"Thanks again for helping me put up my decorations, guys. It means a lot to me," Crumbelina smiled in appreciation.
Rancis, Vanellope, Jubileena, Adorabeezle and Gloyd smiled at the Crumbelina as they hung M and M's ornaments and wrapped popcorn tinsel around Crumbelina's Rice Krispie Treats christmas tree, soft christmas songs filling every room in Di Caramello Manor. Outside the manor was sugar coated winter wonderland, the temperature was below negative. The six racers were ever so grateful to be engulfed in the warm blanket of heat Crumbelina's AC was giving out. "Anytime, Crumbs. Your White Elephant party is always something to look forward to," Rancis said.
"Besides, it beats being turned into a chibi ice statue outside," Gloyd muttered.
Crumbelina smiled and set a silver platter of chocolate chip cookies and glasses filled with milk, which was quickly ransacked by the others. "So Crumbs, what's the gig this year with the buckets of milk?" Rancis asked.
Crumbelina smiled proudly and gestured over to a white board vandalized with cute little doodles. One drawling was a stick figure sketch of Crumbelina, the other was of a girl with light brown hair tied up in pigtails. "For the past ten years during the holiday season, Muffy Breadgingers always breaks into my house and demolishes White Elephant party because she's too obsessed with me. This year, I came prepared. Gingerbread cookies can't stand milk, So I put buckets of milk at every entrance, so when she tries to break in, blam! Doused with milk! She won't even know what hit her!" Crumbelina explained.
"Uh, I'm lost. Who's Muffy Breadgingers and how come I've never heard of her?" Vanellope piped up.
"Muffy Breadgingers is a game character from that sick zombie game Candy Killer. She's been pining after Crumbelina for the past ten years now," Adorabeezle explained.
"She's very territorial when it comes to Crumbelina. Last Christmas, she chased Gloyd and Taffyta with a chainsaw because she was hugging them," Jubileena chimed in. Jubileena clung to Gloyd's arm, who had a traumatized look stuck on his face. "Gloyd didn't come out for a week. He was that scared. Are you sure you'll be okay. Crumbelina? You know what she's capable of."
Crumbelina nodded in assurance and grabbed a few cookies and a glass of milk. "Absolutely. I got everything under control," Crumbelina assures. She scarfs down the cookies and washed it down with the milk, sighing in content as she skips up the staircase. "If you guys are so worried, you're more than welcome to stay for the night
Crumbelina disappeared into a hallway, while the others sat around the ice cream sandwich couch with worried glances etched on their faces. "Raise your hand if you have a feeling something bad's gonna happen tonight," Jubileena said. Immediately, Vanellope, Adorabeezle, Gloyd and Rancis shot their hands up in the air. "Me too, you guys, me too."
Later that night, Crumbelina stepped out of her bathroom, dressed in a deep brown pajamas set with chocolate drizzles, walking down the staircase. It was half past midnight, already New Year's Eve here in the arcade, and the others were fast asleep. All except Crumbelina. Afters hours of tossing and turning, she still couldn't fall asleep, and her stomach growled loudly, giving her no choice but to head down to the kitchen to appease her appetite.
Crumbelina walked into the kitchen and yawned, grabbing a container of brownies and slamming the fridge door shut. A soft creak echoed through the house, catching Crumbelina's attention. She whipped around, expecting to find someone behind her, but there was no one. Still on edge, Crumbelina tentatively walked out of the kitchen, her eyes flickering around the house's tiramisu scented interior. When she found no threat, she smiled and popped the container lip off and popped a brownie in her mouth.
"Vanellope sure got herself a catch. Wish I had someone to cook for me-"
She was cut off when she felt something slam at the back of of her head, Her body grew limp as she collapsed onto the ground, the container clattering onto the ground with the brownies littering the sugar coated tile floor. A silhouetted figure loomed over Crumbelina's unconscious body, bright green eyes illuinating through the darkness. "Do not worry, my beloved biscotti. As long as you are with me, I shall feed you with nothing but the best," a feminine German accent spoke up.
Vanellope woke up to the sound of screaming, her eyes flying wide open. Rancis, who had been, spooning his girlfriend from behind, jumped up and tumbled off the bed, groaning on the floor. "It's too early for this, Nellie," Rancis whined. Vanellope ignored her boyfriend and crawled out of the bed, dragging Rancis out of the bedroom and down the stairs. Downstairs, Jubileena and Gloyd were standing by the kitchen's archway, a distressed look on their faces as they stared at a container of brownies in Jubileena's hand. Jubileena looked up at the couple and lunged herself at the president, bawling."Muffy kidnapped Crumbelina last night and now she's gone!" Jubileena wailed. "We checked the entire game but she's nowhere to be found! I knew something like this was going to happen, I just knew it!"
Gloyd pulled his girlfriend into a hug and rubbed her shoulders, rocking her gently back and forth "We found these brownies on the floor when we woke up. Crumbelina must have dropped them late at night when Muffy attacked," he said. "Muffy didn't even use any of the entrances that were booby trapped. She must have known Crumbelina was planning this and found another way in."
"The chimney. We put out the fire before we went to bed," Rancis spoke up. "Vanellope, we need to call a search party and find Crumbelina before Muffy hurts her! What if Muffy took her out of the game? She's could be in serious danger!"
"But how are we going to find her? Reese and the other devil dogs are sick, not to mention that Wynchel and Duncan aren't really on the bright side of the spectrum! It could take forever to track her down," Vanellope said. "She's could be anywhere!"
"Which is why I found a loophole." Adorabeezle walked down the staircase and waved her tablet in the air, walking over to them. She showed them a map of thr game witha glowing pink pinpoint. "I managed to hack into her her code and pinpoint her location. I can't get a solid read, but from the looks of it, Muffy took her somewhere around Ice Cream Mountain."
Gloyd hurriedly threw on his jacket and boots and rushed to the front door. "Then that's where we're headed! C'mon, let's go!" he shouted. Jubileena and Adorabeezle followed him out the door, leaving Vanellope and Rancis alone in the house. "So... we're not going to question how Adorabeezle managed to hack into the castle's code vault from outside?" Vanellope questioned. Rancis smiled and grabbed his girlfriend's hand, yanking her along as he jogged out to his kart parked outside the manor.
"We'll figure that out later, Nellie. First, Crumbelina," he said.