Shards of Love

A Mastermind's Plan

Shards of Love: REDUX!

Shard I: Foundations

Chapter II

A Mastermind's Plan

Two hours later, empty chairs and flower petals litter the abandoned area, and the once-bustling, rambunctious area now only boasts a few toad servants. The servants rearrange chairs, set up the wedding arch and clean up the area, striving to turn the disaster area into a beautiful, serene area for the reception.

Despite the uninteresting circumstances, Larry Koopa hides behind an untamed, wild bush, spying on the servants. Not wanting to heighten suspicion or unwanted curiosity from the servants, Larry sneaks towards the courtyard, bush by bush, careful not to make even an inaudible sound. As the castle's courtyard lacks barriers in any way unlike the rest of the castle grounds, the task of spying proves to be simple for the Mohawked Koopaling.

The entire Mushroom Kingdom knows about Larry and his spying; he's been doing it for at least a decade. Almost every plan of Bowser's involves Larry spying, whether Larry himself listens at a window or the sneaky Koopaling bugs someone or something else. Although the Mario Brothers always remain on alert for Larry, the sneaky bugger always remains one step ahead of the red-and-green faucet-fixers, often snatching useful and confidential information about the Mushroom Kingdom long before the wretched brothers become aware of his presence. Unlike those important, high-risk tasks, spying on a currently Mario-free reception preparation is a piece of cake for the self-proclaimed 'Emperor of Eavesdropping'.

"They're setting up for the big event!" Larry whispered to himself before pulling out a walkie-talkie, "Ludwig! Are the others ready?"

There is a bit of a pause after Larry releases the TALK button. Ludwig always answers walkie-talkie messages the slowest, but still, even potentially urgent calls like this one should be answered immediately. As Larry's about to call up Ludwig again, the oldest Koopaling answers back.

"I vill get zem veady incase zey aren't. How's ze conditions over zere? Ze Princess out? Over."

"Nah. Not yet. The reception won't start until a few hours from now. Meanwhile, I have a false mushroom costume I can wear to blend in with the guests, but I don't have hair gel to put down my hair. Know of any good places to buy some? Over."

"Negative, Lawrence," declined Ludwig, "Don't do zat; ve vant to keep low profile. Ve don't vant ze 'Fire Flower' issue to pop up again, or rather, pop 'OFF'. Awhehehahwhahe!"

Ludwig still remembers the last time the sneaky Koopaling tried to use the disguise. It's worse enough for Larry that Ludwig brings that story up every chance he gets, but factor in the crazed Koopaling's annoying laugh and it's a downright insult. The 'Fire Flower' event was the time when Larry wanted to buy fire flower seeds to grow them. Although fire flowers are a commonly used spice in Dark Land, the land itself, save for Larry's greenhouse, lacks the correct nutrients to nurture the blood-red-blossoming plants. Since they're tough to grow in the Darklands, store owners in Bowser's kingdom never bother to sell them.

Wanting to buy some seeds that Dark Land doesn't have, Larry put on the disguise to buy some seeds from neighboring Pipe Land, but unfortunately for the Koopaling, the Mario Brothers were there to dedicate a pipe of some sort at the Pipe Maze. Long story short, Larry's abrasive hairstyle caused the mushroom cap to pop off, the Mario Brothers caught sight of who he was, then they sent Larry home with deep gashes, terrible bruises and a broken arm. Thinking of the painful and humiliating memory, Larry shudders.