Luigi sat in a great lounge room inside Princess Peach's castle, designed with pink walls, a pink ceiling, a pink carpet and even pink-coloured lounges arranged neatly in a large semi-circle. Looking over at Yoshi, one of the standout racers of last year's tournament, he tried to make a facial expression to convey his message, but Yoshi just shrugged dismissively.

By seeing that all the racers of last year were now all gathered, plus the fact that the golden Mario Kart emblem was proudly showing on the curtain draped over the stage in front of him, Luigi had no doubt that this was something to do with the upcoming Mario Kart season – and the first race in less than a week. Sitting right next to him was Toadbert, a blue-capped toad that was also Luigi's trusty mechanic, and he too was just as confused.

"Attention all Mario Kart racers! Please welcome the president of the tournament, Toadsworth!"

With that, Toadsworth promptly stepped onto the stage, cane in hand. After waiting for the applause to die down, he tapped the microphone a few times, before beginning his well-rehearsed speech.

"Welcome, racers, to the start of the 22nd Mario Kart tournament! I am pleased to announce there would be several changes this year".

There was a few gasps from the crowd.

"Firstly, instead of racing solo, you would be racing with a partner. One would be the driver, and one would be in charge of the item boxes and the items contained within them. The team would take turns, switching driver and partner every race, until Rainbow Roads, when teammates can choose their favoured positions".

Between the cheers, a few boos were mixed in, showing both eagerness and annoyance.

"Now, unless I am very much mistaken, you racers each submitted a letter with the name of your favourite Mario Kart racer, aside from yourself".

"So we were actually choosing our driving partners!", an angry Waluigi hollered across the lounge. "Why didn't you tell us!"

"And spoil the surprise?" Toadsworth smiled. "Now, let me read out the names to you:

"Princess Peach and Princess Daisy".

The two princesses high-fived each other with much enthusiasm. Peach, of course, knew all along what was going to happen.

"Bowser and Bowser Jr."

The big Koopas snickered, as if planning some evil plan. Luigi, judging from their personalities, knew they probably were.

"Yoshi and Birdo."

"Yoshi Yoshi!", Yoshi said happily, knowing that Birdo also voted for him. His pink counterpart grunted in return.

"Wario and Waluigi."

"Team Wario, number one!" Wario screamed. Waluigi was quick to point out that they should go by his name, and as a massive argument started Toadsworth continued with his announcement:

"Toad and Toadette."

"Diddy Kong and Donkey Kong".

"Koopa Troopa and Koopa Paratroopa".

"Princess Rosalina and Lubba".

"Ludwig von Koopa and Wendy O. Koopa"

Everyone glanced at the two newcomers. The Koopalings didn't say anything, and continued to stare at Toadsworth.

"And lastly, a team composed of last year's winner (Luigi filled with pride) and last year's runner-up (it wasn't a fair fight, Mario bitterly thought), Mario and Luigi!

"Boooo!" Bowser heckled from the other side of the semi-circle, but Luigi didn't notice. On most occasions, he and his brother got along just fine, but when Mario Kart was involved, not so much. Their racing rivalry was intensified last year after Mario scored a DNF ('Did Not Finish'), when he attempted to ram Luigi off the track on Rainbow Road.

The two brothers shook each other's hands. Sure, they were brothers and all, but Mario still remembered Luigi knocking off his title as defending champion. They knew that teamwork was crucial, unlike Wario and Waluigi, whose argument over the team name had now turned to fists and violence.

Toadsworth wished them good luck, and walked off the stage. The new teams quickly got out of their lounges and went for home.

Luigi caught up with Toad at the castle's entrance. "You think you will win?"

"With Toadette at my side, we're title contenders!", Toad said proudly. "Rosalina (who finished third last year) and Lubba would probably be our main rivals, and so would Bowser and Bowser Jr. I wouldn't be surprised if those two turned up with a monster of a kart and a bag of dirty tricks. But, what I'm curious about are Ludwig von Koopa and Wendy O. Koopa. It isn't easy, racing your first Mario Kart race, you know. Some say once, on his first go, a racer fainted."

Luigi chuckled, and continued the conversation. "I guess, like always, the first race is at Luigi Circuit, huh. Meet you at the races! Good luck!"

"Good luck!", Toad shouted back, as they went separate ways. Luigi then went up to his brother. "You think we're gonna win this year?"

Mario shrugged. "We might. Go Team…uh…what do you think would be a good team name?"

"I dunno. As long as it isn't one of our names.", Luigi answered, thinking of Wario and Waluigi again.

"What about The Plumbers?"

"You know very well that plumbing isn't one of our strong points, and after our first rescue of the princess that isn't our occupation any more."

"Princess Savers!"

"How about we just stick with something simple and go with Mario Bros. At least its better than 'The Plumbers' or 'Princess Savers'!"

"Yeah, let's go with that", Luigi admitted. "Let's start tomorrow".

Luigi once lived in a run-down apartment, but since a gift from Peach has turned into a marvellous, triple-story mansion. What wasn't a part of the original plan was a scrappy shed bolted onto the side of the house.

Luigi looked at the marvellous green kart that was the L Charger – the brilliant machine that was the racer that gave him glory last year.

At around noon, Mario turned up. His original mechanic, Toadofsky, walked alongside him.

"You sure a team can have two mechs?" Toadbert asked, glancing at the toad.

"Who knows. Let's get started".

Immediately the racers encountered a problem. "We're gonna race in that thing!", Mario said in disbelief, pointing at the L Charger. It can't even hold two people!"

"Yes it can!", Luigi argued back, remembering how Toadiko sat in the back whilst she was his temporary mechanic while Toadbert was in hospital during the last season.

"Two properly sized people?"

"Sorry to break it to you, but you're no giant yourself".

Mario laughed. "But still, we'd need to install a joystick to manage our shells and other items, as well as give it a new paint job and a new name. Silver with green stripes are your colours, not mine."

"How about this: we replace the silver bits with red?"

"And make a red-green car! You know how bad it'll look!"

But they didn't have any other ideas, so they did it anyway.

The Mario Bros stepped back to see their re-done machine. It didn't look as menacing, but that didn't stop it from being stunningly fast.

Luigi took his brother for a test drive around Toad Town. The vehicle sped off like a Formula 1 Mushroom Car. Behind the windscreen, the Mario Bros turned and twisted around Toad Town's narrow streets, over five times the speed limit.

Luigi then led them to a deserted stretch of road on the outskirts of town, where he and his bro can start learning to co-operate. He had brought a box of green shells from the shop.

"Pretend that tree to be a kart, and whilst we're on the move try to hit it."

As they sped up, Mario took aim. But as he was preparing to fire, Luigi swerved and the shell missed by a mile.

"What was that for!", Mario snapped angrily.

"In a Mario Kart race, you don't know when you must turn", Luigi explained. "You must get used to this."

The bros tried again, Luigi swerved again, and Mario missed again.

"You know what? Teamwork isn't working for us."

Luigi didn't need his brother to state the obvious.

After more misfires, the brothers drove home dejected. Winning the cup by themselves is no problem at all, but throw them together and they just can't get it to work.

"The race is just in a couple of days. We'd better step it up."

Mario had no choice but agree.

NEXT CHAPTER COMING SOON.