((Here is the newest chapter! Hope you enjoyed it~))

Chapter 10

King Candy was speechless. He looked at the remaining racers, including himself: Taffyta, Candlehead, Rancis, Gloyd, Crumbelina, Snowanna, Minty, Adorabeezle, and then Citrusella. He couldn't believe that several more racers are locked out of the races. There are only ten of them left to take part of the Random Roster Race. There will no longer be 'random daily racers' for Sugar Rush if only nine characters are still playable. But what if the most popular racers like Taffyta or worse, himself, run of coins suddenly?

Sooner or later, one of the other racers is going to hit a streak of bad luck because their coins disappear without explanation, then another and another, until the day comes when only less than eight racers are still eligible, and the machine thus goes out of order. Not only will it be the end of Sugar Rush, but King Candy as well!

King Candy tries to think of something to say and he remembers his special event announcement. He quickly thinks up a plan.

"Calm down, my sugar daddies!" he told the screamings fans. "Girls, don't leave now, you're all still racers!"

Jubileena and the recolors stopped and looked at each other, hopefully. They're not of the races after all!

"While I can't allow you girls to participate in today's roster race," King Candy said, "but there's a certain one that you girls can take part of. In a couple of days from now, I am holding a special race that celebrates the 15th anniversary of Sugar Rush!"

The crowd went wild with excitement, and the racers leaned in with curiosity.

"I'll explain details of this event after this race," King Candy said. "But I can assure you, my lovely children, that you are all invited to the anniversary race!"

Jubileena and the recolors jumped with joy and cheered. The other racers were excited too and can't wait to learn more information.

King Candy was about to hop into his kart when Sour Bill hurried to his side.

"Your Majesty," he said. "We still found no clue of Swizzle Malarkey's whereabouts. However, we got a call from a gingerbread bouncer working at The Wheelhouse Club and he said that Swizzle was there, winning kart wheels in a dance-off. Unfortunately, Swizzle escaped before the bouncer can get him."

"Why would Swizzle be winning for new wheels?" King Candy asked to himself. "Is he trying to upgrade his kart, or something? Besides he doesn't have any money to pay for his fee…"

King Candy sighed and covered his face with his hands. The king cleared his throat and gave orders to his assistant.

"Keep looking! Round up the donut police and have them wait for him to return from his trip. Ambush that trouble-making brat and bring him back to my castle," he said in a low voice so the other racers won't hear him.

"Sir, about the donut police," Sour Bill said, looking nervous. "They recently got into a bad accident while chasing Swizzle, as well as the C.L.A.W team. They just informed me five minutes ago from the Pastry Hospital."

King Candy's face turns red, trying to control his anger. He quickly cools down and happily pats Sour Bill's head.

"Sour Bill," he spoke in his sweetest voice, "you're my most reliable servant. If you want to continue to be useful…" Then he added in a dangerous low voice, "Find me Swizzle! Steal his kart to get his attention if you have to!"

Sour Bill nodded in a panicky manner. He and the king were unaware that their conversation was overhead by Jubileena and the recolor racers.

"I wonder why they're so obsessed capturing Swizzle?" Jubileena asked as she and the others walked somewhere quiet, where they won't be eavesdropped.

"I know what they're talking about!" Nougetsia pulls out a wanted poster and shows it to everyone.

"Sixteen gold coins?!" Sticky's eyes popped out.

"If we have this money, we can still participate in more races," Jubileena said excitedly.

"How does that work?" Torvald asked. "We couldn't enter because all our coins were given to us. We didn't win those coins in a race!"

"Then, let's make our own race!" Jubileena said. "The first one who finds and gets Swizzle to King Candy will get the reward!"

"You're on, Bing-Bing!"

Jubileena and the recolors hurried to their karts, and left the Royal Raceway to find Swizzle Malarkey.

"So, let me get this straight," Swizzle began after Vanellope told him her plan. They are walking through another candy tree forest. "You want to pretend to turn me in so you can collect the reward, and then I'll escape on my own?"

"That's right!" Vanellope grinned. "I can use the money to bake my new kart, and include all the new engine and wheels we won! And then I can use the last coin to pay my fee for the race!"

"Hold on, how come only you get to have the all the reward?" Swizzle demanded. "We should split the money 50-50 because I helped you earned those engine and wheels."

"Yeah, but you can't just simply walk into the stadium with a new coin because you're still a wanted criminal," Vanellope told him. "Look, if I get the reward and win the race with my new kart… I promise to give you a coin and help you become a racer again."

"Well, I'm afraid I can't help you with that because I'm really desperate to race on the tracks again." Swizzle crossed his arms and glared at her. "And what if I can't escape when you go and collect the reward? How would I know that you really want to turn me in and won't help me at all?"

"Hey! Listen, wise guy!" Vanellope said, poking his chest. "I'm desperate to become a racer too, but I wouldn't betray a pal. If I had pretended to be your friend, I would have turned you in a long time ago!"

Swizzle's frown disappeared. "Wait… am I really your friend?"

Vanellope blushed and tugged the licorice strings of her jacket. Her image flickered. "Well, yeah… You did a lot of things for me, Swizz. You don't know how I appreciated it so much… I just wanted to think of a plan where both of us can get what we wanted…"

Swizzle stared at her and he could feel his own cheeks blushing as well. A lot of racers say he was their "friend", but as of lately, they've been ignoring him and said many mean things behind his back. Vanellope is willing to make him her friend, even though he shunned and abused her in the past. He realized that she forgave him despite what a cruel idiot he used to be.

"I got something to confess, Vanellope..." He looked straight into her wide hazel eyes and sighed. "When I first started hanging out with you, I was only using you because if I turned you in," he gulped before he continued, "King Candy might pardon me and allow me to race again."

Vanellope silently stared at him, but her body flickered slowly.

Swizzle rubbed the back of his neck. "But after spending so much time with you, I realized that you're more than just a glitch! You're… quite an impressive girl."

"… That's it?" Vanellope asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're also cool, smart, pretty…" At this word, Swizzle looked away, blushing again. "But what I liked most about you is your spirit to because nothing keeps you down. Now that I think about it," he continued, "I think King Candy's being unfair to you. He made tons of rules and claims he wants to protect us, but he's fine with you being mocked and labeled as a bad guy."

Swizzle stared at his feet. "But I don't think you glitching in the game screen wouldn't actually hurt the game, if you try to keep it under control. And if the players would like you, then there's no other reason why you can't be a racer like us."

He stopped talking and turned his back on her, avoiding her gaze. Now she knows that he's a rat, a selfish jerkbreaker who's only using her trust for his personal gains. To his shock, her felt Vanellope's arms wrapped around him from behind, her body crushed against him.

"It's okay, Swizzle," she said softly. "I already guessed your intentions from the start."

"You… you did?" he asked in surprise. "Then why did you still keep me around?"

Vanellope lets go him and turns him around, so she can face him. She was smiling sadly.

"Because I was using you too, so I can find ways to become a racer and ditch you," she chuckled. "But after what you did for me, and when I saw your face on the wanted poster, I realized that I found someone who doesn't mind me for being me."

Swizzle slowly smiled and takes her hands, making her drop the wanted poster. "Vanellope, when I promised to make you racer, I will see to it that it will happen. We're still pals, right?"

"The stinkiest, slickest pals!" Vanellope grinned. "You're my hobro!"

"Your what?" Swizzle asked, confused.

"You know, hobo bros," she explained. "It's a play on words. We're pretty much homeless but we're still buds!"

Swizzle rolled his eyes but he laughed. Vanellope continued to grin.

"So, I forgot to ask this when you returned," she began. "What was Game Central Station like?"

"Vanellope, it was wickedly awesome! There's so many new people you've never seen before!" Swizzle told her excitedly. "I only visited one game called Tapper, and I wished I had gotten you some root beer."

"No big deal." She cheerfully punched his arm.

"Oh, I just remembered something about what that Tapper guy was telling me. It seemed odd to me, but..."

Swizzle was about to tell Vanellope about Tapper mentioning an unknown princess ruling Sugar Rush when they heard the noise of a kart roaring in the distance. The young boy recognized the sound and his eyes went wide with fear.

"My Tongue Twister!"

((So, Swizzle and Vanellope admitted how they want to use each other for their own personal agains, but in the end they made up and still became friends. But would it last long? Or will they become more than just friends? ... And what is this special event race celebrating the 15th anniversary of Sugar Rush?))