Yoshi Underground
Authored by Santuh Klozzy
Sadly, I don't own Yoshi or any other Mario characters. Some of the characters in this story, however, I DO own. Can you guess which ones?
Chapter 1. Insurgency
It was about three thirty in the morning when the small town of Barg was engulfed by the bloody pillar of light. The wind died and the snow stopped falling. Now a couple Yoshis were awaking to a strange feeling of dread.
On one dark side street, in one small and dark house, Yoshi's eyes opened. He was vaguely aware that something strange and red seemed to have invaded his bedroom. It was strange though, since his bedroom didn't have windows; it was an attic bedroom. The bedroom was small and dusty and cramped with barely enough room for a bed and a side table to fit in.
However Yoshi did notice a glowing red light seeping in from the trapdoor that led to a downstairs hallway. Panicking, he scrambled out of bed. Was it a fire downstairs? It could be. Yoshi dragged himself over to the trapdoor and felt the handle. It was cold. That ruled out fire, then. So then what could it be? Scared of what was waiting for him, Yoshi pried open the trapdoor and stared down into a hallway that was drenched in a red light.
"So…" he began. Then he looked around and realized nobody was there with him. Could it be that a flare had been lit outside? He didn't know. He slipped out into the hallway and started looking around. Nothing. He didn't hear any sounds from his parents' room, which was right below his. No sounds at all…
CRACK. He gave a little jump. What had that been? Yoshi turned his head and looked behind him. There was nothing behind him, so what did that mean? He looked around before another sound of cracking. He gave another start as he heard the sound of shattering glass. This must have been coming from one of the windows. Who would want to break into the house, though? There was nobody that Yoshi could think of who would want something from him or his family.
A door creaked open somewhere in the house. Yoshi heard muffled voices and realized that they WERE getting broken into! He started tiptoeing his way down the hallway. Yoshi heard the sound of crunching glass as feet passed over it. He stopped and peaked around the corner of the hall. Nothing in this hallway, either…and these were the only two corridors on the top floor, so chances were that it was coming from downstairs.
Yoshi started plodding down the second hallway, aware for the first time that he was scared. All sounds in the house were dead. Yoshi stopped and started thinking it would be a good idea to go back and get his boots and maybe something to protect himself with. What would he use, though? There wasn't anything he could think of to use as a weapon, but he forced himself to return to his room. Once back there he slipped on his red boots and started looking around. This was an attic so there had to be some forgotten item in here that could help him, right?
His eyes finally wandered onto what he had in mind: an old crowbar that had lain in a corner of the attic unlamented for years. He couldn't remember the last time they had used the thing, but it would be helpful now. He just hoped he wouldn't need it.
Feeling slightly more courageous, Yoshi made his way out and into the hallway, which was still an eerie red color. He hadn't really thought much about why the light was shining; he had focused his thoughts entirely on the unseen-and for the most part, unheard-intruders in his family's home.
Yoshi moved silently and steadily to the end of the second hallway, at which was a staircase leading downstairs into a large family room that was adorned with small, comfortable couches and a couple spider plants that were hanging over the sides of their painfully small pots. The front door was on the wall opposite of where the staircase descended. A dark and cold fireplace sat on the eastern wall. Two doors were on the western wall. A dreadful red light was pouring in under the front door and the large rectangular windows set on either side of it. The couches and spider plants cast monstrous shadows over the walls, and every one of them resembled a huge, brutish invader carrying some type of weapon.
His brain was screaming now. Screaming at the thought that somebody would be waiting for him down there in that big, unfriendly room. Summoning the last of his courage, Yoshi started tiptoeing down the stairs with his crowbar in hand. He heard nothing whatsoever. Then a faint crashing noise coming from the basement. This was accompanied by a similar noise from the direction of the kitchen and dining area. Yoshi took a deep breath and told his brain to shut up. He swore that it's screaming would alert everyone in the house.
After a bit of soothing his nerves, he decided it would be best to investigate the kitchen first. The kitchen was closer, and there were two ways into it. That meant he wouldn't become trapped so easily. He snuck down a short hallway connected to the living room and at the end of it he found a closed door that led to the kitchen. Yoshi leaned in put his ear to the door, listening. Silence. Still silence. Was anybody in there anymore?
They know I'm out here. They're just waiting for me to come in. They? I don't even know who they are. Yoshi closed his eyes and took a proverbial leap of faith.
Bang! The door swung open faster and harder then he had anticipated. Yoshi struck out blindly with the crowbar, but he hit only air. Nobody was in the kitchen. Yoshi looked around carefully. Then he heard the faint sound of footsteps coming from the other entrance to the kitchen. Somebody was coming! Without thinking, Yoshi ducked down behind the end of a small island in the middle of the kitchen. Various knives and other cooking tools dangled above the island, obscuring any view that Yoshi could have to the door.
A creaking noise and the door was open. Heavy footsteps found their way into the kitchen. The door creaked shut now. Yoshi was in here, alone. The only way out was the way he had just come in, but how could he escape without getting caught? There was nothing between him, the island, and the door.
"Yoshi? You in here?" His dad's tired voice croaked. Yoshi let out a sigh all of a sudden. He stood up.
"Dad? You're…" Yoshi stopped and gave another sigh of relief.
"What is up with you wandering around the kitchen? It's four fifteen in the morning!" His dad shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "Go back to bed. It's-" he paused.
"What's up with the light? Somebody light a flare out in the street?" He paused and went over to the kitchen window. "No…what is that light?" He turned around.
"You know, dad…" Yoshi began. "I came down here cause I was hearing things." "Things that were…strange. Like, I swear I could hear glass getting broken. Almost like somebody was trying to break in." In the dark red light, Yoshi's mind was still creating invisible and silent watchers standing still in the shadows, waiting to strike.
"Son, you're crazy." His dad gave a wave of his hand. "Go to bed. Really. We'll see what's up with the light tomorrow." He turned his back on Yoshi but stopped when the sound of a door being slammed reached his ear. He turned back to Yoshi, a look of confused concern on his face that was bloody in the light. "What was that?" He looked around, apparently spooked by whoever had slammed the door.
"See? Sounds!" Yoshi said. He would of felt a bit of triumph if he were not scared out of his mind. "I told you I heard stuff. Weird stuff is going on!" Yoshi stopped. He heard the sound of feet. They were coming from the door his dad had come from. "We've got to get out of here!" Yoshi cried. The desperation and panic in his voice was clear. He turned his back and fled back into the family room, trusting his dad to follow. When his father didn't follow him but instead stood confused, looking at the door that the footsteps were going to be coming through any second. "Come ON!" Yoshi bit his lip when he saw the door open. Not even aware of himself, he closed the door to the kitchen, not wanting to be spotted by the thing. A second later and the other door in the kitchen was thrown open.
"Wha-" were his dad's only words. There was a brief sound of scuffling and then the sound of clattering silverware. The door by Yoshi banged violently for a second. Then all was quiet. Almost simultaneously elsewhere in the house something had found his mother. A distant scream was all. Nothing more.
"Anybody…there?" Yoshi whispered to the door. He didn't know if he expected it to answer or not. He heard nothing on the other side. He thought that his dad could still be in there. He may be hurt… Yoshi thought to himself. If that was the case, he'd have to go in and find out. "Ready or not…" Yoshi whispered to himself.
Bang! Yoshi forced the door open to find exactly what he had feared he'd find: nothing. No bodies. No blood, at least. The only thing there was a dent on the door he just opened and the knives that had been hanging all over the place. The door on the other side of the kitchen was open and he thought he could hear footsteps leaving.
"This…is not good." Yoshi said to nobody. Nobody was listening. Or was somebody? He looked around, chilled at the thought that somebody could be hiding behind the island or standing right behind him. If they just got dad and mom…that means I'm…alone. The very thought of being trapped in a house alone with multiple killers, thieves, or kidnappers was not pleasant. The fact that it was the color of blood outside and this was truly a night straight outta Hell.
I've got to get out of this house! Yoshi thought to himself. How, though? The only ways in and out were either through the front door, which led out to the street, or through the back door, which led into an alley. Of course there were windows he could smash. The people raiding their house had obviously known about the use of windows.
"So." Yoshi began. He wasn't too afraid of being overheard. "I can either go through a door, a door, or several windows. What'll it be?"
Yoshi had a decent idea: he would take the back door. It lead out to an alleyway that would give him enough cover to escape to another part of town and get help from the police, or the neighbors, or anybody. Silently he crossed to the opposite door that the footsteps had come through. He'd have to go through here and then down two more hallways to reach the backdoor. Not only did that seem like it would take forever, but the intruders could be anywhere, now. He'd have to be even more cautious.
The house was as quiet and as still as death. More shadows danced across his eyes. Yoshi's imagination was getting the better of him and he was imagining a hundred different but all equally gruesome deaths awaiting him down the corridor outside of the kitchen.
"Ready or not, here I come!" He whispered and set off down the first corridor. He saw nothing, and nothing jumped out at him. No fearsome monsters or masked men. No demons with flaming manes or Black Ops. Soldiers. He hoped that this would keep up and proceeded down the hallway. The hallway turned abruptly at the end, and that hallway led to the backdoor. Yoshi was well aware that somebody was probably going to be there at the backdoor, waiting for him.
Imagine the surprise Yoshi had when he turned onto the last hallway to find, yet again, nothing. One thing that did scare him was the backdoor; it had been knocked off its hinges and was lying like a piece of trash in the alley. Yoshi approached it slowly. When he got to the door, he poked his head but saw no dark figures lurking in the alley. He drew a sharp breath and took a step out, looking over his shoulder. Nobody was following him. No one was here in the alley. Then where were they?
He didn't really think about much more after that except he felt a sense of panic as he realized that his feet weren't in contact with the alleyway. He looked down and saw a manhole opening up beneath him. He didn't even remember that there was a manhole out in the alley. Also, he didn't think that the intruders could of fled into the sewers.
Well…that's not good were the only thoughts Yoshi could fit in before he tumbled into the darkness and rotting stench of the sewers.
--------
The first thing he noticed was the damp cold that clung to his skin. The next thing he noticed was the dead air and blackness that surrounded him. The side of Yoshi's head on the cold sewer floor was numb, and the rest of his head was ringing.
"Hhhuuhhh…" Yoshi mumbled. He hoisted himself up into a seating position, with his back against the wall. His head hurt so badly he could barely move it, yet he leaned it back and looked up. There was no light, which, he reasoned, meant that either somebody had dragged him to some other part of the sewers while he was knocked out or else somebody put the manhole cover over the manhole. Neither one would be good.
If I'm in the sewers he thought, then what was going on in the house must have been real. If that were the case, whoever attacked him and his family could still be down here. Either that or else they were already out of the sewers.
Stumbling to his feet, Yoshi decided on a course of action: he would try to find an exit from the sewers and then get some help and they would come down here, searching for whoever had broken into Yoshi's house. With his new plan in mind, Yoshi set off. It was hard going because of the lack of light, and his eyes never really got used to the darkness. He remembered that he must of lost his sledgehammer at some point during his fall into the sewers, but he didn't care because the sledgehammer was of no use now; it would be impossible to hit anything in the dark.
When Yoshi finally found light, he had lost all track of time. It could have been days or simply minutes. Maybe it was only a couple hours. Perhaps when he exited it would be hundreds of years in the future! Yoshi didn't know and he didn't care. However, when the light did finally appear, he was glad nonetheless.
It appeared as a small beam that shot down out of a grate. Funny…Yoshi thought to himself. He wasn't aware that some of the sewer entrances in Barg had grates over them instead of manhole lids. Luckily for jo, a ladder was located underneath the grate, which was helpful in scaling the fifteen feet straight up to the grate.
Once Yoshi was directly below the grate, he tore it off and dropped it back down into the sewers where it hit the damp floor with a clanging noise.
The light was so bright out of the sewers that Yoshi had to close his eyes for a couple seconds. Even when he opened them again the light still stung his eyes so he had to squint. In what he could make out through the bright sunrays, it seemed that he must be outside the city limits. There were tall forms all around him, which he took to be trees.
It was strange, though. These trees weren't of the tropical variety. These were larger, hardier types that were found only further inland. These types of trees weren't found anywhere near Barg. Also, the ground was hard and dotted with small rocks and wild grasses. These wild grasses were only common towards the center of Yoshi Island. Then what were they doing out here…?
A sound awakened Yoshi from his momentary musings. He looked around. He was alone, for the most part. However, just beyond sight in the shade of a massive tree lurked his watcher. Silent and unseen, it began circling Yoshi like a carrion bird circles a fresh corpse. It prowled around until it was entirely behind the unknowing green dinosaur. Then it decided to make its move.
Yoshi heard a faint whistling sound half a second before it happened. Were it not for the supersensitive senses and sharp reflexes that hundreds of years of living in the wild had given to the Yoshis, he would not of survived the encounter.
Yoshi was vaguely aware of what could possibly be behind. However, his instinct was to avoid whatever it was, and at the moment he was guided only by instinct.
He immediately bridged his entire body, placing both hands on the ground for support. He looked up and saw a steel knife go speeding right where his shoulder blades had been. Yoshi rolled back into a handstand position and flipped up onto his feet. He glanced around but his attacker was still hidden. A second later, from a spot exactly behind him, another knife came gliding like a silver bullet. Yoshi dropped down into a laying position on his stomach. He crawled around in a one-eighty circle and stared hard into the area the knife had exploded from. Nothing was there that he could see.
His attacker walked up behind him on silent feet. Yoshi heard a blade being drawn quietly from a sheath. He jumped up with his back to his unseen attacker. Yoshi intended to not go down without a fight. He aimed a mule kick at his adversary but hit nothing but air. A second later a long, curved blade was pressed against his throat. It was very, very thin. No sword of this type had been manufactured in the isle for centuries.
"How lucky is it that I'd come across a Yoshi all alone, wandering the forest?" a voice whispered in his ear. Yoshi couldn't identify anything about the enemy's voice; it was emotionless and had no accent. It almost seemed to change tones as it kept talking. It could be low-pitched or high. It might be scratchy or else smooth and glasslike.
"Huuh!" was the only sound Yoshi squeezed out. A gloved hand was clapped over his mouth.
Bang! Something exploded into the forest around them. A flash of light and tongues of flames licked Yoshi's arms and legs. A second later another device flew into the area right in front of him. It was small and resembled a crudely made pineapple grenade. It too burst into flames that reached out and hugged him. Yoshi didn't even notice the sword had left his throat and his attacker had fled.
Distant voices and the sound of many feet and other odd noises all at once. The sound of cold steel meeting cold steel was added to the menagerie of sounds. He felt like he was standing forsaken in a ring of fire while a war was waged all around him. Yoshi looked around and could only see dark shapes on the outside of the fiery ring. He looked at his arms and chest and saw they were burned, badly. They were like charred, mangled messes, shiny with his blood.
The last thing he remembered was the intense heat overwhelming him as he crumpled to the ground. Then an arm pierced the flames and got a hard grip on his shoulder. Yoshi was badly burned and unconscious when they dragged him from the fire.
On the trip that his new captors were taking him, he only woke up twice. He barely had enough energy to open his eyes at first. When he did, he saw himself surrounded by blurred people, traveling silently. He didn't notice that he was on a makeshift stretcher of blankets and other materials. Then he passed out into darkness.
The next time Yoshi woke up, the sun had passed out of sight and night engulfed the land. His captors were carrying torches, now. There was a bit of hushed talk among them, but Yoshi could not understand it. He let his eyes close and once more he was out.
So it was that in the last days of January, when winter was alive yet almost over, in the coldness and blackness of night that Yoshi was brought into the lair of his rescuers. The 'lair' was a cave, which had in years past stocked the terrible experimental weapons that Yoshi scientists labored over night and day, manufacturing and testing in secret locations. It now served as a base of operations for the group that had rescued Yoshi. It had one main room, which was reminiscent of the inside of a warehouse; crates and barrels were stacked on each other, creating makeshift barriers. Holes had been drilled in the walls, providing rooms for torches to sit. The floor was bare and covered with rocks, and two small hallways led away from this room. The one on the opposite side of the room from the main entrance led to a smaller, private room that served as quarters and a war room for the garrison's leader. The next hallway was located directly in between the main entrance and back room. It was a trapdoor, actually. A small metal grate could be removed from the entrance, and then you would proceed to climb down a ten-foot ladder, which led into a long, dark room dotted with bunk beds and mattresses lying idly on the ground. It was a dark, cold pit that the soldiers of this place called home every night.
Though Yoshi would become familiar with this place throughout the course of the occupation and war, the first time he saw the inside of the outpost he would be a bit surprised. He had always imagined military forts as large outposts dotted with towers and ramparts. Soldiers would march with an air of pride and courage, their uniforms always clean and ironed. They would carry their swords and spears perfectly, never dropping them or letting them hit anything. The barracks were always perfect, too; they never smelled, the bed sheets were always fresh and every soldier was happy all the time, proud to be serving his or her isle. Not only would Yoshi realize that forts look a whole lot different when people aren't there taking the public tours, but he would also realize the people at this fort didn't even have bed sheets.
--------
In his dreams, Yoshi was terrified. His dreams always shook him, and he constantly was waking up, scared.
The dream he was having during the time he was being carried to the fortress was long and terrible. It would leave Yoshi guessing at the purpose of many things for the rest of the war.
It started out with him, standing alone in a dark room. It was so dark he couldn't see anything; not even his hand when he held it in front of his face. Then the room was lit up, but it was not with a normal light, no. It was the eerie, glowing red light that had haunted the town of Barg that fateful night. The light seemed to be drilling into his eyes, burning them. So he closed his eyes to stop the burning, but something forced them open again. Now it was dark again, but somebody was talking. He listened, but the language was strange. It was low and guttural, with the speaker making many odd noises during its speech. Yoshi heard himself asking the speaker questions. He received answers that he did not understand. Then whatever it was that was speaking laid a cold, clammy hand on Yoshi's shoulder. He found himself unable to tear away from the strong grasp. Every time he tried to break away, he found that the grasp grew stronger. He kept trying to get away, but eventually the fingernails on the hand dug into his shoulder so badly he felt a stinging sensation and then knew he was bleeding. He kept repeating to himself "Something's not right!" over and over. He stood there, bleeding and babbling strange messages. Then he heard a small, frail voice in his ear telling him he was dead. With that, he collapsed onto the cold floor of the black room.
Bang! A bomb exploded right next to him and all of a sudden he was in a great desert. Mortar shells were falling from the sky like hail. He looked in the distance to see where they were coming from, but he could see no launchers. Then he realized the mortars were dropping from the sky like bombs! He looked around and saw other Yoshis near him, armed with swords and guns. A dark blue one ran up to him, clutching a bloody sword to his chest. He started yelling something at Yoshi but it was in the guttural language the mysterious speaker in the room had used. He pointed to the distance. When Yoshi looked in the direction he was pointing, he saw waves upon waves of strange figures. They were clad in foreign armor, which was painted with strange designs. They wore various masks that were shaped like the faces of animals. The primary colors on their armor were blue, red and yellow. They were painted in mesmerizing patterns all over them. The masks were painted that way, too. They carried long, curved broadswords, which reflected the scene in front of them in their steel smiles. There seemed to be no end to the strange soldiers, clad in their chunky suits of strangely painted armor. They soon rushed upon the Yoshis and began slaughtering them with tremendous ferocity.
Boom! Yoshi was in another scene, now. The mortars were still dropping like doomed stones out of the sky, and he was still in a desert. Yet this desert was different.
The ground was not sandy, but instead hard and cracked, like the ground in an extremely dry area. It was a deep red which could have been the natural color of the ground, or else it could have been from blood. Yoshi did not know. The sky above him was red, also. The sun was setting and it cast its last brilliant rays over the desert. Yoshi looked around him and saw huge masses of burnt metal all around him. It was like a huge grove of metallic trees and scrap heaps of burned and scarred machinery. A graveyard for the machines, Yoshi thought. A warm wind was blowing through the area, bringing a strange smell with it. He couldn't put his finger on what it was, but it reeked of sulfur and gasoline. He climbed a mountain of what looked like discarded heavy machinery. On the top was a scissor lift that he climbed into and was able to get a view of this strange desert. There were mountains and groves of these mechanical trees all over the place. In the far, far distance was an actual mountain range, glowing red and yellow in sundown. It seemed that the dropping mortars were all over this desert, erupting into fiery domes and bursts of smoke. Yoshi turned and looked for the center of the desert, but he could not see it. He could see, however, marshes in the distance. Strange, treeless bogs dotted with rusty machinery. Their waters were thick and discolored with pollution and dumped chemicals. Beyond the marshes he saw it: a huge city. It spanned as far as he could see. This was not a Yoshi city, however. Yoshi cities barely ever grew that large, and they were usually dotted with pocket parks and other beautification spots. Yoshi buildings had a very distinct architecture style, which was somewhat like a modified Gothic theme. These buildings were huge, cylindrical towers with no windows. They were made of metal and stone, and they were all the same dull gray. Besides these weird towers were huge warehouses, lined up by the hundreds in identical rows. Then there were the smokestacks. They stuck up like pins out of a pincushion, spewing smoke and deadly gases into the atmosphere. Yoshi could now see large black vans that had to be about as big as tanks. They came loaded down with barrels of excess waste to the chemical marsh. Yoshi watched as dirty and miserable looking Yoshis climbed out and started unloading the chemicals into the pools of poisonous water. Then he saw that there were the same strange soldiers there with them that he had seen in the other desert. They were giving out orders and unloading a couple of the vans. In the city, these same giant vans were hurrying to and fro, loading up supplies, transporting them, getting more, and repeating the whole process. Yoshis and these soldiers passed each other, but never talked. What could it all mean?
Somehow knowing he was done here, Yoshi disappeared again. For a split second all was darkness, then he was in Barg. Yet it was not the Barg he had known. The streets were crowded with directionless Yoshis who had been chased out of their homes. Beggars were asleep under overhangs on buildings, while other Yoshis crowded around a huge stone gate that closed off the docks from the rest of the city. Once again, the foreign soldiers were there, on the other side of the gates. The Yoshis were begging for work at the docks, but they were being refused. At the docks, ironclads and barges were coming and going, heading off into the distance. In the center of the town stood an imposing stone castle. The weird soldiers dotted the courtyards and were entering and exiting it. Yoshi saw that all the trees near Barg had been cut down, leaving the ground ugly and full of stumps. Horse-drawn carts brought piles of logs into the city. They dropped them off at one building or another, and then they set off again. Yoshis were outside all day long, swinging axes and dragging trees to the carts. Terrified by this future, Yoshi started begging whatever was putting him through these dreams to leave him be. Yet there was another image or two for him to see. Yoshi stood silently, studying Barg.
A second later and Yoshi was standing next to one of the most famous Yoshi landmarks: the Super Happy Tree. He looked up at it. He had visited it once before, and it was truly amazing. You saw pictures of it in the Wish You Were Here… postcards but when you were actually there it was absolutely huge. The Super Happy Tree was in a small mountain range on the southern half of Yoshi Island.
Technically, he should of said Eastern Yoshi Island. There were eight islands in the Yoshi Isle. Two of those were both called Yoshi Island. One was in the west and one was in the east, so they took on to calling them the West and East Yoshi Islands. However, not many people liked this idea and ended up calling them both Yoshi Island. Not many things were on Western Yoshi Island. There were more towns then Eastern Yoshi Island, but not as many important locations. On Western Yoshi Island-which is where Barg was-there was the figurehead capital city of the Yoshi Isle. It was a big, crowded town full of buildings where various directors of agencies and other important people in the monarchy gathered to argue and generally get nothing done. The king maintained that this was the capital of the Yoshi Isle, but everyone knew that the city of Yoshinopolis on Eastern Yoshi Island was the true capital. It was much smaller, and was more a landscaping project than a city. It was built out of wealthy, walled suburbs and acres upon acres of parks with groves of various trees, geometric patterns made from different species of flowers, and manmade lakes populated by fish that had been brought in. There were trails lined with rows of trees that led along rivers and through grassy knolls. Animals frolicked and gave any visitor the impression that the king had his priorities right. Really? What priorities? That was the view most Yoshis had of the king. He was fit to run an eatery more than he was to run a kingdom.
Yet none of that mattered as Yoshi sat looking up at the natural magnificence of the Super Happy Tree. Then something caught his eye that made his stomach squirm…
There were more soldiers. They had long saws and axes and they were cutting thick strips of wood from the Super Happy Tree! Yoshi felt sick. There were long caravans of wagons loaded up with the wood from the tree. Yoshi looked up once more and noticed the branches were leafless. The bark was grayish and dead. The Super Happy Tree was dead and these foreign soldiers were cutting it up for construction and firewood. At the moment Yoshi felt sick. He wanted to bring himself to throw up and wake from this dream, but he wouldn't. He covered his eyes. This can't be real he thought to himself. This is only a dream. Only a dream… it was only a dream. "You…are all…a dream!" Yoshi spat out at the soldiers. He tried running to them, attacking them, but he was rooted to the spot. He yelled vulgarities and threats at them. He kept struggling. Eventually tired, he relaxed, unable to escape his invisible bonds and attack the people who were desecrating and destroying a great Yoshi landmark. He sighed and knew what he could do.
Everything that had happened so far…the dark room and the strange speaker, the desert and the Yoshis being slaughtered, the mechanical desert and the huge economic center, the miserable and homeless in Barg, and now the destruction of the Super Happy Tree, he knew what he would do. If these things hadn't happened yet he would stop them. He didn't know if an unknown force was guiding his dreams or else if he was just imagining things that his mind had predicted after the events he had been through. If there was time to stop these events from happening, he would. Yet there was one more sight that would freeze his blood.
Bang! Now he was in a new and alien environment. This was not on Yoshi Isle. It was like another world. Another hostile world spread out before him. He had the sense he was in a building that had some special purpose. The cavernous room that spread out before him was the strangest sight he had ever seen. There were huge pillars of a strange luminescent blue gelatin. He tried touching one, and it wobbled as his hand moved it. Huge slimy membranes hung like curtains, blocking off passageways leading out of the room. Yoshi looked at the floor and saw that it was a strange color he had never seen. To him it was nameless. The ceiling and walls were the same color. What a room! Yoshi laughed in his head. What an absurd surrounding, yet something was innocently sinister about it. He realized nobody was in here except for him. Nobody until he heard a strange sound across the room. He saw one of the membranes burst into flames, disintegrating and leaving the passage out of the room open. Yoshi saw that the tunnel behind the membrane was dark, yet he could make out shapes emerging from it.
One by one they came out. They were weird figures, dressed in black robes and hoods that hid their faces. They had black gloves and black boots. Some of them carried torches that were shaped like Cornucopias. Inextinguishable blue flames leapt out of these horns. Others carried curved swords like the strange soldiers from Yoshi Isle. At their head was a strange sight; a dragon.
It was about three times the size of a Yoshi. It was blood red with splotches of black and white over its scaly hide. On top of it sat a demonized, perverted Yoshi head. It was like that of a normal Yoshi, except that dagger-like fangs shot out of its mouth. It had a pair of branching horns like those of a stag on its head. Its eyes were large and black. A huge purplish and gray tongue was curled up in its mouth. The beast was on all fours and behind it swung a thick tail that ended in a club with small spikes like horns sticking out of it.
Next to it walked a figure not unlike the others except that it carried three spheres. One orb was black, and had the burning letters PANIC floating on the inside of it. The next one was white with the fiery letters TERROR inside of it. The third one was gray and had the letters TREMBLING floating on the inside of it, burning.
As they proceeded to the center of the room, Yoshi saw a console rising up out of the ground in the center. The console was like that to a supercomputer. It was wide and was covered with numerous buttons and screens like a picture straight out of a sci-fi movie. The console was made out of pure gold and the buttons were carved from various gems. Rubies, sapphires, amethysts and any other number of gems were in the form of buttons and keys on the computer.
As they reached the computer, Yoshi saw the robed figure with the three orbs placing them on three pedestals to the side of the console. After it had placed them, it asked the dragon something in the strange guttural language.
The dragon responded but the answer was in the same language. Then it placed its first huge, clawed hand on the console and started pressing the various buttons on the console. It started talking as it worked, and the others that were accompanying it listened quietly and kept all their eyes on the screen.
SHUSHSUHSU A sound rang out into the hall. A holographic window appeared, floating above the console. On it was a picture Yoshi knew well. This was the planet that he had lived on his whole life. At least he hoped he had lived on it for his life.
The dragon let out a roar of triumph and continued its tedious work. A pleased chatter spread through the crowd of figures. The dragon stopped and turned around and asked something to them. They responded with cheers and mad laughter. The dragon pushed a couple more buttons and stood back, surveying its work.
Yoshi studied the screen, confused. Then horror gripped him as the planet began to change. He watched as the oceans disappeared and all that was left was a great brown sore where the water had been. The green continents darkened and a shadow was cast over the planet. It grew darker and colder, and great black clouds covered most of the planet. On the surface, superstorms were raging their way through the world, ravaging continents and destroying the last remnants of the world. Burned out ruins of buildings and fortresses gave a small respite from the baseball sized chunks of rock that were torn from the ground in the insanely high winds. F5 tornadoes dotted the prairies and deserts, leaving trails of destruction that zigzagged the planet. A huge swirling cloud hung over the sea, spewing rain and lightning and destroying everything that came near. The powers of Hurricane, Lightning and Earthquake were unleashed. A continual cycle of storms and winds as the dead planet drifted through the darkness of outer space, ripped from its orbit of the sun and void of any purpose or life. Such was the terrible scene that presented itself on the view screen.
The dragon stared, speechless. Something about this had startled it. Something had startled the robed figures, too. They loitered about for a second, murmuring quietly in the deep, strange language that was included in all of Yoshi's dreams. They stood around until the dragon quieted them. It began to speak. Its voice was low and it sounded scared and uncertain. It appeared to Yoshi that the mysterious group had messed up and destroyed his world. Was this what was destined to happen?
The group stood, rooted to the spot. Why? Why didn't they leave? The dragon lowered its head. Then it raised it up again, a crooked grin crossing its face. It started barking something to the group, and they began to grow more cheerful. How can you be cheerful after you've just killed an entire planet? Yoshi thought. Cheerful they were, though. They shuffled around a bit and waited. The dragon went to the panel again and began typing once more. Did he believe he could bring the planet back? Then Yoshi saw what he was doing. A second later and a swirling portal cracked open right where the holographic screen had been. It was like a huge black window with electricity crackling inside it and flashes of light reaching out. Even a couple sounds from the other side of the portal escaped into the room. There were various sounds: wind, the sound of marching feet, and voices.
A couple of the cloaked men sprang through the portal with their swords out. A couple more followed. At last it was only the dragon and the person who had carried the spheres. The sphere-carrier grabbed the spheres and it and the dragon dived through seconds before the portal snapped shut. The room was left dark and silent. The golden console slowly lowered itself back into the floor. Yoshi looked around, stunned by what he had just seen. Was his world over? Or was this a premonition? Perhaps it was nothing but messed up images based on the events that had been taking place. Yoshi was not sure.
He did know one thing.
He would not-Snap! Yoshi was awake. He was lying in a dark cave on a mattress without sheets. Several unfamiliar Yoshi faces surrounded him, illuminated by a glow stick that one of them had just snapped to life.