"Ok, qualifying rounds are over," called out Emma. She had just finished replacing the town's clock tower with an ornate golden bracket showing who would race who in what order. It had taken the town all day to put together, and it looked pretty cool.

Hook used his hook to etch each racer's name into the bracket. He called out the resulting grid.

Division 1:
Regina vs. Sidney
Will Scarlet vs. Robin Hood

Division 2:
Henry vs. Smee
Belle vs. Hook

Division 3:
Snow vs. Gepetto
Charming vs. Grumpy

Division 4:
Emma vs. Hood
Malificent vs. Frankenstein Whale

At the top of the tower, Snow White called out to the town. "I hereby decree that the winners of each opening round will race the other winner within their division to get to the final four. Then the winners of division 1 and division 2 will race, and same for divisions 3 and 4. Then the final two racers will square off to see who the big winner is."

Regina fumed. "This is garbage. Why can't I be in the same division as Henry?"

Dirk Speedblood nudged Regina. "Psst, it's actually a good thing you're not in the same division! If you were, you'd have to race each other!"

"Oh!" stammered Regina. "Okay, then, that's fine. You may proceed."

Snow White stared daggers at Regina. "IF there are no other objections…" Silence followed. "Then we can get started with the races. We'll take breaks as urgent matters come up, but we don't have much time."

As if on cue, a completely chrome Volkswagen Rabbit and a rusty, rust-colored Mitsubishi Turtle roared in out of nowhere and skidded to a stop in the middle of town. They both rolled down their windows.

"Har har har, that's right! Not much time at all." said the Hare. He held his arm out the window.

"No way," said Dirk Speedblood.

"What is it?" asked Snow.

On the Hare's arm was a small tattoo of the world with an X through it, with the number 5 inked underneath. Dirk Speedblood caught his breath. "It looks like the Hare is one of the top operatives of a German nihilist group called Die Stein Ring. He'll stop at nothing to destroy the world."

"Thaaaaaaatt'ss riiiiiiightt," affirmed the Tortoise.

Henry jumped up and down. "Can I join them? That sounds cool!"

Hook growled, "Still your tongue lest I wrap it around your head and strangle you, Darker One. You know not the great and terrible things I encountered in the deep." Henry backed off.

From the top of the tower, Charming shouted "Hey!" and threw his sword straight at the Rabbit's windshield. But the Hare gunned his engine and the sword stuck harmlessly in the pavement behind the car. "Dang," said Charming. "That never works."

The Tortoise and the Hare sped off, leaving chaos and confusion in their wake. Will Scarlet tried to steal Charming's sword from the pavement, but it was stuck too deeply into the road.

In all the chaos, Robin Hood surprised Regina with a serious face. "Regina, there something important I have to show you." He looked over at Dirk Speedblood. "You too, lad."

"What?" Regina shook Robin. "What could it possibly be!?"

"It's Marion. She's back."