thing that Nathan saw his world went black were the white teeth in Koopone's mouth, and he wondered whether he was going to be eaten, or squished.

Oddly, the thought was no different than when he had thought it about Bowser.