VIII
Suspicion Volley
Taffyta's madness was not something that could be ignored any longer.
For some time now Vanellope had sensed it—even before everything happened that time ago, she could feel Taffyta's mind slipping, slowly slipping piece by piece. What it was falling into she couldn't describe, in fact she could hardly notice it sometimes. When it did show up, it was impossible to miss; it was the face of animosity, a corruption that seemed to consume her completely. Her face changed, her eyes changed, she became someone else, something else. It was in her very data, although it being inherent she hardly thought. Yet lately, it not only got worse, it got a lot worse. In fact, it got so bad that many were regenerated on her behalf, one unfortunate racer was even deleted. They were fortunate enough that he was a background racer—had he been a main racer, the game may have been shut down completely do to "internal problems."
Internal problems, that's not even the half of it. We all hate to lose, but Taffyta really hates to lose—in fact she hates it so much, it's incredibly chilling being around her when she does lose, especially lately when Vanellope herself has been doing the winning.
Here, now, things were at their worst. Vanellope had only been through a few cycles before everything had seemed to go from balanced to complete chaos. As she observed her world, she saw death wander the reaches, explosive violence raining down upon everyone and everything; all at Taffyta's finger tips. Vanellope knew that Rancis and Candlehead were both not innocent—but at least were being manipulated into these horrid acts. What Taffyta was planning must have been nothing short of complete control, something she wouldn't have no matter how hard she tried.
With Cottonuget's deletion Vanellope immediately suspected Taffyta, but had no proof to back it up. That last cyclic race was enough circumstantially to convince her however. To worsen matters, she had to let her go, let the mad racer disappear after the race was over, only guessing what would happen next.
On the side Vanellope knew some of Crumbelina's operations, and even that a few racers worked under her. That wasn't an issue inherently, in fact she figured it may even be good to get in on the trading, after all it isn't technically illegal, albeit a little shady. Be that as it may, when Adora complained to Vanellope about the recent incident involving her kart she was perplexed; gang violence? What was this small candy land turning into? She couldn't technically punish Crumbelina or the rather violent Minty Zaki, not without any hard evidence. The damage to her kart was just enough to damage an axle. Some of the tracks have environmental hazards, that being said, she preferred to just get Adora a brand new and modified kart and be done with it, and that's what she did.
Not even an hour after having Adora's kart rebuilt, Snowanna and Zaki would show up and tell Vanellope about how apparently, Candlehead had told Jubileena it was Taffyta who had Cottonuget deleted—by taking him to none other than The Naught. This was something that was far more serious than simple violence, in fact this was a crime punishable by formatting: resetting a character's data. Vanellope never, ever wanted to do that to someone; after all it completely deleted the character's memories and personality and essentially spat out a blank slate. That was something like deletion but it still kept them around, just blank shells however. She had no idea how long it would take for them to return to their former selves, if they ever did. On that note, they wouldn't be the same most likely. To make it even more precarious, formatting can sometimes distort and warp the actual matrix itself. Her greatest fear was that formatting Taffyta would permanently damage the game and get it unplugged. She couldn't have that.
She tried to give Taffyta a brief moment of doubt, opening the secret chamber behind her throne and looking into the registry space. Sure enough Cottonuget's data was phasing—that is, it was slipping in and out of existence. The matrix had no hold on it, the data was falling in and out of regeneration. He truly was stuck in a bizarre space in between death and life.
She made an effort to look at Taffyta's data. It appeared normal, but there was an odd tint to it. There, in that strange virtual space, the electric blue of the data fragments glowed like stars—Taffyta's had an odd opacity to it, almost a thickness, a substance. It was like she was transcending the very barriers, like she was gaining solidity, in what Vanellope wasn't sure of. It all seemed so maddening. Was it a virus? Or was it something other? Then a dingy darkness inside Taffyta's data pulsed, enveloping the entire thing—then just as suddenly, disappearing into it.
This was some sort of potent and viral corruption, there wasn't any doubt anymore.
After Zaki and Snowanna left Vanellope gathered up her aerial candy guards. She knew that she had to go and stop Taffyta, she knew that she had to stop this insanity, and she knew that this was going to get incredibly ugly.
To really worsen matters, the cyclic race was to begin any minute now. She figured she may as well not show up, there was no point. With three racers going haywire they would surely get flagged. Vanellope was somewhat frightened, although she knew if she could get everything under control before the next check up there wouldn't be a problem. She had to act very fast. She had only a few options, at her best though, she truly wanted to talk Taffyta and her group down so they could at least get Candlehead and Rancis back. Taffyta needed formatting, Vanellope knew this—yet she tried her best to believe that there was another route, that there was something else she could do. She couldn't put everyone in danger like that.
Nonetheless, there was even a possibility that Taffyta's disease could spread to Rancis or Candlehead, that would truly be catastrophic. The bottom line was that she needed to get them away from Taffyta and at least lock her up briefly and separate her from the mass.
Vanellope and her group had only made it to edge of the Candy Cane woods before she saw someone in her rearview mirror. She halted her candied guards and waited for what appeared to be panicked Adora and Jubileena approaching, Snowanna and Malarkey riding their kart's backs. What insanity had taken place now?
They finally slowed down and stopped, Snowanna hopping off, an very upset expression on her face. Malarkey too looked mortified.
"That crazy bitch just ran a kart into all of us, I don't know where Crumbelina, Zaki, and Orange are but we got wiped out," Snowanna said.
"Wait wait what? You mean Taffyta?" Vanellope replied, hoping she was wrong.
"Yes Taffyta! Who else? She's insane, format her," Snowanna hissed. Malarkey nodded his head and leaned up against Adora's kart.
"Sh-she almost threw me over a cliff—well she almost had Rancis do that anyway," Jubileena added, "She even had Adora here knocked out. They're really dangerous. . ."
"What?! When were you going to tell me that?" Vanellope said, quite honestly overwhelmed at this point.
"She made me swear not to tell, it seems like she's everywhere so I've been following that out of fear to be honest," Jubileena replied, glancing back down the track. Even when Vanellope thought Taffyta couldn't go any farther, she did.
"Wait so she ran a kart into you guys? So where's the others?"
"We don't know, maybe they're at the regeneration point at the starting line—we found Jubillena and Adora there when we were regenerated and saw you drive by on the back tracks."
More likely than not, they were back there. Taffyta wouldn't hold them hostage—there was no one there to fight for them. No she probably just toyed with them and then wiped them out and maybe took their karts, she maybe even took some of Crumbelina's things if this was at her supposed hideout in the Caramel Canyon. She was rallying up for her rebellion.
"Wait so what about the cyclic races?" Adora chimed in.
Vanellope went silent, this was really dangerous. She had time to stop Taffyta now at least, although if she failed, it was quite literally, game over.
"We won't be having them," Vanellope replied.
A thick silence overtook everyone, all simultaneously realizing what this meant, all realizing the gravity of the situation.
"We need to find her," Snowanna said, walking back to Jubileena's kart.
"We don't have a lot of time, but with the time we do have, we need to find them, dismantle the group, and get Taffyta isolated. I think she may be able to be reasoned with and at least subdued," Vanellope said, getting back in her kart. Her candied guards ached for action, grunting at the still of the air. Their long, spindly legs towered them over her and everyone else; their wings of cotton film shimmered an eerie purple.
"Reasoned?! Hell no, she's beyond that Vanellope and we all know that!" Snowanna said, her face looking more perplexed than angry.
"Formatting is the only way to go," Adora said, Jubileena nodding in agreement.
"Look, I don't think any of you realize how dangerous formatting is, not just for Taffyta but for all of us. It puts the entire matrix in danger. I don't want to do that, especially over one character—an important one at that. We aren't just going to format her, I need to try alternatives. Formatting really is the last resort," Vanellope said, sinking into her seat. The dread of the oncoming meeting was truly bearing its fangs.
Everyone remained quiet.
"I'd prefer it if none of you came, but I won't stop you," she added.
Snowanna got on Jubileena's kart, Malarkey on Adora's—the owners too getting in and buckling up. It was obvious now, they were all in on this, they all thirsted for revenge. Taffyta's madness needed to be stopped no matter who's side one was on.
The guards took flight and Vanellope sped off to the Canyons, Adora and Jubileena close behind. Vanellope knew Taffyta was waiting for them, she could sense it. The end game was upon them.
