Two chapters in two days! Maybe I'll actually finish this. Also, there's something wrong with the hands in the cover image. How embarrassing! It's my old art, so give me a break...
Anyways, this chapter focuses on Larry and Lemmy's short misadventures during the party. Toadette is going to be in the next chapter, so don't worry. The castle here is based on Super Mario 64's. This is more of a filler, if anything. Sorry about that. Same warnings as the previous chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, nor do I own anything Nintendo related.
The party was going great so far. Everyone seemed to have fun, disregarding the fact that Peach, Mario, and Bowser were absent. There were games and such for everyone to play. The tables were neatly done, which surprised some people when they began to eat. The two princesses observed the guests having a good time. Even the Koopalings enjoyed their stay here. The paintings on the walls were blocked off so that no one could accidentally slip into another world. The arcade games were located in Bob-omb Battlefield's room. Larry and Lemmy decided to play in there.
"How's the crane going over there, Lemmy?" Larry asked. His brother was too focused on the machine to hear his question. He wanted to win the big alpaca doll, not the Yoshi or Shy Guy one. He almost got every single prize except that. Just when he was about to give up, the crane grabbed the purple plush. He internally screamed in joy as the alpaca dropped down the chute. He claimed the toy and smiled brightly. Larry, who was observing him the whole time, became a little confused. Instead of asking him why he wanted it, he went back to his own game. Larry was playing Skee Ball, however, he failed to get anything higher than 30. He aimed for the 100-pointer, but his efforts were fruitless. The ball just rolled in the 10-pointer. He started to get frustrated and mentally cursed. Lemmy walked up to him with a curious expression. The other didn't know he was there, so he jumped when he turned around.
"I didn't mean to scare you like that!" Lemmy somewhat apologised. He was holding a bag full of prizes in one hand and the alpaca in the other. Larry looked at him. He then resumed the game.
"I can't get the 100 points," he groaned. His brother grabbed a ball and threw it into the 100-pointer without any trouble. Larry gaped.
"Easy game," Lemmy teased. He threw another ball into the other 100-pointer and succeeded in getting the points. It seemed as if he was bragging now, which infuriated Larry.
"Okay, Mr. Hotshot, you can stop lowering my confidence now," Larry pouted and crossed his arms. This only caused his smaller brother to laugh.
"You're not very experienced with this game. Is this your first time playing?" he asked a little too innocently. The younger brother glared at him. Suddenly, he realised that both his bag and alpaca were gone. He stood there, shocked, before getting angry. Larry held the two items with a smirk. He then ran out of the room.
"Give me my stuff back!" Lemmy yelled while giving chase to Larry. Unfortunately for him, the blue-haired Koopa was faster than him. The good news was that he didn't have as much stamina as him. Both of them had knocked into tables and guests. They earned angry ranting in response. At last, they ended up in the basement. They were tired, that's for sure.
"We're done, give it back," Lemmy panted. Larry tossed the stuff back to him, much to his relief. They observed the area around them. There was water and a couple of doors.
"So...where's the exit door?" Larry asked. The boys were so busy with the chase that they didn't notice where exactly where they were. Unlike the other sections, this one didn't have fire. In the corner, they saw a creepy painting of something that looked like fire. Rosalina warned everyone about those; they lead to another world. Instead of exploring, the younger brother leaned back on the wall, only to fall right through it.
"Larry!" Lemmy shouted. His brother had unintentionally gone to another world. His brotherly instinct told him to go through the wall and find him. He was a little hesitant of doing so, which was understandable. Only Bowser, Mario, Peach, and some Toads knew the ins and outs of this castle. Would he fall into a spike pit? Is the place underwater? He disregarded these thoughts as he put his stuff down and went in the wall.
Lemmy felt himself falling, so naturally he screamed. It looked like he was going to fall on the concrete, but instead, he met with something soft. He picked up his head and inspected the environment. It was a desert region. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary here. He could see two stubby legs struggling to lift the rest of someone's body in the distance. Assuming that the person was Larry, he rushed over to them. He pulled on the legs with a grunt. His younger brother popped out of the sand, spitting some of it out of his mouth.
"Thanks," Larry spoke. Lemmy sensed the embarrassment in his voice. Nevertheless, they both were relieved about finding each other.
"Okay, now we gotta get outta here..." Lemmy muttered. Some members of Bowser's army were there, so both considered asking one of them how to leave. Luckily, there was a Fly Guy nearby. Their hopes were raised until a Bob-omb ran towards them. Bob-ombs target ANYONE, except for King Bowser and the other soldiers that were required to stay there. Larry picked it up and threw it at another Bob-omb who didn't do anything yet. Both bombs exploded, slightly scaring the Fly Guy. He turned to the boys with a surprised face.
"Two of the Koopalings! How did you get here?" the Fly Guy questioned.
"We were in Peach's castle, got lost, fell through a wall, and ended up in this world," Larry shortly explained.
"Yeah, do you know how to get out of here?" Lemmy added. The masked creature thought for a moment. He glanced to a far pillar and pointed at it.
"Klepto is holding a transparent Power Star. Since it has already been collected, it doesn't add to the current amount of Power Stars." The two Koopalings thanked him and made their way to the pillar.
"Be careful of the quicksand! And the Tox Boxes!" he alerted them. They could hear his warning, so they proceeded with caution.
Avoiding the Tox Boxes proved to be more annoying than they thought. It would have been easier if the ground beneath the concrete was not quicksand. Since Tox Boxes have only one safe side, they had to make sure that they didn't step on the wrong tile at the wrong time. Lemmy almost got crushed quite a few times, and Larry almost fell in the quicksand twice. When they finally made it out of the mini-maze, they stared at the pillar.
"How the heck are we supposed to get up there?" Larry asked, confused. A few seconds later, he got an idea. He began to run up the side of it quickly. It somehow worked and defied the laws of gravity. He stared down at Lemmy, expecting him to follow. When he didn't, he motioned him to.
"I'm not going up there! What if I fall and break my back?" Lemmy yelled. The other only rolled his eyes.
"You're not gonna fall! Just run fast!" he replied. The older brother paused before choosing to comply. He didn't fall, which sort of shocked him. Suddenly, a screech could be heard. They guessed that it was the person that the Fly Guy mentioned before. The vulture-like creature came closer to them and stopped when the two could be recognised.
"Keh! Who are you guys?" Klepto rudely asked. Lemmy decided to answer.
"We're the Koopalings, minus 5!"
"Doesn't ring a bell. Bugger off." Larry then breathed fire at Klepto, scaring him and making him drop the transparent Power Star. He glared at the boys as they jumped off of the pillar.
"One day..." Klepto mumbled darkly.
The pair got the Power Star and were transported out of the land. They both let out a sigh. Weirdly, they ended up outside of the castle. This meant that they would probably be in huge trouble if they walked in. There was no other way back inside, so they had to deal with the consequences. Lemmy opened the door first, but was surprised and puzzled when he saw no one in the lobby. The party wasn't over apparently because he could hear muffled voices from upstairs. He instantly remembered his things and went to find the basement. Larry followed him to make sure that nothing bad would happen.
Once Lemmy found the basement, he searched for the section where he had his prizes. He saw the creepy painting and realised that he was close. However, he instantly hid behind a wall once he heard someone speaking. Larry could hear it too, so he peeked to the direction of the source. The voice sounded very familiar.
"Iggy?" Larry uttered. This was not directed to Iggy, though. After hearing footsteps, he moved near Lemmy. The two couldn't make a peep. Knowing the green Koopaling, he probably wouldn't yell at them for getting lost. They were still not reassured. The footsteps became louder, which made them even more nervous. The two hugged each other out of fright and shivered. When Iggy spotted them, Larry screamed.
"Please don't kill us!" Lemmy begged while retaining his tight grip on Larry. Iggy rolled his eyes.
"Why would I kill you guys? I'm not that mean." Larry turned to him.
"Well! I think you would because it was probably an order from Ludwig because we got lost and we bumped into some people a-" Lemmy cut off his rambling by putting a hand over his mouth. He glared at Iggy.
"But how do we know if you're secretly working against us?" Larry blinked and let go of his brother.
"That's even worse than what I said! Wait! That's not impossible, considering what Dimentio did!" Lemmy stared at him, confused.
"What the heck is a Dimentio?"
"Count Bleck! Remember, King Dad told us!"
"Oh yeah! What if he's working against all of us? Or maybe, we're actually working against everyone?"
"But what if we're dead already, and we're just zombies or ghosts?"
"What if we're cursed to stay here and stop the people working against us so we can see the light?"
"It's a giant conspiracy! What if it's all true?"
"What if-"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Iggy screamed. That got their attention. In spite of his outburst, they continued with their 'theories' about Iggy not being trustworthy. He ignored them after a while. In fact, he actually went to sleep. When the two saw their brother sleeping, they giggled.
"Just as planned," Lemmy said. He then got two huge sticky notes and a black marker out of nowhere. He wrote 'I'm a big NERD' on one of them, and Larry wrote 'I'm also a piece of shit' on the other. Lemmy stuck his on the back of Iggy's hair, while Larry put his on a spike. The stickiness helped so that the note wouldn't just fall off of the spike. The boys woke him up.
"Are you finally done?" Iggy groggily asked. They both nodded.
"Yeah, we just decided that everything we said was nonsense," Lemmy concluded. Iggy sighed and got up. The other two went to get the prizes. Once they claimed the items and went back, Iggy was still there.
"I hope you guys know that everyone is searching for you," Iggy stated nonchalantly. Even though it was serious, they couldn't help but snicker at the notes on Iggy. The poor soul was in for some teasing.
"Also...is that your alpaca?" Iggy looked at Lemmy. "Yes," he answered. He spontaneously laughed. Lemmy frowned at his reaction.
"Do you have a problem with it? Give me one GOOD reason why you're laughing." Iggy suddenly stopped. He really didn't expect his brother to be so grim. Larry did think that he seemed like a hypocrite right then, but Lemmy's command pierced through armour. There was no good reason to laugh at that. At least they had somewhat of a good reason for laughing at Iggy.
"Oh, I didn't mean to sound so serious! Sorry! But I get angry over those things!" Lemmy said, realising how dark the air became. Iggy shrugged. He didn't know what else to say. The walk upstairs was silent, except for the dragging of the bag. When the door opened, they saw everyone gathered near the other set of stairs.
"I thought you said we were in trouble," Larry whispered to Iggy.
"It was to scare you guys. Everyone thinks you're still in the arcade." Lemmy breathed. They were a little eased after hearing that.
"Attention, everyone!" a voice boomed. It was Rosalina. The three managed to sneak behind the crowd unnoticed.
"This party is dedicated to Princess Daisy. As much as I would like to continue this, we must end it. It is getting late, and Daisy will be departing back to Sarasaland. Thank you, everyone, for showing up and celebrating. Have a good night."
"Aw no, we missed the cake!" Lemmy complained.
"Yeah, there was cake, and you two missed it because of your silliness. Good job," Iggy replied sarcastically. They turned around to leave, but not without a few snickers from the people behind them. Larry and Lemmy tried hard not to join them.
"What is everyone laughing about?" the poor sucker questioned them.
"No idea," Lemmy said innocently. The laughter became louder. Rosalina had noticed what was going on and facepalmed.
As the Koopalings drove home on their karts and bikes, Ludwig saw what was on Iggy's back. He groaned to himself, knowing that Lemmy probably did it. Once they reached Bowser's castle, he took it off of him and sighed.
"Iggy, did you know that these were on you?" He held up the two notes. One had a little hair on the back, and the other had a hole. Both of them had insults on them. Iggy became very furious and scowled at the two suspects. Larry and Lemmy glanced at each other before getting off of their bikes darting into the castle. He went after them.
"YOU BRATS!"