DISCLAIMER: The only thing I own are my own copies of Kingdom Hearts I and II. I don't own anything else in this fic.
Past
Previous parts in chapter or another voice
Thoughts
Wow, this is unbelievable, folks! These three new jockeys have made it to the top three!
Donald, Goofy, and Riku got off of their chocobos, as their chocobos danced for joy for their victory.
"You did it, Donald!" Goofy congratulated.
"No problem!" Donald crossed his arms in triumph. Suddenly, from out of the blue, his blue chocobo seemed to have passed out. Donald jumped off of his sleeping chocobo and checked up on its condition.
"I think he might be sleeping, Donald," noted Goofy. However, soon enough, Goofy's chocobo had passed out as well.
Riku was no different. For some odd reason, as they looked around the area, even the jockeys' chocobos had passed out. No one could figure out why their chocobos had fallen asleep.
"What's going on?" Riku wondered.
"There's something screwy around here," realized Donald.
Kairi continued to ride on her pink chocobo in full speed. Kairi's chocobo had finally crossed the finish line. Kairi then pulled on her reins to stop her chocobo's dash. Her pink chocobo had started to skid, trying to halt itself. Luckily, for the Princess; Donald, Goofy, and Riku were there to catch her and her pink chocobo, effectively halting the giant bird.
Kairi, with Goofy's help, hopped off of her chocobo. Kairi then gave her chocobo a well-deserved stroke on its head, before turning her attention to the race track. She could see a small black spot on the race track, before identifying it at Sora and his chocobo.
"Is Sora okay, kupo?" asked the worried Mog.
"He'll be okay," assured Kairi, "I trust Sora."
Sora now knew the truth behind the sleeping chocobos. Not only was the saboteur trying to interfere with the race...
"That saboteur is one of them..." said Sora, facing the jockeys.
Sora watched the jockeys in suspicion. Sora realized one thing about this incident. Sora and the others were not the only ones after the Heart Fragment. Someone else is after it as well.
But who?
Chapter 37: The Final Race
And now a report from the Chocobo Race! There will be a lottery drawing for the leading positions, broadcasting live today! Who will be the top jockeys in the final race?
In the drawing arena, Sora and his friends, as well as a number of jockeys that qualified, awaited their turn for their numbers. The first one to come up for the drawing was Kairi, accompanied by Mog on her shoulder, who shyly stepped up. Kairi was not that used to being in front of a big crowd, such as this one. In front of her, there was a big glass globe, with a number of red balls hovering around at randomly. Attached to the globe, there was a tube, in which these red balls will eventually come out.
"And now, folks, our upcoming star, Kairi, will now receive her number!" announced the announcer, "What number will she receive?"
As Kairi was awaiting her number to be drawn, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Riku turned their attentions to the other qualified jockeys. The fact that their chocobos had fallen asleep in the middle of the race seemed to strange for anyone. There could only be one reason why the chocobos would fall asleep in the middle of the race.
"One of them is trying to disrupt the race," noted Donald.
"And there's no doubt that one of them is after the Fragment," said Riku.
"Oh! What do we have here!?" exclaimed the surprised announcer. The announcer presented Kairi, who was holding a red ball, labeled #1. "Our beloved Kairi, along with her chocobo, Rose, has taken the leading position in the next race! Can you believe it, folks!?"
"Kairi, you're really good at this, kupo!" Mog praised happily on Kairi's shoulder.
"Y-yeah," replied Kairi, not understanding how she got the managed to take the leading position.
"Right off the bat," commented Riku, as she watched Kairi holding up her red ball.
"The Princess's luck strikes again!" exclaimed the joyful Goofy.
Kairi smiled proudly to the crowd, as she still presented her #1 ball. And much to her joy, the crowd continued to cheer for the young Princess.
Later that night, in a dining hall of Gold Saucer, the jockeys were invited to a banquet, courtesy of the Chocobo Race hostess, Selphie. Variety of food items were scattered throughout other tables, ranging from meats, fruits, vegatables, breads, bakeries, etc.
"Tonight, we celebrate for all of you for qualifying in today's race," announced Selphie, "I hope you all enjoy each other's company for tonight. And I wish you all the best of luck for tomorrow. Here's to you all!" Selphie praised, as she raised her drink to everyone.
"Here, here!" All the jockeys raised their glasses in celebration, and giving each other a toast to their race tomorrow, before everyone can enjoy the food and drinks.
Many of the jockeys had taken the liberty of taking in some of the hors d'oeuvres. Sora and his friends were of no exception. Donald had gathered himself a plate full of the finest food items. Before the magician was able to eat one of his hors d'oeuvres, Mog jumped up right behind him. "That's Mog's favorite food, kupo!" Mog exclaimed happily. Much to Donald's surprise and dismay, Mog consumed the food item that Donald was about to have.
"What's the big idea, you dumb plush toy!?" yelled the angry Donald.
"Uh-oh, Donald's angry again!" Mog said happily, before giving chase to the angered Donald.
"Get back here!" Donald chased after the moogle, with the intent of bringing vengeance upon the moogle for taking his food.
While Sora and the rest of the party watched Donald chase after Mog, Sora looked off to one of the tables. At one of the tables, Sora saw a teenager about the same as his. As Sora stared at him, the Keyblade master noticed something about him. This teenager kind of looked like one of Sora's friends. Looking hard enough, Sora realized that this person looked almost like one of the people he met from Twilight Town--Hayner.
The teenaged boy noticed Sora staring at him and he was already starting to get suspicious of Sora. Getting up from his seat, the teenaged boy approached Sora and his friends. "Hey, buddy, what are you looking at?" questioned the suspicious teenager.
Sora immediately snapped out of his trance, upon realizing that this teenager was noticing that he was staring at him. "Sorry about that," Sora apologized, "You just look like someone I know."
"...I see," responded the teenager, "Well, at least don't stare at me, okay? It kind of creeps me out."
"Yeah, sorry," Sora apologized again.
"Don't worry about it," assured the teenager, "You know what? You're all right. The name's Max. What's your name, kid?"
"I'm Sora," Sora introduced, "These are my friends, Donald, Goofy, Riku, Pluto, Mog, and Princess Kairi."
"Pleasure to meet you all," said Max, as he extended his hand to Sora. Sora and Max shook each other's hand. Though this was the first time they have met, Sora and Max seemed to have started a likely friendship in this world.
Later that evening, Kairi went to the balcony, away from the party, with her friends accompanying her. Kairi took a good look at the view in front of her. The Princess was overjoyed upon seeing the pretty lights that illuminated around the nighttime Gold Saucer. She could see a perfect view of the other Squares and the pretty lights that each of the Squares gave off.
"Traveling different worlds has its benefits, don't you think?" asked Riku, "You get to experience a lot of great things, especially meeting new friends."
"But then again, you also meet people who don't act positive," noted Goofy.
"You mean like the ones behind us?" Riku asked, as he turned his head towards the balcony's doorway.
"Princess, please be careful," cautioned Sora. The party awaited the presence of whoever was sneaking up on them. Without warning, men in blue uniforms appeared, armed with clubs. Sora, drawing his Keyblade, bravely volunteered to deal with these armed men. "Please watch the Princess," Sora requested his friends.
Sora then ran into his first battle of Gold Saucer. These men in blue uniforms charged towards Sora, unaware of the young teenagers experienced skills in combat. The first man swung his club downwards, hoping strike down Sora in one blow. Unfortunately, for the man, Sora dodged the club and struck back, with a Keyblade to the wrist, effectively disarming the man. Behind Sora, another man was about to swing his club down on Sora. Sora didn't have enough time to bring his Keyblade up to defend himself. Instead, Sora brought his hand up to catch the club. However, upon catching the man's club, Sora immediately felt waves of pain enter his hand. Sora grunted in pain as he caught the man's club and realized something about his opponents' weapons. They weren't ordinary clubs. They were actually stun rods.
"Sora!" Mog yelled in distress.
"Are you two going to help him?" asked Riku.
"Sora knows what he's doing," said Donald.
Sora was completely surrounded by men in blue uniform. His left hand was now out of commission, due to the electric discharge that he had just received. "It's no use, kid!" one of the men exclaimed, "Drop your weapon and put your hands up!" Enemies were all around Sora, and to make things worst, Sora was still blind in his right eye. It was now time to put his training to the test. Sora closed his eyes to cut off his sight from the world. This time, he was going to use his senses to fight, just like how Donald and Goofy taught him. "Grab him!"
The two men from behind Sora charged at the Keyblade master. Using his senses, Sora made a jumping spin kick, effectively knocking out his assailants. Next, the two men in front of Sora charged with their stun rods. Once again, using his senses, Sora performed a roundhouse kick to knock the assailants' weapons our of their hands, leaving the men to hold their hands in pain. Last, Sora concentrated on his senses and used one last kick to knock another man's stun rod out of his hand. The men could only hold their hands in pain, and the rest attempting to help their unconcious teammates.
"Whoa, nice one, Sora," complimented Riku.
"All right, that's enough." Sora and his friends turned their attention to the doorway, where they saw a red-haired man, wearing goggles on his head and a suit--albeit in an unkempt way--enter the balcony. "Smooth moves, kid."
"Who are you?" Sora questioned.
"Normally, we never attack unarmed combatants." Behind the red-haired man, three more people entered. One was a bald-man, another had long black hair, and there was a female blonde. "But then again, we need to do necessary things to get what we're after..."
"Who are you guys?" Donald interrogated.
"We're the Turks," the black-haired man introduced, "These are my associates: Reno, Rude, and Elena."
"The Turks?" Riku pondered.
The Turks brought along Sora and his friends around Gold Saucer, until they ended up in one of the rooms of the Chocobo Square. Sora, his friends, and the Turks entered the room to find Selphie waiting inside. Apparently, this seems to be Selphie's quarters, considering that she is the hostess of this chocobo race.
"Selphie?" said the confused Sora.
"I'm sorry for the trouble, everyone," said Selphie.
"So you're the one who was behind this," realized Riku.
"Selphie was the one who hired us," Reno admitted, "We're just doing our jobs like we're told."
"I asked for their help in this investigation," confessed Selphie, "I also asked them to bring you all here to help figure out who was behind the incident in the qualifying race."
"Someone was trying to sabotage the race, right?" hypothesized Goofy.
Elena, the blonde Turk, brought out a remote control and displayed a computer screen, showing what appears to be chemical formulas of some kind. "We analyzed the chocobo feeds that were brought in recently," explained Elena, "And we found these in the vegetables. A highly-potent sleeping drug."
"This sleeping drug only lasts for about 12 hours," added Tseng.
"The people who received the shipment of chocobo feed hadn't noticed anything unusual until now," said Selphie.
"These chocobo feed were drugged last night, just in time for the chocobo qualifying race to begin," explained Rude.
"We can't explain it any further, but we have our suspect that this saboteur is involved with the race, as well," concluded Selphie.
"I think so, too," nodded Sora.
"We ran a background check on every one of the chocobo jockeys, and you and your friends' were the only ones that we haven't found," Tseng admitted.
"Which was why I asked the Turks to bring you in for questioning," confessed Selphie.
"So that's why you had them attack us!" exclaimed Donald.
"'Attack' is such a strong word nowadays...I prefer the term 'bullying,'" mused Reno, earning a glare from Donald, "Selphie had her suspicions, so we ordered the Gold Saucer security team to take you in. But when we observed you, we realized, if you were a cheater, you would have fought dirty." Sora nodded when he realized that Reno had a good point. Even cheaters would have no honor in a fight.
"We're lending our support in the investigation, as well," Elena spoke up, "So far, we've been questioning the other jockeys and the related parties. It's only a matter of time before we find our man."
"We don't know what's going to happen next, so please, be careful, everyone," Selphie cautioned Sora and his friends.
"None of this makes any sense," confessed Goofy, earning a puzzled look from Selphie, "I know you didn't bring us here just to tell us that. Is there something that you're hiding?"
"...Well, there is something I wanted to ask," Selphie admitted. After a moment of silence, Selphie walked up to Kairi and took her hands in hers, once again. "What will you and your chocobo be wearing?" asked the eager Selphie.
"Wearing?" asked the confused Kairi.
"Your costume, of course!" exclaimed the happy Selphie, "Have you picked one for you and your chocobo?"
"Um...no," replied the reluctant Kairi.
"Then, I'll make one for you!" Selphie exclaimed once again, "One for you and one for your chocobo! You two are going to look so cute together! It will be so great. My heroine speeding through the track, wearing something I picked out for her and her chocobo!"
Mog hopped out of Riku's arms and gently landed in Kairi's arms. "Mog wants to wear something for the race, too, kupo!" Mog said happily.
"Leave it to me, little one," Selphie smiled, as she shook Mog's paw, "So how about it, Kairi? We can go to my wardrobe and pick out something for you to wear for the race!"
"......Sure!" Kairi smiled, "That sounds great!"
"It's nice to see two girls smiling," said Goofy.
"You said it!" exclaimed Donald.
"Reno, you and Rude check out the surveillance systems for anything suspicious," requested Tseng, "We're going to question more people."
"All righty," Reno waved, as he and Rude exited Selphie's quarters to continue in the investigation.
The next day, Kairi, Selphie, and Mog were selecting their own costumes for today's race. The race wasn't until later on, so there was still time to kill. Sora's black chocobo had finally recovered from the sleeping drug. The Turks were still undergoing the investigation, but thanks to their presence, today's shipment of chocobo feed was all clean.
"How are you feeling, buddy?" Sora asked, as he was feeding his chocobo some fresh vegetables.
"Hey, you're here, too!"
Sora looked behind him and was surprised to see who was tending to his chocobo. "Max!" exclaimed the surprised Sora, "What are you doing here?"
"Getting my buddy ready for finals," replied Max, as he was feeding his green chocobo, which sported its own goggles. "His name's Swift. I've been riding with him since I was a kid. After some growing up, I decided to try the chocobo races. I've been working on him ever since."
Sora watched his new friend feeding his green chocobo. Sora then noticed one particular vegetable that stood out from the rest of the green food items. "What's this?" Sora asked, as he picked up the particular vegetable.
"Never seen it? That's a sylkis green," said Max, "Those are pretty good for helping your chocobo keep its stamina high and make it move faster."
"You mind if I use this one?" Sora asked for permission.
"Sure thing," responded Max, "I've got lots of them back at my place. You really want to win this race, too, huh?"
"No matter what it takes...I want to get that Fragment..." Sora said quietly to himself in determination.
"Ah, you got that fiery attitude," said the impressed Max, "I like that. Well, I better get to work. Come on, buddy. Let's get you groomed for the race." Max took his chocobo out of the stable to get him prepared for today's race, leaving Sora to tend to his chocobo.
The race was about to take place in the Chocobo Square. Sora and his friends had their chocobos ready for this big race. As they awaited for the announcement of the race, Selphie and Kairi, along with Mog, arrived behind the party. With Selphie's help, Kairi wore a pink racing scarf with some black goggles sitting on her head. Mog, while being held in Selphie's arms, wore simple black goggles on his head. In the party's eyes, Kairi looked like a cute professional chocobo jockey.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting," said Selphie.
Riku made an impressed whistle. "Looking good, Princess," complimented Riku.
"You look very cute, Princess!" Donald agreed.
"Thanks, you two," Kairi smiled.
"Selphie picked it out for her, kupo!" Mog explained.
"Thanks for letting Pluto watch with you," said Goofy.
"It's no bother," assured Selphie, "He wanted to have the chance to cheer you guys on."
"He's also playing navigator for us, as well," commented Riku, "We're counting on you, Pluto." Pluto gave an ear-salute to the party.
"By the way, Selphie, how is that investigation going?" asked Donald.
"Unfortunately, the Turks are still investigating," replied Selphie, "They're still reviewing the security tapes, and they've ordered more security for the race. Who knows what will happen out there? Please be careful out there."
"We will," assured Sora.
"All we have to do is win, and maybe this saboteur will stop whatever he's doing," hypothesized Goofy.
"It's possible," said Riku.
"I'm going to do my best, too!" Kairi exclaimed with enthusiasm.
"So will Mog, kupo!" Mog said happily, as he hopped into Kairi's arms.
"Well, time to head off, everyone," announced Riku, as he got his racing goggles ready.
"...To the main Garden Racing Championship." It was now or never for Sora and his friends. They had to win this race, or else, that Fragment was gone for good.
On the chocobo race track, all the chocobo jockeys marched out into the track, outside of Gold Saucer, waving towards the crowd, as the spectators cheered for their favorite racer. Kairi's pink chocobo, thanks to Selphie, sported a pink flower on its head, adding more of its cuteness to its character. Above the crowd, there was numerous choppers doing a live coverage of the event, and broadcasting this event all around the world.
Here we are, live from Gold Saucer, folks! Our main event, the Garden Racing Championship is about to begin! The race shall take place outside of Gold Saucer, where our jockeys will race across the lands up to the finish line! As we know, ladies and gentlemen, we only have one rule in this race! One jockey must obtain three badges from different checkpoints and cross the finish line to win! Just who will take the ultimate Grand Prize!? Oh, I can't take the suspense, folks!
Every chocobo jockey, Sora and his friends included, got on their chocobos. Soon, the chocobos walked up to the starting line, with Kairi taking the lead. The chocobos awaited the signal for the race to start. Red... Some of the chocobos scraped the ground in anticipation. Red... Kairi tightened her grip on the reins of her pink chocobo. Red... Sora held a determined look on his face, vowing to win this race for the Princess. Green!
As soon as that green light flashed, the chocobos immediately dashed off from the starting line, starting their trek around across the lands.
And we're off! The Garden Racing Championship has officially begun!
Kairi, was about to use improper leg pressure again, but decided against it. She regained her composure, even when most of the chocobo jockeys had already dashed passed her. Sora rode alongside Kairi's pink chocobo with his black chocobo. "Princess, please take it easy," Sora advised.
"Okay," Kairi nodded.
There will be various obstacles designed to slow our competitors down, folks! One false move, and it's game over!
Donald and Riku had taken it into account as they saw what kind of obstacles they were about to face. The course itself would change its environment as the competitors raced through. Roads would be slippery as ice, rough as rocks, or even narrow tunnels. One of the first obstacles the trio encountered were various rocks and boulders standing in their way. Donald commanded his blue chocobo to use the rocks and boulders as leverage and hop across from boulder to boulder, without decreasing his own speed. Riku followed the example and successfully avoided the obstacle.
Oh, look at this folks! Donald and his blue chocobo, Mother Goose have successfully cleared the first obstacle, without even slowing down!
"Again with that 'Mother Goose' name..." grumbled the cranky Donald.
As the race continued, Selphie and Elena watched the race from the Turks chopper. Thanks to the to for the help from the Turks, Selphie was able to see Sora and Kairi riding alongside each other. Upon seeing Sora and Kairi, Pluto barked in a cheery way for the two to do their best.
"Good luck, you two," Selphie said quietly.
Our three newcomers are about to cross the first checkpoint! If they can't get this first badge, then that's it, folks!
The first checkpoint was surrounded by a rocky area, with a few mountain ranges towering over the first checkpoint. The first checkpoint was displayed as a number of balloons floating with badges at the end of their ropes.
"How are we supposed to reach that?" Donald wondered as he kept riding.
"Hmm...let's this," Riku advised his friends. The duo used proper leg pressure to speed up to the checkpoint. Then, duo commanded their chocobos to leap into the air. The duo extended their hands towards the balloons, just close enough to grab a balloon out of the air by the ropes. Donald and Riku untied the balloons off of their badge, letting the balloons go free. "Now I see..."
"I guess you just gotta reach for it," Riku realized.
"The badges will also decrease when the other jockeys come by," noticed Donald, "That's going to be a problem."
Selphie, Elena, and Pluto continued to watch the race from above. So far, more and more jockeys had passed the first checkpoint, grabbing their first badges. So far, there were no problems as they had observed so far.
Perhaps this saboteur has backed off...
...or did he?
To be continued…