Super Mario Brothers: Peach-hime Kyuushutsu Daisakusen Fan Fiction ❯ Betrayal Saga I: Yoshi's Darkside ❯ Following Orders: Pride Before the Fall ( Chapter 3 )

Betrayal Saga I

Disclaimer: Don't own Yoshi or Mario; just their attitudes...

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Following Orders: Pride Before the Fall

Yoshi sets out to complete his mission, and everything seems to be going fine...for now. Soon, though, he finds out that not everything is as easy as it sounds...third in the Saga.

By Queen Breeza

The Para Troopas quickly transformed into Toads and scurried out of the forest to monitor the towns peoples' activities. One had a green head and seemed to be the smartest of the bunch. One had a red head that shown brightly like fire. He was the feistiest of the bunch, but his intelligence was only standard level in King Koopa's army. Another had a silver Mushroom head, a color very rare in the Mushroom kingdom. He was supposed to attract a lot of attention so that Yoshi wouldn't be noticed when he stole the hat. This was one of the only things Bowser would allow the Para Troopas to help Yoshi in. Though this disguised Para Troopa was the most skilled of the group, his fighting power was lacking.

The last false Toad had a pitch black head, and the rest of him was brown. He would prove to be the most useful it would seem because of his special ability to become invisible. Not even his team members would be able to see him. This guy could even attract more attention than Silve, the silver-headed Toad, in a way. Roppa, the black Toad could still touch things and could make it seem like strange phenomenon were happening since no one could see him. This was the last thing Bowser would allow for helping Yoshi. But someone else would soon change the rules a bit...

The red Toad took note of his surroundings. Never in his entire life had he seen such sheep as the Toads in Mushroom Kingdom. As far back as he could remember, Toads were never prepared when King Koopa attacked their town. Even Princess Peach proved to be a ditz every now and then. Fury, as this false Toad was called, began walking in the town like nothing was about to happen. Some other Toads took notice of his extravagant head, but none were really interested. Fury caught site of where Yoshi was, which was near Mario, and slowly advanced near them both.

The green-headed Toad watched with anticipation as Fury stopped walking and leaned back on a post near Yoshi and Mario. Then he began to walk towards a food court and pretended he was interested in getting something. He started a brief conversation with the Toad in charge and then went back to what he was doing. This false Toad never told his name to anyone, so his team members didn't know what to call him. Neither did he...guess he's not so smart after all...

"Yoshi!! Where have you been??" asked a now angry Mario when Yoshi had just tapped Mario on the shoulder and said "Hi."

"I was just playing in the water near Choco Land!" Yoshi explained. "I didn't know you had called me!"

"Sure you didn't," Mario griped. "Just make sure you get that Cape Feather for me before the day's over with."

"No, problem!" Yoshi said saluting and then walking off. Mario looked after him shaking his head.

The green-headed Toad watched in disbelief as Yoshi failed to take Mario's hat off his head. Why didn't Yoshi just grab it? He could've just told Mario he was going to wash it for him and then headed back to Koopa's Keep! The Toad shook his head in disgust until he realized something.

Mario wasn't wearing his hat.

This new detail caused the Toad to be even more confused. He had never seen him without his hat on, and why was Mario not wearing it in the first place? Then it dawned on the Toad again that these were times of peace in the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario must drop his guard all the time until the next year when Koopa would attack again. How stupid of that plumber! He should always be prepared for any attack from the enemy! By not wearing his hat, he just put himself into another situation to get hurt--twice as badly this time!

That wasn't all. The Toad wondered with eagerness how Yoshi was going to steal Mario's hat. It would be difficult to pull it off even with a surprising opportunity available. Did Yoshi know something he didn't? He figured he would soon find out anyway, so he headed away from the food court, but distanced himself from Fury. No one must know that they knew one another...

~~~~~

Yoshi was now on his way to Mario's house. Mario used to live with his brother Luigi, but the smarter one moved out and decided to live near the Pipe Vault. He figured he could get a head start on Koopa's underlings when an attack began on the Mushroom Kingdom.

That left nobody to guard the house during times of turmoil.

Yoshi figured Luigi might be at his own house since he hadn't seen him in his usual place near the castle. Marching confidently to the appointed place, Yoshi was suddenly stopped by a familiar voice of someone he had met sometime before going to the Keep that he had neglected to take care of when he first got back to Toad Town.

"Yoshi, wait up!!"

Yoshi froze and turned to face the Koopa who had gotten stuck on his back at the foot of the castle.

"I need to talk to you," the Koopa stated seriously, not taking his eyes off of Yoshi's own. "And you know about what."

"Yeah, I know," Yoshi said without thinking. But it was too late now. Time to take some weight off his chest...

Without another word spoken between the two, Yoshi rammed his head into the gut of the Koopa and slammed him into the ground. Then he picked up his victim and drop-kicked him. Yoshi continued to kick the Koopa again and again until he was sure that he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.

"Hey, what's the problem, Yoshi?"

Yoshi was so surprised that he spun around with a threatening look in his eyes, but it turned out he didn't need to be worried. The Toad's eyes glowed red when he stared at him, so Yoshi figured it was one of the Para Troopas in disguise. It was the one named Fury, who had a devilish smile showing greatly on his Toad-like features.

Sighing, Yoshi straightened up and brushed some dirt off him. "Nothing now. I just needed to take care of something I forgot to do before."

Fury looked at the motionless Koopa lying on the ground. A little blood was trickling out the reptile's mouth, but he was still breathing. "Ouch! What'd HE do?"

"I think he saw me heading to King Koopa's Keep earlier. I don't know for sure; didn't give him time to tell me," Yoshi responded. "But the real question is, what do I do with him? Kill him?"

"Just leave it to me," Fury said. "I know King Koopa's probably watching you right now, but I'm sure he won't mind if I help you out on this one. Besides, he didn't say I couldn't help you with 'loose ends'. He just said my team members and I couldn't get the hat ourselves. We also can't plan the deal for you."

"Thanks," Yoshi said gratefully, though his face had no smile. "I'm serious. I was hoping this guy wouldn't be part of my mission on the main test."

"Don't worry! He isn't. I took the same test, remember? Or else I wouldn't be on the Koopa Force. I had someone else deal with loose ends like this one, too."

"Okay, later then." Yoshi resumed his pace to Mario's house and left Fury to deal with the Koopa.

~~~~~

As Yoshi had anticipated, the house was left unguarded. He casually stepped inside the house and looked around for Mario's hat. Yoshi didn't find it in the living room, so he looked in the bedroom. Still, nothing turned up.

Okay, no need to panic, Yoshi thought, I'll just have to search everything and under everything before Mario returns.

Yoshi began searching in the laundry room near the kitchen. It took him longer since there were things in the hampers that he didn't bother touching. Then he searched the closet of Mario's room, not bothering to put anything back where it belonged. Still no sign of the hat.

Yoshi looked outside a window and saw that it was midday. He still had time to find the hat and return without penalty. Yoshi looked lastly in the drawers, not leaving any article of clothing left unturned.

Still no hat.

There was only one place where the hat could be, and luckily for him, Yoshi knew where it was. Yoshi removed the carpet that lay before him. He looked down on the floor and felt around for a crease somewhere. Once he found it, Yoshi butt-stomped squarely on it and fell through to the place where Luigi used to keep his diary. The panel was supposed to be a secret, but anyone who was smart enough could easily find it and read Luigi's diary to his heart's content. Wasting no time, Yoshi hurried over to the treasure chest in the room and broke the lock on it. Opening it took more effort than he thought, but once he saw what he was looking for, he knew it was well worth the trouble. The hat was seated neatly on top of the rest of the crap (yes, there was nothing but useless items in the chest, not gold coins and other valuables) with it's trademark letter "M" on it for Mario. Yoshi grabbed the hat with his mouth and let the chest slam down, closing itself. Yoshi then hurried to the outside of the secret room.

A door slammed suddenly, and Yoshi nearly dropped the hat in his mouth. Darn it! he thought. I'm not ready to take on Mario yet! I haven't even become a qualified member of King Koopa's army!

Yoshi quickly hid behind a corner nearest the living room. His tail waved in anxiousness, and he dared to take a peak into the room. Yoshi's eyes got wide when he saw the visitor, for it was not Mario.

Princess Peach was in the house.

Darn it all! Yoshi thought. If I had just looked in the chest sooner, this could have all been avoided!

Princess Peach looked around Mario's living room as if she too were looking for something.

Now what's she doing?? Yoshi took the hat out of his mouth and waited. He began to get uneasy as Peach got closer and closer to him. Finally, he could take it no more.

"HI, PEACH!!" he blurted out, making Peach jump in the process.

"Oh! Yoshi, it's you!" gasped Peach. Then she got back to a calm state and asked him "Where have you been all this time?"

"Uh, j-just around..." Yoshi got out nervously. He had a fake smile plastered on his face and began to worry that his true intentions would show through.

Peach eyed Yoshi with concern and glanced at his hand that held the hat. "What are you doing with Mario's hat?"

"I was just going to bring it to Mario, that's all!" Yoshi blurted out. Without any more interruptions from Peach, Yoshi hurriedly skipped out the door, waving good-bye very quickly. Peach stood in the living room near the window and watched as Yoshi quickly sprinted back towards the castle. Peach felt that something just wasn't right about Yoshi, so she waited until he looked like he was a good distance off and followed him.

~~~~~

Silve stood around the water fountain near Peach's castle as bored as heck. He was attracting attention as planned, but it had begun to annoy him after a while. For one, no girls wanted to come around him, only the boys were prodding him with stupid questions like "Are you a mutant?", "How did your head get like that?", "Do you have cancer?", and "You're going to die at an early age, aren't you?". It nearly drove...him...to...suicide!

Yoshi's silhouette began to appear in the distance. Silve finally regained consciousness from his endless boredom and pushed through his crowd of followers to get a good view of Yoshi. He squinted his eyes, searching for the hat Yoshi was supposed to have and found it in his left hand. Satisfied, Silve resumed his part in the scheme--answering questions, signing autographs, and letting people touch his head. All was going according to his team's plan.

Yoshi soon got to the center of the town with the hat still in his hand. Since he hadn't seen all the false Toads the first time, he didn't know who to look for. Yoshi put the hat back in his mouth and decided to go to the castle. Making sure no one was looking at him, Yoshi quickly stuffed the hat completely in his mouth and swallowed. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too far gone before he regurgitated it again. Yoshi quickly ran to the castle and through the double doors.

Unfortunately, Silve and the green-headed Toad had seen the entire act and were completely disgusted. Of course, anyone who didn't know that when Yoshi spits something out, it is completely dry--partially digested or not--would be. Silve left his crowd hurriedly and regrouped with the other Toad to speak of this matter privately in the forest.

~~~~~

Yoshi had successfully gotten past everyone in the castle who may have started talking to him, thus lowering his chances of passing this first Trial Test and getting into King Koopas army. Another lucky thing was that he hadn't run into Mario along the way. Yoshi had already run into Peach, and that was bad enough. Yoshi figured he was out of hot water by now, though, and confidently headed to the top room of the castle where he knew he wouldn't be followed.

The very top room of the castle was currently under construction due to the recent damage done by Koopa's minions. Yoshi had always used that room to be alone or reflect on the events of the day in the evening. In short, it was his room. Yoshi didn't mind the fact that he had to fight in it on one of his last battles before Mario defeated the reptilian king. It gave his room character.

Finally inside, Yoshi scurried confidently marched towards the one window in his room. Soon his mission would be complete and Yoshi could start on the next one another day.

Well, this wasn't too bad--I guess, Yoshi thought. He was halfway to the window when a very familiar voice called to him from the door.

"YOSHI!!" It was Peach. Yoshi thought he was through dealing with her, but he had thought wrong.

"What are you doing with Mario's hat?! I demand to know RIGHT NOW!!" Peach practically screamed.

Yoshi turned to face her with an emotionless face. He had never heard Peach speak in such a way before, and, truthfully, her voice intimidated him a bit.

"I told you," he began with his lie, clenching his fist, "I was going to give it to Mario. Ask Mario! He's the one who's got it now."

"Liar," she said. She crossed her arms and glared at Yoshi. This really wasn't her usual behavior. "I just saw Mario in the kitchen. And he's NOT wearing his hat, nor does he HAVE it! So quit lying to me and tell me the truth!"

Yoshi kept his emotionless stature. Peach didn't know the truth yet, and he wasn't about to tell her. "Why do want to know so badly?"

"You know why," she answered.

"Heh," Yoshi laughed. Then he walked towards Peach and stopped when he was two feet away from her. "Does it matter? I wouldn't tell you the truth anyway. Just let it go."

"Tell me or," Peach straightened up and uncrossed her arms, "I will be forced to fight you."

Next part will be up soon!