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Much to Junior’s surprise most of the time, there are some days where they can tolerate their father.
And the day of Christmas sometimes happens to be one o them. There’s wrapping paper scattered all around the floor and Juinor’s already been surprised by the fact that they got the keyboard they had asked for. Not to mention new gouache paints.
Lorraine unboxes her presents alongside them, some makeup, a periwinkle robe, and a set of books for a series that they vaguely recognize.
They reach for another present, a box that they managed to get a single glimpse of and they near immediately knew what was inside it. Still the surprise hits them at full force when they unbox the present and find a Nintendo Switch 2 inside of it. They gasp audible, Lorraine turns around to look at the present and she seems shocked all the same.
The first time that Junior had gotten a Nintendo Switch, they were happy for about two seconds before their father immediately cut in with the disclaimer of “this is for both you and Lorraine to play on, if she asks to use it you’ll give it to her, understand?” And their joy was immediately dulled.
Since then, however, it’s mostly been theirs. Besides the occasional game that they both play that never fails to send Junior into a competitive mood, they get the Switch all to themselves.
“Remember Junior, it’s for both you and Lorraine,” Their father says, but even despite his half monotone, slightly grating tone as he says it, Junior’s excitement isn’t dulled one bit. Perhaps it’s the comfort that even if that fact is true, it’s theirs more than half the time
Or even the idea that his father might’ve gotten it for them but has too much pride to admit as much. Who knows.
They immediately rush to unbox the switch itself, still in a flurry of wonder and enthusiasm. There’s plastic bags on the floors and different wires, there’s a dock that’s a near duplicate of the one they already have sitting on the tv stand.
And then there’s the switch itself, Junior is confused for a moment when the controllers don’t slide into place like the other ones. But it makes more sense when they push the controllers instead. They both lock into place with a magnetic click.
Somewhere between Junior immediately turning it on and flicking through the mandatory settings that come with a new device. They notice Lorraine leaning in to watch what’s going on. Junior types the wi-fi password that comes to mind without them so much as having to pull their phone out, and they log into their Nintendo account,
“Alright, my turn,” Lorraine says,
“For what?”
“So I can log into my account, you heard what dad said,”
“Fine, here,” Junior says, sounding more reluctant than they actually are, and they hand the device over.
There’s a few moments of her loving in before the device is finally theirs again, there’s no games until they unwrap another present. Junior at first, thought the present was some kind of joke, perhaps not even for either of them because it was the empty box meant for their ornaments.
The same ones that hang on their tree, but past the wrapping paper and the clarification from their father, turns out that inside was Mario Kart World.
Enthusiastically, they open the folder up and insert the cartridge into the Switch. Within seconds, the bright panel of Mario Kart world pops up on their screen. They click on the window and there’s a pop up saying that there’s an update. For a moment, Junior wonders how a game they just downloaded would need to update. But regardless, they do so, just to get it out of the way.
And within seconds, they can play, the opening screen pops up and Junior takes the time to soak in the new game. They press L and R on the controller and within seconds, they’re on the main menu.
Even before they had so much as thought about getting a different Nintendo Switch, they had seen videos about the game on the internet. And Junior, being a sucker for Mario Kart was intrigued when watching Mario Kart World gameplay. But then they saw a review for the switch itself and for the price point at the time, it wasn’t worth it.
But then they had also seen something else before they had gotten the switch, a good five videos or so about Spike. This silly green blob with blue hair that would throw spike balls or bars, hence the name. They had seen a video with someone playing Spike in Mario Kart World and just barely managing to make it to number one before the race ended.
At first they brushed it off, if anything, the graphics were the main thing drawing Junior to the game itself at first. Rainbow road, the soundtrack for some of the tracks and what not. But then, they saw more videos.
They rewatched that same video and something about the silly green blob driving around in his little green car grew dear to them.
And after a little while, that green blob was immediately what they wanted, if they ever did get Mario Kart World. And here Junior stands, well sits, about to play Mario Kart World, hopefully with Spike.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t even take him getting to the character customization page to quickly realize that Spike is a character that has to be unlocked, rather than them being able to play from the get go.
From that point on, Junior makes it their life mission to get Spike, no matter what.
Junior’s first race is peaceful enough, it mostly consists of them getting used to the new mechanics of their Switch. The difference is jarring at first, but they manage to get over it soon enough. And within the first three races they manage to get used to it.
Their search for Spike starts out simple, they type in “how to get spike Mario kart world” into the search bar, they find something that says to do specific settings, they go onto Reddit and find a few replies with different things. One says that they got it from a specific map, but there seems to be a common denominator, Kamek.
They find themselves at the customization page choosing Waluigi, the pink plush mobile that they started with and going on their merry way.
The race starts and that competitiveness immediately comes back in a wave that hasn’t been present since the last time that they played Mario Kart. But weirdly enough, it fades quickly enough when they realize that their main goal is pulling Kamek.
And from Junior’s experience, the rolls you get in first place is typically just coins, and if one’s lucky a mushroom or a shell. Meaning that Junior deliberately has to stay beneath 3rd place at least if they want to get a chance at getting the item they need.
The cars pass by him, but all he cares is being able to get to the rainbow blocks. It’s a weird day when they’re madder about not getting to roll for items than being pushed away from first place. But by the end of the second round, it’s painfully obvious that they have no chance of getting turned into Spike.
And hence that competitiveness gets turned on again, on a lower setting this time, they just seem to glide by the other players now that items is no longer a concern. And just as fate would have it he ends up in first place without needing to do too much. Which is a relief.
The next few races go about the same way, each time that they race towards the food bags or the rainbow cubes they pray for Kamek and almost every time without fail it seems to be nothing. For all they know there’s no way to customize so their fate is up to sheer luck.
“You’re playing checkers, I’m fucking your dad, you want to win, I want Spike,” Junior mutters to themselves as they watch players pass by them. They turn the corner and the only thing on their mind is that chance of being turned into Spike by sheer chance.
There’s glimpses of hope, the first time that he gets hit with Kamek, but that time he’s turned into a goomba. They find themselves mildly annoyed, but it seems that beginners luck isn’t striking them any time soon.
The second glimpse of hope comes when they finally mange to pull Kamek just as they wanted. But part of them realizes that they might need to get hit with Kamek in order to be transformed into Spike.
Junior doesn’t want to believe it in the moment, they’ve done at least ten races by now in the same three maps that Spike apparently appears in.
But that wave of disappointment hits them at full speed. They also read that they could use the ufo to abduct Spike in free roam. Perhaps they should give that a try.
Very quickly, when Junior goes into free roam, the objective of Spike seems to partially dissipate.
The idea of being able to drive around all over the wide expanse of the map seems to be infinitely more fun than going inside of a ufo. They see Spike at least once when passing by on the road, they bump into him, rude.
What they’re focused on are the little food bags that have a chance of turning him into a version of Waluigi with cooler clothes, he keeps the plush mobile, it’s easier to navigate in. They pass by Peach Stadium, up into the north with snow and into the safari with the golden grass.
That same road leads them nearly everywhere on the map, but after almost thirty minutes of traveling the same road, or at least what they presume to be the same route, they worry that they might be going in circles.
Either way, they listen to music in their headphones and the experience is fun regardless. They hum “Life Is A Highway” quietly to themselves and it’s so fun going at most likely illegal speeds in real life on the road.
They fly over the highway on their car, and when they go into the bullet bill powered truck, they somewhat relish in being able to knock other cars off the road.
They giggle to themselves as they recklessly drive around, they still silently pray to be turned into Spike at some point. But almost an hour in, they’re forced to acknowledge that they’re not doing this for Spike anymore, and most more so because of the food, and perhaps being able to push cars off the highway in that truck.
Finally, Junior finds themselves exasperated, surely Mario kart didn’t erase the feature to customize which items you can throw in a race. The last time they remember using that was to stop people from throwing shells, there’s only so many times you can get hit with a blue one.
That eureka moment hits them at full force when they see that it still is there, so of course they proceed to cross everything off of the list besides the Kamek, they decide on three races, no teams on hard mode. Perhaps the hard mode a bit unnecessary but that’s what they’ve been racing on for the past hour.
Junior starts the race, with their Waluigi patiently waiting in their car, and the race begins. Almost as soon as they get their first items a frenzy of purple swirls fills the screen. And almost immediately, they start getting turned into different people. Koomba, Dolphin and finally after what seems like a blur of purple clouds, Spike.
They immediately jump up with a mix of joy and relief, proceeding to screenshot the moment immediately. Junior damn near spams the button on the controller just taking a near infinite amount of pictures for their new avatar.
The race ends with them eventually in first place, and just before the Kamek forces them to change back, they get a triumphant photo of Spike with the crown on. Junior smiles to themselves, finally, the thing they had been working nearly three hours to get.
As soon as that race ends they rush to the customization screen to equip spike, and they immediately take a screenshot of spike in his new vehicle. And if that wasn’t enough, they take at least five more as Spike spins around. Perhaps Lorraine will look through their album to find the ridiculous amount of pictures, but Junior deserves to celebrate their hard earned victory.
The first race that they decide to do is in a particular desert map that they’ve only played once or twice in their pursuit of getting Spike as a character thus far.
Junior lies in wait with their fingers on the buttons ready for the race to begin. The timer strikes down, three…two…one…
Go!
The race begins and they’re immediately surpassed by at least five people who were able to get the little boost in the beginning. But of course, it doesn’t take long for them to catch up.
People throw shells left right and center as they swerve around the track. They take every opportunity in the book to make tricks and avoid the swarm of items being thrown in their direction.
The track itself is fairly simple, a quick couple of turns and a little area where they can make as many jumps as their heart desires, the only problem being the about twenty people behind them. Not to mention the three people behind them who want nothing more than to throw a shell at them that’ll bump them up to first place.
Junior manages to reach a state of focus that should probably be studied in a lab, but regardless they turn around the track and manage to get comfortably ahead of everyone else. Of course, the only items that they seem to get in first place are shells, coins, and the occasional feather. Just as they had predicted.
But with all that aside, the second round manages to go by without a hitch. As the third lap approaches they could probably afford to let up a bit. But as they turn around, they continue their musings. Watching spike make the sharp turns in his little vehicle with a mix of admiration and joy.
The race finally ends with them comfortably in first place. And they proceed to celebrate by squealing into their pillow and of course, taking more screenshots of Spike, this time with the crown comfortably on his head, as he so deserves.
Not five minutes after Junior is celebrating his beloved character’s first victory, Lorraine walks in,
“Is it my turn to have the switch now?”
“You want to play Mario kart that badly?”
“Dad said it was for both of us, you know,”
“Alright, but if you play as spike, you better not get anything other than first place, I don’t want to spoil his honor,”
“Whatever you say,”
What Lorraine doesn’t know, is that Junior is completely serious.