Chapter 8 Contrived and Controlled

The flight to Sarasaland was exhilarating. Star felt as if she was on top of the world. Literally. She was flying Peter Pan style with some of her favorite characters of all time. This was truly a dream come true. The sound of the propellers rotating at a constant speed on the underside of the Koopalings' copters only helped to increase her excitement.

"Woohoo!" Star exclaimed. She started to do loop de loops and aerial cartwheels. The Koopalings cast her glances, but she hardly cared. This was the time of her life, and she was going to savor every second of it.

After a while, the party flew over Stonebrim. Wendy smiled as she glanced down at the town.

"You know, Stonebrim looks kind of pretty from so high up. It's like a picture that was painted by a fairy."

Star glanced down and smiled. Indeed, Stonebrim did appear to look very fine. Under the light of the glowing sun, the roofs seemed to sparkle like glitter. The colors, while still drab, now seemed more stylistically drab as opposed to dreadfully so. It did indeed look like a fairy artist had sprinkled fairy dust all over a monochromatic painting.

Suddenly, a certain store caught Star's eye. That store was Benny's. Star grinned wickedly as she glanced back at the Koopalings.

"Excuse me," she said. "But I have something I need to do. I'll be right back."

With that, Star dived down.

…

Star breathed a sigh of relief as she flew back up to the Koopalings. The Koopalings gave her skeptical looks when they saw the expression on her face.

"Why are you so happy?" Roy asked.

"No reason," Star said in a singsong voice. She giggled. "You know, I always viewed myself as being somebody who was above petty revenge. I never would have imagined that doing so would make me so darn satisfied!"

The Koopalings started to look uncomfortable. Ludwig flew over to Star. While he wasn't flaming up yet, Star could detect the scent of smoke emanating off of him.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Star shrugged. "Well, okay, maybe I did do something."

Iggy flew up the teenager. He looked frightened.

"What is that something! Tell us!"

Star shrugged.

"It's no big deal. I just turned a guy who wouldn't let me buy clothes from Benny's into a llama."

Now Ludwig's hands were covered in fire.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because! It's the perfect form of punishment!"

The Koopalings looked absolutely horrified. Star even saw Lemmy and Larry back up their clown cars so that there was a considerable distance between them and Star.

"That is not moral or ethical!" Iggy objected. "You essentially ruined his life!"

Star waved a hand to dismiss the accusation.

"Oh please. The spell will wear off within a day or two. Preferably two."

Iggy raised an eyebrow at Star. The flames that had grown around Ludwig's hands started to creep their way up his arms and over his core. The others looked a little frightened.

"You know, you're kind of scary," Roy said.

Star just laughed in response to this. With that, she started flying again. The Koopalings, of course, followed her. However, they all stuck together in a group that was a considerable distance away from Star.

"I don't know about you, but Star needs to be taken down a peg or two," said Larry.

"Exactly what I was thinking," said Wendy. "I mean, what if she turned us into llamas just for the heck of it? What if she did something worse?"

"I think what she does to us is the least of our concerns," Iggy said. "She seems to have unlimited magic. If she were to get the bright idea to do something nasty with it, our world could essentially be nullified."

The Koopalings cast concerned glances toward the brunette human in front of them.

"Yeah," said Roy. "It sounds like she really needs to be nerfed."

"I don't even know why she needs our help in the first place, if she has admitted to having unlimited magic," said Ludwig. He put his hand to his chin. "Now that I think about it, couldn't she just teleport herself to the Transporter instead of wasting her time flying?"

Iggy nodded.

"That is a good point." He sped up, allowing his Koopa Clown Car to catch up with Star. "Star, do you think it would be much more efficient to use your powers to teleport us to the Transporter?"

Star stopped. She cast a thoughtful glance at Iggy.

"You know what?" She smiled. "That's not a bad idea." She gestured toward the other Koopalings to gather around. Once they surrounded her, she grinned. "Okay guys; prepare to be teleported.

With that, Star snapped her fingers. Before any of them knew what was going on, they all got teleported to a snowy mountain range. They were one hundred and fifty miles off the ground, with a valley waiting for them down below. Their Koopa Clown Cars, for some odd reason, did not make the trip. This meant the whole party was suspended in midair.

"Huh." Star said. "That's odd. Why didn't that work?"

Just as she said that, six out of the seven Koopalings started to plummet. They all screamed. Star and Ludwig looked down at them in concern.

"Oh no," Star said worriedly.

Ludwig didn't waste any time. He zipped down and used his telekinesis to break his siblings' fall. Star could see him writhing and grunting in pain as he held his siblings aloft.

"Hurry," Ludwig said in a strained voice. "Teleport us somewhere else before I pass out!"

Star nodded and snapped her fingers again. This time, she and the Koopalings landed in a pig pen. Mud flew up into the air and stuck to all of them.

"Eww!" Wendy exclaimed as she swiped mud off of her arms.

Star snapped her fingers again. This time, she and the Koopalings wound up in a cave. While the lighting was more or less nonexistent, Star still smiled.

"Huh! A cave! I guess that means we're…"

Suddenly, a growling noise could be heard. Star heard Larry gulp.

"What was that?" He asked in alarm.

Ludwig used his pyrokinesis to light up the dark chamber. Star felt her heart leap into her throat when she saw that they were all face to face with a humongous grizzly bear. Everyone screamed just before Star snapped her fingers again. This time, they appeared in their original position right above Stonebrim. Star chuckled as the Koopalings recovered from their shock while sitting in their Koopa Clown Cars.

"Sorry guys. It appears I can only use my powers when it is convenient for the plot."

Ludwig sighed.

"Of course," he said with a sarcastic inflection. With that, the party resumed with their flight toward Sarasaland.