Chapter 12 – The Racers' Roost
Sour Bill adjusted his tiny bow tie as he finished writing on his notepad. "So that's one cherry fudge sundae with caramel sauce and rainbow sprinkles, one fizzy cola with extra lemon n' lime twist and a side order of Twizzlers, two double-decker Spumoni ice cream sandwiches…one shaped like a trophy and the other like President Vanellope…a jellybelly gumbrawl soda with candy corn shots, the Starbursting Supreme, a frosted choc-ice panini on wheels with extra whipped cream and no Skittles, the Mars Bar skewer appetizer for 3, the deluxe raspberry-vanilla lucky dip milkshake with the works, one slice of triple-layer chocolate fudge cake with white chocolate icing and orange buttercream-truffle ganache filling…and a small lemonade, no ice," he drawled in a single breath.
"Add gummi worms to that panini, and you're set, dude," Swizzle smirked.
"Don't forget the sparkler on my cake!" Candlehead piped up excitedly.
Pacing the floor anxiously as you await to see if your friend is going to live can really make you hungry.
What used to be King Candy's massive billiard room had been renovated by Vanellope into a mini café of sorts. Part-ice cream soda bar, part-flashy 80's diner courtesy of Ralph and Felix's recommendations, there was a long U-shaped bar crafted out of solid marble cake that could accommodate a total of 20 patrons, complete with spinning Oreo Cakester stools. The bar was glazed entirely in a thick caramelized glossy finish and housed giant metallic ice cream dispensers, glass tubes of candy toppers that reached the ceiling, and bubbling soda mixers offering every flavour imaginable. Bright neon hard candy lights in the shapes of racing karts, trophies, and gold coins were cast all over the walls akin to the décor of Dance Dance Revolution and a jazz remix of the Sugar Rush theme played on the ceiling speakers.
This was the place that Vanellope and her friends called the Racers' Roost.
After leaving Crumbelina to get some rest, the racers had decided to spend the rest of the night down here until the arcade opened, as none of them were planning on leaving the castle in case Crumbelina needed them. The only ones not here were Felix, Calhoun, Ralph, and Minty Sakura. Felix had asked Minty to accompany him for something, and Calhoun had left Sugar Rush, needing to report back to Hero's Duty to take care of her usual squadron business before working hours. Right now, it was just Sour Bill and the kids.
"You sure you don't want anything, Vanellope?" Rancis asked her. "You haven't been in Sugar Rush for over a year."
Vanellope smiled. "No thanks," she said. "I'm saving my appetite for the BurgerTime grub I sent Ralph to bring over. That's literally the only thing I can't find anywhere in the Internet."
Sour Bill gazed at his long list of orders and sighed. "All right, please be patient," he droned. "It'll take me some time to get all these orders filled."
"No it won't, Bill," Adorabeezle interrupted as she got up off her stool. "We'll give ya a hand, won't we, Jubi?"
"'Course we will!" Jubileena said brightly.
Bill's mouth curled into the tiniest of smiles. "Thank you," he drawled gratefully as the girls leapt over the bar to join him and started gathering ingredients.
As the sounds of the gleaming machines and dispensers whirring to life soon filled the room, Swizzle spun his stool 180 degrees and leaned back against the bar's spotless curved edge with his arms spread out. "Man, what a night," he breezed. "And for the record, not really one of the good ones."
"I'll say," Rancis agreed, propping an elbow on the counter with his chin in his palm. "Still can't believe that all happened. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it."
"You can wrap your whole head around things, Rancis?" Candlehead gasped incredulously. "What kinds of things?"
Next to her, Vanellope laughed, but Taffyta just rolled their eyes. "It's a figure of speech, Candi," she said patiently. "It means he's still getting over the shock."
"I think that goes for all of us," Minty commented from her spot next to Sticky and Torvald. "It's kinda unnerving when you really think about it. I mean, we were so excited for this update, but how were we supposed to know that it might have pulled the plug on Crumbelina?"
Jubileena visibly shuddered at these words as she filled a tall glass with raspberry syrup for Rancis' milkshake. "It makes me a little worried about future updates," she fretted, turning her head around to face them. "What if this happens all over again?"
"She has a point," Snowanna joined in. "We all heard Mr. Litwak say to his employees that Juerugemu had more plans for us. Who's to say they're not this careless all the time? It could be any one of us next, or even Crumbelina again."
Gloyd peered over at the empty stool next to her, which was Crumbelina's usual spot. He didn't want to think of that.
"Maybe we could ask Dad to look over our codes every time we get an update," Candlehead suggested. "Y'know, like he did tonight?"
Some of the other racers nodded. This seemed like the only logical idea.
But not to Taffyta. "Every time?" she said with a glare. "Need I remind you all that going down there isn't just a stroll through the beach? Those codes are so fragile that any kick could rip a wire loose or knock the programming out of place."
She glanced at Vanellope and looked relieved when the latter nodded in agreement.
"Taffyta's right, you guys," Vanellope said gravely. "Sending anyone or anything into that code vault can be super dangerous. It is our lifeblood after all. Felix was already running on high risk just by bein' down there."
"Sorry," Candlehead mumbled, wilting in her seat. "I was just trying to help."
Taffyta seemed to back off at this. "Yeah, yeah, I know," she muttered, her curtness disappearing. "I'm sorry, Candi, but…I just don't think we can afford to do that."
Adorabeezle was adding the coconut shavings to the Mars Bar skewers that Sour Bill had just handed to her, but she looked up at Taffyta when she heard them. "I know that room is illegal and basically a deathtrap to enter, but what other choices do we have?" she reasoned. "This is for the sake of everyone in this room and every citizen in this game. We're all in serious danger if Juerugemu slacks off again."
Gloyd remained silent as he listened to this hefty discussion. He didn't like what he was hearing; there was now fear in his system once more as he imagined what could possibly happen come the next update. Would Crumbelina become a victim again? Or what about any of his other friends? Would he be next?
As if a switch had been thrown within his brain, he suddenly realized that his friends had been right all along. This whole night, he had been blaming himself for nearly deleting Crumbelina. But now that he was more or less over that, it became clear that there was someone else rightfully at fault here. Someone he could blame right now.
"I wish we had never gotten this update," he hissed bitterly. "Things were perfectly fine before this new developer screwed up everything."
He said it out loud mostly for himself to draw this conclusion, but the others must have heard him too because they had all stopped talking.
"I'm with you, Gloyd," Minty said. "This night mode and the enhanced graphics are cool and all, but not if they mean risking our lives for them."
"Yeah…" Snowanna mused thoughtfully. "But y'know, we were just as much at risk back when TobiKomi went out of business. Even before our steering wheel broke. A defunct owner means no one can provide Litwak with spare parts and technical support if anything goes wrong. You all remember The Great Unplugging?"
Several more head nods and murmuring shuffled about the group.
Gloyd felt a particularly large stone settle uncomfortably down in the pit of his stomach as it all fell upon him with the heavy force of a flour sack landing on his head. The life of a video game character was no picnic of sugar and spice. Their game was only as popular as the humans in the arcade decided it to be. And their existence was only as stable as the real world would let it. These were forces completely outside of their control.
Thankfully, they had always been in good hands with Mr. Litwak. The old man cared immensely about his games and kept up proper maintenance with his own tool box and staff of employees for each and every one of them. All the consoles and controllers running in his arcade went through routine safety checks, meaning that no one was left to collect dust. He even had a backup generator on hand to keep the games running in order to preserve the high scores of his regular patrons. And his devotion to his little business was a key factor of why so many regular kids came to play. For all these reasons, every citizen in the arcade gave him their deepest respect.
But how long could they expect that to last? Gloyd could still vividly remember how Litwak had pulled their plug last year after deciding that the expense of a replacement steering wheel wasn't worth the salvage of their game. The scariest part of it all had been how alarmingly quick it had all happened; the sheer abruptness had struck him to the core, for it was on that day that Gloyd Orangeboar had learned firsthand how vulnerable video games truly were. Even Sugar Rush, which had then been and still was one of Litwak's most popular games, had become just another has-been destined for the scrap bin. He had heard Felix and Ralph mentioning on occasion during the racers' weekend sleepovers at the Nicelander Apartments about how fortunate they were to still be standing after close to 37 years. Most arcade games never stuck around for this long and they had had to see so many faithful ones disappear over time.
Gloyd frowned as he thought once more to The Great Unplugging. One moment he had been racing without a care in the world, and then in the blink of an eye, his entire world had vanished. His home and everything he knew was stripped away from him indefinitely. And if he hadn't gotten out, he would have been gone too. Gloyd had always considered their relatively new arrival to the arcade and popularity with the gamers to be enough to secure their rightful placement in Litwak's roster and keep them going. But even those things seemed to be waning now. They weren't as new as they had been 22 years ago, and there were newer, flashier games out there being made that could divert the attention of their long-lasting fans. What if one day the players wanted to play a cooler racing game, like Slaughter Race? What would happen to Sugar Rush if they stopped making enough money for Litwak? Would Litwak decide to pull their plug without hesitation?
And now, with these updates introducing potential new problems that directly targeted their codes, they could be in danger without even knowing it. Everyone he had come to know and love could disappear in an instant.
He winced as the whole truth came barreling upon him like a merciless À la Mode attack. Their lives as video game characters relied entirely on the functioning of their console. If any electrical failure were to strike, any earthquake or tornado out there in the human world were to destroy the arcade and everything in it, or even just a careless spill of a player's soda on their circuits, it was game-over for all of them. The latter threat had been the case that had cost Litwak one of their original twin consoles six years ago.
"Gloyd? Earth to Gloyd?"
He blinked and looked up at Jubileena's face. "Huh?"
She gestured to the bubbling jellybelly soda in front of him. "Your soda's ready. I gave you an orange curly straw," she said with a smile.
"Oh, uh, right. Thanks, Jubileena," he mumbled, taking a sip.
But even a refreshing drink did nothing to remove this fear growing inside him.
By now, most of the racers had received their respective orders and were starting to dig in hungrily. Sour Bill had just served Candlehead a freshly-cut slice of triple-layer chocolate fudge cake; the single piece was taller than her head and candle-topped beanie combined, complete with a single sparkler mounted in a blob of whipped cream.
"Thanks, Bill!" she squeaked, gazing up at the fizzling sparks in an adoring trance.
Rancis looked over at her. "Don't eat the sparkler this time, Candlehead," he reminded her.
On the other side of the bar, Snowanna stared at her ice cream sandwich that Adorabeezle passed over to her. Her eyes were narrowed and her hand under her chin, deep in thought.
"You feelin' okay, Snow?" Adorabeezle asked her. Despite Jubileena being her inseparable best friend, she and Snowanna had always been close due to how similar their candy motifs had been programmed. She gazed at the purple racer with concern.
Rather than answering right away, Snowanna looked pointedly at the rest of her friends and then with a big breath, stood up.
"You guys?" she said in a determined voice. "Gloyd, Taffyta, everybody…can I just say something to you all?"
The racers stopped chattering and looked at her.
"I'm sorry for how I acted today," she said. "I was upset…but I had no right to do that and it was totally uncalled for. I hope you guys can forgive me."
Vanellope blinked. "Forgive for what now?" she asked.
"Oh it's okay, Anna!" Candlehead exclaimed; she jumped out of her seat and scurried around the bar to give the flavour-ice afro racer a big hug. "We all make mistakes."
"But it makes all the difference when we can admit them," Jubileena added with a gleaming rosy-cheeked smile. "So of course, we forgive you!"
"Besides, what kind of friends would we be if we couldn't?" Adorabeezle asked simply, reaching across the bar for her shoulder.
Snowanna smiled with relief as she returned Candlehead's hug. "Thanks, guys. You're the best," she said gratefully.
Now Vanellope was frowning. "Um, hello. Did I miss something big here?" she asked Taffyta. "What's Snowanna goin' on about?"
Taffyta looked at her, then glanced at the racer in question, and finally at Gloyd. "It's nothing," she brushed off. "It's in the past now. The important thing is that she apologized, that's all that matters."
Before Vanellope could protest, Candlehead came skipping back to her seat. "Isn't this great?" she sang merrily, plopping back onto her stool and spinning around and around like a top, her candle's flame becoming a bright ring of fire, whoosh. "Crumbelina's gonna be okay, we're all friends again, and now we have Vanellope over to play!" she cheered. "Can we build a marshmallow pillow fort like we used to, Van? Please, please, please?"
"What's the point?"
Everyone stopped smiling and Candlehead lost her balance in mid-spin, causing her to tumble right off her stool. All eyes turned to the owner of the surly voice.
"This is all wrong," Gloyd grumbled darkly as he stared at his reflection on the caramelized bar top.
"Your soda?" Jubileena asked.
Candlehead picked herself off the floor. "He's right," she said, pointing a finger. "You forgot the candy corn shots!"
"No, not the soda," Gloyd said impatiently. "I mean us. This entire game is one big joke. What's even the point of planning for tomorrow if we're just going to die tomorrow?"
No one said anything, but just stared at him in perplexed confusion. "What are you getting at, Gloyd?" Vanellope spoke up, concern now crossing her face.
"Yeah, dude, you doin' okay?" Swizzle asked. "I thought things were cool jelly beans with you now?"
Gloyd looked up at him and then the rest of his friends. "Look at us, guys," he seethed. "Here we are working our butts off to make the players happy…but the moment our steering wheel breaks, what happens? Poof, our plug is yanked out of the station just like that. And what happens when we start to lose our popularity? Those players aren't gonna care about us anymore. And do you think Litwak's gonna be all that interested in keeping us around when our console stops raking in quarters like it does now in exchange for dust?"
It was like the sugar-tile floor had given way, taking the entire atmosphere of good cheer and happiness with it. All that was left was the bar with its crowd of racer patrons as they all looked at Gloyd.
"And now these updates are gonna pick us off one by one," Gloyd went on sourly. "So why do we even bother trying to survive? I mean, what's the point in even living when all we're doing is waiting for our world to be taken away from us?"
He scrunched himself up in a grumpy ball, locking his crossed arms right to his stomach and slouching in his seat as his hate for everything up to this point came spiraling out for everyone to hear.
No one said a word as they exchanged glances at each other, some of them now looking a little frightened by his words, as if realizing that, as scary as they sounded, his statements were true.
But then Vanellope got up off her stool and rounded the curved bar to approach Gloyd. She slowly spun him around on his stool to face each other directly.
"You're still scared, aren't you?" she murmured.
He glared at her with pained eyes. "What do you think, Vanellope?" he hissed. "You think I want to see Crumbelina zapped from existence again? She could have died if she hadn't regenerated out of the blue like that. Do you think I want to see you go next? Or Swizzle or Rancis or Jubileena or…"
He suddenly stopped and turned his attention to the floor. "I spent 22 years as a lone wolf," he finally struggled out, now speaking to everyone in the room. "I was a prankster with barely any friends, and thought things were perfect. I only cared about myself and took life for granted. And only now am I really meeting you guys for the first time. I don't want to lose any of you from stuff we can't control."
Behind him, Jubileena placed her hand to her heart.
Remembering Vanellope's words to him as he sat before Crumbelina's lifeless body, Gloyd unraveled himself. "I wanna make memories with you guys," he said truthfully. "I wanna have fun with you…and make up for two decades worth of time wasted. But how can I do that if we could be gone tomorrow for all we know?"
Vanellope put both hands on his orange-sleeved shoulders. "I'll tell you how, Gloyd," she said with confident strength. "You can stop the worry-works goin' on inside you…and start havin' fun right now."
Gloyd looked at her and opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off.
"You're right, Gloyd. You're completely right," she agreed. "Who knows how long Sugar Rush has left in this arcade and how much time we have together? Ralph has told me truckloads of miserable stories about having to say bye to so many games. Games full of his friends got unplugged and never came back."
"But that's why we make the most with the time we've got," she then stressed. "We start right now, makin' friends and makin' life-long memories with them…no matter how short that life is. We make the life we have the best life ever. Live the jelly-heck out of every day to make it the best day ever."
"Vanellope's right, dude. Life's way too short to be a slow-poke," Swizzle jumped in. "And besides, we're racers! Life ain't about the finish line. It's about that awesome fast lane that gets us there."
Minty held Swizzle's hand. "Good friends also give us a reason to live, Gloyd," she said soundly. "Even though we won't be around forever, that makes it all the more important to let them know how important to us they are right away."
Torvald cast a sidewise glance towards the pair. "Kinda ironic coming from you, Minty," she snickered to her cousin. "Exactly how long did it take you to 'fess up your feelings to Swizz?"
"Twenty-two years," Swizzle answered proudly. "But I regret nothin' 'cuz I treasured every second with her, romantic item or not."
Making a playful gagging reflex at them, Vanellope faced Gloyd again, her hands still resting on both his shoulders. "Gloyd," she said in a straight voice, "do ya remember all those years ago when I was The Glitch?"
Everyone in the room, even Sour Bill, stared at her with horrified eyes. Not one of them felt like revisiting these memories.
"Uh…yeah?" Gloyd finally muttered, a little afraid to hear where this was even going.
"Do you know why I always used to try and sneak into every single one of your Random Roster races?" Vanellope asked, her face not crossed with any signs of the same bitter reluctance. "Do you know why I kept building pathetic go-karts from junk even though you guys always destroyed them? Want to know why I kept doing this every day even when you guys called me names and taunted me for 15 long, painful, miserable years?"
"Do we really need to bring this up?" Taffyta groaned, hiding her reddened face under a gloved hand.
Vanellope smiled, knowing she had all their attention now. "Here's why," she answered without any disdain or hatred present in her voice. If anything, she sounded very proud of herself. "It's because I asked myself one day…'What sounds like the better choice, Vanellope? Live every day like it's your last, or mope around feeling miserable about your pathetic excuse for a life waiting for King Cavity to imprison ya?' That one question was the kicker I needed to keep goin'. After that, it was as simple as gettin' my head out of the fudge dip and into the game of life."
Retracting her hands, she crossed her arms and smiled gently at him, showing that any thoughts of reconsidering that execution joke from seven years ago were fully nonexistent. "It's a long shot. And at times, feels pointless to smile knowing it might not make anything better," she admitted. "But I think it's worth it to at least try."
You really had to stop and admire Vanellope's self-motivated attitude. For 15 years, Gloyd and his fellow-racers, everyone in this game in fact, had treated her like a monster and shunned her in every way possible. But even when faced with this, she had chosen to face it all head-on and still live out every day of her life, even when that life was surly hopeless. Gloyd was then reminded of his game-changing conversation with Crumbelina a month ago: she had told him that it was up to him to take the first step if he wanted to make a difference in his life. All he could do was try, even when it felt pointless to do so.
"How's about tomorrow after the arcade closes, we racers take a nostalgic cruise through Sugar Rush?" Vanellope suggested. "Set the mood straight and get in the groove again? Maybe you peeps can show me the new tracks that popped up from this update."
Gloyd smiled a little. "Yeah…yeah that sounds like fun."
"Besides, Gloyd," Jubileena cheerfully chimed in, "I'll tell you what really makes life worth living for us. It's the players. We're here in Mr. Litwak's arcade so they can have a good time! They're our life-long fans…and they love us because we're here for them."
Adorabeezle linked her arm around Jubileena's. "They come to Litwak's to see us," she said. "We're the ones keeping Sugar Rush alive and running. That's why they keep coming back to race. Sure, part of the reason is the racing, the colourful candylands, and our catchy theme song …but so are we. Without us, there would be no gameplay."
Gloyd listened to them as the gears in his icing-frosted brain slowly began to turn. He slowly remembered various pieces of knowledge that had been programmed into the root of his code ever since Day 1.
"Giving our all for those arcade gamers," he murmured in a monotone. "Helping them to cross that finish line…for kids to grow up with lasting memories of our game."
Unbeknownst to him, Vanellope was also listening intently.
"Sugar Rush has been popular for years, and I don't think our popularity with the players is gonna die anytime soon," Snowanna added. "Especially with the new updates renewing their interest."
Gloyd fidgeted, no longer slouching as he listened to her speak. "But it won't last forever…" he pointed out.
"Nothing ever does," she answered immediately. "Just like a song that only goes on for a few minutes or a race that's only three laps long. So you enjoy every second of it while it lasts to the absolute best you can. Don't you remember how thrilled those players always get when we help them to win races? Doesn't that fill you with a great sense of pride knowing you got them to victory? Isn't it worth it to see your hard work pay off?"
Gloyd took a minute to think back at how the players who selected him as their avatar always cheered along with the game's winning music soundtrack and animations when he crossed that checkered finish line first. He instinctively smiled as the memories filled his mind.
"Yeah. Yeah, it does."
"There, you see?" Jubileena giggled, for she must have spotted his crooked toothy grin. "We have a duty in this arcade, Gloyd. Our true purpose. It's why Sugar Rush exists. That's our reason to live 'cuz that's what we were made for."
That's what we were made for, thought Vanellope as she stuffed her hands into her leather jacket pockets.
"We won't be around forever," Rancis spoke up. "But that just means we gotta make as many awesome memories as we can while we still can."
Then Swizzle laughed. "So what if the next update decides to target me next?" he shouted boisterously. In one swift move, he front-flipped into the air (one of Minty's signature moves) and landed one foot on his stool and the other planted proudly on the bar, knocking his empty plate to the floor in the process. He looked like he was crossing the Delaware. "Bring on the careless player who spills his soda and short-circuits our last standing console, or a crazy swarm of Cy-bugs that shoots from the ground to eat us alive. Give it to me full force and I'll die fighting for the life I live for!" he declared, puffing out his chest. "All I know is if I wipe out tomorrow, I ain't got no regrets to take with me to those pearly gates where video game characters get sent to 'cuz I know I've lived every single one of my days to the extreme!"
He tried to perform a backflip mid-twist combination, but misjudged his landing; he slipped off the bar and ended up crashing down on Sour Bill who had been carrying a small lemonade. WUMP! Smash!
"Ow," Sour Bill groaned.
Swizzle's face dripped with lemonade as he looked up. "Eh, still workin' on that one," he scoffed sheepishly.
Minty rolled her eyes and then executed the perfect twisting backflip effortlessly over the bar to help them up. "Don't jinx your luck, Swizzle," she huffed in an amused tone.
Candlehead giggled as she dug her spoon into her giant slice of cake. "I don't know about you guys," she chirped, "but as soon as the arcade opens and our first quarter-alert rings, I'm giving the players the best race they ever had! I wanna have the best day ever like Vanellope said!"
"Me too," Adorabeezle said, walking around the bar to finally eat her ice cream sandwich. "Let's show them what we're really made of. We do that, and they'll have no reason for not wanting us."
Gloyd smiled too, finding his anxiety eased off now by the assurance of his friends. "You guys really are the best friends I could ever have," he told them with more sincerity than he had ever felt in his life. "Thanks. I'm sorry for rambling all that junk earlier, I've just been…scared." He turned to face Vanellope, who was still standing in front of him. "Maybe I'm not as brave as you said I was, Vanellope."
Vanellope, however, had been staring off into space while trying to think to herself. She glitched slightly, snapping out of her trance when she heard her name. "Huh, what?" she blubbered dumbly.
"That's not true, Gloydie," Jubileena grinned with a wave of her hand. "You were brave enough to open up to us about your fear, and because you did, we can help you to feel less scared."
All at once, Gloyd realized that this was exactly the same as what had happened between him and Crumbelina just last night. He had opened up his hidden fear to a trusted friend…and his reward was that he would receive the assistance that he would need to keep moving with his life. A life that now meant something to him.
"That's true," he agreed.
"And best of all," Jubileena finished brightly, "we can all chip in together to make up for those 22 years!"
"We sure can!" giggled Candlehead. "And Vanellope can be a part of it too before she goes back to the Internet, right Van?"
But Vanellope was once again lost in a strange freeze-mode within her mind, many phrases and words from this exchange swimming in her system. "Um, sure," she finally said, looking up at him. She glanced around the room. "Hey, uh listen…I gotta go."
She started to walk towards the door.
Taffyta, who had remained very quiet during all this, looked up. "Vanellope, where are you going?"
The raven-haired girl stopped in mid-step. "I…I just gotta go…take care of something," she muttered. "Don't worry, I won't leave the castle. I'll see you guys later."
And with a ZOOP of blue pixels, she was gone. Where she went, no one was sure.
The racers looked at each other, quite surprised by their friend's abrupt departure. "Maybe she heard Ralph coming back from BurgerTime?" Candlehead suggested.
Rancis shrugged. "He does have big feet after all. But then again, she always seems to have a sixth sense when he comes around."
But Gloyd wasn't listening to them; he was deep in thought. It was still true that their life as a whole was for certain uncertain. So many factors happening outside of his control. Things that could end his life and the life of his friends without giving them an option first…
But at the moment, Sugar Rush was still standing. Right now, he still had a life. And he could choose to panic about protecting it…or live it instead. After all, he had a purpose. A proud duty. The primary reason he had been created and programmed. Programmed to race like crazy on these sugar-dusted racetracks and provide increased protection for his players as they aimed for the gold. The fans who loved Sugar Rush and would grow to have lasting memories of this game. Real-world people out there, who were always so excited to play. People that he made happy just by being here.
And when he wasn't racing after the arcade closed for the night, his purpose was to have fun and spend time with the fellow racers and arcade characters. No longer was it about pulling pranks or avoiding contact as he evaded capture. For the first time, Gloyd felt that he was thinking clearly. Before his time in Litwak's arcade was up, he wanted to build life-long bonds with the characters who pushed and encouraged him when times became rough. The ones who taught him what life was all about. The ones who reminded him why this life was worth living every day. The ones he was proud to call his friends.
And right now, there was one life-long friend he wanted to see more than ever.
He glanced at his barely-touched soda and saw that his finger had been subconsciously swirling the orange straw this whole time; the gelatinous foam following the straw's current and producing a spiral pattern in the glass that looked a lot like the swirl of a cinnamon bun.
"Jubileena, can I talk to you for a sec?" he murmured quietly to the cherry-themed racer, who had just sat down next to him to eat her sundae. He nodded his head towards the door. "Over there?"
Looking a little surprised, Jubileena nodded and the pair managed to sneak away from their chattering friends. Gloyd led them through the entrance door and out into the darkened hallway.
"What's up, Gloyd?"
The orange-clad racer looked at her, and he could see that she was wearing the same face that Crumbelina always had for him when he asked to talk to her. One that was kind and trustworthy with a hint of concern for his wellbeing. "You know that love you were talking about earlier?" he asked, fiddling with his jacket lapels.
"Yeeesss?" she replied with eagerness in her tone that he chose to ignore.
"Does it make me want to…see Crumbelina right now?"
Jubileena observed the boy for a moment and smiled sweetly. "Yes, Gloyd, it does. It means you're still thinking of her, even though you know she's all better now. It all just really means you're very loyal and kind. And a very good friend too."
"Is it unhealthy to think of her this much?" he hesitated.
"Not unless you let it bog you down and keep you from thinking straight," she answered. "But since Lina was in real danger today, I think we can make an exception."
Gloyd sighed with relief. "I know now that life is worth living with the friends that I make," he whispered resolutely to her. "And I think tonight gave me a huge wake-up call that I really want Crumbelina to be a part of it."
He squirmed uncomfortably. "But I just really want to see her now."
"Then why don't you?"
Her abrupt question caught him off-guard. "Huh?"
"Why don't you?" she asked again. "If you want to see her, then go see her. None of us are holding you back. I'm sure she'd love your company."
"But she's supposed to be sleeping. I don't want to bug her," he reasoned with an uncontrollable blush.
Jubileena smiled, enjoying this 'new' Gloyd, one who was far more considerate and kinder than the one who had filled her kart with gummi spiders a month ago. It was like he was a totally new person. "You will never bug her, Gloyd," she soothed. "Far from that. If she's sleeping, you can still take a peek to make sure she's alright. But there's still a chance that she's awake. None of us are programmed to sleep, so she might even be awake right now. You don't know unless you go check."
She put her hand to his shoulder, giving it an assuring squeeze. "You care for Crumbelina a lot, Gloyd," she said resolutely. "She's obviously very special to you. And I think because she was almost taken away…you know that a whole lot more now. Right?"
Gloyd swallowed and looked down. "Yeah."
"And you know what else?" Jubileena added. "I can tell that you're special to her too. And that kind of connection between you two alone has something special in it worth holding on to."
Gloyd's blush intensified at her words, but he smiled at the thought of being special to Crumbelina.
"Thanks, Jubi."
Then he pulled her into a hug, surprising Jubileena, but she beamed as she returned the gesture.
"Go on, Gloydie, get out of here," she told him playfully. "She's waiting for you."
Gloyd nodded when they pulled apart and without further ado, began walking away down the hall, his slow shuffle soon exchanged for a sprint as he hurried away to Crumbelina. Suddenly, he felt free.
Jubileena watched him head off. Only when he was out of sight did she clasp both hands right up to her smiling face and even lifted a leg in the air behind her as if lost in her own fantasy.
"Love," she sighed dreamily. "It's the greatest thing ever. Why can't we all just see that?"
By the smile on her face and the red cartoonish hearts spontaneously materializing in thin air to float about her, it was clear that Jubileena Bing-Bing had no trouble living up to her official bio.
A/N: For the longest time, the previous chapter was actually the last time we were going to see the majority of the racers. And it was mainly just a collective 'goodbye' to Crumbelina for the night. But given that they've been such important characters to this story, I decided they all deserved a more complete and fulfilling send-off. This and the next chapter subsequently became two of the last ones written; the entirety of the Racers' Roost was never meant to exist at all! But I had so much fun writing it up and integrating it into the story, especially with the crazy orders that the racers gave Sour Bill. Must be nice to live in a world where cavities aren't a thing.
Now I have a question for you that I'm genuinely curious to know. I've written for the Sugar Rush racers for a while now and have used this time to develop many of their personalities. Some are inspired from what little we know from their official bios released with the first movie while others are completely original ones I've come up with. We have the brave and daring cool-dude Swizzle who can be vain, yet has a soft heart. There's the confident, but very sensitive Minty. Rancis has given up his snooty attitude to become kinder and considerate. Candlehead is innocent and sweet, if not quite a ditz. Jubileena's the optimistic heart of the family who reminds everyone to stick together. And then there's Gloyd who has a whole 'nother thing going on with him. I've given them character development and personality traits. Likes and dislikes. Strengths and flaws. All aspects of them that the movies sadly did not show us. My question to you: is there a particular racer I've built up whom you like the most and for what reasons? I'm not asking who your favourite racer is, but rather if there's a racer with a personality of my invention that you enjoy.
Keep your opinion handy because we'll be tapping into hidden sides of some other racers later on, so that preference may change.