It was late in the evening, a gust of wind blew through the open balcony door and lifted the curtains up. Feeling quite a chill, he got up from on his bed and gently shut the glass door, blocking the wind along with most of the pleasant sounds of nature that came from outside, even though there was little to begin with, being in World 8 and all.

Hopping back onto his bed on top of the blankets that matched his shell color, he grabbed the remote on the bedside table to his left and turned on the tv. It showed what looked like some obscure generic game show that he wasn't very into, "Oh yeah, we were watching some game shows yesterday."

He pressed the guide button to look for the cartoon channel. Even though he has done this a million times, he still struggles to find it from time to time. "Come on Toonz World, where are you?" Seriously, he should really memorize the channel number if he watches it so often. After about two minutes of searching, he finally found the channel he was looking for. He looked ahead and noticed a cartoon that he liked was up next.

Switching to the channel brought him to what looked like the ending of the show running at the moment. The night time scene showed a teenage boy was stuck underneath what appeared to be a heavy wooden beam with a plate of spaghetti upside down next to him on the floor of what looked like a small roofed stage in a park.

"Hey, I'm stuck! Can you get me out?" The kid called out loudly. But it was silent. "H-… Hello? … Scamp? … Dexter? … D- Danielle? … Are you there? … Anyone?" He kept on calling out, getting gradually quieter as the screen zoomed out and faded to black.

He winced at the sight, "Ooh… Looks like they forgot him." He then brushed off his empathy with a shrug, "Eh, he'll be fine…" This was followed by the credits sequence that began to roll up across the screen with the show's theme song playing in the background. It was a show he has seen occasionally, but wasn't too interested in it. But he knows a certain someone who really likes it, "He'll be a bit disappointed after finding he missed out on this."

As if right on cue, a familiar voice called out to him from outside, "Heeeey Laaaarry! Are you finished? I can hear you watching tv from out here!" The voice whined a little as they knocked on the door before opening it. "Huh?" Larry snapped out of his brief trance as he looked over towards the door.

There, he saw Lemmy walking inside of their shared bedroom and closing the door behind him, looking at Larry with a stern, but really a more playful look. "You know, King Dad won't like you slacking off on your duties, Larry!" Larry leaned back on his bed, "Hey, I just finished okay? I deserve some well earned free time." Larry then placed a hand over his face and shut his eyes with an exhausted moan, "Even though I spent all day polishing those Hammer Bro helmets… I really need to go on a vacation one day."

"You and me both." Lemmy said as he jumped on top of his bed, "One of my jobs today was feeding the chain chomps. Which is a bit hard when you're small, because then you'd be trying to make sure that you don't end up being food!" Lemmy sighed, "Seriously… they tried to eat me several times…" Lemmy's face turned to that of fear, "Given how small I am, they actually could have…!"

Larry was a bit startled by what Lemmy just said, "Sheesh… If it's really that bad, then Iggy should be the one doing it. He knows how to handle them a lot better than the rest of us." Larry then casually shrugged, "That, or the chompers can just have a meal instead of a snack."

Lemmy burst out laughing at Larry's remark for some reason, "W… why am I laughing at that?" Lemmy spoke in between small laughs as his face gradually turned back into fear, "Ha ha… ha- uh, um that- that's not funny…" By that point, Lemmy wasn't laughing anymore. He looked more scared than happy. "Exactly. That's why I'm not laughing, because it isn't." Larry said with a nervous look on his face.

At that point, both silently agreed to change topics from potentially dangerous jobs that were tasked to literal kids. That was when Lemmy noticed the credits of the show playing on the tv, "Wait, is that…?" Larry finished his sentence as he trailed off, "Yeah, you just missed the ending. Sorry Lem."

"Awwwwww…" Lemmy sadly whined as he looked down at his yellow blanket with an orange star on it with immense disappointment before he looked back up at Larry with a sad face, "Which episode was it?" Larry shrugged, "All I saw was the ending, so I'm not sure. It just showed that one kid stuck under a wooden beam on that stage looking thing in the park he was in."

Lemmy's eyes lit up, "Oh, never mind then. I've already seen that episode a bunch of times." But then his face turned into a 'Seriously…?', yet still playful look, "Also, that 'stage looking thing' is called a 'gazebo', Larry." Larry turned back to look at the tv, "Whatever."

Lemmy recalls a scene that apparently happened earlier in that episode, "I remember that one scene where they searched dozens of boxes stored away. Only to find that they were all empty!" Lemmy giggled as he continued, "And poor, poor what's-his-name. He was NOT amused!" Lemmy burst out laughing again, "They spent almost an hour searching a room filled with nothing but empty boxes!" Lemmy fell backwards on his bed while laughing hysterically.

Larry on the other hand, was a bit puzzled. "Why would they have a room filled with tons of empty boxes…?" Larry was genuinely confused as to why Lemmy finds humor in that. After calming down a little, Lemmy answered his question, "I dunno, ask the writer in charge." Larry scoffed a little, "With a writer like that, it's no wonder that show only lasted a few episodes before getting canceled."

Lemmy stopped laughing and waved his finger at him, "Ah ah! That's only because they spent most of their production energy making that time traveling trilogy with those same characters!" Larry was unfazed, "Yeah, a trilogy with some plot holes, questionable writing and cringey fourth wall breaks…"

They turned their attention back to the tv, where it displayed the airing timeline, showing what shows are up next with the channel's signature background music playing. Lemmy's eyes lit up again, "Oh, it's that show!" Larry happily nodded, "Oh yeah! I love this cartoon!"

"We both do, silly!" Lemmy says before making his signature silly face, and that's sticking his tongue out the side of his mouth with happy closed eyes. Returning to his normal face, he placed a thoughtful hand under his chin with a smile.

"My favorite character is that teacher who is always trying to catch the main character in the act and exposing his… hold on a sec." Lemmy cleared his throat and began to make a surprisingly good impression of him, despite his naturally squeaky voice, "But how is that possible? There can be only one logical explanation…" Lemmy took a deep breath before shouting, spazzing out and waving his arms inhumanly fast with wacky spinning eyes, "LUMA GODPARENTS!"

Larry burst out laughing along with Lemmy. After laughing until their sides hurt, Larry was finally able to speak coherently again, "Okay, that was pretty good right there." Lemmy casually shrugged, "I always try my best." He then began to giggle again.

As the commercials played one by one with both Koopalings waiting on their beds with great anticipation, the bedroom door opened to reveal Ludwig, "Hey, can you not shout? It's bad for your throat, Lemmy." Lemmy shrugged again, "Hey, it's okay if you're having fun."

After a moment of silence, Larry spoke up, clearly a bit irritated by Ludwig waltzing in without warning. "That's it? Is that the only reason you barged in here? Just to tell us to be quiet?" Ludwig sighed as he shook his head, "No. I'm also here to round up you two. Father has an announcement for us in the throne room."

"Aww what!" Lemmy was really disappointed. Larry was annoyed, "Oh come on!" He then pointed to the tv, where the intro of their show just started playing, "Our favorite show JUST started!" Ludwig ignored their groaning, "Lawrence, you know full well that royal duties override leisurely childish activities. If you're so worried about your show, just record it." Larry crossed his arms as he looked straight ahead and pouted, "It's not the same!"

"Please can the announcement wait?" Lemmy said in a whiny tone and puppy dog eyes. "Pwetty pwease…?" Unfortunately for Lemmy, he was completely immune to his adorableness. Ludwig placed his hands on his hips and gave him a stern look, "Lemmy, you know that's not how this works. Now come on you two, I've gathered up everyone else already."

Larry looked back at Ludwig, "Before we do. Ludwig, try knocking before you enter!" Ludwig responded by taking a step back, closing the door, knocking, and then opening it again. "There's your precious knock."

Ludwig stepped to the side and motioned for them to follow him, "Now let's get going already, you know what happens when you don't show up." Larry talked over him as he got off his bed. "Yeah yeah, we get it… Come on Lem, let's go…" Lemmy sadly hopped off his bed and followed them out the door.

The three of them walked down the dozen or so long castle hallways in silence. Said silence was palpable and tense. Larry's bitterness towards Ludwig and their father's important announcement rudely interrupting him and Lemmy's recreational time after a long day showed as he just looked down ahead of him, not saying a word.

Lemmy felt saddened by missing out on one of favorite cartoons like that. Especially since it was the first time all week he actually had a proper chance to watch it. What's worse was that it was due to an announcement from their father, and Lemmy already had a pretty good idea on what it was probably going to be about. He sighed internally, "We're going to be doing another one, aren't we?"

Eventually, the three of them reach the throne room and enter. There, the rest of the Koopalings were present, standing around in a line, none of them looking too amused. Clearly, they didn't appreciate having their evening routines interrupted either.

The Koopa king himself was seated on his throne. Usually he sits with a leg crossed over the other with his head resting in his hand on an armrest while tapping his fingers impatiently. But he wasn't. Instead, he sat rather professionally and well mannered, waiting patiently for their arrival. Which wasn't like him.

Wendy was the first to notice them enter the room, "Finally, what took you guys so long?" Iggy then followed up in a sarcastic tone as he looked at Larry, "Slacking off again are we?" Larry crossed his arms and looked away, "Oh, give me a break Iggy."

Roy dismisses Iggy as he smugly strolls over to Lemmy, "Nah, they probably had to slow down so the little pipsqueak could keep up with them." He then gestured at Larry, "That, or the baby needed him to give him a yoshi-back ride so he could actually get around." Lemmy opened his mouth to respond, but Larry stepped in front of him with an assertive stance, "Hey! You leave him alone, Roy!"

Roy scoffed with a smug grin, "See? This proves my point. The toddler is so pathetic that little boy blue here always has to be there to help him take his baby-steps, always ready to be his knight in shining armor to save the day. Precious, really." Larry's face turned into a look of fury as he got up in Roy's face, "You take that back!" Roy put a thoughtful hand on his chin, "Hmmm…" He then crossed his arms, keeping that smug look, "No. What are ya gonna do about it?"

Lemmy didn't like how things were escalating, so he tried to diffuse the situation. "Larry, don't. It's not worth it." But Larry ignored him, "This is what I'm gonna do about it!" Larry swiftly whipped out his wand and bashed Roy on the head with it.

Jeez, Larry. Reckless much?

Okay, originally I was going to have chapters 1 and 2 be a single chapter, but the combined total rose above 4500 words, which is way to big (By my standards at least.) So I had to split them up, unfortunately this means that neither comes close to my 3000 word minimum threshold. But I guess it couldn't be helped this time.

As for chapter 2, it's pretty much done. But I'm going to wait a little while before uploading it, just so it gives me time to make last minute changes. Or I could just (in typical me fashion) completely disregard it and just upload it immediately after. I'll just pick which ever one sounds more fun.