Luigi and Yoshi looked behind them from where the voice had come from.
To their surprise, it was exactly as they had assumed the voice had come from.
“Birdo!” Yoshi cried with relief.
“In the flesh,” Birdo answered, half-smug. The other Birdos beside her murmured in agreement, their tones echoing the semi-smugness that radiated from the one who had just spoken.
“We could sure use some help,” Luigi breathed; part of the tension that had only been building up from within him had eased some when he and Yoshi’s 粉, 粉色 friend had shown up for help. Then worry sprouted up from its place. “What are 你 doing here, Birdo?!”
Birdo sniffed disdainfully, as with the seven other Birdos with her. “I’m offended, Luigi—we stopped our 搜索 for our Prince Charmings halfway to come to your aid, only to have 你 questioning as to why we bothered helping you?”
Luigi shook his head. “No, Birdo, that’s not it. I appreciate that 你 all have come to help us, and I don’t mean to underestimate any of you, but…I doubt the two of us”—he gestured to him and Yoshi—“plus the eight of you”—he gestured to Birdo and her look-alikes—“will do even one-fourth of anything against all these.” He gestured to the mass of Bowser’s army, still tensed-up and ready to take any of them down should at least one of them make even a single mistake of charging toward them and attacking.
“Then, my dearest green plumber, 你 really have seriously underestimated us,” Birdo 说 slyly. “Did 你 really think we would have gone all this way…without any friends?” And she gave a snap of her fingers.
That sound was the only thing that gave out an echo, so emphasized as it was.
Then, right on cue, as if that snap gave way to a signal, several 颜色 swirled over and forced to fill themselves into the 太空 that Bowser’s army had occupied. Luigi and Yoshi took a closer look, and, realized that they weren’t actually just colors—they were Yoshis! Several other Yoshis from Yoshi’s Island had all come to the 城堡 grounds and squared off to face the Koopa King’s army.
Luigi blinked in amazement, and half-expected the multitude to end, but it did not. Soon, it was almost as if they could actually match the mass of Bowser’s army. He shook his head—he had no idea Yoshi had so many family members; the reunions and birthdays must be hard with a family that huge.
Yoshi was just as shocked as Luigi to see practically everyone from Yoshi’s Island there at Bowser’s Castle. What were they doing? Had Birdo 给 word that he and Luigi needed help? Had they agreed to come and fight without so much as a 秒 thought?
Both Luigi and Yoshi forced themselves to tear their astonished gazes away from the still-approaching Yoshis and turned back to Bowser’s army. Just barely five 分钟 had passed—maybe even a minute—and their expressions were…different. From being all built-up with tension, they looked like they had shrunken down a little, as if their confidence was wavering.
Luigi narrowed his eyes a little at specific members of Bowser’s army…and he could’ve sworn at was he saw a drop of sweat rolling off the cheeks of several of the Koopas, Parakoopas, and Hammer Brothers. Not only that, were the Lakitus…shaking?
“Looks like Bowser’s army is starting to chicken out just soon as every Yoshi from Yoshi’s Island piled in this place, bunch after bunch,” Birdo 说 confidently, no hint of bluff in her voice. Her statement wasn’t that far off from what Luigi and Yoshi were thinking right now.
“What are 你 all doing here?” Yoshi asked to the 粉, 粉色 one who was closest to him.
“What else do 你 think?” the 粉, 粉色 Yoshi answered, matter-of-factly. “We’re here to give 你 a helping hand. Birdo got word about what 你 two are off to do, she told us and now we’re here. Did 你 really think we could just allow 你 two do go off and face all these guys? Suicide at that point, brother!”
Luigi nodded to himself as he heard the 粉, 粉色 Yoshi’s words—his assumptions about Birdo telling the Yoshis were right the whole time, as well as the semi-creepy fact that Birdo really was as “connected” as she’d claimed she was since the last time they’d spoken to each other.
“Besides,” the black Yoshi added, “we still owe to green plumber and his red brother something for saving us from that Yoob way back during Partners in Time; 你 scratched our backs, and we scratch yours.”
Luigi could not believe his ears! He had no idea the gratitude for saving them from the Shroob-mutated “Yoshi” creature had gone on since a long way.
“Well, talk is enough,” the yellow Yoshi said, squaring off his shoulders. “Let’s fight!”
“¡A por ellos!” the cyan Yoshi cried out, excited to charge at the opposing figures as if oblivious to their massive number.
“Let’s go, girls,” Birdo nodded to her doppelgangers; the other seven nodded as they mirrored her motion toward the enemies.
“Let’s go, Luigi,” Yoshi 说 to the green plumber, darting toward the crowd the 分裂, 拆分 秒 he’d finished his sentence.
“Let’s a-go,” Luigi said, following the dinosaur, fist raised toward their adversaries.
And then it all hit like 火, 消防 with fire. Shouts were a dominant thing to be heard, followed 由 smacks of fists, kicks, and other violence-provoking actions. Any other sounds 或者 voices were completely drowned out, save for a handful of growls, a few cries of pain now and then, and occasional swearing.
“Take this,” Luigi hissed, launching a massive blow on the Koopa’s nose.
“This was for the shitload of scares 你 gave us,” Yoshi snarled, raising an egg high up for a moment, then cracking it hard onto the Lakitu’s skull, resulting to a satisfying crunching sound.
The other Yoshis were delivering their own hits and blows to the enemies, though the latter wasn’t one to give up without a fight; hits and blows of similar force were 给 back in return.
And so Luigi, Yoshi, the eight Birdos, and the Yoshis of Yoshi’s Island were giving it their all at the battle, though Bowser’s army fought at them pretty intensely themselves.
Just then, the Yoshis and Birdo did something unusual. They rammed toward the opposing army, and charged at them in a way that soon it was clear they were trying to make way.
But for who?
“Birdo, guys, what are 你 all doing?” Luigi asked, momentarily taking a pause from almost giving the Hammer Bro a good shiner and looking at what their allies had done.
“Vayan, Luigi y Yoshi,” the cyan Yoshi said. “¡Marchen!”
“Huh?” Luigi asked, clearly not understanding what the cyan dinosaur had just said.
“He says that 你 should go,” the black Yoshi translated. “Actually we’re all saying 你 two should go.”
“I don’t understand,” Yoshi said, clearly confused. “We have a battle to do!”
“Exactly,” the black one snapped at Luigi’s companion, “and your job is to kick Bowser’s 屁股 and rescue everyone!”
“This is our battle,” Birdo said. “Yours is inside Bowser’s Castle.”
“But…,” Luigi wanted to protest, shaking his head. “We can’t just leave 你 all like this!”
“We’ll be fine,” the yellow Yoshi assured. “You started on this journey to save them, and that’s just what you’ll do.”
Luigi and Yoshi couldn’t argue with that.
“Thanks, guys,” Luigi stuttered, trying to hide the lump of emotion building up in his throat. Seriously, thanks!”
“Now hurry up,” Birdo said, narrowly dodging a hammer aimed at her from a faraway Hammer Bro. “We can’t hold them back for long.”
“Of course,” Yoshi breathed. “Come on, Luigi, they’re all counting on us.”
“And Bowser’s 屁股 is just begging to be kicked good,” Luigi added.
Yoshi laughed and nodded at that, and the two made their way to the gates of Bowser’s Castle.