Cole finished putting his name on the kart with a thick flourish and leaned back to admire his work. He looked at Zane, who had already completed his name and was staring at the kart with a small smile.

Chuckling, Cole asked, "What, you have teeth? I've never seen you smile before, kid."

"I'm not smiling," Zane defended, covering his mouth with one hand.

Cole smiled even bigger. "Neither am I."

Slowly, Zane lowered his hand. He peeked up at the taller character, smiling tentatively.

"There you go," Cole approved.

Zane opened his mouth to say something. But before he could anything out, a voice yelled, "Hold it right there, glitch!"

King Candy barreled into the cake bakery on his kart, Nuckal and Kruncha rushing in behind him. Scanning the room, King Candy caught glimpse of Cole and gasped. "And Crush-it Cole?"

"Uh-oh," Cole gulped. Thinking fast, he aimed the pastry bag still in his hand at King Candy and the donuts and sprayed it at them. It hit them each in the eyes, temporarily blinding them.

"Start the kart!" Cole hissed, taking advantage of the confusion. When Zane didn't move, he picked the blond up, plopped him into the driver's seat, and hopped onto the back, repeating, "Start the kart, start the kaaarrt..."

Zane fiddled with the buttons and knobs, but nothing happened.

"What are you waiting for? C'mon, let's go!" Cole groaned, looking nervously back at the three frosting-covered characters who were quickly wiping off their faces.

"I... I, ah, have only ever driven pedal vehicles before," Zane stammered, pulling at various levers. "I do not know how to drive a real kart."

Cole froze. "You don't WHAT?"

Having finally rubbed the frosting away from his eyes, Kruncha looked at King Candy and asked with concern, "Are you hurt, sir?"

"No, he just glazed me," the king said dismissively. He giggled for a moment at his own pun, then roared, "Get them!"

Taking charge instinctively, Cole pushed off the floor with his hands. The kart took off, swerving right between the advancing donut guards and nearly running over King Candy.

"Gang way!" Cole yelled triumphantly as they burst through a wall to the outdoors, kart and all. He pushed off the ground again and they sped up, racing down the bakery hill.

Not far behind them, King Candy and the donuts followed quickly through the hole on karts of their own.

"Stop in the name of the king, that's me!" King Candy yelled, furiously picking up speed.

As their former lead quickly shrunk, Zane said urgently, "Get off the road!"

Cole dug one hand into the ground to take a tight turn. The king, Kruncha, and Nuckal tried to follow, but they each overshot.

"Head for Diet Cola Mountain! That way!" Zane instructed, the kart nearing a fork in the road.

Cole did so, veering somewhat frantically first to one side and then the other. They got closer and closer to the mountain, which began to loom overhead. "Where now?"

Glancing around quickly, Zane pointed towards the far side of the mountain. "Drive into that tree!"

Cole almost tipped over the kart in his surprise. As it was, they slowed down considerably. "What?!"

"That one, between the two sugar-free lollipops!" Zane directed, then looked back to see King Candy back on their trail. "And we should hurry!"

"Are you crazy?!" Cole yelped, hurrying none the less.

Unsure how to respond, Zane just shook his head. "You must trust me!"

Still doubting but without a better idea, Cole aimed the kart at the large tree head on and braced for impact. Just as they hit the peppermint bark, the kart and both its passengers pixelated and seemed to disappear.

Mere moments later, King Candy and his kart screeched around the corner and skidded to a halt at the base of the mountain. Kruncha and Nuckal followed suite in a pair of jumbo police karts, bumping into and bouncing off of each other.

Nuckal opened his mouth to say something, probably a comment about the obvious lack of glitch in the surrounding area, but Kruncha smacked him upside the head and gestured to King Candy.

The king had pushed his goggles up and was now standing, looking around in confusion and frustration. "Where'd they go? Never mind, it doesn't matter. We have to find them."

Nuckal rubbed his head. "We? You're going to search too?"

"You two," King Candy clarified, settling back into his kart. "Split up. Find that glitch. Destroy that kart. It can't be allowed to race. You understand me?"

"Yes, sir!" Kruncha barked.

King Candy frowned. His eyes narrowed. "Well, if you understand, why aren't you starting?"

Kruncha started to speak, thought better of it, and drove off in a hurry. Nuckal followed him.

"Split up!" King Candy yelled.

A moment later, Nuckal zoomed back to go the other way.

Satisfied with his efforts, King Candy looked around one more time and left as well. But instead of searching for the wayward glitch, he headed back to the castle, intent on coming up with a plan.

Meanwhile, past the tree, Cole and Zane went tumbling down a long tunnel full of half-built game props. Bumping around the corner, they flew over a crooked ramp and crashed, both thrown in opposite directions. The kart ended up vertical against a huge jawbreaker boulder, front wheels spinning as it shuddered to a stop.

Cole groaned, slowly picking himself up off the floor. Dizzily, he wobbled over to the kart and looked it over, assuring himself that it could still race and win his medal back. Then he turned and proceeded to lay into Zane. "Let me get this straight. You don't know how to drive!"

"No, not technically," Zane explained, standing up from where he'd been thrown against a group of hard gum stalagmites.

"'Technically'?" Cole repeated, taking a step closer.

Zane bit his lower lip and headed for his kart, carefully going around Cole. "I only thought-"

"What did you think?" Cole interrupted. Putting on a mocking voice, he flung his arms out and said, "'Oh, I'll just magically win the race because I really want to!' It doesn't work like that!"

Examining the kart closely, Zane said calmly, "First, that sounds nothing like me. Second, I get enough teasing from the rest of the characters in this game. I do not need any from you. Third, I know that I am a racer. I can feel it in my code."

Cole groaned again, this time in frustration. "That's it; I'm never getting my medal back."

Zane pulled himself up on top of the jawbreaker and tried to nudge the kart into rolling backwards. It didn't budge. Stepping back to consider again, he asked, "What is so important about that medal anyway?"

Cole scowled. "Why is it important? Well, this may come as a shock to you, but in my game, I'm the bad guy, and I live in the garbage."

Zane blinked. "Okay."

"No, not okay," Cole argued. "Nasty. And lonely. And boring. And that medal, it was going to change everything. I go back with gold around my neck, and I'll get a penthouse. Pies. Ice sculptures. Fireworks... But that's all bad guy stuff. You probably wouldn't understand."

"Actually, I believe I understand perfectly. That is exactly what racing would do for me," Zane explained, pushing futilely at the kart again.

"Well, guess what?" Cole asked. He waited for a moment, then hinted, "You're supposed to ask what."

"What?" Zane repeated obediently, climbing off the rock to get a different angle.

"News flash! Neither one of us is getting any of that!" Cole yelled, stomping a foot.

BOOM! Something exploded nearby and the ground shook.

Cole turned to Zane with wide eyes. "What was that?"

Tilting his head to one side, Zane seemed to decide something. "Follow me."

Carefully, Cole followed Zane a short way down the tunnel, which soon opened up into a huge room with hundreds or even thousands of white stalactites poking down from the ceiling.

Zane pointed one hand at a big, bubbling, brown pool just ahead of them filling the center of the room. With his other hand, he gestured to a nearby sign.

Cole read the sign aloud, trying to understand. "'Diet Cola Hot Springs. Watch out for falling Mentos.' What does that mean?"

"The pool is Diet Cola, the stalactites are Mentos. Come over here," Zane instructed. In the short time it had taken Cole to read and ponder the sign, the glitch had taken cover behind a large piece of caramel jutting from the ground. "Come on, you have to take cover."

Dubiously, Cole obeyed, hunkering down behind the caramel. "Now what?"

"Now watch this." Breaking off a small chunk from the shelter, Zane took careful aim and threw it right at the largest stalactite.

The bit of caramel hit the very tip of the Mentos. A small piece shattered and fell into the pool. BOOM! A giant geyser shot up into the air, spraying hot Diet Cola every which way. Cole yelped as a last drop made it over the top of the caramel and fell onto his head. He flicked it off rapidly.

Zane winced sympathetically. "Oh, you must watch out for the splash. That stuff is boiling hot, which is why we are hiding back here."

"Yeah, I got that, thank you," Cole grumbled, pitifully rubbing his head. He peered over the caramel and saw that the geyser had receded as quickly as it had appeared. Stepping out, he looked around, just noticing the rest of the huge room for the first place. "What is this dump?"

"As far as I can tell, it appears to be some sort of unfinished bonus level," Zane offered, following Cole out from behind the caramel shelter.

Cole glanced at the walls chipped away by hot Cola splashes, the rough patchwork floor, and the various bars of candy unevenly littering the ground. "Bonus level, huh? I think I can see why."

"I think it is pretty cool, so I have no idea why it was not completed. I found that secret opening in the tree a while ago, and now I live here," Zane said happily.

That caught Cole's attention. He looked around at the mountain cave which practically screamed 'Danger!', looked down at the tiny aspiring racer, then looked back up at the unfinished level. "You live here?"

"Yes, right over here," Zane explained. He trotted over to a crudely fashioned hut that appeared to be half breaking and half already broken, declaring, "Welcome to my home!"

"This is your house?" Cole asked, still in disbelief. He knew glitches had it rough on comparison to most characters, but this was beyond awful. This was basically just like 'bad guy' living conditions.

Zane nodded, sitting on a pile of old candy packaging. "Indeed. I sleep bundled up in these discarded wrappers, and that over there is-"

That was when it hit Cole like a brick to the face. Zane's plight was just like his. Maybe it was even worse, given that Zane was so small and apparently actively hunted after. At least the Nicelanders were so scared of Cole that they would never try to bully him.

Zane was still talking, oblivious to the fact that his guest wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention.

Cole interrupted Zane's explanation of how he'd foraged the walls of his little hut, saying, "So you live all by yourself, in this unfinished mountain that could basically become an incredibly dangerous active volcano any moment, with all this garbage around you?"

"Of course," Zane said easily. Then he hesitated. "I mean, everyone here says I am just a mistake, and that I was not even supposed to exist. What else would you expect for a glitch?"

Cole couldn't stop himself. He blurted out, "Listen, kid. I know it's none of my business, but why do you even stick around this game?"

Zane looked at him incredulously. "Why do I... You mean you do not know?"

"What don't I know?" Cole asked.

"Glitches physically cannot leave their games," Zane explained quietly, sitting down. "It is simply one of the joys of being me."