Chapter 29 Burning to Ash

Lemmy emerged from the warp pipe, breathing a sigh of relief as he did. His relief was short lived, however, when he smelled the smoke. Something about this particular batch of smoke seemed more toxic and more dangerous than regular smoke, even to a Koopa who grew up in the land of cinders and ashes. Lemmy looked up into the sky, his stomach churning when he saw that it was as dark as night. No sunlight filtered in through the wafts of smoke, making it seem like he was in the middle of a doomed witching hour. He coughed (again, something that Koopas didn't usually do when it came to smoke). He felt Ludwig's concern for him, which did help the littlest Koopaling. It informed him that someone was there for him. In turn, he was going to be there for Ludwig.

When he got his coughing under control, Lemmy took in a breath and looked at Stonebrim. Blue showed through the darkness, similar to a sapphire. It was shiny and pretty enough to possibly tempt onlookers to let their guards down. However, Lemmy didn't feel that temptation. He knew that blue meant pain, destruction, and death. On some level, it actually made him a little nervous about entering the burning town. Doopliss wasn't someone who showed mercy after all. He wasn't someone who would make getting Ludwig's body back an easy task.

"Well." Lemmy bit his lip. Despite his fear, he needed to press forward. "You ready for this, Ludwig?"

Lemmy sensed a horrible emotion in his brother's heart, one that could only be described as sadomasochistic pleasure. The oldest Koopaling laughed, ironically causing Lemmy's blood to run cold in this searing environment.

You're so pathetic, Ludwig said in a voice that sounded more like a demon's than his own. You have no chance at actually succeeding in this scenario. You are surely going to burn to ashes against my brethren.

Lemmy squirmed. He felt an urge in his arm, an urge to hit himself in the face. He stopped it though by holding onto it with his other arm. He scowled, or at least tried to. In reality, he felt extremely scared for the sake of his brother.

Eventually, the sadistic pleasure Ludwig felt went away. Horror replaced it, a shocked horror that could shake a person's very core. My brethren…what the hell?

Lemmy's heart sank. "Try not to worry about it too much." He looked back at Stonebrim. "We're getting your body back. And we're gonna do it now." He was very proud of himself; he actually sounded brave despite his form trembling.

Okay. We can do this. Uncertainty crept into Ludwig's heart. We can do this…

Lemmy nodded. Now was the time where they both needed to stay strong. And darn it, he was definitely going to play his part. With one more inhale, Lemmy stepped into the town.

Screams of different pitches and frequencies carried throughout Stonebrim. Iggy's teeth actually chattered when he heard them. Those were the sounds of dying people. Those were the sounds of a person being burned alive by blue flames, the hottest flame in the world. He tried not to feel too sick hearing them, even though the scent of burning flesh carried throughout Stonebrim as well.

He looked at his siblings. None of them looked happy or even safe for that matter. Wendy shook as she dusted the ashes coming down from the sky off of her shoulders. Roy squeezed Morton's hand extra tight, a necessary action considering the second youngest was also shaking. Larry, despite trying to put on a brave face, didn't find much success with that due to his coughing fit. He hacked away, the coughs the kind that make the entire body heave with effort. Iggy wanted to stop, and he had a feeling that the others did too. However, the scent and screams were enough motivation to continue walking.

It was only once they reached the town square when Iggy realized he didn't have much of a game plan. What exactly could they do against a special? What hope did they have of defeating someone powerful enough to cause an entire town to be caught up in a hellish blue blaze? Not a rational hope, that was for sure. The odds were stacked up against them so high that they formed their own mountain. Really, why were they even here? Why did they move forward and prepare to fight Doopliss despite every piece of evidence pointed them to the fact that, at best, they were going to lose? At worst? They were going to die.

Iggy actually stopped when he had this thought. He looked at his siblings, all dealing with fear in their own way. At that moment, he screamed in his head. He didn't want to lose them. They didn't deserve to die in this blazing town! They were people who had their whole lives ahead of them! Despite Kamek's request from earlier, they couldn't fight against Doopliss! That was a very blatant form of suicide!

Except…they kind of needed to do it. No one else was going to do it. With this extremely discomforting thought in his head, Iggy trembled himself. He looked upward, saying a quick prayer to Grambi as he did.

Please be with us and watch over us. He directed this prayer to the Star Spirts and King Borealis too. We need you. The whole kingdom needs you.

At that moment, a laugh pierced through the borderline unbreathable air. Iggy's heart rate spiked as he looked up. There was Doopliss, floating down toward a building. He giggled and extended his hand, shooting a bolt of electricity at the structure. This caused the building to go up in orange flames, with people bolting out of it and running out into the blazing inferno like chickens with their heads cut off. All the while, Doopliss's laughter still came hard, fast, and frequently; so very very frequently.

Iggy swallowed a lump. He turned toward his siblings, hoping that they had a plan (Lord knows HE didn't have one).

"Okay," he said, doing his best to sound strong. "Anyone have any ideas?"

The others cringed. They looked up at Doopliss, who thankfully hadn't noticed them yet (that was probably the only reason why they were still alive). Larry was the only one who didn't look lost or uncomfortable. Instead, his eyes actually glimmered.

"Throw me up toward him," he said. "I've always wanted to beat up Ludwig…uh, DOOPLISS! Yeah, that's what I meant; I wanted to beat up Doopliss…"

Iggy shot him a look. "That's foolish, on every conceivable level. He would obliterate you in an instant."

Larry threw up his hands. "He'd obliterate us in an instant no matter what we do! At least my plan would be a little bit fun…"

"Uh, guys?" Morton said. He raised a finger to point up into the air. Iggy looked where he pointed, and his heart froze in place the second he did. Doopliss looked at all of them now, with the strangest and most evil form of glee present in his eyes.

"Well well well." He smirked. "It looks like some foolish Koopas are about to meet their foolish hand." He raised his flaming hand. "How deliciously tragic."

With that, he shot a fireball at them. Iggy squeaked as they all jumped out of the way, with barely enough strength left to command his siblings.

"RUN!"

And they did. They scattered throughout the town. Iggy turned on his heel and ran himself, ducking through alleyways and trying to be as discreet as possible in his escape. While running, he checked in his hammerspace for anything useful. A sword, or a fire extinguisher, or a fire blanket…really, anything would do in this particular instance.

Unfortunately, he found nothing. At least, in his hammerspace. He did find something else though, lying on the ground. Iggy gawked at the sight, at the koopa troopa lying there and groaning. Their skin had melted of, leaving muscles exposed. Their hands were no blackened nubs, for the fingers had been burnt off. Their eyes were the only part of their body that still looked relatively normal, and even then, they were filled with such an inordinate amount of fright and pain.

Iggy put his hand to his mouth. He swallowed his vomit, not wanting to get it all over this poor, poor troopa. He backed away, debating in his head whether he should run or if he should stay and help (even though this poor soul looked way beyond help). Right as he was deciding was when a strange feeling overcame him. He immediately noticed himself glowing with a blue aura, gasping as he was lifted in the air. His blood ran cold as Doopliss dragged him closer. Iggy closed his eyes, not wanting to look at the red glow in Doopliss's.

I'm gonna die, he realized. This is it; there's no hope for me. Doopliss has me and is going to burn me to ash. He struggled, knowing that resisting the telekinesis usually caused Ludwig some semblance of pain. While Doopliss winced a little bit at this, he still held on tight. Iggy's efforts proved to be fruitless, as Doopliss now held him just mere inches away from his face.

"Hmph. Your efforts to keep me locked up were noble, I'll admit. It's such a pity that they completely backfired in your face." Doopliss chortled. "On some level, I suppose I should thank you for allowing me to accumulate enough power to cause this much damage." He smirked. "But the thing is, I'm not the grateful type." He raised his other hand, flaming with crackly blue flames. Iggy felt their heat, and it almost made him scream. "I think it'd be a much better idea to kill you right here, right now."

Iggy whimpered. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the burning sensation (a sensation that he learned through research was the most painful experience a koopa could go through). He was just about ready to accept his fate when…

"YAAH!"

In the timespan of a second, Iggy fell to the ground. He thankfully wasn't so high up that he hurt himself landing, but that still didn't alleviate his shock. He opened his eyes to see Larry, standing on to of Doopliss as he laid on the ground. Iggy gawked as Larry punched Doopliss in the face. So many fists made contact, so many bruises accumulated on his face.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Larry shouted. "THAT'S MY BROTHER, YOU ROTTEN GHOST!" He continued on with his punches, impressing and shocking Iggy to his core. It was only when Ludwig's body went up in flames that Larry stopped, shrieking and jumping off of Doopliss. The Koopalings exchanged a look before turning and fleeing.

"Larry!" Iggy exclaimed between breaths. "How did you…?"

"I ran in the same direction as you. When I saw Doopliss ready to kill you, I climbed up the drain pipe of the nearby house." Larry stopped to catch his breath, and Iggy did the same. "It…it was fun!" He grinned. "Granted, I knew giving Ludwig multiple bruises was going to be a treat, but still. I was pleasantly surprised."

Iggy glared at him for a brief spell. When he finished, he let out a breath. "Well…" he smiled. "I'm glad you managed to save my life."

Larry seized up. "Well…yeah." He scratched the back of his head. "Don't think too much of it Pineapple; you're still annoying as fuck."

Iggy just rolled his eyes at that statement, mostly because he could actually see in Larry's expression that the youngest was genuinely relieved that he was alive. Together, they rose back to their feet and continued running. They ran and ran until they got to the west side of the town. When they stopped to catch their breath, Iggy was surprised to see the rest of the Koopalings coming up to them too. He supposed this was a case of great minds thinking alike (even though the others didn't exactly have great minds, but that was neither here nor there).

"Well," Roy said in between breaths. "I don't know about you…but it's really hard to catch your breath when the only thing you have to breathe in is smoke."

Morton snorted. "The fact that we're the targets of a mercilessly, bloodthirsty monster doesn't exactly help either."

Iggy nodded. He looked at his siblings, who all had a special type of fear in their eyes. Wendy in particular looked really concerned.

"I wish Ludwig was here," she said. "He would be able to get his body back from Doopliss without much of a problem." She sniffled. "Oh man, I hope he and Lemmy are okay…"

Iggy sighed. "I do too, Wendy." He lowered his gaze toward the ground. "But alas, we are unlikely to run across them in…"

"Guys!"

All the present Koopalings blinked. They looked forward, seeing a tiny figure running up toward them through the smoke. Even in the darkness, their rainbow hairstyle stuck out in the best way possible.

Iggy gasped. "Lemmy?"