Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Yoshi. He belongs to Nintendo. Everything else in this chapter, including the Yoshi characters, Volcanic Veranda, and excluding the name Volvagia, are owned by me (Toomai).

Chapter Two

Heating Things Up

The shadow being glared at its disciples.

"Do not tell me of failure," it said. "Although your original task was not completed, there is still a chance to stop the power."

The ten disciples stirred. Then Volvagia rose.

"They are heading to a realm similar to mine," the scorpion-like being hissed. "I will go and prevent them from leaving."

The entity nodded. "You may go and burn their lives. As for the rest of these…" He indicated the captured ones. "They may be returned."

As the ten Yoshis were trekking east across the countryside, they were talking about the task they undertook.

"I've always wanted to be the hero," said Windoshi. "Now I get to deliver! We may become legends!"

Earthoshi shook his head.

"I'm afraid that you're one step ahead of yourself," he said slowly. "First we need to do something heroic."

Mount Vewaque rose ever slowly in the distance. Due east of the City of Yosh, it seemed that every morning, the sun rose from inside it. The ten had heard of a village close to the volcano called Volcanic Veranda, but it was hard to believe it still existed with the frequent eruptions.

At last, the Yoshis came upon the edge of the grassy plains and onto the volcanic rock bed.

"Stay close," said Flamoshi, "there may be baddies about."

After about five minutes on the rock bed, the Yoshis encountered their first enemies: ten Flame Piranhas.

"They're still a ways in the distance," said Healthoshi.

"Don't be fooled," countered Poisoshi. "They can travel underground almost instantly…GAH!"

Sure enough, one of the Flame Piranhas popped out of the ground right in front of the purple Yoshi. He managed to move just before the jaws closed on where he was.

"Attack plan C!" called Shockoshi. He ran around the back of the enemy.

Windoshi produced an egg. He threw it to Shockohsi, who threw it to Flamoshi, and then back to Shockoshi, who whacked the plant with it by surprise. It shrank to nothing.

The energetic one taunted the rest of the group of enemies. "Come on, ya losers! Just try it!" He then preformed jumping jacks and started chanting. "We are Yoshis, die we shan't; not from a stupid P'ranha Plant!"

Stunned by the yellow Yoshi's acts, the Piranhas were stuck in place. This gave time for a hurried order from Healthoshi.

"Egg Rolls! Maximum speed!"

The nine other Yoshis, with Shockoshi still taunting, encased themselves in an egg and rolled into the confused enemies. They were unceremoniously flattened.

Emoshi broke the roll. "Piece of cake," she scoffed.

"Let's keep going," said Flamoshi. "There's still a lot of ground to cover."

The ten kept trekking across the barren landscape. The temperature of the air around them kept rising, but most of them got used to it and coped just fine. At almost 3:30, they finally reached Volcanic Veranda.

"Sweet!" came Flamoshi's first remark on the fiery town. "A village of red Yoshis!"

Indeed it was. The entire town was carved out of volcanic rock and populated by heat-resistant citizens who prided themselves on worshipping the power of fire. Flamoshi was given a warm welcome as one of their own, but the rest were shunned and perceived as "frozen".

While shopping around for info, the group got quite the shock.

"A large scorpion was seen entering our friend, the volcano," said one denizen.

"What?" cried Windoshi. "What would a scorpion want in Mount Vewaque?"

"Many things," was the response. "In our legends, it is said that the scorpion, Volvagia, would pass our way and plug the volcano's mouth. With the mouth plugged, the next time an eruption would occur, the volcano would explode and take down the area with it."

"Well!" exclaimed Windoshi. "That's not good!"

"We're going to go get rid of that scorpion for you people," declared Flamoshi. "We believe it has something of ours."

"Very well," said the villager. "Go and see our chieftain. He will give you the key to Vewaque."

Sure enough, when the ten went to Heatrewas, he produced a small piece of reddish copper in the shape of a flame.

"Take this to the eastern slope of the volcano," he said, "and use it to unlock the stone slab. There you will find a map of the interior. Do not worry of failure. I can sense your destiny. It is positive." He pressed the Fire Key in Flamoshi's hands. "Do well with the flickering flames of fire."

Ten minutes later, the ten were climbing the slope of the volcano. The igneous rock was hot to the touch, but it did not burn the trekkers.

"How can he sense our destiny?" wondered Emoshi. "Does he have some sort of special powers?"

"He might," said Healthoshi. "To be the leader of a group, you need to have something no one else has."

"Destiny. Pffft." Poisoshi swiped his hand through the air. "That's a load of junk."

Unlike most other Yoshis, Poisoshi was an atheist. He saw no evidence of destiny or "any other stuff like that". This centered a lot of cold attitude on him from other Yoshis, but he either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Look!" cried Shockoshi. "There's a cave up there!" He pointed to a hole in the rock face.

The ten Yoshis scrambled up to the hole. Inside they found a wall with some writing on it.

"I wish we could read that," said Windoshi. "But it doesn't seem to be in English."

The wall said: TDA BGQA ONWAQ NB VAWFPUA FWFITS YNU. IUT IAWFQA TDA BKFLAS NB EFQJMASS.

"What was your first clue?" Iceoshi.

"I'll copy this down," said Healthoshi. "Then we can decode it as we travel."

"Here it is!" exclaimed Flamoshi. He had found a hole that fit the key he had. "Let's open 'er up!"

The reddish copper made a click when it entered the engraftment. Then with a groan the wall swung open. A map also appeared in Flamoshi's hands with a bust of flame.

The ten Yoshis entered the red glow.

"So," thought Volvagia, "they have come. It's time to start the eruption which will blast this entire area."

The creature moved to the other side of the chamber. It spoke into a small ball of fire.

"Your friends approach, weak one," said the scorpion. "It's just too bad they will never make it here across the huge cavern."

The ball of fire retorted.

"You underestimate these Yoshis," it spoke. "And before you captured me, I left behind an item that will aid them in disposing of you."

"Item? No item can defeat me! I have a shell that can only be broken by myself! You think an item can turn me against myself?"

"Of course."

"I don't believe you. Still, just to torment those Yoshis, I'll stick a guard in front of where that item is. They will have even less hope than ever before!"