Vanellope woke by a taffy swamp. She could see the racetracks in the distance and decided to start towards them, figuring it would give her something to work towards. "1ʻ11 jusł 60 łher3 4/\/|) 43(1aim my rig|-|+ ūl plac3 5 rul3|)\!'After the first hour or so, she was very tired. Tired and glitching. The former princess finally reached the racetracks as dusk was breaking. She belatedly remembered that today was the three-month anniversary of their game getting plugged in. "\_\ ppÿ å^4v€r$ėr¥ ł0 /\/\ę,,," she whispered sullenly. Through the ever-darkening gloom, she saw Taffyta Muttonfudge leaving the racetrack. Even though Vanellope was about to pass out from exhaustion, she managed to catch up with Taffyta.
"Heeellooo glitch..." Taffyta said mockingly. At that, Vanellope got all fumed up. ''L00k here Muttonf\_/(|g€, 1 4m łhe pr1^(ē55 and I will ^0|- ł010rate this 1^5013nce¡ I hope you know th4ł 1 {0ù1d have you dra\/\/^ 4^|) ()|ûartered⋯ 1^ fa(ł' 1 |-hi^k 1'11|]o just thał% Kneel down and apologize this instant and I 5|-|4/\/'ł ^^4ke it worse." To Vanellope's utter shock, Taffyta started to double over in hysterics.
"Rancis, Candlehead, come over and listen to this!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "The glitch thinks that she's a princess!" All three of them came up to her with menacing looks on their faces.
H3ÿ وü¥5::;» Vanellope said with a little wave, shrinking into herself.
"Listen glitch, you have never been a princess, and never will be. You are just a mistake in the code, never meant to exist." Candlehead pushed Vanellope backwards, making her glitch. She fell on her butt in a puddle of chocolate mud. Taffyta came over to her and pushed her torso down with her foot, inadvertently partially covering Vanellope's face with mud.
"C ñ`ł ßreath3。。。"
"What makes you think I care?" She was grinding her foot into Vanellope's chest now. She pulled Vanellope up by her hair, holding her aloft as Vanellope strùgg13d unsuccessfully to get free from her grasp. "Remember this. You are useless. You are worthless. Don't you dare ever think yourself to be equal to us." Taffyta kneed her in the stomach and threw Vanellope back into the mud. "Let's go home guys. And stay there!" After the racers had left, the new-born glitch pushed herself up, still caked 1^ chocolate, trembling from the humbling experience. Night had fallen and she was getting tired.
"\/\/|-|4ł w111 ^^y future be? 1 w0^|)er…" Vanellope thought with a sigh. Since she could see no place to shelter, and her eyes were drooping, she was forced to curl up on the hard ground with rock candy digging into her back rather uncomfortably. Oh, how she longed for the fluffy bed she had laid in… Had it been only hours before?
It rained that night. Hard.
As Turbo stepped out of the code room under his new guise as King Candy, he knew what he had to do. Before changing the code, he had researched the mechanics of the game. Rule Number One of integrating into a game: Never integrate unprepared. He had learnt that the so-called "green gumball guy" was called Sour Bill and that he was the royal assistant. Ooohh, fancy! Here he was now. "King Candy, the arcade is about to open. You need to organize everything."
"Of course Sour Bill! How long do we have?"
"One hour."
"One hour? We need to get down to the racetrack now! To the royal kart!"
When Turbo arrived at the Cakeway, the racers were already there. "Hi King Candy!" The little candy-coated kids chorused in unison. At that, Turbo let out a breath he didn't even know he had been holding. Obviously, his planted and edited memories had held. "I just can't wait for the races to start!" This was from a girl in a green outfit and a candle on her head. What was her name? Oh well, he would just call her candle head for now. "Hullo my royal subjects! Now, the racers for today have already been chosen, I presume? Let's see here… The following racers, please step up to the starting line and into your karts. "Adorabeezle Winterpop! Torvald Batterbutter! Jubileena Bing-Bing! Candlehead!" What? Her name was actually Candlehead! This was too funny! Candlehead! "Swizzle Malarky! Crumbelina Di Caramello! Rancis Fluggerbutter! Taffyta Muttonfudge! And… King Candy!" As Turbo climbed into the royal kart, he could hardly believe it. He must be dreaming. Any minute now he would wake up in the cold dark hovel that was his home and deplore himself for even daring to dream about racing, for it would never happen again. No matter how he longed to race, he couldn't. He didn't deserve to. Not after what he did. No, he would stay there alone and miserable for the rest of his days. He didn't deserve anything better. The announcer's voice snapped Turbo out of his reverie and back to (could it be that this was reality?) "Quarter Alert!" The player was choosing a racer. "Jubileena Bing-Bing and King Candy!" "T-" Turbo quickly put his hand over his mouth to stem the sound. That was close! If anyone found out who he truly was… "Three…Two…One…RACE!" As the race begun, Turbo sank into the conftrble feeling of being controlled by the player. His will was no longer his own. They were one. They started out on a flat track. Suddenly, a turn! There was a huge canyon with gigantic gumballs rolling down the sides! They deftly navigated around the gumballs and executed maneuvers that Turbo admittedly could never do. Well, not without some practice at the least. Turbo saw this glittery box thing floating in midair. They steered towards it and the former princess's kart grew…missiles? "Sweet Seekers!" So you got to use weapons in this game? That was extremely turbotastic! The missiles targeted Candlehead (Still funny!) allowing them to speed past her. There were more complexities and intricacies than Turbo had ever even imagined on that one track alone! The player was rather good and got Turbo in second place. Turbo was lucky that day. He was chosen as a character in nearly every game, so he had time to learn the tracks. Turbo was filled with joy, being able to do the thing which was the very essence of his being. All too soon, the arcade closed and the game day was over. He decided to go back to the palace. He didn't feel comfortable with socializing with the inhabitants of this game just yet. He was terrified that they would find him out. Utterly terrified. When Turbo finally reached the castle, the sun was beginning to set. He asked Sour Bill to take him to the bedroom. All of this racing, after not doing it for so long, had worn him out. Once Turbo had reached it, he flopped down on the first comfortable bed he had lain in in who knows how long and promptly passed out.
It rained that night. Hard.