Phase I, Level 10: The Flight
Part 1
"Shh, calm down, Candle… Why don't you start from the beginning?" Vanellope coaxed the stammering green-eyed racer.
"B-but Mu-Muffin Man said I h-have to cross the f-finish line!"
"I can't let you drive a kart in your current condition; you'll get in a wreck and you said so yourself that Muffin diagnosed your code as unstable! You might not reset after a kart crash! So first just calm down, we'll talk this over, then we'll have a roster race the moment you're feeling better." Candle seemed to agree with this proposal and began to recount her adventure with the Muffin Man in the motherboard. It was difficult for the poor girl to stay focused, shaken as she was. Vanellope hated having to press the girl so much for information crucial to their game's survival while she was so deeply traumatized. There was some truth to what King Candy – that is, Turbo – had said, "The hardest part about being [royalty] is always doing the right thing – no matter what."
Those words echoed through her head as Vanellope awoke from her slumber. Oh geez, as if working nearly round the clock wasn't bad enough, now she was dreaming about it while she slept too! Perhaps her mind thought she had to be reminded of yesterday's duties so she wouldn't forget the duties of the day ahead, for she had nearly forgotten about Candlehead's plea to have the roster race as soon as possible. Stretching, she found herself quite sore and had to pause for a moment to figure out why. Could have something to do with the pile of books she was sleeping on – they weren't exactly stuffed with marshmallows like the pillows she was used to having. Glancing about she discovered that she was still in the royal study – apparently she had dozed off while going over the game's blue prints. Man, this whole running a game thing was tough work! For the first time in a long time, she allowed her thoughts to return to Ralph, and how he might be doing these days. Had he always been this tired and constantly plagued by thoughts of his job too? She hardly had any time to hang out with Juby anymore, and when she did interact with any of her friends, it was always as their leader and not as their colleague. Quite frankly, it sucked. No doubt about it, she owed Ralph a GINORMOUS apology next time she saw him… IF she ever saw him again…
"Hey… you okay?" Jubileena's voice broke into Vanellope's thoughts.
"Huh?" was all she could say in reply, still groggy and disoriented.
"You started crying, just now…" her red-headed friend pointed out, voice laced with concern.
"Oh… I did?" She hadn't realized it, but when she touched her cheek instinctively, she found Jubileena's accusation to be true – fresh hot tears were moistening her skin.
Disregarding the president's rhetorical question, Juby scooted over to her side so they were shoulder to shoulder.
"Just so's you know, my friend, you've been doing a wonderful job. No one else here could have kept it together like you have, and you've matured so much in this short amount of time to rise to the occasion. We couldn't ask for a better leader – or a better friend who truly cares for us all. So, don't beat yourself up or anything, ok?"
Vanellope smiled at her friend's encouragement, even though her assumptions had been slightly misplaced. Before she could make any sort of reply, however, their little Kodak moment was disrupted when Wynnchel and Duncan burst into the study and cried, "Urgent report from the player patrol, President!"
Vanellope was on her feet in a matter of milliseconds. After her slight reconnaissance during their racing yesterday, she had thought it would be more productive to assign some of the NPCs – the donut cops in particular – to hide out just off camera and observe the players whenever they were around. However she had no idea they'd have something to report so soon – let alone something urgent. "Well hurry up and tell me, sprinkle-heads!" she cried in frustration when they waited for her command to continue.
"They report that the players are talking of unplugging the game – and that 'the tools' are almost here!" She had to admire their composure, to have been able to calmly stand at attention and wait for her command just now, with news like that!
"WHAT!?" cried Vanellope, Juby, and a couple other racers and citizens who had also fallen asleep while going through the blueprints – everyone now felt VERY awake.
"Awaiting your orders, President." Wyynchel stated.
"Uh… first off, nobody panic! We've got some time since the scout found out ahead of time. Organize all your patrol forces to split up and head out in all directions informing people – and desserts alike – to make their way to the exit and out of the game. Tell them not to go far though, we'll regroup just outside the game once everyone's out." Nodding their understanding, the pair left and immediately set off to do so, and those in the study also got up to do the same.
As they were leaving the study, however, Vanellope stopped dead in her tracks, making Juby, who had been following at her heels – smack into her. "What is it?" she asked as she rubbed her pained nose.
"Candlehead…" Vanellope began as the color drained from her face, "She hasn't crossed the finish line!"
"Wake up, Ralph. We're about to land!" Felix called, nudging his friend with his elbow. Snorting mid-snore, Ralph snapped his eyes open and sat bolt upright. "I'm up! I'm gonna wreck it!" he exclaimed in startled stupor.
"No, don't!" Felix cried, but it was too late. His clumsy friend had wrecked the floor of the plane, causing the once-straight airplane to look more like one of the U-bends Mario so often worked with – and then the plane went down.
"Ralph! I'm gonna kill you!" kitty hollered over the din of the panicked inhabitants of the aircraft as she elbowed her way to the cockpit, no doubt to hijack the controls and fix their flight path – in true alignment with her motto of "If you wan' somethin' done right; Kitty's gotta do it."
"Whooooooo! Hang 10 with me, Sonic! YEAH!" Jake yelled as he held his hands up in ecstasy, like he was on a freakin' roller coaster or something. Sonic, however, looked a few shades bluer than usual as he mumbled something along the lines of only liking to go this fast when he was the one doing the moving.
Calhoun was frozen stiff with the realization that no amount of firepower was going to help them out of this mess, and didn't seem to notice when Felix took her hand as he braced himself for a crash landing.
Ralph's first reaction was to get defensive as he usually did over his clumsiness, but when the reality hit that they could all actually die here, right now, his heart sank. No, this wasn't right – it couldn't end like this, he still had to find Vanellope! He couldn't bear to lose his friends like this. He didn't want to be responsible for the loss of such lives he held so dear – including the lives of Kitty and Jake even!
As the plane continued to careen towards the ground, Ralph took out his peppermint poppy and held onto it for dear life, praying that the magic he felt it had could somehow save them all. The ground looked so close – why had he chosen a window seat? Images of Vanellope flashed across his mind as he closed his eyes and prepared for what might be his last moments of life. 'I'll miss you, kid…'
"Taffyta! Where's Candlehead!?" Vanellope asked with all due urgency when she entered the bedroom and saw only the addressed present.
By the time she was awake enough to comprehend Vanellope's request, she was only able to gasp her surprise when she saw that Candlehead's pillow was bare. "She must have snuck off somewhere during the night. What's wrong?"
"No, no, no, this is terrible!" the president exclaimed as she pulled at her hair in anxiety. "We're about to be unplugged, but Candlehead can't leave the game until she crosses the finish line to reset her code!"
"We have to find her!" cried Taffyta, hopping out of bed in a jiffy.
"Ooohhhh I don't know if that will be enough, and we're running out of time!" Vanellope stressed, on the verge of a mental breakdown concerning her imminent failure to protect the characters of her game.
"Well don't just STAND there, Vanellope! Explain on the go!" This time it was Taffyta dragging Vanellope through the halls of the castle. "I think I may have an idea of where Candle went; we should check the Muffin Man's place."
"We need at least nine other racers in addition to Candlehead!" she explained as Taffyta led the way, "The finish line only ever generates when we're in the final third of a race, and we need at least ten racers registered to get the system to start a roster race! And with the game being unplugged, I can't ask my racers to race the clock to compete in a roster race, but I can't just abandon Candlehead here; I don't know what to do!"
"Well here's one less racer you'll have to ask. I'm staying with Candle with or without a roster race to run." Taffyta proclaimed with stolid conviction.
"Me too." Came another from behind them. Glancing behind, Vanellope saw that Jubileena was now following them towards the kart garage. Vanellope smiled and took Juby's hand with her free one and they closed the gap between them and the garage in a chain of three.
"You girls scared you'll get separated?" Swizzle teased when he saw them enter in such a state.
"Didn't you hear? The game's gonna be unplugged!" Jubileena explained.
"I know. That's why I'm here to get my baby. No way I'm leaving her here when this place is disconnected!" At this, he lovingly patted his racing car.
Struck with a sudden idea, Vanellope suggested, "Why don't you take 'her' around for one last spin and find any racers you can? We need volunteers for one last roster race; Candlehead needs to cross the finish line or she won't be able to leave the game since her code's all broken right now."
"Oh no! Well I'll be one of your volunteers, and I'll round up a few others before you can say 'Swizzle fo' shizzle'!" he challenged, then was off in his racing cart.
The three girls hopped in their respective karts and made a beeline for the Muffin Man's residence.
Ralph was jarred from his pre-death reflections when he heard Kitty's voice call out over the plane's loudspeaker, "Alright ya'll! Any characters with wings head to the back and use the emergency exit."
'Oh great, they get to save themselves… what about the rest of us?' Ralph thought bitterly.
"I need ya'll to get behind the plane and push it towards 'at lake at 2 O'clock." She continued, "I can glide it into the water if ya'll can get me over there in the next twenty seconds; go! Not you, Tinkerbell, I need you to fly over top and give it all the pixie dust you got to buy us time!"
Before Ralph had a chance to wonder how the heck Kitty knew there was a Tinkerbell on the flight – or any other characters with wings for that matter – she gave one last instruction, "Now the rest o' ya'll need ta think happy thoughts or Tink's fairy dust isn't gonna do a lick of good!"
"How the heck are we supposed to think HAPPY thoughts at a time like THIS!?" Calhoun exclaimed.
"Easy!" Felix replied with his usual happy-go-lucky optimism. "Just think; after we make it through this, we could be PARENTS!"
"Not helping, honey…"
"Wooooo! Most radical ride, EVAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!" Jake continued to scream, completely unaware of the real danger they were all in. He was equally unaware that he was probably the one most contributing to enabling Tinkerbell's pixie dust to work, so great was his joy.
"If we make it through this, I'm gonna punch that punk." Ralph mused to himself. Sure, it was a bit mean, but it was still a thought that made him happy.
"Now that's more like it." Calhoun agreed, unable to resist a smile at the thought.
"Brace yourselves, ya'll! We're coming in for a bumpy landing!" Kitty's voice called once more over the speaker.
Candlehead sniffed as more tears threatened to fall and moisten the glimmering spoon she held in her hands. She was sitting alone in the dark, on a wooden kitchen stool in the abandoned hut previously belonging to the Muffin Man. The place still smelled like freshly baked pastries, deceptively warm and inviting, as though he would pop out from the shadows at any second and say, "Just kidding! Who wants pie?" Or something like that.
She jumped when her mourning was interrupted by the door bursting open when Taffyta, Vanellope, and Jubileena rushed in. They weren't making a lot of sense as they all spoke at once in excited tones. Her confusion must have been evident, for Vanellope soon ordered the others to be quiet and related the latest events herself.
Candlehead hesitated before going off with them, thinking for a fleeting moment that she might like to just stay behind with the game. At least that way, she could still be with Muffin Man, and the others wouldn't have to risk themselves in a roster race for her. The moment she thought that, the spoon she held suddenly felt very warm, and it felt as though his hands were holding hers. Maybe that was his way of encouraging her to keep her promise to him and continue on. Gripping the spoon even tighter as her resolve strengthened, she stood up and followed her frantic companions outside.
It was a good thing they had only been on a regional flight, for if the plane had been like one of those huge international ones; there's no way they would have survived the crash. Kitty's quick thinking and the cooperation of everyone present had saved them all. Once everyone had reached the shore, Calhoun, Felix, and Ralph settled themselves while they dried off and waited for the others. Sonic and Jake had joined the effort to retrieve the luggage from the wreckage, and honestly, they made a good team between Jake's water skills and Sonic's speed. Ralph speculated they'd be on their way within the half hour at the rate they were going.
"I tell you what, brother, I'm NEVER letting them put my hammer in the cargo section ever again, no matter WHAT the rules say about character tools being prohibited from carry ons!" Felix exclaimed, "We could've been spared a whole lot of trouble if I'd just had access to my old man's hammer!"
"At least your hammer will still be fine after sustaining water damage…" Calhoun commented, lamenting the state of her precious – now water-logged – firearms.
"Oh hey, here comes Kitty!" Ralph interrupted their lovers' quarrel. Standing up to greet her, Ralph smiled sheepishly and addressed the mail carrier-turned-hero, "Hey, Kitty, I uh… just wanted to apologize for my attitude towards you… I was completely wrong… and uh, thank you… I guess… thanks for saving our behinds just now."
"Well THANK YOU, Ralph, you're too sweet." Kitty responded, slightly aghast at his sudden confession. Not too shaken from her mission, however, Kitty continued with her original train of thought and stated, "I just came by ta tell ya'll that once things are wrapped up here, we just need to hop on a few trains and we'll be there!"
"REALLY!?" Ralph exclaimed, beaming with excitement.
"Yeah, the IP address is in an apartment complex of some sort; which is all on the same power source – so it's the same airport – so we just need to get to the right outlet!"
"Really? ALL of you…?" Candlehead whispered in surprise, too touched to get anymore volume out of her voice. There in front of her stood Taffyta, Vanellope, Jubileena, Swizzle, Minty, Crumbelina, Rancis, Snowanna, Adorabeezle, and Gloyd… Every single one of Sugar Rush's current racers had volunteered to be in her roster race. It was amazing how loyal one's friends could be after going through a hardship – or two, or three – together.
"You bet!" Taffyta replied with a smile, "Now let's race!" With the rest of Sugar Rush successfully evacuated and no telling when their owners would be back to unplug them, no one was hesitant to follow Taffyta's command. With all eleven karts lined up, the racers hopped into theirs, started up the engines, and braced themselves for the countdown.
Three…. Two… ONE!
True word count for The Flight: 2,817
True word count for story thus far: 38,934
Congratulations, Player 1, you've unlocked bonus content!
Fanart of Muffin Man and Candle is on DeviantArt for anyone who wishes to view! To access, construct the following link:
digipukamon DOT deviantart DOT com FORWARDSLASH art FORWARDSLASH Candied-Hearts-367075512
If that doesn't work for you, just do the first part of the link up through the 'com' portion and browse my gallery for the deviation titled "Candied Hearts".
Note: Some players got a sneak peak at this, if they left a review lamenting The Muffin Man's death. So sorry guys, it's the same one you already saw…