The Amazing Race: Video Game Edition

by TARfan97

It's an adventure that can't be missed. Twelve teams of fan-favorite Nintendo characters embark on a race around the universe for a cash prize of one million dollars. Nine teams will be eliminated, three teams will make it to the end, but only one team will emerge victorious. This is an Amazing Race story like no other in history. This is The Amazing Race: Video Game Edition.

11. Episode 4 part 3

Hey guys, whats up? Guess what, I FINALLY graduated high school. Now I can finally go on the Appalachian Trail. I'm so excited for it and I can't wait for it. Also, I know it's been almost a year since my last update, and I was going to finish this last chapter before I had to leave, but I ran out of time to get it finished, so I've decided to let you guys read part of the last chapter of episode 4. It's only like 2/3 of it, but it should be good. Hope you all enjoy it.

Ep. 4, Horses Are A Pokémon's Worst Enemy Part III

…

Picking up where we left off in Kokiri Forest, Mario & Luigi had just now finished completing their 4-hour penalty, and were now ready to depart for Termina.

MARIO & LUIGI: Last Team to depart at 2:15 pm

As the two plumbers left the mat, Mario started reading the clue.

"The First eight teams to depart leave with one-hundred and seven rupees for this leg of the race while the last place team leaves with zero money… and that-a would have to be us," said Mario.

"Ay-ay-ay," Luigi lamented.

"Come on," Mario started running. "We-a better hurry if we want to catch up-a!"

"Oki-doki," Luigi hurried after Mario.

CONFESSIONAL:

MARIO & LUIGI: Brothers/Plumbers

"Before we-a started running this leg, Luigi and I were very concerned about our-a money situation," said Mario. "We-a didn't want to beg for money from other people in order to get ahead, because we didn't think that would be a very honorable thing to do."

"Lucky for us, however," said Mario, "During our 12-hour break period, Link decided to help us out by giving us some-a useful information. I don't know why he helped, really, but that's what he did."

"He-a told us the easiest way to obtain money was by searching the bushes in the great outdoors," said Luigi.

END:

As the two Mario bros continued their way through Kokiri Forest, they immediately got to work and started searching the bushes to look for rupees.

"Hey-a, Mario, I found one," said Luigi, holding up a green rupee. (Green equals 1 rupee)

"Me too," said Mario, holding up a blue rupee. (Blue equals 5 rupees) This gave them a total amount of six rupees.

"Sweet! Let's-a keep looking."

As they continued searching the bushes, however, they only managed to find three green rupees and two blue rupees. This only added thirteen more rupees to their total. They couldn't find any more rupees after that.

"I can't-a find any more rupees, Luigi. Do you see any?"

Luigi just shrugged his shoulders while shaking his head. "Nope."

"Mama Mia," cried Mario, "this is already a disaster!"

Meanwhile, picking up where we left off with the other eight competing teams; they were all still racing throughout the land of Termina. At the Deku Palace in the Southern Swamp, Pikachu and Krystal, were both currently in the lead, yet, they were still struggling to get a picture of the Deku King in the Royal Chamber. The task certainly wasn't as easy as it seemed as it proved to be difficult trying to find the right moment to take a picture of the King while trying not to get caught. Pikachu was still hiding behind a flower vase while Krystal kept dancing around the bonfire along with all the other dancing Deku scrubs so as to try and make herself look less noticeable. By that point, they had been in there for over half an hour.

CONFESSIONAL:

SAMUS & PIKACHU: Close Friends

"By that point, the task was taking too long to complete and I was growing very tired of wasting time, pika," said Pikachu. "I didn't care if I was going to get caught or not so I decided to just wing it, pika."

"You just wanted to get it over with right?" Samus bemused.

"Yeah, I decided to just jump out of nowhere and take the picture already, pika."

END:

At that moment, Pikachu got his pictograph box set up, which had only one flash in it just like everyone else's pictograph boxes, and for about the umpteenth time, Pikachu looked around from behind the vase to make sure he was completely one hundred percent invisible. After that, he then jumped out from behind the flower vase, and took the Deku King's picture as quickly and quietly as he could. He then quickly ran back behind the vase out of fear of getting caught. Once he felt absolutely sure no one had spotted him, he looked around for Krystal and spotted her still dancing to the tribal music around the fire.

"Psst," Pikachu whispered from behind the vase, "hey, Krystal, pika!"

However, the tribal music that was being played was making it too loud for Krystal to hear him.

"Hey! Yoo-Hoo! Over here, pika!" But it was still no use. After deciding to give up on getting her attention, Pikachu instead tried to sneak out of the royal chamber as quietly as possible. That is until…

"HALT!" One of the Deku scrub guards suddenly cried out. "INTRUDER, INTRUDER!"

The tribal music had suddenly stopped, and all of the dancing Deku Scrubs stopped dancing. This made Krystal stop dead in her tracks; luckily for her, however, it wasn't 'her' they had spotted.

Several Deku scrubs were walking over to where Pikachu was, for it was 'he' who had gotten caught. At that moment, all eyes laid only on him.

"Uh oh, pika," Pikachu lamented as the Deku soldiers were cornering all around the poor little electric mouse Pokémon.

'Oh, no,' thought Krystal. 'Come on, Krystal, think. Think of something!'

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" said one of the Deku guards.

Pikachu just stood there without saying a word.

"You thought you could fool us with that stupid little disguise of yours? Well guess what? It didn't work." he said, pointing at Pikachu's lightning bolt shaped tail. Several leaves were shown to have fallen off of it, which is what exposed him. Looking at what he was talking about, this caused Pikachu to face palm himself.

Krystal, on the other hand, decided to use this as the opportunity and took the picture of the Deku King with her pictograph box while no one was looking. As she took the picture, a surge of came out of it, meaning, she had forgotten to turn off the flash. Luckily, nobody noticed this, because as the Deku Guards continued to cage in Pikachu, the electric mouse Pokémon had suddenly used thundershock to defend himself. This electrified all of the poor Deku scrubs and it left them paralyzed. Suddenly, Pikachu found himself all cleaned up as the thundershock had caused all of the mud and leaves to come right off of him right when he used his electric attack. He was completely exposed now.

"It's some sort of strange mouse creature!" cried one of the Deku guards.

"Get him!" yelled the Deku King, who was now very angry.

Suddenly, without thought, Krystal ran amongst the other Deku scrubs to go and save him.

"What the..!" said one of the Deku soldiers.

"Come on, Pikachu!" said Krystal, who then quickly picked up the little mouse Pokémon and ran.

"After them!" cried the angry Deku King.

"We've got to get out of here, pika!" cried Pikachu as Krystal carried him while running out of the Royal Chamber in hot pursuit.

CONFESSIONAL:

FOX & KRYSTAL: Dating

"At that moment, we were being chased by tons of angry Deku scrubs, and that was just very terrifying," said Krystal. "If only I had my staff in hand, the situation probably wouldn't have been that difficult to deal with."

END:

Eventually, Krystal and Pikachu had managed to make it out of the palace unharmed. As Pikachu and Krystal stood on the water bridge trying to catch their breaths, all of the other Deku scrubs that were left at the entrance were shown cursing at them and threatening them to never come back.

"Aw man…" said Pikachu, who still panting a bit, "… that was close, pika."

Eventually, Krystal was finally got a hold of herself. "Come on," she beckoned. "Let's head back to the boat."

"Right behind you, Pika!"

Back in Kokiri Forest, Mario & Luigi continued to struggle as they still couldn't find a single rupee. The situation was beginning to look hopeless for them as they've searched every bush in the forest village, but no matter how hard they looked, they were left with no results. At this point, they had only found twenty-six rupees, which wasn't nearly enough. Before the two Mario Bros could lament in defeat, however, a little red headed kokiri girl suddenly walked up to them.

"You two look like you're lost. Can I help you with anything?" she asked politely.

CONFESSIONAL:

MARIO & LUIGI: Brothers/Plumbers

"Suddenly, this nice little Kokiri girl came up to us and told us she was willing to help us out," said Luigi.

"She was-a very sweet," said Mario, "she told us exactly what-a Luigi and I needed to do."

END:

"So you're-a telling us we can get more rupees by-a throwing and crushing big chunks of rocks you say?!" said Mario, completely surprised.

"Yep," she chimed, "and you know what else? You can also obtain some money if you jump onto those three big stepping stones over at the river over there." She then pointed towards the river where its waters were flowing near the Kokiri shop.

"Ah Gee," said Luigi, feeling happier. "Thanks a lot," said Luigi.

"You're welcome."

After that, Mario & Luigi went to search for some big chunks of rocks to crush. They occasionally found rocks lying in circles outside of the Kokiri children's houses. Whenever they spotted any, they would pick them up, throw them, crush them, and out came pretty little rupees that would appear out of the rock shards. After doing this for several minutes, they then had fifteen more rupees added to their amount. When they couldn't find any more rocks to crush, they then went over to the three big stepping stones that the little Kokiri girl was talking about. The river looked beautiful. Its waters looked clean and blue, and it even had a small waterfall splashing down into it. When Mario & Luigi came up to the stepping stones, they looked big and square shaped. They were just the right size to safely jump onto.

"Here-a goes nothing," said Mario. He carefully jumped onto the first big stepping stone, then the second one, then the third one-KACHING! Mario had suddenly obtained a blue rupee out of nowhere. Luigi looked thoroughly amazed.

"Holy cow!" cried Luigi. "I-a want to try!" Luigi then carefully stepped onto the three stepping stones just as Mario did. After doing so, he too had obtained a blue rupee.

"Yay!" cried Luigi, "I-a got a blue rupee!"

"I can't-a believe it!" said Mario. "These-a stones must be made of magic! Let's-a do that again!"

Sadly, however, when he jumped onto the three stepping stones again…

"Mama-Mia!" he cried. "Nothing happened!"

"I guess it-a only works once," said a disappointed Luigi.

Despite this, Mario & Luigi now had twenty-five more rupees added to their amount, giving them fifty-one rupees in total. However, Mario & Luigi still didn't think that that was enough rupees to last them the whole leg, so they just stood there to try and think of some other ideas.

"Hey!" a little Kokiri boy cried out to Mario & Luigi for he too wanted to help them out. "I know another way to find more rupees!" He proceeded to tell them that they could gain more rupees by cutting and shredding large pieces of grassy weeds that would usually stick up out of the ground.

"Alrighty then," said Luigi, "so where can we find some-a grass to cut?" he asked the little kokiri child.

"Tons of grass is usually growing around Saria's old house, it's just right over there," he said, pointing towards it. "You can't miss it."

"Thank you," said Mario. "Let's-a go, Luigi."

The two Mario bros then went over to Saria's house and started pulling bits and bits of grassy weeds out of the ground. They were now starting to get dirty what with all of the various different ways they were now trying to find more money outdoors.

Back in Termina, Bowser & Bowser Jr. had gotten their post-man hats from the post-office and were still wandering around Clock town looking for red mailboxes. They often got lost because Bowser didn't like asking for directions as he felt it made him look weak. It also didn't help that Bowser wouldn't allow Bowser Jr. to buy a map from one of the stands, and the reason why is because he hadn't had anything to eat for days. He was starving to death and he wanted to save up as much money as possible so they could get a good big meal to eat at one of Clock Town's restaurants once they were finished with the leg. This only made Bowser Jr. become more and more annoyed with his father.

"Come on, Dad," cried Bowser Jr. "Can't we just buy one small map? I'm sick of wandering around not knowing where to go!"

"I told you we're not buying any maps you idiot!" yelled Bowser, who was getting grumpier and grumpier.

"But this is stupid! I mean, look at this place! It's getting more and more crowded what with all of the festivities getting started, and that's only making it more difficult to navigate these streets."

"Oh, quit complaining you little whiner! You're just going to have to suck it up."

"Excuse me? ME the whiner? You're the one that's being all like, 'slow down my feet are killing me,' or 'I'm tired, and I'm starving, and it's sweating hot out here that I'm practically dying'.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP!?" Bowser yelled. "First of all, I do not sound like that, nor do I ever complain, and most of all, I'm not bothered by how hot it is out here the least bit." However, he was waving his hands at his face to give himself some cool air while saying this.

By that point, both of the mutant turtles were sweating hard as the sun's rays let down hot temperatures in Termina. As this wore on, Bowser & Bowser Jr. would continue to look around miserably for any red mailboxes until finally…

"Dad, look, I see a red mailbox!" Bowser Jr. pointed, who then ran over to it.

"You see any clues in there, son?" asked Bowser.

Bowser Jr. only looked inside to find an empty mailbox. It was the same mailbox that Samus & Pikachu and Fox & Krystal got their clues from.

"Ugh," Bowser Jr. complained, "there's nothing in there."

This made Bowser growl with fury and impatience.

The task was only proving to be much tougher for them as most of the mailboxes in Clock Town were empty. It seemed like whenever they found a red mailbox, other teams had already found it and used it up. By this point, Bowser was getting more and more tired, and as a result, he was getting angrier and angrier.

"Why the heck is this happening to us?!" said Bowser. "WHY CAN'T WE FIND A SINGLE CLUE!?"

"Dad, can't we PLEASE get a map?"

"NO!" Bowser angrily yelled.

Back in Kokiri Forrest, Mario & Luigi were still cutting grass trying to find rupees. Despite not having a sword on them to cut the grass, they were able to improvise by crumbling it up all over the place with their bare hands. This definitely helped as they were receiving more and more rupees. By the time they had finished shredding up all of the grass, they then had three more blue rupees in their hands, adding their complete total to sixty-six rupees.

"Still not nearly enough," said Luigi.

"Hey, you!" cried out a tough little voice coming from somewhere. "Over here, plumber men!"

"Who said that?" said Mario.

"I did, Mr. Mustache Guy!" It was Mido, the same bratty little kokiri kid who helped out Bowser & Bowser Jr. from earlier. He was shown walking over to them. "I know an even better, and smarter, and way more superior way of obtaining money."

"Who are you?" asked Luigi.

"Forget about that," said Mido, "just listen to my great idea. It'll really help you guys earn more rupees."

"Ok then," said Mario, "What-a have you got for us."

Mido then spoke quietly to them. "Ok, now here's what'll help you guys out. You got to enter into people's houses, break open all of their jars, and take all of their rupees." He was then done whispering. "There. You see? Simple as one plus one."

For a second there, Mario & Luigi just stared at him blankly.

"…..WHAAAAT!" they both simultaneously yelled.

"Are you-a crazy!?" cried Mario towards Mido.

"You're-a crazy!" said Luigi. "We can't-a break into other people's houses and take their money. That's-a steeling!"

"No it isn't," said Mido. "Whenever you break stuff and take things around these here parts, nobody even notices. Totally not a crime."

"IT IS A CRIME!" Mario & Luigi once again simultaneously yelled.

Mido was now becoming very annoyed with them. "Look, do you want to win your stupid race or not?"

The two plumbers only continued to stare at him.

"Look, stealing is not that big of a deal around here," Mido said once more. "Besides, other people around here won't even care. No matter how much money is taken away from them, they always have plenty more rupees to spare. Now just go inside their houses and take their rupees already."

Mario only turned to Luigi. "I'm-a still not sure this is such a good idea."

"Yeah," said Luigi, "I don't-a believe this kid is sounding very legit here."

"Well, it's your choice," said Mido, crossing his arms while looking away from them. "It's either a win by thievery and deception, or a loss by your morality. Take it or leave it."

Mario & Luigi only continued looking at one another. Should they do it?

…

"It's your choice, said Mido. "Take it or leave it."

Mario & Luigi didn't know what to think about this, but time was ticking by fast, and they were already so many hours behind the other teams. They had been wandering around Kokiri Forrest for what felt like hours, and they've barely even started this leg. This was only making Mario feel more and more aggravated, but still, he and Luigi both knew they were going to have to make a decision, and it had to be right there and right now.

Back in Termina, Peach & Daisy became the next team to arrive at the Southern Swamp. When they had gotten there, they saw Fox, Samus, and Pokémon Trainer & Lucario sitting on the upper deck of the Swamp Tourist Center. They were all waiting for the tour boat to arrive back.

"Hey, girls!" said Samus, calling out to them.

"Hey, would you look at that," said Fox, who was now smiling. "Peach & Daisy are here now."

As Fox and Samus continued to greet the princesses, P.T. & Lucario, just sat there silently. (In the last chapter, they rudely rebuffed the two princesses in Clock Town by refusing to tell where the next clue was.)

Meanwhile, Peach had spot the clue-box and was now running towards it to open it up and get their clue.

PEACH & DAISY: Currently in 4th Place

Peach & Daisy were now standing on the deck over the water while ripping open their clue. Peach got to be the one to read it.

"Roadblock: The person that performs this task should be a master of disguise and have good tastes."

The two princesses then looked over at Lucario, who was covered in mud, twigs, and leaves. The sight of him looking like that only made both girls grimace in disgust.

"Egh," said Peach, "I don't know if I'd want to be covered in mud and leaves. Not on my pretty dress."

"I don't think we have to wear our dresses. I guess we can just wear our swimming suits," said Daisy. "But what do you think? Do you think you have good tastes?"

Peach stood there and though about it. "Hmm, I don't know. I'm not really sure what that's supposed to mean anyways. You think you can do it? You never know, it might be fun."

Daisy thought it over a bit. "Well, you did do the last Roadblock, so… okay, why not?"

"Yay!" Peach clapped and cheered. "Here, open the envelope and see what it says."

After doing so, Daisy started reading it. "It says I have to disguise myself as a... De-ku scrub?"

"What in the world?" said Peach, feeling a bit surprised.

Daisy went back to reading. "You then must take a picture of the Deku King at the Deku Palace. To get there, you must travel by tour boat. Once you've taken your picture you must head on back to the Swamp Tourist Center and present the photo to the photo contest boss for his satisfaction to receive your next clue!"

"Oh my gosh, you have to do all that?!" cried Peach. "That sounds like it could take a long time. How are you even going to be able to get inside the palace?"

"I guess I'll just have to find out for myself," she said as she started climbing up the ladder towards the upper deck of the Swamp Tourist Center. Peach followed close behind her.

"So which one of you is doing it?" asked Samus once Daisy got up onto the deck.

"Me, I'm doing it," Daisy confirmed.

"Alright, Daisy!" cheered Fox, who then whistled for her with his fingers.

"Yeah, go Daisy!" cheered Samus, clapping for her.

P.T. & Lucario only smiled a little while clapping their hands silently, trying their best to be polite in a bit of an awkward sort of way.

Daisy gleefully smiled in response to all of their cheering and support as she went inside. Meanwhile, Peach went to go sit next to Samus.

Pretty soon, Ness & Lucas became the next team to arrive at the swamp.

"Hey look, there's Ness & Lucas!" said Fox, pointing at them as they were coming.

"Yeah, Ness & Lucas!" cried both Samus and Peach, who were now screaming in excitement for them.

"Hey guys, what's up!" said Lucas, waving at them.

As Lucas greeted the other teams, Ness went and got their clue from the clue-box.

NESS & LUCAS: Currently in 5th Place

After ripping open their clue, Ness quickly read through it. "Alright, who's going to do the Roadblock?"

"Let me do it!" beckoned Lucas. "I feel like I could make a pretty good master of disguise."

"Alright then," said Ness, who then let Lucas open the red envelope. Lucas then started reading it.

"It says I have to disguise myself as a Deku scrub and head towards the Deku Palace via tour boat where I must take a picture of the Deku King."

"What else does it say you have to do?" asked Ness.

"Once I've taken my picture, I must present it to the photo contest boss for his approval in order to receive my next clue."

"Dang, that sounds tough," said Ness. "You think you can do it?"

"Yeah, I think so. I'll just have to do my best." said Lucas, who then went to climb up the ladder.

"Looks like Lucas is doing it," said Samus, who had been watching them.

"Yeah, go Lucas!" cried Fox.

"Lucas, Lucas, he's the man! If he can't do it, no one can!" said Peach, cheering him on. This made Lucas blush while he head inside the Swamp Tourist Center.

Meanwhile, Krystal and Pikachu were almost back at the Swamp Tourist Center as they continued riding back through the swamp on the tour boat.

"Hey, Fox!" Krystal yelled out to him to get his attention.

"Hey, wasn't that Krystal's voice I heard?" said Ness.

"What?" said Fox, who then went to look and see for himself. "Krystal, is that you!? Are you done!?"

"I got my picture now, Fox. I've got it! I'm coming back," she called out, waving her pictograph box in the air as the boat got closer to the dock.

"I'm finished too, Samus!" Pikachu called out to her. "I'm coming for ya!"

"Yeah Krystal, that's my girl!" said Fox, feeling proud of her.

"Good job, Pikachu! Way to go!" cried Samus.

Once they were docked, Krystal and Pikachu got out of the boat and climbed the ladder back up to the Swamp Tourist Center. Meanwhile, Lucario got himself onto the boat, and now had to wait until another Roadblock volunteer could get themselves on as well.

Meanwhile, Lucas was receiving his pictograph box from the big bearded man behind the desk, the photo contest boss. He was telling him to be careful as the camera had only one flash. Daisy, on the other hand, had just received her pictograph box, and was now at Koume's desk scheduling herself for a turn on the tour boat.

"Alright, the boat cruise will be leaving soon , so hurry up and get down there," Koume the boat cruise manager said once more.

"Thank you," she said.

As Daisy starting heading for the exit, Krystal and Pikachu suddenly came in, nearly hitting her as they opened the door.

"Oh, sorry, pika," said Pikachu.

"Oh, it's alright, no need to worry," said Daisy, who then went outside.

At that moment, Lucas went over to Koume's desk to let Krystal and Pikachu presented their pictograph boxes containing their pictures of the Deku King to the photo contest boss. After printing the photos, the big bearded man examined them, starting with Krystal's.

"Hmm, this looks good, ma'am, so… congratulations, here's your next clue!" he chimmed, presenting the clue to her.

"Oh my gosh, thank you!" she said as she received it, with Pikachu congratulating her.

Pikachu then let her leave while the big man examined his photo.

"Hmm…" the man was shaking his head slightly while looking at it, leaving Pikachu a bit concerned.

"I'm sorry little guy, but I'm afraid this photo doesn't pass the test," he said, showing the photo to him. "See here? There some blurs along the image of the king."

This caused Pikachu's ears to drop. "You mean I didn't pass, pika?" he said sadly.

"I'm afraid so." He then threw the photo away. "You're going to have to stay here longer and wait in line to go around the swamp again."

"Oh, darn it, pika,"

Meanwhile, Krystal was shown coming out of the Swamp Tourist Center yelling in excitement.

"Did you get it Krystal, did you pass!?" asked Fox.

"I got the clue, Fox. I passed!" she cheered, handing him the clue. "We're in first now, Fox."

"Alright! Nice job, Krys, excellent work!" He then ripped open the clue to read it.

-FOX & KRYSTAL: Currently in 1st Place

"You now must continue riding your horses and take them to Romani Ranch."

TOAD'S NARRATION"

"After completing the Roadblock, teams must now take their horses and make their way to Romani Ranch," said Toad. "Once there, teams will be instructed to drop them off at the ranch's stables so that the ranch owners, Cremia and Romani, can take care of them and deliver them back to Lon Lon Ranch in Hyrule. Once that is done, teams will receive their next clue."

END:

"Ok, let's go," said Krystal.

"Krys, are you sure you don't want to wash yourself off first?" asked Fox.

"No, it's perfectly fine," said Krystal. "I don't mind being dirty, I just want to win this leg!" She then ran back to their horse enthusiastically.

"Oh, well… ok," said Fox, who then ran after her.

Meanwhile, Daisy was getting ready to put her disguise on now that she had her pictograph box.

"Ok, now you have to do what the others did," said Peach. "You have to get in your bathing suit, and roll around in the mud over there." She then pointed at the mud puddle near the river.

"Oh gosh," said Daisy, "this is just crazy."

Once Daisy had gotten into her bathing suit, she then went over to the mud puddle to cover herself in mud.

"Yeah, Daisy!" cried Peach. "Get all that mud on you good! Ha, ha." Peach couldn't help but laugh a bit at the sight of her best friend getting herself dirty.

"Yeah, Go Daisy!" Ness cheered her on.

"You go girl!" said Samus.

P.T. still said nothing while watching her. As for Lucario, without saying a word, he just sat there in the boat waiting for her to be done so they could get going.

Meanwhile, as Pikachu he went back over to Koume's desk, Lucas was shown to be disappointed when she told him he had to wait his turn behind Lucario and Daisy.

"Aw man, why do I have to wait in line?" Lucas lamented.

"Sorry," said Koume, "boat cruise rules."

"Does that apply to me too?" asked Pikachu. "Do I really have to wait longer, pika?"

"Yep, that's basically it."

"Oh, double darn it, pika!" he couldn't have picked a better time to mess up.

CONFESSIONAL:

SAMUS & PIKACHU: Close Friends

"Because my picture didn't pass the test, I had to go all the way to the back of the line to wait out my turn before I could go back around the swamp to get my next clue," said Pikachu. "That meant Samus and I had to be pushed back behind other teams who were still doing the Roadblock, and that just made me feel very upset, pika."

END:

After that, Lucas and Pikachu came out of the Swamp Tourist Center feeling glum.

"Hey, Pikachu, did you get it?!" Samus asked, hoping they could leave next.

"I didn't pass," he said, shaking his head in disappointment. "He said my picture was too blurry, pika."

"No way, are you serious!?" she said, feeling disappointed.

"I'm sorry, Samus, pika."

"It's okay, Pikachu, you did your best," said Samus.

"Pikachu didn't pass?" said Peach. This made the others look at them feeling a bit surprised. "Doesn't that mean they have to go all the way to the back of the line?"

"Ah man, that's huge, Samus," Ness added.

"So does this really mean Pikachu has to go all the way back around the swamp?" said P.T.

Ignoring this, Pikachu went and sat on the upper deck next to Samus to wait his turn in line with Lucas. At the moment, Link & Sheik and Kirby & Jigglypuff became the next two teams to arrive at the Southern Swamp.

"Hey guys! Guess who it is!" Jigglypuff gleefully called out to the teams waiting on the upper deck.

"Hey everybody!" said Link.

"Hey look!" said Lucas. "Link & Sheik and Kirby & Jigglypuff are here!"

"Hey you guys, how's it hanging!?" said Samus, feeling happy to see them.

"We're doing great!" said Kirby, who then got off of his and Jigglypuff's pony to go and get their clue at the clue-box. Link & Sheik went to do the same after getting off of their horse, Epona.

"Hey, guys, how's it going?" said Daisy, who was just about ready to get out of the mud puddle.

"Hey, Daisy, what's going on?" said Link, feeling a bit amused by what he was seeing.

"Link, why is Daisy covering herself in mud?" said Sheik, feeling a bit concerned about it.

Ignoring her, Link went over to the clue-box to get their clue while Kirby was ripping open his and Jigglypuff's clue to read it.

KIRBY & JIGGLYPUFF: Currently in 6th Place

"It's a Roadblock, Jigglypuff," said Kirby.

Meanwhile, Link was ripping open his and Zelda's clue to read it.

LINK & SHEIK (ZELDA): Currently in 7th Place

"Roadblock: The person that performs this task should be a master of disguise and have good tastes."

"That's definitely me," said Kirby.

"Yeah, I agree," said Jigglypuff, albeit reluctantly. Even though she wanted to be the one to do the Roadblock this time, she knew it was more strategic for Kirby to do it. She knew he could easily disguise himself as any character he wanted just by swallowing them up and absorbing their looks and their powers temporarily. As for the 'good tastes' part… well, everyone knows how much Kirby likes to eat.

"Alright, I'm doing it," said Kirby, who then opened up the red envelope to read what he had to do.

Link & Sheik on the other hand…

"Well, Sheik, you said you were going to do the Roadblock this time around like you said you would, so hop to it," said Link.

Sheik, however, wasn't listening to him as she was continuing to watch Daisy. At that moment, Daisy was getting out of the mud puddle completely covered in mud.

CONFESSIONAL:

LINK & SHEIK (ZELDA): Newly dating

"As I watched Daisy cover herself in mud, I was just feeling very nervous by the thought of having to cover myself in mud as well," said Sheik.

END:

"…well, Sheik? Aren't you going to do it? Remember, you promised you would," said Link, who was beginning to have a bad feeling about this.

Sheik was only continuing to look more and more uninterested. She just couldn't fathom herself being covered in all of that dirty mud.

CONFESSIONAL:

LINK & SHEIK (ZELDA): Newly dating

"I starting having second thoughts about doing the Roadblock and convinced myself more and more that I didn't want to do it," said Sheik.

END:

Finally, Sheik just shook her head. "I don't want to do it, Link."

Link stood there with a blank face.

"What!" This left Link in shock. "...Are you kidd- you can't- you can't be serious!"

Sheik sighed. "Look, I just don't want to do it, okay? I think it's better if you do it."

…

"I just don't want to do it, okay?"

CONFESSIONAL:

LINK & SHEIK (ZELDA): Newly dating

"I don't really like getting dirty, you know, that's just not my thing," said Sheik, "whereas, Link on the other hand, he enjoys getting himself dirty all the time, so I just felt it would be better if he did it."

END:

Meanwhile, after climbing up the ladder, Kirby went over to the Deku Scrub who selling magic beans. When the Deku scrub popped out of his Deku flower to talk to him, Kirby suddenly sucked him up into his mouth and turned himself into a real life Deku scrub. He didn't need to cover himself in mud. After pardoning himself with the confused Deku scrub he sucked up, Deku Kirby then went inside the Swamp Tourist Center to get his pictograph box.

Link & Sheik, however, were now starting to get into another argument.

"Come on, Sheik, you can't do this to me!" said Link, who was getting upset. "You promised me you would do the Roadblock this time. After all, a promise is a promise!"

"No Link! I'm not doing it!"

"Yes you are, Zelda!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!"

"Link, leave me alone! Please! I don't want to do it!"

"Aurgh! Why can't you!?"

"Link, I just had a hot bath this morning! I'm not going into that mud puddle to just cover myself in all that dirty mud, I mean that's just disgusting! No, not me, I'm not doing that at all!"

Link was now feeling very irritated with her, because by that moment, Kirby had already gotten his pictograph box, while Daisy was just about finished with her Deku scrub disguise. They were already behind, and Link didn't know what to do about it. He continued in vain to try and get her to do it.

"Sheik…"

"NO!" she interrupted him. "I'm not doing it Link! You do it! I'm not going to get myself dirty!"

"Come on, Zelda, please!" he begged, but she was still not budging.

Link kept on trying to persuade her to do the Roadblock, but Sheik would only keep putting her foot down. This went on for quite a while.

CONFESSIONAL:

-LINK & SHEIK (ZELDA): Newly Dating

"I was getting very frustrated with Zelda," said Link. "At the beginning of this leg, she promised me she would do it, yet, when the time came, she wasn't willing to fulfill that promise, and that just made me feel so mad."

END:

In the meantime, Daisy had finished her disguise. Link watched her as she went onto the Tour boat with Lucario. They were now heading their way to the Deku Palace.

Link then went back to dealing with Sheik. "COME ON SHEIK!" Link was now more upset with her than ever as he felt she was being unreasonable. "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST DO IT!? WHY!?"

"Link, don't you remember that one time you said you used to sleep in mud puddles on one of your past adventures?"

"You know what, screw you!" he then angrily snatched the clue out of her hands. He finally decided to do it because he didn't want to waste any more time fighting with her.

As Link climbed up the ladder, the other teams that bore witness to their argument looked at Zelda completely surprised at her.

"Ugh…What just happened?" asked Kirby, who then watched Link slam the door as he went inside.

"Dang, Zelda, what was that about?" said Ness in complete shock.

"Yeah," said Pikachu. "What's wrong with rolling around in mud? It's fun, pika."

Zelda only ignored them.

Back in Hyrule, Mario & Luigi had finished collecting rupees, and were now walking through Hyrule Field on their way to Lon Lon Ranch to get their horse. As they did this, they were feeling very guilty and upset with themselves.

"I can't-a believe we did that," Luigi was crying his face off feeling so ashamed of himself. "I can't-a believe we went into those poor kid's houses and took-their rupees, and after all they did for us. We're such-a terrible people!"

Mario just sighed to himself feeling glum. "We-a knew we had no other choice, Luigi. We had to do it." Still, he wished they didn't have to do it at all.

"What are we ever going to do to make up for it? We're such-a thieves!" Luigi continue to lament.

Despite feeling guilty, the two Mario-Bros continued forth to get everything they needed to leave for Termina. Once they got to Lon Lon Ranch, they obtained a nice black stallion from Malon. After that, they then rode their horse back to Kokiri Forrest and managed to obtain a fairy named Pappy from one of the Kokiri children. With all of that being done, they then left Kokiri Forrest, rode their horse into the Lost Woods, and let Pappy lead the way to the portal that led to the land of Termina. Their long journey through the woods was now finally beginning.

Meanwhile, back in Clock town, Bowser & Bowser Jr. had found another red mailbox, which sat on the right of the town's clock tower and was found near one of the entrances to East Clock Town.

"Come on, PLEASE let this be the one!" said Bowser Jr.

"If there isn't a single clue in there, I'm going to scream!" said Bowser as both he and Bowser Jr. couldn't take anymore searching and wandering.

As Bowser Jr. looked inside, he became shocked upon discovering there were two clues waiting inside. "Dad, I found one!" he cried.

"What! You did?!" said Bowser.

"Yeah, see?" he then showed the clue to his father.

"Give me that!" he snatched the clue out of his hands and quickly ripped it open.

-BOWSER & BOWSER JR.: Currently in 8th Place

"What does it say Dad?"

"It says we have to go the Southern Swamp. Come on, let's get out of here." He said, pulling his hand.

The two evil mutant turtles then headed straight to the Southern Exit of Clock Town so they could head to the Southern Swamp.

Back at the Southern Swamp, Daisy and Lucario were still riding in the tour boat heading their way to the Deku Palace. The whole experience was a bit uncomfortable to endure as there was some awkward silence between the two of them while they rode the tour boat through the swamp. Apparently, Daisy was still upset with him and P.T. for how rudely they've been treating some of the other teams lately, including her and Peach. Whenever Lucario attempted small talk with her, Daisy just gave him a look that told him she didn't want any conversation at the moment. Once they got to the Deku Palace, the two exited the tour boat and walked through the water bridge over to where the guards were. Lucario allowed Daisy to go first.

"Well, here I go," said Daisy, who then started walking towards the Deku guards.

"Good luck," said Lucario. Daisy, however, didn't respond, as she kept on walking ahead.

As Lucario watched her talking to the guards, a light bulb suddenly went off in his head. Instead of having to deal with the guards, he decided he could use his ninja skills to get into the palace. After all, all he had to do was take a picture of the Deku King and that was it.

While no one was looking, Lucario then started lightly jumping onto multiple lily-pads in the water, until he then jumped up into the trees. After jumping from branch to branch, he then flew off and soared over to the top off the palace's wall barriers. While on top of the palace walls, he then jumped into one of the courtyards. Now that he was inside the palace, he then started finding his way to the Royal Chamber and tried not to get caught by any of the other Deku guards that were patrolling the court yards for any signs of intruders. That of course, wouldn't be a problem for a Lucario. He was a ninja after all.

Meanwhile, Daisy had managed to fool the Deku Guards into letting her into the palace almost in the same manner as Krystal did before her. She was now scouting the area for the entrance to the Royal Chamber.

"Hmm," said Daisy, while looking at the signs next to the entrances of the two courtyards that were on opposite sides going West and East. She then looked straight ahead of her.

"That looks like it could be the Royal Chamber," she said, spotting at its entrance.

As she entered it, Lucario was then shown coming out of the court yard that was on the right. After looking around, he then went over to the same entrance that Daisy went into.

Meanwhile, Bowser continued pulling on the rope of his and Bowser Jr.'s horse as they were heading their way to the Southern Swamp through Termina Field. As Bowser Jr. sat there riding the horse, he then spotted Fox & Krystal riding around the field on their horse carrying a map.

"Hey, Dad, look!" he said, pointing at the two vulpine who were off into the distance. "Fox & Krystal are over there."

"Hmm, if I didn't know any better, I'd say Foxy and Loxy look pretty lost," said Bowser.

"You think we should help those two furry freaks out, Dad?"

The two stood silent for a few seconds.

"…HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!" They both laughed.

"Ha, ha- Yeah right," said Bowser Jr. in hysterics, "like we'd help out any losers that are still in this."

"Ha, ha- come on, let's keep moving," said Bowser.

Bowser & Bowser Jr. continued laughing as they went their way to the Southern Swamp. Meanwhile, as Fox & Krystal were still busy with their map, Fox heard the two mutant turtles laughing.

"Huh? Do you hear that?" said Fox.

"Yeah, I hear laughing," said Krystal. "Who do you think that is?"

"I don't know," Fox shrugged. Ignoring it, he looked back at the map. "Anyways, we just left the Southern Swamp, which is down here." He then circled the spot on the map with a red marker.

"Right," said Krystal, "and the entrance to Romani Ranch has to be somewhere right about…here. That's were Milk Road is, right there." She then pointed at that spot on the map.

"That's got to be where it leads from, and according to this map, it's actually pretty close from here." He said, marking the path they had to go with their marker. It led to the South Western most part of Termina Field, which stood nearly next door to the entrance of the Southern Swamp.

"That's where we're going," said Krystal.

"Alright, giddy up, horsy," said Fox, hoisting the ropes on the horse, which made him go. They were now on their way to Milk Road.

Meanwhile, after Bowser & Bowser Jr. arrived at the Southern Swamp, the other teams started groaning as they were not delighted to see them. While everyone was busy booing at them, Bowser Jr. hopped off of the horse to go and get their clue from the clue-box while Bowser sat down on the ground completely exhausted after a long day of walking and pulling the horse.

BOWSER & BOWSER JR.: Currently in 8th Place

"Alright, the clue says one of us has to be a master of disguise and have good tastes," said Bowser Jr. reading the clue.

"You do it, son," said Bowser, rubbing his shoulders as they felt pretty soar. "I'm too tired to do any Roadblocks right now,"

"But, Dad, I did the last Roadblock!"

"Son, I've just spent like eight hours pulling the ropes on the horse while you rode on it the whole entire freaking time! I'm too tired to do anything right now, so you're doing it!"

"UGH! Fine!" He then read the clue's instructions and then started searching for some supplies for his Deku Scrub disguise. Bowser, meanwhile, lied down on the ground to take a nap and soon fell asleep.

Meanwhile, back at the Deku Palace, Daisy and Lucario had both somehow managed to take their pictures of the Deku King. For Lucario, it was easy, because he was a ninja, so this way he was able to take his picture in just fifteen seconds without getting caught. For Daisy, it was a tad bit different, and here's how she did it. After doing some dancing to the tribal music with the other dancing Deku scrubs, she gracefully danced while walking over to where the Deku King was sitting whiles he watched the other Deku dancers. After bowing respectfully to him, she kindly asked him in a polite manner if he would like to take a picture with her. Enamored by her kindness and good manners, he delightfully agreed, so Daisy got the Deku Butler to take the pictograph box, and had her picture taken with the Deku King.

Once they were finished, Daisy and Lucario went and exited the Deku Palace with their photos and were now back on the tour boat on their way back to the Swamp Tourist Center.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," said Lucario.

"Yeah, it was pretty fun, actually," said Daisy, who was now finally starting to talk to Lucario.

Meanwhile, still searching for Romani Ranch, Fox & Krystal were riding their horse through Milk Road. Pretty soon, they came across a carpenter working on the side of the road.

"Excuse me, sir," asked Fox, talking to a carpenter while he was working, "is this the way to Romani Ranch?"

"Yes sir," he replied, "Romani Ranch is just straight ahead. You can't miss it."

"Thank you," the two vulpine both said.

Before they knew it, Fox & Krystal had arrived at Romani Ranch. It was absolutely amazing. The ranch consisted of a big wide open field with tons of bushes, grasses and trees. It also came with tons of cows walking around eating its grass to their heart's content. The whole place looked absolutely peaceful.

"Wow, look at this place," said Fox, feeling enamored by the tranquility of the ranch. He never could have thought that living such a simple life could be so fruitful and rewarding.

As the young fox couple continued riding their horse along the path through the fields of the ranch, they spotted a young woman with red hair tending to one of the cows in the field, gathering milk. They decided to ride toward her to ask for directions. Meanwhile, hearing them coming toward her, the young women stood up from her seat and faced the two vulpine with a greeting.

"Howdy there, welcome to Romani Ranch. How may I help you?"

"Hi there, my name's Fox and this is Krystal. We're looking for Romani Ranch. Is this the place?"

"We're trying to find a place to drop off our horse," said Krystal, "we're in a race."

"Oh, it's you guys," said Cremia. "We were just expecting y'all. Follow me."

With that, she led them along the dirt path over to the barn house. Once they had gotten there, they couldn't help but notice a little red headed girl who shown running around with the family's farm dog with a bow and arrow in her hand.

"Who's that?" asked Krystal. "…and what is she doing?" Apparently, the little girl was practicing with her bow and arrow by aiming at a big strange looking orange balloon that was in the shape of a Poe.

"That's my little sister, Romani," said Cremia. "She's practicing for the coming of the 'ghosts' that she's always talking about. She's always telling me about how the ghosts come out here every year to take our cows, but of course, I don't believe in any of her crazy stories. Every year, she's always practicing with her bow and arrow like that around the time before the carnival starts, but you know what, I'm just glad that it gives her something to do when she's not doing farm work, so I have nothing to complain about really."

"Romani, huh," said Fox. "Isn't that also the name of this ranch?"

"You got it," said Cremia. "We named her after it when she was born."

Once Cremia brought them over to the stables, Fox & Krystal got off of their horse so that Cremia could put it up in there.

"Well, it looks like you're horse is now all tuckered in. Romani, can you come over here, please?!" she called out to her.

The little red head then ran over towards them. "Welcome to Romani Ranch. Here's your next clue." She then took it out and handed it to them.

"Aw, thank you," said Krystal.

"No problem," both sisters said. They then went back to their chores.

Krystal then ripped open their clue and started reading it.

FOX & KRYSYTAL: Currently in 1st Place

"It's another Detour, Fox," she said as she brought out a yellow slip of paper, "it says we either have to choose between 'Horse Racing or Dog Racing.'"

TOAD'S NARRATION:

"A Detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons," said Toad. "In this Detour, teams must take a break from the Amazing Race and take part in either one of two different kinds of races that are often seen in this region of Termina. They'll have to choose between, Horse Racingor Dog Racing. In Horse Racing, teams must make their way to Ugly Country and take part in a race against the Gorman brothers by riding horses. Both team members must acquire a horse of their own and try to beat both of the Gorman brothers as they race one lap around the Gorman Racetrack. If either team member fails, that team member will have to start over. Once both team members are able to beat both of the Gorman brothers, they'll receive their next clue. In Dog Racing, teams must make their way to the Doggy Racetrack, which sits as a sector of Romani Ranch. Here, teams must make a bet with Mamamu Yan, the owner of the race track, by using a bag of fifty rupees that have been provided for them. Once teams have made their bet, they then must go inside the dog pen and pick whichever dog they think will do well and present it to Mamamu Yan to start the race. Dogs placing 5th through 3rd place gives back all of the original amount of rupees that they bided, 2nd place gives back twice as much as they bided, and 1st place gives back three times as much as they bided. If teams are able to make more than 150 rupees, they'll receive their next clue; they can even get to keep the money that they won as well. If teams lose a bet, they lose all of the money they bided. If teams keep on losing bets and end up running out of rupees, they'll have no other choice but to perform the other side of the Detour, meaning they'll have wasted valuable time."

END:

"What do you think, Fox?" said Krystal. "Which one of these do you think sounds better?"

Fox thought about it for a few seconds. "I say we do the 'Dog Racing' task, it sounds easier. Besides, my butt hurts from riding on that horse all day anyways," he said, while rubbing it to ease some of the soreness.

Krystal rolled her eyes. "Alright then, we'll do that one."

The two vulpine then went to go and look for the Doggy Racetrack. Meanwhile, back at the Southern Swamp, Daisy and Lucario had made it back to the Swamp Tourist Center and were now having their photos inspected by the photo contest boss.

"Hmm…yes, these look fine," he then looked at the two with a big smile on his face. "Congratulation you two, these pictures pass the test. Here's y'all two's next clues."

"Aw, gee, thanks," Daisy gleefully said as she received her clue.

"Thank you, sir," said Lucario as he received his.

After that, the two went outside with their clues in hand while Bowser Jr. went over to the desk to get his pictograph box.

"Hey fat guy, give me the best pictograph box you've got!" said Bowser Jr.

The photo contest boss just stood there giving him an annoyed and insulted glare in the face.

Meanwhile…

"Peach, I got it! I got the clue!" cried Daisy, handing it to her.

"You got it!? Alright, good job, girl!" Peach cheered while receiving it.

"You have the clue, Lucario?" asked P.T.

"Affirmative, master," said Lucario, holding the clue in front of his master's very eyes.

"SWEETNESS!" cried P.T. while grabbing the clue greedily, "Let's go!"

Peach ripped open the clue for her team.

PEACH & DAISY: Currently in 2nd Place

"You must now ride your horses to Romani Ranch."

POKEMON TRAINER & LUCARIO: Currently in 3rd Place

"Once there, you must drop off the horses at the stables to receive your next clue," P.T. read.

"Alright, well we're done here," said Daisy.

"We're off to Romani Ranch," said Peach, heading towards their horse.

"I suppose we're on our way then?" asked Lucario.

"You bet, let's go!" said P.T. who then started to take off towards their horse.

After the two princesses and P.T. & Lucario departed the Southern Swamp on their horses, Link came out of the Swamp tourist center with a reservation for the boat cruise that comes after Ness and Pikachu's turn. (He would be riding with Deku Kirby.) He then took out a magical Deku mask that he received as a kid a long time ago and put it on. The magic of the mask turned him into a fully fleshed in blood Deku scrub. The unsightly and slightly disturbing transformation was like nothing the other racers had ever seen before.

"Whoa!" cried Lucas in response. "How did you do that!?"

"Link… that mask," said Pikachu, "you're a Deku scrub, Link. A REAL DEKU SCRUB, PIKA!"

"What the-" said Sheik, completely taken by surprise. "Link, what in the world is this? You never told me you had a mask that can turn you into a Deku scrub!"

"I was going to so I could get you to do the task, but you wouldn't hear it," said Link. "You kept on being all like, 'I don't want to do it, I don't want to do it, wahh, wahhhh!'"

"OH SHUT UP, LINK!" said an annoyed Sheik, who then nudged him on the shoulder with her fist while everyone laughed at Link's impression of Sheik.

Back inside the Swamp Tourist Center, Bowser Jr. had just gotten his pictograph box (which was actually the worst pictograph box they had in store which the photo contest boss gave to him on purpose in response to Bowser Jr.'s disrespectful attitude). He then went over to Koume's desk to get a reservation for the boat cruise to the Deku Palace.

"Listen, you old hag, I need a turn on the boat cruise and stat!" he rudely said to her.

"UGH!" Koume was quite taken aback by this callous remark and became quite angry. "HOW DARE YOU!" she then waved her magic wand and cast a rather painful spell at him.

The explosion of flames caused a ton of smoke to explode out of the Tourist Center. This caused the other racers who were still waiting for their turns to be taken by surprise.

"What was that?!" cried Jigglypuff.

Back inside, Bowser Jr. was now burnt to a crisp with smoke and black ash all over. "Hey! What was that for!?"

"Didn't anyone ever tell you to respect your elders!? You're an impudent little creature!"

Back at Romani Ranch, Fox & Krystal, who had decided to do 'Dog Racing', were now heading over to the Doggy Race Track, which sat as a sector of the ranch and wasn't that far off of walking distance from Cremia and Romani's barn house.

FOX & KRYSTAL: Currently in 1st Place

"This should be it," said Fox as he went to open the door to the entrance of the Doggy Race Track.

"This is going to be fun," Krystal chimed while she was close behind him.

As the two vulpine entered, they immediately heard lots of dog barking. What they found was what looked like a little dog park of sorts. A big wooden fence surrounded the little field where so many little dogs were running around and playing in the grass.

"Aw, look at them," said Krystal as she walked up behind the wooden fence and looked at the dogs. Several of the little puppy dogs were running around and barking everywhere. "They're such absolute sweethearts."

As Krystal was admiring the little puppy dogs, Fox went to collect one of the nine bags of rupees that sat on a table near the entrance of the area. He got the one that had his and Krystal's names on it. After that, he went over to the woman who was in charge of the racetrack.

"Excuse me," Fox asked, "are you 'game maker' who's in charge of this place?"

"That's Mamayu Yan to you, sir," she said, "and yes, you're perty darn tootin' that's what I am. I'm the game maker in charge of this place. Y'all one of them racers that's here to bet some of y'alls doe on these here puppy dogs?"

"Yes ma'am," said Krystal.

"Well I'll be danged!" she said, as she took a closer look at the two vulpine. "Those masks y'alls two are wearing make y'all look like actual foxes. Heck, y'all even got the clip-on tails for the occasion. Ha, ha, ha."

'Good grief! Not this again!' thought Fox to himself. Ignoring it this time, he asked her how much rupees they were allowed to bet for each race.

"According to the game's regulations, the amount y'all can bet is as much as y'all want, just as long as it's between 10-90 rupees."

"Fox, how many rupees did the clue say are in that bag again?" asked Krystal.

Fox reread the clue to make sure. "It says there are fifty rupees in this bag," he said, holding it up.

"That doesn't sound like very much," she said. "After all, the clue says we have to be able to manage to make at least 150 rupees in order to succeed. "

"I know. We just have to be very careful on how much we're biding, especially on which ever dog we choose while doing it."

"But look at how many dogs are in that dog pen," she said while pointing at it. "Whether any dog you pick is the best or not, the odds of it winning in first place are astronomically against us. Seriously, Fox, we practically have a better chance at winning the lottery than this."

"That may be true, Krys, but not every dog we pick has to come in first place every time for us to gain more rupees. Remember, coming in second or third place can help us earn rupees too, just as long as we choose wisely. We'll be fine, Krystal."

Krystal looked at all the puppy dogs in the pen again.

CONFESSIONAL:

FOX & KRYSTAL: Dating

"I thought it over a bit, and despite my doubts as I took a closer at all the puppy dogs," said Krystal. "I saw that some of the dogs looked strong and healthy while a large majority of the other dogs didn't look all that into it. That definitely helped give me the confidence that we DO have better odds than what it looked like, so I took Fox's word for it and decided to just have faith in ourselves."

END:

"Okay then, Fox. I believe in you."

"Good," said Fox. "You go ahead and make our bet while I go in and get our dog for the race. " He then went inside the dog pen to retrieve their puppy dog. "Just don't bet all of the rupees we have in that bag. Okay Krys?"

"You got it, babe." She then went over to Mamayu Yan to place their bet.

'Did she just call me 'Babe'?' Fox thought to himself. Regardless, he started looking around. Not long after, though, some of the dogs weren't taking a liking to him for some reason.

CONFESSIONAL:

FOX & KRYSTAL: Dating

"As soon as I walked into that dog pen, several of the dogs started growling and barking angrily at me," said Fox.

END:

Fox tried to closer to the first dog he saw, and tried to beckon it to get closer using his index finger. "Here, boy, come on." The dog only proceeded to growl at him menacingly.

"…Here boy…" he continued in vain trying to use his index finger to get the dog to come closer, but this only caused it to try and bite it off.

CONFESSIONAL:

FOX & KRYSTAL: Dating

"Whenever I tried to get close to any of them, they would either bark like crazy at me or try to bite my hand off," said Fox. "As I continued looked around at all the hollering dogs, it seemed a lot like they were preparing to attack me or something. That really made me nervous and that just…it just made wonder how we were going to be able to do this."

END:

Deciding it was no good being in the corner surrounded by all the hostel puppy dogs, he decided to go and walk near the fence and start looking around to see if he could find which dog he believed looked fit enough to race. He then spotted a big brown dog that looked pretty darn healthy.

Krystal, meanwhile, decided it would be best to bet twenty rupees for their first go, just to be on the safe side.

"So twenty rupees is what y'all are bettin', said Mamayu Yan. "Is that y'alls final decision?"

"Yes Ma'am, it is," said Krystal, taking twenty rupees out of the bag and handing them over to her.

"Alrighty then," she said as the dogs barking kept getting louder and louder. "Oh, now what in the world is going on in there?"

"OW!" Fox suddenly cried out.

"What the…!?" said Krystal, who then ran over to check up on Fox.

Apparently, when Fox went and tried to sneak up on the big brown dog and pick him up, some of the other dogs immediately attacked and started pouncing on him and biting him. Heck, one dog was even hanging onto Fox's bushy tail as it bit into it.

"Ow!" yelled Fox, who then tried to shake it off his tail. "Hey! Get off me!"

"Oh no!" said Mamayu Yan, who then went into the field to fix the situation. "NO! BAD DOGS! Get off of him RIGHT NOW! HEAL!" Eventually, she was able to get all of the dogs off and away from poor Fox.

"Oh dear," said Krystal, "I hope Fox is alright."

"Ow," said Fox, rubbing the pain with his hands while walking back over to where Krystal was. He now had several cuts and scrapes all over him. "Dang it! Those dogs are vicious!" He was now feeling upset that he wasn't able to bring over the dog he picked just simply because the other dogs wouldn't let him.

"I'm really sorry about that," said Mamayu Yan. "Those dogs are usually lovable and affectionate towards strangers."

"Why were they attacking him then?" asked Krystal, who was also feeling a bit confused by this.

"Hmm," she said while taking another look at Fox. "It must be because of those fox masks y'alls two are wearing, and the dogs must think y'all two look like actual foxes," said Mamayu Yan. This only proceeded to confuse Fox & Krystal even further.

"Y'all two look like y'all don't know what I'm talking about," she pointed out. "Well, turns out foxes and canines are both natural enemies of each other. Dogs hate foxes. That's what you're problem is, y'all."

'Yeah, obviously not like the kind of dogs that we have from where WE come from,' thought Fox, referring to several anthropomorphic dogs that existed back in the Lylat System.

"What are we going to do?" asked Krystal.

"Take off those fox masks of course," said Mamayu Yan. "That's what's causing the dogs to attack you after all."

This left Fox & Krystal rather dumbfounded at her supposed naivety. Did she really not get that they were actually anthropomorphic foxes?

'Okay… this is starting feel rather awkward,' thought Fox.

"I don't know what to do, Fox," said Krystal. "How are we supposed to break it to her without confusing her?"

While Fox & Krystal's little predicament was going on, Pokémon Trainer & Lucario were now riding their horse through Milk Road trying to find Romani Ranch. Peach & Daisy were not far behind them. Pretty Soon, both teams had arrived at Romani Ranch. Just like Fox & Krystal before them, they felt awed by the serenity of the ranch.

"Hey Lucario, look at all those cows in the pasture," P.T. pointed out, watching the cows eating the grass from afar.

"Yeah, I see them," said Lucario.

"You know, I bet if we got a cow of our own and raised it right, we could get it to conjure up a lot of delicious milk for us to drink. Man… just THINKING about it is giving me a craving for milk- no, give me CHOCOLATE milk! Yeah. Anything to quench my thirst. Ahhh…"

"…Lets just focus on finding the ranch's horse stables first," said Lucario, sweat dropping.

As for Peach & Daisy…

"Do you see the horse stables anywhere from here yet, Peach?" asked Daisy.

"No, not yet," said Peach. "Though I must say, those cows sure look adorable. Just look at them."

While Daisy took a look at all the cows like Peach said, she suddenly saw a beautiful red haired maiden tending to one of the cows in the large pasture, far off in the distance. "Hey Peach, look!" she said, pointing at her. "That girl over there must be one of the ranch owners."

"Maybe you're right," Peach chimed. "Let's go over to her. Hyah!" Princess Peach hoisted the ropes to get their horse to walk over to her.

Meanwhile, P.T. & Lucario saw something else far off in the distance.

"Master, look," said Lucario, "that building over there must be the horse stables."

"That might be where Cremia and Romani live. Giddy up, horsy!" said P.T., hoisting the ropes to get their horse to start galloping away. The aura Pokémon and his master were now riding at fast speeds towards the barn house for about a minute or so. When they finally arrived, P.T. got their horse to slow down. "Whoa, horsy!"

Once their horse stopped, P.T. & Lucario got off and walked up towards the farm house to start looking around. While doing so, they came across another red haired girl, who was much younger than the one Peach & Daisy were going over to. She was playing with the family farm dog while running around with a bow and arrow in her hand.

"Hey you!" cried out P.T., getting her attention. "Yeah, you; the one running around in random directions shooting your bow and arrow at that balloon- uh… ghost… orange balloon ghost…thingy. What IS that thing anyways?"

"Eh Hem," said Lucario, getting P.T. to shut up. He then walked over to her. "Please pardon my partner's rudeness, but we're looking for Cremia and Romani. You wouldn't happen to be one of them would you?"

"You bet!" she said, "In fact, I'M Romani. Cremia is my older sister. Nice to meet you."

"So you're the one who we have to drop off our horse to?" said Lucario.

"Well… not necessarily. That's actually Cremia's job," she said. "She's the one that's in charge of putting the horse's in the stables, but she isn't here right now."

"Where is she then?" asked P.T.

With that being said, the scene went back to Peach & Daisy who were riding their horse towards Cremia herself. While Cremia was tending to one of the cows out in the big wide open field, she then looked up and spotted the two princesses riding towards her, so she stopped what she was doing.

"Howdy there, y'all," she said. "Fancy meet'n you here. How may I help you?"

"Lovely to meet you," said Peach. "This is Daisy and I'm Peach. Are you the ranch owner named Romani?"

This caused her to giggle. "Not really. I'm actually her older sister, Cremia. In fact, I'm the 'main' ranch owner in charge of this pasture. I assume you guys are one of them competitors on a race of some sort, aren't ya?"

"You got it," said Daisy. "We're also trying to find the horse stables so we can drop off our horse."

"I can help you with that," said Cremia. "Putting horses in the stables is my job after all. Just follow me." She then got up, and led them to the barn house. Meanwhile…

"So only your sister can put the horses in the stables?" asked P.T. "How come YOU can't do it?"

"Believe me, I wish I could," said Romani, "unfortunately, because I'm so young, I'm only considered a 'junior' ranch owner. That means I'm only allowed to do all the menial tasks while raising the farm; tasks such as collecting eggs from cuccoos or sweeping hay off the floor. Meanwhile, my older sister gets to do all the 'real work' while managing this ranch, and it stinks! Not only does she get to be the one to milk the cows and put the horses in their stables, but she also gets to be the one to fill all the giant milk jugs and deliver them to the milk bar in Clock Town, and she never lets me go with her. Not one single time, and it just makes me so mad!" she said while stomping her foot in frustration.

"How come your older sister won't let you accompany her into town?" asked Lucario.

"It's because of the same stupid excuse she gives me every single time. She's always telling me I can't go because someone has to remain at the ranch to look after the cows. You see, the cows are the ranch's most prized possessions. They make the best milk in all of Termina, and Cremia is worried someone will steel them if no one's around. (Sigh) Oh Well, I guess I can't exactly blame her for that either, especially around the time of the carnival after all."

"What's so important about that specific point in time?" asked P.T.

Before Romani could go on about the 'ghosts,' however, Cremia had arrived back at the Ranch with Peach & Daisy close behind her.

"Romani, I'm back!" Cremia called out to her. "I need you to come over here and help me out again."

"Yes, sister!" Romani cried out. "Come on," she beckoned P.T. & Lucario, "y'all two can bring over your horse now that she's back."

"Got it," P.T. & Lucario said simultaneously while Romani ran over to Cremia to help her out.

While P.T. & Lucario went back to retrieve their horse, Cremia had decided to put Peach & Daisy's horse into the stable first, leaving Romani to give out the next clue to the princesses. This made P.T. extremely unhappy while he and Lucario were bringing back their horse.

"Hey, that's not fair!" P.T. complained. "We were here first!"

"Serves them right for being rude to everyone lately," Daisy whispered while Peach ripped open the clue.

"Don't worry about them, Daisy," said Peach. "Right now, let's just no worry about anyone else but ourselves."

PEACH & DAISY: Currently in 2nd Place

"Okay, it's another Detour," said Peach, pulling out a yellow sheet of paper and reading it over.

"I think we should try 'Dog Racing,'" said Daisy, "that way we'll be able to finish a lot quicker."

"I don't know, I mean… picking a dog out of tons of other dogs thinking it'll win?" Peach questioned. "That sounds a little too far-fetched for it to seem like that can be done 'quickly.'"

Meanwhile, Cremia had put P.T. & Lucario's horse into the stable next.

"There ya go," said Cremia, closing the stable door shut.

"Here's your next clue," Romani chimed while handing it over to them.

"Thanks," said P.T. He then ripped it open and let Lucario it.

POKEMON TRAINER & LUCARIO: Currently in 3rd Place

"Detour…" said Lucario, "it says we have to choose between 'Horse Racing' or 'Dog Racing.'"

"I think we should do 'Dog Racing?'" said P.T. "That one sounds easier to me."

"I don't think so, Master. I don't feel comfortable wasting our time trying to find a dog that will help us win rupees."

"So do you think it's smarter to go and do the other task then?"

"More than likely, Master."

"I'll take your word for it, then. Besides, we're bound to be quicker than those two princesses at either task anyways." The Pokémon Trainer and his Pokémon companion then went to go leave the ranch to find the Gorman Racetrack, which was back at Milk Road. Daisy felt rather offended at P.T.'s arrogant remark as she watched them go.

"P.T. & Lucario are already leaving, Peach," said Daisy. "Let's just go and do 'Dog Racing.'

"But I don't think…" Before she could finish her sentence, however, Daisy grabbed her arm and started running to find the Doggy Racetrack.

"Peach, I don't care how 'far-fetched' you think the task sounds. We can do this."

"…Okay, then…if you believe we can get it done fast," said Peach while feeling rather doubtful.

Daisy, however, didn't really believe that she and Peach could get the task done quickly. She only wanted to finish the Detour before P.T. & Lucario could be able to just so they could show them up.

Back at the Doggy Race Track, Fox & Krystal still didn't know what to do about Mamayu Yan and her naivety. For a little while there, there was just awkward silence, until finally; Fox decided he just wanted to get a move on.

"…Look, how about this," he said. "What do you suggest we have 'you' pick a dog for us," Fox said to Mamayu Yan, deciding not to let the fact of him being a fox turn into an issue.

Krystal thought this was a good idea. "Yes, let's do that. We'll just stand behind the fence and pick out a dog from afar while you, ma'am, be the one to go and pick up the dog and bring it here. Is that reasonable?" she asked.

Mamayu Yan felt rather confused at this and thought 'why not just take off those silly masks of yawls and y'all do it, dang it!' That of course was just her thinking from a lazier stand point.

"Please, Ma'am," Krystal pleaded her, "I don't want Fox to continue getting hurt by all those dogs, especially if those dogs truly don't like him."

"And I don't want Krystal getting hurt either," said Fox. "Trust me, woman. I could never forgive myself if she did."

'…Fox," thought Krystal, feeling happy at how much Fox truly cared about her well-being.

"Oh, okay, fine!" said Mamayu Yan, who then reluctantly went into the dog pen.

At that moment, Peach & Daisy had arrived at the Doggy Racetrack.

"Hey, girls," said Krystal.

"Hi," both princesses chimed while waving their hands.

"Wow, look at you, Daisy," Krystal said, pointing out the remains of Daisy's muddy Deku costume.

"Look at me!? Look at you! Ha ha," she said, pointing out the dirty remains of 'Krystal's' costume. Krystal laughed along with her.

"Wasn't that Roadblock task fun?" said Krystal.

"Yeah, it was crazy," said Daisy. "You should've seen what I had to do to get the Deku King to take a picture with me."

While the girls were talking, Fox was busy trying to direct Mamayu Yan to the dog that he tried to pick up earlier. "Okay, now go over to your left and you'll see that big brown dog over there," he said.

"Yikes!" said Peach, noticing all the cuts and scrapes all over Fox's body. "What happened to you, Fox?"

"Fox got attacked by all the dogs while trying to pick one up," said Krystal. "That's why we're having 'her' over there doing it for us," she said, referring to Mamayu Yan.

"Apparently, the dogs don't like us because we're foxes, A.K.A. 'natural born enemies,'" Fox snidely remarked, of course this was understandable.

"Ouch," said Daisy. "That's a bummer."

"Good thing that won't be a problem for us," said Peach. "Come on, Daisy. Let's go in," she beckoned Daisy as they went into the dog pen.

"You're saying it's THIS one that y'all want?" said Mamayu Yan, picking up the big brown dog.

"Yes," Fox & Krystal said simultaneously.

"That's the one," Fox added.

As Mamayu Yan brought over their dog, Peach & Daisy were busy looking for a dog of their own.

"Aw, look at them. These dogs are just sooooo cute!" said Peach. Pretty soon, several of the dogs started running over to the two princesses and rubbed up against them affectionately. "Aw, aren't you pups just the sweetest. How could these little cuties cause trouble?"

Suddenly, a little white dog enthusiastically and energetically jumped into Daisy's arms. "Woah! Hey there, little guy."

The little dog barked in response.

"Hey Peach, I think this one should do well."

"Okay then. Let's try it," said Peach while one of the dogs was licking her cheeks.

"Y'all two girls over there ready?" called out Mamayu Yan.

"We're ready," they both said.

"Alright then, y'all better come on over here." As the two princesses were doing so, Mamayu Yan then blew out her special whistle. This caused ALL of the dogs in the dog pen to stop what they were doing and immediately run to the dirt road where the starting line was.

"Whoa," cried Peach, who nearly got knocked over by the oncoming stampede of dogs.

"Yikes!" cried Fox, quickly putting his back against the wall as some of the dogs growled at him and Krystal while going to the starting line.

"My bad," said the game maker while putting Fox & Krystal's dog in line next to the other dogs, "I forgot to warn y'all. The dogs can get rather excited when it's time to start the race."

"…You don't say," said Daisy rather sarcastically while Peach went and put their white dog at the starting line.

"I almost forgot, you said y'all would be biddin' twenty rupees for this race?" she asked the two vulpine, who nodded their heads in response. "And what about y'all two?" she said to Peach & Daisy. "How much are y'all biddin'?"

"Oh yeah," said Daisy, who then went and ran to the table where all the money backs were sitting. She grabbed the bag that had her and Peach's name on it and ran back over to the game maker. "We choose to bet all of our rupees, please."

"Wait, ALL of them?" Peach questioned. "Daisy, I don't that's a good-"

"We're betting all of our rupees," Daisy insisted while giving the entire loot to Mamayu Yan. "Trust me, this is the quickest way to make 150 rupees."

"But…" Peach once again tried to speak up, but it was no use as the stubborn Daisy just wouldn't budge

"Alright then, you asked for it," the game maker stated while Daisy forked over all fifty of their provided rupees. "Alright, pups. Start your engines."

Fox & Krystal and Peach & Daisy got out of the way while the game-maker counted down to 3…2…1.

"Go!" she cried out and soon all of the dogs started racing along the dirt path. The dog race was officially on.

"Oh wow, look at them go," said Krystal.

"Those dogs are running fast," said Peach.

"Come on, come on, get ahead of them!" cried out Daisy to her and Peach's dog.

"This should be interesting," said Fox.

With all the craziness going on at Romani Ranch, several racers at the Swamp Tourist Center of the Southern Swamp were shown laughing at Bowser Jr.'s demise as he was shown coming out of the tourist center in a charred and burned state due to his insult that he gave to Koume back inside. The sight of such looked rich after all the horrible things he and Bowser had done so far.

"Shut up!" cried Bowser Jr., angrily, "It's not funny!"

"Well coming from YOU, it DOES look funny, hwa, ha, ha, ha!" said Ness, laughing hysterically.

"Ha, ha, ha! ABSOLUTELY!" said Jigglypuff, snickering. "Heck, with a look like that, you could pass as 'roasted meat' for tonight's dinner! Hwa, ha, ha!"

"Grr!" Bowser Jr. growled humiliatingly while climbing down the ladder as the other racers continued laughing at him. When he got down, he found that his mean and disrespectful father was still fast asleep while taking a rest from all those long hours of pulling the ropes on their team's horse.

'I strategically choose not to wake him up," he thought to himself before jumping into the big mud puddle that the other Roadblock volunteers used to work on their Deku Scrub disguises.

As for Lucas and Pikachu themselves, they were now riding on the tour boat as they rode their way through the swampy water to the Deku Palace. Pretty soon, they had arrived at the dock in front of the palace.

"Alright, kid, watch your step," said Koume the swamp tour guide to Lucas. Lucas then got out of the boat with his pictograph box in his hand and headed toward the Deku palace in his Deku costume.

Since this was Pikachu's second time having to go around the swamp due to failing to get a good picture of the Deku King in the previous chapter, this meant Pikachu had to stay behind and wait for Lucas until he got back with his photo.

"Can't we please just go ahead and have you come back for Lucas later, pika?" Pikachu pleaded to Koume.

"Sorry little fella, but that's now how the boat cruise works here. It's because of safety regulations. Sorry,"

"…Great. MORE waiting, pika," Pikachu stated miserably.

While Pikachu was waiting back at the boat, Lucas was walking across the wooden bridge that floated along the swampy water towards the entrance of the Deku Palace. Once he got there, the two Deku scrub palace guards once again popped up out of their Deku flowers to speak.

"What do YOU want?" said one of the Deku guards.

"Yeah, what business do YOU have coming here?" said the other one, feeling rather suspicious at the number of unauthorized visitors coming to the palace that day.

"I came here to see the Deku King," said Lucas.

"That's your excuse?" said one of the guards. "'You came to see the Deku King?' HA! Don't make me laugh. No one just simply walks into this palace thinking they'll be allowed to see the royal majesty just like that."

"Besides," said the other guard, "You expect us to be fooled by that ridiculous Deku scrub disguise. You look more like a midget to me." This caused both of the Deku guards to laugh hysterically at poor Lucas.

This caused Lucas to take another look at his disguise.

CONFESSIONAL:

NESS & LUCAS: Best Friends

"…Okay, so maybe the work I put into my disguise DID look rather childish," said Lucas, "but that was only because I was in such a hurry to get the task done that I just chose 'not' to take my time. Man! I KNEW I should've done that!" Lucas stated while dope slapping himself in the head.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, buddy," said Ness, patting him on the back. "…and don't hurt yourself either."

END:

Back at the Doggy Race Track in Romani Ranch, the first dog race was almost finished.

"Here they come," said Mamayu Yan.

"Fox, I think our dog is winning!" said Krystal.

…As for Peach & Daisy's dog. "Daisy, I can't see our dog anywhere amongst the leading dogs," said Peach.

"NO!" cried Daisy, for she saw that their dog was lagging behind, to her great and utter despair.

"TIME!" cried Mamayu Yan. Soon, all of the dogs had crossed the finish line. "That's the end of the race."

She then went over to Fox & Krystal. "Y'alls dog placed third, so y'all get double the amount of rupees that y'all bided." She then gave back the two vulpine forty rupees.

FOX & KRYSTAL: 70 Rupees Left in Total

"Thank you, ma'am," said Krystal while receiving the rupees.

"Alright, so far so good," said Fox.

She then turned to Peach & Daisy. "Sorry, y'all, but yawls dog was unable to be one of the top five dogs to cross the finish line."

'She sure likes to say the word 'y'all' a lot,' thought Fox.

"Since y'all bet all fifty of yawls rupees on the dog that lost, yawls don't receive any rupees in return," she continued.

PEACH & DAISY: 0 Rupees Left in Total – EPIC FAIL

"That means we can't make any more bets now that we don't have any of the rupees provided left over," said Peach. "See, Daisy, this was what I was trying to warn you about. Now we have to do the other side of the Detour."

Daisy was now feeling incredibly disappointed. "…What a waste. I'm sorry, Peach."

CONFESSIONAL:

PEACH & DAISY: Princesses/Best Friends

"I felt really stupid and humiliated with myself," said Daisy. "I was just so focused on trying to finish the Detour before Pokémon Trainer & Lucario could that I got carried away. I really should have taken Peach's advice when she told me not to worry about any of the other teams. We probably would've excelled much better at the dog racing task if we did."

END:

Peach sighed. "Don't worry about it. Let's just hurry and go finish the other task quickly." She then went to go grab her backpack.

"Rodger that," said Daisy, following after her partner.

"Sorry, girls," said Fox. He and Krystal then went back to directing Mamayu Yan to the same brown dog that they used last time.

Meanwhile, P.T. & Lucario had managed to find the Gorman Racetrack. Once they arrived, they spotted two gruffy and malicious looking men with big mustaches standing by the wooden fences near their own horse stables.

"Excuse me, sirs," said P.T. "we're here to do a 'horse racing' task. Is this where it's at?"

"Where are the horses?" asked Lucario.

"Right in front of you," said the older Gorman brother as he and the younger Gorman brother stepped away and revealed two horses standing at the starting line behind the wooden fence.

"Alright then," said P.T., "come on Lucario, let's get on them and-"

"Hold it there Kid!" said the younger Gorman brother, stopping him, "those are OUR horses. They're for US to race on. YOUR horses are waiting inside those stables, and you have to get them yourselves."

"That's right, and we ain't helpin' y'all," said the older Gorman brother, grinning smugly.

"Okay fine, whatever," said P.T., who went to go inside the stables, "smart alecks."

Lucario shook his head with disdain as he followed his partner inside.

As the two of them looked around, they saw that there were only a few other horses in the stables, which wasn't much for such a huge place.

"Okay, so the clue says that we each have to pick a horse of our own," said P.T., reading the clue. "I'll take this one over here."

When Lucario went to take a look at the other two horses, however, something didn't look right. "Master, these horses look awfully tired and worn out." he said while looking at one that had cuts and scrapes all over its muddy legs.

This caused P.T. to take a look at the one that he picked out and realized that it too looked a bit under the weather. "Gee whiz, what's wrong with these poor guys?"

"I don't think those two Gorman brothers have been taking very good care of these horses, Master."

This caused P.T. to quickly go back outside and take a closer look at the two horses that the Gorman brothers were going to race on. "Hey wait a minute!" he cried at the two Gorman brothers. "Those two horses of y'alls look perfectly strong and healthy, and you're saying we can't ride them?! That's not fair!"

"Tough luck, Kid," said the younger Gorman brother in a sarcastic tone.

"That's how we run this game. This way, we ALWAYS win," said the older Gorman brother. This caused both Gorman brothers to laugh and give each other high fives. This left P.T. feeling disgusted with those two.

"Grr, I'll show you, you creeps!" he insisted.

Meanwhile one of the horses was jumping up and making scared noises, and Lucario was having a hard time getting the horse he picked to cooperate. The sole reason the horse was acting all scared was because it had never seen a real live Pokémon before.

"No, no! It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you!" said Lucario. 'Just how badly HAVE these horses been treated?' Suddenly, Lucario got an idea. He decided to use his aura powers to get the horse to calm down. It took some time, but it eventually worked.

"There you go," the aura Pokémon said while patting the horse's back, "good fella."

Meanwhile, Peach & Daisy were running back to Cremia and Romani's barn house to ask them for directions.

"Hey!" Peach cried out to Romani, who was continuing practicing her bow and arrow while the two princesses were running up to her. This immediately got Romani's attention.

"Is anything wrong?" she said.

"No, nothing's wrong," said Peach. "We're just trying to find the Gorman Race Track."

"Yeah, and we were wondering if you might know where that is?" Daisy added.

The mere mention of the word 'Gorman' immediately made Romani's expression look visibly dark.

"Oh…" Romani lamented, "THAT place. You must be referring to that scandalous 'corporation' that resides in Ugly Country near Milk Road. Well, at least that's how my older sister Cremia describes it."

"Scandalous?" Daisy questioned.

"Ugly Country?" Peach added. "What's all 'that' about?"

"Ugly Country is where the Gorman Brothers reside," Romani continued, "and word around Termina says that those two scums are bad news. In fact, you two might want to hear everything else I'm about to tell you just to give you a fair warning."

The two princesses gave each other worried glances as Romani continued explaining the issue.

Speaking of such, P.T. & Lucario had both gotten their horses ready and were now waiting behind the starting line next to the two Gorman brothers. P.T., however, wasn't exactly looking very ecstatic for this.

CONFESSIONAL:

POKEMON TRAINER & LUCARIO: Best Friends

"At that point, I didn't feel good about what we were doing," P.T. lamented. "The horses we had to race on looked like that were badly abused, and because we were forced to use them in this task, it made me feel like we were having to take part in the abuse. I really didn't feel that what we were doing was right."

"Yes," said Lucario, "it was awful."

"VERY awful," P.T. continued.

END:

"This is just so messed up," said P.T.

"Let's just try and see if we can win on the first go," said Lucario, while still trying to control his horse "If we don't, we'll do the other task. That way, we won't have to feel like we're torturing these poor animals."

Lucario's panic stricken horse tiredly neighed in response.

Once all four horse riders were ready, both Gorman brothers counted down to 3…2…1.

"GO!" cried the older Gorman brother.

"HYAH! cried the younger Gorman brother, hoisting his horse to start running. Both Gorman brothers were now in the lead.

"Giddy up horsy!" said P.T. as his horse started running, trying to keep up.

"You can do this little buddy," Lucario said as he continued struggling to keep his horse calm with his aura powers while it raced.

During their first horse race around the race track, the Gorman brothers were proving themselves to be pretty tricky to beat, but that wasn't enough to intimidate the boy and his Pokémon companion's determination.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Way!" cried P.T. as the younger Gorman brother kept riding his horse in front of P.T.'s to try and slow him down.

"I've got to catch up to those guys," said Lucario as his horse continued falling behind on the track due to its fear of Lucario.

CONFESSIONAL:

POKEMON TRAINER & LUCARIO: Best Friends

"The Gorman racetrack was a very tricky one for us to overcome," said Lucario.

"Yeah," said P.T "It was insane. There were trees and bushes that often got in your way, and there were also fences that we both had to jump over. Oh, and get this. You also had to watch out for the mud puddles, because if you didn't and your horse to run into them…"

"You end up slowing down," said Lucario. "That kept happening to me with my horse."

END:

"Grr, come on!" Lucario complained as his horse ran through another mud puddle.

Back at the Southern Swamp, Pikachu continued waiting miserably on the tour boat while Lucas was still having trouble with the two Deku scrub guards in front of the Deku Palace.

"What's taking him so long, pika," Pikachu complained.

"But you HAVE to let me in," Lucas begged. "What part of 'I'm a photographer for the Deku King' don't you understand?" he said, holding up his pictograph box.

"Photographer for the Deku King, my butt," said one of the guards in a tone of mockery.

"Rules are rules, kid," said the other guard. "No humans allowed. Only Deku scrubs are allowed inside."

"AND THAT'S FINAL!" they both said.

Lucas, however, wasn't having it. He didn't want to let his best buddy, Ness, down.

"Sigh. Guess you two jerks leave me no other choice."

"What's that supposed to mean?" they both asked while Lucas was getting himself into an attacking stance while closing his eyes. Lucas was now willing to do anything to get inside that palace, even if it meant he was going to have to use one of his special attacks. Just what exactly was Lucas going to do?

…

Stay tuned for part four of this episode.