Part 7: Piranha Plants and Cut-Throat Schemes
It was nighttime on Yoshi Island. The village was quiet and several residents were getting into bed. In Yahsha's hut the torches flickered in the wind. The melodic tones of crickets and birds filled the night air. Zoshi was hanging back in a chair, reading a novel. He flipped through the pages as the wind grew more intense. Yahsha was sitting on her bed, eating a Yoshi Berry when she said, "Gettin' kinda windy out, huh?" Zoshi nodded.
They continued doing their recreational activities when the wind snuffed out all of the torches in the small abode. "Who did that?" Yahsha asked.
"It must have been the wind," Zoshi said, reassuringly. Then four dark, hooded figures appeared in the room. Yahsha was screaming, kicking, and fighting as one of the figures hauled her off. "Yahsha!" Zoshi bellowed. Then he was struck in the back of the head with some foreign object. Everything went black.
***
"You want to know about the Naval Piranha Grounds?" the chef asked. "Are you guys nuts?"
"I know where they are..." a voice said. The team swung around to see the captain of their charter sitting in a booth near the window, sipping a cup of coffee. "Out north. Just about half a mile away. Why do you wanna go there anyway? Do you guys wanna commit suicide er something?" The captain gave a weary glance at the team. Mario gave him a glare and the captain responded, "That's okay. It's your funeral."
He motioned for them to come towards him. They followed him out of the diner. It was dark out now, and starting to drizzle. It gave an eerie feeling as the fog rolled in from the sea. "I suggest you guys find some accommodations, though," the captain said. They went to the local inn, which was empty; the only people there was the owner and the Koopa couple they had seen earlier on the charter. They booked a few rooms for themselves and got nestled in. While some got dressed, others washed up, and when they were all finished, they all hopped into their beds and fell asleep.
***
The next morning, they walked across
the moist soil to the diner for breakfast. It had clearly poured the night
before. They walked into the diner to see quite a few people eating their
morning meals. They all got settled in and ate their meals. From flapjacks
to eggs, to cereal to coffee, they nearly bought out the diner's inventory.
They left and went out in the direction the captain had told them. They
were reluctant to leave this nice, little village to brave the dangers
of the jungle. But even so, they went into the dark blanket of the forest.
They trekked through the dark and dismal forest. They neared the grounds
that lay ahead of them…
Part 8: Naval Piranha Grounds
They trekked through the muck and mire of the open space that was said to be the Naval Piranha Grounds. "I don't know why they call it the Naval Piranha Grounds. I don't see any! Alls I see is some vines," Wario bellowed.
"Those aren't vines!" Mario gasped.
"What? Of course they're vines! See?" Wario tugged on one of the vines and a loud screech was heard in response. "Oh, no." Wario said.
Then, from out of the ground an extremely large Naval Piranha appeared. Its large, red and white-spotted head bobbed and weaved. It showed its large fangs to the crew. Then, all of a sudden, a flaming fireball spat out of the behemoth's mouth. It scorched the ground, and the team dodged from the evil plant.
"I don't get paid enough for this!" Kylie said to herself as she ducked and dodged from oncoming flames. Then Wario jumped out of hiding in a bush and took out his hammer. He smashed it against the creature's noggin, and the stem that held the head was snapped. The head fell to the ground with a loud thud.
Then the other tiny head of the plant emerged. "Oh, just our luck." Waluigi snickered. The tiny plant vines snapped at their legs and bit into Waluigi's leg. He screamed and then got enraged. He took out a bomb he had in his pocket and threw it into the main stem, from which the vines came. It exploded and Waluigi shrieked, "Take that, you freakin' pain in the butts!" The vines flew all over and the juices inside the plant saw spewed out all over the field.
"Are you okay?" Peach asked as she ran over to Waluigi. The rest of them gathered around.
"Let me have a look. Dr. Van Nostrin showed me a thing or two about wounds." Toad said as Toad slipped up Waluigi's pant leg to examine the wound. "Hmm… This looks pretty bad. It tore into his leg right here," Toad pointed out. "We should bring him to the doctor in Yoshi Village."
"What? And leave me out of the adventure again? Nu-uh! I ain't buyin'." Waluigi said.
"Don't worry. I'll go with you. We can have our own adventure in Yoshi Village!" Toad said.
"I still think you'll never find those stupid, blue flowers. They can't grow on Snowball Mountain, I tell ya! They can't!" Waluigi said.
After his testimony, he lay down on a bed Luigi made out of leaves. Then Wario and Mario carried him down to the Raven village.
"We still didn't find that Relic, though!" Luigi cried.
"Oh, no?" Kylie said, pulling an engraved stone out of her jacket.
"Yeah! We have the second Relic!" Yoshi said, giving Kylie a hug.
"Eck!" she said. "Don't get all mushy on me, dino-boy."
"Yoshi wants to head back to Yoshi village with Toad and Waluigi, to see Zoshi and Yahsha," Yoshi said to Mario.
"Okay, see you later then!" Mario said, putting down the leaf bed in front of the inn where they stayed.
"We should leave now if we want to get there before dinner," Luigi said.
"Good idea," Peach said.
So they left in two different directions, one to Yoshi Village and one to Snowball Mountain.