I miss having actual weekends.

Disclaimer: If anything below is recognizable, there's a 99.9964% chance I don't own it. I'm not worth a lawsuit.

Chapter 6: Awake and Alive

The whole world was a blur, just a jumble of colors swirling through each other, forming unidentifiable shapes.

I'm… alive? Where am I? OW… What hurts? What's that noise?

Soon his muddled vision lessened. He found that he was looking at an ordinary, grey tiled ceiling with fluorescent lights.

Finally I can see! But where am I? Memories slowly came flowing back into his still-hazy mind. The castle. Our home. I escaped on that airship, but it got blown up. I jumped out before it did, though. And Larry and Bowser… All memories suddenly cascaded onto his consciousness. Larry and Bowser! NO! I didn't save them. Why didn't I do more to save them!? I wish Ludwig had just killed me. Why am I here? Where is "here," anyway? Who's touching me?

"Roy?"

The Koopaling blinked, having been pulled out of his remorseful thoughts. He lifted his head up to look at whoever addressed him. Twin rubies met bright blues. Roy was looking into the face of Mario. It didn't take him long to figure out Mario had his hand. Roy stiffened slightly. The plumber took notice of this and released it.

"Relax," Mario said comfortingly, "I'm-a not going to hurt you. I promise."

Roy's face fell. He had hoped Mario would put him out of his misery.

Wait. Someone's still holding my hand, Roy realized. He closed his hand around whomever's was holding his. This feels like a Dragon-Koopa's hand. But whose…? Roy looked to his right. He gasped when he saw his youngest brother lying next to him. "Bowser…" Roy croaked.

Mario nodded, "He's going to be fine. Larry, too. They're alive," the red-clad hero smiled proudly, "and it's all thanks to you, Roy."

Roy's head snapped back to the plumber. Me? I saved them? I saved them! They're alive! "Alive…" he whispered, smiling peacefully as he dropped his head back onto whatever he was lying on.

Soon Roy realized he was in a hospital room, lying on a cot. Larry was a ways away on another, and Bowser Jr. was next to him, on yet another hospital bed. Two heart monitors beeped in stereo. Doctors were everywhere. Then something started to bug Roy. He looked back at Mario.

"How—?" His voice was hoarse. Roy cleared his throat and started again, his voice much clearer this time around, "How did you find us?"

"You were in front of Castle Toadstool," the plumber replied, "Larry and Junior were inside their shells, and you were on your back. Your-a… carapace, was it?" Mario glanced toward the doctors to make sure he used the right word. When a few of them nodded, he continued, "You looked… dead almost. It gave poor Toadette quite a fright. Speaking of…" Mario turned around to address his brother, whom Roy just now realized was there, "Luigi, go tell the others that Roy is awake."

"Okeydokey." And just like that, Luigi was out the door.

"We landed in front of Castle Toadstool?" Roy asked.

Mario nodded.

Roy sighed in relief, "Thank the Stars."

One of the doctors piped up, "That must be how he damaged that spike."

Roy looked in the direction of the horde of Toads, "I have a damaged spike?"

The doctor spoke again, "And a dislocated hip, and a broken collarbone, and a—"

Mario cleared his throat loudly and frowned at the Toad who spoke, "Not. Helping."

The doctor immediately shut his mouth.

Mario looked back at Roy, "Apparently half of your upper-left spike got shorn off, probably by your landing. Wait… You landed in front of Peach's Castle?"

Roy frowned, confused, "That's what I said. You're the ones who found me, remember?"

"But… landed?"

"Yeah… Where are you going with this?"

"There was a massive explosion above the castle last night."

Roy winced as he remembered the events leading up to his literal fall.

Mario quickly analyzed the reaction. "You fell from whatever blew up, didn't you." It was a statement, not a question. Roy nodded anyway. "What happened?" Mario demanded.

Roy shook his head, "It's all a blur. I don't — AUGH!" Roy's head snapped back as pain shot through his collarbone. A nurse quickly ran up and injected him with a painkiller. After a few seconds, Roy calmed enough to speak again. "I guess I'd better not answer anything with 'no'," he joked weakly, face still contorted up because of the pain.

The nurse smirked, "Sense of humor: intact." She pretended to check something off on an invisible clipboard.

Mario put his gloved hand over his mouth to hide a grin. A few doctors coughed to cover up their chuckles. Soon enough though, the operating room was filled with a rich, living, however soft sound rarely heard within its walls: Laughter.

*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*

Toadette had since finished her tea, and the group was sitting in anxious silence.

Until Luigi came in. Everyone looked up when the door opened.

"Hey, guys," Luigi said softly as he walked towards them.

Peach spoke up, "Is there anything yet, Luigi?"

The green-clad plumber smiled and nodded. "Roy Koopa is awake."

Sighs of relief came all around.

"Any bad news?" Toad asked worriedly.

Luigi shook his head, "All three Koopas are alive, and they're going to be all right."

"Thank the Stars," Peach sighed. Toad and Toadette voiced agreement.

Toadette hesitated before asking, "How hurt are they?"

Luigi frowned. He had hoped to avoid this question, but he had no choice but to answer, "Everyone is covered in scratches, cuts, and bruises. Bowser Junior's leg has a big gash, but it's mostly taken care of. Other than that, he's fine, just unconscious. Jr. is the only one not hooked up to anything. Larry Koopa has two big bruises on his head. His right arm is broken, but they've already put it in a cast. Larry's shell is also broken and he'll need surgery to have it fixed."

"What? Why?" Toad asked, confused. "I've seen lots of Koopas with cracked and broken shells, and they didn't need any surgery."

"That's what I said," Luigi said, shrugging, "Apparently, Dragon-Koopas' shells are attached to their spine and ribcage. A broken or cracked shell for them is like a broken or cracked rib or back for us. I think he might have bruised lungs or something, too."

Peach brought her hands to her mouth and gasped, "Oh my goodness." Her eyes began to fill with moisture again.

"He should be fine, though," Luigi reassured her, and then he continued, "Now, we all saw how Roy Koopa's head was bruised. He also has a broken collarbone and a dislocated hip. Wait, no. He had a dislocated hip, but the doctors took care of that. There's nothing else physically wrong. Except for when Roy's heart stopped beating."

"His heart stopped!?"

Luigi grimaced. "He got better real quick, though, and he's actually awake now." Probably should have started with that.

Sighs of relief came from all three.

Silence again. Everyone was too relieved to speak. So the unanimous decision was to simply sit and enjoy each other's company, as well as the knowledge that the three Koopalings in their care were well on their way to recovery.

Unfortunately, that pleasant silence only lasted roughly one minute.

*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*

Back at Castle Toadstool, Bucken Berry and Ala-Gold had standing guard on the walls surrounding the castle grounds. They were positioned vigilantly on either side of the main gate. They had been standing like that since the ambulances departed.

Around the time Luigi was in the middle of telling Peach, Toad, and Toadette of the events in the Koopas' operating room, the Toad Bros. both spotted something in the distance, far outside the border of Toad Town. They retrieved each a pair of binoculars and looked out onto the horizon.

Bullet Bills. Thousands upon thousands of them. They were everywhere the Toads turned. All of them had milky green skulls emblazoned on their foreheads. The Bills were releasing an endless stream of some sort of sickly greenish-yellow cloud. And they were all headed straight for Toad Town.

The Toad Brothers simultaneously jumped off the wall and made a beeline for the intercom Peach had used earlier that day. As one, they pushed a button to sound an alarm throughout Toad Town.

Ala-Gold then made a call on the device, "All citizens go indoors. Get to an enclosed space and block any outside ventilation. Repeat: All citizens to an indoor or otherwise enclosed area and block outside ventilation. This is not a drill. I repeat: this is not—"

Ala-Gold was cut off as his brother grabbed the back of his vest and dragged him away. The Toads zipped into the castle as the Bullet Bills reached the edge of town.

Bum bum BUMMMM! Sorry.

Roy is alive! And he's awake! Now no one can come after me for killing him off, because I didn't.
Hey, Yellow Toad and Blue Toad are back! Remember them? We left them at Peach's castle way back in chapter three!
But what are these Bullet Bills doing here? And what are those yellow clouds? Who knows? I mean, besides me.

And if you thought the first six chapters were good, just wait till you see what I have in store for chapter 7! On that note, I'll leave you to do any other stuff you need to do.
If you review, feel free to point out any spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors that I might have missed. Then we can laugh at my mistake. Flames will be used to lure Toad Town's people indoors, safe from the Bullet Bills.