Next up is 'Grand Prix'! Interestingly... this is Chapter 64 of this fic, and as everybody knows, 64 is a big number... okay, this is episode sixty-three technically, but this is CHAPTER 64! I'm getting off topic here... Anyway, enjoy!
After the eventful day we had, we decided to relax a little bit. It wasn't too hard, as most of our days were spent trying to fix up our own go-kart. With Phoebe's brainpower, Nadine's skill at fixing go-karts up, and my feminine touch, we worked together to make up a pretty decent go-kart, which we finished up on Wednesday.
Our go-kart had our shirt colors, red, blue and green. We considered naming it 'The Powerpuff', but we decided that was a little... well, cliché.
"What do you think of... Rhonda's Eye?" I said, trying to put a little dazzle into the name.
"Rhonda, you're basically naming the cart after yourself, when we worked hard on this." Nadine said. "I say... Bug-Eyed Catcher?"
"That sounds too much like your hobby." Phoebe frowned. "How about... Danger Trainer?"
"Not really that original..." I paused. "How about... Rhonda's Racer?"
"Again, you're naming it after yourself." Nadine frowned.
"Well, I don't see you two coming up with ideas." I frowned.
The three of us paused to think of a good name... as we all snapped our fingers and said at the same time, "Kaleidoscopic Wheels!"
"I like that!" Phoebe smiled.
"Best name ever!" Nadine smiled.
"I am so glad we thought of it together." I smiled. "You girls want to take it on a test run on the track?"
Phoebe and Nadine smiled. "Sure!"
As me, Phoebe and Nadine had set up the go-kart to race, we looked over and saw Arnold, Sid and Stinky coming in with their go-kart as I said, "Hey guys! Cool set of wheels!"
"You like it?" Arnold said.
"We call it... the Dark Avenger!" Sid smiled. "This baby is going to help us win the race for sure!"
"I take it you're taking it for a test run as well?" I asked.
"Pretty much." Stinky said.
"Well, good luck to you." I said as I settled down, as Eugene came over in a pink go-kart. I looked over and blinked a little. "Not that I'm judging you, Eugene... but pink?"
"Oh, it's not pink, Rhonda. It's mauve! It's been my dream to race around in a go-kart in the race track!" Eugene said.
"I thought your dream was to have the perfect bike?" Nadine blinked.
"Hey, a guy can have two dreams, can't he?" Eugene said. "Anyway, I'm certain that the Mauve Storm is going to help me win this..."
"Ten bucks says he loses the Mauve Storm by the time we finish the test run." Phoebe said.
"Deal." I nodded as Nadine looked up.
"Uh-oh." Nadine said. "Don't look now, but here comes some big competition... in the form of the former fourth graders... soon to be fifth graders."
Sure enough, we saw two familiar fourth-now fifth graders coming into the track... the blonde haired kid known as Wolfgang... and his other cronie known as Edmund, coming in on a huge black go-kart as he looked around between all of us. I heard him brag about how his cart was the best and how he could beat our little 'baby' ones. I muttered angrily as I decided to shift the key a little bit. At least Eugene was keeping a positive attitude about it.
"Okay, this is for the test run!" An official said as he held up a flag as we were ready to go. "On your marks... get set... GO!"
And we were off as I decided to drive my go-kart through the track. I nodded a little as I was selecting my in-kart music that I personally requested as I drove, until I came across this little bit of music. 'Frosty Village' from the Diddy Kong Racing game. I bobbed my head a little bit as I kept driving my go-kart, keeping focus on the road as I tried my best to drive around as best as I could. As I rounded a corner, I noticed that I was keeping a good lead ahead of Arnold and Eugene, but not as good of a lead against Wolfgang.
I kept driving as I heard some screams and a crash, but I didn't pay attention as I continued and crossed the finish line.
"And the winner is... Wolfgang's Rider in first, with the Kaleidoscopic Wheels in second! Too bad for the Mauve Storm and the Dark Avenger... if they can fix up their go-karts in time for the big go-kart race, they will not be out of the running." The official said as I turned off the music and got out of the go-kart, looking towards Arnold and Eugene's crashed go-karts.
I shook my head, feeling sympathy for Arnold. "Too bad, buddy. Hopefully you can fix these up. I would hate to see you guys out of the race."
"Don't worry, we'll fix our go-kart!" Arnold said as he turned to Eugene, Sid and Stinky. "Come on, I have an idea."
As I walked back towards Nadine and Phoebe, I nodded as I told them, "Well, it works on my end. Nadine, Phoebe, want to give it a whirl?"
"Let me try my racing skills." Nadine said as she started to drive the kart over to the starting line. Me and Phoebe watched as a couple of other go-karts went in to race Nadine. Nadine was more skillful when it came to driving as she easily rounded the corners and can outdrive some of the go-karts in the area as she came across the finish line as she came to us.
Phoebe and I applauded her as she smiled. "Thank you, thank you."
Nadine then handed Phoebe the racing helmet over to her. "Here you go, Phoebe, your turn."
"Oh no, Nadine, I couldn't..." Phoebe started.
"I don't blame you, you're cute and adorable when you wear that helmet." I smiled. "You'd never be able to race."
Phoebe's eyes widened as she glare at me. "You don't think I can race? I can!"
"You have a really cute glare that's really hard to take seriously. Have I ever told you that?" I asked.
Phoebe got in the go-kart as she said, "Watch this. I'm about to blow your times out of the water."
As she drove the go-kart towards the finish line, I smiled at her as Nadine says, "You sure know how to push her buttons."
"The secret is, which button is the right one to push." I said as the official raised the flag and shouted the karts to go.
In under a minute, Phoebe... actually got first place and beat both our times. Nadine and I stared wide-eyed as Phoebe drove towards us and snapped her fingers. "Take that."
It was then I decided not to underestimate Phoebe... underneath her cute and adorable phase, lies a racing beast.
"Well, it's settled, then." I said as me, Nadine and Phoebe got our go-kart over to Nadine's house. "We're only using Phoebe as a last resort, in case we're falling behind."
"That is correct." Phoebe nodded.
"Fair enough." Nadine said as she took out her wrench. "I'm going to see if I can make some improvements in the go-kart before Saturday's tournament."
"All right, let's see what you got." I said as me and Phoebe watched Nadine start to work on the kart.
By the time Saturday came around, the Kaleidoscopic Wheels was ready to go into action as we got our kart over to the track. I noticed Arnold, Sid, Stinky and Eugene looking over their kart as I looked at it.
"The Mauve Avenger?" I paused as I looked over at Arnold.
"...Sid and Eugene couldn't agree on which name to choose, so we combined them." Arnold explained. "I still can't believe it either."
"Dark Storm would have been a better name, but oh well." I said as I watched Arnold, Sid, Stinky and Eugene's eyes widened. They face-palmed.
"Well, it doesn't matter." Arnold said as he got behind the wheel. "It is what it is."
I nodded as I went towards my cart, ready to race as Phoebe was giving me instructions.
"Remember Rhonda, you should try to stay close to the inside rails. That is statistically the safest part of the track." Phoebe smiled.
"Uh, Phoebe, I don't know what source you got that from, but that is not true in the slightest!" I pointed out her untrue information.
"Everybody KNOWS the inside rails are the unsafest part of the track because of the tight turns! It would also cause a crash!" Nadine frowned. "Honestly, are you trying to make us lose?"
Phoebe frowned. "The matter is, we should at least try our best."
"All right. Get to your pit stop positions, and I'll see you at the fifth lap." I said as I drove towards the starting line. I decided to set up some music as I put on the 'Crash Cove' music track from 'Crash Team Racing' as I revved up the engine. When the official shouted for us to 'GO!', off we went.
I bobbed my head to the tune as I hummed a little bit of it as I was driving along, trying to catch up as best as I could... it was around the fourth lap as I stopped in for a Pit Stop as I turned off the music and Nadine was changing the tires to the go-kart.
"So, how are we doing?" I asked.
Phoebe stared at me blankly. "While you were bobbing your head to the tunes you personally installed, we were in last place."
My eyes blanked out as Phoebe put on her helmet. "Don't worry, I'll make up for it."
"Okay, you go, girl!" I said as Nadine gave the OK to go.
On that note, Phoebe started to drive off like a maniac as we watched her go. I smiled a little as I said, "Our baby girl, all grown up."
"Our what?" Nadine asked.
"Nothing." I said, yelping.
Well, it didn't take too long as me and Nadine kept watching the race, and Phoebe was demolishing everyone... mainly because Eugene was at the wheel of Arnold's team after Arnold switched at his Pit Stop and wrecked everyone's cars... actually, since Eugene's go-kart lost a wheel, Phoebe and our kart was actually our only working go-kart for racing as she crossed the finish line.
"And the winner is... the Kaleidoscopic Wheels!" We heard the official say as me and Nadine cheered.
"That is the largest trophy we have ever had." I said as me and Nadine were carrying a big trophy inside Phoebe's house as Phoebe was counting the hundred dollar cash prize that we won alongside.
"Yeah, but it's good for the collection." Nadine said.
"So, I guess we're done with contests for a while... I hope." I said.
"We should be." Phoebe said. "So, girls, how do we split? 33-33-33, with a dollar saved for a rainy day?"
"Sure." Nadine said.
"Sounds good." I said as we put the trophy down next to Phoebe's assorted number of small ones. As Phoebe was handing me and Nadine thirty-three each, I said, "Well, no more contests for the rest of the summer..."
"And school starts not too long now..." Phoebe said, pointing to the calendar that we had at least a week of summer vacation left.
"Of course." I said. "So, anybody up for playing video games? I don't know why, but listening to video game music actually makes me want to play some games."
"Sure." Nadine said. "I believe I have my Nintendo 64 somewhere at my house, with Super Mario Kart!"
"Awesome!" I said as me, Phoebe and Nadine went out. "What do we with the go-kart, though?"
"I'll keep it as a little souvenir for our recent adventure." Nadine said. "But maybe someday, we'll see the Kaleidoscopic Wheels make its return."
"Yeah..." I said as me, Nadine and Phoebe headed to Nadine's house, where I would spend the rest of the day with them, playing a few video games.
Because it's the last week of summer, and that's the time of 'Back to School' shopping... a chore for some... but we knew it would come eventually...
And there is the sixty-third episode! How do you like it? Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!