Fighting in the Streets
Chapter 50 – Wild Woods
A/N: I never thought I'd get this far with this book. It's actually so much fun when I'm in the mood. I hope whoever reads this has a great time
February 17, 2015 – Around 4 in the morning
Somewhere in the Delfino Desert...
Their view was the same on all sides. On a reasonably clear night, all they could see was the black, star-filled sky, and the orange sandy landscape. Taur spend most of the journey sleeping in the back, not being any problem to the two in the front whatsoever. Enrique was actually the same. Luke was the driver for the entire journey, and started feeling really tired by the time they crossed the northern Delfino Desert. Enrique tried to sleep as much as he could in the passenger seat at the front, but sleeping in a car was always difficult for him. Broken sleep could sometimes be worse than no sleep at all.
"How do you feel?" Luke noticed Enrique's eyes open as they went down a flat highway road heading northwest. He checked behind to see Taur, and he was still being no issue. The road was completely empty, and there were no cars in sight. The only people in the entire area were the three of them in that car.
"It will have to do." Enrique mentioned the sleep he just had. "I take it we're nearly there. There are so many blocks just floating about by the sands."
"You've got that right. It will only be a few miles now." The giant block structures of the town became visible in front of them as they went down the road. They stood out as the surroundings started to become greener and less orange. The grass looked different, and they finally started to see trees as well.
The highway eventually came to an end, and the three arrived at the outskirts of the town of Blockfort. Most of the buildings here were smooth, flat, and angular. Many houses were built inside the block structures, and the only things that looked out of place were the roads, stairs, and common household garden items such as washing lines and skips.
"Wake him up." Like asked Enrique, trying to find anything out of place. "I can't tell anything apart in this town. Everything looks the same." He slowed down on the road before proceeding in. There were still no vehicles or other people in sight so he waited for Enrique to wake up Taur, hopefully using him to find what they are looking for.
"Get up." Enrique undid his seatbelt and leaned over to the back of the car to nudge Taur a few times, eventually waking him up. "We're home."
"You're... freeing me?" Taur asked, half-asleep. It was probably too good to be true, but he still wasn't sure why they drove all this way at night time. "What use would I be here without all of my family and friends?" Luke's eyes widened.
"Wait... what?" He stopped the car completely and turned off the engine. "Nobody is here... No Rovins at all?" Luke turned his head to see Taur, still lying down in the back.
"I mean... kind of. Why are we in Blockfort anyway? Please give me your exact reason. You never specified. I just assumed you were going to set me free because that's what I didn't want you to do." His eyes were closed, feeling ignorant to whatever Luke and Enrique had on their mind here.
"You are going to lead us to Pom Pom and Boom Boom if you know where he is either." Luke said reluctantly. "We're right at home so you should know."
"Yeah, it certainly feels like it." Taur opened his eyes a bit and looked outside. Even though it was cloudy for the past few days, the night sky was clear as could be, filling him with a small pinch of happiness and bliss.
"You told me that Pom was heavily guarded, but why are you saying now that there is nobody here of your friends or family?" Luke asked.
"What is it going to be?" Enrique also looked back at him. "You keep lying to us then you'll be in for a lot of pain, little Koopa." He felt done with Taur for now, looking back to Luke. "Head further in to town. We'll find the Rovin residence somewhere."
"What's your address?" Luke asked. "Fuck, I should have asked Peach about this yesterday." The three headed past the tall blocks circling around the town to be met with a large arena-looking fort. The two noticed familiar parts of the town from games in the past. Each area looked like a battle stage, but the difference was the blocks were filled with housing on the inside, and all of the roads had parked vehicles on it. Perhaps it was used in the past as a battle arena, becoming a residential area nowadays.
"Head to the other side." Taur looked around to see what side of the fort town they were in. They came in from the southeast and his house was in the northwest. Now that most of the Rovins were gone from the town, there looked to be way more things on display. Shops outside of the block structures had open market goods and stands set up on streets when usually everything would be set up inside buildings to prevent any chance of theft. "Even though everyone's asleep. This town already looks more peaceful than before."
"What was it like here before?" Luke asked Taur.
"Everyone must have been afraid of us." He kept looking around, seeing so many new things as they proceeded up the slopes to the other side of town. "The gates up there." Taur pointed to a bit of the town that stuck out from the rest. Between two giant block structures on the northwest edge of the town lied a closed golden gate between them. The flashiness of it made it clear that this was the Rovin residence.
"So it's not going to be empty?" Enrique wondered, getting out of the car as they showed up to the gate. He kept his window open so he could still speak to Luke. On the other side of it was a long, narrow road leading to three large block structures towering high at the end. Even though the gate was closed, Enrique noticed that it was unlocked. Touching the gate, he managed to pull it open without any problem. "Drive inside." He called to Luke, walking down the thin road himself.
Taur and Luke proceeded down the small passage and stopped at a small courtyard section just outside the three buildings at the end of the road. The road looped in a small circle, making it easy for them to turn around once they depart. As Luke parked the car, Enrique opened up the back doors and dragged Taur out, throwing him on to the floor. All the lights in the small estate were out, and it looked like everybody was asleep. No guards or goons were in sight, it felt safe enough for them to proceed up to the door with Taur cuffed up.
"Cuff his legs." Enrique instructed to Luke, passing them over to him. "We bring out Pom now." He waited patiently in front of the door and waited for the two others to show up to it, only knocking once all three were at the doorstep. He noticed the sky became visibly different as he stood at the doorstep. It was no longer black and filled with stars. Instead it looked navy with stars, with the southern horizon looking slightly brighter. Sunrise was due to happen within the next two hours. "I have a race in seven hours. I'm going to be so tired. Hurry up!" He yelled at Luke and Taur, making Luke push him forward all the way up to the doorstep. Enrique began to knock and hoped for a response to come from the other side. None of the windows became lit up, and no footsteps or voices were heard. Perhaps nobody was home at all.
"The hedge... over there." Taur turned to his left and stared at a bush, making Enrique run over to it. Inside the bush was a key buried in the centre of it. Swiftly and smoothly, he pulled out the small key, throwing it over to Luke, who caught it with his right hand. He brushed past Taur and opened the main door of the house. Inside was a fine, modern, cubist hallway leading to a large open foyer. Enrique caught up with the other two and they all walked in together. Luke headed on ahead to find a set of switches to turn on the lights. As Taur was about to follow him, he was stopped and held on the shoulder by Enrique.
"Wait here for a second." Enrique whispered. "What do you see?" He called over to Luke, who went on ahead to the foyer.
"This place is massive. Does Taur know where exactly she is?"
"No." Taur called from across the hallway. "But she should be here."
"How many people are at home?" He looked down on him.
"Three..." Taur replied softly, being pushed forward by Enrique.
"Search the upper floors. I have this one. Taur and I will search this one together." He called out to Luke, who got to the stairs at the very end of the foyer. The two could just about see eachother.
"Sure. We'll be here for quite some time." Luke started to head up the stairs.
"Wait!" He interrupted Luke, rushing down the hallway with Taur. "Stay there, Taur." Enrique went right up to Luke and whispered in to his ear.
"I have a better idea. This place is huge. I insist you find the nearest bedroom, lock yourself in there, and get some sleep." Luke looked back at Enrique a little confused.
"What about you, are you going to do the same?" He said back quietly.
"I've had enough sleep. I'm going to stay up until after the race and sleep then. Don't worry, I've got Taur covered." He felt a little bit uneasy, but decided to agree with Enrique.
"Very well." Luke responded quietly, and started to head up the stairs. Enrique turned his head back to Taur, beckoning him over. Before speaking, he waited for Luke to leave the vicinity. He headed down a corridor out of sight, getting himself completely lost and as far from the bottom floor as possible. Nothing stood out for him in the building and nobody was at home. It looked suspicious enough to declare that literally nobody was at home, not even Pom or Boom. He managed to get himself all the way to what must be Taur's bedroom. The doors to it opened up, and inside was a giant room looking very similar to Peach's bedroom in her castle. The bed was double, and very large, but inside this one was a sleeping Koopa. Luke stopped to figure out who it was. It was safe to declare that Taur has a wife. The footsteps Luke made in the bedroom somehow woke her up. She leaned up and noticed his figure at the end of the room.
"Enrique? Oh my goodness. I'm not involved, please don't hurt me!" She turned on the lamp on her bedside table.
"...Mrs Rovin? I'm not Enrique." Luke asked, slowly getting closer to her bed.
"Shysta Rovin... what are you doing in my home? Can't you see that my husband has been arrested for his crimes?" She cowered, getting out of her sheets and standing on top of the bed, walking backwards across the bed away from him.
"I know that." Luke replied, proceeding with ease. "I'm harmless. I am just here to ask you a question. We were allowed to enter on the authorities of the Delfino Kingdom."
"What is it?" She replied quickly, getting off and reaching for the bedside table on the other side of the bed.
"Is Pom Pom or Boom Boom at home?"
"Who?... Nobody else is home but me." Luke snapped for a second, turning his head to the doors of the bedroom.
BANG!
"What was that?" Shysta panicked at the sound of a loud noise coming from down stairs. Luke froze in his spot, still looking at the door. He had no idea what happened.
"There's... somebody trying to assassinate you. The Mushroom Kingdom is after you." Luke lied to Shysta. "Stay in here. You're safe with me." He tried to calm the Koopa down. At the same time, she closed the drawer she just tried to open and headed back on to her bed, walking over the open duvet where she was originally sleeping. Luke headed out of the doorway and closed it behind him.
After spending more than 20 minutes trying to search for Enrique and Taur around the house, Luke noticed the sun rising in the southern sky. Looking right at it caused him to feel very tired. Assuming nobody else was at home after hearing Shysta tell him, he found one room and locked himself in it, falling asleep on a board in there.
11:30AM
The Wild Woods, Southern Résethal
On the other side of the mountains and just west of Zephenwood lies the dense forest of the Wild Woods, and within lies one of the most delicate race tracks ever to be created. Originally planned in the eighth series, this track had never been shown to the public before, and tickets to this track were very limited due to hostile interaction risks. It currently has the lowest number of available seats to spectate so far due to the risk of falling from the giant central tree's height, and that's without considering any hostile activity. Additionally, it was the only track so far to involve the starting line on a vertical slope and the second track to have anti-gravity all together, with the first being Shy Guy Falls. The southern edge of the woods stretched so high that a few miles beyond the track would have trees that are snow-capped.
On the track layout itself, the bottom of the track situated on the riverbed, was part of the river that flowed out of the woods and in to Zephenwood. The mouth comes from the top of the mountains and goes all the way out to a large body of water in between the town of Zephenwood and the eastern coastline of Résethal.
None of the Koops' friends from Sarasaland had tickets to attend the race, and nor did any of Tom and Enrique's friends. Tom went up there with the company of Mario and Luigi, but he was yet to see Enrique there. The place was a maze, and rather difficult to get to the start line. On one of the tree trunks lay the participants' tent, managed entirely by Toadant and the management crew. Tom stood with Mario outside the tent, looking down on the riverbed where the floating lily pads were moving about. From where they stood, they couldn't even see any spectator stands. Tom began to wonder if there were any tickets released for this race because he wasn't told about it by any of his friends.
"Any idea where that man is?" Mario stood beside Tom, questioning him and looking down together.
"I haven't seen him since the race before. I hope he knows where this race is. Otherwise, we're going to be in a lot of trouble." Tom replied feeling slightly worried. He had sent him several texts throughout the morning and didn't even get a read response. Either he didn't have his phone or he was too busy. Surely Enrique wouldn't be missing like Rosalina was.
The race was about to start, and most of the racers had been taken over to the track. As Tom was sitting in his kart alone and with many others looking at him, he noticed Enrique in the distance beside one of the tree branches. He didn't know how to get on to the track with the gravity factor, and was on the other side of the track to where everyone else came from. The Toad management crew noticed him from the other side and tried to have him escorted across to his kart. Upon entering the bounds of the track, Enrique's gravity was pulled towards the trunk, as he got up the barrier was re-enabled, meaning anybody inside could no longer leave and vice versa. Tom beckoned him over. "Hurry up." He whispered.
Upon arriving, he got in to the kart, feeling slightly dizzy due to the gravity change. In the distance, he spotted a scoreboard screen that was held sideways from his perspective, showing the current scores.
POSITIONS:
FIRST: Funky Kong and Cranky Kong
SECOND: Hammer Bro and Fire Bro
THIRD: Mario and Luigi
FOURTH: Toad and Toadette
FIFTH: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong
SIXTH: Shy Guy and Lakitu
SEVENTH: King Boo and Petey
EIGHTH: Wario and Waluigi
NINTH: Dry Bones and Kamek
TENTH: Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa
ELEVENTH: Rosalina and Pauline
TWELFTH: Bowser and Bowser Jr
THIRTEENTH: Toadbert and Toadsworth
FOURTEENTH: Yoshi and Birdo
FIFTEENTH: Peach and Daisy
SIXTEENTH: Tom and Enrique
SCOREBOARD:
FIRST: Bowser and Bowser Jr: 201
SECOND: Rosalina and Pauline: 201
THIRD: Funky Kong and Cranky Kong: 195
FOURTH: Mario and Luigi: 183
FIFTH: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong: 174
SIXTH: Yoshi and Birdo: 161
SEVENTH: Peach and Daisy: 158
EIGHTH: Wario and Waluigi: 156
NINTH: King Boo and Petey: 155
TENTH: Toad and Toadette: 154
ELEVENTH: Hammer Bro and Fire Bro: 153
TWELFTH: Dry Bones and Kamek: 150
THIRTEENTH: Tom and Enrique: 141
FOURTEENTH: Shy Guy and Lakitu: 138
FIFTEENTH: Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa: 128
SIXTEENTH: Toadbert and Toadsworth: 126
Not giving him enough time to see it all, the holographic Lakitus came from the side to land in front of the racers by the starting line, facing upwards.
3... 2... 1... GO!
Despite the great vertical start, all of the racers drove up the straightaway quickly, taking a tight right turn and heading up to the first ramp. After collecting some items, the racers split up at the first split. Most went along the thin right path, but a few went left; the slower and safer side. A bomb was dropped on the right branch and a few racers fell off, falling slightly angled from the track due to the anti-gravity. After the Lakitu carrier respawns, the racers began to separate in to a three-part formation. The front-runners of the right side and the safe route takers created the front pack, smooth, quiet, and spacious. The respawned racers and the bomb victims created the small middle pack, and the baggers* were part of the small pack at the back positions.
A/N: for those who don't know, 'bagging' is a term used in Mario Kart games to define staying at the back of the ranks to get better items. It can be categorised in to soft bagging and hard bagging, where soft bagging is simply staying at the back of packs, but hard bagging involves people going backwards significantly, sometimes at least a lap behind. Any mention of bagging in future races or this one will mean soft bagging.
Leading the front pack were Funky Kong and Cranky Kong, going through the second set of item boxes along the wooden walkways. The two got themselves ahead of the rest by trapping the inside of the big right turn with bananas. The glider ramp sent the two freely across the centre of the tree trunk, landing safely at the start of the waterfall section. As they went down to the bottom, protected with more bananas, the two both noticed a lack of spectators in the area. The small houses that would have Toads or Shy Guys standing outside were also empty of watchers. Going up the last part of the track, the two had a very smooth first lap, gaining a few seconds from second and third due to the Torpedo's sheer top speed and good driving along the straights. Funky Kong knew that he would have to lose a bit of time due to the first tight turn after the first set of boxes, so he went wide every time.
As they got to the path split, the two went to the left, noticing that the right side path (being much thinner) was filled with ground green and red shells. Cranky littered a banana on each of the small brown ramps as they drove through, picking up more items as they got to the second item box. Finally they received something that wasn't a banana or triple bananas: a fake item box. Going relatively wide on the wooden platform turn, the two saw their bananas still blocking the tight lines. Additionally, there were bananas and fake item boxes occupying the middle of the glider ramp. Cranky decided to place another one down on the left side and try to keep their distance from the rest. A POW block appeared in front of them as they were gliding, being completely useless by the time it's effect was used as the two were still in the air. From what the two could see, their lead was only getting bigger and bigger. Funky kept a firm grin on his face as he descended the waterfall.
Further back was a complete massacre. The rest of the top pack had merged with the middle racers, and items began littered everywhere. Green shells were rebounding everywhere and hitting people in the middle, and racers who used mushrooms to get out of the pack were met with their demise at the glider ramp and trick ramps filled with bananas and fake item boxes. The POW block caused more green shells to be left on the floor.
In comes Mario and Luigi however, activating a mega mushroom as they got to the second set of items in tenth, going tight and destroying all of the items in front of them, flattening two racers in the process. They acquired a golden mushroom after using their item at the boxes, bringing them up to fourth in it, behind Rosalina and Pauline and Yoshi and Birdo. As they landed from the glider panel, the crept up behind Yoshi and Birdo, almost being hit by them as they slowed down after being hit by a ground green shell. Now the two saw Rosalina and Pauline, Mario watched Pauline stare at them from the back of the Twinkle Star. It was unknown what she was holding, but she definitely had something as she was hiding one of her arms from them. As both the racing duos exited the waterfall, Mario stared up to the top of the tree in front of him and noticed Funky Kong and Cranky Kong already passing the finish line to start lap three. This made them at least ten seconds ahead. Luigi and Mario swapped spots on their kart, giving Mario the red shell that Luigi had. They dropped their fake item box used as defence on one of the lily pad boost panels and replaced their defence with the red shell. Pauline couldn't see what they had as the two duos started ascending the tree. Rosalina took the right side of the track before going across the finish line; Mario didn't think they would have a defensive item however. Rosalina's too smart to go through off-road with a mushroom if the Mario and Luigi behind her had a red shell. With the track being heavily oriented with anti-gravity, it was much harder to disjoint items. Mario threw the red shell after they made the first right turn in to lap three, picking up another red shell from the item boxes. It locked on to Rosalina and Pauline, heading towards them as they went near to the right side ramp. Pauline used the mushroom she had hidden from the two and Rosalina swerved to the left, tricking off of the right side ramp and landing on the left side of the track. The red shell fell between the gaps of the branches and shattered along one of the vines. Luigi took the right side path, avoiding all of the items still on the floor there and almost catching up to Rosalina and Pauline in second. Mario threw their other red shell forward and struck them as they landed on the wooden walkway. The two took second place for now, and a blue shell was heard in the air, heading for Funky Kong and Cranky Kong who were presumably at the top of the waterfall by now or even further. As Mario and Luigi went for an item box, they drove around the few bananas that occupied the walkways now, but the interior of the trunk darkened as the first shock was used, spitting out a green shell at the end of their item roulette shuffle. The sound of a bullet bill came to an end not too far behind them as Hammer Bro and Fire Bro, regularly sized, overtook Rosalina and Pauline and them shortly after. Luigi tried heading towards the glider ramp as quickly as possible, hoping to spend some of their time shrunk on the glider, keeping their speed up. The noise of other racers from behind soon became heard by them. It seemed like multiple pairs had dodged the first shock. Luigi's assumption was that the shock was chained at the first set of item boxes for this lap. Something like that is probably likely to happen during the final lap.
Two seconds after the two landed at the bottom of the gliding section, they resized back to normal, descending the waterfall now in third place. Once they reached the bottom, they saw the Hammer Bros going through the left side grass shortcut near the end of the first lap and Funky Kong and Cranky Kong still far ahead, crossing the line and heading in to lap four. Mario put the triple bananas he pulled in to defence, and hoped the racers behind them would target eachother instead of overtaken them.
"Luigi, what's the plan? Do you think we'll be fine if we stay here?" Mario asked as the two started ascending the final tree.
"What do you mean Mario, you mean third place?" Luigi looked back for a second, checking on the situation behind them. "I just hope we don't pull any thunderclouds." He giggled a bit, crossing the line. Mario stared behind and saw a visible flicker being a thundercloud above somebody else further behind in the middle pack.
"Go for a box, Luigi." Mario ordered. "There's already one in play." He pointed towards the one on the far right, clear of any items ahead. Luigi drove over it and took a tight turn around the first right bend. The box gave them a single mushroom. They still had the three bananas at the back of their vehicle, so they decided to keep the mushroom safe for now. After littering one banana on the right side ramp, one in the middle of the right tree branch, and the third on the last ramp before the walkway section, Mario signalled to Luigi that he would use the mushroom by the next item box set. Luigi took a fairly tight turn quickly to the right, going inside the giant trunk and near to the glider ramp. Three green shells appeared in the middle of the walkway and three red shells idle just before the ramp. Luigi slowed down a bit to evade the shells and Mario placed a fake item box near an optimal path that a racer would take near the glider ramp. As they reached the ramp they could no longer see the Hammer Bros, but thankfully enough, they couldn't see anybody behind them either. A blooper appeared in front of them and inked their vision, making it more difficult for them to drive at the bottom of the gliding section. However, as they reached the waterfall section, the water began to wash the ink off quite quickly for them, helping them get their vision back to descend the waterfall.
SMASH!
To their surprise, Mario and Luigi drove in to a fake item box, placed incredibly tight just before the last item box set.
"Ah! Didn't see that at all." Luigi growled, trying to get their vehicle back to normal speed.
"We've got to do the same." Mario said back, waiting for their next item to deliver; triple green shells. "I'm sending two of them backwards once we get out of here." The two went across the lily pad boost panels quickly, saving them from falling back to the pack. Mario noticed the silhouette of a racing pair get struck by one of their green shells in the waterfall slide. Mario cheered and sent the third one back across the lily pads. The two now ascended the tree once again, heading now in to the final lap.
Everything looked safe and sound for Mario and Luigi at the moment. Nobody was in front of them, and nobody was behind them either. After taking the first right turn they did manage to see the Hammer Bros, but they were still so far ahead of them, and Funky Kong and Cranky Kong weren't in sight still. The first item box had given them a red shell, which Mario just happily held as defence. Another blooper inked their vision, but thankfully Luigi could still see half of the view ahead. The walkway section was now almost fully cleared of items, and the second item box set gave them another red shell. The two were well-defended for now as the ink cleared up from their faces. Everything seemed so quiet for them, as if something was a little too unusual. By now, Luigi started to expect a shock to come. The two were nearly at the end of the upper walkway and right behind the glider ramp. Nobody was near them, so if they were to be struck by lightning during the ramp, they wouldn't fall behind too far to the middle pack.
...Perfect. The two weren't struck at all as they glided down.
"Careful Luigi, there might be another fake item box along the waterslide." Mario reminded his brother, making him take extra caution when going down. There was one banana on the left side which was easily avoidable and yet another fake item box on the tight right side. Luigi knew that there could be one there, and going slightly wider allowed them to avoid it.
"It's there again." Luigi stated to Mario. "It was the Hammer Brothers that did that. Both times." Mario nodded and threw one of the red shells above the drop before the item box section. It shattered almost instantly against the other end of the waterslide, providing no benefit to them whatsoever. He put the other red shell in defence, and waited for their last item to appear.
"There's no rush." Luigi informed Mario. "Let it roll." The two exited the waterfall with the item still shuffling. By the time they reached the first lily pad, the item was acquired. It vanished from Mario's hand and appeared above them. It was a thundercloud.
"Just finish the race Luigi." Mario informed him. "We'll tank the strike after the finish line."
"Exactly brother." Luigi looked up and saw the Hammer Bros ascending the last part of the tree before the finish line. Funky Kong and Cranky Kong had already crossed the line. Luigi began to ascend the tree, going on the left side of the final straight to go over the grass short cut with the thundercloud's boost effect. As they landed from using the ramp, they were struck by lightning, but it wasn't the thundercloud's lightning. The second shock was used, this time as a chain at the second set of item boxes. Luigi quickly accelerated still with the thundercloud above them, and the thundercloud struck them a second time right before the finish line. Mario, tiny, looked down the tree to see a blue shell heading straight for them. As Luigi crossed the line, the blue shell stopped heading for them and changed target, going straight for the fourth place at the time, being Rosalina and Pauline again.
"Oh mama!" Mario gasped and squeaked at the same time, watching the blue shell explosion from the other side of the finish line. Luigi laughed in reaction to the sound of Mario's voice. Eventually, they resized and watched the rest of the racers cross the finish line. It took them some time but towards the end, several racers all crossed almost at the exact same time. It would have to be a wait until the scoreboard appeared for the rankings to be determined.
Looking forward again, Mario noticed Funky Kong and Cranky Kong already done and heading off of the track. The Hammer Bros were doing the same. To see the scoreboard, Mario would probably have to do the same as he couldn't see any from the angle he was standing on in comparison to the anti-gravity effect imposed on him. Everyone was finished now, so he would just have to head off the track and go towards the participants' tent, looking almost upside down from this angle, to check a scoreboard screen.
RESULTS:
FIRST: Funky Kong and Cranky Kong: +20
SECOND: Hammer Bro and Fire Bro: +17
THIRD: Mario and Luigi: +15
FOURTH: Wario and Waluigi: +13
FIFTH: Toad and Toadette: +12
SIXTH: Peach and Daisy: +11
SEVENTH: Bowser and Bowser Jr: +10
EIGHTH: Rosalina and Pauline: +9
NINTH: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong: +8
TENTH: Toadbert and Toadsworth: +7
ELEVENTH: Yoshi and Birdo: +6
TWLFTH: Shy Guy and Lakitu: +5
THIRTEENTH: King Boo and Petey: +4
FOURTEENTH: Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa: +3
FIFTEENTH: Tom and Enrique: +2
SIXTEENTH: Dry Bones and Kamek: +1
UPDATED SCOREBOARD:
FIRST: Funky Kong and Cranky Kong: 215
SECOND: Bowser and Bowser Jr: 211
THIRD: Rosalina and Pauline: 210
FOURTH: Mario and Luigi: 198
FIFTH: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong: 182
SIXTH: Hammer Bro and Fire Bro: 170
SEVENTH: Peach and Daisy: 169
EIGHTH: Wario and Waluigi: 169
NINTH: Yoshi and Birdo: 167
TENTH: Toad and Toadette: 166
ELEVENTH: King Boo and Petey: 159
TWELFTH: Dry Bones and Kamek: 151
THIRTEENTH: Shy Guy and Lakitu: 143
FOURTEENTH: Tom and Enrique: 143
FIFTEENTH: Toadbert and Toadsworth: 133
SIXTEENTH: Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa: 131
"W-what." Mario gasped, looking at the leaderboard. Now he realised why Funky Kong and Cranky Kong left the track so quickly. They were excited, he could tell, but they were definitely containing it within themselves.
"Oh prosciutto, that's quite a surprise, Mario. But hey, we're not too far off of the top three now. Maybe if we keep playing like this, we could overtake them someday." Luigi laughed, putting his hand around Mario's shoulder.
"Yeah... we definitely can Luigi, but if we get third or something like that in the next race, we need to be sure that none of those three above get first or second. We need to beat them. You see what I mean?" He looked at Luigi and saw him nod. "Doesn't matter if we lose a race to say, Toadbert... or Tom you know? Those three teams are our new rivals now, especially that Bowser."
Meanwhile, the rest of the other racers showed up to the tent area, all level headed and no longer distorted from driving about in anti-gravity. Mario and Luigi watched Tom approach them outside the tent, still feeling slightly dizzy from the race.
"Is everything OK fella?" Luigi asked Tom, watching his movement go forward in zigzags.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Did Enrique pass by here? I haven't seen him since the race ended and he just vanished on me. I needed to ask him on something." He kept looking around in all directions, desperately trying to find him, but he wasn't seen anywhere.
"He probably left already. You might have to go back to Zephenwood to find him. He could be heading to the train station." Mario said back to Tom, watching him walk around the tree house bridges, paranoid. "What have you got to ask him?"
"I just haven't seen him for ages, and when I do, he vanishes immediately when he can."
"I take it he's really busy with something Tom." Luigi thought of a reason for his absence. "He better not forget the race tomorrow."
"That could be why he's so much in a rush." Mario agreed. "He was late here wasn't he?"
"Yeah." Tom wondered off down another bridge to descend the giant trees of the Wild Woods, hoping to head towards Zephenwood and head back south as quickly as possible. As he was going down the trees, his phone started to vibrate in his pocket. Nearly at the bottom, Tom picked his phone out of his pocket and answered the call, it was coming from Luke.
"Luke? What's up?"
"How was the race? Are you in some place private?"
"The race was bad, but thanks for asking." Tom felt a little confused. He assumed Luke would have watched the race anyway so he'd know how Tom would find it. "I am... but why are you asking?"
"Enrique's not picking up... and it's about our current situation. I need you to come to Blockfort and meet me there."
"Blockfort... Why?"
"I have several wanted criminals here. I need you to keep this secret between me, you, and Enrique. Please come as quickly as possible."
"What kind of criminals?"
"Pom Pom, and I need not name more." Tom froze for a few seconds.
"I'm on my way. I'm heading to Zephenwood now." Luke hung the phone up, and Tom put it back into his pocket. He headed along one of the paths going back to the centre of the town. As he was walking, he began to notice the lack of people in the area. This must have been one of the venues with the fewest number of available seats for viewing. Then again, this race was situated in Résethal. Perhaps the Toad management crew took some extra precautions and reduced the number of available seats to reduce the chance of another incident like the one in Koopa Cape happening. Secondly, the only people he saw on his journey to the town's train station were Koopas. None of them seemed to give off any hostile vibes thankfully. Everything seemed pretty safe here. Tom had no idea about the concept of tribes, so he was still slightly wary of his surroundings, despite there being no significant signs of hostile activity in Zephenwood. The town was part of the three southernmost towns in Résethal, being only further north than Aypyidaw (being the southernmost on the western side and being literally against the mountain range) and Sigurk, which was more towards the central south.
Zephenwood station was tiny. It had four platforms, two heading south, one heading east towards Urscan, and one heading towards Umbrock, Sikóf, and Castelia towards the centre. There were few trains, but Tom had to check which platform to get on to head towards Blockfort.
4 min – Urscan Station (R) – Platform C
5 min – Castelia (R) – Platform A
7 min – Rush City via Red Fields (M) – Platform B
18 min – North Port Village (M) – Platform D
20 min – Nivurbia via Sigurk Station, Donut Plains (T) – Platform A
22 min – Leaf Town via Red Fields (M) – Platform B
Nothing seemed to be going in the right direction he wanted, and the only place that was somewhat going in the way he wanted to was the train to Nivurbia in twenty minutes. It was on Platform A, which was the platform heading towards Castelia. Since it was going via both Sigurk Station and Donut Plains, Tom could only assume that it would go further northwest, and then turn back around to head out of Résethal through a different tunnel, then head west and then north again to the lower mountains. He would definitely have to get off somewhere else along the way and jump on a train that would hopefully get him towards Blockfort. Regardless of what he does, this journey will have to take him at least two hours. Tom got out his phone again as he headed over towards Platform A. He opened up the contact of Luke and pressed the mail button, sending him a text reading 'this is gonna take me a lot of time, there's no direct train, call?'
Bzzzzzt! Bzzzzzt!
"Yes Luke. What's your current situation then?"
"Enrique and I came here last night, bringing a Koopa captive from Uldersal with us. I've been with him all day and all night, making sure he hasn't escaped. Well... it's his house I'm in actually, but he had Pom Pom kept here this whole time. You and Enrique need to get here as quickly as you can so we can bring her back to the south and back to justice."
"Right, I get you, but why did you go? What made you want to go?"
"Because I wanted to finally make a use of that damn rotten arm we've kept in the house for all this time. Plus, Peach kind of gave me the order to."
"Oh you've been doing this for her?"
"Yeah, she's been talking to me quite a lot recently."
"That's very good to hear. I'm glad you're getting involved a lot nowadays. You always wanted to."
"Yeah, it definitely feels good to be. You're going to be a few hours then? That's OK, I can wait some more. I've got my entertainment here. This Koopa's house is huge!"
"Who's the Koopa?"
"Taur Rovin, the Menace of Blockfort. Have you heard of him and his family?"
"I might have. It sounds quite familiar. I take it he and his family were one of the ones helping the Asquias during that siege of Uldersal then?" As Tom was going on and on, talking with Luke on one of the seats on the platform, a figure started walking over to him. At the same time, the train to Castelia stopped on the platform. Tom looked up to the train without noticing the figure in the distance at the end of the platform and looked back down again to keep listening to Luke.
"Yeah, the Delfino Capital has most of them kept behind bars in their prison. Enrique and I took him out last night because he has a lead to finding either Boom or Pom. Thanks to him, we managed to find Pom. This is why you and Enrique need to get here quickly."
"I'm on it, waiting for the train now. I don't know where Enrique is but I am sure he's on his-." Tom looked up and saw the figure standing right in front of him, it was Enrique. "Oh my goodness, you startled me." Enrique laughed on the spot in front of him. "Anyways Luke, I'll see you when I see you. Hopefully before the evening." He halted Enrique for a second, still on the phone.
"That's OK, I'll be here. If you ever see Enrique, he'll show you the way. If not, just text or call me when you get there."
"Will do, see you soon." Tom hung up the phone and looked back up to Enrique. "Why did you head out of Wild Woods so quickly, and how did I get here before you?"
"I just wanted to get away from Peach, Daisy and Rosalina. The race was terrible! You saw how bad it was for us, we couldn't get out of that damned middle pack! It's typical of us to be screwed over at the end as well." Enrique began listing all of the problems they had encountered during the race and all of the hazards they were affected by. Tom already knew about these, so didn't bother listening to him.
"Chill out man, you'll enjoy them a lot more if you accept the fact that we're no way going to win. We're down like eighty points from first – which is no longer Bowser or Rosalina for the first time in like forever – and we're nowhere near as good as they are. I'm happy that we're actually in the tournament to begin with! I would have thought they'd get someone like Professor E. Gadd to race in it instead, or another Toad or something. Fuck it, Stanley."
"You're right." Enrique calmed down a bit. "It's just so competitive."
"It means different things for different people. For us, it basically means nothing. We're nothing more than just extras... CPUs on easy difficulty. For Bowser and Peach however it's completely different. Also, Peach needs to step up on her game. Is she even in the top six anymore?"
"I don't know." Enrique replied. "I didn't check the table. I just legged it out of here." He watched Tom sit on the seat, waiting for the train. He noticed him grinning as he looked straight ahead, thinking about something in his head. "What're you thinking about?"
"Could you imagine Koopak racing in the tournament?"
"I'll do you one better... Archbarn and Muji, iconic duo." The two laughed.
"The two twins!" Tom suggested. "Actually, those two are apparently really good. Like... borderline professional. Better than Peach, and maybe better than Bowser and Rosalina."
"You never know with people like them." Enrique moved around and sat on the seat next to Tom.
"I do remember Duncan saying one time a few months ago that he's better than Rosalina and Bowser combined." The two both laughed for several seconds on their seats, getting the attention of some of the Koopas waiting on all of the platforms. There were three seen in the middle platforms and two sitting on seats on the other side of the station's platforms. Eventually the two stopped laughing and sat awkwardly knowing that everyone was watching them. Thankfully nobody was hostile, or the two could end up in big trouble.
"...What if he's right though?"
EOC: I actually took about a month off of writing for specific reasons, but thankfully I had enough chapters to spare to keep the normal updating schedule. The good thing is I am back on the grind of writing again, and will probably keep it up for a lot of Easter and beyond. This means you won't have to worry about any long waits for the next chapters. If things go well, then I could perhaps update more often.
See you next chapter!