~ORELINE P.O.V
The Arcade had just closed, so we all parked up at the starting/finish line. The racers and I hop out of our karts to head up in front of the stands. I walked up to Snowanna Rainbeau, my best friend here other than Vanellope.
She was the only one other than me who wasn't mean to her, at least when the others weren't around. We had to try and act as if we hated her as well so we wouldn't get kicked out of the roster, otherwise, there would be no chance of her getting into the race.
But... I do feel like something amazing was going to happen today. "Today was an awesome day, huh?" I asked Snow.
"Yeah. So, are going to visit Vanellope after this?" she asked me in a whisper.
I nodded. "We'll go after the Random Roster Race," I whispered to Snow.
She nodded in confirmation. I smiled even more as we walked up the steps. "Why are you smiling wider for?" Snow asked me with a raised eyebrow.
"I just feel like something amazing is gonna happen today," I told her.
She rolled her eyes with a small smile, punching my shoulder slightly. We joined the group as Taffyta walked over, giving Candlehead a high five, and coming to a stop next to her.
I didn't hate them and they didn't hate me or Snow, but we weren't friends either... At all.
"Citizens of Sugar Rush," Sour Bill started speaking over the microphone.
In the corner of my eye, I thought I saw someone in green slip away but I ignored it and choked it up to my imagination. "All hail our rightful ruler, King Candy." Sour Bill announced before King Candy came out behind a curtain.
"Hello, my royal subjects! Ha-ha! Have some candy!" King Candy said, throwing out some candy to the crowd while they cheered his name. "Thank you for that stirring introduction, Sour Bill." King Candy thanked Sour Bill, patting him on the head.
"Mmm-hmm." Sour Bill said.
"And thank you to today's avatars." King Candy said, motioning to us while we waved to the crowd. "It was a wonderful day of racing. It was. But now the arcade is closed, so it's time to wipe the slate clean and race to decide our new roster. The first nine racers across that finish line will represent Sugar Rush as tomorrow's avatars!" King Candy told us as the crowd started cheering again. "Okay, calm down. Listen! This event is pay-to-play. We all know this. The fee to compete is one gold coin." King Candy started to explain, pulling out a gold coin and we did as well.
Snow and I exchange a smile before we looked back up at King Candy. "From your previous winnings, if you've ever won, which I have. Let me go first!" King Candy said, pulling on a rope, and the coin thrower appeared.
We got into a line as King Candy threw his coin, landing on the coin thrower, and it went into the cup on top of the starting sign.
"King Candy!" The announcer said and the crowd started chanting again.
Taffyta threw her coin. "Taffyta Muttonfudge!" The announcer said. Taffyta turned to the crowd. "Stay sweet," she said, jumping in the air while holding one of her lollipops.
Man, she has a big ego.
"Crumbelina Di Caramello!" The announcer said as Crumbelina threw her coin and the two went back to their karts.
"Gloyd Orangeboar!" The announcer said as threw his coin and walked back to his kart.
"Adorabeezle Winterpop!" The announcer said as she threw her coin in and walked back to her kart.
I saw someone roll what I think is a kart on the track. I tapped Snow's shoulder, "Who's that who I think it is?" I whispered to her.
She looked where I was looking, "Could that be Vaney?" she whispered back to me, the two of us exchanging a look.
"Citrueslla Flugpucker!" The announcer said as she went back to her kart after she threw her coin.
"Torvald BatterButter!" The announcer said as she went back to her kart after she threw her coin.
"Nougetsia Brumblestain!" The announcer said as she went to her kart after she threw her coin.
"Sticky Wipplesnit!" The announcer said after she threw her coin and she went back to her kart.
"Minty Zaki!" The announcer said as she threw her coin and went back to her kart.
"Snowanna Rainbeau!" The announcer said as one of my best friends went back to her after she threw her coin in, waving to the crowd as well.
I walked up and threw my coin. "Oreline Le Blueberry!" The announcer said.
I jumped up in excitement, walking back to my kart. I high-fived Snow as I stood beside her since our karts were next to each other.
"Rancis Fluggerbutter!" The announcer said as he threw his coin and went back to his kart.
"Jubileena Bling-Bling!" The announcer said as she threw her coin and she went back to her kart.
"Swizzle Malarky!" The announcer said as he threw his coin and he went back to his kart.
Candlehead threw her coin when I noticed there was someone behind her. "Candlehead!" The announcer said and she went back to her kart.
"Who's that? Is that Vaney?" Snow pointed.
I shrugged as they threw their coin in and their name came up on the screen. "Vanellope Von Schweetz!" The announcer said as Vaney took her hood off.
She jumped up and down in excitement. "Yippe! I'm in the race!" Vaney cheered, looking over at us.
Snow gave her a smile and thumbs up while I did the same, sneakily.
"Vanellope?" King Candy asked in shock.
Taffyta rips the cloth off Vaney's kart, gasping. "The Glitch!" Taffyta yelled, angrily.
The crowd started screaming in shock and fear as Vaney backed away a few steps. "Now, now." King Candy laughed nervously. "Everything is all right! Security!" King Candy said.
The two policemen start to walk over to her. "Come here, kid." the donut said. "We're not going to hurt you, you little freak!" the other one said.
Vaney glitched before she started running to her kart. She almost made it but something came out of the lollypop trees, causing the three to stop running when they saw it. "You! Give me back my medal right now!" the monster yelled.
What medal?
"Oh boy!" Vane yelled before she ran away and so did the cops.
Snow and I hid behind our karts as the other racers ran away, screaming. I took a peek and saw the monster run after Vaney. "Snow, it's after Vaney!" I told her, causing her to gasp.
Vaney crawled underneath the stands and the monster lifted it up, throwing the stand away. Vaney kept crawling under the stands while the monster kept throwing them away until they get to the huge cupcake stand.
The monster knocked the stand out of the way, trying to get to her but the cupcake landed on top of it and trapped it. Vaney laughed at it before running over to Snow and I.
(Not being seen by the others that is)
"I can't believe it," Snow whispered, excitedly.
"I know right," Vaney screamed/whispered.
"Congrats on getting in the race, Vaney. You'll be able to show the other racers what you're made of," I told her.
"Thanks, Orey," Vaney told me with a smile.
"Okay, folks. Calm down! Everything's all right. The monster's been caught! We'll repair all the damage. Don't worry. We will have our roster race before the arcade opens." King Candy told us as the three of us looked up at the board.
"And I'm in it. Yes!" Vaney whispered before looking at the two of us. "See you later," she told us. She ran over to her kart, hopped in, and drove away.
"I love her so much... Platonically, of course," Snow said with a smile.
I chuckled, noticing Tattyta, Candlehead, and Rancis with sour looks on their faces. "Oh no," I muttered, causing Snow to look at me confused.
"What?" she asked, causing me to point over to them.
"Oh..." Snow trailed off.
"There's no way that I am racing with a glitch. Rancis, Candlehead, come on." Taffyta said and they walked over to their karts and drove after Vanellope.
"I'll go make sure they don't do anything stupid," Snow said and hopped into her kart, "I need to head back home, I need to grab something. If you need me and I'm out, I'll leave you a note," I told Snow.
She nodded. "I'll see you soon," she said, hopping in her kart and driving off, following the three with the other racers following as well.
I hopped into my own kart and drove towards my house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~SNOWANNA P.O.V
We drove to the junkyard since that's where Vaney is working on her kart... In fact, Orey and I helped build it in our free time.
We arrived and we parked around Vaney as she worked on her kart. She looked at us with a smile as we got out of our karts. "Hello, fellow racers!" Vane greeted us as we walked up to her.
Taffyta, Candlehead, and Rancis stood in front of Vaney with small glares, but she didn't seem to notice. "Candlehead, Taffyta, Rancis, you're looking well. Came by to check out the competition, huh? Well, here it is, the Lickety-Split!" she skipped, motioning to her kart.
"I build it myself," she said, glancing over in my direction to send me a wink. I scoffed, faking a look to seem disgusted but secretly sending her a smile. "Fastest pedal-power west of the Whac-A-Mole. Check her out," Vaney said, hopping in and demonstrating how the Lickety-Split could do.
Most of the racers looked at her, seeing if she was really serious. Taffyta rolled her eyes. "Oh, Vanellope, it's so... You," she said, causing Candlehead and Rancis to chuckle smugly. "But you have to back out of the race. Yeah," Taffyta said, licking her lollipop.
"Oh, no, I don't, you know..." Vaney trailed off as she got out of the Lickety-Split, putting her hands in her hoodie pockets. "Because I paid my fee and I'm on the board... So, yeah, I'm definitely racing,"
"Yeah, well, King Candy says glitches can't race," Taffyta said, flicking her lollipop away before crossing her arms.
"I'm not a glitch, Taffyta. I've just got pixslexia, okay?" Vaney sheepishly defended herself, glitching in the process.
"The rules are there for a reason, Vanellope. To protect us," Taffyta reminded her, walking over to the Lickety-Split. "Say I'm you," Taffyta started saying, hopping into the seat. "I'm in my weird little car and I'm driving and I actually feel kind of cool for once. And then all of a sudden, oh no... I'm..." Taffyta started stammering, grabbing the wheel. "Glitching!" she finished, ripping the wheel off.
I gasped softly, but not loud enough for anyone to hear.
Vaney, on the other hand, gasped loudly. "Hey!" she said.
Taffyta smirked, hopping out of the kart, still holding the wheel. "See? You're an accident just waiting to happen," she said, throwing the wheel and it hit Vaney in the chest, causing her to glitch back.
Jubileena smirked, stepping forward with a little bit of a limp. "Oh, no! I..." she started stammering, walking forward. "Glitched, too!" she said, hitting the hood that was open and snapping half of it off.
The rest of the racers ran forward, starting to tear apart the Licketly-Split. "Hey, hey! What are you doing?" Vaney yelled.
Minty and Adora walked up to me. "Come on, let's teach Vanellope a lesson," Minty said as Adora nodded in agreement.
They pulled me to the kart before they started to help tear it apart. I just took a step back, giving an apologetic look to Vaney. "Stop it! Stop! You're breaking it! Please! I just want to race like you guys!" Vaney pleaded, pulling Taffyta away while glitching, causing it to affect her a little bit.
Taffyta glared at her, walking forward towards her, causing Vaney to back up. "You will never be a racer because you're a glitch," she tapped, Vaney's chest, causing her to glitch. "And that's all you'll ever be!" Taffyta shouted, pushing Vaney into a small chocolate puddle.
I gasped as Minty handed me a wheel. I glared at Taffyta, throwing the wheel onto the ground as I started making my way over to her.
"Hey! Leave her alone!"
We all stopped, looking over to see a giant man running over to us with a scary look on his face while screaming. Minty screamed as we ran back to our karts. "Let's get out of here!" Candlehead yelled.
I hopped into my kart and ducked down as the rest of the racers drove off. Taffyta was the last one to drive off. "Scram, you rotten little cavities! Before I throw you in the mud!" the giant man shouted, kicking the ground.
I slowly got out of my kart, ran over to Vaney, and helped her out of the mud. "Are you okay?" I whispered/asked her.
She sniffed, wiping the chocolate mud off her cheek. "Kinda..." she muttered.
We looked over to see the giant man looking over at us. Vaney glitched for a second before glaring at him. "What are you looking at?" Vaney asked as we walked over to the now-destroyed Lickety-Split.
"You're welcome, you rotten little thief," the big giant man said as Vaney and I sat on our knees in front of the kart.
Vaney looked at him with a glare while I looked between the two confused. "What happened...?" I asked, looking between the two.
"I'm not a thief! I just borrowed your stupid coin. I was going to give it back to you as soon as I won the race. All I wanted was to race with my only two friends... AND win the race to prove everyone wrong," Vaney explained, looking away from the big man.
"It's not a coin. It is a medal," he corrected.
I stood up, looking at the big man while setting my hands on my hips. "Coin, medal, does it really matter at the moment? Besides, why don't you just go back to your own game and win another one?" I asked him.
"I can't I didn't win it in my game. I won it Hero's Duty," he yelled at us.
Vaney looked at him with a smirk, glitching slightly. "Hero's Doodie?" she questioned before sniggering, bursting out laughing.
The giant man rolled his eyes. "It's not that kind of duty," he told her.
Vaney wiped one of her eyes. "I bet you really got to watch where you step in a game called Hero's Doodie!" she said, standing up before bursting out laughing again. "What did you win the medal for, wiping? I hope you washed your hands after you handled that medal," Vaney said, wiping her hands on her hoodie.
The giant man rolled his eyes as I smiled slightly. "Listen!-"
"One more, one more. Why did the hero flush the toilet?" Vaney asked, motioning the big to speak. "Say 'why,'" she muttered to him.
The big man looked angry at her. "Why?" he asked.
Vaney smiled widely. "Because it was his doodie!" she said, spreading her arms wide.
I shook my head with a smile, crossing my arms. "How dare you insult Hero's Duty? You little guttersnipe! I earned that medal! And you better get it back for me toot-sweet, sister!" the giant man shouted at Vaney.
I turned to face him again. "Well, unless you've got a go-cart hidden in the fat folds of your neck, we can't help you, big hands! I'm sorry," I apologized.
The giant man looked like he was going to grab us with his big hands, grunting in frustration before he ran over to a jawbreaker, starting to punch it continually.
"What a moron..." Vaney muttered, rolling her eyes.
I took a step forward. "Uh, mister! It's a jawbreaker. You're never going to break-"
I cut myself off when the jawbreaker snapped in two, thanks to his large hands.
Vaney and I exchanged a look, an idea coming to our heads. "Huh..." she muttered.
The big man panted as he sat down on a smaller jawbreaker. Vaney and I walked over to him, getting onto a smaller jawbreaker while leaning ourselves onto a bigger one. "Enjoy your little tantrum, diaper baby?" Vaney teased/asked him.
"Leave me alone," he responded.
Vaney and I got up onto the big jawbreaker. "Look, mister. You want that medal, right? And I want Vanellope to be treated as an equal," I told him as Vaney took a step forward.
"And I want to race. So here's what I'm thinking. You help us get me a new kart... A real kart... And we'll, plus our friend Oreline, will win the race and get your medal back," Vaney added, causing him to look at us.
"You want me... To help you two?" he questioned.
"All you got to do is break something for us," Vaney said.
"Come on, please. What do you say, friend...? Right?" I said, the two of us holding out our hands toward him.
"We are not friends," he responded.
"Aw... Come on, pal. You son of a gun. Come on, buddy. Let's shake on it," Vaney pestered, but he wasn't budging. "Ah. Come on, chumbo. Ralph, my man. My main man," she continued.
I looked between the two of them as I felt my arm getting tired, and I could tell Vaney was too. "Um, hey. Our arms are getting tired. Do we have a deal or not?" I questioned.
The man, whose name I think is Ralph, groaned before looking at us. "You two and your friend better win," he growled before shaking our hands.