Tapper's was busy, and that suited Taffyta just fine. The fewer people who took notice of her, the better. And the more people mobbed around the bar, the more she faded into the crowd. Mario was there, a group of admirers around him, and that helped a lot.
She needed the crowds to hide her, because ever since Sugar Rush had reset, everyone from the game, racers and NPCs alike, had become celebrities. Maybe more like curiosities. Everyone wanted to know what living under crazy Turbo had been like.
Taffyta, normally the gregarious ringleader, never engaged. The other racers did. Swizz loved it, he'd go on and on, making stuff up about how King Candy—only he never said King Candy, always Turbo—had done all these terrible things, like threatening to feed them to Skittles, the nasty fire-breathing uni-candy-corn. Once he'd elbowed her and said, "Right, Taff?" but she hadn't known what to do. Her instinct, like a reflex, had been to defend her king—but he wasn't her king. And she was smart enough to stuff that instinct away.
Sometimes, if he noticed, Tapper would come over and disperse the throng. Once, maybe seeing the way Taffyta stayed silent during these sessions, the bartender put a root beer down in front of her, unsolicited, and said, "You know, whatever he turned into, Turbo was still one of us."
She hadn't answered. Without touching the root beer, she'd left. She didn't want anyone thinking she harbored anything but hate for Turbo.
"Hey, kid."
For a second, the voice didn't register. But then there was another, more insistent, "Hey. Kid," and she knew she was being addressed.
But Taffyta ignored the voice, determined to stew in her own world. Which she totally could, because at the rate things were going, she was never going to race again in her whole life. Going Turbo didn't even matter, because in a game with fifteen racers to choose from, no one would ever even miss her. The gamers only needed nine, after all.
Taffyta swiped a hand across her face and reached for her root beer, but then that voice hissed, closer this time, "Hey, you. Little girl. Blondie."
She stared straight into her root beer, and then a hand reached out and pulled it away. "It's rude to ignore people when they're talking to you," the owner of the hand said.
Finally, she looked up, glaring at the stranger who'd taken possession of her drink. He didn't look familiar, just some buttoned-shirt-wearing pretty boy with frosted tips. She couldn't muster the curiosity to wonder what game he was from. "So I'm rude," she said. "Can I have my root beer back?"
"Say please," the guy said.
Taffyta grabbed for the tankard, meeting no resistance.
"Hey, a pretty little thing like you shouldn't be sitting here alone."
Making a gagging sound, she said, "I'm like, nine years old. Buzz off." What kind of sicko couldn't see she was just a kid? She searched the bar, wondering where Tapper was so he could rescue her from this jerk.
"Yeah, I know. You're one of those Sugar Rush kids, right? The game that Turbo took over."
She rolled her eyes. "Would you just leave me alone?"
He grinned and leaned an elbow on the bar. "Guess you're tired of talking about that, huh? Turbo this, Turbo that. The way this place has been lately, you'd think Sugar Rush was called TurboTime."
Taffyta stared at him for a second, then turned away and stuck a lollipop in her mouth. "Yeah," she said, "I'm tired of talking about it."
"I get that." The man watched her, despite the fact that she refused to look at him. She could see him out of the corner of her eye. "What you need is a place where people don't care about that kind of stuff."
Hunching her shoulders, she said, "Yeah, I was in one until you showed up."
"Oh, come on. Someone was gonna come over here sooner or later and ask if it's true that Turbo sacrificed one of you kids to the volcano every year so he could be the best racer in the game."
She grit her teeth on the lollipop and it cracked apart. The worst part was, she didn't know what bothered her more, the fact that she'd already been asked this question, or the fact that what she wanted to say was, King Candy never needed to do so much as cheat to win. He was the best racer in the game.
There was a long silence, and then the man asked, "So, did he sacrifice any of you to the volcano?"
Taffyta shoved her root beer away so hard that foamy soda sloshed over the sides onto the bar. Without a word, she hopped down off the bar stool and made her way towards the exit. Clearly, if she was going to go Turbo, she'd need to find a more secluded spot to do it.
Suddenly, the man was in front of her. "Hey, hey, Blondie, sorry. Just a joke."
"Leave me alone," she spat, turning around and heading towards the restrooms. Surely he wouldn't follow her in there.
"Hey, look, I'm not trying to be a jerk. It's just that you look like you've got some stuff you want to forget."
Taffyta froze, then turned around slowly. "What did you say?"
Spreading his arms out, the man said, "Why don't you come with me? I'm from a game that I think is exactly what you need."
No way. This guy was a class-A creep and she'd have to be crazy to go with him. Then again, she could take care of herself. And she was going Turbo, right? You didn't go Turbo without taking some risks. "What game?" she asked.
He smiled. "Extreme EZ Living 2."
His name was Malcolm. Taffyta didn't recognize him. Wouldn't recognize him, actually. She knew about Extreme EZ Living 2. Technically not even an arcade game, it ran on Litwak's laptop, which he kept open and running all the time. It was one of those sandbox, open-ended games that seemed pointless to Taffyta, which was one reason she'd never been tempted to go there.
The other reason was that it was the one place King Candy had forbade any of them to visit.
"But everyone's going and it looks too cool!" Gloyd said.
"Yeah," Jubileena said, bouncing up and down. "We've never been in a non-arcade game!"
"Everyone isth not going," King Candy said. "Becausthe you're not." There were cries of 'no fair!' and 'please, King Candy?' but he shook his head. "Listhten, thisth isth for your own protection."
Crumbelina put her hands on her hips. "We've been in T rated games before!"
"Aha, well, yesth, that'sth my other concthern," King Candy said, pointing a finger at them. "But the main thing—hoo-hoo—the thing you have to worry about in a game like that, children, isth bringing back a virusth."
The beat-up sports car that served as transportation between Game Central Station and Litwak's computer turned sharply, knocking Taffyta out of the memory. They rounded a corner and the car shot out into a smaller, dingier version of Game Central Station. She didn't have time to get a good look at anything before Malcolm turned into an open doorway, lit by black lights, and they were in another tunnel.
The fact that King Candy hadn't wanted any of them to go to Extreme EZ Living 2 was good enough reason to go now. She could defy him. She could. Even if…well, even if it totally didn't matter anymore, and she was just trying to prove something to herself.
Virus. Huh. Yeah, he would have known all about that, considering that was what he'd turned into in the end.
Malcolm glanced over at her. "You sure spend a lot of time thinking, Blondie."
"What?" No one had ever accused her of that before.
Snapping his fingers in her face, he said, "We're gonna get your mind off whatever's bothering you."
A light appeared ahead of them and Taffyta flicked her lollipop away. That was why she was here—she'd stay until she couldn't remember why she'd left Sugar Rush in the first place. "So, what do you do in Extreme EZ Living 2?" she asked. Milk Duds, was that name a mouthful. "Like, what's the point?"
"To have fun," Malcolm said. "What do you want to do? Beach party? Rooftop party? House party?"
"I'm kind of noticing a theme," Taffyta said. Then, she asked, "You have a beach?"
"Never ending," Malcolm said, stretching a hand out and gesturing towards the windshield. "Goes on forever."
She stuck another lollipop in her mouth and said, watching the walls flash by outside, "I like the beach."
"Beach it is, then!" Malcolm declared, speeding up towards the tunnel's end.
The car exited the tunnel into a clear night. Taffyta's mouth dropped open as she gazed up at a sky full of stars, arching over a white sand beach with perfect cerulean surf. Tall, sculpted men and women in…well, not much, were frolicking in the gentle waves or lounging on the sand. Tall buildings bristling with balconies abutted the beach, colored lights, lasers, and pulsing music spilling from most of them.
"It's always night here?" Taffyta asked as the car stopped and they got out.
"Nope, we have a full day/night cycle." He spread his arms out. "Welcome to Extreme EZ Living 2! Pick your party."
"Wow," she said, still amazed by the way the beach stretched on forever.
A woman in a skimpy bikini walked by, pointed to Taffyta, and exclaimed, "Like!"
She furrowed her brow and looked down at herself, wondering what the woman was talking about. "Huh?" Then, out of nowhere, a gold coin spun through the air and attached itself to her shoulder.
"Oh, yeah, we're all about good times and liking stuff here," Malcolm said. "Collect enough of those and you can buy yourself something nice."
Reaching up, she touched the coin. It just stuck to her jacket, and she shrugged. "Cool, I guess."
Malcolm cocked a finger at her. "We say 'good' here, Blondie."
A group of people walked by at that moment, saying, "It's good!" "It's so good!" "It was like, so good that I feel really good now!"
She brushed her bangs out of her face. This place would do. She'd never been anywhere more unlike Sugar Rush. Which made it perfect. "I want to go to that party," she said, pointing. She didn't even pick a specific one, she just jabbed her finger in the general direction of some of the swirling lights and pounding music.
On the way there, they walked by a pool that had a half-submerged police car sticking out of it, though that wasn't stopping anybody from swimming. The car's lights were still flashing. Taffyta collected a few more coins from people liking her. All of them shot her sparkling white smiles. By the time they reached the party, she was starting to feel as popular as she'd once been in Sugar Rush. No, don't think about Sugar Rush.
The two of them walked into the party and bass hit Taffyta in the chest like a Sweet Seeker. The room was dark, lit only by a disco ball, colored lights, and lasers that spun around and made her dizzy. Glancing to one side, she saw a couple making out, and she felt her face turn bright red as she looked away.
"Can I dance?" Taffyta asked Malcolm.
"Do what you want. You're here to do what makes you feel good."
She took a deep breath and threw herself into the heaving, sweaty crowd. They all seemed to be doing the same step over and over, but the music was so loud and the lights so hypnotic that she lost herself in the monotony.
The songs all blended together and she kept dancing for half an hour, an hour maybe, bumping into people around her. One of them, she realized, was Malcolm, and when she saw him, she asked, yelling to be heard over the pounding bass, "How did you know about me wanting to forget stuff?"
Malcolm grinned at her and pulled her aside. "People person," he said, sticking a thumb into his chest. Then, he dug around in his pocket. "Hey, Blondie, it's been real, but I got other scenes to hit up. Wanted to give you this before I split, though." He grabbed her hand and put something in her palm, then closed her fingers around it.
"What is it?" Taffyta asked, clutching her fingers around what felt like a cool, hard candy tube.
"Just a little something to change your life," he said with a wink. "You can thank me later."
She looked down at her clenched fist, then back up, but he was gone, vanished into the pulsating crowd. Leaning against the wall, she opened up her fingers. There was a vial there filled with a bright green powder. It reminded her of nothing so much as sour apple sand in the Food Coloring Painted Desert. What was it going to do?
She held it up to the light and shook it, not that the motion gave her any more insight. Laser light refracted through the glass. Well…Malcolm knew she was carrying around bad memories. Maybe it would erase them.
Would that mean she wouldn't remember where she came from? She fingered the coins she'd accumulated for her dancing and her outfit and—well, whatever it was that people liked about her here. No one wanted to leave her out in this game. She'd been accepted as she'd taken her first steps across the endless beach. That first coin was still on her shoulder, sparkling in the disco-ball lit room.
If she couldn't remember where she came from, she wouldn't have anything to miss. Not that she missed Sugar Rush. Not at all. Nope, she didn't miss Sugar Rush, she didn't miss her cozy pink house in Strawberry Fields, she didn't miss Vanellope or Candlehead or Rancis. And she especially didn't miss King Candy.
She tilted the vial again, watching the powder spill from one end to the other. With any luck, she wouldn't ever.
Taffyta popped the vial open, staring up into the colored lights and disco ball, feeling the music vibrating through her code, and poured the green powder into her mouth.
She'd expected it to be sweet, but it had no taste. She'd also expected some kind of grand moment, like she'd be able to feel all her bad memories being wiped out of her. Maybe some sparkling, swirling lights to make her into a new person. But there was nothing like that, and she could remember everything as clearly as ever.
Then, the music got louder and slowed just as the light in the room became liquid. Taffyta blinked, tilting her head at the way the dancers' movements became like molasses, and yet filled with crystalline clarity. She could see every strand of hair swinging mid-gyration on the woman nearest to her, individual beads of sweat standing out on her forehead, and the dub bassline of the music wub-wubbed straight through her. It felt wrong.
Taffyta sprawled on the floor of the throne room, tossing pieces of strawberry hard candy into her overturned helmet a few feet away. Most of the candy was littered around the helmet and every ten pieces or so, King Candy would tip it sideways with a finger to check how much candy was inside.
"You have terrible aim," he commented, leaning back on his palms, his legs stuck out comically in front of him.
Sticking her tongue out, she said, "Let's see you do better."
"Challenge accthepted!" he said grandly, scooping up a handful of candy from the floor. He made his first two shots and then missed three in a row.
"Wow," Taffyta said. "Who has terrible aim now?"
He raised an eyebrow and flicked a piece of candy at her, which bounced off her forehead. "Hoohoohoo, you were sthaying?"
With a wicked grin, she threw the candy right back at him, but he dodged the projectile. "Oh, fine," she huffed. "So my hand-eye coordination's only good when I'm behind the wheel." With a smirk, she added, "Sorry I got you about a hundred times with Sweet Seekers today, by the way."
Tipping his crown forwards, he said, "Oho, that'sth justht about the leastht apologetic apology I've ever heard."
She giggled and popped a piece of candy into her mouth, and there was a moment of companionable silence between them. Then, pushing herself into a sitting position, she asked, "King Candy?"
"Yesth, Taffyta?"
"How come you never hang out with any of the other racers like this?"
He looked at her and smiled. "Becausthe I like you bestht. And you know it, my dear."
With another giggle, she said, "Yeah. I guess I do."
She had time to think that this sure didn't feel like forgetting. What had been in that powder…? Then a hot burst of pain exploded in every byte of her body, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she toppled to the floor, unconscious.
Author's note: Extreme EZ Living 2 was a fourth game that was going to be included in Wreck-It Ralph at one point. There's a 'deleted scene' that I drew from to write this chapter, plus the concept art in The Art of Wreck-It Ralph. I wasn't slavish about every detail, since it never got further than storyboarding. Skittles the uni-candy-corn is also an abandoned character from early in production.
'Bits' would be more appropriate than 'bytes', if I understand the difference correctly, but I also didn't think it read as well, so I went with 'bytes'.
Finally, gotta give credit to Erin Oppel for Taffyta living in Strawberry Fields, since I read it in one of her fics and loved the name. Hope you don't mind me borrowing it!