Chapter 26 Powering Through

Both soul swapped Koopalings ran like the wind, weary of the fact that the smoke would clear any minute. They managed to find a boulder that they could duck behind, but it was only sheer luck and random chance that allowed them to do this before the thug recovered. Lemmy and Ludwig watched the gang members run past their boulder with their hearts in their throats.

"Oh man," Lemmy said, his brow furrowed and his form quivering. "Looks like this escalated into a fight after all!"

Ludwig let out a long sigh. "I told you guys it wouldn't work." He opened his eyes as he gave a little shake of the head. "I gave you multiple reasons why it wouldn't work, and lo and behold, it didn't work! I didn't want to have to say I told you so in this scenario but I told you so!" He scrunched his eyebrows. "And I'm probably going to use that phrase sometime again in the near future because at the very least, I can get some form of satisfaction in being right." His apathy dissolved when he gasped. "LEMMY, GET DOWN!"

Ludwig pulled Lemmy into a squatting position. He stealthily peeked above the rock, keeping his hands on top of his rainbow mohawk to make himself less visible to the sledge brother scanning the area. Once the sledge brother left, Ludwig let out a breath and lowered himself back down.

"Okay. We're alright; they're gone."

Lemmy's eyes were wide as he spoke. "For now! But they're probably going to come back around!"

"Yeah," Ludwig exhaled. "Inevitably."

Lemmy's shiverin g only got worse. "Ludwig!" His tone was desperate. "You've gotta do something!"

Ludwig did a double take. "WHAT! ME?"

"Yeah! You've gotta do something that will stop those thugs from beating us up!"

Ludwig gawked. "HOW? I'm you, remember! I mean, what am I supposed to do; attack them with a bunch of puns!?" He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Because believe me Lemmy, if we could do that, then everyone who's ever been within a ten mile radius of you would be dead!"

Lemmy whimpered. "You're right." He peaked back out over the rock. "So what do we do? Do we bolt?"

A solemn mood tainted Ludwig's expression. "No. We're not gonna bolt. We can't."

"Why not?"

Ludwig sighed. "Lemmy, I think now would be a good time to educate you about this thing called 'honor.' It's something I very much take seriously on the battlefield." He pressed his ips together in a serious line. "The Koopa code of honor demands that no soldier should ever back down from a battle. And this is especially true if the battle in question happens to be on home soil."

Lemmy looked down at the ashy black ground, his mind racing. "So, then what can we do?"

Ludwig's sobriety only grew stronger. "Well, we obviously can't stay here forever. If we do, then those thugs will find us and beat us til we're black and blue." He cringed. "We have only one real option in this scenario. I didn't want to do this, but unfortunately, I'm no longer afforded the luxury of choice." He took a deep breath. "Lemmy?"

Lemmy looked at his brother, who turned toward him with a furrowed, reluctant brow.

"I'm gonna teach you how to use my powers."

Lemmy's heart skipped a beat. "For real?!" he gasped.

"Yes," Ludwig said with a nod. "But I'm only doing it as a last resort. And you have to promise me you'll be careful."

Lemmy nodded. "Don't worry, I'll be careful."

Ludwig shook his head at his nonchalant tone. "No, Lemmy, I'm serious. These powers are like nuclear missiles I have in my bloodstream. Just one wrong move with them can spell disaster for anyone present. Heck, they're part of the reason we're in this mess in the first place! And because there isn't a duplighost present this time around, if someone gets zapped with electricity, they aren't going to swap bodies Lemmy; they're going to die! So PLEASE Lemmy. Promise me; SWEAR to me you'll be careful!"

Lemmy was shaking now, but for a completely different reason. He nodded at his brother, his expression serious. "I promise I'll be careful."

Ludwig let out a breath. "Okay. Then let's get started." He turned back around, placing his fingertip to his lip in thought. "Now, I have two primary powers which are used for offensive attacks, so I think we should start with them." He turned to Lemmy. "For my pyrokinesis and electrokinesis, both of those powers are tied directly to my emotions. More specifically, my anger."

Lemmy blinked. "Anger, huh?"

"Yeah. You probably already knew this as you've seen me when I get angry. This is when electric light bulbs start to flicker, or when anything around me randomly catches fire. More commonly though, the only thing catching fire is ME when I'm mad." He smiled the tiniest bit. "Believe or not Lemmy, I don't do that because I'm trying to hurt someone; it's actually involuntary. It activates on its own, and the only way for me to put it out is if I step back and calm down." His eyes glimmered. "However, when I find my center in combat scenarios, then I can get angry on command and control the flames to my liking."

Lemmy nodded. "Interesting. So, what's the difference between that and electrokinesis?"

Ludwig smirked. "The electrokinesis is more like a concentrated version of that. It activates most commonly when I'm angry, but still trying to tap into my logical side. Pyrokinesis is more pure, unadulterated rage, and electrokinesis is more…well, it's when I'm trying to think and channel my anger."

"Huh. That's interesting."

"Yeah." Ludwig let out a breath. "So, do you think you can do that?"

Lemmy blinked. "Ehh…' he did the so-so sign with his head. "I don't know; I'm not really good at getting angry on command."

Ludwig's face fell. "I'm not surprised, yet still disappointed," he muttered. He let out another breath. "Well, luckily for you, I am not a one trick special. I have other arrows stashed in my quiver." He looked at the boulder they were standing behind. "Another power I can use in an offensive scenarios is my telekinesis." He looked a little worried. "Now, out of my four powers, this one took me the longest to master, so this is going to be tough."

Lemmy smirked. "I can handle it."

Ludwig flashed another tiny smile. "Good. You get an A for attitude." He stepped back. "Now, with my telekinesis, you're basically channeling all of your mental focus onto the object you want to move. From a metaphorical standpoint, you're pretty much becoming one with the object." Ludwig looked at Lemmy. "Now, when I was first starting out, I more or less had to tune out all of my other emotions in order to focus. Now, I have the ability to divide my attention, but that took YEARS of practice. I don't expect you to do that while you're just starting out." He pointed at the boulder. "However, I think you can probably get something in the air at least. Try lifting that."

Lemmy blew a stream of air out of his mouth and focused on the boulder. He squinted his eyes, biting his lip in concentration. Unfortunately, the blue aura that so commonly surrounded objects Ludwig was moving did not appear. "It's not working."

"Don't give up," Ludwig said, "you just need to try harder. Try lifting your hand. Remember, the object is more or less becoming part of your body, so it helps to keep another part of the body within your peripheral vision."

Lemmy nodded. "Alright. " He lifted his hand, positioning himself so that it was in the corner of his eye and the rock was dead straight ahead. Lemmy bit his lip, and when he did, the blue aura appeared. He grinned. "It's working!"

"Great! Now don't break your focus; try getting it into the air!"

Lemmy bit his lip. Go up, he told the boulder in his head. When that didn't work, he grit his teeth. "Go up!" He whispered. Still nothing.

Ludwig studied the scene in front of him. "Hmm. Try positive visualization."

Lemmy blinked. "Positive visualization?"

"Yeah. That's the method I used when I was first learning. You more or less have to imagine the object moving in your mind."

"Okay." Lemmy pictured the boulder moving upwards just a little bit. Miraculously, this method did indeed produce results. He grinned when the boulder lifted into the air. "Yes! It's working!"

"HEY!"

Lemmy was so startled he actually dropped the boulder. He and Ludwig's eyes grew wide when they saw the gang members staring at them down the way, gritting their in a threatening manner.

"YOU'RE GONNA GET IT NOW, YOU WIMPY LITTLE KOOPAS!"

Ludwig looked to Lemmy in fright. "Lemmy you need to throw that boulder toward them!"

Lemmy nodded as sweat rolled down his skin. "Okay." He lifted his hand. Tuning out the sound of the gang members running toward him, tuning it his fear and worry, tuning out even his brother standing right next to him, Lemmy concentrated until it was just him and the boulder. It rose into the air, causing the gang members to stop and gawk. Lemmy grinned "I told you I had superpowers!" He sent the boulder careening toward them.

Unfortunately, the sledge brother managed to gather his bearings. He raised his fist and punched the boulder, causing it to crumble into tinier but no less dangerous chunks. Lemmy and Ludwig blinked as he picked up one of the tinier rocks.

"Lemmy, run!" Ludwig whispered.

Lemmy didn't even need to hesitate. He and Ludwig bolted away as the bowling ball sized tidbits rained down around them. Lemmy was honestly surprised; if the sledge brother just had better aim…

"GET BACK HERE!" yelled the paratroopa.

Lemmy shrieked. He didn't even care about his shortening breath. He looked toward Ludwig, who surprisingly was keeping up despite his reduced stats. When they finally did come to a stop, however, Ludwig sounded like he was going to pass out.

"Why…are…your legs….so….SHORT?" He coughed; even speaking was taxing.

"I don't know. Just lucky I guess." Lemmy cleared his throat once his breathing was under control. "So, what do we do now? I assume we still can't back down."

Ludwig shrugged. "Ehh…well, we did at least get one attack in, so I don't think the Koopa code of honor would condemn us if we enact a tactical retreat now."

Lemmy let out a breath. "Okay good." Unfortunately, he sucked the breath back in when he realized something. "But…wait. How are we going to do that? We can't run past the gang members."

Ludwig looked at Lemmy worriedly. "Well…there is one other option…"

Lemmy's eyes grew wide. "You mean…?"

Ludwig nodded. "Yeah." He sucked in a breath. "Flying."

Lemmy's stomach did a lurch. He swallowed a lump. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Don't worry," said Ludwig (funnily enough, he sounded extremely worried when he said that). "Out of all four powers, this one is the easiest to use and the easiest to figure out. As long as you do exactly as I say, then you should be fine." He cringed. "At least, that's the hope."

Lemmy nodded. "Okay." He held out his hand.

Ludwig, surprisingly, shook his head. "No. If I'm going to do this, I at least want some. insurance. Let me get on your back."

Lemmy nodded and allowed Ludwig to get on his back. He could feel Ludwig's breathing rate; it was really fast.

"Okay. You already had exposure to this power when you went into the music hall with Wendy. Do you remember how you took off?"

Lemmy shook his head. "Afraid not."

"That's alright; I'm going to teach you how to do it now." He took in a deep breath before continuing. "Okay. Now, in order to take off, you've got to take a deep breath and let it out slowly."

Lemmy smiled. "Okay. That sounds simple enough." He was just about to do that when Ludwig spoke up again.

"Wait, Lemmy, listen to me. I cannot stress this enough; you need to let it out slowly." Beads of sweat formed on his head. "If you do it too quickly, then you and I are going to shoot off into the air like a firework. And since I'm not in control of the powers at the moment, that means I could fall." He winced. "I've always had my powers to act as a safety net. I've never fallen in my life. I'm getting anxious just thinking about it!"

Lemmy whimpered. "Well, maybe it would be best if we don't do it then…"

"No," Ludwig said, gripping onto Lemmy's shell tightly. "This method is risky, but it gives us a better chance at success than staying on the ground. Lemmy, trust me. They're my powers, I know how they work. I might not be in the driver's seat at the moment, but I can still act as the copilot. Just please Lemmy. Please!" His teeth chattered. "I'll forgive you for everything that went wrong over the past few days, just please don't screw this up!" His brow furrowed. "Please. Let it out slowly."

Lemmy paused before nodding. "Okay. Okay. Don't worry; I've got it." He faced forward. "Let it out slowly." He took in a deep breath. Unfortunately, the worst thing that could possibly happen happened right at that moment. Lemmy tried to fight his itching nose, but it's difficult to do so when you're in the hold of the involuntary urge.

"AHH CHOO!"