A/N: Late last year, some dedicated WiR fans discovered a bunch of lost concept artwork and storyboards depicting all kinds of deleted content from the first movie. What naturally hooked my interest were early proposals for Sugar Rush tracks that never made it to the final draft, like a track that runs along a giant banana split bowl with a chocolate syrup waterfall washing out the road or a rock candy cavern with sparkly rock formations. With so many cool ideas that never saw their time to shine, I definitely want to find ways of using them. One shows up here.
There are also now a few sketches for this story on DeviantArt! They were done back in November when the writing was just a few chapters in, so my depiction of Starburst Circuit presented in that sketchdump is not nearly as impressive as described here in this chapter. That early first draft grew to be so much bigger and grander, and I might just have to sketch the final version someday. Everything else is pretty accurate.
Part 4 – Starburst Circuit
"This sure ain't anything like Diet Cola Mountain!"
Vanellope's voice echoed through the black ethereal space that was currently swallowing them and making her code feel all shaky. It was like they were traveling through a power cord without the assistance of a tram, except…
…it felt like they were falling.
At least that's only how she could describe it. Down into bottomless empty space they seemed to drop in a weightless hover. In the swooshing darkness, countless strings of digits darted past her at rapid speed.
Then almost as suddenly as they had entered this surreal descent, the kart found solid ground again and the void disappeared.
No longer were they driving in the sunset caked topography, but what seemed to be an entirely new world set in darkness, accompanied by flashing colours that whizzed past. Vanellope squinted, trying to see where they were, when the racers ahead now began to reduce speed to a steady cruise and snap on their headlights.
When they did, their entire karts suddenly shone brightly, revealing the glow-in-the-dark features that Vanellope had heard so much about. She eased the gas and discovered that the update had included the same work in her custom kart. Switching night-mode on, her vehicle lit up brilliantly.
Finally able to see around her, Vanellope's eyes nearly bugged out. "Sweet mother of monkey milk," she gawked.
"Holy Whack-a-Moley," Ralph gasped.
The darkness seemed to evaporate and reveal a deep lush valley frosted in buttercream, dotted with candy trees and bordered by towering chocolate ridges. It enveloped the road of glistening shortbread lined by glowing translucent gumdrops. In the distance was the biggest range of truffle mountains Vanellope had ever seen, stretching for miles and standing as monumental silhouettes against the bright marshmallow moon. The enormous peaks were lit up as if strung with Christmas lights; every sugar drop, every iced swirl letting off a vibrant shine from what Vanellope now realized were tracks winding all 'round the mountain edges.
As the valley opened up to a clearing, her eyes couldn't resist darting in every direction; so overwhelmed by each dazzling sight that it was hard for her to focus on driving. Pink and blue cotton candy trees beaming like giant lightbulbs along the road; towering unicorn pop spires emitting neon rainbows like those lightsaber things she had seen at the Disney website; giant lollipop windmills that rotated steadily in the breeze; stacks of glossy Lifesavers that seemed to light up when triggered by the passing karts. And all of it was under a deep purple sky populated with only about a bajillion shooting Starbursts that left coloured streaks in their paths.
Until the previous evening, Vanellope had never seen Sugar Rush at night. But this was a whole new definition of night.
The 15-kart parade travelled smoothly on, the steady humming beat of their motors and candy tires resonating through the plains of this untapped environment. No longer racing or speeding at all, they cruised as one unit, traversing this mouthwatering land of sweets and surprises. At one point, they crossed a bridge of pastel-coloured Candy Blox over a wide lake of root beer. Fountain springs fired streams of the frothy drink over their heads in synchronized arcs to form shimmering archways from one side of the bridge to the next. Ralph reached up to scoop a handful.
"Want a sip, kid?" he offered between slurps.
Vanellope giggled. "I'm good, Stinkbrain."
She suddenly felt her kart dipping down; they had just entered a steep downhill grade that dropped down to a huge gummy forest below, beyond which stood the truffle mountains. Loops of the taffy track were shooting out from the sea of candy trees, curving up and descending back down like the long body of a giant sea serpent. Holding her breath, she followed Rancis' taillights closely as they plunged into the forest.
The lush forest was dense, but that didn't seem to stop the moonlight from finding its way through, streaming between tall chocolate trunks and every gap in the canopy of giant spearmint leaves, casting mysterious shadows over the ground. The kids rode along the twisty road, which had become a little more like a wide hiking trail built for a national park. It weaved its way around the trees, moving with the land as it rose and fell on candy block risers, taking the racers to elevated heights. In fact, Vanellope found they were going higher and higher. As fast as it had appeared, the forest disappeared, but the road continued to climb, finally ascending to the truffle mountains along one of the icing ledges that swirled the side. These truffles were over 30 times the size of the boulders and hills that Vanellope was used to seeing. The racers entered the mouth of a tunnel that had a wafer sign nailed to the chocolate bricked archway: Rock Candy Cavern.
Once again, Vanellope felt the breath being sucked out of her digital lungs. Now the road was coursing through a very windy chocolate tunnel – which was illuminated thanks to the thousands of rock candy formations that sparkled in vibrant pink, green, yellow, and blue. They hung as glowing stalactites from the cocoa-powdered ceiling and shimmering stalagmites rising from the bumpy chocolate floor. Some were even columns that rose straight to the top, two of which formed pillars that the road cut straight through. And those that weren't simply gathered in clusters embedded in any bare spot available.
"It's almost like Rainbow Road back at Soft-Serve…except ten times cooler!" Vanellope squeaked, her ponytail swept wildly in the turbulance.
"Cooler is right!" Ralph exclaimed, rubbing his bare arms from the nippy wind. "Reminds me of Space Invaders before they got unplugged. You sure this rock candy aren't space rocks?"
The echoes of the karts carried throughout the long narrow passage, their glow making the bright rock candy sparkle, lights dancing across the chocolate walls in ever-changing shapes.
Driving out of the tunnel, Vanellope was taken aback by how high they suddenly were: they were traveling along the exterior swirl road, except now nearly halfway up the mountain. On they drove, traversing the endless range with bridges made from salted pretzel sticks to connect them between neighbouring truffles. The Starbursts in the sky seemed to twinkle brighter and even the air tasted sweeter. Wild chocolate moose and big candy corn sheep grazed on the jagged cliffs by the road, their peace momentarily shaken by the racers cruising by.
"Check out the million-dollar view," Ralph said, craning his neck around.
Vanellope leaned slightly out of her kart to admire the scenery, a far more impressive vantage than from her castle towers. So high up, that fluffy cotton candy clouds now floated below them, but she could still make out the main road they had used to get here, along with several other glowing trails and features that snaked along the blackened landscape in their nighttime glory, making the whole scene look like a giant circuit board alive with energy.
"I doubt the Internet would look even half this good if it had a night-mode," she observed.
It was hard to tell if she saw it or heard it first. But as they rounding the wide bend of the mountain, Vanellope and Ralph were greeted by a sight that instantly stole the title of the most impressive feature out of everything they had seen here tonight. A supernova of saturated lights where a huge chunk of the mountainside had been cut out of an entire truffle. Multicoloured beams pointed straight up to the sky were sweeping this way and that, forming the shapes of candy and the racing karts. Whatever it was, it seemed to be letting off a thumping musical beat.
As they drew closer, Vanellope realized that it was a huge open-air racing stadium. Hard candy grandstands stood along the track, already jam-packed with their familiar spectators. A sleek Jumbotron lined with tubes of bubbling neon cola stood near the huge archway towering over the track, engulfed in silver lights with the word "START" on its king-sized screen. And to literally top this spectacle off, hovering over the very top of the mountain were giant fondant decorative letters shining in pure glitter white that sparkled in the night sky to spell out STARBURST CIRCUIT.
The road now connected to what had to be the racetrack. Candy wheels and ice cream tires soon left the iced path to touch onto the sugary asphalt of a wide neon lane that seemed to emit a different colour at random intervals. Further into the distance, Vanellope could now see several more lengths of glowing track zigzagging all across the mountains, complete with awesome-looking jumps and loop-the-loops to make the craziest roller coaster in the world. A section of the track split into two and intertwined around each other to form a double-helix in midair. One peak even drove directly skyward so high that it looked like it could touch the –
"Planets?" she squeaked, eyes bulging at the sight of the enormous colourful spheres that were suspended high in the atmosphere to mingle with the stars. "Holy Hostess, Rancis wasn't kidding…this company really went all out!"
Taffyta's amplified voice echoed over the cavalcade. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are now approaching our final destination: Starburst Circuit, where the recipe for speed and colour is always unexplainably juicy," she intoned with the likes of an airline stewardess. "You are reminded to reduce your speed to a gummi worm's pace and come to a complete stop at the starting line in groups of three. Please keep all hands outside of your kart for maximum waving."
Vanellope couldn't help but mentally admit that Taffyta sounded pretty natural behind a megaphone.
It was as if the game developers had deliberately stripped away all the light from the darkened countryside so it could be reserved for this one spot. The entire mountain seemed to grow brighter and the cheers of the crowd became louder as the procession of karts pulled gently in. A welcoming tumble of candy wrapper confetti was drifting steadily down to sprinkle the track while colourful AirHead balloons floated up to become lost in the beams of the sweeping spotlights. And to Vanellope's surprise, the soundtrack being played here was not the familiar Sugar Rush theme played at every track, but some other bouncy, energetic tune that she didn't know.
LIFE IS A TRIP DOWN THE ROAD THAT LEADS YOU
LOOK ALL AROUND AT THE MOUNTAINS YOU HAVEN'T CLIMBED
IT'S JUST A MATTER OF TIME…
The racers were merging their karts into groups of three – Rancis, Vanellope, and Minty Sakura formed one – as they crawled up to starting position at the checkered line before finally stopping. Marshmallows aiming chocolate video cameras hovered about everywhere to broadcast live footage on the Jumbotron.
Being the celebrities they were, the racers spared nothing from putting on a good show for their cheering sections. Taffyta twirled her lollipop to the crowd with her confident smirk glistening in the lights. Swizzle clicked his teeth and directed two sharp finger guns straight to the camera. Minty made an effortless backflip to exit her kart, expertly landing upon the rainbow track with just one palm before flipping to her feet. Even Minty Sakura performed an elegant twirl into the air like a jack-in-the-box, a spectacular burst of white chocolate cherry blossoms flaring around her as if she had been doing this all her life. The newly-instated cluster of her smiley-faced Mochi ball fans squealed in delight.
Bobbing her head slightly to the catchy beat, Vanellope went with the flow, doing a few waves and fist punches, all of which prompting the crowd to cheer louder. Even Ralph was unable to resist giving a sweeping wave of his massive hand.
Racers were dismounting their vehicles and strutting one by one down a shiny red Fruit Roll-Ups carpet bordered off by a long twizzler rope strung along golden tootsie pop stanchions. A mob of gingersnap paparazzi stood behind the rope, busily snapping pictures with flashing churro cameras and chattering noisily to the showboating racers as they passed.
"Show us that smile, Jubileena!"
"Over here, Ms. Winterpop!"
"It's the Swizz! Give us the goats!"
"What flavour hair gel do you use, Rancis?!"
The carpet climbed up a ramp that coiled around a massive stage made of a stack of Oreo cookies decked with Starburst sculptures lining the topmost cookie's circumference, each one rotating steadily around and gleaming in the lights. At the centre of this cookie stage were the iconic podiums for the top three winners, each glazed in a silver icing gloss and topped with a fancy taffy mat labeled 1, 2, and 3.
"Huh. Well, chalk one up for a fancier stage," Vanellope muttered in awe.
In the crowd, she recognized lots of familiar faces: Officers Wynnchel, Duncan, and the entire C.L.A.W. team were standing to attention alongside the red carpet and passing racers. There was also Beard Papa – who usually never ventured off his security post at the Kart Bakery – munching on a cream puff. Flanked by burly bubblegum body guards were Lady Go Go and DJ Licious Waferhead of Sugar Rush's trendy disco club The Wheelhouse, rocking out to the energetic bassline while various candy citizens begged for autographs through the guards' tall legs. Even Cornelius Cobb, the more-than-slightly eccentric candy farmer and owner of the world's largest candy corn maze, was present with a black licorice crow sitting contently on his lopsided straw hat that was falling over his goofy smile.
Then to her surprise, Vanellope spotted the Nicelanders standing close to the grandstands, most of them looking on with excitement, others quite overwhelmed by the sheer size of this immense blowout compared to their comparatively posh and refined festivities. Gene looked as stiff as ever; he kept glancing down at his shoes on the chocolate-dusted ground with a frown on his face as if expecting them to run off by themselves.
But that wasn't all: Q*bert and his buddies, Sonic with Tails, Knuckles, and Amy Rose, Tapper, DigDug, Frogger, Mario and Luigi, the Angel Kids, Pac-Man and the quartet of ghosts, the villains of Bad-Anon, the entire roster of teenage avatars from Dance Dance Revolution…nearly everyone from Litwak's other games whom Vanellope had made friends with over the span of six years were standing right here in Sugar Rush. Even the Surge Protector of all people was present, despite the usual annoyed expression stuck to his blue face.
"I thought you said you just wanted everyone from your game here tonight," Ralph said, speaking her mind for her. "It's like a Dance Dance Revolution all-nighter out here!"
"Yeah…" Vanellope said, glancing towards the nearby train station just in time to see the gang from Street Fighter II unloading onto the platform. Had Taffyta set all this up for her?
Then she spotted three more familiar faces waiting by the silver lit archway. Felix with his signature grin beaming as brightly as the metallic shine off his hammer; Calhoun with a simple, but distinctly warm smile as one hand rested on her hip and the other contently on the top of her husband's blue capped head.
And standing close to Calhoun's leg, looking tired but happy as she watched her friends arrive, was Crumbelina DiCaramello. Beneath a light brown jacket, she wore a bronze dress accentuated with swirling candy sparkles and a necklace that had a letter C in golden glazed caramel. She was also leaning precariously on a candy cane walking stick.
Without so much as a single wave to his fans, Gloyd dismounted his kart and walked as straight as an arrow towards her while she limped up to him in wobbly, yet still graceful footsteps…until the very last moment when she dropped into his arms.
"I missed you," she whispered softly into his ear, her fingers clutching his shoulders.
Gloyd blushed. But despite the giggly "Awws!" eliciting from behind him and failing to notice that he was currently being featured on the Jumbotron for the entire party to see, he hugged her back.
"Me too," he muttered. He then helped her stand upright and they walked the red carpet together.
Vanellope and Ralph were the last to dismount their kart. "Well, I guess you're up, kid," the wrecker chuckled. "Knock 'em dead!" He playfully nudged his best friend in the stage's direction before disappearing into the crowd.
For the first time all day, Vanellope found herself alone. So mesmerized she was at everything here, her feet seemed glued to the rainbow pavement. Forcing herself to move, she began making her way to the red carpet.
There was an instant eruption of roaring cheers from the grandstands as her astonished face appeared on the Jumbotron, her eyes squinting slightly from the brightness. Fenton the marshmallow hovered in front of her, backing slowly with his video camera in hand. The Ginger Snaps immediately resumed their own camera work, almost blinding her as she walked slowly down the aisle. The chants of the fans and blinking lights were making Vanellope feel rather dazed and a little dizzy, but effectively took her back to her years of being president, when this royal treatment was quite normal for her. Remembering all the usual routines that were all still very much a part of her programming, she let the paparazzi do their thing while maintaining her smile.
The C.L.A.W. force officers all saluted her in stiff unison, as did Wynnchel and Duncan – but the latter pair broke formation so they could give a cheerful wave when she approached them.
"Ms. Vanellope! Long time no see!" Wynnchel beamed.
"Great to see your smile on our side of the Whack-A-Mole," Duncan added with a tip of his brimmed hat.
Vanellope paused to shake their hands. "Hey Wynnchel...Duncan. It's good to see you guys too," she told them warmly.
They really have missed me, she thought to herself as she now jogged up the winding ramp that took her all the way around the Oreo cookies and under the decorative archway formed out of sparkling Starbursts at the ramp's end. She found Ralph, Felix, Calhoun, Sour Bill, and the 15 racers all waiting for her at the centre of the giant black stage.
"Gee willikers, what a show!" Felix declared with an excited thrust of his arm. "You kids really know how to make an entrance!"
"Well thanks!" Swizzle boasted before anyone else could answer. "It's only in my code to give the fans the eye candy they deserve!" He whipped out his shades before throwing the goats at his fans, earning a loud chorus of whistles for his efforts. A trio of Jolly Rancher girls squealed and fainted.
Minty planted her hand firmly on Swizzle's hat to push him back down to Earth. "He meant all of us, idiot," she huffed with annoyance.
"Not a bad spot for a race track," Ralph commented, gazing around the mountains. "Attention to detail is pretty impressive!"
"Well, you're right there, Wreck-It," Calhoun said, tossing her bangs out from her face. "There's enough dazzle-juice in this space station to make Hollywood duck in shame."
Taffyta stepped forward. "So Vanellope, what's your verdict of this place?" she asked coolly.
Vanellope looked at her. "Well…I grew up thinking Double Dip Dash was the best track around, but this place just takes the cake!" she declared. "Seriously, did I bonk my head in the Gorge and teleport to outer space or somethin'? I mean, geez, you guys told me about this place before in all our phone chats, but I never pictured it as this intense!"
"I suppose relaying details sure doesn't quite capture the same effect as seeing it for yourself," Felix chuckled resolutely. "It does feel like we've blasted off to another galaxy, hasn't it?"
"And this night-mode," Vanellope babbled on, now starting to glitch spontaneously as she craned her neck around. "Glowin' in the dark, crazy upgraded graphics…this is the whole summer sundae with whipped topping and a side of licorice!"
"That was pretty much our reaction on our first night here," Adorabeezle grinned.
Attempting to keep her cool while also trying to take absolutely everything in at once was making Vanellope gasp for breath, clutching her chest as if the excitement of it all had deleted her oxygen supply completely. "I think I might vurp, do you guys mind if I vurp?"
Calhoun raised an eyebrow. "Now what pray tell is a vurp?"
"Y'know, it's like a vomit and a burp mixed as one," Ralph explained.
Vanellope giggled. "He's right!"
"Wait till you try out the track!" Candlehead piped up with an excited finger pointed towards the bright neon ribbon beyond the stadium. "It's like riding a rainbow to space! And there's this awesome Sour Straw Tunnel that makes you drive upside down and get super dizzy, and another part where the road is filled with Candy Dots that can make you bounce over other karts, especially the red ones, 'cuz they bounce you the highest…"
A gloved hand suddenly covered her mouth, muffling her voice. "Let's keep that under candy-wraps, Candlehead," Taffyta smirked. "We can't spoil all the surprises for Vanellope. Otherwise, we'll have no chance in kicking her butt out there."
"Yeah, maybe Vanellope will wind up losing tonight," Snowanna teased. "'Cuz we know all the tricks and traps of this place."
Vanellope sneered. "Don't count me out just yet," she said, fixing up her hoodie. "I'm a fast learner. But first things first, anyone wanna fill me in on why we had to warp through a cupcake to get here?"
Minty let out sigh and put her hand on Swizzle's shoulder. "As much as I hate to pile more praise on him, we have Swizzle to thank for that," she said. The daredevil crossed his arms smugly.
"None of the players have unlocked this track, so the official entrance to this part of the map is still sealed up," Rancis explained. "Doesn't mean we're completely cut off from it, 'cuz the train tracks still lead here, but thanks to Swizzle's exploring, he found a secret passageway for us to drive to it directly."
Ralph scratched his messy hair. "Yeah okay, but that doesn't explain why we had to race through all those gumballs back there. Why didn't we just take one of the back roads?"
"We could'a," Gloyd answered, "if you wanna go the boring way."
"Our way is more fun!" Jubileena giggled.
Ralph frowned. "Fun? I think I barfed in my mouth at least twice!"
"Well, I thought it was two-scoops and a double helping of fun," Vanellope snickered. "Especially when you wrecked that gumball machine and turned the whole Gorge into a real gumbrawl!"
"That was you?!" Swizzle exclaimed. He leapt up to punch Ralph's massive arm. "Dude! You gotta do that for us again!"
Ralph smiled reluctantly as the racers clamored around him, begging for more surprise destruction. "Eh, sure kids…but next time I'll do it with my feet on solid ground," he told them. "No more racin' for me, thanks!"
Vanellope laughed. "C'mon, Ralph, you gotta admit…that was awesome."
Then she looked to the crowd of characters from outside her game. "But what about the Nicelanders? And literally everyone else in the arcade?" she asked. "Don't get me wrong, it's totally rad to see everyone after so long, but who's idea was it to haul 'em all here? That's gotta be at least 50 trainloads worth of people!"
Taffyta adjusted the collar of her jacket. "You have been away for a whole year, Van. Since you're basically everyone's best friend, I thought it only made sense that everyone you've impacted be here to watch you race again. So I had Bill send out invitations throughout the day."
Hearing this could not suppress the appreciative smile that grew upon Vanellope's face.
Mary waved daintily from the crowd. "Vanellope, dear! It's so lovely to see you!" she called, accompanied by the smiling nods and waves of many of her neighbours. "We're all so happy that you've come back for a visit, isn't that right, Gene?"
Gene had his arms crossed so tightly against his chest that it looked like they were locked in a straitjacket. "Yes, yes, I don't squeeze myself in a gingerbread sardine can and stand out in the land of a thousand cavities for just anyone," he said stiffly, clearly trying to minimize movements to avoid kicking up sugar dust. "Though I should like to remind you folks that these shoes are only the finest leather money can buy…buttercream was never meant to soil this level of quality for Pete's sake."
"All the more reason not to wear shoes at all," Ralph jeered, rocking on his bare heels.
Laughter rang out among the grandstands. Gene huffed. "I get zero respect around here."
"Join the club," Surge muttered.
Whisking out a crystalized sugar microphone, Taffyta nodded wordlessly down to Sour Bill and side-stepped alongside Vanellope. Hovering in closely, Carl the marshmallow aimed his camera right at them.
"All right everyone, enough chit-chat," she said, her voice amplified once more that filled the whole arena and quieted everyone down. "Now what say we give Vanellope the real experience by getting this Random Roster Race started?"
A loud resounding approval from the racers and spectators answered her question.
"But before we do that," Taffyta went on, turning towards Vanellope. "It's only fair our guest gets to kick off tonight's event. She might have something interesting to say to you all. Vanellope, the stage is yours."
As the microphone was passed to her hand, Vanellope suddenly found her mind zoning back to her days as president, when she announced the races every day and delivered official speeches. This reminiscence only intensified as she spoke loudly into the mic and faced the camera: "S'up guys?"
The crowd went wild as if she had just said the magic words that declared every day to be Christmas. "At ease, slap-stix," she chuckled, her face on the Jumbotron once again. "It's super great to see you all! Yes, I'm back…and…"
As if someone had hacked into her brain and pressed DELETE, Vanellope's mind went completely blank. In the excitement of the journey to reach this hidden world, she hadn't finalized on what she was about to say to what was no longer just the citizens of her game, but now the entire arcade population. She and Taffyta had planned things so carefully to reach this point. She had told herself so many times that this moment would come and that she would only have one shot to make things right…
But that shot was now. And in this topmost critical moment when all eyes and ears were directed to her waiting for her to speak, she had no idea on what to say. If she didn't deliver her message clearly the first time, she wouldn't have another chance. She couldn't blow it.
But then she remembered what she had always done whenever she gave out presidential speeches or formal announcements back in her days of leading her game. She almost never planned ahead; it was her gut that always directed her speeches. It was how she could be honest with her audience. To say exactly what needed to be said without sugar-coating anything or missing the point.
And it was her gut that pushed five words out of her mouth.
"…I never should have left."
