Chapter 9: Family Reunion
"Wahoo!"
Jessie, Ian, and Nicole were flying over the snowy road. They were getting kind of cold from the wind as they drove on, but they would have been cold walking, and at least this way they would get out of the cold faster. All of a sudden: crash! Nicole's go-kart was up in the air! She clung onto the steering wheel and ended up landing right side up. Jessie and Ian braked to see if she was okay. Nicole drove forward to where they were. But they looked back to see if they could see what had hit her and they saw several go-karts in the distance behind them. One of them shot something red at them. They didn't know what it was until the red shell hit Jessie and she was in the air. At that point they understood.
"GO!" they all screamed and floored it.
At one point they ran into some colorful blocks. They didn't have time to react and ran into them. Suddenly they found that Jessie had a green shell in her lap, Ian had a banana peel and Nicole had an item block like those they had just run into. Ian just dropped his over the side of the kart and Jessie turned around in her seat and threw the shell as hard as she could and watched it skid back towards their pursuers. When they heard a loud crash, they knew it had made contact. Nicole didn't think to drop hers over the side until they had reached the next set of item blocks. By then, their followers had caught up a great deal; they'd obviously driven these go-karts before. They glanced back at just the second that their chasers reached the item blocks Nicole had dropped her item among. One of them hit it and flew up into the air. They realized it must have been fake but continued on anyway.
At almost the end of the track they could see the end of the snowfield and a castle beyond. Jessie and Nicole had both gotten green shells, and Ian had gotten a red one. They all turned around and threw them at their followers. But they also were hit with incoming items. Everyone was in the air at almost the same time. They all landed with a loud pound and were stuck for the usual moment. In which time they got a good look at their pursuers. Nicole would have kept going. But instead she stood up and raised an eyebrow at her friends, who had stopped and stood up, straddling their go-karts.
"Uh-oh," Ian uttered.
"Oh, my God!" Jessie exclaimed, and both their hands flew to their mouths. Three of their chasers had gotten out of their go-karts and were walking quickly toward them.
"Oh, my God," Jessie whispered over and over again, shocked beyond almost anything. Ian kept saying, "Oh, crap," behind his hands, still over his mouth. But they were both trying to stop their smiles.
'
Whomever Mario, Peach, Yoshi, Wario, and Waluigi were chasing had apparently learned how to use the items. Wario had been hit by a green shell thrown by one of them. Peach hit a banana peel. Mario hit the false block. Finally at the end of the track, when they could see beyond the snow to the castle they assumed was where the king lived, they hit the perpetrators again. Waluigi, Wario, and Mario were hit by incoming shells, but Peach and Yoshi kept going toward them. Everyone was now close enough to see who the chasees were. Mario, Peach, Yoshi, and Wario instantly recognized two of them. Mario, Peach, and Yoshi quickly got out of their go-karts and started quickly toward them. They were also shocked.
When they had reached them, the chasees were standing up, straddling their go-karts. At the same time, all five of them exclaimed, "We are so sorry! We had no idea who we were shooting at!" Then they all started laughing and heaped into a big hug.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Mario cried when he'd let Jessie out of a tight grip.
"Yeah," Jessie answered, "Oh, and by the way, Mario and Yoshi..."
"What?" they asked.
"I told you so," she said as she received a low five from Peach.
"I know, none of this would have happened if we'd listened to all of you," Yoshi said.
"Yeah, but we're kind of happy you didn't," Jessie said.
"What?" Mario, Yoshi, and Peach all asked, confused.
Jessie turned around and beckoned Nicole forward. "Guys, this is my friend, Nicole," Jessie introduced them, "Nicole, this is my brother, Mario, the princess of Mushroom Kingdom, Peach, and our friend Yoshi." Then Jessie spied Wario and Waluigi, "Oh, and this is my cousin Wario, whom I have no idea why he's here, and I also have no idea who that is beside him?"
"My name is Waluigi," Waluigi told her, "And if you're Mario's sister then that makes us cousins."
Jessie looked to Mario for an explanation. "Long story short: Wario and Waluigi are brothers who were separated when their parents separated," Mario explained.
"Um, okaaay," Jessie said.