Super Mario Brothers: Peach-hime Kyuushutsu Daisakusen Fan Fiction ❯ Betrayal Saga I: Yoshi's Darkside ❯ Following Orders ( Chapter 2 )

Betrayal Saga I

Disclaimer: Don't own Yoshi or any Mario characters in this fic.

Following Orders

Tired of being taken advantage of, Yoshi skips out on the Mario Brothers and heads to King Koopa's Keep. He plans to exact revenge on Mario...with a little help from someone different...second in the Saga.

By Queen Breeza

Every year it was the same thing: King Koopa (or if you prefer, Bowser) tries to disrupt the Mushroom Kingdom or steal Princess Toadstool, now called Peach, and every time he did Mario would always defeat him and make the Mushroom Kingdom a better place once more.

And Yoshi was just plain sick of it all.

Yoshi, the faithful green dinosaur of Mario, stood on the top of Peach's castle and looked down at Mario. Somehow, after every victory, Yoshi would never get any credit for it. Mario would get all the attention. Even if it all depended on Yoshi's abilities and his only, Mario would somehow grab all the glory. At first, being the kind and generous dinosaur that he was, Yoshi would allow this, especially when he was younger. Yoshi wasn't used to all the fame and glory, so he often ran away before anyone could congratulate him. Back then, the people around the castle wanted to show him some gratitude, but Yoshi was nowhere to be found. So, after a while the people got used to this trend and just concentrated on Mario. However, it got so bad that Yoshi was just considered to be an ordinary dinosaur and was gradually cast aside by Mario himself so that he could get all the credit.

Yoshi turned around and walked to the other side of the castle. It would be a new year soon since it had taken Mario nearly the entire year to defeat King Koopa this time, so he knew he would be called upon to fly Mario somewhere to get a Feather.

Well, not this time, Yoshi thought, glancing down briefly at a Koopa who had gotten stuck on his back. Yoshi watched him wiggle around for a while and then finally give up, gasping for breath. He must have been out of shape.

Hearing his name being called in the opposite direction, Yoshi jumped down off the castle and landed perfectly on his feet. His tail waved in the air as if signaling a getaway. Absentmindedly, Yoshi walked off past the tormented Koopa.

"Hey, wait!" the helpless and pitiful Koopa cried after seeing Yoshi walk away. "I could use some help here!"

Yoshi looked back briefly and then continued on away from the castle. "Help yourself up. I'm outta here."

The Koopa was baffled by Yoshi's behavior. He had never seen the green dinosaur act in such a way towards another person, or Koopa for that matter. However, he said nothing more about his situation and tried once more to get up by himself.

~~~~~

"Yoshi! Yoshi?!" Mario called his extraordinary sidekick. "Hey, where's Yoshi? Anybody seen him?"

"I haven't seen him in a couple of hours actually," commented Peach. "It's not like him to hide for this long."

"Maybe he just wants to be alone. Yoshi needs a break, too, you know," said Luigi, the famous younger brother of Mario who was often left out of adventures with him. Luigi was one of the only people in Toad Town who actually cared about Yoshi's well being. Too bad Yoshi didn't know it at the time.

"A break?! For what? He doesn't even do anything!" Mario explained, but he wasn't convincing either Peach or his brother Luigi.

"Of course he does," Peach argued. "He goes everywhere with you. You ride him all the time."

"No I don't. Half the time I don't even need him."

"Yes, you do," Luigi countered his brother with the truth, knowing that Mario's ego and pride had soared all the way to Star Haven and hadn't left since. His brother needed a serious attitude adjustment. Luigi never told anyone, but sometimes he wished that Mario would lose for once in his life to the infamous Koopa king so that he realized he wasn't as strong as he thought himself to be.

"Whatever," Mario walked away to a food court across from Peach's castle.

"I'm beginning to wonder about Mario's attitude. Lately, it hasn't been too inviting, if you know what I mean," Peach said to Luigi.

"I sure do," Luigi agreed while watching his brother in disgust wolf down five Yoshi Cookies in a matter of seconds. "But it doesn't help to keep this information to ourselves, does it?"

"No, but we can't just call a meeting about Mario's behavior. Who would come to that?!" Peach said. "The townspeople practically worship him!"

Luigi sighed. "Well, we have to do something."

"Hmm," Peach glanced at the Chancellor sitting at a picnic table talking to one of his minors. "I'll see you later, Luigi."

"Okay..." Luigi watched Peach walk off towards the Chancellor. Then he too went to find someone to mingle with.

~~~~~

He was halfway to King Koopa's castle now. Yoshi wasn't sure why he was doing this, but he had to do something. King Koopa had seen Yoshi in action himself, so he knew he wouldn't be disappointed about the dinosaur's abilities. Trust was another thing, though, and betrayal to the Princess and the town was a third. And how was Yoshi going to keep from getting caught by one of the Toads? Surely someone had seen him taking off towards the enemy's castle. Surely they had seen him gallop at a great pace to cover a distance of twenty-eight miles just to get there.

Suddenly, Yoshi remembered the Koopa who had fallen on his back and couldn't get up. Maybe he would prove to be a problem...

Well, Yoshi would just deal with him later.

Yoshi continued his run to the dark castle. Up ahead of him, Yoshi spotted some wings. Quickly, he jumped over a Goomba without hurting him because he expected they would be allies soon anyway and grabbed the wings sitting on a platform. Just as he was going to put them on though, Kammy Koopa, a Magikoopa who usually flies around on a broom, paralyzed him with her wand and Yoshi fell to a twitching heap on the ground.

Kammy Koopa laughed. "You poor dope! You fell right into King Koopa's brilliant trap! I bet you can't wait to see what we have in store for you, huh, pest?"

Yoshi could only twitch and spark with electricity. Even though he was in this state, Yoshi showed no fear. He thought perhaps this would benefit him. At least now he wouldn't have to explain himself to the guards at the door of the reptilian tyrant's Keep.

Kammy Koopa shocked him once more, and Yoshi blacked out from the pain.

When he came to, Yoshi saw nothing but darkness. He tried moving around in his propped up position and discovered that the rope used to tie him up with was fairly easy to break out of. He ripped through the rope but decided not to try to escape. If he did, how would he gain King Koopa's trust and be able to get revenge on Mario for his impenitent greed? Yoshi instead decided to take a nap and let the guards find him out of his ropes yet discover that he didn't try to escape. He smirked when he thought about how they would be wondering why and if this were a trap to set them up and closed his eyes.

~~~~~

"Strange," said King Koopa(remember: you can say Bowser if you want to, but I'm just referring to the Mario cartoon's name for him) as he watched the treacherous dinosaur on his night vision camera. Most of the areas of the Keep were dark, and that was typically because Mario had damaged the power source while fighting Koopa. Koopa reminisced about the fight, remembering it was a typically sluggish one. The plumber on his part had gained thirty pounds since the year before, while Koopa had lost ten. Of course, as with all heroes it seemed--no matter how fat they had gotten--their powers would stay, like Mario's cape, and the enemy would be quickly defeated. Koopa snapped back to reality and sighed. The upcoming year would have the same results if he didn't do anything about the plumber's faithful dinosaur and quickly. Of course, right now, there were other things to consider at the moment. Like Yoshi's strange behavior that Kammy--

"HI, DAD!!!!" screamed Koopa's only daughter, Wendy. He felt like his head was spinning, but he didn't fall. He turned to face Wendy at the door, who pranced right in wearing the latest mongoose fur around her neck along with a flashy black dress that seemed to be custom made for her; she was wider than she thought.

"So, how do I look?" Wendy turned around for her father to see every angle, but Koopa wasn't in the right mind state to comment. He didn't have a clue what to say.

"Does this make me look fat?" Wendy continued with the questions.

"No, of course not, my darling Wendy!" he answered quickly. "You look great, but right now Daddy's busy." Koopa ushered her back to the door, but then he saw the sad puppy-dog look on her face and was forced to surrender. I hate it when she does that!

"Okay, Wendy," King Koopa sighed and crossed his arms. "What's your REAL reason for coming here?"

"Is it true that you have that cute, adorable little Yoshi of Mario's locked up??" Wendy asked excitedly and tried to look behind her immense father to see the dinosaur. "Is it?? It is, isn't it??"

"Calm down!" her father urged. "No need for your brothers to find out yet. I want to have a talk with the creature before anyone else does something they will regret! Understand?"

"Oh, Daddy!" Wendy waved her hand in front of her. "I wouldn't hurt Yoshi if he spit Fireballs at me! At least I think I wouldn't. And I certainly won't tell the others, especially those idiots Iggy and Larry."

"Won't tell us what?" asked two similar voices at the security door.

Oh, no! With these two around, Yoshi will become barbeque before I even have a chance at him! Thus, were the thoughts of King Koopa as he laid his eyes upon his weirdest sons ever: Iggy and Larry.

"Oh! NOTHING!...Seriously though, there's nothing to tell, okay?" Wendy said, hoping the two inquisitive minds would go back to wherever the heck they came from.

Wendy scrunched up her nose. Probably came from the sewer pipes.

"Nothing? Are you sure?" Iggy asked, suspecting that his sister was hiding something from her.

"Very!" Wendy plastered on a fake smile while trying to divert Larry's eyes from the image on the screen; she failed miserably.

"OOH! Look, Iggy! It's Yoshi!" Larry ran past his sister and father to get a closer look of the famous dinosaur on screen.

"What's Yoshi doing here, King Dad?" Iggy asked.

"Are we gonna eat him?

"Does his breath stink?"

"Is it true that Yoshis fart when you squeeze them too hard?"

"..."

"What?"

"Dude, I think that happens to everyone."

"Oh."

"Ahem! My dear little Monsters of Mayhem, it's time for you leave!" King Koopa ushered his boys away from the screen and shooed Wendy out the room as well.

"Awww, Dad..." Iggy and Larry walked back to where they had came from in disappointment, and Wendy went to go model some more of her clothes.

King Koopa stood for a moment outside the security room's door and sighed. He crossed his arms again and looked up at the ceiling.

Well, might as well try it, he thought. What have I got to lose?

King Koopa headed off to the prison cells.

~~~~~

The prison doors swung open and Yoshi was hauled off the floor. Once up, he jerked away from the dark Koopa guards and walked by himself to whatever destination he was intended. He stopped walking when the guards saluted. Yoshi couldn't see anyone in the dark area they had led him to. Two spotlights seemed to shine from left to right like an arena and had formed a lit space on the floor. Yoshi looked around once more and realized he must have been being watched from in front of him the whole time.

"Welcome, Yoshi," said a deep voice in the dark spectrum of the area.

"Koopa, I presume?" Yoshi inquired without the slightest quiver in his voice.

"King Koopa, to you," he said, stepping into the light so that his prisoner could see his seriousness about the situation.

"So, what's the deal? You gonna beat me up or something? It's not exactly what I had in mind," Yoshi said half-seriously.

"It's not what I have in mind either," King Koopa said.

"Then what?"

"First, I want to know why you were headed here. What was your motive? A surprise attack?"

"Not in the least, Koo--King Koopa," Yoshi answered, catching his mistake before he totally goofed up. "If you want to know the whole story, I'll tell you. I won't enjoy it, but I'll still tell you."

King Koopa snapped his fingers, and the two guards who were with Yoshi disappeared for a moment and then came back with two chairs. One was presented to Yoshi.

"Thanks." Yoshi sat down in the chair where he was standing, and Koopa did the same.

Koopa snapped his fingers with the other hand this time, and the Dark Koopas saluted and left to guard the prison doors.

"Okay, Yoshi," the tyrant began, "shoot."

So Yoshi told him all about the Mushroom Kingdom and its people. He told Koopa about the way Mario acted, and why he was so sick of being the good guy. He didn't leave out the part about the way he first acted about the whole thing either.

King Koopa leaned back in his chair with a surprised look on his face. "Heh, crap. I didn't think it was like THAT over there. I mean, I knew Mario would be a glory hound, but I didn't think he did that to his own partner, too."

"Yeah," Yoshi agreed. He wasn't smiling. "That's why his brother doesn't even go on adventures with him anymore. Think about it, when's the last time you had to fight both Mario and Luigi? I'm tellin' ya, the guy's a total creep!"

"And here I was thinking everyone loved Mario because he was so nice and caring and good and--"

"That's just a cover-up. The real Mario eats too much and has no real concern for anyone but himself. That's why Princess Peach dumped him!"

"WHAT!?" King Koopa couldn't believe what he was hearing. He always thought that the stupid little girl was obsessed with Mario, especially in the days when he used to kidnap her. Of course, he only kidnapped her to annoy the heck out of Mario and have something to do. Mario was a lot slimmer then, too.

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it myself when I heard about it! Hey, you know that Peach was a fighter two years ago, right?" Yoshi continued.

"Yeah, how could I forget that! I even fought her myself once. I was just about to win the fight, but then, suddenly--"

"She got a Star?"

"Yep."

Yoshi smiled. He and King Koopa were chatting like they were old buddies now. Sure, they knew one another well enough, but now they were getting the insight on each other's lives. Well, at least Koopa was. Yoshi was almost sure he'd get the gist of what was going on in the castle soon enough.

Koopa suddenly looked at Yoshi with a curious look. "Yoshi," he began, trying to say what was on his mind, "why are you telling me all this?"

Yoshi's smile faded and he stood up. "I want to join your army."

~~~~~

"Okay, now THIS is really unlike Yoshi," Peach said. "Where could he BE?"

"He's probably hiding from Mario," Luigi suggested

Peach looked at Luigi.

"What? I'm serious!"

"I know; you just might be right!" Peach explained.

"You have any idea where he might be?" Luigi asked.

"...no."

Luigi sighed. Mario was still calling for Yoshi sometimes, and he still hadn't shown up. Was it possible that he was at the Keep?...Nah!

~~~~~

"You're serious, aren't you?" King Koopa remained in his seat while Yoshi took a step towards him. There was a sense of pride and eagerness in the creature's eyes, something he'd never seen Yoshi have before.

"Yes," Yoshi stated as plain as day. "I'll be happy to prove myself if necessary. But I thought I wouldn't need to."

"That's right--you won't need to. Don't think I don't remember all those beatings you gave me on your own," Koopa said.

Yoshi scratched his head. "I hope you don't take them personally, because that won't happen again."

"I'm sure it won't: you're in."

Satisfied, Yoshi turned and walked back to his seat with a big smile on his face.

"BUT," Koopa added, "you still have to undergo a Trial Period just like all my other recruits had to. I can't just let you skip out of it! It wouldn't seem fair to the others."

"Oh," Yoshi said disappointedly. "What's in a 'Trial Period'?"

"I'm glad you asked. A Trial Period includes nothing but orders--you know, the usual stealing and tasks to complete. But you're a lot more advanced than the others I've had to deal with, so your orders will be much harder to fulfill."

Yoshi smirked. This would be easy.

"But," King Koopa said again, "since this is a test to see how well you follow through with orders and authority, your accomplishments will be judged very critically. You will be judged by style, technique, and planning. Your every movements will be monitored by Kammy. And I'll have scouts in disguise of Toads reporting on your progress every now and then to me. Now, before I give you your first task, any questions?"

"Just one," Yoshi replied. "How will I know what Toads to look out for just incase you want me to kill some of them?"

Koopa smiled evilly. "Well, I can see killing won't be a problem for you. It's good to know that. Anyways, they will look straight at you, and their eyes will glow red."

"Cool," Yoshi got up. "But won't other people see this?"

"No, only my soldiers can see the signals. How do you think I bring havoc and destruction to the Mushroom Kingdom every year? I'll give you a device for the signals later. Now for your task..."

~~~~~

Yoshi headed back to the Mushroom Kingdom. Kammy Koopa had kept the wings Yoshi was going to use before and given them to him so that he wouldn't have to run the whole way. Now Yoshi would be able to carry out his order sooner.

He looked behind him and saw the Para Troopas just ten or so feet behind him. They weren't missing a wing beat as they tracked Yoshi going to the Mushroom Kingdom. These soldiers of Koopa's were the scouts and would become Toads as soon as they landed.

The device Koopa gave Yoshi turned out to really be liquefied. The device itself was disguised as eye drops in a bottle. How ingenious.

Yoshi caught sight of Peach's Castle in the distance and sped up. It was only a few moments before he finally landed at the top. He turned around and took notice of where the Para Troopas landed. They had stayed a bit behind and took their disguises in the forest nearest the castle.

Feeling ready to take up the challenge of Koopa's task, Yoshi jumped off the castle and headed towards the Mario Brothers' home.

His orders: to steal Mario's hat. (If you recall from Super Mario 64, Mario was twice as weak without his hat. Know that from experience.)

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