Vanellope's feet gave off a loud tapping noise as she ran up the stairs towards the castle entrance, her guards in tow. An hour ago Vanellope had received terrible news about another disappearance; this time they had seen someone in a red and white kart take the racer. It was only one particular racer but this racer was going to affect the young Princess greatly.
Pushing through the doors she nearly fell over herself as she ran down the hallway leading to the grand throne room; several other guards seemed surprised with the girl's sudden appearance but followed her to the throne room where Ran and Marshmallow was waiting along with Candlehead and Mark.
"Where is she?" Vanellope asked and looked around the throne room for the girl. The guards had told her that Snowana had been kidnapped by a girl in the red and white kart, but Ran had chased them down with his own kart. Ran looked like a mess, his eyes were red and dried up tears were painted on his face. "Vanellope…I couldn't catch up…she..they took her.." Ran sobbed and Vanellope rushed to his side and embraced him in a hug.
Marshmallow, Mark and Candlehead all stared at the two, feeling sad and unsure how they could help. Vanellope stared back at them and waited for one of them to talk, to explain what indeed had happened to their friend Snowana. "Mark and I heard a scream from over by Diet Cola Mountain…" Candlehead started out and the whole group turned towards her, she was gravely serious and it almost frightened the crew. Candlehead was a silly and dramatic kind of girl, being serious just wasn't in her nature.
"By the time we got there, Ran was sitting in his kart crying..he told us that he and Snowana were walking when someone attacked them from behind, taking Snowana, and riding off.." she said and looked at the ground. Ran hugged Vanellope tighter as Candlehead told his story, he seemed to flinch every time the girl said Snowana's name.
"How.." Vanellope said and stopped herself from speaking, she knew how it had happened and it was plain to see that this time the enemy got the upper hand. But how was Nelly, who only a few days ago was not able to attack them unless they were alone, able to get the strongest couple of Sugar Rush? Marshmallow clapped his hands together, "Alright…Candlehead and Mark I need you two to get all the Sugar Rush racers over to the castle to alert them of the news…Ran I will prepare a guard for you to be with until we can find you a new buddy." Marshmallow said.
Candlehead and Mark nodded and took off towards the exit, surprisingly taking orders and not complaining about them while Marshmallow went to alert Sour Bill. Ran and Vanellope were the only ones left, standing in the middle of the throne room. "C'mon, let's go outside and get some fresh air okay?" Vanellope said and grabbed the boys hand, leading him out.
Ran followed her and held her hand tightly, the move made Vanellope feel like she was actually helping in a way and she smiled back at the boy. "Vanellope.." he said suddenly just before they were about to walk outside, Vanellope stopped and turned towards the boy who looked more like a ghost than the normal racer he typically was. "I chased them to Diet Cola Mountain…and then I saw a bright sparkly light open up and suck the two of them in…I, I…" he stopped, choking on his words. "I got scared and slammed on my breaks…then the kart disappeared…" he sobbed.
Vanellope felt awful, unsure how to calm him. "Ran..I'm glad you didn't go into the light, you have no idea where they were taking her.." Vanellope said and rubbed small circles on the boys back. Telling him that, or anything for that matter, didn't seem to help and he continued to sob. Vanellope stayed there with him, trying to calm him down and thought about the sparkly light. Nelly had the power of transportation; it was obvious that the attacker was her.
"Ran did you see anyone in the vehicle…" Vanellope asked and Ran tried in an effort to dry his tears, "Yeah…there were two of them, but I could only see one.." he stammered and Vanellope waited for him to tell her who he saw. "She had a bright blue bow on and a blue outfit..I don't think I've really seen her before but she looked a lot like Minty in a weird way.." he said quietly and Vanellope's heart stopped when she realized who he was describing. The attacker was Sticky.
"That's two out of three races that I've won Miss Taffyta." Red said as he climbed out of his kart and walked over to Taffyta who was already out of her own. She pouted and wanted to demand a rematch but knew she couldn't beat the kid. "Why don't you ever race like that on the track?" she asked as they leaned against the kart. Red shrugged his shoulders and looked out onto the track as if he was thinking deeply on the matter, "I guess I just don't want to show off." He said quietly and Taffyta laughed, causing him to glare at her.
"I just like to have my fair amount of attention, any more and everyone would bother me.." he said and Taffyta thought more about what he said. It was true that Vanellope was an attention getter, she craved the praise and approval of her fellow racers, causing her to always be adored and followed by the other racer's. Gloyd and Red also liked to have the people's attention, mostly by upsetting them, but not quite as often as the Princess. Taffyta seemed to understand what the boy meant, but it was only because she really thought about it and figured the boys situation out. "You really surprise me Red.." Taffyta said and smiled at him.
Red smiled back and took a step away from his kart, "Okay, well I did fairly win the race so you owe me a favor." He stated and pointed to Taffyta. The pink racer sighed, "Oh of course, what is this exact favor?". Red smiled coyly and scratched his head, thinking hard about what favor he could possibly get from the girl. Taffyta laughed at first but when the boy started to think more about the favor she started to grow nervous and she could feel her heart beating against her chest.
"My favor is, I want you to give me something of yours." He said finally and held out his hand. Taffyta gave him a look, "That's not a favor, you should have made me giving you something part of the bet?" she concluded but the boy remained standing with his hand out for her. Taffyta sighed and looked over her outfit for something to give the boy. Everything she saw would look ridiculous on him, if he was wearing it that is. She had her white gloves, her jacket, cap, and shoes on but nothing like a jewelry or earring that she could easily give him.
Taffyta looked down at her shoes and at the white laces for a moment before bending down and pulling one of them loose and tying it into a loop. The white piece of fabric looked incredibly dull then and Taffyta felt incredibly unsatisfied with the item until she remembered the contents of her pocket. Reaching in she found several sucker wrappers to which she used to wrap and decorate the string with. Red looked at Taffyta as she went through the process, he almost had a judging sort of look to him and Taffyta nearly stopped a few or more times to return the harsh look, but was determined to finish.
Finally she walked over to him and took his hand, slipping on the bracelet. It was Taffyta's white shoe strings tied together and decorated with sucker wrappers. Red held it up to his face and scoffed, "What a silly thing to give a boy.." making Taffyta mad. "You asked me to give you something!" she yelled and Red smiled coyly at her as she continued to rant about his rude behavior.
"Alright, geeze thanks for the gift.." he said, although he sounded annoyed with the girls whining. Taffyta leaned against her kart and stuck her nose up in the air, "Your welcome.." she said and pouted a bit. The two were quiet, listening to the humming of Sugar Rush before Red coughed and spoke up to clear the silence, "I saw Gloyd with Rancis."
Taffyta stamped her foot and glared at the boy, "You told me he was with someone, you liar!" she yelled and felt incredibly foolish for falling for Red's plan and getting her to stoop to his level. "He..was with someone.." Red said and for the first time ever Taffyta saw the boy blush. It took a second for the girl to process before her face turned bright red as well. "Oh…" she said realizing the love birds were Rancis and Gloyd.
Once again the two were in complete silence until Taffyta started to laugh, "I can't believe I didn't think of that…wow, I'm an idiot." She said between her laughs and smiled at Red who seemed clueless why she thought the situation was so funny but smiled weakly at her anyways.
Eventually Taffyta controlled her laughing and Red went to his kart pointing at it, "Wanna race again?" he asked and smiled at her. Taffyta nodded and rushed over to his side, "What are the stakes this time?" she asked and the boy scratched his head. "No stakes..just fun." He said and laid his hand on the girl's shoulder. Taffyta nodded and went to go get into her kart but felt Red's hand remain hard on her shoulder, when she turned to face him the boy had his glare etched back on his face and he moved his other hand to her other shoulder, squeezing it.
"Taffyta…I need to tell you something, something very urgent.." he said and squeezed her arms tightly again to further his point. The move made Taffyta's heart race and the two of them were uncomfortably close, she could feel his breath coming down right on her face. Red moved closer and Taffyta froze, unable to move, thinking he was about to kiss her. But the boy moved close over her ear and pulled her closer so there was literally not space between them.
"I need to tell you about.." he started to say but a voice distracted him, "Taffyta, what are you two doing?" Candlehead said as she approached the two. Taffyta immediately pushed Red off of her and took a step back, as if he were on fire and touching him was going to burn her. "Ah…ah.." she said and looked between Red and Candlehead. The girl had somehow come out of nowhere scaring the daylights out of both of them, Mark was behind her and he seemed to give the girl a cold stare. He was one of the copies who knew about Vanellope and Taffyta.
Red, who had been knocked on the ground by Taffyta's harsh shove, stood up and brushed the dirt from his pants, "Nothing, we we're talking..it's honestly none of your business." He said and gave them a cold glare back. Taffyta was rooting for Red's side of the argument and it was the truth that they were literally just talking, but what Red had been doing was not just talking and Taffyta's blushing face was proof of that. He literally had moved too close to Taffyta and hugged her tightly, pressing his mouth to her ear. To anyone looking of course it would seem they were kissing or at least unreasonably close.
Candlehead wasn't sure what to say to Red's remark and instead stared at Taffyta who looked as if she were about to pass out. Mark however had plenty to say, "Princess Vanellope has requested everyone to head to the castle…immediately." He commanded, Red scoffed and did what he was told while Taffyta stood there at the kart. "Why are we going?" she asked concerned there might have been another kidnapping incident and added, "What's wrong?". Both Candlehead and Mark ignored her comment and waited for her to follow. Taffyta sighed and followed the group, but her mind was back at the kart and the moment that just happened between her and Red.