Both Turbo and Q*Bert were in big trouble. Turbo was bound and gagged in the corner, and Q*Bert was locked in a canary-style cage, complete with a swing. It was quite tacky, but effective.
Q*Bert lunged at the door of his tiny cage, which was set on a small end table. He didn't know how the characters managed to make a cage in a racing game, but anything was possible. The door was locked with copper wire, something they somehow knew he couldn't untie, but if he could get close enough to where Turbo was tied up, maybe they would have a chance.
The cage wobbled a little, and Q*Bert had some second thoughts. What if this was like falling off the pyramid in his old game? Then again, there was solid ground below it, and it was about a cube's height. Maybe he would make it. Turbo and his own new game depended on it.
He rushed at the side of the cage again, making it wobble some more.
Just a few more shoves, Q*Bert thought, ramming into the side again. One last shove and the cage fell down to the floor. The fall almost knocked the wind(and a few choice words) out of Q*Bert, but he survived.
Good. Now for the second part of the plan.
Righting himself, Q*Bert pushed on the side of the cage, rolling over into Turbo's direction. He misjudged the trajectory of the cage, and ran smack into the wall. Not part of the plan, but perhaps he could change the angle of approach just a little.
Q*Bert pushed the cage in the opposite direction, hitting the wall again. After a few tries, he ran into Turbo, who was watching the whole thing but unable to do much of anything. His legs were bound as well, so turning would be difficult.
[Turn,] Q*Bert said, [Turn around.]
A u-turn symbol showed up in his word balloon, something anyone would understand in this context.
Turbo nodded, and with some difficulty, turned so his back was at the cage. He knocked it away a little, then turned his head to face Q*Bert and tried to apologise. Q*Bert just nodded and gave the 'ok' symbol, then another turn-arrow. It looked like Turbo was starting to understand him a little better. He pushed the cage over to Turbo's hands, and Turbo took hold of one of the bars.
The racer slowly turned the cage until he felt the door and the wire, then went about unwrapping it. Q*Bert, meanwhile, looked nervously at the door, hoping they would both get free before the others returned.
"Nope, haven't seen them here at all tonight," Tapper replied, "Noticed they brought in that Turbo machine. Never thought they'd get another one after that incident."
"Looks like we're back to square one," Calhoun grumbled.
"What's with the commotion in Game Central, by the way?" Tapper asked.
"We wanna make sure this Turbo doesn't cause another Armageddon."
"I doubt he will," Tapper sighed, "The other games are probably on alert, and believe me, if he ever came in, I'd know."
He shook his head and looked at the counter.
"Poor old fella," Tapper muttered, "If you knew half of what the old Turbo told me, you'd probably not worry."
"What do you mean?" a puzzled Felix asked.
"Every night, he'd come to my place, and it was always the same," Tapper explained, "The rival racers would give him the cold shoulder, talk about him behind his back. The usual."
"You mean-"
Tapper nodded.
"Several times he'd tell me only his fans kept him goin'. When they stopped playin' Turbo Time, one night he said he'd had it. And everyone knows what happened next."
Felix's eyes grew wide with comprehension.
"You mean to say... OH JEEPERS! What've we done? Oh golly I gotta get Ralph RIGHT NOW!"
Ralph, Vanellope and their traveling companions were just finishing up their little cow-milking lesson when they heard a pair of 'boing boing' footfalls coming their way. They turned to see a purple pig and some kind of creature with no neck or discernible pelvis.
"Hey, Ug, Wrongway," Ralph said, "What brings you here?"
He offered a couple bottles of strawberry milk to them, but they shook their head/bodies and started speaking their Q*Bert-ese, much of which Ralph could not understand as he only had limited command of the language.
"Somethin' the matter?" he asked.
They nodded.
"What's up then? Turbo escaped?"
They shook their head/bodies again, and Ug started toward the portal, while Wrongway pushed Ralph along.
"Eh, looks like I gotta end our little picnic early," Ralph chuckled, trying to swallow the bad feeling he had about this.
Vanellope followed them out, leaving the other two to wonder what was going on.
Once outside, they saw Felix and Calhoun running for the entrance to Sugar Rush.
"Oh Ralph, you will not believe what we just found out!" Felix panted.
"What's going on here?" Ralph asked, "Did Turbo show his ugly face outside his game?"
"Oh no," Calhoun replied, "It's much worse than that. First of all, Q*Bert has gone M.I.A., and second of all, we might be creating a monster out of this wet-behind-the-ears racer."
"Um, what?"
"In plain English, Q*Bert is missing, and it turns out the other Turbo was treated very badly by his fellow racers."
Felix nodded.
"Tapper told us everything. Turbo missed being played and well, the other racers didn't like him all that much. He had no friends in his own world, and the only thing keepin' him goin' was his fans."
"You mean... he was just like I was?" Ralph asked, his stomach twisting into a knot at the sudden realization.
"Exactly, civilian," Calhoun said, "For someone so evil and twisted, he had one whale of a tragic tale. I almost feel sorry for that conniving game-jumper."
Ralph's heart sank at those words. No wonder Turbo did what he did. Worse, history would probably repeat itself thanks to his rash actions.
"It's all my fault," Ralph sighed, "I guess it's in my code though... I was built to wreck things. Now I just wrecked a game."
"Now look, Ralph," Felix said, standing as tall as he could, "This is no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We can both fix our mistakes later – right now, we gotta find Q*Bert before the arcade opens!"
Turbo carefully untwisted the wire, trying his hardest to keep from making a sound. Finally, the wire was undone, and it slid into the cage. Now to open the door.
Q*Bert braced himself against the other side of the cage, and pushed on the door with his feet. The door itself was held shut with a snap-lock, keeping it from flying open. After a few pushes, the door sprung open and Q*Bert tried to wiggle his way out the narrow opening. The way the rogue racers had unceremoniously stuffed him in was quite uncomfortable, almost dislocating his snout, and as it was, he could barely fit through. Without hands, pushing his way out would be quite the chore.
He braced himself against one side of the cage, and tried jumping through. It was quite a bad move, as the force was just enough to push Q*Bert halfway through. Turbo tried to look behind him, but couldn't see Q*Bert inside the cage. His hands could feel the top of Q*Bert's head though, and he tried to get a good hold and pull his friend through. A pained Q*Bert-ese yelp made him stop, and he pushed his friend back into the cage.
The situation was beyond infuriating, and Q*Bert had to think of a solution quickly. Poking his snout through the opening, Q*Bert touched it to the knot in the rope that tied Turbo's hands. There was a way to untie knots, and Q*Bert could use his snout for suction – it was how he ate, after all. He inhaled deeply, trying to loosen and untie it.
After a few marginally successful tries, the knot began to loosen. Taking a breather for a couple seconds, Q*Bert looked around again and listened for any footfalls. Satisfied that for now they were not in immediate danger, he inhaled again, untying part of the knot. It was a simple one, easy for anyone with hands to untie, but since Q*Bert had only a snout and little time to spare, it would be a different story.
Another few tries, and the ropes loosened. Q*Bert had thought of using one of the dummied-out features – shooting projectiles out of his snout – but he doubted the effectiveness of such a maneuver, and it was likely that said projectiles would end up hurting his friend.
Once the ropes became loose enough, Turbo slipped his hands out of them, slowly and carefully, and then removed the crude gag from his mouth.
"Thanks, little Fella," he said, "Now to get you outta here too!"
Q*Bert shook his head/body and pointed toward the door.
"Not enough time for that? Well, I'm still takin' you with me!"
[No!], Q*Bert said, his word-balloon showing a big 'X', [Not enough time! Go! Get help!]
"I'm not going without you, Fella," Turbo declared, "I'm taking you out there with me, back to your friends and family!"
With that, despite Q*Bert's protests, Turbo picked up the cage and held it carefully, went to the door and opened it, and looked outside for any sign of the other racers. Seeing that the place was deserted, Turbo made a break for the exit portal. Just as they were a few meters from the exit, Q*Bert let out a panicked [DANGER!]
"Well lookie what the 'cab' dragged in," a familiar voice intoned.
Turbo whirled around to see one of his rival racers.
"Th-throttle?" Turbo cried out, "Why are you doing this?"
"We're not gonna put up with you anymore, Turbo," another voice said.
Someone yanked the cage out of Turbo's hands.
"Speed-Machine? Please stop! He's my friend! Let him go back to his place!"
"We'll let him free if you come back with us," Throttle offered.
Q*Bert shook his head/body again, and pleaded with Turbo: [NO! NO! Go out there! Tell them!]
Turbo froze for a second, then started toward the exit.
"You sure they'll listen?" Speed-Machine jeered.
Turbo stopped in his tracks again, remembering how the giant had scared him, and given him a warning to stay in his own game. It gave the two racers ample time to grab him by the arms and start dragging him back to the building.
[PLEASE! GO TELL THEM! GO OUTSIDE!] Q*Bert yelled, and Turbo looked at his friend, seeing the large '!' in his word balloon.
Trusting the strange creature, and gaining a little faith, Turbo made a powerful lunge, imagining himself taking a sharp curve. He threw Throttle against the building wall, and with another lunge tossed Speed-machine toward the track. Taking one last look at his friend, silently promising to come back, Turbo sprinted to the exit and sat on the small tram.
"Hurry!" he shouted, "I need to get outta here pronto!"
With a jerk, the tram made its way to the door, which opened to a large chamber, something that looked like a station. As Turbo was stepping out of the doorway, a blue man dressed in a vertical-striped outfit appeared.
"Random security check," he said.
"I got no time for this!" Turbo yelled, "It's important! I gotta friend in there who needs help!"
"Never heard that one before," the man said, "Now state your name."
"Turbo," the frantic racer answered, "Now will you please let me through? I need to get help! The other guys in my game are holding him prisoner!"
"Just calm down," the man replied, "Got anything to declare? Are you carrying any fresh fruits or vegetables?"
"I don't HAVE any of that and the only thing I got to declare is this is an EMERGENCY! Please listen to me!"
"Just listen to the nice man, jerk," another voice said.
Turbo looked to see who was speaking, only to see two guns pointed at him.
"What is this all about?" Turbo asked, "What did I do?"