I'm a very good little Koopaling. So I don't think this shirt thingie is necessary. Won't you help me get it off?

You know the worst part of being locked up in a facility like Freaky Fred Memorial?

The loneliness.

The difference between the asylum and Kastle Koopa is so vast that just a couple of days ago I wouldn't have believed it if anyone told me.

My house is a cake with three layers. There's King Dad, Mama Koopa, and my brothers Lemmy, Roy and Ludwig, and there's me. Mama says that we are the top layer, because our bedrooms are on the top floor. We always do fun things together. Then there's Kamek, Kamella and Kammy on the second floor. They take care of us and make sure we are healthy and happy. When King Dad is travelling and Mama Koopa is on tour, the Magikoopas are there for us. The third layer is where all the Goombas, Troopas and Toadies live. King Dad once told us that they are the most important layer, because they protect us and our realm day and night. You're never alone in Kastle Koopa, and no matter who you are, or how gross you are, you can always find someone with things in common.

At Freaky Fred's I find myself in a state of utter abandonment. It's so full of mammals and Koopas, but because of the house rules nobody dares to talk out of fear for whatever Doctor Clawdia keeps in the sleeve of her lab coat at all times.

I've learned from Shelly that to Clawdia I'm kind of a prized patient. I thought only a mammal could be evil enough to put those last two words in a sentence. I was wrong.

She looks at me. What exactly there is to fear about this woman is beyond me. Ludwig and I share a rare gift, the one where we can see through almost everybody. We may be, in Clawdia's words, insane, but we are not dumb.

For instance, I can see that Clawdia was bullied in school for many obvious and not so obvious reasons. First of all, she's a heavy woman. I myself do not have a problem with that, but many kids do, seeing as most kids are totally cruel. She also lacks any hint of social skills. Her traits obviously come from one of those self help books mammal women read. She's nowhere near as polite or kind as Mama, in fact, Mama is everything Doctor Clawdia is not. Her office reeks of the cheap perfume she douses herself in. Mama never uses perfume. She just smells like the soap we all use; like home. I fight hard to keep myself from crying. You must excuse me, but apart from Shelly I haven't really talked to any girls. That's why Doctor Clawdia frightens me.

"Good afternoon," she says kindly. I don't blink as I stare at her. She must be used to it. "Are you feeling better?"

I'm nauseous again. She crosses her legs. "You know, Iggy, I'm your friend. I wouldn't be here if I didn't sincerely want to help you. Did Miss Shelly tell you not to talk to me?"

If I say anything, I know Shelly will be in trouble. I carefully make sure that I don't…

Change my face.

Out of nowhere, my claw lunges out into the air and I scratch Clawdia across her face, and I'm struck by panic, because now I have changed someone else's face. She immediately seizes me. I can't even feel the needle as it punctures my skin, but I can feel the effect of whatever was in it. All of a sudden my body feels numb, as if's asleep, but my mind is more awake than normal. Problem is though, someone has replaced my blood with lead, and I can't move a muscle. As a result I drool. It's humiliating.

"If you won't let Iggy talk to me, I'm gonna have to make the medicine talk for him," Clawdia says as she puts me on the corner napping sofa. She sees me as sickness.

"Now," she opens her note pad. "I was told that you cried last night. Why?"

Now that I can't feel hot or cold it's actually easier to screen my healthy thoughts from my "special" ones.

"I didn't cry." My voice is faint. I can't even feel it in my throat.

This time her face doesn't change. "Do you know what happens to little Koopas who don't tell the truth?" Her voice is the same also; kind and warm. Terrifying.

"They end up being all alone, because they are locked away in a white cell. You'll find out soon enough. You chose that fate by lying to me. I don't want to put you in that cell, Iggy, because it's such a terrible place, believe me. But it's the law."

I can't help but crying this time. The image is so vivid. And I'm so afraid. Fear is always around at Freaky Fred's.

"No, no, don't do that! I'll be good, I promise! You can't let that happen!"

But Doctor Clawdia, being the industrious and professional woman she is, is adamant as well. She drags my limp, cramping body out of her office, down the hall while I scream and try to kick.

The cell is completely white, and square shaped. There's a large grey pipe in the corner, covered with chicken wire, but that's all.

I'm too weak to stand, so I sink to my knees. I look up at Clawdia while my face is drenched in tears, and the lump of despair pressing against my windpipe.

"Please…" I beg. "I just wanna go home."

I sob helplessly, and she ruthlessly shuts the door.

Hours later I'm still sitting in the dark. My mind has stopped. The only thing to keep me company is my own heartbeat. Tick, tick, tick…

Until I hear a suction-like sound from the air conditioning pipe.

"Ow! Watch out, fat head!"

"Don't call me fat head, you stupid geek!"

I get up so fast from the floor. It's my brothers, and the air condition pipe is actually a warp pipe!

"Roy? Lemmy?"

I try to catch a glimpse of them.

"It's us," Lemmy whispers. "The pipe is sealed on the other side."

"It's chicken wire, Lemmy." It's actually quite flimsy, so I just breathe some fire on it and it melts away.

"What are you waiting for? Hop in," Roy grumbles. I do, and two seconds later I land on the floor of Ludwig's lab.

I'm home. Is it a dream? Let's hope not…

"How did you know where to find me?" I ask.

Ludwig, my brother, comes out from the room where he stores his equipment. "We received a letter from one Shelly Koopa saying that you had been given Slumber Sleep."

He sits down on a counter. "Did Clawdia Greenkoop give you Slumber Sleep?"

I've never seen Ludwig so serious. "What's that?"

"Did she put a needle in your arm?"

I nod. Ludwig's snout stiffens.

Lemmy shows me a new ball trick. I'm so proud of him, and it's so good to be home. Ludwig carefully wipes my arm with some rubbing alcohol, as he is going to take a sample of my blood. He is very gentle with the needle. It's not gross at all.

"There we go," he says as he places the little flask of blood on the carousel thingamajig. Two minutes later his printer starts and a long sheet of paper lands on the floor. Ludwig's round, dark eyes are serious as he reads it.

"So it really does exist." He finds a pen in his shell; also a box of Peachy Peach juice. "Drink this, you look like crap."

"What "it"?" I ask as I draw upon the sweet juice. "I can't read your mind, you know!"

For a second the look on my brother's face reveals his secret fear of such a possibility.

"Well, brother, I read in a mammal publishing about mental health about experimental drug trials, with acid and such... Apparently the antipsychotic Dr. Greenkoop helped develop is banned in the Mushroom Kingdom, but not in the Real World."

I'm suddenly epiphanic. "So that's why there's ward for Koopas there. But I can't say that I feel so bad now that I've taken it."

"What? No, Iggy, you can't keep taking it. It's still experimental and from what I can tell, these results show that it can cause flashbacks ten years from now. Greenkoop has to be stopped."

"We should tell King Dad," I say; hoping this would help me to get away from that place.

"Are you crazy?"

I stare at him. "Yes."

"OK, OK; wrong angle," Ludwig scratches his head, and his matted hair becomes even more matted. "I'm going to have to sleep on this. And you need to return to Freaky Fred before anyone knows you're missing!"

I sigh as he drags me over to the Warp Pipe again. I really want to go upstairs and say hello to Mama Koopa and King Dad, but the risk is just too big. I say goodbye to my brothers and moments later I'm back in the white cell.

Moments after I arrive I hear a key being turned, and soon, the female Medikoopa that I'm now so fond of smiles at me as she stands in the doorframe.

"It's time for dinner. Your timeout is up."

I realize that Clawdia never told me how long my stay in the white cell would be. The wretched reptile was content having me to believe that the place would be my tomb.

The evil at Freaky Fred's must end. But not by my claws. Because I'm a good little Iggy.