This chapter's a bit shorter than the previous couple, but the next chapter will be about double this. Part of Emmy, Lucas's and the tribe's past are revealed!

On another note, I'm aware of the mary-sueish tendancies that Emmy has. I try taking the mary-sue test every day just to see if she's heading in the wrong direction. So far I've been able to tone it down a lot, but my writing sometimes reflects things differently than when I think them. Let me know if you think she's to sue-ish!

Other than that, enjoy!


"Look at the sky!" Mario exclaimed, closing his eyes and feeling the wind on his face. "Isn't it beautiful?"

Peach was equally as happy as Mario to be out in the open air again. They'd spent an hour walking through the dark tunnel, however, Rosie seemed not to care and only encouraged them to press on.

"Must hurry!" she said, flying ahead. "Must reach river by nightfall."

Mario looked up to see that the sun was setting on the top of the gorge. Anything outside the gorge would have another two hours of sunlight at the least, but anything trapped inside the gorge would have early nightfall. Aware of this, Mario, Peach and Rosie continued on, while Mario and Peach tried to decipher who Rosie worked for.


Luigi listened intently as Emmy and Lucas described tribal life to him. The markings on their faces signified what they did. The common people wore simple brown stripes across their cheeks signifying earth, the people in the Wisdom Council wore green markings signifying plants, the warrior wore red markings signifying fire, and the chief wore blue ornate markings signifying water and sky.

They worshiped a goddess by the name of Didajne, and all who died in the tribe left the earth to go to an endless jungle and live in peace.

There were gatherers and hunters, cookers, clothes makers and watchers, who watched over the children. The jungle extended far past the gorge, and beyond that was the desert where the Coha tribe lived, with their leader Gatz.

"When Luigi and I were on our way here, we noticed the passageway was blocked," Emmy pointed out. "Did something happen to it?"

Lucas shook his head. "Chief Sandro has changed a lot in the tribe. He won't let anyone leave the tribe. He says that it is a sin against Didajne to leave. So he's blocked the passageway. The secret way is still open, though."

Emmy sighed. "Good. Well, Sandro better get his head back in the game. Let me guess, he said that my leaving was against Didajne?"

Lucas nodded. "Yes, he said that. There's something else he's done that no one really cares for. He's broken the peace treaty with Gatz and the Cohas."

Emmy's eyes widened. "What? Micah worked forever to achieve peace with them! What did he do?"

"He's refused the Cohas their land in the jungle. He said it is rightfully, by the will of Didajne, to belong to the Macachi."

Emmy shook her head. "And there is nothing we can do…"

"Why don't you just overthrow him?" Luigi asked, but then suddenly regretted his question.

"Are you insane?!" Emmy said, wide-eyed. "No. Now that is a sin against Didajne. You can be exiled for that."

Lucas, however, seemed not to care about Luigi's comment. "I… I agree," he said finally. "Chief Sandro should be overthrown."

Emmy turned her head towards Sandro and laughed. "Okay, now you are insane."

Lucas said, "No, Emmy, I'm serious. I know it says that it is a sin against Didajne, but the code also says that the family line will be broken when the world agrees again. I know you remember learning that. We always thought we'd be the ones who would overthrow the chief and then rule together. Emmy, I think I was meant to be the one to fulfill that. I think I'm meant to be chief."

Emmy remained silent and twiddled with her fingers. She looked over at Luigi. "You want to go visit some other people?" she asked.

Luigi, suddenly aware of the uncomfortable situation he was in, nodded his head.

"So that's what you do?" Lucas said, offended. "You run away from the situation. Just like you ran away from here two years ago."

Emmy turned on Lucas, hostile. "I did not run away! I left with the blessing of Chief Micah himself. I left to find my parents."

"Oh, you were real successful in that, weren't you?"

Luigi got out of his chair to leave.

"Luigi, no," Emmy said, grabbing his arm. "Please stay. I'm sorry."

Luigi reluctantly sat back down.

After a minute of silence, Lucas apologized. "I'm sorry, Emmy. I really shouldn't have said that. I just kind of got caught up in it."

Emmy nodded. "I'm sorry too. You're mad at me, aren't you? For leaving?"

Lucas sighed. "It was two years ago, it's pointless for me to be mad at you anymore. I am leading a revolution, though. I already have some people who'll support me when I become chief. Talon, Kavu, Tia…"

"Fine," Emmy said. "I believe you. I'm not staying here that long." Quickly changing the subject, she asked, "You want to go play strikers?"

Luigi asked, "You play strikers here?" Just then a tremendous crack of thunder echoed overhead, and a raging downpour fell from the sky.

"So much for that idea," Luigi remarked.


"Hurry!" Rosie yelled, soaring ahead towards the top of the hill. "Rain!"

Mario and Peach looked up to see the rolling thunderclouds glow briefly with lightening. A few drops fell onto the ground, and the two quickened their pace to keep up. Suddenly the rain was coming down by the gallons, soaking Mario and Peach within seconds.

They raced to the top of a hill where Rosie waited, all the while trying not to trip over the roots and vines of the forest floor.

"Stand under tree!" Rosie called from atop the tree branch she was perched on. Mario and Peach were currently happy, however, under Peach's umbrella.

"Rest here until tomorrow," Rosie said, and then promptly tucked her head under her wing falling asleep.

Peach sighed. "Well, I guess we better start setting up camp…"

Still under the umbrella, they walked over to the tree and found it unbelievably dry underneath. They unpacked their tent, and then the two took shelter from the rain, and waited for the storm to pass.

Mario's vision faded, and suddenly he was back in his dream he'd had almost a week ago. He remembered the trees falling, the chief of some jungle tribe taking away the child of a couple who had to be left behind. The realization hit him like a bullet bill, and he then explained his dream to Peach.

"This is the same jungle!" he exclaimed. "I'm sure of it. Someone who lives in that tribe is that child! And the thing from the trees. I still can't figure out what it is."

"Big beast!" Rosie chirped, having listened in one Mario and Peach's conversation. "Big beast come for Macachi child."

"What did the beast look like?" Mario asked desperately.

"Rosie no there. No talk about." With that she tucked her head back under her wing and fell asleep.

Mario and Peach both sighed. The answers to their many questions would have to wait untl they reached the tribe.


The previous day's rain had lasted until midnight, and in the morning when Luigi looked out of the window, he could see earthworms all over the soggy ground. He'd spent the night in the same hut as Emmy, and Luigi had hardly slept at all that night, what with the constant rain and having to sleep in a hammock.

Luigi looked down below him. His hammock was situated above Emmy's hammock, and he wondered how he would get down. He knew if he sat on the edge, he would fall straight down, so he sat up, found his balance, and then leapt flawlessly to the ground. He looked at Emmy, who had a rather large drool spot next to her open mouth and had her arm hanging lazily off the hammock, laughed silently, and left the hut.

He began walking around aimlessly, examining the huts that were beautifully crafted and the busy work of all the tribe people. Three were lighting a fire in the giant fire pit, while others were coming back with giant slabs of meat or baskets of berries and leaves. He kept walking further and noticed a pen with five yak-looking creatures.

Seeing Lucas out of the corner of his eyes, Luigi ran over to him. "Lucas!" he called out. Lucas turned around and walked towards him. "Sorry, Luigi," he said. "I would show you around some more, but I need to go keep watch with the troops. We got word of two people nearing the village. Is Emmy up yet?"

Luigi shook his head. "No, I should go see if she is, though."

Lucas smiled. "Wake her up if you have to. I'll see you around. Maybe later we can all play a game of strikers?"

Luigi nodded. "Sounds like fun!" He then raced off, slightly lost, back to Emmy's hut. He stopped in his tracks as he realized something… two people nearing the village? Mario and Peach!

He ran back to go find Lucas, but he was already out of sight.

"You okay, Weegie?"

Luigi turned around to see Emmy standing in front of him, her hair disheveled and her face red from where she hd been sleeping. "Weegie? How do you know that's my nickname?"

"You said it when you celebrated on the shuttle," Emmy said, smiling with the memory of that day. "Is it okay if I call you that?"

Luigi shrugged. No one but his brother and him called him that. "I guess it's okay," he told Emmy. "Listen, apparently two people were spotted outside the tribe. I think it might be Mario and Peach. Lucas said—"

Emmy waved a hand. "They'll be fine. With the rain and the secret way and all, the Rosie should get them here by nightfall. It won't be awhile. C'mon, let's go find Lucas and tell him to stop with his warrior duties. We have a game of strikers to play!"

The two set off towards the front part of the village, where Luigi and Emmy had fought Lucas. A question entered Luigi's mind, and he asked, "How come you all speak the same language as us? I mean, well… during the battle with Lucas I noticed the chief said something in a different language and all…"

"Why do we talk like you and have some of the same activities as you?" Emmy asked, smiling. Luigi nodded, and Emmy continued, "Well we did use to have our own language, about 300 or so years ago, until a group of scholarly toads from your lands came here and taught us their language. Suddenly it all just kind of caught on. They taught us strikers, chess, checkers, and a whole bunch of other stuff. The old language, as we call it, is pretty much dead now. No one speaks it. As for the battle, since that was a ritual, we kept those words. Answer your question?"

Luigi nodded, and then quickened their pace until they ran into Chief Sandro. "Greetings, Emmy and… sorry. I seem to have forgotten your name."

Emmy turned her face away from Sandro as Luigi replied.

"Oh, my apologies Luigi. And where are you two going?"

Emmy said, "We're going to go see what Lucas is up to. We want to play a game of strikers with him."

Sandro looked conspicuously at Emmy. "Fine. Those two slow travelers won't be here for a while. And also, you haven't happened to see a Rosie anywhere, have you? She's been missing for almost a week."

"Nope," Emmy replied quickly. "Haven't seen a thing."

"Hmm," the young chief replied, and then walked away. Luigi looked at Emmy's face and swore he saw a smile of hatred and laughter.