Vanellope's Bug Problem
Chapter Fourteen
Calhoun was flying around, scanner in hand, trying to find Turbo. A sudden blip from her scanner alerted her to the presence of a Cy-Bug in the game.
"Slick." She headed straight for where the blip was, preparing herself with a weapon.
Her worst fears were confirmed when she saw VanelloBug heading for Diet Cola Mountain with Turbo in her grasp. She started speeding up toward the mutated racer, weapon drawn.
She could vaguely hear VanelloBug as she made course to land on the summit, in the field of Mentos.
"Alright, Turbutt. You better have a good reason for coming here, or I'm gonna eat your brains out of your helmet!"
She got close enough to hear Turbo talking.
"H-Hey, you wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would you?" There was a tiny sound of glass breaking. "You hit a guy with glasses. Heh, I can see Ralph's had an influence on you."
The sergeant lowered herself close enough to confront Turbo while still bracing herself for an attack from VanelloBug. "Quite the troublemaker, aren't we, buster?"
"Look, I just had something to tell Vanellope, alright?"
"Why should I trust someone who stole my game and tried to kill me?"
"What did you think was going to happen when you broke out of prison and came barreling back here?"
"I heard the soldiers talking about Vanellope having a virus in her system and thought I'd come try to help."
"I wasn't a Cy-Bug until you showed up!"
"I didn't know the specifics of the whole thing; I just thought I'd try to make up for my mistakes."
"Like I'm gonna fall for that story a second time."
"I promise I'm truly offering to assist in getting rid of this virus! You have my word!"
"How do I know you're not trying to steal my game from me again?"
"I'd have bigger problems to deal with, namely your current form. And I haven't figured out a way to fully delete a character's code for the entire time I was King Candy, so..."
"Alright. You can help by GETTING YOUR *BANG*ING FACE OUT OF MY *BANG*ING GAME AND BACK TO YOUR *BANG*ING CELL IN CALLIE'S *BANG*ING GAME!"
Another shot rang out from behind VanelloBug, who saw Calhoun with her gun drawn.
She picked up something from the edge of the Mentos field. "You were starting to lay eggs." She put a bullet through the egg in her hand.
Turbo returned her gaze to VanelloBug. "You'd still run the risk of becoming a Cy-Bug while the arcade is open, and the gamers will think the game is broken."
"I can leave the game now, with my glitch being fixed."
Calhoun walked up to Turbo. "The arcade opens in an hour, so we'll see how the day plays out. But first, we need to rendezvous with the others and work out a plan." She laid down her cruiser. "I want him on the bridge in one piece, Sprinkle Toes, so we can all question him."
Turbo laughed nervously as he was flown back to the castle. "Well, I must say, you do look like a sweet treat if I say so myself."
"Shut up, Turbo."
Ralph caught sight of VanelloBug and Calhoun flying back from Diet Cola Mountain.
"Hey, Ralph! Catch!"
He caught sight of Turbo dropping from her grip and caught him as he fell.
"You just couldn't stay away from this game, could you?"
VanelloBug landed on the bridge, obstructing any escape route for Turbo.
Calhoun followed in short order. "Alright, Dead Man Driving. We know you're up to something."
Taffyta nodded. "Yeah, Vanellope's been telling us how you took over this game and brainwashed us into worshiping you."
"I just wanted to race again!" Turbo's breathing bordered on tear suppression.
VanelloBug crossed her front limbs. "So, why make the whole game about you? Was it not enough being a selectable avatar?"
"Listen, please..."
"You made a choice to warp this game to be your very own ego pump and tried to kill me so you could do that! There's nothing you can do that can make me trust you in anything you have planned!"
"Do you want to be stuck the way you are? The game's gonna get unplugged if you miss out on the upcoming races."
VanelloBug cooled down a smidge but not much. "Citrusella can take my place on the roster."
"You're still going to need someone to work the code for that."
"Ralph's game has the characters from the Qbert game programmed as a bonus level, so Hammertime knows how to code games."
"That may be so, but Sugar Rush is a far more complex game than Fix-It Felix, Jr."
"And yet you were able to build the skills necessary to steal my game by tinkering in their basement."
Ralph looked to Turbo. "What did you do to our game, anyway?"
Felix scratched his head. "And how did you get in there?"
Turbo sighed. "If only to satiate the curious..."