Chapter 1 - A Young Man is Gone
He was late.
The stork was making a delivery that morning, and it was one of the longest distances over which he had ever carried. He had begun his journey while the starry, moonless sky was still a perfect black, and the glittering stars were the only heavenly beings that cast any light upon the landscapes below. Now, the perfect black had rolled over into a sleepy velvet blue, and he was little more than halfway to where he needed to go. In a few more hours, the intended recipients would soon be awake, and after not much more time would leave their house for the day. If he did not reach them before then, he would then have to wait all day at their door for them to return before they could claim their packages.
And the stork did not have all day to wait.
Take care, and don't take risks, the stork thought to himself. Better late than sorry.
In his mouth, he carried two bags that were important, oh, so important. The cloth bags were each tied in a knot at the top, and inside were two human infants. They were twin brothers, and they looked nearly identical to each other. They were pale, and both had large heads, with brown hair, sloped foreheads, small eyes, and pointed chins. Their noses were massive - big enough for the stork to jokingly wonder to himself what they were hiding in there. To differentiate between the two of them, they had been given hats - one green, and one red.
They were peculiar children. The stork hadn't delivered thousands of children yet like some of his fellow delivery birds, and he didn't consider himself an expert in his line of work, but these two babies possessed some kind of intuition that he had never seen before. When they were first born, the hats were brought to them by an attending nurse, and they each chose their respective hat immediately, without quarreling with each other or even so much as glancing at the hat they did not choose. When the children were separated, whether by one wall or several, they always managed to find each other within only a few minutes.
Some of the stars closest to the horizon were disappearing in a haze of purple. The sun was coming up. The stork groaned to himself, and began to flap his wings faster.
The stork was typically an attentive bird. Most storks were. His reflexes were strong and quick. Carrying human babies, though, made one unnaturally slow. The stork had found in the past that he actually had to muscle his way through his reflexes in order to keep children safe. One couldn't be turning a corkscrew flip to avoid some tree or another incoming bird without the live cargo sustaining some damage, and that was inexcusable. Delivery storks needed to take care to give danger a wide berth, so that nothing could possibly go wrong.
That is, if the danger is known.
Suddenly, a shadow appeared in a gap between the clouds, and by the time the stork noticed it, it was racing toward him at blinding speed.
"SCRREEEECH!" The creature hurtled toward the stork, and just before the fateful moment, the stork was able to make out some of its features. Short beak, that curved sharply downward. Blue cloak. Pointed hat. Round, extremely thick glasses. A broomstick, that somehow empowered the creature with flight. Other than that, the stork couldn't visually interrogate the creature's appearance any more before it crashed into him headlong.
"THE BABIES ARE MINE!" the creature screamed, and with one claw outreached, it hooked the bag of the child with the green hat as it simultaneously broadsided the stork in the face with its shoulder. The stork was knocked semi-conscious in midair, and was sent spinning out of control. The second bag, containing the child with the red hat, slipped out of his mouth and plummeted out of the sky. The creature on the broomstick disappeared with the green-hat child as quickly as it had arrived, and the red-hat child hurtled helplessly toward the ground.
Yoshi the dragon was strolling through the forest near his home. He had one of the nicest dugouts owned by any green Yoshies on all of Yoshi's Island, as he would often tell his friends. Upon waking up a few minutes earlier, he had decided that he would go for a walk around his territory before he returned to his dugout for breakfast.
Suddenly, something caught Yoshi's ear. It was a kind of whistling noise, but it didn't seem to be a particularly pleasant one. It was quiet, but increasing in volume fast. Yoshi looked up, and spotted an unknown object falling out of the sky.
Thinking on his feet, almost instinctively, Yoshi jumped into the air, and began madly kicking his feet to briefly hold himself up. As he began to fall back down, the object caught up to him, and he brought it safely down to the ground on his back. Before he could even take the object off of his back to inspect it, it broke open. The flaps of the cloth bag fell apart and draped themselves over Yoshi's back, and revealed the baby with the red hat.
Yoshi stared back at the baby for several seconds, and then looked upward. No sign of another being could be seen overhead, at any height. After rubbing his eyes for a moment, Yoshi gently set the baby on the ground and turned around to have a good look at him. The baby was oddly calm for having fallen out of the sky the way he had, and he seemed to be just fine. How fortunate!
The next object that fell from the sky gave Yoshi no warning. He felt a bonk! on his head, and turned around to find a tight scroll of paper rolling to a stop on the dirt path. He looked up again, and once again, he saw nothing. His eyesight must be going south. Making a mental note to eat more carrots, he gingerly picked up the scroll with his paws. He unrolled it to reveal pictures of several islands, with lines drawn from one to another and some other characters at the top of the page.
Yoshi had seen some maps before, and thought this looked like one, even though not all of the lines looked familiar. He also knew what it looked like when babies were being delivered by storks, cloth bag and all, and correctly guessed that the baby had been dropped by a stork. He even theorized that the map came from the stork as well, and was being used by the stork to navigate to some place. Unfortunately, Yoshi could not get much farther without help, so he packed up the baby and set off to tell the other Yoshies what had happened.
"AAAAAAAAAAKK!"
Kamek the Magikoopa had just returned to the castle he lived in after kidnapping the baby with the green hat from the stork. Unfortunately, Kamek had intended to steal both babies, and simply thought they were both being kept in one bag. He did not realize his mistake until now, as he opened the bag and looked down at only one pair of eyes, blinking up at him.
Kamek turned toward the four other Magikoopas in the room. They were of the same species as he, but their dress and appearance contrasted enough with his to make it obvious even to enemies that they commanded a subordinate level of respect. These Magikoopa officers wore red cloaks that contrasted with his blue, and instead of using brooms to fly, they used propellers attached to the hoods of their uniforms. They were indeed high-ranking officials in the army, and they reported directly to Kamek. On bad days, though, he still treated them like common green-shell Koopa Troopas. And this was a bad day.
"FIND THE OTHER BABY!" screamed Kamek, jumping up and down. "DO NOT REST UNTIL HE IS HERE IN THE CASTLE!"
Three of the officers hurriedly threw open a window and dove out, flying into the distance on their spinning propellers as they chattered worriedly amongst each other. The other one, however, nervously lingered, looking up at Kamek.
"WHAT?" spat Kamek. "What are you waiting for?!"
"Sir?" asked the red-hooded Magikoopa. "Why do you need both?"
Such insolence. Kamek was so furious he could barely see. Breathing in slowly, and out again, he reached up and pulled his glasses off from his face. His eyes glazed over as he looked past the officer and out the window through which the other Magikoopas had just left.
"Mark my words, officer," he said slowly, staring through the distant window. "If you do not find this child and bring him back to me, dead or alive, you will bring a pure hell down upon our heads that we will suffer under for decades to come."
Kamek then took three steps forward to come nose to nose with the officer, and looked him directly in the eyes. "And if that happens," he said softly, "I will personally ensure that everyone in this army and their grandchildren, down to the last lowly fish, will curse your name for it all." He raised his claws and shoved the officer away from him. "Now, find that child!"
The officer Magikoopa gave a sheepish smile. "Yes, Mr. Kamek, sir," he said. He walked to the window, levitated up to meet the bottom of the window with his feet, and then turned back around to face Kamek. "I just have one more question, sir."
Kamek squeezed his wand so hard that red sparks shot from the end of it. "WHAT?"
The officer's smile disappeared, and his eyes narrowed. "What is my name?"
Kamek, wand still fizzling, stared silently at the officer. After a few seconds, the officer finally tipped backwards and fell out of the window. Kamek saw the officer reappear in the distance a moment later, with his spinning propeller pulling him through the air as he rushed to meet his three comrades.
Yoshi, carrying the baby with the red hat as well as the map, could see several of his fellow Yoshies prowling about in the communal clearing of the forest up ahead. He called out to them, and they turned and waved at him, beckoning him to come.
He had admittedly been walking at a leisurely pace to meet his friends. As far as Yoshi knew, this was a case of a single child who had simply been lost by accident. He, for the next few minutes, at least, would be blissfully unaware of the real danger at hand. Indeed, it only took the four Magikoopa officers a matter of minutes to reach Yoshi's Island, and they were already searching for the baby that Yoshi was carrying.
Yoshi looked up. A purple Yoshi was running down the path to meet him, waving one hand. When she reached Yoshi, she dug in her heels hard enough that a cloud of dust sprayed up around both of them. The baby with the red hat looked around in bewilderment, seeing everything suddenly coated in brown, and he pulled down his hat around his face so he wouldn't have to understand what was going on.
The purple Yoshi was impatient. Where have you been?
Yoshi simply pointed his thumb at his back.
The purple Yoshi glanced briefly at the baby with the red hat and then looked back at Yoshi, before her eyes widened and snapped back to the baby.
Before Yoshi could say anything, both he and the baby had been whirled up the path and into the clearing. The baby in the red hat was sat down on the ground, and Yoshi along with seven of his friends were sitting in a circle around him. As Yoshi explained how the baby had fallen from the sky, and how an unknown map had fallen with him, the other Yoshies began debating with each other. Who is this human child? Who are his parents? What happened to the stork that dropped him? Who should they bring him to? How do we find them?
As the Yoshies conversed more and more intensely, the baby with the red hat sat by himself, staring into the eastern distance. His twin, the baby with the green hat, was in that direction. He could feel it. His twin was rather far away, but he could see him in his mind's eye, and the quickest way to get there began with the path in front of him. The baby with the red hat slowly raised his naked arm, and held an open hand toward the eastbound path. His lip began to quiver as he thought of his brother, and a tear pooled in his right eye and fell down his round cheek.
Yoshi, the one that had caught the baby with the red hat, looked down at him. What he saw was nearly haunting; the baby sat completely still, failing to suppress his emotion as he silently pointed down the path. Yoshi looked down the path the baby pointed at, and understood. That was the direction they were supposed to go.
Yoshi picked the baby up and placed him on his back. He took a step toward the path the baby was pointing at, and looked back at the baby. Is this really what you want?
The baby with the red hat looked at Yoshi, and wrapped his arms around his neck, indicating his readiness to travel. That was good enough for Yoshi, and they began walking down the east path, away from Yoshi's friends.
They had made it almost forty paces before the purple Yoshi noticed that the baby was missing. She ran to catch up to them. Just where do you think you're going?
Yoshi was calm, and almost nonchalant. This is the direction the baby wants to go.
The purple Yoshi nearly laughed. How could you possibly know where the baby wants to go? This human is an infant. He can't speak, or even crawl.
Yoshi gestured to the baby. See for yourself.
The purple Yoshi looked at the baby with the red hat, but the baby with the red hat did not look at her. He may have not even noticed her. The baby simply clung to Yoshi's neck as he looked directly eastward, without moving or even blinking.
The purple Yoshi looked at Yoshi, bewildered. She didn't know what it was, but Yoshi was right. This human baby had special intentions.
Yoshi and the baby turned back around to face east, and then Yoshi looked back at the purple Yoshi. Let the others know where we've gone.
The purple Yoshi protested. You have no idea how far you're going, Yoshi. You may not be able to travel such a great distance as this. We don't even know.
Yoshi turned back toward the purple Yoshi. Well, what do you propose we do?
The purple Yoshi pointed backwards at the other six Yoshies. Get them to help us.
Yoshi shook his head. Eight Yoshies can't really carry a baby at once.
The purple Yoshi stamped one foot. No, but they can carry a baby one at a time for eight times longer.
Yoshi frowned. What do you mean?
The purple Yoshi spread her arms wide. What if we set up a relay system? Get a bunch of Yoshies involved. Not just the eight of us, but dozens of us, across the island. We could each carry the baby a few thousand paces, and then pass him on to a more local Yoshi, who would carry it to someone else in turn.
Yoshi thought for a moment, and nodded. This idea could work. But we need to get going, now. You get the message going toward the Yoshies in that direction, and I'll start walking until somebody meets me.
The purple Yoshi nodded, but put a hand on Yoshi's shoulder. Just be careful.
Yoshi smiled. You have to be, carrying a baby.
The purple Yoshi waved and then ran back to tell the other six Yoshies the plan, while Yoshi and the baby began the journey eastward.