A Few Minutes Ago. . .

Clyde boarded off the bus, taking a much-deserved deep breath as he did so. The bus he rode in reeked of a very unpleasant nastiness reminiscent of Lily's diapers. Stumbling around like a not-so-out-of-place drunkard in the 21st century for a moment, the young African-American boy regained his footing and continued forward with his mission impossible to find Lincoln in the big city of...wherever he was. Activating his luggage case, Clyde ventured off while ignoring the rather suspicious weight increase of said case. Throughout the city, its architecture fascinated him; everywhere he went seemed to pay homage to every classic genre movie released. From Star Wars and Blade Runner to The Princess Bride and My Neighbor Totoro, he seemed to wonder if this entire town was a film festival in disguise. Of course, he had no time to answer or even ask this question, for he had a mission to accomplish...

The light faded and the trio opened their eyes. Glancing around and taking in their surroundings, they found themselves in a forest with trees of peppermint, pink chocolate truffles (or regular truffles), and ponds of green or pinkish-purple taffy with gumdrops. Lincoln turned to face Ronnie Anne and Penn, but backtracked in surprise at their physical appearance. Ronnie Anne was wearing a mulberry purple hoodie with multicolored round candies on her cuffs, a mostly white skirt with the splattered colors, a pair of rainbow socks, black boots, and a multicolored helmet with a white brim. Penn was donning a berry blue biker jacket with white accents, a pair of candy red pants, a rainbow-colored beanie, and black boots.

"Whoa!" Lincoln approached them both, "You guys look awesome!"

Ronnie Anne turned to face Lincoln as well and smirked in amusement, "Thanks, Linc. You don't look bad yourself."

Lincoln glanced down at his own outfit; it was a candy red biker jacket above a red-and-white pinstripe shirt, a pair of candy apple pants, and black boots. His white hair was now stylized with a upward cowlick and red streak, and atop of it was a licorice red/raspberry beret.

"Huh. What do you know?"

"Anyway..." Ronnie Anne turned to the self-proclaimed expert in dimension hopping, "Penn, was it? Where exactly are we?"

"Well, from Phyllis said, the last place where your friend was last seen."

Music played in the distance, catching the attention of the trio. All of them proceeding to climb a respective tree to get a good idea on where they were, they overlooked the area around before glancing down to find two words floating in full view, in a chocolate lake, and in big, green, sparkly letters:

"Sugar Rush?"

"I honestly have no idea, Linc. Penn?"

"Yep, this is the place. There's a castle not far from here. Come on."

Penn began to climb down, signaling Lincoln and Ronnie Anne to do the same. However, while they were, Lincoln grabbed a tree branch that – after emitting a loud whine – disappeared in a flash, causing him to stumble and almost fall with a shout.

"Lincoln! What happened?"

"Guys, be careful! The candy cane branches with the double stripes disappear!"

Upon hearing him say this, Ronnie Anne glanced down at the branch that was supporting her – a double-stripe.

"Oh, nuts."

The double-striped candy cane branch disappeared and she fell two stories before landing on a one-striped candy cane branch. Clinging on for dear life, this happened the same time Penn's hands lost their grasp on a double-striped branch and fell onto another double-stripe...in his crotch area. When that too dissipated, his mental note to not make the same mistake again was transitioned into an action taken in the middle of freefall. He caught a single-striped branch and swung onto another branch, repeating the action until he was close to the ground, which he landed gracefully onto. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne followed soon after, losing their footing for a moment.

"So, Penn...how are your literal nuts?"

"Killing me. Let's hit it."

The trio then took off out of the forest and into the kingdom. Everywhere they went, they caught brief glimpses of the architecture that was essentially the candied counterparts to their real world constructions. It amazed them beyond words. Even so, they had no time to stop and look around; they had a mission to accomplish. Approximately 10 minutes later, they arrived at the castle and ceased their sprinting to get a much better look at the magnificent structure. Again, they had a mission to accomplish, but this didn't prevent Penn from stopping Lincoln and Ronnie Anne from bursting in and possibly instigating a potential siege. Instead, he knocked politely (as one would do) and waited until the door opened and a green sour ball answered.

"What can I help you with?"

"Hello, good sir," Penn set an example for both kids, "We were just looking for the ruler of this castle; it's a rather urgent matter."

The sour ball still maintained his frown, "President Vanellope is out racing with all of the other Sugar Rush players. If you have a meeting with her, I suggest waiting for a few hours."

Lincoln backtracked in understandable shock, "President? Why isn't she – " Wait...what?! President?! Vanellope?! Well, actually, that makes sense because Sugar Rush is a girl's game...but it doesn't make sense when you're being sexist and conforming to gender stereotypes. "Oh. Never mind. Ignore me."

Ronnie Anne rolled her eyes and approached Sour Bill, "So this racetrack...where is it? Listen, we're running short on time here, and as much as I want to stick around wearing nothing more than candy clothing...our friend is more important. This, despite not knowing him a lot more than Snow White here."

"Just a few miles from here. But I highly suggest you wait for her."

"We don't have time, buddy. Come on." Taking Lincoln by the arm, Ronnie Anne and Penn were off while Sour Bill watched on.

"Why does she reminds me of President Vanellope?"

It took a few extra miles off, but it was worth it. The trio slowed to a stop when they finally reached the racetrack, where somebody realized something.

"You know, we could've just drove here."

"Ronnie Anne, you know we're not old to drive."

"Well, Lincoln. You might not want to tell them that."

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne watched as the pint-sized pilots of the candy-laced crates sped towards the pit stops. One such racer was a young tan-skinned girl with bob-cut platinum-blonde hair, rosy cheeks, a strawberry helmet, a hot pink glittery dress, brilliant red jacket, and pink and white stockings and sneakers. Her helmet has a green brim and her collar is also green. She has blue eyes, glossy red lips, and thick dark lashes varnished in mascara. She is shown to wear a strawberry helmet with a pink visor similar to her dress. Ronnie Anne grimaced at her appearance in disgust.

"Ugh, what's up with that one with the mascara overload? She looks like one of those Japanese girls trying too hard to be cool; not that I'm racist or anything, but...serious, ew."

"Well, I think that's the idea. From what I can tell from everything we've seen so far, it's basically a Japanese-based kart-racing game with colorful 3D graphics. It is called Sugar Rush, after all."

"Even so, I still think she needs to lighten up on the makeup. What do you think, Linc?"

Lincoln himself wasn't paying much attention to them both, however. He was too...distracted.

("[I Just] Died in Your Arms" – Cutting Crew)

The racer that caught wasn't the one Ronnie Anne and Penn were talking about as of this moment, but rather the one the aforementioned racer was talking to as of that moment. She was a young girl with fair skin, rosy cheeks and hazel eyes. Her black hair (which was decorated with a small assortment of small candies) was pulled back into a ponytail with a scrunchie; the scrunchie itself appears to be made of red licorice. The attire she donned bore a striking resemblance to Ronnie Anne's; it was a light mint-green hoodie with strawberry bootlace tassels, and two Reese's Cup wrappers for a skirt. Her mismatched leggings are striped with teal and white, and the left is additionally accented with purple "double stripes". She also wears black boots with red frosting scribbles on the soles.

Oh, Sweet Mother of Mary...

SMACK!

"Yeow!"

Lincoln turned to the duo, his right hand rubbing his injury. Ronnie Anne in particular seemed ticked at the fact that another girl had the undistinguishable honor of turning heads, especially Lincoln's. She crossed her arms and shot him a livid expression while Penn stifled a chuckle in the background.

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, I... I was just..." Turning back to the girl that caught his attention, Lincoln watched her and the racer discussed earlier shake hands as they both went to their respective vehicles. The final race was beginning to begin. Seeing this, a crazy idea of his immediately came to mind. Rushing over to a car made of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups ("THREE!"), Lincoln pulled the driver back and boarded inside in his place. The driver in question – a young with deep blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a chocolate-and-peanut helmet with a yellow visor – was not amused ("TWO!"), a fact made clear when he approached his apparent replacement after dusting himself off.

"Hey! Get out of my car!" The driver shouted and pointed at him ("ONE!").

"Relax, Blondie! I'm just borrowing it!"

With that, the race commenced and Lincoln sped off with the other racers, leaving the former owner of the car in the dust. As for him, his hands balled into fists before he sprinted over to his spare car and drove off after him. Ronnie Anne and Penn knew that this wasn't going to end well, so they ran over to the supplementary vehicle division and grabbed their own cars, hastening behind.

Ronnie Anne's car hit a bump trailing behind Penn, prompting a yelp of fright from...not Ronnie Anne. Glancing back at her trunk, she pulled the flap to reveal a young blonde girl with a red cherry cap and a pair of navy blue overalls decorated in small candies.

"LANA?!"

...and so did a hidden Lana.

Indeed, the poor girl's tomboy serving as the yin to her twin sister's yang was currently cramped in her older brother's best friend's suitcase, asking herself how she was able to fit inside without him noticing the considerable change in weight. Unbeknownst to her, however, he did notice the change; he just never questioned it.

'Why, Lincoln? Why did you run away from home? We didn't mean for this to get out of hand...but we did. Our superstitions got the best of us, especially Lynn. I swear when we get back –'

"Oh no, Lana. Don't you dare. You weren't innocent in this. You even got excited about urinating on a wound if one of your flesh and blood got stung by a jellyfish! What kind of person does that?"

Lana cringed at that recall of that not-so-proud-now statement.

'You're right. I didn't stick up for him, but I'm willing to make amends...unlike Lynn.'

"Huh, that we can agree on."

A/N: It's been approximately two months since I last updated on this story, but that's because I was also expanding the universe of Loud House fan-favorite "Drive". Thank you all for the positive reception so far; this story's a personal favorite to work on. (Oh yeah, and Lincoln has a crush on Vanellope...something Rancis doesn't particularly appreciate.)