Larry Koopa in the Tropics

Larry's POV:

Larry Koopa watched the sea-green waves of the Great Ocean rolling ambiently. At first, you may wonder, is this Larry character related to Morton Koopa Jr.? No, actually. All Koopas have the Koopa last name. It is their color of clothing, color of shell, that distinguish them. Each family has their own unique color. The Morton family have a blackish-brown. Larry…well, Larry has a bright cyan.

Larry was somewhat plump with a semi-hunchback stature. He had a light blue mohawk shaped like a cartoonish wave in the ocean. He had two large, blue eyes, a tan muzzle with a two-fang-overbite, cyan shell with blue rings around the spikes, a yellow body with a tan underbelly, and a green head with a blue star birthmark on one side. At the time, he was wearing a low-cut white robe that was so long it even covered his legs and some sandals, but he didn't need to wear anything. Koopas were like large, intelligent reptiles, and it was considered nature, not impertinence, to show only scales. Besides, they had nothing inappropriate to show–they had a different anatomy than humans.

"Gonna go fishing anytime soon, Larry?" came a voice. Larry, who was lying in the sand with his head against a stone, jumped to his feet to face the speaker. It was Finnian, a deep, blue-shelled average Koopa; yellow beak, big eyes, tan underbelly…

"Maybe tomorrow, Finn," Larry told his friend, shaking his hand. Larry and Finn were two of the three lucky survivors of a salt-collecting ship that was attacked and destroyed by Mega Blooper, a large white squid that was very rare and usually stayed in the depths of the ocean.

Larry's parents and only uncle had been on that ship, and they didn't make it. Since all of his grandparents had died before that ill-fated voyage, and Finn was left without any close relatives as well, Larry became fast friends with the Koopa. The only other survivor of the attack was some random Goomba Larry and Finn didn't know, who must've been luckier than Larry and Finn because Goombas didn't have arms and were simple peasants in this world. All three only survived because there was a second ship with them, and it saved them once the Mega Blooper was warded off.

"You can't wait forever to go out and fish again," said Finnian, "going out just once a week is just barely letting you get enough food and clean water from the shops."

"I know, Finn," Larry gave a dismissive wave of his hand, "tomorrow is a new week, and I'll go fish almost all day, each day, of that week, and by next Monday I'll have more Cheep Cheeps, Neon Quattros, and Peepers than the whole archipelago knows what to do with."

Finn smirked. "I betcha could, Larry. The more, the better. The Whirlpool Archipelago's 300th Big Bazaar is just around the corner, and everything will be higher-priced, y'know. You could get a bunch of coins, and then when the event dies down, you could go to Kim's Gems and…"

"Shut up, Finn…" Larry blushed as he tried to keep a straight face. He knew Finnian was poking fun at the relationship he had been developing with a girl over the past years since the Mega Blooper attack, and lately, every other day or so, Finnian would hint to Larry that he should propose to her with one of the most marvelous pearl rings of Whirlpool Archipelago, bought at Kim's Gems.

"Oh, be serious," said Finn, "you know each other very well, and you each know you like each other."

"No no no, Finn, um…maybe she'll propose to me instead?"

Finn blinked several times with a straight mouth. "That's not how it works, bud."

"Ah, well…I'll do it sometime, alright? Sometime soon. Just…just please, please stop, alright? I wouldn't want her to overhear."

"She's not gonna overhear. She's doing actual work manning the transport boats between islands fourteen hours a day. Unlike you!"

"Finn…ugh."

Finnian gave Larry a playful rub on the head. "You do you, Larry," and he walked off, down the beach and past some tropical plants and palm trees and through the entrance to his and Larry's seaside fishing village.

Larry shook his head as he watched his friend go before turning back to the waves, the sun sinking beneath the horizon, bleeding colors out into the sky and the water. Larry used to be very fond of the great blue, but ever since the Mega Blooper attack…he lost his parents for god's sake. He felt like many pieces of him were still missing. The only thing that anchored him to reality anymore was catching an ultra-rare fish, screwing around with Finnian, or talking with his girl, Alex Crafter. She meant the world to him, but Finnian always made things really awkward, and there weren't many times he and Alex could just be alone, to socialize. He wished there was a way he could find more time, but it seemed to him there wasn't any.

Little did he know that the times would change, and he'd be back on the waters for a very long time.

New references to games in this chapter:

8. Larry Koopa, and Koopas in general, are from Super Mario and really do not have anything to cover—same with Goombas and Mega Bloopers

9. The fish Larry talk about are real video game fish: Cheep-Cheeps from Super Mario, Neon Quattros from Don't Starve, and Peepers from Subnautica

10. Alex is one of the default characters from Minecraft; her last name, "Crafter," is made up but references one of the main parts of Minecraft