Thoughts of Twins

Iggy's POV:

"ErrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrgh…"

Iggy wrenched his eyes open and looked around after he finished groaning. He was resting on a fish net that had been strapped up like a hammock from the ceiling of the hold. Golden sunlight reached through cracks in the plank of the Yoshi galleon, and around him, crates of goods piled up, and a rope ladder dangling from a trapdoor on the other side of the room. He was alone; the Yoshis were sleeping at their stands at Chum Rocks. His head was throbbing again, and he felt like he knew why.

Lemmy, what's going on now? he thought. He had to wait a second for a direct response, for images and thoughts of how long it took to cut down a palm tree rushed in.

Need more wood, Lemmy thought in reply. First-person images of a small flint axe hacking away at the trunk of a palm tree on a beach filled his vision, and he rubbed his temples to make it fade.

Iggy grabbed his glasses from his shell, wiped them free of condensation, and put them on. He began to get from the hammock, but his foot got stuck and he fell forward. He bounced in it, and suddenly coughed a bunch.

You stuck again? Lemmy asked him.

Iggy nodded, even though he was talking to Lemmy through the physic link they had been born with as twins. Lemmy saw a picture of Iggy's predicament instead.

Iggy didn't know any other Koopa twins, or just twins in general, to have such a psychic link. Ever since the Yoshi tribe marooned Lemmy on an island all by himself, framing it to Iggy as Lemmy was taken away by a jungle animal, Iggy and Lemmy had really begun to utilize their mind link, instead of pushing it away as an annoyance. Never had they told anyone about their link, and they never would. But they couldn't help it. Couldn't turn it off. It was always there.

With the link, they always know what each other was thinking. What images were floating through their mind. They could use those thoughts and images to figure out what was happening, their emotions, how low each other's sanity was. Speaking of sanity, that's why the Yoshis marooned Lemmy. They exiled him. The Yoshis were peaceful as they came and weren't savages. They just didn't think he could be there. They thought he was a crazy lunatic, permanently insane, but they didn't want Iggy to know that. IN fact, being trapped on an island all alone save for fish, crabs and insects probably wasn't very helpful for Lemmy's brain.

Nonetheless, the link allowed them to know almost exactly what happened, and ever since, Iggy had become even more private, trying not to burst or rage at the Yoshis with information he never was supposed to know. Lemmy wasn't a lunatic. He wasn't permanently insane. He was just a little…out there. Frivolous, childish, kooky, maybe even eerie, but not insane. His frequent stargazing and seemingly meaningless actions made it seem that way, though.

Iggy wanted justice for Lemmy. He wanted to save the pygmy Koopa from whatever island he had been deported to. When Lemmy was brought there, he was put under with some kind of plant concoction, so he and Iggy couldn't figure out where in the Great Ocean he was. Sometime, though, Iggy wanted to find Lemmy, and bring him back to society and prove to all he wasn't crazy!

Lemmy heard of what Iggy just thought. Not exactly all, but fragments of it all came to Lemmy's mind, and Lemmy knew Iggy was thinking about what happened all over again.

I am fine, thought Lemmy. It's…it's not SO bad, Iggy.

No. No, it is not fine. I mean, you think it is, but it really isn't. How many times have you almost died? The viper in the palm tree, falling off the drop onto the sharp shells, getting poisoned by the sea urchin, the Crashfish, the typhoon…that was the closest one of all, only because you got in your shell under the rocks and held on did you survive!

Hehehe! Survival is fun usually. Natural challenge, yeah? You like challenges.

But science isn't deadly! No, well, I mean, not always. Not what I do, at least.

Don't worry about me. I'm just fine~

No you're not. Well, okay, I guess you are. Right now, I mean.

Think about something other than me not not not not being okay.

What?

Hehe…

As Iggy fell out of the hammock, coughed, coughed some more, and climbed out of the hold onto the main deck only to be blinded by the sun, he received images of Lemmy dicing up a fallen palm tree with his axe, then dropping the axe onto the white sand and collecting the chunks one by one, and bringing them somewhere.

What're you making with that wood, Lems?

I dunno.

You said you needed it. Excuse me, thought you needed it.

Stop correcting yourself or whatever. I know what you mean.

Yeah, but…

Hehehe.

What now?

A picture of a white crab with blue eyes, legs, and pincers scurrying under a stone flashed into Iggy's vision.

Yummy, thought Lemmy.

Yucky, thought Iggy.

Do you mean disgusting? Unpleasant?

So funny, Lems.

I wanna eat it. The crab. They make ol' hearty soup.

Never heard you use the word "hearty" before.

Okay.

Where'd you hear it?

You, probably.

I agree. It is a marvelous word.

Please don't start the marvelousness again.

I will if you say don't.

That was basically what was going on in Iggy's mind most of the time, especially when nothing was happening.

A low gurgling sound permeated the air. Iggy looked around, wondering where it came from, and followed the noise to the Pinchin' Winch. Nothing. But when he looked over the edge of the Yoshi galleon, under the shadow of the hanging sailboat, was a Drowned. Its stone-blue, moss-covered, rotting head was just peeking out of the water, its baby-blue glowing eyes eyeing the sunlight with worry; if a Drowned could express emotion, that is. Drowneds, like Undead zombies and skeletons, were mindless monsters out for blood and treasure that burned in the sunlight. Creepers, blocky, leafy monsters that detonated to attack, didn't burn, though, but besides them, the only shadow-oriented monsters to persist in the daytime were Nightmare Creatures, and even so, the day helped regain one's sanity.

"What are you doing down there?" Iggy croaked at the Drowned, in a playfully annoyed way. A Drowned? Seriously…? Wait a second…

The Drowned croaked back, but if it was actually trying to respond, whatever it muttered was unintelligible. The aquatic Undead sunk a bit into the water from the waves, and then resurfaced its head, farther out of the water. Some fluid of some kind leaked from its almost fleshless jaw, and the Drowned gurgled again.

Iggy observed his surroundings and quickly came up with a "method of dispatchment," as he himself would say. He pulled one of the levers at the Pinchin' Winch's controls, and the claw opened, dropping the sailboat onto the water, and the Drowned. A big torrent of water gushed upwards around the sailboat, even drenching Iggy from many feet up.

Do you think that's enough for it? Iggy asked Lemmy. From all of Iggy's random thoughts (which included images), Lemmy, as always like Iggy, could piece together what was going on with the other twin even if the other twin didn't tell them directly.

Hmmm…maybe, heeheehee!

Seriously?

Okay, yeah, probably.

I would've thought you would encounter Drowneds more often, since you're always out near the water.

I only have, like…well…no. Too shallow.

I see.

Abandoning the exchange, Iggy dropped the gangplank (as he always pulled it up at night if he was there) and ran down it, stepping into the shallows. Cautiously, he trudged deeper until he was wading six feet above the seafloor, just above the water. This was very shallow waters; though underwater travels were limited in the world's history, documents found from ruins of the Ancients have alluded to the true seafloor being over 100 miles deep!

Terrifying, isn't it, Iggy told Lemmy as he thought about what the Ancients assumed to be the true depth of the seafloor. It makes a Koopa like me wonder what kind of life could be down there.

Assuming there is life! Iggy received an image of barren gray sand deep underwater, in a void of darkness.

Iggy sent back an image with that barren underwater wasteland filled with bioluminescent fish and fungi, with magenta magma and other liquids bubbling under glowing sand.

That's what it probably is like, Lems. Knowing this world…

I guess. It ain't my issue.

Isn't, you mean.

Shush.

No.

Iggy got an image of Lemmy using a refined stone knife to skin the white crab next to a roaring bonfire, guts and gunk everywhere.

Take that, big brain! Lemmy thought. The thought sounded like a chortle within Iggy's head, which messed with him a bit.

Iggy held back a retch from the grotesque picture, shook his head, and focused his thoughts on any potential loot he could snatch from the presumably-crushed Drowned. When an Undead died a second time, they were dead forever. No one knew how the Undead came to be, but Iggy assumed the Ancients had left behind some kind of brew that, when drunk by humans and Koopas of more recent eons, allowed them a second chance at life, as monsters. But how? There were many theories, usually being magic, but Iggy discarded those—for the most part. It was one of Iggy's favorite scientific mysteries, besides magic and the Ancients themselves.

A throaty burble made Iggy quickly swim backwards. The Drowned emerged from under the floating sailboat, with its head smashed in. It lifted itself fully out of the water for a second as it tried to leap forward, and its body ignited. The fire was quenched as it fell back into the water, though, and then it began to swim.

Being chased by a Drowned is a cakewalk, if on land. They're slower than zombies, all of the holes in their body being filled with water. They can only come after you on land if it's night or you're under heavy shade, and if the water's too shallow they'll begin to burn up.

Being chased by a Drowned in the water, though, is horrifying. They dart through the water, fast like a fish, pushing their arms and legs back to push themselves forward towards you, their howls rippling through the water. Their eyes, nose, mouth, and some other spots glow eerily, and those are usually the only parts of the Drowned you can see. There isn't much of them to see, anyway: wet brown rags that were clothes in their past lives; skin as hard as coral and feeling like coral, but always a dead-like grayish-blue; barnacles or other little critters or plants attached to them.

Iggy coughed in surprise and began to paddle backwards, still facing the Drowned. He reached into his shell and pulled out his most prized invention. It had a stone handle with three small stone barrels with green lines attached to it in a vertical row, and attached to them, an outlet for where a chemical-covered bullet could be fired through enemies.

He called it the Venus Magnum.

The Magnum was already loaded from its last use, and Iggy fired. The silver bullet encompassed with green energy shot through the water…and missed the Drowned. Iggy held the Venus Magnum close to his chest, knowing the chemical blaster took a long time to charge and was highly experimental, but knowing he would fire again once he got to land.

The Drowned splashed from the water and grabbed one of Iggy's legs on the way back down. Iggy screamed and barreled forward, completely submerging underwater. He hid into his shell the best he could, but his bundle of cooked melon cubes within and all the water coming in made it difficult.

Iggy! Lemmy hollered into his mind. Lemmy stopped what he was doing and immersed himself into Iggy's mind, and experienced everything as if he was really Iggy.

Iggy kept somersaulting, holding his breath. His glasses began to float away, and the Drowned still hung on. Iggy eventually had his shell facing upward, and he was looking down into the face of the Drowned. The Drowned tried to bite his neck, but Iggy pulled his head into his head-hole, then popped it out again, ramming the Drowned's own skull with his. He punched the Drowned in the jaw with his free fist, dislodging the rotting piece, and somersaulted forwards again when the Drowned was stunned.

Iggy's shell was now on top of the Drowned, and Iggy was completely upside-down. With a mighty jerk of his legs, Iggy shot downwards and turned so that his shell spikes impaled the Drowned, going into the Undead's chest and out of the other side. The monster gurgled one last time, bubbles and fluids flying from its mouth, before Iggy sheathed his shell-spikes, and the Drowned's glowing parts dimmed. The Drowned sank down a bit, then, slowly, its twice-dead corpse floated up to the surface, where its back began to sizzle in the sun.

"*CHOKE CHOKE COUGH!*" Iggy resurfaced, spluttering. I can't be underwater that long, he reminded himself. It just won't do with my damaged lungs. He went into another coughing fit, spitting out water the whole time.

Your glasses! Lemmy prompted him.

I didn't forget. I can barely see without them!

Iggy took a deep breath, wheezed, and dove back under. When he had inhaled those strange fumes as a child, Iggy didn't know if they also screwed with his vision. Wagstaff also needed glasses, but he didn't have a lung problem, and for all Iggy knew also didn't inhale anything peculiar. He didn't think so; Lemmy had always told him how he blundered around before the Yoshis fashioned him a pair of spectacles. That was also after the fumes incident, though, so…

Iggy felt around for his glasses. They've got to be here somewhere! It seemed like they weren't, though. The water was dark in the shadow of the Yoshi galleon, but Iggy felt foolish knowing almost any other person could easily find his glasses, wherever they were floating.

I can't find them, Lems!

I already know.

Can you see them?

Anything you show me with your mind is blurry if you don't have your glasses. Iggy sent him a picture of his surroundings, just to check. Yeah, I don't see them. You're as blind as a bat!

Bats aren't blind. That is a commonly accepted fact, which is depressing as it is false! Bats are—

Okay, okay, blind as a…um…plant.

Which kind? Lureplants and every species in the Piranha Plant family aren't blind. At least not in a conventional sense. Besides, some plants may be able to—

Just find your glasses!

I can't!

Iggy came up for air again, coughing. His hair had sloped down, but it would go back to normal once it dried. Through his blurry eyesight, he swam ashore Savior Island and got to his feet on the beach. He took off his grass robe and wrung it out the best he could with sheathed claws to not damage it further. Next, he unsheathed his claws, dropped the robe on the sand to dry, placed the Venus Magnum on it after reloading, and went back into the water.

He searched for another minute and came up with only more coughing and more salty water. He felt his stomach churn with worry as he rubbed his temples.

Where could they be? Lemmy asked him. Do they float?

Yes. Obviously. Very lightweight.

What direction are the waves?

Iggy felt the water. Against me, he responded.

Is that island behind you?

Savior Island?

Whatever.

Iggy harrumphed. Yes.

So maybe they're on the shore.

Iggy looked up. You're right!

Heehee…

Iggy went to the shore and felt around. Eventually, he grabbed something thin and pulled it close to his face. It was just a mossy stick! Iggy threw it aside into the water and kept searching. He found another thin item—and this time it was his glasses! He brushed them off, rubbing them in his soft, plated underbelly before putting them on. His vision instantly became much, much clearer, and he felt safer. He took a breath of satisfaction, then coughed again.

Thanks, Lemmy, Iggy told his twin as he got up and went over to his grass robe, which he also brushed off before slipping on.

No problemo, Iggy.

Iggy slid the Venus Magnum into his shell. Hah.

Being much more apprehensive this time, Iggy waded into the water. Luckily, no more Drowned or anything of the like had come around, so he was able to drag the dead Drowned onto the shore with relative ease.

You just got your robe wet again, Lemmy chided.

Iggy facepalmed himself. Oh well. It's fine.

He searched the Drowned for anything of value, but only came up with copper coins! Severely annoyed, he tossed the coins into his shell and watched the Drowned turn to blazes, and then ashes, in the sunlight.

That Drowned was stressful, wasn't it? Lemmy asked.

Yeah, Iggy thought, even though his other thoughts already gave it away. Lemmy was only asking so he could talk to Iggy about it, not because he didn't know. He sure as the Star Spirits knew.

You haven't fought something for a long while, Lemmy thought as Iggy got a visualization of him eating blackened meat next to a dying fire, what was your last encounter with something?

Iggy had to think about that one, and thus Lemmy got his answer. A trio of Terrorbeaks. Three months ago. I was brewing potions in my treehouse, up in the jungle trees in Yoshi village, at night; I wasn't paying much attention to my sanity. I just thought it was one of the potion effects, the red lines around my vision and the whispers and eyes. And the blurriness I thought was just my normal eyesight. I'm not insane much so I didn't know all the effects, and then from the shadows a Terrorbeak attacked. I splashed a Potion of Harming at it, but I forgot that Nightmare Creatures—as well as the Undead—have reversed potion effects. Instead, the potion healed the Nightmare Creature, so I bolted out the door and there were two more. Then…and then…

A traumatic memory snaked into Iggy and Lemmy's minds, and they experienced it all over again.

Iggy thrust open the door made of jungle wood. He ran out into the moonlight, which was mostly just patches on his surroundings as the jungle canopy several yards above was an almost hole-less wall. Iggy looked down the bamboo rope-bridge to his left, where tiki torches burned bright. The bridge connected his treehouse atop a platform carved from a jungle tree to other treehouses atop platforms carved from jungle trees. It was very similar in design to the bridges and little boat rides between Chum Rocks and other islands in the Whirlpool Archipelago, but both were constructed before Yoshis from Yoshi's Island ever reached the Archipelago. It was just a coincidence.

Iggy dashed across the bridge that bent downwards under his feet, but raised backup as he passed. He heard the thock-thock-thock of the three legs of the Terrorbeak jabbing into the planks of the bridge like spears. A wretched growl escaped the Nightmare's jaws as it leaned its head forward, equally-sharp appendages on its side poised to attack. Iggy knew he couldn't outrun it, but he tried, he tried so hard. The light of the tiki torches only provided so much extra sanity, and it wasn't enough.

He had a correct notion that no other Yoshis in Yoshi Village, nor Wagstaff, was this insane, and thus The Nightmares couldn't see or attack them, and vice versa. That meant it was up to Iggy to try and regain enough sanity to at least pacify the Terrorbeak, if not make it fade, all by himself.

Iggy came to the end of the bridge. A bronze pole reached up from the ground far below. Iggy jumped at it, sheathing his claws as he spun down the pole, as it was built to do. He hit the semi-hard hickory-brown jungle soil and careered onward, the cries of the Terrorbeak above him.

Iggy jumped up over rocks, through long plants and tunnels mined out within the earth, under overhanging tree branches and tree roots. Yoshis began to peek their heads from their treehouses with lanterns and looked down to see Iggy running towards the village square in panic, his slender body leaning forward and arms flailing about as he ran. He jabbed his glasses to push them back onto his face as he wheezed hard, feeling his damaged lungs contracting and expanding within his ribs and against his chest. Shadow Hands reached from the shadows, grabbing him, but he phased right through them. They were just illusions...

The village square, also called Big Yolk, was a big clearing within a natural dome of mossy cobblestone, with an open top. Footholds chiseled into the rock allowed for ascent up and into the "egg," where straw and broken bamboo bits were flattened into a yellow oval that covered the inside like a carpet. Chairs and tables also were present within, too.

The structure's main purpose was to discuss any suspicious things or people, though the "people use" was only performed with Wagstaff and the adoption of Lemmy and Iggy into the tribe. Iggy also assumed it had also been used for that purpose when the Yoshi elders decided to maroon Lemmy, but he wasn't sure.

The second purpose of Big Yolk was what Iggy came for, though. All around Big Yolk were burnt-out fire pits and open crates teeming with food, water and gear if anyone needed to grab something. Usually gear was taken, and water occasionally too, but usually not food since luscious fruits grew from almost every plant in the village!

For the first time ever, though, Iggy was coming for food. He'd observed that some pre-prepared meals had been stashed away in the food crates before, ones that not only cured one's hunger, but also one's sanity!

Iggy arrived at a food crate. He grabbed the top food—cooked green caps—and devoured as many as he could. He felt the whispers and paranoia fade, and his vision began to resettle. He turned around just to see two black cracks forming in the air, rifts in time and space. The cracks swirled and grew into two more Terrorbeaks that landed in front of him, fangs bared after their recent teleportation.

Iggy's eyes grew. He reached into his shell to grab the Venus Magnum, as he should've done earlier, but found that it wasn't there—he had left it in a box by his bed at his treehouse!

"Shoot."

Iggy ran around the box, but the Terrorbeaks easily caught up. Thye towered even him, growling, and Iggy collapsed into his shell just before they snapped at him in unison. His shell was more oval-shaped than round to fit his body, but that made spinning in it harder, even though he could spin quite fast. Nothing was in his shell at the time, so he was able to fully fit inside, even tucking his hair in on top of him inside the shell. He spun away from the Terrorbeaks and aimed for the Big Yolk.

He bumped into the bottom of the Big Yolk and fired from his shell, grabbing the holds and scaling the Big Yolk. The Terrorbeaks came after him without using the holds; they could climb anywhere with their tripod legs. Iggy slipped as he tried to leap higher, climb higher, and his claws raked along the rock, chipping the tops of them. A Terrorbeak bit his shell, leaving teeth marks but not breaking through. Iggy threw his luck to the wind and jumped as high as he could with his powerful legs. He went very high up, over the top of the Big Yolk by only a few inches. He landed on the rim of the Big Yolk's top, almost falling forward inside.

The air went cold behind Iggy, and he knew the Terrorbeaks had arrived. Immediately, he fell down into the Big Yolk. He went down onto a slab of slightly-transparent, compacted green gel. It had been placed there for Yoshis and Koopas alike to fall onto to get into the Big Yolk easily without a Yoshi flutter-jump or a Koopa landing on their shell, and they could use it as a trampoline to bounce out of it, too.

Iggy bounced on the slime blocks, gaining momentum each time until each landing had him cannonballing out of the Big Yolk. The Terrorbeaks patrolled the edge of the Big Yolk, tracking him with their eyes, but did not expect him to rocket out of the Big Yolk, zip down the side in his shell, and crash through a box of food!

Telling himself to clean the mess up later, Iggy engulfed as much food as she could froe the spilled contents of the box. Everything began to become normal, his sanity coming back to him, but one of the Terrorbeaks materialized in front of him. Its jaws opened as it bent down. Iggy quickly tossed a bit of a cooked green cap inside his mouth and swallowed without chewing, and right before the Terrorbeak clamped its jaws around his head, it vanished in the blink of an eye.

He was safe now.

Iggy used a piece of the box to stand, trembling. Half of the residents of Yoshi Village stood before him, holding lanterns and with worried looks in their big, oval eyes. Wagstaff and Cece were among them.

"I'm sane again," Iggy coughed. He failed to grin.

He fell forwards and blacked out.

Iggy opened his eyes, tasting the salty air with his forked tongue to remind himself where he was now. I'm not there. I'm here. I'm safe again.

Why did you black out? Lemmy asked him, wiping his mouth of blackened crab bits.

I PASSED out because of a combination of things. My body, especially my lungs, were trying to handle all of that sudden adrenaline, stress, and running, plus all that food I'd consumed, and also recovering from that brief dip into shadow—insanity.

I'm really sorry.

It is not at all at your fault, Lemmy. You did not inhale strange toxins into thou mind and body and soul.

Lemmy giggled. I can't take you seriously when you talk so extremely properly.

You mean "think" in thou current instance, certainly?

Oh, shush. Lemmy smiled.

Iggy smiled too, but it was more like a grin.

"Hey!" a little voice called to Iggy's right.

Iggy stomped out the embers that remained in the Drowned's ashes, and after, followed the voice to Savior Island's dock, were Mariam was tying a rowboat to.

"Hello, there, Mariam!" Iggy waved.

"Hi Iggy," she waved back. She adjusted her coconut-half cap, which was very muddy now. Iggy wondered why, but didn't ask.

"Do you need my assistance?" said Iggy.

"Yes, actually. Kinda."

"For what?"

Mariam shuffled her feet, looking mischievous but also uneased, like she wanted to do something but was scared to. "I…need some money. Like, a lot. Lots and lots of a lot."

Iggy tilted his head and bent down to her level like a father. "Why?"

"Do I have to tell you?"

Iggy smiled with a closed mouth. He appeared older, kinder, that way. "Yep." I mean yes.

No you don't, Lemmy told him.

Okay, fine.

Mariam looked away, instead at the waters. "It's for Larry."

"You want to give him a bunch of money?" Iggy asked.

"Yeah. Because I was mean to him last night. And I've been a foolish pest lately. And so he can buy something special for someone."

"Stop calling yourself a fool."

"I said I'm foolish!"

"Same difference." Iggy had never said that before.

Mariam was also partly aware of this too, as she raised an eyebrow in surprise. "But I am a fool."

"I'll lend you more money if you quit saying that," promised Iggy.

Mariam's face brightened. "So you'll let me have some?"

"I'll try," Iggy said. "Whirlpool Archipelago has coins, right? No bartering usually, unless for the Big Bazaar?"

"Sounds 'bout right. Finnian usually does that, though. Trading and buying. Larry gets the money. Usually. Alex also pitches in with the money sometimes. Usually. I do nothin' but tend to Packim Island. Of which there ain't much to tend. Usually."

Mariam's annoying.

Not right now, Lemmy.

"Hmmm…" Iggy scratched his chin with a claw. "Be right back."

Iggy rushed off to the Yoshi galleon and ran up the gangplank and dropped down into the hold.

What're you doing? asked Lemmy.

Iggy's thoughts focused on his objective so Lemmy could learn them without extensive probing. After that, Iggy navigated past piles of junk in the back of the hold until he found what he was looking for. It was a hefty cube tied up in bundling wrap and vine ropes, tucked away carefully. Iggy knew what was inside.

A block of pure diamond.

Iggy knew that the Yoshis wanted to trade this for "something big and cool," to quote Cece—at least, whatever thing at the Bazaar they could find that matched that description.

Except Iggy had a feeling what that "something special" was that Mariam hoped Larry could buy with a bunch of coins. A proposement ring for Alex. Iggy knew a bit about Larry and Alex's relationship, like how it helped them have enough money to sustain life, how much fun it brought to their lives, and most of all, just how much they loved each other. It was by a lot. Last visit, Finnian had joked about Larry buying an expensive ring for Alex, but the thought had stuck in Iggy's mind, and had grown to new extents—like the toxins in his lungs.

Iggy tore the bundling wrap off, and it took his breath away. It was shiny and pristine, an arctic shade of blue that brilliantly glowed like a kaleidoscope at the parts where the sun touched it. It was much lighter than he expected as he could easily carry it with two hands, but he realized he couldn't jump high enough with the diamond block to escape the hold from the trapdoor.

He wouldn't give up so easily, though. Instantly his mind went to work, and he went to one of the below-deck cannons. Cannons were a pretty new thing, since gunpowder was, but these were Yoshi made, and they were big and round to fire boulders from the jungle. The diamond block barely fit through the cannon, and with a heave he was able to push it out and into the water below. Next, he exited the galleon by the gangplank and got onto the sailboat, which was still deployed from after the Drowned incident.

Un-accordingly to his plan, the sailboat was too far from the cannon, and thus the diamond block had disappeared under the sea instead of landing on the boat. Recalculating his plan, as he would say, Iggy opened and turned the sail, and steered it off a bit. Afterwards, he traversed to the Pinchin' Winch and dropped the claw down. The diamond block was now free from being under the sailboat, so it could be reached and pulled up, along with a glob of clay. Suspending the diamond block in the air, Iggy used a shovel from the hold to knock all the clay off into the water, and after putting the shovel back neatly dropped the diamond block onto the deck.

Then, Iggy shifted the sailboat to under the Pinchin' Winch and reeled it back up. Following that, he went back into the hold and found an iron axe. Using it, he cut a large hole in the galleon at the wall the diamond block had been resting against. This way, water couldn't pour in since the hole was too far up, but the Yoshis would think that the diamond block just crashed through the wall and fell into the sea. Iggy had been the one tasked with checking on the treasure during the voyage, and now it had come to his advantage; since no other Yoshis would've checked on it, none would know it didn't fall out mid-voyage. Iggy could think of a sneaky lie later if they did question him, which he knew would be the case, but for now it would be fine.

Now why did Iggy go through the trouble for this part of his plan? Only because he knew the Yoshis really wanted to trade it for something, and none really knew about Larry's money predicament, or his proposing predicament, so they wouldn't see his reasoning through and through. Maybe Cece would; maybe she knew about Alex and Larry. Probably not either way.

Why did Iggy go through this plan at all? Because Mariam was his friend; Larry was his friend; and Alex and Finnian were good acquaintances of his. Even if Larry didn't think so, Iggy understood how tough his life was, how much trauma the death of his parents—and the rest of his close family—had inflicted upon him. Same with Finnian. He knew how much his life looked like paradise to them, being mainly easy and full of free time. He wanted to help them as much as he could.

Just like Mariam.

Iggy carried the diamond block back to Mariam, who had sat at the dock, feet dangling in the water with her sandals still on.

"Will this help?" Iggy asked, chuckling to himself.

Mariam slowly looked up at the diamond block above her, and her jaw dropped. "Oh. My. Star. Spirits!"

"Took me a lot of effort," Iggy said. This was true. Not only did it take a while, his lungs were strained and his breaths were real wheezy. Mariam noticed, but didn't say anything about it.

"Thank you so much!" she screamed with joy. She jumped up and hugged him.

Iggy was caught off guard. "Oh, um, yeah, you're welcome." He patted her shell awkwardly for her to let go. She did.

"It's diamond, isn't it? Diamond block? All diamond? DIAMONDS!" She could barely contain herself.

"Diamonds to you," Iggy said with a grin.

"...do we sell it?" Mariam asked.

"Theoretically, yes." Iggy nodded. "Have an idea where?"

She smiled. "Kim's Gems."

"It's meant to be," Iggy said. He readjusted his hold on the diamond block. His skinny arms were beginning to ache. Oh come on, body. Work for me here.

Heeheeheeee. Better get fit! Lemmy taunted.

Says you, Lems. Last Iggy had seen him, he was the smallest Koopa ever.

No, really. I have lots of time for fitness.

But do you use it?

No. Of course not. I do other things.

Obviously.

What do you mean?

Iggy left Lemmy on a cliffhanger as Mariam led him across Chum Rocks. Almost every rock now had a sign, decoration, or for most of them, a stand. About a quarter of the stands had Yoshis at them, white others and Goombas, Koopas, humans, and more, and there was so much chatter it was impossible to hear Mariam as she said, "This way!" or "Wait, is it this way?" or "I mean THIS way!" Iggy got the gist of it, though. Wasn't helping that Lemmy kept sending him pictures of this dead fish he'd found.

They came to the rock farthest from Savior Island, a particularly large one with a shop made of limestone and palm wood on it. Mariam opened the door, which hit a little bell on the ceiling that tinkled. It wasn't like the shopkeeper didn't know their presence; the shop had a half-circle of glass cases connected by a sort of bar table that ran through the shop, and on the other side of it was the shopkeeper, staring at the door, waiting for a customer. It was more so just an alert if someone was somehow trying to steal something, but since the shopkeeper always sees the customer…okay, the bell was pointless.

"Greetings," said the shopkeeper: a Goomba with white hair and thick glasses, thicker than Iggy's. His voice floated through the room as Iggy set the diamond block down on the counter and looked around. Rings and gems of all kinds were nestled in dried kelp in their glass cases, trying to outcompete the other ones in shininess and magnificence.

"Hi, Professor Frankly," said Mariam. "We wanted to trade this rare diamond block for jack."

Iggy flinched at how she said we, but he couldn't recognize why. "She means "money," Professor."

"Jack and money mean the same. I mean, it's slang…"

"...so I wouldn't know. Slang's improper."

Mariam rolled her eyes. "Excuse him," she told Frankly.

Frankly smiled, his eyes crinkling. "It's fine. What I want to know is where the diamond block came from. You don't just find one around here."

Mariam was at a loss, but Iggy knew smooth talk. "And you just found all of these gems?" He gestured to the room.

"Point taken," Frankly said with a nod of his head, which was technically his whole body. It was a whole weird thing.

"How much does this go for?" Iggy asked.

"You're not off the fishing hook yet, sleazy," Frankly said. "Are you sure it isn't just a diamond coating?"

"Why would I do that if you can just take it clean off?" Iggy said.

"Another point," replied Frankly.

"Also, if you can't tell if this is fake or not—which it is not, mind you—no one else can. Now am I right?"

Frankly nodded. "Okay. Fine."

"To add to my point," Iggy continued, "could you make a ring out of this? And possibly fit it with an opal? Then you'll see it is truer than anything real. After that, keep half of the block as payment. The rest, we want back in gold coins, okay? Maybe some platinum too; for impressiveness?"

Frankly closed his eyes as he remembered all that. "Sounds good."

"Thanks a bunch!" Iggy started for the door.

"When will this be ready?" asked Mariam.

"Oh…about nighttime. Unless it's a fake. In that case, I'm sending a swarm of flying fish!"

Mariam giggled. "It's real!"

"Come on, Mariam!" Iggy said, leaving Kim's Gems.

"Coming," and she hurried after him.

Once they left, Iggy posed the question, "Why is it called Kim's Gems if the Goomba calls himself Frankly?"

"Alex says it was once his Gooma's," said Mariam. "His Goomba-mom. Name was Kim. I don't know, I learned from Alex, who gossips with whoever she's ferrying place to place for a tiny extra fee. Which I always pay, mind you."

"Makes sense, knowing her," Iggy said about Alex.

"Except you don't really know her."

"Nevermind!"

They smiled at each other and then went their ways.

New references to games in this chapter:

84. Crashfish are a dangerous, explosive fish from Subnautica; also, Iggy's visualization of the seafloor is a mashup of some of the biomes in that game, while Lemmy's visualization it is the game's "ecological dead zone"

85. A viper being in a tree on Lemmy's island is a reference to how that can happen in Don't Starve: Shipwrecked

86. The sea urchin poisoning Lemmy was a Crown of Thorns from Stranded Deep, same with the actual Poisoning; the refined knife and Lemmy skinning crabs are also references to Stranded Deep

87. The crab spotted by Lemmy was the Bright-Eyed Crab from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; it being "blackened" afterwards is a referencing to how some crabs are described after being cooked in that game

88. The Undead burning in sunlight but Creepers not is a reference to Minecraft; also, as a reminder, Drowneds are from Minecraft, and the one Iggy looted only having copper coins is a reference to how they drop copper

89. The Venus Magnum and silver bullets are from Terraria, and it needing to reload is just that Iggy hasn't fully developed it yet; the palm wood and bamboo furniture throughout the chapter is also from Terraria

90. The Potion of Harming and potion effects reversing on the Undead is from Minecraft; it doing so on Nightmares is an expansion of the concept

91. Yoshi Village is from Paper Mario 64; the slime block trampoline is from Minecraft

92. The look of the jungle is a mashup of all the games featured in this fanfiction, same with all locations in this!

93. The diamond block is from Minecraft, and it being light is a nod to how in the game the Player can easily carry countless stacks of them with ease

94. Professor Frankly is from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door; Goomba moms being called "Goomas" is from Paper Mario 64

95. Mariam screaming "DIAMONDS!" and Iggy saying "Diamonds to you" are both Minecraft achievement names