It had been two weeks since Sugar Rush was plugged in at Litwak's.
Everything was going great! The game proved to be a huge hit, being popular among both boys and girls of various ages, and having gained several players, and earning a great amount of coin over the course of a few days.
Better yet, the game was running smoothly. Litwak had been hesitant with installing any more racing games ever since the incident back in 1987. But, he had apparently convinced himself in putting in a new racing game, for a change; and Sugar Rush was just the choice he had made.
As mentioned before: Sugar Rush had become fairly popular in the arcade, but there were still a few who were a bit hesitant toward the new game, mostly because it was a racing game, and because it was popular. It brought a lot of characters back to a certain game - a popular racing game - from the 1980s.
The characters inside the games were very much alive. Of course, they acted the parts they were given during playing hours, but after the arcade closed for the night, they were free to go about and do whatever they wanted.
The racers from Sugar Rush stuck to staying in their game, however. Although they had ventured out to familiarize themselves with the other games and characters, they were mostly avoided. Almost as though they were viewed as shady troublemakers.
Of course, some of them were troublemakers; they would play pranks on one-another, but it was all in good fun; none of them would consider themselves as the shady sort. But, for whatever reason, everyone steered clear of them.
Nobody from Sugar Rush meant any harm toward anyone. But, they were new to the arcade.
"Give it time; the other characters'll learn to like us," said Vanellope von Shweetz, the ruler of Sugar Rush, and - arguably - the main protagonist of the game.
"Yeah, well it stinks that everyone is so quick to judging us." Taffyta lowered her head, and nudged a small cookie crumb away from her feet. "It's like they're seeing us as... Somebody guilty of a crime they hadn't even committed; it's hard to explain."
"Hey, I'm sure every newbie gets this treatment!" Vanellope smiled at her co-racer. "Well, I'm not sure about the whole guilty-until-proven-innocent thing, but you know what I mean, right?"
"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Taffyta looked up at the princess and smiled. "Well, in any case, I better stop by at the Kart Factory to make some adjustments to Pink Lightning. I want her rarin' for the next Roster Race."
"Yeah." The black-haired princess smirked smuggly at the pink-clad racer. "Watch out for the smelly underwear while you're at it!"
Taffyta stuck her tongue out at the princess, before departing, waving at the black-haired kid as she ran off.
Taffyta Muttonfudge had to be the most confident racer in Sugar Rush(maybe to the point where she may even come across as arrogant), so it came as a surprise to Vanellope when she heard the blond-haired pixie speak her disheartened thoughts out-loud.
Of course, Vanellope could understand the concern. It was a bit disappointing to be watched as though they were a ticking time-bomb. What was up with that, anyway? They hadn't done anything harmful, nor would any of them ever plan to. The Sugar Rush Racers held no ill-intent toward anyone.
"It was like judging a book by its cover," Vanellope said to herself with a shrug of her shoulders as she wandered through the candy cane forest. The young racer wondered why the other game characters were so quick toward keeping a wide berth from them; and what could have happened in the past for them to keep their distance.
Well, like she had told Taffyta: Sugar Rush was still brand new. Maybe the other characters just needed more time?
"... But how, when we're not even given a chance?" Vanellope asked herself. She had hopes that everyone would get along; if not, she might have to put her foot down and make a public speech in Game Central Station.
Suddenly, a panicked shout drew Vanellope from her thoughts. Casting her gaze upward, the young racer caught sight of a white and red blur falling down from the candy cane branches, and landing in a gumball bush nearby.
With a gasp, Vanellope rushed to the aid of whoever it was who just so happened to be stuck up in the candy cane tree. What were they doing up there? Vanellope wondered to herself.
"Hey! Are you alri-"
Vanellope was cut-off, her stride coming to a sudden stop when the mysterious character stood up from the gumball bush, groaning in pain as he(judging by the sound of his voice, because Vanellope didn't know of many girls that sounded like guys) rubbed the white helmet atop his head.
Who was that? Vanellope didn't recognize this character from Sugar Rush. Was he a visitor? What was he doing up there in that tree?
The mysterious racer looked up the candy cane tree in bewilderment. What the heck happened? He had thought he had a perfect hold up there; then suddenly, the branch just vanished under his feet, causing the racer to go plummeting(rather painfully) down to the sugary ground below.
Cursing under his breath, the white-clad racer proceeded dusting himself off, frowning, and utterly humiliated from the fall. At least he hadn't taken any fall damage...
"Double-stripes break."
The racer froze, his avatar flickering red, before twirling around to face whoever had spoken. A little girl with black hair, wearing a ridiculously puffy dress, stood by, waving her fingers and smiling over at the white-clad racer.
Yeah, this guy was definitely not from Sugar Rush. Sweet mother of monkey milk, he almost looked like a zombie, Vanellope thought to herself.
He looked like a character from a racing game, judging by his white suit and helmet.An old racing game at that. The cuffs at the end of his sleeves were red, as were his pockets and sneakers. The white helmet on top of the strange characters head bore a large, red 'T' on the front and the back, as Vanellope had noticed when the strange avatar had his back turned to her.
Admittedly, the strange character was awfully generic, as far as clothing went; although Vanellope had to admit, he had a... Unique face. He was almost skeletal, in a way. Dark circles underneath his round, yellow eyes; a petite nose; VERY pale skin, and sort of wrinkly at the corners of his mouth.
Did he have yellow teeth?
"Ya' might wanna brush your teeth later," Vanellope motioned her heart-tipped wand over toward the pale avatar. "They're kinda goin' yellow."
The white-clad avatar flickered red, and furrowed his brows. Or lack of. What do you call brows without hair? eyebrowless brows? browless-brows? Well, whatever. Vanellope knew that Mr. T was clearly insulted by her comment.
"It was a joke; I do that," Vanellope commented afterward. "So, do ya' got a name, Mister? Where'd ya' come from? What brings you to this lovely little game? Can ya' speak, or do you throw up chat bubbles? Well, I don't mean throwing up as in-"
Vanellope came to a sudden halt when the mysterious character turned, and made a run for it.
"Hey, wait! Where'ya goin'?" Vanellope stood there, blinking as she watched the newcomer running away.
Well, this was peachy! The first character to visit Sugar Rush, and they have to take off running! Well, better go after him, before he hurt himself.
The white-clad racer eventually came to a slowdown. He looked over his shoulder, flickering red as he surveyed his surroundings.
Being found out was not something he had wanted to have happen. And that stupid pixie or whatever was probably sounding the alarm, and making a big announcement that there was an intruder in the game...
"Ya' know, that's not very nice to go running off when someone's talkin' to ya'."
Startled, the white-clad racer twirled around to find the princess seated on a nearby jawbreaker.
"What do you want!?"
"Oh! So Mr. T CAN talk without chat bubbles!" Or glitching up. Vanellope smiled. After a moment, the princess stood up, and walked toward the other racer, who all but recoiled. She didn't even have to stand on her tip-toes to get a better look at the pale avatar's face. He was as short as she was!
"Ya' know, there's no need to be all secretive," Vanellope started. "It's not like I'm gonna bite or anything. At least, not too much," the young princess finished with a smirk, only to prompt another frown as a result.
Man, why so serious? This was guy was worse than Sour Bill.
"Anyhow, you avoided my question from before! What brings you 'round these parts?"
The white-clad racer chose to keep quiet, lowering his head to avoid eye-contact with the princess, and flickering red for a split second.
Sweet mother of monkey milk, was everyone in this arcade like that? Vanellope crossed her arms as she stared over at the white-clad racer.
"I came to check out the new game," he finally said.
"Horay! He spoke!" Vanellope clapped her hands enthusiastically at the answer, almost like a mother hearing their kid speaking their first words. "That wasn't too hard, now was it?"
The black-haired girl held a hand out. "Names Vanellope, president of Sugar Rush; hi, how'ya doin'?"
The white-clad avatar was silent for a minute as he stared at the puffy-dressed princess. President? What was she talking about?
"I thought you were a printheth."
Whoah! Apparently he spoke with a lisp as well. Vanellope didn't expect that. Shrugging off this new discovery, the princess - or president - chose to answer his question, instead of asking him about his speech impediment.
"Ehh, I prefer president. Even though I was programmed as princess Vanellope, I think president has a better ring to it," Vanellope stated. "Anyway, what's your name?"
"My name?" The pale racer blinked with a slightly bewildered look on his face, his eyes showing a great deal of hesitance toward the question. "Um... I-I, um... Uh..."
"You don't have a stutter either, do you?" Vanellope asked.
At that, the racer frowned at Vanellope, stuck his head up, and crossed his arms. "I'm Turbo! And I'm the greatetht racer ever!"
"Turbo, huh?" Vanellope repeated, placing the tip of her finger on the edge of her chin as she registered the name. "I guess that's what the 'T' on your helmet stands for, huh?" The president chuckled.
Of course that's what the 'T' stood for! What did she think?
"Well, Mr. The-greatest-racer-ever-with-a-lisp, welcome to Sugar Rush!" Vanellope made a sweeping motion with her hands, and gestured toward the sugary environments around them.
"Thankth," Turbo responded, reaching his hand up to scratch the back of his helmet.
So, she wasn't bothered to find a total stranger in her game? Hadn't she heard of the phrase 'Going Turbo'?
But then again, Sugar Rush had only been around for... What was it? Two eeks? So maybe nobody here heard about that incident. Turbo felt a bit more comfortable with that in mind, as it meant that the Sugar Rush racers had no reason to be suspicious of him.
Well, assuming he didn't make himself look suspicious.
... What was he thinking? Oblivious or not, they probably would be suspicious of him anyway.
"Want me to show you around? Introduce you to the other racers?" Turbo looked over at the puffy-dressed president in surprise to her offer.
"Really?" The racer blinked. "I mean, I'm... You're jutht gonna show me around the game, when we've only jutht met?"
"Sure, why not?" Said Vanellope with a smile. "I mean, you're sort of the first visitor we've ever had, and I don't see the harm in showing you around. Unless you plan on doing something crazy - like, say, overthrow the ruler and take over the kingdom, then there might be some problems; but you honestly don't seem like that kind of person. So, what do you say?"
Turbo's gaze wandered to-and-fro, surveying the sugary area around them. Was there a choice-box under Vanellope's head or something?
"Don't worry; it's not like there are any downsides or anything," said Vanellope with a shrug of her shoulder. "I mean, if you don't want to, that's fine; I'm not gonna hold it against ya'. But you are welcome here, and I want ya' to feel welcome."
There was nothing but silence. After a moment, the president took this as a 'no', and started to turn away, only to stop when Turbo stepped forward.
"Alright, alright; you can take me out on a tour of the kingdom."
The princess stopped, and twirled around to face the foreign racer. With a smile, she pumped her fist up into the air. "Shweet!" She exclaimed in a victorious tone. "C'mon! I'll show you around! My kart's not too far from here!"
Reaching down to take hold of Turbo's hand, Vanellope skipped off with Turbo in tow; the white-clad racer practically being dragged as he was forced to follow the princess-slash-president.
That poor kid had no idea what she would be getting herself into; nor had she any knowledge on Turbo's true purpose there...