The ground trembled beneath their feet as a deep, resonant thrum pulsed through Gummy Realm. Yamete watched in horror as the glitching structure in the distance began to move, its jagged edges unfolding like some terrible origami nightmare. What he'd assumed was a building was actually something far worse—a gargantuan, misshapen mass of gelatinous matter that made the other gummy bears look like amateur hour at the candy factory.
The red gummy bear clutched at Gary's rim like a terrified child. "THE FORBIDDEN SNACK STIRS!" it squeaked.
GLich-chan's debug screen flickered wildly. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. That thing's code signature is off the charts! It's like someone took the original Reality Core and fed it nothing but sugar and bad decisions!"
The massive creature—if it could even be called that—lurched forward, its amorphous body rippling with unnatural colors. Every movement sent shockwaves through the low-poly landscape, causing trees to pixelate and the ground to stretch unnaturally. Then, with a sound like a thousand rubber bands snapping at once, it spoke.
"WHO... DISTURBS... MY... DIET?"
Gary, ever the diplomat, immediately stepped forward (though Yamete noticed he made sure to keep the Really Big Spoon between himself and the monstrosity). "GREETINGS, O MIGHTY... UH... JIGGLY ONE! WE COME IN PEACE! ALSO POSSIBLY TO NEGOTIATE A TRADE DEAL!"
The Forbidden Snack's surface bubbled ominously. "TRADE...?"
"YES!" Gary gestured grandly at his gummy subjects. "WE OFFER... THESE FINE, DELICIOUS CITIZENS IN EXCHANGE FOR—"
Yamete grabbed Gary's lid and yanked him backward. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
Gary blinked. "What? They're gummy bears! This is basically their purpose!"
The red gummy bear looked up at Gary with huge, trembling eyes. "GREAT TASTY ONE WOULD SACRIFICE US...?"
Gary hesitated just long enough for his conscience (or possibly just his survival instincts) to kick in. "...Okay, okay, bad plan. New plan!" He turned back to the looming monstrosity. "WE OFFER... THIS REALLY BIG SPOON INSTEAD!"
The spoon immediately bonked Gary on the lid. "USER 'GARY' ATTEMPTING UNAUTHORIZED SPOON-TRADING. DEPLOYING COUNTERMEASURES."
As Gary yelped and tried to shield himself from the spoon's wrath, Yamete turned to GLich-chan. "We need to stop this thing before it—"
SPLORCH.
A tendril of gelatinous matter shot out from the Forbidden Snack, slamming into the ground mere feet away. Where it struck, the very code of the world began to unravel—textures glitching, polygons stretching, and colors bleeding together like a corrupted save file.
GLich-chan's eyes widened. "It's not just a monster—it's a reality virus! If we don't stop it, this whole dimension will collapse!"
Yamete looked around desperately for anything they could use as a weapon. His gaze landed on the spoon, which was still lecturing Gary about "proper utensil respect." "Hey! Spoon! You're a debug tool, right? Can't you... I don't know, debug that thing?"
The spoon paused mid-bonk. "AFFIRMATIVE. HOWEVER, REQUIRES ADMIN ACCESS."
GLich-chan snapped her fingers. "Sigma! He's still an admin, even if he's currently having an existential crisis in gummy therapy!"
Yamete groaned. "Great. So we need to:
1. Find Sigma,
2. Convince him to help us,
3. Get him to use his admin powers on that thing—" He gestured at the Forbidden Snack, which was now absorbing entire chunks of the landscape like a kid with a bag of candy.
"—all while not getting eaten, dissolved, or turned into low-poly versions of ourselves?"
Gary, who had finally escaped the spoon's wrath, clanged his lid. "SOUNDS LIKE A TUESDAY TO ME!"
Their desperate plan was interrupted by a sudden pop as a familiar figure materialized mid-air and landed face-first in a nearby berry bush (which immediately turned into pixels upon impact). Sigma groaned and rolled over, blinking up at them. His hair was mussed, his clothes were stained with what looked like grape juice, and a small green gummy bear was still clinging to his shoulder like a particularly determined backpack.
"Ugh... why does my head feel like it got blended..." Sigma muttered, before his gaze landed on the Forbidden Snack. His eyes widened. "OH COME ON. WHAT NOW?"
The green gummy bear patted his cheek. "YOU OKAY, MAMA SIGMA?"
GLich-chan didn't waste time. "Sigma! We need your admin access to stop that thing before it eats all of reality!"
Sigma stared at her, then at the spoon, then at Gary—who had somehow acquired a tiny gummy crown and was waving cheerfully—before burying his face in his hands. "I just wanted to balance the game... why is this my life..."
The Forbidden Snack chose that moment to let out a roar that sounded suspiciously like a soda can opening, shaking the ground hard enough to send them all tumbling. Sigma looked up just in time to see a massive gelatinous pseudopod heading straight for them.
"...Fine," he grumbled, standing up and brushing berry pixels off his clothes. "But I'm not happy about it."
As Sigma raised his hands to access his admin controls, the spoon floated beside him, humming ominously. The green gummy bear clung tighter to his shoulder, whispering encouragement. Gary rallied his gummy subjects into a cheerleading squad. And Yamete could only watch as the most unlikely team in existence prepared to face down a cosmic horror made of sentient candy.