Chapter 4 Interdimensional Doubles
"What can we do?" asked Iggy while he trembled with worry.
Morton looked at the floor that seemed to have swallowed their older brother. He had to admit that he was starting to feel scared himself.
"I don't know," he said. He stepped onto the area that Lemmy had fallen into, only to see that it would not open up again. "Obviously, we can't go after him."
Iggy broke down into tears. He fell to his knees, allowing the sobs to stampede out of his mouth. In that moment, Iggy did not look like he was fifteen; he looked like he was four. As Iggy bawled his eyes out, Morton came over to his brother and started to gently pat him on the back.
"Hey hey, it's going to be alright," he said. Iggy snorted back a sniffle.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive," Morton said with a gentle grin. He helped Iggy to his feet, all the while feeling his own unease grow. He allowed his eyes to roam about the hall, and that was when he spotted a staircase leading downwards. He pointed it out to Iggy, who looked relieved.
"Maybe Lemonade is located somewhere along that path!"
So, the two Kooplaings made their way down the stairs. Once they were in the first floor hallway though, they heard sinister giggles echo throughout the corridor. Iggy looked to Morton in confusion.
"What do you hypothesize that to be?" he asked. Morton shrugged as a raspy, snakelike voice fell upon Iggy's ears.
"Looky looky, who is it that I see here?"
Suddenly, out of the shadows slinked another koopa. Iggy gasped when he saw him.
"Larry?"
The resemblance to the youngest Koopaling was astounding. This koopa had the same build and the same hair color. However, there were a few notable differences. For one, his eyelids were drooping, as if he were in a state of constant exhaustion. His mohawk was also wilder and fuller than Larry's hair. The koopa sneered at Morton and Iggy.
"You two must be really dense in the head if you would call someone like me 'Larry,'" he said. Suddenly, Morton and Iggy heard loud, heavy footsteps pound against the floor. The turned, scared that they actually belonged to a thwomp. Fortunately, the only person that they saw was another koopa. This one bore a strong resemblance to Roy.
"What's going on here, Cheatsy?" the koopa asked with a very heavy brooklyn accent. Cheatsy smirked.
"I found these two dunderheads in the castle," he said. "Bully, these don't happen to be anybody you know, would they?"
Bully examined Iggy and Morton as if they were statues in a museum. Then he shook his head.
"Nope. I have never seen them before in my life. Maybe they are tests subjects of Kooky?"
"Or they could be those slaves that Kootie Pie was begging King Dad for," Cheatsy suggested. Iggy cleared his throat, trying to make his voice louder so he could annunciate.
"Gentleman," he said with a tone that sounded WAY too formal. "I believe you and I have not been formally introduced. I am Ignatius Magnolia Koopa of the Koopa Kingdom, and this is my brother, Morton Bailey Koopa of the Koopa Kingdom."
Bully stared at Iggy and smirked.
"Ignatius Magnolia?" he asked. "What kind of name is that?"
"A stupid one, obviously," Cheatsy said with a laugh. "I bet that it goes along with Ignatius' intelligence!"
Now Iggy couldn't keep hold of the formality anymore. He gawked at Cheatsy and Bully.
"Excuse me!" he said. "But I just so happen to be one of the most intelligent koopas in history. I discovered an element at four years old."
"Oh yeah?" Bully said. "And what element was that? The element of stupidium?"
Cheatsy giggled.
"The element of dum-dum gen!" he asked.
"The element of pineapple-hairium?" Bully asked.
Cheatsy and Bully laughed like hyenas. They laughed so strongly that it seemed like the floor underneath their feet was vibrating with the rhythm. Iggy and Morton exchanged an annoyed look with one another.
"This does not appear to be going very well," Morton said. Iggy shook his head and sighed.
"And here I thought communicating with interdimensional beings would be easy," he muttered to himself. Cheatsy and Bully finally came to the end of their laughing session, each looking like they were out of breath from the chortling.
"Okay," Bully said as he looked at Iggy. "What did you say your name was?'
"My name…"
"Yeah yeah yeah, I don't care," Bully said. "I want you to listen to me and listen to me carefully." Bully grabbed Iggy by the mohawk and hoisted him into the air. Iggy whimpered as Bully looked at him menacingly. "You have a lot of nerve showing your ugly mug in our castle. So here's the deal; you and your friend get your pretty little heinies out of Castle Koopa and go back to the rock you crawled under. Otherwise, I am going to do something that is really going to hurt."
With that, Bully let Iggy go. Iggy dusted the dirt off of his legs as he stood up, and Bully sneered at him.
"You picking up what I'm laying down?" he asked. Iggy shook his head radically.
"I am afraid that is not possible...uh, Bully," he said.
Bully exchanged a dark look at Cheatsy.
"Wow," Cheatsy said. "We be nice for once in our reptilian lives and they still want to be stubborn?"
Bully looked at Morton and Iggy with so much hatred that it actually caused Iggy and Morton to shake.
"Well then let's teach these guys a lesson."
Cheatsy and Bully started to approach Iggy and Morton menacingly. Just before they could start grinding the two Koopalings into dust, the door to their right opened. Lemmy emerged, and when he saw his two brothers, he gasped happily.
"Morton! Iggy!" Lemmy ran up and gave the two of them a hug. Iggy felt relief wash over and cleanse his soul.
"Oh, Lemmy!" he exclaimed happily. "We were so worried about you."
"It's alright, I'm okay," Lemmy said. He let go of Iggy and noticed the presence of Bully and Cheatsy for the first time.
"Oh, hello there!" he said with a happy grin. "You must be Hip and Hop's older brothers. They've told me so much about you. Did you know that Hip found some chocolate underneath Kootie Pie's bed?"
Bully looked at Lemmy in confusion just as Hip and Hop came through the door. They smiled when they saw their brothers.
"Hey Bully! Hey Cheatsy!" Hop said. "Did you meet our friend Lemmy? He's from another dimension!"
"Uhh…" Bully said in confusion.
"Another dimension?" asked Cheatsy. "How in the world is that possible?"
With that, Hip and Hop explained what Lemmy told them. When they were finished, Bully and Cheatsy's expression had shifted from menacing to genuinely impressed.
"So the egghead's invention works," said Bully.
"Yeah!" said Hip. "And we were just about…"
"...to take Lemmy on over to King Dad!"
"King Dad?" Morton asked. His question fell upon deaf ears though, as Cheatsy started to giggle.
"Good idea," he said sinisterly. "I'm sure that King Dad would absolutely love to meet him!"
"He's right," said Bully. A grin appeared on his face. "In fact, I'm sure King Dad would love to meet all of them." He took hold of Iggy's hand. "Let's go see if he is available, shall we?"