Chapter 6 Forming a Plan

Iggy sweat bullets as he sat at a table in his lab. The eyes of every present sibling were locked and loaded on him, which only increased the rate of his sweating. His tail curled in a formation so tight that it would take effort to undo it. He took his glasses off, wiping the lenses with a wipe he pulled from his hammerspace. He considered keeping his spectacles off, if for no other reason than to not have to look at everybody glaring at him.

Rage tapped his foot as he stared at Iggy. "Well? You said you had a theory. Are you willing to share it with us, or do you just want to keep us hanging like the jerk that you are?"

Iggy frowned as he put his glasses back on. He took a deep breath, realizing that he couldn't avoid talking about this any longer. Every person present in the room was curious at best and filled to overflowing with impatience and anger at worst. He cleared his throat.

"My theory is based on….well, I will admit it is based on very little evidence…" Iggy gulped as everyone's glares grew more concentrated. Rage in particular looked like he was ready to wring his neck. "HOWEVER…there is at least some evidence. The piece of said evidence is what occurred to Morton immediately after I shot the Personality Splitter at him."

Everyone leaned forward. The tension and suspense in the air were so strong that Iggy could smell them, and they didn't smell good in the least. He prepared himself to talk and talk at a very fast and consistent rate.

"The forms that were Morton's five personality traits zoomed out the window and flew off in separate directions. Based on that display, it is my hypothesis that they scattered to different regions in the Mushroom World."

Everyone blinked, exchanging looks with each other that were on the border of amazed and worried. Iggy's heart beat at a pretty quick rate, one that the lanky genius recognized as not good for him in the slightest. He took deep, relaxed breaths, hoping he could calm himself.

"Wait," Roy said as he scratched his head. "The Personality Splitter wasn't made to do something like that, was it?"

Iggy bit his lip. "No, it was not. My guess is that it glitched." He held up the machine, cringing when he saw the comet chunk with a hairline crack. "It is very possible it glitched due to the fact that, when it landed on the ground, this crack formed and messed with the function of the device."

Rage glared at him. "Wow. So not only are you stupid enough to build this device, but you also decided to use it when it was very visibly broken?"

Iggy sighed. "Stupid is not the word I believe I would use. But you are correct; it was foolish and careless of me to decide to do this."

The room was quiet save for the Ludwig wearing the light blue cloak (Musical Inclination) humming a song as he sat at a table completely separate from the one all the other Koopalings sat at. Iggy scratched his head, his sweat returning in full force. He tried to speak, but it felt like his tongue had turned to stone. No words came to him, and the words that did were ones that he reasoned wouldn't provide his siblings with any sort of relief in this stress-inducing situation. So, he remained silent. He didn't even make a comment when his siblings resumed glaring at him. As much as he didn't want to admit this, he did at the very least realize that their anger toward him was more than justified.

"So what do we do then?" asked Wendy. Her voice was overloaded with concern, probably because she couldn't stand the thought of her baby brother split into five pieces and forced to wander the far reaches of the planet.

Iggy put his hands on his knees, now summoning the determination that this sort of situation demanded. "We go out and look for the Mortons."

Sarcasm snorted. "Wow. What a super genius, practical plan that nobody else could come up with."

"He does have a point," said the green-cloaked Ludwig (who Iggy had learned was his brother's determination). "I want to find the Mortys as much as the next Koopa, but this doesn't sound very…well, the plan isn't well structured."

"Yeah," Larry said. "I mean, what do we do Iggster; just wander around random parts of the Mushroom World until we find Morton?"

Iggy cringed. "Um…well, no. Not entirely at least. Since we are members of royalty, we can dispatch a fair amount of paratroopa scouts."

Lemmy smiled, making him the first person sitting at the table to do so. "Ooh! You're right! If we send out ten paratroopas to each region in the Mushroom World, we won't have any trouble whatsoever with finding the Mortons in the end!"

Iggy smiled at his little big brother. "Exactly what my mind was formulating." The others' expressions also loosened up a little, looking far less angry and far more relieved. This helped Iggy to relax a bit, to feel a little more comfortable with the plan that he had decided on. "And, obviously, the lot of us will join in on the search too. Since there are ten of us in total if we count the five Ludwigs…"

"Ooh, look at that, Mr. Big Shot is treating us as actual living beings. How quaint," Sarcasm said.

Iggy flashed the personality trait a glare before continuing. "My point is, if we split up into about five parties of two, I believe that we will be able to find our brother's traits within no time flat."

To Iggy's surprise, he saw Wendy's expression fall back into worry. She raised her hand before speaking. "Uh…how will we be able to put the traits back together when we actually locate them?"

Iggy's heart sank, and his stomach churned. Darn it. Darn it, darn it, darn it. He had hoped…no, prayed that that question wouldn't be asked.

"I…I regret to inform you guys… that I do not have a concrete plan for how to do that yet."

Rage glared at him, the expression so heated this time that it put Luigi's death stares to shame. "What?!" he growled, sounding like he was just seconds away from pulling out a knife and stabbing Iggy in the heart.

"Oh no!" Fear exclaimed. "If you don't know how to put Morton back together, then that means you don't know how to do it for us either!" He shook, putting his hands to his head as he hyperventilated. "Oh, we're going to be stuck in this state forever! We'll never be a full person ever again! We'll…we'll…" he tried to speak, but his hyperventilation got in the way. Within seconds, he sunk to the floor like a petrified puddle.

Lemmy got out of his chair and went over to Fear. "It's going to be okay," he soothed. "Just breathe; that's the most important thing right now. Just breathe."

As Lemmy comforted Fear, Determination looked Iggy right in the eye. "But…but just because you don't know how doesn't mean it's not possible, right?"

Iggy nodded. "I do not believe the separation is permanent. I theorize if I were given some time to tinker with the Personality Splitter, I would eventually be able to come up with a way to put the traits back together."

Sarcasm opened his mouth to say something, but just as instantly sunk into his chair. "Would've been nice if you found out how to do that before you split people up, but whatever," he muttered loud enough for Iggy to hear.

Iggy bit his lip. Man, he really didn't take the time to think out his plan thoroughly, did he? What was the matter with him; he was usually really good at this sort of stuff! Maybe he was just really excited to use his new device and actually get to the root of Morton's depression. Sure, that last motivation was noble to some degree, but… maybe Iggy should be labeled with the word "stupid" after all. How could he hope to help his brother if he put him through a transformation that could possibly be permanent?

He shook his head. No, he shouldn't think like that. There was a way to reverse the splitting. Sure, he didn't know what it was at the moment, but he could easily figure out what it was eventually. And once he did, and once Morton's five traits have been found, he was going to put both Morton and Ludwig back together good as new. He was going to put this whole massive failure behind him (all while learning from it, of course. He couldn't let his emotions and desires get in the way of what was safe and sensible).

"Well," Wendy said. "As long as you find the solution eventually, I don't think we have much of a reason to worry."

Iggy smiled. "Yes, indeed." He stood up, now preparing to put on his brave face. "Now, let us go and try to send out those scouts, shall we?"

…

Two hours later, Iggy stood in front of a throng of paratroopas. The number was great obviously, as there was a very large amount of regions within the Mushroom World that needed to be searched. He spoke to them, the words flowing like water out of a faucet despite his own high-strung and worried mental state.

"And so," Iggy said, finally coming to the end of the orders he needed to deliver, "it is vital that you search, and search to the best of your abilities. I do not know what sort of dangers the five Morton's could be facing, nor do I feel particularly excited to imagine them." He shuddered. "So, please. Search the skies, search the ground, search the seas. Do not stop until you find the Mortons!"

"Yes sir!" The scouts said. They turned and started flying out of the room. The air filled with their bodies, and the only sound Iggy could hear was the flapping of their wings. It was a nice sound; somewhat distracting from the very real worry and guilt staining the innermost reaches of Iggy's mind. He was actually a little sad when it was silenced. Mostly because he was somewhat scared of what was going to happen next.

He stepped down from the platform and went over to his siblings, who stood near the walls of the throne room. They didn't look nearly as angry as they did when they were all in the lab together, but even then, they sure weren't happy. Iggy fidgeted with his fingers, biting his lips so hard that he tasted blood. He could do this; he was just giving out an innocent order. Sure, he didn't like looking at his siblings' faces at the moment, but he forced himself to for the sake of Morton.

"Well…I believe now is the time where we should head out." He studied his siblings, deciding who should be paired with who. "Roy, go with Lemmy. Larry, go with Rage. Determination and Musical Inclination should go together, and Wendy will go with Fear. As for me…" he cringed and looked at the orange cloaked Ludwig. "I will go with Sarcasm."

Sarcasm smirked. "What a dream team we will make, you and I."

Iggy cringed even harder, already regretting his decision. However, he pushed that to the side. "I believe, if we spread out, we'll be done within no time at all." He pulled out his phone. "Make sure that everyone keeps their cellular devices in hand. I want us to be able to communicate with each other in case we locate one of the Mortons. Got that?" Everyone else took out their phones and nodded at Iggy. Once he saw that, he sighed, put his phone in his hammerspace, and faced forward.

"Well…let's get going, shall we?"