"I think they're both nuts! They don't even know where we're going!" Falco argued with the rest of the group, which were debating whether or not to trust these Yoshies and their unusual story.

"Do we have a choice? I mean, they're the only ones who really know what this place is like. We have to trust them," Peppy reminded the others.

"I'll have to admit this doesn't look good at all, but Peppy's right. What are we going to do by ourselves? We don't have our ships, or our weapons, and we're stuck in a land we've never even heard of before. We have no choice," the fox agreed.

"So what now?" Slippy asked.

"Whatever these Yoshies have planned. I'm sure they know a little more about this new warp system than what they're telling us, though," Fox remarked.

The fox had been suspicious of this yellow creature right from that night they had met. On the same note, the yellow one seemed to place a little distrust towards Fox. It was a rough relationship, and the language barrier between the two didn't seem to help matters much. Sara tried as best she could to get through to the yellow reptile, but she was treated in much the same manner as Fox... especially recently, according to the salamander. It was very suspicious.

"Fox, that reminds me..." Falco had broken into the fox's train of thought, just before Peppy could open his mouth and say something himself. The hare growled at the falcon's poor manners, but Falco paid the gesture no regard, and continued to speak:

"Exactly what do you expect us to do once we get back to Lylat? Having no ships and all..."

"To be honest, I'd really like to concentrate on getting off of this world first," Peppy commented. Fox held similar thoughts.

"Titania has some old cities, and a few ghost towns. We can call for some help from there once we get there," the fox added.

"Who said we were going to be left back on Titania? For all we know, we could be warped into the vacuum of space! Not exactly my version of a happy ending," the falcon wryly noted.

"My, aren't you the optimistic one?" Sara joked. "Is he always like this around you guys? Or is this just a special occasion thing?"

"No, Falco's like this ALL the time," Slippy answered with a quick roll of his eyes. The frog instantly fell over and backed away, however, once he caught the falcon's cold glare through the moonlight.

"N-n-nice birdy..." he stammered.

Upon hearing that remark, Falco easily jumped up, stepped towards the cowering frog, and gave him a good smack on the back of the head.

"You ever call me 'birdy' again, and you'll be eating feathers until dawn. Got that???" The falcon held his balled fist in front of Slippy's nose, and watched with a smug grin as the frog tried to squirm out of his reach.

"G-g-got it..."

Peppy had his attention focused on the two Yoshies, meanwhile. "Sara, can you ask them if they have any ideas yet? I don't want to hear these two yokels over here start another fight."

"No one's going to fight," Fox growled, "Right, Falco?"

"Fine. He's not worth it, anyway," the bird grumbled as he turned away. Falco once again sat down next to the hare, but this time kept a careful watch on Slippy with one eye.

"Hehe... well, it's good to see that some things never change," the salamander chuckled.

Fox smiled slightly as he watched the group's actions from the cover of a tree's shadow. 'Falco's going to go too far one day...' the fox predicted, but only to himself. In a way, he was almost glad that he had someone like Falco on his team. It kept things interesting.

"Meekachu says that we should sleep now. He didn't mention anything else." Sara seemed perplexed by this lack of information, but Fox was expecting it.

'That Yoshi is hiding something... I can sense it. I just need to find out if-'

"Fox, where'd the canteen go? I'm thirsty," Slippy spoke up, thus once again breaking off the fox's train of thought. Fox shook his head as he snapped back into a more aware state of mind.

"Baby want his bottle?" Falco sneered.

Slippy was smart enough to ignore that one, and instead he sat up and started to search for the missing bottle.

Sara caught the question, and soon reacted by reaching behind a rock and pulling out the item that the frog was searching for. "Sorry. Here it is," the salamander apologized as she handed the canteen back to Slippy.

"Oh rats. It's empty," the frog complained while peering into the empty container. "I'll be back, guys," Slippy announced he as started off towards the nearby stream. Slippy wandered past some tall reeds, then disappeared into the darkness.

"Just watch... He'll get lost halfway there," the falcon whispered once Slippy had walked beyond hearing range. Sara couldn't help a snicker, but Peppy simply yawned.

"Okay... perhaps we should to go sleep. You all look as if you've been beaten like dumb cattle," the salamander suggested.

"Huh?? Come again?" Peppy asked with a curious grunt. He had never heard that phrase before.

"Hehe... It's an expression. The Yoshies use it. It means that you're tired."

"Oh. In that case, count me as a dumb cow."

"You've got that right." Falco couldn't resist. Sara and Peppy both chuckled at the remark, even though the hare knew he was the one being laughed at.

Slippy returned just then, with a bottle of water in hand. The frog stopped in his tracks once he caught everyone's giggling.

"Wha'd I miss?"

"Nothing important. Bring that water back to me when you're finished with it, Slippy. I'm thirsty, too," Sara requested in an attempt to move on to another topic of discussion.

"Oh, you can have it," Slippy replied while tossing the bottle towards the salamander. The frog walked over to a nearby rock and sat down right next to Meekachu. The Yoshi hardly noticed this movement, because by then he was already fast asleep. Slippy looked towards Miya, and found that she was also sleeping soundly.

"They sure are heavy sleepers."

"I don't blame 'em," Falco remarked. The falcon stretched his wings into the air and yawned.

Peppy sprawled out on the dirt ground and grumbled some babble, then closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, too. Slippy raised an eyebrow at the snoozing hare.

"...O-kay... Not a bad idea, though," the frog commented. He also cleared a spot on the ground and fell down next to the hare. Falco shrugged, then found his own spot to lie down. "G'night, guys..."

"G'night, Falco," Slippy croaked sleepily.

"Jes, goodnight all," Sara yawned the words, then went to sleep herself.

Fox sat up and blinked wearily. He hadn't realized until just then that he had fallen asleep before everyone else. He figured that it was too late to bother saying anything about it, so the fox shrugged and went back to sleep under the cover of a waving palm tree.

Many hours later into the night, and everyone in the meadow was in peaceful slumber, with a single exception...

Miya couldn't shake off her nightmares if they had come while she was awake, so the Yoshi hardly bothered to resist them anymore. Usually, they were always the same, and always scary, but this night a different dream plagued the sleeping Yoshi.

Meekachu was sleeping peacefully nearby. Curling up next to him would provide some warmth, but Miya found something else much more inviting. She crawled silently along the ground and through some grasses before reaching a gently swaying palm tree. The Yoshi cautiously slipped into a spot right behind the fox, and just as carefully wrapped herself snugly under the fox's warm, bushy tail. Miya almost chuckled at how she had made use of this animal, but she decided not to awaken the furry creature for her own sake. The Yoshi instead fell back into a dreamless slumber.

Morning settled over the island. Brilliant golden rays of sunlight hid behind a grand mountain, and left the skies a shimmering scarlet and amber color. The dew-soaked grasses and reeds of the meadow got the seven travelers slightly damp, but they were rested none-the-less.

From the stillness of the dawn atmosphere, a haunting call broke the air and awakened everyone:

"YEEAAHHH!! YOOO!!! YEEEAAAHHH!!!"

Falco shot up instantly, Sara rolled over and crawled to her feet, and everyone else groggily snapped out of their sleep and opened their eyes.

Fox jumped with a start when he noticed something warm brushing against his tail. The pink Yoshi stirred a bit, then blinked her eyes open when she noticed that her cover was gone. Both then backed away from each other, decidedly startled. Fox was surprised to realize that a Yoshi had been sleeping so close to him all night, and the Yoshi was partially afraid of the fox's reaction to this.

Peppy caught this movement from the corner of his eye, but he was more interested in something else at the time.

"Hey, where'd Slippy go?"

Falco noticed the frog's absence, too. "I dunno... he just disappeared."

"YEEAAHHH!!! Hey guys! Up here!"

"Slippy??" Fox called into the jungle at the edge of the meadow.

"Yeah, over here!"

Fox scanned the surrounding trees, but Slippy was no where to be seen. Only when Miya had pointed upwards with a reptilian hand did the fox actually find him.

"Shi! Yoshi!"

The frog was there, in a tree, several meters above the ground and shouting his lungs out.

"YEEAAAHHH!!!"

"Slippy, what are you doing?!?" the falcon screeched.

"Get down here!" the hare scolded.

Another voice from just behind the frog replied, "YOOO!!!"

It was the yellow Yoshi. He was in a tree right next to Slippy's, and was also shouting just as loudly.

"What was THAT?!?" Falco was getting frustrated with this stupid game, whatever it was.

"That's Meekachu. We're... communicating. He taught me this neat way to shout. It's like a game of charades," the frog explained cheerfully.

"How long have you two been awake?" Fox asked while rubbing his eyes. He wasn't quite awake yet.

"I dunno... a little while before you guys woke up. Maybe an hour. My watch stopped two days ago."

"Just perfect," the falcon muttered.

"We have a busy day ahead. We should get going," Sara said. The salamander started for the stream to get a drink, and Falco followed her lead. Peppy and Fox wearily crawled to their feet and also marched through the tall reeds for some water. Slippy skidded down his tree and hit the ground hard. Despite the jolt he received from the fall, the frog stumbled up and chased after his friends while yelling, "Wait for me, guys!"

Miya stayed behind and waited for Meekachu to climb down from one of the many palms scattered around the meadow's edge. She sat at the base of the giant timber and silently observed her traveling companions disappear through the grasses without even coming back for her.

Meanwhile, the yellow Yoshi slowly edged along the ridges of his palm tree, and carefully made his way to the bottom, unlike the manner in which the frog chose to climb down. Upon reaching the ground safely, Meekachu shook off the dewdrops dripping from his Yoshi skin, and turned to the pink dinosaur.

"That was... interesting," he mumbled.

"What exactly were you doing up there? And with that frog?" Miya questioned.

"Er... I was just trying to get some melons for breakfast. The frog was just trying to help... I think."

"That didn't look much like fruit-gathering at all, if you ask me."

"So what if it didn't? I saw you two fruitcakes over there. What was THAT?" the yellow one almost growled the question while trying to remain cool-headed.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Meek." Miya tried to act as if she had nothing to hide, but her acting still needed a little work.

"Oh, don't act stupid. I saw you and that fox together over there. You like him, don't you?"

Miya looked shocked, but this time she wasn't acting. "You are so silly, Meekachu. I have no feeling for him what-so-ever..."

"You need to learn to lie better."

"You need to learn to mind your own business. What friendly relationships I make with others is my business alone."

"No, that's where you're wrong. They are my business. You are my business. I don't want you getting too friendly with those creatures."

"Those creatures?!? Melons, Meekachu, is that all you think of them? As creatures? They have names, you know."

"Oh? Such as?"

"Well... er... uh..." Miya stammered. "I don't know. I'm sure Tieka does."

"Well, Tieka's not here right now, is she?"

"No, she's not. But that's only because you took so long getting down that spriffin' tree," the pink one retorted. She picked herself up and headed off to join the others. Meekachu dashed after her.

"Miya, I told you not to use that word!"

"Spriff you, Meekachu."

Meekachu stopped in his tracks and stood dumbfounded. Never had he been spoken to that way, much less from his own daughter. This was serious. The pink Yoshi had already disappeared into the meadow's tall grasses to catch up with her companions, so trying to say something at this point wouldn't serve Meekachu any good. He instead shook off the insult and once again started for the meadow's stream.

Everyone was there at the water's edge. Some were drinking the cool mountain liquid, some just splashing the water on their faces to help wake up, and just a few feet away the frog and bird were engaged in some sort of wrestling match in the middle of the flowing stream. The bird seemed to have the upper hand... er, wing, and he was using his superior strength to hold down the frog in the chilly water. It didn't take long for the fox, hare, and Tieka to come over and stop the fight.

Miya wasn't too far away, either. The pink Yoshi knelt beside the riverbank, scooped up a small amount of water with her cupped hands, then took a refreshing sip of the mountain liquid. She pretended to ignore Meekachu as he approached.

Meekachu honestly didn't know what he was going to say. The worst of it was that, in a way, Miya was right... He wasn't her boss anymore.

"Look, Miya, this has been a mistake..."

No response.

"What I mean to say is... well... you were right back there. You are your own Yoshi now, and I can't do anything about that. What I can do is just tell you to be careful, Miya. I don't want anything to happen to you..."

Still, the pink one didn't say a word, but she did slightly turn her head to catch a view of the Yoshi behind her. Her eyes showed little emotion, and her face no expression at all. Meekachu tried not to notice this.

"...So, do what you want to now. I can't stop you from going up to those caves, and I can't stop you from going inside, but I have to say that I don't want you to. It doesn't matter anymore to me if those creatures make it out of here alive, because I'm only concerned about you... Please don't hate me for this, but..."

Meekachu stopped. He could have said everything on his mind, but that wouldn't be enough, anyway. Not enough to have convinced Miya to stay behind. Not enough to have driven her away from this crazy idea. She was determined to get all the way to the top of M'hakashan, and Meekachu was helpless to stop her, not matter what he said. But the only thing he was sure of was that she'd never be able to do it alone. Not in a million years.

"...I ...I'm going... with you. All the way. You have my full support," the yellow one squeaked. Miya didn't move. Meekachu took this as a bad sign. He lowered his head timidly and headed off in the opposite direction. Something caught him, though.

"Meekachu..."

The yellow one turned back and found Miya facing him. She wore the same, pitiful look on her face that Meekachu was wearing just then.

"Meekachu, look... I... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. You don't have to come with me, but I can't stay behind... I'm sorry."

"No, don't be sorry. We can't be sorry now. It's too late for that. And no, we're sticking together. I'm not going anywhere without you, and if the top of the mountain is where you're going, than I'm going, too."

Miya smiled with glee, then ran forward and embraced her father. "Oh, thank you, Meek!" she squealed. The pink one stepped back and looked Meekachu in the eyes, just to check how serious he really was.

"So, we're really doing this?"

"Yep..."

Tieka's excellent timing came through once again. The salamander emitted a low wail, which instantly caught Meekachu's attention. Tieka signed her message to him, then turned away and ran for the mountain trail. The other four foreigners followed, with a dripping wet frog taking up the rear.

"Come on Miya, let's get going. Long march ahead."

Meekachu then departed with the rest of the animals. Miya was about to do the same, but something nagged at her thoughts. What did the yellow dinosaur mean when he said, 'It's too late for that now?' Did it really matter? Miya hoped not. It still bothered her, though... and that dream...

Miya shook her head and chased away those thoughts. She then took off in a run across the narrow river, and resumed her journey once again.

"Well, according to my calculations..."

Slippy paused for a moment as he tallied up the total figures in his head. Asking him to try and do math mentally was a slow, nearly worthless process, but there wasn't a calculator in sight, and Slippy was fairly accurate, no matter how long he took.

"At this rate that we're walking, and with the estimated distance to the mountains, I'd say we should take... at least two more days."

"Two days too many," Falco grumbled.

"Are you sure, Slip? Those mountains don't look so far away." Fox was unsure of that figure.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure. The hardest part is going up," the frog remarked.

He was right. The mountains of this island were huge, towering obstacles, and getting to the foot of these massive stone structures would be the easy part.

McCloud took his time to silently observe the changing scenery as he walked. The hills grew steeper, and the trees became more sparse as the group traveled further inland. They seemed to be moving in the deep basin of some giant valley, which would explain the steadily-moving river that was always present nearby.

Soon the air would be getting thinner, and a lot cooler, but that wasn't of great concern at the moment. The fox was more or less troubled by matters concerning the relations between his teammates, or the lack thereof. For starters, Sara seemed to possess a very important secret that she only shared with Falco... which brought up another point: The salamander hardly paid a word of attention towards the falcon unless she was replying to one of his smart alec remarks, or simply trying to get him to shut up. One would think that after being apart for so long, Falco and Sara would naturally show at least some curiosity for happened to each other while the salamander was trapped here. Instead, both Lylatians seemed determined NOT to talk to each other. Fox had no idea why this at all bothered him, but it just did.

Another issue was Peppy, Falco, and Slippy themselves. This trio had been at each other's throats from day one of this adventure, and things only seemed to be growing worse between the three as time passed. Fox wasn't exactly sure why, either. For the most part, however, Falco was the one starting these fights, Slippy was the one taking the heat, and Peppy was just trying to intervene. It wasn't exactly anyone's idea of fair, but everyone was in a bad mood, and the fox guessed that fighting was the falcon's way of 'cooling off.' Fox still didn't approve of it, though.

As for the Yoshies, Miya and Sara once again had taken the lead of this expedition, but this time the yellow Yoshi kept up with them, too. The pink and yellow Yoshies both looked to be getting along with each other much better than they had been before, which was of great relief to the fox. At least THEY were getting along.

"Oh crap, here they go again..." Fox rolled his eyes.

"I never said that!" Slippy's high-pitched voice echoed off the valley's walls, and the two Yoshies at the lead turned around and chewed the frog out for being so loud. Falco snickered.

"Oh common', you two, isn't there a better way to settle this than fighting all the time?" Peppy tried to resolve these arguments peacefully.

Falco studied the question for only a moment, then answered by smacking the frog on the back of the head. "No," he laughed.

"Hey!" Toad whined.

Fox shook his head. Sara meant it when she said, 'Some things never change.'

"Well, it could be worse, Slippy," the salamander chuckled. Sara had been listening to the entire conversation from a distance, and she decided to add her own comment to switch the sides of this argument.

"At least there isn't a cantina around for miles."

Falco cocked his head sideways while trying to understand what that could possibly mean. He realized a moment later, and the falcon's feathers ruffled up in an embarrassed expression.

"Sara! Geez, you never learn to keep your mouth shut, I swear..."

"What cantina? I don't get it..." The frog seemed perplexed by Sara and Falco's behavior.

The salamander could easily read the look of confusion on Slippy's face. She gladly informed the frog of what she could without revealing all too much at once.

"Haha... Inside joke, Slippy."

"I'd better stay that way," the falcon remarked.

After that, nothing else was said on the matter... for the time being. Fox grinned to himself. If he couldn't handle a problem, Sara would step in and finish things her own way. He could give her credit for that. The salamander always had some little scrap of dirt on Falco, and she used those pieces of info at her own disposal. The amazing part was that no one else really knew what in the world she was talking about with the exception of herself and Falco.

Fox distantly wondered how he could make use of that, but then he put the thought aside. The fox wasn't about to start snooping into someone else's private life, even if that someone else deserved it. He did have to admit, however, that the idea was very intriguing...

"Ah well," the fox eventually sighed. "It would never work anyway," he added, a curious smile still stuck on his tan-colored muzzle.

Chapter 9

Back to Miya's fiction