VII

The day after his third birthday, Reuben had the emerald set in a pendant - he had it sent to Pandora, and it returned a day or two afterwards. Ark was overly delighted with it, and spent the next few days fiddling with it - it matched his jade eyes well.

As for mine, they had started to turn a turquoise colour - I was alarmed at first as I saw the gradual change, but Reuben assured me it was fine, as his eyes changed from green to blue as well, and reckoned Ark's would do the same. They never did.

It was also around that time that the summer holidays began, and our parents decided to take Ark and myself on a trip to Yamauchi. Kara told us this news, and we became excited, naturally. We had never been out of the village, except the odd trip to Pandora for shopping purposes. However, our spirits were diminished when she said that she wouldn't be coming.

"Someone has to keep the inn open," she said; however, I think it was really her fear of flying that stopped her.

Reuben, Ark and I packed our bags - moreover, Kara packed Ark and my bags for us - and one morning we went to Kippo Station (the train had existed on Fa'Diel for two centuries, but only in the Underground City on the Sunken Continent). The train went right past the hole that was Gaia's Navel, and although I had been there before for picnics and the like, it provided a view down into the deep, ancient crater that always struck me with awe - the light played on the waterfalls and its reflection dappled on the trees, ground and cliffs around it. No wonder it's said that the waters are enchanted with healing properties.

So, the train stopped at Gaia's Navel (only the next station) and we went to the Cannon Travel Agent. It was Ark's and my first time in one, and I remember both of us being scared that we'd be deafened by the blast - Ark was at the point of refusal of doing it, and we had to haul him in as he bawled. But as we were blasted off, we had one of the most exhilarating feelings in our lives - we were, to a degree, flying. Actually, physically flying.

The Enchanted or Haunted Forest, depending on your view of it, where the witch Elinee lived at the Resurrection, was beneath our feet as we started out - covered with fog, as usual. To the west was the sea, and to the east was Potos. Then, the cliff between Pandora and the Upper Land whizzed beneath our feet, and we were flying over the Great Forest. Then we started to descend, and before we knew it, we landed in Matango.

And it only took a minute. Why Yamauchi won't adapt this efficient system of transportation is beyond me.

Soon after our arrival, I had my first experience of Matango Terminal. Out of all the places in the universe (and others) that I hate, Matango Terminal is one of the highest on this list. As we were tagging behind Reuben down a corridor created by the hideous straw chairs, a bunch of Matangolese rushed between us, separating Ark and myself from him.

We called out to him, but he did not hear us. Still very young and now alone in a totally new environment, far from home, and with Reuben having all our luggage, I panicked. This caused Ark to panic, and soon we were two bawling Koyoshies in the middle of the terminal, unheard above the babble. After crying for two minutes or so, a circle of Matangolese children had surrounded us, in curious fascination. It was a school excursion to the terminal, I believe, because their teacher came over and started trying to talk to us. She didn't know Yoshian, and our Pandoran was incomprehensible due to our sobbing, so soon a security guard was by our side.

He took us to the lost children room, filled with Matangolese. The floor was covered with straw, and after sitting for a few minutes, we had enough. We cleared away the straw and sat on bare, wooden floor. What made it even worse was the Matangolese children's interest. They'd approach us but stand off at a nearby distance. Ark soon got to a stage when he had grown tired of it, and lashed out his tongue at the nearest child. The sobbing and running of the child, as well as the backing off of the other mushrooms didn't catch the supervisor's attention - I guess he was used to it.

Soon Reuben arrived and took us away from there. All I wanted to do was get onto Yamauchi, but little did I know that worse was to come. A joy of it, however, was the ticket I was given. I still have it in the clutter I call my house - somewhere in it, at least. It was laminated, and glowed with many different colours. I remember reading all the different languages on it - Matangese, Mushroom, Pandoran, Koopan and Yoshian. It inspired me to learn as many languages as I could, which I would be thankful of in the future.

Reuben had given the ticket sellers our luggage, so it could be processed. It would travel immediately after us through the warp. However, processing of the luggage and our travel would take an hour, so we had to wait in the uncomfortable straw seats. I only sat in them for five minutes before I decided to play on the floor with Ark, who couldn't stand their itchiness any longer. After we got rowdy, Reuben forced us to sit in the seats again - the atmosphere must have got him worked up too. Black storm clouds pervaded my thoughts many times as I was poked by dried-out grass all over my back and legs.

After what seemed like six hours instead of just one (it probably was), we were called to the departure room. Our passports were stamped and we were given our Kingdom Visas which would allow unprocessed travel to the Archipelago, before we were ushered to what appeared to be nothing more than an eight-foot-tall green pipe in the wall. We were told to simply walk along the pipe and through the screen, and we would be on Yamauchi.

So, Reuben led us into the pipe, and up to the screen. It was a pulsating mass of colours, and walking through it, so Reuben told me, would be like stepping sideways into the surface of water. He took our hands and we stepped through it.

My body felt like it was wrenched from beneath my head, spun around and shaken up many, many times, like going on a wild amusement ride again and again. I remember the flash of light as we appeared on the other side, then a swirl of colours. Reuben and Ark's concerned faces kept going through my dilated vision, before I threw up, lost my balance, and everything went black.

When I came to, I was lying in a bed of the Mushroom Kingdom Terminal Clinic, with Ark's face looking into mine.

"He's woken up, Dad!" he called.

Reuben came over and looked down at me.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

I nodded, though weakly.

"What happened?"

A Mushroom nurse came over and checked my temperature. As she did, she told us that I appeared to suffer from Heratu's Syndrome - extreme teleportation sickness. It was incurable, and I would have to declare it every time I went through the warp. Assistance would come to me at the other side immediately, but it would never dispel the dizzyness, vomiting and fainting. However, warping into a point high above the surface of a planet does not seem to cause it, as long as nothing is beneath my feet. My arrivals on any other world through a warp, from then on, would end up with a very unpleasant feeling and waking up in a clinic bed, suffering itchy straw.

Perhaps that's why I loathe Matango Terminal.

Later on in our trip, we tried to get to Dinokan to see my aunt. We were going to fly directly from the airport at Mushroom City there.

"Dinokan? Haven't you heard?" a Yoshi asked behind the counter. Princess Toadstool Airport had advanced since my father had last been there.

"We've been living on Fa'Diel for quite some time…" my father's voice trailed off as he looked at the calendar on the wall behind the mushroom.

He had caught on to the impossibly complex fraction of orbital difference and realised it had been nearly eleven years since he'd set foot on Yamauchian soil.

"By Undine…" he muttered. Eleven Yamauchian years is more than enough to adopt Pandoran mannerisms.

"Sir?" the Yoshi asked.

"Sorry about that, I just realised how long it had been. Three tickets for Dinokan."

"We can't do that, I'm sorry."

"Why not? What do you mean by your inability to get tickets to Dinokan?"

It must have been quite odd for all the informed people - most of them, actually - to hear my father say that. I'm certain I heard a momentary drop in the babble of the crowd.

"Dinokan was sunk to the bottom of the Strait by a mega-explosive missile."

"Dad?" I asked cautiously as I saw him struggle to stand up.

"Did…did the Koopas do it? If it was those damned Koopas, I will…"

My parents had taught me that Koopas were evil, to be avoided, and if encountered, to be eaten. They're still prejudiced today, and refuse to believe my stories about their assimilation into Archipelago society.

"No sir, it was not the Koopas. I would ask that you do not talk about the Koopas in such a way, or I shall have to call the security guards. You must have been away a long time. It was from Golden Robo-Yoshi's airship."

The clerk dutifully spat to his side, offending my father.

"What did you do that for?" he asked.

"Because that's tradition among the Yoshies, now. Shall I order you a copy of the summary of each year's events?"

"Yes…yes, that would be good."

My father read about how Golden Robo-Yoshi had sunk the island, how a few of the Yoshi heroes had destroyed him. He was fascinated how laws were underway to promote peace, goodwill and co-operation between the Koopas and the Mario Alliance, and other laws regarding the care and use of Pokémon. He was disappointed that he missed out on the last Kart Megameet and the previous Smash Brothers Games, both held in Yoshiville. He was intrigued by the increasing autonomy of the Yoshitopia region. He was surprised to read that it had been given a parliament of its own.

"The world has changed from when I last knew it," he sighed.

After an extensive search through phonebooks, we found where my Aunt Tia had moved to, and we set off to visit her in Yoshiville. The plane trip was nothing compared to the Cannon Travel of Fa'Diel, and we were bored very, very quickly.

Aunt Tia met us at the airport, and we set off to her house. It was reasonably modest, in the same area that my mother grew up in.

I got along really well with my aunt, and I'm glad I did - I would be back one day. I enjoyed my time immensely on Yamauchi and in the Archipelago…I dreaded the trip home the most of all. And as I woke up on the straw at Matango, I had a sense of foreboding.