Prologue
It had been a normal day. At least, as normal as any day in the middle of a war can get.
The King of Dark Land had snuck out early that morning in order to kidnap the crown jewel of the Mushroom Kingdom - Princess Peach Toadstool. She was a stunning young lady and the monarch of the land of the Toads. Bowser had a very troublesome crush on her, although she was way out of his league. He knew this, and yet, he still attempted all the time, without fail, to nab her in some way shape or form. It was almost not out of the ordinary to see the beast stomping through the Kingdom, crushing Toads in his wake, in order to grab the ruler.
However, this unnecessary kidnapping problem that King Bowser had was the reason that the two kingdoms were in the middle of a war in the first place.
An Italian plumber from the real world named Mario had been insistent on stopping Bowser once and for all. He and his younger brother Luigi had been on many escapades to save Princess Toadstool from the Dark Landian King. Mario had had enough of the giant turtle stealing his wife. Or rather his soon to be wife. The two were planning on getting married sooner or later.
And so, the hero declared war against all of Dark Land on the eve of the full moon. Bowser was not worried at first. He was sure with his massive army, along with his brute strength, that he could win and finally rule over the Mushroom Kingdom, and soon, The World.
However, when large masses of his troops started going missing, he started getting anxious. He took matters into his claws. The King snuck out early into the morning, leaving his trusty servant Kamek the Magikoopa in charge of his eight children.
Speaking of Kamek... well, he was currently calling down the children for breakfast that he had prepared. With the shortage of troops, most of the servants had been turned into soldiers, leaving very few to help out with the needs of the Koopa Kastle and its inhabitants.
"Koopalings! Bowser Junior! Hurry your slow butts down here and come eat breakfast before it becomes cold and unappetizing! The magikoopa cried.
I don't get paid enough for this...
The first to come traipsing down the stairs was Morton. Traipsing was definitely an accurate description. If his mouth didn't wake the others, his heavy steps sure did.
He was always the most eager for breakfast, seeing as he loved to eat. You could certainly tell that by his size if you rather assume than ask. He seemed to have been awake for a while. He was talking a mile a minute, per usual. Kamek could barely pick up what he was saying. Something about a flying Yoshi...? Maybe. It was probably a dream of his.
"-and then the thing stuck out its HUMONGOUS TOUNGE and swallowed King Dad whole! I was scared that King Dad was gone forever, but Roy picked up the Yoshi and tossed it onto Petey Piranha and WOW he came right out and-" He was cut off by the clacking of heels. Both he and Kamek turned to see Wendy gracefully walking into the room, phone in hand and claws manicured. She wore her bow atop her head but lacked her usual bracelets and pearl necklace.
"I can't believe Birdo is blaming me for Pom Pom's absence! It's like, totally not my fault. If anything, it's King Dad's!" She stormed over the table and sat down, typing furiously on her handheld device. Kamek sighed. He snatched it from her hands and set it up on top of the fridge.
"Hey! I was in the middle of-"
"I don't care what you were in the middle of, young lady. You know the rules. No electronics at the table." Wendy huffed but said nothing in response. She crossed her arms and held a pouty look.
Kamek began setting food on the table, which Morton stared at hungrily. He reached his hand forward to grab a piece of bacon, but it was slapped away.
It was Ludwig. An odd occurrence at the table, seeing how he was usually down in the deepest sections of the castle, unable to hear Kamek's cries due to an experiment or something. His hair was very much disheveled and his eyes had bags underneath them. Perhaps he had not slept, although one could not be sure unless they asked.
"You can't wait until the rest of us are here? Surely you've learned something in all your years of life." Ludwig monotoned, sitting down across from Morton.
"He can't possibly have. He talks too much. He's gottah listen more. Shut his trap." Roy came down and sat beside Wendy, who huffed again as the larger Dragon-Koopa sat down. Ludwig rolled his eyes, grabbing a fork from the middle of the table and neatly setting up his plate.
"It was a rhetorical question, you imbecile," Ludwig growled. Roy didn't seem to take Ludwig's words as they were meant to, and merely just shrugged them away.
"Oh calm down, Sir Cranky Pants. He's just putting in his input." It was Larry, who was sliding down the railing. Following behind him was Junior, who had his hair all ruffled and was stretching as he yawned. Luckily, the youngest member was not following in his older brother's footsteps and instead was walking down the stairs like a civilized child.
"Larry, you are going to fall! Stop that at once!" Kamek said, although his words went in one ear and out the other as Larry kept sliding until he reached the bottom. He slid on over and sat beside Roy.
"Well, at least he minded his own beeswax, unlike you," Ludwig muttered, watching Junior make his way to the table silently. He wasn't talkative in the mornings.
Shrieking came from somewhere down the hall, and Iggy ran in, laughing hysterically. Lemmy was close behind, rolling on a small ball.
"You guys! Iggy found Kusari! Y'know... his pet Chain Chomp?" Lemmy said, rolling over to the table. He jumped down and carefully waddled his way onto a seat. He was becoming a little better at walking, now that he'd had years of practice. His mohawk was a little messy, but that was usual for him.
Iggy happily wagged his long tail, drooling a little as he did. He sat down beside Ludwig and Lemmy.
"I SURE DID! HEY LUDDY-SAMA, DID YOU HEAR? KUSARI-CHAN WAS CHOMPING ON THE DRY BONES DOWN IN THE BASEMENT! HOW SICK IS THAT?" Ludwig rolled his eyes once again. He picked up a towel and wiped away all the drool that was settling on the table, thanks to his younger brother. Iggy jittered in his seat, unable to sit still. It annoyed everyone endlessly, but there was nothing they could do about it.
"Good, now that everyone's here, you can all dig in," Kamek stated, but everyone had already started grabbing the delicious looking foods.
"That's a.. pretty cool, Igs! You do neglect her very often, though. You have to feed her and give her everything she needs! It's unhealthy for a Chain Chomp not to get regular amounts of food and exercise. I mean, no wonder she gets lost so often - she's cooped up in your lab all the time, tied to a peg with nowhere to run!" Morton said, shoveling an entire pancake into his mouth.
"WelLLlllll you see Morty-Kun, I'm always vERy busy with creating things for King Dad, Luddy, and myself, or I'm playing with Lemmy or hanging out with you guys so sometimes I forget her and she, uh... escapes. Ehehehheh..." Iggy grabbed a strawberry very uncharacteristically and popped it into his mouth. Perhaps "the voices" weren't bothering him this very moment?
Morton waved Iggy's excuse off.
"Do I get a thank you?" Kamek asked.
In unison, they all replied with a thank you, a few of them having food in their mouths.
"You are very welcome. Now, onto the morning checklist. Iggy, you took your medication, correct?" He nodded, although it was clear he hadn't. Kamek grabbed an orange pill container from in one of the cabinets and handed it to Ludwig, who in turn popped it open and placed a pill beside the glass of milk Iggy had.
"Drink it, with the pill this time, Ignatius," Ludwig instructed. Iggy visibly drooped but did as told.
"Now, Wendy, you cleaned your bathroom like your father ordered you to, yes?"
"Yeah, I did it last night. I was up all night doing it!"
"You, up all night? I highly doubt that." Ludwig interjected, taking a sip of his coffee.
"I gotta agree with Kooky, sis. A princess does need her beauty sleep, after all." Larry joined in, although Wendy gave him a stern look and he quickly shut up.
"Has, uh, anyone seen King Dad? Doesn't he usually eat breakfast with us on days like this?" Lemmy asked, tilting his head like a puppy does.
"He's probably workin' on some scheme or somethin'. You know him. Busy wit' war an' all." Roy said.
"Actually," Kamek placed another plate of bacon on the table.
"You father snuck out this morning to go deal with some... 'matters', as he called it." He did air quotes on the subject of matters. Their father never dealt with matters. He left Kamek and Kammy to do that for him.
"He snuck out?" Wendy asked, genuinely surprised. Their father was a cumbersome creature and was not very good at sneaking.
"Well... more so, told me he was leaving. He said he'd be back by tonight if not by noon, so I wouldn't worry." Whenever Kamek told the Koopalings not to worry, their father was incinerated or thrown into space or something worse than that. The Dragon-Koopas had all been taught that when they were told not to worry, they should probably worry.
"He left me in charge, so you must do as I say." Roy almost spat out his milk.
"Highly unlikely, knowing my siblings, dear Kamek. They don't even listen to King Father." Ludwig said, taking another sip of his scalding, dark coffee.
"You say that like you're not included, Kooky," Larry said. Ludwig took this as he cue to get up, and he rose from his seat.
"Well, the idle chit-chat has been fun, but I must retire back to my study." Ludwig began walking towards the stairs.
The door he was about to leave slammed shut in his face, nearly hitting his snout.
"What was that for?"
"No one is to leave my sights. Your father said we might have to evacuate the castle if things get rough, and I do not want anyone to be separated. We will all be spending time together in the living room. Now, sit your behind down and wait for your siblings to finish." Ludwig growled under his breath but said nothing. He plopped back down into his spot.
Iggy began snickering, which escalated into cackling. Not unusual for him.
For the rest of breakfast, the eight children sat in silence, sans for Iggy's laughter and Morton quietly mumbling to himself.
It was about as peaceful as a morning could get for the Koopas. The rest of the morning was like that, up until about noon.
The nine of them had all made their way into the living room at some point and had pointedly placed themselves somewhere they hadn't moved from since. Except for Morton, who got up every five minutes to use the restroom.
Iggy was occupying himself in the corner, doodling in a sketchbook with a pen. Honestly, Kamek could care less about what he was drawing, but as he paced the room, he sometimes saw peeks of the child's strange drawings.
Lemmy and Larry were playing some sort of racing game on the TV. Larry was obviously winning, seeing as he had an excited grin and a big, blatant blue one was recognizable in his slot. Lemmy was in last but didn't seem to mind that much. His eyes looked normal, as he was super focused, and his tongue was out of his mouth and jerked to the left. He was busying himself with backing out of a corner.
Wendy was sitting on the couch. She was reading a magazine titled Cheep Cheep Cheap Tips for the umpteenth time. Roy was snoring away beside her. Morton sat on the floor in front of them playing Solitare with himself at the glass coffee table.
Ludwig was standing near Iggy and was reading a Quantum Physics book that had come off the shelf. It was obviously was his, considering no one else in the household would be interested in it. Bowser Junior was a little ways away from the two geniuses, quietly playing trains by himself.
"AW YEAH, FIRST PLACE!" Larry cried. Roy looked up for a moment at his younger brother before settling back down again.
"It's not that much of a surprise, you know," Ludwig mumbled. He had slid down the wall and was now sitting Indian style on the floor.
"Oh please. You're just jealous of my skills."
"It doesn't take much to beat Lemmy."
"Hey!" Lemmy shouted, interrupting the two. He stood up, dropping the red controller he had been using.
"Kamek I'm boooooooooored." Lemmy whined.
"Yeah, I am too. Rereading this dumb magazine gets boring after a while."
Kamek sighed.
I really really wish I was paid more.
"I'm sorry children, but we are not to leave the company of one another. Perhaps you can-" He was interrupted by the sounding of an alarm.
It startled the Koopalings from their activities. They all bolted upright at once.
"You see? I told you. Now come along, little Dragon-Koopas. We mustn't waste time getting to the clown carriage."
"You mean we get to ride in dad's clown car? Awesome!" Larry chortled. Kamek nodded, and Larry did a little dance.
"Aw, sick!"
"Kamek, can I bring my card game?"
"Just leave it there, Morton. Come on. Single file, children. Down the steps."
The eight Koopas, in a line, all rushed down the stairs to the garage. There, they spotted their father's clown car. Iggy had designed the thing many years ago. It was wide enough to fit their father, so it could certainly hold all of them.
Ludwig climbed in first. He proceeded to lift Lemmy and Junior into the car before moving out of the way to let the others in.
Once all in, Kamek closed the door and buckled himself in.
Who knew there were seatbelts in this thing...
"ILL DRIVE!" Iggy said hopping over to the steering wheel happily.
"You most certainly will not, my prince!" Kamek pushed the green haired Koopa over, taking the wheel for himself.
"Oh come onnnnn Kamek... I'm the one who built this ole' do-hicky, after all! It needs a lot of enhancements, but hey, I still built it!" He wagged his tail happily. Kamek gave him a stern look, and he sat down unhappily. Lemmy buckled him in, happy that he had learned to do it himself and was now able to buckle others in as well.
Kamek groaned. There was no way he was going to let the young prince drive. He put the key in the ignition and clicked a button that began opening the garage.
"Is king dad gonna meet us somewhere?" Bowser Junior asked, worried for his father.
Kamek began lifting the craft into the air, ignoring BJ's question.
"Everyone must stay silent. Pretend as though we are on a stealth mission, young ones." Kamek said, turning for a second to overlook each Dragon-Koopa.
He turned back around and began making his way out of the garage.
The Klown Kar had been in the air a while. Too long. It was running low on gas, as it had not be filled before, and was very crowded. No one knew where they were going.
"Kamek, are we-" Lemmy was cut off by Roy's hand, instructed by Ludwig. They were silent, listening to the air around them. There was an unnatural humming noise. Not like that of the Klown Kar, but something entirely different. It had not been accompanying until about a minute ago.
Iggy perked up at the sound, his eyes narrowing. he knew exactly what it was.
A boMBer SHIp? Perhaps...
He listened some more and instantly knew something bad was about to happen. The scales and fur on the back of his neck rose.
"Kamek-" There was a loud bang. The sound of cannons being fired, most likely. Iggy lowered himself to the bottom of the Koopa Kopter, terrified.
"We're under attack!" Kamek cried, but it was too late. A bomb made impact with the Kopter and down went the ship. It tilted sideways and Roy nearly fell out. He grabbed onto one of the other Koopas, but it was Lemmy. Not the best choice.
The two fell out of the ship, crashing towards the ground.
"LEMMYYY! ROYYY!" Iggy cried, running over to the other side of the Kopter, watching his siblings fall. Wendy grabbed him and pulled him back, the ship still rocking and bombs still whizzing by.
"Iggy! Be careful! You'll end up like-" A bomb whizzed close to her face and hit the side other side of the car, throwing her forwards. She plopped into Iggy, who in turn rammed into Ludwig. The Kar leaned massively to the side, and Ludwig barely held on. His claws began slipping, and he fell.
Larry helped Iggy up and immediately latched onto the older Koopa.
"N-now that Ludwig's gone, I'm counting on you to take care of me!" Larry cried. Iggy smiled, he dragged his brother towards the edge, and he began freaking out.
"We'll catch up with you guys later! Seee yaaaAH!" Iggy cried. He grabbed his smaller, younger brother and jumped overboard.
Morton began screaming. Wendy covered her ears and closed her eyes, terrified. And BJ? Well BJ was latched onto Kamek, crying hysterically. Kamek was knocked unconscious at the wheel. They were going down.
They crashed, and all three Koopas were tossed.
The eight children had been separated far from their home.
They were on their own.