This is Me (2)

Luigi stared in horror at the reflection staring him back in the mirror. Not only was he now a Koopa, he was Larry Koopa. To top it all off, he was now on one of the Koopalings' airships. He could barely keep from falling unconscious right then and there as he gripped the edge of the sink tightly to keep from collapsing onto the floor.
“Hey, Larry!”
Luigi whirled around. His grip on the sink let up and he immediately proceeded to fall over flat on his face. Trembling, he struggled to get to his feet, but his muscles were locking up in fear. He then felt a hand on his shoulder. He slowly turned to see Morton Koopa standing over him.
“You okay?” Morton asked, “You don't look so good. You should get some rest. We'll be back at the castle soon.”
Luigi choked. He'd rather be anywhere else in the world right now than on the express ship to Bowser Castle. Of course, as long as he pretended to be Larry, he'd be fine...he hoped.

~~

Larry stared straight forward, nervously tapping a rhythm with his fingers on the nightstand next to him. He'd gotten back into bed just after discovering that he was in Luigi's body. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen to Luigi if his father or his siblings discovered who he really was. He then began to wonder what Mario would do to him if he found out what had happened. The thought of it sent a shiver up his spine.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Larry got up out of bed and went to answer it. Upon opening the door, he found two Toads standing there, one blue and one yellow. The yellow one clutched a note in his right hand.
“Hey, Luigi!” the blue Toad said with a smile, “We're here to keep you company while Mario's out!”
Larry gave the Toad an incredulous look. Just then, the yellow Toad held out the note to him. He took the note and skimmed over it.
“Luigi,
I've sent over Alagold and Buckenberry to stay with you while I'm gone. I should be home soon. In the meantime, be sure to get plenty of rest and don't let that tussle with Larry get to you. When I get home, we can play some games together. Sound good?
Mario”
Larry stared at the note for a moment longer. He had to wonder what had happened during that “tussle”. Whatever it was, Mario clearly didn't know anything about it.
“When we left him, Mario was already about to fight the last Koopaling, so he should be home really soon!” the blue Toad, presumably Buckenberry, chimed in. Larry thought for a moment. By “the last Koopaling”, Buckenberry must have meant Ludwig. Like usual, Larry and Ludwig had bookended the operation.
“He wanted us to see how you felt,” the yellow Toad, whom Larry assumed to be Alagold, added.
“Fine,” Larry said quickly. He didn't want to talk too much. He'd talked to himself a bit earlier and found that, even with Luigi's voice, his own cadence still showed through.
“Great!” Buckenberry said, racing inside past Luigi. Alagold followed close behind, shouting for his partner to stop. Larry whirled around and saw that Buckenberry had made straight for the kitchen. Alagold grabbed his partner by the back of his vest, dragging the protesting Toad away before he could raid any of the cabinets. Larry couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Morton would probably do the same thing in such a situation.
“So, what exactly did happen?” Alagold said suddenly, startling Larry.
“I don't-a know,” Larry said, trying his best to fake Luigi's accent.
“Mario said something about a battle with Larry in his letter,” Alagold continued, “I was just wondering what exactly that entailed. I just know that Larry has a tendency to not fight fair.”
Larry had to hold himself back from denying the comment. He thought he'd fought pretty fairly this last time and he was even winning before--
“The Magikoopa!”
“Huh?” Alagold said, surprised by the sudden outburst.
“Ah! Nothing!” Larry replied. The Magikoopa had to be the reason all of this was happening. The spell had to have gone wrong somehow and switched Larry and Luigi's bodies. It had to be the solution. The only thing left to figure out now was how to get everything back to normal.

~~

Luigi found himself wandering the halls of Bowser Castle wondering what he was going to do. It was bad enough that he was in Larry Koopa's body in the first place, but just being in Bowser's Castle made everything worse. What was he supposed to do now?
“Larry!”
The sudden call startled Luigi, sending him unintentionally stumbling forward. Remembering himself, he immediately whirled around to see Ludwig von Koopa marching toward him.
“Y-yes?” Luigi responded, trembling.
“You and I need to talk. Now,” Ludwig said. Luigi nodded hesitantly and began to follow Ludwig down the hall. He knew he needed to act like he wasn't afraid, but that was proving to be much easier said than done.
Eventually, the two reached Ludwig's room. The first thing Luigi noticed about Ludwig's room is that it was an absolute mess. There were papers scattered everywhere, some blueprints and sketches and some musical compositions.
“What's the matter with you?” Ludwig asked, “Morton told me he had to pick you up from the Grassland castle. What happened?”
Luigi tried to speak, but no words came out of his mouth. He was too scared of saying the wrong thing to even say anything.
“You were fighting Luigi, right?” Ludwig went on, “I shouldn't think that Luigi would be too hard to beat.”
Luigi held his tongue on purpose this time.
“Are you going to say anything, or am I going to have to end up dragging the information out of you?”
“I-I,” Luigi stuttered, “I don't-a know.”
“Huh?”
Luigi involuntarily slapped his hand over his mouth. He'd completely forgotten about his accent. Even if he had Larry's voice, his accent was an instant tell to his true identity as a Mario brother.
“Why are you speaking like one of those Mario brothers?” Ludwig asked suspiciously. Luigi choked. He didn't have a response for that. He almost wanted to make a mad dash out of the room, but that would just draw more suspicion. He couldn't just sit there, though. He had to make up some kind of excuse.
“I have a cold.”
It was the worst excuse ever. He practically cringed after he said it. All he could do now was stare at Ludwig's bewildered look and wait for the Koopaling's response.
“A cold? Seriously? How stupid do you think I am?” Ludwig said, “You'd have to be as stupid as Roy to believe something as dumb as that.”
Luigi couldn't help but chuckle a little. He'd never expected someone like Ludwig to make such a quip about his brother.
“Why are you laughing?” Ludwig snapped, “This is serious. I was worried about you when Morton told me what had happened and now I'm asking you about what happened. Quit making jokes and talk to me like I'm your superior rather than your brother.”
Luigi winced. He was already on Ludwig's bad side. Now he had to think up an excuse for what happened during his battle with Larry and it had to be better than his last excuse or he'd really get it.
“You see,” Luigi began, trying his best to mask his accent, “There was a...uh...the...”
Ludwig sighed in exasperation.
“Larry,” Ludwig said, “You are a very important part of this army. Tell me what that part is.”
Luigi froze. It would have been common knowledge for Larry, obviously, but Luigi had no idea how to answer the question.
“K-Koopaling?”
Ludwig slapped his hand on his forehead.
“Yes, you're a Koopaling, but what ELSE?”
“...the...Koopaling...with the fireballs?”
Ludwig gave Luigi an incredulous look. Luigi felt himself going pale.
“Okay,” Ludwig said slowly, “So you're the Koopaling with the fireballs. What's your favorite band again?”
“Wh-why do you ask?” Luigi asked. It was obvious at this point that Ludwig was beginning to catch on and was trying to lead him into answering a trap question.
“I was just wondering for your birthday next week,” Ludwig said, “I'm stuck on gift ideas and I was just wondering.”
“How did we get from the battle with Luigi to my birthday?”
“Doesn't matter. Can you answer the question?”
It was an obvious trap.
“I just want to talk about the battle. Just get me whatever you want for my birthday.”
“Okay, but Larry's birthday isn't for seven more months.”
Luigi reeled back in shock, slipping on a piece of paper and falling onto his back. Because of the spikes on his shell, though, he couldn't get himself back up. If he couldn't get back up, he couldn't run. He felt like he could cry.
“Retract the spikes.”
“Huh?”
“Retract the spikes,” Ludwig repeated, “You can do that, you know.”
Luigi concentrated his efforts on retracting the spikes and they eventually did so, finally allowing Luigi to get up.
“Who are you?” Ludwig asked, thankfully much more calmly than Luigi thought he'd be, “It's quite obvious you've never been a Koopa before, so I'd guess there's been a body switch involved. Who are you?”
Luigi choked again. He was afraid to tell Ludwig who he was.
“Well, that told me everything I needed to know,” Ludwig said.
“I-it did?” Luigi stuttered.
“Yes,” Ludwig continued, “You're Luigi.”
“H-how did you know that?!”
“It was pretty obvious. The accent and the scared behavior gave it away pretty easily. I know you wouldn't want to tell a Koopa that you were a Mario brother.”
“Please don't kill me!” Luigi begged. Ludwig stared at Luigi for a moment, then laughed, confusing the poor plumber.
“Kill you?” Ludwig said, “Of course not! You're in Larry's body! Why would I kill you when you're in Larry's body?”
Luigi sighed. He was relieved that he was safe, but he felt somewhat sick to his stomach knowing that it was only because he was in Larry's body.
“All we have to do now is figure out how to switch you and Larry back,” Ludwig went on, “but it's not going to be easy. Larry's probably with Mario right now. We have to find some way to get Larry to come here, but without alerting anyone else about the switch.”
“Why can't I go to him?” Luigi asked.
“Because Mario would stomp you if you went to him, that's why.”
“W-well your Koopa Troop would go all-out against Larry if he came here!”
“Ugh,” Ludwig groaned, “That is true.”
Luigi tried his hardest to think of another solution. Ludwig looked as if he was doing the same. Just then, Ludwig's face lit up.
“That's it!” Ludwig cried, “We need Larry to come here on peaceful terms and there's only one way to do that.”
“What way is that?” Luigi inquired.
“Mushroom Fever.”
“Mushroom Fever?!” Luigi repeated in shock. Mushroom Fever was a fatal disease that only recently had a cure developed...by Mario.
“Mario's one of very few in the world who has the cure for Mushroom Fever, so, if one of us Koopalings were to contract it, King Dad would have little choice but to call Mario. Larry knows he needs to get back here, so he'd probably try to come with Mario. It's a perfect solution.”
“B-but isn't Mushroom Fever deadly?!” Luigi pointed out.
“If there's just a little of it, it won't spread too quickly. That should give Mario enough time to get here. That is, of course, if he'd even bother to try to help a Koopa.”
“Hey!” Luigi retorted, “Mario might fight you Koopas when he needs to, but he'd never leave one of you to die if there was something he could do about it! If one of you had Mushroom Fever, he'd help you just like he'd help anyone else!”
“That settles it then,” Ludwig said, “I'll ask Iggy and Lemmy to help me create the viruses and then we'll put the plan in motion.”
“I'm surprised you'd be willing to risk someone else's life like that.”
“The plan is a bit of a long-shot, but, since I'm using the viruses on you, I'm hoping that gives Larry more of an incentive to make sure that Mario gets here in time.”
“Wh-what?!”