What is going on?

Location: Ocean between Yoshi's Island and Toad Town, ten days after the Star Gala Ball

Yoshi is happily heading back from his home in Yoshi's Island to the port in Toad Town, riding on the back of a whale, sitting on a picnic blanket. The midday sun is radiant in all its glory among the scattered clouds, as the sea breeze whistles over the vast waters, mixing its salty scent with that of the sweet tropical fruits the green dinosaur brought back with him. He smiles as he vigorously munches down a cantaloupe.

Finally, as the port peeks over the horizon, he thinks, 'Can't wait to see Mario and Luigi again. They'll love the coconuts I brought them.' He sighs, remembering his conversation with Luigi a few days ago, as he holds a silver trophy in his hands. 'Luigi is going to be disappointed we lost to Isle Delfino.' He contemplates his reflection on the silver trophy, remembering his conversation with his acquaintance, Boshi.

...

Flashback: Yoshi's Island, two days ago

Yoshi lay on his hammock at his house as he snacked on a watermelon. A pile of shiny watermelons was within an arm's reach of his hammock. Boshi leaned on the palm tree holding the hammock while his back was toward Yoshi. He was disgruntled over the results of Dinosaur Land's recent sporting event.

"Second place isn't so bad, Boshi," said Yoshi in the Yoshi language before getting a large mouthful of watermelon.

"Fo' losers, it ain't!" retorted Boshi, who did not care to even look at his green fellow dinosaur, "Dem Isle Delfino 'Shis got lucky dis time."

"You mean, they got us good, right?"

"Shaddup! Yous got yo' tail handed to ya skinny dipp'n…"

"Swimming," interrupted Yoshi as grabbed another watermelon, "Besides, the current was a bit strong. We weren't ready for that."

"Whatever, yo. And I… AAAARRRGG! I lost at the rock climb'n! Oh, but dey got them days counted. I challenged them pansies to sum games in the winter."

When Yoshi heard that, he nearly choked on the last slice of watermelon. "N-n-next winter?" he stammered, "That's in six months! We can't train yet. It's summer."

Boshi stood firmly on his feet, and clenched his fist, his back still facing Yoshi. He slammed the palm tree he had leaned on, causing the hammock spin, trapping Yoshi inside it. It spun back and tossed him onto the floor.

Boshi finally faces Yoshi and exclaimed, seething in anger, "Yous ain't never understand what dis meant fo' me! Dey gots everythin'; I nevah had nothin'! It wuz a chance fo' sumthin' new." He sighs as he leaves, but then stops to say, "I is leaving 'Shi's Islan' to train. Peace out, yo."

Yoshi silently meditated as Boshi leaves on a solo journey.

...

Present time…

The whale speeds up a bit as Yoshi shakes his head and chuckles. 'Boshi has always been rash. But he's right. I need some training too. And what better training than with the Mario Bros… Right after I eat some of Tayce T.'s cookies.'

At last, Toad Town Port is just up ahead, with lively music ringing loudly, and a flashy festival taking over the port. Yoshi cocks his head to the right as he scratches his chin.

'Strange,' thought Yoshi, 'I'm pretty sure the Shy Guy Toy Box carnival was in 2 weeks.'

He lands safely at the port, taking his trophy and load of fruit down with him, tying the fruit into a bundle with the blanket. He thanks the whale as he hangs the bundle around his neck, forgetting the trophy on the port. He walks around the crowd, but finds everyone busy with partying, completely ignoring the dinosaur. He then asks a random Toad who runs his way about the commotion.

"You haven't heard, bro? The Shuguys got stoned! No more Shyguy thieving no more!"

Yoshi is baffled by the poor choice of words. "Did they have some Strange Leaves, or some…?"

"And the Snifits, Birdos, and Bob-ombs are stony too. YAAHOOOOO!" The random Toad bellows as he runs off, getting lost amongst the bigger group of Toads he came from.

That leaves Yoshi with more questions than answers. He shrugs and presses on to Tayce T.s, pushing his way through the ecstatic crowd of Toads, doogans, and few Beanish people. He sees Tayce T.'s kitchen from afar, disappointed by the queue of creatures lining up for food. With no hope of getting cookies soon, he sighs and walks toward the post office near the castle gates.

To his disbelief, some Toads, many which were bordering on crazy, are braying at the gates, adding to the commotion already in play in the city, but someone or something is resisting from the other side. Yoshi had never been uneasy about being in the Mushroom Kingdom, and doesn't know what to think or do about what he's witnessing.

Suddenly, a small hand touches his right shoulder, startling the green dinosaur. By natural impulse, he turns rapidly to punch whoever it was, but finds a jittery Paratroopa he'd never seen before, thereby relaxing his balled-up fist. This quivering orange and blue-shelled Paratroopa nervously looks to his sides, and motions Yoshi to go inside the Post Office. Yoshi complies reluctantly, seeing it the better option to being outside. Once inside, a confident voice of someone familiar greets him, just as he turns to shut the door.

"Well, if it isn't my friend's best pal, Yoshi!"

His gets annoyed when he hears the cheerful voice, being concerned for what was happening outside. Although disconcerted, he responds, "Yeah, that's me, but who are you?" As soon as he says 'you', he turns to see the identity of the voice. "Parakarry?"

The last time Parakarry was seen, he was quite the coward, disorganized, and quite clumsy, with rumors about him being the slowest mailman of the kingdom well circulated. But now, he looks like a new Paratroopa: sporting shades instead of his old goggles, a more confident attitude while retaining his courteous manners, and instead of his old uniform, he wore a dark blue hat and suit with a light brown epaulet with the Postal Services insignia on his left arm. Ever since a couple of months ago, Parakarry had succeeded the former Postmaster as the new postmaster.

"At your service! What can I do for the best friend of Mario?"

"Um, I already got my mail, so, uh…" Both Yoshi and Parakarry, look at the orange-shelled Paratroopa mailman, who shyly looks down. "Who's that?" asks Yoshi, pointing at that Paratroopa with his thumb.

Parakarry laughs heartily, surprising Yoshi and scaring the aforementioned Paratroopa. "Him? He's Paraklutz, Koops' para-cousin. We just hired him about a month ago. Doesn't he just make you laugh?"

Something clicks in Yoshi's mind, causing him to sweatdrop. "If I think he is who I think he is... He must be the famous Parakarry Two I heard about while at the games!"

Parakarry laughs even more while face palming and grabbing his abdomen, making Paraklutz feel worse about himself. "He's that legendary already? Shoot, I should probably start thinking about my retirement already. He'll probably make new Postmaster in record time!"

Yoshi is certainly not amused at this point, and stares blankly at Parakarry, who is still laughing a riot. "More like we'll lose our Postal Services in record time," Yoshi replies under his breath, clearing his throat afterwards. "So, yeah, this ruckus around town… What's that about?"

Parakarry lightly smiles, but stops laughing altogether. Even with all the noise outside, an eerie atmosphere fell upon the cramped office, and that troubled smile said it all.

"Come," he tells Yoshi, "Let's talk in my office. Paraklutz, can you take over for a bit?"

"A-a-are you sure, sir?" asks Paraklutz, but almost immediately makes a frightened face and nods silently when he sees Parakarry looking back at him while raising an eyebrow.

Parakarry leads Yoshi inside his personal office in the back of the postal complex, while Paraklutz walks toward the front desk. As soon as Parakarry closes the door to his office, Paraklutz trips on his shoelace and falls in front of the front desk, causing the correspondence on the desktop to fall on top of him. A moan is heard from underneath.

Once inside his office, Parakarry locks the door and closes the blinds on the door's window. He pushes his seat from its place and removes the carpet, revealing a secret door. He opens it, revealing a lifeless Thwomp blocking the passage. With a strength matching his new persona, he lifts the lifeless Thwomp, thus opening the passage. Parakarry then grabs his satchel from his desk and motions Yoshi to follow him in.

"This way; it'll take us to the castle's kitchen. Once there, we go see Toadsworth. He'll fill you in on the matters on hand. Let's hurry."

Yoshi follows Parakarry inside, both disappearing into the tunnel's darkness.

-o-

'Shis is Boshi's way of saying Yoshis in the story, in case anyone asks. And doogans are a canine species introduced in the Paper Mario series.