Chapter 5

The Chase

"Looking for something?"

The Turbo team jumped and turned around when they heard an eerie monotone voice ask them that question, but then they heaved a collective sigh of relief when they saw it was merely Sour Bill.

"Actually, we came here looking for you," Turbo replied with a smile that bordered between nervous and annoyed, "I wanted to talk to you about your offer to teach me coding."

"I figured you'd be back," Sour Bill replied drowsily; his voice as boring as a game of Pong with nobody moving the bars, "Though I'm surprised you forgot how to edit the code of the game. Don't worry though my liege, I'll be more than happy to assist you."

"Happy?" Dagger whispered to Choke, "I don't think he's ever been happy if his current mood is any indicator."

"Sour Bill," Turbo continued while ignoring his brothers, "What we need to know is how to graft a game sprite from one game to another."

"Of course, sire," Sour Bill replied dutifully, "Will you require your King Candy code?"

"Uh...No, actually," Turbo replied hesitantly, not knowing who or what King Candy was, "Nothing quite so drastic. We actually need to know how to strip away unnecessary code so that more advanced game characters can be added to Turbo Time."

"Oh, I see how it is," Sour Bill replied in offense, "Now that you have your own game back you think you're too good for Sugar Rush? Typical."

"Hey, would you leave your home game for another, no matter how much better it seemed? Huh?" Choke snapped, not willing to cater to such a manipulative little troll, "We need your help to keep Turbo Time alive. I know our game is small, and our graphics are lame, but that doesn't mean we don't deserve our place in the arcade. We work just as hard as everybody else here, and we do it without multiplayer, 3D camera angles, or even a decent sound card. So don't you dare act like you're better than us just because you live here in this polygon-riddled Candyland knockoff!"

Turbo looked at Choke, and then whipped his head back to look at Sour Bill. Choke was always a bit more laid back than Dagger, so it was a bit surprising to see him lose his temper like that. Turbo felt terrible, because he was the player avatar. If his fellow racers were worried about being unplugged it was because he wasn't fun enough for the players. He felt it was all his fault, and he didn't know what to do about it if Sour Bill wasn't willing to help them.

"You promised to come back to Sugar Rush and then you ran away," Sour Bill reminded Turbo accusingly, "If I'm going to help you now, then I want something in return."

"Name it," Turbo replied without hesitation.

"I want you to become our ruler again," Sour Bill told him, "No more tricks, no more lies, and no more Vanellope. I'm tired of being ignored and forgotten. If you don't agree to become King Candy again then I'm not helping you, and your precious Turbo Time can go rot for all I care."

Despite the dull way those words were presented, they cut to the core. Their only hope for saving Turbo Time rested in the sticky green hands of a psychotic NPC with a voice like Ambien personified. The Terror Twins were just about to refuse the offer, but then much to their surprise Turbo sucked in a breath and said "I'll do it."

"What? Are you crazy?" Choke asked their leader incredulously, "Turbo Time would be unplugged without you! You can't stay here! That's completely illogical!"

"I'll think of something," Turbo promised his brother, "But right now we have to keep Turbo Time from going bankrupt and being unplugged. Sour Bill can help us, and if being banished to this terrifying Willy Wonka wasteland is what it takes to save your lives, then I'll do it. It's my responsibility to look out for you."

"No!" Dagger cried out; pixel tears forming in his eyes, "What will we do without you?"

"Yeah, not to inflate your ego more than it already is, but you're pretty much the center of Turbo Time's universe," Choke added wryly.

"Don't worry guys," Turbo replied with a reassuring smile, "I have a plan, but for now we need to trust Sour Bill."

The twins paled at the idea of trusting that greedy gumball, but Turbo seemed pretty sure of himself, so they reluctantly stopped protesting. Sour Bill didn't smile, but Turbo got the feeling the NPC was very satisfied with himself in that moment. Well, if Turbo was going to have to give himself up to Sugar Rush, then he at least wanted to make it worth his while...

"Alright Sour Bill, we have an agreement, but I insist on one more condition," Turbo announced, and Sour Bill listened, "I want the 3 lowest ranked racers on Sugar Rush to be the new NPCs in Turbo Time. If you don't agree to my demands, we walk."

"Sounds fair," Sour Bill shrugged, and the Turbo trio was shocked at how easily Sour Bill said that.

With the terms firmly set between the two parties involved, Turbo shook the sticky green hand of their new partner in crime. There was no going back now. Turbo was officially going to kidnap candy themed children and turn them into ugly grey Turbo Time racers. He didn't feel good about this decision, but it was all for the legacy of Turbo Time. Turbo knew in that moment that he really would do anything for his NCPs and their game...anything.

Citrusella Flugpucker was racing through the Candy Cane Forest level and humming along to the theme song as it played in the background. She hadn't managed to get on the roster the previous night, so she was practicing for the next one. Jubileena Bing Bing had managed to get on the roster, which didn't seem fair to Citrusella. She was technically just a purple recolor of Jubilenna, but her stats were actually better so she was kind of competitive about racing with her look-alike.

She admired the scenery as she drove past the chocolate swamp and the double stripe candy cane trees. She could hear the roar of her engine and feel the vibrations of the road. Everything was right with the world. Soon she could hear another kart coming up behind her, so she sped up so whoever it was wouldn't catch up.

As she heard the kart get closer she listened to the sound of the engines purr. That was when she noticed something was off. That engine sounded less powerful, yet the car was going faster. She could tell the tires were smoother as well, indicating less detail.

She turned around and saw a simple yellow car with a driver that looked like Turbo wearing a blue jumpsuit. Citrusella had heard about the situation with the Turbo Time game and knew that this racer was one of the NPCs. He looked nervous as his car got closer to her kart, and she wondered if maybe Sugar Rush had made a bad first impression on the new guys.

"Hey, noob!" Citrusella called out to the terror twin, "You ready to eat my dust? Come on, we can go one more lap!"

"Pull over!" The twin shouted back at her, "I need to ask you a question!"

Citrusella shrugged to herself, but nonetheless looked for a turnoff point. She didn't understand why a racer would come to another racing game and not want to race, but then again she didn't really know much about 8 BIT game sprites in general.

When she pulled off at the nearest curb the twin pulled up behind her. When he exited the car she could see that he was fidgety and rubbing his hands together while looking in every direction. He looked like he had just stolen Vanellope's cookie jar or something, which only piqued Citrusella's curiosity.

"Hey bud, what's wrong?" Citrusella asked once he got close enough to her, "Are you okay? You said you needed to ask me a question?"

"Yeah, I did," Dagger replied as he reluctantly made eye contact, "I just wanna know what your favorite color is."

"Is that a joke?" Citrusella asked as she gestured to her purple hair and outfit, "It's purple obviously. Why?"

"Just...wondering..." Dagger replied as he took a couple steps back from her.

Before Citrusella could realize anything was wrong, Choke came up behind her and wrapped a licorice rope around her body! Citrusella shrieked and tried to pull away from the terror twin, but his grip was too firm. Choke pulled and Dagger pushed the juvenile racer into Choke's car. They stuffed her in the trunk and Choke slammed the lid. If they thought getting away with Citrusella would be easy however, they were wrong.

"Hey, you!" A voice roughly called out to the twins, and they looked to see a racer in a pink parka glaring at them, "Let her go, you creeps! Right now!"

"Run!" Dagger shouted as he hopped into his car.

Choke followed suit, and together they drove off the track and into the candy cane forest beyond. The racer, Nougetsia Brumblestain, revved her engine and drove off after the kidnappers. She wasn't about to let those Turbo clones drive off with her friend.

Driving off-road was hard, especially for the twins who had no experience with the terrain. They even drove into several trees in their confusion. Most of the trees were double stripe, so they disappeared when anything impacted with them. The twins were being slowed down however, and also clearing a path for their pursuer. Nougetsia gained on the twins, and the two decided to separate with Dagger going left and Choke going right. Choke had Citrusella, so Nougetsia chased him and left Dagger alone.

Choke was a slightly better driver than Dagger when it came to making complicated turns, though Dagger was faster. Choke was better equipped to make it through the forest, but he didn't have rubberband AI like he did in his own game, so he would have to rely on out-drifting the Sugar Rush racer.

For several minutes he weaved through the trees with Nougetsia on his tail, but then he suddenly stopped. Nougetsia couldn't believe her luck. He was stuck in the chocolate mud, and she could rescue her friend!

Nougetsia hopped out of her car at the same time Choke did, and she quickly caught up to him and slammed him against his own car's blue door! Choke grabbed her arms, but he wasn't strong enough to fend her off, not in her own game.

"Let Citrusella go!" Nougetsia demanded as she got right in his face.

"Alright, you have clearly...bested me," Choke rasped as she held onto his windpipe, "I just want you to answer...one question before I let her go."

"What kind of question?" Nougetsia asked suspiciously.

"What *cough* what is you favorite color?" Choke asked after she let him go.

"Favorite color? It's pink. Why?" Nougetsia asked in confusion.

A shadow fell on them from behind Nougetsia, and in that moment she realized her mistake. Choke didn't get stuck. He led her into a trap.

She turned around just in time to see Turbo swing a large chunk of candy cane at her head. The last thing she saw before being knocked out was blackness and stars.

"Good work," Turbo congratulated Choke without enthusiasm, "Two for one. So, what colors should we program for them?"

"Purple and pink," Choke replied stoically.

"Hm, a little girly, but I guess it can work," Turbo shrugged, "Now, for their new names..."

Sticky Wipplesnit was at the Bake-A-Kart mini game working on a new kart for when the arcade opened. She had won the roster race the previous night, but then she and Ransis were being idiots and doing donuts around the Rocky Road level. That caused Sticky to get a flat tire and careen off the cliff. She was fine, but her kart was totaled.

"Hm, maybe this time I'll go easier on the sprinkles," Sticky said to herself as she decided how to decorate her vehicle, "Definitely want lots of frosting though. Maybe something turquoise, or pastel green. Hm, I should've decided this before I came in. Uh oh! No! Now there's underwear in the kart batter!"

Sticky worked the controls feverishly to try to fix her mistake and hopefully save the kart she had been working on for the past minute and a half. Yeah, to most people that much time wouldn't matter, but in Sugar Rush everybody moved quickly due to racer's code and constantly eating candy. It felt like she had worked on that kart forever.

As she worked on her kart she didn't notice that someone else had walked in on her. She continued to work the controls as the other avatar got closer and closer. She finished the game, and out came her beautiful turquoise colored kart with a light touch of purple sprinkles and vanilla wafer wheels.

"Sweet Jimmies, it's perfect!" Sticky exclaimed happily.

"It certainly is," A male voice said from behind her, and she quickly whipped around to see Turbo staring back at her, "Too bad you won't get to enjoy it."

He came at her with a tire jack, but Sticky dodged just in time. She quickly scuttled around to the back of the kart to use it as a barrier to keep away from Turbo. Turbo, instead of chasing after Sticky, used his tire jack to smash the hood of Sticky's new kart!

"Hey! That's mine, you pixelated loser!" Sticky snapped angrily, "That's it! Prepare to get candy crushed!"

"Candy crushed?" Turbo asked critically, "Oh, now that is so lame."

Sticky performed a swing kick that got Turbo right in the helmet, and he was knocked into a container of chocolate sprinkles. Turbo closed his eyes as stinging bits of chocolate rained down on him and buried him. Sticky used that moment to get into her beat up new kart and drive away. She had to get to the palace and warn President Vanellope!

Sticky didn't even make it out of the parking lot before two cars on either side of her slammed into her kart; totaling it.

"Aw, not again!" Sticky whined as she pulled herself out of the wreckage.

The two cars, yellow and blue, stopped in front of her, and she saw that it was the Turbo Twins sneering at her. Turbo then chose this moment to stumble out of the bakery; sprinkles still falling out of his pant legs.

"I don't know what your game is, but you'll never get away with this!" Sticky Wipplesnit shouted defiantly.

"Our game?" Turbo asked condescendingly, "Our game is Turbo Time, and soon it will be your game too."

Choke then pressed a button on his dashboard that caused knockout gas to spray from the grill of his car. Sticky coughed a few times before passing out, and then the trio loaded her into Turbo's trunk.

"Well, three for three," Turbo stated with no joy or energy, "I guess this one can be green. She kind of looks like a green."

"Alright then," Choke nodded grimly, "Let's get these tootsie rolls to Turbo Time before the arcade opens. Dagger, you go get Sour Bill."

Dagger, normally the talkative one, had nothing to say as he drove away to fetch their contact. He couldn't believe it had come to this. They were criminals and soon would compromise their entire game just for a little more longevity and replay ability. What would Jerry think of them now?

Author's Notes: Hi! I decided to put the Author's Notes on the bottom because I have a question to ask you guys. What names do you think would sound cool for the three "new additions" to Turbo Time? I'll pick my three favorite names out of all the suggestions when I update next. See you then :)