Chapter 13 New York City Baby!

"Wow," Larry whispered. He had to crane his neck to look at the buildings, stretching high into the Heavens. Half of him was tempted to see if he could fly to the top, if he could scale these skyscrapers and stand on top of them. "This is… I don't even know."

Mario chuckled as he put his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, it is a nice place." He walked over to Larry, still taking in the scale of the buildings. "We should know."

"You should now?"

"Yes." Luigi walked up to stand beside Larry. "This is the place we grew up."

Larry gasped. "Wait, really?" He stared at the nodding Marios with wide eyes, not even knowing how to feel because he had way too many thoughts regarding this piece of information. "You mean… you guys… you guys took me to your home planet? Me?"

"Yep," Mario said. "I know it's a little out of left field, but… we thought you might enjoy a chance to see where it all began."

Larry put his hand to his chest, smiling as he did. "Thank you. That's… thank you." He looked back up at the skyscrapers. Was he the first person from the Mushroom World to see this place? Cause if so… wow.

"You're welcome," Mario said. He smiled, the expression making his whole face look different. "Would you like a tour?"

"Uh, yeah!" Larry was all smiles at this point in time. "That would be awesome!"

Luigi's and Mario's eyes sparkled in the most brilliant way possible. "Well, what are you waiting for?" Luigi asked. "Let's show you New York City, baby!"

…

As the trio walked through Brooklyn, Larry couldn't help but keep his eyes on the buildings. Everything else was secondary; the cars on the road, the people on the sidewalk, everything. Sure, he supposed he shouldn't be too shocked by the buildings, as he had seen skyscrapers in the past. But here was the thing; it didn't matter how many times Larry saw skyscrapers, he was ALWAYS in awe of them. Ever since he saw his first skyscraper as a six-year-old, he had been fascinated and starstruck. He could remember thinking as a child "Woah! How do they even build buildings that are that tall?" And that feeling never really went away. Every time he saw skyscrapers, he was reminded of the power people had. If people put their heads together, they could accomplish amazing things. Building skyscrapers was a relatively modest example, sure, but it still impressed and inspired him.

"You like what you see so far, Larry?" Mario asked.

"Yeah," Larry said, all without turning his gaze downward. "Skyscrapers are just… so cool."

"Well, if you think that's impressive…" Luigi and Mario stepped to the side, pointing forward as they did. "Get a load of THAT!"

Larry looked forward, gasping when he did. "What in the…" He rushed forward. It was like he was a little kid being impressed by the skyscrapers all over again! Except this time, it wasn't a type of building that drew out his awe. "That's the biggest bridge I've ever seen!"

"It's called the Brooklyn Bridge," Luigi said. "It connects the boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan together." Larry gave him a puzzled look, causing Luigi to chuckle. "Oh, Brooklyn isn't its own city. It's part of New York City as a whole; the city is so big that it has boroughs." He pointed to the bridge. "Manhattan is another borough, and its across the water." He turned back to Larry. "Does that make sense?"

"Uh…" Larry scratched the back of his head. "I think so."

"Yeah." Mario took a step forward. "Well, either way, the Brooklyn Bridge is pretty impressive. It was actually the biggest bridge in the world when it was built over a century ago." He chuckled. "I don't know how true that is today, though."

"Oh, how embarrassing. Going from first to not first; what a tragedy!" Mario and Luigi cringed when Larry said that, and a little bit of thinking revealed the reason why. "Oh, that wasn't me complaining about the Mario Kart race; I was just making a joke. I, uh… I didn't mean to make you guys feel bad."

Mario let out a breath. "It's okay, Larry." He looked at the bridge. "Would you like to cross the bridge and go into Manhattan? There are a lot of interesting tourist attractions there."

"Really? Like what?"

"Like the Empire State Building!" Luigi exclaimed. Larry gave him another puzzled look, making him giggle. "You said you like skyscrapers, and The Empire State Building is a pretty tall one. Would you like to see it?"

Larry immediately perked up. "Sure!"

…

"Holy potato chips covered in chocolate…" Larry looked up at the Empire State Building from its base, his jaw dropped so low that it could easily touch his knees. "That's… I don't… what… HOW? It's so big; how can you build something like that?" He smiled. "How can someone even THINK about something like that?"

Luigi chuckled. "Well… some people get some ideas in their head and just run wild with them, you know?" He looked up at the top. "I think this building is mostly used as an office building. Don't ask me what kind of business though; my knowledge of white-collar work is as deep as a bathroom sink!"

Larry laughed. "Still. This is amazing." An idea struck him, making him excited. "Can we go in?"

"Uh… we can, but going to the top requires a ticket," Mario said. He smiled. "Our parents took the two of us to the Empire State Building for our eleventh birthday. And let me tell you Larry; looking down from the top of the skyscraper is MUCH cooler than looking up from the bottom."

"Hehe, yeah." Luigi rubbed his shoulder. "Not really the greatest thing to do if you're afraid of heights though…"

"Still…" Larry backed up a little bit, just so he could get a better scope of the building. "I wish I could get a picture of this." Immediately once he said that he gasped. "Wait, I literally can!" Tapping the side of his head, he caught the image of the Empire State Building with a camera built into his robotic body. Studying the picture, he smiled. "Man, that one's gonna go on my wall." He frowned. "If I can figure out how to get a picture in my head into the real world that is…" he looked around his body. "Where would they even come out…" he seized up before shaking his head. "Nope! Nope, probably best not to think about that!" He walked back over to the Marios. "Any other places that you guys think are impressive?"

Mario and Luigi looked at each other before Mario smirked. "There's Central Park."

…

Central Park… what words could be used to describe it? Honestly, the first word that came to Larry's mind was "green." It was a burst of green, an explosion of green! Considering that most of the city that Larry had seen had been silver and gray, this was a BEAUTIFUL breath of fresh air. He smiled as he stood in Central Park. His smile only grew bigger as he and the Marios walked through it.

"Man, this place is cool." He snickered. "Kinda interesting how a city like this has a section that… isn't city." He laughed.

"Yeah, sometimes that does happen," said Luigi. "And I am personally very glad that it does. I have so many fond memories of Central Park."

"Yeah!" Mario said. "Remember that time we saw those ducks walking down the sidewalk?"

"Oh, I do!" Luigi laughed. "They were so cute!" His eyes glimmered. "No joke, I came up with names for the ducklings in my head!"

"Did you now?" Mario asked.

"Yep! And I even came up with backstories for them!" Luigi chuckled, his face turning pink as he explained. "The first one in line was named Trevor. He learned to swim before any of his siblings, which helped him get special attention from his hard-to-please father." He chuckled some more. "The second one in line was named Lacy. She has a dream to become the first duck to ever play a part in the Nutcracker ballet. She, uh… she saw it through the window of a theater once and loved it."

Larry and Mario exchanged a look before Larry chuckled. "That's pretty neat. Sounds like something Lemmy would come up with, honestly." He laughed. "I can just imagine him sitting down and trying to make a picture book about those ducks." He put on a high-pitched voice. "Oh, Lacy and Trevor deserve all the love in the world! And all the bread! If anyone who passes by them doesn't give them any, then they BREADER be ready for a punishment!" Mario and Luigi laughed out loud, making Larry perk up. "Fun fact, one time Lemmy tried to make one pun a day for an entire year. And I don't remember a SINGLE one of them!"

Mario laughed even harder. "Well, at least puns don't have any level of risk. I once had a New Year's Resolution where I tried to eat one pasta dish every day for a year." He looked sheepish. "I got food poisoning on January eight. That put a stop to that really quick."

"Eh. I can see that, but I wouldn't say puns don't have ANY level of risk," Larry said. "If you tell a pun to somebody who doesn't like them, and you do it ALL THE TIME… yeah, you'd better be ready to go home and edit your friend list."

Luigi laughed some more, even going so far as to wipe a tear from his eye. "Well, I can see what you mean." He looked up into the sky. "Hmm. It's getting pretty late." He looked over at Mario. "Do you think we'll have time to show Larry the Statue of Liberty?"

"Ehh… probably not. But that probably isn't that big a deal since he's been to Toad Harbor." Maro turned toward Larry. "You know that big statue of Peach on an island off the coast of Toad Harbor? Imagine that but with a lady who symbolizes freedom and you've got the Statue of Liberty."

"I see." Larry thought some more about this. "I mean, that statue of Peach is pretty impressive, but…" he shrugged. "Eh, I think I can probably live without seeing the statue."

"Good." Luigi grinned. "Because we were hoping to show you more of Central Park before the sun goes down."

"Ooh! Count me as excited!"

…

The sky overhead was saturated with pinks and yellows, and it couldn't be any more gorgeous. It was so visually appealing that it made New York City, which was already an amazing place, look like something out of a fairytale. As he and the Mario brothers walked down the Brooklyn Bridge back to Brooklyn, he smiled. This place… it was undoubtedly special. He still couldn't believe that Mario and Luigi had taken him here. They were enemies! They fought every other week for years! How could they show Larry such a huge helping of kindness? It didn't make sense!

And yet, here they were. Walking down the Brooklyn Bridge and watching the sunset over the water. This… this helped Larry. It really did. He didn't feel as burdened as before. He didn't feel like he was drowning in sorrow. He felt like a kid who had an amazing day at a carnival. He felt like he had just seen a movie that had stolen the spot of his favorite movie of all time. His troubles were much less intimidating now. He felt… he didn't feel normal, but… maybe he was starting to reach the new normal that he and Luigi had talked about?

"So, Larry, like what you see?" Mario asked.

"Oh, definitely." He walked up and wiggled into the spot between the Marios. "Thank you for taking me here."

"You're welcome, big guy," Luigi said.

Larry smiled, once again thinking about how amazing it was that he got this opportunity when he stopped. His eyes grew wide as a question popped up in his head. "Uh… where are we gonna stay tonight? Is there a hotel that you guys have in mind?"

"Actually, no. We had a better idea." Mario turned to Luigi. "Speaking of which, did you get a chance to tell Mama we're coming, Lou?"

"No, not yet." Luigi got out his phone. "I'll get right on that."

As the line rang, Larry's eyes grew even wider. "Wait. You… you guys are…"

"Yep." Mario looked at him. "We're gonna stay with our family."