-o-

The Vote

Location: Town square before Nimbus Chateau

…

Yoshi and the group stop dead on their tracks, forced to skid stop. Due to his size and inertia, Morton Jr. face plants on the cloudy floor. They look back at the voice that commanded them to stop.

"Wait a sec," commands Mallow. "Sorry for stalling you. Since the tournament is slated to begin half an hour or an hour after registration closes, I need to give you your stuff back." Mallow nods at one of his Nimbus servants present, who quickly and quietly scurries away. "I may or may not be able to talk you you guys then, so I may as well do this now."

The Nimbus servant returns with a silver box, which he opens before Mallow, who then takes out and hands Geno his old equipment back: Jinx's belt, the Star Cape, and a feather.

"Here you go. Also, news about Johnny breaking out already reached us. If Johnny gets discovered in Glitzville, he may be arrested, and your journey may even end prematurely. Let me handle the disguise while you guys take care of registering."

"Thanks," replies Geno, taking his belongings somewhat in haste. "You wouldn't know anything about my Star Gun, would you?"

"And me trident, ye marshmallow?" His gills begin fizzing rapidly.

Mallow snorts, but then clears his throat. "Unfortunately, the Star Gun was stolen by two Fire Brothers. One of my people did tell me that they heard them say something about Koopalings and a desert deal, but we have nothing, sorry. You'll need to keep an eye out for your weapon and Johnny's trident."

"That will suffice," Geno adds, "Everyone, we move out. Johnny, we''ll see you in a bit."

One of Mallow's servants rallies the other servants present. "You heard our king; we need to dress the shark up, pronto!"

Bago the paragoomba and Daisy's doogan pilot stay behind with Johnny, while Daisy stands still for a moment, inspecting Morton Jr., who is still on the ground as Geno and Yoshi began running towards Glitzville. They stop and look back at her, rapidly growing frustrated as they had no time to lose. She then beams with an idea, and suddenly grabs both the dinosaur and doll, runs back a few steps and runs at Morton, who sees her and fearfully retracts into his shell as the princess jumps at him; all three ride the Koopaling into the neighboring city, passing by guards and citizens of both cities, all who jump out of the way of the skating princess.

Location: Glitzville Plaza, next to the hot dog stand

…

Jolene, official promoter of the Glitz Pit, and Prince Mush stand from their places and get ready to pack up the documents for review with the judges and staff.

"I guess this is it!" announced Prince Mush. "We better get these docs to the commission soon or else Rawk Hawk will start 'rawking' people."

"You know him too well," Jolene agreed. "With that cute, gray doogan signing up this morning, all that is left are three open spaces." She gets her phone out and speaks into it. "Hello? We're done here, have someone come and pick up the foldable table and chairs. We're taking the applications over."

Just then, Yoshi, Geno and Daisy hop of Morton, who then crashes into the hot dog stand next to the registration table. Before they could say anything, they are flabbergasted when they see a wanted poster for Johnny tapped onto the table, on the dented hot dog stand, and on every wall in Glitzville.

Jolene clears her throat, getting their attention as Morton Jr. slowly walks up to them, rubbing his head. "Good afternoon. May I help you?"

"Hello, ma'am," begins Geno, "we are interested in participating in the fighting tournament hosted here."

Jolene and Prince Mush glance at each other silently. She then looks back at the group. "I am sorry, guys; rules state that we stop registration at noon, and whoever was not in line by then cannot participate. I am sorry."

"Bu-but," stammers Daisy, "We came from so far! We rushed as fast as we could! Heck, we even rode Morty..." She quickly glances at Geno and Yoshi with a hug grin. "Which was fun, by the way."

Prince Mush shrugs and lifts his arms. "You're too late; our hands are tied. We have to follow the rules."

Yoshi plops onto the floor as Geno sighs in disappointment. Daisy rubs her eyes while Morton Jr. keeps rubbing the swollen bump on his head.

"I can't believe we lost this opportunity," whispers Geno, looking up at the sky. "Well, we may as well buy tickets as spectators..."

As Yoshi stands, a freelancing Lakitu reporter shoves a phone in the dinosaurs face.

"Yosh, my man, friend of the Great Gonzalez!"

The interaction was so sudden, that Yoshi instinctively sticks his tongue out and grabs the reporter's phone, swallowing it. An awkward silence ensues as Yoshi farts out an egg. The reporter stares at the egg silently for a few seconds, and then picks it up and leaves like if nothing happened.

Just then, Gonzalez Jr., sometimes referenced to as Yoshi kid or mini-Yoshi, appears. "Mush-boy! Hey, Jolene!" He points at her with both index fingers. "I was going to my personal room when the commission asked me to come pick up some tables and stuff." He sees the group beginning to walk toward a ticket booth for the Glitz Pit. "Who're those foo's?"

Prince Mush answers, with much disappointment in his voice, "They tried to register a while ago, but came too late. You know, Glitz Pit rules..."

Gonzalez Jr. stares intently at Yoshi and suddenly recognizes him. "Is that the one and only Yoshi, the Great Gonzalez' best bud?" He looks back at his colleagues as he points his arms at Yoshi. "Bruh, you gotta let them in! He's stuff of legends! I've heard he's been on many adventure's with the Great Gonzalez! You have to give 'em a chance, Jolene."

Jolene and Prince Mush look at each other again. They shrug at each other, musing at the request.

"Weeell," mused Jolene, "we do have an odd number of participants. Look, I'll make a compromise, but we need to get this paper work to the commission pronto so we won't delay the tournament. Get them over here, and we'll make them a deal."

While Prince Mush and Jolene begin setting up again, the Yoshi kid runs up to the group right before they bought their tickets.

"Yo!"

Yoshi responds. "Umm... Do we know you?"

"Don't know, but I know you, the O.G. Yosh! I'm hooking you up with Jolene. So turn that frown upside-down, and let's scoot back over there now."

All four look at each other as Gonzalez Jr. runs back to the table near the hot dog stand.

"Well, we got nothing to lose," states Geno.

They all run after the Yoshi kid and stop before the table; Jolene looks at them all.

"We usually do not make exceptions. However, an obscure rule states that if someone from the commission sponsors your request, we'll let you in, granted it's before the start of the tournament. Lucky for you, Gonzalez Jr. here thinks you should participate, and since he's part of the commission..."

A loud cheer from Yoshi, Daisy, and Morton interrupt her mid-sentence. Daisy gives Geno a loud high five, slapping off his right hand. The Toad promoter smiles a she gives them a few seconds to celebrate; she clears her throat loudly to grab their attention. "I see you came as a group, but..." Silence ensues. "There's a catch: since we don't want to begin late, we will only allow one participant to enter."

Geno smirks while replacing his hand. "That's fine." He looks at the the Yoshi kid. "Gonzalez Jr., was it? Thank you for helping us."

"No sweat, naked doll!"

Geno was not amused, but he continues. "Give us a couple of minutes."

Yoshi and Geno face everyone else in the group, Geno beckoning them to gather around. Right then, Bago and Daisy's pilot arrive with Johnny wearing a fluffy outfit, causing Yoshi to beckon them over as well. Once together, they all walk a bit away from the registrars and huddle around.

"Okay then," begins Geno, "We got a shot at this, but since we were only allowed one slot to fill, we have to choose who'll represent us wisely."

"I vote for Yoshi," blurts Morton, earning Yoshi's glare.

"I could, but I'd rather let my arm heal," replies the tropical dinosaur, "What about Crazy Daisy? She always wanted to Smash, so there's your debut."

Daisy sighs. "I never get invited to Smash, and I doubt I'll get in any time soon."

Geno laughs. "You'll never know. I wouldn't mind participating in Smash myself, to be honest."

"Well, you do have a gun for a hand," says Daisy, "Though at this point, it may as well be wishful thinking..." She clears her throat. "Anyway, I vote for Morty."

Morton Jr. makes an offended face. "Whaaaa? Why me? I say Yoshi! You always make it to Smash tournaments."

"What about Daisy?" retorts Yoshi. "She slapped Bowser into oblivion once during a party."

"Hey now, Yosh," she chuckles nervously, "This time, I just want to be a spectator."

"If her highness doesn't want to, then she shouldn't participate," interjects Daisy's doogan pilot. "Smash or this tournament..."

Daisy sighs. "If only Johnny wasn't hurt..."

"He'd actually make a really good fighter," begins Geno, "I can attest to that, but alas, Johnny is out, so..."

Yoshi interrupts him as he give him a knowing look. "You know, Gee, you can pull it off, too. And you'd get a large fan base cheering for you."

"As much as I'd love to, Yosh, you saw how easily I fell to the fuzzy gas bomb and Tanuki's hand thrust. I still feel ashamed about those elementary losses. Even with my equipment back, I am lacking in the defensive side."

"So?" asks Bago. "You could look at the line-up, and hope to get a good match-up."

"I could make the same argument about you, Bago," replies Geno, "There are many a good fighters amongst Goombas."

Bago laughs sarcastically. "Yeeaaah, the only headbonking I'd do when meeting my accountants and lawyers." He looks back at the registrars, who are beginning to lose their patience. "The registrars are getting fussy. We need to pick now."

Geno sighs while rubbing his brows. "This isn't leading us anywhere, and we don't want the registrars to forfeit our spot. I get no one wants to do this, but we really need someone for our pick." He points at Yoshi. "You were commissioned by Toadsworth directly, so you nominate."

"Thanks Gee," says the green dinosaur sarcastically, "Really needed the pressure now."

The star powered doll continues, "Whoever it is, we will all vote unanimously; no complaints." Everyone nods as Geno looks at Yoshi. "So, who will you pick?"

"I vote for…" Yoshi about to say Daisy like he did during the nomination cycle, but suddenly, he yells out, "Morton!"

Everyone including Morton raises their hands. Morton Jr. then realizes he just voted for himself, thinking Yoshi was going to nominate Daisy.

Geno walks back to the table along with Bago, satisfied with the results. "Alright, Yosh, that will do." He pats the Scourge on his left shoulder.

However, the Koopaling looks incredulous as he keeps his right hand up in the air for a while, and then he begins his tirade.

"Noo... No, no, no, chumps! Why me? Why not the donkey, or Crazy Daisy? I ain't have no muskles, or marital arts, or laser beams. I am only big-boned..."

"Exactly," observed the casino paragoomba, "A 'big-boned' chubby lad like you has more chances to win. And with your raw strength, you can bury them in the ground in one fell swoop. Not much need for skills."

Yoshi nudges the Koopaling, who in turn gives Yoshi a nasty look. "It's not like Smash, where you have to worry about getting blasted into the distance." He clasps his chin. "Maybe there will be other reject participating, like WaLuigi."

"Who cares about WaLuigi!" says Daisy, her voice full of sass.

"Hey Mort!" exclaims Geno. "You can fuss about it later. Come over here and help us fill your paperwork!"

…

-o-

As a side note, the whole "Who vote's for X?" thing was something silly that really happened between my siblings and I. Even I forgot what we we're fighting for, but I digress...

So it finally begins next chapter, the long awaited tournament. Who will be featured in the opening act? Well see that next chapter!

(By the way, many thanks to 7King Bowser7 for posting a second review on such a short time.)