Around three hours later, the blizzard soon came to the land of Shiver City.  James and his guide gazed upon the snowfall, which slowly began to pick up faster and faster in both thickness and rapidity.  The locals soon packed up their things and retreated into their homes, almost with a practiced nonchalance at the approach of an incoming snowstorm.  Torrents of snow blasted everything in sight, the thick cabin windows and log-made walls solid like icy stone.
The raptor and the koopa sat beside a window, comfortable in the firelight of the roaring furnace, watching the snow batter down upon the land without mercy.  James looked all around him at the small but cozy Toad House, sharing a blanket with Koopin in a double-bed for two.
	"Wow this Princess is really nice for these places, such a great service to give for no profit at all."
	"Yeah it's real cool of her to do that, she reasoned that most travellers go all over without knowing about money or need help, and well...why not?  Plenty of money comes from other businesses that the kingdom can afford one or two free services to make things easier."
	"Yeah?"
	"Well yeah, I mean think about it.  You got traders, right?  They come through towns and cities and deserts allll across the Mushroom Kingdom.  But they gotta rest eventually, and if they get a free night's rest here in this house, then they can be up an' raring to go the next day, bring in their supplies, make more money for the community!"
	"Huh...yeah that makes sense, wow your princess must be pretty smart."
	"Well, actually I think these ideas are more dealt with by her chancellor and such, but she's not stupid course not.  ...so uh..."
	"Hmm?"
Koopin felt that enough time between them had passed to allow him to ask FG something more about his origins.  Or at least a part of them to pass the time.
	"What's with those big scissors you got?"
	"Hmm?  Oh it's kind of a long story."
	"Another one?  Heheh, you got quite a few long stories about yourself haven't you?"
	"I been travelling a long time is all."
	"Well, we're in the middle of a blizzard trapped inside in a bed...no better time for it."
	"I...guess so.  Okay, so one time I was going through this big mansion in the middle of a forest-"
	"Was it that Boo Mansion to the east?"
	"No no, this is way far away again.  Anyways, I was all alone in this place, kinda wandered into it accidentally, wanted a place to rest.  Then BAM, something leapt at me, this creepy li'l bastard with huge scissors comes lunging at me!"
	"Oooh!"
	"Yeah it was pretty scary stuff.  So he chases me all over the place, wanting to kill me, he nearly got those big blades of his in me sometimes as I dodge and weave through the place.  I mean, this shoulder here?"

He tapped at his armoured pauldron over his left shoulder, which he soon took off for sake of comfort, as well as showing the blackened wound.
	"Reason I wear this is 'cause he skewered these blades right through it...right there."
	"OOF, that musta hurt!  Amazed you still got a working arm after that."
	"Yeah, hurt like hell for a long time.  But finally I manage to kill him, at the top of this huge clock tower above the mansion.  We're wrestling with the scissors, I threw a switch and DING...DONG...the bells rang and it makes him flip the fuck out, I mean he drops the scissors, screaming in pain like he's got a massive headache.  And then he fell from the tower."
	"W-...w-wow...that sounded pretty intense."
	"Yeah hehehe...and well, I was so scared to not have any kind of weapon on me, I thought why not, I took his scissors and trained myself up with them."
	"Why couldn't ya have used magic?"
	"I...didn't know magic at the time."
	"Ohhhhh...wow you must be a real warrior or something!"
	"Ohhh not really, just a guy travelling back home who picks up some skills on the way."
Koopin smirked at the guise of apparent humility that James had, before the raptor said:
	"Now I have a question for you."
	"Yeah?"
	"I've been wondering, where do you get those shells?"
	"Watcha mean?"
	"Well..." James twiddled his claws tentatively, "I didn't know the shells could be taken off until uh...that night at your place."
	"Oh course they could!  It's not like they're part of our body, it's like clothing...but more important than that.  It's like our livelihood, like your favourite T-shirt that you've had all your life and nobody can ever imagine you without."
	"Yeah?"
	"Well...when you're born, you have a birth shell, which shows what kind of shell you have.  Like the smoothness of it or the colour or the slight change in the patterns and markings and such.  And someone in the village, or any area with koopas in it really, can read off your shell at birth to make one for you when you grow up, and pretty much every koopa knows how to make a shell like that.  But we can't ever tell anyone how it's made."
	"Well I'm not that curious, don't worry but...born with clothes on?  I've never heard that happen."
	"Well it's not exactly clothes," continued Koopin, "I mean the shorts and shirt I wear underneath are clothes.  Anyways over time as we grow up, we get the real shell we always keep with us, this one, around maybe sixteen, when we stop growing and it fits us.  That way it stays a part of your adult life forever.  So there's three shells, your birth shell, your youth shell and your adult shell.  We can all get out of 'em whenever we need to....except for the King who's different."

FG became even more curious of this strange unknown apparent king of all the koopas, despite the quasi-subservience from some of them.
	"King eh?  You guys have a king?  What's he like?"
	"REALLY powerful.  My cousin's in his army, he says he has a huuuuuge castle in the middle of a sea of lava, they say he can even wade in it without being burnt unless it's like pure magma from the very bowels of the earth itself.  But he's enormous, like eight or nine feet tall, with a cruel wicked smile, a flowing mane of red hair, horns like a demon and his shell is a part of him, for real!  It's like...um..."
	"Fused to him?"
	"Thassit, yeah!  It's like our shells, but with spikes!"
	"So...what if he needs to...I mean last night you had to take yours off for..."
	"Oh well...I dunno, he's got like a whole separate royal family who are all like that, like eight kids who are heir to the throne.  Though I hear that only one still hangs around with him now."
	"Wow...he must be real fertile too."
	"Yeah...mmm..."
	"What?"
	"Uh nothing nothing."
A blush came from Koopin, which invited the raptor to poke at him tenderly
	"Ohhhh, you were thinking about that big sexy fertile koopa king knocking shells with you, werentcha?"
	"H-hey I was not!"
	"Yes you were, you probably keep a picture of him under your pillow."
	"I do not!"
The two giggled and stopped as the Toad innkeeper came back from his duties, the basement door behind the desk opening up.
	"Well you two seem to have warmed up good!"
	"Oh yeah," said FG, "thanks to your place of course."
	"No worries, though it seems yer still gonna be inside since the blizzard's not letting up, just to warn ya.  You might have to sleep here after all."
	"That's fine by us."
	"Oh good, though if any other travellers come in, I hope you try to be good.  Wouldn't want anyone getting hurt or thrown out because of it."
The two nodded sensibly and decided to sleep in the double bed, with Ice T. the Toad heading into the basement to rest for the night.
	"Night night you two!"
And so the two were left alone once again.
	"Hope nobody'll come at this time of night to here." muttered Koopin.
	"Yeah, the poor buggers..."
James snuggled closer to the koopa, who merely murred and put his head on his shoulder.
	"Do you...always sleep with that shell on?"
	"Usually...why?"
	"Oh...just curious."

He rubbed the cream-yellow front of the shell tenderly, with one arm wrapping around the green back to hug the koopa close.
	"Are you just curious?" asked Koopin softly.
	"Well...not really.  It is a cold night...and we should keep warm."
	"That would be wise...but...let's warm up better when we're both in the mood for it."
	"Hahaha, okay, just letting you know it's there."
Koopin however allowed James to keep his arm around him, the two reptiles cuddling up for warmth against the oncoming cold.  Despite the fireplace and the blanket, the blizzard was intense, and they could feel the slight shiver creeping in from the whitened window.  Minutes passed without a word between them, the howling maelstrom heard well enough from indoors, much to James' chagrin.
	"F-fuck it's bad out there."
	"Y-yeah...um...what language is that?"
	"Huh?"
	"That word you said, there's that and a few other ones I couldn't understand, what language is it?"
	"...um...English?  Wait you talking about the uh...f-word?"
	"Yeah, that one!"
	"...you...don't have that word here?"
	"Nope, whassit mean?!"
Just when it couldn't be anymore clear to the raptor, he started to truly understand how innocent this world was somehow.
They have alcohol and they have sex, but they don't even know those kinda words?!  ...what kind of world IS this?!  ...I wonder if they had any in Dream Land, I don't remember them swearing in that world either.  ...oh god how do they dirty talk in bed then?!
	"Well, it's a swear word, like yanno, cursing."
	"Ohhhhhh...cool!  We got some of those!"
	"Heh, yeah?"
	"Yeah, like uh..."
Koopin gently lowered his voice for the sake of politeness, his eyes nervous and slightly shameful.
	"No-shell and...fungus breath and...um...lump-head, I mean I only know one or two but, who doesn't right?  Don't really like to use 'em though..."
	"Hahaha, hey I'm not gonna judge, though those sound pretty...specific towards like, races right?"
	"Yeah, I guess they are."
	"You don't have anything generic like I dunno, something stronger than dammit?"
	"Uhhhh...nope."
	"Huh...so why all the other insults towards specific people?"
	"Well I mean, despite all we do in the kingdom, people still kinda segregate themselves into their own li'l communities.  It's easier near the castle 'cuz of the princess but when they're further away, not as much trust comes up between people.  It's not like hate or dislike or anything, it's just that people tend to be more comfortable in building communities for themselves.  That's why we have places like the Koopa Village, or the Fahr Outpost across the ocean that's only full of bob-ombs."
	"Huh...so, even though this is a real peaceful kingdom, people still split themselves up mostly into towns of their own kind?  For no reason?"
	"Well not for no REASON but that's just how it is.  Some places like Rogueport are all lumped together with no real allegiance towards any minority.  Personally, I think-"

He was soon interrupted by a violent slam of something from the outside, crashing down onto the land in the middle of the howling storm.  Both of them leapt up with a start, with Ice. T. coming up from the basement to look around in panic.
	"Oh my STARS is everyone alright?!"
	"Y-yeah," replied Koopin, "we're okay!"
	"Oh good, I thought something hit us, good GRIEF that was loud!  What was it?!"
	"I-i-i dunno, it just landed outside!"
The three of them went to the windows to try and see through the snow.  It was hard to tell from the darkened night and the horrifying blizzard, creating a monochrome mess of their vision, but they could see a shadow.  Someone small and waddling weakly in the middle of the chaos.  Ice. T. opened up the door swiftly.  The wind forced him back, trying to push him and the trenches of snow back into the house, a thick white layer rising up to at least 7 inches around their feet.  He called out to the stranger:
	"HEEEEY!  YOU!"
The shadow turned with a slight wooziness in its motions, its steps somewhat ungainly.  A faint voice could be heard, barely shouting above the blizzard as Ice. T. roared:
	"GET INSIDE, COME HERE QUICK!"
The creature struggled to walk forwards a few steps, before falling into the piling snow.  James ran out into the winter gale without thinking, pushing through the snow with powerful legs.  Koopin cried out to him in fear of the blizzard.
	"JAMES!  COME BACK, IT'S TOO HEAVY OUT THERE!"
	"HE NEEDS HELP, JUST MIND THE DOOR!"
Pushing out his energy with both forceful legs and shivering arms, he surged out his nanos to blast a shield of fire around him, hoping the heat would repel the violent blizzard from taking him down.  It seemed to do enough, melting the pounding snow before it reached his body, and making him focus only on walking forwards to store his energy for the way back.  The stranger was a bumpty wearing a knitted cap, his face bruised with icy cuts all over his body.
	"HOLD ON," roared James above the furore, "LEMME GET YOU INSIDE!"

Hoisting up the somewhat-light bumpty on his good shoulder, he trudged back towards the Toad House several yards away, made only more arduous a journey by the layer-thick snow.  Forcing his footclaws through, he roared to encourage his spirit onwards, shooting out a streak of fire before him with one hand while holding the bumpty with the other over his shoulder.  The burning line of flames was enough to temporarily melt the snow before him, allowing a faster passage through and back to the Toad House in time.
Barging inside, as the snow quickly refilled his burning wake, he quickly laid the stranger out onto a spare bed, the innkeeper looking him over and trying to make him respond.
	"Sir?"
	"Nnngh..."
	"Sir, are you alright?  What happened?!  Why were you out in that blizzard?!"
	"...s-son."
	"What?!"
	"F-find...my son."
The bumpty soon went unconscious, giving out with exhaustion to fall into a sorely-needed sleep.  The innkeeper examined his body carefully.
	"He's been out in the snow a long time...must be about two hours ago he got these cuts."
	"How can you tell?" asked Koopin.
	"All Toad House innkeepers are given a good grounding in first aid.  My specialty is dealing with hypothermia or frostbite."
	"Will he be okay?"
	"Well being a bumpty he's already well enough protected against the cold due to their natural blubber.  Buuuut these cuts worry me."
	"W-w-where did they c-c-come from?" asked FG in mid-shiver.
	"I don't know...that's strange."
	"W-w-what?"
	"These cuts have...they're completely frozen over!  Even inside of the wound they're frozen, as if something razor sharp and impossibly cold just slashed him!"
	"...i-is there...like s-some sorta ice guardi-i-ian w-with a blade of mournful f-frost at the top of th-th-that mountain?"
Koopin and the innkeeper looked up to James curiously.  Clearly there was not according to their eyes.
	"W-what, it can happen!"
	"Regardless, he'll need a good long sleep and some warming salves to defrost the wound, then a careful administering of salves.  ...thank you for helping him, you could have been frozen out there."
	"Heh, d-don't worry about it, just make sure he's okay."
	"I will..."
	"I wonder what happened to his son," pondered Koopin fretfully, "he did say to find him...oh stars I hope he's okay."
	"The blizzard will make it impossible to find anyone," said the innkeeper remorsefully, "but tomorrow we will tell the mayor to arrange a search party.  He'll want to know about this."
With nothing more to say, James and Koopin headed to their bed, sleeping off the cold and worries they had of the stranger who came in from the cold.  James was shivering off the last ebbs of the blizzard's grasp, making his heart quiver and panic as the body struggled to heat up.  Thankfully a thick blanket and a tender cuddle from his friendly guide helped him warm back up, well enough that he could sleep without trouble.

The next day, the two awoke to find the blizzard was no longer howling outside the inn, and the sky was a clear beautiful blue surrounded by pure-white hills of snow mountains.  The innkeeper noticed the two waking up, and looked up from reading his book.
	"Ahhh good morning strangers!  I hope you slept well?"
	"We did thank you," said Koopin, "it was a wonderful bed to sleep in."
	"Good good, well the blizzard's stopped so you can go out and explore again."
	"How is he?"
They looked over towards the now-empty bed, the wounded bumpty having left apparently, or moved to somewhere else for better healing.
	"He will live, but he seems to have had a terrible night.  He was taken to the infimary for proper treatment.  I've already called the mayor soon as he was up, he's having a meeting soon in the town square.  You two better go check it out too if you can, I believe they're making a search party to try and find his missing son."
	"Alright," said James, "I wanna check this out."
Koopin said nothing, silently agreeing as they headed to the town square.  Many bumpties were crowded together in front of the town hall, gazing upon another bumpty who stood atop an old box.  He was of a purplish-grey colour, and wore a furred-looking brown hat above snow-white eyebrows.  His voice was firm, yet nervous.
	"Citizens of Shiver City," he began, "I have received distressing news as of this morning.  Last night, during the terrible blizzard, one of our citizens was found wounded and taken to the Toad House to recover.  Having recovered in our infirmary, we have managed to learn that he had fallen from Shiver Mountain, and that he had been trapped there in the blizzard along with his son.  His son is now missing."
Murmurs of anxiety rose from the crowd as the mayor put up his flippers to calm them.
	"As you may know, this has been our fifth missing case on Shiver Mountain for the past two weeks, always during a blizzard.  I believe it is time we now investigate a further case for such disappearances."
	"Are you saying they always disappear during a blizzard?!" said one incredulous bumpty.  "Surely they were doomed by the storm if they were climbing in a BLIZZARD!"
	"When three of those missing persons are experienced local climbers, who would never climb during such conditions, I believe there's something further.  And now we have a missing child.  I would hope that there was something deeper to this than just unfortunate accident.  I am requesting a few brave souls to climb the mountain, and search for the missing survivors."
	"How will we know where to look?!" asked one of the crowd.
	"The bumpty who fell to the town last night has given us an approximate location of where he and his son last were.  You may start there.  But now I must ask..."
The mayor put his flippers behind his back with a curious scrutiny of his townfolk.
	"Who among you is brave enough to climb the mountain, and locate the missing climbers?"

The crowd murmured with both uncertainty and skepticism.  Some of them clearly wanted to go, to help find the missing climbers, but they were nervous about the idea of climbing and ending up the same way.  The first one to raise his hand was one who clearly did not have that fear, being he wasn't even local.
	"I'll go."
James spoke this from the back of the crowd, the horde of bumpties turning towards him with surprise and intrigue.  Koopin looked astonished, tugging at his arm to whisper:
	"J-james, what are you doing?!"
	"I'm volunteering, what's it look like?"
	"Y-you can't just go like that up a mountain, think about what's gonna happen!"
	"If nobody does anything those climbers are gonna stay missing!"
	"I know but...b-but you don't even know the mountain!"
	"You will need a guide then."
The mayor said this, having heard most of the conversation that turned louder with each retort.  He stepped off of the podium-box and walked forwards towards FG, who stood freakishly tall in his eyes.
	"I have never known a creature like you before stranger.  What is your name?"
	"James Campbell sir, I'm a traveller."
	"You have never been here before?"
	"Nope."
	"Then I advise you to get a good guide if you volunteer to go up the mountain.  Going alone is dangerous, especially if you do not know the area."
	"Well is anyone here coming with me?"
	"...well?"
Most of the bumpties looked at each other, one or two even trying to come forwards before their nerves came up to hoist them back into the crowd.  One voice soon came from a doorway nearby.
	"I will."
The bumpties turned with a gasp in unison.  Standing at the front of the infirmary was the wounded bumpty from before.  His cuts had barely healed, but they had defrosted well enough to be bandaged up firmly.  His knitted cap belied his furrowed brow above stern eyes.
	"S-sir!" cried out the mayor, "get back to bed at once, you can't be up about so soon!"
	"I will not lie in bed while cowards bicker about my son's fate."
He walked forwards sternly, his gait stiff with wounds, his eyes wincing slightly with each step as he stood before James.
	"You're the only one who spoke up so far.  I know the mountain well, and I will guide you to where my son was."
	"Uhhh you sure about that?" asked James.  "You looked real bad out there when I brought you in, you need to rest."
	"You didn't leave me to freeze to death in the night.  I want to aid you."
	"...if the mayor's got no problem with it, I-"
	"Of COURSE I have a problem with it!" said the mayor with panic.  "I can't have wounded civilians running around and up mountains willy-nilly!  You must go back and rest, while WE plan a way to-"
	"MY SON DISAPPEARED IN A BLIZZARD YOU BUFFOON!  If you even TRY to stop me I will grab that stupid hat of yours and shove it down your beak!"
	"...will no one else even TRY to go?!  Just to at least stop this mad bird?!"

Again, the populace were too afraid to even try, failing to even stand up for their mayor as they started to waddle away carefully.
	"DOH...f-fine!  BUT I will send a scout with you from the infirmary because I will not let a wounded patient go waddling up a mountain unattended!"
	"Fine."
As the mayor waddled off with livid insult and shame for his townfolk, the wounded bumpty looked up towards FG and Koopin, offering a flipper which James shook humbly.
	"I'm Fridrik.  It is good to see at least one person here with a spine, James."
	"Heh, uhhh thanks I guess."
	"You're not SERIOUSLY going to climb this mountain looking for the missing climbers are you?!"
Koopin was incredulous, amazed and anxious at the raptor's sudden course of action.
	"Well yeah, I gotta help them, why?"
	"B-but...why are you so eager to help so quickly?!"
	"Because nobody else will!  Someone's gotta be a hero, might as well be me."
	"James this isn't a game!  It's climbing a mountain to look for missing people, it's dangerous!"
	"Uhhh yeah, I know that dude, you told me about the mountain."
	"I'm just saying you might be a little rash about this.  You don't even know the place, you're not properly equipped, anything could happen to you!"
	"...lemme tell you something."
James turned fully towards Koopin, rolling his shoulders a little to loosen them up.
	"Firstly, I have a guide right here.  Secondly, I've climbed mountains before, hell I've even camped on the SIDE of a mountain once.  Thirdly...I've been in worse situations than this."
He tapped his armoured shoulder pointedly, the koopa still worried as he tried to realign his own thoughts.
	"Just...you jumped at the idea so quickly.  I mean it's good of you to wanna help, real good!  But...but it's such a big risk, a-a-and much as I wanna help I can't do it b-because it's real dangerous after a blizzard and you-"
	"Listen."

He placed a hand on Koopin's shoulder, trying to calm his nerves and understand his disposition.
	"You don't have to come okay?  If that's what you're worried about."
	"W-w-what, I-"
	"I know I'm just tagging along with you for your trip and all, but I'm not gonna leave behind someone who might need help.  I just can't do that.  But I'm not gonna force you to come along, and nobody's gonna judge you because of that.  But I don't wanna make you worry either.  Hey, uhh Fridrik, how long will it take to get up the mountain?"
	"A few hours," said the bumpty, "but in a blizzard it can take a day."
	"Alright, there.  Let's say, if I don't come back in two days, you move on, don't worry about me, and enjoy your vacation."
	"Wha-no!"
Koopin stomped the snow with insult.
	"I'm not gonna leave you behind, that'd be terrible!"
	"I don't want you worrying about me and ruining your trip."
	"If people are missing then it's not either of our faults, don't say it like that!"
	"I just...I just want to help someone, but I don't want you to delay your trip because of me."
	"...I'll wait for you...okay?"
	"...really?"
	"Yeah.  Just...come back safe okay?"
	"...okay.  I will.  Besides, you're a tour guide, you know the area well enough that you don't have to worry...right?"
James winked at him with reassurance, the koopa merely giggling.
	"Y-yeah...guess I do.  I-i-i guess you'll be fine then."
	"We need climbing supplies from my house," said Fridrik, "and better clothing for your sake James."
	"Alrighty," said the raptor.  "Back in a while okay Koopin?  Just hang tight at the Toad House for me.  If you leave town, just leave a message, I'll be fine."
	"O-okay...please be careful."
As the raptor headed off towards the direction of Fridrik's house, Koopin watched him with a boiling anxiety rising in his heart.  He was torn between a reckless newfound loyalty for his new companion, and the sensibility of his mature self.  Should he risk heading into the mountain to assist against the dangers, or stay safely in the town worrying over his friend's return?  He silently cursed both his nerves and his heart, as he walked back to the Toad House with a fearful expression.