- Chapter 6 -
Heroes United
The Castle, Bowser's Skull Egg Zone
Meanwhile, back in the BSE Zone, Bowser, Eggman, and Wily were not pleased at all. The screen had gone black after Mega Man copied Yoshi Man's Master Weapon into himself, and they could only assume what had happened.
"Dang it all!" Bowser raged, a tongue of flame escaping from his mouth. "They beat Yoshi Man! Now they'll be on to us for sure!"
"Calm down, Bowser," Wily said, both hands raised in a "take it easy" gesture. "They still don't have a clue about the existence of the BSE Zone, so time is on our side for now." Bowser took a few deep breaths, and composed himself.
"You're right, Albert," he said. "Even so, we may need a little extra help. I'm not the only bad guy from my world, and I doubt you two are either."
"So, you're saying we should try to team up with the other bad guys?" Eggman said. "How are you even sure they'll go along with it?" Bowser thought for a minute.
"Well, that's a bridge we'll have to cross when we get to it." he said.
The doctors both face-palmed at that.
"In any event," said Eggman, "we've still got the other Roboticized Masters as collateral."
The trio looked over to a group of figures concealed in shadow.
Peach's Castle, Toad Town, Mushroom Kingdom, The Mushroom World
Inside the master bedroom of Peach's Castle, a small group had assembled.
Mario and Peach were sitting anxiously on the edge of Peach's bed, where under the covers was an unconscious Yoshi. Luigi was pacing around nervously, his hands behind his back, while Sonic and Tails stood off to the side, leaning against the wall in thought. Mega Man was sitting at the foot of the bed, stroking the top of Rush's head.
It had been about an hour since the sextet's showdown with one another, and then Yoshi Man, in Rose Town. Naturally, when Sonic and Mega Man had arrived in Toad Town after the two had supposedly tried to kidnap Peach, there was a brief moment of fear among the denizens, but Mario and Luigi had managed to explain the situation and calm everyone down before bringing Yoshi to Peach's Castle. Now the group was just waiting for him to wake up so they could get some answers.
At that moment, they heard a knocking at the door. "Come in!" Peach called.
The door opened, and in came two Toads, one male, one female. It was Toad, one of Peach's loyal retainers, and his twin sister Toadette (1).
Toad wore a white mushroom cap with red spots, a blue vest with gold trim, and diaper-like white bottoms with brown shoes. Like most Toads, he was short and somewhat childlike, with no apparent legs or nose and beady black eyes.
Toadette looked much the same, though her mushroom cap was pink with white spots, with a matching pair of pink plaits. She wore a pink dress with a thin white line near the bottom under a red vest with gold trim, with the trademark white bottoms and brown shoes.
"How is he, you guys?" Toad asked, making his way over to the bed.
"He's got a few scratches and bruises, but mostly, he's just exhausted," Mega Man answered.
At that moment, they heard a rustling, and all heads turned to see Yoshi beginning to stir. His eyelids fluttered, then slowly opened, to see Mario looking at him with relief.
"He's awake!" Mario shouted. Almost immediately, Mega Man, Rush, Sonic, and Tails scrambled over to the bed.
"M-Mario?" Yoshi said, sitting up slowly.
"I'm here, Yoshi," Mario said. "Are you okay? Does anything hurt?" Yoshi shook his head.
"No, I'm fine," Yoshi said. "Just tired." Mario let out a relieved sigh.
"Okay, I think I know the answer to this already, but I've got to make sure," Mario said. He jerked his thumb at Sonic and Mega Man. "Are these two the ones who captured and did that to you?"
Again, Yoshi shook his head. "No, it wasn't them," he said.
"Then who?" Sonic asked. Yoshi closed his eyes for a minute, but then they snapped wide open.
"I... I remember now," he said. "I was still on Yoshi's Island when it happened..."
Flashback
Yoshi Village, Yoshi's Island, Dinosaur Land, The Mushroom World
The sun was shining bright as Yoshi prepared to exit his home in the Yoshi village. The village was actually rather modern for Dinosaur Land. Unlike the dome-shaped buildings of their neighbor Dome City (2), the houses were made of strong, stone bricks, with roofs made of thick wooden sticks that were tied together, whereas the outsides of the houses were painted bright colors to match the mood of the Yoshi civilization. The Yoshis were walking around everywhere, having conversations, and playing games with each other. It was just another ordinary day.
However, the day would soon prove to be not-so-ordinary, as when Yoshi opened the door, he encountered three figures. The first two, a Magikoopa wearing a blue robe and cone hat with black-rimmed circular glasses and a short, egg-shaped robot colored red, yellow, and black with blue eyes and mouth, black three-fingered hands, and a pointy nose, he easily recognized as Bowser's minion Kamek and one of the Egg Pawns they competed against in the Real World Olympic Games. It was the third figure, a tall man wearing a white jumpsuit with black-and-yellow shoulders, chest, forearms, and calves, white feet and hands, a black helmet with a yellow cobra-like hood and blue cross-shaped marking, red eyes, purple stripes on his cheeks, and a triangular blue crystal on his chest, whom Yoshi didn't recognize.
Yoshi took a step back, ready for a fight. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.
"That's not important, lizard boy," the black-armored man said impatiently. "Our bosses need you for something."
Before Yoshi could react, the man jumped forward and punched him in the face, and everything went black.
The Castle, Bowser's Skull Egg Zone
When Yoshi came to, he found himself enclosed in a glass capsule in the middle of a dark room. He rammed his shoulder into the capsule, but it didn't budge an inch.
"Don't bother struggling," a voice cut in, a voice Yoshi recognized as Dr. Eggman's. "That capsule is made of Plexiglas. There's no escape."
Yoshi searched for the source of the voice, but couldn't see anything. "What's going on?" he yelled.
"We need your services for a while, Yoshi." another voice cut in, which Yoshi also recognized as Bowser.
"As if! I'll never work for you! Never!" he said defiantly.
A third voice, one Yoshi didn't recognize, laughed at that. "Funny," it said. "You must have us confused with someone who was giving you a choice. Now, prepare to be transformed!"
Before Yoshi could ask what they meant by that, he heard a loud whirring noise, like a jet turbine powering up, and then saw a large, spherical device come down out of the ceiling, glowing with a pink light. He didn't know what was about to happen, and he didn't want to. Frantically, he pounded on the glass, desperate to escape.
"Noooo!" Yoshi yelled. "Stop! Stop!"
But there was no stopping it. The sphere shot a pink laser onto the capsule, bathing Yoshi in a pink light. He felt a strange itching sensation, and looked at his arm. To his horror, his green flesh was turning into metal, and it was spreading to the rest of his body!
Yoshi let out a scream of pure horror which was cut off abruptly as the process completed, leaving a robotic version of himself in his place.
"From now on," the three voices said in unison, "you serve us... Yoshi Man."
Yoshi was aware of what was going on, he could see and hear everything, but he had no control over his body. Some other mind, other personality, was in control, and it was this second robotic personality that responded, "Yes, Masters."
Flashback Over
Peach's Castle, Toad Town, Mushroom Kingdom, The Mushroom World
As Yoshi finished his story, everyone looked at him, expressions of mixed shock, rage, and horror on their faces.
"Those monsters!" Peach cried out. "How could they possibly do that to you?!"
"I know," Tails said. "Even for Bowser and Eggman, that's low!"
Mega Man said nothing, his eyes closed and a thoughtful expression on his face. "That boy in black armor you mentioned," he said finally. "I know him. His name is Bass."
"Bass?" Mario asked. Mega Man nodded.
"Yeah. He was created by a villain from my world, Dr. Wily."
Everyone gasped. The pieces were finally coming together.
"So, our respective arch-rivals somehow met each other, and they've teamed up to take us all out!" Sonic said. "They set us up to think we kidnapped Roll and my mom so we'd kill each other, and when we figured it out, they sicced Yoshi on us!"
Mega Man nodded. "We definitely got off on the wrong foot here," he said, holding out a hand. "My name's Rock Light, or Mega Man, whichever you prefer. And this," he said, scratching Rush behind the ears, "is Rush. I hope we didn't hurt you guys too bad."
Mario took Mega Man's hand and shook it. "I'm Mario, and this is my brother Luigi," he said. "And don't worry, no harm done."
As soon as Mario finished the handshake, Sonic shook Mega Man's hand himself. "I'm Sonic," he said. "Sonic the Hedgehog."
"My name's Miles Prower, but everybody calls me Tails," said Tails.
"I am Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom," said Peach. "These are my loyal retainers, Toad and Toadette."
"Nice to meet you," Mega Man said. "Now that I think about it, I can't believe I was tricked by that fake Mario and Sonic. Sure, they look like you two, but they're anything but perfect copies."
"Same with me and that Shadow Mario guy," Sonic said, embarrassment evident in his voice. "That fake you, though, was a perfect copy. Except for the scarf, of course."
"Now that that's out of the way," Tails said, "how are we gonna stop Bowser, Eggman, and Wily and get Sonic's mom and Rock's sister back?" Luigi thought for a minute, then smiled.
"I think I know a certain mad scientist who can help us."
Author's Note:
(1): Since Nintendo doesn't really specify Toad and Toadette's exact relationship, I've decided to make them twins here.
(2): Dome City was the city of cavemen from the Super Mario World cartoon.
Another chapter down. Please R&R.