Well, I realized that exactly one month ago was this story's one year anniversary. Since I failed to realize that fact then, I thought I should at least give you a chapter now. So, happy anniversary and all that! Hopefully this year will go smoother than the first.
StarlitDuck: Thank you for reviewing the story... four more times since I last updated! Since I'm not sure how long it will take you to read up to this part of the story, I'm going to PM you to respond to your reviews more thoroughly, but still, here I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to review each chapter individually. It really helps me know how I'm doing on the story, and it means a lot, so again, thank you. Also, I'm glad that you enjoyed the Koopaling scene so much :).
Now, on with the story!
Chapter 11: Preparations
Ludwig Von Koopa yawned and stretched as he sat up in his bed. It was a large bed, with many pillows propped up all around him, and large bedsheets that matched the colour of his hair. His bedroom itself was also quite large, one of the luxuries that came with being an adopted child of King Bowser Koopa.
Despite its large size, there was little space left to walk about in the room, as many objects took up most of the area. The room was not messy, as Ludwig was a very organized koopa, but it was still quite crowded, and it felt as though he had used up every single space to its maximum potential. Admittedly, most of the room was taken up by a single object: the immaculate grand piano where Ludwig would compose his music. Several other musical instruments were held perfectly in cases or stands around the piano.
Ludwig sat up from his bed. It was only six in the morning, and for Ludwig, that seemed like an appropriate time to rise. Ludwig and Iggy were usually the only two Koopalings who would regularly rise this early; most of the others would not wake until it was time for the chefs to prepare breakfast for those who still needed it.
The door out of his room that lead into the main hallway - where the entrances to all of his siblings' rooms were - was far down on the wall to his left. The door to his closet was on the opposite side of the room.
When building the rooms, Kamek had been insistent that the doors not sit directly across from each other, as well as that the Koopalings beds not face towards either of the doors. Something about bad Feng Shue, apparently. Ludwig and most of the others had listened, just to please Kamek. Larry had intentionally rotated his bed to face the door, just to be a pest.
Exiting his room, Ludwig strolled down the hall, which was lit by burning torches hanging on the wall, casting a red glow over the long corridor. He passed by the rooms of his siblings as he walked. All of the Koopalings slept in these corridors. The only child who didn't stay down here was of course Bowser Jr., who had a room closer to Bowser's.
Walking to the end of the hall, he passed the shared bathroom of the Koopalings. Wendy was the only Koopaling to have a private bathroom. The reason for this was that when the rooms were under construction, Wendy had whined and screamed so much about how she was going to have to share a bathroom with six boys that Bowser had decided it would be less of a headache to build her an extra room.
At the time of these constructions, Ludwig had not cared about, or even really considered this all that much, but now that he was older, he understood why Wendy had been upset. He also wished that he had followed her lead and also asked for his own bathroom. Roy's hygiene practises were not great.
Ludwig continued his stroll down the castle corridors, until he came to the kitchens. He entered the closest room of the kitchens. The kitchens were huge, spanning multiple different chambers, with over fifty ovens and about a hundred chefs working full time. This was needed to feed the entire troupe of minions who were stationed full time at Bowser's castle. As Ludwig entered this back chamber, he could see that many chefs were already hard at work to prepare the day's meals.
Out of all of the chambers of the kitchens, this was really the only one the Koopalings ever entered. It was the smallest, and was more of a pantry with a stove and a sink then it was an actual full out kitchen. It was mostly used when the Koopalings wanted to grab a snack during the day. Or, for some of them, it was used to make breakfast.
Ludwig was one of the Koopalings who did not really require anything fancy for breakfast, and he would usually make it for himself. Lemmy and Iggy were the same. The others usually had the chefs prepare their meals, at the recommended time of breakfast. In Larry's case, he had such high standard tastes that he had the chefs make his meals whenever he could(1).
For Ludwig, all he really wanted was oatmeal. As he prepared it, he noticed a bowl and a spoon messily shoved into the sink, and figured that Iggy must have been up to have his cereal already. Ludwig moved into the dining room, carrying his oatmeal, and sat down at his designated seat. This was of course the dining room for the royal family only.
Another reason Ludwig liked to get up this early was for the piece and quiet of the early day. His siblings were occasionally hyperactive or just being plain weird. Lemmy in particular would often decide to practise riding his ball on the table during meal times, forcing every one else to pick up their plates repeatedly as he rolled by, or risk Lemmy accidentally flattening their food.
Early in the morning, everything was peaceful. Peace and quite…
As Ludwig took his first bite of oatmeal, the large doors to the dining room suddenly burst open. Ludwig's head shot up, and he found Kamek standing in the door, looking exhausted and disheveled.
"Ludwig" Kamel spoke, his voice low and serious. "We found him."
The airship hanger was bustling with excitement. Every where you looked, goombas, koopas, and shy guys were bustling about, carrying tools and supplies and making last minute adjustments as Ludwig's personal airship - the one with his face on it(2) - prepared for lift off.
King Bowser overlooked the whole procedure, with Kamek and Kammy by his side. The Koopa King wore an expression so stern, that whenever a minion would pass by him, that minion would either trip over their own feet or grow pale from fear. Kamek and Kammy both looked similarly serious, although in their case this wasn't an unusual expression.
Ludwig stood in front of his air ship, watching as the minions got it ready.
"Stephen" He spoke. "How is it looking?
"Good, sir" Stephen, a red shy guy from Ludwig's personal battalion, said. "Very good sir. We'll be ready to take off in three minutes tops, if that's all right with you, sir."
"It's good" Ludwig said.
"Glad to hear it, sir" Stephen enthusiastically replied. "So glad to hear it."
Ludwig was barely listening to Stephen's enthusiasm. He was almost entirely focused on what was going to happen once they were ready for take off. What was he going to do once he found Larry. When Larry had appeared to them two nights ago, he had made it pretty clear that he had no intention of returning. He had also seemed somewhat… unlike himself. Much more cold and calculated the Larry would usually appear to be.
It was that part that had Ludwig worried the most. If Larry truly was not acting like himself, what might he do when Ludwig went to find him? What if Larry tried to fight him? There was little chance Larry would win, of course - Ludwig was far stronger in pretty much every way, that it wasn't a concern. What was a concern was the idea of having to fight, and maybe even hurt, his brother.
"LUDWIG!"
Ludwig physically jumped. He had been so lost in thought that he had not heard Morton walk up beside him. He sighed. He wished his brother would speak quieter. Morton had an unfortunate habit of shouting words and dropping prepositions(3) when he was excited, stressed, sad, angry, scared… Basically, unless he was feeling calm or relaxed he would talk like this.
"Vhat is it, Morton?" Ludwig asked, not turning around. "I am rather busy at zee moment."
Morton walked in front of him.
"Here" he said, holding out a large candy bar. "Give this to Larry when you see him."
"Zhank you, Morton" Ludwig said, feeling a bit surprised by his brothers gesture. "I vill."
Ludwig was also surprised that Morton was talking with an indoor voice.
"Tell him we miss him" Morton said.
"I vill."
The other Koopalings had not been let in on exactly what was happening with Larry, but they had heard enough to know that Ludwig was going to try and find him. However, as far as any of them new, Larry might have just run away from home because he was upset or feeling particularly rebellious that day. They had no idea that anything was wrong.
Morton looked at Ludwig for a few more moments, not saying anything. His expression was unreadable, as it so often was with the burly koopa, and Ludwig had no idea what he was thinking. Finally, Morton grabbed another candy bar from his… pocket? He handed it to Ludwig.
"Here" he said. "You look sad. You have one too."
If it had been any other Koopaling who had told him he looked sad, Ludwig probably would have thrown a fit of rage, believing them to be mocking him. And that was besides the fact that he hated talking about his feelings to begin with, so even if they were right he would have been angry that they brought it up. However, with Morton, Ludwig found that he was actually a little touched.
Morton was not very intelligent. That wasn't Ludwig being rude, it was just plain fact. Morton did not have book smarts, or street smarts, or language smarts, or even really much common sense.
What he did have, however, was a surprising level of emotional intelligence, something that few people would ever expect from the big koopa. It always seemed that Morton understood what the other koopalings were feeling, whether or not they were expressing it or hiding it. Morton himself was a rather emotional guy, so Ludwig wondered if that made him more in tune with other peoples feelings.
"Zhank you, Morton" Ludwig said softly. "I vill bring him back, don't vorry."
Morton smiled. Kamek walked up the two brothers.
"Alright Ludwig, here's the plan" he said. "We tracked Larry heading to some small islands, just off the coast of Blooper Beach(3). You just have to meet him there, and convince him to come home. You are allowed to use force if needed, which shouldn't be a problem for you. Any questions?"
"No" Ludwig said, taking a deep breath. "I'm ready."
Ludwig bordered his airship. Behind him followed his small battalion of minions. Ludwig watched as Morton walked back to stand by the other Koopalings, who had come out to watch his departure. Kamek once again stood beside Bowser and Kammy. Bowser leaned forward.
"Good luck, Ludwig!" he shouted.
Ludwig nodded in response. With that the airship lifted off of the ground, and sailed out of the hanger and into the sky. Ludwig stared down at the shrinking figures of his family until they were out of sight. Then he turned and started up the ship's deck.
"Stephen" Ludwig called to the shy guy. "Are vee on course?"
"Yes sir" Stephen said. "We are ready and heading to Larry, sir."
"And zee troops" Ludwig asked. "Are zhey ready incase of danger?"
"Sir, yes sir. Everyone is prepared and ready."
Ludwig nodded. He stared ahead of the ship and towards the expansive horizon.
"We're coming Larry" he said.
Harry the wiggler stood rigid on the deck of Larry's airship, stiff and straight backed as if he was in the military. Which, in a way, he was, but few minions working directly under Larry Koopa took it as seriously as Harry did. In fact, Harry's own partners, Gordon and Lucy, were barely taking their job seriously. Gordon was lying flat backed on the staircase leading up to the steering wheel, and Lucy was hanging over the railing of the ships port side, not appearing to care about the danger of falling.
Harry scoffed. This was a mixed bag of minions that Larry had. Few seemed to understand the importance of their work. Even now, watching the other minions all scurry and scamper around the ship, Harry noticed that less than half of them were actually doing jobs.
Those few were carrying supplies to where they needed to go, keeping lookout, handling weapons, and helping with navigation. The others were napping, lounging, looking over the sides of the ship like Lucy was - which was done solely for "sightseeing", not for look out - or just running amuck, getting in everyone's way. Harry was fairly certain three koopas were playing hide and go seek.
Unlike the others, Harry understood how important this mission was, and he would take it with serious dedication. He understood what they needed to do to get this done, he understood… well, actually, he didn't understand. Larry Koopa had explained almost nothing of what they were doing to him, or to anyone else.
Not Harry, nor any other minion under Larry's command really understood what they were doing. They didn't understand why they were collecting ztars, or stealing stars, or why Larry was commanding the cosmic clones, or even how he did that. Most of all, many of the minions, including Harry - though he would never admit this doubt - wondered why Larry was working without Bowser.
None of them knew what exactly had gone down between Bowser and Larry, but one thing was clear: the two weren't working together on this job. As far as any minion could tell, Larry was the one running the show this time. This seemed highly unusual for a number of reasons, and it begged the question of why? Why was Larry working alone?
Some of the minions theorized that Larry was keeping his scheme a secret from Bowser so at the end of the scheme he could kidnap the Princess and present her to Bowser as a present, either for Father's day or his birthday.
These minions had failed to remember that both Father's day and Bowser's birthday were several months away, and so it seemed unlikely that Larry was planning for either of them. After having this pointed out to them, the minions decided that it was likely a Christmas present then.
Other, more intellectual minions, were under the impression that Larry actively did not want anything to do with Bowser. They believed that Larry was trying to do his own plan to get his own name out there, as his own boss. This idea made most of the minions severely uncomfortable, as that would put them all under the charges of treason.
An alternative reason was put out, that Larry did indeed want to remain working for Bowser, but simply wanted to show off and prove his worth to Bowser by succeeding on his own. Most of the minions felt more comfortable with this theory, and so many went with it.
As for Harry, he honestly did not know what to think. Part of him worried about the Koopaling's well being, but he also realized that, as he was just a lowly minion, it really was not his place to wonder. He had been assigned to work for Larry, and that was what he had to do, no matter what. Besides, unless Larry was actually committing treason against King Bowser, then Harry should be able to trust him. Right?
A large smashing sound was heard as, several feet to Harry's right, the door to the ship's cabin was slammed open, revealing Larry Koopa standing on the other side. Harry remained rigid in his military posture, but many other minions jumped in surprise.
Gordon leapt off of the stairwell and took a painful tumble down them. Lucy jumped too, nearly falling off of the ship and having to dig her arms into the railing to keep herself on board. She fell backwards onto the ship, and unfortunately for Gordon, landed directly on top of him as he finished tumbling down the stairs.
"Whoa" Lucy said, apparently unaware of Larry Koopa's presence as she pulled herself off of Gordon. "Did you guys see that, I almost fell off. That would have hurt!"
From his spot now on the ship's main deck, Gordon groaned in pain. Harry glared at them both.
"Larry Koopa, sir" said Harry in greeting. "Is everything okay, sir? If you have need of me to do any-"
"Everything is just fine, Wiggler. Besides, you already had your chance to do something for me, and you failed, remember" Larry said coolly.
"Ah, yes" Harry spoke awkwardly. "Right, I know we failed keeping the Mario bros. And the Princesses inside your tower, and I do apologize for that, sir."
"An entire battalion of minions, and no one could keep them inside" Larry spoke. He glared across the ship at the entirety of his forces. Many minions ducked when his gaze fell on them.
"Hey, hold on" Gordon shouted, jumping to his feet. "Sure we lost the Mario bros, but we were the ones who caught them in the first place. Give us some credit!"
"Yeah, we worked hard to do that" Lucy said, also turning on Larry.
Harry shot both of his partners a hard look, hoping they would stop talking. They didn't.
"Also, I am a goomba!" Gordon shouted. "For what's expected of my kind, I did incredibly!"
"Yeah, Gordon did incredibly!" Lucy said.
Larry scoffed at them. "You barely did any work. The Cosmic Clone was the one who was responsible for the victory."
"Are you kidding" Gordon said, getting angrier by the second. "We beat the Princess and Luigi, by ourselves! The Cosmic Clone did one thing!"
Harry held his breath as Larry stepped toward Gordon and bent down, getting close to the goomba's face. Gordon finally seemed to realize that he had just been screaming at his boss, and his eyes went wide with fear.
"Ah, sorry, sir" Gordon quickly stammered out. "I stepped out of line, it won't happen again…"
Beside him, Lucy nodded in agreement, now averting her eyes from Larry.
"I hope, for your sake, that it doesn't" Larry whispered icily. He stood back up, glaring at trio. "Don't forget your place."
With that, he turned and walked up the ship.
Harry let out the breath he was holding.
"One day you two morons are going to get us all killed" he snapped, glaring at his partners.
"It would have been nicer if he had given us some credit, though" Lucy said. "I don't see why he has to be so mean about it."
"Nice? Nice?! Lucy, no one is doing this in the hopes that he's 'nice to us'" Harry said. "We just have to follow his orders, and hopefully one day he will give us higher ranks, better roles."
"Ah, well" Lucy said noncommittally. She turned back to the side of the boat and continued to stare out.
"Still" Gordon muttered angrily. "He never used to be this hard to please. I mean, he was always arrogant and kind of selfish at times, but he wasn't this much of a jerk."
"Keep your voice down!" Harry looked around nervously. "Don't let Larry hear you say things like that. Do you know what he might do?"
"No" said Gordon. "I don't know what he might do. That's the problem. I used to know exactly what to expect if one of us ticked him off, but he's so serious now, I don't know anything!"
"Just, keep calm, and follow orders" Harry said. "We are his minions after all, it is what we are here to do. And, stay on your best behaviour. Even if he is mad at us now, we still did a pretty good job for a wiggler, a goomba, and a koopa. Who knows, he might promote us if we continue to do a good job."
"Promote us to do what" Lucy said, finally turning back to the conversation. "What would you do if you got promoted?"
Harry opened his mouth to answer, then closed it, realizing he had nothing to say. He had no clue what Larry's few right hands did anymore, not since this all started…
"Just stay patient, stay on good behaviour" he smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. "We can get to great places, as long as we keep performing at our best."
Gordon and Lucy looked at each other and said nothing.
Up along the ship, Larry Koopa stood poised on the edge of the bow. He smiled to himself, watching the clouds pass by.
"It is time" he said, "to regain what is ours."
The ship continued forward.
(1): This joke about Larry having high standards when it comes to food is a reference to Paper Mario: Colour Splash. Spoilers! During the quest for the Orange Big Paint Star, there is one level called Tangerino Grill. During this level, Mario gets roped into helping a restaurant prepare food for its customers, who are passengers on the train that Mario has been traveling on. One of these passengers is a VIP, later revealed to be Larry Koopa. While everyone else has pizza, Larry orders a steak. The steak must be cooked and seasoned to absolute perfection, without too much or too little of anything. If you fail, the steak gets sent back, and you have to purchase another to try again. Each steak costs 1000 coins.
(2): In New Super Mario Bros. U, each of the Koopalings has their own airship, with the figurehead being their own heads.
(3): Morton's speech pattern is based on how he talks in Paper Mario: Colour Splash.
That's a wrap, see you all next time!