DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to anything you may recognize from any Nintendo game.

It was the last race before the final on Rainbow Road. This race took place in Mushroom City, one of the most dangerous tracks on the tour because of all the traffic and bombs... and of course Bowser's reckless driving and disregard for all safety rules. Normally, these races were held with very high standards of safety. Although people loved throwing stuff at each other's karts to eliminate the competition, special rules had been put in place to make sure no one was seriously injured. And Bowser didn't care about any of them. He'd do whatever it took to win, even if it meant seriously hurting others.

Mario and Peach were on the same team, as were Luigi and Daisy. Everyone else kept their usual partners. Things were going relatively well in the race; the first two laps had gone by with little incident, and the third lap was going well...

Until...

(tires squealing) CRASH! BOOM! (karts turning over and flying into the air) (more crashing)

(ambulance sirens) (moaning and screaming) (stretchers being wheeled out) (people being put on them and then put in the ambulances)(ambulances driving away, sirens blaring)

(cut to the emergency room)

Toadsworth was really upset when he arrived at the emergency room. He was the one who had put all those safety rules in place in order to protect everyone, but Bowser's disregard for the rules and strong desire to win had resulted in an eight car pile up when Bowser threw a giant shell at Mario and Peach, who had been in first and were just ahead of Bowser and his son, forcing Mario to drive straight into a bomb kart on the road. Since the race had been so close, everyone had either been caught in the bomb's blast or had crashed into someone who had been caught in the blast. Now everyone was in the emergency room (even Bowser and Bowser Jr.) and a few competitors (including Mario and Peach) hadn't shown signs of consciousness yet.

"Oh dear!" Toadsworth exclaimed as he saw doctors and nurses hustling about from one bed to another; the ones containing the more seriously injured racers had curtains drawn around them. Toadsworth approached the doctor in charge of the emergency room, Dr. Pianta (who was, you guessed it, a pianta). "Is everyone ok?" he asked in a tone of panic, "What about Master Mario and Princess Peach? Are they all right?"

"Everyone seems to be doing ok," Dr. Pianta said, "In fact, some of the racers managed to escape with only minor injuries. Unfortunately, Mario and Peach haven't woken up yet. Neither have Luigi, Wario, or Yoshi. Everyone else seems to be doing fine. You can visit anyone who isn't currently receiving treatment. And the patients who have curtains drawn around their bed are unconscious, so it would kinda be pointless to visit with them unless you just wanted to be by their side when they woke up."

At that moment, Toadsworth heard a moan coming from a bed with curtains drawn around it. "Hmm," Dr. Pianta said, "It seems as though Luigi has woken up. You can visit him if you want to. I think Daisy's there already."

Toadsworth walked over to see if Luigi and Daisy were ok. Daisy was sitting in a chair by Luigi's bed. "Ah, Princess Daisy!" Toadsworth said, "I'm glad to see you're ok." She only had a broken arm, which was in a cast. Luigi, however, was in a full body cast. "Oh dear!" Toadsworth exclaimed, seeing Luigi, "What happened?"

"Well," Daisy explained, "We were right behind Mario and Peach when the bomb blew up, so our kart was sent flying, too. We fell out and I broke my arm, but the kart landed on top of Luigi... He's probably lucky to be alive."

"So you saw the whole thing?" Toadsworth asked, "You didn't lose consciousness?"

"Nope," Daisy replied, "All I did was land on my arm and get a few cuts and bruises. Nothing that hasn't happened to me before..."

Luigi tried to ask Toadsworth a question, but it was hard to understand him through all the plaster. "What was that, sweetie?" Daisy asked, leaning closer so she could hear Luigi. Luigi mumbled again, and Daisy understood him. "He wants to know if Mario is ok," she said, "And I guess I might as well ask about Peach, too."

"I don't know," Toadsworth replied, "I haven't seen either of them since the crash, and the doctor said that neither of them have regained consciousness."

"Oh no!" Daisy exclaimed. Just then, they heard someone mumble "Mama mia!" from the curtained bed across from Luigi's bed. "Huh? Isn't that Mario over there?" Daisy asked.

"I think so," Toadsworth said, "I'll go check. You can stay here with Luigi." With that, Toadsworth left Daisy and Luigi and went to go see if that was Mario behind the curtains.

It was. Mario was lying in his bed, his hat was on the table next to the bed and his head was bandaged. His right leg was broken, too, and he was badly burned since he had been right up front in the driver's seat when they hit the bomb. He opened his eyes and tried to sit up, but got dizzy and laid down again. "Master Mario!" Toadsworth exclaimed, "Are you all right?"

"Huh?" Mario groaned, "Toadsworth? What's going on? Where am I?"

"Do you remember anything about the crash?" Toadsworth asked.

Mario thought for a while, then remembered. "Oh," he said, "All I remember is Bowser's shell forcing us into a bomb kart, we went flying into the air, I came down and hit my head on the ground and everything goes blank from there..." he explained. "Where's Peach?" he asked, "Is she ok?"

"I don't know..." Toadsworth replied, "I haven't seen her since the crash. The doctor said she was still unconscious... I'm very worried about her."

"Can you go check and see if she's ok?" Mario asked, "I'd go myself, but I can't get up."

"I'll go check on her," Toadsworth said, "I just need to find out where she is."

"If she can get up, could you ask her to come see me?" Mario asked.

"I will," Toadsworth replied, "But I can't make any promises. For all I know, she could be in worse shape than you."

He left Mario and went to find out where Peach was. He asked Dr. Pianta where she was and he pointed to the curtained bed across from Toad's bed (Toadette was visiting him at the moment). "It would be kinda pointless to go visit her now," Dr. Pianta had said, "She still isn't showing any signs of consciousness."

"I just want to see if she's ok," Toadsworth said, "I'm very worried about her and her friends are worried, too."

"All right," Dr. Pianta sighed, "Go ahead, but don't get your hopes up on having a conversation or anything. It's kinda boring talking to someone who won't respond." He pushed aside the curtain so Toadsworth could go through.

HA! CLIFFHANGER! Be sure to check back for Part 2: Mario's Recovery! I'm gonna post Part 2 RIGHT NOW so hang on!