14th installment of the VGNU.
The time has finally come.
Heroes are called from all corners of a universe self-destructing.
A mysterious figure has gathered them to save their worlds before it is too late.
Will they stop this great calamity?
Or...
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|Art by David De Leon Luis
It was another peaceful day on Yoshi Island. Their fight against the evil Koopas had long since ended, nothing more than a story the surviving Yoshies told their children. They told the tale of the strange children that fell from the sky and fought against their oppressors, freeing their people. They told the tale of the brave Yoshies that led them to victory, and lost their lives protecting those children.
The newest generation of Yoshies were fond of this story, always wanting to hear it again and again just in case they missed some crucial detail. Many of them recounted the stories themselves to their friends, or acted out the adventure like it was some kind of game. But one Yoshi in particular was a bit different.
This Yoshi didn't want to act out the story, he wanted to see it for himself. But he was too young to go off alone, so he would have to wait, and grow stronger...
___
There were no more monsters on this island, most of them having been only creations of the Koopa's magic. Now, Yoshies once again ruled the island, living in the forests, grazing in the fields. But still they hunted and guarded their territory, survival instinct protecting them from letting invaders hurt their island again. And it was the hunters that this particular Yoshi grew to join when the days of his youth had passed.
While he was still young enough to make the journey, on the dead of night after being accepted as a hunter, he slipped out of the forest where his people gathered, and began making his way towards the mountain they warned children to never go to. The lack of bigger monsters made the trek much easier for the young Yoshi, and it was such a nice night too. The stars were shining, the moon was tucked behind the clouds, the air was cool.
Yoshi didn't sense any kind of danger at all, not the whole way to the mountains at the center of the island. There, he knew what he would find -- The Dark Tower that was once the home of the evil Koopa. And when he finally reached his destination, the sun was peeking out from behind the mountains, shining light down on that old and broken tower.
It was abandoned now, still crumbling and unkempt. No more Koopas roamed those halls, no more monsters guarded it, no more Yoshies came here.
He still didn't sense danger, but he admitted the air did shift. It felt still here... dead. There may not have been any danger, but there was no peace either. There was simply nothing.
Yet, the brave Yoshi pressed on, stepping through the tall broken doors and crunching the ash beneath his feet. Rafters and stones cluttered the inside of the tower, scorch marks in shadows kept from fading. Broken spears and dented armor were all that remained of the Koopa army that once stood guard in these halls.
Yoshi wondered if those stories were true. He wondered if those strange children his parents spoke of really did all this. And if they could, what about him? Did all children posses such powers, or only those strange ones from the old stories? Perhaps it was only children who weren't Yoshies... Perhaps he had missed his chance, and had aged out of learning such powers.
