Chapter 27 Cosmic Trouble

The person that Lemmy currently had pinned to the ground was himself. Except… it also wasn't himself. The figure's skin appeared to be made completely from sparkly purple clouds, with eyes that resembled yellow stars. Lemmy, along with the other Koopalings, couldn't help but gawk. The double… clone… figure… whatever it was didn't move. They didn't even blink. They just stared into Lemmy's eyes, with no emotion and no concern for anyone or anything.

"What?" Lemmy finally managed to ask, his voice softer than it so often was. He turned back toward his siblings, who looked mostly confused as a general rule. "How can this…"

Before he could finish his sentence, more phantoms approached them. Lemmy's heart leaped into his throat, and it pounded as these phantoms removed the shadow hoods. They had the form of Lemmy's siblings, with the purple skin and yellow eyes and everything. When the figure saw the others, it removed itself from Lemmy's grip (who was way too taken aback to put up much of a fight against it) and joined them. They gave the Koopalings one more look before they all ran off.

"What…" Ludwig shook his head. "What is… how is… what was that?"

"Yeah, what the hell was that?" asked Wendy. "Why do the phantoms look like us?"

Iggy stepped forward. "My goodness." He adjusted his glasses, and much to Lemmy's shock, a smile graced his lips. "I know what they are! I know what the phantoms are."

Lemmy's heart pounded. "Well, what are they?"

Iggy continued to keep the smile on his face. "Let's go back to the table where we were sitting. I think you guys might need to sit down for this."

Blinking, all the other Koopalings followed after Iggy. As they made their way through town, Lemmy's mind filled itself with a cavalcade of questions. Really, he wouldn't be surprised if this was the case for his siblings too. After all, how could someone not be confused after seeing something like that? Even Iggy, who by now looked excited beyond belief, had to feel some sort of confusion, right? Or at least, he had to have felt confused initially.

Well, whatever. The Koopalings eventually got back to the table, taking back their seats. As they did, everyone had their eyes on Iggy. The middle child took a deep breath before reaching into his hammerspace and pulling out a sample of the glittery purple stuff that the Koopalings had been finding at the crime scenes of the phantoms.

"Okay, Iggy," Morton said. "What exactly is going on here?"

"Yeah!" said Lemmy. "If you know what the phantoms are, then tell us!"

Iggy grinned. "Well, it's all fairly simple, really." He giggled, and his entire body vibrated as he sat in the chair. "I can't believe I didn't think of this before." Everyone leaned forward in their seat. Lemmy couldn't handle the suspense at this point, probably because he had emotionally invested himself in the mystery so deeply. He waited for Iggy to answer, his heart pounding faster and faster.

"They're cosmic clones!" Iggy eventually said.

The Koopalings exchanged looks. "Cosmic clones?" Lemmy asked as he pulled himself back.

"Yes," Iggy responded. He placed the sample of the glittery dust down on the table. "In case you guys are unaware, there are these types of comets called Prankster Comets. When they pass through the sky of a planet, they cause all sorts of things to happen on the surface of the planet." Lemmy recalled how he had heard Iggy admit he read a book regarding this subject earlier on in the search, so Lemmy imagined his brother as quoting it. "There are several different categories of Prankster Comets that do different things; daredevil comets, fast-foe comets, etc. And one of those categories is the cosmic comet."

"And those types of comets create cosmic clones?" asked Ludwig.

"Yes," Iggy said with a nod. "These cosmic clones can take on the appearance of anybody, and when they copy a person's appearance, they also copy their abilities."

Ludwig gasped. "No way! That must've been how the phantoms were able to fly!" He smiled. "They took my form and copied my powers!"

Iggy beamed. "That is a good theory."

By this point, Lemmy's head was spinning. "No way," he muttered. "They're cosmic clones. They've always been cosmic clones!"

"Indeed!" said Iggy. The smile on his face expanded and stretched especially as he looked down at the sample. "And it makes sense to me now! The glittery samples of Galaxium we found at the crime scenes… cosmic clones are parts of comets that are made out of pure Galaxium. So…" he giggled, sounding as though his mood was going through the roof. "It makes so much sense."

"It actually does," said Ludwig. "Especially since…" Ludwig gasped. "Wait. Iggy, didn't you say there was a meteor shower last night?"

"Yeah!" Iggy exclaimed. "I did! One of the meteor in the shower must've been a cosmic comet!" He giggled and jumped in his seat. And honestly, despite everything, Lemmy wanted to join in on this with him. After all, this was an answer! An actual, legitimate answer! The searching hadn't been in vain, the chasing of the phantoms hadn't been in vain, and most importantly, Lemmy's mental break hadn't been in vain! They now knew exactly what the phantoms were!

Although, there were still a few questions left for Lemmy to wonder and ask.

"Wait." Lemmy adjusted his position in his seat as everyone looked at him. "We know what the phantoms are, but why would they steal all our stuff?"

Iggy blinked. "Hmm. That is an interesting inquiry." He picked the sample back up. "It doesn't seem to have an immediately obvious answer." He blinked before a smile grew on his face. "Unless you consider what was stolen last night."

"You mean what the clones stole?" Larry asked.

"No. At least, not entirely. While that stuff is certainly important, it is not what I believe our main focus should be." Iggy's eyes glittered like stars. "What I was referring to was what was stolen before the clones made themselves known."

Lemmy gasped. "Are you talking about the ring?"

"Yes! Indeed I am!" Iggy's smile grew wider and wider, threatening to rip the corners of his face. "The ring's gemstone is a star bit, which is also made of Galaxium. And Galaxium in different forms can have interesting impacts when paired together. They can change each other's structures or, in some cases, control substances that are noticeably more volatile or chaotic."

"So… you think that whoever stole the ring might have used it to control the clones?" Wendy asked. When Iggy nodded, Wendy looked confused. "So… wait, they used the clones to steal all our stuff? Why; what value would they get out of that?"

"Well, we are royalty," said Ludwig. "A lot of people would kill to get their hands on royalty's possessions."

"Or even the possessions of someone who only looks like royalty!" Lemmy said. "That's what happened with Bob!"

"Precisely!" said Iggy. "And in Bob's case, that would make sense, as he is genetically identical to the real target. The clones probably believed he was actually Ludwig."

Lemmy smiled. "Yeah! That's it! That has to be it!"

"Wait, hold on just a minute," said Morton. Everyone turned to see that he had a furrowed brow. "This is all well and good, but who exactly would steal the ring in the first place? It would have to be someone who knew about the cosmic clones in the first place, as well as the ring's magical properties."

Lemmy's face fell. "Oh. Yeah, there aren't a lot of people out there who meet that criteria…"

"Perhaps there are, perhaps there aren't," Iggy said, all while still smiling. "I am sure that there were a ton of people last night who were at aware of at leas the meteor shower. And people have the ability to do research; they probably uncovered the existence of the cosmic comet in their search online, or in a book. Either way, anyone who has both awareness of the shower as well as a telescope would be perfectly capable of knowing about the cosmic clones."

Lemmy looked down at the table. "I guess that's true." He gripped his hands together on the table, interlocking his fingers. "Still, who would have a telescope and…" he stopped. He recalled something, something that he had seen last night. It made him gasp. "Oh my God."

"What is is, Lems?" asked Larry.

Lemmy started to tremble. "Oh my God." He thought more about what happened last night, of the things that occurred that led him to this exact position. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God…" he shook his head. "That has to be it."

"What has to be it?" asked Iggy.

Lemmy paused, all of a sudden feeling unsure. Pointing fingers at someone without a definite answer as to what their involvement in the affair wouldn't be a good idea; that was what happened that got Benson in jail, after all. But then again, there was a lot of evidence piling up, and overwhelming evidence at that.

"Lemmy?" Ludwig asked as he placed his hand on his brother's shoulder.

Lemmy let out a breath, and a shaky one at that. "I think I might know who's behind this."

Everyone else's eyes grew wide. "You do?" Ludwig asked.

"Who?" asked Iggy.

"I… I'm not one hundred percent sure. I mean, I don't know for certain how they would've been able to know about the star bit ring…" Lemmy paused, an idea occurring to him. "Well, okay, I think I have some idea, but I don't know for certain. I would need to see some proof."

"Okay…" Ludwig said. "And if you saw that proof…"

"Then there would be absolutely no doubt," Lemmy said. He gave each of his siblings a serious look. "I would know for certain who the culprit is. I would know who attacked Roy and Celia. I would know who stole the ring and I know who sent the clones after us. Even right now, I am pretty sure who the culprits are." Lemmy sunk a little in his seat. "Of course, I'm not as close to certain as I could be. I would need to…"

Before Lemmy could finish his sentence, each and every one of the Koopalings's cell phones went off. Blinking, Lemmy pulled his phone out, gasping when he saw the text.

Hey guys, it's Roy. Celia's awake. She's doing alright; she's a little scrambled and frightened after what happened last night, but… hey, I think all of us are; that's nothing new. Anyway, if you guys want to come in and see her, she's more than willing to have some visitors right now.

"Celia's awake!" Wendy exclaimed, practically squealing out the words. "That's awesome!"

"Yeah! I cannot help but agree!" said Iggy. He was all smiles as he put his phone away. "We can ask her for more information!" He looked down at Lemmy. "Hopefully, her testimony will bring us the answers we need."

Lemmy nodded. "Yeah. That's the hope." He looked down at the table, thinking long and hard about everything. If he was correct in who he thought the culprit was… well, part of him was thrilled that he would've been able to uncover it, but at the same time, he felt foolish. He felt extremely foolish, as some of the things he did would've given the person/people all the material they needed to sell the narrative that they were innocent and had the best of intentions. Which they didn't, and now that Lemmy was aware of that fact…

"Lemmy?"

Lemmy did a double take. He looked up at his siblings, who gave him the most furrowed of brows. Lemmy reasoned that they probably said his name multiple times, yet he didn't respond to them.

He let out a breath. "Sorry guys. I just… I really do think I know who the culprit is, and if I do…" he sniffled. "I…"

"You what?" Ludwig asked. "Lemmy, is everything okay?"

Lemmy wiped his nose with the back of his hand. "It will be." He turned toward his family. "Let's go visit Roy and Celia, shall we?"