Day 1

7 Days Remain...

--

Toad stood over Yoshi's hospital bed with sad eyes, his head hung low. Yoshi, who'd once been such a happy, free spirit, was now trapped in a prison of wires and tubes. Although the doctor had said he was alive, it was hard to perceive just by looking. He just looked so...

A white-garbed Ratooey walked in a second later, holding a clipboard. Toad immediately approached and stopped him. "Doctor..."
The doctor could tell from Toad's eyes what his question was. "Please, Toad. I already told you he's alive."
"But for how much longer? What's his condition?"
"Please, sir. Calm yourself. He'll be perfectly OK, but not until after a pretty long recovery."
"Well, what's his condition?"
"I was just about to get to that," the doctor said, checking his clipboard. "When the car crashed, Yoshi was thrown from the back of the vehicle and his body collided with the rail. He flipped over the rail and fell nearly thirty feet onto another section of track below. He's suffered from five broken ribs, a fracture in his skull, and his left foot was nearly twisted all the way around."
"I can tell that by looking, thanks."
"Um, yes, of course. In any case, we're doing all we can for him to make his recovery as fast and painless as possible. It'll still take several weeks, however."
"Any brain damage?"
"He's a dinosaur, sir. His brain's probably only the size of a walnut. If there's any brain damage, we don't know about it."
"Oh, what the HELL did you just say?!" Toad asked, balling his hands into fists.
"I can tell your upset, sir. However, your main concern should be the other victim of the accident..."
Toad's body suddenly felt numb. He looked at the doctor with a worried expression. "...Diddy Kong?"

"Yes..." the doctor said, examining the paper on his clipboard. "He suffered from many injuries, but there's one in particular that we're very concerned about. You see, he was driving the vehicle, and when the car crashed, it flipped over and-"
"I don't wanna hear the details of the crash, Doctor!" Toad demanded. "Just tell me his condition! Will he be OK?"
The doctor sighed heavily. "He's suffering from a fatal amount of internal bleeding in his head. I'm gonna be honest with you, Toad... We don't know if he's gonna make it."

Toad's already remorseful face drooped even more. Diddy Kong... dead? He couldn't imagine it. How would Donkey Kong react...?
Well, Diddy wasn't dead yet. All Toad could do was pray that everything would be OK. He would only give the news of the accident victims when the news was final. All that would matter was if they would both live. And it was confirmed that Yoshi would. Diddy Kong, however...

Before becoming too lost in sad thoughts, Toad shook his head and sighed. "Thank you Doctor."
"We're doing all we can," the doctor replied. "We'll let you know the news about Diddy Kong as soon as we can."
"Give me a call at the office when you do, OK?"
"Will do. Take it easy Toad."
"You too, Doc..."

Toad had been sitting at his desk for a long time. The fact that he was sitting in the President's office had always made him feel kinda special, but not today. He was supposed to be making the preparations for the Mushroom Bridge race that was meant to take place the very next day, but he just could not bring himself to. All he found himself doing was sitting in his chair, and glancing at the red telephone on his desk, just waiting to hear the news.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
"Come on in, Mario!" Toad called out.

The door opened and in walked Mario. He took a seat in the chair on the opposite side of the desk. "Good evening Mr President. You called for me?"
Toad sighed. "Mario, we've been over this. Call me Toad."
"Oh, of course Mr President... Toad... sir, ma'am. I mean, ma'am."
"JUST...be quiet..." Toad had to calm himself down. "Yes, I called for you."
Mario nodded. "So, was there something you wanted me to do for you?"
"Well, obviously," Toad remarked, sitting back in his chair. "I assume the accident that happened last night is still fresh in your mind?"
"You'd be right, sir."
"Toad."
"...You'd be right, Toad."
"Good. And according to my knowledge, YOU are the Chief Safety Inspector of the Double Dash division of the Mario Kart Team, am I not correct?"
"Yes."

"Oh, so I'm not correct!"
"No, I mean you ARE correct!"
"But you said 'YES'."
"Well fine then, no."
"Oh, so now you're saying NO, huh?"
"Well, if YES isn't right, then I just figured, umm... What was I saying?"
Toad felt like he was ready to rip his spores out. "Are you the Chief Safety Inspector or not?!"
Mario looked down at his lap. "Yes, I am."
"Then can you please explain to me why one of our vehicles crashed, and the two racers suffered terrible injuries?"
Mario then appeared struck with nervousness. "...Injuries? How bad?"
"Yoshi broke some ribs, fractured his skull, and twisted his goddamn foot! Diddy Kong... I'm not sure about him, but I know he's bleeding like a mother fucker in his head, and that he might not even make it!"

All the tension in the room suddenly converted into pure grief, which didn't make the room any happier a place to be in. Toad had to take a few breaths and blink back a few tears. He then looked up at Mario again. "Mario, please explain to me the guidelines you follow as a Safety Inspector. What exactly is it that you do that has kept Double Dash completely accident-free for nearly 3 years?"
Mario had to think about that for a second. There were so many things he'd done to keep the racetrack safe. "Well... For one thing, the karts we have built are done so specifically to have 6-star safety ratings. They can handle high-speed collisions from the front, back, or sides. Rollover risk is nigh zero, and the tires are equipped with shock absorbers to, umm... absorb shock. Tires are changed before every race, and... yeah. Basically, we're talking about perfect vehicles."

"And what about items and stuff?" Toad asked. "And other things, like Thwomps and boulders. Explain the safety procedures concerned with those."
"Well," Mario continued, "Banana Peels aren't hazardous in the least, so I can skip those. Green and Red Shells are designed to strike all of our karts with just the right amount of force so that the kart does a perfect somersault, taking the target's mass and current velocity in mind, thereby causing the kart to land precisely on its wheels again. So long as the rear player ducks his head down during the attack as he's been trained, both racers shall emerge unscathed, losing only a few seconds in the race. Blue Shells and Bob-omb explosions are really just concentrated blasts of air that, again, are designed to burst with just the right amount of force so that the kart does a single backflip before landing on its wheels perfectly again. The explosions themselves, as well as things like lightning bolts and Thwomps and boulders, are just special effects designed by King Boo, the Special Effects Guy."

"Yes, I know King Boo is the Special Effects Guy," Toad said. "Now what about the rear driver. He's clearly in a dangerous spot. What keeps him safe?"
"C'mon Toad," Mario said. "You've been a rear driver before. You know what keeps you safe."
"Just tell me," Toad demanded.
Mario sighed, and continued. "Every racer in the league undergoes 2 weeks of nothing but training on how to be backseat passenger. They're taught how to move with the kart as to not fall off while handling their items at the same time. Plus, every racer has a clear tether tied around the wrist of their indominate hand, lest they ever lose their grip on the handlebars. Plus, every racers equipped with kneepads in case they ever fall from the back and are dragged behind the kart. Even the guys with no clothes on, who's kneepads are the same color as their skin in order to make them blend in."
"Why would you wanna do that?"
"I dunno. Just makes the races seem a little more thrilling, ya know?"

Toad shook his head and sighed again. "Alright, that's enough. Now tell me - Do you swear to me you did your job before that race?"
"Yes sir. I inspected every kart and everything. Everyone else was doing their jobs as well..."
"Did you inspect the busted vehicle after it crashed?"
"Yes."
"Do you know what caused the crash?!"
"Yes sir..."
"What was it?!"
"A tire broke loose..."

Toad slammed his hands on his desk. "A tire broke loose??"
"Yes," Mario said shamefully. "The front left tire of the Turbo Yoshi... just broke off."
"And what the hell could've made THAT happen??"
"Looked to be loosened bolts..."
"And what about the tether that was supposed to be tied around Yoshi's wrist?! Last I heard, he went FLYING out of the car when it crashed!!"
"It appeared to be cut, sir. Any strong tug could've broken it. Diddy's tether was cut, too..."

Toad sat back in his chair and stared coldly at Mario. "Well Mr Safety Inspector, sounds like you didn't do your job so well."
Mario shook his head. "Please Toad, it was only my responsibility to check on Koopa and Paratroopa to see if they were working on prepping the karts for the race. Last I saw, they were tinkering with one of the Turbo Yoshis."
"Oh," Toad said suspiciously. "So you think Koopa and Paratroopa did something wrong, now do you?"
Mario scratched his chin. "I could never imagine them making mistakes like that, but... I dunno."
"Well Mario," Toad said, standing up, "I'm making it your job TO know! I want you to ask them if they were doing their job and what the hell went wrong out there!"
"Yes sir..."
"TOAD!!"
"Yes, Toad..."
Toad was just about to show Mario out the door when the red telephone on Toad's desk began to ring. The sound of the ringing phone pierced Toad's heart and his tiny chest swelled with anxiety and fear...

Toad stared at the telephone for a few seconds, as though he didn't know what the hell kind of noise it was making. It suddenly rang again, causing him come to immediately.
"Umm... better answer that, Toad," Mario acknowledged.
"Yeah..." Toad said. He swallowed heavily and reached for the phone with a shaking hand. He was about to lift it off the hook when he looked at Mario again. "Mario, we're done here. You can go now."
Without any objections, Mario quickly nodded and walked out of the office, closing the door behind him.

Once Mario was gone, Toad steadily picked up the phone and put it to his ear.

"H-hello?" he said weakly.
"Toad, it's me."
"Oh, D-doctor? What's-"
"I'm afraid there's nothing left we can do, Toad."
Toad felt his heart well up in his chest. "Diddy. He's...?"
"He'll be in a better place, soon."
Toad nodded, then realized the doctor couldn't see him nodding. "Um, yes. Thank you, Doctor..."
"I'm sorry, Toad."
Toad didn't bother to hear or say anymore. He hung up.

Struggling to force down the wave of grief that was sweeping over him, Toad staggered back to his chair and plopped down. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, but no matter how hard he tried, he wasn't able to fight back the two or three tears that managed to squeeze out of his tightly shut eyes.
He opened one eye carefully and looked at the documents on his desk. Forms that would need to be completed in order to prepare for the Mushroom Bridge Race that would happen the next day.
No way. No way in hell they were doing a race the next day. Not after what had happened...

BR-R-R-RING!!

The sudden ring of the phone almost made Toad jump out of his skin. He was really losing it here. He quickly reached over for the receiver and picked it up. "Hello?" he asked, barely above a whisper.
"Good afternoon, Toad."

When Toad heard the voice on the other line, his heart seemed to stop. "Mr V?"
"You'd be correct, Mr President," replied the deep, cold voice from within the speaker. "Just calling to ask about the little tragedy that happened last night..."
"Shut up, Mr V. You know what happened."
"Heh... Yes, of course. I know everything that happened..."

The sound of his voice just made Toad cringe with nervousness. He spoke in such a dark tone that it made one's blood run ice cold.
"You know," Mr V continued, "I really do feel bad for Yoshi and Diddy Kong..."
"I bet you do," Toad replied roughly. "Diddy Kong... He's..."
"He's died?" Mr V inquired without hesitation. The word 'died' made Toad's heart heavy with sorrow. "Well... that's a shame..."
"Yeah, like you can talk," Toad grumbled. "You don't even know anyone on the team, and you're the frickin' Vice President, for God's sake!"

Mr V gave an exasperated sigh. "Toad, you knew this was going to happen eventually. But to whom it would happen was never known. We just never know on who's door cruel fate will come knocking on next, do we...?"
"You still haven't told me why you called," Toad said, who was starting to feel very scared.
"Think on the bright side, Toad..."
"WHAT bright side?! How can there be a bright side to this?!"
"Please Toad. This accident... This accident may be a tragedy to everyone else, but its publicity for you. Isn't that what you've always wanted, Toad? Publicity...?"

Toad hesitantly glanced at the computer screen next to him.
Following the accident, Double Dash's ratings had gone up. Tremendously.
Toad quickly turned his head away and gripped his forehead with his hand. "You still haven't told me why you called!"
"Seven days, Toad..." came Mr V's ominous reply.
"Seven days? WTF?! You pullin' some kinda Ring bullshit on me?" Toad asked angrily.
"The Ring? No, that movie was dumb. I mean, don't you forget what's coming up in seven days..."

Toad glanced at a large poster tacked up on the bulletin board...

--

RAINBOW WORLD CUP!
2 of the Best Racing Teams in the World
Will Compete for the Greatest Honor
Achievable in Racing - The Rainbow World Cup!
Sign Your Racing Team Up Today!

--

Toad nodded after reading the poster. "Yeah, The Rainbow World Cup. What about it?"
"It's in one week, Toad, and we're one of the final 2 teams going for the gold..."
"I'm aware of that, Mr V. Now for what reason have you called me?!"
"If we're gonna enter that race, Toad, we'd better begin preparing now..."
"I've already begun preparing!" Toad assured him. "Now please, tell me why you called me!!"
"Don't you have a Mushroom Bridge race to schedule for tomorrow...?"
Toad had totally lost it now. "GOOD-BYE, MR V!!"
And with that, Toad slammed the receiver down. He slammed it so hard that for a second he thought he'd broken the phone in two.

Toad sat back in his chair again, but he still didn't feel very comfortable. Man, that Mr V was a weird guy. All he seemed to care about was that Rainbow World Cup... It was all he'd really talked about for the past few months. How the hell he'd even gotten the position of Vice President was beyond Toad... as far as he knew, no one had ever even seen the guy's face.
And sure, the Rainbow World Cup WAS a big deal. It was the most coveted trophy in the world - the cup every racing team hoped to get their hands on at least once in their lifetime. It truly was an honor that the Double Dash team even had a chance at achieving it. In just seven days, they would be just one race away from winning that cup... It really was hard to believe. Toad could almost envision sitting on his mantelpiece, sparkling in all its radiant beauty. He'd been dreaming of that day since the very first time he entered the kart-racing world...

But that didn't seem important at the moment.
No, not important at all...

Diddy Kong... He was just an innocent little monkey. He didn't deserve to die. And DK certainly didn't deserve this either. No one knew the news yet, but they would eventually. Toad wondered how he could possibly get the word out to his team that the team was now tragically two members short... and one of them permanently...