It was about 8 o'clock in the morning when the invisibility serum wore off. By then, Iggy and Larry were already out of the city surrounding Bowser Castle.
"You think we're far enough yet?" Larry asked, panting.
"Not even close," Iggy replied. He and his brother had run as quickly as possible, but they still needed to be farther. Now, with the invisibility serum worn off, they had to rely on stealth if they were going to get any farther.
"If we get spotted by King Dad's troops, they're going to take us back to the castle," Iggy explained, "If that happens, I don't have the resources to make another invisibility serum, so we have one shot at this."
"All right," Larry said with a nod. The two Koopalings then continued on. Soon, they arrived at another small town. They kept to the alleyways and stayed mostly on the boundaries of town.
"Once we're through here, we should be close to the Supa Koopa Highway," Iggy stated.
"There are lots of woods nearby there, aren't there?" Larry pointed out. Iggy nodded in reply. Just then, Larry was smacked in the face by a piece of paper.
"Gah!" Larry shrieked, "Get it off!"
"Quit freaking out, you baby," Iggy said, pulling the paper off of Larry's face, "It's just a flier for some department store."
"There was writing on the back of it, Iggy!" Larry said. Iggy quickly flipped the piece of paper over, gasping as he came to a realization.
"Th-this is Lemmy's writing!" Iggy marvelled, "Lemmy wrote this!"
"What's it say?!" Larry asked. Iggy then proceeded to read the letter aloud.
"To whoever is reading this, you have to help me. I am Prince Lemmy Koopa of the Darklands and I have been kidnapped by a group of horrible people. Up until recently, We were in a big truck driving down the Supa Koopa Highway. Now, I'm with two of my captors and we seem to be hopelessly lost in the woods. I may not know where I am now, but I know where I'm headed. If you're reading this right now, please bring this to my dad, King Bowser, so that he can get his troops to find me. We're headed far away from the Mushroom Kingdom and we're on our way to Sarasaland. They want to hold me for ransom. I'm really scared and I want to be found as soon as possible."
Iggy quickly shoved the letter toward Larry. He then clenched his fists and bared his teeth, trying to keep from crying in front of his younger brother.
"It's okay, Iggy," Larry said, "We'll find him."
"He's really scared, Larry," Iggy growled, "Those criminals are scaring him out of his mind. He might be hurt as well."
"If we get this letter to King Dad," Larry said, "then we can get all this resolved."
"We're still going to look for him, Larry," Iggy said, "We're so close. I can sense it. We can't turn back now."
"So what do we do about the letter?!" Larry said. Iggy snatched the letter from his brother's hand and threw it back to the wind.
"What are you doing?!" Larry shouted, "We want someone to find it, don't we?!"
"Someone will find it," Iggy replied, "For now, though, it's my main objective to stay under King Dad's troops' radar until we find Lemmy."
Ludwig von Koopa awoke to the sunlight pouring into his window. He then remembered that his father had put him in charge of the castle until he got back from his search for Lemmy, so he jumped out of bed, being extremely careful not to disturb any of his papers littering the floor as he made his way out of the room. He then headed downstairs to the kitchen to find Wendy, Morton, and Roy eating cereal.
"I was going to make you all breakfast," Ludwig started, "but I guess I'm too late for that."
"Way too late," Roy said, "We got tired of waiting, so we just got some cereal."
"I might as well make something for Iggy, though," Ludwig said.
"Since when did you learn to cook anyway?" Wendy asked.
"How hard can it be?" Ludwig replied, shrugging off the question, "Where is Iggy anyway?"
"He's probably still asleep," Wendy answered, "Larry should be with him. He slept in the twins' room last night. He was going to try to help Iggy feel better about what happened to Lemmy."
"Well, can someone go get them?" Ludwig ordered.
"I'll go," Morton offered, getting up and leaving the room. Ludwig then got to work, opening up the refrigerator to grab a carton of eggs.
"I hope Iggy's not still feeling too bad about what happened," Wendy sighed.
"It's understandable why he feels that way," Ludwig responded while fishing around a cabinet to find a frying pan, "He feels like Lemmy's kidnapping wouldn't have happened if he hadn't sent Lemmy out on his own."
Ludwig reached for the knob for the burner, turning it all the way up.
"He had no idea it would happen, though," Wendy retorted, "It's not his fault at all!"
Ludwig sighed. He then opened the carton of eggs, pulling two of them out. He stared at them for a moment before placing one down on the counter and raising the other one up above the edge of the pan. He forcefully smacked the egg on the edge of the pan, which only ended up splattering egg all over the place, including onto the burner.
"Iggy's always been a bit too obsessed with Lemmy anyway," Roy said, not noticing Ludwig's mistake.
"What do you mean by that?" Wendy huffed, also oblivious to what Ludwig had done. Ludwig hurried to get some wet paper towels, completely forgetting to turn off the burner.
"All I'm saying is that it might do Iggy some good to be away from Lemmy for a while," Roy continued.
"This is hardly the situation to be saying something like that, Roy!" Wendy snapped, "Lemmy's probably scared senseless out there with those criminals!"
Once Ludwig finally turned back to the burner, there was already smoke rising from the scorched egg. He began frantically searching the room for a fire extinguisher. Finally, Wendy and Roy took notice of what was going on. Wendy quickly made for the stove and switched off the burner just as Ludwig found the fire extinguisher and sprayed its contents onto what was left of the egg. Once the deed was done, Ludwig dropped the fire extinguisher to the floor and wiped his brow, breathing a sigh of relief.
Just then, Morton entered the room again, a worried look on his face.
"They're not there," Morton said.
"What do you mean they're not there?!" Ludwig cried.
"I found this lying on the desk," Morton replied, taking out a note, "It says, 'We left to look for Lemmy ourselves. If you're good siblings, you won't tell King Dad on us.'"
"Those idiots!" Ludwig shouted, "They know King Dad told us to stay at the castle!"
"What are we going to do?!" Wendy cried.
"The only thing we can do," Ludwig replied, "We have to tell King Dad."
"Do you think we're getting closer, Iggy?" Larry asked. The two Koopalings had left the town and were now in the woods that ran along the edge of the Supa Koopa Highway.
"Yeah," Iggy replied, "I can feel it."
The two continued on a little longer. Suddenly, Iggy's foot fell on something strange. He looked down to see a pen lying on the ground.
"What in the world is that doing here?" Larry asked. Iggy reached down and picked up the pen, turning it over in his hands. That's when he noticed bite marks toward the center of the pen's plastic barrel. He had a hunch he knew where those marks might have come from.
"We have to be getting close now." he muttered.
"This is *** ridiculous," Dagger spat, "We've been walking around for hours."
Lemmy was feeling more tired than ever. He found himself stumbling more than once as he walked alongside Chaos. His vision was also beginning to cloud. He felt like he just couldn't stay awake any longer. Just then, he tripped.
Iggy and Larry continued on. Iggy knew that they had to be getting closer. Just then, they heard a voice. They immediately ducked behind some bushes
"You little ***. We're just as tired as you are. Get up," the voice said in a commanding tone.
"Who is that?" Larry whispered. Iggy said nothing, but motioned for Larry to follow as the two began to crawl closer to where the voice was coming from.
Lemmy tried to get up. Dagger loomed over him, glaring at him with a menacing look. Just then, Lemmy's arms gave out and he fell back down to the ground.
"I gave you your warning," Dagger growled, "And I'm not going to say it again."
Lemmy tried once more to get up, but he just couldn't. Once again, he fell back down.
"That's it," Dagger said, "I tried to give you a chance, but you just won't listen."
"I gave you your warning and I'm not going to say it again," the voice continued. Iggy and Larry continued on toward it.
"That's it," the voice said, "I tried to give you a chance, but you just won't listen."
It was at that moment that a piercing shriek rang through the forest. Iggy suddenly shot up and broke into a hard run.
"No! Where are you going?! Come back!" Larry cried.
"What was that?" Chaos inquired. Lemmy took the opportunity while Dagger wasn't looking to rub the spot on his arm where Dagger had kicked him. It was a hard kick and it was certainly going to leave a particularly painful bruise. He wondered what exactly Chaos had heard.
"Whatever," Dagger said eventually, "It was probably just some bird." He then turned back to Lemmy, who shrank back immediately. Dagger than grabbed Lemmy by his neck and lifted him into the air.
"Now, you little ***, I don't want you playing this whole 'I'm-too-tired-to-walk' game anymore. Got it?"
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY BROTHER!" a familiar cry ripped through the forest.
"Is it?..." Lemmy wondered, "No...it can't be...can it?"
All of a sudden, something tore through the brush and attacked Dagger. Lemmy fell to the ground. When he sat up, he saw something he never thought he'd see. His own twin brother, Iggy, was right there in front of him fighting off his captors. Chaos pulled out a syringe to try to subdue Iggy, but Lemmy quickly vaulted himself up and lunged straight for Chaos, knocking her to the ground and causing her to drop her weapon. Just then, Lemmy noticed Dagger reach for something.
"Iggy! Look out!"
It was too late. Dagger grabbed his pistol and pressed the barrel to Iggy's forehead.
"Don't move or I'll shoot."
"Don't move or I'll shoot"
Iggy stayed as still as possible. He was breathing heavily.
"Don't hurt him!" Lemmy screamed. Iggy glanced over at his twin brother. Lemmy was covered in various bruises, including one very painful-looking black eye. The usual glow in his eyes was gone and his cheerful demeanor had been replaced with one of gloomy desperation.
"It's too late for that," the man said, shoving Iggy back with the gun. Iggy was trembling and there was sweat running down his forehead.
"Can I at least talk to him first?" Lemmy begged.
"...Fine," the man said, "I'll allow for that. You have two minutes starting now."
"Why?"
Lemmy asked the one question he really wanted to know the answer to, "Why did you come all the way out here?"
"I..." Iggy began, tears welling up in his eyes, "I thought I could save you."
"Even though King Dad told us to stay put..." another voice said. Just then, Larry emerged from his hiding place in the bushes.
"You too, Larry?" Lemmy asked.
"I just came along for the ride..." Larry said.
"You stay put too!" Dagger barked at Larry. Larry jumped, but quickly calmed down.
"Please don't hurt them," Lemmy begged once more, "It's me you want, not them."
"Don't give up like this, Lemmy," Iggy said. He then slowly placed his hands on his shoulders. Immediately, Lemmy knew what was going on.
"I-I'm sorry I never finished those errands, Iggy. I kind of forgot."
"It's okay, Lemmy. It's not your fault." Iggy's right hand slowly slid back until it was inside his shell.
"Because of me, we'll never be able to finish that-" Lemmy paused, then glanced over at Larry.
"Invisibility serum?" Iggy said with a smile, "It's okay. Larry knows."
"Thirty seconds," Dagger growled, placing his finger on the trigger. Lemmy watched as, behind Dagger, small vines began to grow up out of the ground.
"Dagger..." Chaos muttered. She must have noticed as well.
"What?" Dagger snapped. The vines were beginning to grow larger.
"Dagger! Behind you!" Chaos shouted. One of the vines shot out and grabbed Dagger's gun.
"***!" Dagger cried as he leaped out of the way of another vine that tried to attack him. Iggy stood, a crazed grin on his face.
"This will teach you what happens when you mess with a Koopaling!" Iggy said, pulling out his magic wand. Larry whipped out his magic wand as well.
"***! Chaos! Grab the kid!" Dagger yelled. Chaos immediately did as she was told and yanked Lemmy up off the ground, throwing him over her shoulder as the two criminals started on a mad dash through the forest. Lemmy saw Iggy just behind them in hot pursuit.
"Come on, Iggy! You can do it!" Lemmy cried. Iggy held his wand out at the two criminals and it started to glow as it collected power. Just then, there was a shot as Iggy's wand was knocked out of his hand and another as Iggy fell to the ground.
"Iggy! No!"