Going Turbo

Chapter Eight

Surge Protector was infuriated. He had never in his years of existence seen anyone game-jump during opening hours and certainly not interfere with the gameplay in such a manner to cause unplugging. He stood at the entrance of TurboTime with a sour look on his face. He had heard the news that it was going to get unplugged as well and he was not about to let Turbo loose in his station for the duration of his homeless life, no-siree-Bob!

The balding blue hologram saw someone coming out of the portal and heading his way. He recognized that it was one of the twins, but couldn't tell which one. He was carrying a small bag over his shoulder, possibly containing belongings. Most carried what they needed upon news that they were going to be without a home.

"Son, what the Sam Hill is going on?" he asked as the purple racer stepped over into the station. "Which one are you anyway?"

"Uh...Ted," the racer replied hoarsely, making sure to hide his face in the shadows. "It was so...I don't know what happened! Turbo just went looney. Got so jealous of that new racing game that he wanted to take over it. Then he came back and...and...killed Teddy!"

Ted let out a sniffling cry and wiped his nose. "I...I tried to stop him but he just kept beating on him! He was a raving lunatic! I finally hit him in the back of his head to knock him out...I had to do it! He was going to kill me too!"

Surge Protector frowned and patted the boy on the back. "It's fine now. If he wakes up and tries to escape into the station before the game gets unplugged, I'll put a stop to it. He's not going to be around one way or another."

Ted smiled a little bit and rubbed his eyes. "Th-thank you. If you'll excuse me, I just want to be alone now."

The security man nodded in understanding and let him pass. "Good luck, Ted. I'm sorry it had to end this way."

"Yeah, me too. And thanks again."

Turbo grinned as he walked away from the Surge Protector. It was a good thing he looked enough like the twins to pass. He had forced Ted to hand over his uniform right before killing both him and his brother. He secretly hated that he'd had to kill Ted, as he had never really done him any wrong. But then, he had never really done him any right either.

Turbo patted his duffel bag that he had stolen off Ted. Inside contained his own red-and-white uniform and helmet along with a few food items and water bottles. Ted had really planned on leaving, hadn't he? Too bad he didn't have any beer bottles in there.

He heard a loud roaring sound and then a blip! as TurboTime ceased to exist. His old life really was gone now. The house, the cars, the parties, everything. Sadness washed over him but he forced it away. He had to try not to think too much about the way it used to be. And right now he needed to figure out what to do next. Sooner or later someone would realize that he wasn't Ted, people weren't stupid. He might be able to fool them for a few days but not long.

He covertly pulled out the Tapper's napkin Teddy gave him and glanced at the code on it. If Teddy was telling the truth, he could easily sneak his way into another racing game and take over as a character there. Maybe even rule the place. He was the best after all. But that might take a while, who knew when Litwak would get another one in?

He glanced around at the game titles around him and his eyes landed on one particular game at the very end of the station. He grimaced in disgust. He hated that stupid game, it just looked so pointless to him even if the younger gamers did love it. The only thing good thing about it was no one ever went inside to visit it and the game's own character never came out. Turbo could easily play around with the Code Room there and see what all he could actually tamper with. Get some practice in. And no one would even notice. Everyone would soon think he was dead.

And that's just how he wanted it.

But he would be back someday. Maybe not as "Turbo", but he would be back.

And he would be the best, just like he always had been...and always would be.

EPILOGUE

Of course Rosie wasn't dead. She hadn't even been anywhere near RoadBlasters or any other game but her own when Turbo "went Turbo", as the incident came known to be called. No, she had been doing warm-up exercises with Summer and Raven inside their gym in their home game Slam Dunk!. She didn't know a thing about what Turbo had been up to until she walked out after-hours and heard the news.

Wreck-It Ralph was relating what he had seen during his own gameplay earlier that day, about seeing Turbo enter RoadBlasters while some kids were playing it. Surge Protector verified this, saying that both games became unplugged...and that Turbo died in his own game. He just snapped and went on a killing spree, they all said.

Everyone who knew Rosie was asking if he had maybe talked about doing this unspeakable act in the days prior. If he had planned it out and if he had, why didn't she say anything. She didn't comment. She didn't have a comment.

The redheaded cheerleader who used to be so plucky and friendly became a sad face sitting alone at Tapper's, trying to drown herself with root beer. Ol' Tapper pitied her enough to break his own "no sale to minors" rule and slip a little of the real stuff in her drink every now and then just so she'd get tired and go home to bed.

Summer and Raven started being nicer to her, hanging out with her more than they did before. She supposed she appreciated having the company but that didn't stop the nagging thoughts in her head.

She was a cheerleader, damn it! Her job was to make people happy, feel good about themselves, cheer them up when they're down, support them with their goals, get them pumped up about the things to come, make you want to be alive. And she failed. She failed. What kind of girlfriend had she been? She tried to help him but she just couldn't. Nothing she had done could convince him that it was all going to be okay. And now he was gone forever.

Okay, so she knew it wasn't her fault that he struck out to sabotage two games in one sweeping motion. That she had no control over. If only she hadn't left that day when he screamed at her to leave. She should've put her foot down and forced some reason into him. She had gotten so scared (such a big baby! she scolded herself) though and it hurt her to know that she couldn't rewind that moment back and change things.

Years went by. Sure she dated a few other guys but her heart just wasn't in it. Things never lasted long. It didn't help that someone would make snide comments such as "Watch it, everyone that dates her ends up going psycho!", or worse "She won't like you, fella, she only dates murderers.".

That last one really hurt. She supposed that even after all the bad Turbo had done and all the hurtful things that had come with it, she was still in love with her "champ". You can't change how you feel. You can't forget how you felt about someone no matter how much time had past.

"Going Turbo" became the euphenism for abandoning your game and entering another one. It became a warning to everyone of what could happen if jealousy and self-serving attitudes got the better of you. Turbo had gone down in history as a infamous supervillain instead of the charismatic top racer that he had been designed to be. Rosie wondered what he would have thought about this. Then she remembered he couldn't think anything about anything anymore and start crying again.

Slam Dunk! got unplugged in 1992 due to lack of people playing. Summer and Raven had started dating Ken and Ryu, respectively, from Street Fighter II. They had replaced the originals when Street Fighter was sent packing. Naturally, the girls wanted to live over there with their boyfriends when they all became homeless and they insisted Rosie come with them to keep her out of the station begging for food. She supposed it was fine there. Chun Li taught her a few defense moves that would go well with her already present gymnastic abilities. It was a fun distraction but she still felt lonely. Strange way to feel when you're surrounded by people.

A new racing game finally came to the arcade in 1997. It was called Sugar Rush. Everyone thought it was adorable in a sickeningly sweet way. Who couldn't love a collection of kids racing each other through a series of candy-themed tracks?

Just the idea of racing made Rosie sick. It brought back too many memories, both good and bad. She'd start drinking herself away with the beer that the Street Fighter gang would bring back from Tapper's. She thought about just ending it all a few times just to put a stop to all the thoughts in her head, but then she'd tell herself that was a childish thing to do.

So she decided to leave her little home she shared with Summer and Raven. She didn't tell anyone where she was going, she just went. The only one that knew where she had gone was Surge Protector and the residents of the game she had entered. She knew they wouldn't tell anyone where she was because they pretty much kept to themselves also. Maybe she would be okay if she was out of society for a while.

"A while" turned into fifteen years. That's how long it took for society to come crashing back into her life.

The End...for now...

Yep, I ended with a sequel hook. Shame on me! I do have a sequel in the works that will double as a sequel to the movie itself. It will have plenty of Ralph, Felix, Vanellope and Calhoun in it. Oh and Turbo too ;-) Not sure when it will get posted but I am working on it I promise! It will be more along the lines of action/adventure with drama thrown in and a little more humor. If anyone wants, I'll send a pm when I get it up and going. Thanks everyone for reading and hopefully you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it.