AN: Hey everyone! Man, this story has been on hiatus for quite a while, now has it? I just want to apologize for that, and I ESPECIALLY would like to issue any apology to Souldatafmab. This one was a request from them, after all. Soul, if you are reading this, I am profoundly sorry. I do hope that I can fall into a much more consistent update schedule for this story. Please forgive me.

Anyway, let's hop right into this, shall we?

Chapter 11 Phantom Strike

A weight hung in the air that wasn't normally present. It seemed to suck the life out of Lemmy's soul, thus making him feel like he was years… no, decades older than he really was. It was like he had been in cryogenic slumber for quite a while, and now his body was finally catching up with the years that he had avoided. The stress from this unsolved mystery, all the unanswered questions that this predicament contained… well, who wouldn't be panicking about that? Who wouldn't feel like they had the weight of the world resting on their shoulders?

As they flew to Sparksville, Lemmy stole a glance at Ludwig's face. The first thing that he saw were the worry lines, so deep and so pronounced that it made Lemmy's stomach churn. It occurred to the youngest Koopaling that the events that had transpired in the past few hours had been stressful for him to. And, with his face looking almost as dark as the night sky they flew through, Lemmy couldn't help but shudder. He needed to figure out what was going on, if for no other reason than to help his siblings get some quality sleep at night.

They continued on their flight to Sparksville. As they passed over the town, Lemmy notice how… eerie it looked. Eerie, a word that he never would've imagine in a million years he would apply to the town of Sparksville. The colors that made the town seem so welcoming during the day were unseeable in the darkness, and seeing how it was late into the night already, there were no people walking about. No trick or treaters, no nothing. Sparksville was a ghost town, which paradoxically was so strange and yet so appropriate at the exact same time.

So, to prevent himself from battling the shivers running up and down his spine, Lemmy decided to start up a conversation with Ludwig. "I hope… I hope that seeing Bob will help bring us closer to the answer." Almost entirely inadvertently, he stuck the bubble pipe in his mouth and blew some bubbles. "And… I'm pretty sure it will. Yeah, yeah, I'm positive it will…"

Ludwig smiled. "That's all we can hope for in this time, right?"

"Yeah," Lemmy said, his voice sounding like a passing breeze. "Right."

To Lemmy's surprise, Ludwig chuckled. "And I think that hope is well placed Lemmy. I mean… sure, things weren't exactly… pleasant last time you put on the Shellock costume. But I think getting into the analytical mindset is a really good thing."

"If you say so." Lemmy delved back into thought. "I still don't know how I ended up with a Shellock Holmes costume though." He snickered. "It's almost like the sender knew what they were doing." He paused. "Man, what a scary thought…"

Ludwig chuckled (although Lemmy picked up on some level of apprehension in his brother's voice). Ludwig opened his mouth, and Lemmy expected him to say something else. Before he got a chance, however, Lemmy noticed Bob's house coming up in the distance. So, despite him not being adverse to hearing more reassuring words from Ludwig, Lemmy interrupted him before he even had a chance to speak.

"There's Bob's house; right there."

Ludwig looked forward and nodded, adjusting his altitude so that he was descending down toward the house. The second they touched down on Bob's porch, Lemmy's mind sort of… "transitioned" back into the Shellock mindset. He studied the house, noticing how the windows were closed and the lights were out. He also noticed candy wrappers strewn about in front of the door. Were these the leftovers from trick or treaters? Possibly. But… wait. If Bob was taking care of trick or treaters, that would mean he had an alibi. That would mean that he wasn't present in the castle at the time of the Great Sock Monkey Heist. For a second, Lemmy froze, all at once regretting having come here in the first place.

But then, he cleared his throat. No, it was a good thing that they came here. Bob was the only one who could've logically escaped from the castle in the fashion that Ludwig had previously described. So, even though Lemmy was biased and believed Bob wouldn't hurt a fly, they still needed to do this. Lemmy was a detective. Detectives needed to approach mysteries like this as carefully and as objectively as possible.

So, he knocked on the door.

It took a while for Bob to actually come to the door. That made sense; it was nearing one o'clock in the morning. As such, even as Lemmy banged on the door and rang the doorbell multiple times, he reasoned that they needed to leave. It would make much more sense to come back to this mystery in the morning, when everyone was well rested and when there was sufficient light outside. He was just about to tell Ludwig that they needed to go back home when, surprisingly, the door opened.

"Lemmy?" Bob asked. He yawned, the action causing Lemmy to produce a yawn of his own. "Ludwig?" Bob rubbed his eyes. "Is that you?"

Lemmy nodded. "Uh… yeah." He put the bubble pipe into his mouth, the action somehow even more inadvertent than last time. "Although, given the circumstances, I think I would like to be referred to as Shellock right now."

"Shellock?" Bob studied Lemmy's appearance before his face lit up. "Oh! I get it; you're celebrating Halloween!" He chuckled. "It's pretty late, but I must say, you look really cool in that costume, Lems!" He smiled. "Oh, sorry, Shellock." He winked at the littlest Koopaling.

Both Ludwig and Lemmy sucked some air through their teeth. "Um, actually Bob," Ludwig said, his voice careful and his words calculated. "We aren't doing this to celebrate Halloween."

Bob blinked. "You aren't?"

"No," Lemmy said, once again blowing bubbles out of his bubble pipe. "In fact, we are here on the most serious business." He looked Bob right in the eye, trying to convey just how dire this situation was through expression alone. "Three crimes were committed tonight."

Bob did a double take. "What?"

"Weird things have happened to us tonight, all in quick succession," Ludwig said. "So, we're investigating things; trying to find the answers."

"Indeed." Lemmy held the bubble pipe between his teeth. "And we have ample reason to believe that you might have been involved in this case." He said this next part with a tone so serious and grave that even Lemmy himself saw how uncharacteristic of him it was. "So, we need to ask you a few questions."

Bob blinked. He looked between Ludwig and Lemmy, his expression caught between "shocked yet sympathetic toward his friends" and "too sleepy to comprehend what was going on, let alone take it seriously." Because of this, it took about a solid minute (a wasted minute, from the ever urgent Shellock's perspective) for Bob to nod.

"Sure. Come on in."

With that, both Koopalings entered the house. Bob turned on the lights, which did help Lemmy feel less frightened than he felt while he was outside. Slowly, he and Ludwig made their way into the living room, taking seats on Bob's couch once the clone gestured for them to do so.

"Um…" Bob hesitated for a second before reaching into his hammerspace and pulling out a half empty bag of Halloween candy. "Would you like some candy? I've got plenty of it."

"Ooh!" Ludwig exclaimed. "Yes, that would be lovely, Bob." Bob placed some dark chocolate bars in his hands, causing Ludwig to chuckle. "Nice, you know I prefer dark chocolate!" He unwrapped one of the bars and stuck it in his mouth, all while turning to Lemmy. "Want some Lems?"

Lemmy thought about this for a brief spell before shaking his head. "No." He sunk a little bit into his seat. "This whole thing is far too strange, and no amount of sugar would change that."

Both Koopas blinked in surprise. "Uh… okay then," said Bob. He put the candy bag down on the coffee table, all while he took a seat in a recliner perpendicular to the couch. "So… uh… what exactly is going on?"

Both Lemmy and Ludwig exchanged a look before explaining what was going on. The further they went into the story, the wider Bob's eyes grew. He even dropped his jaw when the condition that Roy and Celia were in was mentioned to him. However, when they touched upon the theft of Lemmy's sock monkeys, he looked more confused than anything else.

"Huh. That's… strange."

"We think so too." Lemmy blew more bubbles out of his mouth. "And we believe that these three cases are connected. They took place too close together for them to not be."

Bob nodded. "I suppose that makes sense." He squirmed a little in his seat. "Poor Roy and Celia though…"

Lemmy took note of the concern in his voice, noting how it was too surprised and sympathetic for Bob to be a criminal. However… well, Lemmy couldn't leave this be. He wasn't going to walk away until he got a proper interrogation out of his brother's clone.

"Yes." He scrunched up his brow, an action that was usually very uncomfortable for him but one that felt all the more natural now. "Now, after a little bit of consideration, and after we took some time to think about the events, we have come to the conclusion that you might have been involved."

Bob gasped. "ME?"

"Yes!" Lemmy leaned forward. "You and Ludwig are the only ones who can enter and exit windows in such a way, considering that you are in possession of flying powers. And considering that Ludwig was there to witness the crime, that paints you as our primary suspect." He squinted into the eyes of the very taken-aback Bob. "So tell me, Bob Duckswan. Where were you between nine thirty and ten fifteen tonight?"

"Uh…" Bob began to sweat. "I was handing out candy to trick or treaters!"

"Oh really?" Lemmy frowned. "Do you have proof of that? Do you have any witnesses?"

Bob squirmed in his seat. "Uh… well, I suppose you could count the kids…" he whimpered, looking like he was going to squirm out of his skin as Lemmy stared at him. "Although, I can't direct you to any of them…"

Lemmy sniffed. "I see." He got down on the floor. "So it wasn't you who stole the sock monkeys from my room?"

"No!" Bob held his hands up. "I swear on my life Lemmy, I would never do that! Nor would I hurt Roy and his girlfriend in the way you described!"

Lemmy continued staring him down, studying him in a way that more or less turned him into a living polygraph. "Okay…" he took another puff of his pipe. "I believe you. But things still don't line up. As I said, you and Ludwig are the only two people I know with such powers." He put his hand to his chin in thought. "Maybe…" he gasped. "Ah ha! I got it!" He turned toward Ludwig, pointing his finger at him. "It was you!"

Ludwig was silent for a second before raising his eyebrow. "Lemmy, we went over this, I wasn't involved in this."

Lemmy paused for a minute before pulling back. "Right." He shook his head, directing his attention down toward the floor. "We did go over that." He blew bubbles out of his pipe as he considered this. "So, we are still stuck at square one…"

CRASH!

All three Koopas jumped up and gasped. They looked toward the kitchen, running over at lightning fast speeds. Lemmy in particular felt his heart rate pick up. What caused that noise?

"WHO'S THERE!" He yelled when he got to the kitchen. He turned on the light just as Ludwig and Bob entered the room. All three of them gasped when they saw a black phantom in a black cloak, one that was identical to the one that Ludwig described seeing in his and Lemmy' bedroom.

"AAAAHHHH!" Bob screamed.

With a swift pace, the phantom bolted toward the door. Not even thinking, instead letting instinct guide him, Lemmy followed after the phantom. Ludwig was right behind him. They swung open the door, ready to catch them red handed…

But they were gone.