While the interrogation takes place, Draco is elsewhere, doing his errands.
-o-
Saved by the Skin of his Teeth
Location: Outside the Main building of the jail, above Johnny's tank, Desert Hill
Time left: 2 hours, 25 minutes
...
Draco exits through a metal door, whose frame was built into the hillside. This small hill had been integrated to the design of the jail, which is very well hidden from sight, especially at night, where the only source of light is the moon.
The Fire Brother looks in both directions; a set of stairs leads to a lower level on the right, and to the left, and opening on the ground, emanating a pungent, fishy smell; it's still somewhat tolerable. A couple of mirrors hovered above said opening, probably meant to amplify the power of the sun into the tank. He goes back into the door and drags Yoshi outside right before it shuts itself loudly.
Yoshi's legs up to below his knees are incased in a block of concrete, his mouth is still gagged, and his wrists are still cuffed from before. Draco continues to drag the green dinosaur toward the opening on the ground, being extra careful with the concrete block so the scratching made on the ground wouldn't be so loud.
Draco stops at about a foot away from the opening, leaving Yoshi looking in direction of the hole and his back toward the Fire Brother. Draco walks backwards a couple of steps before stopping, sighing and feeling uneasy about pushing Yoshi into the water.
"This is it, green donkey," the Fire Brother starts, "I'd let you go, 'cause honestly, I could care less why you're even here. But…" He sighs. "Everyone will be expecting bloody water." He lifts his right leg in preparation for a kick. "Fare…"
"Yo! What are you doing here?"
Before Draco could kick Yoshi into the tank, Boris the Bandit soldier had walked up there from the stairs, startling the Fire brother. He squeals and falls on his back, missing Yoshi by a hair.
Yoshi tries to move about despite his lack of mobility, bellowing muffled screams. Regardless of his efforts, Boris seemingly ignores him as Draco stands quickly, holding his chest as he pants.
"Whoa, whoa! It's just you Boris." He recovers from that, and wipes the dust off his back. "Long week, right?"
"Tell me about it…"
"Can't wait to get out of this hell hole. You?"
"I, uh… Stay days at a time, so…"
"Lucky you. Oh, and by the way, you should tell your wife her Cheep Cheep dumplings were delicious."
"Oh, uh… Thanks, yo. She'd… like to hear that."
Draco twists his torso and cracks his back, crossing his arms soon after. "So, what brings you up here?"
"I just came from trying to close the metal door covering the tank. The vice warden said himself that Morton Jr. was the next meal. Why is that Yoshi here?"
"So that's what they do…" says Draco, pondering on the initial part of the reply, before continuing. "Oh! My bad! Look, I'm just following orders from Hitatsu. He calls the shots between us." Draco proceeds to kick Yoshi inside the tank, whose stifled cry became inaudible one he splashed inside. "This whole ordeal is rubbing me the wrong way. I just wish that Hitatsu was out of my life so I can be free of this bounty hunter's life for good."
Boris stands quietly as the Fire Brother stares nervously to the sides. An awkward silence later, Draco continues, "Sorry about that. I really needed to get that out of my chest. I better go back inside." With that, he walks toward the metallic door, and disappears inside it.
As soon as Draco leaves, Boris looks back at the door leading inside to see if the Fire Brother would return or not, and later inspects the walls to see if there was a security system guarding the perimeter, spotting a camera looking out in direction of the 'III' shaped lake. He propels himself with some rockets inside his shoes, and disables the camera by melting the wiring connected to it with a flame that emits from his finger. He lands back on the ground in front of the hole leading to the shark pirates tank, and aside from his Bandit mask, Boris removes his military outfit, revealing a jet black ninja robe underneath.
While 'Boris' does his work, Yoshi is slowly sinking in the stagnant, murky waters, squirming as much as he could to avoid getting eaten alive. His body rotates before quickly landing at the bottom of the tank. The green dinosaur is stunned; he is almost face-to-face with the shark pirate, albeit a little lower, and the water level being around Johnny's gills. He tries to scream, but water rushes into his mouth and lungs, despite the gag in place, worsening his predicament.
The constant struggle wakens the shark pirate, who raises his tremulous head slowly, and sees Yoshi painfully struggle underwater, noticing that the metallic cover was in place outside his tank. Something tells the shark to not eat Yoshi, but his hunger and the smell of prey in the tank revived Johnny's feral instincts. Because he was extremely weakened, Johnny did not move swiftly as any normal hungry shark would, but just as his feral instincts take hold, a white membrane slowly starts to cover his right eye, and his gums started to recede, revealing rows of sharp teeth. Johnny could no longer fight against his own body and slowly approaches the green dinosaur, who at this point is slowly losing consciousness.
Right then, 'Boris' removes his mask and his left arm, while saying, "Show time!" He jumps below and hovers over Johnny with his foot rockets, slowly descending on top of the shark. He lands safely and grabs the shark from behind, as he rests his left arm on his snout and says, "We're getting you out of here. Hold tight."
Even though the shark's instincts are tingling for him to devour Yoshi, he musters enough strength to desist, remembering his wish to be rescued. Not knowing how much time he had before Johnny would go back to a weakened frenzy, 'Boris' shoots some sort of bubble out of his elbow and into the water, hitting an almost unconscious Yoshi, whose body soon begins to flash and transform.
The 'Boris' guy reveals a blow torch inside his right index finger, and wastes no time cutting the shark's cuffs at his flippers. While he does that, Yoshi is revealed to have transformed into a submarine, but he sinks to the bottom because his propellers will not work. A voice comes from above the water.
"Sorry, Yosh, I should have cut your cuffs first."
Yoshi looks toward the shark's direction, finding Geno already done cutting the first cuff and staring the second.
"Geno! Thank the stars above. I thought I was a goner!"
"And I was almost late! Things are finally looking up."
"Speaking of which… Geno, where exactly were…?"
"Sorry, Yosh. That story will need to wait 'til after we bust him out of here."
The second cuff falls off, and without anything else but the abdominal cuff holding the pirate aloft, he slowly begins to descend. Geno slides lower, and spots the final cuff, noticing that it is rather loose due to the pirate's emaciated state.
"The last one will be hard, Yosh. My wooden body can't be underwater for too long before I start getting water logged."
Suddenly, Johnny hunger craze strikes again, this time stronger than before. He begins thrashing to and fro, hitting himself on the walls of the tank. Yoshi has to squirm (in his submarine transformation) out of Johnny's range since he lacked any mobility at the moment. Geno, on the other hand, holds on tightly, confused as to the sudden violent outburst.
Johnny crashes into the high impact glass, loosening Geno's grip; his hand slides toward Johnny's snout. The shark pirate thrusts himself into another wall, threatening to crush the doll into splinters, when, just as suddenly, he passes out, the inertia of the thrust slowly coming to a halt. Geno sighs in relief.
"That was too close." He looks down from on top the unconscious shark, slowly starting to sink. "Yosh, I believe you can launch torpedoes with this transformation! Shoot down the glass and the metal door as I undo this cuff as well."
He hooks his feet onto Johnny's snout, while he dips his other half underwater. He begins cutting the metal cuff with his hand blow torch. Yoshi can't figure out how to shoot anything just yet. He begins to squeeze very hard when a trail of bubbles comes out from somewhere near his propeller, making Yoshi blush.
"Um, excuse me."
He tries again. But nothing happens. Geno is almost done cutting when he notices something protruding from behind Yoshi, who turns toward Geno slowly and points his posterior at the high impact glass.
"I can't. No torpedo, not one! Now what?"
"Wait, Yoshi! I think something went wrong with the transformation."
"Everything looks fine to…"
Geno interrupts the green dino-submarine as he points towards the propellers. "There's something coming out from behind…"
"Geno, this is not the time for toilet humor."
"Hear me out. I don't know how your transformations work, but I suspect, since you were encased in a concrete block and had cuffs, maybe that's why your propellers don't work. With this logic, what if your launchers are pointing backwards?"
Yoshi seems unsure about what to think or answer, but Geno reassures him.
"Try shooting. There is no harm in trying. But hurry, we may get caught like sitting goombas."
"Thank you, G. I really needed the extra pressure." He readies his metallic submarine posterior. "Fire in the hole."
Yoshi pushes with all his might; a torpedo rapidly blasts the glass and metal cover away, spilling the water into the room housing the tank and the vice warden's office, and washing Geno, an unconscious Johnny, and submarine Yoshi into the room, now blaring with the lock down siren. Both the doll and the submarine dinosaur realize the entire jail is on highest alert, when they spot the doogan vice warden looking at them.
…
Location: Eastern Outskirts of Desert Hill, Koopalings' side
Time left: 1 hours, 57 minutes
...
Ludwig and Lemmy zoom past the fortress ruins in the middle of Desert Hill on the Clown Car. Scant few lights glitter across the vast plain of sand amidst the moonlit darkness. Shadows of dunes litter the plains as well, and a clear night sky speckled with millions of stars. Bago the Paragoomba's Spade Casino flashes with Vegas-style lights in the north east.
Ludwig blankly stares at the starry sky, especially at the distant southern constellations. Since his brother had grown tired of his symphonies, the blue-haired Koopaling had earphones in his… um, earholes. His back is toward his petite brother, but at this point, so many thoughts clashed in his mind, so he pays no attention to whatever his rainbow haired sibling is doing. Lemmy once again places his feet dangerously near the autopilot button as it stays aloft, and breaks the silence, screaming so his brother could hear his deep, uncharacteristic voice.
"Yo! Wiseman!"
Ludwig looks back with the corner of his left eye nonchalantly, as he removes both ear pieces. "There was no need for your bellowing. But I am shocked. A new word for your sophomoric lexicon."
Lemmy ignores the insult. "So, what is this plan of yours you promised? I've heard nothing these past hours… Except your garbage you call music."
"Like I said, an uncultured ignoramus as yourself cannot appreciate exquisite art. But I digress…"
"So? WHAT YOU GOT?"
"Eager, are we not?" He turns back and chuckles before resuming. "Firstly, we need to make sure to plant chaos in the penitentiary, whether covertly or overtly, it does not matter. We get the pirate out of there, whom, according to Slyklyde's report, I presume is too debilitated to fight anymore. Speaking of which, he gave me a report on both Fire Brothers as well. We merely require one of them, to which I suggest capturing the leader of the two, Hitatsu. You will be the one to take him out."
"Does it really matter who we get?"
"No, Lemmy, but do not disregard that I am the genius behind the power transfer machine. All technicalities aside, we need nothing short of the strongest warriors most readily available, because as time passes, the Bowser puppet becomes less receptive to more power."
Lemmy keeps inquiring, though he seems more confused than interested. "But every creature we've gathered isn't that special to begin with…"
"You're quite wrong there; we have captured extraordinary beings, and this Hitatsu should be the greatest assest to the puppet's power. According to Slyklyde's report, he has two abilities related to fire: the blue flame, which, according to rumor, exceeds Bowser in prowess; and the ability to coat himself in flames. His partner is not as useful to us."
"Can I just kill him off?" Lemmy's eyes glow a more sinister blue.
The blue-haired Koopaling ponders silently. "Quite the inquiry… We first require one to be an inch from the Underwhere, yet alive. Whatever happens to the other is inconsequential."
"And the bubble fruit?"
"Assuming they have it, we will appropriate it. If they don't, we will get it later. We can not let time run out on us. Remember, we have to succeed no matter what, even if we have to resort to underhanded tactics. Unrestricted violence is allowed."
"Now you're speaking my language," hisses the tiny Koopaling, accompanied by a loud cackle.
Ludwig turns again to the southern constellations, unperturbed by his brother's reaction. He leans on his left arm as he simultaneously replaces the earpiece inside his left ear hole.
-o-
FINALLY! GENO ARRIVES! And what timing! With Ludwig and Lemmy due to arrive sooner than later, and Geno and Yoshi going out near both wardens of all places, things will get ugly quickly. Time to talk is over. Get ready for action next time!