Chapter 7: Yoshi's Island
Some time later in the throne room of the Mushroom Kingdom an unexpected visitor came with even more unexpected news. "Say what?" Toad's voice echoed. The chancellor froze and Peach's grandmother fainted.
"That's what I said dude!" A mushroom boy with dark purple spots in his 'hat' and sunglasses said. He held a Game Boy in his hand and anyone who had seen him knew he played it all day.
"Oh my God this is... this is..." Toad couldn't find the words to describe it. "Oh my God" He repeated.
"It's true dude I saw it when I went to Rose Town for lunch cause you know it's nice to have a meal some place else every now and then" The mushroom boy said.
"The princess! The poor princess! The horror!" Toad cried.
"What poor princess? Dude she was the one who dragged him into a room at the Inn. Bowser looked more helplessly confuse than I've ever seen anyone" The mushroom boy said.
"Goodness! What are you suggesting? That the princess? No! That's impossible. This entire thing is impossible!" Toad said.
"You liar!" The Chancellor said quite upset. "Get out of the castle before I call the guards, no one shall speak of my niece, our dear princess Peach Toadstool in such a way!" The Chancellor was not her biological uncle but he had lived in the castle long enough to be like family.
"Whatever dudes I know what I saw" The mushroom boy said as he ran out of the castle. He almost bumped into Mario at the door.
The plumber entered the throne room followed by his brother, the princess of Sarasaland and Pauline. "What happened?" Mario asked.
"A boy saying such terrible lies!" The Chancellor said still upset. "He almost gave me a heart attack."
Peach's grandmother started to wake up. She was the mother of her mother so she had no way of getting the curse. "Peach! Where is she?"
"It's alright I'm sure she's fine. It was all just a lie" Toad said.
The old mushroom woman shook her head. "Of course it was, of course. Peach is alright" She said relived. It was ridiculous to believe what that boy had said. Peach and Bowser sharing a room at the Rose Town Inn? Impossible! He wouldn't try something like that, if he had any intentions of doing so he would have done it already and that had not happened. On the other hand if he did Peach's well hidden temper would kick in and she would throw so many bombs at him he would become fried Bowser for Belome to eat. But that still wouldn't happen she knew no harm would come to Peach.
"What did he say?" Mario asked. What could possibly cause so much alarm then be disregarded as a lie?
"Nothing my dear friend, it was nothing" The Chancellor said. His niece wouldn't drag anyone into a room at an inn like that, let alone Bowser. He would rather have this lie end there. "Forget about it everything is alright" He noticed someone new. "Who is this young lady? I don't think I've seen her before."
"This is Pauline from Brooklyn" Mario said.
Pauline was still quite surprised about seeing those people with mushrooms on their heads. She wondered if they were traditional hats of the kingdom or if those were actually their heads but she didn't think it would sound very nice if she asked directly. She would ask Mario later when no one else could hear.
Meanwhile Peach and Bowser were trying to get across the forest Maze. They have gone back and forth and ended up in the forest's treasure cave. "Looks like a dead end" Peach said.
"We should have turned left" Bowser said. "Peach are you still here? I can't see very well in this darkness. Why don't you give me your hand so we don't get separated in this underground maze?"
"It's not that dark, even I can find my way around slowly and my eyes don't glow in the dark" Peach said, Bowser immediately looked away. He had forgotten that little detail. "But if you're scared and that's the real reason you want me to hold your hand then that's different."
Oh great, now he had to come off as a coward. The things a koopa has to do for his princess. "Alright then, I'm scared."
"Are you really?" Peach asked. She found this quite amusing and of course she knew he was only pretending.
"Terrified, this place is so dark and scary and... scary and dark and scary" Bowser said. His act wasn't too convincing.
Peach laughed. "Alright, just until we reach the surface." Bowser wished they never reach the surface but alas they did and that's when she let him go. "Wait till everyone hears about this Bowser king of koopas afraid of a cave that wasn't even scary."
"What? I wasn't! I mean... Can't we keep it as our little secret?" Bowser asked.
"I'm just kidding I won't tell anyone" Peach said. They continued walking until they finally made it across the Forest Maze. Once out of the forest Peach wanted to stop at Yo'ster Isle, home of the Yoshies. They entered Pipe Vault, a tunnel that led from the mainland to the island. Getting across wasn't too complicated after Bowser fried the piranha plants by breathing fire on them. Once on Yo'ster Isle they found that most of the yoshies were gone. Only one of them remained, a green Yoshi that she had seen hatch and grow, maybe grow a little too much.
Peach remembered that day when they were still on their quest against Smithy. They had stopped at Yo'ster Isle to obtain some Yoshi Cookies by winning races. With that item they could call for Yoshi's help and somehow he would fallow the scent of the cookie and find them. Mario was racing riding Yoshi. It was a little illogical that Yoshi ran faster with Mario riding him than he did alone but that's how it was. Maybe giving his friends a ride motivated him to run faster regardless of the extra weight he had to carry. Geno and Mallow watched the races while Peach curiously looked at the yoshi eggs.
Peach gently placed a hand on one of the yoshi eggs. It felt warm and suddenly it moved just a little. She stayed still wondering if it would happen again. The baby inside the egg moved once more, it was about to hatch! Bowser who didn't like including himself in the activities that his travel companions participated in had decided to watch the race from afar. He noticed Peach looking and the yoshi eggs all by herself. She was away from the group, what a nice opportunity. Just as he walked towards Peach when he was already standing beside her the yoshi egg hatched. "Mama, Papa" The baby said in the yoshi's language. Only Mario's friend Yoshi could speak the language of humans and he always translated for the others.
"Aw how cute it hatched!" Peach said happily. "Look everyone the egg hatched!" She called. Bowser looked at the new born yoshi child. He had never mentioned it before but he too could understand the language of the yoshies. The boy must be confused because they were the first people he saw. It didn't mean anything. Or could it be a sign that he shouldn't give up?
Everyone soon came to see the baby. The child recognize his real parents as soon as he picked up their scent but he still somehow thought of Peach and Bowser as a second set of parents. Then again everyone ended up being like a parent to him. He loved cookies right away like any other yoshi. Everyone kept feeding him cookies which made him very happy. The only problem is that he ended up growing quite big and fat, so much that he couldn't race like the other yoshies. But he was still their baby no matter how much he changed physically.
"Mama Peach! Papa Bowser!" The yoshi said as they approached.
"You can speak our language?" Peach asked in surprise. "Wait what do you mean mama and papa?" She asked when she realized what the yoshi had said.
"Yoshi taught me" They knew that he meant the green yoshi, he was green as well and they were all yoshies but Yoshi as a name belonged only to one of them, their leader. "You were there when I was born. I thought you were my parents until I met my real parents but you're still like two more parents to me. You should lay an egg sometime, you'd make a nice mom" He told Peach.
"Well you see it's not that simple" Peach tried to say.
"Of course it is! You just need to eat enough. They say apples are good but also plenty of cookies. If you eat enough you'll lay an egg. You should try finding one of the special apples that should be faster" The yoshi said.
Peach giggled a little. "I guess I'll have to find one of those someday" Perhaps the tale about apples and eating enough was the yoshies version of the classic stork story told to children in the Mushroom Kingdom.
"Want me to help you look for it?" Bowser asked grinning mischievously.
"Bowser!" Peach said her face blushing a bright shade of red.
"Yes good idea papa Bowser. Since you'll be the baby's dad you should help her look for the magical pink apple. If I find one I'll keep it here and give it to you when you come to visit. If not then I guess you could always eat regular apples and wait a little longer for the egg to come. Don't forget cookies, cookies are important too" The yoshi said.
"Where is everyone?" Peach asked changing the subject.
"They went to Marrymore for a wedding but that's a long walk. I said I wanted to stay here and nap. My parents said they will bring me cake when they return" The yoshi said happily.
"A yoshi wedding? Sounds interesting" Peach said. She had told Frogfucious that she would stop at Marrymore to bring him cake. She would order the cake now then pick it up on her way back they had cake in all the flavors like the chocolate, vanilla and strawberry cakes she loved and also rare flavor like cricket cake. That reminded her of the purpose of the trip but she would be alright, she was protected by the sword and by Bowser.
"Will you go too and bring me some cake?" The yoshi asked.
Peach smiled. "Of course I will. I just need to take care of a few things first but when I'm on my way back to the Mushroom kingdom I'll stop here and bring you some cake. That way you'll have more cake to look forward to after you finish eating the cake your parents bring you."
"Thank you mama Peach!" The yoshi said happily. Bowser watched quietly as Peach hugged the overgrown yoshi child. Should she really be feeding that kid more cake?
After crossing Pipe Vault again Peach and Bowser arrived at Moleville. "You've been very quiet since we were at Yo'ster Isle are you alright?" Peach asked with honest concern.
"Yes I'm fine..." Bowser said. Did that mean she enjoyed talking to him? "Just out of curiosity are you really going to give that yoshi kid more cake?"
"Of course! I promised didn't I? I keep my promises" Peach said. "Besides it doesn't matter if he weights three or four times as much as another yoshis even if he's much younger. He's happy sitting in the shade and eating cookies all day. He doesn't race like the others but he's happy and he's a nice kid. That's what counts. It's what's inside that's truly important, doesn't everyone know that?"
Bowser was silent for a moment. "Yes... I agree" He finally managed to say. He didn't know what else he could say. Peach was always so nice to everyone. She knew how to defend herself or rather learned during their quest but she was still a gentle kind princess that her kingdom loved.
To be Continued
Disclaimer, I do not own the Super Mario games or any Nintendo characters.