Lemmy Koopa trudged down the scorching hot sidewalk on yet another blazing summer day. It had been so hot in the Darklands lately that everyone could have sworn it was turning into a replica of Desert Land. Lemmy had never been a fan of Desert Land. In fact, his favorite place was actually Ice Land, but there was no going there at this time of year. With even Ice Land warming up, the ice was becoming too thin to safely traverse, even for Lemmy being as light as he was.
Lemmy pulled out his magic wand and blew a quick gust of frosty wind into his sweaty face. Lemmy and each of his seven siblings each had a special kind of magic. His oldest brother, Ludwig, had lightning magic, Roy had shadow magic, Wendy had water magic, Morton had earth magic, Larry had fire magic, Jr. had paint magic, and Lemmy's twin brother, Iggy, had plant magic. Around this time of year, Lemmy was glad to have ice magic. Lemmy always liked the cold better.
Lemmy suddenly stopped. Just across the street, he saw a Koopa Troopa family standing out in front of their house. The mother and father were watching their two children playing ball in the yard. Lemmy, ecstatic, immediately ran across the street to ask if he could play too. Even at the age of fifteen, Lemmy was still a child at heart. He even looked like a child, so, to those who didn't know any better, he really was a child.
As Lemmy was running across the street, he saw the two Koopa Troopa children staring at him. All of a sudden, the daddy Koopa Troopa stood up and ran toward Lemmy, but Lemmy didn't stop to question why. Before the Koopa Troopa could reach him, though, Lemmy heard the screeching of tires on the asphalt. He quickly turned to see a humongous semi truck stopped just inches from him. Lemmy began to run out of the way of the truck, wondering how he hadn't heard it coming, but, just then, a masked stranger stepped out in front of him. He turned back, but there was another stranger there too. The Koopa Troopa tried to attack one of them, but he was knocked aside before even getting a blow in. One of the strangers grabbed Lemmy and tied a rough cloth around his mouth before dragging him to the back of the truck and shoving him in. The last thing Lemmy saw was the dirty smirk of one of the strangers before the doors to the back of the truck slammed shut.
Iggy Koopa tapped his fingers on the counter impatiently. He wondered if Lemmy had forgotten that Iggy had asked him to run an errand for him or if he was just getting held up. Lemmy tended to forget things at the worst times, so Iggy rarely ever relied on him to run errands, but today was different. Today, Iggy needed something for a secret project he and Lemmy were working on, so he had stayed behind to monitor the project since he knew that Lemmy would be too easily distracted and sent Lemmy out to get the last few items they needed.
Iggy turned to stare at the incomplete project once more. When it was done, it would allow him and Lemmy to become invisible and play pranks on everyone in the castle, including Bowser, or "King Dad" as the Koopalings called him. They just needed a couple more ingredients, which Lemmy had gone out to get. Iggy let out a sigh. He hoped that Lemmy would come back soon. Everyone in the castle was out, so it would be the perfect opportunity for the twins to finish their invisibility serum without worry of being interrupted or prematurely discovered.
Just then, Iggy heard a bunch of noise coming from downstairs. He let out a groan as he realized that the rest of the family had come home. Hearing Bowser call for him, he begrudgingly left the serum behind and trudged downstairs.
"Why didn't you want to come shopping with us, Iggy?" Wendy asked him after he arrived downstairs.
"I didn't even want to go..." Larry said with a groan.
"Well, were you about to stay home with the mad scientist twins instead?" Ludwig interjected. Larry was about to reply, but decided to keep his mouth shut.
"Where is Lemmy, anyway?" Bowser asked. Iggy stood silent for a moment, trying to think of a good excuse for Lemmy's absence.
"He...He's sleeping! Yeah, he got pretty tired, so he took a nap. He's upstairs sleeping right now."
Bowser replied with a nod before beginning to walk away, but, before anyone had the chance to leave the room, there was a knock on the big wooden front door. Bowser pulled it open and found a lone Koopa Troopa standing there, trembling like a leaf with a face paler than Iggy had ever seen a Koopa get.
"What's wrong, Private?" Bowser asked. The soldier froze for a second before stumbling through a reply.
"L-Lord Bowser, s-sir...I w-was with my family in my front yard when I saw one of your sons. He ran across the street...t-to play with my children, s-sir..."
"Lemmy," Iggy mumbled, eyes wide. The other Koopalings shot Iggy a glare for lying to them.
"B-but, just then..." the Koopa Troopa continued, "There was this truck-"
"What's happened to my son?!" Bowser roared. The Koopa Troopa took a step back, looking like he would faint in horror right then and there.
"H-he's still alive!" the Koopa Troopa stuttered, "B-but he's been k-k-kidnapped..."
Iggy's eyes widened. It couldn't be true, could it? Lemmy couldn't be gone, right?
"Find Kamek for me," Bowser barked, "I want every single one of my troops on watch for my son. I want Lemmy found. Any soldier who deserts this mission faces the worst of my wrath, understand?"
The Koopa Troopa nodded before racing off to find Kamek.
"Should we go too, King Dad?" Ludwig asked.
"No," Bowser said sternly, "In fact, I don't want any of you leaving the castle. I don't want another one of you getting captured too. That's an order, not just from your father, but from your king. Understand?"
The Koopa children all nodded in reply. Tears began to stream down Iggy's face. If he hadn't sent Lemmy out like that, this wouldn't be happening.
"Thank you, children," Bowser said, "I promise you, I will have your brother found and returned to this castle safely. Just leave it to me and my troops." The Koopa King then gave a weak smile before leaving to follow the Koopa Troopa.
Finally, the doors to the back of the truck opened again, blinding poor Lemmy Koopa with the harsh light. After riding in the dark for several hours, the little Koopaling found it hard to get readjusted to the light. He was suddenly grabbed by his hair and pulled up onto his feet. His hands had been bound during the trip, but his feet had been left unbound, so he was still able to stand up. He was then shoved into the corner and told to stay put.
Lemmy thought of the trip. The entire way, he had to listen to his captors talking amongst themselves. Most of their conversation was planning for what Bowser would do if he found out about the kidnapping accompanied with lots of swearing. At the beginning of the trip, Lemmy struggled against his bonds a few times, but each time was met with harsh retribution. Even now, Lemmy could feel his right eye throbbing from where he'd been smacked.
He began to tear up at the thought of what his twin brother, Iggy, must be thinking right now. He suddenly remembered that he was supposed to have been getting supplies for his and his brother's invisibility serum project, but that was the least of the tiny Koopaling's worries at the moment.
"Get up, runt," an order came from across the room. Lemmy struggled to get up, but it was proving to be harder than first presented. He was suddenly pulled up by his hair once more and made to look into the eyes of one of his captors. He was a scrawny-looking young man with a bright green mohawk and chilling blue eyes. Under his left eye there was a distinctive scar and, in his left hand, he held a bloodstained chain. The man yanked off the gag around Lemmy's mouth and glared at him menacingly.
"Lemmy Koopa, is it?" the young man growled, "I was hoping for the littlest, Bowser Jr., but you'll do. I'm Arrow and you'll do exactly what I say when I say it. Understand?"
"I-I'm not scared of you," Lemmy retorted, quickly bracing himself to be slapped once again, but, this time, he was simply tossed back onto the floor.
"Not scared of me, are you?" Arrow said with a grin, "Well, what about the rest of my gang?"
Just then, from the shadows, there emerged another four thugs. One of them was a huge, musclebound man that Arrow introduced as Bruise. Another was a young man with long black hair pulled back into a small ponytail who was twirling a pistol in his hand. This one was introduced as Dagger. Another was a ginger-haired woman in a tight-fitting dress wearing an almost gaudy amount of makeup and playing with a small knife in her perfectly-manicured hands. This woman was introduced as Poison. The last one was an insane-looking woman with wide green eyes and a crazed grin. Her long brown hair was completely shaved off on one side and she was handling a syringe in a way Lemmy wasn't sure he liked. This woman was introduced as Chaos.
"Still not afraid, shrimp?" Arrow mocked the little Koopaling. Lemmy trembled at the sight of his captors. He shut his eyes tightly and tried to keep from crying. He didn't know what these thugs wanted with him, but he knew it couldn't possibly be anything good.
Bowser swept his gaze over the soldiers assembled in front of him. Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Boos, Magikoopas, Shy Guys, Bob-ombs; everything in his arsenal all standing here waiting for his orders...all waiting to help him find his lost son. Truth be told, even with all of these soldiers, Bowser was still worried about Lemmy's safety. Someone had once carelessly said that Bowser only cared about Jr. out of all of his children. That someone very quickly became a victim of Bowser's searing fire breath. It was true that Jr. was his heir, but he still cared deeply about all of his children.
"Lord Bowser," Kamek, Bowser's trusted advisor, called to the Koopa king, "We are ready for your orders."
"Thank you, Kamek," Bowser said before stepping forward to address his troops.
Iggy's conscience was bugging him to no end. On the one hand, he knew that there was no way he could have known that Lemmy would be kidnapped, but, on the other hand, he felt like it was his fault the incident happened in the first place. If he hadn't sent Lemmy out on that stupid errand, he wouldn't have been kidnapped at all.
"Iggy?"
Iggy turned to see Larry standing in the doorway.
"What do you want?" Iggy snapped.
"I just thought that, y'know, you might want someone to stay with you tonight, what with...well..."
"I get it and I don't want you here. Leave."
Larry just stood there for a moment while Iggy glared at him. Larry couldn't possibly understand what Iggy was going through right now.
"I know you're worried about Lemmy," Larry finally said, "but just sitting there and moping about it isn't going to help anything. King Dad's going to find him. He promised."
Larry stared at Iggy a moment longer. Iggy's expression had relaxed, but his gaze was still fixed directly on his younger brother. It looked to be making Larry somewhat nervous.
"If you want..." Larry said after a moment, "I could-"
"Come with me to find Lemmy," Iggy demanded. Larry reeled back.
"B-but King Dad told us to stay in the castle! What happens if we get kidnapped too?!"
"Keep your voice down, mushbrain. We're not gonna get kidnapped."
"But how are we going to get out of the castle? King Dad's got his best Koopatrols guarding all the entrances and exits."
"With this," Iggy replied, grabbing the incomplete invisibility serum, "It's not quite complete yet, though. I had sent Lemmy out to get the last two ingredients. We need some acetic acid and something to hold it all together..."
"What's acetic acid?"
"Well, it's-" Just then, Iggy smacked himself in the forehead.
"What?" Larry asked.
"Acetic acid is vinegar...I'd completely forgotten. I work with so many acids, I tend to forget which is which."
Larry was quiet for a moment.
"That's both relieving and terrifying at the same time..."
"It's not like it'll burn a hole through your stomach or something. It's not one of those kinds of acids...in moderation..." Iggy finished with a maniacal grin. Larry shuddered. It made Iggy feel a little better to be mischievous and scare Larry a bit.
"So what's that last thing?" Larry said.
"I'm not sure," Iggy mumbled, "I was just going to have Lemmy get a bunch of stuff for us to test, but we can't do that now..."
"...What about glue?" Larry spoke up, "I mean, glue holds stuff together, right?"
"That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard," Iggy said, "Now go get the glue so we can test it out."
Larry stood bewildered for a moment before leaving the room to fulfill Iggy's request. Iggy swirled the test tube with the incomplete serum in his hand, letting the liquid slosh from side to side.
"This had better work..."