Chapter 3: Seeing Red

Hello there, viewers! Welcome back to The Greater Hunt for Happiness! Sorry about making you all wait again… I hope you're not too mad. This chapter, we focus on Red's situation at hand and how he'll deal with it. You'll clearly see that it's a little more… extreme than Green's, but now that he's a Yoshi, will it affect how he handles the problem? Let's dive in and find out!

Deep within the forestry of Hyrule, a red blur fell to the ground. It screamed as it flew through the air, grunting when it finally made impact. Despite how painful the landing must have been, the creature was still conscious, albeit with a few bruises on its body.

"Ouuuuuuch…" the red animal cried. "That was the WORST I've ever experienced such a toss!" he said to himself while slightly dazed. "I can't remember ever being launched that far, except when…"

Suddenly, he realized that something familiar to his past had likely happened.

"BLUE?!" he called out. No one answered.

"GREEN?! VIO?! SHADOW?!" he beckoned, hoping that one of them would turn up.

"No no no No NO NO!" he began to tear up. How could they have been separated again? And just when he and Blue were finally happy together! Those rotten villains! He'd make sure that Vaati and Ganon would be given what for… But first, where WAS everyone? He didn't have his brothers with him! He felt so alone. He felt practically useless without them. What could he do all by himself?

"NO!" Red suddenly thought to himself. "I made a promise to the others when we reunited that day, and that was that I would grow stronger (especially for Blue)!" With determination, he got up, limping a little at first but then shrugging it off as he began his way through the woods.

As he trekked on by, he noticed something. This forest… It looked… familiar… As he tried finding his way out, he found that for some reason it was easier than he expected…

"Strange…" he mused. "I feel like I remember this place… But why?"

Trying to come up with a reason for this, he quickly snapped out of it and continued along. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that he had been here some time ago. He kept moving along, making left and right turns that he was strangely confident would get him out. As he made his way through, he suddenly heard a faint voice.

"The exit!" he said excitedly. He followed and listened out for the voice that got louder and louder the further along the path he went. He was going to be just fine! He wasn't an over reliant person after all!

He continued running along the road, stopping occasionally to check if he was still going the right way. While he stopped one time however, he suddenly heard not one but two voices. He took it as a good sign that he was getting closer, but as he paused again, he heard a few more voices. Not knowing what the conversation that was occurring meant, he just kept following the sound. However, with his continued voice checking, he kept noticing that there were more people than he thought there were.

"I wonder what's going on…" he murmured to himself.

As he was about to take off again, he suddenly stopped in his tracks when he heard a scream. Startled, he wondered if there was any trouble up ahead. Being a hero, there likely was. Such was his life. He bolted with a greater sense of urgency now, hoping that he wouldn't be too late. As he drew closer to the exit, he could hear the screams of horror becoming even louder. Rushing to whatever the problem was, Red kept up the pace as he could eventually see the light. In the midst of all of this, Red didn't notice that he was running extremely fast without needing to stop for a rest.

As he reached the exit, he was hit with another cacophony of frantic screeching. He looked ahead, and that was when he saw what the danger was. Suddenly, the reason why these woods seemed familiar to him made sense. He saw this picture before.

Before him, a village just ahead was coated in flames. Houses had already been reduced to ashes. People were frantically trying to rush out of the zone of calamity. Others were trying to put out the fire to no avail. It was chaos. The worst part was that this wasn't just any village. This… was Kakariko Village: the same village that had fallen under attack during Vaati's reign that time when they had drawn the Four Sword.

"OH NO!" Red wailed in despair. Having been a witness to this disastrous scene before, he was relieved the day he found out that repairs were complete. Now, that relief had instantly been replaced by fear. How could those two baddies have done such a thing AGAIN?! He began to drop and sob before furiously shaking his head. The others wouldn't want him to just sit there like that! He had to focus this time and see what he could do to help! He was a hero after all! He had to do something!

As he ran over to the suffering town, he began to recall memories of what had happened during the first time he was there. He remembered how the townsfolk had blamed him for the fire that consumed their home… Wait… That's not how it went… Well… not at first at least… He remembered this one kid who was running away from the angry mob, and Red, being Red, took his side and defended him from harm when the subject of his apparent attack on the village came up. He remembered how he soon came to regret that decision when he had found that the mischievous boy had not only taken away his sword and shield but had given him the very weapon he had used to set Kakariko alight. He remembered how quickly the child and the mob turned on him as soon as he put himself in a position to be framed. However, he also remembered that the real perpetrator in question turned out to be Shadow Link, and that he was good now… Was he? Could he have turned back to the side of evil just like that? Was he brainwashed? Was he… Was he…

Red again shook his head. He knew that Shadow wouldn't just defect like that. He knew that he had a good heart and that he only did those misdeeds to show the world that he hated being looked down upon. He knew that he would never do that again. It was funny though, because he knew that Shadow was the one who taught him not to trust everything told to you, and yet he trusted Shadow like the brother he was now these days. It HAD to be Vaati and Ganon ALONE behind this. Besides, it was Shadow who stole his weaponry. Because of that, he surely had his equipment this time.

Only, when he reached back to check, he found that not only he was missing his weapons yet again, but he also felt… a saddle?

"HUH?!" he asked in a new sense of rising panic. Looking behind him, he saw that indeed his weapons were gone.

"Vaati and Ganon must have stolen them in the attack!" he thought. "Also, hold on…!"

As he kept running, he looked down at his shoes. They were a dark blue color, the same color that they had been throughout the past week. Looking at his hands, he saw that they still had only four digits.

"I'm… still a YOSHI?!" he exclaimed in surprise. This was interesting… The villains had taken away his weapons, yet he was still a Yoshi. He figured that the transformation would have worn off by now, but it hadn't. Perhaps there was still time left in it? As he pondered over this, he took notice that he was just a few yards away from the burning village now. He was a little nervous at how the locals would react to seeing him, given that he still harbored those scary memories of that time past. He also remembered how the other Knights of Hyrule reacted to seeing a Yoshi (Blue) for the first time. But he figured that now was not the time to worry about himself. People were in peril, and it was up to him to help. There was no other choice.

He strode on into the village, hoping that everyone was at least alive like last time. He looked around frantically, hollering if anyone needed help. He didn't care that the fire was growing in size. All that mattered to him was the safety of the townspeople. He ran from house to house, from shop to inn, shouting at the top of his lungs, hoping that either he'd receive a reply or that everyone had been safely evacuated. As he darted back and forth in his search for the villagers, he suddenly heard one of them cry out from behind him.

"Hey! What are you doing there?!" he heard. Turning his head around, he saw one villager with many (hopefully all of them) behind him. Red, without a second thought, strode up to them.

"It's much too dangerous for you to go out there!" the man told him. "An adorable creature like you probably wouldn't last a second in that fire!"

"Yeah!" he heard a woman chime in. "You'll be buried in what's left of our town!"

"You're a Yoshi, right?" a girl stepped up to him. "We've heard about how your kind turned one of the heroes into a Yoshi himself one day and how he changed because of it! Thank you!" So other people had heard of Blue's story as well? "But this is no place to be right now! We think that the darkness may have been unleashed again, because some Dodongos have been burning our village down! We can't do anything about it! You should probably leave too! We wouldn't want an innocent creature like you suffering the fate we almost did! We're fine! No one has been reported dead, so you should get a move on!"

This confused Red. They talked to him as if he was someone else. Surely, they had to know it was him! He had his hat after all!

"But everyone!" he protested. "It's me! Red! Red Link! The one with the red hat!" he jumped from foot to foot as he pointed to his head repeatedly. If only he knew what news the crowd was about to break to him.

"Um… What's he saying?" another man asked.

"And why is he pointing to his head like that?" a boy questioned.

"Huh?" Red exclaimed. As he felt the top of his head, he felt only the top of his eyes. There WAS no hat covering his noggin! Not only that, but why didn't the crowd understand him?!

"(My hat! Where did it go?!)" he asked in a panic. That was when he figured out with a gasp what had happened to him: not only was he separated from the other four, but this time, he lost his weapons, his hat and his ability to speak human language! With that, it wasn't a stretch to say that he and his brothers were stuck as Yoshis permanently as well. Vaati and Ganon must have put a curse on them that basically made it impossible to tell them apart from humans! To say that things had taken a downhill turn was an understatement. Before, he was framed and forced to flee before he could even explain himself. Now, while he was getting a warmer reception (which he was grateful for in comparison to that time), NO ONE could understand who he was or a word he was saying. How was he supposed to save the town now? He began dancing around in a frantic panic, worrying that this would be the end of the village. The girl from earlier had taken notice of this and went up to comfort him.

"Hey! It's all right, big guy," she soothed. "Don't panic or worry about us. You need to get out of here…"

"(NO!)" Red refused. "(I can't-)" he stopped mid-sentence when he remembered that he couldn't be understood through verbal means. That wasn't going to work, but he had to get the message out that he refused to let these people suffer any longer. Suddenly, he remembered something… Something that he his brothers lived by… That actions speak louder than words…

Without hesitation, he turned around and went right back into the village. He wasn't afraid to try and help these people. He would gladly throw himself into the front lines for them. He would tell them that by DOING what he wanted to say. He would find these Dodongos and do the very best he could to defend the people from their wrath. He may not have had his sword and fire rod anymore, but he was a YOSHI now. There HAD to be some way that he could take advantage of this curse…

"WAIT! NO!" the villagers cried out. "DON'T GO IN THERE! YOU'LL DIE!"

They kept calling for the hero to come back to them, but the dino kept running straight towards the problem. The girl that had just comforted the hero had begun crying her eyes out, fearing the worst for him as was the rest of the town's population. He was just a simple Yoshi! What could HE do about this threat?!

As Red made a beeline through the village, he tried to find these intruders, showing eyes of determination as he made his way through. He searched for the monsters, intending to stay until the last of them was defeated. He thought of using his new sense of smell to try and find them, but he decided against it. For one, he would intoxicate himself by inhaling all of the fumes. Secondly, he didn't know what the scent of Dodongos was like, so he stuck to trying to find them manually. He was starting to become exhausted from the heat, but he didn't give up. He had just turned around a corner when he heard a deep voice that he didn't expect to hear.

"Well, well, well… If it isn't the red 'hero,'" a voice taunted. Turning around, Red saw that it was a Dodongo. He noticed that he could understand what it was saying now, probably because he was a Yoshi.

"Heh… Surprising that the SCARED one has made it THIS far, especially considering what happened the last time he was here…" another monster jeered.

"Guess he really HAS changed… But it's too bad really… For his bravery, we're going to have to give him the heat!" a third Dodongo spoke menacingly.

Looking around, Red saw three Dodongos trying to surround him. He wasn't sure how to act in accordance to this.

"It really is a shame…" the first Dodongo sarcastically added. "Who would have thought that the first one we'd have to kill would be an adorable little lizard? Oh wait… Right… GANON gave us that order…"

"So it was YOU who burned the village again!" Red angrily shouted.

"Aww… And what are YOU going to do about it?" the second one asked him. "Even when you try to look fierce, you CAN'T! You're a USELESS YOSHI, so if I were you, I'd step aside before you do something you might regret!"

"NO!" Red took a stance. "If I let you go, you'll go after THEM instead, WON'T YOU?!"

"Such anger!" the third one "complimented." "You ever heard of the scorched-earth policy? We are just a faction of Ganon and Vaati's new program to make Hyrule into OUR image! And after that, we will take over Yoshi's Island as well as this secret place they're currently evacuating to!"

"WHAT?!" Red yelped in shock.

"YOU IDIOT!" the first two Dodongos seethed at their friend. "YOU JUST GAVE THE SECRET AWAY!"

"Oops…" the third one exclaimed in embarrassment.

"DOESN'T MATTER!" Red interrupted their conversation. "I'm putting a stop to this! I-I won't back down!" he explained while clenching his fists.

"Is that so?" the first one asked. "The hero who has FEAR is going to face US all alone?"

"Maybe I'm afraid…" Red admitted. "BUT I ALSO HAVE COURAGE! I'LL FIGHT YOU GUYS EVEN IF I AM AFRAID!"

"How cute…" the second one mused. "Well, can't say we didn't warn you!" he finished as the battle began.

The fire-breathing beasts expelled their breath, Red quickly dodged out of the way. The red dinosaur knew that he needed to be patient and try to find their weakness. He could thank Vio for that lesson. Another combined flame blast came as Red tried to dodge, getting slightly grazed this time. Unrelenting, he kept on avoiding the attacks to the best of his abilities. He was doing well at first, but a few minutes into the fight, the heat was taking its toll on him.

Red swooned over in a daze, trying to focus and dodge the fire, but he was thrown to the ground before he could get out of the way in time.

"What's the matter, Red?" the first Dodongo taunted. "Too much? Well, it's too bad, 'cause it's too late to back down NOW!" he said as he blew out another stream of fire, knocking the hero back a considerable distance.

"Ugh…" Red groaned. "W-What do I do?" he thought to himself. As he trailed off into being absentminded again, one of the beasts took the opportunity to catch him off guard and let out more fire onto him. However, this time, Red not only snapped out of it, but SWALLOWED the attack on instinct.

He consumed the entirety of the flames, and as he did so, suddenly felt a spark of energy in him. The fire… tasted DELICIOUS to him! It felt like a fresh bowl of soup in the morning!

"Fireballs?! YUM!" he squealed in delight. Feeling the attack coursing inside of him, he suddenly remembered something that was common among Yoshis…

Yoshi had told him about how he and his friends played with fire all the time… A Yoshi's special power was to grow wings and breathe FIRE! That was it! Without hesitation, Red breathed his own fire-breath at the Dodongos, confident that he had finally discovered their weakness.

However, the fire had no effect on the three troublemakers. Instead, they stood in place, unfazed, before laughing.

"HA! You think THAT'LL give you the upper hand?!" one of them roared. "Just because you can turn our attacks against us doesn't mean VICTORY!"

Red, losing hope again, continued to jump out of the way of their fire, swallowing it whenever he got too close to some. He was at a loss of what to do again, continuing to eat the fire that was thrown at him, unaware that he was storing up a powerful attack.

As he evaded getting hit by a fireball hurled at him, he suddenly felt a burning feeling inside of him. Realizing that he ate too much fire, he keeled over in pain as the surrounding monsters closed in on him.

"Well, would you look at that," the second one mocked. "Looks like Red's bitten off more than he can chew! Guess the fun's over then…"

As the three Dodongos opened wide and prepared a finishing blow, Red looked up weakly at them and suddenly screamed in pain as the heartburn he had was too much for him at this point. He was unaware that doing this was about to turn everything around…

As he cried out in agony, a giant blast of fire came out of HIS mouth at full force, blowing straight through the Dodongos. While their skin was unharmed, their innards were a different story, as the fire that the red hero expelled had not only stopped their fire, but it also gave them a burning feeling inside.

"HA-! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!" one of them cried as the fire had continued to drift inside of him at a painfully fast rate. The other two soon joined him in screeching in agony, surprised and angered that Red had found out their secret in such a manner.

As he continued to breathe fire into their mouths, Red slowly opened his eyes at the sound of their screaming to find that his opponents were starting to glow… As his eyes fully opened, they went into a shocked state, surprised as the enemies that he had this capability. As he pressed on with the involuntary attack, he saw the beasts almost simultaneously self-combust. Jumping back in surprise, Red wondered what had just happened when he found that he had discovered their secret: they couldn't take attacks from the INSIDE!

"I… I did it…" Red mumbled to himself. "I… I ACTUALLY DID IT! *POPOW!*"

Suddenly realizing that he squealed in happiness in Yoshi language, Red let off a blush, though no one was there to see it. At least that's what he thought…

"BAH! THAT WAS JUST BEGINNER'S LUCK!" he heard an angered cry.

"Huh?" Red asked as he looked onward. Much to his horror, there were three more Dodongos coming towards him.

"Well… that was actually GOOD!" he heard the second one approaching him say nonchalantly. "But you can't beat US!"

With a rush of confidence from his last encounter, Red glared at them with a determined smile.

"Or CAN I?" he countered. "Your master may have cursed me to stay like this, but is that really a BAD thing?" he noted, referencing the description of this fanfiction (I mean… WHAT?!).

"Urrrrgh…" the third one growled. "You'll pay for stopping our operation! You hear me?! YOU'LL BE COOKED WHEN THIS IS OVER!"

And with that, phase two took foot. Red knew that all he needed to do was wait for the Dodongos to prepare their fire breath, and he would secure a victory. What he didn't know is that his heartburn from the last phase was still giving him that fiery power of his own. As one of the beasts opened up its mouth to scorch the young dinosaur hero, he found himself and his opponent rather surprised when Red, opening his mouth to try and swallow the fire, ended up expelling his own flames and cooking the monster from the inside out. It exploded like the three before it.

"WHAT?! NO FAIR!" the third one whined.

The remaining two took the hint to stay cautious on when to open wide, for a mistimed attack would cost them. As Red looked for an opening, he saw one Dodongo open its mouth, but before he could do anything, he took some heat in the form of another one grazing him in a sneak attack. Getting up, Red kept his focus, and, learning their patterns, saw one behind him preparing to ambush him. He turned around and fired at the attacker, literally roasting him to pieces. With one left, the rest was a cakewalk, as try as it did, it could not outsmart the red Link in any way possible. All he could do was watch as he met the same fiery fate as the other five before him.

"Wow… Thank you so much, Vio…" Red began to himself. "Thank you so much… for teaching me strategy…"

"YEAH?! WELL STRATEGY WON'T WIN YOU THIS FIGHT! NOTHING WILL!" he heard.

"More of you?" he asked.

"And we'll keep coming too! Ganon's found a way for us to endlessly regenerate, so you can try all you want, but eventually, we'll get the best of YOU!" the second Dodongo of this group said.

"Well, I can do my part in holding you guys off!" Red said with a confidential air to him. "If it means saving the villagers, then I'll KEEP fighting you!"

"Very well, then…" the first one hissed. "Soon enough, you'll FALL!"

The third movement had begun. Red, still with the fire inside of him, knew the drill and waited patiently. What he didn't expect this time was for the three enemies to suddenly try to rush him. He barely got out of the way in time, leaving them crashing into some nearby walls.

"GRRR! We're not going down so easily!" the third Dodongo seethed.

Red just kept up with his evasion, not even paying any mind to any earlier damage done to him at this point. All that mattered was saving the townsfolk from these creatures, and if it meant only being able to hold them off for a time, then so be it. He wasn't having any luck in getting the beasts to open their mouths, but as he dodged another attack, he got an idea.

Leading one Dodongo into the other, he was able to get them to crash into each other, leaving them on their backs, dazed with mouths agape.

"Score!" he thought. Wasting no time, he let loose the flames from inside of him and razed the two helpless monsters before they could act. The third one had just stood there with a mouth open wide, appalled that Red was having it that easy with them. This comedic gesture would prove to be its downfall, as Red took advantage of this event too and struck it down before it snapped out of its trance.

Panting, Red saw more Dodongos in the distance. Maybe things weren't looking so well before, but he believed more in himself now. Even without his brothers, he could prove himself a hero… He could continue to hold off these beasts… How long, he didn't know, but he'd keep doing so for as long as he could. He got ready as he saw a fourth wave coming…

And there's chapter 3! Thank you guys so much for waiting for this (I'm sorry if any of you got impatient with me, but like I said earlier, I'm trying to be more lenient on myself to stress out less. I hope you understand…)! Thank you even more so for reading! It seems that Red turning into a Yoshi has only HELPED him, as it has not only given him a method to counter the Dodongos, but also more confidence! The people treating him kinder probably helped as well! Hopefully he can hold off the beasts, but how will they stop constantly appearing? Maybe he'll find out the answer next time the story focuses on him! Until then, Pikmin-Volt out and good night to those who currently live in a time zone where it's night!