Journey Of Ten

[Toomai]

Uh, hi. The fic won't start until the next post, I just want to get some things out of the way.

First, I'd like any discussion of this fic to be in its sister topic, JoT Reply Topic. This is so the story isn't interrupted by other members' posts and is therefore easier to read (every chapter is a post). Every time I post a new chapter, I'll say so in the reply topic. (If the staff don't like this idea, then tell me quickly!)

Second, I'd like to clarify the world used in the story. It takes place on an island of my invention (named Yosh'ter Isle, I think I got the name from a game somewhere) and only passing references to real places in the Marioverse.

Third, I should state what I have made up and what I've borrowed from Nintendo.

I made up:

• the storyline
  
• the bosses (except the name of one and Bowser)
  
• the characters
  
• the Yoshis' technology level (high-tech is fun!)
  
• Yosh'ter Isle (see above)
  

Nintendo made up:

• Yoshis themselves
  
• the name Yosh'ter Isle (I think, I don't own anything before N64)
  
• the concept of most items collected (from Zelda games with a Yoshi twist)
  

I hope you like the story!

[Toomai]

Prologue

A Tale Of Darkness

Shadow Temple. A place of sorrow, conflict, and evil. This is the place where the powers of darkness hide from the light, as it cannot be found.

The place devoted to the element of shadow.

In the very center of the temple, a being of pure shadow sat on its throne. Around him sat the disciples of the Shadow Elements, the highest-ranking of the dark force’s army.

The ruler spoke in a voice that trembled the very walls with its bass resonance.

“My subjects,” it began, “our power is growing stronger within these walls. But to triumph over the enemy, we must first expand our influence farther, to the distance of infinity.”

A pause while the disciples took in the information.

“We need a plan of action. Warpurion, what do the prophecies say?”

The medium-blue creature gazed at the throne.

“The waves of time tell me…the ripples from a future era…’the darkness shall hold the power of all; yet sometime this year our forces will fall.’”

“What do you mean?”

“’The power to light the darkness will hide; with a group of ten, from City of Yosh they reside.’”

“Where is this ‘City of Yosh’?”

“’A city on an island way out to sea; where the dominant species is the Yoshi.’”

“Indeed. Here are your orders. Go to this ‘City of Yosh’ and find this group of ten. Find all means possible to prevent them from discovering their power.”

The ten attendants bowed and left the room.

[Toomai]

Chapter One

The Start Of A Legend

The yellow Yoshi roared with laughter. “MWAHAHAHAHA! You shall tremble under my power!”

His adversary, a black Yoshi, appeared undaunted. He simply sighed.

“I see that you have put your most important servant in danger of attack,” he said.

And with that, he reached across the board and took the white queen with his bishop.

“Checkmate.”

“WHAT! NO WAY! HOW’D YOU…THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE…!”

A red Yoshi restrained the rowdy yellow one. “That opportunity had been sitting there for ten moves, bub.”

Meanwhile, a game of four-way, team battle checkers was underway. The competitors were blue and orange versus green and white.

The blue one hesitated. After a decision from the orange one, she moved one of her kings backwards, taking an opposing piece.

Then the green acted. With an impressive flair, he leaped his back-seat pawn across the board, taking pieces left and right.

“King me.”

The jaws of the blue and orange Yoshis dropped.

On the table next to them, three Yoshis were playing cards: purple, pink, and light blue.

“Got any eights?” asked the purple one.

“What?!” cried the light blue one. “How’d you know?” He handed over his eight.

“He knew because you asked me the same thing,” said the pink one.

These ten Yoshis were a group of friends. They called themselves the Ultimate Ten after a show on the Discovery Channel. Each Yoshi in the group had a nickname so widely known and used, even their parents and teachers called them by it.

The red Yoshi was Flamoshi, named after his fiery temper and “act first, think later” disposition.

The yellow Yoshi was Shockoshi, named after his lightning-quick thinking speed and his energy.

The blue Yoshi was Watoshi, named after her calmness and attention to purity.

The green Yoshi was Windoshi, named after his turbulent sense of humour and his wildness.

The light blue Yoshi was Timoshi, named after his ability to always know exactly what time it is.

The pink Yoshi was Healthoshi, named after her “heal mistakes” disposition and resistance to pain.

The purple Yoshi was Poisoshi, named after his slightly “dark” attitude and his sense of sarcasm.

The black Yoshi was Earthoshi, named after his rock-hard steadiness, strength, and determination.

The white Yoshi was Iceoshi, named after her preference of isolation and resistance to cold.

The orange Yoshi was Emoshi, named after her extreme and long-lasting emotions.

“Look, man,” said Shockoshi, “I gotta let it out somehow, right?”

Flamoshi continued to restrain his friend. “Quit complaining, or I’ll give you something to really cry about!”

With the threat of Flamoshi’s temper, the energetic one sat down. Not even his immense energy could block the powerful temper of the fire namesake.

“I have an idea.” Earthoshi motioned towards the checkers game. “Let’s go watch them for a while.”

Flamoshi and Shockoshi glared at each other for a second, then shook on it and checked it out. Conflicts never lasted very long between the group’s members.

When the three got to the game, it had become a power struggle between three pawns and a king versus two kings.

“My kings shall crush your pitiful infantry!” bellowed Windoshi.

“Maybe so,” threw back Watoshi, “but this ‘pitiful infantry’ has mobility and the ability to cover the board!”

With that, Emoshi took the middle pawn and jumped into the back rank, capturing a king.

“King me!”

Iceoshi placed a piece on top of the successful pawn while Windoshi exaggeratingly slapped himself.

At about that moment, the three Yoshis who were playing cards came over.

“Hey, man,” welcomed Windoshi. “Game over, eh? Who won?”

“No one.” Poisoshi’s voice had a slight drawl. “We had a pair of Jokers as well, so we had a three-way tie.”

“Speaking of ties…” Iceoshi jumped three opposing pieces at once. “There’s one right there.” Two pieces were left, a king of each colour.

“NO CONTEST!” blurted Windoshi, imitating the Super Smash Brothers: Mêlée announcer.

“And who won the chess game?” inquired Healthoshi.

“I did,” answered Earthoshi.

“GAME! THIS GAME’S WINNER IS…BLACK TEAM!!!”

“Shut up, Airhead.” Shockoshi shoved Windoshi.

Timoshi interjected. “It’s 12:20. We’d better get to class.”

The ten friends collected their lunch bags and headed for their lockers.

SharpTail High School was a top-notch education facility. Along with a daunting sports record, the school had high-end technology at every corner. Cameras monitored every hallway and sounded alarms of their own accord, the height of chair and desk legs was fully adjustable, and lockers were unlocked by fingerprint identification.

Why was this school so good compared to other schools? Basically, the School Board is simply testing the equipment before making it standard in all schools. SharpTail simply won the lottery.

The group was split in two for the first class after lunch: Flamoshi, Earthoshi, Windoshi, Poisoshi, and Iceoshi went to General World History, while Shockoshi, Watoshi, Emoshi, Healthoshi, and Timoshi had Egg Education.

***

At this time in the semester, General World History was covering the Second World War. The class was creating a project in which each group was creating an escape plan for twenty British soldiers who were imprisoned by the Germans. The plan would be programmed into a computer, which would simulate the escape. The better the escape, the more points the team earned.

Of course, the groups fooled around sometimes.

“ARRRGGGHHH!” cried Windoshi. Faking a gunshot wound, he sank to the ground. “I guess this is it, men. When I die, *gasp* I want you to take… my teeth… and,” here the comedian leaps erect and bellows, “nail them to the buttcheeks of them Nazi scumbags and mail them to the Russians!!!”

This eruption of humour caused Windoshi to get backhanded by his purple partner.

“Quiet!” Poisoshi snapped. “I’m trying to figure out how deep to make this tunnel and where to put it!”

The funny one looked over at Poisoshi’s calculations. “Dude, you need to chill out. I don’t think trigonometry was widely known in 1942.”

The third Yoshi in the group, Earthoshi, agreed. “Unless you have a mathematician in your stockade, I doubt any normal Brit would care about correcting their path because of tree roots or dirt thickness or rock outcrops or…”

“Okay, Dirthead! I get it!”

Windoshi traced a line on the map with his finger. “The Brits can easily see that there’s a patch of grass over here,” he said. “Grass usually means soft earth, right, Mudears?”

“That’s right.”

“Well then, just have them dig in that direction!”

Across the room, a group consisting of Flamoshi, Iceoshi, and a classmate named Elshoshi was reviewing their final plans.

“So here’s the dealio,” said the brown Elshoshi, “we have the first group of five divert the attention of the Germans. The second group sneaks up behind them and pummels them, while groups three and four open the gates. Then everyone escapes.”

“Sounds good to me,” murmured Flamoshi, prodding miniature figures across a paper landscape. “But what about…”

“What about” was never heard. The bell had signaled, but class was not due to be over for twenty-five minutes.

In the class, general chaos ensued. It took several minutes for Mr. Timeback to regain control of the students.

“Please! Everyone remain calm!” he called once the noise level was down. “We must listen for the announcement.”

If the bell rung unexpectedly, it meant there was a special alert. After the bell, the principal would come onto the PA system to let the school know what was going on.

Sure enough, the speaker crackled.

{Attention! Attention!} the speaker blared. {A very strange cloud of shadow is approaching the school. It is ten meters in spherical diameter and five meters above ground level. It appears to be invulnerable to sonar and magnetic deflection and identification and invisible to radar. Predicted time of arrival is five minutes. Must evacuate school immediately.}

Mr. Timeback assumed Outbreak mode.

“Everyone to the shelters,” he bellowed, “and take the western path.”

The class abandoned their work and followed the rest of the school to the evacuation shelter.

~~~

Inside the fast moving cloud of darkness, the ten attendants of the shadow being hid.

“There’s the building up ahead,” growled Warpurion.

The other nine looked at the sight.

“Pshaw!” muffed Turbulak. “What kind of fatal enemy is still at school?”

“Size matters not,” said Confuretak, “I am small in size yet impossible to defeat.”

“Defeat indeed,” cried Volvagia. “With my flame, I shall burn them to the bone!”

“And with my ice,” declared Crystacily, “I will freeze them to the soul!”

“Not just you will do the destruction,” claimed Solidiom. “All of us will destroy this future menace to the shadows!”

The dark cloud laughed as it shot towards the Yoshi school.

~~~

“Attention! Attention!”

The school principal, Mr. Laisher, was addressing the student body in the underground shelter.

“We have a situation here. There are only enough supplies of air, food and water for all of us less ten. We need to somehow pick ten students to take refuge outside of the shelter.”

Nervous chatter filled the cavern. Then the vice principal, known only as Negger, spoke.

“We could leave the Yoshis that call themselves the Ultimate Ten. As they are inseparable friends, they should be able to withstand any threat.”

After a vote from the staff, it was decided. The ten Yoshis were led back out of the shelter and into the backcourt of the school property.

{Estimated time of arrival: 1 minute, 15 seconds.}

“C’mon, guys!” called Windoshi. “Let’s put our heads…and luck…together to survive this!”

~~~

No one knows what happened when the shadow cloud covered the school. All that is known is the consequences. The cloud somehow captured all the Yoshis hiding in the shelter by using a quantum shadow beam. However, it did not look outside of the shelter for other Yoshis, so the Ultimate Ten were the only ones left, hiding in their eggs, when the shadow disappeared.

A full five minutes after the cloud left, Flamoshi, the bravest of the bunch, peeked out of his protective shell.

“Well,” he thought, “there’s nothing amiss here…school’s intact, cloudless sky, that darn Frisbee is still on the roof…yeah! Hey guys! It’s safe to come out!”

One by one, the other nine Yoshis shed their eggshells.

“I don’t see anything wrong,” commented Emoshi. Despite her sure voice, she was still shaking.

“That doesn’t mean nothing IS wrong,” mumbled Poisoshi.

“It’s oddly quiet,” said Earthoshi, leaning his ear to the ground. “I don’t ear anyone speaking or yelling or blabbing away or farting or burping or…”

“We get it!”

“We’d better check the shelter,” nodded Shockoshi.

***

Once the ten Yoshis found the shelter empty, they started to panic.

“How could that thing have taken everyone?” cried Watoshi. “And it never even seemed to see us!”

“Apparently, it searched the shelter only,” said Healthoshi.

Windoshi’s keen eye spotted a scrap of paper on the floor. As he picked it up, he immediately saw that it was a valuable clue.

“Hey guys!” he called. Once they were assembled, he read: ”I found this note on the floor. Ahem. ‘help us, shadows, need search volcano, find power, must…’ and then it cuts off.”

Shockoshi formed a hypothesis. “We need to go to whatever volcano and search it for some kind of power that will beat the shadow.”

“The volcano must be Mount Vewaque,” said Flamoshi. “It must have something hidden inside.”

“What are we waiting for?” yelled Shockohsi. “Let’s grab food and gear and let’s go!”

[Toomai]

Chapter Two

Heating Things Up

The shadow being glared at its disciples.

“Do not tell me of failure,” it said. “Although your original task was not completed, there is still a chance to stop the power.”

The ten disciples stirred. Then Volvagia rose.

“They are heading to a realm similar to mine,” the scorpion-like being hissed. “I will go and prevent them from leaving.”

The entity nodded. “You may go and burn their lives. As for the rest of these…” He indicated the captured ones. “They may be returned.”

~~~

As the ten Yoshis were trekking east across the countryside, they were talking about the task they undertook.

“I’ve always wanted to be the hero,” said Windoshi. “Now I get to deliver! We may become legends!”

Earthoshi shook his head.

“I’m afraid that you’re one step ahead of yourself,” he said slowly. “First we need to do something heroic.”

Mount Vewaque rose ever slowly in the distance. Due east of the City of Yosh, it seemed that every morning, the sun rose from inside it. The ten had heard of a village close to the volcano called Volcanic Veranda, but it was hard to believe it still existed with the frequent eruptions.

At last, the Yoshis came upon the edge of the grassy plains and onto the volcanic rock bed.

“Stay close,” said Flamoshi, “there may be baddies about.”

After about five minutes on the rock bed, the Yoshis encountered their first enemies: ten Flame Piranhas.

“They’re still a ways in the distance,” said Healthoshi.

“Don’t be fooled,” countered Poisoshi. “They can travel underground almost instantly…GAH!”

Sure enough, one of the Flame Piranhas popped out of the ground right in front of the purple Yoshi. He managed to move just before the jaws closed on where he was.

“Attack plan C!” called Shockoshi. He ran around the back of the enemy.

Windoshi produced an egg. He threw it to Shockohsi, who threw it to Flamoshi, and then back to Shockoshi, who whacked the plant with it by surprise. It shrank to nothing.

The energetic one taunted the rest of the group of enemies. “Come on, ya losers! Just try it!” He then preformed jumping jacks and started chanting. “We are Yoshis, die we shan’t; not from a stupid P’ranha Plant!”

Stunned by the yellow Yoshi’s acts, the Piranhas were stuck in place. This gave time for a hurried order from Healthoshi.

“Egg Rolls! Maximum speed!”

The nine other Yoshis, with Shockoshi still taunting, encased themselves in an egg and rolled into the confused enemies. They were unceremoniously flattened.

Emoshi broke the roll. “Piece of cake,” she scoffed.

“Let’s keep going,” said Flamoshi. “There’s still a lot of ground to cover.”

***

The ten kept trekking across the barren landscape. The temperature of the air around them kept rising, but most of them got used to it and coped just fine. At almost 3:30, they finally reached Volcanic Veranda.

“Sweet!” came Flamoshi’s first remark on the fiery town. “A village of red Yoshis!”

Indeed it was. The entire town was carved out of volcanic rock and populated by heat-resistant citizens who prided themselves on worshipping the power of fire. Flamoshi was given a warm welcome as one of their own, but the rest were shunned and perceived as “frozen”.

While shopping around for info, the group got quite the shock.

“A large scorpion was seen entering our friend, the volcano,” said one denizen.

“What?” cried Windoshi. “What would a scorpion want in Mount Vewaque?”

“Many things,” was the response. “In our legends, it is said that the scorpion, Volvagia, would pass our way and plug the volcano’s mouth. With the mouth plugged, the next time an eruption would occur, the volcano would explode and take down the area with it.”

“Well!” exclaimed Windoshi. “That’s not good!”

“We’re going to go get rid of that scorpion for you people,” declared Flamoshi. “We believe it has something of ours.”

“Very well,” said the villager. “Go and see our chieftain. He will give you the key to Vewaque.”

Sure enough, when the ten went to Heatrewas, he produced a small piece of reddish copper in the shape of a flame.

“Take this to the eastern slope of the volcano,” he said, “and use it to unlock the stone slab. There you will find a map of the interior. Do not worry of failure. I can sense your destiny. It is positive.” He pressed the Fire Key in Flamoshi’s hands. “Do well with the flickering flames of fire.”

***

Ten minutes later, the ten were climbing the slope of the volcano. The igneous rock was hot to the touch, but it did not burn the trekkers.

“How can he sense our destiny?” wondered Emoshi. “Does he have some sort of special powers?”

“He might,” said Healthoshi. “To be the leader of a group, you need to have something no one else has.”

“Destiny. Pffft.” Poisoshi swiped his hand through the air. “That’s a load of junk.”

Unlike most other Yoshis, Poisoshi was an atheist. He saw no evidence of destiny or “any other stuff like that”. This centered a lot of cold attitude on him from other Yoshis, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

“Look!” cried Shockoshi. “There’s a cave up there!” He pointed to a hole in the rock face.

The ten Yoshis scrambled up to the hole. Inside they found a wall with some writing on it.

“I wish we could read that,” said Windoshi. “But it doesn’t seem to be in English.”

The wall said: TDA BGQA ONWAQ NB VAWFPUA FWFITS YNU. IUT IAWFQA TDA BKFLAS NB EFQJMASS.

“What was your first clue?” Iceoshi.

“I’ll copy this down,” said Healthoshi. “Then we can decode it as we travel.”

“Here it is!” exclaimed Flamoshi. He had found a hole that fit the key he had. “Let’s open ‘er up!”

The reddish copper made a click when it entered the engraftment. Then with a groan the wall swung open. A map also appeared in Flamoshi’s hands with a burst of flame.

The ten Yoshis entered the red glow.

~~~

“So,” thought Volvagia, “they have come. It’s time to start the eruption which will blast this entire area.”

The creature moved to the other side of the chamber. It spoke into a small ball of fire.

“Your friends approach, weak one,” said the scorpion. “It’s just too bad they will never make it here across the huge cavern.”

The ball of fire retorted.

“You underestimate these Yoshis,” it spoke. “And before you captured me, I left behind an item that will aid them in disposing of you.”

“Item? No item can defeat me! I have a shell that can only be broken by myself! You think an item can turn me against myself?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t believe you. Still, just to torment those Yoshis, I’ll stick a guard in front of where that item is. They will have even less hope than ever before!”

[Toomai]

Chapter Three

Vewaque’s Anger

The Yoshis appeared in a small circular chamber. A door was in front of them, but it had a padlock on it. Around the room were ten torches, one of them lit. There was also a small pile of bones next to the wall.

“First room,” said Windoshi. His voice echoed in the chamber. “Now what? I don’t suppose anyone has a spare key?”

“These torches must do something,” analyzed Poisoshi. “The problem is how to light the rest of them.”

“Can we use the bones?” wondered Shockoshi. “It’s dry enough in here that they would probably act as torches. We could take fire from the lit one and transfer it to the rest.”

“Well,” said Flamoshi, “there’s nothing else around. Let’s try it.”

Shortly after, all ten torches were lit.

“Done.” Earthoshi then exhaled. “Now what?”

Suddenly, a hole appeared in the ceiling. From it a small silver key dropped. Flamoshi picked it up.

“Hey, a key!” he exclaimed. He darted over to the door and stuck the key in the lock.

The lock clicked and the door opened. But the key burst into flames.

“YAH! HOTHOTHOTHOTHOT!” The red one threw down the key, but it had burned to ashes before it hit the ground.

“So much for that key.” Iceoshi’s voice.

“Well, at least the door’s open,” said Healthoshi. “Maybe we can only use each key once.”

“Gee, you think so, Einstein?” Poisoshi crossed his arms. “What was your first clue?”

The Yoshis moved into the next room. A cavern of lava immediately confronted them. It seemed to be the main area of the volcano.

“Right,” said Windoshi. “Two paths. One leads up, the other down. Which one do we pick?”

Some further visual investigation revealed that the upper path had a sizable break above the magma, while the lower path lead to the other side of the room. Iceoshi consulted the map.

“The upper path leads to a room with a drawing of a temple. The lower one leads to a long, squiggly room. That room has a door at the end of the passage.”

“Squiggly room.” Shockoshi started on the way down. “I can tell that we won’t be able to flutter across that huge gap in the upper path.” The others followed him.

The room they entered seemed to be taunting them. At the other end of the passage was an unlocked door. But the passage was filled with lava. Not only that, but the floor was littered with irregular stone slabs.

“Section one. How to cross lava.” Windoshi put on a documentary-type voice. “First you interview those involved, ask for help, then if you don’t get it, you push them in.”

“Maybe we could build a bridge with these rocks,” suggested Healthoshi.

“Can’t,” responded Iceoshi. “Not enough of them.”

“Well, what else can we try?”

Flamoshi got a wild idea. Not telling the others because he thought they would stop him, he grabbed a slab about the same size as him and sprinted towards the lava.

Watoshi was the first to flash a cry. “Flamoshi, NO!”

Ignoring the yells of his friends, the red Yoshi dove towards the molten rock. Then he got up and used the slab as a board, quickly making his way towards the other side.

“Schweet!” exclaimed Shockoshi. “Lava surfing!”

Without hesitation, he too grabbed a board and shot across the room. The other eight followed, most of them reluctantly.

Windoshi went last and, as per his personality, attempted to show off with a bellyflop. However, he couldn’t stop himself at the other side and slammed into the closed door.

“I’m OK!” He then collapsed.

Emoshi bent over the fallen comrade. “Is your nose broken? How hard did you hit? Are you really okay?”

The muttered reply was, “Wee…I see flying watermelons…melon, banana, shell, Spiny Shell, Fireball, YIKES!” He leapt up and contacted the ceiling.

Emoshi shook her head. “He’ll be all right.”

“Yeah,” said Healthoshi. “He just has a temporarily flat face.”

After Windoshi recovered, the Yoshis entered the next room. It was circular with a hole in the middle, guarded by a ring of fire. Multiple Swoopers were aflight in the room, and many more were hung on the ceiling. About five were guarding an egg-shaped dent in the wall.

As soon as the door closed, all the Swoopers perked up and swarmed the Yoshis.

“Bleck!” Shockoshi tried to ward them off.

“What now?” cried Emoshi.

Earthoshi conceived a plan. “Did we all bring our tennis rackets?”

A yell of assent was heard.

“Well then, start whacking these Swoopers with them!”

The Yoshis did so. Swoopers were being smacked with force and flying into the walls so hard they were destroyed outright. Soon the air was clear again.

“What’s this egg-shaped thing in the wall?” Windoshi’s eye had spotted the dent.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Poisoshi spoke like he was bored. “You stick an egg in it, like this…”

A click was heard as the egg went into the dent. The Yoshis turned around and the fire around the hole had gone out.

“Well?” Flamoshi’s voice echoed in the empty chamber.

“Well what? Last one in’s a rotten egg! JERONIMO!!!” Windoshi flew into the hole headfirst.

Wondering what Windoshi would have as a hospital bill in a few years, the Yoshis headed – in a safer way – into the hole.

The room they appeared in was circular, like the last. It had a large pit of lava in the center. Luckily, the hole was on the side of the room so they didn’t land right in.

The first thing the Yoshis realized is that there was no way out. The room was high so they could not jump out of the hole, and there was no ladder or jump pad. The only thing that might help was a large metal bar sticking out from the side of the room, right under the hole.

“I think we made a mistake,” said Shockoshi. “There’s no way out of here except up there.”

Windoshi popped out of the rock ground and spoke. “Maybe if we pulled out that metal bar, something would fall out from behind it, like a ladder.”

Watoshi thought then said, “Even though our tongues can reach that high, they don’t have the power to haul something that big.”

Earthoshi noticed that he was standing on something. He picked it up and revealed it to be a key.

“That key was just sitting there?” Emoshi seemed confused. “Weird.”

Suddenly, an evil laugh filled the room. It seemed to be coming from the pool of lava.

“Whatever you are, show yourself!” Flamoshi commanded.

It obeyed. Three Piranha Plants on long vines rose from the lava, the center one much bigger than the others.

“WHAHAHAHA!” The center Plant spoke like a lunatic. “I WAS HOPING YOU’D FIND ME HERE!”

“The Lava Piranha!” exclaimed all the Yoshis.

“YOU GOT THAT RIGHT! MY LAVA BUDS AND ME WERE GUARANTEED A SAFE SPOT HERE! NOW WE MUST GET RID OF YOU TO KEEP YOU FROM GETTING THAT THING!”

[Toomai]

Chapter Four

The Imminent Eruption

“What thing?” snapped Flamoshi.

“GWAHAHA! YOU THINK I’D TELL YOU? TOO BAD, LOSERS! NOW DIE!”

“At least his grammar improved,” smirked Windoshi.

“Now is not the time for jokes!” cried Healthoshi, who dodged a fiery blast. “Timoshi! Get your Guide To Everything out!”

“The Guide? Right-O!”

Timoshi sidestepped a shot and took out a thick green book. After searching the index while his friends were under attack from the Lava Piranha, he found its entry.

“That’s the Lava Piranha!” he read out loud to the others. “It’s a monstrous triple-headed Piranha Plant that can somehow survive in lava. For attacks, it mostly breathes fire and slaps you with its Lava Buds. Sometimes the main plant creates a lava wave that covers the whole room at once. Every now and then, the Buds spew Petit Piranhas, which are weak in health but can cause a lot of pain.”

“That’s great,” called Poisoshi, who was running like a maniac trying not to get hit, “but how do we beat it?”

“I was getting to that! To beat this huge thing, you need to pelt the heads with eggs until they finally cease-fire.”

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” yelled Emoshi. “Eggs away!”

The Yoshis started producing and chucking like no tomorrow. After about half a minute, the plant disappeared under the lava.

Flamoshi cut short Windoshi’s victory dance. “It may just be recovering, there would be more flash and dash if it was gone.”

Indeed, the Lava Piranha rose back up from the molten pool, now on fire with tongue sticking out. Its attacks then continued with reborn fury.

The Yoshis were reduced to defending until they could recuperate. They grouped together and tried to create a plan.

“Right!” Flamoshi was acting as commander. “We need some of us to roll around the room as a distraction so the others can keep pelting.”

“WAVE!” Healthoshi raised the alarm.

The Yoshis hid in their eggs until the wave of lava passed, but the calcium shields were starting to weaken. They had to do something and fast.

“I’ll go!” Shockoshi made an Egg Roll and started barreling around the room. Earthoshi shrugged, then followed suit.

“That won’t work,” said Flamoshi. “Doesn’t the thing have three heads?!”

“Well, while those two are keeping the smaller ones occupied, we’ll use Attack Plan C on the larger one, just like when we were walking here.”

“Well, with something that big,” said Earthoshi, “we’ll need to use the extended version.”

The plan was put into motion. Timoshi grabbed an egg. He threw it to Healthoshi, who tossed it back. Timoshi lobbed it across the room to Emoshi, who passed it to Poisoshi. Poisoshi chucked the egg towards Windoshi, who added it to his juggling. The three juggled eggs made their way to Flamoshi, Watoshi, and Iceoshi, who used them to hit the large plant all at once.

Upon the triple hit, the Lava Piranha stopped attacking. It swayed in dismay that it lost, gave a strange groan, than dropped to the ground and back into the lava.

“HAPPY DANCE!!!” Windoshi began his ritual.

“Well,” said Healthoshi, breathing hard, “now we can work on that code we found outside.”

~~~

“So.” Volvagia looked at the progress of the Yoshis. “They are stronger than I have thought. Nevertheless, they are beyond help.”

“That’s what you think.” The mysterious talking ball of fire had retorted.

Volvagia swung around, shaking the chamber in the process. “Keep quiet, you fire spirit, you! Are you forgetting who the master is here?”

“Well, apparently, because it can’t be you.”

“You asked for it this time. When I’m done with these Yoshis, I’m handing you over to Viscosious for the worst bath you’ve ever had!”

~~~

“There.” Flamoshi smoothed out the back of the map where they had written the message. “That will do it.”

The decoded message said: “The fire power of Vewaque awaits you. But beware the flames of darkness.”

Shockoshi wondered out loud. “The fire power? Flames of darkness? This made more sense in code.”

From across the room came Windoshi’s voice. “Hey guys! Come look at what I found!”

When the other Yoshis arrived at Windoshi’s location, he pointed to a hole in the wall that lead into a room, only big enough for a bed to fit.

“I think this hole was created by the Lava Piranha bashing into it from falling down,” said the keen-eyed one. “And look what I found in that room!”

Windoshi held up a red and bronze object. It was cylindrical with a rotating handle on one flat side. On the rim was a rectangular hole that lead from one side to the other, but didn’t pass through the middle. “What d’you suppose it is?”

The Yoshis started talking about what this object could be, completely ignoring the newly decoded message.

Suddenly an eleventh voice burst out: “I know what it is!”

The Yoshis all turned and saw Elshoshi standing in the room as if it was business as usual.

“What? Elshoshi?” Flamoshi was flabbergasted. “I thought you were taken with the whole school! How’d you get here?”

“Well,” said the classmate, “I was taken. But then we were returned after an hour. I remembered that you had to stay outside the shelter, so I looked for you. Then I remembered the note…”

“The note? The one telling us to come here to Mount Vewaque?” Windoshi butted in. “How did you know about that?”

“I wrote it. You see, my hearing is above average, and when I heard the shadows plotting outside before we were taken, I scrawled it down. Anyway, I decided to follow you here, thinking that you might need some help. I just got here.”

“The help would have been appreciated during the battle.” Poisoshi was obviously annoyed.

Elshoshi scowled. His cheery nature had never gone over so well with the purple one. “I know that. But I just went in the front door while the rumbling was finishing, and I just got to this room, so you can’t blame me.”

“The whole mountain was rumbling?” Iceoshi was doubtful.

“You betcha! Almost fell over at one point. Anyway, I know what that object is. In fact, I own one. It’s a Tongue Reel. You stick your tongue in the slot, fire it off to whatever, latch on by wrapping your tongue around an object, and use the Reel to pull yourself in!”

“That’s pretty cool.” Watoshi had always liked strange inventions.

“Plus, if you press the handle to ‘Cut’, you can painlessly cut off that section of tongue and swing on it like a rope!”

“Swing on a tongue?” Healthoshi visibly recoiled. “That’s a little gross.”

Flamoshi had no such inhibition. He took the Reel from Windoshi and used it to wrap his tongue around the metal bar in the wall. He pressed “Cut” and started swinging.

The other Yoshis watched the normally adult-like Flamoshi seem to have fun going back and forth. However, they noticed some deeper motive.

“Look out!” cried Emoshi. “The bar’s coming loose!”

With each swing, Flamoshi tugged the bar a little lower, until finally it crashed into the ground. From the hole it left in the wall, a rope ladder fell down, allowing the Yoshis to escape the room.

Because there was no other way to go, the Yoshis headed back to the lava chamber with two paths. While they were debating how to cross the huge gap in the upper path, Emoshi made a discovery.

“Hey guys! There’s a staladzite up there, in the middle of the gap!”

After the momentary shock, Flamoshi was the first to answer. “What the heck’s a ‘staladzite’?”

“Well, stalactites are on the ceiling and stalagmites are on the floor, so I made up a name for ones on the walls.”

“Whatever. Why does it matter?”

Earthoshi got the hint. “We could use the Reel to get a piece of tongue and swing across!”

“Right! You coming, Elshoshi?” Watoshi looked back. “Huh? Where’d he go?”

All the Yoshis turned around to see that, indeed, Elshoshi was gone.

“Fishy, don’t you think?” Poisoshi leaned against the wall. “Makes you wonder if he was here in the first place…”

“Geez,” huffed Windoshi, “you’re so cynical, man. Take a chill pill. Only $5 plus tax.”

“Take one yourself, you class clown.”

The green and purple Yoshis suddenly realized that they were alone on this side of the gap. On the other side (with the length of tongue dangling between the sides) were the others.

Once everyone was over the gap, they encountered the door at the end of the passage. It was lucky that Earthoshi had found the key in the Lava Piranha chamber, because they needed it to enter the door.

Unfortunately, once Flamoshi entered the door, a huge rock slammed down, blocking the other Yoshis from entering the room. The Yoshis started beating on the rock, but nothing happened.

Flamoshi got bored of the rock and went to explore the room. It was large and circular with many strange formations of stone on the ceiling. There was an elevated platform in the middle of the room that divided the room in half between the lower, outer area and the higher, inner area. He could make out a large door on the other side of the room, but nothing else was in the room. Both doors (the one on the other side and the one he came through) were at the level of the higher portion of the floor.

On the other side of the door, the Yoshis were tiring of trying to destroy the rock.

A lightbulb appeared over Shockoshi’s head. “Hey! We could use the power of the Reel to drag this rock out of place!”

The Yoshis agreed to this plan. However, Shockoshi’s lightbulb blew a fuse when they found out that Flamoshi last had the Reel.

Flamoshi got to the center of the room. He looked around, aware that there was probably some sort of trap. He spotted a small ball of fire hovering at the very center point.

As soon as he saw the ball of flame, it suddenly appeared next to him.

“Beware the Shadow of Fire!” it spoke urgently into his ear. “Use whatever resources you have to…”

A sudden rumbling cut off the speech. The ball of fire flew up to the ceiling as the room shook. Flamoshi maintained his ground as the lower portion of the floor filled up with lava, increasing the temperature of the room even more.

The door at the other side of the room heaved open. Out of it came an enormous scorpion, two Yoshis high and ten Yoshis long. Its dingy-yellow tail alone was twelve Yoshis long and was tipped with a gleaming ruby, and its brown shell glinted in the lavalight.

The creature crawled up the wall and onto the ceiling to land on the isolated platform Flamoshi was on.

“Well, well, well.” The monster clicked its six legs impatiently. “I wouldn’t have bet you could make it this far.”

“Stuff it, you lava lobster.” Flamoshi was in no mood for small talk. “I believe you have no business here.”

“Impatient, I see. Very well.” The tail curled in anticipation. “First, the introductions. I am Volvagia, master of the east side of your lovely island.”

“Master my egg.” The Yoshi clutched the Reel tightly. “You don’t belong here. I’ve never seen any records of anything like you before, so you don’t really exist.”

“If you say so. But then how can something that doesn’t exist know something that doesn’t want to exist? I think you know what I’m talking about: your real name, Plaroshi.”

The red Yoshi had seen the last straw.

“That’s it, you overgrown constellation! You’re gonna PAY!”

He jumped onto Volvagia’s shell and started doing successive Ground Pounds. Volvagia threw him off and shot its tail down at him. Flamoshi barely rolled out of the way as the tip smashed into the stone platform. The tail flashed down repeatedly, causing Flamoshi to lapse into defense, something he did not do very well.

On the other side of the wall, the other nine Yoshis heard the sounds (and felt the rumbling) of battle.

“Flamoshi’s in trouble!” Healthoshi cried. “We’ve gotta help him!”

“But how?” Emoshi was exasperated. “This darn rock is in the way!”

Earthoshi stood up. Windoshi noticed something in his eyes he had seen only a few times before.

“Uh, guys,” he said, “I think we should, you know, get out of the way…”

The Yoshis scrambled as Earthoshi stood in front of the stone. By nature, the black Yoshi could take a lot of things, but he had a definite breaking point where he would use adrenaline to eradicate anything in his way.

As Earthoshi confronted his obstacle, Flamoshi was getting worn out from the constant barrage of tail snaps and a few fire jet attacks. Looking around for help, he again spotted the strange ceiling. Suddenly he had an idea.

The red Yoshi threw his tongue around one of the rock spikes. Then he used the Reel to winch himself up to the ceiling. Momentarily confused about his location, Volvagia stopped attacking.

While hanging, Flamoshi got a second idea, more daring than the first. While his opponent was still looking around, he swung between rock crags until he was directly above it. Then he pressed “Cut” and dropped.

Thanks to gravity, the Yoshi slammed onto the back of the creature’s tail, driving it into its shell with full force. Volvagia shrieked as the shell broke apart and lay on the floor, revealing a pink body.

A crash was heard from Flamoshi’s entry door. He looked and saw the rest of the Ten standing there surrounded by rubble. Timoshi had the Guide and was busy reading from it.

“That’s Volvagia!” he yelled as the Yoshis started pounding the subject. “It’s a massive scorpion with this piercing tail and invulnerable shell. Mostly it does tail attacks, but it can use that sharp ruby to shoot blasts of fire. Its only weak spot is underneath the shell.”

By the time Timoshi had stopped reading, Volvagia was down. It emitted a large shriek and a shockwave of fire before collapsing.

[Toomai]

Chapter Five

Growth Of Fire, Beginnings Of Water

The Ultimate Ten rejoiced over defeating Volvagia. They were happy for a full five minutes.

But then the volcano started shaking again.

“Uh…?” Healthoshi was having a hard time staying upright.

“Oh no…We’ve gotta get outta here!” Windoshi started the panic process.

Poisoshi spotted a button near the door Volvagia came in. He made his way over to it and gave it a whack.

A small hole opened in the floor in the center of the room. In desperation, the Yoshis scrambled down it.

The hole lead the Yoshis through a horizontal tunnel, which then lead into a huge cavern, the very center of Mount Vewaque.

“Oh man!” Shockoshi was shaking without the volcano’s help. “This is where the eruption will happen! We’re doomed!”

Flamoshi immediately spotted two discs connected by a two-hinge spring. He motioned the other towards it.

“Look!” he yelled over the bubbling magma. “It’s a jump pad!”

The Yoshis each leapt off the Jump Pad, which boosted them all the way up and out of the volcano.

“RUN!” Emoshi was prepared to beat a speed record.

“No, don’t run! ROLL!” Earthoshi leapt into his egg and started rolling down the slope at breakneck speed. The others quickly followed.

The volcano erupted, shooting lava and soot high into the air. Lava also flowed down the mountain, but because of the Yoshis’ desperation, they stayed ahead of it.

Now at the foot of the volcano, the Ten sprinted to Volcanic Veranda. The lava-proof doors closed behind them as they fell to the ground panting.

***

After whisking away e-mails to their parents about staying at a friend’s house for a while, the Ten went to the village leader, Heatrewas, to report their victory.

“As a matter of fact,” the chieftain interrupted, “someone came to me before you did to report this. I think he wants to speak with you over at the Fire Temple.”

The Yoshis made their way to the large temple at the center of the village. There was indeed someone waiting for them there. It was the ball of fire Flamoshi had seen in the battle chamber.

“Welcome,” the flame started, but Windoshi butt in.

“Hold up a sec. What’s up here? Flames couldn’t talk last time I checked.”

“Ah, I see. In that case I will show you my true form.”

The ball of fire burst into a Yoshi shape, and then became one. The “newly-formed” red Yoshi glowed with intense heat.

“I am Vewaque, the one the volcano is named after.”

“I hope this doesn’t become a monologue…” Iceoshi muttered.

“Unfortunately, it is.” Vewaque took a few deep breaths. “I must first thank you for rescuing me from that savage beast, the Shadow of Fire.”

“So that’s what that message meant.” Healthoshi figured it out. “Volvagia was the ‘flames of darkness’.”

“Yes, he was. And he managed to imprison me, mostly because I was overconfident. But that is of no importance. First I must fill you in on the whole story.”

“At midnight between the years of 999 and 1000, twelve Yoshis were on Shooting Star Summit. You know where that is, correct? They were having a New Year’s celebration. In any case, they were a group of friends who were much like you: strongly bonded, they knew all about each other, but there were a few conflicts. One conflict was that one Yoshi, a metallic silver one, consistently had opinions against that of the rest of the group, which was, by the way, lead by a metallic gold Yoshi. Anyway, on that night, twelve mystical items fell from the sky and onto that sacred place. These were objects that funnel the powers of nature, and the Yoshis not being old enough to know better, claimed them as their own. It took a while before they realized the items had power, and they did experiment with it, oh yes. But as they matured, they realized these items were not for fun. Unfortunately, to keep balance with the element of light, one of the items controlled the power of shadow. The silver Yoshi took it and drifted ever further from his comrades, eventually leaving them and turning against them. The turning point was an actual battle, resulting in him being gravely injured and left to fend for himself. As the group gained more understanding of their powers, they found that they needed the items less often, and eventually didn’t need to use them at all to use their powers. After the Great War, where Yosh’ter Isle was destroyed, they took it upon themselves to create a new Yosh’ter Isle, the one we’re on right now. They named places after themselves and themed them to their elements.”

“Can we get to the point?” Flamoshi let loose some impatience.

“All right.” Vewaque sighed. “As you may have figured out, I am one of those Yoshis in the story. You see, I was born at a time where ‘shi’ was not a requirement of a Yoshi name…but anyway. I will give you this, Flamoshi.”

Vewaque produced a right-handed copper-colored glove. It had a ruby in the back. He held it out to Flamoshi.

“Who, me?” Flamoshi hesitated, then put the glove on. It was incredibly light, feeling almost as if it wasn’t there.

“It is the Glowing Gauntlet. The power of fire is infused in that glove.”

Flamoshi looked doubtful, but tried lighting a few torches by spraying fire from the glove. The task was not easy, but was done quickly.

“I see you are a fast learner.”

Vewaque turned to the group at large.

“Listen well. The rest of us are still imprisoned on the different reaches of Yosh’ter Isle, each guarded by nightmare beings. But some are weaker than others, and this is your key. Volvagia was the weakest if only because of his shortsightedness. The next weakest is Viscosious, a water shadow hiding in the depths of Navre Bay. I do not know how to get the Water Key to gain enterance to its lair, but I do know that you must first go down the Akino River and explore Ximmer Pond and Bakum Lake. Is there anything else you wish to know?”

Earthoshi waved the map of the volcano. “Why is there a picture of a temple where Volvagia was hiding?”

“Ah, that.” Vewaque took the map and looked it over. “Back when this map was written, the temple we are in was in that location. But when the volcano got too active, the Yoshis of this village took it apart and reassembled it here, safe from destruction.”

Healthoshi piped up. “How hard is this job going to be for us?”

Vewaque sighed. “I don’t know. One thing is for sure: as time goes on, it will get more difficult.”

Watoshi was next. “How could you have gotten captured?”

The answer was prompt. “When the shadows invaded this land only hours ago, they immediately set their sights on you. You see, they somehow foresaw that you would be a threat to them. They spread out to the ten areas and invaded where they believed we were. Caught by surprise, they got us. We couldn’t really fight back. How can you burn a burning enemy? Freeze a frozen one? Bury a digging one? But we managed to hide a special item in each area, one that we know will help you defeat the shadows.”

Shockoshi ignored the items and asked something else. “What about the gold Yoshi from your group?”

“Hmmm…” Vewaque thought for a moment. “He was in the Temple Of Light when the shadows attacked. I don’t know what has happened, but we’ve lost communication with him.”

“Communication?” Emoshi asked. “What communication?”

“We’ve been together for so many years that we can communicate with each other over tremendous distances. Even now I can hear Jovenin complaining about his working conditions…”

“Uhh…” Windoshi pointed at the floor. “Why’s this tile lighting up?”

Everyone turned their attention to the spot. Vewaque explained. “The floor of each temple is engraved with a map of Yosh’ter Isle with an elemental symbol at each temple point. When things are going well in an area, it lights up. As you can see, only the fire symbol is emitting light right now…” The fiery Yoshi pointed to the west area, where the water symbol was. “Again, that is your next destination.”

The Yoshis started leaving the temple when Vewaque stopped them.

“Oh!” he said. “I almost forgot. Do you still have the Fire Key you used to open the volcano with?”

Flamoshi said that he had.

“Good. I’d like you to place it into a pedestal in the center of City Of Yosh for me. You should find an empty park with nothing in it except ten pedestals. Put every elemental key you find in there once you’ve rescued another one of us.”

The Yoshis accepted and left.

~~~

Somewhere in the Mushroom Kingdom, a black castle stood. Its moat was filled with lava and its rooms were lit with blue flames.

This is one of Bowser’s Castles.

Bowser himself was sitting in his room, doing the crossword puzzle in The Troopa Times. He had just come back from a long day of minion bashing and was attempting to relax.

“Let’s see here…a five-letter word for pest?” The Koopa King chuckled. “That one’s easy. Let’s write it down: M-A-R-I-O! Not only is it true, but it matches the ‘a’ in ‘banana’ and the ‘i’ in ‘kingbowser’! Now, a five-letter word for extra life…”

A loud knock on the door blocked Bowser’s thought pattern.

“Whaddaya want?” he bellowed. “I don’t have time for this, so just get in here and spill the beans or I’ll turn you into soap!”

A nervous Koopa Troopa shuffled into the room. “Uh, sir…” he began.

“Cut the formalities, dolt! Just gimme the skinny or you’re next in the bowling ally!”

“There’s been a lot of evil activity on Yosh’ter Isle recently, sir. I was told to let you know. As well, some Yoshis appear to be gaining shadow-proof powers. They may be planning an attack.” The Troopa kept shuddering.

“Evil activity, huh?” Bowser started thinking. “This sounds like that Thousand-Year Door gunk or something…but I can’t take any chances!”

Bowser got up. Grabbing his paper and snapping his fingers, he summoned the Koopa Klown Kar.

“I’m gonna check this out. I haven’t beaten Yoshis up for what seems like a decade!” He leapt into his ride. “Tell everyone I’m on a Yoshi splatting spree, and don’t send them after me unless they’re armed with video cameras!” With a roar, he soared off towards Yosh’ter Isle.

As he watched the castle get smaller in the distance, he got the next word. “Aha! Five-letter word for extra life…a One-Up! Okay, six-letter word for a walking explosive…”

~~~

“That does it.” Flamoshi stepped back.

The pedestal into which he had slotted the Fire Key was now glowing. He eyed the other pedestals, which were arranged in a large circle in the park they were in.

“I’ve always wondered what those things were for,” Timoshi said. “Even the Guide said they had no purpose until ‘the heroes’ appeared…”

“Then again,” interrupted Flamoshi, “we don’t know what they’re for. All we know it that we fill them with keys and something will happen.”

The rest of the Yoshis were taking a break. The park was quite large and out of the way of most civilians, so they could rest for a while.

After a while, Earthoshi straightened up.

“We should start moving now,” he said.

“Go west, us dudes,” quipped Windoshi. “Go west.”

***

The Ten traveled to the west side of City Of Yosh. Luckily for them, Akino River actually cut through a portion of the city, so they didn’t have to leave the borders before getting there.

“Next decision.” Watoshi contemplated the situation. “Should we follow the river, or borrow a boat and paddle down?”

“I’d take a boat,” said Healthoshi. “It’d take less time, plus it’s about 4:15.”

Everyone agreed. So the Ten went to the nearest dock and managed to borrow a boat for twenty-four hours. Oars in hand, they unhitched the boat.

“By the way,” asked the boat’s owner, “where are you going?”

“We’re headed for Navre Bay,” stated Shockoshi.

“Ah yes, Navre Bay. I remember there well…” The owner looked towards the afternoon sun. “A peaceful place, that. Beautiful scenery…” Still mumbling, the owner strolled back into his office.

“Right! Hoist the anchor! Deploy the sails! Make good time or else I’ll rhyme!” Windoshi was wearing a fake eyepatch he conjured up from somewhere.

Poisoshi looked at Iceoshi. “Think we should push him out?”

The reply was, “Not yet. Eventually, yeah.”

***

Half an hour later, the Ten were going down Akino River at a good pace. Emoshi had taken to being the lookout as the others rowed. Except for Windoshi, who was annoying everybody with his pirate-like speeches.

“Ar, yes, the good grog it was,” he went on. “Then, o’ course, the wave hit us…ar, a good soaking we never got, aye matey!” The green one took a moment to get some cracks out of his back. “And now, for my next act, a re-enactment of something to do with ‘Staches and Bassa-Boom festivals…”

Fortunately for everyone, Emoshi interrupted Windoshi’s act.

“Hey! Isn’t that Ximmer Pond?”

The Yoshis looked where she was pointing. Ximmer Pond it was. Earthoshi, at the rudder, steered the boat into the turnoff.

In contrast with the scenery, Ximmer Pond seemed almost ugly. Its overgrowth in algae, cattails and other such plants rendered the water nearly green, and it seemed to have a population of insects rather than fish.

“So we’re here.” Poisoshi looked around. “Now what?”

“Well, we’re supposed to find something here. I guess we go for a swim,” suggested Healthoshi.

One by one, the Yoshis got out of the boat and into the murky water.

“Brr! Cold!” Shockoshi splashed around a bit.

“Alrighty, guys. Let’s go.” Flamoshi took a deep breath and went under. The others followed.

The bottom was as murky as the surface. Seaweed a meter long floated around and sand particles battered the Yoshis’ eyes.

“Remind me never to swim in a body of water with an ‘x’ in its name,” Windoshi said as he pulled seaweed out of his nose.

“Hey guys!” called Timoshi. “There’s a tunnel over here!”

The Yoshis swam through the tunnel. It went on through many twists and turns, then came up into a cave.

Emoshi was first to jump out of the tunnel onto the cold hard ground. The others soon followed.

“Anyone see anything?” Iceoshi’s voice said.

“Well,” drawled Poisoshi, “I see a whole lot of dark.”

“What now?” asked Earthoshi. “Can anyone see in the dark?”

“We should hurry up in here,” said Windoshi. “If we take too long, all the air in here will be used up.”

A jet of flame suddenly darted across the room, nearly grazing Watoshi’s shoulder.

“Oops.” Flamoshi held up a ball of fire. “Hard to control whether I create a jet or a ball…”

With the light from the flame, the Yoshis found a wooden cabinet in the room.

“Stand back!” Flamoshi lit the cabinet on fire.

“What’re you doing?” Timoshi was panicking. “Fire uses up even more oxygen than breathing does!”

“Crap!” Flamoshi turned to the other Yoshis. “We need to put this thing out! Get water and spit at it!”

The Yoshis rushed back and forth between the water and the fire. Eventually, the fire was out, the cabinet was gone, and the Yoshis were out of breath.

“Hurry!” Healthoshi ran across the room. “Let’s get in the water before we suffocate!”

Each Yoshi ran towards the water. But Watoshi stayed behind and started shuffling through the burnt wood.

“What are you (cough) doing?” Emoshi waved from the water. “We need to (cough) get out of here!”

Watoshi paused. She reached into the bottom of the woodpile and pulled out a large key. Then she darted back towards the water and fell in.

“Good. We’re all safe.” Flamoshi sat on the bottom of the underwater tunnel. “But, Watoshi, why did you have to stay in there for so long?”

“It’s obvious!” Watoshi looked annoyed. “Why else would that cabinet be there for? It was obviously containing something we’d need, because we had to come here, right?” She held up the key. “This must be it!”

***

The Yoshis were back in their boat, floating down the Akino River. Although they could see Bakum Lake, they were still a ways off, so they sat back and relaxed.

“You know,” said Flamoshi, “I’ve been thinking.”

“First time for everything.” Windoshi’s comment earned him a glare. “What?”

The red one continued. “How did Volvagia know my real name?”

At the other’s expressions, he proceeded to explain what had happened between him and the monster while the others were blocked out of the room.

In response to the question, Watoshi said, “You know, that’s really strange. I mean, they don’t even come from this island!”

“You should have asked Vewaque,” said Healthoshi. “He might have known.”

“Yeah.” Flamoshi looked out at the approaching lake. “I suppose I should concentrate on what’s coming up next…”

[Toomai]

Chapter Six

A Small Setback

Compared to Ximmer Pond, Bakum Lake was a paradise. Pristine beaches and glittering waters were complemented by flocks of seagulls and the odd cottage. In the evening glow, the sun’s perfect reflection cast two orange lights onto the landscape. In all this, the Yoshis had no clue where to start.

At first, they went around asking passerby if they knew any place where a large key would be useful. After that attempt failed, they started searching along the shore. Windoshi was the first to see something helpful.

“Hey guys!” he called. “I’ve found a sign with a key on it!”

A wooden sign was stuck in the ground. It had a key and an arrow pointing to the nearby marsh.

“Weird.” Poisoshi looked in the sign’s direction. “You wouldn’t think you’d see something like this, would you?”

“So how do we go about this?” Emoshi was excited. “We can’t swim through all those cattails.”

Shockoshi gave directions. “Half of us will stay here while the others get the boat. We’ll bring the boat back here using you as a marker and then pick you up and paddle in that direction.”

Once the plan was carried out, the Ten started paddling. As they went out from the shore, they discovered a small dock hidden in the plants. It was only about two meters square and contained a single object: a pipe. On the dock was painted a key.

“We got a pipe here.” Earthoshi applied the brakes. “Let’s go.”

Docking the boat, the Ten went down the pipe.

***

The pipe opened up into a large cavern. Without needing to worry about their air supply, Flamoshi lit a fireball. What they saw surprised them.

In the back of the room was a chest. It had a lock that seemed to fit the key. However, in front of the chest was a Yoshi.

“Well, well, well.” The Yoshi adjusted his shades. “It’s quite interesting to see you ten here.”

Flamoshi saw four torches. He lit them so they could all see what was going on.

The stranger eyed the red one. In the new light, he was revealed to be purple with spike-bracelets and toe-claws.

“That’s a pretty cool glove you got there, redhead.” The unknown one stretched his arms. “How ‘bout you give it to me, and I won’t eradicate your little band?”

“Who is this jerk?” Windoshi broke the Ten’s silence. “And why does he think one is greater than ten?”

“You’ll see, Greeny.” The Yoshi cracked his fingers. “Or maybe all you’ll see is the hospital ceiling.”

“You know,” said Watoshi, “I don’t think I want to know this guy.”

“I don’t think you want to oppose me, either.”

“What’s your deal, punk?” Shockoshi crossed his arms. “You got a superiority complex or something?”

“All right then.” The unknown one stood tall. “I am Boshi, and I am your worst nightmare.”

“We can take this dolt! Let’s at it!” Healthoshi got revved up.

“Ah ah ah.” Boshi pointed at a thin red line on the floor. “I painted this special line here. It’s impossible for more than two people to be on this side.”

“One-on-one, eh?” Flamoshi turned to his comrades. “We can take this guy. Just fight your hardest and don’t give up!”

“Boshi, eh?” Timoshi opened the Guide. “Let’s see here…ah! That’s Boshi, a bully and a knucklehead. He likes picking on people he just doesn’t like. As for fighting style, he likes using more physical attacks and will only use eggs when very angry. He’s been around with Darth Vader, so he knows a few evil tricks. When not picking fights, he’s usually training or ordering stuff off Ebay. Not to be underestimated.”

“First on the menu: smart fighting and smarter remarks.” Windoshi stepped across the line.

“So you challenge me, do you?”

“Correct your English: the word ‘challenge’ means something will be difficult.”

“As you wish.”

The bully ran at Windoshi. A calm sidestep dance kept him off course. Before long, Boshi was out of breath.

“Athleticism is good for you!” Windoshi egged off a few rounds. “Don’t sit on the couch being a potato and eating fried ones!”

Anger in his eyes, Boshi jumped on Windoshi and started pounding him. After a few blows, they separated.

“Fighting people isn’t good for your health, you know.” Windoshi sidestepped a punch, which hit the back wall with a crunch. “Woo. Easy on the caffeine there, buddy.”

Another punch created a dent in his nose. “Clean-up, aisle four!”

Windoshi stepped across the line and Iceoshi replaced him. Iceoshi used a defensive style, wearing out Boshi instead of attacking him. After the twentieth failed attack, the Ten tag-teamed again to Flamoshi.

Using his fire power, Flamoshi charged up his energy. Then he unleashed it all into a single flaming punch that knocked his opponent flat against the wall.

“Right, that’s the end.” Flamoshi dusted his hands off.

Boshi slowly got back up. “Don’t think that’s the end,” he threatened. “That was just round one!” He blasted Flamoshi with a silvery beam of shadow that knocked him out.

“Hey!” Poisoshi made the fist-into-hand gesture. “You’ll pay for that!”

Earthoshi snapped. He ran into the ring, grabbed Boshi by the neck, and started going upside his head.

“Hey, wait a minute…” Emoshi was thinking. “If Earthoshi, Boshi, AND Flamoshi are in there at once, then that red line was a fake!”

Shockoshi sighed. “Guess we shouldn’t have trusted him. We gave him more credit than he deserved. And because of that, Flamoshi was KO’ed.”

After a full minute, Earthoshi let go.

Boshi’s breathing came in ragged gasps. “Don’t…think…I’ll…forget…this!”

He let off a smoke bomb. All the Yoshis distracted, he leapt into the pipe and was gone before the smoke cleared.

Because of the smoke, Flamoshi woke up.

“Stupid…”

“Careful, this story is rated E,” warned Watoshi.

“Whatever.” Flamoshi unlocked the chest. Inside it was a piece of blue cobalt shaped like a water drop.

“Looks like the Water Key,” mused Timoshi, his nose in the Guide. “It opens a cave in Navre Bay.”

“I thought cobalt didn’t work well with water,” thought Healthoshi.

“Maybe it’s laminated or something. The point is, we can head to Navre Bay now.”

The Ten headed up the pipe.

***

The Ten were preparing to dock at Port Selwain, on the edge of Navre Bay.

“Stupid 5:00 traffic,” commented Windoshi. “Move it here people! HONK HONK! Soon-to-be-really-famous guys coming through! Excuse us, you garlic loaf!”

This last comment was directed at a hefty fisherman, who retaliated by hitting the green Yoshi over the head with a rod.

“Look, Windoshi,” said Watoshi, “you can’t just say things like that in the general public!”

“I think his old brain injury’s giving him a bit of trouble…” Shockoshi chuckled.

“One more comment like that and I’ll give you your own brain injury!”

Eventually, the Ten were back on dry land.

Timoshi checked his mental watch. “The sun’s going to set in about an hour.”

“Right.” Earthoshi thought for a moment. “Should we find a place to stay the night or head out into the bay right now?”

“Well, me, I need a good square meal soon. It’s good to be square.” Shockoshi rubbed his belly.

“All right. Let’s get a hotel or something, then tomorrow we’ll tackle the bay.” Watoshi looked around. “Uh, anyone have a map?”

~~~

Volvagia looked up. “No, master, it’s just not right…”

“Silence!” The shadow being’s voice shook the room. “I have no need for failures. From now until I determine so, you will work as a tracker, following the movements of these Yoshis.” The being looked towards a floating spinner. “Confuretak, commence the punishment.”

The orange barred spiral entered an incredibly fast spin, its blade-like arms whistling through the air. It moved towards the doused scorpion.

The shadow existence left for its private chambers.

“These Yoshis are quite interesting and resourceful creatures,” it thought in silence. “But my research into their private lives may unseat them. I have already given the name of the red one, Plaroshi, and I believe this knowledge gave him quite a shock. Logically, when they are all revealed, they will slip a little.”

The shadow turned to some files. “However, these data sheets show that it may be better to capture these Yoshis then to kill them outright. Infinitely long adhesive tongues, bottomless and cast-iron stomachs, instant production of eggs as projectile weapons, mental capacity equal to humans, incredibly strong legs, very potent nose, advanced technology…” Shuffling of papers. “As minions, they could be very useful to some of my operations.”

A huge doorbell rung with a rumbling tone. The shadow being sighed, went to the room’s door, and assumed the shape of a servant.

A badly beaten-up purple Yoshi entered.

“Hey there,” he mumbled. “Is this the evil lair?”

“Yes it is,” groaned the disguised shadow.

“I’d like to join your ranks so I can gain revenge on some other Yoshis.”

[Toomai]

Chapter Seven

The Dark Side Of Navre Bay

[Excerpt from Iceoshi’s diary]

Well, we’ve had a good breakfast and are ready to enter the bay. Surprising how we’re up this early, considering Windoshi’s antics last light. You’d wonder how old he was.

The scenery around here is…for lack of a better word…beautiful. The sudden change from darkness to sunrise was quite odd to watch. Back in City Of Yosh the rising sun always seemed to bend around Mt. Vewaque. Not the case here. I thought I saw a whale earlier, but Flamoshi said it was probably just a Shark Chomp. I didn’t think they could survive this far inland, but Navre Bay is pretty big.

I’m a little nervous about this whole adventure thing. It does seem like a standard video game so far, but you never know what could happen. And in a video game, you can’t die. This is for real.

~~~

The Ten were about to disembark on their boat towards the center of Navre Bay. The night before, Timoshi had Google’d some underwater maps and had found a reasonably sized and complex underwater cave. Using zoom and sonar functions, he had printed out and laminated an accurate map of the cavern.

“Right ho, let’s move it out!” Flamoshi unroped the boat from the dock.

Earthoshi looked at the map. “We need to row westward for ten minutes and then we’ll be about above the entrance.”

Fifteen minutes later, the Ten were floating beside the mouth of the cave. However, a huge slab of metal blocked it.

“What’s up here?” blurted Shockoshi. “It looks like someone installed a garage door here or something.”

Poisoshi tapped the metal wall. The sound reverberated.

“Maybe it’s an airlock,” said Iceoshi.

“Why?” Healthoshi scratched her head. “There’s no reason for anyone to live here.”

Watoshi fiddled with some cracks in the rock beside the door. Eventually, she found one that the Water Key fit in. With some effort because of the water’s pressure, she clicked the cobalt into the crack.

With a deafening groan, the door opened to its full distance.

“Cool.” Windoshi swam in, followed by the others.

The room they were in was lined with metal. The only other door was on the other side of the room, and the one they came in from closed.

“Aha.” Emoshi made for a button. “It is an airlock.”

Once all the water was pumped out (and Windoshi had fun with the currents), the ten headed through the door. The room beyond was squareish in shape and had a door on each side. The left door was open, the right door was locked, and the middle door was more like a stone slab. It had no visible means of access. A metal ring was hung from the rock ceiling.

The Yoshis started walking towards the open door. Suddenly, Watoshi stopped moving.

Emoshi noticed. “Uh, what’s wrong?”

“I thought I heard a low voice saying something,” the blue Yoshi said. “Something like ‘ooo-ahh’.”

“Whatever.” Shockoshi waved his hand. “It’s probably just Earthoshi’s belly or something.”

“Hmm…”

The room through the left door was deep and full of water. Unfortunately, the water was full of Nibblers. The only other door was underwater. Using the map, Timoshi announced that the door was two stories down.

“Stupid Nibs,” Flamoshi said. “Can’t they go away and attack some school of fish or something?”

“Ooh! Idea!” Windoshi pulled out a pack of bacon.

Iceoshi stared. “Where’d you get that?”

“Part of my secret snack stash. But that’s besides the point.” The green Yoshi threw the bacon towards a corner of the room. “Chow time!”

Within seconds, the Nibblers were all fighting for possession of the meat.

“Go! Go! Go!” Healthoshi leaped into the water, the others following.

Upon arrival at the door, the Yoshis found it was jammed.

“Crap!” Poisoshi groaned. “Looks like that bacon was an appetizer!”

“Back off!” Flamoshi swam above the door. He stuck his tongue under the crack and used the Reel to start winding. With creaks and groans, the door opened to half point. All the Yoshis swam through the door as it slammed shut behind them.

The map indicated that this room was dead-end triangular. It was full of nothing but water. However, a low mumbling interrupted the Nibbler-free peace.

“boooooo-pahhhhh…boooooo-pahhhhh…”

“There’s the voice I heard,” said Watoshi.

Without warning, something dropped from the ceiling: a white squid.

“BLOOOOOOPER!”

“Ack!” Healthoshi leapt back in alarm. “Stupid seafood!”

The Blooper started wrapping its tentacles around the Yoshis.

“Oy!” Windoshi took a few swipes at the tendril. “Get yer own reel!”

Earthoshi started bashing his nose against his tentacle. It jiggled a little, but that was all.

Shockoshi took a more direct approach. Arms still free, he took hold of the tentacle and gave it a yank. It broke right off and dissipated.

“Hah!” he called. “Not so tough now, are we?”

Instantly, he was covered in a thick layer of ink. Unable to see, he swam straight into a wall.

Meanwhile, the other Yoshis were all caught up. Timoshi had an arm free, but it was holding the Guide.

“Bloopers are big, white, nasty squid that like to spray people with thick ink. They invariably appear in singles (unless they reproduce in battle) and usually spray ink as an attack. A sub-species called Gooper Blooper has longer tentacles that can snap right off. Bloopers are otherwise pretty bland, although how they float in the air is a mystery.”

“What was that reproduction bit?” Poisoshi looked somewhat anxious.

“Says they can reproduce in battle. Why?”

“’Cause I think it is!”

Ten Blooper Babies, newly arrived and needing some nourishment, started attaching themselves to the Yoshis.

“Ick!” Iceoshi began swatting.

“Heh heh heh.”

Everyone (including Shockoshi, who had cleaned his face by now) looked over at Windoshi. He had an arm free, and in it was an empty can clearly labeled “Carbonated Beverage”. A few similar cans, all empty, were floating freely around.

“I think I see where this is going…” Emoshi tried to hide her face.

In a humungous burp, all the Bloopers were knocked flat against the wall, the Yoshis free.

“How’d you do that?” Flamoshi was incredulous.

“Would you believe I practice ten minutes a day?”

“No.”

“So what do we do with them?” Watoshi indicated the Bloopers, starting to recover from the sonic shock.

Earthoshi noticed a switch on the bottom of the room. He swam over to it and gave it a whack.

The switch did two things. First, it gave Earthoshi a key. Second, a massive hole opened in the wall.

“We’ve got a key!”

“Great,” said Poisoshi. “Now let’s blow this joint before we find out who the bigger fish is!”

“How? The Nibblers are still back there!”

“I know!” Windoshi produced a package of hamburger meat. “Open the door a bit, I’ll chuck this under, wait a second, then break for it!”

A low metallic clamping was heard from the tunnel.

***

Back in the center room (which had somehow flooded halfway), the Yoshis had time to rest.

“I don’t want to know what-all was coming in the Blooper room,” said Watoshi to Timoshi, about to speak.

Timoshi shrugged. “Okay, if that’s what you want.” He placed a bookmark labeled “Halloween Stories” on the “Shark Chomp” entry.

Flamoshi was looking at the ceiling where the metal ring was hanging. He turned to the others. “You think I should reel that in, or what?”

“Go ahead.” Healthoshi was relaxing. “What bad could happen?”

“A lot, since you just talked about it.” Poisoshi had arms crossed as usual.

The ring easily pulled out of the ceiling. Once it did, the rock slab in front of the center door fell down.

“Easy.” The Yoshis went in the door, revealing a long room. A ramp put them above water level, where they walked to find a massive crevasse. Inside the crevasse was water, but full of Nibblers. There was no way out of the crevasse. On the other side, there was an unlocked door and two wooden poles.

“So much for your ‘easy’,” Earthoshi sighed.

Timoshi took a few mental measurements. “If we tried to use the Reel to get across, we would fall into the water before the rope tightens.”

“Looks like the locked door for us,” said Emoshi.

The room behind the locked door was very strange. It was circular, made of pure metal, and was apparently attached to the cave through another exit as an “add-on”.

“Weird.” Shockoshi looked around. “It looks like an escape pod or something.”

Suddenly, the room started to shake. The water was all pumped out and a metal door closed over the stone door.

“I think your ‘escape pod’ is launching,” said Iceoshi.

The room stopped shaking and a Yoshi figure appeared on the other side of the room.

“What’s a Yoshi doing in a place like this?” wondered Flamoshi. Out loud, he called to the new arrival. “Hello over there! How is it?”

The Yoshi, whose back was facing the group, turned its head. It turned fully and started walking towards the group.

“He seems friendly.”

“Two things with that statement,” interrupted Windoshi. ”First, we don’t know its gender. Second, we don’t know if it wants to be our friend, or it wants to bash the stuffing out of us.”

As the stranger got closer, it became apparent that it was metal. Not metal as in colour, but as in construction.

“Uh oh. Robotic Yoshi here, folks…” Healthoshi backed off a little.

The machine got closer. It stopped about ten meters away from the group. It did seem friendly, with a smile on its robotic face and all. It spoke in an unintelligible garble.

The Yoshis stood confused.

“Pardon me, R2-D2,” said Shockoshi, “but we’re English-speakers here.”

More robotic babble. Then text floated across its eyeballs.

Flamoshi started reading. “I…am…about…to…use…Avada…Kedavra. What?”

Earthoshi froze. “Did it really say ‘Avada Kedavra’?”

“I think so. Is that bad?”

“It is if you’ve got a magic wand in your hands.”

“Avada Kedavra?” Timoshi got a quick fix in the Guide. “Also known as…the Killing Curse. Meaning: ‘What I see is destroyed’.”

The machine’s eyes glowed red.

“I don’t know about you,” said Windoshi, “but I don’t think we want to get in this guy’s sensorsight!”

[Toomai]

Chapter 8

Hook, Line, and Sinker

The instant Windoshi closed his mouth, the robotic Yoshi opened its and shot a jet of fire at the group at large. Then, two rockets blasted out of its feet, carrying it around the room. It was repeatedly raining fire down on the Yoshis.

After a few rounds of hiding in eggs, Flamoshi got annoyed. He reared back and blasted a torrent of barely-controlled flame back at the machine. In response, it dropped to the ground and hid behind a round energy shield.

“If this thing can do a Smashic Shield,” said Healthoshi, “then it’s a lot more dangerous than it looks!”

Earthoshi chucked a few eggs at the robot. It caught them with infinite reflexes and heaved them right back. When the black Yoshi dodged them, it grabbed them again with a tractor-beam tongue and re-threw them at Poisoshi.

“What’s the plan?” called Iceoshi as she dodged more eggs.

“How about listening to this?” Timoshi had the Guide open. “It’s called Mecha-Yoshi. It comes with a tractor beam, rocket boosts, a flamethrower, energy field producers, magnetic hands, perfect aim, and supercoolant attack fluid that even freezes the air it travels through. Can only be beaten with a self-destruct.”

“Self-destruct?” Shockoshi broke an incoming egg. “That’s hardly fair!”

“The self-destruct can be invoked by pressing a red button under its chin.”

“Now we have a target,” said Emoshi. “Blast it!”

The metal head swiveled to face her. From its nostrils came a jet of icy liquid, encasing her in a block of ice. Flamoshi responded by melting the ice.

“Panic Time!”

“Shut up, green gunk!” Poisoshi rolled his eyes at Windoshi.

“We have to distract it!” Windoshi called attention to himself. “Hey! Tinhead! Over here! Your target is waiting to be incessantly bronzed!”

The robot’s eyes shifted in the green one’s direction. However, when Watoshi came in for a hit, its right eye swiveled to see the threat, and therefore avoided it.

“Great! It can see two things at once!” Flamoshi thought for a few seconds. “Idea! Everyone over here!”

The Yoshis grouped together. Flamoshi created a wall of fire around them.

“Let’s see what it does about this…”

Mecha-Yoshi looked long and hard at the flames. It figured out that its targets were behind a wall that was unsafe territory. It had already figured out that the red one could create fire. It decided that the red one was the primary target, and to use supercoolant to nullify the firewall.

As far as the Yoshis could see, the flames surrounding them suddenly turned icy white and then shattered.

“Uh oh…” Poisoshi started to run.

In one fell swoop, Mecha-Yoshi encased the whole team in frozen water. Before long, Flamoshi started melting the ice. However, the robot kept re-freezing to the point where Flamoshi decided to just leave air holes until a plan could be formed.

“What’s the plan?” asked Shockoshi.

“We need to figure out a way to stun it!” said Watoshi.

“First, we need to get out of here!” Earthoshi was wiggling, trying to create some cracks.

Flamoshi was already breaking out. He had started charging heat energy, and he released it in one huge fireball that completely freed him and half-freed the others.

The robotic Yoshi, who was dragging the ice block to the center of the room with the tractor-beam tongue, reared back and projected supercoolant. Flamoshi countered with a jet of fire. From the point of impact, copious amounts of water and steam burst forth.

After a few seconds of the elemental conflict, Mecha-Yoshi suddenly disappeared.

“Wha?” Flamoshi stopped blasting flames. “Where’d it go?”

A blow to the head answered the red Yoshi.

“It must have a cloaking device!” Shockoshi backed against the wall and did a few shadow-boxing punches.

“Uh, can we panic now?” Windoshi started running around the room.

Earthoshi received a punch in the belly. Without hesitation, he grabbed the robotic arm that hit him. Using that arm as a guide, he quickly applied a kick to where the head was supposed to be.

The kick caused the Mecha-Yoshi to reappear, its head knocked back and its chin flashing.

“You got the SD button!” Watoshi alerted him. “Now run!”

Earthoshi took the hint and sprinted away. In a big bang, the robot was gone, leaving only a blue object in its place.

The blue and cobalt object looked almost identical to the red and bronze Reel, but the handle was fixed. It rattled as Healthoshi shook it around.

“Another reel, it looks like,” she said. “But it’s different, too.”

Emoshi gave an ear to the rattling noise. “Could be spring-loaded,” she mused.

Watoshi decided to give the new item a try. She stuck her tongue in the slot and pressed the button.

The tongue shot out of the object at incredible speed and hit the wall. With a “chink” noise and rattling, Watoshi soon followed.

“Cool!” blurted Shockoshi. “It’s like a Spring-Loaded Reel!”

Watoshi recovered from the shock of being jerked towards the wall. “Apparently,” she said, “this makes your tongue all sticky so it sticks to whatever you hit. Then it yanks you in that direction. But I don’t think it’ll stick to everything, mostly rough stuff.”

“Ooh! Idea!” Windoshi bounced up and down.

“Usually your ‘ideas’ land us in trouble, y’know.” Poisoshi was leaning on the wall.

“Shut up, purple plasterhead.” Windoshi explained. “Remember that room with the huge stretch of nothing? We could use this to get across!”

“Sounds good to me.” Flamoshi nodded. “Now, how do we get out of here?”

Timoshi inspected the door. “It’s definitely code-locked. Might take a while to break the code.” He pointed to a button panel on the right of the exit.

“Forget breaking the code,” said Flamoshi. “Let’s break the panel.”

“How?” Poisoshi kicked the ground. “It’s not like we have any Hammers or anything.”

Windoshi made a frozen-solid cylinder of liverwurst appear. He started using it to give the panel a beatdown.

To everyone’s surprise, the iced tube did a good job of smashing open the case. Shockoshi reached in and twisted two wires together.

With a groan, the door opened. Water flooded in, but the Yoshis were expecting that. They easily swam back to the cave, and then made their way to the long, cavernous room.

Watoshi was about to activate the Spring-Loaded Reel when Emoshi thought of something.

“Once the Spring-Reel’s on that side, how do we get it back over here?”

The Yoshis thought about that for a moment. There was too much distance to throw it back across, and there was doubt all ten could ride at once.

Timoshi conceived a plan. “We’ll get a very long piece of tongue via the Reel,” he explained. “We’ll securely attach it to…uh…this part of the wall,” pointing to a solid spot. “Then we’ll use the Spring-Reel to fire it over to one of those wooden poles, but use that second button on it to prevent it from auto-retracting. One by one, we can all cross the tongue to the other side, and then the last of us can use the Spring-Reel themselves.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Earthoshi. “But what if the tongue we’re on breaks?”

“Well,” said Shockoshi, “we could use a new piece of tongue every time two of us go across, to keep it fresh.”

For the most part, the plan went very smoothly. The only hitch was when Iceoshi, the second-last, crossed.

As Iceoshi reached the two-thirds mark, the tongue suddenly sagged.

“Ack!” Shockoshi pointed. “The tongue’s starting to fray behind you!”

Iceoshi started moving at double speed. But it was too late, as the makeshift bridge broke.

“Aaaiiieee!”

The white loner hit the wall about a meter above the infested water. Angry jaws snapped at her while she quickly climbed up the rope.

Everyone gave a sigh of relief when she scurried up to ground level.

Watoshi was the last to cross using the Spring-Reel, mainly because she had the experience of being jerked already.

The next room was so small that only one Yoshi could fit in at a time. Luckily, the only thing in the room was a Jump Pad, so as each Yoshi reached the upper level the next ascended.

On the upper level, there was a room about the size of an average bedroom. In it there was nothing but a fountain of a Yoshi, water flowing out of the two fingers of the peace sign into the basin to be recollected. However, there did appear to be an empty space behind the fountain.

“Very interesting,” said Healthoshi.

“I sure hope there’s no enemies in here,” said Windoshi. “There’s not enough room for Flamoshi’s ego, let alone a couple hundred Nibblers.”

“No, I’d say this room is pretty safe,” said Timoshi and his map. “It’s only connection is the hole we came though, and it’s above water level.”

“So it’s a dead end?” Emoshi asked.

“No, the other connection is via pipe. But I don’t know where the opening is, so I say we can rest for a bit.”

So the Yoshis rested.

After a few minutes, Watoshi decided to inspect the fountain. As she looked over many aspects of it, she saw an inscription at its base.

“’The flood makes mud, rain can sustain, but through drink or drown, water is the same.’”

“Very wise,” said Flamoshi. “Whoever carved this is a profound person.”

“Here’s another,” said Watoshi, leaning closer to the fountain. “’Cure your pain and play defensive, as attack is not good for a healer of friends.’”

“That’s wise, too,” commented Earthoshi. “But why are some of the letters engraved deeper than others?”

“I don’t know.” Wathoshi shrugged. “I’ll spell it out.” Reading from beginning to end, she picked out the word spelt by the bold text. ”C-u-r-a-n-s-h-i…” Gasp.

“What?” Flamsohi turned his head.

“It spells my name!” Watoshi’s eyes grew wide. “Curanshi!”

Instantly, the fountain moved back into the empty space, and a pipe grabbed Watoshi (who was holding the Spring-Reel), sucking her down its depths. The pipe closed behind her.

***

The pipe dropped its cargo from the ceiling into a large circular room. The room was filled halfway with water. Above the water level, there was an “island” in the center (where Watoshi was dropped) and a ring of “island” around the wall. The water had a great many Nibblers. On the ring there were four equally spaced switches. Above each switch was a square piece of wood on the wall.

Watoshi got up from the stone ground. She looked around at the set-up.

“Weird sort of place,” she mumbled. “How’d that wood get in here, anyway? And what do those switches do?”

A pseudo-answer presented itself. The water started spinning in a circle around the main platform. Gradually, it got faster and faster. Suddenly, out of the water burst a huge blob. The whirlpool subsided.

In front of Watoshi sat a sphere of water ten Yoshis in diameter with a one-meter wide red ball in the center. It was dripping all over the floor yet never shrank in size.

On the appearance of the creature, Watoshi leapt back a fair bit.

“What are you?” she blurted.

“You ask what?” The blob oscillated as it spoke. “You should ask who! I am Viscosious, the ruler of these depths!”

“The ocean has no rulers!” Watoshi countered, having overcome the initial shock. “Even Shark Chomps are kept in check! The ocean is free!”

“No body of water is free from my rule.” Viscosious bulged angrily. “And it does no good to tell me otherwise.”

Watoshi breathed deeply. I gotta keep my calm, she thought. Nothing can lose to a blind rage.

“Your words have no meaning,” she spoke up. “How could we get here if your minions are out and about? I mean, you could have just sunk our boat when we rode down the river!”

“Where’s the entertainment in that?” The waters surrounding the core spun faster. “It does no good to kill an enemy when they are kilometers away. Only in combat…which is about to happen!”

Viscosious leapt into the water, causing a huge splash. Watoshi managed to get out of the way of the waves.

From the water, more waves came. Viscosious’ strategy became apparent: knock Watoshi into the water, where the Nibblers would get her.

***

“Everyone stay calm!”

Eight Yoshis stopped panicking. Timoshi stood up.

“We need to find out how Watoshi activated the pipe,” he said. “Then we can follow her.”

“Well,” thought Flamoshi, “she was saying something about an inscription spelling out her name.”

“Okay. Possible passcodes.” Shockoshi was in damage control mode. “1: You press the letters in order. 2: Her name is an audio password. 3: It’s DNA-activated.”

“Let’s hope it’s not option number 3.” Earthoshi made for the fountain.

***

Watoshi was getting tired of avoiding waves. Unfortunately, they were getting progressively bigger, sometimes punctuated by laughs.

“Stupid sphere!” she groaned as she flutterjumped over another honker. If only I could get across to those switches…”

An idea leapt into her head. After she landed, she used the Spring-Reel to launch herself towards one of the wooden squares. She came down right on the switch underneath it.

Another torrent of water rose, but instead of being a wave shape, it took the form of a mushroom. A bomb had gone off underwater! And from the sound of it, it made a direct hit on Viscosious.

“Bingo!” Watoshi aimed for the next panel/switch combo. Another direct hit.

“This is almost too easy!” She aimed for the third panel. Without warning, a cloud of ink blocked her vision. A Blooper had appeared!

Watoshi started wiping the muck off her face when she heard another wave rise up…three times higher than before! With semi-clear vision, she went for the third panel, missing the attack.

After the third switch was pressed and the customary explosion occurred, the center platform fell into the water. In its place appeared a gaping hole.

At the exact same time, nine Yoshis dropped from the pipe in the ceiling.

“What are you guys doing here?” Watoshi started aiming for the last switch while egging the Blooper.

“We managed to break the password,” said Healthoshi.

“Well get on shore, that’s full of Nibbers!”

The Yoshis scrambled to shore, pursued by Nibblers and Viscosious.

“Good thing I had enough pastrami to throw to keep them off us for those few seconds,” said Windoshi.

From the depths of the room, an ominous clamping was heard. Timoshi started speaking above it, having matched Viscosious’ picture in the Guide.

“Viscosious is a water demon, being able to control water at will. It is almost always guarded by a thick shell of D₂O and T₂O (heavy water and super-heavy water), making it invulnerable. However, an explosion will shear off some of the protection. To injure it, the red nucleus must be attacked.”

The deep noise from the pit continued to increase in volume. Watoshi, having destroyed the Blooper, pressed the final switch.

The fourth explosion blew Viscosious’ nucleus onto the circular shore, where the Yoshis subsequently pounded it into defeation.

“We’re done here!” cried Emoshi. “But now what?”

A Shark Chomp bolted from the hole, blowing water everywhere. It eyed its prey and started moving.

“PANIC!!!” Poisoshi slapped Windoshi.

“I’ll Spring-Reel us to the pipe!” yelled Watoshi.

“But can it support all ten at once?” blurted Flamoshi.

“Calculated risk!” called Timoshi. “Let’s go!”

The Ten flew up to the pipe, leaving behind a Shark Chomp eating a salami submarine sandwich with extra pickles.

[Toomai]

Chapter Nine

Winds, Trees, And A S.Q.U.A.T. Team

As the Ten returned to the main room of the cavern, a glistening ball of water appeared before them.

“What the…” Flamoshi started. “Oh, it’s one of you spirit-Yoshis, isn’t it?”

The ball responded by forming the shape, and consequently the body, of a blue Yoshi.

“Yes, it is.” The newly liberated spirit stretched, dripping freely. “I am Navre. I thank you for saving me.”

“The usual drivel.” Poisoshi was still in his typical mood.

“Shut up, mauve meatloaf!” Windoshi turned to Navre. “Well? Aren’t you going to tell us a story?”

“Certainly.” She took a breath. “As you already know, I am part of the group of twelve that received elemental powers. Now for the next part of the story, which took place only a few years ago, in 1990.”

“1990 was a year without anything outstanding in it. Bowser was getting defeated, the Olympics were going smoothly, and the Yoshi space program reached new heights. But for us, it was a very difficult year. You see, we were given a vision from above in which we were told to pass our powers down to the current generation. The problem was, the ones we pass them to have to be almost exactly like us. We were searching very hard for a suitable group of ten: hardworking, never seen apart, knowing every aspect of each other. Finally, a month after the vision, we found ten families which we thought would soon produce Yoshis that would be ideal.”

“Two years passed. As 1992 wore on, we witnessed the birth of you ten: one per month except for January and November, all with the required personalities, and we saw from the education system that you would all be attending school together. We hoped that you would all meet and become friends, and years later, that dream came true.”

“Now, I’m sure you’re wondering where the powers of light and shadow are going. Well, those two members of our group decided to search for Yoshis on their own. As such, we have no idea where they got to or how they expect to find Yoshis that will instantly bond with you.”

The tale finished, leaving the Yoshis in thought. Watoshi was the first to ask a question.

“Why was my name a password?”

Navre answered quickly. “As I figured you’d come to this area eventually to collect the water power, I decided to use your name as a password. It still baffles me how Viscosious could get through the barrier.”

Earthoshi was next. “Why do you need to pass on your powers?”

Navre sighed. “As time goes on, we find that we are having more difficulty in our original, Yoshi forms. We assume that after a millennium of controlling an element, we are starting to blend in with that element. We need to pass on the powers so we will not be forgotten.”

Emoshi spoke up. “Where is the Water Temple?”
“It’s so far out to sea that it’s almost outside the fishing borders,” was the response. “You should not go there, as I am here and not there.”

The group raised no other questions. However, Timoshi had a thought.

“Could Boshi be becoming a Yoshi of shadow?”

Navre thought about it. “I know who you’re talking about, but I’m not sure if you’re right. I’ll try to find out.”

After a minute of silence, Navre produced two fabric cylinders and gave them to Watoshi.

“There are the Liquid Bracers,” she explained. “They go on your upper arms and give you the power to control water.”

Watoshi tried them out. A small ball of water hit Flamoshi in the face.

“Hey!” Flamoshi retaliated with a blast of fire that was quickly extinguished.

As the group was leaving, Navre reminded them to use the Water Key in the pedestal in the park.

“And one more thing,” she added. “You may want to go next to the Jovenin Jungle on the south side if the island.”

***

After an uneventful day of returning to City Of Yosh, the Yoshis rebooted and started heading south.

“Ah, nature!” Healthoshi admired the beautiful landscape south of the city.

Suddenly, the crack of thunder was heard. The skies opened up a torrential downpour.

“Did you forget to pay the nature bill?” Windoshi ran for the shelter of a tree.

Watoshi tried to stop the rains, but she didn’t have enough energy to stop such a torrent.

Moments later, a wind swept away the clouds to reveal sunny skies.

“Weird,” mumbled Shockoshi. “Maybe the winds are acting up because of the shadows?”

“Maybe…hey! What’s that?” Emoshi pointed skywards.

In the clear blue sky, a huge cloud of very distant objects seemed to be approaching.

“What the heck is that?” blurted Flamoshi.

“Hmm…” Iceoshi took a squint.

Timoshi looked, too, but was also looking in the Guide. He found a few “solid-state cloud” entries, but they didn’t seem to match what was coming closer.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, ten Yoshis appeared wearing black suits.

“Gah!” Windoshi leaped. “What’s the deal?”

“Special Quanta of Universe Annihilation Team.” The lead Yoshi flashed his badge.

“S.Q.U.A.T team?” The green comedian fell flat on his back and laughed up a storm.

The officials weren’t fazed. They set up two plexiglass walls between two trees. The leader was holding a half-donut-like object.

“What in the name of banana bread is going on?” Earthoshi stepped back a bit.

“Okay team.” The leader looked towards the sky at the large swarm, then towards the near treeline. “We’re in a woodsy area, so expect lots of Herb and Zoo. Possible rare metal is Soul, possible photon metal is Glow.”

This babble baffled the group of ten. The SQUAT team simply moved into position holding multiple ladders.

The incoming swarm was revealed to be a collection of differently coloured cubes: green, pink, blue, white, and yellow. Every now and then a chartreuse block could be seen.

“What are those things?” wondered Shockoshi.

The blocks started falling into the container defined by the trees and plexiglass, which looked like 9x1x12 blocks in size. Now that they were stationary, the Yoshis could see that each one had a symbol carved into it: the green ones had two leaves, the pink ones had a two-eared head, the blue ones had a droplet, the while ones had a curved streak, the yellow ones had a bolt of lightning, and the odd chartreuse one had a four-pointed star.

After the blocks started piling up, the leader started sticking his half-donut on the plexiglass. Whenever he did so, two of the blocks swapped places. He used the ladders to move to different places to keep making switches.

Whenever he lined up three or more in a row, the blocks were burnt and propelled upwards, throwing blocks outside the plexiglass, completely harmless. “However,” as the leader told the Ten, “if they stack too high inside the barrier, then they create a hole in the ground that can crack this whole island in half.”

“So you’re saving the island by switching positions of the blocks?” Shockoshi asked.

“Exactly.”

The Yoshis watched the spectacle for a few minutes. Bored, Windoshi decided to investigate the inert blocks that had been launched from the arena.

“Let’s see here…” The green one started making a stack of yellow blocks, each one a 30-centimeter cube.

“Uh, Windoshi,” asked Healthoshi, “what are you doing?”

Windoshi balanced the stack, which was four blocks tall. “I’m seeing how high I can pile these things.” He reached for another block.

“But when they pile too high, the island is destroyed!” called Watoshi.

“Only inside that barrier!”

Windoshi placed the fifth block on the stack, which began to glow.

“Now you’ve done it, you airhead.” Poisoshi made with the rolling of the eyes.

The yellow stack collapsed into a single cube, engraved on all sides with pictures of a lightning bolt and glowing yellow.

“Hmm.” Timoshi was reading a part of the Guide. “You’ve created a Lightning nexus.”

“A what?”

More text was read. “By fusing five Zap Meteos, you’ve created an object that channels the energy of lightning.”

“Oh, so they’re called Meteos?” asked Flamoshi.

“Yup.”

“Neat.” Shockoshi picked up the nexus. “This thing could come in handy.” He stored it in hammerspace. “Do you have instructions to fuse any other nexi?”

“Yeah. Gravity fused that one, as they need to be pushed together. Okay, here we go…”

Using many Air Meteos, the Ten created a green block symbolized by a circle with a surrounding wiggle line.

“It’s an Air nexus,” said Timoshi. “Unsure why it’s green…”

“There’s not a lot of Meteos left,” said Earthoshi.

“Let’s collect a bunch,” offered Emoshi. “If we find any more, then we can fuse more nexi.”

The Ten collected Meteos as the SQUAT team finished with the attack.

“Invasion repelled, sir.” The team started dismantling the apparatus. Soon after, they were gone.

The captain stayed behind for a few seconds. “Thanks for cleaning up the field,” he said to the Ten.

As the Ten started towards the woods again, Timoshi explained nexi.

“Nexi are simply concentrations of an element. You can’t use them to control an element, but instead they are meant as symbolism.”

“What can we use them for?” asked Healthoshi.

“Well, we can’t use their power, but their mere presence can help control other things.”

The Ten walked into the Wallacy Woods.

***

After fifteen minutes of trekking through the woods, the Ten came upon Bluebelly Campgrounds.

“I haven’t been here for years,” said Watoshi, looking at the trees. “My family used to go camping here all the time.”

“Yeah, before the floodwater incident,” agreed Earthoshi. “Nowadays the park doesn’t get half the traffic it used to.”

“Actually,” said Flamoshi, “I’ve heard it’s attendance has raised to three-quarters of the previous average.”

The Ten walked down the road, gazing through the campsites. Around half of them were occupied by hardy folk who slept in tents and cooked over fires. Although the attendance was definitely down, those that were there were enjoying themselves.

In one campsite, the Ten came upon the Kumquat family. Windoshi went for the greeting.

“Howzit up, dawgs!” The green one slapped Wanshi on the back. “Hup the dude, eggs in the bacon right in the who’s-your-uncle and swap the narfs!”

“’Sup dude!” responded Wanshi. “Me ‘n’ my peeps are pumped to see you ten!”

The rest of the family was on good terms with the Ten. Defshi, Owashi, and Croshi welcomed them and asked what they were doing.

“Ah, the usual,” said Flamoshi. “Group adventure.”

“Good on you,” said Defshi. “This world needs a good adventure team.”

“Interesting,” commented Owashi. “How does that work?”

Shockoshi shrugged. “We just do what we can to save the world.”

“Wish you the best, dudes,” said Wanshi. “Need help?”

“Nah, pass on that,” said Earthoshi. “We can handle the job.”

The Ten walked off the campsite with revamped spirits.

“That was a nice talk, wasn’t it?” asked Emoshi.

“’K, whatever.” Windoshi ate a banana and used the peel to slip up Flamoshi.

The red Yoshi jumped up in anger.

“Why you…” He blasted a jet of fire at the comedian.

“Agh!” Watoshi shot a stream of water to cut off the stream of flame.

Windoshi contained his sweat. “Thanks for that. Now how about hosing the source instead of the stream?”

***

As time wore on, the Ten moved from the Wallacy Woods into the Fringe Forest. The terrain got bumpier, the tree more dense, and the wildlife more numerous.

“Hey!” cried Emoshi. “There were some deer over there!”

“So?” Poisoshi spoiled the moment. “You should be looking out for Fuzzies and Shy Guys, not squirrels or woodpeckers.”

Healthoshi turned to the purple one. “You boys don’t appreciate natural beauty like we do, so why don’t you just clam up?”

For a moment, Poisoshi opened his mouth. After a few seconds, though, he shut it again and slumped.

“Huh?” Shockoshi was confused. “Funny, Poisoshi never considers not saying something.”

“Shut up!” snapped the purple one.

“Whatever…”

A whistling was heard in the trees.

“Hey, that sounds interesting.” Windoshi went to investigate.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, you know,” said Watoshi.

More whistling was heard. The Ten heard a “Huh?” and then a doomph.

“Must be some Crazee Dayzees,” mumbled Timoshi. “Let’s fish Windoshi out of that clearing before his snooze extends for a few hours.”

Watoshi grabbed hold of a tree and used the Spring-Reel to drag Windoshi towards the group. Almost instantly, the Dayzees dispersed.

“Wimps,” said Flamoshi.

A few seconds later, Dayzees appeared with double the numbers of before. They were lead by a golden one and were heading towards the Yoshis.

“What?” Earthoshi was confused. “Dayzees are timid, aren’t they? Why are they coming this way?”

“Let’s not stick around to find out,” said Emoshi, who had just woken up Windoshi. “If that Amazee Dayzee sees us, then we’ll be in big trouble.”

The Yoshis ran south through the forest.

[Toomai]

Chapter Ten

Never Expect The Tube Trees

The Ten tramped through the increasingly tangled forest. The terrain had gotten so swampy that Timoshi said they were now in the Jovenin Jungle. Birdcalls and monkey noises were heard through the vines.

“Stupid bugs,” grumbled Flamoshi. He swatted a mosquito off his cheek. “Why can’t they pick on someone their own size?”

“Ack!” Emoshi lifted her shoe. “Ewwww! I stepped on a slug!”

A rustling in the undergrowth was seen.

“Shh!” Earthoshi stood still. “I think there’s something under there.”

The Ten stopped. The thing was also still.

“Must have been some rodent or something,” thought Watoshi.

Without warning, a reptile lunged out of the marshy ground towards Shockoshi. He was able to duck it with his quick reflexes, but the group was shaken.

“That was an Allidile!” said Healthoshi, quivering. “We’d better keep moving before it decides to attack again!”

“Hey! Look!” Windoshi pointed to a watermelon. “This’ll help us fend off those pesky reptilian fiends.”

Earthoshi grabbed the melon with his tongue. Instantly, a huge net appeared and snagged the Ten in the trees.

“Nice going, stomach-brain,” groaned Poisoshi.

Iceoshi quietly took out a Swiss army knife and started cutting through the ropes.

“Uh, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” said Timoshi. “You should be cutting near the top, because cutting the bottom AH!”

The Ten fell out of the net. Ten face-plants upset the supersaturated terrain.

Windoshi tore his head out of the ground with a squelch. “Good job, R2-D2. Now we just wait for the Ewoks.”

Almost on cue, a few Yoshis surrounded the group.

“Hey! City slickers!” one said. “We haven’t had outsiders around here for a while.”

Shockoshi cleaned out his nostrils. “Glad to see you’re not tribal beasts like we expected,” he said.

“No way,” said the leader of the natives. “Us? The Vine Villagers? Of course not, we’re quite domesticated for what we have.”

“Mind taking us back to your village, then?” asked Watoshi.

“No problem. It’s just a few minutes away. But hey, we’ll go through the trees. Much safer that way.” The villagers grabbed some vines and climbed up, the Ten close behind.

“What was the net for, anyway?” inquired Emoshi.

“Nothing, really,” said one of the natives. “Gives us the upper hand when outsiders arrive, I guess.”

Vine Village was entirely in the trees. It was the ultimate treehouse: hundreds of wooden planks made up its five floors, with the villagers living in hollowed-out tree trunks and leaf huts. Each and every citizen was upbeat and lively with more than a passion for heights.

“Very impressive,” said Timoshi. “I can’t really imagine how long it took to build this place.”

“It took about a year before we could live up here permanently,” said the “tour guide”. “It took another two years to complete.”

“It must’ve taken a few months along to hollow out these houses,” said Shockoshi.

“Actually, we built the village in a clump of tube trees. Tube trees are hollow trees that can reach very high.”

The group had stopped in front of a very large tree. It was at least twenty-five Yoshis in diameter and extended beyond what could be seen. A small door was in its side at the Ten’s level.

“This is the Master Tree,” said the guide. “It’s the biggest tube tree on the island. We are forbidden to go inside under normal circumstances.”

Flamoshi raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

The guide shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t know. I guess there’s no floor inside, so you fall from here to the bottom.”

Windoshi looked at the Master Tree. “Can we go inside?”

Thought. “I don’t know. No one’s ever asked, but then again you must be quite special to have gotten here without a vehicle. I’ll ask the chief.”

The “chief” turned out to be a really tall yellow Yoshi. He didn’t respond immediately to the question, which “was a good sign,” according to the guide.

After a few minutes of thought, the chief answered. “Well, I did get letter a few days ago mentioning that I should let a group of ten Yoshis into the Master Tree. However, the letter was not signed and written in scratchy handwriting. I’m not sure whether this is a blessing or a trap.”

The chief re-read part of the letter. “It also says that the ten may have some items that control parts of nature, and use that to identify them. Do you have such objects?”

“Yeah,” said Flamoshi. He caused light to glint off the ruby on his hand.

“I do too,” replied Watoshi. She fingered the two sapphires on her arms.

The chief noticed. “Ah. So what the letter says appears to be true.” He went behind his desk and pulled out a dual-spiral lump of rusted copper. “This is the key into the Master Tree,” he said. He handed it to Windoshi.

“Uh…” the green one said. “Super. Let’s go for it.”

***

The enormity of the Master Tree was even greater from the inside. It seemed more like a wooden cavern than a tree. The place they were in had a simple, flat wooden floor with a pillar in the middle and a jump pad to the side. It seemed to lead towards a hole in the ceiling.

“Cool,” said Emoshi. “ECHO!”

The orange one’s voice reflected around the empty wooden room.

“Let’s hit the jump pad, I guess,” said Earthoshi.

The jump pad suddenly retracted into the ground as the Ten approached it.

“Now what’s the deal with that?” said Shockoshi.

“Probably a mirage,” huffed Poisoshi.

A few Spear Guys appeared from an upper ledge. The Yoshis had no problem dealing with them. After they were gone, a wooden object fell from the ceiling as the jump pad reappeared.

“What’s this?” Healthoshi picked up the object. It was the shape of the letter R.

“Weird,” mumbled Timoshi.

Undaunted, the Ten leapt from the jump pad to a higher floor. The new room lacked the pillar the previous room had. There was a tiny window that showed a rope on a distant branch that appeared to run upwards. Large branches were growing into the tree near the top of the room.

“Okay,” said Shockoshi. “I think we should try to break that rope out there.”

“I don’t see how,” said Watoshi. Eggs won’t fit through a window that small.”

“Let’s worry about that later,” said Flamoshi. “We’ve got a problem.”

The Ten turned away from the window. The room was slowly filling up with floating white spores.

“What the heck?” blurted Shockoshi.

“They’re Floaties,” said Timoshi. “They used to be called Fuzzies, but then the now-called Fuzzies appeared and the name suits them better.”

“Now what was it my granddad used to say…?” thought Emoshi. “Oh yeah! ‘Touch Fuzzy, get dizzy!’ That was it!”

“But these are Floaties…” said Earthoshi, slightly confused.

“As I said, the name changed,” stated Timoshi. “They’re now called Floaties. Emoshi’s grandfather knew them as Fuzzies.”

“In any case, how do you think they taste?” said Windoshi. He grabbed one with his tongue and ate it.

“No, you ijit!” Flamoshi flapped his arms in exasperation.

“Hmm, tastes like cream puff.” The green Yoshi had a fart. “Air leakage problem!” He stumbled into the wall. “I’m okay!” He continued to randomly wander around the room.

“Good grief,” mumbled Poisoshi. “Doesn’t that nithead listen to anyone?”

“I guess we can egg these weirdos,” said Shockoshi.

The eggage worked. The room was clear in a matter of minutes. A wooden S fell from the ceiling, followed by an E.

“What’s with these letters?” Flamoshi collected them.

“They’re probably some sort of keys,” said Timoshi. “But now what? There’s no way to move on from here.”

“Maybe there is,” pondered Flamoshi. He started using the Reel to pull on the branches in the room. After a while, he found once that triggered a jump pad to appear. It also triggered the appearance of a wooden U.

“Well,” said Timoshi, “the letters so far spell ‘SURE’. Does that mean anything?” The rest shook their heads. “Didn’t think so.”

The room on the “third floor” was as empty as any other. However, the branches in it all reached from the ceiling to the floor, where they opened up into pipe-like openings.

“What to do here?” thought Healthoshi.

“It looks like we should see if those hollow branches work like pipes,” said Watoshi.

Flamoshi entered a branch. He reappeared out of another.

“Well, they’re pipes all right,” he commented. “Thing is, which one leads to the next room?”

There were over fifty branches in the room. “We could use trial and error, but there might be some that lead to traps,” said Shockoshi.

“First,” directed Timoshi, “we should determine which pipes have both ends in this room. We can do that by throwing eggs down them.”

Once the egg-sweeping was done, there were only ten candidates left.

Windoshi looked at the ceiling. “One of the possibilities has a bunch of leaves on it,” he relayed.

“That’s a good idea as any.” Earthoshi made for the leafy pipe. He came back a minute later. “Dead end,” he reported. “Except for this.” He held up a wooden letter, this one an I.

“Well, let’s try another.” Flamoshi tried the one closet to the hole leading to the floor below. He reappeared with his hand smoking.

“Stupid Spear Guys,” he mumbled.

Healthoshi went up the pipe on the complete opposite side of the room. She didn’t reappear.

“Hmm.” Shockoshi scratched his head. “She must’ve found the next floor, then the pipe closed behind her.”

“Or she landed in a pit of spikes,” drawled Poisoshi.

Angry at the treatment of such a friend, Earthoshi growled and threw Poisoshi into the pipe Healthoshi used. He followed.

“Well, that settles it.” The other Yoshis followed suit.

[Toomai]

Chapter Eleven

Vertical Distance For Horizontal Force

As Shockoshi predicted, the pipe receded as the Ten landed safely in the new room. The room was a lot smaller than the previous rooms, only about the size of a classroom. There was a wooden statue of a Piranha Plant in the center and a purple crystal in the middle of the ceiling.

Timoshi brushed some twigs off his shoulder. “Obviously, the statue and crystal are the way out of here.”

The statue started to move. It shook a little and suddenly came to life.

“Ahhhh,” it said. “Lunch.”

“Lunch?” Windoshi blurted. “Sorry man, but it’s about 1:30. You’re late.”

“Don’t make jokes with this guy,” said Timoshi. “Its name is Pertu the Wooden and it hates being annoyed.”

“Start talking a little more,” said Flamoshi, “’cause this thing is really hungry!”

The wooden plant had started bouncing around the room, making bites at the Ten.

“Uh, more info!” Timoshi read. “It can’t be burnt and has a weakness of being annoyed!”

“How?” Emoshi dodged a bite.

“He is very protective of his status, so he’ll never let out his emotions. He may even be destroyed if annoyed sufficiently.”

“One side, non-creative dude!” Windoshi shoved Flamoshi out of they way between him and Pertu.

The plant opened and closed its mouth. “Ah, you want to surrender to me. Any last words?”

“You betcha.” Windoshi took a deep breath.

“Well, to start, my name is Windoshi. Actually, that’s not my real name, but who cares? I’m not telling you my real name, I’d get all the hate mail that is currently being shipped to my garbage bin en masse. Anyway, have you ever tried to dive underneath a type-27 eighteen-wheeler? I’ve done it, but I still have a small mark from the driveshaft. They stick out quite far, you know? Did you know Smarties used to taste different depending on their colour? I guess they stopped that when they got in a lawsuit from Bertie Bott or something. It’s amazing what you can get sued over these days. Have you heard the PlayStation 3 controller is motion sensitive with six degrees of freedom? That’s just dumb; I mean they steal an idea from Nintendo and they don’t even use all of it? You think they didn’t have a clue about something? Do they have a clue about anything, really? What do you think those bouncy balls are made of? You know, from Yoshi’s Island? Could be rubber or something, but then you’d smell them a kilometer away. What’s behind a Shy Guy’s mask, anyway? Are they hiding their faces ‘cause they’re human midgets, or what? Why does everyone say electricity is yellow? I mean, there’s an equal chance of it being white or blue, right? I had a Tim Hortons double-double this morning. Why do Hylians have pointy ears, anyway? Can they do the ‘live long and prosper’ thing with their fingers? I like driving the Cucumber, what about you? Oh wait, this is my monologue. Where’d the word ‘Zoinks!’ come from, anyway? Do you think orange the colour came first, or was it orange the fruit? I mean, they couldn’t have been named at the same time, right? What’s the deal with Raphael the Raven, anyway? I mean, he hangs out in the stars for a few years and quintuples his size? There’s something not right about that. You think there’s a McDonald’s in space or something? They’re everywhere, aren’t they? Why did Mace Windu have a purple lightsaber, anyway? Did he look extra hard for a purple crystal or something, or was he just lucky? I once went halfway through Event 51 with 230% damage on my Peach before getting KO’d the first time. Narf it up, you know what I mean? I bet you don’t. Go Leafs go! Microsoft yay, Sony boo, Nintendo kicks both their ends.”

By this time, the wooden plant was shaking ferociously, trying not to lose control. Windoshi just kept talking.

“Why do Boos hide their faces when being looked at, anyway? Are they ashamed about being ghosts? Or are they hiding something? Has a Thunder Bolt ever made the music so funny that you lose control? DS, obviously. There’s no funny music in the other games. What’s the deal with bananas anyway? I mean, they’re so five-sided. How long does it take you to get all 100 Jiggies and 900 Notes? It takes me about five hours if some meathead doesn’t interrupt me. How ignorant is the average American, anyway? They don’t even know the name of their state senator, let alone the fact that Canada has provinces. Why do they call it a drill press if there’s no pressing involved? It’s incredible what you can find under and between the couch cushions. I once found a whole slice of orange cake. It was moldy, so I guess it counted as a vegetable. DOINK! DOINK! DOINK! DOINK! DOINK! And the crowd goes wild! Have you ever tried to bench-press a Thwomp? Or would you rather unicycle along Rainbow Road? WII WANT A REVOLUTION!!!”

Pertu exploded. Wooden shards rained everywhere.

“Aw man…” Windoshi sighed. “And I was just getting warmed up!”

Earthoshi picked through the wooden pieces. “Aha!” he exclaimed. He held up four wooden letters: F, G, R, and H.

Emoshi held up another wooden object. “This one looks strange,” she said.

The piece in her hand was a boomerang. It was a smooth brown colour and had a black jewel in the center.

“Interesting little toy.” Emoshi tried throwing it. It hit the wall and clattered to the floor.

Timoshi tried it next, using some instructions from the Guide. It circled halfway around the room before dropping.

Windoshi picked it up. He reared back his arm for a huge toss.

“What’re you doing?” cried Healthoshi. “You’re gonna break something!”

The black jewel in the boomerang suddenly became a fierce emerald. Windoshi gave it a heave without noticing. The boomerang tore around the room in circles, leaving a glowing green streak behind it. It then returned to Windoshi’s hand.

Shockohsi came out of his egg. “Good grief, Windy, what didj’a do?”

Windoshi was waving off the pain of having a spinning wooden stick whack his hand. “How should I know? There’s no power switch or anything, is there?”

Flamoshi tried throwing the boomerang. It circled the room once and made its way back to Windoshi.

“OW!” The green Yoshi massaged his arm.

Poisoshi grabbed the boomerang. “What a piece of garbage,” he muttered. He threw it upwards.

The boomerang hit the purple crystal on the ceiling. The crystal turned green and caused the pipe to reappear. The boomerang came right back to Windoshi, who managed to catch it.

“Well,” said Timoshi, “I think there’s no doubt that the boomerang has chosen you as its owner.”

“Cool!” Windoshi held it aloft. “I christen you…the ‘Rang! May you beat up many fools!”

Earthoshi slapped his forehead. “Oh boy…”

~~~

The afternoon sun baked the Igneous Rockbed. Mount Vewaque smoked in the distance as the villagers of Volcanic Veranda went about their business.

The gate guards were having, according to them, a “standard day”. They had seen nothing other than a few Flame Piranhas, some merchants, and a city gang.

“So I say to him, ‘But don’t forget the power surge,’ and he just backs away before I hit the switch,” one was saying to the other.

“What a maroon,” laughed the other. “So what happened when…” He stopped, gazing at the horizon.

“Huh?” The first guard noticed it too: a large, round object flying in their direction.

“What is that thing?” blurted the second.

The first guard got his radio. “This is guard 1. We have a situation here. Large, unknown object heading our way…yes…uh, it’s airborne, so that won’t work…yeah, I’d say about three meters in diameter, maybe bigger…probably just a few minutes, it’s moving quite fast.”

Suddenly, the object parked in front of the two guards. Out of the top poked Bowser’s head.

“Well,” he said, “lookie here. Some eggheads that could do with a good thumping.”

Guard 1 suddenly started panicking into his radio. “Oh man, it’s Bowser, quick get a strike team out here, code red, AGH!” The device was knocked out of his hands as the Koopa King grabbed him by the neck.

“Now speak! Where are those ten Yoshis that came by here earlier? The ones with the special powers! You better tell me or it’s curtains for you!”

“T-t-t-ten Y-y-y-yoshis?” stuttered Guard 2. “T-t-t-they c-c-c-came b-b-b-by h-h-h-here a f-f-f-few d-d-d-days ag-g-g-go.”

“What?!” Bowser dropped Guard 1. “So those pinheads at the local bar were WRONG! Ooh, they’re gonna taste some pain in a few minutes…” He flew off.

~~~

The Yoshis had backtracked all the way to the Floaty room.

“So what now?” wondered Emoshi. “We haven’t been able to find an alternate path as of yet.”

Timoshi looked out the window. “What about that rope out there?”

The rope through the small window was still mostly intact, although it had started to fray.

“That rope must trigger something,” thought Flamoshi. “But how do we cut it?”

“Leave that to the ‘Rang,” declared Windoshi. He threw the ‘Rang out the window. It sliced the rope and came back.

One of the large branches on the ceiling fell down in the middle of the room, creating a hole in the floor.

“Neato,” said Shockoshi. “That would explain that pillar down on the floor below us…it’s hollow!”

The Yoshis dropped down the newly formed hole. The room they fell into was pitch black.

“Um…” Shockoshi’s voice permeated the blackness. “Little help, Flamoshi?”

The red one lit a ball of fire. The room stayed black.

“Okay, now this is bad,” Healthoshi’s voice quavered.

Flamoshi tried again to no avail.

“This floor sure feels weird,” commented Earthoshi. “It feels like it’s a grate of some sort, but made of wood.”

“Judging by the echoes of our voices,” said Timoshi, “it seems there’s a room right under this floor. Maybe the floor even opens.”

“Do you feel a breeze?” Watoshi asked.

“Yeah,” said Emoshi. “But it’s coming from below us!”

She was right. A wind had started below the Ten and started to increase in force.

“Good grief!” Flamoshi’s cheeks vibrated in the wind. “What’s going on here?”

One by one, the Ten lifted off the ground and flew upwards, back to the room from whence they came. However, Windoshi had hidden in his egg and, due to its aerodynamics, had not budged.

The rest of the Ten recovered from their blast against the ceiling.

“Oh man.” Earthoshi looked around the room. “My head sure hurts right now…”

“Hey,” said Watoshi. “Where’s Windoshi?”

“He must have gotten caught or something,” mumbled Flamoshi.

“Or maybe he’s a colourful smear on the ceiling,” growled Poisoshi.

A wooden grate had closed the hole in the floor.

[Toomai]

Chapter Twelve

Cyclonic Spirits

Windoshi’s egg had rolled down a side tunnel, ending up below the floor the Ten had lifted off from.

The egg’s owner popped out. “Crap, it’s still as black as a Bob-omb’s behind,” he mumbled. “They really need to get some decent lighting down here.”

He reached into hammerspace and pulled out a hand-operated flashlight. He gave it a few pumps. Nothing happened.

“Stupid dark curse,” he muttered as he put the light away. “The government seriously needs to ban these things.”

Windoshi started walking around, trying to get a focus on what the room was like. Judging from the curve of the wall, he assumed it to be as big as a regular room of the tree. However, his voice never echoed, a suspicious fact.

As he was walking, he tripped on a vine lying on the floor. The vine reared up and grabbed his leg.

“Argh, not one of these stupid feelers,” he groaned. He whacked it with the ‘Rang, causing it to retreat.

“Must be something dangerous in here,” he thought.

Windoshi suddenly realized that the darkness was starting to lift. He could see a great many vines in the room, each attached to a wall or ceiling and leading to a ball in the middle.

“Multiple strands and a central body. It’s obvious what that means: the stereotypical vine boss.”

As if on cue, the entire system started moving. Each vine that was connected to a wall disconnected, forming a mess of tentacles surrounding the core. The unit dangled by the ceiling, connected by ten vines.

“Why, hello,” sneered the thing in an oily voice. “And what brings you here?”

“Uh,” Windoshi gulped. He wasn’t at all ready for a fight. “Well, I’ve, um, brought some mail for you, sir…”

“Liar!” The tentacles swirled. “You came here to destroy me, right?”

“Sure, if that’s what you think. You want fries with that?”

“Shut up!” The voice reverberated. “It’s impossible for you to beat me! You don’t even have a knife! All you have is that wooden stick!”

“Stick?” Windoshi looked at the ‘Rang in his hand. “Oh, this thing. Well, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

He gave the ‘Rang a heave. It flew towards the beast and snapped one of its links to the ceiling.

As a response, the creature started spinning its tentacles. The room became a huge cyclone, Windoshi flying around hitting the walls.

The wind stopped. “What do you think about that, insolent creature?”

Windoshi stood up, shaken from the collisions. “Huh? Oh, right. I think THIS!”

Lining up a shot, he let the ‘Rang go. It blew through three cords in a row.

In anger, the massive thing grabbed the Yoshi and started bashing him against the floor.

~~~

The rest of the Ten heard the huge whams.

“Something is definitely going on down there,” said Earthoshi.

“Great,” muttered Flamoshi, “now we gotta save him.” He got ready to burn through the wooden grate.

“Uh, are you sure about that?” started Timoshi. “If you can’t stop the fire, then…”

“No problem. We’ve got Watoshi, remember?” said Emoshi.

“Oh, yeah. Forgot about that.”

~~~

The huge creature set down Windoshi, dazed from the beating.

“How do you like me now, fatface?”

Windoshi stood up, shaking at the knees. He threw the ‘Rang with extra spin. It circled around the creature, cutting ceiling cords until there was one left. At that point, the monster batted it away. It returned to its owner.

“You’re not so tough!” yelled the Yoshi. “If this wooden stick can help destroy you, then why do you live in a tree?”

The creature snapped two of its tentacles together. The room instantly filled with Floaties. Instinctively, Windoshi hit one with the ‘Rang. The ‘Range bounced from Floaty to Floaty, finally cutting through the last ceiling tendon.

With a mighty boom, the creature hit the floor. Almost right away, some of its tentacles started to become more ceiling connectors.

A few seconds later, the rest of the Ten dropped into the room.

“Nice of you peeps to drop in,” said Windoshi.

“Shut up, chlorinated clock-cleaner,” growled Poisoshi.

“Chlorine isn’t green, it’s chartreuse!”

Timoshi had started to read the enemy’s description on the Guide.

“It’s called Turbulak. As with all tentacle enemies, it has a solid, vulnerable core complete with hundreds of appendages. It can only be hurt if the core is attacked, which becomes easier when there are fewer tentacles around. Its most powerful attacks are in the long-range category.”

Upon hearing this, most of the Yoshis ran towards the core to start egging it from a close distance. After they got a few hits in, they were flicked away, some of them into Floaties.

“Ack!” Flamoshi covered his eyes as his inner ears were sent spinning. Healthoshi hit the wall, her nose making a honk, as Earthoshi sat down hard.

Windoshi threw the ‘Rang again. It reacted to his confidence and cut through most of the new ceiling tendons. During its flight, the non-dizzy Yoshis went back to the core and egged.

Turbulak weakened from each egg, finally collapsing as the ‘Rang severed it from the ceiling.

“A winner is us! Victory!” Windoshi jumped up and down.

In a flash, the Ten were teleported to what at first seemed like another world.

“What the…” Shockoshi looked around. “How the heck did we get up here?”

The Ten were standing on top of a cloud, directly over the Master Tree, overlooking the entire island. Mount Vewaque smoked in the distance, the huge Wezas Fault opened to the west, shortly behind it (relatively) was the Great Clock as it counted the minutes going by, Navre Bay sparkled in the sun, and even the distant Rekim Peaks were visible through the afternoon air.

“Wow…” murmured Watoshi.

A laughing was heard. The Ten turned to find it was coming from a small cyclone. The cyclone suddenly changed into a green Yoshi.

“Welcome to my world,” he said. “I live on the airwaves. I fly among the birds. I am Jovenin, and I am a Yoshi of wind.”

“Neato,” said Windoshi. “So I guess I’m like you, then.”

“On the nose.” Jovenin stretched. “It’s great to be back outside after being cooped up in that tree for so long. Do you know how it feels to have a beetle try to crawl in your nostril?” Pause. “I suppose you want some sort of a monologue, right?”

“No.” Iceoshi spoke for the fist time in a while.

“Too late! Hahah!” The freed spirit started the story.

“As you already know, I’m part of that group of ten that recreated the island you live on and see before you. But what you don’t know is some of what happened before then. You know about how we had a battle with the shadow Yoshi of our group? Well, it didn’t happen exactly like that. It was the week after our high school graduation. By then, our black colleague, Wezas, had already gotten a part-time job, bringing in money to our group. It was very useful, as we tended to spend a lot of time away from our families. However, that silver Yoshi was a constant drain on our finances. He would go away and buy something for himself that we’d never see, robbing our bank and hiding the receipts. We tolerated it for a little while. But then one day he just took all our money and didn’t come back for a week. Obviously, Vewaque got very angry, and Wezas was a little annoyed as well. Now, as you probably know, it’s never a good idea to bother someone like Wezas, analogous to your Earthoshi. When the shadow Yoshi first came back, he acted like the previous week never happened. Within minutes, Wezas had asked in a subtle way were the money was. The silver one, catching on right away, told him to…uh…well, I can’t really say that out loud, now can I? Let’s just say he said to go stand in front of Mario under the influence of a Mega Mushroom. Well, Wezas hit the end of the rope and started pummeling him with all the strength he inherited through his earthly powers. Needing little excuse to tear off an arm and use it against its previous owner, Vewaque joined in. Soon we all had ‘gently excused’ the silver dude from our group.”

“So this whole deal stems from robbing your account?” asked Emoshi.

“Not exactly. We finally found out what he used the money for, and it wasn’t pretty. I’m not so sure you want to hear about it, even…I’ll just tell you that in the week he was away, he caused some pretty devastating ‘accidents’.”

There was a length of silence.

After a few minutes, Windoshi spoke up. “Uh, aren’t I supposed to get a power now?”

“Huh?” Jovenin blinked. “Oh yeah! The wind power. Uh…” There was a pause.

“What?” inquired Timoshi.

“Well,” said the spirit, “I had to donate my power-imbued item to someone else, and he hasn’t returned it yet. Something about sailing the seas and L-targeting…”

Windoshi was dismayed. “What’s the deal? Why does some nobody get wind powers?”

“Hey, he had a Hero of Time outfit on, so how bad could it be?” Jovenin thought a little. “Now that I think about it, I could put wind power into something of yours, and we’ll call it even.”

Windoshi started looking through his hammerspace, pulling out possible candidates and storing them again: an alarm clock, a miniature catapult, a cardboard tube, a bumper sticker that read “My car has gas issues”, a white glove, a green DS with a red bottom, a badge that read “Event 51 Master”, something that used to be an XBox but was now called a “stress reliever”, an R2-D2 water gun, and a green Gamecube controller. Finally he came upon the ‘Rang.

“Hey,” piped up Jovenin, “that looks good.” Without waiting for a decision, he grabbed it and held it in front of him. It took on a temporary green glow before emitting a burst of light.

“There!” He handed the ‘Rang back to is owner. “It’s got wind powers now. You can even direct where it goes with your mind!”

“Sweet!” Windoshi threw the ‘Rang, directing it over, under, and around each member of the Ten. When he caught it again, he refreshed himself with a blast of air.

“I’m glad you like it.” Jovenin turned to the group at large. “I guess I could answer any questions you have.”

Timoshi held up the wooden letters. “What are these for?”

“Oh yeah. I was trying to use Windoshi’s name as a password, like Watoshi’s was used. Fergushi. A funny name for a funny dude. Thing is, I couldn’t get the plan working.”

Healthoshi spoke up. ”What was with that ‘total blackness’ room?”

“To tell you the truth,” said Jovenin, “I don’t have a clue. There was probably some sort of photon vacuum in play. Or maybe all light was cancelled out by a light of opposite wave pattern.”

Shockoshi had a question. “Does wind power include teleportation?”

“Of course! That’s how I got you up here, isn’t it? Thing is, it’s a pretty advanced skill, so I don’t think Windoshi will be teleporting himself, let alone a group of ten, for a few months.”

Emoshi asked a question. “Why did you never mention the shadow Yoshi’s name?”

Jovenin paused. “Well, that’s a good question. You see, we haven’t spoken of him for a very long time. It’s hard to say his name from what he did to us…His name is…Deliran.”

Windoshi noticed something. “What’s that thing in your hand?”

“Ah…” Jovenin held up a small flat object. It was decahedral in shape, resembling a small waterspout with ten legs. “This…is a dimensional portal. You know them from the Smashic Tournaments, right? Well, this one is programmed to link to a world so vast, so populated, yet so desolate, and with many more entrances than exits…a land where failures are kept, where heroes are stored, and where destiny takes us…it is the world of death.”

“What?” Earthoshi fell down.

Jovenin tried to speak extra seriously. “This is where you go once your life is over. When you’re down to zero health, when you fall in a pit, when a block crushes you. And…I believe there’s someone in here that wants to talk with you.”

He set down the device. It used its legs to latch onto the cloud surface. From the nozzle appeared a gaping black hole in the air. Inside, nothing was visible. Suddenly, a black Yoshi appeared and slammed against the opening as if it was glass.

Windoshi fell down as if the collision had knocked him off balance.

“Brother…!”

[Toomai]

Chapter Thirteen

Two Hundred And Fifty Pieces Of Starlyte

“What’s going on here?” blurted Flamoshi.

“Whaddaya think’s going on, sulfur breath?” snapped Poisoshi.

The black Yoshi in the portal had his nose and hands pressed against the universal rupture.

“It’s Quadoshi,” whispered Timoshi. “Windoshi’s brother. One of the best older siblings you could ask for.”

“How come we never knew he existed?” asked Emoshi, wide-eyed.

“He wasn’t…um…around by the time we started visiting each other.”

Windoshi had staggered to his feet. Within seconds, he started running towards the portal.

“STOP!” Jovenin bellowed.

A gale-force wind propelled Windoshi away from the gap between universes.

“Do not try to go in there!” he said. “The land of death is easy to get into, but getting out is…well, you know.”

Windoshi suddenly had a brilliant idea. He started pulling coins out of his hammerspace and throwing them in the portal. Quadoshi gathered them, somewhat confused.

Windoshi had donated about twenty coins before he ran out. “C’mon, guys!” he called, “give some money!”

“What for?” wondered Watoshi. “What does money have to do with…”

“It’s not the money,” said Earthoshi, catching on and giving some. “Everyone knows what the power of a hundred coins does, right?”

Everyone got the idea and contributed some cash. Quadoshi was left holding 99 coins and a hopeful face.

“99 coins?!” cried Healthoshi. “That can’t be all we have!”

“Poisoshi hasn’t given any,” stated Shockoshi.

Everyone turned towards the purple one.

“Don’t hold up now!” said Emoshi. “We just need one more coin!”

Poisoshi scoffed. “What’s in it for me? I’m not giving my money to some guy who you say is a relative of one of us without some sort of compensation.”

It was true that Poisoshi was the poorest of the group. But Flamoshi didn’t care. “How about this: You give the coin and you keep your legs?”

The hothead was swatted flat with one blow of the ‘Rang.

“C’mon! You’d be saving a life with a one-time donation! And you don’t even have to call a toll-free number!” Windoshi pleaded.

“Whatever decision you make, make it fast,” said Jovenin. “This thing can’t stay open forever.”

The portal’s power did seem to be running out. The edges of its window had started to retract and blur.

The rest of the Ten continued to goad Poisoshi as the portal kept shrinking, Quadoshi getting more anxious by the second.

“ALL RIGHT! FINE!” Poisoshi shouted. Everyone went quiet. “If it’ll keep you off my back for a while, then I’ll pay a coin, now just SHUT UP!!!”

With obvious annoyance, Poisoshi produced a single coin. He angrily threw it into the portal just as it closed completely.

There was complete silence, barring the sounds of nature.

Half a minute passed. Nothing happened.

“Quadoshi,” Windoshi said tearfully. “Older brother. Best friend. Partner. Never wavering, always there. Never afraid to stand up for what’s right. Born August 27th, 1989 after a terrorist attack on City Of Yosh’s east side. Died January 13th, 1997, during an equal-rights movement in Africa. He drove one of the vehicles, disguised to be unrecognizable as a Yoshi. The vehicle was destroyed by a bomb.”

More silence. A wind rose up, rustling the leaves below, blowing the clouds above.

After thirty seconds, the Yoshis heard another noise. It came from just above the dormant portal.

An unmistakable double arpeggio, played in the space of a single second by a glittery xylophone.

~~~

A secluded shop in City Of Yosh was about to close its doors when a purple Yoshi walked in. He looked through the shelves, scrutinizing the labels of each visibly identical spherical object. After a few minutes, he returned to the counter, having made a selection.

“I’d like to buy this one,” he said.

The shopkeeper looked up from his magazine. “Hmm? Oh yes, ‘numéro cent trente-trois’. Would you like a trainer’s guide?”

“Sure,” said the customer.

“That will be 15 coins,” replied the shopkeeper. He put the ball and a small book into a bag.

The purple Yoshi flicked three blue coins onto the counter and left with his purchase.

~~~

“Quadoshi lives!”

Such was the call of Windoshi’s brother, who appeared in a flash of gold from where the portal was collected by Jovenin.

Jubilation reigned for a while. After a few minutes, Jovenin cut in.

“I’m really sorry to interrupt such a party,” he said, “but don’t you guys have an adventure to finish?”

“Yeah, we do,” said Flamoshi. “We should get back to City Of Yosh.”

“Let me help you with that.” Jovenin prepared a wind of teleportation. “I think it would be best if you next traveled north. Then you’d have the compass points cleared, and who knows what advantage that might bring.”

“Got it!” Windoshi gripped the ‘Rang. “Let’s go!”

In a flash of green, the eleven Yoshis vanished.

***

It was the morning after the revival of Quadoshi. After Windoshi had gotten away from his parents, he rejoined the Ten at the pedestal park to insert the Wind Key.

“Three down, seven to go,” he said as he slotted the rusty copper into its place.

“North, eh?” Shockoshi looked towards the distant peaks. “Good thing Flamoshi can keep us warm.”

“Let’s go,” said Healthoshi. “It’ll be fun to play in the snow this time of year!”

As the Yoshis headed towards the north exit of the city, Watoshi spotted something.

“Shh!” she whispered. “Don’t look now, but I think that’s Boshi up ahead at the exit.”

“Boshi?” Flamoshi fondled the Gauntlet. “I’ll teach that ijit to be a cheap shot!”

“Let’s play it cool,” suggested Earthoshi. “See what he’s up to.”

The Ten walked up to the city exit. Sure enough, Boshi was leaning on the wall, watching them.

Windoshi started the chatter. “Mornin’, sir. Nice day, isn’t it?”

“Whatever.” Boshi was in no mood to talk. “You’re not passing this door without challenging me.”

“What’s the challenge, big mouth?” spat Flamoshi.

Boshi cracked his knuckles. “Oh, just a little battle…with our Pokémon.”

“Pokémon?” Emoshi had a weird look on her face. “Isn’t that an old idea?”

“So?” Boshi rolled a Pokéball down his arm. “Pokémon battle. You win, you pass. You lose, you don’t. And don’t think you can pass me without a fight.” He brought out a Ray Gun with an ammo attachment. “This ain’t so Smash arena, you won’t get any protection from this thing’s shots.”

“Aren’t weapons inside city limits illegal?” asked Poisoshi.

“Who cares? It works, doesn’t it?” Boshi juggled the two items in his hands. “Of course, if you don’t have any Pokémon, I’ll let you run. But no trying to pass me unless you wanna be fried.”

The Ten backed away until they were out of earshot.

“What now?” wondered Healthoshi. “Where will we get Pokémon from?”

Timoshi checked the guide. “Apparently, there’s a Pokéshop just over here.” He indicated a point on a map.

“That’s just two blocks away.” Windoshi looked towards the shop. “Let’s go buy some Pokés. If anything else, they’ll be fun to have.”

***

The Ten arrived at the shop. Upon entering, Flamoshi issued a suggestion.

“We should try to get Pokémon that are versatile, yet cheap,” he said.

“Pokémon at the lowest evolutionary level will cost the least,” said Timoshi. “Normal types will also cost less than other types.”

The Yoshis browsed the store separately.

Hmm, thought Flamoshi, this Vulpix is really good value. Only 25 coins for a fiery creature with six tails? But then again, I don’t want to have to groom it every week like it says.

I’d really like a Voltorb, thought Shockoshi. They’re very fast. Thing is, I’ve heard they self-destruct at times. That can’t be good…

How about a Spheal? thought Watoshi. Cute, cheap, and watery. Oh, drat. They’re slow. Not good for us, we need to move fast.

A Jigglypuff would sure be worth it, thought Windoshi. Can you get any funnier than drawing on the faces of those you put to sleep? Too expensive, though…I guess because it’s popular.

Odd how nothing here interests me, thought Timoshi. I thought for sure there’d be something I’d like, but so far, nothing! Bad luck, maybe?

Ooohhh, thought Healthoshi, Pichus are SO CUTE!!! She looked at the triple-digit price tag. But why do they have to be so popular?

Lots of power in that Koffing, thought Poisoshi. It’ll sure win some battles, especially against that chump Boshi. But can I really afford to get anything?

Onixes are sure big, thought Earthoshi. And strong, too. But they’re very slow. We don’t need anyone slower than I am.

Not much here, thought Iceoshi. Maybe that Snorunt, but it’s ugly. Ugly creatures shouldn’t be in the same league as things like Castform.

Ooh ooh ooh! thought Emoshi. Beautifly seems to want me as its owner! But…I can’t pay to that amount!

After fifteen minutes, the Ten came back together to discuss their findings.

“I think,” said Earthoshi after everyone had spoken, “that because no one can find any Pokémon they both like and can afford, we should all get the same one.”

“Well,” said Timoshi, “looking back at how Normal types are cheap, pre-evolved Pokémon are cheap, and how we want versatile Pokémon, I think this would be the perfect fit.”

He held up a Pokéball labeled “#133: Eevee”. The photo was of a brown quadruped with a thick neck mane and rabbity ears. After a blank stare from the rest of the gang, he read from the Guide.

“Eevee is a Basic, Normal Pokémon. Although it has no outstanding abilities, it evolves spontaneously depending on its environment. Five different ‘Eeveelutions’ have been recorded, but many more could exist.”

“Sounds good,” said Shockoshi. He looked at the price tag: 10 coins. “Cheap, too. I guess they can’t sell very well because of their unpredictability.”

“But we’ve run out of coins!”

It was true. Every Yoshi had spent all their coins that weren’t in the bank rescuing Quadoshi, and the bank could not be accessed through their hammerspace. Healthoshi, however, wasn’t fazed. She went to the counter with the Eevee.

“Ten of these, please.”

The shopkeeper nodded. “Would you like trainer’s guides?”

“Yes.”

The merchandise was packed. “That will be 150 coins.”

“Put it on my card.” Healthoshi took out a shiny, silver credit card. It was emblazoned with a large “D”.

The shopkeeper had a double take. “Y-yes, right away, Ms. Doppel.”

The other Yoshis were confused as the items were distributed and they walked out the door. Once outside, Flamoshi asked “What’d you do to the seller in there, Healthoshi?”

“Just some of the family charm, I guess.”

Healthoshi’s family was the fifth richest on Yosh’ter Isle. Although money doesn’t make the island go ‘round, her family can sure pull a lot of strings.

“So…you cheated,” Windoshi chuckled. “You must feel lucky to have a sideways 8 in your coin tally.”

“I don’t have infinite riches!” Healthoshi retorted.

“Whatever,” said Earthoshi. “Let’s go clean Boshi’s clock.”

***

The Ten rearrived at the north exit. Sure enough, Boshi was still there.

Flamoshi got in his face. “It’s on, punk!”

“As you wish.” Boshi threw his Pokéball on the ground. Flamoshi followed suit. Two Eevees appeared. Already the influence of their owners had affected them: Flamoshi’s had a reddish tint, while Boshi’s looked slightly purple.

Boshi acted first. “Tackle him!”

One Eevee rammed the other. The attack itself didn’t do much damage.

“Uh…” Flamoshi read some lines from his Trainer’s Guide. “Let’s start with a Tackle, see how it goes.”

After the second tackle, Boshi cracked his knuckles. “Bite him!”

Using purple jaws, Boshi’s Eevee caused a bunch of damage on Flamoshi’s. Flamoshi read some more.

“Tail Whip, eh? Let’s try that.”

A small cloud of dust was created, and Boshi’s Eevee was subjected to a blue power-down glow.

“Its defense went down,” said Timoshi as Flamoshi’s Eevee was bitten again.

“Bite back!” hollered Flamoshi. The reddish Pokémon bit the purpleish one. With its defense lowered, enough damage was done to cause it to faint.

“Victory!” Flamoshi called his Eevee back into its ball.

Boshi was silently fuming. He recalled his Eevee.

“I’ll remember this,” he hissed.

Suddenly, Boshi threw down a small black pellet. Instantly, the entire area went black. After a few seconds, sight returned to the Ten. Boshi was gone.

“Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder,” explained Timoshi. “Good for getaways.”

“What a loser,” said Windoshi. “Don’t you usually challenge people who you think you can beat?”

“Apparently not.” Shockoshi stretched. “Now he’s 0 for 2.”

“Forget him,” scoffed Flamoshi. “He’s just a dent in the road. To the north!”

[Toomai]

Chapter Fourteen

Frozen Frenzy

The Ten trekked across the northern landscape. Although the temperature was dropping, they were not yet in the snowdrifts. Still, Healthoshi was already complaining about being cold.

“Will you give it a rest!” Flamoshi yelled. “You really don’t need to keep harping on like that, you know!”

“Erarf!” Healthoshi grumped.

The drifts were slowly coming closer. Without warning, the Ten stepped into the snow.

“Snowball fight!” Windoshi heaved the white stuff at Flamoshi. It vaporized before it touched him. “You’re a party pooper, you know that?”

A heavy thump was heard. Earthoshi had been hit in the head by a blue block.

“Is that a Meteo?” asked Emoshi.

“Sure is, a water one,” answered Timoshi.

Several more water Meteos rained down.

“Can we make a nexus out of these?” asked Watoshi.

“Sure thing!” Timoshi looked something up. “We need ten for a Water nexus and then five for, um…a Weather nexus. But for Weather, we also need some air and some zap.”

“No prob.” Shockoshi pulled the required Meteos out of hammerspace. A few minutes later, two nexi were created, the dark blue one engraved with a drop of water and the light blue one emblazoned with a sun partly behind a cloud.

“I’ll save the rest,” said Earthoshi.

“What now?” asked Shockoshi.

“We keep going,” declared Flamoshi.

***

As time wore on, the Ten started moving from snow to ice, making the transition from the Ikaric Drifts to the Metafrew Glacier. But as their speed improved, their traction did just the opposite.

“Wagh!” Iceoshi fell down for the fourth time. She slid into Poisoshi, causing a domino effect.

“Watch where you’re going, you albino dino!” growled the purple one.

Not surprisingly, it had started to snow. The peaks in the distance were slightly hidden behind the falling flakes.

“Brrrr,” mumbled Windoshi. “It’s getting pretty shivery around here. Anyone got a good lantern?”

“At least it’s close to noon,” said Timoshi. “Imagine this place after dark!”

A shuffling on the ice was heard.

“What was that?” asked Healthoshi.

A Frost Piranha appeared in front of the pink Yoshi. It subjected her to its freezing breath and disappeared again.

“Darn things!” Flamoshi melted the ice.

Then Ten kept walking. As they approached the mountains, the snowfall developed into a blizzard.

“Dagnabbit!” Windoshi spat. “Can’t see a thing in this stuff!”

Blinded by the snow, Earthoshi walked right into something solid.

“It seems to be a house of some sort,” guessed Timoshi.

“Then where’s the door?” cried Healthoshi.

Shockoshi fumbled for a moment, then found a hole in the wall. The Ten escaped into it.

It was an igloo. It was large enough to hold twenty Yoshis and occupied by only one: a black Yoshi sitting in front of the central fire. He turned to face the Ten.

“Hmm.” He thought for a moment. “It’s been a while since anyone’s come out here.”

“Where is ‘here’, exactly?” asked Flamoshi.

“This is the Refuge,” explained the owner. “A while ago, there were always Yoshis wandering out here. So this place was built to house them as they recharged for the next day. My parents bestowed ownership on me. My name is Kluoshi.”

Timoshi grabbed his DS and used his GPS software to plot the Refuge’s location on his map.

“This is pretty close to the foot of the Rekim Peaks,” he stated.

“That’s right.” Kluoshi went to the wall and opened a window. Nearby, a mountain could be seen through the blizzard.

“Okay. Let’s go.” Flamoshi started leaving.

“Where are you going?” asked Kluoshi.

Shockoshi answered. “We need to go up that mountain.”

“Really?” Kluoshi rubbed his chin. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that.”

“Why not?” Earthoshi asked.

“It’s really dangerous up there,” was the reply. “I’ve seen many Yoshis go there. Each and every one of them returned with little health left.” Kluoshi thought for a little. “I suppose I can test you to see if you can earn your way up there.”

“I’m game,” said Windoshi. “What’s this test?”

“Well, first one of you has to be chosen. Randomly, of course.”

“Okay, then.” Timoshi brought out a ten-sided spinner, each side being a different colour. He gave the pointer a flick.

After a few seconds, the pointer stopped on the white section.

“Looks like it’s you, Iceoshi,” said Healthoshi.

Iceoshi nodded. Kluoshi got a box.

“In this box,” he said, “is a random hat. You’ll wear this hat as you play through the challenge.”

Iceoshi nodded again. She reached into the box and grabbed the hat. The moment she did so, she vanished.

At the same instant, a television screen materialized on the far wall. It showed Iceoshi standing in a black screen. She was holding what looked like a green windsock.

“You must put the hat on to begin,” said Kluoshi into a walkie-talkie. His voice also sounded from the TV.

Iceoshi, who had heard, put on the windsock. For a moment, nothing happened.

“I never thought I’d see the day when Iceoshi makes a fashion statement,” joked Windoshi.

As Windoshi was finishing the joke, a wireframe grid had started to form. With the camera zooming out, it could be seen that a large, floating landmass was forming. Once completed, the wireframe took on a solid form, then made the transition to a textured object.

It was quite obvious what the landform was imitating: it was Hyrule Temple.

“This looks interesting…” said Emoshi.

Without warning, a sword and shield appeared in Iceoshi’s hands. Iceoshi looked at them for a moment, then put the sword in her right hand and the shield in her left.

“What’d she do that for?” asked Watoshi.

“Link’s left-handed, you see,” said Timoshi. “So when she put his cap on, it put the Master Sword in her left hand. But she’s right handed, so she switched them.”

Iceoshi’s shadow flickered.

[Toomai]

Chapter Fifteen

Smashing Through Ice

“Did I just see the sun flicker?” wondered Flamoshi.

Iceoshi’s shadow flickered again. Suddenly, it plain disappeared.

“Weird…” mumbled Shockoshi.

A circular shadow appeared in the ground a few meters away from Iceoshi. Out of it came a dark haze.

“I think I see where this is going…” said Timoshi.

The haze took on a humanoid form. The pure black body stood there. In its hands appeared a sword and a shield, each identical in shape to the tools Iceoshi was holding. On its face appeared two red eyes.

“GO!” yelled Kluoshi.

The dark body ran at Iceoshi. Instinctively, Iceoshi tried to hide in her egg. However, no egg appeared, and the shadowy blade struck her.

“What’s with that, eh?” hollered Windoshi. “Is the shield system broken?”

“Use your brain, airhead!” spat Poisoshi. “It’s obvious that she’s got Link’s moves now, and does Link hide in eggs?”

Iceoshi got up. Seeing a sword flying towards her, she rolled backwards to avoid it.

Okay, she thought, regroup. I’m Link. He’s Link. What kind of things should I do?

Another attack came Iceoshi’s direction. She brought up and crossed her arms to block the sword. There was a white flash.

“Sweet powershield!” called Flamoshi.

Feeling a bit more confident, Iceoshi started making some tentative sword swipes. Most of them were blocked by the shadow’s bubble.

Another attack came her way. She shielded again, but without the benefits of the previous lucky powershield.

A barbed hook pierced her bubble and attached itself to her belly. She felt herself getting jerked forward, and then she was suddenly in Dark Link’s face.

“Foul! No Hookshots!” cried Shockoshi.

Dark Link clubbed Iceoshi with his hilt, then kneed her away.

What now? she thought. What else can I use other than the sword?

Iceoshi reached behind her and grabbed something. Not knowing what it was, she looked at it. It was a lit bomb.

“Yeep!” She threw away the bomb. It struck her opponent in the face.

The shadow put a little bit of distance between the combatants. Then he threw a boomerang that was covered in cactus-like needles.

Instinctively, Iceoshi sidestep dodged the projectile. She brought out a bow and shot an arrow at Dark Link. Unfortunately, she was struck in the back by the boomerang’s return journey.

“Argh!” grumbled Emoshi. “What’s it like now, 78% to 23%?”

The shadow dashed towards Iceoshi. Defensively, she made a horizontal slash to keep him away, but it had enough momentum to carry her around a few times.

“Spam the spinner!” cheered Windoshi.

Unable to hear her friends, Iceoshi brought out her own Hookshot, grabbed Dark Link, and threw him to the ground. On the bounce, she did a powerful overhand slash.

The shadow breakrolled into Iceoshi’s face, then preformed a triple overhead swipe, launching the Yoshi into the air. By instinct, she brought out a Sword Stab, knocking away the enemy but getting the weapon stuck in the ground.

“92% to 60% now,” said Timoshi.

A light knock came from the far left of the stage, on the roof of the gazebo. Both combatants looked over, spying a Pokéball. Dark Link was off like a shot. Iceoshi tore after him.

“C’mon, Icy!” called Watoshi.

Behind in the footrace, Iceoshi pulled out the Hookshot again, throwing her opponent behind her. She air-grabbed the Pokéball and then threw it straight down.

Out popped a large blue bird: Articuno. Dark Link stood there for a second, then jumped.

“He’s gonna airdodge!” yelled Windoshi. “Nair ‘im! Nair ‘im!”

Iceoshi thought the same thing. She kicked the shadow, knocking off his timing. Instants later, he was caught in a chunk of ice. She started attacking in a frenzy.

“Go! Go! Go!” cheered on Emoshi.

Once freed from the ice, Dark Link pulled out a bomb. He threw it in Iceoshi’s direction. She rolled away and nailed the shadow in the back with a powerful smash. He hit the left blast line.

“Bingo! Bye-bye!” Healthoshi cried.

Unfortunately, Link’s Adventure was a two-stock event. Within seconds, a revival platform had appeared, with an angry opponent atop it. He climbed down and wailed on the Yoshi.

“Not good,” muttered Flamoshi, “she’s at 118% now.”

With a Beamsword, Dark Link beat Iceoshi to the right blast line without getting damaged himself.

“Double-sword cheater!” called Shockoshi.

Once Iceoshi reappeared, the beating commenced anew. It was as if the shadow had decided to move from being a level 6 to a level 8.

Moments later, the situation was dire: 121% to 62%. Luckily, Iceoshi had decided to hide in the lower portion of the stage, where KOs were hard to come by.

“C’mon, Iceoshi,” said Timoshi. “Don’t let him get you!”

Another Pokéball appeared in front of Dark Link. He grabbed it and unleashed a Blastoise. Iceoshi was frozen in fear.

“DON’T MOVE!!!” yelled Windoshi.

Iceoshi was so scared she didn’t even flinch. Dark Link knew he had won, already taunting.

But it was not to be. When the Hydro Pump started, nothing happened: standing still brought up the Hylian Shield, completely negating the projectiles!

Once the shadow realized what had happened, it was too late. Morale-boosted, Iceoshi was on him like Flamoshi after a third-period loss by the Yosh’ter Yolks.

The deciding blow was a powerful double two-hand slash, sealing the deal.

“Success!”

Instantly, Iceoshi was beamed back into the Refuge. The group cheered a bit.

Kluoshi motioned towards Link’s cap. “You may keep that,” he said. “It’s already useful to have a wide range of abilities. And…” He went towards a picture in the wall. The frame featured Kluoshi in the classic two-fingered victory pose, holding a tin snowflake. In the safe behind the picture was the same metal object, as well as a cylinder and a sphere connected by a cord.

“I will give you these,” he said. “This is a six-sided lump of tin I found a few years ago.” He eyed what the Ten were holding and wearing. “Seeing as you collect strange things, it would be a good fit.”

“What about that double-sided yo-yo?” asked Windoshi.

“This is a Remote Bomb,” said Kluoshi. “By applying pressure on the cylinder’s red end, the ball on the other end of the rope will explode. It can be reused.” He looked up at a picture of the outside of The Refuge. “The Remote Bomb was used to excavate the material used to build this place. I don’t think it’s needed anymore, seeing as it’s been around for over half a century without incident.”

The Ten left to continue the trek towards the mountains.

[Toomai]

Chapter Sixteen

The Cave Of Xelorm

It was three in the afternoon as the Ten reached the base of the biggest mountain in the Rekim Peaks mountain range.

“So this is Mount Xelorm,” mused Shockoshi. “It looks a lot bigger from down here than out there.”

“What exactly are we doing here, anyway?” asked Earthoshi.

Timoshi was feeling the sloped rock face. “There has to be an entrance in here somewhere,” he mumbled. He brought out his DS and slid in the Stud Finder card. Sliding it across the stone, he found a hollow spot.

“Now what?” asked Windoshi. “Anyone have a drill?”

“We could get Earthoshi mad,” thought Flamoshi, “then turn him on the rock face.”

Iceoshi sighed. She set the Remote Bomb near the cave.

“Or we could take the obvious route.” Poisoshi cleared the blast area. The others followed.

Iceoshi pressed the red end of the cylinder. With a mighty bang, a hole appeared in the rock wall. Within the hole was a winding cave.

“Do-dah, dooh dah dooooooh do-dah do-dah, dooh dah dooooooh,” hummed Windoshi.

Flamoshi slapped him. “We don’t need no Crystal Caves music in here, ya know.”

Around the cave’s first bend, the Ten saw a huge gap in the ground.

“Bring out the Spring-Reel, Watoshi,” said Healthoshi.

“Okay,” Watoshi replied, “but what should I aim at? I don’t see any suitable spot.”

Shockoshi searched the other side. “There’s a wooden peg on the left side of the hall,” he reported. “Must’ve been a bridge here at some point.”

Watoshi used the peg to get the Ten across the chasm. But the cave lead to a dead end.

“Blow it up?” asked Emoshi.

“I don’t know.” Timoshi scratched his head. “I’m not too sure whether we might get a cave-in by blowing something up.”

“Maybe a crack in the wall?” thought Earthoshi. “You know, for the tin snowflake thingy.”

Earthoshi’s hunch proved to be correct. Once a hexagonal crack was found, the six-sided metal caused the dead end to disappear.

A huge room came into sight. At least twenty ledges at various points on the circular wall held crystal switches, identical to the one the Pertu the Wooden guarded. The entire room, except for a wide ledge the Ten stood on, was bottomless. The ceiling was at such a height to be invisible.

“Well…” Watoshi took it all in. “This is a challenge, isn’t it?”

“Let’s get a move on.” Flamoshi chucked an egg at the nearest switch. It activated.

Earthoshi also threw an egg. It hit a second switch. But the first switch turned itself off.

Shockoshi scratched his head. “What’s the deal here? Do we have to activate them in a certain order, or within a time limit?”

Flamoshi hit a switch again. It stayed on for exactly five seconds.

“Time limit,” he spat. “Stupid things.”

“How the heck can we do that?” cried Healthoshi. “There’s more than twenty switches, and it takes more than two seconds for each of us to throw an egg!”

“Leave this to the ‘Rang.” Windoshi brought it out.

Emoshi was doubtful. “Can that thing travel fast enough to hit them all?”

“Only one way to find out.” Windoshi estimated the shortest possible path between the crystals. He wound up and let fly.

The ‘Rang had activated about two-thirds of the switches before time was up.

“Hmm…” Timoshi had an idea. “What about if the Remote Bomb propelled the ‘Rang?”

Windoshi shrugged. “It’s worth a try,” he said.

The ‘Rang was let loose. As it passed the R-Bomb, Iceoshi made it blow up. The ‘Rang was shot at a very high speed.

“Yikes!” Windoshi was unprepared for the sudden dash and had to call the ‘Rang back.

“Let’s try again.”

The ‘Rang flew at its explosive speed and cut through each of the switches, lighting up each one of them.

Ten iron life jackets fell around the Ten.

“…ok…” stuttered Emoshi.

“I guess we put ‘em on,” suggested Shockoshi.

The heavy jackets would not allow the Ten to stand, but once they were secure, a wooden lever appeared in the wall.

“Get that, will ya?” asked Watoshi. She was talking to Earthoshi, the only one of the Ten who could remain standing under the influence of the iron coverings.

Exerting much power, Earthoshi staggered over to the switch and pulled it down. Worn out, he fell down as the others had done.

A low humming noise filled the cavern.

“Should we take these things off and ready for attack?” asked Flamoshi.

“…huh?” Shockoshi felt himself getting moved. “What’s going on?”

An invisible force was pulling on the metal jackets, taking the Yoshis with them.

“Umm, panic?” Windoshi was trying to get his jacket off to no avail.

The powerful force suddenly quintupled in strength, and then doubled again. The Yoshis flew up towards the center of the ceiling.

After they hit a solid ceiling and stayed there, the Ten relaxed a bit.

“Electromagnetism, obviously,” stated Timoshi.

The electromagnet started moving, dragging the Ten into another room. It then disengaged, dispensing the Ten into a huge snowbank. The iron jackets dissolved.

Flamoshi brushed patches of rust off his arm. “Well that was interesting.”

“Onwards.” Shockoshi pointed towards the door.

In the middle of the next room was a Yoshi-sized mammoth-looking creature.

“Will somebody figure out what this walking carpet is?” asked Windoshi.

“It’s a…Piloswine.” Timoshi was having trouble reading in the semi-darkness. “It’s an Ice/Ground Pokémon.”

“I guess it’s Pokémon battle time.” Windoshi threw his Pokéball.

Although expecting an Eevee, something different appeared. It looked like a green rabbit with wings for forelegs, a beak for a nose, and spiral patterns on its plumage.

“What the heck?” Windoshi looked inside the empty Pokéball. “Hello? Is there an Eevee in there?”

“I think your Eevee evolved,” said Timoshi. “It’s now a Gusteon.”

“Gusteon?” Earthoshi scratched his head. “I didn’t think Eevees could become Flying-types.”

“They’re so rare as to not be listed in a standard Pokédex,” Timoshi stated. “It must have evolved that way because of the proximity of the wind power in that boomerang.”

“In that case…” Flamoshi tossed his Pokéball. Watoshi followed.

Out came two separate species: Flareon and Vaporeon. After a moment the Fire-type distanced itself from the Water-type.

Windoshi was the first to act. “Do the Wing Attack!”

Gusteon glided over to the Piloswine and triple-slapped it with its forelegs. The large bundle of hair replied by Tackling back.

Flamoshi went to his book of moves. “Ember!”

Flareon shot multiple jets of fire at the opposing Pokémon. It reeled back.

“Ice is weak to fire attacks,” said Timoshi.

The Piloswine struck the ground, causing a wave of powdered snow to wash over Vaporeon. The damage done was minimal.

Watoshi had no clue what to do. “Uh, uh, uh, help!”

Emoshi suggested using Water Gun. Completely out of it, Watoshi went with it. Her Pokémon soaked the opposition.

“Another double-damage hit,” reported Timoshi. “One more smack may do it.”

Angry, the Piloswine pulled out a Blizzard. Gusteon was severely affected.

Windoshi looked at his friends. “Should I cheat?”

Earthoshi shrugged. “It’s a wild creature and not a fair tournament, so I don’t see why not.”

“Right-o.” Windoshi grabbed the ‘Rang. “Aeroblast!”

The ‘Rang flew in circles around Gusteon, charging him up. The Gusteon then flew in from above and delivered a devastating ray of wind that propelled the Piloswine away.

Windoshi recalled his Pokémon. “All done. Nothin’ to see here. Move along.”

Earthoshi shoved aside the slab of rock blocking the next door. Huge amounts of light and snow flooded in.

Flamoshi vaporized the drift. “You coulda warned us, ya know!”

“How would I have known that this door leads outside?” grumbled Earthoshi.

The door led out onto a path that wound around the side of the mountain. It wasn’t snowing, but the winds were enough of an annoyance that Windoshi tried to counteract them.

“Nggg,” he groaned, shoving both hands in the direction of the wind.

“Geez, how high up are we?” Healthoshi looked down. No ground was visible.

“Hhrngh!”

The icy pathway started creaking in the air turbulence.

“Stop it, Windy!” cried Emoshi. “You’re gonna break something!”

Windoshi cut the countergust. The catwalk groaned.

Every Yoshi stood stone still. There was silence, save for the howling of the wind.

“…are we good yet?” Shockoshi opened one eye.

The icy pathway shattered, dispensing the Yoshis downwards.

[Toomai]

Chapter Seventeen

Six Points On A Crystal, Six Points On A Flake

Iceoshi woke up. She had no clue where she was, where everyone else was, or what time it was. All she knew was that she was hanging by her tongue, which was frozen to something.

Owowowowowowowowow… Iceoshi realized that the Remote Bomb’s cord was dangling across her neck. She grabbed it and started reeling her tongue in.

Once she reached the edge, Iceoshi hoisted herself onto the icy surface. She tore her tongue off the edge and stood up.

She was standing on the edge of the broken path. It was much darker than before the big fall, but the wind had died down. It appeared she was on the side closer to the higher end.

Well, let’s keep moving. Iceoshi trudged up the path.

The path lead back into the side of the mountain. Xelorm’s peak was clearly visible.

Inside a small cave at the end of the path was a solid wall of ice, at least two meters thick.

It’s bombing time, thought Iceoshi. She exploded the wall of ice. However, a frosty beam came from the wall above her and quickly reformed the barrier.

What was that? Iceoshi looked at where the beam came from. There was an eyeball on the wall, set in a white diamond.

I probably need to destroy the eyeball so the wall will stay down, she thought. She tried bombing the eye. Nothing happened. Then she had a better idea.

From her hammerspace, Iceoshi pulled the green cap she got from Kluoshi. Once the hat was on, she pulled out a bow and shot the eyeball with an arrow. It closed.

Success! The wall was exploded again. Iceoshi took off the cap and entered the next room.

The room was surprisingly small: it was only about the size of a bedroom. Every inch of the room was covered in prickly crystals. The roof’s shape suggested that the mountain’s peak was directly overhead.

This must be the final room, thought Iceoshi, in which case there’s a big battle coming up. I’ll definitely have to use the Remote Bomb a lot, and probably something else, too.

A small rumbling interrupted the white Yoshi’s thoughts. Out from the center of the room came a light blue octahedron, hovering over a small square stand.

“Are you the one they call…Iceoshi?” the crystal hummed.

Iceoshi nodded.

“Or would you rather me call you by your real name, Regroshi?”

Iceoshi clutched the R-Bomb. She said nothing.

The crystal spun around. “I see. So you are the silent type.” A double flip. “It matters not. For soon, you shall be nothing more than a lump in this cave of crystals.”

Iceoshi displayed what she hoped was a defiant face.

“You and your friends have already caused enough trouble for me and my…friends.” Humming noises. “Yet you do seem…frail, and alone, I doubt you will be a match for me.”

Iceoshi shook her head.

The crystal tilted itself, presenting what seemed to be an angrier pose. “Do you really think that you can defeat me? You, who holds nothing but a snake with shapes on the ends; against me, the shadow’s master of ice?”

Iceoshi said nothing.

The crystal lifted itself into the middle of the room. “Defiance will get you nowhere. I am Crystacily, and you will know no more than pain and frost when I am done with you!”

Huge icicles blocked the exit. The crystal needles on the walls grew larger.

Okay, thought Iceoshi, it looks like its plan is to fill the room with icy spikes. I’ll have to get rid of ‘em.

Iceoshi started bombing the spiked walls. Although holes in the offense did appear, they were quickly patched up.

Right, so that didn’t work. I’ll try to go straight to the source!

With a hefty toss, Iceoshi threw the explosive end of the R-Bomb at the floating crystal. The explosion blew a layer of ice off the enemy. Within a few seconds, Iceoshi was being bombed by chunks of ice.

After the icy rain, Iceoshi unegged. Okay, so that definitely did something. Let’s do it again.

Another loud explosion, another torrent of crystals. After the third bang, the room was silent. All the ice in the room suddenly shrunk back into the walls.

Iceoshi looked around. Is that it? Can’t be. There’s a catch somewhere.

The room’s exit was unblocked. Iceoshi ventured back outside.

A new path had formed outside the mountain. It lead further upwards.

Nowhere else to go, thought Iceoshi. She trudged up the path.

The top of the path ended at a floating platform of ice overhanging Xelorm’s peak. In the center of the platform was Crystacily. As Iceoshi stepped onto the spacious surface, the path shattered.

“You shall never defeat me!” The crystal twirled above the platform. A massive coating of ice quintupled its size.

Here we go with the second phase. Iceoshi readied herself.

The giant ball of ice started sliding around the platform haphazardly, creating temporary walls around the edges to prevent itself from falling off. Iceoshi had little room to dodge.

Let’s try the explosiveness. Iceoshi blasted the ice mass. Nothing happened. Duh! Second phase, different strategy! Iceoshi knew there was something else to do, but not what it was.

As the ice slid around, it seemed to be growing larger in size. Iceoshi didn’t have much time before it overtook the whole platform.

Think! Iceoshi slapped herself in the nose. What are some ice boss strategies?

An idea suddenly came to the Yoshi. She grabbed Link’s cap and put it on. Then she put away the R-Bomb and pulled out a much larger and longer destructive device: the Ball And Chain. She swing the hunk of metal around and slammed it into the ice structure.

Crystacily was sent flying quite a long way away, but still prevented itself from falling over the edge. Cracks appeared in its protective layer.

Act fast! Iceoshi kept swinging and releasing ice-pounding blows. After a great many consecutive hits, a hole finally appeared in the icy shield. Iceoshi tossed in the R-Bomb and gave the core a blast.

Crystacily flew away from the arena. When its shape came back into view, it was a little smaller but with a lot more icicle spikes.

Iceoshi repeated the process. Once the enemy was back the third time, it was now only about twice its original size. Its speed was increased by a great many times, but Iceoshi only needed to it once with the Ball And Chain to stun it.

As Iceoshi made the third explosion, a tongue flew up and hooked onto the platform. Up it came the rest of the Ten.

“What’d we miss?” Flamoshi looked at the scene. “Aw snap.”

“Shut up and give me your Glowing Gauntlet for a moment,” Iceoshi snapped.

“What?” Flamoshi backed off. “You shouldn’t use it! You may utterly destroy something!”

Iceoshi retaliated with an extremely cold stare. Flamoshi rolled his eyes and handed over the item. Iceoshi put it on.

Crystacily was getting ready to get back up. But unfortunately, Iceoshi stepped over it with a fire-imbued Master Sword and applied the Ending Blow. The icy monster was no more.

Flamoshi got back his glove. “Sheesh, I so could have done that myself.”

“C’mon, Flay.” Windoshi twiddled his thumbs. “You just knew there was going to be a Twilight Princess ripoff in this adventure somewhere, right?”

“Bleck!” Flamoshi crossed his arms.

The snows on the mountain’s peak rose up, forming a small crystal.

“I thought it was over!” cried Watoshi.

The crystal turned into a Yoshi.

“Oh.” Watoshi slapped herself. “I should’ve known.”

“Lemme guess,” said Shockoshi. “You’re Rekim. Or Xelorm. And you’re the ice dude.”

“Rekim.” She stood quite still. “I don’t do much talking. But I know you know most of what you need to know.”

“…huh?” Earthoshi was easily confused by such sentences.

“Here.” Rekim handed Iceoshi a pair of earrings. “There are the Frost Earrings.”

“…earrings?” Iceoshi gave them a look-over: a simple octahedral diamond. “How do I put them on?”

“I don’t know. Just do it. It works.”

Iceoshi moved the earrings to the sides of her head. They stuck.

“I don’t even wanna know.” Windoshi patted the ‘Rang. “I’ll stick with my laws of physics, thank you very much.”

“Where to next?” asked Emoshi.

“I don’t know. But I am sure you will find out shortly.” Rekim disappeared.

[Toomai]

Chapter Eighteen

Out And Away

The Ten began making their way down the mountain. Obviously, the descent was a lot funner than the ascent, mostly because gravity was on their side now.

As they slid down to about Xelorm’s halfway point, a rumbling grew from overhead.

“Wouldn’t you know it.” Shockoshi looked up. “An avalanche.”

The falling snow steadily grew faster. Flamoshi shot a jet of fire at it, accomplishing nothing.

“We’re perfectly safe,” said Timoshi. “Because we’re going in the same direction, we’ll just float on top of it when it catches up to us.”

“What the heck?” Watoshi was looking down the slope. “Is that a brick wall up ahead?”

A ten-by-ten-by-ten cube of Meteos was in the Ten’s path. The block was made up of Water, Air, Iron, Zap, and Soil Meteos.

“Somebody get those out of the way!” hollered Emoshi.

Windoshi chucked the ‘Rang at the blockade. Meteos scattered everywhere, letting the Ten through. But the boomerang’s wind power also collected the blocks and took them towards the thrower.

“Can’t you turn that thing off?” Poisoshi looked at the swirling swarm overhead.

“I’m collecting them!” Windoshi pulled every one of the thousand Meteos into hammerspace and caught the ‘Rang.

“Here comes the bottom!” called Flamoshi.

The Yoshis landed in a wash of snow. Having dug their way out easily, they headed back to the Refuge.

Kluoshi was surprised about the Ten’s return.

“How did it go?” he asked.

“Pretty good,” said Windoshi. “Went up, came down, got the T-shirt, moving on.”

“I see.” Kluoshi picked up a large cardboard box. “I remembered a few hours ago that when you left here the first time, you took Link’s Copy Hat along with you.”

“Yeah.” Iceoshi took it out. “You want it back?”

“Oh no. Go ahead and keep it. But also feel free to keep these.” Kluoshi handed Earthoshi the box. “The rest of the Copy Hats are in this box. Use them as you will.”

“Sweeeeet.” Windoshi donned a red helmet and started blazing around the room for a few seconds.

“What a maroon.” With some difficulty, Earthoshi squeezed the box into hammerspace.

Once the Ten left the Refuge, Timoshi looked to the Guide. “With the Meteos we have, we can now produce nexi of Earth, Gravity, Mass, and Motion.”

The Ten started fusing Meteos. The black Earth nexus displayed a simple circle, the grey Gravity nexus showed a circle with an octet of radiating lines, the second grey nexus was that of Mass and displayed a proton and four electrons, while the orange Motion nexus showed two interlocked curves.

“What’s the point of these things again?” Flamoshi asked.

Timoshi shrugged. “Who knows, but if they exist, they probably have a purpose.”

A large thud happened behind a snowdrift.

Earthoshi put his ear to the ground. “There’s definitely something very large behind there.”

A few seconds passed. The snowdrift suddenly vaporized. Bowser was standing behind it.

“Pbht!” The King Koopa shook snow out of his ear. “That’s the last time I let Morton draw the map.”

“Ack!” Emoshi fell on her behind.

“Bowser!” Flamoshi wanted to pick a fight. “What’re you doing here?”

“None’o your business, redhead.”

“What if it is?”

Bowser pointed at the instigator. “You want some o’ this? I’m grade-A final boss here! So get lost!”

“Really?” Windoshi interjected. “When was the last time you were the final boss? Sunshine don’t count.”

“Shut up!” His Awfulness stomped his left foot. “I’m on a schedule here! Turn some tail before them Yoshis get here!”

“Oh, so we’re not Yoshis?” Windoshi put on a red wig with horns. “Mwahahaha! All bow down to the one King Bowser! Get outta me way or I’ll stomp you into fishcakes! Or maybe I’ll let my breath do the talking!” He tried breathing fire but only got out a small stream. “Dang, shoulda read the manual first.”

“That’s it!” Bowser was on the rampage. “You peeps are gonna be Bowserized, and it’ll be quite pleasant, too! For me!”

Flamoshi let loose with a massively powerful flaming punch. Bowser was knocked into the ground.

“Argh!” The King’s limbs waved around furiously. “No fair! I’m supposed to win! Plus that didn’t take long enough!”

“Tough.” Flamoshi held his head up. “We don’t care about you, we’re just getting on with it.” The Ten walked away.

***

City of Yosh was visible once again.

“Man, this is turning into quite the chase, eh?” said Shockoshi. “We’re chasing through ten dungeons while being chased by Boshi, Meteos, random Pokémon, agents of shadow, and now Bowser!”

“And his whole clan, probably.” Shockoshi looked at a rock formation. “Speaking of Meteos, is that a large stack of ‘em over there?”

“Sure is.” Windoshi vacuumed the space matter into his hammerspace. “…That’s odd.”

“What’s odd?” asked Flamoshi.

Windoshi produced five Meteos: a Fire, a Water, an Iron, an Air, and a Herb. “We’re near a city and we got these. Why didn’t we get any Zap Meteos?”

“That is weird.” Watoshi scratched her head.

“And that may explain it.” Shockoshi pointed to City of Yosh.

Despite the fact that the sun had begun to set into the western ocean, the city skyline was pitch black.

“Power outage,” mumbled Poisoshi. “I guess that’s a hint, right?”

“To the electric dungeon!” called Flamoshi. The group turned towards the southeast.

The lone power plant on Yosh’ter Isle was located in the Milfet Wastelands. Some called it Zurmel Outpost, as fewer than five employees were ever required: the plant ran on star power. Seven stars supplied all the power to the Yoshi population.

“I’ve never actually seen an electric dungeon,” said Healthoshi. “Usually you get more industrial-type places.”

“I think the power plant would be industrial enough,” said Flamoshi.

“As long as it’s not like Grunty Industries,” said Windoshi. “Or Rusty Bucket Bay.”

“Shut up and keep walking.”

“Well, SORRRRRY!” The green one produced a flashlight. “Can’t we at least rest for the night?”

“No way.” Flamoshi produced a fireball and held it in his hand. “We need to restore power to City of Yosh as soon as possible.”

Timoshi brought out his DS and used it to see. “I think we’ll get to the power plant at about 9:00, so power may be back on as early as 10:00.”

“An hour to complete a dungeon?” Watoshi got her own flashlight. “That’s a little much, right? I mean, the last four were done in about half an hour.”

“Things get harder, right? I’m accounting for inflation.”

“Inflation. Oh that’s a riot.” Windoshi grabbed Wario’s biker helmet. “Mind if I inflate? I want a good speed boost.”

“NO!” Flamoshi snapped.

“Cheer up, will ya?” Emoshi had two flashlights. “Once we’re done at the plant, we’re half done the whole thing!”

“That doesn’t count sidequests and the final dungeon.”

“Yeah, but how many sidequests have we had?”

“One,” said Shockoshi. “Getting Pokémon.”

“One’s plenty,” said Poisoshi. “And by that I mean too much.”

“Speaking of Pokémon,” said Timoshi, “I expect that Iceoshi’s Eevee will become a Glaceon soon.”

“So all the loose ends are cleared up, right?” Earthoshi turned on his flashlight.

“Yup. We just gotta get to Zurmel Outpost.” The group walked on.