It was the end of another regular day at Litwak's FamilyFunCenter. Around the few other activities at the place, the arcade seemed to be at the center of everything. But that was not just for the patrons; there was also much going on after Mr. Litwak had closed up for the day. It all took place inside the arcade games and a power strip. Every night, all games did their own thing. Tapper's was used as a local bar for most characters, Fix-It Felix Jr. was cleaned up after a long day of wrecking, and both Sugar Rushs had a race each night to decide who would appear on the roster.
The sequel of the candy-colored game, Sugar Rush Unlimited, was about to have its Random Roster Race. Nine of the fifteen racers would win and get a spot on the board for tomorrow, while the others would relax at home for the day. Every racer got to their karts, Princess Vanellope Von Shweetz front and center. There were two who had to share a kart, though; they were Pep and Minty, twin mint-themed racers.
"C'mon, Pep," Minty pleaded with his female twin, "you've raced in the front all month. Can't you be my rear view for this month?" After-hours, the twins were the best drivers around. The advantage came from the two working together; one would drive while the other would announce incoming opponents from behind. Pep saw her brother as an eagle eye, but not the best on the track, considering he got distracted easily. But she was a good sibling, so she decided to make a deal.
"Alright," she handed her goggles to him. "You can race for the entire month…only if you win a spot on the roster. Sound good?" Minty took a moment to respond, but nodded. Pep gave a smile, climbing into the back seat. The other twin went into the drivers, and revved the engine happily.
"Is everyone ready?" Vanellope asked from the announcer's stand. All nodded or replied yes; Minty gave a thumbs-up. "Then…" the princess pulled a rope, revealing a slide. "Let the Random Roster Race commence!" She slid straight into her kart and a light flashed green. Everyone raced off, the princess taking a quick lead.
The karts in the lead swerved and swished as they went through GumballPass. Minty almost ran into a passing orb, but kept the kart right on track. Pep took a minute to glance back, and gasped.
"Malty's gaining on us!" She saw the milkshake racer's kart speeding up to get to it. Nearing the gap, Minty pressed a button to release some sticky green goo. It stopped the racer in her tracks right near the gap, and they headed up to Cakeway. As of now, Nougan De Carmillo was in the lead, and was able to use his special move. With a smirk, his kart let out three monolithic cinnamon rolls to go down the tiers of the cake, and smash everything in their way. The Peppermint Twins' cart was nearly crashed by it, Pep almost falling out of her back seat. Technically, it was just sitting on the back, and yeah, it was dangerous, but it worked.
Until now; Pep almost fell off, and that cracked Minty's coding, just enough that he knew he had to win first place! As he glided through the Ice Cream Mountains, he noticed a "DANGER, NO ROAD" sign. Something clicked in his mind, which he had to dive through there in order to win. He swerved for it… just enough for his sister to be forced off.
"Hey, bro-whoa!" she exclaimed, but Minty was so determined to win, he didn't look back. She rolled and grabbed onto the edge of the slender track of ice cream. She looked down for a second, and couldn't see the ground it was so far down (not to mention the snowfall obscuring it.) She looked back up and cried out again. "Help!" This time, someone heard her cries. She heard a skid, and someone successfully pulled her up. It was Almonda, and she brought the troubled racer to her kart. They soon continued the race.
"Hey," Pep's rescuer said, "what happened back there?"
"Minty did; he swerved off road, and….didn't hear me."
"Well, that's just out of the ordinary…"
"Yes…." Almonda's words hit her. "Very. I just hope he's okay…"
Minty seemed to be in a dark, dark tunnel, if his kart were actually on solid ground and didn't seem to be falling. The only sound around him was wind hissing, until the vehicle finally landed on road; he was parallel to the Rainbow Road, and back in the race! The little lane he was now driving on seemed to connect to the candy-colored track, not only guaranteeing him a place on the roster, but first!
PSSH! Minty realized he had just hit the person he was going to out-do for first place, Princess Vanellope! He tried to stop it, but his break seemed to be jammed glimpsed over the combined carts to see they were quickly approaching a fork in the track. He swiftly got out of his seat and grabbed his car's antenna, using it as a grip to save the ruler.
"Get out!" he shouted, "we're gonna crash!" Vanellope gave a look of desperation, as if there was no other way.
"What're you, crazy?!" He extended the car antenna to her, expecting her to reach for it.
"I need you to grab! There isn't much time!" She gripped onto it, but she took one last out of the Royal Racer. He sighed, "You know, you're stubbornness isn't gonna make this work!" With one final pull, he pulled her in, flinging himself to the "back seat." With the princess now driving the Double Mint Dragster, she swerved it to the left, giving them a path out. Unfortunately, this left the Royal Racer to be crashed by the fork. The ruler looked longingly back for only a moment.
"My racer…." she whimpered, only for Minty to point foreword.
"Keep focused, your highness; I'll fix it up for you once we cross the finish." The two were first place when they crossed. But, since it was Minty's kart that went across, only the twins' avatar appeared. Other racers went by, filling the second, third, fourth and fifth places. It was Almonda, along with Pep that rolled into sixth.
"Minty!" Pep hopped out as the kart swept past the finish. She gave a hug to her brother, leaving him perplexed; wasn't she upset over what happened? "I'm so glad you got in today's races! Not only that, you made first!"
"You have me to thank for that," Vanellope declared from the driver's seat. Pep immediately took notice of her ruler's presence.
"Oh! Princess! We…um….saw you're kart back there. Will you be okay not being in the roster race?" She noticed the last three spots had been filled.
"You should just be happy Minty saved me. You're brother's a hero. However," Minty gulped as both girls shot him stern looks. "I am very disappointed in what he did to win the race. He almost killed me and both of you will help fix up my kart." The princess left without another word. The two siblings looked at one another, then to the Ice Cream Mountains, and sighed.
"Well, brother," Pep patted Minty on the back, "you won the race. I guess the only direction from here…is up."
It was a long hike up to the Ice Cream Mountains and even more to the tunnel where the Royal Racer was wrecked. The twins, both their toolboxes in tow, started straight to work. They turned the kart back from its side, and spun the detached wheels into place. Pep put herself in charge of checking the inner workings, and Minty checked the steering. As they repaired, Pep saw an opportunity to get much-needed answers.
"Hey, Minty…"
"Hmm?" He looked up from checking the dials.
"How come you were so focused on winning that you forgot about me? Not to sound mean or anything, but sometimes you're just so…scatterbrained." She waited for him to respond; nothing. She looked up to see him fumbling around with some buttons on the dash. She snapped at him, a bit irked from recent events. "MINTY!"
"What? Oh, well…I guess I finally put my mind to doing it. But, uh, to be honest, I dunno what came over me."
"Y-yeah, you definitely weren't yourself out there."
"Wait, 'wasn't myself'? Then, who was I?!" Pep sighed and rolled her eyes. She also saw her brother as a bit literal-minded as well as scatterbrained.
"Minty, it's just an expression. I'm sure you were just in the heat of the moment and determined to win." She gave a tightening to some loose gears inside and delicately closed up the hood. "That should just about do it. Now, come on, let's get this thing back to the castle."
"I'll drive!" Minty gave a spirited rev of the engines. Pep hastily moved from the front of the kart, to ensure no more injuries today.
"N-no!" she butted in and placed a hand on the wheel. Minty glared at her, almost as if he wasn't happy with her taking over. But she gave her reasons. "I don't want to get too rusty this month. After all, you'll be driving for me!" His expression turned back to a happy and self-satisfied smirk as he let his hand off and scooted over to make room for her. Pep got in and drove to the princess' SugarCubeCastle. Positive as she was in the driver's seat, all that faded away when she looked back to her brother.
