Chapter 15

Naji looked around himself. The dark gray clouds in the sky were swirling around each other and drifting off in one direction way too fast, like water in a river, and the ground looked like it was composed of dried mud complete with all the cracks in it, but the material was of steel, not mud. It was also like a mosaic of jagged knives. It was a good thing he had his shoes on. Buildings that looked like greater collections of knives decorated this bizarre realm.

“NAJI!”

”NAJI, HELP US! PLEASE!”

He looked up. Through those darkly-colored sunglasses of his, he could see that at the top of this metal tower right in front of him, his friends, Noshi and Fyooshi, seriously needed him. Unfortunately, he could also see a person with silver skin and long, white hair.

“Yes, Naji, help them. You wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to your friends now, would you?” Cutlass waved a sword threateningly above a rope tied to a spike in the ground. This was what was keeping the rope from just sliding through the ring hovering above the cage that Naji’s two friends were in, causing them to plummet into a deep pit with a lake of boiling lava at the bottom of it. The two of them clutched desperately at the cage’s bars, looking equally frantic.

“CUTLASS!” Naji yelled with his fists clenched. “YOU WON’T GET AWAY WITH THIS! MARK MY WORDS!” He ran onto the ramp and started sprinting his way up this spiraling path that twisted its way around the tower.

“How amusing,” Cutlass chuckled. He looked at a mob of silver men, just like him. They were armed with sais, daggers, spears, and clubs. “Kill him,” he ordered. He said this in an unnaturally deep voice that obviously wasn’t his.

His minions all yelled, “YES, SIR!” and started descending the ramp Naji was trying to climb. Cutlass stayed behind, a devilish smile crawling across his face.

Naji was pumping his Yo’ster legs furiously. He could feel sweat beginning to creep onto his big nose and adrenaline firing away in his veins. For a while, he thought he was covering a good amount of distance in a good amount of time. Then the freaks were upon him.

“Back for more, eh?!” Naji growled. He made a shape like a white sun materialize before him for a moment, and then he let it loose. TSSEEEWWW! He fired a laser beam right at the one coming for him with a pair of sais.

“AAAUUURRRGGHH!!!” The man screamed bloody-murder as his right arm was blown off by the spell in an explosion of silvery liquid splattering everywhere. One sai clattered to the shiny floor, and the other one fell off the tower. The man himself just came crashing down as an unconscious body. Naji didn’t waste any time. He flutterkicked over the fallen fighter and ran some more.

Before long, two more were asking to be pestered. “OUT OF MY WAY!!!” Naji roared. They didn’t obey. They leaped through the air, daggers and spears in hand. Naji jolted into a stance, made a yellow lightning bolt shape appear, and sent two crooked lines of merciless electricity flash out of nowhere and pierce right through their chests.

“URRGGHH!” they cried. They fell to the floor as the first victim had. Steam arose from their fried bodies. Naji flutterkicked over them as well and started running again.

Naji was drenched in sweat. He couldn’t let it bother him. In the middle of his racing, he lifted his right hand, tucked it beneath his shades, pinched his eyes shut and rubbed them for a second, then returned his hand to making the pumping action the other one was doing to help him keep running. He thought the top of the building was coming pretty close, but his thoughts turned elsewhere the instant ten of those goons showed up.

“RRRRAAAAAWWWWWGGGGGHHH!!!” he roared in fury as he made the symbol of an orange hexagon appear, slammed both palms forward, and blast out of them a stream of jagged boulders. At the last minute, the gang tried letting out yelps of fear and turning around or ducking, or both, but it was futile. They were plowed down and made into a mess of silver blood, torn clothes, and broken bones. “RRRRGGGGG!!!” Naji vocally expressed his rage at the same time he ran through this ugly pile of limbs, not caring how much it would ruin his shoes.

Blinded by anger and frustration, Naji raced onwards. He refused to stop or let a few annoying enemies get in his way. No matter what, they wouldn’t stop coming. Not cutting back in the least, he would always let them have it. His spells chopped off heads, and his feet ran and jumped for what felt like hours. At last, he was able to burst up the ramp, see his smirking, silver-skinned nemesis, and get on with the real fight. Naji slammed his legs apart, closed his eyes, put his hands together like he was praying, and made the symbol of a red flame. By the time his eyes could fly open and his hands could unleash the wave of flames, he could see something truly disturbing.

A giant, purple arm flew up and took the blow of the flames. They splattered against it and disappeared. The arm returned to the side of a hip. Naji craned his head back to get a full view of this thing. “How do you like my new form?” Cutlass said in that scary voice again. He was 20 feet tall and wearing only a pair of boots, a pair of sunglasses, and a flowing cape with patterns all over it. They all looked very familiar to Naji. All this, and his body was muscular, purple, and scaly. It had a long, reptilian tail and a white oval going down its chest. The new Cutlass tilted his relatively unchanged head forward and looked at Naji above his new sunglasses. “Can you save them now?” he taunted.

“AAAUUUURRRGGGHHH!” Naji screamed some more and made a blue teardrop shape form in front of him. He sent his palms forward, and made a tsunami come into existence right in front of him. It surged out of nowhere and went crashing against this massive, new opponent, relentlessly. Naji stood back and watched patiently, waiting for the waves to die down so he could see what damage he dealt. Once they did, a look of horror appeared on his face. All he did was make his enemy sopping wet.

Cutlass was still smiling. “Is that the best you can do?” he said. Naji clenched his fists tightly, making them rattle by his legs. He snorted, got into another stance, made a light blue-colored snowflake symbol show up, and set loose a barrage of icicles and freezing wind stampeding against this purple monster. Again, he was horrified to see that this didn’t do a thing to the beast. Cutlass shook his head. “You’re wasting my time. I shall finish you off now, and your friends will get to watch you go,” he threatened. He lifted his arms in front of himself, and started flexing them so hard, they trembled.

Noshi and Fyooshi remained watching helplessly behind the bars. They were no more pleased to see Cutlass taking action than Naji was. They started yelling to him.

“NAJI, DON’T LET THIS FREAK BEAT YOU!” said Noshi.

“C’MON, NAJI! YOU GOTTA HELP US!” said Fyooshi.

Still sweating, Naji looked at them and nodded. His gigantic enemy was beginning to make the wind pick up around himself, causing his cape to start flapping dramatically.

“All right, punk, you asked for it,” Naji growled. He got his hands and feet into the right position, closed his eyes, concentrated with all his might, made the symbol of a silver hourglass in front of himself, sent his eyes open, and thrust his palms outward. He sent a humungous blade of rippling air with purple lightning bolts flying off it slicing through the space between the two fighters. Cutlass was still in his intimidating position when the dark attack exploded against him, making the air around him look as though it was mutating with purple electricity and all. Naji’s jaw dropped open once he saw that this made no results either. At this point, his mind started to draw a complete blank.

“NAJI!!!” his friends cried out.

The gray symbol of an explosion showed up. At last, Cutlass’ eyes flew open. He put his arms up into the air with the wind still around him. The swirling clouds in the sky started getting darker and faster. Naji only stood there, not knowing what to expect. Finally, Cutlass threw down one arm and used it to point at Naji. The one that remained in the air snapped its fingers very loudly. It sounded like a whip cracking. Something started to fall from the sky. Naji looked up, and panic struck him.

SHING! SHING! SH-SHING! It was raining swords. Here, there, and all around him, they kept falling and jamming themselves into the metallic ground of the tower. Naji ran around frantically, trying his best to not get sliced. A few of them even went clattering against the top of the cage. Noshi and Fyooshi yelped and ducked at both the occurrence and the noise it made. Completely distracted, Naji went on with the dance of dodging. Cutlass cackled menacingly with his arms folded. Then suddenly...

SNAP! A sword struck the rope and Naji’s friends went falling in. He jerked his head to the right to witness his failure.

“NAAAAAAAAJJIIIIIIII!!!” they screamed. Naji watched in horror and despair as the cage fell from the air and got swallowed by the pit of lava. Smoke started pluming from where they hit. All Naji could do was stand completely still, barely moving and barely breathing.

“Huh huh huh...” he heard the monster laugh. “You see,” he added, taking a step forward, “I told you I’d win.” He said that last part in his normal voice. Naji heard this and his blood started boiling unstoppably. It made him feel as though he was suddenly lit on fire as though it, too, had become a mass of raging hot lava.

He looked over his shoulder, hate thrashing about in his eyes as he saw the enemy coming closer. He turned his head back forward, closed one quaking fist tightly, concentrated, and made the symbol of a gold star before him. He was about to perform a forbidden star-elemental attack.

“You must be so lonely now,” Cutlass said, even closer. “Perhaps you’d like to join them?”

Naji turned his head around again. “You...” he growled. He spun his body completely around and, in the blink of an eye, shot like a bullet against the fiend’s right leg. He clung to it and ignited into a body of sparkling, golden flames. “DIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!” Naji screamed for the last time.

Feeling an indescribable pain starting to devour his leg, Cutlass suddenly started screaming while losing his balance. “AAAUUUURRRGGGHH!” he bellowed. He fell to the left and over the side of the pit. Cutlass was a giant monster with its leg being eaten away by this unforgivable force, falling harshly without a prayer into this boiling pit of lava. The two opponents were about to experience a draw...

Then Naji found himself in the middle of a grassy field. All around him, there were mounds sticking out of the ground, all of them with different arrangements of assorted flowers. Each of these mounds had dead bodies buried beneath him. He was in a graveyard. However, not all of these corpses were buried. One of them was still up and about. One of them started walking towards him. It was a Yo’ster with cuts all over him, a ragged blanket where a saddle would have been, and a skin-color that once was light blue, but now was more of a morbid grey.

Naji looked at him disbelievingly. “Blushi,” he said to it, “is that you?!”

“It was me,” the dead Yoshi said to him, “you traitor...” Blushi made fists out of his hands and started cracking his knuckles.

“Blushi...” Naji began. As his old friend commenced striding towards him, he could hear a certain raven laughing hysterically and uncontrollably. This wild laughter came from the starlit sky, and it haunted Naji throughout the rest of the nightmare...

In reality, Naji was one of many poor souls that had been captured by these foul space aliens. He, along with many others, was in a vast, circular room lined with big tubes filled with green liquid like the one he was stuck floating in. Various hoses were coming out of his body, doing things to it he was not aware of. This was the curse of the magical Yo’ster, and all he could do was sleep right through it until it was over...

Yoshi was unconscious. He couldn’t really think anything, but he could feel soft, cool grass beneath his body. Then he started hearing people talking. Was it worth paying attention to? He wasn’t sure. Regardless, he slowly pried his eyes open anyway.

“Mmmm,” he moaned. “What happened?”

The guy sitting right next to him bolted upright and looked down at him. “Oh! You’re awake!” said Fyooshi.

Yoshi picked himself into a sitting position on the grass. He rubbed his sore head. He heard what the person said, but he didn’t comprehend it. “What?” he asked.

“What?” Fyooshi asked. He didn’t understand, either.

Yoshi looked at him confusedly. “Do you speak Yoshish?” he asked.

”What?” Fyooshi said again.

“Never mind,” Yoshi mumbled. He looked away from the magenta-colored guy and started paying more attention to a bigger crowd of Yoshis a ways away from where he was seated.

I guess he’s not him after all, Fyooshi moped in his mind. The two of him and Raphael had finally returned from Ren’s big tree and were in the process of being about to determine whose tree it truly was. Fyooshi sat next to the dazed Yoshi and the gigantic bird stood with these colorful Yo’sters surrounding him.

“Citizens of Lavalava Island,” the oversized fowl said to them, “it is a long story, but I, Raphael, the Raven, have finally returned. I hoped to do so to cheerier faces, but word has reached me that your spirits have been broken by my brother, Ren, the Raven, who has been ruling in my absence. I know that he has been doing monstrous things to you since I left.”

The Yoshis knew exactly what he was talking about. Memories of statue-building, sucking up, killing, and brutal punishments never ceased to cloud their minds. Raphael’s speech went on.

“However, recently, I was given the opportunity to negotiate with him. Unfortunately, instead of agreeing to step down, he challenged me to a dual.” The Yoshis all gasped at his words. Raphael spoke some more. “Yes. Tomorrow at this time, our bout will take place here, and it will determine who will become the new master of the island.” Raphael was somewhat referring to how the orange sun was setting on the horizon at that moment. Everyone started murmuring amongst themselves about what this could possibly turn out to be. “Citizens of Lavalava Island,” he continued, shutting the audience up, “never again will you have to build any more statues,” he promised. “Never again will you have to degrade yourselves,” he promised some more. “Never again,” he went on, “will you have to put up with... my brother.” The crowd started murmuring more excitedly this time. Then Raphael went for the big finish. “I swear to you,” he said, louder, “I WILL win back the island! You will all be free!” The crowd erupted into an applause of cheering. They were jumping up and down, praising the former ruler. Neither Yoshi nor Fyooshi could ignore this. Unfortunately, only Fyooshi understood it.

“You wanna know what this is all about?” Fyooshi asked.

Yoshi looked at him, stared, and shrugged his shoulders. Fyooshi began a different approach.

“He,” Fyooshi said slowly, pointing to Raphael, “is going,” he made a gesture with his hands, “to fight,” he punched the palm of his hand with his fist, “his brother,” he finished.

Yoshi just kept staring at him, dumbfoundedly. He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders again.

Fyooshi hung his head. “It’s no use,” he sighed. He went back to looking around. Upon doing so, he managed to see that a certain Yoshi with dark orange skin was speaking with the village’s new hero.

“Raphael,” he said, “we have total faith in you. Good luck.”

Fyooshi observed this Yoshi, and thought about some things pertaining to him. He let out a humming sound. “Hmmm...”

What the excited Yo’sters didn’t notice was that two female Magikoopas were right above their heads in the darkening sky, flying away on their broomsticks.

“Kammelina,” said Kammeo, “what do you suppose those silly Yoshis were getting all worked up about, hm?”

“Like I have a clue, dear sister. Now quit your yapping. We’re wasting precious time,” her grouchy sibling replied.

“Fine,” Kammeo grumped.

“Marinotropolis, here we come!” Kammelina boasted. The two witches flew off, resuming their journey to the city beneath the waves...

After the session with Blushi, Naji found himself standing amidst a white circle in the middle of nothing but pure darkness. This circle faded into the blackness surrounding it, not allowing the ill-fated Yo’ster much of a way to see what the deal with this new place could possibly be. Then something walked out of the nothingness and into the light. It was a Yoshi that looked a lot like Naji, but with red skin, three scars going across his right eye like scratch marks, and no sunglasses. The blanket was almost the exact same one Naji was wearing.

“Long time, no see, Naji,” he said. “How’s my son?”

Naji hesitated. “Father,” he spoke, “is that really you?”

“Yes, Naji, it’s me,” the red Yo’ster responded. “Listen, Naji,” he ordered, “I worked really hard to raise you. Do you know what you’re doing right now?”

Naji stared. “What am I doing?” he asked.

“You’re sleeping,” his father said. Naji had a confused facial expression. “That’s right, you’re sleeping. Do you know where you’re sleeping?”

Naji shook his head. “I don’t know, Father.”

“You’re in a spaceship,” he said. “THEIR spaceship. Do you know why they captured you?”

”Why, Father?”

”Because you’re powerful,” Naji’s father stated, making a fist out of one hand. “And do you know why you’re so powerful?”

“Why, Father?” he asked again.

“Because I raised you,” his father answered. “I raised you to be powerful... Fearless, quick, and powerful... Like me.” Naji stood silently. His father continued. “They want your power, Naji. They want it really badly. So they captured you, they hypnotized you, and they stuck you in one of their tubes. They’re trying to break you, Naji. They’re trying to rid you of all the free will you have. And then you know what happens?”

“What, Father?” Naji said slowly.

“You become their mindless, little puppet.” Naji’s father made a claw out of one hand, and gradually let it close up, tightly. “You’ll become one of them. They’ll use you in their little army. Their little army to conquer the world.” He swung an arm to one side, harshly. “Is that what you want, Naji?”

Naji kept quiet, then shook his head. “No,” he replied. “No, it isn’t.”

The father cracked his knuckles and got into a stance. “Then come on; fight me.” A wind started to pick up around him. “Show me what you’re made of.” The wind got stronger. “Prove to me you’re my son.” He closed his eyes and made the symbol of a purple swirl. The wind got stronger and the father tore his eyes wide open. He raised his arms into the air. “DON’T LET YOUR MEMORIES EAT YOU ALIVE!” He swung his arms forward, palms out, and fired a gigantic swirling tornado at his son. Seeing this massive spiral of gray on a collision course for him, Naji thought fast and conjured up an enormous force-field. The invisible wall he created caused the cyclone to suddenly just splash into it and dissipate into the dark empty air. Naji let the shield down, created a green leaf symbol, and sent a stampede of poison needles hailing down on his own parent, but he thought fast, too. Naji’s father brought a similar wall into existence, and the venomous pins went clattering against thin air. They vanished the instant they went clamoring to the ground. The elder of the two let his shield drop, and he brought his hands together as he got into a sideways stance, facing his son. A light started blinking between his fingers. “That’s it, son,” he said, “fight for your freedom. It’s the only way...”

Naji got into a slightly different position, and started concentrating his thoughts once again. The two fighters were very ready to give it their all. Naji’s body started to glow, and his father’s hands were getting blindingly bright. This was going to be a nightmare the purple Yo’ster wasn’t ever going to forget...

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