Ludwig's Demise
Ludwig stared out over his balcony observing the beautiful landscape before him. It was so nice of Bowser to grant him a castle of his own overlooking the Cheese Bridge and the cascading waterfall that ran beneath it; the rolling, green hills surrounding his estate was a pastoral dream. This landscape was perfect for the inspiration this koopa needed to compose the most beautiful symphonies that anyone will ever hear. And to ensure that no one would disturb him during his composing, Bowser even took the liberty of constructing a set of booby traps leading up to Ludwig's lair. So thoughtful of Bowser. But the prospect of someone breaking into his castle was something Ludwig could not fathom. He was a composer! An artist that only wished to write beautiful music. There's no reason that anyone should want to break in ...
"No, no, no!" Ludwig said as he frustratingly crumpled up his fifth try at a masterpiece. He tossed the paper over the balcony and continued to play some notes on his grand piano. One note at a time ... "No!" he exclaimed once more and gave up. "I shall try again later. For now I will practice some of the other songs that I wrote."
And so Ludwig played many of his symphonies upon his piano, emulating the beautiful landscape through his series of uplifting melodies, and his deep chord progressions in the bass-line. He played for what seemed like hours, and then turned towards his balcony, and noticed that the sun was slowly descending casting the landscape in an orange glow. "Ah, twilight," Ludwig reminisced as he slowly approached the outdoors.
But then suddenly he heard a crash emanating from the castle depths. "Oh, no!" he groaned. Someone had infiltrated his castle. Who could they be, knowing just how dangerous the traps were? An idea suddenly struck Ludwig. He remembered Bowser saying something about a man that has been causing trouble for the Koopas. He wanted nothing more than to destroy every last koopa, and their castle, and their peaceful way of life. Mario, Ludwig thought. Ludwig hadn't fought anyone for so long, that he was afraid that he might just lose this fight. But no. Ludwig wouldn't just fight immediately. Perhaps this Mario would enjoy a beautiful symphony. Maybe he has heard of his talent and wants to see the great Ludwig von Koopa live! Or dead, as Bowser so clearly stated. Ludwig decided that he shall greet this Mario. Perhaps show him that not all koopas should be killed upon unreasonable grounds.
He headed down the stone stairway to where he had heard the crash. It was coming from the lava room in the basement. Ludwig carried a torch to guide his way through the halls. He came until a large red door stopped him in his tracks. He had remembered Bowser saying that this room was his own battle room. The room where if anything needed to be taken care of, it would be in here. Ludwig sighed as he pushed the door open.
"Aha!" a small figure cried out before him, and rushed up to him eagerly. It was a man in blue overalls and a red shirt and cap with the letter 'M' on it. Ludwig knew that Mario had indeed come for him. He had no idea why.
"Stop!" Ludwig cried out. And Mario immediately halted just before him, keeping on his toes and his fists cocked. "Why, if it isn't Mario!" he started politely. "Have you come to hear some of my beautiful symphonies? I was actually just working on one not too long ago -"
"NO!" Mario exclaimed.
"Well, then what brings you to my humble abode?"
"I've-a come to kill you!" Mario said hatefully. Ludwig had expected as much.
"Why?" Ludwig asked honestly. "I'm but a mere composer ..."
"You've-a stolen one-a Yoshi's friends!" he angrily retorted. "And now-a you will-a die!"
Mario spat out some fireballs at Ludwig – Ludwig retreated into his shell allowing the fireballs to vaporize off of him. When the onslaught ceased, Ludwig emerged, and very angrily retorted, "I have no idea what you're talking about! I have no friends of Yoshi's in my castle! If I did, I'd gladly give them to you."
"You-a liar!"
"Come and search my castle," offered Ludwig. "I'll be very surprised if you do find it."
Mario dropped his arms to his sides, and nodded, his expression still as hard as stone. He followed Ludwig up to his castle to where his composing room was on the top floor .
"You sure you don't want to hear one of my compositions?" Ludwig asked as he sat at his piano.
"No." Mario began to frenetically go through all of Ludwig's possessions, searching through various treasure chests, boxes containing his masterpieces, his snack cupboard ... "Aha!"
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Ludwig asked.
"You see?" Mario cried holding up a large, yellow-spotted egg. "You-a stole Yoshi's friend! Now you-a die!"
"I don't know how that got there! Honest!" Ludwig insisted, but the leer in Mario's face seemed to say otherwise.
Ludwig didn't want to stay in his prized composing room, just in case he managed to defeat this maniac, and he would have something to go back to. Ludwig would have to manoeuvre his way out of here, and back to his battle room. Dun dun dun duuuuuun, Ludwig played upon his piano just before Mario lunged at him. Mario followed closely, desperately trying to land punches and kicks whilst holding the Yoshi egg. How careless of this man, Ludwig thought. After a long while fending off Mario, Ludwig retreated into his shell and spun himself down the stairwell towards the battle room. He entered and made his way to the other side, just in time to see Mario burst forth from the doorway. He had placed the Yoshi egg somewhere else.
"Too-a bad!" Mario yelled. "You will-a die!"
"I'm sorry it has come to this," Ludwig stated with disappointment. All he wanted was to live a peaceful life and compose masterpieces, while living in his beautiful castle overlooking the vista. But now he was forced to fight to the death. A fate he was warned about, but not particularly expecting.
Mario made the first move, firing a large number of fireballs. Ludwig retaliated as he spun rapidly towards his opponent. No impact was felt, and Ludwig emerged to see where his foe had gone. Smack, Ludwig heard as something came crashing down upon his head. He felt dizzy and slightly weaker than before. But wasn't about to give up. Mario stood before him, and Ludwig blasted some large fireballs at him. Mario appeared to have faced these kind of obstacles before, as he gracefully leapt over them. Ludwig tried to get him by spitting out an especially large fireball, followed by spinning in his shell full-speed at him.
"Wahhh!" he heard Mario cry as he saw him flying over the battlefield to the other side of the stage. Mario's fire ability was vanquished, making him appear considerably weaker. "You will never defeat-a me!" Mario angrily cried. "This is for-a Yoshi's friend!"
Mario charged Ludwig head-on, but Ludwig smoothly evaded the attack, back-flipping clear over Mario. Just as Ludwig was descending, Mario jumped under him with all his might sending Ludwig sky-high towards the ceiling. Another smack and Ludwig was seeing stars. He couldn't take another hit. He knew he would perish soon if he wasn't careful. Ludwig tried everything he could in his arsenal: spitting fireballs, spinning at him, jumping on him ... but Mario was avoiding all these attacks! Ludwig was feeling weaker than ever, and wished only to return to his composing room to finish off one more masterpiece. He saw Mario take a run towards him ... Ludwig spat out a large fireball at him, only to find that he was no longer in front of him. He looked about trying to find him. And then a crash came down upon his head and Ludwig collapsed upon the floor, breathing laboriously.
"Why, Mario? Why do you want to kill me? I'm but a peaceful musician, causing no such harm in this land."
Mario stared angrily into Ludwig's eyes.
"I honestly ... did not know ... that egg was even there!" Ludwig sobbed. "I was framed!" And Ludwig thought of all the Koopas that could have actually been cunning enough to do something like that. Bowser, Ludwig thought.
Mario ruthlessly stared down at the koopa sprawled upon the floor. He brought both fists together and smashed Ludwig hard in the head, knocking him out cold.
The last thing Ludwig remembered was flying through the atmosphere over his beautiful vista: the waterfall flowing underneath the Cheese Bridge, the rolling hills with their eyes staring at him, and the clouds smiling in the sky. And then a huge explosion sending him into oblivion.