Chapter 10
Yoshi Team Assault
Mario stared us down, his eyes sinister and cold. His sneer resembled that of a serpent. I, along with the others, stood my ground, (TARIN WAS NOWHERE TO BE SEEN) but that look made me want to run and hide underneath the nearest rock (which I might add there weren't really any rocks visible up at Mamaho's place -.-).
Mario: Heh heh…
Mario and Luigi stepped forward, their fists closed around something. They knelt down and dropped 9 marble sized balls each from their hands. They rolled back and forth a bit, but stopped when Mario and Luigi had stepped away.
Dust: O.O…
Mamaho: …??
Salem growled.
Salem: What the hell is the meaning of-
The balls immediately expanded to the size of a basketball, like balloons being blown up instantly. They then went to the size of a beach ball. It was clear what they were now.
Dust/Steve: They look like giant eggs!
The eggs rolled around and began to crack. It was then that very innocent, wide eyed dinosaur creatures popped out. One by one, they assembled from the eggs, yawning and stretching. They scratched their faces and some of them chased their own tails. Strangely enough, my fear slowly diminished for that moment.
Dust: …Uh?
Mario closed his eyes, and sweat dropped.
Mario: YOSHI TEAM! LINE UP!
The Yoshi's replied in a high pitched shriek and began to line up.
Yoshi's: YOOOOSHI!!!!
Immediately my heart began to beat extremely fast. My adrenaline was rushing like a jet. I was nervous, but got into a very tight ready stance. Steve stood to my right, Salem and Mamaho stood to my left. The Yoshi's screamed in their high pitched voices. Something told me this was going to be difficult.
Yoshi Team: YOSHI!
Mario smirked. Luigi crossed his arms and watched, his body turned to the side a bit.
Mario: Now…CHARGE!!!
With his booming voice and a thrust of his arm, finger extended, the Yoshi's charged towards us. In a matter of seconds, they would be right in our faces.
Dust: HAAA!!!!
I leapt into the air, hovering about 12 feet above the ground. Mamaho and my friends had done the same. We hovered there, watching the Yoshi team from above. They slammed on their breaks (used their feet to stop themselves from moving, their red shoes sending up dust clouds). They ran around in circles trying to find us, occasionally falling down or smashing into each other.
Steve: Well…they are pretty stupid…-_-
Mamaho: That will be their downfall…*floats back a bit*
One of them seemed to spot us, which sent a spark of fear through my body. He pointed us out and screamed out:
Yoshi: YOOOOOOOOSHII!!!
This got all of them looking. Mario and Luigi had been watching us in the air, but had given the Yoshi's time to figure it out.
Yoshi Team: YOSHI!!!
They flew up at us. I was about to try and get out of the way, but Salem signaled the start of the fight.
Salem: Take this you rejects!
With that said, Salem punched one dino into the ground below. He kicked another in the face, followed by a blast to it's body. It flew off the platform and the blast exploded. The Yoshi was incinerated and fell to the Earth below.
Dust: RRR!!!!
Steve: SHIT!!
The battle was now in session. It was more vicious than I'd ever even thought it could be. It was hard to realize what you were even doing because adrenaline took over. Steve decapitated one dino with his sword and back fisted another away when it had tried to sucker punch him from behind. I got tail whipped by one in the face, but countered with a front snap kick to its stomach. I finished it off with a high powered blast from my right hand, which left my arm rather limp.
Dust: Phew…
Mamaho had landed on the ground and crept back towards one of the trees. He stood by it and watched us fight, frowning slightly. It was probably because he did not want to just watch, he wanted to help us. It would have been in vain, Mamaho was obviously too old now.
Steve: LOOK OUT DUST!
Pain shot through the back of my head. I flew forward, shielding myself with my arms. The Yoshi's were beginning to grow a bit and now they were laying eggs the size of basketballs and throwing them at us. The eggs were exploding in a wave of shell fragments on impact, and a source of energy seemed to boom from the breaking eggs. My ears were ringing now.
Dust: GRR! *turns around, clenching fists and flying down towards the ground*
I began attacking a Red Yoshi, which swung its heavy tail at me from the right. I caught the tail with my arm and kicked the Yoshi repeatedly in the head. It stumbled back and stupidly ran away until it fell off the platform edge.
Dust: @_@ *blinks* AGH!!
Pain shot through my back as I flew to the ground and smashed into the tiles of the platform. An egg bomb had hit me from behind, and this one had been more powerful than the one that had hit me before. The Yoshi responsible for taking me down was hovering about 10 feet above me, snickering. I recovered quickly and rolled onto my back. The Yoshi was caught off guard when I fired a blast with a thrust of my arms. I ended up incinerating that Yoshi and another one nearby.
Dust: Take that!
The battle went on for another twenty minutes. By that time, there were five Yoshi's left, and Steve and I had suffered a horrible beating. Salem was banged up pretty bad too, but he seemed to be holding on better than we were. He stood up tall and firm, a trickle of blood escaping his mouth. He licked it away and stood ready, awaiting another attack from the hesitating dinos.
Salem: Heh…
Mario looked angry at the fact that his monsters would not attack. Mamaho was watching Mario carefully, not able to help out at all because his one attack during the fight had caused him damage to his knees. He knelt down on one knee, dreading what the end result of this battle could end up like.
Mario: ATTACK!!! NOW!!!
The next action from Mario shocked all of us. He held out his hand, which was already a fiery red. He let out a cry of frustration and blasted one of his minions with a powerful fireball.
Dust: Ahh!
Mamaho: !
Mario: …
The fireball exploded on impact, and left nothing but flames and black smoke. The Yoshi lay in a heap on the tiled floor, burning to a crisp. The other Yoshi's immediately flipped out and started to run around in circles. They flailed their arms and called out their shrill cries, but stopped when Mario yelled.
Mario: Rrr!!! IDIOTS!!! *face starts to go red with anger* ATTACK THEM NOW!!!! OR DO YOU WANT TO SUFFER THAT REJECTS FATE?!
This convinced the dino fighters to stop running around long enough that they could take orders. They turned and attacked Salem.
Salem: Bring it on…*flies into the air and gets ready*
I glared at Mario and he turned and set his evil gaze on me. What he had done to his comrade had been ruthless and dirty. It didn't take a genius to notice…
Mario: You have a problem boy…? *growls*
I snarled, starting to feel angrier than ever. I clenched my fists, feeling like something was going to explode inside of me and leave me with nothing.
Dust: You…you monster! You killed your own…*shivers* ally!
Mario had been glancing at me but now he turned completely towards me and walked over, not even acknowledging the fight that was going on between Salem and the dinos.
Mario: There's a little something you humans don't understand…
Steve, who had been totally focused on the fight, now turned his gaze towards Mario and I. His eyes widened with fear and confusion when he saw Mario standing in front of me.
Steve: O.O !!!! D…D-
I stared up at Mario, growling and snarling under my breath. This was all weighing down on me…
Dust: *thinks: Have to do something…have to stop him…but what can I do?! GOD THIS MAKES NO SENSE!!*
Mario smirked and turned back towards the fight.
Mario: Your friend won't hold out much longer…and soon it'll be over for all of you. Perhaps if you're lucky, you'll get it quick and clean…
I lowered my head, and growled again.
Dust: …
Mario: *turns to look at Dust again* But…I can't make any promises…*laughs*
Dust: !!
That had done it, I was really pissed off now. With a surge of energy from within, I landed a smooth uppercut to Mario's gut and a back kick to his jaw.
Mario: !! Auuughh! *glides back, heading snapped back* Gh…Ghh…!!
I glared at him, standing ready and breathing hard. I could see his chin and neck because his head was bent back. I was almost convinced I'd broken his neck until Mario's head was now tilted back down, and his glare fixed upon me.
Mario: Heh…I like enemies with some fight in them…it's a pity we couldn't have been allies…*instantly appears in front of Dust with knee slammed into his gut*
Dust: @_@ KUHH!!!! *hacks out blood and falls to knees*
The pain was incredible, like just getting a spear shoved into your gut. The red monstrosity before me just glared down at me. Weakly, I looked up at him and got a boot in my face.
Dust: AHHH!!! *flies back and smashes into a well kept palm tree, completely severing the narrow trunk* _ *clutches gut in pain*
Steve growled and got ready to attack, he was about to draw his sword when-
Mario: Don't even try it…. *walks away not even acknowledging Steve*
Steve stared off after him in shock and then ran over to me. He helped me up, but I could hardly even keep balance on my two feet.
Steve: Are you okay??
I staggered forward a bit, falling to one knee and holding my right arm, which throbbed with pain. It was still numb from that one blast I'd shot against the Yoshi warriors, not to mention that I'd just punched Mario in the gut (which isn't soft and squishy despite what people may think).
Dust: This…this is crazy…*coughs hard*
Steve nodded slowly.
Steve: I know it is Dust…but what the hell can we do??
I shook my head slowly, not even bothering to attempt standing.
Dust: We're just kids…and yet we have to deal with this…this disaster…*coughs* and now these Link bodies or whatever they are…these works of magic…aren't even enough to fight back.
Steve just stared at me. He looked a little perplexed and nervous from what I could see from the corner of my eye. I was watching the fight while talking, watching Salem hold off the dinos with some difficulty.
Dust: I only wish we could know…know why this had to happen. There has to be a *hurk*…reason…
****
Salem: HAA!! *blasts one of the dinos away, but the dino flies right back, having gotten away from the blast before it exploded*
Yoshi's: YOSHI!
They began forming more of their egg bombs quickly, though it seemed to be draining them of their stamina. Salem smirked and flied in quick, his left fist colliding with a Yoshi on its jaw. Two more Yoshi's came in from the side and literally sandwiched Salem.
Salem: RAHH!!! *an uncontrollable, fiery blue aura erupts from Salem's body and blows the two Yoshi's away, causing one to flip into the ground and roll and the other to fly right off the arena and to the Earth below.
The fight continued, now only three Yoshi's left. Salem landed on the ground in a ready stance and blocked an overhead tail attack, but received a powerful head butt to the back.
Salem: Grr…HA!! *Fires a blue blast at a Yoshi*
The Yoshi screamed and the blast exploded on impact, leaving nothing but a few cinders. The other two flew back, catching their breath.
Mario: Heh…enough of this…*holds out his hands and forms fireballs*
Though he was not in very close sight range, I knew what he was doing.
Dust: MARIO! STOP THIS!!
Mario: HA!! *fires a blast from each hand, incinerating the two remaining Yoshi's*
The Yoshi's were burning to death. One of them was toppled over on the ground burning while the other one was running around in circles, screaming what sounded like "Fajah." (o.o)
Mario: *Turns to Salem* You've exceeded my expectations child…but now let's have the real fight…
Salem stared at him, his fists clenched.
Salem: If you're talking about you versus me, I think I could get better sport from a four year old…
Luigi, who had been watching the whole time, growled at Salem.
Mario: Feh…your arrogance will be your downfall! *flies at Salem and throws a punch at his face*
Salem was ready for him, raising his arms to block, but something happened.
Salem: ?!
The evil fighter's body seemed to fade off before his fist even collided with Salem's nose. He then reappeared behind Salem before he could even get out of his blocking stance.
Mario: HA!!! *has arms raised, fists together; axles Salem hard on the back, knocking him off his feet*
He fell to his knees, Mario standing right above him. He fell forward, using his hands to catch himself. Mario smirked and kicked Salem onto his side.
Salem: Gh…Gr…RAHH!!!
Meanwhile, the three of us (Mamaho, Steve and I) watched helplessly. There was nothing we could do. It felt horrible just standing there watching our friend get beaten to a pulp. The gut wrenching fear of what Mario would do after he was done with Salem didn't help things.
Dust: …Dammit…*lowers head, still on one knee*
Steve: *clenches fists and falls on knees* *Bangs fists against ground* RRR!!!
Mamaho just stared off, eyes wide. This obviously hadn't been what he'd expected to happen, but it's strange how things turn out.
Things seemed hopeless…not that they hadn't already…
Dust: Ghhh…*doesn't even bother wiping off the trickling blood from my lip running down my chin* Salem…you have to keep fighting…just keep trying…*coughs painfully*
Mamaho glanced over his shoulder quickly, and turned back. He closed his eyes and put his hands together, as if praying. Whatever he was doing, it didn't make the situation seem any better.
****
Salem: AHH!!!! *rolls along the ground from another kick*
The heavy footsteps were louder and louder…growing ever closer to Salem. His blue uniform was now stained in blood, which made it look rather black. Mario lifted his foot and smirked down at Salem.
Mario: Say good-bye…