Gamer4 in. Well, I have nothing to say.

Disclaimer: As far as I know, I still don't own Super Smash Bros. or Warriors.

Chapter 22

Bowser's Tournament

As they walked down to the racetrack, Firestar turned to the three smashers. "You do realize that we have no idea how to control these things, right?"

"Well, controlling these things is a lot easier than controlling the monsters you're used to seeing," Luigi said. "It shouldn't take to long to show you the ropes."

"Come again?" Graystripe asked.

"Show you how to do it," Zelda said helpfully.

"There you go," Luigi said. "No surprise that all Bowser's chosen tracks are ones we raced on before coming to the Smash Bros. He knows them better."

"Do you think Bowser will win?" Firestar asked.

"Well, the last track was made by him, which gives him a certain advantage in this case," Mario said. "He'll know it start to finish."

Here, they walked into the garage. "Here," Mario said, "take our Wild Wings. Luigi and I will ride bikes."

He walked to his and Luigi's Wild Wings and removed the keys, tossing them to Firestar and Graystripe. "Get over here," he added. He began showing them the cars. "Okay, you put the keys in here," he demonstrated, "then turn. That starts the car. Now, you push down on this thing with your foot to make it go faster, and the one on the left makes it go backwards. You turn this thing here to control it and make it go where you want." As he described each thing, he demonstrated the pedals and the steering wheel.

"Is that all?" Graystripe asked.

"The rest, you can learn on the track," Luigi said. "Come on, Mario." With that, they went to get on their motorbikes.

"Did you catch that?" Graystripe asked Firestar. He nodded. "Good. At least one of us will know what they're doing."

XXXX

Out on the racetrack, the place had been made to look like a simple loop with a bit of a bulge at one end. Master Hand was looking around, with Crazy at his side. "Well, it looks like everything here will work out," he was saying. "Crazy, do you think you can handle this one? I need to go look for something in my room."

"I take care of everything, bro!" Crazy said, flying around enthusiastically. "You count on me!"

"I hope so," Master Hand said. "See you later, then." With this, he floated away.

XXXX

Back in the garage, Firestar and Graystripe sat side by side as more and more smashers came in to participate. They watched as a strange-looking twoleg with a platform instead of legs came in, looking like he was on wheels already. He was followed by Yoshi and a couple of hairy twolegs that looked very, very weird, one with a tail. A few minutes later, Meta Knight came in, followed by some kind of giant bird. Finally, the last smasher came in: Bowser himself. He jumped right onto a motorbike, waiting for the first race to start. As the warriors watched, the door separating the garage from the racetrack opened, and all the smashers slowly drove out to the starting line.

XXXX

"All right, let's get ready to par-tay!" shouted a voice from the commentator's box.

"I think Crazy is commentating," Luigi said, right next to Mario.

"What was your first clue?" Mario asked as some random music started playing. As this happened, Bowser jumped out of his car, looking angry, and stomped over to Crazy's commentating box. They didn't see what happened next, but they did hear a great WHAM! A moment later, Bowser stomped out, the music stopped, and Crazy spoke again.

"All right, this is the first race of Bowser's four-race tournament! The first race is on Luigi's circuit, with one lap! Lakitu!" As the Lakitu came down, so did the scoreboard.

Mario realized that Bowser must have based the tournament entirely on the races back at the Mushroom Kingdom. Lakitu held up it's traffic-light-on-a-fishing-pole, and counted down. Firestar and Graystripe, maybe out of nerves, floored it as 2 was going away, though they didn't start yet. Finally, the countdown passed one, and the Lakitu flew out of the way as they all shot forward. Firestar and Graystripe both went a little faster at first, but then slowed down to normal. Firestar looked down, looking at the ground zooming by him. He could tell he was going very fast, faster than back at the forest. They were shooting forwards rapidly. Looking up, he saw a turn coming up, and turned the wheel way further than necessary, turning almost completely around. He came out on the other side, and kept flooring it. He was, at this point, shooting right towards a bunch of block things in the middle of the road. He drove right through one, and looked down at the car to see a round, black ball with eyes and string in the top looking up at him. The string was lit. Thinking this couldn't be anything good, he tossed out of the car. Looking forward, he saw it land between Meta Knight and Bowser, who were shoving at each other. From it came a gigantic fire, knocking both of the two aside. Firestar felt amazed as he shot past the two, now coming up behind Zelda and DK, who were doing almost the same thing as Bowser and Meta Knight. He swerved onto a nearby hill to avoid them, turning, once again, a little too far, hitting a speed boost, and ramming into the wall. He backed up, and actually came out facing backwards, but he shot that way anyways. The Lakitu came back, dangling an arrow in front of him, saying, "You're going the wrong way! Turn around!" Firestar managed to do a 180 and shoot off the right way. At this point, only Diddy was behind him anymore. He turned again, and managed to cross the finish line. As he did, he looked up at the scoreboard. He was in 11th place, Graystripe had managed 4th. Meta Knight was at 2nd, Bowser at 1st. Well, it could have been worse.

XXXX

Graystripe pulled up to Mario as the race ended. "So, what's a Lakitu?"

"It's not a real Lakitu," Mario said. "It's another hologram. I had them back home. Some of them worked for Peach, and others were with Bowser. This one just starts up the races. Now that this race is over, the place will change to the next course. It looks like Bowser's made the races only one lap. I guess that's okay."

"What's the next course like?"

"Koopa Cape? Well, let's put it this way: if these things had seat belts, I'd recommend them. So, hold on tight."

"Okay," Graystripe said, with a bit of nervousness in his voice. As they spoke, the whole place changed to the Koopa Cape course. Their karts were all along the edge of a steep drop. The Lakitu came down again, and began the countdown. Graystripe, once again, floored it as two was going away, and once again, shot off when the race began. He turned the wheel slightly as he was going around the first turn. He felt himself calming down. He could do this. Or at least, he was calm until he came to the first jump. His heart leapt as he shot over it. Looking down, he knew that if he fell, he was dead. He looked straight ahead, keeping a grip on the steering wheel until he touched down on the other side. He saw a ramp coming up, with some of those boxes just above it. He decided to get one of them, though he wasn't exactly happy about the ramp part. He went up, hit one of the boxes, and came down, actually managing to land it. He shot forward again. He looked to see some sort of blue, round thing with spikes and wings. He tossed it out, and watched as it flew forwards. Up ahead, it hit Bowser, and let a lot of fire out, which hit Meta Knight and Luigi, who were passing by. Graystripe moved ahead of all of them, now in first. He got ahead, looking down, and realizing that he was driving in a very shallow river. The water was making him go faster. Looking ahead, he saw a couple of turns coming up, and managed to maneuver around them. He was feeling good, until he saw a straight drop coming up. He didn't have time to turn, and shot straight down. He was now in some sort of underwater tube, still driving forward. He was doing okay again, until he ran into an electric beam. He suddenly grew about ten times smaller, and his speed went way down, too. As he struggled forward, wondering what the heck happened, he was passed by Meta Knight. He continued going forward until he came to another mini-river. At this point, he grew back to normal size. He shot forward again, going incredibly fast, until he saw another beam coming up. He steered out of it's path. He saw another jump up ahead, and came out on the other side of the tube. He landed in a waterfall of some sort, but managed to steer out of it, which, if he'd been looking back, was more than Bowser managed to do. He was tailing Meta Knight, but Meta Knight beat him across the finish line.

XXXX

Up in the stands, Toon Link and Lucario were sitting together. Lucario was looking down at the race. Hey, Toon Link, he said, did you catch how fast those karts were going?

Toon Link looked down at the karts that hadn't crossed the finish line yet. "It's... it's..."

What is it, Toon Link?

"It's over nine-THOUSAND!"

Forget it. I don't know why I even bother talking to you.

"Oh, come on, why so serious?"

I'm serious about this, Lucario said. I don't know why I even try- what are you doing with that sword?

"Why... so... serious?"

You put that thing down, Toon Link! Toon Link kept coming, causing Lucario to throw an aura sphere at him, triggering a small brawl.

XXXX

Back down on the track, Crazy had called a small time-out. Graystripe and Firestar got out of the karts and walked over to where Mario and Luigi were standing. "Are these your normal races?" Firestar asked.

"About," Luigi answered. "They're usually three laps each, though."

"Bowser probably wanted to get this one over with," Mario said.

"Does Crazy usually commentate?" Graystripe asked.

"No, for obvious reasons," Mario answered. "His idea of racing depends on nothing. Sometimes it's a party, or a brawl, or something else. Someone always has to talk sense into him when he commentates."

"Ah," Graystripe said.

Suddenly, they all heard an abnormally loud shout. Crazy was saying, "And we're... BACK!"

The four turned around and headed back to their karts, wondering what would happen next, not noticing the brawl going on in the stands.

Well, that's all for now. I don't have much to say this time. So, please R&R, and no flames, please. Suggestions, constructive criticism, etc. accepted. Gamer4 out.