About the ZLS reaction story, I will work on it after I'm done with this one. I already have my hands full working on this and Justice of Two Worlds, and I can't even properly work on the latter currently...
Anyway, in that reaction story, you can expect things like Franchouchou looking up the internet to find out what people think about them, both positive and negative. Hilarity ensues when they come across sexual thoughts about them and also conspiracy theorists trying to figure out who they actually are!
They will also be playing video games and watching movies. Some people will probably wonder about this, so I'll just go ahead and say that they will play and react to the Resident Evil 2 remake. No, I'm not doing it because of people's requests, but because I want to myself.
For now, please enjoy this story.
Chapter 12
Jungle Cruise Saga
BGM: Overworld (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island)
After the fire incident at the restaurant, which wasn't actually a serious issue, was dealt with, the Yoshis took Mario and co. for a jungle cruise.
On the side note, the effects of the red and blue watermelons only last for a few minutes.
Boarding a medium-sized boat that was enough to fit all of them and still provide enough space to walk around, the tourists greatly anticipated what sort of things they would come across as they ferry down the river that went through a jungle filled with wildlife.
The tour guide, a red Yoshi wearing a cowboy hat, said to everyone, "Greetings, folks! I am your guide for this jungle cruise, Steve Yoshwin!" Tae held her hands over her head and clapped while making zombie noises in response, causing everyone to look at her. "Thank you! Thank you! Good to know that someone appreciates me serving as their guide! I guarantee you that this will be the cruise of your lifetime! Please do not fret about the dangers you may come across, because I am an expert in this and will defend you from whatever tries to attack you!" He then pointed to some white eggs with red spots next to himself. "See these eggs? I have prepared these for the purpose to taking on dangerous animals that may try to attack us!"
Raising his arm, Luigi asked, "Will there really be dangerous animals that-a may attack us?"
Steve nodded. "It's quite possible, but fear not; there has never been any casualties! I did get an award for best tour guide after all!"
Despite this assurance, Luigi was still scared and worried. "I shouldn't have come..."
"Relax! Everything will be fine!" Mario assured him.
The boat traveled down the river at a rather slow pace, enough for the tourists to get a clear look at their surroundings without speeding past them. Some red fish with yellow fins then jumped out of the water close to the boat. "Here we have some Floppy Fish!" said Steve while pointing at said fish. "They like to jump out of water for no particular reason, thus making them easy prey for whatever feeds on them. Speaking of which, they taste really good!" As he was saying this, a Floppy Fish jumped onto the boat and flopped up and down on the floor, much to everyone' surprise.
Picking up the fish by the tail, Steve said, "Well, aren't we a lucky one today? We've got ourselve a free fish! Guess who's dinner plate this is going onto tonight!" After saying that, he opened his mouth wide and ate the fish whole. After licking his lips, he said, "Delicious! It would taste even better with the right seasonings!"
With the exception of the Yoshis and the Mario Bros., all of whom look unimpressed, the zombies had their mouths wide open, surprised that the tour guide ate the fish whole in a single gulp in just a second. Tae, on the other hand, was looking at him while drooling, clearly wanting to get a bite on the same kind of fish after seeing him eat it.
Everyone then heard high-pitched cries coming from all over the place. Looking around, they saw monkeys looking at them from the river bank and also tree branches. "Monkeys!" said Lily excitedly.
"Oh look, Grinders!" said Steve, pointing at said monkeys. "They're playful creatures who can't help but be curious about every boat that passes down this river! If they feel like it, they may even jump aboard and interact with tourists! Don't worry; they won't harm you!" As soon as he said that, a few Grinders hopped over to the boat from the branches, while some swam over before jumping on board. "Oh look! They did just as I said they would!
A Grinder hopped onto Junko's laps and looked straight at her. The zombie was surprised at first, but then a smile appeared on her face as she petted the monkey. "So cute!"
Another monkey was seated on Yuugiri's laps, and Lily, who was sitting next to her, was shaking hands with the monkey. "Why are they called Grinders anyway?" he asked. "This name is so not cute..."
"Good question! I'll... look it up later and tell you..." replied Steve, looking a bit nervous.
"If it makes you feel better, they're called Ukikis in the Mushroom Kingdom," Yoshi told the zombie.
"That's a cuter-sounding name!" said the latter.
One Grinder got before Romero, who bent down while growling at the monkey. In response, the monkey made a hissing sound while glaring at the zombie dog. Seeing this, Sakura said to the dog, "Don't be so scared and angry, Romero! He just wants to play with you!"
Looking at the Grinders with a somehwat nervous expression, Mario said, "Somehow, I have an uneasy feeling when around them..." He then placed his hands over his hat in a protective manner.
"Has to do with one stealing your hat before, right?" Luigi asked him, to which the latter nodded in response.
A Grinder then got onto Mario's lap and looked at him with a large smile. Mario stared back at the monkey and its innocent-looking smile for several seconds, and then the plumber himself also smiled as he removed his hands from his hat to pet the monkey and shake its hand. Not too soon after he did that, another Grinder jumped over Mario, snatching away his hat in the process. "Hey!"
The Grinder jumped up and down while waving the hat in the air mischieviously. It then attempted to jump off the boat, but Steve caught it from behind with his long, sticky tongue and then pulled it into his mouth. The Yoshi spit out Mario's hat while swallowing the monkey, laying out an egg after that. The zombies had their mouths wide open in shock when they saw what the Yoshi did to the monkey.
Steve picked up the hat and returned it to Mario. "They can be pranksters and thieves, so be sure to keep an eye on your belongings" he said to the plumber.
"Did... Did you just ate the monkey...?" a shocked Ai asked Steve.
"Yeah, eating things alive and swallowing them whole is their thing," said Saki, remembering what she saw back at the flower field.
The other Grinders on the boat had wide open eyes when they witnessed the fate of one of their kind, and that was enough to send them fleeing from the boat while chattering in high-pitched noises. Some grabbed onto vines to swing back onto the river bank and the trees, while some swam.
While one of them was on its way back to dry land, a green fish with large red lips suddenly leaped at it from the side with its mouth wide open, swallowing the monkey whole before diving back underwater. The sight of this shocked everyone on board. The fish stuck its head out of the water afterwards and let out a burp.
"That... That fish just ate the monkey!" said Sakura as she pointed at said fish while trembling violently.
"Nobody said nature was nice..." said Steve. "Anyway, what you saw just now was a Lunge Fish having lunch! Lunge Fish are one of the top predators in this river, attacking more or less anything they see swimming in the water. Their lunging force is strong to make holes on this boat!"
As soon as he said that, the large green fish leaped towards the guide with its mouth wide open, and most of the people on board screamed in terror while pointing at the approaching fish, not to mention telling Steve to watch out.
Without any fear, the Yoshi picked up one of the eggs next to himself and hurled it with all his might at the Lunge Fish. The egg struck the upper part of its mouth's interior, exploding like a firework upon impact, and blasted the fish backwards and into the water with a splash.
The passengers looked at that part of the river in awe and saw the fish floating back onto the surface with its belly facing upwards. "Told ya I got an award for best tour guide!" Steve told them proudly.
A few minutes later, they saw Shy Guys walking along and also standing at the river bank, looking at them. They were dressed like jungle natives and armed with spears and shields. "Are those natives of this jungle?" asked Junko.
Steve nodded. "Indeed, they are Spear Guys. They live in villages located close to the river. Don't worry; we have signed a pact with them to not interfere with each other while touring, so as long as you don't provoke them or pollute the place, they won't harm you in any way! There has been reports of them actually attacking people ferrying down the river for no apparent reason. I'm not sure how authenticate those reports are, but I wouldn't be surprised if they are true. Natives, after all, can be savage at times and do whatever they want simply because they want to."
"You don't say..." said Ai with an unimpressed look. Everyone else was looking at her with wide open eyes of shock. She had a spear stuck through her forehead, but thanks to being a zombie, her life wasn't in any form of danger at all.
Back on shore, one Spear Guy was angrily smacking another Spear Guy with his spear and also lecturing him about attacking people without a good reason, while some of them were also staring at Ai in disbelief, wondering why on earth that girl hadn't drop dead yet.
BGM Ends
After several minutes, the boat arrived at what appeared to be an old, run-down castle. The boat stopped at the bank in front of it, and Steve said, "All right, we've arrived at a stop! This is an old castle from the ancient days. Even today, it remains standing, and I think we should go take a good look at what's in there! Follow my lead and don't get lost!"
Stepping down from the boat, Steve led the tourists into the castle. Everyone looked around with curiosity and interest as they entered through the castle's entrance.
"Are you sure this place is safe?" asked a worried Sakura.
"Relax! This place has been approved by the officials!" Steve told her. "People come here to clean up every once in a while in order to make sure that it's a safe place for tourists! I've been here several times already, and nothing's bad ever happened!"
"According to some of the older folks back in our village," said Yoshi, "this was one of Bowser's old strongholds."
"Bowser? You mean that guy who keeps on kidnapping the Mushroom Kingdom princess?" asked Saki.
Mario nodded. "Yes, him. In fact-a, I have memories of being here before. I think eet wuz when I was very young."
"Maybe we should ask the village elders about this," suggested the dark blue Yoshi. "They experienced a lot back in the days, so I'm sure they know the details of this place!"
"If this castle has been around for so long and was used by this Bowser, does that mean he's been around and committing crimes since a long time ago?" asked Junko.
Mario nodded. "According to Toadsworth, he's been a menace to society ever since he was a baby, or at least when as a young child."
The zombies were quite surprised to hear this. "Dang...! That's one hardcore kid!" commented Saki.
"How is he still not arrested yet?!" asked Sakura.
"As said before, he's da king of his own kingdom, so he has more or less diplomatic immunity, which he abuses to no end," replied Mario. "Da most we can do eez to foil his evil plans and send him fleeing, but sadly, he neva learns his lesson..."
"Must be really tiring having to deal with all the time, isn't it?" asked Ai.
Mario sighed. "Yeah, but you'll get-a used to eet afta a while..."
Steve eventually brought them to the throne room. It was a large room with a large pool of water in the center, and in the middle of said pool was a throne connected to the surrounding floor via a strip of land. On one side of the room was a waterway that brought water into the pool, and on the other side was another waterway in which water flowed out of.
"Here we are at the throne room!" said Steve, stating the obvious. "It is said that there once lived a giant Piranha Plant in this place, but our ancestors bravely battled and defeated it."
"Oh yeah, one of our village elders said this," said Yoshi, and then he turned to Mario. "He said you were there as well. As a baby, that is."
"I don't-a have clear memories of my time as a baby, but I imagined that things like-a theez happened when I was here on theez island during that-a time," said Mario.
"Maybe you should find some time to visit our elders to learn more about your childhood. You owe them your life greatly, don't you?" Yoshi asked him.
Mario nodded. "Indeed, I do owe them my life, even eef I cannot-a rememba things very well. I will go and pay them a visit afta we are done with da tour!"
While everyone looked around the place, Lily, Yuugiri, and Romero walked across the strip of land and to the throne. The former sat on the throne, and with a proud expression, he said, "I'm the queen of this castle! Servants, obey me!"
Yuugiri giggled and said, "I thought you said you prefer being a princess."
"Oh right... I'm the princess of this castle!" said Lily after being reminded of what he said that time in Peach's castle. "All shall obey me!"
"Yes, your highness!" said Yuugiri, bowing down in front of him.
A frog suddenly jumped out of the water and landed next to the throne, and the two zombies were not only surprised by its appearance, but also the size of it, as it was about the size of a dog.
Romero approached the frog with caution and stared at it, and the frog stared back. The frog suddenly jumped onto Romero's back, pressing the zombie dog against the floor. Enraged, Romero stood back up and barked at the frog, which hopped back into the water to escape its wrath.
Lily laughed and said to Romero, "It just wants to ride you! Why so angry?"
"What are you playing?" asked Ai as she came over. As she was walking on the strip of land, a purple fish poked its head out of the water. Curious, Ai bent down to get a better look at it.
Steve, noticing this from the surrounding floor, said to her, "That is a Spray Fish. They are known for shooting streams of water out of their mouths. They use it to shoot airborne prey out of the sky."
"Just like an archer fish, huh," commented Ai. As she continued to look at the Spray Fish, the latter suddenly shot a stream of water at her face and hit it with a rather strong force, so much that her head was sent flying off her body, much to the surprise of onlookers.
Ai's head, with a shocked face, flew through the air in an arc and fell into the water with a splash. As it was close to the waterway taking the water out of the room, the head began flowing in that direction. "AI!" screamed her companions in shock.
"SOMEONE GET MY HEAD OUT OF HERE!" Ai's head screamed in terror. Just as everyone was panicking and wondering what to do, her body, which was still under her control, hurriedly jumped into the water and swam towards the head. Everyone watched in panic as the body swam over to the head and grabbed it. Ai put her head back on, but by then, she was dangerously close to the waterway.
"Quick! Swim away from there before you get pulled in!" Steve shouted at her.
Unfortunately, the flow of the water was the strongest at the entrance of the waterway, which Ai was already at when she tried to swim away. Despite her best attempt at swimming away, the zombie was pulled into the hole in the wall while screaming for help, and everyone was horrified.
"I'll save her!" shouted Yoshi as he jumped into the water and swam towards the hole as fast as he could.
"Yoshi! Don't be so reckless!" the black Yoshi cried out to him.
Ignoring his friend's warning, Yoshi swam into the hole and disappeared into it. Everyone else could only stare at where those two disappeared into with wide open mouths and eyes.
Ai screamed as she found herself sliding downwards at a fast speed, making several turns as she did so and constantly hitting walls. After several seconds of making twists and turns, she found plummeting down a waterfall and splashing into a large pool of water.
After emerging from the water, she looked around with great panic and noticed that there was dry ground surrounding this new pool of water, so she hurriedly swam for the side and climbed up onto it. After getting back onto dry land, she rested on her hands and knees while breathing heavily, still horrified about what happened.
Suddenly, she heard someone screaming, so she turned around to see Yoshi falling out of the waterfall coming from the hole on the wall and into the water, where she just landed. The dinosaur resurfaced and, after noticing Ai, swam over to her and climbed onto dry ground as well. Breathing heavily, he asked her, "Are you all right...?"
"I'm all right..." she replied.
"That's good to know..." said Yoshi as he looked up at her and noticed that her makeup was completely washed off, thus revealing her bandaged true form. His eyes widened a bit in response.
Knowing that he saw her true form, Ai's face turned red with embarrassment. Wrapping her body with her arms slightly, she said, "Sorry you have to see me like this..."
"So this is what you actually look like? You're wrapped up from head to toe?" Yoshi asked her, and she nodded.
"It's not a pretty sight, right...?" she nervously asked.
"Actually, it's not that bad," said Yoshi. "I'm sure it could've been much worse. It must be quite uncomfortable wrapped up like a mummy, isn't it?"
"Actually, I don't feel anything, sometimes even forgetting that I'm wrapped up like this..." replied Ai.
"Anyway, let's find a place out of here," suggested Yoshi. "We must be in the castle basement, so all we have to do is find stairs that lead upwards." He looked around and noticed a door on the other side of where they were. "Oh look, there's an exit there!"
They got up and was about to began walking when suddenly the center of the pool began bulging, thus grabbing their attentions. Something big emerged from the water, and their eyes widened in shock when they saw what it was.
It was a massive Piranha Plant with spikes lined along its stem, and there were also several smaller Piranha Plants with long stems sticking out of the water around it.
While the smaller plants opened and closed their teeth-filled mouths constantly, the larger Piranha Plant, Naval Piranha, swam over to them and stared at them for several seconds, though it has no visible eyes. Those two could only stare back with wide open eyes of shock while frozen in place.
Naval Piranha then opened it mouth to let out a roar, which blew them back against the wall.
That was when they both screamed at the top of their voices. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
TO BE CONTINUED
It's Naval Piranha, who appeared as bosses in Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Woolly World! If you haven't realized it yet, they're in the same castle you fought Naval Piranha in the former. Get ready an intense moment in the next chapter!
I made up Steve Yoshwin, and I named him after late zoologist Steve Irwin.
In Mario 64, Mario's hat can get stolen by a monkey in the stage Tall Tall Mountain, which is why he is nervous about the Grinders stealing his hat here.
