Chapter 1
The crowd in the stands went wild, it was the fourth and final race of the tournament. "MAR-I-O. MAR-I-O," echoed through the valley as the champion driver awaited the start of the final race. Mario had a fantastic record this season and had been setting time records left and right, mostly due to his acquired perfection of a beautiful drifting technique that had photographers crammed in at every turn. His training for this event had been very intense, Mario used every chance he got to make practice runs at his brother's "Luigi's raceway". Nevertheless, the competition would be stiff, there were plenty of other highly skilled drivers at this event and he would have to place first in order to take home the gold.
Mario sat in his bucket seat staring down the first leg of the track. Tuning out all of the commotion, he envisioned the race in his mind, solely focusing on the briefing from the day before. Picturing nothing but the angle of attack on each curve, and flooring it on the straightaways to extend his lead into an even bigger gap.
"Mario.… Mario.…are you listening to me Mario?" a somewhat crackled voice came over the headset. It was his pit master, Crew Chief Toad.
"Yes, I'm here," he replied snapping out of his fix.
"We're almost ready to start, this is it, one more race and we take home the gold!"
"Don't worry, I got this"
"We tweaked your camber setup as you requested. Going through those turns should feel smooth as ice!"
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN", Boomed the PA system. "Welcome to another Grand Touring Race Championship." A heavy cheering erupted once again. "And it's a perfect day for racing here in the Mushroom Kingdom. My name is Bob Hudson and I have the privilege of being your announcer for today's event. We have a lot of good drivers out here today making for a fantastic line-up. And of course, as you all know, in the number one position, we have the returning champion… MARIO!" The crowd went ecstatic! Mario gave a grin for his close-up as Lakitu hovered with a camera in front of his kart. "What do you say folks, let's get this race underway!"
"This is it Mario, good luck"
Mario tightened his racing gloves, put his key in the ignition, and waited for the announcer's instruction.
"DRIVERS, START – YOUR – ENGINES!" The decibel level of noise in the stadium further increased as the roaring of the crowd mixed with the firing-up of the race engines.
BUT WAIT! SOMETHING IS WRONG! MARIO'S KART DOESN'T START!
The staging light for the race came on, a bright red shining now. He turned the key and tried again. The little go-kart choked, sputtered and nothing more. The light changed to yellow. Noticing his distress, the pit crew leader anxiously radioed,
"Mario, what's happening? What's going on? Start the kart!"
"I'm trying," answered Mario, as the engine continued to make unpleasant noises in the background. "Something is seriously wrong here, did you guys make sure to check the timing?"
"Yes we did, that engine is perfectly tuned."
The light went to the bottom position of the signal - GREEN!
Mario hopelessly tried to start the motor one last time as one driver after another flew right on by him as they started their first lap. Suddenly, Mario heard a deep menacing laughter to his left. He saw Bowser pass, and the look he gave Mario was all he needed in order to figure out what had happened. He coughed as Bowser's kart fumigated him with a cloud of black sooty exhaust smoke. He always did run that thing too rich.
"AND THEIR OFF!" exclaimed the announcer. "Wait, what's this ladies and gentlemen? It appears as if our hero's kart won't even start! I would hate to be the crew chief responsible for that folks."
Mario reluctantly unbuckled his safety harness and hopped out of the kart waiting for his pit crew as they ran out towards him. "I am so sorry Mario, I will find out who is responsible for this mishap and I will fire them on the spot." Mario reassuringly patted him on the shoulder, "Don't worry Toad, it wasn't your fault. I suspect foul play is at hand." "Foul Play! By who?" demanded Pit Toad. "Bowser," Mario answered as his fist clenched down on his helmet. "BOWSER! Why that low-down, yellow-bellied, good-for-nothing... He just did that because he knew he couldn't beat you on the upright." "Don't worry, I'll settle this," replied a surprisingly serene Mario. "Ok guys, let's get this rig off the track! We got work to do!" He ordered as he watched Bowser disappear around the first turn.
Mario watched from the sideline as the other drivers battled out this intense race. After the second lap, a grease covered member of the pit crew approached and said, "Sir, we have figured out the problem." "Good work, so what in the world went wrong?" "Sugar, Sir." "Sugar?" "Yes Sir, it appears someone dumped a load of sugar into the gas tank." "Good work, now get all those parts cleaned up ASAP!" "Yes Sir!" he saluted as he jogged back to the rest of the crew. "Bowser has played some nasty tricks before, but this is low even for him. We have to get him back, should we slash his tires?" the Crew Chief joked. "Don't worry, like I mentioned before, I have an idea," said Mario as he walked off, helmet in hand to the finish line to wait for the end of the race.
The checkered flag was out, Mario was staring down the throat of the last straightaway. He watched the line of dots in the distance grow larger as the racers bore down on the finish line. Bowser was in the lead followed by Yoshi and DK. Mario once again heard that familiar diabolical laugh as Bowser tore across the finish line. He got a sickening feeling in his gut as he watched Bowser take away what should have rightfully been his. However, he kept a smirk on his face envisioning the plan he was about to carry out.
