It was a beautiful, warm day in Sugar Rush without a single fluffy cotton candy cloud in the sky. Vanellope was sitting with her new friends Taffyta and Candlehead on a sugar-coated blanket in an opening of the peppermint tree forest. The blanket was pale red, with bowls made of dark chocolate, filled with various candies, scattered across it. Taffyta, a strawberry-themed racer, grabbed a lolly from one of the bowls and rolled her eyes at the sight of Vanellope trying to stuff as many types of sweets into her mouth at once as she could.

"Say, Vanellope," Taffyta began, carefully twisting the wrapper from the lolly.

Vanellope suddenly stopped eating, sprinkles still caked around her mouth, eliciting a sigh from Taffyta. "Have you heard about the retro party that Litwak's putting on?"

"Oh, yeah, it's awesome!" Vanellope chomped on her food, her words muffled and barely audible. "I've heard that Tapper's having a discount on the drinks tonight to celebrate it. Do you wanna go?"

Taffyta sighed. "Vanilla, do you know how busy it is when there's a discount? We'll get crushed if we go there."

Vanilla was the nickname that Taffyta gave to Vanellope after finding out she was really a princess, similar to how a parent would call a child "Pumpkin". Of course, the nickname "Pumpkin" was reserved for Gloyd, so every racer who was friends with each other got their very own nickname. Taffyta was "Taffy" and Candlehead was, well...Candlehead. Candlehead was the nickname, except no-one knew her real name - not even Candlehead herself.

"Well, Taffy," Vanellope got up from the blanket, her hands on her hips and a smirk forming to let her know she wasn't trying to be mean. "I can easily glitch us all out if we needed to."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Candlehead's eyes widened.

"Yeah, sure," Vanellope skipped over to the tunnel, her ponytail bouncing and waved for the others to come over. "Come on, it's closing soon!"

Taffyta slowly stood up and looked at Candlehead, putting her lolly in her mouth. "You're paying."

As Taffyta expected, Tapper was very full. There were all kinds of idiots singing old tunes she'd never even heard of before and nearly stepping on some characters who wouldn't have a chance of survival if they got trampled on, such as the smaller characters. Tapper himself was very busy, exaggerated drops of sweat running down his face as he was serving some impatient customers.

"Let's sit here," Vanellope pointed at a table in the corner, thankfully a good distance away from the other patrons.

Meanwhile, Candlehead was fearfully dodging the stampede of customers, regretfully wishing she didn't agree to this entire thing. Well, she didn't, but she also didn't want to disappoint Vanellope. After all, Candlehead was the one who helped bully Vanellope, and she used to be a very strong follower of what Taffyta did to her. Candlehead looked up to Taffyta before they found out Vanellope was a princess, but now she wasn't so sure. They were the best of friends, but she now found herself growing distant from her and being a lot more careful about who she followed. Should she continue following everyone else's actions? After all, they landed her in a lot of trouble, even making herself become the opposite of who she was. Luckily, Vanellope forgave her, but she never wanted to do that to anyone else ever again.

"Over here!" Vanellope waved to Candlehead, who was only just making it through the sea of characters. Luckily, her candle didn't blow out from all the singing, but her helmet was twisted and her hair was sticking out.

"My hair is such a mess..." Candlehead chuckled, adjusting her helmet and combing her hair with her fingers.

"Still better-looking than Stinkbrain!" Vanellope laughed as Candlehead sat down at the opposite end of the table to Taffyta and Vanellope. Of course, the tables were in rows, but Candlehead cheated a bit by bringing the chair to the other side of the table so she could communicate with the others better.

Tapper came to the table at a surprising speed given that his hands were full from the other customers and the fact that they had only just sat down. "May I take your order...?"

"Three root beers, please," Vanellope said in a cheerful tone, not noticing Candlehead staring blankly into space.

Someone called for Tapper from another table. "Okay, coming!" he breathed, leaving Vanellope worried about him and Taffyta wondering whether he even heard what they said.

"Hey, is that...?"

Vanellope watched as Candlehead's face paled, pointing in the direction of some people behind them. "What? What's the matter?" Vanellope stared at Candlehead, wondering if she needed to go to the hospital. She looked like she saw an alien.

Slowly turning, Vanellope and Taffyta spun their stools. Just below them, a character in a white jumpsuit with red stripes was staring up at them with what looked to Taffyta like feigned innocence.

"Turbo..." Vanellope mumbled under her breath. No, this was impossible, he couldn't be alive...!

"Hi!" He waved at them. "Do you know anyone called-"

Taffyta's face hardened, almost as if she was mentally killing him in her head. To Vanellope's surprise, he jumped back a bit, as if he didn't expect such a reaction. In fact, it was as if he didn't recognise them at all.

Taffyta sighed and rolled her eyes, taking the lollipop stick out of her mouth. She briefly looked to the side, noticing that there was a drinking competition that was just about to finish. There was no doubt that the loser would lash out at anyone nearby that was male, no matter how scrawny, considering the competitive look in their eyes that she was all too familiar with. She had seen it in both herself and her friends during a race. "Three...two...one..."

A Mortal Kombat character approached, root beer pouring out of the glass he was holding sideways. He was heavily armed in metal that was painted grey and yellow. She personally felt he very much resembled a ninja in his appearance. His eyes were a pearl white, with no pupils at all and they reminded Vanellope of a ghost possessing a human, which was slightly frightening. "Hey, what you doin', punk?"

Turbo looked up at the man, no sign of fear evident at all. "Oh, thorry, I wath jutht-"

The muscular guy scooped Turbo up by the scruff of his collar. Some people stopped their activity, wondering what all the fuss was about. They looked closer, gasping at the event. Vanellope started to grimace. Yeah, sure, it was Turbo, but something like this reminded her of when she got bullied. Nobody deserved it. "Who you talkin' to?"

"W-well, I wath jutht athking-"

"She's not interested," the Mortal Kombat guy hissed. Taffyta just gave a smug look to Turbo. After all, he was the one that ruined their lives. "Look at me!"

Turbo snapped his head toward the man.

"I see what you're doing with them." The man hissed. The man gestured to something on the floor. "And, well, I'm gonna teach you what it means to mess with me."

Vanellope saw something at the corner of her eye that looked like flowers made out of paper. Why would Turbo carry flowers around with him? Somebody would only carry around flowers like that to give to someone else, and from what Vanellope knew, Turbo was selfish. Nothing seemed to add up. Unless...

Vanellope could see the Mortal Kombat Guy making a dent in the flowers, slowly ripping them up on purpose. What if they were a gift from someone else? Vanellope cringed as another flower was torn up and Turbo's eyes grew misty. She thought back to the time when her kart was smashed and how horrified she was to see her creation destroyed. She remembered her voice pleading desperately for Ralph to stop, that she would have listened and she would have done anything. Yet, he hadn't heard her. He had crushed her dreams in the blink of an eye.

"Aw, is the little Turby Wurby getting upset?"

But he came back. He restored her dreams, her hopes, and helped her enter a race. She had waited fifteen years for that moment where she could drive on the tracks. It had been her dream, destroyed and then restored. She felt so alive. When she had told Ralph she was okay when she was about to die, she really was. All her life she wanted to race, and her life was now complete.

"Who would want you, anyway? You're programmed to be a narcissist. You don't deserve happiness, nor do you have feelings, so stop pretending."

This wasn't Turbo. This was someone else trapped in Turbo's body; she could feel it in her code. That look Turbo gave the man could only remind her of when her kart had been destroyed by someone she trusted.

Getting off and kicking the stool to the side, Vanellope ignored the gasps and stared at the Mortal Kombat Guy straight in the eye. He raised an eyebrow, as if someone challenged him of all people.

"Why don't you try looking at yourself?" Vanellope crossed her arms, built up saliva, and spit it near the Mortal Kombat guy. Gasps filled the room again, with Turbo still holding back tears.

Mortal Kombat Guy just smirked and shook his head. "I thought that you of all people would understand..."

Vanellope straightened her posture, pulling off an authoritative stance naturally programmed into her. "This isn't Turbo! I mean, look at him!"

Two blue and white jumpsuited racers were patting Turbo's shoulders, giving such harsh death glares to Mortal Kombat Guy that it even made him flinch. It was the sort of look that only true friends could give to someone who hurt their pal. Tapper broke out of his frightened trance, moving his mug to the side. He walked up to Mortal Kombat Guy. "I going to have to ask you to leave, sir."

Mortal Kombat Guy glared at Tapper. "What, for ripping up another man's junk?"

Vanellope saw Turbo twitch slightly at that remark.

"That's a boy you're talking to, not a man." Tapper shook his head.

When Mortal Kombat Guy didn't move, only giving Tapper a challenging look, Vanellope nudged at him as hard as she could.

"He wants you to leave, so leave!" Vanellope yelled at him.

"Shut up," Mortal Kombat Guy growled, though Vanellope didn't flinch at all.

"Yeah, right." Vanellope rolled her eyes. "Like you're gonna hurt me."

"Why, you..."

Mortal Kombat Guy swung his fist at Vanellope. She closed her eyes and enveloped herself in a blue glow, bits of code separating as she teleported to another table. Mortal Kombat Guy punched a glass instead.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" Vanellope taunted, sticking her tongue out. She almost didn't notice the next aimless punch. "Uh-oh."

She teleported several times to numerous places, confusing Mortal Kombat Guy and bewildering everyone else - even Turbo. "Can't catch me!"

He swung again.

"Try again!"

Another swing.

"Oops, you're too slow!"

Eventually, sweat started to run down Mortal Kombat Guy's face as he panted for breath. Vanellope saw Turbo gawk at her with the corner of her eye. Yep, he definitely hadn't seen her glitch before.

Vanellope held Candlehead and Taffyta's hands before gesturing the twins and Turbo to follow suit. "Hold on!"

Though they didn't understand the situation, Turbo and the twins held on to Vanellope's shoulder. She closed her eyes, feeling electrifying energy and her code separating.

When they all opened their eyes again, they were back at the entrance to the tunnel with Mortal Kombat Guy running toward them. It appeared that he recovered from his short-lived rest.

"Quick, get to the train!" Vanellope gestured. They didn't question it, figuring that they'd rather not suffer Mortal Kombat Guy's wrath. Running down the tunnel, they saw the familiar blue train arrive just in time.

"Hop on!" Vanellope ordered, and everyone obeyed. When the train conductor saw the muscular man thunder toward them, he did not hesitate to get the train moving. The twins stuck their tongues out at Mortal Kombat Guy as he shook a fist in the air at the edge of the track.

"That wath clothe..." Turbo sighed, sitting next to Vanellope. He was still upset about the lilies. He regarded her curiously, wondering who she was and why she wanted to help him. After all, he didn't see anyone else stand up for him. "What'th your name?"

Vanellope turned from where Mortal Kombat Guy was and looked directly at Turbo. "Well..." She smirked, stretching her arms out in a dramatic way, "...my name is President Vanellope von Schweetz! Nice to meet you!"