Chapter 8

Morning was once again upon the Yoshis of that tropical isle. The sky gradually worked its way up from black to a pale blue. He hadn't suffered any new attacks that night, but still, things weren't going too well for him.

In spite of everything, things around the village began to start back up like normal. Their morning routines continued with hustling, bustling, and fruit-related business. Xoshi's morning, however, didn't exactly begin overnight. He didn't get any sleep.

...So, if it were me, I would have made it so that each world was composed of three sets of levels, the first one of one, the second one of 24, the third one of seven, but of course- Blast it, why don't those stupid birds ever shut up?! Xoshi was thinking. Of course it didn't really have much relevance to the thoughts he was having about multiple storylines. The conversations he had with himself in his head tended to drift from topic to topic. Come to think of it, he was pretty surprised that he was able to steer his thoughts away from the troubles he was having, which reminded him of just what he didn't want to think about, but knew he had to anyway. Another conversation started.

Good morning, Xoshi, the spirit named "Belome" thought to him.

NNguh. 'Morning, Xoshi grumbled mentally. That night, the two of them managed to work up some way to differentiate between thinking to oneself, one's "head mate", and one's memories. This was another of those times when they were on to the "head mate" issue.

I... take it rest was mediocre, Belome thought to him.

You got that right, thought Xoshi. He got up out of bed to stretch and massage that awful, sleepless feeling out of his tired eyelids, and reluctantly decided to begin his waking process, although some extra chances for slumber would have been appreciated, but they were obviously not going to come to him, what with all the action that was going on. Let's get this over with, he thought. He was referring to preparing for their outrageous trip to Isle Delfino.

Yes, let's. At that, they proceeded onwards to commit their mandatory acts. As usual, Xoshi had a few other Yo'sters to walk around in order to make it to his odd shortcut. Once he got to that opening once more, a thought came from Xoshi to Belome.

Hey, he thought to him. Now that we're technically sharing the same mind, can you take control of my body?

Well, I'm not sure if the way to answer that would start with the word "fortunately" or "unfortunately", but either way, I can't.

... Can't answer?

Can't control you. You are, after all, in charge of your own self.

Hmm... Xoshi continued walking after that. He was a little closer to the botanical hut again when Belome thought something more to him.

Say, wasn't that Yoshi fellow to stop by, by now?

Xoshi stopped walking. Had anyone else been there, they probably would have taken note of his unusual behavior. It was tough having a foreign spirit in his head. What did I tell you about reading my mind? Xoshi scolded.

... Sorry.

Besides, he's... not as fanatical as I am. He only visits on Sundays.

Whereas, you visit daily.

Pretty much. Xoshi continued walking. He was inside the hut, although, like half the time, the priest was out. He didn't always need his presence in order to pray to the Super Happy Tree. He moved on through the back and onward down that semi hallway.

If that's the case, how will you be able to survive on this trip?

At first, Xoshi thought his personal memories were being invaded again, but he let it slide since that last line didn't seem to have more intrusion than simple detective traits and curiosity. I get around, Xoshi thought. Once he was in its presence, he began to "talk" to it again.

Good morning, Xoshi, the Super Happy Tree said to him.

Good morning. He repeated his prayers as usual, but, like yesterday, he had a little extra to talk about. Mother, something crazy happened last night... Could it have anything to do with the dream?

Just about anything could be connected to anything, dear. You'll just have to find out on your own.

Yes, mother. After telling it the bizarre story and gathering its fruit, he headed on back.

You told her, Belome said to Xoshi, probably accusingly.

She's the only person I trust.

... Really?

Well, that was a slight exaggeration. I mean, who else could I be able to talk to about things I've never told anyone before?

Hmm... At that, the two of them left the sacred area and went back through the opening and the shortcut, without incident as before. However, as soon as they got a little back into the village...

"WHAT?! Who set this up?!" Xoshi got that deja vu feeling again. Boshi was yelling at Yazzee. Exactly what about was pretty obvious.

"I did! Sort of."

He said something else, then handed the same paper over to Boshi. Boshi read it over a little, then said something like, "Googa looga snory fargy snargy spu hoo?!"

"Just keep readin' it!" At that point, Xoshi was standing in the very spot that would form a triangle between the three characters. "Oh, hi there, Xoshi! Boshi here is just a little reluctant to go on our little trip!"

"You told him about it today?!" Xoshi said, exasperatedly.

"Well, yeah! I mean, I meant to tell him about it earlier, and..."

Xoshi groaned and let his face fall into his hands. He shook his head a little as Boshi continued reading, then lifted it up to speak. "Yazzee, you have got to stop being so flaky all the time. It stresses people out!"

"I know, but..."

Little did they know, as their conversation was carrying on further, two mysterious figures were watching from the bushes in the distance.

"So that's their little game! Listen, Crookie; as soon as they have their ship arrive, we sneak aboard, and act as stowaways!"

"But, Boss, couldn't we just steal the doll right here and now while no one's guarding the house?"

"The broad daylight's guarding the house, dummy! We're sneaking aboard, and that's final!"

"But how can we sneak aboard in broad daylight?"

Sackle chuckled. "You just leave that to me, my narrow-minded apprentice!"

Crookie was flustered. "'N- Narrow minded'?!"

"That's what I said! Now follow me before you hurt yourself..."

"Gwugh!" Crookie was once again grabbed by the collar of his attire and dragged into the deep woods behind them.

"By the way... For how long can you hold your breath?"

Later, the four of Yazzee, Xoshi, Yoshi, and Boshi were just about ready. Xoshi had managed to answer Belome's question from earlier with a small statue of the Super Happy Tree.

"It's called an idol," he explained. "You pray to it every night before you go to bed."

He packed that, a few fruits, and, of course, the forbidden doll (all according to plan). Pretty soon, the four of them were at the docks, awaiting their way of transportation. Once there, Xoshi couldn't help but take note of the new garment Yazzee was wearing.

“Yatzee, I mean, Yazzee,” Xoshi stammered. “What are those things?”

“Oh, these? Why, they’re my lucky dice! Never leave home without ‘em.” Yazzee was wearing a pair of fuzzy dice dangling from the “chest” of a necklace.

“But, when we went on that one mission against Kamek, you weren’t wearing them,” Xoshi contradicted.

“Huh? Oh, uh, sure I was! They can turn invisible, that’s all!”

“Really,” Xoshi said disbelievingly. He couldn’t help but also notice a foul Boshi standing beside him. “Still ticked off about the extemporaneous trip, Boshi?”

Boshi snorted. “All I’m gonna say is that they’d better have cookies!”

“Hmm. Oookay.” They waited a little while longer while the other Yoshis minded their own businesses. After some time and conversing had passed, finally a speck was beginning to show up in the distance. It grabbed the attention of Yazzee first.

“Hold up,” he said, whipping a four-fingered hand above his eyes for focus. “Doth my eyes deceive me?!”

“Well, s'about time,” Boshi grumbled. Xoshi and Yoshi caught on too; it was the ship!

“Well, boys, looks like pretty soon we’ll be getting all that fruit and sunshine after all,” Yoshi mused, scratching his chin.

“Alright,” Xoshi said, taking his turn. As the faded image from the distance grew ever so slightly, a tap arrived upon the shoulder of Boshi. Boshi, unstartled, turned around. It was the purple one, Pish, followed by his two cronies, Oshi and Pinky.

“What’s the latest, Pish?” Boshi said to him.

Pish responded. “Well, ‘Boss’, I was just wondering: Since you’ll be spending a week or two over in "everyone's favorite little paradise", who'll be left in charge in your place?"

Boshi snorted again. He shook his head and held out his arms, almost as though he was asking to be embraced. "You are, Pish!"

Pish gave himself a light slap on the forehead. "Oh, yeah," he muttered.

"Just remember," Boshi said to him, while wrapping his right arm around his shoulders. "24/7, you gotta act cool, be cool, and always, ALWAYS race the slow."

"Gotcha, Boss," Pish nodded. Boshi slipped away from him, pointing his left finger at him in a reassuring way. Then it was Pinky's turn.

"Don't you worry about a thing, Xoshi," he said to the brown Yo'ster. "Me and Oshi here will keep your house from any burglars while your gone." He said that while giving the air before him a confident pound with his left arm and fist. Xoshi simply nodded, feeling trusting, yet at the same time as though it wasn't really necessary.

"Thanks," he said.

"Yeah, we'll take 'em on! You just enjoy your vacation, Xosh!" said Oshi. "Xosh" gave another nod. Why did everyone keep calling him that?

Before long, the ship was at its designated docks. It was a modern, white thing with the title "S. S. Dolpic" on its side. Everyone got all excited, and the boat let a platform fall down so the quartet would have a way to walk on. A young Yoshi with pale green skin walked down to greet them. About him, he had an air of pure dignity, but strangely also an air of what almost seemed like creepiness. He moved his way to the front of Xoshi, Yazzee, Yoshi, and Boshi and began to speak in a youthful voice.

"Greetings, lucky winners. This is the boat to Isle Delfino, and I shall be your captain." He cocked his head specifically towards the yellow one with dice around his neck. "You're Yazzee, correct?"

Yazzee jumped up and down in excitement, even though the others were feeling a bit uneasy. "Yes! Yes, that's me!"

The captain let his eerie eyes shift a little out of sync with his head to scan the others. "And these would be your companions?" he asked, practically suspiciously.

"Yup!" Couldn't that guy ever tone down his perkiness?

He glared at Yazzee, but it didn't seem to douse his mood. "Please present your letter of notification," he demanded.

"Oh! Right." Yazzee reached behind him and pulled out the infamous message. Xoshi was personally surprised that for once he was actually right on track. The captain took it from him and looked it over with his foreboding eyes. A second later, he lowered the paper and handed it back, mechanically. Yazzee took it as the others were beginning to feel as though maybe this guy didn't have a soul.

"That would be it," he said. "Let's be off." He turned and began waltzing back. Yazzee, of course, was the first to follow.

"Well, what are you guys waiting for? Let's go!" he stopped to say to them. Then he continued his journey. The threesome exchanged looks, shrugged shoulders, and trekked onwards. Behind them, their friends were calling.

"'Bye, Yoshi!- Don't forget to write!- Have a good time!- Bring back some sunshine!"

Once they were on, the four took it upon themselves to move to the back of the moving ship and wave back.

"See you all later!"

"I LOVE YOU, TOO!"

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"BYE!"

It was Yoshi, Yazzee, Boshi, and Xoshi that said those things in that order. Xoshi was busy waving with the others when suddenly he was hit in that same spot by a coconut.

BONK! Sploosh...

"SORRY!" Xoshi heard a familiar voice say as he commenced rubbing his nose like before.

"Sheesh," he muttered. The ship drifted off further, and more people were waving.

Azure, of course, was still moving his arm back and forth in the gesture of goodbyes. Rachi, beside him, was muttering something about being in hope that they would bring back some "sunshine". Not too far away from them, the Yoshi Priest and his daughter Jeila were present.

"Ah, that Xoshi. Someday he'll probably be the one guarding the Super Happy Tree. I know that boy will make me proud."

"Be safe, Xoshi..."

The ship was already a great distance away from the docks. The creepy Yoshi captain was showing them around.

"...And this," he was saying. "Is my first mate, Jax. He doesn't speak Yoshish, but he makes for one reliable crew member." Jax was a little brown man with a goatee, a white shirt, and a pair of purple shorts. He said something to the vacationers in English, and made a gesture of acknowledgement. Then he continued working. "For those of you who didn't understand, he said, 'Greetings, friends! Enjoy the trip!'"

"Oh. How nice of him," Boshi said, probably in a sarcastic manner. At that, the tour continued.

"And this is the hold. Here, we keep all of our crates and stuff." There wasn't much to look at besides a room loaded with stacks and stacks of various Delfino brand boxes.

"Neat," Yazzee commented.

"And here would be your quarters, but since only two are available, you'll... have to figure it out on your own," he said unusually as usual.

"Great," Boshi moped.

Once the five Yoshis were on the deck again, the captain told them, "Which concludes the tour. Of course, the real tour shan't come until later."

Of course, Xoshi thought.

Logically, the isle ought to be dozens of sizes larger, Belome thought back.

"Lunch will be served in about an hour. Please, be ready by then, and while you're waiting..." He let loose another one of his trademark pauses. "Enjoy yourselves..." Then he disappeared to below the surface.

...

"What a weirdo," Boshi broke the silence.

"You sure this was such a great idea, Yazzee?" Xoshi asked.

"Oh, come on; he's not that creepy," Yazzee mused. He wandered off to explore certain areas of the ship. The others stayed behind for a second. With a shake of the head and a "hoy", Boshi was off too. It was just Xoshi and Yoshi. The two of them meandered over to the the ship's railing and made themselves comfortable, side by side.

"Yazzee's a flake," Xoshi said, starting the conversation.

"He's a scatterbrained one, alright," Yoshi agreed.

"Well, personally, I feel as though winning this free trip for no reason in one day (and through Yazzee, might I add) was bad enough. Now we're on a boat with only two other people, one of them, a human who doesn't even speak our own language, the other one, a guy that's as strange and freaky as all get out."

"He may be a Yoshi like us, but there must be others like him at Delfino. Maybe he's considered normal there!"

"Maybe. But.. that's just so hard to imagine!"

"Ah, we'll probably grow accustomed to it in time."

Xoshi sighed. "It feels like this just keeps getting worse and worse."

Yoshi turned his head towards him. "Hm?"

"Come on; don't you feel as though something bad is going to happen?"

Yoshi hummed a little out of contemplation. "Maybe a little. I wouldn't worry about it, though. After all; we were the ones that took down those Koopas!"

"Ah... I guess you're right..."

Meanwhile, those very Koopas were on the same ship as before, going about their various businesses. Arris was steering the ship for their destination, the oddly named Clattagin Woods, a green Koopa Troopa was doing room service, and Kamek was at one of the round, white-clothed tables of the ship's dining room writing stuff down.

...I didn't think it was possible, but the villainess was then squashed by the same spaceship as before. In the process, the whole place started to crumble. A miracle was all it was that allowed

Kamek stopped to continue deeper with his thinking. Was this what always happened when people were busy writing their memoirs? Or was it that...

"Blast," Kamek muttered. "How did I wind up having to write Gorroh's memoirs?! I can't believe the things I'm making up about him! Timulators, melting ice caps... It's all rubbish!" He used his left arm and elbow to hold his head up above the table and his right hand to strum his fingers impatiently. Then inspiration hit him. "But of course!" He continued writing down the tripe.

that allowed the rubbish to survive the blow...

The same green Koopa Troopa approached. "Another Maple Syrup, sir?" he asked.

"What? Oh. Yes, please." Kamek took it obligingly.

As he was ridding the bottle of its cork once more, the servant was bringing up something else. "Did you know that they're throwing some kind of sweepstakes with those syrups?"

"Yes, I did," Kamek said, not caring. He took a sip of it.

"They say you could win some kind of fancy-"

"Yes, yes. Why don't you go and offer someone else another one of these, hm?"

The Terrapin was a little insulted, but he obeyed nonetheless. He sulked off and let Kamek continue with his work. Kamek was making more stuff up as he went along. The pen in his right hand moved this way and that making up more lies, when suddenly the hand started to hesitate. Upon further inspection, Kamek's face wasn't looking any more willing. Something was wrong.

"Ahh..." he moaned quietly. Then he saw it: Two apes, a male and a female, obliterating a Koopa with wild, blue hair. It was there for a second, then the image of the dining returned to his eyes. He stood still for a spell, blinked twice, and shook his head. "Strange," he muttered, and he continued with the false statements...

"...So some people actually believe that there are only four elements?" Xoshi was saying.

"Yeah, you could say that."

"But Rachi was telling me the other day how there's a theory going on about how there probably actually is twelve, including Shadow. You know how everyone's got an elemental connection?"

"Yeah?"

"They're saying how whatever your attribute is, it can be determined by what those of your parents were. I'm not exactly sure how it works, though. Rachi might have showed me the grid for it once. It was something like... if your mother was Fire and your father was Ice, somehow that would make you Water."

"Huh. Weird."

"Yeah. Oh, and speaking of parents, do you know who that one orange guy is?"

"Um..."

"The one with the son that keeps hitting me in the nose with a coconut?"

"Oh, you mean Loshi."

"Yeah, him. I don't know, it just appalls me that the guy would have so little control over his own child as to not know how to get him to stop doing that to me."

"Yeah. Some people..."

"The priest told me I had yet to become a father myself. I can't wait!"

"Heh heh. I'm sure you can't," Yoshi joked back. That was when Boshi arrived for them.

"Hey, slow pokes, lunch is ready. Now, are you two going to come and eat, or are you just gonna stand there talking about the supernatural?"

Xoshi interjected. "Well, lunch sounds nice, but we weren't talking about the supernatural or anything." The two of them began to follow Boshi back to below the deck.

"That's good! The less you talk about it, the better," Boshi voiced.

"Wha- Why?" Xoshi was a little offended.

"Because! It's weird! You don't want people thinking you're weird, do you?"

"You don't want people to think of you as a stuck up jerk, do you?"

"Now, let's not change the subject! I'm just saying that it's probably more healthy for you to look at the more rational sides to life. My pappy always told me, 'Believe too much in all that hooey, and maybe eventually you will get sucked into another dimension! That wouldn't be good.'"

"Oh, the mental aspects those parents can corrupt," Yoshi retorted.

"Parents were what we were really talking about," Xoshi said.

"Yeah, but still. I'd be hearing you go on about how you heard voices the other night or how you thought you saw a shadowy figure... No."

At that point, they were in the room of crates like before. Xoshi had his next sentence prepared. "Come on, Boshi, not everything has a scientific explanation to it. Aren't you the least bit religious?"

Boshi stopped in his tracks and turned around. He scratched his chin a little and finally held up one finger. "You know how there used to be a secret military base known as Half Moon?"

"Yeah," both Xoshi and Yoshi said at once.

"You know there were rumors goin' about how they had a big weapon or something capable of changing the moon's face?"

"Yeah."

"You know how it was locked up in a room, and the only way to get in that room was to enter, you know, the password?"

"Yeah."

"You know how only one guy was able to find that password, and he got executed by the moon freaks for knowing top secret information?"

"Yeaahhh." The 'you know's and the 'yeah's were starting to get old at this point.

"And you know how eventually they shut the place down, but years later, some guy broke into it, and even though all the employees were dead, and their lips was sealed, this guy got the password just right, and in one try?"

"Riigghht."

"Some say it was the ghost that told him what it was. Others say he reincarnated. I say..."

"Yes?"

"... He got lucky."

THUD! Both Xoshi and Yoshi topped off their words of synchronization by falling face downwards onto the hard floor.

"Yeah, but you know it's true." He was saying this while the two of them were getting up rubbing their bulbous noses. Boshi held up his closed hand. "In this world, there are only two ways you can win: Through skill, and through luck."

"What about cheating?" Yoshi suggested.

"That'd go under the skill category." The creepy Yoshi captain stepped into the room from beyond.

"Your lunch is getting cold," he said forebodingly.

"Funny, I didn't think fruit could get any colder," Yoshi joked.

The captain just glared and let the three follow him back. In the room at the end of the hallway, past the "bedrooms", was a kitchen of sorts. Really, it was more of another storage room, but with hordes of fruit littered everywhere. Yazzee was already there and helping himself with his long tongue.

"Hey, guys! This stuff's great!" Once again, Xoshi and Yoshi got that unconfident feeling, but they decided to go ahead and enjoy themselves anyway.

Strangely, this almost seemed to make the time go by a lot quicker. As the ship sailed onward and the food rations continued to gradually deplete, two suspicious figures were making the water bubble up from the back of the bottom of the ship. FWOOSH! They were up and about. The blue-capped boss and his yellow-capped apprentice began to claw their ways up the "wall".

"Boss," Crookie croaked, "I don't ever wanna see water again."

"Oh, come on, wimp. It wasn't that bad." They continued upward, and soon they were on board, albeit still dripping wet. Their next destination was the hold. "Just a few more paces, and we'll be in the clear."

"But, Boss, what about that little man over there?" Brightly, Crookie was referring to Jax, who was still mopping the floors of the ship.

"Time it right, doofus! If we can make it down there without him seeing us, then we'll have outsmarted the sun and every sentient being it has shined down upon ever since it arose!"

"You're so romantic, Boss."

"And smart, too! Now stay on your toes..." Jax thought he heard something, so he looked around a little, but not being able to see a pair of bandits hiding behind the corner over there, he decided to shrug it off and continue working. "Go! Go! Go!" Sackle rushed himself and his whiny apprentice through the slightly open door before Jax could notice anything unusual again. Once they were in the shadows, Sackle breathed a sigh of relief. "That was too close. Let's get moving."

"Righ-toh, Boss!" At that, they began to quietly amble down the ladder leading to the crate room. Once they were amidst all those boxes, curiosity got to Crookie once more. "That doll couldn't be in here, could it?"

"Of course not! It's in his room, remember?"

"Oh, yeah..."

And so, the two thieves continued their journeys to the quarters of the four Yoshis. Sackle got one room while Crookie got the other. They checked every last nook and cranny, making sure not to leave much evidence that their rooms had been raided while they were away minding their meals. They may have been able to have come across a few eggs, a few fruits, a few cookies, and maybe even a few pictures of particularly attractive female Yoshis, but that was about it. Soon, the two of them were out of those rooms and back amongst each other.

"Any luck?" Sackle asked.

"Nope. Sorry, Boss."

"Well, we'll just have to keep on looking, then!"

Just when they were about to "keep on looking", disaster struck, and the two of them needed a place to hide.

"Footsteps! And they're coming our way! Quick; 'gotta hide!"

"Gwugh!"

"Man, I couldn't eat another bite!"

"I may have to sneak into this place at night..."

Yazzee and Yoshi said that. Since the meals were over, they could retire to wherever they might have wanted to go. Boshi went to his temporary bedroom (shared with Yazzee) and the other three returned to the surface. They passed right through the crate section and up the ladder without incident.

"Cripes! Another close one!" said Sackle from behind one of the wooden boxes.

"Yeah, it was," said Crookie from another.

"Now let's return to finding that- Hold on! Gotta hide again."

The two of them couldn't come out just yet. Another trespasser was coming on through. It was that Yoshi captain. He ambled his way into the room, lifted the top off of one of the crates, removed a strange bottle of red liquid, closed it back up, and leaned his form against the makeshift wall of storage contraptions. The next thing he did was indeed peculiar to the two thieves as they sneakily poked their heads out from behind: He was rhythmically tapping his rubber shoe-wearing foot against the floor. Then he left it there for a second or two before removing the top from his red drink. Then he sauntered off to the other depths of the ship, drinking his beverage along the way.

"That was odd," said Crookie.

"Yeah, yeah. Did you see what he was tapping his foot against?" said Sackle. The two of them emerged and took a gander at what the boss was talking about.

"Well, what do ya know, Boss! It's a trapdoor!" his apprentice said excitedly.

"How silly of us! Thinking it was somewhere else when that would have clearly been unlike that brown guy! That was your fault, Crookie."

"But- But you said-"

"Enough chat! Let's get to jimmying this thing open, shall we? Crookie; crowbar."

Instead of futilely arguing with his superior on who was to take credit for what, Crookie obeyed as usual, slinging down his sack of goodies to rummage around in until coming across what his mentor wished for.

"Thanks again, Crookie! Here we go! Hhhhuuurrrggghhh ugh ugh UGH! GurrrrrrrRRRPHH!!! N-gah!!!"

Unfortunately, any logic that was calculated beforehand was soon questioned as the two of them realized that the same technique as before was not working.

"What's with this thing?!" Sackle fumed as he wiped a few beads of sweat off his forehead. The jimmy didn't stick like before, but rather it fell to the floor with a clatter.

"You know, Boss," Crookie was saying, "maybe this isn't really a trapdoor after all."

"WHAT?! Changing minds on me now, are ya?! A second ago you were saying it was!"

"But- But-"

"That's great thinking, Crookie! Now, how can we open this?"

Crookie was flabbergasted by how quickly his boss' mood could swing. He shook his head over it and began to ponder.

"Well, Boss, maybe there's a switch or-"

"Shut it, Crookie! We gotta hide!"

"Gwugh!" For about the third time (or so) that day, he was pulled aside by his boss. That time, Jax was coming down. He was descending, hopping down, and walking through while singing some song in English.

"If I were an animal
I'd like to be a bee
'Cause then I'd be able to sting the ones
Who obliterated me..."

The song and the little man faded away quickly, and Crookie spoke up.

"A bee? If I were an animal, I'd be a-"

"Shut it! We obviously can't be doing this during the daytime even if we're where the sun don't shine!"

"You-"

"We'll have to wait 'til nightfall..."

Crookie silently agreed as Jax returned with an assortment of things in his arms, from rusty buckets to telescopes.

"I would be so yellow
Making puns of 'honey'
Which I would puke up the day away
For ones to sell for money..."

Once again, his body and his voice disappeared. The two were alone again, but they weren't taking any risks.

"Gonna be a laaawwwnng day."

Kamek was at a loss again. What happened after the archery contest? Curse those writer's blocks.

Just then, the door to the very dining room he was then in swung open again. The big red Gorroh Koopa walked in and up to his royal vizier.

"How are the memoirs coming along, Kamek?" he asked, trustingly.

"Splendid," Kamek said mopily.

"Let's have a look." Gorroh was almost imitating his wife from before, taking the papers and looking them over. His head moved gently from side to side until it stopped and his bushy eyebrows scrunched. "'Peachie'?! I wouldn't say that!"

"Well, sire, you did tell me to write down what came to mind."

"Hm. True, I did. Carry on, then." He set them down and began to walk over to the buffet table. Kamek continued improvising as Gorroh was piling all kinds of junk on to his plate.

"So, dear, how was your adventure against the Super Mushroom League?"

"Peachie. You should have been there, dear. There were floating masks, underground caverns, and everything! In fact, one of the dungeons had the cutest little

Gorroh sat down from across him and began to noisily munch away at his gargantuan delectables of choice. Much to the displeasure of the high ranking Magikoopa, bits of duck and muffin were flying from the Koopa King's mouth, some of it landing on the papers. Kamek scowled, gathered the fruits of his labor, and left to sit at a different table.

"Something the matter, Kamek?" Gorroh asked, looking up from his over-piled plate.

"I just needed another chair, that's all." The excuse didn't seem good enough, though.

"Kamek, surely you could have just traded," Gorroh said, viciously chomping off the top of his corn cob, very unceremoniously.

"I'm fine, thank you," he said simply.

"Mm. Suit yourself!" the king grunted, and he continued devouring his mess.

Kamek wrote a little more, then felt the need to strike up conversation. "I say, your highness, how is young Master Bowser doing?"

"Oh, he's doing fine. Just taking his afternoon nap, is all."

"Ah." Those last two comments didn't seem to allow much else to branch out, so Kamek took it up a notch. "Sire, I think I had another vision."

He paused to look up with a strand of pasta dangling from his closed mouth. "Hm?"

"A little while ago, I saw... two apes... defeating another Koopa. He could have been related to you, sire."

"Hmm. Mofe imfereffing." Gorroh's mouth was too full of croissant to allow him to speak coherently. His next move was to just grab the whole plate and let its contents slide down his wide open maw. He chewed them around a little, washed it down with a little water, swallowed hard, wiped his mouth, and got up. "This could mean that it won't just be those pesky Marios that will be causing us problems in the future, correct?" Gorroh hypothesized.

"I suppose so. But until I come up with another vision, we'll just have to wait it out and hope for the best."

"Alright. Now I must return to the massage tables, and you must return to the memoirs."

"Yes, sir." Gorroh lumbered his way out, leaving Kamek alone with the story and his thoughts.

This power of mine... It can be such a blessing and such a curse...

While Yazzee and Yoshi were conversing on the other side of the ship, Xoshi was on the other getting pensive again.

Hey, Belome, he thought. Who shall we be recruiting, and where will we find them?

Well, Belome started, one of them is named Jeremiah. We shall find him at the top of a mountain.

Geez, thought Xoshi. This is turning out to be some adventure, huh?

Yes, quite. Also, we'll meet a man simply known as "White Rose". We'll find him in Dry Dry Outpost.

Wow.

Another is named Guido. We'll find him in-

"Xoshi. Dinner."

Xoshi jumped as Boshi snuck up again.

"A- Alright," he complied. The two of them headed on back like before. "Hey, Boshi," he asked. "How come you're always the one who gets to tell us when it's time to eat?"

Boshi just shrugged his shoulders, and the two of them entered that door together like before to the hold.

I guess we'll just have to continue this conversation later, thought Belome.

They were gone and Jax was still singing as he walked up to the front of the ship.

"My favorite color's green
It's pleasing to my eyes..."

He was getting out the telescope to spy on the up-coming spectacle.

"It's like a jelly bean:
It can mesmerize."

He spied (with his little eye) an island off in the distance, growing ever larger with each passing second.

"Va voom. Va voom. Va voom va voom va voom..."

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