Chapter Text
Yoshi didn’t realize dust could be so thick. He let out a harsh cough as he breathed another layer of it in. He hoped the dust didn’t hurt the turtles as bad. One of them tried to wriggle out of his grasp, and Yoshi pulled them closer in response. He didn't want to lose any of them.
He was outside the building now, if it could really be called a building anymore. The explosion really did a number on the place. No human would survive that. But he wasn’t dealing with humans.
Yoshi quickened his pace at that thought.
The scenery before him didn’t seem the same. On the way here they 一 him and the gargoyles 一 had climbed a relatively safe mountain. Before him now was a winding twist of a spine, with lava spewing up every so often.
Yoshi most certainly did not want to cross that horrible, most certain death path. But this was the only path leading away from this rock, unless he wanted to go back through all the rubble and risk facing that goatman again.
The ground was incredibly unstable. It shook with every step Yoshi took. One of the turtles was wriggling again一 It was Green Two. No, that name wouldn’t really work. He had to think of something else.
Green Two, in his escape attempt, bit Yoshi’s thumb. The gloves he had been wearing had ripped off when he…transformed, and his sharp teeth were able to bite into the skin.
“Ow!” Yoshi yelled, as a trickle of bright red blood ran down his thumb. Yoshi knew what to name this one. “Just for that, your name is Red now.”
Red just stared at him with those big eyes of theirs.
Yoshi went on to try and name the others, when a rumble deeper than the others shook the spine. A jet of lava went off. It was larger than the rest, and the sheer impact knocked Yoshi off his feet.
And the turtles into the air.
Green, Green Three, and Green Four landed “safely” on the spine, but Red was launched out into the air, and started down into the lava below. Yoshi leaped forward to grab them, nearly falling off the spine. He would have, if his foot hadn’t caught in part of the bone. But he had grabbed Red barely by the tail.
Yoshi was able to pull himself up. Sitting in one of Big Mama’s cells didn’t ruin his muscles, thankfully. But as he stood, a wave of pain took his ankle. With his free hand, Yoshi pulled up his pant leg.
The ankle was starting to swell, that much he could tell. He had to get off of this accursed spine. The exit didn’t look that far off. Picking up the other three turtles, who were all snuggled together, Yoshi hobbled forward, trying not to walk on the hurt ankle.
Well, now was a good time to name the rest of the turtles. He looked at the tiniest one. Ever since Yoshi re-picked them up, they hadn’t stopped hugging Red. Yoshi noticed the orange markings on their arms and legs. So he’d name this one Orange.
Yoshi cursed himself out when he saw the red markings on the next one. He couldn’t exactly go takebackies on names. Maybe he should just leave this one named Green. No, no, there had to be something else. Yoshi tilted his head to try and get a better look, and it was then he saw the blue coloration of his shell. This one will be Blue, then.
Now it was the last turtle. Similar to Orange, this one had purple markings on their arms and legs. Being another no-brainer, Yoshi named this one Purple.
He had reached the end now. As he stepped off of the spine, Yoshi noticed lights coming from a town down the mountain road. There had to be someone there who could help. Or, at the very least, a bench to sit on.
He was still a roundabout away from the bottom though. As he turned the corner, however, Yoshi noticed three children on the side of the road. They were all huddled around each other, whispering and glancing around every so often. They couldn’t have been older than six, at the most.
One of them looked like a dull-green ogre, with messy black hair. He was wearing a faded, oversized blue jacket, and a matching blue bandana wrapped around his neck.
Next to him, and towering over him, was a rat-yokai wearing a purple fedora far too large for his head. Unlike his fancy headwear, however, he wore an old, long-sleeved white shirt, and a pair of shorts.
The last of this trio was a teal eel-yokai. He was the shortest of the three, and was slightly covered by the other two, but from what Yoshi could tell he was wearing an orange helmet and black T-shirt.
As Yoshi approached, the three yokai began to glance more furtively at him. Instinctively, Yoshi pulled the turtles closer to his chest. It was probably nothing, but something about the kids made him nervous.
Just as he was about to pass them, the eel stepped, well, slithered, out to block Yoshi’s path.
“Whoa, where ya going old man?” said the eel. Yoshi could hear the other two move to the back of him. They surrounded him on all sides.
“Yeah, what’s with the get-up?” the ogre snickered behind him. “You look just like that dude from the Battle Nexus!”
A panic in Yoshi rose. Would they realize who he was? Would they bring him to Big Mama? Would一
The tail at his back reassured him they wouldn’t.
“Where are your parents?” Yoshi asked. There wasn’t any sunlight down here, but Yoshi was pretty sure it was night. Probably. Maybe.
“Parents? HA!” laughed the rat. “...aha, no.”
“Ah, c’mon, Dastardly Danny, what if this dude was your dad?” the ogre teased, gesturing at Yoshi. Hold on, who names themselves Dastardly Danny?
“Eck, no, my dad would have had better fashion taste than that.” Says the kid with an oversized purple fedora.
Yoshi had turned his attention fully to the ogre and rat. These kids seemed like orphans. Were they in need of help? Yoshi couldn’t give much, but surely he could help somehow?
The ogre gave a gesture with his head. In a blink, Yoshi felt something wrap around him. It was the eel. Dammit, these weren’t some poor kids, they were thieves.
The eel had shocked Yoshi. It wasn’t much, but he was already tired from everything that happened. He fell to his knees, and the turtles fell with him. Yoshi could see the ogre pick up Red.
“I got the thing! Run!” he yelled. Him and the others scattered. Yoshi tried to run after them, but tripped and fell on his own hurt ankle.
No no no no nononononono. They were getting farther and farther away and Yoshi couldn’t even pick his damn self up一
He hit his hand against the floor in frustration. A little hand poked Yoshi’s ankle. He turned and saw Orange. Behind them Blue and Purple were wrestling with each other, or as well as babies could wrestle.
Yoshi let out a deep sigh. He was tired, yes, but he had to keep it together in front of the kids. He wasn’t sure if they’d even remember this, but he didn’t want to leave any chances.
Scooping the turtles up, Yoshi moved forward.
The town was just a little ways away. He could see if anyone had seen those boys, and more importantly, Red.
“We good?” gasped Leonard. He was out of breath after running so hard, but the rat man was out of sight. Whatever he was holding wouldn’t stop wriggling around. Leonard really hoped it wasn’t cursed.
“Yep!” Chriped Mickey. “Ditched him a while ago.”
“Poor sap just couldn’t keep up,” Danny said. “What was the old man holding anyways?”
Leonard opened up his hands for the rest to see, and and what they saw was一
A turtle.
“What the hell?” Leonard yelled. The turtle bit his thumb in response. “Ow!”
Leonard dropped the turtle and rubbed his poor, attacked thumb. Mickey bent down to get a better look. “Aw, look! The little dude’s so small!”
“And vicious,” added Leonard.
Danny joined Mickey on the floor. “I dunno. Look at those eyes.”
The turtle’s eyes shone with all the innocence in the world.
Leonard was forced to turn away.
Mickey scooped up the turtle. “He’s so cute, man! Leonard, we have to keep him!” Mickey turned both himself and the turtle towards Leonard. He gave him the puppy-dog eyes, and the turtle followed suit.
“Hmm,” Leonard grumbled, and ran his hand through his hair. “We’re running low on supplies. If this had actually been something we could sell then we’d be fine.”
“Ah c’mon, who would turn away these eyes?” Danny gestured towards the turtle. “Plenty of people would give them freebies, I’m sure of it.”
Leonard conceded. “Ugh一 Fine. We’re keeping them.”
“Yeah!” shouted Mickey as he hugged the little turtle. “I’m gonna name you Mickey the Fourth.”
“What? Who said you got to name them?” Leonard said.
“And what happened to the other two?” Danny asked, concerned.
Mickey ignored Danny’s question. “Well then what should we name them then?”
The team remained silent for a while.
“Hey, you guys remember that painting at Big Mama’s auction?” Leonard asked, waving his hands around trying to remember.
“Oh, you mean the one you forced us to go to, and we almost got skinned alive by security? Yeah, I remember.” Danny said.
“Great.” Leonard said, obvious. “The artist was some human dude, Randall, Rafal一”
“Raphael, dude,” Mickey said.
“Mhm, yeah, that,” Leonard said. “Let’s name them that.”
“You know, I had a brother named Raphael once,” Danny said, rubbing his chin and looking into the distance. “He was a good man.”
“Danny, you’re an only child.”
No one in the town had seen Red or those thieves. Apparently they were well-known troublemakers in these parts, judging by how calm everyone seemed about the theft. If Yoshi had actually told them what was stolen, maybe they would be a bit more concerned. But everyone here seemed too busy, too caught up in their own lives. Yoshi couldn’t bother them with his own problems.
There was one lead, though. An old lady, some sort of dog-yokai, said she had seen the boys about an hour ago. She said would lead Yoshi there, but she was struggling to carry groceries back to her home. Yoshi offered to help, and was surprised to find them so heavy. Upon closer inspection, the bags were filled with various weaponry, mostly flails and maces. Yoshi looked back at the lady, but she just gave him a small laugh.
With the bags being so heavy, Yoshi couldn’t hold the turtles as he had been. He had no idea how he would bring them with him. He couldn’t put them in the bags, not with all the sharp pointy objects.
The lady suggested carrying the turtles with his tail. Yoshi was surprised at the suggestion. He hadn’t thought of that, hadn’t thought of the tail at all. He supposed that would take some time to get used to.
Yoshi picked up the turtles with his tail, and found they were actually quite easy to hold. They wiggled a bit, but they had done so in his arms as well. It was nothing new. So off he set off with the old lady.
“You know, you remind me of my grandson,” she said.
“Oh really?” Yoshi asked, not really engaged.
“No, not really. He’s much more muscular.” She said.
Well then make up your mind lady .
Their walk took them half-way across town. Yoshi wasn’t even sure if this lady actually knew where those kids were and instead just wanted some free help. They were certainly gone from wherever the lady had originally seen them.
“Oh, this is me,” the lady said, abruptly. They stopped in front of a little stone hut, partly carved into a cliff wall. There wasn’t really much to write home about it. “I’ll take it from here, deary.”
Yoshi handed her the bags as he asked, “What about those kids?”
“Hmm? What kids?”
This damn一 breathe in, breathe out. This is not the time. “A group of kids stole something important to me, and you said you saw where they went.” He explained calmly.
“Your kid?” She asked, and pointed towards Yoshi's tail.
Yoshi froze. How in the world had the lady known about Red, he hadn’t said anything about what was stolen, much less who. “What?” He said, almost breathless. “How did you know?”
“Well look.” She gestured towards his tail. “You had three, now there's two.”
Yoshi's blood ran cold. He whipped his tail forward. There was Blue and Purple, both sleeping soundly together. But Orange was nowhere to be seen. Holding them all in his tail wasn’t such a good idea after all, apparently.
He dropped the bags immediately, and picked Blue and Purple back into his arms. He took back off to where they had originally come from. Behind him he could hear the lady shouting, but it didn’t matter much to him. Yoshi tripped multiple times during this run thanks to his ankle. It was screaming at him to stop, to take even a small break, but he couldn’t. He had to find Orange.
Yoshi was back to where he began. No, that couldn’t be right. He hadn’t seen Orange at all. But they were all so small, especially Orange. It wasn’t impossible that he had missed the little turtle. He had to check again.
He was halfway back to the old lady’s house when he stopped dead in his tracks. Around the corner Yoshi heard some voices. Very familiar voices.
“...Well he’s about this high, and he was carrying four- Was it four?”
“I think so? I seem to remember four?”
Yoshi peeked around the corner. It was those two gargoyles, the ones who took him from the Battle Nexus. And…was that the old lady?
“I seem to recall someone like that,” she said. That rat. Uh, well. “I could show you where he went, but I have some groceries I need put away. Could you dearies help me?”
One of them, Muginn, Yoshi believed his name to be, waving his hands in protest. “Oh we love to ma’am, but we have a very tight schedule to keep一”
The other one grabbed his shoulder and pulled him aside. The two whispered for a while (Yoshi swore he heard something about treats), and Muginn turned back to the lady. “Oh second thought, we’d love to help.”
The two went off with the old lady, away from Yoshi, thankfully. Still, the fact that they were in the area unnerved him. If they were here, a certain someone else could be as well...
Yoshi had to leave, now.
But Red and Orange, he still didn’t know where they were. If he left now, what chance did he have of finding them again? Did he risk getting captured again? Maybe, if it was just him. If he only had to worry about himself, Yoshi knows he would have risked everything to find them. But he still had Blue and Purple with him. He couldn’t put them in danger as well.
“I’m sorry,” Yoshi whispered as he turned, and left.
“What’cha got there sweetie?” Frankie asked his daughter. She had picked something up from the floor, and wouldn’t stop staring at it.
“It’s green.” Was all she said.
“Sunita, sweetie, I need to know more than that.”
Sunita turned towards her dad, and showed him what was in her hands. Covered partly in slime, was a baby turtle-yokai. The poor thing kept looking around, clearly trying to find something.
Frankie scooped the little one up from his daughter. “The poor thing looks to have lost their parents,” he said. Personally, Frankie didn’t know any yokai that looked like this little turtle, much less any in this area. Maybe their parents were tourists visiting the area. This was a hub for that kind of stuff. Goodness, they must be worried sick. Frankie knows he would be if he lost Sunita.
They were going to have to check in at the police station. That’s where any concerned parent would go if they couldn’t find their kid down here. It’s what he would have done.
“We’re going to make a quick stop on our way home,” Frankie said to Sunita.
“Ok!” she cheered. She was excited to go on an adventure.
The Hidden City police station was hard to miss; partly because of its size, but mostly because of the giant stone heads resting upon it. Frankie never actually had a reason to visit the station before. Walking into it, he was surprised to see how lax things were. Several officers were chatting amongst themselves, sipping coffee, telling jokes, doing everything it seemed like but working.
Sunita pointed up at one of the posters. “That looks like them!” She was, of course, referring to the baby turtle. Looking up at the poster, Frankie absolutely hoped his daughter was wrong. He certainly didn’t want this baby turtle to be related to one of Hidden City’s most dangerous criminals, Heinous Green. “A coincidence, dear,” was what he told her. “Let’s keep walking.”
Frankie gave one last look at the poster, then back at the baby turtle. The two didn’t look anything alike. Maybe if they were a bit bigger, or had more red on them…no, that’s stupid. Besides, looks don’t determine a person’s family.
At the front desk were two officers playing a game of cards. The gorilla-yokai gave Frankie a half glance in his direction. “Something wrong, sir?”
Due to the sheer height of the desk, and his own height, Frankie had to tilt his head up at an angle unnatural to most others to see the officers himself. “Yes, I found this child-”
“What?” The winged lion officer yelled down. “You need to speak up!”
Frankie huffed. “I said I found this child-” Frankie shouted, from the top of his non-existent lungs, “-alone! Their parents weren’t anywhere in sight!”
“Oh yeah, that sounds like a problem,” The lion said, playing one of his cards. “Plus four.”
The other officer threw down her cards. “We’re playing Goldfish.”
“Excuse me!” Frankie yelled back up. “Can anyone help me?”
There was whispering among the two of them. The gorilla officer leaned over the desk. “Uh, listen, no one’s come in here claiming they’ve lost a kid, and we’re too busy here to send out a manhunt for some missing parents.”
Frustration brewed in Frankie’s chest. He felt a small hand grab his, though, and he remembered to calm down.
The gorilla officer went on. “If you’re really concerned, you can wait by the lost and found.”
Without another word to the officers, Frankie did just that.
Surely their parents would show up. They must be worried; the little one must be, with how they keep fidgeting. A concerned parent would search everywhere for their child, right? And the police station seemed to make the most sense, at least it did. But they had probably thought the same as Frankie did before, so they’d be making their way over at some point. They just had to wait.
So they waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Night had fallen. Sunita was fast asleep on Frankie’s shoulder. It was way past her bedtime, after all. She held the baby turtle close in her arms, and they did the same. She had begged Frankie to let her hold them, and after only a bit of convincing he let her. Now they both were sleeping. They almost looked like siblings.
Siblings. Huh.
Frankie had made up his mind. Gently, he picked up Sunita in his arms. She was getting quite big; Frankie wasn’t sure how much longer he could do this. Hopefully the baby turtle would stay little. Turtles didn’t grow that large, right?
Frankie walked out of the police station. Going down the steps, he must have done so too hard, as Sunita muttered something.
“What was that sweetie?”
“Where we going?” She mumbled, only half-awake.
“Home.”
“What ’bout the baby?” Sunita was either too tired to realize she was holding them, or didn’t understand why she still was.
“We’re taking them home.”
“M’k,” she said, then immediately fell asleep.
Adoption worked differently down here in the Hidden City compared to other places, at least to Frankie’s knowledge. Due to the turbulent nature of life here, a child could be taken in if no parent made any attempts to claim them, and well…
Frankie just hoped the kid wasn’t abandoned on purpose.
“Hmm, you need a name, don’t you?” Frankie muttered to himself. Of course, he already knew what he was going to name them. It’s what he would have named Sunita if she wasn’t Sunita. “I think I’ll call you Michelangelo.”
By some miracle, Yoshi had found a way to get to the surface. After walking for some time, Yoshi stumbled upon a human. Surprised, he asked for the man’s name. “Clem,” was what he said. Yoshi asked for his help to get to the surface, and after easily guessing his password, Clem told him a group of tourists would be leaving for the surface in an hour. Clem pointed towards a town not far in the distance. “They’re meeting up there. There’s no admission fee, you can just join on your own.”
“Thank you so much,” Yoshi said.
“No problem. Just watch out for the pirates. They can get quite rowdy.” Please, as if Lou Jitsu couldn’t handle a few pirates.
He could handle a few pirates, right?
Walking into town, Yoshi thought Clem should have said “locals,” not “pirates.” Everyone here looked ready to plunder and steal. Even that old lady. Wait, wasn’t that-
“Surface tours, folks! Surface tours here! Free of charge for today only! Sign up here!” Called a small, octopus-looking yokai. He looked oddly familiar to Yoshi. A small group had already gathered around, and Yoshi rushed over. The octopus-yokai pointed him out from the crowd. “Ah, a Lou Jitsu fan! You wish to join?”
“Ah…yes,” Yoshi hesitantly answered. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he recognized this yokai from somewhere. Yoshi didn’t notice it, but he had pulled Blue and Purple closer to him.
“Wonderful! A last-minute addition! Now, if everyone would follow me this way-” The octopus-yokai was cut off by a large rumbling. Barrels and other unsecured items began to fall and roll everywhere. Yoshi turned, and was met face to face with a stampede of pirates and police.
They were certainly in a rush; In their hurry, they had knocked over several bystanders. Yoshi was able to dodge most of them, until he had to dodge a mermaid pirate. This led him to stumbling right into a young skeleton-yokai. They tripped right over each other, and both fell to the floor. The skeleton didn’t wait even a moment to get back up though. He was back on his feet in less than a second. “¡Lo siento, señor!” He called back to Yoshi.
The fall was worse for Yoshi. Both Blue and Purple fell right out of his arms. Purple didn’t fall too far, thankfully, and Yoshi quickly grabbed them. Blue was farther away, so much farther away. How had they gotten that far? They were on the back of their shell, wriggling to get up. Yoshi had to get on his knees and shuffled over there as fast as he could.
They were closer now, Yoshi could almost grab them now. He reached for them-
And someone kicked them away.
The stampede was still going on; No one was really watching the floor for baby turtles. Yoshi tried to reach for Blue again, and once again , they were kicked away. And again, and again and again.
Even if it was a stampede, Yoshi thought people would be at least a little bit more conscientious.
This time, however, when Yoshi reached for Blue, he grabbed them. Finally. He brought the little one close to his chest next to Purple, checking them for injuries. Yoshi hoped for nothing serious, but it was unlikely.
It was a wrapper.
Frantically, Yoshi whipped his head around. Blue had to be around here somewhere. They had to be.
He couldn’t lose another one.
The octopus-yokai had a megaphone now, probably so he could be heard over the crowd. “Alright folks, the tour is leaving now! But stick around, and you’ll get an exclusive chance to see Big Mama! Tickets for that start at…”
Yoshi had to have heard wrong. There was no way ever in a million years- She would never do something like this.
Yoshi looked at the octopus-yokai again. Really looked at him. Then he figured it out.
He knew why that yokai looked so familiar. He was one of Big Mama’s lackeys. He announced all the fights, damn, how could Yoshi have forgotten that voice? He should have at least recognized the voice. He had heard it many times before. Too many.
The tour group was starting to leave. But he had to find Blue. But Big Mama was here. Even as a rat, what if she recognized him? Out of everyone, it would be her. And then she’d just drag him back there. No, he had to leave now.
But Blue.
He couldn’t leave Blue.
A voice rang out, not very far off. “Hello dearies! Hello!”
No, no, he couldn’t do it.
“I’ll find them,” Yoshi whispered to himself. “I’ll find them. I’ll find them.”
Yoshi joined the tour group as they left.
Hueso didn’t think the police were following him anymore.
Ay, dios, where had the day gone wrong?
“It'll be an easy job! I just need your help this one time,” Piel had said.
“Piel! Wait up!” Hueso screamed at his brother as the crowd separated them.
“All units, be on the lookout for a skeleton-yokai who goes by the name of Hueso,” said an officer, unaware that his target was hiding near-by.
Hueso felt his legs give out from under him. He slumped against the wall of the alleyway he was hiding in. He couldn’t stay here for long, he just needed to…catch his breath.
His own brother, flesh and more flesh, had betrayed him. Had made Hueso the scapegoat. How could he have been so stupid? Why would Piel actually need him for one of his dumb pirate heists? Estúpido, estúpido!
There was rustling in a pile of trash near Hueso. It made him jump, but it’s not like it would be the police. Still, it had caught Hueso’s attention. He inched closer, approaching slowly in case it was something that bites.
There was another bit of rustling, and out tumbled a baby kappa. Or was it a turtle-yokai? Hueso could never really tell the difference.
The little turtle looked around frantically. Was it looking for something? Obviamente, Hueso. It’s a baby. Babies can’t usually get to places on their own. Though with that in mind, it’s a bit concerning to find one in the trash.
Ay dios.
Hueso scooped the little one up. They had stopped panicking, but looked up at Hueso in confusion. Guess bones didn’t appear like whatever their parents had looked like.
As Hueso looked into the little one’s eyes, something lit up in his chest. Something in this little turtle reminded him of something. It took him only a second to realize.
“Looks like we’ve both been abandoned, huh pepino?” Hueso whispered. The little turtle only looked up, but no longer with confusion.
There was no way Hueso was going to leave them all alone, and he couldn’t exactly take them to the police (though Hueso already knew how mismanaged they were normally). There was only one option Hueso really saw.
“Say, pepino, how about we go on an aventura?” The little turtle didn’t seem to understand what was going on, but appeared excited.
“Bien.” Hueso didn’t know just how he and the little turtle were going to get past the police, or away from the Hidden City. Absolutely no idea. But he’d find a way. Though there was still one more thing Hueso had to do before that.
As he shifted out of the alleyway, he said to the turtle, “I can’t really keep calling you pepino, can I? You need an actual name.” He thought long and hard about this. Very long, because it wasn’t until an hour (and many close calls with the police) later had Hueso finally picked a name.
“Leonardo. Si, me gusta,” Hueso said, as he looked back down at Leo in his arms. “I promise you, mijo, I won’t leave you alone. Neither of us will be alone.”
Yoshi had barely made the tour group. They had everyone get into this wooden cart, and Yoshi had to squeeze in to fit, much to the annoyance of the yokai sitting next to him. In his arms he held Purple like his life depended on it. Perhaps a bit too tight, as Purple was uncomfortably squiggling around. But Yoshi wouldn’t dare let go. Not again.
“Now on your left you’ll see the mermaid lagoon,” said the octopus-yokai. Oohs and awes went up from the tour group, but Yoshi wasn’t paying attention. Just how much further were they from the surface?
Yoshi could see most of the Hidden City from here. Somewhere, Purple’s siblings were out there. He’d come back and find them someday. Someday.
They hit a bump in the road, and the entire wagon bounced. The shock had jostled Purple from Yoshi's hands, and they went flying through the air. They were a mere inch from the floor until Yoshi had caught them with his tail.
Purple didn’t do anything as Yoshi brought them back to his arms. Yoshi, on the other hand, was completely panicking. You almost lost the last one. That thought kept coursing through his brain. You almost lost them.
Yoshi hugged Purple tighter.
An hour, or what felt like one, had finally passed. The wagon had stopped at this pillar, which apparently would take them up to the surface. Finally, Yoshi would be somewhere familiar. Not sure what he’d do about the whole “mutated” thing, but he’d figure something out. He would have to.
Yoshi had let everyone else leave the wagon before he got up. He didn’t want to fight anyone here. He was a pacifist , after all.
As he walked down the steps of the wagon, he felt a sharp pain in his foot. He checked his foot, and saw he had stepped in a splinter. If only his shoes hadn’t ripped apart. What an annoyance.
Holding Purple with one arm, Yoshi tore out the splinter. It was painful. What use did splinters even have, what purpose? It’s impossible to think of a time when splinters ever actually helped someone. They were useless.
Everyone began gathering in a line in front of the octopus-yokai. From what Yoshi could hear, they were giving their names to him. Oh no, no, what if that list made it back to Big Mama? She knew his real name, she would know-
“Name?” Yoshi had made it to the front. The octopus-yokai looked up at him, a strained smile on his face. It was clear he was waiting for Yoshi to answer so they could get a move on. But Yoshi couldn’t give him his actual name, he had to think quick. Think quick. Quick. Something-
Oh. He knew a name.
“Splinter,” he answered. A fitting name.