Vanellope's Bug Problem
Chapter Five

"So, as I'm sure you know, Cy-Bugs are attracted to bright lights. You already showed that being present with Vanellope at Tappers when you had Darth Vader's light saber in hand."

Felix looked to his wife. "So, anything that produces light would attract a Cy-Bug?"

"If it's bright enough, yes. I haven't had a chance to see exactly what kind of lights would attract a Cy-Bug, and there's not a lot that can be done to find definitive answers in that regard."

"So, what else is there?" Ralph asked.

"Cy-Bug hybrids become more aggressive than the assimilated victim; the degree to which that happens varies depending on the type of Cy-Bug and the victim's original personality. The Cy-Bug that eats me for the final battle of my game is the Queen Cy-Bug, so I get a really dark personality shift. My last cutscene has me trying to destroy the Queen Cy-Bug with the most powerful weapon I have, which gets assimilated into the Cy-Bug that eats me and is used against the player in the final battle."

Ralph let off a long whistle. "So, how do those battles play out for you?"

"Well, the game has to be winnable for the player, and so the building itself functions as the weapons used against me. The player has to lure me into webs of exposed wires, topple crates onto me, detonate explosives littering the area, and utilize heavy machinery to defeat me and win the game. The Cy-Bug programming does warp my mind, so I put up quite a fight against the players as the boss."

Ralph contemplated the information. "Well, Vanellope only showed aggression against Turbo when she was a Cy-Bug, beating up on him on the racetrack and trying to use him to set off Diet Cola Mountain instead of having me set it off, and drowning him in the geyser when she got attracted to it."

Felix remembered another detail. "The Cy-Bug must've eaten Vanellope's kart together with Vanellope; she was partly covered in frosting from her kart as a Cy-Bug."

Calhoun looked to Ralph. "She didn't try to kill you as a Cy-Bug, Wreck-It?"

Ralph shook his head. "She just tried to stop me from setting off Diet Cola Mountain, but she probably did it because she didn't know if she would've regenerated afterwards. Or because I couldn't have survived the eruption. Or both. We'll have to ask her when she gets back."

"Is there anything else that comes with being a Cy-Bug hybrid?"

"There's one other thing I can think of, which is that the victim almost always embraces their Cy-Bug form, which I would surmise would likely manifest itself in Vanellope as a desire to become a Cy-Bug again and/or try to act out Cy-Bug behaviors like trying to fly, eat something that was part of their Cy-Bug form (whether or not it's edible), or be quicker to anger than normal."

Ralph nodded. "You also wanted to know if any of the other racers were eaten by Cy-Bugs, and what they went through if any of them were, right?"

"Affirmative. Not that I'm hoping that that happened, but it'd make finding answers somewhat easier if that's the case."

While this was happening, Vanellope and her fellow racers were chatting as they drove along the racetracks.

"Hey, Vanny, I saw Ralph, Felix, and Callie at the finish line when you joined us."

"Yeah, Sarge wanted to look around the game to see if there was anything those Cy-Bugs did that didn't get fixed after the reset."

"Like what?"

"Is your new power giving you trouble?"

"Nah, that's going fine."

"I don't think you ever told us what happened in the game while we were gone."

"No, I didn't. And I did want to ask if anyone wasn't able to escape the game in one piece."

"I reckon you didn't?"

"That's correct."

"Who was King Candy, anyway?"

"He was a virus spawned by an older game. His name was Turbo."

"What game was that?"

"It was called TurboTime, the first racing game in Litwak's arcade."

"How did he take control of this game?"

"I'll explain once we all reach the finish line."

"Got it."

The fleet of go-karts reached the finish line a short time later.

"So, who was this Turbo guy, Vanellope?"

The glitch looked at Calhoun. "Did you want to get your questions out of the way first, or should I pick up where I left off?"

Calhoun propped herself against one of the stands. "You can go on with your storytelling, President."

Vanellope huddled the racers together. "So, here's how it all went down..."