Chapter 11
Welcome to Yoshi's Island!

After returning to Toad Town from a long day being involved kart racing, Franchouchou returned to their room in Peach's Castle. Not long after returning, Lily begged Yuugiri to open up to the box containing the mysterious item she bought.

Placing the box on her bed, Yuugiri opened it, while the others watched with interest. She took out of the box a wooden sculpture of a beautiful woman with whitish-blonde hair that covered one of her eyes wearing a blue dress. Said sculpture was placed on a wooden box with a wind-up on one side.

"What do you think of this?" the courtesan asked her friends.

"Wow! It's beautiful!" said Lily, lightly poking the sculpture's body.

"The efforts put into carving out all the details and the painting applied to give it a realistic look... I was amazed by such handiwork that I couldn't resist buying it!" said Yuugiri. "And this is not all." She then turned the wind-up a few times, and when she was done, the sculpture began spinning slowly, while music played from the wooden box.

It was the Comet Observatory theme from the Mario Galaxy series.

The zombies watched with smiles on their faces at the sculpture as it spun, all the while enjoying the peaceful music box-style tune that was being played.

"What a nice and peaceful-sounding theme!" commented Sakura.

"Did you ask who this woman is? Or is she just an original creation of the sculptor?" Junko asked Yuugiri.

"I did ask, and according to the seller, this is a sculpture of a goddess named Rosalina," replied Yuugiri. "She's not a myth, but an actual entity. A true goddess whose existence has been witnessed by people before!"

The zombies were amazed to hear this. "An actual goddess? Wow...!" said Junko in awe.

"No wonder she's so beautiful! She's a goddess, that's why!" said Lily.

"This world continues to surprise me! An actual goddess that people actually saw with their own eyes? That's crazy, and in an awesome way!" said Saki. "Tomorrow's going to be even more fun! We're going to an island inhabited by dinosaurs! I bet dinosaur fans back in our world are going to be so jealous of us!"

"It's been a lot of fun being here and all, but I'm once again reminded of how we are going to get home..." said Ai. "It's been three days since we're here. I have a feeling that Tatsumi is returning soon..."

"It can't be helped if there is no way back at the moment," Saki told her. "All we can do is wait until we get an answer how."

"I'm honestly, I feel wrong living in this castle all the time," said Junko. "I mean... we're basically freeloaders..."

"I'm aware... This feels wrong to me too... Commoners like us really shouldn't have the right to live in a royalty's place," agreed Ai. "We only agreed to do so because we think we won't be staying long, but if the way back home really does take a long time to be found..."

The others agreed with this. They couldn't stay in this world forever or even live in the castle forever. They weren't sure what Peach was feeling about letting them live here, but if word gets out that the princess was allowing commoners to freeload in her castle for a long time, they feared that it would bring bad reputation to her.

As much as they were having fun in this world and living in this castle with great comfort, they still hoped that they would be able to get back to their world as soon as possible.

Kotaro wasn't having a good day.

He was actually supposed to return to Saga today, after having dealt with idol business and finished having fun touring Tokyo. Unfortunately, he fell ill, so much that he had to go to the hospital. He was diagnosed with a rather serious illness and had to be hospitalized for a few days.

Left with no choice, the producer surrendered himself to one of the ward rooms and rested on his bed, occasionally coughing and sneezing, all the while feeling dizzy and pain all over his body.

As he laid down on his bed, he wondered if he "beloved" zombies were all right back in their mansion. There was no way he could contact them, as their mansion didn't have telephones. He could send a mail to his computer using his smartphone, but that would mean they have to open his mail account, but they don't know his email and password.

Therefore, there was no way he could get in touch with the zombies, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for not letting them know this.

"I hope they won't miss me too much..." he told himself.

The next morning, Franchouchou received Peach's blessing as they left with Mario to Toad Town's harbor. Along with Luigi, the group got tickets for the boat headed for Yoshi's Island. It was a boat ride that would take about forty minutes to reach its destination. They brought Romero along as well.

The boat ride was smooth and fun one, at least for the zombies, as none of them had ridden a boat before, even when they were alive.

All seven of them had makeups on this time. Because they were going to a new area that haven't heard of them yet, they decided to play it safe in case the people there would be afraid of what they are and their appearances. Mario did tell them that he contacted Yoshi beforehand that they were zombies, though.

Also, with the exception of Junko, they were all wearing the same clothes Peach provided for them since the beginning. The servants washed and dried them in a single night. Junko was wearing a light green sleeveless dress she bought at Rainbow Road yesterday.

Standing on the deck, the zombies enjoyed the beautiful view of the endless span of sea before them, all the while enjoying the light and cool breeze that brought comfort to them. Even the sun shining down onto them didn't make them feel hot, but then, they couldn't feel hot or cold too much now that they were zombies.

"Look! Dolphins!" said Lily happily while pointing to a group of dolphins some distance from the boat, swimming and jumping in the same direction it was moving at. Said dolphins were all wearing scuba masks.

"What's with those scuba masks? Are they tamed and belong to someone?" asked Ai when she noticed those headgear.

"Actually, that species of dolphin always have scuba masks on, and scientists are still baffled as to why they have it in the first place," Mario told her.

Sakura noticed that Tae was drooling as the latter watched the dolphins. "No, Tae, you can't eat dolphins," Sakura told her. "They're nice and kind animals you should treat with love, so eating them is wrong!"

"You do realize that dolphin meat is a thing back in Japan, right?" Ai asked her.

Sakura was surprised to hear this. "Really?! I didn't know that!"

"It's true, but there are controversies regarding using them as food, so it's rare that you'll come across dolphin meat being sold and eaten," explained Ai.

"They have dolphin meat on Yoshi's Island as well," Luigi told them. "Maybe we can try it out when we're there."

The thought of cute and friendly dolphins being cooked and put onto plates to be served made Sakura shudder. "I think I'll pass..." she said.

"Look! A whale!" shouted Lily excitedly while jumping up and down. Everyone looked at where the dolphins were and saw that they had left, while a blue bump appeared on the water surface, shooting water from a hole on top of it, close to the front part. A tail could also be seen sticking out of the water behind it.

"Now that's-a what I call a rare sight!" said Mario while pulling out his smartphone to snap a picture of it.

Everyone watched in awe at the whale shooting water high into the air, and when the droplets flew across the air, a miniature rainbow was seen, amazing the tourists even more. "Wow! It's so beautiful!" commented Junko in awe.

After about forty minutes, the boat finally arrived at Yoshi's Island. After docking at the harbor, the passengers all stepped down and were greeted with the sight of a large amount of Yoshis wandering around the place. There were some other species as well, but Yoshis were the most common, as well as Shy Guys.

"Here we are, Yoshi's Island!" Mario said to the zombies.

The group walked through the place, and there were some Yoshis who greeted them when they arrived and even gave them brochures and maps of the island to serve as guides.

"We're supposed to meet-a Yoshi here, right?" Luigi asked Mario, and the latter nodded.

"Maybe I should call him," said Mario as he took out a smartphone, but then someone called him, so he looked up to see a green Yoshi approaching him.

"Mario! You're here at last!" said the Yoshi happily. He ran up to the plumber in red and embraced him. "I miss you so much! It's been a month since we've met!"

"I miss you too, Yoshi!" Mario said to him. "How's everything?"

"He talks like a month is a long time..." said Ai.

"Yoshi is a bit sensitive when it comes to relations..." Luigi told her.

"Everything is fine, like always!" said Yoshi. "It's been very peaceful here on Yoshi's Island!" He then looked Franchouchou and said, "Are those your friends you told me about?"

Mario nodded and then pointed at them. "Yes, they are the ones I told you about on LINE."

Each of the zombies then introduced themselves to Yoshi. As for Tae, Sakura helped introduced her. After they were done introducing themselves, Yoshi cheerfully shook each of their hands. "It is so nice to meet you all!" he said to them. "Any friend of Mario is also my friend! Welcome to Yoshi's Island!"

"Mario told you that we are zombies, right?" Sakura asked him.

Yoshi nodded. "Yes, he did, but like I said, any friend of Mario is also my friend, so to me, you are good people, regardless of what you are! Though for zombies, you look... very human..."

"We covered ourselves in makeup in case our true appearances are a bit too repulsive for the people here..." Ai explained to him.

"You all look very beautiful, so I'm sure you look good without your makeups as well!" said Yoshi. Hearing this made the zombies blush, happy that they were praised by him like this. "Okay, now that you're here, me and my friends will take you on a tour to some of the more fun places! I'm going to make sure you have a blast today!"

Yoshi then pointed to his friends, all of whom were Yoshis of various colors. The Yoshis waved at them and said they were happy to meet them.

"Where do we go first?" Mario asked him.

"Let's see... Since you're girls, and girls like flowers, why don't we got to the flower field first? It's a popular place for people who like flowers and all things nature!" suggested Yoshi.

"Sounds good to me!" said Ai with a nod.

The Yoshis then turned their back to them, and Yoshi pointed at the saddle on his back. "C'mon! Hop on! We'll take you there!"

"Okey dokey!" said Mario as he got onto Yoshi's back, while Luigi got onto the back of a light blue Yoshi.

The zombies were curious to see this, and Sakura asked, "You're letting us ride on you?"

Yoshi nodded. "Yoshis are born to let people ride on! Don't worry; we have the strength of horses, so you won't hinder us at all when you ride us! I guarantee that it's going to be a great experience!"

"If you don't mind!" said Lily as he ran up to a pink Yoshi and hopped onto his back. "It's surprisingly comfortable!"

"It really is!" said Sakura after getting onto a red Yoshi.

Each of the zombies got onto a Yoshi. Saki rode a black Yoshi, Ai got onto a dark blue one, Junko got onto a yellow one, Yuugiri rode an orange one with Romero sitting on her lap, and Tae rode a brown one.

"Grab onto our necks and heads tightly," Yoshi told the riders. "Don't worry about strangling us or anything. Like I said earlier, we Yoshis are designed to carry people, so we can handle things like that!"

Sakura told Tae to hold onto the Yoshi the latter was riding on tightly. Tae nodded, but then she held onto her Yoshi's neck a bit too tightly, resulting in the dinosaur gasping for air. "No, Tae! That's too tight! Don't use so much power!" Sakura desperately told her.

After making sure that everyone was seated on properly, Yoshi told his friends to set off. All the Yoshis then ran at a fast speed, avoiding anyone and anything in their paths. Their riders held on tightly onto their bodies to not fall off and felt the cool wind blowing into their faces as the dinosaurs sped through the place.

"Woohoo! This is like riding a bike!" exclaimed Saki. "I love it!"

"Lily loves this!" exclaimed Lily.

"I knew you would-a love eet!" Mario said to them.

The dinosaurs continued to speed through the place until they came to a less populated place and also one with lesser architecture. Trees and flowers, not to mention wildlife, became more common.

"We're almost there! Hang on tight!" said Yoshi.

The dinosaurs headed towards a cliff and didn't seem to have any intention to stop. Realizing this, Junko cried out, "There's a cliff up ahead!"

"I know, and we're going to jump!" replied the Yoshi she was riding on.

"What?!" replied the zombie in shock.

All the riders except Mario, Luigi, and Tae had looks of shocks on their faces as the Yoshis leaped off the cliff, and some of them screamed.

Spreading out their arms, the Yoshis began flapping them like wings as fast as they could and also kicked their legs so fast that it gave the illusion that they have multiple legs. By doing this, they were somehow able to slow down their falls.

"Wow! You guys can fly?!" said Saki in surprise as she held onto her Yoshi.

"This isn't flying. This is fluttering!" replied the latter.

The zombies were in awe as the Yoshis slowly descended through the air with their so-called fluttering. Junko, however, wasn't taking this as easily as the others.

Looking down to see that there was still a bit of a distance to the bottom, her fear of heights kicked in, making her scream while tightening her grip on her Yoshi's neck. This caused the dinosaur to gasp for air and resulted in him being unable to flutter properly, so they ended up falling straight down while screaming.

Seeing this, Sakura cried in shock, "JUNKO!"

There was nothing any of them could do as they hit the flower field below. Flower petals were kicked into the air as a result.

The other Yoshis eventually landed safely, and everyone rushed over to see if those two were all right. The yellow Yoshi was groaning in pain while lying on his front, while Junko had fallen on her side next to him and sitting back up.

"Are you two all right?" Yoshi asked them in panic. The yellow Yoshi gave a thumb up in response.

"I'm fine..." replied Junko.

"She'll be fine," said Saki. "She's a zombie, so she can't really feel pain and even die, at least not so easily."

Sakura helped Junko stand back up, and the latter apologized to the yellow Yoshi, who also stood back up. "I'm sorry... I have a fear of heights, so I freaked out and grabbed you too tightly."

"I should be apologizing. It's our fault for not warning you beforehand that we're going to do something like this," the Yoshi told her. "Plus, I'm fine, and that's great news!"

"Yep! Nobody is hurt, which is great news!" said Yoshi, and then he pointed his hand at the flower field before them. "Anyway, we're here at the flower field! Behold!"

The zombies looked and were amazed at the endless span of flowers before them. Flowers of various kinds and colors could be seen everywhere, some taller than the others.

Some flowers were moving on their own, and upon closer inspection, they turned out to be Crazee Dayzees.

There were also Shy Guys wandering around, some of them playing with flowers. A couple of them made a "wigs" out of flowers and were wearing them.

"Wow! It's so beautiful!" commented Sakura.

"Feel free to pick whatever you want! It's free!" Yoshi told the zombies.

Just then, they noticed something moving underneath the flowers and towards them. When the thing emerged from the flowers, it was a white dog with brown spots and, strangely, no ears. The dog barked cheerfully while jumping and down in front of them.

"Poochy! It's so nice to see you!" said the dark blue Yoshi as he petted the dog.

"He's so cute!" commented Lily.

"Is it your pet?" Yuugiri asked the dark blue Yoshi.

"Poochy belongs to everyone," he replied. "He comes and goes as he pleases. He is a friend of everyone on this island! Say hello to these girls, Poochy!"

Poochy went up to Lily, who bent down to pet him. The dog stood up slightly and placed his front paws onto the young zombie's knees and then gave him a lick to the side of his face. "Oh, stop that! Hee hee!" said Lily while giggling.

Pooch then got down and turned his attention to Romero, who came up to him. The two dogs them sniffed each other in the rear end, like all dogs do when they meet, and then they stuck out their tongues while looking at each other and wagging their tails cheerfully.

"Oh look! Romero's found a friend!" said Saki, feeling happy for him.

The two dogs ran in circles, chasing each other, and then ran off across the flower field. "Have fun and don't run too far!" Sakura called out to Romero.

Ai then noticed something about Lily's face and said to him, "Lily... Your makeup... It came off a bit at the side..."

Lily touched the left side of his face and saw that it was still wet from getting licked by Poochy. Even though he couldn't see it himself, hearing what Ai said was enough to convince him that the dog licked off that part of the makeup. The zombie freaked out, which caused his heart to burst out of his body and beat rapidly.

Seeing this, the Yoshis jumped back in shock, and Lily desperately squeezed it back into his body. After it was back inside, Lily said with embarrassment, "Sorry you had to see that..."

"That was... surreal..." commented the pink Yoshi.

Even though his makeup hadn't completely disappeared off his face, Lily was still nervous and scared that the Yoshis' opinions towards him would change after seeing his heart literally coming out of his body. Noticing the nervous look on his face, Yoshi said to him, "It's all right. It's not like you're suddenly going to attack us just because your makeup came off. Accidents happen all the time, so we're still good!"

"Yeah, so long as you're not like Zombie Guys, we're all good!" said the black Yoshi.

When the zombies and the Mario Bros. heard this, they were curious. "Zombie Guys?" asked Mario.

"Zombie Shy Guys, that is," explained the orange Yoshi. "They were spotted about a month ago at an old mansion. Since then, that place has been swarming with these zombie Shy Guys that apparently never leave that place."

"Whoa! You have zombies here as well?" asked Saki, sounding interested.

Yoshi nodded. "Some people went to investigate the Zombie Guys to see if they are dangerous and capable of communication. Attempts at getting contact with them turned up... fruitless... The Zombie Guys are, as far as we're concerned, completely mindless and attack anyone living. But still, they are not actually dangerous due to their slow movements, so it's easy to outrun them. Plus, as said earlier, they never leave the mansion grounds, always coming to a stop and turning around when they reach the border."

"Because of this, we've decided to leave them alone, but there are still Yoshis on guard duty there to make sure nothing goes wrong," said the brown Yoshi.

"They seem to be only active at night, because during the day, they burrow underground or stay inside the mansion, completely motionless," said Yoshi. "If you want to, we'll take you to that place to check them out. Don't worry; as long as you don't cross into the mansion grounds, you're safe. Plus, we can always fight back in case they get too dangerous."

"Sounds scary... I think I'll pass..." said Luigi, shuddering at the thought of it.

"Sounds scary to me as well..." said Junko slight fear.

"Isn't that ironic coming from you...?" Saki said to her.

"Anyway, we can talk about that later today, so for now, please enjoy to your fullest!" Yoshi said while pointing at the flower field.

BGM: Flower Garden (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island)

Everyone then walked out to the flower field to find things to do.

Lily and Yuugiri bent down among some flowers and began picking them to make accessories out of them. Lily showed off a flower wreath he made to Yuugiri happily and offered to put it over her head. Yuugiri smiled and said that she loves it, and then she showed him a flower necklace she made, which she proceeded to put around his neck. He also loves it and thanked her for the beautiful gift.

Sakura picked several flowers, enough to form a bouquet, and showed it to Tae. The latter stared at it for a few seconds before opening her mouth wide and chomped on the whole thing. Sakura stared at her with a displeased look in response. She then felt someone tapping her shoulder, so she turned around to see Ai standing there, looking proud with a hair full of flowers.

Ai asked Sakura if she looks good like this. The latter thought she looks awkward having so many flowers of varying sizes and colors all over her hair, but wanting to sound nice, she told her that she looks great. But then a Shy Guy standing not too far away pointed at Ai and laughed, saying she looks like a clown.

Junko and Luigi were bent down in front of a Crazee Dayzee, the former looking at it with awe and curiosity. The sentient flower also looked back at them with a face that showed curiosity. Junko slowly reached out her hand, hoping to touch it. The Crazee Dayzee, however, moved back from her a bit before running off, leaving behind a rather sad-looking Junko, while Luigi comforted her.

Meanwhile, Poochy and Romero were still running around the flower field, playing a game of tag and occasionally hide-and-seek.

Saki was wandering around the flower field with a rather bored look. She was never into flowers, so to her, this place wasn't anything special. After a bit of walking around, she noticed something peculiar. Upon closer inspection, it was a plant-like creature with a large mouth full of sharp teeth, rooted to the soil.

"What's that...?" she wondered.

Yoshi and Mario came forward, and the latter said, "A Piranha Plant!"

"That wasn't there a few days ago," said Yoshi. "Man, these things grow fast..."

"Piranha Plant?" asked Saki curiously.

"Dangerous, carnivorous plants that eat anything that moves," Mario told her. "They should be avoided at all cost unless you have a way to deal with them."

"We should get rid of that thing," suggested Yoshi. "The next thing we want are visitors to this place wandering too close and getting attacked..."

"How are you going to get rid of it?" Saki asked the dinosaur.

"Watch and learn!" Yoshi told her. "Actually, just watch, because you can't learn what I'm doing..." He then looked to the side and saw a Crazee Dayzee standing there. Quick as a flash, Yoshi lashed out his long, sticky tongue and caught the sentient flower by its face before pulling it into his mouth, swallowing it a whole, a move that shocked Saki. An instant, the green dinosaur laid out an egg about half the size of himself.

Yoshi picked up the freshly laid egg and took aim at the Piranha Plant before chucking it at the plant. The egg collided with the Piranha Plant and exploded like a miniature firework. Just like that, the Piranha Plant was blasted off the soil and fell to the ground, where it cried in pain while writhing around until it finally stopped moving.

"There! That's how you deal with weeds like them!" said Yoshi, looking smug while dusting his hands.

"Wha... What the...?! Did you just eat that flower thing, laid an egg, and then threw it at that Piranha whatever...?!" said Saki, still trying to comprehend what she just saw.

Mario nodded. "Yoshis are known for their ability to eat almost anything, even things larger than them, and lay out eggs instantly to use as weapons."

"Yep! That's how we are!" Yoshi told her.

"Does that mean you're female?" Saki asked him.

"Nah, I'm male," Yoshi told her, which confused her. "You see, Yoshis of both sexes can lay eggs, but only females' eggs can hatch into babies, while eggs laid by males are used as tools and weapons like you saw just now."

"Wow! That's cool and interesting!" commented the zombie.

"Oh yeah, speaking of eggs, they're also a delicacy!" said Yoshi.

BGM Ends

After they were done having fun in the flower field, the Yoshis took them all to a restaurant to eat. The restaurant was an outdoor one, with a roof made of leaves providing shade for the customers. All the while, Poochy took Romero out somewhere to find something to eat, since they don't serve dogs in this place.

The zombies were treated with delicacies such as assortment of berries found only on Yoshi's Island, Yoshi eggs prepared in various methods, and even dolphin meat. Even though Sakura previously said she wouldn't want to eat dolphin meat, she still ended up eating it.

"Wow! These are good!" commented Ai after trying out all the dishes on the table.

Yoshi, who was sitting alongside other Yoshis on another table, looked at them and said, "Good to know that you like our cuisine!"

"You know, I find it strange that you are okay with eating the egg of your own species..." Lily said to them. "It's cannibalism, isn't it...?"

"Oh, it's normal among us," Yoshi told him. "Not like it has negative effect on health or anything."

"Yoshis eat more or less anything, so this is perfectly normal for them," Luigi said to the zombies. He and Mario were sitting with those seven.

After dining for a while, a Shy Guy waiter brought them platters of watermelon with red and blue skins. The zombies were curious as to why these watermelons have unique-looking skins. "What's with these odd-looking watermelons?" asked Sakura.

Looking back at them from his table, Yoshi explained, "Those are red and blue watermelons. If you eat the red one, your breath will become hot and can even breathe fire. Eating the blue one will cool down your breath to the point you can freeze things! Just make sure not to breathe too hard, or else things may get a bit disastrous. Red watermelons are banned from eating indoors for this particular reason, mind you."

"Really? Sounds cool!" said Saki. She wasted no time in grabbing a red watermelon and took a few bites out of it. After that, she breathed lightly, and to her and her friends' surprise, a small puff of fire came out from her mouth. "Wow! It's true!"

"Lily wants to try it too!" said Lily as he grabbed a blue watermelon and took a few bites out of it. He then breathed at his glass of water, and to his surprise, the water turned to ice. "Wow! Awesome!"

"Bet you don't have anything like this back in your world, eh?" said Luigi as he ate a blue watermelon. He then breathed into a air to make create snowflakes that slowly floated down.

"Wow! So beautiful!" commented Junko. The plumber felt proud showing off like this.

Tae grabbed a red watermelon and chomped down the whole thing in a single bite, skin and all. When she tried swallowing it, she choked. "Tae! You should've chewed properly before you swallow!" said Sakura desperately as she got up and patted Tae's back to help her swallow.

Tae eventually coughed... a large amount of fire that burned the table. The zombies and the Mario Bros. freaked out and jumped back, and everyone in the restaurant freaked out as well. Everyone panicked and screamed about the fire.

"FIRE!"

"SOMEONE PUT IT OUT FAST!"

"CALL THE FIRE TRUCK!"

That day, the lawmakers of Yoshi's Island seriously considered banning red watermelons from restaurants as a whole.

TO BE CONTINUED

Here we are at Yoshi's Island! I'm sure they will all have a peaceful time here, right?

Zombie Guys are new enemies that will appear in the upcoming Yoshi's Crafted World. Because they're zombies, and the protagonists are zombies, I simply have to throw the former into this story one way or the other, even if it's just a name drop, or else it would seem like a waste of opportunity.

Red and blue watermelons are power-ups in the Yoshi's Island games.

The whale they saw while on the boat is supposed to the same whale from the first Paper Mario that keeps getting mistakenly called a tuna, even by himself.

And as for which version of the Comet Observatory was playing that time, any one of them will do. It doesn't matter, since I envisioned it to be an original music box-style remix.