AN: Well... we did it guys! This is Super Koopalings's FORTIETH EPISODE! I... I can't believe this! We actually did it! As long as you don't count the special episodes. Or the rewrites. Or the side stories or the shorts... okay, so I might have more than forty episodes. but this is the fortieth episode of the MAIN series. So, imo, it's still worth acknowledging and celebrating. So... hooray for me!

Lol, anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this story; the last official part of the Captain Metal Arc. Let's hop right to it!

Chapter 1 Grief

"So yeah, that's mostly what's been going on with me." Roy rubbed his shiny bald head, only realizing halfway through that his equally bald sister might think it was a subtle jab against her. He quickly lowered his hand, cringing as Wendy looked over at him from her spot on her bed. "Celia and I have been getting along, Bowser and Kamek haven't decided I'm worth punishing anytime soon… heck, even Iggy hasn't been too bad. Mostly because he's just been minding his business." Roy chuckled, but his face fell pretty much immediately. "Can't complain."

Wendy pursed her lips and nodded. She didn't talk for a few minutes, letting the silence in the room grow. Roy started to feel a little fidgety, mostly because the two of them were avoiding a very big elephant in the room. And really, who could blame them for that? It was hard to think about, let alone talk about.

"Well… that's good." Wendy flung her legs over the side of the bed, her lips still pursed. By this point, Roy was ready to get on his knees and beg her to say something. He had already exhausted the topics that HE was interested in, so anything that she had to say would be more than welcome. Right as the suspense was threatening to stop his heart was when Wendy decided to speak too. "Things have been good for me too." She smiled. "I ordered something online that I think you'll like." Roy perked up, and Wendy smiled. "Beef bacon."

Roy did a double take. "BEEF bacon? That's a thing?"

"Supposedly." Wendy adjusted her position on her bed. "It's supposedly made for people who don't want to eat pork, and yet aren't so sissy that they want to be vegetarians." Wendy and Roy laughed at the quip, which was a more than welcome development. "It's supposed to taste really good. Those who've tried it even said that it tastes better than regular bacon."

"BETTER than regular bacon?" Roy's excitement rose. "Well, I'm sold!"

"So am I!" Wendy smiled. "I want everyone in the family to try it." She blinked before her face fell. "Well… almost everyone."

Roy's spirits fell immediately. He let out a long sigh before pinching his brow. "I was trying to see how far into this conversation we could go without talking about Larry."

"Yeah," Wendy said as she too let out a big breath. "Evidently, it wasn't very long."

"No. No, it was not." Roy bit his lip. "I feel so bad for the guy."

"Me too," Wendy said with a nod. "The downsides of his wish were already difficult enough for him to deal with. And I…" she sniffled, drying a tear from her eye. "Oh dear word, this is just…"

Roy nodded. "Yeah." He walked over to the bed, taking a seat right next to Wendy. "He won't even talk to me about it."

"You? He won't talk to YOU?"

Now Roy felt close to breaking down. "Yeah. And believe me, I've tried to talk to him. At the dinner table, he's silent. When I try to get him to play soccer or basketball with me, he's still silent. And don't even get me started when it comes to hero work." He put his head in his hands. "It's just… I've never seen him like this."

"Me neither." Wendy started to shudder. "And… well, something happened yesterday, something that was… well…" Roy kept his eyes on her, and Wendy took in a big, shaky breath. "I was taking a new dress I ordered up to my room…"

…

This dress had better look gorgeous on Wendy. It was pure silk, made in the pinkest shade of pink that any tailor had the pleasure of working with. Just looking at it brought Wendy happiness, just thinking about wearing it made her feel a thousand times more beautiful. She wondered what kind of makeup colors would complement this. Green? Green was the complementary color of pink. That could also work with her blue eyes too. After all, blue and green always brought the best out of each other…

"GAH!"

Wendy gasped. Did… that sound was coming from the castle gym! And it sounded… it sounded like Larry! Was he okay? What was happening?

"GRRRAH!"

Wendy immediately decided that she better step into action as opposed to just standing by and questioning things. She turned on her heel and ran to the gym, even taking off her signature high heels in order to reach the gym in a much faster time frame. She ran and ran, not even concerned that she was running out of breath. There was room in her mind for one concern and one concern only.

When Wendy finally got to the gym, she burst through the door panting. "Larry! Larry, are you…?"

She stopped, gawking at the sight. It looked like Larry had been throwing various items at the gym wall. Some of the items were relatively small, like weights and basketballs. However, what really stole Wendy's attention was the fact that the entire TREADMILL was lying in front of a big dent in the wall. Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull when she saw that.

"Larry!" She ran over to her little brother. She couldn't see his face; only the fact that he was trying to pick up the stairmaster in order to throw that too. "LARRY, STOP!" She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Put the stairmaster down right…"

That was when Larry turned to face her. Wendy's heart broke, as his eyes were red and his face was soaked. This was also the first time that she noticed that his breathing was a little shallow and shaky.

"Larry…" Wendy said.

Larry whimpered. "Sorry. I'm sorry, I just…" he whimpered and wiped his eyes before lowering the treadmill back to the floor. "I'm sorry, Wendy!"

The only emotions in Wendy's mind were concern and sorrow. "I know Larry, I know." She wrapped her arms around him, allowing him to cry without any fear of judgement. He held onto her as if she were a life preserver that could keep him safe from drowning in grief.

"I hate this," he whispered with a strained voice. "He's gone. Tec's gone." He paused to cry some more. "He's gone…"

Not knowing if there was anything appropriate to say in this situation, Wendy whimpered herself and held Larry tighter.

…

A pit formed in Roy's stomach as Wendy's story came to a close. "Dang…" he looked down at the floor. "I was at the gym this morning and saw the dents in the wall. I didn't even think twice about them." He cringed. "Dang, Larry…"

"Yeah." Wendy hung her head. "I wish there was something I could do." She wiped some tears from her eyes. "He's been like this for two weeks! I know that it takes a while for somebody to recover from a loss, but… he doesn't seem any better now than he was two weeks ago."

Roy could only nod at that statement. He remembered the events that led to this, feeling like crying as he did. Larry had been kidnapped and reprogrammed by a lizard… man… thing named Francis. In order to bring him back, Tec, Francis's computer who had gained sentience through downloading information from Larry's memory banks, sacrificed himself to let Larry download the information back into his head. It had thankfully worked for its intended purpose… but at the same time, the wounds Larry had received upon finding out a friend sacrificed himself hadn't closed.

Roy was beginning to think that they would never close.

"I know it's hard, Wen. Believe me, I know." He pulled his weeping sister into a hug. "But… these things happen. People come, people go. Eventually, everyone is going to have to say goodbye to everyone they know. It's a part of life, and I'm sure Larry realizes that."

"I know." Wendy sniffled. "But realizing it logically doesn't make you stop hurting less emotionally." She pulled a handkerchief out of her hammerspace and wiped some more tears. "And on top of that, Larry's a kid. He's never had to experience something like this before. How could he be expected to deal with this stuff now?"

The two sat in silence as Roy tried to think of an answer to that question. "I… guess he can't."

"Exactly." Wendy shook her head, placing her hands beside her knees and gripping them into fists. "He can't…"

Another silence occurred. Roy would literally trade his soul away if it meant he would know the right thing to say, the thing that would bring Wendy and even Larry some comfort. But he couldn't think of it. He tried for the better part of two minutes, but he couldn't think of it. On some level, he felt useless, which reminded him of the time that Larry had been brought home and Iggy tried to fix his reprogramming. He hadn't really opened up to any of his family members about this, but he felt so useless and weak in that situation. Having to just stand back and hope that his other, smarter family members would think of solutions… it was the worst, most nerve-wracking, darkest feeling that Roy had ever experienced. He NEVER wanted to go through that again. And yet, it was the exact feeling he felt right in this moment, trying to comfort his little sister without any clue of how to do so.

"Wendy, I…" He wanted to slap himself across the face but caught himself just in time. Sighing, he rose to a standing position. "I… uh…" He twiddled his thumbs, hoping that what he wanted to do didn't make him look like an insensitive jerk. "I think I should go try and find Larry. Sure, he hasn't been willing to talk to anybody, but…" he cleared his throat. "I'll see you in a little bit."

Wendy hesitated before nodding. "Right. See you in a little bit."

So, with his tail between his legs, Roy left the room. He immediately made his way to Larry's room. Sure, he didn't know exactly what he wanted to say to him, but… well, maybe he shouldn't think too much about that. It didn't really matter what he said to Larry as long as he was just there to talk to Larry, right? The two of them could just start a pleasant, normal conversation and go from there. Maybe that was all Larry needed. Maybe all he really needed was a shoulder to cry on and maybe a joke or two in order to get him to laugh.

Thankfully, that realization actually helped Roy feel a little more confident. He even managed to smile as he made his way to Larry's door. It wasn't a big smile, but… hey, it was something. The smile still stayed on his face as he went up and knocked on the door.

"Larry?" No answer, which Roy had honestly expected. He knocked again. "Hey, Larry, there's something I want to talk to you about. Can you let me in?" Still, there was no answer. Roy opened the door, hoping that Larry was just playing a version of the quiet game…

But he wasn't there.

"Where's Larry?" It wasn't so much a worried question, as it wasn't too out of the ordinary for Larry to be somewhere other than his room. Realizing this, he decided to check other locations in the castle. He checked the common room downstairs. Nothing. He checked the castle gym. Still nothing. He checked the dining room, the throne room, everything. It was once Roy checked the portrait hall and found nothing that he decided that he probably should start panicking.

"Larry?!" Roy put on a burst of speed as he rushed down the hallways. He imagined Bowser would scold him for this, but that was a very small concern. If he explained the circumstances to his adopted father, he would probably understand. "Larry, where are you?" He ran down the hallway around the perimeter of one of the castle courtyards. He was just about to leave the courtyard without a second thought before he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Turning, he blinked before breathing a sigh of relief.

"Larry!" He ran into the courtyard. "Oh bro, are you…" he stopped, only just now becoming aware of the fact that Larry was lying in the grass. Without moving a muscle. Roy's heart started to pound. "Larry, are you okay?" He grabbed Larry and turned him over so that his face was facing upward. He opened one of his closed eyelids, seeing the symbol in Larry's pupil that showed that the robotic Koopaling was out of battery.

"Damn it." Roy sighed, picked Larry up, and looked toward the door. "Come on, buddy. We're going to Iggy's lab."