Larry knocked on Shy Away’s door. "Who is it?" shouted Shy Away.

"Just me," Larry shouted back.

"Come in, the doors open." Larry came into the room, which with all

its plants, seemed nothing more than a dense jungle with darkness in some places and brightness in others.

"Woah!" said Larry, "what are you growing?"

"Well I have enough money to buy myself a greenhouse, so I’m going to take the plants in my room and plant them in my greenhouse and they maybe I can put some animals in there," said Shy Away.

"Well," Larry said, "I know I’m a good gardener, but, well, I have a lot of plants and I need help watering them!" Larry blurted out."

"Sorry, Larry, but if I’m going to raise forest animals in my greenhouse, I’ll have to tend my plants 24 hours a day," said Shy Away.

"But," said Larry, "you’re under Koopa orders!"

"You didn’t demand anything of me," shouted Shy Away, watering a banana tree.

"Ooh!" said Larry, burning up with anger, "I’ll get you! I’ll kill your plants! I’ll kill you! I’ll shoot you with fireballs and torture you until you get down on your hands and knees until you scream for mercy!"

"Uh oh!" said Shy Away. "I’d better take to the air!" He took to the air and left his room.

"I’ll get you yet!" screamed Larry as he left the room. He went back to his room to make sure his plants were all right, for he had seen Roy sneaking towards his room with a sneaky grin on his face. As he went to his room, Ludwig called him.

"Hey Larry, come see what I invented!" He showed Larry a weird looking invention. It looked like some kind of very tall person with watering cans all around him with sprinklers on his head.

"What is it?" said Larry.

"It’s a machine to help Shy Away water his plants, but I don’t know what Shy Away sees in gardening. I’m not sure that I’d want to go through all the trouble of gardening."

‘’I understand,’’ said Larry

‘’I was hoping you would say that,’’ said Ludwig, ’’because I didn’t want to get it a fight.’’

Yet inside Larry was burning up with anger he only had enough control to hide his anger Ludwig. Grrrrrr growled Larry. "Everything is for Shy Away and not for me," he thought.

"I’ll be seeing you," said Ludwig. "I have to make some kind of new invention. Like my motto: The more you invent, the smarter you get!"

As Larry went to his room, he pondered over Ludwig’s motto. Then, suddenly it hit Larry. ‘If he invented, he would become smarter and he would be able to hatch a plan to kill Shy Away, and…’

"Hey Larry!" said Roy, "I heard you want to kill Shy Away, heh heh heh."

"Ye Ye Ye Ye Yes, Roy," said Larry.

"For a price, I’ll do it for you," said Roy, very confident in himself. "’cause I know I’m a bad Koopa and the only thing I study is magic."

"Wh Wh Wh Wh What’s the price, Roy," said Larry.

"100 gold coins and twenty chocolate bars," said Roy. "But," said Roy, "If I get caught and I can’t get out of it, then I blame it on you."

"Wellllllllll," said Larry, "okay, it’s a deal." They shook hands.

From around the corner of the hall, Iggy jumped out. "Aha!" he said. "I heard every word, and I’m going to tell King Dad who did it."

"It you tell him, you’re gonna have a pair of broken glasses, two black eyes, and indigestion from my fist!" said Roy.

"But-" said Larry.

"You stay out of this you pipsqueak!" said Roy.

"Hey-" said Larry.

"Shut-" said Roy.

"Hey, no one bosses my friends around!" said Iggy.

"Iggy, you’re my friend too, but I don’t want you to get hurt," said Larry. "So, either leave me and Roy alone, or just join us on the dark side."

"O.K.," said Iggy, "I’ll join the dark side."

"Hi guys!" said Ludwig. He was carrying a flowerpot, a watering can, an a pack of cocoa bean seeds.

"What are you doing with all that? I thought you said you didn’t want to go through the trouble of gardening," said Larry.

"That means there’s probably a Piranha Plant hidden in there," said Iggy.

"You guys lie!" he said. He ran off on his way, pot and all.

Lemmy came around the corner, full charge at Ludwig, and crashed into him, making the flower put break and leaving a mess on the carpet. The seeds were thrown into the air and lost, and the watering can badly dented.

"Why did you do that?" asked Ludwig.

"Because," said Lemmy, "Shy Away’s room is so dense and hot that I can’t go in there. I like plants, too, but I can’t go see them."

"So why didn’t you use magic to protect you from the heat?" asked Ludwig.

"I didn’t want to; it was too hard. I tried!" said Lemmy, stubbornly.

"That’s not good enough," said Ludwig. "Those seeds were expensive."

"Oh," said Lemmy, "you didn’t lose the seeds. I caught them, and I’m not giving them back until I can go into Shy Away’s room. Hmph on your account!" Lemmy laughed evilly.

Wendy came from around the corner. She could understand what Lemmy’s laugh meant. "I don’t like you anymore, Lemmy!" said Wendy. "I heard Larry, Roy, and Iggy talking, and I’m gonna join the dark side with them." She ran off.

Panting, Wendy finally found Larry, Iggy, and Roy. "Hi <pant> guys!" she said. Catching her breath, she said, "I want to join the dark side with you guys."

"Why?" said Larry.

"Because, Lemmy’s turned against me, and I can’t go into Shy Away’s room because, well, I like water, but I’m allergic to some of the plants he has in there," said Wendy.

"Perfect!" said Iggy. "You can use this face mask and oxygen tank we stole from Ludwig’s room."

"Has it ever been tested?" asked Wendy, unconfidently.

"Yeah, the Koopas have used it before. It’s plenty safe," said Iggy.

"Okay! Am I officially on the dark side?" asked Wendy.

Everyone looked at Roy. Roy had to make every decision because he was the leader of the dark side. "Hmmm… okay!" said Roy. "I guess we can partly use her to get Shy Away out of the room. You know, the pretty way?"

"Got it!" said Wendy.

"Iggy can break apart the plants with his strength and pull the roots out of the soil," said Roy. "And Larry, buddy, today, when you went to Shy Away’s room, your weed killer, I fixed it to make weeds grow bigger and to kill fine, healthy plants. I also fixed the ones in your cabinets, so go fetch them, like a dog. And I’ll give instructions on what to do," he said, as he peeled a chocolate bar. "Everyone got the plan?"

"Got it!" said Larry, Iggy, and Wendy. They rushed to their stations.

"Aha!" said Morton. "I heard everything, and I’m gonna tell King Dad! You never like me talking so much and being a big mouth, but now he’s going to reward me for my big mouth. When I tell him what you’re planning I’ll save the day! I’ll get trophies and medals and awards…"

"Quick! While he’s talking let’s split!" said Roy.

"Hey, come back here! I’m gonna catch you," Morton said, running after them.

In a few minutes, Larry, Iggy, Roy, and Wendy met at Shy Away’s room. Around corners and down long hallways, they had lost Morton somewhere. Shy Away was out. "Let’s go in!" said Wendy, putting on the mask. "I’m ready whenever!"

Just then, as they were about to open the door, "La de da de da!"

"Guys, we’d better split! It’s Shy Away and Ludwig," said Roy. The dark side split in four different directions so that the whole gang wouldn’t be caught together.

Larry ran into Morton. "I found ya, and now I’m gonna fry you with a fireball!" said Morton.

"Aaahh!" screamed Larry, running off.

"I’m following you!" said Morton, following Larry.

Larry ran into Wendy. "Come on , Wendy, get up! Morton’s gonna fry us with fireballs!" said Larry.

"Aaahh!" screamed the two Koopalings as they ran down the hall. Then they tripped over Iggy and Roy, who had crashed into each other while trying to get away from Ludwig and Shy Away.

"Oh man!" said Larry. "We’re fried fish!"

"Fish? I’m out of here!" said Morton, wrinkling up his nose.

"Good job, Larry!" said Roy, slapping him on the back. He jumped up on an empty table in the hallway. He lifted up Larry and put him on the table. "Fellow members of the dark side gang, being the nice to evil doers Koopa that I am, I would like to congratulate little pipsqueak Larry here for getting rid of Morton for us, and I would also like to thank Iggy for running into me so that it appeared as if we were dead so that little pipsqueak Larry would say his line," said Roy.

"Hey!" said Larry, shaking his fist. "What’s with the pipsqueak?"

"It’s your nickname," said Roy.

"What am I?" asked Iggy.

"Your four eyes," said Roy.

"Oh," said Iggy, sitting back down on the floor with Wendy.

"What am I?" asked Wendy.

"Your fried calamari," said Roy.

"And what are you?" said Iggy.

"I’m Bully, four eyes! Everyone knows that," said Roy.

"Oh," said Iggy.

They went back to Shy Away’s room. It was now vacant. They went in. There, right in front of them was Ludwig’s little cocoa tree. "I’m afraid there’s a Piranha in there," said Wendy.

"Let me do the honors," said Roy. Out of his pockets, he took two pocketknives that he had glued together. He opened the blade and threw it just like a boomerang at Ludwig’s little cocoa tree. The two pocketknives killed the plant and returned to Roy’s hand, just like a real boomerang. He shut the blade and put it away.

"Impressive!" said Iggy. "A barber could use that handily."
"Aah, stop talking! We have a room to wreck," said Roy.

"Here, Wendy!" Larry pitched her a can of the weed killer. "Just spray this on the plants and let this do the rest."

In a few minutes, Shy Away came into the room. At that time, Larry was practicing the boomerang moves that Roy had done. The others were too.

"Hey, Roy! Do you know that the kind of tree we’re cutting down is a kind of cure for warts if you get the juice from its roots," said Larry. As he was talking to Roy, he wasn’t watching what he was doing.

Then, one of the Koopas finished chopping their tree. It landed on Shy Away. Then, the other trees that the Koopalings were chopping fell down. Bowser came into the room. "Quick!" said Roy. "Go through the walls with your magic."

At the doctor’s office, Shy Away was lying in a bed. Bowser was collecting the facts to see who hurt Shy Away. "I remember who it was!" said Shy Away. "It was-"

Then, out of the open, one of the Koopas, who was invisible, shot a fireball at Shy Away. And that was the end.

Clue: The Koopa who did it was on the dark side gang and was a male.