I do not own anything in this story! If it looks familiar, it's probably not mine... And sorry if something in my story looks like something in yours!

It was a normal evening for the residents at Litwak's FamilyFunCenter and Arcade. The children were gone for the day, Litwak himself had locked up, and the "all clear" was sounded. With the building emptied, who are the residents? Why, the videogame characters themselves! Every evening, when no one was around to watch them, they stopped their work and lived their lives, much like an actor or actress shedding a stage persona. Game characters everywhere, after respawning and/or picking themselves up, disappeared from their home consoles to reappear in others.

One character in particular was in the process of picking himself up and out of the mud, just having been thrown off the roof of a huge apartment building. Wreck-It Ralph stood up, brushed himself off, and glanced at the hero watching him from the top. He smiled and cupped his hands over his mouth to be heard. "Nice job today, Felix!" he shouted. Fix-It Felix, Jr. gave him a thumbs-up and started climbing down the fire escape. "You did pretty good yourself, Ralph! You definitely gave that last kid a run for his quarter!" The giant and the repairman stood there for a few seconds, enjoying the feeling of a job well done before helping clear the last little bits of destruction and debris. Both men had somewhere to be so were eager to get the job done. The other tenants of the apartment came out and gathered around them.

"Nice job, Felix!"

"Stupendous!"

"Ten kids got all the way through today, huh? That's impressive!"

"Those were some good players!"

"Great wrecking, Ralph!"

Ralph blinked at the praise, still not quite used to being talked to, let alone getting positive feedback. He smiled and thanked the Nicelander, turning to leave and waving at the characters from Q*Bert in East Niceland. Felix hopped along after him. "Hold up, there! Don't leave without me! Excuse me, everyone. Gotta go pick up my dynamite gal!" Ralph rolled his eyes good naturedly, plunking himself down in the way-too-tiny cart of the train that would take them to Game Central Station. Something was tickling his throat, so he coughed to clear it.

They sat in silence, except for the occasional cough from Ralph, for a few minutes as they went through the tunnel. Felix, being a very bubbly and social character, could only stand so much silence so he turned around and started talking to Ralph. "Got any fun plans with Vanellope?"

"Nothin' too special, I suppose. She told me about this field of jello that you can bounce on, so she wants to check that out after the roster race. Too bad you guys can't make it today!" Felix sighed, a silly grin on his face. "We're sorry we're not coming! Tell her that we'll be there tomorrow, but its date night tonight. Tammy's never had a burger from Burger Time, so we're going to go there." Ralph laughed. "The first time I took Vanellope there she was so stunned to find out that they don't serve any candy! It was kinda funny watching her try to cram a burger as big as her head in 'er mouth." Felix laughed at the mental image that conjured.

The little train came to a stop as they arrived at the station. The handyman was able to jump right out, but poor Ralph had to pry himself up and out. With a groan, he was finally free and the friends walked out of the terminal, stopping when a buzz sounded and a small man appeared before them. It was Surge Protector and they got pulled aside for a random security check.

"Names, please."

"Fix-It Felix, Jr."

Ralph stood there in silence for a second, mentally weighing his options. He really needed to get going so he decided to cooperate. "Wreck-It Ralph. We're both coming from Fix-It Felix, Jr. He's going to Burger Time and I'm going to Sugar Rush. The only thing I want to declare is that I'm late. You got anything, Felix?" The little man shook his head. Surge nodded and let them pass. They moved on and Ralph coughed yet again.

Felix looked at his companion with concern. "You alright there, brother? Sounds like you're coming down with something." Ralph waved him off. "I'm fine. There's something tickling my throat and it won't go away. I must have inhaled a lotta brick dust." Felix looked at him doubtfully, but he knew of Ralph's stubbornness so there was nothing he could do. "If you say so…" The little hero saw his wife waiting for him outside Burger Time, so with a final tip of his hat he hopped away. Ralph waved good-bye and lumbered down the establishment.

After a few steps, he stopped; a puzzled look on his face. "Where was I going…?" He glanced around at the game portals and spotted Sugar Rush. "Oh right! Gotta go watch the squirt race! Can't believe I forgot that…" The wrecker turned his head and coughed into his fist. "Man, maybe Felix is right and I'm coming down with something. Hope this goes away soon." He shrugged his shoulders and entered Sugar Rush to cheer on his best friend.

Vanellope Von Schweetz was currently in 3rd place in the home stretch, aiming for a power up. "Gimme something good, please! I gotta knock Taffyta and Rancis out!" She drove through the block and was bestowed a defensive weapon. "Syrup Slick?! Really?!" she screeched. "I can't do anything with this!" Sighing and shifting into a higher gear, she tried to catch up. With one turn to go, she let the syrup go to keep anyone else from catching up to her.

She crossed the finish line a second or two behind Rancis, unable to reach the other two racers. Taffyta walked over to the pint-sized president with a huge grin on her face. "Nice racing! It's been a while since I've won! Not that I'm complaining, but why didn't you glitch ahead of us? You don't seem to have a problem with doing that during game play hours." Vanellope grinned back. "It's not life or death if I'm on the roster anymore so I promised myself that I wouldn't glitch in a roster race. It's not your guys' fault that you don't have superpowers, so I'm just trying to make it fairer!" Taffyta nodded. "That makes sense. And thanks." She gave Vanellope a lollipop and the girls chatted about the day's races.

"Hey, Kid! Nice job today!"

They turned to see Ralph coming down the path. He held out a fist for a top shelf, and his little buddy complied. She glitched onto his shoulder and started talking animatedly. "Did you see me out there, Ralphie? Wasn't I great? I woulda came in 1st if Little-Miss-Tootsie-Pop here hadn't hit me with five freakin' rounds of sweet-seekers and ice cream cannons!" Taffyta just laughed, "You shoulda stayed out of my way, then, 'Nilla Waif!"

The wrecker rolled his eyes at the banter between the girls and turned to address the girl in pink. "You did great today too, um… uh… Oh shoot! I forgot your name, kid. Sorry!" Taffyta smiled and waved it off. "It's no problem! I'm Taffyta, Mr. Wreck-It. And thanks!" She looked up at Vanellope. "I've gotta go, so I'll see you later! Stay sweet!" As she drove away, Vanellope looked at her giant friend with a skeptical look on her face. "You okay there, Stinkbrain? You've made it a point to learn all the racers' names and Taffyta's was the first one you got down! What's the deal, Chumbo?" Ralph shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I just had a brain-fart, that's all, Boogerface." The girl snickered. "So I guess you really are a Stinkbrain!"

"Whatever. If you want to wonder about someone, what's up with her? I mean, 'Mr. Wreck-It?' Really?" It was Vanellope's turn to shrug. "Taffyta's gotten more polite since the Turbo Incident, and besides! You scare the caramel sauce outta her! C'mon! I wanna see how high I can jump in that jello field!" They climbed in (on in Ralph's case) Vanellope's kart and drove off.

A/N

This story is set after the movie, but how long after is up to you! I tried to be as ambiguous as I could.

This will be a RalphxOlder!Vanellope story, so be warned...