Chapter 4 Start Your Engines

The sky over Bowser's Castle glowed, as did the faces of those frequenting the ashy ground outside. Wendy looked around as her brothers hustled and bustled. The surfaces of their vehicles gleamed like a collection of fireflies. Wendy stared down at the sheen of her own rosy pink go-kart. The magenta emblem of her face, etched into a black background, made the Koopa girl smile. However, the smile quickly fell when she saw Princess Peach approaching. She wore her white and pink biker outfit and had her hair in a ponytail as she wheeled her bike onto the road.

"I've got to say," she said with a grin, "that this race has truly lifted everyone's spirits. It's quite charming."

Wendy nodded. Her eyes roamed over to the starting line, boasting the Mario Kart logo. A Lakitu chatted with Bowser right next to the entrance to the castle. Mario and her brothers revved up their karts and bikes. Larry and Roy exchanged heated looks with one another, and Ludwig combed his hair in the rearview mirror of his ATV. Wendy snickered as she recalled how fussy he had been when he heard they were going to race, which would obviously mess up his "perfect" hair.

Wendy firmly gripped her steering wheel and let out a breath. This would be fun. Surely, this would be a blast, and it would be able to take her away from the real world for a little bit. After all, wasn't that the point of participating in Mario Kart races?

Oh well, she didn't have a lot of time to ponder this thought. Bowser made his way over to his go kart and lugged himself into the seat. He gripped the wheel, and Wendy could see him grinning through the rearview mirror.

"Oh yeah. I am totally gonna destroy you losers."

"In your dreams," said Larry. "I'm gonna kick your butt, Bowser."

"No," said Roy. "I'm gonna kick his butt!"

Larry snickered. "Please. You're the worst kicker in the world. You can't even kick a soccer ball the right way."

Roy wrinkled his nose. "Ugh. You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?"

"Considering that it's embarrassing for you and funny for me? Of course not!"

Wendy rolled her eyes. "Boys," she muttered just as the Lakitu got in front of the starting line with the start signal.

"Okay, everyone!" he said with a hearty voice. "Welcome to a round of interdimensional Mario Kart!" He pulled out the interdimensional ray gun from his cloud. "This is certainly gonna be wild, even more so than Ludwig's hair!"

"Hey!" said Ludwig.

Lakitu just kept smiling. "Now, we just need to create the portals…." He pointed the gun into the distance and shot it ten times. A portal formed, as well as nine more portals along the route Wendy looked behind and saw that there was a green portal a few yards behind them. Lakitu turned back toward the racers. "I hope you're all excited."

"Weeheehee!" Lemmy squeed. "Of course we're excited! This is gonna be so cool!"

"I cannot help but concur with that assessment," said Iggy. "My dopamine receptors are firing like machine guns!"

Morton gave a tiny smile. "I'm as happy as a horse," he said. When he did, the horse-like contraptions on the front of his carriage whinnied.

Mario sighed and leaned on his arm. "I just hope this goes well."

Wendy nodded. I couldn't agree more, she thought.

"Okay!" Lakitu shouted. "Racers, start your engines!"

The sound of engines blazing to life grinded on Wendy's ears. She gulped when she saw orange fire escape from the exhaust pipes of Bowser's kart. Pressing the ignition button on her dash panel, she allowed her own engine to rev to life.

"Okay!" Lakitu exclaimed as he gripped the starting light. "Three…." Wendy bit her lip…. "Two…." She put her foot down on the gas pedal, hoping to get a head start. "One. GO!"

As soon as Lakitu said the word "go," a cloud of smoke enveloped Wendy. She coughed and hacked, trying to bat the smoke away with her hand. It appeared that she had put her foot on the gas a moment too soon. Once the smoke from the burn out was gone, she looked and saw that everyone else was already at the first portal.

"Darn it," she growled. She put her foot on the gas and made her way forward.

…

Iggy gawked at the sight that lay before him and the other racers on the other side of the first portal. They were underwater, with multicolored fish weaving in and around them. He squinted forward, hoping to get a clear view of the road ahead.

"Dude!" Larry said from up ahead. "Look! There's a mermaid!"

Iggy looked upward and gasped. There was indeed a mermaid. Her hair was as red as the skin of a pomegranate. Her tail was a sea green. The mermaid stared at them and bit her lip in confusion. She turned toward a yellow and blue fish that had floated up toward her.

"Flounder," she said, "what's going on?"

"We're having a race; that's what's going on!" shouted Larry as he made his way through the second portal.

Iggy followed suit. Now, they were racing through very tight corridors. The walls and floors were stark gray, and there were men in strange uniforms marching in form. They wore white and black suits and masks, and in their hands were ray guns. They stopped when they saw Iggy.

"What the…?" asked one.

"I think we might have to report this to Lord Vader," said another.

Iggy went through the next portal. He grinned when he saw that they were surrounded by tall grass and flowers. Fairies zipped around them, either causing the light to shine a certain direction or building machines of their own.

"Woah," Iggy said. He pulled over to the side of the road and stared at a contraption built by a blonde haired fairy wearing a shirt green dress. "What kind of an apparatus is that?"

The fairy smiled. "It's a wagon! I made it so the front secretes snail slime. That way, it not only can go faster, but also keep track of the path it has traversed!"

Iggy beamed. "That's ingenious Miss…"

"Bell. My name is Tinkerbell."

"Well, that is ingenious." Suddenly, Peach and Mario zipped by. "Oh! I'm sorry; I must be off!"

With that, Iggy got back in his go-kart and resumed the race.

…

Wendy bit her lip and tapped her fingers on her steering wheel. She was last, dead last. She had already been in the underwater portion of the track and was now zipping through the gray corridors. The colors were soothing, but not soothing enough. Wendy knew that she had to go faster if she wanted to catch up. With that, she put her foot on the gas.

While indifferent to this idea at first, she had to admit that what she saw was interesting. The mermaids zipping through the water had caused her to smile, which was something that she hadn't been doing recently. While this current locale wasn't too terribly appealing, at least it made her nerves calm down.

Just as she was thinking this, her kart stopped in its place. Confused, Wendy placed her foot even harder on the gas pedal. She wouldn't move.

"What's going o...o...o…"

Wendy gripped her neck. Air was even harder to come across now. She felt...she felt like she was being choked!

"You will get off of the Death Star immediately, you strange little creature," said a deep, sinister, electronic-sounding bass. Wendy turned around and saw a man dressed in a black suit, black cape, and black mask. He had his hand in the air, as if he was the one choking the air out of her. Before she could question what was going on, her kart rose into the air and was thrust forward. She screamed as she went barreling through the corridor, through one portal after another. She did not stop until she had passed through the eighth portal. Her heart pounded as her kart laid in the street of a city setting. She gasped for breath.

"Let's hope that never happens again," she said. She put her foot on the gas and went forward. The city she now found herself in was very brightly colored and lively. "Hmm. I wonder what this place is?"