Chapter 15 Even More Shopping

The Koopa family made their way through Stonebrim, the exact same scenery visible and the exact same scenes playing out as the last two loops. Despite this, as well as the knowledge of the horrible event that was bound to happen, Morton was actually excited. He kept looking over at Iggy, going out of his way to put on a smile as he did so.

Iggy, however, didn't smile back. At best, he just gave him puzzled glances. At worst, he gave him dirty looks. His skepticism was so strong that it practically had its own smell. Morton just shrugged it off. This was going to be fine; this was all going to be just fine.

"We're here!" Bowser exclaimed. Morton looked at the entrance of JC Coin. The expensive items were practically screaming "buy me! BUY ME!"

Lemmy jumped up and down and clapped his hands. "You guys are gonna love the gifts I buy for you! They're gonna rock your socks off!"

Roy raised an eyebrow. "But...we don't wear any socks."

Lemmy giggled. "Well, maybe we should start." He gasped. "Ooh! I know! I'm gonna buy us all some comfy cozy Koopsmas socks! That'd be the perfect gift!"

Morton chuckled. Iggy, who had heard the chuckle, cast him a glance as Junior began yelling at Lemmy.

"I suppose you're going to say you knew he would say that?" Iggy questioned.

"Of course!" Morton said. "Really, that's kind of a 'duh' at this point."

Iggy kept his eyebrow raised as Bowser opened the door, allowing the other Koopalings to filter through. Unlike the last two loops, Morton actually went in alongside them. He made sure to stick to Iggy like glue, much to his brother's annoyance.

"Please, Morton, this is starting to feel bizarre to me. Would you knock it off?"

Morton sighed. He figured that he might as well stop with the creepy happy mood and just be serious with his brother. After all, he would be more likely to accept Morton's idea if he was acting genuine instead of smug. "No, Iggy. I want to prove to you once and for all that what I am saying is the truth. I don't want to keep repeating this horrible day for the rest of eternity." He pointed ahead down the empty aisle. "Junior and Larry should be coming by with toy planes in their hands, by the way."

Sure, enough Larry and Junior bolted down the aisle. Junior chased Larry with a little toy plane in his hands.

"I'm gonna shoot you down, red baron!" Junior exclaimed.

Larry giggled. "Not if I shoot you down first!"

Iggy focused on the scene, a feeling of whimsy present in his expression. Morton really didn't know if he was capable of feeling whimsical at this point, as any whimsy trying to get to him had to break through layers upon layers of darkness in order to do so.

Iggy gawked when Larry spit at Junior. "Lawrence!" he exclaimed. He stomped over to the youngest Koopaling. "That was inappropriate and rude! I would appreciate an apology to Junior!"

Larry gave Iggy a raised eyebrow. "What are you; my Mom? Are you going to give me a timeout if I don't obey you?"

Iggy fumed. "Larry!"

Junior got in between the two. "Dude, seriously, it's okay. We were just playing." He turned toward Larry with a grin. "Now, let's make our way to the western front, shall we red baron?"

"That we shall!" Larry responded.

With that, the two of them ran off. Iggy groaned and massaged his temples. Morton went up and put his hand on Iggy's shoulder.

"Don't worry; that was to be expected."

Iggy shot him a glare. "Was that another time loop joke?"

Morton chuckled. "Maybe." Suddenly, he got an idea. "Hey, come with me; there's something I want to show you."

With that, Morton took Iggy's hand and led him to another part of the store. While they were doing this, they passed by Lemmy as he was browsing through the Koopsmas socks.

"Ludwig would love these; he loves fried chicken. Ooh, maybe I should give these to Iggy; he really likes the color green! But then, who should I give the pine tree socks to? Hmmm… "

Morton didn't even stop to mope about how Lemmy was saying and doing the exact same thing as two days ago. He just pushed right on and showed Iggy the blue dress that he and Ludwig admired during one of the loops.

"Why don't you get that for Wendy? I am sure that she would really appreciate it."

Iggy looked at the dress. He put his hand to his chin and stroked it. "Hmm. I will admit; it is nice. However, I am unaware as to whether or not our sister owns this dress." He put his hand down. "I believe I should get her something else."

"Let me guess," Morton said. "You're thinking about a Felinus domesticus, aren't you?"

Iggy's jaw dropped. "How in the world did you know that?"

Morton rolled his eyes. "I told you; I'm stuck in a time loop."

Iggy's face fell into a scowl. "Ah. Yes of course; how could I possibly forget?" His voice was practically shooting off darts of poison. He turned and began walking away.

Morton gawked. Seriously? Iggy still didn't believe him? That made no sense! He made his way toward his brother and put his hand on his shoulder, doing his best to push down the anger he was feeling.

"Okay, seriously! Why won't you believe me?"

Iggy looked at him. "Because it's a ludicrous claim!"

Morton grit his teeth and gripped his fist. "And I have been giving you pieces of evidence to support the claim! Yet, you still disregard and shoot down the loop theory!" He sharply exhaled. "Some evidentalist you are."

Iggy glared. "Morton, you're being illogical."

"No, Iggy. If anything, I think you're the one being illogical. Do you really think I have the intelligence and the foresight necessary to stage all of this? Do you think I just have special powers that allow me to read your mind and predict unpredictable events?"

Iggy's facial expression softened. "Well…."

"The answer is no, I don't. Even if I did have those things, this time loop thing would still be the most likely scenario because of how many coincidences there are. If there are too many coincidences, then that means it isn't a coincidence anymore. You yourself have said that on multiple occasions."

Iggy looked down at the floor. "That is true…"

"So why is it that you are afraid of believing me? Do you just not want to be wrong? Is that it?"

Iggy swallowed a lump in his throat. "Possibly."

Morton nodded. "Well, I hate to say it, Iggy, but you can't be right one hundred percent of the time." He sighed. "Now look; we've already wasted a lot of time here. The monster attack should be happening any minute now, and I want you to see it."

Iggy sighed. "Very well." With that, he took Morton's hand and allowed the dark skinned Koopaling to lead him out of the store. Bowser raised an eyebrow when he saw them come out empty handed.

"Back so soon?"

"Yeah," Morton responded. "We didn't see anything good enough to buy."

"Oh," said Bowser. He nodded slowly. "Okay. That's fine, I suppose. We'll just go to another store later on."

Morton nodded back, holding back the urge to contradict Bowser's words. He then leaned in close to Iggy. "Keep your eyes focused behind Bowser."

Iggy nodded and did exactly as he was told. Right as he did, the ground shook. Iggy looked at Morton, worry plastered over his face.

"Just keep looking," Morton said.

Iggy nodded, although he looked a little nervous as he did so. When he turned around fully, he let out a shriek. Morton smiled when he saw that Motley Bossblob was back, right on schedule.

"Well look at that," he said. "Now do you believe me, Iggster?"

Iggy was so shocked that he couldn't even respond. Bowser looked back at the two of them, his eyes and face showing more fear than Morton thought Bowser was capable of showing.

"GO GET YOUR SIBLINGS NOW!"

Morton nodded and rushed back into the store. Iggy, despite his shock, followed close behind.