Chapter 9: Cindy And Gary Hothead
There was silence in the room, and the only sound that could be heard was the wind that breezed through the open door. Everyone was silent at Gary's affirmative tone, and even Lemon was speechless. Vanellope took the opportunity to crawl out from under the guillotine, and once she did, she looked at Cindy and Gary before making her way over to Taffyta, Rancis, Jubileena, Swizzle, Minty, Adorabeezle, Candi, Sticky, Cinndon, and Toxika. After a few moments, Lemon finally spoke.
"Your Highnesses. We... uh... we didn't expect you two to show up." Lemon said, clearly nervous.
Cindy and Gary glared at her.
"Would you care to explain why you have the guillotine out?" Cindy asked angrily.
"Oh... we were just... uh..." Lemon stuttered, at a loss of words.
Vanellope, Taffyta, Rancis, Jubileena, Swizzle, Minty, Adorabeezle, Candi, Sticky, Cinndon, and Toxika just stared at Lemon, bemused. The once loud and abrasive Lemon Honey was now muttering and cowering at the sight of her rulers.
"They were trying to attack us." Licor explained.
Lemon sighed in relief and nodded.
"Yeah, exactly. They trespassed into our kingdom with obviously malevolent intentions, so we had to take matters into our own hands." Lemon explained.
"And you didn't notify me or the queen, why?" Gary asked, a deadpan look on his face.
Lemon's skin paled, and she struggled to find a way to answer her king and queen. Cindy frowned and approached Lemon slowly, and Lemon whimpered as Cindy stopped inches away from her.
"Don't ever make a public decision without my or the king's information and approval again, alright?" Cindy asked.
Lemon nodded, and Gary made his way over to Cindy. The two of them then approached Vanellope, Taffyta, Rancis, Jubileena, Swizzle, Minty, Adorabeezle, Candi, Sticky, Cinndon, and Toxika. Vanellope's pupils shrunk in fear when she saw Cindy and Gary approaching her. If Lemon cowered at being confronted by Cindy and Gary, then what would they do to her and the others?
Cindy and Gary stood in front of Vanellope, and Gary narrowed his eyes. Vanellope gulped and thought that he and Cindy were going to attack her and the others. However, the two of them just stared at her in confusion.
"What were you doing on this island?" Gary asked.
Adorabeezle felt nervous.
"We just came here to explore." Adorabeezle replied.
Minty nodded and turned to Cindy and Gary.
"We're from the mainland. This island was unlocked for us recently in an upgrade earlier today, and we decided to travel here in order to explore everything." Minty explained.
Cindy's eyes widened.
"Wait, the mainland? You guys are the main icons?" Cindy asked.
Taffyta nodded.
"Everyone except the green haired woman is a main icon. The rest of us are back home." Taffyta replied.
Gary nodded and motioned for Lemon, Licor, and the guards to leave the room. Once they were gone, Cindy and Gary turned back to Vanellope, Taffyta, Rancis, Jubileena, Swizzle, Minty, Adorabeezle, Candi, Sticky, Cinndon, and Toxika.
"Why don't you tell us more about yourselves somewhere else?" Gary asked.
Vanellope, Taffyta, Rancis, Jubileena, Swizzle, Minty, Adorabeezle, Candi, Sticky, Cinndon, and Toxika agreed, and Cindy and Gary led them out of the room.
Meanwhile, back on Sugar Rush's mainland, Licortwist approached Vanellope's castle, the paper in his hands. He grinned upon seeing the castle.
"Alright, let's get this over with. If I can unlock the Forgotten Racers, I can get rid of Sugar Rush. That'll be a great day for me." Licortwist thought.
Licortwist then walked up to a wall and had the licorice pieces smash a hole through it. He then had the licorice pieces bring him through the hole.
Back on Licorice Island, Vanellope, Taffyta, Rancis, Jubileena, Swizzle, Minty, Adorabeezle, Candi, Sticky, Cinndon, Toxika, Cindy, and Gary were in a throne room. After leaving the room, Cindy and Gary had revealed that they were in their palace and brought them to the throne room. There, Vanellope, Taffyta, Rancis, Jubileena, Swizzle, Minty, Adorabeezle, Candi, Sticky, Cinndon, and Toxika proceeded to explain everything about the upgrade to Cindy and Gary. They told the two Licorice themed rulers more about who they were, what Sugar Rush was like, and what the upgrade was about. Once they were done, Cindy and Gary nodded.
"That's really interesting. Well then, we're sorry for all of the trouble that you went through by being brought here." Gary said.
Vanellope sighed.
"It's okay." Vanellope said.
Swizzle nodded.
"Yeah, you didn't know about us being brought here. And besides, we probably should have sent you some sort of message saying that we were coming to the island before we arrived, in order to avoid confusion." Swizzle added.
Minty nodded in agreement. But then she remembered Cindy and Gary's last names, and she turned to them.
"Hey, can I ask you guys something?" Minty asked.
Cindy and Gary nodded.
"Sure." Cindy replied.
Minty hesitated, but then she gave in.
"Are you two related to someone named Licortwist Hothead?" Minty asked.
Cindy and Gary froze.
"You know him?" Cindy asked.
Vanellope, Taffyta, Rancis, Jubileena, Swizzle, Minty, Adorabeezle, Candi, Sticky, Cinndon, and Toxika nodded.
"Yeah. Why are you asking?" Jubileena asked in confusion.
"Because he's our son." Gary replied.
Vanellope, Taffyta, Rancis, Jubileena, Swizzle, Minty, Adorabeezle, Candi, Sticky, Cinndon, and Toxika paled.
"He is?" Rancis asked.
Cindy and Gary nodded.
"Yeah, but we haven't seen him around lately." Cindy replied. She then noticed their expressions and asked "Why, what's wrong?".
Adorabeezle twiddled her fingers.
"We have some... news concerning Licortwist." Adorabeezle replied.
"And what would that be? He's not in danger, is he?" Gary asked, nervous.
"Well, uh, that's the thing. Licortwist... isn't like you probably remember him." Candi replied.
Cindy and Gary became confused, as well as nervous.
"What do you mean?" Cindy asked.
Vanellope sighed. She knew that Cindy and Gary would not like what they were going to hear, but she and the others could not hide things from them. She looked them straight in the eye, looking troubled.
"Cindy, Gary... promise me that you'll forgive your son." Vanellope replied.
Gary raised an eyebrow.
"Of course we would. Why would we not do that?" Gary asked.
Taffyta walked up to them.
"Your son did a lot of things. I don't know his backstory enough to know what happened to him, but from what me and the others do know, he changed drastically after you were gone." Taffyta replied.
Cindy and Gary stared at her in confusion. Vanellope sighed and looked away.
"Let me show you. Then you'll understand." Vanellope said.
Vanellope took out a newspaper clipping that showed Licortwist attacking Game Central Station after he and Creamy had escaped from the fungeon back in August, and she gave it to Cindy and Gary.
"This is a newspaper clip from three months ago." Vanellope explained.
Cindy and Gary looked at the newspaper clip. As they did, Gary lost his breath, while Cindy felt her heart slowly breaking. Is this what they meant about Licortwist being "different"?
Vanellope sighed and explained everything about the Sugar Rush racers, Cinndon, Candace, and Toxika forming the team. She told them that she had given herself and the Sugar Rush racers powers in order to fight Licortwist, with Cinndon, Candace, and Toxika joining the team later on. And then she told them about all of their adventures. Once she was done, Cindy and Gary sighed.
"Well, thank you for stopping Licortwist, and also for protecting the arcade." Gary said.
Jubileena sighed and hugged Cindy and Gary.
"I'm sorry for how he turned out." Jubileena apologized.
Cindy and Gary looked down at her.
"It's alright. It wasn't your fault." Cindy said softly.
Jubileena let go of Cindy and Gary, and then she walked back over to the others. Vanellope then looked at her watch and noticed that it was 5:00 PM, and she turned to Taffyta, Rancis, Jubileena, Swizzle, Minty, Adorabeezle, Candi, Sticky, Cinndon, and Toxika.
"Alright, I think we should be heading back home. It's getting late, and we have to head back in order to do the Random Roster Race." Vanellope announced.
Cindy and Gary nodded, and Vanellope, Taffyta, Rancis, Jubileena, Swizzle, Minty, Adorabeezle, Candi, Sticky, Cinndon, and Toxika said goodbye and left the palace. Once they were out of the palace, they made their way back to the bridge. They boarded the boat and Vanellope set the coordinates on the GPS for the mainland. The boat started and then took off for the mainland.
Back on the mainland, Licortwist stood on top of the licorice pieces, which swarmed down the hallways of the castle until he reached the throne room. He got off of the licorice pieces and walked over to the curtain.
"Oh, Vanellope, you really should do a better job at hiding your things." Licortwist thought.
"Hold it right there!" a voice ordered.
Licortwist turned around and noticed Wynchel and Duncan standing at the door to the throne room, anti-power handcuffs in each of their hands.
"You are under arrest for your past crimes." Wynchel announced, trying to sound intimidating.
Licortwist just smirked and had the licorice pieces grab Wynchel and throw him into Duncan, knocking both of them to the ground. Licortwist handcuffed the two together and then made his way past the curtain.
In the kitchen, Sour Bill was making himself dinner when he heard the commotion in the throne room. In his surprise, he spilled a cup of tea, but he couldn't care less.
"That sounds like it came from the throne room." Sour Bill thought.
Sour Bill ran through the hallways of the castle until he came to the throne room. He opened the door and saw Wynchel and Duncan handcuffed to each other. Sour Bill's eyes widened in shock and he made his way over to them.
"What happened?" Sour Bill asked.
"Licortwist broke into the castle, and he handcuffed us together and then headed past the curtain with a paper that had pictures of Captain Creamy, Bonbon, and the Forgotten racers." Duncan replied.
Sour Bill realized what Licortwist was going to do, and without even freeing Wynchel and Duncan, he raced through the curtain. After he did, he saw Licortwist, about to enter the Code Room.
"Okay, Vanellope, let's see you and those other brats take on these." Licortwist muttered.
Licortwist inputted the konami code and the door slid out of the way. Sour Bill gasped and ran towards Licortwist, getting his attention.
"No! You can't go in there!" Sour Bill shouted.
Licortwist immediately shot a licorice stream at Sour Bill, sending him flying. He landed on the floor, injured and unable to move.
"Sorry, Sour Bill, but I have a date with destiny." Licortwist sneered.
Licortwist formed a licorice platform, got onto it, and then swarmed into the Code Room.
"No." Sour Bill muttered.
Sour Bill then fell unconscious. Meanwhile, inside of the Code Room, Licortwist saw Vanellope's code box, but unlike the last time that he was inside of the Code Room, he ignored it. He searched through the different codes, but he unable to find the code that he was looking for.
"Where is it?" Licortwist asked angrily.
Just as he was running out of patience, Licortwist found the code that he had been searching for in the outer edges of the Code Room. He made his way over to the outer edges, where a giant code that had the words 'Forgotten racers' floated. Licortwist smirked and reached his hand out to it.