Chapter 38
"Turbo or Mr. Candy's got a huge hideout," said Tails, taking in the darkness and cascading code of the hideout.
"These guys have been hiding in a place like this?" Kohut asked.
They advanced further into the hideout, where they approached a trio of tunnels.
"Okay, so which one did Turbo head through?" Tails wondered.
"Come over here, you two." Surge's voice turned the fox and Kohut's attention away from the tunnels to the arcade guardian, whose arm entered a wall near one of the tunnels.
"A weak part in the wall," Kohut realized as he and Tails joined Surge. "Where does it lead?"
The trio stepped through the faux wall, where they found what looked like an office, with a desk bearing a stack of paperwork in the center, a bookshelf behind it, and a closet facing the desk.
"Mr. Candy's office? Or Turbo's?" inquired Kohut.
"We'll see." Surge began to sift through the paperwork on the desk. "You two check the bookshelf and closet." The arcade guardian skimmed through the sheets on the desk, noticing information of Ralph was the main topic of nearly all of it. Surge could only assume that the culprit was strongly interested in Ralph. Keeping that in mind, Surge moved to the drawer, where he found one files, one with the wrecker and one with the very person he had discussed with everyone in his office.
"Nothing in the closet." Tails met Surge at his desk. "Why are Ralph's files in here? With hers?"
"T.K..." Surge said, pulling at the two files to study them. He didn't bother opening Ralph's; the fact that the wrecker's file was in a place like the hideout held proof enough that the Bad Guy was the victim. And he wasn't the culprit. The arcade guardian began to read T.K.'s file and as he thoroughly read the info on the succubus and her plans on Ralph, specifically her intention to infect him with her virus whose picture dominated most of the pages Surge's mouth dropped open.
"What is it, Surge?" Fear generated in Tails' chest when the hologram looked up at the fox.
"Guys, look at this."
Surge and Tails regarded Kohut, who had moved several books aside in the bookcase to reveal something metal, almost like a vault.
"What the heck is that?" the fox wondered.
"Would you mind trying to move it, Mr. Kohut?" Surge asked.
"I'll need some assistance; my strength is halved due to Fix-It," Kohut reminded.
The hologram and Tails helped the second-in-command push the bookcase aside, revealing that a vault did reside behind it. Unlike most vaults, however, this one didn't have a combination dial.
"Who would have a vault without a code?" Tails noticed the abnormality first.
"The kind who can hide something of value well," Kohut responded. "Seriously, no one would know a safe would be here, thanks to whoever it belongs to."
"Probably Takeru," Surge guessed, as he grabbed the handle to open the codeless safe to reveal shelves of red purse-sized panels bearing T.K.'s name in Japanese characters. Tails and Kohut gasped, realizing that those panels caused several games to fall. "And the files I've found on these, her, and her intent to use them on Ralph drives this conclusion further."
"We've found our Mr. Candy," Tails decided. "And we can assume that she's still looking for Ralph and we need to find him before her...if she hasn't infected him already. We only know Fix-It's infected so far according to Turbo."
"Sadly, that won't happen." A flamboyant voice caused them to freeze.
The trio turned to see a white-haired hooded angel flanked by a pair of hooded guards with their faces covered.
"Erholtz." Tails recognized the angel, but the crimson eyes implied that he was under T.K.'s or Turbo's control.
"Snooping around in Mr. Candy's sanctuary is a vile offense." The angel shook his head as if ashamed of the trio's actions. "I'm afraid you'll have to be disciplined."
"I'll take them. You two go," Kohut instructed.
"But he's blocking it," Surge pointed out.
None of them were given the chance to make a move anyway, as Erholtz pulled out a rose and tossed it like a grenade, scattering its petals over them and sending into unconsciousness.
…
"What in the heck is that?" Vanellope wondered, face-to-face with the lightning box in her code. She had followed Citrusella, Taffyta, and Candlehead to the code room. The trio had explained both the "real" King Candy incident, and when they reached the part about the ex-monarch's being her father, Vanellope refused to believe it. Since the last incident, the princess had always believed King Candy was Turbo.
The other part regarded the lightning bolt patch, where they had explained how it possibly caused Vanellope's immunity to the virus and a possible power other than glitching.
"Does this explain my sparking earlier?" the princess asked, tapping the patch. She felt the same sparks as earlier. Pulling away, she said, "This thing's a little touchy. Are you sure this thing is my power and the antivirus?"
"No doubt," Sora interjected. "And we're guessing it's been in yours since the upgrade. So has King Candy."
"I still don't buy that King Candy's a 'real' racer in this game. Or my dad. That's a load of nonsense considering what he's done do to us as Turbo."
"Well, he keeps claiming otherwise, Pres." Snow shrugged. "And look at me and what that tiny patch did. Your add-on packs a shitload, girl."
"And so do my sparks, 'cause they scared T.J. off." Vanellope examined her hand. "I wonder if I can shoot lightning or energy balls and all that cool stuff." She thrust her hands at an empty area of the code room, but nothing emitted from the,. No lightning, not even a spark. "And why aren't they listening to me right now?" She tried three more times, willing the sparks to fire, but nothing happened. "Come on, you did it for me with T.P., so why..." Her rant was cut off by a sapphire bolt shooting out of her hands, hitting a wall that thankfully wasn't crowded by code boxes.
"Thank User none of us was over there." Adorabeezle sighed.
I can't wait to sthee what elsthe you can do, Vanellope, King Candy said from his prison.
"I can use it on you," the president threatened, swimming to the former monarch.
You wouldn't, vanilla bean.
"And stop calling me that," Vanellope demanded, annoyed. "Why did he come back with the upgrade, anyway? Have the creators lost their minds?"
"We don't know that much, except that he's a part of the upgrade," Sora said. "And that T.K. has taken over his code, keeping him mute about her. Maybe you should use your ability on Candy first and get the whole story from him."
"Yeah, right." Vanellope folded her arms. "If I do have this power, and I free him, he'll scurry off and return to his old doom and gloom. He's trouble."
"Yeah, but he may have information that none of us knows yet," Candlehead said. "That maybe even Sore doesn't know."
"Besides, it's not our style to keep people hostage or punish," added Taffyta. "Even if it's someone we wish never came back. I'm telling you, Candy may have been a douche, but he doesn't deserve this. The bitch we saved you from is twenty times worse than what he or Turbo was. But if you're right and tries something, we'll take care of him."
Vanellope stared at King Candy's hologram, not knowing what to make of the situation. She didn't want to do something she'd regret later. Besides, she didn't know exactly how her powers worked, let alone how to use them to purify a jerk who would've been better off left consumed by the virus. And she knew that last part was not who she was; Taffyta was right. Candy was the lesser of the two evils, regardless if he was Turbo or her father. But he knew she'd kill him if he tried anything related to last time.
Vanellope? Candy fixed his brown gaze on the princess, who still scowled at the ideas thrown all over the place.
"I'll try to set you free." She grimaced upon making their decision. "But if you try anything afterward, you're finished."
"And that's the deal," Citrusella said, making it final.
King Candy nodded, giving Vanellope the green light to try to use the antivirus inside of her.
Vanellope grabbed T.K.'s patch, closing her eyes and imagining the blue current generating in her code again. Unlike the previous two instances, where it had been spontaneous, she was staging this. She concentrated, focusing her code on the succubus' malware and imagining it weakening.
"It's not working." Gretel watched as the energy was not kicking in.
But she was rebutted when the blue energy started to emanate, surrounding Vanellope and forming a link between the princess and King Candy, who closed his own eyes out of fear that the energy may hurt more than help.
"Oh, it's doing its job now," Sora confirmed, watching the connection. "But unlike Snow's session, this may take a while due to the fact that the actual patch is inside King Candy and not a spawn of it like the ones in you guys. That being said, someone should stand guard and make sure nobody walks in on us, namely T.K."
"Since I'm cured, I'll go," Snow decided, as she headed for the exit.
"I'm coming, too." Gretel followed, then looked back at the other infected racers. "And Vanellope's work just got started, by the way."
"We'll have to see," Sora said, examining the racers and the concentrating Vanellope. The witch know the antivirus had to work; the entire arcade needed it. Sora only feared whether or not Vanellope would have enough to perform the deed.
...
"I've brought Fix-It." Calhoun, Chun-Li, Zangief, Aika, and Dyne burst into Surge's office, where they noticed that it was empty.
"Where did he go?" Aika asked, looking around for the arcade guardian. "Funny. I'd think they'd be here first, meaning that they're still looking for Turbo."
Suddenly, the group heard footsteps down the hallway.
"They must be back," Dyne guessed.
But the thought was rebutted when they heard the footsteps heading past the office and down the hallway, the path toward the code room. Calhoun found that strange, as common sense would tell them to return to the office. If it was them, where were they going?
"Watch over Short Stack," Tamora instructed, hurrying out of the office to follow the mystery group.
…
"You're safe now, Ralph," T.K. settled Ralph in the throne room of the code-ridden hideout, having escaped Vanellope after the surprise with the sparks. She wondered where those sparks came from, leading to her having to retreat. The succubus had never seen that before, nor did she know what it was, but she'd research it and prepare herself for next time.
T.K. was just glad to have Ralph in her possession, as he and she would rule the arcade. Her plan was coming to fruition, and nothing would stop her.
"Mr. Candy, sir!" A minion's call jolted her out of her musings.
"T.K. swore. "This is a pain." She hated changing forms; it was maturing into a hassle for her. She wished she could just come out as Takeru, but she had to stay hidden in case anyone recognized her.
So she assumed her Mr. Candy form – a large, hooded figure – and beckoned the minion in. The minion bowed in respect.
"What is it, Erholtz?" she asked, her voice taking on a demonic, authoritative tone.
"We have some people deciding to snoop around in your office. We caught and chained them," said the angel.
"More nosy idiots wanting to trash my plans?" The succubus huffed. "First, those cavities, and now some random characters. Why, they shouldn't be a problem."