Chapter 3: Not Bad…Not Bad At All

Taffyta sat in the Bad-Anon building, sipping juice. She felt awful. Her arms felt like lead, hanging at her sides. She sipped the juice but only felt the acid, not the sugar. Her hat didn't sit right, and her makeup didn't either.

But it was nothing, she felt, compared to what she'd done to Rancis Fluggerbutter.

He'd wanted to kill himself. He'd become convinced he was worthless and useless.

And it was all her fault.

"It's not your fault, you know." A voice spoke, deep and reassuring.

Taffyta's makeup-smeared eyes looked up at a figure standing in the doorway—her old friend and support at Bad-Anon, Kano.

"Turbo's ghost was controlling you. There was nothing you could have done, Taffyta."

She sipped her drink sadly.

"I guess so…but I hurt him…so much. And I didn't even properly apologize. I didn't try to comfort him. I just gave him some coins and ran off, crying."

Kano knelt beside her.

"Can I tell you a story from my own game, Taffyta?"

She nodded.

"Johnny Cage is a movie star, and a pretty stuck-up and bratty one, when the game's being played. But during the game, it's established he was the first to lead the charge against Shao Kahn and nearly died because of it. Also, there's Kabal. Now, in game, I lead the Black Dragon crime organization, and Kabal was part of it until he had a change of a heart, becoming a hero against Shao Kahn's forces."

"B-but that's just a story…"
"Stories are powerful, though. Just ask Ralph, or Felix. It might be all programmed, but that doesn't make it meaningless."

Taffyta considered this.

"B-but I cared only about winning…so did Turbo."
Kano raised his eyebrow.

"Wanting to win isn't a crime, Taffyta. The thing about Turbo is, he took it too far. There's winning…and then there's going Turbo. I got here after the whole incident, but the thing is…in our game, we know that might happen. After all, Mortal Kombat does concern victory. Shao Kahn, when the game's off, takes us aside and discusses what it means to be a Kombatant. We have a few rules: Only do harm within the rules of the game; it doesn't matter who wins in the end, all that matters is the player's enjoyment; and finally, no matter what happens, we're all friends."

Clyde drifted in.

"How's the girl doing, Kano?"

Kano faintly smiled.

"I'm doing what I can for her, Clyde."

Clyde turned to him.

"I told Shao Kahn what you were up to when I saw him in Tapper's. He's proud of you. Says you're a true Kombatant."

Clyde then floated to Taffyta.

"You're hurting still, aren't you?"

Taffyta nodded, taking a donut from behind her and eating it.

"What happened to Rancis was absolutely horrifying. But you need to realize it wasn't your fault. You couldn't control yourself, could you?"

The young girl shook her head.

"I-I couldn't. I felt like…a puppet, like someone else was pulling the strings, and taking the worst stuff about me and making it worse…like a bad cartoon."

Clyde nodded.

"Anything else you wanted to share, Taffyta?"

She nodded, a tear falling into her now-empty juice cup.

"I saw his eyes. I'd never seen them so full of tears…he felt like no one loved him. He's always been really insecure about being poor and not being so good at racing, and then insecure about what Vanellope thinks of him, so what did Turbo have me go after? All of that. Turbo made me tell Rancis that Vanellope couldn't love him. That's the worst thing I did…unwillingly. I still feel bad about breaking Vanellope's kart, back then. I felt something telling me something was off, but I never listened to it."

Satan flickered into the room.

"Taffyta, you might have a little bit of a haughty streak, but then again, so do a lot of game characters. I mean, look at me. But the best thing you can do is just check yourself. Being proud of yourself isn't bad, even if you're a Bad Guy. But take it too far, and you go Turbo. You know what I think? I think you should go talk to Rancis."

"He won't talk to me, probably…"

"Then bring Vanellope with you. He'll listen to her. She knows you were being controlled."

"Th-thanks, Satan."

"Please, call me Sateen." He smiled and left.

"I-I think I'm ready to go face him." She said to Clyde and Kano. "Just one thing…why the whole 'Sateen' thing? I've always wondered."

Clyde spoke up.

"There was a lot of 'Satanic Panic' in the 80s, and when his game, Satan's Hollow, got plugged in…many parents raised a huge fuss. He likes to downplay it these days. Never felt comfortable with the idea that he was 'corrupting children'. He likes kids—he's a kid at heart."

Taffyta nodded.

"I just thought of something I wanted to tell you. You're not bad, and that's good. You're not Good, but you're not bad. Never lose sight of who you are, Taffyta. You'll always be a star in everyone's hearts if you just 'stay sweet'."

She smiled.

"Th-that's what I say…Alright! I'm going back to Sugar Rush! I'm going to patch things up with Rancis."

Rancis was in fact, not alone back in Sugar Rush. Vanellope was already comforting him, ruffling his hair, and the other racers were apologizing.

"Taffyta…She's not coming, is she?" Rancis wondered.

Vanellope looked off into the distance with sadness on her face.

"Hey, don't count me out, Rancis."

Taffyta showed up beside Rancis, and put a hand lightly on his.

"Rancis…I'm so, so sorry about everything! Sorry if I couldn't have apologized better…congratulations on your win! I just wish I could have been better and not hurting you all the while."

"Hey, that's just Turbo's fault." Rancis smiled. "I'm just glad you're finally here!"

"Glad? After all that?"

Vanellope ran over and pressed a button.

"How can we have a party?" Rancis asked, a huge grin on his face, as confetti and streamers flew everywhere.

Taffyta found herself smiling in spite of the tears drying on her face.

"You're free now, Taffyta. We're all free from Turbo, and I got a first place win, so why not celebrate?" Rancis asked.

Vanellope smiled.

"I brought some friends, too." She said.

Felix, Ralph, Sgt. Calhoun, Kano, Kabal, Shao Kahn, the Nicelanders, Clyde, and Satan were all waving and Q*Bert brought in a cake with Peter Pepper's help. Candlehead lent her flame to light the candles.

"Hey, listen up." Vanellope spoke into a microphone.

Everyone turned to look.

"Rancis has something to say." She passed the microphone to him, kissing him on the cheek.

One fit of blushing later, Rancis spoke up.

"Today, a lot happened. Races were won, and some pretty nasty stuff happened too. But I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here to say that finally, Sugar Rush is rid of Turbo, and we can all be friends again. We were meant to be friends, but all the time, he got in the way, and drove a wedge between us."

His choice of words caused a brief grimace from Taffyta.

"So, let's forget what he did. It doesn't matter! We're all sweet people, I know that! And there's a girl standing beside me who reminded me of that."

Vanellope blushed.

"Come here." Rancis smiled, and offered his hand.

"Yuck, can we skip the formalities?" Vanellope quipped, kissing him.

"If you wanted a kiss, all you had to do was ask, cutie." She teased.

There was thunderous applause, especially from Taffyta and her Kombatant friends.

Sour Bill scampered up beside them with a flat "Yay."

Some things never changed.