Torture Five – Swizzle
"What's it gonna take ya guys to understand we're sorry!" the racer protested as he was being lead down the halls "Do you NOT understand how this will merit if the rest of the arcade finds out?! Vanellope won't be seen as sweet if she does this! She'll be no better than T-!"
"Oh, shut it!" called the guard, smacking Swizz in the mouth "All those brains an' ya ain't got the sent to shut up!?"
Swizzle moaned, shaking his head before turning his look upon the guard "Yeah, I AIN'T shuttin' up because if Vanellope is free to act as she pleases, I can too! Once I make it outta here, there won't be a place in this arcade that'll know what she-!"
Another sock to the mouth was given, this one just hard enough to send the poor boy into a tail spin. He groaned, seeing stars all over.
"Y-Ya think all these hits scare me? I-I've been launched into space by MINTY! I've had more!"
"Get the chair ready…."
The chair?
Swizz felt a large pit of despair forming in his gut at the very thought of it "Hoo boy….can't wait to see what wonders are waitin' on THAT thing…"
At first glance, the chair looked innocent enough; just something made of hardened chocolate grahm crackers with plenty of extra sticky roll-up straps to keep him glued in for good measure. He was thrown roughly in, all struggling useless with how adhered he had become to the seat.
"Yeah…" he panted "Yeah, I know what I did was wrong but at least I'm mature enough ta own up ta it!"
The boy felt his heart pounding and the insides of his brain storming away with anger.
"AT LEAST I HAVE THE HUMAN CAPACITY TO SHOW MERCY! UNLIKE SOME SPOILED LIL CAVITY!"
"Ya mean, meeee?" Vanellope said over the intercom "Oh, Mr. Malarkey, I couldn't help but hear those lovely words ya had for me! They make my heart go a flutter."
"Save it princess…" the boy growled "An' ta think, I was hopin' that somethin' would change here. But I guess ya took a few lessons from ol' King Candy Pants, didn't ya?"
"More than ya know…" the girl tittered "After all, I've been on the bitin' end of his hunts for YEARS! Don't cha think I would pick up somethin' along the way?"
For the first time, Swizz was left silent. He knew that King Candy did have it out for Vanellope but he was unaware of some of the things that the girl might have gone through during his reign.
And it wasn't as if the bullying he had participated in helped any of that but the boy still fought on. After learning what Candy had done to his memory codes for so long, he was mad enough but to go through even worse tortures at the hand of the real princess, the person they were really supposed to feel safe under?
That was when the final straw was thrown.
"Ah, ya know what I liked best about ya Swizz?"
The boy grunted "What, PRINCESS?"
"That big juicy brain of yours!" the girl said "It's always full of so many ideas, including ways to annoy ME!"
The boy gulped, the usually rosiness of his cheeks fading.
"So I thought, what would be the perfect way to torture you than to use your brain against you!"
"H-how so?"
"Oh, you'll see! You'll see!"
The lights then went off in the room, the body surrounded by darkness and silence.
"H-Hello?"
No reply.
"H-Hello?"
Again, there was nothing.
"Oh, c'mon. Don't tell me the torture here it leavin' me BORED ta death!"
"SWIZZLE MALARKEY!"
The boy let out a scream as he looked up at an enormous cookie guard, his fist looking as if they were ready to do some pounding against the boy. He shrank a bit in his bounds, an unpleasant feeling coming upon him.
"Ah, I don't suppose YOU'RE here ta get me-?"
"What is pie?!"
"Pi?"
"PIE!"
"Um, it's the ratio of a circle's circumference in-!"
"Wrong!" the guard shouted, suddenly giving the racer a painful and powerful shock to his stomach. The boy cried out in pain as the bolts flowed through him, twitching once it was over.
"I-! Uurgh! DUDE!" he cried out, still twitching "Ya didn't even let me finish…an' I was on tha right track!"
"We said PIE!" the guard said "What is PIE!"
"PI IS THE RA-!"
This time, Swizz was subjected to several blows to his already aching stomach, the boy gasping for air.
Wait.
He got it.
Pie.
Of course the entire question would be a joke for him.
"P-pie is…" he panted "Pie is a baked good that is filled with various fillin's an-!"
"WRONG! WE SAID PI!"
The torture this time?
Several hard iron brush-strokes on the palm of his exposed feet, the pain EXCRUCIATING. The boy yelled out at the top of his lungs, looking angrier than ever.
"You said PIE! WHICH ONE DO YOU WANT?!"
"Whatever we feel like it!" the guard said, once again shocking Swizz but this time doing it to his forehead. The boy screamed as he felt the jolts coursing through every inch of his body and code but as he could not move, there was no way he could escape. He was TRAPPED!
He slumped in a smoking heap in the chair, his eyes spinning as he tried to focus on the guard.
"J-Just TRY me…"
"What happens when you really take the cake?!"
Swizz shook his head, not expecting a question to come up so soon "W-what!? How does that make-?!"
*ZAP!*
"If a tree falls in the peppermint forest does it make a sound when its mouth is covered?!"
"How am I supposed to answer TH-!?"
*SMACK!*
"If a train leaves the station at three o'clock while another is getting there at four, how long does it take to boil water in the break room in Street Fighter?!"
"Give me three second to-!"
*CRACK!*
None of the questions were making sense to Swizz and even worse, the more he couldn't answer, the more he got punished. He tried to talk but with each turn, something else would appear to inflict pain on his little body.
Scratches on the arms and legs, punches to the stomach.
Shocks, burns, pinches and tweezes.
Anything that could be done, WAS done.
But the questions.
The questions were the worst of the lot.
Vanellope KNEW that Swizz loved to give his brain a jog every chance he got but to give him questions he COULDN'T answer, and at the risk of hurting him to boot, was something that she knew was the perfect punishment for him.
Voice began to encircle the poor boy from every direction but he could not answer a single one of them.
"STOP IT!" he wailed, wanting to hold his pounding head in his hands "I CAN'T ANSWER THIS STUFF! Urugh, I don't think even YOU can answer this…"
What is-!?
How can-?!
Why?!
Are?!
You?!
Crying?!
Swizzle?!
After what felt like HOURS of torture, Swizzle was left in a blubbering state, tears going down his eyes but with every word that came from his mouth, more torture was laid upon him.
"Why are you crying kid?!" a guard chuckled, ripping the boy from the chair "I thought you were supposed ta be the smart one! But look at ya now!"
The little boy was reduced to a sluggish state, drool coming from his mouth as he hung from the guards' hands but he was then thrown to the ground.
"I can't….I don't…..so many questions…."
Swizz felt his head pounding, a pain unlike anything he felt before. It was so bad that everything else inflicted upon his body seemed to fade away, at least allowing himself to raise his battered arms to rub his temples.
"Aaah, so many questions." He moaned "So many stupid FREAKIN' questions…."
But where were the answers?
"Get up, dummy!" called another guard "We're not through with-!"
"HELP!"
The boy blinked, looking around for the other voice.
"Whaaa-?"
"You heard us! Get your sorry butt off the-!"
"NO! STOP!"
The little racer narrowed his eyes, the words of his tormentors fading away "Hmm, guys?"
"WE'RE SORRY!"
"STOP IT! STOP IT PLEASE!"
"NO! THIS ISN'T RIGHT!"
"WHY WON'T YOU LISTEN TO US!"
Was this just another hallucination? It had to have been with what he had gone through.
But still, the voices continued.
"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US, VANELLOPE?!"
"C-C-C-Butt?"
"WHY CAN'T I SHOW YOU I'M SORRY?!"
"S-Snowy?"
"WHY ARE YOU DOIN' THIS TO AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"
"MINTY?!"
MINTY?!
Yes, Minty.
Somehow, somewhere, Swizz could HEAR the screams of his friends from within the confides of the castle. He didn't know where they were but…
But how could he hear them? How could he sense them?
*BA-BUMP!*
The boy's brain felt as if it had been struck with a hammer, his head hurting more than before. He cried out, cringing in pain from the strikes. He gritted his teeth, rocking back and forth but for some reason, he could not stop thinking of Minty, her face flashing through his mind.
"W-Why is she-?!"
*BA-BUMP!*
He could see halls.
*BA-BUMP!*
He could see doors
"I-in the East wing?!"
*BA-BUMP!*
"H-How can I see this?! HOW CAN I-?!"
"I said GET UP!" roared the guard, poking the racer again with his shock stick, his body twisting on the ground "Can't you obey an order?"
Another question.
So many questions.
But now…
Now he was getting answers, or better yet he was getting visions.
The boy fell silent, his entire body going numb as he felt his brain continue to pulse within him. Something had been trigged, something deep within had been called up.
All the questions, all the pain, all the screaming and the fear.
It had acted as a key.
His code started to flip, his memory started to swirl. Even as he was held several feet in the air by the bulky guards, he didn't feel it. His body began to twitch, flashing and flickering before all who could see.
"H-hey, what's goin' on he-?"
A flash.
A flicker.
A…GLITCH?
The only thing Swizz could hear were the crying of his companions. They sound hurt, they sounded scared.
"TALK, DARN YOU!"
He wanted to do something but as his body continued to glitch in and out, all he could was remain silent.
"Heh, guess the brainiac's done for now?"
A small growl rumbled in Swizz's chest, the boy starting to FORCE his neck up. The guards looked on, surprised that even with everything he had gone through, Swizz still had some strength in him to move.
"I-I ha-have a question…" the boy panted, the feeling of his pounding brain waving throughout his body. The guard who held the racer found itself becoming rather nervous, the glare Swizz was giving him rocking him to his crust.
"Y-Yeah? What is it?"
"H-How fast do you have to be thrown before breakin'?"
The guard faltered for a second….
But then it found itself being FLUNG into a wall with BLINDING force, its body SHATTERING upon impact.
The other guards looked in horror before feeling a pulsing wave touch their skin. They turned back, their faces twisting in fear.
For before them HOVERED a racer, one looking angry. One looking as if he were ready to break apart everything around him.
But not with his hands.
"Good GOBS, look at the light around his h-!"
Swizz swung an arm, everyone in the room stopping in their place as they began to levitate off the ground. His brows furrowed as he looked upon the candy people.
"We used to live with each other…" he said "But turn on a dime, you'd be HAPPY ta see us all suffer!"
The guards looked at the powerful racer with pleading eyes, the same eyes that he had once given Vanellope upon her reinstatement as ruler of the game.
But those pleas had been ignored.
And so would these.
"Ya followed your Princess ta this point…" the racer growled, his eyes glowing bright "So have a reward for DOIN' so!"
Another pulse came from within the boy's mind, BLASTING inside the remaining guards. They cried out in pain as they could feel the insides of their heads slowly being forced outwards.
"U-URGHH! PLEASE HAVE MERCY! PLEASE HAVE-!"
*BOOM!*
With a sick splat and a few loud thumps, bodies now lay on the ground, Swizz slowly floating down with them. He looked around, his heart empty for what lay before him. It was ironic that a boy such as he, one who in the past would never think of causing such harm to the candy people, would take such measures to get away.
But after hearing all the screams from his friends, he knew that things were different in Sugar Rush. On Vanellope's orders, the once bright and cheerful game was turned into a place of horrors.
She didn't care?
Well, no longer did he.
He felt the pounding in his mind subsiding but something still remained. It was that odd feeling, that odd feeling that he had more in control than he had ever had before.
All the questions it seemed had unlocked something deep within.
Something that Swizz liked.
Something that he knew he was going to use.
But first, he had a job to do.
He could still hear the sounds of his friends, his mind connected to theirs but as he concentrated, there was something about them as well.
He wasn't the only one who had changed.
And being the inquisitive boy that he was, he knew he needed to find out.
"But first…" he said, looking back down at the still bodies of the guards "I have to check up on Minty. I know SHE'S givin' her captors a hard time."
Swizz walked up the stairs, coming face-to-face with the door. It towered over him, its dark shadow cast over him.
He took one look at the door and with a scowl.
"Move…"
It flew off its hinges into the hall, a sparkle of light showing through the boy's eyes.
"I have so many things I want to ask Vanellope once we see her…." The boy whispered to himself "I hope for her sake, she can answer them."
