I rarely put author's notes on my work, and when I do I usually put them at the end, but this is an exceptional case so I would appreciate it if you all would pay attention to it.

Do not think for a moment that I have ever ignored your collective questions about updating Stay Sweet. There have been plenty of people flooding my inbox about it on a regular basis. This chapter is long and took me a while to story board, hence the wait.

But do not, please, post reviews on my other works asking me to update. It was downright disheartening to find that one of my other narratives has a review that has nothing to do with it, but rather is a plea to update something completely unrelated. I can't get rid of that review, either. It is stuck there forever, as a reminder that apparently my other stories don't matter to that person, just this one. And whoever wrote it? That was downright rude, and I hope you understand what you've done. But congratulations, I'm updating. Enjoy.

Finally. Four days of no racing, and Vanellope's stupid randomization system finally picked her. It took long enough, that was for certain. Taffyta frowned and adjusted one of her mirrors, catching Jubileena looking at her in the reflection. The redheaded racer averted her eyes and sunk lower in her seat while Taffyta huffed through her nose, revving her engine as she waited for the next game to start. She had gotten second place twice that day thanks to Vanellope Von Cheater, and the second time around she was even a player character. It really ground her gumdrops.

Ordinarily she wouldn't have cared- after all, King Candy got first place almost all of the time when he was around, despite whether he was a player character or not. But that was different. Goodness knows she couldn't tell anyone that lest they call her out on liking him more than Vanellope, but it was true regardless of what everyone else thought. King Candy won his races fair and square, because he was a phenomenal racer and that was all he had to be. He played by the rules. He got his power-ups with the blocks placed on the track like everyone else, he gained speed and got ahead of people using the arrow strips like everyone else, and he used his kart and its strengths to the best of its abilities, like everyone else.

But Vanellope? All she did was cheat. How was using her glitching powers to zoom up the track and appear in front of everybody in the least bit fair? Answer: it wasn't. If she would just quit doing it, maybe Taffyta wouldn't have been so angry. But she kept glitching and cheating, over and over, no matter what. And here they thought King Candy was unfair? This was ridiculous. But apparently she'd been doing it for the past four days and no one else complained about it, because when she tried to say something, nobody even listened to her.

The blonde racer gave Candlehead sidelong glance and bit her lip, looking back down to her steering wheel. Her so-called best friend didn't even say hello to her when she joined the lineup that morning. In fact, she even had the audacity to change her kart position to be closer to Vanellope. Now she was stuck next to Swizzle Malarkey, who was of the mind that since Candlehead and Rancis weren't talking to her anymore, it meant he had free reign to talk her ear off.

"So then I said to him 'look out mate, because here's The Swizz, coming to getcha!' And wouldn't you believe it, I did just as I said! He didn't have Buckley's chance anyway, but hey! It was so ace!" The aforementioned racer pumped his fist and then pointed at her with both his fingers, winking. "And might I say that was one beaut of a race last run?"

Suppressing a gag, Taffyta rolled her eyes instead, looking back to Candlehead. She and Rancis were laughing it up with Vanellope, who was glitching back and forth as she told some stupid story. Even Snowanna was in on the laugh fest. "I got fourth place." She finally replied, looking back to Swizzle in hopes that he would bore her to death so she wouldn't have to take in any more of this absurdity.

"And good onya!" The Swizz replied, raising his fist to bump against hers in congratulations. She looked at it and raised an eyebrow. He lowered it slowly and gave her a half smile in return, realizing that fourth place to him was not the same as fourth place to her. Perhaps he could be taught. "Hey, it'll be apples sheila. You're a great racer. I'm betting you'll cream 'em next match." And as he finished, the quarter alert bell went up and everyone hopped into their cars, revving their engines as the announcer started up his spiel. Swizzle grinned and gave her two thumbs up for good luck. Taffyta resisted the urge to slam her face into her dashboard.

Everyone paid attention as the player went through the track selection- usually you could tell what type they were going to be based on that alone, and sometimes even what cars they'd pick. The cursor immediately hovered over the expert track in the Marzipan desert and clicked it. The track began to shift, the fan seats spinning and locking to block off the fork in the road, so only the right was accessible. Taffyta knew that down the line, other track portions were being walled off the same way.

All the racers strapped on their goggles or pulled down their visors, Taffyta included. The sand from the desert was relentless in its pursuit to get into everything, eyes included. Thankfully it didn't taste too bad, but it was irritating nonetheless. After the driver had chosen whether they wanted to drive manually or automatic (manual, this guy was serious) the avatars came up on the screen. Every racer held their breath as they shifted through them until finally making their choice.

The player chose Taffyta.

The other racers gave her no sign of approval aside from Swizzle, who nodded at her with a wide grin. Ignoring the loser, the blonde girl leaned back and slid down farther into her seat, eyes narrowing as a smirk grew on her face, splitting it almost in half. She was winning this race for sure. Her car had the best traction and handling in the entire lineup, and that was the difference between a crash and an effortless turn in the desert.

Within seconds, the countdown sounded and the crowd roared. The screen lit up and focused on her grinning face, then panned out to show the other racers. Her hands gripped the wheel so tight she could feel the bones in her fingers creaking. The buzzer sounded for takeoff and she felt the player hit the gas on her vehicle as she did, and the gear beside her shifted on its own as she peeled out with a wild shriek of excitement. This was a real player. This was what she was made for. The other racers melted away and her troubles were left in the dust.

Forget Swizzle, with his annoying qualities and stupid accent.

Candlehead could eat her chocolate flaked dust for all she cared.

And Vanellope Von Glitch? Well, she could promptly go fondant herself. This was Taffyta's race, and her time to shine.

The expert race was three laps long, and she was in the lead for the first two with ease. She hit every power up and speed arrow on the track while the others lagged behind, the sand causing them to wipe out. She heard the pinging sound of the roster dropping a racer and glanced away from the track to see her dashboard control- Adorabeezle.

"Poor dear." Taffyta crooned before laughing. Her player kicked her into overdrive, and her car kicked up more sand as it sped ahead. Watching the road, Taffyta frowned. The turn was coming up rather fast, and her player wasn't downshifting. She gulped, but her hands kept on the wheel, driving straight. "No, no, no..." She whispered as she looked at her wheel, willing it to turn. But it didn't turn fast enough, and she smacked into the wall, spinning out. "Rock candy!" Taffyta shrieked as her car righted itself, and as she got back up to speed, she heard the worst phrase ever uttered.

"Behind you..." The blonde spun and watched as the princess of Sugar Rush smirked and proceeded to glitch around her, car forming just a foot away from Taffyta's front bumper. "In front of you!" The girl called over her shoulder and she sped away. Taffyta gritted her teeth and bit back a scream of rage.

No. She would NOT get second place this time, not again! But even as she hit her top speed, she still wasn't catching up to Vanellope fast enough. She was going to lose to the cheater again.

'There's something you can do.' A voice in her head reminded her, a familiar lisp that forced its way into her consciousness. Taffyta let go of the wheel and hit the player pilot button, handing all control over to the human on the outside for the moment being. While the player attempted to catch up with Vanellope, Taffyta ripped open her gear box, exposing the inside. "Look for the orange wire, the orange wire..." She muttered as she sifted through the contents carefully. Finding it, she grinned and yanked, hard. It came loose, and her car disconnected from the player entirely. Gripping the wheel, Taffyta slammed the top of the box back into place and shifted gears, speeding up rapidly. The player was unaware of the change and drove like they were still in control, but in reality? It was just Taffyta now.

There was no room in her plans for human error.

She shifted over to a speed arrow and blew through it, gaining ground on her adversary with no problem, now that the pesky player wasn't holding her back. She knew they would be making the same moves anyway; she was just making everything much more accurate. That wasn't a bad thing. King Candy did it all the time with the young players, to make them feel better about themselves. She wasn't hurting anyone.

'Players want to play racers that win, Taffyta.' The little voice continued as she made the turn, catching up with Vanellope again. Time seemed to slow as they were side by side, and Taffyta glared at the girl as she pulled her finished sucker out of her mouth, saying only two words, a contained 'Fondant you' not-so-well-hidden beneath the surface.

"Stay sweet." She flicked the sucker stick into Vanellope's cockpit with a grin and hit the gas, the straightaway to the finish line getting shorter and shorter in front of her. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment as she crossed the finish line, savoring the victory as she hopped out of her kart, grabbing the trophy and holding it above her head as her avatar was presented to the player. She smirked at them and gave them a thumbs up, but they didn't seem to be paying her any attention. She kept her smile on and chose to ignore it.

Once the ordeal was over though, she handed the trophy back to the announcer to polish up for the next winner. It was just a prop anyway, no big deal. But the gold coin extended to her, now that was the prize. She smiled and kissed it as the other racers pulled in, tossing it up and catching it in her hand as she pulled out another sucker. She left like a million gold coins. She got her spunk back. She all but skipped back over to her kart, but standing right in the way was Vanellope, glaring peanut brittle shards her way. The phrase 'if looks could kill' definitely came to mind. But Taffyta was on top of the world; and the swagger in her step was certainly not about to be compromised by a former glitch.

The girl came to a halt about half a foot from Vanellope, and she clicked her tongue, pulling the sucker out of her mouth. "Sore loser much, President?" She asked, eyebrows lifting. "It's not my fault your kart isn't built for the sand track." Vanellope's eyes narrowed and she looked ready to say something, but she refrained, opting to just stomp off, hands in her pockets. "That's so mature of you!" Taffyta called after her, and the call went up for last game just a few minutes later, after another race where she didn't win. That was just fine though, since she wasn't the player character.

It was Swizzle who approached her later, hands shoved in the pockets of his sweatshirt. She was polishing her kart and whistling a cheery tune, and when he approached, she smiled. "Lookin' good, Swizz!" She chirped, her mood completely reversed. But just as she had switched to a chipper and much more pleasant mood, he looked noticeably more upset. He gave her a weak smile and kicked at the dirt.

"G'day, Taffyta."

She frowned momentarily, noting his tone. That wasn't the usual Malarkey, not one bit. "What's wrong, sour patch?"

The other racer rubbed his arm and looked away, frowning. "Well, uhm. I know that Vanellope's coming to talk to you, about something. But I thought I'd just come talk to ya' first, and let you know, so you won't get caught off guard, but..." He bit his lip. "She- Vanellope, I mean- thinks that you, uh. Cheated. In the race."

"What." Taffyta was to stunned to even properly ask correctly, the inflection that was supposed to form lost.

Swizzle grew animated at her response. "I know, right! I told her that you wouldn't!"

"What." Taffyta repeated, dumbstruck. How did she know? She took a look inside her kart, at the gearbox that she had just finished rewiring. Did she see her pull the wire? Was the top askew when she passed her?

Huffing, Swizzle crossed his arms and looked off to the side, angry as a candy corn crow. "She said your player patch was missing! Can you believe it? I mean, that's ridiculous! And of course, the rest of us wouldn't know. Crikey! This really grinds my gobstoppers!"

"The player patch." She whispered, hands coming up to cover her mouth as her eyes grew wide. The sticker, the one that appeared on the back of every racer's cart when they were in play, to denote they were the player character! She didn't realize that it dissipated when she pulled that wire. "I-I have to go." She stuttered, hopping into her kart and turning it back on. Swizzle stared at her, confused.

"What? Why?" But she peeled out without answering, shifting gears and blowing down the road. She had to think. She had to think of a reason, a logical explanation. Maybe she could chalk it up to kart failure? She twisted and turned on the track, catching sight of Rancis and blowing past him, ignoring his shout that mostly certainly sounded like 'Vanellope's looking for you!' She pretended her motor was too loud for her to hear. Her panic took her to The Rocky Roads yet again, and she entered the tunnel at top speed, biting her lip as she braked, slowing to a leisurely coast, leaning back in her seat and sighing. She was really starting to like the solitude of this pla-

A large thump and a crack caused her car to spin out, and she slammed into the wall, blinking in dazed confusion. "What in the red hots..." She mumbled, shifting her helmet back into place so she could see. She looked around and didn't see anything. Maybe an avalanche happened outside? She tried to reverse her kart, but it was stuck on a busted stalagmite. (Or was it a stalactite? She could never remember.)

Climbing out, she circled around to the front, pushing it with all her might. "C'mon, you stupid kart!" She groaned through gritted teeth, feet digging into the ice cream snow.

"Let me get that for you." A voice said, and Taffyta paused to blink, eyes growing wide when a pair of talons picked the kart up and deposited it back on the track. Mouth agape, Taffyta backed up against the wall, pressing her hands against it as the voice continued. "Well well, my favorite racer! I'm so thrilled!" He chuckled, picking her up by her collar. Taffyta shrieked and squirmed, closing her eyes and sobbing until she was put down, totally unharmed. A few moments passed as she regained her breath, and as she opened her eyes, she was face to familiar face with a man she thought she would never see again. In his strange talons he held out a sucker to her, smiling like she was the most wonderful person in the world.

"Have some candy!"