The Sister Island

[Lord of the Dance]

"Yeah, that's good. Thanks," I gave him a glance out of the corner of my eye before running backwards a few steps to tip the stack forward. I then proceeded to charge down the street as fast as I could, stumbling backwards every now and then to re-balance it.
I quickly set down the stack in front of the waiting door and punched it a few times, making sure the owner heard me. A rather old, thin red Yoshi came out and grumbled something about being late, then dropped a few coins into my impatiently waiting hand. "Nice doing buisness with you," I sang out too cheerfully, then turned on my heel and sped back down the street to the big hut.

[Chilaquiles]

Malthos found it a bit cold outside in the village, so he decided to wait at the hut of the elder, until they had finished whatever it is they needed to do. He knocked and waited patiently for someone to answer, leaning on his broomstick.

He heard slow, heavy footsteps, and the doorknob began to turn. Ever so slowly, the wooden door creaked open with one of the most horrible shrieking sounds Malthos had ever heard, it was so stunning, in fact, that his head rattled and he nearly fell over forward.

A wrinkled old green yoshi stood at the door, squinting to get a look at Malthos's face. When the red robed Magikoopa unclasped his hands from his head and finally stood upright, he was met with an unexpected expression from the elder.

Not an expression of grumpiness, nor cheer, nor friendliness. It was an expression of pure, unparalleled horror. At the clear sight of the Magikoopa's face, the elder staggered backwards a few paces, refusing to breathe.

At this reaction, Malthos too became shocked... "Is...there a problem, sir?"The elder immediately replied

"Get away from me! You unholy worm!" At this response, Malthos too recoiled a few paces. There was only one thing on his mind, and that was to flee immediately. With all haste, he mounted his broomstick and shot off into the sky. The elder watched him depart, still retaining the same facial expression until he was sure of his safety, and heard a small Thunk!

Malthos had dropped something in his escape. The purple artifact stone that he worked so desperately to obtain. The elder bent down and picked it up. Upon further examination, his eye's lit up.

"Villagers! Come to me, all of you!" He cried out.

[Lord of the Dance]

I had just rounded the corner to the elder's hut when I heard the elder call out for us to come. I quickened my pace to a sprint and screeched to a stop in front of the elder.
Looking at how old and wizened he was made me feel young suddenly. He was holding something in his hand. What is that? It was a purplish color, and it looked even older than he was.
"Did you need us, sir?" I wondered aloud to him. "What's wrong?"

[Enrique]

Henrikoshen was still a good eight yards away from the elder's hut when the old Yoshi called all of the villagers to his general direction. Henrikoshen increased his speed from a very slow walk to a moderate jog. He still had no true ambition to take any orders at this point, especially since he figured that he would get any compensation for any of his actions. Upon reaching the elder, he noticed a purple stone in the elder's hand. Henrikoshen found himself waiting for the other villagers as soon as he arrived; however, he didn't feel the need to say anything, or do anything for that matter. "Just please get this thing over with..."

[Sky]

All that yelling caused the poor paratroopa to give a small yell of his own in surprise, not much of a scream, but more of an "ACK" sound. Inwardly shaking at that, he took his time before coming closer when the elder beckoned them all.

"Wh..What was that all about? Why did that koopa leave in such a haste? Oh dear.. I hope this isn't something bad, maybe that magikoopa was so startled he just fled. I feel sorry for him now.. but what can I do about it..? The elder looked spooked too.. why was that? I mean.. oh dear, I should listen to what he has to say instead of thinking like I am.."

[Chilaquiles]

Malthos rested, finally. Unfortunately for him, his fleeing meant his original plan was a failure, and not only that, but the elder would inform them of things he certainly did not want them to know. Nobody was around, so the Magikoopa began to mutter to himself.

"Hmph, now I've been revealed. I had no idea the elder knew who I was, nor do I know how he managed to guess my intentions. Boggling situation, indeed..." Malthos paced the floor nervously, everything had gone completely wrong.

He stuck his hand in his robe pocket without even thinking and immediately felt as if something was missing. Then, he realized that the artifact was no longer with him, and went into a frenzy, yelling out a single word.

"TOAAAAADIIIEEEEEES!!"

---------------------------


The elder looked at his audience. Three people. Henrikoshen, Yoshee, and a paratroopa whom he knew only as a mailman from long ago. He sighed, it would have to do. In a shrill, rasped voice, the wrinkled yoshi elder spoke up to the best of his ability.

"You three, come on inside. There's something very important that I must tell you," the elder eyed Henrikoshen, making sure to get his attention, and continued, "It is a matter or life and death."

The elder shuffled back into his hut, leaving the door open behind him to let the three of them in.

[Lord of the Dance]

I stood there gawking for a moment. What was I getting in to?
No matter. It sounds more important than being an apprentice... deliverer or whatever odd jobs that guy had me doing, I reasoned with my more senseful side, and quickly stepped after the old Yoshi.
The elder smelled ancient, but there was something else mixed in with it... Did wisdom have a smell? Or maybe the guy had some kind of perfume. Either way, the guy had an air of importance about him. I supposed a leader should be like that anyways, so I shouldn't be too surprised. It was the first time I had even been acknowledged by anyone of high importance, so I had to keep my hands from shaking as I stepped over the doorway.

[Master Doshi]

Lighty did a double check when He realized he had went into the wrong hut. He had a very sheepish look on as he soared out and located the right hut.
"Hi," said the embarrased and slightly sleepy Lakitu to the group outside. "Can we go in?" he asked.

[Enrique]

Following the elder's order, Henrikoshen entered the elder's hut, along with the girl that he apparently hit with the rock and a paratroopa. Learning that this was a "life or death" situation gave Herikoshen the motive to do whatever chores that may be assigned to him. Entering the hut, the only thing that kept him interested was the purple stone in the elder's hand. He was getting curious about the importance of the artifact; however, he reminded himself that he wasn't in the hut for a science exhibit. "What do you need from us, sir?"

[Sky]

"Oh dear.. life or death? ...What terrible fate could befall us that something becomes life or death..? Ohhhhh... I hope he's only kidding.. I doubt it though."

The paratroopa shuffled his feet, tagging along in the hut, yet staying a small distance from the group, close enough to lend an ear, far enough to not feel uneasy standing around other people. The news from this being life or death sent chills through his shell, and he couldn't help but to shake a bit at that. He tried to calm himself though before someone notices, taking his glasses off and reaching in his now "work useless" mailbag, taking a cloth out and starting to clean his glasses.

He slowly slips them back on over his eyes, "..I'm going to have nightmares, I know it.."

[Chilaquiles]

The elder collapsed on his bed, covered himself with a blanket, and propped a pillow up against the backrest. After settling in comfortably, he looked at Henrikoshen, and was glad he had the boy's full attention.

"Look here, boy," The elder held up the purple stone artifact in plain sight. "Do you know what this is?" He shuffled around in his bed a bit more before continuing on. "It's a key, m'boy. It activates the ancient landbridge and deactivates a dark barrier spoken of in the legends. It is our key to finding the outside world..."

The wrinkled old yoshi sighed. "Do you understand who that Magikoopa was? I could tell you, but it would be a very long story." He overlooked all of the listeners. "I've seen that Magikoopa only in my darkest nightmares. I do not know of his plans, but I know he has evil intent. His name was revealed to me in one of these twilit dreams. His name is Malthos, the son of sons of a line of evil Magikoopas that have kept this island in a relatively peaceful state, but barred from the outside world." He shivered a bit at the thought, before proceeding with his explanation.

"Malthos has a different goal than his ancestors, however. The legends told of a Magikoopa boy that sought to release this island from its isolation, and use the power he found here to rule the rest of the world. Malthos is that boy, the time is upon us. And yet, as powerful as he may seem, he has made one mortal mistake. He left this artifact behind, and now we have a chance to use it as our own. I'm losing the energy to speak. Here, take this." The elder tossed the artifact to Henrikoshen.

"Find the Yoshi known as Blood. He will tell you more, he is much younger than I, and will be able to lend a more powerful hand." The old yoshi rested his head on his pillow and closed his eyes, muttering a few final words.

"He's in the hut...directly next door..."

[Enrique]

Henrikoshen listened closely to the elder's creaking final words as the elder withered away on his bed. Catching the purple artifact from the air, Henrikoshen noticed a bit of a shine to it before listening to the elder's parting whispers. It seemed as if Henrikoshen's gut feeling was accurate; the Magikoopa - Malthos was his name - was up to no good. "You can count on me, sir," he uttered as the elder's strength to live rapidly whittled away.

Exiting the elder's hut, he called to the Yoshi girl and the paratroopa to follow him. "Come with me. We're going next door." After leaving the hut, he quickly found a smaller hut in plain sight; the elder's hut and the smaller hut were about fifteen feet away from each other. With the artifact grasped tightly in his hands, he approached the door of the smaller hut and knocked.

[Lord of the Dance]

I hung on the Yoshi's every word until his story was finished. The other boy Yoshi I has fought with earlier told us to come and find that Blood Yoshi, but I lingered for a few seconds after he had left.
"Thanks," I told the old Yoshi quietly. If this Malthos was as evil as he said...
I let the thought trail off. Better not to finish it, anyways. With one last glance at the old Yoshi, I turned and ran after the other light blue Yoshi.
"Hey, I never got your name, anyways," I mock frowned at him. "I can't just scream 'you' at you all day."

[Master Doshi]

Lighty, feeling angry at being ignored, was too tired to care about what the old Yoshi was saying. He told made his cloud follow the light blue Yoshi who was seemingly the boss of the operation.
Lighty managed a frown. Who said this person should be in charge? he wondered. shouldn't there be a..a...vote i think.... After a while Lighty decided he didn't care and promptly asked outloud, "Does anyone have a juice box I could have please?"

[Chilaquiles]

The door opened, and a tired looking, tall red yoshi, sporting a black cap with matching black boots opened up the door. He yawned, then blinked a couple of times, getting a good look at the knocker.

"I, uh...What do you need? And who are you?" The red yoshi scanned him from head to toe, but his eye stopped at the hand. "Hey, guy, what've you got there? Mind giving that to me?" he asked sincerely. "Did the elder send you here? C'mon in, guy. The rest of you too, if you're with him."

[Enrique]

As he was approaching the smaller hut, Henrikoshen was asked by the green Yoshi girl about his name. "My name's Henrikoshen," he replied. "Again, I'm sorry about the whole rock incident. I think it was that Magikoopa that I was trying to hit."

---

As the red Yoshi answered the door, Henrikoshen noticed that the resident seemed to have just woken up; however, he didn't mention that in his reply to the answer. "Greetings, sir. Yes, the elder sent us here to learn how to use this here stone. " Henrikoshen quickly placed the artifact in the red Yoshi's hand as he entered the hut with the Yoshi's invitation. "So, I'm guessing you're Blood, then, correct?"

[Sky]

"Oh dear.. maybe we weren't meant to know about this. Another island? A rock making it connect together? A lineage of evil Magikoopas? My.. I wonder if I should've just stayed home today.. ...?"

The paratroopa heard the lakitu's plea as they followed the light blue yoshi, reaching in his mailbag he carries around, and pulls a juice box out. He slowly reaches towards the Lakitu with the juice box, not really looking his way, trying his best not to start blushing again, and hoping he doesn't outright stuff that box in his face from not looking at what he's doing. His shyness and the event of going to a different hut and being greeted by a red yoshi was distracting him.

He heard introductions between the light blue yoshi lead and that yoshi, and reckoned that since he's already tagging along, and didn't want to look like a coward, or even a bit suspicious for being a koopa himself, he'd stick around. "Oooohhhh... I hope I know what I'm getting myself into..."

[Lord of the Dance]

The red Yoshi could be described in one word: Tall. And cool. Wait, that's two, I grinned inwardly at my own joke.
I supposed Henrikoshen's apology could be accepted, but I still didn't agree with throwing rocks at him. Something gave me the feeling he would be back, and first impressions mattered a lot of the time.
Since Henrikoshen never thought to ask my name, I decided he wasn't expecting an answer, either. No one ever asked my name. I guessed it didn't matter. It wasn't like I had a good name- like Henrikoshen- or at least something that described my color, like Blood. I deflated a bit at this thought as I stepped inside Blood's hut. I felt like my name would sound stupid next to these other Yoshis. What do I say? "Hi, I'm Yoshee! Not with the i, but with ee!" Yeah, that sounds brilliant.

[Chilaquiles]

"Blood, yeah, that'd be me." He examined the artifact, nodding his head slowly. "This is the real thing, all right. You sure are lucky to have gotten this from Malthos. But then again, maybe not so lucky...Who else is with you again? The paratroopa, and the other green Yoshi, right? Hmm...That won't do." Blood sat down on a chair next to his window.

"The elder probably didn't tell you this, but the ones who are entrusted with this artifact are chosen to be heroes. The only thing is, we're short one person. The legends always said that there were five heroes, and unless that changed, we can't go on any further. You may be a bit overwhelmed by this, but you might as well accept it. It is your destiny and mine, as well as the rest of them."

Blood got up from his seat and walked over to a pair of doors, which he swung wide open, revealing a variety of handsome looking weapons. "I've prepared for this day, quite accordingly." Blood opened a long drawer and lifted a silver, gleaming sword from it, as well as a sheath with a backstrap. He tied the sheath to his back and fitted the sword in it snugly.

He turned back to the weapon closet and pulled from it, a small, deadly looking iron dagger, which he tossed to Henrikoshen, along with a leather holster that fit around the waist. "That's yours. Use it well." He turned again, retreiving a bow and a quiver of arrows, and handed it to Skyler the paratroopa. "This suits you because you can fly, which you can use to your advantage while sniping." Finally, he pulled a spiked iron mace from the armory, and handed it to Yoshee. "I see agression in you, so this one is your kind of weapon."

He pulled one last thing from the armory. It was a long, shiny lance, so polished that one could even see his own face in it. "This was supposed to be for the fifth hero...Perhaps we'll meet him down the road." Blood flung it onto his shoulder, and walked out the front door of the hut.

"C'mon then! We have somewhere important to go."

[Enrique]

As Blood opened the nearby closet, Henrikoshen gazed with awe at the plethora of weapons that the red Yoshi had sported. He was also slightly surprised that Blood gave him a very impressive-looking dagger. Inspecting the dagger, Henrikoshen studied its tip of a perfect seventy-five degree angle and its sharp, shiny edges. The blade of the dagger lustered in the daylight peeking in through a nearby window. It satisfied Henrikoshen knowing that something this beautiful, something this well-maintained, was so lethal. "Definite improvement over that thing Dad gave me for emergencies."

After examining his weapon, he quickly buckled in the leather holster that Blood had given him. As he was locating the pocket that the dagger fit into, he heard Blood mentioning that another person than he, Blood, the green Yoshi, and the paratroopa must be found to follow the legends; this individual would carry the last of the weapons that Blood decided to take from his weapon inventory. Henrikoshen didn't pay much attention to what the other "heroes" had for weapons, except for Blood donning a sword that was more lustrous than Henrikoshen's dagger.

It wasn't too long after Henrikoshen inserted his dagger into the pocket of his holster when Blood was starting to leave the hut. Henrikoshen followed closely behind the red Yoshi, leaving the hut seconds after Blood.