Pop! Pop! POW!
One after another, giant soda bottles along the racetrack shot their tops off, spraying a fine mist of carbonation over the arena.
The fan boxes were filled with hundreds of candy spectators. From their spots at the starting line, racers waved graciously to their own fans. Overhead flew a blimp with a large viewing of the entire track. Almost as high up was the royal announcer's box, where King Candy stood, fiddling anxiously with a microphone.
Cued by the soda explosion, King Candy lifted the mike to his mouth and said as enthusiastically as he could manage, "My sweet subjects, I can without a pinch of hesitation assure you that I have never been so happy in all my life to say the following words: Let the Random Roster Race commence!"
The crowd cheered much more enthusiastically.
Buoyed by their support, King Candy grinned widely. He jumped out of the royal box and slid down a convenient banner placed there for that purpose, landing perfectly into his kart.
A marshmallow held up a checkered flag from a stand next to the track. The marshmallow chanted, "On your mark! Get set! GO!"
The checkered flag dropped and the racers were off, speeding down the track and vying for first place. Multiple screens, from the billboard to the blimp, showed the karts on their way. Every single fan turned their attention away from the track in favor of watching the race unfold on screen.
That's what Cole had been waiting for. Peering out from behind the farthest fan box, he noted the lack of attention. "Let's go!"
Jay and Cole hopped onto the back of the kart and held on for dear life as Zane revved up his engine. They zoomed up to the track.
Eager to be on another adventure (even if it was last minute) and having little advice to give, Jay recapped, "Remember, you don't have to win!"
Cole nodded in agreement, then realized that Zane was ahead of him and wouldn't see it. Instead, he added, "Yeah. Just cross that finish line, and you'll be a real racer!"
As they approached the starting line, Jay and Cole jumped off. In lieu of a fan box to go to, they hurried to the base of the nearest box and pressed their backs up against it, staring up at the billboard.
As Zane crossed the starting line, the billboard focused on him. The crowds gasped, but Zane ignored them. He was in the race! He had instructions to follow! For a moment, he considered Cole and Jay's directions, but shook his head. Quietly, Zane said to himself, "I am already a real racer, and to show everyone, I am going to win!"
Farther out on the track, the main group of racers had entered a section called Gumball Pass, where they were trying to avoid being flattened huge gumballs. None of them were worried about Zane. They were more worried about their nearby racers.
The latter worries were soon confirmed as Adorabeezle Winterpop hit a Power-Up box. Suddenly, her kart hood popped open to reveal a cannon with ice cream detailing.
Jubileena Bing-Bing, turning back from her kart just ahead of Adorabeezle to check for racers on her tail, screamed, "Watch out, power-up!"
Adorabeezle took advantage of the target and shot a scoop of ice cream, hitting Jubileena square in the face. As she passed the newly dairy-covered racer, Adorabeezle mocked, "Oh, à la mode!"
A little way ahead, King Candy hit a Power-Up as well. His own kart hood opened and unleashed a cannon, this one covered with small fire emblems. In quick succession, he fired three fireballs at Rancis Fluggerbutter and Minty Zaki, knocking them into the air and out of his way.
"Have some candy!" The king cackled.
"Red hots!" Rancis and Minty screamed in unison. They tumbled all the way back to the rear of the group of racers. Rancis righted himself quickly and sped forward, but Minty Zaki took a moment to gather herself at the back of the pack.
That moment was her racing downfall. As she tried to revive her engine, she was passed by a strange kart.
Minty recognized it instantly. She bellowed in anger and fright, "Zane! Everybody, it's Zane!"
"Pardon me!" Zane peeped, then blocked her out and kept going, squealing apologies as he bumped past racer after racer. "Excuse me. Sorry. Coming through!"
"It's the glitch, it's the glitch!" Rancis hollered, and the racers echoed his call.
In the middle of the group, Taffyta Muttonfudge's ears caught the noise. "The glitch?!"
She didn't question it, instead pressing her foot on the gas pedal. Pulling ahead up a layer cake lined with cherries that served as an obstacle, Taffyta yelled to Candlehead as she passed, "Light 'em up!"
Candlehead knew just what to do. Leaning out of her kart, she lit each cherry's stem with her flame-topped helmet. Certain this would work for whatever Taffyta wanted, she crowed, "Cherry bombs!"
The cherry fuses burned short and exploded, blocking off the racers behind. A single form sped through the dust, glitching from side to side and avoiding every bomb.
Spinning to see her work unfold, Taffyta gasped to see Zane still coming. Furious, she turned forward again, straight into a Power-Up. Sprinkle spikes began shooting out of the back of her kart.
"Stay sweet, glitch!" Taffyta hissed. "Too bad you're Taffy-Whacked!"
Zane swerved all over the place, glitching out of control as he desperately tried to avoid the spikes and stay in the race.
Back in the arena Cole and Jay watched him on the big screen, aghast.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no," Jay fretted. "Can he do it? I don't know if he can do it!"
"Come on, kid," Cole breathed. "Get it under control."
On the track, Taffyta, Candlehead, and Rancis zoomed up the path into a giant straw. Not far behind them, Zane tried hopelessly to regain control of his kart.
"I told you. You're just an accident waiting to happen!" Taffyta mocked. She was turned all the way around in her seat, determined to watch him fail.
Zane suddenly glitched between the karts and ended up in front, somehow headed straight ahead. Shocked, Taffyta tried to spin around and get back in front of the group, but in her frantic grabbing at the wheel, she lost control. Her kart spun out, crashing into both Rancis and Candlehead just as the tunnel spit them all out in an arc over the sea.
Zane landed hard on the ramp on the far shore, stunned and confused. The other three remaining racers missed and crashed right into a giant cupcake, their karts shattering on the ground below.
"I'm a burn-out!" Candlehead wailed, sitting up and mournfully patting at her fizzled wick.
Rancis didn't even sit up, choosing instead to pout lying down.
Taffyta sat up on the cupcake and spat out a mouthful of frosting. Slowly, she realized what had happened and how she had lost her lead, her kart, and the race, all to the glitch. Defeated, Taffyta began to cry.
"Keep it under control," Zane berated himself quietly. "No more glitching."
Cole and Jay cheered from their spots in the arena.
"Okay, kid," Cole urged, as if Zane could hear him all the across the track, "let's finish this thing without any more surpri- ARGH!"
"Hope you're happy," Kai growled, sheathing his sword after having smacked Cole over the head with the handle. "This game is going down, and it's all your fault."
Jay gasped. "Kai? And Miss Nya? You guys came back!"
"Can it, Junior," Nya ordered, turning to Cole. "Crush-it! That CySnake you brought with you multiplied."
"No way," Cole dismissed. "It died in the taffy swamp."
At the moment, the ground shook and cracked. CySnakes burst out of the cracks in droves. Of course, the crowd promptly went into hysterics.
"Yeah," Kai said casually, almost as if the robot-snake apocalypse of the game he was in wasn't imminent, "That's baloney."