The entire cafeteria was rebuilt into a party room for the victory party.

One side was lined with all sorts of foods on an open buffet, while the other was lined with comfy seats. On a more central spot, a whole music installation stood, which was connected to the speakers in the cafeteria at the moment. It played all sorts of informal but happy tunes on a normal volume.

"I think we should celebrate this again tomorrow" Wrench said, "albeit with just the family."

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea" Kris said, "but whom of us will pick the restaurant?"

"What about that nearby grill that just opened a month ago? Sis has consistently been bragging about how she wants to go there soon."

"Then go, I bet they'll be very pleased and whatnot."

Gorgeous came and handed the young couple a glass of iced tea each.

"Everyone has worked so hard lately" she said, "whether they're racers or not. You deserve it."

"Thanks, Mrs. X" Kris said. "Cheering and such is also working hard, of course."

"And a drink is the perfect way to soothe our entire throats" Mallet chuckled, as he slowly chugged down some orange juice. "I know I shouldn't say it, but so far, not much has happened at this party so far."

"I agree" Wrench said. "At every victory party, at least something happens that makes it juuuust a bit more fun."

"Would any of you care for some cake?" Barney asked. "Seriously, that stuff is amazing." He finished the last bit of his cake.

"Wait, isn't that the cake that Liz mentioned not too long ago?" Bradawl said. "Coloured chocolate rounds with cream galore? I'll get us a few pieces, as I can literally feel those hungry eyes being aimed at me right now."

His father, wife, siblings and sister-in-law laughed, as did some of the others who heard the statement just now.

"I bet the weakness for food will always be a thing" Sakura said, "even if Bradawl and I will have children someday."

"You mean if literally any of us siblings has a child" Kiki chuckled. "From whom else would we have it than Dad?"

"Well, your mother was also quite weak to all sorts of yummy foods, Kiki" Watt said, "so you got it from both of us."

"But you definitely have a more ginormous appetite than Minerva ever had, Dad" Mallet said. "You'd always ask her if you could have her leftovers, for instance."

Watt laughed with his youngest son.

Soon, Bradawl returned with several slices of cake, which were devoured in no time.

"I swear" Beck chuckled at the sight of his best friendly rival, "if we ever become a couple and have a child together, they'll definitely take after their mother like that…!"

"And their uncles and grandparents" Kiki jokingly added.

"You mean their grandfather."

"No, because Dad just said that Mum was apparently a huge lover of food, too, so it's fully in my blood."

"Then I'm mandatory to take back what I just said." The nerdy preteen made a gesture towards his best friendly rival. "Bet you're hungry for some early dinner? Because I surely am."

"I'm never not hungry."

The two friends left for the open buffet.

"All the food just looks so good here" Charmy said, "even if it's practically the same every year."

"It wasn't back when the first Stunt Rally race was a thing" Rubidium said. "Instead, Radium told us that there was this huge Christmas-y feast, and were we jealous at him, man!" She loaded a whole soup spoon of potato salad onto her plate.

"We had a Christmas feast at home afterwards too, Ruby" Radium said, "it's not that you completely missed out on that special potato salad or anything."

"For me, all the potato salad tastes the same, Ray."

"This one's a bit spicier than last year" Iridium stated, "or it's just one of those tiny grains of pepper that just happened to sneak in between my teeth just now."

"Like, who didn't have a Christmas feast afterwards back then?" Sid said. "At my home, our fathers were just working so hard in the kitchen, that they barely had any time to interact with me and my siblings, so we just had to wait impatiently while our stomachs growled like grunge singers or whatever."

"Or a bunch of angry Chain Chomps" Kiki chuckled, "you know, from those Mario games."

"I thought those only barked?" Lucky said. "Never heard any of those growl before."

"Oh, same difference, I bet they growl every now and then, too, whenever we don't look and/or listen."

"But no character ever levels up whenever our consoles are off" Chip said. "We always have to level them all up manually, even if the enemies are so extremely overpowered."

"Then stop skipping the level-grinding parts, man" Chuck said, "it's not that one can defeat Giegue or anyone that way at any level ever, if cheating is not involved, at least." He lastly finished picking foods for his plate by putting some potato crisps onto it.

Soon, everyone in the hall was eating a whole frantic assortment of foods, even if it wasn't time for anyone's dinner yet.

"This lame party's literally the same every year" Baron Flambo complained as he sat down with his plate. "The food, the atmosphere, and the lame music."

"That's not lame, Mephistopheles" Raini said. "Don't ask how I know, but somehow I do. Anyway, if you compare it to high school prom, that's even more boring, as everyone has to be dressed in all of that formal junk, and I sooo hate that."

"Yeah" Bailey added, "university and sorority parties rock! Like, you just throw your necktie aside and go all the way loose!"

"What sorority are you in?" Glacia asked.

"Alpha Beta Gamma."

"Cool, I used to be there as well back in my own university days! Even if I only had very few friends there, it was still pretty cool." The icy cold queen finished her salad and started on her omelette.

"To be honest" Charmy said, "I never really experienced a party myself, but this one is a tad dull, if I may say so myself. It kinda lacks…" She briefly stopped to listen to the music. "…good music? Hey, that's Albert Floss with the Zelda Rock, isn't it?"

"Why, it is" Kiki replied, "I love that song! I dunno if he's completely part of your taste, but have you heard his Super Acapella Land song yet? It only came out recently, and I'm already smitten."

"We should most likely sing that one once the Christmas performances are there" Beck said, "even if it's not a Christmas song, I hope that Mr. Christiansen will still let it slide."

"You mean the music and culture teacher?" Iridium said. "Yeah, I don't like him either."

"That's because music and culture aren't our courses" Rubidium said as she edged closer to her sister while saying 'courses' exaggeratingly slow, "remember?"

"But it is mine and Mallow's for sure" Charmy said. "I know that judging from how well they can play and read notes at such a tempo as Sid's car." She took another bite of her pizza slice. "Does anyone else among you play an instrument? I play the bass guitar."

"I kinda wanna play the saxophone" Kiki said, "as jazz is my favourite genre out of them all. Hey, I'm not judging all of the other genres or anything…!"

"I know you're not, you silly goose. Just… go and honk on the sax as much and loudly as you like once you get your hands on one!"

The two edgy preteens were left laughing the loudest of them all in between everyone else.

The evening slowly but surely came, and the atmosphere slowly became more bustling.

The music's volume increased slightly, and the lights suddenly became coloured.

"Now that's what I call some good party" Barney said, as he and Lucky shuffled somewhat on the fast music.

"I cannot agree more" the lover of green replied with a smile.

Aside of the couple of racers, some of the others around the cafeteria had also discovered the music and started dancing on its rhythm.

"If this is how the school party will go at our school" Beck said, "then I'm most likely very okay with it."

"Man, you got me kinda jelly here" Star chuckled. "At my school, there are no parties at all, and neither at Prince's school."

"Well, that doesn't make any sense" Kiki said. "There should at least be some prom at a school like yours, right?"

"Honestly, I have no clue. Prince! Do you?"

"Yes, favourite little brother of mine?" Prince said with a grin. "Do I have what kind of clue?"

"If there's some sort of prom at your school?"

"Rumour has it that only 11th and 12th graders will be allowed to prom. Man, I so wish I'll go there swiftly anytime soon! In that case, I'd better try to improve my grades big-time."

Star chuckled about the statement.

Soon, an even slower song came on, and Beck suddenly dragged Kiki towards an empty corner of the cafeteria, where a corner sofa still stood, untouched and squeaky clean as ever, minus some dust it caught in the meantime.

"Kiki" he said in a slightly nervous tone, "please stay with me."

The edgy preteen silently nodded with a slight smile, (t)he(i)r heart also beating at quite an incredible speed at the moment.

"Where's Beck at?" Bea asked, suddenly noticing that her youngest brother seemed to be missing.

"Hey" Bradawl said, "Sis is also absent all out of sudden!"

"Of course they're not" Wrench said, "they both looked a little distressed, so they most likely need some time alone."

"Distressed, you say?" Barney said with a slight hint of asking in his voice. "I kinda wonder why…"

"May love be blossoming…?" Jeff asked in a teasing tone.

"Of course not, you doofus!" Brittany slightly retorted, as she poked her eldest cousin in his left side. "If they're friends, they're friends, even when they say that out loud."

Jeff immediately fell quiet, looked the young botanist in the eyes with slightly enlarged eyes, shrugged, and grabbed his can of lemon soda to drink some more of it.

"You have quite a way with people who tease others with that" Chip said, applauding for Brittany. "Me, I'm not nearly as good as my brother is."

Brittany shyly chuckled back in response, while Chuck laughed more loudly as he playfully put his hand onto the jokester's shoulder.

In the background, nearly everyone suddenly discovered where Kiki and Beck were, and the music slowly faded away. Some of them took pictures, and soon, all of their Photogram feeds were frantically flooding with them.

"Silence falls…" Beck said in an unusually quiet tone. "Would you like to dance?"

Kiki nodded, smiled a little wider and softly chuckled, and once only a teeny tiny fragment of the next song started playing, the two slowly went back to the centre of the cafeteria and slowly started to do some sort of couples dance.

"Ah, so that's wh-" Bailey wanted to say before they were cut off.

"Shh!" Raini hissed. "It's honestly getting a bit exciting…!"

While some of the others, including Wrench and Kris, Bradawl and Sakura, Lucky and Barney, and Radium and Glacia, also decided to follow suit with the young pair of friends, only very few remained surprised.

"Is this some sort of flash mob?" Star whispered.

"Doesn't look like it to me" Charmy replied.

"That's very unusual" Mr. X silently said. "I have no clue what's going on, but…"

"Neither do I" Sandy replied, "even if this could be me and Brad someday, I dunno how to react to this."

Brad suddenly dragged the hippy beach girl towards the dance floor, silencing her and making her blush a little.

"You could've mentioned it sooner" Brad chuckled, "I love dancing when I'm not racing."

"Don't be too clumsy so that I'll have to catch you when you fall, or something."

And just as Sandy said it, Antonio caught Bea in his right arm, as it was part of their dance.

"Some sort of butterfly effect" Prince chuckled at the sight of it.

"This looks pretty neat in my opinion" Sid said. "What about you guys?"

"If only someone would suddenly fall for me" Snake said, "then I'd happily join everyone else, too. What about you?" He turned to Baron Flambo, who seemed to sit still like a robot. "Hello? Earth to Mephistopheles?"

The oil tycoon snapped out of his robotic state.

"I'm speechless…"

In the process, he somehow made Mega Hurtz fall a tad apart without even using his hands, and Prince laughed about it again, as it seemed like another butterfly effect.

Quite some seconds later, Beck and Kiki stopped dancing, and now they simply faced each other while holding on tight to all of each other's hands.

All of the other pairs followed suit and couldn't help but take a peek to wonder what'd happen next.

"Kiki…?" Beck softly asked. "Do you love me?"

Silence fell, minus the music that still kept on playing.

"Yes, I do" Kiki replied at the volume of barely a whisper.

The two fell into a loving embrace with a wide smile and blush, causing everyone to bring out several soft oooh's and aaah's.

"I was only just kidding just now" Jeff stammered, "and this is what it apparently foreshadowed…?"

"I denied it because I knew it'd eventually come" Brittany said with a slight smile before bursting out in soft chuckling.

"Looks like Mallet will be the last one to find a love interest…" Wrench whispered, to which Kris simply nodded in response.

"Y'know, Kiki" Beck said, "I've loved you for so much longer than we both knew. I've loved you since we first met at that one introduction evening at middle school."

"In all honesty" Kiki said, "me too."

That being said, the two fell into their first ever lip-lock, making nearly everyone say "aww" and applaud somewhat.

"Looks like my predictions where wrong somewhere" Mallet chuckled. "I thought I'd be the third one to find a special someone, but Sis apparently beat me in that already."

"Don't worry" Bailey said, "there are still plenty of fish in the sea, and most of those will show up at the next sorority party next month!"

"I kinda had the feeling they'd end up this way" Star said. "Kiki was right about the fact that they'd only date someone more… like-minded?"

"Hey, I'm sure you'll eventually get someone, too" Angel said, "for all I care, someone similar to Kiki."

"And honestly" Prince said, "I wonder in what order it'll happen as well, us siblings finding love. Will I be the first? Or will Gold be the first?"

"For the time being, I won't" Gold Nugget chuckled, "most likely in 5 years, when I'm showing off to the 4th grade boys." Her statement made the others who heard it laugh.

"Hey, I don't have anyone yet either" Moses said, "and neither does Eve, so please don't let it concern you too much."

His younger sister nodded in agreement.

Mr. and Mrs. X, Penny and Robin secretly chuckled about all of the statements.

"This is kinda how we also met back at that formal ball when we were only just 15" Gorgeous said, "the only difference being us not knowing each other yet until then."

Mr. X laughed heartily as he put an arm around, and simultaneously draped that part of his cape, over his wife's shoulder.

Beck and Kiki eventually returned to the open buffet, while they were both still blushing and chuckling over their newfound love.

"That kissing sure made me hungry" the edgy preteen said, as she/they grabbed a plate and loaded it with fries, mayonnaise and a snack galore.

The nerdy preteen followed suit, but with fried potatoes and steak instead.

"Why are you two blushing?" Chuck asked, not quite knowing what exactly happened just now.

"Don't just ask such rude questions" Chip said, as he poked his older brother in the left side with his elbow. "Can't you see?"

"Oops, forget what I just said."

"Looks like our family will now become the following" Bradawl said. "The Murphy-Navals-Sakamoto-Bulmer-Halfman bunch!"

Sakura chuckled about the statement.

"The bigger the better, right?" she said.

"For sure. Now, Mallet has yet to find someone, and all still has to go well between us, and then, we're complete."

Wrench and Kris had also grabbed themselves some food from the open buffet, and sat down at the largest of the many tables.

"This must be my lucky day" the Scorpio mechanic said. "First, I emerge victorious against Mr. X, and now, our family is slowly extending with one love interest…!"

Kris chuckled in a slightly nervous fashion, not really knowing how else to react.

Slowly but surely, others (mainly family members) joined the couple at the table.

"Guess that's my consolation prize for yesterday's loss" Barney said with a genuine smile, "my own family also being extended with the third love interest."

"Wait" Lucky wanted to say, until she realised that she was, of course, also some sort of part of Barney's family. "Then, I'll be slightly related to you guys as well, once Beck ties the knot." She rose her eyebrows twice while looking at Wrench and his father, siblings, girlfriend and sister-in-law.

"It'd be fun if Chip would somehow become related to this whole chain, too" Bea said. "Then, all of the primary Stunt Rally racers would all be united in quite a unique fashion."

"Kinda sounds like a fun idea indeed" Kiki said, "but you know that the future doesn't exist, right? In other words: we'll just see." She/they almost formally ate one of (t)he(i)r fries.

"And right you are" Antonio replied with a well-meant nod.

Wrench, Lucky, Barney and all of their family members and such were left laughing about the statement, and the rest of the evening was also spent nicely among everyone else who was present. What a way for Wrench to become one of the new Stunt Rally world champions!

(A/N): The song that Beck and Kiki eventually danced and confessed their love to is "Fallin' Love, and" [sic] from the Mother CD, as that exact scene was also based on Ninten and Ana confessing their love in the original Mother/EarthBound Beginnings game.