The storyline for this story was presented in full by Danyal. I wrote it on his suggestion and because he was too busy to do it himself.
 

"Let's take it again from the top!" Lemmy called down to Iggy.

"All right!" Iggy shouted back up. "Once more, and then I have to get going."

Lemmy waited as Iggy climbed up the large ladder and finally reached his platform. "Are you ready?" he asked.

"Ready!" Iggy grinned. "Let's go for a perfect run-through!"

"One..." Lemmy began.

"Two..." Iggy continued.

"Three!" both shouted.

They leapt into the air and caught themselves perfectly on the first swing they came to, then masterfully shifting their wait upwards so they swung forward and caught the other. They released their grip on the swings and did several twirls in the air before spinning past each other and landing on the swing opposite the side they had started on. Lemmy let go of his swing but Iggy correctly caught him with one hand and tossed him up to a swing above the others, then jumped up with him. Lemmy spun the swing around and sent the two flying right back to the platform they had started on. Then they did a long jump, met in the middle, and tossed each other to the opposite platform, where the act ended.

"Perfect!" Lemmy cheered.

"Yeah, Wendy will just love it when we perform at her next birthday party!" Iggy grinned.

"So, what are your plans for the rest of the day?" Lemmy inquired.

"I have to go try beating the Marios," Iggy answered. "I haven't done it yet this month and Bowser is getting angry."

"Good luck," Lemmy said in a sarcastic tone.

"Thanks," Iggy replied as he left. He walked for a distance, then sighed. "I don't even have a plan this time! But nothing the Marios can do to me will be worse than what Bowser will do if I don't do anything. Guess I'd better get it over with and use my Magic Wand or something."

Glumly, Iggy boarded his doomship and took the lonely trip to Mario's Pad, where, as misfortune would have it, Luigi and Yoshi had dropped by. "This is one headache I don't need!"

But Iggy had no choice. He landed his doo,ship behind some trees, then walked slowly towards the Pipe House. Suddenly, he leaped out and started shooting. One o nearly hit Mario, but Yoshi, always alert for food, jumped in the way and started eating them.

"What kind of digestive track does he have?!" Iggy gasped.

"Mario, look! It's-a Iggy!" Luigi informed his dimwitted brother.

"Yup, it's me," Iggy agreed sullenly. "Guess you'd better come beat me."

"That's-a right, cuz I'm-a Mario!" the red plumber declared. He jumped high into the air and landed hard on Iggy's head. Iggy fell to the ground, stunned and defeated. "That-a will teach you Koopas!" Mario smiled wide, showing the food stuck in his teeth.

Iggy, eyes wide, slowly made his way back to his doomship and somehow found the course for Koopa Castle. When he landed, Bowser was there to meet him, expecting a hopefully positive report. "So, how'd it go?" he asked.

Iggy seemed like a zombie as he staggered towards Bowser. For a moment he was silent, then he opened his mouth. "Iggy good Koopa!" he gushed, his mouth displaying a huge grin.

Then Iggy fell to the floor...

Hours later...

Iggy could hear numerous voices around him, but he couldn't sort them out. All he knew was that his head throbbed with more pain than he had ever felt before. He didn't feel that he could move, but at the same time he felt he could do anything if it would alleviate some of the pain. He forced himself to open his eyes.

"Iggy?" a voice asked.

The various colors finally focused in Iggy's eyes. He could see the whole family surrounding his bed, his worried father hanging over him. "Dad," he replied.

"No, don't speak," Bowser laid a gentle hand on him. "It will only make you weaker." He paused for a time, seeming to be thinking of what to say next. "Mario must have been eating a lot before he jumped on you," he finally continued. "You suffered a sever concussion, but the doctor says you will be fine and the pain will go away shortly."

Iggy tried to smile, but the pain was too much for him.

"Unfortunately the doctor also says that you will have to stay in bed for many weeks or months or maybe a year and who knows how bad it will be ooh! I wouldn't want to stay in bed that long and what if I couldn't talk it would be terrible and I would surely feel like dying but hey I'm sure you'll get through it or maybe not but-"

"Shut up!" Wendy hissed to Morton, stuffinh a sock in his mouth. Now Iggy's head hurt more than ever, as did the head of everyone else in the room.

"Nice way to break the news, bonehead," Roy sneared, hoping his younger brother would get a punishment.

Bowser frowned. "I am sorry you have to hear it that way, but yes, that is the gist of what will happen. You will need a lot of bedrest."

Iggy allowed his expression to sag. His ears rung so much that he was, for a time, able to move without inducing any additional pain.

"But look on the bright side!" Bowser forced a small smile. "You'll get all the goodies you want and you won't have to work!"

Iggy still looked glum.

"Well..." Bowser stammered. "I think it is time we all go and let Iggy get his rest."

And with that, everyone turned to leave. But Lemmy, who was trailing at the back of the line, stopped on his way out and turned to Iggy. "Everything will be ok," he said, feeling the pain of the brother he knew so well. "Just you wait and see."

The weeks crawled by, but as Bowser had said, it didn't end up being so bad. He enjoyed watching lots of cartoons and eating all the seets his nurse could carry to him. He didn't even have to worry about Giant Land, which was currently being run by an assistant Boom Boom. Iggy even began to consider faking sick so he would have to stay there longer.

Castle life remained mostly the same as it always had been. Iggy was usually a quiet Koopaling to begin with, so not much was different with him gone. But one Koopaling sored noticed that his brother was missing. Lemmy was left to perform the act all on his own, and not even he could do the act by himself.

Wendy's birthday and several others went by. Lemmy, who always had to do some form of entertainment, resorted to using one of his ball acts. This was certainly not boring, but he felt he and Iggy could have done an even more impressive act. For the duration of Iggy's bedrest, Lemmy was not the jolly self he usually was. Iggy was physically sick, but Lemmy was heartsick.

Finally the day came when Iggy was able to leave the hospital. Iggy had finally decided he wouldn't mind leaving. The sweets were beginning to hurt his teeth, and most of the cartoons he was seeing were reruns. So when Bowser came to tell him that the doctor said it was safe for him to go, Iggy was out of there in a flash.

Iggy's first stop after he was free was to go to his room and change his shell; he was beginning to get tired of its color. He left his room to figure out what to do first. As he wandered he past the gym, and his mind was made up. He rushed in and saw who he hoped he would.

'Lemmy!" he cheered. "I'm finally out of that hospital!"

Bowser hadn't told the others yet, so Lemmy, who was swinging high in air, was so surprised to hear his brother's voice that he lost his grip and fell to the net below, then bounced back up to the swing and down again, his weight being too little to keep him down. "Iggy?!" Lemmy gasped in disbelief. "I can't believe it!"

"Well, you'd better!" Iggy chuckled. "I've seen so many cartoons lately, I know this isn't one!"

"You look great!" Lemmy complemented. "And I have a great plan! Why not get back into the swing of things and perform with me at Bowser's birthday party in five days? That'd be a blast!"

Iggy looked pleased but before he could speak another voice did. "That is a great idea!" commended Bowser, who had been positioned conveniently right outside the gym and had heard Lemmy's suggestion. "I hear you have a really great act! In fact, I'm gonna save myself some money and cancel the hired entertainment. Thanks boys!"

Bowser trotted off humming the Happy Birthday tune.

Lemmy wasn't worried. "Come on!" he grinned. "Let's practice what we'd been doing before. Then maybe we can add in some extra stuff."

"I'm there!" Iggy gladly agreed.

The two Koopalings suited up, then took their positions on their platform. "One..." Lemmy started.

"Two..." Iggy continued.

"Three!" they both cheered as they jumped towards the first swing.

Lemmy reached his swing with no problem, but Iggy's jump fell short and he fell to the net. Lemmy was then unable to complete the next step and fell as well. As the brothers fell, the problem suddenly dawned on them. Because of his bedrest, Iggy was out of shape and overweight.

"How much time do we have?" Iggy asked, slightly dazed.

"Five days," Lemmy answered.

There was a pause, then the Koopalings let out a scream.

"What will we do?" Iggy panicked. "Bowser will be less than impressed if we mess up at his birthday party."

"We could- no, now he's determined to save money," Lemmy shook his head. "We're just going to need to get some one else really quickly who can do your part."

An hour later...

"No!" Larry snapped as he slammed his door.

"Well, that was successful," Lemmy noted.

"Now what do we do?" asked Iggy. "Everyone said no."

Lemmy thought for a minute before a mischievous grin appeared on his face. "Iggy, welcome to The Lemmy Workout Program, guaranteed to get you fit and in shape in five days or less!"

"Uh oh," Iggy backed away.

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