Welcome To Mario Kart, Part 9
("I do apologize to everyone for killing Mario in this story." says Peach. "I promise never to do it again." Yeah, right. ….Oh well, isn't it amazing that even in the magical Mushroom Kingdom there is life, and death, and life beyond death? Kinda spoils the "Big Bang" theory again…. And to everyone who has read and/or reviewed this fanfic, I give you all a huge THANKS!)
War Cup"Look at this place." Luigi took a look around at the vast fields in a remote section of Sub-Con. "They are growing vegetables here like never before! Look! Tomatoes….carrots….is that spinach?"
"Well, I guess so." said Peach tiredly.
He turned after hearing sorrow in her voice. "You okay, Peach? You don't sound like yourself."
"I'm fine." she answered. "Just fine."
But he could tell by her tone that she wasn't fine, as a matter of fact he detected a hint of hostility directed right at him.
"Have I done something to upset you?"
"No." she said. "You haven't."
He paused for a moment, noting how she wouldn't dare look him the eyes. "I don't believe you. I don't know what's going on but I'm sure you are angry for some reason. And I don't know why, but it seems you have been angry at me since we woke up this morning."
She turned away from him and mumbled something.
"What?" he asked.
There was no answer. Her arms were folded and she pulled away when he tried grabbing her.
"What is it? Why are you acting like this? You don't want to talk to me after I have brought you this far? That's not exactly being grateful, now is it, Peach?"
Finally she turned to face him. "You brought me this far! Oh really? So you've dragged me all over this place searching for these hearts…which by the way you don't have any idea of their whereabouts….and you make me sleep in that awful damp cave with you snoring all night long! My hair's a mess! My clothes are dirty! And I haven't had a bath in two days! You know, before all of this happened I was starting to think Daisy and you were perfect together because I always thought you were the perfect gentleman! Now I see that's not so! And now I'm sorrier than ever that I killed Mario! He always takes good care of me whenever we go on adventures together!"
Luigi stood back, appalled by what she had said to him. Here he was, doing his damnedest to bring back his brother just because she wanted him back….
"Well, I guess that gets everything out in the open, doesn't it? You know, Peach, just maybe you should stop trying to compare me to my brother. Mama-mia…you and me wouldn't be doing this if you hadn't killed him in the first place—"
"I hate you, Luigi!" she yelled.
"Well then I hate you too, Peach!" he yelled back.
She retaliated. "That's Princess Toadstool to you!"
"Fine….Princess!" he sneered. "We go find the hearts now, and we don't stop until we have all of them! Then we can go back to Mushroom World and bring my brother back…then I can go back to Sarasaland where I have a woman who I treat very well…thank you very much! And my brother can come back to you…and believe me, I will feel very sorry for him!"
Luigi was lucky to catch her hand just before she smacked his face.
"That's it." he said after releasing his tight grip on her wrist. "Let's go. I have nothing else to say about this, Princess. You might think I don't know how to find these hearts but you had better stick with me unless you would like to go back to the Mushroom Kingdom as a ghost too."
Without another word spoken Luigi tossed his backpack over his shoulder and started walking. He had gone about ten steps when Peach finally came following behind him.
Mario TartsFighting fire with fire was never so evident as when Toad decided to make money for the Mushroom Kingdom by baking cakes, pies, cookies, and other sweets to sell, all wrapped and sealed with a stamp of Mario's jolly face on the package. This was all Toad's original idea, his intention being to make sure the people never forgot who was responsible for their kingdom's flourishing prosperity throughout the years. He also made memorabilia such as t-shirts with the Mushroom Kingdom's entrance on the front, coffee mugs with Princess Toadstool's royal crown, and backpacks for children with an emblem of Luigi giving a thumbs up. He also decided to expand the market beyond the Mushroom Kingdom, and he finalized a contract that gave permission to market bob-omb candies to grocery chains on Earth.
"Wow." said Yoshi. "Have you seen this? It's amazing, Toad. People are buying this stuff, and you're making millions for us. We just might be able to take over everything Wario's bought out and get this place back to normal after all."
Toad was less than enthused about this though. It made no difference that he had been a very involved part of this operation to restore the good to the Mushroom Kingdom and remove evil—namely Wario—he couldn't even manage to smile anymore because he missed the princess so much. And he missed Luigi, too. No matter how hard he tried saving his beloved kingdom from ruin, he knew deep in his mushroom heart that it would never survive if the princess wasn't around to rule over it and the Mario Brothers weren't around to protect it.
"You know what, Yoshi? Last week I saw someone on the street holding up a sign."
"Oh really?" Yoshi was still full of spunk. "So did it have the prices of all your products on it?"
"No," said Toad from the short stool beside what had once been Princess Toadstool's throne. "It said The End Is Near."
Yoshi, who had been so positive about everything up to this point, didn't quite know how to respond to that. "The end? You mean the end of a particular low point in our lives? Or The End, like it says at the ending to Super Mario 64?"
Toad gave him looks that could kill. "Y'know, Yosh, I've been patient with you all throughout this escapade of ours, but now you're starting to get on my nerves. I'm talking about the fact that Princess Toadstool and the Mario Brothers made this place what it is…with a little help from us of course. But it's a fact that things won't be the same without them. Maybe it's time I stopped waiting and just packed up my bags and headed out to Kalimari Desert and caught the next train out. You know they run more frequently now that Wario's taken over."
"But Toad!" Yoshi said in a panic. "Where would you go? You can't do this! This is your home and you've never been anywhere else! If you leave, I'm going too!"
Toad got up and went to the stairs. "Okay, then you're going too. It doesn't make a difference to me."
Strange how it was when Toad and Yoshi got to the train station and saw so many other people there heading out as well. There was King Bob-Omb and the Shy Guys and Culex and…..was that Smithy? Then Yoshi looked past the newly installed electronic news stands and wondered what was going on when he saw a herd of goombas and koopas coming through. Then he realized what was happening when he saw the back of a big spiky shell.
"Bowser!" he nudged Toad and pointed in that direction. "I can't believe this! He's leaving too!"
Toad just shrugged and bought his train ticket.
A few minutes later, train 405 pulled into the station and stopped to unload the few passengers coming back to the Mushroom Kingdom. Sure enough, three people got off. One was an attorney hired by Wario to assist with all the legal brouhaha, another was from the Kingdom's Department of Internal Associations—put into action to investigate anyone if they ever tried overthrowing Wario, and a landscape artist who would redesign the entire kingdom to suit Wario's expensive tastes. "I want streets paved with gold just like heaven!" he reportedly told the landscaper.
"All aboard!" The train attendant called out.
"Wait!" someone yelled behind him. "We're coming!"
Yoshi cocked his head, hearing that familiar peachy voice….
At that moment was a brief silence as the door of the first car opened, and out came not one, but two people, and Toad's eyes brightened when he saw that the first person to come out of the train was Princess Peach Toadstool! Then came Luigi right behind her!
"Ya-hoo!" yelled Toad as he ran around everyone else to greet her, and he jumped right up then put his little arms around her waist. "Princess! Princess! You're back! I can't believe it! You're back!…" Finally he let go and looked up at her as she gazed down at him with her always beautiful eyes.
"Hello, Toad." she said. "I'm so glad to see you."
Luigi then came from behind her and immediately took the backpack from his shoulder and put it on the ground, then opened it to show them a small golden case. "And guess what we have everyone….…Seven hearts! With these, we bring back Mario!"
Cheers rang throughout the platform and inside the train station, and then was a big celebration including lots of balloons, confetti, and pizza parties.
As all the festivities were going on throughout the kingdom, Peach returned to the castle with Luigi, Toad, and Yoshi.
"Princess?" Toad whispered into her ear just as she was about to go upstairs to her room. "Did you take a bath at all while you were in Sub-Con?"
She frowned. "No, Toad. I didn't."
"Oh, you mean Luigi didn't sneak you into that secret creek like Mario did? Well, that's okay. Everyone was so glad to see you come back that I'm sure no one even saw all that dirt on your face and clothes or noticed that your hair is really a mess. Anyway, I've made you a nice bath, Princess. So you can relax for a while."
"Thank you." she said exhaustedly. "Tell Luigi to come up in about an hour with the gold case. I'll be ready then."
"O-kay!" Toad replied, then Peach went up to her bedroom and closed the door.
That's-a Mario, With An MThe Kingdom Eyewitness News Network reported all celebrations cancelled and a ten o'clock curfew activated, and anyone caught out after that would be locked up in the newly built jail facility run by Wario's honorable Brotherhood of Latte Guardsmen.
"I can't stand this anymore." Luigi said to Toad and Yoshi, then he got up with the gold box he had been so carefully guarding in his hands, and he left them there to watch the rest of the network news special, Chaos In Mushroom Kingdom.
A few moments later he came to the fancily engraved door of Peach's bedroom, and he knocked three times then waited. The door opened slowly, and the princess stood there inside her room, all cleaned up and dressed in a shimmering pink royal gown and the sparkling gold crown on top of her head, and there was a luscious scent surrounding her, something like peaches with a dash of cream, he thought, and the bitterness that had been eating away at his gut because of his anger with her finally started to ease,
"You…you look stunning, Princess. I am ready when you are."
Peach gave a nod then allowed him to come into her room, and she gently closed the door behind him.
"I think we should do this as soon as we can." he said, bringing the box to her nightstand and had almost put it down when she stopped him.
"No, not there," said Peach. "Over there, on the small chest near the window."
He followed her command and took the box to the chest and carefully placed it in the center, then turned to see Peach.
"Are you alright, Princess?"
She stood silently for a second, then went to him and grasped his hands. "Please, Luigi, you don't have to call me that anymore. I'm sorry, okay? I'm very sorry for what happened…Let's forget what happened, alright?"
"Yes, let's forget." he said.
After another pause, she confided in him. "I'm a little nervous, Luigi."
"I can tell. But you have nothing to be nervous about, eh?"
He snuggled her in his arms for a moment, the way he had refused to when they were in Sub-Con.
…I'd kiss you right now if you did not belong to my brother…
"What?" she said.
And Luigi was startled, not realizing he had spoken his thoughts aloud.
"It's time to bring back my brother.." he said quickly, covering for his awkward mistake, and he released her so she could go to the box and begin the magic spell that would join the hearts with the stars…
First, Peach opened the window.
Next, she knelt in front of the chest, opened the box..
A slight breeze blew in and Luigi stepped back, watching as she seemed to go into a deep daze, put her hands together like she was praying, then closed her eyes.
The seven transparent hearts rose magically from the gold box, and the room darkened until the only light were seven stars that appeared in a circle, spinning above her head, and the hearts soon joined with these stars, making a strong electrical hum.
A force of air almost knocked Luigi off his feet, but Peach, she was still kneeling while the winds kicked up and strange distorted images flashed all around them, and it felt like being pulled through a huge tunnel of digital effects, sparks flying, streaks of light flashing in the air; he could hardly breath, the pull was so strong. And suddenly Peach let out a horrific scream then collapsed again, almost the same as she had on the day she killed Mario.
The winds stopped.
The room was bright again.
The gold box was closed, as was the window.
There were no hearts. No stars.
And everything else around them seemed like nothing had changed at all.
Luigi went to Peach, knelt down on one knee to pick her up and carried her to the bed.
"Peach?" he said her name very quietly. "Peach….it's over now. I don't know what you did…Please, wake up……please…"
He kept shaking her until she finally opened her eyes.
"Everything is fine" he said reassuringly, although he really wasn't sure.
All of a sudden she sat straight up and look around her. "Mario?"
Luigi didn't want to answer, but he had no choice. "No, he's not here."
She just bowed her head and started to weep.
"It didn't work," said Peach. "I've failed. I couldn't bring him back, Luigi….I couldn't…" then she reached for him and cried a flood of tears upon his shoulder.
"All that for nothing." said Yoshi after watching the news special. "Wario's gone through all this trouble to make headlines and it wasn't even worth it. That news was more boring than ever. I think they could've done better than that."
Toad didn't give it much attention. "I wonder how the princess and Luigi are doing? They should be coming down in a minute."
"Hey, Luigi!"
Toad shot up when Yoshi yelled out Luigi's name, and he couldn't wait to hear the best news yet,
Then he noticed the less than joyous look on Luigi's face, and he saw the Princess standing next to him looking like tears were in her eyes.
"So where is he?" asked Yoshi. "Where's Mario?"
Luigi shook his head. "We don't know what happened. I guess the hearts…they didn't work.."
"What?" Toad popped up from the chair in a fury. "What do you mean the hearts didn't work? ….Princess? What went wrong?"
Peach didn't say a word, just walked across the room and sat down, facing away from all of them in disgust with herself.
"Oh man…" went Yoshi. "Bummer. Can she try it again?"
"Yoshi!" went Toad.
"I was serious!" said Yoshi.
"No," Luigi answered. "She can't try again. The hearts are gone. She did the best she could…"
"Hey Luigi! Come here! I found loads of flour in-a the kitchen—"
Toad, Luigi, Yoshi, and Peach all looked at the same time at the one they had all been waiting so long to see,
"Mario!" Peach leaped from her seat and rushed to throw her arms around him.
"Whoa…Princess!" Mario caught her and held his balance even though she had just about tackled him. "…What's gotten into you? Not in front of everyone!" and he held his arms away from her body as not to touch her, not only because he wasn't supposed to in front of the others, but because shroom flour was all over his fingertips.
"EEEEEE!" she chimed with excitement.
"My goodness….I don't know what this is, but Princess," he lowered his voice and spoke into her ear so no one else would hear. "..if you come-a over to my place a little later, you can finish what you started…"
"Mario!" Luigi said cheerfully as he went up to the happy couple. "How good it is to see you again, brother!"
"Yes." Mario said, wondering if Luigi must have lost his mind.
"Yeah!" yelled Toad. "This is great!"
"It's all over for Wario now that we've got you back!" said Yoshi.
Mario stopped Peach before she got too romantic on him and stepped back to see them all. "Wait a second. Now that you've got me back. What? Where did I go?"
"Uh…you were….dead?" said Yoshi.
Mario looked stunned.
Then Luigi started rambling. "He means you were technically dead but not really because you were always with us even though you—"
"Hold it. I don't remember being dead. Now I know I can't remember everything but I would definitely remember a thing like that…and if I was dead, as you say, who killed me?"
Toad, Luigi, and Yoshi zipped their lips, and Peach put on a front of innocence while Mario warily studied each one of them. He then lowered his shifty brows and looked right at Peach.
"You? You killed me, Princess?…" Alas he began rehashing the past. "I remember you tried to kill me…but I don't remember you succeeding."
"Well do you remember everything going blank?" Yoshi popped up out of the blue.
They all looked cross at Yoshi, then Mario's eyes fell on Peach.
"I don't know what would have made you want to kill me, Princess…after everything I have done for you." said Mario. "And you've been hiding all that flour in your kitchen when me and Luigi could have used it for pizza dough and pasta."
Luigi then stepped forward and pulled Peach back to speak with his brother. "Do not blame her. It wasn't her fault. It was a wiggler in the shroom flour that we now know was planted by Kamek. Even you knew. You came to the princess as a ghost and told her."
Unable to think straight or get a good idea of what they were all trying to tell him, Mario just tried shaking off all this madness and regained his composure.
"I don't know what kind of tricks you are all playing, but me…I am ready to continue with the kart races, that is if you all promise me you will play fair."
They all seemed to agree.
"Especially you, Princess." Mario added. "I can forgive you for hiding all the flour, but from now on, when I win, instead of trying to kill me, all you have to do is accept it, and of course congratulate me afterwards…"
All would have been fine if he had not said that, because Peach's expression turned ice cold and she walked away in a snit, now prepared for war.
"I give up." said Luigi. "If she kills you again, you'll have deserved it."
Select PlayerThe entire stretch of Mario Raceway had been trashed.
Koopa Troopa Beach was a syrupy sticky eyesore.
The once beautiful Royal Raceway was polluted with debris and the pavement full of pot holes.
Even Rainbow Road had been ruined with Wario's idea of self-promotion, as all the flashing neon signs were renderings of his face.
"No….." Mario kept saying over and over again. "…No….no….no…I can't believe this….I just can't…. And I can't believe he replaced my cap with a statue of himself! Where is he? Where? I will tear him apart piece by piece!"
…you can't do that…then you'll be putting yourself on his level….
Mario stiffened and looked all around him.
"Hey, who said that?"
…it's me…you're conscience…
"Me?" Mario looked up somewhere and pointed to himself as he stood in the living-room back at home. "My conscience? You mean I have one of those, too?"
….barely…
"What?"
….nothing…the best thing for you to do now is put all of this behind you, rebuild the tracks and start the races again…
Mario looked around him and thought on it, "Go away, conscience…or whoever you are…I don't need you anymore…" Then he went to his armoire, opened it, and took out a small wooden box that he opened up, then picked up two small vials of shell explosives he had stolen from Peach's bedroom earlier in the day. Actually, they were her last two, but she wouldn't be needing them anyway.
With a sinister eye, Mario went back into the cabinet for a clean pair of gloves so he wouldn't leave any fingerprints on the big yellow bomb that would blow Wario to smitherines when he came in at fourth place….
The races started again after a massive cleanup and the removal of Wario from his corrupted reign of power, then all the tracks were restored to their original beauty, and the Mushroom Kingdom was made safe for habitation once again.
And indeed, it happened.
Right at the end of the very last race: Rainbow Road, 150cc.
The crowd cheered Peach who earned the gold cup with grace.
Toad took the silver.
Mario got the bronze.
And Wario…he got the big yellow bomb.
The thing followed him over the hill with the bad loser music, then it exploded with a fierce strength that blew the yellow cap right off his head, and not one person felt pity for him when he cried "WAAAAAA," all the way up then crash-landed flat on his back..
After that, Wario was tossed onto a stretcher and hauled off to the Mushroom Kingdom Medical Center in an ambulance. Lucky for him, he survived.
And yet Peach, who was being showered with roses and confetti, looked over at Mario as he signed autographs and kissed little babies, and she knew he had taken the vials and used them in Wario's bomb, but she wouldn't dare say a thing because if she brought that up, her conscience would force her to tell Mario that she had used more than twenty of them just before killing him…
"Luigi?"
"…Wha….wha… Oh, Mario? Sorry, I must have dosed off."
"How can you sleep through all of this music and dancing and celebration?"
Luigi then sat up straighter in the comfortable lounge chair, and he looked around him, seeing all the people on the dance floor and pizzas being carted to the tables and the bubbly flowing into wine glasses.
"Well, I guess I'm just a little tired from all we've been through."
"Yes," Mario sat down in the chair beside his brother. "I know about what happened at Sub-Con. Peach told me. And I must say it doesn't surprise me one bit. You know, Peach…she is very difficult sometimes."
Luigi didn't really agree, but didn't disagree either.
"It takes a little more effort with her than it does the average woman…" Mario continued. "…Of course, I know how to keep her in line."
There was a pause before Luigi spoke.
"You amaze me, brother. You talk about the princess like she is your handmaiden and she worships you. You are foolish to think that about her. She's a very smart woman, Mario. If you don't watch out, someone just might steal her away from you."
"Oh," Mario sat forward, intrigued. "Really? Is that a personal warning…from you…little brother?"
A waiter came around and Luigi picked up his glass and raised it up to let the bubbly flow in.
"I guess she didn't really tell you about everything that happened in Sub-Con after all. Like I said before, Peach is a very smart woman."
Mario became instantly angered and got up. "I ever catch you with her, I'll kill you!"
Then Luigi stood, glass in hand. "Well then, you may as well kill me now!"
The brothers immediately went for each other, Luigi taking the first punch and then breaking his glass of over Mario's head, then Mario jabbed Luigi once in the stomach and someone nearby screamed, then everyone got up from their seats and started cheering for one brother or the other, "MARIO! MARIO!" "LUIGI! LUIGI!" while they kept punching each other, and then people started placing bets,
"Mario!"
All the commotion stopped, as well as Mario who was tangled in Luigi's chokehold.
"Luigi!"
Luigi quickly let go when he saw the princess.
"I'm shocked at both of you!" said Peach as she went to them. "How could you act like this in public! Mario, I order you back to the castle right now!"
Then all of sudden, Princess Daisy came out from somewhere in the crowd.
"And Luigi, I order you back to Sarasaland!"
Mario and Luigi just looked at each other, then Mario whispered to his brother, "Wow, this isn't such a bad ending after all, eh, Luigi?"
But Luigi wasn't so sure. "I don't know, Mario. I'd say by the looks on their faces, we are both in big trouble…"
FinaleNow that the Mushroom Kingdom was once again a magnificent land of humble mushroom houses, fluffy clouds, crayon skies, rainbows, flower gardens, and of course the Royal Castle, the citizens were more at ease knowing they were protected by the fabulous duo of the Mario Brothers, and the kingdom's government was stable under the rule of Princess Toadstool. Children played freely in the streets again, the Kingdom Police Headquarters had a new sergeant to replace the cruel Sergeant Toad, and finally Luigi settled down with Princess Daisy in Sarasaland(after she made him spend a two week vacation in northern Sarasaland at her parent's house), and Mario…well…the princess confined him to her huge kitchen, where he was forced to knead dough and cook more pasta than he'd ever seen in his lifetime for all the dignitaries who came to the royal dinners.
"Sorry, Mario." said Toad, guarding Mario as the princess had commanded him. "I hate this as much as you do. I guess I better warn you that her uncle Rochester's coming next week, and he's a huge pasta lover!"
Toad seemed to be giggling inside and Mario cut his eyes but could do no more than keep making the pasta and despising himself for once again letting the princess get the upper hand—
"Mario!"
…speak of the devil... He thought to himself.
Peach came rushing into the kitchen and hugged him for no reason. "I have wonderful news for you!"
…you are going to kill me again?…
She immediately pulled back, seeing that he was covered with flour from the tops of his shoes to the tip of his nose.
"What did you say, Mario?"
"…Umm…" he stumbled, not realizing he had spoken aloud just as his brother would do sometimes, "..You are happier than you have ever been?".
"Well," She looked confused. "Yes, I suppose that's right, Mario. But that's not what I wanted to tell you. My uncle's not coming after all."
On the inside Mario felt like jumping for joy and escaping this hellhole, but instead he just racked his brain for a good reply. "Not coming? Oh…well..I am so sorry, Princess. I know you were looking forward to seeing him….and, well I was looking forward to cooking for him."
Peach took a second to respond. "Mario, have you been sneaking into my wine cellar again? My uncle is a prude. He makes me do stupid things like walk with a book on my head whenever he comes to visit. Anyway, he's given me a helicopter for my birthday! I thought we could go on a little trip…you know, the exotic getaway I've always wanted?"
Alas, Mario let out a sigh of relief, jammed his fists in the air and went, "YA-HOO!" He then yanked off the chef's apron and went running all over the kitchen in a frenzy. "I'm-a free! I'm free, everybody! I get to go on a vacation and leave this dreadful place!"
And he danced around all the workers in the kitchen while they looked at him like he was a fool, and he spun around, kicking up flour, then slid on his knees right up to Peach.
"When do we leave, Princess?"
Peach was not at all amused by his circus act.
"I think you need to make some arrangements first, don't you, Mario?"
"Oh…" Mario, suddenly feeling like a real ignoramus, stood up and wiped the excess flour from his clothes. "..Oh yes. Arrangements. And very special indeed!" He said exuberantly, wanting so badly to please Peach this time. "You'll see, My Princess…This will be one trip you will never forget!"
Hey, You Very Good! See You Next Time!On a very sunny day in the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Toadstool got her wish and was whisked away to exotic Sunset Beach. But before leaving, Mario had made special arrangements to gather the citizens of the kingdom and all the players from Mario Kart 64—including Wario—and he opened the courses to all the people, especially children, for racing against their friends and families.
"Welcome To Mario Kart!" was his official opening statement, then making sure to do things bigger and better(because that's just Mario's way), all the big screens were turned on for the fans to witness him slipping a huge star-shaped diamond ring onto Peach's finger, and the people of the Mushroom Kingdom cheered as the happy couple kissed, then the helicopter lifted off.
"Wow, what a great day." said Toad as he waved from the podium and watched his princess on her first trip as a blushing bride-to-be.
"Yeah, it is." Yoshi replied. "But think about it. We'll have to start calling the princess, Princess Mario. Won't that be kinda weird?"
Toad kind of laughed and shrugged. "I don't know so much about that, Yoshi. I think we should probably just wait and see what happens on their vacation….if they get through it without breaking up again."
In the meantime Mario instructed the pilot to fly over all the courses so Peach could see them all—Luigi Raceway, Moo Moo Farm, Kalimari Desert, Frappe SnowLand, Bowser's Castle, Wario Stadium, Sherbet Land, Royal Raceway, Choco Mountain, Yoshi Valley, DK Jungle Parkway, Mario Raceway(with the cap fully restored), Koopa Troopa Beach, Toad's Turnpike, Banshee Boardwalk, and Peach waved at the happy star on Rainbow Road, then the copter circled back and hovered above the Royal Castle one last time before heading up into the sunny Mushroom Kingdom sky.
A/N: So what'd ya think, eh?