Yoshi gets a new assignment...it's definitely harder than the last, but Yoshi's not giving up! He's taking this one much more seriously this time...sixth in the saga.

By Queen Breeza

"Yoshi, wait!"

Yoshi was about halfway out the front door when Kammy called to him. He figured it must've been something important, so he stopped and waited for Kammy to catch up. He could hear the old Koopa grunt and pant as she rubbed her back and continued to make her way to him. Yoshi never cracked a smile.

"You do realize now that Peach has found out your secret that you'll have to find an easier way into Toad Town, right?" she gasped.

"Oh, yeah. I hadn't thought about that," Yoshi scolded himself for being so eager to continue his goal of getting in to King Koopa's army.

"You'll have to take a disguise now--Koopa's orders," Kammy continued.

"No help this time?"

"That's right, Yoshi. I'm not going to risk going against the king's rules again."

Yoshi thought this was completely understandable. "Alright. Whatcha got?"

Kammy smiled with joy and slyness for the first time since Koopa had found out her plan of aiding Yoshi. "A Toad disguise, of course."

"Oh," Yoshi had expected something a bit more really. "Well, then. Go ahead and change me."

Kammy lifted her wand and spoke the spell of Toad Transforming in her native tongue. The wand glowed and shot forth a beam of magic that began transforming Yoshi into a Toad right away. An aura surrounded him for a while before it faded and revealed his new form: a dark green Toad with a Mushroom head covered with blue spots. His shoes were still brown, but they weren't his regular Timberlands anymore, which he was sad to see.

"What's the matter, Yoshi?" Kammy asked with concern. Nothing looked out of whack. Yoshi was bigger than a usual Toad, but that couldn't be helped.

"Uh...I know it's not something I should be concerned about, but..." Yoshi was too embarrassed to continue his sentence, but Kammy urged him on.

"Go ahead, Yoshi," Kammy said patiently. Yoshi was beginning to rub off on her, particularly because of his good manners and tendency to help others and get things done. He reminded Kammy of her dead grandson, Kaltek. His attitude was similar to Yoshi's, and that stature of his never made his strength wane. He was a Top Elite in Koopa's army, the best Magikoopa he ever had. He had even surpassed his grandmother, and she had been proud of him. Then came that fateful rainy day when Koopa lost his third battle with Mario. Koopa was retreating, but Mario couldn't leave well enough alone. He had seen Kaltek lying on the ground, unable to move. Kammy would've made it to him in time had it not been for Mario's brother Luigi throwing a barrage of fireballs at her. She was knocked unconscious and had to be carried away from the battle by red-shelled Para Troopas. Kaltek, in self-defense, had raised his wand to unleash a magic attack upon Mario, and that's when the plumber finished him off with his own trademark Flame attack. Kaltek had been burned severely, but he was still alive. It was Fury who risked going back for him and managed to stay a good distance from Mario at the same time. Fury got Kaltek back to the Keep, but it was too late. Kaltek showed no signs of recovery, and wished to see Kammy before he died. Kammy had regained consciousness by then, and made it just in time for Kaltek to say his final good-bye to her. How Kammy missed him...

"Hello? Kammy, are you okay?"

"...Oh! Yes, Yoshi! Sorry about that." Kammy snapped back to reality and quickly washed away her sad memories of Kaltek. "You were saying?"

"Could you...do something about my shoes?" Yoshi asked.

"Like what? They look fine to me."

"Yeah, but...I miss my old Timberlands."

"Oh, no problem, Yoshi!" Kammy waved her wand and it glowed again. She said a shorter spell this time, and an array of light showered Yoshi's feet until his shoes were changed into Timberlands. Nice.

"Thanks! They actually look better than my last ones!" Yoshi walked around to make sure his feet would do alright in the new, shiny, brown Timberlands. They were just perfect!

"Yoshi, you'll need a name before you go. After all, you can't use 'Yoshi' anymore and not expect to get caught in Toad Town by someone who knows you. It's not like everyone doesn't already know you, but still. Is there anything you can think of?"

"Let me think..." Yoshi stared up at the ceiling for a while. "Nope. Nada."

"How about Prett T.?"

"Nah, sounds too girly. What about Spore T.?"

"It's already taken."

"Cruel T.?"

"That's actually taken too...strangely enough."

"Wow, you would think a name like that would keep people away from you, huh? Well, how about Frail T.? It sounds misleading."

"Taken. He actually died last year, I believe."

"How did he die?"

"Dodge ball to the head."

"Must have been some dodge ball," Yoshi had to say. He never heard of anyone dying in such a way. The ball must have been at least 50 lbs to do that, maybe less. "How big was it?"

"About 20 inches around and weighed two pounds, I'd say," Kammy answered.

Yoshi cocked an eye. "Hard?"

"Soft like a beach ball."

He gave her a dull look. "Excuse me, but that's pathetic."

"Yep." Kammy had to snicker. It sounded funnier to her than it actually was in reality.

"Got any other ideas?"

"How about...Novel T.?"

"Yeah, that could work. Sounds goofy and abnormal, but okay. I think it sucks, but I'm tired of thinking up weird names. Besides, I just figured something out."

"And what is that?"

"My voice has changed." Yoshi no longer sounded like himself. He sounded like Toad. THE Toad. How unnerving...

"Oh! I noticed that change the moment you spoke, Yoshi," Kammy said.

"Darn," Yoshi said, shaking his new mushroom head, "I must be slow in this body then if it took me that long to figure that out."

"It's time for you to leave, Yoshi." Kammy ushered Yoshi out the door. "And remember: your name's 'Novel T.', not 'Yoshi'."

"Got it!" Yoshi ran quickly towards Toad Town without looking back...until Kammy called him again.

"Wait! YOSHI, you're forgetting something!"

Yoshi halted himself and jogged backwards to the Keep. "What did I forget?"

Kammy crossed her arms. "How are you going to find the pipes?"

"Uhh...oops?" Yoshi shrugged. Then the realization hit him and he whacked himself on the head. "The device!"

"Exactly," Kammy smirked. She held out her hand and the device appeared in it. "Here it is, Yoshi," she said. "Take care not to lose it."

Yoshi gave a weird look. "That looks like a watch."

"Yes, I know," Kammy sighed. "But don't blame me; Ludwig's the one who designed it, and you have King Koopa's word that it works."

"Okay..." Yoshi took the "watch" from Kammy's hand and put it on his left wrist. Why had Yoshi headed towards the door right after he was given a chance to redeem himself in the first place while forgetting everything else at the same time? It was like he was in another world--like everything King Koopa had said went through one ear hole and out the other. Yoshi knew he was being a bit too eager for this mission, but he couldn't help it. He had to get into this army as soon as possible. Yoshi was surprised he even remembered his mission.

"Okay, now you're set," Kammy said after a while.

"And now I am going...for real this time," Yoshi added. He quickly ran off again to Toad Town.

~~~~~

"Aw, man!" Yoshi complained out loud as he sped on towards Toad Town. He missed the fact that he didn't have his wings anymore, as real Toads don't fly on their own.

"I forgot to ask Kammy how this thing works!" Yoshi looked at the watch and examined the buttons on it. There was only one to his relief. The face of the watch displayed the correct time: 8:30. Yoshi pressed the button and some type of radar showed in its place. Everything looked blue and black. Nothing special.

Yoshi sighed. No wonder she didn't tell me how it worked! Gosh, can I get any more dense than this?

Yoshi continued with his fast pace. He wasn't tired yet, but fatigue was wearing on him. He looked into the sky forlornly and wished greatly that he was an ordinary Yoshi again and had his wings back. Without trying, Yoshi spotted a Flying Hammer Bro and was about to ask if he could borrow his platform when he remembered the "NO HELP" policy. The Hammer Bro continued past him, unaware that Yoshi would have done anything to have a ride right about now.

Thirty minutes later, Yoshi finally made it to Toad Town. Satisfied, he dropped to the ground out of exhaustion. He was only able to enjoy his rest for a short time, however, as someone walked up to Yoshi's body and said "Hey, are you okay?"

For a moment, Yoshi lay on the ground silently. He was still gasping from the run and had briefly forgotten his new name. When it occurred to him again, he waited for the person to say something else because Yoshi didn't feel like talking at the moment.

"Hello? You must not be feeling good, huh? Tired?" the person asked.

Duh, stupid! Yoshi thought. He rolled his eyes and wearily began to get up. While brushing the dirt off himself, Yoshi quickly glanced at the person who seemed to be so concerned about him. To his dismay, it was Toad himself.

Yoshi rolled his eyes. He decided he wouldn't say a word to Toad and quickly made his way past him. Yoshi didn't even bother looking back.

Toad looked back at him and scratched his Mushroom head. "Weird," he said dumbly. "Maybe he's mute."

Yoshi commended himself for getting past the first unexpected obstacle in his way. But now that that was over, it was time to get to business. Yoshi looked around and made sure no one was watching before he used his watch. When he was sure no one was looking, he pushed the button on the watch and looked at the radar. This time a small spot showed up on it. It seemed to indicate that the first tunnel was close by and in the direction he was currently going. Yoshi began to walk quickly towards his destination.

Well, this LOOKS like the right place, but how do I know I'm even in front of it? Yoshi had stopped at the town's water fountain. It seemed the pipe would be somewhere near here, but if that were the case, the pipe would have appeared by now...right?

"Aw, man!" Yoshi groaned out loud. "Okay, this isn't my fault. They should have told me how to make the pipes appear once they've been located!"

Yoshi sighed and began to think of a way to get the pipe to show up. Nothing came to him, however, and suddenly he kicked at the fountain out of anger. Or so he thought...

"YEOWCH!" Yoshi grabbed his foot and began rolling on the ground, trying to ease the pain and be mad at the same time. "What the heck? I never even made good contact with that thing, and now..."

It dawned on him at that moment. Yoshi looked closely at the fountain and then at his watch. Something was weird about it...

Yoshi? Hey, Yoshi! It's Kammy!

"Kammy?" Yoshi looked up into the sky as if to expect her to be there. Nothing but sky showed however.

Yeah. As you should already know, King Koopa and I are watching your progress. You've done very good so far. But, you don't need to worry about the pipe before you for now. The locator you have was supposed to reveal the pipe once it had been found, but that one won't come out until midnight. Don't ask why (author's call ^_^). Just go look for the others for now. According to Ludwig, the other invisible pipe should be visible by now, okay? Did you get all that?

"Sure did," Yoshi replied, sighing in relief at the same time. "Hey, how are you talking to me right now? Does it have anything to do with the watch?"

Nope! This is pure crystal ball magic!...don't ask how.

"Right," Yoshi smirked and went off to look for the other pipes. He decided the best one to locate was the one that led to Shiver City. He had time. It was only...9:15?

"Mmm, pizza."

"Huh?" Yoshi stopped walking and looked to his left. Mario was there eating a pizza as he walked past Yoshi. Yoshi shook his head as he thought about all the fat cells in Mario's body that would build up and eventually cause one of the hero's of the Mushroom Kingdom to die of a heart attack. Sad, really.

Mario stopped in his tracks and quickly looked back at Yoshi. "Hey," he called out, "do I know you from somewhere?"

Yoshi froze. Did Mario suspect...? Nah! "Who, me?" Yoshi asked innocently.

"Yeah, you," Mario's smart-aleck attitude kicked in at that moment. "What's your name, kid?"

"Uhh, Novel T." Yoshi didn't dare say 'sir'. His fist balled up as he felt the plumber starring at him suspiciously.

"Oh, never mind then." Mario walked off with only a little of his pizza left. That little bit was devoured in one slurp. Ugh...

Phew! Yoshi thought. He quickly left the area before Mario tried something he didn't expect.

Mario did suspect something, but he didn't care enough to find out. Fancy that. Once again, Yoshi commended himself for getting out of that short interruption in a heartbeat. He only wondered briefly why Mario didn't get even more suspicious when he had never met a green Toad with a blue-spotted Mushroom head before this day. Count on Mario to be dense! Everyone in Toad Town knew one another, but someone like Mario would careless if you were a red Toad with flaming eyes just as long as he had his pizza.

~~~~~

"It's too cold down here, darn it!" Yoshi was in the sewers getting near the Shiver City pipe. It wasn't hard to stay on the solid path, but even though Yoshi was on the same side as the Dark Koopas and Shady Koopas they still liked to mess with him and try to make him fall into the sewage. He guessed they didn't recognize him.

"Hey, it's only goin' to get colder as you go the way you're goin', pal," said a Koopa. He seemed...darker...than the rest. Literally.

"Do I know you?" Yoshi asked him. He did look sorta familiar.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," the Koopa replied in a suspicious way. "Do I know you? You seem familiar yourself."

"You're Roppa! Aren't you?"

"I guess you could say that..."

"Yeah, well, you're not foolin' me. I know who you are. Do you know where Fury is?"

"Yeah. He should be down here somewhere. So, you must be Yoshi, right? In a Toad disguise..."

"Yeah. You and Fury didn't show up when the mission was over. What's up with that?"

"Well, it's not like you passed, am I right?"

Yoshi bit his tongue. "Still, you could have at least showed up to see my utter failure."

"Well, we thought about that, but it wouldn't have been right, man."

"Why not?" Yoshi stopped walking. "You didn't think it'd be hilarious to see your once-enemy take a fall?"

"It's not that," Roppa continued. "It's just that you're failure would have reminded Fury and me of the time we almost failed. That's all."

"Oh." Yoshi looked ahead. It was getting colder. He would be at the pipe's entrance soon. "How did you guys find out about my failure anyways?"

"Pipe system," Roppa said simply. "When you're down here, news travels fast. Fury and I know everything about what happened."

"Great," Yoshi groaned. "I suppose you know the other two had been given orders--"

"--by Kammy to help you fight the Peach? Yep."

"Whoa, you almost slipped there," Yoshi said grinning.

"Hey, isn't it true?"

"Hmmmm....maybe a little."

"Hey, your tunnel's coming up."

Yoshi looked ahead at an intersection where two paths went from east to west.

"How did you know--"

"Told you, man, the pipe system. You still have some ways to go before you get to Shiver City pipe. Lata!" Roppa walked back through the previous tunnel.

It didn't matter to Yoshi which direction he took to get to the pipe. If he met with a dead end, he could always go back the way he came. So, this time, he went left.

~~~~~

It didn't take long for Yoshi to figure out that he was gonna need directions to get to the blasted pipe. Fortunately, there was a Toad around who seemed to be looking for...something.

"Hey!" Yoshi skipped over to the Toad who still just ignored him and continued looking for...something.

"Hello?! Come on, I'm talkin' to you!" Yoshi tried again.

This time the Toad actually looked at him...but then went back to what he was doing.

"I know you can hear me!"

"WHAT DO YOU WANT??!!" the Toad screamed back. His eyes looked red and bloodshot. Perhaps he hadn't had enough sleep lately.

"Jeez, calm down," Yoshi gasped. "I just wanted to know where the pipe that leads to Shiver City is."

"Oh." The Toad quickly went back to normal. The looks of the Toad suggested that he wasn't doing anything normal, however. He was very dirty with raggedy clothes and a hard hat fitted with a light. "Well, uh, okay."

"Thank you!" Yoshi stood calmly and waited for the directions. Maybe he shouldn't have.

"Okay!" The Toad walked over to Yoshi and motioned for him to follow him further down the tunnel. The Toad eventually stopped at another intersection. "From here go right. When you get to the next corner, take a right. Go to the next and take a right. Go to the next after that and take a right. Go to the next--"

"Liar! You're just trying to confuse me! That's a darn square!" Yoshi used one of his fighting moves and knocked the Toad into the wall. The Toad passed out with a thump when he fell to the ground. Yoshi shook his head and continued through the tunnel going left instead of right.

~~~~~

"Finally!" Yoshi exclaimed after he had met his final destination (great movie, don't ya think ~_^?). It was so cold that Yoshi couldn't wait to get out of the sewer system for good. Sure, he was a Toad now. Sure, he was warm-blooded. But at least in his real form the place wouldn't feel this cold! It had to be 0 degrees down there or something to that extent.

Yoshi worked quickly to get the ice off the pipe. He looked around for something hard to break it with and spotted a Red Koopa shell. He hoped it was empty. He didn't want to eat anyone while he or she was sleeping. To his relief, it was. He put the shell in his mouth, stood in front of the pipe and then spit out the remains, which had turned into Fire Balls. Yoshi's eyes went wide.

"Cool! I can still use my normal abilities!" Yoshi grabbed another shell happily and put it into his mouth as well. He did the same thing with this one and admired the way the flames melted the ice quickly. But he wasn't done for there was still ice to melt. Yoshi hoped there would be more shells around. All he had to do was look down at the ground and spot several empty shells to be used however he wished.

"Wait a minute," Yoshi said out loud. "This is just too weird. Am I being set up?" Yoshi pondered this for quite a while. He didn't need to worry about time for there was no time limit for this mission like before. He just checked his watch to make sure he wouldn't be out too late...

~~~~~

"Do you think he suspects anything, King Koopa?"

"Probably."

"I think he'll probably have figured it out before he gets back."

"Yeah, he's brighter than some of the other recruits I had in training."

"He reminds me of Kaltek."

Koopa looked at Kammy. He knew she didn't talk much about Kaltek since he was killed so this interested him. "Really? I thought Kaltek was one-of-kind material myself. It's interesting that you'd actually put Yoshi into the same category as him."

"Oh, I'm sure Yoshi will make it into your army. Remember, he has gained a lot of experience from battling us. And he has inside knowledge of the enemy."

"Yeah, yeah!" King Koopa waved his hand in the air. "I know how valuable Yoshi would be if he became a part of my army. But he has to make it first."

"Oh, I know he will," Kammy said grinning at the crystal ball before them. Yoshi! You better not fail!

~~~~~

"Well, I guess I'll find out later," Yoshi said and went back to melting the ice. Ten shells later he was done with that and had run into another problem: How to destroy the pipe.

"Great," Yoshi groaned. "It would take forever to use shells. Perhaps I could..." Yoshi climbed on top of the pipe area that he could actually walk on. He jumped into the air, spun around until it looked as if he had jumped from somewhere squarely, and concentrated all of his power into his behind. He fell with force and speed as he crashed into the pipe. The ground shook briefly, but that was to be expected.

"Well, what do you know? I can still Ground Pound," Yoshi smiled sinisterly. He got ready for the next Ground Pound, and when he did this one this time he heard a noise like something breaking. He got up and looked underneath himself. A visible crack in the shell of the pipe could be seen. Grinning, he got ready for the next Ground Pound and repeated these steps over and over. The pipe was thick so it took many Ground Pounds to reduce a section to rubble. Even if fifty percent of the pipe were destroyed someone could still use the pipe to travel back and forth between worlds. That's why Yoshi didn't want to stop until no one could tell if a pipe had ever existed in the area in the first place.

Besides that, he was having fun.

Stay tuned for the next chapter: Redemption: Victory!

Please review now ^^*!...Please?