VI: EXPLORING A DANGEROUS LAND

Yoshi was still sleeping in the castle as he did not want to go home until he knew more about the recent events. He had just woken up with another headache, which were far too frequent for him, and this one was more painful. But this headache was not the only thing he was concerned about.

He was wondering about the weird dream he had last night. He could not remember it clearly: the only thing he still had in mind was that horrific pain he felt. He had never felt such pain in his entire life, and it was as if he could still feel it.

He knew that the dream had information that could be important. He was certain that it was related with the past visions. The fact that he could not remember anything was frustrating, but there was nothing he could do about it: the headache made it impossible for him to focus.

"Still having a headache?" Peach's voice said right after he heard the door open. The princess then sat down on the stairs next to the door.

"Yeah. Still having these stupid nightmares, and still can't remember anything." He answered, looked at her, and could not help chuckling.

"Oh, are you really going to laugh every time? You never had a black eye?" Peach looked at him meanly.

"I already had, but not because I threw a rock."

Peach sighed. "Whatever. Anything new?"

"I just woke up; I haven't gone for the prof yet."

"What about Luigi?"

"He's not back yet?!"

"No, that's why I'm asking."

"This is not normal! Cool, Cool Mountain isn't that far from there!"

"Well, yes, but…"

"He should have been back by now! Don't tell me that something prevented him from coming back!"

"How should I know? You're the one who's supposed to know!"

"I already told you that I can't remember…"

"Well, try again, this is our only lead!"

Yoshi admitted she was right. He did not know why but the conversation had eased his headache. Perhaps it would help him to focus? He put his head in his hands and closed his eyes.

It was as if he had just dived into a pool that had taken him to a parallel universe. He could no longer hear anything inside the castle, as if he had never been there. In fact, he could not hear or see anything at all. He had managed to go back to the memories of the dream.

The first visions went by slower than they did during the night. Now, he was able to see his dream again. The shapes heading for the hill but only one of them came back; the weird earthquake that seemed totally artificial; the fight…

He was eager to know more about the missing part of the dream. But, after the fight, he saw nothing for a few seconds that felt like an eternity. Moreover, the pain that he had during the dream was back: the mixture quickly reached his nose and he could not breathe anymore.

In the distance, a voice was calling for him. It seemed like several hundred kilometres away, echoing back to him. Not now! He was almost there!

The voice was still calling him. It was high-pitched; besides, it was getting closer – even though it was still far away. As it was getting closer, the pain was getting worse, and the mixture kept rising. At the same time, colours appeared in front of him. It was blurred and he could not make out anything.

The voice seemed just a kilometre away. His head was about to explode.

Now, he could make out a room. He was looking from the top and there was almost no light. There were two people. One of them felt familiar but was blurred, as if he had not seen it in a while; it was small, with something over its eyes, and huddled in a corner. The other one… he felt like he had seen something similar recently, but it looked different. Like transformed and frightening.

His body was aching, he could no longer hold on. The voice seemed a few meters away.

A flash of light appeared in the vision. Then, it all happened in less than a second.

The liquid reached his brain, and he felt another horrific pain, as if he was burnt alive. He had enough time to see the second person jumping on the first one, to hear an ear-piercing scream, before everything turned black. Then, he fell and tried to shout, but could not. The voice called him one last time, right next to him, and he immediately recognized who was calling. It was Peach.

He came back to reality and opened his eyes. He was lying on the floor, his face soaked. Facing him, Peach was holding an empty bucket. It seemed that he fell off his bed and his friend had thrown water on him.

"What the…" He mumbled. The words were harder to pronounce than he thought. His body was sore, and he could barely move.

"You fell off your bed and started convulsing." Peach informed him while putting the bucket down. "Are you okay?"

After a colossal effort, he was finally able to sit on his bed. "How long has it been?"

"It's been twenty minutes since you closed your eyes. Five minutes since your fall, and you started convulsing like two minutes ago. The more time passed, the more convulsions were hard."

Even though he was expecting such details, Yoshi was still surprised. "I think I went too far. I don't know if I should force myself to relive these dreams." He was slowly recovering from the pain he felt. "I heard your voice calling me."

"I was, while you were having seizures. I guess you're still feeling the reality even when you're… over there."

"Probably. No offense, but your voice wasn't what I was looking for."

"I know, I was just worried about you. So, what did you see?"

"I saw the first visions. You know, Mario going to Star Hill with the Toads, Mario coming back alone, the earthquake, and, uh…" He interrupted briefly, knowing that Peach would get sad. "The one from yesterday."

Thankfully, the princess seemed not to have thought about the dramatic side of the last vision. "Yeah, nothing new, I guess. What next?"

"There's a new one. But first, I have to check something. You'd better duck, unless you want another black eye."

"What?!"

Yoshi gave no further explanations. He picked up one of his shoes and threw it at the middle snowmen painting. Peach swore and told him that he was about to damage a work of art, but the dinosaur ignored her, and he noted that his shoe flew exactly where Peach's eye had been before she dodged.

"What the hell is wrong with you? What are you doing?!"

"I needed to know if the painting was still on."

"Why?"

"I have to go to Cool, Cool Mountain."

"Why?"

He took his time to answer. "I know where the professor is." He then stood up. "I also know that he's been attacked, or is going to be. I saw the scene."

Peach could not believe her ears. But this was the only good theory Yoshi had in mind.

"What a shitty idea! Why isn't this dumb painting still on?" Used to the warmness of his island, Yoshi had trouble with cold areas. The fact that he had been walking for two hours was even worse.

Even though the pain had subsided for a while now, he still had not fully recovered from his morning experience. After a quick breakfast, he went straight to Cool, Cool Mountain. The walk, the cold and the fact that he did not know exactly where to go were frustrating. The only thing he knew was that he was looking for a room. Of course, that was not enough.

Cool, Cool Mountain was the largest mountain of the Mushroom Kingdom – also the closest to Toad Town. Yet, it was still a mountain: only a few people live there. The few cities and villages were in isolated areas. Plus, there were some chalets scattered around the mountain.

In other words, Yoshi needed more to find Luigi and the professor. The painting could have been a good lead, but his deactivation was another source of frustration for the dinosaur, who tried one more time to jump through it again, with the same effect as if he ran into a wall.

His stomach rumbled, and he swore again. He could see only about ten meters ahead because of the snowstorm; the only thing he knew was there was a ravine on his left and some bushes on his right.

Maybe those bushes had something to eat? It was quite optimistic, but he had to give it a try. Yoshi moved away to get there. The snow slowed him down so much that he felt like he walked for an hour before reaching the bushes. When he finally got there, he looked inside one of the bushes and only found a broken branch. He swore again and looked another one.

Inside of it, there was a mushroom. It was pink, like a Life Shroom, with red eyes. He had never seen a mushroom like that. Maybe it was a rare species that comes from Cool, Cool Mountain? His stomach rumbled again, and Yoshi did not ask himself any more questions. He began to pull it out and got interrupted by a punch in the stomach.

The punch was so strong that he thrown several meters away. He fell headfirst into the snow and struggled to get his head out. As soon as his head came out, he got punched again – an uppercut that made him jump backwards.

"What the fuck! I just want to eat!" He looked around to see who attacked him but could not see anything.

"Behind you." A voice whispered in his ear. He turned back and received another punch, with the same effect as before.

"What do you want?!"

"The book."

He was not expecting this reply. He had thought at first that he was about to eat something forbidden, that belonged to someone else. "What?"

"You heard me right, don't make me repeat."

Yoshi still could not see anything but the snow. The hits he received disoriented him, he was unable to tell where the bushes were, where he was, where he had come from. "What book? I have nothing!"

The lack of an answer put him on his guard. He turned his head everywhere; he was close to paranoia. After a few seconds, he saw someone approaching at high speed. It was too fast for him; he could not avoid the kick to his face.

The next fall was longer… because Yoshi nearly fell into the ravine. He held on to his hand and fekt nothing but void under his feet. The pain of the morning was back. He looked up to climb back up, but all he saw next to his hand was his attacker: the masked man.

"The book."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

The masked man crushed Yoshi's hand with his foot, and the dinosaur screamed. "I repeat. The book."

"I don't have it on me!"

To Yoshi's surprise, the masked man removed his foot. "What do you know about it? How did you get it?"

"I don't know! It appeared out of nowhere!"

The masked man leant towards the dinosaur. He spoke more softly but was still as audible. "Listen to me carefully. There's no point in lying, Mario admitted that you had the book. He wouldn't give any more details, so I defeated him. In case you didn't notice, you little jerk, you're holding on to the edge of a ravine and your hand is a few centimetres from my foot. One move from me, even if I don't mean to, and you're just fucking dead. Do I make myself clear?"

Yoshi nodded. He had no other choice at this moment.

"What's so special about that book?"

"Uh, that's pretty hard to explain…"

That was the worst thing to say. This time, the masked man did not crush his hand, but he caught it with his own. From now on, Yoshi's life only depended on the masked man's hand.

"Last chance."

"Alright, alright, don't do that!" Yoshi was thinking quickly. He was trying to see what he could do to get out of this situation, but also answer to his assaulter with as few details as possible. Stalling seemed the best method right now to try and an opportunity see out of the corner of his eye. "It's a magic book… with strange properties!" Yoshi pronounced these words as slowly as possible. "And I'm pretty sure that… someone made it… with powers!"

"Who?"

"I don't know! I'm not sure about that!"

The masked man began to loosen his grip. Yoshi panicked.

"Hey, that's just a theory! I swear I don't know! I'm not lying!" The dinosaur screamed. At this point, he spotted a branch next to him.

"What are its properties?"

"Uh… At first, you faint…" Yoshi could easily reach that branch. He extended his left arm – his free one – and grabbed the branch. "And then, you fall!"

Yoshi let go of his right arm. The masked man shouted but was still strongly holding to Yoshi's arm. He was now under Yoshi's feet.

A fight started. The masked man tried to climb on Yoshi's arm, who was moving it around to get rid of him, but Yoshi had less strength than his opponent after the events of the morning and the blows he had received. His moves could not stop the masked man from gaining height.

The branch cracked. It could not support the weight of two persons fighting, and Yoshi had to be fast to get rid of him. His arm movements were only tiring him. The masked man was now grabbing Yoshi's elbow and hurting him on purpose, especially when he pressed hard on the vein of his elbow. Yoshi screamed. In a move that seemed more like a reflex than a jump, Yoshi raised his foot and kicked his head. He was stunned and lost height, now holding Yoshi's wrist.

The branch cracked a second time and would not last much longer. Deliberately, Yoshi kicked his face a second time. This time, the masked man released his grip and fell. Yoshi lost sight of him after a few meters because of the snowstorm.

His joy made him forget about the branch. This time, it broke, and Yoshi fell as well. He stretched his limbs to try and catch something that would stop his fall. Luckily, after three seconds, his foot got stuck in a thicker branch.

Yoshi was upside down. Despite the snowstorm, he could still see how deep the ravine was. Was the masked man dead? Or did he find a branch like Yoshi did?

Whether he died or survived, Yoshi had to climb back up. He leaned to the side and used his leg to climb up the branch. He looked up and saw hollows in the cliff, thick enough to put his feet and hands in. He climbed, rushing up in case the masked man survived and chasing him. He climbed quickly and twenty seconds later, he saw the branch that had broken off, and the edge of the cliff.

Yoshi put one hand on it, then the second.

But something blocked his right foot.

He knew who it was without looking at him. This time, the masked man was not trying not to fall, but rather to pull him down. Yoshi was unable to kick him. The snow slipped through his hands, which helped the masked man in pulling the dinosaur down. Yoshi would not last for long in this position; the masked man was still stronger than him.

His left hand fell off the edge. His right hand was the only thing that kept him from falling. He looked down and saw the masked man's head next to his left foot. He tried to kick him with his heel, but he dodged it easily. Same thing happened with the second attempt.

His right hand was holding him by only three fingers. He had to succeed in his third attempt and put all his strength in the blow... but the masked man also avoided it.

His foot went further than it did during the first two attempts. It went beyond the masked man's head, and when his left foot came to its starting position, he unwillingly kicked his head – his opponent did not expect it. He let go of his foot, allowing Yoshi to get back up the cliff.

But the masked man did not fall. Yoshi was now too far to kick him, so he tried a desperate act by pushing snow over the edge which fell on the masked man to make him lose his balance.

His opponent did not fail to point out that this was useless. "You really thought that some snow was going to knock me over?"

He climbed quickly. Yoshi was thinking fast to find a way to get rid of him. There was no point in running away, the masked man would be faster.

His hand reached the cliff, and the second. He waited a little bit before showing his head to the dinosaur.

Yoshi was on his feet, about to kick his face. The masked man easily dodged the first kick. Yoshi tried another time, but this time his foot hit the snow. His opponent avoided the kick, but not the snow, which went into the holes of his mask, blinding him long enough. It was the perfect moment for Yoshi. The third one was the good one, and the masked man fell backwards before disappearing into the snowstorm.

Yoshi took a breath for two seconds. Then, he ran away, in case the masked man would come back. He was back on the path he was taking before the assault.

A few seconds later, he noticed something he did not see before: there were fresh footsteps in the snow. It was his only clue to find the two missing men. He walked faster and followed them. Yoshi was getting more and more excited. Perhaps it was Luigi who was cold and needed a shelter? The person who attacked the professor? The professor himself?

Yoshi soon reached a chalet. The chalet seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, far from any civilization. A perfect place to relax… or to conduct experiments? Yoshi opened the door without knocking.