Vanellope's Bug Problem
Chapter Seven

The racers were mystified at the story being told.

"Wait a minute." Ralph looked to Vanellope. "Are you saying that Turbo was able to take over your game even after he admitted to getting two games taken out of order?"

Vanellope held her hands up. "Hey, the guy looked like he was trying to reform himself. He's a whiz at playing with people's emotions, okay?"

Ralph nodded. "Don't I know it?"

Felix scratched his head. "Did he ever tell you how he survived his game jump?"

Vanellope nodded. "Yeah, that was one of my first questions I asked him in the Fungeon." She hopped up onto the hood on her kart. "He probably knew that it was possible to lock away memories, considering everything he told me."

Ralph rubbed his chin. "He must've thought that you wouldn't remember anything after he'd taken over the game."

Vanellope shrugged. "I guess. But he definitely had an edge in that he could tell a 'filtered truth' to get past the game's defenses."

Calhoun had her gaze on a Cy-Bug sensor in her hand. "Not to mention that he was infiltrating a game populated with children and living sugary treats."

Felix was confused. "What are you doing, Tammy?"

Calhoun looked around the area. "Somehow, I get the feeling that there's something that wasn't fixed by the game's reset."

Felix looked to his wife. "What do you mean?"

Ralph nodded. "Yeah, Vanellope is back where she belongs, all the racers have stopped bullying her, and the gamers are all having a blast with her."

"But Turbo might be still alive."

Vanellope was confused. "Why would he be? I flew him into that volcano that wiped out all the Cy-Bugs except for me."

"That's where I have my doubts." Calhoun showed the group a tracker device she had been looking at. "I was getting an anomalous reading from this area here."

"Diet Cola Mountain?"

Calhoun nodded. "I'm not sure what it is, but it's definitely not part of this game."

Ralph looked at the screen. "Do you think it's a Cy-Bug?"

"Judging by the way it seems to be staying in one place at the moment, I wouldn't say it is, but there's only one way to find out for sure."

Vanellope nodded. "I know my way around there, and you're gonna need me to get in and out of there, Callie." She turned to her assistant. "Sour Bill, if you could make sure everyone gets home safely."

"Mm-hmm."

"So, I'm guessing the four of us should check out Diet Cola Mountain?"

"We might as well. Just remember to stay on guard at all times."

"Yes, ma'am."

Calhoun laid out her cruiser. "Fix-It?"

Felix hopped on behind her, and they took off for Diet Cola Mountain.

Ralph placed Vanellope on his shoulder and started the trek to what used to be the girl's lodgings.

"So, Sergeant was going over what she thought might be present in someone with Cy-Bug data in their code."

"I told you I'm fine, Ralph. There's nothing to worry about."

"We'll let Calhoun be the judge of that."

Felix and Calhoun were waiting at the base of Diet Cola Mountain.

"So, what do you think is the bigger priority at the moment?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you more concerned about the possibility of Turbo being still alive, or figuring out if Vanellope has some sort of bug?"

"Well, they're both problems that require immediate attention, but given what we know so far about Turbo, if he is still alive, it's almost certainly a matter of time before he tries to take over a game for himself, whether it's this game or another game."

"Yeah, I can see your point."

"And even if my hunch is correct, that problem would only affect this one game."

Felix nodded. "I see you got a tracker that works in this game."

Calhoun nodded. "Yeah, I took the liberty of scouting out all the games in the arcade and designing trackers that can function properly in each of those environments. Just in case another Cy-Bug gets loose from my game or someone ends up going Turbo."

Ralph and Vanellope reached the mountain at that point.

Calhoun packed away her tracker. "Alright, let's go in."

Vanellope nodded. "Alright. Ralph, you hold onto me and Felix. Callie will grab your back."

Calhoun looked to Vanellope quizzically. "What's that supposed to accomplish?"

"We need to all be touching for me to be able to phase us all through the wall."

Calhoun understood what she was getting at and grabbed onto Ralph's shoulders. "Ready."

Vanellope looked to Ralph. "Full speed ahead, Captain Skunktail!"

Ralph charged headfirst at the wall, and Vanellope glitched them through.