Part 5
“Help me! Help!” cried a Toad with a blue mushroom cap and a thick pair of glasses on. He pushed his way through the thick jungle foliage haphazardly stumbling over anything his feet got caught on. He was dirty and exhausted, but fear of the two Shroobs chasing after him kept him going.

The aliens were just out of sight, but their creepy chortles were a constant reminder that they were still on his tail and enjoying the hunt. This only upset the helpless Toad even more as he screamed despite the hoarseness in his voice. “By boogity! Help! Help! Hel-Aah!”

His foot got snagged by a tree root and sent him tumbling down a hill. It was a rough fall, but while he only had the wind knocked out of him, he also lost his glasses as a result. Unable to see beyond a terribly unfocused blur, the poor Toad knew he was a goner. Already he could hear someone approach and grab him.

“This is the end,” he cried. “Goodbye cruel wor-“

“Shh…” hushed Yoshi as he covered the Toad’s mouth to keep him silent. Despite being unable to see, the Toad was at least able to tell whoever had him was green and not purple. That was enough to get him to trust Yoshi and remain quiet as they hid in some bushes.

The two Shroobs ran up to the area and looked around. They conversed with one another in their language, a sense of uncertainty in their tone as they no longer seemed to know where the Toad was. Silently, Yoshi and the Toad remained as still and silent as possible as they waited for them to go away. To their dismay, they ended up moving closer and stopping just a few feet away.

The way they walked, it was clear they were still unaware of their hiding place, but even a slight flinch could give them away. They just continued to outwait them while ignoring any itch they felt on their bodies that always seemed to occur at inopportune times like this.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the two Shroobs turned and walked away to search elsewhere. The Toad and Yoshi remained hidden for several minutes even after they left to make certain they wouldn’t return. Jumping out of the bushes, the two quickly scratched at any itch they got while hiding, much to their relief.

“That was so scary,” panted Yoshi.

“It sure was, by boogity,” the Toad replied. “If it wasn’t for you, those Shroobs would have captured me like all the others.”

“Shroobs?” asked Yoshi. “Not shrubs? Are they the things that have been causing trouble with saucers?”

“A lot more than trouble,” the Toad nodded. “I’ll tell you everything I know, but do you think you can help me find my glasses? I can’t see a thing without them.”

“Your glasses?” pondered Yoshi as he looked around, spotting them not too far away. Picking them up, he handed them to his new friend. “Here you go.”

“Thanks,” he smiled putting them on and seeing his savior was a Yoshi. “My name’s Toadbert.”

“My name is Yoshi,” the green Yoshi introduced himself. “So, these Shroobs, just what are they after? I hope they haven’t come for our cookies.”

“I’m afraid it is a matter far worse than cookies,” sweated Toadbert as he recalled his first encounter with the Shroobs. “They are here to take over the world!”

“Th-The world!” cried Yoshi as he flailed his arms in surprise.

“And they look like they have the power to do just that,” Toadbert added. “They’ve already invaded the Castle and despite her best efforts to fight them, Princess Peach was captured by their leader, Princess Shroob.”

“They captured little Peach,” freaked out Yoshi even more. “Those heartless monsters! If they harm a hair on her head I’ll-”

“Well, it’s not actually the Princess Peach of this world that they captured, but one who came from the future with me and another friend Toadiko. She used the Cobalt Star we used to travel in time to fight them and…”

“And…” wondered Yoshi when Toadbert paused from explaining and suddenly turned pale and started to tremble uncontrollably.

“I… I can’t… remember,” he sobbed. “M-My memory is all hazy. I remember seeing Princess Peach fighting Princess Shroob, but… after that nothing. My memory picks up with me running for my life out of the castle and into Toad Town. I was still with Toadiko for a while, but in all the chaos we got separated. I hope she’s okay, but, with how things are looking, even if she is safe now, I do not know for how long. The Shroobs have been spreading their control all over and there might not be many safe places left to hide. I’m not even sure if Mario and Luigi could stop them if they could find some way to go back in time to help.”

“Things really are dire then,” worried Yoshi. “I better hurry back to the village and check in on everyone, though, it is probably too much to hope that they haven’t found it already.”


Yoshi hurried back to the village with Toadbert close behind. The run wasn’t too long, something that didn’t comfort Yoshi as it only reminded him of how close the Shroobs were to his home. He already expected there to be nothing left as he headed in, but to his even greater surprise, he found the village the same as it ever was and none of his fellow Yoshis seemed any worse for wear.

“Yoshi,” waved Pink as she, Yellow, Red, and Blue hurried over. “You were certainly gone for a while.”

“Yeah, a lot has happened, but tell me, has anything happened here?” he asked.

“Just the usual,” Yellow answered. “Yoshster stole Pink’s cookies, but I made some of my own. There’s a few left if you and your new friend want some.”

“Uh, sure,” nodded Yoshi as he was handed a few cookies, one shaped like a flower, another like a donut, and the last one shaped like a Yoshi head. “Want some cookies, Toadbert?”

“It’s been so long since I’ve had a decent meal, I’d eat just about anything,” answered Toadbert as he took a couple of the cookies and scarfed them down. “Oh, sooooo good, by boogity!” he cheered and rubbed his cheeks with the first display of joy ge felt in so long. “Thanks so much. My name’s Toadbert. Nice to meet you all.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Yellow smiled. “Glad you enjoyed my cookies.”

“So, where is Yoshster?” wondered Yoshi as he looked around.

“Don’t you remember?” asked Red. “He ran off into the jungle with Pink’s cookies and hasn’t been back since.”

“That greedy glutton’s probably eaten them all by now and is hiding somewhere hoping we’ll forget about it,” added Blue. “One day his appetite is going to get him into a lot of trouble.”

“Uh, Yoshi, are you okay?” questioned Pink as she saw him turn a paler shade of green.

“Yoshster never came back?” he thought. “Did he not listen to me and stay at his hideout? What if the Shroobs found him? But the village is still fine, so he might still be safe too.”

“Hey, Yoshi,” spoke Toadbert. “We should tell them all about the Shroo-”

“Hold that thought,” Yoshi interrupted him and grabbed his arm, leading Toadbert into his hut and shut the door behind him (though it was merely pulling a curtain of leaves in front of the entrance).

“What’s going on, Yoshi?” asked Toadbert. “We have to tell them what happened. And your friend, Yoshster, it sounds like he might have been captured by the Shroobs too.”

“He might have, but we don’t know if that’s true,” explained Yoshi. “He could still be safe. I mean, it is obvious that the Shroobs haven’t found this place if none of my friends are even aware of what’s happened.”

“That is true,” agreed Toadbert. “But I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t have found this place. Looking around, they’d be able to spot it easily from the air.”

“Whatever the reason, there is no need to worry the others and make them panic,” continued Yoshi. “We Yoshis don’t do well in a crisis. We mostly just start running around hysterically. For now, it might be best just to remain quiet about all this and see what happens.”

“But what about your friend?” wondered the blue Toad.

“If he’s safe, then that’s one less thing to worry about,” he answered, looking down at the cookie shaped like a Yoshi still in his hand and couldn’t help worry about the troublemaking Yoshi. “But, if he has been caught, then I’m afraid there might not be any way for us to save him. I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

“Me neither,” admitted Toadbert. “Since all this craziness has been going down, there’s been nothing we’ve been able to do about anything.”


Up in the sky, just out of view of the Yoshis in the village, a number of Shroob saucers were watching the blissfully unaware dinos go about their day. They had no clue that their village had been discovered quite some time ago. The Shroobs in the saucers chatted amongst one another, their idleness merely due to recent orders given to them.

“So, those are the Yoobs of this planet, huh,”commented one of the Shroobs. “They aren’t nearly as creepy as the ones that used to live on our planet.”

“Nothing on this planet is as creepy as what’s on ours,” another pointed out.

“Creepy or not, I just wanna blast them all,” grumbled a third. “Just seeing those gluttonous dinos reminds me of how so many of my friends and family they devoured. Why can’t we just get rid of them and move on? It would be a lot more enjoyable than this.”

“Our orders came from Princess Shroob, herself,” the first Shroob explained. “They want to run some tests on a Yoob they caught and until we hear otherwise we’re not to disturb them. Just watch from afar.”

“Ugh, orders are orders,” the trigger happy Shroob groaned feeling terribly restless. “I hope it won’t take them too long to find out what they wanna know.”


“Ugh…” groaned Yoshster as he opened his eyes and found himself in a large, purple room with clear pipes filled with a green oozy substance flowing through it. Looking around further, the strange, cold metallic room was far different from his warm, tropical home and added to the discomfort he was feeling. “W-Where in the world am I? What is all this?”

Things only got worse when he saw a door slide open and the Dr. Shroob entered it. He approached Yoshster and in a panic, the chubby, littke dino tried to flee, only to find himself restrained by a tether connected to the saddle on his back. Desperately, he tried to pull it off, but the alien fibres were too tough for him to break with brute strength. He couldn’t gnaw it off either, attempting that next. By the time he turned back to the Dr. Shroob, he was already in front of him and extending his pincer-like hand over to him.

“Wh-What are you going to do to me?” he cried fearfully.