Yoshi Underground

by Santuh Klozzy

This is the 1st story in a series. It revolves around a Yoshi caught up in the events of a sudden and unexpected war...read and review, flames accepted! FINISHED!

3. Chapter 2: Rebellion

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 2. Rebellion

"Think he'll be okay?"

"Maybe. Those burns look pretty bad, though."

"But he should be okay, right?"

"I told you maybe."

"Guys, what are we going to do?"

"Don't ask me!"

"What do you think?"

The voices came flooding over Yoshi's mind as he lay there, in great pain and unable to move. His eyes hurt too much to open them, so he let them rest. The smell of burnt flesh filled his nostrils, and he could feel his arms and chest were wet with blood.

"Hurrgh…" he coughed out. Even it hurt to speak.

"Is Thorn back yet?"

"Maybe. Lemme go check."

The sound of feet on hard ground and then the clanking sound of someone climbing a ladder out of the room they were in.

"Hurrgh…" Yoshi repeated. He opened his eyes, even though it caused him pain to do so. He saw that he was lying on a mattress that had been thrown down in the corner of a huge, dark room. The room around him was dotted with bunk beds and other mattresses. The only light came from an eerie greenish glow emitted by a glow stick held by a yellow Yoshi standing over him. He bent his head and saw his arms and chest were burned badly. He let his head fall back. What was going on?

A minute later a dark blue Yoshi came climbing down a ladder that was just barely inside the glow of the glow stick. As he reached the bottom, Yoshi noticed he was carrying a sword with him.

"I found Thorn, everybody. He said he had just gotten back and he'd come down here in a minute." The blue Yoshi told the group.

"Thanks, Helix." Said the yellow Yoshi standing next to Yoshi.

Helix strode forwards and looked down at Yoshi. He studied him for a minute.

"Strange that we found him wandering alone in the forest." Came a voice from the back of the group. A couple people nodded.

"I know." Helix turned to the group. "Strange that he was alone. Strange that he was wandering." He looked back at Yoshi, and then he turned to face the ladder. A metallic clanking sound signaled someone was climbing down. "Here's Thorn now!" He announced.

A second after he announced his entrance, the Yoshi known as Thorn appeared at the bottom of the ladder. He was a good two or three inches taller than Yoshi, and he was well built. His arms and legs were muscular, and he carried himself with an energy Yoshi hadn't seen too often. He was a dark charcoal color, with flecks of gray. His eyes were red. He was in some military fatigues with a pair of combat boots on.

He strode over to the group quietly and stood there watching them all. Finally he turned to Yoshi.

"This is the guy?" He asked, walking over to Yoshi and looking down on him. Everybody nodded. Thorn kept looking Yoshi up and down. "What's your name?" He asked. Yoshi managed to croak out a "Yoshi." Which seemed to satisfy him.

Thorn looked at the group and opened his mouth. "It seems his name is Yoshi. A very common name."

"Shouldn't we get some bandages or something for his burns? I mean…. they look pretty painful." Spoke up the yellow Yoshi holding the glow stick.

"Right." Thorn nodded absent-mindedly. "Somebody go get a field medic or something. Now!" He barked at the crowd. Two green Yoshis departed to the ladder. Or maybe just the light was making them look green. Thorn turned back to Yoshi. "What were you doing out in that forest, Yoshi?" Yoshi knew he wouldn't care that his throat hurt so he forced himself to talk.

"It all started out at least a couple days ago in my hometown of Barg." Yoshi began.

"Whoah, whoah, whoah. You came from Barg?" Thorn interrupted.

"Yeah. I'm getting to that part soon." Yoshi continued on. "So I was asleep in my house that I share with my parents. It was night. Then this weird, red light came in under the door to my room and I started hearing weird things. First of all, somebody broke into our house. Then my mom and dad disappeared. Then I got out of the house into an alley and out there I fell into an open manhole."

Thorn nodded. "Yeah. I know all about weird red lights and strange people breaking into houses and kidnapping or killing people."

"Anyways…" Yoshi continued. "It was pitch black in the sewers. I mean pitch black! It was really dark and my eyes never got used to it. So I must have stumbled through there for at least a day. Then I see an exit and I take it. Where does that exit lead? It leads right into the middle of a forest. So now I'm standing, completely confused in a forest. Then out of nowhere somebody starts throwing knives at me. I dodge those and then this guy comes out of nowhere and is going to slit my throat and then you guys show up and throw a couple incendiary grenades. You chase him off and then you save me and take me here. I wake surrounded by people I've never seen in a dark cave. I'm covered with burns, too. My name is Yoshi. I'm unemployed and live with my parents. There." Yoshi finished, pleased with himself.

A couple strange looks appeared in the crowd. Thorn looked at Yoshi funnily.

"You're from Barg and you wandered north hundreds of miles in a sewer? That's crazy! There's no sewer line anywhere in the isle that stretches that far."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" Thorn said. "That when we picked you up, we were about ten to fifteen miles northeast of the town of Yoshmite. Yoshmite is a mid-island city. So either you're lying or else those sewers are seriously whacked." Thorn shook his head. "It's impossible. No way at all you could of done that unless what you were wandering through wasn't a sewer line." A hush fell over the crowd at this.

"Yeah. I know that it's impossible but I'm pretty sure those were sewers I was in."

Thorn sat silently for a minute. He turned his back to everyone in deep thought.

"The only way I'll believe you…" he began, addressing Yoshi. "Is if we get visual confirmation of the sewers. Do you think you can remember where they were in Barg?"

Yoshi nodded. He knew where they were; they were right outside his house. What was Thorn going to do, though?

"You're going back to Barg." Thorn said, with his back still to everybody. "You're not going alone, though. Also you're not going on foot." He turned around. "Helix and Sasha are going with you." With this the dark blue Yoshi and the yellow one holding the glow stick nodded. "Here's what we're going to do." Thorn walked forwards and addressed Yoshi, Sasha, and Helix. "You're going to go by boat. It will be long and hard and you'll be traveling down some of the hardest rapids in the isle, but I think you can do it."

Pulling up a sheet of paper from a small table next to a bunk bed, Thorn pulled a pen out of one of his fatigue pockets. He drew a large circle and labeled it "YOSHMITE" and then he drew another circle far below it and labeled it "BARG". He drew the outline of Western Yoshi Island around them, showing their actual geographic locations. He drew a line between the two and labeled that 600 MILES. He drew a squiggly line that led from near YOSHMITE to near BARG. He labeled it RHINEHEART RIVER-450 MILES. He drew a smaller river branching off of RHINEHEART and it flowed into the ocean near BARG. He labeled it BROKEN CREEK-50 miles. Then he drew a line threw the ocean to Barg and labeled it OCEAN-THE REST OF THE WAY.

"That's how we're going to cut off time." Said Thorn. "Instead of walking straight there we're going to shave off a bit of time and hard work by traveling by river. Here-" he pointed to the map. "You'll walk the distance to Yoshmite. Once you get there we'll have three people named Team A waiting for you with a boat at the shores of the Rhineheart River. You'll travel down the length of the Rhinestone. At the end of it near Barg, it forms into a small marsh. A smaller river called Broken Creek branches off of it and travels fifty miles to the sea. Once you get to the sea you will travel the rest of the way to Barg by sea. How you get into the town is up to you. Okay?"

"I got a question." Yoshi piped up.

"What?" Thorn looked annoyed.

"What if I don't want to be a part of you guys? I mean…hell, I don't even know what's going on."

"That's good, then." Thorn said. "It'll be a learning experience. Consider yourself drafted to the greatest rebel army in the isle!" He looked at Sasha and Helix. "Make sure you tell him all about the invasion on your way to Barg. Follow his instructions when you reach the sewers."

Sasha and Helix nodded.

"When she would leave?" Sasha asked Thorn.

"Whenever you want. You might want to wait for Fire Team A to get there, though or you might be waiting a bit." With that, Thorn left.

Sasha nodded and turned to Yoshi. "Think you'll be in good enough condition to travel?" She asked.

"I'll try." Yoshi sat up in the mattress. "I wish I knew what was up with those sewers. It's not like I'm lying." He looked at Sasha and Helix.

They nodded and turned and left. Helix told him that they'd tell him when they were ready to leave. Yoshi decided he'd try to get a bit of rest before they left, but hunger pangs and all of the burning sensations all over him prevented that. So he rocked back and forth all night, a shell of a Yoshi. How could it be that in the past couple days his world had fallen on its head, turned inside out, exploded and then done it all again? Alien soldiers invading sounded like it had some grain of truth to it. Everything else was going crazy.

Yoshi eventually was taken by sleep through his pain, and when he finally slept it was restless and riddled with nightmares.

The only dream Yoshi would remember was one where he was standing in a graveyard. Thick gray fog covered the ground, and crooked tombstones covered with moss sat about the place, unforgiving in their judgmental stares. Almost like they were accusing him of living while the inhabitants of their graves were dead. He was alone in this graveyard, alone and afraid. Strange sounds came from under the ground: screams, maniacal laughter, howling. Every now and then a hand would shoot up out of the ground next to a tombstone. They were Yoshi hands, but they were ancient ones. Covered with maggots and clumps of dirt, Yoshis would stand up from their resting places. Their skin was colorless and sagging. A couple of them were skeletons. One of them had a fat, red worm coming out of an empty eye socket. It approached Yoshi and began speaking to him in a language he understood as a low, guttural one. As it talked, Yoshi heard the sound of footsteps and voices. All of a sudden the corpse Yoshi opened its mouth and said "Yoshi, wake up already!" Yoshi rubbed his eyes, but the dream did not end. It started talking again. "Wake-up!"

A minute later and Yoshi was being shaken roughly awake by Helix. Sasha stood near them, holding a brown backpack. Helix had a small bag in one hand and his sword in the other one.

"We need to leave." He said hurriedly. "Fire Team A has already left with the raft we'll be using. We're going now."

"What time is it?" Yoshi yawned. He felt like asking for five more minutes. He felt more tired than when he had fallen asleep.

"It's seven in the morning." Helix said "and if you don't hurry up we'll leave without you. Now HURRY UP!" He grabbed Yoshi by his right shoulder and forced him to his feet. He handed him a sword like the one he was carrying.

"Take this." Helix continued. He also handed him a small bag like his. Yoshi checked it and saw it contained first aid equipment. "You're carrying our first aid, so don't lose it or else we'll be in trouble. It sucks to be bleeding to death and not have anything to heal the wound with."

"What's the hurry?"

"Just come on." He turned to Sasha. "Let's go."

"Right. Here, Yoshi." Sasha grabbed him and started helping him along. Whenever he moved his chest felt like it was going to explode. That and he could barely move his arm.

So it was that on a frosty day in the middle of January that Yoshi, Helix and Sasha embarked on the first mission of the war that was beginning. They were going to go to the large town of Yoshmite and from there they would continue down several waterways until they reached Yoshi's town of Barg which lay six hundred miles away. Outside the soft light of the morning sun gave everything a fresh look, and frost clung onto the trees and ground. Birds and animals could be heard chattering and moving about in the dense clumps of bushes and flowers. A soft wind blew through the trees and created a rustling sound. It was a beautiful day until Yoshi saw the smoke in the distances to the south.

"What is that?" He asked Sasha. He wondered why there was smoke out here. The nearest town must have been Yoshmite…

"That's smoke from Yoshmite. When it was invaded a couple buildings were burned. Some of the fires are still going on there." Sasha sighed. "We should've realized we'd be invaded some day. Some day." She was quiet for most of the rest of their hike to Barg. She was quiet and Helix was restless. He was constantly darting ahead and peering into the depths of the forest, searching for anybody who'd be out here. Many times he stopped them and told them to be quiet while he listened. Perhaps he knew that there were soldiers out here who would be able to kill them easily. The invaders seemed to be able to do that quite easily from what he had seen.

"You know." Helix told them about they had had a midday meal break. "We don't know too much about these invaders. All we know is that they showed up one night, slaughtering and burning everything they saw. You ever seen one of them?" He asked Yoshi. When Yoshi shook his head signaling 'no' Helix continued, "They're so freaky. They look weird but they can still kill you so easily. Here's the thing." He moved in closer and talked in a hushed voice. "Their armor is really weird and big. It's kind of like plate armor. Just imagine Yoshi plate armor except make it twice as big. That's how large it is. Then they have weird patterns painted onto it. See, the armor is red and they paint blue and yellow patterns all over it. Then to top it all off they have these mask/helmet things that are red with yellow and blue patterns on them and the masks are supposed to look like different animals." Yoshi looked confused. "I know!" Helix continued quietly. "I saw two of them. One had a bull mask and the other had a horse mask. It's strange, I know. You know how you were alone and being attacked by one of them? Yeah, well when he tried escaping after we entered the scene to save you. I saw his mask. Yeah, it was some bug. Must have been a locust or a cricket or something. It was weird like that. Anyways, that's what they look like. I can't think of anybody who would wear armor that was so ceremonial." Helix got up and addressing no one in particular said, "we should get a move on. We've still got a while to go."

So once more they set off through the forests around the city of Yoshmite. By the end of the day they had miraculously traveled ten of the twenty miles they needed to travel to Yoshmite. They stopped by a dry creek bed for a short break before they set off again.

Yoshi wasn't accustomed to the long, hard stretches of traveling. He was grateful whenever they stopped for even the shortest period of time. Now he sat resting as night closed in slowly. They would have to get up and keep traveling after this. So after a short ten-minute resting period they were up again and hiking.

After a short while Yoshi could finally make out Yoshmite in entire clarity on the horizon. A heavily wooded valley was lying between them and their destination. The Rhineheart River snaked and curled its way sinisterly through the landscape, dotted with rocky and treeless islands. It started in Lake Kestrel, which was located far up in the mountains to the north. Then it ran out and was carried down through the mountains and into the middle of the island. Once there it ran steadily down south until it found its destination in a small lake that was rife with several species of plants and fish. Of course recently the lake had been invaded by snakeheads and now only one species of fish existed there.

The march to Yoshmite was hard. The ground was covered with huge boulders that were difficult to navigate through. Several fallen trees blocked their path at multiple locations and the trees were thick and impossible to see through. The ground was covered with sharp stones that sliced anybody unlucky enough to fall and fallen leaves formed a multicolored blanket beneath their feet that crackled beneath their feet when they trudged on it. Anybody would hear them or see them coming. They kept marching, though, and at midnight they reached the soulless ruins of the city known as Yoshmite.

Yoshmite was an abandoned city. There were no signs of life anywhere and fires burned openly in various shops and homes. Corpses of Yoshis were scattered throughout the winding cobblestone streets that wiggled their way through the city. The shops and austere stone houses that lined the streets were all empty and trashed. Most of them were on fire as well. The city walls had crumbled away and the chunks of wall formed an odd looking circle around the city. It was hard on them to pass through this dead place, which stood as a testament to the destruction that the invaders of the isle were bringing.

After what seemed like an hour of traveling they came to the banks of the Rhinestone. It was a bit outside of Yoshmite and ran swiftly and silently, unaware of the carnage that had been committed so near its banks. They were told that Fire Team A would be about a mile south of their current location.

They eventually met Fire Team A, but not in the way they expected. As they were hiking down the river looking for the other three Yoshis, they came across a camp of invaders. Luckily for them, they were unseen. There were five of the soldiers. One had a mask that resembled a bulldog, two masks both resembled a fish, and the other two resembled the faces of lions.

They were talking, but not in a language any of the Yoshis understood. They were all standing around a small pit they had dug. It was filled with fuel and a fire had been lit inside it. There were small rocks propped around the fire, which the soldiers were using as seats.

"Come on," Helix motioned to Yoshi and Sasha. The three crept along the edges of the base. The five soldiers did not notice them as they proceeded along. However the Yoshis finally got a clear view of the fire's fuel.

At the bottom of the fire was burning the corpse of a chocolate colored Yoshi with blotches of beige. There were two bloody pits where the Yoshi's eyes had been. It had puncture wounds up and down its torso, and all of its fingers had been removed. Its jaw had been forced open so far it had snapped, and all the teeth were missing, along with the tongue. What was worse was that there were two other corpses with it: a white Yoshi who was disfigured in much the same way as the first. Then there was a pink one that had had all of its skin cut off. The face was mangled and slashed up so badly it could not be recognized. The head had been twisted so badly that the neck has snapped. Its legs and arms were all broken as well. All three of them were turning black and leathery. On the white and brown Yoshis the skin was beginning to crack and peel away. Apparently Fire Team A hadn't been having a good mission.

Yoshi swallowed a bit of vomit that came up into his mouth. He turned to Sasha and Helix. Sasha was turning pale and Helix had covered his eyes. When Helix spoke his voice was shaky with emotion.

"This same scene is happening all over the isle. Disfigured and mutilated Yoshis, cities burning and ruined buildings." Helix turned away and sighed. He turned back to Yoshi and Sasha. His features were frozen with an emotion Yoshi didn't recognize. He began to speak again. "We can't just leave them here." He looked at the fire. "They didn't deserve to be tortured, killed and burned." So he was addressing the dead Yoshis. "I say we go in there and kill them all." Helix drew his sword. Sasha hadn't been saying anything, but she was starting to shake a bit. Yoshi looked at the sword Helix had given him. He looked up, scared.

"How could we, though? I mean, there's five of them and three of us. Plus they're, well, if they're as superhuman in their strength and agility and other things then we won't stand a chance."

"We do have the element of surprise, though." Sasha finally spoke. She looked like she was about to breakdown any second. Yoshi couldn't look into her eyes. He felt like crying.

Crying? How could he cry over three dead Yoshis he had never seen? Was it the fact that there was no crime, no murders in the Yoshi Isle? Was it that they had died slow, painful deaths? Was it that they had died at the hands of these strange warriors? Were they the first martyrs of the approaching war? Approaching war? Why was he thinking there would be a war? If there were, would he be in it? On the front line? Would he be one of the first casualties? A war hero? A martyr? A general? Would he be a civilian? A traitor? Definitely not a traitor. Would he be maimed and handicapped for the rest of his life? Would he witness some of the most gruesome scenes he had ever laid eyes on? Would all of his friends die? Would it be an actual war or just extermination? Could this all be a dream? Maybe he'd wake up in his bed. There would be no light. No invaders or missing Yoshis. No strange sewers or rebel Yoshis living in a cave. No burning corpses and invaders in strange, ritualistic armor. None of it would be there. Nothing at all.

Nothing.

"Yoshi?" Sasha's voice brought him back from his living nightmare. She was looking at him, puzzled.

Yoshi shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm just, well, shaken up." Helix nodded. Then he looked around.

"So what were we going to do, then? I mean, we can't just let this stand." He looked back at the camp. The soldiers showed no signs of leaving. This was either good or bad, depending on how you looked at their situation.

"Do you have anything incendiary with you?" Yoshi was eyeing Sasha's pack. Sasha threw it off and opened up the main pouch on it.

"Maybe…" She started searching. Yoshi kept nervously looking at the invaders over and over again. They kept up their quiet chatter, speaking amongst themselves no doubt about the killings.

"I got something, at least." Sasha pulled two small objects out of the backpack. They resembled badly made pineapple grenades. The grenades looked like they could collapse or accidentally blow up at any moment. "C.I.Ds. We call them crude incendiary devices, or C.I.Ds for short. Now what are you planning on using them for?"

"Well I was just thinking we could fight fire with fire." Yoshi wasn't quite sure of how he had ended up standing by these two Yoshi rebels, presenting a battle plan which would succeed or fail depend on the blast area of two homemade grenades. "Here it is: we through in the two C.I.Ds at opposite ends of the encampment, thus increasing the blast radius. Hopefully this will stun or maybe even kill them. We run in from three different directions and rush 'em. Maybe we can take them down before they know what the hell's going on. That's what I say we do."

"I'm liking this more and more." Helix grinned. "We kill these pathetic pieces of crap. Let's do it."

Sasha gave a weak nod, confirming that she was in. She handed Yoshi a C.I.D and pointed towards the opposite side of the camp of soldiers.

"You go over there and throw the C.I.D in when I give a signal."

This thought wasn't too appealing to Yoshi, who didn't really think that he was the type of person who would be throwing grenades at people. He had never handled anything like this before in his life. Why should he need to now?

"Exactly what," Yoshi began, "is the signal?"

Sasha thought to herself for a second. Then she spoke.

"How about…oh, screw this. Just throw it when you get to the other side." She looked at Helix. "Ready?"

Helix nodded. He didn't feel that he had anything to say. Words were not needed at this point. The three Yoshis understood this.

"Well, are you ready?" Now Sasha was talking to Yoshi. Yoshi realized what they were about to do. How could he refuse? These were three dead rebels who had been tortured until they died. How could you have the ability to avenge your fellow citizens and not? That was a question Yoshi would ponder later.

"I suppose. I'm probably not too good with these, though." Yoshi was hoping he would get a rundown on how to use these devices. He did not get one though, and Sasha pointed off to the side of the encampment opposite them. So this was it.

It took him a while, but eventually Yoshi managed to make his way around the camp without any branches on the ground cracking or any loose stones getting knocked about. Once he was over there he had a clear view of Sasha, Helix, and the soldiers in between them. He knew he'd have to throw the C.I.D any second now.

But how could he? He had never killed or even hurt anyone in his life! Now they expected him to blindly attack people he had never met? They did kill those Yoshis, though…but was he a killer? What would he do if he didn't throw that grenade? Crude incendiary devices weren't for him, he realized.

Yet he found himself raising his right arm with the C.I.D clutched in his right hand. He held onto it like it was the last bit of reality and sanity left in his life.

Then he let go. Let go both of the grenade and of his last hopes that he wouldn't be caught up in these bizarre events.

Bang! The grenade landed next to the fire pit and exploded in a burst of flames. Confused yelling and smoke. The smoke billowed out throughout the encampment and then BANG! Another one went off, and more flames leapt to the sky. The bodies of the invaders disappeared inside the hellish cloud.

Yoshi heard the sound of swords being drawn and he could see the outlines of Sasha and Helix dashing into the black and red cloud. Yoshi stared out, silent. He knew what he had to do. What else was there?

He drew his sword and walked, not ran into the fray. He heard steel hit steel and a second later a red mist sprayed him. He saw a figure slumping to the ground and prayed it was not one of his companions. The blood that had splattered onto his face and torso ran into his mouth and eyes. It was a bitter metallic taste that he wished he could not taste.

Something charged at him out of the smoky turmoil with a broadsword drawn. Yoshi stabbed out with the sword, instinct guiding him. Perhaps it was luck, or perhaps instinct is a greater guide than reason, but the sword struck against the broadsword and sounded with a terrible ringing noise. Almost unaware of himself, he brought the blade back up in a sweeping motion, hitting armor. He could see through the smoke that he had struck right under the armpit. There was a sick sound of flesh being cut and a groan. The sword struck out at him. It grazed his side, leaving a thin trail of blood. Yoshi retaliated by bringing up his foot and kicking the warrior's shin. The figure before him stumbled a bit. It brought the broadsword back up but out of nowhere a white line cut the smoke, and cut into the combatant's chest, sending more blood splattering onto Yoshi. The warrior crumpled to the ground, dead.

Yoshi looked up at the figure near him. It was Helix. His eyes were burning and his teeth were bared. He lowered the bloody sword.

"D-Dude!" Yoshi stuttered, "Helix, you freaking killed him!" He knew that was what Helix had planned on doing, but he was not used to seeing people getting cut down in front of him.

Helix didn't respond. He turned around and disappeared again, leaving Yoshi alone with smoke and blood stinging his eyes.

It was only another minute before Sasha let out a savage cry of triumph after impaling the final soldier on its own sword. All in all, only one soldier had been killed in the explosions. Helix took down two of them and Sasha took down two of them. They determined that Yoshi's grenade had taken down the first one.

Yoshi realized that he didn't like the feeling when you learned you just blew up someone. He felt kind of numb, but he wasn't numb enough to stop that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. His eyes watered with despair and sadness. He had just killed someone. Yoshi almost felt like laughing because, quite simply, he had never thought of himself as a murderer.

Sasha clapped a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her; she was covered with blood as well. He could tell she knew what he was thinking.

Later, before they continued on, Helix insisted they bury the remains of the Yoshis. It was a dirty and unpleasant job, and very time consuming. Still, they buried them and covered the graves with stones to prevent any wild animals from digging them up. After they were buried, Helix and Yoshi burned the bodies of the killers. They didn't dare remove the masks or armor of the soldiers for fear of what might stare back at them through emotionless eyes glazed over with death.

Meanwhile, Sasha erected three wooden crosses above the graves. Sasha didn't write the names of the rebels on the wooden crosses for some reason. She never revealed why, either.

So it came about that is was past dark when the final body had been burned and the final cross erected that the Yoshis stood and surveyed their work. Yoshi thought about how they had gained some small measure of revenge. His mind would feel a bit lighter with the knowledge they had killed those who had killed other Yoshis.

So it was that at dawn the next day they came across what was left of the raft. It had been ripped to pieces, the logs and ropes that it was constructed out of cut apart and set drifting in the Rhineheart. Obviously this was a problem. Without a boat it would take them at least a week to travel on foot to Barg. That was without any interference and stopping, as well. What were they to do?

"Could we possibly head back to the base?" Yoshi knew the answer before it was given.

"No way." Helix shook his head. "Thorn would be furious that we hadn't completed the mission, no matter our excuse." All three thought on this as they watched the wreckage of their raft flowing out of sight in the quiet, gray waters of the Rhineheart.

They brainstormed. They argued. They talked and talked and kept talking. There was nothing, though. It seemed they were at the end of a dead end road.

"Maybe we could get to Barg in a matter of hours." Yoshi was thinking out loud to himself. "I mean, if I managed to make it to near Yoshmite in about the same time through that tunnel system, maybe we could?" Yoshi had a bad feeling about the reaction this would get.

"We don't know where that is, though." Sasha said. "Unless you remember the exact location of where it was." She was doubtful.

"I can kind of remember where it might have been. I mean, do you guys know where you found me?" Helix nodded.

"If you can take me there I'll be able to find my way to those sewers. Tunnels, I mean. Or whatever they are." Yoshi was beginning to think this might be a slightly outrageous idea, but he didn't care. He had thought and done many more strange things in the past few days.

It must have been a day. Perhaps more. Time had no meaning now. The only thing that had meaning was their mission. Such a simple mission it was. It was only to get visual confirmation of Yoshi's strange tale. Yet somehow this mission had cost three Yoshis their lives. They were dead though, and the dead are not as important as the living in most cases. These facts didn't keep a blue Yoshi, a yellow Yoshi and a green Yoshi from coming to the scorched spot where the soldier had attacked Yoshi.

Returning to this spot brought back those painful memories of fire and Yoshi once again grimaced down at his burns. The good thing was that these burns were healing, but they still stung. Pain was one thing he had to live with, though. He would survive.

"Well here we are. You've been telling us you could find your way from here?" Helix sounded a bit skeptical. He had a right to be, Yoshi thought. There's no way in hell I can find my way to the exit. I'm lying to myself. I'm lying to everyone.

"Sure. It might take me a bit. I've got an idea where it is, though." With that Yoshi set off in a direction he picked randomly. He could not remember anything about that horrible day when he had come here. He tried remembering where he had entered the clearing and the directions he had wandered, but recollections of fire clouded his thoughts. He passed the next couple hours wandering while Sasha and Helix stood by at the burnt spot. Night was approaching quickly and he realized it was hopeless. The exit was lost somewhere in the depths of this endless forest. It was scouring the greatest desert in the world for a sign of water. However, luck shifted for a matter of milliseconds and that was enough to show him the way to the tunnels.

"He's done. He can't find it." Helix groaned to himself. "Where is he?"

"Dunno. He'll be back, soon, though." Sasha peered into the woods. Still no Yoshi. Where was he?

Meanwhile, Yoshi had found something that had made him want to shout. He couldn't believe it. Shining out like a bloodstain in a pure white room, the hole leading into the tunnels opened up before him. He laughed to himself, unable to believe his luck.

"I've…I freaking found it! I rock!" He gave himself a high-five. This was the best thing that had happened so far. Hopefully it would not be the last.

When Sasha and Helix arrived, they were amazed. Nobody had expected Yoshi to find this. Then how did he? It was amazing. Amazing and fortunate, it seemed.

Helix bent down and peered into the dark hole, which had used to have a grate that Yoshi removed. He thought he heard the faint buzzing and humming of machinery. Normally he would of thought that was crazy, but now he was beginning to suspect anything was possible. He stuck his head down the hole and drew it back as a pungent stench impacted his nostrils.

"These tunnels sure are stagnant. Wonder why they're abandoned." It brought up many questions that Helix knew they might never be able to answer. "We're going to need a light source, though. If only we had some gasoline we could make torches." He laughed to himself. "I've got a better idea, though. Come on." With that, Helix crawled onto the ladder and descended into the cold darkness of the mysterious tunnels. Sasha followed. Then, finally Yoshi followed. Thus began their long and bizarre journey.

Once at the bottom, there was a fizzling sound and Helix lit up a flare he had somehow produced from nowhere. It cast a glow around them. They were standing in an empty room with a small tunnel leading out of it and a ladder that they had just come down. Several smaller tunnels lead off in different directions, but they were so cramped that none of the Yoshis could fit. The only way was the tunnel, then.

As they walked, Yoshi studied their surroundings. The floor and walls and ceiling seemed to be made out of some type of bumpy, dark rock. Every now and then they would pass into a section made from metal. The surroundings were bleak, but this alien world was definitely not. They passed through hallways and rooms and into more hallways and rooms. There was nothing here. Every room had more hallways branching off, and every hallway had more rooms connected to it. This was a maze one could get trapped in and never find his or her way out, Yoshi thought.

The flare eventually went out, and as it did Helix lit another one. As he lit the second flare, though, they were all shocked at what had happened: their surroundings shifted! Doors disappeared and walls seemed to wobble and morph into new walls. They passed from standing in a hallway with three different exits to a large room with only one corridor leading away from it. The air in this room was thick with the smell of rust and around them ancient machines were humming. Machines? Why would machines be here? Yet there they were; huge boxlike structures that must have been polished metal at some point but were now no more than rusted shells. A barely noticeable warmth sprang from them, and they emitted an odd humming sound. Where was here, exactly? Yoshi couldn't believe he had been wandering through here and he had thought these were simple sewage tunnels! A second later a sickening smell came rushing at him and he reeled. Something pungent had drifted into the room.

"What is that smell?" Sasha had a disgusted look on her face, as did Helix.

"I'm not sure exactly." Helix said, trying not to be overwhelmed by the stench. "It could be ozone. I'm not sure, really." He stared at the tunnel. "It's coming from there. Something must be operating in there."

Sasha looked confused. "Ozone? Ozone's only produced by electrical discharges that come in contact with oxygen." She took a look at the dusty old machines around them and knew that anything was possible down here. "We probably don't want to wait around in tunnels filled with it, though." She turned and starting creeping towards the hallway, knowing that the only way out would be through there.

Yoshi and Helix followed reluctantly, but Yoshi's thought was still occupied with the fact that they had just been…he knew it sounded strange but teleported was the correct word…to some strange chambers full of alien mechanisms.

They came into the hallway and saw that it was not a hallway but another room, if you could call it that; the place was like the inside of a warehouse. The ceiling was high above them and the walls seemed to disappear. It was like a room in the house of a giant. In here were stored some of the strangest things Yoshi had ever seen: there were metal crates with small metal poles sticking out of the top of them. The crates were about the size of Yoshi, and the metal poles must have been three or four feet long. The poles were pointed at the end like a spike. They appeared lifeless…

There was a flash of blue light. So bright for a split second it illuminated the entire warehouse structure. During this flash, something flew down from the ceiling of the room and zapped the poles. Then all was dark again. They waited, confused and silent. Helix looked confused. Sasha looked confused. Yoshi knew that he was confused. A minute or two later there was another flash of light. This time in the momentary illumination Helix looked up and saw that there was actually no ceiling! After traveling upwards for a good ways the walls began curving inwards. In the center of the 'ceiling' the walls shot upwards again, forming a huge chute that came down into the room. Long, dark wires came out of the chute and they snaked their way along the ceiling. Stationed at the end of every wire was a metal spike like the ones on the crates. The next time there was a flash the Yoshis saw blue bolts of electricity coursing through the wires and shooting down the poles. They shot down and connected from the ceiling to the metallic crates. He wondered why somebody would be creating artificial lightning down here. Maybe the creator wasn't down here? Perhaps the strange invaders had chased him or her out. Or whoever had been working down here.

"You do know that there's no exit from here, right?" Helix told this to Sasha and Yoshi, who were too surprised to say anything. "You know that means that we're trapped in ozone-filled tunnels where we'll probably die." Helix was surprisingly calm.

Yoshi looked around but he knew that Helix was right; there was only one door and they knew where that lead. Maybe they could be teleported out of here just like they got teleported in…

"What do we do then?" Sasha blurted out. "I mean there's got to be something here we can do…" She looked around, confused as Yoshi and Helix. She knew there was nothing. They were going to die down here, miles beneath the surface of the planet.

"Well if we got teleported in here, maybe we can get teleported out." Helix turned around. "I say we check out those machines in the next room. Who knows, they might be some teleportation stations or something." Helix hurried off to check out the room, leaving Yoshi and Sasha alone in the warehouse structure.

Yoshi looked at Sasha and shrugged. Then he chased after Helix. Sasha shook her head and groaned. Then she, too, left.

Inside the small room full of the buzzing machines, Helix was busy studying them. He was pacing, crouching down, looking at part of a machine here or part of a machine there, then pacing again. Some were so covered with rust that they were nothing more than large red boxes. Luckily there were others that weren't covered with rust. These ones seemed to have no buttons nor levers nor anything else that you would find on computer consoles from sci-fi movies.

"Here we go!" Helix was triumphant, finally. He crawled onto the top of one of the boxes and looked down at something that was imprinted on the top of it. Yoshi crawled up after him, and then they helped Sasha up. Helix pointed down onto the machine. "Look." He smiled, "I think I've found something." At first Yoshi was unable to see anything on the top of the crate but then he could make it out: On the top of the crate was the design of an Ansate Cross, or ankh. Beneath it were words that Yoshi could not read. They were in some type of script he had never seen before. He could make out the separate letters, but there were so many dots and swirls and slashes that it all seemed one long string of symbols. This was a foreign language, obviously. No alphabet of this type had ever been used in the isle, to his knowledge.

"So what is it?" Sasha wasn't too impressed by Helix finding an Ansate Cross and some foreign words on the top of an old computer station in some dark tunnels that were abandoned.

"I don't know." Helix was annoyed, now. At least he had found something! "It's something, isn't it? I mean, sure it isn't the directions telling us how to escape but it does show that…uh…I don't know." His one moment of pride was gone. What they found was useless.

"Maybe it's some sort of code. Or something." Yoshi laid his hand on the symbol of the ankh and traced its pattern. He looked at the words. He couldn't even decipher the first word of it. It would take them days to figure anything out, and they'd probably be succumbing to the ozone by then.

"What the hell?" Helix had noticed something else on the top of the computer. He kneeled down and studied the ankh. "Look here!" Yoshi bent over to see what he was pointing at but just as he did Helix's flare went out again. "Damn it! Hold on a second." Another flare was lit. When their surroundings appeared again, Yoshi realized once more they were in a different location. The humming boxes were gone. The artificial lightning was gone. The strange language and the Ansate Cross were gone. The stench of ozone was gone. They were now in a long hallway that was actually had light in it! The light was a dim, green aura that seemed to come from nowhere and engulfed the whole tunnel. The floor was damp and water was dripping down onto them from the ceiling. Sasha looked up and saw that the ceiling was cracked and old. Water was steadily emerging from the cracks in the ceiling. At the end of this new tunnel was yet another ladder that climbed up and out of sight. Exhausted with ladders and these shifting catacombs, the three proceeded on.

"What was it you saw on top of that computer?" Helix had never had the chance to show it to Yoshi.

"It was nothing. I just thought I saw a crack in it. Too bad it wasn't anything." They kept walking. Once they reached the end of the hallway they looked up the ladder to see that where it ended was in darkness. Helix, who was still holding the third flare, climbed first. Sasha followed him and the two disappeared up the ladder. Finally Yoshi climbed up after Sasha. He looked up and saw Helix was at the top of the ladder. Then he heard Helix shouting something but he couldn't make it out. Sasha gave a short laugh and then was at the top of the ladder with Helix. The two were talking excitedly when Yoshi finally scaled the ladder and was at the top. The ladder came up into another hallway. However at the end of this was yet another ladder leading up. The one good thing about the next ladder was that it climbed up into the light of day! Sure enough, a small round hole was directly above the ladder with sunshine falling down and lighting up a small portion of the tunnel. With all three of them trying to talk and think at the same time, they scrambled down the remaining hallway and started ascending the ladder into daylight.

When Yoshi emerged from that dark pit he was overjoyed to see that they were in exactly where they had wanted to reach. Sure enough, here they were. Standing alone in the alley outside Yoshi's house. Or, what remained of Yoshi's house. The windows had been blown out and the building itself was blackened from fire. Yoshi could sense that the inside of the building must have been trashed and destroyed. He saw that the cobblestone alley and the street it was connected to were littered with bits of debris and scorch marks. It seems that Barg had not been spared. His thoughts flashed back to the completely destroyed ruins of the once great city of Yoshmite. At least there was still something of Barg left. Shocked with this city straight from hell, the three Yoshis carefully made their way out to the street by Yoshi's house. It was littered with so much wreckage that it seemed like one long trail of destruction winding through the quiet town. They saw the corpses of many Yoshis as they climbed over the chunks of debris. Was anyone here alive?

Then a sound distracted them from their musings. Two dirty Yoshis came out of a side street with sacks full of wreckage slung over their shoulders. One of them glared at the three while the other one came limping up. When he got closer they noticed there was a big, bloody gash on his left leg.

"What are you doing here?" He croaked. Then he looked at them. "You survivors?" Something was unsettling about this Yoshi who was covered with so much grime and dirt they couldn't even make out what his natural coloration was.

"I am. These two with me are, uh…" Yoshi wasn't quite aware of what he should say. Fortunately, the Yoshi interrupted him.

"You should leave. Nothing here for you but legionnaires, so you should spare yourselves." The Yoshi turned his back on them and began limping towards his companion. Helix caught up with him though.

"Where are you taking those sacks? What's in 'em?" The Yoshi turned around and glared at him.

"Salvage. We're going to go sell it to the legionnaires. They've been paying people to bring them stuff. Seems like they're building something. I don't really care though…it's none of my business." He turned his back on them again. Helix wouldn't let him leave, though.

"What do you mean when you call them legionnaires?"

The Yoshi turned around. A smile broke onto his face.

"You're stupider than you look, aren't you? Everybody knows that they're called legionnaires. They have these posters up everywhere…" The dirty Yoshi turned around and pulled something out of the sack. He showed it to Helix. It turned out that it was a yellow piece of paper, ripped in several places. On it were the words THE LEGION with an artist's depiction of the soldiers the Yoshis had seen.

"So," the Yoshi began, "we figured they'd be called legionnaires. You have any more questions or have you not been living under a rock for the past couple days?" Yoshi turned around, still clutching the yellow paper. He walked back towards Yoshi and Sasha.

"Well." When he spoke his voice was as quiet as he could make it without whispering. "I think we've got our visual confirmation. The only trouble now is figuring everything out."

"What about getting back to our base?" Sasha interrupted. She was pretty sure he hadn't thought of how they were going to do that.

"It's simple." Helix said calmly. Yoshi was glad he could stay calm in this strange situation. "All we have to do is go into those tunnels and follow them again. We just retrace our steps, that's all." This didn't reassure Yoshi or Sasha.

"That's too bad because I can't remember my steps through there." Yoshi didn't want to spend more time in those weird passages.

As Helix was thinking about this, Yoshi began formulating a new argument. It was hard though, considering he was more interested in studying the shell of his hometown. It was so strange, he thought, because he had never imagined that he would be standing here in the ruins of Barg with two Yoshis he didn't even know that well. It just seemed to prove that unexpected events could happen anywhere, anytime.

"Well I guess no one is really excited to go back through those tunnels. Come on, though. I mean, we don't really have a choice. Unless you want to walk a very long ways."

Yoshi shook his head. "I guess you're right. I'll have to agree with you on this one." He hated to admit that this was their best course of action. Sasha agreed and it seemed they had their minds made up. They would go back through the tunnels.

So it was that Yoshi passed from Barg to those strange and dark tunnels to the area outside of Yoshmite to the rebel base to the area around Yoshmite to the same dark tunnels to Barg again and then back to the same tunnels. This time the journey through them was easier and they were never trapped in any strange areas and they never lost their way completely. Though it was rough going because of the numerous times they were teleported to different sections of the tunnels, they managed to find their way to the end without being delayed by any bizarre event and in a short period of time. It seemed that their journey was over when once again they emerged into daylight, this time in the same location near Yoshmite that they had entered from. It was early morning when they appeared near Yoshmite, and it took them most of the day to reach the base. When they did reach the cave it was only an hour or two before nightfall. A guard at the entrance of the cave welcomed them back and took them to Thorn's living quarters. He was in there; eager to hear whatever they had to say.

"So?" Thorn was interested in what had happened.

"First of all," Sasha began, "we found out that Fire Team A has been killed. Five soldiers ambushed them and killed them. We took down their killers and buried them. Then we found out that our boat had been destroyed as well. So Yoshi said that we could get to Barg through the tunnels he took. Then he showed us the way there and we found the entrance. We got down into the tunnels and followed them for a way before something weird happened. I know you probably won't believe this but the tunnels actually shifted around us." Thorn was silent, his mouth hanging open slightly in a dumbfounded manner. Sasha let Helix start speaking. "We showed up in this place that was full of old machines and strange crates. There were these machines there that were creating some type of electrical current. I'm not sure what their purpose was, really. Then we noticed some strange writing and symbols on a couple of the computers. Then we were teleported into another corridor. We followed this for a bit before we found our way out and into Barg! I know." He noted the look on Thorn's face, which was a mixture of shock, confusion and disbelief. Thorn then told about their encounter with the two salvagers, the explanation about the legion, and their short trip back through the tunnels. He retold everything up to the beginning of the conversation. When he was finished, Thorn sat and stared at them. The room was quieter than death, and it seemed to stay that way for a long, long time.

Eventually, when Yoshi realized how creepy this was getting, Thorn spoke.

"I guess I have no choice but to believe you." Thorn stood up. "I'm sorry I thought you might have been lying, Yoshi. It's just that that sounded a bit fantastic. Of course I think we all know a lot of more fantastic things have been happening lately." Thorn extended his hand towards Yoshi. "Welcome to the underground." Yoshi shook his hand. "That was your first mission, and it was successful, I suppose." Thorn started walking over to a small file drawer in the corner of the room. As he walked he began talking. "While you were gone a received a message from a little birdie…" he reached the drawer and opened it. He pulled out a white manila folder and opened it up. He took out a couple papers and sat down at his desk again. He pulled a stapler out of one of the desk's drawers and stapled the pile of papers together. He put the stapler and the folder in his desk. "Take a look at that. I think you'll find it somewhat interesting about the tunnels you found."

The papers were an assortment of reports written by various authors and news clips from the Yoshi Isle and Mushroom Kingdom. Yoshi and Sasha peered over Helix's shoulder as he read them aloud.

There was one report by an anonymous Yoshi author going under the alias of 'Chickenwing' that was interesting. It gave a detailed account of two Yoshi military scientists experimenting with various top-secret technologies. This was obviously full of propaganda as it continually lied about experiments being done on Yoshis and secret military organizations. It did, however mention a super-secret lab underneath the town of Barg where various weapons were being made and tested by these two Yoshi scientists. Then there was a news clip from an old magazine from the Mushroom Kingdom in which there was an interview with a toad who had supposedly been taken to a Yoshi lab and had been subjected to various biological weapons. Another interview was with an anonymous Yoshi official who said that there were indeed laboratories and various testing grounds all over the isle in which Yoshis were testing new weapons. The least convincing one came in the form of a report by an anonymous Yoshi who said that aliens had landed and formed a staging ground for their invasion of the planet. He said that they had dug a cavern to hide their spaceship and that during the night they would leave and brainwash innocent Yoshis into helping them build a huge cannon that would be used to melt the polar ice caps and flood the world. The best one though was the second report by Chickenwing. In this report he or she named the two scientists working on the project. They were named Malachi and Galalc, and they were well known for their work together on the effects of several pesticides and chemicals on the wildlife of Yoshi Isle. It said that they had worked together with the military to create a testing ground for various weapons that could be used in case of war. Chickenwing also mentioned that everything from invisibility suits to aural and visual implants to transporting technology was created in this lab. A news clip published shortly after this report came out mentioned that Malachi had died in a laboratory accident when two wrong chemicals combined and resulted in a small explosion that killed everyone in the lab. It said that Galalc was not in the lab at the time and shortly after the lab incident he moved out of the isle and to the Mushroom Kingdom where he served as one of Peach's advisors for a month or two before retiring to live a quiet life in a secure location.

"So somebody knew about this." Helix looked at Thorn. Thorn nodded, and then he got up.

"I have a new mission for you all. Well, two missions to be precise. For Yoshi and Helix, I want you two to go to the entrance of the tunnels near Yoshmite. There will be two soldiers waiting there with enough explosives to seal the entrance to the sewers. You will plant the explosives and seal off the sewers on this side. That will mean none of these legionnaires will be able to get here from Barg. For Sasha…" he turned to her and folded his arms over his chest. "You have a very important mission. You are going to find Galalc for us."

"What? We don't even know if he's alive!"

"We do know that he is alive, actually." Thorn leaned back in his chair. "Trust me on that. We also know exactly where in the Mushroom Kingdom he's living. Your mission is to reach him and bring him to us as-soon-as-possible. We've got a soldier waiting to brief you and instruct you on how to reach him. So," Thorn stood up, "Yoshi and Helix will seal the tunnels with the help of our technicians and Sasha will find and bring Galalc back here by any means necessary." Helix handed him the stapled papers. "Consider it done, Thorn." Helix and Yoshi wished Sasha luck with her mission and then quickly left. Once back in the main room of the base, they began talking.

"This sounds easy enough. Meeting two demo experts and blowing up a hole in the ground doesn't sound too challenging." Yoshi was talking as they began leaving for the entrance to the base. Helix said nothing until they had left the base and came out into the crisp, cold nighttime. Then he began to discuss the legionnaires, the tunnels, and all the other strange things with Yoshi. The two soldiers had started out on the way to the tunnel entrance a bit before them, since they would need time to get there and unpack their explosive cargo. It would be a long walk, and they were already tired, but Thorn had allowed them no R and R so they really had no choice. They did take a long break after they were well on their way, though. That break ended up becoming a break for the night. They woke up all the earlier the next morning, though and were once again on their way to meet with the demolitions crew.

"Yoshi, did I ever tell you I've got a brother in the underground?" Helix asked him as they made their way during the early morning when the sun had barely risen. Yoshi shook his head. "Yeah. His name is Ragnarok. He's taller than me, reddish color…I just felt I should mention that. I haven't had much of a chance to talk with him though. He's always out on these week long scouting escapades Thorn sends him on. Those two haven't ever gotten along, really. I'm pretty sure Thorn sends him out for so long is to keep him away from the base, but Rag is pretty happy with it all. He doesn't mind being out in the wild for so long." They continued their journey for the rest of the day, trading stories and information about their relatives. Eventually they reached the entrance to the tunnels during twilight. Waiting for them were two Yoshis of the most contrasting appearances: one was tall and thin. The other was short and fat. It sounded so clichéd to think that but it was true. The tall one was a blue-green color and introduced himself as Jabun. He introduced his friend as Groucho. Groucho was short and looked reddish-orange. The strange pair was apparently the demolitions people Thorn had mentioned.

"We've already unpacked the explosives but we're gonna need you guys to show us where we should place them." Jabun explained. He pointed to four wooden crates with the large black letters "F-R-A-G-I-L-E" printed all over them.

"Right." Yoshi looked at Helix, wondering what to say next. "Just follow us…?" Helix, Yoshi, Groucho and Jabun each took a crate and carefully descended into the darkness of the tunnels. Helix had them place two of them around the hallway leading out of the room with the ladder and the other two at the top of the ladder, around the hole in the ground. After all of them had been placed, Jabun lead them to a safe distance away from the tunnel entrance. Then he produced a remote control. It was dotted with many buttons but Jabun only needed to press one to set off the explosives. He pressed a button and-

Boom! A flash of light accompanied by long strands of smoke and fire shooting up out of the ground around the entrance. The crates disappeared and a single ball of fire rose out of the ground like a phoenix before dissipating in the twilight air. All that remained was smoke now. It was all over.

"Sweetness!" Helix laughed to himself. The four Yoshis inspected the remains of the entranceway and were pleased that nothing but a burnt chunk of land remained where the black hole had been.

"I suppose we should start heading back, then." Jabun shrugged. "I mean, our mission's done and everything." Everyone agreed that this would be a good idea. So they began their journey back to headquarters.

It was the same time the next night when the four Yoshis arrived at the headquarters of the rebels. They met with Thorn, gave a breakdown of the mission and were told that Sasha had not sent any word confirming that she had reached the Mushroom Kingdom. Thorn told them that they had no more missions at that moment, so they could feel free to rest.

This was the first time that Yoshi had time to simply lounge around the base and meet with rebels. There was the guard who seemed to always be posted at the entrance to the base. He was green like Yoshi and was always wearing a pair of sunglasses. There was a red one named Carlov who was a scout like Helix's brother. Manochevitz was a small green Yoshi whose specialty was espionage and sabotage. Then there was Ragnarok, called Rag by just about everyone, who worked as a scout as well. Helix introduced the two to each other one day. Nothing really stood out about Ragnarok except that he resembled a taller Helix who wasn't blue but red. He was only around for a couple hours before he left on a long trip to scout out the town of Yoshin. Yoshin was almost like a carbon copy of Yoshmite. It was about the same size of Yoshmite, but was located far east of it.

Shortly after Ragnarok left, they received word of Sasha and Galalc. It wasn't good, but it was something. When the message came in, Thorn called Yoshi and Helix into his quarters. He was standing inside with the scout, Carlov. Carlov was explaining something that Thorn was obviously upset with. When Yoshi and Helix entered, Thorn dismissed Carlov.

"What's up?" Helix didn't want to sound confused at what was going on.

"Shit. That's what up." Thorn seemed to be slightly irritated, Yoshi laughed to himself. "Guess what Carlov told me?"

"I don't know. Am I supposed to?" Helix knew Thorn was about to explode.

"A little birdie sent us word that Sasha found Galalc and was on her way back to the isle." Thorn closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "The boat Sasha had taken to the Mushroom Kingdom was interrupted when it got into the waters around the isle. A gunboat crewed by legionnaires found them and captured them. The worst part is where we hear they're being taken."

"Where's that?" Yoshi decided it would be best if he said something. He realized just how much he was hoping the two weren't being taken to a death camp.

"The port town of Bongo-Kongo. Yes. That is a town name." Thorn drew a map of Western Yoshi Island out of his desk. He had marked where the base was with a red X. Yoshi noticed several towns on the map: Barg, Yoshmite, Yoshin, a port town called Sarasagua, the mining town of Thrall…the list went on and on.

"I see Bongo-Kongo." Helix looked down at the map and pointed out a small dot on the eastern shore of the island, just a bit away from the town of Yoshin. A bit to the west of Yoshin was their base and a bit further west from the base was Yoshmite. "Why are they going there?"

"This is why. Carlov showed me this picture he had taken of the bay that Bongo-Kongo is built around." Thorn set a black-and-white photograph on the desk. It was of a small bay surrounded by gothic stone buildings. The landscape was covered under a blanket of torrential rain. Trees and bushes grew right up to the waterline, and a small treeless island was in the center of the bay. Half a dozen gunboats patrolled the waters, though, and on the island in the center of the bay a windowless stone tower shot up. It had several balconies jutting off of it. "That is where they're being taken. That tower." Thorn took the photo and put it back in his desk. "We cannot allow Galalc to fall into the hands of the legion. They could brainwash him, torture him, or anything else to gain information. They would probably find out about these tunnels and use them against us. We can't let that happen, you see." Thorn started pacing, his eyes darting around the room. "We need to get Sasha and Galalc back before anything happens to them. I'm entrusting this mission to you two." He looked at them with a hard expression. "Helix is one of our best and I know that there's nothing seriously wrong with you, Yoshi. I know how hard and dire this sounds but I want you to get to that tower by any means necessary and get-back-those-Yoshis. You can enlist any help you need. Feel free to take any soldiers, equipment or information you need. Got it?" Thorn turned his back to them. "I wish there was another way but this is the only possibility we have of getting them back. I recommend you take a stealthier approach to this mission than you might normally. There are swarms of legionnaires around Bongo-Kongo; it seems to be one of the most guarded places they've captured."

"Doesn't sound like we've got too much of a choice. You can count on us." Helix turned around to Yoshi. "Let's go. Every second we waste is another second until Sasha and Galalc are either killed or tortured until they spill all the information the legion needs to come here and kill us."

"You put it so eloquently. Let's get a move on." Yoshi turned around to Thorn again. "Helix put it best, sir: you can count on us." With that, Yoshi and Helix left and gathered their supplies. They left the base without any goodbyes or conversations. Once outside the base they formulated their plan of action.

"I doubt we'll find any teleporting sewage tunnels to transport us there in a matter of hours so we'll probably have to walk."

"Yeah. That'll take us awhile but it might just be the safest route we can take." Yoshi began thinking. "Your brother, Ragnarok…he was going to be near Yoshin, right?" Helix nodded. "Maybe we can get him to help us out. I mean, we'll probably pass through Yoshin on the way there so we could take a bit of extra time and find him. He might be helpful when we're infiltrating Bongo-Kongo." Yoshi decided to throw out that idea simply because he didn't want to be trying to get into a heavily guarded legion tower with only Helix and a couple rations. His companion thought this over for a second.

"Why not? We could easily find him. Good idea. So we walk to Yoshin and hook up with Ragnarok. Then we walk the rest of the way to Bongo-Kongo and what do we do once we're there?"

Yoshi came up with a split-second plan. "Then we sneak into the city, steal a gunboat and make our way to the tower. We abandon the boat and infiltrate the tower. Avoiding all legionnaires we make our way into the tower and sneak into the dungeons where Sasha and Galalc are only seconds away from cracking under torture. We fight off a hundred legionnaires with only our bare hands and rescue them. Then we escape the tower just as it explodes. We easily make our way back here where we are celebrated as war heroes. Galalc tells us the secrets of those strange tunnels and we use them to win the war. Yoshi Isle goes back to normal and we are national heroes who have our own holidays named after us. We become rich, famous and we fall in love with the most beautiful women in the isle, then we each have a whole bunch of children who go on to create world peace, end world hunger, and discover life on other planets." Helix grinned.

"Yeah. That sounds like a good plan." They turned and faced in the general direction of Yoshin and Bongo-Kongo. Yoshi guessed that things were going to get very rough, very soon.