[h3]Starting location: Bowser's Castle, Exterior[/h3]

	It's been hours, now. I've been trying to climb this thing, exhausting almost my entire medical supply, and taking a few more hits to the head than I thought I would... stupid loose bricks. The loose bricks have proven themselves to be a bit of a double-edged sword, while, sure, they fell out, and made me fall all the way back to the ground, they at least supplied me with an extra ledge to jump off of, making the trip back up just that much easier, and while I was only down to a single roll of bandages, I knew this would be the one, this would finally get me all the way up to the top window of Bowser's castle, where a rematch with Bowser was surely waiting. Oh, sure, he probably hasn't kidnapped anyone, yet, today, but wouldn't it be awesome if I somehow stopped him before he could even pull it off? Heck, I know Mario's not going to do it, he's probably at that cap-card tournament, or something, and it was HIGHLY unlikely that Bowser, of all koopas would end up in a place like that. I tasted stone, again as my tongue made contact with yet another stone brick on his castle... wouldn't be much longer now, provided there  aren't any more loose bricks between here and the window. I got a decent grip on the bricks as I tried to get even higher on the wall with my tongue, again, and this time, I tasted glass... must have been the window, right? If I still had my bat, this would be SO much easier, but, since I didn't have it, I had to basically kick the window until it finally broke, letting me inside the place.

	The inside was... pretty much the same as the last one, just stone, with the occasional red carpet, as well as Bowser statue. Bowser was probably at his throne, which wasn't too far from where I was, right now, so, after tending to the wounds I got from breaking in through the glass window, I headed off towards it. I busted through the unlocked door, and shouted [color=0054a6]"Okay, Bowser, I'm here to finally settle this score ONCE AND FOR ALL! You know as well as I do that you're up to something evil, and I'm going to stop you before you even get a chance to do it!"[/color] I then paused for a moment, and actually looked at the throne room, only to find it empty, save for a life-sized statue of Bowser... [i][color=0054a6] Well, shoot... I can't fight a statue! It's a good thing nobody saw that, too... wait... could he SERIOUSLY be in that card tournament thing!? HIM, of all koopas!? Ugh... all this work... just to yell at a statue...[/color][/i] I thought as I left the throne room, and made my way back down, this time, using the stairs, and going out the front door. Since I didn't have the key, I had no choice but to leave the front door unlocked, not that I'd actually lock Bowser's door if I could, of course, and I headed to the place where I'm absolutely sure the card tournament was being held. It was quite a walk heading back to the city, and even more to get to Peach's castle, but, eventually, I made it... just to find out that it wasn't there, in fact, nobody was there... so, I had to figure out where the heck they were actually holding this stupid event.

	It took me about five tries, and I ended up getting lost every single time, but, eventually, I found the place. As I expected, it was packed to the brim, and, for some reason, there was a purple-shelled koopa blocking off the entrance.[color=0054a6]"Great, I finally get here and the place is getting blocked off? Just my luck, today..."[/color] I commented as I walked away... of course, once I saw a familiar face, namely Mario's, I decided to actually stay, wondering if these blockades were actually just one of his friends capturing Bowser, or some other criminal. I almost said something, but then I realized that I would probably just annoy them, so, I kept my distance, just in case whatever was in there decided to escape, and was a threat to the Mushroom Kingdom. I had the urge to ask what was up with the blocks, again, but decided to simply casually check to see if I could see Bowser in the place. While I saw plenty of koopas, not to mention a few other things, none of them looked even remotely like Bowser, unfortunately. [i][color=0054a6]If he's not here... then where the heck IS he? Heck, all the shops in the area are freaking closed because of this tournament... I mean, I know cap-cards are popular, but are they really THAT popular?[/color][/i] I thought as I continued to look around, just to see if I could see anything that might give Bowser away, hoping that I could find him somewhere in that audience, or even as a competitor... of course, I still couldn't see very much from where I was standing, so, he very well could be in there, just out of my view.