Fighting in the Streets
Chapter 47 – Coconut Mall
A/N: As you can tell, there will be a race in this chapter even though there was one in the previous chapter. Back-to-back races will help keep the pace up in this story.
February 14, 2015 – 9:30PM
Luke's Penthouse, Mushroom City
Coming back from a well-earned dinner after the race today, Tom and Enrique, along with George and Toby, occupied the lounge room of the penthouse, being greeted by Luke and a surprise appearance.
"Oh my goodness!" Tom reacted to seeing one of his best friends, also looking somewhat healthier. "Can I touch or..?" He got close to his friend. It was Will, and Tom was unsure whether it was safe to make contact with him or not. "It's still very visible."
"Are you ok there, Will?" Toby added in.
"It's best that you don't, for safety." Will replied, moving slowly out of the doorway to the bathroom and towards one of the sofa beds. "The doctors in her castle told me to see how I can do for a week, but if I feel anything unusual or loads of pain, then I need to go back to them." He sat down on the sofa and started to lie on it. "I'm sorry I cannot be much of a welcoming host on my arrival home boys."
"Don't worry about it, friend." Enrique appreciated his presence. "Seeing you back means a lot to us all anyway."
"Yeah Will, don't worry about us." George added.
"Is there any update to how his marks are? They still glow a bit." Tom asked Will and Luke, who stayed in to see him home and provide him the comfort of being back.
"The only problem is, and Will has accepted this, is that this not some sort of disease." Luke replied on behalf of Will. "Apparently the doctors managed to understand it a little bit. It's kind of like an infection, where some sort of magical substance has placed itself in Will, causing it to alter his behaviour a bit in the past. You remember what happened in Toad's Factory? It was all this doing that."
"I knew it." Tom said.
"The doctors said something about it no longer being able to spread, and it has now become benign. They managed to remove a small sample of the mark and are studying it themselves, but from what I can see from it is that it is definitely beyond my complexion." Luke finished.
"I have a feeling those nurses from that hospital tried to avoid it when dealing with the one Peach had. It affected her and then when it went benign it became sort of harmless." Tom said back to Enrique as he sat down on the sofa next to Will.
"But this one still seems to be causing Will a little bit of unrest. Look how tired he is!" Enrique pointed to him, seeing him on the sofa, almost about to sleep.
"That's probably because of what it used to do to him. Will must be very sleep deprived." Luke suggested.
"Alright then, Doctor Loggins." Enrique grunted.
"Remember what we saw when he was in that room in the basement of the castle?" Tom reminded Enrique. "He must have been in so much pain when he was there."
"You're right, to be honest." Enrique turned his head back to Luke and Will. "My apologies." There then followed a short period of silence as the rest of the friends got themselves comfortable on the sofas and turning on the television in the room. Luke already had a movie channel on in the background before the rest arrived. With the remote, he switched the remote over to a news channel, currently live somewhere else in Mushroom City where the news channel had their studio. The six in the room watched the news reporter recap the events of the races today, as well as giving a small heads-up on another article concerning the current state of Uldersal to be talked about afterwards.
"So with the fact that Bowser's Castle and Rainbow Road are the last two races, who else hasn't had a race selected yet?" George asked the rest in the room after hearing the four next tracks to be played and the four recently selected after those.
"Well, mine hasn't been chosen yet." Enrique replied first. "They are yet to pull out mine from the box. There is only six left in there I think." He looked over to Tom to see what he would say.
"Mine's been selected from the box but not played yet." He said next. "I kind of regret it concerning how close to Bowser's Castle it is."
"We're going to be racing in Bowser's Castle eventually anyway. It should be fine." Enrique added.
"Then who are the other five that haven't been chosen?" George wondered. "It's kind of hard to think of from the top of my head."
"I think... Wario is one of them?" Toby thought.
"Wario is going to be an odd one. He better had asked for Wario Stadium because if he's chosen the Colosseum, then we're going to have some problems."
"Why's that?" Toby and George looked back at Enrique.
"Because apparently it's beyond the mountains. It might be very unsafe to host it. Whether Peach has a lot of security there is a different question entirely."
"...So who else?" Said Toby after listening to Enrique.
"Uh... Lakitu?" Tom thought. "He hasn't chosen one yet, right?"
"Ah yes, no he hasn't, but we probably know which one he would have selected." Enrique replied.
"...I'm a bit lost, which one?" Tom looked back at him confused.
"You know the one."
"You think that one exists? I only heard about it three months ago."
"I mean Wild Woods exists, and I had never even heard of that one before. I've heard of Delfino Island but not that one. So odds are... this one that I don't know the name of probably exists. I don't know how but it probably does."
"What are you guys talking about?" Toby asked.
"You know that dragon themed track from the DLC?" Enrique teased it to them.
"It exists?" George looked dumbfounded, but believed him slightly.
"Probably."
"Then what else? There's you, there's Lakitu, there's Wario."
"King Boo." Toby suggested.
"That's going to be an obvious one as well." The people agreed with him.
"Oh, and Kamek." He said again.
"Yes, Kamek, but I have no idea what he would choose, probably something boring like Riverside Park." Enrique thought. "So who's the last one? Petey chose Piranha Plant Pipeway... all the Kongs chose their home tracks... the Toads have all picked, Yoshi has... Hammer Bro picked Delfino Island... fire Bro picked... ah yes. Fire Bro. No idea what he would pick." The six in the room thought to themselves on what the possible future track picks would be, though their thoughts were quickly interrupted as the news changed topic to something of other importance.
"And now we turn to our other top story: The Toad Brigade operating in the North Delfino region have identified a body found along the top of the Delfino River a few miles north of Uldersal, close to a town called Sarlan. Officials there have found it to be a Toad body whose name has not yet been released to the public on behalf of the family. The Brigade there say the time of death of the Toad was only days ago, and may possibly have ties with known criminal and escapee Joharnés Asquia. The Brigade can confirm that the body is not that of Captain Toad's and they are to presume that he is still alive somewhere in Delfino. More on the story follows from our aide near to the scene." Everyone except Will had their eyes on the TV, watching the cameras change to see a Koopa news reporter being filmed live in what appears to be woodland with the river behind it.
"Tonight I am outside Sarlan not far from where the body was discovered. The workers here say they found the body underneath the surface of the water after a few fisherman noticed it at the bottom when here just hours ago. What we can tell from the body is that it was a Brigade soldier that was originally based in the Mushroom Kingdom front. Tonight I am joined with his chief of squad, Toadskip, here to say a few words on the matter." The cameras pointed towards Toadskip, who was looking back at the reporter with a rather upset look on his face.
"Hey, I remember that guy." Enrique pointed to the TV.
"Since I cannot say much with the name of this Brigade soldier stay private, we all know like the rest, he was an honourable soldier, and unfortunately he took the thought of investigating the whereabouts of Joharnés and his cousins after we seized the town, ultimately leading to a trap potentially set by them. His death is not in vain though, as we have gotten closer to tracking them down and rescuing Captain Toad. That's all I have to say on the matter now." Toadskip looked depressed, never staring in to the camera.
"Thank you for your time chief, we will be back with the studio now." The reporter outside of Sarlan finished, and the cameras changed back to the reporter in the studio.
"Now on to the lighter news-." Enrique switched off the TV by pressing on the power button with his toes.
"I need some sleep. Tom and I need as much as we can get for tomorrow." Enrique got up from his spot on the sofa and headed in to the bedrooms.
"I might do the same then." Tom also got up and followed Enrique.
"Alright, good night you guys, and good job again on the race today. Second place is amazing." Luke cheered quietly at them, trying not to wake up Will.
"Thank you." Tom went behind the door, out of sight. Luke turned the TV back on and lowered the volume once he could hear the news channel again. He began watching more of it whilst sitting next to Will at the same time. As time went on in the night, Luke stayed up to watch more TV, with George and Toby heading off to bed during it. Will was now fast asleep, and Luke moved over to another sofa where he could lie down as well.
...
It had passed midnight, and Luke began to believe that he was the only person awake. As he was still watching the background TV and beginning to doze off on the sofa, the bag that still had Boom Boom's rotting arm caught his eye. It must have completely decayed by now, but Luke decided to inspect it once again. Quietly, he opened the bag up and saw it reeking inside. To keep the smell from escaping, he sealed the bag up once again and looked up to the door straight after. He had a plan to go outside in the night as others were sleeping. Luke had barely spent any time outside yesterday, so he still felt like he had some energy in him despite almost snoozing in front of the TV. Carefully, he crept off of the sofa and opened the door slowly, hoping it wouldn't creak. The warm breeze from outside hit his face as he proceeded outside. Luke took a deep breath and headed down the building without the bag containing Boom Boom's arm. Forgetting that he went without it, Luke traversed himself back up the stairs of the building to bring the bag with him this time. The first place he planned on visiting was Peach's Castle.
...
After a few minutes, Luke managed to investigate a part of the hedged fences where one could simply just climb over to get on to the other side. This would be convenient for him to use whenever he wanted in the future. He also made a decision not to tell others about this, for now.
Toad Town looked completely abandoned, all of the lights in all of the houses were off, and the roads were all empty. The castle doors were sealed and there were no guards outside. Luke could only hope to find a back door or resort to knocking on the tall front doors.
The back door was locked. Luke sighed, having to stroll all the way around the castle perimeter again which took more than two minutes. As he got to the front doors, they opened up automatically and slowly, letting him inside. Luke was surprised. Surely somebody such as him would not be welcome in to the castle at this time of night, surely?
"You should not be allowed in here at this time of night. State your business." A Toad appeared from behind the doors. He looked like to be a high ranking worker of the castle. Luke paused for a few seconds before attempting to hand the heavy bag over to the Toad. He wasn't able to pick it up himself, making him feel slightly embarrassed.
"This is very fragile. It's Boom Boom's rotting arm." Luke presented it to the Toad. "I want you to assess it, and give the Penthouse residence all the details you can obtain from it." The Toad decided to open up the bag before picking it up because clearly he wasn't strong enough to.
"You say this is Boom Boom's?" The Toad cringed upon seeing the arm, surprised that there weren't any insects lingering on it despite still rotting away. Some of the bone began to be visible and all of the blood had turned black. The colour in the skin had disappeared. "It is massive, so it could be his. How long have you had it for?"
"We've only had it for a few days. But we know that it was severed from him as early as January." Luke replied back to the Toad.
"Do you know if Boom Boom is still alive?"
"Nobody has seen him, so I would assume so."
"It's about time." The Toad grinned, dragging the bag with the arm in it across the floor slowly to be more inside the castle. "It's not the best way we had hoped for him to die, but knowing that he is gone will certainly make Queen Peach happy. Shall I let her know about this in the morning?"
"Keep it between us."
"Very well, you're not Enrique, are you?"
"No, I'm Luke, and you are?"
"Mosko."
"Nice to talk with you, Mosko." Luke smiled at the Toad, who seemed to be guarding the lower halls of the castle alone.
"And you." Mosko the Toad replied. "I will let Queen Peach know of your visit. I believe she is sleeping right now, but in the morning I will tell her that you visited bearing this bag. Is there anything else you would like me to tell her for you?"
"Don't confirm to her the death of Boom Boom. He and Pom Pom have both been unheard of for a very long time, and we haven't found anything from her yet." Mosko nodded.
"I will just tell her that this is his arm. We will run our own scans, have you seen this to other sources to confirm that it is his?"
"Doctor Crygor said this was his as well. I want to be sure."
"Very well."
"That is all for me for now. Have a good night." Luke bowed to Mosko and started walking back out of the castle. Mosko resumed dragging the bag across the halls of the castle until he found other Toad castle nightshift workers to help him carry it to somewhere convenient. As for Luke, he headed back to the hedge to climb out of Toad Town. Whilst traversing around the fence, he met with the roads of the busy city again. There was certainly less activity, but nightlife still seemed rather active at this time of night. Most things were closed but there were still some shops and blocks open. Instead of making a move down the street, Luke decided to be more responsible and stuck to his initial thought of heading back to the Penthouse to sleep. Perhaps going to other places he wanted to go to would be better in daylight...
February 15, 2015 – 11:30AM
Coconut Town, East Delfino
Due to restricted services running from the north because of the situation in Uldersal and due to the race today, Coconut Town's train station became one of most densely packed stations ever. Coconut Town was the next town north of the Delfino Capital and one stop south of Uldersal. Several small towns that did not have trains running through them at off-peak times instead became sources of most of the population of attendees today. The morning was almost all peak time, and all the citizens from local towns paid to watch this race at the venue. Most other racers were already here, but a few still had yet to show up; two of those racers being Wario and Waluigi. Knowing those two, they were late on their own accord.
This was probably the venue to have the most available seats around the track so far. All of the outlets were closed for retail today and instead used to allocate hundreds of seats for everybody. The inside car park was set up completely differently. Two hundred VIP tickets were available for people to watch the race from a large open clear car park. Spectators were able to walk freely around all parts of the car park, being able to choose where they would like to view the race. The area they could see spanned from the exit ramp all the way past the starting line to the first set of escalators. Some of the people who paid for said expensive tickets were Koopie, Kooper, Koopol, and Jagem. All of them were inside the car park and looking at the start line. All of the vehicles were already set up, and scoreboards began to light up as well.
POSITIONS:
FIRST: Hammer Bro and Fire Bro
SECOND: Tom and Enrique
THIRD: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong
FOURTH: Funky Kong and Cranky Kong
FIFTH: Toad and Toadette
SIXTH: Rosalina and Pauline
SEVENTH: Bowser and Bowser Jr
EIGHTH: Mario and Luigi
NINTH: Yoshi and Birdo
TENTH: Toadbert and Toadsworth
ELEVENTH: Peach and Daisy
TWELFTH: Dry Bones and Kamek
THIRTEENTH: Wario and Waluigi
FOURTEENTH: Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa
FIFTEENTH: King Boo and Petey
SIXTEENTH: Shy Guy and Lakitu
SCOREBOARD:
FIRST: Bowser and Bowser Jr: 186
SECOND: Rosalina and Pauline: 183
THIRD: Funky Kong and Cranky Kong: 174
FOURTH: Peach and Daisy: 153
FIFTH: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong: 153
SIXTH: Mario and Luigi: 148
SEVENTH: King Boo and Petey: 143
EIGHTH: Yoshi and Birdo: 141
NINTH: Wario and Waluigi: 139
TENTH: Dry Bones and Kamek: 136
ELEVENTH: Hammer Bro and Fire Bro: 131
TWELFTH: Toad and Toadette: 128
THIRTEENTH: Tom and Enrique: 125
FOURTEENTH: Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa: 118
FIFTEENTH: Shy Guy and Lakitu: 116
SIXTEENTH: Toadbert and Toadsworth: 115
The Koopas in the car park watched as the first few racers started to arrive on to the track and head to their vehicles. Kooper had his sight at the front of the racers' positions, and Jagem stood next to Koopol, watching Shy Guy and Lakitu head over to their spot in last place.
"I wonder what is in store for this race. I want to see more epic feats like what those humans did in Parkway. The Hammer Bros winning the race also helped them a lot with points." Koopol spoke to Jagem, having a look at the board.
"I would like to see somebody like the Koopa Troopas or Shy Guy and Lakitu win for once. Why can't they be winning?" Jagem replied quietly within the crowds.
"Because sadly they're clearly not as good." Said Koopol. As the two muttered amongst themselves, they began to hear a louder, deeper voice coming from their left. Jagem noticed it almost immediately, as if he had heard the same voice before.
"Come on Lakitu! You know you can do better than this! Do it for us!" The two turned to see where the voice was coming from. It was a Koopa looking very similar to both Jagem and Lakitu, but without any goggles.
"Jurah, is that you?" Jagem called out, getting the Lakitu Koopa's attention.
"Jagem? It's been so long!" Jurah, the one cheering on Lakitu a few seconds ago, moved past a few Toads in the crowds to get closer to Jagem and Koopol. "What a surprise to see you here?"
Koopol had no idea who this Lakitu-Koopa was, but Jagem stood by and spoke to him like he was his brother. Zoning out for a few seconds, Koopol snapped back to reality after hearing his name be mentioned.
"Koopol, this is Jurah Lakitu, my cousin." Jagem showed Jurah to him, and the two shook hands.
"Hey there." Koopol said awkwardly, wanting to get Koopie and Kooper over to make him feel comfortable around this stranger to him.
"I take it you're one of his newer friends then?" Jurah questioned first.
"No actually." Koopol replied. "I've known Jagem since we were young. It was only until New Years' Day did we start hanging out again. These races really seem to get the old group together again."
"Fair enough, whereabouts are you from? You look an awful lot like somebody else. I can't put the name and the appearance together though." Jurah joked about Koopol's almost perfect resemblance of Koopak Asquia II.
"Ah I know who you're on about, I get that a lot." Koopol laughed. "You know he actually was a friend of us once, but he never told us anything about his family. I guess it was for the better of him."
"Yes, Koopak!" Jurah laughed as well. "A very interesting character, what was it like when you did hang around with him?"
"He was very normal to be honest." Said Koopol. "It was only until after we found out about him did he start to act differently. We were all there on Wuhu Island on New Years', but when we were all ferried away he separated from us and vanished ever since. I have no idea where he is or whether he is alive or not. The thing is... I still miss him, he can't be held for everything he did when most of it was his family's doing."
"You're right I guess. The thing is... I think his brother is worse." Jurah reminded Koopol of Joharnés. He only saw him when they were all young, and never really spoke to him.
"I only remember him from the young days. He was a very rude Koopa, not even protective, just aggressive."
START!
The conversation the three were having with eachother distracted them from the time. They all turned to face the track and saw all of the racers accelerate upon the race starting. The surrounding crowds all cheered them on, hurting some of their ears, but the sound was muted on the inside of the track.
"Well, they've all disappeared from us now. Let's look at the screens." Jagem pointed out, ending their conversation.
...
The race began with a swift start, with almost all racers going through the first set of item boxes without slowing down and waiting for a new item. Leading the pack at the moment were the Hammer Bros still, smoothly going up the right escalator, the two had themselves triple bananas for protection, but their lead was short-lived after they received hits from the side by green shells being thrown by the people behind him. Additionally, a bomb was thrown forward, rebounding from the ceiling of the shopping floor, hitting many racers at the front. Only Rosalina and Pauline were racers at the front of the pack who were able to avoid the bomb's explosion by using their three mushrooms they pulled at the item boxes to take the two off-road shortcuts to the right. They took the lead, and the people behind them now were also people who started further back in the pack. Wario and Waluigi took second, using a star to get through the off-road, and the Koopa Troopas took third, doing the exact same thing to get up there. All three were itemless, but their distance from the rest of the pack was far enough to not worry about items for now.
Taking the first stairs turn, Rosalina drifted to the right within the next section, heading for the item box on top of the right boost panel. Wario and Waluigi and the Koopa Troopas went left, fighting eachother for the left item box by the left boost panel. Although Wario and Waluigi got the item box, the Koopa Troopas drifted tighter around the boost panel, overtaking them. The second staircase turn was unfortunately littered with bananas already for both of them. Koopa Troopa managed to tightly drift inwardly around the staircase to avoid the bananas, but Wario and Waluigi swerved in to one of them, causing them to spin and immediately use their item which was a single mushroom. Rosalina and Pauline managed to get a lead from them out of this, tricking off of the small grass patch at the last set of item boxes and then tricking again off of the lower boost ramp. With this much of a break, the two wouldn't have to worry about any items. The audience watched Rosalina prove that she was one of the best, going through the final boost panels whilst avoiding all of the moving cars.
"Here come the front-runners!" Koopie pointed out Rosalina and Pauline in the distance, getting the attention of her friends. They all watched Rosalina speed across the start line going in to lap 2. Behind her were Wario and Waluigi, the Koopa Troopas and Kamek and Dry Bones, who managed to catch up after using a golden mushroom after the lower boost ramp. The rest of the pack all showed up together afterwards. They all kept items secret within their item user's grasps. The crowds eventually lowered their volume as they lost sight of the racers, heading up the ramps and the left escalator in to lap 2.
Rosalina went around the first staircase turn, protected by a single banana, but Pauline kept a green shell in her hands for defence. They started to lose sight of other racers, unsure what happened to the other three behind her.
"Litter?" Pauline asked as they swiftly went through the right boost panel in the next section, going past the item boxes and the water fountain. Rosalina nodded, and Pauline dropped the banana on the way up the second silver staircase.
"Throw the green back now." Rosalina ordered as they went along the next boost panel. As they took another right turn to go out of the mall via the lower level, Rosalina picked up another item box and then tricked off of the trick boost ramp. The sound of a blue shell became heard by both of them as they landed. Seeing it appear above them, the blue shell drove down to them, causing them to flip up in the air with their velocity set to zero. A red shell appeared behind them next, hitting them as soon as they recovered. The crowds gasped upon seeing her get overtaken by a few racers. Rosalina managed to get their vehicle moving again, but even then a second later, a bomb was dropped by an unknown racer right in front of them when they were overtaken, sending them up in the air again.
"Hahaha!" Fire Bro laughed, watching the two fly up in the air.
"Back to the back for them!" Hammer Bro drove through the boost panels, avoiding the cars and the standard kart that collided in with them as well. The two took the last turn and passed the line going in to lap 3. They were currently in ninth place, and the first item set gave them a blooper. They saw several racers in front of them, with Yoshi and Birdo on their right activating a star. Two seconds later, they used their blooper and a second later, their surroundings darkened. The first shock was used, and Yoshi and Birdo dodged it. Behind the Hammer Bros were Toad and Toadette, who were caught on the downwards escalator when the shock happened. Fire Bro watched Toad and Toadette fall backwards, going down the escalator and completely stopping. Everybody else started to overtake them and they became last within seconds. King Boo and Petey, presumably the shockers, activated a bullet bill when they got up the escalators. Its path almost went straight in to the Hammer Bros. The bill ended up hitting Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong who were in front of them though. Fire Bro couldn't help but laugh at the sound of the high-pitched whining the Kongs made when they were struck by it.
Further up ahead, the Koopa Troopas had the lead, but Yoshi and Birdo were right on their tail. By the time the Koopas resized, they received a fake item box at the boost panel set, and Yoshi and Birdo also had an item. Paratroopa couldn't quite see it though, Yoshi kept it hidden in his mouth as he swapped positions with Birdo on their Rapide. The next blue shell eventually came, and the Koopas threw their fake item box forward. It rebounded on a post on top of the second staircase and went sideways into a corner where no racer would go, deeming it useless. The two went up in the air on top of the boost panel. Yoshi and Birdo overtook them, but they were the only ones to do so. As the Koopas landed, they appeared just in front of Mario and Luigi, but the boost panel caused them to go up to full speed again. Mario attempted to throw his green shell forward at them but missed. Instead, the green shell rebounded and started heading backwards, almost hitting Mario. The green shell went straight past Peach and Daisy in fourth but hit Toadbert and Toadsworth in fifth.
Coming out of the mall on lap 3, most racers were armed, but the pack began to spread as a result of the shock and item usage from earlier. The crowds gasped once again as they saw a bomb explode on one of the screens and it hit four racers before the ramp out of the mall. The gap between the top nine and the rest became a few seconds. Although those at the back would have item advantage, most of the front-runners just entered lap 4. There wasn't too long for anybody to catch up now. The audience became engrossed, even MC Ballyhoo had his eyes focused on the screens. He had given a ceremonial opening for this race, as it indicated the beginning of the second half of the tournament. His next major appearance would be in eight races time, in a race with a track not yet determined yet.
"There's our boy going!" Jurah Lakitu cheered on Lakitu as he drove over the finish line in seventh place. Lap 4 had just begun, and the racers slowly started to begin conserving their items.
"Any idea what he pulled there?" Kooper asked the others from the other side of their crowd. The group watched a screen which was showing a third-person perspective of Shy Guy and Lakitu. Shy Guy, the item holder at the time had just picked up a thundercloud. It started to hover over their heads.
"You've just cursed him, damn it!" Jurah competitively complained at Kooper, leaning forward to see the screen, hoping they would pass it. Lakitu started swerving their vehicle, slowing down a bit. "Come on, come on, come on!" Jurah begged. They missed passing it to King Boo and Petey, but managed to hit it on to Wario and Waluigi who were currently in ninth. "Yes!"
Wario and Waluigi shrank in size and began to fall back from the rest of the group. Lakitu took the first staircase turn with Shy Guy and headed on to the left side to pull another item. Now would be their best time to try and catch up. Shy Guy waited patiently for their item to deliver as they went up the second staircase; triple reds.
"This is good. They could hit some people with this... mind the fake item box!" Jurah kept commentating on the race, putting off Koopie and Kooper slightly. Jagem and Koopol however, appreciated the lively interaction they were getting from the other Lakitu-Koopa. Koopol began to like the guy, thinking of getting to know him more after the race.
"They should use it as protection for the time being. Give it a few more item sets and then they should try to get up to the top spots." Koopol added. Jurah noticed, and smiled back at Koopol.
"See, this guy gets it." They all watched Lakitu drive out of the mall with the three red shells in defence. The other racers in front were on all parts of the track, but began to clash together near the moving cars. Lakitu managed to hit King Boo and Petey with one of their red shells, sending further down the ranks. Heading in to the final lap they were in sixth place. A blue shell was in the air, presumably going for Yoshi and Birdo. The pack began to compress a bit more and having items here will be crucial to determine final positions. At the first item set of lap 5, Lakitu drove over a box and gave Shy Guy a single mushroom. They still had one red shell in defence, and in front of them were Kamek and Dry Bones, driving annoyingly slowly and with three green shells revolving around them. Shy Guy released the remaining red shell backwards, narrowly missing Bowser and Bowser Jr, who had a golden mushroom. Both they and Lakitu and Shy Guy took the first shortcut, but only Bowser was able to continue on with the rest of shortcuts. Lakitu headed straight for the left escalator, going upwards. Conveniently for them, the shock came. The two kept going up the stairs as everybody else slowed down and shrunk in size. Most of the racers were itemless, but the shocker chained item boxes and a few others managed to keep theirs through dodging. As Lakitu and Shy Guy took the first staircase turn, they managed to get a view of everybody in front of them. They saw Mario and Luigi in first, and the four other pairs going through all parts of the next section. Behind them looked worse however, as people started to resize and overtake them with items pulled at the second set. Lakitu had to go for an item box here; it would be the make-or-break of the race. Nobody was too far behind, and nobody was too far ahead either. To be safe, Lakitu slowed down and waited briefly for the item that was taken by the Hammer Bros to respawn. Upon waiting, Lakitu fell down to ninth place, picking up a star after they passed through it. Green shells began to be thrown constantly by racers in front. A bomb also appeared too, bouncing up the stairs and exploding just out of anybody's reach. The front runners turned the corner to head out of the mall. More items were littered and some racers drove in to them, slowing down and getting in the way of everyone else. Shy Guy looked around to see two other racers behind him holding stars, and Tom and Enrique holding a bullet bill near the back. To their side, they saw Rosalina and Pauline repeatedly using their golden mushroom as they got out of the mall, slowly overtaking the other racers. More and more racers began to be overtaken by Shy Guy and Lakitu as they activated their star as they landed after tricking. They were able to cruise through the last section without having to worry about the cars.
"Here he comes... he's in a star now. This is golden!" Jurah cheered. "Go, Lakitu and Shy Guy!" The crowds kept cheering, and Jagem and the others were fuelled with excitement. The screens provided better footage of the car section as the view of it directly was blocked by the other spectators. They noticed several car collisions and bomb explosions, but Lakitu managed to drive through them just fine. A few seconds from the line, their star ended, and the sky darkened for the last time in Coconut Mall. The two racers shrank and had to drive the last few metres whilst tiny. Coming out of the car section were a star user and a bullet bill user, just about overtaking them on the line. Due to the item massacre at the end of the race, it took a few more seconds for everybody else to finish the race. Lakitu crossed the line in anger, surprised and finding it hard to believe that another shock was used at the very end. Replay footage was shown on one of the screens of last place activating the shock two seconds after pulling it at the small trick ramp item box at the end. Once everybody had crossed the line, the scoreboards began to update.
RESULTS:
FIRST: Mario and Luigi: +20
SECOND: Yoshi and Birdo: +17
THIRD: Tom and Enrique: +15
FOURTH: Toad and Toadette: +13
FIFTH: Rosalina and Pauline: +12
SIXTH: Shy Guy and Lakitu: +11
SEVENTH: Bowser and Bowser Jr: +10
EIGHTH: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong: +9
NINTH: Wario and Waluigi: +8
TENTH: Toadbert and Toadsworth: +7
ELEVENTH: Dry Bones and Kamek: +6
TWELFTH: Hammer Bro and Fire Bro: +5
THIRTEENTH: Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa: +4
FOURTEENTH: Peach and Daisy: +3
FIFTEENTH: King Boo and Petey: +2
SIXTEENTH: Funky Kong and Cranky Kong: +1
UPDATED SCOREBOARD:
FIRST: Bowser and Bowser Jr: 196
SECOND: Rosalina and Pauline: 195
THIRD: Funky Kong and Cranky Kong: 175
FOURTH: Mario and Luigi: 168
FIFTH: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong: 162
SIXTH: Yoshi and Birdo: 158
SEVENTH: Peach and Daisy: 156
EIGHTH: Wario and Waluigi: 147
NINTH: King Boo and Petey: 145
TENTH: Dry Bones and Kamek: 142
ELEVENTH: Toad and Toadette: 141
TWELFTH: Tom and Enrique: 140
THIRTEENTH: Hammer Bro and Fire Bro: 136
FOURTEENTH: Shy Guy and Lakitu: 127
FIFTEENTH: Toadbert and Toadsworth: 122
SIXTEENTH: Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa: 121
A/N: Just like before, I'm correcting a small error. I mentioned a correction for Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa's points but I did not actually correct them. I have corrected them now. Additionally, I now have a more reliable spreadsheet to track scores per race so I will not be making these errors again.
"It was just too close to call, too close to call!" Jurah cheered to the others. "What an unfortunate end."
"He- the- shock- ah." Jagem muddled his words, gesturing in complaints. "Why didn't Shy Guy just hold it little bit later?" He slouched in front of the sound-proof barrier, blocking him from being able to jump over to the track. They all watched Lakitu get up and get closer to the fans. He jumped with joy but wasn't heard from the outside. Jagem and Jurah cheered him on to make it look like they were happy. A few others tried to interact with the fans in the car park, but the rest started to head out of the race track through a passage in one of the shop outlets. Inside the mall was one open area off of the track where the participants' room was set up. Lakitu and Shy Guy said goodbye to their fans before leaving the starting line as well. Inside the participants' room Toadant and the rest of the Toad management crew set up a large list of instructions for the next race on the large whiteboard in the room. The next race, DK's Snowboard Cross, is to commence at 4pm tomorrow. It is the first race so far that is in the mountain range, specifically in southeast Shiveria. The weather on that day is expected to be dry, now that they were in peak summer climate. The amount of snow there was an issue however, as it was not cold enough to settle at that altitude.
"Hey are you guys going to the next race?" Jurah asked Jagem's group of friends. "By the way, my name's Jurah Lakitu if I didn't address myself to you already." He offered Koopie and Kooper handshakes.
"Koopie Koo." She shook back.
"Oh, are you Koops' girlfriend? Where is he, and aren't you his brother or something?" Jurah asked back to Kooper out of turn, discomforting him slightly.
"We're all friends, and Koops is just so busy with work. He's never able to come to the races with us... and no, we're not going to Shiveria for the next race. It's further than Donk City." Kooper replied back. "Are you with anybody here today?"
"Not really." Said Jurah. "It was great that I bumped in to Jagem again. I thought he wasn't gonna be around after what happened with him and those humans."
"Ha-ha." Jagem laughed awkwardly, scratching the top of his head.
"Funnily enough, that's how we all met up on Wuhu Island." Koopie laughed as well. "But it's good to see that we all managed to have a great time there."
"That's good to hear." Jurah smiled. "Whereabouts do you all live now? Petalburg seems quite far away from here."
"We don't live there anymore. Koopie and I moved from there a while ago. We're in the Mushroom Kingdom now. Koops... I don't know, with Koopley still being in Petalburg I don't know if he's moved yet. His work is in Mushroom City but all of his belongings are still there. Koopol lives with us as well; Koopol didn't really have an alternative." Kooper clarified their current status of residence.
"Oh whereabouts?" Jurah asked.
"South Sarasaland and Jagem is more in the centre. What about yourself?" Kooper asked back.
"I came all the way from Zeltarc East. So I'm like on the other side of Delfino."
"Yeah it's massive." The five all stood with eachother and went in to a short period of silence.
"So... are you guys getting tickets to Delfino Island? It's not too far from Sarasaland." Jurah reopened the conversation with the others.
"We did actually, and Dry Dry Ruins." Koopol replied immediately.
"Good! So did I, hopefully we can meet up in the morning before that race."
"Sure thing!" Koopol and Jagem smiled, but Kooper and Koopie didn't seem as happy about it.
"That's brilliant. I don't want to miss my train so I'm gonna start heading my way out of here. The crowds would have been packed and slow if we left immediately." Jurah rubbed his hands and started making his way back inside the mall, finding the nearest exit that wasn't filled with other people. "What are you four going to do?"
"We're gonna get something to eat most likely. We've got time." Jagem said his goodbyes to Jurah and watched him disappear within the crowds of people.
"That guy's a bit too loud for my liking." Koopie worried about Jurah and the possibility of seeing him again.
"Nah he's fine. I think he's just really supportive of Lakitu, and this is really competitive." Koopol persuaded Koopie to get on with Jurah. It could very well be a new friend of theirs.
"How do you even know him again?" Koopie asked Jagem.
"Jurah's just always been a friend of mine, but I knew you guys before I knew him. Nothing to do with Bethel etcetera." Jagem replied. "Now let's go and get some lunch."
11:00PM
Peach's Castle, Mushroom City
The doors opened slowly again, and Luke stood in front of them to meet up with Mosko the night-guard. Instead, Luke was met with several Koopas, including Mosko and Toadlynn. They all carried the arm together and presented it to him on the floor by the main entrance to the castle.
"We conducted the tests on what we have here. We can confirm to you that the time of severance was during the early hours of January the 5th. This happened nearly six weeks ago." Toadlynn spoke on behalf of all of the Toad castle-guards carrying the arm. "We have also cleaned the arm, but unfortunately it will still rot. The bones are clearly visible in some areas."
"That's all right with me." Luke appreciated the Toad's service and collected the bag containing the arm.
"Do you need anything else from us?" Mosko asked Luke.
"Is Princess Peach still awake?" He asked back.
"It's Queen Peach." Toadlynn corrected him.
"Sorry, my apologies... is Queen Peach still awake?"
"She is. Would you like to be escorted to her chambers?" Toadlynn happily gave Luke the opportunity to see her in her castle.
"That would be most kind of you. Please." He indicated the Toads to lead the way. "I will leave this bag here, as I will use this way to exit the castle. I can just pick it up once I leave." They all turned around and started escorting Luke towards one of the elevators in the castle.
"You two, keep the bag under surveillance." Toadlynn ordered two other Toad castle-guards to stay by the bag containing the arm.
On the top floor of the castle, Luke was taken out of the elevator by Mosko, Toadlynn, and the remaining guards. As they were walking down the hallway, Daisy noticed Luke and waved at him without making any noise. Luke smiled and acknowledged the wave, looking back to her. The Toad castle-guards knocked on Peach's headquarters, assuming she was in there.
"You may come in." They heard Peach say from inside the room. The Toads opened both doors to reveal Luke to Peach's sight. She was standing on the other side of the map table, and blushed upon noticing him. Luke slowly walked in to the room and greeted Queen Peach. She smiled back at him.
"You may close the doors." She addressed the guards, leaving Luke inside the room alone with only Peach in front of him...
EOC: If I can keep this pace up then I can go back to releasing weekly. We are over halfway, and the closer I get, the more interesting it gets and the more I will want to keep writing. With still lots more to go, I will definitely be able to be less likely to take breaks.
See you next chapter!