AN: Author S of Guy-Girl2wayAuthors drew a lovely piece of art for this. It's at deviantART under the artist CactusDJProductions and the title Zane Von Julian. It's GORGEOUS. *squishes cheeks*
Just a few hills over, the racers surrounded Zane, who was working on his kart. They screeched to a halt in unison, creating a thick circle of karts and scowling faces.
Zane's face showed no evidence of fear. On the contrary, he looked strangely hopeful as he said, "Greetings, fellow racers."
Cole peered over the hill behind them and gasped. "It's that little medal thief."
"Taffyta, Rancis, Candlehead, you look well," Zane said pleasantly. "You came by to check out the competition, I suppose? Here it is, the Icing Rider."
Cole snorted as he saw the mismatched kart. "Looks like he built it himself."
"I built it myself. I believe it may be the fastest pedal-powered kart in the arcade. Observe." With that, Zane clambered into his kart and carefully began pedalling. The kart inched forward, then gave a wheeze as its gears catch and spin. Zane bit his bottom lip, his biggest show of emotion yet.
Taffyta laughed and after a moment, the other racers joined in.
"Oh, Zane, it's so... You," Taffyta said patronizingly. She giggled. "But you have to back out of the race. Yeah."
Climbing carefully back out of his kart, Zane took a hesitant step towards Taffyta and her kart. "I do not 'have' to do anything. I paid my fee and I am on the board. I have the right to race."
Taffyta rolled her eyes. As an aside to Candlehead, she muttered, "What is with this glitch? It isn't very bright."
Zane looked at his shoes.
Sliding easily out of her own kart, Taffyta leaned casually against Zane's. As if talking to a baby, she said slowly, "King Candy. Says. That glitches. Can't. Race. Got it?"
"With all due respect to the K-k-k-king-guh," Zane stuttered nervously, one side of his face flickering into code, "that is not a viable rule. The game laws state that-"
Taffyta ignored him. Having jumped back in horror when Zane had glitched, she walked closer again, saying sweetly, "The rules are there for a reason, Zane. To protect us."
She stepped around the boy and jumped into the driver's seat of the Icing Rider.
"Please get out of my kart," Zane said quietly.
"Say I'm you," Taffyta continued, giving no sign she had heard him. "I'm in my weird little kart, and I'm driving, and I actually feel somewhat cool for once. And then, all of a sudden, oh no! I'm gl-gl-gl-gl-itching!"
Taffyta shuddered in a gross exaggeration of a glitch and ripped the steering wheel right off.
Zane flinched.
Getting out, Taffyta bopped him on the nose condescendingly. "See? You're an accident just waiting to happen."
"Oh no, I gl-gl-glitched, too," Jubileena, a different racer, chimed in. She swung her arms from side to side as she stumbled towards the Icing Rider, knocking into Zane on the way. She flailed and crashed into it, ripping off a wheel.
As if of one mind, the rest of the racers surged towards the lopsided kart. They swarmed over it, stuttering mockingly and giggling.
Cole frowned unconsciously as the kids tore the little car to bits. "That's just awful!"
"Stop," Zane's voice rang out over the chaos, "you are breaking my kart."
"Duh," one racer called out, "what did you think we were trying to do?"
Zane grabbed the kid nearest to him which turned out to be Taffyta and tugged her back from the kart.
"Ew!" Taffyta squealed, shoving him away. "The glitch touched me! Gross!"
"I just want to race like you guys," Zane begged, pulling back.
Taffyta scowled and took a step towards the boy. Poking him in the chest again and again, she chanted.,"You'll never (poke) be a racer (poke), because you're (poke) a glitch (poke), and that's all (poke) you'll ever (poke) BE!"
On the last word, she shoved Zane with all her might, sending him flying backwards. Tumbling head over heels, the boy in white rolled to a dazed stop in a chocolate mud puddle halfway across the clearing.
The parallel of Zane's fate and the ending of 'Fix-it Jay Junior' for him was too much for Cole. Jumping up, he ran down the hill. "Hey!"
The kids screamed in terror and threw themselves into their karts, driving away at top speed.
"Scram, you rotten little cavities, before I throw YOU in the mud!" Cole yelled vindictively. He turned around to see Zane picking himself up out of the puddle.
"What are you looking at?" Zane asked quietly, brushing off some of the chocolate.
Cole shrugged. "You're welcome, you rotten little thief."
"I am not a thief," Zane insisted, "I simply borrowed your coin. I was going to give it back to you as soon as I won the race."
"It's not a coin. It's a medal," Cole corrected.
"A coin and a medal are similar enough for my purposes," Zane asserted. "Can you not win another?"
If only it was that simple. Cole sighed heavily, sitting on a nearby jawbreaker boulder. "No, I can't. I didn't win it in my game. I won it in Samurai's Duty."
"That matters?" Zane asked, taking a careful step closer.
"Yes, it does. It's very dangerous and I'll never be able to win another," Cole complained.
Zane nodded. "It's the same for me. No one would ever leave a coin where I might find it."
"Huh. Guess we're in the same boat, kid," Cole mused thoughtfully.
"Boat?" Zane asked. He looked around curiously. "I do not see a boat."
Cole side-eyed the boy. "It's an expression. Okay, we're off topic. I think we got off on the wrong foot earlier. I'm Cole."
"I remember," Zane replied.
There was an awkward moment of silence.
"Typically when someone tells you who they are, you reply in turn," Cole hinted, breaking the pause.
Zane blinked. "Oh. I am the glitch."
"Oookay, not what I meant. What's your name?" Cole rephrased.
"Zane. Zane Von Julien."
"Cool." Cole put out a hand to shake.
Zane looked at the hand, then glanced up at Cole with a mildly confused look on his face. "What are you doing?"
"Holding out my hand to shake, what does it look like I'm doing?" Cole replied.
"Why?"
"Because that's just what you do when you're meeting someone, or are saying goodbye to someone, or are congratulating someone, or are making a deal," Cole explained patiently. "Stuff like that."
"Why is that?"
Cole paused. "Huh. I don't really know."
Shrugging the confusion off, Cole pulled his hand back. "Anyway, nice to meet you."
Zane blinked.
"Do you ever smile, kid?" Cole asked curiously.
"Why should I? I have no friends and no future," Zane said plainly, as if it was obvious. "All I had was my kart and my dreams of racing. If I could have been in the race and won, I could have received the entry fees and maybe a little respect."
"The entry fees?" Cole interjected. A plan starting to form in his head.
"However, now my kart has been demolished just hours before the only race I have been able to enter. I am back to nothing but my dreams," Zane finished.
Cole winced. "Yeah, I know how that feels."
"If you will excuse me, I am going to go restart the process of scavenging parts. Perhaps in a few months I will be able complete another kart and sneak a coin from a store room," Zane mused. He turned and began to trudge away, shoes squelching with leftover chocolate.
"Wait, I think I've got something, Cole blurted, stopping the boy in his tracks. "Would- but if- then you- it could work!"
Zane turned back slowly, eyeing Cole. "What are you saying?"
Cole shot to his feet, excited. "Okay, King Candy said that the winner of the race gets the coins everybody put in and you just mentioned something like that. Is it true?"
"Yes. Why?" Zane asked.
"Just listen for a moment. Important question: do you think you could be a good racer?" Cole asked. "Like, really good? Good enough to win?"
Zane nodded. "Why?"
"And now that you've entered with my medal, the only thing holding you back is that the Sourpatch Kids destroyed your kart?" Cole checked.
Zane frowned, but nodded.
Cole grinned. "So you need a kart and I need my medal. Here's what I'm thinking: I'll help you get a new kart, a real kart, and you'll win the race and get me back my medal. "
"You- you want me to help you?" Zane asked curiously.
"Of course. And all you have to do is win a race. Come on, what do you say?" Cole asked, holding out a hand to shake. "Friends?"
"Friends?" Zane echoed.
"Pals. Chums. Close colleagues. Companions. Buddies. Brothers in arms, partners in crime," Cole coaxed. After a moment's pause, he sighed. "Okay, my arm's getting tired. Do we have a deal or not?"
Zane tilted his head to one side. Shyly, he extended his hand. "Indeed. Friend."
They shook on it.