Chapter 4: Miss V, Black And White Thunder
Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle made their way out of Super Mario 81, and they found themselves back in Game Central Station.
"Alright, one monster down. Let's head to Sonic Generations and take on Sonic." Swizzle said.
Candi and Adorabeezle nodded.
"Well, I must say that you kids have done really well." a voice said in a smooth tone.
Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle heard the voice, and they looked around in an attempt to find the source of that voice.
"Who's voice was that?" Adorabeezle asked.
Something landed on the ground in front of them. Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle gasped in shock at who it was. It was Vanellope, except she looked different. She wore a black bandanna around her neck, a small black mask on her face that made her eyes and eyebrows appear white, a white hoodie, a black shirt, a black skirt, black and white leggings, and small black boots. Her ponytail was still tied with a Twizzler, but it was black, and she didn't have candies in her hair.
"Vanellope?" Swizzle asked in shock.
Vanellope turned around and glared at them.
"Vanellope? Who's that?" Vanellope asked.
Adorabeezle frowned.
"Overdrive must have done something to her to make her forget who she was. And, because of how Rancis had acted earlier, I don't think the reset ever happened. But if that's true, then how was she able to get out of Sugar Rush?" Adorabeezle wondered. She then asked "Who are you?".
Vanellope smirked.
"Oh, me? Just one of Lord Overdrive's more promising minions." Vanellope replied with the same smooth voice.
Vanellope spun around in a circle and pointed her arms up in the air, making a V shape.
"Miss V, the Black and White Thunder!" Vanellope introduced.
"Miss... V?" Candi asked in confusion.
"Miss V?" Adorabeezle asked.
"Miss... V? What?" Swizzle asked in anger.
Vanellope approached them and stood in front of them.
"I don't need you to tell me that it's a cool name. I know it. Don't bother memorizing it. Why? Because I'm about to give you a burial worthy of a king." Vanellope sneered.
Vanellope took a few steps back before making the first move in a battle. She jumped right over Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle and glitched down, slamming into the ground and sending off a shockwave of pixels that were red instead of blue. Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle were sent flying in three different directions, and Vanellope turned her gaze to Swizzle.
"Let's start with the boy first." Vanellope sneered.
Swizzle unleashed an energy ray at Vanellope, but she disappeared in a flash of red pixels and reappeared over Swizzle. She fell down and landed her two feet on his head. Swizzle cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Vanellope smirked and turned her attention to Candi, who grew tense under her stare.
"No one's coming to save you this time, girl! Have at you!" Vanellope sneered.
Vanellope disappeared in a flash of red pixels and reappeared over Candi, planning to land a hit on top of her. But Vanellope's attack was blocked when Candi created a cookie dome all around her. Adorabeezle saw that Candi was in danger, and she transformed into her snow beast form and ran to aid Candi.
"Get away from her!" Adorabeezle yelled.
Adorabeezle leaped towards Vanellope. Vanellope noticed, bent her knees as low as they could go, and glitched into the air. She appeared over Adorabeezle and shot a blast of red pixels at her, throwing her onto the ground. Seeing Adorabeezle go down made Vanellope smirk slightly.
"Take that, you overgrown yeti." Vanellope thought.
A burning sensation drew Vanellope's attention back to her surroundings. She yelped in surprise when she found herself getting burned by an energy blast that Swizzle fired.
"Yeow!" Vanellope cried.
As Vanellope stumbled back, patting herself down to take out the flames, she suddenly got picked up and slammed into the ground by Adorabeezle. Vanellope grunted in pain and got to her feet, but she didn't expect to feel a caramel disk thrown by Candi cut her arm. She growled and looked down at her skirt.
"Okay, V, it's time to get serious." Vanellope thought.
Vanellope dug through her skirt's pocket and pull out a vanilla shake. The shake was programmed to restore anyone's health if they consumed it.
"This should help me get some energy back." Vanellope thought.
Before Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle could figure out what she was doing, Vanellope opened the shake and drunk the whole thing down in one gulp.
"Ah, much better." Vanellope said in a sweet tone.
The shake's effect was already working through her systems.
"Now, where were we?" Vanellope asked.
Vanellope glitched into the air. Adorabeezle tried to jump into the air, but Vanellope's was too high for her, and Adorabeezle ended up getting hit with a blast of red pixels. Vanellope then turned her attention to Candi and fired a blast of red pixels at her, but Candi narrowly dodged the other girl's attack by forming a caramel shield. With the caramel themed princess protected, Vanellope refocused her gaze on Swizzle, who shot an energy blast at her. Unfortunately for him, Vanellope managed to glitch out of the way of his attack. However, she wasn't quick enough to dodge the energy blast that came soon after. Vanellope groaned in pain, but she quickly glitched out of the area just as Candi fired a blast of caramel at her.
"Ha!" Vanellope sneered.
But just as Vanellope got her feet on the ground, Adorabeezle managed to cut her on her chest with her claws.
"Ow!" Vanellope cried.
Vanellope glitched away from Adorabeezle, panting as she did because her energy was low. She dug into her pockets again and pulled out a second vanilla shake. But before she could even open it, the shake flew out of her hand.
"Hey!" Vanellope cried.
Swizzle had the shake in his hands now, thanks to his telekinesis.
"Well, that's just great." Vanellope thought sarcastically.
Vanellope quickly dodged a caramel spike from Candi before firing a blast of red pixels that threw the other girl away.
"One last vanilla shake. I have to make it count." Vanellope thought.
Vanellope glitched back, creating some distance between herself and the others. Once that was done, she dug through her pockets and pulled out her last vanilla shake.
"Third time's the charm." Vanellope thought.
However, Swizzle closed the distance between him and Vanellope, and he shot her with an energy blast.
"Ow!" Vanellope cried.
Before she knew it, the shake was taken from her again, leaving her nothing to replenish herself. Vanellope panted heavily. She was tired and her energy level was low. With no more vanilla shakes in her procession, all she could do now was gasp for air and glare at Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle.
"Well, I'm definitely not giving up without a fight. I still have some energy left, and I might as well use it." Vanellope thought.
Taking in a deep breath, Vanellope jumped into battle with Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle once more. Since her energy was low, she took extra precautions when dodging their attacks. Despite that, she knew that she couldn't keep dodging forever.
After dodging Adorabeezle's claws, Vanellope glitched into the air. She shot a blast of red pixels at Swizzle, who had planned to hit her from behind. Once on the ground again, Vanellope set her sights on Candi.
"Those cookie and caramel abilities that she's using are the only source of protection that she has. If I can time my glitches just right, I may be able to catch her by surprise." Vanellope thought.
Vanellope continued to elude Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle, dodging every attack that they threw at her until she saw her opportunity to strike.
"Now!" Vanellope thought.
Vanellope ran away from Swizzle, glitched into the air, and locked target on Candi. Sensing her oncoming attack, Candi surrounded herself in a cookie dome. But Vanellope didn't land on the cookie dome. She landed just a few feet in front of Candi, only doing that to distract her from her real attack. With Candi hiding in her cookie dome, Vanellope took the moment to glitch as high as she could into the air. Candi withdrew the cookie dome and looked around, not knowing where Vanellope had gone. Vanellope smirked as she started falling down.
"Candi, look out!" Adorabeezle shouted.
Candi looked up and gasped. Vanellope prepared for her attack, but instead of landing on the head of a princess, she landed on something hard and spiky.
"YEOW!" Vanellope cried out.
Holding her left foot in pain, Vanellope looked up to see that Candi was protected by a spiky caramel barrier. Vanellope dodged another energy blast from Swizzle and created some distance, where she panted heavily as she tried to think of a plan. She couldn't last much longer. One more hit and she was done.
Taking a risk, Vanellope charged at Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle again. But as soon as she did, they all seemed to disappear. Vanellope stopped running, stunned for a moment before quickly getting into a defensive pose.
"Don't forget, V. They could pop out anywhere at any moment." Vanellope thought.
Vanellope walked around slowly, turning quickly to any sudden movements. Before she knew it, Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle reappeared and tried to hit her. Swizzle shot an energy ray, but Vanellope quickly glitched out of it's way. She then glitched over a caramel disk before narrowly missing Adorabeezle's claws.
"That was close." Vanellope thought.
But before she knew it, she was hit from behind. Vanellope fell down onto the ground, her energy drained. All she could do now was lay on the floor, gasping for breath. She couldn't even get up to see who the one to finish her was. She laid on the ground for several minutes, catching her breath. Suddenly, she heard Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle's footsteps coming towards her, and she jumped back onto her feet as best as she could.
"Oof! Impressive!" Vanellope said, clearly out of breath. She glared at them and sneered "I'll let you off the hook for the rest of today, I suppose. But remember this. When Fortune smiles next, she'll smile right HERE, on Miss V!".
Vanellope then ran away. Once she was gone, Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle faced each other.
"That was really unexpected." Candi said.
"Yes, but we need to continue finding the artifacts. If we can do that and defeat Overdrive, we'll be able to help Vanellope and everyone else." Adorabeezle said.
Candi and Swizzle nodded, and they followed Adorabeezle to the Sonic Generations game portal.
Meanwhile, Vanellope ran as fast as she could, hoping to create some distance between her and the others. They didn't seem to be pursing her, but she knew that she could never be too sure.
"I let you off easy this time, kids. But the next time we face off, I'll have to give it my all." Vanellope thought.
As soon as she was sure that it was safe, she slowed down to a walk, thinking that running away aimlessly wasn't such a good idea.
"I really hope Sorceress decides to come by and check on me." Vanellope muttered.
"Are you talking about me, V?" a voice asked.
Vanellope jumped and turned around. That timeline's version of Sorceress was floating behind her, looking the same as the normal timeline's Sorceress.
"I saw the whole thing. I'm impressed, V. Despite you losing to those three kids, you held your own against them pretty well." Sorceress said.
Vanellope gave her a small smirk.
"Of course I did. Did you expect any less?" Vanellope asked smuggly.
The former queen shrugged.
"Perhaps. However, you did prove yourself worthy today. I'm sure that Overdrive will be proud." Sorceress replied.
Vanellope rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, well, think nothing of it. After all, the Black and White Thunder can do anything if she sets her mind to it." Vanellope said.
"Oh? Is that a hint of overconfidence that I'm sensing?" Sorceress asked.
"Hmm, maybe." Vanellope replied.
"Very well then. We should get going. I suspect a meeting with Overdrive soon." Sorceress said.
"Fine, let's go." Vanellope ordered.
Sorceress landed next to Vanellope and a transcended dome appeared around them both. She snapped her fingers and the two were gone in an instant.