Chapter 5 Possible Solutions (Added September 23, 2021)

Lemmy blinked. "Like what? What possibly is there?"

Ludwig sighed, slapping his hands down on his knees as he did so. "Well...since magic was what got us into this mess…." He went into the closet and turned on the light. He rummaged around the bookshelves until he found one specific volume. "It might be what gets us out."

Lemmy blinked as Ludwig came back out. He struggled under the weight of the book, but ultimately managed to get it onto the bed with a grunt. Lemmy stared in curiosity as Ludwig flipped through the pages. "Is that a spellbook?"

"Yes. Kamek gave it to me during my last birthday." He sped up with the flipping, reading the words printed into the page at an incredible speed. "Mutilation spells, mind breaking spells, teleportation spells…" When he finally got to the end of the volume, sealing it closed, his mouth gawked open. "There...there are no body Swap spells."

"What?" Lemmy picked up the book himself and flipped through it. He didn't go as fast as Ludwig did, but he still came up empty handed when he finished. "You're right."

Ludwig began freaking out again. "How can there not be any body Swap spells?" He put his hand to his pounding head. "Does...does this mean we're stuck like this….forever?"

Lemmy shook his head. "No. No! We are not stuck like this forever, Ludwig!" He looked down at the book. "If there is no magic in this book that can aid us...well, we'll just come up with it ourselves!"

Ludwig raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly do you propose we do that?"

Lemmy put his hand to his chin. "Hmmm…." His face lit up. "I've got it!"

…

Ludwig sat on the floor and watched Lemmy as he stirred the tap water in the miniature cauldron. What his brother had ultimately suggested was creating a potion of sorts. While skeptical, Ludwig had no other solutions of his own. So, he just watched his brother stir the tap water, all while tapping his leg in a rhythm.

"Okay," Lemmy said. "The water is all stirred up, so now we add the ingredients." He started pulling the ingredients he had gathered from various parts of the castle out of Ludwig's hammerspace. "Cayenne…" he sprinkled that in…."orange peel….coconut oil…peppermint extract….vanilla extract….toothpaste….fish oil…."

Ludwig felt himself growing sick. "Lemmy, do we really need that last one?"

"Hold on, I'm not done." He crammed more ingredients into the cauldron. "Snail slime...some of Roy's drool….a stick of deodorant…." Ludwig was growing sicker and sicker by the second; his face was turning green… "and finally, some wet dog food! To give it texture!"

"Uh huh ugh!" Ludwig groaned as Lemmy dumped the dog food in, causing the "potion" to splash. "Lemmy, that is disgusting! We're trying to get our bodies back; not poison ourselves!"

"Well, Kamek always puts all sorts of wacky ingredients in his potions, and they end up doing the job." Lemmy reached up and pulled a strand of hair out of his head. "Okay, now pull some of my hair out." Ludwig did as he was told and gave the strand to Lemmy. "Okay." He ladeled some of the potion into separate cups. He put his own hair into one, and Ludwig's hair into the other. "We need strands of DNA in the potion so that we will transform back into ourselves."

Ludwig hesitantly took his cup. The mixture not only looked horrendous, but also smelled horrendous. Ludwig had no idea how he was going to be able to stomach it

"Are you ready?" Lemmy asked.

Ludwig sighed. "As I'll ever be." The two of them clinked their glasses together, and as Lemmy downed his, Ludwig sighed. "Don't worry, Ludwig," he muttered to himself. "If this works, you'll be back to normal in no time."

With that, he drank it. It was...it was the most awful thing he had ever tasted. Bar none. He couldn't even swallow it properly; it was that bad. His face turned puce, his cheeks bulged out like the cheeks of a chipmunk. Lemmy's condition wasn't any better.

"I…I…" Ludwig put his hand to his mouth. "I'm going to be sick!"

He rushed toward the bathroom with Lemmy close behind. Ludwig vomited into the toilet, with Lemmy doing the same thing right beside him. Once they finished, Lemmy looked at Ludwig with an embarrassed expression.

"I guess that was a bad idea."

"You think?" Ludwig coughed and stood up. He wobbled, his stomach feeling heavier than a boulder. He sputtered, trying to get rid of the remnants of the flavor.

Lemmy cringed. "What do we do now?"

Ludwig cleared his throat and got to thinking. "What do we do, what do we do?" He sighed. "What is there to do?" He put his hand to his head again. "Seriously, this headache is going to be the death of….me…." He gasped and snapped his fingers. "I've got it!"

"You've got what?" asked Lemmy.

"A solution!" Ludwig rushed out of the bathroom. "Lemmy, get on my bed!"

With that, Ludwig rummaged around in his closet. It was difficult to do considering he was dealing with an altered height, but he eventually found what he was looking for. He brought the items out and took them to Lemmy, who had done what he was told and was sitting on the bed. The second eldest raised an eyebrow.

"Troopa shells?"

"Here, take it," Ludwig insisted. Lemmy did as he was told, albeit hesitantly. He eyed his brother with a questioning and cautious look.

"Okay," Ludwig said as he let out a breath. "Here's what I'm thinking. Whatever spell the duplighost put on us affected our brains specifically, right?"

"Okay…."

"So," Ludwig said with a grin, "if we give ourselves head trauma, the spell will wear off, and we'll switch back! Boom! Problem solved!"

Lemmy's eyes grew wide. He grasped the shell that Ludwig had handed to him limply. "Are you...sure that is a good idea?"

"Well, I don't see you coming up with any better ones," said Ludwig. "And I don't know about you Lems, but I'd like to get my body back sooner rather than later. So, we might as well give it a try."

Lemmy hesitated. "I...I guess you're right…"

"Okay," Ludwig said with a nod. He firmly grasped his Koopa shell, getting a feel for its weight. "On three. One…." Lemmy sucked in a breath…. "Two….." Ludwig lifted the shell…. "THREE!"

He hammered the shell into his forehead. The sudden feeling of intense pain caused him to yell and put his hand to the problem area. "OWW HOW OWW!" He cursed under his breath before noticing that Lemmy wasn't doing the same thing. "Why didn't you do it?"

"It's….it's your head! I don't...I don't want to hit you in the head!"

"Well, I'm giving you special permission to hit me in the head!" Ludwig leaned forward. "It won't work unless we do it at the same time, and we need to do it hard!"

Lemmy's brow furrowed. "Ludwig, I really don't think that's how it works…."

"JUST DO IT, DAMMIT!"

Lemmy jumped at Ludwig's outburst and shamed the koopa shell against his head. "OWWW!" He put his hand there, grasping it like a life preserver. "Son of a biscuit!"

Ludwig did the same thing, doing it extra hard. His head hurt so much that he couldn't even scream anymore. His vision was starting to grow fuzzy, the edges of the room were growing dark…

….

"Ludwig….Ludwig!"

Ludwig's eyelids fluttered open. His vision was still fuzzy, but eventually, it came back into focus. He saw that Lemmy was leaning right over him. And he was still in Ludwig's body.

"Fuck," Ludwig cursed. He sat up, feeling dizziness on the forefront of his consciousness. He wobbled and shook, prompting Lemmy to provide support. It took a minute or two, but Ludwig was eventually at one hundred percent.

Or at least, he would have been at one hundred percent if he was still in his body.

"I don't think we should try that again. Or try making a potion again." Lemmy let out a hollow laugh, an odd sound coming from him. "We need to try something that won't put us in the hospital."

Ludwig let out a breath. "You're right." He put his hand to his head. "We can't go to the hospital. Not like this."

Lemmy nodded. "So what do we do?"

Ludwig thought about this. What was one surefire way to help them switch back? If there were no spells in the magikoopa spellbook, then they needed to use some form of very powerful magic. But where could it come from?

"I...I think I have an idea."

Lemmy perked up. "What is it?"

Ludwig directed his attention toward the window. As much as he hated the fact that he was in Lemmy's body and wanted to change back as soon as possible, this solution required some form of patience.

Oh goody.

...

Ludwig stared up into the night sky, tapping his finger against the windowsill as he did so. His impatience was going off the charts. The fact that Lemmy was trying to juggle something on the other side of the room and failing miserably wasn't helping.

"Oh, dang it!" Lemmy sighed as he dropped the balls again. "I think the swap has affected my hand eye coordination."

"Yeah yeah yeah, poor you. You get powers and handsome looks and all you care about is your hand eye coordination? Talk about being ungrateful."

Lemmy flashed Ludwig a glare. "Hey!" He came over. "Just because you're having trouble waiting doesn't mean you have to get all huffy with me."

Ludwig sighed. "I'm sorry." He rubbed his eyes, his abnormally large eyes. "I just...I really hope this works." He looked up to the sky again. "I really hope it works."

Lemmy also looked up into the sky, his face painted over with confusion. "Uh, what are you trying to do?"

"The forecast said that there were going to be some shooting stars tonight. I'm gonna make a wish."

Lemmy blinked. "You're trying that? I thought you didn't believe in that sort of stuff."

"Well, I didn't believe in body swaps either, and yet, here we are!" He sighed and looked up again. "This has to work. It has to. I can't spend the rest of my life like this. I'm a special. I'm a composer. I'm not you."

Lemmy nodded, but Ludwig barely saw it. He just kept his eyes glued to the sky. There had to be a shooting star, there had to…

Wait! Was….was that it! That thing zipping across the sky? Yes! Yes, it was a shooting star!

Ludwig broke out into a smile. "Yes! Finally!" He closed his eyes and folded his hands in a prayer-like motion. "I wish to be Ludwig." When he opened his eyes, he let out a sigh and smiled at his younger brother. "The wish will probably come true tomorrow."

Lemmy blinked before smiling. "You're right. We can relax until then."

"Exactly." Ludwig yawned and made his way over to his bed. "Well, it was nice being you, Lems, but it'll be even nicer when I wake up in my own body tomorrow!" An idea befell the Koopaling once he successfully got back into the bed. "Ooh, I think I want to work on a song!"

Lemmy's eyes lit up. "A song!" He rushed over. "Can I help you?"

"Ha ha, no. I work alone on my music; I told you this." He reached into his hammerspace and pulled out a rubber chicken. "Huh?" He squeezed it, causing it to squeak. "Why is…" He cringed when realization hit him. "Oh. Right. My songs are in my hammerspace; duh." He turned toward his brother. "Lems?"

Lemmy turned around, allowing Ludwig access to his hammerspace. Ludwig grinned when he found the songs. "Yes!" He kissed the pages. "This might be the worst day of my life, but at least it's ending on a high note!"

Lemmy gasped. "Ludwig!" He turned toward his brother with a grin. "You just made a pun! Get it; music and notes?"

Ludwig blinked and groaned. "No! That was unintentional and you know it!"

Lemmy grinned. "Don't you mean….punintentional?"

Ludwig felt his face grow warm. "Stop!" He yelled. "I did not make a pun! I wouldn't do that!" He sighed and shook his head. "I can't wait til we've switched back so I can punch you in the face."

Lemmy giggled. "Punch. I see what you did there."

Ludwig growled, wrinkling the paper as he did so. He was about to scream, but he thought better of it and sighed. "I'm going out into the hallway."

With that, he took his stuff and left. Once the door closed behind him, he took in a deep breath. "Okay, Ludwig. You've had a long day, but it's night now, and night brings with it the muse." He sat down cross legged on the floor and bit the tip of his pen. "Maybe I should write something with a more somber vibe?" He smiled. "Yeah, that could work, especially considering "Walk on the Wild Side" is supposed to be more upbeat."

With that, he began to write. He gripped the pen in his left hand and began brainstorming the lyrics. Unfortunately, it became clear to him that something was off pretty quickly.

"What is wrong with my handwriting?" Ludwig muttered. He lifted his hand up and stared at his notes. They looked like scribbles. "A three year old has neater handwriting than this!" He tried again, being extra careful to make his hand go as smoothly as possible. When it didn't work, he scrawled out the page and growled. "That's it!" He stuffed the paper into his hammerspace and slammed the door wide open. "Lemmy, you can't write for crap!"

Lemmy blinked from his position on his bed. "What do you mean?"

"THIS IS WHAT I MEAN!" Ludwig approached with his ruined notes. "My handwriting is awful in this body!"

Lemmy stared at the places that hadn't been scrawled upon. "Man, you're right. Even my regular handwriting doesn't look this bad." He looked at his brother. "Wait, which hand did you use?"

"My left, obviously."

Lemmy adorned a comprehensive expression. "Ohhhh…." He laughed. "That explains it. Ludwig, I'm a righty."

Ludwig blinked. "You're right handed?" When Lemmy nodded, he groaned and face palmed. "Of course." He got a blank sheet of paper out and tried to write the notes on it again, this time with his right hand. Unfortunately, there was still something wrong.

"I can't do this." Ludwig laid the pen down and put his head on his hands. "I'm not used to writing right handed."

Lemmy looked at the notes. He picked up the pen and tried writing something with his left hand. He cringed. "Yeah, this feels unnatural. I'm guessing there's some sort of mind and body component in place that determines your dominant hand."

Ludwig whimpered. "So what am I going to do?" Tears welled in his eyes. "How am I going to write my music?"

Lemmy looked at him sympathetically. "I'm sorry. I know how much your music means to you." He smiled. "But don't worry! You made the wish, so with any luck, we should be back to normal tomorrow."

Ludwig thought about this before sighing. "You're right." He smiled. "Once I'm myself again, I can write songs to my heart's content."