The throne room was filled with racers, copies, guards and the royal staff including Vanellope, Marshmallow and Sour Bill. It had only taken them an hour or two to get everyone together so Vanellope could tell them the news about Nelly and the racers that had been deleted. The Princess had watched as everyone clammered in and waved to Taffyta as she entered in with Red and the others. Taffyta waved back although the girl looked severely troubled and caused Vanellope to grow nervous.
She had been preparing talking to them about this moment for a while now, but now that she was here and in this moment she felt like running away. Marshmallow stood next to her and held her hand as he could see it was visibly shaking. She was glad that her friend was by her side and she squeezed his hand as he took hers.
The entire group was now inside the throne room, Vanellope sat atop her throne and her subjects stood at the bottom of the throne looking up at her. Some were honestly curious why they were here, others knew why and were awaiting for the Princess to tell the others. The mood was gravely serious as Vanellope stood and cleared her throat.
"Sugar Rush racers..I have terrible news.." she started off and the crowd erupted in small murmurs. "Today another friend of ours has disappeared, Snowana, and she has been taken by someone who drove a red and white kart…we aren't one hundred percent sure of who it was that took her.." Vanellope said and held her breath for the big finale, "But we believe it might be Nelly…and some old racer accomplices.."
The room once again erupted in noise and Vanellope waited for them to get their anger, worries and talks under control before she continued. "I am unsure how many of them..are under Nelly's control, but we are able to confirm that Sticky was one of the racers who crossed over.." Vanellope stated and Minty stamped her way to the front, "Why would Sticky do such a thing!" she yelled as Minty's copy, Minny, had to hold her back. The girl had been hurt the worse when Sticky had been deleted, hearing such accusations though seemed to be a huge slap to the girls face. "Sticky was my friend..how could you say that Princess!"
Vanellope seemed to lose her words than, unsure how to calm the gil down. Ran moved out in front of the girl to defend Vanellope, "She may be our friend but that doesn't mean she wasn't corrupted by Nelly!" he yelled at Minty and the girl held a hand over her mouth, trying not to cry. "Attacking the Princess won't do a thing, your being rude!" Ran stated and someone laughed from the back. All the racers turned to see Gloyd snickering about the boy's outburst, "At least she's doing something, unlike someone here." Gloyd laughed and Ran's face went bright red with anger.
"Let's face it, questioning the Princess is all we can do right now…you however really showed the other side whose boss by being a coward and running awa…" Gloyd said but was met with Ran's fist. Everyone, including Vanellope, was surprised by Gloyd's harsh comment. But they were even more surprised when Ran walked over and decked the boy right across the face. The two rolled around on the floor awhile, punching and kicking each other before the guards came and tore them apart. As they did you could see Ran had a swelling eye and his shirt was torn slightly at the cuff, Gloyd's cheek was swelling as well and his hat had fallen off in the midst of the fight. Within the group they had all turned and argued with one another. Racers and copies, enemies and friends, the whole group had gone crazy.
"ENOUGH!" Vanellope yelled and the entire establishment went eerily quiet. Marshmallow took a step away from the girl, fearing what she'd be like when she was mad. "We are a family…we have to stick together..Nelly is trying to get us against each other; we can't let her win…" Vanellope said and the group looked ashamed for upsetting her, even Gloyd.
"Now..you must all be on high alert, Nelly is out there…plotting and she will do anything and everything to get ahold of you and take over Sugar Rush..we can't let her destroy our world again." Vanellope said and went to finish her speech off, "We are devising a plan now…if anyone has any ideas on how to stop Nelly or how to find her…please let me know, thank you.". The racers all nodded and understood what Vanellope had said. A few of them apologized to their comrades as the Princess walked off and into another room, needing a quiet moment to herself to think.
As soon as the racers were excused by the guards the group became louder and discussed the meeting as they descended the steps of the castle. Most of them agreed with Vanellope, but there were a small handful who still thought she was wrong and that staying together would spell their doom. Gloyd being one of them. As he walked away from the castle he turned to look at Ran, giving him a thumbs up.
"Nice punch man…but next time I'll do more damage to that eye of yours." He laughed and Ran clenched his fists. "You think you're so cool because you're like a bully and you tease everyone, but nobody's going to miss you when you're gone Gloyd…once Nelly comes afer you." Ran said coldly, he was joined by Red, Taffyta, Candlehead and Mark who all stared down at Gloyd.
Gloyd smiled evilly back and shrugged his shoulders, "Who says I want to be missed?" he asked and walked the rest of the way down the steps and to his kart where he sped off into the distance. The whole group watched as he went, silently, until Candlehead shook her head and said, "That guy probably is in cahoots with Nelly anyways.." and laughed.
The whole group looked at her and then at each other, it wouldn't surprise anyone but it also wouldn't help the situation if Nelly had an inside guy. "We can't go pointing fingers guys..for all you know Vanellope could be the bad guy." Red said, trying to defend his racer. Mark shot him a cold look, "This coming from the guy who's trying to steal her girlfriend huh?"
The whole group fell silent again and Candlehead looked at Mark wide eyed as if he had just killed somebody. Red scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Are you talking about earlier?" he asked and Mark clenched his hands tighter while Ran looked between Taffyta and Red. Taffyta's face was pale and she felt she would pass out at any moment if she didn't get out of the situation.
As if she was summoned there to interrupt this exact moment, Vanellope jumped right on top of Ran causing the boy to let out a giant 'oof'. "Man you really clobbered Gloyd!" Vanellope laughed and hugged Ran who was a mix of confused and happy. The whole group was the same and wasn't sure how to behave around Vanellope after learning Red and Taffyta's secret.
Taffyta looked the worst out of the group, she seemed like she was torn between coming out and telling Vanellope her part of the story or waiting and seeing if anyone else from the group did first. She was worried Vanellope wouldn't trust her or that she would stop being her girlfriend, if that was what they really were.
Everyone else in the group seemed to think the same, not sure if they should let Vanellope know now or let Taffyta be the one to tell her. So they did what they all thought was best, but was actually the worst, nothing. The day slowly sunk into the evening and the racers all went their separate ways but still followed the buddy system. Mark and Candlehead looked after Ran since the group was uneven and he wouldn't have a buddy anytime soon, while Red went after Gloyd wherever he may be.
Vanellope tried to get Taffyta to stay up and talk with her through the night, terribly missing the girl. But she felt sick and excused herself for bed. Vanellope sighed, trying not to think much about it and heading to her own room for the night. As she walked the long hallway towards her room she was met with Marshmallow who looked terribly tired and worn from the meetings about Nelly that he was asked to attend to for Vanellope.
"Figure anything out yet?" Vanellope asked the little treat, who shook his head no and Vanellope gave him a small smile. "Niether did I.." she said quietly as the two walked. The royal staff, Vanellope, Marshmallow, the Oreo guards, and even the racers all had different thoughts on how to beat Nelly and her army of betrayed racers, but none of them knew exactly how to follow through with the plan. Some of them believed running away would be the best choice, but by doing so would result in the game being unplugged again. Others believed trying to capture Nelly was the best course of action, but how?
It seemed no matter what plan they had to beat Nelly it was always followed through with a negative. Vanellope sighed as they approached her bedroom and turned towards the treat, "We will figure something out soon.." she said although her heart wasn't in the words. Marshmallow nodded, agreeing but not believing the words as well. Vanellope said her goodnights and went through the door to her bedroom as Marshmallow stood guard with a few other Oreo guards.
As Vanellope crawled into bed, she stared at the ceiling and for the first time since Snowana's disappearance she felt like crying. She had let another close friend wind up kidnapped and it was all thanks to her being negligent and leaving the castle to visit friends. Although nobody blamed Vanellope, she still felt guilty and it haunted her dreams as she slept that evening.
