AN: Hey guys, sorry about the delay. I just want to say I appreciate all the support I have been getting. I have high hopes for this rewrite and I don't want to disappoint.

Chapter 2 All Fired Up

Humming always had a therapeutic quality to Ludwig, the eldest of the Koopalings. When he was lost in the world of music, he could forget about his troubles. He could let himself go, allow himself to be emotionally free. He could forget about his anger. He could forget about his powers.

Special koopas were dangerous, more dangerous than any other type of koopa. They were born with superpowers that were very strong. Ludwig had seen what his powers could do when he was only a child, and he had feared himself ever since. For while Ludwig tried to appear poised, he was always terrified that somehow, someway, he would lose control. Ludwig had four powers: flight, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and electricity manipulation, and the last two were directly tied to his emotions. Or, to be more specific, his anger.

Given this, Ludwig supposed it was only natural that he would be so drawn to music, as well as other artforms in general. While he did see the practicality of arithmetic and engineering, it was art that really spoke to him. It was art that allowed him to be expressive; all numbers could express were equations. Ludwig's brother Iggy was the one who cared about the patterns, Ludwig was the one who cared about the freedom.

While he was humming, Ludwig was writing a song. The song itself was a vocal track, called "Walk on the Wild Side." Ludwig had always been told that he was a musical prodigy, but all the people who had told him that had only heard his instrumental pieces. Ludwig wanted to write a song with lyrics, if for no other reason than to prove to himself that he could. Ludwig always did appreciate a little self imposed challenge.

Anyway, Ludwig was leaning back in his bed and writing down the lyrics to his song, humming the melody all the while. It wasn't until he was almost finished that he noticed a flash of color out of the corner of his eye. He stopped humming, looked up, and saw Lemmy staring at him. Lemmy was sitting directly in front of Ludwig on the bed, and he was smiling brightly. Ludwig sighed grumpily.

"What?"

"Nothing," Lemmy replied, the grin refusing to fall from his face. "I just thought of another joke."

"Oh, good for you." Ludwig directed his attention back to the song.

"You're right; it is good!" Lemmy said happily. "Do you want to hear it?"

"No," Ludwig said bluntly, refusing to look at Lemmy. He reasoned that if he didn't make eye contact, Lemmy would eventually get the message.

"Come on! It's funny!"

Ludwig stopped writing and slowly looked up at Lemmy. Despite the fact that he was intentionally trying to look annoyed, Lemmy just beamed.

"Great!" Lemmy said. "Okay, why are the actors in a space themed movie so great?"

Ludwig's facial expression did not change. Lemmy, however, looked like he would bubble over with excitement.

"Go on, just guess!"

Ludwig, realizing that it would be less infuriating to just rip off the band-aid so to speak, sighed.

"Because their performances are 'out of this world?'" he asked. Lemmy's smile got even bigger, which to Ludwig didn't even seem possible.

"Yeah! That and their intricate costume designs help them to be the 'stars' of the show!"

Lemmy fell into giggles, which was typical of him after delivering a bad pun. Ludwig rolled his eyes. Why hadn't Lemmy picked up by now that he really didn't like these? Ludwig broke out into sarcastic laughter.

"Ha ha ha, you're hilarious." He put his eyes on the paper once again. Surprisingly, Lemmy's laughter came to a halt.

"Really. I was trying to be more hi-Lemmy-ous!"

Lemmy giggled again, and Ludwig shook his head. Why...why did Bowser think it was a good idea to make the two of them share a room? What possessed the Koopa King to believe that Ludwig sharing a bedroom with Lemonade would possibly end well?

"Comedy gold," Ludwig said sardonically. With that, he got up from the bed and exited the room. He resumed with humming the melody, and while he did he found himself drawing back into his own head. It wasn't until he was halfway down the hall that he noticed that Lemmy was walking beside. Ludwig groaned loudly.

"What!?" he asked, adding an extra syllable.

"Nothing; I just like being around you." Lemmy noticed the paper in Ludwig's hand. "Whatcha got there?"

"Nothing," Ludwig said immediately.

"That doesn't look like nothing to me!" Lemmy said with a giggle.

"It's none of your business!" Ludwig said. Noticing that electricity was starting to crackle in the air, he turned and headed away from Lemmy.

"Oh come on; what is it?" Lemmy asked. "Is it a love letter?"

"No."

"Is it a cookie recipe?"

"No!"

"Is it a script for a cartoon? And are you gonna send it to a really famous animation company to get made, but end up getting rejected despite the fact that it is really good?"

"Uhhh…"

"And the rejection is gonna follow you for the rest of your life, so that while you are on your deathbed you will ask 'why didn't they pick my show? WHY DIDN'T THEY PICK IT!?"

Ludwig stared at Lemmy in bafflement. How...what...HUH? What made this even weirder was that Lemmy was holding on the dramatic face he had said the last sentence with.

"No!" Ludwig exclaimed. Lemmy's expression reverted back to normal.

"Oh, okay," he said nonchalantly. Ludwig resumed with walking down the hall, relieved that Lemmy had stopped talking. Unfortunately, Lemmy immediately let out a cry and grabbed hold of Ludwig's cloak.

"Oh please Ludwig, tell me what it is!"

Ludwig didn't know if Lemmy was honestly displaying what he felt or if he was exaggerating to be over dramatic. With Lemmy it was kind of hard to tell, as he reveled in performance art. Lemmy wanted to be a clown in a circus one day, and clowns were paid to be over the top. The problem was that Lemmy was already over the top in real life.

"Fine," Ludwig said in defeat. He turned back around. "I'm working on a song."

"A song?" Lemmy asked as he stood back up. "Is it another symphony?"

"No," Ludwig said. "It's a lyrical composition."

"Can I see?!" Lemmy exclaimed in excitement. Ludwig handed the paper to Lemmy, who studied it with sparkling eyes.

"Ooh, 'Walk on the Wild Side!'" He let out a laugh. "I haven't even heard it yet and I know it's catchy!"

Despite how much of a pest Lemmy had been, Ludwig couldn't help but smile at his compliment.

"Thanks," he said as he took the paper back.

"Can you sing it for me?" Lemmy asked gleefully. While Ludwig had been humming it to himself the entire time, he shook his head.

"Not right now." When Lemmy's face fell into devastation, Ludwig decided to offer an explanation. "It's not ready to be sung yet. You see, it is currently written in D Minor, but I want it to have a more uplifting sound. I'm considering switching to a major chord, but I don't know which one will give me the feeling I want. I need to experiment."

Ludwig wasn't making anything up; this was the actual reason. He had never played a song to anyone unless he was one hundred percent satisfied with it, even his siblings. He started descending the stairs that would take him to the east wing's first level.

"Hey!" Lemmy exclaimed when Ludwig was halfway down the stairs. Ludwig looked and saw him mount the railing.

"I just had the best idea ever!" Lemmy exclaimed as he started to slide down. Unfortunately he was unable to stop, so when he reached the bottom he crashed. Ludwig gasped and flew down the rest of the stairs. He knelt down beside his immediate younger brother.

"Lemmy, are you alright?" he asked in his concern. Lemmy looked a little disoriented as he put his hand to head.

"Yeah," he said a little woozily. He seemed to shake off the daze and smiled at Ludwig. "Why don't I help you write it?"

When Lemmy voiced that question Ludwig was stunned. When he recovered he snickered.

"You?" he asked with a little grin, not sure whether to take this seriously.

"Yeah!" Lemmy said happily. "I've never written a song before!"

So Lemmy was serious after all. Ludwig slowly got back up, his face bearing the trademarks of hesitance.

"Uhh, I don't think you would like doing that."

Lemmy got up and looked at Ludwig with a puzzled expression.

"Why not? You like writing songs."

"Well...I...I mean I..." Ludwig took in a breath, a stern and defiant look appearing on his face. "I don't want to write a song with you!"

"What?! Why not?"

Lemmy did sound genuinely disappointed, and Ludwig would be lying if he didn't find that a little disheartening. Nevertheless, he wasn't going to change his answer. There were a couple of reasons, one of which being a clash of artistic visions. Ludwig liked to put emotion into his music. He liked songs that were moving, songs that took the listener on a journey. Lemmy, on the other hand, liked to look at the bright side of life and ignore everything else. His style was extremely upbeat, especially when compared to Ludwig. The other reason was that Lemmy annoyed Ludwig to no end.

"Uh, because I value my sanity?"

"Why?" Lemmy asked. "I mean, with how crazy life can get, you're probably going to lose it before you turn thirty anyway!"

Ludwig's jaw dropped, and when he turned to face Lemmy he did it with a glare.

"Wow. You really want to set me off today, don't you?"

"Come on Ludwig," Lemmy pleaded. "May I please write a song with you?"

"No! And that's my final answer!" Ludwig turned and started walking away, holding the song at his side.. To his complete shock, Lemmy snatched it out of his hand.

"Hey! Give that back!"

"Not until you say I can write a song with you!"

Ludwig gritted his teeth. He could already feel his pyrokinesis starting to make its presence known. Bright blue flames engulfed his hands.

"LEMMY!"

"Come on! You and I never do anything fun together! Please Ludwig?"

Ludwig's patience had just about reached its limit. His entire body was consumed by flames, and his eyes glowed white. Lemmy shrieked and broke out into a run. Ludwig moved above a bunch of objects to halt his progress, but Lemmy maneuvered his way around all of them. This only mad Ludwig madder.

"Morton, help!" Lemmy cried when they reached the throne room. Their dark skinned sibling approached carefully and watched stoically.

"Uh, I don't think this is necessary," he addressed Ludwig. "Or...safe, for that matter. So, can we knock it off? Please?"

Ludwig only growled, his glowing eyes aimed at Lemmy.

"I'll knock it off when he does!" he exclaimed. He started to approach the terrified Lemmy, but Morton got in the way.

"Enough!" His face was no longer stoic but frightened. "Ludwig, calm down!"

It was then that logic returned to the special. The flames around him disappeared as Morton gave a calm smile.

"Good. Now what is this about?" Ludwig sighed.

"Lemmy took my song. He wanted to help me write it but I said no."

Morton nodded in understanding and turned to Lemmy.

"Lemmy, it's Ludwig's song. That means he has every right to say no."

"But...but...what if he needs help? Even prodigies need help sometimes! After all, Koopthevoven was writing songs on his deathbed! I'm sure that some people helped him finish those songs!"

"That wasn't Koopthevoven!" Ludwig said as the annoyance returned. "That was SHELLZART!"

Ludwig tried to approach Lemmy, his hands covered in flame again. Luckily Morton stopped him again.

"Ludwig please!" Morton looked between the two. "Look, can you guys just stop this nonsense?"

Before either of them could respond, the door to the throne room opened. Ludwig, Lemmy, and Morton turned and saw an opaque koopa troopa enter.

"Oh please!" He exclaimed. "Can you help me? The three Koopalings were beyond shocked.

"Who...who are you?" asked Lemmy.

"What are you?" asked Ludwig. The troopa started to hyperventilate.

"I was attacked last night!" His eyes grew wide with fright. "By a duplighost!"

"What?" Ludwig exclaimed. "But...duplighosts don't exist!"

"That's what I thought too!" said the troopa. "Until one stole my body!"

Morton approached the troopa calmly.

"Don't worry. We'll help in anyway we can."