Author's Note: Woah, one chapter and I already have five reviews! I've got to say, I'm impressed. I just want to say thank you to all of the people who have reviewed, and I just want to state for the record that I don't mind negative reviews in the slightest. If anything, they are motivation for me to make the story better.

There are some things that I want to address. First of all, in response to Insight's review, I am sorry that you found the first chapter disappointing and predictable. Hopefully I can do a better job with the next chapters. In response to Triple777's review, I apologize if this came off as a Junior hate letter. I will admit, Junior is not my favorite character. I don't want this whole story to be dedicated to bashing him, though. And no, I don't plan on having Chapter 2 be the last chapter. I want to at least finish the story and see what you guys think of it. Also, to make sure that it is of as high quality as possible, I am going to have someone beta read it.

Anyway, onto the story.

Chapter 2 A Harsh Statement

The Koopalings watched curiously and quietly from the doorway as Junior stood in the throne room with his father. Bowser was pacing back and forth and had his hands behind his back, as if he was trying to come up with an appropriate response. Finally, Bowser stopped pacing, rubbed his temples, and let out a weary sigh.

"Listen Junior," he said with a calm inflection. "I consider myself a very patient koopa. But over the past few days, you have been pushing me past my limit. I know that I have been very nice to you regarding your behavior, but these tantrums have got to stop."

Junior hung his head. He didn't look ashamed though. He looked angry. His left eye was twitching and he had his hands curled into fists.

"It wasn't my fault," he said.

"Oh really?" Bowser asked with the same gentle tone as before. "Then whose fault was it?"

Suddenly, Roy let out a sneeze. Bowser turned and noticed for the first time that his adopted children had been eavesdropping.

"Guys!" Bowser said in a shocked tone. "Would you mind leaving? I'm having a conversation with Junior."

The Koopalings hearts sank, but they nodded regardless. Just before they were about to leave though, Iggy stepped into the throne room and cleared his throat.

"King Bowser," he said. Iggy only addressed Bowser by his title when he was trying to negotiate something. "We feel that it is necessary to present our account of the events that preceded this lecture. The likelihood of Junior recounting the story in an unbiased manner is very slim, considering his current emotional state."

Bowser considered this and nodded his head.

"Very well," he said. The rest of the Koopalings stepped forward.

"I believe that the relevance of my perspective is essential to obtaining a full understanding of this story," said Iggy. "You see, I was in my lab with Lemmy when Junior entered and asked for ice cream. Interestingly, ice cream is known as helado in Spanish and glace in French. Considering that both our romance languages, it is amazing that…"

"Iggy, you're going off topic," said Bowser as he held up his hand. He turned to Lemmy. "Okay, so Junior came into the lab. Did anything else happen?"

"Yes," said Lemmy. "He smashed a test tube."

Bowser nodded his head.

"I see, I see," he said. Then he turned to Wendy. "Wendy, what did Junior do to you?"

"He came into the room while we were playing a game," she explained as she gestured to Roy, Morton, and Larry. "He asked for ice cream and called us lazy pigs."

Bowser nodded.

"Alright," he said. "Ludwig?"

"Well, I was in the middle of cleaning my room…"

"Wait," said Lemmy as he stepped toward the blue-haired composer. "You didn't go over and clean my side, did you?"

Ludwig glanced at his brother and laughed.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked. "You're so messy you make a gas station bathroom look like a five-star restaurant. Of course I cleaned your side!"

Lemmy couldn't really argue with that. He backed up and let Ludwig continue.

"As you've probably guessed, and I don't see how you couldn't considering that you are probably intelligent enough to detect patterns, Junior came in asking for ice cream," Ludwig said. "What ultimately happened is that my songs were torn to shreds."

"Well, technically, it wasn't the songs themselves that were ripped; it was the papers that they were written on," said Iggy. "You can't literally rip a song to shreds; it isn't a tangible object."

"Oh, whatever!" said Ludwig as he rolled his eyes. Bowser chuckled.

"Don't worry guys, I get the picture," he said. He turned back to Junior. "Is what they are saying accurate, Junior?"

Junior stuttered.

"Well...well...yeah, I guess," he said. "But...I only did all those things because they wouldn't get me the ice cream like I asked!"

Bowser looked at Junior with empathy in his eyes.

"Junior," he said. "Is this really about the ice cream, or is it about something else?"

There was a moment of silence. Junior stared at the Koopa King. It looked like his eyes were starting to water.

"No," he said. "This isn't about anything else!"

"See, I don't believe that," said Bowser. "I think the reason you're upset is because I told you about your birth story."

Bowser could not have hit closer to home. The tears started to flow.

"No Dad, this isn't about the stupid birth story," he said. "This is about ice cream, and how the Koopalings are too lazy to get it for me."

Now Bowser looked angry.

"Go to your room," he said. "I need some time to think about your punishment. And next time you address your siblings, I want you to do it respectfully."

Junior didn't move. He looked down at the floor again.

"They are not my siblings," he said quietly.

"What was that?" Bowser asked.

Junior looked up. His eyes were so full of anger that it was hard to look at them.

"I said that they are not my siblings!" he said. "They are just some commoners who were lucky enough to wind up in the castle before they hatched!"

Bowser felt unease creep up his spine. He did not like where this was going.

"Junior," he said coaxingly.

"No!" said Junior. "If anything, they are the ones who should be respectful to me! They don't even know who their real parents are! I wouldn't be surprised if they had them out of wedlock!"

"Do you even know what that means?" asked Iggy.

Junior didn't listen. He could feel what he was going to say rising like bile up to his throat.

"You know what! I bet that their parents gave them up because they didn't want to deal with them! And you know what?! I don't blame them! I personally wish that they had never been born!

Junior stopped talking and looked to see what effect his words had. The Koopalings and Bowser all stared at him with their mouths hanging open. Then, Lemmy and Wendy's eyes started to water. Wendy ran from the room while Lemmy turned away from Junior. Electricity started to crackle in the air, and Iggy stood there shaking his head.

"Junior," Larry said.

Junior only glared at everyone. Then, knowing that his words had the desired effect, he ran up to his room.