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Jeshi: …O-o…I'm not getting very many reviews on this story at all…T_T I think my story sucks…

Larry: O_O…no…that's not it…

Jeshi: T_T why wouldn't it be? I mean, I've never written about the koopalings before, and now it sucks…

Larry: * That's not true, this is your first one with us in it..

Jeshi: u.u…that's true…^-^ Meh, people will read it someday! LOL!!! XD And for those who have been reading, I haven't updated in..um…a bit because I was working on my website..to see it got to my profile page thingy (duh! Lol). ^-^

Larry: And Jeshi doesn't own anything from Mario..

Jeshi: ^-^ Nope!
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Larry ran as fast as he could through the town, all the while being pelted with stones and sticks and other objects, all varying in size, shape and weight.

He honestly didn't try to cause trouble…at least not this time..he was just wanting to see if the old man really was dead or not..well, until that lady in front of him freaked out when she saw him.

He looked around, everything was actually quite dark for morning. There were dark grey clouds out everywhere, it was obviously going to rain. Maybe he could use the darkness as an advantage!!…or not…it wasn't necessarily NIGHT out, was it? Well, so much for that plan.

He turned his head back quickly and looked over his shoulder to see if there were still people chasing him. And without a doubt, they still were.

He turned his head forward again, being hit by his right temple with a rock while doing so. He winced at the sharp pain and kept running, though now he was getting tired. For the past few days he had been tired, he just wanted to go home now. He didn't care if Roy was mad at him or not still, he was actually starting to think that being beaten up by Roy was better than this.

He ran through a bush and cut across a lawn. He made a sharp turn around a house and ducked into an alley. He looked around. It was actually a bit shaded and dark here, so he crouched quickly by three big, black bags that were probably garbage, as he might have guessed. Not only did most garbage go into black/green bags and thrown into the alleys, but they also smelled bad too. As he crouched behind them, he scrunched his nose up. The smell was repulsive.

He stayed there for some time, not knowing what to do. In the end, he just fell on his back and lay there, staring up at the sky. Now he desperately wanted to be home, at least it didn't smell so bad…and though his older brothers and sister picked on him, he actually wouldn't have minded it right now.

He then thought about why his siblings picked on him, and after about a few minutes of actual serious thinking, he had come to the conclusion that it was partially his fault that they bothered him so. He DID start trouble with them seventy percent of the time after all.

He closed his eyes then, and pictured the castle in his mind. It all seemed so wonderful, he longed to be there so badly now. He missed causing trouble, he missed his dad. He missed everything…

He missed losing to Mario.

Well, maybe he wasn't THAT desperate yet…but he DID miss his home and everyone there.

When he opened his eyes again, he noticed that the sky seemed a bit more darker than before. Quite a peculiar morning it was for him. And he had a headache now, too. He rubbed his aching head and continued staring up at the grey/black sky. He then felt a drop of a liquid substance land upon his nose. He was right, it WAS going to rain…or the more appropriate saying for this was that it was STARTING to rain.

He sat up and looked around. There was a single-file line of ants heading towards an anthill. Yep, it was definitely raining all right. Not really heavy now, but it was dribbling, and it'd get worse too, everything was still a dark grey-black.

Well, what was he to do now? Walk about and try to find his way home still, or hide out until he was over one hundred percent sure that it was safe to leave this spot? He decided that even though he was still uncertain about the security he had, to get up and continue on. As soon as he got out of this town, he'd be safe, right? Well, at least he hoped that he'd be safe. At least he wouldn't have crazy villagers throwing stuff at him!

He slowly rose to his feet and began creeping out of the alley, making sure to look before he walked out into the open of the streets. He glanced cautiously around, and then started treading stealthily down the streets.

As he walked down the streets, he peeked in through random house windows, only to see other families together, little kids laughing and playing, having fun. He wished he could do that again. He wanted to do that again; laugh, have fun, bother his siblings. He smiled as he thought of these things. If he ever found home someday, he would be so glad to have everyone back…everything…

He shook himself out of dream-world when he heard a crack of thunder. He then noticed that it had started raining harder. Staring up at the pouring sky, the smile on his face vanished. This wasn't good, it was storming now, and he was outside, and all alone. He looked around quickly, then took off running. He had to find a place to hide from the rain now.

'Great, just great!!' he thought sarcastically. He then stopped. What was he running for? And from what? RAIN?! It was just water! Though there was lightning and thunder out now too, it was just water. He stared about his surroundings. Everyone was inside now anyway, no one was going to come out and attack him or anything. Who would? Who cares about a koopa anyway? He glared at a newly-formed puddle on the soaked ground. He stomped a foot in it angrily and carried on.

***

He wasn't sure how long he walked, and the storm still wasn't gone..and now he was not only hungry, but he was cold, and soaked. His feet also hurt. But still he walked on, through the mud, whatever that was there. It wasn't long until he actually looked at what where he was going, when he thought that the road he was on now seemed familiar. But then again, it could just be because of the storm, right?

He wasn't upset now, and he wasn't discouraged about finding his home now. He was angry, angry at himself, he hated himself now, he hated everything and everyone. He hated how he had been so stupid to trust that man way back in that other town, the one that had told him to go through the cave.

"Maybe if I hadn't gone through that stupid cave, I wouldn't be even more lost-err… 'misplaced'…"he told himself. But it was strange….what did 'misplaced' exactly mean anyway? And why was that older man laughing when he told him that? Unless…people can't be 'misplaced'..that's for stuff! For things like…paper, books, toys, that kind of stuff, Ludwig had never said that someone, a living creature was 'misplaced'. He then stopped and thought about his whole journey so far…first there was Sheila…

"Lost you are? Home finding you must?"

"Koopa boy is lost???" the little girl was next.

"You lost?" the old man had asked.

All three had seemed to know that he was lost, and all three had he denied, or at least tried to. But they knew the truth…especially the old man…he really WAS lost…He sat down and shook his head in disbelief. All this time, he had been lost, and never let himself realise it. How he had been so stupid. Now he was even more angry with himself.

Honestly, he might as well face it. He was LOST, no food, no drink, no warm bed to sleep in, no family, no home, he was soaked, cold and hungry, his feet hurt even more now, and for WHAT?! He STILL didn't even know where he was! He got up when he saw another town..or more like a city, it seemed very big. He swaggered onto the main road into it, stomping and glaring at the ground as he went.

"I guess I'm just going to keep walking here forever!! That's it, I'll never find home again, I'll never see Dad again, or Roy, or Wendy, or Ludwig, or Morton, or Lemmy, or Iggy!! Or anyone else!" he yelled as he stomped around angrily.

"Let go!" came a familiar voice. Larry heard the plea, it sounded like a girl actually. But instead of going to help, he decided to ignore it. But the familiar-ness in the voice had made him stop and actually calm down, though he wanted to stay angry for some reason.

"Leave me alone!!!" came the girl's voice again. Larry kicked a sodden rock, and then his curiosity got the best of him, and decided to peek to see what was going on. He turned to one street to find a group of boys, about five, picking on a little girl. She was crying for them to leave her alone, but one grabbed her and threw her into a wall. She fell to the ground, face in hands and cried, "Mommy!!!" The boys all laughed at her, and started making fun of her.

Larry just stood there watching, wondering why he was still standing there. He wanted to go, but he legs wouldn't let him..why? He stared back at the ground, then when he looked back, he suddenly realised that he recognized the little girl. It was her, from days ago, in the nameless town! But why should he care, right? So..why wouldn't he move?!

~@~@~
"Koopa boy wants to cry…he's sad," she said thoughtfully. He shook his head again.

"No…koopas don't cry," he said, still fighting his tears.

"Koopas can cry..everyone can…we all have feelings..and when your feelings are hurt, crying helps…it makes you feel better."

She rested her hand on his shoulder and smiled at him again. He stared at her until finally he couldn't take it. He sat there and cried like she had told him to do. She hugged him.

"See? Koopa boy feel better now. Everything will be okay," she assured him…
~@~@~

Larry had the sudden need to help the little girl. For some reason he felt that it was only the right thing to do, because she had helped him, he had the need to help her back. She gave him more confidence, she taught him that it was okay for him to cry. And when he looked back at those boys, how they were bothering her, when it was dark and stormy out and that she'd never see her family again possibly…that just didn't seem fair. He didn't think that'd he'd find his own way home, but that didn't mean that this girl shouldn't have a home to go to. He narrowed his eyes and a mischievous smile appeared on his face. He walked up to them slowly.

"Hey, leave her alone.." he said to them. The five boys all stopped and turned to him. Their eyes slightly widened, but they just stood there still.

"What do you want?" one of them asked. Larry's voice slightly shook as he spoke.

"I..I want you to leave that girl alone, that's what," he answered. The girl took her teary face from her hands and smiled hopefully when she saw Larry.

"Koopa boy!!" she cried excitedly. The boys all laughed. Larry glared at them.

"Get out of here!" Larry said. One stepped up and looked at him smugly.

"Hey, just because you're a koopa doesn't mean you can boss us around. There's five of us and one of you, and you're pretty puny anyway for a koopa!" he laughed. Another one walked up to him.

"Yeah, the other weirdo koopas are much bigger than this runt…what are you? Five years old or something? Go home to your 'mommy' and 'daddy' little koopa-kid!" the five boys burst out laughing. Larry glared and growled, though it sounded more like the purr of an adult cat.

"Aww! He's not a koopa, he's a KITTY CAT!" one exclaimed through fits of laughter.

"Hey, maybe we should just beat 'im up? The stupid kid won't leave anyway, and what's he gonna do?" another suggested.

Okay, this wasn't going as well as Larry had planned. Yes, he wanted the girl to be left alone, but now that he had that, he was going to be beaten up now, and the girl STILL might not even be able to escape. He had to think, what was he going to do? He thought about Roy. Roy got in a lot of fights, well, most of the time, he didn't even have to fight. He just threatened them. There was something that he'd say to his opponent, but what was it? After he would say it, his enemy would back down, and he wouldn't have to fight. His eyes lightened, as he was sure he had just remembered it.

"You..You all leave her alone, or…or I'll open up a whoop of can ass on you!!" Larry exclaimed, trying to sound tough. The five boys stared at him blankly for a second, then burst out laughing again.

"THAT was good!! A..a 'whoop of can ass', huh?" one laughed, tears coming out of his eyes. Larry glared at him.

"You're supposed to be scared now!!" Larry yelled at him. The boys laughed even harder.

"The only thing you're doin', kid is making a complete idiot of yourself!!" the first one laughed again, "come on, let's just get this kid outta here before he makes us die of laughter!" The others nodded and the five of them ganged up on Larry. Larry ducked his head and ran into the five of them, knocking them off their feet. The five kids laid around, completely dazed for seconds before one got up. By then Larry had grabbed a nearby waste basket and thrown it at them. He then grabbed the little girl by the hand and ran down the street.

He looked behind him as they ran, and saw the boys scrambling to get up. He then turned down another street and took off into what seemed to be a park to get away from them. They stopped shortly after they found a couple of trees to 'hide' behind. Larry checked to make sure the boys weren't anywhere nearby, then turned back to the girl, who seemed to be relieved and overjoyed.

"The koopa boy..you came back!" she said happily. Larry jumped. He had come BACK?!

"What?! Come back??! But I thought..I..nooo!!!" he cried angrily. The girl laughed and shook her head.

"No..no no!! The koopa boy come back, to me, to see me!!" she giggled. He stared at her blankly, then sighed. The smile faded from her face and she looked at him curiously.

"What is the koopa boy doing here?" she asked him. He shook his head.

"I don't even know where I am still.."he replied. She smiled and grabbed his hand suddenly.

"Koopa boy can come to my house!!" she said excitedly, "and can stay there for a sleepover…and then he can go find home tomorrow!! Koopa boy is still lost, and he's wet too, and he'll get a cold, and he needs to sleep!! And thank you!!!"

She hugged him. He stood there, not knowing what to do. A part of him wanted to push her away, his usual behaviour, but another part of him told him to leave her and just let her hug him. She was also able to get away with dragging him over to her house. She got inside, and tried to drag him inside, but he just stood there, outside the doorway. She ran and got her mother, who was so happy to see her daughter that she almost fainted. She even almost fainted when she saw Larry standing there outside the door.

"Laura, what are you doing with this…this…oh dear!!" she cried hysterically. She kept on trying to close the door, but the girl, presumably 'Laura' kept getting in the way.

"No no, mommy!! He's a good koopa boy!! He made the big mean kids leave me alone!" she said. The mother stopped, breathing heavily, staring from her daughter, then at the koopaling standing outside her door. She had then gradually calmed down, the more she stared at Larry. This she didn't understand. He was just…STANDING there…he wasn't trying to get in, he wasn't even saying anything. He was soaked and looking at her curiously. And her daughter was standing right there telling her that this koopaling had actually helped her?! She sighed deeply, then shook her head.

"He…he can stay for just the night, Laura..and that's ONLY if he doesn't start trouble! And only ONE night.." she said shakily. Larry's eyes brightened a bit, and the woman's daughter jumped up and down excitedly. She then hugged her mother.

"Thank you, mommy!!!!!" she said happily. The mother then pointed her finger at Larry sternly.

"And I MEAN it, koopaling. ONE thing out of you…" she said. She seemed very paranoid just staring at him. Larry stood there staring at her, wide eyed. He then slowly walked into the house, Laura excitedly closing the door behind him.

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Jeshi: ^-^ Aha!! There we go, a good ol' chapter 9!!

Larry: O_O…that was long…

Jeshi: ^-^ Yeah, I got carried away…but meh, it's all good!! I liked it!! ^_____________^ And I'm proud of myself!!

Larry: O_O…….odd….

Jeshi: ^-^ Yay!! Now I'll hopefully get MORE reviewers! Lol
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