The sun rose bright and early and spread her warm rays over the sleeping racers.  Link sat up slowly and saw that Tip Tup and Yoshi were already having fun jumping in and out of the already warm ocean.  "It's good to see Yoshi having such a good time," Luigi said, walking up behind Link.
            "I know," Link replied.  "He was so sad before, but he seems right at home here."  One by one the animals got up.  Yoshi and Tip Tup ran back and joined the group for a hardy breakfast that Luigi cooked up.
            "You sure do cook a mean breakfast, Luigi," Diddy commented.  Everyone else just nodded because they were too busy eating.  All that was heard for a long while was the munching and crunching of hungry animals eating the best breakfast they had ever had.  When they had finally finished, they all laid back in great fullness.

            "Do you cook like that all the time?" Timber asked Luigi.  Luigi chuckled.

            "Why of course!" he answered.  "You should see my brother, Mario.  He's gotten very large because of my cooking!"  Yoshi chirruped, admonishing Luigi for talking about his brother like that, but smiled in spite of himself.  The Link and the other animals just laughed.

            "Which brings to light the age old mystery of why Luigi is so skinny!" Link added.  The animals laughed even harder.  After everyone had calmed down, Timber sprung up: a revelation had just hit him.

            "Oh my gosh, you guys!" he squealed.  "My parents are going to be home in less that two weeks!"  He looked around at the others as they realized the enormity of his statement.  They had only freed one of the race worlds and half freed another.  There were still two and a half worlds to win!  Yoshi jumped up and chirruped and even gave a little roar.  Luigi translated.

            "He said in that case, we better get racing!"  The animals cheered loudly until Timber calmed them down.

            "Wait, guys," he said thoughtfully.  "Does anyone really know what happened to Drumstick?"  The animals all looked at each other, shaking their heads in uncertainty.  Yoshi chirruped questioningly.  Luigi translated.

            "He wants to know who Drumstick is."  Luigi asked for himself and Link, too.  They were newcomers and didn't know the goings-on on the racetrack.              Pipsy perked up and squeaked her loudest so everyone could hear her.

            "Drumstick was the best racer here.  He went to try and beat Wizpig and he never came back.  Wizpig is still here and now we're trying to get to him so he'll leave the racetrack before Timber's parents get back."  She took a deep breath, as she had used only one for that long speech.  Tip Tup nodded.

            "She's right.  Drumstick never came back and we have no idea where he went."  Link was thoughtful for a second.

            "If we split up, half of us try and find this Drumstick, and the other half keep racing, we may get to Wizpig even faster."  Link took a moment and wrote down the names of all the animals in the sand.  "Ok, who are the better racers?  The others will go and look for Drumstick."  The animals nodded their agreement.  "Yoshi will stay and race, and Luigi will stay to translate when necessary."  He crossed Yoshi and Luigi off the list and ushered them to one side.  Bumper spoke up.

            "Pipsy has proven herself more than once.  She should race."  Pipsy turned a deep shade of red at this announcement.  Link nodded and crossed her name off the list.  The little mouse joined Yoshi and Luigi.  Bumper pushed Tip Tup forward as he spoke again.  "Tip Tup should race, too.  He doesn't look it, but he can be very aggressive behind the wheel."  Tip Tup jumped back with a look of horror on his face.

            "Oh no," he whined.  "No way.  I'm not going…"  Link chuckled as he crossed Tip Tup off the list.  He waved the nervous turtle to where the other racers were standing.  Link hadn't been around long enough to witness the animals' racing skills, so he had to trust Bumper's word.  Bumper continued.

            "Diddy is a pretty decent racer, too.  So is Conker."  Link crossed the names off.  The elf stood.

            "Well, I guess that's it.  The rest of us will go and search for Drumstick."  Link read the remaining names.  "Bumper, Timber, Banjo, Krunch, and m…"  Diddy interrupted when he mentioned the kremling.

            "No way.  Either Krunch will race with us, or I'm looking for Drumstick."  Link looked at the little Kong questioningly.  Diddy continued to explain.  "He's in league with my family's arch-enemy.  I want to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't get away with any information."  Link looked at Krunch, who had sidled back behind Bumper.  The elf didn't think that the kremling could do too much harm, but he decided to humor the Kong.  He turned to Bumper, who seemed to be the deciding power in the group.

            "Who's the better racer, Diddy or Conker?"  Bumper thought for a moment before he answered.

            "They're both pretty good, but I'd have to say Diddy."  Conker looked a bit dejected.  "Besides," he added, "Conker knows his way around the island as good as Timber, maybe better.  He knows all the ins and outs of every nook and cranny.  Surely he's better suited to search for Drumstick."  Conker replaced his despondent look with a huge smile and scampered over next to Timber.  Link almost laughed at the squirrel's quick mood change and the badger's close call with Conker's wrath for saying he wasn't a good racer.

            "Ok," Link said, "Krunch, Diddy, Tip Tup, Pipsy, Luigi, and Yoshi will stay and race while Conker, Timber, Banjo, Bumper, and I go look for Drumstick."  The animals cheered and wished each other luck.  The racers headed off towards Dragon Forest while the searchers made their way to the main lobby.