Chapter 2-4: Morton Koopa Jr.
Larry and Starlow laid low on the tank. It was their only way to get to the Sandland pyramid without attracting too much attention. As the tank moved toward its destination, the koopaling took the time to look at his locket. His companion also looked at it.
"How close are you to them?" Starlow asked.
"Though I was adopted, Bowser raised me like one of his child. There are many fond memories I share with him. As for Junior, he's one of my favorite siblings, if not, my favorite sibling. It's a shame that he couldn't even get to know or even see his mother." Larry answered.
"What happened to her?"
Larry wanted to avoid answering the question but, since he grew closer to her, he decided to answer it.
"Can you keep a secret?" He asked.
"How is his mother a secret?" The star sprite asked back.
"The thing is no one is supposed to know about Junior's mother. Bowser kept it a secret during all those years he had him and never spoke directly to anyone about the mother. It just happened that I overheard him mentioning her multiple times. I'm not sure exactly what happened to her but it must've been heartbreaking because Bowser would always cry every time he talks to himself about her. Though you may think I know a lot about the mother, I only know her name: Clawdia."
"Why would Bowser keep it as a secret?"
"I'm not sure myself. I think he's afraid that a certain thing would happen if he ever told about her to anyone let alone Junior."
A few minutes later, they could see the pyramid from afar. The hatch then opened and a shyguy came out to see the pyramid better. Larry was right behind him and did nothing to not blow his cover. The shyguy, however, decided to look behind and spotted him.
"Intruder alert!" He shouted.
The shyguy then immediately rushed toward Larry, unarmed. The latter only had to move aside to avoid his charge. The shyguy then fell down the tank and tried his best to catch up to it. Alas, the tank was too fast. Another shyguy, this time holding a stick, came out the hatch and tried to hit the koopaling with it. Larry chopped through the shyguy's hand causing him to drop his weapon and threw him down behind the tank. A third shyguy, holding a curved sword, left the tank's interior and charged at Larry. He swung his sword but Larry dodged swiftly and grabbed him from the armed arm. He then threw the shyguy overboard. A fourth shyguy came out of the tank. Unlike the others who were wearing gas masks, this one was wearing a normal mask and wore a green uniform.
"How many of you are there in this thing!?" Larry impatiently asked.
"I'm Sergeant Guy. I'm the last one and the toughest." The sergeant replied.
"Wait, if you're the last one, who's driving the tank?"
"I won't take long to get rid of you!"
The tank was driving itself. The koopaling looked past the sergeant and saw that there was a cliff before the pyramid.
"Ack! The tank's gonna jump off a cliff! Starlow, find a way to steer it!" Larry ordered.
The star sprite nodded and went past the sergeant who tried to catch her but failed.
"It doesn't matter. I'll deal with that deformed firefly once I'm done with you." The sergeant said as he charged toward the koopaling.
The sergeant proved to be a more challenging opponent than the other shyguys. He knew more advanced techniques in CQC and used them all against Larry. Thankfully, Larry knew a lot from martial arts and was able to fend the sergeant's attacks and kick him back near the hatch.
"I would've never thought I'd be fighting an F3 finalist, but I'm not planning to win your way!" Sergeant Guy said as he pulled a small firearm from his uniform and pointed at the koopaling.
There was no getting out of that one. Larry was too far to reach the sergeant before he could shoot and the bullet would move too fast for him to avoid it. He had no choice but to kneel down and surrender. This act did not make the sergeant change his mind as he armed his weapon by pulling the hammer and…
The tank violently steered to the left. Larry could grab on something but the sergeant fell sideways dropping his firearm that bounced off the tank. The sergeant tried to get back in the hatch but the koopaling caught up to him and delivered a palm strike on the back of the sergeant's head, knocking him unconscious. He then joined Starlow inside the tank and put the unconscious shyguy in a corner. They drove the tank around the cliff and finally reached the pyramid. There, the truck from earlier was already here. Two soldier guys stood position near the truck and saluted the tank as it stopped near them. Many shyguys were waiting behind the truck for something.
"The sergeant brought civilians here? And he didn't bother to arm them?" Larry whispered.
"What kind of person would do that?" Starlow asked.
"The kind of person who doesn't care for their safety."
They took the unconscious shyguy and pushed him up the hatch. The soldiers suspected something and climbed on the tank. They saw that the sergeant was not awake and pointed their firearms down the hatch. Larry had to get out with his hands up. The soldiers took him in front of the other shyguys and brought the unconscious one between everyone.
"You better give a really good reason not to shoot you." One of the soldiers threatened.
"Would you follow a leader that would risk your life just to named king?" Larry asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Look at them! They don't even have weapons and I doubt they know anything about combat."
"You do have a point but that still doesn't change our mind."
"You do know that there's a dangerous monster in there, right? And I'm not talking about Morton."
"Prove it!"
"I'm sure Sergeant Guy knows about the monster's existence but omitted to tell anyone because he knew no one would follow him."
"That doesn't prove anything. You have something else to say?"
"Well…"
Someone threw sand at Larry's face. It was Sergeant Guy who just regained consciousness. He quickly stood up, took one of the soldiers' firearms and rushed inside the pyramid. Everyone was surprised to see the sergeant leaving them behind. The soldiers helped Larry clean his face with some water.
"What took him to just leave us like that?" one of the soldiers asked, confused.
"I told you he knew about the other monster. He knew that no one would join him so he just kept it a secret." Larry said.
"But why would he do that? He's always been respectful to his men."
"Events can change a man into anything. I suggest you bring everyone back to town."
"I'm sorry. We only obey to our superiors."
"You may not listen to Larry but I'm sure you'll listen to…"
Larry snapped his fingers and revealed his true identity to the few shyguygs around.
"…King Larry."
They all kneeled down and apologized for mistreating him. They all climbed into the truck but, before they could go, Larry talked to the driver.
"Don't take the main entrance. Take the tunnel from where you left town. No one must know that you all left town without permission." The Grassland king ordered.
The driver nodded and drove away. Larry and Starlow proceeded to enter the pyramid. Larry reverted back to his normal clothes but kept the wand in his hand as it was dark inside the pyramid. Since his friend could not generate a powerful light with her body, the koopaling used the orange wand as a torch.
"How can you use the orange wand with ease? At your age, no prince would be able to do most of what you did." She asked.
"There was a day where I accidentally held the wand. Afterward, Captain Goomba, who is now my advisor, would occasionally visit me during my childhood to teach me how to us the wand. He would sneak the wand out of the castle. Once I moved to Grassland, the visits became more frequent as it was easier and safer for him to teach me."
"Why would he teach you such things?"
"The first time he taught me about it, I asked him that question. His only answer was to give me back what belonged to me in the first place. At first, I thought it was the orange wand. But then, I realized that he meant all of Grassland. However, he never told me what an athlean was."
"Athleans used to rule over Grassland before the Dragon War."
"I already knew about the first thing but I never heard about the Dragon War."
"Oh scrap! I should've kept my mouth shut."
"Is the Dragon War the name of the conflict between the eight royal drakoopa families?"
"So you already knew about it?"
"Just the conflict, not its name."
They kept walking down the first corridor until they reached a room so big the wand could not enlighten all of it. They moved around and went into the first room they saw. Inside, they saw carvings of characters resembling Morton on all the walls and a bookstand with a huge book on it.
"Where did I walk into?" Larry curiously asked.
"You mean you never went in this room?" The star sprite asked back.
"I didn't visit the pyramid many times. It's the first time I see this room. Since you seem to know something about history, can you tell me something about all those Mortons on the wall?"
"I don't believe they're all Mortons, but his ancestors."
Starlow approached one of the walls. Some writings were found under the carvings but were written in a language Larry did not know.
"Those are the names of the koopas. They all used to be kings and queens of Sandland. The last ruler was Mortimer Noctean."
"I suppose noctean is one of the royal families."
"Indeed, this means that your brother Morton is a noctean."
"Now that you mention it, Morton sounds a lot like Mortimer, don't you think."
"I don't see the link between Mortimer and Morton."
"His name before we got adopted was Morton Jr and Bowser didn't remove the Jr part when he gave him the Koopa or Dawney name. This might imply that his true name is Mortimer Noctean Jr."
"I didn't know that. It's quite interesting that his name resembles his father's name."
"Thing is why wouldn't Morton tell anyone about that. He went to the pyramid many times."
"I don't think it's a public access room. With information like that, I doubt anyone could enter the room without a special permission."
"I guess so. We're wasting too much time. We need to find the red wand before Sergeant Guy does."
They left the room and went to another room. A terrifying growl echoed through the rooms. Larry and Starlow kept walking until they found a corridor leading downward with many vases standing along. They hid behind one of them as they heard footsteps coming their way. They saw a monster completely covered in blue sludge. It did not have a specific or recognizable appearance, so neither Larry nor Starlow could compare it to anyone or anything they knew. Once the monster passed by the vase where they were hiding behind, they snuck out of their hiding spot and carried on.
"That was scary." Starlow whispered, terrified.
"I don't wanna be the poor soul that was victim of the result." Larry said.
They walked down the corridor and reached another room. It was the meeting room where Morton was supposed to be. This room had a huge table with many chairs around. Some of them were still standing while the rest had fallen. As they examined the chairs, they heard a firearm being armed. A light blinded them for a brief moment and they saw the sergeant pointing a rifle at them. A flashlight was strapped under the gun.
"I knew you'd follow me down here. Put away your stick, keep moving and find me the red wand" The sergeant ordered.
Larry had no choice. He carried on while the sergeant was following him close behind. They went into another room.
"This is how it'll go: you search the wand here and if we don't find it, we'll go elsewhere. Don't try anything and don't go anywhere near the sarcophagus." The shyguy ordered.
The koopaling looked around in the room. A big sarcophagus with a lock on it caught his attention and approached it. A gunshot echoed through the room as a bullet went past Larry and hit the wall. The noise caused the sarcophagus to violently tremble. Someone or something was inside knocking.
"I'm just looking for the red wand, no need to put pressure on me." He said while looking back at the sergeant.
"Don't play stupid with me. Who would hide a wand with a monster?"
"That seems like a brilliant idea if a rebel scum like you tries to usurp the throne."
"Don't make me laugh and keep searching. You're wasting my time." Sergeant Guy threatened, cocking the firearm and pointing it at Larry.
The koopaling looked around the dancing sarcophagus and saw it: the red wand was lying right behind the sarcophagus. He picked it up. The sergeant went straight to him and tried to take it from his hand. This proved to be a terrible mistake as Larry took the sergeant and threw him on the wall. The impact caused the sergeant to drop his weapon that the koopaling took.
"We have the red wand now! Let's get out of there, Larry!" Starlow said.
"You go ahead with the red wand. I have something to do first. Be careful of the monster." Larry replied as the handed the wand to her.
The star sprite nodded while taking the wand with her mouth and left the room. The punk pointed the firearm at the shyguy.
"Open the sarcophagus." He ordered.
"You're crazy. There's no way I'm going to…"
Larry shot near the sergeant's feet and cocked the firearm.
"Okay, I can see you mean business. I'll do it."
The sergeant approached the sarcophagus. He was trembling but had no choice. His life was at risk both ways. As soon as he unlocked it, the sarcophagus brutally opened and a dry creature, who was imprisoned inside, jumped at the shyguy. Though it was just a skeleton, Larry recognized it to be Morton. He rushed at the monster and tackled him to save the sergeant who proceeded to run away. There was only Larry and his dry brother in the room. The koopaling took back his wand to provide better lighting than the flashlight.
"Hey, Morty, you remember me? It's me, Larry." Larry asked.
The monster did not react to his words. How was Isabelle able to free Digby? The monster proceeded to perform a slash attack with its claws. Larry stepped back but fell on his rear.
"Argh, not again!" He said, remembering his encounter at the Grassland Fortress.
The monster attacked again but the koopaling used his sidepack as a shield. The claw tore the sidepack apart. Many snacks and a few water bottles fell off the bag, so did the spiked bracers. The monster stopped attacking and slowly picked up the bracers. Larry stood up to see that the dry creature reacted to the presence of the bracers. The monster stared at them and even put them on its skeletal hands. The monster then looked back at the koopaling.
"…Larry… LARRY!?" The monster said as a strong light came out of its body.
It worked. The light was so strong that it blinded Larry. He then relieved one of his treasured memories.
Larry was walking in a mall looking for Morton. They had an important meeting with the koopa king. He went down some stairs to an area with many chairs and round tables. He finally spotted his brother at a table speaking to many people. Over the years, Morton made many friends and his versatile personality opened him many doors to different works. He however chose to start his own business, Morton Construction. All the people he was talking to were former clients he worked with. He was known to keep his relationships with his clients even if the job was done.
"So I asked him: Wait, you want one more ton or one Morton?" He joked.
All his friends laughed. This was another trait Morton developed as he grew up: He would most likely make jokes to entertain people or raise their morale. Larry approached them. Morton saw him.
"Speaking of the devil, here's my friend Larry! Say hello to them, Larry!" The dark skinned koopaling greeted.
"Hi guys! Sorry I can't stay longer to hang out with you guys. We have to go, Morton. King Bowser called an important meeting." Larry said while waving at the others.
Morton said goodbye to all is friends and joined his little brother. They walked out the mall.
"How do you want to travel back home?" Larry asked.
"TRAIN! LARRY LOVE TRAIN!" His brother shouted.
They walked to the train station and bought tickets for the first class. They were the only one in the first class wagon. They sat down next to each other. As the train moved, Larry looked outside to see the landscape move. It was always his favorite way to travel around Amarioca.
"Larry…" Morton started.
"What's on your mind?" Larry asked.
He looked back at him and saw that Morton had tears on his face.
"What's wrong, Morty? Why are you crying?"
"MORTON NOT SAD! MORTON HAPPY! JOY TEARS!"
"I never thought you were that…"
Morton grabbed his little brother in his arms and hugged him strong.
"Morty, I can barely breathe."
"Thank you… Larry."
"LARRY!"
Larry snapped out of it and realized that he found himself in the same position that he was left in his memory. This time, a spectral Morton was hugging him.
"Ugh, even as a ghost, you're strong." Larry joked.
"MORTON HAPPY TO SEE LARRY!" Morton replied as he put down his brother.
They looked at each other without saying a word for a brief moment until Morton lowered his head while making a sad face.
"Morton sorry." His big brother quietly said.
"What are you talking about?"
"Orphanage."
"Morty, this was a long time ago. We grew up and we changed." Larry sighed.
"MORTON KNOW BUT MEMORY HURT MORTON!"
Particles of light started coming out of Morton's body. Like Digby, Morton would vanish.
"Morton has to go." His big brother sadly said.
"I know, Morty. I just wish that it wouldn't happen this way." Larry cried.
"BEFORE MORTON GO, MORTON HAS PRESENT!"
Morton built a small orb of light in his hands and gave it to his little brother. Larry took it but had no idea what it could be. It went into him. His brother started vanishing. They waved at each other until Morton completely disappeared.
"NO WORRY, LARRY! MORTON WATCH YOU!" Morton's voice echoed.
Larry stood here for a moment, giving himself a moment of silence for his brother. He then took back his wand and left the room. He forgot his other belongings but he could not retrieve them. His sidepack was torn apart. On his way back, he did not meet the other monster. In fact, the monster disappeared and he had no idea where it could be. It did not matter for him. He would have never tried to fight it anyway. He was glad he did not have to deal with it on his way out. When he exited the pyramid, he saw many soldier guys standing around the entrance. They signaled they were on his side as they showed that they captured Sergeant Guy. Larry then met up with his friend Starlow who still had the red wand.
"What took you so long?" She asked.
The koopaling only shredded a tear while smiling.
"He's free." He whispered.
His friend understood what he meant. She showed him the red wand. The two wands started reacting with each other by glowing.
"How is it possible? It takes their respective kings to do that." Starlow said, astonished.
"What do you mean?" Larry asked.
The wand fused together to form a single wand with a red stone and an orange stone on it. Starlow had no idea how he could do this by himself, but Larry concluded that what Morton gave him was his noctean powers. This meant that Larry was now an athlean and a noctean at the same time, allowing him to use both the orange wand and the red wand.
"Nevermind that, that was actually what I was planning to do with the wands but I never thought you alone could do it." Starlow smiled.
"Two wands found, five more to go. But before we leave…" Larry smiled back.
He walked toward the sergeant and punched his in the face. His punch was powerful enough to leave an imposing crack on the mask.
"This is for taking Morton's house as a hideout for you rebellions, you inconsiderate prick!" He shouted.
Everyone went back to the courthouse. Sergeant Guy was condemned to community services that consisted of restoring the Sandland Pyramid. The pipeline and the communications were restored, as well as Larry's bike. The duo stayed at the town hall with King Wart. The next day, Peach and Junior joined them to renew the peace treaty and had a feast. The feast proved to be insufficient as Larry already ate half of it by himself. Everyone was resting for the rest of the day. Larry then overheard a conversation between Peach and Starlow:
"How is it going with your task?" Peach curiously asked.
"Everything is going as planned. We found the red wand."
"That's some great news. I knew you and Larry could do it."
They went silent for a moment until…
"Do you think you could stay here with us once your job is done?" The princess asked.
"I'm not sure myself. Larry also proposed me to stay. I'll have to ask the stars. I wish they'll say yes and understand that I love being here with you and the others despite not having been here for quite a long time. I have enough of always having to leave the world to only come back when it needs my help. I want to stay here."
"I also want you to stay with us. Maybe if we can show the stars that you'd be happier to stay here, they'll let you."
They kept talking but the koopaling lost interest in the conversation. He went checking on his little brother. Junior was on a couch playing with his wooden doll. He saw Larry and got excited. The prince left his doll on the couch and went to see his big brother.
"Larry! Did you find one of our siblings?" He asked.
Larry did not answer anything. He just hugged Junior for a long time. His little brother understood that the sibling in question was gone. Junior tried to comfort him with a memory he shared with him.
"Do you remember when you started calling me…" Junior started.
On a weekend, Larry went to the Koopa Castle like every other weekend. He found his little brother lying down on his bed with a grumpy face.
"How's my libra going?" Larry jokingly asked.
Since Junior hatched on an October 4th, Junior had the zodiac sign libra. It was quite fitting as it sounded like a play on lil bro. Upon hearing Larry's voice, the prince got out his bed and hugged his big brother. He was grounded for bringing a video game console on a field trip and he could not play any video games for a month.
"How about we go play some sports?" The koopaling proposed.
Junior jumped in excitement. Everyone else tried to propose the prince to do something else besides video games but no one could convince him. Larry, on the other hand, was a different story. The prince always looked at him as a source of inspiration and dreamed one day to be like him: cheerful, cool and sportive. They went playing different sports. Larry showed some tricks to his little brother and even entertained him by doing acrobatics on horseback.
"…My libra." Larry ended.
"Larry, do you know something about my mama?"
"Not much unfortunately, I only heard her name."
"Can you tell me please?"
"Her name was Clawdia."
"That's a beautiful name."
They rested together until Peach and Starlow said that they will head back home. Larry and Junior followed them but not before Wart intercepted Larry.
"King Larry, are you already leaving?" The king asked.
"Yes, I'm going back to the Mushroom Castle." The punk answered.
"Might I propose you to leave your bike here and travel back here anytime you want?"
"That's great! I'll take it."
"I'll also send troops to Grassland to help your people to liberate the city."
"You're doing quite a lot. You're sure you want to help others with the situation you're in?"
"Don't worry, the situation calmed itself down thanks to you and I want to return the favor."
"Alright then, guess I'll contact my…"
"Already done and he'll stay at Grassland onward."
"WHAT!? But I need an advisor at the Mushroom castle!"
"Already planned. You'll get quite the surprise."
Larry did not know who his next advisor would be. He went back home with the others. The sun was setting and Larry decided to go to the balcony to look at the sunset. Someone joined him up there.
"Good evening. You didn't say your name when we first met."
The koopaling looked back to see that it was Isabelle.
"I'm Larry."
"Good, Larry, I have some great news to announce you."
"Are you, be any mean, my new advisor?"
"You guessed it!"
"Why though?"
She paused and slowly walked to the railing, she looked at the sky.
"I realized that the captain was worrying about his people so I proposed to him to be your advisor. I told him that I used to work as a secretary for a mayor back in my world. He accepted right away and immediately left the castle."
"Wow, I didn't notice that in him."
"He didn't want to tell you because he thought no one would replace him if he decided to return to Grassland. Also, I wanted to be with you. I want to thank you for everything you did for me, even if it doesn't seem a lot."
"Isabelle, I'm just doing my job."
"Princess Peach told me that your job is to retrieve your family. You're doing more than just your job, Larry, and I'm thankful that you think of many people including yourself and your family."
Isabelle was the only person Larry met so far that was able to talk about family without angering him. They leaned on the railing and Isabelle kissed Larry on the cheek. He blushed. It was a new step toward a relationship between him and Isabelle but he wanted to make it subtle so that no one would tease them with that. An hour later, they left the balcony and prepared themselves for bed. Larry went to the showers to wash himself and headed to his bedroom. Kamek was already asleep. As Larry was about to go to sleep, Junior had a conversation with Starlow:
"I heard you saying something funny the other night." Junior started.
"What kind of funny thing did I say?" The star sprite asked.
"You were mentioning about a certain Geno."
"I didn't…"
"Is he your lover?"
"NO! He's my contact and… Oh scrap! I already said too much!"
"Would you date him?"
"I hum… Stop it with your questions! You're embarrassing me in front of him."
"Who? Geno?"
"OKAY! YOU WANT TO KNOW WHO I LOVE!? I'LL SHOW YOU!"
Larry felt something kissing his cheek. Junior was disgusted to see that while Larry was confused.
"THERE, I'LL ADMIT IT! I LOVE YOUR BROTHER LARRY!"
"Stop it! Don't make me imagine your babies!" Junior horrifyingly screamed as he jumped into his bed sheets.
"You don't actually love me at this point, do you?" Larry whispered to her.
"Don't worry. It was just to keep him shut about Geno." She replied.
They all went to sleep. Larry heard something from Starlow again this night.
"Geno… Please come quickly… We need you…"
END OF ACT 2