Chapter Eleven- Game Over
It didn't take long for Turbo to make his way to the candy palace, the bright glow of the building filling the night air with a heavenly glow.
How Turbo HATED it.
He hated it because he knew somewhere inside there was a girl, a girl that had taken away all his glory, all his power, all his love from him.
But no more.
Things would be different.
This time, he would finally be able to delete Vanellope once and for all, leaving everyone in the arcade to suffer with her absence.
"I might not be able to get control of this PIT again…." The man cackled to himself "But at least I can scratch ONE annoyance of my list."
Turbo ducked in the bushes as he watched people coming to and from the palace.
"Come on ya lil cavity, where are ya?!"
Ah-hah!
In the dark, Turbo spied a familiar form exiting the palace, Vanellope waving a good bye to someone as she began to walk her way towards the woods.
"Hmmm, what's tha kid doin' out THIS late at night?" Turbo thought to himself "Urgh, who cares! I gotta-!"
The man stopped; Vanellope was walking on the path that lead towards him.
He just couldn't resist this chance! He had to show that glitch a thing or two before he deleted her!
"Yeees…." The cackled to himself "Why let Thaffyta have all the pain before the grand exit?"
This was one beat-down Turbo was ready for.
He slithered through the bushes like a snake ready to strike, watching Vanellope as she strolled down the dark path without even so much as a thought. If only she knew the danger she was in, if only she knew that someone close by was watching her, intent on causing her demise.
"Let's see how far your GLITCHIN' take ya now!" the man whispered, grabbing hold of a lose chocolate stick.
Vanellope stopped, almost as if she could hear something from afar.
Nothing.
Silence.
She continued walking, although she did so slowly.
Turbo crept closer, and closer, and closer.
Then-!
"GOTCHA!"
The man jumped from the bushes, kicking Vanellope in the back, the girl letting out a cry as she fell to the ground.
"Hahahah! GET UP! GET UP YOU WASTE OF SPACE!" Turbo bellowed in fury.
Vanellope made a small peek at the man, wasting no time in scrambling to her feet and running like heck through the woods! Turbo followed, his mind set on getting his revenge on the girl who he believed had caused him so much pain.
"COME BACK HERE! COME BACK HERE NOW!"
It was now the hunter going after the hunted, Vanellope not even looking back as Turbo began to gain on her. The two made their way back to the taffy lake where Taffyta had taken her spill, seemingly lost in the depths of the muck.
"Ya think ya can get away with all that you've done ta me?!" the man screamed "THINK AGAIN!"
He then threw the stick at Vanellope, getting a lucky shot and knocking her on the ground. The girl remained silent, staggering to her feet with her head still towards the ground. Turbo was enjoying EVERY moment of this, the sight of seeing Vanellope in pain more wonderful to him than all the racing trophies he had ever won both as himself and King Candy.
"Ya know what I'm gonna do?" the man cackled "At first I was gonna just delete ya but I've changed my mind! I'm gonna take ya back ta MY castle an' delete your lil pals, one by one by one!"
Turbo put his foot on Vanellope's back, the girl grunting.
"Yeeeeah, how does THAT sound, GLITCH? Watchin' all your stupid racin' buddies burn to their very core while ya watch? It sounds SOOOO GOOD ta me! An' then I'm gonna get that Thaffyta an' make sure she suffers tha most of all….."
The man chuckled, taking off his helmet "It's a pity that tha girl went from bein' my best toadie back ta your best friend! Heh, I mean, watchin' ya two before I took over? It made me SICK ta see how much fun ya were havin' but ta see her turn against ya, all thanks ta me? I wouldn't have had it ANY. OTHER. WAY!"
The gray racer turned, seeing a large candy stick, thorns of sugar sticking out of it.
Yes, this would be perfect.
He yanked the thing from the ground, raising it above his head.
"So, have anythin' ya wanna say before we get TH-ARTED?"
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I DO!" rang the voice of….VANELLOPE?
Turbo let out a gasp as he looked to his side, "WHAT?!"
BAM!
Before he could even move, Turbo saw a glitching light and a BOOT fly right into his face, the boot still on the foot of one Vanellope Von Schweetz! The man let out a pained cry as he fell to the ground, Vanellope landing aside him, an angry look on her face.
"Got anything else ya wanna say?!"
Turbo looked stunned; TWO VANELLOPES? What was going on?!
"W-what!? But-?!"
The Vanellope on the ground began to rise, her long hair still over her face but as she moved, two eyes glared at Turbo, looking just as angry as Vanellope.
"Thanks Nougelstia, I MORE than owe ya one for all those hits ya took!" the raven hair racer said.
NOUGELSTIA?!
"Heh, not a prob Nelly!" the racer said, pulling her LONG dark blue hair from her face "It DOES help that we look the same in the dark, DON'T we TURBO?"
Turbo's jaw nearly fell to the ground. He had been tricked not only by Vanellope but by another racer as well?! How could this be possible?! His face turning red in anger, the man sprang to his feet, his hands aiming for Vanellope's neck.
"You lil monster I'll-!"
"Oh DROP it, Turbz!" called another familiar voice from afar. Turbo turned and there before him, surrounded by Hero's Duty soilders was….
Taffyta Muttonfudge.
"B-But-?!"
The girl pulled the last bit of taffy from her arm, chewing it rather smugly in front of the man "Ya know, I CAN swim through taffy. It's a little sticky, but I can make it."
Turbo's mind was more than scrambled at this point. He was SURE he had the girl in his grip, he was SURE he had left her to drown in taffy!
HE WAS SURE OF EVERYTHING!
"D-didn't I leave ya cryin'!? I mean-I said-! You were-!"
"OooOOooooOh Turbo! Why do ya HAFTA be so meeeaAAAnnn!" the girl mocked, rubbing her eyes as he made a fake pout "While I admit that getting' bit smacked by ya did hurt, I'm surprised that my actin' fooled ya THAT much!"
Acting?
The sudden realization of what was going on hit Turbo with the force of a brick to the face; the entire time he thought he was playing Taffyta right into his hands but as things were starting to unfold, it turned out that it was the complete opposite.
"H-How did you-?"
Taffyta gave Calhoun a nod, as if to signal her that things were safe and there was no need to fear Turbo anymore. With that, the racer approached the man, no sign of fear in her eyes whatsoever.
"The moment ya started flapping your gums, I knew somethin' was up an' I will admit, what ya said was pretty convincing for a while, at least to someone who HADN'T been in Sugar Rush all their lives…" the girl said, flipping her bangs out of her eyes "But c'mon Turbo. You forgot the space of time that everyone was together BEFORE ya came inta the picture! You're memory lock might have blocked that out while ya were king, but don't ya think it would have come back once the game reset?"
Turbo was starting to turn pale as he realized the plan was coming apart around him; there was no place for him to run and he was at Taffyta's mercy.
"On top of that…there was THIS."
The girl approached the man, showing him a picture from the game's first year. In it were two racers, Vanellope and Taffyta, but it wasn't just the fact that they were together that was so important. It was what Taffyta was wearing on her coat that was so important.
"Durin' my time in the hospital after my accident, I gotta present from Nelly; a lil strawberry pin. At the time, I thought nothin' of it an' when things went back to normal, I actually thought it was somethin' she had just given to me at that time. But as I went through the archives, I found it again in that picture BEFORE ya took over an' then it hit me!"
"W-what hit ya?" Turbo stammered, an angry look on his face.
"I ACTUALLY got that pin from Nelly when the game WAS FIRST PLUGGED IN. THAT'S why I was wearin' it in that picture. I don't know HOW it got back into her possession after you hurt her code, but the fact that she gave it back when I was hurt? It was if that tiny sliver of a memory had come through an' she remembered how IMPORTANT that small pin was to BOTH of us."
Taffyta turned, her hands in the pockets of her dress, "Ya tried, Turbo. Ya really did try but nothing can cover up the truth. Everyone here was together the moment we were plugged in an' Nelly never took her role as PRINCESS seriously from the get go. All this talk about how she ruled over us? It was a lie but I played the part of the listenin' ear just to see how far ya would go. Tha fact ya would still try ta hurt us? Wow, low blow Turbo. LOW, FREAKIN' BLOW."
Turbo fell to his knees, unable to even stand hearing the girl tell him the holes in his plans. He thought he had everything worked out, he thought he had Taffyta roped in once more but as it was revealed, she never believed him from the start and her weak act, it was just a lie!
"A-An' Hero's Duty?! How did they know-!?"
"Easy!" grinned Vanellope "I'm sure ya heard our lil arguments out in the hall right? Pfft, that was a play too! We just wanted ya ta think that you're butt-fart lies had gotten to us an' ya were right about how I was somehow 'the bad guy' in all of this!"
"The kids informed me of what you were doin' after Taffyta found the picture." Calhoun said, aiming her gun right for Turbo "I was the one who gave her the key an' the rest? Well, we played it out all the way an' knowin' how one-tracked minded ya were, we knew you'd come back here!"
Turbo was seething in rage, wanting nothing more than to jump on everyone and tear them limb from limb! How DARE they do this to him! How dare they play him like a puppet!
"The best part is? Your whole confession made it out on tape too!" Taffyta grinned, pulling a voice recorder from behind her "Words don't lie Tur-BUTT but I find it ironic that it took a shorter amount of time to tell us WHY and how you got this game than your lie! I mean SHEESH! I was nearly fallin' asleep at your prattlin'!"
"S-so you're tellin' me that ya got through MY lie…WITH ANOTHER LIE?!"
"Ya could say that." Vanellope giggled brightly "Or, ya could say we owned ya like a SHARK!"
Unable to contain his anger any longer, Turbo sprang on Taffyta, his eyes filled with fury.
"YOU FREAKIN' MINX! I'M GONNA-!"
GLITCH!
In that split second, Vanellope appeared side-by-side Taffyta and as both drew back their legs….
And KICKED Turbo right in the face, sending the man flying back on his bottom where he belonged!
"Wow! Nice job, girls!" Markowski whistled.
Turbo groaned in pain, his eyes filled with stars. He then heard the heavy clanking of Hero's Duty armor coming towards him and he quickly tried to get to his feet.
"H-Hold on! I-!"
"We've heard it all before, TURBO! Now get him outta here!" ordered Calhoun, her men carrying the disgraced racer off. Once the group made their way back towards the rainbow bridge, Calhoun couldn't help but laugh.
"Ya know, even I hafta admit you guys had me worried before ya told me what was goin' on!"
"Was my actin' THAT convincing?" Taffyta asked, a little stunned.
"Kid, there were times when I thought ya would just break into tears when ya ENTERED the same room as Turbo! How could that not convince me?!"
"Heh, what can I say? Nothin' beats Muttonfudge!"
"Oh PLEASE!" Vanellope laughed, pulling the racer's hat over her eyes "Let's see ya keep this same type of determination on the race track, MISSY!"
"Pa-SHAW! I ALWAYS show off my best when I race!" Taffyta said haughtily.
"From the way you've been slackin', I hafta beg ta differ!"
"Oh, yeah?!" said an annoyed Muttonfudge.
"YEAH!" said a cheeky Von Schweetz.
"Midnight race! You an' me! NOW!" the strawberry racer grinned.
"Bring it on, Blondie!" Vanellope cackled, taking off for the track.
Nougelstia sighed as she shook her head "An' here I thought I was gonna get those fifty coins Nelly promised for taking this job." The girl shook her head as she quickly tied her hair back into a pig tail, walking back down the trail "Aw well, I think a few FRIENDLY reminders should do the job…"
Calhoun couldn't help but smile as she watched the kids make their way back to the village, happy to see that things hadn't been destroyed as she had previously feared. Turning back towards the entrance, a thought came to her mind.
"Heh, guess Felix was right! These kids are a bit sharper than we make 'em out ta be!"
"Ya know, this isn't the end!" Turbo growled as he was being dragged back to Hero's Duty.
"Yeah, yeah. We've heard the story before…" Mouse yawned, not at all impressed with the man "Now shut up an' get back into your cell. I wanna go to bed."
"Hehe, I-I can work my way through ya people! To-tonight was just a FLUKE! A FLUKE! Muttonfudge would have been MINE if I had waited a bit longer!" the man cackled, his mind clearly over the edge now "I swear, I'm gonna get all the games in this place! EVERY GAME! ITS GONNA BE MINE!"
"So how long before he calms down?" asked a solider.
"Meh, give him a few days….he should shut up by then."
Turbo continued to rant and rave as he was dragged off but suddenly, the man stopped, a look of fear coming on his face.
"OH! OH! STOP!"
"What are you getting on about now?!" growled Markowski, not in the mood for anymore madness.
"SHE'S BACK! SHE'S BAACCK!"
"Who's BACK!?"
Turbo tore his arm away from a beefy solider, pointing towards one of the dark hallways of the station.
"HER! THE VIRUS! SHE'S BACK!" the man cried, his eyes full of fear and madness "S-SHE'S IN THE CORNER! BACK THERE! BACK THERE!"
Mouse looked up at Markowski, carefully moving over towards the corner where Turbo was pointing. The solider held out her gun, ready at a moment's notice but as she was quick to discover, there was nothing there. The woman turned, giving Turbo a peeved look.
"Nice try BOY, but ya ain't trickin' anyone else tonight."
"B-BUT I'M SERIOUS! SHE'S-!"
Mouse's fist met with Turbo's jaw, knocking the man out cold.
"Get him back before the Sarge arrives! We don't need any more drama for tonight!"
And with that the group lead Turbo back into his prison cell, the man's cries head by no one.
"What a pity…." Cooed a voice from afar "For once, the man tells the truth an' no one believes him."
In the silence of the empty station, a figure stepped from the darkness, a cold smile on her face.
"But maybe that's for the better…" she snickered, licking her lips "I DO like to take my victims by surprise!"
While everyone was safe from one threat in the arcade, it would only be a matter of time before another would come in its place.
And unlike Turbo, this threat was much MORE malicious.