Chapter Thirteen: Why I'm Here

A bit Earlier.

Back at OhMyDisney, the Princesses had just finished the 'Which Disney Princess are you?' quizzes and were returning back to their room. But, when they got there, they saw something that they weren't expecting.

Vanellope was still there, and she didn't seem to be the happy girl that she was when they left her. She was crying.

"Vanellope! What's wrong?" Ariel gasped, as she, and the other Princesses, ran over to Vanellope.

Vanellope quickly wiped her eyes, "N-Nothing. Nothing is wrong, ladies."

The Princesses knew better.

"Come on." Anna started, "You can be honest with us."

"Yeah, we don't judge." Snow White added.

"N-No, I'm fine, honest." Vanellope started glitching sporadically.

Jasmine then chimed in, "Then why are you still here? You told us that you have a kingdom to get back to."

"Yeah, and that was almost an hour ago." Belle added.

Vanellope didn't know how to respond.

"Vanellope," Elsa started, "why ARE you here?"

Vanellope realised that it was finally time to be honest, with not just her other friends, but herself.

"I ran away from my kingdom." Vanellope sighed.

The Princesses all gasped.

"What, why?" Questioned Aurora.

"I don't believe that they even care for me, and I don't think that I even belong there." Vanellope answered, "So I left, *sigh*, without telling my subjects, 'friends', or even anyone in the arcade."

"Why would they NOT care for you?" Moana asked.

"Yeah they're YOUR friends, are they not?" Cinderella added.

"Honestly, I don't know." Vanellope sighed, "Because for the longest while, they all hated me."

Now all the Princesses were confused.

"Why would they hate you?" Tiana asked.

"Were you like an Evil Princess or President or something?" Snow White added.

"Well, actually." Vanellope started, "I never got a chance to get to know any of my people properly, because they didn't know who I was, and I didn't know who I was either."

"So you were a lost Princess." Rapunzel realised.

"Well yeah, but it's a long story." Vanellope warned.

The Princesses looked at each other, then looked back to Vanellope.

"We got time." Said Mulan.

Vanellope started to explain her backstory, "Well, it started back in 1997, when my game, Sugar Rush, first got plugged in at Litwak's Arcade."

Flashback (Quick Note: Since this is Vanellope's backstory being told by her, the narration for this flashback is technically from her perspective, with the exception of when it says 'said' or any of the synonyms for it. So the narration is in first person.)

When the game turned on, I spawned inside my castle. I was just about to head off to the racetrack and greet all the other racers and my subjects, when Sour Bill told me that someone had come to see me.

Being the nice person that I was and the fact that the arcade was closed, I let him into the castle. When I first saw him, he seemed weird. It was obvious that he wasn't from this game.

"So, You're a racer too?" Vanellope asked the strange visitor.

"Why yes, Your Majesty." He answered, "I'm Turbo, the greatest racer ever."

Turbo was an odd character. I could tell that he was from a much older game.

"Are you, by any chance, from an old-style racing game." Vanellope cautiously asked.

Turbo looked offended, "An ICONIC arcade game, Your Highness! I was revolutionary to the whole video game industry. I practically INVENTED the racing genre, AND I was the reason why anyone wanted to come to this arcade."

"It sounds like a big deal." Said Vanellope.

"Oh it WAS." Replied Turbo, "But then, Litwak unplugged my game and had it scrapped for a stupid, newer, fancier one."

"Oh gumballs, that horrible." Vanellope said, with concern.

"And, JUST to add insult to injury, the new game didn't even last a day until it glitched out and crashed. Something about a virus getting in there." Turbo stated, rolling his eyes, "But, nevertheless, my game was already gone by the time this happened and I haven't been able to race for TEN YEARS!"

I felt very sorry for Turbo, "You didn't deserve that."

"It was terrible," Turbo sighed, "UNTIL," Turbo jumped up, "I saw Litwak plug in this sugar-frosted paradise, then I got an idea."

"What's your idea?" Wonder Vanellope.

"Well, Your Sweetness." Turbo started, "Can I live and race here?"

And I, being the kind and caring person that I am, said yes.

"You can live and race here," Vanellope answered, "But you can't race in any of our official Random Roster Races or when the arcade is open because you don't match the aesthetic of our game. Plus the game just won't recognize you as an avatar."

Turbo was still happy, in fact he had an idea, "Well that goes without saying, but don't you fret pumpkin. I just so happen to know a thing or two about coding, and I can edit this game, so it would see me as one of its own and I can even change my model."

I was skeptical of Turbo's claims.

"That's impossible." Vanellope insisted, "I thought only game programmers could alter a games code."

"You learn something new every day." Turbo responded, smugly.

I was still skeptical of Turbo, but he was quickly able to find my weak spot and convince me to let him into the games code.

"Look," Turbo started, "You take me to the code so I can add myself in the game, and in exchange, I'll teach you how to become the most ADORABLE winner of the whole arcade."

"OH YES!" Vanellope cheered, with glee, "Come on, I'll show you the coding room."

"Turbo-Tastic!" Turbo cheered.

So, I took Turbo to the only non-candy part of the game, the coding room. After showing him the code to get into the code, we tie ourselves to some liquorice rope and had Sour Bill anchor us down.

Once inside, Turbo got right to work on adding his code. I was actually kinda impressed. As soon as he was done, his model changed, but something was odd about it.

"Turbo?!" Vanellope yelled out.

"VANELLOPE!?" Turbo yelled out.

Turbo seemed scared to see me at first.

"Sweet Mother of Monkey Milk, it is you." Vanellope was surprised, "It's incredible. You're less scary now."

"You thought I was scary before?" Turbo sarcastically asked, "Well how do I look now, Handsome, Cute, or Adorable?"

"You look nice, even if you don't one-hundred precent match the chibi style of our game." Answered Vanellope, "But there's just one thing that I don't understand."

"Which is?" Turbo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why did you design your new model as a king?" Vanellope questioned.

And then, Turbo gave me the most, evil looking smile ever, as he said to me,

"Isn't it obvious?"

Just from that sentence alone, I felt shivers run through every pixel of my body.

"You're not a virus, are you?" Vanellope asked, with fear and caution.

"Me, a virus?" Turbo said shakingly, "No, I'm just someone who had to survive ALONE for years, with NO ONE to talk to. You would never know what that felt like."

Before I could say anything else, Turbo leapt right at me.

"UNTIL NOW!" Yelled Turbo.

I was able to push him back, and then told Sour Bill to call the guards. But, unfortunately for me, Turbo grabbed on to my code and, VIOLENTLY RIPPED, out every string connecting to it.

The pain was excruciating, and all I can remember hearing was Turbo's crazy laugh. Just then Sour Bill returned with the guards, but Turbo had already won.

"Everything is alright my little sour friend!" Turbo called out, "Your King is here!"

"The… what?!" Sour Bill and the guards were confused, "What are talking about? You're not the King, we don't have one in this game. What did you do with Princess Vanellope?"

"Don't you remember?" Turbo called out, "I've always been your rightful ruler."

And the last thing I heard before blacking out was the sound of a chest closing and locking.

When I woke up, I was locked in a cage in another room in the castle, with no memory of who I was or how I got there. All I knew was my name. As it turns out, Turbo, now going by the name King Candy, very unoriginal, I know, had locked away the memories of everyone in Sugar Rush, including mine. He was the only one who remembered anything.

"Let me outta here!" Vanellope demanded, "You've got a funny way of dealing with your citizens."

King Candy was annoyed, "As the King, I have the right to dispose of my subjects however and whenever I want. Especially when they pose a threat to MY game."

"Me, a threat?" Vanellope rhetorically asked, "I'm a Sugar Rush Racer just like you. I can feel it in code!"

King Candy laughed, "Oh ho ho, your code!? That's rich. What do you think you are? A racer? A princess?"

I didn't know how to respond.

"YOU'RE A GLITCH!" Yelled King Candy, "And my guards found you in the coding room messing with the games code."

"I don't remember that. I swear I don't." Vanellope pleaded.

"Of course you don't." King Candy responded, "Your glitching has clearly affected your memory, this is why I can't have you going around, in case you cause trouble and then forget that you did it."

"But I promise that I won't get into any trouble if you let me race." Vanellope begged.

King Candy looked annoyed, "Even if you don't want to cause trouble, your mere existence is a problem."

I was confused.

"Like I said, YOU ARE A GLITCH!" King Candy emphasized, "You are a coding error, a bug, an oversight by the programmes, left in this game. If players saw you, they'd think that the game is broken, and we would be put 'Out Of Order'. Now, you can't leave the game and I can't get rid of you, SOOOOO…"

"So?" Vanellope wondered.

"SO, I will have to lock you away in my Fungeon forever and ever." King Candy stated.

"NO! PLEASE NO" Vanellope cried.

And then, without warning, I glitched out of the cage and out of the castle. I was free. So I ran as fast as I could trying to get to the racetrack to see if I could get help from anyone. Unfortunately, King Candy had the whole police force after me.

By the time I got the track, King Candy was already there, and he had programmed in a new pay to play system to keep me from racing.

"Citizens of Sugar Rush... All hail the rightful ruler... King Candy." Sour Bill introduced.

"Hello, my loyal subjects! Ha ha! Welcome to our FIRST Random Roster Race! Have some candy!" King Candy said, jumping out onto the stand, throwing candy at the people.

Much like me, the other racers were skeptical of King Candy at first.

"Hey, do you guys think that there's something off about our ruler?" Questioned Rancis.

"I think you might be right." Candlehead agreed, "I could've sworn that our ruler was a Queen, or a Prince, or something like that."

"Hey!" Taffyta whispered, "Don't be rude, I don't see why he couldn't be our ruler."

"Besides," Swizzle interjected, "We just got plugged in."

"So we wouldn't know much about our royalty anyways." Added Gloyd.

"Shh, guys he's explaining the rules." Said Snowanna.

"Now, listen everybody," King Candy got everyone's attention, "This event is pay to play, we should all know this. The fee to compete is one gold coin that we all spawned with."

He took mine while I was knocked out.

"Now, LET ME GO FIRST!"

King Candy tossed his coin to the machine and the announcer called his name. but, before Taffyta threw hers in, she noticed me.

"Hey!" Taffyta called out, "Who are you?"

"I'm Vanellope." Vanellope responded, "I'm a racer like you are."

"Cool. Name's Taffyta." Taffyta introduced.

"H-Hey, I'm Rancis." Rancis nervously introduced, (it seems that he was smitten by Vanellope).

"And I'm Candlehead." Candlehead introduced, shoving Rancis out of the way.

The other racers seemed to be okay with me… for about fifteen seconds. When King Candy noticed me he made sure that everyone hated me.

"WAIT!" Yelled out King Candy, "Keep away from her!"

"Why?" Questioned Taffyta, "She's a racer like us. Plus, I don't see anything wrong with her."

"SHE IS A GLITCH!" Yelled King Candy.

"A Glitch?" Wondered Taffyta.

"Yes, a glitch." Stated King Candy, "Her mere existence is a danger to our society and if she races, it could destroy our world as we know it."

That's when all the other racers and even the other people in Sugar Rush turned on me.

"Well if he says that you can't race, I guess you can't race." Candlehead sighed.

"I promise that I won't cause any problems." Vanellope pleaded.

"We really don't want to take any chances." Said Rancis, "So please don't be selfish."

"I'm not being selfish." Vanellope protested, "I just a racer with… pixelexia, okay?"

Taffyta made the biggest switch.

"You're a GLITCH!" Taffyta stated, "That means you can't ever and will never be a real racer. Now GET OUT OF HERE!"

As I started to run away, King Candy had the guards chase me away. Once I was in the clear, I could hear King Candy declaring a new rule.

"As the rightful, King of Sugar Rush, I declare that any and all glitches illegal, they can NOT race and ANYONE who is seen doing ANYTHING to help them will be locked away into my Fungeon. THAT GLITCH CAN'T BE ALLOWED TO RACE!"

And that was the name that I had title, the Glitch, for the next fifteen years, I had to live as an outcast, unable to leave the game and had no one to talk to.

Flashforward (Back to third person narration.)

"Oh My, That's horrible. You poor thing." Ariel said, as she hugged Vanellope to comfort her.

All the Princesses felt very sorry for Vanellope.

"So, how did you find out that you were the Princess?" Asked Rapunzel.

"We found out when some people from other games, Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun came into my game." Vanellope explained, "Ralph beat Turbo and helped me win a Race that reset the whole game and freed everyone's memories."

"So everything should be good, right?" Wondered Mulan.

Vanellope sighed, "No. dare I say it's even worse. Now all the other racers do is try to make up for those years of bullying by ENDLESSLY showering me with random praise and grandeur. But, I don't want that! All I want is to be treated like a normal racer like them. The whole reason why I changed my title from Princess to President is so that they can see me as someone that they talk to normally. But no, they only see me as the Princess that they have to keep happy, so she doesn't hurt them, and not Vanellope von Schweetz."

The Princesses paused.

"What about the people that helped you?" Asked Belle.

"Well, Felix and Calhoun are married, so they are usually off doing married people stuff, and Ralph…" Vanellope paused for a moment, "My Best Friend Ralph, doesn't seem to want to hang out with me anymore. He seems to have outgrown me and wants to push me away. He wasn't even there when I needed him the most."

"That's horrible." Said Tiana, "Are you sure that he really meant that?"

"It's probably for the best." Vanellope sighed, "He was programmed as an adult and I'm programmed as a kid."

"Is there anyone that you know that you feel like you can talk to?" Asked Anna.

"The only other person that I can think of is Rancis." Vanellope replied.

"Who's Rancis?" Wondered Jasmine.

"He's a boy from my game." Answered Vanellope, "He's really vain, but he seems to actually want to be my friend."

"Do you think he's cute?" Asked Snow White.

"Well obviously." Replied Vanellope, who didn't actually fully process the question before answering.

Vanellope's cheeks then went bright red, "WAIT WHAT!?"

Snow White felt proud of herself, until Cinderella pulled her away.

"Ow ow, ear ear!" Cried Snow White.

"Not the time, nor the place." Cinderella scolded.

"MY! POINT! IS!" Vanellope said, trying to change the subject, "I don't even think he even cares enough to notice that I'm gone."

"Don't you be thinkin' so sad lassie, they maybe do be carrin' about you, and want ya home." Merida exclaimed.

Vanellope did her best to understand what she just heard, "I don't know. I don't really think that Rancis, or Ralph, or really anybody would risk their lives for just me."

NOTES: Before I start the notes, I would like to give credit to Turbotastique as I use their comic, "How Turbo Has Gotten A Kingdom", as the basis for my flashback segment, even sometimes directly quoting it. It's a REALLY good short comic and is pretty much how I also envisioned how it went down when Turbo became King Candy, with a few minor changes. Alright, now the notes. Yay, more Disney Princess scenes. You know you got your priorities straight when your trailer for your movie and the marketing that you forcefully shove down the consumers throat, is of a five-minute scenes that adds NOTHING to the actual plot. Fun fact, I had no idea going into this that Slaughter Race and the non-character Shank, were actually, unfortunately, a major part of the movie. Hey, give the first movie's trailer credit, at least it knew to show people a lot of, Fix-It Felix Jr, Hero's Duty, and Sugar Rush. It's sad, because I actually really like the design of the princesses and wish they did more with them instead of halting the plot, telling shit jokes, and insulting their original stories. So yeah, what I'm doing can be seen as shameless marketing and ego stroking for Disney, but hey at least this version would be more true to the marketing and, once again, give the Princesses, an actual PURPOSE. One thing that also annoyed me throughout the movie, (aside from every else), is that Turbo goes completely unmentioned. I'm only realizing now that they did this, because his existence contradicts a later plot point, (SOON, I rant SOON). Other than that, not much to say about this chapter, again, I give credit to Turbotastique for most of the flashback. On a side note, isn't Ariel a mother? I KNOW that they are using all the first movie designs for the Princesses, but still, (just makes that line from Rapunzel even MORE insulting). Anyways, what movie is complete without a chase scene? Stay Tuned.