Chapter 11 Koopsmas Cheer

Man. Who knew that trying to locate a thirty foot tall silver clown monster would be so difficult. Morton turned corner after corner in Stonebrim. He observed some families getting ready to sit down and chow down on their Koopsmas meal through the brightly lit windows of some of the apartments. He observed some doves, as white as snow, resting on the tops of some of the buildings. He also observed some of the carolers, singing their lives away.

Koopsmas is a time of thanks

A time to laugh and glow

We can all appreciate

The time with all the snow

.

We can give a merry shout

To fill those up with cheer

Who are in need of some helpings

Of laughter, not fear.

Morton shook his head, completely aware of the irony the lyrics were presenting, and yet at the same time, completely unappreciative of it. He walked around in the middle of the town square, the voices of the carolers beating down on him. He had precisely ten minutes before the monster attack, and yet, he was nowhere close to even finding the monster.

Seriously. Where was that clown monster? Was it hiding, or was Morton just stupid? Actually, it would probably be best if that question wasn't answered.

Morton checked behind an alleyway. He didn't see any monster though, only a poor, depraved cat whose rib cage showed through its fur. It hissed at him, displaying fangs worthy of a venomous snake. He backed away and decided to ask some people if they possibly knew anything. He went up the steps that led to the door of an apartment building and used the knocker. He was greeted by a very stern, grizzled old Koopa man.

"Whaddya wan?" The koopa asked. Saliva dribbled down his face due to lack of teeth, and his eyes were pretty much sewn shut due to the outdoor lighting.

Morton cleared his throat. "Excuse me, sir, but do you by any chance, know of any clown monsters that might want to attack this town?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "Clown monster! Wha kind of crazy talk be that be? You kids and your new fangled, new age beliefs in monsters. Back in my day, kids were the monsters."

Morton felt a lump form in his throat. He gripped his hands together as he spoke up again. "Uh...sir, I know it might sound crazy, but I really need to…"

"Dids I ever tells you about how my grandfather acted during the Koopa Mushroom War? Why, he encountered more monsters than he knew what to do with? And did he complain? No sirree!"

Morton sighed. This wasn't getting him anywhere, and every second he wasted would bring him closer to the monster attack.

"Uh...yes. Well, thank you for your time."

With that, he closed the door in the Koopa's face, all while he still blabbed on and on about how Morton's generation was ruining the economy or something stupid like that. Morton shook his head and rubbed his eyes. He groaned as made his way back to the center of the town, where the carolers were still torturing anyone with an adequate sense of hearing.

"What am I going to do? This clown monster shouldn't be that hard to find!"

Miracles can happen if you believe

Just make a wish and pull a cloth

Out of your sleeve.

"WILL YOU GUYS SHUT UP!" Morton called out to the carolers. "I'm trying to think!"

The carolers gave Morton raised eyebrows and distraught looks. The leader of the group turned to the others.

"Man," he said. "Looks like someone needs to get into the Koopsmas spirit. You know what that means, don't you guys?"

"That we should sing louder?" asked another caroler.

The leader grinned. "Exactly." With that, they all took a deep breath, and when they exhaled, they sang so loud that even people in the Melty Molten Galaxy could hear them.

WE ALL LOVE

KOOPSMAS, KOOPSMAS

WE ALL LOVE THIS HOLIDAY!

Morton grit his teeth, put his hands to his head, and let out a scream. This...was….so…annoying! He bolted away from the carolers, running at top speeds. He did not stop until he got the very edge of the town. Thankfully, in this location, he coudln't hear them anymore. Morton breathed a sigh of relief as he put his hands on his knees and panted.

"Mama Mia, that was the worst." Seriously, why those carolers haven't been arrested for disturbing the peace yet, he will never know.

Anyway, he looked up at the clock, which read...oh dear developer, there were only two minutes until the monster attacked! He had looked everywhere, and he still couldn't find the blasted thing. It just didn't make sense! It was giant, it was silver, and it was loud. How it could slip under someone's radar completely undetected was beyond impossible.

Morton sighed and sat down on the stoop. Well, there wasn't much he could do. He might as well give up. After all, at this point, he would just be prolonging the inevitable. The day would still repeat itself, so his family would have no idea the pain that he had gone through for them. In addition to that, they would just experience the same pain tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day, all the way up into eternity.

Morton shook his head. Time loops really were the worst. They made all of your life meaningless, they made it so that none of your actions had consequences. He was thankful that he had never experienced it before, but was also really unthankful that he was experiencing it now. He dried a tear from his eye. He had not felt this hopeless since he got targeted by Kura and the other Shadowlings.

"Hey!"

Morton's head turned at the sound of someone shouting. Curious, he got up and followed the sound. He turned corner after corner, following the voice.

"You're supposed to pay for that, you know!"

Morton was growing more confused by the second. Was this voice addressing him? It probably wasn't, but he still felt that following it was important.

"What? Are you crazy? It's Koopsmas; things should be free!"

Finally, Morton turned the corner, and his eyes showed him the source of the noise. There was a Koopa troopa standing at an ice cream store window. Before him stood one of the strangest Koopas Morton had ever seen. They were dressed up as a court jester. They had a red and purple hat, as well as a red and purple vest. Morton didn't know if they were wearing contacts or not, but somehow, his eyes didn't have pupils in the center. Rather, they had stars. The koopa stared at angrily at the Koopa troopa, who was shaking his head.

"That's not how it works. I still need to make money even on a day like today. Now, either you give me some coins, or you leave here empty handed."

The koopa growled. "No one says no to Motley Bossblob!"

With that, they took out a wand. Morton watched in complete shock as they jumped into the air. Silver bubbles materialized as the koopa waved their wand. They surrounded him, forming into a humongous mass. Finally, the koopa landed back on the ground. Only he wasn't a Koopa anymore.

He was the Clown monster.