Heavy Is the Crown- Chapter 2

Galdro flitted along, a proud blue tribe winged koopa of remarkable handsomness (for one of his species), his thoughts far from the eggs below. Meanwhile, Meechum, a yellow winged koopa paired with him for the day's duty, worked his staff up under the spiney that had strayed too close to the egg pits, trying to flip it over.

"If you're done posing for non-existent admirers up there, Galdro, I could use some help down here," Meechum called up. Galdro spun toward the yellow tribe and winged down to his side, adding his own staff to the effort. Flipped over, the spiney thrashed helplessly, its spiked shell wedged in the sand. "Thank you. Now what do we do with it?"

"Simple," said Galdro, reaching into one of the tiny pouches tied to his waist sash.

"No, no, not this again," Meechum protested, grabbing at the bag. Galdro shoved him away roughly and pointed at him with one shaking finger.

"Do not forget your place, Meechum," Galdro snarled. "I am a blue tribe. I answer only to the blackshells, and my blue superiors of rank. Now, open its mouth." Meechum hung his head, shoulders slumped.

"Must I? This is cruel, Galdro."

"Just do it," said the blue tribe with a leering grin. Meechum rounded the spiney's body, approached its head and knelt down, catching it by the neck. It struggled, snapping with hard, square teeth at him.

"This is wrong, Galdro," he said, releasing the creature and rolling back and away. "It is no longer a threat to us or the eggs," he continued, standing up. "We can knock it out and drag it away."

"Nuts to that," said Galdro playfully, pulling out a single walnut-like seed between thumb and forefinger. "This'll be a blast, ha ha!" With uncanny agility the blue tribe danced up to the spiney's head and dropped the seed into its mouth as it snapped at him, joining Meechum as the yellow sprinted away two dozen yards. "Fire in the hole!"

The fire flower seed is never to be ingested, and here was precisely why. Once the seed hit the spiney's stomach, it burst apart in an explosion of its fiery magic, blowing blood and organs and shell all over the place. The smouldering crater of its exposed underbelly lay ragged and singed, stinking of shredded bowels and half-digested food. Meechum gritted his teeth and looked away, hoping to keep down his gorge.

"Whoo! Isn't that something, Meechum," Galdro crowed, clapping the yellow on the shell.

"You'd better hope none of the eggs were damaged," Meechum said weakly. Galdro made an annoyed face.

"Come on, man, they're just reds." Meechum just stared toward the egg pits. Galdro sighed. "Fine, let's check on them," he said, sulking. The pair walked toward the closest egg pit, finding no damage to the four eggs within, which were now thoroughly crimson. "See?"

"We have to check them all," said Meechum, walking on. As he came to the next pit, he gasped, hands flying to his mouth. "Oh," he managed.

"What is it," Galdro asked, coming alongside him. The pair found themselves looking down at a chubby, tall newborn green koopa, one like they'd never seen before. It lay on its belly, hands clamped over its ears, eyes peering around the curved walls of its pit. Its shell was a dark green, studded with small yellow circles, and two stubs protruded from its temples, book-ending a tuft of blood red hair. Its fingers already bore half-inch claws.

"It, it's a koopa," Meechum stammered. He could feel the stirrings of a grin opening the right side of his mouth. "It's a green tribe koopa."

"Koopas don't look like that," Galdro said. "It's an abomination." The newborn seemed to realize that whatever traumatic event had taken place, it was over, and it wobbled up onto its legs, reptilian tail waggling back and forth. It craned its neck to look up at them and smiled, revealing a mouth full of blunted little teeth. Galdro took half a step back and shook his head. "We need to get rid of it."

"What? No, Galdro, you can't be serious," Meechum said. "I don't condone what you just did back there, but I had to allow it. You outrank me." Meechum moved to put himself between Galdro and the infant, staff in hands at the ready. "But this, I will never allow."

"Oh? Never, you say," asked Galdro, face drawn down, shifting easily into an assailing stance.

"Never in life. Status be damned, blue tribe. This will not," he said, and no more, as Galdro took the opportunity to level a swift sucker punch with his staff. Meechum yipped as agony put out a press release in his forehead, calling for all nerves to report immediate signals of 'holy hell that hurts' to every conscious thought available. He tumbled to one side, his arms and legs weak from the shock of the blow.

"Galdro, don't," he tried to say, but it came out slurred. The blue tribe had hit him harder than he realized, scrambling his brain. Meechum watched helplessly as Galdro set his staff aside and crouched down, holding out another fire flower seed for the infant. If he'd had the strength to scream, he would have.

The infant, naturally curious and, of course, hungry, didn't hesitate, snatching the seed and gobbling it, swallowing quickly. Galdro slipped his staff back into his hand and rolled back and away. The infant made a pained face, snarls and whines of discomfort escaping its throat. The tiny koopa clutched its stomach, hunched over.

All of this Meechum saw through a veil of tears. At least I'm close enough that this will kill me, he thought. Seeing this cruelty, how would I go on? Yet the tiny koopa did not burst apart.

It opened its mouth, and a roaring cone of flames erupted from between its teeth, corruscating fire that blasted Galdro back. The blue tribe koopa howled in agony as the fire washed over him, turning his staff to ashes, his scaled skin crisping even as the force of the breath weapon knocked him clear.

Meechum, stunned but brought out of his fugue by the enormity of what he was seeing, knelt in the sand, watching Galdro roll around in the sand, sobbing as his skin peeled and bled. The koopa infant climbed up out of its pit, toddling over to the yellow tribe paratroopa, staring up at him with wide, curious eyes.

And Meechum patted him on the head and picked him up, gently returning him into his pit. The yellow paratroopa took off his rucksack and rummaged about inside, bringing out a container of fresh greens and setting it down, lid off, next to the little fellow. The baby tucked in greedily.

Meechum rose and stalked over to Galdro, who lay wimpering on his side, ravaged hands held in hooked claws before his eyes. The yellow stepped up to him, near his head, and Galdro slowly moved his head to gaze up into eyes filled with righteous malice.

"I knew that some day your nastiness would come back to haunt you," Meechum said softly, his tone layered in frost. "I never expected it to be like this, though." Galdro reached one hand shakily up toward him for support, but Meechum didn't move. "Your wings are ruined. You can't fly. I can. Would you like me to fly you out of here?"

Galdro tried to lick his lips, settling for nodding weakly.

"That's too bad. I asked you to not give that hatchling the seed, to leave it alone. How does it feel, to not get what you want?" Meechum walked away, folding in his wings and pulling his shell off over his head. He unhinged the two halves, standing wholly exposed on the beach as he used his shell to dig.

Ten minutes later, he returned to Galdro, who had arrived at death's threshold, moments from passing over. Meechum grabbed him by his charred feet and dragged him painfully over rocks and shale to the hole he'd dug out, tossing him unceremoniously in. With his shell he filled the hol back in, leaving Galdro the blue in a shallow, unmarked grave.

He donned his shell once more, letting his wings slide through the natural slits in the armor-like backing. Meechum then returned to the green koopa infant, who lay curled up, asleep and content, the container of food emptied.

He smiled down at the little fellow, and took flight. He would have to report the early birth to the nearest Lakitu so that it could be safely delivered to its parents.