Peach Perception Chapter 2.1

Chapter 2 Part 1 – Hard Summer's Day

Breakfast was pretty good – it would've been perfect if it had not been for the intense heat plaguing the day. Peach dabbed her forehead with her napkin as she watched the eight Koopa kids in front of her slump in their chairs and fiddle with whatever was left on their plates. The hot weather sucked all the seemingly endless amounts of energy away from them, making them all look like lifeless rag dolls sitting in their chairs. It saddened her, that they all looked so miserable. Living in Dark Land, they had to deal with constant heat already, but the summer weather just made it worse. It was a bit disheartening to see them all like this, and she wished she could do something about it. And it didn't help that there was no real cooling system in the castle... or at least from what she knew.

Peach's attention turned to Bowser's head Magikoopa, Kamek, flying up to the king and informing him of something, something she couldn't hear from all the way on the other side of the table. But Peach could tell it was good – Bowser's face seemed to light up slightly, then nodded and shooed him off. He cleared his throat, grabbing his kids' attention.

"I've just been informed that the pool has just finished cleaning and cooling," he stated. Most of the kids perked up, some seemingly more excited than others, while others didn't seem to care.

"Does that mean we can go swimming?" Larry asked, the most ecstatic. Bowser nodded.

"Once you're finished."

A large grin spread across his face as Larry turned to his right, facing his older brother Morton. The two high-fived while shouting out "Yes!" at the same time. Though, nobody else truly shared their enthusiasm, and some, particularly Iggy, slightly lowered their heads in some emotion resembling either shame or sadness. Everybody else's reactions seemed perfectly normal – in other words, they acted as if they didn't even hear their father and continued eating their breakfast. Although, they all seemed to finish their meals quicker and with more energy than before. And before anybody knew it, everybody had excused themselves from the table and all rushed out to the pool. Peach got up from her seat and started walking out of the dining room, but then stopped when Bowser caught up to her.

"My men packed a spare swim suit for you in case you wanted to go out there along with my kids," he informed. The princess smiled and nodded.

"Thank you. And where is the pool?" she questioned.

"Down the hall, to the left."

Peach smiled. "Thanks again." She waved goodbye and walked back to the guest room. Opening the door, she found that, like a hotel, the whole room was cleaned, the bed was made, and her suitcase was laying up against the dresser. She pulled the suitcase up on top of the bed and unzipped it, finding a hoard of her pink clothes inside. Pushing aside her other things, she found a two piece swim suit just like Bowser had said, along with a beach towel. The swimsuit was nothing fancy – just a pink two-piece with a large blue jewel adorned on the chest piece. Smiling, Peach headed inside the bathroom and changed into it, as well as put her hair up in a ponytail. She kept her crown on, as she didn't completely trust the people in this castle just yet. After all, there was always a possibility she wasn't going in the pool – she just wanted to hang out with the kids. After taking off any makeup she had on earlier, she headed out, closing the door on the way. Remembering the directions the Koopa King had given her, and eventually found the doors to probably the most sunny place in the entire Koopa Kingdom.

The area slightly resembled an oasis – trees and grass surrounded the land. In the middle a medium-sized pool glimmering with crystal clear water. Just bordering that was a large sand-filled frame covering the left side of the land. Though the scene in front of her wasn't exactly what Peach had expected. Only two of the kids were actually in the pool – Larry and Morton, the two who had seemed most excited about the pool being cleaned, were tossing around a beach ball in what looked like a game of volleyball, only without a net. Ludwig was sitting against one of the many trees framing the pool, reading a thick red hardcover book, the title of which Peach couldn't make out. Wendy was lying atop of a beach towel, soaking in the little sunlight they had and giving herself a tan. Iggy, just a few feet away from her, was building himself a sand castle, and a very good sand castle at that – that is, until Roy crushed it. Roy, as usual, was being his mean ol' self and wrecking havoc on everything and everyone. He pushed Lemmy, who was walking around on top of his trusty circus ball, into the pool as he walked away. The little circus Koopa was at first startled by the action, but managed to keep his balance on top of his ball even as he landed in the pool. He grinned widely at his accomplishment, then proceeded to try and roll his circus ball out of the water, unaware that he was walking right into Morton and Larry's game.

"Hey Lemmy, you might wanna move out of the way before--" Morton's soon-to-be rant was cut short as the beach ball hit the smallest Koopa in the face, knocking him into the water. The splash caught Ludwig's attention as he looked up from his book at the scene in front of him. He turned to Iggy, who seemed to notice the splash as well and shared the same concern, but showed no signs of actually going in the pool. Ludwig rolled his eyes at his younger brother and got up from his seat, diving into the water. A few seconds later, the two emerged, both taking deep breaths. The oldest Koopa set Lemmy down on the curb of the pool then went back to grab his circus ball. He handed it to his younger brother, then climbed out of the water.

"Thanks, Ludwig!" Lemmy smiled as he hugged him.

"Pay more attention to where you're going next time," Ludwig replied rather harshly while grabbing a towel. He dried himself off, then headed back to his book. Giving a small nod and a wide smile, Lemmy mounted his ball again and rolled towards Peach, finally noticing her. He waved.

"Oh hi, Peach!" he greeted, his usually grin lighting up his face.

Almost immediately after he spoke, every other kid stopped what they were doing and greeted Peach with "Hey, Peach!!" all at the same time. After the Mushroom Princess smiled and waved back, they went back to whatever they were doing.

"So why aren't you in the pool?" Peach asked Lemmy directly. She was particularly curious as to what exactly had just happened a minute ago.

"Oh, I can't swim," Lemmy answered, carefree. "I never payed attention when Kamek was teaching us – I always fell asleep."

Peach nodded. "Interesting..."

"Roy can't swim either," the smallest kid continued. "He was always too busy picking on Iggy. Poor him – he's scarred for life."

Peach's eyes widened slightly. What did Lemmy mean by that? Iggy was always being bullied by Roy – what did he do to him that made him "scarred for life"? But before she could question him about it, Lemmy interrupted her.

"I gotta go – see ya!"

Lemmy turned around and rolled away. Peach frowned, but then decided to find out the answer on her own. Casually, she walked up to Iggy, who was currently trying to reconstruct his sand castle. When just about right in front of him, she laid her towel down on the sand and sat down.

"Hello, Iggy," she greeted. The bespectacled Koopa looked up from his work, nervousness showing in his eyes.

"H-hi, Peach..." he gave a small smile, then went back to what he was doing.

"So... why aren't you in the pool?"

Iggy immediately froze.

Gulping, he reluctantly answered. "I, uh... I-I-I can't..."

Peach rose an eyebrow. Iggy wasn't one to get into trouble, so she knew punishment wasn't the case. "Can you not swim, or something?"

Iggy shook his head. "Oh no, I can... it's just that I... um.. well...."

"What he's trying to say is that he's afraid of the water," Wendy butted in unannounced. Iggy lowered his head shamefully, blushing in embarrassment. Peach looked at him with concerned eyes.

"Why?"

Iggy didn't answer – instead, Wendy spoke for him. "Some accident when we were all learning how to swim." A certain snobbish tone hung off her every word. "You think that after four years, he'd get over it."

Peach was both saddened and curious at the same time. A part of her wanted to ask what exactly had happened, but she knew just from the look on Iggy's face that he just couldn't bare anymore reminders of the incident, or anymore humiliation for that matter. Instead, she questioned a different matter in an attempt to stop Wendy from patronizing him.

"And you're reason for not being in the pool?" she asked. The question caught Wendy completely off guard. She gasped, as if she was offended.

"The water would ruin my makeup!!" she retorted, scoffing. But beside Peach, Iggy just rolled his eyes and sighed.

"And you think you have a better excuse than I do..."

It was more of a mumble than and actual statement, but it was loud enough for both Peach and Wendy to hear. "What did you say??"

"Nothing..."

Peach looked at the two, and decided not to bother them anymore. Both were equally annoyed with each other and she didn't want to fuel the fire. Instead the princess got up from where she sat and walked away silently, grabbing her towel before she went. As she walked, one last kid perked her interests – Ludwig, sitting silently against a shady tree, reading a book that he seemed quite interested in. Although nobody would be able to tell from the emotionless look maintained upon his face. Peach was always curious as to what the musician was thinking, as he always brought up some intriguing points and topics. She sat down next to him, the ruffling of grass and leaves alerting the oldest Koopa of her presence. He looked up from his book right at her, closing it when he realized she was there.

"Oh, good morning, Princess," he started, obviously startled. "I apologize – I didn't see you there."

Peach smiled – Ludwig was always polite, and the most well mannered as well. "It's alright, I was just wondering what you were up to," she replied casually. Ludwig looked down at what he was reading.

"Just... reading something I found in the library the previous night." He rose the book up for a small second in a shrug, giving Peach a small glimpse of the title – something in a different language, most likely German, that she couldn't read. Peach was always appalled by his intelligence. Ludwig had a great deal of knowledge, easily the smartest of his entire family with Iggy coming incredibly close. He was able to speak German as if it was his first language, as well as a couple other languages fluently. So it wasn't a surprise to anyone that he could read books like that.

"Interesting. So why aren't you in the pool? Everyone else has a reason, what's yours?" Peach questioned. Ludwig shrugged.

"I have no true reason," he stated. "I just have no desire to go in at the moment."

"Will you, later?"

There was a moment of silence. "I'll consider it," the Koopaling answered. Peach grinned, but her smile soon faded as she heard a familiar, sarcastic voice giving a snide remark.

"Dun count on it, Princess," Roy interjected. "De only time Ludwig eva sets foot in dat pool is when Lemmy s'mehow falls in."

Ludwig rose an eyebrow. "'Somehow'? Roy, I have reason to believe that it is you who is the spawning point of all those casualties."

"Eh?" It wasn't rare – Roy always got confused whenever Ludwig used such big words. The only ones who really understood him were Iggy and the two head Magikoopas, Kamek and Kammy, and even they sometimes got lost in Ludwig's explanations. He sighed.

"You're usually the reason Lemmy always falls in," he restated in terms Roy could understand.

"Oh – well of course! It's what I do." Roy smirked as if he was proud of 'what he does'. Ludwig, on the other hand, didn't seem to amused.

"Your reckless habits are someday going to result in permanently scarring him," he retorted, crossing his arms.

"Please – ya goin' crazy? Ya can't scar Lemmy."

"Well, history has a tendency to repeat itself."

That last comment seemed to have struck a nerve. The smirk on Roy's face turned into a scowl in a second.

"Hey! Iggy's accident was not my fault!" he shouted, loud enough for everyone to hear. Ludwig didn't seem fazed by his shouting, however, and kept the same straight face he had before. An awkward silence filled the air. Peach just sat there, quiet like everyone else, waiting impatiently for someone to break the silence. Roy noticed everybody look over to them, startled by his remark, and rolled his eyes. "Oh quit starin' already!"

Everyone got the message, and went back to what they were doing.

As she looked out at all the kids, Peach realized one was missing. She looked around, left to right, but saw no signs of Bowser Jr. It got her wondering: was he too young to be allowed in? Was he helping his dad with something? Was he just slacking off like the spoiled prince he was? Everything went silent again, and she decided to break it.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but where's Junior?" she questioned.

"Kamek's probably teaching him how to swim in the other pool."

All three of their heads turned to the rather high pitched voice. Lemmy was standing on top of his ball, curious as ever, answering her question with his usual enthusiasm. They were all shocked to see him there at first, but none asked when he got there, as it was most probable that he overheard his name over and over in their conversation, and wanted to know what they were talking about. Though, his answer slightly confused Peach, and raised another question.

"Wait – so Kamek will teach Junior to swim, but he won't reteach you two?" None of them seemed stricken by the question, and she could tell that Roy had rolled his eyes under his dark shaded sunglasses.

"Pfft – no! Lemmy and me were his worst stoodents!" he snuck in a snicker, as though it was fun to cause Kamek such misery. Though chances are, to him, it probably was.

"He would've refused to teach Junior as well if Father had not persisted him to," Ludwig continued. That didn't surprise Peach at all, seeing as how Junior was Bowser's obvious favorite. If it were any one of his other kids, he would've just let them suffer with the inability to tread water. And that was exactly what he was doing. That fact annoyed her – it wasn't a very fatherly act. She knew Bowser was evil, but she didn't think he was cruel and ignorant enough to possibly endanger the lives of his own kids. Something needed to be done about it. But Bowser was so stubborn – Kamek, too – she couldn't convince either to help solve the problem if her life depended on it.

But... she could take matters into her own hands.

"Well..." she started, lowering down to Lemmy's level. She stared into his excited eyes, hoping he would agree to the idea. "How would you like it if I personally taught you how to swim?"

The little circus Koopa's face lit up with the cheekiest smile Peach had seen in a while. He gasped in excitement, and jittering. "Yes, yes, YES!! That'd be great!" he shouted with glee. "Wouldja really do that?"

Peach nodded.

Lemmy was practically jumping up and down on his ball in exhilaration, cheering. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!" The princess smiled. It was nice to see someone so happy. Though, Roy was quick to break the mood.

"Bah! You? Teachin' this goofball how ta swim? Man, dat's priceless!!" Roy laughed. "Good luck on dat one, Princess! It'd be so much easier teachin' me dan him." He rose his chin in the air, a full fledged smirk across his face. He was sure prideful. Peach smiled.

"Well, if you're so confident that you will have an easier time learning than Lemmy, you can join, too," she replied. Immediately the smirk went away.

"Egh... dat wasn't really what I was goin' for..." he started to explain, until he saw the expecting pairs of eyes staring him down. "Buuut... I guess I can join... for a while... I mean, come on! Der's no doubt in mah mind dat says I can't beat Lemmy in dis."

Peach smiled, feeling accomplished. "Great! We can get started today if you'd like." Lemmy nodded his head wildly, while Roy just shrugged. "Ok. Do you guys know where any floating devices for the pool are?"

"In the fifth room down the hall on the right," Ludwig explained before opening his book back up. Peach nodded.

"Ok. I'll be right back."

She then walked back into the castle, waving at the three kids. Once she was out of earshot, Roy shot a nerve-wrecking glare at Lemmy and smirked.

"I'll betcha 100 coins I can learn ta swim b'fore you can," he challenged. Most of his siblings would back down at the offer, as they knew they probably wouldn't have a chance against him, but Lemmy surprisingly accepted.

"Ok! I don't even have 100 coins," he retorted, smiling without a care in the world.

"In dat case ya betta start savin' up, 'cause e'ryone an' der gran'ma knows dat I'm gonna run ya inta da ground, hard."

Lemmy just continued to smile. Though he'd never admit it, it was starting to make Roy feel uncomfortable. Most of his siblings frowned at his prideful comments, but Lemmy... he just kept grinning like an idiot.

"Really? 'Cause I'm pretty sure most people would vote for me to win," he argued with a certain tone of confidence that would make anybody start to doubt themselves. But Roy wasn't about to back down – he was going to make Lemmy feel threatened just by his very presence... he just couldn't come up with any good comebacks at the moment.

"Pfft – yeah, like who?"

Though, the last ditch comeback seemed to work. Lemmy was stumped for a second, but soon came up with an answer, much to Roy's dismay.

"Ludwig would!" Lemmy announced. Ludwig, who had previously been ignoring the entire conversation, poked his head up from his book with a cringe.

"I would what?" he questioned reluctantly. Lemmy ran up to him and got right up into his face.

"Me and Roy put a bet on who can learn to swim faster. Who'd you think would win?"

Ludwig just stared at him incredulously, almost at a loss for words. Almost... "I can not believe you are inquiring such imbecilic information!" he scoffed, obviously unamused at their game, if one could even call it that. Lemmy got lost in Ludwig's big words, but attempted to piece it together without any help. Suddenly, he came up with a reply – one Ludwig was expected, but surprised him nonetheless.

"Yeah, why am I even asking?" Lemmy pondered to himself. "I already know you'd totally vote for me."

Ludwig continued to stare at his younger brothers, perhaps even more dumbfounded at Lemmy's denseness than before. "What...? N-no! That was not where I was getting at, at all!" He suddenly noticed Roy smirk in accomplishment. Lemmy gasped.

"Ya mean you'd vote for him?!"

The oldest Koopa lowered his head into his hand in a facepalm – his siblings were starting to give him a headache. "No! I am not taking any part of this little pastime of yours. You two should consider yourselves fortunate that the princess is showing such compassion. If it were anyone else, they'd have left you mingling in despair. Now leave.... before you cause me to obtain an ulcer..."

The two younger Koopas frowned, but did at they were told and left. But neither were going to give up – both were determined to convince the other of their superiority. Both equally as fast, the two ran towards their only family members actually in the pool, Larry and Morton, as fast as they could. Their constant pushing and shoving each other alerted them of their presence, and they immediately stopped their game and turned their attention to them. "Hey Larry, Morton--" Lemmy started before Roy pushed him out of his way.

"-Lemster here tinks 'e can beat me in dis 'learn-ta-swim-fasta' tingawhuteva. An' we all know dat's a load a crap, right?" he continued in place of him, keeping his large hand smashed against Lemmy's face to keep him from talking.

"I dunno – I think Lemmy's got a chance against you," Larry disagreed, shocking everyone in the conversation – even Lemmy himself. Although, Larry noticed all the crazy looks he was getting, and slightly altered his answer. "Y-you know... if he decided to pay attention."

Everyone's glances turned normal again. Though, Morton seemed to be supporting the other side. "Ha! No way! Lemmy would never beat Roy! Not in a million, a billion, a katrillion years! I mean, he's never payed attention when Kamek was teaching us – he always fell asleep! I bet he'll fall asleep when Peach teaches him. Don't you think? I think it will. I mean, it's not like--"

"ShaddUP, Morton! Jeez!" Any smirk Roy had before Morton had started rambling was gone and replaced with a face of sheer annoyance, along with everybody else.

"Nuh-uh!" Larry rebutted. "Lemmy could win if he tried hard enough!"

"Which he won't."

"Yeah he will!"

"Won't."

"Will."

"Won't!"

"Will!!"

By then, Roy and Lemmy both presumed they wouldn't stop arguing anytime soon and just moved on. They both realized that they were tied with just one vote each. Neither liked that idea, and quickly searched for a tie breaker, someone who wouldn't think their bet was a complete waste of time. Though, only two other kids remained, and neither were very reliable. Wendy would probably scoff at the entire idea, and Iggy's opinion could change in a matter of seconds if either threatened him enough.

But they decided to try them anyway.

Closest was Wendy, and they both knew she'd be hard to convince. With a quick glance at each other, they quickly bolted towards her. Lemmy was quicker than Roy, so naturally, he got to her first.

"Hey Wendy--" But before he could say anything, Roy caught up and bumped him out of the way and into the recreated portions of Iggy's sand castle, destroying it once again.

"Wendy – in a competition b'tween me an' Lemmy, who wins?" he questioned. Lemmy got up and tried to tackle into Roy to push him out of the way, but only bounced himself right back into the sand. Wendy rose an eyebrow.

"What kind of competition?"

"Swimmin'." Immediately, Wendy stiffled a laugh. Lemmy still tried to enter the conversation, but Roy kept pushing him away.

"In a swimming competition, you both suck! But if I had to pick one, it'd probably be Roy." In a second, Lemmy stopped trying to interrupt the talk and let out an exasperated sigh. Roy showed his smug grin once again. "But just know – no matter how well they teach you, I'll always be the best swimmer here. Now move – you're blocking my sun."

Roy's grin turned upside down, as did Lemmy's, but for a different reason. It was quite obvious at this point that Wendy could turn even the most obscure conversation about herself. But it was true – Wendy was the best swimmer of the family – though, no one would know since she rarely entered the pool. The two moved out of Wendy's way on her orders and walked away, Roy obviously more smug than Lemmy at that point. Though, even with Roy's lead of votes over him, he wasn't ready to give up.

"I know someone who'll vote for me no matter what!" he announced out loud, just enough for only him and Roy to hear. He ran over to his left, leaving Roy behind, and called out his other brother's name. "Iggy!!" The quietest Koopa looked up rather reluctantly, having had two of his sand castles smashed into his face in one day, gulping when he spotted Roy following his smallest brother.

"Iggy, in a contest between me and Roy, you'd vote for me... wouldn'tcha?" Lemmy asked, keeping it short and simple, though slightly worried. But Iggy nodded nervously.

"Yes – y-yes, of course..." his last words seemed to fade into nothing as Roy approached them. He gulped again as he watched Lemmy gloat in front of him.

"See? Iggy voted for me!" Lemmy's usual smile gleamed again, but it only seemed to make Iggy fidget more. Roy frowned, turning his glance over to his younger brother.

"S'at so?" he questioned. Iggy unsurely nodded. "Well den... ya shoi ya di'n't pick da wrong ansa?"

Iggy trembled with anxiety, and eventually stuttered out an answer – if one could even call it that. "I-I-I... I don't- I don't know...."

No one could read the emotions on Roy's face. Though, he suddenly smirked. "Reely, now? Pahaps ya need a li'l... pasuashun."

Roy picked Iggy up without warning and draped him over his shoulder. Immediately, Iggy started struggling to get out of his grip, but just plain started screaming when suddenly hung him over the deep end of the pool only by his ankle. "AHH!! Roy! Put me down, put me DOWN!!"

Roy only smirked some more. "Why? Dis is achully kinda entatainin'." The response only made Iggy scream more.

"I'll vote for you, I'LL VOTE FOR YOU!! You have my word, now put me down!!!" Seeing Iggy in so much despair was rather funny to Roy. He had never heard his normally quiet brother scream so much before. Though, Lemmy seemed rather 'worried' for his favorite brother.

"Roy, put him down already," he ordered in a slightly distressed but otherwise calm tone. Though, all the orders he was getting only made Roy want to torment his brother even more.

"Nah – it's fun watchin' 'im suffa." With another smirk, he slowly lowered him closer to the water, in return making Iggy scream even more than before, perhaps even louder as well. The tips of his rainbow colored mohawk finally got submerged into the cool liquid below him, and his glasses were slowly slipping off his face. He was practically begging, pleading Roy just to put him back on dry land, but to no avail. Though, on the far side of the pool underneath the shade of the trees, a certain music loving Koopa had just about enough of Roy's little game.

"Roy!" he shouted, obviously annoyed. "Put Iggy down, and leave him be!"

Roy frowned, but he knew better than to disobey, or even argue with Ludwig. Reluctantly, he dropped Iggy onto the pavement. Though, his fun wasn't completely over – as Iggy landed, the resulting thud bounced his already loose glasses off his face...

...And into the water.

"NO!!" Iggy shouted, surprisingly sticking his full arm into the water for a small second in an attempt to grab them before they sunk too far, but he had missed them. "No, no, no, no, no, no...."

Complete, utter fear and desperation crept up into his eyes as he just sat there, writhing in worry. He cupped his hands over his mouth, watching what, to him, was now a small black smudge drop like a rock to the bottom of the pool with no hopes of getting back up. Out of the corner of his eye, he could just barely make out Roy smirking.

"Try gettin' those on ya own."

Without another word, he walked away. Lemmy walked up next to Iggy, peering over the pool. "I'd get those for ya, but I kinda... can't,"  he stated, also walking away. Iggy slowly nodded, gulping.

"I know..." was all he could manage. He continued to stare endlessly into the pool, too shocked to move. He needed to get his glasses back, he kept telling himself. He could just barely see without them. But... Iggy couldn't go in there. He wasn't ready to conquer his fear. Four years may have seemed like a long time, but not nearly long enough for him. Finally tearing his eyes away from the water, he glanced at all his siblings. He already knew Roy and Lemmy couldn't help him, Morton and Larry seemed to be too involved in their game to even notice anything around them, Ludwig looked busy, and Wendy would just yell at him. But he took the chance anyway.

Slowly and cautiously making his way around the pool, he individually asked each of his brothers and sister if they could get his eyewear for him. Though, unsurprisingly, they all answered no – or didn't answer at all. As predicted, Wendy just told him to get over it and get out of the way of her sunlight. Ludwig, secretly wanting Iggy just to get over his fear on his own, declined, no matter how big his pleas were. And Larry and Morton... no matter how many times Iggy shouted their names, and no matter how loud, they wouldn't answer. Either that, or they were just ignoring him.

He noticed that Peach had finally returned with a few foam floaties, and was tempted to ask her to help him, but he just couldn't do that. But watching Roy whack Lemmy upside the head with one of the floaties suddenly gave him an idea. As quick as he could (which wasn't very quick at all without proper sight), he treaded over to the group of trees and found a decent sized stick. Rushing back to a small tool box beside the door, he searched for a string to tie on and anything that could be made into a hook. Once he found what he was looking for, he tied all the things together and had created his own homemade fishing rod.

Inching himself back to where he had dropped his glasses, Iggy sat down on his knees and dropped the hook into the water. Once it was close to the bottom, he grabbed the upper part of the string and began waving it around until it caught on something. After about fifteen seconds, he finally managed to grab onto something, and immediately began pulling it up. Though, it wasn't coming up... it was... stuck?

Iggy yanked on both the string and stick, but again: nothing. Something seemed wrong, so he peered over the side of the pool. Before he could truly see anything, a large tug on the 'fishing rod' suddenly pulled him into the water against his will. Immediately freaking out, he dropped his rod and made a mad dash towards the surface. He emerged with a large gasp of air, shocked from the sudden pull into his worse fear, and grabbed for the poolside and pulled himself up. Iggy crawled away as far as he could, pushing his wet hair out of his face, before spotting Larry also surfacing, laughing. It took a few seconds, but he eventually stopped his fit of giggles and spoke.

"Oh god – I-I'm sorry, Iggy," he started, laughing in between words. "I just had to! It's just... you just looked so pathetic trying to fish for your glasses!"

Larry broke out in hysterics, but Iggy honestly didn't see what he was laughing about. "That's not funny..." he mumbled, blushing. Larry stopped again.

"Y-your right – it's just--" he burst out laughing again. Iggy would've given him a death glare, but was just blushing a little too much. Larry finally calmed down after what seemed like an eternity of giggling. "Ok – I'm stopping for real this time. I-I'll go get your things."

Just as fast as he came up, Larry dived back down, and in a matter of seconds, came back up with both Iggy's glasses and rod. Iggy cautiously crawled over to him and snatched his glasses back, putting them back on. Finally being able to see clearly again, he stood up and walked away. "Hey, don't you want your rod thing?" he heard Larry shout.

"Keep it." Ignoring all sideways glances he was getting, he walked back into the castle, searching for a towel to dry himself off with.

…

Peach watched with worry as Iggy walked back in the castle, drenched. She looked back at Larry, who just continued his game with Morton without a care in the world. She knew there was nothing she could do at the moment, and sighed because of it. But she had other things to worry about at the moment, and her top priority was teaching Lemmy and Roy to swim. That is, if they'd stop playing with the floaties like swords and actually pay attention.

"Ok guys, stop hitting each other, and let's get to work," Peach interjected. The two suddenly stopped fighting and turned to her, though Roy threw one last shove at Lemmy, making him lose his balance and fall into the water once again. He resurfaced, floatie in hand, with his usual cheerful smile and sweet laugh, as if nothing had happened. Peach shot a glare at Roy, who in turn just shrugged and gave an innocent 'what?' to her.

She stepped into the water, dragging Roy with her, who seemed much more reluctant than Lemmy was – then again, that wasn't saying much. She instructed them to grab both the side of the pool and a floatie, then continued her explanations. She informed them of the most important factors of swimming, mainly kicking their legs to move around and stay afloat. They practiced that for the entire time until they were all called to lunch, and even then Peach promised to continue their lessons the next day. There was one thing that started to threaten Roy in the competition he had with Lemmy he had, though. The entire time, the little circus Koopa had focused all his attention on Peach and only Peach, none of the outside forces distracting him in the slightest. The larger Koopa occasionally splashed him in hopes of putting him off, but Lemmy just shook the excess water from his head and kept listening to Peach. Larry had been right -

Lemmy was actually paying attention.

----

"Ok guys, today we're going to be learning the breaststroke," Peach confirmed. Lemmy smiled in interest, while Roy just glared at his older brother, frowning. "It's pretty simple once you get used to it. So put your floatie under your waistline for now."

Both kids did as they were told, Roy thinking about attempting to pull Lemmy's out from under him, but restrained himself. "Ok – now watch me carefully," The princess commanded, not taking notice of the slight violence going on between the two brothers. "To preform this style of swimming, you have to have your stomach be on the water." The two followed her closely. Peach turned around for the next step. "Next, you have to put your arms out in front of you – like this," she demonstrated what they should be doing.

"Then swiftly move them in an outwards curve – kind of like you're making a snow angel," Peach explained. But Lemmy just frowned.

"But Peach, you can't make a snow angel in water – I tried," he pointed out. Roy scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"It was an example, dufus," he retorted, splashing water into Lemmy's face. Peach sighed.

"Hey, there's no need to call your brother names." After the statement, Lemmy grinned and stuck his tongue out at Roy, who just frowned. Peach continued on with her lesson. "So as you're pushing away water with your arms, simultaneously push with your legs as well."

She turned around to show how the swim style should be preformed, then turned back to face her students. Though, she gasped deeply when she saw that they weren't paying attention at all, but rather wrestling each other, attempting to push the other under the water. As quick as she could, she rushed over there to stop the fight before it got serious.

"Guys! Lemmy, Roy – stop!!" she yelled, trying to split the two up. They eventually stopped fighting, and started blaming each other for the incident.

"Peach! Roy's trying ta drown me!" Lemmy complained. Roy scoffed.

"Dun listen ta 'im, Peach! He wus tryin' ta drown me!" he shot back.

"He's lying, Peach! He's just trying to make me fail this lesson!" Nobody replied immediately, but Peach finally answered his pleas with a question of her own.

"You know what? You two have been fighting so much today that I have reason to believe that neither of you have been listening to a word I've said!" Peach retorted with a scowl. "What gives?"

Lemmy and Roy looked at each other, exchanging slightly worried glances. "I'm trying to pay attention, but Roy keeps distracting me!" Lemmy started. Peach looked at Roy, raising an eyebrow.

"And why is that?"

"He's just jealous 'cause he knows I'm gonna win this bet thing, and he's not!" Lemmy answered for him.

"Oh bull! I kin beatcha wit both claws tied bahind mah back!" He shot back. Lemmy stuck his tongue out at him again.

"...Bet?"

"Roy and me made an 100 coin be on who can learn ta swim faster."

Peach sighed. "That's what this is all about? Seriously? You shouldn't be fighting over something like that! And even if you have to, you'll have a chance to prove yourselves when you guys get the final test, ok?" she explained. Roy and Lemmy looked at each other. "Is that alright? Will that work?"

The two nodded.

"You two won't bother each other anymore?"

They nodded again.

"Good. Now, how much did you get out of my explanation?" she questioned, getting back onto subject.

"I got most of it."

"Me too."

"Good. Now prove it – swim two laps around the pool," Peach commanded. The two did as they were told, and swam off, telling each other things she couldn't understand, most likely about the strange bet bet they made. Though, they seemed to have been telling the truth about paying attention – aside from a small screw up or two, they seemed to be doing just fine. In just a few short minutes, they were finished, breathing heavily as if they were racing each other to get to Peach first.

"Was that ok?" she questioned. The two nodded. "Good. Let's practice some more so you can get the hang of it."

Lemmy smiled and immediately started, with Roy following closely. Peach watched closely, waiting to help with whatever issue they had with the style. But they were doing just fine, with only a few hiccups and adjustments. They were learning quite fast, even if it was only their second day. The two would occasionally 'accidentally' bump or push each other, but they were otherwise keeping their word. Though, out of the corner of her eye, Peach noticed Lemmy suddenly stop his practicing and took a small detour over to Iggy.

"Hey Iggy, wanna come swimming?" he questioned with his usual smile and optimism. "The water's really cool!"

Iggy looked over from his designs built from sand, and turned to him, shaking his head. "No thanks.... I'm fine," he answered, not taking notice of Roy catching onto Lemmy's little detour.

"Yo Iggster – if ya dun come in here right now, I'm gonna drag ya in," he threatened. Iggy immediately freaked, and got up from his spot. Without another word, he ran back into the castle, most likely to his room or lab. Lemmy bumped Roy in the arm, scowling.

"Nice job, Roy. Now it's gonna take him forever to get in here," he frowned.

"Not mah fault the wata made 'im delusional," he growled, following Lemmy back to training. Peach had heard everything that they had just said, and was admittedly curious. She swam over to the two, entering the conversation.

"Uhh... if you don't mind me asking, what... exactly happened to Iggy to give him his aquaphobia?" she asked. The two Koopalings looked at each other, then back at her. Roy sighed.

"Someting happened, he nearly drowned, Ludwig saved 'im, I get blamed fo' the entire ting – de end," he explained in a nutshell, obviously not wanting to talk about it. Lemmy bumped him again.

"Tell her the real story!" he demanded.

"Dat is de real story." Lemmy continued to glare. He sighed again. "Some time 'bout four years ago, when Kamek was trainin' us, Iggster... got 'imself inta an accident. We were nearly finishin' our lessons, an' one day, afta our daylee trainin', someone decided ta be funny an' trew a net onta 'im. Oh – an' 'ere's de good part, de one e'rybody blames me for--"

"Roy pushed Iggy into the pool when he was still untangling himself!" Lemmy finished for him.

"I had no idea he was dat close to de pool!" he rebutted with a snarl.

"You shouldn't've pushed him in the first place!"

"'T's not like ya woulda dun betta."

"I had to watch the entire thing!"

"I hadta, too, ya know!" They both noticed Peach watching the two exchange remarks with a stunned look on her face. Roy sighed again. "Iggy got tangled witin de net an' couldn't get 'imself out. Ludwig jumped in an' cut de ropes, an' dey soifaced. De little noid neva set foot in wata again. De end."

With an exasperated groan, Roy swam away with Lemmy following. Peach sighed and looked at the two sympathetically. She felt bad for Iggy – that must've been a traumatizing experience for him, especially since he was so sensitive. But at the same time, she felt equally bad for Roy. He never meant to corrupt his little brother – it was just an accident. And yet everybody blamed him for it. She knew she would have to do something about it. But not today – today she was busy with Lemmy and Roy, and no one else.