Chapter 3: A Portable House
When I woke up in the morning, I immediately thought of something. My house needed to be portable! If it wasn't, I would never be able to get to Mario's house and do research. I knew they didn't have enough beds for another person, so I started panicking! I heard some noise outside and decided to investigate. I noticed that the sun hadn't even come up yet, so I had plenty of time before bedtime. That was okay by me. I needed as much time as I could get!
I then realized that the sound was coming from a racetrack, of all things. I looked over to see Bloopers, Koopas, and Shyguys foot-racing for a monetary prize. I then looked and saw that there was a backpack for the next prize. I walked over and asked an entry booth person "Excuse me, why is there a backpack for the next prize?" "That's not any backpack, that's a Magic Backpack! It has near infinite space, and even comes with a tractor beam function!" the goomba corrected me. I immediately knew that I needed to get that backpack! "How do I enter for it?" He replied "Well, there's usually a 10-coin fee, but if you let me ride on your back then you can enter for free." I agreed wholeheartedly, even though I didn't have a saddle. "Great! I've never rode a Yoshi before. Thank you!" He gratified.
"By the way, you haven't seen a prankster goomba around, have you?" I asked politely. "My brother!" the goomba shouted. "I'll make him give back every power-up he stole! I figured he was up to no good!" "Thanks, that means a lot to me, since those power-ups came from the Marios themselves." "No problem" The goomba clarified. "By the way, you can call me Gaamba. My parents named me that because they wanted me to be different from other Goombas. What's yours?" he questioned. "Nydall is my name. Glad to meet you!" I expressed with a certain amount of happiness.
It was about time for the race to start. I looked around and saw a Magenta Yoshi trying to hide herself in the crowd. The weird part, though, is that we was staring directly at me. She never shifted her attention to anyone else. I immediately looked away so that she wouldn't think I noticed her and studied the map of the course. First we were to run through a dirt road. We then had to execute some parkour over some skinny poles. We then had to swim about 50 meters before we had to run the last 100 meters to the finish line.
I saw Lakitu come down with a stoplight consisting of a 3-way intersection that first turned red. An announcement then came to us "Let me explain the rules. First, no power-ups are to be used, however food is allowed on the course. Second, no fighting with each other is allowed. Third, no vehicles, as this is to be by foot and using what abilities you have. Fourth, have fun! Any of these rules broken will result in a DQ, except for the fourth. Good luck!" Lakitu's light then turned yellow. I got ready for the race, and noticed that my only competitor was a green koopa. "You've got this." Gaamba reassured me. The light then turned green, and we were off.
The koopa was pretty fast! I knew that at this rate, I couldn't win. He reached the poles first and started jumping. I immediately realized that this was where I could catch up. As I neared the poles, I jumped and flutter-jumped to the next one, effectively bypassing the koopa. He looked rather frustrated, and tried using his shell to boost himself. This resulted in his falling down and having to climb up the ladder at the end. I was ahead!
I started the swimming segment with the koopa about 20 meters away from me. As it turns out, he wasn't that efficient in water either. I was ahead by about 50 meters by the time we both got out of the pool. When I was 20 meters from the finish line, however, that koopa started gaining on me like there was no tomorrow. It was obvious that they wanted that magic backpack. Just as I crossed the finish line, the koopa caught up to me. "It's a photo finish!" was announced, and I saw that I had just barely won.
"Hey, good match! By the way, my name's Quick!" he introduced himself. I immediately realized… No way! "You too!" I responded. "By the way, were you the same Koopa the Quick that Mario faced off against?" "The very same!" he replied. "You're pretty swift on land!" I praised. "Yeah, but I obviously need to work on my jumping and swimming build. You know, for your build, you're not a half bad jumper or swimmer." Quick modestly spoke. "I guess we all have our strengths and weaknesses." I voiced back. "Anyway, see you later!"
Gaamba decided this was a good time to get off and gratified himself once again "Thank you for letting me ride on your back! That was exhilarating!" "No problem," I replied. "I figured that if it meant that much to you, I'd let you do it. Besides, I had no money." I immediately started off towards my house, rather pleased with the events of today.
I eventually got back to my house, and decided to store it in my Magic Backpack and set out for the Marios' house again to tell them about the voice.