The explosion of Hookbill the Horrible's giant shell shatters the sky and leave's Melon's ears ringing. All at once there's chaos; Hookbill himself-- once a giant terror, and now shrunken down to a pitiful koopa-- plummets off the platform they battled on. Lakitus fill the sky of their lair in a frenzy, shouting in panic and split between fleeing, or diving to try and grab their boss mid-fall. There are giant shell fragments everywhere, splintering like shooting stars all around, and Melon has to concentrate hard not to get hit. He jumps from the crumbling stone platform to land on a hovering sphere, but the moment his weight hits it the number on it's side begins to tick tick tick.
7... 6... 5...
Melon makes a frazzled sound while whipping his tail, tapdancing his paws anxiously, glancing everywhere. Looking for anything that could serve as something to keep him and baby Mario from plummeting to the hard earth below, but he sees nothing.
4...
With little choice, Melon barks at baby Mario to hang on before he begins sprinting, hopping like a bunny on each platform as its countdown continues.
3...
They're quickly running out of ground. Melon's heart pounds as he runs, and he sees the end of the line.
2...
He's fallen from high heights before, but this is really cutting it close! Melon only hopes he has enough magic to cushion their fall. And as the final platform comes up, Melon grits his teeth--
...1.
--and leaps.
He expects them to plummet just as Hookbill did. And for the most part, they do, clouds and fragments zipping past them and the wind whistling in their ears. But suddenly, Melon feels Mario shifting around on his back; he can't really see what the boy is doing, and immediately feels panic when the arms around his neck are suddenly gone.
Did Mario lose his grip?!
Melon doesn't get the chance to look; Mario's weight has vanished from his back... only for a strong hand to grasp his paws, and suddenly, Melon is no longer falling.
He's flying.
Melon blinks once, twice, three times, before he snaps his eyes up above him. If he hadn't seen it with his own two eyes, he wouldn't've believed it. Mario meets his look with a starry, fiery one of his own. He gives the binkie a single chew.
Melon isn't the one flying. Mario is.
The baby carries him as if he weighed little more than a bag, a brilliant yellow cape billowing out behind him as he pulls up. Melon can't help but wonder how how how? But as they pass the tearfully Hookbill in their descent, a memory flashes through his mind.
The Super Star fruit... that had to be it! Hookbill ate half of one to get larger before he attacked. Mario must've picked up the leftover while Melon was occupied with the battle.
However it happened, Melon felt a proud grin stretch across his face. His previously panicked barks became ones of excitement, and he kicks his paws in a mimic of a Flutter Kick.
Down they go!
-----
Unbeknownst to either baby Mario or Melon, little red-faced creatures land atop the clouds behind them. Glowing white eyes watch the pair's decent as they disappear into the trees, followed only by the echo of Melon's barking.
The Tweeters chirp at one another before they take off in the opposite direction...
—–
Part 6<<– Part 7 (CURRENT) –>> Part 8
Retelling of Yoshi’s Island from the perspective of one specific Yoshi (Melon) on a quest to get baby Mario home! There is an update every Monday. :)
Now I want to see Nintendo do their own Once Upon A Studio style short.
Some day I would love to see Nintendo do their own little short film similar to Once Upon A Studio with all the different Nintendo characters gathered together with a giant group photo at the end.
Now HERE’S a fella who really gives me the heebie-jeebies! Ghost’s and skellingtons sure are fun, but usually more fun than scary, and I don’t know about you, but I think the scariest things are when something is just off. And maybe you think I’m ridiculous for being uneasy around this big dopey turtle. And maybe I am! But if you ask me? They knew what they were doing.
You see, Hookbill’s castle isn’t like most. When you near his sanctum, the whole place is enveloped in a thick fog. I don’t think this ever happens anywhere else in the game! Yoshi is all alone, running across a bridge in the sky, trying desperately to protect an infant while likely not even being able to see beyond his own nose. But that’s not the horror. The horror is what lurks IN the fog.
It’s THIS MAN! Nothing to worry about, right? Just a silly fakeout. All that buildup for a little buddy we know and love. All that’s left is for Kamek to make him bigger for a fun little boss battle, and we’re done!
But he doesn’t just become bigger.
I don’t know about you, but when I look at this face, I don’t see a regular Koopa Troopa anymore. I’m not sure there’s anything going on behind that vacant stare. Hookbill may have a few seconds ago been a cute little turtle, but now he’s a shell of his former self (get out of here, wordplay, this is supposed to be serious!). All he can think of now is hurting Yoshi. In fact, I don’t even think he’s sentient anymore. I think he’s gone completely feral. All those years of Koopa domestication down the drain.
Maybe you still don’t believe me... maybe you think I’m preposterous. Well, I’ll have you know I have never been preposterous in my life. Everything I’ve ever said in my life has been completely serious, and if I ever said anything silly or whimsical, that’s just a coincidence. But anyway, I will now show... THIS!
Hookbill starts the battle on all fours. Koopas don’t walk on all fours anymore! They evolved bipedalism right before our very eyes after Super Mario World. The ones in Galaxy were on other planets and didn’t get the memo yet.
Hookbill must now have eggs thrown at him to knock him over and expose his vulnerable plastron for ground-pounding to end his reign of uncanny terror.
And how should you feel then? Guilty, for destroying a poor, innocent turtle, warped beyond his own mind’s recognition? Could you have talked it out instead? Is the real Hookbill in there anymore at all? Or should you feel proud, for putting him out of his misery? Would his life have been an empty one, full of nothing but a primal urge for bloodlust? These are the questions we must ask ourselves when playing Yoshi’s Island.
Ooh-La-La! Looks like you took a swing of something strange… Your character has accidentally drunk a love potion and are madly in love with the first thing they see until February 14th. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Turns out Hookbill the Koopa started out not as a Koopa Troopa at all! These animations in the #NintendoLeaks show a different shelled creature started as this boss.
During the battle against Hookbill the Koopa in level 4-8 of Yoshi’s Island, if Yoshi performs the final Ground Pound on Hookbill quickly enough after he falls over, a glitch will occur where Yoshi will fly up vertically at great speed after the Ground Pound. For the remainder of the scene, Yoshi will not come down.
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