Chapter 16 – Snowanna's Fiery Fury

Earlier:

The valleys of chocolate truffles echoed with the deafening roars of engines as Gloyd, Swizzle, Rancis, Candlehead, Jubileena, Minty, Adorabeezle, Sticky, Torvald, Citrusella, and Nougetsia bolted along the racetrack in their go-karts in the opposite direction. With fear twisting his stomach and the wind smacking his face with extreme turbulence, Gloyd felt like he was going to be sick. But he kept his eyes focused on the road with only one thing on his mind.

Crumbelina.

Just her name alone seemed to control his hands and drive him faster and faster in the lead of the pack as he and the other ten racers climbed the steep slopes leading up towards the Ice Cream Mountains. As they rounded the bend, Gloyd suddenly slammed the brakes, nearly causing a collision of karts behind him.

There was the C.L.A.W. team truck, its gumdrop beacons flashing over and over. Nine bear claw officers and over a dozen marshmallow pit members were scurrying this way and that. Out of their respective vehicles, Wynnchel and Duncan were overseeing everything, with Taffyta, Snowanna, and Sour Bill close by, the five of them leaning over the cookie guardrail at the very edge of the winding racetrack that cut along the mountainside over a huge ravine that contained the infamous smoldering Hot Cola Geyser Fields.

"Holy hotcakes, she fell in there?!" Minty yelped as she and all the rest scrambled to the edge.

"Stay back, folks!" Wynnchel ordered briskly. "This is delicate business and we're doing everything we can. Just stay calm."

Staying calm was proving to be the biggest challenge for all the racers as they stared down into the ravine with bulging eyes, many of them whimpering panicked sobs. Gloyd neither said nor did anything as he witnessed the C.L.A.W. team officers attach safety licorice cables to the rocky cliffs and begin their decent into the smoky environment. Following them were the marshmallows wearing yellow hazmat suits to protect their soft gelatin bodies from the intense heat. The smoke was so thick and the gorge was so deep that the racers soon lost sight of the rescuers.

After what seemed like forever, the officers began to scale back up, accompanied by two marshmallows who between them were carrying Crumbelina's kart suspended by their fishing lines. Jubileena yelped when the crumbling remains of the damaged vehicle drew near. The Tira-Missile was an unrecognizable state of scorched tiramisu slice body, mangled and crushed as if a ruthless Cy-bug had targeted it for a generous snack attack. Creamy filling and espresso fuel were dripping everywhere. Among the missing chunks of cake, the spoiler was gone and so were three of the wheels, the last one hanging limply from its axle.

The marshmallows lowered the destroyed kart back on to the track. The moment the surviving tire touched the ground, the entire kart instantly respawned back into the game. Every missing fragment, broken piece, and lost filling blinked back into existence as if nothing had happened to it at all.

But if the kart had suffered this much damage, what could be said about the driver?

"Where's Crumbelina?" Candlehead squeaked out fearfully.

As if on cue, the rest of the marshmallows hovered out of the smoke, each clutching a fishing line tethered to a taffy scoop-stretcher. Wynnchel and Duncan quickly wheeled a pretzel-stick medical stretcher out of the truck, preparing for the marshmallows' load.

Taffyta grasped Rancis' arm. "Rancis, call Mom and Dad NOW," she ordered.

Rancis didn't need to be told twice; he sprinted back to his kart to retrieve the walkie talkie that Calhoun had given to each of the racers for quick and easy communication from the glove compartment, but his actions were mirrored by Jubileena, Adorabeezle, and Candlehead who were doing the exact same thing, each of them yelling frantically into their own devices.

With confirmation that Calhoun and Felix were on their way, they rushed back to the group, just in time to witness the marshmallow pit techs lower their precious cargo. Minty, Sticky, and Torvald all gasped in unison when she came into view for everyone to see.

Lina… Gloyd's mind moaned to itself, his heart pounding out of his chest. No, no, please, no.

There lay Crumbelina, unconscious as far as he could tell, but the damage was worse than Gloyd had seen on the Jumbotron. She was badly scorched and slashed, covered in seething scratches and angry burns, and her golden jacket was torn to shreds. Her arm was bent and even her neck was angled horribly. Her battered helmet with its shattered sugar-plated visor was the only thing blocking her face from full-view.

"Holy sherbet…" Swizzle seethed as Minty hid her face into his shoulder.

"Why isn't she regenerating?!" Candlehead wailed as she grabbed Wynnchel, violently shaking him in desperate need of an answer. "Nothing's makin' sense anymore!"

"Missy, please remain calm," Wynnchel spluttered as his sunglasses toppled off in Candlehead's frenzy. "You're making my filling stir!"

Gloyd just stared at the lifeless racer, not even noticing his friends around him; Swizzle had his arm around Minty as the latter sobbed in him. And Rancis had joined Taffyta to try to calm Candlehead, who was heaving in and out wildly with horrified shock as she clutched her chest. Snowanna was just staring in shock. The rest of the girls were tearing up and whimpering all around him. But he only had eyes for her.

One of the C.L.A.W. officers very carefully removed Crumbelina's broken helmet and passed it to Gloyd, who happened to be standing right next to him. With the girl's face now exposed, Gloyd was relieved to see that there was no visible damage up there besides the dirt and grime that coated her cheeks. No injuries to be found and her helmet had served its sole purpose. But Gloyd was struck by what he saw in his hands: a single long crack running straight up the front of the helmet's dirty surface to cut directly through the brown heart emblem.

"How the Hershey's did she fall down there in the first place?" Rancis finally spoke out, bringing Gloyd back to reality.

"Did she swerve off the track?" Adorabeezle trembled. "Crumbelina's always so focused while racing, she's never spun out before."

Gloyd swallowed hard. "Guys…I, I think it was me. I knocked her off the track."

All eyes turned to him. "You?" Snowanna snapped.

"Y-Yeah, I…I…"

No one could have prepared for what happened next. One moment he was standing there like a blubbering fool with everyone staring at him. The next, Gloyd felt a searing pain surge through his back as he was slammed into the side of the waiting C.L.A.W. truck with Snowanna pinning him by the shoulders, her eyes flaring with horrifying rage. Crumbelina's helmet flew from his hands and landed on the ground as the others all jumped in shock.

"GLOYD, WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

He stared wide-eyed at her, suddenly terrified. "I-I-I hit her with my power-up! It was an accident, I swear! I didn't know it wou-"

POW

And suddenly, he was sprawled on the ground, one side of his face crushed against the candy pavement, the other side fighting a massive freezing pain that seem to paralyze his whole body numb. He couldn't move a muscle; his vision started blacking out as Snowanna stood over him, seething heavily and her fist still clenched.

"YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR, GLOYD!" Snowanna screamed at the top of her lungs, as Minty and Adorabeezle rushed to restrain her by the arms.

"Snowanna, stop it!" Taffyta cried in horror.

"DUDE, chill!" Swizzle exclaimed, swooping in to stand between her and Gloyd. "What the heck is wrong with you?! You tripped your digits or something?!"

Ignoring everyone and kicking furiously at the air, Snowanna was targeting the downed Gloyd with wild eyes ablaze. "You maniac! You idiot! Pranking us just to laugh at our misery! And now you KILLED my best friend!"

"He KILLED Lina?!" Candlehead shrieked.

"No! He didn't!" Rancis exclaimed. "She's still breathing, look!"

Minty, Adorabeezle, and now even Citrusella and Nougetsia struggled to hold Snowanna back as the screeching racer continued to fight, tears streaming down her livid face in mighty torrents.

"My best friend!" she howled in agony. "My best friend burned to a crisp because of you!"

"Snowanna, ma'am, control yourself!" Duncan exclaimed, desperately trying to restore order. "I don't want to have to break out the cream cuffs!"

Still blocking Snowanna from him, Swizzle bent down to help Gloyd to his feet. "You all right, buddy?" he asked him quietly.

Clenching his bruised cheek, Gloyd took hold of Swizzle's hand to get up before spitting out two dislodged teeth. "Y-Yeah," he wheezed as he leaned upon him for support. He followed Swizzle as the daredevil gently nudged him a good distance away from Snowanna up to the cab of the truck. Throbbing in pain and feeling hot in the face, he stared in fear at the purple racer, who was still aiming her rage at him like daggers. He had seen Snowanna angry a few times in his life, but nothing like this. She looked so demented that now he felt truly scared of her.

"Let me go!" she growled at her four captors. "I've put up with his stupid face for long enough! This time I'm gonna strangle him for real! I'll beat the filling out of him!"

"Leave Gloyd alone!" snapped Swizzle angrily. "It wasn't his fault!"

"Stay out of this, Malarkey!" she shot back.

"Don't yell at him!" Minty screamed, firing up at once.

BOOM! "SILENCE!"

Everyone froze as a gunshot blasted the air. Sergeant Calhoun flew in from overhead on her cruiser with Fix-It Felix riding next to her, clutching her leg. They swooped low and Felix hopped off right in front of Crumbelina's body.

"Oh my socks and sweaters!" he yelped. "What happened here?!"

"Crumbelina crashed!" Candlehead wailed in despair. "But she's not regenerating! Please, Daddy, DO SOMETHING!"

"Stand back!" Felix ordered as he tossed his golden hammer from his toolbelt, catching it in midair. "I can fix her!"

A furious Calhoun meanwhile, towered over Snowanna. "There will be NO MORE violence from you, young lady, or you're grounded from the racetrack for a month!" she thundered fiercely. "Do I make myself clear?"

Snowanna didn't answer; she just turned her head away and screwed her eyes tight, her tears still on the onslaught. Minty, Adorabeezle, Citrusella, and Nougetsia looked worriedly at each other before finally let her go, deciding that with Calhoun on the scene, Snowanna would be unlikely to attack Gloyd again. Instead, they all hurried back to check Felix's progress on Crumbelina. Swizzle looped Gloyd's arm around his own shoulders and helped him over to the crowd.

By the time they got there, the bleeding was stopped. Her arm and neck were restored. Her clothes were mended. And every last scratch and burn was erased completely.

But Crumbelina didn't wake up.

Taffyta's eyes were as wide as Mentos. "Wait, what's going on here?" she breathed.

Felix stared at Crumbelina's nonresponsive state in equally shocked confusion. "I-I don't know!" he squeaked. "I've fixed every last inch on her. There's not a scar or shred left!"

Calhoun stared down at Crumbelina's lifeless state, her alarmed eyes studying her thoroughly. "Something's wrong with her code," she finally deduced, causing a huge gasp to echo across the entire group of racers and rescuers. "We need to get her out of this smoking wasteland and scope out that mangled code room ASAP."

"Get her to the castle," Gloyd croaked, desperately trying to get everyone's attention as one arm still slung around Swizzle, and his free hand clutched Crumbelina's broken helmet. "Next exit…has medical supplies."

"Jiminy Jaminy, Gloyd, hold still!" Felix gasped, only now noticing Gloyd's badly bruised face. He hopped swiftly over and tapped the Halloween racer a few times with the hammer, healing him instantly. Then he retrieved the smashed helmet.

Gloyd rubbed his face wearily, no longer feeling pain, and now able to speak and think properly. But rooting his tongue around, he discovered that the gaps in his teeth still remained. Felix must have missed that, having only repaired his visible injuries. But he didn't care for that; Crumbelina was still in trouble. He watched as the C.L.A.W. team carefully transferred Crumbelina into the truck.

They were all just preparing to head to Vanellope's castle, when Ralph suddenly came running up the racetrack, his feet splattered in chocolate goo.

"Sorry!" he boomed, doubling over and panting hard. "Tried to take a shortcut, but got stuck in a pit of Fudge Sludge on the way here…would have been a lot faster if I used the road…and had some wheels!"

He gasped for breath and then looked down at the racers who were already jumping into their karts. "Hey! Where are you all going?" he shouted. "And where's Crumbelina?"

"Castle!" Taffyta yelled at him before zooming away at top speed to follow the C.L.A.W. truck. Sour Bill hung on for dear life.

Ralph watched as the siren-blaring truck, two motorbikes, cruiser, and 13 karts sped away, leaving him all alone. He sighed in exasperation. "Okay then, I get it. More running."

Then he saw Crumbelina's kart sitting idle nearby. "Or…maybe not."

Felix, Calhoun, Sour Bill, and the racers stood anxiously outside Vanellope's old bedroom. Candlehead's eyes were red and puffy as she clutched Taffyta's arm tightly. Rancis stood beside her, slowly stroking her back, his eyes squinting hard at the floor. Swizzle kept his arm looped around Minty. Jubileena, Adorabeezle, and the Palette Swaps were huddled together with Felix and Calhoun, who tried their best to calm them down. And Gloyd kept a good distance from Snowanna as he cradled Crumbelina's repaired helmet to his chest. No one said a word.

Then Ralph squeezed through the bedroom doors into the hallway. "Okay, she's safe in bed," he told them. "But what do we do now?"

"What do we do now?" Jubileena fretted. "Crumbelina's code box wasn't wired all the way. Does that mean she won't regenerate?"

"I can't say for certain, honey," Felix said sadly. He looked positively exhausted as he mopped his forehead with his handkerchief, having just returned from spending over an hour in Sugar Rush's massive code vault to double check each and every code box upon discovering Crumbelina's partially-disabled code. He still had the licorice coil tied around his waist.

Calhoun pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a heavy breath. "I swear, that cursed pool of codes can never give this game one moment of peace without sending everything down to hell's kitchen," she hissed grimly to her husband.

"What's going to happen to Crumbelina?" Adorabeezle sniffled, stroking her braid over and over with fidgeting hands.

"What if she doesn't ever wake up?" Minty shuttered in fear. "Will the players notice she's missing?"

"They're gonna think the game is wrecked!" Candlehead cried out.

"Are they gonna pull our plug?" Nougetsia squeaked.

The hallway was filled with the sounds of panicking children. Sour Bill covered his eyes with his jelly bean hands. "There's only so much excitement I can handle in one night," he groaned.

"Keep your sweeteners together, rugrats!" Calhoun interjected over the noise, raising her arms over the kids. "No one's getting unplugged!"

"Yeah guys, just…just calm down," Taffyta spoke up, trying to maintain order, though the shakiness in her voice was evident. She sounded very scared. "Mom's right, no one's getting unplugged. We're…we're gonna be okay."

Candlehead grasped her friend's arm. "But Taffy, what do we do?"

The racers all turned expectantly to their leader for an answer. Taffyta looked at them all with helpless uncertainty written all over her rigid face. "I…I don't know," she finally muttered in defeat, fumbling nervously with the lapels of her jacket. "I don't know what else there is we can do here. But panicking isn't going to fix anything."

Candlehead's fingers starting to jitter uncontrollably. She grabbed at the nearby hallway table, broke off a corner of its wafer surface, and stuffed the lot into her mouth. "But…but what if Crumbelina doesn't ever wake up?" she gasped, spitting crumbs everywhere as her eyes filled with tears once more. "Can't we do anything?"

"Anybody got any good ideas?" Swizzle asked the hallway feebly.

Silence fell. Even Calhoun looked at a loss of what to say. The only sounds were coming from Candlehead, who broke off another piece of the table and continued to munch in a nervous frenzy.

Gloyd felt ready to throw up.

With his giant hands hanging limply at his sides, Ralph stared worriedly at the floor. "Vanellope always had good ideas…" he mumbled sadly.

Taffyta blinked and looked up. "Ralph? Can I borrow your phone?"