"They want to escape..." he breathed, "They want us to help them get out of the village, and take them to..."

"Take them where? Where, Meek?" the pink one anxiously blurted out.

"To M'hakashan."

"M'hakashan?? They want to go to that mountain? Isn't that in dragon territory?"

Meekachu started to speak out loud as he expressed his thoughts to Tieka in hand-signals. "That is suicide. Dragons will kill you all."

Tieka hissed the words to the four imprisoned creatures, who started to discuss the topic amongst themselves, spare the bird, who tried to remain as 'out-of-the-conversation' as possible. The fox growled loudly over everyone else, and the talking abruptly stopped. Tieka gestured a message back to Meekachu.

"In a melonshell, they said that it is better to take a risk at dying than to stay prisoners. Besides, they say, the mountain might be the only way to leave the island," the yellow one translated.

"Is it?" Miya wondered.

"Well, in a way, yes..." Meekachu answered thoughtfully.

"Then we shall help them," Miya declared.

"Miya, are you insane? We can't go off on some pointless crusade! Besides, have you already forgotten about your acceptance??"

"You say that as if I look forward to it! I don't know about you, but I speak for myself when I say that the only pointless thing about these past three days is that I am about to get assigned a life-long occupation that's not even of my choosing! I don't care how this village is run, and by whom, but I'm not following along with it anymore! I'm going with them."

'Just when you thought she would finally give up that idea...' Meekachu quickly thought to himself. The Yoshi tried to re-talk Miya out of leaving the village. "Miya, you don't know what you're saying. There's no possible way for you to get to that mountain and live to see the next day. If you won't listen to reason and common sense, then listen to me. We are not going to that mountain of death, and I don't care what you have to say about it!"

"You are not my master, and I am no slave. I'm going with them," she answered defiantly.

"We aren't going anywhere!"

"Who said you had to come along?"

"You won't be able to understand them without me. You don't know how to sign."

"I'll learn," the pink one curtly replied. She then gathered a pair of key-like instruments from the far corner of the room and approached the prison cell's door. Miya slipped the strips of bone through a latch sealing the door closed, and, after some effort, the latch snapped loose and dropped to the floor. The Yoshi struggled to push open the prison's door, and she was soon joined by Tieka, who was willing to help.

"Fine. I'll play along with this, but I'm telling you, Miya. It's not going to be a piece of cake," Meekachu warned.

"It's okay, Meek. You are working with the most reckless Yoshi on the island! We haven't been caught yet, and now's not the time to start," Miya proudly grunted, just as the barred door flew open and slammed into the opposite wall. Sighs of relief and growls of confusion sounded from inside the small prison, before the four creatures filed out of the hut and onto the village square for some fresh air.

"Miya, they can't just stand out there! They'll be seen!" the yellow Yoshi panicked.

"Don't worry, Meek. Remember? Everyone is out dragon hunting, like Tieka said. Now's the time to make a clean break," Miya reassured the worried Yoshi, then ambled out of the hut to join the others.

"I hope you know what you're doing..." Meekachu whined. He glanced across the small prison at the empty cell, and shook his head. 'She's going to get us killed...'

Tieka tapped the yellow Yoshi on the shoulder, and the dinosaur jumped back with a start.

"Oh fruits Tieka, don't scare me like that. What is it?"

The salamander hastily signaled a brief question to Meekachu, who replied nonchalantly, "Yes, we knew about the keys the whole time."

Tieka could only tilt her head sideways to show her confusion while signing another question to the Yoshi. The yellow one shrugged his shoulders and answered quite simply, "Because you never asked. Come on. Let's get out of this village before someone spots us." After having said that, Meekachu hurried outside to join the escaping party. The salamander followed close behind.

By the time the yellow Yoshi and Tieka had caught up with the others, Miya was already attempting to explain where they were going to the four foreigners. She was pointing off into the jungle, and signing what few words she knew with the other hand.

The blue bird only shook his head and sighed, then muttered something to the fox, who in turn shrugged out of confusion. Tieka and Meekachu exchanged glances, and the salamander quickly signaled a message to the yellow Yoshi: "What is she saying?"

"Miya, allow me," the yellow one interrupted.

"Oh, please. If you would..."

Meekachu stepped in front of the pink Yoshi and started to hand-sign Miya's ideas to the salamander while speaking in Yoshian, "We are going to head into the jungle, and follow the great valley until we reach the entrance to M'hakashan caves. Then you are all on your own."

Miya groaned upon hearing the yellow one's last sentence, but after a moment of thought, she decided not to agrue with Meekachu on that point. He's only looking out for her own safety, after all.

Even so, the thought of simply ditching those foreigners on the foot of M'hakashan...

Meekachu continued, "We need to stay quiet and keep a low profile. No other Yoshies can find us, and we should avoid any dragons at all costs."

"Meek, what about Tieka? Is she going to escape with them?" the pink one asked, but she knew the answer even before the words came out from her mouth. Tieka considered the idea for only a second, looked to the bird standing behind her, then nodded and signed a reply.

"Tieka says yes, of course."

"Then we're ready. Let's go, Meek. We need to get started before everyone gets back from the hunting trip." That being said, the pink Yoshi began to take the lead away from the village and onto the jungle trail. The fox, hare, frog, and bird all nodded after Tieka's brief translation, and began to march right behind the pink dinosaur.

Meekachu sighed. He had the keen sense of incoming danger fresh on his mind, but the Yoshi chased after the small party anyway. He figured that it just might be worth the trip, despite the consequences that would befall them all along the way.