Chapter 12 Nostalgic Pain

The white void of the Matrix wasn't nearly as intimidating as the first time Larry had seen it. Quite the contrary; it now filled him with excitement. All the possibilities in the world were available to him. The only limit in here was his own imagination (as well as the technical limitations of Tec's abilities).

Speaking of Tec, he materialized right in front of Larry. To the Koopaling's surprise, he just appeared to be a regular koopa with yellow hair and a tall, thin body. "You don't look like me anymore."

"I do not," Tec said with a nod. "The image of yourself seemed to cause you distress, so I searched through online images and created an appearance that combines aspects from all sorts of different koopas."

As if those were magic words, Larry all at once noticed how… off Tec looked. His nose, eyes, and mouth just didn't fit together. It was very subtle, but it was there. It was like staring at an AI-generated face for an extended period of time (which Larry realized was exactly what was happening, minus the extended time period part). As such, he wrinkled his nose and tried not to cringe as he gazed upon Tec's appearance.

"Uh… you know what? I changed my mind. I prefer it when you look like me."

"Are you sure?" Tec asked. "You didn't seem very thrilled last time…"

"I know, I know how I felt last time." Larry looked him right in his fake eyes. "I just… feel like this would be better."

Tec stayed silent for a few minutes. "Okay." He snapped his fingers, and he immediately shifted into Larry's form. Larry smiled upon seeing this.

"Oh yeah, that's more like it!"

"Good. I am glad that you are happy." The refusal to use contractions kind of reminded Larry of Iggy, which in turn made his heart ache. However, he pushed that to the side as Tec stepped closer. "Now, what would you like to do in the Matrix today?"

Larry let out a breath. "What would I like to do…" He thought of every possibility he could imagine, each one more appealing than the rest. This actually created a problem, as the available options were so numerous that choosing between them was an impossibility. Whenever he felt like he wanted to do one thing, his mind would interject with "Oh, but don't you want to do this instead?" Again, choosing what to do was borderline impossible. This reminded Larry of something Iggy had told him about when he was a little kid, how more available options tended to "paralyze" the decider. He hadn't believed those words then, but now…

"Larry?" Tec took a step closer. "What would you like to do?"

The Koopaling cringed, right on the border of crying his eyes out. "I…" The feeling of being intimidated by the Matrix was back again, but in a completely new way. "I… I don't… I can't…"

Tec, noticing his distress, snapped his fingers and made a puppy appear in Larry's hands. Larry gasped as the little beast licked his face, laughing at how happy they were. He looked over at Tec, who he noticed was forcing on a smile.

"Do you feel better? Are you content?"

Larry laughed. "Yes. Very much so." He held onto the little puppy, looking into its shimmering chocolate-brown eyes. It kind of made him think about one Koopsmas a few years back, where Morton had gotten Wiggles the Chain Chomp as a present. Morty had looked beyond excited at getting his first pet ever. Even though Morton's impression of Koopsmas had soured over the years, Larry knew that he still looked upon that one with glee. Hell, Larry himself looked upon that Koopsmas with glee.

Gasp! WAIT A MINUTE!

"Oh! I know what we can do!" Still holding the digital puppy tightly in his arms, Larry stepped towards Tec. "I want to experience Koopsmas!"

"Koopsmas?"

"Yeah. It's one of my favorite holidays." He smiled. "I think it'd be cool to live it out here in the Matrix."

Tec stayed still for a second. "I see. Well, I don't have much experience when it comes to 'Koopsmas.'" Larry's face fell. Just as he was about to verbally express his disappointment was when Tec spoke up again. "However, there is nothing stopping me from doing research." He closed his eyes and placed his pointer fingers on his temples. "Give me a second as I search through the internet."

And then, something interesting happened. As Tec took in the information from various parts of the internet, various images flashed across the void. And various was a bit of an understatement; there were so many images going by at breakneck speed that Larry had trouble seeing every single one of them. However, that didn't stop him from trying. He saw Koopsmas cookies placed in front of a tree. He saw a recreation of King Cosmo's birth. He saw kids laughing as they opened their presents, he saw people being pulled in a one horse open sleigh, he saw various decorations colored red and green. Larry smiled at these sparkly images, already feeling a very real sense of nostalgia.

And then, the images faded, and Tec opened his eyes. He looked at Larry, blinking a couple of times. "Well. I think I've collected a decent amount of data." He turned around. "I can recreate a day of Koopsmas."

He snapped his fingers again, and the Matrix shifted. All at once, Larry was in a cozy-looking home. A fire crackled and glowed on the hearth, with stockings hanging right over it. A Koopsmas tree stood in the right-hand corner; tall, proud, and covered in a rainbow assortment of lights. Presents sat underneath the tree, wrapped up in the shiniest paper ever seen. Larry smiled at this sight… but he didn't smile as strongly as he could.

"Uh, Tec?" Larry turned toward his digital doppelganger. "This is nice and all, but… I want to experience Koopsmas like my family does it. Not just in a general sense."

Tec briefly looked back at the display. "That is perfectly fine." He looked back at Larry. "However, I am going to need some input from you."

"Input?" Larry asked with a blink. "What do you mean by…?"

Before he could finish his sentence Tec placed one hand on Larry's shoulder and another hand directly onto his forehead. Larry was so shocked that he couldn't even protest, and he only grew more confused as Tec closed his eyes. Larry squirmed a little bit, wondering what exactly he was doing. Was this okay? Was this safe?

After a little bit, Tec pulled away and opened his eyes. "Okay. Okay, I think I have an idea of what you're looking for."

He snapped his fingers again, and all at once, Larry was back in Bowser's Castle. A Koopsmas tree was hung up in the throne room, and presents of all sorts laid underneath it. Larry smiled at this sight, and his smile only grew bigger when he heard the door open. His siblings came into the room, laughing with each other as they filtered in.

"Oh Mama Mia!" Lemmy said. "I've been waiting for this moment! Every part of this beautiful day has been building up to this!"

"I know!" said Wendy. "I just…." She giggled and squeed. "Oh, I hope I get everything on my list!"

Morton just sniffed. "As long as I'm not forced into a time loop again, I think I'll be happy."

Larry watched this display with a dropped jaw before looking back at Tec. "Wow." He smiled. "You nailed my siblings' mannerisms. It's like they're actually here!"

Tec nodded. "Well, most of the data I have in relation to them comes from your memories specifically. And this is how they tend to act around you, right?"

Larry giggled. "You got that right." He walked up to his siblings, waving at them as he did. "Hey guys! Merry Koopsmas!"

"Merry Koopsmas, Larry!" They said in unison.

Larry blinked before turning back to Tec with a glare. "Okay, they don't all speak in unison. That's just creepy."

"Duly noted." Tec held up his hand. "Let me see if I can fix that."

He snapped his fingers, and time around the two of them rewound for a few seconds. When it stopped, the Koopalings all stared at Larry in what appeared to be anticipation. Larry looked back at Tec, who gestured toward Larry's siblings.

"Try addressing them again."

"Uh… okay." Larry looked back at his siblings and smiled again. "Merry Koopsmas, guys!"

"Merry Koopsmas, Larry!" said Roy. Giggling, he walked up to Larry and playfully punched him in the arm. "How are you feeling today?"

"Me?" Larry shrugged before laughing. "I dunno; I guess I'm feeling fine."

"Fine? FINE! The Koopsmas spirit doesn't leave you feeling fine!" Lemmy stepped closer to his youngest brother. "You either feel awesome or nothing at all! There's no in-between!"

Larry giggled. Yeah, that sounds like something the real Lemmy would say. "You're right, you're right. I feel awesome! I feel like I'm on top of the world!"

"On top of the world?" Tec asked as the Koopalings were put on pause. "How can one be 'on top of the world?' The only way I think that would be possible is if you are directly on the North Pole?"

Annoyance filled Larry briefly, but he decided to push it away. "It's just an expression, Tec."

"An expression?" He made a face. "Like this kind of an expression?"

"No," Larry said as he shook his head. "Not like that. It's… it's a euphemism."

"Oh." Tec paused. "Well, I suppose that makes sense."

With that, the Koopalings unpaused yet again. Morton came up to Larry with a face as blank as Tec's. "I'm glad that at least you're feeling good." He sighed. "Koopsmas is still really difficult."

Larry was about to tell Tec that Morton's views on Koopsmas had changed when he got stuck in that time loop two years ago, but decided against it in favor of playing along. "Well." He approached his older brother and put his hand on his shoulder. "If it helps you feel better, I will go out of my way to make sure that this Koopsmas is a good one for you."

Morton blinked before smiling. "Thanks." He sniffled. "That means a lot."

"You're welcome." Larry smiled as he turned back to Tec. "Nice touch with the sniffling, by the way."

"Thank you."

Wendy came out of the group. "Now, what are we just waiting around for?" She zipped over to the tree. "Let's open presents!"

"Woah woah Wendy, calm down," said Ludwig. "It's not like the presents are going anywhere."

"Yeah!" said Lemmy. "They will always be present and accounted for!"

Larry laughed out loud. Man, Tec was really good at this. Like, it was actually kind of scary how well he was able to imitate the Koopalings. Scary in a good way, of course. If Larry ignored the potentially concerning implications of this AI's capabilities, he could say that he was happy he was able to hang around his siblings in this way.

Of course, he severely wished it was the real Koopalings he was talking to.

Well, anyway, the seven of them gathered around the tree. Larry and Tec stood back as they watched the others open their gifts. Larry smiled when he saw what they were; Wendy got a makeup kit, Ludwig got a trumpet, Lemmy got a new rubber ball, Morton got a cookbook, Iggy got a science kit, and Roy got… steroids, of all things.

"Oh, awesome!" Roy exclaimed with a smile. "These are the best steroids I've ever gotten! Thanks, guys!"

Larry couldn't help but turn and glare at Tec when he heard this. "Why did you give him steroids?"

"Because of how muscular he is," Tec said matter-of-factly. "The likelihood of him getting that big naturally is severely limited."

Larry thought about this. "Well… yeah, I mean, you are right about that. But Roy wouldn't be this jovial if we got him steroids for Koopsmas! He needs something else!"

Tec thought about this before nodding. "Very well." He looked back at Larry. "What would you suggest?"

"What would I suggest?" Larry thought about this before grinning and whispering in Tec's ear. He nodded and snapped his fingers again, causing a wrapped-up present to appear in Larry's arms. Grinning, Larry approached his favorite older brother. "Roy?" The pink-headed Koopaling looked up at him, as did everyone else. "There's something else I think you would really like." He extended his arms, showing him the gift.

"Oh?" Roy stood up and took the gift, tearing into it with his claws. When he got it all the way open, he grinned. "Woah, cool!" He reached into the box, pulling out a pair of sunglasses with rainbow shades. "These look awesome!" He took off his original sunglasses and put those on. "Do I look sexy or what guys?"

Ludwig snorted. "So sexy I forgot to swoon."

Larry laughed at this. Everyone else gave Roy their two cents about this gift, either giving him a hard time or complimenting him. While this happened, Tec approached Larry.

"Would your brother appreciate a gift like that in real life?"

Larry nodded. "I think he would." He grinned. "Roy and I always talked about the two of us getting these ultra-cool, matching designer sunglasses. That way, everyone would know we're best buds."

"Interesting," Tec said.

"Yeah." Larry thought about this some more before his shoulders slumped. "Of course… well, I don't know if I'll get the chance to do that now."

The sounds of his (fake) siblings's banter faded away as Larry drew back into his head. Even though he logically knew this wasn't happening, it felt as though the room was growing darker around the edges. The walls were threatening to fall on him, crushing him under their weight. And honestly? At this point, Larry wouldn't mind if that was the case. He really wouldn't.

"Larry? Are you okay?"

Larry stood still for a second before finally deciding to answer Tec's question. "I just…" He looked back at Tec. "Do you think we can do something else now?"

Tec paused before nodding. "Of course."