Chapter 11 A Hollow Victory

Coughing and hacking away to deal with the dust, Larry opened his eyes. The first thing that became apparent to him was the fact he was on the ground, with the go kart laying on top of his legs. Whimpering when he saw this, he pushed the go-kart back and stood up. Even though he didn't feel pain, he did wobble. Even though he wasn't physically hurt, internally he was crying and cursing and feeling cruddy.

That didn't change at all when he saw Mario cross the finish line, the same finish line that Larry had been mere feet away from crossing. Larry's heart sank when he saw this, and the bitterness only grew stronger when he saw Luigi cross the finish line too.

"WAHOO!" Mario exclaimed. He hopped out of his go-kart and threw his hands up in the air. "THAT was fun!"

"Yeah, it was!" Luigi chimed in.

Larry felt like crying. Looking back at his go-kart, which he noticed got some pretty nasty dents in the explosion, he tried not to let this bother him. It was just a game and he shouldn't get that emotionally invested. He recognized that logically, but the truth is, he had always been the competitive type. That, combined with the fact that he had been WINNING the race before the blue shell had come and ruined everything, made him feel like he was on the verge of a downward spiral.

"Larry?"

He didn't even notice Luigi and Mario coming up to him initially, but now that they were so close to him, he didn't know how to feel. Larry stood in place for a few minutes, just allowing the silence to dominate the scene. Sometimes silence said more than words could, after all.

"Larry, are you okay?" asked Mario.

Larry bit his lip. "I'm fine."

"You sure…?"

"Yes. I'm sure." Larry shook his head. "Congrats on your victory, Mario."

Without any other words, Larry turned and started making his way back to the castle.

…

*Sigh.*

Mario sat in an armchair in front of a fireplace in Peach's Castle. He couldn't take his eyes off the flames, and he couldn't shake off the bad feelings developing in his mind and gut. He felt dirty; he REALLY felt dirty. Part of him wanted to go apologize to Larry, but… would that even help? Would that make much of a difference?

Sighing again, Mario leaned back in his chair. Larry was currently in the guest bedroom, and just thinking about the kind of emotions the kid could be experiencing made Mario squirm. How in the world could Larry even be expected to feel fine and function on a good level after that? Mario already knew how devastating blue shells could be when there WASN'T a component of emotional healing packaged into a Mario Kart race. They made one feel angry, they made one feel like all the effort that one had put into a race was for naught. Blue shells were horrible by themselves, so… how horrible did getting hit by it make Larry feel right now? On some level, Mario wanted to know the answer to that question. And yet, on the other… he was afraid of said answer. He really was.

"Mario?"

Mario turned toward the door. Luigi stood there, looking like he wanted to talk yet had absolutely no idea what to say. Frowning, Mario turned back to look at the fireplace, not turning even as he heard Luigi's footsteps coming up to the chair.

"How is he?"

"I… I don't know." Luigi paused. "I went to see him, but… he doesn't want to talk about this. He keeps insisting to me that he's fine, that it was just a stupid race and that there was no reason for him to be upset."

Mario snorted. "There are a million reasons for him to be upset." Mario groaned and pinched his brow. "I should've checked the item boxes first…" he groaned again, this sound just a few inches away from being a whimper. "I should've checked them!"

"It's not your fault, Mario," Luigi said. "I was the one who threw the blue shell. If there's anyone who deserves the brunt of the blame, it's me."

Mario felt a pang. "No, you don't. Both of us are equally responsible. We BOTH made mistakes when it came to the race." He bit his lip. "And… I just… I want to make it up to Larry."

"I do too," Luigi said. He crossed his arms. "His family may cause trouble, but…" he didn't finish the sentence, but he didn't need to. In Mario's eyes, the possible endings to the sentence were far too many and said way too much that just choosing one of them would undermine everything.

"Yeah." Mario took off his cap and looked down at it. He frowned, considering what this cap represented. To the Mushroom Kingdom, it was THE hat. It was the hat worn by a national hero. Any Toad who looked at it felt safe, felt secure and happy. This was like a sword that a mighty warrior carried, a crown that royal figures never took off their head. And yet, as he looked down at it, he felt the overwhelming urge to cast it to the side and not think about it for a decent chunk of time.

"Mario?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you…" Luigi hesitated before sighing. "Never mind."

"No no, it's okay." Mario got out of the chair and faced his brother. "Tell me what's going on."

Luigi hesitated again, which just made Mario feel horrible. He always felt horrible whenever his brother had trouble speaking his mind, every single time without fail. Putting on a smile that he hoped appeared comforting, Mario went up and put his hand on Luigi's shoulder. Thankfully, this was exactly what the doctor ordered.

"Okay, well, I was thinking… as a sort of way to make it up to Larry… do you think we should do what we talked about?"

Mario blinked. "What do you mean by… oh!" He smiled. "Yeah, we can do that, but… I thought we agreed we wouldn't leave the castle until tomorrow."

"Yeah, we did; we definitely did. But considering how hurt Larry is at the current moment… well, like we discussed earlier, a change in scenery can often offer people with a new perspective. If there's anytime for Larry to gain a new perspective on things, it would be now."

"True. That does have the potential to help him feel better." His smile grew bigger. "You know what?" He pulled away from Luigi. "Go tell Larry to start getting ready. I want us to be down by the warp pipe in the next two hours."

"Consider it done, bro."

With that, Luigi left. Mario stood in place for a minute before taking a big relaxing breath. They were doing this. He never in a million years would've thought that they would bring Larry to the real world, but… this was happening. It was actually happening, and Mario couldn't be more excited.

…

Larry sat in a chair in front of Mario and Luigi packed some suitcases. The Koopaling himself didn't need to pack anything, not only because he didn't have many belongings with him at the moment but also because he had a hammerspace. Any Koopa worth their salt would say how much of a blessing their hammerspace was. In fact, it was such a blessing that, as Larry watched the Mario Bros stuff things that were way to big in suitcases that were WAY too smal, he felt kinda bad.

"You know guys, if you need me to put anything in my shell, I'd be more than happy to do that."

Luigi chuckled as he pulled some socks out of a bag of belongings he had apparently brought along for his stay at the castle (honestly, Larry had almost completely forgotten that Mario and Luigi didn't LIVE in Peach's Castle). "It's okay, Larry. We'll be able to fit everything."

Larry raised an eyebrow as he looked down at Luigi's suitcases. "Right. Sure." Mario and Luigi chuckled as they continued on with packing. Larry pulled his legs up onto the seat and crossed them, seriously wondering where this whole thing was going. Mario and Luigi hadn't given him any details of their plan. All they had said to him was that they were going to take a trip.

"Will you guys PLEASE tell me where we're going?"

Mario's eyes glittered. "It's a surprise."

Larry groaned. "I don't like surprises! Especially since the last one I've expereinced was a stinking blue shell!"

Mario paused from packing, his facial expression appearing like a furrowed brow mixed with a cringe. He looked into Larry's eyes with that expression, which had an interesting effect on the Koopaling's psyche. He hurt, first and foremost. He also felt guilty, like he had hit some kind of nerve.

"Sorry, sorry, that was rude…"

"No Larry, it's okay." Mario stepped away from the suitcase and walked up to him, still keeping the same pained expression on his face. "I'm really sorry about the blue shell."

"We both are," Luigi said. "We were so excited about starting the race that we didn't even stop to consider what was in the item roulette."

"Yeah," Mario said with a nod. "Which, if I were t be frank, was a very irresponsible thing to do on our part. You came here to get help, to feel better. We shouldn't have even given you the possibility of being hit by a blue shell."

Larry stayed silent, mostly because he was in awe. He wanted to gawk at Mario and Luigi, as right now he was questioning how his former arch enemies could be so gentle with him. So helpful, so kind.

"It's… it's fine," Larry said. "I just…" he shook hsi head and let out a gurgly groan. "I just REALLY want to know where you guys plan on taking me!"

Mario and Luigi exchanged a look. And Larry knew, he KNEW that they weren't actually going to give him the answers. Call it a superstition, call it a gut feeling, call it whatever. He knew that they weren't going to be straight with him. And yet, when they actually did speak, something about the words they said filled Larry with wonder.

"We're taking you to a very special place," Mario said. "A place very near and dear to our hearts."

Larry blinked. "So… an Italian restaurant?"

Mario and Luigi laughed. "No," Luigi said. "Although, there are Italian restaurants in this place."

"That there are." Mario took a step towards Larry. "But that's not the main reason we're going. We think this place could inspire you. We think that it could help you feel better. Not only is it an absolutely beautiful place, but there are also a ton of really nice people there. People who I think you would get along with really well."

Despite everything, Larry smiled. "Well, I'm sold." Mario smiled at him and went back to packing his bag. As he did, Larry thought about all that Mario just said. "A lot of really nice people…" he nodded his head. "That could be nice. It's always cool to meet new people."

Luigi chuckled. "Oh, I can't help but agree more, Larry." He tried to close his suitcase, but it wouldn't close. Grunting and gritting his teeth, he pushed down on the top with all of his strength. "Come on, come on…" Eventually, it finally managed to close, which made Luigi smile. "Phew." He wiped some sweat off his brow. "I think I'm all set."

"Yeah, I am too," Mario said. He picked up his suitcase and turned to Larry. "You ready?"

"Pretty much."

"Good. Now, there's one more thing I need to do before we leave…" He put his bag down and went to a dresser on the other side of the room. Out of it, he pulled out a plum purple hoodie, handing it to the ultra confused Larry. "Put this on."

"Uh… why?"

"Just trust me." Figuring that he couldn't really do anything but, Larry took the hoodie and put it on. "Okay, now pull up the hood." Larry did just that, making Mario smile in relief. "Bueno." He let out a breath, picked his suitcase back up, and faced the door. "Okay, everybody. Let's a go!"