The air in Gummy Realm tasted like someone had distilled the concept of "fruit punch" into a mist. Sigma stood at the center of their ragtag group, his fingers flickering through admin commands with the enthusiasm of a teenager doing math homework. The green gummy bear still clung to his shoulder, whispering what Yamete could only assume were either words of encouragement or a grocery list.
"Alright," Sigma muttered, squinting at the holographic display only he could see. "I'm accessing the root directory... annnnd of course Gary's trash files are clogging up the system again."
Gary gasped, clutching his chest (or where his chest would be if he had one). "My memories are not trash! That folder is clearly labeled 'Emotional Support Leftovers'!"
Yamete watched as the Forbidden Snack loomed closer, its gelatinous form absorbing entire sections of the low-poly world with wet schlorp noises. "Less arguing, more debugging!"
GLich-chan floated nervously beside Sigma's shoulder. "You can fix this, right?"
Sigma wiped berry juice from his forehead. "Oh sure, I'll just press the 'delete apocalyptic candy monster' button. It's right next to the 'make my life not ridiculous' option." His fingers danced through the air. "The problem is that this thing is basically a corrupted backup of the original Reality Cores. If I delete it improperly—"
The ground lurched violently as the Forbidden Snack took another step forward, this time dissolving an entire hillside into rainbow sludge.
"—we might accidentally uninstall Glitchvale entirely."
Gary's gummy subjects had begun a frantic conga line around their feet, which would have been adorable if not for the impending doom. The red one tugged on Yamete's sleeve. "GREAT TASTY ONE'S FRIEND! WE HAVE PLAN!"
Yamete looked down at the determined little bear. "Please tell me it doesn't involve sacrificing anyone."
The gummy bear blinked its too-many eyes. "...MOSTLY?"
Before Yamete could protest, the gummy bears sprang into action. Dozens of them surged forward, climbing over each other to form a... was that a gummy ladder?
GLich-chan's eyes widened. "Oh no. They're going to—"
"FOR THE GREAT TASTY ONE!" the red bear squeaked, as the entire gummy population began hurling themselves at the Forbidden Snack.
The effect was immediate and horrifying. The massive creature shuddered as hundreds of tiny bears impacted its surface, their gelatinous bodies sticking to it like... well, like gummy bears to a giant monster made of the same substance. The Forbidden Snack wobbled dangerously, its movements slowing as it tried to process this unexpected development.
Gary let out a strangled noise. "MY PEOPLE! NOOOOOO!"
Sigma seized the opportunity. "Okay, now! Spoon, I need admin override!"
The Really Big Spoon shot forward, embedding itself in the ground at Sigma's feet. A beam of light erupted from its handle, connecting with Sigma's outstretched hands. His eyes glowed with admin power as he spoke the most ridiculous admin command in history:
"FORCE FEED: SYSTEM RESTORE."
The world blinked.
For one terrifying second, everything—the gummy bears, the landscape, even Yamete's own body—stretched into impossible shapes, colors inverting, sounds reversing. The Forbidden Snack let out a roar that started as a deep bellow and ended as a squeaky toy noise.
Then, with a sound like a soda can opening in reverse, reality snapped back into place.
Yamete found himself standing in the Kitchen at the End of Reality, exactly where they'd been before the portal incident. The cauldron of Soup bubbled innocently before them. The three Reality Cores floated peacefully above it, no longer fused together. And scattered across every available surface were...
"...Gummy bears?" Yamete picked up one of the tiny creatures, which blinked sleepily up at him. It was the red one, now significantly less terrified.
GLich-chan floated over to inspect the cores. "They're stable! And... wait." She squinted at them. "Why does this one have a tiny crown?"
Gary, who had been quietly hyperventilating since the gummy sacrifice, suddenly perked up. "MY LOYAL SUBJECTS!" He rushed forward, gathering armfuls of drowsy gummy bears. "YOU'RE ALIVE! AND ONLY SLIGHTLY MELTED!"
Sigma collapsed into a nearby chair (which promptly turned into a beanbag under his weight). "I need a vacation. In a universe where nothing is sentient or sticky."
The Really Big Spoon hovered contentedly near the cauldron, its surface gleaming. "SYSTEM RESTORE COMPLETE. USER 'FORBIDDEN SNACK' DELETED. USER 'GARY' STILL ON PROBATION."
As the group processed their bizarre victory, a familiar ding echoed through the kitchen. The phantom bakery had produced another batch of croissants—this time shaped suspiciously like gummy bears.
Yamete sighed and grabbed one. "So... we won?"
GLich-chan floated down to sit on his shoulder. "Define 'won.' We stopped reality from collapsing, but..." She gestured at Gary, who was now holding a tiny gummy bear coronation ceremony using bottle caps as crowns.
Sigma groaned and pulled the green gummy bear (who had somehow followed them back) into a hug. "I miss when my biggest problem was unbalanced gameplay."