Chapter 2

The duo wasn't native to the saccharine world of Sugar Rush- that was easy enough to see. Yet the bright, cartoonish colors of this candy-coated world were so similar to those of their homeland, one could easily forgive them for being lost. Wandering amidst colossal structures of cookies and cakes, the pair of travellers walked until they finally came to their first sign of civilization in this world- a road.

The shorter of the two, a humanoid mushroom, had the wherewithal to stop at the edge of the road. His companion, a paunchy, ruddy-faced, mustachioed young man in a red cap, kept walking into the road, his large nose pressed into the map he was reading. He appeared not to have taken notice of the road, as he continued fruitlessly searching for his current location on the map.

"This isn't World 2…" he muttered after a long pause. "Toad! You've-a gone and gotten us lost again!" he called out, in a rich Italian falsetto.

"What do you mean 'lost'? You're the one standing in the middle of the road," snapped Toad in his high-pitched, albeit irritable, voice. "Besides, I know exactly where we are."

"Well, wherever we are, it's not-a World 2!" answered the young man. "World 2 is a desert world in every game! We must've taken the wrong pipe again coming back-a from Koopa Castle! Everyone's probably worried sick-a, we told them we'd-a be meeting up with them in World 2…"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mario, because that's where we are," retorted Toad. "World 2- the Layer-Cake Desert."

"That's-a the worst pun I've ever heard, Toad. You're not being funny…"

Mario broke off. His argument was interrupted by the sound of an approaching engine. He turned and spotted a car travelling down the road at high speed- headed right for him.

"Aiyeee!" The car would have hit him if it weren't for his lightning-quick reflexes. With gravity-defying power, he leapt easily four feet over the passing car. Only then did its driver, a dark-haired young girl in an aqua-green sweatshirt, take notice of him. Within moments, the car had come to a grinding halt further along the side of the road.

"Maybe they can give us directions," murmured Mario, and he immediately took off running toward the girl in green.

"Um, are you forgetting that they very nearly killed you?!" Toad yelled in Mario's direction. After a while, he heaved a sigh of impatience, and sped off to find Mario. "Hey, wait for me!" He should have known by now, of course. Trying to talk Mario out of things was pointless. After all, when you're the greatest hero the Mushroom Kingdom has ever known, you can't help but do whatever you know in your heart is right.

…

It didn't take long for Toad to catch up to Mario, who was now peering inside the parked car. The look on Mario's face was one of astonishment.

Toad looked puzzled. "What'd I miss?"

"The car!" exclaimed Mario. "There's no one in it!"

"What?! Someone was driving it just a second ago!"

Toad continued searching the car, while Mario sat on the side of the road, and resumed glancing at his map. A sudden feminine voice from behind made him jump.

"You all right, mister? Didn't see you there. Lucky you're good at jumping."

Mario whipped around. Dangling from the branches of a nearby candy tree was the girl in green who had nearly run him over.

"Mama Mia… you scared me!" gasped Mario. "Oh well, at least now we have-a someone to give us directions. Can you tell me what World this is?"

"Huh? What world?" she repeated. "Oh, I get it… you're not from here, huh?"

"Not-a from here…?" Mario repeated. "…Then where exactly is here?"

With graceful technique, the girl executed a backflip off of her branch, and landed on the ground in front of Mario.

"Gee, if I'd known we had visitors, I'd have gotten a welcome party ready. Either way, welcome to Sugar Rush! Sweetest game in the arcade! Feel free to explore- just don't eat the trees, please. By the way, I'm Vanellope Von Schweetz, Princess-slash-President."

Mario's realization of his location was quickly put aside for the realization that a royal stood before him. "Oh my… Princess!" Awkwardly, he stumbled forward, attempting to kneel, but instead falling flat on his face. Thankfully, the ground here was soft.

Vanellope helped him to his feet. "Call me Vanellope. Just don't call me 'Nelly. Only Ralph calls me that. Anyway, you got a name, chumbo?"

Mario spun around and executed his signature hat flip. "It's-a me, Mario!"

Vanellope's eyes widened. "Whoa! You're THE Mario? The one everyone in the arcade talks about? That Mario?! Ohmygosh! You're a long way from home, aren't you?"

Mario's heart sank. "Yep. And now we're lost. Everyone'll be looking for us…"

"Hey, cheer up bucko, it's not the end of the…" Vanellope became distracted by a glimmer of gold protruding from Mario's pocket. "What's this?" Without warning, she snatched the contents from him. It was a large medallion emblazoned with a star. "Wow," she murmured. "It's so shiny…"

"Give that back-a!" yelped Mario, snatching at her. "It's a Star Coin! And it's-a my brother Luigi's! He'll kill me if I lose it!"

"Well, guess what, Buckwheat? Now it's MY Star Coin!"

Mario advanced towards her again, and in the blink of an eye, she vanished.

"What-a was that? Am I seeing things?" For a moment, Mario stood rubbing his eyes, making sure he had seen what he had seen, when a tap on the shoulder startled him. Vanellope's voice came from behind him. "You're it!"

Mario whipped around again. Vanellope had reappeared behind him, holding his Star Coin behind her back. "How'd-a you do that?" Mario blurted in amazement.

Vanellope shrugged. "Long story. I used to be a glitch in this game. You could say that my glitch got patched… mostly, anyway."

"Terrific," said Mario, annoyed. "Now give me my coin back!"

Mario snatched at her once more, but Vanellope glitched out of his reach. "We could keep doing this all day," she smirked. "Look pal, give it up. This coin's mine now. Y'want it back, then you'll have to race me for it!"

"You sure?" asked Mario. "You're-a looking at the best-a racer in Mario Kart!"

"Fine, then… I challenge you to a Mario Kart race! Everyone seems to think Sugar Rush is based off that game, anyway. How hard could it be?"

Mario beamed. "You're on! Let's-a go!"