Save Me from My Dark Side

Chapter Twenty-Eight

It was Monday, the one day of the week that Litwak kept the arcade closed all day. As a reward to themselves for working all week, the majority of game characters whose games were still in working order liked to sleep in a few extra hours. The people of Niceland were no exception to this.

Well, almost all of them.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Felix groggily opened his eyes when he heard someone beating on his door, raising a hand to lazily rub the sleep out of his eyes. Next to him was Calhoun, who groaned at the interruption in her slumber and threw her pillow over her head, mumbling something in a muffled voice that he had better get rid of whoever was at the door. Felix let out a yawn and stretched before sliding out of bed, his eyes barely cracked open and moving at a slower pace than he usually did.

He got to the front door and opened it to see who was there and...

HOOOOOONK!

"AHHHHHHH!"

Felix screamed at the sudden deafening noise of an air horn being blown right in his face, his eyes now bugged out and his mind scrambling to wake itself up more, and he fell promptly on his bottom with his hands pressed to his ringing ears.

"Rise and shine, Fix-It!" he heard the cheerful voice of Turbo telling him. Felix gazed up at his racer friend's smiling face with an almost dazed expression.

"My ears!" Felix whined, not paying any attention to whatever his friend said. "I think they're bleeding!"

"Oh heal thyself," Turbo dismissed him, his smile not fading. "Don't dilly-dally, today's my first race in my new car!"

Rosie was slightly behind and to the side of her excitable husband, wearing her official cheerleading outfit (pink v-neck top with long-sleeve yellow undershirt) complete with pom poms which she was shaking to get the point across. She had her hair up in a high ponytail with long strands of pink and red ribbons hanging from the elastic band, a big smile on her face.

"Don't just lay there!" the racer was prodding him. "Wake up the missus and get a move on!"

He grabbed Rosie by one of her wrists to run away from the door, and Felix thought he heard Rosie say something about how they better not stick around to chat when they woke Ralph up in a similar fashion.

"Jimminy jamminy, why do these things always happen to me?"

"I hope Ralph doesn't hold a grudge at having an air horn wake-up call," Rosie fretted as she sat in her hubby's lap while they drove through Game Central Station on their way to Sugar Rush.

"Well, at least we didn't give him much of a chance to chase us before we hopped in the getaway car," he replied, keeping an arm around her while he drove.

They were just about to go into the Sugar Rush portal when Surge Protector blipped into view and Turbo issued a curse under his breath as he came to a stop.

"I already know who you are," the holographic security man droned out as he adjusted his glasses. "Just don't go tearing it up in there with your shiny new car and don't go racing up and down the Station like it's your personal racetrack."

Turbo grinned and gave him a mock salute. "No worries, Surgie."

The balding hologram lowered his eyes at him. "Don't call me that," he snipped before blipping away.

"Fine, I'll call you Grafitti Artist," Turbo quipped back sarcastically to the now empty spot where Surge Protector once stood.

"I heard that," was the voice that was heard even though no one was physically there.

The couple exchanged spooked glances and then looked around to see if maybe the blue man was just playing some joke on them. He wasn't, of course, as he was not a jokester type person.

"He probably sees and hears everything, the little spy," Turbo whispered as he quietly drove into the Sugar Rush tunnel.

Rosie had never been to a Sugar Rush race before so she was overly excited about seeing one. The last race she had been to was over in TurboTime so the whole experience was completely new to her. There were still bleachers to sit in, but instead of overlooking the entire track, you had to watch it take place on the Jumbo-Tron screen which she thought was a little odd but still cool at the same time. Everything was so much bigger and grander here that it took a little getting used to.

All the racers started showing up in their own karts and all the stands were filling up with the various assortment of candy NPC's. Vanellope had just gotten into her royal candy box stand and was waiting on everyone to get into position before she actually said anything, Sour Bill at her side as usual holding the microphone for her. She always began the race in the same way that "King Candy" used to do, with an enthusiastic greeting, before hopping into her own car.

This would be Turbo's first race since the one he was in whenever his King Candy disguise was dropped and everyone discovered that he was still alive. It would be odd for Vanellope to be racing with him, seeing as how the last time they had raced together he had tried to kill her. But things were different now, they were all friends and things would be fair and square. She never dreamed she'd actually be friends with her former tormentor but as she had said a while back..."past is past".

Since it wasn't a Random Roster Race or an actual gameplay session, the weapons in the game were deactivated and therefore not available for use. Even the giant gumballs that regularly rolled in Gumball Alley were stopped high above in their stations where they waited for a Quarter Alert to release them. Turbo was for one grateful for this because now that he didn't have King Candy's avatar to offer him some protection, he would surely be killed and he certainly didn't want that to happen now that his life was running smoothly again.

"Good luck, champ," Rosie smiled at him before giving him a little nose rub. "And be careful."

"I will, I promise," he reassured her with his own smile, drawing her in for a hug. "I never said 'thank you' for not giving up on me."

Her grin grew wider as she hugged him back. "What kind of number one fan would I be if I'd done that?"

He chuckled at that. "Consider me yours, love," he told her, stealing a quick kiss from her before she ran off to join their Nicelander friends in the stand, who all waved down at him.

Turbo threw a thumbs up at them before jumping into his red velvet kart. He had to say this particular vehicle was much better than either of the other ones he had...because this one was made by his new friends as a gift. It had been made with love, thus making it more personal to him. He was definitely going to take special care of this one.

He heard Vanellope do her spill about starting the race before sliding down into her own kart. Everyone started their engines, a loud roar of simultaneous mechanical energy being forced to hold back until the green light was given. Turbo flexed his fingers around the steering wheel, his eyes focused straight in front of him, waiting for the go ahead.

THREE!

TWO!

ONE!

(Here it comes!)

GOOOOOOO!

God, how he missed racing! Driving in general was great and all but actually taking part in a competitive race against other similarly skilled individuals just made the whole experience turbo-tastic. He loved the sheer energy that came with passing the others, weaving around them to claim the desired and much sought after first place position. This was what he was made for, this is what he lived for and it was the most amazing feeling in the world to be doing it again!

Even better, instead of racing against his competitors, he was racing with them...his friends. He never thought he'd be friends with a group of children but they were honestly some of the best people he had the pleasure of knowing. And the funny part? It for once didn't matter if he won first place or not...he was just happy to be racing again all together.

By the time the race was over, he'd placed third behind Vanellope and Taffyta, respectively. Not too shabby for his first time in several months. He even got everyone milkshakes at BurgerTime when it was all over, and no one pushed him down or drenched him in ketchup this time...which is how it was supposed to be and how it was going to stay.

Some Time in the Future...

The arcade was open, so Turbo and Rosie were tucked away in bed as they usually were at this time. Rosie was sound asleep, curled up on her side and cuddled up next to her husband, who had an arm around her. He was having trouble sleeping, not because of a nightmare or unpleasant thoughts, but he just simply could not fall asleep. He sighed and decided some fresh air would do him some good, so he very carefully slid out of bed as to not wake Rosie up and walked over to the glass French doors that led to the balcony. The curtains stayed closed when they were sleeping for privacy reasons and also to keep out the glare of the multiple streetlamps that the game possessed.

Turbo closed the door silently behind him and got on his tiptoes and threw his arms up to stretch out, yawning in the process. He put his hands on the balcony's railing and looked out at the rest of East Niceland and in the distance could hear the sounds of Ralph tossing bricks and breaking windows and of Felix bouncing around. Apparently, they were in the middle of a game and from the sounds of it the gamer was easily racking up points. Turbo could just barely make out the gamer's face from where he stood on the balcony and he focused his eyes on the player.

Instead of a young child, it was a grown man. He had orange hair clipped close to his head and freckles, and his big baby blue eyes were focused intently on the game he was playing, concentrating on making Felix obey his commands without error. It took Turbo a minute to recognize him since he was still drowsy, but when he finally did he couldn't believe it.

It was Henry, the little shrimpy kid from back in the '80s that was one of TurboTime's regular high-score players. He was obviously an adult now, somewhere close to forty and he had a few wrinkles around his eyes and some smile lines around his mouth but it was definitely him. Turbo wouldn't mistake that boyish grin anywhere. He found himself gripping the railing as he watched the man play, staring blankly in disbelief.

At last, Felix must have lost his last life and thus ending the game, because Henry made an aggravated sigh of defeat, hanging his head down and shaking it.

"It's okay, Dad, you still racked up a lot of points!" Turbo heard a little boy say from the side where he could not see him.

Henry turned his head in the direction that the boy's voice had come from and smiled warmly.

"Thanks, son, but if you had seen me back in the day, you would be saying I'd lost my touch. I used to be a lot better at this game when I was your age."

"Which one was your favorite?"

Turbo saw Henry smile again and he looked over to the opposite side of Felix's cabinet as if looking at something, a far away look in his blue eyes.

"My favorite was this old racing game called TurboTime," Henry related to his son and Turbo couldn't help but grin widely as a surge of pride came over him. "It might be considered old-school or retro now, but I used to play that game constantly. The little driver you played, his name was Turbo, and every time you won first place he'd get on the little trophy stand and say-"

At this part, Henry tried his best to imitate Turbo's voice and said "Turbo-tastic!".

The racer chuckled at that and his eyes were glistening with unshed tears.

"Dad, please, we're in public."

"Hey, it's my job to embarrass you," Henry joked and looked off to the side again, and Turbo figured out it was because that was where TurboTime used to be located, right beside Fix-It Felix, Jr.

"Yeah, then the summer I turned twelve, your grandparents dragged me off on this road trip to see your great-grandparents for two weeks. When I came back, I went straight here to make up for lost time and ol' Turbo was gone. Mr. Litwak, the owner, said it got all buggy and he had to get rid of it. Let's just say, I was pretty upset about that. I never did like another game as much as that one."

Turbo had to wipe his eyes. He had thought that everybody in the Real World had forgotten all about TurboTime, but not good ol' Henry. He had been the one to come back to play only to find no one there.

Henry turned his head back to his son and said, "Well, I guess that explains why I work for NASCAR, huh?"

"Yeah, but not as a driver, as a pit crew guy."

Turbo didn't know what NASCAR was but the boy's comment was enough for him to deduce that it had something to do with racing. The father and son eventually walked off away from the screen, neither knowing that their seemingly pointless conversation had held any real value to someone silently listening. Turbo wiped his eyes again, thinking proudly to himself that he had been enough of an inspiration to someone to actually help them determine what their career choice would be.

With lifted spirits, he left the balcony and went back to bed, this time accidentally waking Rosie up. He wordlessly kissed her in apology before positioning himself on his side facing towards her so he could draw her in for a good snuggle session, and with arms wrapped around each other and his head resting against hers, they both went peacefully back to sleep.

I don't wanna be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately. All I have to do is think of me and have peace of mind. (Gavin Degraw, I Don't Wanna Be)

Epilogue

After time, he became just another face in the crowd.

Well, maybe not exactly, since he was the closest thing to a living legend that the arcade possessed...but he wasn't picked on or bullied any longer. In fact, people warmed up to him after only a few months of being out and about and wouldn't hesitate to chat or just give him a pat on the back in passing.

"Hey, Turbs, how you doin' today?"

"Nice day to go out driving, eh?"

"You wanna swing by the party I'm throwing this weekend? Bring the wife!"

He might not lead the most exciting life these days, but retirement suited him well. He raced whenever the arcade was closed with his new racer friends, not caring what place he won because it was just for fun now. Somehow, not racing for a trophy made the experience more enjoyable. No stress, no pressure to win; just go out there and enjoy yourself. If he did go to a party or even a routine trip to Tapper's, he only allowed himself a maximum of two drinks...three during special occasions with his wife's permission.

He didn't have parties thrown in his honor or trophies lining the walls of his house, but he had friends and family that loved him and that was all he ever really needed...all he ever really wanted.

If you're looking to find him and share a cup of hot chocolate, at this time of day he's usually in a flower-filled meadow watching cotton candy clouds with his arm around that pretty wife of his, just basking in the quiet simple moments of life.

And if you ask him, he will gladly tell you that for the first time in all his existence, his life was truly...

Turbo-tastic.

~THE END~

Well, folks, that's a wrap! I think I'm going to leave this particular universe I've created alone and just let Turbo have his happy ending. If I ever return to it, it would be some light-hearted fic that probably wouldn't even focus on him fully. Maybe something with the kids or maybe a more humorous adventure story, who knows.

I have a couple ideas for some AU's, one a drabble fic type thing about Turbo living in my (tiny) apartment in the same style as that one-shot I wrote "Have Some Candy". Another one is a fantasy world AU focusing primarily on Vanellope, partially inspired by the Syfy miniseries "Tin Man"... an amnesiac princess returning to her home world type plot. Both should be fun, so hopefully you guys check them out when I get them up and going, whenever that may be.

Again, MANY thanks to everyone that has reviewed, favorited, and followed my "It's a Turbo-Tastic Life" trilogy as I have decided to call it. It has been a wonderful ride and I am so glad to have shared it with you. You're all wonderful and hope that you enjoyed reading along as much as I enjoyed writing it. Keep on being turbo-tastic! Ciao for now!

~Dixie Darlin~