Doomship Disaster

By Rachelle

***

Even with the help of Ossie, the going was not quite as speedy as they had hoped. By the end of the day, they still hadn’t reached their goal. The sun began to set. Soon enough, the night sky swept over the desert like a dark blanket.

It was considerably cooler at night, and Lemmy decided it would be best if they all got some sleep. The sand wasn’t so hot now, so they tried to make themselves comfortable on the ground.

Wendy and Lemmy had a little bit of trouble getting comfy. Ossie, however, just tucked his head under his wing and began to happily see Zs. Sleep eventually found Lemmy and Wendy, too.

Before she drifted off, Wendy took one last look at the mountains. She smiled to herself, despite her growing hunger. They were getting closer.

***

Lemmy awoke late that night, plagued by bad memories present even in his dreams. He sighed to himself as he lay on the desert sands. There was no peace, even in sleep.

He shivered. Without the smoldering heat of the sun, the sandy terrain was actually quite chilly. With another sigh, he turned over and tried to get back to sleep.

The next morning, it was Lemmy who woke up first.

“C’mon, you two!” he urged. “Up and at ‘em! We want to get an early start, so we can get there as quickly as possible.”

Wendy yawned as she got to her feet. Ossie stood up and fluffed his feathers.

“Lemmy, how do we even know what’s in those mountains?” Wendy asked. “How do we know that there’ll be food?”

“If there isn’t any, were going to starve. So there’d better be,”

“Well, I’m reassured now,” Wendy muttered sarcastically. “I feel so much better.”

Somehow, Ossie never seemed to get tired of giving the two ride, or if he did, he never complained. The only speech they actually ever heard from Ossie was the occasional squawk. He ran flat-out all day, seemingly effortlessly.

“How does this bird do it?” Lemmy marveled.

“I dunno,” Wendy responded blankly. “He’s been at it all morning,”

By what would normally have been lunchtime, Lemmy was beginning to worry about his sister. It had been at least 48 hours since their last meal, and she was starving. Lemmy was also ravenously hungry, but Wendy looked extremely pale. She hung onto Ossie’s neck for all she was worth. It was all she could do not to pass out.

Lemmy normally would have offered some words of encouragement, but not now. To speak was to expend energy, something they could not afford to lose any more of. Suddenly feeling faint himself, he did as Wendy was doing. He clung to her shell and closed his eyes tight.

The rest of the day continued in an empty silence. There wasn’t even anything to do, except contemplate their hunger. It was a good thing they had a ride, because neither of the Koopalings had the energy to do anything other than make sure they didn’t fall off of Ossie.

Because they both had their eyes closed, neither of the two siblings noticed when night came once again. They never bothered to look at the far-off mountains. They were caught completely off-guard when Ossie came to a sudden stop, and abruptly fell off of the large Ostro.

Surprised, Lemmy looked around groggily, dimly wondering why he hadn’t even felt the impact of the ground.

He was shocked to find around him not a fierce desert but a gentle oasis. All around was lush grass, trees and… water! A whole pond of it! Snapping to his senses, he noticed Wendy, who seemed to have finally let go of her battle to stay conscious.

“Wendy…” Lemmy’s throat hurt even to speak now, it was so dry. He struggled to wake her, but nothing seemed to work. Mustering all of the little strength he had left, he dragged his sister to the pool of water and splashed a little on her. This seemed to revive her somewhat.

“Wha…” she trailed off at the sight of water, right there in front of her! The two dehydrated Koopas drank greedily until they thought they would burst. Ossie calmly downed his fill.

At the sight of a fruit-bearing tree, Lemmy immediately ran over. Oranges. He rushed back to the pool with a few to Wendy, who was now wading in the water and trying to drink it at the same time.

Wendy hastily ripped the peel off and bit into the orange, as did Lemmy. Though they thought they would die of happiness, Ossie seemed to prefer the trees’ leaves instead.

“Ahh...” Wendy sighed contentedly. “You sure you don’t want to come for a swim? The water’s great!”

Lemmy shook his head no. After so long with nothing but hot sand, he found it welcoming just to lie on the cool grass.

After a good hour or so of just enjoying the cool water and fresh oranges, Lemmy suddenly remembered something.

“Where are we?”

“Wherever it is, it’s a lot better than that desert,”

“I guess we have Ossie to thank for that,” Lemmy said gratefully. He gave Ossie a pat on the head. “Thanks, bud. We probably wouldn’t still be here if it weren’t for you.” Ossie squawked proudly at the comment.

“Hey Ossie…” Lemmy asked slowly. “Do you happen to know where we are?” He was surprised when the huge bird began tugging at his shell, urging him in another direction. He hadn’t really expected an answer.

“And just where are you two going?”

“We’ll be back in a minute!”

Ossie led Lemmy to the top of a nearby hill. What met his eyes was probably the last thing he would have expected.

“Wendy?” he called down the hill. “I think you should come see this!” Wendy tore herself away from the pond and walked the short distance up the hill.

“What is it, Lemmy?” she asked. “What is so…” she stopped.

They were on top one of the very mountains they had almost died trying to reach.

They could see the whole desert from up there, every sand dune and cactus. It reminded Lemmy of the view he had shared with his brother, only days ago. Had it only been two days? It seemed like years had passed since the doomship had crashed. Suddenly, a voice from behind made them jump.

“Hello?” asked the voice. They recognized it as a female’s voice. “Who are you?”

Slowly, they turned around to face…

“A Birdo?” asked Lemmy in disbelief. How could anything live this far out into the desert? On the other hand, he thought as he looked around, this place didn’t seem much like a desert.

“No duh,” replied the birdo. “What are you staring at? Haven’t you ever seen one before?”

It wasn’t only the fact that she was the only living thing (besides Ossie) that they’d seen for days that made them stare, or even that they’d never seen a birdo before. They had. What made them stare was that this Birdo was blazing white.

“Hello? Can you hear me? What’s wrong with you, can’t you talk?”

“Yeah, we can talk,” answered Wendy. “It’s just that you’re so… so…”

“White?”

“Yeah,”

“I’m just albino, that’s all,” she laughed. “Who are you two? And what are you doing in my backyard?”

“What?” Lemmy blurted. “Your backyard?! We are out in the middle of some blazing desert, and then find ourselves somehow in this oasis. Which, may I also mention, was only because of that Ostro over there-"

“Ossie,” interrupted Wendy.

“Whatever.”

“I live a few minutes away, but I do own this property. You know, maybe you should come with me,” suggested the birdo. “I live within walking distance of here, and you two could straighten out your tale when we get there.”

“That sounds good,” Wendy agreed. “Um, what did you say your name was?”

“Actually, I didn’t. But since you asked, it’s Rachelle. Now I ask again, what are your names?”

“Well, I’m Wendy. And this here is my space cadet brother, Lemmy.”

“Hey!” protested Lemmy.

“Okay then, let’s get a move on,” said Rachelle. “My place is about a twenty minute walk from here.”

“No need to worry about that,” cooed Wendy. She pointed over in the direction of the orange trees. “We have Ossie.”

***

With Ossie’s help, the 20-minute walk took only about 10 minutes. Most of the ride was easy enough for Ossie, since they were traveling down the other side of the mountain, and the two Koopalings along with Rachelle enjoyed the wind in their faces.

Lemmy was astonished to see that much of what lay on the other side of the mountain seemed exactly the opposite of the desert; warm, lush, and green. Not scorching hot, like the desert. Just warm.

Soon they arrived at Rachelle’s house. It was in a village full of Birdos. Even though Lemmy and Wendy had never seen so many Birdos in one place, Rachelle seemed indifferent. She was obviously used to it.

“Whee!” yelled Rachelle as the trio climbed off of Ossie. “That sure beats walking!”

“That’s what we thought too,” agreed Wendy.

Inside, Lemmy and Wendy were able to tell their story in more detail. They told her everything that had happened since they first walked onto the doomship. About everything, that is, except Iggy. There was no need to go around telling that to a complete stranger. Rachelle seemed nice enough, but they had still only just met her.

“Well, it seems like you’re in quite a predicament,” she stated after the two were finished talking. “How you even managed to make it this far is beyond me. The desert is pretty harsh.”

“So we noticed,” said Lemmy.

“Well, you tell me you came from Plit. That’s pretty far off. You might want to take a boat or something,” Rachelle suggested. “To try to find some way back to the mainland.”

“Huh?” Wendy wondered aloud. “If we’re not on the mainland… then where are we?”

“Yoshi's Island, of course,” Rachelle answered. “Where did you think you were?”

“Uh, Yoshi's Island didn’t exactly occur to us…”

“Being unexpectedly stranded in a foreign environment can do that to a Koopa,” added Lemmy, sarcastically.

“So we’d need a boat or something then?” Wendy asked. “We don’t have any coins or anything, so we couldn’t rent one.”

“No problem,” answered Rachelle. “There are always a few ways to cross the ocean without money. Or at least maybe one way.”

“Really?”

“You bet. There are usually some Gooney Birds down by the beach. They’re pretty big, and I’ve seen them fly great distances without landing. Maybe you could hitch a ride.”

“Anything is fine,” Lemmy said quickly. “As long as it works.”

And that’s how, shortly later, the two Koopalings ended up making total fools of themselves trying to catch a Gooney Bird. They tried everything from laying baited traps to flinging themselves at the oversized seagulls in hopes of capturing one while Rachelle tried to stifle her laughter.

“Hey, you shut up!” Wendy said indignantly. “It’s not as easy as it looks, you know.”

“But you look so funny!” Rachelle giggled.

Finally, Lemmy managed to grab one by the foot. The two girls managed to help him hold it down before it carried him off.

“I’ve got… a Gooney Bird,” gasped Lemmy as he tried to catch his breath. “Now what?”

“Well, now you have to catch another one,” Rachelle told him. “You think this one can carry you both all alone?”

After some more failed attempts, Wendy grabbed herself another Gooney Bird and struggled to restrain it.

After thanking Rachelle and bidding Ossie a tearful farewell (at least on Wendy’s part), they were on their way. Wendy sniffled. She’d become quite attached to their feathery friend.

“Thanks for everything!” Wendy yelled back at the last minute. “Don’t forget to write!”

Riding on a Gooney Bird wasn’t too complicated, and Lemmy learned early on in the flight that as long they let the bird do whatever it wanted, there wasn’t much to worry about. He tried to steer his Gooney Bird, and the look it gave him could have frozen water. They tried to fly within speaking distance, but this also proved to be a difficult task.

Finally, Lemmy’s Gooney Bird just had to take a rest. It landed on the water, but Wendy’s just kept on going.

“Hey, you!” she exclaimed frantically. “Bird! Stop flying! Take a rest! You heard me, land already!”

The bird ignored her until she bonked it on the head. It decided it didn’t like that and finally landed in the water. She came to a buoyant stop a ways off from Lemmy, but she could still see him. Soon, Lemmy’s bird took to the air again, and another bonk prompted Wendy’s into doing the same thing.

After around three more hours of flying, it was Lemmy who first spotted land. He shouted to Wendy, who was too far away to understand what he was saying until she saw it for herself. She cried out happily. This annoyed her Gooney Bird.

It decided that it had put up with too much, and attempted to dislodge its unwelcome rider. It shook and bumped around and generally just caused a lot of trouble for Wendy until she finally couldn’t hold on any longer. Down she fell, landing with a splash.

“S-s-stupid b-b-bird!” she chattered as she tread the icy-cold water. “I k-k-knew this was a b-b-bad idea!”

Lemmy wasn’t worried about his sister drowning; she was a very good swimmer. However, the water was extremely cold, so he knew he’d have to get her out as soon as possible. Actually achieving this was not so easily done though. He wrestled for flight control for a minute or so before persuading the bird to land near to Wendy.

“I h-h-hate Gooney B-b-birds,” Wendy muttered to herself as she climbed on with Lemmy.

The single Gooney Bird couldn’t fly with both of them on its back, so they had to float to shore. This took a little bit longer, but its little legs still paddled furiously as they headed towards the mainland.

Finally, after hours at sea, the two Koopalings were delighted to finally find themselves on solid ground once more. They tried to ignore the weird looks they were getting from people as they drank in the familiar sights of the Mushroom Kingdom. They were almost home.

***

After they recovered from the initial shock of finally being within reach of their goal, Lemmy pointed out the obvious.

“Where do we go from here? We still don’t really know where we are.”

“Um,” Wendy faltered. “Maybe we could… uh… no, wait. Erm, I really have no idea.”

“I guess we’ll have to ask someone then,” Lemmy sighed. He approached a small Toad and crouched down to its’ height. “Do you know where we are?” The young Toad froze for a moment, and then began to scream.

“Mommy!” it wailed suddenly. The Toad’s mother rushed over and picked up her bawling child. Lemmy was about to ask her the same question, when:

SLAP!

The blow came too fast for Lemmy to react. He stood there in a daze while the upset Toad screamed something about him being a monster and warned him to stay away. Confused, he walked back to Wendy.

“What was that?” Wendy questioned. “What did you do?”

“I don’t know,” Lemmy felt his face, which still stung. “But it hurt!”

“The nerve of some people!” fumed Wendy. “Just because we’ve taken over half of their land doesn’t mean they have the right to…” she trailed off, realizing she’d just answered her own question. Being the offspring of Bowser probably didn’t allow for a very good reputation around these parts.

“We’ll just have to find the way ourselves then,” concluded Lemmy. “You know, I wish my circus ball were here. I’ve never walked for this long without it.”

Every Mushroomer they saw went out of his or her way to steer clear of them, and those that didn’t tried to act as if they weren’t even there. Although somewhat unsettling, this did make the walk easier for the two Koopalings. The way the crowds parted when they came through, you’d have thought one of them was Moses or something.

Lemmy suggested that maybe they should get out of the town. It was pretty clear that they weren’t going to get a word out of any Toad around that place. Wendy didn’t disagree; she was beginning to dislike the eerie silence that filled the street whenever they turned a corner.

After a few more minutes of walking, they nearly bumped into a small sign. Wendy bent over so that she could read it.

“It says that there’s an exit over there,” Wendy pointed to her left.

Sure enough, there was a small building, which seemed to be a lookout tower. Beyond it was some kind of side road. They walked over but were puzzled to find the door locked, even though there were lights on inside. Wendy knocked as hard as she could.

“Hello?” she called. “Anyone there?” Hearing this, a Toad in a guard’s uniform opened the door a crack.

“None of your kind are allowed in!” he spat as he looked up at them.

“Aww, but we’re already inside!” Lemmy pointed out. He probably would have just pushed his way past him had it not been for the spear the Toad was holding. “C’mon, let us out!”

The guard considered this for a moment.

“Come in,” he said reluctantly. “But go right out the back door, and don’t try anything funny. I’m watching you.”

Lemmy sighed as he and Wendy quickly walked through the building. They looked around. Nothing fancy, the building was probably only used as a defense station to keep out unwanted visitors. With a defense system like that, Wendy thought, it was no wonder that King Dad had managed to kidnap Princess Peach so many times.

They didn’t have much time to look around, because as soon as they reached the back door they were practically booted out of the building.

“And don’t come back!”

“Well, I never,” she muttered to herself. She stood up and dusted herself off. “If that’s the welcome I’m going to get, I don’t want to come back anyways.”

They continued walking in silence. While Wendy was noticing how beautiful the countryside was, Lemmy was wondering something else. How long had they been gone for? Had anyone even noticed that they were missing? Would they ever get home? He was so deep in thought that he failed to notice the large red rock blocking his path. That is, until he tripped over it.

“Oww!” he moaned. “Why do these things always happen to me?”

Wendy helped him get to his feet. They almost jumped out of their shells when a voice suddenly yelled at them.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!”

It was the rock! A Koopa’s head popped out. It wasn’t really a rock at all, but the shell of a Koopa Troopa. They could tell that it was a Troopa by the sunglasses it wore. It emerged fully and stood up. It seemed about to tell them off, when it suddenly realized who it was speaking to.

“P-p-prince Lemmy!” it trembled. “And Princess Wendy! Forgive me, I didn’t know it was you.”

“Of course you didn’t,” answered Wendy.

“Humble commoner,” began Lemmy “Wouldst thou discern the nearest route to mine noble castle?”

“Huh? I-I- I’m afraid that I don’t understand.”

“Oh, stop it, Lemmy.” Wendy jabbed her brother in the stomach. “What he means is that we’re lost. We’d like to know where we are and also the quickest way home.”

“Oh!” exclaimed the Troopa. “Right now you’re in Grass Land. If you’re looking for a way home, I’d suggest you take one of those warp pipes over there.” He pointed to a large clump of bushes. “Normally, the Piranha Plants would make you pay to use them, but I’m sure in your case they’d make an exception.”

“Thanks! Come on, Lemmy.”

“I thank thee, humble commoner! Make haste to- oomph! What was that for?”

“Just shut up and let’s go!” said Wendy irritably.

The two Koopalings had to struggle somewhat to get to the warp pipes. The bushes and weeds were so overgrown and tangled that Lemmy supposed the pipes hadn’t been used in a long time. Or maybe the Piranha Plants just liked it that way. In the middle of all the underbrush was a small clearing.

“Where are the warp pipes?” asked Wendy, looking around. “I don’t see any pipes or Piranha Plants!”

Her question was answered soon enough.

“What are you doing here?” demanded a voice. The two looked in the direction of the voice to find about four warp pipes. There was a Piranha Plant snaking out the top of the innermost one.

“Hi,” said Lemmy. “I’m Lemmy Koopa, and this is-“

“I know who you are!” the plant cut him off. It had a thick, irritating voice and breath that could knock over a horse. “But why are you here?”

“We need to use a warp pipe,” answered Wendy.

“Unheard of!” the plant said quickly. “These pipes have not been used in years!”

“But we really need to use one,” Lemmy argued. “Preferably one that leads us close to Bowser’s Castle.”

“I suppose,” grinned the Piranha Plant. “But it’ll cost you.”

“You can have Wendy’s bow,” Lemmy said quickly.

“No, you cannot have my bow!” objected Wendy.

“Well, I don’t have anything to give!”

“What about your necklace?” suggested the Piranha Plant. “I’m sure it would fetch a high price on the market.”

After a small struggle, Lemmy managed to get a hold of Wendy’s necklace and handed it to the large Piranha Plant. He held his nose and tried to hold his breath. The plant grinned smugly and indicated the warp pipe closest to its right.

“That pipe,” it said. “Should take you very near to your castle.”

“Thanks! Come on, Wendy.”

“I’m not speaking to you,”

Lemmy sighed as he followed his sister into the warp pipe.

***

For a minute or so, Lemmy couldn’t see anything, but he could hear. He heard the air rushing past him and the occasional “Oww!” from Wendy as she hit a sharp turn. This was the only real way he could tell to brace himself for the corners, since Wendy was farther on in the pipe than he was. The pipe itself was very dank, and the humid air smelled of mold.

Soon, he could see light up ahead. His small sigh of relief was replaced by a gasp as he suddenly shot up and out of the pipe, landing nearby with a thud. He struggled to breathe for a moment as the wind had been knocked out of him. Wendy, however, had an easier landing and stood up right away. She looked around and tried to make out where they were.

“As far as I can tell,” Wendy began. She seemed to have forgotten her vow of silence. “We’re down the road from our castle.” Indeed, the two could see the very tip of the castle’s towers peeking over a nearby hill.

“I guess we should get going then,” Lemmy took a few steps, and somehow managed to trip over one of the few potholes in the road. He cursed under his breath and made a mental note to buy a new ball when he got back. Wendy, on the other hand, seemed fine with walking. She did miss her necklace though, and her feet were getting sore from walking around in high heels the whole time.

Once they reached the top of the hill, they could see that there was still some distance between them and the castle.

“How long do you think it would take for us to walk that far?” Wendy asked hopefully. “Ten minutes, maybe?” Receiving no answer from her brother, she decided to stay quiet.

Lemmy had mixed emotions about returning home. It would be such a relief to not have to worry about food, sleep, or dehydration any more. Back home, where everything was as it should be. He smiled to himself at the thought.

But his next thought wiped the grin clear off of his face. How was he supposed to tell King Dad about… about Iggy? How do you tell a parent that, out of three missing children, only two have returned? Especially when that parent just happens to be Bowser?

Lemmy missed Iggy and hated himself for not being able to help him. He ran over the doomship scene in his mind again, as he had so many times in the past couple of days. Maybe he could have helped somehow. Maybe he could have somehow held onto Iggy and shared his parachute. But all the maybes in the world couldn’t change what had happened. He held back tears, but it wasn’t for the first time.

“Lemmy?” asked Wendy. “Are you all right? You look… as if you’re about to cry or something.”

“I’m fine,” Lemmy looked away. Something in his eyes told Wendy he was lying, and she had a pretty good idea of what was on his mind. They stopped walking.

“Is this about Iggy?” No response. She tried again. “It wasn’t really you’re fault, you know. It… it’s mine. You know that.”

Somehow, that was more than Lemmy could take. All of his emotions had been pushed to the limit, and hearing that just made something inside of him burst. He sat down abruptly and started bawling. Everything he had wanted to say for the past couple of days suddenly came out in a stream of jumbled howls.

Wendy didn’t know what to do. She crouched down and patted her brother on the back while he sobbed. It was all she could do not to cry herself.

After a while, Lemmy seemed to have run out of tears. He stopped crying and began to shake violently, as if he was very cold. Wendy was already worried, and this new development scared her. She had never known her brother to be cold all of her life. Was he sick?

“Lemmy?” she asked timidly. “Are you cold? Maybe you should get up. We can get back to the castle, and I’m sure they’ll have something for you there.”

“N-n-n-no,” Lemmy shivered. “I’m not cold.”

“Are you sure? You look awfully pale.”

“I’m fine,” Lemmy shakily got to his feet. “Really, I’m just-”

“Just what, Lemmy?”

“Nothing, I’m just a little-” he stopped short again, confused. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what to say. What puzzled him was that he found himself unable to complete the sentence. He could form the words in his mind, but it was as if his mouth only got half of the message.

“Just a little what?” Wendy was becoming more and more irritated. Was he messing with her mind?

“Something’s wrong, I can’t-” he tried again.

“You can’t what?” Wendy asked.

“I can’t finish what I’m-” He felt his forehead. Maybe he really was coming down with something. He tried to think, what could be causing this sudden lack of words? The only time anything like this had ever happened was… when…

“Lemmy? I really think you need some medical attention. We should keep heading to the castle,” said Wendy worriedly. Lemmy wasn’t listening however, and as she watched, a look of pure shock registered on her brother’s face.

Suddenly, Lemmy jumped to his feet and took off running as fast as he could towards the castle. Surprised, Wendy struggled to catch up. Lemmy wasn’t very fast without his ball however, and soon she was jogging easily alongside him.

“Lemmy?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

“You know very-” once again, Lemmy didn’t finish, which served only to further confuse his sister.

After a few minutes of flat-out running, Lemmy had to slow down and eventually stop. He gasped for breath and looked at the castle again. They were only about five minutes away now.

“What is wrong?” Wendy asked again. “Are you mad at me?”

“No, I’m not mad at you,” he panted. He seemed able to complete his thoughts again.

“Then what happened?”

“I don’t really know,” Lemmy answered truthfully as he gasped for breath.  “It was as if, for a few minutes, I couldn’t finish what I wanted to say. I thought maybe…”

“You thought maybe Iggy was back?” Hearing Lemmy sniffle in reply, she continued. “I think… maybe you wanted to see him so badly that you, you know, just imagined it.”

“No!” Lemmy shouted quickly. “I don’t know what just happened, but I didn’t imagine it!”

“If you say so…” Wendy responded doubtfully.

Maybe Wendy was right, Lemmy thought to himself. Maybe his mind had just been playing tricks on him. As they continued walking, he pushed what had just happened out of his mind and tried to figure out what to say to Bowser.

Soon enough, there they were, standing right outside of the castle door. From this distance, the castle seemed almost intimating, although they had never thought of it that way before. Its sheer size alone would be enough to make one weak at the knees, and the prospect of a wicked tyrant somewhere within the walls was unnerving for most people. The Koopalings were used to the sight however, and had never thought of it as anything other than home.

Wendy rushed up and tugged at the handle. Oddly enough, she stopped in mid tug. She tried again, but it was no use.

“Well, that’s just great,” she sighed irritably as she walked back to Lemmy. “We come all this way, and the door is locked!”

Having no other ideas, Lemmy walked up to the door. He clenched his fist and knocked as hard as he could. With a loud creak, the huge door opened a crack and spread wide open.

The two Koopalings gasped. Standing there at the door was just about the last Koopa they ever would have expected to see. All three just gaped at each other for a moment, not knowing what to say. After what seemed like an eternity, Lemmy regained his senses enough to speak.

“Iggy?”

Read on!