Author's Note: Thanks for coming back, I'm glad you all got a good scare out of last chapter! As my portrayal of Turbo has been questioned once I'm gonna put this as a special note: The way I am writing him is for the purposes of this fanfiction only, I am not trying to excuse his actions, merely explain them in a way that suits the needs of my story and because it is important to the plot.

Second note: The condition Turbo suffers from is based loosely on real psychological disorders called Pseudologia Fantastica (pathological lying), and false memory syndrome, which again, is for this story only.
Waning:
Multiple POVs, mostly Turbo's, switching perspectives may be a little confusing, I apologize in advance if the transitions are a little rocky, language, hints at Vanillatastic, title drop.

Disclaimer: All character belonging to Disney Belong to Disney. All characters that are mine belong to me. Lauahi, SnappleT's character is briefly returning from chapter five with SnappleT's permission, again if you wish to know more about Lauahi please read her creator's story Growth and Change. Faolan, once again, belongs to my sister

Break with the Past

In Turbo's experience, there was a difference between being selfish and being heartless. Since they were both negative traits, not many people realized how very different the two things were. Everyone was selfish at heart, even the selfless man got the self-satisfaction of know he had helped someone when no one else would. A heartless man, however, never even gave his actions enough thought to even realize he was being selfish.

Or maybe that was just Turbo's paranoid assumption about why Felix was so kind to him, even after all he'd done.

When the General left to go see what was taking Chkalov so long to rendezvous, Tofferita Chococream was going around introducing herself and talking to some of the Outcasts. Turbo left her to that, taking his own time to visit one of their more recent members. Honestly, Turbo didn't think Ralph, or even Felix really understood what a trauma it was to have your game unplugged. It was bad enough just in theory, but to actually experience it, and be responsible for it...

The emotional damage was enough to drive someone to the edge of madness.

The boy hadn't said a word since the General had brought him down here, Turbo wasn't even sure of his name, but the boy just stared at one of the walls, envisioning the destruction of his game, imagining how what could have been done differently to stop it, or how he could have saved the other people in it.

The boy never said this was what he was thinking, but Turbo knew. That was exactly what he had done when Turbotime was unplugged. Everything he'd ever known was gone, his friends, his home, even his good name. All of it was gone and it was his fault, Turbo sat here alone in the dark trying to make sense of it all. To make matters worse, in his rush to leave Turbotime, he hadn't taken his code box out properly resulting in damage to his code.

What was he supposed to do? What could he have done? Why hadn't the others come with him? Could he have convinced them to? Questions led to imagining, imagining led to regret and confusion. Was there any version of his story where things could have ended better? Luckily for this boy, he'd been found wandering aimlessly and led here where he could get support and comfort. By the time the General found Turbo, he was so lost in his imaginings that he had no idea which of his fantasies was the truth. It had taken the General weeks to coax him into understanding that the other racers, whom Turbo truly believed he was hiding with, did not exist.

Understanding that the same thing could end up happening to this kid, Turbo was trying to console him, reassure him that there was nothing that could be done about the loss of his world and sitting there would do nothing. It was a small gesture, but coming from Turbo it was pretty heartfelt.

The boy still hadn't budged when the General came back announcing some story about a virus in the arcade. The news was surprising to Turbo, it wasn't unheard of for an occasional virus to pop up, but usually the Surge Protectors kept them from causing too much trouble.

But the General sounded worried. "Toffee!" He called, the recolor bounded over to him, "Go back to Sugar Rush immediately, bring everyone you can down here. Quick, before it spreads any further!"

There was a moment when Turbo thought why should I care? There was an inner debate about whether he was being selfish or heartless, but instead of answering himself, Turbo left the boy he was trying to comfort and slipped passed the General to go after Tofferita. Tadeusz was heading over to grab some of his formula to activate his final boss transformation. Must be serious out there. "Hey, wait up!" He shouted to her.

Toffee paused in the tunnel while he caught up, "What?" She asked adjusting the strap on her backpack. Before they had left Sugar Rush they had stopped at her home to pick it up, something about a city in Half-Light she wanted to go to after they left, Turbo wasn't sure he was only half paying attention.

"I'm going with you to warn Sugar Rush." He answered.

Toffee blinked at him, "Why?"

There were several answers to that, summed up with the matter that deep down the racer wasn't heartless. He had been the king of Sugar Rush for fifteen years, he was worried about his people. Turbo was also feeling a terrible sense of obligation to make up for what he had done, a selfish sense of wanting to feel better about himself by doing the right thing, Turbo also needed to see Vanellope, his hand slipped into his pocket, to clutch a piece of data he'd been holding onto for a long time.

"Because I wanna go, that's why, now let's move!" He replied dismissively and hurried along without explaining.

One thing for sure, Turbo would rather be remembered as being selfish than as heartless.

When they reached the station all hell was breaking loose. Tofferita and Turbo stood in shocked silence as they tried to process what was going on. Everyone was attacking each other, and it was impossible to tell why or who was on what side. Turbo started glitching, the Cybug in his code was reacting to the violence, excited, wanting to join the chaos.

They didn't understand and they didn't have time to try, but because of his glitching Turbo snapped out of it first and grabbed Toffee's hand, dragging her along, "Sugar Rush, let's get going!"

"Right!" But Toffee was glancing over her shoulder, toward a different game. Turbo didn't dwell on it and instead led them through the mob, their short statures made it easy for them to slip passed unnoticed by most of the fighting avatars. Turbo saw the entrance to Sugar Rush just ahead, they reached the gate, but a very large fox-like creature stood between them and it.

The two racers didn't know this, but it was the member of Bad Anon who had noticed Felix dropping in to pick up Ralph, only a few days prior. The character blew smoke from between her teeth, er, at least Turbo thought it was female, he was focusing on how to get past it. Suddenly the creature opened it's mouth and shot fire at them.

Turbo pushed Tofferita out of the way and dodged the attack by jumping in the opposite direction. The fox now had two targets to chase rather than one. The white racer waved his arms trying to draw it's attention away from Toffee. From an outsider's perspective, he was acting heroically, putting himself in danger so that the girl could get away. Inwardly, he was still being selfish, because if they managed to get out of this Tofferita could tell everyone what he had done for her, and bit by bit his good name could start coming back.

In the end, Turbo would always be acting on his own selfish needs, even when that meant helping others. That's just how he was.

The creature turned to him, it's eyes were wide and yellow-green, just like Chkalov's. That didn't sit well with Turbo. "I am the Manticore," she said, staring down at Turbo directly and he had a feeling that it wasn't because he was trying to get her attention, "I have long looked forward to this Turbo..." She raised her hand (paw?) and lashed out at him with poison filled claws.

He didn't remember dodging, probably because the Cybug in his code had temporarily taken over, but Turbo was finding himself being pushed away from Sugar Rush while continuing to glitch uncontrollably. This wasn't good, more people were starting to notice them, Tofferita had no defense and Turbo's only one was the Cybug which he desperately hoped wouldn't come out. He took deep breath and ducked away from another swipe at him and dove to the ground.

Turbo rolled under her and the large creature stumbled forward. Toffee was at his side immediately tugging him up, "Run!" She said needlessly. The two continued their flight toward Sugar Rush, the creature behind them regain her footing and turn around to chase after them. The racers reached the train heading into Sugar Rush, with the fox on their tails, Turbo pushed Tofferita through first and dived after her. Toffee was already prepared with the emergency button to close the doors behind him.

They only just managed to shut before the fox reached them. She howled and banged on the door while the train started to move, slowly at first but gaining speed and soon enough the creature was running to try and catch the trolley. As the car sped up though, she started fading further and further back until vanishing from sight around a corner.

Turbo was still on the floor though so Toffee helped him up again. "What was that?" She asked.

In the safety and calm of the train, his glitching eased off to nothing. His mind was whirling tying to piece it together. Turbo was pretty good at deductive thinking, the General had said something about a virus, and they had been attacked by a creature that had the same eye color as Chkalov. Chkalov's game Manticore had been brought down by a virus, "I am the Manticore."

"That's what the General meant when he said there was a virus." Turbo mused aloud, but not actually filling Toffee in on his thoughts, "It must have been in the arcade all these years and no one ever even knew about it."

He could picture it now, when Chkalov's game was unplugged he'd made a big show about sealing the other people inside to keep the virus from escaping, when it was probably already out spreading itself. It was a very clever plot, Turbo had to admit, had everyone looking at an invented problem while not noticing the real one. Not unlike what he had done in Sugar Rush.

Turbo glanced at Toffee when this crossed his mind. She had been one of the Unlockable characters he'd sealed away, but she didn't seem to be mad at him because of it. She was picking something up off the floor and turned to him with it held out, "I think this fell out of your pocket." She said. His heart almost stopped upon seeing what it was, a small bit of data, the very one he'd been carrying with him. Turbo snatched it out of her hand with a blunt 'Thanks' and put it back in his pocket, stroking it gently with his thumb. "What is that?" She asked, not bothered by his slightly rude behavior.

It would still be a while before they reached Sugar Rush, Turbo figured a little small talk to kill the time wouldn't hurt, but knew that if Toffee started asking too many questions that he could always just get quite. "It a bit of code." He replied.

"I can see that." Toffee told him, "But that wasn't a code box, what was it?"

The General had shown her how to hack codes, so of course she knew what a code box looked like. After he had gotten his back from Tadeusz, Turbo had stashed it away with some of the personal items he was taking with him out of the arcade. He stroked the bit of code in his pocket again, it was amazing how much information could be stored in such small things, even just this little piece. "It's a segment of memory code I removed from Sugar Rush fifteen years ago." He answered.

"Oh." Toffee sat back on one of the seats, swinging her legs back and forth.

Turbo expected her to ask him to elaborate, but she didn't, only glanced over her shoulder and out the window. He was a little glad she didn't ask, the less he had to say about it the better. Turbo gave the piece of code a gentle squeeze, he'd meant to give it to Vanellope that night in Burgertime, as insurance that she would believe him. Sure, that tale he'd told her about the twins and Double escaping with him wasn't exactly the truth, but what he'd said about Sugar Rush was.

And the proof was right here.

Three days worth of memories, right in the palm of his hand. So many people didn't understand the value of memories, with his code box damaged and his own memory messed up, Turbo understood it too well. Ralph and the others wanted to know the truth, well the truth was that Turbo couldn't trust his own memory to tell him that. He'd simply told Vanellope something he thought would win her sympathies so she'd let him get his code box, and if not for Taffyta's interruption he would have given this piece of code there in the restaurant.

Because of that value of memory, it had been a hard decision for him to give this up. Three days...Three days that he could prove really happened. No fantasies or lies, no false memories switching the story. He'd initially removed this piece of data from the code box containing the racer's memories with the intention of destroying it, but chose instead to keep it. It became one of his treasured possessions.

If nothing else in his life, the three days stored in this little piece of code, were real.

"What did she mean when she said that?"

"Hm?" Turbo snapped out of his thoughts and noticed Toffee looking at him expectantly.

"That Fox thing, she said she was waiting a long time for something." Tofferita added.

"How should I know, I never met that thing before." He answered.

"But she called you by name." She pointed out, and then mimicked the creature's voice, "I am the Manticore, I have long looked-"

"-I know what she said, I just don't know why. I don't know who that was." Turbo rolled his eyes, "Must have something to do with the virus. I know Chkalov always had it in for me. I guess the Manticore can transmit thoughts to the people it's infected or something."

"Like a hive mind?" Tofferita asked.

"A hive what?"

Toffee stood up, took off her backpack and pulled out a folded up poster with the image of some monster on it labeled Ct'zarugk't(how in the world was that pronounced?). Tofferita pointed to the creature, "These aliens are the bad guys in Half-Light Nexus, but they're not like Ralph or even Cybugs for that matter.." She explained, huh, that Half-Light place she was talking about must be a game then, "They attack in swarms but function as one, a single consciousness shared among hundreds upon thousands of bodies. What one of them knows, all of them know."

That made sense, Turbo supposed, "And you think this Manticore is the same?" He asked. "And each person it infects is just another set of eyes and ears?"

Toffee shrugged, folding her poster back up, "Maybe." She said.

Turbo groaned, talk about impossible odds, "Dam-er-Ding-Dongs! How're we supposta beat something like that?" He mused, after being away from Sugar Rush for a while he was getting back in the hang of swearing, but tried not to do it in front of her. "It could have hundreds of hosts already.

"In Half-Light, gamers beat the aliens by capturing the Nexus, their power source." Toffee told him, "That's what connects all the drones to the main mind. Capture the Nexus all the little ones die, and there's just the big one left. Kill the big one first they lose their leader and get confused, but the Nexus is what really stops them."

"What are you saying, that we should find out what's connecting these things?"

"That's how it works with the Nexus." Toffee elaborated, "But I think in the case of this virus, there isn't a secondary source. I think the Manticore itself is what's connecting them." She mused aloud.

Turbo hadn't been sure about her at first, but the General was right, Toffee was pretty perceptive. "Kill the Manticore and everyone it infected will return to normal..." He added.

Toffee looked him in the eyes, and nodded "I hope."

He gave a deep sigh "Oh, boy. I have a feeling that this is gonna require some teamwork." Turbo said a little annoyed, growling out the word like it left a bad taste in his mouth. His inner debate about whether or not he should care rose up again. He sort of felt like he owed Sugar Rush this warning, but why should he risk his life to fight for an arcade full of people that had turned their backs on him and cursed his name?

"That's what tends to happen in a crisis." Toffee replied, "Turbo, listen to me, that virus isn't just going to stop at Litwak's if we don't win. No one may trust you, but we're in this together now, so everyone is just going to need to break with the past, and learn to do so because it's gonna take all of us to stop it."

"'Break with the Past?" Turbo repeated.

Toffee waved her hand apologetically and explained, "It's a saying they have in Half-Light, it means to have a sudden change. Like it or not, we're gonna need to trust each other, the Outcasts, and everyone else."

The train finally reached the other end of the tunnel and they got off. "Well, if that's how it works we've gotta tell the General about your hive mind theory as soon as we get everyone outta here." Turbo said as they ran down the rainbow bridge. When they reached the bottom Turbo pointed to the stadium, "You go that way and tell everyone at the track to get out. I'll warn the people at the castle and anyone I meet on the way." Toffee nodded and ran toward the stadium without questioning him.

Turbo took off toward the castle. He wasn't ready to face a huge crowd of people from this game like he was sure to find at the stadium, and he doubted anyone there would listen to him. Besides, since she hadn't entered the roster race in favor of escorting him through Sugar Rush, Turbo guessed that Vanellope was most likely at the castle.

He ran down the path, and sure enough, right ahead of him he saw Vanellope. She wasn't alone, there were three other racers with her, standing in a circle talking, Taffyta, Candlehead and Rancis. Ah well, those were three kids he didn't have to worry about tracking down. "Vanellope!" He called as he sprinted toward them.

She turned around, eyes widened upon hearing his voice. The other three didn't seem as surprised to see him as they should have been, probably informed by there princess or president or whatever Vanellope was calling herself now, that he was still alive. Turbo skidded to a halt in front of them and took a moment to catch his breath.

"Turbo? What are you doing back here?" Vanellope asked, "I thought you said you were leaving!"

"What are you doing here at all?" Taffyta said crossing her arms. At her side Rancis and Candlehead closed in tighter, almost like they were forming a defense line for Vanellope, except they were hanging back too much. All words no action.

Thankfully Turbo hadn't come to hurt her, otherwise Vanellope's little line of guards would have been next to useless. While he panted he glitched back and forth into his King Candy form before settling on it "There'ths thome kinda viruth outbreak in game central thstation," He explained, "Tofferita'ths gone to tell the people at the thtadium, but we need to get everyone from the cathtle out and to a thafer place."

"Virus? Safer place? Turbo, what are you talking about?" Vanellope asked.

"Look, there isn't time for this, just go to the castle and tell everyone to head for the station." Turbo said, "I'll take anyone else I find out here."

"Hey, why should we believe you?" Rancis asked.

"Yeah!" Candlehead agreed, although of the three of them she looked the least upset about his presence. "You lied to us for fifteen years, how do we know you're not lying now?"

Turbo opened his mouth but closed it again. He hadn't really thought about having to prove it. He had no evidence, the only thing he'd brought was the piece of memory data, and that was no use. And Candlehead was right, he had lied to them, they had no reason to believe him, even if he was telling the truth this time.

He was stuck on an answer, trapped with no way to make them believe him and glanced helplessly at Vanellope as if somehow he could just get her to make them trust him on this. Vanellope met his gaze and her eyebrows were furrowed with worry. She knew he couldn't be trusted, but at the same time Vanellope also understood he had no reason to make something like this up. She was as stuck as he was.

Suddenly Taffyta gasped and pointed to the sky behind him "What's that?" She stepped back in fear, clinging to Rancis's arm.

Turbo turned around, and only caught a glimpse of a dark shape flying toward them before he whirled back around and pushed Vanellope to the ground, "Get down!" He shouted at the other three.

They didn't question him this time, all them dropped, just in time, something shot passed their heads, burying into the ground, where they would have been hit if they hadn't ducked. They were darts of some kind, filled with a liquid that was that poisonous yellow-green color that seemed to be linked with the virus,

The figure in the air flew passed them, turning around and heading for the stadium. Turbo was glitching between his forms again as he got off a blushing Vanellope and stood up, "BeLi3vE m3 n0w?" He hissed, and turned to the other racers, "You three come with me, we're going to gather anybody who'ths thtill in the foretht, Vanellope you go to the cathtle and tell everyone to get out."

"Got it!" Vanellope didn't argue now that she had actually been attacked by something, and saved by Turbo. She didn't run, more like skipped and then glitched into nothing, reappearing again several feet further from her starting point, that weird teleporting ability her glitch had turned into.

Candlehead took his hand, "C'mon King Candy, let's go!" She said tugging him along.

King Candy...

Even now, Candlehead seemed to say that name with a lot of fondness. It made a stab of guilt shoot through Turbo. In many ways, King Candy had been the perfect alterego for him after he had entered Sugar Rush, the King's fun wacky personality was just the distraction he needed to keep from dwelling on the past. His memory problems were no longer a worry since the blueprint of every day in Sugar Rush was basically the same. Turbo liked to think that he had been a good ruler to these people, even if it was all a lie.

As they ran through the forest they got the attention of wandering citizens. Turbo's glitching had started again, but he forced his body to remain in King Candy form, realizing quickly that the people of Sugar Rush trusted his familiar visage over his true form in a heart beat. "C'mon, hurry up, everyone to the thtation, I'll thow you where to go from there." Turbo instructed.

The people were confused, most of them didn't understand the danger they faced or had any idea what a virus was, but they followed their guts and trusted their old King. His case was helped by the three racers accompanying him, encouraging the sentient candy to listen to him. Soon Turbo was leading a good sized group of people toward the station, he kept glancing back at the castle hoping that Vanellope would be catching up with the people from the castle each time he looked.

He saw nothing.

After the initial confused questions died down the group became quiet, with a low buzzing sound being the only real noise. Most of the citizens latched to each other in parties of three or four, whispering amongst each other, while the three racers stuck to themselves leaving 'King Candy' at the front of the group on his own. It felt surprisingly good for Turbo to be leading them out of danger like this, like a weight was being lifted off him, after so many years of deceiving these people to protect himself, here he was actually doing something to protect them.

There went his internal conflict again.

And that damn buzzing was getting louder! Where was it coming from? Turbo turned around, thinking maybe one of the citizens had some toy or something that might be making that noise, but instead he saw the same dark shape from before heading back towards them. "Look out!" He warned. Snickers! That guy, he could see it was a person on a hoverboard from some sci-fi game now, must have gone all around Sugar Rush shooting darts!

Everyone ducked and it seemed that again they were lucky that no one was hit this round. The people screamed, Turbo ran through the crowd glitching yet again, trying to get them all to calm down and spread out. Not split up, exactly, just make themselves less of a target by breaking apart into smaller groups. "Taffyta, Candlehead, Rancith!" He called over the terrified cries of the citizens, "I need you three to help me get them thettled, don't let the run off. The thtation ith jutht ahea-"

Turbo stopped mid-sentence, he wasn't really sure why. He felt a chill wash over him, and his stomach hurt, the racer tried to blink away an emptiness that was clouding his mind. For a moment Turbo didn't have any idea what was going on around him, all he knew was a sudden feeling like everything was slipping away.

Taffyta was closest to him, and confused by Turbo's sudden silence she eased a couple of the citizens with reassuring words that the thing that had flown over them had passed as she made her way to the leader. Their attacker had disappeared into the distance, heading toward the stadium, and she hoped the pessimistic racer had gotten everyone to clear out.

"King Candy, c'mon, we need to get everyone moving before that thing comes back." He didn't budge, Taffyta stepped closer and tapped his shoulder, "Um, hello? Turbo, you in there?"

The former king turn around, and the first thing she saw was his eyes wide with shock and horror. They glanced down and Taffyta followed his gaze to his abdomen where she saw what had caused his sudden silence. It was a dart, one of the ones that had been shot at them this time. The yellow-green mixture inside was all gone, pumped into Turbo's body. Their eyes met again, Turbo's irises started to change color, and his face pixeled over with red data, switching back and forth between his two faces again.

"Run." He mouthed, then suddenly screamed in agonized pain, and exploded into red pixels. Surprise and terror left the citizens and racers frozen in place and King Candy vanished completely, replaced instead with a terrible monster. Taffyta backed away from him as he grew and stared up at his face, Turbo's eyes were dark again.

But they were hardly friendly. He glared down at them, not as their wacky friendly King, but as a very, very angry and confused Cybug that had nothing to vent its frustration on other than the gathering of living candy before him.

Candy...Food...

With a snarl the Cybug swiped at them with his claws, the already terrified citizens broke into all out panic, remembering the horror of the Cybug invasion. The racers weren't much better, but at least tried to maintain some sense, trying to keep the group together wile they ran. This didn't turn out to be such a good idea as the hungry Cybug just chased after and started picking them off two or three at a time.

They had been close to the bridge out of Sugar Rush though, and help was already on the way.

Ralph's concern over Turbo's disappearance had prompted an immediate questioning of everyone in the underground. Though it had taken some time a fragile young man had confessed to seeing the racer leave just after the General had sent Tofferita to Sugar Rush. A little more pressing and they were able to determine that Turbo had followed her out. Theories as to why varied from person to person, but Ralph refused to think that Turbo being back in Sugar Rush was anything except bad news.

And in a way he was right. A party consisting of Ralph, General and Sergeant Calhoun, Felix and that warrior Faolan fought their way through the station. It seemed that beyond the boundaries of the cross, the virus had dominated most of the arcade already. Occasionally small normal-eyed avatars were seen cowering in tight places the large infected ones couldn't reach, or guarded by warriors whom Ralph personally directed toward the hole guarded by the cross.

Like the General had suggested, the more people they got down there, the better their odds.

The train was just returning when they reached in, the others spoke to each other during the train ride, but Ralph paced back and forth along the sugar trolly restlessly. Only days ago his biggest worry was Turbo's return, now he wished it was that simple. The long trip felt longer than usual because of the constant worry, but Ralph finally saw the light of Sugar Rush coming from down the tunnel.

The train stopped and they all ran out, Calhoun gasped and grabbed her gun off her back, Ralph followed her gaze and saw his living nightmare at the entrance to the candy cane forest: the King Candy Cybug. At this distance Ralph couldn't see what he was doing, but he looked like he was chasing someone and he immediately feared for Vanellope.

"Let's go!" Calhoun said charging down the rainbow bridge, Faolan just behind her wielding a large sword.

Ralph was about to go after them, but beside him, the other Calhoun pulled out one of the vials he had brought with him and drank from the mixture. After swallowing a small portion he slipped it back into his coat pocket and groaned, closing his eyes and clutching himself as if in pain.

"You alright?" Felix asked worriedly.

The General's eyes snapped open again, his pupils were slit horizontally and wings ripped out of his back, he blinked and black marking fell over his cheeks like tears, "Just a side effect." Tadeusz dismissed and flapped his wings once before taking to the air, over shooting his daughter and beating her and Faolan to the rampaging Cybug.

By the time Ralph caught up to them, the General was on Turbo's back with the bug trying to buck him off. Faolan dove at the bug's legs, slashing away with his sword making Turbo yowl in pain and swipe at him angrily. He glitched red pixels that swapped his face from one form to the other. Tamora had her gun pointed at the Cybug but couldn't fire without risking hurting the General or Faolan so she merely yelled insults at him.

Huddled together, trapped by a rock were Taffyta, Candlehead and Rancis. Felix and Ralph went over to comfort them, "He was hit by a dart!" Taffyta whimpered, "And then he turned into that thing!"

Ralph glanced over to the battle, Tadeusz was finally thrown off the Cybug's back, but he righted himself in the air and dove back into the fray shouting Turbo's name and demanding for him to stop. The Wrecker had seen those darts in the station, and barely avoided them himself a few times, but he thought it was odd that it had caused Turbo to transform into the Cybug. Perhaps that was something the virus had planned.

"Where's Vanellope?" Ralph asked.

Candlehead sniffed and answered in a weak, shaky voice, "King C-Candy asked her to go t-t-tell everyone at the c-castle to get out." She said, "And h-he was taking us to the station when- when...and he...The citizens..." She broke down into a terrified sob.

Calhoun was close enough to hear the whole conversation. Tadeusz was swatted away again, landing on the ground heavily beside them. "He's been infected. Fowler or whatever your name is! Get out of the way!" the Sergeant called. Faolan ducked back toward them and she took aim.

Seconds before she fired Tadeusz grabbed her arm and yanked her down, "No, wait!" He shouted, Tamora's weapon blasted, but missed Turbo by quite a bit, but still enough to make the Cybug even more enraged.

Tamora shook him off her, "What is wrong with you?" She demanded, taking aim again the reproaching bug.

The General stopped her again, "Look at his eyes!" He instructed

Tamora stopped and did as commanded, Ralph too turned his gaze to Turbo's eyes. While they were filled with animalistic rage and clouded with madness, they were perfectly normal. Not even a hint of the yellow-green color that signified the virus presence. What did that mean?

"The Cybug's going berserk. I've seen it before, in the Underground." The General said, "Turbo's still in there somewhere, we just need to get him back. Turbo, it's Tadeusz! Listen to me, snap out of it!"

The Cybug swiped at him and gave a psychotic cackle. Ralph wasn't sure if Turbo remembered he could talk, but that was the least of their worries right now. The racers were crying again, and Ralph knew they had to lead Turbo away from them.

"It's being usually stubborn," The General muttered to himself as the adults prepared for battle, "That virus might not have taken over his body, but its certainly put Turbo's Cybug on the offense. We need to wear him out and knock some sense into him."

Ralph cracked his knuckles, "Not a problem." He'd been wanting to give Turbo a good wrecking anyway, although he would have preferred not to face the Cybug again, Ralph braced himself for it.

"Felix, get them out of here." Tamora said nodding to the racers, "We'll distract bug-boy."

Turbo snarled and swiped at her, "I dun thinhg he liges be'in galled dat." Faolan said raising his sword and taking a slice at Turbo's claws while they were in reach.

"Call him by name." Tadeusz told them, "Sooner or later he'll remember who he is, but giving him reminders won't hurt."

Turbo went after the sergeant first, her gun was deemed the most threatening to him. He swiped at her, but Tadeusz dove in, tacking Turbo's hand. Faolan's sword left a large cut on the Cybug's extended arm, a minor victory until Turbo knocked all three of them away and drew back his arm, cradling the wound. While his attention was diverted Ralph dived beneath Turbo and used all his strength to push him over.

The bug toppled onto his side, and Ralph leaped onto him, followed by General Calhoun. The two of them combined were able to wrestle him down and while the Cybug struggled to get them off, Tadeusz shouted, "Turbo! Calm down!"

Realizing that his mere struggling wasn't getting him anywhere the Cybug rolled over, crushing Tadeusz and Ralph beneath him. While they were pinned, Turbo lashed out with his good arm, sending Tamora and Faolan both flying. Ralph managed to shove Turbo's weight off himself and the General, but the Cybug was already prepared, turning around lighting fast to pick Ralph up and throw him into a pile of jawbreakers. The wrecker landed on his head and things went black for a moment.

The screaming woke him up.

Ralph sat up shaking his head. Tamora and Faolan were no were in sight, Tadeusz had reverted to his original form and was pinned under the Cybug again. Felix stood in front of the racer's holding up his hammer defensively. Whatever was left of Turbo in the monstrosity he had become remembered that the hammer was used for fixing things, not harming them. Turbo flicked Felix aside and, having defeated all of his challengers, they Cybug's hand continued to hover over the racers to select his prize.

"King Candy no!" Candlehead begged, "Please don't eat us!"

Ralph got to his feet, he was so dizzy from the blow to his head that the action almost made him blackout again. The children screamed louder, Turbo picked up Rancis and the boy struggled in his clutches. Ralph sprinted toward them, the world was swimming around him and he couldn't manage to go in a straight line. "Put me down! Help!" Rancis begged. Turbo ignored the pleading and lifted the peanut butter cup themed racer toward his lips.

The wrecker reached them just as Rancis's head was about to disappear into the Cybug's mouth, he pushed with all his might, trying to make him drop the boy, but Turbo only swatted him aside again. "No!" Ralph knew it was over then, Rancis was a goner.

Suddenly a familiar voice cried out "Turbo! What are you doing?"
Vanellope glitched toward them with the Oreo guard trailing behind her. As happy as he was that she was safe, the wrecker wanted to tell her to get away from the Cybug. However, just as Ralph started to shout his warning. Turbo slowly drew Rancis gasping and sputtering out of his mouth and turned toward her, blinking in confusion. "Vanellope...?"

Just like the General said, Turbo snapped out of the Cybug's rampage. Realizing what he had done and what he was trying to do, the ex-racer dropped the boy in his hand and lifted his body off Tadeusz. The other three members of their company arrived back at the spot of the fight in time to see Turbo hunch over and retch. From the sickeningly sweet odor of semi-digested candy and the reaction from the children, Ralph could guess that Turbo hadn't gotten it from the landscape. This was their game, they'd regenerate, right?

Vanellope ran passed Turbo to comfort the other racers, while Tadeusz dusted chocolate powder from his black coat and approached his friend, "Turbo, you alright?"

The Cybug continued coughing and hacking up what remained in his stomach and wiped his mouth. His whole body was shaking, "I got hit... with one of those darts." He answered.

"You should have been infected." Felix noted.

Turbo nodded."I can feel it...the virus...It's inside me..." He closed his eyes and moaned. His body broke apart into red pixels and reformed, Turbo his louder and his body broke apart and reformed again. This happened several more times before Turbo glanced worriedly at the General. "I can't change back."

"Curious..." The other man replied stroking his chin contemplatively.

"Why did you turn into a Cybug instead of one of the Manticore's puppets?" Tamora asked and hushed the racers when they asked about the Manticore, promising an explanation later.

"I don't know."

"We'll have to figure it out later." The General said, "Whatever the reason, it may hold the key to creating an antivirus. We're going to need a lab and equipment." Turbo gave a loud unhappy groan, he knew what that meant. More tests, more being studied.

"What about the virus?" Ralph asked, "It's still out there."

"I know, and it's probably already setting it's plan into action. We can still send out search parties for survivors, but without and an antivirus that's all we can do." Tadeusz replied. The group muttered in agreement. Turbo still didn't look happy, but he nodded. They started towards the exit, The General counted each person that passed him, Ralph didn't ask why, but suddenly Tadeusz spoke up again. "What happened to Toffee?"

Turbo looked over at the stadium, where the man on the hover-board had last vanished...

Far away from the others, Tofferita was being chased by three racers. She had recognized the man with the darts, but he hadn't so much as slowed down when she shouted his name. Though she had warned the people remaining in the stadium about the virus, they had only managed to file off the stands before the darts rained down on them. As far as Toffee had been able to tell, only a few people had been hit, and no one seemed to be hurt.

She was wrong.

It was only minutes before people started shouting and fighting, pushing to get to the exit Toffee thought, and again she was wrong. She didn't know how wrong until Adorabeezle Winterpop suddenly yanked her arm and tried to scratch the other racer's face. Toffee pushed away only to be attacked by someone else, not sure what was happening until she saw their eyes.

Yellow-Green, all of them.

Tofferita didn't know much about the virus that was apparently loose in the arcade, but she recognized that color from the eyes of the creature that had attacked her and Turbo on the way in, a lot of people in the station had that color in their eyes. Logically, the change in their eyes and their sudden violence had something to do with the virus. Toffee's theory was supported when she saw someone get scratched and their eyes changed colors.

It was tough to get away, but Toffee escaped the raving crowd with only three racers behind her. Only one of them had the discolored eyes at first, but the other two had gotten infected while they tried to escape. Now all three of them were hunting her. Toffee scrambled up a gumdrop rock, they could climb too, but the plan wasn't to hide from them. Using the gummy candy as a spring board, Tofferita jumped over their heads and sprinted towards the track while they were busy trying to climb up.

If she could just get to one of the karts, it didn't matter which one, anything that would be faster than running on foot.

She was almost there. Toffee could see the karts lined up after the roster race. Though the arcade wasn't open they had decided to run the race so that they had a roster prepared and goof off during their vacation. So close, just a little further.

Toffee tripped and tumbled painfully to her knees. A shadow loomed over her, she whimpered as she looked up. Wynchel and Duncan, the two doughnut guards stood over her. Though they weren't always the brightest or bravest people, the sight of them still normally gave Tofferita a sense of comfort, like things were going to be alright,

Not now.

Beneath their sunglasses their eyes were usually invisible, but one of the lenses from Duncan's glasses was cracked enough that she could see a sliver of the color that signified the virus's presence. Wynchel leaned down, extending a hand toward her in a gesture that, if not for the eyes she knew were hidden beneath his sunglasses, would have been reassuring.

"Please..." Toffee begged, "Please, no..."

Author's end note: Thank you for reading and for putting up with the fact that I keep stopping chapters like this, I'll be back with a new chapter as soon as I can!