Chapter 8 New Beginning
How positively delicious.
It was almost too easy. The Koopa royal family had done exactly what the Shadow Seeker expected them to, like mice that it had forced to run through a maze. Watching all of the components of its plan fall into place like this… if the Shadow Seeker was any other kind of demon, it probably wouldn't have thought it to be possible. It would've thought that its plans were too far out of reach, and thus wouldn't have even taken the time try to enact them.
But that was the beauty of future vision. The Shadow Seeker had never in its lengthy life been so grateful for its amazing powers, nor so giddily appreciative of the grief that it managed to cause these lesser, mortal beings. Mortals were so weak-minded, so easy to manipulate. As such, Shadow Seekers could control them like marionettes, could pull the strings in just the right way to ensure that every mortal fell right into the palm of their hand.
Despite all that, the Shadow Seeker shouldn't celebrate too soon. Turning the royals into humans wasn't the extent of the chaos it so desired to create. It had a clear and specific path that it wished to go down, a path that future vision revealed only led to its prosperity. It could already see the defeated Koopa King. It could already see the grief that the whole kingdom was doomed to experience when their royalty fell. And, again, it was positively delicious.
All that was required now was just a bit of patience. The Koopa King and his advisor were going to come back to the Castle within due time. And when they did, the whole pathetic kingdom was going to fall into darkness. Beautiful darkness. Amazing darkness.
Permanent darkness.
…
The next hour or two was more than a little productive. The princess and the plumbers helped the Koopalings set everything up for their stay in the Mushroom Kingdom, which was honestly much harder than Ludwig thought it would be. Rooms needed to be cleaned out, beds needed to be made and arranged within the guest rooms… it was a lot. On top of that, it felt like it took forever. Ludwig was honestly surprised to see that it was still light out by the time they finished, and even more surprised to see that they managed to finish everything within an hour. Seriously, an hour? Ludwig thought it was ten with how slowly it all dragged by.
Regardless, the Koopa family eventually got everything set up. Once he was certain that nothing more needed to be done, Ludwig let out a breath, wiped his soaked forehead, and took a seat on the ground. While sitting still, the fact that he was doused in a fountain's worth of sweat became all the more apparent to him.
"Goodness gracious, this is gross," he said as he felt his arm. Mario came into the room right at that moment, prompting Ludwig to lift his head and look at him. "Do humans always sweat this much?"
Mario snickered. "Pretty much constantly." He smirked. "Consider yourself lucky, Ludwig. At the very least, you guys' human forms are still relatively young. When you get older, you'll experience heartburn, aching joints, eternal sleepiness… it's like reaching the jackpot of physical problems."
Ludwig shook his head. "Yeah, like a thirty year old plumber knows anything about the terrors of getting old." This garnered a snort from Mario, which made Ludwig sigh. He leaned his head against his hand, his mind going over everything that had happened in the last few hours. "This is one of the craziest days I've experienced in a while." He looked back at Mario. "Probably the single craziest, as I never would've imagined that you would let us lodge in the castle."
"Well, I guess that makes two of us," Mario responded.
Right at that moment, Bowser came into the room. There was something to the demeanor he displayed, something about the way he carried himself, that made Ludwig's worries increase. He looked at Mario, noticing the plumber looking just as taken aback by Bowser's sobriety.
"How you holding up, big guy?" Mario asked, using a casualness that Ludwig would've never expected.
"I'm… holding." Bowser bit his lip, looking down at Ludwig. "I mean, I know my kids can handle themselves. You guys are tough; you were raised by the best, after all." He chuckled, smiling for a brief instant before his face fell back down. "You kids can handle a brief stay in the Mushroom Kingdom. You can handle anything!" He looked away from both Ludwig and Mario. "I can handle anything…"
A silence befell the room. Ludwig exchanged a look with Mario, a look that communicated that neither one of them knew where to go from here. Ludwig looked back at Bowser, noticing for the first time that his tail had curled into a knot. This made Ludwig sweat even more.
"Bowser, are you…?"
Ludwig never got the chance to finish his question, as Peach, Luigi, and the rest of the Koopalings came into the room. The second their eyes landed on Bowser, they all froze. Peach in particular gawked in a way that Ludwig had never seen from her before. He slowly rose to his feet, figuring that it was up to him to be the first one to speak.
"I… I guess, since everything is set up, that it's time for Bowser to go."
Peach nodded, the action hesitant yet serious. "You're right." She took a step towards the Koopa King. She reached out her hand, stopping herself from touching Bowser when she was halfway there. She looked at the rest of the Koopalings before clearing her throat and backing up. "We'll leave you guys alone. Come on Mario and Luigi."
With a nod, the three of them left the room. Once they were gone, the Koopalings gathered around their father. Nobody said a word. Bowser looked like he wanted to, but couldn't. He looked like he wanted to tell the Koopalings that everything would be okay, but couldn't. Because, in all likelihood, things were going to get worse before they got better.
"I…" Bowser's voice shook. "I, uh… well, I…"
Before he could say anymore, Wendy approached him. Not saying a word, she wrapped her arms round Bowser's midsection. The Koopa King blinked, all while Wendy's grip got even tighter. Before long, Lemmy and Junior joined in on the hug. Then Morton, then Roy. Iggy and Larry hesitated for a brief stint, but they eventually joined in as well. This left Ludwig, standing by himself to battle a strong bout of uncertainty. Fortunately, after a minute, he joined in on the hug too. He let out a breath, appreciating the warmth of the gesture as well as the close proximity he had toward everybody. The Koopa family stood like that for a good five minutes. No one said anything; there wasn't even any sniffling. All there was was this moment, this one moment where Ludwig could temporarily forget about the peril they faced.
Eventually, they all pulled away. They had to; there wasn't really any choice in the matter. Once Bowser righted himself, he cleared his throat.
"Well… you kids be safe. Take care, brush your teeth, don't kill each… just, be safe."
The others nodded. With a breath, Bowser made his way toward the door. Before he exited, Junior said something that made him stop.
"Goodbye, Dad. See you later."
Bowser hesitated, his hand gripping the knob. "Yeah." He nodded. "See you later."
With that, he left.
…
An hour later, Ludwig sat by himself in his new room. Even though it was very spacious, Ludwig couldn't help but bemoan the fact that it was smaller than his room back home. Sure, it wasn't too big of a deal, but it was bothersome. What made it even worse was that Lemmy wasn't staying in this room with him. Sure, that problem was easily fixable, but at the present moment, it only contributed to Ludwig's loneliness.
He sighed, pulling his legs up toward his chest while situated on the bed. He looked down at his hand, taking in every last line and every last fingerprint. He wiggled his fingers before turning to look at the back of the hand. It was almost off putting how smooth it was now. He touched the skin, almost shuddering at the texture. He lifted his hand to feel his face, every last feature. He didn't know what the appropriate reaction toward all of this was. He didn't even know how he wanted to react to all of this.
Knock knock knock. Before Ludwig could answer, the door opened and allowed Iggy to enter. He grinned, an action that struck Ludwig as severely wrong. He blinked as he looked at his brother.
"Is everything okay?" he asked, somehow afraid of the answer.
"Oh, everything is just fine." He gestured for Ludwig to come towards him. "Come on, there's something that I wish to relay to everyone."
Not knowing what else to do, Ludwig got out of bed. He followed Iggy out into the hallway, which is where the genius proceeded to gather the rest of the Koopalings. It didn't matter if it was the ever oblivious Roy or the ever disgusted Larry; when Iggy summoned them, they all followed. Once everyone except Junior was present, Iggy led the lot of them toward the Castle's front door. This just confused Ludwig more than anything, and the looks the others had indicated they felt the same.
"Iggy, what's going on?" Ludwig asked.
"Yeah; what gives?" Larry crossed his arms. "Whatever it is, I hope it's important."
Iggy just continued grinning. "Well, I have done some research and have discovered that there is an aquarium here in Toad Town. I believe that would be an amazing place to go."
Every single one of the Koopalings blinked. "Uh, Iggy?" Wendy asked. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Yeah," Morton said. "I mean, won't the Toads…"
Iggy just laughed. "I do not believe there is any issue." He gestured toward himself. "With our newly acquired appearances, we will be able to walk among the denizens of this kingdom without any danger."
Ludwig blinked again. He looked back down at his hand, now feeling all sorts of unease. "I… I suppose…"
"Oh, come on, everyone!" Iggy exclaimed, his smile still plastered to his face. "This could invoke the highest levels of delight! Think of it as a social experiment; the best kind of social experiment at that! I'm sure there is a lot we could learn through exploring our place of temporary residence!"
Ludwig looked back at the others. At first glance, they all looked hesitant. However, as the words Iggy said started to sink in, they managed to look more comfortable. After a little bit, they actually looked borderline excited.
"You know what, Iggy?" Larry said. "Maybe that isn't the worst idea. Could actually help make our transformation a little more enjoyable."
"Exactly what I was getting at," Iggy responded with sparkling eyes. He turned and opened the castle door. "Well, come on, everyone! Let's get going!"
Ludwig smiled, following after Iggy like the rest of his siblings. To Ludwig's surprise, once they took two steps out the door, Roy let out the loudest gasp anyone had ever heard.
"Holy crap!" He grinned, all at once looking far more determined. "There's something I need to do!"
Iggy turned toward him in confusion. "What exactly would that…"
Before he could finish, Roy ran down the road. The Koopalings exchanged looks, clearly all asking the same question in their head. Where exactly was Roy going?
…
Getting to Mushroom Village from Peach's Castle took much less time than it did from the Koopa Kingdom. Roy grinned to himself as he walked down the familiar streets like a boss. For once, nobody bothered to yell at him or berate him. Instead, the Mushroomers just minded their own business as he waltzed through the town. Man, Roy should've become human ages ago; would've made the trips here a lot less migraine-inducing.
After a little bit, he got to one house in particular. Adjusting his pants, he made his way up the step and rang the doorbell. Within minutes, someone answered. The someone in question was Celia Patch, Roy's half-human, half koopa girlfriend. Celia's ruby-red eyes grew wide when she saw Roy, and they only grew wider when Roy opened his mouth.
"Hey Cee! What do you think of the brand new me?"
