Bowser Junior gladly accepted Randy as his brother, but will Larry? I don't own any Nintendo stuff.

Chapter 13: Connecting With Larry

The door to Larry's room was open as well, so Randy walked inside. However, he didn't see Larry anywhere.

Randy: Larry! You in here?

Larry's Voice: I'm out here! Through the back door!

Randy: (Back door? What's he talking about?)

Taking a closer look around the room, Randy saw the door Larry meant next to his bed. Because he hadn't seen it during the tour a few days ago, he had no idea what was through it. As he walked through the door, what he saw amazed him. He was surrounded by hundreds of plants, none of which he had seen before. After a few minutes of wandering through the plant-filled room, he saw Larry watering some kind of flower.

Randy: There you are. This is…shocking to say the least.

Larry: Why? I told you before that I grow plants.

Randy: Yeah, but I didn't think this many! You grew all of them by yourself?

Larry: Uh-huh. Impressed?

Randy: That doesn't even begin to describe what I think. How many different species of plants do you have?

Larry crossed his arms and closed his eyes. Randy could see him mouthing something but he couldn't make out what. After a few minutes, Larry reopened his eyes.

Larry: I have one-hundred and sixty-three different kinds of plants.

Randy: Wow. It…must be hard taking care of them by yourself.

Randy moved a little closer to the flower Larry had been watering and noticed a few strange things about it. It was red with white polka dots, had no petals and almost looked as if it had teeth. Randy went to touch it.

Randy: What kind of flower is this anyway?

He was answered by the plant lunging at him and trying to bite his hand. Randy yanked his arm back and looked at his hand to make sure he had all of his fingers. He did. The plant growled and continued to try to bite him.

Randy: Jeez, that plant's like a piranha!

Larry: Well, it's called a Piranha Plant. I think it's pretty clear why. Don't be fooled by their appearance. They're actually really nice.

Randy: Nice?! That thing almost bit my hand off!

Larry: They just do that for self defense. They never try to bite me, since I raised them. Watch.

Larry put his hand over the Piranha Plant and petted its head. The Piranha Plant started purring and nuzzled into Larry's hand.

Larry: Good boy, Marco.

Randy: Marco? You named it?

Larry: Sure. I have names for all my plants. You'd be surprised how I can remember them all. Come here. You can pet him.

Randy: Um…okay.

Randy cautiously walked up to Marco. Marco began to growl again and showed his teeth.

Larry: It's okay, boy. He won't hurt you.

Randy: Hi Marco. I'm Randy, Larry's brother.

Randy slowly extended his arm and started scratching what he assumed to be Marco's chin. Marco stopped growling and purred again. After a minute of scratching, he licked Randy's hand.

Larry: Aw. He likes you. I'm actually a little surprised. He's never been that friendly with anyone besides me. Guess it just further shows what a great guy you are. I'll admit I was a bit uncomfortable at first, but I'm happy to know that you're my brother.

Larry walked over to Randy and hugged him. Randy hugged Larry back, patting his shell a few times. When they let go, Larry motioned for Randy to follow him. Randy did so and Larry showed him around his greenhouse. As they passed a mushroom patch, Randy stopped when he saw that the mushrooms were a kind he hadn't seen before.

Randy: Hey Larry, what are these?

Larry: They're 1-Up Mushrooms. They can help revive someone when they've "fallen," if you know what I mean. They're pretty hard to come by, so growing them here is really handy. Oh, good thing you stopped me here. There's someone here I want you to meet.

Larry made a gesture behind him. Looking behind Larry, Randy saw an enormous Piranha Plant that looked very different from Marco. This Piranha Plant had orange pedals, legs and seemed to be wearing red shorts with white polka dots.

Randy: Whoa. That's one big plant. Does he like being petted too?

Larry: Why don't you find out for yourself?

Randy went to pet the Piranha Plant, when suddenly…

Piranha Plant: Don't touch me!

Randy: Ah! It talked!

Piranha Plant: Of course I can talk. Larry, who is this guy?

Larry: This is my big brother, Randy. Long story. Randy, this is my best friend and the greatest plant ever, Petey Piranha.

Randy: A pleasure, Petey.

Randy held out his hand. Petey used the leaf he had for an arm and shook Randy's hand.

Petey: Pleasure's all mine, I guess. So how exactly can you be his brother if you're a human? And why haven't I seen you around before?

Randy: I don't know the first part but I somehow got separated from my family when I was a baby. Larry wasn't born yet the last time I was here, so he doesn't have any info either.

Out of the corner of his eye, Randy spotted a few empty paint buckets on the floor.

Randy: What's with those? I thought BJ was the family artist.

Larry: He is. You see, Petey isn't like most Piranha Plants. He never needs watering, he can use his leaves to fly and he eats paint, which he can cough up if he's in danger. That reminds me. Petey, are you hungry?

Petey: I sure am.

Larry moved to a small container next to the empty paint cans. He reached in and pulled out a can of purple paint.

Larry: Here you go, Petey. Grape flavored, your favorite.

Randy: Larry, I don't think paint has-

Petey: YUMMY!

Petey grabbed the bucket and drank all the purple paint.

Randy: For goodness sake, Petey! Does that really taste like grapes?

Petey: It's purple like grapes.

Randy: Really? So if I understand this correctly, this orange paint must be a pumpkin pie.

Randy held up a can of orange paint, which Petey immediately grabbed and emptied into his mouth.

Petey: Tart yet creamy.

Randy: Hmmm…

Meanwhile, Larry had started to pick some peppers off one of his plants while Randy and Petey conversed.

Larry: You guys can keep experimenting with that if you want, but I need to harvest my-

Randy: Cherry. Red is for cherry.

Larry turned and saw Randy holding and looking at a can of red paint. However, he didn't look like he was going to give it to Petey.

Randy: You are a cherry.

Randy dipped his finger into the red paint and tasted it. Less than a second later, he spit it out, dropped the can and grabbed his throat. Larry couldn't help but look on and laugh.

Randy: BLECH! The taste! Get it out! Don't just stand there!

Randy grabbed a pepper out of Larry's hand and started to devour it. Larry immediately stopped laughing, knowing that was a bad idea.

Larry: But that's-

Too late. Randy swallowed the pepper.

Randy: Ah… Better.

Larry: That's the first time anyone's had the guts to eat one of MY chili peppers whole.

Randy: It certainly rid me of that horrible, goopy aftertaste.

Petey: Hey, these are pretty good.

Larry turned around and saw that Petey had helped himself to one of the peppers. He waited for the spiciness to kick in but nothing happened.

Larry: I don't believe it. They're not working! These things are supposed to taste hotter than magma.

He took a bite out of a pepper and didn't taste any spiciness. He was about to say something to Randy when he saw his face turning red. His pupils shrank until they were almost gone and his eyes began to water. Larry turned to Petey and saw the pepper's zesty texture had caused his pedals to catch fire. That's when Larry began to feel the intense spiciness. He started to sweat and couldn't keep smoke from coming out of his nostrils. The three of them took extremely long drinks from any source of water they could find. After they finally cooled down several minutes later, Randy bid Petey and Larry farewell and headed back into the hallway to his next brothers' room.

So far, so good. Two down, two to go.