It's probably too early to say this, but anyway, some of you may already be wondering how the climax of the story is going to be. All I will say is that it's going to be very action-packed, something we probably will never see in official Zombie Land Saga materials, not counting its Power Ranger-esque opening. I'm very excited about it, and I hope you look forward to it as well!

And for those of you who are waiting for Justice of Two Worlds to update, please wait a bit longer. I'm having a hard time with that story...

Chapter 10
Saga of Rainbows

BGM: Rainbow Road (Mario Kart 8)

The race of Rainbow Road was an intense one. The track was full of slopes and turns, so one had to keep his or her eyes up ahead at all times and be ready for any twist and turns. Because of this, it took almost an entire lap before the gap between each racer widened.

As if twisted tracks weren't enough, there were ramps and special "spring" floors that caused racers to bounce into the air, flying over gaps, when they were traveling through the air for a great distance, their gliders would activate to help them get to the other side.

Dry Bomber once again took the lead with his godly snaking skills, but due to the constant twist and turning of the track, he had to focus more on steering than pulling off mini turbos. Because of this, Mario and Saki, both of whom were second and third place respectively, were quite close to catching up with him.

Whenever a single lap was finished, particular sections of the track would rearrange themselves, changing positions and even connecting to other sections. That way, each lap offered a somewhat different experience.

Also, the particular tube positioned vertically was an anti-gravity track.

Sakura was, unsurprisingly, last place. This expert-leveled track was simply too much for her, though for what its worth, she was at least able to maintain a relatively close distance to the person in eleventh place, Flowers.

After going through the item box, Lily noticed that his screen displayed a mushroom with a particularly large cap. Having never seen this item before, he decided to give it a try right away. Upon tapping the icon, he was surprised to find both himself and his kart growing in size until it was about three times the size of everyone else. "Wow! Cool!" he exclaimed. "Wait... Did my voice just get deeper?"

Toad and Yoyo noticed that something wasn't right when a shadow loomed over them, so they looked back to see the enlarged Lily speeding towards them. They screamed in terror, but before they could get out of the way, Lily collided into them and sent them flying off the track.

"Lily has gotten her hands on a Mega Mushroom! Look at her plow through the track, knocking away everyone!" said the Lakitu.

"Good thing nobody is getting crushed by her!" said the Toad. "For those uninformed, when you use the Mega Mushroom, your kart will generated a small and invisible force field that will repel all those who come near you. That way, there are no worries of running over people and crushing them!"

"The people who made these items sure thought of a lot of things!" said the Lakitu.

Not only did he increase in size, Lily was also able to move faster. In fact, he was easily able to get fourth place with his newfound size. "All right! I like this!" he happily said. He was enjoying knocking away the other racers so much that he almost had a sadistic look on his face.

Looking back, Saki saw Lily approaching. She smirked, however, as she had a way to outrun him using a golden mushroom she had been storing for a while. When the young zombie gradually came close to her, Saki used the golden mushroom multiple times to keep her distance from him. "You're growing up to look more like you father, Masao!" she taunted him.

Lily became offended when he heard this. "Don't call me Masao! Call me Lily!"

"Whoa! Your voice hit puberty as well, Masao!" said Saki upon hearing his new, deeper-sounding voice.

Pissed off, Lily flailed his arms and cried, "I told you to call me Masao, not Lily!" Saki widened her eyes a bit when she heard that, and Lily took a second to realize that he got it wrong. "No! I mean the other way round! Other way..." Unfortunately, he got distracted by this and failed to notice a curve up ahead, so he ended up driving off the track just as the effect of the Mega Mushroom wore off. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"I'll be seeing you at the finish line, shrimpy!" Saki called out to him while watching him getting caught by a Lakitu.

"I HATE YOU, SAKI!" he angrily shouted as he was being carried back up into the air.

All the while the audiences glued their eyes to the screen outside the glass window before them. Occasionally, they would look at the track instead, and though it wasn't clear due to the distance, they could still see the racers, looking tiny from where they were, zooming around the racetrack. It wasn't possible to tell who is who because of the distance, however.

"How did they come up with all those... items...?" commented Ai when she witnessed Lily using the Mega Mushroom.

"I'm more surprised that they are capable of making them nonlethal... Things like these would've killed anyone back in our world," said Junko.

"This world sure is full of surprises!" commented Yuugiri.

"Excuse me..." a Koopa Troopa sitting behind them said to them. "Is your friend all right...?" He asked them this while pointing at Tae, who was down on the floor, lying on her side.

The three zombies looked at their mindless companion for a few seconds before Ai said to him, "Don't worry; that's just how she is..."

Suddenly, the sky outside flashed in white light brightly, accompanied by the sound of thunder. Everyone in the audience area jumped in shock, especially Ai, who once again curled up into a ball while trembling in fear after landing. "Toad got and used a lightning bolt!" said the announcer Lakitu.

"WHICH IDIOT THOUGHT USING A LIGHTNING BOLT FOR THIS IS A GOOD IDEA?!" shouted Ai angrily as she looked up.

BGM: Rainbow Road [Final Lap] (Mario Kart 8)

The race continued on for several minutes, and several laps passed until they were finally down to the final lap. Dry Bomber, Mario, Saki, and Wario were the farthest ahead of everyone. Most of the battle between items happened among the tenth to fifth place, as they were rather close to each other and therefore had better chances of attacking each other.

Sakura was dead last, and by now, she was having little hope of getting even eleventh place. Flowers was performing better than her.

Her friends in the audience area felt bad for her, even though they saw this coming from afar.

Ai then overheard two Yoshis sitting next to her say something. "I just realized... From the stadium till now, nobody has gotten a spiny shell yet," said a blue Yoshi. "Did they remove that item?"

"Don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did," said his companion, a yellow Yoshi. "People did complain about how stupidly overpowered that thing is after all."

"Spiny shell?" wondered Ai while eyeing them slightly and curiously.

"I'm getting last place for real this time..." cried Sakura as she raced down the multicolored track. She then went through an item box up ahead, hoping to get something that would be of help. She looked at the screen and saw something she had seen before, a blue shell with spikes and wings on it.

When the announcers' computers displayed what item she got, their eyes widened in surprise, and the Toad shouted, "SAKURA'S GOT A SPINY SHELL!"

The audience were at first silent for a few seconds, but then all of them except for the zombies went wild. Jumping up and down in their seats and even getting up to run to the glass window, they all chanted with excitement the term "spiny shell" over and over like it was the most hyped thing in the world.

The zombies were completely taken by surprise by their sudden change behavior, and question marks floated all over their heads. "What... What happened?" asked a freaked out Junko.

Back on the racetrack, Sakura decided to go ahead and see what this new item was. When she tapped the icon, said shell materialized before her kart and then shot forth at an incredibly fast speed, leaving behind a trail of energy as it did so. "Whoa...!"

The moment the spiny shell was fired, something happened to every single racer's screens. The word WARNING appeared on their screens and also displayed the picture of the shell. Upon seeing this message, Lily and Sakura were confused, but as for the other racers, they all displayed different looks on their faces, but all those reactions conveyed one thing: shock.

Luigi pressed his hands against his face and screamed at the top of his voice.

Toad lifted his hands from his steering wheel and shrieked loudly.

Guy flailed his arms all over the place wildly as exclamation marks appeared all over his head.

Mario made a somewhat comical-looking face involving biting his lower lips and baring his upper row of teeth.

Wario's eyes jutted outwards as his biker hat flew into the air, not to mention his hairs sticking up straightly like spikes.

Yoyo's pupils constricted in terror as he opened his mouth widely while sticking out his tongue, which wiggled violently.

Wiggler pressed her hands against her face and screamed in terror, just like Luigi.

Kooper turned pale, completely petrified with shock.

Dry Bomber gritted his teeth while sporting an angry and nervous look on his face.

Luigi and Lily were driving relatively close to each other when this happened, and the latter was surprised by the former screaming out loud, "NOOOOO! NOT THE SPINY SHELL! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

"Wha... What is this thing?!" asked Lily, looking scared. "Is it very dangerous?!"

"THE MOST BROKEN WEAPON IN KART RACING HISTORY! THE MOST TERRIFYING OF THEM ALL! THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THIS! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" screamed Luigi in terror and despair rather than properly answering Lily's question. The man in green continued to scream as he stepped down on the gas pedal to the max to speed ahead of the zombie.

"Hey! You didn't answer my a question!" Lily cried to him. Suddenly, he heard painful screaming from behind, and he turned around to see Flowers and her kart flying high into the air while spinning nonstop. Even though he still wasn't sure what the spiny shell exactly was, what he saw so far was enough to convince him that he didn't want to get involved with it, so he sped ahead as fast as he could, hoping to avoid this supposedly dreaded weapon.

Turning to a nervous and even panicking Mario, Saki asked him, "Hey, what is this spiny shell? What's with your shocked reaction just now? Even Dry Bomber looked back with a nervous look earlier!"

Sweating nonstop, Mario said in a serious tone, "Da spiny shell, da most feared item in all da history of kart races... Eet eez a merciless weapon that-a tracks down every single racer in front of da user, striking them with a powerful force and hindering them with enough time for da user to make his way to da first place! It is da person who is in first place who needs to be da most careful, because da spiny shell specifically targets whoever eez in first-a place!"

"Is there no way to avoid it?" asked a rather worried Saki.

"There eez, but theet'z very hard..." replied Mario. "You can avoid-a eet eef you have a Starman, but da chances of getting one eez very rare, and eetz not-a often someone has one when a spiny shell eez fired! Da otha method eez to move out of da way da second you are about to be hit. With correct timing, you might be able to avoid da shell and allow eet to go past you! Quite a few people managed to avoid da spiny shell that-a way.

"However, when eet comes to first place, da chances of avoiding eez borderline impossible... But... Dry Bomber did da impossible... of being the only person in history to ever avoid getting hit by da spiny shell while in first place!"

"What?!" asked Saki in shock.

"The spiny shell attacks da first place racer differently compared to other people," explained Mario. "It simply strikes everyone else from behind, but for da first place, eet will hover above da target for a few seconds before crashing down onto him to create a large explosion enough to render him helpless for several seconds and allowing practically everyone behind him to get past-a him! Yet, Dry Bomber somehow managed to avoid eet once, completely blowing the minds of everyone!"

"How did he dodge it?" asked Saki.

"From what-a I know, he performed a mini boost a millisecond just before he got hit," said Mario. "Somehow, he wuz able to avoid a direct hit and only suffered from getting caught in da explosion, but that-a wasn't enough to stop-a him in his tracks completely. Even so, eet wuz a feat that-a went down into kart racing history!"

"Sounds like a good challenge to undertake if you ask me!" said Saki, looking both nervous and excited about the approaching spiny shell.

Sakura's mouth opened widely when she witnessed the spiny shell hitting Flower's kart from behind. A blue shockwave was created when the shell struck the Wiggler's kart, sending both it and its driver flying straight up into the air while spinning, and Flowers screamed in terror all the way.

Sakura continued past the Flowers and looked back in time to see her crashing down onto the racetrack, seemingly passed out on the driver's seat. Sakura turned back to the front to see the spiny shell continuing on ahead, this time hitting Koopert and giving him the same fate as Flowers. The Koopa Troopa cried for his mother as he was knocked up high into the air, thus allowing Sakura to continue past him.

"Wow... That thing is powerful!" she thought. After saying that, she went through another item box, and this time she got a Bullet Bill. "Oh! I know this!" Even though she hadn't gotten this item before, she remembered Flower using it when they were racing back in the stadium and therefore had an idea about what it does. She wasted no time in tapping that icon, and when she did so, she "exploded" in a puff of smoke.

When the smoke cleared, in place of Sakura and her Cat Cruiser was a large Bullet Bill that released a large amount of fire from its back as it traveled at a fast speed, making perfect curves and turns to stay on the track.

Toad, who wasn't too far behind Lily and Luigi, looked back and saw Guy and Yoyo getting taken out by the spiny shell, so he was next in line to get hit. "Oh no you don't!" he said with narrowed eyes. Paying attention to the shell as it approached him, he got ready to steer to the side when it was about to hit him, hoping to avoid it that way.

Too bad he failed, and the air was filled with a high-pitched scream as a result.

Luigi screamed in terror as he saw the spiny shell heading for him next. Before he knew it, he suffered the same fate as the previous victims.

Lily looked in horror as the shell headed for him next. Almost as if acting on instinct, he steered to the side right before the shell hit his kart, and surprisingly, he managed to avoid it. The shell kept on going ahead.

Lily was at a loss of words, completely not believing that he was able to dodge it. "I... I dodged it...?!" he said. However, his celebration was short-lived, as a large Bullet Bill crashed into him from behind and sent him tumbling off the side of the racetrack. "YAAAAAAA!"

Wario drove with great panic, hoping to escape the spiny shell. He came across an item box and hoped to obtain that one item that could help him defend against the dreaded shell. Luck was with him when he saw that the item he got was a Starman. "Yes! I got it! Now let's see that stupid shell try to..."

Before he could finish, he drove onto a banana peel and went for a spin. When he stopped spinning, he saw that the Starman he just obtained had disappeared. Losing items if one got hit by another item was a common occurrence.

Seeing that his hope of protecting himself from that the spiny shell was gone, Wario's expression became expressionless, the kind that perhaps conveyed he had lost all hope and was ready to embrace death.

...

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Dry Bomber was nervous. It was only a matter of time before the spiny shell finally caught up to him. He might have avoided it while in first place once, but even he was surprised himself that he was able to dodge it that time. After that one time, he never succeeded in dodging it again, and this wasn't a risk he wanted to try a second time.

However, if he wasn't in first place, then dodging it would be easier. A smirk appeared on his face as this particular idea came to him. Looking back and seeing Saki behind him, he snickered as he intentionally slowed down his speed, just enough to allow the zombie to go past him.

Saki was surprised by his action and didn't hesitate to go past him. Dry Bomber then looked back just in time to see Mario getting knocked high into the air by the spiny shell. Eyeing the approaching the shell, he readied to steer his vehicle to the side the moment it was going to hit him.

That was then it came to Saki that the Dry Bone intended to let her take the full blow of the spiny shell. Before she could do anything, she saw the spiny shell speeding towards Dry Bomber from behind. Further behind, Mario had just suffered the wrath of the spiny shell and sent high into the air.

A split second before the Dry Bone was hit, he steered to the side fast, and just like that, he was able to escape the wrath of the shell.

"Dry Bomber dodged the spiny shell!" said the announcer Toad in surprise.

"But he only did so because he is in second place. Dodging it is only a massive feat if you are not in first place," said the Lakitu announcer. "He clearly did this on purpose so that he can dodge it more easily and let Saki to take the full force of the shell! Will she be able to pull of a miracle and dodge it?"

Having caught up with Saki, the spiny shell hovered into the air above the zombie and stayed there. Saki sweated nervously as she wondered what to do, and she recalled Mario telling her how Dry Bomber was able to avoid it. "If I can manage to pull this off somehow!" said the zombie in her head while gritting her teeth nervously.

There was a curve up ahead, which she saw as an opportunity. The zombie pulled a power slide to make a sharp turn around the corner and also build up the opportunity to pull off a mini turbo, which Mario told him was how the Dry Bone was able to avoid the spiny shell before.

"I can make it! I can make it!" she told herself. Behind her, the Dry Bomber watched with an "evil" expression, waiting for the shell to come crashing down onto her.

The spiny shell dropped down at a fast speed, and when it was only a millimeter from hitting Saki, she pulled off a mini turbo at the exact right time and...

A large blue explosion was created when the spiny shell struck... the empty racetrack, and it propelled the zombie and her bike forward with its force.

This incredible feat was captured on video for all to see. Immediately, the audiences went completely wild. Everyone jumped up from his or her seats while cheering and clapping hands like crazy, exclaiming about the miracle that happened.

The two announcers' eyes popped out of their eye sockets while their mouths dropped to the floor completely. "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! SAKI SUCCESSFULLY DODGED THE SPINY SHELL WHILE IN FIRST PLACE!" shouted the Lakitu.

"THIS IS A MIRACLE! THIS IS SOMETHING WE THOUGHT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN AFTER DRY BOMBER DID IT THE FIRST TIME BUT KEPT ON FAILING AFTERWARDS!" exclaimed Toad. "SAKI NIKAIDO IS THE SECOND PERSON IN HISTORY TO SUCCESSFULLY DODGE THE BLUE SHELL WHILE IN FIRST PLACE!"

Even though they still didn't understand the detail of things, Ai, Junko, and Yuugiri were nevertheless impressed about their companion's feat. "Way to go, Lady Saki!" called out Yuugiri.

"Come on, Saki! You can do it! You can get first place!" shouted Ai.

Saki threw one arm into the air in triumph while sporting the largest smile she had ever made on her mouth. "All right! Who's a legend now?"

Behind her, Dry Bomber growled angrily. His plan to make her get hit by the spiny shell so that he could easily overtake her and get first place was foiled. Never would he have thought that she would be able to dodge it. There was no reason to hold back any longer, so he stepped on the gas pedal to the max to catch up with her... only to be knocked aside and all the way off the racetrack when a large Bullet Bill crashed into him from behind.

The Bullet Bill caught up close to Saki before exploding in a puff of smoke, and Sakura emerged from it. Looking back, Saki said in surprise, "Sakura?! When did you get here?!"

"Mind if I take first place?" the red-haired zombie asked her companion with an ambitious grin.

Grinning back, Saki replied, "You're still a hundred years to early to be beating a veteran biker like me! Try your best if you can!"

Sakura sped forward as as she could until she was able to catch up with Saki. The two zombies glared at each other as they traveled the fastest they could. The finish line was just up ahead, and it was only a matter of seconds before they would reach it. Both drivers leaned forward as far as they could, hoping to get past the line first.

"Saki and Sakura are both in lead and getting to the finish line!" said the Lakitu. "Which of them will make it?"

The audiences were all feeling tense and leaning forward to watch the screen before them, which showed the point of view from the finish line. The three intelligent zombies present among them were equally tense. Because both their companions were fighting for first place, they didn't know who to root for. All they could do was bite their lips and wait in anticipation for the outcome of the race.

Saki and Sakura got closer and closer to getting to the finish line. Just when it looked like they were going to touch it together and result in a draw, Sakura pulled off a move that surprised everyone. Grabbing the back end of her hair, Sakura yanked off her head and swung it forward like a mace.

BGM Ends

Both vehicles went past the finish line a second after that and then came to a stop. They both panted heavily, wondering who actually won the race. Sakura, still holding her head in her hand, turned to look at a large screen that was located nearby and saw that the camera placed at the finish line was able to capture the exact moment they crossed the line.

The captured footage showed that her head went ahead of Saki's bike and past the finish line first.

"A part of Sakura's body went past the line first, so the winner is... SAKURA MINAMOTO!" said the Lakitu loudly.

The audience immediately stood up and cheered loudly while clapping their hands. The zombies there also jumped up and did the same thing. Even Tae jumped up and clapped her hands over her head while making zombie sounds, though it was questionable whether or not she truly understood what she was doing or if she was simply mimicking everyone else. "Sakura won first place! I can't believe it!" exclaimed Junko.

"Lady Sakura sure is full of surprises!" said Yuugiri.

"Never would've thought she would use that method... But anyway, good for her!" said Ai happily.

Sakura put her head back onto her neck just as Saki approached her with a displeased look. Seeing the blonde zombie's expression, Sakura was scared that she was angry for not getting first place, but then Saki placed her arm over her shoulders and happily said to her, "Ya did great, Sakura! Congratulations on beating me!"

"For a moment, I thought you were going to hit me for stealing your spot..." said Sakura in relief.

"Why would I be angry at you? Your performance is so amazing that it deserves praise!" Saki told her.

Soon, the rest of the racers arrived at the finish line. The ranking was as followed:

Sakura
Saki
Mario
Wario
Dry Bomber
Lily
Luigi
Toad
Yoyo
Guy
Koopert
Flowers

Getting out of his car, Mario ran up to Sakura and Saki and said to them, "Mamamia! You both did-a great!" Looking at Saki, he said to her, "I can't-a believe that-a you dodged da spiny shell!"

"It's thanks to your advice!" said Saki. "Your info helped me greatly!"

Mario then looked at Sakura. "Congratulations on getting first-a place! You made a huge comeback! You were lucky that da Bullet Bill lasted that-a long! Eet'z rare for them to carry da user theez far! They usually only carry you to fourth or third place. You were lucky!"

"Luck really isn't something I'm known for, but I'm glad things happened differently for once!" said Sakura happily.

Wario approached them with a grumpy look at first, but then he laughed. "Hahaha! I can't believe that I am actually happy that I didn't win! Because I actually managed to beat that pile of bones!" He said that while pointing at a pissed off Dry Bomber, who was glaring in their direction. "Seeing him lose makes up for everything!"

"Hope you're happy about it!" Saki said to him.

Wario approached Sakura and asked her, "You're the reason he didn't win, right? Good going, girl!" He then gave her a slap to the back of her neck so hard that her head fell off and rolled onto the floor. He jumped back in slight shock and then looked at the head, which stared back at him. "So you really are a zombie..."

"You only believe that for real now?" Saki asked him.

"The zombies I've encountered like throwing their heads at me, so seeing your friend's head falling off is all the proof I need you girls are indeed zombies," said Wario as Sakura picked up her head and put it back on.

"I'm glad to be of help!" Sakura said to him.

All of the other racers except for Dry Bomber then surrounded Saki and Sakura, all of them praising them.

"You dodged the spiny shell in first place?! Impossible!" Yoyo said to Saki.

"Congratulations on getting first place! And just so you know, I have no hard feelings towards you using the spiny shell!" Flowers said to Sakura.

"Your performances were so awesome that I can't get angry at you!" Koopert said to them both.

"Bravo! Bravo!" said Guy.

Toad said to Lily, "I saw you dodging the spiny shell! Good going on that!"

"I'm still surprised I managed to pull it off!" said the latter.

"Let us give it a hand to Sakura and Saki, the former for getting first place and the latter for avoiding the spiny shell while in first place!" said the announcer Lakitu.

Everyone clapped hands and cheered for the two zombies, and staff members at the place also rushed over to take pictures of them. The zombies waved at them triumphantly and thanked them for their praises.

As the audiences were clapping, the yellow Yoshi said to the zombies sitting next to him, "Those are your friends, right? They're awesome!"

"You can say they are legends!" Ai told him with a smile.

Having finished the race on Rainbow Road and finishing their purpose there, all the racers and audiences returned to the space shuttle, which descended back on Earth, landing on an empty lot designed for it. Said lot was located close to MK Stadium.

One by one, the passengers got out of the shuttle, most of them talking about how much fun they had while in the intergalactic shopping wall and racetrack.

The zombies stepped down as well, and Lily jumped up and down while saying, "We're back on Earth! Perfect landing! Yay!" Tae, in an act of mimicking her, also jumped up and down while making a cheerful-sounding cry.

Junko let out a sigh and said, "I'm glad we landed properly... I still can't get used to plane rides... or anything that flies for that matter..."

"Plane technology is more advanced than before, so I'm sure the chances of accidents are much lesser than before," Sakura told her while patting her shoulder.

"Your death really left a mark on you, didn't it?" Toad asked her.

"Trust me; I still get shivers thinking about the time when the plane was falling through the air..." Junko said to him in a scared tone. "It's... It's a dreadful experience I will never forget...!"

"Sorry for asking..." apologized Toad.

They all returned to MK stadium, and once there, Wario said to the zombies and Mario and co., "Been quite a day! I think I'll call it a day now. Gotta be getting back to Diamond City tomorrow and do something about the pays, or else they're never going to let me hear the end of it... Not like it bothers me, though."

"This wouldn't happen if you pay them properly all the time, and it's not like you're short on cash..." Luigi said to him.

"You wouldn't know a thing about running a business!" Wario said to him, and then he looked at the zombies. "By the way, heard ya came from another world using a warp pipe, right? They nodded in response. "Then good luck finding your way home. That's all I can say to ya."

"Thanks! And good luck returning to your home too!" Sakura said to him.

"Sucks that you folks died so young, but... doesn't look like it matters anymore now that you are technically back to life, right?" Wario said to them. "Maybe if you had tougher bodies like mines, you'd survive whatever killed you in the first place!"

"Lily is much happier being a zombie! Now Lily can now be cute forever!" Lily told him.

"I think we have a much tougher body now!" Saki said to him. "But still, I have to give it to you for being a tough guy, if all your survival claims are true."

"Ha! You don't even know the half of it! I'm easily the toughest guy you'll ever meet!" boasted Wario. "Let me remind ya! If I don't feel like dying, I ain't dying, no matter how much the grim reaper wants me to die! Plane crash, hit by a train, crushed by boulders, set on fire, electrocuted, falling from great heights! I'll be living to see another day and tell the tale even after all those, I tell ya!" After saying that, he got onto his bike. "Well, it's been interesting knowing you girls!"

"Come to think of it, you're not a bad guy yourself!" Saki said to him with a grin. "If we get the chance, we should see who has more tricks with the bike!"

"Ha! You're too young to be facing against me!" boasted Wario. He started the engines and began to take off. "So long, zombies! Welcome to the land of the living!" He then took off, performing a wheelie as he did so.

Immediately after exiting the stadium grounds and entering the street, a bus crashed into him, causing him to fly forward and screaming in pain. All those who saw this were horrified, especially Sakura.

Wario immediately stood back up like nothing happened and yelled at the bus driver, "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!"

The bus driver, a Toad, looked out the window and yelled, "You again?! Falling off the bridge and getting hit once wasn't enough?!"

Mario and co. watched Wario and bus driver argue, and thinking that the former was probably all right and didn't need help or their attention, Mario turned to the zombies and said to them, "Hope you had a fun day today!"

"You bet! What a blast!" said Saki happily. "Man! You people sure know how to have fun!"

"Lily had lots of fun, even though she didn't perform all that well," said Lily, and then he lifted the Luma plush. "aND Lily is happy that she got this!"

"I'm happy to have bought lots of new clothes too!" said Junko while showing everyone a bag full of clothes. "I can't wait to try them out!"

Looking up at the sky, Ai said, "I still can't believe that we actually went to space and back... What a day!"

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat and feel like going home..." said Toad while massaging his shoulder. "Driving all day really wore me out..."

"Right," agreed Mario with a nod. "Let's-a go back to Mushroom Kingdom."

As they were leaving, Yoyo and his friends came up to them, and he said to Mario, "Mario! Just want to let you know that it is an honor to meet you in person! Yoshi spoke well of you!"

"Yoshi? You're his friend?" Mario asked him.

"More like everyone back on Yoshi's Island knows who he is," said Yoyo. "He is something of a celebrity back home after all!"

"Oh right," said Mario. "So how has he been lately?"

"He's doing great!" said Yoyo. "Though I think he sort of misses you, so maybe if you feel like it and have time, you can visit him on Yoshi's Island? There's been quite a lot of new attractions on Yoshi's Island as of late, so maybe you'll want to check that place out! Anyway, me and my friends have somewhere else to go, so see you around!" The three Yoshis then walked away while waving good-bye to him and his friends.

After waving good-bye to them, Mario said, "Hmmmm... Maybe we can pay Yoshi's Island a visit." He then turned to the zombies. "You interested in going there?"

"Yoshi's Island?" said Sakura curiously.

"A good friend of mine lives there," Mario told her. "Saw the three dinosaurs just-a now? They are called Yoshis, and an entire species live on that island. It's quite a popular tourist attraction."

"In that case, let's go!" said Saki with enthusiasm. "I can't wait to see what more awesomeness this world has to offer!"

"Lily wants to go to!" said Lily, raising the Luma plush over his head.

Mario nodded with a smile. "Okey dokey! Tomorrow, let's-a go to Yoshi's Island!"

TO BE CONTINUED

Again, trying to type out a race isn't easy, so I apologize if you find it somewhat underwhelming and that too many parts were skipped.

I had fun doing the spiny shell part. Every Mario Kart player knows how terrifying that item is. Yes, the speaker item in Mario Kart 8 can be used to counter it, but I intentionally left it out in order to make the shell even more unstoppable, on top of purposely making it target everyone in front of the user and not simply the racer in first place.

The actual method to avoid the spiny shell in that game is to jump at the right moment, right before the shell hits you. I managed to pull it off only once.

Anyway, congratulations to Sakura for getting first place! And that's the end of the zombies' kart racing experience!

Next up, they're off to Yoshi's Island! Let's see what adventure they're going to have there!