Chapter 17 In a Crabby Mood

Going through the portal this time managed to cure Ludwig's exhaustion, as well as make his pain and wounds heal Unfortunately, it still provided him with the terrible rushing sensations that he had felt before. So, all in all, he was kind of divided on how to feel about this. Feelings of nausea overtook him, and his eyes hurt looking at the colors speeding by. Although. this time he had someone to experience this with him. He supposed that was a plus.

"AAHHH!" Roy screamed. He clung to his brother, his grip strong enough to weigh the oldest Koopaling down. Seriously; it was like a brick had been tied to his neck in order to drag him to his doom underneath the sea. Nevertheless, Ludwig was glad he was here. He wrapped his arms around his burly little brother, an act that he hoped would provide both of them with comfort.

"Don't worry, Roy!" Ludwig yelled to be heard over the Koopaling's screams. "It'll be alright!"

As soon as those words escaped from his mouth, the two bolted downwards with a jerk. Nausea washed over Ludwig, forcing him to remove one of his hands from Roy and cover his mouth. The falling sensation grew stronger with each passing second. It honest to goodness felt as if they would burst like water balloons once they came in contact with the ground, whatever ground there was to greet them. He let out a little cry.

"Ludwig!" Roy called out. He wrapped his arms around the oldest's neck. "I'm scared!"

Despite his fear, Ludwig embraced Roy all over again. "It'll be fine!" He swallowed a lump. "This is supposed to happen!"

Roy blinked. "You sure?"

Ludwig internally cringed, already feeling the pain of having to tell a lie. "I'm positive."

The rushing sensations grew worse. Now their plummet would make even a skydiver concerned. Both Koopalings held onto each other, expecting the worst but hoping for the best. The colors faded away until all that surrounded them was blue. Ludwig's heart skipped a beat. Sky! They were surrounded by sky! That meant they weren't in the portal anymore! This was good!

Or not, as they still had the ground to worry about. Ludwig closed his eyes. His heart pumped so hard that it hurt his chest. The adrenaline flowing through him was so icy that it burned his guts.

Splash!

…

Ludwig groaned. Warmth; he could feel warmth. Sunlight, possibly. He took this as a good sign; this most likely meant that he wasn't dead. He tried to open his eyes, the task akin to opening a door constructed out of heavy metals. Once he succeeded, the same sky blue from before met his eyes. Clouds hung over head, providing a crisp clean white to the scenery. Seagulls raced each other in tracks that only they could see, cawing and skrawing with the shrillest voices a bird could possibly have.

Ludwig let out a breath of relief. While doused with salty sea water and covered in grainy sand, he had managed to make it into the next show. He and Roy were possibly one step closer to locating the green haired nuisance that was Iggy. Smiling, Ludwig lifted himself off of his back.

That's when he realized that something was very wrong. Instead of two legs, he had ten. Ten very hard and very spindly legs that bent at the weirdest of angles, colored an orange that almost appeared brown. Ludwig's breath caught in his throat. He looked at his arms, which in turn caused him to gasp. There were no hands there to greet him. Instead, he saw pinchers. Big, strong pinchers that looked like they could break open a walnut.

"Holy crap!" Ludwig exclaimed. He tried walking, which his new body instinctively did in a side to side fashion. "I'm a crab!"

Oh dear word. What if he was in another nature documentary? If he was in the body of a crab, that meant that he most likely would be on the list of many sea creatures' favorite snacks. While still alive, that thought filled Ludwig with a horrible fear. He had survived the fall, only to be eaten by a starving predator.

Great. That was just….great!

Ludwig shook his head, or at least tried to. This action more or less required his whole crab body to move. "Man, I can already tell this will be FUN!" He scanned the beach. "Roy? Roy, where are you?"

"Ugghhh…"

Relief flooded Ludwig. He turned toward the sound of his brother's groans, thanking Grambi ten times over that they hadn't been separated. He almost expected Roy to appear as a crab too. And if not a crab, he would probably be some other kind of sea creature, like a fish or an octopus. So, he was beyond shocked when he saw what body his brother occupied. It was the LAST thing he had expected. On the bright side though, it informed him that he wasn't in another nature documentary! At least there was that?

"Man," Roy said as he sat up, his hand on his temple. "That was rough…" his eyes grew wide when he saw his body. "Holy guacamole!" He lifted his tail, his eyes sparkling with wonder and surprise. "Dude!" He turned to Ludwig. "I'm a mermaid!"

"Yep," Ludwig replied. He studied his brother's tail, colored teal to match with the hue of the sea. His hair flowed down his back like a golden waterfall, with a few locks colored purple to make his appearance pop. His fair skin and green eyes complemented each other like peanut butter and jam, and over his chest he had a bra constructed from purple seashells.

"Oh man!" Roy said as he lowered his tail. He grinned from ear to ear as he stared at it. "This is awesome!" He touched his tail, which sent visible shivers down his back. "This is like every guy's dream!"

Ludwig snickered. "Every guy's dream huh?"

"Uh, YEAH!" Roy's grin grew giddier by the second. "Who needs to run after pretty girls when you can be one?" He laughed and flapped his tail against the sand, laughter escaping from his throat almost as frequently as words would.

Ludwig stood still for a few seconds. "Roy…" He shook his head again. "When we get home, you have somethings that you REALLY need to think about."

"When we get home?" Roy repeated. He looked at Ludwig in confusion. "Who says that we need to go home? I want to stay here forever!" He lifted his tail again. "This beauty will attract every eyes in the ocean!"

Now Ludwig felt like he would throw up. Pushing his nausea to the side, he crawled up Roy's tail while glaring daggers at him. "You doofus! We have a mission to take care of! And I want to get it over with as soon as possible because, in case you haven't noticed, I'M A FUCKING CRAB!"

Roy smiled. "Geez, Ludwig, you're acting a little…crabby." He laughed. "Man, I bet Lemmy would be proud of…YEEOW!" He batted Ludwig off of his tail and rubbed the scale that the oldest had pinched. "Dude, what was that for?"

Ludwig was already growing frustrated. "Have you forgotten that we need to rescue Iggy?"

Roy blinked before brushing off that fact with a smirk and a shrug. "Iggy can rescue himself; he's smart." He lugged himself across the sand, intent on getting to the ocean. "I want to see if the mermaid life is as glamorous as they say it is!"

Ludwig sputtered and fumed. He ran over to Roy and pulled him backwards by a lock of his hair. The usually shades-wearing Koopaling shrieked for the second time that day before glaring at Ludwig.

"Dude, seriously, what's your problem?"

"YOU! You are my problem!" Ludwig sighed. "Look, we need to find Iggy as soon as possible." Roy opened his mouth to say something, but Ludwig silenced him with a raised claw. "And don't you DARE give me the 'he can rescue himself' crap again. He's in trouble! We knew the second we put on the Internet explorer that we weren't entering the television for fun and games."

Roy's face fell, but not in a dejected way. Moreso, he looked understanding. "I get it," he said with a nod. He sighed and stroked his tail. "I'm sorry baby; looks like we'll have to part ways."

Ludwig crawled up onto Roy's shoulder. "I'll tell you what. Let's swim around and look to see if Iggy's hanging out in this show. If he isn't here, we'll go to the next one." He grasped the necklace with his claw, halfway tempted to say the incantation to open the portal right at that moment.

Roy grinned again. "Good idea!" He continued with lugging himself to the sea, whooping in delight. "Look out, ocean! Here we come!"