"What do you mean they're gone?!" Ludwig asked.
"I mean exactly what I said. Roy and Morton somehow managed to get out of the cage. Also, Roy said Bowser is somewhere in the castle, so we might want to look out," Wendy said to her oldest brother. Ludwig then proceeded to pelt her with even more questions. As he began to let his words slip through, quickly, Lemmy, Iggy, and Larry turned to face their sister.
"Do you know where they are?" Ludwig asked, ignoring Wendy's previous statement. He then crawled over to Wendy so he could speak to her without the hassle of not being able to hear each other.
"Of course not," Wendy said, frowning at Ludwig. "How am I supposed to know? All they did was tell me they were safe. That's it."
Ludwig then hit his sister, which caused the other present Koopalings to stare in shock. Wendy rubbed her cheek gingerly, and gradually looked Ludwig in the eye. "Owww," she said sarcastically.
"Come on, Wendy! You had the chance to ask for their location, and you blew it!" Ludwig then turned his back to his only sister. Wendy held her head down in shame, and Ludwig heard this. Be strong, Ludwig. Be strong, he thought. Being a big brother for six people is tough. I wonder if I'm even doing it right. Ludwig then crawled away from Wendy, and sat behind Lemmy, who led the tiny crew of five siblings; At least until they got out. With most of her brothers, Wendy would immediately attack them if they were to annoy her, but with Ludwig, it was a different story.
"Yeah! Come on, sis! We would've known the location of our brothers if you wouldn't have screwed it all up!" Larry yelled.
"Yeah Wendy! We would've been with Roy and Morton if it wasn't for you. It seems like you've ruined our chances, once again," Iggy said, adding to the already-brutal comment emitted by Larry.
"Guys, chill out!" Ludwig yelled, suddenly leaping onto his knees. He quickly rushed away from Lemmy to hit both Iggy and Larry. The two younger Koopalings were left rubbing their attacked areas and scowling at their oldest brother. They looked at each other, and glared simultaneously in agreement. Just as Iggy was about to open his mouth, Ludwig intervened. "You guys need to stop being so brutal! We've all made mistakes in the past. It's best to just learn from them and to never make the same mistake ever again."
"Whatever," Iggy mumbled, shrugging his shoulders in disagreement. "No matter how you phrase it, Wendy ruined our chances of ever coming into contact with our brothers! We already don't know where they are! Now, we have to worry about King Koopa, his kids, and Bowser!" Iggy then narrowed his eyes to flash Wendy a demonic grin.
"Yeah, I'm with Iggs! Wendy's the reason we're even stuck in here in the first place!" Larry agreed with his brother.
"Give me one reason why I'm to blame for our recent imprisonment!" Wendy demanded, leaping into Larry's face. She jabbed a clawed finger to Larry's chest. "Just one, I tell you!"
"You guys should just calm down. You're gonna make our enemies find us," Lemmy whispered, trying to calm his siblings. They all proceeded to face him for a few seconds, then they turned their attention back to each other. "Come on, Ludwig. Do I seriously have to take the role of the responsible older brother now? Just look at me! I'm the most immature Koopaling!"
"I am being mature! The others are fighting, and I'm trying to keep them quiet," Ludwig argued.
"As if, Ludwig," Lemmy raised his voice. "You were doing a good deal of the fighting. I know I'm talking about verbal fighting, but you just engaged in physical fighting too. You literally just hit Iggy, Wendy, and Larry. I know I'm not in the position to say this, but you're beginning to turn into a very abusive older brother," Lemmy said, shocking all of the other Koopalings.
Ludwig whipped his head around to stare angrily at his younger brother. He placed a confident hand on his hip, and pointed the other at Lemmy. "Look, Lemmy. I know it may seem as if I'm to blame, but trust me. I'm on your side. My goal is to stop these three from fighting, or possibly killing each other," Ludwig assured Lemmy, gesturing to Iggy, Wendy, and Larry.
"But in the process of doing that, all you did was create even more arguments. Nothing you did helped, Ludwig," Lemmy contradicted, trying to raise a point.
"Well, you can't expect Iggy, Wendy, and Larry to come to a conclusion immediately. Whenever any of us fight, we're never eager to admit it was our fault. We like to continue arguing and fighting until the one who started the fight is clearly transparent to the rest of us. You can't deny this, Lemmy. You know you do a lot of fighting," Ludwig said back.
"Yeah! Ludwig's right! Why is Lemmy yelling at us? It's not our fault this argument broke out!" Larry yelled, pushing away from Wendy.
"Hey, you're right! It's not our fault, it's Wendy's fault!" Iggy shouted. He giggled hysterically to himself as if he had just heard a funny joke. "There. I think we have our conclusion."
"Are you serious?" Ludwig asked rhetorically, dropping his head in annoyance. "You literally just repeated the line that started all this. We had come a good way from that line, and you just sent us back in time. Good job, Iggy."
"Iggy, I promise I'm going to crack your shell once we get home if you don't shut up!" Wendy growled to her older, lanky brother.
Iggy taunted Wendy by smacking his rear end, as he usually did to try to anger or make his foes doubt themselves. He then cackled mischievously to himself. Wendy took a few steps in order to get right in front of him. She sat there. She stared up at Iggy, glaring at him in silent rage. Iggy gazed interestingly down at her, eager to antagonize his little sister even further. Larry crawled silently past them to sit by Lemmy, who watched Iggy and Wendy with a wide, childish grin on his face. This was a sign that meant Lemmy had given up. Ludwig watched the two of them silently. He was about to think something that was sharp and cold, but erased this thought, realizing that he had barely fared better than Lemmy. Now, Iggy and Wendy were about to fight. This was literally right after Iggy and Larry had fought, for which the winner had been Iggy.
Instead of watching the fight like Lemmy and Larry were going to, Ludwig conjured one of his favorite books from his magic wand. He sat down, lost in the myriad of paper, sentences, and details that comprised his book. He picked up where he had last left off, which was about about a few chapters after the midway mark of the book. Ludwig felt himself being stared down. He glanced up to see Lemmy and Larry staring blatantly at him. He gave them both a tiny smile, and got back to his book, closing any connections to what was occurring in the outside world.
Lemmy and Larry watched Ludwig as he read his book in silence. They weren't surprised that this was what Ludwig had chosen. When two or more of his younger siblings were about to fight one another, he was prone to react to the situation by doing one of the following two options: He would either try to prevent the fight or break it up on the spot, or he would merely watch in silence, while most likely occupying his time by doing something, such as reading, playing video games, or watching T.V. In this situation, Ludwig had chosen option number two. He was used to his siblings fighting continuously to the point where he now had an idea or how or when they would stop. How or whenever the fight between Iggy and Wendy was going to stop, Ludwig showed zero signs of this knowledge. Lemmy and Larry looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to watching Iggy and Wendy, who still hadn't moved since Ludwig had begun reading his book.
Wendy suddenly turned away from Iggy. She held her head down, and wore a sad, defeated expression. She knelt down towards the metallic surface of the vent. She opened her mouth, and proceeded to melt a hole in the vent. It was a hole that was large enough for her to slip through, so she did just that. She lowered herself down until just her hands were still present in the vent. The rest of her body dangled over the area of whatever location in the castle the vent lay above. She then raised herself just enough for her two, shiny, golden bracelets to be visible to her brothers. They shiny, luxurious gleam sent bright, white, rays of light flying all around in the vent. They reflected off walls, and illuminated the entire vent. The light rays built themselves up and bounced around to the point where they began to blind the eyes of Wendy's brothers. Wendy was save from the light because she wasn't necessarily in the vent. One by one, Ludwig, Lemmy, Iggy, and Larry began to suffer under the bright, shiny properties of raw light. Ludwig let out a painful yell as the light first hit his cornea. It sent him to the floor, where he shielded his eyes. This allowed for the light to reach Lemmy, who responded in the same manner as Ludwig. Iggy suffered the most, as the fact that he wore glasses meant that the light was only getting reflected even more. He stumbled back, and hit his head on the floor. He was instantly knocked unconscious. Larry screamed in surprise as the light began to reach his eyes. He sat down, rubbing his eyes rapidly. At that moment, Wendy took that display of light as her chance to leave. She dropped into the uncharted waters of King Koopa's castle, and disappeared.
The rays of light continued to bounce back and forth between the walls of the vent system. It wasn't until several minutes of suffering passed that the rays of light finally faded away. Ludwig was the first to come back to his senses. He gradually rose to his feet. His arms were sore from preventing the light from reaching his eyes, and he winced in pain as his arms involuntarily moved at his sides. For a few seconds there, he didn't remember a thing about what had just occurred. He glanced in a confused way around the room, and saw his younger brothers, who were still on the floor from the sudden, blinding situation. Ludwig felt as if someone were missing. He proceeded to count all of those who were near him, including himself, and ended up with the sum of four. It then hit him. He darted over to the newfound hole in the vent. He knelt down beside it, and peered out at whatever laid beneath him. He could not see a single sign of his sister. Ludwig grunted in frustion. He was about to gather Lemmy, Iggy, and Larry, but thought against it. In the vent, their safety was predetermined. Wendy, on the other hand, could be in trouble at any moment.
Ludwig leapt through the hole and found himself in a closet-type room filled with mops, brooms, and dustpans. There were several cobwebs everywhere, and the room was very dusty. Out of all the closets I've ever seen, which isn't too big of a list, this has to be the largest closet I've ever seen, Ludwig thought as he began to take a few calm steps around the room. This was true. This room was very large. It was large to the point to where about fifty Bowsers could fit in the room without a problem. He wondered what such a room might be used for, but then decided not to ponder it too intensely. He had a sister to find.
Ludwig exited the room through a very large, stone door. It creaked slightly as Ludwig pushed against it. The noise was intensely irritating, but Ludwig had to open it as slowly and stealthily as possible, unless he wanted to attract the attention of whoever might be in the place he was about to end up in. At last, the door was opened enough for him to slip through. Ludwig did so, and found himself in a long, well-lit hallway. There were several doors on each side of the hallway, and there were several statues everywhere. King Koopa...That's not new, Ludwig thought to himself. He then began to walk down the hallway, being very cautious of his surroundings, considering that this was his first time being here. He could possibly need to remember something about this place, in case he might need information like that for something in the future. He heard nothing besides his own footsteps and the cackling of nearby torches as he walked steadily down the hallway. As he continued to walk, he could see the end of the hallway begin to come into focus as he neared it. Ludwig's eyes widened, as he obviously wasn't expecting this hallway's end to come so soon.
Ludwig looked around for any possible routes to avoid coming to an abrupt hault, but found nothing of the sort. As soon as he came to the end of the hallway, he saw something he had never seen before. It was a large portrait of King Koopa. It was placed against the wall, and Ludwig snorted in disgust upon finding himself viewing such an ugly piece of art. What a waste of raw material, Ludwig thought coldly. He then found to turn his head to the left to prevent himself from bursting out loud in mocking laughter. As soon as his eyes focused on something strange on the wall, his brain immediately began to develop and consider possible ideas of what it was. On the wall, there was a spot that was darker than the rest of the wall. Considering how much King Koopa seemed to like making everything equivalent and neat, Ludwig there was something more to this spot on the wall. Only one way to find out, Ludwig thought, taking a step towards the wall. He touched the dark spot. It felt surprisingly soft and thin. Also, it felt strangely leathery. Ludwig pushed on it until it opened up, revealing a dark, secluded room. He looked around, but couldn't see anything. He used his magic wand to help improve his sight, but saw nothing that interested him.
He stepped out of the room, and saw another dark spot on the opposite wall. He pushed it, and it moved upward. Ludwig stepped through, and found himself in a room with a collection of abandoned chairs and tables. He steered clear of the forgotten furniture, not wanting to get himself dusty. He walked further into the room, and found a large, brick door on the back wall of the dark, dusty room. He opened it, and was surprised at what he saw. The room it led to had a collection of instruments. The collection was so far and wide that it would've taken Ludwig several years to fully enjoy the multitude of complexities that occupied the room. They were pianos, piccolo, and penny whistles. They were trombones, tubas, and trumpets. There were clarinets, cellos, and congas. Also, on the piano, sat something else that mattered dearly to him: Wendy. She didn't appear to see him, so Ludwig was about to come to her. Just as he was about to take his first few steps, someone gripped both of his shoulders. Instinctively, Ludwig jabbed his elbows back at whatever was behind him.
"Why?" Iggy questioned as he rubbed his chest gingerly.
Ludwig quickly turned around to see Iggy standing behind him. "Sorry Iggs. You can say I hit you, but you can't say your innocent. You snuck up on me, remember?" Ludwig replied to his younger, lanky brother.
"I know that, but that still hurt. A lot," Iggy said, responding to Ludwig.
"Like I said, sorry. Moving on...why are you here? I made sure that I didn't bring any of you guys with me," Ludwig questioned Iggy.
"Oh. I saw you leap after Wendy a few minutes after she left. I had to wait a few seconds before I could get up and come after you. I happened to catch up with you while you were too busy being astonished by the contents of this room. Don't worry. Lemmy and Larry are fine. It's Wendy we had to worry about, right?" Iggy said.
"Ludwig? Iggy? That's sort of touching," Wendy said from on top of the piano. She had heard the entire conversation between Ludwig and Iggy, and she was touched. She jumped off of the instrument, and began to walk over to her older brothers.
"Well, it's true. We couldn't leave our sister to be harmed out here, especially in a messed up, sinister place like this!" Iggy yelled, gesturing to the room, which was dimly lit and somewhat creepy.
Wendy walked up to Iggy, and hugged him. She then took a step back and smiled sweetly. "Well, it's great to know you guys carry about me enough to come and look for me after I disappeared. That was really thoughtful of you guys. On second thought, I am your only family, besides the only four, of course," Wendy said.
"Why did you run off in the first place?" Ludwig asked. "That light hurt, you know! We were nearly blinded, especially Iggy."
"Sorry about that, you guys. I had my reasons for doing that to each of you. Iggy and Larry were the two that blamed me in the first place, and you, Ludwig, were the one that hit me. Lemmy didn't do anything to anger or annoy me, but I couldn't have roused any suspicion, so he had to suffer because of a mere placement malfunction. I ran off because you all were against me. I didn't like having all my brothers against me, the only girl," Wendy replied, glancing sadly at the ground.
"Sorry, Wendy. What I did was unnecessary," Ludwig apologized.
"Sorry, Wendy. What I did was unnecessary," Iggy apologized.
Ludwig and Iggy then stepped forward to hug Wendy simultaneously. She accepted their hugs without a struggle, which was nearly a first.
Lemmy and Larry were busy with a little problem of there own. After bring awakened from their forced state of vulnerability, they found themselves in an arena of some sort. It was hidden deep within the castle, and something had taken them here. After talking amongst one another for quite some time. A set of bars had risen, revealing a dark corridor. Out of the dark corridor had come Bowser, who had a personal vendetta against the Koopalings because they had betrayed and abandoned them. Lemmy and Larry had laid on the ground, nearly paralyzed, as Bowser approached with large, thunderous stomps.
Bowser had challenged them to a fight. He had even allowed the two of them to work together to see if they could beat him. Lemmy and Larry had considered if they wanted to agree to it or not, but soon realized they didn't have a choice. Compared to Bowser, the two of them weighed nothing. This comparison was practically the same when it came to strength. However, Bowser wanted a fight, and the two siblings were going to give one to him, no matter had badly the outcome would be. As soon as the fight had begun, every second following had been chaotic.
Bowser had tried to charge at Lemmy first. He raised a gigantic fist, and sent it towards the smallest Koopaling. Lemmy, being the most nimble Koopaling, had rolled out of the punch's devastating path. Bowser's fist punched a hole in the floor. Bowser then tried to punch Lemmy again. Once again, Lemmy had dodged. Bowser then tried to attack Lemmy through a cycle of powerful, quick punches that were fueled by pure rage. Lemmy had dodged all of the tyrant's punches with ease. In fact, he was practically toying with his former boss. Why isn't he counterattacking? Bowser thought as his punches were evaded over and over. His answer then came to him. With Lemmy occupying Bowser by being annoying and impossible to hit, this had left a clean window for Larry. Larry had leapt into the air, and sent three quick fireballs aiming for the large Koopa's right leg. Bowser moaned in a slight pain as he felt the fire slightly singe his skin. He then had tried to get back at Larry by throwing Lemmy at Larry. He had succeeded in the first part, but Larry had evaded Lemmy mid-air.
Larry then came bolting in at Bowser. He revealed his tennis racket and made a swing at Bowser's face. Bowser's eyes widened in shock as he was first struck. Then, Larry hit him seven times in a row. Bowser then grabbed the tennis racket. He held it high above his head. The tennis racket came crashing down on Larry's head. Larry was knocked to the floor, and Bowser's kicked him across the arena. Lemmy got a sudden surprise attack on Bowser by kicking one of his bouncy circus balls at the latter. Bowser was knocked back a few inches, and glared at Lemmy's childish attempt. Lemmy then kicked several more at Bowser. Bowser caught all of these, however. His arms were full. This was what Lemmy was counting on. He then threw a large bomb at Bowser. Bowser didn't have the time or agility to react. He was caught in the explosion, and stood, charred and shocked. Bowser the dusted himself off, and slapped Lemmy down to the ground. He tried to stomp on Lemmy, but the latter evaded and jumped over to stand next to Larry, who had recovered as well.
"That was pretty fun, but I think it's time to get serious," Larry said.
"Yeah. I think the same. Bowser, we plan to defeat you, and make sure you never mention our names again," Lemmy said.
Bowser chuckled. "Bring it on, shorties!"