Chapter 4 My Personality Splitter

It was a stroke of genius really. Sure, that wasn't saying much, as most of Iggy's best and most groundbreaking inventions came from a stroke of genius. Heck, every single minute of every single day for Iggy involved a brilliant idea or an ingenious action, a fact that the Koopaling himself was acutely aware of. So…yeah, if one took that into account, looking at Iggy building his newest device wouldn't necessarily be all that impressive.

Regardless, Iggy was still really proud of himself. He had taken his knowledge of the Prankster Comets and implemented it into his newest device, taking advantage of the galaxium and bending its properties to his will. That only was an awesome feeling, but it was elevated multiple levels up because he was going to use this device to help out his little brother.

Iggy grinned as he tightened one last screw of his ray gun-like invention. At the very top of the gun, situated in front of the laser that put the "ray" in the ray gun name, was the comet sliver. Based on what he had seen of the comet, it had originally been part of a larger cosmic comet. Those comets created clones of people, clones with their own minds and their sentience. Sure, the idea Iggy had in mind for the ray gun didn't have that exact function. However, he had made the proper adjustments, prepping the gun for what he really wanted to do with it.

What was that exactly? Well, Iggy didn't want to say that aloud in case the device didn't function. However, it would be something jaw-droppingly amazing.

Once the finished tightening the screw, Iggy stood up. He walked across the lab with the ray gun in hand, staring at a cage with white mice in it. With a careful touch, Iggy pulled one of the mice out of the cage and placed it on one of the lab tables. He grinned. He pointed the gun, focusing on the little rodent. He felt so powerful. He felt like the very fabric of reality was his for the bending.

"One…" Iggy smiled. He hadn't even used the device yet, and already his mood was at an all time high. "Two…" he tightened his finger around the trigger. That poor little mouse wouldn't even know what hit him. "THREE!"

He fired. The comet chunk glowed as a laser-focused ray shot out of the gun. It hit the mouse, causing the poor thing to practically squeak as an overwhelming white light overtook it. When the light cleared, there wasn't one mouse on the table, but rather, five.

Iggy did a fist pump and jumped into the air. "YES!" He approached the mice, which all had different fur colors than the original one. One was gray and in a deep sleep. Another one had yellow fur, and raced around the perimeter of the table (it was a miracle it didn't fall off). An orange one stared at Iggy, sniffing in a way that only the most curious of animals could. A blue one sat very still, letting out some of the most miserable squeaks Iggy had ever heard. Last but not least, there was a red one. The only thing the red mouse did was stare at Iggy, giving him glares that very few people on the planet could replicate the intensity of.

The plant haired Koopaling reached toward the red mouse. "It's okay, mousy, mousy, mousy." For a split second, when he had his hand hovering over the red mouse's head, the animal did nothing. It just continued glaring, its breathing short yet at the same time strong and startling. Then, without any warning whatsoever, the red mouse pounced on Iggy's finger and bit him.

"YIPE!" Iggy shrieked. He waved his hand, hoping that the horrid little member of the Muridae family would fall to the floor. It did, thankfully, but then it bit and attacked Iggy's foot.

Iggy cringed. "Hmm. Quite painful, if I do say so myself." He kicked the mouse, causing it to fly from one side of the room to the other. It laid on the ground, completely unconscious. Once he was absolutely certain that the crazy beast wouldn't wake up, Iggy returned to grinning. "But Mama Mia, this is a success if I've ever had one!" He looked down at the ray gun, his grin going bigger and bigger the longer he stared at the beautiful device (HIS beautiful device). "This is perfect! Absolutely perfect!"

The second he finished saying that, the door to his lab opened up. All of his siblings (with the exception of Morton), came into the lab. They all had varying levels of concern in their expression, with some (most notably Larry), staring at Iggy with slanted eyebrows and unforgiving frowns.

"Iggy!" Larry exclaimed. He marched down into the lab, looking more than a little cross. "What in the Mushroom World have you been doing, man! You haven't come out of the lab in three whole days!"

"Yes," Iggy said, the grin not falling from his face. "Three glorious days."

Wendy came down, her hands planted firmly on her hips. "Iggy, your hair is drooping." Iggy blinked when he said that, putting his hand up to his infamous plant mohawk. "Plus, you stink to high heavens!" As if to further illustrate her point, she wrinkled her nose. "Whatever you were doing in here all this time, I sure hope to Grambi that it was important!"

"Oh, it was!" Iggy replied. "It most certainly was!" He displayed the ray gun. "Behold, my siblings! I have done what no koopa has ever done before!" He giggled. "So, yeah, more of a typical Tuesday for somebody like me, but no less awe-inspiring!"

Ludwig snorted. "Yes, because neglecting your health for the sake of a rinky dinky toy is definitely awe-inspiring."

For the first time since his family came into the room, the grin fell off Iggy's face. He flashed Ludwig a glare instead. "For your information, oldest brother, this device isn't something that can be described as 'rinky,' 'dinky," and it most certainly cannot be slapped with the 'toy' label either." He ran his fingers along the length of the gun, similar to how one would pet a cat or a dog.

"Really?" Lemmy asked. He, Ludwig, and Roy stepped into the lab, all eyeing Iggy with a caution that, in all honesty, Iggy didn't think was necessary in the slightest. "Then what exactly is it?"

Iggy beamed. "Only my greatest invention to date! It's right up there with my time machine in terms of ingenuity, but also has the benefit of having a sleeker, lighter, and more practical design!"

Roy blinked. "I don't know what any of those words mean." He shook his head. "Whatever. Does this 'amazing' invention of yours have a name?"

Iggy froze. "Uh." He looked down at the device, feeling embarrassed for a brief spell that he had neglected to do the most essential part of any invention; naming and patenting it. "Um…" after a minute, it struck him. Another brilliant idea flashed through his mind that he just had to act upon. "Of course it has a name!" He held the gun high above his head. "I call it the Personality Splitter!"

Ludwig raised an eyebrow. "The Personality Splitter?"

"Well that's a lame name if I've ever heard one," Larry said.

Roy scratched his bald pink head, squinting at the device in confusion. "Uh…what does it do exactly?"

Larry snickered. "As if that isn't obvious from its poorly thought up name."

Iggy glared at Larry, even going so far as to growl a little bit. "It is a fair question, Lawrence." He displayed the device again, trying not to let the doubts of his intellectually inferior siblings deter him from displaying his invention with the most appropriate level of pride. "This doohickey was built to harness the power of the cosmic comet chunk, which is located here." He pointed toward the sliver on the device, which actually caused Wendy and Lemmy to back up a little bit with fear in their eyes. Iggy noticed this, so he let out a hearty chuckle. "There is no need to become worrisome. I have manipulated the comet's powers to my own liking, allowing me to give the device a function that is quite unique, if I do say so myself."

Wendy frowned. "And is that function splitting up a person's personality, by any chance?"

"That is exactly what it is!" Iggy beamed at her. "The device, when fired at a person, splits them up into the five core parts of their personality. These traits are given physical bodies of their own, allowing them to wander the world as if they were completely normal people themselves."

Ludwig snorted again and crossed his arms. "Somehow, I really doubt that, Iggster."

Iggy sharpened his gaze and frowned at the oldest. "Oh, you doubt my abilities and statements, do you?" Slowly but surely, the smile returned to his face. He looked straight into Ludwig, his gaze so sharp that it could drill a hole large enough to penetrate his soul. Ludwig noticed this, causing him to visibly squirm. Iggy, however, didn't care; he had a point to prove. "Well, maybe you will change your mind when I do…THIS!" He pointed the wand at Ludwig, pushing the trigger so quickly that he didn't even have the option of running away.

"IGGY!" Wendy yelled.

"DUDE, ARE YOU CRAZY?" Roy yelled.

Iggy just cackled. He watched as the light enveloped his oldest brother. Before his very eyes, Ludwig's form split and formed into five different, individual bodies. The jaws of all of Iggy's other present siblings dropped when the light cleared, showing five Ludwigs. Each one of them wore a different color cloak; one red, one dusty purple, one sky blue, one orange, and one green.

"What the heck?" Larry said.

"Man," said Lemmy. "One Ludwig is already plenty enough, we don't need five."

The red cloaked Ludwig glared at Lemmy. "What was that, midget?" Blue fire covered his entire form, so strong that Iggy could feel the heat even from where he stood. "Repeat that, I dare you!" He walked over to Lemmy, who stared at his brother's personality trait in fear. "REPEAT IT!"

Wendy gasped. "This must be Ludwig's rage!" Sweat beads formed all over her body. She began hyperventilating as the purple Ludwig shook and got into a feeble position. "Iggy, put him back together before the castle burns!"

Iggy hesitated. "Um…I still need to figure out how to do that manually…"

Rage directed his attention away from Lemmy and glared at Iggy instead. "You…" He approached, leaving singe marks on the floor while the lights above surged. "YOU DID THIS TO ME! YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!" He readied his hand, looking ready to kill Iggy and burns his remains to ashes. "FIX THIS, IDIOT! FIX…"

Right as Iggy's fear reached an all time high, he reached into his hammerspace and pulled out a backup power suppressor. He stuck onto Rage's chest, causing his flames to disappear. Rage growled as Iggy typed a passcode.

"And…there!" Iggy said. He gave Rage a stern look. "Good luck getting that off. I changed the passcode."

Rage growled at him, displaying his teeth like a ferocious dog. "I hate you…"

Purple Ludwig slowly rose out of the feeble position. "Oh, thank you Iggy!" He ran over and hugged the middle child. "That was horrific! Thank you for stopping it before it escalated!"

Orange Ludwig snorted. "Geez, you two really need to get a room. I'm getting major loser vibes from both of you; you're perfect for each other!"

Iggy gave Orange Ludwig a look Purple Ludwig gawked at him. "That won't be necessary, Sarcasm." He looked back at purple Ludwig. "And don't worry Fear; we don't need to take him seriously."

Fear nodded despite his trembling form. "O…okay…"

Wendy shook her head, clearly trying to gather her bearings over after seeing this bizarre display. "Iggy…why would you even make a device like this? Sure, it's pretty cool, but why would anybody need this?"

Iggy smiled. "I'm glad you asked, dear sister." He faced all five (or rather, nine) of the Koopas present. "I have a hunch about our brother Morton. His behavior is very symptomatic of a greater condition, one that is incredibly difficult to deal with alone and one that we need to find the root cause of."

Lemmy blinked. "What condition would that be?"

Iggy took a breath. "The condition in question is…"

Before he could say anymore, Rage slapped him in the back of the head. The action surprised him so much that he actually dropped the Personality Splitter. It landed right right on the comet sliver.

"Hey!" Iggy rubbed the spot that was hit as he picked the gun back up. "What was that for?"

Rage growled. "I hate your face."

"Wow," Iggy said, glaring at him. "How incredibly mature of you." He looked back at everyone else. "The condition in question is Depression. And I want to use my Personality Splitter to find out the root cause of it." His brow furrowed. "I do not wish for Morton to suffer in silence. Depression is a very serious condition and could take our brother down very dark roads if we don't do something to help."

That statement caused the incredulity and disbelief to fall off of everyone's faces. Most if not all of them directed their heads to the ground, clearly trying to process everything.

"I…I see," Wendy said. She looked back up at Iggy. "You really think this can help?"

"Absolutely," said Iggy.

Wendy let out a breath. "Well…I guess it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to do…"

"Yeah," said Lemmy. He actually sniffled. "If Morton needs our help, and this is the only way to do it…" A tear fell from his eye as he looked back at Iggy. "Then I say we do it."

Iggy smiled. "I appreciate the fact that you agree with me." He walked toward the door. "Well, we should probably make our way to Morton's room as soon as…"

Right at that moment, a sound came from the Personality Splitter. It sounded like a spark, specifically one coming from a sparkler. Iggy blinked and looked down at the device, noticing that a spark was coming from the comet sliver. It fizzled in and out, making Iggy a little bit concerned.

"What's it doing?" asked the green cloaked Ludwig.

"I don't know…" Iggy stared at it before shaking his head. "It's probably nothing. Let's not let it distract us from our mission."

The others briefly hesitated before following him.