I fell to the stone floor while panting heavily, exhausted. The hike from the boat to this castle was harsh, filled with ragged rocks and cliffs. Our capturers would not let us rest at all either, making it worse for us, not to mention that we had to carry the heavy load of the stone and lumber we collected on our island. That made me think of our island ... home. It seemed so far away now, like a distant dream, like we would never make it back there some day. Chills went down my spine, the cold floor snapped me back to reality. As much as the cold floor gave me chills, it was nothing compared to the voice of that accursed goggled turtle.

"Our Lord Bowser's castle sustained lots of damage recently, the walls are falling apart, the floor has holes everywhere, you dinos use the stone and lumber you took from your island and repair it, now!" it shrieked.

"And why do we have to help you?" asked an angered red yoshi.

"You bullied us around once, we won't let you do it again," stated a dark blue yoshi.

"Argh, stop it all with your gibberish. Yoshi-yoshi-yoshi, is that all you can say?" mused the now angry turtle.

This intrigued me, "He couldn't understand a word we said?" I told myself in my head. "Then how did..." My thoughts trailed back to our home, where we protested and he shot lightning at us. If he doesn't understand us now, than back then he didn't either. Most probably what happened was that he figured we were not going to let ourselves be pushed around, and he intimidated us. This might lead itself to a great opportunity. We could come up with a scheme to escape for this nightmare without them even knowing it.

The others that stood up to the authority of our goggled foe were silent now, they weren't frightened of the situation, they quickly realized that they were way out-numbered. There were much more creatures around here than there were on our island.

***

Over the next few days, we got to learn more about our kidnappers. There was the turtles, which we learned were called Koopa Troopas. They're an okay bunch, even if they're our enemies. They also seem to be the main force of their army. The shiny, spiky shelled turtles are merely Koopa Troopas inside some shiny armor, they seem much more frightening in their armor, once they're out of it, they're like the other Koopa Troopas. We saw that there were more of those goggled turtles around, called Magikoopas. They would be formidable foes, their wands being able to shot multiple things such as lightning and more. There were green pipes around the castle also, and we had to be careful for those, namely because of the Piranha Plants, plants with big mouths and sharp teeth. Getting bitten by them would probably be painful. The one that seemed to surprise us the most, though, were creatures called Boos. They would spring up out of nowhere and try to scare us just for a laugh, though their scary faces start to seem more funny than scary now. This Bowser though, none of us has seen yet, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Judging from what we heard, we wouldn't want to cross him.

I was working on a wall in the courtyard with Kiiroshi. We were at it all day long, we were exhausted. Our arms were tired, our legs were burning, we were hungry and thirsty, and to top it off, it didn't even seem like we were making progress of that wall at all, it was frustrating. It was the first time that we ended up working in the same section of the castle at the same time, I was really happy to see that he was okay, well.. as okay as we could be in this current situation.

"I was talking to the other yoshis I previously worked with, and you probably thought of the same thing, but since they can't understand a word we say, once we all get together, we could plan our escape out of this place," I stated, while half grunting as I lifted another heavy stone to place on the wall.

"I had thought the same, and so has everyone. All our minds were on home, on wanting to get back there soon. Though it's going to be hard to organize anything, we are never all together in one place," he replied slowly, obviously tired out.

"Well, I had a talk with a few yoshis the other day, and we laid down a plan which worked out in our favor. You probably heard of the commotion that happened recently in one of the rooms, because of those yoshis all of us will be sent here to rest for the night, so they can watch us more easily. Our time of escape could be no further than tonight," I managed to grin slightly.

"That was your doing? Burushi, you're a genius!" he almost jumped of joy in the air, though I checked him.

"They can't understand us, though they can see our emotions, be careful. If they figure out we're planning something, everything is lost."

He gulped, realizing what a big mishap he could have done. He slowly nodded at me, showing me that he acknowledged what I said and would be careful. We continued working on our wall section for the remainder of the day.

***

We were all reassembled in the courtyard that night, and we couldn't be more overjoyed to see our fellow friends. It took us a few minutes to settle down and regroup to talk of our escape. Patrols of Koopa Troopas could be seen, so we were careful not to seem suspicious. We talked about a great deal of things: since every yoshi worked around he castle, we had a pretty good idea of its layout. We also noticed that there was one moment during the night that the Koopa Troopas did a rotation, some going off to rest while others took their place, this would be our time of escape. We also decided against the idea to split up and taking alternate paths to the exit, hence we wouldn't leave anyone behind. It took us a good portion of the night to pan out the details of our escape, and finally we were ready. All we needed to do now was wait, wait for the moment where we would begin our escape to freedom.

***

I gulped, the last Koopa Troopa patrol was passing by, I was nervous, I really hoped all would turn out well. We couldn't see the patrol anymore, it was time. Everyone got up slowly, looking around to see if there was an extra guard... nothing. We ran out of the courtyard, running through the corridors of the cold castle. One corner come after another, one yoshi would tell the others where to turn and the others followed suit. Kiiroshi was slightly ahead now, he worked around here so he would lead the way. He turned the corner and before anyone else could turn that corner, we heard a scream of pain. We turned the corner to witness Kiiroshi on the ground with one of the armoured Koopa Troopas. Kiiroshi and the turtle had bumped into each other and in their fall, the armoured turtle landed on Kiiroshi's leg, injuring Kiiroshi in the process. The turtle ran off, most probably to warn the others, we had to hurry. I got Kiiroshi to his feet, yet he couldn't walk. This was not good.

"Go on ahead!" I yelled to the others.

"We can't leave you two behind!" protested the others.

"What's there to hesitate about? The exit is close, we'll follow shortly."

"But.." one started.

"If we all end up slowing down, we'll get caught for sure. At least with only two of us, we can get spotted less easily. We'll fins a way out, now go!"

The others didn't like the idea, but they understood that lingering here was not a good idea. I tried to carry Kiiroshi on my back towards the exit, ugh, why did he have to be so heavy. I was rather weak from forced labour for many days now, which didn't help my cause. We were nearing the exit, it wasn't too far off now, though Kiiroshi stopped me.

"Listen," he whispered to me. "Something's happening close to the exit."

I diverted all my attention in trying to hear something, and he was right, there was sounds of yelling and resistance of in the distance. This was bothersome, if the others were to be in trouble, I wouldn't dare think the consequences. I looked around, and I found what I was looking for, a decent hiding spot.

"Kiiroshi, I'll leave you here and see what's going on over there, I promise I'll come back for you," I told him.

I knew he understood, nodding at me slowly. I got him to a small corner where it was dark enough for him to hide and went alone towards the source of the ruckus. I peeked around the corner into the main hall and saw all the other yoshis, fending of Koopa Troopas and yelling for freedom. The Koopa Troopas were dwindling in numbers, the ones that took a beating retreated, thankfully by other corridors and not the one is was watching from. It seemed we would get out after all, I begun to turn around to get Kiiroshi, until I heard some screeches from the main hall, this was bad. I looked back at the main hall, to witness what would happen, not daring to go in and help them. There were five Magikoopas against a good bundle of yoshis, they could win, they will win.

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