-Miya
11.
Miya and Meekachu had found the caves, all right. Not only had they done so in record time and right before the afternoon had drawn to a close, but everyone was in excellent condition... However, that was only the first of many feats that would have to be accomplished in order to make it out of those caves alive. Meekachu, of all Yoshies, knew this, and with that small scrap of wisdom, he advised, "Don't hit your head on the way in."
"Gee, thanks," Miya grumbled in response. The pink Yoshi slipped past the others, crawled over the lower rim of the cave entrance, and dropped into the giant maw of the ancient cavern. Following her was the yellow Yoshi, and the five foreign creatures just behind him. Upon safely reaching the inside of the roomy cavern, the small group of seven took their time to familiarize themselves with their surroundings.
The air was damp and musty. The sounds of footsteps echoed off the walls and ceiling, and as did the sound of dripping water nearby. It seemed a barren, desolate place, but the fact remained that creatures did indeed live in this sour hole in the rock. The good news, fortunately, was that because of the cave's proximity to the surface of the mountain, cracks in the ceiling could be found here and there, which let in drafts of cool air and the occasional ray of sunlight. This eliminated the need for a flashlight or torch, which was good, because no one had such an item on hand, anyway.
"Well, where shall we begin?" Miya asked, more to herself than to anyone in particular. Whether it was intended or not, that question almost automatically placed the job of leading the small party on Meekachu's shoulders. The yellow Yoshi didn't mind, however. He could find his way around just as well as the pink Yoshi, or even better than her. It was simply a matter of experience as far as he was concerned.
The five foreign animals spoke in hushed voices in their own language. Despite the attempts to whisper, the sounds of their speech carried around the open cavern as a chilling echo. Miya shivered. This was a bit more creepy than she had hoped.
After a moment of thought, Meekachu was ready to answer Miya's question, but he was conveniently interrupted by Tieka, who had a message to give.
"What is it now?" the yellow one asked with a slight groan of complaint. As the Yoshi spoke, he hand-signaled the same question to the salamander, who paused to think up a good translation. The same translated message was then whispered to the fox, who was standing nearby.
"What do they want?" the pink Yoshi wondered aloud.
Meekachu took a brief moment to reply, while the entire translation process was being done in reverse. "They want to... speak with me for a moment. Please wait here, Miya."
The pink Yoshi answered with a confused squeak. She did as she was told, however, as Meekachu, Tieka, and the fox walked into an empty corner and discussed a topic among themselves. Miya stole a glance at the other three creatures, who were standing nearby and impatiently watching their friends and Meekachu whisper out a conversation. 'They are probably anxious to get out of here, too,' the pink dinosaur guessed.
As Miya continued to watch, one of the creatures, the blue bird, screeched loudly, then smacked the frog on the back of the head with a wing. The frog, quite displeased from this seemingly unprovoked attack, turned his head and croaked out some harsh words in a voice just as loud. A few more words were exchanged, none of which were understood by the pink Yoshi, before the bird finally caught sight of someone watching. He jerked his head to one side, frowned as much as his beak would allow, then grunted something towards Miya. The Yoshi fell back a step. Not knowing what to really do at this point, she simply shrugged her shoulders and spoke up.
"What??"
"Miya, come here," the yellow dinosaur ordered, thankfully turning Miya away from the blue bird's questioning stare. Meekachu motioned for Miya to come with him, and they both stepped aside from everyone else. In the meantime, the fox wandered back to his companions, and they talked once again amongst themselves.
"We're going to be splitting up. Tieka, you, and myself will be taking one of these paths..." The yellow Yoshi pointed into one of the many tunnels that branched off from the main cavern they were currently standing in. "...At the same time, those four creatures over there will be splitting up and taking some of the other paths. In theory, this plan is supposed to help us cover more ground. We want to hurry this along and find the temple we're looking for as quickly as possible."
"Meek, what if we get lost? Wouldn't it be better to just stick together?"
"Yes, that's what I thought, but that fox over there is very persuasive. He thinks his idea is better, for some stupid reason. Besides, getting lost won't be a problem."
"Why is that?"
"Just trust me. No one's going to be lost."
"How can I trust you? You've never been here before!"
"Just trust me, okay? I know what I'm doing. We're going to take that tunnel right there. Those foreigners will take the others. If we find something, we are going to yell as loud as we can, so that everyone will hear us. Same goes if we get into trouble."
"Wait... won't yelling wake up the dragons? We don't want to be discovered."
"Oh don't worry... They already know we're here."
Miya's eyes widened, but before she could yell out another word, Meekachu had her by the arm and was leading the pink Yoshi into the dark tunnel ahead. He gave a quick signal to Tieka, who turned around and hissed some words to her friends before coming around to join Miya and Meekachu.
With the blink of an eye, the two Yoshies and black salamander disappeared into the darkness of the M'hakashan caves.
"So, any objections?"
"Yeah, I have a few. For starters..."
Peppy jabbed Falco in the arm, and the avian quickly shut his beak.
"No. No problems at all, Fox," Peppy answered.
"Good. Sara and the Yoshies will be taking their own path. Peppy, I want you to stay with Falco and take a different path, and Slippy and I will go our own way," Fox decided. His muzzle curled into a half-smile once he caught the reaction on Peppy and Falco's faces.
"Wha? Why do I have to be stuck with Falco??" the hare whined. "Yeah, why does he have to be stuck with me??" Falco blurted out.
Fox laughed in spite of himself. "Because, if I teamed Slippy with you, Falco, neither of you would walk out of here in one piece. Besides, we'll all meet up together again once we find this temple... or whatever it is that we're looking for."
"How will we know when we find it, whatever it is?" Peppy asked.
"Trust me, you'll know. So, are we ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," Slippy remarked. The frog jumped to his feet and started walking ahead of the group, eager to go somewhere.
"Hrmph. Fine. Let's go, fur-face," Falco muttered under his breath. Peppy didn't reply, but instead followed the falcon across the room and into a sunlit tunnel on the right. The pair disappeared around a corner, and were gone from sight a moment later.
"Okay, Slip. Let's get going," Fox spoke up with a cheerful note. Adventure always gave the fox a good thrill, and this adventure was sure to be as fun as any. He started off into another, wider tunnel leading off from the center of the room. Slippy hastily chased after him.
"Meek, I can't see," the pink Yoshi commented as the three cave travelers crawled through an ever-shrinking passage in the rock wall. Miya could hear the yellow dinosaur's feet scuffling and his heavy breathing just ahead of her, and she could feel the occasional bump on the foot from whenever the salamander right behind her would accidentally ram her head into the Yoshi ahead. The tunnel they were inching through started out as an innocently dark hallway, but it gradually grew smaller and more compact, until only someone crawling would be able to pass through.
"I know we can't see... It's just a little further, though," Meekachu reminded the Yoshi and salamander right behind him. "Look, there's some light up ahead. You see it?"
"No, I can't see anything from your big behind in my face, Meekachu," the pink Yoshi grumbled.
"Well that's not my fault, now is it? Com'on, keep crawling."
Everyone continued onward in nearly total silence, until the yellow dinosaur in the lead suddenly dropped out of Miya's sight. "Huh?" the pink Yoshi curiously growled. Miya could then see an opening just ahead, and a large room just beyond that. She hurried as fast as she could, until Miya herself fell over the edge of the narrow tunnel and dropped face-first onto Meekachu.
"Oaf! Arg! Get off! I... can't... breathe!" Meekachu squealed. Miya sat up and searched for her yellow companion. Only a moment later did she realize that she was sitting on him.
"Opps... sorry, Meek," she apologized. Tieka dropped in just then, in much the same way as Miya. The salamander fell square onto her back, and right on top of the two Yoshies.
"Akk!" Meekachu gagged. "Get off, get off, get off!"
Miya rolled to her side, jumped up as quickly as she could, and stood back from the yellow Yoshi. Tieka quickly caught her breath, then mimicked the pink Yoshi's move. Meekachu was left sprawled out on the floor with the wind knocked out of him.
"Akk..."
"Meek, you okay?" Miya asked him. The yellow dinosaur coughed and sputtered, then sat up. The pink Yoshi ran to Meekachu's side to help him to his feet.
"No..." he gasped, while trying to stand. "That... felt... bad..."
"I'd think it would. Sorry to dogpile ya. That tunnel had a sudden drop, ya know," Miya explained. She stepped aside, and allowed Meekachu to dust himself off.
"Okay, okay... I'm fine now. Where are we?" the yellow one jumped to a different subject.
"Er... um..." Miya stammered, "A large stone room, or so it would seem."
Meekachu looked around. It was large, it was stone, and it was a room, but the fact that Miya didn't happen to point out was that several more tunnels opened out from it. The room was also well-lit, obviously due to some large cracks in the ceiling that allowed sunlight through.
"Hmm..." the yellow one growled under his breath. "Okay, then. No problem. Just follow me," he ordered. Meekachu motioned for Miya and Tieka to follow, then turned around and marched into one of the tunnels. A soft, gurgling hiss stopped him in his tracks, however. The Yoshi spun around, spotted the source of the voice, and signed a message with this hands.
"What is it, Tieka?"
The salamander hissed and growled as she hand-signaled what was wrong. She pointed to a spot in the ground, which the two Yoshies quickly ran over to in order to investigate.
"Shiny stone?" Meekachu repeated the phrase aloud. He frantically searched the pile of rocks that Tieka was gesturing towards. The Yoshi saw nothing.
"Meekachu, look!" Miya shouted with a quick gasp of surprise. Before Meekachu could react, the pink Yoshi swooped down and plucked a strange rock from the surrounding walls. She held it out for everyone to see. "It's a... shiny stone."
Meekachu snatched away the small stone and looked it over. It was small, red, and, for lack of a better word... shiny. "Well, I'll be a fruitcake's sister! Look at this. It doesn't seem like something that could have come from around here, now does it?" Miya shook her head in agreement. "Hmm..." the yellow one thoughtfully growled.
"It's interesting, but we really should get going. Com'on, Miya, Tieka."
Meekachu closed his hand over the small stone and walked away towards one of the surrounding tunnels. Miya shrugged her shoulders and continued walking right behind him, and Tieka followed just behind her.
Falco stepped over an obstructing pothole in the trail, then hopped over yet another. The falcon and hare continued their march deeper into M'hakashan, and as they walked, the tunnel ahead seemed to grow longer and longer. Slices of light poured through cracks and gashes in the stone ceiling, and illuminated various portions of the cavern floor, leaving the rest of the ground to be cast in darkness. This created a slight hazard for tripping or falling.
The falcon in the lead finally hit his toe on something that was obscured by shadows. "Ow! Geez, what was that?"
"I'd say it was a rock, Falco," Peppy stated. "I know it was a rock, thank you," Falco shot back. "I wanted to know where it was!"
Peppy didn't answer that one. He instead hurried the falcon along. "Just forget it. Let's keep going."
"In a hurry, are we?"
"Why shouldn't I be? This place gives me the creeps. It's dark, and spooky, and quite frankly, I've got a really bad feeling about where we're going."
"Heh. I'm not scared. Not of any flying squirrels or whatever those things are. Those stupid lizards can kiss my tail feathers on the way out. You have no sense of adventure, my friend."
"And you have no sense of danger. I almost hope that one of those lizards eat you for lunch, and leave your tail feathers for the worms."
Falco grunted. "Well, we'll see who's the encore first."
The avian stopped when the tunnel he was walking through ended. Before him opened a large, well illuminated room. A suspiciously wide crack in the ceiling allowed shimmering sunlight to fall through the opening and onto the floor as dabs of gold. In the center of the room, surrounded by the rays of sunlight, rested an impressive-looking pile of...
"Treasure!" Falco chirped. "Look at that!"
Falco was so excited as he leapt forward into the large chamber that he nearly crashed into the mess of gold and jewels head-first. It was a tall, seemingly endless pile of valuable junk that sparkled and gleamed as the rays of sunlight struck their polished surfaces. Its worth in space dollars was probably beyond neither the hare or the falcon's wildest dreams. As glamorous as the sight was, Peppy voiced caution.
"This is awfully suspicious, Falco."
"Naw, I'm sure stuff like this piles up into big heaps in the middle of large forbidden caves all the time, buddy. Nothing wrong about taking some of it..."
That said, Falco began to step over the rows of jewels and various treasures, examining one article after another, while Peppy stood back and guarded the room. The hare's large ears twitched nervously as strange sounds echoed off the rock walls. One particular sound, familiar yet strangely dreadful, was almost disregarded as some far off bird flying above the mountain... But it was too close. Much too close.
Falco, meanwhile, was too absorbed in uncovering all the different jewels and precious stones to pay attention to anything else at the time. He picked up one item in particular, a goblet studded with rubies and sapphires, and closely examined it.
"Now, this could serve some use, after all. I mean, it's a little dusty, but hey, I'm not picky. You can almost wonder where things like this would come from. Now, over here is some-"
Peppy ignored Falco's ramblings and examined the rest of the room. His eyes glazed over the excited falcon and the treasure, and instead focused on the back of the cavern. The area was enshrouded in deep shadow, and in the very far back a shelf of rock was distinguishable from the surrounding limestone. On the shelf rested an enormous heap of dark stone. Peppy's eyes widened and the hare's ears fell back in horror when the stone shifted its tail and blinked its green glowing eyes. Falco continued talking, while somehow not noticing the anomaly.
"No, that won't work at all. I'd hate to hire someone to handle two jobs at once like that. Now if I could get a private jeweler..."
Peppy was visibly shaking out of pure fright, and it was surprising enough that he was even capable of saying anything, much less interrupting his teammate's constant yammering.
"Falco..."
Falco paid no heed to the hare's warning, however. "See, I can't count all this at once. Over here is something interesting... I bet it's worth even more than this back here. If only I could take-"
"Falco..."
"No, that's not what I thought it was. It's only too bad I can't get something like that back at Corneria. They'd sell them at such a high price, though, and I'm not like that to just give out willingly to some corporate-"
"Falco..."
"Ha! There we go. This is probably the largest diamond in history! I wish I had a camera. This is just too much to tak-"
"FALCO!!"
Annoyed, the falcon spun around to face the hare.
"What?!?"
"GRRRR....."
Falco immediately dropped the goblet in his wing, and it fell to the cavern floor with a loud clang. It briefly rolled across the smooth limestone, then skidded to a stop near the edge of a pool of green, slightly aged water. Falco didn't make the effort as to move as much as a single feather, but instead embraced the following silence with growing anxiety. He finally spoke up in a quiet, yet very harsh voice.
"Damnit Peppy, please tell me that was you."
Peppy could only shake his head like a frozen zombie, and point to the back of the cave with a shaky paw. Falco slowly turned, and looked to where the hare was pointing...
"SHRIEEKKK!!!"
Like a huge bird of prey, a lizard beast arose from the shadows with a mighty squawk, and glared down upon the intruding Lylatians as if they were merely insects under its claws. The beast folded out its massive wings, and exposed its frighteningly long fangs with a deep growl. Its glowing eyes swirled into an uneasy yellow, then a violent scarlet, which reflected the exact mood of the giant creature: anger.
"GRR.... SHRIEEKKK!!!"
Falco treaded back a few steps with his feathers all standing on end. Peppy's eyes wildly darted back and forth, searching for any obvious escape or safe haven. He didn't move, or even notice when Falco bumped into him, until the falcon stammered out a suggestion.
"Er... umm... run."
The hare nodded in total agreement, and both Lylatians were charging down the tunnel from which they came in the next instant. They stumbled over all the puny potholes, trips, traps, and stones, until they eventually came upon a fork in the trail which neither had noticed before.
"Is this the way we came?" Peppy asked once he stopped to catch his breath. He was already exhausted from running nearly half a mile.
"It must be," Falco replied with a gasp. The avian stopped to listen for the sounds of someone... or something, tailing them.
"SCREEEECH!!!"
"Yikes! Let's move!!"
Falco quickly chose a path leading into the darkness, and Peppy followed close behind. The beast, meanwhile, continued its chase through the mess of tunnels and passageways, never quite losing track of the intruders of its lair.
Fox jumped from an overhanging platform, over a deep crevasse, and into a dank, poorly-lit chamber. Slippy followed, although not quite as nimbly, and then he and Fox wandered into the darkness, unsure of what to expect. Even though the room ahead wasn't well-illuminated, Fox could still identify the shapes and outlines of the surrounding walls and ceiling through the dim light.
"Whew... it sure is dark in here... eh, Slip?"
Slippy didn't answer, but he continued his slow march just behind the fox. The silence that followed was almost deafening. Eventually, however, the darkness gave out into light, and a vast floor opened out before Fox's eyes.
"Whoa... you seeing this, Slippy?"
Slippy blinked in astonishment. "It's... what is it??"
"I don't know," Fox replied, equally awed at the sight. He stepped into the large chamber, and observed the contents inside. Great heaps of steel and scraps of assorted metals were shoved against the walls. Parts and components of all sorts of artificial machines were stacked into piles by the dozens. It was a great junkyard of... well... stuff.
Slippy skipped over to one side of the room, and began to sort out the stacks of junk. Fox approached the other side of the chamber and did the same. The vulpine brushed his paw to one side to sweep away some spare nuts and bolts, and to get a look at the heap of metal underneath. He gasped at what he saw. It was an aircraft. Not just any aircraft... this was Venomian. The ship design and color clearly marked the vessel as so. It was a recent model, too. From what it seemed... It was an invader class jet, the more commonly used jets in the Venom Air Force under the rule of Andross. 'Venom spacecraft?!? What is this place?'
"Slippy, you'd better get a look at this..."
"Just a second, Fox. I think I've found something."
Slippy shoved aside a scorched strip of steel, then scanned over the rest of the parts and gadgets that were previously hidden from view. One giant piece caught his attention. It was a scorched tail from some sort of spacecraft. Slippy used the sleeve of his jacket to scrub away some of the dust and burnt marks from the steel surface. He uncovered a logo... It was the insignia of the Cornerian Alliance. There was more, though. Slippy dug up a bit more energy, and lifted up one last piece of scrap metal.
"FOX!!"
"What is it??"
"Get over here, quick!"
Fox hurried to where Slippy was standing and looked past the extra broken parts and scraps to see what was the matter. The frog toppled over a plate of metal that was obstructing his view, then stood back. Fox found exactly what Slippy was yelling over. It was the tail end of a Cornerian spacecraft that just recently crash-landed on this island. An Arwing. Slippy was unsure of what to think, but to confirm his suspicions, he wiped away another blotch of dust and grime covering the tail of the vessel.
And there is was. The StarFox emblem painted in a faded red on the side of the ship. Fox's eyes widened.
"Slippy, is that...?"
"That's ours, all right. How in the world did it get here?"
Fox shook his head. He had no clue. He stepped over some more loose parts and machines and took a closer look. The fox leaned over and examined the very rear of the ship, where a small label should've been printed on the back engine. He soon found what he was looking for.
'F-3. This is Slippy's ship. I wonder where the others are...'
"Slip, this one's yours. Any sign of the others?"
"Oh, I know it's mine. I just checked. See, I keep a bag of potato fries in the back behind the seat. See right there?"
Fox would have laughed, but he wasn't really in the mood for it. He peered through the dusty canopy window and checked where Slippy was pointing. Sure enough, there was an unopened bag of 'Ray's Potato Fries' in the back of the cockpit. 'Heh. Go figure.'
Fox continued to inspect the damaged spacecraft, while Slippy wandered off to search for the other three Arwings, assuming that they could be found. Fox ran his claw along the frame of the machine. It was smothered in dust. 'I've never seen dust gather so quickly like this. We haven't been here that long, have we?' Fox studied his dust-covered paw, then glanced towards Slippy, who was just uncovering more wrecked star fighters. Suddenly, a strange echo crept into the chamber. Fox's ears twitched, and he looked to the entrance of the large room. He listened for a few moments... but heard nothing else.
"Slippy, did you hear that?"
The frog paused and quickly searched the room. "No, I don't hear anything."
"Hmm... I could have sworn that I heard something."
Just then, a more distinct sound echoed into the room. It was someone shouting. Fox crawled closer to the entrance of the chamber and perked up an ear. He listened, and again he heard someone's voice:
"AAAHHH!!!!"
Fox whirled around and caught Slippy's gaze. The frog had apparently heard it, too, because he was standing on the nose of one of the old Venomian spacecraft with his head cocked to one side and his eyes glazed over, as if he were straining to hear something.
Fox frowned. "That sounds like Peppy and Falco."
Another frantic yell entered the room.
"Oh $%&#!!!"
"Yep, that's them all right. Common, let's go see what's going on."
Fox leapt away from Slippy's Arwing and sprinted to the entrance of the room. He pulled himself onto a ledge just overhead and disappeared into the darkness again. Slippy, eager to follow his furry friend, tried to climb down from the ship he was perched upon, but instead his foot slipped, and the frog toppled over into a stack of nails just behind the parked spacecraft. Slippy quickly recovered from the short fall, jumped to his feet, and headed off in Fox's direction to see what all the fuss was about.
"Meek, did you hear that??"
Meekachu briefly searched the surrounding passageway. He didn't see or hear anything suspicious.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Miya."
"I could have sworn I heard something... Sounded like a yell."
Miya shrugged, and the pink Yoshi, along with Meekachu and Tieka, resumed traveling even deeper into the tunnel ahead. No one spoke another word... until, that is, a flicker of light was spotted in the distance. At that sight, the yellow Yoshi leading the group stopped in his tracks.
"Did you see that?"
"Meek, I don't see anything."
"I could have sworn that I saw something.... Looked like fire."
Meekachu shrugged, and the trio continued walking. A few seconds later, the sound of footsteps was drawing closer. The two Yoshies exchanged puzzled glances, just before a burst of flame erupted from around the next corner and two speeding shadows emerged from the same general direction. Tieka flew backwards, and Miya and Meekachu pressed themselves against the wall of the thin passageway as a screaming blue bird raced by. Following the bird was a slightly shorter hare, who was screaming just as loudly. Before either Yoshi knew what was happening, the two animals were gone again. Miya stepped forward into the middle of the tunnel and looked around, quite bewildered.
"Don't tell me you didn't see that!"
Meekachu, who was equally dazed, felt the urge to ask, "What were they running from?"
"SCCREEECCHH!!!"
The deafening call of a dragon beast shook the walls of the cavern and sent Meekachu falling over backwards. Just as he and everyone else could get up off the ground, a blast of searing hot flame licked around a bend in the path up ahead and illuminated the entire tunnel from end to end. Meekachu, with eyes widened in pure horror, staggered to his feet and headed off as fast as he could in the opposite direction.
"Yikes! Dragon!! Run!!!"
Miya, not the type to sit around and get eaten by a dragon, also took off running. She leapt into place right behind Meekachu, while snatching up Tieka by her slimy arm and dragging her along. The three hurried back the way they came, screaming all the way.