Chapter 10 Mario Kart Live Castle Circuit

Mario smoothed out the tablecloth and straightened his mustache as he waited for Larry. He stole a glance at the clock, seeing that it read ten minutes till eight. Surely Larry was aware of that, right? It wouldn't make sense if he wasn't. Mario looked over at Luigi, folding his hands in front of him as he also sat at the table.

"He was doing okay last night, right?" Mario asked.

Luigi hesitated. "He…" Luigi whimpered. "He's struggling."

Mario felt a pang. "I figured." He turned his attention toward the door, waiting for Larry to come in. No less than two minutes later, the youngest Koopaling showed up in the doorway. Putting on a smile, Mario stood up and went over to him.

"It's good to see you."

"Yeah. You too." He sighed. "Have you guys eaten?"

"Yep. Which means that we're all ready to get this party started."

"Party, huh?" Larry snickered. "That's a pretty generous term."

"Well, you know me. I'm a hero; heroes are supposed to be generous." Mario chuckled, his face falling as he looked between Luigi's worried smile and Larry's blank look. He cleared his throat. "Now, Larry. You play video games, right?" Larry nodded, which made Mario smile. "Good. And does Mario Kart happen to be one of the games you play, by any chance?"

Larry smirked. "Yep. Ever since you invited us to the eighth tournament, I couldn't get enough of it." His smirk grew brighter and bigger. "I could probably beat even YOU in a race."

"Oh, you think so, huh?" A playful smile pulled on Mario's lips. "You want to test that theory?"

Larry blinked. "You… you want to play Mario Kart? I didn't even know you had a Switch…"

"Oh, I don't. Not really."

Confusion claimed Larry's face. "Then… how are we supposed to… wait!" His eyes grew wide. "You… you want to do a REAL race!"

"Yep!" Mario laughed and gestured to Luigi as he got up from the table with a grin. "The two of us challenge you to a small race around the castle. We want to see if your Mario Kart skills are actually worth bragging about."

Even though Larry didn't look as ecstatic as he could be, the glittering of his eyes was still wonderful. As was the smile that he wore. Could this be compared to him seeing light at the end of the tunnel for the first time in a while? Mario hoped so. Not only would that mean he was doing his job right, but it would also mean… that Larry didn't have to suffer. One might find this thought of his funny, considering he didn't consider whether or not the Koopas would suffer when he fought them in the boss arena, but… that was different. Fundamentally different. On some level, it was easier for Mario to put himself in Larry's shoes. It was almost easy enough to be done with no effort at all, in fact.

"Oh, my skills definitely are worth bragging about." Larry gave him a sly grin, appearing like the young, brash, competitive Koopaling that Mario had always known Larry Koopa to be. "You are going DOWN!"

Luigi laughed. "Oh, we'll see about that."

…

Sitting in this freshly minted go-kart brought Larry back in the best way possible. As he slid his hand around the steering wheel, he remembered the time when he and his siblings had participated in the eighth Mario Kart tournament. That had been HEAVEN for him. He and the other Koopalings had been begging Bowser for years to let them be part of Mario Kart, and while he never outright refused, there was always one reason or another why it couldn't be done. A limited number of people were invited that particular year. There was a limit to how many go-kart parts that people had access to. It didn't seem to matter when the Koopalings asked; there was always something getting in the way. It really stung, especially seeing how Mario Kart was often described as one of the funnest sports one could participate in.

So, when the Koopalings finally got invited, they were all over the moon. And now, Larry was experiencing that same excitement all over again. He looked down at his yellow kart, sparkling in the sun like some sort of mystical artifact. He smiled, driving the kart around in a circle just to see how it handled. It handled pretty much the same as the kart he used last time. In other words, it was perfect.

"Larry!" Larry turned to see Mario and Luigi coming up in their own go-karts, sleek and just as well-designed as Larry's kart. "You all set?"

Larry took in a breath. This was going to be awesome. Or at least, he hoped it would. Didn't he deserve a good time after everything that happened? Didn't he deserve a lucky break from this storm, which was proving to be one of the worst storms of his life so far?

"I was born ready."

Mario and Luigi smiled and gestured for him to follow them. They all drove to a makeshift starting line that the Mario bros had drawn in the dirt. A Toad, who Larry was willing to guess was one of Peach's servants, stood in front of them with a black and white checkered flag in their hand. They smiled at the Mario brothers, and what surprised Larry was the fact that the Toad extended the same courtesy and welcome demeanor to him. Seriously, that was… that was such a breath of fresh air.

"Hello, boys!" The Toad said. He giggled. "The rules are simple. Three laps circling around the castle wall." He pointed to the large white wall, then pointed to a path that Larry just now noticed circled around it. "Items boxes have been planted on two different parts of the course, and you are allowed to use any items that they give you. Whoever crosses the finish line on the final lap is…"

"Yeah yeah yeah, we get it; we've all played Mario Kart." Larry grinned and leaned over his wheel, gripping it like a life preserver. "Let's just start this already!"

The Toad's face turned red as they chuckled. "Eer… yes." They backed up to stand beside the go-karts as opposed to right in front of them. "I wish all three of you the best of luck." He paused before smirking. "Even though I know for a fact Mario will win."

"Hey!" Larry exclaimed. "You don't know that!" He gave the Toad a grumpy look. "I just so happen to be awesome at Mario Kart!"

The Toad giggled. "In comparison to the person who the sport is named after? Riiiight." Larry flashed them a glare as they waved the flag. "Three… two… one… GO!"

Slamming his foot down on the gas pedal, Larry took off. Looking behind, he saw that Mario and Luigi didn't start moving nearly as quickly as he did, so he was in the lead! Oh man, did that feel great! If there was one thing Larry Koopa loved, it was being in the lead! Like, the lead is the place where he's meant to be, you know?

Within no time, Larry got to the first item box. He watched as roulette spun, feeling disappointed when he ultimately ended up with a coin. And when he said disappointed, he meant REALLY disappointed!

"Oh, come on!" Larry said to himself, scowling as he did. "I thought the Marios would've learned to not put coins in the box by now!" He shook his head and collected the coin. "You couldn't come up with a more useless item if you actively tried…"

"WAHOO!" A bullet bill zipped past Larry, whooping in a voice that sounded an awful lot like Luigi's. Larry gawked at this.

"HEY! THAT'S NOT FAIR!" He pressed even harder on the gas pedal, sending dirt and dust spraying everywhere. That hardly mattered. He still handled the kart with ease, almost as if it was made of butter. Gritting his teeth as he did his best to go at top speed, he spotted Luigi just up ahead. Green Mario was just coming up to the second set of item boxes. Good. Maybe if he got a coin like Larry did, he could understand his pain.

"Come on, come on!" Larry muttered to himself as he rammed into the item box himself. "Something good, something good… YES! A red shell!" He beamed as he held the item in hand. "Oh, Luigi is going to be feeling this one tomorrow." Larry aimed the red shell forward. It shot and locked onto Luigi's go-kart, but right before it could hit, Luigi threw a banana backward. The red shell hit that, shattering into a bunch of tiny pieces.

"WHAT!" Larry was practically steaming now. "How can I get a coin but HE gets a banana?" He shook his head. "This is so rigged!"

And with that, Luigi and Larry crossed the finish line. Lap one was complete; now they had to get through lap two.

Oh boy, was Larry going to get through lap two! Not only would he get the lead and keep it, but he was going to do it all with a sense of style and awesomeness that only he was capable of showing! This was the same sense of style and awesomeness that he usually used not only in his boss battles, but also…

His hero work.

Larry seized up, almost letting go of the steering wheel as he did. His mind flashed back to his last fight as Captain Metal. Blood everywhere. Life draining out of the crook's face. Larry grimaced when he thought of that, almost feeling like he was going to cry (not that he would admit that to anyone). His breathing grew ragged, his guilt grew heavy as he lowered himself toward the steering wheel…

"Larry, you're going off-road!"

Larry did a double-take. He looked to see that yes, he was indeed going off-road. To be more specific, he was driving through tall grass and heading straight towards a boulder. With barely a second to spare, Larry swerved out of the way and got right back on track. Unfortunately, he quickly saw that Mario, the same person who had called out to inform him he was going off-road, was leaving him in the dust.

"Dammit!" Larry got back on the road, his mind racing as he tried to figure out how to catch up. He still had a ways to go before he ran into the item box again, so… ooh! He knew what to do! Snaking! He should try snaking; that really helped in some older Mario Kart games!

"Alright…" he took a deep breath and began snaking. Just as he expected, this drifting technique worked like a charm. He got multiple mini turbos from doing this, which helped him catch up to Mario. It unfortunately wasn't enough for him to go from last place to second place, but still, the result was both observable and magnificent. And as Larry ran into the next item box, he figured that there was nowhere for him to go from here but up.

"Come on, come on!" Larry said. He stared at the item roulette, almost completely forgetting that he should be looking at the road. He had to get a good item. He had to! Otherwise, he would come in last, which would suck! It would suck so hard, it would suck so much! Sure, one could argue that the point of this race wasn't to win, it was to have fun. But winning WAS fun! It was really fun, dammit!

"Come on… YES!" A super-star appeared in Larry's hands, making him feel as though he had found a large pot of gold. "Oh man, this is gonna be epic!" He activated the star, and all at once was surrounded by rainbows and sparkles. "YEAH! NOW WE'RE COOKING!" He slammed his foot down on the gas, pleased to see that he was going much faster than his kart's normal top speed. He sped past Mario, who looked at him in shock. He unfortunately didn't have enough star juice to catch up with Luigi, but that was okay because his super-star got him to the next set of item boxes. He got another red shell from this set. Deciding that he wasn't going to waste an opportunity like this, he threw it immediately. He didn't know if it would hit Luigi this time, as he couldn't exactly see him from his current spot on the map, but…

OOH! HE DID IT! HE HIT LUIGI! Luigi's kart spun out in the red, splintery collision, doing so for just long enough for Larry to zoom past him. Larry laughed up a storm when this happened, sticking out his tongue in the process.

"Yeah, you just go Mario-Karted, Greeny! WOO!" And with that, Larry zipped over the finish line. Lap two was down. All that was left was lap three.

And… surprisingly, lap three was proving to be the smoothest lap of all, which was more than welcome. Larry got a green shell from the first set of item boxes, which he held behind his kart. Although, in all honesty, it didn't even seem like that was necessary. Mario and Luigi seemed to be really far behind at this point, as Larry couldn't spot them if he turned his head to look behind. This was odd considering how challenging they were as opponents before, but… you know what? Larry wasn't complaining! This was great! He felt so alive right now! He felt like he could win this! He felt as though he was getting better! Sure, Tec's death was still a very big blip that took up a majority of his radar, but… well, maybe this was the lucky break that Larry had hoped it would be.

Letting out a breath, Larry looked up into the sky just as he was about to come up to the second set of item boxes. "Tec," he said. "I dedicate this victory to you, Buddy." He slammed into the item box, seeing that he got a banana on this roll. Sweet; he had double protection! Smiling at this, Larry looked back up into the sky. "You've done so much for me, and… I hope that, wherever you may be now, you see me cross the finish line and know that I care about…"

EER EER EER!

Larry gasped. Oh NO! That wasn't the sound he thought it was, was it? It couldn't be… no, no! It wasn't! There's no way the Marios would've allowed THIS item to be in the item roulette. There was no way! They had to have turned them off! There's no way they would be that dickish…

EER EER EER!

Larry looked behind him, shrieking when he saw a blue shell coming his way. So they really did it; they really WERE that dickish. Larry slammed his foot on the gas harder than he had at any other point during this race. So what if a blue shell was coming straight towards him; he could outrun it! Sure, he couldn't recall a time during any of the tournaments where that was possible, but that didn't mean anything! He was so close to the finish line; he HAD to outrun it!

"Come on!" Beads of sweat formed all over Larry's body as he looked backward. The blue shell was practically on top of him now. Realizing there was no possible way to get out of this, Larry's heart sank. "Oh, where's a sound horn when you need…"

BOOM!