Congrats guys! 50 Reviews! Woo! Thanks for the support, enjoy this wacky karting finale.
More notes at the bottom! (And my apology)
Review Responses:
Breath20k: Haha, glad you liked it and the Lakitu appreciate you supporting their horrible job.
RRPA: Thanks so much for your continued support! And yes, amongst all my research, the name change for Koopa City for you Americans eluded me. Hopefully I have fixed that by the time this is out. The LRRA was just a comedic thing, but it's nice to know you're trying to really read the story!
Harry Remus Lupin: Thanks for the comment! Nice to know I dragged you into this story!
OneOneTwo: Thanks for the review! I did check yours out in return, I need to go back and finish it!
Behind, beside and above Rosalina were many, many lumas. She had to enlarge the orb as much as she could so that all her 'children' could see the races as well. As much as she was enjoying watching the group of heroes' race against Bowser Junior and his team, she couldn't help that she felt slightly guilty.
Guilty that she used magic to tamper with the Karting Universe.
Normally she wouldn't do it, but she feared Kamek would intervene with the events (considering that Junior, Wario and Waluigi managed to find a way there in the first place, and assumed that was due to Kamek) and she needed to give the group a chance to win. They needed to win to stop Bowser from getting the trophy.
"Mama, will Mario and his team win?" a small apricot coloured luma asked, the very one that had travelled with Mario in the past.
Rosalina smiled at the young star. "No need to worry, Mario will win. You'll see, Luma" she said. 'Hopefully' she then added in her mind.
Rosalina and Luma returned their focus to the orb, and Serena was pointing up at the rainbow mass in the sky. Luma lit up with an idea.
"Mama! We should help them!" Luma suggested.
Rosalina hummed in thought, remembering all the Rainbow Roads of the past. She smirked at the thought. "Maybe we can help. They do have the number advantage after all." Rosalina waved her wand and got to work.
Kamek was also watching the racers, and he was determined to not let Mario and the others win. There was too much at stake for Bowser Junior and the others to lose. His Quick-to-lose-his-Temperness would well…lose his temper pretty quickly and then Kamek would be tasked with calming Lord Bowser down. That was always a hard job.
Whoever decided that all the courses chosen would be raced on was a genius, Kamek wished he had thought of that first. Kamek also decided that he would commend Bowser Junior on his quick thinking. Despite being the most intelligent being in the Koopa Kingdom, Kamek had not expected a group of Lakitu to go on strike. He didn't know the scores could be abused like this.
Besides, if this is a victory for them, it made Kamek's plan he had cooked up with Zeke easier to implement.
Kamek, currently using his magic to watch everything going on in the Karting Universe, spied the mass that was Rainbow Road in the sky.
"Now listen. I'm only going to say this once; whatever form of Rainbow Road is most popular in this group will be raced upon. Any objections?" Kamek could hear Lakitu grumbling to the group.
"Oh I'm so excited!" Serena exclaimed excitedly, "I can't wait to begin!"
Serena's excitement was not reciprocated by anyone.
Kamek grinned, holding his magic wand aloft. He had a race to sabotage.
Back in the Karting Universe, the two teams had gathered at the start line for the original Rainbow Road track.
"This doesn't look like the original Rainbow Road." Serena stated. "At least not completely."
True to Serena's words, the first Thwomp section was cut off at the end, the rest of the track nowhere to be seen. Lakitu frowned in thought before shrugging. "Eh. I'm on strike so it ain't my job to keep track of things."
"I say we still race anyway! I want to win that cup for King Dad!" Junior declared.
"Something isn't right here..." Luigi murmured.
Mario nodded in agreement. "The air feels...familiar."
"That's definitely magic." Toadette assured the brothers. "Someone is messing with us and doesn't want us to win"
"Who?" Yoshi asked.
"Only Kamek has magic powerful enough to mess with Universes" Toadette responded.
Peach clasped her hands over her chest. "This is going to be a hard race. Let's all stay safe. If we fall, we're out" she said with a concerned face.
"Don't worry Princess! We've got this!" Toad exclaimed, pumping a fist.
"Never fear! Serena's here!" Exclaimed the human-toadette-Mii.
Lakitu looked at the group as if he'd just received a message. "I'm on strike, but I've been ordered by the LRRA to notify you all that the Rainbow Road courses appear to have merged together." He told them bluntly.
"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed in both shock and surprise.
Once that had all been settled, the racers were ready to start the race. So they were all in their vehicles at the start line for the original (SNES) Rainbow Road.
"Alright! Let's go!" Serena shouted with glee, taking off.
"W-Wait!" Toadette cried. "We need to decide on a plan of action!"
"Too late!" Serena called back as everyone else took off after her, leaving Toadette no choice but to follow with an annoyed huff.
Section 1: SNES
Everyone followed Serena around the first turn to the right, Waluigi tossing a red shell at Yoshi.
Junior caught up to Serena, and the two easily avoided the Thwomps, (Yoshi was once again crushed by one and others used the ripples caused from the impact of the Thwomp to the course as a jump boost) driving right off the broken track. Before anyone could cry out in alarm, their gliders activated and they soared down to the next section.
This section started on a steep, downward rainbow slope that Junior and Serena managed to soar over. Junior narrowly avoided a Chain Chomp that was making its way through the course.
Section 2: N64
Everyone else but Yoshi drove off, for as he was about to, the SNES section began to glow. Yoshi tried to drive faster but as he was about to fly after the others, the course shattered before his paraglider could activate, leaving the poor dinosaur to fall into the abyss once more.
"I hate being a side character!" Yoshi yelled as he fell.
The holo-map informed everyone else that Yoshi was out. Red Team cheered and Blue Team silently mourned the temporary loss of their team mate and friend.
Luigi was so distracted he bumped into Wario, and a chain chomp got them both. This made them lose a few places.
Waluigi gained a few places (From 11th to 9th) with a starman and also crashed past Wario and Luigi, leaving those two at dead last.
Cooper receives a red shell from Peach. The Princess then crashes into a carefully placed banana peel that belonged to Bones.
"It seems like you lose if you're last. In that case, I'd better go fast!" the dry bones pushed forward with a mushroom.
Drifting to the right to make a long left turn, Junior and Serena make their way through the course. Serena stared at the constellations for a bit until a green shell narrowly missed her, bouncing off the fence and going down the mini spiral until it hit Mario, allowing Toad to take his place.
Then the course dipped, breaking off to the next section. Junior, Serena and Toad fell, their paragliders activating to inform them that they did not fall out of the race.
Serena, Junior and Toad continued their controlled fall. With Mario, Bones, Peach, Toadette, Cooper and Waluigi flying behind them.
Wario and Luigi were only just too slow, their paragliders failed to activate as the course shattered into rainbow specks under them. Everyone else was notified that Wario and Luigi were both out of the race.
"Luigi!" Mario cried, trying to look back. He could not see his brother amongst the black space, the constellations already going out of sight as they all approached the next section.
The remaining racers flew so far down that the sky turned a dark blue, white clouds obscuring the light of the moon while the stars twinkled in the night sky. An unfamiliar Bowser Castle hung in the sky, making Mario feel uncomfortable.
Section 3: GBA
Serena however, recognised it. "It's Bowser's Castle—from the Paper World!" she called out, pointing at the castle in question.
"Isn't it the 'Paper Universe'? It isn't a world in this Universe!" Toadette said, speaking loudly to be heard.
"But isn't it a World in our Universe?" Toad asked. "They can get to us through a book."
"Oh my, isn't this complicated?" Peach stated, more to herself than the others.
"Hehehe! While you're all discussing pointless stuff, I've spotted the course!" Junior taunted as he flew down through a cloud, landing on a familiar road of rainbows.
"Oh no you don't!" Serena shouted, flying after the young koopa, landing behind him.
Everyone else followed the two. Toadette used a mushroom, driving near the edge and jumping. This activated a jump pad and she jumped a small portion of the course, already near the end of the section.
"H-Hey! No fair!" Serena shouted.
"The genius knows all!" Toadette called back with a smirk, turning a corner. At the end of the road Toadette is on, there is a singular jump pad, with no track to follow it, indicating the end of the section.
Peach uses a piranha, shooting forwards in short bursts of speed. The plant shifts its head to the left to chomp at Waluigi, who is caught in the attack and loses his place to Bones and Cooper.
By the time the others reach the point where Toadette was, the genius reached a rainbow pipe that shot upwards. She went inside and she was lifted off of her wheels, launching up the pipe.
Section 4: GCN
With the paragliders pointlessly activating, the current racers, sans Waluigi, all reached the large rainbow pipe that shot upwards into space once more. The previous section crumbled under Waluigi this time, sending the purple man into the abyss below and alerting the remaining racers on their holo-maps of the newest removal.
Toadette was the first to exit the long, wonderfully lit pipe. The rainbow colours reflecting on the karts and faces of everyone inside. She charged forward, making a pointless coin disappear before her. Taking the continuous speed boosts down the rail-less road.
Serena, Junior and Toad exited soon after, followed by Cooper, Bones, Mario and Peach. Junior pelted Serena with a red shell as soon as the opportunity presented itself, taking her place. "Haha! I'm gunna win!" he jeered.
"Grr! Catch up to him, Toad!" Serena shouted. "He can't be allowed to catch up to Toadette!"
"On it!" Toad used a convenient mushroom for a boost, as well as using the boost pads effectively taking Serena's place as she recovered.
"We need to aid Junior." Bones told Cooper.
"Duh…wait, did you just not rhyme?" Cooper asked, stunned.
"To do that, we need to lose her" Bones pointed at Serena. "I sense a problem, is she not? If we send her off, she will rot."
"What…? Urgh, never mind! I get you. Knock her off and we've a better chance at winning this for the Other Bowser." Cooper translated, feeling proud for having figured out what Bones had meant. Receiving a blooper, Cooper holds it up and the squid takes off, effectively blocking the vision of the remaining Blue Team racers.
"Curse this stupid gunk!" Toadette swore, reaching a jump. The jump, fortunately, removed the ink obscuring Toadette's vision, and she could drift down the helix safely.
Then with a continuous burst of speed, like she was forever on a boost pad, Toadette followed the track until she was upside down, driving through the spiral of the new section.
Section 5: DS
Mario and Peach were the only ones who didn't make it to the next section, leaving the teams even. Serena, Toad and Toadette were crestfallen when their holo-maps alerted them of their newest loss.
"Hahaha! We've won this now that Mario's gone!" Junior jeered, following Toadette through the star rings.
"Not while I'm here!" Serena cried, striking Junior with a red shell. The young koopa growled as it made him lose his place to Serena.
The remaining racers drifted to the left before jumping down a part of the course, landing on a turn with a star fence on the sides of it. Bones took Toad's place while drifting ahead of him.
After a left turn, and another right turn, the remaining racers were rushed through a helix that provided continuous speed boosts, putting the racers upside down, and then right side up again.
Toad pulled out a bullet bill, blasting past everyone and into first place. Cooper used a starman, while Junior used a big mushroom, growing to size larger than Bowser himself.
Cooper crashed into Serena on purpose, pushing her near the edge. Grinning, he looked back briefly as Junior yelled in victory watching Serena plummet her way out of the competition.
"Damn you Bowser Junior!" Serena shouted as she fell.
"Well, we're one less in players now…" Toadette mumbled, unsure on how to feel about the latest development.
Serena kept falling, wondering when she was going to land. The inky blackness scared her, while she was trying to figure out where the others that fell went.
"Tea?" Peach asked innocently, suddenly beside her.
"Wh-What?" Serena stammered. "I don't even drink tea, where'd you come from?"
"Technically we're still falling, but the tea doesn't slosh around." Peach replied, sipping her physics-defying tea with a professional air surrounding her.
"Are you always like this when you have tea?" Serena inquired with a bored look.
"I'm a Princess, of course I have to drink like one." Peach smiled, taking another professional sip.
"I'm honestly surprised we're still falling at this point." Yoshi groaned. "Trust me it's horrible. It's like we're stuck in limbo. With no Lakitu to save us, we're constantly falling over and over."
"Is this what happened to you all? You're just falling?" Serena blinked, surprised by the info.
"It's not too bad. At least there's people to talk to…although some of them refuse to talk." Luigi said, pointing at Wario and Waluigi who were playing a card game. Amazingly enough, Mario was with them, seemingly really into this card game.
"Why is Mario with them?" Serena asked, confused.
"Uhh, he insisted that his rivalry with Wario couldn't end like this, so they initiated a card game outta nowhere." Yoshi responded with a sigh. He then turns to Peach, holding out a teacup and saucer. "More tea, please."
"Certainly" Peach refilled his tea cup, and Yoshi sighed in satisfaction as he sipped the tea.
"I'm going to stop questioning all this…" Serena mumbled, looking back to the trio playing cards. "Say, what are they playing anyways?"
"You…er…don't want to know…" Luigi replied, glancing over at them with a smile.
"You got a three?" Wario asked Waluigi.
"Too bad! Go fish! Wah!" Waluigi replied.
"Four?" Mario asked Wario
"Darn it!" Wario groaned and passed a card over to Mario.
Serena sweatdropped. "Yeah…I don't want to know…"
Back on the track, Toad reached a jump and drove right off. Landing on a paler rainbow road than the last. Ahead of him were two holes in the road, with jumps that allowed you to try and jump over. To the left and right were jumps with item boxes, indicating that tricks can be done on the sides.
Section #6: Wii
Toad drove to the right, avoiding the hole. He used the jump on the wall to get an item and get a speed boost by doing a trick in the air.
Toadette, Junior, Bones and Cooper all either left or right, also nabbing their own speed boosts and items.
They all made it past the holes, but struggled to make the steep right turn afterwards. Cooper pegged Toadette with a red shell, nearly making her fall of the edge. Toadette gritted her teeth as she recovered from the attack and got going again before Bones could push her off the side.
Junior barely made the sharp right turn right after, having no rail to keep him on track. A bullet bill remedied this, as the young koopa blasted through to first, through a launch star. The rainbow launch star put Junior on another turn, and a half pipe turn to the left which Junior used to do a flip in the air. "Woohoo! We're so going to win this! All that remains is two stupid toads!" Bowser Junior jeered.
"I'm not stupid!" Toadette retorted. "Also, did you just assume my gender?!" the genius pegged the bratty koopa with a blue shell.
"You deserved that!" Toad called back as he and his sister took alternate paths at the split.
"Grr! After them!" Junior yelled. Bones and Cooper nodded, each taking a different path after the siblings. Junior followed Cooper down the right path that Toadette took.
Toadette, Cooper and Junior took a path that had small boosts here and there. It curved over the left path and a jump with speed boosts sat at the end.
The left path that Toad and Bones took had no speed boosts on it, but it also ended with a jump and speed boosts, both ends most definitely leading to the next area. Bones threw a red shell at Toad, who countered with a banana peel. This left the dry bones very upset. "Stopped by a banana peel? I do not take that with a high appeal."
"Just try and get me you bag of bones!" Toad taunted, hitting the boost pads and jumping to the next section.
At the same time, Toadette used the horn to let out a sound wave that blasted away the bob-omb and green shell tossed her way. The sound wave also caught an unlucky Cooper. Toadette and Junior made the jump when Toad did, leaving the section to crumble under Cooper and Bones.
"So now we're on top Junior! Just give up while we have the advantage!" Toadette said to the young koopa as the three of them glided to the next section.
"Yeah we've won this so stop the race!" Toad called.
"No!" Junior yelled. "King Dad must win this trophy! I will be his number one son!"
"Have it your way, but we're going to win!" Toadette responded.
"No you're not!" Junior glided downwards, heading down towards a moon. The large rock had a fence to bar racers off the rest of the moon, chomps rolled around the course, continuously rolling in circles on various parts of the moon. Rockets sat outside the fence, which makes you wonder where they came from.
Section #7: 3DS
Junior, Toadette and Toad landed on the moon. Toadette went for the nearest crater to do a trick in the air and nab a few coins. Toad did the same, the two siblings darting ahead of Junior.
"Grr no fair!" Junior cried, heading for the larger crater in the centre with item boxes. Toad nearly avoided a chomp, but was hit from the lightest tap.
"You call racing 'no fair'? You're more of a brat than I thought!" Toadette taunted, skilfully drifting around a chomp.
Junior hit the item boxes, and checked his holo-map to see that he received not one item, but two. He laughed and tossed his bob-omb towards Toadette, and used the blooper to obscure their vision. Toadette was hit by the explosion, and the siblings cursed at their lack of vision. Junior elicited a cry of victory, driving between two craters. Using them to their advantage, Toad jumped the left crater, recovering from the blooper ink. Toadette jumped the right crater soon after, ridding herself of the ink too.
"T-Two items?" Toadette cried in surprise. "How?!"
"That's for me to know and for you to never find out!" Junior jeered, sending a silent thanks to Kamek. He then exited the moon section, spotting little spurts of conveyor belts that provided a short burst in speed.
Toad followed quickly, using the boost from staying behind Junior to dash ahead, taking all the conveyors towards the tube for maximum speed.
Toadette, struggling to catch up, finally reached the conveyors while the boys were half a turn away, nearly reaching the tube. This is when the genius knew she wasn't going to make it to the next area. She watched Junior and Toad bump into each other before entering the tube, using all the speed boosts possible. Toadette reached the entrance as they reached the exit. She looked behind her to see the rainbow path that led to the tube already shattering, meaning that Toad and Junior had managed to escape the tube. She noticed that they had both taken flight, with a bright rainbow glow below them. The entrance of the tube suddenly had a crack that was reaching up the tube. Accepting this outcome, Toadette shouted at the top of lungs, hoping the tube would amplify her voice. "It's all up to you now, Brother! Don't let me down!" The tube split in half and she joined the rest below her.
"Snap!" Mario shouted.
"Darn it!" Wario cursed.
Toadette didn't want to know what awaited her.
Toad wiped the forming tears away, having hearing his sister's voice loud and clear. "I'll win this guys, just you wait!" he yelled.
The rainbow glow led to a glide area which Junior and Toad had just glided over, looking at the space station ahead of them. Upon landing on the station, they drove over Mario's signature sign, and went over a small jump. They both took the green conveyor, propelling them forwards.
Junior and Toad kept trying to bump the other into the red, hoping to slow the other down. They made another small jump. Thanks to the shoving, Toad was able to take the launch star via the speed boost path, while Junior remained slightly behind due to this. Blasting through the launch star like a cannon, Toad took the right anti-gravity path for the safeguard of falling onto the lower left path. Junior copied Toad, noticing that the holo-map no longer told him what item Toad had.
Toad grinned, noticing Junior's annoyance at not being able to see his items, and at his own luck of now receiving two items like Junior. Toad used the coin he got, and let the three banana peels trail behind him. Junior was right behind him when Toad pulled out the trail, smacking into the end one.
"Grr! I hope you lose, pipsqueak!" Junior pouted.
"Who are you calling 'pipsqueak'? Look at yourself!" Toad called back.
With an angry shout, Junior used his mushroom to catch up, and then his horn to blast Toad and his remaining bananas. Taking the right turn, they both used the spin boost bumper. Toad crashed into Junior on purpose, giving him another spin boost.
"Hey stop that!" Junior shouted as Toad bumped into him again for another boost, before driving into a set of two spin boost bumpers.
"Stop what?" Toad asked with a grin as they passed through item boxes. The paths merged and the before the anti-gravity section ended, Toad bumped Junior again for the boost.
"That's it you're so going to get it!" Junior used a lightning bolt to shrink Toad and then Junior grew to an enormous size, super flattening Toad.
"Oh no my speed dropped!" Toad shrieked in a tiny high pitched voice. Junior reached the one-eighty degree turn and used the boost pads off the side for the extra boost.
Junior laughed, racing ahead on the speed boosts while drifting. "I win! Hahahaha!"
Toad growled, spamming his golden mushroom to try and catch up, also managing the speed from the speed boosts while drifting. He was gaining speed but it still wasn't enough to catch up to Junior. Knowing that the young koopa had no more items, and that the lightning and the mega-shroom were wearing off, Toad looked at his last item. The piranha plant.
Toad grinned when he noticed that both he and Junior were at their normal sizes now, making them equal in distance from the finish line. The speed boosts stopped and when Toad and Junior turned the final corner, everyone was waiting for them at the finish, cheering for them both.
"Go Toad!" Blue team cheered
"Crush them!" Red team shouted.
Junior drove behind Toad to get one last boost out of him, pushing forwards to the finish line. Toad pulled out his piranha plant, hoping to get close enough to Junior to finish him.
The cheering from both sides intensified, egging their teammates on.
The plant boosted Toad forward, and as Junior was right before the finish line, cheering his victory, the piranha hit Junior and boosted Toad to the finish. Blue team jumped with joy and cheered.
"Ahhh no! Not again! Why does King Dad have to lose all the time?!" Junior whined, throwing a tantrum.
Lakitu flew over, looking as bored as ever. "Well, I guess Blue team won. Congrats and all that. Here's the cup." The referee handed Toad a gold trophy, where instead of the cup was a gold steering wheel, shining brightly in all its glory.
"Thanks Lakitu for watching over our race like that." Toad said, smiling.
Lakitu huffed, looking away. "Yeah…well, I don't get paid enough for this job…" he flew away, leaving the teams to themselves.
The rest of Blue approached Toad out of their vehicles, Toadette rushed forward and hugged her brother. "That was awesome! Good job, Brother!" she congratulated him, grinning.
"Well done Toad. That was some splendid racing." Peach commented.
"Th-Thanks Princess…" Toad blushed in embarrassment from all the attention.
"Now Bowser can't have the trophy for his plan! Go Toad!" Serena cheered.
Everyone offered their congratulations. Red team looked on angrily while Junior threw his tantrum.
"We should head back to Rosalina. We can't stay much longer." Mario said.
"The sooner we return to our Universe the better." Yoshi agreed.
A portal opened up before the group, showing the Observatory on the other side.
"She must have been watching us the whole time." Toadette noted.
"Rosalina did say she liked this Universe." Peach said.
"This 'Universe' stuff is hurting my head." Serena complained. "Can we go now? I'm so used to being a toadette that I'm eager to return to that form."
Mario chuckled. But before anyone could get a response in, Junior stood up, glaring at Blue team. "No! I won't lose!" shouted Junior angrily.
Blue team turned to Junior in surprise.
"You're just a child. Junior, we won. You lost, fair and square. There's nothing else you can do." Yoshi said gently.
"I'm not a child!" Junior yelled
"Could've fooled me." Toadette mumbled. Toad elbowed his sister in response.
"What's even the hassle over this trophy? Why not just steal one?" Toad asked, looking down at the gold trophy in his hands.
"Because I wanted to beat you all in a race…I wanted the cup to mean something…" Junior pouted, his bottom lip trembling. "I-I wanted King Dad to be proud…he's been really evil for a while now…and he gets angry a lot when he loses."
"What do you mean by 'really evil'? Isn't Bowser always evil?" Toad questioned, walking slowly towards Junior.
"Toad…" Mario called out warningly.
"I know what I'm doing." Toad responded.
"I mean like…he's…more evil." Junior tried to explain.
"Like Wendy…" Luigi said, trailing off with a sigh.
"Can we help?" Serena asked.
Junior shook his head. "Can't help. Just beat us like you always do…" he mumbled dejectedly.
Toad sighed. "We'll beat him. Then everything will go back to normal." He held his hand out to Junior to offer a handshake. "Deal?" Toad smiled.
Junior looked up at Toad with hopeful eyes. Reaching out with his own hand to accept the deal.
"Toad…" Mario tried warning him again.
Junior swiped Toad's hand away to his surprise. An evil grin on the face of the young koopa. Before Toad could react, Junior snatched the trophy out of his hands, laughing. "Hahahaha! I got the trophy!" he cheered. The rest of Blue team watched warily, not knowing what was going to happen next.
Toad's look of surprise quickly shifted to one of anger and he pushed Junior roughly, making the gold trophy fall from his hands. Toad recollected the trophy with a huff, retreating to Mario's side.
"I told you Toad. You can't trust him." Mario said.
"But he looked sad, and he reminded me of what Sis said about Morton…" Toad sighed.
"You tried Toad. That's all that matters." Toadette comforted him. "I'm proud of you."
"That's mean!" Junior shouted, getting up. "Get that trophy!" he then ordered.
"No." Cooper said, crossing his arms.
"What?! Why not?" Junior yelled, looking at Cooper.
"Bones and I don't want any more of this. Clearly these versions of Mario and the others in your Universe are trouble. We aren't fighting your battles. We don't want our Universe involved any longer." Cooper spoke firmly. Bones nodded in agreement, the two walking away.
Junior growled in anger. "Fine! Go away then!" he then pulled out his magic wand. "Wario, Waluigi, let's go!"
"Yeah!" The evil duo said together.
"Peach, Toad, get in that portal now!" Mario ordered
"Come on Toad, let's go." Peach said, guiding him away.
"But I can fight too!" Toad protested.
"We need to get the trophy out of here before Junior gets another chance." Peach responded soothingly.
"Oh no you don't!" Junior cried, launching a magic projectile towards Toad.
Yoshi stuck out his tongue, eating the projectile out of the air. "Bleh! That tasted horrible!"
Junior let out an angry shout, firing three more while Mario and Luigi (while stumbling over his healing foot) engaged a battle against their evil counterparts. Yoshi ate the first to his dislike, Serena took the hit for the second (and was unable to take the third, Toadette tending to her), and the third magic projectile hit the trophy in Toad's hands. The trophy, sans the gold wheel blasted off over the portal and landed with a loud CLANG!
"Oh no!" Toadette cried out, helping Serena up. "Everyone get back to the Observatory!"
Peach quickly ushered Toad in, who was still clutching the gold steering wheel. Yoshi strode over to Serena and Toadette and placed them on his back (the former mumbling her thanks) before heading in the portal as well.
Mario punched Waluigi, who stumbled back and knocked a very angry Bowser Junior over. Mario then dodged a punch from Wario and pushed Luigi into the portal. Jumping in right after his brother.
No sooner did Mario touch it that the portal closed. Leaving Wario and Waluigi with Junior's temper tantrum and the trophy that was missing its wheel.
Rosalina sighed with relief upon seeing that everyone had safely returned. "I'm glad you're all back." She said.
Toadette gasped. "Serena you're back to normal!"
"Huh?" Serena quickly looked herself over, noticing her feet no longer touched the ground while she was on Yoshi's back. "Yes! I'm not a Mii anymore!" she cheered.
"I'm not even going to respond to that…" Toadette mumbled.
"What do you have left of the trophy?" Rosalina questioned as Serena and Toadette got off of Yoshi.
"We…well…" Toad held out the gold wheel, looking guilty. "I…kinda let Junior break a part of it because I was nice to him."
"'A part'?" Rosalina smiled. "You only broke 'a part' of it?"
"Okay…the trophy was separated from the wheel…" Toad corrected himself sullenly.
Rosalina chuckled, much to everyone's surprise. "It was the wheel they wanted anyways."
"But why the wheel?" Peach asked curiously, tilting her head to the side.
"Because it's a part of the weapon Bowser seeks to create." Rosalina responded.
Mario gaped. "All that for…a wheel? I'm sorry but Bowser could have taken any old wheel."
"He couldn't. Or rather…the weapon wasn't going to accept any old wheel."
"But why not?" Toadette inquired, moving closer to hear more.
"Because the wheel had to be obtained while imbued with either the feeling of victory, or an intense hatred or jealousy." The star princess explained.
Serena chuckled. "What do feelings and a gold wheel have to do with this? Unless the wheel imbued with said emotions 'drives' the wielder to accomplish their goals…" Serena grinned at her own joke.
Everyone else silently stared at Serena.
"Wh-What…? Was it something I said?" she asked innocently, pointing to herself while she spoke.
"That is…precisely it." Rosalina answered, surprising everyone. "Whichever of those feelings imbued itself in the wheel will…spur the wielder of the weapon on to achieve whatever it is they desire. Be it peace or universal domination."
Toad looked at the wheel in his hands. "Why does something like this exist in the first place?"
"That is a story for another time, dear Toad. For you all deserve a break before Bowser makes his next move." Rosalina stated, examining the group's weary faces.
"Where will he strike next?" Yoshi questioned.
"I cannot say. You will find out when the time comes."
"Will he attack you?" Luigi inquired, concern etched onto his features.
"I do not know. But leave the wheel with me, for it will be harder for Bowser to get it. I will take good care of it." Rosalina held her hand out, gesturing for the wheel. Toad walked up to the princess and placed it in the palm of her hand. "Thank you all for what you have done." She opened up two portals, gesturing to them. "These will take you back home. One for Yoshi and the other for the rest of you."
"Stay safe." Mario said, gesturing for his group to walk into their portal home.
"I guess this is goodbye again…for now." Yoshi said with a smile.
"Bye Yoshi! I'm sure we'll see you again during better times!" Peach smiled, bidding their companion farewell. Everyone else followed with their goodbyes, and Yoshi walked into the portal that took him back to his island.
"I can't wait to sit down properly!" Luigi said as they all walked through their portal, each saying their farewells to Rosalina and the watching lumas.
When they were all gone, Rosalina closed the portals with a sigh. "Those portals use more magic than I thought they did…" she examined the gold wheel in her hand, trying to determine the emotions left in the wheel. "Oh my!" she then exclaimed, finding out what was in the wheel.
She didn't sense victory like she originally thought, when Toad received the trophy for winning. Nor was it jealousy or anger from Junior when he held the trophy.
It was hope. Toad's hope that everything will be okay in the end.
"Stay safe everyone…" she whispered sombrely. "You're going to need all the rest you can get."
Done! I'm so sorry this took 4 months to write. (Now where are those torches and pitchforks?) A lot of research went into those tracks. I can't guarantee that 21 will come super-fast (I'm actually half way through writing that chapter as you read this…!) but a break is coming so hopefully I can spit some chapters out there.
Fun Facts and References:
Peach and her tea-Anyone played Brawl's story line? Course you have. Peach's tea scene here was inspired by that one moment she pulled out tea. XD
To keep you eager, here are the names of future chapters of the next arc! These are probably subject to change though.
Pushing the wrong buttons
Onthe case
And then there were four
And then there were three
A brotherly bond
Mystery solved!
If ya'll get tired of waiting, I'm sure a game of snap or go fish will suffice. Just…don't play with Mario, he gets real competitive. XD
Speaking of (really long AN here…) our red hero, since we passed the anniversary of this fic back in April, I'm going to be giving special news regarding the story next chapter. And while you wait, gimme your thoughts on the characters. If you want my reason for Mario's character I'll explain him next chapter.
I look forward to your thoughts!
Magyk-Foal1, out!