Side Effects
Ludwig was concentrating so intensely that
a bomb could have gone off behind him without his noticing. He had been hard at
work in his room for the last day or so, and absolutely nothing would deter him
from seeing the fruit of his labours. He was not reading from any instruction
book or a recipe of any sort, oh no. An advanced scientist, he mixed various
compounds he deemed would give him the result he desired.
He focused all of his energy, all of his
being on one thing: his latest invention. This invention, actually a complex
potion, was made of many rare substances of extremely exact proportions. With
the precision of a brain surgeon, he began to measure the next liquid to be placed
in the vial. Slowly, painstakingly, he emptied the measured ingredient into the
vial, and an expression of triumph appeared on his face.
"Almost ready," he said quietly.
Ludwig picked up a small bottle and placed
it on the counter next to the vial containing the incomplete potion. He put his
safety gloves on and opened the bottle, proceeding to measure out its contents
in the same meticulous fashion he had with each of the other ingredients,
syringe in hand. Though he really should have had those gloves on all along, he
was confident enough in his abilities. He only put them on now as an extra
precaution. Carefully applying the tiniest amount of pressure he could, a
minimal amount of the chemical was sucked into the syringe. Placing the syringe
over the vial, he muttered to himself.
"Just one drop at a time," he said, using
no more energy than absolutely necessary.
Suddenly, a loud knock at the door made
Ludwig turn around. Shocked that he had been sidetracked, he turned his
attention back to the potion. To his relief, he had not spilled any of the
chemicals from the syringe. Knowing that the entire thing would be ruined if he
did not time it right, he took a shaky breath and returned his focus on
delivering the final few drops into the vial, doing his best to ignore the
knocking at his door.
He was so intensely focused that he failed
to notice the sound of his door opening. He remained unaware of everything
except timing the addition of the droplets precisely, oblivious to the fact
that someone had just entered his room. The intruder quietly crept up to him
and tapped him gently on the shoulder.
Snapping out of his resolute trance, Ludwig
whipped around instinctively. Horrified, he remembered what he was doing and
turned back around before he could make out who was behind him. To his dismay,
the momentary distraction had caused him to unintentionally empty the syringe
entirely into the vial all at once. It began to bubble and foam. He groaned in
frustration and smacked his head.
"Kooky?" asked a timid voice.
"WHAT?!" Ludwig snapped as he turned around
again, ready to yell at whoever had just caused him to ruin his last few days'
work. For the first time he was able to recognize the intruder as Larry. Being
the youngest of the Koopalings, Larry hadn't recognized his obvious need for
quiet.
"Clawdia told me to tell you that dinner
was ready," said Larry meekly.
Sighing, Ludwig felt his immediate anger
drain out of him. Now that the need to concentrate was gone, he just felt tired
from the exertion. "I'll be right down," he mumbled wearily. Larry left as
quickly as possible.
Ludwig looked again at his potion, now
ruined. It had bubbled right over the top and was fizzing viciously all over
the counter. He cleaned the mess, leaving the vial and other equipment to be
put away later and retreated downstairs to the kitchen before anything else
could go wrong.
***
Ludwig looked glum as he slowly ate his
dinner. He didn't know what he was eating, but was too preoccupied to really
care. His potion was ruined and he was exhausted. He had planned on making a
solution capable of rendering the Mario Brothers helpless, but once again
another of his great ideas had been ruined before he could even test the final
product. Of all the potential his great ideas had, only a small percentage of
them ever seemed to work. It just wasn't fair.
By the time Ludwig was done eating, he was
more tired than ever. He decided he would put his equipment away and head
straight to bed. He climbed the stairs and headed towards his room. He opened
the door and stepped in, barely remembering in his drowsiness to shut the door
behind him. All he could think of was making it to bed as he absentmindedly
cleaned the counter of his tools.
He noticed the vial was still half full,
but was too lethargic to really care. Taking it down the hall to the washroom,
he promptly began to flush it down the toilet. A bit of the potion splashed on
him. He didn't even notice until he felt a burning pain in his right arm, the
one he had been holding the potion with.
"Arrgh!" he yelled in a mixture of
frustration and agony.
The vial shattered as it hit the ground;
Ludwig had dropped it in his surprise. The liquid that was his ruined
experiment began mysteriously spreading up his arm. Though he normally would have
been intrigued at its rapid dispersal, the pain was suddenly the only thing on
his mind. It was unbelievable, this pain. He knew he'd have to do something
quickly, but was forced to stop for a moment as another searing jolt travelled
up his arm.
He looked around desperately. Through
blurred vision, he spotted the sink. Hastily, he stumbled towards it. As he
groped for the faucet, a steady torrent of curses best left untold fell from
his mouth. The pain almost seemed to infect his mind. Everything was becoming
so confusing, so muddled, amidst the burning pain. He found himself gasping,
not for air but out of pure agony.
After what seemed like an eternity, his
hand finally connected with the handle. He struggled to turn it on, but his
jerky movements were making it near impossible to do anything quickly. In his
throbbing distortion, he only hoped that he'd found the tap containing cold
water. Finally, the faucet handle turned.
To his infinite relief, the water was cold.
He shuddered at first as the water connected with the wound, but the searing
pain dissolved almost instantly. He let out a sigh of relief.
After a minute or so, Ludwig turned the tap
off, nearly collapsing on the floor. As he leaned against the washroom counter,
he looked down to inspect his arm. It seemed to be all right. The wound was not
an open one, though he supposed he would have to treat himself for chemical
burns. It definitely wasn't totally all right; it still stung and hurt to move.
Sort of like a sunburn, but on a way larger scale.
The adrenaline burst triggered by his
temporary panic was wearing off. He was tired again, exhausted and hurting. He
decided to leave it until morning. He was just too spent to do anything else
that night.
"Maybe using a that against the Marios would
have been a wise course of action after all," he muttered bitterly, rubbing his
arm a little. This proved to be a mistake, and he cringed as the burn connected
with his claw. Though part of him wondered if there would be any long-term
effects to his arm, for the most part he was just too tired to care. As he
lumbered down the hall towards his room, Lemmy rolled around the corner and
nearly bumped into him.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, none to intelligently.
"Ludwig, are you ok? I heard someone yell, and I came over to see if-"
"I'm fine, Lemmy," Ludwig cut him off.
"Just a minor accident involving a discarded potion."
"That doesn't look too minor," Lemmy
pointed out, noticing the shape Ludwig's arm was in.
"Never mind that," Ludwig said hurriedly,
hiding his arm behind his back. He fought to suppress a grimace as it began to
throb from the movement. "It's none of your business in any case. I'm going to
bed."
Lemmy gave him a funny look, but rolled
away anyhow. Yawning once again, Ludwig entered his room and collapsed on to
his bed, grateful that the day was finally over. It was incredible; the amount
of suffering had come from that one little spill. He tried to ignore the
throbbing pain in his right arm as he drifted off in an uneasy sleep.
***
The next morning, Ludwig yawned as he woke
up. Sitting upright, he stretched his arms out without thinking. Suddenly
remembering what had happened the night before, he winced. But the pain didn't
come. No searing jolt up his arm, no stinging sensation, not even so much as a
tingle of anything that remotely resembled pain. Surprised, he looked at his
arm. It still looked frightful, but at least it didn't hurt.
His first reaction was of relief. Pain was
the last thing he wanted right then. But suspicion soon began to creep into his
mind. What negative effects would those chemicals have on his scales, or more
importantly, the skin underneath his scales? Scales were little more than
hardened skin, but were indifferent to pain. This, he concluded, must mean that
the potion's corrosive ingredients had seeped farther down, under the scales.
And yet, if he had been in such pain last
night, why didn't it still hurt now? It still looked a mess. He gently prodded
the burnt area with his claw. Nothing. In fact, he didn't even feel the touch
on his arm.
Shocked, Ludwig tried again, less gently
this time. He braced himself for the inevitable sting. And yet, his arm did not
feel so much as the pressure of his hand touching it, let alone the pain that
touching an unhealed chemical burn would normally cause. It was odd, to say the
least. He went on to slapping his injured arm as hard as he could. No reaction
at all, he couldn't even feel the impact.
He clenched his right fist, flexed his arm.
"Amazing," he whispered to himself. His eyes were aglow with a certain sparkle
they always had when he was exited. "Not even a muscle flexing is felt!"
Excited, he jumped out of bed. Running in
to the hallway, he began to run downstairs. Midway down the staircase, he
literally bumped in to Roy.
"Roy!" he exclaimed. He moved as if to
continue down the staircase, when a thought struck him. He stopped.
"Excellent deduction, Sherlock," Roy
snarled. "Ya got any more scientific discoveries to announce, or can I go now?"
"Sorry," Ludwig apologized quickly. "Roy, I
have a huge favor to ask of you."
"Oh yeah? Whaddya want? It had better be
good, or you'll be sorry."
Ludwig showed Roy his arm, burned and
scabbing from the chemical spill. Roy recoiled in disgust.
"So what, you smacked into me to show me
what a freak you are?"
"Punch me," said Ludwig. He wasn't half as
confident as he sounded, but he hid his uncertainty as best he could. "In the
interest of medical science, I ask you to punch me right here." He indicated
his arm again, not even sure if he was totally right. If he was right, he just
might have found a key weapon against the Mario Brothers. If not… He gulped.
***
For a moment, all Roy could do was stare.
He looked at him suspiciously as he tried to absorb his older brother's words.
Was this some sort of trick? Perhaps King Dad was hiding somewhere, waiting to
catch him in the act. Ludwig watched nervously as Roy stood there, seemingly
weighing his options. Would one good wallop be worth a possible trip to the
dungeon?
After what seemed like an eternity, the
malevolent energy that was Roy's violent nature seemed to have won the inward
battle. A nasty grin spread across his face as he struck out, socking Ludwig in
the arm for all he was worth. The blow knocked Ludwig to the ground and sent him
tumbling down the staircase. Smirking a little at his latest accomplishment, he
casually sauntered down the staircase to survey the damage. But to his
astonishment, what he saw was unlike anything he'd ever have expected to see.
Ludwig had indeed taken the brunt of the
blow. And yet, he was not moaning in agony, or even nursing his injured arm.
His shell had taken the impact of the wall, and after crawling out of the large
indent he nonchalantly got to his feet and began to walk off.
"I suggest you mend that," Ludwig grinned
happily, eyeing the huge dent. "If you don't want to have to explain it King
Dad, that is."
Roy let out a whimper of disbelief and
slowly backed away, hardly daring to believe it.
Minutes later, Ludwig burst through the
door to Bowser's throne room with a loud bang. He rushed in, nearly tripping
over himself in his excitement.
"King Dad!" he shouted eagerly. He was too
excited to stay in one spot, jumping up and down impatiently.
"Huh, Ludwig? What is it?"
"The most extraordinary thing has
happened!"
"Yeah?" asked Bowser. It was then he caught
sight of Ludwig's burnt arm "What happened to your arm?"
"That's just it! I spilled a ruined potion
on my arm last night. When I woke up this morning, I discovered that the arm is
now indifferent to pain!"
"Yeah, whatever," said Bowser, suddenly
losing interest.
"But it's true!" stomped Ludwig. "Roy
punched me in the arm, and I didn't even feel it!"
Bowser didn't answer, and clearly didn't
believe him. He waved his arm to indicate the door.
"Fine!" Ludwig muttered under his breath.
"I'll prove it to him."
Retreating to his room again, he tried to
recall each of the ingredients he had used in the potion the previous night. It
took him only a few minutes, and soon he was working to recreate the potion. He
stayed there for a long time, doing a few days' work in merely a few hours.
When he was finished he made sure to add a certain chemical to dull the pain
caused upon use.
He was going to test in on himself, but he
grimaced remembering what had happened before. It soon became apparent that he
needed a guinea pig.
"But who?" he wondered to himself.
Not Roy. He shuddered as he imagined the
resulting apocalypse. Not Larry either, he'd probably guess that there was a
reason Ludwig didn't want to use it himself. Getting an idea, he gathered the
beaker and walked out into the hall.
"Iggy!" he called out, seeing him walking
in the opposite direction. Iggy turned around. "Do you know the whereabouts of
Morton?"
"He's outside in the garden, talking to
some of the plants," Iggy snickered.
Sure enough, Ludwig found Morton outside
standing the in the garden. He seemed to be reciting a speech to one of the
Piranha Plants that was not yet old enough to fight. In covered its ears with
it's leaves, but dared not complain to one of Bowser's kids.
"Morton!" called Ludwig. Morton stopped
short and looked in his direction. The Piranha Plant gave a sigh of relief as
Morton walked over to Ludwig.
"Hi, hello, hey, greetings, salutations!"
answered Morton, happy to have someone else to talk to.
"Morton, I have a favor to ask of you,"
"Yeah? What do I get out this? Some kind of
reward, prize, payment or incentive would be nice."
Ludwig had planned on this, but it wasn't
going to be easy. "I… I will…" he found himself tripping over the words.
"Listen to one of… your speeches."
For once in his life, Morton didn't know
what to say. He certainly hadn't expected to ever hear those words. Well, not
from anyone who had met him before, in any case. Finally, he was able to choke
out: "Sure!" without even asking what the favor was.
Even after Ludwig told him what the favor
was, Morton was still willing to do it. Heck with willing, he was downright
eager. So, Ludwig sat and listened to one of Morton's speeches. It wasn't too
bad… except that it lasted all day. When it was finally over, Morton asked him
what he thought of it.
"Astounding!" he responded automatically,
snapping out of his coma. "You should really go into business."
"You think?" asked Morton hopefully.
"Of course! But now it's time for you to
hold up your end of the deal."
"Of course, certainly, no problem, yes!"
Still clutching the beaker, Ludwig
carefully squeezed a drop of the liquid on Morton's finger.
"It tingles," noted Morton, to fascinated to
think of any more verbs. He watched curiously as the strange substance
glittered strangely and spread across his whole hand. Then it seeped under his
scales and disappeared. "What's happening?" he asked, seeming to expect
something more.
"That's it?" Ludwig peered at Morton's
hand. "It didn't hurt?"
"No…" answered Morton slowly. "Was it
supposed to?"
"No!" cried Ludwig elatedly. "Now, exert a
minuscule amount of pressure to that hand."
"Huh, what, pardon, excuse me?"
"Pinch it."
"All right, if you say so," answered Morton
doubtfully. He pinched his hand lightly. To his surprise, he didn't feel a
thing. He told this to Ludwig, who began to jump up and down.
"Yessss!" he exulted. "I just may have
discovered the ultimate weapon! Thank you so much!" And with that, he ran off,
leaving behind one very confused Morton.
"Now, what was that all about?" he
wondered, still staring at his hand. He turned his hand around, looking at it
from all angles.
To be continued…
Rachelle Davison, 2001
