CHAPTER 16

The Rainbow Alliance has just landed ashore, the beach was covered in roots. The land beyond the beach is filled with towering trees.

"Looks like we're here" Zelda says. "Let's take a quick rest and then we can explore the forest and find some food".

Azura rolls her eyes. "Food? You don't mean fish do you?"

The Rainbow Alliance realizes one of their members is a walking talking fish. "No," Peach says nervously, chuckling. "Yashil was actually going to scout out ahead and collect some fruit...weren't you, Yashil?" She bumps Yashil who wasn't paying attention. "Oh sorry, you were daydreaming again weren't you." She pinches him on the cheek. "Of course you were!"

Yashil wiggles out of her grasp. "I am not dreaming," he says firmly.

Peach with a fantastically fake smile on her face tells Yashil "Why don't you go get us some berries and fruit now?"

Yashil jumps up excitedly. "Yes! Yes!" He takes off sprinting into the forest.

"What a kind creature." Azura says in awe. "Utterly simple, but kind"

"Yes, he is," Peach agrees. "We got some nice boys on our team! Ain't that right, Link?" She asks, playfully slapping the bottom of Link passing by carrying firewood.

Yashil is running through the forest with his arms waving wildly in the air. He had gone off the beaten down path and couldn't tell which direction to go in. He had gotten himself lost. He used his snout to figure out which direction to go next. He smelled a sweet scent of berries and decided to follow his nose. He ran forward and, after pushing through the thicket of branches and vines, came to a clearing. In front of him was a pond where water ripples across the surface. Surrounding the forested oasis were giant bushes with beautiful berries. He rushes over to them and starts plucking berries from the bushes. Some fall to the ground and roll into the water.

Yashil quickly shimmies underneath the water and uses his tongue to catch the falling berries. "Don't want my friends to eat berries that were on the ground" he jokes to himself. He continues gathering berries until his stomach growls loudly.

"Oh no!" he says to himself. Eating those few berries he realizes that he hasn't eaten anything in almost a day. His hunger has gotten the better of him, suddenly the berries in his pouch come to life! They jump out of his pouch and start sprouting little arms and legs!

"Hey, wait a second," he says in alarm. "What's going on?"

The berries start to grow bigger.

"NO!" Yashil yells. "Please don't grow any bigger!"

"EAT US!" say the Berries. "EAT US! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!"

They creep toward Yashil who backs away out of the water until his back hits a big rock.

"No, please!" Yashil begs. "I don't want to eat you!"

Suddenly, a loud noise comes from behind Yashil. He turns around and sees a berry the size of a boulder rolling towards him, he takes off running back to what he hopes is his camp.

"Stay away! These are meant for my friends! Not me!" Yashil pointlessly yells at the boulder sized berry.

The berry rolls past him and crashes a tree. It explodes and sends a wave of berry pulp everywhere, including all over Yashil.

"Oh no!" Yashil says. "Gotta clean up! Gotta clean up!"

Yashil begins licking all the excess berry juice.

Back at the beach camp, everyone is preparing for dinner. Zelda says "I wonder if Yashil found any good berries for us. I hope he didn't realize he missed lunch today."

"I'm sure he'll bring us something great," Peach reassures.

"I'm going to go find him," says Azura, getting up from their makeshift table.

"I will too," says Naranjo. "I'm hoping he found me some meat!"

Everyone follows Azura and Naranjo into the forest.

"Gotta Clean Up! Gotta Clean Up! Gotta Clean Up!" Yashil repeats to himself as he's licking his pouch. He hears a rustling sound come from nearby and looks up to see a giant berry heading straight for him. He ducks down and rolls onto his side. The berry smashes right into the ground next to him.

"YASHIL!" yells a large group of five multicolored berries.

Yashil looks up and sees the berries staring back at him. "WOW!" he says in astonishment. "Look at you guys! You're huge! Tasty too! Ok, ok, you win. I guess I'll take a take a bite out of one you!"

The berries huddle together and a purple berry walks up to him, slaps him, and speaks.

"Yashil! What happened to our berries?!"

Yashil blinks, he's not in a forest filled with mutated berries. He's being held by his shoulders by Zelda, he sees his other pals behind her. Yashil looks down and sees that he has devoured all the berries he was going to bring back to his friends.

"You ate them?! You ate all of them?!" Peach cries.

"It wasn't my fault," Yashil says. "They were calling my name! They were begging me to eat them!"

"I'm going to gut you like a fish, maggot!" Naranjo says pulling out a hunting knife. Azura stops him.

"Naranjo, put that down," she says calmly.

"But-"

"It is alright, he has been affected by the mirages of the Sea of Trees". Azura explains. "He has lost his mind and has consumed all the berries he was supposed to bring back. Please try to calm him down".

"Calm down?" Yashil says. "Hey look! I'm a giant berry!"

Yashil begins trying to bite himself. "YOWCH!" He looks around and looks at his bite mark. "Hey...who tried to bite me?"

"The magic of the Sea of Trees looks into your heart and provides you something you wish you had, but gives it a dark twist." Azura continues. "Only pain can bring you back into reality.".

Yashil looks around at all his friends and looks down, dejected.

"Oh..." Yashil says. "Okay. Yeah, you're right. I did eat them, but I meant well, I thought I was doing the right thing. They kept growing bigger and bigger!"

"It's alright Yashil" Zelda reassures him. "We're just going to have to go hunting as a group. If anyone says anything weird. Slap them upside the head!"

With that said, they all start picking berries from bushes that are on the main path and begin marching back to camp.

However, someone on an airship well above the trees can be seen observing them with binoculars.

"So" Dark Mario states. "Anyone who enters into that forest will be faced with its mirages...I think this is something we can use, boys" he chuckles to himself.