Chapter 5 Shot and Split

Topaz chirped as Morton pet her. The little sounds she made were probably the sweetest noises any animal was capable of making, and they made Morton's heart soar. Sure, this dumb little pigeon had already displayed quite the attitude, and had caused him a problem or two. Even then, he wasn't at all bitter towards her. Maybe it was because she was more adorable than a teddy bear made of marshmallows, maybe he found her little sarcastic quips to be in that special realm of "entertainingly sassy." Or maybe it was because he had spent five hundred coins on her and stubbornly refused to see buying her as a waste of money. Either way, sitting with his golden parakeet now was quite enjoyable. All ill will he held toward Topaz had vanished into the ether.

"Who's a good girl?" He cooed as he scratched her head.

The silly little bird closed her eyes as Morton pet her, letting out a sound that resembled a purr of sorts. "I'm a good girl. I'm the best girl."

Morton smirked. "Yes, yes you are." He traced his finger down the length of her body, finding joy in discovering how silky smooth her feathers were. "You're worth every penny I spent on you."

Topaz laughed. "I'd write that down if I had opposable thumbs."

Morton laughed. He rose from the bed, all while keeping Topaz perched on his finger. He couldn't keep his eyes off of her even as he placed her back in her cage and closed the door. She looked so…content. Sure, she still had enough snark to be dubbed the queen of smartasses, but Morton still felt that she was the perfect bird. Yeah, he really did make a good choice with her, and he wasn't just saying that because he was scared at facing her wrath.

He turned back around and made his way over to his bed. As he did, his two other pets jumped on his bed: Toasty the cat and Wiggles the chain chomp. He pet both of them, garnering a purr from Toasty and a pant from Wiggles.

"Don't worry you guys," he said, his voice softer and hopefully more soothing to the animals. "Just because I got Topaz doesn't mean that I love you two any less….but I will have to set one of you free." He chuckled. "I'm just kidding; I would never do that."

"Aw, come on!" Topaz exclaimed. "I was looking forward to that!"

Morton cast her a glare, but she just flapped her wings and chirped. He shook his head before laying his head down on the pillow. Sure, it was only noon time, but he was tired. He didn't care if Iggy scolded him for being lazy; he was going to sleep most of the day of the way. It's not like he had anything better to do; he was a prince, after all. The only thing that he really had on his to do list today was changing Toasty's litter box and giving Wiggles a bath. But even then, those two tasks could easily be tackled when he woke up. Even though they were tied to his pets, which he loved more than life itself, they weren't that high up on the importance scale. He could take care of them later.

So, he closed his eyes. He did some deep breathing, getting ready to drift off into the elusive realm of Dreamland. He had absolutely no idea what he would find there, but there was one guarantee. That being that Dreamworld would be much more pleasant to live in than reality. A rogue nightmare every now and then never detracted from that constant, undeniable truth. Morton sunk deeper into his bed as he pulled the covers up to his neck. He thought about what he'd like to see in Dreamworld. He hoped it was Rainbow Mare. He recently rewatched Seasons one and two, so while seeing her in his dreams wouldn't be too terribly original, it would at the very least be in its own league of pleasant. He yawned, just about ready to fall asleep when…

BAM BAM BAM!

Morton groaned. Oh great, his siblings. What did they want? Well, whatever it was, it could wait until Morton woke up. He wasn't going to miss out on some decent quality "beauty sleep" (heh, that was funny because Morton was ugly). So, he groaned and placed the pillow over his head.

"GO AWAY!" He shouted.

BAM BAM BAM!

Okay, the amount of force they were putting into banging on the door actually frightened Morton a little bit. Sure, he knew the likelihood of his siblings hurting him was pretty slim, but it still made him nervous to hear them be this passionate about trying to get into his room. So, Morton sat up and opened his eyes. He decided right then and there that he'd better see what they wanted, as the last thing that he wanted to deal with was a door knocked right off its hinges. He got up and opened the door, expecting to see Roy behind it due to how much strength was involved with the knocking. To his shock, it wasn't Roy. Instead, it was Iggy of all people.

"Iggy?" Morton studied his appearance. He noticed Iggy had a raised fist, possibly because he had been preparing to bang on Morton's poor, innocent door a third time. However, that wasn't what drew Morton's attention the most. Iggy had a device in hand, one of the oddest ones Morton had ever seen. Sure, none of the gadgets that Iggy tinkered with didn't fit anyone's definition of "normal," but still. It…it looked more like a gun than Morton was comfortable with. So, as a consequence, the sight of this device gripped tightly in Iggy's left palm made Morton a little concerned about what was going to happen. "Iggy what are you…?"

In a blink and you'll miss moment, Iggy raised the device. Morton only barely ducked just in time to avoid getting shot by the strange blast that came out of it. This not only made him sweat, but also made his heart beat accelerate at an alarming rate.

"IGGY, WHAT THE HELL?"

Iggy walked deeper into the room. "I'm doing this for you Morty. This is for your own good." Despite those words, he still shot his gun with the cold, dead gaze that Morton would've only expected from a character like the Terminator. Morton only barely managed to avoid getting shot by him this time around.

"Stay back!" He picked up his pillow, hoping to use it as a shield. He did so successfully, managing to block Iggy shooting at his head and at his feet. Just as he was wondering if his brother had completely lost his marbles, the other Koopalings came into the room. Wendy and Lemmy were at the front of the pack, and when they saw the downright psychotic behavior Iggy had, they both let out the loudest gasps ever.

"IGGY, STOP!" Lemmy exclaimed.

"IGGY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Just as Iggy was about to shoot Morton again, she stepped in between the two of them. "Iggy, don't you think you should…oh, I don't know, explain what you plan t do?"

Iggy just gave their sister a glare. "If I explained what I wanted to do to Morton, then the likelihood of him allowing me to do this would decrease dramatically."

That statement made Morton sweat even more. "Wait, what? What exactly do you want to do to me then?"

Iggy ignored him. "Wendy, get out of the way." He aimed what Morton hypothesized was some sort of deadly ray gun.

"No!" Wendy stepped forward. "Iggy, I know you want to help…" (wait, how would blasting Morton's head off HELP anybody?). "But we need to think critically about this!"

"I AM thinking critically about this!" Iggy raised the gun again, but right before he shot it, Lemmy ran up and pulled him backwards. This caused Iggy to shriek, pulling the trigger in the direction of the ceiling.

When fired, the blast ricocheted around the room. All four Koopalings shrieked and put their hands to their heads, as if that was a foolproof way to avoid being blasted into oblivion. Topaz squawked, and both Wiggles and Toasty jumped off the bed in absolute terror. Morton was just about to go attend to them when he got hit. A tingling sensation occurred all over his body, a very strong and inescapable one.

That was the last thing he remembered before his world went black.

…

Iggy gawked, all without taking his eyes off of Morton. The Koopaling's form glowed, writhing about as he got split into five. The five lights, each a different color, stayed floating above Morton's floor for about a minute or two. Iggy stepped forward, eager to see what would happen when they formed into fully sentient, physical bodies.

But then, the light flickered. This caused Iggy's heart to race; that wasn't supposed to happen! It hadn't happened, at least in the two times he had actually tested out his Personality Splitter. He noticed Wendy stepping away from the lights, which flickered so much that, for a split second, Iggy worried if they were going to vanish completely. He didn't know what he would do with himself if that actually happened, if his brother's death was caused by him specifically…

Thankfully, that didn't happen. Instead, the colored lights shot out Morton's window. They moved at such a fast speed that they actually caused Topaz's cage to topple onto its side, with the feisty yellow parrot screeching and flapping her wings in terror. Iggy, Lemmy, and Wendy rushed toward the window, with the latter picking up the cage and soothing Morton's bird. All the while, Iggy gawked as he saw the lights that had previously been his brother zip off, splitting up and going to what Iggy could only say were completely random locations.

"Oh no." Iggy backed away from the window (almost running into Topaz's cage as he did). "Oh no no no; this is bad! This is very very very bad!"

"You think!?" Wendy exclaimed, glaring at him with an anger that she didn't usually display. "What the hell is the matter with you; why didn't you stop and actually think about this?"

While that was being said, Larry, Roy, and four out of the five Ludwigs bounded into the room. They all looked around, blinking as they examined the room that was no longer graced by Morton's presence.

"What happened?" Roy asked. "W…where's Morton?"

Iggy shook, looking down at his Personality Splitter. "G…gone."

"GONE?" Larry shouted. "As in DEAD?"

"I…I'm not sure…" Iggy responded.

"YOU'RE NOT SURE?" Ludwig's rage rushed forward and hoisted Iggy up by the armpits. He seethed with such a visceral form of anger, one that actually made Iggy fear for his life. "HOW STUPID ARE YOU? WHAT DID YOU DO TO OUR BROTHER? TELL ME!"

Those last two words were said with so much hate, more so than Iggy had thought possible for a Koopa to express (but then again, Rage wasn't exactly what Iggy would call a fully formed Koopa).

"Look, I don't know what happened." Iggy looked back down at his device, looking specifically at the crack that had been formed when the comet sliver landed on the hard floor of the lab. "There…there was a glitch."

Sarcasm snorted. "Well that's helpful."

The green Ludwig pushed the others back. "What does that mean, exactly?" He removed Iggy from Rage's grip and looked him straight in the eye. "What sort of glitch was it? What did it do to Morton?"

Iggy took in a deep breath, if for no other reason than to not feel stressed out by being on the receiving end of everyone's glares. "I…I don't think I killed him…"

Sarcasm snorted. "You think huh? Wow, really selling us with how confident you are."

Wendy stepped towards Iggy. "Well, if you didn't kill him, what did you do to him?"

Iggy wiped the sweat off his brow. "Well…I have a theory…"