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Disclaimer: Still nothing.

Chapter 23

The Rainbow and the Castle

As Firestar and Graystripe returned to their karts, the environment started changing again. It turned from what it normally was into what seemed to be the night sky. The two nearly had a heart attack when they looked down and saw nothing supporting them. "It looks like we're in Starclan," Firestar said.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say we were," Graystripe replied. Then, as suddenly as the sky had come, something to support them appeared. A track that did look like they were standing on a rainbow.

Suddenly, they heard Crazy speak up again. "Racers, gets in your karts now!"

Firestar and Graystripe went to their wild wings and climbed in. As they did, Crazy spoke again. "Gentlemen," he said, "start your engines!" Firestar turned the key, and, as Lakitu appeared again, slowly put his foot on the gas pedal.

"Three... two... one... GO!" Crazy shouted in time with Lakitu's fishing pole. This time, as they took off, music started playing in the background. Crazy even started singing to it. "It called a roads, it called teh Rainbow Roads. It a road that you goes..." As Crazy sang this, Firestar went down what seemed to be a normal hill, until he randomly sped up to insane speeds for a moment, slowing down again just in time to go through a circle, whereupon he sped up again, slowing down just in time to hit a jump. Through the sky. Naturally, he was a little more than freaked out at that idea. (Admit it, you would be too.) All this while Crazy was singing cheerfully. "And yous will know when you gets tare!" When he touched down on ground again, it was, of course, time for a sharp turn! Don't we all love sharp turns when we could fall to our deaths? (Sarcasm.) Even better, even when he managed the turn, he freaked when he saw that the ground ahead was moving up and down like waves. With a jump at the end! He went up, down, up, down, hit another one of those boxes, and looked down to see a red shell in his seat. He threw it out at random, not caring if it hit anything or not at this point. He was busy steering, he didn't need any items right now! "It got teh Princess Peaches, Marios, and teh Toad!" Now there were two gigantic holes in front of him! Great Starclan, what next? he wondered. As he maneuvered past the holes, that question was answered for him: a soft turn, followed by a ridiculously sharp turn. He felt a lurch in his stomach as he failed to turn here and went over the edge. All he could think as he shot down was how ironic it was that it happened at the same moment as Crazy sang the following: "It Rainbow Roads, it where you goes when you dies!" He shot down, but felt a jerk behind him. Looking up, he saw Lakitu with his fishing pole out, pulling him back. The hook was hooked somewhere on the car. Lakitu pulled him back up and dropped him on the turn. He turned and shot off again. He drove forward and experienced another lurch in his stomach as he was suddenly launched like a cannon. He shot off even faster than before, coming to rest on another part of the road. He continued down only to meet another coloration in the sky, and there didn't seem to be any option but to go into it. He shot forward into it, and it seemed to turn him around almost all the way. He landed on another part of the road, where, naturally, he saw a fork in the road. He turned to the right, and experienced another couple sharp turns before jumping to another part, where the road was sloped on either side. He tried to stay in the middle, turned right over a hill, and felt a sense of triumph as he finally crossed the finish line. Looking at the scoreboard, he saw that he'd come in third. Not too bad, but he was just glad he was still alive. Right now, he wasn't sure if he wanted to puke, scream, or go through there again. Somehow, they all seemed appealing at the same time. As everyone else crossed the finish line, Crazy finished his song.

XXXX

As the race finished, and the track returned to normal, Firestar and Graystripe pulled up to Mario and Luigi. "Well," Graystripe said, "You were right about one thing: It is harder than it sounds."

"I thought the lakitu was a hologram," Firestar said, fully aware at how much like a twoleg that sounded, but he was curious.

"All our holograms are hard light," Mario said.

"That's my favorite track, I'd have to say," Luigi commented. "Hey, did you guys here Crazy's song out there?"

"Yeah," Graystripe replied. "What was that about?"

"I don't actually know," Luigi said honestly. "Well, we'd better get out there. One more track left.

As Graystripe got into his Wild Wing, he couldn't help feeling grateful that it was almost over. Everything started warping again. When it was done, he was sitting in his kart in front of a castle surrounded by a moat of lava. As Crazy and Lakitu started the countdown for the last time, there was no sign of music starting up. He floored it as soon as Crazy shouted, "NOW!" and shot forward. Looking down, he saw he was now driving on a wooden bridge. He wasn't really sure how much he trusted it, and was almost glad when he hit the jump and landed on solid ground, even if that solid ground was heading straight for the mouth of a giant Bowser statue. He shot through the mouth to discover a hall waving just as violently as back at the Rainbow Road, except with stuff blocking his path in the middle. Past this, he saw a sharp turn ahead that he would crash if he didn't turn. Jerking the wheel to the left, his heart leapt as he was almost crushed by a gigantic block of stone. He missed it narrowly and turned to the side again, to find another sharp turn with lava as a consequence. He jerked to the side, and shot downhill, dodging another gigantic stone that tried to crush him. As he dodged this one, he headed towards another jump, this one leading into a half-tunnel with smooth edges. He kept going forward into what seemed to be a pit of mud. He slowed down, which, in this case, wasn't too good a thing, as he saw when he looked up and saw what looked like a giant, living Bowser statue spitting gigantic balls of fire down the path. He pushed down on the gas as much as he could, and managed to get out of the mud just in time to speed up again and get out of the way of the nearest one. He saw another pit coming up and shot up the right side of the tunnel, luckily avoiding the mud, but risking a jump. He managed to land it, just in time to avoid three rotating bars made of fire. He dodged it and took another sharp turn to the right, coming close to a series of lava geysers. He took several more turns, avoiding several more stone blocks, and hit a gigantic jump with more firebars rotating around it. He shot downhill and took another sharp turn. It was a second before he realized that he was steering into a series of hills. Every now and then, one of these hills was exploding and erupting with lava. He turned to the right, then to the left, and shot forward and... crossed the finish line. He saw himself go past it, and slammed on his breaks. He came to a stop. He looked at the scoreboard, not really caring what place he came in, only caring that it was over and saw that he was in...

XXXX

"AND WE HAVE OUR WINNERS!" Crazy shouted, shooting out of his commentator's box as everything returned to normal. "IN FIRST PLACE... META KNIGHT! IN SECOND... BOWSER! IN THIRD... GRAYSTRIPE! CONGRATULATIONS!" As he finished, the racetrack finished returning to normal. Mario, Luigi, Firestar, and Graystripe all met off to the side.

"Well," Graystripe said, "I wasn't expecting that."

"Ah, don't be modest," Luigi said, slapping him on the back. "To be honest, though, I wasn't expecting it either."

"Well, congratulations, noobs," said a growling voice behind them. They turned to see Bowser and Meta Knight standing there. "I would be lying if I said I thought one of you would rank in the top three."

"I bet you also weren't expecting me to beat you, were you?" Meta Knight said, and they could almost see the smirk under his mask. "Leader of all non-human armies, my foot."

"Watch yourself," Bowser growled. As the two stomped away, arguing with each other, Zelda came up to them.

"So, how did you guys do?" she asked.

"Not bad," Luigi said. "You?"

"I came in fourth. I would have been in third, but a red shell hit me a little bit into Rainbow Road. Anyways, come on, I heard there's a fight going on in the stands between Toon Link and Lucario."

Well, that's all for now. The only thing I have to say here is that the song Crazy sings during Rainbow Road is actually from a video on Youtube, and therefore belongs to the guy who made it there. If you want to check it out, it's just called Rainbow Road. If you search it, it should be first. The picture shows a semi-transparent guy with an orange beard in front of the Rainbow Road. On that note, please R&R, all suggestions and constructive criticism accepted, and please, no flames. Gamer4 out.