Chapter 14 Expansion

Iggy whimpered as he came in through the front door. The Castle was quiet, eerily so. Honestly, Iggy didn't know which was worse; being in the Castle with its overwhelming emptiness, or outside partaking in what was potentially the most fruitless search in history. Because that was what the search for Larry had proven to be, in addition to being the worst, most stressful, most unrelentingly awful search Iggy had ever partook in. Larry was nowhere to be seen. He wasn't in Stonebrim, Sparksville, Generica, Neo Bowser City… he wasn't anywhere. It was like he had just disappeared into thin air.

Oh, please don't let Larry have disappeared into thin air!

Battling the urge to hyperventilate, Iggy made his way up to the east wing. He once again noticed the stillness of Bowser's Castle. He supposed it made sense why it was so quiet, considering most of the colorful figures who were usually here were out searching. But that didn't change the emotions Iggy felt while walking through these halls. There was a spookiness to all of this, one that poked the heart and made chilly tingles overtake the spine.

The thoughts of what Larry could potentially be going through didn't help. They made Iggy's already horrible mood even more problematic to deal with, turning hyperventilation from an option into an inevitability. Iggy put his hand to his chest as he made his way up the east wing's staircase. Was everyone else who had been impacted by Larry's disappearance experiencing similar symptoms? Were they also worried out of their mind? Did they also want to throw up and faint?

When he got to the top of the staircase, Iggy decided that he wanted to go to his room. Despite his opposition to Bowser and Kamek last night when they told him he needed to sleep, right now, he actually wanted to do so. It wasn't even the evening yet, and already, he was exhausted. And looking back on Bowser and Kamek's words the night before, he realized how right they were. Sleep was a necessity. Sleep could help him clear his mind and not focus on all of his troubles. When awake, he couldn't escape from his problems towering over him. He hoped that would be a possibility when he was in bed.

He dragged himself over to his room, taking deep breaths as he did. When he got to the door, he took one more deep breath. Hoping more than anything that doing so would bring him answers, he pulled his phone out of his hammerspace and texted Larry again. He made sure to use precise language to get across how worried he was, and how much he was worried about him. He waited for a few minutes, but even still, Larry didn't answer. Just like all the previous text messages he had sent, this one went unanswered and unread.

Iggy took another deep breath. This is going to be fine, he told himself. Everything is going to be fine. Everyone is searching; Larry will be found eventually. Even as he told himself that though, it didn't put a dent in his mood. Trembling, he reached for the doorknob…

"Iggy?"

Blinking, Iggy turned to see Wendy and Ludwig approaching him. They both looked at him in confusion, all while Iggy battled his own confusion as to why they were there in the first place. The only explanation he could think of was that they wanted to rest just like him. He stood up straight and tall, hoping to hide his exhaustion.

"Greetings, you two. Have you made progress with the search?"

Wendy and Ludwig exchanged a look before Ludwig sighed and shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

"When we found that we weren't making much progress by ourselves, we decided to join forces," Wendy explained. "However…" she hesitated, shuffling her feet as she did. "We still haven't made a lot of progress."

Iggy groaned. He pinched his brow, his emotions becoming unmanageable once again. They were worse than unmanageable really; it felt as though all the weight in the world was being dropped right on top of his head. He wanted to cry. He truly, honestly wanted to cry. How frustrating could this get? Was there no depth these frustration levels weren't willing to sink to?

"Why?" he asked out loud. He sunk a little into the floor. "Why is this… I don't understand!"

"I know, Iggster, I know," Wendy said. She stepped forward and put her hand on Iggy's shoulder. Iggy lifted his head to see her smiling… despite the very noticeably mist in her eyes. Iggy felt like breaking down at the sight of this.

He ultimately sighed. "If this is a prank on Lawrence's part, it certainly isn't a nice one."

"I highly doubt it is, Iggy," Ludwig chimed in. He took a step forward. "Larry can be a punk, but even he wouldn't be that mean." He paused. "Not that that brings anyone any form of comfort."

"Exactly." Iggy leaned against the wall. He took off his glasses and wiped his eyes. The thought of breaking down right now wasn't appealing in the slightest. He couldn't be a wuss; he needed to be strong. He needed to keep himself together, as he wouldn't be of any use to his youngest brother is he was a blubbering mess.

"Hey," Wendy said. She stepped towards him. "It's going to be okay. We'll find him." She put on a smile. It was probably meant to be reassuring, but it wasn't due to not reaching the eyes. "I know we will."

Iggy sighed. "I wish I could believe that." Wendy looked hurt when he said that. She turned her head away from him, looking at one part of the floor. Iggy felt guilt overcome him. "I mean… I really do want to believe that, but seeing how everything is becoming insurmountably stressful… I can't."

Ludwig bit his lip. "Well… we'll make it easier for you to believe that." He stepped forward. "We'll expand the search. We'll get more people involved."

Iggy raised an eyebrow. "How would that be possible? The whole Koopa Kingdom is already on alert. Who is there who wouldn't be searching already?"

Ludwig smiled. "Well, on paper, no one." He reached into his hammerspace and pulled out his phone. "However, just because people are searching doesn't mean they're necessarily searching in the right places." He started to text someone.

Both Iggy and Wendy raised an eyebrow as he continued texting. "Uh, Ludwig, who are you…?"

"Hold on; give me a minute." Ludwig typed in a few more letters before hitting the send button. When he did, he put his phone to the side and smiled at his siblings. "I just texted Aria."

"Aria?" Iggy asked. He exchanged a look with Wendy. "Uh, Ludwig, your girlfriend lives in the Koopa Kingdom, does she not? Wouldn't she already be involved in the search?"

"Yes, she is. I won't argue with that point." He grinned. "That's why I didn't ask her to start searching. I asked her to explore areas in her line of work."

Iggy did a double take. "As in… her line of work as a demon hunter?"

"Yep," Ludwig said with a nod. "Demon hunters explore areas that most people don't have access to. So, her looking for clues in some of the dark magic sites she explores might be helpful."

For perhaps the first time since the search had started, a spark of hope ignited within Iggy. "Oh, my Word!" Without thinking, he rushed forward and wrapped Ludwig in a hug. "Thank you so much; that's a great idea!" He chuckled. "Honestly, I'm surprised I wasn't the one to come up with it."

Ludwig snorted. "Sometimes things might not be obvious to you, Iggy; you're a prodigy, not a god." He hugged Iggy back. "Even still, I'm hoping that things will work out with that."

"I do too," Wendy said. There was a silence before she gasped. "Oh! Maybe we should contact Celia too!"

Iggy pulled himself off of Ludwig. "Why would we need to…" he gasped. "Oh! It's because she lives in the Mushroom Kingdom, right?" Wendy nodded, and Iggy's excitement rose even higher. "That's a great idea! After all, there isn't a guarantee that Larry is even in the Koopa Kingdom right now." He put his hand to his chin. "Although, I think getting only Celia and her family involved in this wouldn't be enough. I think…" he smiled. "I think we might need to get the whole Mushroom Kingdom involved."

Ludwig snorted. "The whole Mushroom Kingdom? Now, how the holy hell would we do that? The Mushroom Kingdom despises us."

"True, but we have established a peace treaty," Iggy said. "If Princess Peach issues a Kingdom-wide alert, I think the Toads would be willing to listen and obey." He smirked. "Especially because I believe they'd want to get a Koopaling out of their Kingdom as soon as possible."

Wendy laughed. "That is true." Her face lit up. "Oh! I should get in contact with Toadette too!" She got her own phone out. "She knows the Toad Brigade; I'm sure they could help."

"Good idea." Ludwig directed his attention towards Iggy. "it's all going to be okay, Iggy. We'll find him. I know we will."

Iggy smiled. "You're right." His face fell a little bit as he looked at Ludwig in particular. The last time the Koopalings had to start a search for one of their siblings, the missing sibling in question was Ludwig. And it turned out a lot of horrible things had happened to Ludwig while missing; he had been turned into a cat, had been held prisoner in a house with thirty other transformed Koopas, and was forced to care for someone they had no connection with. Those things had all been horrible. And that was what made Iggy worry; if Ludwig had experienced a lot of horrible stuff when he went mission, how much more horrible stuff was Larry going through now that he was missing?

Well, regardless of what the answer was, Iggy knew he couldn't think about that too much. Dwelling on all of the horrific possibilities would only serve to make him more paranoid, more of a wreck than he already was. He couldn't dwell on the negative right now. He needed to focus on the positive.

They would find Larry. They would get him home safe and sound.

…

Larry chuckled as he got off of the swing. He looked over at Tec, dismounting his own swing with the same stoic face as before. This didn't bother Larry that much though; like when they were on the roller coaster before, he thought that this was more humorous than anything else. Seriously, the lack of expression on Tec's face when doing objectively exciting and terrifying things was comedic enough to become an Internet meme.

With this thought in mind, Larry went over to Tec. "Well, my AI Buddy, are you enjoying the rides?"

Tec stayed silent for a few minutes. "They are certainly interesting." The two of them walked away from the swings. "Although they do confuse me, I must admit. Such high-speed activities have the possibility to spike a person's adrenaline levels and cause some stress."

Larry nodded. "Yeah, they can. Roller coasters can be kind of scary, especially when it's your first time ever going on one." He chuckled. "I still remember the first time I ever went on a roller coaster. I was pretty shaken up when I got off. I'll admit that roller coasters frightened me." He beamed as he looked Tec in the eye. "But I quickly learned to love them! That thrill of your heart pumping, and the feel when you go through all the loops and over the steep hills…" he chuckled. "It's pretty awesome!"

Tec nodded. "I see." He looked around the whole park. "If that's the case, what would you like to go on next?"

Larry hesitated. He observed the park, from the Ferris Wheel to the Sky Lift. That was a good question… but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he kind of had enough.

"Honestly, I want to do something else." He chuckled. "I mean, there's only so much amusement park one can take in a day before one gets completely sick of it."

"Okay. So what do you want to do instead?"

Larry paused. "Huh." He put his hand to his chin. "I'm honestly not sure."

"Well then, perhaps I can help." Tec walked in front of Larry. "I'm going to download more data from your mind if that's okay with you."

Larry hesitated when he heard that. "Uh…" it wasn't going to hurt him. Tec had no intention of hurting him. After all, why would he ask for Larry's consent if his ultimate goal was to bring Larry harm? "Uh, sure."

Tec nodded, closed his eyes, and put his hand on Larry's forehead. The scenery around them changed from the amusement park back to the white void. Tec hummed a low note as he downloaded more info, almost like he was meditating in a very specific way. When he finished, he opened his eyes and pulled away.

"You like video games."

Larry blinked before snickering. "Dude, I could've just told you that!" He laughed some more. "Heck, you probably didn't even need me to tell you that; anyone with half a brain can see I like video games!"

"That's probably true." There were the tiniest cracks in Tec's expression, as if he was… offended? Huh, weird, Larry didn't think he could get offended. "But even still, this is valuable information." He smiled. Like with the traces of offense, Larry was floored by Tec's smile. Was it just his imagination, or did it look… a lot less forced than some of his previous attempts at smiling? "As I have extensive knowledge about a video game I think you'll like."

"Really? What?"

Tec kept the smile on his face as he snapped his fingers.