It was a bright, sunny day in the Mushroom Kingdom. The course has been set, and a very excited Lakitu was floating around on his cloud.

"Good morning, folks, and prepare for the 21st annual Mario Kart tournament! First up is Luigi Circuit, first race of the Mushroom Cup!"

The massive crowd in the stadium cheered, making an absolutely deafening sound that echoed throughout the course. Following tradition, Luigi Circuit always served as the first course of the exciting series. The course has been given, 21 years ago, to Luigi as a present from Princess Peach for saving her in a galactic adventure. It was a standard race course, perfect for beginners: no hazards, and it was an oval track with no sharp turns. Also, it had the lowest amount of item boxes in the entire tournament, only 3. This meant that only the starters could get it per lap. The finish line area had an enormous grandstand housing thousands of excited spectators (most of them toads, who had travelled from Toad Town not so far away to watch the race). A giant Luigi's hat was built onto the top of the grandstand. On the other side of the track was the pits, where all 16 drivers was busy tinkering with their karts before the race.

A massive scoreboard suddenly lit up, above the pits:

Driver: | Kart:

Mario | Red Racer

Luigi | L Charger

Peach | Heart Kart

Daisy | Flower Power

Rosalina | Rainbow Comet

Bowser | Koopa King

Bowser Jr. | Koopa Chaser

Diddy Kong | Banana 1

Donkey Kong | Konga Kart

Yoshi | Yoshi Egg

Birdo | Pink Powerhouse

Toad | Mushroom Dynamite

Toadette | Pink Shroom

Koopa Troopa | Shell Smasher

Wario | Gold Buster

Waluigi | Purple Buster

Lakitu was busy reporting the news.

"As you can see, this year we have 16 racers! 16! This is now an all-time high. There's still some time before the pole position shootout, so let the interviews begin!"

This year was different from all the other years, as it featured a pole position shootout. The previous Mario Kart tournaments were unfair as it gave the racers who started first got an advantage, so the pole position shootout was implemented. Basically, each racers get a turn to race around the circuit in three laps, and the lineup for the actual race would be from the fastest to the slowest. There was a high rate of anticipation in the air, and everyone was already present, not wishing to even miss out on the pole position shootout.

Lakitu let it rip with the interviews. First up was Mario, the heavy favourite.

"So, Mr. Mario, what is your strategy today?"

"Let me tell you this. I have won 16 out of the last 20 tournaments, so I will win again this year. It's as easy as that. I'm the most all-around of all the racers, and I wanna keep it that way".

Lakitu nodded; Mario seemed confident. The crowd cheered again (except a couple of Hammer Bros from the Koopa Troop, who was supporting Bowser).

Luigi was busy tinkering in the pits when Lakitu came to him. He noticed that Luigi had changed his kart dramatically. Luigi was busy calming himself by having a cup of coffee, while his mechanic, Toadbert, worked on the car. Luigi, with this being his own circuit, expected to win this race, even though the crowd and MushroomBet didn't.

"Ah, yes Luigi. Younger brother of Mario but we won't hold that against you, will we?"

Luigi actually thought that Lakitu was a pest. He hated being interviewed before any race, preferring to think deeply instead.

The Lakitu very clearly found himself unwelcome, and continued on to the pits of Princess Peach. In a matter of minutes, Lakitu had interviewed all the high-profile racers, not even bothering with the lower profile ones.

In fact, most knew that this time, this tournament would be a four-horse race contested between Mario, the favourite, Peach, Bowser Jr. and the surprise entrant: Rosalina. Donkey Kong and Yoshi were also miles ahead of the pack. In fact, Luigi, who had suffered from being not as well-known as his older brother (despite also rescuing the princess on a number of occasions). He was ranked instead as a 'Wild Card' (which literally meant that it was almost impossible for him to come first) in the Mushroom Cup alone. And then, of course, it was onto the Shell Cup before the prestigious Special Cup. Within the Special Cup was the notorious Rainbow Road. Unlike all other circuits, in this one if you fell off the edge, Lakitu would take you to the pits and you would watch on hopelessly, becoming a mere spectator. It meant business.

Suddenly the horns blared, signalling the start of the shootout. Mario eagerly went into his kart, which although bearing a humble name ('Red Racer') was by far the most all-around kart you can find. It excelled in almost every category. Luigi watched his older bro tackle the course with absolute precision: taking every turn in the course perfectly. His three laps was flawless.

"Could contestant number two, Luigi, make his way to the starting line please."

Luigi turned numb with fear. He sat into his kart, his mind set on getting the rocket start. Lakitu quickly went onto the start line with his trademark signaller.

Red Light. Stop.

Yellow Light. Get ready.

Green Light. GO!

Luigi zoomed out of the circuit, only to find that he had missed out on the rocket start. "Dang it!" he screamed, then got himself composed for the first turn. Unfortunately, he took it too narrowly, and the left side clipped grass.

Luigi had stuffed it.

The audience booed.

Although his next lap was flawless, it simply could not make up time to beat Mario. In a Mario Kart race, seconds are minutes, minutes are hours, and hours are an eternity. Luigi turned right, onto the opposite straight. His kart thundered through at 150km/h, and then he slowed and composed himself for the final turn which led onto the home straight. Two laps down, one lap to go.

Luigi knew very well that with two blunders already, either he make this one or he would be out of the top 5. No, he was probably already out, and now he must cling for a spot in the top 10. Round the first turn. Very good. Second turn. Still good. Third and final turn. Flawless. And then the L Charger finished its pole position shootout.

Luigi hung his head. It was a bad run.

Luigi watched the other shootouts in hope that some of the racers would stuff up. In truth, only a small amount failed as much as he did. Some turned too wide, some turned too narrow, some were too scared, but others, such as Mario, were perfectly consistent.

By the end of the pole position shootout, the leader board looked like this:

Driver: | Kart: | Time:

Mario | Red Racer | 2:10:53

Yoshi | Yoshi Egg | 2:11:01

Rosalina | Rainbow Comet | 2:11:34

Bowser Jr. | Koopa Chaser | 2:11:40

Wario | Gold Buster | 2:12:10

Luigi | L Charger | 2:12:45

Toad | Mushroom Dynamite | 2:13:22

Daisy | Flower Power | 2:15:11

Peach | Heart Kart | 2:15:53

Donkey Kong | Konga Kart | 2:16:00

Waluigi | Purple Buster | 2:17:02

Bowser | Koopa King | 2:18:31

Birdo | Pink Powerhouse | 2:20:03

Koopa Troopa | Shell Smasher | 2:20:11

Diddy Kong | Banana 1 | 2:22:00

Toadette | Pink 'Shroom | 2:23:02

Although, at the end of the actual race, the pole position shootout would not matter one bit, the fact was that in a Mario Kart race, starting first and starting last could be the matter of life and death. Unless some rocket starts were used while the top 3 did not have any, on a course with as few item boxes as Luigi Circuit, only the top 3 could give them the edge, which also meant that, if they got the right item, could easily catapult them further. It wasn't uncommon to see a Mario Kart race end only too find that the leader board is pretty much the same as it has started. Also, since this year the pole position shootout was implemented, the starting blocks are further apart - a rocket start can only boost you a maximum of two positions.

Game on.