Toad was up bright and early Saturday morning, ready for the final race. If he won this race, he would finally be in the major-leagues. He went over to the training track with Toadette, and they trained for the rest of the morning.

2:00 P.M: It was time for the race. Toad and Toadette showed up at Dry Dry Desert very early. Only Bowser and Bowser Jr. were there. Bowser Jr. was complaining about having to arrive so early, but got excited when Toad and Toadette arrived. He stuck his tongue out at Toad, who just ignored it and started preparing his kart, which had been locked up inside the cold garage at the training track overnight. Shortly afterwards, racers and fans started rushing in for the big race.

"Welcome to the minor-league championship race!" Toadsworth finally announced on the PA system. Hundreds of fans cheered as the pre-game ceremony started.

"Okay everyone, get in your karts!" the Lakitu said, after the pre-game ceremony had ended.

Red, Yellow... GREEN! Eight motors roared as the karts sped off. Wario and Waluigi had a problem starting their kart, and started the race in last place. But Toad and Toadette were speeding through Dry Dry Desert, taking shortcuts. Toadette got the best items and kept the other karts away, and Toad raced through the familiar track at top speed.

Lap 2 began, and Toad and Toadette were still in first place. Here, for some reason, the kart slowed down a bit.

"What's going on? Toadette, check to see what's happening," Toad said nervously.

"TOAD!" a voice boomed. Toad knew that voice. It was Bowser, coming from behind. "It was wrong of you to accept that deal!" Bowser shouted, and laughed.

Toad couldn't believe it. Bowser must have caused something to go wrong in Toad's engine before the race, and then planned to ruin Toad's dream and move on to the major-leagues.

"I couldn't convince the committee to let me into the major-leagues, so instead they made the same offer as last year!"

"But you don't work for the Mario Kart committee!" Toad shouted back to Bowser.

"No I don't, but I could still scare them enough! You should've seen their scared little looks. And I can't wait to see your look when I go to the major-leagues!"

Toad got angry and bumped Bowser off the course. The sand on the side of the track slowed him down, and he dropped behind Toad and Toadette. Now Toad started talking aloud:

"I will not lose," he said quietly. "I will not lose my chance again." Then, he screamed, louder than ever:

"I will be the Ultimate Champion!"

Toad dodged traps, and drived better than he had before. Then, through all the sand and dust floating in the air, Toad saw the black and white checkerboard finish line up ahead. Behind him, however, he heard the roaring motor of Bowser and Bowser Jr.'s kart.

"You can do this Toad!" Toadette shouted. Toad smiled brightly. He felt confidence. No one could stop him now. The moment was finally here, and they were still in first place. There was no way he was going to let Bowser-

Toad's thoughts were interrupted by a pokey, sitting right in front of him. He swerved quickly to the right, but he couldn't turn in time. He had already dented the right side of his kart badly, and was now spinning rapidly, completely out of control. He tried to control his kart, but the sand got in his eyes, and he couldn't see where he was going. Then, he felt himself rise, still spinning. He was in a tornado, again.

But then, as he started to rise from the ground, he took Toadette by the arm and jumped, farther than he had ever jumped before. As he neared the edge of the tornado, it weakly threw him away, sending him and Toadette falling to the ground.

He saw the finish line right in front of him, inches away. He looked back and saw the racers drawing near. Toad stretched out his arm as far as he could, and his hand crossed the finish line as he hit the ground.

He looked up, confused. Racers were flying by him, one by one, and he didn't even know if he had won. Then, he saw Toadsworth, jumping with joy, and running towards him with two gold ribbons in his hand. Toad relaxed his arm, turned onto his back, and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.