Luigi, with Mario in tow, careened around the corner after the purple shy-guy. Dodging skillfully from mailbox, to trash can, to large, strangely placed brick wall; they followed the shy-guy through town.
The purple shy-guy walked past Dr. Mario's clinic, took a right at Gary Goomba's Grocery Store, bobbed right on by Koopa Dry Kleaning, and didn't even look at the Cheep-Cheeps for Cheap pet store. The purple shy-guy took the Mario brothers on a twisting, turning path all over town.
The shy-guy paused near Yoshi's place to admire a shiny, silver hubcap someone lost on the side of the road.
Luigi and Mario ducked into a thick, viney bush to wait for the shy-guy to start moving again.
"Didn't there used to be a house here?" Mario frowned, looking at where Yoshi's house used to be.
"No." Luigi replied instantly.
"Are you sure…?"
Luigi tugged nervously at the collar of his shirt, "Yes." He turned his guilty face away from his brother's probing gaze, "Look!" he hissed with an exaggerated gesture meant to distract Mario from the delicate subject of Yoshi's house, or lack thereof, "The purple-shy guy is moving again!" He jumped out of the bush, and… was stuck in the bush. Looking down at himself, Luigi discovered that he had become hopelessly entangled in the vines, "No!" He moaned. The purple shy-guy was going to escape again!
Mario was equally, if not more, entangled in the bush's vines. They struggled together, but the vines held tightly.
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Yoshi, who was lounging in his lean-to, eating fruit and drinking lemonade, was puzzled by the sight of the shaking bush. He hopped to his feet to go investigate.
"Yoshi?" he inquired, poking the bush with a stick. There seemed to be something… orange… stuck in it.
"Ow! Stop poking!" Mario said.
"Watch the nose!" Luigi complained.
"Yoshi yo?" Yoshi was very confused. "Yoshi-shi yoshi yo-yoshi yo shiii?" (What the heck are you two doing in that bush, and why are you painted orange?)
"We're following the purple shy-guy." Luigi sniffed, "but he's getting away even as we speak."
"Shi?"
"Because we have to know what he's doing with his yellow, polka-dot party hat and his plate of spaghetti!" Luigi wailed. Glancing at Mario, he added, "Well, at least I have to know."
"Yoshi?" (is that all?), Yoshi laughed, "Yo-yo-yoshi yoshi-shi, yo-shi, yoshi!" (I'll go and find out what he's doing for you.)
"No! He'll run away!" Luigi warned.
Yoshi had already started after the shy-guy, "Yoshi!" (don't worry, shy-guys love me!)
Yoshi jogged bouncily up the purple shy-guy. "Yoshi-yo." (Hello)
The purple shy-guy didn't respond, but kept walking as though Yoshi wasn't even there.
Yoshi tried again, "Yoshi-yo!"
Still, the purple shy-guy didn't answer, or even react.
A bit miffed, Yoshi ran up and stood directly in front of the shy-guy, "Yoshi-yo!"
The purple shy-guy walked around him, completely undisturbed.
Now Yoshi was mad. "Yo-yoshi YOSHI!" He shot out his tongue and swallowed the purple shy-guy, spaghetti and all!
POP!
Out popped the purple shy-guy, spaghetti and all.
He wasn't even inside an egg!
Yoshi stood for a few moments, a very strange look on his face. Then, seeing the purple shy-guy walking on down the street, decided to try getting his attention in the only way he could think of at the time: Yoshi snuck up behind the purple shy-guy… and took his plate of spaghetti.
For a few seconds, it seemed as though the shy-guy wouldn't even notice. Then he stopped, his little, purple hands feeling the air where the plate of pasta should have been. Puzzled, he looked up, down, left, and right. A thought seemed to occur to him, and he turned slo-o-owly around to face Yoshi, who was holding the plate of spaghetti. His plate of spaghetti.
The purple shy-guy looked at Yoshi.
Yoshi looked at the purple shy-guy.
The purple shy-guy's eyes narrowed…
Yoshi's eyes narrowed…
Cheesy western music played in the background; intensifying the somewhat strangemood of the somewhatstrange scene.
A tumbleweed rolled across the street.
Momentarily distracted by the rolling weed, Yoshi didn't notice the purple shy-guy suddenly dash forward.
It leaped into the air, holding its purple hand high. With terrifying speed, the purple shy-guy brought down his hand just in time for a fearsome poke… right on Yoshi's oversized nose.
They remained there for a moment; frozen, as though a camera had captured forever the moment of the attack.
Then, at last, Yoshi fell backwards, dropping the plate of spaghetti. He crashed onto the ground; stunned. The plate of spaghetti landed perfectly, not losinga single meatball, on the road.
GAME SET! A strangely familiar announcer-type voice yelled out of nowhere. A random crowd cheered as the purple shy-guy looked around, confused, but not overly disturbed, by all the noise.
The purple shy-guy picked up his plate of spaghetti, and continued down the street; leaving Yoshi on the ground behind him.
By this time, Mario had remembered his fireball shooting skills, and freed himself and Luigi from the bush's viney grasp.
They were still following the shy-guy when he left the town and took a turn towards Princess Peach's castle.
This chase was far from over. Oh, far from over indeed…
