Chapter 15 The Search Continues

"Larry, wake up!"

Larry stirred, and when he opened his eyes, annoyance reared its ugly head. Iggy was standing right over him, his bespectacled eyes mere inches from his face. Larry, before he had the opportunity to say anything about this, gave Iggy a glare. He was going to tear his brother a new one. He was going to rip into him and stomp on his burnt, crispy, trampled remains.

"Iggy, what the fuck? Do you think you made me out of clay and need to put the breath of life in me? GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY FACE!"

Thankfully, Iggy backed up. He didn't look nearly as shaken by those words as he probably could've been, which Larry figured was because he probably expected them. Honestly, that made Larry feel even MORE angry. If Iggy was expecting Larry to yell at him, then he should know why what he was doing was wrong. He should be well aware of it, and more than likely was. Ohhh… there were no lengths Iggy wasn't willing to sink to in order to be a nuisance.

"I apologize, Lawrence," Iggy said. He gestured toward the nightstand. "But it's already ten thirty! We've already wasted a big chunk of the day, which during a mission like the one we've partaken in is NOT acceptable."

Larry suppressed a groan and rose to a sitting position. "And yet, you could've woken me up even earlier than ten thirty if you were so dedicated to the search…" he shook his head, rubbing his temples as he did. "But whatever." He pushed the covers back and stood up. "You can make as little sense as you please, dear brother."

Now it was Iggy who gave Larry a glare. He looked like he was about to say more, but Larry thankfully managed to silence him before he did. He realized that being yelled at by Iggy, on top of being unpleasant, would also take more time away from the search for Junior. When he told Iggy that, the genius's anger melted away.

"You're right, you're right." He sighed, adjusting his glasses as he did. "Petty arguments won't do anyone any favors right now. We need to set our sights on what's most important."

"Yeah. We do." Larry looked toward the door before turning back to Iggy. "So… go check out?"

"Yes." Iggy nodded. "We should go check out."

…

And with that, the two Koopalings were back out in the open. The two of them were in Thwompville right now, as they had already covered all they could possibly cover in Stonebrim. And it was an absolute MIRACLE that they managed to get into Thwompville at all. Thwomps guarded the gates of this town twenty-four-seven, not letting anyone who didn't have good reason to get in. Larry was beyond thankful that the Thwomps saw him and Iggy needing to look for Junior as a good reason to let them in, as they would've wasted a good amount of time…

Wait a minute. Larry was just now starting to realize something. With how heavily guarded Thwompville was… how the hell would Junior be able to get in? Him running away and trying to avoid his family would not be seen as a good enough reason to the thwomps. If anything, the thwomps would report seeing Junior to the authorities as soon as possible. The fact that they hadn't done anything of the sort…

"Iggy, wait!" Larry ran up to his brother and took his hand. As Iggy gave Larry a questioning look, he explained his thought process to him. And… the further he got into the explanation, the more… embarrassed Iggy appeared. His face turned cherry red. He refused to look Larry in the eye, and he couldn't say a single word to save his life.

"You're right." He shook his head. "You're absolutely right."

Larry smiled. "Wow. Would you look at that! I'm right and you're wrong." He giggled, all while Iggy's face went from cherry-red to fire truck red. "Oh man, that feels good!" His giggles transitioned into laughs. "I'm gonna remember this moment for the rest of my life!" He pulled out his phone. "I'm even going to create a Shellbook account and post a status update because THIS just can't be…"

"Larry, knock it off!" Iggy looked like he was inches away from punching his youngest brother. "Look, you made a good point, and I admitted you did. That doesn't mean you have to act like a putz!"

"I wasn't acting like a putz!" Larry grinned at Iggy. "I was acting like an asshole!"

"Well, whatever you were acting like, it doesn't matter! We need to leave Thwompville and continue our search somewhere else. And we need to do it quickly; sleeping in has already taken precious hours away from the search, some of which could potentially have put Junior in a sense of danger."

Larry blinked before sighing and lowering his phone away from his face. "You're right; I'm sorry. Let's get out of Thwompville."

Iggy smiled as the two of them made their way to the town's northern border. They walked in silence, not saying a word to each other. Larry didn't mind this though; in fact, with how insufferable Iggy had been acting, he kinda found it to be ideal. No arguments, no lectures… honestly, Iggy not saying a word was the best way that one could spend time with him.

Okay, that was a little mean. But still, Larry appreciated the silence, as it allowed him to think about everyone's next course of action. And now that he thought about it… maybe he should see how his siblings were doing with the search. Maybe he should use the phone for its intended purpose and try to communicate with everyone.

So, he opened it up and started a group chat with the rest of the Koopalings. Hey guys, how's the search going? It didn't take long at all for the others to answer, which was a relief. At least, it was until he read the answers.

Haven't found him yet, said Morton.

Yeah, Roy texted. There is no Junior here in World 2. Just sand. Lots and lots of sand.

"Damn it," Larry said out loud. Iggy turned and gave him a raised eyebrow, causing him to shake his head. "No one else has found Junior yet."

Iggy nodded. "I wouldn't expect them to, given how much time Junior's had to move. If anyone is going to find him, it'll be the two of us."

"I know, I know." Larry put his phone away. "It's still frustrating. I feel like we're making no progress whatsoever."

"Oh no, we're making progress!" Iggy protested. "We've already covered the areas where Junior is not. So by necessity and through the process of elimination, we'll eventually find where Junior IS!"

Larry sniffed. "Yeah. Sure we will." Was it bad that his levels of cynicism were rising? Maybe it was just a side effect of the frustration, but at this point, he was really starting to doubt that they'll find Junior. Junior can be sneaky if he wants to be; if he doesn't want to be found by the Koopalings, then he's gonna do everything in his power to stay hidden from them. And that was just the best-case scenario where Junior wasn't hurt or (knock on wood) dead.

Oh man, what if he was dead? What if someone had found him and killed him? If that happened… how could Larry possibly handle that? Sure, he and Junior weren't the closest, but… Junior was Larry's little brother. His ONLY little brother. And… Larry honestly hadn't appreciated him as much as he should've. He… he…

"Larry? Are you alright?"

Larry wiped his nose and eyes. "I'm alright." No point voicing his worries, as they would just cause Iggy to worry. Iggy worrying and getting himself all up in a tizzy wasn't a fun event to watch in the slightest. Nor was trying to calm him down; one had to be very careful and very gentle if Iggy was freaking out. Larry couldn't do that. Careful and gentle were two words that didn't even come close to defining him.

"Uh… alright." Iggy's voice was dripping with incredulity, almost as if he had just gotten out of a swimming pool filled with the stuff. But much to Larry's relief, he didn't question him. Instead, he just backed up and patted Larry's shoulder. THAT was much appreciated; it was one of the rare moments when Iggy could really call himself a supporting and understanding older brother. Larry even managed to smile because of this, and he kept that smile on his face as the two resumed walking. That was very nice on Iggy's part, but…

Unfortunately, it wasn't the cure to Larry's anxieties that both Koopalings were clearly hoping it would be. Larry still felt as though he was about to have a panic attack. He needed something to distract himself; he didn't even care what that would be.

At least, until he remembered something. A subject he and Iggy had touched on yesterday when they were at Goomburger, a subject that Larry had decided to ignore for a little bit. But now… now, he wanted nothing more than to talk about it. He wanted the answers to the questions he wanted to ask. He wanted to know everything about this particular subject, regardless of the cost that said knowledge would have when it came to obtaining it.

"Iggy?" Iggy gave Larry a questioning look, and Larry gave him a cheeky grin. "You still haven't told me about our birth story."

Iggy's face fell so quickly it might as well have been pushed off a cliff. "Larry, don't. Don't do this now?"

"Why not?" Larry's excitement grew and grew. "I want to know where we came from, Iggy!"

"Larry, we have a search to conduct…"

"So? We can still conduct the search while you're answering the question. There is such a thing as multi-tasking!"

By now, Iggy was glaring at his youngest (biological) brother. "Larry, please! I already told you; this is a conversation for you and Bowser to have. I can't tell you about it; it wouldn't be right."

"Why not!" By this point, Larry was starting to feel frustrated again, even more so than he felt about the stupid search. "Iggy, come on! You know the birth story, so why don't you tell me? It probably won't take that long, so why don't you just…"

"Larry, STOP!" Iggy was fuming at this point. "Stop right now! Please! We have more important things to focus on! Okay? This is not the time nor the place!"

Larry wanted to scream; he honestly did. He wanted to scream, pull his hair out, and yell at Iggy. He wanted to get this information out of Iggy if it was the last thing he'd do. He wanted this information so bad, so badly and desperately and deeply… so what if Iggy thought it wasn't the right time? Didn't Larry have a right to this information? It covered a big part of not only Larry's history, but the history of his whole family! Why couldn't he have it? He wanted to know so bad!

But even with all those points being made in his head, Larry still groaned. "FINE! YOU WIN!" He grunted. "For now."

"Thank you," Iggy said. He sighed and adjusted his posture. "Now, we're almost at Thwompville's border. From there, we will make our way to Generica."

"Yep," Larry said with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm. He thought about the birth story as he and Iggy continued on their walk. What were his parents like? Were they celebrities? Were the criminals? How old were they when the Koopalings's eggs were laid? Why did they give them up for adoption? There were so many questions regarding this topic that it was insane. And yet, Larry wasn't going to get the answer to any of them.

Larry shook his head. This… this really wasn't fair. And yet, Iggy was shut tighter than a clam, so… he supposed they should just keep moving…