The Grand Ridonculous Race
Chapter 3: Basque In The Heights!
Part 2: Hay Bale Warriors!
With a new fight on the horizon, it's not just hay bales that are being thrown...but there's warriors on the way and they may be the same group of the hay lifters!
Either way, two time-honoured traditions are going to combine together to make two hard challenges together!
And the race was back on, as the first challenge was officially underway.
"Welcome back to the Ridonculous Race, where big claims are making the big lifts!"
The race was already starting off pretty good with the weather shining on the contestants that were going to have their struggles and one of them was already struggling.
It wasn't that hard to introduce it, but if Rigby's arms starting to give show anything, it was this challenge was definitely harder to do.
"Mordecai." Rigby grunted, as he tried to keep it up for Mordecai.
"Dude, just keep on lifting it." Mordecai tried to advise the guy like it was pretty easy.
"Man, how?" Rigby's arms were not in the mood to keep on losing, as they were still not buckling.
The sun was shining over all of the teams that were either waiting for their turns to lift the heavy bales or the teams that had at least one person doing the heavy lifting with the Spanish strongman watching them.
Rigby was not super excited to do it, but he had to do it regardless and so did 2-D and Diddy, who were pretty much in the same place and the sun wasn't getting colder, so...
"Urgh...Donkey Kong, how do you lift good?" Diddy's arms were standing steady.
"Dude, I don't know." Donkey Kong said, as the big ape was just genuinely hyped to help him out. "You're just going to have to be strong."
"Geez, man." Diddy Kong wasn't happy with the lack of advice. "At least I'm not the blue haired guy."
2-D literally looked at Diddy for one second and then he just dropped himself almost inside the hay bale, before dropping in front of him and Murdoc just groaned.
"This is hard!" 2-D whined, taking a breather. "This is-"
"Are you serious? There's a lot of money on the line, you know, that's two million pounds." Murdoc complained, as he knew that his blue-haired band mate wouldn't get it.
The guy didn't get it because of the money that he already had, but Murdoc just dragged him out to let someone else take in their challenge time...who was pretty damn strong.
Clark was ready to keep the bale still, as his surname was showing itself here with the way he was carrying and some other people noticed him and Rigby were almost at the time limit, as the raccoon was just putting his sweat and grit into carrying some hay and bale.
"Dude, you've got it!" Mordecai shouted.
"Yeah, raccoon guy, you go and get 'em!" Ralf exclaimed, cheering for another guy and making Mordecai take a look at him. "I'm sure that my partner's going to clear this."
Rigby just dropped it, actually falling backwards...at the 58 seconds mark, but no-one could tell the difference.
"OOH...is that a minute?" Diddy Kong asked.
"For my sake, I'm hoping it is!" Rigby groaned, as his arms were not feeling super good. "The time?"
"Nuh-uh, it's not a minute." Lea just had a random stopwatch on him and he kinda knew a time. "Don't ask where I got that, but I have this."
The park workers and the mercenaries were practically in opposites of the same situation, since one of them knew that the other would excel in this weird type of challenge and the other was just hoping that he had made the time.
Someone's stopwatch that counted 58 seconds did prove Rigby and it didn't make him happy at all, as Clark was just taking a look at the drama.
"Huh? Must be serious." Clark kept on carrying it, as he was observing.
"What's so funny, huh?!" Rigby shouted, as Clark was definitely taken aback.
"Hold on, I'm not making fun of you." Clark was just trying to keep things calm.
"Are you for real? it's super serious." Rigby was just remarking, waiting for the stopwatch to actually reveal that it was 58 seconds...which the guy showed it was. "Why it is so close?"
"Dude, you've gotta wait." Mordecai said, crossing his arms calmly...but with some anger thrown in there. "Monkey guys?"
Diddy Kong was just feeling his own arms get a little more slack, as this guy was more than happy to take a bit of relaxation that most of the teams were more than happy to do, as the many teams that were waiting for their turn were starting to feel a little tired of waiting.
Either way, there was going to be a whole lot of lifting that Mario was very happy to do, as several others were going in with the lifting and they were just in it to win it.
"Well, it's time for the real heavy lifters to show up. And we're one of them." Murdoc proclaimed, as the green-skinned band leader was up to show off. "Check these out."
"Rather impressive." Jose smugly praised Murdoc's slightly big biceps. "I would like to see your lacking muscles."
"Yeah, you're going to see who's lacking!" Murdoc shouted with all of the spit. "2-D, we're back in line."
"I'm in line!" 2-D shouted, as he couldn't really see that much.
*The Heroic Plumbers' confessional*
Mario and Luigi were feeling their passion come through.
"Bro, I'm feeling pretty strong! I dunno, if that's going to work!" Luigi said, being a cautious brother.
"Come on, Luigi! You carry a lot of things, some of them super heavy and hay isn't super heavy." Mario motivated his own brother.
"It's like a minute of lifting that heavy hay! Mario, you've got something?" Luigi asked, just wanting some help.
"I don't really know that much." Mario stated.
*Confessional cut*
Ralf was just bumping Clark in the chest, as there was a job well done and these two were just happy to make it, as the Spanish strongman guy gave the thumbs up.
"Good job, sirs! I'm going to be catching up to you!" Joe Higashi shouted, his tall brown hair waving in the wind.
"Good luck!" Clark remarked, doing a wave at the Muay Thai expert. "Alright, time to move to Santa Klara with a K."
"Cool, gonna meet ya there!" Joe Higashi was more than determined, as Jose was just smugly grinning. "I bet, we're going to met."
Jose, Jose Higashi and Luigi were doing their part for the leg, as they all had the same task and the same reason for doing it, but one of them was having a lot more fun than the rest.
"Plumber dude, first one to beat this challenge...gets bragging rights!" Terry Bogard was starting the lift.
"Really? Sounds cool." Luigi's nerves were coming on, though not that much. "Alright, you're on!"
"Trust me, you're gonna lose."
Jose had already gotten himself started, lifting impressive weight like it was nothing...though it wasn't like it had no effect on what happened to him.
Luigi, Terry Bogard and most definitely, Robbie was a different story entirely, as they were struggling and complaining and one of them was most definitely complaining.
"Man, Robbie, you can lift!" Andre shouted. "I think!"
"I don't know if I can, though!" Robbie's arms were already starting to drop a bit.
The four bales were being lifted in four different ways and some of them were not really good at all, as Robbie had thin arms and Rex...being there and not talking at all and Luigi had...less thin arms, but he was doing much better.
"Man, that Luigi probably works out." Andre stated, seeing Luigi's okay perfomance through his dreads. "Robbie, what's happening?"
The hay bale was on the ground and Robbie was very tired of lifting things, picking Rex on one of his own hands and then...Rex did some light roasting.
"Heheheh, you're gonna lose this." Rex said, as Robbie was opening his own mouth. "Hey lady, what's up."
Robbie didn't exactly want to be talking with Enid, as the purple-haired ninja was just trying to check what was happening in front of him.
"Hey, is this your puppet?" Enid asked pretty casually.
"Yeah, I'm sorry, his name's Rex." Robbie asked, as though Enid cared that much. "He's my puppet."
"Oh, yeah, makes sense." Enid remarked, noticing the obvious.
"I think she has eyes." Rex remarked, as Enid was just looking at her phone again. "Yeah, call me!"
The bodgea heroes were more than determined to understand why Rex was such a massive roaster and womanizer and Robbie, at the very least, was the opposite.
"Yo, that was a pretty good roast." Rad pointed the obvious roast from the bad boy-lookalike puppet. "Hey!"
Enid was just trying to check things out, as the rest of them were actually done with the challenge and Joe was just shouting about bragging rights that Luigi was just happy to talk about.
Speaking of the shouts, Jose just had a very smug look on his face that actually got the attention of Joe Higashi, who was just ready to show down.
"Listen, the next challenge it's going to be between you and me!" Joe proclaimed, as Jose was just unbothered by the comment. "Okay!"
"Yeah, I understand. Speaking of haircuts, I don't understand it that much!" Jose remarked at Joe's tall haircut, being a Hispanic hearthrob with spiky hair. "Why is it so tall?"
"The same reason why your hair's spiky!" Joe Higashi fired back, as the feuding brothers were both smugly grinning. "Because it's pretty cool!"
Terry Bogard just put his hand on Joe's shoulder, as the street fighting guy kinda knew what these two were up to.
*The Street Fighters' confessional*
The cap-wearing street brawler was just giving a thumbs up.
"Geez, that Burromuerto guy thinks he talks the truth, but it's a just lot of bull that's really obvious!" Joe Higashi shouted.
"Go at him, man, just don't be surprised if you can hit you hard." Terry Bogard remarked.
"You're seeing a former champ right here. Come on, I would win against whatever he has." Joe Higashi exclaimed, almost angry.
"Joe, you don't know what he has. He probably has some dummy good skills that he hides." Terry asked, a little bit nervous.
"I'm about to expose the hidden skills!" Joe yelled, as these knees needed to be shown to the world...some more. "Knee or no knee."
*Confessional cut*
"As a few teams clear the hay, the rest attempt to hit the hay!"
There was going to be a whole lot more hay lifting, as there was still many teams that haven't even tried yet and others that were about to land quite easily on the second flight.
That being said, the flight hadn't landed yet, the second challenge was seemingly only further away on Donostia's island and the sun was still high in the sky...making things harder for everyone.
"I need my arm strength right now, because it's all I've got!" Joe shouted, definitely not screaming. "So, Cleveland?"
"Yeah, you're doing it." Cleveland stated, as the black father was just not surprised. "So did the bear guys apparently."
"Good job!" Joe yelled at Panda Bear, who wasn't too shaken by the shouts and he was still going strong. "Being an police guy's cool."
"I dunno if it is, things are going wild." Panda Bear said, struggling to lift the hay bale...as Joe glared at him. "Haha yeah!"
Joe Swanson was definitely a guy of the law that was in a wheelchair and Panda Bear was definitely...a panda with a love of the phone and the third guy was definitely someone with a spiky attitude and spiky hair.
Ryuji wasn't prepared for the chance to show off his strength and people were noticing that he wasn't super strong...in some ways, but Yusuke noticed that he was talking a lot while he was struggling through the challenges.
"Yo, what's happening?!" Ryuji shouted. "I'm in some other country lifting hay. This is a pretty awesome vacation."
"Yes, it is." Yusuke didn't really have anything to say about this challenge. "Besides the needlessly intense competition."
"Yeah, those guys are going to be done!" Ryuji just kept on lifting, as he struggled with the hay bale.
"Maybe, this is symbolic of your odd relatonship? Some of those guys are kinda homies." Popo asked. "We're learning about friendship...by standing in line!"
"I admire that you tried to get some good meaning out of the most menial of places." Yusuke was definitely trying to support his friends, but Popo was talking words. "I don't know why you would do that, though."
"Because we're in a new world." Popo was keeping things simple, being happy about...thinking. "That's what you do."
Nana and Popo was very much waiting with some sweat in their thick parkas, as the duo was just more than willing to try lifting the hay bales...along with the two other teams, but had some good symbolism.
Ryuji, Panda Bear and Cleveland were determined to be all very cool guys with cool attitudes that were carrying hay bales...all of them were feeling their arms become a little more slack.
"Damn, they are really going all out with the random challenges!" Ryuji shouted, almost dropping the hay bale to the point where he was definitely tipping it backwards. "Yusuke, I'm owning this."
"Dude, the hay bale's almost off your hands." Panda Bear just walking away from his dropped hay bale...with some hay in his own mouth.
"Not a problem!" Ryuji wasn't super worried about it, though he wasn't smiling.
"Okay." Panda Bear just spat out the hay before saying that. "Cleveland's really holding up!"
Cleveland was definitely holding up quite a bit better than panda bear and delinquent teen, as he had a few decades on them, but it was only a bit better.
"Come on, Cleveland! We're going to make some serious trouble in this race!" Joe shouted.
"I don't know, Joe. This is pretty heavy." Cleveland remarked, as his arms were struggling to keep up with his legs.
"I know you can do it." Joe had a lot of faith in his black friend.
They were definitely drinking buddies, but they were not dumb enough to get screwed over by the stopclock, as the sound of the end of minute ringed in their ears.
And Joe was elated and Cleveland was relieved.
"That was pretty hard. I can see why it's a sport." Cleveland said, trying to get his arms back into order.
"Yeah, weights are small. The next challenge can't be worse than this!" Joe stated, as this guy was more than happy to make it through. "Looks like it's my go next time."
More teams were going towards the next challenge and some others were wondering some things about what would happen to them if they were stuck in the middle of a town square.
Lifting the hay like it was a job, but not doing anything with it like they were having fun, but the next three lifters were not having that much fun.
"Why does these challenges look easier than they actually are?!" Radicles complained, as though he was struggling. "I'm lifting."
"Honestly, spare some thought for me. I would definitely have more trouble." Chaos remarked, still reading a book.
"Dude, lift. You're gonna be sent to the back!" Radicles shouted, worried about this random white-haired Japanese kid.
"With the correct lift, this challenge should not be that hard." Said kid wasn't worried, making sure that his arms were prepared. "You shall see-"
"Argh! Man, this is hard." Ally shouted with some struggle, dropping the bale of hay to accidentally distract Radicles. "Sorry."
"No problem." Radicles was starting to sweat a little bit, still lifting the bale no problem. "Kid, what are you doing?"
"Doing as the tip said."
Chaos was just lifting the hay bale like it wasn't that big of a deal, even if he was using his odd power to disperse the weight between books and...Gordeau was trying to figure what it was.
"What the hell? That's one heck of a made-up strategy!" Gordeau shouted before Enid just slapped him in the head. "Wasn't talking to your green boyfriend."
*The Singer-Songwriters' confessional*
Austin and Ally were more than determined to beat it.
"They really are going in on these challenges. It's kinda very different!" Austin said, nervous about the challenge. "Ally, I think you've got this."
"I don't really know if I can do this that quickly. Hay is very scratchy, though." Ally said, trying to smile...not nervously.
"Come on, it's not that big of a deal. It's farm stuff!" Austin goofily smiled after saying his encouragements.
"It's not simple, but I shouldn't be that worried." Ally had this odd feeling of confidence.
*Confessional cut*
Radicles was just smugly smiling at the end of the stopwatch's clock, as Chaos barely got through and just put it down pretty casually...for some other reason.
"Man, what the heck? You've got...no muscle." Radicles said with shock, seeing that Chaos was just some book-smart teenager. "How are you lifting all of that."
"I don't need to tell you because I have no good reason to tell you. Besides the fact that some people have some absurd strengths." Chaos stated in a very monotone manner.
"Cool, I was just asking man...why are you like this?" The green alien asked seriously.
Chaos just adjusted his glasses with confidence, as Radicles' mouth was still very open at what he did...even after showing off his hidden ability and the rest of the teams were only very confused.
"While many people are shocked at the weird strength in Donostia, back in Hondarrbia, the second flight lands and doesn't have to pronounce this town's good name!"
The most competitive teams were finally in the game for the second time and they were motivated to make their move wherever they had explosive hands, a tail or even a scythe because they were scary people.
Most of them were competitive, but not scary, as they were running out of the airport like there was a chase going on with the sky not fitting the mood.
"Damn, get your own tip! I'm reading it first!" Bakugo shouted at the crowd of people that were waiting.
"That's what we're trying to do, you're just standing in front of it like an idiot." Waluigi told him, as the guy just wanted to get a tip.
"Alright, okay!" Bakugo just backed off. "Still going to beat 'em."
"Kacchan...why-" Izuku had a whole sentence to say, but his friend's glare was there in his face and it stopped him. "-you know, it's fine."
"Yeah, it's fine. I'm about to beat 'em in the next challenge." Bakugo was just feeling his confidence shoot through the roof.
"Losers drivers!" Waluigi also shouted, accidentally indicating the bus was coming.
Two teams in particular were wanting nothing to do with each other...even after all of the battles that they did against each other, most of them in the Lylat System.
*The Space Pilots' confessional*
Fox and Falco were very eager to get into the thick of the race, being the two leading fliers on their crew.
"Honestly, the worst thing about the last leg wasn't the fact that I embarrass myself on stage. It's the fact that it took so long." Fox stated, not very pleased with his performance. "I think we can make a back, though."
"Let's just say that my wings are pretty damn strong. The comeback's starting now I promise!" Falco was firmly in the driving seat.
"Yeah, don't bet too much on it." Fox said, trying to ease the brakes. "Comeback season isn't super cool."
*The Flying Mercenaries' confessional*
Wolf and Leon were two animal mercenaries that were not in the mood to be messed with.
"Listen the first challenge literally made me an embarrassment and I heard that the next challenge isn't going to be embarrassing. Fortunately, it is not my turn yet." Wolf stated, ready to bring some gun action.
"Let me be sure that this challenge will be done on the first try." Leon stated, showing his grips. "We've struggled through worse on our jobs."
"Yep." Wolf crossed his arms.
*Confessional cut*
While the two rivalling teams, the angriest team and Wario and Waluigi were not having that much of a fruitful discussion, the rest were having some kind of discussion over the next challenge...in Donostia.
"Yo, what kind of town is named Donostia?" Shaggy asked, ready to make some jokes. "A town that's got good kebab!"
"Yeah!" Scooby was sitting down right near, excited for some good kebabs.
"Hahaha. I don't think that's the reason." Blake didn't really find the joke funny, just reading a tourist book. "Probably had to do with some war or a church."
"I'm just hungry for some kebab." Shaggy whined for a bit, as Yang's stomach groaned a little bit. "Seriously, it's good."
"Nope, just plain old hunger. Not much of a kebab person, really." Yang was just feeling cramped in the bus, sitting like the seats were cool. "Man, when are we going to get there?"
"No clue, but the place is also called San Sebastian. Seriously, I've got-" Blake was about to say something, when a rude guy interrupted her.
"Hey, GPS man here, it's gonna take fourty minutes." Susie shouted, just having that good odd feeling that she was right. "We're on the highway, who gives a crap?"
"Since most of us are from the second flight..." Blake just went back to reading, as Susie was just ready to get schooling.
"Gonna finish that, 'cause I'm not!" The monster girl was just ready to throw some own punches.
"Anyways, these hay bales are really making everyone feel like they are some kind of strong! Or not that at all!"
As the number of lifters were going up by not a lot, as the second flight hadn't arrived, the rest of them were attempting to make do with their lack of strengths and the bandmates were not the only angry team.
"Good lord, it's like some kind of farm challenge." Murdoc groaned. "This is some kind of hokey shit."
"Yeah, what else are we going to do?" 2-D was pretty damn unsure of what was going to happen, seeing that
"Pushing some hay, farming some shit, other total bullshit." Murdoc scoffed at the hay carriers that were just having a fun time lifting.
"It's a show that's kinda not deadly." 2-D explained, as though his partner didn't know. "Dead people kinda suck."
"Wow, that's something that you don't hear every day." Isabelle said, not really being able to compherend what was just said.
*The Assistants' confessional*
Isabelle was just wondering something and Digby was feeling weird.
"I don't know, Isabelle, those are two of the the weirdest guys around." Digby said. "They're pretty aggressive and also talented."
"I know, but there's definitely a lot of interesting life stories that they've got. I've checked out a few of them and can you believe that one of them had a ghost?!" Isabelle was just plain old hyped for the Gorillaz.
"I know, but it's not the ghost guy, it's the guy that sucks a lot and the blue-haired dude. Just gives me this weird feeling." Digby was a little bit nervous.
"Maybe, that feeling was wrong because of their songs." Isabelle stated, trying to argue for something. "If they're bad people, how can they make good songs?"
Digby was straight up nervous at this point, because he could see that...things were off.
*Confessional cut*
The feuding brothers, the mercenaries and the family men were somehow on the first boat towards the island, with the rest completely stumped on how they missed their chance and the boats apparently had no spots.
"Still, though, there's a all new challenge that's ahead of the winners and ooh, it's a hot one! Come back after the break for some more Ridonculous Race!" Don announced, since the second challenge was going to be good by his standards.
To be continued in the third part, where both teamwork and sole strength are needed in this strange challenge of two teammates taking turns to do an time-honoured tradition!
It's another unique Basque sport, but it's a two-player game and they're all doing the co-op racing!