They formed a close semicircle and Jazz opened to a random page (around to the heart of the book). All the pages were an ancient yellow, dust motes flying around as they flipped pages. Their eyes searched the random page as Jazz ran his finger across word by word, reading it aloud.
"It says 'to start your chosen destiny, follow the river upstream to the East'."
They gave each other nervous, but blank, gazes. Snowie Jr was honestly still lost in the mist of confusion but he pretended like he knew what to do. Why does pretending feel so accurate? They nodded in silent approval as they, while the book stayed open, followed upstream to start their biggest journey yet.
Emerging from the barrier of thick foliage the three yoshis marched silently out in the expansive grassland. Ahead of them was where ground met cloudless sky and the sun just watched down at them from the highest point, mocking them with its jibing sunrays.
Jazz (black yoshi) wiped a sweat from his forehead, book held open in the other hand. He whistled at how the heat had suddenly beaten him down. He was pretty sure that Snowie Jr (white yoshi) and Skipper (blue yoshi) were feeling the same.
Two days had passed by then. They slept uncovered underneath the starry nights twice. Their surroundings all looked the same except that there were fewer trees and more shrubs. The snaking river seemed to go on forever. It was their only source of water.
The early morning broke out into a pretty horizon that screamed out a lovely, warm orange. The sun was now, yet again, playing peek-a-boo with its rays coming back for more jibing. The three yoshis were still clueless on their journey, but they kept it to themselves.
A whisper came from a group of remote ferns in front of them. The only thing that Jazz didn't like about Yoshi Country was the surprising attacks that came out of nowhere—attacks by innocent, little yoshis, of course. They stopped dead in their tracks and gazed at the now still ferns. They didn't move any more. A pair of ferns behind them shivered with thrill. Jazz placed a leaf bookmark between the pages he had kept open, closed the book, and placed it on the ground. He rolled up his imaginary sleeves as he stomped toward the bristling ferns.
"Wait until I show you how bad my punch's gonna hurt…" he sneered, cut off as he immediately felt a pair of malevolent eyes glaring him down. He turned around to see a newcomer.
The newcomer stood beside Skipper and Snowie Jr. This was another yoshi, but this azure yoshi was nothing like he'd seen before. It had on a red studded collar and red shoes that allowed his claw-packed toes to stick out. He wore rounded shades, allowing his eyes to be completely hidden, and only had one orange, sharp frill at the back of his head.
Who is this, a punk rock yoshi? Jazz thought with a snort.
The newcomer flashed his tongue out like a snake. "My name is Boshi," the newcomer introduced, his voice malicious and high-pitched (not like a chipmunk, but somewhere around "creepy").
"Boshi?" echoed Skipper, half to himself.
Boshi stepped closer to Jazz leaving a respectable distance between them. "So you are the Three Dragons?" he chuckled inwardly. "How delightfully pleasing," he flicked his tongue out again, and the yoshis knew what to expect next.
A pang of shock stabbed through Jazz, nearly losing his balance. "How do you know us?" he growled.
Boshi crossed his arms, chest erect. "Why, I am the Dark Force that'll haunt you for years and years to come." He lifted his unsheathed foot and watched them glisten in the morning light like sharp weapons. "I will follow you like an unstoppable force and nothing will cease me to my duties. I am your shadow. I am the peace before the storm. You will look into the eyes of the demon, once I remove these shades." He paused, leaving a heavy silence afterwards when his voice increased into lusty hunger for revenge. No one knew where he was going with that tone. He placed his foot down and looked across his shoulder and huffed. "Humph," he grunted. "I most leave now." He turned to glare at the three yoshis. "May you see me again, and a farewell!" With a swing of his arms, a little show indeed, he vanished, almost exactly like how Ancient Yoshi disappeared.
Skipper frowned at where Boshi left. "May we see you not, snicker doodle!"
Jazz shared the same façade. He watched Snowie Jr as the youngest yoshi in the group picked up the book and flipped open to the bookmarks page. He read more of the sentences at the end of the second page and read them aloud.
"This says 'may you follow towards the river until you reach to the snaking river's bowl of water'." He scratched his forehead in confusion. "This must be the ocean." He continued reading, his voice soft as the spring winds. "It also says 'there you will enter to your first destination and your first departure: Ocean Zero'."
