Cautiously, Cole poked his head out through the secret door in Diet Cola Mountain.
"Is the coast clear?" Zane asked quietly from behind him.
"Shhh. Just a second," Cole whispered back. He leaned further out and looked around for several moments. "Okay, we're good. Nobody's around. Let's go!"
Carefully, Zane began pushing the kart. It rolled up to the slight crack that separated the inside of the mountain from the outside and got stuck there, refusing to budge.
Cole laughed and grabbed the front end, giving one strong tug to drag it out into the open. "There we go. Now come on!"
"This is it. This is really it. This is really happening. I almost don't believe it. I mean, I have dreamt about it for so long, and now..." Zane's voice trailed off in thoughts both excited and nervous. "Now I have, what is the saying? When you are nervous and your chest feels all fluttery? Slugs in your belly?"
"Butterflies in your stomach," Cole corrected.
Zane nodded. "Yes, I have butterflies in my stomach. Oh, this is so exciting!"
"Yeah. It's really exciting!" Cole agreed.
"I mean, am I ready to be a real racer? Cole, what if the gamers don't like me?" Zane fretted.
"Who doesn't love a weirdo with dirty hair?" Cole replied flippantly. Then he saw the worried look on Zane's face and backtracked quickly. "C'mon, kid! Those people are gonna love you. You know why? Because you're a winner."
"I'm a winner?" Zane repeated.
Cole nodded. "Yeah. And you're adorable."
"I'm adorable," Zane said with conviction.
"And everyone loves an adorable winner!" Cole promised.
"Yes!" Zane cheered.
Relieved that Zane was back on track, Cole rubbed his hands together. "Okay. Let's do this."
Zane hopped in the kart and turned it on, revving the engine.
Cole climbed on the back. "Listen to me. If you get nervous, just keep telling yourself 'I must win Cole's medal or his life will be ruined.' And have fun. Got it?"
"Got it," Zane said confidently.
He started driving away, then slammed on the brakes. Cole tipped over forward, squawking in surprise.
"Wait a moment. Hold on!" Zane said. He put the kart in reverse, Cole clinging desperately, then slammed on the brakes again and turned the kart off.
Cole tumbled off the back. Confused, he got up, brushing himself off. "Hey, where are you going?"
"I forgot something. I'll be right back," Zane promised earnestly. He ran back into the mountain.
Cole stared after him, then laughed and shook his head. "Huh. Kids!"
He sighed, content. Then he frowned, tilting his head to the side. Cole thought he could hear the sound of a kart engine, but that didn't make any sense. Zane had told him that no one ever came towards Diet Cola Mountain, and that was why he had chosen it for his home. So why would there be a kart? And maybe more importantly, who would be racing it?
The sound got louder and louder, but then cut off. Cole shrugged to himself. He couldn't hear it any more, so it had probably left. It didn't matter.
"Cole, there you are! Hello!"
Cole whirled around to see King Candy getting out of his royal kart.
"You!" Cole yelled. He bent down and picked up a large jawbreaker boulder, hefting it.
"Now, now. I came alone and unarmed," King Candy cautioned. "Whoa!"
He turned and ran as the boulder went flying past his head.
"I've had enough of you, Pillow Pants," Cole said, scowling. He chased after Candy, who ducked behind a giant gum drop.
"Now, calm down! Calm down!" Candy's voice rang out from behind the gum drop.
"I'm gonna beat the filling out of you!" Cole threatened, vaulting over the gum drop.
The king cowered. Thinking quickly, he whipped out a pair of giant glasses and put them on. "You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would you?"
Cole thought quickly too. He grabbed the glasses off of King Candy's face and knocked him over the head with them.
"Oh. You hit a guy WITH glasses. Well played," King Candy concluded, chuckling a little despite himself.
Cole grabbed the smaller man by the shirt collar and lifted him to eye level. "What do you want, Candy?"
"For you to close your mouth," the king said bluntly. He wrinkled his nose. "Your breath is horrific and... Listen, I just want to talk to you."
"I'm not interested in anything you have to say," Cole retorted.
"How about this? Are you interested in this?" King Candy said quickly. He dug something shiny out of his pocket and held it up.
Cole recognized it instantly. He dropped Candy to poke at it with one finger. "The Medal of Heroes. My medal. How did you-"
King Candy waved his hands dismissively. "Oh, that doesn't matter. It's yours, isn't it? Go ahead. Take it."
Gingerly, Cole took the medal. His hands were shaking, but he didn't know why.
"All I ask is that you hear me out," the king said quietly.
Cole stared at the medal, finally back in his hands. "...About what?"
King Candy sighed. "Do you know what the hardest part about being a King is? Doing what's right, no matter what."
"Get to the point," Cole said bluntly.
"The point being, I need your help," King Candy confessed. "Sad as it is, Zane cannot be allowed to race."
Cole groaned. "Come on! Why are you people so against him?"
"I'm not against it. I'm trying to protect it," Candy corrected. "Just listen to me. If Zane wins that race, it'll be added to the daily Race Roster."
"That's the whole point of winning the race," Cole said, still not seeing any problem.
"But then, gamers can choose it as their avatar. And when they see it glitching and twitching and just being itself, they'll think our game is broken. We'll be put out of order, for good," King Candy explained.
Cole made a little 'oh!' sound of realization.
King Candy nodded. "And all my subjects will be homeless. But there's one who cannot escape, because it's a glitch. And when the game's plug is pulled... Zane will die with it."
"You don't know that'll happen," Cole said faintly, horrified but still trying to stand up for his friend. "The gamers, they could love him."
"And if they don't?" Candy prodded.
Cole didn't have an answer for that. He sat down on a nearby jawbreaker, eyes back on his medal.
King Candy patted his leg sympathetically. "I know it's tough. But heroes have to make the tough choices, don't they? Zane can't race, Cole. But it won't listen to me. So, can I count on you to talk a little sense into it? Or at least consider doing so?"
Cole contemplated the king's words for a moment, then gave a small, pained nod.
King Candy smiled gently. "Good, very good. Now, I'll give you two some time alone."
Getting into his kart, King Candy waved a cheery good-bye and disappeared around the bend of the road.
Cole groaned and sat down hard. He gently bounced the medal up and down in his hand, thinking deeply. He had a difficult decision to make. Would he sacrifice Zane's pride? Or would he risk Zane's life?