Chapter 12

No matter what, the PAW Patrol couldn't lose the championship now. Codi was angry because she had discovered what the authorities didn't want her to know until later, which was the fact her original contract was not approved by the arena staff and management, and it was modified to what it should have been. That was a malfunction from the AI-controlled virtual reality, and the staff was fixing it and modifying the coding as the races continued. "But I swear it was finalized," Codi protested as she boarded her hovercar for the final race. "I even witnessed Mayor Goodway sign it."

"Sorry, but the rules and regulations of our arena and the way we do competitions like this state that we reserve the right to nullify or modify a contract if it does not meet the standards of good sportsmanship and fair play," Bradley scolded. "Your contract was anything but that. Yes; it's true that you had her sign the contract stating that you'd win her town if you won the whole competition, but because she signed it does not make it final. Besides, you co-wrote it with that other kid, didn't you?"

"He and I had a discussion on it, but I wrote the whole thing myself." (Harold wasn't aware of the fact Codi tried to change it in secret; he didn't read the document because he was too busy getting the idea of him being champion into his head.) "Why do you ask?"

"When this is over, the news media will want the whole story. Expect them to vilify you to the point of no return because you wanted Adventure Bay all to yourself."

"Whatever." Cody turned to Mayor Goodway and warned, "It's clear that you'll get to keep your town for now, but you and Adventure Bay have not seen the last of Codi Gizmody!"

"You may be telling the truth," Goodway replied, "but you can't have Adventure Bay, and that is my final answer."

When everybody was ready, the virtual reality setting brought up the final race of the whole competition: Fire Field. "It's called Fire Field," Nathan explained to the audience, "because, once upon a time, it was one of the greatest places in the galaxy to harvest minerals. But the leading resources company was too greedy, digging too deep and hitting a volcano. It caused a huge explosion that turned the place into a fiery inferno, full of extremely hot magma. The resources company was driven to the crisis of bankruptcy, but they teamed up with project F-Zero and constructed an F-Zero circuit amongst the crimson lotus flames."

"So does that mean the company went out of business?" Rubble asked out of curiosity.

"I don't know; that's a good question. I wouldn't be surprised if that is the case. All I do know is that those people that were working for it have some investment in the race course. I can also tell you that if your firefighter pup wins the race, you'll have a perfect score of 75 points. Whatever happens, you cannot lose the championship. Just promise me that you won't get overconfident about it."

"Of course we will," Chase promised. "One thing is for sure; this whole experience was a lot of fun."

"It taught us the importance of doing our best and never giving up the fight, especially when it's against Harold and Codi," Skye added.

"What good pups!" Ryder smiled.

"I'm glad to hear that," Nathan nodded. "Still, we have the final race to go, and Marshall, thank you for being very patient with this whole thing. It's finally your turn."

"I'm ready for a red hot race!" Marshall cheered. "Let's bring on the heat!"

The race began, and it was evident that Codi and Harold wanted revenge on each other as well as everybody else with the way they were approaching it. "This is so out of character for them," both Codi's former parents (because they disowned her) and Helga commented to one another. "But then again, this whole thing was a waste of time for both of them. Nobody beats the Mighty Pups."

"Could you beat them in a race?" Nathan asked Sonic. "Then again, you prefer to run."

"I do," said Sonic, "but these tracks weren't meant for running. I can tell you that I actually did race Chase once. It ended in a tie, though." As a joke, he then turned to Chase and said, "You ready for a rematch?" All the other pups laughed.

"Thanks, Sonic," said Chase, "but I think for now I'll stick to my duties as a Mighty Pup, or whatever the case may be."

"I just hope this doesn't turn out like that Horrific Grand Finale you mentioned," Everest chimed in. "It seems to me that Harold and Codi want to eliminate Marshall."

"That's what we hope for as well," Nathan agreed, "but let's not forget that the computer opponents are sabotaging one another as well as trying to get Codi, Harold, and Marshall." Indeed, that's what the race was shaping out to be, and the staff and management were worried it was another part of the glitch. All security camera footage was checked, and nothing had tampered with it. Mayor Humdinger and his kittens were in their respective prisons, and hadn't broken out, because if one of them tried to break out, they got an electric shock. There was no outside interference from the staff or anything. It's just the way it was working out.

"Do you suppose everybody's tempers got hot because we're racing in the Fire Field?" Knuckles suggested.

"Either that," Bradley replied, "or the way Codi and Harold have been treating this competition has upset them. The dogs are capturing the true spirit of 'F-Zero.' The two kids aren't. Now they're learning the hard way just how much destruction greed can cause. Plus, it leaves you really miserable."

Although the end result wasn't as terrifying as the Horrific Grand Finale (in which there was only one survivor and 14 deaths), the crowds were worried it was going to be that way, given all the bumping the computer opponents were doing to Codi and Harold. In the end, out of the 20 racers, there were only 8 left, so there were only 12 deaths in this one. "That's still 12 too many," Bradley winced. (Most of them were the computer players doing it to one another, however. Codi and Harold only cause one elimination each, although in his case, the car bumped into him, then exploded. Codi bumped into another flashing car on purpose, leading it to explode. It took a significant amount of power away from her power meter, though, and so she (annoyingly) had to use the pit stop when she didn't want to. This was because the pit area on that track was off to the side at a fork in the road, and racers had to go straight into that path instead of make a right turn to use it. Otherwise, they weren't going to be able to pit whatsoever.

It was worth noting that the accurate recreations of Captain Falcon, Dr. Stewart, and Pico were not included in the eliminations due to exploding cars. Samurai Goroh, however, was on the list. "Well, serves him right," said Captain Turbot. "After all, he lied to everybody about losing your machines if you lose a race in the canyon."

Unlike the two kids, who were using their Super Jets as soon as they got them, Marshall decided to save all three of his for the final lap. His intention was to spread them out evenly, but due to having an itchy trigger finger, he ended up using the last two in succession. As a result, he got the lead back, but just barely. Harold and Codi tried to jockey for position afterwards, but because they had no Super Jets left, they could not make a break for it.

Neither Harold, Codi, nor Marshall used the pit stop on the final lap; to do so would have been foolish. But it was quite clear that all of them wanted to win the race, evident by the photo finish that resulted. On the surface, it looked like a three-way tie.

"Oh; did he do it? Did he win it?" Everest asked.

"Oh; that was so close!" Amy winced.

"Wow; that was a close call," Nathan added. "We're going to have to go to an instant replay for that. Let's also get the times. We time each race and/or time trial; you understand."

While returning to home base, Harold and Codi (as expected) kept arguing back and forth. "Neither of us have won the town for ourselves, but I am telling you, I won the race!" Codi protested.

"No, you didn't; I did!" Harold shot back.

"I won!"

"No, I won!"

"You did not!"

"I did so!"

Given the nature of the track, it was a long race. Everybody eagerly awaited the results, and the photos that were taken were given to each of the racers. Harold and Codi still believed that they won it, but when Ryder took a look, it seemed as if Marshall had actually pulled it off. "What do you think?" he asked Sonic and his friends as he showed them the photos.

"It was a close call," said Blaze, "but I think your dog pulled it off!"

"Okay; the results are in," Bradley announced to everybody. "Everybody direct your attention to the scoreboard." The audience did so, and saw that the results were being revealed bottom to top. Everybody heard the traditional game show chime as the times were revealed. (The fact there were game show bells and buzzers present, as well as giving away huge amounts of cash and prizes in the competition, referenced Nathan's original fantasy of being a game show host. Although he had yet to actually host a game show on television, he entertained his friends in his youth by acting as a game show host, and having them be the contestants. It ultimately changed their worldviews on television for the better, they said, because it never occurred to them how much garbage there was on television. Plus, it didn't help that Nathan had stricter standards than they did.)

"Codi," Bradley continued, "your time is..." The times for each racer lit up in yellow for each one, and the hosts read it aloud as it appeared. Codi ended up finishing the race with a time of 3:36.20 (three minutes, 36 seconds, and 20 kilo-seconds). "3:36.20; that's a good time.

"Harold," Nathan announced, "your time is..." It turned it out was the exact same time. "3:36.20; you did exactly the same thing as Codi."

"What happens if there is a tie? I don't think that ever happened," Marshall commented.

"Not yet, but we did forget to mention that detail; we apologize," Bradley replied.

"If there is a tie, then all tied racers score the higher amount," Nathan added, "and we ignore certain numbers. So if you got third place, Marshall, you score 5 points, and the two kids score 15. If your time is the same time, then all three of you score 15 points. But if you beat them, you get 15, and the other two get 10. Either way, if you did tie or do better than them, then you pups will have made a perfect score, and you'll have done so on the hardest difficulty. Are you ready to see the result?"

"Ready."

"Show it!" Although some people in the audience may have been irritated by a dramatic pause, the staff and management of the arena did so for dramatic effect. Harold and Codi really wanted to see Marshall do worse than them, because they had devoted that whole last race to winning at all costs, and wanted to see a better time than his. It seemed everybody was on the edge of their seats. Everybody except Chickaletta, that is; she was asleep (again).

Then it came: 3:36.19. "Oh; you got it!" Nathan exclaimed as a series of repeated dings went off. "You got the win by one thousandth of a second!"

The audience burst into thunderous applause as the other pups howled in excitement, and the two kids (predictably) began to protest, but then a buzzer went off to indicate the whole contest was over, and almost immediately the police came in to arrest Codi. (To arrest her before that would have been a breach of contract, but they would argue that her doing the whole thing to start with was a breach of contract in itself, because she illegally broke out of prison.) "What are you idiots doing?" she protested.

"The contest is now over, and so you are going back to prison," the police replied as they handcuffed her. "Besides, you broke out of prison, and it is against the law to break out of prison, so you've got even more on your record."

"Why do you think we disowned you?" her former parents echoed. "You put too much effort into the wrong causes! But we feel that we failed, because we wanted a normal girl. But what is normal?"

"I did it for nothing!" Codi moaned as the police took her away. "My glorious dream city, my own place to rule...I did it for nothing!"

"I take it you're not happy with me either, are you?" Harold asked Helga.

"I am not, but I'm not really in the mood to be angry," Helga replied. "Still, your mom and dad will some have choice words for you. And I am going to side with them on this."

"Fine." Harold turned to Mayor Goodway. "I will be back for revenge, I promise, but I also promise you I'm nothing like her."

"And you will never win," Goodway snapped. "However, you're right about that. You didn't attempt to demolish everything like she did. You just teleported it to a different location."

"BA-BUCK, BA-GERK!" Chickaletta clucked, suddenly waking up from her dream.

"Shall we go now, Harold?" Helga interrupted.

"Okay." Harold bowed his head to accept defeat, and then he and Helga left the arena.

The official final scores for the King League were as follows:

PAW Patrol: 75 (perfect score)
Harold Humdinger: 40
Codi Gizmody: 25

That meant that the official grand totals for the entire competition were:

PAW Patrol: 205
Harold Humdinger: 95
Codi Gizmody: 65

"It seems only appropriate Codi has the lowest score," Amy commented. "Karma is really punishing her."

"Seems like it," said Ryder. "But now, let's do the award ceremony. And we can do it peacefully."

The awards ceremony had the usual trophy and cash prize presentations, but Nathan had a few more surprises for the Mighty Pups. "I would not do this with the other two leagues because the difficulty wasn't as high as this one was, but because you all did get a perfect score of 75, I'm going to double the jackpot to $10 million!" More thunderous applause from the crowd occurred.

"And I thought it was going to be a lifetime supply of pup treats!" Rubble joked, getting laughs from everybody.

"I don't think that's in the budget," Nathan replied, adding to the jokes. "I'm rich, but not that rich!" More laughter occurred. "However, I do have a one-year supply for you all to evenly share; is that okay with you?"

"Fine by us!" the construction pup smiled. "Uh, what flavor?"

"It's a whole variety of flavors, but they're all fruit flavored. I'm not sure what treats you usually go for."

"I think it varies," said Rocky. "But what difference does it make? To me, treats are treats, and I love treats!"

"A wonderful prize for a wonderful team! You're all good pups!" Ryder put in, and everybody cheered.

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
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? © Sony Pictures Television, 2waytraffic, and everyone else who owns the rights
Biker Mice From Mars © Rick Ungar (creator), Brentwood Television Funnies, and everybody else who owns the rights
F-Zero © Nintendo