Fighting in the Streets
Chapter 56 – Delfino Island
A/N: Some of you may have already realised that Delfino Island isn't actually created by Nintendo. It is actually a custom track created by Vulcanus2. In this world, it is the same design as the one used in CTGP and was created as a specimen track for the sixth series tournament in which it never made the final cut. Anybody who wants to view this track since they are not familiar with its design, search up 'Delfino Island CTGP' for results. (CTGP is a Custom Track mod base where a lot of people have created Mario Kart Wii tracks and they have all been imported into a large track pack. Anyone who still plays the game to this day has probably heard of it. It is amazing, and it deserves its credit even in this story.)
Also, don't get this confused with Isle Delfino, a completely different island that is more to the east. That is the island that contains the Plaza in Super Mario Sunshine and other parts. As said before, in this land, a lot of the places on that island are actually in completely different areas spread out along the southern coastline, such as Gelato Beach, Ricco Harbour, and Noki Bay.
February 21, 2015 – 10:00AM
Seven Farms, East Delfino
"Hey, rise and shine brother." The duvet was shaken to wake him up. There, Tom opened his eyes to see an already dressed and prepared Jack Akbal, waiting for him to get out of bed.
"What time is it?" Tom asked, getting up from the spare bed in the house he stayed in overnight.
"Just gone ten." Jack replied. "I've got you breakfast ready in the kitchen when you're ready."
"Great, I'll be there in a few minutes." Tom saw his friend off and fell back in to bed. He removed the duvet off of him and opened the curtains to let the light in, making sure he wouldn't fall back to sleep.
Tom was at Wezen's house for the night. It was near the sixth farm, on the outskirts of the city. He didn't see the Koopa at all last night since he had actually spent most of the day in the northern towns near Blockfort to look for clues as to where Enrique could have been taken to. The Rovin Estate looked completely abandoned and was still barricaded off to most of the public. He had checked there first with Jack after driving there from the race beforehand, and was able to confirm that there was nobody still remaining inside the mansion. Everywhere to the north of Blockfort showed very little sign of the human. He only managed to find Koopa tracks going in several directions as well as an actual body of a deceased Koopa. He didn't see any Toad Brigade activity in the surrounding towns, making him question whether Peach was actually helping him or not.
When he departed and made his way south, he decided to go with Jack to Seven Farms and stay here for the night instead of going back to Mushroom City. The Delfino Island race course was on a small peninsula off of the main Delfino Island off the coast of the mainland, and Seven Farms was much closer to it than Mushroom City. He didn't need to waste driving for a lot more time by staying here. It was very late when they arrived, and because of this, Wezen was asleep. They were catered in to the house by Ronald Rodriguez instead, as he was still up, finishing on work. Wezen had no interest in seeing Tom and had already left the house to go to the beach with his other immigrant friends today. None of them were interested in the races as they just wanted to be left alone and to live their lives as new members of society in the Delfino Kingdom.
After waking himself up a bit more, Tom walked in to the kitchen to see Jack sitting at the table and reading a report. Opposite him was a filled bowl of cereal with toast on the side and milk to pour into the cereal. Ronald could be seen at the table in the other room, working at a computer and wearing large headphones. Tom had no idea what he could be doing on that, so he just assumed it was for work purposes.
"There he is." Jack smiled to see him. He pointed at the cereal and toast. "We don't have too much time. If you want to shower, I'd have done it already."
"It's alright." Tom replied, sitting down opposite him. "I'll shower tonight... or after the race at a public one by a beach town or something."
"How are we supposed to get to the island?" Jack asked, putting down his report papers. "Do we get a boat across or something?"
"I think we show up at the port and we'll be taken across by the Toad management crew. What have you got there?" Tom asked back, pouring the milk in to his cereal after having some of the toast already.
"It's the newspapers." Jack replied. "I'm not always free to see it on TV. I've got to keep myself updated somehow."
"And what's Ronald doing in there?" Tom pointed over to the room opposite the kitchen.
"He's in a business call. He and I are planning on joining this tech company in East Wuhu that specialises in the manufacturing of Wuhu Force weapons. Thanks to connections we were able to be scouted out and asked for the job. I think we're now set in stone for this and we can stop our other business soon and just work for these guys." Tom was intrigued, and wanted to hear more about it. "We'll now be distributing out whenever we want to instead of having several clients throughout the day that don't give us any rest."
"Wow, that's really something isn't it? I'm guessing you're going off to Wuhu once you guys secure this job then. That way you'll be less involved with the Mushroom Kingdom. That's for sure. Wuhu's like as safe as you can get right now, especially south, east or even west."
"The primitive humans live in the west." Jack joked about. "But yes, Ronald and I will be heading there at the beginning of next month. A friend of mine there's bought us a nice place in the suburbs of Zeltarc West."
"Ooh Zeltarc West. The weather is always amazing there, and the views are spectacular." Tom felt jealous. "You'll be living the high life."
"We've got a reputation for that." Jack laughed, soon noticing that Tom was finished with his breakfast. "Are you sure you don't need a shower?"
"I'll be fine." Tom got up from finishing his breakfast and put the bowl and plate aside. Jack went around and put the milk carton back in the fridge in the kitchen, now ready to head out and set course for the southern coast. "Have you ever seen the Delfino race track before?"
"Of course." Jack smiled. "I think we could possibly win this one."
11:00AM
Delfino Port, South Delfino Kingdom
Jack had been here before, but Tom actually hadn't. On the coastline, the two could see a small, discrete dockyard where a few Toad management crew members were, ready to transport some of the racers to the island. What Tom didn't know was that the island was much larger than he thought, and the track was only a small part on the edge of it. He could see it in the distance across the sea, and a small speck in his vision ahead was actually the sight of the participants' tent set next to the nearest house to the starting line. The two stopped their car along a road that was heading to the main port, in a parking space on the side. Nearby, the two noticed Rosalina overlooking the sea. She was planning on getting her own boat across until she noticed the others behind her.
"Feeling better?" Jack asked Rosalina, trying to comfort her immediately as he reached her. She halted him, and nodded.
"I'm feeling just fine, thank you very much." She said back to him, not wanting to be touched by him. Tom locked his car and headed down the grassy hill to where the others were standing, waiting to head to the small boardwalk where the Toads were.
"How are you feeling about today?" Tom asked as he reached them.
"I'm dreading this one. This track doesn't actually make any sense." She replied. "It's half-finished. How could Peach have allowed something so silly?"
"I guess it meets the rules." Tom laughed, seeing how poorly designed it was. "The viewers are going to love this." He started heading down the dock alone. Jack approached Rosalina once again, putting her off slightly.
"I've got a tip for you." He whispered in her ear. "When you're planning on taking the boardwalk short-cut, try doing it without a mushroom, and instead, do the Toad's Factory shortcut input on your bike when you're going up the ramp."
"The what input?" Rosalina leaned away from Jack and looked back at him, confused.
"You know... the one where you drift tightly going on to the ramp and then turn the other way when you're in the air."
"I don't get what you mean."
Jack started to walk slowly down the hill to catch up with Tom. He was looking back at both of them. "You don't know the technique to do the pool shortcut shroomless?" Jack asked again, and Rosalina shook her head a second time. "Have you ever done the Mushroom Gorge gap jump without actually hopping?"
"Why are you talking nonsense?" Rosalina giggled a bit, finally meeting with Tom.
"Tom." Jack called for him. "Rosalina says she hasn't heard of the T.F. input. Please tell me I'm not the only one." Tom acknowledged him, but shook his head in response.
"You are talking nonsense." As Rosalina started to board one of the boats, Tom winked to him, signalling him to go on the boat next.
"You lot are crazy. I wish I was using a bike. I'd crave for a Bowser or Mach Bike right now."
"Will you just get on the goddamn boat?" Tom pushed him on, causing it to rock slightly.
"I'm just saying..."
THIRTY MINUTES LATER...
Tom and 'Enrique' were becoming well-known for being last. A lot of the racers still didn't notice that it was Jack playing for him. This was now going to be the third race without him, and at this rate it didn't look like it would be the last either.
Heading up to the tent, Tom and Jack noticed that it was full of participants, including many who didn't know about Jack. Since they didn't really interact with any of the racers in Thwomp Ruins, they wanted to do the same thing this time so they turned and headed straight to the starting line. A few racers were already there, and Jack looked a little bit nervous trying to keep up his Enrique impersonation.
"It seems like all the houses here are completely empty as well." Rosalina stated, looking around the area.
"As said before, it's unfinished." Jack reminded her, going over to his kart. "We'll see how it goes though." He slouched in the front seat of the standard kart and turned his head to look back at her behind him. It was a rare occasion for them to place higher than in a race than her. "Remember what I said. Don't forget to hop either."
More of the racers started showing up to the track. As Tom was looking around at them all, he began to see the locations of where the viewing stands were. There were plenty of spectators by the top end of the track, just beyond the first set of item boxes. There were also a few seats above the empty houses at the back end of the track as well, but none in the middle. The boardwalk sections were completely empty. Having no boundaries for the racers meant having spectators could cause hazards.
As Tom started getting himself comfortable at the back of the kart, he watched all the others show up to the track.
"New haircut?" Shy Guy asked who he thought was Enrique to his right, noticing a small and subtle difference to their appearances.
"It was getting too long." Jack said back, acknowledging his and Enrique's differences in hairstyles. Tom half-looked back at Shy Guy to check if he was still noticing things about Jack's appearance, but luckily he just turned to face the front and ready himself for the race. Wario and Waluigi on their right were too busy arguing between themselves to be any possible problem to Jack. He just wanted the race to start as soon as possible.
POSITIONS:
FIRST: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong
SECOND: Bowser and Bowser Jr
THIRD: Toadbert and Toadsworth
FOURTH: Dry Bones and Kamek
FIFTH: King Boo and Petey
SIXTH: Funky Kong and Cranky Kong
SEVENTH: Mario and Luigi
EIGHTH: Peach and Daisy
NINTH: Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa
TENTH: Shy Guy and Lakitu
ELEVENTH: Tom and Enrique
TWELFTH: Wario and Waluigi
THIRTEENTH: Toad and Toadette
FOURTEENTH: Rosalina and Pauline
FIFTEENTH: Yoshi and Birdo
SIXTEENTH: Hammer Bro and Fire Bro
SCOREBOARD:
FIRST: Bowser and Bowser Jr: 252
SECOND: Funky Kong and Cranky Kong: 231
THIRD: Mario and Luigi: 225
FOURTH: Rosalina and Pauline: 218
FIFTH: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong: 212
SIXTH: Peach and Daisy: 200
SEVENTH: Hammer Bro and Fire Bro: 194
EIGHTH: King Boo and Petey: 193
NINTH: Wario and Waluigi: 190
TENTH: Yoshi and Birdo: 190
ELEVENTH: Toad and Toadette: 182
TWELFTH: Shy Guy and Lakitu: 176
THIRTEENTH: Toadbert and Toadsworth: 175
FOURTEENTH: Dry Bones and Kamek: 174
FIFTEENTH: Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa: 173
SIXTEENTH: Tom and Enrique: 161
And now, the most unreliable and unstable race track was finally going to take place. One again, the holographic Lakitus floated down in front of all of the racers at the start line. Jack turned his head to look at Rosalina one more time, giving her a nod.
3... 2... 1... GO!
All the racers boosted off the boardwalk, driving around the cut down tree at the very start of the course. Many of the drivers steered towards the nearest leaf pile, spitting out items before the first item box set. Bananas started appearing on the track early, causing some people to be hit by them, spinning around and colliding with others behind them.
Going past the first boost ramp, DK had the lead, taking the second boost ramp to skip the item boxes and go across the low-hanging wall. He, like the few others that did the same thing behind him, started to develop a small lead from the rest of the pack. Going for an item box at the first set would usually lose about a second compared to taking the ramp to go around. Here, he still had the lead, being just in front of Bowser. More leaf piles appeared up ahead, possibly hiding mushrooms. DK drove over one with the Offroader and one appeared right in front of them. He and Diddy used this to cut some of the light green grass. He remembered to be extra cautious of the dark green grass, as treading on that would lead to a complete stop and being detected as out of bounds. This had the same mechanics as going too on to the dark sand in a track such as Desert Hills.
Going down the slope the docks, DK tricked forward and proceeded without drifting. The gaps in the boardwalks were dangerous, and difficult to drift around. A few of the racers behind him had to slow down, but Bowser was able to drift around the circular gaps towards the second item box. He stole the lead, and pulled a fake item box. DK saw this, getting a red shell straight after him. Instead of throwing it forward after seeing Bowser Jr holding to the fake item box, Diddy decided to keep his red shell in defence.
Further back were Dry Bones and Kamek, and King Boo and Petey, Petey managed to get a single mushroom in fourth place and drove towards the boardwalk short cut on the left side after the boxes, hopping over the tiny gap and heading towards the ramp to meet with the small boardwalk islands. King Boo activated the mushroom and the two tricked upwards, turning and landing on the second island. The landing was so difficult to perfect that they almost skidded off the small board on the other side before heading to the small ramp. Eventually they readjusted their vehicle and crossed the remaining boardwalk islands, stealing the lead from Bowser by a considerable amount of time.
A lot of the racers in the middle pack tried attempting the same short cut with mushrooms. Going up the trick-able ramp, some aligned themselves poorly enough to slip off from the other side of the boardwalk island, falling in to the water and having to be rescued by the holographic Lakitu's. This caused the pack to start to stretch out. Petey and King Boo managed to get a strong lead from doing it successfully. They acquired a green shell from the next set of item boxes and sifted through leaf piles to put some more items on the ground at the small island at the back of the race track. A few bananas appeared littered in the floor beside the left tree and a mushroom appeared out of a leaf pile before the final right turn towards the final boardwalk ramp. Dodging the crates, similar to the ones used on Toad's Factory, King Boo and Petey drove up the final ramp, tricking and acquiring another item box. They had three bananas in King Boo's grasp, with the green shell still at the back of their Piranha Prowler. Just below the ramp were the same boardwalk islands that the racers in last were still trying to get across. It was clear that some people hadn't practiced this track before. Luckily for the Hammer Bros (one of them chose this track), they managed to take the island shortcut successfully and started to overtake a lot of people as a result of this. When King Boo and Petey landed back on the boardwalk before the starting line, they were using a golden mushroom to cut through the grass to get to the top spots. Being in twelfth before the islands, the two were now in fifth place before the final ramp.
Going in to lap 2, King Boo and Petey were still reasonably far ahead. Bowser and DK were enjoying second and third, but their peace was about to be broken after seeing Peach and Daisy creep up behind them. The girls had triple red shells rotating around their vehicle and another item in Peach's hands. Daisy drove over the first mini ramp and let Peach throw a red down, locking on to DK and Diddy Kong. They used their red shell in defence to break the projectile, then deploying three bananas at the back of their vehicle as new defence. Diddy was taunting the two as they drove along the flat road ahead. He threw one back and Daisy managed to avoid it. He threw back another and missed them a second time. Before throwing the third, he noticed the two remaining red shells rotating around the girls behind him that he wasn't able to remove. DK drove over the second ramp and went above the low wall. Diddy dropped it just before the ramp and managed to break one of remaining red shells. They were now itemless, and Daisy steered over the ramp faster than they did. Peach threw the last red shell forward and struck the two racers, slowing them down and overtaking them. Peach now had their extra item deployed in defence: a bob-omb.
Bowser was slightly further ahead, with his son trailing a green shell and having nothing else in his grasp. Their fake item box was dumped somewhere before the final ramp and left there since. Junior sent one of their green shells back after making the jump to the boardwalk section. Daisy hopped aside and readjusted after dodging it, catching up to them as they drove through the next set of boxes. Peach took the item still in its roulette form and tucked it within her seat, taking the bomb and throwing it forward. It landed right before Bowser, giving him no place to go but straight in to the explosion. Bowser and his son went up into the air and landed back down after being overtaken by Peach and Daisy. Luckily for them, most of the pack was still far behind, so they weren't overtaken by many more.
The next two laps consisted of a series of catastrophes that mainly occurred along the boardwalks. It was clear that the islands were not the nicest places for unfamiliar racers to drive through. The pack became more spread out than ever before, even for a track that is actually one of the longest in length. Even though there were many ways to catch up such as a successful boardwalk shortcut, going through the light grass in several areas and jumping over the low wall with the ramp, those unfamiliar with the track's layout started to fall behind significantly. Nobody had been lapped yet, but King Boo and Petey were so far ahead in first that they were seeing some racers far in the distance still on the previous lap. The positions were unknown to many of the racers, and all they could hope for was a successful drive through the dockyard. Bowser was facing a serious problem. Failing the dockyard shortcut twice across the third and fourth lap, he became somewhere in the mid-to-low scoring spots, unsure of how many racers were ahead of him. What disheartened him was the lack of important racers driving near him. He was surrounded by the likes of Yoshi, Birdo, Dry Bones, Kamek, and the Koopa Troopas, all very inexperienced in driving this track. The Hammer Bros managed to get an easy ounce of freedom by manoeuvring their way through successfully, staying in second place behind the leaders. Other racers found it easier as the laps went by, but the overall poor performance by most of the racers started to put off the viewers as well as the racers. Going towards the start line to finish the fourth lap, Peach swapped positions with Daisy on the bike, letting Peach take the driving for the final lap. Even though there were quite a few racers ahead of her and some too far ahead, she was at least happy knowing that Bowser was behind her, and quite significantly too. Daisy acquired a mega mushroom from the item set before the finish line, using the item after crossing the line so she could cut the off-road grass on the right side. The two were sick of this course, and regretted allowing it to be a viable selection. They only had one lap left. All they had to do now was finish the race, hopefully overtaking more people in the process. Nobody was near each other and by the time they reached the second ramp to cross the wall, they had only overtaken Wario and Waluigi and that was because the two had a thundercloud from the previous item set and had nobody nearby to pass it to. The next pair that was ahead of them was Shy Guy and Lakitu. To see what spot they were in, they had to see what kind of item they would pull at the first box set on the boardwalks. They received triple green shells, so they were probably in the top half of racers. King Boo and Petey nor the Hammer Bros were anywhere to be seen. All they could hope to do was not fall off. Going through the boardwalks, a POW block appeared in front of the two. Peach decided to hit the brakes and slow down significantly. They took the POW lightly and then got back up to speed. She didn't want to risk the chance of slipping a drift and falling off, as the turns were tight and very angular.
The boardwalk islands were next. If nothing unusual was to happen then they would be able to get across these rather easily. After having the green shells spat out from their bike, Peach turned and picked up another item box before the ramps. Three mushrooms; almost perfect for the rest of their race.
Time passed by and very little overtaking occurred across all areas of the track. Peach almost managed to overtake the racers in front of her but a final shock stopped them from cutting off the grass shortcuts before the final turn. Shy Guy and Lakitu just resized after them at the ramp. Daisy acquired a red shell at the final item set on the ramp and instantly threw it forward. The red shell locked on to the racers in front of them but the sharp angles of the final wooden platform broke the projectile before it could hit them. They had just lost the race to the two in front, and ended up losing to more racers than they thought. They didn't care though, because what mattered to them was that Rosalina and Pauline were one of them, and Bowser wasn't. Sadly, Bowser didn't finish that far behind Peach and Daisy, but hopefully the difference was enough to make a change so that he wouldn't be able to break away more with the points he has.
The racers had to wait longer than usual, but eventually, everyone crossed the line. The Toad management crew needed a bit of time to update the scoreboard, dealing with the mess that was this race.
RESULTS:
FIRST: Tom and Enrique: +20
SECOND: King Boo and Petey: +17
THIRD: Hammer Bro and Fire Bro: +15
FOURTH: Toadbert and Toadsworth: +13
FIFTH: Rosalina and Pauline: +12
SIXTH: Toad and Toadette: +11
SEVENTH: Mario and Luigi: +10
EIGHTH: Shy Guy and Lakitu: +9
NINTH: Peach and Daisy: +8
TENTH: Wario and Waluigi: +7
ELEVENTH: Bowser and Bowser Jr: +6
TWELFTH: Funky Kong and Cranky Kong: +5
THIRTEENTH: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong: +4
FOURTEENTH: Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa: +3
FIFTEENTH: Dry Bones and Kamek: +2
SIXTEENTH: Yoshi and Birdo: +1
UPDATED SCOREBOARD:
FIRST: Bowser and Bowser Jr: 258
SECOND: Funky Kong and Cranky Kong: 236
THIRD: Mario and Luigi: 235
FOURTH: Rosalina and Pauline: 230
FIFTH: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong: 216
SIXTH: King Boo and Petey: 210
SEVENTH: Hammer Bro and Fire Bro: 209
EIGHTH: Peach and Daisy: 208
NINTH: Wario and Waluigi: 197
TENTH: Toad and Toadette: 193
ELEVENTH: Yoshi and Birdo: 191
TWELFTH: Toadbert and Toadsworth: 188
THIRTEENTH: Shy Guy and Lakitu: 185
FOURTEENTH: Tom and Enrique: 181
FIFTEENTH: Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa: 176
SIXTEENTH: Dry Bones and Kamek: 176
"Wait." Peach gasped. "Surely there's an error in the results screen." She looked back at Daisy. "There's no way those two won. I barely saw them near the end of that race." She got off her bike and rushed over to see Tom and Jack talking with Rosalina, Pauline, King Boo and Petey. They were all amazed to see how the two managed to keep up a strong lead in the second half of the race. Just before she got there, she noticed that they were all looking back at Tom. Jack was nearby but not looking very attentive to them.
"Enrique, could you come here please?" She addressed him, hoping to get him out of the spotlight with King Boo and Petey nearby. Not even they could tell that Enrique was looking different. They must have overheard Shy Guy talking to him earlier and believed that he just had a haircut. Jack moved off of his kart and walked away from the starting line towards the wall of one of the nearby houses further along the track. They managed to keep themselves hidden as some of the racers started heading back to the participants' tent.
"I wanted to get you away from the others." Peach said to him again once they were far enough from the others. "Besides me and Daisy, who else knows?"
"From the other two races? Just Rosalina and Pauline." Jack replied immediately. "What else do you want with me? Is there a problem that people know the truth?"
"Yes. I don't want to have more problems to deal with. Everyone's going to start questioning everything."
"Well I suggest you put in some effort in to finding this man then. I was at Blockfort yesterday with Tom and guess what? We didn't see any Toads searching for him."
"We're having them search the disputed lands. That's where we believe him to be; anywhere between there and the Westfells in Résethal."
"Is that the information you were given then?" Jack frowned, not believing her at all. He rubbed his arms, feeling a need to provoke her in to spitting out the real truth about what's happening with the Brigade. "Something different has happened to the man. We searched a lot of the local area to only find footprints that go off in to the savannah. You need to look harder!" He raised his voice at her. Peach became easily infuriated. This was partially caused by the fact that she hated him anyway.
"You shout at me again and I'll have you behind bars once your service is over." She threatened him back, trying to get some authority over him.
"I'm doing you all a favour. The least you could do is let me help, and also repay the favour." He still got aggressive with her, being able to as nobody was near her. "I don't want you to hate me more than you already do, but I really think we should help each other during these times. We've all got a lot on our shoulders. Look at Tom for example. Have you seen what he was like the other day when he was questioning those arrested? He was breaking down, he was broken, he is broken. Luckily, I'm not. Keep it that way." He moved back from Peach, turning to head back to the tent. "Three days... or there will be more problems for you." He turned his head away from her. The last thing he saw was her on her knees on the thin grass behind one of the houses before the low wall. Jack then proceeded to go around the tent, assuming that there were many others still inside. A lot of participants were seen walking across the track to head back to the dockyard and get a boat back to the mainland. Going beyond the low wall and the path opposite the track would lead to a path that went towards the rest of the island, being much larger than just the Delfino Island race track section.
Before the entrance to the tent, Jack saw Tom walking on his own towards him. The two met, and gave eachother a hug, patting their backs.
"You hide so much from me." Tom laughed. "How were you able to drive that so well with a standard kart?" Jack smiled back at him for a few seconds, not saying anything.
"We live in a weird world." He eventually replied before going in to an awkward silence with him. "I just know this track very well, even though it wasn't used. A couple of videos from Earth can help as well."
"Yeah I don't get that either. I don't understand the connections. They're too freakishly accurate sometimes."
"Someone's got to be responsible for it." Jack laughed with him again, noticing someone else appear just before them outside the tent. They cleared their conversation topic as she showed up in front of them.
"Anyways." Tom looked to Rosalina. "What can we do for you?" He asked anxiously.
"You don't have to do anything." She smiled and then looked back to Jack. "You on the other hand... how did you get so far ahead?"
"I can drive the track well." Jack replied awkwardly. "What else is there to say? You didn't even listen to my advice I bet."
"I didn't believe you." She turned around and faced the starting line where all of the vehicles were parked. The Toad management were not on their way to collect them and store them for the race tomorrow just yet. "I want you to prove it to me now. Did you ever do it?"
"I didn't." Jack looked at the vehicles that remained on the track, praying that they were still operable. "You can't do that set of inputs on a kart. That's what I believe at least." She looked at him condescendingly, expecting him to still listen to her. "OK, fine. Go over to the islands and I'll show you what I mean."
"What are you doing?" Tom watched Jack walk over the karts and bikes on the track, picking out the one convenient for him. He was wanting to use the Mach Bike but felt a little bit of guilt from Peach talking to him just before. The Magikruiser and the Bubble Bike were too small for him; hopefully the Torpedo wouldn't be too large.
"I'm showing Rosalina what I was talking about earlier: the T.F. input." Jack hopped in to the Torpedo and tried to get it functioning. The engine turned on and the exhaust started making noise.
"Oh, for fuck sake." Tom facepalmed and headed over to him.
"You know about this too?" Rosalina giggled.
"Just do what he said and go to the Island." Frustrated, Tom followed Rosalina down the dark green grass to the nearby boardwalks. Once she reached the shore, she floated up a few feet and hovered over the water and landed on the wooden platforms. "Oh." Tom sighed. "I'll watch from here. I know what he's going to do." Rosalina laughed back at Tom and started walking down the short cut towards the boardwalk island ramps, getting the best viewing angle.
Noticing that the soundproof barrier was already uplifted, Jack assumed that the dark green grass would no longer register as out of bounds for the Torpedo. From the starting line, Jack tried to drive on to the grass and jump on to the boardwalks without realising that the grass would still slow down the bike significantly.
"Give me a few seconds." Jack called out from the top of the track, turning around and beginning to drive along the course normally. He wheelied along the road, going past the large ramp and getting to the first small ramp where he positioned his bike in such a way that he was aiming for the house. After a few seconds of preparation, Jack drifted on to the first small ramp and tricked on it, making the bike do two 360-degree back flips just before landing on the curved blue brick roof of the just next to the tent and before the low wall. Keeping his speed on the roof, he turned to the right and drove off it, leaning to the right and positioning the bike to do a nose dive just safely on the short grass behind the house. As he landed (somehow successfully), the bike slowed down greatly as it was considered off-road. He drove it a little more to get back on to the road just before the drop down to the dockyard.
Jack then proceeded to drive the track normally until he stopped after hopping over the tiny gap between the two boardwalks before the shortcut. There he could see Tom lying against the dark grass and Rosalina all the way across at the small boardwalk islands.
"Are you watching?" He called out to Rosalina, readying a standstill mini-turbo on the bike and raising it up at the same time.
"What are you doing?" Rosalina burst in to laughter upon seeing what he was doing.
"Messing around." Jack laughed back. "Now watch this." He lowered the bike and released the mini-turbo, wheelying down the shortcut. Rosalina stood back a bit more, getting out of his way. Once he approached the ramp, he steered to the right and started drifting tightly. The ramp sent him upwards and whilst he was in mid-air he held the drift, raised the front of the bike up and leaned to the right. The bike just about landed onto the island in front of the one Rosalina was standing on, and Jack hit the brakes as soon as he landed, almost falling off the edge on the other side. Rosalina gasped, and saw him turn around to look back at her amazed. "See?"
"How did you get so much air?" She jumped across the ramp on her island to reach out for the bike on the other one, getting a closer look at it. As Jack got off it, the two noticed Tom moving along the grassy slope towards the edge, trying to get across. Eventually, he took his shoes and socks off and decided to swim in the sea water. The sky was bright and the weather was sunny; his clothes would end up drying quickly even if they were completely soaked.
"It's a matter of the drift. It's much easier to do on a Mach Bike or Bowser Bike, but I just about managed with this." Jack explained, hopping back on to it. "You simply drift in tightly as you go on to the ramp, keeping the drift, and once you're launched, you hold it in the opposite direction. The bike will hold upwards a bit and send you a bit higher. I don't really get the physics behind it but that's how it is."
"Magical dynamics." Tom overheard the two as he reached for the boardwalk island, climbing up and getting on top of it from the water.
"There's a lot you can do with bikes that I know a lot of people in these races don't." Jack laughed, nudging his soaked friend. "I guess I have to return this back to the Toads above." He smiled, putting off Tom again.
"I'll do that actually." Tom pushed him off. "You go and see Rosalina back to the boats." Jack shook his head and hopped on behind Tom.
"I can just go back with you." He grinned. "Rosalina can do her elegant flying over the water if she wants to." He awkwardly smiled back to her, making her laugh a bit.
"Why didn't you just let me hop on when you were making your way here anyway?" Tom asked.
"You didn't mention it at the time."
"You know what." Tom looked back at Rosalina for a few seconds before turning to Jack. "I'll do this myself." He kicked Jack off the seat pushing him down to the edge of the boardwalk and making him slip off and fall in to the water. Rosalina burst in to laughter and looked back down to see Jack still underwater. She got her wand out and aimed down to the water, casting a beam through it and reaching to Jack, lifting him out and putting him against the boardwalk. He was soaking way more than Tom was. By the time Jack looked to see back to Tom, he had already driven off the islands and turned to get back on to the mainland.
"You forgot your shoes!" He called, seeing them and the socks still left on the grass next to the sea. "Fuck it. He can get them when he comes back to the starting line."
"You've got to get yourself off of this island." Rosalina looked down to Jack, seeing him still lazily lying down on the one of many wooden islands.
"Yep." He heaved himself up and shook off some of the water running down his soggy clothes. "Oh..." He then noticed that he still had to swim his way back to the grass or take the long route and attempt a jump back to the shortcut. Then he would have to follow the boards all the way to the boats on the other side. That would probably be the quicker option than to go swimming. Before Jack readied himself for the long jump, the two started to hear the sound of the Torpedo again coming from above. Tom rode up the final ramp and flew in to the air, landing smoothly back down on the final boardwalk on the other side of the start line. He stopped it right before the Toad management crew who were in the process of picking up the other vehicles used by racers and taking them on a larger to send them on their journey to the next track: Dry Dry Ruins at midday tomorrow.
As for Jack, he made a run for the jump and managed to make it across, rolling down on his side upon landing. Rosalina hovered across and used her wand on him again, getting him up quickly.
"Would you stop doing that?" He asked nicely. "You're making me a little dizzy."
"Sorry about that." She grinned. "I'm just trying to hasten you." The two walked along the boardwalk together and watched Tom slide down the grassy slope to reach for his socks and shoes, putting them back on and looking at the two as they distanced further away from him.
"We'll see you at the boats!" Jack called out before the next small gap between the boardwalks, treading on it and losing his balance briefly. Tom waved back whilst tying up his shoes.
...
The three were the last of the racers to leave the island. Most of them were already heading home or at least gone from the area by now. On the boat back, Tom noticed some of the princesses still at the docks by the Delfino Harbour. None of them seemed to have happy faces, but as their boat driven by the Toad workers got closer to the dock, their expressions became lighter and less of anger. They were noticed by them, and all they did was say nothing to each other until they got off the boat. Rosalina got off first, being greeted by both Peach and Daisy, but the other two were being frowned upon.
"What's happened now?" Jack asked. "Is there something else that we've done?" Peach ignored him for the first few seconds as she waited for Tom to get off the boat last.
"He's been found." She said monotonously.
"What, where?" Tom's eyes widened, eager to hear more from her.
"Nivurbia." He smiled, glad to know that he's at least found. "He's apparently battered, bruised, and held at a ransom. Guess who by."
"I... don't know." He shrugged. "Hostiles?"
"That's the problem. I don't know who exactly has him but I am going to assume again that this text I got from an unknown number is Joharnés Asquia. If he has Enrique then he must have Captain Toad as well." His look on her froze completely. "We've managed to find everyone else that we've been looking for except for one person who could finally bring all of these ties together... well, two people, of the same name."
"Is this where we're going today?"
"No..." The conversation was abruptly interrupted by Rosalina, shaking her head constantly. "No, no, no. That Koopa has to go." She looked back to Peach. "Joharnés has done too much already."
"What did he do to you?" Jack asked out of curiosity. Quickly, she unzipped her biker outfit from the back and took it off, showing her chest and pointing to an area underneath her bra. There was a large scar that was still healing. "He did this." She said with added stress. "When are we going? I say we go now."
"I don't know exactly where he is, but the text he sent to me specified that we have 48 hours." Peach replied instantly, feeling slightly worried.
"48 hours for what?" Tom stood right up to Peach.
"Or he'll probably kill-."
"No not what he will do. What does he want?" He waited for Peach to get out her phone and have a look at the message again. The rest of those nearby stood and waited, watching her get to the messages.
"The message says that 'you' us 'have got that which is mine'." She paused for a few seconds. "I don't know what that is."
"I say we go tomorrow." Daisy suggested. "After the race... all of us. We need him back as quickly as he can, and we cannot afford him to miss out on any of these anymore. I'm sorry if you enjoy these Jack but you're not meant to be playing in place for him."
"I know that." Jack replied. "What you should do now is actually make an effort in to sending the Toad Brigade up to Nivurbia and confirm to us that there's actually something going on there. I bet none of the Red Martyrs checked there."
"They probably would have if Kugen was still alive. But that's Toadsworth's fault." Tom uttered, walking past the others and started making his way up the hill to the road where he parked his car. "Jack, I'm going back to yours. I don't want to go back to the Mushroom Kingdom unless Enrique's coming with me." Jack followed, and ignored the worrisome looks the other girls had on their faces.
"You better be coming with us tomorrow then!" Daisy called out from the bottom of the hill.
Tom stopped walking up the hill and slowly turned around to look back down on Peach, Daisy, and Rosalina. "I'm counting on you to show up as well." Jack managed to catch up to him and the two got in to his car quickly and within seconds the two were back on the road, setting course for Seven Farms...
EOC: The next chapter will have the next race and will conclude the period where races occur daily.
See you then!