Disclaimer: I don't own Mario or any related characters, places, etc.
My head ached, my back ached, everything ached. I couldn't even remember when or how I fell asleep the night before, I just remembered staring at my computer screen for ten whole minutes reading over my chapter one rough draft. But as painful as that morning was, I can't tell you how great it felt to actually have done something right. Then again, that always pessimistic voice at the back of my head reminded me that "Stace could hate it..."
Knock knock
Someone was at the door, and obviously I wasn't prepared for guests. I had to ask my self "Who could want something from me at like eight in the morning?" I hadn't even had my coffee yet.
Knock Knock Knock
"I know you're in there Greg!" A voice bellowed impatiently.
"Do wha?" I snapped to attention
"Open up the door Greg or it's coming down!"
"Hold on a sec!"
It was Eric, my good old landlord. He wasn't visiting just for small talk either. Nope, he wanted his rent, and he was willing to kill to get his hands on the money. I sifted through my pockets, hoping to find my wallet. I had set aside a bunch of coins for rent at the beginning of the month, it should have been there waiting.
Unfortunately, it was gone.
My thoughts raced, I couldn't think straight. Then all too clearly did I remember that previous evening. That old man at the Village Green. That money that just barely payed for the bottle of Brandy Flower Wine. I couldn't help but face palm myself. What was I going to tell Jared?
After seconds of speculation, I forced myself to open the door. My reasoning was that Eric was most likely going to break it down if I didn't. I opened the front door, ready to face down my jolly old landlord. On the welcome mat stood that angry old monty mole with his teeth barred.
"Hi Eri-"
"Do you have the money?" He growled.
"Well I-"
"I asked you a simple yes or no question, do you or do you not have the money?"
"N-no sir."
Eric made a face like he was stricken with a heart attack, an aneurysm, and cancer all at once. I sat there wide eyed for a few moments. 'Oh stars I've killed him' was my first thought, but I was relieved to see him slowly recover from his shocked expression and begin talking again.
"You realize, that you have not payed your rent in at least three months?" His words muffled by his clenched teeth.
"Yeah, but I've been real busy lately, you know what with the writing and the-"
"The writing! That's a laugh, look, your little Goomba Revolution isn't going to win my sympathies. You're not the only one who needs cash, who do you think pays me?"
"Just give me some more time, I'll come up with the money. I've been a little strapped for cash lately and all." I smiled politely and tried not to stutter.
"Shudap for a sec." His nose perked up for a second. "Do I smell booze?"
My heart just up and gave up right there. I did drink some of that wine the previous night, but I swear it couldn't have been enough to still hang on my breath. (Or anywhere else on my person as a matter of fact!)
"Don't tell me Greg, you blew your money for a quick sip of grandpa's cough syrup." He snarled.
"Now hey don't jump to conclusions..." I held my hands up defensively.
"You did didn't you?"
"I swear I didn't."
"You think I can't spot a liar when I see one? Your breath smells of Brandy Flower if I've ever smelt it. I also know that the stuff doesn't come cheap."
My eyes locked with his. At that moment I realized that one should never get in the way of this mole's money, ever.
"Judging by those stressed eyes and your silence, I think the cats out of the bag."
"Alright, so I did buy some Brandy Flower Wine, but not for the reasons you think." I replied.
"Oh right, what would a stressed, unsuccessful, and struggling writer ever do with a bottle of wine." Eric rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"Actually, I bought it to bribe someone."
"And who would that be?"
"I can't say, it's strictly confidential, however I can tell you it is helping me write my book. I have something great, I'd show you if it wasn't a rou-"
"So you mean to tell me that you bought booze, technically with my money, and gave it to somebody else? What kind of loser are you!?" Eric snapped.
"I promise I'll have the money to you soon, just wait like two weeks and I'll probably have it." I lied through my teeth. I had no idea where my luck was going to take me in two weeks.
"No, I ain't waiting two weeks. I want my money right now."
"How about a compromise, I'll have your money by tomorrow. Deal?" I suggested. Eric scratched his nose and then looked down at his feet deep in thought.
"Tell you what, I'll give you by the end of today. If it ain't there, consider yourself one of those homeless mooks out in the city."
"Yes sir." I replied, but Eric was already on his merry way. I shut the door and collapsed on the floor right there, where was I going to get the money.
I decided to do what I did best, tune out life. It was times like this where I'd willingly daydream away my problems in order to just escape. Though I usually couldn't control how long I went, it was always satisfying. Yes, I could see myself living in a big house out in the country with a pond in the back. I'd probably be sitting on the porch with my laptop sipping sweet Koopa Leaf tea with honey. My troubles fluttering away in the wind with the dandelion seeds.
Ah...what a vision. A life that I could only dream up for myself, but as great as any high is, be it emotional or physical, they always crash in the end. I fell back to earth with an empty feeling now left in my heart, a sense longing for that house. Oh but who was I kidding? I would be lucky enough to be staying in my cruddy little rental home by the end of that night.
Now I had to focus on my real problem, money. The source of all evil, yet the life blood of society. I had no possible idea on how I was to get it. I asked around for odd jobs, I was turned away at every doorstep. Desperation drove me to start begging. Too bad it didn't get me far.
I was able to squeeze some pocket change from a lady and a couple of coins from a little kid who felt sorry for me. Unfortunately, that was only like five percent of the grand total I needed. After my unsuccessful afternoon of mooching, I had no choice but to go home empty handed.
Depressed and forlorn in all my begging, I found myself walking past the Village Green. I looked up at the small establishment, it was like all of my problems led back to here. Anger and frustration gripped my mind, in a blind fit I threw a rock at one of its wall.
The rock harmlessly glanced off the wall, the blow was nothing. Like me, like my chances against life, nothing. It was then that I looked down the road, my mind suddenly reminded that I had forgotten that I had job to do.
Ludwig's house loomed over head, its dark shadow cast its eyes over me. I felt like there was something up with that household, something hidden, something dark. All at the same time it was my only escape from my pitiful life style.
With a deep winded breath, I rang the door bell. Clawed feet casually clicked along the wooden floors of the entrance hallway. I watched the knob twist with anticipation, the door slowly creaked open. Much to my surprise, a tallish koopa with a blue Mohawk peeked out at me. His shifty eyes quickly scanned over me, to tell you the truth it almost seemed like he was "tasting me" with his eyes.
"Hi, I was wondering if a Ludwig Koopa was around here." I smiled politely, trying to break the nervous tension between me and this koopa.
"What about him?" He asked, his voice was rather soft, not what I expected from the guy at all.
"Um...I need to get an interview from him. I'm not sure if he's told anyone, but he's a key figure in my book on the Four Years war and I need to get some more first person accounts." I replied with my semi prepared speech.
"What? No really, what do you want from him?" He asked with a quizzical expression.
"I'm serious about this, I really need this interview." I told him again, a tinge of frustration in my voice.
"Look, Ludwig doesn't want to talk to some paparazzi wanna be, he's tending to some important business right now."
"What are you talking about? He's already been interviewed by me once, I've got notes right here in my notebook." I pulled out the small moleskin notebook I normally carried around. True to my word, fine scribbles outlined my interview with him from the previous night. The koopa glanced over it then looked back me.
"Hold on for just sec." He shut the door and went back inside.
I waited patiently for him to come back. In about two minutes or so, a commotion broke out behind the door. There was some muffled yelling and a loud thud before I could make out actual words.
"What do you mean just 'cancel the meeting!?'" The Koopa from before snapped from the inside.
"I mean cancel za meeting, zis somezing important I have to take care of." Ludwig's accent rang clearly in the back.
"Important? Important! Ludwig this is what's important right now, we need you for this, you can hold off on some stupid little interview."
"Zis plan is all you speak of nowdays Larry, please give it a rest for a vhile."
The door flung open, that koopa from before, Larry was what Ludwig called him, stormed out. He turned to me with cold eyes, then trudged off to the false thicket. Ludwig sighed and stepped out.
"Please excuse my brother, zings have been a little rough for him lately." Ludwig turned to me.
"Was I interrupting anything?" I asked nervously.
"No, no, you're fine. Please, come in."
I stepped inside his household again, an eery silence filled the halls. The sounds of our foot steps clicked along the hall as we sat on the couches from last night.
"So where is everyone?" I asked, a little freaked out by the emptiness of the home.
"Zey're out vis my younger brother Iggy. However I did not know zat it vas a ruse to get me and Larry alone."
"What did he want?"
"Nozing of real importance, just small complaints zat he alvays has to talk about." Ludwig replied, apprehension laced his voice. "Now vhere did ve last leave off?" Ludwig asked me, eager to change the subject.
"Um, you left off after you ended up getting crushed by your castle." I answered while my eyes scanned my notes.
"Right, I'll start off after I left za hospital."
The day I left the hospital was probably one of the most enjoyable moments of my life. The monotony of laying on that bed all day and all night, not being able to move due to a back brace holding my shell in place. I was stuck like that for a grand total of three weeks, I remember slightly stumbling around because I had not walked in so long!
My joys were short lived however. As soon as I got home, I learned that things were a bit different. According to Lemmy, father was still furious over his latest defeat. This was quite a shock to me, he usually got over his temper tantrums within a day or two, but three weeks meant something else had to be bothering him. Unfortunately it wasn't until much too late that we found out what that was...
During my first day back, he yelled unspeakable things at me. Horrible words and insults which I will not repeat for the sake of the children out there. Even Jr. wasn't immune. Father had been in the midst of yelling at Larry, when Jr. butted in, father snapped at him and instantaneously shifted his anger from Larry to Jr.
I remember father told him that he was "probably the biggest screw up out all his siblings!" Having never been treated like this, Jr. cried sincerely for probably the first time in his life. But of course father yelled at him for it. Being the obedient little monster that he was, he stopped the flow of tears and locked himself in his room for most of that afternoon.
Now being the rebellious teen that I was, I felt it hard to just take the insults. Morally and physically beat down by everything around me, I was going mad! Yes, but it wasn't until supper that night that I finally snapped.
We had all been called to the dining table and stood by our seats in our usual order. Jr. always sat closest to father, while I sat next to Jr. The rest of the siblings would follow in our little hierarchy along the table. I recall the tense atmosphere that hung in the air as we waited for father. Not even Iggy and Lemmy, the dynamic duo themselves, cracked their usual crude jokes.
Father stepped in the room, his eyes looked down at all of us along the table. He took his seat, we all followed. Servants immediately began to roll out the food as we scooted in our seats. Warm mushroom stew sat in a bowl in front of me, I wrinkled my brow in disgust. I hated mushroom stew (I hate just about mushroom anything) Everyone dug in as I sat there doing nothing, father took notice and looked over at me.
"Ludwig eat your food. We don't waste anything in this household." Said father.
"I'm not hungry..." I replied.
"I didn't ask if you were hungry did I?" He barked back.
"I'll eat it if he doesn't!" Iggy smiled, unlike me he loved just about any kind of food. (surprising considering my figure...)
"Shut up, no one asked you." Father snapped at Iggy. Iggy immediately looked away and back at his food.
"Hey don't yell at him, he didn't do anyzing." I said just for the sake of arguing, I had had it with father's temper tantrums and the fact that he took it out on us. He looked over at me and noticed that now my elbows rested on the table.
"Get your elbows off the table and sit up straight, did I raise you that way?" He growled down at me.
I could see his eye twitching anger, my father was a powder keg ready to explode. Yet still I persisted in annoying him further. I straightened up and took my elbows off the table, only to replace them with my feet.
"Ludwig! You little brat, get your feet off the table and behave." He stood up from his seat.
"Calm down Pop, it's just a family dinner." Larry said defensively.
"Really!? So you people think it's okay to act like slobs in front of me, but not strangers!?" Father snapped at him, Larry almost shot back into his shell. "Did you hear me Ludwig? Get your feet off the table!"
"Nein." I simply stated.
"Oh don't you go and pull that stupid Mr. Rainier crap on me, I rue the day I sent you to that boarding school. I should've kept you home and raised you right." He shouted at me.
"Define 'raising me right', because I don't recall shouting and screaming at your kids because you did somezing vong as good parenting techniques." I snapped back at him.
"Are you kidding me? I've given you everything you've ever wanted and a nice home to live in. In fact I had that music room built just for you! And you of all people are going to say that I'm a bad parent?"
"Zat vas a present from Mother, she vas the vone who convinced you to have it built."
"Now you're bringing her into this? Get out of my dining hall!" Father roared at the top of his lungs. The rest of the room was absolutely silent. My siblings were waiting, waiting to see if I would dare to stay.
"I'm not going anyvhere."
He stood up from his seat and walked over to me. I looked up at him defiantly. Next father did the unexpected, and the unthinkable. A powerful swipe sent me reeling out of my chair. I landed flat on my face dazed. Slowly I stood up, the cheek where I was struck still felt raw. Father was looking down at me. His eyes filled with merciless rage.
My eyes found their down to his clawed hands. Little droplets of blood stained the bright white tips. I gasped and immediately felt my cheek, three fine cuts grazed along it with thin drops of warm blood dribbling out.
Shocked and hurt all at the same time, I ran away from that room as fast as possible. Father's hateful eyes following the whole way out. I didn't pack anything, I didn't think about where I was going. I was all much too scattered brained for to use the logic I normally thought with. Father never cut me with his claws, never. I had only one thing on my mind, run away, far away.
And that was exactly what I did.
My mind settled on a potential destination halfway across the castle court yard. I was going to head to Pipeland City first. At the time, I had a fortress built there. In the good old days, I would stay there when I had political business in Pipeland. At the time it had long since been abandoned, ever since the third mushroom war.
Now you are probably thinking that it was very obvious that I'd run there and father would probably think to look there first, well if he chose to look for me at all. But you still have to remember that I wasn't thinking straight at the time.
It took me a good two or three hours before I finally arrived at the edge of Pipeland city. A path covered in brush led the way to the fortress. Thorny bushes and unfriendly piranha plants nipped at me as I passed through. Sure they were only minor annoyances, but I set them ablaze with my fire breath out of spite. Soon I had passed through the now torched brush and stood before my old fortress.
Its spires stabbed into the cloud like broadswords and the sheer cliff that looked over the South Koopary Sea served as a backdrop. Unfortunately, a lot of my fortress was also in disarray. The stain glass windows were shattered, heavy overgrowth marred the walls. It was a powerful, yet pitiful sight to behold.
Getting in was no problem, I kept a spare key hidden in the hollowed out key stone of the doorway arch (I thought the location was rather clever myself). Inside was a bit better than the outside, shards of stain glass were scattered across the floor. Rusted armaments cluttered the area, piles of armor with bones of old soldiers and companions lay dead on the floor from so long ago.
Had I not already been a little insane, I would have lost it right there. This dead fortress was all that remained of my pride during the Third Mushroom Kingdom war. The battle here was when my father lost his trust in me, and pretty much disowned me as a son. What bitter irony the Stars had planned for me here, to stay in such a painful place to escape a greater evil.
The door to my room was wide open, memories of me preparing for battle filled my mind. We held the Mushroomers at the gate, when they broke the barricade and beat me senseless. Enough blood had been shed, and I surrendered the battle. I was only twelve then, and I had been through enough pain to last eternity.
But not all my memories of that fortress were terrible. Inside that room was an assortment of things I had left behind. An old gameboy color was there, Super Koopa Land still lodged in the back. My stash of candies and snacks still hidden in a locked drawer, albeit they were stale.
The best memory I had in that place was there on the floor. It was photo that I had once kept on my desk. On it was us, when we were a real family, when mother was still alive, when father still smiled, when he still accepted me as a son. I will admit that I had strong feelings that night, almost like homesickness, but inside I knew that I'd never see home again. Did I cry? Perhaps I did, perhaps I didn't.
I will tell you that night terrors filled my dreams. Of what I don't exactly remember, but I do remember that I felt physically taxed every morning I was there. I lived off of dried food reserves and stale candy for about four days until someone finally found me.
That someone was my caretaker, Kamek. He fluttered through the front door calling my name, his voice urgent and distraught all at the same time. Worried by his tone of voice, I revealed myself to him.
"Ludwig! There you are, you need to come home, now!" Kamek said as he saw me run towards him.
"Vhat's going on?" I asked.
"Y-you need to see it to believe it, just come on." He was honest to the Stars scared out of his mind. I hopped on the back of his broom ( trust me that thing had to be magic to hold both of us) and took off.
In no time we were home, in the back of my mind I made a mental note to get one of those brooms. Kamek and I jumped off the broom and ran inside. He dragged me along to the War Room, which meant that something on a global scale was the problem. Inside was father and the rest of my siblings, a couple of high ranking officials sat in the back.
"Ah, how nice of you to join us, Ludwig." Father growled at me.
"Do not speak to me you cretin." I snorted in response and took my usual seat in the war room.
"How dare you speak to me like that!"
"This is no time for your petty anger issues your majesty, we have a real crisis on our hands." Kamek snapped at father. Father looked at Kamek reproachfully, then stared at the large screen projected on the wall. I had forgotten that Kamek was father's surrogate parent, and was the only creature that Bowser faithfully obeyed. "Now onto business, our Mushroom Kingdom ambassador, T. KaPatrick, has come back from the UKP conference with grave news."
"Yes, the recent United Kingdoms of Plit conference has confirmed our worst fears." KaPatrick nodded.
"Show them the clip." Kamek commanded.
The screen on the wall came to life as images slowly began appear. Soon we could make out a large stadium type area with thousands of ambassadors crowded in one room. The center platform seated Princess Peach as well as Mario. Many other men whom I recognized as the world leaders sat with them.
"It has come to our attention that King Bowser of the Darklands has been terrorizing our neighboring allies, the Mushroom Kingdom, relentlessly. What say you ambassador?" One man in the center yelled up to KaPatrick.
"We have been peaceful lately your majesty, this 'terrorizing' you speak of are horrible lies for their gain." He replied.
"Last Conference, we found that your King had sent a few of his most loyal servants to kidna-"
"That's not true sir! They acted on their own accord." KaPatrick snapped.
"Silence! You have no place to argue ambassador, you should feel fortunate that you're even allowed to attend the Conference this time around! What after you went back on your word for peace, not only that but your Monarch fails to show up here to represent his country along with you!" The regal man shouted. KaPatrick reluctantly stayed his tongue.
"We, as the head of the United Kingdoms of Plit, present you with a message to deliver to your king." Another man on the stand brought forth.
"You must relinquish all the land you control, surrender your armed forces, and relinquish your crown. King Bowser Koopa of the Darklands has but a week to give his final answer before we proceed with voting on an Operation Ultimatum." The monarch from before read from a scroll. The crowd gasped, the color visibly drained from KaPatrick's face.
I looked around the War Room confused. Kamek's face was buried in his hands, my father's stern eyes were lost within themselves. Whatever this Operation Ultimatum was, there was nothing good behind it.
"What is your move your majesty?" Kamek finally asked. The room was deathly silent as we waited for father's answer.
"We won't give in to such ridiculous demands, I am not giving up this kingdom that my forefathers worked so hard to preserve." Father finally replied, stubborn as always.
"V-very well sir." Kamek's voice cracked.
"I'll deliver the message tonight, myself." Father said as he slowly stood up. He made it halfway across the room before suddenly he collapsed. Jr. ran to father's side and tried to help him up.
"Your Majesty!" Kamek reached down to help up father, but father just shoved both Jr. and Kamek to the side.
"Back off! I'm fine, I just tripped 's all." Father snapped as he stood back up. I watched him leave the room, each breath he took was weighted and his walking off balance.
We just stared at him as he finally left the room, all the while my mind raced.
"Forgive my ignorance Kamek, but what exactly is 'Operation Ultimatum'?" I asked.
"Extermination..."
My pencil snapped as I wrote the word "Extermination." I had no idea that an Operation Ultimatum was what started the war. Ludwig looked over at me with sad eyes. I quickly pulled out my spare pen and looked back at my note book.
"I-I'm sorry, please continue." I finally broke the silence
"No, I don't zink I can for tonight Mr. Gregory. Zese have been some strong emotions I've kicked up tonight"
"Please Ludwig! Continue, it's only seven o' clock, we've got plenty of time!" I pleaded.
"I'm tired and my memory's sort of blurred right now. After a good nights rest, I'll be ready to talk again." Ludwig shook his head.
"Alright, I'll go, thank you for the interview regardless." I shook his hand. "Are you available tomorrow?"
"Yes, please come, I rather enjoy your company. Sorry about tonight, but I zink ve've spent more zan enough time on zis subject." Ludwig smiled at me.
"Thanks, I'll see you later then." I smiled back and left feeling a little bit better after hearing that he actually enjoyed my visits.
Unfortunately, my joys were also short lived. I came back to my rental home to find Eric standing there waiting. And as you know I didn't have the money. He turned to me and actually seemed happy to see me.
"You're back! With the money right?" He asked. I didn't know what to say."Right?"
"I-I-" My mouth wouldn't function properly.
"You don't have it..." Eric's face turned deathly pale. I could only manage to weakly nod my head. Eric's face turned to a nasty snarl. He whipped out a Super Scope Minor and held it to my face. I stared down the barrel and just about soiled myself. "Go inside, gather your valuables, sell'em, and then give the money to me. Otherwise I blow your brains out."
I nodded quickly and ran inside. Valuable, valuable, I grabbed random things laying on the table. A paper weight with a stupid cartoon character on it, I pulled pictures out of frames and took the empty frames with me. I grabbed my alarm clock, my wrist watch, a box of pencils. Anything that might be worth selling, Eric watched me from behind, that gun following my every move. My junk now all in a bag, I ran away with it, Eric followed intently.
The pawn shop was just down the road. The owner sat there bored out of his mind, then he saw me. He took one look at my bag of junk and nearly slapped himself.
"How can I help you sir?" He asked in unfeeling monotone.
"How much can I get for this stuff?" I dumped out the bag onto the counter, the shop owner quickly began sifting through it. I don't know what these guys look for in a product, but hopefully mine fit the bill.
"Alright, I can give you about twenty coins for the alarm clock, ten coins for the picture frames, two coins for the box of pencils, and...oh my." He gasped. I looked at what he was holding, that small paper weight I had grabbed earlier apparently was much more than it seemed. "Sir, do you realize that this thing's a collectors item?"
"Um...no." I replied, that old paperweight was something I found in a waste bin that someone left behind in the rental home I lived in at the time.
"Only ten were ever made, why I-I'll pay you two hundred coins out of my pocket for it."
"Really?" I asked relieved. Two hundred coins was more than enough to pay for the rent, and perhaps a couple of meals for the next two days.
"Two hundred's my final offer sir."
"Alright, pay up." I smiled as he actually reached in his pocket and payed for that stupid paper weight.
Eric stood outside with the gun carefully concealed in his pocket. He turned towards me and held the gun up to my face as we walked down the road.
"Hey, don't worry, I've got the money right here." I replied handing him his share of the two hundred something coins I had just made. My mind leaped for joy, not only was I alive, I had over a hundred coins to myself to boot! Eric took the money, then ran off into the night.
I laughed to myself, I had literally dodged a bullet that night...
A/N: Wow two weeks fly by fast!, I really should update a little more often. I'll try and shoot for every Saturday if I can.
Thanks for the reviews for those who have reviewed, or are in the midst of doing so (wink wink, cough cough, subtle subtle). Now to answer one review, yes there will be a lot more Larry and Morton in the future, both of them play a key roles in upcoming chapters, I'm just trying to break the exposition stage of the story.
And if you have questions about just what the heck Plit is, well it's a Lemmy Land (Koopaling fan site) and Plit is the name of their planet or where ever these guys are. Now I don't normally agree with Lemmy Land's views on their characters and elements, but some of them I find really novel and creative and deserve to be used, plus it really fits my United Nations type characters in this chapter 8P
So until next time, Peace I'm outta here.