Chapter 5-2: Out of reach
When the trio arrived in Sandland, King Wart was waiting for them. As usual, the king welcomed the group. He then escorted them to the jeep which was stationed near the town hall. The group got into the vehicle.
"Wart, can you tell me the garage where my bike is? I know I should've picked it up days ago but since my journey to Sealand I didn't passed by here." Larry asked.
"Sure thing, head down the street and take a turn on Clawgrip Avenue. The garage will be on the left. And don't worry about picking it up late. I went checking on it every day and they took the freedom of making some adjustments on your bike. I approved of those." Wart told him.
"Thanks!"
"Where are you heading to today, King Larry?"
"I'm going to Skyland. I need to get the black wand and find my brother Roy."
"Be careful there. The Skyland government has a new leader that completely shut down any mean to get to the city. They will shoot down any ship that tries to get to the city."
"I'll think about something once I get close. Thanks for the heads up."
"Very well, I will not keep you here any longer. Take care."
"You too."
The group followed Wart's indication and found the garage. Inside, a shyguy went to see them.
"It's been days since your bike's ready. We took the liberty to replace the old hull with a more reinforced one and we put nitrous on it in case you get into trouble and need to escape from it." The mechanic said.
The group put the bike in the back of the jeep and attached it. They left Sandland and headed to Grassland to bring the jeep back. It took them a few hours to reach the city. Despite not being six 'o'clock yet, they stopped at a local restaurant for supper. Grassland city had returned to a close to normal lifestyle. A few soldier guys were patrolling the streets on the lookout for dry creatures while goombas were back at their old lives. Once they brought back the jeep there, Larry took his bike and pulled out his cushion belt. He attached it around himself to allow Geno to grab his back without the spikes intervening. They rode the bike for a few more hours. They eventually reached the border that separated Grassland and Skyland. A goomba was stationed there but no lakitu was present. From where they were, they could see the clouds Skyland City was resting on. The sun was slowly setting but a small silhouette caught the group's attention. Larry took his binoculars to look at the silhouette better. It was a ship heading toward the city. The punk looked off his binoculars but another silhouette caught his attention. He looked back in his binoculars and saw a bullet bill heading toward the ship. As both collided in each other, they were immediately engulfed in a giant fireball.
"This must be what Wart was talking about." Geno said.
"How are we going to get to Skyland city without getting ourselves blown?" Starlow worryingly asked.
"First, let's find someplace to stay for the night. Tomorrow, we'll take a look at what remains to fly us to the city." Larry proposed.
The group continued on the road until they reached a motel near the sea. They parked the bike in the parking lot and got off.
"Test one, two, one, two, hello Larry, can you hear me? Just hold the right side of your glasses." Iggy's voice spoke.
"Hey Iggy, I can hear you crystal clear."
"Good, I forgot to mention that your glasses also come with a camera and a speaker to allow me to see what you see and hear what you hear. I may have tested them before but, to make sure they work as intended, can you test all the functions? There's a switch on the left side of your glasses that will change your vision."
The punk found the switch and pressed it upward. He was now seeing everything in green.
"The night vision works. Try another function."
He pushed the switch to the left and he was now seeing everything in red. He looked at his hands. They appeared white through the glasses.
"The thermal vision works. You have one more function to try."
He pushed the switch downward and he was now seeing everything in black. He looked at his hands again but could only see his bones.
"Great, that'll do. It's getting a bit late here. I'll let you get someplace to stay for the night. To switch the vision back to normal, push the switch to the right. You can contact me anytime by holding the right side of your glasses. Iggy out."
The group entered the motel. It was deserted. No one was here so the trio took one of the keys on the wall. Larry took a very specific key with the number 88 carved on the head and the group went to install themselves inside the room. The motel rooms were standard rooms that had a bedroom with two double beds and a bathroom. Larry took off his shades and put them on a table between the beds. He went in the bathroom, took off his shell and clothes, and went in the shower. After his shower, he dried himself with a towel and put back his underwear on. When he returned in the bedroom, he saw Starlow talking to the sunglasses. With her telekinetic powers, she could activate the microphone and stand in front of the glasses at the same time.
"If I understand correctly, you come from space?" Iggy's voice asked.
"Indeed, we were sent by the stars to retrieve the seven magic wands and the two kingdom artifacts."
"What is a star sprite exactly?"
"I cannot tell you much about us other that we act as guardian angels to a person we choose to be the hero for a problem."
"Do you think the stars would allow me to know more about star sprites?"
"I'm not sure myself. They're very secretive about themselves and rather not getting too intertwined with anyone's affair other than sending assistance. Maybe in the future they will share some information."
"Alright, I'll go to bed. Iggy out."
The punk sat on the bed facing the star sprite. Geno was already lying on the other bed.
"Tell me, Starlow. You never planned to meet Peach in the first place?" Larry asked.
"I thought Peach was the hero/heroine designated by the stars to restore the world. Little did I know that it was never planned to choose her in the first place."
"What do you mean? And why would they choose me?"
"Your father, Bowser, had a contact with the stars because he already met Geno a long time ago. He showed evidences that the Mario World would be in danger and even asked that neither Mario nor he or Peach would be chosen as heroes in fear of being targeted. He wanted someone that no one would suspect to save the world so we looked through the archives and found someone that could match them in term of heart and power: you."
"I think he already planned to choose me in the first place. The other day, Iggy told me about a meeting I was not allowed to attend about transferring powers to each other."
"He could not afford you to know about the plan. Our enemy is able to know a lot about us. He must've chosen you because he trusts you the most."
"Yeah, about that…"
"If it's about the Grassland report, he faked them to invent an excuse to prevent you to go to the meeting during the big day while the arrest request was to keep you somewhere safe."
"How do you know about all of that?"
"Geno told me everything about Bowser's plan. He even planned beyond that by having Iggy be in the Oak's workshop instead of attending to the meeting an another person in a safe place. The mech Iggy was working on might have be a weapon to fight against the culprit. I don't know much about Riley but I'll search through the universal files tonight and I'll get you back on that tomorrow morning."
"Alright then, goodnight y'all."
Larry went to bed while Starlow sat down on the table next to the glasses and emitted a faint blue light from her body.
The next day, Larry woke up before everyone else. He quietly put his shell and clothes back on and snuck outside the room. The sun just started showing up. He walked toward the sea and sat down near it. He looked up in the sky and stared at the cloud formation that was Skyland city. He heard footsteps and turned around to see that Geno was also awake and followed him. The latter sat right next to the koopaling.
"Tell me. Who is Roy?" The puppet asked.
"Roy is one of my big brothers. He is the third to the oldest of my siblings. During the big day, he was sent to the Skyland Tower to represent my dad. And…"
He paused for a moment and stared back at the clouds. A memory went through his mind.
It should have been very early in the morning. Bowser's family was sleeping in a room and just visited Skyland. Today, they would travel to Sandland. Larry was still sleeping when he heard someone waking up and walking around in the room. The person who just woke up was making some noise which bothered the sleepers.
"Let Morton sleep." Morton's voice said.
"Who's the moron making so much noise?" Wendy voice whispered.
"Please, I just want to sleep some more before I face this cruel reality again." Iggy's voice begged.
"… So sleepy…" Lemmy's voice muttered.
"Vho dares interrupt my slumber?" Ludwig's voice chanted.
Larry opened his eyes and saw a silhouette leaving through the door. He got off the bed where he was sleeping with Morton and Wendy and put his shell back on. Unlike the first person, he was very quiet. He did not wake anyone up. He then took his coat from the closet and exited through the door. He was on the second floor and he looked over the railing. He saw a silhouette walking toward the sea. The punk went downstairs and walked to the silhouette. The latter stopped and sat down near the sea. Larry recognized the silhouette to be Roy. His big brother was wearing his purple shell with a purple hoodie and a pair of headphones around his neck.
"Hi Roy, what are you doing that early there?" Larry asked as he sat next to his big brother.
"I just wanted to take a last look at the city before we leave. This might be the last time I see it in a long time because of school." Roy answered.
"Was your first year at school that bad for you?"
"Dad grounded me for the next year."
"Ouch, what happened?"
"I got bad grades. There's nothing else to say."
"Maybe I can help." Larry proposed.
"Ya, help me? Don't make me laugh! Yer four years behind me… Well, now, yer three years. Still, ya can't help me because yer in kindergarten and know nothin' about homeworks. If I needed help with school, I'd ask the nerd but the nerd isn't in the mood to help anyone. Here's a deal: Fix the nerd and I'll stop teasin' ya."
"Just tell me how you got bad grades."
"Don't bother, Larry. Ya can't do a thing. And don't bother me ever again or I'll make ya regret it." His big brother warned.
"Roy, I'm trying to help you. Is it because you don't understand something? Is it because you don't spend enough time on your homeworks?"
Roy stood up and grabbed Larry by his coat.
"Ya don't know where to stop, do ya? When I say don't bother, I mean it! I warned ya." Roy started as he raised his fist.
They heard a voice calling from afar. The rest of the family woke up and were ready to have breakfast. Roy let his little brother go.
"Ya got lucky this time, shrimp. Next time ya try botherin' me, there won't be anyone to save yer sorry shell." Roy warned again.
The big brother returned to the motel but Larry stood here for a while. It would not matter for him if he would get beaten up by Roy if he tried to help him.
(I don't care that you don't want me to help you, Roy. We're a family. I want to help you. I'll find a way to raise your grades.) He thought before heading back to the motel.
"Roy is a special kind of guy. Everyone think he's just another mindless bully but what people don't see is that he's very easygoing and calm. He likes to tease people but only go too far when someone's looking for trouble. His look also helps to make friend with pretty much anyone." Larry explained.
"I see."
Larry and Geno sat here for a while.
"Larry, may I ask you a favor?" The puppet asked.
"Go ahead." The punk agreed.
"Can you teach me how to feel again?"
"You can't teach anyone to feel. It all comes naturally depending on the current circumstances. Also, what do you mean again?"
"I used to have feelings just like you and Starlow but my hardware got corrupted damaging my emotional capabilities."
"With a problem like that, I'd ask Iggy or Elvin to fix you instead."
"I see, I thank you for leading me to the appropriate individuals that can help me."
"Another thing, how did you meet my dad?"
"It was many years ago. Right after he kidnapped Princess Peach only to be defeated by the Mario brothers, a force known as Smithy took over Amarioca. Mario, Bowser and Peach had no choice but to unite their powers to stop Smithy. I was sent by a superior authority to aid them. That is how I met your father."
"How would you describe him?"
"At the time, he tended to be a tyrant but, over the years, he became a much different person after he adopted you and the other koopalings. He became a very caring man struggling to achieve a dream he never got to live in his youth: a complete family. Alas, he changed once again when he reached it only to lose it. He would blame himself when any of you chose to leave the castle."
"Yeah, I saw that after Junior was born. Speaking of him, what was his plan?"
"There are things I cannot tell you yet. However, I can tell you the following. Bowser had been in contact with Doctor Kraig."
"You know Kraig?"
"Indeed, Bowser presented him to my superior authority. He possessed a vaccine that was the evidence Starlow was referring about to prove that a virus was being developed. Though he may directly work for MOM, his records show no signs of involvement in any form of crimes besides being affiliated with space pirates. The interesting thing about him is that he does not seem to recall any past actions made by the space pirates. Either he was ordered to deny them or it is something else. He had a small quantity of vaccine and Bowser was the one who listed all the people that needed to be vaccinated."
"Why would he protect the kings and queens?"
"To make sure there would be no anarchy due to the loss of a ruler, he needed to make sure he could keep order after the incident by saving the royalties. With all the royalties vaccinated, including the Mario brothers, only three vaccines were left at his disposition. Bowser Jr and his advisor Kamek being already immune, the only other people he wanted to protect was his koopalings."
"That must've been a hard decision."
"You are correct. To make sure he made the right decision, he made a poll to see who his children trusted the most among each other. The results were six for you and one for Ludwig. You were the only one who voted for him. Your family chose you to bear their powers while your siblings met with your father to learn about transferring them."
"Who were the two other koopalings that got vaccinated?"
"I can tell you that your brother Iggy is immune. As for the other one, I cannot tell you until you meet up with him."
Starlow met up with them.
"Alright, I got all the information I could get on the culprit. Riley has been a long running member of Monsters Of Mischief lead by MOM. He's the most dangerous member right before her with an endless list of universal crimes he committed. No one knows where he comes from as he was never recorded anywhere. That's all I could get. I'm sorry." The star sprite explained.
"So you could only get information that we already knew of. Though I'll admit it's interesting that Riley doesn't have any form of record for his past. He must be hiding something from us. What about Kraig?" Larry said.
"Kraig doesn't have a criminal record."
They returned to the motel room where they packed up ready to go.
"Larry, can you hear me?" Iggy's voice spoke.
"I'm here, what's the plan."
"I just woke up and got myself a nice cup of coffee. I think I located you with a map of Amarioca. You must be at the Spiny Motel."
The punk looked outside and looked at the giant sign on the parking lot. It indeed said Spiny Motel.
"Yeah, I'm there." He confirmed.
"Good, there's an airship marina just a few miles northeast of the motel. Let's hope there's a ride you can take to reach the city. Be careful of it. Like you, I saw the airship getting blown up so you'll have to fly into the city's defense system's blind spot to get there without getting gunned down. I'll take a look at the city's schematics to identify all the weaponry the city possesses. Once you get a ride, contact me back and I'll help you slip by the defense system."
"Copy that. Larry out."
The trio put the room's key on the wall of the wall in the reception room and went back on the bike and drove on a road leading to the northeast. They indeed reached an airship marina but they saw no airship here. They got off the bike and walked around. A funny looking lakitu showed up. His skin was purple and he had tall pointy ears on its head, two fangs came out of its mouth pointing upward. He was wearing dense round glasses which prevented anyone to see his eyes. He was floating on a cloud with a smiling face that had round glass eyes. The lakitu saw them and slowly floated toward the group.
"Hey there, how's it going?" The lakitu welcomed.
"Excuse me? I haven't seen a lakitu like you before." Starlow pointed out.
Lakitu usually had yellow skin like typical koopa troopas. Their glasses were not dense enough to conceal their eyes. This guy was certainly an imposter.
"Hey now, no need to question me on that, I'm just blending in the crowd. If you're looking to go to Skyland City, you should reconsider. A new ruler took over and initiated a lockdown on the city which means no one can get in or out without a permission."
"How do you know that?" Geno asked.
"I live there. I was allowed to go here to warn people about the current situation. Though, not everyone listens to me." The lakitu answered.
"Who's the new ruler out of curiosity?" Larry asked.
"He's some kind of big koopa, definitively not a lakitu considering that he doesn't fly on a cloud. Speaking of clouds, he also outlawed clouds with his motto "If I can't fly, no one will." He wears pink shades with his pink head and has a purple spiky shell. He wears a lot of spiky stuff on him too and always makes an unsettling grin." The lakitu replied.
"Let me guess. His name's Roy Orion."
"You guessed right."
"Is there a way I can speak to him?"
"Who are you to want to do that?"
"Tell him that Larry Mulan, an old friend, wants to see him."
"A friend of him? Sure, I can hook you up with him. I have a vehicle ready to go to the city whenever you're ready."
Larry was not satisfied with just that. Though the lakitu would allow him to see Roy, he could not bring himself to trust him yet.
"Tell me. Where are you from?" The koopaling asked.
"I'm from the city. Why do you ask?"
"I can see you're not really a lakitu with those pointy ears. I'm not going to follow you unless you reveal your true identity."
The lakitu got nervous. He was not very good at lying.
"Are you sure you want to see the real me?" The lakitu stuttered.
"Tell me the truth." Larry aggressively asked.
"YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" The lakitu shouted back.
The koopaling went to him and grabbed him by the shell. The latter was slightly smaller than Larry. In fact, he must have been around Lemmy's height.
"Listen here, you hack. I know you're lying. I don't need to have the Creator's clearance to see that you're a bad liar. Show yourself now!" Larry ordered.
The lakitu chuckled then started laughing maniacally. He pressed on a button inside his cloud and it blew up in smoke.
"Fools! Did you really think I was a mere lakitu!? I see that you are interested to know who I really am! I have travelled through the universe causing chaos on all the planets I visited! I have captured Princess Daisy, an exploit none other could achieve! I have fought against Mario, hero of Amarioca! I am the one and only, the strong and mighty, mysterious spaceman. I AM…" A different voice powerfully spoke.
The smoke started dissipating revealing a small purple bat-like humanoid standing on a flying metallic platform. He was wearing a frilled black uniform and cape but no longer had glasses revealing his black eyes. The humanoid had his arms crossed with his belly leaning forward and was grinning in an unrealistic way. His grin only showed his teeth on the sides while the front of his mouth was closed.
"… TATANGA!" The humanoid concluded.
The trio looked at Tatanga.
"Well, what do you think?" The alien asked.
"You did all of that?" Larry asked.
"I did all of that but it was a long time ago. I'm still trying to relive the glory days." Tatanga sighed.
"Wait! You're THE Tatanga that captured Princess Daisy!? I thought you were way taller than that." Starlow asked.
"Ah yes, people love to exaggerate on those details just to scare themselves."
"If I understand correctly, you were lying about being able to get us in the city." The punk asked.
"No, no, I can still bring you guys in the city. I just need to pose as a lakitu again and create a cloud big enough for us all and we'll be fine." Tatange reassured.
The alien pulled a small metal stick out of his uniform and sprayed a crystalline substance on himself. His uniform turned into a shell like the lakitus would be seen wearing. Glasses appeared on his eyes.
"There, I'm a lakitu again. Now, I just need to contact the king."
He summoned a cloud and searched into it. He pulled out a radio and spoke to it.
"Hello, this is Surface Guy. I got some guy that wants to get to the city… What's his name? Hold on a sec. He said his name's Larry Mulan. He's also accompanied with two other people… You'll let him get to the city? Just Larry? You want me to bring him there? A patrol will check him? Okay, I'll be there in a sec, bye."
The lakitu put the radio back in the cloud.
"Good news, you can enter the city but the bad one is that only Larry can get there." Tatanga explained.
"That won't be much of a problem. In their mind, they must think that the two others you said are living humanoids like me. Starlow can easily hide in my sidepack." Larry planned.
"What about the…" The lakitu started
"He's a puppet. I can pretend to be a ventriloquist and he'll be my puppet."
"Good thinking, they won't see it coming."
Tatanga used a device that made his cloud bigger, allowing Larry and Geno to hop in. Starlow immediately hid in the sidepack. They started floating upward to the city. After a mile, two lakitus on cloud arrived at them and inspected them to make sure only Larry would come to town. They did not suspect that the doll was a person nor did they check the sidepack. It was clear to them: He was alone. The lakitus signaled Tatanga that he could carry on.
"By the way, Larry, how did you know the ruler's name?" Tatanga asked.
"Let's just say that we knew each other for a long time. Can you keep a secret?" The punk replied.
"Shoot."
"We're half-brothers."
"NO WAY!"
"Yeah but I fear for the worse when we'll arrive in the city."