SargeTJCalhoun64: Not a bother at all, please keep reviewing! Glad to know you're enjoying the story. Actually, I kind of suspected it was you...dun dun dun!

Chapter 8: Get To The Bottom Of This

Taffyta zoomed towards Diet Cola Mountain. Aiming her cart between the lollipops, she burst into the bowels of the tall bottle-shaped volcano. To her surprise, Adorabeezle's cart was idling beside the track. Taffyta throttled down beside her. Adorabeezle's head was bowed and her chest was heaving. Taffyta realized that she was crying! Taffyta got out of her car and gently spoke. "Dora, what's wrong?"

Adorabeezle looked up with a start. Her face was tear-streaked. She cried out, "Thank goodness you got here, Taffyta! Jerry told me to wait here to tell you the news!"

Confused, Taffyta asked, "What news? And why are you crying?"

Adorabeezle sniffled and continued, "There was an avalanche in the Snowcone Mountains. Crumbelina was involved and she's missing! Jerry and Vanellope were leaving just as I got here. He told me to wait here for you, otherwise you may not know where all the racers went. We've got to get going now!"

They both started their engines and headed towards the Snowcone Mountains at top speed.

Vanellope and Jerry skidded to a stop behind the small crowd gathered at the avalanche site. Everyone was talking loudly and many of the girls were crying. Swizzle was doing his best to do crowd control, shouting out reassuring statements. "Everyone please stay calm! The President is on her way! Yes, we're going to handle this situation. Don't worry about the 'Out Of Order' sticker! Everything is going to be okay! Yes, I'm sure!"

Vanellope and Jerry quickly strode through the crowd. "It's Vanellope! The President! Let her through!" the crowd cried as they parted for the duo.

Swizzle sighed in relief and stepped aside for Vanellope to take over. Vanellope climbed onto the hood of Swizzle's cart, the Tongue Twister, and called for order. Everyone started hurling questions at her immediately. She rolled her eyes at Jerry. He chuckled and mounted the hood. "HEEEEYYYY! EVEERRYOONNE! QUUIIIIIEEETTT!" he yelled at the top of his voice. His booming outburst silenced everyone immediately, much like at the racers' meeting. Vanellope gave him a sweet smile which he acknowledged with a nod and a bow.

As he hopped off the hood, Vanellope called out for the emergency crew leader. Gloyd and the brawny Gummy Bear came forward. Vanellope regarded Gloyd coldly. "You're not in the emergency team, Orangeboar, much less leading it."

Gloyd responded grimly, "You can't stop me. You put me in charge of safety, remember? Plus, Crumbelina's missing. I won't rest 'till she's found!"

Vanellope replied, "Yeah, I assigned you to safety, and this happened! Why should I still trust you?"

Gloyd stared at her stubbornly without saying a word. Jerry spoke up. "Hey Vanellope, why don't you let him help? Not be in charge, but, you know, assist the leader? I'm sure it wouldn't hurt."

Vanellope just said, "Alright, whatever. Emergency crew, get started on clearing the track immediately and find a way to reinforce the trackside wall."

Gloyd burst out, "What about Crumbelina?!"

Vanellope fixed him with an annoyed glare. "I'm coming to that, alright! Every minute you delay me with interruptions is another minute before your girlfriend is found, pumpkinhead!"

That shut Gloyd up, although he still looked mutinous. Vanellope continued, "Next, can I have volunteers to form a crew focusing on Crumbelina?"

Every racer came forward as well as many of Crumbelina's fans. Vanellope, satisfied with the group, sent a third of them under Swizzle for supplies like licorice ropes and peppermint picks and shovels. In the meantime, she directed the rest to assist the Gummy Bear crew in clearing the track. She instructed all other bystanders to leave the zone.

The crew had almost finished clearing the track when Swizzle returned. Vanellope sent Jerry, Gloyd, and Swizzle to test the stability of the avalanche surface. After they had tested the slope, they considered it safe enough for the rest to work on. Vanellope divided the whole group into four teams, who would work for a half hour before the next team would take over.

Gloyd immediately knotted a rope around his waist and jumped into action, shoveling the ice away like a madman. The others, inspired by his determination/desperation, also focused all their energy into the search.

After an hour had gone by, everyone was starting to lose hope. There was no sign of Crumbelina at the site, and she hadn't turned up anywhere else.

Adorabeezle, working determinedly, suddenly felt her shovel hit something hard. She gasped so loudly that everyone turned to look at her. She dropped her shovel and dug with her hands. Suddenly, she screamed and fell as the snow caved in. Swizzle and Minty who were working beside her dived for her but missed.

Adorabeezle hit bottom and lay stunned for a few moments. Shaking her head, she looked around, dazed. With blurry vision, she looked around. The first thing she noticed was a sort of tunnel stretching away from the hole. The second thing was something dark brown sticking through the wall beside her. It looked familiar. Suddenly it struck her! Crumbelina's leggings! She quickly scrambled to her feet and called out to Jerry and Swizzle who were looking anxiously at her. "I think Crumbelina is here. Come and help me!"

Gloyd, hearing that, threw all caution to the wind and jumped straight down into the hole, a jump of about seven feet. Jerry let Swizzle carefully down using ropes. They quickly freed Crumbelina from the ice. Her face was pale and cold and she wasn't breathing! Jerry and the head Gummy Bear quickly hauled her up in an improvised sling. Gloyd scrambled out and frantically began CPR. The emergency crew took over, one of them holding Gloyd back. After several tense moments, Crumbelina started coughing and gasping. Adorabeezle and Gloyd knelt gratefully by her side, each holding her hand. The whole rescue team cheered for their successful effort!

Vanellope called another meeting in the castle immediately after Crumbelina had been stabilized in the hospital. Rancis, who was feeling better, had been discharged from the hospital and decided to attend.

Vanellope welcomed back Rancis to the racers. She quickly ran through the whole accident again with Jerry and Swizzle's help in filling in the gaps. Everyone's face was grim at this second near-tragedy in the same number of days. Vanellope concluded by saying, "Rancis' and Crumbelina's carts have been damaged by these incidents. Mine is also in bad condition. I'm going to have to call in Felix and Sergeant Calhoun."

Rancis spoke up. "I understand the part about Felix but not about the Sergeant. Why do you need her? I mean, I know they're married and everything, but why?"

Vanellope replied, "Because I think there's something going on. Two accidents in two days? Suspicious."

Gloyd spoke up quietly, "I agree. After these incidents, everyone's lives are in danger. Rancis, then Crumbelina; there's no telling who might be next." Everyone looked at him in surprise; he almost never agreed with an idea immediately.

Vanellope wrapped things up by saying, "Well, we'll get the Sergeant to do a perimeter check and try to make sure everything's okay for tomorrow. That reminds me, tomorrow's gonna be our last day of racing before the upgrade. So everyone, please get ready for the data transfer at Sunday 7 a.m. That's all for now."

It was still eating when suddenly something hard whacked against its back. It shrieked in surprise and quickly scuttled back into the tunnel it had made. It heard something behind it and turned to look. A girl! She had fallen into the tunnel. It turned to devour her but another two boys dropped into the tunnel beside her. It considered things carefully before deciding to escape rather than attack...

Please review! Please, please, please! Oh, the chapter title was an intended pun. I hope it works. Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed this chapter!