Full Chapter Title: So...What to Do When You Realize You're Living in an M. Night Shyamalan Movie? Pray It's One of the Good Ones.
Firstly, Shyamalan, like everybody else, has had his successes and his 'Oh dear god WHY?!'s. That's what happens in life; you win some, you lose some. It just happens pretty much all of his losses have been in a row for the last 10 god damn years. What's really disappointing is I can't tell if he's learning from bad experiences and attempting new things with his movies that just don't work out or desperately trying to repeat the formula that made The Sixth Sense a hit by forcing it into other scripts. A tactic that worked once. Arguably twice. My point is twists can be awesome. Or really, really bad. The title pretty much sums up my hopes for this fic and most of my writings.
This chapter tosses a few curves in. More questions are answered but those answer immediately generate new questions. The mystery of what Turbo did and why slowly reveals itself. Oh and Dorian meets TJ, Felix and Ralph. Let the snark off commence.
With that said...
Recap time!
Turbo did something more than locking away memories and trying to delete Vanellope but nobody is sure just what he did. So far, we know there's several racers locked away...inside the code of other racers. There's also actually one theme track for each racer; Sugar Rush Raceway is the first in the game so King Kooky couldn't do much to it. It also explains why Vanny is the only one with a power right up until the reset. Enter Travis, a strange gamer who unlocks several of the alters. But what he did causes game changes even when he isn't playing.
Each racer has a unique ability that up until now were only available as power ups during a race. All their powers have limits during a race (5 times before a 15 sec recharge as PC, 5 times then must pass a power up as NPC to recharge)) but are almost unlimited any other time. Also, the power ups are really forms of their powers King Candy took advantage of so he could use them in races while the kids were basically sitting ducks.
There's also something really wrong with Gloyd's powers that's made Vanellope seek the help of a character most of the arcade isn't too sweet on. Dorian Twillight is the good guy of Fallen Angel's Requiem but there are doubts that he's not secretly his game's villain. The fact that the RPG style game is massive, full of plot twists and no one seems to know how his game ends isn't helping that rumor. His in game girlfriend Heather Lightheart has a relationship with another character on off hours; the two are just friends. It's also full of other strangeness that creeps out the rest of the arcade mainly because it doesn't follow the general good vs evil motif (no one is too sure who's who).
Other Sugar Rush Racers are hiding something too: Both Gloyd and Applejack have a bizarre urge to drink Rocher's blood; Rancis' unknown power is another anomaly and the ever changing game atmospshere is grating on some of their nerves.
Now Turbo's back and making trouble but this time he has his sights set on the whole arcade.
Vanellope vonSchweetz- The Candy Kart
Power: Teleporting (glitching)- Vanellope needs to see her destination (by visualizing it or actually seeing it) or she could end up in a worse position; her power up is called SUGAR RUSH
Track: Sugar Rush Speedway
Alter: ?
Power: ?
Track: ?
Candlehead- The Ice Screamer
Power: Fire abilities- she becomes too hot for other racers to get near her; SWEET SEEKERS are the power up that contains her power as a weapon rather than defense
Track: Candlecane Lane
Alter: Cherriebomma- The Licorice Whip (a motorcycle)
Power: Creates explosions- they spring from kisses she blows; CHERRY BOMBS are her power up
Track: Twizzler Town Motor Speedway
Gloyd Orangeboar- The Kernel
Power: Chance (jinxes)- Gloyd's powers are very strange. The damage they cause is hard to fix; it may take several attempts to reset. He's terrified of his abilities but it's made worse by being activated by his emotions; JUST DESERTS is his power up
Track: ?
Alter: Applejack O'Lantern- Hershula
Power: Can swap places with anyone (or thing...)- Applejack can do this anywhere with in a game but it is limited to three racers behind or ahead of him while racing; TRICKY TREAT is his power up
Track: ?
Snowanna Rainbeau- FroCone
Power: Can phase through things; SUGAR SLIDE
Track: Rainbow Maze
Alter: Chailata Marmamocha
Power: Flight; LIGHTLY WHIPPED
Track:
Swizzle Malarkey- The Tongue Twister
Power: Sonic Scream; LOLLI-BOOM is his power up
Track: ?
Alter: Astrotwinkle Starglazer- The Shooting Starburst
Power: Blinding flashes of light called Starbursters; He's the only one who's power up is the same as what he calls his power STARBURSTERS
Track: ?
Taffeyta Muttonfudge- Pink Lightening
Power: Elasticity: her power up is TAFFY PULL
Track: Shortcake Bluffs
Alter: Poproxie Cola- The Coke Bottlerocket
Power: Can alter the track to create liquid traps; her power up is SYRUP TRAP
Track: Old Fizziful
Crumbelina DiCaramello- The Tira Missle
Power: ?
Track: ?
Alter: ?
Power?
Track: ?
Rancis Fluggerbutter- The Kit Kart
Power: ?
Track: ?
Alter: Rocher du Reese- The Rocky Roadster
Power: Can alter the track to create obstacles- COOKIE CLUSTER is his power up
Track: ?
We also know that the racers with copies don't have alters because these so called recolors are partially locked racers with unnamed copy karts. Unlocking them restores their karts, powers and cheering section.
Minty Zaki- Veloci-Wrapper
Power-?
Track: ?
Torvald Batterbutter ?
Power: ?
Track: ?
Sticky Wipplesnit ?
Power: ?
Track: ?
Adorabeezle Winterpop- The Ice Rocket
Power: creates snow; ICE CREAM CANNON is her power up
Track: Iceerod Trail
Nougesta Brumblestain- Revberry Creamer (restored)
Power: Instant Ice; her power up is COOL WHIPPED
Track: ?
Jubileena Bing-Bing- The Cherriot
Power: ?
Track: ?
Citrusella Flugpucker- ?
Power: ?
Track: ?
Got it? Good. Let's go.
*GITC*
"So you're the elusive Dorian." Tamora eyed the purple haired man critically. Behind her the red headed giant continued to mumble about being stuck in the Twilight Zone while rising to his feet.
"That's a rather funny train of thought Mr. Wreckit seeing as my last name IS Twilight and you landed in my garden. You make it sound as if I've been hiding Sgt. Calhoun. Narrow mindedness annoys me. I find it simpler to avoid such nonsense all together." He shrugged. "Madame President tells me you dislike her frequent trips to visit me. Even though I've been trying to help her with her problems."
"Uh...yeah?" Ralph replied to his blatant statement of the obvious. "I dunno what you've been filling her head with but everyone knows you're not exactly on the up and up. Your help is sorta questionable."
"Really. Do tell what 'everyone' knows about me." The lead character chuckled.
"Well, you have a habit of eating people." Ralph began.
"While not essential to my survival having the occasional snack that screams is something in my code, being a demon and all. I'm not stupid enough to do it to someone who doesn't regenerate." He countered. "Next?"
"No one knows how this creepy sideshow ends. For all we know, you could be the real bad guy." Ralph continued undaunted.
"It's not my fault no player has beaten my game in the arcade. Though RPGs of our kind tend to be better suited for home gaming. As for the second part of your accusation? Pot, meet kettle." Dorian deadpanned.
"Oh yeah-?"
"Lay off Stinkbrain! There's like 60 levels in FAR but each one takes between 20 minutes to two hours to play through. Some are just missions, some have bosses, some are both. And it's an open world format so the gamers can wander around the same level forever and not get anywhere if they don't know what they're doing." Vanellope sighed."There's actually no real order to the gameplay, like in Sugar Rush. Gamers determine the pace and sequence of events by the way they play. Heck you could start at really any point, the game adjusts and goals shift. You just have to get through each one to actually finish the game. Like GTA."
"That comparison doesn't help ease our nerves sweetheart. That game is full of really bad eggs. How does that work? With the order I mean. Aren't higher numbered levels supposed to be more difficult?" Felix asked. As a veteran of the old school, such logic didn't compute with him.
"That depends on where they start. Voland's level is 18 but you need the Clé des Damnés
from his cathedral to open certain open doors on several levels above and below his. You also don't necessarily have to beat him to get it; only find it. But that means sneaking in and not being seen by any of his acolytes." Dorian tilted his head in thought. "Which is hard as all hell because he's connected to every person in Ville de l'Étoile du Matin. The closer you get to the Sanctum, the more the NPCs pay attention.
Once they put in their tokens, a screen with each level or stage appears and players select where to start. Still specific tasks must be completed in order to access certain areas, abilities, items etc; some of which are absolutely necessary, some just being extras. Once again it's hypocritical of you to dislike me because I may be the main villain of this game."
"Well are you?" Tamara questioned.
"There's not a straightforward answer to that. But, I am glad that you at least came. Hold still." The demon stepped forward with his fingertips pulsing with a black aura.
"WHAT?!"
Several things happened at once.
First, Felix jumped in front of his wife, chest puffed and brandishing his hammer. Tamora drew her side arm and flipped off the safety in one fluid motion. Ralph raised his fists to defend his friends. And Vanellope covered her eyes.
So she didn't immediately notice 3/4 of the Core Four frozen in those positions by the same dark glow. Dorian's had held his glowing left hand up, like a half hearted signal to stop. Instant freeze frame. The other hand he waved from TJ's head down. For an alarming second or two, her body became transparent, displaying internal lines of code. Quick as it happened, she returned to normal. The restrictive force vanishing.
"Interesting." He turned to Vanellope who was letting out a relieved breath. "I need only scan the little pumpkin boy and your other friends now to be certain."
"What's that supposed to mean you frea-?!" Ralph roared.
"Sgt Calhoun, what is your favorite memory of your father?" That deep voice cut the Wrecker off.
"Why do you care about my old man?" She glared. Who did he think he was?!
"It is important. What did you like most about him?"
"..." she looked away. Felix felt his heart clench at the brief sight of tears she tried to hide. "I grew up on one of the orbital colonies. My dad always went out of his way to make sure I smiled. Even when he was supposed to be researching. 'Tamora should smile more'a' he would tell me. Why did I tell you that?!"
"Because I asked politely my dear. Mr. Fixit, you got your hammer from your father correct? What made him pass it on to you?"
"When he..." Felix blinked, confused. Finding that he didn't exactly have an answer."...retired. I think? Golly, I really don't know. How strange, I've never given it much thought."
"And you Mr. Wreckit. What was life like before Niceland's construction?"
"I, uh, hung out in my stump. Just..." Ralph frowned, his mind grasping straws. What DID he do before the bulldozer came along?
"-have no idea do you? Our theory is looking more and more probable Madam President."
"What theory would that be?" Tamora folded her arms after holstering her gun.
"That the programmers somehow figured out we're alive. Over time, our backstories and worlds got more detailed because they started to consider us real." Vanellope beamed.
*GITC*
Gloyd watched Rocher pair still hidden in the tree hollow. A while ago he'd moved the albino's head from his shoulder to his lap. Something about this felt familiar. Comforting. His mind wandered as his hand ran through white locks. Bloodletting must wipe the guy out, huh? He thought to himself trying not to recall the flavor and the feeling from an hour ago.
/Only if someone gets greedy. It's usually just a few sips./ An echo sounded in his mind startling the crap out of him.
"GAH!" Who the fudge said that?!
/Calm down, you'll wake him./ the voice huffed. /I'm Applejack, remember?/
"But...where are you?"
/Inside you. Our code's all jumbled up but you finally tasting Ro's sweet blood again helped stabilize it enough for us to chat./
"Don't say that. It's weird." He shivered. It was bad enough the pumpkin boy didn't want to stop. Only du Reese's soft whimpering had brought him back to his senses. Seeing how out of it the other boy looked once he let go scared him.
/What's so weird about it? We do it all the time. He and Rancis taste so different but sooo good. The best part is they love it./ Applejack cackled. His sinister tone coupled that that disturbing laugh made it sound worse.
"Please stop talking." The trick or treater groaned. "Wait, again?! When will this nightmare end?"
/When we finally separate. My memories finally sorted out, didn't yours?/
Images of him chasing a goth kid through the a creepy field of tombstones came to mind. The normally cotton candy pink clouds dark like licorice. Despite the dreary locale, both were laughing and unafraid. Gloyd tackled him, the caramel apple hat falling away as they rolled down a small hill and onto a track starting line. One leading into a huge white sugar brick archway set against a cave. The keystone adorned with a large calavera, elaborately painted with flowers and intricate patterns in bright festive colors. The sign above it reading Sugar Skull Catacombs.
This wasn't just some random scene he dreamt up. It was part of his life that really happened. Why couldn't he recall this before?!
He saw Rocher laugh silently at the two of them. He was sliding out from under the Rocky Roadster and wiping at a grease smudge on his nose but only smearing it across his face. The sight combined with this twin's now dusty hair caused Rancis to wrinkle his nose while seated on the hood of the Kit Kart. The pretty boy prefered to use telekinesis instead of actually touching anything dirty. He couldn't understand why the other psychic boy would get covered in muck when he didn't have to. The Kernel was parked nearby, next to a casket on wheels...Hersula. Yeah. Hershula was the name of his twin brother's kart. The memory-him looked into the side mirror of his to see his own grinning face.
A pair of tiny fangs clearly visible in his mouth.
*GITC*
"So. Any ideas what just happened?" Minty blinked sharing the same befuddlement as her sisters.
The trio has been exploring, something everyone was doing as they got reaquainted with their world. They came upon one of the unlocked tracks that hadn't been chosen yet by a gamer and decided to have a little race. Hoping a new track would be challenging (no knowledge of the unlocked tracks downloaded into their minds until right before an official race so far) It resembled Gumball Gorge on Sugar Rush Speedway. Except it didn't have gumballs flying. However, them speeding through did dislodge several jawbreakers they had to outrun. Most likely why the sign said "Jawbreaker Canyon". Like a canyon. it's floor and walls rounded together forming a rough tube shape made up of layers of various yellow shades.
Anyway, Torvald was the first to hit a power up.
"CANDY SHELL!"
Her kart was surrounded by a shimmering gold bubble just in time to stop a speeding ball of hard candy she couldn't avoid. Amazingly, it collided with the bubble and ricocheted off. Right into Minty who got thrown from the VelociWrapper as it barrell rolled programmer knows how many times. She respawned at the finished the same time Torvald and Sticky crossed it. And their rides rippled, then sank into the track leaving them standing and blinking at the situation.
Right after Minty's question, two new vehicles appeared next to them.
Beside Sticky, a blue ATV. It appeared to have the body of a macaron: two cut cookie biscuits with a thick white layer of ice cream between them. The whole thing reasonable shaped like the chassis of a four wheeler. The wheels made of blue dotted Nonpareil candies, the handlebars made of sky blue and white hard candy that looked to have been braided together. Four large pixie sticks serve as the exhaust. A thick blue sauce of some kind appeared to drip all over it. Also the same color. The whole vehicle smelling of blueberries. Her eyes flashed for a second when she touched it.
"Blue Sundae Special..." she whispered.
Torvald blinked at the thing that popped up beside her. It was slightly bigger than the vehicle she'd raced with for 15 years. But... it was a freaking tank. Made to fit one person, the bright gold assault vehicle looked creamy but was hard as Ralph's head to the touch. Flecked with rainbow colored bits, the white treads on either side made of flattened jawbreaker candy. A blunt nozzle extended from the front, the cockpit open just like the other karts. It certainly didn't look very fast but she instantly recognized it.
"My Marzipanzer!" She squealed leaping on. "Oh my baby!"
Minty smiled at that. She remembered now. It seemed like it'd be slow as molasses but Torvald won quite a few races in her candy tank. How fitting that she's win it back with her own power up on her theme track.
*GITC*
Clé des Damnés- Key of the Damned
About Voland: He isn't a cameo, he's important to the story but we won't see him again for a few chapters. In case anyone cares, he's a genderswapped and deaged version of Daemon, the Supervirus from season 4 of Reboot. The way he looks, talks, his powers and his base of operations are a tribute to my favorite bad guy from that show. Hexadecimal is in second place; and I already used her masks in Parallels to describe Robin's avatar in the Karuselo de Sonĝoj kaj Koŝmaroj (Carousel of Dreams and Nightmares) MMORG they all play.
I am not a gamer. I have played games like GTA and Silent hill but the one game I have the most experience with is the Pokemon series. In all of them, there's no time limit and you pretty much wander around until something happens or you find what you're looking for. That's open world format. The best example of that would actually be Minecraft but that's labelled as true sandbox game. Whatever. My point is many games have objectives but how you complete them (if at all) depends on the mode you play in. FAR has many elements of other games rolled into it.
Now we know Torvald's track and powers. As well as her and Sticky's karts. We also know what Rancis can do, that either Applejack or Gloyd race the catacombs and they share more than just a body. Also, it's for sure that the alters are supposed to be separate racers. Several powers and tracks remain to be uncovered though. There's only two more alters to unlock; then things get crazy(er). What do you guys think so far?
Reviews are like hugs! Sirensoundwave out!
PS: Happy Turkey Day :== (gobble, gobble)
