Chapter ten

Bowser's Castle: 11:45 PM

16 Days before the 24 Hour Race: that night…

Bowser Jr. could tell his father was happy. The delivery of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport had proven successful, and Bowser was ready to have Bowser Motorsport fine tune the car as soon as they had arrived at the Nürburgring.

Right now, they were preparing to leave for Germany to modify the car as soon as possible.

"Are the other team members going there as well, papa?"

"You got it!" Bowser punched a fist into the air. "We'll build the ultimate racing machine as soon as possible. I've already sent for the other team members to meet us at the Nürburgring too."

Before Bowser Jr. could speak, Bowser continued to talk.

"Speaking of, do you have the right parts to modify the car? We'll need a good engine, suspension, brakes, etcetera, etcetera…"

Jr.'s face lit up with a big smile. "Guess what, papa? I've heard that there's an extremely powerful engine out in the Mushroom Kingdom! It's supposed to be under the supervision of Gadd Sciences…"

"Gadd Science?" Bowser said skeptically. "Can anything good come out of that place?! I've only heard of ridiculous inventions like ghost sucking vacuums and weapons of little destruction."

"Don't forget!" Bowser Jr. reminded. "His industry invented the F.L.U.D.D. nozzle too! It's too bad that most of the stuff they make is prototypes."

Bowser smacked his head. "Hey. Why bring Gadd Science into the subject anyway?"

Bowser Jr. took his computer to show his father the prototype hybrid engine that Gadd Science Inc. had posted on the website. Fortunately for Bowser, the website also included details of the engine as well as the statistics on power and displacement too.

The engine was extremely compact, as the screen data included scale to size as well. It was then Bowser had a keen but monstrous idea.

"I'm thinking… this engine could be the answer to all our problems! We could survive the race maintaining fuel efficiency – and we won't need a lot of pit stops either!"

Jr. shook his head. "But what if we need a strategy to complete the race?! Certainly an engine like that won't survive on its own for twenty four hours! Gadd Science says it's a prototype too!"

Bowser pushed him outside to the entrance doors. "We'll talk strategy when the car's actually there. Come on, this will solve us a whole bunch of problems not to mention a lot of time when we're there! Plus, the race isn't far off from now! Just go steal that engine, and then we'll take it to Germany. Above all, don't cause any disturbances. This is a stealth mission."

Bowser Jr. nodded half-motivated and half-resented, and walked outside to begin a trip to the Gadd Science Incorporated laboratory.

Gadd Science Incorporated Laboratory: 1:32 AM

15 Days before the 24 Hour Race

The doors of the laboratory were, to no surprise, closed. However, Bowser Jr. had plenty of experience in this sort of work. Instead, he decided to climb the building's outer wall to gain access to the rooftop.

As he expected, there were ventilation ducts on the top. Bowser Jr. breathed a flame into the wire grille, and half the contraption was molten… down into the bottom. He climbed himself into the vent and began his infiltration on the Gadd Science lab.

To Bowser Jr.'s surprise, the security system in the lab was down for maintenance, and that the only means of security was just a surveillance robot patrolling the lab's exterior; much to Bowser Jr.'s convenience.

The file he uploaded on the computer however didn't reveal details of the hybrid engine's whereabouts. But the one clue that he could scrape was the background on the engine's picture, which was a metallic blue wall. So Bowser Jr. began to make his search for that room.

This place is poorly guarded, Bowser Jr. thought. There must be a catch.

But there wasn't, and within an hour…

Gadd Science Laboratory: 2:15 AM

He walked through the dark hallways and investigating each room he passed. To Bowser Jr., each room only had unidentifiable inventions of Gadd Science and charts, plans… lots of stuff.

However, of all rooms that he searched, the room he was looking turned out to be in the basement floor. It was just a coincidence that he came across a map of the lab, and he chose to take a look at what the basement floor might behold.

"If nothing else," Bowser Jr. said to himself. "I might as well search a different lab."

He pushed open a nearby door and soon found himself in a metallic blue room with a glass ceiling. He squirmed to look into the dark room.

Suddenly, a bright light shined from the ceiling and beamed down onto a circular table in the middle of the room; sitting neatly on that table was a –