Start Note: Has it really been since Februray since I last updated this one? I guess writer's block and real-life will tend to do that to ya. Regardless I hope you all enjoy the very delayed chapter.
The day of the Kart Tournament arrives; all the racers are currently having a light brunch in the Sarasaland Castle Gardens. While originally planning to stay on the Island of Bask for a few days, Donkey and Diddy Kong (more-so Diddy) couldn't pass up the chance for a round of go-karting. Yoshi and Birdo tagged along as well, being part of the Kart racing roster from the get-go. Toad and Toadette strolled into the dining area this morning, with Toad apologizing profusely for being late. Daisy only giggled in response as she did a head count; only he was missing. She sighed and shook her head, 'I know he likes to sleep in, but he's never this late.' She took a glance over to Luigi and Rosalina's table, where the two seemed to easing up more around each other. 'Well at least they're having a solid breakfast,' she smiles to herself. Suddenly something pokes her arm, making her jump slightly, "Ack!"
"Oop, sorry Daisy. Didn't know you were-a jumpy,' Mario shyly laughs.
Feeling slightly embarrassed but staying stubborn, the Princess punches his arm lightly, "Give someone a warning next time!"
"Scusa," he grins, "I-a hope I didn't make you wait too long."
"Oh what? Make me wait? Psssh," she flips her hand casually; trying to play off her eagerness. "I know you like to sleep in."
Mario's grin widens, "Oh, I was actually in the garage. I had-a Toad and Toadette help me do some minor maintenance on the karts."
'So that's those two were late,' she smirks before looking puzzled. "Wait, how did you know they were coming?"
"I-a….didn't…" He scratches his cap awkwardly, "Saw them in the morning as I was-a heading over."
"So you hijacked them?~" she teasingly sneers.
The red-capped man shakes his head, getting flustered, "N-no! They asked what I was doing up-a so early and offered to help! Lo giuro!" (I swear!)
She chuckles, "Well, I guess I can left you off the hook then~ Now come on," she grabs his hand dragging him out the dining room, "I don't wanna run behind schedule!"
"But I-a haven't taken a bite yet!"
"That's your fault for being late~"
Much like the Tennis Tournament yesterday, Toadbias acted as the master of ceremonies. "Alright," the small blue Toad spoke on top of the winner's podium, "We'll be doing a standard 4 course Prix! The Princess has been dying to test out these four new tracks, so best of luck to all the racers!"
"Hmmm," Luigi cups his chin, "Free for all or-a we split into teams?"
"I'm fine with whatever," Daisy beams as she stretches her limbs, "Either way, this'll be a blast!"
"Is it-a ok to be in teams then?" Mario asks the group.
Rosalina smiles, "I think that'd be fine, but I must say I'm a little surprised. You normally prefer doing single rider races for karting."
The red-capped hero shuffles his feet a bit before grinning widely, "E-heh, I-a…just really like the company."
Daisy's heart skips a beat seeing him be this naïve and at least to her, adorably honest. "Well, I guess I'm teaming up with you again hey Mari-"
"Scuse, Princepessa," Mario interrupts, "It's-a not like I don't like you with me, but I-a think I need to go against you for a change~"
The princess in question blinks; she didn't expect this response. "I-uh…sure?"
"Oh, it's-a ok if you don't think you can beat me~" he teases.
This hits the competitive nerve in her; Daisy puts her hands on her hips, scoffing, "Oho?~ So that's how you wanna play this huh? Alright Mario, fine! You got yourself a race. But be warned, just because you've been my partner these last few days, that doesn't mean I'll go easy on ya!"
'Just as-a planned,' Mario mentally sneers. "Oki-doki! Then Principessa, get your crew ready~"
Toadbias scrambled for the last minute changes to make it a team kart grand prix. The Sarasa Cup was made more to be competitive than cooperative but it shouldn't impact the race too much. The teams were finally ready, heading to the garage. The red team consisted of Luigi, Toadette, Yoshi, Donkey Kong and was headed by Mario. The yellow team had Rosalina, Toad, Birdo, Diddy Kong, and it was lead by Daisy. Mario and Daisy both went with standard kart frames, and each had their own unique respective gliders and tires. For the rest of red crew: Luigi went a standard ATV, Toadette with the Cat Cruiser, Yoshi with a sport bike and Donkey Kong with the Varmint bike.
On the remaining yellow crew members: Rosalina chose her Jet Bike, Toad with the Sneeker, Birdo on the Yoshi Bike, and Diddy had the Circuit Special. A speaker in the kart garage played Toadbias's voice, "Alright guys, first course is heading up!" As the racers head to the main driveway, Daisy pulls Mario aside for a few moments.
"Got a minute?" He nods and follows her to side where the mechanics usually hung out. "Alright, so what's your real reason for doing this?"
Mario whistles innocently, "No idea what you're-a talking about~" She rolls her eyes at him. "Eheh, well, if you must-a know, I wanna see if we're-a still a good matchup competitively. Thanks to-a tennis, I know we're in sync for a team. But you've been my best rival in these games Daisy, I don't need you going soft on-a me~" Daisy was thankful that the room was mildly dark, otherwise he'd be able to see how red she was.
"So you like our rivalry and you're not sick of having me around?" her voice gets slightly higher as the question goes on.
"Mama mia, Certo che no!" (Of course not!) Mario shakes his head rapidly, "I-a…wanna make sure we're able to stick by each other, even when we're not on the same playing field!"
Daisy lets out a huge sigh of relief, "Well that's a Thwomp off my shoulders. Thanks for being honest with me Mario." She gives a peace sign to him, regaining her confidence. "But now I'm really not gonna go easy on ya! Watch out for the Roaring Flower!" She quickly dashes to her kart and speeds off. Mario feels incredibly warm and content with himself. He whistles happily as he hops into his vehicle and speeds off to meet the other racers.
The first course was the Sarasaland Speedway. It was a grassy and sandy track with a few underwater puddle sections. The countdown ticked off and the racers were off. Daisy had a bit of an advantage, knowing the track layout before hand; but thanks to the chaotic nature of the items, the rest were able to catch up fairly quickly. Mario's quick adaptiveness made him get right behind the "Roaring Flower" in first. He preps a green shell, ready to take aim when his kart gets flipped over. "Owowow!" he yells as he regains his bearings.
Toad yells out a "Sorry!" as he speeds up to join his team leader. Mario smirks and gets back into the race. The rest of Lap 1 war fairly standard, but Lap 2 had a few shake ups. Now on Lap 3, Mario was currently in lead with Daisy and Rosalina trailing close behind.
'Not-a good,' the ex-plumber thinks to himself. The next item box grants him a banana to shield himself. 'I-a just need to hold the lead a little longer!' The end of the track was in sight. A red shell was coming behind Mario, which he was able to guard against. He smugly grins and is about to gloat when he gets blindsided by a Super Horn blast. A dazed Mario looks at the two princesses cross the finish line while cheering.
"Awesome power play there Rosa!" Daisy shouts.
"Well, your shell left him wide open~" responds Rosalina. Mario gets his bearings and makes it into third. The rest of the racers finish and as of the current standing, Yellow leads with 43 points and Red trails with 36.
The second course was the Muda Marina. Set in the Muda Kingdom, the track was a mix of Dolphin Shoals with caves and grottos and the Koopa Cape with clear tunnels and zero gravity segments. "Wow," whistles Luigi, "You really outdone yourself here Daisy."
"Aww, you're too kind~" she beams, "But I only came up with the course ideas. The real magic is thanks to the actual builders~" Luigi nods while Mario is focusing all his attention on the race ahead. The countdown once again begins and lets the racers speed off. As the racers made their way through the first lap, they couldn't help but notice a similar feeling to the Big Blue track; just smaller and easier to navigate. Learning from his mistakes on solely depending on himself, Mario worked more in tandem with the rest of his team. Thanks to the new strategy, Mario placed first, Toadette second, and Daisy third. The new round total was 77 Yellow and 81 Red.
As the racers head to the third track, Rosalina decides to have a chat with Luigi. "It's interesting being on different teams for once."
"H-heh, I know. Last time we were against each other, it was during Smash," Luigi scratches his cap shyly. "But this-a good, knowing my bro."
"Oh?" the space princess tilts her head in confusion slightly, "How so?" Luigi gestures to Mario talking to the rest of his team, planning out how to keep their synergy going. Daisy would tease and egg him on, only fueling Mario's competitive nature. "Ah," she smiles in response.
The third race in the cup was unique. It was a segmented course, meaning it was 3 sections instead of three laps. The goal was to head to the top of the mountain, while avoiding boulders and a rocky island terrain. It was dubbed the Easton Everest. The racers start their engines and launch into the grassy valley for the first section of the course. They had to stay on the stone pathway and avoid wandering Tokoko's acting as obstacles. Toad would ram into one, spinning his kart out as Yoshi used a stone statue as a ramp to boost ahead. As the racers head into the second section, the valley starts to ascend up the mountains. Boulders, mud and sand traps were the primary hazards here. Yoshi remained in first until a blow from a Blue Shell knocks him back. The racers drifted up the mountain, doing their best to not get hit. Luigi, sadly gets slammed by a boulder. "Luigi!" Rosalina cries out to him and slows down slightly.
"I-I'm ok…." his dazed voice squeaks as he slowly rolls out in a squashed formed. Seeing he was relatively fine, she nods and uses a Mushroom Boost to speed her up to the top 3. For the third and final section, the racers had to navigate across the interior of the mountain and use updrafts to propel their gliders to the top. Diddy, Daisy and Birdo were in the top 3, but Mario uses a triple Red Shell to knock Birdo back. He risks going off a small alternate route to get a gust of wind; it sends him up out of the caverns onto the exterior ramp. Mario keeps his lead for the final stretch and lands in first, followed by the other racers.
The red-capped driver does a victory pose and cheers to himself. Daisy giggles, "Don't count us out just yet. The scores are close and there's one race left~"
Mario looks at the score board; Red Team had 121 points and Yellow Team had 116 points. He looks at her smirking, "Let's-a go!"
The final race was the Chai Circuit. The course set its 3 laps through a lush bamboo forest with an air glider section through a large sky temple at the end. The drivers rev-up their engines, pulling off mini-boosts to send them speeding into the dense foliage. Pinopi's hopped around the track; acting as roadblocks to spin out drivers. A few racers on both teams get caught by them. Daisy, uses a Triple Mushroom boost to speed through a small clearing in the grass off a ramp; flinging her into 2nd, behind Luigi. "Come on Weegee, you got this!" calls out Mario.
During Lap 2 Luigi would've lost his lead during the air temple segment. He was bombarded with a Bob-Omb and a lightning strike from Toad that affected everyone in the red group. Mario mutters a few things in Italian, seeing his entire squad fall behind. He shouts to the rest of them,"Ey, we-a got this. Don't give-up yet!" Hearing their team captain give a mini pep-talk during the race helped the other racers regain their confidence. It was now the last stretch and by skillfully using items, the two groups were pretty much neck and neck and battle for every position. Mario used a few gusts of winds to send his kart through a small opening in the temple. He was right behind the two princesses in the lead.
"Gotcha-a now!" He hits Daisy with a red shell, making her spin-out. Mario's now in second, right behind Rosalina who's about to cross.
"Oh do ya now?~" Daisy uses a Mushroom she saved up to boost her, knocking Mario ever so slightly back to third, finishing the race.
"Oh no! I-a had it! Mama mia…" he shakes his head. The racers funnel in; it was close. They all eagerly await the final tally. The scoreboard finally updates: Red Team is 157 and Yellow Team is 159. By a slim two point margin, Yellow won. Daisy and her team cheer as confetti shoots out from the monitor.
"Wohoo, oh yeah! We're the best!" the flower princess cheers on to her crew-mates.
Mario looks at his disheartened team, "Ey, we gave a good race. I'm-a proud of us. We should-a celebrate too." Luigi pulls in Mario for a hug, to which Mario ruffles Luigi's hair. Upon seeing the brothers mess with each other, the rest of Mario's crew lighten up and cheer-on as well.
"Are you sure you and Luigi can't stay? Everyone else from today is, and we're hosting the party here tomorrow. you might as well," Daisy asks Mario. He's packing up his non-racing Kart for the night.
"It's-a ok, Principessa, I don't-a wanna impose."
She sighs and shakes her head, 'With you, it'd wouldn't be imposing,' she muses to herself.
"Besides, I've-a got a something at home I forgot. I'll-a bring it tomorrow for the party!"
"Alright fine~" She laughs.
Mario beams, and coughs lightly, "Uh Weegee? You-a ready? We gotta get home if we're gonna make it on time tomorrow!" Luigi was talking to Rosalina and both of them seemed to having a pleasant conversation.
Luigi yelps a bit in surprise hearing his brother, "O-oh yep! Sorry, I-a got lost in thought for a bit there." The cosmic guardian pulls him for a quick hug, making him melt.
"I'll see you tomorrow Luigi, take care~" Luigi leaves in a flustered state, only being able to mumble a few words as he heads back into the car.
"That's my bro~" chuckles the older twin.
End Note: I scrapped and re-wrote this chapter so many times. It was hard trying to do driving because, well, I'd rather play Mario Kart than write about it. Anyhow, moving forward, the next chapter shouldn't take nearly as long to update since I've had to framework for it in mind for a while. Thank you and have a good day/night.