A/N: Well, it's time for another chapter!

Let's see what happened while the smash ballots were going on...

Too bad a certain defense attorney was busy auditioning for smash during this chapter. Things could've been different...

Anyways, to the chapter!

Chapter 28: The Finish Line

"I'm sorry, but the law is the law. You should know that better than anyone, Mario."

"Please, judge! Give him a chance!" Mario pleaded. "He didn't say he did anything! Well, he actually hasn't said anything, because he's still passed out... but Peach said he didn't do anything!"

"Well, if he didn't, then he should be found innocent at the trial tomorrow." The judge looked at Mario intensely. "And you never know... The princess seems to be, uh... 'emotionally attached' to the defendant. She has a motive to lie on the stand. People have lied while testifying before."

"Emotionally attached?" Mario asked.

"Yes. They seem very close." The Judge said.

"...right..." Mario said. "Anyways, Peach would never lie about something as serious as this!"

"I'd like to believe that as much as you," the judge started, "but the experience was rather scarring. She might not be thinking clearly, and she would not be considered a reliable witness. If you don't find decisive evidence of his innocence, he will have to be banned from the prix."

"I understand." Mario sighed.

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me... I have to comb my beard." The judge, who looked a lot like Santa Claus, hurried Mario out of the courtroom.

"Welp, looks like I won't be able to help you this time, Link..." Mario said. He dejectedly walked back to the bus, where Link and Peach rested.

Entering the room, he found that Link had finally awoken, and was resting comfortably on his bed. His tunic was taken off, so he was shirtless. However, the bandages that covered his severe burns covered most of his torso anyways. Other than that, he seemed to be pretty normal. Peach was nowhere in the room.

"Hey, Link! You've finally awoken!" Mario said, trying not to look too sad.

"Yeah. Some crazy night, huh?" Link said. He sat up and rested his back against the wall. "Why don't you sit down?"

Mario took a seat on Peach's bed, across from Link.

"Soo... About the fire..." Mario started.

Link cringed at the mention of the fire. "Yeah... I'm really sorry about the fire. I didn't mean to disobey you like that."

"So you did cause the fire?" Mario asked.

"Well, I don't think so." Link said. "I think I was tripped."

"Tripped?"

"Yeah. But that's all in the past. I'm ready to move on and be good for the rest of the prix."

"Um... About that..." Mario said. "You probably won't be able to participate in the races anymore."

"What? What are you talking about?" Link asked.

"Well... You're going to be put on trial for crimes against the racers." Mario said. "Nobody believes in your innocence. If you're found guilty, you're gonna be put in jail for... a while."

"Wait... WHAT?! Why? The barn was old and rickety anyways! Can't you just give me an hour or two of community service and call it a day?" Link desperately asked.

"It's not that simple." Mario shook his head. "I wish it was. But your crimes, or rather, the crimes that you're being accused of, are much more serious than a huge fire. And that's not something to sneeze at either." Mario said as Link sneezed.

"Why?"

"Well, I suppose it'll be told in court tomorrow anyways." Mario said. "Did you see a giant floating gem in the barn?"

"Uh... Yeah! I remember that!" Link said. "That's the whole reason I wanted to get in there in the first place!"

"That's also the reason that you're not just getting community service!" Mario snapped.

"Oh..."

"Anyways, the gem is the core of all racing. It's what protects us while we race. If that gem isn't active, then all fire flowers, piranha plants, shells, and other items will seriously harm us instead of just causing us to spin out."

"Really? How does that work?" Link asked.

"That's not important right now!" Mario said. "The point is... that gem was cracked during the fire. We need to create a new gem, and that will take about a week. If the gem was broken without anyone knowing, then everyone would have been seriously hurt."

"Oh..." Link sighed. "But I didn't break it!"

"I believe you, but I don't think the judge will."

Mario said. Just them, a bell rang for curfew. "I guess it's time to sleep. The trial starts first thing tomorrow." Mario got up and started to leave.

"Hey, Mario..." Link said. "Thanks for all the help. I'm so sorry about everything."

Mario smiled at him. "It's ok. I forgive you. Good night." He closed the door behind him, and walked back to his own room.

The next morning, all the karters went to a makeshift courtroom in one of the barns. All of the karters had come to see the trial of Link.

Except Wario. Today was Tuesday, his garlic day.

Peach had showed up while Link was sleeping last night, after investigating the crime scene. Unfortunately, she didn't get very far, and was stopped by the police, who was led by a very clumsy detective named Dick Gumshoe. Kind of a weird name.

She, along with Mario, were going to support Link in court today.

Unfortunately, they wouldn't allow Link's most trusted advisor (himself) to defend him, so he had to sit idly and watch an incompetent attorney practically secure a guilty verdict.

Just his luck, the prosecutor, a whip wielder from the west (and by the west, I mean Germany) completely destroyed his lawyer.

After a very short trial, Link was ruled guilty. He was to leave and go back to Smash-City immediately,

"Hah. You are a foolish fool who foolishly challenged the slayer of fools to a foolish battle for fools!" The prosecutor said after the trial had finished.

"Um... Right." Link said. He thanked his defense attorney for trying, and walked back into the bus to pack his bags. Among the things he packed were clothes that Zelda had brought him after she told him that his clothes were too plain looking (he never wore them, but brought them anyways), a bag of cookies that Peach had baked, and the letters that Zelda had sent him along the way, along with pictures of how herself, Lucina, and Toon Link were getting along without him. He looked at a picture of the three of them, covered with flour, standing in front of one heaping pile of goop. I mean cake. He chuckled. Apparently Toon Link had left a week ago to make some extra money as a train conductor.

When he was almost done, he heard a voice from the doorway. "Hey." The voice was feminine, but it wasn't Peach. He could tell because it wasn't annoyingly high pitched and giddy.

He looked up to find his racing mentor, Rosalina, waiting underneath the doorway.

"Rosalina? What are you doing here?"

"I just came to talk. May I come in?"

"Oh! Of course!" Link quickly tidied up the sofa, and Rosalina sat down as Link made his final preparations. Cookie the cat saw Rosalina, and jumped into her lap. She quickly dozed off.

"My, what a beautiful cat..."

"Thanks, I guess." Link said, zipping up his pack. He then put the pack inside his magical pants that could hold anything. Wow, that sounded way grosser than I thought it would...

"So, what did you come to talk about?" Link asked.

"Well, it's about the trial. I know you didn't do it."

"Well, that makes two of us." Link said.

"Actually, many people don't think you'd be capable of doing it either. You're too good to do it on purpose, and too careful to do it on accident."

"Yeah, but you heard the judge."

"I know... Just know that our opinion of you has not changed from this. A shame, too... You could've been a great racer. Oh, and I also have a little present for you..." She leaned up to Link and pecked him on the forehead. With her wand, of course.

"There."

"Um... What did that do?" Link asked.

"Just a gift from me to you."

"Gee, thanks..." Link said. He did not want to say that he didn't know the point of that, because that would be rude. "Well, it looks like it's time for me to be off. My finish line is here. Thank you."

"It's really nothing. It's the least I could-" she was cut off as Link have her a final goodbye handshake. He wasn't too into hugs.

"See you later." Link said after releasing her hand. He took Cookie, and walked out of the bus. "Goodbyes" didn't exist in his mind. That's why he didn't bother finding anyone else to talk to before he left.

However, he didn't have to look for anyone, because just as he entered the woods, he heard the familiar high-pitched voice yell his name from behind.

"Link! Link, wait!" Peach ran up to him. She was heavily panting by the time she caught up to him.

"It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!" She then proceeded make hand gestures at herself.

"What? What am I looking at right now?" Link asked. "What is... This?"

"Take me with you!" Peach said. "If they have to cut out one of my best friends unfairly, then I won't participate either! Besides, the whole thing was sorta my fault too..."

"Best friend, huh?" Link said to himself.

"That's besides the point!" Peach yelled. "I can't race with a good conscious knowing you were kicked out and I wasn't!"

"All right... So even if I say no, you'd still come, right?" Link asked. Peach nodded.

"I guess I'm stuck with her again..." Link sighed. " Great goddess... Why me?"

From nowhere, Link and Peach heard the voice of Palutena yell "Sorry!"

Link turned his attention to Peach. "Fine, you can come. It'll be easier for the both of us if I just agree now."

"Now you're learning!" Peach cheered. "All right, no time to waste, let's go!" She grabbed Link's wrist, and dragged him along the path at an alarming rate.

Here we go again... Link thought in an annoyed, but slightly relieved, tone.

Back in Smashville, Villager was enjoying a nice cup of coffee at the roost with one of the veteran villagers, Mac the dog.

Besides him and Mac, Brewster, the owner of the Roost, was there as well. They were sitting at the counter across from him. He didn't partake in the conversation, but he was listening.

There was another man there. Yeah, a man, not an animal. He didn't even look like Villager. He looked like a regular human being.

He wore a strange headpiece that completely covered his eyes. The headpiece around the eyes was made of some red glowing stripes that looked like they could shoot lasers. He wore a brown best underneath a blue-green dress shirt. Leaning against a chair, he sipped out of a coffee cup while looking out the window. On the table were fifteen more coffee cups, all empty.

He seemed crazy, so nobody paid him much attention.

"Woof! So, you were going to be in a race competition? That sounds so fun, woof!"

"Yeah, it was gonna be fun." Villager said, taking another sip of coffee. "Mmm... Superb coffee as usual, Brewster!"

"Coo... Thank you." The wise avian replied.

"Anyways, why did you leave?" Mac asked.

"Well, I had a sort of... epiphany. As they call it." Villager said.

"A-pea-fanny?" Mac asked.

"Yeah. A sort of mental moment of discovery." Villager replied. After another sip of coffee, Villager continued. "I realized that I've been neglecting you guys, and I decided to head back so that you guys wouldn't hate me."

"Woof! Really? That's it? Cmon, mayor! You should know more than that!" Mac replied in shock.

"What do you mean?"

"We'd never hate you! After all you've done for this town, we owe you our lives! When you left, we just assumed you were taking a much needed break. Working day and night like that should have been very straining of you."

"It didn't really feel like working to me..." Villager mumbled.

"Well, that's probably because you enjoyed it so much. If you love your job, you don't really work a day in your life. You know who told me that, woof? Isabelle. Wonder where she is, actually. Probably off chasing a ball or something." Mac said, laughing.

"Isabelle, huh..." Villager was deep in thought when Mac interrupted his thoughts once again.

"I guess it's a good thing in the end that you didn't go racing. Not after the fire..." Mac paused to take a swig of coffee.

"Wait, a fire? What do you mean?" Villager asked.

"You don't know? C'mon, mayor! I thought you were hip with the news! Alright, if I must mentor you..." Mac cleared his throat, and continued, "Yesterday, a fire broke out at the site where they were racing."

"WHAT?! How?"

"They say that a guy named Link caused it."

"Link? I don't believe it." Villager shook his head. "He couldn't do you think?"

"Hey, I'm no detective. I can't tell you if you're right or not." Mac shrugged.

"Wait, if there was a fire... then that means Isabelle might be in danger!" Villager gulped down the rest of his coffee, and rushed out of the Roost.

He rushed to the train station, and he was quickly followed in confusion by Mac.

"Whoa! Mayor, what's happening, woof?"

"I gotta get back." Villager said. He ran towards the train station. "Tell the other residents that I'll be back soon, and that I'm sorry to abandon you again."

"We understand! We'll be waiting for your return! Mark my words, I will be the first one to greet you! Woof!"

"Thanks." Villager said. Waving goodbye to Mac, he walked into the train station to find quite a scene.

Toon Link was desperately hitting his train with a hammer. The train was smoking badly, and when Villager entered, it caught fire.

"No! My baby!" Toon Link cried. He started hammering the fire, only to have the engine explode, creating a medium-sized hole in the train station.

"I'll send the bill to you later." Said Villager.

"Waaaa! Marty!" Toon Link yelled. He got down on his knees and screamed into the sky.

"Marty?"

"My train! She's ruined..." Toon Link lied down on the ground. "And now I'm even deeper into my wallet! Nothing matters anymore..."

"Cmon, don't say that! Besides, I need a ride back to the meadows, pronto!" Villager said.

"What do you mean? I can't ride you back without a train!" Toon Link cried.

"Oh, I have a different idea..." Villager smirked,

A few minutes later, Villager and Toon Link were heading across the train tracks, towards the direction of the meadows.

"Cmon! Mush! Mush! Mush!" Villager yelled.

"Ouch... Do I have to give you a piggy-back ride all the way there?" Toon Link gasped.

"Of course! Unless you don't want me to pay for the repair costs of your train and the train station. It would cost around 10,000,000 bells."

"Argh... Fine."

"Yay! Now, my slave! Onwards, to victory!" Villager screamed triumphantly.

"Hey, easy with the name-calling!" Toon Link yelled, in a tired, yet slightly relieved tone.

Mac was observing the two ride off into the sunset. He saw Villager stop on the top of a hill. The sun shone against them, making them look like silhouettes. Toon Link buckled up just like a horse, and with a resounding "Hyah!" from Villager, they disappeared down the hill.

"Hah. What a bunch of jokers!" The dog said, before sniffing his own butt and walking in circles for ten years before heading to bed.

A/N: Welp, looks like the end of another chapter. What will happen to the racers now?

Suggestions/corrections/opinions are very helpful to me! If you wanna see a certain situation, that either you made up, or I said was "a story for another time" from one of the chapters that I already wrote, just tell me! Until next chapter!