The Interrogation Begins (Finally!)
-o-
Location: Jail cell near Johnny's tank
Time left: 2 hours, 25 minutes
...
Warden Leroy arrives to where the leader of the Fire Brother bounty hunters, Hitatsu, waits with a smug grin next to an open cell. Daisy is deeply concerned for her companions, and does her best not to look sad or pensive, opting for a calm façade. Yoshi-like squeals come from inside the cell. Leroy stops at the doorway, takes a small bow while placing his right hand over his chest, and shows the princess inside the cell. He warden then walks in, followed by the bounty hunter. Vice Warden Tanuki comes running in from the tank room, having pressed the button for the metallic door he had forgotten about before his argument with the warden himself, the one that Boris the bandit could not reach.
Since it's a jail cell, the conditions are not the prettiest, with the smell of bodily wastes polluting the air, and no furniture other than a slab of stone with a sponge over it for a bed. The unpainted, sandstone walls had all sorts of etchings scrawled all over the place, some unintelligible, others are simply tally marks, possibly indicating the days said prisoner had spent in there. A single light bulb, not bright but certainly not going dim, hangs above, way out of the reach of any prisoner willing to do the unthinkable.
Daisy is trying her hardest to look dignified and not think about jokes or laugh, even when the stench is unpleasant. She looks down and sees Yoshi sitting on the floor, squirming and squealing about. She presumes he was putting up an act and thinks nothing of it. Warden Leroy, motions the princess to the 'bed', where he sits. As she sits, Hitatsu really notices Daisy, and whistles while staring her down, his eyes being obscured by his shades. He approaches her.
"Well, well, dudette. That's a whole lot of fine written all over you."
She ignores his cat calling, while Tanuki points an Ice Flower powered gun at the Fire Brother.
"Back off, Fire Bro. This isn't the time or place."
Hitatsu snarls, but complies, knowing that taking on both wardens would be a daunting task. The warden fiddles with his moustache and begins the interrogation.
"Okay then, green dinosaur. I'll get straight to the point." Yoshi stops squirming. "The capture of Johnathan Jones was world news, but that he was in this prison is information only this kingdom possessed."
He begins pacing with both hands behind his back. Tanuki closes the door to the cell as the warden continues.
"And now, here we are… A tropical creature, A.K.A, you, waltzing in here unnoticed with the Scourge of Desert Hill, with said information, and close to getting to the shark." He stops and faces Yoshi. "Now, you be a good fellow and cooperate with me. Tell me everything you know, and I'll be reasonable."
Yoshi remains silent, while the warden clears his throat.
"Let's start with something simple... What is your purpose for breaking in? I can only assume it's either to kill everyone or someone, or busting the shark out of here. So, which is it? Or am I wrong?"
Yoshi gets on his knees and shifts his head rapidly to look at both wardens. "Yo-yo-yoshi! Yoshi Yoshi!"
Warden Leroy fiddles with his mustache while sporting a perplexed look. He looks a Tanuki from the corner of his right eye.
"Did you get any of that?"
"I'm sorry sir, I do not speak the Yoshi language."
Leroy stops messing with his facial hair. "Hmm, we're gonna be difficult from the start, no?"
"Yo-yoshi!"
Hitatsu's grin widens, as the warden becomes more serious. Daisy see this, but ignores their reactions. Tanuki backs away from the warden.
"There's a limit to my patience, but I am reasonable. I promise before these people that I will not resort to torture, if that is what you're worried about."
Yoshi squirms. "Yoshi! Yo-yoshi, Yoshi Yoshi!"
"What is with this squealing, these 'Yoshis'? Can't you say anything else?"
"Yoshi!"
Warden Leroy lets out a frustrated sighs. "This will be a long session... Tanuki!"
The vice warden stands in attention swiftly, but a crease in his uniform accidentally sets of his Ice Flower gun, almost shooting the Fire brother in the arm. Hitatsu narrowly dodges the projectile, and lights both his fists in blue fire. The warden shoots a quick glance at both, clenching his fists.
"Stand down, Fire Brother. And you Tanuki, stay focused! You can't let little mistakes ruin our chance for collecting info."
"My apologies, sir!"
"Never mind. I'll tear you a new one after this is all done with. Now do something useful and get me someone who can speak the Yoshi language now!"
"I don't think anyone on this facility does."
The warden grunts. He begins pacing again.
"Let's try again... Why are you here? Better yet, why are you with the Scourge?"
"Yo-yo-yo-yoshi!" Yoshi continues squealing.
Leroy rubs his brows and snarls quietly. Hitatsu smiles as he knows why they are having a hard time getting anything out of Yoshi, remembering what he did before the wardens and Daisy arrived.
…
[Flashback, about an hour prior…]
Hitatsu scoffs as Draco drags Yoshi away, who begins to struggle again. Draco was not in a mood to compromise, so he formed the yellow fire ball which he used against Morton Jr., making the green dinosaur give up. They resumed their way. Before Draco was too far, Hitatsu, also upset, called out his partner, his back turned toward him.
"This'll be the last time you throw a hissy fit, eh dude?" Draco stopped walking. "I'm not as mad as I should because of the dough we be getting, but you watch it, dude." Draco stayed still for a few seconds before he started walking away.
Hitatsu picked up the keys his partner had dropped. He chuckled, grinning as he approached the tar Tootankoopa clone.
"So, eh, clone dude, I see you can walk around without that Slyklyde dude around. Do us a favor, no, dude?"
At this time, Morton Jr. had somehow managed to remove his gag, and began mouthing off.
"Hey chump! Take me outta here! I didn't do nothing to you! Get me OUUUUUUUT!"
Hitatsu sighed and covered his eyes amidst the Koopaling's rambling. He opened the Koopaling's cell door, letting the Koopaling out, and soon after unlocked the cuffs behind Morton's back.
"Thanks, chump, I…" began the corpulent Koopaling, but is stopped mid-sentence by a flaming kick to the face, and got sent flying to the wall. He landed unconscious on the floor chest first.
Hitatsu, in a quick maneuver, cuffed Morton again; this time, his hands got cuffed near the posterior hole of the Koopaling's shell, the chain of the cuffs getting stuck in a kink down there, thus securing Morton Jr. in an uncomfortable position. The Fire Brother then kicked Morton inside the cell again. He cleared his throat and resumes his previous conversation.
"As I was saying, dude, I need you to pretend to be a donkey for me. Also, I want to play a game. Check this out, dude…"
About thirty minutes passed; Morton woke up in the cell. There was a business card promoting bounty hunting services wedged between his lips, and flame on the end of the card. He looked around and saw the entire room, save himself and the unconscious soldiers, covered in black tar. He hears tapping on the metallic cell door.
"I see you woke up, dude. Let's play a game, shall we? It is called: 'You open your mouth, you die.' Sounds simple, no, dude?" He laughs. "If you happen to open your mouth at all, the card falls right on the tar, and you go boom. So try and survive this one, dude."
A tar clone in the resemblance of Yoshi, walked up the cell door, next to Hitatsu.
"Alright, tar dude, this is where I'll cuff you to set up the scene. And in you go into the cell next to this one." The Fire Brother walked away from the cell door, and moments later, the sound of a cell door opening was heard, followed by the sound of police cuffs and the cell door getting shut. He returned to Morton's door.
"Sit tight, dude. The warden and his posy will be here soon at any moment"
The minutes passed, when Hitatsu hears the wardens arguing loudly.
"Well, well, tar dude, speak of the devil..." He leaned on the wall, and waited silently as the argument got very heated.
…
Back to the present…
The leader of the Fire Brother pair scoffs inaudibly, as Warden Leroy is on his last nerves, having spent the past minutes trying to get something coherent out of this Yoshi clone. His breathing becomes deeper and slower, and his brows furrow and doogan lips pucker in anger.
"This is the last time, green dinosaur. Nice talk over!" He speaks in an intense, stilted manner. "How... did... you... get... in?"
'Yoshi' responds by squirming and squealing some more, finally blowing the warden's top. He snaps his left middle finger with his thumb. The light bulb in the room unexpectedly stops working, and just as suddenly, sparks start coming out of his left hand, and slowly turns into lightning. Hitatsu breaks a light sweat when he see that. Tanuki is expressionless while Daisy stares in awe, before remembering to play along as a cultured princess.
"There's a limit to this act. If you don't give me answers, I'll let you know first hand why I'm the warden."
"Warden! That's enough! You said a while ago that you were not going to torture..."
"Speak one more word Tanuki, and I'll..."
The entire room falls silent.
Hitatsu leans on the metal door. The vice warden lifts both his hands, trying to appease his superior, who is now slowly walking toward the prisoner, who is squealing and squirming. Daisy finds it odd that this Yoshi moved and responded the same unnatural way to every situation, almost as if rehearsed or if that was the only thing he knew to do. She stands from the sponge bed as the vice warden extends his arm backwards as protection. The warden prepares to attack 'Yoshi' by making lightning bending gesture.
"I gave you the chance to talk on good terms. The real interrogation begins now!"
On the cell next door, Morton Jr.'s mouth quivers as he can no longer keep it shut due to tension and exhaustion. The card has almost burned up completely as well. He is trembling and sweating profusely, and has given up all hope of getting rescued, so he lets go of the card. As it descends slowly, he spins his body so that he somehow manages to point his butt toward the door, thinking to himself, 'If I die, at least I won't see it.' He tightly clenches his body, expecting an explosion to finish him off.
Just as the warden touches Yoshi with his lightning jab to the chest, the star-faced Koopaling releases a putrid, green fart, which catches on fire and blasts the cell door open and sets off lockdown alarms. The tension causes Morton to faint, while the sudden explosion catches the wardens off guard, his arm going through the clone, which slowly dissolves into a tar mush, leaving him dumbfounded. Tanuki quickly opens the door and runs to investigate the blast, Hitatsu in tow. Warden Leroy grabs his shoulder.
"You're staying here, fire boy!"
Hitatsu has the urge to fight, but stands still, knowing it would not be in his best interest to anger the warden, after what he witnessed. Meanwhile, the vice-warden finds Morton gagged up and unconscious next door, and finds this suspicious. Before he can report his find, another explosion comes from the tank room. This time, Warden Leroy, Hitatsu and Daisy all leave the cell, while Tanuki runs toward that explosion. When he arrives, he is met by a green submarine in the middle of the room, and water littering the floor.
-o-
Well, this got smelly rather quickly. Ha, ha! Farts! Love 'em! (No, not really.) Ahem, so, explosions happened, and Hitatsu's plan also went down the drain. The cause of it all will be revealed, after this break. See you next time.