Lemmy gasped, "Larry!"
Roy recoiled with a grunt before stomping back over to him, "WHY YOU LITTLE WIMP!" He grabbed Larry with one arm, lifted him a couple inches off the floor, and pulled back his other fist, ready to try out his new punching bag.
"That's ENOUGH!" Bowser's voice boomed, causing the furniture in the room to shake briefly. Both boys froze momentarily before Roy forcefully throws Larry down and walks off to the other side of the line up, grumbling to himself. Larry landed on the floor with an audible thud. Lemmy quickly helped him back up, placing a hand on his arm as he looked up at Larry with a worried face.
The two of them turned their attention to Bowser afterward, who was beginning to look like how he normally sits on his throne. Bowser gave both Larry and Roy a glare, "If you two are done coming to blows, I would like to make this announcement quick, so we can all go back to what we're doing."
Lemmy was a bit surprised by his response. "A quick one? Looks like I was wrong then." Lemmy smiled slightly, feeling a little relieved. But at the same time, he along with the rest of the Koopalings were all a bit puzzled. This wasn't like their father to do something like that.
Iggy was the one to first speak up, "Dad, with all due respect. What could possibly be so important that you need to call all of us here to make a very short announcement about it?" Bowser straightened up before answering, "Well, you're about to get your answer, Iggy."
Bowser cleared throat before giving the announcement, "It's time for another kidnap The Princess mission." Lemmy's slight smile disappeared, "Never mind, I was right…"
He looked back on all the previous times he did these with his siblings. These certain missions would always go off without a hitch, only to be beaten and defeated later on. During these, he sometimes had been ordered to do things that he wasn't proud of. Things he often felt guilty about doing.
Lemmy had always seen himself as kindhearted, innocent, and just loved to be everyone's friend. But the orders he would be given would often conflict with his values, it made him feel sad whenever he thought about it.
But on the other hand, he has an undying loyalty towards his father so… orders are orders.
As disappointed as Lemmy felt about the whole thing, he was able to hide it from everyone pretty well. Well, everyone except for Larry, who could tell he was a bit upset.
They all stood in silence for a good five seconds, looking at each other slightly. Finally, Iggy once again breaks the silence, "Is that it? Nothing else to say?" Bowser shrugged a little, "What else is there to say? It's just one of those standard generic missions, the usual."
But then Bowser continued, revealing that there was in fact more, "The only things different are the new traps and routes to the towers you'll be stationed at. Your towers will be located in the same worlds as last time, but positioned differently. Instead of them being along a continuous route, they will be split off into separate ones starting after World 2. This would hopefully make the plumbers split up, giving most of you a more fair fight."
Bowser looked over at Ludwig, "Unfortunately, the routes converge at World 7. Meaning you'll have to fight both of them, Ludwig. Which is why I have stationed you there once again since you're the most capable and well trained." Ludwig turns his eyes away, "Gee, thanks." Ludwig said in a sarcastic tone.
"And as for you two…" Bowser glares at Larry and Roy, "I would've had you stationed in Worlds 3 and 4. But after that little stunt you pulled, Lemmy and Wendy will be switching places with you. You two will instead be stationed in Worlds 1 and 2, where you'll have to fight both plumbers at the same time." Bowser finished as he crossed his arms, "Consider this your punishment."
"Wh- Pops!" Roy wasn't too happy with this. Larry moaned, "But Roy started it! Why are you punishing me too!" They would've continued protesting, but Bowser shuts them up, "Roy, you don't talk to your brothers like that. And you definitely don't get physical with them!" Roy crosses his arms with a huff, "Whatever."
Bowser then turns to Larry, "And you, Larry. Whatever Roy said doesn't give you the right to hit him on the head with your wand." Larry places his hands on his hips with an assertive look, "I'll have a go at anyone who talks to Lemmy like that!" Larry said as he looked over at Lemmy standing next to him. "Maybe so, but there are better ways of resolving this. Let this be a lesson for the both of you."
Iggy piped up to ease the tension a little, "Uh, a quick question, if I may?" Bowser looked at him to hear, "Yes, Iggy?" Bowser said as he calmed down a little. Iggy then asked his question, "What day will this be happening?"
"There isn't a planned date at the moment. This is one of the reasons I called you all here. Since you've all taken issue on scheduling in the past, I want to make sure we do this on a day with minimal conflicts." Before anyone could say anything, Bowser made a condition that it had to be done within one week from today.
Starting from tomorrow, they went up by one day every time a day didn't work. When they reached the third day from today, nobody objected. Bowser then placed his hands on his hips, clearly in a better mood, "Alright, then it's settled. We will begin three days from now."
But then his tone fell back down to serious and formal, "That is all. You may leave now."
One by one, all the Koopalings walk out of the throne room, Roy and Larry giving each other dirty looks while doing so. Lemmy gently pulled Larry away to try and break it up and calm him down. The two of them spent the next several minutes walking back to their room in complete uneasy silence.
After they returned to their room, their tv was playing the end credits of the show they planned on watching together. After Lemmy closed the door, he finally breaks the silence between them, "Larry, what were you thinking!" Lemmy had a stern, but concerned and worried look. Larry looked at him with a 'What?' look. "What? Roy had it coming!"
"Maybe. But that was totally uncalled for! You shouldn't have done that, Larry!" Lemmy clearly wasn't too happy with how his little brother handled the situation. "So I should've just let him taunt you and get away with it? Fat chance." Larry then takes a few strides up to him and pokes his chest with his finger, "NOBODY talks to you like that, Lemmy. Not as long as I have anything to say about it!"
Larry took a step back from him as he continued. "Roy knew exactly what he was getting into when he began taunting you, and what was going to happen if he didn't stop." He placed his hands on his hips in an assertive stance, "Thus, he was scheduled to have a few words with my wand."
"Violence is not the answer, Larry!" Lemmy said with his fists clenched. Lemmy sighed as he calmed down a little, "Look, Larry, I love you. But I hate how reckless you can be sometimes. Yes, what Roy did was wrong and I appreciate you standing up for me. But there are some things that are just not worth it."
Lemmy's tone then turned into something resembling guilt, "And now look what happened, you're being punished for something we could've avoided. If you kept your cool, King Dad would've only punished Roy."
Larry felt a pang inside his chest, but still held firm. "It's worth having my butt being kicked by both plumbers. Which by the way, would've happened to you if I didn't do anything. So I'm actually doing you a favor here by taking the hit instead."
Larry then smirked, "Besides, it felt pretty good to finally get some payback on that jerk with his huge ego. His reaction? Absolutely priceless I say." Lemmy really didn't think so, "Somehow I doubt that was what was going through your head in the heat of the moment."
"Sure, Roy has done pretty bad things to us in the past and is a pretty unpleasant person to be around." Lemmy's tone turned back into that of a stern one, "But clocking him on the head like that was not okay, Larry. There are better ways of dealing with a bully."
Larry scoffed, "Like what? Tattle on him? Have him get a stern talking to from King Dad? When does that ever work?" Lemmy responds with a smirk, "Only every time he catches you sneaking chips to our room for a midnight snack. Well, for a little while at least." Larry opened his mouth as he tried to come up with a retort, but couldn't, "O-okay, you got me there."
Larry sighs as he shakes his head, "But still, would that ever work on a person like him? He has had plenty of that in the past and that has hardly done anything! Yes, he can push me around, fine. But I won't stand for him bullying you like this, that's crossing the line!"
Lemmy looked up at him with an understanding look, "Larry, I know you just want to protect me from these kinds of things, and I'm really thankful to have such a compassionate person in my life. But I don't want you getting punished for it, all it does is make me feel bad for you." Lemmy looked down at the floor as he finished.
He then looked back up at Larry with sad eyes, "What I'm trying to say is, act more responsible next time, even though you might not want to, just be the bigger man here, okay…?" Lemmy took a couple steps up to Larry and hugged him with his small arms around his chest, maintaining eye contact with him, "I don't like the idea of you getting into trouble like this for my sake, it makes me sad…." He then gave him the puppy-dog eye treatment, "Come one, Larry… At least do it for me… pwetty pwease…?"
Larry looked at him feeling a bit sad, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he embraced the smaller Koopaling back, pulling him into a tight hug. After a moment of silence, he finally responded, "I will, Lemmy. I will do anything for my favorite little big brother." Lemmy smiled and corrected him, "Your only 'little big brother', ha ha." Larry smiled back at Lemmy's response and chuckled a little, "That you are, Lem… that you are…"
"I'm so happy to have someone like you always be there for me, Larry… I can't imagine how my life would be without you…" Larry placed a hand on Lemmy's head and hugged him tighter, "Same here little buddy… same here…" The two stood in silence for another minute, enjoying the warm moment. They were so deep in the moment, that they failed to notice that the intro of their favorite show began playing. The familiar song snapped them out of it and they separated, both felt a bit sad when doing so.
But their sadness was only very brief, they turned their attention to the tv, "Larry, look! It's our show again!" Lemmy said as he pointed at the tv, clearly surprised by this. "Hey, yeah…." Larry was happy, but a little confused, "That's odd, they usually don't air the same show twice in a row. I wonder…" Larry walked over to his bed to grab the remote resting on it and pressed the guide button.
The guide menu revealed that their favorite cartoon was actually going to run a marathon. Both boys' eyes lit up at this revelation. "Aw yeah!" Larry pumped his fist into the air. "Yay!" Lemmy hopped up and down while giggling with excitement. Larry turned back to him, "Who cares about missing one episode when you can watch a marathon instead?" Lemmy looked up at him with a huge grin on his overjoyed face, "Nobody, Larry!"
Larry eagerly went over to one of his cubby holes on the far side of his bed, a place that wasn't visible from the door, and pulled out a large bag of potato chips. Lemmy playfully narrowed his eyes, "You snuck those, didn't you?" Larry gave him a drawn out, "Maaaybe?" along with a mischievous smile.
Lemmy then noticed the chips were a low salt version of the plain flavor he would normally get. "Why'd you get the low salt one, Larry?" Larry raised his finger, "Because when you eat a lot of them, the saltiness becomes too much. This is my way of getting around it. Sure, they're less greasy. But that's a trade off I'm willing to make." Lemmy shrugged, "Fair enough."
Larry was about to get on his bed, but then he remembered, "Wait wait, I almost forgot." Larry made his way over to their door, "Just to make sure that no wild Ludwigs appear…" Larry proceeded to lock the door. "There. Now old Luddy has to knock." Lemmy giggled at the idea of annoying their stuck-up brother like that if he tried to barge in unannounced again.
Larry climbed back onto his bed as the intro continued playing. Lemmy was about to do the same, but then he hesitated. He turned around, walked back over to Larry's bed and attempted to climb on top of it, but was struggling due to his small size. Larry, seeing this, gently lifted him up and helped him up onto his soft bed.
Lemmy crawled over next to Larry and leaned against him. Larry smiled as he placed his arm around the smallest Koopaling and leaned back against the wooden wall of his bed, keeping him close. They lounged together in silence as they watched the intro finish and the episode beginning shortly afterward.
They spent the next couple hours watching their show together, both were munching on chips while doing so, talking about the current events in the episodes whenever the commercial breaks went on, along with sharing the occasional hug sometimes and in general, just enjoyed each other's company.
And that's chapter 2 done and dusted! I'm just hoping that those two exercise some restraint and munch on those chips in moderation. But something tells me they're not going to.
... I'm not sure what else to say here...
...
... Uh... I guess, stay tuned for chapter 3...?
