Chapter 30 Koopas Again

"Ludwig. Ludwig, wake up!"

Ludwig groaned, trying his best to open his eyes. When he finally managed to do that, at first, his vision was blurry. So blurry, in fact, that the world around him looked like low-resolution flashes of light. He groaned again, trying to remember what happened.

"Ludwig!"

His vision started to readjust itself back into focus. When it did, the best kind of surprise that he had ever felt surged through his heart. Aria's face was right there, fully visible. He thought he liked looking into Aria's face before, but now? The sight of her made his soul jump for joy.

"Aria…" Ludwig noticed hos groggy his voice was. He cleared his throat, raising himself to a sitting position without once taking his eyes off her face. "You're alright?"

Aria nodded, grinning as she did. "The ritual worked beautifully." She wrapped her arms around him. "You did such a great job."

A smile graced Ludwig's lip. He returned Aria's hug, noticing that his hands looked like Koopa hands once again. Like most of the times when he had returned from a physical transformation, the sight brought him joy. He felt content like he was in the place where his heart belonged. He let out a little laugh, squeezing Aria even tighter.

"Oh, heck yeah!"

Ludwig removed himself from Aria's embrace to get a glance at his siblings. Most of them were still trying to come back around, with Larry being the first one to fully wake up. He studied his body, grinning a devilish grin the more of it he saw. "I'm back!" He whooped and raised his hands in the air. "I'm not a sweaty meat bag anymore!"

Ludwig snorted. He was just about to say that Larry was a scaly meat bag now until the others came around. All of them examined themselves, with all sorts of various reactions.

Roy wore a look of uttermost confidence as he flexed. "Oh yeah." He kissed his bicep. "Koopa or human, these guns are still glorious."

Wendy frowned as she pulled a mirror out of her hammerspace and looked at her reflection. "Aww man, talk about a downgrade."

Iggy adjusted his glasses and looked around with an approving stare. "I can see that everything is effectively back to normal. What a superb turn of events."

Ludwig chuckled. He rose to a standing position right as Lemmy turned his head toward him. When he saw Ludwig, he beamed and ran over.

"I guess everything turned out alright!"

"Yeah, it did," Ludwig said. Suddenly, he noticed that he and the other Koopalings were still wearing the clothes they wore in their human forms. He chuckled at the sight of this and projected his voice. "Guys, I think we can take our clothes off now."

Roy gasped. "Oh, sweet!" He ripped off his clothes, standing up straight and tall and grinning a shit-eating grin. "Man, nudity is the absolute best man, let me tell you."

Ludwig rolled his eyes, and he noticed Morton doing the same thing while shaking his head. The dark-skinned Koopaling stood up and looked at one part of the room in particular. "Hey, Mario!" He rushed over and picked up the portly plumber. "Are you guys okay?"

As Morton helped Mario to his feet, the plumber groaned. He put his hand to his head, almost collapsing right on top of the Koopa assisting him. "I'm… I'm alright." He got a look at Morton and grinned. "And it seems like you guys are alright too."

"Better believe it!" Larry exclaimed. He rushed over to Mario just as Peach, Luigi, and Toadette got back to their feet too. "I could conquer the world right now!"

Mario glared at him. "Do that, and I'm gonna beat you up real good in the boss battle arena." This made Larry shrink back a little, but just as he did, Mario smiled and ruffled his hair. "That being said, I am happy to see you guys as yourselves again."

Ludwig beamed. He looked down at his hands. He looked down at his body. He looked at Aria, his siblings, the heroes that had accompanied them on this journey. In this moment, everything seemed to click for him. No longer did he worry about the future. No longer was there any reason to worry about anything, because things were back to normal. They could now return to their normal lives, to the routines and practices that brought every single one of them joy. This feeling, of having a metaphorical weight being lifted off his chest, was the most liberated he felt since being turned into a human. Oh man, he had a feeling that everyone would adjust back to normal nicely.

At least, he did until a question occurred in his mind, one that made him gasp. "Oh my gosh! Bowser!" He turned toward Bowser's unconscious body and rushed over. "Bowser, are you in there? Are you…"

Much to Ludwig's relief, Bowser groaned before Ludwig had even finished his sentence. He rose to his feet, his body now returned to its proper color. "Wh… what happened? The last thing I remember was…"

"BOWSER!" Lemmy squealed. He rushed forward, wrapping Bowser's enormous form in the greatest hug his tiny body could produce. "Oh Bowser, I'm so glad you're okay!"

Bowser gawked. "Lemmy? How…?" Before he could finish his sentence, the other Koopalings all joined in on the hug. Ludwig even noticed a few of them had tears in their eyes.

"Oh Bowser, I was so worried about you?" Wendy said.

"Yeah!" Roy exclaimed. "You were possessed and everything!"

"Possessed? What are you talking about?" He looked at his children. "How are you guys Koopas again?" He groaned. "And why do I feel like I had fireballs shot at me?"

"Oh. Yeah, sorry about that," Wendy said. She pulled away from him, as did everyone else. "We kinda had to engage in battle to get rid of the Shadow Seeker; sorry about that."

Bowser gawked before shaking his head. "Man, these last few days have been so strange…" he looked back at his children, blinking before putting on a smile. "But either way, I'm glad to see you guys back to normal."

Ludwig approached now. "We are too." He, as well as the others, hugged Bowser again. Ludwig's mind brought him back to the time they hugged Bowser before he left them in the Mushroom Kingdom, which made him a little teary eyed. That hug felt bitter and sad. This one, by contrast… well, nothing Ludwig could say could adequately described how he felt about this hug. He didn't know if he would use the word "perfect," because… well, nothing is perfect. But even with that said… well, it was pretty close.

"Oh," Bowser said as he returned the hug. "I missed you, my babies." After a minute, he pulled away. "Hey, where's Junior?"

"He's still in the Mushroom Kingdom," Mario said as he approached Bowser.

The Koopa King gasped. "Mario? You helped my kids defeat the Shadow Seeker?" When Mario nodded, Bowser scratched the back of his head. "Damn, I guess that means I owe you something…"

"You don't owe me anything, Bowser." Mario took a step closer. "Just… live your lives well. And take care of your kids; they need a good father in their lives."

Bowser, at first, didn't look like he knew how to react to that. Eventually, he chuckled. "Well… I can certainly do that." He pulled his kids into another hug. Ludwig didn't know if it was just his imagination, but this hug felt like the best one of all.

…

Knock knock knock.

Celia blinked. Putting down a book she had been reading, she went to the door. She had no idea who she would see on the other side, as her parents didn't usually knock when they got back home from a shopping trip. So… wait. Could… could this be Roy? Could he be the one knocking? Could… could he be back to normal? Oh man, if he was… well, Celia didn't want to get her hopes too high, but the thought of seeing her boyfriend in his true form…

She scurried to the door. She rested her hand on the knob for a little bit, taking a deep breath to prepare herself for what she could potentially see (and what she could potentially not see). When she finally opened the door, she gasped out loud. A smile grew on her face when she saw him.

"Hey Cee!" Roy beamed. "I'm a koopa again!"

Without any more words, Celia pulled him into a hug. A little "woah" escaped from his mouth when she did, and he stayed still for a few minutes. Eventually, though, he returned the hug. He squeezed her as hard as he could, a sensation that Celia loved with every fiber of her being. Being in Roy's arms… being in Roy's scaly, reptilian arms, made her feel safe. It made her feel warm on the inside like everything was going to work out in the end. Oh man, she didn't even realize how much she missed this when Roy was stuck in human form, but now that she was experiencing it again...

"Oh, Roy." She laughed, her joy threatening to bounce out of her. "Oh Roy, you have no idea how much I missed seeing you like this." She pulled away, looking at his gorgeous purple eyes which were so unfortunately covered up by his trademark shades. "I like you best as a Koopa."

Roy laughed. "I like me best as a Koopa too." He flexed and prompted Celia to feel his biceps. She did, and the act of doing so made her laugh. Roy really was at his best when he was in his true form.

Which… actually made her realize something.

"Hey, Roy… I've reached a decision." Roy blinked, and Celia let out a breath while pushing a strand of hair out of her face. "I… I think I'm going to stay as a hybrid."

Roy gasped. "Oh! That's great!" He grinned. "Heck, that's more than great; that's really awesome to hear!" He took a step closer to her. "What made you decide that?"

"Well… being a hybrid… it just feels right. I feel like I can be my true self. I mean, it is my true form, after all." She chuckled, her face growing warm. "And… well, I kind of like my true self. I know there are a lot of people who don't, but you know what? I… I don't have to listen to them. I have plenty of people who like me for me." She smiled. "I see no reason to change that."

Roy never grinned so widely. "Oh, Cee." He patted her on the back. "I'm really glad you feel that way." He giggled. "I like your true self."

Celia's face grew even warmer than before. "Thanks." She let out a breath. "I… I think this is for the best."

"I think so too." Roy gestured toward the door. "Now, would you like to go out on a date? That was the main reason why I came here."

Celia laughed. "Oh, so showing me you're a koopa again was a secondary motivator?" She chuckled and shook her head. "Well, okay; I would love to go on a date."

"Awesome!" Roy extended his arm, and Celia entwined her own arm with his. As she closed the door and they began walking away, Celia noticed something. Somehow, she felt a lot better than she usually did. Maybe this was because she reached a final decision, maybe it was because she was with the boy she loved. Either way… well, things were certainly starting to look up."

…

Wendy let out a breath. She smoothed out the folds of the baby pink dress she wore. She looked at the door to the Toad Brigade Headquarters, her mind thinking of all the possible paths the future could take. A lot of them were bad. In fact, all except one were terrible. By all means, just based on statistics alone, Wendy should probably turn back around and head home. Any sane person would do that.

And yet… there was that one good outcome. The one good outcome that outweighed all the bad. The one good outcome that she hoped beyond hope would happen.

With those thoughts in mind, she swallowed a lump and knocked on the door. The wait took less than ten seconds, as the door was opened pretty much immediately. On the other side, Wendy was beyond thrilled to see Toadette, beaming at her like they had known each other for years.

"Hey! Wendy!" She blinked. "What brings you here?"

Wendy hesitated. "Well…" Man, she was nervous. Sure, Toadette had responded positively to seeing her on her doorstep, which did help a little bit. But even still, Wendy couldn't help but worry that this would all go wrong eventually. "Uh… I was wondering… if you'd like to hang out?"

Toadette did a double-take. "Hang out?"

"Well… yeah. I was hoping we could hang out… as friends." She held out her hands just as Toadette opened her mouth. "Now, you don't have to do it if you don't want to. If you don't want to be friends with me anymore, then I completely understand." She cringed and put her head in her hands. "Oh man, I'm already regretting coming here…"

"Wendy, I'd love to go hang out with you!"

Wendy's eyes grew wide. She gawked at Toadette, unsure if she had heard things correctly. "You sure?"

"Yeah! Like I said before, you seem like a good person." She stepped forward. "I wouldn't mind being friends with you. Provided, of course, that you don't lie to me again."

Wendy's heart welled with warmth. "Aww, Toadette!" She squeed. "You've got yourself a deal! No more lies from here on out!"

Toadette grinned. She stepped out of the building, closed the door, and followed Wendy to where she wanted to take her. As they walked, Wendy couldn't believe how lucky she was. She was the luckiest Koopa in the world, not just because Toadette was willing to give her a chance, but also because they met in the first place. Sure, being turned into a human had been scary and disorienting (not to mention difficult). But in Wendy's eyes at least, it was completely worth it.

…

"Aww!" Ludwig exclaimed. He grinned as he lay in Aria's bed, feeling a level of happiness he couldn't ever remember feeling. He looked over at Aria, who lay right beside him. "That was amazing."

"Yeah," Aria breathed out. She straightened her tussled hair and sat up, all while grinning. "Man, this was well worth the wait."

Ludwig snickered. "You mean the wait brought upon by a demon breaking loose and cursing us in some of the most vile ways possible?"

Aria laughed. "Yeah. It may have been a little nerve-wracking, but I ultimately think that it made things even better." She leaned closer to his ear. "I've never felt so happy."

"Me neither," Ludwig said. He looked up at the ceiling as Aria pulled back and laid back down in the bed. "I just… well, I hope that we won't have to deal with any more Shadow Seekers again."

"Oh trust me, we won't." Aria chuckled. "I've gone out of my way to make containers that are even more durable than the last one I used. No demon is going to break out anytime soon, let me tell ya!"

Ludwig let out a breath. "Oh, good." He turned his head away from the ceiling and looked at Aria, lying down so perfectly next to him. "I'm glad I can see you again."

Aria turned her head, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm glad you're you again."

Ludwig chuckled. It seemed that, despite all the fright and confusion, things had eventually all worked out. Oh man, was there a happier ending than this?

AN: And… there we go! It's all finished! And I've gotta say, I'm pretty satisfied! Well, at least for the most part; looking back, I think I could've handled some things better (like the Shadow Seeker, for example). But overall, I'm happy with this. I like the finished product. What did you guys think? Please tell me in the comments.

Well, now that this is all set, I will resume work on Fortune's Comet shortly. Thank you everyone for tuning in. Stay safe and stay awesome! :)