Quick review, because of slow updating: the gang gets sucked up into a Nintendo Mario Kart video game, and a strange pink-haired girl told them to win the game to get out, or die. Now, we're about to see the first race: the mushroom course.
Recess: The Video Game
3
In Which The Game Begins, And Rode Rage Spreads Fast
In this game, there are twelve players. Six cars were in the parking lot, and six were already at the starting line, with players inside.
In the lead was the princess, combing her blonde hair, and smoothing her skirt, followed by King Kong, beating his chest, followed by Yoshi, bouncing up and down in his seat.
The others, who didn't make the top three, sat dejectedly in their cars: Mario, Luigi, and the guy with a mushroom head.
TJ, Spinelli, Mikey, Vince, and Gretchen each took a car.
"I don't know how to drive." Gulped Mikey.
"It's not a real car, it's built like an arcade racing one." TJ said.
"Hey, we're outnumbered!" Spinelli cried.
"Don't worry, we'll beat 'em." Said Vince, glancing nervously at King Kong.
"TAKE YOUR PLACES!" called a voice over their heads. They looked up, and saw there were speakers.
The cars moved up behind Mushroom head in this order: TJ, Vince, Spinelli, Gretchen, and Mikey.
"Uh oh- no seat belts!" Mikey said.
A ghost flew down with a traffic light.
Weird. Thought Spinelli.
BEEP! The top light turned red.
BEEP! The middle light turned yellow. Spinelli pressed the pedal.
BEEP! The last light turned green, and the Nintendo creatures, TJ, and Spinelli took off. The rest pressed their pedals a bit slower. Y'see, if you start the ignition on the second beep rather than the third, you go faster.
TJ sped over a question mark box. Where there would have been air conditioning controls, a box with a turtle shell in it now appeared.
TJ, who was luckily a master at arcade car racing, had barely any trouble driving.
Mikey and Gretchen, however, were not. In fact, they drove like me: smashing into every wall, missing every coin. Well, I'm good at Mario Kart- I just suck at arcade driving.
The Princess was in the lead, followed by Yoshi, followed by King Kong. Hot on the big ape's trail was TJ, and following him, Spinelli. Vince was stuck between Mario and Luigi.
Mikey was finally getting a hold of the car- barely. He was WAY behind. In desperation, he pressed his mushroom (what he won in the question mark boxes).
ZOOM! He shot ahead, and sped up to mushroom head. Then he slowed down again.
"Cool!"
TJ shot his shell at King Kong, but it missed, exploding against the wall.
"Wow, it's a whole lot deadlier here!" then Kong dropped the banana peel.
TJ and Spinelli saw it coming, but Mario didn't have a chance. He hit the peel at, like, eighty miles an hour. He spun off course, his tire ripped, and he began flying towards the wall.
With a final despairing scream, Mario hit the wall in a horrifying crunch of metal.
TJ finally got past Kong. The princess snickered and dropped a mushroom on the road.
Yoshi swerved to avoid it, but TJ was too curious to know what it was, so he ran over it- and regretted it. He began to shrink.
Suddenly, the other cars towered over him, and he began to slow down. Kong was coming on him fast- he was about to become road kill!
Suddenly, Kong stopped and began spinning in a circle. He had been hit by a green shell!
Then the time limit on the mushroom ran out, and TJ returned to normal size. Aha! There was the finish line - only one more bridge to go over.
Now the princess was in the lead, followed by Yoshi, followed by Spinelli, followed by Vince (he caught up in all the confusion), followed by Kong, then TJ, then Mikey, then Luigi, followed by- hey, where's Gretchen?
Gretchen was so far back, that she was in front of them. No protection, no idea how to work her prize box, and unaware of the other cars coming at her at eighty miles an hour.
Of course, once she DID hear, she began to drive even more insanely, backwards and sideways, scratching up her car. The Princess zoomed over the finish line completing the first lap. Then over the boxes. Then she gave an evil grin at Gretchen, and pressed her box.
Now, a banana peel will make you slip, a big mushroom will make you fast, a small mushroom will make you shrink, and a green shell will make you spin. A lightning bolt will make you invincible and fast, and a ghost will make you just plain invincible.
But a red shell is the best of all, because that will annihilate you opponent. And it has better aim.
The Princess had a red shell. And it was aimed at Gretchen.
Gretchen watched as, almost in slow motion, as the red shell sped towards her.
She knew enough about Mario Kart to know what it meant.
The last thing she thought before impact was, "I hate turtles."
"GRETCHEN!" Mikey cried, as the red shell crashed into Gretchen's car, smashing it against the wall. The sound of tearing metal from the car almost drowned out the Nintendo music blasting above them. Then it burst into flames.
Everybody zoomed over the finish line; the end of lap one.
"Only two laps left!" called Spinelli. She shot her green turtle shell at the princess, hate burning in her eyes.
Luigi smashed into Mikey, who had slowed down in shock.
"We have to keep going, Mikey! Or we'll end up like Gretchen!" Vince cried to Mikey.
The green shell missed, but bounced around the walls ahead of them.
The next lap passed in a blur of everyone trying to hit the princess. TJ got her with a green shell, slowing her down enough for him to get ahead, but that's all it did.
TJ led the pack, next came the princess, followed by Yoshi, followed by Spinelli, King Kong at her heels- er, wheels.
Next came Vince, then Mikey, then Luigi and the mushroom guy.
Luigi hit an oil puddle during a turn, spinning off course.
Vince got a lightning bolt when he hit the boxes. He pressed it, and immediately sped ahead, bumping into everyone, but not getting hurt. He made it behind the princess before it wore off.
"Whoa!" he exclaimed.
The finish line was nearing – the end of lap three.
TJ was in first place, followed by the princess and Spinelli, neck to neck. Vince shot a green shell at King Kong, who dropped a banana in front of him, resulting in both of them spinning while Mikey slipped ahead, and mushroom guy caught up.
Of course, Mikey was still a pretty bad driver, and fell behind again fairly quickly.
Suddenly, the princess hit Spinelli with a green shell. Because it was so close, it totally knocked off her front right wheel!
Spinelli was thrown from her car onto the track.
King Kong's car was coming up – he was going to run her over! She opened her mouth to scream…
WHAM! Vince hit Kong with a green shell. He drove up to Spinelli.
"Hop on!" he cried.
Spinelli wasted no time.
Finally, they all crossed the finish line.
TJ got first place, followed by the Princess for second place, followed by Yoshi for third. After them came Vince and Spinelli in fourth, followed by Kong in fifth, followed by Mikey in sixth place, with Luigi and Mushroom head in tow.
Wearily, everybody got out of his or her cars.
"Hey TJ, you got first!" Mikey shouted.
"THIS time perhaps – but I'll get you in the desert!" screamed the Princess, eyes flashing with rage. Then she stormed inside a building to the right of the track. Yoshi, Kong, Mushroom head, and Luigi followed her.
Mikey looked at the wreck of Gretchen's car; a little ways past the finish line.
"Poor Gretchen." Mikey said.
"It's only a game- she probably just went home." TJ said, patting Mikey on the back.
"That chick said we really die, though." Vince said morbidly.
"She was lying. How could we die here? It's a video game. There must be SOME way to get her back." TJ said hopefully.
"Yeah, maybe by winning, everything goes back to normal!" Spinelli exclaimed.
"Well, whatever happens next, it appears we have to go into that building." Said Mikey, pointing to the place the other racers had gone into.
"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's get going and save Gretchen!" Spinelli said.
They walked into the building.
Woo-hoo! Another chapter done! Review, people! Lest I never update.
"Hold your ground, hold your ground. Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day. This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!"
-Aragorn, Lord of the Rings