Chapter 5
The big day finally arrived, and the Mighty Pups could see that the other pups of the PAW Patrol (Rex, Al, Liberty, Coral, etc.), as well as pups that eventually became their friends instead of enemies (i.e. Sweetie) were there to cheer them on. (The Cat Pack was there to watch as well.) But they weren't the only ones. To the surprise of everybody, Raimundo and his circus had come to cheer them on, and many citizens of Adventure Bay came to watch as well, but the biggest surprise of all was seeing Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends at the big event!
"Sonic!" Chase exclaimed as soon as he caught sight of the blue blur.
"Dude! Sonic is here?" Zuma exclaimed.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Sonic greeted, and all the pups cheered and howled upon seeing him and the others at the arena.
"So what brings you to Kensington?" Ryder asked.
"It's not because Dr. Eggman got loose again; in fact, he's in jail right now, awaiting trial," Knuckles replied. "But when we learned your city was under attack, although we now see it's not the Humdinger we thought it was, we felt we had to come down and see your team of rescue dogs crush it."
"Not forgetting the fact that ever since you helped us defeat Dr. Eggman back in Station Square," Amy added, "you and your team of dogs gained legions of new fans and are becoming an international phenomenon. Your team is now the most popular team of superheroes among the people of Station Square...well, besides us."
"We'll be happy to have all the support we can get."
Upon seeing Sonic, Mayor Goodway couldn't help but ask, "Is that crazy madman coming back to attack us?"
"No; he's in jail."
"For the rest of his life?"
"I don't know. But he is not going to attack your town again anytime soon."
"BA-BUCK, BA-GERK!" Chickaletta clucked.
"Well, that is a big relief. I think he scares me more than Mayor Humdinger."
"Speaking of which," said Tails, "where's he at?"
"He's also in prison, but for the rest of his life. This is his nephew."
"Oh." Goodway gave Sonic and his friends all the details that she knew about Harold, and Ryder chimed in as necessary.
Later, reported Hailey Daily arrived on the scene. "Hailey Daily on the scene and on your screen," she began, "reporting live from Kensington Virtual Reality Arena, where today, the 'F-Zero' Championship of Championships is about to begin. At stake, the future of Adventure Bay, in addition to any cash prizes that might be given out. I don't know. All I do know is that the Mighty Pups are back in action, and they'll be taking on rivals Harold Humdinger and the infamous Codi Gizmody in this all-new real-life rendition of the classic Nintendo video game 'F-Zero.' If Humdinger or Gizmody wins the championship, according to a contract that Mayor Goodway signed, Adventure Bay will be theirs and theirs alone to do as they please! But if the Mighty Pups win, it stays as is."
The prison Codi broke out of was watching this on live TV, and decided it was best to wait until the right moment afterwards before they would attempt to get her back (unless the Mighty Pups were to bring her back, or if something else were to happen to her). They made notes, however, that Codi was going to have an even bigger record than she had, because it was illegal to break out of prison. Thus, even if she were to win and claim Adventure Bay for herself, it was all for nothing, because everything she did was declared null and void.
"Mayor Goodway, just what were you thinking when you signed that contract?" Hailey asked Mayor Goodway, which may have been a controversial question to ask on her part.
"I do admit, Hailey, that it may be the biggest political scandal in the history of Adventure Bay, but I didn't know what else I was supposed to do. If I had said no, Harold would have teleported my city somewhere else with his robot, or worse, Codi might have demolished everything. They can do that, you know. It is a tragedy of epic proportions! It's the lowest moment in the history of Adventure Bay, and it's all my fault!"
"BA-BUCK, BA-GERK!" Chickaletta clucked.
When Hailey interviewed Harold, he said, "I do want to be the mayor of that town so I can prove to my uncle I am capable of being mayor of something. But I don't think I would demolish it the way she would have done so. I would just leave it as is. Everybody would just have to do what I say."
"Would you ban dogs like your uncle wanted to do in Adventure City?"
"I don't know; that's a good question. My uncle would want me to, but he had no explanation for why he preferred cats and hated dogs. He just said that it's a family tradition that we are supposed to hate dogs. And the PAW Patrol has ruined my schemes many times. They even prevented me from going to the moon." (Harold was referencing the time he tried to turn Captain Turbot's lighthouse into a rocket, but before it could even make it the stratosphere, the Mighty Pups managed to steer it into the water. Captain Turbot ultimately lamented, "Space, then sea? I'm spent!")
"Yes, it's true; I wanted Mayor Goodway to sell me her town. There was no excuse for her not to do so," Codi commented when it was her turn not to be interviewed. "And besides, who in their right mind employs their pet as a deputy mayor? Even worse? That pet is a chicken! Who in their right mind has a chicken as a pet? She should be ashamed of herself!"
"BA-BUCK, BA-GERK!" Chickaletta clucked.
Mayor Goodway started to shed tears, upset at the hurtful remarks. It wasn't as bad as when the Ruff-Ruff Pack would insult her (Hubcap claimed that she worshiped Chickaletta like a goddess because she had a statue of Chickaletta, but the statue just represented Chickaletta's status as the deputy mayor, and the mayor's love for her pet), but it still hurt her feelings.
"You know you just hurt her feelings, don't you?" Hailey commented.
"So what if I did? This town is mine!"
"She's worse than the Doctor!" Shadow muttered to himself.
Later on, everybody's attention was directed towards Nathan and Bradley, who introduced themselves (and they were still dressed up as the characters they voiced for the cartoon Bradley produced, with Nathan in the lead role). They explained to the viewing audience how the competition worked, what hazards had be avoided, and why the stipulations were set up so that it was just one Mighty Pup in rotation racing against Harold, Codi, and the fleet of AI opponents, all of whom represented Captain Falcon, Dr. Stewart, Jody Summer, Pico, and Samurai Goroh. They were all 100%-accurate recreations of the characters as they actually lived and behaved in the story, and because of that, the one that was Captain Falcon promised to deliver his famous "Falcon Punch" to either Harold or Codi if either one of them were caught cheating.
Nathan and Bradley then gave a brief explanation of the track and the setting before the race, something they would do for all the tracks. In the case of Mute City, it was explained that it used to be called "Mutant City." (This city is the most famous location in the F-Zero Grand Prix and has had courses in almost every "F-Zero" game to date.)
"The population is over one billion, and consists of all kinds of sentient life," Bradley explained. "Mute City is known as a 'Metropolis in the Heart of the Space Federation' and the information link for the entire universe. It is also regarded as the most advanced and sophisticated city in the universe. In the future, Mute City eventually is replaced by Bianca City as the center of economic, political, and cultural activity in the galaxy, due to a large deposit of pure titanium being discovered. It might also be worth knowing that Dr. Stewart is originally from Mute City."
"For the purposes of our grand prix following the original game, there are three races in Mute City, whereas the others have only one or two," Nathan added. "For the Mighty Pups, team captain Chase will race in all three. Each one will be the first race of each league, and since we are going in chronological order, we began with the Knight League." He then got on the intercom and announced, "Chase, you start us off. Are you ready to race at maximum velocity?"
"Mighty Chase is ready to race!" Chase announced, entering his hovercar. The audience began to cheer for the famed police pup, and Sonic added, "Show them who's boss, buddy! You got this!"
Mayor Humdinger, as it turns out, was watching this on a TV set in the prison he was holding. "If only I could break free and have my kittens sabotage the whole thing so that I would be the ultimate mayor," he lamented, "but there's no way out. Everything I do could potentially shock me. Oh, well. It will be satisfying to see the pups win, for a change, because Harold is not worthy of doing anything. Now I wouldn't let Codi do anything to Foggy Bottom if she had wanted to buy that. But Adventure Bay is more her type. However, she's doomed anyways."
After setting everybody up, and getting them into their starting positions as determined by a random draw, the racers took their hovercars and lined up at the starting line, waiting for the light to turn green. They would also hear three beeps and a beep of a higher pitch; they would see a traffic light with the red light lit up for the first two beeps. The light would turn yellow on the third beep, and green on the higher-pitched beep. "Green means go!" Rocky cheered.
"Racers, start your engines!" Bradley called over the intercom, and everybody did so.
"Start when you hear the higher-pitched beep," Nathan added. "Best of luck to everyone. Here come the beeps!" The two then split the intercom according to the way the competition was staged; because Bradley was dressed as his character, General Braticus, he was communicating with Codi and Harold. Nathan, however, would communicate with the pups.
When the two split the intercom, Bradley pressed a button to activate the traffic light. The cars waited for the green light, and blasted off when it lit up. The race was on!
"Whoa!" Zuma exclaimed when the cars took off. "And I thought Rubble racing to dinner was fast!"
TO BE CONTINUED
PAW Patrol © Nickelodeon, Spin Master, and everybody else who owns the rights, and created by Keith Chapman.
The characters Nathan Nigelson (Nathan the Super Lion) and Bradley Barkus (General Braticus) are my original OCs. They belong to me and me alone, so do not even think about stealing them!
Sonic the Hedgehog © SEGA
Biker Mice From Mars © Rick Ungar (creator), Brentwood Television Funnies, and everybody else who owns the rights
F-Zero © Nintendo