Two months. It had been two months since Cindy and Sydney went looking for Garry, and so far they hadn't found a single trace of him. It was obvious to Sydney that Garry didn't want to be found, because there was no way he could have moved around this game without leaving a single trace of his whereabouts. He was covering his tracks, and he was surprisingly good at it.

But that wasn't about to stop him from searching anyway. Whether Garry wanted to be found our not, Sydney was not about to just let him roam around out here by himself. "I just don't see how he could have made it out here this long. He can't even make it a day outside the castle." Cindy said emptying her boot out.

Sydney grabbed a candy apple from a nearby tree and tossed it to her. She caught it and then bit off it. Sydney then began refilling his bottle in the lemonade lake nearby. "Well, he is resourceful. My guess is he spent the first few days struggling, but then started to get the swing of things. He may not like roughing, but he is a survivor."

Cindy got up and stretched her arms. "Okay then, why don't we get moving. We'll check around diet Cola Mountain again. I heard one of the citizens talking about how Vanellope used to hide there when she was on the run." Cindy said throwing her bag over her shoulder.

"Cindy, maybe we should just set up camp here for a while. We've been moving all day and you seem kind of tired." He said looking worried.

She waved him off. "I'm fine."

Sydney walked over and then placed his hands on her shoulders. "We're going to find him. We have all the time in the world. Just relax, don't push yourself."

Cindy seemed like she was about to argue, but sighed. "Sorry. I just… I want to find him. But you're right, running ourselves ragged won't get us any closer. We'll camp here for now."

"Good. You go ahead and start setting up, I'll go get us some dinner."

"I'm coming with you on that one."

"But you're tired, you should-"

"Sydney, I don't trust you when it comes to bringing back food. You always bring back the weirdest things to eat. Yesterday you brought back a gummy bat."

Sydney crossed his arms. "They're edible…"

"They're gross." She said getting back up. "I'm coming with you. We'll go get dinner, then we'll set up camp. Now, let's get moving before it gets too late. Don't want to run into any animals."

He sighed and followed Cindy as she started off. "We may want to find some animals. I doubt we'll find anything just lying on the ground or in the trees. We should hunt something."

Cindy rolled her eyes. "Why do boys always want to fight or hunt something? Survival isn't all about showing off you're strength you know."

"I know. But you try finding anywhere we can get something to…" He looked confused as Cindy simply pointed forward. He looked in the direction she was pointing and then saw a bush full of caramel apples. "That… how is…" He looked over at Cindy who was smirking. "Lucky guess."

"If that helps you sleep at night." She said making her way over. She began picking a few of the apples. "See, if we'd have done it your way, we'd have spent all night trying to-"

A large animal like figure leapt out and suddenly grabbed her by the back of her shirt. The figure retreated back into the bushes dragging Cindy with it. "Cindy!" Sydney rushed after the figure. He ducked into the bushes and then suddenly tripped forward.

He fell face first onto the ground, and then looked up to see he was in a tunnel. He looked back and quickly realized the bushes had been hiding the entrance to said tunnel. He shook his head, and then began running again. Now wasn't the time to think about tunnel. He had to rescue Cindy before that thing ate, mauled, or whatever it was planning to do with her.

He ran down the rest of the way, and when he excited the tunnel he was astounded by what he saw. It was a lush, warm, grassland like place. The complete opposite of the frozen tundra above. How was this possible? The sound of a loud splash snapped him from his thought. "Oh ginger snap! Cindy!"

Sydney rushed over to the water where he saw ripples. Cindy suddenly sprung up, with a large smile on her face. "Cindy! Get out of the water right now!"

"Calm down, its okay. You'll never believe who I just-"

Another splash came and a figure jumped out and pounced on top of Sydney. He tried to push it off, but it was too heavy. Suddenly he felt a tongue on his face. "Hey, what the-?!" This felt familiar to him for something ready. "What a second, Snapper?"

The gator finally stopped licking him and jumped off of him. He looked up at Sydney eagerly waving his tail back and forth. He was bigger than Sydney last remembered. "But how?! You're supposed to be with-"

"Howdy cowboy." He turned his head and then saw Adorabeezle smiling at him.

"Adorabeezle? What are you doing here, what happened to Snapper, what is this place?"

She giggled as Snapper ran to her side. She patted the gator on the head. "One question at a time cowboy." She said walking towards him.

He looked at her for a few seconds and then chuckled. "Well, I guess I was just a little surprised is all. This is a lot to take in. I guess I'll start with… what happened to him? He's so much bigger now." Sydney said looking at Snapper.

Before he was just the size of a small dog, now he was like a small hoarse. "He just… got bigger. I don't even have to bother feeding him anymore. He goes out and hunts on his own." She explained. "He's really started freaking out the others."

"I can imagine." Cindy said as she started undressing. She hadn't had a bath in weeks, and this water was nice and warm. "I'm more interested in where you found this place though."

"I came across it a while after the update. I mean, it's the Frosty Forrest, I had to explore the place. I felt a warm breeze coming from the bushes, and stumbled across this place." She said signaling to the entire area. "I wasn't the first one though."

Sydney and Cindy looked over towards a rock in the middle of the lake. Fang was sitting on the rock, eyes closed and looking like he was focused. "He's going that meditation thing again. Weirdo." Cindy muttered. It wasn't like Cindy had anything against Fang, but she was cautious around him. He was much too quiet and mysterious for her taste. Why did Tea like him?

"He comes here every now and then and just meditates. I guess he wants some alone time with the others, cause he asked me not to tell anyone else about the place."

Sydney's smile faded a bit. "Speaking of the others… how are they?"

"They're doing fine. Jimmy is actually doing pretty well running the place. He was out of his element at first, but he's really got the swing of things now. Larry is his advisor of course, really good as his job too. The people love them. The others have been pulling their weight too."

Sydney looked happy at that. He was worried they would have a hard time of things. He knew Jimmy cared about the people, but he didn't exactly know how to run a kingdom. He guessed it was Larry who had helped him adapt so quickly.

"They miss you." Adorabeezle said. "Jimmy is always doing maintenance on your kart. He says he wants it in top form for when you come back. He won't even take you're names off the leader board."

Cindy rolled her eyes. "He has such a one track mind."

Sydney just laughed. "That sounds just like him."

"We missed you guys too of course. With you gone, the top spot keeps switching between Jimmy and Vanellope. And I know this may be hard to imagine, but neither of them are the most modest people in the world." She said sarcastically.

"I bet." Cindy said floating on her back.

"So, what have you two? Make any progress in tracking down Garry?"

Both of them frowned. "Not really. I'm pretty sure he knows we're looking for him and he's been covering his tracks really well."

"Wow. I didn't take him as the survival type." She said looking back towards the water. "I'm sure you're find him eventually though. He can only go so many places before you run into him again after all."

Sydney nodded. "Yeah. Anyway, we're done searching for today. We were going to scrounge up some food and set up camp, but then we stumbled upon this place. I almost still can't believe it. We could have been camping here the whole time… you don't mind if we camp here do you?"

He knew he really shouldn't have to ask permission, it was a free space after all, but something told him to ask anyhow. "Not at all." Adorabeezle said smiling. "In fact, I may just camp out here too. It's been a while since we talked. We can catch up."

"Wait, you two talked?" Cindy asked from the water. "When did this happen?"

"I just asked her advice about Garry before… you know, everything happened."

Cindy grew a sly smile on her face. "Oh, you came to her for advice huh? And why her specifically out of all the Candy Kingdom racers?" Cindy asked.

"Cindy…" Sydney said in a low tone.

Cindy ignored him and looked towards Adorabeezle. "You should be honored, my dense stiff of a brother actually seems like he's sweet on you." She said laughing.

Sydney let out a sigh. He tried not to let his embarrassment show, but Adorabeezle saw his cheeks turning a particularly crimson color. She laughed. "Maybe when you come back we can go on a date?" She asked in a teasing manner.

He looked towards her surprised, this time not able to hide his expression. Cindy burst out laughter at her brother expression. It had been a long time since she had seen her brother so caught off guard. The last time was when Garry told a random joke, which caught everyone off guard. "Oh, that look on your face is so sweet!" Cindy said.

Sydney quickly regained his composure. "N-not funny!" He said tipping his hat down.

Adorabeezle elbowed him lightly. "Don't be so uptight, I'm just having a little fun."

He scratched his cheek nervously. "I-I know…"

"Well, as much as I love poking fun at my brother, we should start setting up camp now." She said making her way over to her bag. She pulled out a sleeping bag, and few pots and pans, and some firewood. "I'm gonna make some chocolate fondue."

Sydney walked over and began helping her.

Sydney laid in his sleeping bag trying to drift off to sleep. He couldn't seem to get any however. There were so many things crossings through his mind. His sister, Garry, the other Sweet Tooth racers… Adorabeezle. He let out a sigh and sat up. He needed to clear his head.

He got up and walked towards the lake, and splashed some water on his face. "Having some trouble sleeping?" Adorabeezle voice called out.

Sydney looked over and saw her taking a seat beside him. "A little. Just a lot of stuff on my mind." He said wiping his face off.

"I've been having a little trouble sleeping too honestly." She admitted.

"Why's that?" He asked.

"I don't know. I guess I just have a bad feeling. With everything that's happened in the past months, I can't help but think something… crazy will happen."

He looked towards the water. "Glad I'm not the only one."

"Well, if something crazy does happen, at least we'll be better prepared for it." She said looking down at her hand. "I've been working on using my character item outside of racers. We're not exactly a fighting game, but I at the very least want to be able to defend myself."

"Yeah, it does take a while to learn to call it on command. Maybe sometime I could help you out with it. We could meet here or something."

Adorabeezle smiled at him. "Is that your sly way of asking me on a date?"

He blushed slightly, but had a smirk on his face. Before he could answer however, he saw a blur coming towards them. He moved over and pushed Adorabeezle to the ground, just seconds before the object collided with them.

They both turned to see what it was, and were surprised to see Fang standing there. They had nearly forgotten he was there. "Fang, what the fudge are you doing?"

Fang turned around and Sydney and Adorabeezle looked shocked. His eyes were glowing a bright blue color, and his hair and headband were floating upward. "Fang?" Adorabeelze asked looking confused. "T-that's not his character item, is it?"

"No." Sydney said getting up. "Fang, can you hear us?"

Fang kept staring towards them. "It's coming." He said. "You and the others need to prepare, because he's coming. And when he does, the entire arcade could be at stake."

"What?" Adorabeezle asked confused.

"Be ready." He warned again. The glow faded from his eyes and he fell to his knees. Sydney and Adorabeezle quickly made their way over to him.

"Is he okay?!" Adorabeezle asked worried.

"Yeah, I think so. He's just unconscious." He said making sure his friend had a pulse. What the fudge was that about? Fang had meditated plenty of times before, and nothing even close to that had happened. "That warning, what did it mean? What's coming?"

She shrugged. "I was hoping you would have a clue."

Sydney frowned. "That bad feeling in my gut, just got a lot worst."

They heard a groan and looked back down at Fang. "Uh, what happened to me?" He asked rubbing his forehead. He felt like he got hit by a truck.

"I… I don't know." Adorabeezle said. "You started talking in gibberish and… told us 'It' was coming, and that we needed to be ready."

Fang looked confused. "I don't remember any of that."

Sydney and Adorabeezle exchanged a glance. "What do we do now?" She asked.

"I guess… we prepare for whatever is coming." Sydney said.

The rest of the night went by without incident. Fang sleep like a rock, sleeping in longer than anyone, which was strange seeing as he was usually the first one up. Cindy had no idea what had gone on, but she seemed to sense something was off. She'd ask her brother later.

The Syrupshot's packed up and got ready to leave. Snapper looked saddened as the siblings prepared to leave. "Oh, don't be such a sour puss. We'll find Garry and be back before you know it." She said stroking his snout.

Snapper enjoyed the attention and licked her face. Sydney chuckled as Cindy frowned and began wiping the slobber off her face. He turned to Adorabeezle. "I'll be sure to keep an eye out for anything strange. Until then, Fang would be more than willing to help you out with your character item."

Fang nodded. "The warning seemed pretty vague, and for all I know I could have drunken some expired milk. But better safe than sorry."

"Hopefully I'll never have to use it outside of the racetrack. But we're hardly ever that lucky." She said sighing. "Anyhow, good luck finding Garry. Guess I'll see you again sometime soon."

Sydney felt an arm wrapped around his neck. "He'll be looking forward to it, won't you bro?" Cindy said snickering. Sydney grew an annoyed look on his face, while Adorabeezle just looked amused. "Try not to be put off by his uptight attitude, he really needs a girlfriend to get him into things other than racing and-"

He covered his sister's mouth. "I'll see you later." He said nodding to Adorabeezle.

They turned and began walking off. They made their way back to the surface, and Sydney's hand hovered over his rifle. After what had just happened, and the bad feeling he had, he felt like there could be danger at every corner.

Something big was going to happen. He didn't know what, but he knew it would be soon. And he'd have to be ready to protect his friends when it came down to it.

A/N: So, there it is! I wanted Sydney's story to relate a bit to the plot of the sequel, but still have a little fluff in it. So, what or who did you think the warning Fang gave was about? Hope you liked it. I've pretty much figured all of these are going to be a little shorter than the first few. Thinking of a long complicated story for EVERY racer is just too much, so I'm sticking to short simple stories.

The only racers left are Dough, Cindy, Larry, and Garry. So, who'll be net?