Okay, I may have pledged to myself that I would keep the author notes at the end of chapters, but I'm making an exception here to tell you guys that this chapter is pretty long, just above 3900 words in length. Unfortunately, I can't get away with splitting it this time, so here's one giant chapter.
The next few days were tense. Lemmy knew that he was going to be battling with the Mario bros for the umpteenth time and was likely going to be ordered to do things that he would feel bad about doing. At least, he hoped this one wouldn't be too bad compared to some other times.
Larry, being aware of how Lemmy felt about these sorts of things, offered him comfort whenever he needed it, but that could only do so much. It also didn't help that both Larry and Roy had beef with the other over their scuffle a few days ago.
As such, leading up to their mission, tensions were high. It was palpable. It made Lemmy feel incredibly uneasy, like the tiniest spark would set the entire ocean of gasoline ablaze with no warning.
With the two of them already being punished over what happened, neither would make a move. Lemmy would even go as far as believing that if there were no consequences, all bets would be off.
Larry would likely think that he would be able to blast him with light blue fireballs repeatedly throughout an entire night, while in reality, Roy probably would have buried him several times over by now.
The point being, if it came down to a fight, Larry would lose very badly and would certainly regret it.
In a way, Lemmy was kind of relieved that there are consequences if even a single punch was thrown or a lone fireball was casted.
It still didn't help him much with the uneasy atmosphere around everyone. Like usual, the tense feeling inside of him would flare up prior to performing a kidnapping plot.
Not that he doubted anyone's ability, in fact he felt confident that the initial kidnapping part would go off without a hitch yet again. Since when have they failed the initial kidnapping part? It's more the fact that Lemmy knew that he'd be going through with something he himself would not do.
Whenever he comes back beaten and bruised from a battle, he would often get very minor flack from his siblings for being 'too much of a softie' or 'too weak'. They would only say a single remark like that, nothing too bad. Didn't bother him that much. Especially since they also got creamed by those plumbers, so they're one to talk.
When it comes to said minor flack, they do keep it brief, knowing they themselves are not much better, they would quickly leave him alone.
Except for Larry and Roy, but for opposite reasons. Larry has never said anything bad aimed at Lemmy, he never criticized him whenever he failed in his battles, he always offered his support and would even treat his wounds sometimes.
When Lemmy would cry in pain from some of the wounds he had gotten from his past battles, Larry would not hesitate to console him, whether by hugging him, keeping him company, or treating some of his cuts and scrapes as mentioned previously.
Lemmy knew that Larry was incredibly devoted to him and would fight tooth and nail for him. Not surprising considering how incredibly close they've been throughout their whole lives.
Roy on the other hand, already pushes him and Larry around a lot, but that effect is amplified after he loses a battle. Roy would constantly talk smack to his face, push him around, mostly literally, even "accidentally" touch his more sensitive wounds, causing him more pain.
But to his credit, he does keep it brief because even he knows when too far is too far. That, or whenever Larry or his father comes to his aid. Still, it didn't give Roy any bonus points with the others though.
Lemmy then recalled that one time where he had to battle the Mario Bros before Larry, and he returned home in the usual battered state. But with no Larry to protect him, Roy would push those boundaries even further. It also didn't help that they were the first two to arrive back at the castle, meaning absolutely no one could intervene.
Seriously, what is Roy trying to gain from doing this? Lemmy didn't know the answer, nor did he care that much. Because he had more pressing issues at the moment.
Lemmy snapped back to reality and acknowledged that he currently stood alone on the top floor in his cold ice tower. Awaiting for hopefully one Mario brother to enter.
But even so, he knew he was going to lose anyway, and he always thinks optimistically, which made him feel even worse about being here.
The kidnapping of the Princess was pulled off successfully as per usual, and now all Lemmy had to do was wait.
He stood patiently atop his signature yellow circus ball with the familiar orange star pattern, wand in hand. Albeit he wasn't where he normally stood as he wasn't quite ready yet.
He had already been waiting a while and felt pretty bored, so why not pass the time? The first thing that caught his eye was the very cold environment. Not surprising since he is in World 3 after all.
He looked around at every fracture inside the icy floor he and his ball rested on, bouncing light in every direction within the crystalline internal structure. At least he could appreciate the natural beauty of it.
He looked at one of the windows outside and rolled over to it.
Lemmy could see the vast snowy landscape that extended far beyond the horizon, many mountains, hills and trees dotted the area around the tower, with snow falling to continuously cover them in perpetual frost. He couldn't help but notice each snowflake having a unique appearance as they slowly fell from the sky.
Lemmy had always loved the snow, but he never gets to play in it since he lives in the polar opposite climate and the few times he was here, he couldn't just run outside and have some fun, that would be disobeying his father's orders.
If he had his way, he would be out there right now instead of here. But the fact he couldn't made him feel envious. Sure, he could try spending some time out there after a battle, but he would be too beaten and bruised to even have fun in it.
Even so, he can at least enjoy the beautiful sight. This, along with the nice looking ice floor is perhaps the only good thing about being here. But the negatives still far outweigh them.
But even after he would inevitably lose and face Roy's usual amplified bullying, he can at least stop by Peach's room and visit with her, he always had a pleasant experience with her.
While she may not have the best relationship with his father, she does have a warm one with him and his siblings. She would always do activities with him and the other Koopalings and in general just hang out. It gives the Princess something to do while she waits for the Mario Bros. to come and save her.
Say what you want about Bowser, he at least ensured that Peach always had a pleasant place to herself. At least until shortly before the Mario bros show up.
Seriously, her room looked so nice, that Wendy gets incredibly jealous, even though she won't admit it. Which Lemmy always found pretty amusing.
But turning his thoughts back to the events of earlier that day, he could at least breathe a sigh of relief he didn't have to do anything too extreme by his standards this time around.
Albeit, he did sneakily summon some small circus balls from the airship to a bunch of small Toads on the ground to play with, along with giving them a cheerful smile and wave. It was the least he could do for all the chaos he and his family were causing. To his delight, the kids gladly accepted them. At least he had one good thing come out of all this.
But that only offered a small amount of solace when he remembered what he had been ordered to do in the past.
He recalled a time he was ordered to fire a cannon towards Peach's castle. Only for it to miss and hit a poor Toad's house instead, and in the process, do some pretty serious damage to the roof.
What made him feel even worse was that Bowser gave him a pat on the shell, telling him that he at least tried.
Lemmy didn't feel insulted by it, it was more like the fact he felt that his father was completely disregarding the fact that he had hit the house of an innocent Toad that got caught up in the crossfire.
He could still vividly remember what the house looked like, and exactly how he felt the next time they came around about a month later. Lemmy would then notice that the same house was no longer there anymore. Implying that his accident last time had a lasting impact… literally…
Lemmy always felt a pang in his chest whenever he recalled the memory. He clearly still felt guilty about it. What didn't help was that it was completely by accident. The poor Toad didn't deserve losing his home like that.
That was only one of several instances of the various things Lemmy had done that he wasn't proud of.
It doesn't stop at the kidnapping missions either. Being a high ranking member of the Koopa Troop, the duties he is assigned also takes a heavy toll on him. Lemmy didn't have too big of a problem with the idea as long as they were just simple, like mopping the floor of the barracks cafeteria for example. Or in Larry's case recently, cleaning Hammer Bro helmets. One would expect the things assigned to him and his siblings would be simple chores, like any kid his age.
However, that wasn't the case. The things he and the others are assigned to do are things that should really only be handled by adults with actual experience. Things that kids should not be doing.
Like cleaning the airship cannons, where there's a risk one could fire and seriously hurt someone. Or operating machinery that none of them are even close to meeting the qualifications for. Except MAYBE Iggy.
Or in Lemmy's case from the other day, feeding a pen of chain chomps. Something incredibly dangerous for him due to them seeing anything his size as food. The fact he was all vibrant and colorful didn't help either, sort of like a basket of fruit, or an exotic bird. What made it worse was that it wasn't even the first time he has done this.
The fact that either their father has insanely high standards for them, or is completely oblivious to the dangers of these sorts of things to unqualified children was something that always made Lemmy feel a bit concerned about. Did their father have high expectations for them? Or was he just plain irresponsible?
As much as he loved his father, he couldn't help but feel some kind of negative emotion towards him. He wasn't sure what it was. Was it disappointment? Was it worry? He had no idea.
Lemmy reminisced about what his life was like before this. When he was younger, he and his siblings had a more normal lifestyle. Playing games, having fun with their favorite activities, and the occasional chore of course.
But once Larry became old enough, they were all assigned ranks in the Koopa Troop and started participating in these kidnapping missions. Gradually, more and more of these royal duties were being assigned to them, getting worse as the years went by.
Nowadays, these duties take up most of Lemmy's time. More than half of his day is taken up by them. Many of which felt pretty pointless.
Sure, Lemmy understood that he is one of the princes of the Koopa Kingdom on top of his status as a high ranking member of the royal army. All that does mean having a huge responsibility. That's a fact he cannot just deny.
Regardless, it still didn't change the fact that when looking past all of it, he was still just a kid. A kid being forced to partake in these kidnapping plots, and assigned jobs that are sometimes dangerous. Which again, are jobs that are not for a kid his age.
Seriously, his father is the ruler of a kingdom, why can't he just hire people to do these? People that are actually qualified for them! Why not hire some proper battle experienced mercenaries to fill in their roles in these stone cold towers? He can afford it can't he? Why drag his family into this?
Reflecting on all of it, Lemmy knew that his least favorite part of all of this was being here, caught up in the middle of his father's plans to kidnap the princess. Because it meant that he had to do things he would regret.
His father has been kidnapping the princess for as far back as he could remember. He never paid much attention to it and just spent his time with Peach whenever she was at the castle.
That was until he started getting roped into it, again at such a young age. Admittedly, he did find it fun the first few times, but it got old really quickly and later saw it as boring. Now that he was a bit older, he could now understand just how messed up this was.
The fact that Bowser just keeps going after the same girl every time and uses his young children to assist him in his stead really made little Koopaling feel sick inside. Lemmy wasn't even sure why he even does this anyway. Does he want a queen for his kingdom to increase his power?
Or maybe he's just doing it to give his precious children a motherly figure to look up to?
He didn't know what his reasoning behind it was. But if it came down to those two options, he sincerely hoped that the latter was true. At least that's a more noble yet very sad reason behind it. Even if that was true, kidnapping her is definitely not even close to being the best way of resolving that problem.
But to Bowser's credit, it has kind of worked. Afterall, Lemmy had looked up to her very passionately ever since he was a baby, and Peach does have a warm relationship with him and his siblings. Despite the fact they are literally the children of the Koopa who always kidnaps her and assists him in doing so, she's able to look past all of that and acknowledge that they are still kids in the end.
But still, the fact that Bowser kidnapped her enough times for them to reach this status really made Lemmy upset. Sure, he loves Peach like the mother he never had. But at the same time, he wished that his father would stop doing this. Not only for her sake, but for his own and his family's.
Lemmy's innocent and kind hearted nature heavily conflicts with this dynamic because literally kidnapping her just to give his kids a mother they never grew up with, while noble, is just flat out wrong!
He began to imagine what his life could've been if his father never started this whole thing. What if they never became a part of the Koopa Troop in the first place? He and the rest of his siblings would've never been dragged into these plots. They wouldn't have to do so many of these "chores" given out to them. Lemmy probably would've had a much more humble, innocent and proper childhood. Like the great one that he used to have before his more adult-like early adolescence.
But on the other hand, he wouldn't have Peach as the motherly figure to look up to whenever she was there. Perhaps some kind of arrangement could've been made? Even if there weren't any, it wouldn't change the fact that they don't spend much time with her, period. With Bowser's role as king, he doesn't spend much time with his kids, especially after they were assigned ranks in his army. They would sometimes go days without even seeing him.
So in some kind of a bittersweet twist of fate, Lemmy can consider his current situation as somewhat of a blessing. Despite how much he hated doing these kidnapping missions, he would imagine himself feeling more like an orphan otherwise.
Lemmy wasn't sure if this was better or worse than his current predicament. Regardless, it still didn't change the fact he desires something different from all this.
Lemmy has longed for the more carefree lifestyle he used to have. Yes, he can stand the chores, like washing dishes, those are natural. He's even okay with being in the Koopa Troop, but he wished to at least have the workload relaxed a little and make partaking in the kidnapping missions voluntary. Not just for himself, he could tell all of his siblings weren't too happy about it either. Albeit, to a lesser extent.
He just wanted his old life back, this kind of lifestyle was just too exhausting for him, one that's likely going to get even worse down the line. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take.
But what can he do about it? Not much, that's for sure. Lemmy knew this and he hated it.
The fact he felt truly stuck made him feel saddened and frustrated about his predicament. What didn't help is that he has never told anyone about this. There was nobody he could open up to about it, nobody that would listen.
Nobody except for Larry, who has been facing the same problem, and through Lemmy's keen eye, so were the rest of the Koopalings. Albeit, they aren't bothered about it nearly as much as Lemmy.
Lemmy sadly sighed as he continued to gaze out the window, feeling the bitingly cold air on his small body to the point his fingers were going to fall off. But he didn't care, he was too upset.
Thwomps came crashing down onto the floor behind him as he ran through a wave of them, being careful not to slip on the ice like his life depended on it, because it did. He then turned a corner into the next area. Over the course of a few minutes, he made his way through the maze of icicles and Ice Bros. After making it past the section, he reached the checkpoint flag, which changed into a green L after he passed it.
Luigi began to seriously question why he and Mario didn't just stick together? Just what on Earth did he get himself into?
He continued through the latter half of the level, jumping and weaving through the traps and bouncing off the enemies as he went.
After getting through a wall of ice thanks to some Bob-ombs, he finally reached the top floor of the tower, where it was noticeably colder. Probably due to the open stone windows on this floor. Hey, at least he can enjoy the fresh air for a moment.
He took a deep breath and exhaled to calm himself down, seeing his breath form a mist in front of him. He turned around to where he would see the doors into the room where he would battle. However, the right door was left slightly ajar, sticking out a bit towards him.
Wait, what?
That's odd, normally the door was shut and he would have to pull them open to enter, so why would they be open like that?
Luigi wasn't sure why, and he didn't like it. He was very hesitant and approaching the door, what if it was a trap? But he couldn't see any other way forward, so the only place he could go was through those doors. The gap is just big enough for him to squeeze through without moving them.
Luigi swallowed hard before taking careful and quiet steps towards the doors, shivering while doing so. Either out of fear, or the cold, probably both. Luigi stopped next to the door, took a deep breath and slowly peaked inside the room.
Nothing…
The fear in Luigi's face disappeared momentarily as he blinked in surprise. There was nobody there on the opposite side of the room from him, that's not normal. Luigi wasn't sure how to feel about it. He silently looked around through the gap and couldn't see anyone from where he was standing.
He took another quiet cautious step and slowly leaned inside the room to get a better look. That was when he spotted him. Luigi tensed up and flinched slightly at the first of him, until he noticed that something was off.
To his left, atop his signature orange starred yellow circus ball, Lemmy gazed out of one of the windows looking visibly unhappy. From the looks of it, he was also completely unaware of Luigi's presence.
"W… what the…?" Luigi was taken aback by this, unsure on how to react to this sight.
He knew that Lemmy was one of the seven notorious Koopalings, always laughing and giggling, always riding on his ball and was the clown of the clan. So what was he doing staring out of a window looking all gloomy? Shouldn't he be battle ready right now? Luigi couldn't even begin to guess.
He doesn't know much about him aside from that, but he knew enough to know that this wasn't normal. A small part of him wanted to speak up, but was understandably too scared to say anything.
Lemmy sniffled a little as he sadly looked down at his small hands resting on the stone cold windowsill. He continued to reflect on what his life became ever since he was forced into this position. Every order given to him that he felt regret about, how much stress he's put under by the massive daily workload given, and how he couldn't open up to anyone about it. It made Lemmy feel a pain inside him.
Lemmy was about to look to his right for Larry to console him, but then he remembered that Larry wasn't here. At the same time, he came back into reality and began to feel the freezing cold air from outside.
Once again aware of the fact that he was cold and alone in a place that resonated with his sadness, combined with the guilt and regret of the kidnapping missions, the immense stress of being overworked by those daily duties and the feeling of being trapped and isolated in all this.
Despite his chipper, kind hearted, innocent, optimistic and happy-go-lucky personality. It all finally proved to be too much for him.
Luigi, still in disbelief over what he was seeing, watched as Lemmy slowly lowered his face into his arms, and after a moment of silence, the kid began to tremble a little. Luigi wasn't sure if he heard correctly, but he could've sworn he heard what sounded like… crying…?
At that moment, Luigi knew that this was no trap. Something is really wrong here.
Luigi silently shuffles into the ice cold room. Gulping once again, Luigi carefully takes a quiet, cautious step toward the Koopaling. However, he would freeze in place with paralyzing fear after stepping on a small bead of ice, causing it to shatter underneath his shoe.
Boom, cliffhanger. I'm going to say this now, expect more of these, because I don't plan on stopping! But in all seriousness, not all the chapters will have cliffhangers. Because having them at the end of every chapter would be kind of annoying, especially when they are not needed. What ratio of the chapters will have cliffhangers? I have no idea.
I had this chapter pretty much finished for a few days. I wanted to get a good jump into chapter 4 before releasing this one. But then I started adding more to it and making it pretty long. So I'm releasing it now to stop myself from turning it into a behemoth. Albeit, I didn't get as far into chapter 4 as I wanted to, but whatever. Sheesh, what is it with me and long chapters this time around?
DISCLAIMER!
I have mostly nailed down the main conflict in this story, but I haven't gotten all of it figured out yet since it's a little tricky. Since this chapter and the next few will play an important role in setting up the story, there are some things in this chapter that I might have to go back and change later on to make things fit better. (This applies to future chapters as well)
Any changes that do end up happening, I will try to keep them as minor and as minimal as possible. I'm confident that I won't have to though. All the same, it's still good to warn you about this in advance, just in case.