Chapter 27 Turbulent Air

His teeth hurt. His grip on his brother's shell was tight and terrified. He tried screaming, but it was lost amidst the rushing wind and the sound of Lemmy himself screaming. Ludwig's thoughts began to race; what could he do? How could he possibly get out of this dreadful situation alive?

"Don't let go, don't let go, don't let go!" He buried his face in the folds of his cloak. Tears sprung up in his eyes as he talked to himself again. "Please, don't let go!"

Lemmy ragged breathing put a spike in his voice. "LUDWIG, HOW DO I STOP?"

When he said that last word, Lemmy came to a screeching halt. The jolting whiplash was so sudden that it caused Ludwig to accidentally let go.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

"LUDWIG!" Lemmy screeched. He watched his older brother plummet. With terror in his eyes, he remembered what Ludwig had told him before they took off. Beads of sweat formed all across his new body. "No! No no no; I've gotta save him!"

But how would he do that? He couldn't exactly fly down after him because he didn't know how!

"Come on Lemmy; think!" Ludwig's screams made it very hard to do so, unfortunately. He wiped away the tears in his eyes. "Oh, how am I gonna do this; do I use telekinesis?" Lemmy gasped. "Wait, that's it!" He held out his hand and grit his teeth. He focused on his older brother with all his might, every last inch of his soul. The blue aura appeared, causing Lemmy to smile.

Sadly, the smile didn't stay there for long. Pins and needles formed in Lemmy's hand and spread up his arm. Before he knew it, his entire body was in pain. It was like he was in hell! He grit his teeth, trying his best to combat it. It was too much too bare.

"YEEEOOOOWW!" He unleashed his hold on Ludwig. "Oh, Mama Mia!" He looked down. "Did I save him? Please let me have saved him…"

…

"AAHHHHH!"

While he was falling, Ludwig's entire life flashed before his eyes. The sensation as gravity cruelly pulled him back down to the ground…the pit in his stomach as he powerlessly headed toward his doom…. Oh, he couldn't even think! The only things rushing around in his head were adrenaline, the aforementioned flashes from his life, and his terror. He was thirty feet away from the ground now! Twenty! Ten! Five! ONE!

And then…he stopped.

Ludwig whimpered, his face an inch away from the ground as he levitated in midair. What was this? Were his powers back? Could he fly again?

Just as suddenly as he had stopped, he fell again. Thankfully, the halt had prevented him from crashing. He landed on the ground with a soft thud, nothing more.

"I…I'm alive!" He said with his palms pressed against the soil. He raised himself onto his knees. "I'm alive!" He smiled. Tears fell from his eyes as he felt his brother's face. "Oh, I don't even care that this is Lemmy's; I'm just so glad it's in tact!" His joy went away with a jolt. "Oh my gosh, Lemmy!"

He scrambled to his feet. Lemmy was so high in the air that Ludwig had to strain his neck to see him. His heart sank.

"Oh no; I didn't get to teach him how to steer!" He placed his hand to his aching forehead. "Okay, do not panic Ludwig; do not panic! It's a fairly simple thing to get the hang. Lemmy's smart; he can figure this out on his own." He looked back up into the sky, his insides squirming. "Hopefully."

…

Lemmy's stomach gnawed at his psyche. While looking down had given him confirmation that Ludwig was okay, it also conveyed to him the seriousness of the situation.

That's a long way down, he thought to himself. He felt like he would vomit. Okay, I need to figure out a way to get out of here. He let out a breath; thankfully, it didn't make him go higher. Maybe Ludwig's flying power responds to his thoughts? Yeah, maybe that's it. He thought the words "go down," but he didn't move from his spot. He sighed. Okay, so maybe it doesn't respond to thoughts. How am I going to get down then? He thought and thought before something occurred to him. Wait. When I was with Wendy in the music hall, I went in the direction that I said out loud. Okay, so I guess I'll try that. Lemmy closed his eyes. Bracing himself for the whiplash, he sucked some air through his teeth.

"Go down!"

The whiplash made his stomach lurch. He zoomed toward the ground, the speed causing vomit to rise to his throat. He just narrowly avoided throwing up when he spoke again.

"Go straight!"

Ludwig's body reoriented itself and flew straight. Lemmy got his hyperventilation under control just as he was about to crash into the castle wall.

"EEK!" He pulled back a little bit, which caused him to stop. He blinked, levitating just inches away from the wall. A smile spread across his lips.

"Oh, interesting," he said out loud. "So it seems to respond to physical actions." He recalled how he had zipped toward Kamek right after looking in his direction. "So, I guess the 'speaking out loud' thing can ben thought of as training wheels!" He giggled. "Well, I didn't need training wheels for long!" He turned around, took a deep breath, and went forward. He wobbled a little. Afraid he might fall, Lemmy extended his arms. This got his balance back on track, but did absolutely nothing about his breakneck speed.

"Slow down!" He was dismayed by nothing changing. "SLOW DOWN!" He sighed, grabbed hold of his wrist, and growled. "Listen here, you stupid body! I want to go slower!" Smoke emantated off of him, but he barely noticed it. "I'm a turtle after all; turtles are used to going slow!"

Interestingly, when he said that, he slowed down from a lightning fast speed to a graceful glide. He reoriented himself so that he was positioned vertically, blinking as he did so.

"Huh." He put his hand to his chin. "Okay, this is a little too slow for my liking. Can you speed it back up?" Nothing happened, so he growled. "Come on! Don't tell me you don't need know how to speed up! Birds can fly; they speed up all the time!"

When he said that, there was a very noticeable increase in speed. Lemmy blinked before smiling. "Ohhhh! I get it; I need a frame of reference!" He giggled before turning back around. "I'm a sparrow!"

He flew at a fairly moderate speed. Positioning himself so that he was now heading toward the ground at an angle, Lemmy's smile grew bigger. He could now see Ludwig, waving his arms around.

"WOO! YOU'RE DOING GREAT LEMS!"

Lemmy felt warm and fuzzy on the inside. Despite the physical distance making these shouts softer than they otherwise would be, Lemmy was still over the moon at his brother verbally praising him. He glided down, happy that they would reunited when he landed.

Unfortunately, that reunion would have to wait. He spotted the gang rounding round the corner. The sledge brother threw rocks at Ludwig. The oldest bolted out of the way, holding his hands to his head in an attempt to protect himself from the pain.

Lemmy gasped. No! No no no! They did not get to hurt Ludwig! That was just….that was seriously….NO ONE HURTS LEMMY'S BROTHER!

"NOOO!" Barely aware of it, his body burst into flames. "I'm a hawk!" He zipped down toward them, gritting his teeth. The gang members gawked when they saw him.

"HOLY SHIT!" cried the goomba. He and the paratroopa bolted away. The sledge brother hadn't seem to notice Lemmy, as he still held the rock above his head and had his gaze directed at Ludwig.

"YOU PUT THAT DOWN!" The muscle memory in Ludwig's body took over, allowing Lemmy to throw a fireball at him. The sledge brother shrieked when it hit the rock. His eyes grew wide when he saw Lemmy.

"SWEET MOTHER NATURE!"

This phrase jolted Lemmy out of his rage. He blinked and stopped. He looked down at his hands. "Did…did I just…?"

The sledge brother trembled. "Fine! You win; you can have your stupid castle!" He bolted away.

Lemmy lowered himself to the ground, all while gawking. "I…" He shook his head when he landed. "Was that me? Did I just…?"

"LEMMY!" Lemmy was barely cognisant of Ludwig running over. The eldest had a smile on his face, a relieved, joyous, proud smile. "Lemmy, that was amazing! You managed to use pyrokinesis while you were flying and…" He squeed and wrapped his arms around him. "Oh, I'm so proud of you!"

Lemmy blinked. Was…was this actually happening? "Uh…thanks Ludwig." The eldest let out a calming breath. "Uh…you can let me go now."

This bolted Ludwig right back down to reality. "Oh. Right." He let go of Lemmy, looking at him with an uncomfortable expression. "Sorry, I was just, I was, uh…" he cleared his throat. "You did a good job."

Lemmy smiled. "Thanks." He chuckled a little. "I'm just glad you're okay."

Ludwig laughed. "Yeah!" he exhaled. "Well, I wouldn't be if you hadn't use telekinesis like that."

Lemmy smiled. "Thanks." His face fell. "Although, it really hurt for some reason."

"Oh, yeah. Telekinesis doesn't work as well on sentient beings. I'm still not one hundred percent sure why; I think it has something to do with them being able to resist." He chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry, I suppose I should have told you earlier."

Lemmy smiled. "It's okay. I still would have done it."

Ludwig blinked. "Really?" When Lemmy nodded, he blushed. "Aww, thanks Lems; that's really sweet." He straightened his posture and put on a serious face. "Anyway, we should probably get the others inside; they need help recovering from their injuries."

"True. True." Right as Ludwig took two steps was when something occurred to Lemmy. "Hey! None of us are going to get grounded!"

Ludwig blinked before beaming. "Hey, yeah, you're right!" He laughed. "Now I almost wish Bowser was present. I think he would have been really impressed at your performance."

Lemmy couldn't help but smile.