Chapter 26 Can We Return?

Ludwig drummed his fingers against the table. As he did this, Roy giggled and chortled, the effects of alcohol still present and active. Ludwig sent his brother a raised eyebrow. "You do know you're gonna get a nasty hangover once you begin to sober up, right?"

Roy dismissed this statement with a wave of the hand. "Hangovers aren't that big a deal." He took another gulp of champagne. "I bel…be…" he swallowed a lump. "I belIEVE that they are a right…right of…of…" He nearly collapsed right onto the table.

"A right of passage?" Ludwig asked.

Roy burped. "No no no, something different than that." He was quiet, allowing the intoxication to swallow up his thoughts. Then, his face lit up. "I know! It's a right of passage!" He chuckled. "I knew I would get that word eventually."

Ludwig sighed. "Yep, you are a genius." He lowered his head onto the table. The spleen snatcher hadn't returned yet. He pressed his lips together as he considered what might be happening. He hoped that th spleen snatcher wasn't too ruthless. He prayed that he could get Iggy to return to his brothers. He longed for the comforts of home, of his normal body and his normal life.

"Why are you..sooo…blue?" Roy asked.

Ludwig picked himself back up. "I'm just hoping that Iggy will return to us."

Roy blinked. "Why wouldn't he? We're…we're…" He let out a belch that made the room shake. "We're delightful!"

"Right," Ludwig said with a sniff. "Delightful." He cringed. "But what if the plan doesn't work?"

Roy was silent for a minute and a half before giving Ludwig a confused look. "What plan?"

Ludwig shook his head and groaned. "Why do I choose to engage in conversation with the drunk?" He lowered his head back down on the table just as Roy took another swig of his drink.

Would Iggy return? Or would Ludwig and Roy be stuck in this show forever? Would they be forced to run through a thousand plans, all in the vain hope of getting Iggy back? Just the thought of these answerless questions made Ludwig's stomach twist into knots. He felt like he was going to throw up and he hadn't even touched the alcohol.

Just as he was tempted to go to the bathroom to get rid of the vomit rising up in his throat, the door to the hideout opened. Ludwig lifted his head, half expecting it to be the spleen snatcher and half hoping that it was his brother. His hopes turned out to be well placed this time around.

"Iggy!" Ludwig said as he rose from his chair.

Roy did a double take. "Iggy?" He looked over at the door. "Is that supposed to be the Iggster?"

Ludwig ran over to the mad scientist. He almost hugged him, but pulled back in order to give Iggy a smile instead. "I'm so glad to see you."

Iggy nodded. "The feeling is mutual."

Roy rose from his chair and stumbled over to them. "What are you doing here, Iggy?" His breath reeked. "Isn't your schedule booked with playing tonsil hockey with…with…what's her face?"

Iggy chuckled. "Oh, Bunny and I have done a lot more than just kiss." He looked at his two brothers with a serious face. "But that doesn't matter."

"It doesn't?" Ludwig asked.

Iggy shook his head. "No, it doesn't." He took in a breath. "Because I'm going home with you two."

Ludwig wanted to jump into the air. "You are? That's awesome!"

Roy chuckled. "Did the spleen snatcher replace your head thingy with one that made you want to…to…come home?"

Iggy gave his brother a look. "No. And man are you drunk." He looked straight at Ludwig. "The spleen snatcher just opened my eyes to the meaning of familial relationships, and how much I value the bonds I have forged with you and our siblings."

Ludwig smiled, his face growing warm. "That's good to hear."He gave Iggy a noogie. "I knew that brain of yours was good for more than just complex equations."

"And annoying us!" Roy practically shouted.

Iggy grinned. "Even a savante like me needs to reevaluate his decisions every once in a while." He snickered. "It just took an encounter with a spleen collecting alien in order to realize that."

Ludwig smirked. Good for the spleen snatcher. He turned out to be a great resources for every one involved.

"That's great to hear." He patted Iggy on the back and chuckled. "It looks like all my prayers to Grambi have been answered." He looked Iggy in the eye. "Now, how do we get home?"

Iggy was silent for a bit before he blinked. "Get home?" He chuckled. "You really expect me to have the answer to that question?"

Ludwig's heart skipped a beat. Even Roy, whose liver and brain were drowning in champagne, gave their brother a look that was half incredulous, half shocked.

"You…you don't know how to get home?" Roy asked.

"No, of course not. I figured that you guys had that all worked out." He blinked before his eyes grew wide. "Wait, you do not?"

Ludwig's spirits sank. "We…we don't."

Iggy's eyes grew even wider. "You…you…" He put his hand to his chest as he commenced with hyperventilating "Oh no, this is bad. This is very very bad!"

"I'll say!" Ludwig exclaimed. "How can you not know how to get home? You got us home last time we used the internet explorer!"

"Truthful," Iggy said, his hyperventilation growing stronger and more concerning. "But that was before I reprogrammed the device! I knew all about the ins and outs of how the Internet explorer functioned!"

"You mean you don't know?" Ludwig asked, his voice going up an octave.

"I do not! I only managed to get into the television by accident this time around!"

Ludwig's heart beat sped up. "Oh, no no no no no." He placed his hand on the table. It felt like the entire room was spinning. "This can't be happening, this can't be happening!"

"We are going to be stranded here forever!" Iggy exclaimed. "Before, that option delighted me, but now I feel like it is the figurative end of the world!" He sat down, clenching his knees and rocking back and forth.

Roy put his champagne bottle to the side. "Okay look, maybe it's because I'm as drunk as a skunk, but I don't think we need to panic." He placed his hand on Ludwig's shoulder. "Luddy, you still have that necklace that takes us dimension hopping. Why don't we try using that?"

Ludwig grasped the necklace. "I don't know if it is powerful enough for that." He sighed. "But then again, we don't have many options." He gestured to Roy and Iggy. "Okay guys, huddle in." Iggy and Roy grasped hold of his arms. He let out a breath before whispering "take me away."

…

Iggy shook his head. The Koopalings had already tried the necklace at least forty times. And each time proved to be just as unsuccessful as the last. Now, they were in a movie based on medieval times, and Iggy grasped his armored self in panic.

"This is hopeless!" His breathing sped up again, and Ludwig could practically hear his elevated and panic-stricken heartbeat. "We are never going to get out!"

Even Roy, who had the effects of the alcohol wear off when the three of them did the first jump, looked sick to his stomach and scared beyond belief. "Iggy's right." He grit his teeth and sniffled. "Man, I hate when Iggy's right."

Ludwig still grasped the necklace. He shook, tears of a horrified variety welled up in the corners of his eyes. "I give up! I tried everything!" He put his hand on Iggy's shoulder. "I'm afraid you might be right, Iggy."

Iggy himself sniffled and hung his head in his lap. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault." He looked up into Ludwig's eyes. "I should never have toyed with the Internet Explorer! I should have stuck to the rules of the grounding that you had set up."

Ludwig blinked before his face fell. "Hey yeah, that's right! You did disobey my direct orders!" He sent Iggy a glare. "When we find a way out of here, your grounding is officially extended."

Iggy stood up, sending Ludwig a look of his own. "First off, I already regret my actions and apologized; you don't have to extend anything." He trembled. "Second of all…that's only if we get back! We still haven't the foggiest inkling of how we are to pull of such an improbable feat!"

Ludwig's heart rate picked right back up, beating so fast that it almost hurt. He was right. There was no way out. They could always try the necklace again, but the forty failed attempts had extinguished all hope that Ludwig had of it working. He let out a breath, one that was chock full of worry.

"I can't believe this." He turned his head up to the sky. "Thanks a lot, Grambi! Good on you to deliver on one of my prayers but not anything else!" He put his hand to his temple. "Oh, we are doomed. We are so doomed." Right as he said that, he was hit by a wave of dizziness and drowsiness. "Woah!" He put his hand to his forehead. "Anyone else feel weird all of a sudden?"

Iggy stood up. "As a matter of fact, yes." He groaned and wobbled. "Oh, I feel as though I have experienced a carnival ride at maximum speed!"

"Yeah," Roy said. "I feel like I'm drunk all over again." He almost fell to the ground. "What in the world is happe…happe…happening…"

With that, he collapsed. Ludwig would have rushed if it wasn't for the nausea and eye floaters.

"Roy…are you…ok…"

…

"Are they okay?"

"They look like they've been out cold for days!"

"Oh, please wake up, guys! Please!"

Ludwig internally groaned. Those voices…all talking over him. They were so echoey that, while he could make out what they were saying, he couldn't pinpoint the quality of the voices. He moved his head from side to side, trying to lift his heavy and unrelenting eyelids.

One of the voices gasped. "I think he's waking up!"

Ludwig's heart skipped a beat. That…that was Lemmy! Undoubtedly Lemmy! He tried again to open his eyes. When he did, he was hit square in the face with a blinding white light. That is, until one of his siblings (more than likely Lemmy) blocked his vision, so now all he saw was just Lemmy's shadowy dark outline.

"Come on Ludwig! Wake up! You can do it, Buddy!"

Ludwig could now groan audibly. He lifted himself up. Both his head and his heart pounded; he could feel the latter on the roof of his mouth. He spun around, tempted to lay back down on the floor. Once his vision adjusted, he saw Iggy and Roy waking up. They were both in their own bodies, and one look at Ludwig's hand told him that he was as well.

"Guys…" he stood up, the practice so difficult that Bowser had to go to his side and help. Wendy and Morton helped Roy and Iggy respectively. "You…are you…are you real?"

Bowser raised an eyebrow. "What kind of a question is that?"

Ludwig put his hand to his head again. He looked over at Iggy, examining the room.

"We're…we're back in my lab."

"Yeah," said Roy. "What kind of hocusy pocusy boohockey is this?"

Wendy sent Roy a look of concern. "We found you guys unconscious on the floor. We almost called an ambulance for all of you."

Ludwig stuck his arm out to help with his balance. Once he did, and all the unpleasant physical feelings went away, that was when he was able to fully appreciate what was happening. They were back home! He didn't know how or why, but they were actually back.

"How…how…" he cleared his throat. "How did you guys managed to bring us back?"

"Well," Lemmy said, holding up the Internet Explorer as he did. "When we found you, we found this little baby sitting on the floor right beside Roy. It's lights were going off, so I assumed that it was on. So, I flipped the switch, turned and off, and you guys started to wake up."

It took a minute for Ludwig to process that. When he did, he exchanged a look with Roy. His disbelief and incredulity rose.

"So you're…telling us," Ludwig started.

"That all we had to do to get Iggy bac right from the start," Roy continued.

"Was simply shut off the machine?" Iggy asked.

All of the other people present nodded. Iggy, Roy, and Ludwig exchanged a look before groaning and placing their heads in their hands.

AN: Don't go away! There's one chapter after this, so stayed tuned :)