Author's Note: Thank you for returning. Once again, this chapter reveals a little bit more about what happened to Turbo between the Roadblasters incident and the Sugar Rush take over, but does not completely reveal it. Try to remember that this takes place at the exact same time as the last chapter. In case anyone misses it, the reason the two groups don't meet is because the General and Toffee met right away whereas these guys all had to wait on each other, and Tamora's logic works in the opposite way the General's does.
Warning: Felix's POV, some language, some not-quite-Vanillatastic scenes ;P, and another cliffhanger.
Disclaimer: None of the characters in this chapter belong to me, they all belong to Disney.
Break with the Past
"Tammy, I really don't think that's necessary." Felix tried to tell his wife.
She argued with him, "You think? What if Bug-boy here decides to cause trouble?"
"You po1ntInG thAt gun at m3 is what'5 g0nNa ca-u53 tRouBle!" Turbo hissed in response. His face was breaking up into pixels and switching between his various forms, Turbo, King Candy, and even the Cybug.
Ralph had returned from Tapper's the previous night with news about Turbo, and the proposition to take him to Sugar Rush to get his codebox. While the Wrecker didn't seem very keen on the idea at all, he also explained that it was much better that they accompany him to the code room and keep an eye on the hacker, rather than risk letting him go on his own. He had then offered both of them the opportunity to join the escort.
Felix knew the offer was mostly meant for Tamora, especially after Ralph continued by telling them that Turbo had implied that he could turn back into the Cybug he had become. Felix understood Ralph still harbored an utter hatred and secret fear of that creature, and Tamora's guns would be extremely useful if Turbo did change...
...but he also didn't like the idea of letting them lead Turbo around at weapon point.
Eventually Felix agreed to come, if only to be the voice of reason when things started to get out of hand. Like they were right now.
When he and Ralph left their game they had found Turbo waiting for them, wrapped up in a cloak to hide from unwanted attention. He'd wanted to go straight to Sugar Rush to just get the trip over with, but they had to wait for Tamora, which clearly ate at Turbo's patience.
Upon her arrival though, they were also delayed with a short speech about "How this is going to work" Ralph would take the lead, Turbo behind him, which Tamora and Felix at the back. Turbo wasn't happy but he agreed to the formation. The former racer had been doing fine until the group had actually reached Sugar Rush, where upon entering the game, he ditched his cloak and immediately glitched into his King Candy form. Most likely it had been a subconscious reaction to being back in the game, but the change had startled Tamora into pulling a hand pistol on him.
Which only made the glitching worse. While they walked down the rainbow bridge that lead to Sugar Rush, Turbo's unstable form only made Tamora more edgy, which got Ralph edgy, which in turn only made Turbo more edgy. "That's enough!" Felix said sternly, "Tammy, he's probably right. I think your gun is doing more harm than good right now, so please, just put it away."
Tamora glanced at him with narrow eyes, but nodded and complied. Turbo's glitching calmed immediately, but didn't quite stop, which Felix figured was just Turbo trying to settle his code between his original form and the King Candy data. Tamora put her pistol back in its strap at her side, but her fingers remained over it, just in case. Felix knew there was something else on her mind that had his wife on edge. At first he thought it had to do with Chkalov, but when he asked her Tamora had replied that the lieutenant still had yet to do anything suspicious. It was something else. Something that had started that same night, when they had gone into Half-Light Nexus.
"I thought I just saw...Nevermind."
Felix had asked her about what she thought she had seen later that night, but had only gotten cold silence in response and decided not to press it, though a reassuring hug had been his way of telling her everything was going to be alright.
If only it would be though.
"Hey guys!" Vanellope's voice called out, and she ran up to join them just as they reached the ground. "Turbo." She greeted with less enthusiasm and even a hint of ridicule. He responded with a huff and turning his head, refusing to look her in the eye. On the bright side he seemed to have finally gotten his glitching body to focus.
"Alright, new order." Tamora said, "Ralph stay a head of the group, Felix, Vanellope, I want one of you on either side of him at all times, and I'll bring up the rear. I don't want to draw any attention to us so we're going to cut through the forest. Let's move out"
In theory this was a good plan, everyone would be at the roster race, but if anyone wasn't, they'd only see this famous group of friends hanging out together in the candy tree forest. They got into formation, but when Ralph started toward the trees, Vanellope and Felix came after him, but Turbo didn't budge. "Hey Pipsqueak! I said move out!" Tamora said a little harshly.
To make up for his wife's bluntness, Felix added more gently, "Something wrong, Turbo?" but he already knew the answer, it was written all over his face. Turbo hadn't moved an inch from when he'd turned away from Vanellope, and his gaze was now directly on the stadium. Turbo's expression had melted with longing to be out on that track, he probably would have given anything to be in the race right now.
Vanellope had noticed his gaze too, Felix was a little concerned she might snap at him, but the young girl's expression had softened upon seeing the look in the other racer's eyes. She must know exactly what Turbo was feeling right now, but instead of being mad at him for it, she pitied him. Felix felt very proud of her for a moment.
A moment that didn't last long enough because a second later Vanellope snapped her fingers in front of Turbo's face. "Hey, Space-Case! Do you want your codebox or not?"
The racer in white came out of his trance with a growl, seemingly not even noticing the fact that he had been staring out at the race track for well over a minute "If you don't want to draw attention to our group then maybe we should cut a few members." He muttered, "My vote goes to the gorilla and the guerrilla."
Thankfully only Felix and Vanellope were close enough to hear that comment, otherwise the carpenter had no idea how Ralph and Tamora would have responded. They made it to the candy trees without further incident, but an uncomfortable silence started to rise. Nobody in this group wanted to be here, at least not like this. If Ralph had his way, he probably wouldn't let Turbo within a mile of the castle, Tamora was distracted with her own thoughts, Vanellope seemed to be regretting agreeing to let so many people join this little quest, Turbo obviously didn't want so much company and Felix...
The awkwardness of the silence was getting to him.
He had so many things he wanted to ask Turbo, but also knew that getting the truth out of his former friend would be no easy task, and even if it was, would anyone believe him? Ralph had caught them up on Turbo's admittance that there was no way to trust him, but Felix finally decided that he could at least ask and decide later if Turbo was being truthful or not.
"So, Turbo..." He said nervously glancing at the racer beside him while he tried to decide where to start. Ralph looked over his shoulder at him, his eyebrows furrowed as if he were offended that Felix was even talking to the other character.
But Felix had known Turbo much better than Ralph had before what had happened. He noticed things about him that Ralph didn't, there was an almost physical change in the racer. Turbo held himself differently, his face was harder, and was a lot twitchier than Felix remembered. Though that twitchiness could probably be attributed to intimating presence of Ralph and Tamora, Felix had also noticed it when they met him outside of Fix-It Felix Jr. His eyes darted around, his face had an occasional involuntary spasm, and he couldn't seem to stand still. Even a moment ago when Turbo had been looking out at the race track he had been rolling his fingers against his side and tapping his foot.
"Well, if ya got somethin' ta say Felix, spit it out, we haven't got all night." Turbo snapped, not even looking at him as he continued walking. He didn't remember his friend's temper being that short either.
"I beg to differ," Tamora replied, "Seems to me like we've got a long night ahead of us."
Turbo rolled his eyes, something that Felix was glad only he and Vanellope could see, "What do you want Felix?" He said, a little bit more politely this time around, but still sounding pretty annoyed.
"Well..." Felix took his hat off and turned it around in his fingers, "I don't know Turbo, I've just got so many things I want to ask you."
"Don't we all?" Vanellope piped up.
"I bet'cha do. But who are you to believe me, even if I decide to answer your questions?"
One of the many pieces of advanced technology that Tamora took with her everywhere beeped and she paused a moment to take a look at it. The sugar particles in this game frequently messed with her gear so she had to keep an eye on it to make sure she wasn't getting a false reading. "I got a question or two for you as well. So let's just assume for a minute that you're gonna tell the truth, and why don't we all ask a question?"
"Oh, no. I agreed to play prisoner, but I didn't sign up for twenty questions." Turbo argued, sticking his hands in his pockets defiantly, but too late everyone was agreeing that this seemed fair, or at least a good way to pass the time while they continued to make their way to the castle, which never seemed to get any closer.
"Me first!" Vanellope insisted, after Turbo finally relented 'since you're only assuming I'm telling the truth'. The female racer took a moment to organize her thoughts and pick which of her own questions she wanted answered most, "Last night you said part of the story you told me was true, which was it?"
Felix saw Turbo tense, almost like he was grasping something in his pockets, but more likely he was getting defensive about the question. Turbo relaxed just as suddenly, and an amused grin spread over his face, "Well, there were other racers, their names were Split, Haste, and Double, and they are all dead now."
This didn't satisfy Vanellope's question at all, but Felix was able to back him up. "I remember those guys. A bunch of bad eggs if you ask me. Why, if anyone was gonna go Turbo, I would have thought for sure it would have been one of them." It took Felix a minute to figure out why the racer was glaring at him, which he quickly responded with an honest, "Oh, s-sorry."
Vanellope's cheeks puffed out, this still wasn't the answer she was looking for, but Tamora beat her to a new question. "Why bother lying at all?" She growled, shaking her still beeping piece of tech.
"Lying is easy." Turbo replied as he, Vanellope and Felix struggled to climb over a candy tree log that Ralph and Tamora both stepped over with ease. "Telling the truth though, that's the hard thing."
"Why's that?" Ralph asked.
"'Cause if yer gonna tell someone the truth, that means ya gotta face it yerself." Turbo answered, looking at his shoes, obviously the questions striking a sensitive cord.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ralph demanded, turning around to look at Turbo and continuing his way walking backwards.
The racer only smiled at him, "Sorry big guy, one question per round please. You're up Felix." Ralph turned back around angrily. At some point within the last two minutes Turbo had decided to make this some kind of game where he could manipulate the questions asked and give only vague meaningless answers. Obviously he thought that Felix would continue the line questioning by repeating what Ralph had just said.
But there was something else that Felix wanted to know, something that had been bugging him since he had found out Turbo was still alive. "If you survived, your game getting unplugged...Why did you go into hiding instead of asking for help?" He said quietly, looking directly at Turbo who was still smirking gloatingly at the back of Ralph's head.
Turbo stopped dead in his tracks after Felix asked, and his expression dropped, Tamora almost tripped over him. The question had caught Turbo off guard, and he was struggling for an answer. "Whattya expect after what I did, that a charity would open up? That the everyone in arcade would donate to the 'find Turbo a new home' fund?" He said at last, his voice was bitter, full of old anger picking up his feet and continuing, "I'd have to save the whole damn arcade before anyone would willing let me in their game- and I'd hAve to be the only 1 who could befor3 they trusted me to! Like anyone woulda helped me." he was glitching again, but only slightly.
"I would have." Felix offered, he got a glare from Ralph for saying so, a betrayed look from Vanellope, and Tamora hitting her device angrily.
Turbo only snorted, "Yeah r1ght, Mr. Fix-It's Got7a fix everything, doesn't he?" He folded his arms against his chest, squeezing himself tightly and calming his glitching before he continued, "The entire arcade turned their backs on me, why should I believe you would have been any different?"
The response hurt Felix pretty deeply, his voice raised a little bit, frustrated with how stubbornly Turbo believed that."Because I was your friend." Felix replied, feeling a stab of guilt over the fact that, eventually, he had succumbed to the rumors that had been going around about what Turbo had done, "And friends help each other through the hard times, now why didn't you come ask me for help? Was what you decided to do so much better than coming out and facing what you'd done?"
There was another question, buried within this one, that the twitch in Turbo's face indicated he'd picked up on. What had happened to him between then and now that he had made him like this?
Turbo still remained quiet, tensed up, and full of anger for a long time before his posture relaxed again. "There are somethings you can't fix, even with a magic hammer, Felix." The racer's voice cracked a bit as he spoke. This response could have been a reference to the two games that had been unplugged, Turbo was right, he couldn't fix that with all the magic in the arcade...
But the way Turbo said it also sounded like he was also answering the hidden question. What happened to him afterward that changed him so much? Something that even Felix couldn't fix.
"You still could have at least come ask..." Felix said sadly, wondering what would have been if Turbo had.
The same thing was obviously crossing the racer's mind, and he drifted closer to Vanellope, it hurt Felix a little more seeing Turbo prefer to stand beside a girl who had every right to hate him than his old friend. Felix watched Turbo rub at his eye, but couldn't tell if this was just a random action or if the racer was trying to hide a tear.
Vanellope hadn't noticed Turbo step closer, "Okay my turn again." She was saying, "Why Sugar Rush?"
"Yeah, there are tons of other racing games." Ralph added, once again turning around, maybe trying to detect a lie, maybe just bored.
"You can't just put yerself into any game," Turbo replied, eyes on the ground again, "Yer data needs to be compatible or else you can't regenerate." He didn't elaborate. "Your turn blondie, what's your question?" He changed the subject abruptly, like he didn't want to go into detail about Sugar Rush. His data was compatible with the world, that was his answer and all he was willing to say about it.
Tamora didn't reply, she had her eyes on her tracker again, she looked concerned about whatever reading she was picking up, "I think we'll skip my turn." She said at last, "I'm picking up a signal I want to check out. You guys go on ahead of me, I'll catch up...And if I see that Cybug of yours, I will shoot you right out of the sky. Understood?"
"Y3s, wha7eveR." Turbo glitched again, but only for that brief moment, the Cybug reacting to being threatened, however Turbo got handle on it really fast.
Felix touched her leg as she passed, knowing her recent secret worries, and having noticed the look of concern on her face, he knew that whatever it was, it was bigger than she was letting on, "Be careful." He said.
"I'll be back before you miss me." She replied with a hint of a smile, and then took off in a different direction, moving much faster and quieter than they had been as a group. Which was odd because Felix thought they'd been making great progress...Still that castle looked as far away as ever.
Without Tamora, Ralph skipped to his own question, "Alright, if your data is compatible with Sugar Rush, why did you turn Vanellope into a glitch and take over, wouldn't it have just been easier to ask her to let you in?"Turbo went silent again, "Hey, did you hear me?"
Turbo still said nothing, and Vanellope answered for him, "The other night he told that me he did." She said, then glanced at him, "Is this your way of saying that was the truth? Because I don't remember that."
The older racer was turning into stone, refusing to answer or even look at them, only withdrawing further and further the more questions they asked about Sugar Rush. Felix realized they were going to lose him at this rate and decided to change the subject. "Okay, I think that's enough questions for now, let's give him a break." Vanellope and Ralph still protested, but Turbo's continued silence eventually made them quit. "So how about that construction Litwak has planned? Starts tomorrow and the arcade's not going to be open for at least three days. It's been a while since we've had a couple of days off, huh?"
"The arcade's closing?" Vanellope asked, she had been so busy lately what with her racers fighting and now with Turbo, Felix didn't blame her for not hearing about it.
"Yeah, I hear Litwak's planning on expanding the building to include a small lunch area." Ralph said.
"They might be cutting the power to make some adjustments to the electrical system." Felix added, and noticed Turbo relaxing again now that the topic of conversation was no longer about him. It was a little strange to see, Turbo always used to love talking about himself. Whatever had happened really shattered his ego. Which, now that Felix thought about it, made the King Candy disguise make a lot more sense.
"Wait, cut the power? Wouldn't that kill us?" Vanellope asked worriedly.
Felix and Ralph were both about to explain when Turbo laughed, the first sound that had come out of him in several minutes, "Don't be silly Sweettart! An arcade doesn't last as long as Litwak's without a few power outages!"
While this was true, it didn't tell Vanellope anything and was hardly reassuring to the young girl. Felix took the opportunity to explain, "See, we're only in danger if the game is unplugged, but if the power is just out our worlds are still there. We just aren't connected to theirs anymore."
Ralph continued, "The worst that happens to us is that all our in game-electricity goes out too. The trains won't work until they get the power back on and anything not self-powered goes kaput. For scheduled things like this, it's best to already be in the station or which ever game you wanna be hanging out in when they cut the power."
"Any food based game where they need to keep stuff refrigerated has it the worst, 'cause they gotta reset their game and get fresh stock before Gamers start playing." Turbo added, almost looking like his old self now, "So don't get your ponytail in a knot, Sweetart, everything's gonna be fine!"
Even Ralph laughed, sharing a memory or two of Chef Peter Pepper's rushed sales to get his burgers sold before the ingredients went bad. If only things could stay this calm between them, Felix would have liked to spend the rest of the trip the them talking and laughing peacefully like old friends.
They came to a fissure in the ground, ahead of them was a high chocolate river with a fast current. This wasn't right, they shouldn't have been near a river, they must have distracted themselves too much while they were talking and gotten turned around. The castle was still in view, at last seeming closer, but they couldn't reach it if they didn't find some sort of crossing.
The group wandered along the edge of the tree lined ravine, until at last they spotted a fallen candy tree that, after making sure it wasn't a double stripe, Ralph was able to drag over to the cliff side and make a bridge.
Still, the river was high, and the current only stronger here then when they had first come across it, so they were careful about crossing. As the heaviest, Ralph went first, if it collapsed under him he was also the most likely to not drown in the river. The wrecker went slowly anyway, still terrified of falling in, but after several tension filled minutes, Ralph made it across and waited on the other side for them to join him.
The two racers went together, one right after the other, and Felix just behind them. The three of them combined didn't even weigh half as much as Ralph so they didn't worry about the bridge collapsing and instead focused on staying balanced.
"W-whoa!" Vanellope slipped and almost went toppling into the river. To Felix and Ralph's great relief, Turbo caught her, even though he almost lost balance himself in the effort and held her steady. He could have let her fall, she would have been pulled under the surface and tossed around until she drowned, and regenerated else where, but Turbo had risked saving her. "Th-thanks." Vanellope gasped.
Maybe there was still something good in him after all. "Whatever." Felix shook his head at Turbo's nonchalant response, but it was still better than letting Vanellope fall in.
Felix hoped that would be the only excitement the night had to offer, but as they finally made it safely across the river once again they were taken by surprise. Vanellope hopped off the log, Turbo behind her when from the tree tops several strands of Laffytaffy swirled around them, laughing and singing.
"Hey!" Ralph shouted, as they blocked the way between him and the two racers. Felix got the same treatment, left still on the log with the Laffytaffy giggling at him and surrounding Vanellope and Turbo.
"Cut that out!" Vanellope shrieked, "Hey, c'mon, what are you doing? Let go of me!"
"Oh, please, I don't have time for- Hey, whoa-" Turbo protested as the Laffytaffy wrapped itself around each racer and shoved the two of them together. Obviously the strange sentient candy thought very highly of Turbo's heroics because they were not only singing and laughing, but talking and making demands now, too.
"Put your arms around each other!" One with a high feminine voice cooed, the request was echoed by several other strands.
"What? No!" Vanellope cried and started struggling more against the Laffytaffy that bound her. "Don't you dare touch me you creep!" She warned.
"I wouldn't want to touch you anyway, so don't yell at me!" Turbo argued, struggling fruitlessly himself.
"Do it! Hug him!" The Laffytaffy encouraged, "Hug! Hug! Hug!"
"Augh, get out of the way-Hey, let go!" Ralph's attempts to get closer and separate them was averted by taffy strands binding his arms and holding him back, for a chewy stretching candy, it was pretty tough stuff.
Felix's approach was to back away, standing back over the river. He was reminded of when he and Tamora had their own encounter with the Laffytaffy, it had sang and laughed for them too, but Tamora had scared it off before anything else happened. Did Laffytaffy always behave in this matchmaking way?
While Turbo and Vanellope continued their protests and Ralph only managed to get himself more tangled up, Felix sighed and figured there was only one way that they would get out of this. "If they hug, will you let us pass?" He asked the taffy in front of him. The racers both made accusatory comments he wasn't going to ever tell his wife about.
"Maaaaaaybeeeee." The candy replied.
Better than nothing, "Okay you two, just get it over with!" Felix called, only to get a set of groans in response, "Turbo, if you want your codebox, do it, these things won't give up."
"Yeah, you'll be here a long time! Hug!" The Laffytaffy cackled.
They both groaned again, but Turbo rolled his eyes, raised his arms and slid them around Vanellope, not looking at her instead casting his gaze over to Ralph to make sure he wasn't signing his death warrant. Vanellpe leaned into his chest, refusing to look at him either, but wrapping her arms around his waist to make the Laffytaffy happy. Both of the were red as beets, but there was a collective "Awwww!" From the candy around them, delighted squeals and approving giggles.
However the taffy didn't budge, instead the one that had first insisted the two hug floated by Turbo's head. "Good." it said, "Now kiss her!"
"Oh no!" Turbo and Vanellope both yelled, but there was yet another universal shriek of delight from the rest of the nest of candy, all of them demanding, yes, do it. And Felix had to shout to make sure the racers heard him tell them to just get it over with. He was still being pushed back across the river, and Ralph was now being held upside down and gagged by the Laffytaffy.
"Do it, and you can go. One little kiss, come on!" The taffy insisted.
Vanellope made a face and struggled harder against the taffy holding her by the waist and legs. Turbo seemed like he would sooner murder her, but rolled his eyes again and shut them tight, cupped her chin and forced Vanellope into a kiss. The girl immediately froze with her own eyes going as wide as dinner plates. Ralph looked like he was about to explode, and Felix was feeling a little second-hand humiliation for the two rivals.
The Laffytaffy squealed again, but finally started unwrapping itself from everyone and retreating back into the trees, just as Turbo let her go and wiped his mouth. Vanellope promptly started gagging and spitting, "Yuck! You taste like motor oil!"
"Oh, quit'cher whining, I didn't even use my tongue!" Turbo snapped back at her.
"Then what was that I felt against my gums?"
"Probably your imagination, Sweettart 'cause I didn't do anything!"
"Waaaugghh-Ooof!" The ground shook when Ralph was dropped, the vibration made Felix lose his balance and almost fall off the candy tree bridge. Turbo and Vanellope were too busy arguing about the kiss to notice the carpenter hanging by his elbows over the river, and Ralph was disorientated from his fall. Felix kicked at the air and tried to heave himself back up, but to no avail. He was left dangling there helplessly while Turbo and Vanellope kept bickering.
"Oh Mother of Monkey Milk, you weren't enjoying that were you?" Vanellope started gagging again.
"Uh, fellas... little help!" Felix begged, but was ignored.
"Of course not, were you?... Oh, oooohhh, Milk my Duds! You were! Hahaha! Add that to my list of titles, Sweettart, Turbo: the greatest kisser ever!"
"Call me Sweettart one more time, and I'll punch you in your kisser!"
Ralph finally shook his head clear of his dizziness and opened his mouth to yell at Turbo but Felix called out first "Hey!" He shouted, "Can you sort out who was enjoying what after I'm on solid ground?!"
"Felix!" Ralph knocked Turbo over on his way over, probably on purpose, but had Felix hauled to safety in no time. He dusted himself off and insisted that they drop it and just get to the castle and code room. Felix had just about had enough of this game to last him a whole week now, he didn't want anymore surprises.
Little did he know the biggest surprise of the night was yet to reveal itself.
"I did not enjoy that kiss." Vanellope muttered, still bright red with her hands buried deep in her sweatshirt pockets, as they started off towards the castled again, sort off looking a little like Turbo had earlier in their journey.
"You keep telling yourself that." Turbo teased with a wide smug grin. Maybe he had enjoyed it himself, or maybe he hadn't, but he was certainly enjoying Vanellope's reaction right now.
"I said drop it!" Felix said, sounding a bit like his wife, "Come on, let's go before the Laffytaffy has me and Ralph do a dance routine for them."
Up in the trees the taffy giggled at that idea and the group hurried along before the candy decided to go along with that plan. Yet they hadn't made it out of hearing range when one of them suddenly giggled "It sure is nice to see those two together again. It's been what, fifteen years?"
Vanellope stopped, "What?" Turbo only quickened his pace, and Felix hustled the girl along while Ralph glanced back questioningly. "Wait a minute, Turbo, what were they talking about?"
The other racer didn't reply right away, and Felix thought he might be withdrawing again, but Turbo finally spoke up, "Not the first time we ran into that bunch." he answered vaguely.
Ralph turned, "What's that supposta-"
The wrecker was cut off by a sudden shout and scream that made all of them jump. "That sounded like Toffee!" Vanellope gasped.
"Who?" Turbo asked glancing around.
Before anyone could answer there was more wordless shouting, two other stronger voices, a male and female. "Tamora!" Felix recognized his sound of his wife's battle cry, and ran off in the direction the sounds were coming from, leaving the others no choice but to chase after him.
The shouts led them to a clearing, no...not a clearing, the path to the castle. Had they been that close to it the whole time? Felix looked around desperately, but saw no one. Until a black shape landed heavily in front of him, causing the short man to jump back. Tamora? The character was dressed in black and had pale blond hair about the same length, but was clearly male, and a few years older than the sergeant from Hero's Duty.
But blond hair wasn't the only thing the two had in common. The man on the ground had the same blue eyes that Tamora Calhoun did, and sharp dashing features just like hers, only more defined, with a stronger, stubble covered jawline. He looked so strikingly similar to Tamora that he could have been her brother.
Felix was almost right with that thought.
"General?" The gasp came from Turbo, making Felix glance back only briefly to see the racer's eyes widened with surprise, turning back to the fallen figure he saw the same confused look from him at Turbo's presence. Another black shape dropped down beside him. This time it was the sergeant, armed with her largest gun, and unhurt, Felix's heart thudded with relief. It didn't last that long as Tamora ignored his presence and stamped her foot down hard on the stranger's chest, causing him to yowl painfully.
"What are you doing here?" She hissed, aiming her gun at the man on the ground.
"Calhoun...?" Ralph started, but she paid him no more attention than she would if he were thin air.
"General!" Another voice called, the same one who's scream had startled them in the first place. The group glanced up to see Tofferita Chococream hopping from candy tree to candy tree after them. She stopped only when she could get no closer without jumping out of the tree. Everyone except Tamora and the mysterious 'General' shared a confused worried glance before turning their attention to the two black clad characters.
The man the sergeant had pinned coughed and gave a small laugh, lifting his hands in surrender "You know a simple 'hello' would have sufficed, Tammy."
Felix glanced from his wife to the stranger in confusion and she finally seemed to notice the group. Tamora gave them the quickest acknowledging glimpse before turning her hard gaze back to the man before them, and answering the question no one had asked: who was this guy?
Her grip on the gun remained tight and her look was as hard as ever, as Tamora didn't even move the barrel out of the stranger's face. "Hello, papa." She said at last.
Author's end note: Classes are starting (I'm in college so my schedule is quarter based, not semester) so I don't know how often I'll be able to update this or if school will have any effect on my writing time. Keep your fingers crossed, I hope to not keep you hanging on this chapter for long.