The Marvelous Iggy Koopa

Larry's POV:

Larry walked across the palm-wood bridges that connected the cluster of islands. The island cluster, called Chum Rocks, was connected to Savior Island by a long bridge (for reference, Packim Island, Larry's home island, was very close to Savior Island, as well as Bertha Isle and Copper Island). Chum Rocks was made up of seventy-eight islands no bigger than five by five feet, and now, almost all had been set up with tiki torches and signs with directions, or for the majority of them, colorful, distinctive booths selling foods, drinks, trinkets, gear, and more that were all unique to Whirlpool Archipelago. About half of the stands had Koopas or Goombas at them, the most common folk in the world, setting up shop or polishing their stands. All of them were ready for the Big Bazaar, which was in three days.

"Three days," Larry told himself with his hands in the pockets of his white robe, "three days until I make my decision. Or sooner, more likely. Finn will make sure of it." Three days until I decide to buy a ring from Kim's Gems and propose to Alex Crafter to be my wife. He shivered, even though it was very warm outside today.

"Larry!"

Cece the Yoshi strolled across the bridge towards him, bearing a warm smile as always. "Have good news, I do!"

Larry chuckled. "What is it?"

"Another Yoshi ship! I think this'll be last one!" she said, slipping up on her grammar. "Come see!" she turned and ran in that hunchback way that all Yoshis did, waving at him to follow.

Larry followed her at a leisurely pace. Cece, along with Rock and Egg, black and white Yoshi warriors respectively, were the first Yoshis to come for the Bazaar, but later another boat of the same kind came along with seven more Yoshis, and they began to set up their stands in the Yoshi-devoted section of Chum Rocks. Now, this presumably final boat also presumably had Iggy Koopa, who earlier sent Cece, Rock and Egg along early to bring a note about why he would come later to Larry.

Iggy was a remarkably different Koopa than most, including Larry (and even if they didn't know it yet, Morton as well). He'd never told Larry where he came from, and neither had the Yoshis, but apparently, they found him and his twin, Lemmy (who was pretty different from him yet equally as strange), young and alone on Yoshi's Island, not knowing where their caretakers had gone. The Yoshi tribe, being benevolent as they almost always were, had taken them in and raised them as their own.

Unfortunately, Lemmy and Iggy, while still having brotherly love, weren't as close as they should've been. They also provided very different interests and even lived in separate huts. Probably the thing most alike about them was their privacy. Though they were close friends, Larry didn't really know Iggy that well. This had become especially apparent when Lemmy…inexplicably disappeared four years ago.

All Iggy had told Larry was that something from the jungle got him, and that was the last of Lemmy.

Then there was Iggy as a person. He was always double-checking himself and talking in a defensive manner as to plug every hole that could be found to slip an insult or remark through. That was rarely a problem, though, for Iggy was the most brilliant Koopa anyone who had met him had seen. He could crack a puzzle or decode ancient runes within less than a minute; he'd engineered all kinds of inventions for him and the Yoshis to use; brewed potions in new ways; domesticated wild jungle creatures. It was truly mind-blowing, but his best friend, an old human named Wagstaff who had sailed to Yoshi's Island and taken up residence there, was very similar to Iggy. It was like they had twin souls. Calculating and gifted scientists who knew lots of things but always wanted to know more.

That was the big thing about them. Science. Science. SCIENCE! They were all facts and needed answers like food and water. Iggy and Wagstaff laughed in the face of magic and had come up with the anatomy and logical explanation of creatures that seemingly threw a wrench into biology and evolution. Though being part of their more speculative works, they also theorized on how distinctly magical items worked scientifically. It was really just a bunch of big words that they probably invented to seem smarter than they already were, and no one cared about it. Magic was magic. Science and magic could coexist, but not in the worlds of Iggy and Wagstaff. To them, everything…was…science.

Science.

Science.

SCIENCE!

The steady beat of drums filled the air as Larry arrived at Savior Island's port, just behind Cece. The previous two Yoshi sloops were anchored there, and now the final one, a Yoshi galleon, was dropping the anchor next to the sloops. This one was identical to the sloops, being orange with metal rimming and outlines, a white sail with green spots like a Yoshi egg, granite Yoshi head under the bowsprit…but this one also had lots of plant blossoms that grew from vines strung across the galleon like streamers, and chunks of the galleon were painted lime green.

The distinctive Koopa color of Iggy.

A herd of twenty Yoshis leapt off the side of the galleon and splashed into the water, and within seconds, they had grouped together in front of Larry and Cece on solid ground. They were master swimmers, and they all looked like Cece, but had different-colored boots, and just different colors in general: red, blue, green, purple, orange, yellow…

"Hewwo everybody!" said Cece, waving at her species.

"Hiiii!" responded all the Yoshis at once, also waving.

"Ready to set up those stands?" asked Cece.

The Yoshis nodded.

A gangplank-like contraption flipped down from the top of the galleon left side, and down it walked Iggy Koopa. Iggy, like most Koopas, had yellow skin and scales, as well as a yellow tail, arms, legs, and padded feet. He wore dark green leather boots, a long grass robe that was like an unbuttoned fall jacket, a four-ribbed plated tan belly, and a lime shell with a handful of beige-colored spikes encircled in purple on it.

He had a small emerald-colored head that sunk between his shoulders and bled some of the emerald coloring onto his shoulders, and a bony, cream-colored muzzle with small nostrils and four fangs poking out from the top left and right sides of his mouth, two per each side, with one on each side being larger than the other. His eyes were big and oval-shaped like a normal Koopa, but besides the black pinpoints for pupils like most Koopas, he had large, blue irises; Koopas normally had irises indistinguishable from their white sclera. He wore spectacles as well, made of a black wood frame laced with green plant fiber and clean-cut glass for the inside. He had made them himself.

He was lanky and slim, and very tall, standing at almost seven feet, compared to Larry's (and most of the Yoshis') five feet. On top of it all (quite literally), he had large, light-green hair that shot up like a plant sprout, or more closely the leaves of a pineapple, but his hair darkened a bit at the points. It was always up like that; he didn't tie it or gel it or anything. Another remarkable feature for such a Koopa.

Iggy stepped off the gangplank and got ankle-deep in water before quickly trotting up onto the beach. The Yoshis parted to make way for him, and then they moved back once he was in front.

"Why hello there, Larry," said Iggy, holding out a hand. Iggy's voice was weak and scratchy, and he had told Larry it was because he had inhaled poisonous fumes when he was much younger, and they just became part of his lungs. This was also why his breath smelled strongly of poison ivy and his breaths were bated and hoarse.

"'Sup, Iggy," said Larry, vigorously shaking Iggy's hand until he pulled away to readjust his spectacles.

"You mean what's up, yes?" lectured Iggy with his left hand raised and his pointer finger up in the air. "Or better yet, hello or salutations?"

"Uhm…"

"I'm just kidding with you, Larry. Talk how you want," Iggy said, chuckling even though it wasn't amusing. He had a strange habit of that.

"Well…you wanna talk? Or set up a stand or somethin'?"

"No stands this year for my informative lectures, I'm afraid," said Iggy, but he didn't seem or sound down about it. There was a glint in his big eyes, a glint Larry knew to be associated with his mind turning to…science.

"You wanna talk about this somewhere other than here?" Larry asked. All the Yoshis had been staring at them the whole time and it was picking at Larry's nerves.

"Sure, yes, affirmative," fired off Iggy. He turned to his companions. "Go work on your stands, please! Do what you want! Defile Larry's hut! Whatever!" he said it with charm and added the last suggestion with a joking elbow nudge.

"Sssssure!" exclaimed Cece, splashing spit everywhere before running off to Chum Rocks. Most of the Yoshis followed, but some returned to the galleon for stand supplies.

Iggy turned back to Larry and grinned, showing off all of his flat teeth under his overbite fangs.

"So? Chit-chat?" said Iggy, his eyes widened and his arms bunched up at his sides. He was like that when he was ready to talk facts.

"Do you want ta walk around the island while we talk?" asked Larry, scratching the back of his head.

"Fine, a little exercise can never hurt! Unless you're terminally ill," replied Iggy. He began to walk, and Larry came up beside him.

"Well?" asked Larry.

"Yes, yes," Iggy divulged. "What we uncovered."

Larry felt excited.

"First and most important, though, how are you doing, Larry?"

Larry's smile vanished. "Uh, yeah, I'm doing great!" Actually, I'm kind of low on money and I need to propose to Alex and I'm having flashbacks to the Mega Blooper and…

Iggy squinted, easily reading through the lines, but he didn't press it.

Larry decided to be polite and return the question. "How are you doing in the jungle?"

"Marvelous," said Iggy, who was watching the waves. He preferred to see nature rather than whoever he was talking to. It was part of his shyness, and Larry could understand that. "I think I've finally created the perfect scientific evaluation about slimes! How they work, their senses, even how their gel is wet and sticky and slippery and flammable and hard and soft and smooth ALL AT ONCE!" Once Iggy got talking about his science, he wouldn't slow down. His thoughts would just fly out of his mouth like carbon.

"It may have some weak points, but I'll get to revision and polishing later," he continued. "I've got to present it. Quite fascinating are slimes, one of my favorite creatures besides Yoshis and maybe the Porcupuffers. I mean, Porcupuffers are immune to Jungle Acid! No other living creature can do that! Marvelous! They must be immune to slimes as well, only logical, since slimes partly come from Jungle Acid or at least gain some of their acidic prowess from it!"

"You don't say?" said Larry in a half-listening voice, looking up at Iggy even though Iggy wasn't looking at him.

"Mm-hm," said Iggy with a nod. "In summary, things are great at Yoshi's Island. To the big discovery, though. What Wagstaff and the Yoshis and I found?"

The smile returned to Larry, especially when Iggy actually made eye contact with him to talk. "What is it?"

"We're not quite sure," Iggy responded, pushing his glasses up with one claw. "It appears to be a relic of the fabled Ancients. You know, the first of this world? Founding fathers; founding mothers? Who built most of the world's temples and underground labyrinths and marvelous devices?"

Larry began to loathe the word marvelous. "Yea, I know of 'em."

He didn't really. It wasn't vital for survival and money. Larry sometimes wished he lived with Iggy and Wagstaff and the other Yoshis, seemingly without a care in the world, but he knew Iggy and Wagstaff and the Yoshis mainly resided in their quaint jungle villages, and only there. No sailing between islands, or sailing really anywhere, besides for fishing or the Bazaar, as they just had. It would get boring for him, and fast.

He also knew that the surrounding jungle, which was most of Yoshi's Island, was infamous for being one of the deadliest places in the world. Bubbling purple acid lakes. Toxic gas. Killer plants. Viscous beasts. Every Yoshi who ventured into the wild to bring back food had a not-so-low likelihood of becoming the food themselves for a beast. Larry knew the dangers of the open waters, but where he lived, it was too shallow for any sea serpents like the Maw-Ray Unaugi or the Dragoneel or huge fish like the Cheep Chomp or Mega Bloopers.

It was only because those salt ships had sailed too far out that the Mega Blooper could get to them.

"Larry? Are you there?" Iggy waved a hand in front of Larry's face. Thankfully, the claws were sheathed!

"Yeah, sorry Iggy, I just…spaced out."

"Understandable. I do it all the time. Try to avoid doing it in motion, though?"

Larry realized they had come to a stop, not only because Larry was in another world but because they had almost fallen straight into a yard-long and yard-wide tide pool.

"Oops. Sorry." Larry quickly maneuvered around the obstacle and kept going. Iggy walked back a bit, then ran and vaulted over it with ease. He was one of the best jumpers Larry had seen, despite him being Slim Jim. It was like had the agility of a Yoshi, despite not being related to his adopted family, of which he didn't really have one. Sure, the Yoshis cared for him, but he was kind of a lone wolf in the tribe.

"Nevermind the inconvenience," Iggy said. "The relic is more important."

"Yeah."

"So, Larry, it appears that what we found was some kind of machine."

Larry raised an eyebrow.

"Not just any machine, mind you. We've seen plenty of those. This one appeared like a creature. A mechanical creature. A golem."

"That ain't something you see every day, right?"

The edges of Iggy's mouth curved upward for a brief moment, as if he was going to have a genuine smile other than an ecstatic did-you-say-science-I-want-to-talk-science-include-me-please smile. It disappeared after a second, sadly.

"The golem, at least I think it is one—I'm not guaranteeing anything—appears to be disassembled. It's made of iron so rusty it's orange like a mesa, with a bunch of divets and lines across the pieces that look to be filled with glass pipes that are supposed to transfer some kind of something throughout the maybe-golem. Perhaps its energy? But if so, what is the energy? What does it power? What does the golem appear like fully assembled? It is very intriguing, and when I get back to Yoshi's Island we'll uncover it fully!" Iggy took a wheezy breath, then coughed.

"How much have you guys dug up?" asked Larry. This concept was intriguing.

"Ooh, not too much, just treading the surface. It seems like whatever we're digging up is going to be giant!" Iggy flung out his arms to emphasize, and almost walloped Larry in the face.

"How're you digging? Pickaxes, I'm assuming? Maybe that one grappling machine you made—the Pinchin' Winch?" Larry remembered Iggy talking about some "marvelous" machine that could reach far down, break up soils, and grab and pull out stuff like treasure chests or ores last visit, but that was three years ago, and he wasn't a frequent note-sender.

"No no no!" Iggy flustered. "We could easily accidentally break it or damage it! We are excavating it like a Draggadon fossil!"

The heck is a Draggadon? "You said it was iron! Or maybe something stronger?" said Larry.

"We can't risk it," Iggy shook his head, "we have to keep it intact as much as possible. We need the most accurate representation of this Ancient creation!" He meant "ancient" in more ways than one.

"You sure it's not gonna come alive and kill you all?" Larry said, his voice wavering.

Iggy gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Extremely unlikely. I'm assuming, at least. I need more information. If it did end me, though, it'd be a better way to go than a grisly mauling by a typical Moss Hornet. In fact, I'd probably be the first to die due to something Ancient in centuries! No, that's too short. More plausible, a decamillennium!"

"What?" Larry laughed.

"Decamillennium. A period lasting about ten-thousand years. An uncommon term these days, quite unfortunately. You only really hear it when bringing up the Ancients—"

"Okay, okay," Larry waved away the explanation, but he had a smile so Iggy wouldn't take it as rude.

Iggy cleared his throat, thumping his chest as he did, then continued at what honor being killed by an Ancient golem would be. "It would be an understatement to say it wouldn't help with research. The golem would have to be able to go into some kind of energy-conserving stasis, like a sleep mode of some kind, unless the Ancients had concocted a special energy, a special fuel, to keep the golem running! Also, how would it kill me? Hopefully not a spontaneous explosion. I mean, the golem doing that. Then there might only be ashes to study! We could get something out of that, but not much. Or maybe Ancient ashes are the fuel? An Ancient gunpowder?"

Gunpowder was the latest revolutionary invention in the world, and was really helping with the development of new weapons, but more in use was TNT, dynamite, and other inventions like that to assist in mining or destroying enemy bases.

"You're thinking too much into this," Larry sighed, "besides, all dis is on a gut feeling that the Ancients created it."

"Gut feelings are the second-best tool for anything, beside the brain," Iggy said.

"I guess so," grumbled Larry. There was a pause. "Is that all, then, Iggy?"

"Yes," Iggy said with a nod.

"Well, um…" Larry looked around. They had gone around Savior Island a few times, and all they had wound back up at the Yoshi ships—all of which were now empty. "What now? You wanna head to my place? Check out the stands?

Iggy coughed. "I have a superior idea."

"HM?" asked Larry. He was worried when Iggy said "superior."

"Could we go on a fishing trip? Not too far out, mind you…" Iggy asked. He knew all about Larry's past.

Larry exhaled with relief and removed his hands from his pockets and cracked his knuckles. "Sure. My treat? For the steering? Because I'm good at steering?" I'm so bad at smooth talking.

"Affirmative!" said Iggy, not caring about Larry's cringy talk.

The water, as it always was in the daytime of the Great Ocean until the evening, was seafoam-green as Iggy and Larry went back and forth between the two big nets on the side of the sailboat, and the trawl net on the back. The sailboat was orange with dashes of green, being deployed from the Yoshi galleon. Just a simple fishing sailboat, but for the task of a leisurely ride it did its job well.

Larry pulled the rope tied to the sailboat's boom to move the sailboat northeast to avoid a cluster of limestone beneath the water that could easily sink their boat. Iggy collected some seagrass and a tiny, dead Cheep-Cheep from the trawl net trailing behind the boat and dumped it into a barrel that was tied to the boat. The barrel already had some caught Cheep-Cheeps, Splashtails and Peepers inside, along with a few salt rocks and a few normal rocks, plus extra seagrass and even a seashell.

"That's a lot of stuff for this time of year," Larry said over his shoulder when he saw all that had been collected.

"Really?" Iggy questioned, coughing. "It's almost halfway through…what do you call the season out here?"

Larry stifled a laugh. "I wasn't expecting you to ever ask me a legitimate question like that!"

"In my defense, seasons are very diverse and go by many names," snapped Iggy with a glare that made Larry turn back to the sail. "The Mainland calls it "summer," we in the jungle call it "lush," even though there aren't really even three seasons out on Yoshi's Island…"

"Dry. Dry season, Iggy." Larry looked up at the sky to see a flock of seagulls zoom overhead.

"Oh. Thanks. My sincerest apologies." Iggy laughed, which told Larry he was being sarcastic. It was one of the only signs—Iggy was a tough Koopa to read, outside of his euphoric feelings about science.

The sailboat went over a rapid series of small waves, jostling Larry and Iggy back to checking the nets and steering clear of obstacles.

For a while, none of them talked about anything. Only seagrass and seaweed and seawater turned up in the nets, but they took what they could and put it in the barrel. Larry needed the most he could get for the most money he could get.

For the most valuable ring I could get, his thoughts added, just like Finnian would've if he was on the boat. Finnian had been collecting seashells nonstop since disappearing to set up a stand within the walls of Savior Island's hut village, and Larry kind of liked that, since then he didn't have much of a chance to screw up Larry's love life, or at least mess with it a little. That was the only thing Larry disliked about Finnian. The "sheller" (a slang term for a Koopa, usually used after the Koopa's shell color) had never toyed with love before, so he didn't know what it was like, how stressful yet fun it could be. That's what Larry told himself, at least.

"May I lecture you about something, Larry?" asked Iggy, eager to break up the silence.

Larry nodded, grabbing some seagrass from the net on the right side of the boat.

"What do you know about the Ancients?" asked Iggy. "Like, actually know. I mean, actually know. No "like." Remember that, now."

Again with the Ancients… "Why?"

"The word "like" makes you sound very unsure of yourself. Also, not as formal."

I don't give a Cheep-Cheep about formality. No one but a king would care, and it's not like I'll ever meet one. "Okay, sounds good."

Another pause, which Iggy didn't want. "Can you answer my question?"

"Yeah."

"Please do so, then."

Larry sighed as he went to redirect the sail. "The Ancients were the first people of this world, around about a decamillennium ago." Iggy barked a laugh at that, then coughed. "They had very advanced technology and magic, and used Nightmare Fuel for their creations for they had a big ol' supply, being the rulers of shadows. Something went wrong, though, and now they're dead."

"Is that all?" Iggy asked, seeming severely disappointed.

"Yep. It's not really my thing, history or whatever. Don't matter what's happened in the past; long as it doesn't affect you." He added the last part as once again, thoughts of the Mega Blooper and what it did returned to him. He didn't want Iggy to label him as a hypocrite, either.

"Not quite," Iggy said like a teacher of a student who just barely missed an answer, and they still wanted to give them credit.

"What do you mean?" Larry carped.

"There's so much more to the Ancients than that!" yelled Iggy, stretching out his arms again. "They began by worshipping a god, being Alter. Apparently, a powerful lord within the moon itself, controlling all light and lunar powers."

Larry looked up to see the moon peeking from behind a cloud. Even from that time of day, it could be seen in the sky. "Blasphemy."

"Truly so!" yelled Iggy. "There is no above-all extraterrestrial being that made everything! It's all science!"

Larry's eye narrowed into slits. "What about the Star Spirits?"

Iggy's mouth hung open for a disturbing while. Then he said, "The belief has spread all the way to Whirlpool Archipelago?"

"Rightfully," grimaced Larry, "the seven Star Spirits created the world, and now they watch over it. They are real, too. Really! They live up there, in the stars!"

Larry believed in the Star Spirits for many reasons, but the most important was that his parents had worked very hard on passing the belief over to him. It was really the only thing he had left of them, besides faded memories, the Nameless Blade, and that chest with supplies in his hut—which was once his parents'. Adding on to that, it was the only religion he ever really knew, and he felt like he should believe in something. Else, who knows what would happen after he died? Just an eternal void?

The Star Spirits promised all who passed would be reincarnated as stars to live in the beautiful Star Haven, all the way up there in the night sky. There was nothing to harm anyone or anything there, and everything was a glorious, shining, happy paradise, for ever and ever. It sounded like a good place to go after death, and Larry tried his very best to be a Koopa worthy of Star Haven. Otherwise, he wouldn't know what happened.

For a second, Iggy's atheism questioned his belief, but he decided that something had to happen after death. Somewhere to go. Something to become. But if it wasn't Star Haven, what was it?

"Everyone has their own beliefs," Iggy said after a while of working on the sailboat but not uttering a sound. "I'll respect that."

Larry had mostly pushed aside the strange topic diversion into religion at that point. "Thanks. I guess."

"I also respect the Ancients' belief though they were wrong in the end. Twice. Quite surprising, yes?"

"I guess." Again, myself? "I guess?" I suck is more like it.

"First it was Alter, the lunar, the moon," Iggy explained, "but when they witnessed the power of the shadow side of science, they switched to Nightmare Fuel and what it and similar items provided. As depressing as it is, they weren't as careful as they would've been, for their level of intelligence and all, and almost all were eventually wiped out when someone used some kind of magical spell, and all met their ends by it. That was the last of them that was done. All of this is known by scientists, archeologists and more deciphering ancient texts and runes found in the remnants of their civilizations, though. So no one really knows for sure. Marvelous, agreed?"

Larry smiled weakly. "I guess." Oh come on—

"How about "I concur," hm? Expand your lexicon?"

"I concur."

"Hah."

"Also, what in the deep sea is a "lexicon?" Is it one of your made-up words?"

"No. It is another word for "dictionary," of which you have a small one."

"Touché."

"Or maybe it is bigger than I thought."

They smiled at each other, then went back to work.

By the time Larry and Iggy had returned, the water was like a mirror of the night sky, just how Larry liked it. Since it was dark, they had lit a lantern next to the barrel to ward off insanity and a potential attack of the monster in the darkness—yes, there are specific Nightmare Creatures designed for assault on the high seas.

Anyway, as they transferred the contents of the barrel into a smaller, more portable one from the Yoshi galleon, Larry dipped his hand in the black water dotted with white, cupping some in his hands and letting it splash onto the sand. It was like holding some strange brew, one made of the night sky itself. It calmed Larry, probably because the Mega Blooper attack happened in the day, but that as only a slight modifier; it was mostly because of the glowing stars, and the thought that he was holding some of the sky in his hands, like a little portal, and if it was big enough, he would fall in and then be falling up into the sky, not down where the water had been. It was very strange, and Larry liked it for what it was.

"Larry? Can you help me out here?" Iggy called.

Hiding his sudden frown, Larry got up from the water and scampered over to Iggy, who was tying the sailboat to the lowered Pinchin' Winch on the side of the Yoshi galleon with the drawbridge-thing. The Pinchin' Winch was a crane-pulley system with a metal claw at the bottom that could be shut to grab things, and then pulled upwards or downwards.

"Up there, please," said Iggy, "reel it up."

Larry ran up the gangplank to the top of the galleon. The clouds and sky cast deep blue shadows across the top of the galleon, making it feel like it was underwater, especially as the galleon slowly rocked back and forth. Strange feelings coursed through Larry, being on a ship this big and majestic after so long, but he swallowed his emotions, focusing on the task at hand.

Larry looked from the captain's cabin, the sail, the steering wheel, crates and barrels and chests, and finally located the Pinchin' Winch's controls and made his way over to them. He began to pull the pulley, and the sailboat was slowly lifted from the water. The Pinchin' Winch creaked in despair, but eventually hoisted the sailboat out of the water and above the middle deck.

"Good job, Larry!" said Iggy as Larry came up to the beach with him, lifting up his robe a bit like a fancy dress so it wouldn't get wet.

"Wasn't anythin' too bad," he replied, though it was. He let his robe trail along in the sand as they began to walk towards the miniature port with the rowboats.

"Of course," said Iggy, who was climbing into a rowboat, lighting a lantern, and seizing a paddle.

Larry hopped in, which made the rowboat teeter. He went still until it went back into place, and then he untied the rowboat.

"You should be more careful, Larry!" Iggy noted.

"Ha, ha," Larry faked a laugh.

They didn't really speak for most of the ride to Packim Island. They only listened to their paddling and the waves, which were already faint. There was a very thin layer of mist on the water, but it, like the sound of the waves, disappeared as the night wound on.

"It's depressing, isn't it?" Larry said all of a sudden.

Iggy was looking in the opposite direction as Larry, even when Larry peeked over at him. He just saw Iggy's robe, boots, and the back of his head, all a depressing green, though his robe had some brown to it. His hair and shell were bright, though, and glowed white from the shavings of moonlight that fell upon him.

"What?" Iggy replied.

"Insanity," Larry told him. "We always need light. Water. Food. Everything. Sure we need them for survival, but it's the Nightmare Creatures. We know what we need and when we need them, our necessities. But Nightmare Creatures come and murder us if we ain't do what we know we need to!"

"They're just reminders," Iggy said. "Shades of our bodies', our minds', needs. Them in physical form, basically."

Larry hissed, but stopped. Where am I going in this conversation? Everyone hates the Nightmares. Why am I so awkward, too? That has nothing to do with Nightmares, yet…I think I've lost some sanity. I gotta get back home, check in with Alex and Finnian and Mariam, maybe the Yoshis too…get something to eat…

Iggy doesn't know what it's like. He KNOWS it, he has some fantasy about the science of Nightmares even though THEY. ARE. MAGIC. But he really needs to know to worry about Nightmares. Insanity. Drink and snack. They all cuddle in their jungle tribes, pulling fruit from leaves all around them, inventing and hypothesizing about things that don't really matter in the end. What does science matter if there's magic? They don't need money. That's why their stands are bartering. They don't have currency. Whirlpool Archipelago DOES, though. We're more connected to the Mainland, and we only get their goods if we use their currency!

I know how some Yoshis have difficult lives, hunting in the jungles…but all of our sailors have equally dangerous lives, out on the deep. Dangerous monsters that are the equivalents of jungle ones! Not the same creatures, but by levels of deadliness…what am I thinking about?

When they arrived at Packim Island, Iggy and Larry got out of the rowboat, leaving the paddles in it and tying it to the dock. Even though they could've taken the boat lantern, they decided against it for others would need it. Instead, since the island was pretty small, they ran into the plant-filled center, with the huts and tiki torches providing light. There, Mariam was waiting, alert as ever.

"There you are!" she said loudly. She walked up to them. "Oh, hey Iggy!" She shook his hand, even though he hadn't stretched it out.

"Were you looking for us?" Iggy asked.

"Yea," Mariam replied. "Finnian said to go ta bed and promised you'd be there in the morning, but I wasn't so sure. You told me how you freaked out when Finnian left to set up his stand the other day…"

"That was different," Larry said, even though it wasn't. "I told you, Finn, Alex and some others where I'd be. Just out at the stands. Then Iggy came along, and it took a lot longer than expected. But that's fine. You know I'm always coming back."

"You can't be sure," Mariam said, "Your parents didn't—"

"We are NOT bringing that up right now!" he shoved past her to his hut.

Not right now. No. It's been in my mind again all day, but no, we're not talking about this! Larry's subtle anger today had spiked with Mariam's sentence. He didn't want to be there now. He climbed into his hut, expecting to see Alex, but no. He was alone. He lit a bit of his campfire for light, then climbed onto his blanket bed and tried to go to sleep.

Mariam's POV:

Mariam listened to the crackling of the tiki torches, smelled the ocean and plants, felt the warm air. It had become calm after Larry had gone to his hut, and now it was just her and Iggy, alone.

"Well, um, yeah," she muttered. "Sorry."

Iggy's mouth was a straight line, but he nodded a very small nod.

"I should've thought more about that, ey?" she asked. "I'm such a fool. Finnian's gonna be so mad at me for dat."

"Most likely," Iggy croaked. He coughed into his elbow.

"I didn't know he'd react like that," she continued, verbalizing as many of her thoughts as possible. "That happened years ago. I mean…it happened with mine too, but for some reas' I ain't feel that much about it…I was only almost four then, so I never knew them that well, I guess I…I…didn't know. Finnian did. Finnian feels it all. That's why he and Larry are friends. Imma fool, that's what. I should go to bed now. I'm such a fool." She dashed into her hut. Iggy sighed, shook his head, and slowly padded off towards the rowboats.

I feel bad now. A bunch, Mariam told herself in her thoughts. She always felt like she needed to be talking, orally or in her thoughts. She felt like she was telling others about it, even if she wasn't. It was like voicing her problems, so they wouldn't bottle up.

I wish I knew my parents more, so I would think more of them, especially when saying things like that. And I need to stop saying and do more thinking before doing so. It's a good thing that nobody trusts me, especially with secrets. I can't keep anything. I only rattle it off. I'm such a fool. Fool, fool, fool, like Finnian tells me.

"Huurgh," she huffed. She took off her coconut-half cap and tossed it aside, almost taking out the clay pot with the blue passion flower. Instead, it flew out the window and vanished in the bushes.

Gotta get it later, she thought.

Finnian had told her blue passions were their mother's favorite, and that their father made the pot. Finn had practically bled his soul into that thing, trying to keep it alive. She felt worse.

"It's…a reminder of them," he had told her one day, when she saw him pouring some kind of potion he'd bought with almost all the gold coins they had. "If it dies, they die. Or at least kinda. I don't know, Mariam, just…leave me alone, fool."

She had. For a whole twenty-four hours. She even slept outside their hut that night to be away from him, who had been moping around the hut all day. She thought it was strange, but she hadn't done anything about it. She almost forgot the event until now, too, because that year's Big Bazaar was just around the corner, and there were much more fun things to think about than Finnian acting depressed.

How can I help them? Larry? Finnian? I almost wish I was at the attack so I would know the terror, the fear they had faced. I need to understand. But I can't, I don't. That's not how it works. I need to help them. Or at least one. Both in the end, though. Yeah.

She felt really bad now. She felt sadness for them, empathy for them. It was the best she could do at the time. At least until the morning.

Because Mariam had a plan.

New references to games in this chapter:

73. The name Chum Rocks is a reference to the Chum Bucket from Terraria; Bertha Isle is a reference to Big Berthas from Mario; Copper Island is a Minecraft reference, because in that game Drowneds can drop copper ingots

74. Again, Iggy Koopa is from Mario; Lemmy is as well, and them being twins is a reference to Hip & Hop in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3; Iggy's boots are Minecraft's Leather Boots with Green Dye

75. Iggy being so crazy about his discovery of how Gel works is a reference to how, in Terraria, Gel is somehow wet, sticky, slippery, flammable, hard, soft, and smooth

76. The machine Iggy, Wagstaff and the Yoshis found is a piece of Don't Starve's Iron Hulk

77. Porcupuffers, Draggadons, Dragoneels, Cheep-Chomps, and Maw-Ray Unaugi are all from Mario, and so is the purple poison liquid that in this fanfiction is coined "Jungle Acid"

78. Moss Hornets are from Terraria

79. The "Ancient fuel" Iggy is referencing is Don't Starve's Nightmare Fuel

80. Gunpowder being used in "TNT" is a reference to Minecraft's crafting recipe for TNT

81. The Pinchin' Winch and specific Trawl Net used are both from Don't Starve

82. The "summer" season being called "dry season" or "lush season" is a reference to Don't Starve, especially with it being called "lush" in Hamlet, "dry" in Shipwrecked, and "summer" in the rest; Iggy saying there are only three seasons on Yoshi's Island is a reference to Don't Starve: Hamlet's three seasons because of the jungle environment

83. Alter is from Don't Starve; The Star Spirits and Star Haven are specifically from Paper Mario 64