Chapter 18 Tentacles vs Flames

Ludwig stared at Iggy. The tentacles from the belt were shining even in the darkness of the castle, and they were also wiggling about in a threatening way. Iggy cast his siblings an evil smile, and the tentacles shot forward.

Everyone managed to dodge, thankfully. Ludwig ran over to the other side of the room, and everyone else scattered as well.

"Guys!" he shouted. "We need to think of a…"

Before he could finish the sentence, King Koopa grabbed a hold of Ludwig and held him aloft. Ludwig wriggled and struggled, but he couldn't get free. King Koopa laughed maniacally. Mario stared at him angrily.

"Let him go, Koopa!"

"Make me, Drain Brain," Koopa said with a wicked smile. Mario let out a breath.

"Well, you asked for it," he said. He got out one of his fire flowers and gobbled it up. Once his clothes had changed colors, he aimed at King Koopa, ready to roast him into letting Ludwig go. Unfortunately, Iggy used one of his tentacles to hoist him into the air. Mario gasped for air as the tentacle coiled it's way around his neck. Iggy, his eyes shining a murderous crimson, threw him against the wall. The power up deactivation noise could be heard echoing around the room, and Mario groaned as he leaned against the wall in defeat.

"Hey!" Roy called out to Iggy. "That was not cool!"

Roy ran up and started to bang his fists against one of Iggy's tentacles. Iggy looked at him in a bored fashion as he used another of the tentacles to flick Roy across the room. A painful cracking sound could be heard as Roy's back collided with the wall, making Ludwig wince. As Roy groaned, Ludwig resumed with his struggle to get free of King Koopa's hold. However, it seemed that the harder he squirmed, the stronger King Koopa became.

Across the room, Morton got into his shell. He started to zoom around Iggy, who tried to nab him with his tentacles. However, Morton proved to be too fast for Iggy. What's more, Iggy's tentacles moved toward Morton so fast that when they made contact with the floor, they got stuck. Iggy struggled to get his tentacles free, looking panicked despite the brainwashing helmet. Morton exited his shell and ran over to Iggy. Morton tried to reach for the Lame Brainer, but before he could take it off, Iggy punched him in the face. Or, to be more specific, the snout. Morton put his hands to the problem area, which Ludwig could see was already starting to swell. Using his last remaining tentacle, Iggy flung Morton across the room, sending him soaring into the hallway. A crash could be heard when Morton landed.

King Koopa laughed.

"You guys are as good as gone!" As he said this, he tightened his grip around Ludwig. Ludwig could already see his vision start to go dark. Nevertheless, he still had enough energy left to speak up.

"You won't get away with this," he said in a strained voice to the green Koopa King. King Koopa laughed, his scratchy voice making Ludwig's eardrums feel like they were on fire.

"Oh, you pathetic little turtle," he said smugly, "I already have."

The grip around Ludwig became even tighter, making breathing an unreachable impossibility. Ludwig could feel himself starting to lose his breath. He gasped for the precious oxygen, but it would not come to him. It was almost as if it was afraid of the monster that held Ludwig in an embrace. King Koopa laughed again, chuckled actually.

"I can't believe that you dumb dums thought you could defeat me," he said. "You're even more pathetic than…"

King Koopa stopped mid sentence. At first Ludwig was ignorant to the reason why, but he immediately understood. The room was filled with wind, sucking towards a focal point in the center of the room. A green vortex appeared where the wind was gathering, and out of it dropped….

"Mario?" King Koopa gasped. In his shock, he dropped Ludwig, whose face was practically blue at this point. As his skin returned to its normal color, he rushed over to the Mario from his universe. Lemmy did the same.

"Oh, Mario!" Lemmy cried. "I have never been so happy to see you!"

Mario, despite the fact that he seemed hurt from the landing, smiled at Lemmy.

"Same goes for you." He groaned and rubbed the left side of his butt. "Man, those alternate Koopalings were vicious!"

"Uh, speaking of vicious…" Ludwig said as he pointed toward Iggy. Mario gawked.

"What the World Eight!" he shrieked.

Iggy shot out a tentacle toward Mario, who got out of the way just in the nick of time. Mario turned toward Ludwig in shock.

"Why is he…?"

"It's the helmet," Ludwig explained. "It's brainwashing him!"

Mario adorned a look of comprehension.

"Oh." He chuckled. "Well, that is easily remedied."

Out of his pack, Mario pulled out a fire flower. Once it was activated, he started to blast fireballs in Iggy's direction. Iggy managed to dodge them with a series of expert swerves, but eventually one of the fireballs made contact with Iggy's helmet. When it did, the Lame Brainer flew off of Iggy's head. With the helmet gone, Iggy stared off into space for a second before he collapsed to the floor. Ludwig and Lemmy rushed over to their brother.

"Iggy?" Ludwig asked.

"Iggy, are you alright?" asked Lemmy. Iggy groaned and started to sit up.

"Ugh...what happened?" he asked. Ludwig was relieved to see that his pupils were back to their normal black.

"Iggy, you're okay!" Ludwig exclaimed. Iggy gasped.

"Ludwig, what are you doing here?" For the first time, Iggy noticed the tentacle belt that was wrapped around his waist. "What the World Eight am I wearing!?"

Ludwig was about to explain when he heard King Koopa let out a miserable cry.

"No! He was under my control!"

Iggy adorned a look of anger and comprehension. He looked at Ludwig and, without saying a word, punched in the password to the power suppressor.