"I'm not a pessimist... I'm a realist. Learn the difference."
-Falco Lombardi
7.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that guy is stalking us..." one of the Lylatians broke into the silence of the long march with his own remark, while peering backwards at the yellow Yoshi trailing close behind the group.
"Don't be ridiculous, Falco," Peppy responded, "He's just trying to help."
"Well, there's something about him that bothers me," the falcon commented. He shot another glance at the yellow dinosaur before turning back and minding his own business. Slippy's curiosity was instantly aroused, however, and he soon couldn't resist turning around and taking a look at what Falco was talking about. The frog smirked at what he was seeing: little else but yellow Yoshi wandering close behind the rest of the group and doing nothing very unusual at all. Slippy shrugged, then continued to march alongside the others.
The pink one led the entire expedition through thick jungles, grassy clearings, and over piles of rocks for the remainder of that evening. The mountains of this tropical isle seemed like a distant goal, but the Yoshi was determined enough to get everyone there. Thus, she hardly stopped for rest or water, and kept heading eastward at her own demanding pace.
Slippy was in charge of the supplies. All that the group managed to take with them, however, was a canteen full of water that Sara had ingeniously thought to bring. Hence, the frog didn't have much of a load to carry.
The fox and salamander, meanwhile, were strolling side-by-side and just ahead of the small pack of Lylatians. The fox was fascinated by Sara's long and seemingly endless tales of the island, and of her own travels. He preyed on the salamander's every word as if each one provided a means of leaving this world. And for enough reasons, they did. One topic seemed to elude the vulpine, however, and Fox was determined to get at it no matter how many times he'd have to ask.
"Sara, exactly how did you meet Falco? It seems that you've only mentioned him once or twice, and I am really interested in knowing..." the fox brought up the topic directly, after considering that his previous attempts at coaxing some information from the salamander had only resulted in non-related chatter. He feared, only for a moment, that Sara would find another way to avoid the subject.
"Well..." The salamander considered her options. She smiled and held up her chin with a 'you're not my boss' attitude.
"I would really like to know," Fox pressed the question again, while ignoring the thought that it would only cause a greater mess or another argument between him and the salamander. He smiled, just to make the entire conversation seem friendly.
Sara chuckled light-heartedly. "Fine. I'll really tell you this time..." she teased the fox, as if to prove that what she was about to say would be said at her own will, and not Fox's. She somehow enjoyed getting the vulpine annoyed with little games of this sort, and so far, everything was going as planned.
"Are you going to tell me or what?" Fox almost growled as he asked. Although he was still smiling, the fox was visibly growing more impatient by the second.
"Well, aren't you the impatient one? You'll know soon enough." The salamander slyly walked away and quickly caught up to the pink Yoshi a few meters ahead.
'Damn! She did it to me again!' the fox mentally cursed. He kicked a pebble in front of him as he walked, just to cool off.
"Hey, you two should get a room!" a voice from behind Fox was heard. At that, the Lylatian could only laugh, "Jealous, Falco?"
The falcon was then the one to laugh. "Ha! I wouldn't even give the two of you a second look, especially you, Fox. You'll be a corpse by the time Fara finds out."
"I don't like Sara that way. You're the one who brought it up," Fox mentioned. It took him a moment or two before the fox could fall upon another thought. "Besides, you're the one to talk. How do you think Katt is going to feel about all this?"
"Who said she was going to find out? Besides, I don't like Sara, either... not like that."
"You guys are absolutely intolerable. I swear, I could start up a circus with just you four guys, and have you all jump through hoops," the salamander hissed from the head of the group.
"Want to join the team?" Peppy joked.
Slippy snickered.
"I'd love to, Mr. Hare, but I fear that my lesser acquaintances would object..." Sara flashed a grin towards Falco, who scoffed at such an indirect insult.
"Oh, and you're perfect company..." the falcon grumbled loudly.
"Who said I was? That doesn't mean that I can't at least hold my own dignity in front of my friends, unlike you, who I recall being at a rather odd loss of tongue a while ago back there."
Falco frowned and muttered something barely audible, then left things at that. Sara couldn't help another smile. She turned away from her blue, feathered friend, and kept up the pace with Miya. The salamander was having a good time with this game, no matter what the others thought of it. She seemed to be the only one who had enough wits to silence Falco, and that was an accomplishment on itself.
"Hehe... she got ya there, Falco," Slippy mocked. The falcon gladly stepped to the side and snatched up the frog by his shirt collar. Slippy squealed in fright as he was held above the ground by the front of his shirt and glared at with eyes as cold as ice. "You were saying, frog-face?" Falco snarled.
"Er... hehe... n-nothing...." Slippy stuttered nervously.
"Hmm... good," the bird growled. Falco, having had his fun, tossed the frog aside and returned to the group. Slippy crawled back to his feet, brushed his jacket clean from grass and leaves, and hastily approached the others. He caught up to Peppy and slowed down to walk beside the hare.
"I never get to have any fun with him," the frog complained.
"Oh, just ignore him. He acts that way to scare you," the hare whispered back to avoid being overheard.
"Well, it's working."
Peppy pondered what to say next as he focused on the trail ahead of him. He considered his options carefully before giving out a piece of advise: "If anyone asks, this didn't come from me... but I was once told when I was a kid that whenever you get bothered by a bully, you fight back. Even if you lose, you'll gain yourself some respect from that." The hare winked at the frog, who nodded thoughtfully.
"Who told you that?" Slippy asked.
"My mother, actually."
"Your mother said THAT?" The frog looked shocked. "If I had gotten into a fight when I was little, I would have been slaughtered by my mother, right after the bully got his beating from me."
"Well, my mother wasn't like that."
"What was she like?"
Peppy took his time when answering. "Well, she was nice. She liked doing things... Big things, like mountain-climbing and such. My father thought she was crazy, but that didn't stop her. She used to travel a lot. Loved to travel. Stopped when my youngest sister was born, though. Of course, we'd take a vacation every one in a while, the whole family, that is. It wasn't the same for her, though."
"What happened to her?"
"Oh, she's around, believe it or not. I don't know where, though. She still travels... a lot."
"Ah," the frog croaked in an understanding note. "Well, my mom wasn't quite like that when I was little... but I still loved her and all. She is my mom, after all, even today. I won't stand for anyone talking mean about her or anything like that, either. Actually, there was this one time..." Slippy paused as he recalled a moment from his childhood. "...When I was little, some kid in my class said something about my momma that I didn't like, so I knocked the wits out of him. My mom sure didn't like that, and I got punished, but she is just too nice to be talked about in a mean way. You know what I mean?"
Peppy nodded. "I guess so. I just might take offense if someone insulted my mother, too, so I know what you're getting at."
Miya and Sara stopped, finally, at the edge of a large open meadow. "Guys, we're here!" the salamander shouted over her shoulder at the others, who were lagging behind a bit.
"Great," Falco replied, for once without sarcasm.
"Good. It's getting dark, anyway," the fox pointed out. The group marched onto the meadow, and took the sight of their resting spot with widened eyes.
"Oh wow... This place is awesome!" Slippy squealed cheerfully.
And it really was. In the twilight, the first stars were emerging against a fire-colored sky. The dim light cast a view of the dozens of different blossoms and flowers peeling open and displaying their colorful markings. A strange glitter that the blossoms sprayed out hovered over the meadow, and that attracted the infamous Yoshineese fireflies (Sara had mentioned those earlier), which were well-known for their ability to flash a small light from their abdomen that changed color at random. A nearby mountain stream sliced through the grasses and fed some maaka poppies, which held delicious maaka seeds. The entire area was littered with blinking lights of every color, and berries and seeds of every kind to eat. To StarFox, this was a rare and precious sight, and Fox could hardly imagine how wonderful living in such a place must be for the island's natives.
The yellow Yoshi, who had mostly kept to himself throughout the evening's travels, slipped past the hare, frog, bird, and fox, and approached Tieka and Miya as soon as everyone had reached the meadow.
"Hi. How's traveling?" he joked. Meekachu sat himself on a comfortable rock, kicked out his feet, and took in a long breath, which he let out with a deep sigh. "Whew! All this walking is killing me. I'm about to drop dead of exhaustion."
"Well, things are good as they can be, I guess. I still don't know how to sign. Why didn't you come up with me and talk to Tieka?" the pink Yoshi asked her worn-out companion. She then dropped onto a rotted log, and stretched out her feet and arms in a dreary yawn. "...I'm tired, myself," she commented.
Meekachu flashed a quick message to Tieka, then yawned just as his daughter did. Tieka politely bowed in the yellow Yoshi's direction and walked away. Miya smirked as she watched the salamander bow for Meekachu. That usually meant that a slave was dismissed from the day's duties, and he/she could retire for the night. In this case, Meekachu had dismissed Tieka from her work for the day, and Tieka responded with a bow of respect. Miya knew it was standard behavior for slaves to treat higher-class Yoshies (even ones that aren't their masters) in such a manner, but she still didn't approve of it. 'Oh well,' the Yoshi thought with a sigh.
"So, should we set up camp or something?" Miya asked the yellow one as she set her mind off the subject.
"Oh, I don't know... Do we have to? I'm too tired to even move."
"I guess not. I'm starting to feel the same way. Do you want some water? I can go get us some. Tieka brought a squirtlee. I think she gave it to the frog."
"That sounds good to me. I would be grateful if you got us some."
"Alright," Miya almost grunted the word as she hauled herself up and waddled over to Tieka. A series of pointing and grumbling followed, which lasted for about a minute.
"Oh gods..." Meekachu groaned. "By the time she gets that stupid squirtlee from those lazy bums, I'll have dried up to a pile of bleached bones." With that in mind, the yellow one climbed back to his feet and joined the pair of jabbering idiots.
"Miya, just forget it." The Yoshi stepped in front of Tieka and signaled that he and the pink one wanted water. Tieka almost laughed, but instead smiled kindly and hissed something to the other four creatures, who were already refreshing themselves with the clean water from the stream. The frog, who was happily taking big gulps of the riverwater, lifted his head and turned to Tieka, then waved and croaked his own reply. After another moment, the frog carried back to Tieka a strange round bottle filled to the brim with water and sealed at the top with a flexible cap.
"What did Tieka call this thing? Something... CAN-TEEEN... Well, I forgot." Miya strained to remember some of the words Tieka had used for such objects. "Awfully strange name for a squirtlee."
"I think that's it, though. Canteen. Thank you, Tieka." The yellow one signed out his gratefulness to the salamander and frog, then snatched the bottle, flipped off the cap, and guzzled down about half of the drink before offering a sip to Miya.
"You're too kind..." the Yoshi grumbled sarcastically, but she took the offer anyway. Miya finished what was left of the drinking water, then sat down to rest again on the rotted log.
"Hey, it's a rough world out there. Get used to it," Meekachu kidded. He held up his fists in a mock battle, and gently nudged Miya's arm with a pretend jab.
"Oh, knock it off, Meek. Why don't we just go to sleep? It's a beautiful night, and we can just lie back and watch it."
Meekachu replied with a yawn. "Well, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea," the Yoshi considered. He eventually decided to take a spot on the ground nearby, sit back, and stretch his limbs out in the grass. "Hmm..."
It was indeed a beautiful night. Stars poured into the empty spaces of sky, one by one, as light slowly drained from the scene. Both Yoshies took star gazing very seriously, because it was a strong basis of their tribe's religion. They believed that the gods resided in the heavens, and they would one day return to wipe out all dragons once and for all with a great fire coming from the sky. Thus, it was little wonder why the Yoshies many years ago thought of the invaders from the other realm as gods that had come to save their race. 'We were so naive...' the yellow one concluded with a depressing sigh.
While Miya and Meekachu were watching the stars, Tieka and the four creatures had silently gathered around the two Yoshies and seated themselves in the grass. Meekachu, suddenly alarmed by this small audience, glanced towards Tieka and watched as she signed a brief message. The yellow dinosaur sat up and stared at Tieka with a puzzled expression.
"What do they want?" Miya's voice came from behind the yellow Yoshi. Meekachu spun around in time to see his daughter reach past his shoulder and hand the water bottle back to Tieka. The salamander placed the bottle in a patch of grass nearby, then gave another message to Meekachu.
"Er... they want to talk," the yellow one replied in an uneasy tone.
"About what?"
"Hold on, I'm asking," Meekachu answered as he signed his question to the salamander. Tieka borrowed a moment to talk with the four creatures. After another short agrument (at least it sounded like one), the fox once again had the final word. The salamander nodded at the fox, then translated another message.
"They want to know if we have a plan, or if we know anything about the dragons."
"Oh... Meek, do we have a plan?"
Meekachu turned to his daughter with an appalled expression on his face. "Well melons, Miya, I thought you were the one running this operation! You haven't even considered a plan?!?"
"Hey! I've got one. Sort of. I was just wondering if you did." The pink one blushed a little.
"Er... Well... no, I don't. Oh melons, they are the ones who are escaping! Why don't they think of these things!" the yellow one objected to this line of reasoning. He signed a message back to Tieka as quickly as his hands could move, then smirked to himself as he awaited a reply.
"What did you tell them?" Miya interrupted the Yoshi's frustrated growls and murmurs.
"I asked them if they had any bright ideas."
"Well, do they?"
"I don't know yet. I'm waiting for them to come up with an answer."
Tieka almost growled herself as she gave the four creatures' messages back to Meekachu.
"They want to know how they can get off this island." Meekachu sighed. "Well, where shall we begin?"
Miya looked to the sky, as if it held an answer to all her problems. The air had already settled into a thick blackness, which would have left everyone totally in the dark if it weren't for the twin Yoshin moons casting their usual pale glow on the landscape.
"Well... Meek, you know the story of the invaders long ago... Where were they taken?" the Yoshi spoke as if she were in a deep trance, yet well aware of what she was asking.
Meekachu hunched over and rested his chin on his hand, obviously deep in thought. He also looked to the sky, and the Yoshies' star gazing instantly caught the attention of the five other creatures. Soon, everyone was watching the heavens, before Miya caught the actions of the foreign animals and started to laugh.
"Meek, look at them!" she chuckled.
Meekachu also caught the behavior of the five animals, and joined Miya's snickering. This prompted a growl from the fox, and soon everyone else was in a confused uproar.
Meekachu silenced Tieka with a wave of his hand, and then a worded message to her friends. He spoke as he signed, so that Miya would know what he was telling the creatures. "The mountain is home of the dragons. They live on the mountain, and come to the valley of the Yoshies to feed and take tokens of their liking back to their lairs. We Yoshies have feared the dragons for as long as the island has existed, before time was time..."
Miya enjoyed Meekachu's stories, and the way he told them. She had always admired him for the way he could say anything in just the right way. It gained respect with the Mulhollens, and made Meekachu very popular with hatchlings of every shape and size. 'Perhaps,' Miya considered, 'That is why he has grown in rank to become the queen's servant...'
The yellow Yoshi continued his tale. He had told this story many times; to his children, to the other villagers, and even to Tieka once. Meekachu knew the words by heart, and he spoke accordingly: "Once, many, many years ago, a great thundering sound and a ball of fire and smoke came from the mountains, and the dragons that lived there fled from the mountains to the valleys, which forced our race to flee to the mountain M'hakashan. The M'hakashan caves, which were located within the great mountain, provided a place where we could find safety from the fires and dragon beasts. On the spot where our ancestors had prayed to the gods for salvation, a shrine was constructed, and it still exists somewhere in M'hakashan's caves today."
"Meek, get to the good part!" Miya interrupted with a classic kindergardenish grin.
The yellow one snorted. "Very well then. Now, where was I? Oh yes..."
Tieka had already given what she had heard of the story to the fox, hare, frog, and bird. The bird rolled his eyes and gave a strange grunt, but continued to listen to Tieka's translation, anyway. Everyone else was watching and listening to the salamander with silent expressions.
After confirming that his audience was actually listening, Meekachu continued, "Not so long ago, our race was attacked again, but by a force from outside this realm. They were large green lizards that spoke and wore clothing just as you five creatures do. They also carried great weapons that spat thunder and lighting... just as you all did."
Meekachu paused, and allowed Tieka let those words sink in. The other four creatures seemed to take that news as surprise to them. The fox and hare instantly exchanged shocked glances. The frog appeared to be extremely confused, and the bird had a look all of his own. Perhaps it was shock, too.
"Meek, please continue," his daughter's voice broke into the yellow Yoshi's musings, and brought him back to reality.
"Oh... yes. Of course," Meekachu fumbled with his speech for an instant, before he regained his composure, and the place where he left off.
"The lizards... started war with us yoshies. Although our numbers were far greater, we were doomed from the start, and many villages were taken and burned to the ground. It was a sad period in Yoshin history, but we survived. The great yoshi elders helped us all through the chaos, and brought our foes to justice. The lizards were lured to the M'hakashan caves, where the Shrine of the Ancients still stands today. There, the ancient yoshian magic was brought against them, and our enemies were wiped from the face of this world, brought back from whence they came. The elders... they cast a spell on the mountain after that. From that day forward, the gates to this world have been sealed, and guarded very fiercely by the dragons of this island."
The yellow Yoshi scratched his large round nose while considering his own part in this impressive tale.
"I must admit, although not so proudly, that although I was still alive when these events occurred, I do not know exactly how this great magic was performed, or even where, to be exact. On the mountain is certain, but where I have no idea for sure. The only key to the ancient M'hakashan magic that the elders have left for me to pass on to my children is the legend itself."
"Meek, I was wondering..." Miya had finally started to realize some truth to this story, and she was willing to ask a question just to satisfy her curiosity.
"About what, Miya?" Meekachu dropped his arms, now tired from signing a long message, and took some time to listen to Miya's question while Tieka translated his story for the four other creatures. He looked over his shoulder at the pink Yoshi sitting just behind him.
"If the gates are sealed and guarded by dragons, then how did these guys get here?" Miya gestured to the five strange animals, who were chatting amongst themselves now in their own private language.
The yellow one cocked his large head sideways, as if he were actually considering the question.
"I... don't... know."
"Well, then there must be some kind of fault in the elders' magic... A loophole, or something of that sorts."
"Well... it's possible..."
"Then there would be a way to get through the dragon guards and past the barrier, wouldn't there?"
"Even if that were true-"
"Let's say it is," Miya cut short the yellow Yoshi's response.
"...Okay. If there was, then how would we find such a crack in the great barrier that our elders set up?"
"We can find the Archelder, and he-"
Meekachu laughed. "The Archelder? You and me, simple Mulhollen villagers, seek out the great Yoshian Archelder himself?!?"
"Well, if you had a better idea..."
"I'm sure I could think of one or two."
"As long as we're not climbing to the top of M'hakashan just to start shouting: Hey Gods! Come and get these guys outta here!"
The yellow one grunted, "Hey, at least that one's better than trying to find the Archelder."
"Oh, don't flatter yourself."
"Don't worry. You do that for me."
Miya tried to look shocked, but her acting skills weren't that superior. She finally shrugged off the insult and tried to think up some better ideas.
"We could try some magic ourselves... at the caves, that is," she suggested.
"I don't think that would work so well, but I fear that it will be our only option soon enough. I believe that the caves must have left some instruction on how the spells were performed..."
"We can always hope for that." The pink Yoshi tried to remain optimistic.
"Yes... we can."