Fighting in the Streets
Chapter 35 – Piranha Plant Pipeway
February 3, 2015 – 10:30AM
Toad Town, Mushroom City
Another day has gone by and the main entrance to Toad Town is still sealed off from the public, and no outsider to the town knows why. Thankfully for Tom and Enrique, the more secluded entrance on the other side of the town was still open. A small gap between the hedges that circled the town by the woods at the back allowed them to sneak by into the woods on foot. Having parked their car at the nearest car park, the two crept all the way until they reached the lake to get one more look of the main Town area before approaching the castle. Across the lake they could see Toadette and Toadbert sitting together on sun loungers with two other Toads who presumably lived in the town. A few other Toads wandered the street and all of them seemed to be in happy moods. They were all used to living such an elitist lifestyle.
"I suppose you have a way to get in to the castle that isn't via the main entrance?" Enrique whispered to Tom whilst crawling along the grass by the edge of the lake. There were only Brigade guards by the main entrance, but sneaking through the back may be a possibility for them.
"Get up and follow me." Tom moved back down the small hill of grass they were crawling along and snuck his way towards the walls of the castle, with Enrique following right behind him. The two had their backs to the southwest wall and moved anticlockwise around the castle, trying to find one of the back entrances. They stopped once they reached a corner post, and Tom turned his head around to see if he could see anybody guarding the back door.
"Anybody there?" Enrique whispered.
"No." Tom beckoned him to walk with him to the door. It was completely unguarded and unlocked, allowing them to enter the castle discretely and smoothly. The open halls were soundless, but they could see the shadows of guards coming from other hallways further down. The two wanted to get to the other side of the castle since they were on the side that was closest to the great hall and the throne room. Tom wanted to move with Enrique to the other side where they could find the elevators and the steps up to the next floors. The first place they wanted to go to was wherever Will or George would have been kept if they were held here. One of those places would be the dungeons on the basement floors.
After sneaking through the halls unnoticed Tom and Enrique arrived at an elevator. On their sneak they traversed around the great hall and passed by many office rooms where idle Toads would be working at computers. The elevator was coming down from a floor above, and the two waited patiently beside it, standing openly as if they were welcome in the castle and that anybody that came out of the lift wouldn't see them as suspicious. The light by the door flashed and the elevator doors opened. Nobody was inside. Tom went in first and Enrique checked to see if they were seen by anyone before he went inside. On the elevator it indicated that they were on the ground floor (floor 0) and that the lift surveyed up to the highest floor (floor 20) and the lowest floor (floor -4, the lowest basement floor). This meant there were a total of 25 floors in Peach's Castle. Usually when they would take the elevator, they would always go up to floor 20 to see Peach in her headquarters. Neither of them really spent much time on the other floors, so they didn't really know what was on the floor. Tom made an attempt to press the button leading to floor -4, but it was either removed or never there. Instead, he selected floor -3. The elevator's doors closed and started to move down. Hopefully nobody would be waiting outside for them.
The doors opened and they couldn't see anybody nearby. The ceilings of the halls down here were nowhere near as high as they are on the upper floors. Instead it looked like an actual basement and wasn't the cleanest and brightest of areas. This floor appeared to be the one for prisoners. Both Tom and Enrique were surprised if they managed to bump in to any other faces down here that weren't Brigade or security guards. The walkway along the floor followed a left turn, and round there they could see multiple security guards. Tom and Enrique began to walk more formally, being noticed by the guards.
"Tom and Enrique, what brings you two down here?" One of the security guards asked, getting out of their position and moving into the way of them.
"We're here to see Will Rodneyras. Would you be able to help us find where he is kept?" Tom asked the security guards.
"The human prisoner? He's down on the end of this hallway. Why would you like to know?" The first security guard replied. "Are you even allowed down here?"
"Let us see him." Enrique butted in. "The last time I saw him he was just recovering from his illnesses. I never expected him to be taken down to a prison." The security guards looked at eachother and nodded.
"We will escort you down there. Our reason for concern is not about you two, but about him." The security guard started walking down the hallway, indicating for Tom and Enrique to follow. The other security guard kept his position in the middle of the hallway so they couldn't get past him with ease.
"W-what do you mean your reason for concern is about him... mister?" Tom asked the security guard.
"Call me Toadlynn, and the reason is about that mark that was passed over to him from Peach. It is very contagious and has caused a lot of mental problems with him. Let's just say he never actually recovered from this fungal infection passed over to him." Tom's eyes widened as he turned his head to see what Enrique thought of it. The two kept following Toadlynn down the hallway towards the end of the cells. Passing by, they saw several other cells, very few were occupied. In one of them they saw what looked like Monty Mole asleep on one of the beds, and in another one they saw Boomerang Bro writing on a chalkboard in his cell. As Tom and Enrique passed him, he noticed them and stopped what he was doing.
"Hey, humans! Tell my brothers to vouch for me!" He shouted from his cell.
"What's with Boomerang Bro?" Tom asked Toadlynn just before they got to the end cell.
"He never submitted to the accords, and said he'd rather stay locked up than submit to Peach. I think he regrets it now though." Toadlynn replied.
"Let me out!" They could overhear Boomerang Bro shouting again.
As they approached the final cell at the end, they noticed that the door was mostly covered except for two viewing hatches. One at adult height and another halfway down the door. Toadlynn knocked on the locked cell door. Within seconds the other two outside began to hear the rustling of chains.
"Wake up big guy. You've got visitors." Toadlynn slid the viewing hatch and allowed Tom and Enrique to look through the upper hatch. The two peered through and could see Will being held up in the air in chains. All four of his limbs were tied up, restraining him in place. Tom looked away instantly but Enrique kept watching him tilt his head upwards and begin to take large breaths. The two could tell that something was wrong with him, most likely the infection passed from Peach.
"Why is he kept in chains like this?" Enrique turned his head from the door and asked Toadlynn, who was already standing well away from the door.
"Talk to him more... you'll eventually see." He stood further back than the others, trying to keep the hallway clear. Enrique kept looking through the hatch to see Will more closely. Now that he was awake, he began to notice the eyes of Enrique coming from the hatch in front of him.
"Do you see my eyes?" Enrique said to Will, trying to get his full attention.
"Enrique, leave." Will whispered back to him, still panting in the chains.
"What did they do to you?"
"Remember that mark? It's across my entire back and front." Eventually Will raised his head up, showing Enrique his neck. Some of it was covered in a black, glowing scab just like the former one on Peach's back. It seemed to be a far more serious case for Will.
"The government has tracked him ever since his activity in Toad's Factory. We've seen no transmission so far, but the symptoms can be very... dangerous." Toadlynn finished, heading back to his guard post at the end of the hallway.
AT THE SAME TIME...
One of the biggest buildings on the western edges of Mushroom City was the headquarters of Gadd Science Incorporated. The company owned and operated by Elvin Gadd himself. Many of his modern inventions involve a combination of advanced Mushroom Kingdom technology and the simplest levels of the magical arts. In recent days, E. Gadd was one to take on learning the ways of the arts in attempts to better his inventions and also better his own wellbeing. The building looked like a giant warehouse on the outside but had several different sections on the inside. Nearing lunchtime, Luke and Toby entered through the main doors in search for the professor, hoping to find him and inquire about the properties of the giant severed arm. Having spoken to one of the secretaries in the foyer of the building, the two were directed to the upper annex, hoping to speak to E Gadd there. Instead, they were met with only Doctor Crygor, who seemed to be operating in the area on behalf of him. Luke did not seem so pleasant to meet him.
"Doctor Crygor, do you have a minute?" Toby interrupted him, seeming to be working on some sort of invention. Crygor was startled, turning his head quickly back at them.
"Who might you two be? You better not be government agents telling me even more bad news about Diamond City!" He put his equipment down and walked over to them, already interested by the bag Luke was holding.
"Not at all like that." Luke said. "We're friends of Tom, from Earth, and we have something to show you." He threw the bag on to the floor and started to unravel the pillowcase, revealing the arm. Crygor's reaction was short lived; all that surprised him was the size of the arm and not the fact that it was an arm in the first place.
"That's quite large. It's a Koopa's arm." It was still rotting away.
"We need to know whose it is." Luke said again. "Hopefully you have some way of finding this out?" The two watched the doctor walk back to the end of the room to grab one of the pieces of technology piled up in the corner. It was a magic paintbrush. The two were unsure if it had any tweaks to it, but nonetheless they still watched Crygor come back with it to the arm. He brushed over the chopped-off part of the arm to collect anything from it, and took it over to another invention in the room. Crygor placed the brush on top of the invention and the tiny bits of dried blood collected from the brush separated from it and fell into the machine. The sample was collected. Both Luke and Toby had no idea what was going on but eventually Doctor Crygor came back to them with a result.
"This is Boom Boom's left arm." Crygor showed the two the results on the screen. It had a 99% accuracy for the arm, and significantly lower percents for other various Koopas. It was safe to say that it was in fact Boom's.
"Thanks for your help doctor." Luke wrapped the arm back up in the pillowcase and picked it up. "Do you have any idea where Gadd is at the moment?"
"He's off-limits. His work is very dangerous, and he's unavailable until he reaches a point where it is safe for him to take long breaks. I'm sorry if you needed to see him specifically." The two humans looked back at eachother and nodded.
"We are done here then." Luke took the bag and headed back to the entrance with Toby. Doctor Crygor walked in the opposite direction back to the magic paintbrush, awkwardly trying to mind his own business until Luke and Toby were well out of the room. Within a few minutes they were directed back out of the headquarters of Gadd Science Incorporated, setting off back home.
3:30PM
They were the first two to arrive home between them and Tom and Enrique, and to their surprise they were met with George, lounging around on the sofa. Their eyes widened with surprise, but George's remained dozy.
"Where the hell have you been?" Luke threw the pillowcase into the middle of the room and looked down at George, who eyed over to the bag, confused.
"Have we got a problem?"
"We do indeed." Luke kept talking to him. "You've disappeared for the past few days and return home like you hadn't left at all!"
"I went on a bit of an explore... no trains, no maps, just me and my thoughts. The southeast is a wonderful place when you don't have schedules to meet."
"You went to the southeast not long ago. Shy Guy Falls and Sirenna Beach are two places there if you didn't notice."
"Oh really? I must have gone southwest then. Is that the area where there's all those Piantas along the coastline?"
"It might be. Just tell us about it next time!" Luke seemed frustrated, aggressively making his lunch at the kitchen worktop. "You had me worried. You had all of us worried."
"I didn't mean to be such a burden. I thought we were able to walk this kingdom freely right?"
"Just bring your phone with you next time, that way we can still keep in touch." Luke glared at him. Toby walked over to one of the bedrooms and came out seconds later, tossing George's phone over to him.
"Don't lose it." George took the phone and put it into his pocket, which reminded him of something else in his pocket.
"By the way, I got us some tickets."
"Which races?"
"Daisy Cruiser, Moonview Highway and Parkway."
9:00PM
Uldersal, North Delfino
Someone else returned to this city alone. It was still a mess, with some Brigade at siege against the Asquia Koopas and their followers. Secretly, Rosalina snuck her way into the inner city and past the defences into the side of the town occupied by the Asquias. The district square was empty but the alleys were occupied with envoys and allies of the Asquia family. From the rooftops it seemed easy for Rosalina to get into the main building with hopes of finding Joharnés Asquia.
Joharnés had finished dinner with his family and friends, and started making his way through the halls of his manor towards his bedroom. The lights were off, and as he entered the room he headed over and turned on the lights. There he could see a figure by the windows to his left, and that was where Rosalina had snuck in to. She was armed with her wand and Joharnés had noticed this. He grew less surprised and more disappointed, assuming that they were unable to retrieve his nephew for him.
"What are you here for... have you come to beg for mercy?" The Koopa walked further in to his bedroom and sat by his drawers on his bed, facing away from Rosalina. She watched him move about and change clothes by his bedroom, taking off his shell without any worry whatsoever that Rosalina could do something to him behind his back. Before she could speak, she was quickly interrupted by him. "Tomorrow was the saving grace and I still don't see him here." He interrupted her once again, lecturing her about what he said he was going to do if he did not see Koopak III in his home grounds. By now his shell was off and he was ready for bed, but Rosalina was still in the room.
"If he was killed, I think we would all know by now. They would have found out what happened to him and it would be on the news. Corporate knows what he looks like and how important he is to them." She eventually muttered quietly to him in the room. Rosalina still stood by the windowsill and watched Joharnés walk over to the sink in his bedroom to brush his teeth. She began to sit on the windowsill, right by the open windows.
"He could also... you know... be dead and unreported. The government haven't found him. You haven't found him. It's like you have but aren't willing to tell me about it, just as I originally said." Joharnés began to brush his teeth, keeping an eye on Rosalina to his left.
"It would make such an interesting death, being found dead at the sink with your mouth full of toothpaste." She threatened him with a soft voice. For a few seconds, he kept brushing his teeth and waited until he was fully finished to respond back to her.
"My mouth is no longer full of toothpaste." He grinned, walking back to his bed. Rosalina kept her wand aimed at him at all times as soon as he approached the bed. He stood beside it awkwardly, looking back at her. "I don't know if this applies to you let alone matters to you as much as it does to me but when us Koopas don't live forever ourselves, do you know what does?"
"Your nephew is not an Asquia." She knew well and truly what Joharnés was talking about, and tried to bring the argument over to him.
"He doesn't have to be born to married parents to be an Asquia. What my brother did was the right thing to do before what happened during the wars. Do you remember how great we were before the great wars? It was the faults of both Peach and Bowser's fathers that brought terror and danger on to us. He may not be pure but he is still one of us, and since I cannot trust or rely on anyone that is not us to bring him back, I will do everything in my power to get him back and if not make sure his death was not in vain, even if he is a stupid little child. That's what matters to me. My cousins are all girls, and I am not going to do what my brother did just for it to end the same way."
"Let's say I kill you here and now... and that your nephew is dead, somehow, someway... If that's all that matters to you, knowing that your brother is also missing and perhaps dead, why are you not afraid?" She kept watching him, still with his back to her. Her wand was pointed to his back still, and she waited for his next move.
"What do you mean... why am I not afraid?" Joharnes began to sit on his bed again, looking at the lamp on his bedside table. It appeared to be brand new, and well-polished, almost able to give off a reflection.
"Knowing that your family line could end in a matter of seconds if you're the last person in it alive that could carry it on, why are you not afraid right now?" He became silent again for a few moments. To Rosalina, maybe he is worried on the inside and that he's just turning away from her to make it seem like he is fearless on the outside.
"Because I am not afraid of you."
...
Her reaction was short, but not short enough. Rosalina had witnessed the fastest quickdraw she had ever seen. Joharnés turned around, and a second later, Rosalina found herself hit with a huge amount of pain on the inside. She lost control of her grip of the wand and smote the top corner of the room, missing Joharnés entirely, dropping the wand on the floor immediately after. Holding her breath, she stared back at him. He faced her directly now. A fierce look on his face and what appeared to be a pistol in his right hand. She then looked down and noticed a growing patch of red staining and wetting her dress, right by her stomach. Sitting on the windowsill, she lost her balance and fainted backwards out of the window. Joharnés gasped, feeling more surprised than he had ever felt before. He rushed over to see where Rosalina was after falling out of the window.
Her body was there, lying damaged and broken, and bleeding... Joharnés vomited off the side of the window, far from Rosalina, who was against the side rooftop. He couldn't believe it. He had just shot Rosalina, and she didn't look to be still alive. Her eyes were still open, and all the gruesome aspects of seeing the body still haunted him briefly. Eventually, Joharnés came to his senses and started to ignore it. The body lied on the edge of a rooftop of the floor below, well out of sight of anybody. He closed the windows and headed off to bed, in attempt to take his mind off it for the night.
He couldn't sleep. An hour or so later he got out of his bed and checked on the body. It was still there, bleeding down the side of the rooftop. Another thing that surprised him was the fact that nobody else heard him fire at her in the manor. As he looked outside from his window he could see some people sitting by campfires further out of the square in the alleys, but none were able to notice the body on the rooftop. Joharnés was paranoid, and unable to sleep for the rest of the night...
February 4, 2015 – 15:30PM
Piranha Plant Pipeway, Northwest Mushroom City
Unable to visit Peach and Daisy in the castle yesterday due to being directly escorted out after seeing Will in the basement floors, Tom and Enrique arrived to the track before Peach and Daisy did, spending the rest of that day and the morning with all of their other friends inside the penthouse. They had considered going back to Peach's Castle to interrogate with Peach and Daisy about the problem with Koopak III and the reasoning behind Will's imprisonment but unfortunately for them, the entirety of Toad Town was now closed off. Toad Brigade patrolled all entrances, including the hedge one at the back of the city.
The tent was set up and they were waiting inside for them to show up. Peach and Daisy ended up being one of the last few pairs to show up. Even the likes of Bowser and the Koopa Troopas arrived before they did.
The two sat next to eachother in one of the corners of the room that gave them a good direct view of the entrance to the tent. The first girl to walk through the entrance to their surprise was neither Peach nor Daisy. It was Pauline. The two got up from their seats and offered her handshakes. She appeared slightly anxious on the outside.
"How was the day off?" Tom greeted her, also surprised by the way she moved over to them. Pauline sat them down and pulled up a chair nearby.
"It was stressful." She said whilst doing so. "Koopas and Toads up there are starting to act weird, especially in train stations. I think it's because of something going on in the north. I can't quite pin it yet... Oh wait, now I know. We have an influx of northerners and the people in Donk City don't seem to get along with them. Still, the private carriage the management gave me made it so much less pain to deal with fans on my way down to this dirty town."
"Like, immigrants?" Enrique assumed. Pauline nodded back at him.
"I hope my governors and the Red Martyrs will be able to stop something before it becomes a problem." Paranoid, she turned her head back to the entrance a few times whilst sitting down. "I saw Mario outside, sitting on his own. Is he still troubled about Peach?"
"I think he needs to move on." Said Enrique.
"I don't think it's easy for someone like him to do that, you know." Tom responded, personally having a closer friendship with Mario in the past. "He was almost devoted to her. Being cast away like that can really get to him."
"Well once all this blows over and he hasn't changed one bit, we'll let him stay on Earth and see if he can change there." Enrique just realised what he said and looked back to Pauline.
"You're going to take him to the other world?" She said, leading to a short period of silence. "Well if you're going to do that in the future, do take me with you for a short break. It would be amazing to see it all again."
"Again?" Tom looked back at her confused.
"Donk City had been built based on what I saw that other world to look like. I tried to replicate it on its reconstruction in the past years. I don't regret it at all."
"Well, the world isn't all like that. It's nothing like what you think it is from where I was born." Enrique kept eyeing on the door mid-conversation as well, still waiting for Peach and Daisy to arrive.
"You were not born in Brooklyn? I remember Peach telling me back in those days that you were."
"Neither of us were." Tom added. Now Pauline looked very confused.
Seconds after, the Toad management team alerted everyone around and inside the tent that the next race was due to start in a few minutes, and that all were to make their way to the track. As Tom and Enrique walked outside with Pauline, they could see Peach and Daisy steps away from the track's start. Crowds filled stands that were set up on the outside and inside of the circuit, only in areas that gave a view of the part of the track above ground. For Tom and Enrique it seems as though they will have to wait until after the race to be able to speak to Peach and Daisy. One odd thing that Pauline managed to notice on their way to the track was that the Shooting Star was completely unoccupied, and that they hadn't seen Rosalina anywhere in the area on their way to the track.
"Where's... Rosalina?" Pauline pointed out to the others out loud, just before stepping on to the track. They were being broadcasted, as well as seen by hundreds of fans in the nearby stands. Over time the other racers began to realise, and that they could faintly hear MC Ballyhoo cast about it through the sound barrier from the outside. Most racers were already in their vehicles, but by the time Enrique got to his, he knew something wasn't right.
"Peach." Fire Bro called out from his vehicle. "Rosalina isn't here." She looked at him briefly but kept staring from her Mach Bike to the Shooting Star on the other side of the starting area. Pauline sat awkwardly against the bike, looking up and around the area, hoping Rosalina would show up.
It was six.
Crowds began to feel awkward and discomforted just as much as all the racers were at the starting line.
"Did you hear what he said?" Mario added afterwards, reminding Peach about the problem they have on the track.
"I know what he said. Where is she?"
"I don't know Peach... where is she?" He argued back at her.
"I don't know either. This isn't something that we allow... and no exceptions for this!"
"It seems that an unfortunate Rosalina hasn't been able to show up in time for the race folks! This must be rather embarrassing." They overheard MC Ballyhoo faintly. His comical words as an announcer greatly annoyed Peach, but at the same time she had no idea what to do.
"Peach." Enrique called out from in the middle of the group of racers. Over the chatter between her and the others he had spent this time trying to call Rosalina. He was unable to reach her. "Something's wrong. Rosalina isn't here, and isn't picking up. Something is wrong." He watched her stand silently on her bike, not saying anything still. Eventually, she went back on what she said and nodded over to the management crew who stood at the track's entranceway.
"I'm sorry Pauline. You're going to have do race this one alone. For the sake of the people and their entertainment, we will proceed with this race and deal with the problem afterwards. Get ready, everyone." The reactions of the racers and the crowds varied as MC Ballyhoo began to announce the procedure of the race to everyone watching. The management team left the track and began to start the race. The crowds cheered with hype as they saw the scoreboard and track light up, showing the current standings of the racers.
POSITIONS:
Shy Guy and Lakitu
Yoshi and Birdo
Rosalina and Pauline
Funky Kong and Cranky Kong
Toad and Toadette
Toadbert and Toadsworth
Mario and Luigi
Tom and Enrique
Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong
Dry Bones and Kamek
King Boo and Petey
Hammer Bro and Fire Bro
Peach and Daisy
Bowser and Bowser Jr
Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa
Wario and Waluigi
SCOREBOARD:
Bowser and Bowser Jr: 128
Rosalina and Pauline: 128
Peach and Daisy: 105
Funky Kong and Cranky Kong: 101
Yoshi and Birdo: 96
Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong: 96
King Boo and Petey: 94
Mario and Luigi: 91
Dry Bones and Kamek: 85
Shy Guy and Lakitu: 82
Hammer Bro and Fire Bro: 81
Wario and Waluigi: 79
Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa: 75
Toad and Toadette: 68
Tom and Enrique: 68
Toadbert and Toadsworth: 55
Given that Pauline had spent every race being at the back of the shooting star throwing items. She was unsure if she would be able to handle driving around as well as using items. She became worried after taking a look at the scoreboard and noticing that she was tied with Bowser and third place was twenty-three points behind. That's a first place compared to last and then some. Not only worried, she was also very anxious having no partner. Her strategies with Rosalina wouldn't be possible here. Only her own ideas and ways around the track will help her. For items, her best defence would be to activate triple shells and driving would then be her only worry.
The Lakitu came down with the traffic light, signalling the beginning of the race. There were few opponents starting ahead of her, so all she did whilst the timer counted down was look forward, and charge up the starting boost.
Green Light.
All the racers went off and Pauline had herself stuck in the pack already. Pauline found it very difficult to drift around the first few bends as she wasn't used to driving the shooting star at all. An outward drifting bike with a very strong drifting statistic wasn't something she had come across before. Not expecting anything like this to happen, she barely practiced driving, let alone to a professional standard. Going into the sewer she watched everybody overtake her, she wasn't even able to get an item box at the first proper set. She didn't fall to the very back however, since some racers were struck by the bite of the piranha plant at the first junction. Their items sprayed out onto the floor and the sewers, moving them down the track and becoming a hazard for others. Pauline got her first item box just before the side ramps jump: a single red shell in eleventh place, one of the most useless pulls possible at that spot.
Further up the ranks, the racers didn't seem to account for Rosalina's absence, and instead focused on their race and their threatening opponents.
"Careful, Funky's got greens up ahead." Paratroopa said to Koopa Troopa, trailing behind their opponents in first. Behind them were the Hammer Bros, Peach's pair and Bowser's pair, and then several other racers were tight behind them. Cranky Kong threw back a green shell shortly after they landed on the final stretch of grass after the glider jump, conveniently hitting the Hammer Bros as they landed and just missing the Koopa Troopas. The Hammer Bros fell back a few spots, but as they recovered, a POW appeared in front of all of the racers in front of them. This caused Peach and Daisy to hit the side of the track before passing the finish line going in to lap 2. Bowser managed to escape the threat of them but were still a few seconds behind Funky and Cranky. For them, second place was the perfect spot to be in since a blue shell would inevitable come for those in front of them. However it didn't seem to be that way for the rest of the second lap. Bowser and Bowser Jr managed to increase their gap from those behind them but couldn't seem to get anywhere close to Funky Kong. The speed of the Torpedo was even more than their Flame Flyer, and their only way of saving time on them would be to drift around the sharp turns in the middle of the lap better than they would.
Towards the end of the second lap, they kept their speed up and maintained the short distance between them and Funky Kong. As Bowser made the last turn of the lap, Junior noticed something off the grass in the corner of the track. They saw the shooting star not moving, and Pauline sitting idly in it. Only her head would turn to watch all the racers go past her.
"Did you see that dad? Pauline just wasn't moving." Bowser Jr said, wondering what his dad would think about it.
"Good, time to take the lead." He drove on ahead, keeping his distance from Funky Kong.
Eventually the other racers would pass by Pauline. Some would completely ignore her, but others, including Peach would notice the distraught look on her face as she admitted defeat on the track. By now she was lapped by every other racer and would receive an immediate last place, but there was nothing she could really do about it given that her partner was missing and the rules used to say that there were no exceptions for people missing the races.
Time passed, and Pauline watched the same people go by for two more laps. In this time she was affected by two shocks, and a shell to the rear of the bike. Non-racers were forbidden to go onto the track when a race is in session, so the Toad management and Pauline would have to wait until the race is over to do anything about not finishing the race. She managed to get a view of the racers coming up from the sewers and on to the last grass section of the track. Bowser appeared in front, looking like he was about to win. Shortly after seeing him land, another shock happened, and in the distance she saw several racers in the middle of the pack fall down into the pit where they would end up losing time to being rescued by the holographic Lakitus. Everyone would go by her eventually one last time, and as the fifteenth pair crossed the line, the race would automatically end, in which it eventually did. Pauline was upset, and almost tearing up. She turned one eye to the right to see the scoreboard update after spending almost an entire race not bothering to move. It just wasn't fair at all for her.
RESULTS:
Bowser and Bowser Jr: +20
Toadbert and Toadsworth: +17
Funky Kong and Cranky Kong: +15
Peach and Daisy: +13
King Boo and Petey: +12
Yoshi and Birdo: +11
Shy Guy and Lakitu: +10
Toad and Toadette: +9
Hammer Bro and Fire Bro: +8
Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong: +7
Mario and Luigi: +6
Wario and Waluigi: +5
Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa: +4
Tom and Enrique: +3
Dry Bones and Kamek: +2
Rosalina and Pauline: +1
She could even see a 'DNF' written in brackets by the side of their name on the board.
UPDATED SCOREBOARD:
Bowser and Bowser Jr: 148
Rosalina and Pauline: 129
Peach and Daisy: 118
Funky Kong and Cranky Kong: 116
Yoshi and Birdo: 107
King Boo and Petey: 106
Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong: 103
Mario and Luigi: 97
Shy Guy and Lakitu: 92
Hammer Bro and Fire Bro: 89
Dry Bones and Kamek: 87
Wario and Waluigi: 84
Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa: 79
Toad and Toadette: 77
Toadbert and Toadsworth: 72
Tom and Enrique: 71
All she could see now was Tom walking towards her. Still looking visibly upset, she reached out to Tom's offering hand and walked off the track with him at the entrance. Instead of leaving like usual, most racers actually followed Peach and returned to the participants' tent. It wasn't to be disassembled so soon after the race this time. Peach had entered it first, with many other racers running about behind her, trying to talk to her about Pauline's case. It seemed like everybody had noticed her and felt either sympathetic for her or arguing for the opposite. After all, she could have still tried. The biggest concern to them all was what had happened to Rosalina.
Bowser had a huge lead from everyone else and didn't feel obligated at all to voice his opinion on what should happen for this race. Some people were arguing that Pauline should be compensated for not having a partner for the race, others said that the race should be cancelled entirely, and some people are saying that nothing should be given to her, and that it's their fault as a duo that they should be responsible for showing up at all times and making themselves available all the time. Peach grew frustrated at all of the people telling her what they think should happen.
"If anyone isn't here to talk about the problem in this race, Mushroom Gorge starts at noon on the sixth, things should be back to normal by then." She silenced the room and addressed the few that didn't care for Pauline, such as Bowser and his son, Wario and Waluigi, the Kongs, and King Boo and Petey. Afterwards she sat down on one of the chairs in the middle of the room. In front of her she saw most others sitting and standing in front of her, and the Toad management crew behind them or at the sides.
"What are you going to do about Rosalina?" Pauline asked, her voice cracked, and sorrow all over her face. Tom and Enrique stood beside her, annoyed at Rosalina and thinking about where she could be.
"For now, I'm going to count the race. We cannot delay the schedule." Peach responded to the others in the room, constant muttering was heard from all others chatting amongst themselves and complaining indirectly at her.
"But Pauline was left at a disadvantage. If Rosalina was there she could have made an impact on the outcome on that race." She heard Toadbert call out from the conversations.
"You've given Bowser a massive lead because of this." Toadsworth added.
"Pauline was more than welcome to still race." Kamek argued from the other side of the room. He was sitting with Shy Guy, Kamek and Dry Bones, separated from the others.
"It's her fault for not watching on Rosalina." Fire Bro backed up Kamek's argument. The room had a split between being generous and sympathetic to Pauline and being logical with her situation.
"That's our problem though." Enrique stood up beside Peach and turned around to address everyone else in the room. "This isn't like Rosalina to simply not show up. Something must have happened to her." The room fell silent briefly. Only whispers were seen amongst the crowd.
"What if she never returns? Will she need a substitute?" Hammer Bro asked Enrique.
"I don't know." He replied. "On the one hand we could delay future races to resolve this... but I'd originally hoped that we could hasten this trial for the sake of what else is happening in this world."
"Well what else is happening in this world? Everyone seems to have their eyes glued to this amazing-until-today tournament." Hammer Bro also stood up from his seat in the room and looked back at everyone else behind him. "Yes this may be a trial for the crimes of the controversial King Bowser; I sure hope he's well. However, I have enjoyed every single race, and I believe this has made the world a much happier environment to be in. It has made friends and foes join one another for the sake of entertainment for the people." Many people in the room cheered him on, but a select few were disgusted by his approach to it. "Rosalina needs to be here for Mushroom Gorge. Remember what happened when poor Lakitu was taken captive?"
"I can vouch for this." Lakitu stood up from his seat, looking back at Kamek first before the rest. "It was Rosalina with the help of Luigi who brought me back from that filthy den of a town in Delfino. Wherever she is, I think it's only right we do the same and bring her back."
"Two problems there." Enrique said back. "One, we don't know where Rosalina is, we don't know if she's captured and we don't know who else is responsible and if it was her choice to not show up today. Two, will it be safe? A joint effort from all of us will be known by the world, and the people will be in fear of war. We don't want this to happen.
"Some of us should go tomorrow." Luigi suggested. "Not all of us, but a select few that would make it less suspicious for people to realise what's happening."
"He's coming too." Tom butted in and pointed towards Mario, who was sitting on the end next to Luigi. "I will go with the group. I know where to go first, and I think it's only fair for Mario to come with us for the sake of his health." Mario sighed, and looked up to Tom with frustration, but eventually he changed his mind and nodded back at him. "Anyone else who wants to come with us, raise your hand. I don't ask for all of you, only a select few." A few people stepped from their chairs and raised their hands up to Tom. Enrique refused, along with many of the girls in the room. None of the Toads also put their hands up; they all agreed not to join the Koopas they saw move to the front. "Enrique, you're turning me down?"
The two looked at eachother. "I have to be free in case Neodjan needs me."
"It's settled then." Tom looked around to see a group of eight formed for his mission for Rosalina: himself, Luigi, Mario, Lakitu, Hammer Bro, Fire Bro, Paratroopa, and Dry Bones. "This group will do well."
"Where are you heading to first?" Pauline asked Tom.
"Uldersal. Today was a certain deadline. We need to make sure the Asquias don't go crazy." He replied, assembling his group and getting ready to leave the tent with them. As they were doing so, Peach interrupted them with a light mutter, getting his attention back.
"Ahem, don't worry about Uldersal. We still have Brigade there. They will keep watch of his acts and make sure he doesn't leave. Daisy and I will order them to survey the area in-depth, and make sure he never leaves that manor." Tom nodded back at her, appreciating her aid.
Everybody started to leave the tent as Peach called for it to be disassembled. Toadant and other managers came over to her whilst she watched it disassemble.
"We're going to need you to address the people to clear their thoughts about what happened to Rosalina. Try to keep it a minimal problem, as I'm sure she shall come back for Mushroom Gorge." Toadant clarified for her. "We will also tell the news anchors for this. I bet everyone will be questioning you once we get back to the inner city."
"I will be able to deal with the press. None of this is a problem for me. I am happy to walk down the aisle where they will all be with their microphones and lecture to them why they shouldn't be afraid and that everything is going to be ok." She smiled back at Toadant and started walking with Daisy over to the path leading back to the transport.
"We'll do it together. Having more than one person to address the nation makes things a lot simpler anyways." Daisy put her arm on Peach's shoulder and happily walked out with her together. The entrance to the venue was still full of spectators, most working for news companies trying to get their information. Though most racers would leave the area via a private path back to their transport, a popular few decided to walk by the barriers that split them from the citizens' path where they came to watch. An evening of answering questions by the remaining racers awaits them...
EOC: Surprise!
See you next chapter.
