Kulipari: Seeds and Weeds

Spider Among Frogs

It was the hardest challenge Tharta had ever faced. He slit his eyes at his enemy, holding his weapon in his hand.

"I-Have-To-Rewrap-It!" He cried as he tried to wrap a new bandage around Webber's leg, which he kept moving just out of his reach.

"Last time, you cut off all my circulation to my leg!" Webber cried.

"It was my first time And I loosened it!" Tharta defended.

"Are you two done yet." Thuma groaned, waiting beside Tipi. "We have to train."

"See, it's gonna get dirty again anyway. Just leave it!" Webber was close to begging.

"You sound like a pollywog complaining about a bath." The big frog chastised.

"And you sound like my...well, I didn't have any parents. But if I did, then you would sound just like them." Webber hissed.

Their stand-off continued. Tharta's sisters decided to go along ahead to meet Jir.

"You let a Scorpion do medical care, why won't you let me?" Tharta asked.

Webber narrowed his eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Tharta scratched his head in embarrassment. "I didn't mean it like that."

"You meant that Scorpions should be less trusted than Frogs. I thought you were best friends with Stinger." The Spider marched away, old dusty bandage still on. "Wonder what you think of spiders."

He stalked off, following Tharta's sisters. Tharta, full of remorse, grabbed the roll of bandages for another go, and followed.

Thuma and Tipi were already deep into a one-on-one fight with Jir and G watching when the boys arrived.

"There you two are." He observed Webber's bandage. "That doesn't look clean. You should get a new one."

He looked at Thuma and Tipi in confusion as they slashed their hands across their throats.

"I only trust Scorpion medics, thank you very much." He said, glaring back at Tharta.

"Oh boy," G said.

"Hm," Jir said, thinking. "Webber, what do you think about fighting Tharta one-on-one?"

The Spider's eyes widened, a fanged smile erupting across his face. It was so familiar a grin, Jir wondered if he was related to Jahra.

"What? But, Jir, he's injuried." Tharta cried.

"One leg out of eight. Besides, he's Kulipari." That's what Jir always said. To him, Kulipari were invincible.

"Don't go easy on me. I won't do the same for you." Webber said as he got into position.

Thuma and Tipi's fight ended, with Thuma kicking her sister's legs out from under her. After helping Tipi up, the two moved beside G and Jir to watch.

"Is this really fair?" Thuma asked.

"I don't know, Webber is a mercenary. They're pretty tough." Tipi responded.

But her sister shook her head. "I mean Webber's night casting. Where there's a spider there's night casting."

Webber glared at her. "Bold assumption, Gran-nit!"

"Hey, that's a good one." Thuma laughed.

Webber looked at her in confusion for a moment before scowling back at Tharta.

"Sure you wanna do this?" Tharta asked as he activated his poison.

"Oh yeah." Webber hissed, his eyes going black.

Tharta struck first, running at Webber, planning to simply push the spider to the ground.

But then yellow light erupted from Webber's hand.

A shield appeared in front of him, Tharta hitting it head in.

"Never lead with your head Tharta!" Jir cried. "It is your most vital weapon."

"Is he...is he dreamcasting?" Tipi gasped.

"Woah!" Thuma said in amazement. "Go Webber."

Tharta turned to glare at his sister just as Webber hit him with a light whip.

"Oops. Sorry bro!"

Jir raised an eye ridge. "Focus Tharta. Ignore Thuma's cheering like I ignore her jokes."

"Hey!"

Webber broke his glare at Tharta to eye Jir with a giggle.

Wow, Tharta thought, he was surprisingly cute when he smiled--ow! Tharta was whipped again.

"Focus Kulipari. Be sad if a poor injured Spider beat you. Be a real disappointment to your brother." Webber hissed, his cute grin now looking more evil.

Tharta would have charged full force at him if his poison hadn't died at that moment.

He considered calling this unfair. Webber could still use his powers. But in a true battle, the was no such thing as fair, as Jir would say.

Well, Tharta had poison powers too.

Only they were all drained at that moment. And despite the fighting skills he learned from Jir, Tharta had always assumed that he'd be able to win any fight with his poison.

So he wasn't ready to fight without it.

And soon enough, he found himself under the victorious Spider, who tapped all his legs on his back in Triumphant.

"Ow!" He grabbed one foot as it tapped against hard frog shoulder bone.

"Told you you should have let me re-bandage it." Tharta said.

With a roll of his eyes, Webber helped pulled Tharta off the ground. He didn't need to. It was symbolic.

They were on the same side, no matter what Tharta thought.

For now, at least.

"Well done Webber." Jir congratulated the Spider. "Not only did you beat Tharta, you revealed one of his weaknesses." The old Frog turned his eyes on the large, younger frog. "You relied too much on your poison. That is dangerous for any Kulipari. Our poison is a power, a gift, but it is not our only weapon. Using too much of your poison is dangerous and you can even lose it forever. Dependence on something easily lost can only lead to trouble."

"Like...with Quoba?" Thuma asked.

Silence. Even Webber lowered his head in acknowledgment of the lost Kulipari.

"Do you think...do you really think Darel could help Quoba? Bring her back to us? Bring her home?" Tipi asked.

Jir sighed, a sigh that sounded like it should come from a much older frog (and they didn't come much older than Jir). "I don't know. Before, when she first lost her poison, I would have said Quoba could beat anything, poison or no. But now...I thought she could handle War Botany. I was wrong. I cannot say what path she will take now."

"I don't want you to give up on your friend." Webber said gently, meeting all their eyes. "But what we saw her do..." He shivered. "You don't just...come back from it. And--like War Botany itself--once you start it is very hard to stop."

Tharta thought about how Webber had seen a bad Frog. He didn't hate or distrust all frogs just because of what he had seen Quoba do.

So why did he--or anyone else--judge Scorpions and Spiders more harshly just because there were a few bad eggs in them.

Prejudice was like that. Once it starts its hard to stop.