Champi Coloso ((exclusive)) — Coloso

For Coloso Champi Coloso had learned what the valley had always known: the thing that makes you different is often the very thing that makes you a hero.

The otter chieftain splashed a grateful fin. "And you are not too mushroomy. You are just right ."

Another day, he tried to play hide-and-seek with the raccoons. He waddled behind a giant boulder, but his glowing gills gave him away instantly. The raccoons didn't even bother to look. "We see you, Coloso!" they giggled. "Too glow-y!" coloso champi coloso

The ladybug just blinked and flew away.

The lead raccoon added, "You are not too glow-y. You are a beacon." For Coloso Champi Coloso had learned what the

When the sun finally broke through the clouds, the animals emerged. They looked at the devastation—the broken trees, the washed-out paths—and then they looked at Coloso. His cap was scratched. His glow was dim. He was exhausted and listing to one side.

Every morning, he would unfurl his cap to catch the first rays of sun and watch the valley wake up. The foxes would dash, the squirrels would chatter, the bees would zoom with purpose. But whenever Coloso tried to join in, disaster struck. You are just right

The other animals called him “Coloso” for short, but they whispered it with a mix of awe and a little bit of giggling. You see, Coloso Champi Coloso was a giant mushroom. Not a mushroom in the way that a toadstool is a mushroom—small and easily kicked over. No, Coloso was a magnificent, ten-foot-tall, creamy-golden fungus with a cap as wide as a cartwheel and a stem thick as an ancient oak.