Chapter 12: The Attempted Reset

After getting out of the fungeon, Ralph, Felix, Tamora, Vanellope, Turbo, Timothy, and the Sugar Rush racers got out of the castle. Candi, Gloyd, Minty, and Citrusella briefly left Sugar Rush in order to get their karts from Game Central Station, while Ralph, Felix, Tamora, Vanellope, Turbo, Timothy, and the other Sugar Rush racers headed back to Lemonade Lake so the Sugar Rush racers could get their karts, before heading to the racetrack. Once Candi, Gloyd, Minty, and Citrusella got the Tiramissle II, the Kernel, the Velociwrapper, and the Blueberriot, they headed to the racetrack, where they found everyone else.

While they were at the starting line for the racetrack, everyone was on guard, just in case if Licortwist showed up in order to prevent Vanellope from resetting Sugar Rush. Adorabeezle realized that if Licortwist somehow was locked up in power-proof chains or something that was power-proof, then he would lose control of the licorice pieces and be defenseless, so she told everyone else her idea, and then she left to go back to her lab in order to develop an anti-power dart gun, which would shoot a dart that, if it hit Licortwist, would make him temporarily lose control over the licorice pieces.

Anyway, Candi, Gloyd, Minty, Citrusella, Ralph, Felix, Tamora, Vanellope, and Turbo worked out a plan on how Vanellope would race and what they would do if Licortwist showed up. Vanellope would race and try to cross the finish line without any problems, but if Licortwist showed up and prevented Vanellope from crossing the finish line, then they would fight Licortwist, and hopefully, stop him this time. With that, Vanellope got into the Blender, said goodbye to everyone, and then started racing down the track.


Vanellope drove at top speeds down the track of the game. So far, the drive had been pretty smooth. She had made it past Gumball Gorge without running into any Oreo guards, CLAW officers, or Licortwist. She let her guard down and smirked.

"Take that, Licortwist. You can't stop me now!" Vanellope shouted.

"Who says that I can't stop you?" a voice asked.

The girl gasped, looking around but seeing no one. But the voice sounded so familiar.

"L-Licortwist?" Vanellope asked.

The girl then turned and saw in utter horror that Licortwist was right behind her, on top of the licorice pieces. Licortwist sped up and the licorice pieces started swarming alongside Vanellope, so close that their karts nearly touched.

"Hello, Miss Schweetz. Quite the hour to be driving, don't you think?" Licortwist asked sarcastically.

Vanellope couldn't ignore the maddened look in Licortwist's eyes, but before she could do anything, Licortwist disappeared from view. Vanellope looked around, but she couldn't find Licortwist. She then looked at the road again, but she realized that while she had been distracted by Licortwist, she had actually gone a bit off course from the road and was now heading towards a wall.

"Oh, sugar sn..." Vanellope started to mutter.

Suddenly, a track of licorice pieces formed under her tires. Just when it seemed as if she were going to go crashing head long into the wall, the Blender swerved, missing the surface by a near curve. Vanellope opened her eyes, watching the wall move away from her.

"W-What..." Vanellope started to ask.

BOOM!

The girl screamed again as two feet landed on the hood of her kart.

"Vanellope, you better watch where you drive." a voice said.

A bit of light allowed Vanellope to see the scowling face of Licortwist looking down at her, the Licorice themed racer seemingly balanced even with Vanellope's mad attempts to get him off her car.

"OFF! GET OFF!" Vanellope shouted.

Licortwist only shook his head.

"No, Vanellope. However, I think that there needs to be an adjustment." Licortwist said.

"ADJUSTMENT?" Vanellope asked angrily.

Licortwist scowled and lifted one of his arms. A huge slop of licorice pieces formed underneath Vanellope's car, and the girl was unable to control herself as she flew through the air. She screamed, but Licortwist remained calm, finally having the licorice pieces pick him up and launch him off of the hood and carry him away.

"W-Where is he..." Vanellope started to ask.

"BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOAR!" a voice roared.

Vanellope soon realized what the point of Licortwist's plan was: to get Vanellope into the gaping jaws of a giant licorice beast.

"Darn it." Vanellope muttered.

However, Vanellope remembered that she could glitch. And she managed to glitch out of the way just in time before the licorice beast clamped down upon her. Vanellope started glitching away, but the licorice beast turned and gave chase after the president. It didn't seem to matter how many times Vanellope tried to glitch her way ahead because the licorice beast was always on her trail and not giving up.

"I can't use it up! I have to time it right!" Vanellope thought.

Vanellope panted, knowing that if she burnt herself out by over-glitching, it would be too late for her to run anywhere. She looked to the left of herself and then the right./ppShe had to wall warp and she had to do it now.

G-GLITCH!

That was not a good sign. If the glitch was running low, then Vanellope ran the risk of getting stuck until she could regain herself, but she had to risk it.

"Come on, COME ON!" Vanellope thought.

"BWAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!" the licorice beast roared.

And risk it she did. There was a flash, a spark, and then Vanellope glitched out of the wall just before the licorice beast could swipe her to shreds. Vanellope cheered as she went ahead, and she entered an icy cavern. But as she exited the icy cavern, she entered a forest that was on fire. Vanellope gasped and started feeling really hot.

"Nelly, there you are!" a voice called out.

Vanellope gasped as she saw Licortwist adding fuel to the flames before swarming over to the Blender, grinning from ear to ear.

"Licortwist, w-what are you doing?" Vanellope asked.

Licortwist faked confusion and he pointed around at the flame covered forest.

"This? I don't know, but it sure is fun!" Licortwist replied sarcastically.

Vanellope swerved a bit, and she became angry because Licortwist kept on bothering her in order to prevent her from resetting Sugar Rush.

"Licortwist, back off! Y-Your melting everything in sight!" Vanellope growled.

Licortwist laughed insanely.

"I know! But I can do so much more!" Licortwist said.

Licortwist then had the licorice pieces grab a tree that was on fire and threw it at the Blender. Fortunately, the tree missed Vanellope, but some parts of her car popped, due to the massive heat. The fire surrounded her from all directions, and Vanellope spun out of control. Licortwist stopped where he was and floated above Vanellope while on top of the licorice pieces, as if he was proud of what he had done, before he had the licorice pieces protect himself from the fire by forming a protective shield around himself. Meanwhile, Vanellope ducked for cover as her kart was once again pulled out of her control, but as she went through the walls of flames, she found that by perhaps by some miracle, or even Licortwist's own choice, the fire was so thin that the only thing that happened was that the side of the cart was just a tad crispier then normal. As for Vanellope, she was still alive and well. And still on a mission.

"Th-this is nuts! I definitely have to activate the reset now!" Vanellope said, panting and still driving as fast as she could.

However, the licorice pieces began to follow the kart, but instead of trying to attack Vanellope, they began to meld together. And the more they melded together, the bigger the swarms of licorice pieces got!

"OH, HECK N..." Vanellope started to shout.

But before Vanellope could finish shouting, a giant wave of licorice pieces crashed onto the road, picking Vanellope up and carrying her on a sea of licorice pieces further and further down the line. But finally, after a few moments, the wave of licorice pieces seemed to retreat, suddenly releasing Vanellope and leaving her on dry land as it retreated somewhere out of sight. The kart remained still, as did the 9 year old president, a look of bewilderment on her face.

"O-Okay, out of everything, that was the freakiest!" Vanellope said.

"Is that so?" a voice asked.

Vanellope felt the hair on the back of her neck rising, turning quickly to see Licortwist, who was being lifted thirty feet into the air, thanks to a pillar of licorice pieces. Licortwist lowered himself to the ground and he smirked.

"Let's see if I can make things even freakier." Licortwist said.

The boy raised a hand and shot a stream of licorice pieces at Vanellope. But fortunately, Vanellope was able to move as the licorice pieces shot into the street. Vanellope looked ahead, and to her relief, she saw that the finish line was still some distance away and she also noticed that the others were waiting for her, and with the rate that she was going, she could still make it. She had to.

Vanellope started driving toward the finish line as fast as she could. However, as she was driving, the ground began to shake under the kart before a large deluge of licorice pieces began to pour from the street. The girl once again tried to regain control of her kart, but the licorice deluge seemed to becoming from all sides, and the licorice deluge threatened to swallow Vanellope whole.

"W-Where is this stuff coming from?" Vanellope wondered.

Vanellope knew better to look back. Looking back only resulted in more horrors for her eyes to see, but she couldn't help it. She slowly turned her neck back, and saw Licortwist going after her while riding upon a large licorice chunk.

"This isn't fair! Your ganging up on me!" Vanellope cried.

Licortwist frowned.

"Well, that's what you get for trying to get in the way of my plans." Licortwist said.

Licortwist then sent a massive wave of licorice pieces that sent Vanellope flying upwards. The girl shrieked at the top of her lungs as she held on for dear life, gravity kicking in once more as she was going down. However, halfway down, the girl grunted, feeling a sharp jolt as her kart came to a halt. She looked up, seeing a giant licorice bird clutching her kart in its claws. She smiled, unsure whether or not to be thankful for the quick save. However, her heart skipped a beat when the licorice bird disappeared and Licortwist joined Vanellope in her kart.

"Hello again, Vanellope." Licortwist greeted.

Vanellope huffed.

"Licortwist, you really are crazy! But since we're facing a massive crash, do something!" Vanellope shouted.

"You mean you want ME to save YOU? But I thought that I was nothing more then a racer who took over Sugar Rush and..." Licortwist started to ask, a shocked tone in his voice.

"LICORTWIST!" Vanellope yelled.

"Okay, I'll do something." Licortwist said.

Licortwist smiled brightly. But instead of helping Vanellope, Licortwist just leaped out of the Blender and had the licorice pieces catch him in mid air.

"Does this help?" Licortwist asked.

Vanellope could only twitch an eye, watching as Licortwist swarmed away.

"I MEANT DO SOMETHING FOR THE BOTH OF US!" Vanellope replied angrily.

And down Vanellope went, the girl screaming all the way.


Meanwhile, Adorabeezle drove the Ice Rocket into the Ice Cream Mountains, which was where she and Nougetsia lived. She reached her and Nougetsia's house and went inside of the house. Adorabeezle ran into her lab, which was a high tech laboratory that was even more complicated then the Hero's Duty laboratory, and she began creating the anti-power dart gun. It took thirty minutes to create, but Adorabeezle finally finished creating it. When she was done, she grabbed the anti-power dart gun, ran out to the Ice Rocket, got into the kart, and then started driving back to the racetrack.


Back at the racetrack, Vanellope stopped falling, but she was fortunately not laying in a heap on the ground. Vanellope peaked from the sides of the Blender, but she saw that her tires weren't even touching the ground. She was scared to ask who had saved her, but once more, her curiosity got the better of her.

"I'm just going to ask, knowing that something bad is going happen, but I think I know who this is... Licortwist?" Vanellope asked.

Licortwist laughed, giving Vanellope the thumbs up.

"Yep! The one and only!" Licortwist replied.

Vanellope laughed nervously.

"Ahahah... g-great, Licortwist. Thank you... but... do you mind?" Vanellope asked.

Licortwist had the licorice pieces lift the Blended up to get a better view of Vanellope.

"Yes?" Licortwist asked.

"D-Do you mind putting me down?" Vanellope asked.

Licortwist laughed.

"Whatever you say, Vanellope." Licortwist replied.

Vanellope sighed.

"I knew that I should have worded that better." Vanellope muttered.

Licortwist had the licorice piece give the Blender a little toss before spinning twice and hurling it through the air, Vanellope's terrified screams fading into the distance.

"You never said where to put you down!" Licortwist called out.


Vanellope continued to fly through the air, but by some stroke of luck, her angle of coming in was perfect enough for her to keep momentum, even though when she crashed, she was nearly knocked out of her kart and a few more things were lost in the streets.

But she was almost there! The finish line was just ahead, and she could just make out Ralph and the others cheering for her to cross!

"Come on, Vanellope. The finish line's wide open!" Ralph called out.

Vanellope laughed.

"H-HA! S-So close! So, so, so, SOOOO CL..." Vanellope started to mutter.

Just then, Vanellope heard the familiar buzzing and clicking noise of the licorice pieces, but she also heard the sound of something being taken apart. She looked back, and to her horror, she saw that the licorice pieces were piling up onto the back of the Blender and were starting to rip apart the kart.

"Oh no!" Vanellope screamed.

Just then, Licortwist popped up from underneath the Blender.

"Hello once again, Vanellope. Hmm, it seems to me that your in a hurry." Licortwist said.

A licorice tentacle gripped onto the back of the Blender, breaking off a chunk of the kart.

"Hey, be honest with me here, Vanellope. Do you really think that you can stop me and reset the game?" Licortwist asked.

Another licorice tentacle landed atop the kart, more of the kart being broken away as Licortwist inched closer and closer to the president.

"GET OFF!" Vanellope repled angrily.

Vanellope punched Licortwist in the stomach, which caused Licortwist to fall off of the Blender, but the licorice pieces caught him when he fell. But the momentum was too much because the back end of the Blender came off with him. Vanellope gasped, watching as the licorice pieces continued to break away the remains of her kart, which spilled out onto the track.

But she was so close to the finish line.

"I need to make it! I NEED TO MAKE IT!" Vanellope said, her mind in a frenzied mash.


Meanwhile, the others were seeing everything, and they were hoping that Vanellope would manage to cross the finish line.

"Come on, Vanellope. You can do it." Taffyta said.


More kart parts fell to the ground, breaking away thanks to the licorice pieces, but Vanellope kept going. The finish line was getting closer then ever when she felt her engine fall out. She cried in shock, but she still had enough momentum! She was almost there!

"Please! PLEASE make it!" Vanellope muttered.

But sadly, the Blender broke apart with her still inside just meters before she could cross the finish line. The girl tumbled about on the ground and laid still for a second or so.


Meanwhile, the others gasped in shock.

"Oh no." Sticky muttered.

Everyone then started making their way over towards Vanellope.


Vanellope groaned, sitting up on the surface of the ground as she looked around. Licortwist and the licorice pieces were nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, Vanellope realized that they ground felt softer then usual. She looked down, and even in the dark landscape, she could see that it was not the usual glitter infused cookie road that lead towards the finish line, but something completely different. It was dark red... and it seemed to move.

"Oh, you can't be serious." Vanellope muttered.

Before Vanellope could move, the 'ground' wrapped around her body, thus restraining her. Vanellope gasped and tried to move, but the more she struggled, the tighter it got. Eventually, Licortwist appeared while on top of the licorice pieces. He lowered himself onto the ground and walked up to Vanellope.

"You made a mistake in trying to reset the game, Miss Schweetz." Licortwist said.

Licortwist then lifted Vanellope into the air and then slammed her into the ground with enough force to break ribs. Vanellope didn't attempt to fight back and she didn't even cry out in pain. Just then, the others ran up to them. They had seen what had happened, and Tamora took out her machine gun and pointed the barrel of the machine gun right at Licortwist.

"Your going to pay for that, boy!" Tamora snarled.

Tamora then fired the machine gun, but Licortwist had the licorice pieces block the bullets with a shield of licorice pieces before instinctively holding Vanellope in front of the shield.

"Now, now, Sergeant. We wouldn't want Little Miss Glitch to get caught in crossfire now, would we?" Licortwist asked tauntingly. He then said "Now, unless your after an unnecessary casualty, I suggest you cooperate.".

Tamora and the others exchanged looks before Tamora lowered her machine gun in defeat. Licortwist grinned and then effortlessly slammed Vanellope into the ground again, and the others cringed at the sight. Licortwist had the licorice pieces hoist Vanellope's bruised body into the air.

"Now, me and Vanellope will be leaving now. If you want her alive, you will come to Diet Cola Mountain and face me. Goodbye, fools." Licortwist said.

Licortwist then swarmed away with Vanellope while on top of the licorice pieces, leaving the others to think about what had just happened.