*I come in to see Yuma looking through his deck.*
Me: Hey Yuma. Is something wrong with your deck?
Yuma: Not really. I'm just making sure it's all together for the new story.
Me: Makes sense. OK, I'm gonna give everyone that is going to be in the story a custom deck.
Yuma: Cool! I can't wait 'til it comes up.
Me: Thanks Yuma. And while I do, you readers enjoy this chapter.
The 7 Medallions
Chapter 8: The Race of a Lifetime
After the encounter in Sugar Rush, Larxene and Lexaeus left the scene to regroup at Castle Oblivion. Upon seeing Xemnas in the main hall, they bow to him. After a few seconds, they stand back up.
"I can see that your mission was a failure. But, consider this a temporary setback." Xemnas said.
"I applaud your mercy on us, Master." Lexaeus replied.
"What is the current status of our search, Master?" Larxene asked.
"I got word from Saïx that Zexion has located another Elemental Medallion." Xemnas answered.
"Where did it land?" Larxene asked with a surprised look.
"We have not confirmed the location yet, but I will notify you when the location is confirmed." Xemnas answered.
"Understood, Master Xemnas." Larxene said as she and Lexaeus left the main hall.
Meanwhile, Vanellope had just directed the heroes to their ship, only to see it damaged from the recent attack. The hull and cockpit did not look too beat up, but the left wing was nearly torn off and two of the cannons are slashed apart.
"What happened here?!" Sofia exclaimed with a worried look as Scarlet tried to comfort her.
"It looks like that battle gave our ship such a beating." Mason replied looking at the damage the Cy-Bugs and Heartless did to the Gummi ship. He looks inside the radar's power grid and sees that it is undamaged, much to the heroes' relief and puts the Medallion of Ice inside it, next to the Medallion of Light.
"Well, the ship may be damaged, but at least the radar's still in one piece." Mason reported as he exited the ship.
"That's a good sign. Now the radar is able to pick up a Medallion's signal from farther away." Sora said.
"How long will it take 'til it finds another one?" James asked.
"I'd say about 10 minutes, 15 tops." Sora answered.
"How do we pass the time 'til then?" Amber asked. Everyone began to think for a moment and then, Vanellope came up with an idea.
"How about you guys watch us race?" Vanellope suggested.
"Haven't you already raced before we came here?" Clio asked.
"That was just a practice run. I'm talking about the Random Roster Race. Vanellope told you about it when you came here, remember?" Candlehead replied. Everyone else nodded.
"Then this race is just what you need to relieve the boredom." Vanellope said with pride.
"Sounds like a good idea. Let's do it!" Sofia said. It was at that point two donut cops arrive and see the heroes and their ship.
"Winchell, Duncan, you're here. I need you guys to fix up this spaceship until we come back from the Random Roster Race. If it starts to emit a ringing sound from inside, let us know." Vanellope ordered the two donut cops.
"Yes, Miss President! We'll get to work right away." Winchell replied with him and Duncan saluting as they got to work on the repairs.
While the two donut cops left to repair the ship, the racers directed the other heroes to the speedway. Ralph, Felix, Calhoun, the two Keybladers, and the young royals were in the stands meant for the fans to sit while the other racers are gathered in front of a podium in-between the stands where the fans sat. When all of the racers were in view of the podium, a short, green gumball with hands and feet walked out and spoke into the microphone with a low but subtle, monotone voice.
"Citizens of Sugar Rush, all hail our rightful ruler, President Vanellope." Sour Bill introduced. Then, Vanellope jumps out from behind curtain atop the podium, glitches into the air, and does a front flip before landing on her feet.
"Hello, everybody!" Vanellope shouted cheerfully as the fans cheered for her. "Thank you, Sour Bill, for that astounding introduction." She thanked as Sour Bill hopped off the podium he stood on. "And thank you avatars for this wonderful day of racing, but now that the arcade is closed, it's time to begin a clean slate and race to decide our new roster." Then, the screen showed 9 pictures of the last roster and the pictures turned into question marks.
"The first 9 racers across the finish line will represent Sugar Rush as the avatars for the next session." Vanellope continued as the fans began to chant, eager to see the race. "Okay, okay, calm down. Listen up, as we all know, this event is pay-to-play. The fee for this competition, as usual, is one gold coin from any of your previous winnings." She explained as she and the other racers pull out a gold coin with a small, crown-shaped hole in the middle.
"Now, without further delay, let the race begin!" Vanellope finished as she activated a catapult attached to the starting gate. She throws her coin onto the catapult, which launches the coin high into the air and the coin goes inside a gold trophy at the top of the gate.
"Vanellope von Schweetz!" The PA announcer announced as Vanellope slides down to her kart lined up at the starting line, with the fans cheering for her. Then, the catapult lowers again for the other racers to deposit each of their coins. After each racer has deposited their coin, they proceed down to their respectful karts, which are aligned in rows of three. The alignment is as shown:
Row 1: Taffyta, Vanellope, and Rancis
Row 2: Jubileena, Swizzle, and Candlehead
Row 3: Gloyd, Torvald, and Sticky
Row 4: Snowanna, Citrusella, and Minty
Row 5: Nougetsia, Crumbelina, and Adorabeezle
"This race could become interesting." James said.
"Of course it is. With a lineup like that, there's no telling who will win." Mason added.
"I hear you. But if there's one thing Vanellope is good at, it's racing." Ralph replied.
"Racers at the ready!" the PA announcer announced as the racers started up their karts. They give each other a glare, determined to win.
"3…2…1…GO!" the PA announcer counted down and the racers sped off at full speed out of the main square and towards Gumball Gorge. As they enter the gorge, gumballs the size of Wreck-it Ralph start to roll around the canyon. Some of the racers dodge the giant gumballs, but Swizzle and Torvald were hit by a blue gumball. Adorabeezle makes her way into fourth place and grabs an item box.
"Power up!" the PA announcer announced as a large vanilla ice cream cone appears on Adorabeezle's kart and she turns backwards to face the racers behind her. She fires the large scoop at them. Rancis and Minty speed up to evade the scoop, but Citrusella got hit by the scoop, stopping her progress. "Oh! A la mode!"
"Nice one!" James called out as Taffyta grabs an item box of her own.
"Sweet seekers!" the announcer reported. Then, small cannons appeared on the Pink Lightning. She aims the crosshairs at three racers in front of her.
"Stay sweet!" Taffyta shouted as she fires three orange balls at Snowanna, Nougetsia, and Sticky. The balls hit their karts sending them flying towards the end of the gorge and off the track.
Meanwhile, the two donut cops are repairing the ship. Winchell had just reattached the ship's cannons and is now fixing the left wing with Duncan. They give the wing a lift and reattach it to the Gummi Ship, which had all of the damage fixed. After it is attached, a ringing sound is heard from inside.
"Ugh! What is that sound?" Duncan asked, covering his ears.
"It must be coming from inside." Winchell reported "We must report this to Vanellope right away."
"Right." Duncan replied as he and his partner left for the speedway.
Back on the track, Rancis had just made his way to fifth place after exiting Gumball Gorge. He looks into his mirror, only to see Jubileena and Gloyd come up from behind. He begins to think of what to do until he came up with an idea and grabs an item box.
On another part of the track, Vanellope is catching up to Candlehead, Crumbelina, and Taffyta. Crumbelina looks into her rearview mirror and sees her catching up.
"Huh? Here she comes!" Crumbelina called out to Taffyta, who gave an angry look. She looks to her right and comes up with an idea.
"Light them up, Candlehead!" Taffyta ordered. Then, Candlehead shifted to the right and began to ignite some cherry bombs.
"What's this? Cherry bombs!" the PA announcer reported. Noticing this, Vanellope gained some speed and passed the already lit bombs as they began to explode. Vanellope struggled to stay on the track as the four entered the cannon at the top. Suddenly, Vanellope thought of something and glitches right in front of them. This scared the three into spinning out halfway out of the cannon, which launched them all into the air. Vanellope lands safely on the other end of the track, but due to their loss of speed, the three landed off course and into Lemonade Lake. The three surface after a second with Taffyta crying and Crumbelina looking at the track in complete surprise.
"My candle!" Candlehead shouted, upset that her candle is out.
Happy and relieved to escape the trap, Vanellope gained a long enough lead ahead of the others and enters Mt. Sundae with Rancis close behind. She looks in her mirror and finds him, along with Swizzle and Adorabeezle. She slows down enough to line each of their karts up.
"Don't think that you're going to win this race, President." Swizzle said as he bumps into her. She begins to swerve for a good three seconds before regaining control of her kart.
"Is that so?" Vanellope retorted as she rams the Tongue Twister, which collides with the Kit Kart and the Ice Rocket. They spin out and Swizzle and Adorabeezle go off course into the snow bank while Rancis hits the road closed sign that hid the secret shortcut.
"Way to show them, kid!" Ralph cheered.
"You must care about Vanellope a lot." Mason said.
"Of course, she is my best friend. In fact, if it hadn't been for her saving me in Diet Cola Mountain, I wouldn't be able to regenerate." Ralph replied.
Back on the track, Vanellope had just entered the Sugar Coated Caves. However, Rancis unexpectedly appeared and landed right beside her.
"Rancis!" Vanellope exclaimed.
"Well, surprised to see me again?" Rancis asked. She was about to answer until the downhill drop came. Vanellope took advantage of the Candy Kart having more handling and used the drop to get ahead of the Kit Kart. Rancis is surprised by this.
"She's fast, but I have a secret weapon I've been saving for a time like this." Rancis said as he pressed a button on the dashboard activating the item box he got before Cake Mountain.
Near the cave exit, Vanellope is laughing triumphantly after gaining a huge lead ahead of Rancis. She is about to exit the cave when all of a sudden, she crashes front-first into an oversized candy heart.
"Ouch! Sweet heart stopper!" The PA announcer announced.
"How in the fudge did that happen?!" Vanellope asked herself. Then, Rancis drove up and stopped right next to her.
"I'll be seeing you at the finish line, sweetheart." Rancis said as he winked to Vanellope, who suddenly blushed to his remark as he drove off towards the finish line. The princesses giggle slightly, catching Mason's attention.
"What's so funny?" Mason asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.
"Look on the screen." Vivian answered. Mason didn't hesitate to look at the screen, which viewed Rancis give a wink to a blushing Vanellope before he drove off.
"So, are you thinking that Rancis has a crush on Vanellope?" Mason asked in confusion.
"That's right." Sofia answered with a smile.
Vanellope, who had just recovered from Rancis' Sweet Heart Stopper, makes her way into the finish line. She's inches behind Rancis and Taffyta, the latter fully dry from the lake. She tries to pass them, but the gap is too narrow for her kart. Having no other choice, she grabs an item box, allowing her to glitch ahead of them and cross the finish line, winning the race. Rancis crossed the finish line almost immediately, taking second with Taffyta taking third. The screen shows the results of the race:
1st Place: Vanellope von Schweetz
2nd Place: Rancis Fluggerbutter
3rd Place: Taffyta Muttonfudge
4th Place: Candlehead
5th Place: Crumbelina DiCaramello
6th Place: Gloyd Orangeboar
7th Place: Jubileena Bing-Bing
8th Place: Minty Zaki
9th Place: Adorabeezle Winterpop
10th Place: Torvald Batterbutter
11th Place: Sticky Wipplesnit
12th Place: Swizzle Malarkey
13th Place: Citrusella Flugpucker
14th Place: Nougetsia Brumblestain
15th Place: Snowanna Rainbeau
After the race Vanellope, Rancis, and Taffyta are given their trophies; gold for Vanellope, silver for Rancis, and bronze for Taffyta. Then the other heroes come down to the track to congratulate them on their efforts. After the ceremony, the two donut cops arrive.
"Miss President! We have some news." Winchell said catching his breath.
"What is it?" Vanellope asked.
"The ship is fully repaired and after reattaching the wing, there was this loud, ringing sound from within the ship." Duncan reported.
"That means the radar picked up the signal of another Elemental Medallion. Let's go!" Sora commanded, knowing what had happened. The rest of the heroes followed him back to the ship and board it.
"Did the radar find another Medallion?" Zandar asked.
"Yeah, and if I'm not mistaken, it landed in a virtual reality world called Lyoko." Sora answered.
"Well, what are we waiting around for? Let's go get that Medallion!" Mason replied with pride.
Sora didn't hesitate to start up the ship for the heroes' trip to the next world. The fans, donut cops, and recolors wave goodbye to their friends as the ship traveled through the Keyhole on their way to Lyoko.
Yuma: Hold on. Does Rancis actually have a crush on Vanellope?
Me: That's right, Yuma. In fact, one of the stories I read gave me the inspiration for that scene.
Yuma: Sounds interesting.
*We enter the training room to see everyone gathered.*
Me: Hello everyone.
Sofia: Why did you bring us all here?
Me: Ah yes, my reason. The fact that I called you all here is that for the new story, I decided to give everyone their own decks.
*Everyone cheers randomly.*
Me: Now, I want the featured characters to form a single file line to claim your decks.
*All of the characters from Sofia the First and Wreck-It Ralph line up and one by one, I give them a custom made deck.*
Me: Now that each of you has their own unique deck, I want you to practice as much as you can for the story.
*Everyone leaves the training room, leaving me and Yuma alone.*
Yuma: You are quite the inspirer.
Me: I sure am, Yuma. You readers please review and Happy Valentine's Day. Peace!