A diamond hidden within the gray line

Chapter 42: Mad dash for home, and larry's helpless horror.

-Max pov-

After what i've just witnessed...so many questions quickly whirled around my head. I immediately remembered what dark bowser said, who everyone sees as the dark star...are they wrong? Or..is it possible that, as i said to marx, the dark star itself is trying to manipulate my mind? Damn..it's beyond confusing right now.

However, now ain't the time for me to allow my mind to get lost in questions that i have no answers for...i gotta get larry outta here, while avoiding candymaker! I don't know what larry is doing here, but i'm definitely thankful that marx decided to stop the recording. Whatever happens now, it won't put larry through any kind of humiliation! Well..maybe roy might poke fun at him, but once he sees the recording, that'll change in heartbeat!

-Narration-

Max began to run towards larry, who had no idea that candymaker is here. As for candymaker, they immediately saw max running and slowly chased him. "LARRY!!" Max yells, making larry look towards max, who saw a half naked, unique looking disheveled koopa with what larry assumed was a toy gun marx gave to max, who is running at inhuman speeds towards him.

"Max? W-what are you-" Larry begins to ask, before max interrupts him. "We to leave! We need to leave NOW!" Max says to larry, trying to nudge him along. "Hold on! Why do we need to leave?" Larry asked, before the ground shook violently.

"THAT'S WHY!" Max yells pointing his gun at candymaker, while larry became absolutely shocked and horrified at what he's seeing.

-Larry pov-

What..what IS that?! I would think that it's a nutcracker, but...since when are they alive? And...WHY DOES THIS THING HAVE A LOLLIPOP AS A WEAPON?! Wasn't this the very thing marx used even though it looked far too heavy for him to use? You know what? This thing might be taller than dad, but it doesn't frighten me! Nor does mario and his scaredy-cat brother!

-Narration-

"You don't scare me!" Larry says, twirling his wand as a magical cyan colored aura slowly appears. "Larry, NO!" Max says to larry, who saw that his brother wasn't going to back down as he casts a direct magical attack right at candymaker's face, who just stands there, ominously staring down at larry, who then casts multiple blasts at candymaker, who held their weapon firmly, yet waited for larry to tired himself out. "RAH! Fucking go down already! Let's see you take THIS!!" Larry says in a angry rage, charging up a full power blast.

-Max pov-

I don't know what has possessed larry to come here, but what makes him think he alone can take on candymaker? And why is candymaker just standing there? I got a bad feeling about this...

-Narration-

"EAT THIS!!" Larry yells, pointing his wand at candymaker  and unleashing a powerful magical wave at candymaker, who responded by swinging their lollipop weapon like a bat and made quick work of larry's surprisingly powerful attack, which in turn, left max stunned and larry horrified. Unbeknownst to max and larry however, ludwig had just taken notice of the noises of larry's wand, and he wasn't too happy.

-Ludwig pov-

What in the HELL is larry doing?! It's far too early for him to be making this much noise! But..when i heard him say: 'You don't scare me!' that made me pause for thought...who could possibly be trying to scare larry? At that moment, i needed to see what was going on. I should be thinking that this could easily be a waste of my time, but...if it involves max, then it must be something major considering all the things that have happened so far that is either because of max, or it involves him in some way.

-Narration-

Larry instantly became horrified that candymaker just swatted his most powerful attack away as if it were nothing more than a bothersome fly, who simply looks at larry, raises his finger at larry's direction, and wags it around in a defiant, yet sassy way as if to say: kid, you can't stop me! "Th-that was...my best attack..." Larry utters, who is now shaking in fear and stepping backwards a few steps. While max was just left stunned at not only seeing larry unleash a magical assault on candymaker, but also just witnessed them swat it away as if it were nothing, and that finger wag stunt candymaker pulled didn't help max in any way. If anything, it only agitated max! Meanwhile, ludwig had just walked up the angered max and he wasn't the only one who had noticed.