Title: Stronger

Character: Jr. Troopa

Description: Before setting off to find Mario again, Jr. Troopa recovers while drowning himself in his past

(JR. TROOPA'S POV)

I wince in pain as I hold the bandage over my bleeding shoulder. Boy, that Paratroopa can sure hit hard.

After doing battle with that dumb plumber MARIO in Forever Forest, I hurried back here, my playground, to recover. I was in so much pain when I lost, but I wanted to make sure that no one realized that it hurt so much. I'm not giving up, though. That Mario has humiliated me three times already and I have absolutely no intention on making it four.

I suddenly hear a loud boom coming from overhead. Looking up, I see that it's starting to rain. I sigh. Great, this isn't going to help my shoulder all that much.

I lean against the tree and close my eyes, still holding onto my bleeding shoulder, and think to myself. Man, why do I even bother with Mario? He's already beaten me three times. I've heard so many things about him, that I'm actually scared about going off to challenge him again. No matter how good I get at fighting, he'll still beat me.

I sigh. Let's just face it; I'm weak. I always have been. Man, my dad was right. I'm more bark than bite.

My eyes suddenly widen, then I groan. I'm thinking about my dad again. I don't know why. I've been trying to forget about him for a long time now.

I'm the youngest out of three boys, and I also have a baby sister on the way. When she's born, I'll have to tell her how lucky she is. She never had to live with HIM...

My father is the most heartless man I've ever met. Yeah, even Bowser's better than him. Why? Bowser actually CARES for his kids. My dad was never like that. No matter how hard I tried to make him proud, I always came up short, failing to impress him. Every time I didn't do something the way he wanted, he yelled at me, calling me a weak disgrace. I guess that's where I got my bully tendencies from.

Both of my older brothers were standing up to him, telling him to lay off on me because I was so young. Then dad turned on them, yelling at them for being just as weak. I knew that wasn't true, even back then. Anyone that could stand up to someone as mean as that and not get scared is definitely not weak.

At first, I thought that he was just mad because of something bad happening at work, and that he'd eventually apologize and everything would get better. But this kept happening day after day, week after week. Every time my dad insulted me, my brothers were always comforting. Both of them are big and tough, but no matter how tough they get, at least they always love my mother and I.

I sigh again as a lone tear runs down my face. I know that it's safe to cry now, because there's no one around and my dad always said that crying made you weak.

As the weeks went by, my dad still never showed any signs of compassion to me OR my brothers. At first, I thought that it couldn't get any worse.

But then he started yelling at mom.

I overheard everything when I was supposed to be asleep. My dad was screaming at mom for raising such weak kids, and saying that everything was her fault. Again, I knew that this wasn't true. My mother spent all of her time raising all thee of us properly. She loves us. Which is more than I can say for my dad.

The first time it happened, my mom let it slide. But then it happened again. And again. And again. It happened again and again for weeks. Finally, my mom had enough.

While dad was sleeping, mom woke my brothers and I up and told us to pack. We did as we were told, and we left the house, leaving dad sleeping on the couch, oblivious to what we were doing.

By the time dad would wake up and realize we were gone, we would've already boarded the train bound for Toad Town.

The years passed by. We live in a house close to Toad Town now, and everyone's doing fine. Both of my brothers play football now, and are still more than willing to comfort mom in her time of need. One look at them and I realize that I want to be just like my brothers when I get older.

Strong.

Sometimes, I regret my choice of being somewhat of a bully. It's just that my father made me so angry, that I end up taking my anger out on others. Luckily, I'm only considered a bully to two people, or rather, Goombas: Goombario and his little sister Goombaria.

I suddenly feel a twinge of guilt as I remember the first time I met them. I was just moping around, angry at my father as usual, when the Goomba siblings entered the playground. I snapped at them, telling them to back off. This made the two kids, who were both younger than I, curious and they asked me what was wrong. I snapped again, saying that it was none of their business. But the Goombas asked all the more.

By now, I had had it. I leapt up and chased the two of them out of the playground. On the way out, Goombaria tripped and scraped her face, but she got back up and ran off after her brother, crying. Boy, I sure hope she wasn't hurt bad.

It wasn't long after that when I saw a man in red enter the playground, searching through the bushes. Being angry again, I decided to chase him off as well. By the time I arrived, he had found a hammer in one of the bushes.

I battled the man, Mario, hoping that I would unleash all my anger and make amends with the Goomba siblings. However, he trampled me with the hammer. Afterwards the man walked off, leaving me furious at losing to such a jerk. How could he just beat up a kid like me? I realized that I wouldn't rest until I avenged myself and beat Mario in a fight.

My eyes snap open, then narrow. By now, it's stopped raining and my shoulder has stopped bleeding. I stand up and stare off at the exit of the playground. I clench my teeth and ball my fists.

My father always said that I was weak. But I am determined to prove him wrong. I want to prove that I'm strong; stronger than he'll EVER be. My brothers are strong, and I want to be just like them. And there's only ONE thing that I can do to prove myself that I'm strong.

Without thinking of the consequences, I charge off, out of the playground.

I MUST defeat Mario!

END

Author's notes: Thanks for the suggestions. I already thinking of some settings for the King Boo and Mallow POV's. Please read and review!