As Turbo watched from his vantage point nestled amongst the cold wires of Game Central Station, a plug slid into an empty slot. A plug that Turbo mused, could be the fulfillment of all his hopes and dreams. He had heard tell that this game was a racing game. Mr. Litwak had not plugged in any new racing games since the demise of Turbotime and Roadblasters. He was lost without Turbotime. Racing was in his code. Without it, he was nothing. And after all, wasn't it his fault that the two games got unplugged? That was enough to make the denizens of the arcade hate him with a burning passion. And so he had hid. Alone and racked with guilt. No one knew he was alive. And perhaps it was better that way. Maybe all the lonely years he had spent in Game Central Station (How long had it been? So much time had passed that he had lost count.) were his comeuppance. For the two NPCS that had raced with him, Jump and Boost, had not made it out of Turbotime. They had been his friends. His best friends. No matter how many times he had yelled at them or been rude to them or snubbed them, they had always been there to lend a helping hand and a kind word. They still haunted his dreams. But no matter. The new game, what was it called? Sugar Rush. Yes, that was it. It could allow him to do what he had only dreamed of for so long. Racing. So many years had ebbed away that even his memories of the thing that brought him so much joy, his only solace in this cold, dark place, had begun to dim. He had gotten himself cleaned up for this momentual occasion. As he left his little hidyhole, he stared back at the filth and squalor for what he hoped would be the last time. He stared wide-eyed out at the place where other characters, characters with their own games,walked freely without even a trace of fear. So utterly confident in their freedom. Never faltering, never even entertaining the notion that someone might be watching them longingly. Oh, how he envied them. He took a deep breath to steady himself and the forgotten racer stepped out of the recesses of the station and into the station itself for the first time in years. He knew he must hide. Luckily he had exited very near the newfound portal to Sugar Rush. He darted inside and let out a gasp. "Holy mother of code…" The place was huge! It was better than he had even dared to dream. There were so many tracks. And what complexity! It all seemed to be made out of some sort of…Wait. Was that candy? He tasted some dirt. It was candy all right. Yum. As he was staring at the game, he noticed a pink castle close by. He figured that that was where the leader of the game would reside. It was time. He had to stay strong, nervous as he was. He was going to ask to race in the game. After hours of course, for he could tell at a single glance that his color scheme didn't exactly fit within the game. When he had reached the castle, he knocked on the door and it swung open. "And whom might you be?" He looked but didn't see anyone. "Down here." He looked down and saw a green…gumdrop? "My name is Turbo and I wish to speak with the ruler of this game." "Very well." The green guy led Turbo through the castle. All the while Turbo was amazed at the detail put into everything. The duo stopped in front of the gilded double doors leading to the throne room. He heard the ruler finishing up with someone else. "But Princess! My family is homeless! We have no money to take care of ourselves, much less pay the high taxes! Please help us!" "I've heard enough. Take her to the dungeon!" The doors clanked open and Turbo was awash with splendor. In the midst of it all was a little girl with black hair in a poufy pink dress sitting on a white and gold throne. The gumball guy stated "Princess, there is someone whom wishes to see you." "Bring him in." She answered regally with a little hand wave. "Princess…" "Princess Vanellope von Shweetz" she answered rather snobbishly, still with her eyes closed. "Princess Vanellope von Shweetz" Turbo said with a bow,"my name is Turbo and I would humbly like to request-" At this she opened her eyes. " Ewwww! You look gross! Guards, escort him out of here! Guards! GUARDS!" She was stamping her foot and crying and screaming and just throwing a temper tantrum for all the world to see. When the guards finally arrived, they walked Turbo out of Sugar Rush. One of them whispered to the other one " I think the princess is being a bit unfair…" The other (Oreo?) guard quickly hissed back "Shhh! You know the princess will have your head if she hears you say that!"He looked back at Sugar Rush with a feeling approaching defeat. "Mod help me…" As he exited, he quickly crawled back into the Game Central Station behind Game Central Station-the narrow space behind the walls and above the ceiling. The place where he had lived for so long. As he lay curled up on a bed of wires, a thought fluttered through his head. What would've the twins thought of him if they could see him in this mod-forsaken place? He sank into a fitful sleep and dreamed... When he came to he knew what he had to do. As he entered through the portal to Sugar Rush again he was struck by that same sense of joy. For the love of his life was so close. Oh, to race again!
As he entered the palace unnoticed he was overtaken with the majesty once again. He had to focus. It was time for that candy coated brat to get what she deserved.
Vanellope was taking a little nap and delighting in all the people she had yelled at today. It was good to be Princess! Suddenly she heard a noise. Footsteps? No one should be walking around at this hour in HER castle! She stamped out of the room to give the violator a talking-to and accuse them of treason for disobeying their princess. Oh, it was going to be fun throwing them in the dungeon! She couldn't wait to see them beg and cry!
Turbo had just found the code room. He entered the code he had found on a napkin in Tappers before he had went into hiding. It was a veritable skeleton key. Guaranteed to open any code room and other things besides. He tapped into the Nintendo gamepad Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start. He had heard someone call it the Konami code? As the door to the code room opened, he heard tiny footsteps pattering down the hall and heard the doors open. He dived into the code room before she could stop him. Luckily, because he had checked out the code room in his game to make the cars…more awesome…he knew how to swim in the code rooms.
As Princess Vanellope swung open the doors to her throne room, she let out a tiny gasp. "Oh, code. Code, code, code." This ugly gray guy was opening the door to the code room! He was inside! "Halt! I order you to stop in the name of the princess! However, this insolent traitor paid no heed. Without thinking, she dived into the code room after him. Unfortunately, since she had had no reason to go in the code room since the game was plugged in, she didn't know how to move and all she could do was float there helplessly.
Turbo had barely registered the princess…until she began begging for him not to do anything to the code. He just ignored her and continued looking for the right code box. Ah! Here we are, Vanellope von Shweetz…
Princess Vanellope was very afraid. Here was this grey man messing with the game's lifeblood! He could do anything! "Please, please don't mess with the code Mr…" "Turbo!" "Mr. Turbo! Please! I'll do anything! Anything! I swear to mod! Please!"
No, she wouldn't. He knew that from experience. Give them an inch, and they'll stab you in the back. Now, how was he to go about teaching this pompous princess a lesson? Yes, that is how he would do it.
Princess Vanellope peered into the black fullness of the code. She saw Turbo hovering near a code box as if he was deciding what to do with it. That must be the code he was going to change/destroy! What did it say? The princess of Sugar Rush strained her eyes to read what it said. "Oh code, no…" she whispered. That was her name! "Stop! I order you to stop in the name of the princess of Sugar Rush! If you stop now and come out I will be merciful." "Listen here you spoiled brat, you are not in charge of this situation anymore! I am! I have seen the way you treat your loyal subjects, and you don't deserve to be ruler!" "W-what are you going to do to me?" She had finally realized that she was now powerless against Turbo and whatever he was going to do to her. "Why, haven't you guessed? You are such a spoiled brat and I am going to make it so that you will not be spoiled any longer!" "How?" Vanellope whimpered quietly. "Your Majesty" Turbo replied mockingly, "You deserve to be treated the same way you have treated everyone around you. So, you shall become…a GLITCH!" "What's a glitch?" "You don't know what a glitch is? Well, then Vanellope, I suppose you will find out soon enough." As he said this, Vanellope realized that Turbo was ripping out the the wires that connected her code box to the rest of the game! "Wh ł ær€ ¥0ū d01^g łürb0¿!" Vanellope questioned as she flickered into blue binary for the first time but definitely not the last. " I said I was going to make you into a glitch, did I not?"
After Turbo had ripped out the wires connecting Vanellope's code box to the rest of the game, he thought about what to do next. If Vanellope wasn't to be the ruler of the game, who was? If he made any of the existing citizens the leader, there was no guarantee that they would be better than Vanellope had been or that they would let him race. That left only one option. After he had created his new persona, Turbo turned his attention to the increasingly glitchy Vanellope. "|-ûrb0, p1€4$€ šł0p¡ P1ę4ś€:::" He suddenly realized that becoming the ruler wouldn't work if everyone still remembered her. Thus, he locked up the racers and the citizens memories. She couldn't go out there in that outfit! Why, it practically screamed princess! He locked the outfit and in its place put a yellow taffy shirt and black licorice pants. "There, that looks rather unprincessy." Turbo said through Vanellope's sobbing. "Ta ta!" As Vanellope disappeared, Turbo very nearly vomited. What would Jump think of him doing this?