Yoshi Legacy: Heroes of the Mushroom Continent - Chapter 3

"Stupid storm! Something ALWAYS has to happen when I'm about to set sail!"

My stepfather threw his foot against a wall, where, in response to the pain it created for him, he yelped in anguish. He started to hop on one foot as he grasped the foot that was hurting, as things tend to hurt more as you get older, apparently. I just calmly watched on from the kitchen table, getting a few laughs off of my caretaker's stupid move. As I tried to stifle a smile or a small giggle, he turned around and caught me in the act of doing so. His pained expression morphed into an offended one, and he shifted his focus on me.

"What, is this FUNNY to see your old man like this? Huh?"

"No, n-not really. Nope.", I blurted out quickly.

"It'd better not be. Just think about how much pain it would have been for you if I was sent to the nearest clinic for this! Ohh, you'd have nothing to eat for weeks!", he threatened.

My stepfather definitely thinks down upon me as a weakling. Maybe it's because I'm a girl and he's a bit sexist about it, but if he were really to be stuck in a clinic for a few weeks, I'd easily be able to manage finding food for myself or getting my own temporary job. Oh, well. That's fathers for you, really. They just tend to care too much.

After a while, his foot apparently stopped hurting him, so he stood up properly and stretched his arms and legs.

"Well, now that the storm's lifted, I'm 'bout to set sail for Dockton. Gotta carry some wheat and barley over for the Hermans over there. They've ordered a large shipment of it, and their beer is unmached, I've heard. Well, you'd better not do anything stupid and hurt yourself, young woman. I'll be back in a week or less!"

He went in the back to dress in his uniform, and without saying a word in between, left to go to the docks. Well, that's my stepfather for you. Hardworking as usual. I found myself letting out a bored sigh, and I reclined in my chair at the kitchen table, enough to have to put my feet up on the chair on the other side of the table.

After a small while, my boredom got the better of me, and I got up off of my seat to stretch. I decided it was about time to do something interesting. I reached for the door and flung it open. As I marched down the front porch, I began to think about where I could go. Was going to the forest to get some wood and berries a good idea? No, not really... we had a lot of those already. How about the nearby fields? Now, wait a second. The farmers are probably just starting to grow stuff there, and there's no way I would let myself get marked as a thief to them.

After a while contemplating, I decided to just go down by the beach. After a storm comes around, sometimes you can find some useless things that came from somewhere else on the shore. Over the years, I've found a few cheap jewels, emptied bottles of fine wine, and once a strange looking sword with its fancy-looking wood case. I wouldn't dare use it out of respect of its quality, but it's just a nice thing to have hidden around the house. 

"Oh, well...", I said to myself. "Let's have a go at finding something else on the beach."

My trek to the beach was a short one, naturally, since it was my stepfather's job to sail the seas and therefore lived close to it. I got up on the docks to scan the beach when a bystanding sailor approached me from behind. "Hey, young missy. Aren't you the young'un of that crusty old pinkie that left earlier?", he inquired.

"Well, we're not directly related. He adopted me, actually.", I slowly replied.

He let out a hearty laugh. "The poor feller's always tellin' me yer' fragile and all. It's quite obvious you're not. Hee hee heh!", he replied.

"Um... I guess so.", I responded.

"Don't let him put ya down, girl. He's a good man, but you've got a strong will. Don't furgit that."

He gave me a single, firm pat on the back, and left the docks for the pathway above the beach. I just stood there, hand on one hip, just shaking my head in slight disbelief. My stepfather sure has... interesting... acquaintances. I went back to scanning the shoreline for anything interesting.

To my utter surprise, this particular storm had brought in not something, but someone. He had probably just washed ashore, because nobody had seen him yet. I quickly rushed over there to see if he was all right. Sadly, he was unconscious, as I'd expected, and he was probably in terrible condition. Without thinking, I hoisted his body onto my back and dragged him back to my home.

All this time, my mind was reeling with fear over whom this could be, and what happened to him. Was he a sailor that got his vessel smashed at sea? No, he couldn't have been a sailor. He was much too young. He was probably just about as old as I was. I'd say the best he'd have been is a sailor's kid that got stuck in the storm, and he was probably separated from his father. Then again... his rag-like clothing didn't exactly scream 'seafarer' to me.

I slumped him onto my bed upon returning home, and started to press his lungs, removing the water from it. A gush or liquid came from his mouth and ran down onto my pillow. 'That's okay, I'll just let it dry later.', I told myself. He wasn't coming to, so I proceeded to place the blanket over him and let him rest there for a while. 'He'll be fine, he'll be absolutely fine.', I kept telling myself to lower my concern.

'He'll be fine.'

 "Edward! No! Save me, my son!"

My father scrambled to stay up over the waves, but a tentacle grasped him and tore him under the sea. To my disbelief and utter anguish, I yelled out a long, painful 'NOOOOOOO!'. My father's friend Marcellus was grabbed and dragged under as well. But as all seemed to be lost for me, the world went completely blindingly white, and I found myself lying on the ground, or more precisely after observation, clouds. My gaze soon made out the sun glaring into my eyes, as well as three other figures. My father, Marcellus, and this other Yoshi with odd garb, akin to that of a priest's, were all staring over me. They said in tandem,

"Wake up, Edward. Wake up..."

I quickly sat up in surprise. It was all but a dream. My immediate relief was instantly replaced with fear of where I could possibly be at the moment. I was in what looked like a bed, but it was made of a very soft material, and the blankets were not of leather that I was used to. Various different objects sat on a shelf across from me, and it smelled a bit like the sea. All of a sudden, the door on the right side of the room swung open.

I reeled in shock as the figure took a step back in surprise. I let out a fearful scream and leapt out of the bed. I failed to find my footing, however, and I stumbled upon the ground, every muscle in my body aching. As I kneeled before this mysterious figure, they approached me and looked down upon my figure, slowly smiling.

"N-no! Don't hurt me... don't kill me...", I blurted in despair.

"Aww, come on, silly. Why would I hurt you?", they responded.

Not letting my guard down against this strange figure, I backed up from them. As they followed, I continued to back up until I found myself up against a wall. I fell into a pleading position, and begged my assailant to repent. They stopped, and then decided to back up away from me in compliance.

"Geez, you don't have to go crazy over it. All I wanted to do was help you back into bed.", they replied, for some reason, in an irritated tone. They crossed their arms.

I slowly looked upwards to view the figure that I was cowering from. Their build was very, very odd. They were rather thin, had a puffy chest, slim arms, and lots and lots of hair. "Uh... if you're not going to hurt me, then why do you look so... weird, sir?" I muttered.

Their friendly expression turned into an offended one. Arms flying to their hips, they stared me in the face. "Excuse me? Am I a man? I don't think so.", they said.

I was confused by what they meant. If they weren't a man, what could they be? An animal of some sort? As I began to ask more about it, their expression became more and more offended, to the point in which they snapped and said, "Are you an idiot?", and slapped me across the face, like how my father used to when I was a child. I lowered my head and fell silent.

A while passed with me sitting in the corner of the room, on the ground, in agonized horror as my onlooker stood opposite from me. Their expression calmed down and became seemingly friendly after a while. All of a sudden, they spoke. "Have you seriously never seen a girl before?"

"Um-", I started to say, but was cut off.

"Now, wait. that's impossible. What about his mother?"

"...My mother?" I said.

My mother was someone my father talked about. According to my dad, he was a very loving Yoshi, and a lifetime partner to my father. Something bothered me, however, about how my father described him. He would always say "she", as if he was slurring the word. 

"I never knew my mother. He died before I was born.", I continued.

"'He'? 'HE'? Well, I've heard of 'living under a rock' before, but this is ridiculous.", my watcher said. "Look, let me get this straight for you. There are two kinds of genders in this world. Men, and women. Men are addressed as 'he' or 'him', and women are addressed as 'she' or 'her'.

So that's what my father meant by 'she'!

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean it that way. I'm so sorry. I didn't know you were a girl, and I didn't know my mother was a girl. Forgive me!"

She seemed to be amused. A small smile crept across her face, and she went up to me and looked me in the eye. "Can you stop acting so scared and stuff? It's really hard to try and talk to you when you're like that."

I got up off the ground in compliance and took a seat on the side of the bed. She took a seat next to me on the bed and placed her arm around my shoulder.

"So, where are you from?", she started out.

I slowly mustered a response as I tried to free myself from her grasp. "I'm from... an island."

"Ooh, an island? Which one?", she inquired.

"...I don't know! I'm not sure!", I shouted.

"Whoa, calm down. I was just asking."

My head fell to my chest in resignation.

"Let's try another question.", she said. "What happened to you?"

I rubbed the back of my head and felt the sweat running down it. As I racked my brain to find an answer, I suddenly remembered the storm that I had been in. And just then, I remembered everything that had happened.

"...Hello? You got an answer?", she asked me as I thought of an answer.

"Uh...", I started off. I quickly put together what I would say in my mind. "I was in this storm, and our raft crashed, and I don't know where everyone is!"

"Whoa, not enough information, buddy. Who is everyone? You had a raft? Let's spread out the details and explain.", she said.

For quite some time, the two of us discussed my current situation. By that time, I'd pretty much calmed down and was talking a little more normally. My initial shyness dissipated somewhat, and we both found each others' company pleasant.

"So... you were living on this island for nearly all of your life, your father comes up with this weird plan to save your ruined homeland and you all set sail for the continent? And then, you were caught up in that storm and got separated from your father and his friend? You've been through quite a lot recently, huh?", she asked.

"Yeah... it was quite the ordeal. I really hope my family's still alive.", I replied sorrowfully.

"What are you going to do now? I mean, you've been out of consciousness for nearly a week ever since I found you on the beach.", she said.

A wave of shock filled my body. "Oh, dear. It's been that long? I surely must be going!", I insisted.

"Hoooold on, buddy. You aren't going ANYWHERE in the condition you're in right now. You'll just end up in the clinic. You stay here and rest up a little more. Here, I'll make you something to eat.", she said to me, concerned.

"As perturbed as you may be about my well-being, I'll be fine going as soon as possible. I'd probably be a burden to you here, anyways. In fact, I think I should leave now, since they're probably looking for me, too.", I said.

"Where do you plan to go? I mean, you're going to leave this house and go where? The beach? They probably washed up elsewhere.", she reminded me.

"...You're right. Do you know where I should go?", I inquired.

"Well, if you knew where you were going, you'd be able to find Yoshica. That's the town that my stepfather goes to to collect shipping materials, so they have lots of resources there.", she said.

"Could you help me get there? I would really appreciate it if you would.", I requested.

"I'm sorry, bud. I can't leave this house. My stepfather is almost home, and he'll lose it if I'm not here when he comes back. You might have to go alone, I'm afraid.", she sadly replied.

"Very well. Thanks for the hospitality. I must leave now, though. Do you know where my satchel is?", I asked.

"Do you mean THIS satchel?", she asked, whilst holding up the rucksack that I had before I had left home.

"Yes, yes. Thanks.", I said gratefully.

I then left for the front door. I looked back one last time to say goodbye and saw her saddened face. I immediately became gloomy, and felt the need to stay a little longer to keep her company, but I knew what I had to do. With a solemn nod, I turned around and left the house, bound for the town of Yoshica.