Journey Of Ten

[Toomai]

Chapter Nineteen

Fumbling In The Darkness

The Milfet Wastelands were an unforgiving place. The brown, rocky crags created hazardous terrain, while the lone, blackened trees served as a constant reminder that the weather systems from the west and the north combined to produce massive thunderstorms.

Although it was not yet pitch-black, the Yoshis were having a little trouble seeing where they were going without their lights.

“You know what?” said Windoshi for the third time. “I hate the night.”

“That’s cuz you’re asleep and don’t bug people!” snarled Flamoshi.

Stars had started to appear in the night sky. The silhouette of Zurmel Outpost grew larger.

“Do you think there’s anyone still there?” asked Watoshi.

“I wouldn’t think so,” said Earthoshi. “They’d have fixed the power by now.”

A Piranha Plant popped out from the ground. It looked at the Ten.

“SYSTEM SCAN FOUND INTRUDERS!” it yelled to no one in particular. “REPORT TO BE PROCESSED. READY FOR ORDERS.” It disappeared again.

“Industrial + plants = no sense.” Windoshi flung earwax over his shoulder.

“Here we are, then.” Flamoshi looked up.

The Ten had reached the chain-link fence surrounding the power plant. The seven power towers, normally pulsating wireless power to receivers in City of Yosh and other towns, were dark. There was no movement inside the fence.

“First, how to get inside the perimeter.” Shockoshi failed to open the gate. “Any ideas?”

“We could blow it up,” said Flamoshi.

“No,” said Watoshi. “They wouldn’t like that. It’d be defacing property.”

“Kinda like this.” Windoshi slammed a plunger into Flamoshi’s face. “There. You’ve been defaced!”

In blind rage, Flamoshi punched the gate. He melted a hole right though the chain links.

“That works.” Emoshi climbed through the hole. The others followed.

The power plant’s size appeared to be bigger from inside the gate. Not surprisingly, the doors were locked.

“There’s probably a key around here somewhere,” said Watoshi.

“Would it look like this?” Shockoshi held up a lump of brass shaped like a lightning bolt. “It was easy to see on the ground when the flashlight reflected off it.”

“That might work.”

Shockoshi put the bolt’s tail inside the lock. There was a click, but the door would still not open.

“It’s probably electric,” grumbled Flamoshi. “Won’t open without power.”

“That means there’s a power generator somewhere around here,” said Healthoshi. “It’d be stupid to not have access when the power’s out, right?”

“There’s a small building over there,” said Windoshi. “Let’s check it.”

The building turned out to be a small cabin. There appeared to be three Yoshis living in it. None of them were there.

“This must be where the staff live,” said Watoshi. “But why only three of them?”

“It names sense numeroligicly,” said Timoshi. “Both the seven stars that generate power and the three who oversee them are magic numbers, and together they make ten, our counting base.”

“I don’t think ‘numeroligicly’ is a word.” Windoshi started poking around.

“Here’s where the first Star goes,” said Flamoshi. He illuminated a spike set into the ground. There was another spike connected to the ceiling directly above it.

“Weh heh heh.”

Shockoshi looked around. “I distinctly heard someone laughing at us.”

Twenty Lil’ Sparkies appeared from under a bed. They surrounded the Ten.

“Electric enemies, eh?” Flamoshi wound up. “Zapper don’t have no flame defense!” He shot fire at each of the electric balls.

“And now for a little compression therapy!” Windoshi vacuumed all the Lil’ Sparkies into a tight ball. Iceoshi froze the result.

“Now we wait,” said Timoshi. “Electricity can’t pass through ice, so they’ll peter out.”

In no time at all, the Lil’ Sparkies were dimmed. Gold shards fell from the melted ice.

“What the…oh, I get it.” Shockoshi started putting the shards together.

“You could be making a bomb, ya know.”

“Give it a rest, will ya, Poisoshi?” Shockoshi finished assembling the object. It was the first Star.

“That was easy.” Flamoshi took the Star and placed it between the power spikes. The lights in the cabin went on.

“Now we can get into the plant,” said Healthoshi.

The Ten left the cabin and easily opened the power plant’s main doors. Unfortunately, the inside was still without power and dark.

“This really stinks,” said Earthoshi.

“What’re you complaining about? You black Yoshis have the best night vision,” Flamoshi huffed.

“We were just in a lit cabin, you know.”

“Yeah,” Timoshi said. “Our eyes adjust a lot faster to light than to darkness. It’s physics.”

“More like fizziks.” Windoshi had duct-taped together a compost bin, a washing machine hose, and a refrigerator pump. “Dum, da-dum dam dum.”

“This ain’t the Mansion, Windoshi,” said Shockoshi. “We won’t find any Boos here.”

The Ten activated their flashlights. In the center of the room there was a Star spire like the one in the cabin. A sealed door was at the back of the room, while two opened doors were at either side. On the back wall was a partly-lit map of City of Yosh, indicating that a small fraction of the city had power. Two staircases led upwards.

“We’ve usually started by going left,” said Flamoshi. “Let’s go right this time.”

The Ten entered the door in the right. A massive fan system took up most of the room. A gear system linked the fan’s driveshaft to an electric motor.

“I assume this is the air-conditioning plant, but…” Watoshi thought. “Star Power doesn’t generate heat, so why would they need it?”

“Star Power isn’t the only way they make electricity,” said Timoshi. “They sometimes take lightning strikes from the frequent storms around here and convert them into power. These fans could easily get rid of the excess energy.”

There was a rumbling outside. “We’d better get through here before the zap comes and the fans go chop chop,” said Windoshi.

The Ten started squeezing their way through the metal maze. After a while, they made it to the other side of the room.

“Which way do the fans rotate?” asked Healthoshi. “I mean, if they start blowing, we’d either be pushed away or sucked in.”

“Let’s close the door and not worry about it.” Shockoshi darted into the next room.

The room was medium-sized and square-shaped, with a Star Spire in the middle. Stacked along the walls were a ton of boxes.

“I have a feeling something’s in this room,” said Timoshi.

A ghost suddenly appeared in Timoshi’s face.

“BOO!”

“Ag!” The Yoshi fell down. “Sometimes I hope my hunches are wrong.”

The Boo snickered. “C’mon, you know that’s what we do, right?”

“Yeah, whatever,” Flamoshi growled. “So what are you doing here, anyway? Aren’t you afraid of the lights coming back on?”

“Oh no. The lights’ll stay off as long as we keep this Star.”

Twenty other Boos emerged from the crates. The first one to appear backed off into the circle and produced a Star.

“We kinda need that, you know,” said Windoshi. “Savin’ the world and all that jazz.”

“I knew you’d want this.” All the Boos came together. “Well, you’re just going to have to challenge us for it…Boo!”

All the Boos flew in various directions, hiding in the room’s crates.

“If you can find the Star, it’s yours! Good luck! Hehehe…”

“Let’s do this scientifically.” Shockoshi turned to Timoshi. “You got your Temperature Sensor DS card?”

Timoshi shook his head. “I have it, but Stars don’t emit heat. And ghosts sure don’t.”

“Then let’s use the direct approach.” Flamoshi picked up a crate and busted it. There was nothing inside.

The Yoshis opened a few more crates. Some held things like tools and replacement parts, but none contained Boos or the Star.

Earthoshi kicked an empty crate. “Something tells me there’s a joke behind all this.”

“Yeah.” Shockoshi pointed to the pile of unchecked crates. “There’s only about twelve crates we haven’t opened, and there was over twenty Boos. They must be hiding someplace else.”

Windoshi lifted his finger, indicating he had an idea. Without warning, he blew away all the foam ceiling tiles. Boos were scattered around the room and the Star was dropped into Healthoshi’s hands.

The Boo leader sagged. “Oh, boo hoo. You win. Take the Star. Man, we’re really gonna get in trouble for this one…” The Boos all covered their faces, and stuck their tongues out as one before disappearing.

“Two out of seven stars collected,” said Flamoshi as the prize was placed into the spire. The room’s lights came on.

“Weh heh heh hehhh.”

Watoshi looked around. “Oh great, not that mysterious voice. Last time that happened, we fought a Blooper.”

Windoshi spotted a security camera in the corner. “Hey you! Yes you, guy behind the camera. We know you’re watching us. But don’t worry! We’ll take you DOWN! Aw yeah! Can’t touch this!”

The room was suddenly filled with blinding light and the crack of thunder stunned the Ten.

“The station’s just been struck by lightning, right?” said Shockoshi.

“I dunno. Let’s check the fans.”

Flamoshi tried to pull open the door. The massive fan suction prevented him from doing so.

“Okay, now we’re stuck,” said Watoshi. “We go out there and we’re minced. How long does it take for the fans to stop spinning?”

“Well, considering how a lot of that energy was routed to City of Yosh…” Timoshi thought for a moment. “An hour.”

“An hour?!” Flamoshi stomped his foot. “We don’t have that kind of time!”

A metallic clunk came from the wall. Emoshi looked over to the source of the noise. Windoshi had disappeared through the air vent.

“What’s that crazy clown doing now?” grumbled Poisoshi.

Earthoshi peeked into the air vent. “Hey man! Where’re ya goin’?”

Windoshi had his hands stuck to the side of the duct. “I’m going through the vent as an escape. I’ll pass a rope through for you guys to follow.” He used his hands to climb upwards.

Healthoshi’s head came into the vent. “But how are you climbing?”

A rope dropped down. “I’m concentrating wind power to turn my palms into suction cups. But you can’t do that, so just use the rope.” The shuffling continued down the ductwork.

[Toomai]

Chapter Twenty

The Purple Bramble

The Yoshis followed Windoshi through the ductwork system. After what seemed like a long time, they popped out in the entry hall.

“That worked quite well,” said Timoshi. “Sometimes your ideas are junk, but this one was great.”

“Move along,” grumbled Flamoshi, cleaning dust bunnies out of his nostrils.

The door on the left was closed. Shockoshi pressed his hand onto the panel to its right, but it didn’t open.

“Funny,” he said. “I distinctly remember seeing this door open before.”

Suddenly, a Piranha Plant sprouted under the panel.

“INTRUDERS ATTEMPTING TO ENTER SEALED PREMISES!” it yelled. “TWO STARS ALREADY STOLEN. REPORT!” The plant disappeared.

“Whoever’s here wants us out,” said Emoshi.

Poisoshi rolled his eyes and mouthed the word “duh”. Emoshi turned on him.

“Excuse me, but did you just ‘duh’ me? You can’t go around ‘duh’ing girls behind our backs!”

Poisoshi swelled his shoulders but quickly drooped.

Shockoshi tried opening the door again. It slid open, much to the Ten’s confusion.

“So what, did the lock just time-out? Did the plant people change their mind about us?” Earthoshi voiced the questions.

The room was just as large as the fan room, but almost completely empty. At the room’s far door lay a small wooden cabinet, which gave a shudder every few seconds.

“Why would they not want us in here?” asked Flamoshi. “Just a box.”

“A moving box,” corrected Watoshi. “There could be anything in there.”

“Well, someone’s gotta take a look.” Flamoshi moved over to the box. He waited a few moments and pulled the lid open.

A huge cockroach, as large as Flamoshi, reared out of the box. He closed the lid with a scream.

“Ooh. Not good. Somebody call pest control over here!” Windoshi hollered.

The usually fierce Flamoshi was sitting on the metal floor, quivering uncontrollably.

“I can only imagine what kind of a shock that would be,” said Healthoshi. “Flamoshi is dead scared of cockroaches, and for one that big to get right in his face…”

“I’ll take this one, don’t worry man.” Earthoshi patted Flamoshi on the back as he grabbed the massive hammer Windoshi held out to him. “I’m not scared of bugs.”

Flamoshi nodded meekly and crawled away, still shaken. Earthoshi threw open the casket.

The giant cockroach loomed again, but before Earthoshi could do anything, it had flown upwards. Seconds later it was no longer a bug, but a mass of jumbled colours as it seemed to be thinking, configuring itself like a Rubik’s Cube.

And then, quite suddenly, the floor was awash with a massive painting of City of Yosh, viewed from thousands of meters above the ground.

“AAGH!” Earthoshi dropped the hammer and covered his eyes, crawling into the room’s farthest corner. The floor painting leapt off the floor and flew back into the cabinet, which closed.

“What in the name of Cluex happened?” yelped Emoshi.

“It’s a Boggart,” said Timoshi. He read from the Guide, “Boggarts are shape-shifting creatures who hide in small, enclosed spaces. When they see someone, they instantly transform into whatever that person fears the most. Obviously, it cannot frighten two people at once, so teamwork is essential when against one. Their own true fear is laughter.”

“It turned into a cockroach when it saw Flamoshi…we know Flay hates them!” exclaimed Shockoshi.

“Don’t call me ‘Flay’!”

“And when it saw Earthoshi, it turned into a floor painting…” Timoshi thought for a moment. “I assume it was the only way to implement a fear of heights…”

“So how do we oust it? Just laugh?” asked Watoshi.

“I assume so. But one person has to face it, or it won’t work.”

Iceoshi stepped forward. Without a word, she opened the box.

A bunch of Yoshis stepped out of the casket, all grey and red-eyed. It was obvious they were jeering and insulting Iceoshi, but luckily, no one could hear.

“HOTDOGS! GET YER HOTDOGS, RIGHT HERE! Bonus points to those who can eat the most without having a fart! In other news, Sirius Black goes grey! More at eleven. I blow my nose in your general direction, you silly seafaring psychopaths! OH NOES, IT’S SNAPE! GET THE SHAMPOO! And a grand ole welcome to you too, you beefy blockheaded blue-bellied Bulgarian bumblebee! As Dorguy the Twelfth always said, ‘Don’t misunderestimate my door-y-ness!’ I SHALL CLEAVE THE DARK MOULDY BREAD OF THE THING THAT IS YOUR DEPRESSION AND REPLACE IT WITH A NEW, BRIGHTLY-COLOURED LUXURY LOAF WHOSE COLOUR WILL SURELY ERASE THE NEGATIVES IN THE HEAD OF YOUR DEPRESSED BODY!!!”

The Boggart-Yoshis exploded into wisps of smoke. Windoshi took a breather while his companions still laughed. Iceoshi stuck her shaking hand into the wooden box and pulled out the third Star.

“Three down.” Watoshi led the way into the next room. Although it was the same size as the room with the Boos, it had nothing at all in it except for a hovering, brightly coloured platform. A Star Spire sat behind it.

“A…revival platform?” wondered Flamoshi. “What’s it doing here?”

Shockoshi jumped onto the platform. Nothing happened.

“It doesn’t seem to do anything,” said Emoshi. She put the Star into the spire.

“Yeah.” Shockoshi jumped off. “I wonder why they have one here. It’s not like there’s danger normally.”

“Let’s head back, then.” Windoshi left the room, the others following.

The Boggart room, although left alone for only a minute, had radically changed. Now there was a huge round cage in the center.

“Something weird’s up here,” said Timoshi.

“What, a cage appearing?” asked Flamoshi.

“Not that…did anyone just get a dose of deja vu?”

Healthoshi thought for a moment. “Yeah, now that you mention it.”

“Strange.” Earthoshi scratched his head. “Me too.”

Everyone seemed to have the cage in their memory rather than their vision.

“So what do we do?” asked Poisoshi. “I don’t suppose anyone remembers if there’s anything bad in there?”

“Actually, yeah.” Windoshi covered his eyes, straining to remember. “We’ve been here before…we entered the cage through the top…and we fought something…but then…I don’t know.”

“But that’s impossible.” Timoshi stated the facts. “We’ve never seen this before, we’ve only been in this room once, and we definitely haven’t fought anything in a cage before.”

“Maybe we died.” To everyone’s surprise, Iceoshi spoke.

“Funny,” muttered Flamoshi, having the same memories as Windoshi. “You’d think we’d have stopped walking around…”

“Wait a minute…” Shockoshi had an idea. “The revival platform! If we did die, we’d have returned to the point in space-time where I stepped on it, but with memories of the death!”

“Well, we won’t get anywhere without moving.” Flamoshi climbed up the side of the cage and dropped inside. The others followed.

“Weh heh heh heh.”

“There’s that stupid voice again,” grumbled Earthoshi.

Healthoshi had a sudden flash of insight. “Everybody jump!”

The Yoshis leapt onto the cage walls. Massive, purple spiked vines sprouted from the ground, covering the whole floor.

“Good call.” Windoshi dropped into a clear spot. “If that wouldn’t have done us in, whatever comes next probably would.”

“Take this, you precarious plants!” Flamoshi started firing flames at the vines. They disappeared into the ground.

A hole opened in the ceiling and water started gushing into the cage. The outside walls solidified, turning the cage into a tank.

“Swimming time.” Watoshi sat on the bottom of the tank.

Once the tank was full of water, the spiked vines started covering the walls.

“Is the room gonna fill up or what?” Emoshi looked around. “Are they gonna fill us in?”

“Let’s not find out.” Flamoshi started winding up.

“That won’t work, you know,” said Timoshi. “You can’t boil just one part of a tank of water. You’d boil us, too.”

“Drat.”

“Well then let’s get rid of the water.” Flamoshi turned to Watoshi. “What can you do?”

The blue Yoshi shook her head. “There’s no way I can get rid of all this water. Maybe half of it, but that wouldn’t help.”

Iceoshi froze some water into an iceberg, which floated to the top of the tank. The Yoshis all climbed onto it as she froze the rest of the water.

“Now we’re standing on a frozen water tank. What does that do?” asked Earthoshi.

Flamoshi responded by evaporating the whole ice block, burning the plants in the process.

Windoshi stood in the middle of the empty cage. “What d’ya got next for us, eh?” he yelled to the ceiling.

Potted Piranha Plants dropped from the hole in the ceiling. The Yoshis dealt with them easily.

“This guy’s a chicken,” said Shockoshi. “This isn’t even a challenge!”

“Aw yeah?” The voice echoed around the room instead of coming from a PA speaker.

“Show yourself, you big brainless buffoon!” cried Windoshi.

A purple blur dropped into the cage. He dusted off his black overalls and presented the back of his glove to the Ten, brandishing his yellow “L”.

“It’s-a me. Waluigi!”

[Toomai]

Chapter Twenty-One

Multus Puniceus Pugna

“Oh look, it’s the guy with the silly name,” said Windoshi. “Whatcha gonna do, dance on us?”

“Quiet, you-a big baby!” Waluigi snarled.

“Why are you here, anyway?” asked Flamoshi. “This is Yoshi territory.”

“Because I-a feel like it! What’s-a wrong with that?”

“Betcha Wario’s here somewhere,” muttered Shockoshi.

“What does it-a matter to you?” The purple one preened his mustache. “Your-a exit is coming real-a soon!”

“At least we aren’t stick figures, Gumby!” Windoshi commenced the trash-talk.

“I’ll-a stick it to you, you-a gimpy green gulper!”

Flamoshi fired a beam of heat at Waluigi, intending to cause heat stroke. But the adversary pulled out a yellow gem and put it in the line of fire, redirecting the attack in Iceoshi’s direction. She blocked it with an ice cube.

“You-a likey this jewel?” The purple one held it aloft. “This here’s-a the Refractor Diamond-a!”

“Refractor Diamonds are beam redirection items,” Timoshi quoted form the Guide. “They cause any sort of electromagnetic wave, and even some energy beams, to be aimed at a different target.”

“Shut-a up!” Impatient, Waluigi pulled out two long spiked vine whips. “It’s-a over!”

Windoshi gasped in mock horror. “Oh no! It’s Majora’s Wrath! With EGGPLANTS!”

The attack was surprisingly quick. The beserk vine whips flew everywhere, hard to shield and even harder to dodge.

“Here he is.” Timoshi hid behind an ice wall while he read the entry. “Waluigi is a dirty, cheating sneak who will do whatever he can to get what he wants. As Luigi’s opposite, he shares the green one’s jumping abilities and second-banana properties. He’s difficult to classify: he has an affinity for plants and a poison-type personality, but also has some water-based moves and a rumoured elasticity ability. If he were more trustworthy, he would be an excellent spy; pretty much the only thing he hasn’t managed to crack into is the Smash Bros. Main Campus.”

A vine snapped the book out of Timoshi’s hands. He snagged it back with his tongue and dove behind another ice shield.

“Take this, purple pirate!” Windoshi leaned out from behind the frozen wall and chopped Waluigi in the hand with the ’Rang. He dropped his left whip, which Earthoshi grabbed, rolled into a ball, and kicked to the other side of the room.

“Fuse alight!” Flamoshi lit the end of the second vine. The fire traveled up the bramble quickly. Waluigi responded by wrapping the rope around Emoshi, who was saved by Watoshi. Two more vines were instantly produced.

“Oh, shazbot!” Windoshi let loose with one of his crazy phrases.

Iceoshi threw the R-Bomb at Waluigi’s feet. The purple one escaped by vineshotting to the other side of the room. Watoshi followed with the Spring-Reel and landed on his head. Flamoshi grabbed the vineball with the Reel and set it alight, handing it over to Windoshi who shot it at Waluigi with a spring-loaded boxing glove. The skinny one dodged easily as the projectile exploded on the back wall.

Shockoshi pointed out the window. “Look! Over there!”

Completely fooled, Waluigi looked. “What? There’s-a nothing there…”

Earthoshi grabbed Waluigi’s legs and started spinning him around, finally letting him fly through the window.

“Yikes,” said Healthoshi. “He’s fierce!”

In short order, the Wa-man clambered back through the window.

“You’re supposed to be gone,” said Windoshi. “Or at least in the incinerator.”

“You-a cheated!” Waluigi spat.

“We reciprocated.” Poisoshi was leaning on the wall again. “Now give up.”

Instead of giving up, Waluigi pulled out a Super Scope. He pressed a few buttons.

The Super Scope’s business end glowed purple. “Dark Beam online,” it said in a sinister computer voice.

“Uh oh.” Timoshi started flipping though the Guide. “Hopefully the Dark Beam can’t rapid-fire…”

Unfortunately, it could. Waluigi started shooting purple splotches around the room haphazardly.

“Shields up!” Watoshi produced a wall of water, dissipating incoming shots. Waluigi countered this by charging up the Dark Beam, blowing chunks out of the water block.

“Go Reflector!” Windoshi donned Fox’s helmet and reflected a large shadow ball. It hit Waluigi in the face, knocking him over.

“That should be Phase 2 over.” Flamoshi stood up egotistically.

“And-a Phase 3 begins!” The purple one stood up, eyes glowing. He started running around randomly with surprising speed, applying punches and kicks to anything in the way.

Flamoshi shot a few beams of fire but missed with them all. “Man, this guy’s fast!”

Iceoshi laid a layer of ice in Waluigi’s path. But instead of causing him to slip, it simply increased his speed.

“B’nanas!” Windoshi gulped an entire bunch of yellow fruit, spitting the peels across the room. The purple blur avoided all of them. “Folks, we have a dodgy-type miniboss here.”

Waluigi suddenly stood still. But he was still impossible to hit: he was swaying to dodge every attack launched his way. He seemed to be enjoying himself. Then he pulled out a Smash Ball.

Shockoshi took one look at the rainbow sphere and lunged for it. Waluigi kept it away by stretching his arm to magical lengths, proving the elasticity rumour.

Windoshi pointed the ‘Rang at the Smash Ball and started a large vacuum. While Waluigi was distracted holding onto the orb with both hands, Earthoshi literally kicked his butt, sending him across the room. The Smash Ball floated towards Healthoshi, who grabbed it and put it into hammerspace.

Greatly angered, Waluigi started sprinting around again. But his rage caused him to not concentrate fully, and the Yoshis were able to hit him a bunch of times. Finally, the purple one collapsed.

Flamoshi stood over him. “You’re done, ‘k?”

Windoshi vacuumed the Refractor Diamond out of Waluigi’s pocket. “Da da da daaaaah!”

Grumbling, Waluigi crawled out the door.

[Toomai]

Chapter Twenty-Two

The Cavernous Wasteland

The Fried Fork was a questionable joint on the southwestern fringes of City of Yosh. Although the combo diner and bar had seen its fair share of shady regulars, it had never before played host to the King of the Koopas.

“Get me a beer or lose your ear,” shot Bowser to the bartender before sitting down. The Yoshi gulped and poured a large mug of Koopa’s Klearest, setting it down in front of the grumpy tyrant.

Bowser took a swig of the stuff and started mumbling. “Why do these Yoshis keep beating me up? And no one seems to know where they are. And what’s with this brownout?!” he roared to no one in particular.

The lights flickered, dimly casting strange shadows on the walls.

“I-it must be the power plant, sir.” The bartender was visibly shivering.

“Dips.” Bowser took another large gulp. “I sent those Wario Bros. there for a reason which didn’t include putting this place in the dark. Now they’ve alerted the whole city!”

The bartender thought it best to not question the disgruntled one’s muttering. He backed away to clean some glasses.

~~~

“Three Stars down, four to go.” Flamoshi strutted out into the middle of the power station’s main entrance.

“The question is, where are they?” Timoshi looked at a tourist map. “We’ve covered the whole plant except for the control center and roof.”

“Yeah, and having all of them there would be too easy.” Shockoshi looked around. “Say, what about the basement?”

“I suppose it’s worth a look.” Watoshi went to a door in the middle of the room, uncovering a descending flight of stairs.

The room at the bottom of the stairs was unquestionably a basement. Old cardboard boxes littered the floor with a single fluorescent tube held on the ceiling.

“Oldy and moldy.” Windoshi shone his flashlight into a corner, spooking some Squeaks. “Well there’s our first Kirby cameo.”

Poisoshi rummaged through some boxes. “Something tells me there’s not a Star here.”

“What about in there?” Earthoshi pointed out a small hole in the left wall, just big enough for a Yoshi to climb through.

Timoshi poked his head through the hole. “Woah…” He climbed completely through the opening.

As the other Yoshis followed, a great sight was seen. A massive cavern extended underground, lit with Lightstones and comprised of suspended limestone pathways. Four specks of light were seen in the distance.

“What the heck…?” Flamoshi looked around, obviously confounded.

“It’s the Great Subelectric Cavern,” said Timoshi. “They store some of the heavy-duty generators down here.”

Healthoshi looked back at the hole in the cavern wall, seeing the power plant’s basement inside it. “The light from the basement is actually pretty bright down here.”

“It’s almost like a shaft of light,” said Shockoshi.

“That’s good,” said Flamoshi. “It’s shining down the pathway.”

“Only until the first turn,” pointed out Windoshi. “Good thing the Lightstones are around.”

The Yoshis started walking down the path. In short order they were swarmed by Swoopers.

“Argh!” Shockoshi punched a bat in the nose. “What’s with these guys?”

“Defense, maybe?” Timoshi dodged a diving Swooper and let Flamoshi blast it.

“How far downwards do you think this thing descends?” asked Watoshi, looking down off the edge of the path.

“Probably far enough to not really matter,” said Shockoshi as he kicked a Swooper.

Once the bats were all knocked away, the path was followed once more. When the Yoshis got to the bend in the path, however, a roadblock was found.

“It looks like a huge block,” said Windoshi, pointing to the massive cuboid boulder that stood on the path after the turn. “And it’s got some sort of shape painted on this side.” There was a four-pointed star.

“I would suggest that’s a weak point,” said Flamoshi. “Get Earthoshi to punch it.”

Earthoshi stepped up to the obstacle and wound up a haymaker. But the punch only damaged the Yoshi’s knuckles.

Windoshi held up a sign saying “U FAIL” in the Unown font, but quickly put it down and grinned when Flamoshi gave him a look.

“The symbol looks like it’s glowing a little,” said Healthoshi.

“Could be an illusion caused by the fact that our shadows are blocking the light from the basement.” Timoshi thought for a moment. “Actually, that makes no sense.”

“Try getting out of the way of the light,” said Watoshi. “Maybe direct light weakens it a little.”

The Ten shuffled to the edges of the path. The shaft of light’s focus point turned out to be just a bit below the mark, and nothing happened.

“Well, that plan failed…” started Windoshi.

“Hey…” Shockoshi pointed towards the entrance. “Is that something above the crack in the wall?”

The Yoshis walked back to the hole to see a cylinder mounted above the opening.

“It seems to point towards the symbol on the block,” said Flamoshi. “But what is it?”

Timoshi had an idea. “Maybe this is a light beam redirection puzzle.”

“Could be,” said Shockoshi. “We did just get that Refractor Diamond.”

Windohis took out the jewel and put it in the light. The flat surface of the diamond redirected the beam right into Poisoshi’s face.

“Whoops!” Windoshi sidestepped the incoming kick and corrected his orientation, aiming the light towards the mounted cylinder. The cylinder lit up, projecting a red laser beam square at the symbol on the roadblock. The obstacle started to melt like ice.

“That’s…interesting.” Flamoshi watched as the block completely vanished. Just behind it, on a turn in the path, was a large pillar that the beam was now on. A Smash Ball emerged from the roadblock’s residue and started hovering around.

“Another Smash Ball, eh?” Windoshi sucked it into hammerspace. “These things may come in handy sometime.”

A Golbat swooped in from nowhere and shrieked. Iceoshi released her Glaceon and got it to use Ice Fang, causing the assailant to freeze and plummet into the darkness.

“Is this laser thing in the Guide, Timoshi?” asked Healthoshi.

“Not really. It’s just a light-activated emitter. Nothing special about it.”

Shockoshi went up to the pillar the beam was now shining on. “Hey, the back of this pillar is flat!”

“Is there anything on it?” asked Watoshi.

“Can’t tell. It’s too dark behind here.”

“Could you turn it around?” Flamoshi came up to look at the object. The others followed. “It’s got these handle-like holes in the sides.”

The two Yoshis started trying to rotate the pillar. After a bit of exertion, it swiveled around, revealing a mirror on the back side. The mirror redirected the laser beam along the next segment of the path, melting a previously-unseen block and revealing a Star.

“It seems we have to get the light to follow us in order to progress,” said Timoshi.

Suddenly, the beam of light vanished.

“Don’t tell me this is on a timer,” grumbled Flamoshi.

A small, sharp laugh echoed in the darkness.

“Boos.” Watoshi turned on her flashlight. “They probably turned the emitter off.”

“Could we maybe use our flashlights instead?” suggested Earthoshi. “It’ll be easier then coming back here all the time to turn the light back on.”

Timoshi thought for a bit. “I doubt it. Flashlights scatter light too easily. The emitter’s more like a laser; it’s guaranteed to get through the whole place.”

“So…what do we do?” asked Healthoshi. “We can’t stay behind and go on at the same time.”

“Yeah we can,” said Windoshi. “One of us would stay behind to guard the light so the Boos wouldn’t turn it off.”

There was creaking. Watoshi shone her flashlight at the mirror to find a bunch of Boos resetting its rotation. They quickly scattered.

“Looks like someone has to guard every segment of this operation,” said Flamoshi. He started fixing the mirror again.

“So who guards the light and this mirror?” asked Emoshi.

“Well…” Timoshi brought out the ten-coloured spinner. “We spin for it. The chosen two guard the light and mirror 1.”

He spun the spinner twice. Emoshi was selected to guard the light, while Earthoshi was assigned the mirror.

“We’ll use Pictochat to keep in contact,” said Shockoshi.

Two Yoshi stayed behind to activate the beam and mirror, while eight others started down the rest of the path.