Chapter 23: The First Stop
It was break of dawn. The bus had just arrived at a small ranch near the edge of the mushroom kingdom. In the orange glow of dusk, a couple of cows were grazing on the large grass fields. All the farm had was cows, but now many of them weren't here because they were currently being relocated.
To be fair, they only moved them because of the construction of a race track that had been going on for a couple months. In fact, construction just finished yesterday, just in time for the event.
Yes, the Karters first stop was Moo Moo Meadows.
The meadow owner had to get the track built before they arrived. They also had to get a huge party prepared. You see, at every stop, the Karters celebrated at the place with their present, and there was a huge party that lasted five days.
The day they arrived would mark the beginning of the party. The first three days were free days, where the Karters could do what they wanted. They could do some practice on the actual track, or they could goof off or explore the area. This is when most of the visitors and spectators would arrive. The fourth day was the actual race, and the fifth day was the award ceremony, where they celebrated the winner of the race and awarded points.
"Attention all passengers! We will be arriving at Moo Moo Meadows in thirty minutes. I repeat, thirty minutes to touchdown!" Toadsworth's voice rang over the intercom.
The Karters were in a state of frenzy. They had been trapped in their rooms for almost a day straight, and they were all antsy to stretch their legs on some new, but familiar, territory.
Well, it was familiar for most of them. But to two of the contestants, Moo Moo Meadows was totally unfamiliar.
Why don't we check on the two Karter Freshman? In one of the rooms, the only one with a pink door, a fairy boy and a Princess were being harassed by a Cookie.
No, not one of Peach's cookies gone bad, but a cat. Their cat.
The announcement over the intercom had thrown her into a frenzy. She was running all over the room, knocking over the TV, the table, and the Peach's easy bake oven.
"Cookie! Stop that!" Peach yelled, running after the shrieking cat.
"Sigh..." Link sat down on his bed as the cat knocked down something else. "You're paying for that."
"Of course I will! We have to!" Peach said, pulling out a butterfly net. "Aha!" She screamed in triumph as the cat was scooped into the net. Sadly, the cat clawed its way out, and it stuck it's tongue out at Peach as it jumped into Link's lap.
"We? Why we? We're don't share our bills or anything."
"Hey, we share this room, so we share responsibility for it! Just like we have to share responsibility for out baby!"
Link immediately looked at her with puzzled eyes. "Our baby..."
"Wait, you mean..."
"I mean Cookie, of course!" Peach cheered, taking the cat from Link.
Meanwhile, a few rooms away, Villager and Toad were training for the upcoming race.
"Haha! I win again!" Villager screamed in triumph.
"Well, this is just a game! We'll see how well you do when you face the real deal in real life!" Toad snapped. He flexed his, uh, muscles. "Ain't no one gonna beat this!"
"Hey, don't get too cocky! I intend to win!" Villager walked over to his side of the room-they were too childish the whole thing- and dusted off a dark brown shelf. "This is where I'm gonna put my golden trophy."
Toad looked quizzically at him. "You know you can't take that shelf home, right?"
Villager shook his head at him like Von Karma would. "Nonsense! Look here!" He put his hand to the shelf, and it transformed into a small green lead before Toad's very eyes.
"What? How'd you do that?" Toad asked.
"I'm just awesome!" Villager said, flexing his, uh, muscles. Then, he threw the lead back into the floor, where it turned back into a shelf.
"I'm telling ya, I've trained every moment I could before the trip. Nobody can beat me!" Villager said.
"Except someone with actual skill who doesn't need to train?" Toad asked.
Villager frowned. "You only get skill from training!"
"I dunno man." Toad said. "You hear about Sir Link? Rosalina told me he was a natural! And he's also a freshman. I haven't heard anything about you from Luigi. " He and all other toads had started calling Link "Sir Link" after that one incident that I will one day write about (but today is not this day!).
Link, huh? Villager thought. "Oh, don't worry. He won't be beating me. I mean, Mr. Link is a fantastic fighter and all, but he doesn't have the drive that I have. He's just here for the ride. I'm here to win."
"Aren't we all here to ride, though?" Toad smirked.
Villager exhaled through his nose and nodded at him. "Got me there."
"Anyways, there's no way you'll beat Luigi or Rosalina. They're the best of the best!" Toad said.
"I guess we'll see in a couple days." Villager said.
"Hello? Is this thing on?" Toadsworth's voice rang over the intercom. After a short conversation too fast to be understood by any of the passengers, the old toad's voice boomed over the intercom once again, "We have arrived at Moo Moo Meadows! Please exit the bus in an orderly-"
The rest of his announcement was cut off as the Karters rushed out of the bus. Outside, a large crowd was waiting for them. Among them was [insert giant list of characters here].
"Hey guys, listen up! You can walk everywhere except that gated off area over there!" Mario shouted, pointing to an run-down old barn on the opposite side of the meadows. "The consequences will be severe for all those found there. The area is very dangerous."
The Karters started walked into the crowd to mingle with friends, and to make new ones.
"So... You come here often?" Bowser Jr. said.
"No." A small girl with a small red dress and a golden staff with a red orb said. "I'm just here to watch the tears flow from the eyes of the losers."
"Oh! Saucy... I like that..." The small koopa said, leaning towards her.
She sighed, blasted him with fire, and floated away.
"...hot." Bowser Jr. muttered, before passing out.
"Hi, Isabelle!" Villager waved to his loyal secretary.
"Hi mayor! I'm here on official business!" The yellow humanoid dog said.
"What kinda business?"
"To cheer you on, of course!" Isabelle said. "Actually, I have to go in five minutes... Got a village to tend to, you know? So, here's a parting gift!" She handed him a green gift box, and ran off, back in the direction of his village.
"Uh, ok... Bye..." Villager waved. He then went straight to the track.
Link was looking around, sitting on the edge of the bus. He couldn't see any visitors for him, and he was kinda anti-social to people he didn't know. His eyes strayed over to the old, dusty barn with the chained up door. Naturally, he started walking over to explore. He walked through the crowd, and was, fortunately, ignored. Mostly.
Anyways, Villager was the only one on the track right now. Everyone else was busy talking to friends. He was thankful for it though; it gave him time to think.
Ever since he had joined Smash-City, he had received letters from his villagers every day. He hadn't had the time to read them, until the bus ride.
Before then, they had never once crossed his mind. And now, he felt himself longing to be back in his village, with his animal friends. He jumped a ramp, and pulled off a flawless landing after performing a mid-air flip.
To be honest, he thought that he was going to be greeted by all of them when he exited the bus a few minutes ago. But, they weren't. Only Isabelle, his loyal secretary, was there, and only for a small time. The reason she had to leave so soon was because he had ignored the village to be in Smash-City.
He had to make it up to them.
Another ramp. Another perfect landing. Stopping the car, he gazed at the reflective surface of the trophy, which was on a table a few hundred feet away from him, at the finish line.
I know what I can do! I'll win the cup, and claim the victory for the village!
He revved up his engine, and went for another two laps before heading home to write some letters.
In another part of the meadows, Link was busy investigating the forbidden old barn. When he neared it, he realized that the barn was much larger than he had thought it would be. It was almost the size of the party manor! When he got even closer, he thought he had heard a void-ish sound. You know the sound when you near a portal in most video games? It sounded like one of those. His curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to at least find out the source of the sound.
There were no other (practical) entrances besides the locked up door, as far as he could see. He'd left his sword in the bus, but even if he managed to knock the door down, someone would definitely notice the change.
There was another way to get in... On the roof was a small latch that wasn't open. Link was considering ways to get up there when he heard a voice from behind him. "What're you doing, silly boy?" A turned around just in time to have get tackled right into the wall of the barn.
"Ow..." Link opened his eyes after the dust had cleared away to see the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom herself smirking at him. Her hands pinned him against the wall.
Hey! Get your hands off me!"
"No!"
"Why'd you tackle me?"
"I can't let you go in there!" Peach screamed. "It's forbidden!"
"Well, one has to wonder..." Link said, listening the the soft whirring coming from within.
"...?"
"Why is it forbidden? What's in there anyways?"
"Um..." Peach thought about it for a minute. "I actually don't know... It just always has been."
Link stared at her. "Seriously? There has to be a reason!"
"Well, maybe it's just cuz the barn's old and could collapse!" Peach said, tightening her grip on him.
"I don't think so." Link said. "Listen."
"What? What do you-" She was cut off when Link forced one of her hands of him with relative ease and covered her mouth. The humming (I found the adjective that I should use to describe it) sound coming from within was clearly audible in the silence.
"!" Peach released her other hand from him. "Wh-what was that?"
"I don't know. But that's going to find out." Link started climbing the barn, when Peach grabbed his hand.
"I can't let you do this." Peach said.
"C'mon,whats the worst that can happen?" Link released her hand and rose to the roof of the farm. After a moment of consideration, Peach followed behind him.
When she made it to the top, she found Link, standing near the edge of the roof, watching the setting sun. In the distance, the Karters and the crowd could be seen. Nobody seemed to have noticed their absence.
"Link, we have to go!" Peach grabbed his arm again in an attempt to drag him off the barn.
"Peach, you usually don't mind bending the rules, so why do you insist on going back so much?"
"Because Mario said so!" Peach yelled, stomping her foot. She grabbed Link by the arm, and started pulling on him.
"Hey, let go of me!" Link and Peach struggled for a few seconds on top of the roof, when it suddenly started creaking.
"What the..." Peach said.
"...!" They both yelped as the roof crumbled beneath them, sending them into the darkness of the barn attic.
We interrupt your regularly scheduled (not really) program for a message from my sponsor:
A: Hey B, you hear about the time I got stuck in the swamp?
B: Yeah, I did. How'd you get out, anyways?
A: I just got out my Navi-Gator and it led me out!
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A/N: Will Villager win the cup and restore honor to himself? What will Link and Peach find inside the old, abandoned, barn? Why do I always add mysteries to the story and unexplained things when I have no idea what they mean or where they'll lead to myself? And will we ever get back to the Hunt For The Fourth Wall?
Find out the answer to about half of half of these in the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball S. Mash!
Until next chapter!
