As dawn arose over the hillside in the late Autumn months, animals had begun preparations for the chilly transition into Winter, one such creature being a certain dragon, bundled up snug as could be in his cavernous abode. Wrapped in several different blankets with a fire roaring in the make-shift fireplace built into the interior of the cave wall, Jouigi did his utmost to keep things nice and toasty in his cozy cave, though despite his best efforts the gaping maw of the cave made keeping things warm quite the chore. "M-Man, I r-really wish I had a door or something, how do other dragons do this e-every year?" Jouigi shivered and sighed, clambering off his mountain of golden coins and trinkets that was his bed to bundle up near the fire. "Oh well, the fire's nice if nothing else."

Jouigi smiled contently at the warmth of the fire before he felt a chill go up his spine, but not one from the harassment of the cold draft that bombarded him so constantly this time of year, something felt off, and had been for quite some time now with Jouigi. He reached around as far as his plump arms would allow in attempts to scritch at the annoyance before flopping back against the mound of gold to rub his back against it, letting out a relieved sigh, having scratched just the right spot. As he lay there, arms resting on his rotund, doughy belly, rubbing over his stretched scales and plump outie, he pondered what might be causing these strange sensations he'd been feeling over the past few days now. "Hmm.. am I sick or something? Do dragons molt or.. I don't even know man, hopefully it passes soon. In the meantime though-!"

Jouigi rolled to his feet, making sure to stay wrapped up in his toasty blankets as he waddled over to make himself a cup of hot chocolate, wagging his tail about eagerly as he poured in the rich chocolate powder to the warm mug of milk, using his finger to stir it and warm it up in the process while he made his way back to the fire. "Ahhh.. now this is how you deal with Winter." Jouigi brought the mug to his lips and took a big, eager swig of the hot cocoa before his eyes opened wide, nearly dropping the mug as he swiftly put it on the rocky ground to his side, begrudgingly gulping down the scalding hot cocoa as it torched his gullet. He coughed and gripped his throat in an attempt to comfort the burning sensation. "A-Aaaaah! Ahh- ahhhh..." Jouigi panted and opened his maw, waving one of his claws to try and encourage the chilling winter air inside.

"M-Maybe a bit too war-- What the what!?" Jouigi's voice had deepened, it was lower pitch, and more booming than it had previously been, he put his claws over his muzzle and blushed furiously before quickly throwing off his blankets and rummaging through the mountain of gold behind him. After some hasty searching with dozens of coins flung this way and that, Jouigi managed to produce a golden hand mirror from the pile, opening his maw wide to try and see how badly the scaling hot chocolate had damaged his throat. "E-Everything seems normal at least, but this is.. something's not right here, can hot chocolate even do this?" Jouigi worryingly inquired to himself, stretching out his cheeks with his finger while looking around the inside of his maw curiously.

He signed and put the mirror aside as he rubbed his still tender throat, doing his best to shrug it off, hoping his body would be capable of recovering on it's own. "Oh well, on the bright side at least things will get a bit warmer now that the sun's up, right? Hehe.. bright side." Jouigi giggled to himself at the unintentional pun while he reached for his much less scaling drink, waddling over to the maw of his cave to look over the golden fields of grass that sprawled out over the hillside. The overgrown grass danced in the sprinting Winter winds, fallen leaves dancing over the twisting blades of grass from time to time.

"It may be drafty, but the view's nice at least!" Jouigi smiled and sat down as he sipped his hot chocolate, admiring the morning view. As he finished his mug of chocolate his phone suddenly begun to ring, making the clumsy dragon stumble over his mug before nearly dropping it for the second time this morning. He sighed, watching his hot breath make a cloud in the chilled air before hastily making his way back inside to answer the phone.

"Hey there! Who's this?" Jouigi happily asked while finding his blanket once more. "Heyas huuuuun!" The voice replied excitedly, nearly making Jouigi drop the phone in surprise. "O-Oh hehe, hey there Matrix, it's nice to hear from ya!" Jouigi happily replied, but was met with a brief moment of silence before finally getting a reply. "You okay there Jouigi? You sound kinda.. funny." Matrix asked, concerned. Jouigi sighed as he wrapped himself back up in his blankets and scaled back to the top of his mound of gold, coins tumbling down as he made footholds to scale back up.

"Yeah I'm fine, just burnt my throat on some hot chocolate, but it's fine dun' worry! Give it a day or two and it'll be good as new." Jouigi comfortingly replied, assuring his girlfriend that all was well. "Alrightys then, it's nice to hear that hun! You still feeling weird and junk?" She asked curiously while the pouring of milk into a cereal bowl could be heard over the phone. Jouigi smiled softly before rolling over onto his plump side, wriggling a tad and getting comfy. "Yeaaaah, but I'm just gonna take today to rest, it'll be fine in no time I'm sure. I'll call ya when I wake up okay sweetie?" Matrix took a spoonful of cereal into her maw and lovingly replied "Alright then hun, just be sure to get some rest my fatty dwaggie, I'll see ya then!" boop, the call was ended and Jouigi wedged his cordless phone down into the pile of coins before closing his eyes, eager to rest up and feel good as new.

Hours passed, day steadily gave way to night as the sun climbed it's way from one edge of the sky to the other, and soon enough morning once again arrived on the chilled hillside of Jouigi's domain. Frost tipped each and every blade of grass, the very air chilled as it moaned through the maw of Jouigi's cave, stirring him from his deep, restful slumber. He stretched and yawned tiredly, noticing that not only had his voice not returned to normal, but now it sounded slightly deeper still, not only that, but his blankets seem to have gotten much smaller than they previously were, and refused to move when he tugged on an edge he could reach.

Jouigi growled and yanked on the blanket before- shrrrriiip! Somehow the blanket had ripped across his back, now in tatters and completely unusable. Understandably disgruntled, Jouigi snorted out through his nose before chucking the blanket off his hoard of gold before heading over to get some morning hot chocolate. As he attempted to stand Jouigi felt.. strange. He felt heavy, weighed down by something on his back. He rubbed his eyes and finally opened them fully, rousing himself from the drowsiness that had kept a hold of him until now. His eyes opened wide as he saw his snout had changed color, looking down to see that his once lime green underbelly had changed as well, both now being light tan in color!

Jouigi thrust himself from the mound of coins, taking a moment to find balance due to the new odd weight he had to bare, before quickly stumbling over to a full-body mirror, horrified to see what had become of him! He put his claws over his muzzle and turned to see a humongous, lime green koopa shell now adorned on his back, reaching around to poke at one of the many thick spikes in disbelief, pricking his finger in the process. "Ah!" Jouigi recoiled from the sharp prick of his shell spike and attempted to put his finger in his maw to comfort it, only managing to accidentally prick it once more with his now much larger front fangs. Letting out a whine as he simply held his poor hand, looking at the few spikes that now adorned his tail, and his thicker, stronger looking legs.

Still in disbelief, Jouigi tried his very best to reach back and rid himself of the hefty shell mounted on his back, barely able to reach and to no avail. The shell was firmly stuck on his back, unmoving. He then quickly stumbled over to the kitchen area, falling over a few times as he leaned over the sink, causing it to bend due to his hefty weight and new strength, trying his best to rub off the new tan color on his snout, thinking it had to be paint, someone must have glued this shell to him, right? This could not possibly be happening! Jouigi rushed over to his mound of gold, tossing handful of coins this way and that before finally finding his old, red collar. Snapping it around his neck with much effort as it squished slightly into his thicker neck, in an attempt to have it once again change him into his previous dragon form.

He ran back to the mirror, waiting for something to happen. He waited.. and waited, and waited some more. After some time the phone begun to ring in the hoard of gold, this was really happening. Jouigi looked at an old photo of himself and pondered.. had he always been a koopa? Had he just.. hit puberty or something and finally grew into his shell, his true form? Jouigi worryingly waddled over to the mound of gold and grabbed the phone, accidentally pressing two buttons at once due to his new, fatter fingers. "Y-Yes, hello?" Jouigi did his best to cover up his deeper voice. "Jouigi you alright? I called you like.. three times last night and you didn't answer, did you actually sleep through all of that?" It was Matrix, worryingly checking up on her pudgy boyfriend.

Jouigi gulped, clearing his throat before responding in attempts to continue faking a higher pitched voice. "Uhh.. yeah, sure I'm fine! Everything's all good over here-" Jouigi coughed and tried to continue talking, letting his deeper voice slip out. "I just slept like a rock all ni-" getting cut off by an even more worried Matrix. "Are you sure you're okay hun? You sound even worse than you did yesterday. I'm coming over to take care of ya 'til you're feeling all bet-" who was then hastily cut off by a concerned Jouigi. "No!" Jouigi let the full, booming, commanding sound of his voice out in a single instant, immediately covering over his maw with his claw. "I- I'm sorry please don't come over, I think I'm sick or someth- h-hello?" Matrix had ended the call, and now Jouigi was more anxious than ever.

Had he upset her, was she coming over, if she found him in this new hideous form what would she think of him? He had to run, to hide, to find out how to fix this mess before anyone, Matrix or otherwise saw him like this! Jouigi grabbed the largest blanket he could find and with much care, draped it over his back and around him to hide as much of himself as he could before sprinting out the cave's entrance. He ran, and ran, until eventually ending up at a neighboring town, panting and exhausted, he let his guard down and relaxed under a tree, hiding in some bushes in the park. He looked at himself once more, looking over his scaled claws, his short, thick legs, and humongous, tan, doughy dome of a gut. Gripping it in his hands and jostling it some, watching his middle bounce and wobble about fattly.

As he did so he noticed the feeling as if he were being watched.. and quickly searched around him, spotting a couple of curious eggons peeking over the bushes. An orange and green one looking at the obese koopa hiding away. He stumbled and attempted to back away, his shell digging into the ground and making it almost impossible to move back any further as a spike buried itself beneath a tree root. "N-No don't look at me!" The eggons looked at each other with a nod before covering their eyes, still remaining in front of Jouigi. He was.. confused. They obeyed his command but not quite how he expected.

"W-Wait, you're.. not afraid of me? Am I not hideous to you? I'm a monster!" The two eggons shook their heads, eyes still covered by their paws. "...You can uncover your eyes now." Jouigi said bluntly, causing the two of them to immediately do so. "I don't understand, why are you doing what I say? I don't even know the two of you, I mean.. it's nice that you don't think I look horrible but.." Jouigi faded out and looked at the ground with a disheartened sigh before the eggons ran over behind him and gave a shove, dislodging his shell from the grasp of the tree's roots. Once back on his feet, the two ran over to Jouigi's front and stared up past his towering gut at the large koopa before simply saying. "Leader!" In a cheery, eager tone.

Jouigi looked confused, concerned, and turned away, talking a few steps as he put his claw up to his maw in a pondering fashion before turning back to the two hopeful eggons. "So.. You 'lil guys think I'm a leader?" The two nodded and wagged their tails. "And.. you want to.. come with me and do what I command if I got this right?" The two once again nodded eagerly. "So you really just want someone to tell you want to do? Erm.. a-are there any more of you?" The two eggons turned to one another and whispered before one motioned for Jouigi to follow and jumped through the bushes.

Jouigi nervously waddled up to the bushes and peeked through them, astounded to see dozens upon dozens of eggons, blue ones, orange ones, green ones, each one adorned with a unique eggshell hat with horns in different fashions from balls, to nubs, to curly horns, multiple ones, there were just so many! Jouigi was speechless as he clambered from his hiding spot in the bushes, aided by a handful of the eggons. "W-Wait, y-you all want me to lead you?" They all nodded and gave an eager salute, eager to serve their newfound leader.

Astounded by this random chance of luck Jouigi was still absolutely baffled but somehow this felt.. right. It felt like it was meant to be, that a koopa of his stature was a born king, one to rule over his subordinates! And with that, Jouigi shook his head, let out a sigh and put his fists on his hips, his distended belly hanging out in front of him as he exclaimed to the army of little eggons "Alright! I will guide each and every one of you, but on one condition! You will obey my each and every word, you'll refer to me as 'Master', and you promise me your unwavering loyalty to your new leader, everyone got that?" The eggons cheered happily and replied "Yes, Master!" Before they all returned to Jouigi's cave, together.

As they neared the cave they heard a soft sobbing, and suddenly everything came rushing back to Jouigi. Matrix, she had come over to check on Jouigi only to find an empty cave, gold thrown everywhere, shredded blankets, the place was a mess! What she must have thought had happened, how worried she must have been.. Jouigi quietly told the eggons to wait for his orders in the field as he carefully waddled towards the mouth of the cave, peeking in to see Matrix sitting in front of the fire, sobbing over a picture in her hands of her beloved boyfriend.

Jouigi cleared his throat and shakily knocked on the side of the cave entrance's wall, the knocks echoing through the cave, causing Matrix to turn towards him. Dropping the photo as she stood up, the glass shattering, but she earnestly couldn't care less. "N-Now uhh.. I know this may seem a bit odd and erm.. well.." Jouigi stumbled over his words and twiddled his paws as Matrix slowly walked up to him, he gulped and closed his eyes before feeling Matrix's arms wrapped as far around his obese middle as she could reach, followed by a loving kiss to his lips.

"That's for worrying me.." Matrix said softly, promptly followed by a slap across Jouigi's cheek. "And that..-" She spoke as she shook her stinging hand. "Is for worrying me." Jouigi blushed hotly and rubbed his stinging, plump cheek before sighing and giving a smile to his beloved Matrix, where they then wrapped their arms around one another while Jouigi lifted her up to give her the biggest hug ever conceived. "I'm sorry I-" Jouigi attempted to apologize, followed by Matrix putting her finger on his muzzle "Shhhhh. Just.. promise me you'll never do that again, okay? Ya big, fat knucklehead." Jouigi sighed once more and nodded before hefting matrix up onto his shoulders, bringing her outside to meet the new help.

"So uhhh.. yeah! I'm about as amazed as you are!" Jouigi remarked, Matrix looking out at the countless little eggons in the field as they curiously looked at bugs in the tall grass, climbed trees, whatever they could do to fill the time waiting for their Master's commands. "Well, a lot of koopa needs a lot of help, I suppose!" She giggled, as Jouigi looked down at his obese paunch and blushed. "Okay everyone, first order of business! I am your king, and this lovely lady-" Jouigi reached back and gently hoisted Matrix from his shoulders before placing her in front of him. "Is Matrix, your new queen! You'll be taking orders from the both of us from now on, and your first order is to build a castle for the lot of us out of my drafty cave!"

The eggons gave an eager nod before they all ran past Jouigi and Matrix, immediately beginning work on making bricks and laying the foundation for a monumental castle, fit for every last eggon and especially for their benevolent king and queen. Jouigi put his arm around Matrix, and she returned the favor, watching the eggons at work as they awaited their new home, and new life.