It was a relatively quiet day in Dark Land. Everybody was doing their usual thing. Lemmy was inventing new tricks on his ball, Roy was beating up Iggy, Larry was tending to his plants, Morton was making a speech, Wendy was gazing at herself in the mirror, Ludwig and Karma were yelling at each other for no apparent reason, Bowser Jr. was messing around with his magic paintbrush, Clawdia was cooking dinner, Bowser was, of course, thinking of another way to defeat the Mario Bros, and Kamek was making a magic potion. Let's go to Larry's room, where this whole thing begins…
"That's it, my pets," said Larry as he watered his plants. "Drink up."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Larry, startled by the knock, dropped the watering can on his foot.
"OW!!!" he wailed.
Larry limped to the door with pain in his toe. He opened the door to see Lemmy.
"Hey Lemster. What's up?"
"I want you to see my new trick," the ball-riding Koopaling said.
"Ooh. I'd be happy to see it, but why don't you do it in the hallway? I don't want to risk one of my plants getting smashed."
"If it makes you feel better then okay."
They walked into the hallway. Lemmy began his trick by juggling three other balls while standing on his favorite yellow-starred green ball. Then he jumped to position himself into a handstand on the ball while juggling the three other balls with his feet. How does he do it? Larry thought. Suddenly they were interrupted by a scream. Lemmy, startled by the scream, fell off his ball, and the other three balls bounced off his head. Lemmy got back up and mumbled something. Then he spoke in a frustrated voice.
"DANG IT!!! I was doing so well!"
"Oh, don't feel bad, I still liked the trick anyway. Now, where did that scream come from?"
"It sounded like Wendy. Let's go see."
The two ran to Wendy's room and busted the door open.
"Wendy, are you oka-"
Larry and Lemmy stared down at a gruesome sight on the floor. Then they looked at each other. After staring for a few more seconds, they screamed at the top of their lungs. Everyone else heard the screams and ran to Wendy's room. When they got to the room, they screamed too. There, lying on the floor, was Wendy, a knife lodged in her chest!
"WENDY!!! SOMEONE STABBED HER!!!" cried Morton.
"WHO COULD HAVE DONE THIS?!" cried Bowser Jr. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! MY ONLY DAUGHTER'S BEEN MURDERED!!!" Clawdia wailed.
Everyone sat down in the room, crying loudly (even Roy was crying). The next day, Bowser organized a funeral for Wendy. Everyone was there, including Kammy, the entire Koopa Troop, and the residents of all the lands in the Mushroom World (not including Princess Peach's Mushroom Kingdom). During this time, Morton gave a twenty-minute speech about Wendy (everyone was too sad to shut him up, so they listened instead). After the funeral was over, Larry and Lemmy were still standing in the garden where Wendy was buried. They stared at Wendy's gravestone.
"I don't know who did this," Larry said. "But they must pay for this!"
"Yes, but the thing is we don't know whodunit."
"Let's go back to Wendy's room. Maybe we can find something that can help us answer that question in there."
As they started back to the castle, something caught Lemmy's eye.
"Larry, look at that."
Larry looked up and saw a long rope hanging from Wendy's window. "Well," Larry said, "now we know how the murderer got into Wendy's room. That's a good start."
"Yeah, but that still doesn't help us any," said Lemmy. "Anybody could've climbed a rope up to her room. Come on."
They ran into the castle and into Wendy's room and began looking around for anything unusual, but to no avail. Then something flew though the window and hit Lemmy's shell. It was a hammer.
"What?!" Lemmy yelled. "Who threw that?!"
"I don't know… Hey, there's a note."
Sure enough, there was a small, rolled-up note tied to the hammer. Lemmy untied it and began reading it.
"Dear Koopas of Stoopiness," Lemmy read. "I have stolen the spirit of WendyOKoopiness. Come and try to get it back if you dare! HAHAHA!!!"
"Aww, it's not signed."
"Well, the last thing any murderer would do is reveal himself or herself."
Larry looked at the note again. He noticed that the murderer had written it in a bizarre manner. Where have I heard someone who talks like this before? Larry thought.
They sat down and pondered for a second, and then a thought came to Larry's head.
"I've got it!"
"You know who killed Wendy?"
"Well, no, but I do know how we can find out."
Larry ran out of the room, and Lemmy followed. They ran to the throne room, where Bowser sat thinking about nothing-nothing but Wendy. When he saw Larry and Lemmy, he sat up.
"Oh, what is it, you two?" Bowser asked.
"Dad, do we still have that knife that was in Wendy's chest?"
"Yes, but I'm gonna melt it. I can't stand to see the object that pierced through my daughter's, slash, your sister's chest. Why do you need it?
"We… um… just wanna check something."
"Uh… Okay, I guess."
Bowser whistled, and a Koopa Troopa walked up.
"Bring my sons the murderer's knife," he said. The Koopa nodded and ran away in a flash. In just a few seconds, he came back with the knife and handed it to Larry.
"That will be all," Bowser said to the Koopa. The Koopa nodded again and ran away.
"Thanks," said Lemmy.
Larry and Lemmy looked at the knife. It was covered with fingerprints.
"Aha!" said Larry. "Fingerprints, just like I figured. Now we just need to find out whose these are."
"I think I know how," Lemmy said.
Larry and Lemmy ran off. I wonder what they wanted with that knife, Bowser thought. He shook it off and went back to thinking about Wendy.
Larry and Lemmy ran to Ludwig's lab. There Ludwig was trying to concentrate on another invention, but he too kept thinking about Wendy. His thoughts were then broken up by a voice. "Hey Ludwig," the voice said. Ludwig turned around to see his younger brothers.
"Oh, hello siblings," said the big-haired Koopaling.
"Ludwig, we need to use that machine you made that scans fingerprints."
"Vhat do you need it for?"
"For this…" Larry showed Ludwig the knife and the fingerprints on it. Ludwig stared at them for a second, then spoke up.
"Hmm… I think I can help you out vit zis."
Ludwig took the knife and walked over to the machine. He put the knife on a conveyor belt and set the machine to scan. The conveyor belt took the knife into the machine. After a few seconds, the knife came back out, and a message popped up on a small screen. The message read F.A.W.F.U.L.!
"FAWFUL!!!" cried Lemmy. "Fawful killed our sister!"
"He'll pay dearly for this!" added Larry.
"Calm down, guys," said Ludwig. "Anyvay, now that you know who ze murderer is, suggest you inform Dad avout it."
"Will do."
"Thanks Ludwig."
"Oh, think nothing of it."
Larry and Lemmy walked back into the hall. They thought for a second.
"Why do you think Fawful killed her?" Larry asked.
"I don't know," said Lemmy.
Then suddenly, they heard an explosion. Larry and Lemmy ran back to the throne room, but this time Bowser was not there, and there was a huge hole in the wall.
"Huh?!" said Lemmy. "What happened here, and where's Dad?"
"I don't know… Hey, there's another note."
Yep. There was yet another note on the throne. Lemmy picked it up and began reading it. "Dear Stoopa Koopas," Lemmy read. "I have kidnapped the King of the Koopas. Come and try to rescue him if you dare! HAHAHA!!!"
"This one isn't signed either."
"Yeah… Say, do you think the guy who kidnapped Dad may be working with Fawful?"
"Maybe, but we can't leave these guys at large. We have to get Dad and Wendy's spirit back."
"Oh boy! Another adventure! So, when do we leave?"
"Tonight…"
"Sound's good to me."
That night, Larry and Lemmy waited until everybody was fast asleep. Then they packed up a few weapons. Lemmy was rummaging through his closet and found something. "Hey, it's my Freeze Gun," he said. "I haven't used this in a while. I wonder if it still works…" Lemmy tested it on a random ball. The ball froze. "Yep, it still works," he said. Then he collected some small grenades that were disguised as small balls and put them in his shell. Then he collected his wand and met Larry in the hall. Larry had taken a tennis racket, some shell bombs, and his own wand.
"Are you ready?" said Larry.
"Wait! Let me do something."
Larry shrugged as Lemmy ran to his room. Lemmy quickly found a piece of paper and a pen. Then he wrote a message and set it on the nightstand next to Iggy's bottom bunk. Lemmy ran back to hall, where an impatient Larry waited.
"Now are you ready?" Larry asked in an annoyed voice.
"Yeah," said Lemmy. "Let's go."
With that, they went out of the castle and walked down the path. They didn't know what kind of traps Fawful had in store for them. They didn't know who kidnapped Bowser. All they knew was that their adventure was just beginning…
It was morning in Dark Land. Iggy had just woken up. He then put his hand on the nightstand and felt around for his glasses, as he couldn’t see very well without them. Unfortunately, he knocked his glasses onto the floor, unbeknownst to him. “Dang it!” he said. “Where did I put those things?” He tried to feel around for them, but ended up rolling off the bed and onto the floor. “Ow!” he yelped. He finally felt his glasses and put them on. “That’s better,” he said to himself. He got up and dusted himself off. Then, something caught his eye. He looked at the nightstand. There was a piece of paper with some writing on it. Where did this come from? Iggy pondered. He picked up the paper and read it. After reading it, he dropped the paper and just stared. After staring for a few more seconds, he picked it up and dashed away to the dining room. There, everyone else was already eating breakfast.
“Good morning, Iggy,” said Clawdia. “What took you so long?”
“Yeah, what kept ya?” asked Morton. “We’re already eating breakfast and you are very late and…” Iggy put his hand up to signal Morton to stop talking.
“Everybody?” he began. “There is something I must show you…” He held the note up. “I found this on my nightstand. It’s from Lemmy, and here’s what he wrote…” Iggy read the letter in Lemmy’s voice. “Dear Mom, siblings, and Karma, Larry and I just couldn’t let go of the recent happenings in the past two days. We’ve found out who Wendy’s murderer is, but we’re still not so sure about who Dad’s kidnapper is. Anyway, we’ve gone to avenge our dad and sister. We’ll be back… I promise. Yours truly, Lemmy. PS: Could someone look after Larry’s plants while we’re away? (Not you, Roy!) Thanks.” Roy mumbled something.
“Those two are so brave,” Clawdia sighed.
“I wonder who the murderer was,” said Karma.
“I know who it vas…” said Ludwig. Everyone listened closely.
“It vas…Fawful.”
“FAWFUL?!” Roy screamed. “Why that little devil! I hope Larry and Lemmy kick his puny little behind!”
“Don’t vorry,” said Ludwig. “If I know Larry and Lemmy, zey vouldn’t give up for anything…”
***
Larry and Lemmy had just reached the Mushroom Kingdom border. They stopped and pondered for a second. How were they going to get through the Mushroom Kingdom without being recognized?
“Hmm…” Lemmy thought out loud. “We could put on trenchcoats and hats…”
“Hmm… No,” said Larry. ”That’s the oldest trick in the book… Wait a minute… I know, we can put on Mushroomer disguises. Then we can blend in with everybody else.”
“But where are we gonna find Mushroomer costumes?”
“Right here…” Larry reached into his shell and took out a couple of disguises. Lemmy just stared.
“Um… Where did you get those?”
“I made them myself, with some help from Ludwig’s Super Sewer. I used one of them in my most recent attempt to destroy the Mario Bros. Sadly, it didn’t work, though I can’t remember why...”
“Well then… how can you be so sure it’ll work this time?”
“Um… Actually, I’m not really that sure.”
“Uh-huh… Well, anyway, it’s worth a shot… but hopefully not worth a shot in the chest…”
The two quickly put their disguises on and headed into the Mushroom Kingdom. After walking for a while, they reached Toad Town. Little did they know that there was a surprise waiting for them. They were being watched by a figure standing on the roof of a nearby house. The figure stared down at Larry and Lemmy. Those two Mushroomers look familiar, the figure thought. Just then, Larry’s plan backfired. His cap suddenly popped off! A nearby Mushroomer noticed this. “Ahh! Larry Koopa!” he yelled. Larry froze. Everyone stared at him. He realized his cap had fallen off. Then Lemmy’s cap popped off! “And Lemmy Koopa!” said a Koopa. Everyone surrounded the two Koopalings.
“Larry…” Lemmy began.
“Now I remember why this didn’t work before,” Larry said. “The cap wouldn’t stay over my hair.”
“Nice one, Larry…”
The figure on the roof stared down on the now-revealed Koopalings. I knew it, he thought. He jumped down and landed in the midst of the crowd. Larry and Lemmy recognized him as-
“Uncle Wart?!”
“That’s right…” said Wart.
“What are you doing here?!” Larry yelled.
“If you really must know,” Wart answered, “I’m here to stop you guys from getting your father and sister back.”
“YOU!” cried Lemmy. “You kidnapped Dad!”
“Actually… no… But that doesn’t mean I’m going to tell you either. However, I will tell you that I am working with your sister’s murderer and your idiot father’s mystery kidnapper, mostly because I love to aid in an attempt to wipe out the Koopas.”
“WHAT?! They're planning to do away with all of us?”
“You might say that, but let’s drop the subject before I get into too much detail… Now, prepare to FIGHT!!!”
“Bring it, Prince Froggy!” Lemmy said threateningly.
Upon hearing this, the crowd laughed hard. Even Larry and Lemmy were laughing. “Hey Prince Froggy!” said a Musroomer. “Need a beautiful princess to kiss you?”
The crowd and Koopalings laughed even harder. Wart became enraged. “SHUT UUUUUUUUUP!!!” he bellowed. He became so angry he took out a bazooka and blasted at the crowd. “Or I’ll blast all of you to Yoshi’s Island!” he continued. The crowd wisely stopped laughing and backed up a bit. “Besides,” continued Wart, “Prince Froggy is a different frog…”
“Um… Where did you get that?” asked Larry.
“I know a guy,” said Wart. “Let’s leave it at that…”
“Oh,” Lemmy said. “Well, who cares? Let’s just get this over with…”
Wart and the two Koopalings eyed each other with threatening looks, wondering who was going to make the first move. The crowd backed off, knowing that this was going to get rough. Then, Lemmy suddenly charged towards Wart. He fired at Wart with his wand. Wart dodged the blasts and spat bubbles back at Lemmy. Lemmy was hit by a few and fell. Wart ran up to the shaken Koopaling and prepared to blast him with his bazooka, but he was suddenly jump-kicked in the face by Larry. Wart roared in pain. Larry punched him in the face and stomach repeatedly. Wart was thrown back, but quickly got back up. Lemmy also got back up and chucked a grenade towards Wart, who jumped to avoid it. Lemmy jumped up and spun around rapidly. He stuck his fist out while spinning, and smacked Wart’s stomach. Wart fell back and forced Lemmy off with his feet. Lemmy flew backwards and slid across the ground.
***
Mario and Luigi were resting in their house. “You know,” Mario began, “nothing’s happened in the Mushroom Kingdom for a while.”
“Yeah,” agreed Luigi. “I wonder if something will happen today…”
“Probably not… but I hope something does happen… I’m ready to kick some Koopa hiney.”
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Luigi went to answer it. He opened the door and there was Toad.
“Luigi!” Toad began. “There’s a big disturbance in Toad Town! You must go there immediately!”
Luigi ran back to Mario. “Mario,” he said, “you got your wish…” Mario’s eyes widened.
***
Larry and Lemmy were still battling hard with Wart. Larry had tossed shell bombs at him, but Wart dodged them all. Suddenly Wart was blasted from behind and frozen alive by Lemmy and his Freeze Gun. “I think I got ‘im…” Lemmy said. Unfortunately, he had spoken too soon. Wart was still holding his bazooka. While frozen in the ice block, he slowly tried to pull the trigger on the bazooka. He finally did, and blew a hole in the ice block, weakening it. He then rattled violently and finally busted the ice block apart. “I think not…” said Larry.
“RRRRRRRRR!” Wart growled. “THAT’S IT!!! I’ve had enough of you Stoopalings! I am ending this once and for all!”
Wart suddenly began blasting at Larry and Lemmy in a ballistic manner. The Koopalings had to dodge shots so much that they didn’t even have time to attack Wart. He was shooting so wildly that he blew up a few nearby houses.
“Larry!” Lemmy yelled. “This is starting to get ridiculous! We need help!”
“I know, but from who?”
Just then, two figures in yellow capes flew onto the battle scene. It was the Mario Bros. Lemmy looked over and saw them. “There’s where we can get help,” said Lemmy.
“Are you kidding? They’re our enemies. Why would they wanna help us Koopalings?”
“What’s going on here?!” Mario yelled.
“THE MARIO BROTHERS?!” exclaimed Wart. “You mustn’t interfere!”
“Mario,” began Lemmy, “we need your help.”
Mario and Luigi looked at each other. It wasn’t likely for a Koopa to ask them for help. “Should we?” asked Luigi.
“Hmm… I say yes, mainly because if don’t, Wart’s gonna destroy Toad Town with his careless shooting.”
“That’s true… Let’s do it!”
Mario triple-jumped towards Wart. While avoiding his bazooka shots, he kicked Wart in the face. Before Wart could do anything to defend himself, Mario was already smacking him with his cape. Luigi then flew up behind Wart and headbutted him in the back. Wart winced in pain. Immediately, Larry jumped onto Wart’s head. He bashed Wart in the head with his wand and kicked him backwards. Mario then jumped onto his brother’s hands. Luigi threw him up and Mario backflipped towards Wart and kicked him in the back, and Lemmy finished it off with a jump-kick to the face. Wart fell over unconscious. The crowd cheered for the Mario Bros. and the Koopalings.
“Phew,” Lemmy panted. “That was easy… when Larry and I got help, that is…”
“Well,” began Mario, “Wart doesn’t really have that much fighting experience, so it should’ve been easy.”
Some Mushroom guards walked up. They looked at the unconscious frog. They shook off the sight and turned to the Koopalings with mean looks. Larry and Lemmy stared, hoping they wouldn’t get jailed. “What are these Koopas doing here?!” a guard asked impatiently.
“What are you two doing here anyway?” asked Mario. “I hope you’re not trying to destroy us again…”
“No no no!” Larry squeaked. “Nothing like that at all! We’re on a quest to destroy Fawful for murdering Wendy and stealing her spirit.”
“Fawful killed Wendy?!”
“Yes,” said Lemmy. “And someone else kidnapped Dad. We’re not sure who that someone is, but we’ll get him, too.”
“Bowser got kidnapped? Now there’s a surprise…”
“Wait a minute, Mario,” said a guard. “You can never tell if a Koopa is telling the truth or not…”
“Oh c’mon, give them a break… After all, they did help us defeat Wart.” The crowd agreed.
“Ooooooohhh… Fine, we’ll let it slide… this time.” After saying this, the guards gave the Koopalings a look that said “We’ll be watching you!” Larry gulped, and Lemmy got an anime sweatdrop. The guards then carried the mangled Wart away.
“Like we said,” began Larry, “we're going to destroy Fawful and get our sister’s spirit back… and destroy Dad’s kidnapper.”
“Ya know,” said Lemmy, “Larry and I would really appreciate it if you guys helped us…”
Everybody in the crowd looked at each other. Were the Mario Bros. really going to help two of Bowser’s kids?
“Hmm… What do you think, Mario?” asked Luigi. “Should we help them?”
Mario thought for a second. “Okay,” he finally said. “We’ll help… That Fawful guy has got to go anyway, but this is no trick… right?”
“Trust me,” said Lemmy. “This has nothing to do with Princess Peach, destroying you two, or anything like that. It’s all a matter of avenging our dad and sister and ridding ourselves of Fawful.”
Mario and Luigi thought about the first two words Lemmy had said. Trust me. That was one phrase a Koopa loyal to Bowser would almost never say to the Mario Bros. Lemmy’s words sounded innocent enough, but just to be sure, they ran up to the Koopalings and turned them around quickly.
“Woah! What are you doing?!”
“We just wanted to make sure you two didn’t have your fingers crossed… which you don’t.”
“… Oh.”
The crowd, Marios, and Koopalings all laughed. Then Toad ran up holding a scroll. He opened the scroll up and read it. “Announcing, her royal highness, Princess Peach!” said Toad. A red carpet rolled in out of nowhere, and Princess Peach walked onto the scene of the battle. “Mario! Luigi!” said Peach. “What happened?”
“Well,” began Luigi, “Wart was here earlier and the first time we saw him, he was attacking the Koopalings for some reason.” Peach looked over at the two Koopalings. “Larry and Lemmy Koopa?” she began. “What are you two doing here? Are you trying to kidnap me or destroy Mario and Luigi?!”
“Kidnap you?!” Larry acknowledged impatiently. “That’s Dad’s old scheme, and we're not looking for trouble."
Larry and Lemmy decided to tell Peach the whole truth. They told her about Wendy’s death, Bowser’s kidnapping, that Fawful was the murderer, and that Wart was working with him and how he caused this disturbance. Peach wasn’t so sure if they really were telling the truth. It wasn’t likely for her to believe the words of a Koopa. However, to her, they sounded innocent.
“I believe you two,” she finally said. Larry and Lemmy’s eyes widened. “If Bowser wanted me kidnapped,” she continued, “he would have done it himself… so you were right about that.”
“Phew,” Larry remarked. “That’s good to hear…”
“We are gonna help them,” said Mario to Peach.
“Oh, really? Well that’s good… Maybe one day they can return the favor…”
Return the favor. Those three words were stuck in Larry and Lemmy’s heads. If they did return the favor, would Bowser allow it, or would he throw them in the dungeon for life? Larry and Lemmy decided to worry about that later, as they had more important things to worry about. Afterwards, the princess and the crowd bid the Marios and Koopalings goodbye. The fearless four (as I will call them) ventured away. They didn’t know who their next attacker was going to be. They still didn’t know who Bowser’s kidnapper was. They didn’t even know if Wart would still be alive after they creamed him. All they knew was they had a long, tiring, and painful way to go…