Chapter 18 A Different Direction

"Oh? Morty doesn't like Koopsmas?" asked Lemmy.

Iggy nodded. The others exchanged glances with one another; some of them confused, some of them shocked, others just plain amused. Morton felt like he was sinking deeper and deeper into the floor as Larry bit his lip and burst into laughter.

"Haha haha, that's hilarious, Iggy!" he said. "How can someone not like Koopsmas? Flipping Koopsmas?"

Iggy gave Larry a raised eyebrow. "Do not laugh like that Larry. Not only is it rude, but it also invalidates Morton's perspective. How would you feel if I did the same thing when you were talking about, say, the Nintendo Virtual Boy?"

That shut Larry right up. Morton cast his brother a thankful look before stepping forward and clearing out his throat. "I never liked Koopsmas. I always felt as if it was a dishonest holiday." He shook his head. "It also nurtures a horrible, greedy attitude within those who celebrate it."

All eyes turned toward Wendy when this was said. The sole female Koopaling blushed and scrolled her list right back up.

"Besides," Morton continued, "every Koopsmas that I have had up to this point has been horrible in some shape or form."

Iggy blinked. "What? You did not mention that to me!"

Morton bit his lip. "I felt as if it went without saying, given how I gave you enough evidence to infer it."

Iggy slowly nodded. "Yes, well, that does make sense. I understand how negative experiences can shape a viewpoint to be inherently negative."

Morton nodded. "Yeah. I just….don't like this holiday." He wiped a tear from his eye. "And I absolutely hate the fact that I am going to have to suffer through it again sooner than you all think I'm going to."

The Koopalings blinked, clearly trying to process the statement that was just told to them. Morton just stayed silent. There was no point going into detail about the time loop. They would just forget what was told to them tomorrow anyway.

"What kind of negative experiences have you had with Koopsmas?" Wendy asked, bringing the topic back to that.

Morton took a seat. He couldn't tell them about the Stonebrim attack brought upon by Motley Bossblob, but thankfully he didn't need to. He had plenty of other examples that he could draw upon.

"I remember this one time when I was about six. I had just gotten a stack of gingerbread pancakes, not too dissimilar to those." He pointed toward the plate on the table. "However, when I bit into it, I found out that there were fingernails baked into it."

Ludwig made a face. "Fingernails?"

"Yep, fingernails. To this day, I still have no idea how they got in there, but I haven't been able to eat gingerbread pancakes since."

The Koopalings looked down at their own plates. Roy even went so far as to poke his pancakes.

"It must be because of the chef we had at the time," said Ludwig. "They pretty much ruined burritos for me. I can't eat them anymore without being paranoid of finding a dead spider inside."

Wendy shuddered. "Oh, Mama. I know exactly what chef you're talking about. Not only was she a bad cook, but she was mean too."

"Yeah," Morton said with a nod. "Both she and her food were disgusting."

"If that's the case, I don't blame you, Morty," said Roy. "I'd be turned off from gingerbread pancakes too if I had that experience with them."

"Yeah." Morton sighed, placed his arms on the table, and put his head in his hands. "And I wish that there was a way that I didn't have to worry about all of this."

Roy chuckled. "If you're talking about finding fingernails in your food, don't worry; we fired that chef, remember?"

"That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Koopsmas as a whole. I wish that there was a way that I could escape from it. I….sometimes I even wish it wasn't a holiday at all."

Lemmy gasped. "What? But Morty!" He looked around at his siblings. "How else would we be able to take a break from the trials of life? How else would we be able to show others that we care about them through the act of gift giving? How else would there be peace in the Mushroom World and goodwill toward Koopas?"

Morton hesitated before he shook his head. "I don't know."

"Of course you don't!" said Lemmy. He stood up in his seat. "The reason why that is is because there would be no way to do those things! Not without Koopsmas." His head turned from side to side, surveying the table. "I don't want to live in a world without Koopsmas, and not because I have this horrible, greedy attitude like you claimed. I just want to have a nice time with my family."

Morton sighed. "That is a valid point." He shook his head. "But every thing about this day just keeps repeating!"

Roy raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Morton seizes up, realizing that he had just let slip about the time loop. "Uh. What I mean by that is that everything about Koopsmas just blends together into one big messy blob. I mean, come on! We do the same thing every year, for Pete's sake. It's always going to Stonebrim. It's always gingerbread pancakes. It's always listening to The First Koopsmas; it's always the same thing!"

"Well then, why don't we do something different this year?" asked Ludwig.

Morton snickered. "Like what? What could we possibly do that Bowser would approve of?"

Ludwig put his hand to his chin, considering the options. Then his face lit up like the Northern lights. "I've got it." He looked around at his siblings, as if he was getting ready to try and sell the idea. "Why don't we go see Bob?"

When the name Bob was mentioned, it was like a firecracker went off in the dining room. Larry let out a gasp as his eyes grew wide. Wendy squealed in delight. Roy seemed to be frozen in place, and Lemmy jumped up and down.

"Yes!" Lemmy said. "Bob! Let's go see Bob!"

Morton tossed the idea around in his head. Bob was Ludwig's clone. He lived in a town called Sparksville, which was on the border between The Koopa Kingdom, the Mushroom Kingdom, and The Great Mushroom Sea. The Koopalings had gone to see Bob at his house in the past, and he loved having them there. Now that Morton thought about it, going to visit him would be a diversion from the usual formula the time loop put him through. Ooh, it would also mean that they wouldn't experience the monster attack!

Morton smiled. "That's….actually not a bad idea."

"That it is not," said Iggy, who was still standing in front of the table. "We will just have to convince Bowser that it is the right pathway to go down."

As if that was his cue, Bowser came barging in through the door with a grin on his face and the book under his arm. "Merry Koopsmas, everybody!"

"Merry Koopsmas, Bowser!" exclaimed Lemmy. Each of the Koopalings got up and surrounded their adopted father.

"Bowser," Iggy said with a formal tone. "We would like to make a request this holiday season."

Bowser's eyes sparkled. "Oh ho! And what request would that be?"

"Well, you see, we have a friend in Sparksville whom we have not seen in a while named Bob. We were wondering if it would be possible for us to spend this holiday with him?"

Bowser blinked. "You want to spend Koopsmas with a friend?"

"Not just us specifically, but the whole family. We are aware that you are unfamiliar with Bob, so we might take advantage of this opportunity to introduce you to him."

Bowser put his hand to his chin. "Hmm. On the one hand, it would mess up our Koopsmas traditions. But on the other hand, variety is the spice of life." He smiled. "You know what? Why not! We'll get ready to go after I read the First Koopsmas!"

Morton smiled, reciting a prayer of gratitude to the good lord Grambi in his head as he and the others took a seat on the floor.