Chapter 2 Topaz

3 Days Earlier

"Hmm." Iggy stared at his creation, situated on one of his lab table. "It looks good, but I cannot help but feel that something is missing." He scratched his head, angling his viewpoint upside down in order to take in the solder-based invention from a different angle. When that didn't work, he touched it. The metal, smoother than liquid, didn't feel too terribly lacking in anything. Still, Iggy wanted to figure out what was missing from this invention. He knew something was, but he couldn't lay a finger on what.

He shook his head. "No, I cannot figure it out for the life of me." He turned toward his oldest brother, watching the whole scenario while situated at another one of the lab tables. "What suggestions might you propose here, Ludwig?"

Ludwig got up and came over. He looked at Iggy's invention, the sheen of the metal reflected in his gray eyes. "Hmmmm…" he tapped his foot, his brow scrunching up as he tried to find the missing piece to the puzzle. "What could it be, what could it be…" He considered this for another minute before his face lit up. "I know!" He gestured for Iggy to come close and whispered in his ear.

The lanky genius's face brightened up. "Ooh! Smart, very smart!" He smirked. "Not as brilliant as my genius, but I will give you credit for it nonetheless."

Ludwig gave Iggy a sideways glance. "How humble and gracious of you."

"Thanks!" Iggy said without a hint of irony. Without saying anything else, he made his way into "The Chasm of Death" (which in actuality was just his supply closet.). He rummaged around in there, looking between the metallic containers housing liquid nitrogen, piranha solution, and other disagreeable elemental concoctions. He looked in the boxes containing nuts and bolts, screws and nails. It wasn't until he checked next to a bob-omb corpse that he finally found what he was looking for.

"Eureka!" He came out of the closet and, with the speed of a marathon runner but the precision of a surgeon, placed the device on the top of his invention. Once it was tightly inserted in place and the suit was modified to accommodate for it (two hours later), Iggy beamed. His face practically had its own luminosity as he turned toward Ludwig.

"Well Ludwig, the power suppressor that you have commissioned is officially finished!" He practically vibrated as he got in closer. "Put it on, put it on, put it on!"

Ludwig snorted. "Geez Iggy, I can only move so fast." He took the invention from his brother and slapped it on his chest, shivering at the touch of the solder but nonetheless satisfied. "Okay. Let's see if this baby works." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When nothing happened, he opened his eyes in amazement. "Holy crap!" He pointed toward a cup on top of one of the tables. He grinned when nothing happened. "It works! I can't use my powers!" He smiled at Iggy. "Iggster, you are a genius!"

"Finally, you realize that," Iggy said, laughing as he did. "And of course, there is a whole other component to the device thanks to the add-on that you suggested." He approached, looking at the almost calculator like contraption that rested in the center of Ludwig's chest. "This password lock will make it so that no one will be able to take off the suppressor unless they know the combination." He looked into Ludwig's eyes. "What do you suggest the password should be?"

Ludwig gave this some thought before snickering. "How about 'pineapple haired weirdo?'"

Iggy glared at him. "Too long. Besides, only numbers are available."

"Oh." He laughed. "How about 69-34?" He got an even more concentrated glare from his brother, so he just shrugged. "Or my birthday; that works too."

Iggy nodded and typed in the code. "I swear, people and their dirty minds…" Once he had finished, he stood back up. "Well, you're all set now. If you ever feel too angry or negative, you will have the power suppressor so that you will not have the possibility of burning something too a crisp."

"And I am all the more grateful for that!" Ludwig removed the suit. "I can't thank you enough Iggy; you've done me a huge favor."

"Aww, shucks." Iggy puffed out his chest. "It's all in a day's work for the Koopa Kingdom's poster child of ingenuity."

Ludwig's face fell. He looked like he was going to say something else, possibly a jab that would harm Iggy's ego and make him take back that comment. Before he could do that, Lemmy came into the lab. He looked excitable, which wasn't unusual for the littlest Koopaling. However, this time around, he looked like his excitement would cause him to explode.

"Iggy! Ludwig! You've gotta see this!"

Iggy raised an eyebrow. "See what?"

Lemmy grinned. "Morton got a bird!"

Iggy blinked before his face lit up. "Oh!" Morton had talked about getting a bird before. He already had a cat and a chain chomp, which he did love profusely, but he had always had a fascination for the avian beasts (this was especially true for birds that could talk). While him getting a bird was probably more inevitable than anything else, the news still pleased Iggy.

"Fantastic! Let us go and meet Morton's new animal companion!"

All three Koopas exited the lab and made their way to Morton's room, where the rest of their siblings were. Morton stood close to the window, holding a cage that had a white sheet draped over top of it. When he saw Iggy, Ludwig, and Lemmy, his smiled a little bit. Only a little bit though, as Morton Koopa Jr was never really one to go over-the-top when it came to expressing emotions.

"Good, everyone's here." He set the cage down on a table, looking at his siblings with the same energy a ring master would show when introducing their circus acts. "Everyone. This…" he grabbed the sheet and yanked it off the cage, allowing everyone to see a yellow parrot standing on a perch. "Is Topaz."

Everyone in the room looked thrilled. "Daww!" Wendy exclaimed. "She's adorable!"

"Indeed!" Iggy said. "It appears that she is an Amazona oratrix, a species that is a good talker as well as a beginner level pet."

Roy's eyes grew wide. "A talker! She can talk?" He approached Topaz, smiling as he did. "Well, come on, sweetie! Say something to Uncle Roy!"

Topaz tilted her head at Roy, staying silent for about thirty seconds. "Dude, you're fat," she said.

Roy froze up as everyone else in the room snickered. "Fat? Fat! I'm not fat; I'm muscular!"

Topaz chirped. "Fat and in denial. Cool."

Roy sputtered, but no words would come to him. Morton chuckled at this sight, a rare thing to see from him to be sure. He approached Topaz, making noises with his mouth that were supposed to get the parrot's attention. "Come here, sweetie." He opened the cage door. "Come spend some time with Daddy."

Topaz chirped again before ruffling her feathers. "I'm Daddy's girl."

"Yes you are." Morton extended his finger, and Topaz stepped on it. Once she was out of the cage, Morton caressed her feathered head with a gentle touch. "You're a good girl, baby. You just might earn yourself some crackers if you keep this up."

"Crackers?" Topaz tweeted. "I don't want crackers. I want loving!"

Morton froze. "What did you say?"

Topaz ruffled her feathers again and flapped her wings. "Sweet sweet loving! Rawk!"

That got everyone in the room to laugh, even the hater of all dirty jokes Iggy. Morton's face flushed as he stared at his new pet, looking at her like she was a bomb about to go off. After a minute, he walked toward the cage.

"I think now would be a good time for you to rest." He opened the door, about to put Topaz back in. Before he could, however, Topaz flew over to Larry and perched on his shoulder.

"Oh yeah," she said. She snuggled up against Larry's cheek. "Now this is the life!"

Larry laughed. "Dude." He looked at Morton. "Looks like you've got some competition for who's Topaz's daddy.'

"Yes," Morton said. He sniffed. "It would seem that way." He shook his head as he got Topaz off of his little brother's shoulder. "Man. Two hundred coins and I end up getting a parrot with attitude."

Iggy shook his head, keeping his eyes on Topaz. What Morton was saying was true, but that didn't meant that it was the end of the world. Morton had only just gotten Topaz after all, and therefore had many steps to take in order to take care of her. Training for example; training a parrot of any kind was a hefty commitment, but one that would pay off in the end as said parrot became attached to the person who trained them. Yes, Morton just needed to take the right steps in order to gain the affection of his new pet.

When Iggy voiced these thought, however, he got a reaction from Morton that he didn't expect. In fact, all the Koopalings seized up upon hearing his words.

"Knowing my luck, she isn't going to like me ever. She'll probably gravitate towards someone else."

There was a silence in the room. Everyone looked at Morton, some more stunned than others but all of them feeling mightily taken aback.

"Dude," Larry said. "Pessimistic much?"

"Yeah!" said Wendy. "You only just got Topaz, and already you're worrying about her hating you? You guys barely got to know each other!"

"These things take time, bro!" Roy said. "You need to be nice to the birdie. If you're nice to the bird, then they aren't going to give you the bird!"

Lemmy burst into laughter. "Oh, MAN!" He wiped his eyes. "Okay Roy, THAT was a good pun!"

Roy blinked. "Huh." He grinned. "Guess I'm gonna become a top tier pungeon master sometime in the future."

Lemmy beamed at him. "And it'll be awesome to have someone on my level!" This got both koopas to giggle.

Iggy rolled his eyes at that. "Charming." He took a step toward Morton. "Just…be patient, Morty. Patience is a virtue that will prove to produce the best results this time around."

Morton sighed. "I hope so."

Iggy blinked. Even with all of the things that his siblings had said to him, trying to get him to feel otherwise, Morton still had the tone of voice that made it sound like he lost a family member. This honestly ticked Iggy off a little bit. Morton, based on his inflection and body language, made it clear that he wasn't going to look on the bright side of the situation anytime soon, that he was going to wallow in a deep pit of negativity. What sensible person does that? Why would anyone voluntarily and intentionally stay as far away from positivity as possible? It made no sense! Sure, Iggy wasn't the most joyful person of all time (that accolade went to Lemmy for sure), but even he had a mood and outlook healthy enough to stay away from unnecessary pessimism and gloom.

"Morty…"

Morton looked away for a brief second, as if actively shunning people from getting a look at his face. When he turned back around, all emotion in his face was gone. Instead of gloom, he had a stony, stoic expression, one that he wore all too often.

"Do you guys mind leaving? I want sometime alone with my bird."

The others blinked before slowly trickling out of the room. Soon, the only ones left were Iggy and Morton. Morton looked back at Topaz in her cage, almost reaching in to pet her but always drawing away at the last possible second. Iggy observed this with a sort of disbelief.

"Morty, you don't have to worry about Topaz. Just spend sometime with her; be a good owner for her."

"I know," Morton said quietly. "I know…." He stood still, not moving a muscle, before giving Iggy the same emotionless face as before. "Didn't I tell you to leave?"

Iggy gawked. He considered fighting back, saying something that'll reorient Morton to the reality of the situation and show him that this whole bird issue was not the end of the world. Unfortunately…nothing came to mind. He had an IQ of around 283, and he still couldn't think of anything.

So, begrudgingly, he gave Morton a look before saying "Very well" and leaving.