AN: Oh man, am I proud of myself! This, my dear viewers, is the LONGEST CHAPTER I'VE EVER WRITTEN! I never thought I'd reach this length but... oh man, I am so happy about this! I hope you all enjoy it!

Chapter 5 I Am a Robot

Battery full. Activating internal systems.

Larry's eyes opened with the speed of a bullet. He gasped, springing upwards in bed. He sat completely still, not moving, not talking, barely even breathing. All he did was think, think about every strange and weird thing that had happened to him over the course of the night before.

The comet… the sparkles… the feelings in his chest. It all felt… well, Larry didn't know how it felt. It was so strange when it actually happened, but now that he had moved past it, all he had on his mind were a plethora of questions. Did it really happen? If so, how did the comet end up granting Larry's wish? He didn't feel any different than he did normally. He didn't feel powerful, nor did he feel special. He still felt like himself, the same regular old Larry who had no amazing talents nor any qualities that brought him out of the territory of generic mediocrity. Nothing about him felt special. Nothing about him felt significant.

As such, Larry sighed and shook his head. Maybe it was possible that Fortune's Comet didn't grant his wish. Maybe the comet was just as much of a hoax as he thought before. Or maybe he didn't make any actual wish on it; maybe he hadn't woken up in the middle of the night and everything that happened to him was some sort of weird, backward, desire-filled dream.

Knowing Larry's luck, that's probably what it was.

Putting his head in his hands for a second, Larry tried to shake off his ever-rising disappointment. Once he managed to at the very least lessen it a little bit, he pulled his covers back and set his feet down on the floor. Might as well get the day started. Might as well see if his siblings had managed to make any wishes on Fortune's Comet themselves. Might as well see if they were just as let down as he was.

He made his way over to the door, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He was just about to put his hand on the handle and turn it when he saw something… weird. Something weird, something unexpected, and something that could very much be an indication of something very concerning. He didn't know how to describe it, but… his eyes revealed things to him about the room he currently stood in. If he squinted at the doorknob, his eyes revealed aspects of it to him. For example, a long paragraph appeared before him, talking about the temperature, material, and how many fingerprints rested on the knob. If he turned his head to look back at the rest of his room, he could detect aspects of those in the form of paragraphs too. He could see this for his bed, his nightstand, everything. Not only that but when he blinked, he could change the way the room looked for himself. One time, he could see the room's thermal imaging. Another, he could see the room on the infrared scale. And yet another, his eyes zoomed super close up to objects, allowing Larry to see things he never would be able to see otherwise.

This whole thing made Larry do a double-take. "What the blazing hell is going on?" He hit himself in the side of the head, which somehow managed to revert his vision back to normal. Once it was, he stood in place for a second, pondering over everything. What exactly did this mean? It might have something to do with his wish… but it could also indicate that Larry was going crazy. He didn't know which one it was, which honestly scared him to no end.

Regardless, he still needed to get the day started. He decided that he was going to ignore this development, brush it off, and forget it ever happened. If it came back, maybe he would go to Iggy or Kamek. That was a pretty big maybe though.

So, he exited the room. He hadn't even taken three steps out the door when something his him right in the head. "OWW!" He collapsed to the floor, rubbing his head as he looked at the projectile that had so rudely hit him. It was… a basketball?

"Oops! Sorry, Larry!" Roy came running down the hallway. Once he scooped up the basketball, he helped Larry to his feet. "I didn't mean to get ya; I'm really sorry." Once Larry was on his feet, he gave him a furrowed brow. "You okay?"

"I… yeah, I'm fine." Larry's eyes immediately fell back onto the basketball in his brother's hands, and all at once, he got excited. "Wait, did you get that basketball by wishing on Fortune's Comet?"

Roy's face broke out into a grin. "Yep!" He spun the basketball on the tip of his finger. "I could hardly believe my eyes when it happened; it appeared right in my hands the second I made the wish!" He chuckled. "Talk about a dream come true!"

Larry bit his lip. Huh, so Roy's wish was able to come true. But what did that mean for the wish Larry made? Did it come true too? And if it did… wait, did it have anything to do with the images he saw in front of his eyes when he was in his bedroom earlier?

"Hey guys."

Both Roy and Larry turned to see Morton coming down the hallway. "Oh. Hey Morty," Larry said. "Did you make a wish on Fortune's Comet last night too?"

"Yep! I wished for a seven-layer cake!" He grinned. "You should see it; it has purple frosting and smells better than any cake I've ever seen in my entire life!" His grin only grew bigger. "I was thinking we could have it for dessert after supper tonight."

"Oh, man…" Roy said. When Larry turned toward him, he saw that his mouth watered. "Oh, I don't think I'll be able to wait that long Morty; we need to have it as soon as possible."

Morton chuckled. "Well, I'll see what I can do." His face fell as soon as he finished saying that. He looked at Larry, his brow furrowing in a similar way to how it had done when he and Roy had visited him in his room. "How you feeling?"

"Me?" Larry asked. "Perfectly fine." He considered telling him about how his eyes seemed to have been playing tricks on him but thought better of it. "Nothing out of the ordinary here."

This got a smile out of Morton. "Okay. That's good." He turned back around. "Well, I have to go make sure my pets don't eat my cake. Have a good one guys!"

"Have a good one!" Larry smiled before turning back to Roy, holding the basketball while giving Larry a concerned look. "So, what do you say we fulfill your other wish and go play basketball together in the gym?"

Roy didn't answer right away, which caused Larry's face to fall. What did that look mean? He remembered in his room last night, how Roy hadn't been as quick to believe Larry's words and reassurances as Morton. Was he feeling suspicious now? Oh, Larry hoped that wasn't the case; he didn't want to spend any time, whether it be minutes or hours, talking about his feelings. That was just too complicated a road, too messy a territory for any sane person to enter.

"Roy?"

Roy did a double take. "Oh, sure sure." He smiled. "We can go play in the gym."

Larry smiled. "Awesome!" He reached his hand up to the part of his head that the basketball had hit. "We can go there as soon as I get ice for my…"

He stopped the second his hand came in contact with his head. He tapped it and pressed his finger up against it like he did when he usually got a bruise. His eyes grew wide. "Woah."

"Woah?" Roy's brow furrowed again. "What do you mean woah? Is something wrong?"

"No…" Larry said. "Everything's… great." He slowly pulled his hand away from his head. "I don't… I don't hurt at all."

"You don't?" Roy asked with a blink. "But… the basketball…"

"Yeah, I know; it's weird!" Larry stood still for a minute, wondering what in the ever-loving hiffle haffle could be the meaning of this. Eventually, he shrugged. "Eh, I shouldn't complain; less pain means more time to play!"

Roy stood stock still for a second before nodding. "Uh… yeah…"

…

Larry used to love spending time in this gym; back when he was a little kid, he could probably have considered it his haven. A great place to play, a place to escape from all the worries and weirdness of life, and just relax in the most stimulating and healthy way possible. Nowadays though, Larry mostly fills his time by playing video games, or by reading comic books such as Titanium Man. Those activities took him away from the ever-so-special gym, but thankfully, being here now, with his brother right alongside him, Larry felt just as comfortable now as he did all the way back then.

"Okay," Roy said as he held the basketball in front of his chest. "Whoever can score three points is the winner." He grinned at Larry, the expression cocky and silly. "You think you can hope to compete with me, the muscled manchild?"

Larry burst into laughter. "Wow, you clearly have no idea what that word means!" Roy gave him a confused look just as Larry got his laughter under control. "But still, I know I can beat you." He gave Roy his own cocky grin. "You're going down!"

Roy smirked. "Oh, we'll see about that."

With that, he started dribbling the basketball. He rushed towards Larry, keeping a good hand on the ball and a sharp eye on his younger brother. Larry ran up to him too, trying to block him and prevent him from getting the coveted basket. The next few seconds were spent with Larry moving around Roy, trying his best to prevent him from finding an opening. Unfortunately, Roy managed to find one, and he shot the ball toward the basket. It went in with a swoosh.

"Boom baby!" Roy exclaimed. He puffed out his chest as the ball bounced across the gym floor. "Now that's what I call a goal!"

Larry smirked. "It might be a goal, but it sure as hell ain't a win!" He walked over to the ball and picked it up. "I still have plenty of chances to take you down!"

"Okay!" Roy grinned. "Then do it!"

"With pleasure!" Larry began dribbling the ball. He knew, with how swift, nimble, and light on his feet he was, he might have an opportunity to sneak past Roy. So, he started running. Roy held out his arms, creating a big, burly blockade to prevent Larry from reaching his side of the court. Larry gritted his teeth, thinking to himself that Roy stood no chance of winning. Sure, he was strong. Sure, he was big. But he wasn't better than Larry. Larry owned basketball! Or, at least, he did when he was younger, and it's been a while since he actually played. But even still, he was going to beat his brother. He was going to win against Roy and rub his embarrassing loss deep into his face.

He tried to move past Roy, but Roy got in the way. Tightly gripping the basketball, Larry tried to move to the left. Roy blocked him. He tried to move to the right, but Roy blocked him there too. Doing his best not to scream, Larry tried to break out into a run. He was just about to shoot a basket when Roy stopped him.

"Damn it," Larry spat as the ball uselessly bounced across the floor.

Roy laughed. "Not quite the GOAT at this point, are you bro?"

"No, I am. I'm just a little rusty, that's all." He ran over to the ball and picked it up. "I can shoot a basket. That's, like, the easiest thing in the world for me to do! Any idiot can throw a ball into a basket!"

Roy giggled. "I must be a huge idiot then, 'cause I'm gonna get all three baskets."

Larry snickered and smirked at his brother. "Hey, at the very least, you're exhibiting self-awareness."

With that, he tried to shoot the basket again. However, Roy jumped up and grabbed the ball before it could enter, and dribbled it over to the other side of the court. Cursing in his head, Larry ran after him. He knew he could catch up; he just knew he could. Unfortunately, Roy shot another basket before he had a chance.

"That's two!" Roy shouted at the top of his voice. "Now I just have one to go!"

Larry gritted his teeth. "It won't be that easy!" He ran toward the ball, grabbing it before Roy had a chance to. Now, he just needed to get over to his basket. Dribbling the ball with every last bit of his strength, he zipped over. Roy ran after him, but he didn't care. Everything was falling into place now. Time slowed down. Larry's heart pounded in his ears. His eyes locked onto the basket. He knew he could make this shot. He knew he could. With the ball in his hands, he prepared himself to jump…

CRASH!

It happened so quickly. Larry couldn't even fully wrap his head around it at first, mostly because he had his face smashed in and his head stuck, with the rest of his body dangling uselessly below him.

"Woah!" Roy exclaimed. "Larry, how did you…?"

With how distant and muffled his brother's cries sounded, it quickly occurred to Larry that he now had his head stuck in the ceiling! Battling the surprise, disbelief, and shock, Larry wiggled and struggled to get his head out of the ceiling. He pushed and pushed and pushed until…

"AAH!"

Larry fell the whole twenty-two feet. When he landed, Roy rushed over to him, using the most concerned language and sporting the most concerned face. All the while, Larry tried to wrap his head around everything that had happened to him. How was he able to jump twenty-two feet in the air? How was he able to get stuck in the ceiling? Why didn't any part of him hurt from falling twenty-two feet down?

"Oh Larry, do you need medical attention?" Roy asked as he frantically buzzed over his little brother. "Do you need band-aids? An ambulance? Do you need me to do any CPR?"

Larry shook his head. "No, big guy." He rose to his feet, feeling every part of his completely fine, uninjured body. Somehow, the fact that he didn't feel pain was even more eerie and concerning than any pain there was. "I… I'm fine…"

Roy's eyes practically popped out of their sockets. "Fine? FINE? How can you be fine; you just fell all the way from the ceiling!"

"I know! I know…" He continued to feel and assess his body, his concern growing more and more each second. "I don't get it either." His breathing sped up. "I really don't…

Roy leaned in close to him. "Do you think you might have to go see Iggy?"

Normally, Larry would deny that tooth and nail. However, with how much his own fear and concern were growing…

"Couldn't hurt."

…

While he sat on the examination table, being looked over by his older brother, Larry couldn't help but worry. Iggy so far hadn't found anything wrong with the youngest, which paradoxically was one of the worst things that he could've found. Larry tried to stop himself from shaking, biting his lip as he prayed to Grambi that Iggy would find out what the answer to all this was. There had to be an answer, right? Stuff like this didn't just happen!

"Hmm," Iggy said as he leaned over Larry. "I still can't find anything wrong." He pulled back, wiping the sweat off his forehead. His new robot butler brought him a glass of water, which he readily took and started gulping down. "Thank you," he said to the machine. Once the robot went away, he looked back at Larry with a serious expression. "Would you mind if I take x-rays of you?"

While he normally would say "No way in hell," Larry nodded and allowed Iggy to lead him into another room. This room used to be a detainment center, but since Iggy hadn't found anybody or anything to detain, he had converted it into an x-ray room. Larry took a seat on the table, lying down as Iggy took the X-rays. His worry went off charts that he didn't previously know they could top, especially as he considered everything that had happened during this crazy, messed-up morning. He thought about crashing into the ceiling, he thought about the stuff he saw in his room. He whimpered at this, catching Iggy's attention.

"What ails you?"

"I…" for a second, Larry hesitated over whether or not he should tell his brother. After a little bit, he figured that it would be more helpful than doing otherwise. "When I was in my room, I… saw things." Iggy raised an eyebrow, prompting him to continue. "It was like my eyes were scanning over the different parts of the room, showing me details about them that I never would've seen otherwise." Iggy blinked, but Larry wasn't done. "And, when I blinked, I could change the way the world looked to me. I saw the thermal heat of the room, the infrared stuff…" he tried to keep himself from freaking out, which only got harder when he saw Iggy's worried expression. "It's… I don't even know why I see these things." He paused, thinking about every possible explanation as to why he was. However, none of these possibilities even came close to making him feel better. All they did was remind him that things weren't falling in place nor were they indicating something good. There was a very distinct possibility that Larry was losing his sanity.

"Well," Iggy said, clearly trying to keep his voice level. "Hopefully, this examination will help us find the reasons behind these occurrences."

Larry nodded, keeping himself completely still as Iggy completed the x-rays. He didn't know what to expect, as he wasn't even close to an expert on X-ray images. However, he didn't need to be to know that Iggy's reaction to the images after capturing them was not good. The bespectacled genius stared, jaw dropped, at the images captured. He did double take after double take; he took his glasses off and wiped his eyes. When he turned away from the pictures and looked at Larry instead, there was such a palpable fear present in all his features. And if Iggy was scared…

Larry sat up, feeling fear grasp him. "Iggy, what's the matter?"

Iggy gawked at Larry. "In all my years…" he stood still for a minute before clearing his throat, now looking at Larry with the most severe bout of seriousness that the youngest Koopaling had ever seen. "What have you done to my brother?"

Larry blinked. "What are you…?"

Before he could even begin uttering the last word, Iggy bolted toward him and pinned him down on the exam table by his wrists. Larry gasped, struggling against his hold. "Iggy, what the hell…?"

"You've done something to Lawrence!" Iggy growled. There was something about the shine in his eyes. It wasn't insanity necessarily, but it still made Larry fear that he wasn't going to walk out of this room alive. "I know you have! So where is he? WHERE IS MY BROTHER?"

Struggling against Iggy's hold clearly didn't work, so Larry gave up on that and just looked up at his brother, hoping to appeal to Iggy's humanity in any way he needed to. "Iggy, I am your brother! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Iggy snorted. So much derision and incredulity was contained within the sound, making it one of the hardest noises Larry ever had to listen to. "I bet it's just your programming that is making you say that."

Larry blinked. "Programming?"

"It makes too much sense." Iggy reached into his hammerspace and pulled out a knife. "And I'm going to dismantle you! Right here, right now!"

Larry yelped. Before he could say anything in protest, Iggy drove the knife into his chest and tore a cut right down the center. That alone would've given Larry enough reason to scream. However, there was something that drew his attention. Something that made his jaw drop. When he looked at his open chest, he didn't see blood or flesh.

He saw wires.

This caused him to gasp the loudest gasp ever. "WHAT IN THE…!"

Iggy lunged forward and grabbed him by the shoulders. "The proof is in the pudding. You are some sort of robotic replica of my brother." He leaned in closer, so much so that Larry could feel his heartbeat. "Who built you? What is your mission? WHERE IN THE WORLD IS LARRY?"

Larry now had trouble breathing. "Iggy, I am Larry! I swear!"

"Bull!" Iggy shouted. "Absolute bull!" He leaned in even closer. "Where is Larry? Tell me! RIGHT NOW!"

Larry's mind raced at speeds that he didn't know were possible. He realized, lying pinned to the table just mere inches from his brother's bloodthirsty gaze, that there was only one possible explanation for this. The more he thought about this explanation, the more shocked and appalled he became.

"Dude… I really am your brother!" Despite his instincts, Larry looked Iggy right in the face, trying his best to ignore his fear and terror. "I made a wish! I made a wish last night!"

"A wish?" Iggy asked.

"On Fortune's Comet!" Larry really couldn't look into Iggy's eyes and not feel absolutely terrified, but he forced himself to anyway. "I made a wish on Fortune's Comet last night. I was so sick of being the weakest member of our family, so I made a wish to be different! A wish to be special!" Iggy's anger and fear started to melt away, which in turn helped Larry to breathe easier. "I made a wish to be like Titanium Man!"

Iggy shook now as he kept his hold on Larry's wrists. "Titanium Man?"

"He's a superhero in a comic book I read, a robotic superhero. I made the wish to be like him, and… well…" He lifted his head to get a glance at the wires jutting out of his chest. The sight of them filled him with the weirdest emotion he had ever felt, one that he couldn't even hope to name. "And it seems that wish came true…"

Finally, Iggy let go of Larry's wrists. He backed away, gawking at Larry as he sat up on the table. Larry meanwhile couldn't take his eyes off of the wires. He touched one of them, pulling on it with wide eyes.

"This… I didn't even think this came true," he uttered. "I really didn't. I thought that it had all been a dream"

Iggy nodded, all while still gawking. He stared at Larry like he was some sort of God (a fact that Larry honestly didn't mind in the slightest). He didn't speak, didn't make any noise. All he did was stand there, not moving.

Larry, meanwhile, felt the reality of this whole situation start to sink in. As it did, his excitement levels rose. He even managed to smile as he looked down at the wires.

"I can't believe this," Iggy finally managed to speak. He was so quiet, eerily so considering who was doing the talking. "Out of all the wishes you could've made, out of all the things you could've changed…" he shook his head. "This is crazy!

"It is! But…" Despite everything, Larry's smile still got bigger. "But… oh man, this is amazing!" He got up from the bed, standing taller and prouder than he had ever done before. "Dude… I'm a robot!" He giggled to himself. "A real, authentic, bona fide android!"

Iggy swallowed a lump. "I think the term would be 'Koopdroid…'"

"Same thing!" Larry exclaimed with a wave of the hand. "This is still really cool!" A green light came from his chest, causing him to gasp again. He looked down to see the cut sealing itself. He giggled upon seeing this, and he only got more giggly when the cut fully healed without even a scar. He felt his chest, and all at once laughed. There are no words to adequately describe how joyful the laugh was, nor how powerful it was.

"Can you believe this Iggy?" He asked. He jumped up and down. "This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me!"

Iggy's jaw dropped. "Uh…" he took off his glasses, polishing them with such a careful hand. "I must say, I was not expecting a development like this to occur when I woke up this morning." Larry jumped at a much faster rate, drawing a concerned look out of the middle child. "Larry, I think you should be careful…!"

Larry's feet made contact with the floor again, and within seconds, he bounced all the way up to the ceiling for the second time that day. Debris rained down from the hole he created all while he remained stuck. He wiggled, trying to get free.

"Iggy, could you…?"

"I'm on it!" Iggy exclaimed from down below. Larry heard his footsteps walking out of the room as he remained stuck in the hole. He wiggled and squirmed, trying not to let the cold draft and the fact that his now robotic eyes were scanning over the area again bother him. Thankfully, he heard Iggy coming back into the room not sometime later. He smiled as he heard Iggy climbing up what Larry assumed to be a step ladder.

"Do not fret, dear brother." He pulled on his legs, grunting as Larry wiggled. "I am certain that I can…"

"AAH!" Larry fell out of the hole, right on top of Iggy. This caused both of them to fall, screaming, to the floor. When his shell made contact, Iggy groaned. Larry scrambled to hoist himself up and help Iggy to his feet.

"Dude, you okay?"

Iggy wheezed as he dusted dust off his front. "I believe so. My shell hurts, but I do not expect it to be anything serious." He looked at Larry, studying him from head to toe. "Are you alright though?"

Larry took some time to think about it. "I… yeah. I don't hurt at all." His excitement reached legendary levels. "I feel perfect actually." He examined himself, taking in every part of his body. His smile grew bigger and bigger when something finally occurred to him. "Must be some sort of cool robot immunity!"

Iggy bit his lip. "Possibly…"

Larry didn't even stop to worry about Iggy's tone. He looked down at his hand, wiggling his fingers and giggling all the while. Such a mundane sight was now made awesome because of this whole new development. To think this all came to be because of one wish on one shooting star…

"This is sick!" He uttered to himself. He looked around the room, now not feeling one drop of fright anymore. Seriously, how could anybody feel scared after finding out about something like this? "Oh man, imagine all the cool robot powers I have!" He turned to Iggy, grinning from ear to ear. "Can you imagine them, Iggster?"

Iggy scratched the back of his head. "I… I can…" He looked Larry right in the eye. "This doesn't bother you?"

"Why would it?" Larry asked with a raised eyebrow.

Iggy let out a breath. "I… well, I guess there's no reason to." He cringed as he said that, making Larry's eyebrow raise even higher. It disappeared, however, when Iggy gave him a smile. "So… the fact that you now have access to a whole new arsenal of powers is… interesting." He cleared his throat. "If I were to be honest, I want to discover what all of them are." He stepped toward Larry and took his hand. His eyes sparkled in a way that Larry had only ever seen when Iggy discussed his experiments and projects. "You are now a very advanced piece of technology Lawrence; that much is for certain."

What might have been a creepy statement only made Larry more excited. His heart, which he felt for certain was made up of some sort of super strong, durable metal pumped even harder. "Heck yeah I am!" He giggled some more before he gasped. "We need to tell the others!"

"Yes indeed." Iggy let go of Larry's hand. "And while we're at it, I'll arrange a meeting outside so we can discover your new powers in a safe manner." He rubbed his arm, with his brow furrowing once again. "That seems like it'll be for the best…"