Chapter 12 Rescued from Jail

If the interior of Castle Koopa was creepy, it was absolutely nothing compared to its dungeons. As Morton sat chained to the wall, he could not see a darn thing. The darkness was so gloomy and thick it was like someone had filled the dungeon with smog. And it was cold. The chilliness was bone chilling, and Morton felt like he was sitting on a puddle of ice as his bottom rested on the wooden bench.

Morton hated this. The dungeons that were in Bowser's Castle were not this bad, he knew this for a fact. Even the worst cells, the ones reserved for the most psychotic criminals, at least had temperatures that wouldn't cause a koopa's ectothermic blood to freeze. This was just rock bottom. It could not get worse than this, it just couldn't. Morton did not want to imagine a scenario that was worse than this.

As he shivered, Morton thought back to the scarlet pupils that he had seen in Iggy's eyes after the Lame Brainer had been placed on his head. If the coldness of the dungeons hadn't made Morton shiver, recalling that image was enough to do so. As he felt the symptoms of anxiety come to the forefront, he addressed Lemmy by his side.

"Lemmy?"

"Yeah?"

"How are you doing? Are you doing alright?"

There was a moment of silence, allowing Morton to hear the pitter patter of rat feet as they scurried across the dungeon floor.

"Yeah, I am," Lemmy finally said. "You?"

"I'm...alright," Morton responded.

Except that wasn't true. That could never be true in a place like this. Morton allowed a tear to sliver down his frozen cheek, knowing full well that Lemmy wouldn't be able to see it in the darkness. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about the sniffles that were stomping their way out of his nose.

"Morton, are you crying?" Lemmy asked.

Morton sighed. He could not keep this up, he could not lie to Lemmy.

"Lemmy, I'm scared," he admitted. He felt Lemmy place his hand on his arm and pat it in a comforting way.

"It'll be okay, Morton," Lemmy said, although Morton was able to pick up on the subtle nuance of a worried inflection that was present in Lemmy's tone. Morton wondered if he too was thinking about their brainwashed brother.

Suddenly, a whooshing sound could be heard in the room, and a glowing green vortex appeared. Morton could hear the sound of two people screaming as they came whooshing through. Morton squinted into the blaring green light and could barely make out the outlines of Ludwig and Roy just before they crashed onto the floor.

"Oh man," Morton heard Roy's voice say. "That was rough."

"Roy?" Lemmy asked nervously. Morton heard Roy let out a gasp.

"Lemmy? Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me. Morton is here as well!"

Morton could hear the sound of feet shuffling on the dingy floor. He felt two hands being placed on his skin, tacking in his features via touch. The warmth of the person's hands felt really nice against the icy air.

"Oh, thank the developer, it is you!" came Ludwig's voice as he wrapped his arms around Morton. "I was so worried about you!"

"Me too," Roy said. "I was worried that we would never see you again!"

"Well, we're here," Lemmy said with a happy inflection. Morton felt his heart sink.

"Well, most of us," he said.

With that, he and Lemmy got to explaining what had happened to Iggy, as well as where they were.

"Oh no," Roy said. "That sounds bad!"

"You're telling me!" Ludwig exclaimed. "We're stuck in an alternate dimension with no way of getting out or helping Iggy!"

"What do you mean, no way?" Morton asked. "Can't you use your powers?"

Ludwig sighed in frustration.

"Believe me, at this point, there is nothing I would like more," he said. "But this stupid power suppressor…gah! I can't get it off!"

Morton's heart sank even lower into despair. So they really did have no way out.

"Well, there has to be some way!" Lemmy said. Based on his inflection he was attempting to sound hopeful, but the worry was hampering any success with that. "I mean, we can't stay in here forever!"

"You're right, Lems," Ludwig said. "But what can we do?"

Suddenly, Morton heard the jangling of the door handle. He looked over and saw Hip and Hop enter the cell. They left the door open, which thankfully meant that light was allowed to spread across the room.

"Hey guys!" Hip and Hop said in unison.

"Hip! Hop!" Lemmy said. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to get you guys out," Hip said. He took out a key and started to unlock the chains that bound Lemmy and Morton to the wall.

"So, these are yours and Iggy's doubles?" Roy asked.

"Mmhm," Lemmy said with a grin. Finally the chains fell off Morton and Lemmy's wrist. Morton stood up, grateful that he didn't have to sit on the frozen hunk of wood they called a cot anymore.

"Thanks guys," Morton said to the twins.

"No problem," Hop said. "King Dad told us to…"

"...leave you guys in the dungeon," said Hip. "But we couldn't do that to people we really like!"

"Besides," said Hop. "King Dad always taught us that it was good to be disobedient!"

Ludwig laughed.

"Well, doesn't he sound like a nice guy," he said sarcastically. The twins giggled before putting on their serious faces.

"Come on," said Hip. "King Dad is going to wake up soon. We've got to get the Koop out of here!"