"Ready?" the announcer said without further ado.
Everyone's hearts seemed to beat as fast as they could in the meantime.
"Set?"
"One, Mississippi…" Star said in such a whisper that barely anyone could hear it. "Two, Mississippi…"
"Go!"
With the best of speed they could imagine, Mr. X and Wrench took off, making everyone cheer, exclaim and shout straight away.
One turn and a few miles later, Wrench was the first to get his hands on a rocket boost.
"Hecking finally!" he practically exclaimed at the top of his lungs, "I'm allowed to used items again! This feels great!"
Mr. X also got his hands on a rocket boost, but he often bumped into the walls that way, even if he knew how to handle well.
"Ooh" Angel said, "looks like Dad is still nervous somewhere…"
"Yeah" Star said, "he usually doesn't bump into walls that often with rocket boosts."
"Perhaps Wrench is a bit better at handling today" Gold Nugget said. "Oh, whom should I cheer on?! I hate having to decide between two people I like!"
"Tell me about it" Prince said, as he put a hand onto his littlest sister's shoulder. "I'll just wait and see for this time."
"What's up with Mr. X all outta sudden, man?" Kiki said. "Big bro is suddenly better at racing! Why, is Mr. X still nervous?"
"He's definitely not doing such a thing on purpose" Brittany said, "I know he never would."
"He didn't seem too off for someone who's nervous" Barney said.
"In that case" Chip said, "he's kinda like me and Chuck." He felt his older brother's teasing eyes aiming at him. "…more like me, honestly."
Some of the others around them laughed.
Wrench and Mr. X soon made it to a series of ramps, at the start of which was someone who handed out freezing items, but none of the racers got their hands on that for now.
"Whoa" Lucky said, "looks like Wrench might win! He's fairly far ahead of Mr. X right now…!"
"How is that even possible?" her eponymous father asked. "Did you chant some sort of lucky spell on him, sweetums?"
The lover of the colour green shook her head with a straight face, knowing way better from the inside.
"Magic, perhaps?" Bailey joked. "Is there a sorcerer around here?!"
"You know that sorcerers don't just watch Stunt Rally races here and now" Bea said. "They do that via their crystal balls, as they don't have TVs or social networks, like we do."
"Not even Photogram?" Rubidium said in surprise. "I'm sure that they upload tons of photos of their concoctions there, if they're not too secret!"
"That's most likely going to happen when the volcanoes freeze over" Iridium said, "as most of the sorcerers and wizards keep their formulas for such potions and such private. They would take pictures of their bright colours and such to post online, though."
"Hmm, that sounds quite interesting. A whole Photogram feed full of vibrant colours and such."
"It's called aesthetic, dum-dum."
Wrench sped through a vertical loop, past a large slab that'd occasionally slam onto the concrete of the track, which he found a bit scary, so he was glad that he didn't get squashed just to respawn at the start of the vertical loop.
"Man, I'm glad he made it through" Kiki sighed in relief, "I bet those things are scary as heck from up close!"
"They are" Chip said, "they're also in the desert and the jungle, albeit a bit different-looking, and all of the racers fear them, trust me."
"Hey, I don't!" Baron Flambo said, with the top of his cheeks being slightly red. "I can perfectly go through them without shivering or anything!"
"The tsundere Mephistopheles is back!" Glacia cheered, making the others laugh.
"You know he's really kamidere, right?" Sakura said. "The same personality, but in addition, also wanting to reach impossible heights and such."
"You're right" Snake said, "I always thought I was one to want to reach such heights, but apparently, the hothead already outsmarts me that way."
"Cheers to the maths professor who apparently knows a bit of psychology too" Radium said, as he rose his bottle of cherry coke.
Most of the others also rose their drinks, but didn't clink them together, as they occasionally sat a bit too far away from each other.
Baron Flambo only just looked away in his usual fashion once again.
Wrench was soon found flying above a whole plethora of large fans, and soon, Mr. X came there too.
After the many fans, the Scorpio mechanic got his hands onto a tyre power-up, gliding over the last five-sixth of the track just as graciously as he did back in the jungle.
"Darn" Sid said, "he's still got it, and to be honest, I love it."
"Those tyre power-ups are wondrous indeed" Sandy said, "especially if you have to race over wet cement or mud, or anything in that way."
"I'm imagining classical music right now" Bea said, "it just looks so gracious, like ballet or ice-skating."
Antonio laughed about his girlfriend's statement.
"That's the best way to describe that" he grinned.
"There's no-one who doesn't find it gracious at all" Charmy said. "See, this is kind of a weakness of mine, too, just except for the fact that I imagine something in the way of psychedelic rock here, as that's more like a genre that I'd listen and play."
Soon, a bumpy road followed, but Wrench knew that such a road would only slow him down, so he kept left, where it was still smooth.
The second lap soon followed, and Mr. X still somewhat couldn't believe that he was fairly far behind.
"He's impressive as ever…!" he said to himself. "He's obviously grown throughout the years. I hate to say it, but still…"
"Go, Wrench!" Kris and Kiki exclaimed. "You got this!"
"Go, fellow primary racer!" Chip shouted.
Nearly everyone else cheered for Wrench in response.
"Mr. X!" Radium said. "Go kick his exhaust pipe!"
"What?!" Iridium and Rubidium said in unison. "No, man!"
"Don't overthink" Raini laughed, "it's a figure of speech."
A few unknown teens and adolescents chuckled at Raini's statement.
"Oh, just let them laugh" Liz said, "they don't know any better humour than we do."
"That's right" Chuck said. "For instance, what do dumb people drink? So-duhhh!" He high-fived Chip, as everyone else laughed along with them.
The ramps were there again for Wrench, and he got his hands on a freezing item, which he used once Mr. X was almost ahead of him all out of sudden.
"Man, he's really got it…!" the mystery Stunt Rally racer said in unusual surprise, as he tried his best to thaw out of the partial ice as slowly as possible.
"Hot diggity, bro!" Bradawl exclaimed. "Best tactic ever to be ahead again!"
"Even if Mr. X's car may seem faster" Lucky said, "Wrench is doing amazing right now!"
"He even knows where to go exactly over a whole crossing galore" Chip said, "whereas I was the one who often lost it there!" He chuckled at his own statement.
"You're not the only one" Barney said, "remember last year when the same happened to Snake?"
"I'm not the biggest fan of many crossings next to each other" Snake chuckled sheepishly, "you could say that."
"Except for if it comes to such a pattern on cake" Liz chuckled. "I often think of you when making such a pattern on our most famous rainbow chocolate candy and whipped cream pie with extra chocolate drizzle!"
"Man" Kiki said, "if only you'd be able to bring one of those here, because you sure made me hungry for one of those!"
"Are you able to think of something else than food, too?" Beck laughed.
"It runs in our family" Mallet stated, "and those who are willing to join it, will eventually have such thoughts, too."
"That's right" Kris laughed, as she finished the last bit of her popcorn. "I knew I should've taken a bigger tub…!"
"It's most likely for the better that Wrench isn't hearing this right now" Bailey said to Mallet, "he's probably the biggest food lover out of your bunch!"
"We're all huge food lovers" Mallet said, "there's no such thing as a 'biggest food lover' out of the entire Murphy-Navals-Sakamoto-Bulmer bunch!" He, along with his siblings, in-laws and father, was left laughing.
Back on the track, Wrench decided to save his tyre power-up for the bumpy part of it, and this turned out to be quite a success. He made it to the final lap in quite some style, as it was paired with lots of cheering and exclaiming.
Mr. X didn't lose hope despite that. He still tried his best to keep up with Wrench, who was now a lot farther ahead than during the most recent lap.
"Bam!" Wrench exclaimed once he got his hands on another rocket boost. "Take that, Mr. X!"
"He's got quite some flare and spirit today" Kiki said. "That's almost never the case!"
"And he's not with his head in the clouds either" Chip said. "Hey, of course I'm not the only one who is!"
"There's barely anyone who never has their head in the clouds, man" Brad said. "Take me, for instance."
"Or me" Raini added, "even if I'm studying intensely at the university as of last year!"
"I think even Mr. X is like that, on occasion" Glacia said, giving a high-five to Radium who appeared to think the same thing.
"Alright" Wrench said, "once more past that scary slab thing." He sped through the vertical loop and successfully evaded the aforementioned obsctacle. "Wahoo!"
Another saved-for-later tyre power-up later and within only half the blink of an eye, Wrench emerged victorious against Mr. X.
"Nooo!" Gold Nugget nearly screamed. "Daddy just lost!"
"But Wrench just won, too" Eve said.
"Whoops, kinda forgot that. He indeed did…!" The mystery kindergartner laughed for a bit.
"And Wrench is this year's new world champion!" the announcer exclaimed. "A huge congratulations on your victory, Wrench! You were wonderful just now, and so were you, Mr. X!"
"Glad that Dad still gets some honour, too" Star chuckled. "It's sad he lost, but for Wrench, it must definitely have been worth it."
Back outside of the skybox, Wrench's father, siblings, sister-in-law and girlfriend were cheering at their loudest.
"Woo yeah!" Kiki shouted. "You did it, big bro!"
Kris was speechless and just kept on cheering without real words.
"That's my fellow mechanic!" Barney cheered.
"You kicked his car tyres!" Baron Flambo exclaimed, before suddenly turning his voice volume a tad lower. "That is really supposed to be my job, but…"
"Wow" Radium said with a smug look on his face and while slow-clapping for the oil tycoon, "you never cheer on anyone! You most likely just reached a new milestone, man!"
The dastardly desert champion turned his head away while blushing once again.
A random person in the audience tossed two bouquets of flowers towards the track, and they made a perfect landing in the hands of both Wrench and Mr. X.
"What a thoughtful spectator we have there" the lazy mechanic chuckled, "they even handed flowers to you, the one who didn't win this time…! And man, they have an amazing aim, too…!"
"Congratulations, world champion" Mr. X said, as he shook hands with his former opponent. "This ought to be celebrated at the winner's circle. Come with me."
Soon, the winner's circle was brimming with people who were happy for Wrench, who just emerged victorious for real as a gold trophy got handed to him by Mr. X.
"Whoever threw those flowers towards them" Kris randomly shouted, "I thank you! It spared me of having to do so without being able to aim well!"
Some of those who heard the statement laughed about it, and the person who threw the flowers waved to get Kris's attention before smiling and chuckling at her.
It was me, the author. Even if I couldn't aim that well, I still succeeded in doing so somehow.
Wrench's victory was soon celebrated with a huge all-you-can-eat lunch at the cafeteria.