Chapter 17
Morning had come. The sky was orange with the rising sun
and the grass was damp with the newly-formed dew. Jeila had decided to spend
such a time with the island’s pride and glory, the Super-Happy Tree. She stood
atop the hill, bowed, and knelt down with her hands folded and her eyes closed
in a prayer gesture. The meeting began.
Good morning, Jeila, the tree said to her.
Good morning, Mother, Jeila said back.
What can I do for you? it asked.
Mother, I just pray for world peace, good will towards
men, and an end for world hunger, Jeila asked.
Let it so, it responded. Will there be
anything else, my child?
Yes, Mother, she said. I’m worried about
Xoshi. He’s so funny, smart, and cute... I like him a lot. But I keep getting
the feeling he’s probably hurt or something. Tell me, Mother: is he going to be
alright?
You needn’t worry about a single thing, my child,
the tree reassured. Your Xoshi is in a fascinating, new place with plenty of
sunshine and palm-trees. He’s even made some new friends...
Oh, really?? Jeila said, relieved. That’s
wonderful! I’m so happy for him.
Yes, the tree said. He has many adventures
lying in wait for him.
Oh, he’s so lucky... A void was allowed to drift
its way into the conversation at this point. Then Jeila broke the silence. Mother,
she asked, were Xoshi and I... Meant for each other?
Ah, Jeila, said the tree. Don’t you worry one
bit, dear. Xoshi has you in his thoughts. As you live out your days, you will
experience happiness, sorrow, and anger. Faraway, Xoshi will feel the exact
same things. You and Xoshi are two parts of a whole, my dear, and in the end,
you will both be very happy...
Oh... Jeila thought, feeling a wave of joy wash
over her. She felt everything was going to be all right after all. Thank
you, Mother...
♣♠♥♦
Xoshi leaned his form against a blazingly hot
wall. He was in the middle of the entrance to where he met White Rose. In front
of him, the vast, palm-tree-filled desert remained ready for his arrival.
Behind him, the town of tiny, turbaned people was prepared for his departure.
Until the time for both of these came, he was engaged in a game with his
head-mate.
...When someone says, “Hi,” you say...
”...Hi.”
When someone says, “How are you?” you say...
”...Fine. You?”
When someone says, “Nice weather we’re having,” you
say...
”...Xoshi hate it. It too hot.”
No... No, no. Xoshi, I know it’s proper in Yoshish to
refer to yourself in the third person, but in-
“-Are you ready, Sir Xoshi?” The game got interrupted
just when Beel was in the middle of correcting Xoshi again. Their latest
recruitment, the mysterious White Rose, had returned from his trip to the
market. He had purchased a Thunder Bolt, a few Honey Syrups, some Dried Pasta,
a number of Mushrooms, and even a Dried Shroom with some Dusty Hammers.
Hopefully, they’d all come in handy on their trip.
When someone says, “Are you ready, Sir Xoshi?” you
say...
“...’Yes I am,’” Xoshi answered.
Good, said Beel.
“Good,” said White Rose. The enigmatic man walked up
beside the brown Yo’ster. “Now I must warn you, Sir Xoshi,” he said, “the
desert before us is infamous for its Pokeys. I’m quite certain one or two will
not be too much trouble for us, but one of them is enormous and a confrontation
with it would be most unfavorable. We may or may not bump into it. I trust
you’ll be prepared?”
When someone says... Beel repeated White Rose’s
words, then said, ...You say...
“...’Yes I am,’” Xoshi responded.
Hm... Getting there... Beel said.
White Rose nodded. “Alright, then. Let’s be off...”
The conversation was complete, and so was the wait. The
Yoshi and his companion at last could leave the new place, Dry Dry Outpost, so
they could go on finding themselves in even more fascinating, new places.
Already they were in the wide, open land of sand, Dry Dry Desert. If they
played their cards right, they’d be able to reach Shooting Star Summit in due
time...
If only Jeila were here, thought Xoshi...
♣♠♥♦
Back on Yo’ster Isle, a certain pair of
Yoshies was leaning against the front two pillars of a certain hut. They kept
waiting there, watching all the other Yoshies perform their daily morning
routines. They were gathering fruit, target-practicing, and playing games. It
was just another day.
“Man,” said Pinky, “who’d have thought guarding Xoshi’s
house from burglars would be so boring?”
“The lucky dog,” muttered Oshi. “He’s probably living it
up in some fancy hotel, or something, right about now, and we’re stuck here!”
“Why didn’t we get to go to Isle Delfino with him, Yazzee,
Yoshi, and Boshi? We helped, too, didn’t we?” Pinky griped.
“Speaking of Boshi,” said Oshi, “what do you think his
little substitute, Pish, is doing over there?”
”Hm?” Pinky grunted, observing the purple Yo’ster
talking to some new person.
“So, uh,” Pish said, awkwardly, “you got... da cookies?”
Pish nodded his head at this person with his arms folded and his eyes squinted.
“Yoooouu bet I do!! I’ve got cookies, I’ve got rookies;
I’ve got Sackles, I’ve got Crookies. I got what you want right here, biatch!!
All for the low, low price of a little racey-race. What do ya say, chum?
Friends? Bends? Help me out here.” Pish was talking to a small, Raven-like
creature with a curly, golden unibrow.
“Alright then- I mean-“ Pish shook his head and folded
his arms with his eyes squinting again. “-you got yaself a race, buddy,” he
said just as awkwardly.
“Ka-fwee hee HEE!! You is-a goin’ DOWN!!” said the
creature.
“What the-“ Pinky mumbled.
“Who is that??” Oshi mused.
Pish looked away from the black thing and held his arms
out. He raised his voice. “ALRIGHT, EVERYBODY, GATHER ‘ROUND!” he called out.
Almost immediately, all the variously colored Yoshies of the vicinity stopped
minding their fruits, their practicing, and their games so they could hurry on
over to see what the buzz was about. “LISTEN UP!” Pish said as soon as they had
all arrived. “I, the, uh, Powerful Pish, am about to engage this guy here,” he
motioned towards the feathery one, “the Rambunctious Razule, in a race to the
finish!”
“Ohhh, boy, this is gonna be GREAT!!” Razule squealed in
anticipation.
“The first to get from this spot, here,” Pish said,
pointing to where he was standing, which was the beginning of four long,
rectangular rows arranged into the grass, “all the way to the goal, over there,”
he said, pointing to where this stretch of quadrilateral shapes ended, which
was a few tufts of grass shaped like the word, “GOAL,” “will be the winner!” he
finished. The crowd surrounding this set of lines began to murmur excitedly as
Pish and Razule began to stretch themselves.
Oshi looked at Pinky. “My money’s on Pish. How about
you?”
“Hmm, I dunno. The new guy’s looking pretty promising,”
he said.
Razule was spinning around on one foot like some
deranged ballerina.
“Eh. If you say so,” Oshi said.
“On your mark...” Pish said once he and his opponent
were crouched down. “Get set...” The crowd watched the two contestants, waiting
eagerly. “GO!!!” In a flash, the race was on. The crowd cheered obnoxiously as
they kept their eyes on this competition.
“COME ON, PISH!!”
”YOU CAN DO IT, PISH!!”
”RUN, RAZULE, RUN!!”
They all hopped up and down vigorously as they vocally
encouraged the ones they had placed their bets on. The spectacle was quite
rejuvenating for them to watch. Two of these spectators were Rachi and Azure,
the red one and the light blue one.
“Azure,” said the red one, “what’s with that pink thing
sticking out of the ground near the goal?”
Azure looked at what he was talking about. It was pink
and round, but otherwise unclear what it could be. No one else seemed to notice
it as the race dragged on. Azure looked at his friend and shrugged his
shoulders.
“Hmm...” Rachi hummed.
Pish waved to the ones faithful to him as he kept his
legs pumping like mad. I can’t let them down! he thought optimistically.
“One, two, wear a shoe, three, four, wild boar, five,
six...”
What the?! Pish thought, disbelievingly. That
black thing was surprisingly fast for something that moved by shuffling from
point A to point B. It zoomed right past him and soon had the upper hand. Dang
it. This guy isn’t slow at all! I’d better kick it up a notch... Pish
whipped out a Yoshi Cookie, flipped it into the air, and snatched it with his
long tongue in the blink of an eye. After swallowing, he soon found his legs
moving way faster than usual. The crowd started yelling even crazier. Alright!
Time to win the race!
He zoomed his way forward a few feet, feeling a jolt of
premature triumph squeeze him. Getting caught up in the moment, he started
running even faster, not noticing that the cookie’s effects were beginning to
wear off. He was getting closer to Razule. Closer, and closer. There! He passed
him. Pish clenched his eyes shut with a grin smearing its way across his face.
It vanished as soon as he started hearing some wicked shuffling sounds beside
him. He jolted his head to the right as he saw that his opponent was catching
up at an alarming rate.
“No, no, no, NO!!” Razule babbled.
Pish’s jaw dropped as he saw this stranger zip right
past him. He scrunched his eyebrows downward, frowning at not knowing how to
overcome this. The crowd screamed in pure excitement as Razule neared the goal.
It was music to his ears.
Family... Friends... Fans... he thought to
himself, deliriously. It’s just what I’ve always wanted...
Pish was flustered. He tried forcing his burning legs
into going faster, but then...
SPPRROOOINNGG!!
“NOT AGGAAAAiiiiiinnnnn!...”
Just when Razule was within inches of the goal, that
pink thing that Rachi and Azure were talking about had suddenly exploded out of
the ground and sent the little weirdo flying way off into the distance.
Everyone, including the crowd and Pish, shut up for a moment to alternate a
little between looking at what had sprung out of the ground and what had been
sent soaring.
What in... Pish wondered as he stood there,
looking at it. Then he remembered something. Oh, right... He won
everyone’s attention back as he suddenly turned back around, ran quickly, and
heaved his way onto the goal. “FINISH!!” he shouted. The crowd cheered. The race
was over.
“Ah, man...” Pinky moped.
“See, I knew Pish had it in him,” Oshi boasted.
Parts of the crowd flocked to Pish, other parts walked
away with their heads hung, and a few others meandered up to the obstacle that
had ruined Razule’s big chance. Two of the ones interested in it included Rachi
and Azure. Being closer to it, they could see that this thing was a flower.
More specifically, it was a big, pink, rubber ball surrounded by very strange
petals growing out of it. Although they each looked more like overgrown fly
wings, complete with the fact that this ball was coming out of a stem of green
with more normal-looking leaves attached to it, this thing still looked enough
like a flower to be considered one.
“What is it?”
”Some type of flower?”
”It’s unlike any flower I’ve ever seen...”
Among these confused Yo’sters, only Rachi was the one
that could do something besides stand around wondering about it. He got closer
to it, knelt down and placed his hands around its stem. As a result, he started
getting some pretty befuddled remarks asking him what he was doing.
“I’m going to examine it,” he told them. “I just might
be able to figure this one out...” He plucked the thing, roots and all,
straight from the ground. Giving the audience something a little different to
talk about, he turned around and began to walk away. “Come on, Azure...” he
said to his light blue friend. Azure nodded and started following...
A group of fans was carrying Pish off, letting him use
their upraised hands as a throne of victory. I did it! I did it! I won the
cook- He stopped himself in mid-thought. Oh, wait; no, I didn’t...
He sat on the Yoshi hands, being carried off to wherever with a dumb look on
his face for a few seconds. Oh, well... He shrugged his shoulders and enjoyed
the ride. At least he did until...
BONK! A coconut got him right in the nose. He rubbed
where it was hit and looked around.
“SORRY!” he heard a voice call. He sighed and let the
ride continue...
Rachi was gone, Azure was gone, and Pish was gone, as
was the whole crowd. People started going back to their businesses. So were
Pinky and Oshi.
“Well,” said Pinky, “I guess it’s back to guarding
Xoshi’s house then!”
“I guess so...” agreed Oshi. With nothing else to do,
the two went on with letting the day be just another one...
♣♠♥♦
Jeila walked through the backdoor of that
botanical hut again. Sitting Indian-style in the center of it was her father,
the Yoshi Priest. With his eyes closed, and his lips making a weird noise, he
had himself once again meditating.
“O-woh. O-woh. O-woh. O-woh...” he chanted. Jeila took
note of his eccentric activity, smiled, and wandered a little further into the
room. With other things on her mind, she took a step, and (TRIP!) her foot
caught against something, causing her to fall forward on her face.
“OOF!!” she grunted. The noise awoke her father with a
start.
“Hm, rr, humph? Oh, hello, Jeila, sweetie. You
interrupted my meditating. Oh, why does this always happen? I’ll never learn to
float at this rate,” he grumped. The two family members got up off the floor
and dusted themselves off.
“Sorry, Papa,” she apologized.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, sweetheart,” her father said.
“There was a race today. They say they discovered some new kind of flower once
it was over.”
“Really,” Jeila said. She bent down and picked up what
it was she just tripped over. It was a jar. Its inner space was taken up by
some guts that was colored like a carrot, but came in a darker hue. “Papa,” she
asked. “What was the dark orange guts doing on the floor?”
“I haven’t the foggiest, Jeila. All I know is that some
of it was stolen when that burglar with the voodoo doll came by,” her father
responded.
Jeila put it back on one of their shelves. “What would
someone want a healing ailment for?” she wondered. “And why would they just up
and leave that puppet behind?”
The parent held his arms out to represent that he had no
answer to her questions. He tried satisfying her needs regardless. “Maybe they
were going to use it in a potion, or something,” he suggested. “Maybe, like
Xoshi, they had that doll on them for safe-keeping, and they dropped it on
accident once they saw you walk into the room like you said.”
”Maybe,” she said. That part of the discussion was over,
so Jeila changed the subject. “Guess what, Papa?”
“What, sweetie?” he played along.
“The Super-Happy Tree told me that me and Xoshi were
meant for each other!” She jumped into the air happily.
“It did? Well, I’m not surprised! You two are so much
alike! You’re both religious, you always plan ahead, and you both have a lot of
potential!” he listed.
“Awww,” Jeila said modestly. She put one foot behind the
other with her arms folded behind her to express her emotion. The elder walked
towards the backdoor.
“Well, you take care, Jeila, darling. Right now, I have
to pay my own respects to the Super-Happy Tree.”
“Okay. Bye, Papa,” she said, waving to him.
“Bye!” said the devoted man. With that, he was out the
door, walking down the pathway to the island’s treasured tree. Jeila turned her
gaze away from her old man and got her thoughts on other things.
Xoshi, she thought, once you get back from
your vacation... She paused and let a dreamy smile flow over her face. I’m
going to ask you out...