The village was unusually silent. The only sound that could be heard was the crackling noise of a lone fire left to burn itself out.
Meanwhile, inside the only prison cell within the village grounds, Fox McCloud was trying to pass the time in any way he could while his friend Falco looked out a tiny window towards the empty streets and roads. The falcon was loudly tapping his foot to an endless tune that only he seemed to know, and for everyone else, this was growing irritating... fast.
Slippy threw a broken stick in disgust, and in Falco's general direction. "Hey, I'm trying to work here!" The frog complained aloud.
"Oh yeah? It doesn't look like you're going anywhere with that," the bird contradicted his croaking friend.
"That just shows what you know," Slippy grumbled.
"I bet it does," Falco retorted.
Slippy rolled his eyes at the falcon, but it showed no affect on the bird, so the frog grudgingly got back to work.
"Slippy, what on Corneria are you doing, anyway?" Peppy questioned the busy frog.
"Trying to open this lock... while the guards are still gone."
"No you're not," Falco remarked.
"No one asked you, Falco." Slippy turned towards the bird again and threw another stick.
"One more time and you're a road apple, frog face," Falco threatened while sweeping the stick aside with his foot.
Slippy held his tongue. He really wasn't in the mood for getting into a big huff over Falco and his ill-tempered nature. Fox didn't seem to mind starting something up, however.
"What's your problem, Falco?" the fox couldn't resist asking.
"I have no problems; with the exception of that slimy lump sitting over there." The falcon gestured towards Slippy, who jumped to his feet at the insult.
"Take that back!"
"Do it yourself. I dare ya."
Slippy scowled at the falcon. "That's it! You're getting on my nerves, Falco!" he shouted. He then stomped one annoyed foot onto the ground and waddled over to the bird, who hardly gave the frog a second look before returning to his window-watching. "Well?" Toad spoke up.
"Well what?" Falco answered with a laugh.
"Apologize to me for calling me names."
The falcon scoffed at the thought. "Oh please, you are so childish."
"You're the one being childish!" Slippy squealed. He turned to the only vulpine in the room and pleaded, "Fox, do something!"
"See? Everytime something goes wrong, you run to Fox," Falco pointed out.
"I do not!"
"Wha'd you just do?" the falcon questioned. Slippy couldn't think up an answer fast enough, and Falco took advantage of that. "I rest my case," he concluded while turning back to the window.
Slippy was furious, but he had nothing else to say. He retreated to his corner of the cell and sat down to pout.
"Aw... the baby has to go to time out," the bird snickered.
"Shut-up, Falco," Slippy grumbled.
"Falco, lay off the Slipster already," Peppy cut-in.
"That's none of your business, Peppy," Falco snapped.
"That's where you're wrong, my feathered friend. And you'd better shut your beak before I do something worse to you than 'time out'," the hare growled, and held a balled fist in the air to emphasize the fact that he was serious.
Now Peppy was threatening Falco. Things were getting out of hand.
"Give it your best shot, old timer," the falcon challenged. He turned away from the window and stepped forward to show he was just as serious, and probably even more eager to beat the snot out of somebody.
"Why you little..."
"Stop it!" Slippy screamed.
Fox had heard enough. He didn't want to have an all-out brawl on his hands because Falco couldn't shut that hole in his face. He climbed out of his corner of the room and stepped between the hare and bird. His words were harsh, and directly to the point.
"I don't know what's the matter with you, Falco, but you've been acting like this ever since we started for Titania. Not that your little jokes aren't welcome when they're appropriate, but this time you're going way out of hand. If you know something that we don't about the past two days, than I'd be glad to hear about it, but not if you're going start bickering with the rest of my team. Do you understand that, Falco?" Fox finished his lecture, and directed a stern gaze towards the falcon. It was at that moment that the fox realized that the tables had finally turned his way. Falco's eyes grew wide, as if someone had literally slapped him in the face. The bird fell backwards and slumped into the corner of the room without uttering another offensive word.
"I can't tell you guys..." he muttered.
"Can't tell us what?" Toad asked. Slippy's anger had melted away into a strange curiosity. The frog closely watched Falco, and as he did so, he could barely tell... was he crying?? Slippy tried to restrain a gasp of shock. It was hard to tell if the falcon was really crying, because he had hidden himself in a convenient shadow. Now Peppy and Fox, too, were watching Falco, and waiting for him to answer.
"No," Falco dismissed whatever thoughts he was having with a wave of his wing. "It doesn't matter. It was a long time ago... Just forget about it."
An uneasy, yet awfully familiar silence fell over the foursome. Fox barely picked up a sound coming from outside... Someone was coming!
"Guys, I hear somebody!" he announced. Peppy could hear the sound, too. His ears stiffened, and the hare spun around to face the entrance of the hut. Everyone quickly brought their attention to the door, with the exception of Falco, who couldn't bring himself to even look up.
Two of the strange reptiles entered the hut. They were recognized instantly by Slippy, who croaked a greeting. "Hey, it's those two creatures from the night before!"
Fox was surprised enough by their surprise appearance, and was taken even more off-guard when a third creature followed.
"Oh my stars..." Peppy gasped. "It...it... it's a Lylatian!"
The third creature, a female black salamander striped with red and yellow, was overjoyed by the sound of familiar voices. She smiled pleasantly, and replied in her native language. "Hello."
Slippy was thrilled. "Great! Someone that speaks like us! You're from Lylat?" Toad asked in a high squeal as he climbed to his feet and approached the bars of his prison cell to get a better look at the newcomer.
The salamander nodded in responce. She then introduced herself in a polite tone of voice, "I am from Lylat, yes. Zoness, actually. I have been living here on this island many years now, however." The salamander spoke with an unusual accent, which she probably picked up from the lizard-like creatures that live here.
The Lylatian was suddenly distracted by a tap on the shoulder from the yellow creature. She patiently watched as the creature signaled something with its hands. The salamander nodded, then glanced back at the four Lylatians.
Upon spotting something that she found interesting, the salamander's eyes widened in gleeful surprise, which was proved by her broad grin. She whispered a word softly to herself, leaned forward to look past the cage's bars, then called out in a slightly louder voice.
"Falco?"
The falcon, having been identified by name, slowly gathered his wits and looked up from his corner of the room. Falco stared with bewilderment at the salamander for a long time... Fox feared for a moment that he would pass out from shock, but the falcon remained conscious. He hoarsely replied with a single word.
"Sara???"
Slippy was VERY confused. He didn't recall ever meeting this Lylatian before. How did Falco know her? A past aquaintence, perhaps? Then what is she doing here, on this strange island? Why wasn't he told about her a long time ago? Then again, Falco's not often one to talk about stuff like that...
As for Fox, he knew something was wrong with Falco... but it was just starting to make sense. Falco not only knew this girl from somewhere, but Fox would bet that they were good friends, possibly girlfriend and boyfriend, not so long ago. Something went wrong, and this Sara person was left here... Would this have anything to do with Titania? Was that why Falco had been so nervous all this time? Why didn't he say something before? Fox could only guess.
"Falco... is that really you?? It has been so long," the salamander started off on her own little speech, "I have missed you, and Katt, and Dan so much. Tell me, what brings you here? Who are your friends? Don't be so shy. You were never shy around me."
"Trust me lady, this is a first for us, too," Slippy interrupts.
"S-Sara... I thought you were... were..." Falco couldn't finish his sentence.
"Dead? I thought you would think that. That is also why I thought you would never return," Sara replied in a morbid tone. "You know, I have been here for four long years... Well, possibly longer, but stories can come later. You must first introduce me to your friends, Falco."
Falco blankly glanced around the room, and seemed to be at an extreme loss for words. He finally spoke up at Fox's urging. "...This is Fox, and Peppy, and Slippy. We're StarFox." The falcon grinned weakly.
"Fox... McCloud? You're kin to James, aren't you? James McCloud?" the salamander addressed the fox cheerfully. "Yes I am. He was my father," Fox answered politely. "I have heard of StarFox. Except there were only three when I last remembered. What happened to James? Is he still around?" Sara attempted to recall her life in Lylat as she asked the fox questions.
"Well..." Fox slowly began, "He... died. My father died, a while ago."
Sara held a hand to her face and gasped. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Forget I mentioned it. I really didn't know... See, Falco? See what I have missed? You've run off and joined the famous StarFox team while I am gone, and meanwhile, this kid's father dies."
"It's okay, really..." Fox tried to lighten the mood of the room. "It's all in the past, right?"
"How true, McCloud," Sara stated as a cheerful smile once again found its way to her lips.
The salamander nearly fell over when a strange, yet oddly familiar sound had interrupted the conversation.
The two other creatures started talking to each other. The pink one grumbled something to the yellow, who hand-signaled the message to Sara, who replied with more hand signs.
"Whoa! You can talk to them??" Slippy excitedly croaked.
"Oh, yes, I nearly forgot. I would like for you guys to meet Miya and Meekachu. They are some of the creatures that live here. You see, the most advanced of the races on this world are the Yoshies, two of which are standing before you. They wanted to know if I knew you guys," the salamander explained.
"Oh... that's neat. We could use you as a translator!" the frog hypothesized.
Fox agreed with this idea whole-heartedly. "Er... Sara, that's your name, right? You wouldn't mind if we did that?" he requested.
"Yes, my Lylatian name is Sara, and no, I wouldn't mind. You see, when I came here, I was captured by this Yoshi tribe, much like you guys were just recently. This particular tribe is the Mulhollen, and these Yoshies are very vicious warriors. Also, in case you haven't noticed yet, the Mulhollen is a tribe ran by females. This fact served to my advantage, and I was taken into the tribe as a labor force. My slave master is a sapphire-colored Yoshi named Jara... She treats me kindly, but I have missed my home back on Zoness..." Sara sighed, but continued her story, "Well, I was taught to communicate with other Yoshies by using hand-signals. Even so, I still have not learned to speak their language. Everytime the Yoshies try to teach me, it sounds like jibberish."
"So it wasn't just me. I thought at first it was simply a different language, but I've realized that these Yoshies speak in entirely different wavelengths! It is confusing," Slippy added.
Peppy broke into the conversation just then. "Wait a second, if this tribe is more lenient towards women, then what will become of us?" he asked.
"I do not know... That is why I am worried. I know it can't be too bad, because Jara said that you all were unarmed at your capture. Was that true?"
Fox was reminded of the attack at the beach, and recalled how his blaster mysteriously went missing. He wondered if...
"That was correct, actually. Our weapons were gone when we woke up yesterday morning, and so were those two," the fox confirmed as he pointed towards the two Yoshies standing on the opposite side of the hut. "Sara, can you ask them why they left? Yesterday, that is. What happened to them that morning?"
Sara stole the attention of the yellow creature and signed Fox's message to the Yoshi. The yellow one nodded slowly, then grumbled something to the pink one. The pink Yoshi turned furious in the next instant, and started shouting angrily at the yellow one in its own language.
"Yish yo yoshi yo yoshi yi yoshi yi! Yo yoshi yo?!? Yoshi yo shi yo??? Yish, yo yishi yo yoshi."
The yellow one harshly grumbled a reply, and both started a strange fight. Sara tapped the yellow Yoshi's shoulder, and the creature jumped back with a start. The yellow one signed a brief message, then returned to its arguments.
"What's he saying??" Fox asked out of curiosity.
"Meekachu says wait..." Sara translated. The yellow one waved an arm wildly, and the pink one fell silent. The Yoshi then looked to Sara, and started to sign a message to her.
"Meekachu says... that he and his daughter were afraid of you, and that you would hurt them with your weapons... he says that he took your weapons while you slept, and threw them into the sea... then took Miya away from you," the salamander spoke aloud.
"He did what with our what?!?" Falco blurted out.
"What did what with our weapons???" Slippy squealed.
"What?!?" Peppy gasped.
"It was him?!? I don't believe it!" Fox exclaimed. He fell back onto a straw bed and smacked his forehead in a frustrated gesture. The pink Yoshi, quite startled from this spontaneous reaction, started grunting and growling at the yellow one, which started another squabbling fit.
The fox raised an eyebrow at the two bickering Yoshies, and started to laugh at the sheer irony of it all. Peppy glared at the laughing Cornerian and inquired, "What's so funny, Fox?" McCloud recovered from his senseless chuckling in time to answer, "Heheh... they remind me of us." Slippy snickered once he caught the joke.
"I don't think it's THAT funny..." Falco commented.
The hare brought his attention back to Sara and promptly asked, "What are they fighting about?"
Sara shrugged and tried to speak with the yellow Yoshi; the one she called 'Meekachu.' The Yoshi whirled around and started to signal a frantic message before the pink one, or 'Miya', could reach out and stop him.
"Meekachu is angry at Miya, because she won't listen to him... She says that it would... have been safer... if they didn't leave you alone on the beach... She wanted to bring you all with her and Meekachu through the jungle... to avoid... a dragon attack??" Sara sounded unsure of those last words. StarFox exchanged puzzled glances before Sara continued with her translation.
"Meekachu... didn't trust you... No... he says... He says.... something about a war... and a fire... He's making no sense now. I can't understand it."
Sara finally gave up her attempt to translate the scrambled message, and instead tried to get both Yoshies to calm down. She eventually had to restort to physically separating the two reptiles from each other before a fist fight broke out. Fortunately, this tactic worked. The Yoshies exchanged a few more angered words with each other, then finally shuttup.
"I swear, I can't believe how these two act around each other sometimes..." Sara commented, almost to herself.
The yellow Yoshi signaled a few more words to Sara, then glared at the pink Yoshi, who returned the glare just as fiercely.
"What was THAT all about??" Slippy wondered.
Sara sighed. "Miya seems to have a problem with all this. She is very distressed... and very worried," the salamander spoke.
"About what?" Slippy asked out of curiosity.
"Hold on, I can ask..."
The salamander again hand-signaled a message to the yellow Yoshi. Fox somehow admired the way Sara was able to weave her hands in such complicated patterns almost without effort or fault. It must have been the result of years of practice.
"She is worried about you guys."
"Us? What do we matter to her?" the frog questioned.
"I don't know. She likes you all, I suppose." Sara grinned. "Young girls are always hard to understand, you know." The salamander giggled childishly, then cast a mock smile towards Falco.
Fox gave the pink creature in question another long look. 'Come to think of it, she does seem a little young,' he silently observed. For Lylatian standards, she was fairly attractive, too... if you could've gotten over the fact that she didn't speak a word of Cornerian, resemble any particular Lylatian species in any way, or even wear clothes. Actually, none of these Yoshies wore clothes, with the exception of a strange shell on their backs. Clothing didn't seem to be necessary here, anyway. From what Fox could tell, the temperatures stayed constantly warm, even at night. Good tropical weather.
"Wait, I want to know something," Peppy interrupted. The hare pointed over to the bird, who still looked a bit shocked from this whole turn of events, and asked with a confused squeak, "How on in the world do you know Falco? And from where?"
Sara appeared surprised by the question, as if she wasn't expecting it. She gawked strangely at the falcon, who gave Sara a confused look in return. Falco didn't appreciate the unusual attention he was getting at all. "Now wha'd I do?" he squawked.
"Ah! Falco, I don't believe you!" Sara scolded. She placed her hands on her hips and gaped at the falcon with a shocked expression. Falco shrugged helplessly. "What are you talking about?!?" he asked.
"I've been missing for four long years, and you never even mentioned me to your friends. And I thought we were close. I was holding on to the slim chance that you came back here to save me, but that's thrown out the window now," the salamander nagged.
"Save you?!? I thought you were dead, for crying out loud!" Falco shouted defensively.
"Then at least have the decency to carry on my memory, you witless blunder! No wonder Katt liked you so much. You both shared the same I.Q! I can only guess why you're back here now! I don't suppose that McCloud over there ever had a clue about what he was getting into, did he??"
"Now waitasec, I had no way of knowing..."
"You had every way to know not to come back to Titania! If you assumed I was dead, then why return?!? As a matter of fact, the first thing that should have came out of your beak when you headed out for that planet would be at least some kind of warning. And don't tell me that you told your friends about what happened, either, because I know you all too well. You kept your mouth shut, because you thought it wasn't important, didn't you?? You have no idea how lucky you are that the warp zone that brought me here didn't fry your ship and spit out your bones on this very island. I would kill you from here just for that, but I think that your teammates would rather have a piece of you first."
Falco froze in his place as everyone, even the two Yoshies, turned towards the stunned bird. He tried to say something -anything- that would serve as a good defense, but Falco knew he was finished the moment the angry fox laid eyes on him.
Fox was, indeed, about ready to kill Falco: right there, right then. It didn't take long for the Cornerian to piece together the clues...
"Grr... Falco!! You lied to us!! Geez, of all the rotten, stupid acts of history..."
The fox cursed as he paced back and forth across the prison cell's dirt floor. "That Sara was telling the truth just now, wasn't she? You knew Titania was dangerous, you knew all about the danger, and you knew what was going to happen before we even got near that planet, didn't you?!? Why? Falco, why?? Why didn't you say something, before you nearly got us all killed!" McCloud repeated the question, almost to himself, and his fury gave out to a baffling disbelief in what was going on. He stood before Falco with questioning eyes, but the falcon only turned away in shame.
"Stop it, Fox. He did not really mean for this to happen, I'm sure. I got carried away," Sara's gentle voice interrupted. "Falco was never the one to talk about his past, anyway. He is always trying to live in the present time, so it doesn't surprise me at all that he wouldn't mention such an important piece of information. Besides, it wouldn't do you any good to start yelling at him at this point."
Falco shot strange look towards Sara, which seemed to say in itself: 'Who's side are you on, anyway?'
The salamander laughed, "Oh, I'll never forget that look on your face right now, Falco. I'll never forget it."
"Wait!" Toad's eyes lit up as he came upon a thought. "He did try to tell us, remember? Back on the Great Fox. Falco was trying to warn us about how the planet was experiencing unstable volcanic activity."
"I don't need you to defend me," the falcon snapped.
"Besides, that's no excuse," Fox growled, "For once, you should have said something about all this, Falco. It could have saved us all a lot of trouble."
"I said that's enough, Fox." Sara quickly responded by placing her hands on her hips and assuming a bossy attitude.
Falco frowned and stood up. The past few minutes had been a little too emotional for his tastes. Enough was enough. "Alright, that's enough of this. I didn't crash on this stupid island, get captured by hostile natives, and get thrown into jail just to have you come out and strip whatever dignity I have left by saving my own feathers for me. I can handle myself fine, thank you very much. And I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I'm getting out of here as soon as the chance arrives," the falcon announced to the salamander, who rolled her eyes at the mention of escape.
"And... how do you expect to do THAT? I don't think you clearly understand the situation," Sara tried to explain.
"No, it's REALLY simple, Sara. Get out of this hole in the mud, find our ships, and fly outta here!" the falcon screeched as he pointed outside the small window next to him.
"Your ships are no more."
"Excuse me??" The frog seemed perplexed by this unusual news.
"Yeah, what's going on?" The hare asked the question which seemed to be on everyone's mind at just that moment.
"Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but you guys fly Arwings, correct?" Sara tried to get her facts straight.
"Yes..." the fox confirmed. He had a bad feeling about what the salamander was going to say next.
"Good. Because those are what the Yoshies saw being torn apart and carried away by the dragons. If you're getting off this island, you're not going to be doing it with those pieces of scrap metal," the salamander remarked. She then crossed her arms in front of her and cocked her head sideways while awaiting a response or comment.
"Scrap metal!?!" Slippy took the rough description as an insult.
"Oh, thank you SO much, Sara. Do us a favor and tell us some actual GOOD news for once!" Falco spoke sarcastically while stepping forward and waving his blue wings in an exasperated gesture.
"Well, I speak the truth, assuming that your Yoshian friends' description of your ships is accurate. I don't think they could have been referring to any other starships, do you?" Sara inquired.
"Well... er... we don't really need our ships to get out of here, do we?" Slippy asked with a hopeful grin. His smile quickly disappeared in the following silence that had settled over the room.
Miya, who had been observing the previous events with great enthusiasm, grumbled something to the yellow Yoshi, who whispered something back. The two Yoshies held a brief conversation with each other, which ended with a nod from the pink one. The yellow reptile shrugged, then waved an arm in the air to get Sara's attention. The salamander quickly glanced back at the yellow one and watched him hand-sign a message to her.
The Yoshies were entirely serious when they brought up their question, which is probably why they were shocked to see their salamander friend jump up in uncontrollable laughter.
"What?? What did they say??" Falco and Peppy asked at the same time.
Sara took a deep breath, and muffled herself for a moment to translate the message.
"Hehe... Miya was trying to guess who the leader of the group was... She said it was Slippy, because everytime he speaks, everyone else grows silent and stares at him." With that, the salamander fell over and started to chuckle again, just before everyone else began to join in the laughing, spare Slippy, of course.
"That's not funny!" the frog squealed, even as Fox, Peppy, and Falco were all sprawled out on the floor in a fit of laughter.
"Oh, lighten up!" Sara chuckled.
Once everyone had caught their breath, Fox sat up and checked to see what Sara was doing. She was signing something to the yellow Yoshi while pointing to the fox with her free hand. Once Sara had finished, Meekachu growled to the pink Yoshi sitting beside him, and she nodded in return.
"So..." Fox spoke up, "If we can't get to our ships, in what ways can we escape? There must be a way back to Lylat."
"Well..." Sara considered her options. "I was once told of an old story about a time, not-so-long ago, when creatures just like us would travel to this island. Meekachu told me, actually. He said that the creatures were not properly understood, and when his race tried to talk to them, they started to kill the Yoshies. Meekachu said there was a great war, and that the ancient magic of the island, the sacred Yoshi magic, was the only thing that saved his race from destruction. The magic banished the creatures back to their homeland, and sealed the way to get back to the island with a special barrier. The place that the creatures were lured into just before the magic was used is largely unknown, but rumor said that it is on a great mountain surrounded by dragon beasts that forever guard the gates to the other realm." The salamander pondered this story for a moment before continuing. "But it is just a story. I never thought much of it. Personally, I consider myself lucky. Because of that tale, most Yoshies would have never trusted someone like me, but I have not been mistreated very much at all."
Peppy was very intrigued by this story, which was why he asked, "Do you know where this mountain would be?"
"Oh, it's very far away. Many nights walk from here. Not to mention that escape from this village might be difficult," Sara reminded the hare. "Not if our new friends help us," Fox spoke up. The Lylatian leaned forward and flashed an eager grin towards Sara.
"Go ahead. Ask them."