Chapter III
"What was that?!" Wendy gasped in fear. The other Koopalings shrug, most of them also looking terrified except for two of them...
"Ve are not alone in zis house. Might be ze owners. If zey see us, zen ve can explain," Ludwig comforted his spooked-out younger siblings. He himself starts to doubt his own words, but Ludwig feels that he needs to be strong for his kin; it's his duty as the eldest brother to offer comfort when needed, as well as to lead the way, and he's been neglecting that duty ever since they all got stranded in this mysterious forest.
The only other Koopaling that also isn't spooked out by the occurrence is Roy. His reason similar to Ludwig, he is the buff of this group, much like Ludwig is the intellect. Just like Ludwig's responsibility is to guide his siblings to safety, Roy needs to do everything he can to keep them all in one piece; to keep them together at all times and to protect them. Roy remains silent, but his crossed arms shows that he will let no being, mortal or not, pass him and threaten his siblings.
"But what happens if the owner like... Kills us during our sleep? Oh no! I DON'T WANNA DIE IN THIS FOREST MANSION!" Wendy attempted to scream, but she choked up, causing her uttered words to come out as a hoarse squeak full of concern and fright.
"Relax Wendy! If they kill us during our sleep then we won't feel anything!" Larry joked. Wendy slaps Larry on the cheek in response to his joke, "Oww!"
"Shut UP Larry! This is serious!" Wendy cried, then stomps down the hall towards the stairs. With looks of confusion, her brothers follow her.
Bowser is pacing around in his throne room experiencing several emotions he never remembered feeling. Guilt, shame, regret, panic and fright are among these strange feelings; the poisonous emotions weaving together creating a repulsive, disgusting blanket of hopelessness.
"Why did I send them out to kidnap the Princess? That's my gig, not theirs!" the distressed king muttered to himself for practically the fortieth time since he discovered the disastrous news. He quickens his pace as the throne door opens, revealing Kammy.
"Sir! Your Exercisingness! Your Stressedness! Please calm down! Remember your blood pressure! I think I may have located possible places for your children to be at!"
Bowser pauses his pacing, then he gives Kammy a suggestive look, "Go on hag!"
"Well..." Kammy looks down at her violet robe in disappointment, "We didn't find their specific area, but we do know what region they are in. Please follow me, Your Stalkingness!"
A few hours have passed since the ordeal involving Morton and a possible 'owner of the house' screaming and slamming doors. Right after they reached the ground level, Iggy managed to find blankets for himself, Wendy and Larry, as well as a massive California King-sized comforter for the rest of the Koopalings. Most of the Koopalings seem to be asleep under their blankets, except for Ludwig and Lemmy.
Lemmy has never been able to sleep on the floor; well, he was able to get to sleep, but due to the lack of a pillow, he laid his head down and slept on the rough carpet, resulting in him feeling congested in his head. He also wasn't a fan of being hot in his sleep, but couldn't pull the comforter off him due to him not having the edge of the blanket; Junior's lying down to the left of him while Roy, Morton and Ludwig are to his right.
Ludwig, however, couldn't sleep at all for a different reason: he feels as if his entire bloodstream is composed of only adrenaline; he feels ready to strike at any movement he can sense through the limited light provided, as well as sounds through his limited hearing.
"My dang endocrine system..." Ludwig muttered in a soft voice to himself, still unaware that Lemmy, lying next to him, is awake, "I just vant to sleep..."
"Ludwig?" Lemmy peeped near him, causing the eldest Koopaling to experience his sixth near-heart-attack.
"Lemmy!" Ludwig replied in a hoarse whisper, "Go to bed! Quit sneaking up on me like zat!"
"Fine!" Lemmy fired back in a sassy fit as he shifts his position. Somehow he is able to fall asleep yet again.
Trying to calm his poor adrenaline-overdosed body, Ludwig begins to think of other thoughts; much, much happier thoughts. His nearly-finished symphony, as well as a song he's been composing for the pop-star Amazee Dayzee to sing on her next tour, next to the study of a potion he cooked up at random.
Feeling much more at ease after his mini round of meditation, Ludwig closes his eyes and attempts to drift off to dreamland once again, but he hears another noise. This time, the uttered noise seems to be a strange, eerie, supernatural cry, causing the oldest Koopaling to awake.
Half of Ludwig wanted to jolt up, scream and rush to the mansion's front door, but the other half of him wanted to hide beneath the warm blanket and stay quiet, hoping the source of the commotion won't find him.
Ludwig's consciousness took over his subconscious instincts a few seconds later, thus he ignores both options; he doesn't move at all, fearing that ducking under the covers will cause the blankets to let off rustling noises. Still as a tomb he lays, his widened eyes gazing upon the darkness surrounding him, teeth clattering against each other, with jittery hands as if bolts of electricity are expelling from his fingertips.
The noise grows much louder and spookier, causing Morton and Roy to wake up in a bit of confusion. While Roy gazes with half-closed eyes in front of him, Morton turns around and sees two separate spirits, each of them in front of Wendy and Lemmy! Remembering his talk with the grey boo, the Koopaling did what he thought was the best option.
"GHOSTS! GO AWAY!" Morton shouted, which causes his siblings to stir around in their sleep.
Unaware that his sibling is awake, Ludwig completely loses it from the sudden shout. He lets out a little shriek, immediately ducks under the covers and cowers into his shell, hoping his green shield will provide him the necessary defense.
Meanwhile, the ghosts are in a deer-in-the-headlights trance, also shocked from the recognition they received from one of their soon-to-be victims.
"Go away! I'm not kidding! We all will live! We will not die in this house! Now get out of this house!"
The ghosts let out a long ghastly screech that gradually got to higher pitches as the ghosts shrink, eventually disappearing in thin air. From this screech, all the Koopalings except for Morton, Roy and Ludwig awake. Ludwig, though, gets out of his shell.
"WHAT'S GOING ON?!" yelled Wendy as she turns around on the couch to face her siblings on the floor, "You guys better have a GOOD reason to disturb my beauty sleep!"
"Yeah," Larry agreed, "What's wrong with all of you?! It's still dark outside!"
"And I was able to fall asleep again!" Lemmy cried.
Ludwig, Morton and Roy look at each other in questioning, as if one of them knows more about this encounter than the other.
"Wendy! Lemmy! Be thankful to me! You know I saw this ghost that woke me up and it was in front of YOU TWO! Be thankful and now you owe me you know because that was... SCARY!"
"Morton... Shut up! Let me sleep! And quit using that STUPID ghost excuse to get you out of this!" the female Koopaling commanded.
"Morton's right sis," Roy agreed with his younger brother, "A ghost woke us up. Dey wanted to like kill ya!"
"I can back up the two of zem," Ludwig finally spoke up, "Zey vere in front of you two."
"And I thought you were smart and sane Ludwig..." Iggy laughed at himself in shame, "And I thought you were tough, Roy. I thought you were all about reality, Morton. Well guess what?! I SEE THAT I WAS WRONG!"
"Shut it Punching Bag. We didn't make up any of dat ghost baloney! Dey were dere!"
"Whatever," Iggy rolled his eyes, "Let us sleep now."
"There will be NO MORE TALKING or I will throw the HARDEST, LOUDEST TEMPER TANTRUM! ONE THAT DADDYKINS NEVER SAW!" Wendy threatened.
Fearing for their hearing abilities and their sanity, the Koopalings silence themselves, but not before Roy whispers a joke to both Morton and Ludwig.
"If we're getting treated like dat, den we should let a ghost possess her next time," Roy whispered.
"And have that ghost do the tantrums instead? No thanks!" Morton whispered back.
"Zat ghost is proof that decibels can go higher than 194," Ludwig acknowledged.
"SHUT UP! I CAN STILL HEAR YOU!"
"Oh boy," Ludwig sighed to himself, "Zis is going to be vun long night..."