25m Distance Between Us

Old Times, Bad Times

It had been years since he left her, and she had moved on with her life.

Or so it would seem.

Pauline woke up that morning in the bed in her designated special room within the New Donk City Town Hall.

She was now the Mayor.

How many years had passed since she last saw him?

She couldn't remember, but she didn't seem to care anymore, either. She would rather spend her days married to her job as Mayor than to Mario anyways.

The sun was bright that morning, and the cooing of Pigeons seemed to exceed the noise of the traffic and construction workers outside.

That gaudy sign depicting the evil dragon turtle in a top hat grabbing a blonde damsel wearing a tiara reminded her of those awful years when Donkey Kong would hold her hostage at the top of the 25m construction girders above the city. That year, she had gone through her blonde phase, and Mario had jokingly pointed out that she would wind up like the woman from "King Kong" when the great Ape at the Zoo broke out.

It was a harmless joke that turned real when it actually happened.

At least Mario had her back. The man risked life and limb hopping barrels and dodging wily fires. He was quite a man when it came to construction; perhaps his years working with the Wrecking Crew made him resilient to construction hazards. He was quite good at swinging Hammers around, as well.

The Ape stood no chance in the end, and Mario had thought it best to lock him up again.

For many years the two of them had to deal with this Ape, and even his child during the Mini marketing times.

Eventually, Mario and his brother Luigi had gone into the Plumbing trade, and after their first job, Pauline never saw either of them again.

She felt responsible for Mario's gone missing, and for a few years, kept searching relentlessly, but to no avail.

She looked back at those years passed, and sighed in relief. Her inner sympathy made her want to stop that wedding from taking place. As Mayor, she could authorize a shut-down of city venues, thus putting a damper on the turtle man's plans and helping the distressed blonde woman in the picture.

Pauline made her way downstairs after having donned her lovely new blue sun hat and red mayor's blouse. She was greeted by the friendly faces of her people, and it felt great.

Suddenly, that's when the day turned inside-out, and a man ran inside, practically plummeting before Pauline's feet due to tripping on his shoelaces in sheer horror. Pauline was stunned, and before the man could say a word, in bursted the giant turtle monster from the Billboards and posters all over town.

He was large. Much larger than Donkey Kong. And he was riddled with spikes, and those horns... Pauline tried to hide the fear in her eyes, but did an awful job at it. It was extremely obvious.

The Turtle laughed at the woman's feared expression, and took his betrothed off his back and placed her on the floor in front of him.

"You're the mayor of this City, aren't you?" he asked Pauline, making sure to sound somewhat less threatening than he appeared. He knew he would get nowhere if the Mayor was too busy crapping her skirt to speak.

"Yes." Pauline replied. She made occasional eye-contact with the blonde maiden, and showed her an expression of empathy, which the damsel seemed to understand.

"My name is King Bowser Koopa." the turtle said, his voice dripping with pride. "This is Princess Peach Toadstool."

Pauline had never heard of either of them.

"This is the city that Mario grew up in, right?" Bowser looked to Peach for reassurance.

That name rang a bell. Pauline was surprised. It couldn't be the same Mario, could it? Surely, it wasn't. There must be hundreds, if not thousands of Marios in the world.

The blonde Princess nodded. "Mario will definitely want to beat you to a pulp for this!"

"Let him try." The Koopa king said boldly with a smirk.

Pauline made the sorry mistake of opening her mouth. "Mario." She began. "He doesn't have a younger brother named Luigi, does he?"

Bowser turned his gaze from Peach to Pauline. "Oh...?"

This was when she realized that it may have been better if she remained silent. Suddenly, the hurt, the abandonment, the sorrow, it flooded back to Pauline. Mario jilted her years ago. She was done with it. She was happy now.

"Why?" Bowser mused. "Why, what are you to Mario, Mayor?" He walked closer to her. "An old friend?"

Pauline would not say a word. She would not put herself at risk any further. She would not throw Mario under the bus to this monster.

That was when she got knocked to the ground by Bowser's fist. It was a light punch, to be sure, but it was enough to make Peach cup her hands in front of her mouth in shock, and for the other people in the Town Hall to panic.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Bowser asked again, voice raised. "ANSWER MY QUESTION!"

Princess Peach looked at the poor woman with sympathy written all over her face. Pauline shot up quickly to face the Koopa King. She was aggitated now, and Pauline, as those who knew her could vouch, tended to have a big mouth when she was angered. She was known for being headstrong and bold. "I WAS HIS GIRLFRIEND, ONCE, YOU FAT PIECE OF TURTLE TRASH!"

Bowser was taken back by this. She was much feistier than Peach. His suspicions were correct about this woman, and a dastardly idea came to his reptilian mind. "If I were to hurt you..." he plotted out loud. "it would crush Mario, wouldn't it?"

"Probably not." Pauline said, trying to change his mind. "I don't think he ever gave a crap to begin with, you know?"

Peach looked at her and looked away. This was Pauline, alright. Mario's ex. She had heard a bit about her in the beginning, and how long it had taken Mario to get over the fact that he would never see her again. Only now, because of Bowser's intervention, their two worlds crossed, and Mario would find himself back home again.

"Actually, I still need you to organize the wedding," Bowser remembered in his moment of clarity. "though, I'm sure you can give orders from my Airship."

"I would never!" Pauline protested. "Just who do you think you are, you big bastard, kidnapping women and forcing them to marry you? That is SUCH a-"

"This way, the Mushroom Kingdom will legally be mine. We can avoid the messiness of a war." Bowser said, flatly. Almost like he would have enjoyed a war. Pauline figured that Peach must have talked him into a peaceful settlement.

"Wait... 'Mushroom Kingdom'?" Pauline questioned.

Just that moment, Bowser grabbed her and Peach, and jumped straight up through the ceiling of the Town Hall, onto the roof. He blew a loud whistle, and his Airship came up from around the back of the building, and he jumped in, leaving people mesmerized and without a mayor.