[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/6W7bqko.png[/img]
[h2][color=FD0000]The Koopa Troop[/color][/h2]
[sub]and the twilight princess[/sub]
[b][color=FD0000]wordcount:[/color][/b] 1,342 (but interspersed so +1 for all) (+1 rapport for Kamek and Rika)
[b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 14 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (217/140)  (+1 bonus pending)
[b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 14 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]///////////////////////////////////////////////// (100/140)  (+1 bonus pending)
[b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 13 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]//////////////////////////////////////////////////// (93/130)  (+1 bonus pending)
[b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 9 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aqua]/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color](112/90)  (+1 bonus pending)
[b][color=Aquamarine]Midna: level 10[/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aquamarine]///////////////////////////////////////[/color]/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (38/110) (+1 bonus pending)
[b][color=FD0000]Location:[/color][/b] Carnival town: Ballyhoo’s Big Top
[hider=warp locations]
[s]
Central hub: Smash City Alcamoth
Accessible locations:
Peach’s castle
Limsa Lominscuttle Town
Lumbridge
Twilight Town
Kosm’s Beach
[/s]
[/hider]
[/center]

[color=SpringGreen]”What? Third! We were robbed!”[/color] Jr complained, arms thrown up in outrage before kicking his heel and grumbling [color=SpringGreen]”Stupid stream sniper. Stupid people on the internet who don’t know art when they see it”[/color]

Midna, second time third placer, meanwhile was of the opposition that it was a respectable position, and at the very least glad she’d gotten a return on her investment on the silly sound amplifying stick. Shame she didn’t get to keep it, it had been amusing, but she supposed it was as fake as the monsters.

The rest of the troop collectively agreed to keep their non finishing position under wraps, thankful that there apparently wasn’t going to be any kind of joint viewing of the recordings. That would have taken a while anyway, and instead it was right into the next minigame.

Rika was not exactly hopeful this one would be any good either despite its spouted popularity, the totally out of her depth ship girl only kept from going full grump by shoveling confectionery into her mouth in between rounds.

True to her expectations, things did not, it had to be said, start well. Dumped into a taxi cab that was fit for her body, yes, but not to her oversized mechanical hands. Those made trying to open and read the manual rather tricky, and using the key to start the car straight up impossible, forcing her to waste valuable time while she disarmed her right hand so that she could actually use all the machine. 

Still, once that was done, she had a fairly easy time turning the ignition and fiddling around with the stick a bit before she slammed the gas pedal to the floor and launched herself into oncoming traffic.

[color=Aqua]”ohhhh nonononono”[/color] she stammered in a panic as hand large and small gripped the wheel, spinning it too and fro to swerve widely around the incoming cars, before veering down a one way road the wrong way. Faced with an oncoming collision with a bus of all things, a panicking Rika let go of the wheel with her gauntlet, reeled it back, and then let it fly.

A moment later she came vaultbreaker blasting out of the other end of the one way street, drifting sideways, bus having been knocked sky high, and skidded to a halt in a conveniently open parking space.

[color=Aqua]”I, ok, phew. That was actually kinda fun”[/color] she said to herself. Unfortunately she now had to get out of the parking space, which saw a far more well versed in this Jr blasting past her frustrated attempts at an improvised 3 point turn.

[color=SpringGreen]”Hi sis!”[/color] he called out, waving his paintbrush at her as he snuck in and stole the customer she’d been intending to take after unparking, before putting the brush back to the road, calling [color=SpringGreen]”bye sis”[/color] and going tire squealing off towards the dropoff point. As he drove, the brush he was tapping to the ground left a gradually building criss-cross of goopy trails across the street, marking where he had been, making a big ol mess of everything, and also presenting a hazard to anyone who was unfortunate enough to cross his path.

Or worse, end up on the same one as him, as Midna found out when finding herself going along the half nelson highway in the same direction as him, and as soon as the slime slicker realized this, he started veering back and forth to paint the road in her way. 

[color=Aquamarine]”Junior what the heck!”[/color] she yelled at him as she tried and failed to avoid his slicking ways. Indeed the attempts to do so making things worse as, as it turns out, turning on a slippery surface is not a good time, causing her to promptly spin out with an a [color=Aquamarine]”ahhhh!”[/color]

[color=SpringGreen]”You’re just lucky there’s no item boxes, or you’d all be doomed!”[/color] the prince called back, and then a moment later he and his dinky little taxi were gone. 

[color=Aquamarine]”How old even is that child”[/color] the princess complained as she, rather than bother with trying to reverse properly, just reached out her shadow hand and shoved herself back from the highway’s central barrier.

She was just about on track to get going again when there came a rumbling and a call of [color=FD0000]”Make way for the Koopa King!”[/color] giving her just enough time to glance down the road, curse with [color=Aquamarine]”Oh for the goddess’s love”[/color] before being rammed out of the way by the titanic taxi that was Bowser’s ride. It had, after all, scaled up to him and boy did that make it big.

Maybe a bit too big, as the king found as he tried to take the tight looping slip-road down off the highway, and promptly started scraping both front and back of his car against its outer edges, and the opposite center against the inner wall. Then he had to duck under the highway, horns and shell spikes grinding against its underside.

[color=FD0000]”Yeah yeah quit whining we’ll get there when we get there”[/color] he growled at his passenger who he then had to try and squeeze up the thin windy roads of trophy heights.

The way he inevitably lost a wheel off the side, and had to get out and haul it back onto the road got an [color=DeepSkyBlue]”oh dear”[/color] with a silent ‘not my problem fortunately’ from Kamek as he drove on by. Had this been a few years back, the mage would have been a bit out of his depth as much as some of the others, but as things stood, he’d recently joined in on the royal’s number one form of interkingdom friendly competition, and so actually had some Kart racing under his belt.

As befitting his age, the mage was taking a slower and steadier pace to winning this race, peddle maxing out at about 2/3s to the metal, eyes peeled for other vehicles as he made careful turns and sensible crossings. He was also, unlike the other two Koopas, actually trying to make a mental map of the city rather than just blazing blindly in his destination’s general direction. 

This general increase in awareness meant it was hard to miss how Rika was struggling when he happened to end up on the same road as her. Well, to be fair, the way she was reversing across it to turn herself around and try and actually deliver her first customer when many were on their second, third, or more, was rather hard to miss. 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”How are you faring, young mistress?”[/color] he called over, more to check her mental mood than her, well, point’s scoring position.

[color=Aqua]”It’s kinda fun when I get going, but stuff keeps hitting me or I hit other stuff and then the fun stops”[/color] she replied evenly, even as she slammed the pedal to the metal and rammed into the opposite building rather than manage to turn out into the road again. [color=Aqua]”Plus that timer going down and down is really annoying”[/color] she complained as she shifted into reverse, clearly feeling the pressure of the time limit. 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”I know it being a race means you feel like you need to go as fast as you can, but performing smoothly and safely has its own speed. Doing something right the first time is better than doing it twice fast”[/color] The mage lectured as Rika bumped into a van while reversing, prompting her to retort [color=Aqua]”But if  can’t do it right, then fast is all I have”[/color] 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Well then, here, let me see if I can give you a pointer or two so you can”[/color] Kamek replied, pulling up beside the frustrated girl, pulling himself out of his car and popping onto her lap 

[color=Aqua]”But what about yours?”[/color] 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Don’t worry about that now, I’d rather pass down a skill than just use it for my own benefit”[/color] the mage replied, waving her concern off, before saying [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Now then, let’s see if we can give you a driving lesson or two, shall we?”[/color]

The ship girl furrowed her brow in thought for a moment, before nodding her head and smiling happily, thinking maybe this game would live up to its supposed popularity after all.