Chapter 12 The Dark Web

The Koopalings exited the trivia game site, and when they saw what was on the other side of the door, they all gasped. The room was completely dark save for some glowing blue orbs floating around.

"Is this…" Wendy asked.

"Yep," said Iggy. "Alright, everyone stay close."

The others nodded, and Iggy took a step forward. While the orbs managed to provide the Koopalings with light, the fear that they felt was still not alleviated. Iggy in particular felt fear's icy presence more than any of the others. If this was how he felt, he didn't even want to imagine the emotions that Larry was experiencing.

"Guys, over here!"

Iggy gasped. It couldn't be, could it?

"Larry, is that you?"

"Yes, it is! I'm right up ahead!"

Iggy squinted into the distance, and sure enough, he could just barely make out the outline of Larry's form. He smiled at his siblings.

"Come on, everybody!"

The Koopalings nodded and started to run forward. Roy in particular looked really excited, as he was running at the front of the pack.

"Don't worry, little bud; we're coming!" he exclaimed.

Finally, the Koopalings managed to get to Larry. Larry was smiling at them happily.

"I knew you guys would come for me," he said.

Roy laughed.

"Well, it would be pretty stupid of you to believe that we wouldn't!"

Roy took a step forward, prepared to wrap his brother in an embrace. However, once he actually did, something strange happened. Roy's arms fazed right through Larry. Roy looked at Larry in confusion.

"Larry?" he asked.

"Larry" cackled.

"And you're the one calling me stupid!"

Suddenly, Larry seemed to explode into a plethora of creatures. Some were yellow, some were blue, and some were red. However, it didn't matter what color the creatures were, as they all grinned at the Koopalings evilly and goofily.

"What's going on?" Lemmy asked.

"Haven't you morons ever heard of a trojan before?" one of the creatures asked after laughing maniacally.

Iggy gasped. If what they had just encountered was a trojan, that meant that these creatures had to be viruses!

"Where's Larry?" Iggy asked the viruses. A blue one grinned a snarly grin.

"Your brother is indisposed right now," it said. "If you wish to see him again, you have to defeat us in battle.

The viruses started to scatter. Iggy saw that some of them were dipping their hands into the light of the blue orbs. When they did that, they gained all sorts of new powers, ranging from the ability to spit fire to the ability to open portals. The viruses all cackled again as nine of them stacked themselves into a tower formation.

"You guys are going down!" the viruses shouted in unison.

"Oh no," Morton said as he gazed upon the virus tower in worry. "How are we going to defeat these guys?"

Roy snickered.

"Easy," he said. "We just attack them outright!"

"Good idea, Roy," siad Ludwig as blue flames surrounded his body. The two rushed toward the viruses, Roy baring his fists and Ludwig preparing to shoot fireballs. However, when Ludwig's fireball hit the viruses, nothing happened. He threw more and more fireballs, but they just seemed to disappear when they made contact with the skin of the viruses.

"What's going on?" Ludwig asked.

"I don't know," Roy called back. "But just because these baddies are fireproof doesn't mean we can't take them out!"

Roy threw his fist directly at a yellow virus' face. However, just like with what happened with the Larry Trojan, his fist fazed directly through the virus. Roy gawked.

"What?" he asked.

The yellow virus smirked and slapped Roy directly in the face. Then other viruses surrounded Roy and started to climb all over his body. Thankfully, Roy was able to shake them off, but he looked a little frazzled by the whole occurrence. As he went to regroup with the rest of his siblings, the viruses cackled evilly again.

"You guys can't stop us!" they shouted. "We're invincible!"

Roy looked out of breath as he turned toward Iggy.

"What are we going to do, Iggster?" he asked.

"I...I don't know," Iggy admitted.

"Well, there has to be something!" Lemmy said as the viruses started to surround them. Iggy felt hopelessness take him over. He had absolutely no clue as to what they could do. Was there even any options?

"Wait a second," Morton said. His eyes roamed over a blue orb that was sailing past. "The viruses plugged into the power of the blue orbs. Maybe we could do the same."

Iggy stared at his brother in bewilderment.

"Morton, how do we know if the power of the orbs are even safe for us?" he asked.

However, while he was saying this, Roy had apparently though that it was a good idea. He dipped his hands into the light, and Iggy shrieked when he saw what his older brother was doing.

"Roy!" he cried.

Roy didn't respond.

"Roy, are you alright?" Wendy asked.

Suddenly, Roy pulled his hands away from the orb with a gasp. He turned toward Wendy.

"I know kung fu," he said.

"Then show me," Wendy said.

Roy ran at the viruses and started to perform a bunch of kung fu moves on them. Surprisingly, when he hit them, his limbs didn't faze through them anymore. Instead, he was able to make direct hits on some of them. When that happened, the viruses that he hit started to disappear. Unfortunately, there were too many viruses for him to handle on his own.

"Hey!" Lemmy said as he saw another orb floating past. "Why don't we help him out?"

Iggy nodded and dipped his hands into the blue light of the orb, and Ludwig and Lemmy did the same thing. It felt like Iggy had dipped his hands into very cool water, and the longer he kept his hands in, the more power he felt rush through him. When he and his siblings pulled away, he smiled at them.

"Oh wow," he said. "We now have the power to mercilessly tick people off!" He turned toward the viruses. "Hey!"

The viruses turned toward him,and Iggy called out:

"I work for the government!"

Some of the viruses disappeared instantly. Those who didn't looked like they were in intense amounts of pain. Ludwig flew up to them and shouted:

"I don't care who's president!"

More viruses disappeared as others grimaced. Lemmy shouted:

"Super Mario 64 stinks!"

More viruses disappeared. Ludwig flew up to the groaning ones and shouted:

"Ross and Rachel should never have ended up together!"

Iggy then shouted:

"I like Phantom Menace and Jar Jar Binks!"

Lemmy shouted :

"Teen Titans GO!"

More viruses disappeared, leaving only three left.

"That name," a red virus said. "You should never speak that name in our presence!"

"We're takin you down, suckas!" Ludwig shouted. "Dat's where it's at! Cowabunga! XD!"

Two out of the three viruses disappeared, leaving the last one sprawled out on the floor.

"Your misuse of slang is embarrassing!" it said.

"Cowabunga is also a reference!" Ludwig called out.

The last virus disappeared, much to Iggy's relief. Unfortunately, more viruses started to appear in their place, so Wendy decided to plug into the orb. When she pulled away, she gasped.

"I set up a social networking site and now I'm a billionaire!"

She started flinging shiny golden coins at the viruses, all the while laughing happily.

"Money!" she shouted. "Money for everyone!"

"No!" one of the viruses shouted. "Nothing shuts down a site more than a competitor with cold, hard cash!"

All of the viruses except for one disappeared. When he saw it, Morton plugged into one of the orbs. When he had finished, he walked up to the virus, all the while smiling.

"Hi," he said. "I'm a hacker."

The virus gasped before staring at Morton.

"Wait, that's not so bad."

"I also write fanfiction," Morton said with a grin.

"NOOO!"

The virus disappeared, leaving just one virus left. Roy karate chopped it to the ground and pinned it to the floor.

"Alright," he said. "Where is our brother?"

The virus tried to escape, but eventually he just gave up.

"Alright, fine; you brother is being held in a cage. Just keep going left and you'll find it."

The Koopalings smiled and started to run in the direction the virus had specified.