“Kooky!” yelled a voice from behind Ludwig. He spun around and looked at the door where the voice had come from. “Kooky!” it called again as the door burst open. It was Bowser Jr., Ludwig’s youngest brother.
“What’s the matter?” Ludwig asked anxiously.
“It’s King Dad!” screamed the smallest Koopaling, “He isn’t doing well! He’s gotta be sick!”
Ludwig put down his latest project and followed Bowser Jr. out of his lab and down the hall. “In there!” cried Jr. Ludwig quickly grabbed the doorknob to their mom and dad’s bedroom, and turned it.
SPLOOSH! came a sound as soon as Ludwig opened the door; he suddenly felt himself covered with water, and his crazy hair sank down to his shoulders. He could then hear Roy’s hysterical laughter, and knew he had been pulled into the old water bucket joke. “Grrrr…” he growled as Roy continued his laughter.
Even worse then that, just as he was considering going into the bathroom to grab a towel, Karma jumped out from under Bowser and Clawdia’s bedsheets and took a picture of the sopping wet Ludwig! Roy paused his laughter momentarily, and then resumed even harder when he saw what Karma had done. “That was priceless!” Roy spoke through giggles.
“I mean, that must have been a gallon of water dumped right on your head!” chorused Karma.
Bowser Jr. looked around, confused; being only five, he had fallen for Roy’s trick and actually thought that Bowser was sick. After a few more seconds, Jr. asked, “Where is Dad?”
Roy looked at his younger brother and sighed sarcastically. “I am so sorry, Jr… He passed away a few minutes ago.” Roy pretended to cry, as Karma went out of the room giggling— she knew if she wasn’t in the room when Bowser came, she wouldn’t have to help clean up the watery mess.
Roy actually had Jr. convinced that his dad had been taken out in an ambulance a minute earlier, by the time Ludwig cut in. “Roy, quit it! There’s no sense in scaring the child!” Ludwig took Jr. by the hand and reassured him. “There’s nothing to worry about; Dad’s fine, and I suggest you get up to your room before he comes here.” Bowser Jr. frowned, and ran up the stairs.
“What was that about?” Ludwig asked, stepping into the bathroom and grabbing a towel.
Roy followed him, saying, “It was just a joke. And about Bowser Jr? That was a real laugh! I told him that Dad was sick, and got him to go get you!”
Ludwig turned around and looked Roy in the face. “He’s only five, and he doesn’t understand how you joke.”
“Oooo, picking favorites, are ya?” Roy sneered as he took his hand and pushed Ludwig’s face back a little. “Besides, if he did understand, there wouldn’t be no fun in it!” Ludwig pushed Roy away and resumed drying his hair.
Just then, Bowser walked into the room, “What on all Plit are you doing?! What is that mess on the floor?”
“I think Bagels had too much water today,” Roy jokingly lied.
“It was Roy,” said Ludwig. “He did the water trick again.”
Bowser observed the room, and decided to take Ludwig’s point of view. “Roy, never do that to your brother again. Ludwig, help Roy clean up this mess. If you can be tricked that easily, you have to do it for your chores.” Bowser looked around the room again, scoffed, and walked away.
After the two were done cleaning up the mess, Ludwig walked back up to his lab to resume his project. When he opened the door, he was surprised to find Bowser Jr. sitting on the bed. “Why are you up here?” asked the older brother as he sat next to Jr. on the bed.
“Nobody likes me,” he said simply.
“Of course people like you! I like you, and so do Iggy and Lemmy… Not to mention King Dad and Queen Mom, and even Larry.”
“Morton doesn’t like me: he says I talk too much. And Iggy was mean to me this morning: he took my Fire Bro toy away!” Jr. said a bit louder, as he looked at Ludwig with a look of disgust on his face. “Lemmy wouldn’t play with me, Roy always pushes me down… and Wendy acts like I’m not even here!” The youngest Koopaling began to look at the ground; then he raised his head and said, “I think I’ll run away from home.”
Ludwig chuckled and looked at his brother. “I wouldn’t run away from home if I were you— there are dangers that even I don’t want to face.”
Jr. looked at his older brother and sighed. “I think I will anyway. Nobody likes me here.” Bowser Jr. got up off the bed and left the room; a few minutes later, he came back from his room with his Koopergarden backpack and some apples. “Goodbye Ludwig!” he sobbed, and ran over to his favorite brother.
Ludwig hugged Bowser Jr. and said, “See ya around kid.” Jr. looked back at Ludwig, and then walked out the doorway. Ludwig lay back on his bed and thought, “Probably will get as far as I did when I was his age… past the front door.” Ludwig lay there thinking for a while…
A sudden crashing sound awoke Ludwig and he sat bolt upright. He realized he had been sleeping for three hours, and it was now 7 o’clock. The crashing sounded again. He then realized that it was someone knocking at his door. “Poofball!” yelled a familiar voice. “You’d better get out here fast for dinner, because I’m not coming in there!”
“Coming!” he yelled back as he jumped out of bed. He ran down the stairs to the dinning room table, where most of his family was already seated. Ludwig looked around for Bowser Jr, and saw that his chair was empty. “Have you seen Jr.?” Ludwig asked Clawdia worriedly.
“No, we thought he was with you.” Clawdia exchanged a worried look with Bowser. Then the King of the Koopas spoke.
“Where did you see him last?”
“Last I saw him, he said he was going to… run away from home…” Ludwig squeaked, hoping he wouldn’t go to the dungeon.
“What?!” cried Bowser as he ran towards the front door of the castle. “Ludwig, get over here! Since you are the one to blame for all this, you’re helping me find Jr!”
Ludwig ran over to his father, slipped on a jacket, and ran into the cold autumn air. It was starting to get dark, even for Dark Land, and the chances of finding Jr. where flickering out…
* * *
Jr. was trudging along through the cold night breeze. “If they don’t want me, then they don’t have to have me,” he thought while kicking a stone on the ground. “It’s not my fault that I got stuck in this family.”
Then the red-haired Koopaling started to think more about home, his father, his mother… and some of his brothers. Then there was always Bagels and Playful; man, how he wished Playful was purring in his arms, and Bagels was lapping at his feet. As it started to get darker, colder, and windier, the five-year- old started to wish he hadn’t run away like that… Right then and there he decided he would go back; maybe he could make it in time for dinner!
But as he looked up at the sky, the moon was starting to show, and all traces of the sunset were gone. Jr. looked all around the rocky landscape: it had hills and rocks and forests… that was it. No castle whatsoever. He knew he was more than too far away from home, and what was worse, he started to hear sounds. Not the kinds of sounds like a wolf howling or a scream, but the sounds of some group, of four it sounded like, and they were talking in low tones. Bowser Jr. quickly ducked behind a boulder as the group passed. They were all giant Koopas and Goombas, not the normal kind. The young Koopa suddenly remembered what his dad had told him about dangerous gangs that usually roamed Dark Land after nightfall, and Roy telling him that they loved to eat little Koopas— like him!
Jr. quickly took a few steps backwards and tried to sit down. But as soon as he did, he felt himself teetering over something very hot! He quickly fought back and, due to his light weight, could barely make it. He recovered his balance and looked at what he was about to fall into: it was a large lake of lava! He also could have sworn that he saw something move. He stepped closer to the lava, and something lunged at him. As soon as he saw the huge red blob (which looked like the lava itself to him), he dove backwards and barely missed being chomped by a huge Blargg! The creature waited for a moment, and then snapped again. Jr. was a quick thinker, and grabbed one of his spiked wristbands, forced it off, and threw it into the Blargg’s mouth! The creature roared in pain as it felt the spikes hit the back of its throat, and quickly retreated back into the lava.
Bowser Jr., winded and dazed, slowly crawled back to the rock, sat down, and began to cry.
* * *
Ludwig forced himself to look harder at the rocks and trees; he had to find his brother before he became Chain Chomp chow! Bowser looked at the moon and sighed a stressful sigh. “I guess we should go around for one more look, and then get home, before we get eaten too.” Ludwig had never seen his father look so doubtful before. He looked sad, and Ludwig knew it was all his fault. He had to find his little brother before his dad held a grudge against him forever.
They walked past a big boulder and sat down on it. “We have to find my little brother…” muttered Ludwig another time. Just then, he thought he heard a whimpering sound of some sort. He looked all around, and eventually discovered that they were sitting next to a pool of lava; that must have been making the sound.
“Let’s go home,” said Bowser with a
sigh. “We’ll look more in the morning.” Bowser and Ludwig slumped
off towards the castle with heavy hearts and worried minds.
Bowser Jr. finally stopped his crying, and looked around, the tears burning his eyes. He could make out five figures coming towards him, and they didn’t look friendly. He quickly rubbed the tears out of his eyes and faced his visitors. It was a gang of big Dark Koopas, and they had their eyes fixed on him from behind their point-framed shades. Jr. tried to utter a cry, but nothing came out.
The gang was nearing, and he had to think of something fast. Quickly, he slipped off his other wristband and started to bang it against the boulder, and scream at the top of his lungs.
Bowser and Ludwig were only about 20 feet away, and they heard the screams and banging. “What the-” Bowser started as he turned around. Ludwig quickly grabbed his dad’s attention.
“Look! King Dad, it’s Bowser Jr!” Bowser quickly directed his attention to where Ludwig was pointing, and saw Jr! But he also saw some Dark Koopas rushing towards his kid. They grabbed his son and he saw one of the ruffians, judging by his appearance, the leader of the gang, kneeling down and taking out some rope.
“HEY!” screamed Bowser, and he started to run. He made the ground shake as he did so, and reached the Dark Koopas, with Ludwig close behind. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” he yelled in the leader’s face.
The leader of the Dark Koopas (whose name was Stone) rose up to his full height. This Koopa was from Giant Land, and looked a bit like a dragon. He had spikes growing from his head, wore a spiked choker and wristbands (like Bowser), and had a mass of purple hair running down to his shell. He also wore dark sunglasses, and had long teeth. Bowser noticed that these Dark Koopas were as big as he was, and there were five of them.
“Just try to stop us from taking your little friend away,” said Stone coldly.
“You wouldn’t want me to...” muttered Bowser, steam coming out of his nostrils.
“Um…” said Ludwig nervously from behind his dad as the Dark Koopas surrounded them. “My calculations state that they are bigger and better than us…”
“Brainy kid you have there, X-king.” said Stone. “I’m afraid he’s right…”
* * *
Back at the castle, Clawdia was starting to worry, and even Wendy and Morton didn’t have a word to say (all right, so Morton had a few words to say). Finally, Roy stood up and walked towards the door.
“What are you doing?” asked Clawdia.
“I’m gonna help Ludwig and King Dad find Jr,” he answered back with no feeling in his voice. He grabbed his wrestling jacket and put on some spiked boots that Bowser had said he couldn’t wear. With one more look back at his mother and younger siblings, he opened the door and stepped out into Dark Land.
Roy walked for a little while, hoping he would find his brothers and father by luck. After walking for about fifteen minutes, he came near to a pool of lava, which illuminated the area with a bright orange light. He was about to walk on past it, but as soon as he passed the boulder, he saw a commotion going on. He quickly dashed behind the boulder and thought, “Oh boy! A fight!”
But when he looked again to see who the fighters were, he could immediately see that he knew two of them. It was Ludwig and Bowser! Roy joined the fight as fast as he could, and he could easily tell he was wanted by the surprised and relieved faces of his brother and father. Finally, the fight broke apart for a second while both teams paused to rest.
“How did you get here?” asked Bowser as he eyed Roy suspiciously, and before Roy could answer, his father cut back in, “And I thought I told you not to wear those boots.” A smile spread across Bowser’s face, as he and his oldest son embraced.
But meanwhile, the Dark Koopas were sneakily making off with Bowser Jr! They had made Bowser, Roy and Ludwig think it was a time to rest, but they quickly nabbed Jr. when the trio weren’t looking. After the team was done with their rest, they turned around to see the Koopas making off with the object of their mission! “HEY!” yelled Bowser, as if it would make them stop.
The Koopas started to chase the Dark Koopas, and they had pretty much traveled halfway around Dark Land before Bowser reached out his clawed paw and caught one of the ruffians in a headlock. “Nobody move, or the purple one gets hurt!” Bowser threatened.
“We actually couldn’t care less if you hurt him,” retuned Stone. “And besides, we still have your little f- bahhgg!”
Ludwig had formed a fireball in his mouth, and caught Stone by surprise. While the leader was wiping the ashes off his face, Ludwig, Roy and Bowser were able to make a plan: they all stood by an old, giant tree, and jumped on the count of three. This was just enough to shake the ground so the tree started to fall over towards the gang! Bowser threw the captive back to his group so that he wouldn’t miss the punishment. Stone was able to get out of the way, but the tree crushed the other Dark Koopas, killing them in that “I will be back in the next episode” way.
Stone, seeing that his cover was gone, stated to run away! Roy gave chase, and was catching up to the leader, who had Jr. tucked under his arm. Finally, Roy was able to do a long jump right next to Stone, freezing him (like in SMB3… how he does that, I don’t know). Roy then knocked Stone off his feet with a punch, and knocked him out.
Jr. lay on the ground; breathing hard but not hurt. When the smallest Koopaling finally opened his eyes, he saw Roy staring into his face. He looked around and then looked at Roy again. “Did you… save me?” Bowser Jr. asked.
“Yes,” answered Roy with a warm smile, as he took Bowser Jr. on his back and walked back to the waiting Ludwig and Bowser. “I got him!” Roy yelled when he was near his father and brother. There was a great deal of hugging, crying, lectures, and laughs, but when it all came down to it, Bowser stated, “We’d better get home now: your mother is probably worried sick!”
Bowser and his sons took the long walk home, and when they got to the front door, Clawdia was already out to meet them. “Oh, how I’ve worried!” she fawned, as her sons and husband came back into the castle. All five of them sat at the kitchen table and talked, and Bowser, Ludwig, and Jr., ate dinner. After they had talked a little more, Bowser took a doubletake at the clock. “LEAPING GOOMBAS! IT’S TWO O’ CLOCK IN THE MORNING!” Bowser quickly sent his children up to bed, and the happy thoughts would have to wait until the next morning.
As Ludwig was walking up the stairs, he met Karma in the hallway. “Hey Ludey, mind getting me a glass of water? I’m shriveled.” Ludwig quickly ran to the bottom of the stairs, got a glass of freezing cold water, and ran back up. Just when he was about to hand it to her, he got an idea.
“Wait right here,” he told her as he ran to the lab. He quickly grabbed a camera and came back out. Fast and unexpectedly, he dumped the glass of water over her head, and snapped a picture! The flash and cold water had woken Karma up fully now, and somehow gave her energy to chase Ludwig.
“Get back here, Poofball!” she yelled
as she banged on his lab door.
Eventually, Ludwig drifted off to sleep.
A small knock at his door awakened him about an hour later. “Who could
this be?” he wondered as he creaked open the door.
Bowser Jr. was standing there… He looked scared for some reason, and when Ludwig asked him why, he said, “I had a bad dream…”
“Come on in,” said Ludwig, as he and Bowser Jr. jumped into the bed. “What a family I live with…” he thought, as Bowser Jr. snuggled into his side.
THE END
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