((Here's the newest chapter, and it's decided that Vanellope's kart will be named The Sweet Zipper. Thank you for voting~))

Chapter 16

The next morning, Vanellope woke up early. She slowly sits up and rubs her eyes awake, and then she looked over to her snoring companion.

Swizzle apparently had rolled off from the bed during the night and is now sleeping face-down on the cavern floor. Vanellope giggled at this funny sight, her eyes tenderly moving up and down at his body. Then she tied up her hair with her licorice bow, getting an early head start for more practice driving.

It was an hour later, when Swizzle finally awoke and he drove into their secret racetrack. Vanellope's kart is now zipping around the track, trying to control her glitching. Vanellope steered to avoid a gumdrop stone but she ended up running over a syrup puddle. Her kart was then slowed down momentarily, but Vanellope decides to cut the engine for now and take a breath.

She looked up to see Swizzle leaning against the Tongue Twister; he had been watching her driving and he was smiling.

"You improved a bit ever since yesterday," Swizzle told her, his expression impressed. "You still need to control a bit more on your turns as well as your glitching. We only have three days for the 15th anniversary of our game, and only three days for you to become a professional racer. We have a lot of skills that needs to be polished by then."

During the rest of the day, and the next couple of days, Swizzle and Vanellope practiced driving together and the latter is slowing learning a few racing tricks and maneuvers. She still glitches but she managed to control it. The two kids often challenge each other to small races, and Vanellope won more times than Swizzle. A long time ago, Swizzle would feel jealous and resentful that someone is doing a better job at racing than him. However, he felt none of that negative emotions toward Vanellope since she always congratulated and thanked him for teaching her, and racing with her. It was a weird feeling; all his life, he thought aiming for the winning spot at the finish line is all what matters to his existence He tried to remember when was the last time he had genuine fun racing with somebody, and not caring whether he wins or not...

Whenever they're not practicing or racing each other, Swizzle and Vanellope would hang out in secluded places in Sugar Rush during the opening hours of the arcade and watch the Random Roster Race on top of candy trees, placing bets to see who will be knocked out first. The two grew closer each day; even though Swizzle sometimes make quick visits to King Candy's castle to socialize with the other racers (who are not often happy to see him), he would feel so excited to meet up with Vanellope again. He could feel his chest pounding and his face burning whenever he sees her. He even found himself acting a little shy around her but he always try to cover it up with his cocky, daredevil stunts. He could have sworn that he noticed Vanellope also nervous around him too.

Swizzle hoped that King Candy and the other racers allowed Vanellope to enter the race. He had kept his friendship with her as a secret, and nobody even knew that he broke several laws for her, especially making her a special kart. However, he's not afraid of what everyone will say or do to him, as long Vanellope won't get hurt.

On the day before the 15th anniversary of Sugar Rush, the entire game is buzzing with excitement and jubilation as NPCs near and far are gathering around to watch the event race and see who will win the Platinum Cup. There would be no Random Roster Race today, but it will be held tomorrow morning before the Litwak's Arcade opens. However, racers must still come to the stadium after the arcade closes, to get their names registered for tomorrow's Anniversary Roster Race.

It was on this very same day, just a couple of hours before the arcade opens, that Swizzle decided to take another visit to Game Central Station to calm his nerves. Vanellope was little disappointed that she couldn't leave the game as usual, but she encouraged him to go.

"Besides, I'm just gonna do some more practice at our secret racetrack in a bit," she told him before he entered the tunnel. "Just go have fun, Swizz!"

Swizzle left Sugar Rush and headed straight to Tapper's. He finds the bar surprisingly half-full of customers. Tapper greeted him as beanie-wearing took a seat next Wreck-It Ralph, who looked a little annoyed to see him but he kept his attention to his drink while he was sharing a conversation with his fellow co-worker, a handyman Good Guy going by the name Fix-It Felix Jr.

"It was nice to see you again, Swizzle," Tapper said as he gave the boy a mug of frothy root beer. "I was wondering when you will stop by."

"Well, I've been busy, Tapper," Swizzle replied after he took a swig from his drink. He hiccuped a bit. "Tomorrow's the fifteenth anniversary of Sugar Rush, and I've been busy."

"Oh, wow, I haven't heard that name in a long time!" Fix-It Felix said. He had overheard Swizzle and Tapper's conversation. "I wasn't there to greet anyone who come from that game when it was first plugged in. Happy anniversary, neighbor!"

"Thanks, Freddy," Swizzle smiled. Ralph almost laughed into his drink.

Felix chuckled awkwardly. "It's Felix..." He suddenly perks up. "And speaking of which, our game Fix-It Felix Jr just celebrated its 30th Anniversary several days ago."

Swizzle's jaw dropped. "Wow, you guys are pretty ancient!"

"Hey! Watch who you're calling ancient, kid!" Ralph snapped, before turning away to face the opposite wall.

"... What's eating Donkey Wannabe Kong?" Swizzle turned to Felix, a little taken aback by his grouchy behavior.

Felix sighed and rubbed his neck. "It's a long story, kid, but it involved a medal, something called cybugs, and Ralph going Turbo..."

"I told you, I wasn't going Turbo!" Ralph protested. "Besides, I earned that medal by doing exactly what those guys from Hero's Duty did- fighting bugs and climbing the building. Okay, so I did disguised myself and interfered with the First-Person Shooter..."

"Wait, what did you say?" Swizzle suddenly spoke up, standing up straight.

"I said I interfered with the First-Person Shooter."

"No, way before that. What did you mean by 'going Turbo'?" Swizzle asked. He had heard that phrase before, when King Candy was accusing him with those words, and he was confused at what they meant. He noticed Tapper, Felix, and Ralph were silent, giving each other odd looks.

"That's right, you haven't been out of your game for a long time," Tapper said in a low voice. "I'm sorta glad you didn't know who Turbo is, but at the same time... you should know why."

"About what?" Swizzle became confused.

"The dangers of sabotaging another person's game for the sake of a selfish gain."

Felix cleared his throat and began to explain to Swizzle about who Turbo was. Turbo was racer from an old game called TurboTime, which was very popular back when Litwak's Arcade first opened, and he loved all the attention. But one day, a new racing game named RoadBlasters came in and proved to be more popular toward the other kids, leaving Turbo to become very jealous. Because of this, Turbo abandoned his own game, and hijacked Roadblasters, causing the game to crash. Litwak then had both TurboTime and RoadBlasters unplugged for good. This notorious event was what led to coining the terms "game-jumping" and "going Turbo" by all video game characters to discourage themselves to from moving from one game to another during arcade time.

"That is why you must never sabotage another game no matter how popular they are than yours," Tapper added. "It's a selfish act no matter how desperate you are for wanting recognition. That's what happened to Ralph here. He game-jumped for a medal, and he almost got his own game out of order."

"Well, it was lucky that it didn't," Ralph said. "I only did it because I didn't want live alone in the garbage!"

"Ralph, maybe if you and Gene try talking with each other..." Felix tried reasoning with him.

"Me? Talking to GENE?! That's a riot."

At this moment, a heavy-armored marine came in and kept on walking into the wall much to the embarrassment to Tapper and the other customers.

"We are humanity's last hope... our mission..." the marine muttered, unaware of his surroundings and actions.

"Don't mind him, it's just Markowski," Ralph told Felix and Swizzle. "He's the same guy whose uniform I had to borrow to enter the game. I wouldn't go back to Hero's Duty anyway... those cybugs are really creepy and violent." The hulking bad guy shuddered in fear.

Another marine came in, this time a short-haired blond female who seemed to act like a leader.

"Markowski! You got one hour to get your act together before the arcade opens, private!" she growled to the taller marine after she forcibly stopped him into walking into the wall. "And if I see you breaking down and wailing like a baby right in front of the gamers again, so help me...!"

"Yes, Sergeant Calhoun," Markowski whimpered. Calhoun noticed Ralph nearby and she gave him a cold glare, which he brushed off indifferently.

"M'lady!" Felix sighed dreamily, as if he's enamored with the tough sergeant lady. "She sure gives me the honey glows."

"She's okay, I guess," Ralph shrugged. "She packs a mean punch."

"She sure does," Felix sighed again.

However, Swizzle wasn't paying any further attention to the rest of their conversation. His mind is obsessed with the infamous racer Turbo; he wondered what was he like before he went crazy and sabotaged another game out of jealousy and spite. For one moment, he almost felt sorry for this Turbo, since he knows what it's like to be jealous of someone more popular than them. But right now, just thinking of this mysterious guy is making Swizzle uncomfortable and for some reason paranoid... he shuddered at the thought of someone like Turbo invading Sugar Rush and getting it unplugged.

He finishes his root beer and bids good-bye to Tapper, Felix and Ralph. Before he goes into the tunnel leading back to Sugar Rush, he decides to stop and look at all the graffiti on the walls. He wished he brought his spray can with him so he could draw something to clear his mind.

His eyes then landed on an old graffiti he never took notice before. Upon closer look, he saw gaunt, grinning face of an 8-bit racer with the words 'TURBO-TASTIC' written underneath it. This scary image gives Swizzle goosebumps and he's secretly glad that he won't have to meet this Turbo since he went down along with his game.

He finally returned to Sugar Rush where he found someone waiting for his return just outside the tunnel, and he gasped with fright when he saw who it was. It wasn't Vanellope nor Taffyta, nor a fan of his.

It was was King Candy.

((I wanna apologize if my writing for this chapter seems sloppy, I was so tired from my first week of college but I wanted to get this done. _ ))