Fighting in the Streets
Chapter 23 – Toad's Factory
Not much to say at the moment, just refer to the beginning of other chapters for guidance on where to find certain things.
January 24, 2015 – 9:30AM
Mushroom City, Mushroom Kingdom
The temperature was already scorching on this summer day in the city, and to make things worse in the penthouse, the air conditioning wasn't working anymore, for it had stopped functioning sometime during the night. The cool breezes had disappeared and humidity was on the rise for the first time this month. Peak temperatures in the south usually occurred in the month of February, and now it was on the rise, peaking above 35 degrees during the day.
George woke up on his bed, appreciating the fact that there was more space around here now that Tom and Enrique were always journeying around again. That was until he soon heard a quiet knock on the front door. Only Jaapayo was also awake, he was already at the kitchen eating cereal as he heard the door knocking. It was Tom; he had returned from the Cape without Enrique. Jaapayo turned his seat towards the door and watched George approach the front door, opening it wide to reveal Tom, coming back from a long journey southwards from Koopa Cape. He already had the knowledge of the next race's location – Toad's Factory – so he stopped by the penthouse for the day in between.
"It's the man himself." George greeted him happily. "The big T-T. Mister Tommy-Tunie."
"Yes, 'tis I." Tom replied, walking through the doorway quietly. "...and only I." He greeted Jaapayo as he walked through and sat over by the nearest sofa. "What's been going on while Enrique and I have been gone?"
"I've still heard nothing back from Jack and Ronald ever since they were in Seven Farms on their 'business'... and also Will's seemed to have gone for about a day now, not sure where he went exactly."
"You suppose he didn't go back home, did he?"
"No, not at all." He stood straight for a brief moment. "He would have said something about it if he was to go back. I think he's somewhere in the Kingdom."
"...And what about Toby and Luke?"
"They're asleep at the moment. In there." He pointed to the door leading to the other room of beds. Tom looked around and admired the neatness of the penthouse. He was surprised to see the boys managing to keep it in good shape. However it could be all of Luke's doing, it's in his nature to keep everything clean and well-organised.
"Alright, you're coming with me." He beckoned George up from his chair and moved back towards the door. Tom looked back at Jaapayo who was still eating his food and thought not to tell him about where they were about to go.
"What for?" George questioned. Tom only moved his head, signalling to go outside.
"We'll see you later." Tom whispered to Jaapayo, trying not to wake the others up.
"I'll be going down to the lake later." Jaapayo replied. "I'll be back by the evening if you happen to return early." Tom nodded in agreement before shutting the door once George walked past outside.
The sun was beaming down more intensely than usual for this part of the year, making the sky appear a little more orange.
"So how's the dispute going between Peach and Bowser, are they still friends in this situation?" George asked Tom, walking down the steps of the building.
"Peach has been going through a bit of a rough time as usual. I'm guessing Bowser is just doing his own thing with his children being back with him now and all. It's the suffering of Peach's nightmares that has led to the change in her personality, not Bowser."
"So would you say the races are -?"
"Screw the races for the time being, George." Tom interrupted his friend and stopped moving as they got out of the building and on to the pavement of the busy road ahead. "I personally think you need to start worrying about yourself and everyone up there." He pointed upwards. "You lot have had a year of fun here at least and now times are changing, you need to get yourselves known and on the good end of this land or it will start to become dangerous." George looked down in guilt of all the slack he and the others have done for most of their time here. He felt like Tom gave him a Utopia that they have just abused and not thanked him for.
"Alright." George apologised. "What do you intend to do now."
"Come with me to the castle again. I believe Daisy is there; hopefully she can track the whereabouts of Will to see if he too is slacking off or actually doing something useful." The two crossed the road at the crossing and headed quickly down the path to Toad Town. "It's already been five races, trust me the rest of them are going to go just like that." He snapped his fingers.
HALF AN HOUR LATER...
Daisy greeted the two as they reached the top floor of the castle. She let them in through the locked door and gave George a big hug and a peck on the cheek for Tom.
"I'm not sure about the whereabouts of him right now." She replied to them after being asked where Will would be. "But thankfully you asked me, since just recently the Brigade were informed about the theft of a Brown-tinted Mach Bike from the garages in the eastern end of the city. Odds are it was he who took it and drove off with it, unfortunately we haven't got any trace on where he could have gone with it." George and Tom looked at eachother surprised.
"So... Will thinks he can ride a Mach Bike?" George wondered.
"Does he know the stats of the bike? Is he experienced in karting or riding before?" Daisy asked Tom.
"Not that I know of in this land, but he was very in to riding normal bikes back home." Tom replied. "He's probably really good at it, maybe better than Peach or you yourself." Daisy looked concerned and headed over to the nearest window. She then changed her mind and ran towards Peach's headquarters, containing the biggest window on the floor overlooking most of Mushroom City. Tom and George followed her immediately. "Look out there." She said as she headed over to the side, pressing the microphone button against the wall.
"I need several Brigade squads heading eastbound out of the city. We have reported a stolen vehicle from the garages heading eastwards. The suspect is human." She released the button and headed back to the other two. "If he went any other direction we would have caught him on our security cameras, he must have gone off-road or something, since we detected nothing in Kalinka, Mushroomheath, Pahnhap, and any other city district." Tom and George looked down at the city and within a couple of minutes they spotted several Brigade vehicles infiltrating the roads and heading eastwards out of the city.
"This isn't what we wanted!" Tom yelled whilst looking out of the window. "We wanted you to find him, not arrest him." He turned around and complained more at Daisy.
"We are finding him, technically." She giggled a little bit, but then immediately tried to cover up her grin. "Besides, we sent the Brigade out for you to find him as quickly as possible, isn't it better that way so we don't dawdle around as much?"
Tom sighed heavily and looked blankly for a good few seconds before speaking again.
"Alright, listen here you two, come closer." He kneeled down and watched the vehicles fade away in the distance. "We need to realise that if this is not him then it's going to waste us a lot of time if we go so I personally think either one of you two goes alone with the Brigade and have a look there, the other will go with me somewhere far far out by the coastline perhaps and search the very quiet areas to the east. We'd have to get there by train and spot him there too, hopefully without the brigade there." He got up again. "So either he's caught by the Brigade or caught secretly."
"I think it's better if I go with you since I can't work with the Brigade." George insisted, and knowing inside Daisy would want to do the same but with no excuse up her sleeve.
She groaned. "If I must... actually, why can't we all go to the coast?" Daisy instead thought. "I'll be notified if they catch him."
"Kart up." Tom instructed. "Let's get moving." He put himself and George in their standard kart and Daisy rode on her Mach after quickly changing outfits. The three began to head out of town within a short while, heading southeast, off-road and away from the Brigade's tracks.
SOMEWHERE BEYOND DK JUNGLE...
The bright sky was completely covered up by the thickness of trees of the forests southeast of the jungle. The outskirts are more compressed than the Kong's residence is, and the coastline was still a fair distance away. The three drove further towards what two of them thought was the edge of the forest. Instead it turned out to be a large clearing of the woods and in the centre lied what looked like an abandoned factory, now used for other purposes. Daisy stopped driving for a moment and looked down, she had realised that the path she was driving along was not natural and instead was made rather recently, with the same tyre marks her own bike makes. Tom and George stopped soon after a few metres away, noticing her idleness.
"He's here." Daisy mentioned. "...or was here, we'll see." She began to proceed further in to the factory, squeezing past inactive bulldozers; a spot where the bike marks came to an end. It was as if the thief drove through to race around the factory. Tom and George realised now who the factory belonged to. As George and Tom passed through, they both almost got their feet caught in the mud. Not like real mud, it slowed their pace down.
"Move over to the sides!" Daisy complained, staring and worrying for the cleanliness of their outfits. "You'll spoil your clothes."
Since the track was not fully operative at the time, the mud was not maintained and left marks on the sides where the thief's bike must have gone. George assumed it was Will, and looked ahead to see the bike travel on to the boost panel, leaving marks of mud scattered over the start of the course. Both Tom and George were surprised to see the track currently isolated despite being the race of tomorrow.
After gazing at the track marks, Daisy called out to them again, already on the other side of the mud and looking flawlessly clean.
"Hurry up, before he vanishes from here." She moaned at them again. A few seconds later she pulled out a pager from her inside pocket. "Alert the entire Brigade, stop the search." She addressed, and then put the pager back inside her outfit. As Tom and George crossed the sides to escape the mud, the three heard a large crashing sound followed by the sound of several crates collapsing and breaking apart coming from the centre of the factory. Tom felt confused, as it was not coming from any part of the racetrack, but inside.
"Head through the course and maybe have a look at the water space." Tom commanded. "If we can't get past the second conveyors then we'll have to get past the first ones on the right-hand side."
Further in to the search the three kept hearing more and more crashing sounds coming from the inside of the track. George climbed over the bulldozers on the other side of the dirt and crept through a door that was slightly ajar before he approached, leading to a massive warehouse-like room filled with conveyors, storage boxes and piles of girders on the floor. Towers of tyres directly in front of him and piles of scrap metal to his left. Will was not in sight. But noise was still being made from the centre, where the largest tower of crates was. George assumed Will to be at the top of the tower for whatever reason, so he crept towards the giant crates and hid beside them, still unsure why there is a mess in the centre of the factory. Daisy and Tom soon arrived; staring up at the top they could catch a glimpse of Will's back head.
"Will? What are you doing here?" Daisy called from the bottom of the room. Will turned his head and stared down to the three. He noticed George leaning against the bottom crates. He was safe from any collapse as the size of the crates were huge. The three at the bottom quickly circled around and noticed no way of getting up. "We're not going to hurt you." She added, fully circling the area.
Tom stared into Will's eyes from the top, but found nothing evident as he quickly turned away and disappeared from their sight. Seconds later, the stolen Mach Bike was launched from the top and thrown down towards the three. It smashed onto the floor right in front of George's feet, almost hitting him fatally.
"G-get out of here!" Will called from the top, stuttering in a way seemingly intentional. Tom leaped onto the bike and jumped up onto the first row of crates. The tower of crates looked pyramid shaped, with Will being three crates higher.
"Will get down from there, you shouldn't be here. Are you out of your mind?" Tom called from the first row of crates.
The room fell silent. Will wasn't making any sounds from the top and George and Daisy backed away from the crates as Tom crept around, looking for a way to climb up. After a few seconds, Tom crept around the back of the crates, where Daisy couldn't see him.
"Will?" Daisy called out once more.
Suddenly and surprisingly, Will leaped down from the top crate fearlessly and landed right on top of Tom, quickly grabbing him and throwing him off the crates and onto a pile of girders and poles. Tom crashed and hurt his back, quickly getting up after realising Will's vicious approach to him. Unfortunately Will had the higher ground and the best of him, grabbing him again and throwing him aside. Daisy screamed and rushed around to the other side with George, seeing Will drag Tom out through another door and quickly close it behind them. She panicked and tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge. Will had put Tom against the door, stopping Daisy from getting through. George tried to ram in to it as well, but did nothing to help break the door down. "Go outside and round." He whispered to Daisy.
"Will, brother, I know that's not you in there." Tom, bruised, spoke out to Will.
"Why did you follow me?" Will whispered back to him, gripping on him forcefully and still putting him against the door.
"What? You stole a bike and drove to a factory... Toad's Factory! Stop questioning me and get me off this door already." Daisy approached from behind. Tom noticed her creep from behind but his eye movement made Will notice as well. Will pulled Tom's body away from the door, allowing it to swing open by George. Unexpectedly he fell forward and got his head banged by the door by Will, swinging it with his other hand, pushing him aside and allowing Will to drag Tom inside and trapping Daisy on the other side with George again. Tom couldn't get himself off of Will's grip until he was thrown against the metal pole pile again.
"Where is Peach?" Will demanded, moving away from the door and approaching Tom on the floor.
"I don't know, why should I tell you that? I know you're not the real Will." Tom just had a thought after speaking back to whatever is possessing Will. He finally got a proper glimpse at his eyes. They were much darker than usual with a bit of a red glare to them. The skin on his face looked much darker than usual as well. Now Tom knew what was in Will, and there he refused to answer Will. The door finally opened behind Will and Daisy and George charged over to try and restrain him. He pushed the two aside but Tom finally got up and tried to grab him as well. All of a sudden Will became powerless, and was pushed with force by Tom, who overestimated how much he needed to use to stop him in place. He fell on to the floor and ached in pain. Tom's pain from the bruises finally got to him and he collapsed on to the floor. The darkness in Will vanished quickly and escaped towards the crate pyramid and flew up into the sky in the shape of a slimy cloud.
"Argh! What are you doing?" Will reacted from the floor at Daisy and George, eyeing over him. He moved around and tried to find out where he was. "What are we doing here? How did I..."
"It's ok, calm down." Daisy comforted him. "Something terrible must have happened to you." Will looked back at her, completely confused. He turned his head straight and noticed Tom leaning against the crates on the side, trying to ease his own pain.
"You did this you know." Tom said to him, referring to the bruises he was covering up. "Well, technically not you, but I think the same thing that's been irritating Peach had taken control of your body. The reason for it though, I'm not sure, but apparently it does not know where she is. I guess that is good news to us then."
"What thing?" Will asked.
"I don't know." Tom replied quickly.
"Nobody really knows." George added.
"Peach had been scarred on her back by something unknown and it's linked to making her think weirdly, act weirdly and sleep with difficulty. However recently she has been suffering less, as if what's causing it isn't with her and instead has gone rogue."
"So you're telling me that pain you guys were talking about with Peach is now in me?"
"Was in you." George finished for Tom. "I saw it disappear and travel up through the gap in the roof."
"I saw it too. Now I don't know if I am fit to race anymore. I can't really move my legs confidently."
"Peach wouldn't have this." Daisy stated. "Just use items."
"No just sub me and or Enrique out. I cannot race tomorrow." Tom groaned, looking at his bruises. He felt recurring pain whenever he moved his limbs in certain ways. They would massively irritate him if he was to throw items.
"I'll sub you." George suggested. "We look very similar anyway. I can just wear your clothes if that matters to the fans. Everyone wears the same clothes here anyway."
Tom turned to his left and saw Will lying back on the ground, rubbing his back against the surface slowly. "Let's get back to the castle..."
7:00PM
Will had been put straight to rest since returning to Toad Town, the authorities have been ignored in relation to the damage done at the factory and the news press has been completely disregarded. Several of Daisy's personal guards had cleared up some of the mess and returned the Mach Bike to the garage it was stolen from. Tom stood by Will in the same infirmary room that Peach was kept in just several days ago. He bandaged up the several bruises on his chest and rested on the seat next to Will, who was sleeping. The sudden loss of possession took most of his energy away from him. The doctor to the personal guards advised him to rest until the next day. As for Tom himself, he still stands unsure on what to do for the race tomorrow.
A few moments later, Will woke up. He stared up to the ceiling before slowly turning his head towards Tom.
"Who did this to me?" He half-spoke, too tired to raise his voice to a normal level. Tom didn't say anything back. Instead he watched the luminous sunset from the window facing south. "Tom..." Will tried to speak to Tom again.
"I don't know." He finally replied, a bit louder than usual. "It worries me a little inside that I do not know about some things in this world that I have spent so long in." Will laid forward again in silent distress. "I don't like this room." Tom sobbed more. "I need to take you to the top floors, how well can you move? It better be better than me."
Will pivoted upright and leaned forward on the infirmary bed. "I just feel tired." He said, eventually siding off the bed and standing upright. A slight feel of dizziness, but he felt well enough to walk around. Seconds later George walked smoothly in to the room, reacting to the others.
"Perfect timing. Let's get out of here." The three walked slowly out of the infirmary room, with George not uttering a single word until he noticed there was an elevator at the end of one of the hallways of the castle.
"There's an elevator?" George wondered.
"Hold the door!" Tom shouted across the hallway to the Toad that was inside the elevator. He reached towards a button and kept the doors open whilst the three staggered themselves together to the lift. The Toad awkwardly stood in the corner carrying his paperwork whilst Will took up the entire back wall with Tom and George slouching against the other sides.
"Well this solves a lot." George groaned in the elevator.
"Hey Tom." Will whispered. Tom turned to look back at him and Will looked right briefly towards the Toad and then discretely clenched his fist. George noticed the eye contact between the two and assumed the same idea.
"Fine..." Tom turned and pushed the Toad's face in to the wall. Will opened out one of the Toad's arms and punched his armpit, sending him to the floor knocked out. The papers flew about around the lift.
"Hurry up with the papers!" The lift quickly stopped, seconds later the doors opened. Will had quickly adjusted the Toads body so it was still standing upright behind him, making it look like it was awake. As the doors were fully opened a female Toad walked in with the other three. The Toad pressed her floor button and then noticed there was no other button lit up.
"Is this not your stop?" The Toad questioned the three boys in the lift. Tom blushed and looked away.
"Oh sorry, we forgot to press." George leaned over and blocked the Toad's view of Will, who was hiding the other Toad, to press the button for the highest possible floor. The doors closed and the lift began moving up to the Toad's floor, two below from the top. The female Toad's face turned sideways, she had noticed a glimmer in the reflection of the elevator door. She turned around and noticed the Toad hidden behind Will. She looked up into Will's eyes with surprise, but before she could gesture to do anything Tom grabbed her and banged her head into the elevator door. Will giggled a bit before George began to whine.
"Oh for fucks sake." He complained at the two bodies on the floor. "Nice going assholes." George held the other Toad up whilst Tom held onto the papers of the first one.
"That was actually unexpected but also funny." Will said at the same time. As the lift moved up the third floor from the top, the doors began to open. George quickly hit the close doors button repeatedly. Thankfully for them nobody appeared at the lift entrance, so the lift doors closed again quickly.
"Why did I think that was a good idea?" Tom also moaned. The three moaned at eachother as they sorted out the lift before it stopped at the top floor. It opened and George quickly moved out first, dragging the female Toad's body against the floor, away from sight of anyone else on the floor.
"Where is Daisy?" George asked Tom, assuming he would know.
"I don't know." Tom replied with stress. "Look, fuck it, just leave them back in the lift and send it going to the lowest floor. We have no time for this." He said again, placing the papers to the side of the lift's entrance. Thankfully there was no sign of activity on the floor.
"No, that's stupid." Will slapped Tom. "We've caused enough..."
...
The three barged into the headquarters chamber. There they saw Daisy sitting on a chair by the window looking away from the map table. She appeared to be in her own world, taking her some time to notice their arrival. As she turned around she snapped in reaction to the unconscious bodies.
"Can you lot not go a day without making something stupid happen?" She got up and headed over quickly to tend to the bodies. "I don't even know the names of these ones." She cried as Tom began to finally read the papers they stole.
"Safety Rules for the building? Colleague's funding? None of this is useful. This was a complete waste." Tom sifted through the papers quickly, slapping Will back in the face once he was done.
"What did you lot do?" Daisy asked, on the floor by the Toads.
"Will wanted us to knock out one Toad so we could see the papers, and then we ended up taking out another on our way up here." He groaned back at the man, who tried to hide his grin. He said nothing back, instead he kept looking away from Daisy.
"I could have him arrested for that, but now is not the time. The things I do for you guys..." She smiled back to Tom. "How're your bruises doing?"
"Unfortunately I cannot magically heal them."
"I heard Duncan's got some sort of thing that can heal wounds and bruises quickly." She moved the bodies to lie on the floor straight, waiting for them to wake.
"Oh really?" Tom questioned, doubting the teen's ability.
"Apparently he too is quite a person with magic."
George awkwardly stood by the map table, listening in to the two and watching the bodies with embarrassment at the same time. The room fell silent briefly as Daisy sat with the two Toads.
"You two should leave." Daisy suggested, looking back up to Tom. "None of you should be around when these two wake. Go back to the spare rooms on this floor and I will send these two downstairs, with explanation as to what happened." Tom got up and grabbed the sleepy Will, taking him out of the room with him. George followed, leaving Daisy alone. She sighed and looked back at the Toads, growing ever more worried about the actions of others...
11:45PM
Aypyidaw, Southwest Résethal
Enrique returned to his room in the Red Martyr's headquarters, tired after enduring a long day of planning and working with the defenders of the town, spending most of it sitting through talks amongst themselves about the issues arising from Dargo in the west. Archbarn himself has begun another midnight skirmish on the outskirts of the town to collect more information about the most dangerous hostiles. He felt too tired for tomorrow and whether it would impact his driving or not, since usually he was the one to take the wheel instead of the items. A few minutes later as he was taking off his shirt before going to use the bathroom before sleeping, his door opened. Peach appeared at the doorway wearing her same clothes as yesterday, though her mood was not the same.
"I want you to be honest with me Enrique." She said deeply, sounding very serious to him. The door closed behind her and slowly she moved over towards the bed. "Do you want to help out here as much as you can to help serve me and my problems here?"
"No." He replied back almost immediately after she finished her sentence. Peach moved her head back slightly in surprise. She quickly stood normal again with understanding of his current mood. Both of them knew she was not going to punish him for this.
"Are you simply here because you're alone with me?"
"No."
"...Are you here because you want to be?"
"..."
She couldn't get an answer from him for that question, until a few seconds later he finally spoke back. "I'm here for information and answers, and I have found enough of that for today so now I am getting ready to sleep so I am awake enough for tomorrow. That – as far as I am concerned – is something I cannot avoid, miss out on, or postpone. Those are your rules." She paused for a short moment before speaking back to him, thinking of what to say and how to formulate appropriate questions for him that he could answer helpfully.
"Are you telling me that you're not able to cope with Bowser's last graceful wish we gave him? This is his last chance we are ever going to give him, and besides, he's not seeing the real picture. Even if he wins look at what he would have left after my Brigade have sorted out his allies!"
"Why are you asking me so many questions?" He said monotonously, knowing that somehow he managed to get a different side of Peach when he is alone with her. His presence alone made her less powerful and persuasive.
"Because I cannot live peacefully with these things going on."
"Take a break, delay the next set of races, we're on... the sixth race? Let's have two more after this one and then take a break to assess the threat up here. We're lucky to have only a small amount of chaos after Koopa Cape. Imagine what could happen on a place like Wario Colosseum." Before Peach could speak back to Enrique, they were interrupted by the sound of another person at the door.
"There are other people sleeping on this floor." It was Eoréc, still awake and up with the other watch-guards on the night shift. "Please, if you are not intending on going to sleep, we can go downstairs if there is something that worries you."
"How would you know that something is worrying me?" Peach questioned him back with a poor choice of words.
"You're the most powerful woman of the South, there's always something for you to worry about." He said back politely and beckoned her to leave the room. She turned around to look at Enrique who shook his head back at her in response.
"See you in the morning, Enrique." Eoréc left the room, escorting Peach out, as they walked down the stairs she heard the sound of a door being locked, presumably Enrique's. "You should have let that man sleep, he's got a big day just like you tomorrow except he's not that used to big days." He continued talking to Peach as they walked through the halls to an emptier area within the building. Peach felt a little discomforted being forcefully escorted out of Enrique's chambers by someone else. She soon turned back to her usual self now that he wasn't around. For now, she didn't say anything back to Eoréc; she only followed him into a quiet empty room not far from the council room. "Are you worried about what happened today, or anything to do with up here? Or are your biggest concerns to do with the South at the moment?" He asked once more.
Peach felt like he was missing a lot about what she is feeling at the moment and that bothering to talk her problems to him would not help at all. "Too much at once I guess, so both." She said politely, not going much into detail. "There's literally nothing much I can do here besides go forth with that agreement but we're working on that anyway, all my concerns should be with the south but all the cases are just a matter of waiting... and if I broke this deal we have on Bowser, the world will go into chaos."
"That I believe is also something I cannot do anything about. What my biggest concern is what we are going to do after we've fixed here." Eoréc stressed a little bit. "Do we hand them over to you or do Archbarn, Muji and I take charge after this." Peach smiled back at Eoréc, trying to think of something to do about both Bowser and the Hostiles.
"We need spies." She reminded herself of something Enrique spoke to her about throughout the day and in the past. "Enrique has been beyond here and learned about them a little bit. Not much, but every bit helps. I can't send him again because it will get very suspicious and it would lead to a lot of extra conflict revolving around him. I don't want to put his life at risk; he is one of my biggest assets at the moment." The yellow-shelled Koopa looked back her directly.
"I have a better idea."
"Explain to me."
"Before getting spies of our own, I think we should check for any they have in the South. I'll go south with you tomorrow and five others and we'll run a thorough search along most of the towns. We can start a search over the next few weeks and continue on visiting each town we find, looking for clues and suspects." She grew interested and her face grew with excitement.
"Sounds brilliant, we are to leave early tomorrow morning, we have quite the journey to go tomorrow, straight back to Mushroom City and then a little more so; Toad's Factory."
7:00AM – Jan 25
Outside was extra security with the transport for her and Enrique to travel south. Peach went down the corridor to see if Enrique was still in his dormitory; he wasn't. She entered the room and had a look around the room. Nothing looked different in the room this morning except for one thing she noticed. There was a small blood stain on the floor right next to the sink in his room. It was small but actually quite noticeable. She then checked the sink to see if he left anything unusual there. All she could see was a tiny bloody mark and a chipped fingernail. Peach hurried over to the window to see if he was outside, and it had looked like he was already inside ready to go. The two had already eaten and had nothing else to do so they were both ready to leave, setting their journey off back home.
As Peach walked outside she saw the Toads waiting outside ready to escort, also accompanied by Eoréc, joined with Neodjan and four other geared up soldiers, ready to drive around the transport vehicles.
"We are ready to depart my Queen." One of the Toads greeted Peach, opening the door for her.
"Thank you, just one second please." She moved over to Eoréc and Neodjan.
"Once we arrive to the race and let it play out, we will head east to Sirenna Beach, and work into three groups, one going north, one going along the coast, and another heading back west. I wish for you a pleasant and peaceful journey." Eoréc nodded to her.
"From all of us." Neodjan added.
"Thank you again." Peach nodded back in response and made her way back into the transport vehicle. In there she sat down facing the back, where she could see Enrique sitting at the back, slouching in his seat with his hands together, looking straight back at her. "You seem... confident." She didn't know what to say to him since he didn't speak first. Peach also noticed a small bandage wrapped around one of Enrique's fingers. "I take it that's from when you touched it." They both stared at it. She grew concerned about whether touching it affected him as well.
"I think I got lucky getting rid of it since it was so small. Your mark is huge and I don't see that disappearing quickly."
"Did you cut it off?"
"I couldn't cut it, I had to cut off the skin around it, hence the bandage... You'd be dead if we successfully removed yours, I bled quite a bit."
"I noticed; there was a mark and a stain still in your room." The vehicles departed Aypyidaw centre and made their way out of the town, heading towards the tunnels. From out the window the two saw a substantially large amount of guards defending the tunnel entrance. The council has already begun to take the threat more seriously and their pledge to keep out any hostiles more of a priority...
11:45PM
"So how was your honeymoon?" Tom joked to Enrique as he showed up to the participants' tent.
"Shut up." Enrique sighed. "I'm about to get used, I can tell why she wants to be around me." He checked the room to see if Peach or Daisy were nearby, just in case they were overhearing him. "That doesn't mean she doesn't love me or whatever, but I never cared about that anyway." He sighed, looking at all the others in the room, looking like NPCs to him. "Oh also, can you drive today? This kind of happened." He showed Tom his bandage. "And besides, you can do shroomless right?"
"Funny, of course I can, but that's on a remote, and using him." Tom pointed to Funky Kong, who didn't notice and stayed facing away from them. "But fine, I hope you can throw better than I can." He grinned back. "And trick better, maybe do a 360." The two watched several participants start to leave and walk outside to the flat area behind the bulldozers. A small gap was created for the group to walk through to the track and get into their vehicles, already set up for them in their positions.
Currently joint last overall, Tom and Enrique's kart was set up on the back row in between Mario and Luigi's in front of them and Yoshi and Birdo's behind them at the very back, whereas Peach's Mach Bike was at the end of the first row, directly behind Rosalina's Shooting Star. Within minutes, everyone was in their vehicles ready to race. The bulldozers locked in place, the track's sound became trapped and the item boxes and coins lit up on the track in the distance. The holographic Lakitu came down in front of all the races and held its traffic light. Within a few lights, the racers sped off down the track once again, all boost starting...
Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa took the lead, holding on to a fake item box, already creating a gap between the rest of the racers. Paratroopa turned around and noticed the people who started right next to them slowed down at the first set of item boxes, creating a huge group of slow racers and congestion for the middle pack. They sped off ahead, hoping to get another box to keep for defence. Paratroopa threw down the box just before the speed boost before the sideways conveyors, hoping to hit someone.
Further back turned into a massacre, most people had escaped a mess of items, but several racers were throwing their items and staying on item boxes staying at the back, affecting both Bowser's team and Peach's team, putting both of them in bottom spots. After a few seconds the bullies headed on the track with their own items, with the victims heading up soon after with theirs. Thirty seconds in and the Koopas were already into the ramp out of the factory, impressing a lot of Koopas, hoping they would bring another race home for their supporters. They had about three seconds ahead of King Boo and Petey, quickly passing another item box behind them. Petey drifted and tricked their vehicle quickly across the small body of water by the last turn, swiftly saving time and lurking behind the Koopas. King Boo had three shells and used them for defence, he couldn't snipe the Koopas with their triple bananas being used as their best defence at the moment leading into lap 2.
The pack was quite dense, filled with people catching up from the massacre and those who had already escaped it now heading towards the last set of item boxes before the body of water and the bulldozers, but the gap between first and last stretched about half the course. Bowser and Bowser Jr seemed pretty confidently in last as they drifted around the last set of conveyors, at least twenty seconds behind the Koopas. They had just pulled the shock, but were being patient with it, relying on Bowser's driving skills to climb the spots. Daisy could tell that his son had the shock saved on them, for all they were pulling were golden mushrooms, distancing themselves from Bowser and quickly climbing up the ranks. Further in to lap 2 they had overtaken half the racers using their items, trying to rush up.
"Bowser can't see us now; I think it is safe to take the big cut." Peach said to Daisy as they drifted around the big bend after the outdoor section. They watched Toadbert and Toadsworth get knocked aside by the speeding bullet bill users, unknowing who they were as the bill kept going. As they got to the conveyors the racers in front of them disappeared, they were at the back of the biggest gap between eighth and seventh. They pulled their next item, a POW, not very useful for them, but they could ruin the race for some as they activated it instantly, hoping they would get some people at the last turn that weren't jumping over the water. As they jumped out of the factory they drive above Yoshi and Birdo, being lifted up from the missing the lake jump. As they drifted over it, Peach saw in the distance a group of slow driving racers, having been slowed down by the mud and missing the ramps due to the POW. They were currently in fourth as they headed into lap 3, no shock usage or blue shell in their sight so far.
The top three had a gap between them however. About four seconds ahead were the leaders Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa, followed immediately behind King Boo and Petey, and Funky Kong's team. Since the Koopas were not confident in themselves doing the lake cut, they had lost time ahead from the others. King Boo became ruthless and started using all his items backwards, trying to hit Funky Kong as they were racing through the crate section. This caused there to be green shells moving all over the place, as Cranky Kong was also throwing them forward, hoping to hit the two in front. All misses ended up rebounding backwards and heading towards Peach and Daisy. The four became compressed by the next big turn, but their speeds came to a halt because as soon as they all reached the accelerating inward conveyor and began to drift around it. Bowser Jr finally activated his shock, causing all the racers at the front to shrink and slide in to the conveyor on the outside, moving backwards, slowing them all down.
Tom and Enrique appeared, looking regular sized.
"So predictable!" Enrique laughed as Tom began overtaking everyone at the front and drifting more inward than the rest. Peach gathered that they dodged the shock with a mega mushroom. "Don't do the cut on the last lap, just in case." He whispered to Tom whilst drifting round. Enrique turned his head back to tiny Peach and Daisy, and showed off the three mushrooms they still had after chaining the boxes.
"What?" Koopa Troopa yelled in high pitched tiny voice in reaction to seeing the mushrooms.
"We're going to need another shock for that." Daisy groaned.
"Don't worry." Peach replied. "Just beat Bowser, Rosalina, and King Boo. Tom's slow anyway."
The two outsiders kept their lead for the entirety of lap 4, dodging a blue shell in the process at the crate conveyors with one of the mushrooms. They had about five seconds of lead into the final lap, and still with a mushroom to spare. They had hit a banana left on the ground midway but used a mushroom straight after. Tom's hands began to shake a little bit. He started getting a bit excited and nervous at the same team, with such a large lead into the final lap. After going along the first conveyor Enrique finally saw activity from further back. King Boo was still lurking, but now Bowser showed up along with Wario's team, Mario's team, Rosalina's team and Peach's team. But it looked like they were fighting among themselves first. A blue shell was in the air as they tricked off of the ramp leading to the outside section of the factory. Enrique was ready to time the use of the mushroom for Tom.
"Slow down, don't turn yet." He called out as the blue shell locked in position and headed down. Enrique quickly activated the mushroom and the two avoided it. Tom then quickly hopped to drift around the next big turn for the last conveyors. "Careful there could be lots of items ahead." Tom became extra cautious, but this reduced their gap they had from the rest. As they got out of the factory the rest were just behind them, and some began to take the last lap's lake cut. However, another shock occurred, targeting many racers to fall into the river. Tom's last drift was interrupted and they banged into the last turn's wall. Their speed halted but most other racers were also slow or being rescued by their Lakitus. Enrique had watched it all; Bowser, Peach, Petey and all their partners fell into the lake. As Tom drove over to the first boost panel, hoping to secure first place, they were overtaken by the Hammer Bros, who had already resized. Several other racers appeared in normal size, but another blue shell came around the bend. The scoreboard was always fluctuating with positions; items were everywhere as the crowds cheered all the racers they could see on the last strip of the track. The blue shell locked onto the Hammer Bros, heavily hitting them and Wario's team, and only lightly hitting Tom, Enrique, Yoshi and Birdo. They overtook the heavy hit racers but were also overtaken by others who used mushrooms across the dirt. Tom and Enrique resized crossing the line, unsure where they finished, but they knew it wasn't first. In the space of five seconds all other racers finished and the scoreboard began to update the results just shortly after:
Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong: +20
Dry Bones and Kamek: +17
Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa: +15
Tom and Enrique: +13
Yoshi and Birdo: +12
Mario and Luigi: +11
Toad and Toadette: +10
Funky Kong and Cranky Kong: +9
Hammer Bro and Fire Bro: +8
Wario and Waluigi: +7
Rosalina and Pauline: +6
King Boo and Petey: +5
Peach and Daisy: +4
Bowser and Bowser Jr: +3
Shy Guy and Lakitu: +2
Toadbert and Toadsworth: +1
Rosalina and Pauline: 84
Bowser and Bowser Jr: 79
Peach and Daisy: 78
King Boo and Petey: 68
Funky Kong and Cranky Kong: 64
Dry Bones and Kamek: 59
Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong: 57
Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa: 51
Mario and Luigi: 50
Hammer Bro and Fire Bro: 49
Wario and Waluigi: 49
Yoshi and Birdo: 39
Tom and Enrique: 37
Toad and Toadette: 34
Shy Guy and Lakitu: 33
Toadbert and Toadsworth: 27
EOC: So much for great progress, I kind of took a break from this for quite some time. I can't give any word on how often I'll write. Hopefully you'll get another chapter next month, as I used to update on the site.
