Thanks to everyone who agreed with me on the last chapter! I should also mention that there won't be any Turbo/Vanellope friendship thing that a lot of people seem to like in this fic. Sorry, I'm not a fan of it, and it's kind of overused anyway.

Chapter 4: The Glitch That Got Away

Turbo made his way back to the throne room with Sour Bill. He frowned when he realized he forgot to change the colour of the castle interior, which had a hideous pink colour scheme. Then again, that would've been way too time consuming. "If anyone asks, it's salmon," he told Sour Bill, referring to the pink walls. With surprise he noticed Vanellope's kart parked in its spot in the throne. She must've come back while I was down there… Turbo thought with a hand on his chin. So she's probably still in the castle.

"We've got to search for that glitch," he informed his accomplice. "If she is ever found, she is to be immediately locked in the dungeon."

Sour Bill pointed out, "We don't have a dungeon, remember? It didn't go with the whole happy candy land thing."

"Then make one!" Turbo ordered. "And to make it fit, call it something like the Happy Dungeon. Or the Fun Dungeon… No, wait! The Fungeon!" He clapped his hands and giggled, "Hoo-hoo, yes! I'm such a genius!"

The green candy ball thought it over. "Can I do it later? I still have to prepare for the Grand Opening and you should practice for the Random Roster Race."

Realizing that this would give him a chance to work out the game's mechanics, Turbo agreed, "Oh alright. I suppose I should do a few laps around the track. Not that I need it, though." Right after I find that girl…

When Sour Bill had left, Turbo walked up the stairs towards the royal chamber—his new room—to at least remove any girly crap like dolls and stuff. He opened the door to find someone curled up in the bed, fast asleep. Turbo crept closer and saw that it was indeed Vanellope, now wearing the mismatched outfit he'd slapped her in. It appeared that she had returned to take a nap and wasn't aware of any changes Turbo had made.

"GET OUT OF MY BED!" bellowed Turbo.

Vanellope woke with a jump. "Aah!" She set her fearful gaze on Turbo and asked shakily, "Who are you? A-and where am I?"

"Don't think you can fool me! I know exactly what you're up to! And you'd better stay out of my castle!" Turbo shouted as he tried towering over Vanellope.

"But I don't remember how I got here!" cried the young girl. "What's going on?"

"You shall have no sympathy, glitch!" sneered Turbo. "GUARDS!" But no one came as instantly as he would've hoped. "…Where are they? They should've been here by now!"

Instead, Sour Bill hurried into the chamber. "Sorry, King Candy. The guards are really slow. By the way, I assume you saw Vanellope?"

"Of course! Why did you even ask?"

"Because she's running away."

Turbo's head whipped back to see the bed now empty. He rushed to the hallway and saw Vanellope running for her life. "Well go after her!" Turbo ordered as he tried sprinting. However, the way he programmed his new persona made his running method more cartoonish, which made it difficult to move quickly. "Ugh, this is going to take some getting used to."

Eventually Turbo made it to his newly acquired throne and hopped in the kart. He was able to turn the engine on, but then stopped.

Something was different.

Something drastic.

He gasped and blurted out panicky, "I can't drive stick shift!" Turbo looked at the gear stick nervously, slightly whimpering.

Sour Bill then came into the room and asked, "Well? What are you waiting for?"

Turbo lowered his head and thought, It's all right, Turbo. You're still the best racer in the world. You can figure this out. He jiggled the stick a little and pushed the accelerator, but the engine kept revving up. "Usually that works." Turbo looked around the car and noticed an unusual third pedal. "What's with this one?" he asked as he pressed it while trying to move the stick. Turbo then inadvertently pressed on the gas again, which made the car dart out of the throne and nearly ran over Sour Bill.

"Gaaaaaah!" screamed Sour Bill as he dodged out of the way. "Maybe I should sit in the back, for assistance?"

"No!" snapped Turbo before he went back to studying the gears while driving in a circle. He then abruptly halted. "…Get in."

Sour Bill hopped in behind Turbo and looked at the gear stick placement. "You must've changed the gear to first and applied gas too quickly." He then eyed Turbo suspiciously. "But you should've known that, right?"

"Uh…" Turbo tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "Whatever caused you to lose your memory must have affected me too! Um, please remind me how to operate this."

Sour Bill sighed and briefly went over the basics of stick shift, which was still very confusing to Turbo, but he managed to get the gist.

Of course, by this time Vanellope had long gotten away.

Thirty minutes later, Turbo was driving through the castle, upshifting and downshifting when needed. "Hoo-hoo! I'm doing it! I'm driving stick… again!"

Sour Bill rubbed his face. "Okay, I think you're ready to go outside now."

At last, Turbo drove outside and scanned the area. "Drat! We lost her!" He turned to Sour Bill and said, "I must gather the rest of the civilians for a meeting. They must know about the glitch!"

"Even though we both know she used to be a racer, right?"

"Yeah, but they shouldn't know that!" Turbo noticed how suspicious he was being, so he quickly added, "It would be damaging to their little minds."

"Well either way they're going to find out if she tries racing," pointed out Sour Bill. "Why do you want to prevent her from racing in the first place?"

Turbo remembered some things from his code research, and explained, "If that glitch crosses the finish line in a race, the game would recognize her code from the race completion action, and it will reset itself to what it used to be!" He faked worry and added, "And I went through so much trouble just to fix things to how they are now! We want to protect our true racers from her."

Sour Bill stared in contemplation, then sighed, "I guess I see your point, somewhat."

"Excellent! Just don't tell anyone what I said. Now I must make sure that the others know about the, ahem, glitch."

"Okay, all the racers should be at the main race track now. You can address them from there."

"Superb! My first speech!" Turbo cheered. "Uh, since our memory loss, that is." He put the gear back in first and drove toward the main track. However, there were plenty of sharp curves along the path he was taking.

"You might wanna slow down…" Sour Bill cautioned nervously.

Turbo protested, "I know how to handle curves!" He tried drifting, but it didn't work the same way as automatic and he promptly spun out of control.

Sour Bill grasped the back of the seat and cried, "Look out!"

"FUUUUUUUUUUUDGE!" Turbo screamed before crashing right into a chocolate mound.

(10 minutes later…)

Once Turbo reached the start line of the track, he parked his car behind the rest of them. The other racers were already there, prepping their karts and themselves for their first Random Roster Race. The new king flicked another piece of chocolate off his coat and gazed at the surrounding spectator boxes. The one that drew his attention was the giant popcorn box with the initials "VvS" on the front. "Uh, that glitch must've been vandalizing!" accused Turbo. Mental note: replace initials with "KC".

"If you say so," muttered Sour Bill as he led Turbo up the steps to the top.

At the top of the box was a red curtain concealing another throne. An old-style microphone was set in front of it at the edge of the platform. Turbo pulled back one section of curtain and looked from the throne to the mic thoughtfully. "Sour Bill? I think I may have an idea." He went inside to sit on the chair and instructed, "You introduce me, then I jump out and greet everyone!"

"…Why?"

"Because it'd be fun!" Turbo closed the curtain and prompted, "Go on! I'm ready!"

Sour Bill reluctantly went up to the microphone and tapped it to check if it was on. It created a loud feedback noise, causing everyone to cover their ears and look in Bill's direction. He cleared his throat, then began flatly, "Racers, citizens, may I have your attention please." When the young racers assembled at the base of the large box and the spectators quieted down, he continued, "All hail our rightful ruler… King Candy." He waited, but nothing happened.

Turbo peeked out of the curtain and whispered, "Wait, I'm not ready yet," then shut the gap.

The green ball lowered his eyelids, glanced at the audience and improvised, "Uhhh… Also known as the King of all that is sweet. Formerly known as Prince…Pistachio."

Finally, Turbo leapt through the curtain and exclaimed into the mic, "Hello, children! It is I, King Candy!"

The others stared blankly at him, except for a few who exchanged puzzled glances and murmurs.

"Now, you probably don't remember who I am," he began, sensing their apprehension, "because of a programming error that was totally not my fault. But I assure you I have always been your valuable leader and irreplaceable main character." When they seemed to believe him, he went on, "I came to warn you about a dangerous glitch. Do not hang around with her; she is not our friend."

"Why not?" a racer asked.

Turbo rolled his eyes. "Because all glitches are evil! Everyone knows that!" He smiled and continued, "Not all hope is lost, however. The glitch doesn't have a kart of her own, so she can't hurt us while racing. You girls have nothing to worry about."

"Um, I'm a boy," a golden-haired kid with a brown blazer spoke up.

Turbo's eyes widened in embarrassment. "Oh. I mean, I knew that." He coughed before asking, "Er, how many more of you are also boys? Just to be sure."

A racer with an orange colour scheme and large pumpkin hat raised his hand, as well as a blue-outfitted kid with green hair. They all had quizzical expressions.

"Ah, good. So you remember your identities," Turbo improvised. It then occurred to him that he didn't know any of the racers' names. If he was going to pretend to be their leader, he should at least make it seem like he always knew them. "Oh, Sour Bill? Before I forget, we should probably take attendance. You know, just to make sure I told everyone about the glitch." He lowered the microphone to Sour Bill's level and added, "Why don't you call out their names and I'll count?"

"Uh, ok," Bill said, walking up to the mic. He began dully, "Taffyta Muttonfudge."

"Here!" a blond girl with a pink getup responded proudly, holding up a lollipop. Turbo recognized her from earlier as the racer who was dominating in the practice run.

"Rancis Fluggerbutter."

"Here," the boy answered, casually examining his nails.

Right, I see it now, Turbo mentally noted, all the boys are wearing pants. That's…pretty obvious. He continued trying to memorize the names and faces of the racers, until Sour Bill finished the roll call. Turbo said into the mic, "Yes, that's everyone!"

"Wait, who's that?" the girl with the afro (Something Rainbow?) asked, pointing behind Turbo.

"What? Who?" Turbo said nervously, hoping it didn't look like he'd forgotten anyone. He turned around and saw Vanellope in the distance making her way towards them. She appeared to be dazed and confused, often gazing at her surroundings. When she saw the group, she grinned and walked faster.

"Vanellope?!" Turbo gasped, his bowtie spinning. "It's the glitch!" he yelled, dropping the microphone for dramatic effect.

Candlehead (it was easy to remember her name) commented, "That's the glitch? She looks just like one of us."

Turbo growled, "Of course she does: that's her devious cover! But don't be swayed by her smile and friendly demeanor. She is not one of us. She was never supposed to exist, and under no circumstances is she allowed to race."

"What do we do?" asked a cream-outfitted girl with a slight Italian accent.

Just then, Turbo realized he could use the little kids like chess pieces in his diabolical quest for fame. Maybe they wouldn't be so useless after all… "You must do whatever you can to discourage her from racing. Remember, she's the enemy. Be as mean as necessary."

Taffyta smirked and tossed away her lollipop stick. "With pleasure."

As Vanellope approached, she greeted, "Hey there! What's everyone doing?"

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the little glitch," Turbo mocked.

Vanellope frowned at him. "Uh, my name's Vanellope. Why do you keep calling me a glitch?"

Taffyta scoffed, "Right. Like you don't know."

"I—I don't!" Vanellope insisted.

The pink racer glared at her. "Save it. King Candy already told us about you."

Vanellope was on the verge of tears. "Wait, what did I do? Can't anyone just tell me what's going on?!" Suddenly, she pixilated and blue binary rippled through her body, causing the racers to gasp in disgust.

Turbo smirked and explained, "It's very simple. You, my dear, are a glitch. You were never meant to be a racer, or a part of this game for that matter. See, if you were to race, gamers would see your glitching as a sign that the game was broken. And do you know what would happen then?" He got progressively angry as he went on, "The game will go out of order and will get unplugged and I will lose everything I worked so hard—!" He forced himself to relax. "We will lose everything."

Vanellope glitched again. "B-but if you give me a chance, maybe the gamers would still like me."

"No!" Turbo snapped. "Nobody likes glitches! If you ever meddle with my plans—I mean, with the game in any way, I will throw you in my Fungeon!"

Vanellope's frightened gaze turned to confusion. "Huh?"

Sour Bill spoke up from behind, "Um, sire, the…Fungeon…hasn't been built yet."

Turbo glanced over his shoulder and rolled his eyes. "Then what are you waiting for? Get on it!"

"I kinda need a ride back to the castle."

"Well, I'm a little busy right now, can't you just walk?"

Sour Bill sighed, then started to trudge back down the stairs.

"Now then, as I was saying—" He turned his attention back to Vanellope, but the girl was already running away towards the portal to Game Central Station. "Not again! Ugh. Be right back, children." He was about to jump off the platform, but the ground looked too far away and he didn't know if the game had fall damage. "Uh, how do I get down from here quickly?"

"Pull the cord," answered Sour Bill without looking back.

Turbo saw a red cord hanging and he tugged it. A slide unrolled from the top of the box to the bottom and Turbo slid down it. "I'll get you this time, hoo-hoo!" But the slide was apparently designed to make him land in his car…which was not in position. "Whaa—OOF!" he cried, flipping off the slide and landing facedown on the track in front of the starting line. He lifted himself with a moan and got back into his car. He muttered bad words as he struggled to get it into gear, then finally sped off after Vanellope.

The little girl dashed up the rainbow bridge, glitching periodically. When she finally reached the top, the invisible barrier flashed blue and she bounced right off. "Ow!" Vanellope rubbed her face and got back up. She stared open-mouthed at the exit and placed her hand on the barrier. It wouldn't let her go through. "What…?" she gasped softly.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that glitches can't leave their game?"

Vanellope spun around to face Turbo, who had caught up and was getting out of his kart.

The horrified look on her face made him snicker. "I'm afraid you're stuck here. Forever. Or until the game gets unplugged."

Vanellope hung her head as tears fell. "Please…" she begged, "…Let me race. I can't explain it, but I need to race."

Turbo sneered, "And I need you to stay out of my way!" He lunged in order to grab her, but she glitched away a few feet and he fell right onto the ground. "Oof!" He turned his head to glare at the girl. "Ok, I admit, not the best choice of words for right now." As he scrambled to his feet, Vanellope darted down the bridge. "Grrr! Get back here, glitch!" He hopped into his car and tried pursuing her, but by the time he made it back to the bottom, the girl was gone. "Well, good riddance!" Turbo figured he should drive back to the main track, so he did.

At the starting line, the racers were whispering to each other about what happened earlier. Turbo got back up to the microphone and began, "Now settle down, children! I am pretty sure we are now 'up to speed', hoo-hoo!"

Taffyta then spoke up to him, "Excuse me, King Candy? Did you catch the glitch?"

"Well, heheheh… No," Turbo answered sheepishly, twiddling his thumbs. "B-but I did manage to scare her off for now, so you can rest assured that she won't be bothering us anytime soon, Miss Muttonhead."

"It's Muttonfudge."

"Tomayto, tomahto." He dismissed his mistake and continued, "And another thing you should all know, it would be very nice if none of you were to go to the other games in the arcade."

"Why not?" inquired Jubileena.

"Because, uh, all the racers must be busy preparing for the race! And we don't want to waste any time going to some inferior game!"

"But what about the spectators?" the girl in the winter outfit who was possibly Inuit asked. "Not all of them have to be here for the race."

"Okay, only some of the spectators can visit the other games!" conceded Turbo. "But not one of them should speak about what happens here. Uh, we don't want to scare anyone by our glitch problem! But you racers should stay here, to be safe." He feigned concern and added, "I wouldn't want any of my loyal avatars to get hurt or killed." Turbo continued mentally, Except for the recolours, that is. I mean, how lazy is that? There's already two for the Minty Zaki girl! Wait, what happens if I get a palette swap? Is that even possible? Well if it is, I'll show that recolour who's the rightful ruler!

The other racers stared in confusion at Turbo, who was mumbling to himself and making aggressive gestures. Eventually, Turbo realized he still was addressing them, so he cleared his throat and went on, "As for other matters, we shall have our random race roster!" At the sight of the puzzled faces, Turbo nervously corrected, "I mean Random Roster Race! Heheh!"

Just then, Sour Bill crawled his way back up the steps, gasping for breath. "Your… majesty, the… Fungeon is… now under… construction."

"Splendid! Any other news?"

Sour Bill breathed in and out a few times, then said, "You mentioned that Vanellope didn't have a kart?"

"Yes, and she'll never be able to get one!"

"What if she makes her own at the kart bakery?"

"Nope, never ever get—kart bakery?!" Turbo faced Sour Bill with alarm. He covered the mic with one hand and hissed, "Why did you wait until now to tell me?"

"I thought you knew…"

Turbo raced down the stairs, towing his minion behind him. "Pardon me, children, something has come up that I must attend to. But don't worry, we'll get to our race soon!" he announced as he jumped in his car and drove in the direction Sour Bill was pointing.

After a few minutes, they came to a huge factory of sorts. Turbo giggled at the giant eggbeaters serving as wind turbines. "Eggbeaters! Brilliant!"

Sour Bill raised an eyebrow at him.

Turbo lowered his enthusiasm. "Uh, as they should be."

Bill approached a security gate and inside the booth was a sleeping old man. He knocked on the gate and said, "Excuse us, Beard Papa…"

Beard Papa jolted awake and stammered, "Who, what, huh?" He looked out the booth and said, "Oh yeah, Sour Bill and, uh…"

"King Candy, you may assume," Turbo responded pompously. "And if you don't mind me asking, but what is an old guy like you doing in this kids' game?"

"I thought you would know already, with you being a king and all," replied Beard Papa. "But anyway, I'm supposed to be part of a product placement operation by my bakery chain in Japan! The first one is opening in 2 years, I think."

"Oh, so you won't be much of a threat," said Turbo softly.

"What's that?"

"Nothing!" the racer cleared his throat and continued, "I wanted to ask you if you happened to see a little brat with an ugly sweater."

"I'd ask for something more specific, but as far as I can tell, I was sleeping." Beard Papa saw Turbo's disapproving look and flatly added, "I had no idea I should've been awake to watch for any threats, so I'm not ashamed."

"Well you will be if the brat in question makes her own kart!" snapped Turbo. He peeked into the booth and noticed a few monitors, and on one of them he saw Vanellope looking around in a circular room. "That's the glitch! Hurry!" Turbo stepped on the gas and drove through the candy cane barrier without waiting for it to open. He drove around to a small entrance left slightly open, and Turbo dove out of the car and through the doorway. "Just what do you think you're doing, glitch?"

"King Candy? Not again!" moaned Vanellope, who was standing on a red button. "I didn't even choose a kart yet!"

"You'll do no such thing!" declared Turbo. "Where are the police donuts?"

Sour Bill stepped beside Turbo and answered, "They haven't arrived because you didn't order them to."

"Then call them over!" Turbo turned to Vanellope and continued, "As for you, I shall finally put you in the finished Fungeon! And then we'll make sure you don't use that glitch power of yours to escape."

"Wanna bet?" challenged Vanellope before she glitched behind Turbo and past Sour Bill.

"After her again!" Turbo hopped back in the car and pursued Vanellope, leaving Sour Bill behind.

"Your highness? You forgot about me…" After it was clear that he wasn't coming back, Sour Bill sighed and trudged his way after him.

Back with Turbo, he realized that keeping up with Vanellope was harder than he thought, but only because he was still learning manual transmission and getting used to the candy terrain. "I've got you now!" he sneered as he followed her to a mountain shaped like a coke bottle. Vanellope turned a corner and appeared to trip over something.

"Whoa!" she yelped before disappearing into the mountain. By the time Turbo made it to where she was, Vanellope was nowhere to be seen.

"Darn! How could she escape again?" fumed Turbo. "She was ten feet in front of me!" After pounding his fist on his car a few times, he decided to turn back and head to the kart bakery.

On the way there, Sour Bill noticed the king coming his way. He waved his hands, but Turbo sped past him. Sour Bill dropped his hands dejectedly and walked the way he came.

Turbo made it back to Beard Papa's booth, only to find him asleep again. "WAKE UP!" the racer snapped, jolting Beard Papa awake.

"Huh? Oh yeah! Did you catch her?" Beard Papa asked.

Turbo grimaced and grumbled, "If I did, would I be here right now?"

"All right, so you didn't catch her. Maybe next time—"

"Next time, we'll make sure she never steps inside the bakery!" stated Turbo. "Put a note on your station and I want locks on the factory door! There is no way Vanellope should be allowed to get a kart!"

"Okay sir! I'll put an order in right away!"

As Beard Papa made some notes, Sour Bill crawled back to Turbo. "So what now, your majesty?"

"Is there any other possible way for the glitch to get a kart?"

Sour Bill thought for a moment, then replied, "We do have a junk yard—"

"Then demolish it!" Turbo commanded.

Sour Bill's eyes widened and he objected, "Sir, you cannot just demolish a junk yard! We have to throw stuff away too!"

Turbo murmured and inquired, "At least the junk isn't very reusable, right?"

"There are no working engines, as far as I know."

"Then keep it that way!" Turbo paced around as he announced, "Alert all of our guards to be on the lookout for that glitch! And the donut cops, as well!"

"Wynchel and Duncan?"

"Sure, them too!" Turbo hopped back in his kart and said giddily, "Come along, Sour Bill! I've got a date with a bunch of little children!"

"Careful sir, someone could take that the wrong—" started Sour Bill, but Turbo drove away unaware of anything. "—way. …I shouldn't even be surprised anymore."

Turbo is NOT a pedophile, okay?

Also, I don't know how to drive stick shift so I had to research it for this fic. If I got some details wrong, it's probably because I didn't understand the instructions. But since the objective of this story is not to teach you how to drive stick, it doesn't matter. Anyway, what do you think of this chapter?