I've been wanting to write a chapter like this for a while!
If you see bold text like this...
Yoshi:_
Mario:_
It means it's them in the present commenting on the flashback!
Also I still don't have a good name for this ship. Maybe "Marishi"? Or "Yoshario"? I don't know...
Anyways let's get on with it.
[Yoshi]
"Well," I roll over on my stomach, placing my hands on his leg. "it started at the beginning. When we first met."
-Dinosaur Land, 1 year ago-
I shuddered, kicking against the walls of my egg prison. Nothing happened, not even a cracking sound. I decided to try punching it, but it was also fruitless.
Fatigued, I curled up into the fetal position and began crying.
"I d-don't deserve this..." I mumbled between my sobs.
I was the only "survivor" of the attack on my village two days ago.
I used quotation marks as my friends aren't really dead, they were trapped in eggs by some evil magic and were taken away by a wizard.
The reason I escaped the attack?
Well, I was born with a sixth sense... If there's danger lurking by, I can feel it. That day, I felt something wrong was about to happen, so I jumped into a random bush and hid in there.
Soon enough, some sort of rainbow colored dust fell over my village. My friends looked confused at the weird powder raining from the sky. A random yoshi cried out as he suddenly turned into an egg. The others started panicking and suffered the same fate as him.
I couldn't contain the scared gasp I let out. I just... watched everything unfold, too scared to do anything.
I heard the sound of something cutting the air. A weird, flying bowl-like objected descended from the sky and landed in the certain of the village. Inside it, there appeared to be a giant turtle.
"Good job, Kamek." Said the turtle. Another figure wearing a pointy light blue hat, glasses and a robe showed up riding a flying broomstick, which I assume was Kamek.
"Kyehehe, these pests won't ruin our schemes this time." He said.
'Pests? Did we do something to them? But... we yoshis are so friendly, and I never saw these people before...' I thought to myself.
I looked at the sky. Seven more turtles appeared, on the same flying bowls. They descended to the village as well, and appeared to be much younger than the one who arrived first.
"So, what's our orders?" Asked the one with green hair and glasses.
"Each one of you will take one of these eggs to your fortresses. Be extra careful, if any of these hatch, we will have serious trouble in their hands." Said the big turtle monster who arrived first.
"Why? Can't we just kill them right now?" Said the one with pink sunglasses. A shiver went up my spine and I nearly fell on my back.
'K-kill? W-why? I mean, we haven't done a-anything, why do you want to hurt my friends?'
"No." The big turtle said, in a serious tone that pretty much meant he would not accept any complaints. "We're here to kidnap Peach and kill Mario. Further bloodshed is unnecessary."
Peach? I've... heard that name before. She's the princess of the great Mushroom Kingdom.
My alarms started going off. I knew these weren't good guys. I wanted to fight them, save my friends, do something, but my legs were paralized from fear and kept me from acting. But I didn't want to let them take my friends away! I couldn't!
'Who am I kidding... There's no way I can take on nine monsters at once.' I thought.
Each of the seven turtles took an egg, saluted the big turtle, and flew away. And like that, half of my friends were gone.
"Kamek, what's the status on my castle?" Said the main monster to the robed figure.
"It's about finished, King Bowser."
'So, that's your name, huh?' I quietly growled at the figure.
"If we depart for it right now, we should arrive in time to see it finished." Kamek continued.
"Very well." Bowser took a random egg. I saw Kamek pull out a scepter and apparently cast a spell. The spell made all the remaining yoshis disappear in a puff of smoke. My eyes widened at the vanishing act.
"Our business here is finished. Let's depart." Bowser said in a cold voice, as if what he did was perfectly normal. He and his assistant jumped into their vehicles and began to take off.
"Hey!" I yelled, jumping out of my hiding spot. Now was no time to be a coward, I couldn't let them abduct my entire tribe! I rushed at the two as they turned to look at me. I jumped into the air and managed to grab Kamek's broom. I began trying to pull him off.
"What did you do to my friends, you monsters!?" I yelled. "ANSWER ME!"
Kamek tried to shake me off, but I maintained my iron grip on the broom, and on him. I saw a orange light on my left, and turned to see a fireball quickly flying towards me. It exploded upon hitting me, sending me crashing down into the island. On the way down, I hit my back on a very big tree and fell face first into the ground below.
"Awawawah..." I cried, seeing the world spin around me. I attempted to get up, but couldn't even get to a kneeling position. Kamek and Bowser slowly drifted down towards me.
"What do we have here? Looks like we missed someone. Next time, make sure to be more through, Kamek."
"Yes, m'lord."
After they said that, I blacked out. And then I woke up in my current predictment. I tried to break free, to scream, to cry, but nothing had any effect.
I've been trapped for two days now, without any food or water. In a few more hours, I'll probably wither and die.
"Please... Someone..."
I kicked the eggshell again. Surprise surprise, it accomplished a total of nothing. I wanted to cry, but my eye ducts had already dried up in the first day, so I tried to go back to sleep to save my energy.
Mario: God, Yoshi, that sounds terrible...
Yoshi: That traumatized me. I still have nightmares about it sometimes.
That's when it happened.
"Hello? Is someone there?" My eyes shot open. A voice! "Do you need help?"
"Hello? Can you hear me? Please?" I asked back. I knocked on the shell. I kept on knocking on it to try to lead the voice to my position.
I kept on knocking until I heard the distinct sound of an item box opening. I stopped knocking for a second, then I kicked the shell again. This time, my foot broke through it.
My face lit up. I punched and kicked the shell until I was free. The sunlight blinded me, but my eyes quickly adjusted and locked onto the nearest berry bush.
"Hooray!" I dived head first into it and began eating all the fruit I could find. After my short feast, my eyes locked onto the short, pudgy man dressed in overalls curiously examining me.
"Uh... Hi." He said.
"Thank you so much for rescuing me!" I shouted, running over to hug him.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on a second, greenie!" He backed up from me. "Friend or foe?"
I awkwardly rubbed the back of my head. "Well, I don't know. Are you good or evil?"
I was expecting him to stammer or something, but he immediatly answered "Good."
"Then I'm definitely a friend!" I quickly hugged him. He blushed and tried to awkwardly pry me off, but I wasn't letting go, so he gave me a few pats on the head.
"My name's Yoshi." I introduced myself. It wasn't actually my real name, but it's a lot better than it. "I tried to rescue my friends, but a monster named Bowser trapped me in that egg."
The man turned pale at the name.
"Bowser?" He asked. "You met him?"
"Sadly yes." I let out a sad sigh. "He and seven tinier versions of him with stupid haircuts abducted all of my friends."
"Seven? The koopalings are here?" The man asked, more to himself than to me. He scratched his chin and thought for a minute.
"Um, are you okay, Mr. Mustache man?" I asked him. "I mean, you haven't even told me your name yet."
The man looked at me, embarassed.
"Oh sorry, where are my manners?" He reached his hand out and I shook it. "I'm Mario. Me, my brother Luigi and our friend Peach came here for a vacation."
When I heard those names, it clicked.
"Wait, so you're Mario? Bowser said he wanted to kill you, and kidnap your friend Peach!"
Mario simply rolled his eyes, as if what I said was perfectly normal.
"You're not scared?" I asked him.
"Trust me, it's not the first time he does that. In fact, I'm on my way to save Peach from him."
"Really?"
He nodded at me.
"Then, let me help you!" I said, determined.
"Huh?"
"Bowser took my friends, and I want to help them, but I can't do it alone! Also, it seems you fought him before, and a little help wouldn't hurt you right?"
"So, what are you proposing?"
"Well, it's simple. I help you save your friend, and you help me save mine!"
"Hmm, so how do you plan on helping me?"
His voice didn't sound mocking. Instead, he seemed genuinly interested.
I did a little twirl and told him to jump on my back. He looked confused at first, but when he noticed I was serious, he complied.
"Hold on tight!" I advised him before taking off. I quickly manuevered through the level, running, jumping or swallowing enemies and cutting the ending goal's tape at it's highest point.
"Wow, that was an incredible performance!" Mario gave me a pat on the head, and I couldn't stop my cheeks from turning light pink.
"Aww, come on, that was nothing special..."
He got off my back and walked in front of me. He gently placed his hand on my nose and smiled at me.
"No need to be humble, that was really impressive!"
I looked to the side and rubbed my cheeks to hide my blushing.
"So, do you mind if I tag with you?"
Mario's smile disappeared.
"Well, I don't know... Don't get me wrong, you would be a great ally, but I don't want to see an innocent person hurt because of my feud with Bowser."
"Please, take me with you!" I kneeled. "You saw that I can handle myself, and my friends' lives are at risk... I can't just sit around and do nothing for a second time..."
He looked at me and I could see the sympathy in his eyes. He placed a hand on my shoulder and used his other one to help me up.
"Alright then. You can come with me if you want to, but please promise me you will stay safe."
"Don't worry, I promise. After all, I can't fail my tribe again."
Mario got on my back again and we set out, chatting about our lives to get to know each other better.
"So, you have a brother?" I asked him. He nodded.
"Yeah, his name's Luigi. He's probably one of the best people you'll ever meet, if I'm honest."
I blew a low whistle. "Where is he, by the way? You said he came with you, right?"
"He's protecting our hot air balloon in case anyone tries to damage it again. Don't worry, I'll introduce you two after we beat Bowser."
"You seem very confident we'll win."
He laughed. "Gotta be optimistic."
After a few minutes, we arrived at a giant castle-slash-fortress.
"Well, we're here." Mario got off my back and walked to the front gate, and I followed him on shaky legs. He turned to me and noticed I was shivering.
"Um, Yoshi, are you alright?"
Flashbacks of my time inside that dark, cramped egg played in my mind. One of those seven miniature Bowsers were there... 'Koopalings', right? What if they trapped me inside that egg again? And I wasn't rescued this time?
"N-no, I can't take it!"
I fell to my knees and tears streamed down my face as I embraced myself. Mario shook my shoulders, trying to get my attention, but I wasn't paying attention. I only snapped out of it when I felt him hug me me.
"Yoshi, can you answer me?"
"Y-yes..."
He let out a sigh of relief. "Is something bothering you?"
"Yeah..." I admitted. I looked into his eyes. "I'm... scared."
"You're afraid they'll capture you again, right?"
I nodded.
"Look, I would never let them do something to you, but, you can stay out here if you want to. I can take care of this fortress."
I nodded again.
"O-okay. Thanks..."
He rubbed the back of my head and got up. The front gate of the castle opened up once Mario got close to it. I recomposed myself and got up to my feet.
"Don't worry, I promise I'll be back safely!" He winked at me, causing my heart to skip a beat and the blood on my cheeks to heat up.
Yoshi: "This is when that 'mosquito bite' started gnawing at me."
Mario: "Mosquito bite?"
Yoshi: "That feeling I told you about, silly! The first stages of love."
"He sure is charming..." I said, rubbing my arm. I lied down on the comfortable grass and decided to take a nap.
I woke up to the rumbling of the castle's gate. Mario walked out, with an egg under his left arm and a detonator on the other. He placed the detonator down and gave the egg to me.
"I found this inside the castle." He told me as he handed me the oval object. He walked over to the detonator and jumped on it, causing the castle to collapse. I placed the egg down and knocked on its shell. It started to crack and open, revealing a yellow yoshi.
"I'm free? I'm free!"
She quickly jumped up to his feet, looking at me, then at Mario.
"Yoshi? You two saved me? Thank you so much!" She hugged me, and I returned the act.
"I'm glad to see you're safe, Yellow."
"Well, you know me! I never give up!"
She looked at Mario.
"Who's your new friend? He looks cute.~"
Yoshi: I agree!
I turned a deep red.
"His name is Mario. Also, he's the one who saved you."
Yellow gave him a hug, managing to lift him off the ground.
"I'm so, so grateful to you!"
Mario just looked at us as if he wasn't understanding anything.
"I'm sorry... What are you saying? I can't understand..."
I tilted my head. What did he mean by that?
"You can't understand us? Why?"
Now the two of them looked at me with confused expressions.
"What?" I took a few steps back.
"Yoshi, are you not noticing this?" Mario told me.
"Noticing what? What are you talking about?"
"You're speaking another language." Yellow told me.
"H-huh?" I looked down at my hands, for some reason. "What do you two mean?"
"You keep switching between English and just saying 'yoshi'." Mario told me.
Now, I was the one not understanding anything.
