Chapter 1 - Yoshi in the Wild (DD)

Yoshi’s early years on Lavalava Island were quite peculiar, as it seemed fate had never intended for him to survive past birth. A vulture had stolen his egg from the jungle and carried it to a nest on the island’s volcano. As the bird of prey leaned down to devour the egg, the baby punched through its shell and hit his assailant square in the beak. Immediately after, he threw himself over the edge of the nest and tumbled down the volcano, egg and all.

At the mountain’s base, he found himself amidst of a grove of Piranha Plants. As they turned to eye him down, Yoshi broke out of the egg and latched onto the tooth of the nearest one with his tongue. With a tug, he ripped it from the weed’s mouth and swallowed it whole. The remaining Piranha Plants lunged at him, but he simply walked away and left them to collide with each other head-on.

Having already learned to move around on two legs, he made his way back into the jungle. The moon rose and fell as Yoshi trudged on, but he did not rest for a moment. His diet consisted entirely of the berries he found amidst the vegetation. Though considered a delicacy to most, the child quickly grew sick of them. Then one day, he noticed a new morsel among a patch of familiar fruit. It was a red mushroom, speckled with yellow dots. With no hesitation, Yoshi devoured it. The next several hours were a blur, but they were the best hours of his three day-old life. When he awoke from his shroom-induced trip, he found himself sitting upon the corpse of a Jungle Guy, his own spear lodged in his chest.

The next month of Yoshi’s life was spent chasing after the high he had experienced that day, and establishing his dominance over the other dwellers of the jungle. Eventually, he found a better use for his newly amassed collection of psychedelics upon an unusual encounter with a trembling Fuzzy.

“H-hey man,” he whispered, his eyes twitching wildly. He glared intently at Yoshi’s bindle. “I see you’ve got some of them shrooms there… y-you think I can take some of those off your hands?”

Yoshi noticed that, in spite of the Fuzzy’s disheveled appearance, a golden amulet hung around his neck. He pointed at it with the soulless stare of a born bargainer.

“You want this? H-here, take it!” He tossed the amulet to the child. Pocketing it, Yoshi removed several mushrooms from his sack and dropped them at his feet. The addict dove at his prize as Yoshi walked past him in total silence. On that day, the dino learned a valuable lesson: life is all about manipulation, and getting high.