-Chapter 1

 

            “…And so, maybe there is such thing as destiny and fate and all that stuff, but we can control it,” said one Yoshi to another.  The second Yoshi thought hard about this. 

            “That seems like it would be right.” she replied.  “But then, who knows?  Maybe there isn’t even time at all, but we think that there is!”

            The two Yoshies were walking along the road, deep in conversation about time.  The one on the left was blue and wore a regular brown saddle and brown boots.

            His name was Joey.  He had few special talents, and so was mostly noticed because of his optimism (perhaps one of his greater traits), his humor (although not always the funny type), and his obsession with donuts.  There were times when he would be simpleminded or do something at the wrong time—it was something that seemed to run in his family, for the most part—but he was generally a nice guy…the kind of person who was normally shy around new people, but became great friends with them once he got to know them.

            The sky blue Yoshi to the right—the one wearing blue boots and a blue saddle—was called Yoshata.  Her talents would probably be better if called “skills”—some of her special skills were shooting concentrated heat (or ice) beams from her eyes, forming fire (as well as other elements) in the palm of her hand, shoot electrical sparks from her fingers, and create a dangerous solar beam, if she could concentrate deeply enough.  These powers were given to her by her parents when she was very young—as she told Joey, she had acquired her powers through a rare and special fruit.  And one of her physical traits—the poof of yellow hair on her head—seemed to attract a lot of ridicule from many people other than Joey.

            Yoshata’s personality was much like Joey’s: she would often look on the bright side of things and was very kind—at least, to those who were not threatening her or her friends.  She also knew the time to be serious and how to act around others.  Because of her ability to act with kindness and good humor as well as maturity, she was good at making new friends; this, perhaps, was the reason she and Joey were such good friends.

            The two had been walking for a long time, so their talking had lasted quite a while.  But their lengthy conversation ended when they reached the intersection of two roads

            “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow!”  called Joey as he waved to Yoshata.

            “Yep, I’ll see you too!  Bye!”  Yoshata walked down Strawberry Road, where her neighborhood was located.  Joey walked down the other road until he finally reached his house.

 

            Joey took off his boots and jumped onto a couch in the living room.  He looked around, but couldn’t find any of his family.  Apparently his sister was stuck in detention at school again, and Mom and Dad had gone off to get their lifelong obsession:  Donuts.  Joey shrugged and grabbed the remote lying on the table next to him.  He turned on the television and found a comfortable position on the couch.  He had stared at the television for a few minutes until he heard the doorbell ringing.  Guessing it was either his parents or his sister, he jumped up, shut off the television, and rushed to the door. 

            He was about to turn the doorknob when he heard a loud scream and a thunderous BOOM!

            “What in the world was that?”  He asked himself.  Then he ran from the door to the nearest window and looked out through it.  And lying on the road, covered in ash, was a periwinkle-colored female Yoshi.  Joey looked to the right of her and saw another female Yoshi, this one looking much younger, perhaps about one year older than him, and also having his dark blue color.  The dark blue Yoshi was approaching the door. 

           

            Joey nervously crept over to the kitchen and hid behind a table.  He heard a knock at the door.  Still hiding behind the table, he tried to hear whoever was at the door.  A few seconds passed and two knocks came at the door.  Joey waited for the person at the door to leave.  But, instead of leaving, he heard her mumbling something like, “Of all the cowardly things to do, he runs away from me….” Then, he heard another loud BANG, and the front door of Joey’s house blew into the room in splinters.  Joey began to run away, but the blue Yoshi caught up to him and held him tightly.  Joey screamed. 

            “AHHHHH!  Don’t hurt me!” he wailed.

            The blue Yoshi hit him on the head.  “Quit whining, you little baby!  Sheesh!  Besides, do you think I would hurt you?”

            Joey would have rubbed his head if this stranger weren’t holding his hands down.  “Well, w—why wouldn’t you have?  You—you just killed that person outside!”

            The stranger was now dragging Joey out of his house.  “Actually, she was going to kill you; I just had to interfere.  And besides, she’s not dead, I just stunned her.”

            But Joey was still confused.  “Interfere?  What—why was she trying to kill me?  And who the heck are you?”

            “Look, I can’t tell you all this yet.  I can’t risk anyone hearing anything too important.”

            “Well, then, when can you tell me this?”

            “After we’ve found her.”

            “Found who?”

            “Yoshata…um…what’s her last name?”

            “…I don’t know…I never asked.”

            “Oooookaaay…well, we better run over to her house.  We’ll need her to join us.”

            “Join us?  What are we doing?”

            “Look, I already told you, we can’t talk about this here.  Now we’re going to Yoshata’s house.”

            She dragged Joey back down the road he walked to his house on until they reached the intersection again.  She turned toward Strawberry Road.  “She lives on that street?” she asked Joey.

            “Yeah…” replied Joey, still struggling to get free from this stranger’s grasp.

            “Okay,” said the stranger.  “Follow me.”

            “Well, it’s not like I have a choice,” said Joey, still trying to get out of the strong grip that held him. 

 

            Yoshata had almost just arrived home when her doorbell rang.  She turned around and ran to the door.  “I wonder who that could be?” she asked herself, as she twisted the doorknob and pulled open the door.

            And what she saw was probably one of the last things she’d expect to see— Joey being held by the neck by a complete stranger holding a variety of guns and knives.

            Joey forced a laugh.  “…Hi,” he said, and waved lightly.  Then his eyes widened as he saw the stranger pull out a black gun and hold it to his head.

            “Come with me, or I’ll shoot him!” the stranger said to Yoshata (although when she said this, she didn’t seem very serious...).

            “You’re not serious!” Yoshata said.

            The stranger sighed.  “If I wasn’t being serious, I’d have made fun of how goofy your hair looks right now.”

            “I—don’t make fun of my hair!  I’m coming!”

 

            The three of them left Strawberry Road and continued down the street Joey lived on.  Yoshata caught sight of the unconscious periwinkle Yoshi.  She stopped walking.  “Who—” she began, but Joey’s captor interrupted her.

            “—I can’t tell you now.  Just don’t arouse any suspicion, okay?  I’ll tell you on our way.”

            Joey and Yoshata looked at each other nervously.  On our way?  Joey thought nervously.  Is she going to kill us?  Or worse…will she taunt me with donuts?  No, no, NO!  Focus…she said she wouldn’t hurt me…but then what if she was lying?  Oh no… what will Mom and Dad think when they realize I’m gone?  How could I have been so gullible?  And unbelievably weak?

            The three of them passed by Joey’s house.  After walking down a little more of the twisting road, they reached a dead end.  Past this was a small forest of palm trees past which was a large beach on the edge of Yoshi’s Island. 

            “So…what do we do now?” asked Yoshata. 

            “Come with me,” commanded the stranger as she led the other two through the patches of trees.

           

            The forest seemed to be so much longer than Joey remembered it.  He had continued thinking about his family and if he’d ever see them again…thinking about what this stranger would do with him, and why she had brought Yoshata along.  The few minutes that passed seemed to turn into and hours…and then, the next instant, he found himself out of the small palm forest and in the wide beach that he had remembered visiting so many times before.  He would have continued thinking about this, if the stranger had not begun talking. 

            “There’s a great deal of things you should know, Joey…” she said as the three of them walked along the area where the water met the shore.  “Have you ever heard about ‘time travel’?”

            Joey and Yoshata looked at each other.  “Coincidence?” said Joey, shrugging. 

            The stranger continued speaking.  “Well, what would you say if I told you that it would be possible eleven or so years in the future?”

            Neither Joey nor Yoshata replied.

            “Well, it will be.  And it’s going to nearly kill you.”

            “I don’t understand,” said Yoshata.

            “Do you want to know who that woman at your door was?”

            Joey nodded.

            “She’s part of a group of people against the idea of messing around with time.  Many of them wouldn’t go to the extreme of trying to murder you, but they all would do anything to stop the invention of time machines.  You and a group of other skilled Yoshies made the first time machine shortly before I was born.  Since then, you made several other models with better capabilities. 

            “Unfortunately, someone from the group I just mentioned had stolen a time machine with the idea of trying to find a way to make a virus for them, which would hopefully stop or slow down the production of new models.  But, that Yoshi at your house couldn’t wait any longer.  She took that time machine and came back now to kill you, thus ending the invention of time machines.  You see, you began the Time Travel Project.  If you died, it would never begin.”

            Joey thought hard about this (although completely ignoring the idea that he might one day begin a study and manipulation of a greatly-sought-after scientific concept), then asked, “But why didn’t she just kill me as an adu—”

            “—Because you were too well protected as an adult.  She would have been caught trying to kill you.  In the future there are many ways to find that you are in danger.  And even if she had managed to kill you, any one of your family members could have used one of your personal time machines to stop that.  In fact, one of them is doing that right now.”

            “…Who?”

            “Me.”

            “Wait!  Does that mean—” 

            “Shoot!  I’ve told you too much!  Just…don’t ask questions until we’ve left.”

            “Left?  Huh?”

            “Just follow me!”  She walked over to a small pit where an unusual silver machine lay.  It seemed large enough to fit four people in it.  In front of the driver’s seat were a variety of buttons, wheels, and levers. 

            “Get in.”

            “I’m not going anywhere with you—”

            Joey was forced into the front passenger seat.  Yoshata nervously followed and sat in one of the back seats.

            “This is a time machine,” said the stranger calmly.  “It’s one of the greater models; shall I explain how it works?”

            “Why not?” grumbled Joey as he tried to escape the seat belt restraining him.

            “Okay.  There are theories that say that when you are given a choice, you gain access to two or more alternate universes.  When you choose one, you follow its path.  Now, in the earlier models of your time machines, you were only allowed to choose which universe you could travel to, but once you changed it, it would effect every other universe related to it.  That is the model the assassin is currently using.  So, if she did manage to kill you, you would disappear in every universe…except those related to a single one.”

            “Um…which one is that?” Yoshata asked. 

            “That is the universe in which she chose not to go back in time to kill Joey.  That is the universe we will be traveling to.  Anyway, I realized that his assassin had gone back in time when I heard Joey and my mom speaking about it.  Fortunately, he had found out, and I was listening.  Unfortunately, he wasn’t going to try and fix it.  So I realized that it was up to me to save you, Joey.  And now that I have, we can use this more advanced model to go to that universe.”

            “Wait a sec,” said Joey, “if you came here to save me, why did you bring Yoshata along?”

            “She’s here to protect you,” said the stranger as she pushed a button, causing a glass orb to form around the time machine.  “With all of her amazing powers, she seemed the best Yoshi for me to bring along.  Anyway, you still don’t know who I am, but I’ll explain that all when we get where we need to get.  Now let’s go!”

            Joey and Yoshata watched as she pushed a circular red button, then typed in several different numbers.  On a little screen near the red button, a small orb surrounded by complete darkness appeared.  After seeing this, the stranger pushed a green button, which was also next to the red button.  She pushed it a second time. 

            Everything around the time machine in the glass orb became dark.  Joey tried to ask, “What’s happening?” but no sound came out.  Then, he felt the time machine jerk backwards, and saw a giant shiny orb fall farther away from him.  Then, he gasped (although no sound came out) at what he saw.

            In front of the time machine were infinite shiny orbs.  The time machine jerked again, but this time moved to the right.  As it moved, it continued to go faster and faster.  Joey felt sick.  Then, as quickly as it began to move, the time machine stopped and moved forward.  Once again, it accelerated more and more.  Then, in the next instant, everything seemed to go extremely slow.  It took a few seconds for Joey to realize that they were entering some other place…another universe.

 

-End of Chapter 1