Bad news. School starts in four weeks. When that happens I'll only be able to update on weekends, i.e. Saturdays, Sundays, days off of school, and sick days. I'd better get writing! WRITE LIKE THE WIND, BULLSEYE! Er... Sorry. Random moment. Ahem...

This chapter is the longest so far — a whopping six pages!

Disclaimer: I tried kidnapping them once. It didn't work. Bowser is a lot better at that sort of thing.

Chapter 13: Catacombs

*Night of the attack*

A stone wall slid into place as an ancient chant was finished. A pair of arms lowered from their outstretched position as two sapphire eyes opened.

"There," Ludwig von Koopa sighed and turned to face the Koopaling behind him, "We'll be safe here."

Wendy O. Koopa gave him a look. "Are you sure? What is this place anyway? I didn't know the castle had a place like this."

Ludwig gave a sad smile and started walking deeper into the chamber. Wendy quickly followed. "That's the beauty of it."

"Huh?"

"Only four people know about the existence of the royal catacombs: Kammy, Kamek, Father, and myself." He glanced at his sister. "And now, you do, too."

Wendy looked around, uncomfortable. "It's so dark in here. And dirty."

"Yeah. It usually doesn't get many visitors." Only permanent residents, Ludwig's mind added. In a single, smooth motion the oldest Koopaling retrieved his wand from its hiding place in his shell. "But a simple illumination spell should fix our vision problem." A simple illumination spell should have a 100% chance of success, his mind added teasingly. Ludwig scowled, mentally telling his brain where it could shove its negativity.

The blue stone on the musical maestro's wand started to glow with a fire-like light. The dim light revealed square stone posts running along each wall.

Wendy walked over to one of the stones. "What are these? What's in here that's so important?"

Ludwig walked beside her and wiped away a thick layer of dust on the stone, revealing a nameplate.

KING MORTON KOOPA
AGE 28 – DIED IN BATTLE

Wendy's turquoise eyes widened. "Is this — you mean — these are…" she stammered, before looking at a mural of a dark Dragon-Koopa behind the post.

"Wendy," Ludwig put a hand on her shoulder. "Say hi to our grandfather."

Wendy looked at him. "So are all Koopa kings buried here when they…" she swallowed, "die?"

"Not just kings," Ludwig said, "any of our family's royalty is buried here. Grandmother is right next to him." He gestured to the queen's mural and corresponding post.

"That means…" Wendy brushed Ludwig away and ran to the last mural on the wall.

Ludwig somberly walked beside her and gazed at the wall. And at the artwork of a beautiful blue-haired Dragon-Koopa displayed upon it.

Queen Clawdia Koopa.

Wendy grabbed her brother's hand as tears built up in her eyes. "Mom."

Ludwig bowed his head and said nothing.

"You knew…" Wendy said suddenly.

"Hm?"

"You knew about this place and didn't tell us!" Wendy suddenly turned on him, angry. "How long did you know about these? Why didn't you tell any of us if you knew?" She raised her hand to slap him.

Ludwig grabbed her. "BECAUSE I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW!"

"You — what?" Wendy had had many more accusations in store, but she was thrown off at her brother's confession.

"I'm not supposed to know about the catacombs," Ludwig reiterated. "When Father, Kammy, and Kamek brought Mother's casket down here all those years ago, I secretly followed them. While I managed to follow them in here, naturally they caught me. Father made me swear not to tell any of you about this place."

"I had no idea." Wendy snorted at her own statement, "I guess that's because Daddy made you keep it a secret. But then, why did you bring me here?"

Ludwig looked away. "It's the only safe place I could think of. Even so, I had no choice; we're in the middle of a crisis!"

"Look, it's fine," Wendy said reassured. "Besides, since we're the only ones who know about it, then whoever is attacking us won't find us. I can't say the same about everyone else, though…" She drooped her head sadly.

Ludwig nodded. Wendy is being pretty mature. She hasn't complained once, and she's worried about the others. He mentally smacked himself. Sure she's a brat, but she's still a sister. So of course she's worried! Who wouldn't be? Hm… she makes a good point. I hope the others are okay. Especially Bowser. At least he doesn't have to rely on me.

"What do mean, 'at least Bowser doesn't have to rely on you'?" Wendy asked.

Ludwig visibly jumped and looked at her nervously. "Th-that was all out loud?"

Wendy crossed her arms. "You tell me. You're the one who said, 'I hope the others are okay. Especially Bowser. At least he doesn't have to rely on me'."

Ludwig opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off when the secret entrance to the catacombs started opening.

Ludwig extinguished his wand, grabbed Wendy's wrist, and pulled his sister behind their mother's stone post. Breath was held as they remained crouched in their hiding place.

Chilling laughter filled the air. "I know you're in here."

The two Koopalings stifled gasps as Ludwig pulled Wendy closer.

Impossible! Ludwig thought. No one knows about the catacombs! And even if they did, no one knows the ancient chant to open the wall!

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, children!" the form called out again. "I'm not going to hurt you." Cold laughter. "Not too much, anyway."

Ludwig gritted his teeth. It looks like I'm going to have fight! He reached inside his shell to retrieve his wand, but froze as he grabbed it. I can't risk Wendy getting hurt. I can't fight until she's safe. But what can I do?

Use the Nomore Spell, another part of his mind suggested.

NO! he argued, I can't take that risk — not again!

It worked last time.

It shouldn't have. I got lucky last time. We all got lucky last time.

What choice do you have?

Ludwig's mental argument was cut off when Wendy lightly shook him. He looked over and let out a small gasp when he saw — of all things — a Warp Pipe emerge from the ground next to them! Wendy looked at him, then at the pipe, then back to him. There was a question in her gaze. Ludwig nodded and gave her a push towards their ticket out of there. Wendy didn't have to be told twice — she immediately jumped into the Warp Pipe. Ludwig followed quickly, noticing that the pipe was just barely big enough for him.

"Peek-a-boo," the monster cooed, "I see you!"

Ludwig turned around to face the villain. The light of the hallway made it so he could only make out the fiend as a silhouette. But was enough for Ludwig to make out a form that was much too big for the Warp Pipe, which meant that they would not be followed.

"The Stars shine on us tonight!" Ludwig proclaimed defiantly.

And with that, he leapt backwards and escaped into the Warp Pipe.

"Pitiful fools." The beast walked up to the pipe and cheekily sang into it, "You cannot run from me!" It's all going according to plan…

*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J *

Far away from Dark Land and Castle Koopa, Wendy and Ludwig crawled out from the other end of the Warp Pipe. One thing they noticed as they stood: it was pitch-black. The Koopalings stuck close to each other to keep from losing one another.

They took one breath of air and gagged. The air reeked of stale water, mold, and animal waste.

"Ugh!" Wendy covered her nose. "Where did that pipe take us?"

"My best guess?" Ludwig sniffed the air, and then quickly followed his sister's example. "We're in a sewer or storm drain. Where, exactly, I'm not sure."

"Then where do we walk?! I can't see a thing, and I don't want to step in anything!" Wendy huffed.

"You're lucky you're not barefooted," Ludwig muttered. "But I can still use that illumination spell so we can see where we're going."

He retrieved his wand from his shell again. Before he could start the spell, the ground started shaking loudly and violently without warning. Debris rained down from above. Ludwig dropped his wand and shot his arm out in Wendy's direction in order to grab her, but a shockwave knocked him backwards. He crouched onto his hands and knees and called for Wendy to do the same.

"Crawl to me!" he yelled over the din, but he could barely hear his own voice.

Then, as quickly as it came, the freak earthquake stopped.

Ludwig sat up and wiped dust and bits of stone from his thick, blue hair. "I think that's the worst of it," he said, assuming Wendy could hear him. "And I think I got out fine. How about you, Wendy?"

Wendy did not reply.

Ludwig heart sank. No no no no no! he denied. I'm sure Wendy's fine. Perfectly fine! Her ears are probably just ringing and she couldn't hear me. I know mine are. Yeah, that's it! I'll just go find her.

Ludwig felt around for his wand — no point in searching if he could not see! The Dragon-Koopa grinned in triumph as his fingers brushed against and wrapped around the handle of his precious weapon. He held it high over his head and mentally triggered the ever-so helpful illumination spell.

Nothing happened. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. He tried again, only to be met with the same result.

Ludwig lowered his wand. Something about it felt… off. He could not feel his magic naturally flowing through it, as he usually could. He held the wand in both hands.

Only to find the handle coming up short. The wand was broken. And a broken wand was nothing more than a useless stick. Ludwig cursed and tossed it aside.

How am I supposed to find Wendy in the dark? There has to be something I can use to see. The genius Koopaling racked his brain for solutions. I could make a fireball, but that will go out the moment it hits something. Unless I have a torch or something. But I don't have anything to light! Nothing except… Ludwig's hand went to his head.

His hair was one of his trademarks, practically the whole kingdom and beyond knew that. He always took care of it, and took great pride in it. No one messed with it, or else they faced his wrath.

But Wendy was in trouble, Ludwig had no doubt about that, and he had to find her.

The Koopa prince grabbed a chunk of his hair and pulled it straight, with his hand as far away from his head as possible. Then he took his other hand and extended his claws. In one swift motion, he swiped at his scalp.

It was a clean cut, right down to the skin, without cutting himself.

Ludwig took the hair he cut off in one hand, and his broken wand in the other. He quickly wrapped the locks around the broken end of the shaft, and he tied it off. Then he brought it out in front of him and spat a small fireball. The blue hair was set aflame, and Ludwig could see.

Right in front of him was a pile of concrete. Large slabs piled on top of each other.

And Ludwig's instincts were telling him that his little sister was in there.

With all his strength, he jabbed the tip of his broken-wand-made-torch into the concrete floor and embedded it there. Now he could use two hands and still be able to see.

Ludwig ran to the pile of debris and started moving the broken concrete, chunk by chunk. The task was toilsome. If only Roy or Morton were here. Ludwig wished his younger, stronger brothers were there at the moment. But they're not here. I'm Wendy's only hope. He went back to work.

A muffled cough made him stop.

"Wendy?" he said cautiously.

"Help me," even while muted by the rubble, Wendy's voice sounded strained.

"Wendy!" Ludwig sighed in relief. "Are you okay?" Immediately after the words left his mouth, he knew it was a stupid question. She needs help — of course she's not okay!

"I… I can't feel my legs. Something is on top of them." Wendy sobbed, "It hurts, Luddy! I want out!"

Ludwig knew it must have been bad if she was calling him by his childhood nickname — Wendy never called him "Luddy". He picked up the pace a hundred-fold. By now he was running on pure adrenaline.

Eventually he found a slab twice his size embedded into the floor, leaning against an even bigger pile of debris. Ludwig could make out an opening behind the slab, though it was too small for him to get into. He peeked inside.

"Luddy, I'm in here." Wendy's tearful voice came from within the opening.

"Hang on, Wendy. I'm getting you out there!" Ludwig said.

Without thinking, he grabbed the giant stone slab blocking the gap and pulled with all his might. Naturally, it did nothing. Ludwig almost stopped, but a sob from Wendy made him pull even harder.

It can't end like this, Ludwig thought angrily, and his rage fueled his strength. No one attacks my home — attacks my family! We're ambushed in the middle of the night. Stone cracked. The nine of us are separated because of a accident. A loud pop came from Ludwig's elbow, signaling what he suspected was dislocation, but he ignored it. To top it all off, the demon knows where mother is buried. He's probably defiling the graves right now! With a roar, Ludwig tore the slab away, completely exposing the opening in the wall. Unfortunately, it was still too small for him to fit. Ludwig muttered a curse.

Wendy suddenly gasped. "Ludwig! Behind you!" she cried in terror.

Ludwig turned his head and found himself facing the Warp Pipe. A warm glow came from within it, gradually getting brighter. Ludwig's breath caught in his throat when he realized what it was: Fire. He's sending fire into the pipe!

His first instinct was to get out of the way, but Ludwig realized that would leave Wendy to get hit. The fire might ricochet and hit her anyway… unless…

Without warning, Ludwig slammed his blue carapace into the hole in the wall, effectively sealing it. And not a moment too soon, as a white-hot jet of fire streamed into his face. The pain was unlike anything the oldest Koopaling had ever felt.

The last thing Ludwig was aware of was Wendy screaming his name, before he gave in to darkness.

That ending might have been a little rushed. Oh wellz.

So yeah, now our focus Koopaling is none other than Ludwig von Koopa, who is in charge of Wendy. Now we have all three main characters! Roy, Lemmy, and Ludwig.

We finally get a glimpse of our villain! But who is it? I'm feeling a little cruel today, so I think I'll leave you in suspense. Don't hurt me...

Questions you might have, but I won't answer just yet (still feeling cruel :P): How did Clawdia die? Where is Bowser? What DID Ludwig mean about Jr. being better off without him? How do you pronounce "Nomore"? What does the Nomore spell do?

Oh my! Look at all those pitchforks! Um... *points in a random direction* LOOK A DISTRACTION! *runs*