Chapter 20 Even More Morose

Chester hummed a tune as he packed up his suitcase. Despite the fact that he was being sent home, he felt good. He did amazing things for the competition, things that he was immensely proud of. He felt he had really performed at his best, which made sense given the amount of effort he put into his stand-up bits. Sure, he lost, but did that really matter? Was that really that big of a deal? It didn't feel like it was. It felt like things were ending on a high note.

So, he put the last item in his suitcase: his toothbrush. As a bob-omb, he tended to pack light anyway, as the only clothes his kind could wear were hats. He more or less just brought the basic essentials to this hotel, so packing up didn't take him long at all. Which was good, as the brevity helped him enjoy himself more. He zipped up the suitcase, letting out a happy breath as he did.

"Alright, that's all set." Chester bit his lip. "Hmm… maybe I should take one last nap before I officially head out." He made his way over to his bed and jumped in it. "Ahh! Yeah, this is nice." This was probably the most high-quality bed he got to sleep in in his whole life. His bed at home couldn't even compare. He was definitely going to miss this; it'd probably be the biggest thing about the contest that he would miss.

Well, that and his friends. Luanne, Benny, and Lemmy were all really nice people. Lemmy especially surprised Chester; since he was royalty, he had kinda expected him to be pretentious and self-centered. But no, he was actually a really pleasant individual. In fact, he was so pleasant that Chester didn't even mind losing to him. If anything, he had kinda hoped for Lemmy to be the one to advance. He deserved it. He had gone out of his way to be nice and kind, and his clown acts were pretty solid. So… yeah. Chester was glad Lemmy was advancing. If there was anyone who deserved to win the whole thing, it was Lemonade Koopa.

Chester giggled as he closed his eyes. "Well, here's hoping that Lemmy wins." He snuggled into the bed, knowing that this was gonna be the best nap he had ever taken. It was a victory nap, in a sense. Sure, he lost Round Two, but he had gotten something far more valuable in the process. That being, joy and friendship. Smiling, he was just about to doze off when…

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Chester blinked and sat up. "Come in." The door opened, and in stepped Rouge. She smiled at Chester with one of the sweetest, most beautiful smiles he had ever seen. It was so sweet that it almost distracted him from the weirdness of her being here. Almost.

"Hey Rouge. Do you need something?"

Rouge chuckled and closed the door, an action that caused Chester's nerves to act up. "I just wanted to see you. You did a very good job in Round Two."

"Uh… thanks." Chester looked her right in the eye. Wasn't there something off about that look? Didn't the sparkle in her eye look a little… fiendish. "I had fun with Round Two. I think it was some of my best work."

"It was indeed, Chester." Rouge shuffled her arms, which Chester just now noticed she was holding behind her back. "It was indeed."

Chester gulped. "Uh… Rouge, what are you holding?"

"Oh, nothing." Rouge giggled. "Just a one-way ticket to happiness." She finally showed Chester what she had been holding, and when he saw it…

"AHH!" Chester's eyes were wide and his heart pounded. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?"

Rouge didn't respond, just cackled like a deranged witch. Chester fell off the bed and backed up into the wall. His breathing was shallow and sharp. He looked at Rouge, for looking at the thing she was holding caused him insurmountable fear.

"Rouge…!"

"Don't worry, Chester." She grinned wickedly. "This will be completely painless."

…

It was about four days after the Round Two results were announced, and Lemmy was currently in his room practicing for Round Three. He took deep breaths as he balanced on his ball. "Alright." He jumped a little. "Bounce once, stick out tongue. Bounce twice, make a face. Bounce three times, fall on the cake…" he jumped off the ball and landed face-first on the floor. He didn't actually have a cake with him, so he face-planted on the carpet. Groaning, he picked himself up. "Oh man, that hurts…" He sighed, turned over on his back, and looked up at the ceiling. "Hopefully it'll make people laugh."

Was Lemmy looking forward to Round Three? He honestly couldn't say. On the one hand, he wasn't competing against any of his friends; just a random pianta named Callie. So, the fact that he wasn't going to cause anyone else he liked to get eliminated did relieve his burdens a little bit. But on the other hand, he was nervous. His nerves were shot to hell and back, and he worried that he would flop the next round. Especially in comparison to the first round; he had given some of his best work ever during that round, to the point where Ludwig pointed it out. How could he top that? Would he be able to top that?

Lemmy sighed. He supposed he shouldn't worry too much about that. He didn't necessarily need to top Round Two; he just needed to be good. He just needed to provide the audience with a pleasant experience, and then everything would be good. After all, he had already won the audience's favor. New members just tuning into the contest would probably vote for him solely by proxy.

Letting out a breath, Lemmy jumped to his feet. "Don't overthink things, Lemmy," he told himself. "Overthinking things never helped anyone, especially comedians. You just need to get into your element. You just need to find your groove, and all will be okay." Wiping his brow, Lemmy considered where to go from here. He looked at his ball, almost getting back up on it so he could give practicing another whirl when he stopped himself. He already kinda practiced himself to death, and that wasn't even taking the bruises he got into account. Didn't he deserve a break? He bet his siblings, if they were here, would encourage him to take a break. "Don't overwork yourself," they would say. "Just try to relax and don't kill yourself over this."

So, Lemmy got into a chair beside the door. He was about to get out his phone in order to play some kind of game (he had really found an appreciation for sudoku recently) when his stomach growled. Blinking, Lemmy tried to recall the last time he had eaten. Did… didn't he skip breakfast? Didn't he jump right into practicing this morning without taking care of his ADLs? Holy shit! He needed a better work-life balance, otherwise he was going to collapse!

With that thought in mind, he opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. He wasn't going all the way down to the restaurant; that was WAY too far. Rather, he was going down to a vending machine right at the end of the hall. He hurried over to it, becoming increasingly more aware of how ravenous his hunger was. He was famished! That wasn't even a word he used often, as usually his hunger never got too severe, but… yeah, he was famished. He should probably buy more than one item at the vending machine, just to ensure that he really didn't collapse to the floor.

After a little bit of walking, Lemmy got to the vending machine. He studied the selection, browsing over the different candy bars and kinds of chips. He decided on getting some trail mix; that would provide him with the most nutrition. He put the coin in and watched as the trail mix slid out of its row. His mouth watered as he did this, and his growling stomach got even louder. Which, of course, meant that the bag got stuck in the machine.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Lemmy said. He banged his fist against the glass, but that did nothing. Growling, he tried to shake the machine, but that still didn't work. He sighed. "I guess I have to go down to the restaurant after all." Eh, that probably wasn't the worst option in the world. He could get a good carbonara or something like that, or at least something cheap, quick, and easy. He turned, about to head down to the elevator, when he saw someone turn the corner. A very familiar someone on top of that.

"Chester?" Okay, that was weird, even weirder than when he had seen Patty before. Back then, it wasn't too out of the question for Patty to still be in the hotel. But Chester? Oh no, that did not make ANY sense whatsoever. He lost Round Two four days ago. He should be back home with his family right at this moment. Why was he still in the hotel?

Well, Lemmy was about to find out. He broke out into a run to get to Chester. He was kinda worried he was going to run out of breath like he did with chasing Patty, but he pushed those worries to the side. Chester was a bob-omb, and therefore had a much slower stride than Patty. So, Lemmy bolted after him. He got closer and closer to Chester, who carried himself in a way not too dissimilar to Patty on that one fateful day. Lemmy turned one corner when he heard a door opening. He was just able to get within range in time to see Chester walking in through that door. Lemmy ran over to the door and jiggled the handle. It was locked.

"Huh." Lemmy tried to figure out what to do when he got an idea. He pulled a bobby pin out of his hammerspace. Of course, being the older brother to Larry Koopa, who was one of the sneakiest sleuths in the Koopa Kingdom, Lemmy had learned a thing or two about breaking and entering. He messed with the bobby pin and the lock, feeling for the lock pins. It took a while, but Lemmy eventually managed to achieve success. He opened the door, stepped in…

And was instantly shocked. "Chester!" He ran over to his friend, groaning as he leaned against the left-hand wall. "Chester, are you okay?"

Chester groaned. "What's the point of anything," he muttered. He sighed and started to sit. "What's the point?"

Lemmy's mind went into overdrive. "It's just like when I first arrived at Shellturner Theater." He heard more groaning coming from across the room, and when he saw who made that noise, he gasped. "Patty?" He ran over to the red-haired woman. "Patty, is that you?"

Patty didn't even respond. She just sniffled as a tear fell from her eye. Watching this made Lemmy's heart pound even harder.

"Patty, are you okay? What in the world happened to you?" He heard more groaning, and when he looked forward, he saw five more people. He didn't recognize all of them, but the ones he did recognize he knew had been competing in the Ultimate Laugh-Off. Feeling like something was seriously and deplorably wrong, Lemmy walked over to them.

"What happened to you guys?" He grabbed a koopa troopa and turned his face in his direction. "Can you tell me what happened to you? Do you remember anything?"

The koopa troopa just groaned. "What's the point?" He slumped out of the terrified Lemmy's hands, sinking down to the floor like melting butter. He just lay there, groaning in the most miserable way possible. Lemmy's jaw dropped when he saw this, and panic filled his entire being.

"I've gotta do something." Fishing out his phone, Lemmy went to the first person who came to his mind, the person who he trusted to be able to find the answers. He held the phone to his ear, his heartbeat getting both louder and faster.

"Hey Lemmy, what's up?" Ludwig asked.

"Ludwig, something's wrong." Lemmy tried to talk but was tripping over and fumbling his words. "The people… the contestants… everyone is… I don't…"

"Woah woah, slow down," Ludwig said. "Lemmy, what's going on? What happened?"

Lemmy took a deep breath. This was a difficult task considering that the groans from the other people in the room were hard to listen to, but he managed to do it. "Do you remember when we arrived in the Shellturner Theater, and there were some people who looked kinda… down?"

"Yes," Ludwig said, his tone expectant and alarmed.

"Well, I found a whole room full of others in the exact same condition." Lemmy looked around. "My friend Chester is here, the woman who I competed against in Round One is here… there are so many of them! They're… they're all… catatonic."

"Oh boy," Ludwig said. "And you don't know how they got like this?"

"No! I don't! It's…" Lemmy started to shake. "I'm freaking out, Ludwig. Like, legitimately freaking out!"

"Lemmy, you've gotta stay calm." Ludwig took some time to think about this. "Tell you what; why don't you go to that Rouge Albertine lady and tell her about what you've seen. Me and the rest of the gang will do some research and try to figure out what's going on. Alright?"

Lemmy took in a breath. He was shaking profusely, his heart was hammering against his chest, he felt like he was going to pass out… but he needed to stay calm. He was going to stay calm, if not for his sake than for the sake of everyone else in this room.

"Alright. I can do that."