Chapter 19

Naji found himself in the ruins of some red temple floating in the sky. Down below was pitch-black, and up above was an endless sea of flames. In spite of how unsettling this place was, he had to keep his thoughts on the goal. He looked from broken pillar to broken pillar. No sign of him in sight. Come on, he thought. Show yourself. I dare you...

He was beginning to ascend one of the wide, decaying flights of stairs. Looking around further, he ended up letting his guard down. GRRRUUUUUU!!! “AAAAUUUGGGHHH!” Naji screamed. A tidal wave of pure darkness had snuck up from behind him, and all of its blades bit him like a pack of angry wolves. It made the sound of a thousand demons howling in anguish. His father had just performed a shadow-elemental attack on him, and it had dealt some pretty heavy damage. Once the blackness flew away, Naji let out a groan and collapsed on the ground. His red-skinned father strut up to him.

“Come on, Naji,” his father scolded. “Can’t you do better than that?” Naji groaned some more as he lay down, sprawled across the stone floor. His father lifted a foot and gave him a good kick in the side. He jolted at the blow.

“UGH!” Naji grunted. This hurt especially badly since his father wasn’t wearing any shoes, hence allowing three long, hard claws to harm him.

“Get up, Naji,” the parent growled. “Show me what you got!”

Not wanting any more of his father’s patronizing, Naji finally forced himself into summoning up what guts he still had in him, doing his best to amplify it, and using it to pry himself off the ground. Perspiring and grunting all the while, he was able to do it. He shook his head and scowled at his father. The red Yo’ster made a beckoning movement with one hand. Naji took a step back, brought his hands to one side of him, clasped them around each other, and started to make them glow in a fashion not unlike what his father was doing earlier. As they started getting brighter, the symbol of a white sun once again showed up before him. Once the spell was ready, he took a step forward, heaved his palms outward, and let a beam of light explode from them. CHING! It bounced somewhere right off of his father’s body, and the spell went soaring into the incinerating sky. Naji was dumbfounded. His father put a steaming hand down.

“Still not good enough, Naji,” his father criticized. He spread his legs out, put both hands behind his back, and closed his eyes. Naji clenched his fists, expecting the worst. His father made a flame symbol appear, and he threw his hands out. FFOOOOOOMMM!

“AAUURRRGGHH!” Naji wailed. He sent his arms up to block his face, but that didn’t stop his body from taking the attack head-on. Every last inch of him was ablaze in agony. Then the spell was gone and Naji slumped over with his hands clutching at his knees. He started panting.

“Hmph! Still not getting it, eh? Pathetic,” his father said. He walked up to the front of his son. “All right, Naji, listen up: Do you know why my attacks are so powerful and yours are so weak?”

Naji panted some more. “Why... Father?” he wheezed.

The father shuffled his bare feet with his arms folded. “It’s because of where we are,” he said. “This is a holy place, Naji, and I’m absorbing all of its glory through the bottoms of my feet. Do you know what that means, Naji?”

Naji stopped gasping and looked up at the older person. “I must... remove... my shoes?” he suggested.

“Bingo. Get rid of ‘em. Then try me without ‘em,” his father said.

Naji stared at the red man, then nodded. Sure, his shoes worked pretty well in his bout with Cutlass, but he was in a completely different situation now. He decided to heed the unusual instructions. He bent down and slipped off the things. Then, without looking over his shoulder, he tossed them behind them, and they went falling into the deep, dark depths. His eyes lit up. The results of this were amazing. He could feel his feet tingling and vibrating with energy. It invigorated him. It gave him the courage and the motivation to fight on. This time, he felt he truly was ready to take on his father. He made a stern look with his face, stepped to the side, and held out a closed hand. The father watched and waited with his eyes squinting and his arms folded as his son went on with this experiment. A wind started blowing around him until a blue teardrop showed up. Then he thrust his fingertips wide open and let a tsunami go plowing right into his father. FWWOOOSSHH! Millions of waves crashed against him, each of them made of hordes of little stinging droplets, all of them going incredibly fast. Once the assault was over, a look of disbelief sprouted on Naji’s face. A good portion of his father’s scales had been blown off, leaving the lot of them to be replaced by thinner layers of skin beginning to seep out puddles of his red, Yo’ster blood.

“Heh heh,” his father chuckled while trembling a little. “Blades of grass, grains of sand... even walkways of bricks,” his father said, “all of them have something to give, Naji. That is why you must always leave your feet bare,” he explained. Naji nodded. He remembered being told something similar to this long ago. This was part of the reason why he dressed the way he did. His father took a step back and made some more fists out of his hands. “NOW LET’S DO THIS!” he yelled. Naji nodded once more and started work on a spell of his own...

Back in real life, how Naji’s eyes were shut tightly and how his mouth was scowling could easily be seen. In fact, he was being watched. A certain individual was taking in the display of the Yoshi’s suffering down to the last detail, and enjoying it immensely. He was big, he was purple, and he had an army to build.

“Huh huh huh,” the alien captain laughed. His beefy arms were folded and his fanged mouth was grinning. “Imbecile. It’s foolish to fight. You might as well give up...”

While pleasuring in another’s pain, a similar purple space alien stepped through one of the technologically-advanced doors and into the room. He stood a few feet away from the captain and saluted. “Sir. The repairs are finished, sir. We’re all set and ready to go, sir.”

“Excellent!” the captain said. He turned around and walked past the lesser crewmember. He started following his superior once he reached the door. “Maybe now we can at last get off this godforsaken island...”

The two Extra-Terrestrials left, and Naji was forced to endure the rest of the nightmare...

“So long, friends! Hope you enjoyed your visit in Jlaka. Y’all come back now, y’hear? Oh, and don’t you worry ‘bout nothin’. We’ll get that hidden slide fixed up in no time!” Shy Guy, Snifit, Chak, and David were before the exit to the underground civilization of the mole people. They were in a cave and could see the orange light that they wanted just up ahead. The person that was telling them goodbye was a mole man with a pig on a leash for some reason, which was just standing there sniffing about.

“Yeah, thanks,” Snifit said, in an unenthused manner. He took a look at the mole’s animal. “Uh, question,” he said.

”Yep?” the mole responded.

“What’s with the pig?” he asked, pointing to the round specimen.

“Oh, that’s just Flossy. I’ve got ‘bout 20 more just like her at home,” he explained. “Well, it used to be more like 21, but then these durned witches came along and... Oh, it burns me up,” the mole said with a shaking fist all of a sudden.

“Well, uh, we’re sorry to hear that. Anyways, we gotta get moving,” the overgrown Shy Guy said. “Everyone ready?” he asked.

“Uh-huh,” said the slightly altered Snifit.

“I’m ready!” said the mutated Chak vigorously.

“So am I,” said the shrunken David.

“All righty then.” Shy Guy made a fist out of one hand and pumped its arm in a motivational gesture. “Kariboo Island, here we come!” His party members cheered whole-heartedly. At last, their march began. Soon, they were out of Jlaka and into the Jade Jungle. Making it to their destination was just a matter of time...

The sun was setting. In spite of its beauty, not everyone on Lavalava Island was enjoying himself. Yoshi was confused. Everyone was just standing around acting really nervously. Red and pink Yoshis were pacing about, yellow and purple Yoshis were shaking their heads, and blue and orange Yoshis were nibbling on pieces of fruit anxiously. What was going on? What was the meaning of all this? He tried asking some of them about it, but they were all speaking that weird language. It was hopeless. Everything had been ever since that big explosion with all those ghosts and whatnot.

For a few moments more, all this confusion continued. Finally, something vaguely sense-making walked out of the woods and into the wide, grassy opening where all these civilians were gathered. It was that huge bird and that one magenta-colored Yoshi that was trying to communicate with him earlier. The Yo’sters all cheered the enormous Raven on. They kept calling him Raphael. The name rang a bell to Yoshi, and so did the image of the being with such a name. The duo walked past the cheering ones and found a place to make themselves comfortable. It was right next to a nice, big tree. Then they started making noises with their mouths.

“Um,” said Fyooshi, “are you ready, Raphael?”

The black-feathered one looked confident. “I am, Fyooshi. Soon, my brother will come, and we shall see who is more fit to be the island’s ruler.”

“Mm-hm,” Fyooshi said.

Yoshi didn’t understand a word of that. He just kept waiting like the rest of them. Fortunately, people all wait in the same language. As they stood around, the clock ticked. The drops of sweat and the jittering they could all feel was getting to be unbearable. Then, finally, it seemed the wait was over. Everyone stopped muttering and even breathing once a new person was on the premises. He came from another opening in the woods and was sitting on a throne of bamboo. This throne was being carried by four Yoshis: a maroon one, a goldenrod one, a cerulean one, and a lime-colored one. Ren had come this way and was clearly abusing his power again at that. The quartet set the tyrant down and backed away. For a few seconds, the two Raven brothers had to have another vicious staring contest with each other. Their glaring carried on, causing the two to have their senses of anger escalate. At last, Ren hopped out of the throne and Raphael left his resting spot.

Everyone was anxious, especially Fyooshi. The only one who wasn’t feeling this way was Yoshi. He was still just plain confused. The only thing he could make out was that this was a very serious matter.

Raphael and Ren shuffled up to each other and glared some more. “So you’ve come, Ren,” said the big one.

“Yeah. I’ve come,” said Ren, snootily. Their eyes were still burning furiously into each others’. “So,” Ren said, breaking the silence, “shall we?”

Raphael nodded slowly, maintaining his angry facial expression. “Yes, let’s.”

After that, the two siblings took a few steps back until they were just as far away from each other as they were from their audience. They stared each other down, breathing steadily. The crowd around them beheld the spectacle in great uneasiness and anticipation. The unsettling wait resumed. Then the opponents blew up. They started sprinting towards each other at an incredible rate.

“BOOONNZZAAAAIIII!” Ren roared.

“HEEAAVVE-HHOOOOO!” Raphael bellowed.

The crowd opened its eyes wide in shock as they witnessed these two combatants rush each other. Once they were within proximity of each other they erupted in a storm of kicks, jumps, ground pounds, body-slamming, and even pecking. WHAM! BAM! WHACK! BOOM! SLAM! POW! SLAP! Both contenders were giving it all they had. At some point, they leapt back from each other to take a breather.

“Had enough, Ren?” Raphael panted.

“Pah! I’m just getting warmed up!” Ren retorted. Then they flew at each other once again and the fight continued.

Fyooshi watched the violent display in terror. “Ohh,” he worried, “I hope Raphael gets through this okay...”

Yoshi kept his eyes on the quickly-paced fight in confusion. What in the world is going on?! he wondered. Don’t I know that guy?! Both of the Yoshis could only sit back and wait like the rest of them until this unpleasant occurrence blew over...

Xoshi and White Rose walked along a path cutting straight through the extremely hot and baron Dry Dry Desert. As usual, the heat wasn’t getting to the wandering knight in the least, but Xoshi was still sweating like a fountain. The game between him and Beel carried on.

When someone says, “Would you like some wine with that?” you say...

... ”Yes, please.”

When someone says, “Here is your wine, sir,” you say...

... ”Thank you very much.”

When someone says, “Thank you very much,” you say...

... Uhh... Ummm... Xoshi couldn’t remember the phrase for that one. Uhh...

... You say, “You’re quite welcome,” Beel corrected.

Oh. Right. “You’re quite welcome,” Xoshi thought back.

When someone says, “Would you please pass the butter?” you say...

Hey, Beel, Xoshi interjected.

Yes? Beel asked.

How do you say, “It’s too stinkin’ hot here?”

You say-

“Say, Sir Xoshi,” said White Rose. “From where do you hail?”

Ahem. When someone says... Beel translated White Rose’s words and told Xoshi what to say. However, Xoshi didn’t know the answer and when he was told what it was, he was confused.

”Yoshi’s Island?!” Xoshi thought unbelievingly.

Yes. “Yoshi’s Island”. It’s what people like White Rose here call Yo’ster Isle, Beel explained.

All right... Xoshi thought. He spoke the next part out loud.

“Yoshi’s... Island...” he said awkwardly.

“I see,” White Rose said. They continued walking beneath the orange sky.

Normally, when someone asks where you’re from, it’s polite to ask where he’s from as well, Beel instructed.

“From where... do YOU hail?” Xoshi tried saying.

At first, White Rose said nothing. Then he just said, “Far away.”

Beel translated this and told Xoshi what to say. “I see,” Xoshi said.

The two travelers ascended one of the desert’s sandy hills. Along the way, White Rose started to say something. “I, uh,” he started, “take it your first language isn’t necessarily- Look out!” The knight had to interrupt himself. He unsheathed his curvy sword.

“Huh? WOAH!” Xoshi blurted. Something round, spiky, and yellow was hurtling towards him. He tried ducking. Then CLANG! White Rose sent it flying elsewhere with a blow from his sword.

“Are you all right, Sir Xoshi?” he said.

Beel translated. “Yes, I am,” said Xoshi. Xoshi asked Beel how to say the next thing. “What that down there?” he asked. He pointed to a creature that looked like a stack of three of the spiny things he just got saved from earlier. The one on top had a gruesome face on it and three horns on top. It looked angry.

“A Pokey,” said the swordsman. “I warned you about them.”

“Right,” said Xoshi.

White Rose took a step forward. He held his sword in his right hand and swept his left hand across the air. “You need not meddle in our affairs; step aside!” he ordered.

The Pokey didn’t obey. It maintained its infuriated look and went for another attack. It popped out one of its own segments and struck it with the rest of its body like a bat hitting a baseball. The projectile went spinning straight for the brown Yo’ster. Xoshi’s eyes bugged out. White Rose wrapped both of his gloved hands around the hilt of his sword and took a swing just in time. SHLING! The Pokey’s body part got chopped perfectly into two juicy halves. The rest of the monster trembled in anger. Its next move was to lean back and sink its head into the sand. Its two enemies watched it do this cautiously.

“It’s going to make another one come up,” said Xoshi’s partner. He got a tighter grip on his weapon. “Get ready,” said the man. Xoshi nodded.

The man in white’s prediction came true. As soon as it was done leaning back, the Pokey sprang back up and another one just like it popped out of the ground in a few puffs of sand. Now the odds were evened.

“Let’s go!” White Rose commanded. Obeying him, the brown one followed closely behind the man as he started running down the hill towards the enemy. They both chose one Pokey and landed before it. White Rose made a sideways swing at his opponent, the new Pokey, but it swung itself back just in time. Once it came back up, it didn’t live to regret doing so. SHLUCK! The knight split it into eight different pieces with an upward swing. One opponent was done for. Looking back, he could see that Xoshi had about just as easy a time. The Pokey tried flinging its last segment at him, but did so in vain. Xoshi dodged it and made his enemy look first frustrated, then panicky. SLURP! Gulp. Pop! Xoshi had swallowed the fiend up and made a nice, big egg out of it covered in green spots. It looked as though victory was theirs. “Be on guard,” the swordsman warned, holding his sword up. Xoshi nodded and picked the egg up from behind him, trying his best to expect the unexpected. White Rose was right again. Out of nowhere, ten more Pokeys started swarming. They glided their ways over until they had the duo surrounded. The fiends looked ready for some blood. “NOW!” White Rose ordered.

Xoshi fired an egg at one of them, causing it to explode into four round, spiky things covered in yolk and eggshell. He ran up to the next one, which tried firing one of its segments at him, but Xoshi licked up its whole body and made another egg out of it before it was too late. Then he went on with the others...

White Rose was too much for the Pokeys to handle. They tried tripping him, they tried swatting him, they tried biting him. With his quick reflexes and his sword, he was able to chop them all up, one by one...

In time, there were only three Pokeys left. However, they didn’t look angry; they looked frantic. Xoshi and White Rose were both poised and ready, but then the beasts turned around and fled with their tails tucked between their legs.

I guess that’s that, thought Xoshi, optimistically.

Don’t think it’s over just yet, Beel said.

“Don’t think it’s over just yet,” White Rose said

The two fighters stood there in the desert, remaining in their stances with their eyes and heads looking about, ever so alertly. It seemed they had the right idea. Beneath them, the sandy ground began to shake. At first, for the pair, it was just a little vibration, but then it began to escalate. Xoshi was getting a little worried.

“Get back!” the knight ordered. He turned around and ran back up the hill they were just on. Xoshi followed his example. The further they went up, the less they could feel the trembling. “Wait for it...” Xoshi’s companion said. He obeyed that, too.

All they could do was use their patience and watch where they were just standing continue its quivering. Clouds of sand kept scattering from it. Then FWWOOOSSHH! The ground exploded and the two witnesses found themselves craning their heads back to have a good look at what had just erupted from it and turned into an unbelievably towering monster. It was a gigantic, five-segmented Pokey with pink skin. Its face looked particularly more threatening than the others had. If Xoshi and White Rose didn’t do something about this monstrosity and quick, then they would surely meet the ends of their lives.

“This is the one, Sir Xoshi,” White Rose said, readying his sword. “The Pokey Mommy...” Xoshi looked shocked at first, but then quickly became filled with comprehension. He, too, got himself prepared for the massive battle that was to ensue...

“This way, guys,” said the huge Shy Guy, allowing his three companions to follow him through the thick shrubbery of the wild place.

“GAA!” Chak complained, after getting slapped in the face by a big, green leaf. “This is worse than that one mud place we went to!”

”I know, I know,” David agreed, having just as much trouble trying to push his small body past the tall extensions of grass and ducking from the branches. A little while afterwards, the four-some was finally able to get past that collection of crazy vegetation and into some flatter area of the biome.

“Blech,” said the grey Snifit, walking along while plucking various sticks, leaves, and other green things off of him. “Why did that darn spaceship have to crash-land here of all places?” he moped.

“Holy Jenkins,” said Chak. He grabbed everyone’s attention and pointed somewhere with one of his odd three-fingered hands. “What’s going on over there?!” Somewhere in the middle of a bunch of trees, they could all see a phalanx of different rainbow colors, all of them before two black figures hopping about crazily and aggressively.

They all seemed to be just as interested in this as Chak was. “I dunno,” said Shy Guy. “Let’s go find out!”

Together, they ran past some more green, plumy, and bizarre obstacles until they were behind that very wall of various colors that they saw before. Since they were closer at this point, they could see that this wall was a crowd of Yoshis and that they were all watching a tremendous fight going on between what looked like two Ravens: a big one and a little one.

“Now what do you suppose this is all about, then?” Chak wondered. A periwinkle Yoshi right in front of him jerked himself around and gave the warped man an extremely weird look as though the person that just spoke was out of his mind.

“Didn’t you hear?! They’re fighting to see who will become the new master of the island! What cave did you just crawl out of?!” the Yoshi explained, exasperatedly.

”Jlaka,” the humungous Shy Guy replied. The annoyed Yoshi shook his head, turned around, and watched the fight go on...

Ren leaped into the air, spun around, and threw one foot out. Raphael tried jumping back, but it was futile. POW! His brother let a kick blast him right in the side of the face. Ren landed on the grass and turned around with an arrogant look on his face. “Come on, Brother. Call it quits!”

Raphael glared and spat out a wad of blood. It splattered against the ground, which was all covered in grass already majorly messed up as a result of the fighting. “Never, Ren.”

Ren just scoffed. “Fine. Be that way.” Ren shuffled forward, jumped into the air, and front-flipped. He was going for a ground pound against his opponent’s cranium. Swiftly, Raphael back-flipped and slammed his feet right against his sibling’s buttocks. The smaller one went flying through the air and crashed against one of the trees in the gathering. A few splinters later, Ren fell to the ground, leaving a mark against the wood shaped like him. He plopped onto the grass with a THUD.

Raphael shuffled over to him while he was busy getting off the ground and shaking his head. Once he was directly in front of him again, he said, “This is your last chance, Ren. I advise you: give up now. Step down.”

“No way,” he growled. “This isn’t over yet!” Ren speedily flipped through the air and headbutted his brother right in the gut. WHAM!

”OOF!” Raphael jolted back and got the wind knocked out of him from the blow. He would have commenced trying to suck it back in, but then Ren took another leap and started kicking him repeatedly in the face. POW! POW! POW! Raphael was getting pummeled. Finally, he got sick of it, back-flipped, kicked Ren in the face, sent the bird sprawling, and pounded the ground. THOOM! The shockwave made Ren flop a little, but it still wasn’t enough to render the fowl defeated. Both birds were still standing. “Very well then,” Raphael growled. “If you won’t give up, then neither will I...” With those words, their rumbling continued...

Xoshi fired eggs rapidly away at the body of this horrendously oversized attacker. He fired again, and again, but it was useless. All they did was splatter against its spiked exterior. Pretty soon, he was out of eggs, and his mind was in a slump. Those Pokeys he swallowed had outlived their usefulness, and so did those Dusty Hammers he engulfed a while ago.

Beel! Xoshi thought desperately. What do I do against this thing?!

Try the Thunder Bolt, Beel said.

Oh. Good idea! Xoshi reached beneath his saddle and pulled out that very item. He threw it into the air, and soon afterwards, a streak of lightning showed up out of nowhere and crashed against one of the enormous being’s needle-covered segments. It only let a few wisps of steam spill off. Once they were gone, Xoshi could see that this attack had been useless as well. Okay, what now?! Xoshi panicked.

I’m not sure. Ask White Rose, the spirit suggested.

“WHITE ROSE!” Xoshi called. The man was just standing there with his hands closed tightly around his sword, which he held upright before his face. His eyes were closed. Xoshi had no idea what he was doing. “WHITE! WHAT WE DO AGAINST THIS THING?!” The knight didn’t answer. He remained standing with his sword there and his eyes closed. Xoshi was getting frustrated. “WHITE!” Instead of trying more to get his ally to snap out of it, Xoshi had to have his attention stolen by something else. He looked up and saw that the colossal monster was toppling over. It was going to fall face downward and crush them! Xoshi flipped out. “WHITE!!!” he screamed again. He started running towards the man as the massive shadow being cast over them started growing larger and larger. Xoshi lunged and went into a tackling position. TRIP! White Rose bent one leg out behind him for Xoshi to fall over. He went tumbling a few more feet than he had in mind. “AAUUGGHH!” Xoshi landed hard against the gritty sand. He quickly turned around and continued fearing for the safety of the swordsman. He wanted to go to him once more, but THHOOOOOOOOMMM!!! The titanic collection of pink spikes came crashing down onto the hill. It seemed like the blow was powerful enough to split the entire desert in half. The gigantic jolt sent Xoshi flipping through the air uncontrollably. He clammered to the sand again. He got up, trying to blink out anything that may have gotten into his optical receptors, and started sprinting towards White Rose. Surprisingly, the man was still standing there in that strange position as though nothing had just slammed into the vast space right next to him. Upon seeing this, Xoshi began to question who really knew how to save the other’s life. He also saw that one of the many long spines covering this thing’s pink skin was wobbling. Thinking quickly, he began sprinting harder before the beast could lift itself off the ground and prepare for another blow. He made it just when it started elevating itself. Once he was close enough, Xoshi hopped into the air and slurped that wobbly spike right off of his enemy. He landed, swallowed, and POP! Another egg was his. He first saw the enormous being rising its way up against the fading, evening sky, then he saw White Rose still doing his unusual activity. Then his thoughts went elsewhere.

Uhhh... he contemplated, holding the speckled object in his sweaty hands. How did Yoshi do this again?! He strained his brain in pure desperation, trying incrediby hard to find the vital detail in his memory that was the part when his friend defeated that Koopa Kid with a single egg. Then he nailed it. Of course! he thought triumphantly. He held the egg in his right hand, positioned it with his right arm, closed one eye for the extra accuracy, and let ‘er fly.

The spotted projectile spun through the air, hurtling closer and closer to the center of the monster’s hideous face. Xoshi watched without blinking and with his fingers crossed. SPLAT! The egg shattered right where he wanted it to, but not with the results he had in mind. The monster was still unscathed, and ready to flatten its enemies again.

“NOOOO!” Xoshi wailed. He looked around frantically, thinking that making a run for it truly was the only answer. Then at last his partner started doing something a little different. He opened his eyes. It almost looked like they were glowing...

Raphael shuffled as fast as he could. Ren was doing the exact same thing. It looked like the two family members were about to just ram into each other head-on. Then Raphael hurled himself through the air, flipped forward, and came crashing down right when he was sure his brother was in the dead center of the space beneath him that he had in mind. THOOM! He had given the ground another beating. Hopefully, he had given one to his brother as well. He hopped out of the place where he had dealt the blow and turned around. He was shocked. There was nothing where he had just attacked besides a bunch of smushed grass. Then he heard something sounding behind him.

“BOOONNZZAAAAIIII!” Raphael turned around quickly enough, but didn’t dodge quickly enough. WHAM! The huge bird was side-kicked in the stomach. He groaned and fell back, but didn’t hit the ground. WHACK! Just in time, Ren flipped back and kicked his brother right in the beak. Then the little bird shuffled swiftly, leapt through the air, and was all over his opponent’s face again. POW! POW! POW! POW! POW! POW!!! Another frenzy was plastered against Raphael’s mug, and the beating didn’t end there. At last, Raphael could fall to the ground, sitting down, panting heavily, while feeling the blood ooze out of him in different places. “Want some more?” Ren asked. All he got for an answer was a few wheezes and some coughs. “Thought so.” Ren started glowing a crimson color and bulging a vein across his forehead. He jumped up, did a backflip, and slammed harshly into the ground. THOOM! The shockwave sent Raphael tumbling backwards. He rolled around uncontrollably until he flopped down right in front of Fyooshi. He was one of the many Yo’sters that looked extremely panic-stricken.

“RAPHAEL!” Fyooshi screamed. He bent down beside the bird’s pummeled head and started trying to get the life back in him. “RAPHAEL, COME ON! WE NEED YOU HERE! COME ON!”

While Fyooshi was going on screaming, Ren was slowly advancing towards the fallen one. “Well, well, well,” he said, “it looks as though the mighty Raphael has finally bitten off more than he could chew. Does this mean that he WON’T be taking back his position as master of the island? Does this mean that I, the incomparable Ren, WON’T be stepping down?” He stopped his movement once he was right in front of his downed brother. “Does it mean that Lavalava Island is mine now? Does it mean you came all this way for nothing?” The other Yoshis were switching back and forth between staring at Raphael, worried, and staring at Ren, frightened. Ren went for the big finish. “Does it mean you’ve GIVEN UP?!” All the Yo’sters were sweating profusely. Ren started to cackle wildly. “Hee hee hee,” he laughed. “Heh heh heh,” he went on. “Ha ha ha... Ha ha ha! HA HA HA HA HA HA HAA!”

The citizens of Lavalava Island were beginning to lose hope, as was a certain humungous bird who had suffered a vicious beating. I can’t lose... Raphael thought. I CAN’T lose. I CAN’T! The islanders were losing their spirits, the sky was getting darker, and Ren’s laughter wouldn’t cease. Perhaps the times were going to start getting darker from then on as well...

Xoshi was running as hard as he could down the hill. He was going for the base of this humungous monster in hope that there’d be more loose spikes that he could gobble up. It would probably have results just like his earlier attempts at taking down the thing, but he didn’t know what else to do. He was dashing with all his might regardless. He didn’t even care that the beast was moments away from crushing him. Then his tactics took a dire twist.

“SIR XOSHI! AWAY!” he heard White Rose call. Confused, but willing to take a chance, Xoshi immediately took a turn and started heading away from the monster’s warpath. He was already out of the thing’s line of fire, but kept running just to be sure. He cocked his head up to see what that knight was doing on the hill.

White Rose was swinging his sword forward rhythmically. Constantly, he would swipe it and let it jolt only a few inches just before where it was previously, and he would bring it back just to do it over and over again. Xoshi could see these weird movements from afar, but he couldn’t make out what good it was doing. Once he saw it, though, he skidded to a halt, bunching up the sand around his shoes in the process, and turned around to see if his eyes were playing tricks on him. It looked as though with each swing he made with it, White Rose was actually making his sword grow longer! Not only could Xoshi start to see this weapon gleaming in the moonlight, not only could he see that the monster was falling dangerously closer to the guy, but he could also start hearing the sword sing as it went whooshing through the air each time the swordsman swung it. SHING! White Rose swung it and it grew longer. SHHINNGG! He swung it again. It grew larger, and its noise was louder. SSHHHIINNNGGG!!! It seemed the sword had reached its fullest form. Xoshi’s jaw dropped. This blade seemed just as tall as the monster itself.

White Rose let his eyebrows clasp together in a dead serious manner. He looked at the monster with a deadly gaze, and he clenched harder to the sword with more strength than ever. Letting all the power in him surge through his arms, his hips, and his legs to send the weapon skimming through the air, to keep his body turning and his feet planted firmly onto the ground, he swung the sword against the humungous monster’s plummeting body. His sharp instrument sang loudly as it went piercing through the air. Then SSSHHHIIINNNGGG!!! White Rose had done it. He had managed to make one clean cut go right through the beast’s body, causing one half of it to go soaring way, way, way up into the night sky, and the other half to plop down against the hill uselessly, sending a huge mass of sand clouds to rise up into the air. White Rose remained standing perfectly still on the upraised portion of the baron desert as a statue, keeping that incredibly long sword pointing in the direction where he’d sent a fraction of the beast’s form. Xoshi’s jaw was still hanging wide open, and his eyes weren’t moving a single inch. White Rose panted for a few seconds, trying to recover from such a battle. Then the two guys heard a loud THHOOOOOOOOMMM way off in the distance. They could feel its rumbling, too. Xoshi wobbled a little as a result, but White Rose kept standing perfectly still. At last, he lowered his sword to the ground. Once he did so, the weapon immediately began shrinking back to its original size. The Pokey Mommy had been officially defeated.

Xoshi was running up the hill to catch up with him. Once the two travelers were right by eachother again, Xoshi could ask. “Who... Are... You?!”

At this point, the knight’s sword was finally back to its original size. He shoved it back into its scabbard and faced Xoshi. “I’m just a man,” he started, “who spent many years of blood, sweat, and tears just to learn how to wield a sword properly.” Xoshi just gawked. White Rose began to descend the hill. “That’s my Giant Sword technique,” he explained. “It’s helped me many times in the past...”

Xoshi still stood on the hill in utter disbelief. You see, Beel said, the people we’ll be recruiting on this quest won’t be such ordinary people. Xoshi still couldn’t conclude whether all of what he just saw was real or not. He scratched his head a little, and then got his wits back together. He turned around, and started following this miraculous man again. Their journey continued beneath a dusk sky...

“Come on,” Fyooshi urged. “Get up!” Raphael still wasn’t budging.

“Come on, guys,” Snifit said. “We’ve been here long enough. The fight’s over. Let’s go.” The other three almost concurred whole-heartedly. Chak interrupted.

”Wait a minute,” he said. “Do you hear that?”

”Hear what?” David said.

“They’re... chanting...” Chak had a hand up to an unseen ear so the sound could come more clearly to him. The others were doing something similar. The noise was reaching them, too.

”Ra-pha-el... Ra-pha-el... Ra-pha-el... Ra-pha-el...”

“What the-“ Shy Guy said.

“Who is this Raphael?” Chak asked.

“The downed one, perhaps?” David reasoned. The chanting started getting faster and louder. The flustered Yoshi that spoke to them earlier along with a few others had also joined in.

”Ra-pha-el! Ra-pha-el! Ra-pha-el! Ra-pha-el!”

“What are you people doing?” Ren growled. “He lost, okay?! You’re mine now, you hear me?! MINE!”

The crowd ignored him. They started chanting even faster and even louder this time. More Yoshis had joined in. Even the cowardly Fyooshi.

“Ra-pha-el!Ra-pha-el!Ra-pha-el!Ra-pha-el!”

“Rrg,” Raphael groaned, trying desperately to get his muscles moving again. He was aching, bleeding, and sweating all over. Getting up was not going to be easy.

Yoshi was still befuddled, but things started to make a little more sense now. The big Raven that was struggling to get up was the one named Raphael, and unless he did so, something really bad would happen, so everyone was trying to raise morale. He also realized that this cheering everyone was joining in was for an enemy he and his friends had encountered on their mission against Kamek. He shrugged it off. He decided that, even though he didn’t speak the same language, that he might as well join in, too.

“Raphael!Raphael!Raphael!Raphel!”

“Looks like fun!” Shy Guy mused. “Come on, Sniffy, Chakky, Davey!” Shy Guy started making a pumping movement with one of his muscular arms. “RAPHAEL! RAPHAEL! RAPHAEL! RAPHAEL!”

Chak and David looked at each other and shrugged. Then they started chanting as well. “RAPHAEL!RAPHAEL!RAPHAEL!RAPHAEL!”

Snifit looked at his three comrades as though they’d all gone insane. Then he shook his head and joined in as well.

At this point, the chanting was at its loudest and fastest.

“RAPHAEL!!!RAPHAEL!!!RAPHAEL!!!RAPHAEL!!!”

“Stop it,” Ren growled. “STOP IT!” he shrieked. “STOP IT, ALL OF YOU! IT’S NO USE! HE LOST! GET OVER IT!!!”

As the chanting and the ranting continued, Raphael was going on with his struggle. He wasn’t just trying to get back on his feet; he was trying to get his thoughts in order. I was hoping it wouldn’t have to come to this, he said in his head, but now I see that I have been left with no other choice... He strained for power in his feet as fiercely as he could. They began to tremble. Ramona... he thought. Mother... Forgive me... A tidal wave of strength poured throughout the former ruler’s veins, invigorating him at an incredible rate. He flexed his muscles, positioned his back and his feet, and heaved himself back up. The mighty Raphael was back in action. The crowd went wild.

“YYYAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!”

Ren looked as though he had just seen a ghost. He was starting to sweat, seeing that his brother was still not down. “No,” he gasped. “No. NO! NO!! NO, YOU STUBBORN, NO-GOOD, FAT-HEADED IDIOT!!! STAY DOWN! YOU LOST!!!”

No one was listening to the dictator. They had all regained their faith in Raphael and the fight was just about to continue. Before it did, though, Raphael had to think one last thing. This... is madness, he thought. I’m quite convinced that this is going to be the best and worst thing I’ll do.

Everyone cheered for Raphael. They were out of control. At last, Raphael concentrated the best he could and let the attack rip. He turned red, he flexed a bulging vein across his forehead, he pumped his muscles, and sent himself rocketing unbelievably high into the sky. The audience, including Yoshi, Fyooshi, Shy Guy, Snifit, Chak, David, and even Ren, looked up in pure awe. For a few seconds, all they could see was the dark blue tone of the night sky. Then finally, a black figure started descending. As it drew closer, it started appearing more and more red. Raphael was crashing down towards the ground at an unbelievable speed.

“No...” Ren whimpered. Then he started shuffling extremely quickly. “NNOOOOOOOOO!!!” He was covering more distance every split-second than he ever had his whole life. He probably would have made it, too. TTHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!! Raphael landed right next to him, and the abusive Raven went flying, screaming all the way.

“AAAAAAAUUUUUUUggggggghhhhhh...”

The crowd looked up again. They kept watching this smaller, but equally black, figure fade away. This time, it didn’t come back. It was gone for good. At last, they could feel as though an extremely heavy amount of weight had been lifted from their backs. They could feel as though the sun was going to rise again. They could feel as though their lives could return to normal after all this time. With such tremendous amounts of joy flowing through them, they had but one thing to do: cheer.

”YYYEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!! RAPHAEL! RAPHAEL! RAPHEL! RAPHEL!”

All of the Yoshis, including the four that had carried the loser of the battle into the field, ran up to the oversized bird and picked him up, letting him use their upraised hands as an improvised bed. They carried him off as a symbol of victory away from the place. Yoshi was one of the few who stayed behind. Funny, he thought. They used to do the exact same thing to Boshi...

In a slightly different location, a certain quartet was busy wrapping things up. “Wellp!” Shy Guy said, enthusiastically, “It looks as though the good guys won, eh, guys?” He got an assorted few mutterings of agreement for a response. “Well,” he continued, “I guess we’ve been stalling long enough. Come on; we’ll miss our ride.” Shy Guy started turning around, gesturing the others to follow.

“Ride?” Snifit inquired.

“You’ll see,” Shy Guy said. Not having any clue whatsoever, Snifit shook his head again, and decided to start catching up with those guys...

Up above in the tree that Yoshi, Fyooshi, and Raphael were by earlier, a group of Ravens that each bore strong resemblances to Ren in terms of shape and size had seen the whole thing. They all looked quite pleased. One of them spoke up. “Caw caw,” he said. “The battle ended successfully. From here on out, Raphael shall be the master of this island. Caw caw.”

”CAWW CAAAWWW!” the others agreed. They basked in their triumph for a while longer. But then something showed up, causing them all to drop their thoughts of triumph and look up.

“Caw?” one of them said. This little crowd of Ravens couldn’t believe their eyes as they looked at what was flying over their heads flashing all kinds of strange and colorful lights, making an unusual humming sound. It was the U.F.O. that just crash-landed on their island a little while ago. It was finally back amongst the stars.

“Caw caw,” said the one of them again. “This spells bad news... Caaawwww...”

Inside that very ship, the aliens of purple, silver, and frog-like guises were back in that circular room of theirs, poking at buttons like they were supposed to be.

“This is great, Wart,” the captain said, back in his chair next to his right-hand man like he was supposed to be. “Pretty soon, we’ll have this entire planet bowing before us!” he gloated.

“YES, SIR,” the rotund amphibian agreed.

With those words, this enterprise of intergalactic conquerors flew onwards, being up to things no one was quite certain of...

Xoshi and White Rose had made it out of the desert and into the mountains. They found themselves a nice place to stop and set up camp. Two tents were set up for the pair. They had both eaten their fill of Mushrooms and were calling it a day. White Rose was already in his own tent, trying to catch some Z’s, but Xoshi was still out, sitting by the fire. He was looking at the stars, deep in thought.

When someone says, “Tell me the constellations,” you say...

Not now, Beel, Xoshi interupted. I’m thinking...

Oh? What about?

About... everything. About this trip. About my friends. Even my enemies, Xoshi listed. Various images ran through his head. Images including ones of the weird dream he twice had, the S. S. Dolpic that took him away from Yo’ster Isle (AKA Yoshi’s Island), his companions, Yoshi, Yazzee, Boshi, Prof. E. Gadd, and even those two guys that helped them in that fight against those ghouls that had tried to take their souls. He also thought of the horde of Pokeys they encountered that day. Where’s it all going? When will it end? he thought.

It’ll end, said Beel, when it ends...

Yeah, Xoshi thought back. *sigh* Jeila...

Jeila?

Yeah... She’s the girl I like. We’ve hardly ever spoken to each other. But I would just see her on occasion and think... “It’s gotta be her. She’s the one for me.” I keep wanting to get the opportunity to just sit down and talk with her, but... Xoshi hesitated. It was strange opening up to a foreign spirit like this. But... I’m just so... shy...

I see... Beel said.

Xoshi gave himself in to more thought. As he was watching the stars, he noticed how a plane was drifting its way in front of the full moon. I wonder where a plane would be going at a time like this... Xoshi pondered. It’s round... Round, round... The moon should not be round... Xoshi shook his head, backed away from the glowing fire, and headed on into his tent. Crawling around in there, he managed to find that idol of the Super-Happy Tree, and placed it in front of himself.

What are you doing now? Beel asked.

I’m praying, Xoshi answered, beginning to fold his hands and close his eyes. They opened up. Wait a minute, he said suddenly. Geez, you really don’t go reading my mind anymore, huh?!

Well, Beel said, you told me not to.

Xoshi gave a chuckle out loud. Thanks, Beel. You’ve been a great friend, you know that?

I’m your... Friend?!

Yeah, why not? I mean, whenever I have questions, you answer them. Whenever I’m feeling bummed out, you cheer me up, Xoshi explained.

Hmm...

Anyway, Xoshi said, enough chat. Down to business! Xoshi closed his eyes again and began his prayer. Dear Mother, he thought, I pray for the strength to change what I can, the ability to accept what I can’t... His prayer went on. At last, he finished. And in your name I pray, Amen. He opened his eyes, unfolded his hands, put the idol back in its hiding spot, and made himself comfortable. Goodnight, Beel, Xoshi thought to the spirit.

Goodnight, Xoshi, the spirit thought back.

Goodnight, Belome, Xoshi thought to the unusual doll. The doll said nothing.

Before trying to get some sleep again, he had to remind himself that most likely the next day was going to be another crazy one...

Shy Guy had led Snifit, Chak, and David to the edge of one of Lavalava Island’s shores. They were standing around, looking confused. Shy Guy was the only one who wasn’t confused, though. He only stood in front of the water with his powerful arms folded. This just made the situation all the more befuddling.

“Shy Guy,” Snifit asked, “what are we doing here?”

“You’ll see,” Shy Guy instructed.

The four guys remained still, waiting for whatever it was that they were waiting for. Then finally they could start feeling as though their patience had come to pay off. The waves a few feet in front of Shy Guy started bubbling. Everyone watched as the bubbling got fiercer. Then FFWWWOOOOSHHH! They all jumped back at the sight. A gigantic dinosaur-like head lifted itself out of the water using a lengthy neck. It was sticking out of a massive turtle-like shell. The majority of its natural suit of armor and the rest of its scales were an orange-yellow color. It let out a strange, high-pitched moaning noise.

“Guys,” said the muscular 8-Bit, reaching behind himself and pulling out what looked like a large, oddly-shaped piece of produce that was half purple, half blue, “meet Dino Splash. It only comes once every Wednesday night.” He tossed the fruit to the creature, and it caught the delicacy with its mouth, chewed, and swallowed. It let out another moan, and lowered its head. Shy Guy took a step onto the animal’s big cranium. He turned around and noticed the other three were hesitating. “Well, come on!” he beckoned. He walked down its long neck and made himself comfortable on the back of its tremendous shell. Soon, his companions were there with him as well. The creature lifted its head back up and started to slowly turn around. “TO KARIBOO ISLAND!” Shy Guy yelled to it, raising an arm enthusiastically. It let out another moan and started using its reptilian fins to swim in the direction of that place.

The peaceful evening that this resulted in contrasted greatly with the previous events. This unusual group of four was resting on the back of a turtle-like beast, and they were headed slowly for a magical place beneath the glow of the starlit sky, surrounded by the gentle sound of the lapping of the waves nearby.

“Hey, Shy Guy,” said Snifit, “what was that you just fed to Dino Splash?”

“A Dino Mango,” Shy Guy said. “Dino Splash’s favorite food.”

”Say, Shy Guy.” Chak grabbed his attention. “How long will it take to get to Kariboo Island?”

“Don’t sweat it,” said Shy Guy. “It only takes a few hours to get there.”

“Ah,” Chak said, satisfied.

The questions had been answered, and the journey had been continued. The pleased quartet went on enjoying themselves in peace on the back of the strange but wonderful creature, Dino Splash...

“Where is here? Here is where? One thing’s for sure: I’m not over THERE. Oh, my, what’s this...?”

Ren was on the ground, lying on the grass, practically unable to move. He was completely covered in soars and bruises and other forms of pain. His spirit had been broken.

Why, why, WHY... he raged in his mind. How could I have lost? How could I have let such a big, dumb softie like my own brother win? I’ll never forgive myself for this. Never, never...

He loathed himself away into the night. Then an odd person shuffled up to him and gave him a poke.

”GAH! What do you want?!” Ren blurted. He rolled onto one side and saw four images whirling around each other. Then he just saw one. He saw a Raven-like individual with a curly unibrow. “Who the-“

“Hello, Ren,” Razule said. “I’m your biggest fan...!”

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