The Koopalings' arrival is inevitable, and our heroes have found themselves in a pickle, with the rescue team actually running into the Fire Brothers, Geno is yet to be seen, and Daisy… Well, she is just having fun. Will the entire plan go south, or will they rescue Johnny in time? The clock is ticking!
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Heroes: Yoshi, Daisy, Morton Jr., Geno
Current Enemies: Hitatsu and Draco, soldiers at the jail
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Hitatsu's Plot Twist
Location: Desert Hill's Jail, Vice Warden's side
Time left: 4 hours, 5 minutes
The doogan soldier with the crucifix hanging from his neck enters the prison complex. Two other soldiers, a Toad with green spots and shades and reformed desert bandit, walk in as well, having finished their surveillance duty at the wall. They are busy chatting away; so much, that they don't notice the other soldier as they walk in.
"Boris and Todd sure took their sweet ol' time, eh?" asks the Toad guard.
"They were probably taking a leak, or kissing in the shadows, who knows!" replies the bandit guard as he joins his partner in laughter.
"I know, eh? Boris finally took off his mask for something. Anyway, that thud…"
"What do you think it was? Boris ran to us as we came over and asked if we heard it too. He also said something about Todd going the other way and investigating."
Around this time, they start noticing the doogan's presence.
"If they have it under control, then… Vice Warden, Sir!"
Both the bandit and Toad soldiers stop walking and salute the vice warden, the doogan who had escorted Daisy. He salutes the two other soldiers back.
"At ease! Is there a problem at the wall?" asks the warden.
"Boris and Todd have it under control, sir!" replies the Toad.
"I see. Come with me and tell me anything you saw."
The vice warden walks toward the tank room, where his office is located. Both soldiers go along, explaining their shift, from seeing a sand plume at the distance, to the thud, or rather, two thuds, they heard as they walked down to the lower level.
"Soldiers, this plume you speak of, did you send for a team to investigate it?"
"We did, sir," begins the Toad, "Even the warden knew about it. However, as the team barely went on their way, we called them back, because Princess Daisy came knocking at the door."
"Her presence here begins to make more sense… And the thuds?"
As the three approach the hallway leading to the tank room, their conversation gets interrupted by a sudden burst of bluish-yellow flames coming from said hallway, along with stifled noises coming from a fight, which they narrowly dodge.
"What in the blazes is that?" exclaims the vice warden, who runs and turns the corner toward the scuffle, the two other soldiers following in tow.
...
Location: Still in the Jail, entryway near Johnny's tank, Yoshi's side
Time left: 4 hours
While the vice warden was still at the entrance, here in the hallway near the tank, both Yoshi and Morton Jr. hug each other in fear, turning their heads constantly and stare at the Fire Brother pair as they hold on to each other, sweating and wide-mouthed. They both were more surprised than they were scared, their minds devoid of thought. Hitatsu grins maliciously as his hands release reddish-yellow flames, while Draco is focused on not letting either reptile through.
Hitatsu starts walking towards the heroes. "Will you look at that, dude? The missing Koopaling working together with a rainbow donkey dude!"
Yoshi slowly stands while Morton Jr. remains on the ground until he notices Yoshi standing, to which he responds by quickly getting up. Yoshi notices Stuffwell 2.0 is missing, but faces forward at Hitatsu and gets ready to fight anyway.
"Okay, we're surrounded, chump," begins Morton as he scratched his bottom and looks at Draco, "Now what?"
"Talk them to death," replies Yoshi smugly as he looks at the Koopaling from the corner of his right eye, "you're very good at running your mouth."
Draco interjects while he holds out his right arm, "Look, I don't want any problems with you both. Please, just stand down; we can talk this out without violence, right?"
Yoshi sighs. "How about you look the other way? No violence there. A win-win…"
Hitatsu suddenly punches a fiery fist from his, er, fist, at the dark skinned Koopaling, who then turns around after hearing the fire projectile, covering himself frantically with his arms in time. He also sighs. "It can't be helped, eh, Draco, dude? I guess whoever wins here gets their booty."
"Eww!" exclaims an indignant Morton, "Why would we want to grab your booty? Or was it my booty? I need to take my shell off for that and…"
Hitatsu interrupts, displaying a slightly annoyed face. "I'd love to stay and talk, dude, but I ain't got time for your…"
"Stuff?" asks Draco as he also lights up his hands in fire.
"I was going to say something else, but that works too, dude." Hitatsu smiles as he crouches. "Bring it, donkey dude."
Yoshi bends slightly backwards and grabs onto Morton's shell. He quickly pulls it off and chucks it forward at Hitatsu, but he couldn't toss very far due to its weight. He winces as his left shoulder jolts in pain.
'Daisy makes this look so easy!' complains Yoshi, feeling the pain relapse.
The corpulent Koopaling's shell spins and ricochets of the wall, and is later countered by Hitatsu with a left hook punch before it strikes him, and is followed by a 'fire bendy' kick. Yoshi jumps to avoid the big shell and flutter jumps to dodge the wave of fire coming at him.
Meanwhile, Morton Jr. fumbles to cover himself down there, while Draco covers his face, while yelling, "That's vile! So you like to fight dirty, eh?"
Morton's shell hits him in the back, and knocks him into the sandy floor, as the fire kick wave barely misses him. He quickly fumbles again to replace his shell, giving Draco some time to see the fire wave coming for him. Yoshi expected the attack to hit the other Fire Brother just as he lands on the floor, but to his surprise, Draco grabs it and rolls it into a yellow fire sphere.
A bang from behind startles the green dinosaur. When he turns to see what it is, he sees Hitatsu's shades have fallen off, revealing a devilish, blue hue covering the entire eye. Blue flames come out of Hitatsu's head, and each of his fingers is individually lit in blue fire. He became a demon.
"Now you see why we are unstoppable, green donkey dude?" asks Hitatsu, beckoning Yoshi with his left index finger, "This fire ability of mine exceeds Bowser's own blue flame technique. Why do you think we were in charge of guarding the Warp Whistle, dude?"
A sudden scream from behind Yoshi makes the green dinosaur look back again for a very short time. He sees Morton Jr. greeted by an intense white ball to the face, as Draco looks at Yoshi.
"You sure are a twitchy fellow, um, green donkey," begins Draco, not sure about Yoshi's name, "However, you have problems of your own, no?"
In that split second, a blue flame kick strikes Yoshi in the face, sending him flying past Draco, who is pointing the fire ball at the Koopaling's shell opening.
"Even if you retract, I can still fry you from the inside. Like I said before, stand down; you don't need to get hurt any further."
Morton only replies with continuous shaking from within, while Yoshi lands facedown with a loud thud and a squeak. Hitatsu propels himself past Draco, blue fire emitting from his hands and feet, and as soon as he gets near Yoshi, he turns them off except for his left hand.
"This is it, green donkey dude! Say hello to the Underwhere!"
Before he lands a hit, Yoshi quickly flips onto his back and kicks an unexpectant Hitatsu on his chest with both legs, kicking the leader of the Fire Bro pair out of his blue fire form, making his attack miss straight forward. The Fire brother regurgitates a bit of clear liquid as he is thrown back, but he masterfully flips backwards, stopping near his sunglasses.
"As expected from you donkey dudes," Draco says, as he covers his eyes with his right arm and wipes his mouth with his left hand. "Quick to your feet and killer kicks. But that's too bad, donkey dude." He replaces his shades. "I hear footsteps coming this way…"
Lo and behold, the vice warden and the two soldiers accompanying them ran towards the bounty hunters, arriving at the spot where Hitatsu holds Yoshi and Morton hostage right on cue. The vice warden doogan extends both of his arms sideways, preventing the other soldiers from advancing. They point their guns at the two suspects as the vice warden inspects them.
"Hmm… Quite the twist, if you ask me. A Yoshi in these parts, along with Big Mouth! Quite some time since you've last assaulted Desert Hill…"
"HEY!" interrupts Morton Jr. "I'm not big mouthed! I'm big boned!" Yoshi just stares back incredulously with an open maw.
"Indeed," replies the vice warden nonchalantly, "Nice outfits, but without the masks they're a bit useless, no? Though, the sight of a Yoshi in the desert realm has me intrigued…" He walks around Yoshi, slowly inspecting the dinosaur. "A tropical creature, here of all places… I've got many questions, so if you'd had enough of fighting these model citizen bounty hunters, we can talk calmly with the warden."
He turns to the two soldiers. "Soldiers seize them both and cuff them! Take the Yoshi to a cell, and take Morton Jr. to the tank." He keeps his back toward the Fire brothers. "My Fire Brother Bounty hunters, please accompany these two, and make sure our new guests don't get difficult."
The vice warden begins walking back the way he initially came from toward the entrance. As the soldiers cuff the green dinosaur and the dark skinned Koopaling and the Fire Bros aim their flame-lit index fingers at them, Morton Jr., suddenly exclaims, "Hey, chump! What do you mean, 'the tank'? Another one like the shark dude?!"
The vice warden doogan stops right before he exits the hall. His back is still turned. "My, my. So word of the shark pirate has reached your ears, eh?"
Yoshi is forcibly stood upright next to the Koopaling. "Nice going, tubs!" hissed Yoshi, softly enough to only be heard by Morton.
"No worries," continues the vice warden, "That Yoshi may get off easily by getting a decade or so in prison, depending on what we get out of him, but you… Even without a trial, the king himself will agree that becoming the shark's next meal is a fitting punishment for the one responsible of the atrocities from long ago."
"You mean…?" begins the corpulent Koopaling.
"Yes, that means I sentence you to death. And I'll have you know that the king granted the warden and I the authority to put any prisoner to death, within reasonable boundaries of course."
The hallway fell silent. Too silent, as in, Morton's jaw fell to the ground silent.
"Chain chomp got your tongue, eh? No worries, the embrace of death is dumbfounding, to say the least." The vice warden resumes walking. "Fire Bros, after this is done, you'll be handsomely rewarded for your great service to the community, ridding us of the scourge of Desert Hill."
Hitatsu grins widely, to which Draco just rolls his eyes. Soon after, the Fire Brothers, the soldiers and the new prisoners walk toward the tank room and walk past the aquarium prison. Both Yoshi and Morton Jr. watch in disbelief the state of Jonathan Jones as he hung floated in the murky water. The soldiers push them both at the back of their neck, pressing them stop lollygagging and hasten their pace toward another hallway leading to the bar less, steel-doored cells.
A few minutes in, they finally reach the cells. Draco begins asking one of the soldiers for directions to the top opening of the tank. Hitatsu leans on the wall as the other opens the cell, already bored, and a bit anxious, especially with the promise of more cash.
"Yo, mushroom dude," growls the leader of the Fire Bros, "How long are ya gonna take to give some simple directions, dude?"
Suddenly, the tar clone, the Tootankoopa sumo doppelganger made by Slyklyde some time ago, walks amongst the group, stopping in between and catching everyone's attention. In a sudden epiphany, Hitatsu gets an idea.
As soon as the bandit soldier opens the cell door, Hitatsu flame kicks him inside the cell. The bandit soldier crash lands forcibly with a loud thud, and is immediately out cold, dropping the keys in the cell.
The Toad guard begins bellowing, "What the heck are you…?", but Hitatsu punches the air out of him, and follows with a flaming elbow jab to the side of the head, also knocking him out. Before either Yoshi or Morton could react, Hitatsu lights up his hands in blue flame, aiming at both their heads.
"If either one of you dares move or yell, you both die," he warns. He motions his head toward the cell. "Draco, lock them fainted dudes up, and gag these two. We're making new rules, dude."
"Hitatsu! This better not be another one of your greed tactics!"
"Naturally; you can't keep the dough away from me, dude. What if we give Morton Jr. to the Koopaling dudes as a sort of bargaining chip? And if we swap a fake donkey in, while we throw the legit one in the tank? That Toad soldier already told you how to get there…"
"First of all, where are we getting a clone to replace the real Yoshi?" argues Draco, "And even if we magically happen to find one, what about the guards when they wake up? And where are we hiding Big Mouth?"
Morton Jr. is about to butt in the conversation, when Hitatsu suddenly replies, "Hmm…" He rubs his beak chin as he eyes the Tootankoopa tar clone. "I think I'll be talking to my friend here, the tar dude. You get rid of the rainbow donkey dude. Simple as money." Hitatsu smiles and rubs his fingers.
Draco grunts softly and looks at the floor for a short while, feeling disappointed. However, he swiftly raises his angered eyes back at his superior, stares for a while, and then gags the prisoners. He pushes Morton into the cell where the soldiers lay limp and retrieves the keys before locking the cell door. He stretches his hands toward Hitatsu, and drops the keys, leaving to throw Yoshi into the tank.
…
Location: Outside the Jail complex near the entrance, vice warden's side
Time left: 3 hours, 38 minutes
Another soldier, a bandit with the name Boris stitched to his uniform and weapon in his hands, descends the wall as the silhouette of his shift partner stands guard at the wall top. After completely descending he is about to enter the complex when he runs into the vice warden. Startled by his presence, Boris slaps the weapon into his chest with his right hand as he somewhat fumbles in surprise, and immediately salutes with his right.
"My, my, Boris. Rigid as ever with you modalities…"
"Sir! I heard some noise inside and I wanted to investigate, sir!"
"No need. I have it under control. Some trespassers, a green Yoshi and the scourge of Desert Hill have been apprehended. I am on my way to inform the warden, so we both, along with Princess Daisy can interrogate this Yoshi."
"And this scourge…?"
"Right… You've only transferred to this base a few weeks ago… It is the Koopaling, Morton Jr.; I'm having him get feed to the shark pirate."
"Oooh… Uh, won't that be gruesome?"
The vice warden pauses to reflect. "You know, I cannot leave his past deeds unpunished, even if it is out of character for me. Next to the tank, on the wall, there is a button that raises and lowers a flexible, metallic door. Hurry and lower it."
Boris salutes once more as the vice warden begins to leave. "I'll have the warden sort this out with the Yoshi fellow we've captured. I am sure the princess will have some words as well."
As soon as the vice warden walks a bit further, Boris begins walking in, not before looking towards all sides. He looks once more at the vice warden's direction before finally going inside the jail.
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Yikes! They all better start praying help arrives fast! Next time: The Interrogation?