Oasis in Eastern Desert Hill

Operation: Desert Rescue Saga

Location: Desert Hill, eastern border

It is a thunderous night near the eastern outskirts of the desert nation, and according to the weather station broadcasting into the radio inside Daisy's personal 'copter, it was quite a large storm, spreading a massive, dark, cloudy blanket all the way to the dark Koopa realm. Daisy has Stuffwell 2.0 opened on her lap, and is fiddling with Yoshi's things, especially the Wii Me. Morton Jr. is sleeping on the floor, and is tossing an turning, presumably having a nightmare, and mostly mumbles an unrecognizable babbling, except for the occasional, "Luddy…" and "Why, daddy?"

Yoshi is bobbing his head up and down in the pilot seat, clumsily piloting the helicopter as he struggles to stay awake. The additional turbulence from the storm wasn't helping either, with an occasional shower blurring the windows, and the electricity causing interference with the communication equipment.

The actual pilot, a doogan dressed in a khaki colored aerial outfit, is calmly napping beside the green dinosaur. (He was somehow stuffed into Stuffwell 2.0 along with all of their belongings, hence why he was missing in the first place.) Yoshi becomes lost in thought as he looks around the cabin and then outside.

'This is the real deal, not like my transformation at all… And to top it off, this hairy bozo decides to take a nap.'

Morton Jr. keeps sleep talking in the background as Yoshi loudly groans. 'I wanna sleep so baaaad! I wonder if we'll die before I accidentally crash this thing…'

A bolt of lightning cracks in front of the flying vehicle, snapping Yoshi out of his partial lethargy. He swerves the helicopter out of the lightning's way and narrowly dodging another bolt. Suddenly, a clammy feeling goes over his shoulder.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Another bolt of lightning illuminated the sky as the sleepy dinosaur looks back at what touched him. A scary, toothy smile of an innocent fool "looks" back.

"It's just me, ol' pal!" replies the smile, who turns out to be Daisy. She suddenly reaches for the wheel with one hand and the cyclic with the other. "How about I take over?"

"You know, this isn't as easy as it looks. I am barely getting the hang of it, and your piloting skills aren't…"

Daisy bumps Yoshi of the pilot's seat. "You just say that 'cause I had a rough start driving this. Just you watch me. I'll be just as good as the doogan pilot over…"

SNAP! Daisy pulls the cyclic and snaps the handle cleanly off, all while an untimely bolt strikes the helicopter, making the control panel go haywire. The pilot doogan is now wide awake, and pushes Daisy out of the seat as he frantically tries to regain control. Yoshi is panicking, and is pushing random buttons of the control panel, while some smoke begins to come out of the control panel.

The helicopter finally dives nose down. As Morton Jr. still sleeps and rolls around in the back, Yoshi and the doogan hug each other as they holler in horror, watching as their eminent death approaches quickly. Daisy lifts her hands cheers loudly like if she was on a roller coaster. The 'copter crashes into a sand dune near an oasis, and everyone inside is out cold…

…

Location: Unknown…

Yoshi regains consciousness, and slowly sits up. Some covers slide down; he is lying on a bed. The green dinosaur is slightly nauseated and dizzy, only being able to see a blurry and spinning world. His head pulsed and body ached, especially his left arm, and any sudden movement makes Yoshi wince and twitch his arm in pain.

'Where am I? Dead, maybe? No, this feels too real…'

Once his vision stabilizes a little, he finds himself in a dimly lit the room. An oil lamp, like those found in a desert nation, illuminates the chamber as it rests on a table that is next to the only door-less entryway to the room. Multiple aromas fill the air, and slightly worsen his nausea, but somehow it makes him feel some relief. He rubs the side of his head, and suddenly stops, upon a certain realization…

'Wait… I'm on a bed, inside some stranger's house…'

He hurriedly looks around, and causes accidental pain to his left arm again. The room is quite large, at least for a single guest. His bed is actually quite large as well, taking over that corner, or rather, end of the room. An exotic and imported coffee table, about a yard in length, is about six feet away from the bed, and is surrounded by two loveseats along each of the long sides. A golden harp stands on the floor by the bed, at the opposite side of Yoshi's head. He gets out of bed and stands, stumbling across as he grabs his hurting arm.

Although his vision is still somewhat cloudy due to his dizziness, he spots some items neatly organized on the table: an open box of aroma therapy potpourri, a gorgeous jade-incrusted ceramic cup, and two porcelain kettles with a thin vapor escaping from the spout. He looks for a window, but finds himself surrounded by four walls decorated with expensive wallpaper and paintings of famous landmarks found around the Mushroom World, even some of places unknown to him. Yoshi is completely baffled, his head still pulsing a bit.

'Did we get rescued? Are we back in Daisy's castle? This doesn't look like Sarasaland's style…'

The noise of loud, obnoxious laughter and clanging metal come from another room, but sounds feel like a rowdy jackhammer is nearby to Yoshi.

'Oww, my head. I don't even want to think right now.'

Yoshi drags himself over to one of the couches, and almost trips or falls many times. He finally sits on it, grabbing the jade-incrusted cup and the kettle closest to him, bringing it up to his nose with his shaky right arm and takes a whiff.

'Ugh! Dark and bitter coffee! I don't need the extra caffeine right now. I'll pass.'

He almost drops that kettle back into place and grabs the other. He smells that one too, thinking it will be another disappointment, but the vapor that goes inside his nose makes the sick green dinosaur fumble the kettle as he frantically pours a serving into the cup, spilling some the content on the table. The kettle with tea spins on the table as he goes for the cup and hurriedly chugs the green liquid, closing his eyes as his savored every drop of tea that didn't run down the side of his mouth. He feels his dizziness and body aches fade slowly.

'Delicious! Must be Chai tea… With a drop of nectar made from a blend of flowers of my home island… I can't even afford this nectar myself, and I live there! How rich is this person?'

He shrugs and soon after stands, which is now much easier. Refreshed by the tea, he stretches, only to stop midway, as his left arm was not fully recovered. He decides to give the place a look, remembering his companions are still missing.

He walks out of the dimly lit room and into a hallway. From one side, he hears buttons mashing and video game music, and from the other direction, the same clanging from before, slightly louder, but coming from a distant room. He goes to the fun side first, and quickly finds a room with flashing lights that radiate from a television screen large enough to be the wall itself, and a "You lose!" screen. Morton Jr. lost a life and grabbed his bald head with Daisy laughing at him.

"NUUUU!"

"Ha, ha! That means I win, Morty! Now pay up!"

Morton looks away and grimaces while he hands Daisy a bag of spicy cheesepuffs. Yoshi stops at the doorway and steps on a cheesepuff that was lying randomly on the floor. Both the princess and bulky Koopaling turn toward the crunch. Daisy gets up to greet him, forgetting about her reward, while Morton sneaks the bag back into his shell.

"Hey there, sleepy head. Finally, you joined us. Ready to play with us, li'l buddy?"

She grabs the green dinosaur, accidentally choke holding him as she rains a barrage of noogies on him. Morton Jr. is mashing buttons, and completely ignores them, being for a rare instance extra quiet as he is concentrated playing a game. Yoshi forcefully releases himself and crashes into the door casing, hurting his left arm again. He shoots Daisy a dirty look.

"I'm all 'funed' out, thank you very much."

Someone clears their throat, but it wasn't any of the three mentioned. Daisy continues, "Hmm? Oh yeah! You should thank this little guy who found us."

"Little? With all due respect, milady, this 'little guy' carried all four of you here. With a… little help, of course."

Yoshi turns and sees a chuckling, desert Para-goomba sitting on a sofa, and what seemed like his personal Bandit bodyguard standing behind. This winged Goomba wore a white fedora and suit, shades, a gold chain with a platinum mushroom pendant, and shiny black shoes.

"He, he, he. Welcome t' my humble abode in this oasis: the Spade Casino. Name's Bago, pleased to make your acquaintance."

-o-

You know the Spade Roulette space in the corner of Desert Hill in SMB3, the one near the beginning of the world? That's the casino! Next time: The story continues and an interesting travel west. Until then…

The cyclic is a control lever on a helicopter.