Chapter 7: Solo

Author's Note: I'm sorry on the ridiculously long wait for this chapter. I had to rewrite parts of it and unfortunately, it was taking longer than I expected. But anyway, here's the new chapter. Hope you enjoy it :)

Crimson stood at the kart bakery in disbelief.

'I can't believe I'm actually going to do this: race against my mortal enemy. But, I guess it was the only option for my plan to be able to work.'

She put her sword away and looked over at her new kart.

She gently patted it with her hand. As if it were a real person, she muttered under her breath, "Let's do this."

She hopped inside the kart and took a deep breath. Was she ready to do this?

'I'd better get some practice in whether I like it or not; it's the only way I could ever have a chance at beating Turbo in the race.'

She closed her eyes and tried to remember what it was that started the kart the last time she was behind the wheel.

The scene of her trying to budge the cake kart replayed in her mind. She remembered pulling many levers and pushing tons of buttons, but which one started the kart?

She pondered it for a while.

Then, it hit her.

"The joystick!" She realized. After moving it forward, that was when the kart jerked forward, causing it to run into the candy wall of the castle.

It all made sense now. Well, at least for starting up the kart, but she still had a long way to go for learning the rest of it.

'Maybe I'll be able to understand it better if I start the kart up?' She proposed. It was worth a shot.

She pushed the joystick forward and the kart rushed forward.

Out of instinct, Crimson slammed down hard on one of the pedals. Fortunately for it, it was the brake and not the gas pedal.

Squeeeeak

The kart's wheels screeched to a stop just barely touching the wall.

"I can't believe it…I did it…" She muttered, astonished.

She had done it. Somehow, by some miracle, she had.

It was weird. It was almost as if she felt the answer soar through her code.

'That was a close one. But, I did it. Maybe there's hope for me driving yet...but I just need to keep practicing and working on that feeling, that's all.'

She closed her eyes and focused on that same feeling through her code once again.

She concentrated and slightly shifted the joystick back.

Once she did, she slowly opened up her eyes and gently placed her foot on the pedal.

Glancing over her shoulder, she backed her kart up.

Once she was done backing up, out of instinct, she re-adjusted the joystick forward once again and placed her foot on the gas pedal.

'I can't believe it. It's like my code actually knows what to do.'

Still in her kart, she dashed out of the kart bakery.

She felt the sugary wind blow through her hair as the amazing view of the world passed on by her.

'Where should I go now?' She wondered as she slowed down. 'The racetrack? Should I go back home? Should I-?'

Then, it hit her.

She figured out what she should do; go to the Candy Cane Forest.

It wasn't as noisy or crowded as the racetrack. However, it also wasn't as easy either. There were many turns, obstacles along with most of a path to drive on.

"This will do." She murmured as she stopped the kart and jumped out to get a better look at the place.

It wasn't as happy of a place as it used to be. That was no surprise, thanks to Turbo.

The candy cane trees had lost their bright colors. Also, a layer of eerie fog covered the area. The dark nighttime sky didn't help make the place look any happier either.

It was now definitely creepier of a place, but there couldn't be anything in this forest that Crimson couldn't handle.

Well, except if Turbo was there. But who even knew about that? Crimson was in such a great mood, she could've easily kick his butt.

In the forest, there were two paths. There were obviously more throughout the long-stretching forest, but from where Crimson stood, there were only two main paths that laid ahead. Crimson debated about which one to practice on.

She looked over to the path on her left, followed by the path on her right.

The first path was much wider than the other and also had more trees, while the other path had only a few obstacles, but was very narrow.

'Hmmm…Which one would be better to practice on?' She wondered. Would having more space along with more obstacles be better or having less space with less obstacles?

Crimson looked left, then right once again.

Then, she finally made up her mind.

"That one." She pointed to the path on the right.

Once she figured out what to do, she switched gears on the joystick once again.

'This better work...'

She tightly held the steering wheel and pushed her foot down on the gas pedal.

The kart sprinted forward down the path.

'I've just got to keep going straight.' She mentally reminded herself. 'Keep going straight...'

She continued to practice on the path for hours later.

Eventually, after enough practice, she switched over to the other track.

She continued practicing until it was about five o'clock in the morning.

The dark cloud-filled sky of Sugar Rush became a tad bit lighter due to morning, but the game still retained its gloomy feeling from the day before.

Crimson drove her kart off-road from the track until she finally arrived at the starting line.

She parked her new ride right in the front row of the starting line of the track.

But it wasn't alone.

Beside the ribbon candy kart, stood only one other kart on the line. Unfortunately, she knew who the white and yellow sugar-crystal kart belonged to...

It was Turbo.

Of course, his kart appeared to have all of the latest upgrades and such. Crimson just stared at it, afraid of how much power the kart contained.

It had to be the fastest kart in the game, with no doubt.

'How do I stand a chance against the fastest kart in all of Sugar Rush?' She questioned.

But, she couldn't let it get to her. She just simply reminded herself of the plan; she could lose as long as her kart still crossed over the finish line, which seemed easy enough. As far as she knew, it was the only key to getting out of the game. She figured that if it worked for one glitch; it was bound to work for the other, right?

She had to hope.

Only a few minutes passed until the so-called, 'King of Sugar Rush' finally arrived. The audience only grew in their excitement.

However, Crimson wasn't excited, contrary to the crowd's opinion. Unlike him, she felt very alone.

No one here was on her side and she knew it. Apparently, they all wanted to support their jerk-of-a-leader's side. Speaking of the arrogant racer, he turned towards the crowd.

"Hello, my dear Turbo-ians."

The crowd cheered.

'If only they knew what they just cheered for...' Crimson rolled her eyes in response. She may not have known much about the racers, but how could anyone possibly like this guy? He was a selfish jerk and unmistakably evil.

She knew she had to beat him at the race, not just for the sake of the game, but to teach the loser a lesson.

He continued, "We are here today to see a race between me..."

The crowd cheered loudly. It made Crimson feel at unease.

"...and the other glitch of Sugar Rush, Crimson Crunch."

The moment the name was announced, there was a loud roaring 'Boo!' throughout the crowd. Crimson knew that they were all brainwashed, but it still made her feel bad inside. No one here was on her side.

She closed her eyes and tried to retain her focus. "Just don't let them get to you." She reminded herself, under her breath. "It's just Turbo trying to get inside your head."

She took in a deep breath before she finally burst open her eyes.

Looked around at the audience booing her, she knew that she had to prove every single one of them wrong.

What time better than here and now?

"I guess it's just you and me, glitch." The King smugly added. "Now's who's ready to see their great and powerful king win?!"

The crowd cheered even loudly then before. Crimson wasn't going to let it distract her.

'Let's do this. Go up against my mortal enemy. I've been waiting to do this all my life.'

She wasn't totally sure if she was ready, but she didn't have a choice in the matter. There was only one chance to do this, so she had to do this right.

Once Turbo was done gloating, he turned his attention towards Crimson.

A smug smile smeared across his face.

"You don't stand a chance."

Crimson wasn't going to listen to his insecure thoughts, she just had to focus.

'He's just trying to make me doubt myself. Well, he better know that I'm not falling for that scheme.'

"Let's see about that." Crimson snapped back as she got back inside her kart. She wasn't going to give Turbo the satisfaction of her doubting herself. No way.

Turbo stayed quiet, almost not sure of what to say. Instead of replying, he just simply got inside his kart and prepared himself.

Both of the racers quickly inspected their karts' conditions. By the looks of it, they appeared to be in pitch-perfect shape. If otherwise, they would find out any minute now.

Crimson tightly gripped the steering wheel.

'Hopefully, I practiced enough for this.' She worried. Surely, she had practiced enough with her sword, but she wasn't too sure about her kart. She had only one day of practice. But, she knew like everyone else, she would find out soon enough.

Turbo just continued to flash his malicious smile.

'She doesn't know what's coming.'

Both of the racers seemed to be as ready as they'd ever be. They both patiently waited at the stoplight.

Red...

Red...

...Green!

That was the go signal. Both racers sped off into the sugar-filled atmosphere.

'So far so good.' Crimson noted about her quick acceleration.

However, Turbo was still ahead of her. But at least, it wasn't by too far yet. There was still a good chance that she could possibly catch back up to him at any minute.

Both racers rushed down the sugar-filled highway no problem. It was nothing compared to what laid ahead; which was a jump followed by the next section, Gumball Gorge.

Crimson wasn't sure if she was ready for what was to come, but it wasn't like she really had a chance to change her mind now.

She switched gears on the joystick and stomped her foot firmly down on the gas pedal.

She wasn't going to fall short on the jump ahead. It just wasn't going to happen.

'Time to see if that practice really paid off.'

She neared the red taffy ramp.

Her kart sped off and approached the jump with ease. It landed in the next section with a slight thud.

'Okay, here goes nothing.'

She narrowed her eyes, determined. Yes, the area was much harder than what she was used to, but it couldn't be that hard, it was only the first section.

Gumballs swayed back and forth, left and right, in a pendulum-like motion over the smooth, slick surface. Crimson took in a deep breath. She could do this.

Her kart glided with ease over the slick surface. But unfortunately for her, it was too much ease. The kart was sliding all over the place, making it difficult to control it.

'Okay, maybe it's not that easy. Well, I'll be fine as long as one of the huge gumballs don't end up hitting my kart.'

Her kart continued gliding forward, approaching the first gumball.

'It'll be fine as long as I time it just right.'

She hovered her foot over the brake pedal, slightly slowing down while waiting for the perfect moment.

Seconds passed and the moment still wasn't coming.

By now, she had almost reached the gumball, even though she was moving at the rate of molasses.

'If I don't go pretty soon, there's no way I'll be able to catch back up to him…'

At the very last second, the gumball dipped down in front her, only missing her kart by inches.

With that, she knew it was go time.

Her kart sprung forward as she pressed down hard on the gas pedal once again.

The following gumballs weren't as difficult. Crimson easily swerved left and right to avoid them.

She just had to keep her momentum.

'That wasn't as bad as I had initially thought, but there's still a long way to go before I can beat Turbo…and finally leave the game…'

It was her dream, even more than catching Turbo for good. She had just wanted to go outside of the game for so long ...and she was so close to achieving exactly that.

'After the race.' She reminded herself, returning her attention to the road.

Maintaining her speed, she went through a special power-up box.

"Power-up!" The announcer yelled out.

A list of available power-ups flashed through, before one was randomly selected.

It was a 'sugar-rush' boost. It might've not been the best power-up, but it would work.

She had to catch up to that jerky racer someway.

She pressed the flashing button in the middle of her steering wheel and the power-up was activated.

'Hopefully with this, I'll finally be able to catch back up to him.'

The kart dashed through the last bit of Gumball Gorge before finally jumping over the cliff to the next section.

Crimson was scared and determined at the same time.

Within those fifteen years of being alone, who would've guessed she'd be doing this?

She certainly wouldn't have.

Thud

As her kart landed in the next section, the power-up faded.

'Darn it, I still haven't caught up to him quite yet.' She muttered out of frustration.

But, at least she was closer now. Turbo probably wouldn't have guessed that she would've made it this far.

'Not too bad of a start though.' Crimson admitted as she continued on her journey.

Then, she saw what laid ahead.

It was lots and lots of turns.

Crimson wasn't too great at turning, much like everything else, but there wasn't time to get more practice or have any errors.

This was the real deal.

'Wait a second…' She realized, '…I think I spot him.'

She saw her opponent in the distance.

He was quickly approaching the top of the tall spiraling chocolate cake.

Crimson had to quickly get up there somehow.

She turned onto the very first spiral of the cake.

Following the first turn, she tried to make some smaller turns after, seeing if that helped her.

It did, but she still couldn't beat the King.

However, she did reach the top of the cake only seconds after Turbo.

Then, she sped through the tunnel over to the next section.

Thud

'One more section left and then this'll be over. This will all be over.' She told herself as she continued along, finally arriving at the wintery area of the track.

Perfect flakes of the powered sugar drifted through the sky, coating the area in excess snow.

It was unlike anything Crimson had ever seen before. It was winter, even though the sun still shone bright off in the distance.

It was a beautiful landscape. Apparently, there were places in Sugar Rush that Turbo hadn't destroyed quite yet.

But even though she was admiring the area, she knew she had bigger issues currently at stake.

And his name was Turbo.

Or King Candy or whoever else the jerk was claiming to be.

Crimson was tired sick of Turbo controlling her life. He had treated her and everyone else poorly and where was he?

He was king.

It was a very unjust position for such a person.

Unlike her, he should've been the one taken to the Fungeon.

Unlike her, he should've been the one to stay locked up in the game.

He didn't deserve to be the one who wins the race.

It should be her, for once.

She narrowed her eyes on the track and kept her eyes on the prize.

She was going to win this.

Her foot stomped down hard the gas pedal and her code took over.

Somehow, her kart grew faster in speed. Maybe it was her determination. Who knew what for sure? All everyone knew for sure was that Crimson was quickly gaining on the king.

She made it through the Frosty Rally and flew straight into the rainbow road cave.

Turbo was just merely in front of her now.

This had suddenly gone from a very predictable race to a really close race. The audience started to grow nervous.

'Only a little more.' Crimson muttered to herself. There was only just a little bit left until victory.

Crimson swerved to the right side of the track, avoiding running into her opponent's kart.

She continued her speed and gain on her opponent.

Then, that was when it happened.

The speed boost caused her to be land right next to her opponent's kart.

Vrooooom

'What was that?' Turbo wondered, thinking he heard something. He turned towards his right.

It was déjà vu. But, this time it was Crimson instead of Vanellope in the cave.

'What to do…' He pondered. He knew by this time, it was too late to use the cave's shortcut now.

"Dammit!" He cursed aloud under his breath. An angry sneer was plastered onto his face until an idea struck him.

'The joke's on her. There's no way she's going to win this thing.'

Turbo continued going on his merrily little way, while Crimson had a huge lead over him now.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw that Turbo was still a distance away.

'He can't catch me from here.' She told herself, but something still felt off about it. It just seemed too easy.

A rookie racer just simply 'passed by' the thirty-year-veteran racer?

It all just seemed a tad too simple to her.

'Is this all a scheme?' She had to wonder. It made the most sense and unfortunately, it seemed very well like the thing Turbo would do.

'But if he had something planned, wouldn't he already have done it though?' She realized. Nothing too big had happened thus far.

She shook her head. Maybe she was just worrying over nothing.

As she approached the end of the cavern, light emerged along with a small smile across her lips. She knew that just merely passed the light would be the Finish Line.

She was so close too.

Actually, suspiciously close.

Something felt wrong here.

How could a one-day racer seriously beat a thirty year veteran racer?

Was it luck? Skill? Or a trick?

Turbo was always scheming something, so maybe this was all a trick?

But then again, he loved to win; he wouldn't have wanted to get so far behind on purpose.

Maybe this was no trick after all and Crimson was just ruining her own big moment.

All of her worrying for so long yielding pointless.

Then, she saw it.

The Finish Line.

There it was; the key out of the game. The key to the life she's always dreamed of.

It was so close yet so far.

The same thing could also be said about her enemy. But, she couldn't be focusing on him right now; she had a race to win.

It was her big moment. Nothing could stop her now.

Well, almost nothing.

A loud cracking sound was heard throughout the land.

The audience immediately looked up, in search for the source for the sound.

Then, they saw a small area of the sweet candy-filled sky starting to crack and split apart.

Crimson was too busy to notice the phenomenon going on with the sky, but the candy citizens couldn't help but glare at it, almost as if in a trance.

The once loud noisy audience stood silent as they stared down the fractionating sky.

The crack broke apart forming a gap. The mysterious gap appeared to be empty except for some random numbers inside.

The crack only continued spreading at the speed of light. The audience was left in both awe and confusion.

'What the fudge is going on?' They all wondered.

Within mere seconds, half of the sky was broken. The entire area looked like an endless empty hole of code.

But it wasn't.

Through the massive hole, blurs of green and black emerged from of it.

The blurs of color were cy-bugs.

It wasn't just a hole in the sky; it was a portal.


Hundreds of bugs flew out of the mysterious hole at a dangerous speed.

'What the heck is going on?' Crimson questioned as she watched the gang of cy-bugs land on the Finish Line.

Crimson had no clue what these things were. She actually had never seen them before. Yes, she could tell that they were bug-like monsters, but she didn't have any prior knowledge of the creatures.

She may not have known much about them, but she could easily guess that them coming here was definitely not good.

'Focus…' She reminded herself. These vermin weren't going to take away her one and only chance to leave the game.

She would deal with them later.

Thud

Thud

Thud

Doubts started to flood her brain. 'I'm not so sure if I can make it…'

The cy-bugs continued moving at the speed of lightning and didn't seem to show any signs of slowing anytime soon.

'How can they be so fast?' Crimson questioned. No one- not Turbo, not her, not even Vanellope was that fast.

But she couldn't let them be the one to take everything away from her.

'Maybe I can still make it.' She hoped. Maybe she could avoid these horrid monsters and make it out. She just had to hope.

She sped ahead, turning every which way to avoid the monsters.

'Almost there.' She told herself. 'Almost there…'

But it wasn't for long.

Too many bugs were coming down at a massive rate; Crimson could only keep up for so long.

She pressed down hard on the brake pedal as her kart skidded to a stop, only missing the Finish Line by mere feet.

"This is anything but good." She muttered under her breath.

The carnivorous bugs laid ahead, literally millions in number.

All against one.

'What the heck are these things?' She curiously asked. Whatever the answer, she already knew the person who was behind it.

'Him again.' She thought, aggravated. Of course he couldn't just leave her alone in peace.

She would've continued to go on about her grudge against the racer, but she had a bigger problem at state; the bug virus.

'I mean…I can try to fight them, but I'm not so sure I can stand up against millions…or maybe more.'

It was a hard task to succeed, but she had to do at least something. If not, Sugar Rush was doomed.

She couldn't let that happen.

So, she hopped out of the ribbon candy kart and yanked out her sword

Readying it in front her, she whisper under her breath."I've got to figure out a way to stop them."


Cy-bugs were sliced, cut and spliced, but the number only continued to grow.

Even through all of her efforts, Crimson still proved no match against the massive amount of swarming pernicious bugs. Despite not wanting to admit it, she knew it was the truth.

'This isn't working. Now what should I do...?'

As she continued fighting, she looked around and searched for an idea.

Then, she found it.

It was right in front of her eyes.

She was staring at her sword.

"Glitching." She realized.

She touched the cool metal blade of the weapon and intentionally glitched

The glitch rippled across her code and transferred over to her sword.

A smile spread over her lips.

'This could work.' She thought proudly. She could use the metal from her sword as a conductor of her glitches. With it, she should be able to glitch multiple cy-bugs into one.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had to be ready to do this.

'It'll be a lot of glitching, but I think I can handle it...besides, it's not like I have another choice anyway...'

Her eyes flew open and a glitch triggered throughout her body. Within seconds, her sword had doubled.

With a sword in each hand, she readied herself.

"Game on."

She sprung forward with what seemed like fire gleaming in her eyes.

The swords continued clashing, slicing and stabbing the cy-bugs.

Thanks to her idea, many of the bugs were combining together into one, much like Crimson had hoped.

But unfortunately, they kept multiplying at the speed of lightning.

She just couldn't keep up with their speed.

While she was here fighting, she could just imagine what all of the other racers would be doing.

'Not fighting that's for sure.' She knew. They probably would've ditched the game by now if they weren't trapped inside it.

She wouldn't even be surprised if any of the rotten racers had already freaked out about it, but she didn't feel too sorry for them. Every day, she had to face this problem.

But one day of being trapped was nothing like fifteen years.

Crimson knew that other than Vanellope, the racers would never truly understand. They always had their life so easy.

They could always race whenever.

They could always go anywhere.

They weren't always treated badly.

Like she was.

Here she was protecting their game.

Was it really worth the fight?

Crimson had pondered that question to herself.

She shook her head in protest to the distracting thoughts. 'What am I doing with letting this get to me? It's not entirely the racers' fault. Besides, whether I like it or not, this is my home game. I'm not going to give it up without a fight.'

She continued the same strategy against the cy-bugs. It was working, but barely and definitely not fast enough.

How could she possibly defeat these opponents that she was no match against?

Yes, she could defeat them by glitching, but they only continued multiplying.

'This isn't working. I either need to glitch quicker or...'

Then, an idea struck her like a bolt of lightning.

'I need more metal…but where?'

It was good except that one flaw. The game was completely covered head to toe in candy and other sugary treats; there was barely any metal to be found in the whole game.

'The Fungeon may have some...' She realized. It was where she found her sword in the first place. But would it be good enough?

She had to try.

Turning around, she fled the scene.

Everyone remaining at the racetrack was left in confusion by Crimson's decision.

"What the turbotastic heck does she think she's doing?" Turbo questioned. But instead of dwelling on it too much, he just simply shrugged. 'I can't always guess with that other glitch. Maybe she's decided to finally give up? Now that would be turbotastic.'

But that was far from the truth.

Crimson was running full-speed towards the sugar-filled castle.

It was her only hope.

"Come on..." She murmured to herself. She was running at full-speed and yet, she was still slow.

'If I don't make it soon, then who knows what will become of Sugar Rush.'

After a few minutes passed, the glitch had finally made it.

She tried the doorknob.

No surprise; it was locked.

'I don't have time to deal with this right now.'

Using her sword, Crimson stabbed the chocolate door multiple times.

Over and over again. Hit after hit.

The chocolate crackled apart before it finally fell to the ground.

Crimson rushed inside.

Unfortunately, there were guards, but not nearly the same amount as usually.

'Probably most of them already fled.' She assumed.

Less than a minute later, she was spotted.

"Hey! There she is; the other glitch!" One guard exclaimed very loudly.

'I don't have time for this.'

As the guards charged at her, she knocked them out of her way and rushed through the castle.

'Man, what I would give to have teleport-glitching abilities like Vanellope right now…'

It would've made her life a heck of a lot easier at the current moment.

"Let's see if I can remember..." She replied, trying to recall the fifteen year-old memory.

She remembered a staircase leading to the basement followed by a long hallway. At the very end of the hallway was the cell that contained the chains.

Now, she was just praying that those chains from before were still there.

The big long metal chains could conduct her glitching over a larger area. It would be the key to getting rid of the cy-bugs.

She just had to get to it and quick.

She pushed through more guards as she scurried down to the lowest level of the castle.

After skidding down to the end of the hallway, she finally saw it.

It was the room she remembered too well from her very first day of existence.

There it was in front of her once again.

Only now, she was trying to break into that very room. It deemed ridiculous, but this was what she had to do.

Using her sword, Crimson pierced a hole through the chocolate door.

Then, she repeated multiple times.

With every strike, painful memories flashed back into her mind.

Most of them involved Turbo.

Gritting her teeth together, she knew she had to do this. Turbo had done enough damage already; she couldn't let him get away with any more.

Anyway, within a matter of seconds, the door had broken apart. There was now a huge gaping hole in the very center.

She charged through the hole, entering the tight room.

Immediately, she noticed the small dose of metal lying in the very center of the room.

Crimson eagerly approached the old metal chains and brushed her fingertips up against the cold medal.

She focused hard and glitched.

The glitch triggered throughout her body, but once it reached the metal, it stopped.

Crimson was confused. It should have transferred over the metal. That was the whole point of her idea.

"Maybe I'm just imagining things." She figured.

Then, she tried a second time.

It wasn't just her imagination.

There, where there should've been a chain split into two, stood a long sole chain without a single crack in it.

'What's going on?' Crimson wondered.

She picked up and chain and carefully observed it.

'Shoot. I should've noticed this before.'

Right there, in the smack center of the metal chain, in big bold letters read, 'Glitch Proof'.

She should have known.

'Well, I guess that plan isn't going to work… unless there is anywhere else I can find more metal…'

She tried brainstorming, but no helpful locations came to mind.

Then, an idea struck her.

'Hey, maybe Vanellope will know…'

But, she knew if she was going to consult Vanellope, there wasn't too much time left to spare.

With that, she dashed out of the Fungeon cell.


Moments later, Crimson arrived once again to the top of the rainbow taffy bridge, a place she was unfortunately too familiar with.

'Here I go again...hopefully, this won't be a waste of time.'

She tapped on the barrier.

Vanellope slightly jumped, but didn't even dare turn. Crimson assumed that she was probably afraid of who it was.

"Look, I'm not in the mood, Tur-"

"Vanellope, it's me, Crimson." She interrupted. Crimson had to make sure to get this done quickly. She didn't have any extra time to waste if the cy-bugs kept multiplying at the same rate as before.

"Crimson?" Vanellope questioned as she stood up. She spun around to face her unexpected visitor. "What are you doing here?"

"Vanellope, I need to know something and quick. I don't have time to explain."

Many questions of what it could be soared through Vanellope's head.

"I need to know a place where I can find a lot of metal. With enough, I'll be able to glitch the cy-bug numbers down. Do you know any place where I could look?"

Vanellope placed a finger under her chin and started to pace back and forth as she searched for an answer.

"Hmmmmmmmm…so, have you tried the Fungeon?"

Crimson nodded. "I looked there, but unfortunately the metal won't work; it's glitch proof."

"A-doy!" Vanellope told herself. She should've remembered that.

"Any other ideas?" Crimson desperately pleaded.

The glitch continued to brainstorm. "Hmmmmmm…" But, only drew a blank. "Sorry, Crimson. There's not really anywhere else here with a lot of metal. Pretty much everything here is made of candy. The Fungeon was your best bet."

Crimson looked down in disappointment. But not too long after, she returned her eye contact with the president.

"So, do you know what those things are or where they came from?"

She nodded. "Why yeah...Hero's..." She snickered at the next part. "...Duty. Those 'things' are called cy-bugs. They turn into whatever they eat." Vanellope simply explained.

"I saw that."

"But anyway, those things multiply like candy."

'Well…at least that answers one question. But, I still don't know what to do about these cy-bugs. I mean I don't even have a clue where to find any useful metal and time is running out. Vanellope doesn't seem to know either. I guess I should get going and figure something else out.'

Crimson turned around, starting to leave.

"Thank you, Vanellope for trying to help me out." She waved. "But, I guess I'd better go and figure out another idea since there's no metal."

Crimson was about to leave, but stopped once she heard Vanellope whisper something under her breath.

"Well…I do know one place with a decent amount of metal "...But, I doubt you want to or probably even can go there."

Crimson was willing to try anything.

"Where?"

Vanellope had hesitation in her voice. "Well…Hero's Duty."

"So, another game?" Crimson questioned.

Vanellope nodded in response.

"Yep, the same place where the cy-bugs came from. But, I'm not sure how you could get there even if you wanted to go there." She explained.

'Well that's great...' Crimson thought sarcastically. One place finally had enough metal and of course, she couldn't go there because it was outside of the game.

Like always, she couldn't leave.

She was fed up.

"I've had enough of this." She replied as she banged her fist against the barrier.

Vanellope was startled by her friend's sudden reaction. "Huh?"

"I've had enough of this being locked inside the game! I can't take it anymore! I mean I can't see new people or new places! I can't even save the game!"

Then, she fell silent from the sudden outburst.

"Sorry to take it all out of you, Vanellope." She apologized. "It's just...I feel so worthless. I've trained for so many years...and it's still not good enough. The game is going to go down all because of me."

Vanellope knew Crimson was getting worked up and tried comforting her friend.

"You know, I actually do understand what you mean. I was in your position one time. But, don't put yourself down over it; you saw what happened after I became a racer? I'm sure it'll be the same for you."

Crimson calmed down as an idea came to her.

"Vanellope, I think I might be able to save the game." She murmured.

"Wait...huh? Was it something I said?"

"Something you said kind of gave me an idea." Crimson explained.

"Well, good luck then."

Crimson nodded.

"Thanks. I'm going to need it to pull it off." She replied as she dashed down the rainbow taffy bridge.

'I need to get back to the racetrack. I don't have a lot time to do this.'

She rushed back over to the infested racetrack.

She passed on by her unfortunate kart, crushed from the cy-bug attack. But, that wasn't her biggest concern right now.

She glared up at the portal that hovered above the Finish Line.

'How the heck do I reach it?'

Yes, she knew it would be dangerous. Also, she knew that there was a chance she would never be able to come back, being a glitch and all, but she was still going to try.

She glanced around at her surroundings.

While more cy-bugs emerged from the portal, some were actually flying back up near it.

She figured that maybe she could use that to her advantage.

'If I can somehow get onto one of those cy-bugs flying near the portal, I can jump off and glitch to double the jump's distance and head straight into the portal.'

It seemed a lot easier to think it over than to actually do, especially since cy-bugs were so unpredictable.

She had only one shot to do this, so she just had to pray that her plan would work.

As a group of three cy-bugs prepared their wings for flight, Crimson jumped onto the back of one of them.

The cy-bug noticed the extra weight, but didn't understand what the heck it was.

As the two other cy-bugs sprung off into the sky, the last cy-bug decided to just ignore the extra weight, regardless of what it was.

The last cy-bug spread its wings and flew up into the atmosphere as Crimson tightly clinged onto its back.

Fortunately for her, the two leading cy-bugs only barely missed the portal.

That was a good sign.

She could make it.

The last cy-bug followed the path of its friends, ignorant to the fact that a person was on its back and getting ready to jump.

The cy-bug was nearing the portal.

'This is it.'

She got ready to jump and glitch.

As the cy-bug grew close enough to the portal, she blasted off into the air.

Gravity was quick in trying to pull her down, but she glitched before it could pull her down too far.

She glitched once. Then again, but this time through the portal.

The sugar atmosphere quickly morphed into flashing blue numbers which transformed into the dark landscape of Hero's Duty.

"I made it." She muttered, nearly out of breath.