It's finally over.

Epilogue: Turbo Takes the Throne

Mr. Litwak paused unlocking the front door to the arcade early the next morning when he noticed an unfamiliar brown box next to it. He checked the label, wondering if it was delivered by mistake.

It was from eBay, and Mr. Litwak was the recipient, however the man didn't recall ever ordering anything online. He was still getting used to the whole "surfing the web" or whatever.

Curious, he opened the box and saw it contained a steering wheel controller for a Sugar Rush cabinet.

"Well, I'll be." He picked it up, examining it as if to make sure it was real. He checked the receipt in the box as well. Apparently, the item had been already paid for through something called BuzzzTube. Litwak had no idea what that was, but since his bank hadn't sent him any red flags, the money must've come from somewhere else. Perhaps a generous regular at his arcade?

In any case, he decided to take it inside with him. "Guess it's my lucky day!"

After the endless expanse of the Internet, Turbo found Game Central Station to be remarkably cozy. He was even glad to see the Surge Protector again, despite him not being happy that they left behind his back. However, he and the few other old characters were thrilled to see Shift and Drift were still alive, and the twins exchanged warm greetings with them. Everybody was understandably surprised when they learned about Vanellope, but all provided encouragement for Ralph and congratulations on saving Sugar Rush again.

Zangief even invited Ralph and Turbo to join his book club. "We're reading Dostoevsky. A real page turner!"

Ralph shrugged in agreement and said, "Read a book? Sure! Sounds easy enough."

"I'll pass," Turbo declined knowingly. "Not much of a reader."

The racers were still in Fix-it Felix Jr. with the titular character and Calhoun when they arrived. Turbo had been expecting the apartment to be in shambles with Felix and his wife frazzled from attempting to control the kids. So when he entered the penthouse and was greeted with the sight of the racers having a civilized tea party and talking politely with each other, it really pulled the rug from under him.

"What have you done to them?!"

Felix answered cheerily from the bar, "I told you we would be great parents."

"Nailed it!" Calhoun added, clinking glasses with Felix.

Turbo ran over to where his best friend was sitting. "Taffyta?!"

She paused her conversation to look up at him. "Mr. Turbo! You're back!"

"Mister" Turbo?! He turned her chair to face him. "It's ok, you can drop the act now."

The blonde girl listed her head innocently. "What act? Are you feeling ok, Mr. Turbo? Maybe you should sit down and have some tea, then you can tell me and my friends about your adventure."

"Oh no!" Turbo hugged her tightly and petted her head while glaring at Felix and Calhoun. "Don't talk to me or my daughter ever again."

Shift and Drift took a shine to the racers, at least. They were happy to answer any questions the kids had, though they were pleasantly surprised that Turbo had already told them much about the twins and their game. The duo were looking forward to having so many different opponents to race against.

Once Litwak replaced the steering wheel and plugged Sugar Rush back in, Turbo went to work. First he added Shift and Drift's codes so they could regenerate. Then he made his personal Turbo Time track one of the available options, with the twins being exclusive NPCs for it. Finally, he added himself to the roster—not King Candy, but Turbo. Thanks to his popularity on the Internet, he reasoned that his sudden inclusion wouldn't seem that random. He felt more comfortable in his own skin anyway.

The racers weren't as shocked about Vanellope's departure as he had thought, though perhaps that was because of their sudden change in character (that'd probably mellow out in time) and the fact that they had spent more time with Turbo over the years. He had a feeling she wouldn't last long in Slaughter Race, though. Either she would get bored and move on to the next shiny game that got her attention, or she would be so traumatized after being brutally killed over and over that she'd come crawling in front of his throne, begging him to put her back in the game. Until that day, Turbo thought it was best to give Vanellope's kart to Ralph as a memento.

"Thanks, Turbo. It's nice that she'll still have something to drive when she visits."

"Visits?" the racer echoed in disappointment.

Ralph explained, "Yeah, I called her over the BuzzzTube phone earlier. She said she'd come over whenever her game is getting updated to hang out and make sure you're not causing trouble."

Turbo rolled his eyes. "Oh, ha, ha."

"She also said to tell you your girlfriend says hi."

"My girlf… Hey! Shank is not my girlfriend!"

"Hey, you should consider yourself lucky," Ralph pointed out.

Felix jumped in out of nowhere with an excited gasp. "Did Turbo finally get himself a dynamite gal?"

Turbo covered his blushing face with his hands and ran off with an embarrassed yell.

There were still a few minutes before the arcade was to open, and the final thing Turbo wanted to do was to have a short inauguration for his new position and Sugar Rush in general, seeing as the game never got its grand opening. Thanks to Sour Bill's help (who had surprisingly not been eaten by Gene), he was able to get it set up. The candy citizens returned to their stands, excitedly chattering amongst themselves, while the racers stood behind the popcorn box with him, listening to him recount his journey as they waited.

"Gee, those copyright holders sound like grade A morons," Rancis commented.

Turbo agreed, "They certainly do, Rancis, and I hope they die. But the main thing is I was able to expand my resources to earn enough money in time."

"Well, Vanellope might be ungrateful for everything you and Ralph did, but we sure appreciate it!" said Jubileena.

"We're all ready, sir," Sour Bill told him with a final adjustment to the microphone.

"Excellent! Places, everyone!" Turbo ushered the kids towards the front of the popcorn box, stopping only Taffyta. "Oh, Taff, wait." She looked at him and he hesitated before saying, "I know I give Vanellope a lot of flak for leaving, but… if there's ever a time when you're not happy here, I'll be ok if you want to… if you…"

"Don't worry," she said with a confident smirk. "I'll never get tired of you, old man."

He smiled back, relief spreading through him. Turbo nodded in thanks and she went to join the other racers while he made his way to the top of the popcorn box, surveying the guests.

Close friends such as the twins, his Bad Anon group, and Ralph's friends stood behind the racers. Other arcade characters filled the part of the racetrack around the starting line. In fact, Turbo was surprised to see so many show up; the last time this happened was during his infamous court trial. It really warmed his heart to see the arcade support him. He spotted Shift and Drift waving at him and he waved back before hiding behind the curtain to wait for Sour Bill's announcement.

"Citizens of Sugar Rush… and everyone else…" the green candy began in his usual tone, "All hail our new ruler… Turbo."

Everyone applauded as Turbo leapt through the curtain. "Hellooo, my Turbo-tastic friends! Have some candy!"

The audience was stunned with silence.

"Just kidding!" he chimed. "Like I'd ever go back to that."

There were audible sighs of relief, and he thought he heard Bowser ask, "Can I still have candy?"

Turbo cleared his throat and started, "It's been a long, hard road to find my place in the arcade, and for a long time I thought that meant being the star of a racing game. But even when I was just a citizen, even when this game was unplugged, I was still where I belonged: with all of you. My family. As long as I remember that, I know I'll be happy."

Ralph proudly gestured to himself and whispered to Felix, "I taught him that."

Turbo glanced down when he thought of something he hadn't been planning to say, but decided to go with it. "You know, it's funny… This is the second time I've taken the throne, but it feels a lot better than the first time I did. I think that's because when I think about all my dreams finally coming true—in a weird kind of way—well, I couldn't have done it without you. Shout out to Wreck-it Ralph and his friends from Fix-it Felix Jr. and Hero's Duty!"

Ralph and Felix (with a new welcoming pie) bowed as the crowd applauded, while Calhoun, the soldiers, and some Nicelanders nodded humbly. Gene raised his martini glass and accepted the applause with a smug grin, as if he had actually done anything to deserve it.

Turbo ignored him though and went on, "And Clyde's Bad Anon group, for telling me to take it one game at a time!"

"That's right, Turbo!" they cheered, clapping along with the audience.

"And everyone from Sugar Rush, yes, even ex-president Vanellope, who trusted me with her game. I still don't get why she was so ok with leaving, but whatever. It's her loss. Anyway, give 'em all a hand!" He glanced down fondly at his favourite racer and added, "And especially my best friend Taffyta. Thanks for not giving up on me."

The crowd aww'd and clapped, while Taffyta responded by shedding happy tears.

Sour Bill mumbled to him, "Sir, the arcade is going to open soon…"

"Oh shoot, I thought I had more time. Uh…" Turbo took his crumpled speech out of his pocket and skimmed over it. After tossing it aside he concluded, "I promise to be the leader Sugar Rush deserves and needs. If you enjoyed this, don't forget to subscribe, smash that Like button—oh, wait, I'm not doing those videos anymore, haha. I guess all that's left to say is welcome to Sugar Rush!"

The crowd erupted in cheers, some even chanting Turbo's name.

The racer took a bow. He gave a couple pats to Sour Bill's head and slid down the slide to join his friends for a few words before getting ready to start the day.

"Quarter alert!"

Turbo was the first to jump at the announcement. It had only been an hour since the arcade opened and most of the gamers had come to play Fix-it Felix Jr. thanks to what he called the "Wreck-it Revival". With the new traffic the arcade had gotten, he shouldn't have been so surprised by their first quarter alert of the day. Along with the other racers on the roster, he hurried to be in place for avatar selection. As before, he took Vanellope's usual spot in the center square, jittery with anticipation. Taffyta crossed her fingers to wish him luck and went to her box beside his.

Two girl gamers—the same from when the steering wheel broke, he noticed—had returned to find their favourite game had been fixed. But as for their favourite racer…

"Hey, where's Vanellope?" Swati asked, scanning the screen.

Nafisa guessed, "Maybe the game didn't choose her today."

"Aw, I liked her."

Turbo kept smiling for their sakes, but inwardly he was worried. Would kids not play the game as much because Vanellope wasn't in it? Had her actions really doomed them?

"Wait, that's Turbo!" Nafisa pointed to him and added, "Remember? The arcade game racer from those movie reviews and Twitch episodes I showed you?"

Swati's eyes widened in recognition. "Oh yeah! The game must've gotten a Turbo update when he became popular again." She tilted her head and smiled slightly. "I guess he is kinda cute. Let's see what he can do."

All Turbo's anxiety was replaced by excitement as the box he was in lit up, and a final press of a button accompanied by a chime indicated he'd been chosen. His toothy grin broadened, he gave the player his trademark thumbs-up, and he'd never been more happy to exclaim, "Turbo-tastic!"

The End

This was an interesting experience for me. At first I thought the movie was just meh, but the more I became aware of all the problems, the more I hated it. It takes everything I loved about the first film and throws it out the window. I think I finally understand how people who hated The Last Jedi feel. I still don't agree with them, but at least now they have my pity. If you liked Ralph Breaks the Internet, more power to you! I won't hate on you just because you enjoyed something I didn't. But unless the third Wreck-it Ralph movie fixes everything, this one is dead to me.

If anyone's still here, I want to thank you for reading this story! I'm not sure why you liked it, but I must've done something right if you made it all the way to the end. Special thanks to my brother for ideas and proofreading! If there is a third Wreck-it Ralph movie I might possibly consider doing another sequel, but it doesn't seem necessary.

I'd appreciate it if you'd kindly leave a review on your way out. Stay Turbo-tastic!