Authors Notes: this Whole First Chapter was basically all improv. i came to ouen one night and was like "dude let's write koopaling fanfction!" and surprisingly they agreed! so here we are and it wasnt until like in the next few days we decided to make this whole silly thing a series, so expect a lot more chapters. this is Really fun to write!

- Dixie

It was another day in the bleak office of Luddicus Jones: Private Eye. That's me. I had just finished preparing myself a medium-dark roast of coffee, the perfect accompaniment to any rainy day, in my opinion. I stared out of the window of my office, contemplating on my current state of mind, the usual activity for these kinds of days. I could smell a waft of smoke seeping into the window from outside, probably due to the giant moat of lava around the castle. Moments like th-

"'Scuse me, Ludwig. I gotta grab my jacket." Larry shuffled next to Ludwig in the middle of his monologue, grabbing his windbreaker. Ludwig just stared at his brother until he left the walk-in closet he had his "detective office" in.

Er-Moments like these I tend to make the most of. The silence allows me to really give my thoughts a good churning. Those thoughts are where the real questions come in. Who really is Luddicus Jones? I pondered this for a while before taking a seat in my office chair. Then, I suddenly heard footsteps coming down the hall. Hm...five inch heels, I believe. It wasn't long before I found out my prediction was very wrong…

A pair of bright ruby platforms, a piercing gaze behind a pair of black spectacles jabbing into me like daggers, a- oh, for koop's sake, It's Iggy.

"Hey Luds! Are you monologuing again?" He said, launching one of his heels directly into the window behind his brother. "Why must you interrupt me at my moment of solace?!" Ludwig sharply asked.. "...And thank you so. Very. Much. For breaking my window!"

"No problem! BAHAHA!" Iggy sat down and propped up his legs, launching another heel upwards, up onto the desk. "Nice noir intro, by the way! I could hear the drama from down the hall!" Ludwig just raised an eyebrow at his brother, taking another sip of his java. "Thank you, I suppose. Now, why are you here, Ignatius?" he asked. A bit of wind blew into the closet where the broken window was.

"Oh yeah! I came in here to get one of those detective hats and trenchcoats." Iggy excitedly replied. "I was in a crime-solving mood. And it looks like you were too!" He slowly started reaching for the coffee cup with his little pizza hands. Ludwig swatted Iggy's hand away from the coffee cup. "Hey, get your own! Besides, what crimes could you possibly hope to solve, anyway?" A piece of paper flew in through the window, hitting Ludwig in the face. "Gyah!" He grabbed the paper and scanned over it.

"I could use someone's help! I lost something important to me. It may not look very important to you, but believe me, IT'S IMPORTANT. If you find this item, please bring it to Bowser's Castle in Dark Land."

Underneath the note was a picture of a mug with the phrase "World's Greatest Dad" on it. "This looks like it flew in from the Toad Town Bulletin Board." Ludwig thought out loud. "Lemme see it!" Iggy scuttled beneath the desk and yoinked the flyer from his brother's hands. "Ooh! That's the mug that Junior got for 'em last year! How'd it get lost?" "Beats me. But one thing's for sure, that mug means the world to father. He would drink his coffee out of that mug every morning, so it's only natural we try to find it. What do you say, Iggy? Are you down to solve a mystery?" Ludwig asked. Iggy adjusted the deerstalker cap he had found under the desk on his hair and immediately stood up on top of the desk. "I was born ready! LET'S DO IT! BAHAHAHAHAAAH!"

The best place to check, the boys thought, would be the kitchen and dining room. As expected, it was filled to the brim with other castle residents searching top to bottom for the missing mug. And soup. There was an abundance of soup being made. The boys then decided to check somewhere else considering they'd've probably found the cup in here by now with so many of them searching in there. They did have some of that soup first, though.

"Mmm! That chef knows how to make a delightful bisque!"

"Bisque? I thought it was soup!"

"It's the same thing!"

"Then call it soup!"

"Ugh…"

And so the boys continued their search for the mug that went AWOL. The second place they planned on searching was the throne room. The mug was bound to be in there, right? They searched high and low for the mug. They checked under the throne and found, not the mug, but Larry, playing with his Switch. "Hey! Do you mind?! This is my secret spot! Scram!" The boys tried to search everywhere for it. They checked the balconies, the kart repair room, the chandeliers, the bottom of the lava pits somehow, EVERYWHERE.

"Blast it! We're running out of leads! And places to look! This mug couldn't have gotten far, right? So why can't we find it?!" Ludwig opened the door to his "office" and took a seat at his desk. "We searched high and low, and even went so far as to dive in PURE LAVA for that darned thing, so I don't understand." Iggy sat down on the desk and inspected the papers on it. He then inspected the mug. It looked very familiar…

"Luddy."

"Not now! I'm thinking critically."

"But Luds! You should REALLY hear this."

"Ignatius, please! I'm busy being angry about unfortunate circumstances!"

Ludwig got up, staring out of the broken window in frustration. Iggy grabbed the mug and put it in front of Ludwig's face. "Hey! Get that thing-huh?!" Ludwig grabbed the mug from his brother's hands. It was the same mug pictured on the note. "The mug! You found it! Why didn't you tell me sooner?" "I TRIED TO!" Iggy quickly picked his heels off the floor and slipped them on. "Ahh well. Mystery solved! NOW HURRY! WE GOTTA GET THIS TO DAD!" He ran towards the door and immediately tripped on nothing, crashing onto the carpeted floor. Ludwig ran out the door, promptly tripping over the fallen Iggy. The mug flew in the air. "Gyah! It's gonna break!" Ludwig announced. Luckily for the boys, the mug was made of plastic. Bowser just so happened to be walking down the hallway, when suddenly, his foot hit something.

"Huh? What's that?"

He picked up the mug. "My cup! I found my cup!" Bowser looked down the hall to see the two koopa brothers still on the floor. They both gave their father a thumbs up, signifying they had solved the mystery.

- - CASE 1: COMPLETE - -