Chapter 4 Switched (Updated September 23, 2021)

The first thing that was brought to his attention when he woke up was the fact that he ached. He ached tremendously, horribly. It felt like every bone in his body was screaming in agony. If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn that all of his limbs had suddenly been crushed by a thwomp. He tried to move his arms, but that only accentuated the pain.

Ludwig groaned. He hated getting into fights; he absolutely hated it. There was always this spirit of fear on the battlefield. He was always worried that he would lose control, he was always worried that he would hurt someone. And lo and behold, it had happened. He now felt as if his entire being was burning up. Thankfully, the pain had been inflicted on himself instead of his siblings. He didn't think he could live with himself if one of his siblings got hurt.

Oh my developer, his siblings! Were they alright? Was something wrong with them? The last thing Ludwig remembered was the fight with the duplighost. Oh good lord, if they had somehow gotten hurt by that monster….

Ludwig slowly opened his eyes. He expected to see a blue sky, possibly even his siblings standing over him in concern. But...oddly enough, that wasn't the case. The scene that met him was the sight of his bedroom ceiling. H...how? What was going on? Did his siblings bring him here?

Actually, now that he thought about it, that was probably the answer. He thought about the power rushing around him, the overwhelming amounts of power, as the duplighost stood over him. He reasoned that his body couldn't handle it, thus, causing him to pass out.

Ludwig let out breath and laughed. "I'm alright," he told himself. "I am completely fine." As soon as the pain cleared, he should probably go see everyone. He imagined Iggy would like to run a few tests on him, just to make sure that absolutely everything was in check. He also imagined that Lemmy was worried sick.

Lemmy. Oh Lemmy. Too pure for his own good, too naive. If he was worried, he had absolutely no reason to be. He should know that Ludwig can handle himself. Ludwig smirked just thinking about this; Lemmy was probably having a coronary, not being able to interact with his older brother.

Just as Ludwig was thinking this, a strange sound occurred from the other side of the room. It was...a yawn? Maybe? It sounded too strange to be a yawn, too weird. It was the type of yawn that an anime school girl would make after she woke up from a one hundred year slumber. Thinking of this, Ludwig realized that there was only one person in the whole world who could have made a sound that ridiculous.

"Lemmy, is that you?"

Ludwig heard Lemmy chuckle from across the room. "Yeah, it's me."

Ludwig snickered. "You do realize you sound like an alien when you yawn, right?"

Lemmy giggled. "It's my alien mating call. It's meant to attract all the lovely ladies."

Ludwig smirked. "You're going to need a lot more than a mating call to attract women, buddy. I mean, with the looks you have….yeesh."

"That's mean," Lemmy said, his voice sounding hurt.

"Am I wrong though?" Ludwig asked.

There was a pause before Lemmy sighed. "No, you're not wrong."

Ludwig laughed. He liked making fun of Lemmy, it was all in good fun. Really it was. Besides, the laughter caused some of his pain to clear up. Oh, speaking of which…

"Lemmy, do you hurt?"

"Um, a little bit. But it's not terrible. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say it's a 3."

"Huh." That was not how Ludwig would describe his pain. "Well, my pain is all over my body. I...I can't even move."

"Do you want me to help you move?"

Ludwig recoiled at that question. "No! No, it's fine. I just….it's starting to clear up."

"Ah. Okay."

Ludwig sighed. He was telling the truth; it was starting to clear up. Sure, he still felt weird, but he felt slightly less weird than before. He'd be up and about in no time at all.

"Hey Ludwig?"

"Yeah?"

"Why am I in your bed?"

Ludwig raised an eyebrow. He turned his head and saw a sock monkey staring him right in the face, with button eyes and a wide smile. He blinked before realizing that he was in his brother's bed.

"What the…." He put his hand to his head and groaned. "Did Roy put us in our beds or something? Because I'm in your bed."

"Huh. That's...odd."

"Tell me about it." Ludwig finally felt his pain clear up enough so that he could actually sit up. "From the duplighost fight to now, this day just keeps getting weirder and…."

Ludwig stopped. His heart caught in the middle of his throat. He stared, wide eyed, at the Koopa who occupied his bed. It….it….

It looked just like him!

"Ludwig?" Lemmy's voice escaped from the Koopa's throat. This just caused Ludwig's fright to accentuate.

"What's going on?" He shrieked, more to himself than the Koopa.

The koopa sat up. "What are you talking about…." The Koopa's eyes grew wide when he faced Ludwig. His mouth, or rather, Ludwig's mouth, gawked open. Before either of them knew it, the Koopa was screaming.

"AHHHHH!"

"AHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ludwig and his look alike screamed together. Ludwig's heart rate went through the roof as he stared into that face, his face. Never before had he been so frightened by a sight that he saw in the mirror on a daily basis.

When the two finally stopped screaming, Ludwig stared at the Koopa. He couldn't talk; his lips and tongue were essentially paralyzed. His eyes were as big as saucers as he stared at his look alike, and his look alike stared back at him.

"Who….who are you?!" He finally managed to shriek.

"I'm Lemmy; who are you?"

"You're Lemmy?" Ludwig asked. He shook his head. "You...you can't be Lemmy!"

"I am!" Suddenly, Lemmy's eyes grew wide. "Wait. Does...does this mean you're Ludwig?"

Ludwig gawked. "Of course I'm Ludwig! Who else would I be?"

Lemmy's eyes grew wide. He stared at his brother, his lips moving but not making a sound. Meanwhile, Ludwig's mind was racing.

"Lemmy, why do you look like me?" the oldest Koopaling squeaked.

Lemmy gawked. "Uh….I can ask you the same question."

It took a minute for that statement to sink in. When it did, Ludwig felt like he was going to throw up. "I...I…"

He looked down at his hands, and when he did, his fright accentuated. They...these things...they were not his hands. They were too small, and had skin that was too clear. The callouses that he had built up on his fingers from playing instruments like the guitar were not there.

"What?" Ludwig felt his face. That too felt wrong. Way too wrong. The snout was flatter, wider. The eyes were oval shaped and practically took up his entire face.

"No…" Ludwig gasped as he felt his hair. It was stalk straight; not the bushy brilliance that the koopa prodigy was used to feeling. What's worse was when he felt the back of his head, he felt something he didn't normally feel, that he shouldn't have felt.

"I HAVE A PONYTAIL!" Ludwig screamed.

Lemmy, who had also been examining himself, stared at his brother with a look of fright. "Ludwig...you don't think that we've…?"

Before Lemmy could finish his sentence, Ludwig bolted out of the bed. He noticed the height difference immediately. He stumbled over his feet as he tried to walk the few feet that he needed to to get to his mirror. When he was finally there….

"AHHHH!"

That last scream was so loud that it carried throughout the castle. Ludwig stared at himself, frightened by what he saw. This couldn't be true! Ludwig couldn't be…

"LEMMY!" Ludwig turned toward Lemmy. "I'M YOU!"

Lemmy got up and bolted over. When he got to the mirror, he gasped, his hands flying up to his mouth.

"And I'm you!" He looked down at Ludwig. "That...that means…."

"WE'VE SWITCHED BODIES!" Ludwig was practically hysterical at this point. He stared into the mirror, his heart pounding so fast and his thoughts racing at a million miles an hour. He turned toward his brother and grabbed him by the folds of his cloak. "How did you do this? Why did you do this! Do you just want to torture me?"

Lemmy looked confused. "Ludwig, I didn't do this! You think I want to be you? I have enough fun being myself!"

"Well, I certainly didn't do this!" Ludwig stared back into the mirror, into his brother's frightened and gobsmacked face. "I...I can't be in your body! I already have enough problems in my own life; I don't need to live yours!" He began hyperventilating. He put his hand to his chest, but that did little if nothing to help. "Oh my God, I can't breathe…."

Lemmy got down on one knee and put his hand on Ludwig's shoulder. "Just calm down. We need to stay calm."

Despite those words, Ludwig couldn't help but continue freaking out. How could he not? He was in Lemmy's body; his brother's body! This was the last place he wanted to be.

"I'm you," he muttered over and over. "I'm you. I can't believe I'm you!"

"Look, I know this is a lot to take in," said Lemmy. He somehow managed to put on a smile. "But, on the bright side, at least we're in this together?"

Ludwig shook his head. "Oh. Joy. I get to go through this with the most annoying Koopa on the face of the planet. Lucky me."

Lemmy looked hurt. "Ludwig…" Ludwig just continued on with his breathing problems, so Lemmy put his hand to his chin. "Okay, you're right. This is pretty bad.

"Yes! It is!" Ludwig got up and went over to his bed. The struggle to walk over there was just as hard as the struggle of getting over to the mirror. The cushy feel of the soft blanket beneath him did little to comfort him. "Oh, my head is killing me. Well, your head is rather…."

Lemmy got up, all while wearing a consternated expression. He sat down beside Ludwig on the bed and sighed. "I can't believe this. I really can't believe this."

"Me neither!" said Ludwig. "I mean, this is just so...wrong! Every part of me; literally every single part of me is smaller! And..." he smacked his lips together, and when he did, shudders ran down his spine. "Ugghhh. I can taste the sandwich you had for lunch today."

Lemmy cringed. "Tuna salad?"

"Yeah." Ludwig put his hand to his mouth as vomit flooded the interior. "Oh…."

Lemmy nodded. "I know what you mean. I'm not used to being this tall. And this tooth…." Lemmy tapped the front tooth that put Ludwig's appearance down in infamy. "Okay, this is something I've always wondered; how do you bite into an apple with this tooth? Wouldn't it just get stuck?"

Ludwig sighed and shook his head. He wasn't as hysterical as before, so he was finally starting to think clearly. At least, clearly enough so that he could start asking questions.

"How did this even happen?" he asked out loud. He looked down at Lemmy's hands. "People don't just swap bodies out of the blue; there has to be some kind of reason." He leaned forward, tentatively placing his fingertips to his lips. By his side, Lemmy bit the inside of his cheek.

"Do you think Iggy could have done this?" Lemmy asked.

"No," Ludwig said with a shake of the head. "Even with all the Galaxium in the universe, Iggy wouldn't be able to transfer consciousness." He pursed his lips. "If anything, this would be the result of some kind of magic." Realization hit the oldest Koopaling as soon as he finished saying those words. He turned his head to Lemmy, both of them possessing wide eyes and gaping jaws.

"THE DUPLIGHOST!" they said in unison.

"Oh, it's starting to come back to me!" Ludwig said. He put his hand to his forehead, doing his best to think through the headache. "Okay. We were fighting the duplighost…and he was trying to take possession of me. So, I used my powers as a last ditch effort to escape." Ludwig's breathing was speeding up again. "Then, the electricity mixed with the duplighost's magic, and there…there was a barrage of arcane blasts." He turned toward Lemmy. "I didn't see you; did you get hit by one of those?"

"Yeah!" Lemmy said, nodding sporadically. "Yeah I did; it was the last thing that happened to me before I got knocked out!"

Ludwig's heart skipped a beat. "That has to be it! The magic that the duplighost was using was designed to swap my mind with his. But throwing my powers into the mix must've altered the spell and caused our minds to get swapped instead!" He looked down at the bedroom floor, his eyes wide. "Okay, so we found the cause; now we need to find a solution. We obviously can't stay like this; I don't want to stay as a midget forever."

Lemmy looked at Ludwig, his expression wavering for once. "But what can we do? I mean, how do you transfer souls from one body to the next without a duplighost's intervention?"

Ludwig put his hand to his chin. "Well….I think I know of a few possible methods…"