Chapter 17 Switch Games

I looked out the window to Aunt Ruby's house. The shining sun, paired with the sky so blue it could calm even the most pent up of emotions, didn't look nearly as beautiful to me as it should be. It looked foreboding. This whole day had been foreboding despite the fact that it was a Saturday, a day where I usually took the time to rest and recuperate after a stressful week. Saturdays were a day of peace, but there was no peace to be found here.

I sighed and put my fingers against the window glass. I pressed extra hard, as if the window was a button that would make all my wishes come true. I seriously wished that was the case, as I had a lot of wishes sticking out in my mind.

"Please let Mommy be okay," I whispered to nobody. "Please." I bit my lip before reaching into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I had already called her four times today, and all four times the phone had jumped straight to voicemail, leaving me even less satisfied and more fearful than I had been originally. Even still, there was no harm in trying again. I pressed Mommy's icon and put the phone to my ear. Like the last four times I did this, I held my breath as the phone rang.

"Your call has been forwarded to an automated voice messaging system," the automated voice on the phone said. My heart sank. I growled as I pressed the hang up button. A tear welled in my eye, one so big that it distorted my vision.

"Are you okay?"

I looked up to see my cousin standing next to me, wearing a white dress with red, floral pattern accents. Despite how admittedly pretty she looked, I grimaced, not appreciating how close she decided to get to me. Part of me thought about pushing her away. Another part of me, one that on most days I would label as foolish, thought about telling her about all my woes. I almost laughed at that. She's half reptile! Reptiles don't have the part of the brain that allows them to feel love or sympathy! There was no point in telling her…

"I'm worried about Mommy," I said. I almost kicked myself; why was I indulging in the very foolish desire to talk to her? I for the life of me couldn't figure out what's wrong with me.

"Try not to worry about it too much," Celia said. She smiled at me, an action that actually looked kind and considerate. Her freakish red eyes glowed with a sort of empathy that I very rarely see from full blooded humans. It…it was odd. "She'll be found."

"I hope so." I looked back down at my phone, which still showed Mommy's icon. I sniffled, on the brink of letting my humongous tear fall from my eye. Despite not wanting to appear vulnerable to my cousin, I let it out. It felt nice to express my emotions this way, but at the same time, I felt that Celia was judging me. I looked back up at her, forcing myself to look into her bizarre, unnaturally colored eyes. "I just…I don't understand why this is happening. I don't…I don't know about anything…"

Celia sighed. "I can relate to that. Sometimes, life throws trials our way that overwhelm us. We feel as if there's no hope, that we'll stay stuck in the darkness forever." She seemed to sink into the floor. "I can relate to that easily…"

I bit my lip. I looked back out the window, at the unremarkable town that my aunt lived in. Like the sky and sun, it appeared foreboding. There was no promise of hope, no promise that everything would be set right.

I…in that one moment, I felt alone. Mommy had always been there for me. As her eldest son, she always kept her proud and watchful eye on me and my life. She's my rock, the one thing in my life that was consistently present and attentive. Why then would she disappear like that?

"Do you…do you think kidnapping is involved with this?" I asked Celia. I figured she would be an expert on that because…well, you know…

"I don't know," Celia said after a minute of hesitation. "I hope not."

I snorted. Wow that was a sentence I never thought I'd hear from a koopa.

Speaking of which, I saw something out the window that made my heart rate speed up. That being, Shady descending down into the front yard in this…really odd looking vehicle. It looked lime a bowl with a…clown face? Okay, I officially had no idea what that was supposed to be. It didn't freak me out per say, but it did confuse me to no end. I couldn't help but gawk as Shady came into the house, entering with so much confidence that it gave me the impression that he thought he owned the building.

"Hey Cee! Hey Albert!" Shady exclaimed as he closed the back door behind him.

"Hey sweetie!" Celia exclaimed, her face shining bright as she went over to her boyfriend. "I'm so glad to see you." She planted a kiss on his cheek, a display that almost made me vomit.

"I'm glad I'm here too!" He smiled at her. "Wow, you look so hot in that dress!"

"Thanks." Celia's face turned vermillion. "Your sister gave it to me."

Shady's face somehow grew more loving (again, I don't know how that was possible with a reptile). "Well, I suppose I have to thank her later for giving you a gift that helps you reach this level of sexy!"

Celia blushed even harder. "Oh, stop it!"

Shady chortled. He then laid his shade-covered eyes right on me. "I have brought something special with me! Something I have a feeling Mr. Albert here would really appreciate!"

I raised an eyebrow. "What would that be?"

To my surprise, Shady reached into his shell (I heard that koopas used that as a storage space, but I obviously never actually saw it in use until that moment), pulling out…something odd. It looked like a phone a little bit, but it was quite large. It looked like it could cover the entire face as opposed to just an ear. It also had…strange extensions on the ends. One red extension, one blue one. I eyed this weird device with a raised eyebrow.

"What is that?" I asked, on some level concerned about what the answer would be.

"Duh! It's a Nintendo Switch!" Shady exclaimed.

"Nintendo…Switch?" I asked. Literally neither of those two words answered my question,

"It's a video game console!" Shady said. He set the Switch down on the coffee table. "I thought you'd like to play on it!"

"That's a great idea!" Celia said. She giggled, curling a strand of her multi-colored hair over her ear. "I think that we could all use a way to relax, given the current circumstances."

I blinked. Relax? I heard a lot of things about video games in the past, but none of them had anything to do with relaxing. They all had to do with…violence.

"But…but aren't video games a bad influence?" I questioned. "Don't they give their players an unhealthy, violence-oriented mindset?"

Shady adjusted his sunglasses. "Well…I mean, they can." He smiled again. "But they're mostly fun! They're a good way to immerse yourself into another world and/or have a good time with friends!" He reached into his shell again and pulled out what I could only assume were various games. "Besides, these games aren't really geared toward violence! I've got Mario Party and Mario Kart…" his snout wrinkled a little bit as he looked down at another game in his hand. "Granted, Smash Bros is kinda violent, being a fighting game and all. But we don't have to play that; we can play something much more peaceful!" He showed me another game. "I recommend Mario Kart! It's fast paced, great for multiplayer, and most importantly, is tons of fun!"

I snorted. If I didn't know any better, I would assume that Shady was trying to sell me the games. However…I had to admit, while I was not at all what a lot of people would call a "gamer…" I was still intrigued. Shady made it sound like a great experience. Sure, I wasn't necessarily one to trust the judgment of a koopa, but still….I wanted to try it out. If only this one time.

"Okay." I got up from my seat. "I suppose playing a video game wouldn't be too harmful, if it as fun as you proclaim it to be…"

"Awesome!" Shady took a seat down on Aunt Ruby's couch. Celia sat down too, situating herself on Shady's right. Despite my discomfort, I took a seat on Shady's left. The big dumb brute grinned a grin deserving of a psychotic serial killer as he turned on the video game console and started up the game. I watched the screen in awe as the game started. The way the main character shouted "Mario Kart 8!" at the top of their lungs, the way the music started with an upbeat tempo that could make anyone's heart bounce, the way the game itself looked so lifelike that I almost felt as if I could get sucked into the game if I touched the screen…it was weird, sure, but there was also something quite amazing about it. Something so…beautiful.

"Okay guys!" Shady said as he reached into his shell again, pulling out what I could only assume to be the controllers (I think that's what people called them). "Let's play some Mario Kart!" He handed one controller to Celia. Once she took it, he handed one to me. That's when I became aware of a problem. A very big, very obvious problem that I honestly couldn't believe I had missed.

"You stink!" I told Shady.

Celia and Shady blinked. Celia sniffed the air as Shady lifted his arm and smelled his armpit. "Oh man, he's right!" Celia said. "Roy, you smell awful!"

Shady cringed. "Darn it!" He pulled his face away from his pit. "I forgot to shower before coming here!" He hung his head. "I knew I'd forget something. I just knew it!"

I wrinkled my nose, scooting as far away from Shady as I could. "I'm sorry, but I am not sitting next to a Koopa who stinks that much!"

Celia, surprisingly, seemed to agree with me, as she nodded. "Roy…why don't you go hop in the shower here? I have some nice smelling soap."

Shady hesitated before nodding. "That's sounds good." He rose from the couch. "You two go ahead and start without me." He chuckled. "I have a feeling this will take a while."

With that, he went away, much to the relief of both me and my nose. I turned back to the Switch, gripping the controller tightly as I heard the bathroom door closed. Normally, I would've been hesitant to touch something a Koopa touched. But…I don't know. I didn't bother me as much right then for some reason.

Celia picked two player multiplayer and selected a mode called Vs Mode. This brought the both of us to the character select screen, which was where I received one of the biggest shocks I had received in my life.

"Wait!" My eyes grew wide as I pointed at the screen. "That…that's Shady!"

Celia giggled. "First off, his name is Roy. And second…yep! He's playable here!"

I did double take after double take. "W…why is he a player here? That…that makes no sense!"

"It's because he's an important figure in the Koopa Kingdom." She nonchalantly selected him as the character she wished to play as, all while I gawked at her.

"Wait…seriously? You're messing with me, right?"

Celia shook her head. "Nope! Roy is the son of King Bowser Koopa."

My jaw dropped. "So…so…he's royalty?" I shook my head, so many different thought racing through my head at top speed. "Unbelievable. That is just unbelievable!"

"Well, it's true!" Celia gestured toward the screen. "Now come on Albert, pick your character!"

I almost laughed at how she was willing to talk about and move on from such world-shattering news in such a nonchalant manner. Seriously, she was dating Koopa Kingdom royalty! She was the girlfriend of the son of one of the most cruel, tyrannical creatures to ever walk the face of this planet! How…how…

"How can you be okay with this?" I asked. "I mean…King Bowser kidnaps and kills people! He makes the whole Mushroom World quake at his might and evil! And yet, you're willing to not only be around, but also date his son?! Are you mad, Celia?"

Celia, to my surprise, thought about her answer for a little bit of time before shaking her head. "Albert, you have to understand that what you know about King Bowser and his family is highly exaggerated." She turned back to the screen. "A lot of things we hear about them, as well as how they are portrayed in media, comes from the mouths and minds of the very very very biased Mushroom Kingdom. They go out of their way to make the Koopa royal family, as well as the Koopa race in general, look as evil and as horrible as possible." She hung her head. "It's impacted how a lot of Mushroomers see Koopas, and not in the best of ways."

I blinked. "That…that…" I tried to find the right words. Part of me didn't want to believe her. She is half koopa, so of course she would try to paint her race as "not too bad." But…the way she talked…the amount of pain in her voice when she had said that last sentence in particular…something about it seems mightily genuine. Pained about the reality she lived in, very torn up about how the world sees the species that she clearly cares a lot about…

But no, that couldn't be right! Mommy told me Koopas were the worst! They kidnapped, stole, and killed! There wasn't a single drop of good blood in ANY of their veins! They were monsters, literal demons who didn't care about anything or anyone other than themselves!

"So…you don't feel uncomfortable around your boyfriend? At all?"

Celia doesn't even hesitate before shaking her head. "No." She looked right at me. "Roy is one of the sweetest people I've ever met. He goes out of his way to help me feel valued and appreciated. He…he helped my family come together despite all the hardship we went through." She smiled. "On top of that, he's a very nice guy in general. He defies all the stereotypes that Mushroomers throw onto Koopas." She placed her hand to a certain part of her forehead, one that I'm able to see has a scar upon further inspection. "He's family to me. I…I love him. I love him so much."

I did another double take. Okay, she HAD to be crazy! How could she be around monsters and act like they're innocent? Didn't she see how horrible they were! They were awful! Psychopaths to the very core!

And yet…what if what she was saying was the truth? Shady and Singe…they actually hadn't been that bad. Maybe…maybe there is more to Koopas than meets the eye? Maybe…maybe Mommy's wrong…?

I pausde for a second after having that thought before my blood ran cold. No, Mommy wasn't wrong! She couldn't be! She…oh, what if she was wrong? What would that make her? What would that make me? If Koopas weren't horrible monsters…then what was I for believing and treating them like they were? Was…am I the monster?

Oh no, what if I'm the monster?

Right as I'm thinking this, Shady came out of the bathroom. "Well!" He exclaimed. "I don't know about you guys, but I think I smell like a rose garden now!" He got back in his seat, all while grinning. "I'm not gonna make anybody faint with my stench, that's for sure!"

Celia laughed. "Good. We definitely don't want that." She went back to the main menu, selecting three players this time so Shady could play.

"Oh, this is going to be fun," Shady said. He and Celia selected their players before Shady turned to me. "Albert, you ready?"

I almost didn't hear him. I was too busy shaking, trembling as the blood in my veins was cold as ice. I couldn't be a monster. I just couldn't be! Koopas were the monsters! They were the bad guys. I…I was….

I don't even know what I am.

"Albert?" Shady asked again.

I take a deep breath, trying to get my trembling under control. "Sorry! Sorry, I just…" I gripped my controller. "Let's play." I picked Mario; he was the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom and was someone I heavily looked up to. Even if Koopas weren't all monsters, I could at the very least appreciate all the effort Mario puts in to save our princess.

As we went to the vehicle select screen, Shady gave me a look. A warm look with a furrowed brow and frown. "Hey dude. Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I looked him right in the eye. "I'm fine." Sure, my reality was on the brink of shattering, but I wasn't about to let him see the cracks.

Shady stared at me for a little bit before nodding. "Okay." He doesn't sound too convinced, but he stayed quiet as we started the game. I got one more look at him before turning to the screen, hoping I could bury my worries underneath the fun Shady promised I'd have.