Chapter 34
"Everyone," a pink-robed Bandit said to a bunch of Goombas. The whole lot of them were wearing smiles. "The Maple Syrups have been keeping us quite busy for a while now... but now it's time for them to let us have some fun." The Bandit stepped aside and showed the way in with his extended arm. "Enjoy." With that, the excited Goombas ran forward. Soon enough, their entire group was running rampant throughout the place. Carnival Alley was bursting with life today. There were games and rides for all. However, there were probably also even a few traps...

"Come on... You know you want this..."

Somewhere, a Bandit with a robe long enough to cover his feet was standing right next to a gigantic, brown rock the size of an entire building. His robe matched its color. It even had dots and lines all over it in the right places so it looked as though it, too, was a rock. In his right hand, he held a spear of a perfectly white, perfectly smooth material. He looked ahead of him for some suckers. They could have been anywhere in this crazy place. They could have been near the ferris wheel. They could have been near those games. The list went on and on. After all, that was the way of Carnival Alley.

Lucky for him, today was the day when quite a few Goombas were in town. They all seemed to be wearing strange costumes. Some were dressed like Shy Guys, others were dressed like Super Mushrooms, and so on. Two of them were walking by the spear-wielding Bandit. "Ah, here they come," he said. One of them was dressed like a blue Snifit and the other was dressed like a Sackit. "You, there!" the Bandit called out, causing the two Goombas to stop and face the man. "Yes, you! Think you're man enough to take on Labyrit's Elaborate Labyrinth?"

"Labby's labby what?" said the Sackit Goomba.

The Bandit chuckled. "The name's Labyrit," he said, "and for ten coins you can journey through one of my three elaborate labyrinths. If you can do any of them under a certain amount of time, you win a prize." Labyrit began pointing to various spots on the humungous rock next to him with his spear. The first spot had a small, doorway-like hole in it. "Take the easy one, and you'll win a Jammin' Jelly." He pointed to the medium-sized hole next to it. "Take the medium one, and you'll win THREE Jammin' Jellies." Finally, he pointed to the largest hole. "Take the hard one, and you'll win..." Labyrit reached into the sleeve in his robe, pulled something out, and started dangling it before him so the two Goombas could stare at it for themselves. "...This." It was a pendant. It consisted of a gold chain and a shiny, relatively thin object with five corners. "The Penta Pendant," Labyrit said. "It's as expensive as it is mysterious." Labyrit snapped the treasure into his fist like a yoyo. "So, what do ya say?" Labyrit went on. "Any takers?"

"Honey," the Snifit Goomba said, "I want that pendant. Take the hard one."

"But I-"

"JUST DO IT!"

The Sackit Goomba cringed. Reluctantly, he walked up to the Bandit and put ten coins into his left hand. "The... hard one, please," he mumbled.

"Ooh! Excellent choice, sir!" Labyrit praised. "I must warn you, though," he added, "no one has EVER survived it."

"Oh-ho, great," the Sackit Goomba groaned. "For ten coins, I'm going to die."

Labyrit chuckled again. "Don't worry," he said. "If you can't do it in less than one hour, I'll come and get you." The Sackit Goomba breathed a sigh of relief. "But you won't win anything."

"D'oh," the Sackit Goomba groaned.

"Now, hop to it!" Labyrit said, excitedly. The Sackit Goomba uninterestedly dragged himself up to the large hole in the giant rock and stared at it.

"DON'T WORRY, DEAR! I BELIEVE IN YOU!" the Snifit Goomba called out. The Sackit Goomba just groaned and unwillingly walked into the cave. The Snifit Goomba watched him do this in excitement and the Bandit watched in sadistic amusement. He pocketed the ten coins he had just won.

As if believing in him is going to do anything, he thought. That's why this lovely pendant will always be mine... The Bandit thought this and started chuckling some more...

Chogun, Davey, Clarence, Dr. Goom, and Goombil were still in the Kariboo Sub beneath the waves. At the moment, to kill time, Clarence wasn't doing any more of his impressions for their two passengers. Instead, he was telling them some history-oriented story.

"...Ever since, Goomba Grove's been around," he said.

"I see," Davey said.

"So, what you're saying," Chogun said, "is that the reason why it's called Kariboo Island is because it was founded, not by Kuribo the Goomba, but, rather, his brother, Kariboo the Goomba?"

"Yep, that's about it," Clarence stated.

"Ah, I understand now," Chogun replied. The story was completed. Therefore, another speech by Clarence had come to a close. Because of this, Dr. Goom's timing couldn't have been better.

"Good news, gentlemen!" he called out. Chogun, Davey, and Clarence looked his way. The next thing they heard was indeed an exciting one, especially for Chogun and Davey. "Carnival Alley is but a few moments away. We'll be there in no time at all."

Getting any happier was something neither Chogun and Davey were capable of. They could no longer contain it. They vocally expressed their enthusiasm. "YES!" they cried out. At last, their much awaited salvation could come...

The captain of the space aliens, Titotal Gonnic, was staring out of one of the long lines of windows in his circular ship. Only three people were with him in this curvy hallway of the humungous device. Two of them were looking very worried about him, for all he was doing was staring at the brass world and the large collection of airplanes outside of the window. He held his right fist against the thick glass while the other hand was clutching at the neck of a bottle of some red, poisonous substance. His eyes were looking lopsided.

"These things... always happen to me," he grumbled. "I give it my all... And what happens?!" He lifted the bottle to his lips and downed some of its contents. He put it back down and started lamenting some more. "It all gets taken away from me," he said. "That's no way for a scourge of the galaxy to live..."

"We understand how you feel, sir, but you shouldn't do this to yourself," Katana said.

"PLEASE... THINK OF YOUR HEALTH," Wart stated.

"You two have a problem?!" Gonnic spun around and glared at his two loyal henchmen. Even in this inebriated state of his, he was still terrifying. Wart and Katana remained silent. Gonnic grumbled and turned around. "Good," he growled. "I'll drink as much as I want."

"HEAR, HEAR!" said the person next to the captain. It was Gonnic's third henchmen, a frog wearing the same high-ranking, yellow and purple striped uniform as Katana. Like his even higher-ranking superior, he had a bottle of some red stuff in his hand. "WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS... DRINK LEMONADE!"

The drunk frog was about to drink some more when Gonnic turned and glared at him. "Oh, SHUT UP!!!" CRASH! The captain smashed his bottle over the head of the lesser crewmember, sending him falling to the ground in a puddle of the alcoholic liquid. Making the best of the situation, the fallen frog merely began licking off what had gotten on his face, even though it meant getting some pieces of glass stuck on his tongue. The captain growled and faced the window again. "Let's face it," he said under his breath, "we're doomed..."

"NOT QUITE, SIR!" All three of Gonnic, Wart, and Katana turned around. Running towards them was their mechanical crewmember, Wrench. He ran up to the captain, who just glared at him. Wrench himself was still in high spirits, though. "Sir," he said, "I finally completed them. The Turbosus are complete!"

Suddenly, everything became silent. The only sound that could be heard was the drunk frog continuing to lick his face. Wart, Katana, and Wrench stared at the captain, patiently awaiting his reaction. So far, he was still glaring. His mouth wasn't moving. Then it started squirming. Slowly, it twisted into a devilish smile. The captain started letting out a deep-pitched, monster-like chortle. "Ex-ssssellent," he hissed. "Show me."

Wrench nodded. "Right then," he said. "Follow me." The silver alien turned around and started walking off in the direction he had come from. Gonnic staggered after him. Wart and Katana were following their captain. As for the drunk frog, he was still lying on the ground, licking himself.

"MMM... LEMONADE..."

Kammelina and Kammeo were back inside their cottage. The younger of the two sisters was very happy about this. She was walking around the place with a smile. She walked directly into the circle of sunlight that the hole in their roof let in. "It's good to be home, right, Sister?" she said.

"Yes, yes, Kammeo. Now would you get over here?! I can't stir this potion alone, you know." After nagging at her sibling, the elder of the two sisters threw one last ingredient into the green goop of the cauldron before her. Once again, it was sitting atop a ring of green flames that were floating above the floor somehow. Kammeo decided to follow her sister's order.

"Yes, Sister," she said. She walked up to one side of the cauldron so she and her sister were facing each other.

"Ready?" Kammelina said. She whipped out a wooden spoon.

"Ready." Kammeo whipped out her own spoon.

"Good," said Kammelina. "Now let's begin..." Thus, for the first time in a long time, the two sisters got to stirring and chanting. It would be a few hours until this activity of theirs came to fruition...

Finally, Titotal Gonnic, Wart, and Katana could see the three Turbosus. The three devices were in the middle of the laboratory, which was the very place that Wrench had led them to. His three guests seemed to be very impressed by the looks of these three motorcycles. They were these slick, black things with silver linings and fancy shapes.

"Like them?" Wrench asked.

"Splendid," said the captain, excitedly.

Wrench smiled. He led the three behind him to these machines and began to explain the various parts of them. He pointed to a monitor-like device that the handlebars seemed to be sticking out of. "When you're driving," Wrench explained, "this will display a map so there won't be anything you won't be able to see. Everything behind you, beside you, and even miles ahead of you will be on this screen." Gonnic, Wart, and Katana held their interest. Wrench went on with the explaining. He pointed to a button near the monitor. "And whenever you want to go into auto-pilot, just press this," he said. "The bike will automatically start driving itself. The beautiful part is that it'll know exactly what to do, where to go, and how to do it, so turning, jumping, and dodging bullets won't be a problem. All you have to do is hang on tight. They can go over 100 MPH, though, so be careful." Wrench's explaining was over. He turned to face the captain. Like Wart and Katana, he was smirking. "So? What do you think?" he asked.

The captain started chuckling some more. Then it started to escalate. "Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh... Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha..." Finally, it exploded. "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!" the captain roared, leaning his head back. "This is wonderful!" he gloated. "Finally, we'll be able to show that Kreezo who's the boss..." With his eyes still a bit lopsided, he wiped some drool from his grinning mouth with the back of his hand. "In fact," he added, "why don't we try them out right now?"

Katana looked worried. "Sir, I'm not sure if that's such a good idea. After all, with all due respect, you're in no condition to be driving right now."

"Idiot," the captain growled. "Didn't you hear him?! It can be SET... ON... AUTO-PILOT," the alien emphasized.

Neither Wart nor Katana were convinced by this. Even Wrench was having second thoughts. "Actually, sir," he said, "he may have a point there. Maybe you should wait until-"

"I DON'T CARE!" the captain yelled. Once again the room was silent. The captain started walking closer to one of the Turbosus. "I'll just... hang on tight..." He hopped on the bike and put his hands and his feet in their respective places. He fondled the handles a bit with his hands. He stopped doing that and looked at Wart and Katana. "Well?!"

They got the picture. Immediately, they rushed over to the other two bikes and hopped on, just as their captain had. Once the captain noticed this, he started chuckling again.

"Open the hatch," he told the nervous Wrench. "We're going out..."

The tall man in the red robe was walking around the huge, brass room. With his two Melon Bugs by his side, he was looking at all the huge piles of wreckage some of its airplanes had become. The one thing he could do at the moment was observe them and titter. "Never has this ever happened," he said to himself. "It was such a beautiful collection. Now this..." The tall man continued walking around. His sense of pity showed no sign of any waning. He was overtaken by disappointment. "If only I knew who was responsible for this..."

The man walked some more. As usual, it was eerily quiet. Then the silence was broken. BANG! He stopped walking. In the distance, the man would have sworn he had heard something large and metallic hit the floor.

"Hmm..." he hummed. The next noise he heard was indeed an interesting one. It was the sound of motors rumbling. It started off as a whisper, but it grew more intense. After turning his head to his left, he could make out the source of this sound. Three black figures were drawing closer to him. "Aha," he said. "The fallen ones arrive..." A few seconds later, and the rumbling of the engines had gotten even louder. Then the sound was all around the man in red as well as his two Melon Bugs. Then the three black figures screeched to a halt. The captain, Wart, and Katana had them surrounded. "We meet again," he said to the aliens. "Tell me... What brings you into my presence?"

The captain glared at him through his half-open eyes. "We," he growled, "want a rematch."

"I see," said the man in red. "You have your own bikes this time?"

"Darn straight," said the captain.

"I see," the man repeated. He looked at Wart and Katana. Their facial expressions seemed to be a mixture of nervousness, amazement, and confusion. They couldn't stop staring at their bikes. "It's the same rules as last time," the red man stated. "Are you prepared?"

"Yes!" the captain belted.

"Good." Wart and Katana looked around themselves nervously as the white wind from before began to swirl around and surround them. Only the captain's face hadn't change. "Let's go..." Within seconds, the wind had completely enveloped them. It spun around a little more like a tornado. The speed of its winds were incredible. Then they began to slow down. They dissipated and revealed that all six of the captain, Wart, Katana, the man, and the two Melon Bugs were gone...

"Just hold that right there."

"Right, Boss."

CLANG! Somehow, without using any hands, Carro had gotten a large rectangle of metal to start holding itself in place beneath one of the many control panels of Half Moon. Using a screwdriver, King Carrot had begun to twirl each of its screws in so he could get that thing back into its rightful place. A few seconds later, all four screws were back to normal. The plate of metal was secure. "That's good," King Carrot rasped. The two carrots floated away from their latest feat and looked at it. "All right," said King Carrot, "now on to the rest of the base." Carro and King Carrot looked around. It turned out there were still numerous torn up spots in the base that needed some attention. Carro again cursed the Melon Bugs that had come here.

"Right, Boss," he said. The two carrots began to float on over to the next area that needed fixing. Along the way, they had noticed Boscis was still lying on the ground, panting.

"Still hurt, Boscis?" said the boss.

"Yes, sir," Boscis wheezed. "I'll be okay. Don't worry about me."

King Carrot snorted. "All right then." The two of him and Carro continued floating around.

Those Melon Bugs, he thought, they're not to be underestimated...

Yazzee found himself standing atop a fancy-looking platform sticking out of the middle of the sea. In front of him were several more of these platforms sticking out in a similar fashion. In the midst of all of them were three humungous towers with what looked like giant seashells sticking out of the tops of them. Behind all of this were numerous steep cliffs. All of this, and a nice waterfall was flowing into this place as well.

"Wow," Yazzee mused. "I never would have pictured Noki Bay to be anything like this." The yellow Yo'ster looked around some more. By turning his head to the right, he could suddenly see something that caught his interest. "Hm? What's that?"

The energetic Yoshi got to hopping his way from one platform to the next. Some of the ones he landed on toppled a bit and made even more ripples send themselves into the water, but he didn't care. A few hops later, and he was there. On this stone ledge at the bottom of the tall cliff was what appeared to be a large, white cube with soft, rounded edges and corners. Each of its six sides were rimmed with indigo. The white that was in the middle of each of them all had these logos on them. They, too, were indigo, and they all resembled someone's face.

"What is this?" Yazzee said.

"It is a special kind of container. You must break it open."

"Okay," Yazzee said. It didn't take him long to follow SPOWT's instructions. WHAM! He gave the cube one swift blow with his foot. That did the trick. Immediately, the cube came apart. It popped open and vanished. In its place was a small, strange-looking, metallic, nozzle-like object. "Huh?"

"That is the Submarine Nozzle. Attach this to me, and I will be able to take you anywhere in the water."

"Wow! Is that true?" the Yoshi asked.

"Yes. That is true."

"All right!..."

A few yards away from the yellow Yo'ster was a jet ski-like device beginning to come within proximity of Noki Bay. On it were three people. "This is it, Marcellus," one of them said. "Noki Bay."

"My goodness," Marcellus. "It's beautiful!"

"You like it, eh?" said the old Noki behind them. As the three continued to head towards this place, smiles were on their faces. However, they soon turned into looks of complete shock.

ZZOOOOOMMM!!! Something fast had just whizzed past them. It sent waves of white water flying in its wake. It got all three of the people on this device all wet, but they didn't seem to mind. They were just confused.

"What was that?!" Marcelino asked.

"I don't know," Marcellus replied. "It kind of looked like a goldmine with a pump sticking out of its back..."

The sun's rays bouncing off of Yazzee's jewelry made him look like a shooting star as he sped across the ocean using SPOWT's new Submarine Nozzle. Even he was in awe by this. "SPOWT?" he said. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"Negative."

Yazzee laughed. With his ridiculous amount of jewelry, the new Submarine Nozzle, and the monotonous voice of SPOWT, Yazzee continued in excitement to explore the phenomenon that was Isle Delfino...

Labyrit's Elaborate Labyrinth wasn't anything like what the Sackit Goomba had expected. As a matter of fact, this was the most confusing maze he had ever endured in his whole life. It wasn't even fair. None of it made any sense. It didn't seem to be anything more than a simple cave with a lot of twists and turns in it. Since the walls were lined with these little ledges of rock sticking out of them, and since each one had a small rock atop it that was glowing white for some reason, he didn't think there'd be any troubles. After all, it allowed him to see. Unfortunately for him, the situation turned out to be much worse than that. It seemed as though no matter where he went, no matter which route he took, three others would always open up before him. The more decisions he made, the less of any use it actually seemed to be. Everywhere he went--be it to the left, to the right, straight forward, or back--it just confused him even more. What kind of maze was this?

"Shoot," the Goomba sweated. "I knew I wasn't going to survive this. I just knew it!"

In front of him were three more doorway-like openings in the wall. His eyes darted back and forth between each of them. Once he made his decision, he ran forward. He went through the middle one. With a large amount of perspiration on his forehead, he ran down its hallway of stone. Much to his frustration, this had led him to three more openings. This time, he went left. Lo and behold, another trio of openings had showed up. Frustrated, he took the one on the right. He ran through its hallway with even more beads of sweat forming on his burning forehead. It was beginning to steam. Then he came into the next room. What he saw in there made his jaw drop: six doorways. At this point, the Goomba couldn't take anymore. He flopped onto his back and started panting.

"I... just... can't... do it..." He remained lying there for a few seconds more. The only sound he could hear was his worn out breathing. What happened next took him completely by surprise. A hole suddenly widened itself open in the solid rock beneath him. "Uh oh..." the Goomba stated. Then he started falling down a stone tube, screaming all the way. It turned itself into a slide, but he was still screaming. At the end of this tunnel, he could make out some light. It got bigger as he slid closer to it.

Then the light engulfed him. Once it did so, he found himself sprawling across the grass. His screaming had turned into panting. He opened up his eyes. Although it was spinning, he could tell the sky was right in front of him. He was back in Carnival Alley. The Snifit Goomba ran up to him. "Honey, are you all right?!" she asked.

"Uugghh..." he groaned.

"Well," said Labyrit with his spear pointing at a hole in the side of the giant rock that wasn't there before, "one hour later, and your friend fails." Somehow, the hole in the rock closed itself up. Labyrit put his spear down. "Thank you for playing. Try again sometime."

The Snifit Goomba helped the Sackit Goomba back onto his feet. "It's okay, dear. How about we go on one of the rides?"

"Ugh..." the Sackit Goomba groaned again. Labyrit smirked to himself as he watched this interesting couple walk away. Now that another victim had been made, he started looking around for more suckers.

"Right then," he said. "Who'll be the next poor sap?" Labyrit kept his eyes peeled. As usual, his next customers could have been anywhere in this place, but, still, there seemed to be just Goombas here. In fact, there were two of them near the outskirts of this place. They were standing near the water just outside of Carnival Alley. A submarine-like device was in it. As for the Goombas themselves, they were standing near a Clumph, a young boy, and something that kind of looked like a giant bug. Could they have been next?

"Thank you for everything," Chogun said. "We won't forget you."

"Ah, don't worry about us," Clarence said. "You just go and find Chirinu. Remember, he's a guy with a purple headband with gold stars and moons on it."

"Got it," Chogun said.

"Hmm," Goombil said. He was looking around. Something about the vicinity intrigued him. "I'd be careful if I were you."

"Why's that?" said Davey.

"This place is loaded with some of the Goombas we used to work with." Chogun and Davey took a look for themselves. It was true. They recognized those silly costumes.

"Wow," Chogun said. "You're right."

"Also, watch out for the Bandits," Dr. Goom warned. "They run this place. Not all of them are too trustworthy."

"We'll be careful then," Chogun assured. "Well, take care." The five people exchanged a few more farewells. In a few moments, Dr. Goom, Goombil, and Clarence were back inside the Kariboo Sub. Chogun and Davey waved to their periscope as it began to drift away from Carnival Alley. Once again, this unusual duo was on its own. "All right," Chogun said, "let's go find this Chirinu fellow."

"Right," Davey agreed. Then the twosome commenced wandering through a sea of Goombas, Bandits, balloons, stands, and rides...

"Hmm," Labyrit said. He noticed how neither of those two people were looking to be headed in the direction of his giant rock any time soon. This prompted him to start looking elsewhere. This time, the direction he was looking in got him to notice a rather different-looking group of people. This one was a trio consisting of a brown Yoshi, a white knight, and a Viking. "Aha..."

"So this is Carnival Alley," Leif mused as the three of him and his companions exited the lush, green woods behind their newfound destination. "Quite a lively place, I see."

"Indeed," White Rose concurred.

As the trio walked on, Xoshi got to talking to Beel again. So, who is it this time? he asked.

Well...

The threesome walked for a little while longer. Then a certain Bandit with a brown robe and a white spear grabbed their attention. "Gentlemen! Where do ya think you're goin'?!" Xoshi, White Rose, and Leif stopped. They looked at Labyrit, being a bit confused. Labyrit pointed his spear to his giant rock. "Don't you wanna take on Labyrit's Elaborate Labyrinth?"

"What?" Xoshi asked. Labyrit laughed again.

"Labyrit's the name. If you wanna take on one of my elaborate labyrinths, now's the time."

"Uh," Xoshi said.

Xoshi, Beel said.

Huh?

Show him your pass and say you'll take the hard one.

Why?

When I was possessing the Princess Shokora doll, this man made me undergo his most difficult labyrinth. Had I have known then what I know now, I wouldn't be asking you to do this, but please... It's something I've been meaning to do for quite some time now.

Ohh... Xoshi thought. So it turns out there are some things in the past not even YOU can leave behind, huh?

You could say that.

All right, I'll do it.

Thank you.

"White Rose, Leif," Xoshi said. His two partners turned to him. "You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up to you."

"Sir Xoshi, you're not actually considering accepting this man's challenge, are you?" White Rose asked.

"Sorry, but I have to," the brown Yo'ster replied. "Just remember, one of them's a bug and the other one's a little boy."

"All right, Xoshi," Leif said. "Good luck."

"You, too," Xoshi replied. Labyrit watched as the knight and the Viking walked away and the brown Yoshi approached him. Xoshi held out his fist. Catching on, Labyrit placed his hand beneath it. Then the Yoshi popped his pass out from between his fingers. Labyrit looked disappointed, but he lightened up after hearing what he had to say. "The hard one, please," said the Yo'ster.

"Excellent choice, sir," Labyrit responded. "Good luck!"

The brown Bandit watched as the Yoshi walked up to the large doorway in the giant rock. He gave off another one of his trademark smirks. You're gonna need it...

When Xoshi entered the cave, he found himself walking down a stone hallway with strange, glowing rocks on ledges coming out of the walls keeping it alight. Those things fascinated the brown Yo'ster. What are those? he asked Beel.

Sun stones, Beel answered. Only people with earth-elemental powers can create them.

Xoshi gasped. That Bandit has earth-elemental powers?

Well, sort of...

Xoshi continued walking until he reached a room in this crazy maze. It had three doorways at the end of it. Okay, Beel, the Yo'ster thought, just tell me what to do...

All right...

Chogun and Davey were seeing quite a few strange things while wading through Carnival Alley. Mostly what they saw were Goombas jolting at the sight of them and jumping back. One of them was so startled, he started choking on his cotton candy.

"I'd say we had a stronger impression on them than we thought," Davey commented.

"Indeed," Chogun agreed. "Now what was it he said? A man with a purple headband?"

"With gold stars and moons on it," Davey added.

"Where are we going to find a person like that?" Chogun asked. The two men started turning their heads everywhere and scanning every last inch of the place. They saw a psychic, a funhouse, a haunted house, a balloon stand, a man that drew caricatures, and a booth that sold giant cookies, but no Chirinu. "Ugh," Chogun groaned. "We'll never find him at this rate."

"Hmm..." Davey looked ahead of him. He could see that beyond all these strange booths and games, and right in front of the forest that Carnival Alley was built near, was a small man behind a table. Its cloth seemed to resemble the man's headband. "By any chance," Davey said, "could that be him over there?"

Chogun started looking in the direction that Davey was. Once he saw it, he could feel his heart do a backflip. "Yes! Yes! That must be him!" the bug cheered. "Come, David, we haven't a moment to lose!!"

The bug ran off. Shortly afterwards, the boy began to follow. Both of the men were running rather quickly. As they ran, blurs of red, white, gold, and other swirling colors flew past them. Then it just became green. They were out of the attractions of Carnival Alley and into the grassy field surrounding it. Every step took them closer to Chirinu. Once they were finally but a few feet away from him, Chogun skidded to a halt. Davey did the same, but only because his friend had done so. "Chogun, what's wrong?" he said. Chogun was shaking and sweating. Slowly, he extended one arm and pointed with one of its three fingers. Davey took a look. He noticed the man was actually wearing his headband over his eyes. "So, he's blindfolded. So what?"

"D... Dog..." he choked. Davey looked again. It turned out the man that was wearing that odd headband was a creature with fangs and orange fur. Chirinu was a Chow.

"Problem, gentlemen?" Chirinu said.

"Um, no, it's nothing," Davey reassured. He turned and walked closer to his bug of a companion. "Chak, get a hold of yourself," he said. "I know he's a dog, but our salvation rests in his hands."

"I... hate... dogs," Chogun rasped.

"Please, Chak," Davey pleaded, "just this once, don't let your fears get the best of you."

Chogun quivered for a few seconds more. With a great amount of difficulty, he closed his eyes and swallowed hard. "A-All right," he said. Davey nodded to him and started walking towards Chirinu. Chogun slowly followed him.

"Sorry about that, sir," Davey said.

"'Tis no trouble," Chirinu replied.

"Anyway, would you by any chance be Chirinu?"

"Yes, that would be me."

"That's good," Davey said. "I am David, and this is my friend, Chak, but we are more commonly known as... Davey and Chogun..." Davey shuddered a bit and looked down.

"Nice to meet you," Chirinu said.

"Yes," Davey said. He picked his head up again and looked at the dog. "Anyway, we need your help," he said. "A little while ago, this green goop came by and transformed us. Ever since, Chak's been this bug-like creature, and I've been a little boy. Can you help us?"

"Well, that depends," Chirinu stated. "I don't do anything for anyone, you know. My services come with a price."

"I suspected as much," Davey replied. He started to reach into his pocket. "How much is it?"

"You need to give me a doll," Chirinu clarified. Davey stopped reaching into his pocket. He gave the dog a blank stare. "But it can't be just any doll. It has to be one with a nice, distinct flavor; one that I've never licked before."

There was a long pause. Davey stared at Chirinu even more. "Pardon me, good sir, but did I hear you correctly? Did you just say-"

"That I wanted a doll with a nice, distinct flavor? Yes, that's exactly what I said," Chirinu elaborated. "Oh, and you can't show it to me, either."

There was another pause. Davey started shifting his eyes around. "Okay," he said. "We'll be back in a second." He turned around and began to walk away from the dog. Then he looked behind him and noticed that Chogun was still standing there, shaking. "Well?!" he blurted. "Come on! We don't have all day!"

Chogun snapped out of it. "What?!"

"Come on, Chak, let's go," Davey said.

Chogun slowly began to follow. "Where are we going?" he asked.

"We're going to get a doll."

Chogun suddenly became very confused. "A doll? What for?"

Davey looked slightly annoyed. "Weren't you listening?"

"Sorry, but I wasn't."

Davey groaned. He continued walking back to Carnival Alley, all the while explaining everything to his companion...

Xoshi came across a room with three doorways in it. He took the left one and started running down its hallway. Like the last one, this one led to another room with three doorways in it. This time, he took the one in the middle. Another hallway, another set of three doors. He took the one on the right, and the process repeated. Once he came across another set of three doors, he took the one on the left. Once again, he began running down a stone hallway.

You sure about this, Beel?

Trust me.

All right...

White Rose and Leif were wandering through the various attractions of Carnival Alley, making sure there was nothing their eyes didn't see, but the two people they were looking for didn't seem to be anywhere in sight.

"This may very well prove to be rather difficult," Leif pointed out.

"Yes," White Rose agreed. "Perhaps we should ask around?"

"Yes," said Leif. The duo approached the only four people close enough. The four of them were all Goombas clad in Shy Guy-like outfits. One of them had a big, white mustache hanging from his mask. The quartet looked as though they had just seen a ghost.

"Excuse us," White Rose said. This woke them up. They all jolted and faced this duo that had approached them. "We're looking for a bug man and a young boy. Would you happen to have seen anything of the like?"

"Chogun and Davey?" said the one with a mustache. "What would you wanna do with those two jerks?!"

"Excuse me?" Leif said quizzically.

"We used to work for someone who would keep an entire town under his control by forcing its people to watch really boring plays, starring us," the Goomba explained. "Apparently, four guys didn't like this, so they stormed our fortress and destroyed us." The other three Shy Guy-like Goombas started nodding. "Two of them were those two guys you're looking for. They're here right now! But I'd stay away from 'em if I were you; they're dangerous!"

"Which way did they go?" White Rose asked.

"That way." The mustachioed Goomba pointed to a Chow in the distance. "But I'm tellin' ya, you'd better stay away from 'em."

"Thank you for the information," White Rose said. "Good day." The knight began to walk away, but the Viking stayed behind. The Goomba with the mustache was a little perplexed by this.

"Where's he going?!" he asked Leif. "Didn't I just tell him they were too dangerous?"

"We need their help," Leif answered.

"WHAT?!"

"It's a long story," the Viking said. "Now, you say you starred in these uninteresting plays?"

"That's right," the Goomba said. "Not anymore, though."

"Out of curiosity, who did you play?" the Viking asked.

"Me? I played the Shy King."

"But I don't think the Shy King had a mustache," Leif elicited. "I doubt he'd be pleased with your portrayal of him."

"Yeah, well, the plays were never really historically accurate to begin with anyway," the Goomba replied. "Besides, they say he's dead now. What difference does it make?"

"A minute one, perhaps," the Viking mused. "Well, I must be going now. Take care."

"All right, see ya." Leif began to saunter away from the four Goombas. They watched him do so for one second. "I tell ya," said the Goomba dressed like the Shy King, "things just aren't the way they used to be..."

At this point in time, White Rose had gotten to wrapping up the short discussion between him and Chirinu. "So that's it, then?" he asked. Chirinu nodded. "All right." White Rose turned around. He saw Leif walking towards him. "You arrive at last," he said.

"Sorry," Leif exclaimed. "They seemed like such interesting folk. As a result, we conversed for a bit, as you can see."

"Hm, yes," White Rose stated. "Anyway, according to this man, here..." White Rose gestured to Chirinu behind him, "the two people we're to meet, Chogun and Davey, plan on returning to this very location momentarily."

"So all we have to do is wait," Leif reasoned.

"Exactly," White Rose said.

"All right then." Leif walked to White Rose's left side and turned around, folding his arms. That way, the two of him and his teammate looked as though they were acting as Chirinu's bodyguards. "Say," Leif said, "I wonder what our friend, Xoshi, is doing right now..."

At that moment, Xoshi was still journeying through Labyrit's Elaborate Labyrinth. He had just entered the doorway on the right, so he had just run through another hallway. Again, this led him to three doorways. He stopped and looked at them.

You say this is the last one? Xoshi asked.

Yes, Beel answered. You know which one to take, right?

Right.

Go for it...

Xoshi nodded and made his decision. He picked one of the three doorways and started running down it. Soon, he'd be able to see the outcome of all this...

Meanwhile, outside of the giant rock, Labyrit was still waiting for Xoshi. "That Yoshi's got 15 more minutes," the Bandit said to himself. "Yup... He's hopeless. As a matter of fact, he should be in front of the six doors by now. That's where all the lousy applicants wind up." Labyrit chuckled to himself sadistically. "Fifteen more minutes and he'll-"

"Ahem."

"AUGH!!!" Labyrit jumped a few feet into the air. He landed and turned around. The Bandit nearly had a heart attack. He clutched at his chest and gave an unblinking stare to who had snuck up on him. It was none other than Xoshi with his palm held out as though expecting to be given something. "YOU!" Labyrit practically screamed. "H-H-How did you do it?! How did you conquer my labyrinth?!"

"Easy," the brown Yo'ster said. "All I had to do was keep going left, straight, right, left, straight, right."

"But... But..." the Bandit stammered. Droplets of sweat were flying off of his forehead. "No one's EVER done it before! EVER!" The Bandit started looking shifty-eyed. He lowered his tone a little. "Well, actually, there was ONE person who came pretty close. Her name was-"

"Princess Shokora?"

"Yeah, that was it. I-" The Bandit stopped himself. He felt as though his heart froze. He started staring at Xoshi in pure disbelief with his eyes twitching. "I... You... That's..." the Bandit stammered. Finally, he got a hold of himself. "Just who are you, anyway?!"

"Xoshi." The Yo'ster said this as though he were a celebrity. He was still holding his palm out. "I believe you have something for me?"

"But... You're... That's not..." Labyrit took a good look at Xoshi's face. It was very smug and uncaring. His hand made a beckoning movement. The Bandit groaned. With his hand shaking and his teeth gritted, he pulled something out of his right sleeve, acting as though it were covered in something semi-liquid and unpleasant. He slammed it into Xoshi's hand disgustedly. "Go on, take it," he hissed. "Now get out of my sight..."

Still with an overtly confident look on his face, Xoshi closed the item in his hand and strut away from the infuriated Bandit. He walked past a group of Goombas that were all dressed like Super Mushrooms. They stared at him with their mouths agape. They couldn't help but voice their amazement.

"Did you see that?"

"He beat the hard one!"

"He got the pendant!"

"He's amazing!"

"Who is that guy?..."

Watching that Yo'ster strut away and hearing what the people were saying about him only got Labyrit to learn to loathe even more the first person to have ever made HIM the victim. Both of his hands were clenched around his spear and were squirming. It was as though they were trying to strangle the weapon. "Oh, he'll pay for this humiliation," the Bandit growled to himself. "Someday, I'll show him a REAL elaborate labyrinth... And I'll have my pendant back..."

Xoshi was back amidst all the other attractions of Carnival Alley. While walking around, he opened up his right hand. Inside, he saw the nice and shiny Penta Pendant. No doubt, it was worth something, but that wasn't necessarily what made Xoshi's eyes bug out. He suddenly stopped walking. He couldn't stop staring at what he had won.

What is it, Xoshi? Beel inquired.

This pendant, Xoshi thought, it was in my dream.

Your dream?

Yes, Xoshi said. Thus he began to tell the Star Warrior in his head of the strange dream he had on two consecutive occasions...

Elsewhere, Chogun and Davey were walking around Carnival Alley, searching for something. Chogun was doing this at a slower rate than Davey was. In a way, it irritated the boy.

"Dogs," Chogun shivered, "I tell you, they're no good!!"

"Chak, please," Davey said. "How are we supposed to find a doll if you keep going on about that?"

"They're no good," Chogun grumbled. Davey sighed. The duo continued walking. Then they heard someone yelling about something and they stopped.

"Calling all sharpshooters! This is the game for you! If you think you're handy with a gun, then come on down! Make today your lucky day!"

Chogun and Davey saw that the man yelling was a Bandit in a pink, regular-sized robe. There was a big, curly, dark brown mustache on his mask and he was standing behind a counter beneath a stand of some sort. To its right was a small, tent-like structure that was striped red and white. "Sharpshooters, did he say?" Davey said. "I wonder if he's got any dolls on him?"

"Who knows?" Chogun said. The two of him and Davey meandered up to the Bandit with the mustache. Immediately, he could tell his yelling had come to pay off.

"Hey, fellas," he said. "Looking to try your luck?

"Yes, actually," Davey said. "You wouldn't happen to give out dolls as prizes, would you?"

"And how." The Bandit gestured behind him. Behind the counter of the stand was what appeared to be a whole mountain of stuffed dolls, each of them coming in all shapes and sizes. Chogun and Davey's eyes lit up at the sight.

"Jackpot," Chogun hissed excitedly.

"So, how 'bout it?" the Bandit asked. "Which one of you's up to the challenge?"

"I am," Davey said.

The Bandit chuckled. "All right, little fella, you're up." Davey rolled his eyes. "Ten coins, please." Davey paid the price. The Bandit reached behind him and pulled out a fancy-looking, bulky, hi-tech gun. After grabbing the gun with his right hand, Davey noticed it was just a toy. "Take this, too." The Bandit handed him what looked to be a circular, red light stuck to an assortment of black belts. Davey strapped it onto his chest like a vest. "In that tent, your enemies will be wanting just as much a piece of you, as you do them, so watch out! Don't get hit three times!" the Bandit explained. "Now, as soon as those pesky Bandits start attacking ya, you just shoot 'em, all right?"

"Got it," Davey replied as he twirled the gun around his forefinger and snapped it into the correct position.

The Bandit behind the counter raised an eyebrow at him, but was able to quickly shrug it off. "You ready?"

"Ready."

"All right then," the Bandit said. He pointed to his right. "Now go! And make sure you can get ten of 'em!"

Davey nodded. He ran off and disappeared into the tent. He was more than ready to take on the trials that lay within...

Davey was surprised by what he found inside the tent. There was a maze inside this thing. Everything in it was chrome. As he looked around, he took all this in along with the blue lights keeping the place illuminated. Still caught up in his interest in the vicinity, Davey kept observing his surroundings. It nearly cost him.

Suddenly, a silver Bandit leapt out from behind one of the metallic walls. Like David, he had a vest and a gun. Davey saw this new enemy out of the corner of his eye and thought quickly. He jumped to the right and landed his back against the nearest wall, causing the Bandit to fire at nothing in particular. He was confused, then terrified. Davey pointed his pistol at his vest and fired. TSSEEWW! Once he pulled the trigger, the red light on the Bandit's chest started blinking. He flailed his arms as though he were in complete agony, and then he disappeared. The way he did so made him resemble the image on a TV being turned off. Davey raised one eyebrow at this. "I guess they're not normal Bandits," he mused. The surprised boy got himself off of the wall, took a turn, and started heading on into the maze...

So far, all that was going on for him was just the act of being sandwiched between two of the chrome walls. Then he heard the shuffling of some feet behind him. He turned around. As he did so, just by seeing a hint of silver with his peripheral vision, he could tell what he had to do. TSEEW! The enemy's attack did no good, for Davey had voluntarily fallen onto his back. No sooner than when he did so did he make his retaliation. TSEEWW! The boy had made another victim. He hopped right back onto his feet, turned around, and continued running through the place.

A turn to the right and he was at an intersection in the chrome vicinity. He could either go left or right. Neither turned out to be a good option. One silver Bandit leapt out from both of them, each of them with their teeth clenched and their guns pointed to the young boy. Davey thought this was too easy. He ducked and the Bandits fired. TSSEEWW! The impudent gunmen had fired at each other, causing both of them to vanish. Having survived another danger, Davey got back up and turned to the right.

After taking a few turns here and there, Davey found the maze had taken him to a wide open area. The place had become less of a maze and more of a field filled with chrome walls of varying shapes and heights. Davey knew somehow that this spelled trouble. Then TSSEEWW! This time, he found he was the one whose red light started flashing. He turned around and saw two more Bandits were wanting a piece of him. Immediately, he fired at the one at the right. Another one had disappeared. He turned to the other one, who ducked behind one of the miniature walls. Davey watched and waited. Then he saw two eyes and a gun poke out from behind the wall. TSEW! TSEW! TSEW! Davey just jumped sideways in order to avoid the blasts. He saw the Bandit duck behind the wall again. The Bandit waited a few seconds, hearing his opponent's footsteps beginning to draw closer to him all the while. He made his countdown, decided the time was right, and jumped up again. He pointed his pistol at Davey with unsuccessful results. TSSEWW! The Bandit had been hit. He clutched at the light on his chest in pain, and vanished.

"These guys are a joke," Davey muttered to himself. "I wonder who's gonna try me next?" Davey heard more shuffling feet. He turned around and found three silver Bandits had entered the room. They all had their guns pointed at him. Davey smirked. "So you're next." The Bandits all took aim and fired. TSEW! TSEW! TSEW! Davey avoided the assaults by taking a dive and rolling on his side. The minute he was anywhere close to back on his feet, the Bandits had already begun to run. They were circling him and keeping their eyes on him. Davey decided to take the easy one down first. Before the one at 11:00 could get his gun back up, Davey fired. TSEWW! Another one winced and vanished. The boy's ears picked up some clicking from behind him. Almost instinctively, he pointed the gun over his right shoulder and fired. TSEWW! The next thing the shrunken man knew, a silver Bandit had just flown right over his head. His eyes were clenched shut and he was clutching at his light as though it were his heart. The boy cocked an eyebrow at him upon seeing him sprawling across the ground. He stared for a split-second. Then the Bandit opened one eye, grinned, and TSEWW! For the second time, Davey's light was the one that went off. He cursed. Confused, he looked behind him. He had just missed another Bandit disappearing. Once he heard running, he woke up, and spun around with his gun held out. BAM! The Bandit that had got him earlier went sprawling again. Apparently, he had just accidentally walloped him in the side of the head with his gun. Again, the boy was confused, but he merely shrugged it off. For the ninth time, he aimed, fired, and won. TSEWW! "Hmph," Davey grunted after witnessing the last writhing Bandit dematerialize. "One more left..." He began to scan the room with his gun twirling around his right index finger. Then...

WHAM! This time, Davey was the one sprawling, but someone was on top of him. Once the spinning came to a stop, the boy was on his back and he was staring into the grinning face of a particularly insane silver Bandit. This final enemy jammed two guns in front of Davey's light. It confused the child at first, but then he realized his situation. The Bandit had an extra devilish smirk on his face when SPLAT! A wad of phlegm landed in his eyes. The shocked Bandit flew off of the boy's chest, dropped the guns, and proceeded in desperately rubbing the gunk out of his eyes. Davey took his turn to smirk.

"It takes more than just two eyes and a finger to be a sharpshooter," he remarked. By the time the Bandit had regained his vision, he was squinting at his opponent's triumphant face. He looked shocked for a second and TSSEEWW! He had come to suffer the same fate his other nine brethren had. The light flashed and he winced as though he had become electrocuted. The last thing he saw was Davey's smirk... then his perplexed look. The Bandit had given him another mischievous grin. Then he vanished...

TAH-DAHHH! The victory music started up and Davey was being showered with confetti and balloons. However, he remained confused. He was still staring at where that last Bandit had disappeared. Thoughts ran through his head for a second. Then he just scoffed. "Bandits wanting a piece of me," he said quietly. "He wasn't lying..." The young boy continued to let the colorful things fall on him. Then he began finding his way out...

At this point in time, Xoshi was still wandering around Carnival Alley. The Penta Pendant was still in his hands and another conversation had been wrapped up between him and Beel.

So, with Leif and this pendant, the dream is finally gradually coming true, Beel commented.

I guess, Xoshi thought. He started turning his head everywhere again. Speaking of which, where did Leif go? And White Rose?

And, more importantly, where are the other two?

Hmm...

"...And ever since, I've been terrified by dogs..."

Chogun was finished with his anecdote. The Bandit with the mustache nodded with his head being held up by one leaning fist. "Doesn't sound too pleasant," he commented.

"Indeed..." A few seconds later, a young boy had exited the mustachioed Bandit's tent. Davey was back in their presence. Both Chogun and Davey were excited.

"Well done, son!" the Bandit congratulated. "Was it scary?"

"Not really," Davey stated, handing the gun and vest back to the man.

The Bandit laughed. He took Davey's gear and put it away. "That's good to hear. Well, son, go ahead..." The Bandit gestured at all the dolls behind him. "Take your pick. You've earned it..."

"Hmm..." Davey held his chin between his thumb and forefinger. He could see there were numerous dolls to choose from, but the majority of them were just stuffed Goombas, Koopa Troopas, and Spinies. Only a few of them appeared to be more exotic, like the devil or the cactus. However, only one of them really caught Davey's eye. He pointed to it. "That one."

"Ah, that one..." The Bandit started staring at it. He seemed to be greatly interested in it for some reason. This puzzled Chogun and Davey. He walked over to it and picked it up. It was a wooden doll that vaguely resembled a young woman. Strangely, enough, there were scorch marks all over her purple dress and half of her head looked as though it had been burned off. "She caused us a bit of trouble, she did," the Bandit elicited. "All that death and destruction... Fortunately, we weren't the ones she was after..." Chogun and Davey began to look even more confused. "Then, years later, this doll comes to life and..." The Bandit's two customers suddenly began to look very shocked and disturbed. The Bandit noticed this and snapped out of it as though he was just having a dream. "Sorry about that. Didn't mean to reminisce." The Bandit handed the doll over to Davey. "Her name's Princess Shokora," he said. "Take good care of her, now."

"Thank you," Davey replied. "We'll see you later."

"See ya!" The Bandit smiled and waved to his two customers as they took their leave of him. He watched them walk away from his stand for a few seconds. Then he started holding his head up with his fist again. A distant look was on his face. "That woman," he said, "so troublesome..."

Near the edge of the woods, White Rose and Leif were continuing to wait. More specifically, White Rose was on the lookout while Leif was conversing with Chirinu.

"But in order for the spell to work right, I have to put the doll on my head," Chirinu explained.

"Hm, I see," Leif said.

What a strange fellow, the Viking thought.

"Anyway, those two guys had better come back soon," Chirinu exclaimed. "I'm anxious to try a new doll."

"Yes."

"In fact," Chirinu added while catching a glimpse of White Rose putting a hand over his eyes so he could see ahead of himself better, "I think they're coming back right now..."

"I tell you, David, this shall be a day to remember!" Indeed, Chirinu's latest two customers, Chogun and Davey were close by. They were both walking towards the stand with looks of excitement upon their faces, especially Chogun.

"I know," Davey agreed.

"We'll be back to normal and back to treasure hunting before the day is out!" the bug man said. The two men smiled for a second more. Then they noticed that two people were with Chirinu. They kind of looked as though they were waiting in line. "One of them has an ugly face and the other one's a fish?" Chogun guessed.

"Who knows," Davey chided.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," White Rose said as he bowed his head to them a bit. "Might you be Chogun and Davey?"

"Yes, that's us," Chogun replied. Davey had one of his hands massaging his eyelids in disgust.

"I am White Rose, and this is Leif," the knight went on, gesturing to the Viking in the process. Leif waved a little in response. "We have a friend named Xoshi," White Rose continued. "He has something important to give you."

"Im... Important?" Chogun stammered. "What could it be, I wonder?"

"Well, whatever it is," Davey interjected, "can it wait? We've kind of been meaning to do this for a few days now."

White Rose nodded. "Of course. Do what you will."

"Thank you." With that, Davey began to approach the blindfolded Chirinu. It didn't take him long to notice that Chogun was lagging behind. He looked behind him and gestured for the man to hurry it up. With cold sweat pouring all over his body, he began to shuffle forward. Once the two men were right in front of the dog, he began to speak.

"You have the doll?" he asked.

"Right here," Davey proclaimed. He whipped out the doll and handed it to the canine. Chirinu began to examine it. Chogun, Davey, White Rose, and Leif watched as this man bobbed the doll up and down, flipped it this way and that, and even shook it as though it were a present. Finally, he held it right in front of his mouth. His long, moist, floppy tongue popped out of his mouth. The dog's four customers were anxious. At last, Chirinu's tongue landed on the doll's side. He slid it up the thing as though he were painting it. SLLURRPP! He popped his tongue back into his mouth and began smacking his lips. He handed the doll back to Davey. "Well?" the boy said.

"I THOUGHT it tasted familiar." Chogun, Davey, and Leif's eyes bugged out and their jaws dropped. White Rose just furled his brow.

"But... but... but..." Davey stuttered as he resumed holding the doll, albeit with shaking hands.

"Sorry. Try again."

Chogun, Davey, and Leif remained standing with shocked looks on their faces. The few seconds of silence were broken by White Rose stepping forward. "Come on," he said, "we'll help you get another one."

The other three were still a bit busy wallowing in their disbelief, Chogun and Davey especially. Finally, Davey just said, "All right." With that, the four men began to walk away from Chirinu's stand and back to the rest of Carnival Alley...

Not too far away, Xoshi was still walking around, looking for his companions. He was looking a bit frustrated. "Stupid place has to be so stupid big and full of stupid Goombas," he grumbled.

Don't despair, Xoshi, Beel chimed in. Look...

Xoshi stopped and looked ahead of him. Out there in the middle of the grassy field between Carnival Alley and the forest were White Rose and Leif along with two people that seemed to match the description of who he was looking for. "Well, I'll be..."

"What'd I tell ya?" Chogun griped. "Never trust dogs."

"Yes, Chak, I know," Davey said irritably. Suddenly, both White Rose and Leif stopped and waved. Confused for a second, Chogun and Davey stopped and looked ahead of them. A brown Yo'ster was approaching them.

"Xoshi, sir," Leif said, "it's good to see you again. Did you beat that man's labyrinth?"

"And how," the Yo'ster snickered. He pulled out the Penta Pendant and dangled it in front of him for all to see. They all seemed very intrigued by it.

"That must be worth a pretty penny," Chogun commented.

Leif just stared at it thoroughly and rubbed his chin. "Hmm..."

Davey ended the admiration of the pendant early. "So, you're Xoshi?" he asked.

"Yes, I am," the brown reptile replied. He put the Penta Pendant away.

"Your friends here tell us you have something important to give us."

"That's right." Xoshi suddenly took out two wands, one with a gray jewel, the other with a dark gray jewel. The former was in his left hand, and the latter in his right. Chogun and Davey stared at them in admiration. "The Energy Wand and the Time Wand," Xoshi clarified, "you'll be needing them."

"What for?" Davey asked.

"Well," Xoshi responded, "as hard as this is to believe... there's something out there. It's called the oncoming evil. It's threatening the fate of the world. Only seven people with seven wands can stop it."

Chogun and Davey looked wide-eyed. Their gazes kept alternating between Xoshi's eyes and the wands he was holding. "So," Chogun started, "what you're saying..."

"If you don't believe him..." Leif was the one who was talking. The two of him and White Rose had taken out their red and green wands. Chogun and Davey looked at them in awe. "Just take the wands. You'll know they're truly from the Star Spirits themselves. Believe me, I know..."

Chogun and Davey exchanged confused looks. "So fast," Chogun said quietly.

"I know," Davey quietly said back to him, "but, for now, let's just play along..."

The two men faced Xoshi once more. They reached out and took the wands. Chogun took the Energy Wand and Davey took the Time Wand. They couldn't feel anything at first, but that changed dramatically in just one second. For the third and fourth time, a vigorous spiral of energy could suddenly be felt. Chogun and Davey could feel extremely surprised as they felt this sensation emanating throughout their bodies. A few seconds later, the feeling disappeared, but remained tingling. They were both still very surprised. "That... That's unbelievable," Chogun breathed.

"My... goodness..." Davey rasped.

"I know this sounds crazy," Xoshi said, "but we need you..." The two new wand-wielders were speechless. They looked into Xoshi's pleading eyes. They saw White Rose and Leif nodding to them. Then they saw each other's unsure facial expressions.

"Well..." Davey said. "We'll think about it. Right now, though, we kind of have to find a doll."

"You do?" Xoshi asked.

"Yeah, so if you'll excuse us-"

"You mean like this one?" Chogun and Davey couldn't believe their eyes. The next thing this Yoshi had in the palm of his hand was exactly what they needed: a doll, and it was a rather exotic-looking one at that. Chogun seemed to think so.

"D... Dog..."

"This is perfect!" Davey exclaimed. "Would you mind if we borrowed it? Please?"

Xoshi smiled. "Sure, go ahead."

"Yes! Thank you." Davey took the Belome doll. Soon, he had the thing locked in his right arm and he was facing the opposite direction. "All right," he said, "back to Chirinu!."

Business was slow back at Chirinu's stand. The last thing he could hear was footsteps reproaching him. Even without eyesight, he could tell he was alone again. "Another great day," he grumbled. However, that was when he heard it: footsteps coming towards him. The dog man perked up. "Wow, fourth time today," he chirped. "My lucky star must be shining today..."

Xoshi, Chogun, Davey, White Rose, and Leif approached Chirinu. The man was up and ready for business. "Got another doll for me?" he inquired.

"As a matter of fact, we do," Davey replied. He took out the Belome doll and handed it to the furry man. Chirinu took it without hesitating. Somehow, just by holding it in his hands, he could tell there was something special about this doll. Davey could see this and he smirked. White Rose and Leif seemed to be just as smug in their own ways. Chogun, on the other hand, was just sweating, and Xoshi was just confused.

"What's going on?" Xoshi asked, leaning towards Leif.

"Long story," the Viking replied.

Like he did with the other one, Chirinu bobbed the doll up and down, turned it left and right, and shook it. Once he was ready, his tongue was out again and his five customers were watching him intently. His slobbery appendage landed on the side of the doll. This time, making it slide upward was a much slower process than usual. Seeing him drag this on as though he were savoring a stack of ice cream made even Davey, White Rose, and Leif start to sweat. As he did before, once this was over, Chirinu started smacking his lips. Even this had to be a long process. Finally, the dog stopped. He paused for one second. Then he grinned. "Perfect." White Rose and Leif's faces lit up, although Chogun and Davey were evidently even more excited. "This is just the doll I've been looking for," Chirinu announced. "A doll with a nice, distinct flavor. Why, I've never had anything like it in my life."

"So... Does that mean..." Davey said.

Chirinu nodded. "That's right." He placed the Belome doll so it was sitting right on top of his head. "I'm going to return you to normal now!" Chogun and Davey pumped their arms in victory. "You three, though," the dog said to Xoshi, White Rose, and Leif, "just stand back." The three guys nodded and took a few steps away from Chogun and Davey. "All right then." Chirinu held his hands up dramatically. "Here we go!"

The lights display began. Before long, the six people found that they were surrounded by little specks of golden glitter. The little things were swirling around them like a tornado. Gradually, they got bigger and more plentiful, revealing themselves to be golden stars and moons, just like the ones on Chirinu's headband. The more this process continued on, the less Chirinu's five customers could see what was behind this maelstrom of magic. Then, by making a flicking movement with his wrists, Chirinu was able to make the golden stars and moons fly high up into the sky like a laser beam. His five visitors shot their heads up to watch. For a second, there was nothing. Then they could see something green flying around up there. Did the magic change color…?

ZING! The golden things shot downward just as dramatically as they did before. They did so in two beams. At this point, Chirinu had two masses of stars and moons swirling around his upraised hands. He turned his two hands into claw shapes and aimed them at Chogun and Davey, both of which were so eager, they were practically moments away from beginning to drool. The golden shapes surrounding Chirinu's hands were getting brighter and brighter. It wouldn't be long until this spell was complete. Then...

BBLLLOORRRPP! A gigantic worm of green ooze came crashing down from the sky. Chirinu couldn't see it, but it was in plain view of Xoshi, Chogun, Davey, White Rose, and Leif. All five of them were utterly shocked. It looked as though the ooze had just dived right into the doll on top of Chirinu's head like a ghost going through a wall. Once all the slime was packed into the doll, it started glowing white just like Chirinu's stars and moons were. Was this part of the spell?

What happened next practically answered their question. The mass of white light sitting atop Chirinu's head began to grow bigger. This caused the magic swirling around the dog's hands to dissipate. He was wondering why it had suddenly become so difficult to sit up straight.

"What the?" Xoshi uttered. He was just as confused as anyone else. Then they were horrified. Nothing could have prepared them for what happened next.

"UGH-"

KKRRNNCHH! The mass of white light became too big. In a mess of red, it had commenced standing atop a pile of guts. Chirinu was dead. Once the light faded, everyone could make out an oversized, strange-looking, dog-like creature with four eyes, red marks all over its body, and a long, floppy tongue hanging out of its mouth. What Xoshi, White Rose, and Leif saw was a monster. Chogun saw a dog. Davey saw something that was sitting on top of a bloody blindfold. While Chogun was shaking with terror, Davey was shaking with rage.

"Magikoopas, moles, storks, Bandits..." the creature mumbled. "Wow! What have I been doing these past few days?!"

Davey's quaking knuckles were beginning to turn white. He was glaring at the creature with pure hatred. "You stupid, big, fat, idiotic MONSTER!" he yelled. "Have you any idea what you've just DONE?!"

"Now, now, little boy, you mustn't speak to your elders that way!" the creature said. This, of course, just turned Davey's face even more red. "By the way... I'm Belome! And I'm... hungry..."

"Be... Belome?" Xoshi stammered.

"Sir Xoshi, you know this fiend?" White Rose asked.

"Well, sort of..."

Davey snarled. Swiftly, he grabbed his gun and jammed it into the new Belome's face. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

WHAP! With one strong, bear-like arm, Belome was able to swat the laser pistol out of the boy's hands, injuring his wrists at the same time. The gun went flying into the woods. Davey was horrified. "Naughty, naughty," Belome chided. "Didn't mama ever tell you not to point guns at the dinner table?" Davey just growled at the monster. Belome paid it little mind. He appeared to be more interested in how there was a Yoshi entering a fighting stance, a white knight drawing his sword, and a Viking drawing his mace. "Hmm..." the monster said, looking at each of them. "Eenie, meenie, minie..." He looked at the trembling, beyond terrified Chogun. "YOU!"

Chogun gasped. He sounded like he just died. The monster took a step towards him. This enraged Davey even further. "DON'T YOU DARE-"

SLLURRPP! Too late. Just like that, Belome had wrapped Chogun up with his tremendous tongue and swallowed him in one gulp. Everyone stared at him as he rubbed his stomach in satisfaction. "Mmm! Bug-tastic!"

WHAM! Davey tackled the beast, pinned him to the ground, and commenced beating his face in with his fists. "You stupid, ugly, no good, freaking, tub of-" WHAP! Belome swatted the boy off of him with one good punch. Soon enough, he was back on his feet, brushing himself off.

"So, it's a fight you want, eh?" Belome remarked. "Well then, bring it on! I've always enjoyed a little roughhousing before dinner!"

Xoshi, White Rose, and Leif had all entered some imposing fighting stances. "Sir Davey," White Rose said, "let us assist you in this-"

"NO!" Davey yelled. He was getting off the ground, still as infuriated as ever. "He's mine..."

The three of Xoshi, White Rose, and Leif stared at what was going on right before them. There was a little boy to their right and a dog-like monster to their left. Both of them were looking as eager as all get-out for this. The trio put their weapons away and took a step back. All they could do was watch the fight unfold before them...

Davey and Belome stared each other down for a few seconds. Then they were off. They ran towards each other with their fists clenched. Once they were close enough, Davey tried throwing a punch at Belome's face, but once he saw the dog lash its tongue out, he panicked and jumped away. Belome started chasing down the boy with his tongue flopping around, sending blobs of saliva flying. One of them landed right in front of him. Unfortunately, he didn't see this. SLIP! The boy landed on his back, right on top of the watery muck. Just when he was starting to feel it seep into his clothes, the dog-like monster slammed his foot right onto his chest, knocking the wind out of him.

"Well, little boy, it's been fun," the monster taunted, "but now it's time to take a timeout... in my tummy!"

Davey glared at the beast and his salivating tongue. He had nothing but anger for this creature. If only I had my gun!...

"Shouldn't we help him?!" Xoshi asked.

"Be patient, Sir Xoshi," White Rose replied. "This is his battle; we can't interfere."

Xoshi swallowed hard. Come on, Davey, he thought. Don't die!

Belome's moist teeth were drawing closer to Davey's head. He had to come up with something in the next two seconds. Wincing, he thought, You sick freak... The young boy whipped out his wand and pointed it at the monster's throat. I'm not... he called forth the energy he felt before and concentrated with all his might, gonna die here! BAM! Belome went flying off of Davey's body. Smoke was coming out of his mouth and he was coughing up a storm. Davey was holding his body up with one hand on the damp ground. He was watching all this in disbelief. He looked at his wand, wondering about what it had just done.

"Wha-What... WHAT WAS THAT?!" Belome spazzed.

Davey grinned at the beast. "You like that?" The boy got up off the ground. "Then HERE'S SOME MORE FOR YOU!" Davey aimed the wand at the staggering Belome and started firing. Instead of bullets or lasers, though, he was firing spheres of black energy surrounded with purple lightning bolts. Each one kept detonating upon landing on Belome. More and more scorch marks were showing up on his yellow body. Finally, Davey fired a particularly big one at this guy. It enveloped his whole body, making for one serious injury. At last, the monster stopped running around and he collapsed on his back.

Xoshi, White Rose, and Leif had been awestricken by this display of power, but it wasn't over yet. The young boy stomped his way over to the downed beast and slammed one foot onto his chest, causing the enemy to cough some more.

"I don't know who or what you are," the boy growled, "but if you ruin my life or eat my friend, I WON'T FORGIVE YOU!" Davey swung his wand at the man's face once more. Belome went wide-eyed before the storm came. BDDZZZTTT!!! A tidal wave of dark energy tore through the monster's face. Davey let it pile up just for good measure. He wanted little more than for this freak to suffer as much pain as possible. Once the spell died down, he pulled his wand away to reveal a perfectly still face with all four of its eyes closed. The boy scoffed and took his foot off of the monster's chest. He turned around and began to walk away. Victory was his, as was a new power...

"YEAH! DAVEY! YOU DID IT!" Xoshi cheered. Both White Rose and Leif were applauding. Davey just looked at them and modestly scratched the back of his head. This little moment of celebration continued on until the quartet started hearing some coughing. Everyone stopped and looked. Belome was getting back onto his feet in spite of having been turned into a big, charred mass of black. Xoshi, White Rose, and Leif were dumbfounded. Davey was just horrified.

"Idiots," the monster wheezed. "Do you really think you can kill me?! I'm not a monster... I'm a stuffed doll!"

The three patrons of this scene were filled with shock. Davey just started to make his fists tremble again. However, Belome wasn't done speaking.

"If you want me, come and get me! I'll be waiting... at Belome Rock..." With that, the dog-like creature threw his arms up, much like how Chirinu had. Davey was about to run towards this fiend once more when his eyes suddenly caught a hint of blue. He stopped and looked up just as Xoshi, White Rose, and Leif had.

"What the..." Davey mused.

"AURORA FLASH!"

Xoshi, Davey, White Rose, and Leif had become trapped within a collection of pillars of a blinding blue light. Before they knew what hit them, they were down. The quartet opposing Belome had suddenly lost all consciousness and collapsed on the grass.

"Hee hee hee... See you kiddies later!" Having finally gotten his business out of the way, the treacherous Belome turned and ran. Xoshi, Davey, White Rose, and Leif had come all this way to Carnival Alley. It was full of all kinds of trials and tribulations, but this was one they just couldn't survive. The four of them had been reduced to four unconscious people lying on the ground. It was only a matter of time until they woke up...

Everything was going well on Lavalava Island. The sun was in the middle of the sky, signifying another peaceful afternoon for the citizens of Yoshi Village. Everyone was enjoying themselves. There wasn't a sign of conflict anywhere.

Some Yoshis were playing, others were working. Some of them, like the chubby red Yoshi chieftain and his periwinkle partner, were just going for a walk. At the moment, those two were waltzing down a path sandwiched between two collections of big, green trees and other jungle-oriented plants. The periwinkle one was talking.

"...So we decided to give it to him."

"Hm. I see," the chief replied.

"Speaking of which," the periwinkle Yoshi pondered, "I wonder what that Fyooshi is doing right now..."

BAM! WHAP! SLAM! Two of Lavalava Island's resident Yoshis, a black one and a white one, were going at it with each other. The looks on their faces were stern, but not angry. This was noticed by four other Yoshis: a maroon one, a goldenrod one, a cerulean one, and a lime one. They were just sitting back and watching, almost as though they were in a class. Eventually, three other Yoshis started walking towards this scene. They consisted of a green one, a magenta one, and a dark orange one. The dark orange one was explaining something to the green one.

"...And this is Ebony and Ivory," Glishy said, gesturing towards the black Yoshi and the White Yoshi respectively. "Ren may have once had them under his control, but they're still the strongest Yoshis here. They also like to travel."

Yoshi nodded. While the lecture between him and Glishy was carrying on, the Yoshi chieftain and his partner were approaching Fyooshi from behind. "How goes it, Fyooshi?" the red one said.

Fyooshi jumped. He turned around and noticed it wasn't anyone or anything dangerous. "Me?! Uh, I'm okay," he said.

The chieftain laughed. "Fyooshi, you're so easily scared. How do you sleep at night?"

"Um, I count raspberries," Fyooshi answered.

The chieftain laughed again. "Is that so?"

"Yeah. Uh, raspberries are my favorite..."

Two Yoshis were sparring with each other, four were sitting and watching, two were standing and watching, and three were just talking to each other. Everyone was just having such a good time. This could all be seen by a pair of eyes secretly spying on the place from behind a few bushes. It seemed to be waiting for something...

Ebony and Ivory charged each other once more. At one point, Ebony threw a punch and Ivory threw one of his legs out. The result was disastrous. BAM! Ivory got punched in the side of his head and Ebony fell to the ground after being tripped. The two Yoshis rubbed their sore spots, reassumed fighting stances, and continued with the sparring. Their six onlookers couldn't help but be deeply impressed by their skill, especially the two standing ones.

"They're actually going pretty easy on each other now," Fyooshi elaborated. "In real fights, Ivory specializes in firing green eggs at his enemies while Ebony uses red eggs. They say Ivory's the master of bank shots, but they also say that Ebony's attacks are like a machine gun. Well, whatever the case, should anything happen to us, we'll know that we can count on these two guys to protect us."

Yoshi nodded. Meanwhile, the red Yoshi chieftain was still talking to Fyooshi. "But, honestly, Fyooshi, you don't have anything to be afraid of," he said. "Like Perry and I were just talking about a little while ago, ever since we got rid of Ren, everything's been A-OK."

"Hm. Yeah," Fyooshi agreed. "Yeah, chief... I guess you're-"

TSSEEWWW! Suddenly Fyooshi found out he was all covered in a red liquid substance. He found out what it was once some of it seeped into his mouth. It tasted like metal. Then Fyooshi snapped out of it. He looked forward and noticed there was a big, bloody hole in the chief's neck. His eyes had rolled up into his head. Everyone in the village had suddenly stopped to look at what had happened to their leader. The chief's limp body fell forward. Fyooshi yelped and jumped back. WHUMP! The body hit the ground. It wasn't moving. However, what REALLY got people to flip out was the sight of what had caused this to happen: the giant Melon Bug lumbering its way out of the bushes.

"M... Melon Bug?" Yoshi uttered.

Glishy looked at him inquisitively. "You know this thing?" Yoshi nodded.

TSSEWW! It had started. The Melon Bug was beginning to fire more yellow lasers out of its gloved antennae. People were starting to run away from it, screaming. Yoshi Village was under attack.

TSEW! TSEW! TSEW! The Melon Bug was making a lot of scorch marks in the ground, but its prey kept jumping out of the way and running. This frustrated the beast, so it curled itself into a giant, striped bowling ball and started charging. The round monster kept grinding a miniature trench of some sort into the ground as it sped forward. People kept screaming and jumping out of the way as though it were a car being driven by a mad man. It nearly hit a red one, a purple one, a green one, and an orange one. Fortunately, all of them were able to dive away in time. However, a rather small, purple Yo'ster was going to have to jump away next, and the child wasn't doing so. The elder purple Yoshi saw this and shrieked. The child had a few seconds...

WHAM! The giant Melon Bug was knocked back. It flipped through the air, uncurled itself, and landed on its stomach. Once it shook its head and looked up, it could see what everyone was staring at: the black Yoshi and the white Yoshi, Ebony and Ivory, with their fists up, staring at the ornery creature with grim faces. The beast glared back. It hopped back onto its feet and started running towards them. The two Yoshis were running toward it as well.

It didn't take long for the two parties to crash into one another. Quickly enough, Ebony and Ivory had commenced leaping onto the oversized monster and beating it mercilessly with their kicks and punches. In retaliation, the beast merely tried to shake them off. After a few seconds of this, it finally just got mad. TSEW! TSEW! The two Yoshis were knocked out of the way by two of the Melon Bug's lasers. They went sprawling. Scorch marks were on their chests. In spite of this, they weren't going to give up so quickly. The next thing Ivory did was make a strange hand gesture or two to Ebony. The black Yoshi understood quickly and ran off. This time, it was just between Ivory and the Melon Bug. All the Yoshis of the village were either watching this fight in great anxiety or trying to get as far away from it as possible. It didn't matter to Ivory. He just glared at the monster once more and charged...

From a distance, Yoshi, Fyooshi, and Glishy couldn't pry themselves away from the fight. They all kept watching it as though their lives depended on it. Of the three, Yoshi seemed to be especially into it. For some reason, he felt there was more to this fight than just something horrible that suddenly happened, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. While focusing his attention on the fight, he could hear sobbing behind him. He looked over his shoulder and noticed it was coming from the periwinkle Yoshi, Perry. The poor man was kneeling on the ground with the chief's head in his lap. His face was drenched in tears and his lips wouldn't stop quivering.

"Why?!" he choked. "Why did this have to happen?! WHY?!"

Yoshi was disheartened at the sight. He suddenly started scowling and looking forward again. What in the world is going on?! he thought. I've never seen a Melon Bug like this before. Where did it come from? What does it want?

BANG! Ivory tripped the giant Melon Bug. The behemoth flipped onto its back. The white Yoshi started pummeling its side with a vicious combination of non-stop kicking and punching. He topped off the attack by jumping back, skidding to a halt, and whistling with his thumb and index finger. The loud noise made Ebony suddenly leap out of nowhere. For a second, he looked as though he was flying, but it was merely a long jump. The black Yoshi stared the Melon Bug down and let it have it. BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! The black Yoshi unleashed a barrage of red-spotted eggs upon the monster's gut.

Yoshi watched this in astonishment. Like Glishy said, it was just like a machine gun. Interestingly enough, he couldn't take his eyes off of the next few moments of this fight either. He continued to watch carefully...

Once the assault ended, Ebony landed on the ground and saluted Ivory. Ivory nodded and fired an egg of his own. Out of the corner of its eye, the Melon Bug could barely see this green-spotted thing heading towards it. Thinking quickly, it sprang back onto its feet, just in time to hardly even be grazed by the passing projectile. The thing zipped right past it, allowing it to move on with its next attack. The Melon Bug stared forcefully at its two opponents and started firing more of its yellow lasers. However, this time, it was seldom even aiming at either of them; each one was practically just one random firing after another. Regardless of this, Ebony and Ivory still found themselves dancing in order to avoid these blasts. Once they got sick of this, they got on opposite sides of the giant monster, nodded to each other, and let loose their next attack. WHAM! The monster stopped firing. Both of its sides had just had two fists slammed into them. The impact shot the rotund creature into the air.

Then SPLAT! The monster went spinning. Its temple had been nailed by a red egg. Yoshi noticed it had been a green egg a few seconds ago. He was amazed. That white Yoshi was indeed the master of bank shots. He could tell this match was going to be decided soon enough...

The monster was spiraling its way towards the ground. Ebony and Ivory were ready to smash its skull in with a few more kicks. They started running and WHAM! The monster landed between them. Unexpectedly, though, it did so on its feet. Once again, the monster was in the air. It had jumped. Ebony and Ivory craned their heads upward, being careful not to take their eyes off it. Much to their surprise, two very tall trees were about to fall on this thing.

Yoshi noticed this was a result of its random firings. He figured it had ironically done this to itself.

Ebony and Ivory seemed to be thinking along the same lines. Everyone watched and waited in anticipation. The falling trees were a split-second away from knocking this fiend out. Then came the moment of truth. CRACK! Everyone was shocked. Ebony and Ivory were even more so. At the last minute, the Melon Bug had chopped these trees in half with a spinning kick! What was even worse was that two of these were headed for Ebony and Ivory. The two Yoshis panicked. They tried getting out of the way of these two huge, wooden projectiles, but it was no use. KONK! Both Yoshis dropped to the ground. The trees had bounced off their heads and knocked them both out cold. Klunk! Klunk! Klunk! The trees, along with the Melon Bug that had torn them up, landed on the ground. This battle had been decided. The Melon Bug stood tall once again. It turned its head towards the horrified crowd of Yoshis and glared.

For the second time, they all started running and screaming. Despair had taken over the village, and Yoshi had seen enough...

Just when the monster was about to curl itself into a giant bowling ball once again, SPLAT! Something hard and heavy splattered against its temple once again. It angrily turned and looked. This time, Yoshi was its opponent. The green Yo'ster fiercely stared the behemoth down and beckoned it with one hand. The Melon Bug's rage had been renewed. It started charging towards its new enemy, not willing to hold back in the least...

Along with what few other Yoshis decided to stick around, Fyooshi couldn't help but watch this new battle unfold with an overwhelming amount of anxiety. Everything had been going great until this new enemy appeared. The chief was dead. Perry was crying for him. Everyone was either running and screaming or watching in dread. Their two best fighters had taken on this creature with the utmost of bravery. Now their latest resident, a green Yoshi who was still learning how to speak their language, was challenging it. How was his tutor taking this?

That was when the magenta Yoshi noticed it: Glishy wasn't beside him anymore either. Suddenly beginning to be overcome with fear, the cowardly dinosaur started looking around. He then noticed the dark orange Yoshi was exactly where he least suspected: right beside Yoshi, kicking this monster's butt. Fyooshi's eyes widened. He couldn't stop thinking about how the last thing the Yoshi chief said to him was about how cowardly he was. He never realized how right he was until this moment. The hurricane of whirling thoughts wouldn't stop packing itself into his skull. What was he to do? Noshi, Naji, Raphael... Ebony and Ivory... Even Yoshi and Glishy... He was nothing compared to them. This dark realization was starting to eat away at Fyooshi's heart like a parasite. He was so useless. What was he to do…?

Both Yoshi and Glishy were trying their hardest. Their hands and feet weren't willing to go easy against this fiend. Every kick and every punch made the monster scoot back and wince more and more in pain. However, its level of frustration was also getting dangerously high. While in the middle of another merciless onslaught of attacks, the monster pried its furious eyes open, looked at its two foes murderously, and made its retaliation. TSSEWW! Yoshi and Glishy had been scorched. The two Yoshis flew back in agony. They skidded across the ground and stopped. Both of them were gnashing their teeth. The crowd of anxious Yoshis were holding their breath. Once the giant Melon Bug started taking a few steps towards these two brave Yo'sters, it finally dawned on Fyooshi what to do...

Everyone, he thought while clenching his fists, I'm not gonna be useless anymore...

The magenta Yoshi angrily took a step forward. He took a deep breath and let it explode out. "HEY! Y-YOU BIG FREAK!!!"

It worked. The monster seized its advancement, turned around, and glared at this new offender. Fyooshi gulped at the sight, but he refused to stop his actions.

"Y... YEAH, I'M TALKIN' TO YOU! COME AND GET ME!!!"

To the good Yoshis of the Yoshi Village, this was quite the turn of events. For once, their easily scared little Fyooshi was putting on an act of courage. It was touching to see what he was willing to do for everyone... but could they really count on him?

They were about to find out. The Melon Bug blew steam out of its nostrils like a bison. It curled itself into a giant bowling ball once more and started charging. Unfortunately, Fyooshi wasn't sure if this was part of the plan or not. Then again, he wasn't sure if he even had a plan to begin with. In spite of this, he just went by his instincts. The terrified Yo'ster began to run...

Yoshi and Glishy were back on their feet. They were rubbing at their sore spots and watching where the Melon Bug had started chasing Fyooshi. The two of them were getting further and further away from the village. "You know, I always knew this day would come," Glishy said to Yoshi. "That scaredy-cat Yoshi is finally taking a stand. It was kind of a scary thought, actually..." Again, in response, Yoshi just nodded. He and Glishy were ready now. "Well, come on. Right now, he's in more trouble than anyone..." Yoshi nodded. With that, the two Yoshis sped off, leaving the rest of the Yoshis to run up to the downed Ebony, Ivory, and Perry, as well as their red chieftain, and start tending to their needs. The damage of this day was not going to be easy to fix...

Both Fyooshi and the Melon Bug chasing after him had gotten themselves deep inside the jungle. They had gotten pretty far from the village. All the while, Fyooshi could only think about one other time when he was in this situation: the time when a bunch of frogs from outer space were on his tail. His brow was sweaty, his breath was fast, and his legs were pumping like mad. It was the same thing all over again.

Fyooshi took another quick breath and gulped back his parched throat. But, this time, I'm not gonna let anyone save me, he thought. I'm gonna do this on my own! The magenta Yoshi looked ahead of him and took in what he saw. Beyond the next few masses of shrubbery, there was a crevice. In it was the river of lava coming out of Mt. Lavalava. Fyooshi looked behind him. The tremendous Melon Bug was still charging at him like a stray cannonball. He looked forward, saw the lava again, and decided it was time to finish this...

The Melon Bug wasn't showing any signs of stopping. It was going to kill that Yoshi no matter what the cost. With all this murderous intent flowing through its veins, it kept charging and charging. The reptile was only a few meters away from it. It could tell. It wouldn't be long until that scaled freak was roadkill...

Then he mysteriously disappeared. The creature was confused. It immediately stopped rolling, uncurled itself, and started looking around. Where did he go? Above it? Behind it? The Melon Bug soon found out it was a little of both.

Once the Melon Bug turned around, in one split-second it could see Fyooshi had leapt into the air, grabbed a tree branch hanging above, and swung himself around it like a gymnast. His feet were sticking out like a double barrel shotgun and they were aimed at the monster's chest. Wide-eyed, the beast could tell there was no time to counter. WHAM! The monster's chest caved in. It went flying backwards. Its enemy had landed on the ground and run up to the edge of the crevice. Fyooshi watched as the humungous, green monstrosity tumbled further and further down. SHHLORRP! The lava caught its fall. It was gradually sinking in and becoming more burnt and brittle, like paper lighting on fire. Finally, the monster crumbled into ash and was swept away by the current of the liquid rock. The Melon Bug had been defeated.

Fyooshi continued to stare at where the behemoth had disappeared, as though the lava beneath it had just turned blue a second ago. His gaze was unblinking. If what he had just seen was not just his imagination...

Fyooshi took his line of vision away from the crevice. This time, his eyes weren't staring at anything. His mouth muscles were beginning to twitch. They were slowly forming a smile. Finally, it was a huge grin. "YES!" Fyooshi jumped into the air with one arm punching the sky. "I did it! I did it! I killed the monster! I did it!" The excited Yoshi started victory dancing. "I can't keep this to myself. I have to tell everyone!" Having stated that, the ecstatic Yo'ster turned around and started running full tilt back to the village...

Meanwhile, Yoshi and Glishy were still struggling to push and shove their ways through this wild forest. Somehow, they had managed to lose track of their friend as well as their enemy. "Ugh," Glishy grunted. "Now where could they have gotten to?" It didn't take long for his question to be answered. That was when the two Yoshis could hear someone running through the woods yelling something about having killed something. Looking for the source of this voice, Glishy found it was a magenta-colored blur moving through the vegetation at a quick rate. "Oh man," Glishy uttered. He gestured to his green companion. "Come on." Yoshi nodded. The two lost Yo'sters changed their route and started heading back...

"...EEEVVEEERRYYOOONNE!!!" Heads everywhere turned as Fyooshi came running into the scene, screaming his head off. His heels slid against the ground as he stopped with his arms spread. "Everyone! I did it! I killed the monster! We're all safe now!"

Dead silence.

All of the Yoshis of Yoshi Village had immediately stopped everything they were doing. That included blinking and even breathing. All eyes were on Fyooshi. The triumphant Yo'ster took note of this. It made him nervous. His eyes darted left and right as he lowered his arms. This was confusing...

What happened next took the magenta Yo'ster completely by surprise. One Yoshi yelled out. "ALL HAIL OUR NEW LEADER!"

Then all the others yelled. "HAAAIIILLL!" The Yoshis all rushed up to him. They were all yelling and screaming like they were before, only it was out of pure happiness and excitement rather than fear. The next thing Fyooshi knew, there was a necklace of pansies around his neck and he was being carried around by two Yoshis, Ebony and Ivory, using their arms as a makeshift throne for their savior. Everyone was chanting, "LEADER! LEADER! LEADER! LEADER!" Now he was REALLY confused...

He wasn't the only one. Yoshi and Glishy were very close to the village now. Hearing all this partying got them both to start to seriously wonder what in blazes was going on. The two exchanged perplexed looks and they headed on in. Their eyes became extremely huge upon realizing it was a celebration over Fyooshi. Once he saw them enter, he was slightly relieved. His two friends ran up to him, dying for some answers.

"Fyooshi! What's going on? What happened?" Glishy yelled, trying to be heard amidst all the chanting. A maroon Yoshi practically danced up to him.

"Didn't you hear?! Fyooshi killed the monster! He's our leader now!" the maroon Yoshi explained.

"Really?!" Glishy blurted. "So that's it..."

"Glishy!" Fyooshi called out, while jumping from his makeshift throne. He ran up to his two friends with a great amount of befuddlement. "What's going on? Tell me!"

"Have you forgotten??" Glishy said. "Whoever kills the leader becomes the new leader. And since you killed whoever it was that killed the OLD leader..."

Fyooshi gulped. He pointed to himself. "So... that makes me... the new leader?"

Glishy nodded. "You got it."

Fyooshi placed a hand against his head. It was starting to sweat like crazy. The sound of everyone's chanting was starting to feel like a pounding in his head. "Well, gee, I dunno," Fyooshi stammered. "Me? The leader? A-Am I really qualified for it? And... And what about the old one?"

"We'll take care of it later," the dark orange Yoshi said. "Right now, everyone seems to feel like celebrating. So let's let 'em... Okay?" Glishy smirked at his friend and gave him a light punch in the arm. Fyooshi hesitated. Then he smiled back and nodded. Soon, the two Yoshis were joining the rest of their kind in the dance. It made their green friend feel even more like an outcast here. He had bigger things on his mind, however...

I don't get it, he thought. Where did that Melon Bug come from? What did it want? The Yoshi started looking at the ground with a grave look on his face. Somehow, I don't get the feeling this is over...

"YOSHI!" The green dinosaur jolted his head up. Glishy was beckoning him with his hand. "Come on! Join the party!" Yoshi nodded. Indeed, now was not the time to be worrying. The green reptile ran up to all the other Yoshis and started dancing alongside them...

It was the same thing all over again. Titotal Gonnic, Wart, and Katana were right next to Kreezo. They were at the beginning of a racetrack of some sort. This could all be seen by two huge stands loaded to the brim with Melon Bugs galore, all of them cheering wildly. Once again, they were going to get to see the speed of Tondariya outdo a few foreigners, only, this time, there were three of them instead of four, and the three of them had new bikes.

The man in red and his two Melon Bug cronies were with them. He was giving them a few words to send them off with. "Now, you do remember the rules, don't you?" he asked.

The alien captain snorted. "If we win... we win..." The big purple man still had lopsided eyes. This didn't make Wart and Katana any more confident.

The man in red didn't seem to care. "All right then," he said. "Shall we begin?"

Wart and Katana were looking pretty grim. The thoughts running through their heads were very similar to one another.

Can we really trust the captain in this state?

WILL THESE MOTORCYCLES TRULY ENSURE OUR VICTORY?

The captain, on the other hand, was in much higher spirits. We'll be out of here in no time, he thought with a sloppy grin on his face.

While these three aliens were busy mentally preparing themselves for the trial ahead, a disembodied voice was starting to boom its away across the sky in Tondariya's wrath. "Ladies and Melon Bugs," it said, causing the audience to quiet down some as it did before, "we have, once again, a very special group of people willing to take on Kreezo and the might of Tondariya..." For the second time ever, each of the captain and his top two minions got to have their names called out one by one with unpleasant results. "Wart..." Everyone in the bleachers started booing the frog. This just made him frown a bit. "Katana..." Like his superior, the silver man got booed. He just rolled his eyes. "And Titotal Gonnic..." The purple man got booed. Unlike the other two, though, he didn't seem to have heard anything. He still had that drunken, confident smile. "Yes, ladies and Melon Bugs, it's just Wart, Katana, and Titotal Gonnic today. It seems this time they'll be trying to win this race without the aid of Cutlass, who, as we all remember, was the only one who stood a chance against Kreezo. Regardless, let us bare witness to Kreezo proving once and for all that no one can beat Tondariya..." As they did before, at the sound of these words, the entire audience started cheering like mad once again. It irritated Wart and Katana. Could they really do this? They were about to find out...

The crowd cheered on. The four contestants continued to wait impatiently. Then came the red man's two Melon Bugs. Repeating their earlier actions, they strut up a ways in front of the four bikers. They all stared at these two creatures with a great amount of seriousness. Once the timing was right, they curled up into balls, and rocketed themselves into the air like a pair of bullets. No sooner than that did the quartet of racers vanish. In the blink of an eye, they were off. The final race had begun...

It had barely even been a few seconds, and, already, Kreezo was overcome with astonishment and confusion. The last time he did this, he wasn't trying very hard, yet he was still able to win. Surely, this time, it wasn't going to be any different. In spite of this, it was. It seemed as though, without even putting any effort into it whatsoever, his three opponents had instantly passed him. They were even making all the turns as though they were nothing. How could they have gotten so good so fast? It just wasn't possible. No matter, Kreezo thought. I am Tondariya's speed. It takes a lot more than this to take me down...

As the alien captain sped down this brass road, he was smiling defiantly. It was as though he couldn't even feel the wind whipping at his face. His two minions, of course, were right behind him. Both of them had eyes that were all bugged out. Things definitely were going smoothly.

Once the three aliens looked ahead, they could tell that, once again, they were going to have to jump the pit of spikes. The captain, of course, was more confident about making this jump than the other two space aliens were. He was about to hit the gas and go flying off of that ramp when VVRROOOOMMM!!! Kreezo dashed right past the opposing trio. He drove up the ramp and went soaring. The golden man looked behind him, feeling smug. Unfortunately for him, he may have been the first to survive the pit of spikes, but that didn't change the fact he was falling behind. Over his head, he heard the sound of motorcycle engines roaring. Three of them, to be precise. Kreezo looked up and made his eyes follow his three opponents. They had made the jump at a much faster speed than him! How could this happen?

SO THIS IS AUTO-PILOT, Wart thought. He was greatly relieved, but still nervous. He raised one of his golden, sleeved arms and used it to wipe his brow. TRULY AN AMAZING DEVICE... The giant frog held on tight and continued to follow his two fellow aliens...

Kreezo cursed beneath his breath. He started accelerating again. He wasn't going to let a few impossible occurrences get in the way of his victory.

After a few more twists and turns in the road, the next big challenge came: the spiral. Once Katana saw this nightmare of turning ahead of him, he gulped. Well, he thought, here goes nothing...

The descent began. Just like last time, four motorcyclists were doing their best to cling to the side of this twisting road from another dimension. The other three were basically just hanging on tight, but Katana felt like he had more than just his bike to hang onto. The unlucky alien's face started turning green. The constant spinning and the never-ending image of stripes of brass and black flying over his face wasn't exactly making this any easier for him. He hoped and prayed it'd all be over soon...

Kreezo had his confidence restored. Not even that last trial could prove his skill had rusted. Much to his dismay, however, the cockiness he had just gained was instantly shattered. He was sandwiched between three other motorcyclists. This angered the golden man. He was in the process of wondering how in the world these guys were capable of defying the impossible so much when he suddenly noticed the silver man to his left taking up a great interest in the ground. The metallic alien's hands were still gripped firmly on the handlebars, but his head was leaning over to his right. Kreezo was shocked and disgusted by what happened next...

The golden, bejeweled Kreezo's bike went spinning out of control. In desperation, he slammed it to a halt suddenly. Looking ahead, he could see that, all over the road, was a puddle of something lumpy and yellow-ish. Kreezo cursed again. First they were doing the impossible. Now they were doing the ridiculously simple. The speed of Tondariya had snapped. That does it, he thought, getting his bike to start zooming across the brass road again. No more Mr. Nice Guy...

Up ahead, Katana was busy lagging a bit behind his two teammates, both of whom were looking more confident than him. The silver alien wiped some gunk from his mouth with his sleeve. I wouldn't exactly call this my idea of a good time, the extra-terrestrial thought, but we just might win this... Auto-pilot had saved another life...

Next, what the racetrack had in store for the four bikers was the forest of the tall, tree-like brass instruments. Like the last two major parts of this crazy place, this may have spelled more trouble for the three space aliens, but auto-pilot was there for all three of them. They hardly felt as though there was anything to fear. Soon after they entered this unwholesome forest, it started attacking them. Curled up Melon Bugs were firing themselves out of the sockets of the instruments like bullets, headed for the aliens. Luckily, they were going too fast for those things. They were practically invincible. Not even when there was mist fogging up the forest to accompany the cannonball-like Melon Bugs was it enough to take the aliens down. They just kept plowing on through at super speed.

Once they emerged from the white cloud of the forest, the captain's face twisted into a devilish smirk. It's official now, he thought. This match is ours...

The next few seconds were truly strange for the three aliens. This was when they finally got to find out how reckless it could be to be on auto-pilot. The motorcycles started automatically jumping through the air in an effort to avoid tripping over wires coming out of the tree-like instruments of the forest. All they could do was hang on tight and hope for the best. However, the next obstacle probably would have required more from them than just that. The bikes took a tremendous leap through the air and started rotating in midair. The aliens felt as though they were on a rollercoaster. In what had been the bikes' most insane auto-pilot act yet, they had managed to get the aliens to tumble through a web of wires like acrobats through a ring of fire. In the next instant, they were going to land...

BANG!!! Something extremely blunt had rammed into the back of Wart's bike. The impact sent him hurtling towards Katana, which got him to hurtle towards the captain. Since he had flipped the bike in such a way so that its tires had been the culprit in this mess, Kreezo could barely see the fruits of his labors, but he could tell those three idiotic space aliens were spiraling out of control. Nimbly, he landed the bike right back onto the brass road where it belonged and continued to race. Much to his horror, in spite of the severe "accident" that had happened earlier, the aliens were still able to land right back onto the road as well, almost as though nothing had even happened. Once again, the golden man was behind. He seethed with anger. He knew something was up now.

I hope they hang for this...

The four motorcycles were miles ahead of the forest of brass. Now they were about to enter the most difficult part of the racetrack. The brass road was gradually fading away into a huge mass of blinding white light. The three aliens couldn't stand getting near it. Wart started covering his eyes up with one arm and Katana started to lean his head forward with his eyes clenched shut. As for their captain, he just started squinting. What happened next was something that would carve itself into their memories for all eternity...

Wart's bike swerved left. Katana's swerved right. Their captain went straight ahead. They couldn't tell they had separated from one another, but they could tell that, whatever it was their bikes were doing, it surely would have killed normal people...

Wart's bike had turned sideways. It was going as fast as possible and was practically driving down a wall as though it were the ground, but it didn't stop there. The more this bike drove on, the more sideways things were starting to feel. Wart felt as though every law of gravity had just shattered. Soon enough, the bike was upside-down. How was any of this possible? He was clinging onto it as hard as he could. Fortunately, the road was beginning to twist itself right-side-up. However, that was just so the road could slant upwards and send the giant toad flying through the air. The humungous amphibian could feel his insides being tossed about. It felt as though he had been drifting through the air for hours. When he finally landed, he started wishing he was still flying. As if it wasn't bad enough the bike was going insanely fast and there was wind whipping in the ill-fortuned frog's face, this time, his bike was barreling down what felt like the non-stop bumping of an entire staircase spiraling downward. This made him kind of glad he couldn't see anything. He prayed this would all be over soon...

Katana's bike seemed to have entered an endless valley of hills. Every time the bike started flying through the air, it just landed harshly back onto the ground so it could go soaring full-tilt downward until it hit another ramp. The constant rising and falling of all this appeared to have instantaneous effects on the ill-fated alien's stomach. With all his strength, he struggled to make sure he wasn't about to do anything besides continue to cling desperately to the bike's handlebars. Unfortunately for him, not much of this was going to be ending any time soon. The last ramp was surely the longest one. It sent him flying through the air at an unbelievable speed. Again, this ended with the bike landing harshly. The silver alien was starting to wonder exactly how much the new bikes could take, as if that were important. The next thing he knew, he was spinning uncontrollably. For a second, he thought this may have been due to the fact the bike was merely trying to protect him from another web of strings, but, in the next second, he remembered the bike was still on the ground; it was just that it was driving on a road that wouldn't stop twisting around and around. Katana was wondering if this was all really happening...

The route the captain's bike had taken wasn't much better. It felt as though it had entered a U-shaped valley. The bike kept switching back and forth between being on the right side and being on the left side, as well as being high up and being in the middle of the valley. After hearing a few explosions, a few gun shots, and some metal scraping, he could tell why: if it didn't keep doing this, he'd be dead.

The valley ended with a ramp sending the captain soaring through the air. He didn't enjoy this next part. In it, the bike just kept making one rough landing after another. Each time it did so, it would jerk to some slightly different direction, then speed off from there. Although the captain's head had been swimming ever since he smashed that bottle over that one frog's head, he could tell that this was likely due to the fact that this part of the racetrack was little more than a bunch of blocks inexplicably floating around in random places. Then again, there didn't seem to be anything in this place that wasn't inexplicable...

V-V-VVROOOMMM!!! The three space aliens had finally gotten out of their ordeals. They were driving alongside one another once again. Wart and Katana looked as though they had just woken up from some extremely brutal nightmare, but the captain looked fine. The light was beginning to fade away. The aliens could finally stop bothering to protect their eyes somehow. They were seeing spots as though their picture had been taken a million times. Beyond them was nothing but brass road. That, and two rather large bleachers of Melon Bugs, as well as the finish line. As for Kreezo, he was nowhere in sight.

It didn't matter to them. They had a race to win (or their bikes did). The finish line was getting closer and closer. Crossing it was definitely not going to be any more difficult than anything else they had endured that day. At last, the line had been passed. Once it was...

"BBOOOOOOOOO!!!" The Turbosus had stopped. The ride was over. Wart and Katana looked extremely annoyed. Their captain, on the other hand, was looking smug. He started smiling and waving to all the angry Melon Bugs. How could these nobodies have defeated the undefeatable Kreezo?

"Ladies and Melon Bugs," said the disembodied voice, "the unthinkable has happened... The invincible Kreezo... has lost..." The audience continued its jeering even after their golden hero had slowly rolled over the finish line himself with his bike. He looked as though all the motivation had been sucked from his body.

They have every right to be angry, thought the speed of Tondariya. This game was fixed...

The surly racer hopped off his bike and began to stroll it past the three aliens. Wart and Katana watched him go, but he didn't do so much as even glance at them. Within a few seconds, the tall man in red and his two Melon Bugs had shown up. Once he saw Kreezo, he turned to him and said, "Nicely done, Kreezo." Kreezo merely responded by scoffing and saying something about loaded bikes. The red man told him he'd handle it. He left the golden motorcyclist to sulk off as he glided up to the three space aliens, who were still basking in the audience's appreciation towards them, or lack thereof. "Gentlemen," he said, grabbing their attention, "I would just like to congratulate the three of you. I understand it must not have been easy to outperform the fastest thing in existence. As a reward, we shall send you and your spaceship, along with everyone on it, back to your world..."

The three aliens were delighted by the sound of this. Wart and Katana looked greatly relieved. The captain just started looking even more arrogant.

"But not everything..."

The smiles had been wiped off the faces of the aliens. They stared blankly at the red-robed man. "What?" Katana asked.

"Don't give me those confused looks," the red man demanded. "You were clearly lying when you told me you remembered the rules."

The captain made a snarling sound. "What?!" he said, more fiercely than his subordinate had.

"I distinctly said, 'If fewer than four of you are able to beat Kreezo, you may not get exactly what you want at the end of the race.' Gentlemen, I count three of you."

"You lying..." The captain trailed off. "This is a completely different race! How could you carry something as trivial as that to over here?!"

The red-robed man tapped the brass ground with his spear. "Tondariya does not believe in individual battles; it's all one war."

The alien captain started growling things in such a deep rage, all he was doing, practically, was just spitting through his gritted teeth.

"Seeth all you want, but rules are rules," said the man in red. "You, your crewmates, and your spaceship will be returned to your world... But your reactor stones--all four of them--will stay here..."

All three of the aliens' jaws dropped. Katana and his captain were starting to yell out their protests.

"But, without those, we can't fly!"

"How long will you continue to torment us, demon?!"

The man tapped his spear against the ground again. "It can't be helped. Your stones are ours..."

The two aliens continued to argue. Wart was merely trying to get them to calm down. The trio of extra-terrestrials were too caught up in their emotions to notice what looked like a star approaching them. Once they noticed this out of the corners of their eyes, they looked up. Behind this cretin in red was a huge mass of white light. It was such an ominous sight, even the Melon Bugs of the crowd had piped down over its sudden appearance. Everyone, including the space aliens, started staring at it. Only the man in red and his two Melon Bugs felt no need to turn around. Then everyone could hear another disembodied voice. This one was a very smooth, silky, feminine one. It didn't seem to be of this world...

"Visitors from another world... Our duel has ended. We must part now. We have demons to overcome and dreams to fulfill. Remember us... as we will remember you..."

Everyone was completely silent. They kept staring at this light as though it was the thing that was breathing life into them. When Wart and Katana stared at it, they wondered if it was the same light they had passed through earlier. They also wondered what it would have meant had that actually been the case. Who or what exactly was this unwordly presence?

The captain, however, could see more than just light. He wasn't sure if he was still intoxicated or if what he could see in this brightness was real. One way or another, it was there and he could see it. There was something exceptionally unusual about it he couldn't quite explain. It felt so familiar in a strange way. It was almost as though he had been peering into a past life...

"Wart, Katana... Titotal Gonnic..." It was the man in red speaking. A collection of white wind was starting to surround the three aliens. "I bid you farewell..." In a few seconds, a miniature tornado of a strange wind had engulfed the space-dwelling trio. Once the spell dissipated, it was revealed that they were gone. Them, and their motorcycles. The show was over. All of the Melon Bugs of the giant bleachers were starting to file away, beginning to make the place gradually emptier. In due time, the only ones left were two Melon Bugs, a man in red, and a white light. The man faced the mysterious existence behind him. "They're trying to takeover our world, Tondariya," he said to it. "We can't let that happen."

"I know, Shy King... We can't..."

Back at Carnival Alley, two Goombas were busy trying to awaken a certain foursome of people lying on the ground. One of them was dressed like a Sackit and the other like a blue Snifit. "Come on! Wake up! This is no place to be taking a nap!" they were saying.

Slowly, Xoshi, Davey, White Rose, and Leif woke up. All of them were very groggy. "Oh, gosh," Xoshi mumbled. "What happened?"

"I fell for the same trick again," White Rose muttered. "Forgive me, Sir Xoshi..."

"What a strange occurrence," Leif mused.

"Grrr," said Davey. "That stupid Belome... I'm gonna kill him! NOBODY kills my friends!"

While rubbing his head, Xoshi had suddenly received a rather important message from Beel. He said it out loud. "Um, Davey..."

"What?!" Davey snapped.

"You know, he's not dead," Xoshi replied. "He's just cramped inside of that stuffed doll's stomach. We can still get 'im out."

Davey's eyes lit up as he stared at Xoshi. "Is... Is that true?" Xoshi nodded reassuringly. Davey placed a hand over his chest and exhaled deeply. "Oh, thank God!" The shrunken man was relieved beyond redemption. How great it was that he and his friend still had a chance of being reunited. It was a happy thought, but he still managed to wear a look of worry. "Just one thing," he added. "You guys... think you could help me?" he asked meekly.

Xoshi nodded. Leif pumped one arm towards him. White Rose said, "You can count on us."

Davey looked relieved again. "All right," he said. "Just let me go and get my gun..."

The Sackit Goomba and the Snifit Goomba watched as these three guys waited patiently for this young boy to run off into the woods and come out, a few seconds later, with what could only have been a laser pistol of some sort. Once the four people were back together, they could experience a few more exchanges between them.

"Well," Davey stated, "Belome Rock, he said? Does anyone know how to get there?"

"I do," Leif replied.

"All right then, Mr. Leif," Davey said. "Lead the way."

"Just Leif, will do," the Viking insisted.

Davey smiled at the huge man. "All right, Leif," the boy said. Leif smiled back. With that, the large Marinotropolan began to walk in the direction Belome had run earlier. Xoshi, White Rose, and the newly recruited Davey followed. The Sackit Goomba and the Snifit Goomba just watched.

"Honey," said the Snifit Goomba, "what do you suppose those guys are up to?"

"I dunno," the other Goomba moaned.

"Hmm..."

No sooner than when their ephemeral conversation came to a close did a voice call out from behind them. "Hey, you two, come on! It's time to go already!" They looked behind them. It was the pink Bandit that had brought them here in the first place. A lot of the other Goombas were with him as well.

"Coming, Pammit!" called the Snifit Goomba. Soon enough, she and her companion were amidst all the other Goombas, awaiting this pink Bandit's orders.

"So, that's everyone?" he said. He got an assortment of confirmations from his group of Goombas in response. "Okay, then. Off we go!" Thus, the pink Bandit, Pammit, began to lead the little Goombas away from Carnival Alley. The happy, yet strange place of games and stands of all kinds was starting to drift away from them. It was time for life to return to normal again.

Another day and counting, I suppose, the Bandit thought. The group of Goombas trudged on...

"Ugh... Blifit..."

"You all right, Boss?"

"Huh?"

Sackle and Crookie were trapped. For a while now, they had been dwelling within what looked like a giant cylinder of impenetrably thick ice that must have been a few feet thick. Supposedly, the whole thing was kept from melting thanks to some sort of magical reinforcement. Between its two prisoners, Sackle was the one that woke up long after the other one. He was pretty confused after he did so.

"Ugh... Crookie? What's goin' on? Where are we?" Sackle asked.

"I dunno, Boss. I think we're still in that one cave. That ghost girl must have thrown us in here, or something. By the way, you wanna snowcone?"

Sackle was even more confused. He looked up. Right next to his subordinate was a purple crocodile woman donned in a red bandanna, a pair of sunglasses, and a yellow dress shirt. Quite a bit of her looked as though it were covered in these black splotches. The woman was smiling and she had a snowcone in each clawed hand. A third one was being held by Crookie. He was enjoying it thoroughly. "Uhh..." Sackle uttered. "Who's this?"

"This? This is Crania! She's a cook and a mechanic! Isn't that great?" Crookie explained. "What's more, she's was down here before we were! Pretty cool, huh?"

Sackle looked around. He noticed that one part of this wall looked as though it had a huge chunk missing from it. He noticed another part had a toolbox right in front of it. Then he looked at Crania and her snowcones. He got up off the ground and took one from the woman. "Uh, thanks," he obliged. He bit into the frosty delicacy and let it melt in his mouth. It was cherry. "So, uh, Crania," Sackle said, "what's your story?"

"Me and my family... We run a shop at Bandit's Way," the woman explained. "People from all over come to us, wanting things fixed. Lately, though, we've been running a bit low on supplies. When I heard of this place and how it was just LOADED with stuff lying around that we could use, I headed on over."

"Yeah," Sackle responded, taking another bite of his snowcone, "Blifit always liked old junk."

"Oh, but had I have known it was haunted, I probably wouldn't have come. Now I'm stuck here..."

"Hmm..." Sackle took another bite. He once again looked at the hole in the wall, the toolbax, and at Crookie and Crania eating their snow cones. "Listen, uh, Crania..."

"Yes?"

"Tell me," he asked, "you won't be needing any help with your snowcones any time soon, will you...?"

The spell was complete. For the second time in a long time, Kammelina and Kammeo had finally managed to finish up with their potion. It was glowing a healthy green and both witches were ecstatic.

"See, Sister?" Kammelina gloated. "I told you we needed Marinotropolan swine!"

"Yes, yes. Rub it in, why don't you... Would you just get on with it, Sister?"

"Capital idea, Kammeo," Kammelina retorted. Once again, she closed her eyes, raised her arms, and started speaking dramatically. "Oh, great mass of our creation, lend me your ears! You shall bring forth the one being in existence who shall smite our enemies and bring glory to our god, Veyran! GO NOW! SUMMON... THE KROSHI!"

Both she and her sister stepped back as the contents of their cauldron began to glow even brighter. Then it floated out of the magical pot in the form of a glowing, misshapen blob. The ugly thing floated and whirled around in midair for a little while. Then it started to whirl even faster and fill the room up with a bright green light. Kammelina and Kammeo shielded their eyes as this newly formed brightness whited out the whole room in a huge flash. Once they could sense the magic had died down, they took their sleeved arms away from their eyes and continued to watch what was going on above their cauldron. This time, the potion had taken on the form of a Yoshi. Gradually, the Yoshi-shaped substance began to stop glowing so immensely. At last, this new creature's true colors were revealed. It floated down and started standing on top of the rim of the pot. Its feet were bare. Its skin was gold and its exposed claws were silver, just as its belly was. It even had a silver-rimmed saddle, which was ruby red, just as its spikes and its eyes were. The Yoshi-like creature was even wearing bejeweled rings and bracelets. It looked incomparably wealthy. Both of the witches were awed by its appearance.

"Ah, the Kroshi," Kammelina said as she began to walk towards the summoned creature. "The one being in existence that can show our enemies what's good for them." Then the woman began to address the specimen more directly. "All right, you, listen up," the witch said, causing the Kroshi to turn its head towards her. "There's a man out there. His name is Tito. He and his fellow space aliens are trying to take over our world. Only Veyran is allowed to do that! We want you to go out there and show him who's boss! You're the only one who can!"

It was a fine speech, but the Kroshi's emotionless expression didn't change. It just continued to stare at the blonde-haired witch. It looked like it knew something she didn't. This confused her. Then the Kroshi started talking. "No," it said. This shocked both Kammelina and Kammeo to a great extent. "I don't want to."

"W-W-What?!" Kammelina spazzed. "What in the world are you talking about?! You have to! You're the only one who can! Have you any idea what we went through trying to find the right ingredients just so we could summon you?!"

"No, and, frankly, I don't care," the Kroshi scoffed. He began to look at his fingernails almost absentmindedly. "I'm powerful. REALLY powerful. That's all that matters, doesn't it?"

"But... But..." This time, Kammeo was arguing. The Kroshi wasn't looking at her, though. "The fact that you're powerful is why we need you! The whole world needs you! Don't you know that?"

"I know that," the Kroshi said, uninterestedly. "That's why I need more power..." The arrogant Yoshi-like creature hopped off the cauldron, causing Kammelina to jump back a step. He looked first at her, then at Kammeo behind him. "Well, ladies," he said, "see you later..." BOING! The creature shot itself out of the hole in the witches' roof using his super strong legs. Horrified beyond belief, the two witches ran up to their window. They saw the golden Yoshi taking one enormous leap into the air and slowly coming back down over and over again. It was as though his body hardly weighed a thing. He was gradually getting deeper and deeper into the surrounding woods. Kammelina turned to Kammeo with the most dead serious expression on her face.

"Kammeo," she said, "we can't take this one sitting down. We have to track that guy down and knock some sense into him! There's no telling what he'll do!"

"You know, Sister, for once, I agree with you," Kammeo said. A few minutes later, the two female Magikoopas had grabbed their broomsticks. Once again, they had mounted them and flown out of the hole in their roof. Both of them had grave facial expressions, especially Kammelina.

Kroshi, she thought as she and her sister started flying over the tree-tops, we won't let ANYONE hinder Veyran's plans... and that includes you...

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