Rush Hour

Bowser and Chris soon made it into L.A., but not the L.A. that we know of back on Earth. From what Christopher learned from Bowser, (also from what Mike and Victor would also learn from their new experiences as well) is that there were many worlds in the universe with life and people just like them. Chris changed his clothes to that of a red shirt and green shorts before they left, just in case of hot weather as Bowser described it. This world would be no different. As they arrived through means of Bowser's red oval looking rocket, they arrived in a warm, sunny, exact version of Los Angeles, California: Prime City. As Bowser and Chris strolled down the streets they met a few shady characters here and there and Chris said looking up at his master, "It sure isn't the friendliest place I've seen. Not that I've ever seen a friendly place." Bowser chuckled and said, "You think this is bad, just wait until we get further downtown. Now that is where all the major crime is. Now be on the lookout for a black man in a dark pair of clothes and he's got a light beard covering his face." Now of course Bowser and Chris were at the same airport coincidentally where they also saw a black guy waiting by his black car picking up an Asian man coming off the plane and Chris pointed to him and said, "Is that him over there." Bowser nodded and said, "Let's go." Moments later, Bowser said "reach for the sky man." The black man heard this and said, "Say that again?" "Reach for the sky man." The black man turned around with a smile and said, "Bowser!! You sly old dawg!!" Chris noticed Bowser hug the guy with a smile and he turned to Chris and said, "But please, where are my manners? Chris, this is an old friend of mine. He helped avenge the death of one of my closest associates, Boo. This is Detective James Carter, L.A.P.D." James then said, "Oh boy, at least one good thing's come out of this day. Now let's go…" The Asian handed him his stuff, to which Carter said, "No no no, you put your own shit in the back. I am not a sky captain. I'm F.B.I. you understand?"

He turned to Bowser as the Asian got in the car and said, "I'm sorry 'bout all this, but I am just having an extremely rough day that's all. I've been assigned to pick up this guy, Inspector Lee's what the captain called him, instead of going after the kidnapping of a little girl." Bowser nodded and said, "Little girl?" "Oh yeah, it's been all over the news all day at the L.A.P.D and all across the city. I could be on this case too, but no I had to get assigned for this guy instead." Bowser then nodded again and asked, "So where should we meet up to discuss the latest kidnappings?" Carter then said, "Why hell you guys can just trail us from behind see. It's all good. You got a car right?" Bowser then said, "Dang it. I forgot my Mercedes is back home on Earth. Better rent, you guys go on without us and we'll catch up." Carter nodded and slowly drove off while waving back to Bowser to which Chris asked, "If you're an arsonist, why would you help a random guy out you met years ago then master?" Bowser said, "He's an old friend. Regardless of what crimes I have committed, there always has to be time to help your friends. That's why I'm helping you find your siblings of course. I made that promise to you along with taking you out of prison too." Chris nodded and then moments later they drove on off following James Carter and Lee, who were already two minutes ahead.

They soon arrived in Chinatown where Carter was already starting his investigation talking to a drifter looking guy handing out brochures on all sorts of odd stuff named Lucky. Chris and Bowser soon arrived moments after. "What's yo and your gang of Asian friends talkin' 'bout these days? You know anything about a kidnapping?" The guy responded, "I don't know nothing." "How bout for forty five dollars, you understand what I'm sayin'?", Carter asked. "Alright…I'll tell ya this I don't know about a kidnapping, but I do know a guy's buyin' up a bunch of firearms, explosives, and he's startin' some kinda war or something…" "What's his name?", Carter asked. "I don't know his name…for forty five dollars I don't know his name.", Lucky responded. "For forty five dollars you better tell me something." Bowser then said, "Lee's not here is he Carter?" Carter stopped dead in his tracks and said, "Oh hell no!! Can you guys check the east side, I'll check the west side?" Bowser said, "On it, let's go Chris. We got ourselves a chase."

Bowser and Chris hopped into their rented classic red Ferrari and sped on off through the east side of town and Chris asked as Bowser blocked off the lower end of a hilly side in town, "Whacha doin'?" "I'm making a stakeout. Only cops are allowed to do this, but years ago I earned a badge helping out Carter in a case to repay him for avenging Boo's death." Bowser pulled out his classic gold police badge that read: Certified Official Police. Then above a sign that read: Hollywood Bowser said, "There's that short Asian man that was with Carter." They rushed up as fast as they could bypassing a bus to notice him jump onto a red truck carrying supplies and then onto and inside a white RV. Chris shook his head as he said, "That guy knows his stuff doesn't he?" Bowser grabbed Christopher slightly aggressive like and they rushed across the street through hordes of honking and traffic as Chris asked, "What are we doing?" Bowser answered tiredly, "We'll cut him off around the other side." Then they saw James Carter hijack a red motorcycle and rev on off to them. "Hop on brother.", Carter responded and thus they drove on off to catch Inspector Lee in the back of a yellow cab.

After dodging heavy traffic they cornered the car and Carter told Inspector Lee to get out of the car frustrated. "Didn't I tell you to wait by the duke?" The cab driver yelled, "What do ya think you're doing?" "Hey this is…mind your own business man this is…" then Lee grabbed the gun from Carter quickly and surprised him as Carter said, "Woah easy now, I just wanted to know where you all was going that's all." Then another gun clicked as Bowser pointed Lee and said, "Drop your gun, now!!" Lee then said, "It's alright, I'm a police man. I was telling him how to take a gun from a suspect." An hour passed by as they conversed about this and Carter said, "You full of shit!" "Not being able to speak is not the same as not speaking. You see I like to talk, I like to let people talk who like to talk, just to see how full of shit they are.", Inspector Lee replied. "What the hell did you just say?" Bowser broke them up as he said, "Listen, I know this may sound farfetched on my part, but maybe we could check up through town for you know, some odd things out you know. There's bound to be some bad whooping going on uptown anyway. I should know, I'm an arsonist." Carter then said, "You're lucky I don't arrest people like you since you're out of town. Alright man. If you see anything, let me know. I gotta have a little chat with Kungpow boy here." Inspector Lee and James Carter got in the black car and drove on off south. Chris then said, "What a strange pair those two are?" Bowser got into his Ferrari rental and said, "We got no time to lose. Let's roll." They drove on off further downtown and investigated downtown as they did they interrogated a couple of black men in baggy pants and trashed up sweaters as Bowser raised on of them against the wall of the back alley they were in, he said, "Tell me what you know, or else I'm gonna rip your throat out!!" The other guy hitailed it out of there and the guy Bowser held said, "Alright, alright. There's been some odd activity in Chinatown. One bad ass guy coming out of Hong Kong buying up explosives, firearms, you name it." Bowser then asked, "Can you give us a name?" "That's all I know man. No one in town knows this guy's name. He's like a thief in the night." Bowser dropped him and as the guy ran off, he grabbed Christopher and they ran off as Chris asked, "So where are we headed to now?"

"To Chinatown. Something doesn't add up. We were just there, yet I didn't see no odd activity." Chris then said, "Well not everyone can be seen out in broad daylight you know." Then Bowser stopped as Chris said this running about the streets of L.A. (Prime City of course still) and said, "Of course. You're a genius Chris!! Why didn't I think of that? Where else now would they go I wonder. It'd be pretty hard to handbag all of that weaponry." Then before they could even ponder that question, they were attacked by a bunch of asian men in black suits. "Of course.", Bowser responded. Then they ran off to face their opponents. Chris, learning some of the martial arts from his time in the North West Territories, punched a guy so hard in the chest, a rib actually cracked. Bowser blew fire onto the five guys headed to him (since he is a dragon after all) and Chris jumped above two guys headed towards him and smashed their heads against each other knocking them out cold. The last three ran off scared. Bowser then said, "The trail is fresh Chris. They know we're onto them. Now all we gotta do is find Carter and get back on this case again." "But where would he go? He could be halfway across town by now.", Chris asked. Bowser then responded, "Chris, I know Carter like a package of m&ms and I really like m&ms. To find Carter, all we gotta do is think like Carter." Then without saying a word, Bowser threw Chris into the back of the Ferrari rental and drove off cutting off the guy in a green car in front of him.

Less than a half hour later, they James Carter with a stack of food in his hands (Bake and Bean Burrito and a taco I think from the movie) coming out of a broken down mini-mart. Bowser then said, "He got away again?" "Got away again. Not even cuffs got him either. I even got him at the steering wheel of my car." Bowser then said, "Let's get going then. Chris and I found a good lead after beating the snot out of a bunch of Asian fighters." Carter then said, "Wait…you mean…" "Yup. We've been on a bloody wild goose chase for God knows what. Chinatown's hiding something pretty good. Now where's Inspector Lee?" Carter then said, "How the hell should I know? I mean all he said was…the Consulate. We better hurry. It's the big mansion across town. It's about a half hour drive from here." Bowser then said as he got in the car, "I'll pay for repairs on the car if you like." "Yeah yeah, let's just go. For all we know there could a hoedown with Lee right in the middle of it." They zoomed on off again just as nightfall was starting to come in clear view.

They arrived at a large brick mansion where as they went inside Carter had some rough talk with the head of the FBI. The Head of the FBI was a mean rough looking blonde man, in a light blue shirt and a dark blue jacket and pants and he had the look in his eyes that made you want to hate him from the start. Just as Bowser, Chris and Inspector Lee arrived with the Consul, a call came in. Carter picked up the phone and the FBI before they could do anything bugged the phones and put on their special gear to hear the call. "Yeah this is FBI…Hold on let me get a pen…okay cool." "The drop off will be made at mid-night tonight. The amount will be fifty million dollar.", the voice said. "FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS?!? Who you think you kidnapping, Chelsea Clinton?", Carter asked. "I want the news currency no more than fifty million.", the voice continued. "Alright fifty million cool cool…twenty million in fifty…twenty million in twenty…okay ten million in ten. You want any fives with that?" After some odd unpleasantness, the phone was hungup and the FBI head's right hand guy, being a tall guy, mustached and bearded in a beige looking suit then said, "We got it. 620, South Broadway downtown."

Bowser then told Carter that he and Chris would see if they could warn people in the area to flee the streets immediately since Inspector Lee said he had a bad feeling about that place. Sure enough Bowser and Chris went to an old abandoned green apartment building and climbed up the overhanging stairs. They went across a huge dirty floor and across a wooden path clearly not finished yet and waited. Chris asked, "Why are we just sitting here? I thought we were going to tell people to flee." "You ask a lot of questions for a kid your age. You see I told plenty of people the word while you were listening into that police call. I figured this would lead to a trap and before you ask how I know, I am a humble expert being a villain and know every trick in the book. Now listen closely, when I give you the word we'll dash forward and help out Inspector Lee and James Carter.", Bowser replied. Before Chris could ask, an explosion occurred and soon enough coming from the same dark back alley they took was a blonde Asian man and Inspector Lee following right behind him and James Carter behind Inspector Lee. They climbed up the apartment and then the blonde Asian threw an axe narrowly missing Inspector Lee and just moments before potentially (but not actually) hitting Carter it smacked dead straight into a wall.

Bowser then said, "NOW!!" and both him and Chris threw on a homing device smaller than a flea onto the guy as he tripped on the narrow wooden block that they were all standing on and he just ran on by. Lee then asked as his ran towards them, "Why'd you let him get away?" Bowser said, "I wouldn't cross the bridge if I were you…" then Lee's foot broke through the wooden block and Carter was racing right behind him and as he did Lee said, "Carter…stop…" "Hey Lee…what the hell are you…", Carter replied. Then the whole block cascaded down with all four of them to the bottom. A black 70s looking car almost ran them over as it raced by and Carter attempted to blow it sky high, but only manage to damage the back of it and the back window as well. "Dear God I think I broke my shins. Who was that dude you were chasing?", Carter asked. "His name is Sang. Because of you three he got away." Bowser then pulled out a primitive tracking device and said, "I don't think so. While you guys wasted your energy chasing a simpleton like that, we managed to get him when he tripped on the wooden block above and now we can follow him where ever he goes. The best part is the tracking device we planted on him is so small and unnoticeable; he won't find it until he goes for an X-Ray, lord hope it doesn't come to that." Inspector Lee nodded as did Carter as he said, "Well Lee, looks like you owe my friend an apology. He's been helping us the whole time and this is the thanks he gets." Inspector Lee nodded again and said, "I'm sorry Bowser, Christopher." Chris then said, "Just call me Chris. It's easier on the tongue that way."

Then as Inspector Lee and Carter arose from the dirty back alley ground Carter asked, "So what now then?" "Well once again, Chris and I could go find some more dirt in the east side and you guys do what you can to find a name of this guy. He's obviously still in the Chinatown; maybe Chris and I can corner him and bring him in. It won't be easy, but we gotta try.", Bowser replied. Then once again they split up and headed their own separate ways. Bowser and Chris decided to check high and low throughout Chinatown, but still no leads. Then Bowser said after an hour of searching, "This is ridiculous, how in the heck can you hide an army of super trained Asian fighters and firearms with no trail. Even for me this is baffling." Then Bowser heard his name and sure enough Inspector Lee and James Carter arrived back to them in Carter's black car. "He's at the Foo Chow Restaurant", Carter replied as Bowser and Chris got in their rental car and drove off with them. Give or take less than ten minutes they arrived at the place, but Carter and Bowser told Chris and Inspector Lee that they'd all have to just scope the place out, better to be safe than sorry in the long run.

Carter turned on his radio and low and behold it was the song 'War' that was playing on the system. After less than a minute of singing, Carter said, "Hell you know nothing about no war." "Everybody knows war.", Lee said. After less than a few lyrics of singing Carter then said, "It's ain't you all, it's y'all." Lee then said, "Y'all'." Carter said it a little louder now, "Y'all'." Carter a little frustrated said, "You sound like a karate movie. Y'all." "Y'all.", Lee said again. Then Carter tapped his chest and said, "Say it here with some soul. Y'all." "Y'all.", Lee responded. "Y'all.", Carter replied. "Y'all.", Lee also replied. Then Carter and Lee broke out into a brief dance about singing war all the while Chris and Bowser listening and watching. Chris then said in some embarrassment, "Wow, what just happened?" Bowser then said, "Don't mind Carter Chris. He was like this long before he even became the top dog he is today. He told me himself he was a free spirit." Chris then thought to himself, thinking of his siblings, 'Man freedom. I wonder how Mike and Vic are doing? I haven't seen them in a long time and it almost feels like a lifetime.'

Then Carter and Lee went towards the Foo Chow Restaurant as Carter went inside and left Lee his ID and gun with him, Bowser said, "Chris and I will circle the back alley. Maybe we can catch 'em off guard and get them by surprise." Lee nodded and as they dashed towards the back alley and out of sight, Chris smiled as he looked at Bowser and he asked, "What's so funny Chris?" "This whole time I thought you were a really bad guy, but it turns out you're a softy inside that turtle shell of yours, Koopa King.", Chris said. "First off, you only call me by my name, Bowser, it's more formal that way. Second, I told you. Carter's an old friend of my mine. If it were that one case he took, I'd have burned his butt sky high back at that airport." Chris then thought to himself once more, 'If you say so, I know you're just trying not to admit you have a soft side.' (Bowser wouldn't literally be like this, but of course as he said, if it weren't for Carter avenging Boo's death, he would have burned him good, like he's tried for years to do so to Mario.)

Then they heard screaming and a white van pull up so Bowser hid Chris behind a green dumpster and said quietly, "I'm gonna tag the van. Don't move." Bowser did as such with Chris doing as he was told and planted the device on the van, just as an Asian man with a short mustache holding a little girl ran in and closed the door shut. Then as the van drove off a tall white man in a dark blue/black suit of his own, possibly in his sixties was right next to Bowser as he said, "You have a lot of nerve interrupting my plans." Bowser then held him by his neck saying, "Where are they going Juntao? That's right I know you're name. Fifteen years ago. You killed an associate of mine. Remember Boo?" The British man, Juntao then said, "He was getting too close to things that he should've never been looking into." Chris then appeared right behind Bowser and Juntao said laughing, "A child? You must be quite the parent aren't you my old enemy?" Bowser then said, "Over forty years of hard cold history and you act like you're such a big shot. Well guess what. I have enough proof to put your butt in prison…" Then Juntao said shrugging, "Go ahead. Who will they believe a dragon in a turtle shell from miles away from another planet with a child in his possession, or a well renowned man of honesty and close relations to the Consul?" Bowser dropped him to the ground as he ran off and Bowser said, "We'll meet again you crook. Mark my words, you won't hear the end of this."

Bowser and Chris then found Carter and Inspector Lee, but were taken back to the Consulate's house across town on the far end of the west side by the FBI for further questioning as to their involvement in tonight's incident, as the entire Asian gang got away from the Foo Chow Restaurant with the girl and the drop off failed as well. The Head of the FBI then said to Bowser, "Carter's pretty much a wet match in a dark cave and I don't want anything to do Lee, but the results you have done Mr. Bowser is it?" Bowser said, "It's Bowser." The head continued, "You have grave potential. I want you to finish this case off and make the ransom." Bowser shook his head and said, "Not unless you put Carter and Lee back on the case. With all due respect to your squad, you have no chance against the likes of Juntao." The Head of the FBI said, "Fine then, it's a shame you have to go so soon. Now tell me one thing before you go, who's Juntao?" Bowser stopped dead in his tracks as this happened and over looked his shoulder noticing that same man he saw in the back alley. "Why don't you ask your buddy there Thomas Griffin? He knows plenty about the character." As both Chris and Bowser walked out, the Man ruffled his tie and said, "Well, shall we?"

Surely enough Bowser grabbed Inspector Lee before he got into a blue van headed for the L.A. Airport and James Carter and took off in the rental Ferrari. Bowser said as he pulled out a dark pair of sunglasses, "Now listen you two. I know things have been said and what not so I'll just cut to the chase. So what if you two made a couple of mistakes in the Foo Chow Restaurant. Who cares? Why don't I tell you about Boo for a second? He was a loyal man to me. He did all the work that would've taken me forever to do, he got killed by Juntao because of stolen goods he was using from my kingdom of firearms. Boo almost busted him, but was killed by his henchmen before he could place cuffs on him. Now he has a little girl that is in trouble. Are you gonna walk away from this now, or are we gonna kick some arse?" Inspector Lee looked at Carter as did Carter to Lee and then back to Bowser as Lee said, "I guess it's settled. Let's go get Soo Yung back." With that Bowser roared as the car roared on off into town.

They headed towards a large glass museum later that night where the newest Chinese exhibit was opening and over a thousand people were inside getting a front row view over a large red carpeting and behind all of that was a giant fountain. As Chris, Bowser, Carter and Inspector Lee went inside the large museum, someone from above knocked out Chris with a baseball bat. When he came to, that same blonde Asian was there pointing a gun at Chris' head and prepared to blow it off. Chris also noticed Carter saying, "You don't wanna do that man. For god's sake he's only a child." Sang laughed as he said this and almost pulled the trigger, but Chris elbowed him in the chest and scratched out his eyes, leaving a bloody floor on the top floor of the building to clean up. Sang grabbed Chris and Carter couldn't get a good shot on Sang, but Chris then back flipped him and he fell to floor. Carter was about to pull the trigger on his gun when Chris smacked him in the face and shot him with a gun Bowser gave Chris. Carter looked at the child with some fear and said, "Damn…what has Bowser been teaching you?" "He's an expert at this kind of stuff. I'm only doing what I'm supposed to do when confronted with danger." Carter then ran down the stairs with Chris and soon enough found Inspector Lee up the stairs with Bowser and Thomas Griffin a.k.a Juntao. Bowser was beating the snot out of him and then he grabbed him by the neck and was prepared to let go of him. He then said, "Go ahead…do it. But I bet your little friend won't respect you for it." Bowser looked at Chris and then he resisted and said, "You're not worth it Juntao. Fifteen years of tracking and I still can't kill you." Then Bowser threw a brown suitcase full of money into the sky and it slowly fell into the fountain, ironically catching on Juntao's tie and taking him down into the fountain as well. "Woah…you know he dead!!", Carter said. "Carter…help me. Do something!!" Bowser then said to Chris, "Grab the red curtain next to that Buddha statue Chris, Carter. It's a long shot, but it might work." They nodded and grabbed as quick as they could. Bowser jumped from the top floor of the building and just made the floor crack a bit when he landed on his feet. Then they quickly grabbed the curtain and managed to catch Inspector Lee in the nick of time. He kissed Carter and then Carter said while pushing him off of him, "What the hell you doing?" "I was just being polite.", Inspector Lee replied. "Well next time be polite to my nuts!!", Carter replied.

Hours passed, and Bowser, Chris, Inspector Lee and Carter were at the airport. Carter shooed off the FBI after they attempted to make him an FBI member, and he was about to board the plane to China with Inspector Lee. He shook hands with Bowser and said, "Well old friend…I guess this is the end for this adventure. Peace." Bowser then said, "I may have my reasons for being an arsonist, explosives king, you name it, but I always keep those loyal to my side. You should do the same Chris." Chris looked to Bowser as he said this and nodded. They all said their goodbyes and as Chris and Bowser were heading home, Carter said, "Hey Chris…" The small boy turned to face him. "Take care of yourself man." With that Bowser and Chris continued off to London England, to get Bowser's supposed revenge on the BBC.

(As had been mentioned before, there was a lot going on with Bowser and Carter which is why he wasn't arrested or anything of course because of the fact they had an old friendship in the past. In a way, other than family, this is the theme of my story too: friendship. I won't go into too much detail, but the next few chapters may be dealing with some dark issues. I haven't decided yet. More to come so stay tuned.)

(Next Time: A Clone gone bad.)

(Review.)