Chapter Two- New News is Bad News
"Guys, I need you to listen to me…." Taffyta in a grim voice "Somethin' is goin' on here…."
"What so ya mean, Taff?" asked a confused Minty.
"I….I had a talk with the king…." The strawberry racer said, her voice shaking "An' he told me somethin' that I know NONE of ya guys would like!"
"Well…" Gloyd pressed, moving closer "Don't hold back the details! Tell us, tell us!"
Taffyta hesitated for a moment, not sure whether or not to tell the gang the news she had been given. She looked at her teammates, all eyes going towards her and looking desperate for the news. The racer shook her head, moaning in anger before finally breaking down.
"I KNOW WHO'S BEEN STEALIN' OUR PARTS!"
Rancis jumped back a bit but a moment later, he began to laugh albeit nervously "Ehheh, Taff. Um, that's good to know but what's with the upset look? I mean, it's almost as if it one of US were the culprit…"
"That's because it IS, peanut-butter breath!" Taffyta hissed angrily. She then looked away, clutching her fist "Well, she's KINDA one of us…that….GLITCH!"
"Excuse me?" asked Snowanna, not sure she had heard Taffyta correctly "What GLITCH?"
"Vanellope…." The strawberry racer growled "She's tryin' to play sweet, but…but I have this gut feelin'…."
Taffyta DID have a gut feeling about what was going on but she wasn't telling the whole truth; the girl was confused. She just didn't know who to believe at this point. On one hand, part of her did believe in Vanellope's innocence. Why would her friend do something so HEINOUS for such selfish reason? But on the other hand, why would her king lie to her? She knew that King Candy loved everyone in the game, especially the racers!
The girl was being pulled just like her name-sake candy, her conscious jerked two ways but one side was winning over the other.
The side in which the king controlled.
Again, the girl hesitated to speak but she felt that she had to. She wanted to help her friends and for the first time in a long time, she felt that they were really listening to her.
Too bad it was for such bad news.
Adorabezzle shivered a bit, the little racer scared at the news "S-so, Vanellope was the one who took the spring to my breaks?" she stuttered "I-I could have crashed that day! You all saw that!"
"An' one of my candles!" cried Candlehead "I couldn't light my way through the cherries!"
"Speak for yourself, C-Butt!" growled Jubileena "At least your car could still run! One of my wheels was missing!"
An argument began to grow between the children as they all fought over who's vandalism was worse, Taffyta getting an all too close view of the anger that was caused by the incident. The girl was stunned, surprised to see everyone just so angry. She knew she had to stop it.
"Okay, okay! STOP IT EVERYONE!"
The gang stopped, looking at the strawberry girl. She crossed her arms over her chest, tapping her feet.
"Alright, I understand all your concern but is it really worth it trying to play who has it worse? We're ALL in danger her….but…."
The girl turned away, that other part of her conscious peeking through.
"Ya know what, I wanna check things out for myself before I do anything else!"
Rancis stepped forward "Huh, but we already know Vanellope did this! You said-!"
Taffyta held out a hand before the boy, stopping his chatter. She shook her head "Nuh-uh. I know what I said but…I think I might have said TOO much!"
"So, are you saying that Vanellope DIDN'T take our parts?!"
"There's just too much goin' on here right!" Taffyta turned, mumbling "And even though I know King Candy feels he's right….it's just too…it's just TOO EASY!"
The racer felt in her heart that something was wrong. As she said, it was just too easy. It was too easy because if something bad was happening in the game, of COURSE all the blame would befall Vanellope. She was an easy target!
A glitch that King Candy had banished from the game who wanted nothing more than to race? She would look guilty at the drop of a hat!
What about the other kids though? They could have easily done it just as well! And there were other characters in the game as well and what about the other games? Someone could have snuck in and played a dirty trick.
But the words that King Candy had said.
They played over and over in Taffyta's head. She couldn't get rid of them.
It made the girl feel sad that she was thinking against her king's orders but at the same time, she wanted to at least give Vanellope another chance. She knew the girl couldn't have been the culprit. She couldn't have!
Taffyta put her hat back on, pulling it down as she made her way back to her kart.
"Guys, I'll be right back!"
"Sugar rainbows , shootin' through the stars!" Taffyta sang, tuning the engine of the car "Take my hand, we're gonna go far!"
Taffyta didn't have a care in the world. The girl had gone through another great day at the drivers wheel and sealed her place in the race for the next day.
Perfect and pink; the way she liked it!
"Hmmm, need to check the syrup grade on this…." The girl thought to herself as she looked over her car "No wonder ya kinda slagged off there near the end!"
Taffyta walked to the shelf, reaching for her highest grade strawberry syrup but as she reached for it, she heard the ringing of her phone.
"Gah! Who's that at this hour?!" she said, dashing into her front room and grabbing the phone "Hello?"
"TAFFYTA?!" cried a startled voice on the other end.
"Er, yeah? Who else would this be?" the girl said with a slight chuckle "May I ask who THIS is? Ya sound HORRIBLE!"
"I-its ME!" chocked Vanellope, out of breath.
"Nelly? W-what's wrong, you sound horrible!"
"You're gonna FEEL horrible once ya see what's on channel six!" the girl cried on the other end.
"Channel…what are ya getting' on about, Nelly?"
"JUST TURN IT!" the girl screamed from the other end, nearly causing Taffyta to drop the phone on the ground.
"Okay, OKAY!" Taffyta ambled her way to the couch, turning on the channel to the all-arcade news.
"Good evening!" said the female anchor "We have breaking news from Hero's Duty!"
Hero's Duty, eh? Vanellope was RIGHT; this HAD to be big news! Taffyta didn't even know what the report was about but she was already on the edge of her seat, a little excited to hear what was going on.
"Today, former top racer Turbo has agreed to confess about his doing in the fifteen year long reign of Sugar Rush and how he was able to control the game during that time!"
Taffyta almost EXPLODED; after all this time TURBO wanted to TALK?!
"WHAT?!" the strawberry racer screamed, surprised she hadn't launched herself out the window "C-CONFESS?!"
"I KNOW RIGHT?!" Vanellope screamed from the other end of the phone "But it doesn't end there! Keep watchin'!"
"Tonight, Turbo agreed to a sit-down but only with a character of his choice, stating that he wanted to make sure he could talk to someone he could trust!" said the male anchor.
"Someone he can trust?! HAH!" cackled Taffyta "We couldn't trust him as far as we can THROW him!"
"We go live right now to Hero's Duty where Sargent Tamera Calhoun has a word for the press!"
Taffyta scooted so close to the tv that her eyes were almost planted on the screen "Aw man, are ya lookin' at this Nell? She looked more angry than a cookie monster who's been baked too long!"
"Five bucks says she punches out a camera in five minuets!"
"Vanellope, SHUSH!" Taffyta said, turning the volume up on her television. Her eyes still on focus, she watched the Sargent walk out to the press, a grim look on her face.
"Today at nine forty five, our prisoner Turbo requested that he speak with a character in which he would discuss his secretes of how he took over…" the woman said, though there was a slight hint of anger in her voice.
"Sargent! Sargent!" yelled a reporter from the crowd "Can you tell us when you'll begin talking to Turbo!?"
"ME?" the woman blustered in a surprised voice "The man has REFUSED to talk to me!"
The characters began to chat amongst themselves in surprise at the announcement; if Turbo wasn't going to speak with Calhoun, who WAS he going to talk to?
"If not you, then who?" asked a little imp, pushing her microphone a little too close for comfort to Calhoun's face "Don't you think the people in this arcade had a RIGHT to know who Turbo is going to talk to, especially when it concerns his near take over?! What are you hidin' from us, Sargent? WHAT?!"
Calhoun looked at the cameras glaring down at her; with the lights and the microphones pointed at her, she looked no different than a pixel deer caught in the headlights but her mood suddenly changed. She grabbed one of the reporters, and lifted him off the ground, growling.
"Get those things OUTTA MY GAME!"
"But Sargent-!"
The woman TOSSED the reported back into the crowed all before knocking over the podium with her boot.
Yup, right on time!
Calhoun stomped towards a reporter, the hapless character trying to back away as fast as they could while still filming the charging woman "I SAID MOVE! THIS NEEDS TO BE KEPT UNDER-!"
BOOM!
Calhoun punched the camera, the force so hard that it broke.
"Told ya…." Vanellope said on the other end of the phone.
"Er, well….that's is big news INDEED!" the female anchor said, not sure what to do next.
Taffyta hit the mute button, slinking down on the floor, the phone still to her ear.
"Wow…." She said in a low voice "WOW."
"I-I can't believe this is really happening!" Vanellope said on the other end, her voice shaking "Turbo is finally gonna come out and tell us…h-how he did it!"
Taffyta's eyebrows furrowed as she began to think about the revelation "But do you think he's telling the truth? I mean, this IS Turbo we're talkin' about! He had the chrome plated HELMET to lie to VIRUSES for cryin' out loud!"
"Taff, I would shave myself BALD before I trusted a WORD that came out of that guy's mouth!" Vanellope snorted "An' seriously? Who does he think he's foolin' with this?! He wants ta talk to someone he trust! PLEASE!"
"You're getting' that gut feelin' to, aren't ya?" Taffyta whispered, hearing a rather shaky tone in her friend's voice.
There was a bit of silence from both girls and after a moment, the strawberry racer heard her friend sighing heavily.
"Y-Yeah…." Vanellope sighed "I-I mean….I just…."
"Its that gut feeling. That gut feelin' that SOMETHIN' big is gonna come from this…." Taffyta began "W-we laugh about it NOW, Vanellope but…but Turbo knows more than we give him credit for!"
If only Taffyta were with Vanellope at that moment. If only she could have been there to see the girl gripping her pillow tighter, a bit of fear washing over her once she realized that her friend was correct. Even with everything back in place in Sugar Rush, Turbo knew more about the game and the RACERS than they felt comfortable with. For fifteen years he had played them all like puppets and for fifteen years he had controlled their movements, their thoughts, and in Vanellope's case, her position of power.
Everyone knew that if something were to happen, Turbo could waltz right back into the game and do it all over, but this time he knew what mistakes he had made.
This time, he would make CERTAIN that NO one would stop him.
That realization hit both girls like a ton of bricks and it scared them. Even if Turbo was still in Hero's Duty and he was willing to spill his guts, the fact that he was even being ALLOWED to talk sent a chill down their spines.
"So…." The strawberry racer asked from the other end "Do ya have a plan for this?"
"A plan?" Vanellope chuckled "No….I don't have a plan because I never thought something like this would EVER happen! I never thought he would come back! I never thought he would be locked up so close by!"
"But what do you want us to do?! I mean-!"
"This is what I want ya to do…." Vanellope replied, her voice getting rather strong "I don't want you guys to worry about ANYTHING."
"But Vanellope-!"
"No, I'm a-gonna tell ya WHY I don't want ya to worry…" the raven haired racer said, getting a little peeved this time "It's EXACTLY what he wants! He wants all this attention an' he wants US to shake in our shoes knowing he could spill stuff on us while he goes on his sob story!"
Taffyta nodded, realizing that Vanellope wasn't in the room a moment later "He wants to throw us off…"
"DEFINITELY!" her friend replied "An' I've told ya guys before, I'm TIRED of bein' scared! That guy already ruined so much for us long ago, we can't let him do it again!"
A spark of confidence began to form in Taffyta's heart. There was just something about the way Vanellope lead a charge that made her realize that she cared and that there was still a strong between the friends.
Something that Turbo would have a difficult time in breaking this time!
A smile formed on the strawberry racer's face as she balled her fist "Yeah! Tha lil yellow-toothed jerk can cry crocodile tears all he wants! There's no WAY he's gonna get one over on us again!"
"Right!" laughed Vanellope "But I still wanna tape his 'confession' if they air it live! Do ya know how much great riffin' fodder that would ma-!"
There was a loud beep from Taffyta's phone, the girl flinching a bit.
"Urgh, sorry, Nelly. Call waiting!"
"I'll hold!" Vanellope said "I want to keep talkin' about this! I mean, it's so unbelievable!"
The strawberry racer nodded, "Alright, be back in a sec!"
*Beep.*
"Helloooo?" Taffyta sang, her eyelashes fluttering.
"Taffyta Muttonfudge?" a deep voice said on the other end, catching the girl by surprise.
"Hello? Who is this? Did GLOYD give you this number?!"
"This is Private Kowalski from Hero's Duty!"
The racer nearly fell off of the couch once she realized who she was talking to!
"Er, yes sir!" she shouted, perhaps a bit too loudly "Is something wrong? Do you need me to gather the others to-?!"
"Hold it, hold it kiddo! There's no need for ya ta get all worked up! There's other business we need from ya!"
"Well?" Taffyta said as she began walking around the room "What is it?"
There was a bit of a pause, the racer hearing the muffled sound of the man talking to someone else in the background "We need your assistance."
"Okaaaaaaaaaaaaay….." the racer said, a might confused "But with WHAT?"
The man sighed heavily on the other end, "Sarge, you better tell her."
"Kowalski! AURGH!"
Taffyta knew that voice; Calhoun!
"Sorry, but ya know more about this than me!"
"Just gimmie the freakin'-!"
The racer heard a bit of a muffled sound as the phone was being handed over "Ms. Muttonfudge? It's Calhoun." The woman said in an exasperated voice.
"Hello, ma'am! I heard there was some business that required my assistance?"
"Yes….about that…." the woman growled "I'm sure ya saw that disaster of a news report right?"
"You mean where you punched the camera?" Taffyta joked "I have NO idea what you're talkin' about!"
"Hey, what could I do? The guy wasn't movin' away fast enough…" the sergeant replied "But with that, we DO have some new info from the conference and….and from Turbo."
Taffyta felt a bit of a chill going up her spine, "R-Really? And what does this have to do with ME?"
"Muttonfugde….He asked for YOU."