A Yoshi's Stolen Heart

Chapter 1: To Find Love

It was a happy, peaceful day in the forested Yoshi Town. All of the colorful dinosaurs were prancing about, living their lives without a care in the world. Some gathered berries from the trees, some fished for Cheep Cheeps in the nearby river, and some merely talked about their day with their neighbors. There wasn't a Yoshi to be seen without a smile on their face. That was, except for Yosher.

"I wonder if anyone will ever want to be my sweetheart..." mumbled the orange Yoshi as he sat atop a log bench. A feeling of gloom washed over Yosher as he longed for a companion that would love him as much as he could love them. Before he could mope any longer, however, a deafening boom came from just outside the village.

"What in the world was that?" Yosher asked himself, standing up from his bench to get a better look. Most of the Yoshis in town had quickly scurried home at the sound of the terrifying bang, but Yosher had a curious streak in him. He crept up to the river bank where a crater sat, clearly the result of whatever had caused the noise. Lying in the crater's center was a beautiful heart-shaped gemstone, glistening in the sunlight from just under the water's surface. Yosher stepped down into the crater, careful as could be, and scooped up the jewel in his hands.

"Wow... I've never seen anything like this before. It's got to be the prettiest thing I've ever seen..." he muttered to himself. The Yoshi dazedly wagged his orange tail as he stepped out of the crater, staring at the ruby-red gemstone the whole way up. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.

"Maybe if I gave this to someone I liked... they would be my sweetheart!" Yosher exclaimed. "Oh, I hope I meet someone like that soon..." he continued, holding his new gem close to his heart. Yosher continued to gaze upon the crystal heart as he made his way home, in awe that something so beautiful could have just fallen from the sky. His time with it would be cut short, however, as before he could make it through the town's wooden gate, a speeding purple flash zoomed past him, knocking the poor Yoshi off of his feet. It wasn't long before he noticed the jewel had been swiped.

"Hey, wait up! Give that back!" cried the Yoshi as he ran after the purple thief.

Yosher ran as fast as he could to catch the crook who had stolen his gem. He scampered down the forest path, eager to retrieve the key to finding his beloved partner, but in all the commotion, he tripped on something spiky in the middle of the road.

"Owww..." mumbled the Yoshi, recoiling from the unfortunate encounter.

"Why don't you watch where you're going!" exclaimed the thing he had tripped on. Upon closer inspection, Yosher found a blue-shelled Spiny staring right at him, clearly just as shaken as him after being tripped on.

"Sorry... I'm in a bit of a hurry," explained Yosher.

"Well, that's not much of an excuse. Being in a hurry doesn't make being tripped on feel any better for me!" responded the Spiny, crossing his arms and looking rather miffed.

"It's hard to see a little Spiny like you when I'm in such a rush!" exclaimed the Yoshi, trying to defend himself. The Spiny pouted and turned away to mask his frustration.

"You don't have to rub it in..." he grumbled, clearly self-conscious about his size. After regaining his composure, the blue-shelled Spiny turned back to face Yosher. "What are you in such a hurry to do, anyway?" he asked.

"I found this really pretty heart-shaped gem, and that purple guy just came and swiped it!" exclaimed the Yoshi.

"Oh. Well, that sucks, but it's not really my problem. Good luck with all that," responded the Spiny, giving a straight face and turning to continue his trek down the road. Yosher frowned for a moment, then picked the pace back up to hopefully catch his jewel's thief.