Chapter 16 Bandit, Oh Bandit
Lemmy's mind was in overdrive as he walked toward the next house. He held the bubble pipe in between his thumb and forefinger, scowling as he marched on ahead. Yes. Lemmy Koopa… fucking Lemonade Natalie Koopa… scowled. Tonight was just doing so many things to his psyche, wasn't it? He was feeling angry, and confused, and despondent… he didn't feel like Lemmy anymore. He felt more and more like the character who he was deciding to dress up as, which…
Maybe he should pick up the pace.
He broke out into a sprint, knowing exactly where he was going next. After he and his siblings had stopped at Mavery's house, they went to the house of a bandit. Which… honestly, thinking back, that struck Lemmy as a little strange; unorthodox, he supposed the right word was. Bandits didn't usually live in the Koopa Kingdom. They were usually seen in places like Dinosaur Land, and even then, they were pretty infrequent there. Dare Lemmy say it; they were an endangered species. This was possibly because they spent so much time stealing shit as opposed to trying to set up a productive, happy life for themselves and any potential family.
That being said, did Lemmy suspect this particular bandit? Eh… a little bit. They did have a reputation for stealing stuff, so they could be responsible for attacking either Roy or Celia. Specifically, Celia, as she did have the star bit ring. Now that Lemmy thought about it, didn't the bandit have an eye for the star bit ring when the Koopalings and Celia all stopped at his house?
Lemmy paused, his eyes growing wide. That was just it, wasn't it? That bandit was the culprit, wasn't he? It was as clear as day that he was responsible for the robbery. Maybe he wasn't responsible for the phantoms, but he was definitely responsible for the robbery. It was clear as day.
So, Lemmy put on a burst of speed, keeping his eyes peeled for the house. He found it soon enough, and he felt IMMENSELY relieved to see it. Sure, the lights were off, which probably meant the bandit was sleeping. But that didn't matter; if they were responsible for the crime, they needed to be interrogated right away so that they could do the time.
He practically bolted up the front stoop and slammed his whole body against the door. POUND POUND POUND! Doing this severely hurt his shoulder, but Lemmy didn't care. He continued pounding, an action that shook the whole door. Right as the Koopaling was worried that he might break the door down by accident, it opened up.
"Oh!" The bandit exclaimed. They rubbed their eyes and yawned, adjusting the mask on their face as they looked at Lemmy. "More trick-or-treaters at this time of night?"
Lemmy shook his head. "This isn't about trick or treating, my good sir." He stepped forward, getting so close to the bandit that he could see the sweat perspiring on their head. "I would like to ask you a few questions?"
The bandit blinked. "Questions?" He examined Lemmy's outfit, observing his serious face as well. "Uh… what kind of questions?"
More for the bandit's sake than his own, Lemmy backed up. "I was here earlier with my siblings and a family friend." He pinched the bubble pipe between his teeth so hard that he bent the tip. "And not long after we interacted with you, one of my brothers as well as his girlfriend were attacked. They are currently residing in the hospital."
"Oh. I'm… I'm sorry to hear that." The bandit's brow furrowed. "I, uh… I hope they have a speedy recovery."
"As do I, but that's not the main reason I'm here." Lemmy scrunched his brow as he glared at the potential criminal. "My brother's girlfriend was wearing a star bit ring before the attack. And when we found her in the hospital, the ring was gone."
"Really?"
"Really. Although, I think you would already know about the ring considering that you were extremely interested in it earlier."
The bandit did a double take. "Wait. You… you think I stole the ring?" Now it was his turn to glare. "I would never do that! I might be a bandit, but I don't steal things!"
"Oh really?"
"Yes! Really!" The bandit crossed their arms. "I've lived in the Koopa Kingdom for almost a decade, and in that time I have built a name and life for myself. I treat people respectfully an honestly. Do you think that I would put that in jeopardy? Do you really think that I would commit a crime against a complete stranger?"
Lemmy sniffed. "By this point, I don't know what to believe. Everything has been put into question for me since the attack." He tried to enter the door. "If you don't mind, I need to search your house."
"Are you insane?!" The bandit blocked the door with his body, creating an irritating and hard-to-move roadblock that Lemmy couldn't possibly hope to get past. "I'm not letting you in my house!"
"Spoken like the words of someone who's guilty!"
"Uh, no, spoken like the words of someone who has a right to privacy at three o'clock in the fucking morning!"
Even when that was said, Lemmy didn't stop pushing. He pushed with all his might, but the bandit wouldn't budge. In fact, the bandit just seemed to get madder the more effort Lemmy put in.
"Would you like me to call the cops?' he asked. "Because I'd be more than happy to call the cops."
Lemmy held back a scream and backed away. His anger was reaching levels that they had never topped before by him. If he had Ludwig's pyrokinesis, the whole town of Stonebrim would be going up in flames at this moment. On some level, Lemmy wanted to punch this bandit. He wanted to punch him SO badly.
"You know, after everything that has happened to me tonight, I think you are the one who I have the most reason to believe is responsible for this." The corners of his vision were red, and his face was lethal lava hot. "Nobody would be this adamant about me entering their house if they had nothing to hide."
The bandit shook their head. "You're a fucking idiot. I have no obligation or reason to let you enter my house. You really think I'm gonna bow down and let you do anything your heart desires just because you put on a ratty Shellock Holme's costume?" The bandit didn't stop glaring at him as he backed up and grabbed hold of the handle. "You, dear sir, really need to grow up."
With that, he slammed the door in Lemmy's face. Lemmy could've and probably should've walked away at that point, getting off the stoop so that he could continue the search and/or report this suspicious attitude to someone, whether it be one of his siblings or a member of law enforcement. He really should be leaving and putting this behind him, but he couldn't. He couldn't because of one simple thing that the bandit said.
"You need to grow up."
Those words had been like a knife to the heart, a punch in the face, and a venomous sting in the blood. As he thought about those words, as that five-word phrase circulated around in his head, Lemmy felt worse than he had in a while. He shouldn't; there was no reason to take the words as personally as he was. But considering everything…
Lemmy started doing a deep breathing exercise to try and calm down. He thought back to his conversation with Ludwig when they were going out to buy his costume. He thought about the perspective Ludwig had about Halloween, as well as his perspective when it came to becoming an adult. Those opinions had been fine; Lemmy didn't agree with them, but he didn't vehemently disagree with them. Sure, it stung when Ludwig said that he wasn't going to be joining his siblings trick or treating. But Lemmy hadn't taken those words personally, at least not entirely.
Here? It felt like the bandit had made a direct attack on Lemmy's mindset. He had attacked the very thing that made Lemmy who he was. "Grow up." Grow. Fucking. Up.
Lemmy hummed a low note as he looked down at the ground. He didn't need this. He didn't need to let these words bother him. This was especially true given how guilty they made the bandit appear. Before, Lemmy had been uncertain of the bandit's guilt. Now? Now, there was no doubt in his mind. The bandit had been involved in the attacks. He had stolen the star-bit ring. HE was responsible for the phantoms. Who else could it be than someone this vile? Someone so pompous and disrespectful?
Lemmy stared at the door, all while the rare feeling of rage bubbled over in his heart. "You are going to be found out," He whispered. "I am going to make sure that you realize the grievous error and offense in your words." He took a puff of his pipe and blew out some bubbles. "I, Shellock Holmes, will personally see to that."
…
Ludwig couldn't help but tremble as he flew back to Stonebrim. On some level, even though he had doubted Lemmy's theory that the eye shadow was a valid clue, he had hoped that it was. He had hoped that Mavery could be pinned down as the sole culprit of all of this because… honestly, he just wanted all the stress and worry these mysteries were making him feel to be gone. He wanted to put this awful night behind him once and for all. Everything about it was a disaster. Nothing about this night had been pleasant. That sounded ironic due to it being a holiday… but considering how stressful holidays could be in general, he supposed that it could also be seen as appropriate.
He sighed and faced forward. Stonebrim wasn't too far away; it was only a mile down the road. And considering how much ground Ludwig could cover when he was flying, he would be able to clear that mile in no time.
"I'm a peregrine falcon."
Ludwig put on a burst of speed. As he flew over Stonebrim, he kept his eyes peeled for Lemmy. He probably wouldn't be too difficult to spot, all things considered. He would probably stand out perfectly, with his rainbow mohawk being a stunning contrast to Stonebrim's monochromatic color scheme. He looked and looked, hoping to see the colors. When he didn't see anything, he immediately realized that he needed to call Lemmy back. Trying to spot him by himself was turning out to be futile. So, he got his phone out and was about to open it when…
Bzzt.
A text message? Who was texting Ludwig so late in the evening? It was probably Lemmy; that made the most logical sense. He opened his text messages, hoping to see that his brother was trying to tell him about the progress he made on his own. As a consequence, he was pretty disappointed when he opened the phone up and saw the text was from a random number.
Thankfully, the disappointment went away with a jolt when he actually opened the message up and read it.
Hi Ludwig. I'm a nurse at Emerson Shell Hospital. I've been told you were one of Roy Koopa's emergency contacts, so I wanted to tell you that he's awake. I also sent the same text to your siblings.
Ludwig gasped out loud when he read that. Roy was awake? Like, awake, alert, conscious, and aware? THAT kind of awake?
"Oh, thank the Star Spirits!" Ludwig exclaimed. He titled his head back and let out a whoop before heading toward the hospital. Oh man, Roy was awake! He was alright! He was going to be alright!
And maybe, just maybe, he could point Ludwig in the direction of an answer to these mysteries…
