Outbreak
PROLOGUE:
Airship Fortress was a quiet, dismal fortress by the shores of Koopa Country. It was where most airships were garaged, and a center for military tactics. Despite all its usage, its placement on a rocky, gray, dark cliff by the beach made it more gloomy than it was supposed to be. And today, it was especially gloomy, the cloudy sky preventing any and all moonlight from touching the dismal shore.
What made it worse was that it was almost midnight, when the residents and soldiers in the fortress were all inactive and asleep. A perfect time for a break-in, which is exactly what happened. The guards on night shift were as lazy and tired as ever. They sat slumped by the entrance of the fortress, keeping from falling asleep. One stepping stone in the plan that Julian Koopa had.
He looked down on the fortress, his white hair blowing in the breeze. He looked back at his crew, sitting on the rocks and talking about things that really didn't matter. Walking back to them, he told them his plan.
"The guards are half-asleep," Julian announced. "Obviously we'll be able to incapacitate them easily and just simply saunter in. Then we'll split up. Me, Blaise, and Steve will go in one way, and Yvonne and C.J. will go another. After this, we'll hijack 2 airships: one for each group. My group will get the city, and Yvonne's group will attempt crashing into Bowser's castle."
"You mean...a suicide mission?" Blaise asked, shocked. His multicolored mohawk seemed to stand up on his head.
"Not exactly. You may be able to survive, since airships aren't very explosive," Julian explained. "And after the attacks, we'll just improvise from there." He looked back at the fortress. Nothing had changed. "Let's go now. Carpe diem."
He jumped over the rocks, and the other four followed him. They killed the guards at the gate, knocking them into the river. Running into the fortress, they saw that it was dark and empty. Julian made a motion to split up, and they split into the groups mentioned before.
To their surprise, there were barely any troops in the castle. The ones that did come out were barely awake and sluggish, and they were easily shrugged off. After taking care of nearly everybody inside the castle, they moved up to the airship garage, when they were stopped by the general of the fort.
He was a bald koopa, with two fangs and a green shell. His arms widened out as they reached the hands, and the spikes on his shell were long and sharp. He began to charge for the group, but they all dodged him, and Julian stabbed him from behind, knocking him off the bridge. They quickly made it to the garage, the two groups getting in two airships each, then flew out into the night.
THE NEXT MORNING...
"New reports say that a group of 5 terrorists broke into the Airship Fortress by the coast of the country. Witnesses saw 2 airships fly away, meaning that either they were hijackers or soldiers fleeing the fortress. We already know that this group has broken through the gate and took the lives of many so far," the news report droned on the TV.
Ludwig and Karma sat on the couch in the lounge, which was now Karma's temporary room before she and Ludwig got married. It bugged most of the other koopalings that she was hogging their main resting area, but Ludwig liked it just fine. They saw the news report and turned it off, Ludwig inserting Ferris Bueller's Day Off. About halfway through the movie, they slept on each-others' shoulders, letting the movie turn off itself.
Ludwig woke up to an urgent message from Kamek, and woke up Karma as well. "Hey, I need to meet with Kamek in the main room."
"Why?" Karma complained.
"Well, I don't really know. I just know it's something urgent. It's code red."
"In that case, hit it, Sherlock." Karma kissed Ludwig and he went down to the main room of the castle. Clearly, all the other koopalings got the memo, as they were already downstairs, buzzing about this new assignment. Kamek suddenly appeared in the room, and began stating the mission.
"As you may or may not know, 5 terrorists have broken into some airships, and we don't know what they might be up to. Since most of the troops are gone along with Bowser and Junior to attempt to rule the universe, you are our last resort. We need you to go in your clown copters to look for any airships flying. I've ordered all air traffic to be cancelled, so any ship flying will be the hiijacked ones.
"You will all go separately, and if you find any ship, immediately attack. If possible, force them to surrender. If not, shoot them down completely. I hope you do not fail. This is in protection of the entire country, and if you let me down, you let everyone down. Good luck."
All koopalings stood still, looking at each other. They knew this was a serious mission, but they weren't sure they could all do it. "Well, let's get going," Ludwig said. He ran up to the garage, everybody following. He immediately stopped in his tracks, and looked back to see Karma. He decided to go back to say goodbye.
"I'm sorry, but I have to leave. As much as I want to stay, this is for the entire country. I may not make it back, but just expect the best."
He knew it was hard to say. Tears were forming in her eyes, and she hugged him. "Please don't go," she begged.
He reluctantly broke away. "I'm sorry, I have to. I promise, I'll come back." He turned the other way, looked back once, and went into the garage. Getting in his own clown car, he started it up and flew into the sky, taking deep breaths. For awhile he set the copter on autopilot, not listening to the other koopalings' transmissions.
"So, have you guys heard anything about the hijackers?" Larry asked.
"Well, I did see one in a video. They...kind of looked like boom-booms," Lemmy explained.
"So, they're just rebels?" Wendy figured.
"I guess so. There's really no other reason that they could be boom-booms," Roy shrugged.
"I don't get it," Iggy mused. "Bowser can be a bit of a jerk sometimes, but why betray the entire country because of it?"
"Hey, Ludwig, you've been real quiet this entire trip. You okay?" Morton asked worriedly.
Ludwig slumped back in his seat. "Yeah," he mumbled. "I'm fine."
Flying for a few minutes, he saw a brown speck in the distance. By this time, he was too depressed to notice, and let it fly by. At the last second, he realized it was one of the hijacked ships, and immediately changed course. Flying after it, he caught a glimpse of inside the window. The ship wasn't a big ship, and he only saw 2 figures inside. He guessed there was a third in the piloting chamber, but for now that didn't matter.
Turning his transmitter on, he caught the ship's signal, and began speaking. "This is Ludwig von Koopa, strategic commander of the Grand Army of Bowser. I give you this opportunity to surrender, or else I will have to shoot you now. Make your decision now." After sending that message, he sent a signal to the rest of the koopalings that he had found a ship. Hovering around the ship, he waited for a response.
Inside the ship, Ludwig's message echoed around the ship. Blaise and Steve rushed around, trying to figure out what to do. Blaise entered the cockpit. "What should we do about this?" he asked Julian.
Julian smirked. "Fire the cannon," he growled.
Blaise smiled back, closed the door, and looked for the cannons. At last he found one, hoping it was the right one. He lit the fuse and let it burn.
Ludwig patiently waited outside the airship, and decided to leave another transmission. "If you do not respond in the next minute, I have no choice but to shoot you down," he threatened. However, he made the mistake of flying right next to the ship's cannon, and was shot down. Immediately after, the ship sped up toward its goal.
Roy flew in around the city, looking for any sign of danger. Suddenly, he noticed that he wasn't getting any signal from Ludwig. "Ludwig! Ludwig! If you can hear me, give me a signal!" No response. He turned the transmission to Larry. "Hey, I'm not getting anything from Ludwig. No response, no nothing."
"Yeah, I'm not getting anything either," Larry responded. "We need to go look for him."
Lemmy joined the conversation. "Last I checked, he was near the coastline. We should maybe look there."
Roy and Larry agreed, and all 3 copters flew to the coast.
Karma sat slumped down on the floor, her face in a pile of tissues. She sat against the wall in the library, trying to console herself when she suddenly heard a crash at the other side of the castle. Huh? What's going on? She threw away her tissues and ran to the main room. Several of the castle servants and slaves were gathered in the room, and Kamek was just going towards the crash.
Curiously, she followed Kamek, and quickly found out that an airship crashed into the garage and attic of the castle. Kamek was confronting 2 koopas, waving his wand at them. One of them took his wand and cast a spell at him, knocking him out instantly. Karma fearfully ran back to the main room.
"There are 2 koopas with Kamek's wand, and they're coming right this way!" she said breathlessly. Just as she said that, she was grabbed and a wand was held to her neck.
"Whoever tries to protest puts her life in danger!" a woman's voice shouted, who Karma realized was grabbing her. She didn't struggle, for fear of her own life. Instead, she closed her eyes, hoping it was all just a dream.
Just as she did, she was thrown against the wall. She was able to get a closer look at the 2 criminals. One of them, the one who grabbed her, had blonde hair, a blue jacket, a black shirt, a light blue shell, and blue jeans. The other, about as young as Morton, had blue hair and 3 fangs, with a blue shell.
Karma slumped down on the wall, still shaking. I just wonder if Ludwig's okay, she thought. That's all I ever wanted.
Iggy was just about to quit looking when he saw a small speck in the distance. He first thought it was one of his siblings, but as he looked on, he saw it was brown, larger than a clown copter. Realizing immediately it was an airship, he began to rush toward it, and it fired cannons at him. He swiftly dodged each attack, beginning to fire his own cannonballs out of the copter, but it just left a few marks. As the ship flew away, he sent out a signal for help.
Roy, Lemmy, and Larry meet up at the coast where they think Ludwig went. Larry looked around. "Don't see him. You guys know, possibly?"
"Nope, nothing," Lemmy said, walking along the shore.
"Found him," Roy motioned over to Ludwig's unconscious body lying face-flat on the shore. He checked for a pulse. "Still breathing. Let's get him back to the castle."
"But how? All we have is our clown cars," Larry pointed out.
"He can go in mine. I am quite small, so he can probably fit," Lemmy offered.
"Okay. We'll still go with you to look after Ludwig," Roy said, then jumped into the clown copter. Larry helped Lemmy load Ludwig into his copter, then the 3 flew back to the castle.
Kamek woke up near the destroyed garage, having been defeated by the terrorists. He looked down the hall, hearing hushed conversations. Really? We're being held hostages? He began to brush himself off, limping to the main room. Not wanting to be seen, he opened the door just a little. He could see a koopa with blue hair that almost looked like Larry. Kamek calmed down when he saw the extra tooth.
CJ paced around the main room of Bowser's castle. Nobody was moving, and they were having quiet conversations. He noticed that the door to the west wing was cracked open a little. Who did that? I'm sure I left it open all the way... "Yvonne!" he yelled, and Yvonne came from outside, wand in hand.
"What is it? Are you afraid she's gonna bite?" she said, pointing at Karma. "We can kill her if you'd like."
"No, I'm not threatened by her in the slightest. I just saw the crack of that door open, and I'm wondering if that wizard guy we knocked out is still alive."
"I'm pretty sure we did him off pretty well," she muttered. "Let's just check." She swung the door open, and Kamek knocked her over, taking his wand back. "Everybody! Fight back!"
Suddenly, everybody got up and began attacking the 2 intruders. Kamek cast spells at them, which they dodged. They countered with knives, killing a few, until they were held by Kamek and Karma.
"Where should we put them?" Karma asked Kamek.
"Try getting them down to the dungeons. They shouldn't be able to do anything from there." Not letting go of either of the intruders, they dragged them to the dungeon, and locked them up, each in different cells.
"Well," Karma sighed, smacking the dust off her hands, "that was rough."
"I think you'd make a good addition to the Koopa Troop," Kamek offered. "We need people like you."
"Nah, it's not my thing. Only when I'm provoked." Karma brushed a few strands of hair out of her face.
"Let's go and clean up the mess upstairs."
"Agreed."
Meanwhile, Iggy, Wendy, and Morton were chasing after one of the hijacked ships, which was shooting cannons back at them, while they were trying to subdue it. The ship suddenly changed course, diving directly down towards the city.
"I think they're on a suicide mission," Morton muttered.
"No kidding," Wendy snapped.
"Guys, what do we do?" Iggy frantically asked.
"Nothing, it's going to crash into the city anyways," Morton yelled. At about that moment, it scraped the bottoms of a few towers, then crashing into the rest of the cityscape.
"Well, by now, let's go see how many people are okay," Wendy said, flying down to the wreckage. Morton and Iggy, without anything else to do, followed her.
Roy flew by the castle and saw the wreckage at the west wing, and swore under his breath. "Where are we supposed to land now?"
"We could just go to the front door for now," Larry suggested.
"I guess so," Lemmy chimed in, and all 3 copters landed in the front of the castle. Roy opened the door, and saw the castle crew cleaning up a massacre. At least 3 people were dead on the floor. Karma, upon seeing Ludwig, immediately ran over to Roy.
"Is he okay?" she asked Roy.
"He's fine, he's just unconscious," Roy explained. "What happened here?"
"Long story short: a few of the terrorists crashed into the west wing, and held us hostage. Then a whole massacre happened, which led us to this."
"Okay. Could we possibly help with the cleanup?"
"Sure. I'll just get Ludwig into the infirmary, and you can get right to it."
Back at the city, several reporters gathered around the crash site. "This airship, believed to have been hijacked, crashed into the city, destroying a few buildings and ramming into the bottom of Bowser Stadium," one reporter told the cameras. "Three of Bowser's 7 children are looking for anybody who has been injured. One of them says that there were only 3 passengers on the-"
A bolt of lightning burst out of the airship. Everybody jumped back, children began to cry, and the 3 koopalings pulled out their wands. Eventually, Julian came out of the airship, furious and ready to attack.
The reporter moved slightly away. "We are now witnessing something extraordinary: what seems to be Bowser's species of koopa is stepping out of the airship!"
Iggy, Morton, and Wendy circled around Julian all witnesses ran away or looked to watch from a distance. "Who are you, anyways?" Wendy interrogated.
"Me? I am Julian, son of Ellen, here to take back our kingdom."
The three looked at each other. "Ellen?" Morton asked. "Wasn't she..."
"Bowser's sister who he rivaled the kingdom over, causing a country-wide civil war. Bowser won, and Ellen was forced to leave the kingdom," Iggy realized. "Who knew she would've had children?"
"I did, I was the first to bring it up," Wendy boasted.
"I'm getting tired of all this chatter," Julian interrupted, and struck a blow at Wendy with his lightning sword. She fell unconscious on the ground.
"Attack!" Iggy screamed, and shot a projectile from his wand. Julian successfully dodged it, swiping at Morton, who also passed out. Iggy, being the only one left, backed away from the angry koopa, then jumped over him and began to spin in his shell. Trying to knock Julian off his feet, he saw that his attacks were being dodged. After this, he came out of his shell, blasting a few more shots from his wand, but Julian got the better of him, and he, too, was knocked out next to his siblings.
Julian cackled, collecting each of their wands. "You see that?" he yelled across the city. "I'm your new leader now. And you're going to do everything I say!"
Ludwig woke up in the infirmary room in Bowser's castle. He didn't know how or why he was there. The last thing he remembered was getting hit by an airship cannon and plummeting towards the ocean. He could barely make out a few shapes, as well as other patients, and then he saw Karma sitting on the bed next to him, looking eagerly at him.
"Karma..." he whispered, reaching out his hand, which she grabbed.
"You're going to be okay," she comforted. "Just a minor concussion."
Ludwig rested his head on the cot, then noticed a cut on Karma's arm.
"You're bleeding," he croaked.
She checked her arm. Ludwig was right, it was bleeding. She quickly bandaged it, then sat by him. "Thanks," she said.
"Where's everybody else?" he asked, looking around.
"There was an emergency at the city, and they're going as reinforcements."
"I'm going too." He sat up, but Karma prevented him.
"You're hurt. Stay here," she said.
"No, they need my help-"
"Stay here," Karma repeated, and Ludwig began to relax.
Roy, Lemmy, and Larry arrived at the wreckage in a large airship. Julian smirked, shooting lightning at it. However, it reflected the lightning, zapping Julian with a large amount of electricity, throwing him back. He got up, as the airship converted into a tank. The head shot out a fireball, but Julian was able to dodge it. He was able to find a way into the airship, and once he was inside, attacked Larry and Lemmy. They were both defeated and tossed out the airship.
Making his way into the cockpit, he began to attack Roy, but he was pushed out of the cockpit. Roy began to attack, but Julian struck back before Roy could do anything else. He began to enter the cockpit when Roy got up again and struggled for control of the wheel.
As both koopas brawled in the cockpit, the tank circled around, turned violently, and wheeled around uncontrollably, until it crashed into another building. The koopas took their fight into the base of the tank/ship, when they heard a rumbling. The tower that they had hit had lost balance and began to fall onto the tank.
All spectators stood shocked. Larry and Lemmy looked at each other, and ran over to the rubble. "Try and look for Roy!" Larry shouted. Both koopas cleared out as much broken material as they could, but found nothing. While clearing some rocks away, Larry found something peculiar. He dusted it off, and looked at it in shock.
His sobbing filled nearly the entire city.
Lemmy walked over, and saw the item that Larry had picked up: Roy's sunglasses. After gasping in shock, he took the sunglasses and lay them there, comforting Larry.
And then, something peculiar happened.
Everything seemed to swirl around, and then all gravity was lost, as if they were being pulled by something. And nearly everything broke off the ground. It was almost like an unrealistic nightmare. Both Larry and Lemmy held onto a large piece of rubble to prevent from flying away from each other. They saw nearly everything they knew pulled along with them. Confused and in shock, Larry closed his eyes painfully. All of a sudden they saw what was pulling them.
In the very close distance, a large black hole was holding everything from Peach's castle to Bowser's saucer that he brought on his attempt to rule the galaxy. And even more strange, small star figures flew directly into the black hole, lightening it up, as everything was compacted into that hole. A sudden burst of light, and then darkness.
Ludwig woke up in his room, in his bed, in his castle. However, something didn't feel right. He had no memory of what had happened before, but he knew where he was. Walking out of the room, he saw all of the castle servants and assistants, denizens and slaves. He also saw his siblings, talking with each other with such joy and laughter. And among them all, he saw Karma, his fiancée, his lover, and his teacher.
Walking up to her, he smiled. "Happy to see you."
"You too. Wedding's tomorrow. You ready?"
"You bet I am." They held hands and walked out onto the front stairs of the castle. The sun was rising, its glow reaching the forbidden mountains of Bowser's castle. And there, in the sunlight, Karma and Ludwig kissed. They didn't care what was going to happen, as long as they could get through.
Nothing was going to stop them now.