I just realized that I completely forgot about Baby Yoshi in the previous chapter. My bad...

But thankfully, I'll mention him more in this chapter!

Enjoy! ;)

Chapter 8: Yoob's Inside Story

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Baby Mario, Baby Luigi and Baby Yoshi wailed out loud, which woke Luigi up.

"Uhhh…" he groaned as he got up. He then noticed the three crying babies. "Oh, great… What do I do?!" he had no idea how he would calm down three babies at once. "GUYS! A little help here! Guys!" he tried calling for Mario, Sonic, Tails, Young Sonic, Young Tails and Veronica, who were all lying on the ground unconscious, but they wouldn't wake up. The wailing then becomes louder. "Ohhh, come on!" Luigi facepalmed. "Okey… Guess it's worth a shot…"

He tried to call the babies' attention by calling them playfully and even doing a funny face in front of Baby Mario, but they didn't stop crying.

"PLEASE, guys! I need help! Wake UP!" Luigi called out for his downed friends, but they still wouldn't wake up. "Urrrrgh!" he grunted stressfully; how is he going to calm down the babies without his friends? Soon, he got an idea: "Oh! I know! This will definitely calm them down!" he reaches through something in his pocket. "I just hope there's still enough space left in their stomachs."

What did he pull out? Three Yoshi Cookies! Once the babies eyed at them, they immediately stopped crying and big smiles showed up on their faces.

"Yay! Cookies!" Baby Mario and Baby Luigi squealed.

"Yaaaaaaaaay!" Baby Yoshi cheered.

"Here you go!" Luigi handed each baby a cookie and watched them munching on these tasty snacks.

"Cookies are soooo tasty!" Baby Mario exclaimed with cookie crumbles in his mouth.

"Yoshi! Yoshi!" Baby Yoshi chirped as he swallows the whole cookie with his tongue.

"Phew…" Luigi let out a sigh of relief.

"Ugh…" he then heard Sonic's groan. The entire group was now awake.

"Oh, thank god you're awake, guys!" Luigi said. "Even though I've already calmed the babies down by myself…" he thought.

"Uh… Where are we?" Young Tails asked.

"I surmise we're inside that beast's gastric chambers…" Stuffwell said after coming out of Mario's pocket.

"Yuck..." Sonic cringed.

"You've gotta be kidding me…" Young Sonic sweatdropped.

"Well that's a first, getting eaten by a monstrous Yoshi." Tails said.

"Yeah, but what's next? Getting eaten by Bowser?" Mario questioned.

"Oh, hell no! *sigh* good lord, Mario… Don't give any funny ideas when we get back home." Luigi glared at him.

"Young Bowser and his bellyful of star shards should be in here somewhere, as well." Stuffwell stated. "I suggest we find him and get out of here with all speed." He flies back into Mario's pocket.

"Way for stealing my words…" Sonic rolled his eyes.

Veronica then saw a very tiny opening on the other side of the wall.

"Hmm…" she pondered. "Guys, I can see through this wall. But we can't go through it."

"I wonder if the babies can." Tails wondered.

Hearing that, Baby Luigi walked towards the tiny gap and tried to fit through it, but he couldn't.

"Nope. Too small." He shook his head.

"Then how about we take that spring over there?" Baby Mario pointed to a spring at the far right. "It's small enough for us. Maybe we can find something up there."

"You have a point. Let's hop on it." Young Sonic said.

"We'll wait for you here." Veronica assured.

With that, the youngsters jumped on the spring and it launched them upwards.

"Eh?" Baby Mario did.

They saw the green Yoshi trying to push a large boulder towards the hole. The young kids were confused at that.

"Push! Push!" the green Yoshi struggled.

"Excuse me, but what are you doing?" Baby Luigi asked.

"Trying to push this boulder." The green Yoshi answered. "If I can get this rolling, it should make a way outta here. Can't seem to budge it on my own, though…" he then attempts again.

"Hm… It DOES seem likely that rolling that giant boulder down the hole we just came from will expand that tight passage…" Young Tails pointed out.

"So we have to find a way to move this boulder somehow!" Young Sonic told them.

"Yoshi, yo yo Yoshi!" Baby Yoshi spoke.

"Hold on, I think Yoshi is trying to say something…" Baby Mario pondered. "I've been listening to Yoshi Language since I was a newborn, so maybe I can understand him."

He analyzed Baby Yoshi's movements one by one. After he was done, Baby Mario came up with a conclusion:

"I think he was trying to say that there may be other Yoshis wandering around in here. Perhaps if we find all of them, that boulder could move!"

"Hey! That's it! All of the Yoshis were swallowed by that monster Yoshi too!" Young Tails confirmed. "But all of them got separated? That makes me worried for them!"

"Alright, but first of all, we gotta call our older selves to us!" Baby Luigi stated as he hits a Warp Block, making a Warp Pipe appear and the rest of the group came out of it.

"You actually found a way to send us to you?" Mario was surprised. "Tell us, what did you see?"

The young heroes explained everything to the adults.

"So we have to go on a Yoshi hunt, huh? I can see different rooms in this chamber, by the way. I suppose they'll lead us to where the Yoshis are." Sonic said, directing to the rooms.

"I suggest we split up so that we can get the job done quickly." Veronica suggested. "You guys go with each of your younger selves while I'll go with Baby Yoshi."

They all nodded and split up to each room.

At the west side of Yoob's Belly…

Sonic and his younger self entered the room, were they found an RC Shroober threatening a red Yoshi with a radio-controlled moving bomb.

"%)$" the RC Shroober sung.

"Help!" the red Yoshi cried for help.

"This Shroob deserves a lesson!" Sonic glared at the RC Shroober.

"You bet!" Young Sonic glared next before calling out to get the RC Shroober's attention: "Hey! You there!"

The RC Shroober heard him and turned around to spot the two Sonics. He then sent the moving bomb towards them. The bomb stood in front of the Sonics for quite a while, and surprisingly enough it didn't explode yet.

"Okay, this is getting boring…" Sonic rolled his eyes before destroying the bomb with his Spin Dash.

"Seriously? That's all you got?" Young Sonic teased.

"#&!" the RC Shroober's eyes twitched as he ran straight for them.

"Guess we'll settle this with a fray!" Sonic grinned as he and his younger self stood in their fighting stances.

The RC Shroober uses his antenna to command a flying bomb at the Sonics, but they dodged it and the bomb blew up by itself. After that, Young Sonic did a Spin Jump while Sonic did a Homing Attack at the RC Shroober.

The RC Shroober tried to use that same bomb again. Young Sonic dodged it while Sonic does a Homing Kick at it to send it to the RC Shroober, killing him.

"Neat skills, me!" Young Sonic high-fived his adult self.

"You're welcome! You'll be able to master them once you grow up!" Sonic replied.

"I will? Cool!"

The red Yoshi got up, thankful for the Sonics killing the Shroob. "Thanks!" he thanked. The Sonics then told him about the dilemma at the main chamber. "Huh? Escape?" he then ran off, lending a hand to the green Yoshi with pushing the boulder. Even that, two Yoshis still weren't enough.

At the northwest side of Yoob's Belly…

Luigi and his younger self came upon a large bright red wall in the room. What was surprising for them is that they heard a Yoshi's voice from behind the wall:

"Isn't there anybody who can help me?"

"Did you hear that? There's a Yoshi trapped on the other side!" Luigi said. His younger self nodded. "The good question is: how do we get him out?"

"Wow! Lookie! Colorful balls!" Baby Luigi eyed at a row of colorful balls above the cell's door. The order of the balls' colors were blue, yellow, blue, red, yellow, blue, yellow, red, red, yellow, blue, yellow, red, blue, yellow and blue.

"It kinda looks like some sort of code…" Luigi inspected the balls. He then noticed a small opening on the far right side of the wall where only his baby self could pass. "Hey! Me! Could you try to memorize the order of the colors shown here and then go down that opening?"

"Sure!" Baby Luigi nodded. It took a couple of seconds for him to memorize all of the colors, but once he was finished, he went inside the opening.

On the other side, there were tons of colorful buttons that light in the same three colors as the balls seen outside.

"Oh, that explains it." Baby Luigi pointed out. "Alright, here goes nothing!" he took out his hammer.

Some button hitting later…

"*bang!* …yellow… *bang!* …red… *bang!* …blue… *bang!* …yellow…and… *bang!* …BLUE!"

At the same time, when Baby Luigi completed the row of buttons, the door leading to the imprisoned Yoshi opened. The toddler then emerged out from the opening.

"Good job!" Luigi congratulated.

"No problem!" Baby Luigi replied with a smile.

The Luigis went through the opened door and greeted the Yoshi, which was a blue one.

"That…was scary." The blue Yoshi stuttered. Once the Luigis told him about the situation at the chamber, the blue Yoshi went out to help with the pushing as well.

At the north side of Yoob's Belly…

Veronica and Baby Yoshi emerged out from the room's entrance, only to find themselves in an empty room.

"Oh, just an empty room…" Veronica pondered with her eyebrow raised.

"Yoshi! Yo yo Yoshi!" Baby Yoshi called her attention by pointing to somewhere.

"Huh? Do you see someone, Baby Yoshi?" Veronica asked. Baby Yoshi nodded and led her to the room's corner.

There, they found a collapsed yellow Yoshi, with his tongue sticking out.

"So hungry… Need fruit…" the yellow Yoshi said, starving.

"Oh, poor thing…" Veronica felt bad for him. "Is there any kind of fruit we can find here?"

"Yes!" Baby Yoshi nodded and surprisingly enough, he pulled out a shiny, orange-yellowish piece of fruit from his saddle!

"Whoa! Where did you get that?" Veronica was surprised.

"Yoshi! Yoshi! Yo yo Yoshi!" Baby Yoshi explained (in his language, of course).

"Hmm, you found it inside one of those purple log-like holes from the main chamber?" Veronica questioned. "Impressive…"

Baby Yoshi walked towards the starving yellow Yoshi and offered him the piece of fruit.

"Yippee! Fruit!" the yellow Yoshi beamed with happiness as he gobbles down the fruit. "Thank you, Baby Yoshi!"

Veronica told him about the boulder situation at the previous room and asked if he could lend a hand.

"Yes! I'm good to go!" the yellow Yoshi replied and went back to the main chamber to help the other Yoshis by pushing the boulder. Only two more Yoshis remaining!

At the northeast side of Yoob's Belly…

Tails and his younger self saw a pink Yoshi at the other side of the room where the floor was covered with spikes at his front.

"A little help?" the pink Yoshi asked.

"Well, we could just simply fly all the way over there." Tails said to the young fox.

"You're right. The problem is… I can't fly as much as you do." Young Tails tilted his head at the floor.

"Oh, that's right… I remember that I was not that great at flying with my tails rather than flying on the Tornado." Tails pondered. "Hmm… How about you practice right now?"

"Okay, then."

Young Tails started to propel his tails and his feet were lifted off the floor. He did a good start so far…but then went downhill when he was trying to fly over the spikes until he lost coordination on one of his tails.

"AAAH!" Young Tails screamed as he was falling towards the sea of spikes.

"Look out!" Tails managed to catch his hand just in time before he fell into the spikes. Young Tails looked up to his older self and saw that he was propelling his tails that allowed him to hover in the air.

"I guess it'll take long for me to master it…" Young Tails sighed.

"I know… I did had a hard time learning to fly properly." Tails lamented. He then had an idea: "Say, since I'm holding you like this, how about I just fly you to the other side, then?"

"Sounds good to me!" Young Tails replied with a smile.

With that, Tails held both his younger self's hands in the same way he carries Sonic in the air and flew to the other side of the room, reaching the pink Yoshi.

"We did it!" Young Tails cheered, but then realizes something: "But wait, how are we going to get the Yoshi to the other side?"

"Simple. Plasma Cannon: Block Mode!" Tails shot two blasts from his arm cannon at the front, which created two solid plasma blocks arranged like a bridge. This left Young Tails astonished.

"Yay! I can get out!" the pink Yoshi chirped and ran to the other side to help with the boulder pushing at the main chamber. Just one more Yoshi left!

At the east side of Yoob's Belly…

Mario and his younger self went inside their picked room, where they climbed on top of the red wall and saw a RC Shroober with two antennas threatening a light-blue Yoshi, who was cowering in fear, with a radio-controlled UFO.

"%)$" the RC Shroober sung.

"A Shroob threatening a friendly Yoshi… I CAN'T STAND IT!" Baby Mario shouted.

"Then let's give him a lesson about how not to treat dinosaurs." Mario smirked. However, when they slid down the wall to the floor, Mario realized: "The only problem is that there's no way through this wall."

"Not if I do this!" Baby Mario grinned as he took out his hammer and prepares to throw it.

"Wait, don't tell me you'll-!"

But Baby Mario threw his hammer before Mario could finish his sentence. The hammer flew above the wall and miraculously, its head hit the UFO, causing it to short-circuit and fly to the wall, blowing it up.

"Yeah! Bull's eye!" Baby Mario cheered.

"Wow… I forgot that I was a very playful child back then." Mario thought while smiling in embarrassment. "But also quite impulsive too…which is odd."

That event also surprised the RC Shroober as he looks around to try to find the culprit.

"Now let's take that Shroob down!" Baby Mario demanded as he went to the other side of the blown up wall, with his adult self following suit.

"#&!" the RC Shroober's eye twitched as he ran straight for them.

The RC Shroober used his antennas to command a UFO and it was heading straight for Mario to abduct him. Luckily, Baby Mario retrieved his hammer, jumped on Mario's back once he was abducted and hit the UFO just in time, sending it to the RC Shroober.

Both Marios did a stomp on the RC Shroober, who later called out a bomb this time. The Marios were able to avoid it by jumping over it until it blew up. They took this advantage to perform together the hammer attack, defeating the RC Shroober.

Once the RC Shroober was killed, the light-blue Yoshi stood up and thanked both Marios:

"Thanks!"

The Marios told him about the situation at the main chamber, and he agreed to help the other Yoshis too.

One regroup later…

The gang watched the six Yoshis pushing very hard, and eventually, the boulder slowly started to move.

"It's working!" Young Tails exclaimed.

The Yoshis continued pushing until the boulder fell into the hole, and as it rolled all the way down, the tight passageway became narrower enough for anybody to pass.

"Wahoo!" the Yoshis celebrated. "Let's roll!" as they jumped down the hole.

"Let's follow them!" Tails said.

Everyone nodded and went down the passageway.

To be continued…

The next chapter will show them confronting Sunnycide! Please review.