After coming back from my sixth race (at Sky Garden), I wandered into Koda's garage, because I saw him constructing something covered by a sheet and looking at plans on one of his small desk. He was also weating a small, metallic kind of shell, not his usual one. I'm not sure which was more interesting; the fact that he was trying to build something huge with his own materials, that he was wearing some kind of strange armor, or that there was a mysterious flower in a jar of water sitting on the corner of his desk.
He was so into the moment that I had to walk within three steps of him in order to notice me. He finally turned his head my direction and said a casual "Hey, Charles."
"Hey. I've, um, got a lot of questions..."
"Yeah, you probably do. What did you want to know about first?"
"The metal shell thingy."
"That's so the thing I'm building doesn't collapse onto me and crush me. It's smaller, so I can actually get up if I flip, and you could throw a kitchen sink at me and it wouldn't do a thing."
"It seems kind of uncomfortable, though."
He nodded repeatedly and said "Yeah, I don't put this on often. But this thing is worth it."
I was too curious to not know what was under that sheet. "So, what is that thing? Can I see it?"
He slowly nodded, turned the light on, and waited for the garage door to close before showing me his sacred construction. Once the garage door fully slammed shut, he pulled the sheet off to reveal a kart that appeared to be built for two.
"...W...what?"
"Check this thing out. It's a double kart." He walked around the thing, pointing to it at times, as if he was some kind of game show assistant.
"How much did this thing cost?"
"Not too much, actually. Buying the bases were cheap, and after that, there were only a few more parts remaining that I didn't have. I didn't spend more than 300 coins."
"Wow. How does it... work?"
"Two people race at the same time. The person in front does all the steering. The person in the back seat, here, handles using all the items and counterbalancing the kart."
"So everybody needs a partner..."
"Right. And you know who I've chosen, right?"
"Me?"
"Who else?"
"Uh, there's just one problem."
"Hm? What's that?"
"I didn't win yet."
"You're serious? I thought for sure you'd conquer at Sky Garden."
"I thought I would too. But there was just that one moment where Bowser bumped me directly into a banana, and before I was able to regain my balance, I fell off the course. It took a while to get back into it."
"Did you do well at all?"
"No, I came in seventh."
"Well, how many races do you have left?"
"Two."
"See, that's more than enough races left for you to win again. Next would be Shy Guy's Toy Box. I'm going to participate again there."
"Alright. Want to act as teammates again?"
"......"
"...uh... I said, want to act as teammates again?"
"......"
"What's going on, Koda? Is something wrong?"
"...no. Nothing." He then blankly walked out of his garage like a zombie. What was going on?
Origin of Entria