AN: Hey everybody! We have only one chapter left of Fortune's Comet, so I decided that it's time to start the next SK episode! I hope you guys enjoy this one. If you haven't checked out Fortune's Comet yet, I would highly recommend checking it out, because this episode continues the storyline established in that one.
Anyway, let's-a-go! :D
Chapter 1 Giga Goomba
Larry Koopa let out a breath, staring out the window of his room as he charged up. There was something about the atmosphere today, something that Larry would readily describe as "mystical." With how everything glowed in the sunlight, and with how the coolest breeze was blowing right outside his window, it felt as though the world could relax in ways that it never had before. It was quiet. It was quaint. It was… beautiful.
Of course, Larry couldn't let the beauty lure him into a false sense of security. Today was going to be a busy day, as he was going to go out and do more hero work. Ever since he had made a wish on Fortune's Comet, a wish that transformed his biological body into that of a robot, he had been using his powers the way that any superpowers should be used. That being, he used them to help people and save them from danger. It was… an eventful way to spend his time. On some level, it filled him with a sense of pride, for even when he first started, he took to the life of a superhero like a fish to water. Well, okay, that wasn't entirely true; there had been points where doing this job had become overwhelming. But even still, he felt good being a hero.
Especially because doing hero work distracted him from the downsides of his wish.
Larry drew in a frustrated breath when he had that thought. He looked down at his finger, which had the tip bent back so he could plug into the wall and charge his battery. He frowned when he saw that, thinking about how truly inconvenient this was. Of course, it was nowhere close to the fact that he couldn't taste food anymore, which in his opinion was arguably the worst part of the wish.
He shook his head. He shouldn't dwell on that; it would just make him sad. Sadness was the last thing he needed, especially today when everything he could see was filled with promise. No, he should just focus on the here and now, as well as focus on his gameplan for the rest of the day. As soon as he was fully charged, he was going to stop by the laundry room to see if his superhero suit had finished washing. If it was, he was going to put it on and head out. A good plan, an excellent plan. He just wished he was fully charged already so he could jump right into enacting it.
Battery full.
Larry smiled. Finally, after what felt like an hour, he was ready. His whole body was ready, as was his mind. With a full battery, he could go out and move around for at least the next eight to ten hours. Oh man, the bad guys really needed to watch out, cause Captain Metal (Larry's superhero name) was going to kick their butts and send them to jail!
With a grin on his face, the youngest Koopaling unplugged from the charging port, readjusted his finger, and started making his way to the laundry room. He expected to see his siblings in the hallway, as they usually were up and active at this time of the day. However, this time around, Larry didn't see any of them. This was odd, but… eh, it wasn't a big deal. Sure, Larry would've liked to talk to at least a few of the other Koopalings, but at the same time, it was nice to have some time alone with his thoughts. He could think without interruption, run through his game plan, and analyze it without any sort of distractions.
Unfortunately, when he was halfway to the laundry room, he realized that he wasn't particularly fond of doing that. No, he'd much rather talk with his siblings. It never seemed to matter what time of day Larry went to them, they always had something interesting to say. Or, at the very least, they had something really funny to say. So, the fact that they were MIA as of right now… well, it felt wrong. It felt as though the universe was somehow severely out of balance.
At least, those were Larry's thoughts until he got to the laundry room. When he stepped in the door, he saw his only sister, Wendy O. Koopa, standing in front of the washer, which he could see was washing some of her clothes. This made sense, as Wendy was the main reason the laundry room in the Castle existed at all. With the slight exception of Ludwig with his cloak, Wendy had been the only Koopa in the castle who actually wore any clothing. He wasn't surprised to see her here; in fact, he was delighted to see her. Even though they weren't the closest siblings in the world, they could at least have some sort of conversation.
"Hey, Wendy." Larry stepped deeper into the room, looking at the dryer next to the washing machine. "Is my costume in the dryer?"
"Yeah," Wendy said with a nod.
"Cool." Larry took note of the timer on the dryer. His costume had less than ten minutes left until he could take it out, which meant ten minutes where he could converse with Wendy. He took a deep breath. "So, how are things going with you?"
"Eh," Wendy said with a shrug. "They've been fine, I suppose. Not much has been happening to me, unfortunately."
"I see." Larry put on a smile. "Well, you know what they say: 'nothing happening is better than bad things happening.'"
Wendy snorted. "Yeah, I've heard that. And… yeah, I can see that." She locked her gaze on the washer. "Still, I wish there were things I could do."
Larry took some time to think about these words. "Well… maybe you could talk to your friends? I'm sure they could probably give you something to do."
"True." Wendy put her hand to her chin. "Come to think of it, I haven't really talked with any of my friends since we saved you and the other boys from Cackletta." She frowned. "That's… that's not good. I mean, what kind of friend doesn't even bother to talk with her closest pals in over a year?"
Larry snorted. "An ex-friend?"
Wendy whimpered. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds about right; an ex-friend." She pulled her phone out of her shell. "I should probably remedy that." She typed something into the textbox, doing so with a frenzied, desperate pace. Larry took note of her face as she did this; she looked like she was about to start hyperventilating. When she finished, she closed her eyes and took deep breaths. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Deep breath in, deep breath out. "Man, I really don't know much about how to handle this 'friendship' gig," she said after letting out the last breath.
Larry snorted again. "Well, if that gig doesn't work out, you could always apply for the 'lonely basket-case gig.'" Wendy flashed him a glare when he said that, causing him to burst into laughter. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding." He walked closer. "You're just inexperienced. We're all inexperienced with some things. You just so happen to be inexperienced when it comes to being an actual person."
Wendy's glare at him got more concentrated. "And you are inexperienced when it comes to being nice."
"Eh," Larry said with a shrug. "I'm a Koopa; it kind of comes with the territory." His face fell and his heart sank as soon as he said those words. "Well, a robotic Koopa. Don't know if that really counts." He sighed.
"Oh, buddy," Wendy said. The glare she had worn was now gone, replaced by a furrowed brow and a shine in her eye that indicated the presence of sympathy. "I know it's probably really sucky, not being able to do all that you want to do." She put on a smile. "But I promise you that it'll all be okay. All you have to do is make the most of it."
Larry bit his lip. "Yeah. Make the most of it." That was something he had promised himself he would do. After beating his biological father in battle thanks to his robotic powers, he had promised himself that he wouldn't let the bad parts of the wish get to him. Despite the drawbacks, he was going to live life to the fullest. He had even gone out of his way to say that promise out loud, just to make it even more official. He had every intention of fulfilling that promise… but parts of his new life still hurt. They hurt so badly, and what made it even worse was the fact that almost nobody in the world could understand or even grasp his pain. Ironic isn't it; his new body couldn't handle physical pain, yet the emotional pain he was going through as a robot was way worse than any bruise or wound.
But, again, he wanted to make the most of his new life. He couldn't go back to his old life after all; the door to that was sealed and locked. A bitter fact, but he couldn't dwell on that for the rest of his life. Instead of dwelling on what he lost, he needed to focus on what he had gained (as well as what he would gain).
So, he stood up straight and tall. "I fully intend to do that Wendy." He put on a smile. "Believe me; I'm going to make my new life kickass." He giggled. "Appropriate, considering I intend to kick the asses of my problems."
"That's the spirit!" Wendy pulled her phone back out. Instead of frowning while looking at the screen, she smiled now. "You know, I bet I could do the same." She chuckled. "Social anxiety and loneliness ain't got nothing on me! I'm gonna reconnect with my friends, and I'm going to be the best friend ever."
"Great!" At that moment, the buzzer on the dryer went off. "Ooh! My suit's done; even better!" He went over and pulled his superhero costume out. He grinned when he felt how warm it was; it was the perfect temperature, and it would be sure to keep him snug and cozy even when he was in the heat of battle. Closing the door to the dryer and wearing the biggest smile ever, he turned to the exit. "Well, duty calls; I'll see you later, Wendy."
"See you later." Right before Larry could exit, she gasped. "Oh! I just remembered something! I read a news alert on my phone that says a giga goomba is stomping through Neo Bowser City."
"Ooh, a giga goomba! That would be a satisfying baddie to beat up." Larry beamed. "I'll head there right away; thanks, Wendy!"
"Anytime, Larry. I hope you have fun!"
…
While flying towards Neo Bowser City, Larry's confidence levels were at an all-time high. The more he thought about the giga goomba, the more excited he became too. Seriously, a giga goomba! Those things were almost unheard of nowadays! Getting to beat one up, as well as reducing it back down to the size of a regular goomba, was bound to be fun. He could already see the news headline: "Giga Goomba Taken Down by Captain Metal!" Larry suspected that the hypothetical article would also talk about how rare goombas of that size were, and would also mention how taking care of the discount kaiju would be labeled as a historical event.
All the more reason to be excited about this upcoming battle.
Eventually, Larry spotted Neo Bowser City in the distance. Grinning, he sped up, determined to reach the city and get this legendary battle started once and for all. He zipped in between the neon-lit buildings, keeping his eyes peeled. He even activated one of the scanning vision modes, determined to not miss this monster and the trouble it was undoubtedly causing. He spotted some people down in the streets, screaming at the top of their lungs as they ran in the opposite direction of him. He chuckled; as horrible as this may sound, that was definitely a good sign.
So, he picked up the pace once again. He wove around the buildings with expert precision, as if he had been using his flying power his whole life. He noticed rumbles resounding through the air and the ground the further he flew, rumbles that made even the mighty buildings of Neo Bowser City shake. Larry giggled when he noticed this. Oh, he was so close now. He was so close; the giga goomba couldn't be very far…
There it was! Stomping down Main Street, leaving impressions in the ground with its goliath-sized feet. It seemed to intentionally be going out of its way to scare some of the people, as it sent glares down toward the citizens and even held its foot over their heads. This would result in the citizens running away screaming their heads off, which the goomba seemed to giddily relish (if the smirk on its face was any indication).
Oh, this was just delightful! The perfect enemy for Larry to do battle with! Forget fighting the Mario bros; Larry was going to fight this guy in a one-on-one battle. And unlike with the Mario brothers, he was actually going to win.
"HEY, SHROOMHEAD!" he yelled.
The goomba turned around, blinking their eyes out when they spotted the cape-wearing Koopaling. After a little bit, they chortled. "Well well well. If it isn't Captain Metal!" The goomba laughed, the sound carrying throughout the city. "I've heard so much about you. You must think you're such a big shot!" He narrowed his gaze at him. "Well, there's no way you're going to beat me! I'm huge!"
Larry snickered. "Well, you know what they say." He turned his right arm into his sonic cannon. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall!"
He zipped towards the goomba, shooting sonic blasts right at its face. The goomba flinched when he got hit, which was kind of disappointing given how Larry's goal was to cause some real damage. He zipped closer to the goomba, firing even more blasts. He even let some of them charge so that he could shoot even bigger blasts (and as such, inflict even bigger wounds).
"YEOW!" The goomba yelled when it got hit by one of these big blasts. He glared at Larry, and to the Koopalings' surprise, he leaped into the air. Larry's jaw dropped when he saw this, and his body had trouble moving at all. He only barely gathered his bearings in time to zip out of the way. The goomba created an ENORMOUS crater when it landed, one that looked to be about a mile deep.
Larry cringed when he saw this. Man, a lot of tax coins are going to be required to fix that…
"You aren't as tough as you think you are!" The goomba shouted. It charged at Larry, looking like he wanted to trample him. Larry zipped upwards, shooting more and more sonic blasts at him. Unfortunately, if the goomba did get hurt by these blasts, he didn't show it. Instead, he kept charging forward, looking at Larry like he was a bull and Larry was the bullfighter. Larry swallowed a lump, deciding it would be best if he rose a little higher. He was just about to do that when the goomba did something unexpected; he kicked him.
"AAH!" Larry fell backward into the street, landing with what was probably the least graceful display ever. Grunting, he tried to pick himself. Again, he didn't hurt due to his robotic invulnerability, but that wasn't necessarily the best thing in this situation. If anything, because he had landed with such force, Larry wouldn't be surprised if he had broken something. The spikes of his light blue shell could be hanging on by a thread, with wires sticking out of holes on his back. Just thinking about that possibility made Larry wince.
"Ha HA!" the goomba laughed, its voice very similar to a thunderclap. It ran over to Larry, who decided that he needed to rise back into the air. He was a superhero after all, so he couldn't just walk away from this fight and call it a day. He needed to keep going. Neo Bowser City was counting on him to kick this baddy's butt. They needed him to keep him safe, needed him to be able to continue on with living their normal lives. He wasn't going to lose. He couldn't. He didn't care how long it took, he was going to beat this goomba if it was the last thing he…
"AAH!" The goomba's foot came right down on top of him, leaving only his head free. Larry struggled against this hold, his panic levels rising exponentially. As he tried his best to get himself free, the goomba sneered at him. They leaned over him, casting one of the biggest, darkest shadows Larry had ever seen.
"It's over, Captain Metal. You've had a good run, but you know what they say." He chuckled, his large, hideous face growing even darker. "All good things must come to an end."
Larry whimpered. That may be true, but that wasn't going to be the case today. He was going to get free; he was going to beat this monstrous opponent. Unfortunately, the goomba applied more pressure to his feet, making the weight he had on Larry all the more heavy. Larry gasped for air, feeling like he had been put into a hydraulic press.
What could he do? He couldn't get free! This… this very well might be the end…
PEW!
The goomba shrieked. He stumbled backward, taking his foot off of Larry. He whimpered, reeling back as he had a… burn mark on his face? Confused, Larry stood up. What… what just happened?
"I THINK YOU NEED TO PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE, GIGA GOOMBA!"
Both Larry and the goomba blinked at that feminine voice. Larry looked up, and his jaw dropped at the sight above him.
"No way!"
A second superhero stood on the roof.
