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Jeshi: ^-^ I'm so proud of myself… this story is getting long… so far…
Larry: O_O… That's a good thing, right?
Jeshi: *nods* ^-^ Yeppers!
Larry: Okay…
Jeshi: ^-^ And now, the disclaimer… *nudges Larry*
Larry: *rolls eyes* Jeshi doesn't own anything from Mario..
Jeshi: ^-^ Yeppers.
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The next day, the koopalings, for the most part, had stuck to Ludwig's plan.
Ludwig himself had actually woken up still very groggy that morning. He had kept waking up in periods throughout the night, either worrying if his siblings were safe, or just the fact that he still had not thought of a way to lose Melinda. He did not want to do anything to hurt his father, but he did not want Melinda around anymore either, not if she was going to hurt them. But what was he to do? What were any of them to do?
He took a walk around the castle. Everyone was in the pairs he had put them in yesterday. He was actually quite surprised, but then again, his siblings now knew of the dangers that Melinda was quite capable of putting them in.
Wendy was in her bedroom dolling herself up as usual, while Iggy watched out the crack of the slightly opened door. He saw Ludwig walk by, and frowned. Ludwig seemed very worried, Iggy had never seen him like this before. He dared not ask Wendy about what she thought about Melinda or about Ludwig for that matter. She was already in a huffy mood and somewhat hysterical at that. But then again, Iggy had never even tried to start a conversation with his sister all day so far. He was actually afraid that she might just snap at him.
Finally, Wendy had slammed shut one of her fancy vanity drawers, stomped over to her bed and sat down angrily, crossing her arms. Iggy glanced over at her, she glared at him, he then turned away.
" This is not fair! This is wasting my time!" Wendy pouted, "Ludwig had better know what he is doing!!" Iggy silently shut the door, and then sat down on the floor. ( He would never dare to go near Wendy in a time like this )
" He does… " he answered quietly, " he has not been proven wrong yet."
Meanwhile, Roy and Morton sat on the floor across from each other on either side of a huge candlelit room, staring at each other. Ludwig had walked in on them and gave them both a puzzled look.
" What are you two doing?" he asked them, raising an eyebrow.
" We-" Morton went to answer.
" A staring contest has no place for stupid babblin', Morton! HOW many times do I have to remind ya?!" Roy snapped, frustrated. Morton shut his mouth and they both continued staring at each other in utter silence.
" Have any of you seen Melinda today?" Ludwig asked.
" She's with Dad, I wouldn't be surprised if she never left him now," Roy answered, still staring ahead at Morton, who silently stared back.
" Remember, not one word to Melinda about what we are doing," Ludwig said, " if she even asks, you two are… continuing your staring contest." Ludwig shook his head still silently watching them.
" I have not even been able to say one word today!" Morton pouted.
" What did I say about the starin' contest?!" Roy snapped at him again. Ludwig rolled his eyes, then left the room and continued his walk around the castle.
Lemmy and Larry had ( like Ludwig ) been patrolling the hallways of the castle themselves as well. If anyone asked, ( such as Melinda ) they were just going to go take the chain chomps out for a walk. But really they were walking around the castle talking about whatever came to their minds, while still watching out for Melinda. The two of them finally sat down in very cushiony chairs. ( a/n: ^-^ Me likes cushions… cushions are good, that is why they are in the story… lol )
" Is it just me, or is the day going by very slowly?" asked Lemmy, sighing.
" It's just you.." Larry answered, staring at the ceiling. When he looked back at Lemmy, Lemmy was giving him weird looks.
" Orrrrr… the day is moving very slowly," Larry added quickly, laughing, " I don't know. How long does Ludwig want us to do this for?"
" Not sure. All he said was to stay together, all day until night or whenever we go to sleep. I guess he wants us to go to sleep at the same time too, huh?" Lemmy said. Larry shrugged, and then looked back up at the ceiling. After a few more minutes spent in silence, Lemmy yawned and got up.
" Come on, Larry," he said, " lets go take another walk." Larry nodded, and then he too got up. They continued their walk down the their bedroom hallway. Along the way down the hallway, they passed Ludwig's bedroom.
" We haven't seen much of Melinda today," Lemmy said quietly, " she's probably with Dad."
" Yeah…" answered Larry absentmindedly. But Larry ( of course this is obvious ^-^ ) was not paying attention to Lemmy anymore. He was looking at Ludwig's door. Why? Because it was partially open a crack. Now, usually that might strike someone as odd or suspicious, but this was Larry. Yes, that is right. Larry Koopa, you think he will actually think as to why it was open? If it had any dangers awaiting inside or if he just was not supposed to be there? Or did he even have the decency to actually CLOSE the door because maybe Ludwig accidentally left it open? Nope. And honestly, he did not care. Even if the door was open a dime's width, to him it was an invitation to walk right on in unnoticed. And that was just what he did.
He slowed his walk down until Lemmy was more than a couple of feet away from him. He then slipped in to Ludwig's room without even making a sound. And as for Lemmy… he just kept walking of course.
Inside Ludwig's room, it was dark, ( but then again, when wasn't it? ) and of course, full of numerous tools and gadgets he had in his possession. Larry looked ahead at Ludwig's working desk, which was dimly lit with a few candles. But there under the faint light, an object caught his eye.
It was a machine of some sort, like a gun. It actually looked like a ray-gun from alien movies, as Larry would have put it. It was sitting on Ludwig's desk.
He slowly approached the desk to get a closer look at it. He lifted it up and examined it. It actually felt like it was made of a light metal or a plastic. Either way, it felt cool to him. He liked it, but he did not want to be caught in Ludwig's bedroom. He could only imagine the trouble he would be in then… not that he was not in that kind of trouble before.
But he liked this thing, he was always interested in Ludwig's inventions. They were always so… fascinating. But what he would not like ( like mentioned above ^-^ ) is to get caught in that room at that time. Larry could not be caught, it just was not like him. He was a very sneaky little bastard, and he had some confidence in himself, enough to tell himself that he was going to get the hell out of there before someone walked in on him. He snuck out of Ludwig's bedroom just as easily as he had snuck in. The only problem now was… he forgot that he was still holding Ludwig's invention in his hands.
He froze, staring at it. NOW what was he going to do?! He did not feel like risking to go back inside Ludwig's room, so he ran over to the end of the hallway and dropped it inside a giant flower pot. Okay, now he was glad that he no longer had to worry about that, problem solved. But now, another problem had arisen on him. For some reason, he did not feel right. It was as if he knew that something was going to happen, but what? He felt like he had forgotten something… or SOMEONE…
Where was Lemmy?
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Lemmy had continued walking down the hallway, still blabbing onto himself ( without realising it of course ) for a while already.
" I don't know… maybe we should stop for a bit again, Larry?" he asked. He then stopped shortly after he had not heard a reply.
" Larry?" he asked again, then turned to see his little brother was not there. He jumped, panic-stricken.
" Larry!!" he called, looking around, and started running up and down the hallway. He looked in rooms, continuing to call his name. Where was he?
" Larry!! Where are you?!" he called frantically, and ran down another long corridor. He reached a set of stone stairs ( you know which ones I am talking about lol ) and stopped, panting and looking around desperately.
'That little brat! Can't he do what he is told for even five minutes?!' he thought.
" Larry!!!!" he yelled, " where are you!?!?!"
" Looking for Larry, Lemmy?" came the horrible, cold yet sweet voice from behind him. Lemmy slowly turned around, staring wide-eyed into Melinda's cool grey eyes. He nodded.
" Y-y-yeah… I.. I really need to find Larry.." Lemmy answered, forcing himself to smile up at her.
" Oh, what for? Why are you so panicky about finding him, dear?" she asked.
" B-because… um… one of his plants are dying!!" Lemmy suddenly blurted out. He then laughed nervously. She raised an eyebrow at him.
" Oookayy… well dear, I have not seen him at all today. It is as if he is hiding on me," she laughed. He laughed some more too.
' Yes, that's right, Lemmy. Make this one big joke so she'll leave you alone..' he thought.
" Well, in that case. I hope you find him soon then, Lemmy. Until then, I must be off," she said sweetly, and turned to leave. Lemmy, being quite relieved, turned also. He thought maybe he would go down the stairs to see if Larry took off down there. But as soon as he had turned, Melinda had glanced back to see him heading towards the stairs. She looked quickly from side to side, to make sure no one was nearby, and crept up behind Lemmy. With a little shove, the little koopaling went sprawling down the stairs. She then quickly skipped off.
" Whoa- shit!" Lemmy had suddenly yelled. He had felt a shove get him in the back and he had fallen down the stairs. He hit the landing hard, and let out a yelp of pain.
" Owww.." he groaned. The pairs of Roy and Morton and Iggy and Wendy had come running in from opposite doors.
" Oh no, you did it again?" Wendy said. Lemmy shook his head painfully.
" Okay… so you mean that this is real?" Roy asked. Then he laughed, " Serves you right for fakin' 'before." Morton stared down at Lemmy on the floor, then went to open his mouth.
" MORTON!! If you DARE say anything more about me having… Leukemia again, I swear I'll KILL you!!" Lemmy yelled, wincing as he tried to get up. Morton gave Lemmy a daring look, and then screamed, "LEUKEMIA!! LEMMY'S HAD A HERNIA, SOMEONE COME QUICK, I DON'T THINK HE HAS MUCH LONGER TO LIVE!!" Lemmy, now extremely pissed off, had tried to get up, but only collapsed in pain.
"OWW!!" he cried as he hit the floor again. Ludwig had then come running in.
" What is going on out here? What are you all yelling about?" He demanded. He looked down at Lemmy, " what happened to you?!"
" Uhh… I REALLY fell down the stairs this time?" he asked, chuckling. He guessed that maybe if he laughed, he would not hurt as much. Ludwig scanned around the room.
" How did you fall down the stairs?!" He demanded.
" I… was pushed?" Lemmy guessed, " I felt something like a shove from behind."
" WHERE is Larry?!" Ludwig asked suddenly. The other koopalings all looked at each other and shrugged. Ludwig gave a furious look to Iggy and Wendy.
" You two go find him, NOW," he ordered, and then turned to Roy and Morton, " you two help me take Lemmy to his room." Ludwig had then turned back to Iggy and Wendy.
" Make sure he comes to Lemmy's room. All three of you can actually, we will ALL be there afterwards," he said. He then turned back to Morton and Roy and together, the three of them had carefully lifted Lemmy and carried him off to his bedroom.
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" Larry! Where were you!?" Ludwig asked as soon as Larry was dragged into the bedroom. Needless to say, Larry looked very reluctant to be there at that time.
" Well… uhh… I was in the castle… and I was somewhere… doing… um… I had to go do something…" he answered uncertainly.
" And WHAT was so important to go do or see that involved abandoning your brother, your partner, the one I paired you with?!" Ludwig demanded.
" Well… uhhh… I was… looking at stuff…" he replied drifting off and staring down at the ground.
" AND, because of it, you left Lemmy alone, who… well, LOOK at him!" Ludwig scolded, pointing at Lemmy laying on his bed. Larry looked up at his injured brother laying there, then hung his head slightly.
" Ohh…" he said inaudibly.
" You left him, and because you left him, SHE found him, and SHE pushed him down the stairs!" Ludwig continued.
" Okay!!! I'm sorry.." Larry muttered, eyeing the ground again. Ludwig raised an eyebrow and gave him a sarcastic look.
" 'SORRY?!'… Larry, SORRY is just a word that is tossed around, it means nothing anymore! 'Sorry' does not fix anything that has happened here! If Lemmy was killed, 'sorry' would NOT bring him back, would it?!" Ludwig said. Larry shook his head, not looking up at his furious brother.
" No.." he answered.
" EXACTLY! Larry, I may seem like I am trying to boss you around, but this is for all of us, for our lives, it is not just for me or for bragging rights. This is like a game, a survival game. And the loser dies," Ludwig said, quieting down.
" Ludwig, you are not Dad or anything-" Iggy started.
" I did not say that, did I!?!" Ludwig snapped. Iggy jumped, then said no more. Ludwig then sighed and closed his eyes.
" I am not trying to boss anyone around. I am trying to keep us together. If we all work together and cooperate, and follow ORDERS," Ludwig directed the 'orders' part to Larry then, " we should be just fine. Sure, this idea is not the greatest right now. It only consists of us staying in pairs, but it will work until we have a plan, correct? But we have to stay in our pairs. You see what happened? Maybe we could use this as an example as to what can happen if one does not follow the plans at all. Melinda will most likely not attack one who is with another, rather than that one being by themselves. In a case, she might, but there are two of us there. There is one more against her, and sometimes, that makes a difference! But what happened here is that Larry left his partner, he left Lemmy. That made Lemmy vulnerable to Melinda for the fact that he was worrying about Larry at that time, rather than himself. And because he was alone, she attacked him, Larry was not there to help him. Maybe if Larry was there, it may have been different. She may have tried to push him down the stairs still, she may have backed off entirely, we do not know. But do you all see how important this is yet?!"
Larry still hung his head, and nodded, not saying a word. Not that he had anything to say anyway. He then looked up at Lemmy, who just smiled at him. Lemmy then extended his arm towards Larry.
" Hey, Larry, come here," he said. Larry very cautiously stepped forward. Lemmy had pet Larry on the head, still smiling.
" It's okay, Larry. At least I'm fine, right?" he said. Ludwig turned and gave Lemmy a scowling look.
" Lemmy, what are you doing?! You are just going to let this go?! You were seriously injured. What would have happened if you had broken a bone or more? Especially in your NECK! What then, Lemmy!?" Ludwig growled.
" I know, I know!" Lemmy rolled his eyes, " but I was just trying to encourage him.."
" You were encouraging him to do what?! What you are doing right now is encouraging him to do what he did again. You are to be encouraging him to NOT do that, but to listen to the orders he is given!" Ludwig snapped again.
" Okay, okay, Ludwig.." Lemmy quieted down. He could have thrown a wisecrack in there to lighten up the mood a bit… but then again, Ludwig was already mad enough. Ludwig then sighed.
" Fine then. All of you. If none of you really want to work with me, want to listen, work together to get rid of her before she gets rid of us, then let it be. But I swear, the last thing I will say to you is 'I told you so'.." Ludwig said, shaking his head. He then turned quietly and headed for the door.
" Don't go anywhere," came Roy's voice. Ludwig stopped and looked back at Roy.
" What?" he asked.
" I said… don't go anywhere. You're the one who is keeping us together so far. We don't have the fancy brains that you do, and you're older than us. It's not that we don't agree with you, we're just frustrated because we don't take orders from anybody but ourselves and Dad of course, and then there's you now, you're sorta new, you seem like you're trying to be the big man, like Dad, you know what I'm sayin'? And we're just not used to it. But yeah, we need you as a leader, because you're being just like our big bro should be like, you're watchin' over us and stuff," Roy said to him. Everyone stared at Roy. He did not really say that, did he? Ludwig stood there, and stared at Roy for some time himself before he said anything.
" Well… Roy… that… thanks," Ludwig said, astounded.
" Yeah… well, you know it's true. And if this conversation ever comes up again, I never said anythin' like that, got it?" Roy said threateningly.
" Sure, whatever Roy," Ludwig smiled. He then turned to his other siblings.
" Will you guys really cooperate with each other?" he asked them. They all had hesitated, but then nodded.
" I don't want to listen to you, Ludwig… but I don't want Melinda around," Wendy said glaring at a wall. Morton had suddenly jumped up.
" Yeah! Now we have formed a ssssecret alliance, it is something to be proud of, and why? Because now we have an army, a seven-person army, well temporarily 6 because one is injured, but our little sport will be back in action any day now, we just know it. And together we will overthrow the evil that sleeps within our castle, and no, it is not ourselves or our dear father either, because we are evil in the good way, but this evil is so evil that it may destroy us all and the fate of our family gets nearer and nearer with every day we waste! Sure, it won't be easy, but that's what teamwork is for, work as a team, we will destroy her before she completely annihilates us herself! And why? Because we'd rather live than die, rather sleep only 8 hours a day in our warm comfy beds rather than a whole 24/7 in a cold grave 6-feet under the soil, hence the reason why we call it '6-feet under'! Isn't that amazing?! That is truly-" Morton had started up again.
" Morton!! We are sure that THAT speech was probably more interesting to listen to than many of your previous ones, but this is no time for them!!" Iggy said, covering his ears.
" But part of what Morton said was true though," said Ludwig, " the fate of our family gets nearer and nearer everyday. The more time we waste, the sooner they will get married, and the sooner we can say good-bye to our home, and each other."
" Wow, Morton was actually right about something instead of him just blabbing on and on," Larry said, wide-eyed. Morton stuck his head up in the air triumphantly.
" Hmph. I TOLD you it was good to listen to me, but nooooo.. No one listens to little Morton Jr. do they? But NOW you do!!" he said happily.
" No we don't, Ludwig just mentioned that you made a point," Lemmy said, trying to watch everyone from where he was laying down. Larry looked over at Lemmy, and then hung his head again.
" I will never do that again, Ludwig," he said.
" Well, I can not believe you when you say you will NEVER do that again, but… we do not want it to happen again…" Ludwig replied.
It was then that Ludwig had gotten an idea. His siblings' eyes brightened when they saw the mischievous grin on his face appear.
" Okay, what is it?" Iggy asked, now raising an eyebrow.
" Nothing. I was just wondering if Melinda has any weapons of her own that she will be planning on using against us, or is she using nothing at all, or anything in the castle maybe?" Ludwig replied, still grinning.
" Why should it matter?!" Roy asked, crossing his arms.
" Because… if she has anything that could be used as a weapon against us, anything that she has brought along with her… if we can find them, we will know what to watch out for, what to expect, right?" Ludwig asked.
" Oh, I get it. And she would most likely have them in her bedroom, maybe hiding so that no one knows what she has got," Lemmy said, smirking.
" Exactly. We should try to sneak into her bedroom and look for anything suspicious," Ludwig said, " now first, we need someone to go distract her, send her on a wild goose chase possibly, then get in her room and quickly search the room. If you find anything, don't touch it, but look at it, and tell us all about it afterwards. Memorize it the best you can, and when you get back, just report it immediately to us."
" But who is going to go in and investigate the room?" asked Lemmy.
" Well…" said Ludwig as he eyed Wendy and Larry, " Larry would be good because he likes to sneak into other peoples' things and get into trouble. But… Wendy, since she has the knack of memorizing even the most smallest details, especially in jewellery, such as how many karats are in one gold ring, she would probably be even better. She has such a keen eye for detail that if there was anything in Melinda's room, she would be able to tell us almost any physical detail about it."
" Finally, I'm getting the respect that I deserve!" Wendy said arrogantly, " but how will I distract her then?"
" Well, we could still use Larry too, he could probably stall Melinda. He will send her out on a wild goose chase, and you, Wendy will sneak into her room. Besides, you are a girl too, it should be easier to navigate through her room for you," Ludwig said. The others all agreed. Finally, they had a plan.
" Okay, since Larry can not be here right now, then Iggy, I am going to ask you to stay here with Lemmy," said Ludwig. Iggy nodded, and then the rest of the koopalings opened up the bedroom door and headed out to leave.
They took the hallway down to Melinda's room. Ludwig, Roy, Morton and Wendy ( Wendy for the time being ) stayed back in a separate room, and watched from around the corner, while Larry walked over to Melinda's bedroom. He had caught her just as she was leaving her room.
" Melinda, come quick!! You have to come right now!!" Larry exclaimed. She raised an eyebrow at him.
" Why, Larry. Whatever do you need me for?" she asked. Larry hesitated, and thought about what to say.
" Um… you… you just have to come quick! Right now!!" he said again, and started pulling on her arm.
" Larry!!" she snapped, " darling, PLEASE tell me what you want!!" Larry stared up at her, astonished at her temper with him. She coughed and gave a little giggle.
" I am sorry, dear. What is it that you wanted?" she asked him again, in her normally sweet tone.
" Well… uh… it's… uh… Dad!! Yeah, it's about Dad… he… he needs you right now, because… um… because… he hurt his back!! And he needs you right away!!!! Come quick!!" Larry exclaimed again, and started pulling at Melinda's arm again. Her eyes went wide.
" Bowser is hurt? Oh, the poor dear! Where is he?!" she demanded. He took off running down the hallway.
" Come on!! It's this way!!!" he yelled as he bolted down the hallway. Melinda tried to follow him, but apparently had some difficulties because he was so much faster than her.
" Oh! Wait for me, Larry dear!" she called after him as she ran.
" Beautiful. Now you can go in, Wendy!" Ludwig said as Wendy cautiously looked about. She quickly sprinted into Melinda's bedroom.
Wendy looked around inside Melinda's room. It was all dark pink inside: Bedspread, curtains, everything. She walked over to the vanity and dresser. There were a lot of perfumes that she saw, and many different earrings. There was a brush, no there was not anything there that was even remotely suspicious. The only thing she found on there was the pendant with the gold chain on it. It seemed to be the only necklace that Melinda had. Wendy paid no attention to it ( though with all this stuff in here, she was so tempted to try everything out ) and continued on to the closet. She opened it up and started looking around inside. She opened up boxes, and only found old shoes and older beauty magazines that she obviously did not get rid of. Wendy, furiously had closed up the boxes again and looked around. She took a trip over to the bed, and looked under the pillows, on the night-stand and even under the bed itself.
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Larry had taken off down yet another hallway, with Melinda following him close behind.
" Larry, dear!! Where ARE you going?!" she called to him. Larry reached the end of the hallway, which, to his dismay was a dead end. He stopped to catch his breath, and to let Melinda catch up to him.
" You… you have to come!!" Larry cried. She caught up to him and started panting.
" Oh dear… honestly, Larry, do you need a MAP to find your way around the castle?!" she asked impatiently. Impatient… that was the mood that Larry hoped she was NOT in. He quickly turned around, wide-eyed.
" Yes!! A map!!" he yelled, " this castle is SO big, even living in here and being raised here, I have not memorized it yet!! Quick, let us go get a map!!!!" He took off under her outstretched arms and down another hallway. Melinda bit her lip and growled, then followed Larry again.
" Larry!! Come back here!!" she yelled. He continued running, and she continued following him. After another minute, she slowed down to a walk.
" Larry, I don't think you know what you are doing. Maybe I'll just go back and wait for someone else to show me the way to your father," she said, breathing deeply. She then turned to go back. Larry stopped suddenly, looked back at Melinda and then bolted down the hallway towards her. He then grabbed her arm and started pulling again.
" NO no no!! Melinda, I KNOW where it is!! I remember now, it's just down here, come quick you have to help Dad!!!" he yelled and started running down the hallway again. Melinda hesitated, then rolled her eyes and followed Larry again.
Larry had almost gotten out of this hallway when he ran smack into someone around Melinda's size. He fell to the floor, and when he looked up, he saw the face of his dad staring wide-eyed down at him.
" Larry, what are you doing?!" He asked him. Larry's eyes went wide with terror when he saw his dad standing there. Melinda caught up and confusion filled her face as she looked from Larry to Bowser.
" Bowser?! I thought you hurt your back!" she exclaimed.
" What?!" Bowser asked.
" I've been looking for you, well more like I was being led to you. I guess I'll just go back to my room now. But it was funny though, Larry had told me that you…" she trailed off when she looked around for Larry. But he was not there anymore. Bowser raised his eyebrow and looked around for Larry also, who was nowhere to be seen.
Larry had ran down the hallway quickly and quietly in a panicked way. He was sure he was going to have a heart attack soon, or pass out from how fast his heart was beating as he sped down the hallways, taking shortcuts along the way.
It was not long until Larry had came stumbling down the hallway at such an alarming rate screaming, " SHE'S COMING- SHE'S COMING- SHE'S COMING!!!!!!!!!!" He had ran so fast that his brain had not been able to send the message to his legs to tell him to slow down, for he ran right into the wall on the opposite side of the room.
" And he has run right into a wall, a VERY nice landing for little Larry Koopa, who has received an 8.2 in his fine entrance!" Morton suddenly announced, jumping out from around the corner. Larry shook the sense back into him and jumped up painfully.
" NO!! I'm serious, she's coming back right now!!" Larry yelled, terrified. Larry ran to Melinda's room and pounded on the door.
" WENDY!! Get out of there! Now!! She's coming back- she's coming back!!" Larry screamed through the door.
Inside, Wendy had jumped as soon as she heard the pounding on the door. Then she had heard Larry screaming in at her. She sprang to her feet, flung open the door and took off out of it. Larry slammed the door after her and then he, Wendy and Morton ran off to Ludwig and Roy, and together the five of them ran back to Lemmy's room.
Melinda had come walking down the hallway only seconds after the five koopalings had left. She was sure that she had heard noises, so she inspected the area. She had not found anything nearby, so she guessed that maybe it could have been just the echoing sounds of the little koopa troopas walking around the castle corridors. She honestly could not have cared less. She opened up her door and walked into her bedroom… but something was not right. Something did not feel right. She looked around her room, checking to see if everything was in its place. She thought she was probably dreaming, but she could not help but wonder that maybe someone was inside her room.
It was just as she had shrugged off the idea when she looked down at the floor, and there lying on the floor, a shiny gold bracelet sat there. It did not look like any of the jewellery that she wore, and this bracelet actually would have fit someone much smaller. She picked it up and twiddled it in her fingers, then smirked.
" Wendy…" she said to herself. She knew that Wendy must have been in her room, for this bracelet was not her own, but it was small enough to fit her little wrists. But why would Wendy have been in her room? And what was even more strange was that she had not seen any of the koopalings almost all day, besides when they were in two's… except for Lemmy that was. And then they had left and she had not seen them all day. She then wondered what they were all doing. She thought then that maybe she would go 'check' on Lemmy, just to see if he was okay… or was he still laying there on the floor? She left her room, the bracelet cupped tightly in her hand.
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" Nothing?" Ludwig asked Wendy again for the third time. She shook her head.
" No. Nothing at all, nothing that I had seen," she said, crossing her arms. But she quickly uncrossed them, and kept moving the one arm about. She thought her arm felt very bare now. She had lost her bracelet somewhere. Her brothers told her she probably lost it on the way back up to Lemmy's room, so she would go look for it after, though she wanted it then and there. But Ludwig would not let her leave, even if she threatened to start screaming and throw a temper tantrum.
" Well, that sucks," Lemmy said, gazing up at the ceiling.
" You would have had more time, Wendy, but I ran into Dad," Larry said.
" I don't care," Wendy replied, and stared off at a wall. Ludwig then shook his head and sighed.
" Okay, that sort of went well… and it sort of did NOT go well," he said, " we got in the room, but Wendy did not have much time. What is worse is that she did not find anything in Melinda's room, which will make things harder for us to lose her. Because she already has the advantage, not only is she older, but she has seen all of your bedrooms. She knows what is in them, and what kind of weapons we have, IF we plan on using them, but she does not know that. But either way, she can expect from us, what we can not expect from her."
" What do you mean OUR rooms? She's seen ALL of them, Ludwig," Roy said to him. Ludwig shook his head at Roy.
" Not all of them… she has not seen mine. She does not know of any of the things I do in my bedroom, nor what I have in there. And usually when I leave my room, I will keep it locked now because I do not want her in my room. And that is because she had gotten really upset the one night when she wanted to see it. She got mad and left," Ludwig answered.
" Anyway, we should get out of here now anyway, Dad will probably wonder where we've been," Iggy said.
" I don't know, Iggy," Larry replied, " I really haven't seen much of Dad anymore. He's always with Melinda, and she's always making excuses just so we can't see him-"
" Shh!" Ludwig had shushed them suddenly. They all gave him weird looks. He pointed at the door, and put his finger to his lips as a sign for them to keep quiet.
" What's going on, what needs to be so 'hush hush secret secret?" Morton loudly whispered.
" Shhhh!" Ludwig hissed at him, then said in a low voice, " someone is out there. Say nothing more about Melinda, stay in your pairs, we are going to have to think of another plan." They all nodded, then he walked up and opened the door. Sure enough, outside the door was Melinda, who stared blankly when she saw six of the koopalings standing on the other side of the door.
" What… what are you all doing in here?" she asked, quite nervously.
" Oh, Lemmy has had a little accident today. So we have been in here all day keeping him company, poor guy, we have no idea what happened to him. Apparently he had tripped down the stairs again," Ludwig answered her. The other five koopalings nodded with agreement.
" Yeah, keeping Lemmy company, so he got to hear my speech about goldfish!" Morton exclaimed. Melinda peered into the bedroom where Lemmy was watching them. He waved over at her.
" I've been very clumsy lately, haven't I?" Lemmy called over to her.
" Yeah, we did not want to go fetch Dad this time, because it is obvious that you two are so busy preparing for your wedding, that we just took care of him ourselves," Iggy said proudly. She nodded, a bit confused, but she acted like she knew what they were talking about.
" Oh, well that is very nice of you, darlings," she said smiling.
" Anyway, can not talk now, we must be off," said Ludwig, smiling also. And with that, he headed down the hallway.
" Yes, Morton and I need to finish a starin' contest, ain't that right, Morton?!" Roy said, staring threateningly at Morton. Morton silently nodded, and the two of them left also.
" Actually, I was going to stay with Lemmy for a bit, he said he wanted help with… uh… stuff!" Larry quickly said and skipped off into Lemmy's room once more, closing the door. Iggy then turned to Wendy.
" Come on, Wendy… we got to um… squish those pesky goombas by the stairs! Geez, I bet you ANYTHING that's how Lemmy fell, he tripped over those damn goombas! What kind of cohorts are they, huh?!" he said, pulling her.
" Uh… yeah, exactly, and they're disgusting too!" she said, going to follow Iggy. But before they left, Melinda had grabbed Wendy's arm. She and Iggy jumped when they felt the little jerk that Melinda gave them when she pulled Wendy back. She opened up Wendy's hand and plopped her bracelet in it.
" Dear, I don't know why, but I had found this in my bedroom," she said, looking down at Wendy with suspicious eyes. Iggy and Wendy stared up at her, trying to keep their surprised looks off their faces.
" Are you sure you were in Lemmy's room all day, dear?" she asked Wendy. Wendy nodded, not saying anything. She wanted to say something, but it felt like something had squeezed her throat and kept her from talking.
" Yes…" she squeaked out finally, fingers shaking. She balled her fists to keep Melinda from seeing that she was shaking. Melinda stared at Wendy longer, and her eyes grew even more suspicious, but then she smiled coldly at her.
" Alright, dears. You both go off now… and squish those goombas…" she said slowly, eyes still on Wendy. She then turned and leisurely strolled down the hallway in the opposite direction.
After Melinda had turned the corner, Wendy and Iggy stared at each other. Wendy then looked down in her hand and saw her bracelet. She had left it in Melinda's room. That meant that Melinda might not have even believed anything that they had just told her, about how everyone was in Lemmy's room all day long after he 'fell' down the stairs.
" Ludwig?" Iggy asked her. Wendy shook her head violently.
" Let's not worry about it… we can't have Ludwig worrying about it, we'll just fix it ourselves," she said, breathing deeply. Iggy did not like the sound of the idea, but he agreed.
" And if it does not work, THEN Ludwig?" he asked. She hesitated, then slowly nodded. The two of them each took a deep breath, and then went down and out the front door of the castle for a walk. Maybe the fresh air would help them think of how to fix this little problem.
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Jeshi: O-O!!! *gasp* WOW!! MY CHAPTER IS SOOOO LONG, I'M SOOOO PROUD OF MYSELF!!!! ^_______^
Larry: O_O!! WOW!!!
Jeshi: THIS IS MY BEST STORY I HAVE EVER WRITTEN ON FANFICTION.NET!! No, seriously people! It is my longest, and it is only 4 chapters long….^________________^ EVERY chapter so far is my longest! I'm SOOOOOO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *dances around her bedroom* Oh!! I need to celebrate…TIME TO WATCH "FINDING NEMO" AND "FOX AND THE HOUND" WHILE DRINKING TONS AND TONS OF ROOTBEER!! AND THEN PLAY SOUL CALIBUR 2 AFTERWARDS!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! ^____________________________________^
Larry: O_O….
Jeshi: I SO hope to update soon!!!!!!! *continues dancing* Honestly, NO ONE knows HOW happy I am!!!!! ^_^ Even these stupid happy faces can't tell you!!!! LOL!!! XD
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