Chapter Ten

Never Expect The Tube Trees

The Ten tramped through the increasingly tangled forest. The terrain had gotten so swampy that Timoshi said they were now in the Jovenin Jungle. Birdcalls and monkey noises were heard through the vines.

"Stupid bugs," grumbled Flamoshi. He swatted a mosquito off his cheek. "Why can't they pick on someone their own size?"

"Ack!" Emoshi lifted her shoe. "Ewwww! I stepped on a slug!"

A rustling in the undergrowth was seen.

"Shh!" Earthoshi stood still. "I think there's something under there."

The Ten stopped. The thing was also still.

"Must have been some rodent or something," thought Watoshi.

Without warning, a reptile lunged out of the marshy ground towards Shockoshi. He was able to duck it with his quick reflexes, but the group was shaken.

"That was an Allidile!" said Healthoshi, quivering. "We'd better keep moving before it decides to attack again!"

"Hey! Look!" Windoshi pointed to a watermelon. "This'll help us fend off those pesky reptilian fiends."

Earthoshi grabbed the melon with his tongue. Instantly, a huge net appeared and snagged the Ten in the trees.

"Nice going, stomach-brain," groaned Poisoshi.

Iceoshi quietly took out a Swiss army knife and started cutting through the ropes.

"Uh, I'm not so sure that's a good idea," said Timoshi. "You should be cutting near the top, because cutting the bottom AH!"

The Ten fell out of the net. Ten face-plants upset the supersaturated terrain.

Windoshi tore his head out of the ground with a squelch. "Good job, R2-D2. Now we just wait for the Ewoks."

Almost on cue, a few Yoshis surrounded the group.

"Hey! City slickers!" one said. "We haven't had outsiders around here for a while."

Shockoshi cleaned out his nostrils. "Glad to see you're not tribal beasts like we expected," he said.

"No way," said the leader of the natives. "Us? The Vine Villagers? Of course not, we're quite domesticated for what we have."

"Mind taking us back to your village, then?" asked Watoshi.

"No problem. It's just a few minutes away. But hey, we'll go through the trees. Much safer that way." The villagers grabbed some vines and climbed up, the Ten close behind.

"What was the net for, anyway?" inquired Emoshi.

"Nothing, really," said one of the natives. "Gives us the upper hand when outsiders arrive, I guess."

Vine Village was entirely in the trees. It was the ultimate treehouse: hundreds of wooden planks made up its five floors, with the villagers living in hollowed-out tree trunks and leaf huts. Each and every citizen was upbeat and lively with more than a passion for heights.

"Very impressive," said Timoshi. "I can't really imagine how long it took to build this place."

"It took about a year before we could live up here permanently," said the "tour guide". "It took another two years to complete."

"It must've taken a few months along to hollow out these houses," said Shockoshi.

"Actually, we built the village in a clump of tube trees. Tube trees are hollow trees that can reach very high."

The group had stopped in front of a very large tree. It was at least twenty-five Yoshis in diameter and extended beyond what could be seen. A small door was in its side at the Ten's level.

"This is the Master Tree," said the guide. "It's the biggest tube tree on the island. We are forbidden to go inside under normal circumstances."

Flamoshi raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

The guide shrugged. "To be honest, I don't know. I guess there's no floor inside, so you fall from here to the bottom."

Windoshi looked at the Master Tree. "Can we go inside?"

Thought. "I don't know. No one's ever asked, but then again you must be quite special to have gotten here without a vehicle. I'll ask the chief."

The "chief" turned out to be a really tall yellow Yoshi. He didn't respond immediately to the question, which "was a good sign," according to the guide.

After a few minutes of thought, the chief answered. "Well, I did get letter a few days ago mentioning that I should let a group of ten Yoshis into the Master Tree. However, the letter was not signed and written in scratchy handwriting. I'm not sure whether this is a blessing or a trap."

The chief re-read part of the letter. "It also says that the ten may have some items that control parts of nature, and use that to identify them. Do you have such objects?"

"Yeah," said Flamoshi. He caused light to glint off the ruby on his hand.

"I do too," replied Watoshi. She fingered the two sapphires on her arms.

The chief noticed. "Ah. So what the letter says appears to be true." He went behind his desk and pulled out a dual-spiral lump of rusted copper. "This is the key into the Master Tree," he said. He handed it to Windoshi.

"Uh…" the green one said. "Super. Let's go for it."

The enormity of the Master Tree was even greater from the inside. It seemed more like a wooden cavern than a tree. The place they were in had a simple, flat wooden floor with a pillar in the middle and a jump pad to the side. It seemed to lead towards a hole in the ceiling.

"Cool," said Emoshi. "ECHO!"

The orange one's voice reflected around the empty wooden room.

"Let's hit the jump pad, I guess," said Earthoshi.

The jump pad suddenly retracted into the ground as the Ten approached it.

"Now what's the deal with that?" said Shockoshi.

"Probably a mirage," huffed Poisoshi.

A few Spear Guys appeared from an upper ledge. The Yoshis had no problem dealing with them. After they were gone, a wooden object fell from the ceiling as the jump pad reappeared.

"What's this?" Healthoshi picked up the object. It was the shape of the letter R.

"Weird," mumbled Timoshi.

Undaunted, the Ten leapt from the jump pad to a higher floor. The new room lacked the pillar the previous room had. There was a tiny window that showed a rope on a distant branch that appeared to run upwards. Large branches were growing into the tree near the top of the room.

"Okay," said Shockoshi. "I think we should try to break that rope out there."

"I don't see how," said Watoshi. Eggs won't fit through a window that small."

"Let's worry about that later," said Flamoshi. "We've got a problem."

The Ten turned away from the window. The room was slowly filling up with floating white spores.

"What the heck?" blurted Shockoshi.

"They're Floaties," said Timoshi. "They used to be called Fuzzies, but then the now-called Fuzzies appeared and the name suits them better."

"Now what was it my granddad used to say…?" thought Emoshi. "Oh yeah! 'Touch Fuzzy, get dizzy!' That was it!"

"But these are Floaties…" said Earthoshi, slightly confused.

"As I said, the name changed," stated Timoshi. "They're now called Floaties. Emoshi's grandfather knew them as Fuzzies."

"In any case, how do you think they taste?" said Windoshi. He grabbed one with his tongue and ate it.

"No, you ijit!" Flamoshi flapped his arms in exasperation.

"Hmm, tastes like cream puff." The green Yoshi had a fart. "Air leakage problem!" He stumbled into the wall. "I'm okay!" He continued to randomly wander around the room.

"Good grief," mumbled Poisoshi. "Doesn't that nithead listen to anyone?"

"I guess we can egg these weirdoes," said Shockoshi.

The eggage worked. The room was clear in a matter of minutes. A wooden S fell from the ceiling, followed by an E.

"What's with these letters?" Flamoshi collected them.

"They're probably some sort of keys," said Timoshi. "But now what? There's no way to move on from here."

"Maybe there is," pondered Flamoshi. He started using the Reel to pull on the branches in the room. After a while, he found once that triggered a jump pad to appear. It also triggered the appearance of a wooden U.

"Well," said Timoshi, "the letters so far spell 'SURE'. Does that mean anything?" The rest shook their heads. "Didn't think so."

The room on the "third floor" was as empty as any other. However, the branches in it all reached from the ceiling to the floor, where they opened up into pipe-like openings.

"What to do here?" thought Healthoshi.

"It looks like we should see if those hollow branches work like pipes," said Watoshi.

Flamoshi entered a branch. He reappeared out of another.

"Well, they're pipes all right," he commented. "Thing is, which one leads to the next room?"

There were over fifty branches in the room. "We could use trial and error, but there might be some that lead to traps," said Shockoshi.

"First," directed Timoshi, "we should determine which pipes have both ends in this room. We can do that by throwing eggs down them."

Once the egg-sweeping was done, there were only ten candidates left.

Windoshi looked at the ceiling. "One of the possibilities has a bunch of leaves on it," he relayed.

"That's a good idea as any." Earthoshi made for the leafy pipe. He came back a minute later. "Dead end," he reported. "Except for this." He held up a wooden letter, this one an I.

"Well, let's try another." Flamoshi tried the one closet to the hole leading to the floor below. He reappeared with his hand smoking.

"Stupid Spear Guys," he mumbled.

Healthoshi went up the pipe on the complete opposite side of the room. She didn't reappear.

"Hmm." Shockoshi scratched his head. "She must've found the next floor, then the pipe closed behind her."

"Or she landed in a pit of spikes," drawled Poisoshi.

Angry at the treatment of such a friend, Earthoshi growled and threw Poisoshi into the pipe Healthoshi used. He followed.

"Well, that settles it." The other Yoshis followed suit.