LAS: Retold Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Yoshi Herd

Far away on Yoshi's Island, a pink yoshi was going for a walk on the beach and enjoying some grapes that she was eating as a midnight snack. "Mmm..." she said. "These grapes sure taste good and the sea looks so pretty night. Huh?"
Something on the edge of the water caught her attention. She moves in closer to investigate. It was the body of a certain green-clad person. “Oh dear." the pink yoshi said softly as she poked Luigi with a finger. "The poor guy. What's he doing here? Ooh, I have to help him. He looks really hurt." The pink yoshi quickly gulped down the rest of her grapes and placed Luigi on her back, then she ran into a nearby forest. She did not stop until she reached her home, a patch of fern plants. She set Luigi down on them and tried to shake him awake. Eventually, she gave up and fell asleep.
"Huh? Where am I?" Luigi moaned when he came to. He looked around in surprise and saw the pink yoshi. Because of the darkness, he confused her for the famous green yoshi. "Okay. I guess I'm at Yoshi's. I don't remember coming here. Ugh. Need sleep." Luigi brushed aside a few ferns and settled down to sleep.
The next morning, Luigi's savior spoke to him. “Hello." she said in the yoshi language. "What is your name?"
"What did you say?" asked the perplexed plumber.
"I said hello." she replied, still speaking yoshi. "What is your name?"
"Yoshi, you know I don't understand your native tongue. Wait... You're not Yoshi, are you?"
The pink yoshi shakes her head. "I am Pinky."
"Who are you? And where am I?"
Pinky shrugs and signals Luigi to come with her. He understood this and followed her to the beach. There was now a few yoshis peacefully sunning themselves on the sand.
"Do you know what this is?" Pinky asked a blue yoshi named Bluey and pointed to Luigi.
"I'm afraid not." Bluey answered, also speaking in yoshi.
"I'm gonna go nuts!" Luigi snapped. "I'm stuck with a bunch of dinos that I can't even understand! Oh no..." He fainted and sank to the ground.
"Why didn't you tell me he talked like that, Pinky?" Bluey asked in English.
"I'm sorry." she said, now speaking English as well. "I guess we better take him to the water hole." She picked up Luigi and put him on Bluey's back, then both yoshis run into the forest.
Meanwhile, a distressed Mario was walking back and forth across the deck of Wario's ship. "We have to find Luigi!" he complained.
"Find...Luigi?" Waluigi asked, not getting Mario's idea.
"Dude, he drowned." Wario explained. "You saw what happened. He was a goner. Plain and simple."
Mario refused to believe Wario. "No. No he's not. He's out there somewhere. I know it. We just have to search all the islands in the area."
"Is there any around here?" Waluigi asked.
"Sure." Mario said while pointing to the south. "I see one right over there. Let's start looking. Wario, turn the ship that way."
"You're not the boss of me." Wario grumbled.
"Turn that way or I'll turn you into an ice cube!"
"Speaking of ice, how did you get ice breath? asked Waluigi who was curious about the move Mario used last night.
"That would be my Freeze Blaster attack. I've had it for about a month now, but boy was it a pain to get. Ask me about it some other time though. Seriously. Turn that way or I'll turn the both of you into ice cubes!"
Wario growled and walked to the helm. "Aye aye, Captain Barfio."
Back on Yoshi's Island, Pinky and Bluey have reached the water hole. They set Luigi down and splashed water on him. "Wha...what happened?" Luigi said when he regained consciousness.
"Are you feeling okay?" asked Pinky. "You fainted."
"You...speak English?"
"You don't understand yoshi speak, do you?" Bluey asked.
"No. I don't. May I have your names please?" Luigi was getting more confused by the second.
"My name is Pinky." the pink yoshi said. "And this is my friend Bluey. What's your name?"
"Oh. My name. My name...is Luigi."
"What kind of name is Luigi?" Bluey began to ask questions very quickly. "What happened to your tail? What are you? What's that on your head? How did-"
"Slow down! Slow down!" Luigi shouted. "I can only take one question at a time. For one thing, it's an Italian name. I'm a human and we don't have tails."
"A human, huh?" Pinky mused. "I don't know what those are. I've never seen them before. Maybe I should have Blacky take a look at you."
"Blacky? Who's Blacky?"
"Blacky is our leader." she explained. "He's an extremely rare black yoshi. I think he can help."
"He should be in his cave. Hop on!" Bluey offered, motioning for Luigi to ride on his back. Luigi does so and the yoshis walk on a long trail through the forest.
"There it is." Pinky points it out. "I'll call for him. Hey, Blacky! Are you home?"
A black yoshi stepped out of the cave and yawned. He was a rather large yoshi and it sure looked like a leader. He greeted Pinky with a bow and was about to do the same to Bluey when he noticed Luigi on his back. "Hello there. Who are you?" he said in yoshi speak.
"Talk like this, Blacky." Bluey said in English. "He can't understand you if you don't."
"Oh, sorry." the large yoshi apologized, now switching to English. "Hello. What is your name?"
"Uh...er...uh..." Luigi struggled to speak.
"Aurora?" Blacky guessed. "That's an odd name."
"No Blacky. His name is Luigi." Bluey corrected.
"That's an odd name too. Is 'luweeg' even a color?'"
Pinky got down to business. "How odd his name sounds isn't important. We need to know some stuff on something called humans. Do you know anything about them?"
"I can't say that I do. So what is Luigi anyway?"
"I am a human," Luigi said, beginning to dislike the term. "Listen, I'm lost and I need help."
"I see." Blacky said thoughtfully. Why don't you come in for a moment? Pinky and Bluey, you two go ahead and play for awhile. I'll see what I can do to help Luigi."
Pinky and Bluey bid farewell and walked away while Blacky and Luigi entered the cave. The cave looked like a comfortable place to live. There was a pile of leaves for a bed in one corner and a pile of fruit in another. There is also a group of rocks arranged in a circle near the center of the cave. It wasn't very dark inside either.
"You want to sit down?" Blacky asked while pointing to one of the rocks.
The Italian plumber nods. "Grazie." he replied.
Luigi and Blacky both sit on a rock. Blacky cleared his throat and spoke. "What happened to your tail?"
"I never had one." Luigi said in a displeased tone. "Humans don't have tails."
"Oh. Well, how did you get here?"
"I'm not sure." Luigi thought hard and tried to remember the events of the previous day. "I think I might've drowned. Or got knocked out somehow. All I know is that I woke up next to Pinky. At the time I thought she was my friend, Yoshi. He's green."
Blacky carefully listened to Luigi and was about to say something when he was interrupted by a faint rumbling sound. Luigi whimpered and put a hand over his belly. The last time Luigi ate anything was yesterday morning. He was feeling very hungry indeed. "Sorry."
"Oh dear." Blacky said when he realized the problem. He got off his rock and walked toward the pile of fruit. "Would you like some bananas?"
"Yes please. I'm famished." Luigi said, feeling a little better.
Blacky sorted through the pile of fruit until he found some bananas. He brings an entire bunch back to Luigi. "Here you go. Would you like more?"
"I don't need the whole bunch. On the other hand, maybe I do." Luigi then peeled a banana and bit into it.
Blacky did not seem to understand what Luigi was doing. "Why are you eating it like that?" he asked, slightly confused.
"I don't like the outside." Luigi replied, forgetting that yoshis don't peel or chew their food.
"So lemme get this straight. You don't remember how you got here, right?"
"Yeah."
"And there aren't any other humans with you?"
"No, I don't think there are any others." Luigi sighed.
"Well Luigi, I suppose there's only one thing I can do to help in a case like this. Please follow me."
The two got up and made their way back to the beach. The yoshis that were there before were now frolicking around and chasing each other. "Excuse me, everyone." Blacky called to get their attention. "I have an announcement!"
The yoshis crowded around and stared at Luigi curiously. Luigi felt very uneasy. "Blacky...what's going on?"
"I've decided to let a new member in our herd." Blacky said in a firm voice. "So I want you all to-"
Just then, a yellow yoshi butted in. He was a bit smaller than the others. He must be a youngster. "Who's this guy? And what is he?"
"I was getting to that, Yellowy." Blacky scolded. "This is the newest member of the herd. His name is-"
"I am?" Luigi said, not knowing what Blacky was planning.
"You decided to let Luigi join?" Bluey asked.
"Huh? How'd you know his name, dad?" the yellow yoshi asked. Apparently, he is Bluey's son.
"Pinky and I met him earlier." he explained.
"Oh dear. Are you alright, Luigi?" Pinky asked. "You better take a nap at my place."
Luigi was in a state of confusion and wanted nothing more then some rest. Luigi climbed onto Pinky's back and she hurried into the trees.
"Sorry everyone." Blacky apologized. "Luigi isn't feeling well and needs to take a nap at Pinky's. Please come back here when the sun touches the mountain. He should be better then."
Some of the yoshis went for a swim in the ocean. Bluey decided to have a word with Blacky. "What did you find out?"
"He doesn't know how he got here." Blacky said carefully. "He said he might've been knocked out somehow. I guess something bad happened to him. And for some reason, he doesn't like the way the outside of bananas taste."
"Huh?" Bluey didn't get it. "What's he do? Peel it off and eat the inside?"
"Don't be silly." said Yellowy, whose favorite fruit was bananas. "They taste fine the way they are."
Blacky cheered up a little bit. "But he says that he already has a yoshi friend. So at least he knows what we are."
"Oooh..." Blue and Yellowy say in unison.
Later, Mario had finished searching the island he saw for Luigi, but left empty-handed. "I was so sure he was there." he sighed.
"He drowned, Mario." Waluigi remarked. "You're not going to find him anywhere. He's de-"
"Oh shut up, Waloogie..."
"What did you call me?!"
"Waloogie!"
"Wha?" Waluigi growled and dove toward Mario.
"I'm outta here!" Mario shouted as he high-tailed it into the cabin. He closed and locked the door just in the nick of time.
"Hey! Get out here!" Waluigi banged on the door. "Don't pretend you're not in there!"
Mario paced across the floor until Waluigi gave up and left. However, something on the table caught his attention. It was a map. "Hmm..." he wondered as he unrolled it. "This could be of some use. Let's see now. The island I just checked is that one. So...the closest one then would be Kitchen Island. I think I've heard of that one before."
Mario left the cabin and found Wario at the helm. "What do you want?" the captain asked.
"Do you know anything about Kitchen Island?"
"Oh sure. I used to live there. Why do you ask?"
"I thought the name sounded familiar. Anyway, I want to look for Luigi there. You and Waluigi don't have to follow me around though. Stay on the ship if you want. Just don't think about taking off without me. Alright?"
"Yeah. Whatever." Wario said, not too excited about the idea.