((Sorry if this chapter is a little slow and shorter, but I've been busy. Hope you enjoyed it~))

Chapter 3

Vanellope's body glitched crazily and before she knew it, her body flickered away just in time before Swizzle's kart struck her and moved to a safer spot. She watched in shock as Swizzle lost control of his ride, trying to stop it, but it kept skidding forward making a terrible screeching noise and leaving burnt tire marks on the chocolate dirt.

She watched the Tongue Twister slid down a slippery slope and fell into a huge pit in the middle of grove of marshmallow trees. Laffy Taffy vines were hanging from the branches.

She hurried down to and peered into the pit and saw that Swizzle and his kart landed in a hollow filled with chocolate powder. He was covered up to his waist, and the vines were too high above for him to reach them.

She couldn't help but laugh seeing his confused expression. "Looks like you got yourself in a sticky situation!"

"Shaddup!" Swizzle blushed. His embarrassment suddenly turned to fear when he realized he can't move and is slowly sinking. "Oh no… No, no, no!"

"Uh, I wouldn't struggle if I were you," Vanellope smirked. "It's Nesquick Sand, bubble-dumb. The more you fight it, the faster you'll sink. Guh-DOY!"

"Get me outta here!" Swizzle begged.

Vanellope raised an eyebrow, her smirk still etched on her face. "I don't know… I seem to recall that you don't want me to come near you or your kart."

Swizzle's mouth dropped. "You gotta be joking me! You can't just leave me here to die!"

"Don't be a baby! You'll regenerate fine," Vanellope rolled her eyes, trying to suppress her laugh. For once, one of her tormentors is at her mercy and begging for her help.

"Yeah, but my kart can't regenerate!" Swizzle glanced at his Tongue-Twister, which is sinking along with him. Panic spread throughout his body.

"Please! Get me and my kart outta here! My kart is so special and unique, I can't just replace it!"

Vanellope had enough of her fun and decide to help the poor racer. She skipped off somewhere without a word which made Swizzle more angry than scared.

"You stupid glitch!" Swizzle screamed. "How dare you run off and leave me here! When I get outta this pile of chocolate-powder milk mix, I'm going to put you in a blender and turn you into smoothie!"

Out of nowhere, a gobstopper hit his head. "Ow!" he winced in pain.

At this moment, the vines above began to laugh as they stretched and grew down toward the chocolate powder. Vanellope was laughing as well; she had returned with a bunch of gobstoppers in her arms.

"They're Laffy Taffy," she explained. "They're attracted to whatever thing that makes them laugh."

"Was throwing that gobstopper at my head really necessary?" Swizzle whined.

Vanellope threw another of the candy at his head which made the vines laugh harder.

"Well, if you want to get outta this pit, you're going have to trust me," Vanellope told him, smirking. "But once you're home-free, I want something in return."

"I'll do anything you asked, just keep throwing those candies at me!" Swizzle said. Of course, this is a lie; there's no way he's going to make a deal with a glitch.

Vanellope keeps chucking gobstoppers at Swizzle. Before long, both kids realized how funny this situation is and they end up both laughing uncontrollably.

"Oh, come on, is that best throw you got?!" Swizzle grinned. "I bet my own grandmother can throw better than you!"

"Well, how much points do I earn if I hit the target—your nose!" Vanellope giggled.

"500 points, and a free kiss from The Swizz!"

"YUCK! I'd rather have money instead!"

The Laffy Taffy vines stretched further and faster, their laughter mixed with the two kids'. Finally, they reached down to Swizzle. The young boy grabbed a couple of vines and wrapped them around his kart and it was lifted, along with him, to safety.

Swizzle grinned. "I haven't laughed this hard since…" his voice trailed off, as though he was trying to remember.

Vanellope looked at him, waiting to continue. However, his face became hard and gets into his kart.

"Well, at least my kart's still in good condition," he said, turning to Vanellope. "I should thank you for saving it, but then I remember that you were the one who jumped out of nowhere and made me lose control of it."

"Hey, that wasn't my fault!" retorted Vanellope. "It was an accident!"

"You're an accident waiting to happen," Swizzle told her coldly.

Vanellope just stared at him, glitching a bit. Her voice becomes bitter. "You know, just a few seconds ago… we were laughing and having a good time. I thought we might have become friends."

"We are NOT friends." Swizzle pressed the pedal of his kart and zoomed off. Vanellope watched him disappear from sight, and then kicked a gobstopper she dropped earlier without her notice.

"… You're welcome."

The arcade is now closed and it was almost time for the Random Roster Race to start. Each Sugar Rush racer has their own private room in the castle, where they can sleep, relax, and have it decorated it to their own heart's desire. They are allowed to hang around in the castle but never to enter to some areas forbidden by their king. If they ever get bored staying at the castle, they can venture outside and visit many different places in Sugar Rush as long they promise to be back by nightfall.

King Candy arranged this plan for them to have their own rooms years ago and persuaded the kids to live in the castle, so they can be safe from Vanellope.

Each racer has a special chest inside their room that holds gold coins that will help them pay their fee to enter roster races. The chest can refill itself more coins if a racer wins the cup at the end of the race or hold a spot on the roster list.

Swizzle's hand reached through the narrow slot of his chest and picked a shiny gold coin. He kissed it for good luck.

After King Candy thanked today's avatars after a wonderful day of racing and the crowd were cheering and chanting, "Race! Race! Race!"

"Yes, okay, calm down," King Candy raised a hand before he goes to explain that the event is pay-to-play.

During his speech, Swizzle was staring at his coin but for some reason, racing isn't on his mind but rather Vanellope. It made him feel a tad bit guilty for not thanking her after she saved his life and his kart. However, a small part of him thinks that Vanellope only saved him for selfish reasons—probably doesn't want to bear the responsibility of sabotaging a racer's kart and getting arrested for that.

He noticed Sticky is staring at him and he gave her flirty nod which made her giggle. At King Candy's signal, everyone queued up taking turns to throw in their coins into a golden trophy cup above the racetrack. A huge contestants' board showed all their names and everyone is present. Swizzle couldn't imagine what would happen if Vanellope suddenly showed up out nowhere and paid her fee to enter the race.

The race is about to begin, and everyone lined up in rows. Candlehead fired up her kart, Rancis looked at himself in a mirror, and Taffyta eyed at another racer. Swizzle gripped the steering wheel of his kart, ready to feel the adrenaline running through his veins.

King Candy giggled as he jumped into his royal kart. "Let the Random Roster Race commence!"

"I lost…" Swizzle stared at his feet. He didn't make it to the roster list again. In fact, he came to last place. He never felt so humiliated! Meanwhile, Taffyta won another cup and her gold coin winnings.

"I feel sooo sorry for you, Malarkey," Taffyta said, who is not actually sorry at all. "Tough taffy that you couldn't make it pass through Gumball Canyon at first and got stuck in one of those red velvet cupcakes. I didn't even think you tried your best after all." She gave him a haughty smile before she drives off.

Swizzle could hear the other racers muttering disapprovingly behind his back.

"Last place, how embarrassing…"

"Man, I thought The Swizz would live up to his reputation."

"He used to be so cool back when our game first plugged in. Now..."

"He's all talk… a joke to real racers like us."

Swizzle avoided everyone's gaze and drove away in his kart. He kept on driving, without deciding his destination, until he reached the junkyard, where old karts and other stuff are discarded. However, he sometimes visits here to scavenge some spare parts he thinks are still working and good adjustments for his kart.

He heard the clanking sound of metal hitting the ground. Hopping off his kart, he peeked over the hill and saw Vanellope collecting some items he couldn't see and wrapped them up in a candy wrapper. Her head moved sideways, checking to see that no one is watching her and then scampered off.

He watched her leave, wondering what in programmer's name does a glitch need to look for in an old junkyard.

((It really sucks that Swizzle lost another race and has problems, but he was still an ungrateful jerk to Vanellope. He gets what's coming for him in the next chapter, which I won't spoil here.))