Mario Kart DS - The Final Race
(This is a short story based on one of my playthroughs of the Mario Kart DS game.)
(Disclaimer: I do not own Nintendo or Mario Kart.)
Rainbow Road. A sparkly road built by mysterious means in the spaces above the Mushroom Kingdom. It was the setting for the perfect finale to a grueling Grand Prix that took place that day. Mario was ready and willing to win this and take the golden trophy for himself. He had passed through Wario's motocross course, a garden owned by Princess Peach herself, and even his sworn rival's castle, and now...this was the race to end all races. Mario, who was behind the 1st place marker, gripped his steering wheel in determination that he would win this one as he did the last three. Only time would tell.
Lakitu swooped down with his traffic light and counted down. "Three...two...one...GO!" Then, they were off. Some of the racers spun out of control since they held their engines too early, but the others could go on without issue. Mario, Toad, and Yoshi were trying to pass each other on some Dash Panels scattered across the thin road, and toward the first Item Boxes of the race. Mario broke one, and out came a Red Shell. He didn't want to throw it at Yoshi, but Toad, since he was so close to him and getting into 1st place. He drifted a bit and managed to bump Yoshi off the track, to which Lakitu watched and rushed downward to put him back on the track. Then, Mario readied the shell in his hand to throw it, but suddenly, Toad equipped a Banana peel behind him, blocking the shell, so he shrugged.
Meanwhile, in the back of the track, Bowser kept bumping the other racers off the track using some Mushrooms for extra speed, and Yoshi eventually caught up with a Super Star. Then came the giant corkscrew, which Mario was plotting to knock somebody off. He knew that if someone fell off the speeding corkscrew, they would be sent back by quite a lot, so he hoped to obtain a Banana peel, another Shell, or even a Fake Item Box to knock Toad down to a lower place. That wasn't what he got. Instead, Mario got a single Mushroom, which gave him the extra speed he needed to catch up.
Toad cruised along, hoping to win 1st place instead of Mario, who won most of the other races. He had been successful in blocking most of the other racers' items they threw (aside from the occasional Red Shell or Lightning strike), so what was the big hassle? It was an easy win, he thought. That thought however quickly vanished, as he heard a hissing sound coming from behind. "Oh no..." Toad gulped. Somebody had thrown the greatest terror to ever radar the longest and daunting of racetracks. Somebody had thrown the item feared by all racers that are ahead in the line: the Blue Shell. Its wings flapped menacingly, zooming ahead of the other racers from Luigi's command after hitting an Item Box in 6th place. It then circled round Toad, and then...
A blue explosion could be eyed by the others on the track, Toad screaming afterward as he fell off the track. Lakitu sighed, "Here we go again...", and swooped down to go grab Toad out of deep space. Toad didn't have enough room to drift to try to escape, so he just had to accept his fate...of being knocked back to 8th place.
The second corkscrew came and went as Mario passed by where Toad was. Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Peach were swerving ahead each other, knocking each other away with Banana peels and Mushrooms, and then the finish line...but wait! Mario remembered there were 2 more laps of this whole charade, so he kept going. Another Item Box broken, this time it gave him a simple Green Shell, so he threw it behind him. It had hit Luigi, who was then bumped by Donkey Kong off the track yet again. On the next corkscrew, Mario had obtained a bunch of three Banana peels and set them all over the corkscrew behind him, and shortly after, the other racers fell for the trap and fell off the track. Lakitu groaned. "I'm gonna need a bigger fishing rod." He simply wondered how he could carry back all the fallen racers back but shrugged off this thought.
The final lap had started the minute that Mario crossed the line first. Toad had caught up quite a bit, and was behind him, and so were Yoshi and Peach, but he kept going. Unlike Toad, Mario did not fear the Blue Shell, almost wishing that someone would set it off to try to knock him off the track. He had a plan for such things.
The same Banana trap was set for the corkscrew, but Donkey Kong didn't fall for it, sending a Red Shell forward to hit Mario, to which it did, but he was too far ahead for it to really do anything. After passing the 2nd corkscrew, he heard the hissing sound that Toad heard earlier, and instead of bracing for impact, he found he had some room to drift, so as the menace to the racetrack swooped in, Mario quickly drifted out of the way and hopped out of the explosion. It, in essence, missed its target for once. And with that, Mario crossed the finish line by a hair, with Toad just behind him, but he didn't let himself get overtaken. Not only did he win the shiny trophy, but he earned the respect for his friends for impressively executing a technique nobody has ever seen. Mario had dodged the Blue Shell, it no longer being the item feared by many. Everyone took a look at the race scoreboard.
=STANDINGS=
1st - Mario
2nd - Toad
3rd - Peach
4th - Yoshi
5th - Donkey Kong
6th - Luigi
7th - Bowser
8th - Wario
(SPECIAL CUP - Mario placed 1st! - Rank: 3 Stars)
Mario then received a letter from Lakitu after taking his trophy. It said:
Dear Mario,
Congratulations on winning the Special Cup Grand Prix! I am pleased to award you the opportunity to choose between seven different karts to race with next time! So, go on! Take your pick!
-Signed, the Mario Kart Pit Crew.
THE END