CHAPTER 1

The Last Coin

All the racers were lined up on the track and all the fans were cheering from the bleachers. They were all ready to begin their special Christmas Eve Roster Race! Up on the balcony stood Ralph and Sour Bill. "Ladies and gentleman…" Sour Bill said in his usual tone, "Please welcome our rightful ruler… President Vanellope Von Schweets." Vanellope jumped out from behind the curtains and everyone cheered and clapped. She blew kisses to her adoring fans and then tried to quiet everyone down.

"Welcome to a special Christmas Eve Roster Race!" Vanellope said to the crowd. "As you can see, I have my very best friend, Wreck-It Ralph, here to cheer me on. So there's no doubt in my mind that I'll win! But that doesn't mean the other racers shouldn't at least try!" A flurry of laughter came from the crowd of cute little candy people. Vanellope giggled a little herself and then continued with her speech. "We've all got our gold coins? We all know how this works? Let's go! Now being the kind ruler that I am, I'll go last. I'll have to give you guys some glimmer of hope, right?" Vanellope always enjoyed joking around with other racers, but they knew not to take her too seriously.

Taffyta Muttonfudge stepped up and tossed her gold coin onto the catapult. The coin went into the big trophy on top and she was added to the racer line-up. Then came Candlehead, Rancis, Jubileena, Minty, and the rest. Finally it was Vanellope's turn. Since she was farther away from the catapult, she had to aim very carefully. She positioned herself and instinctively stuck her tongue out, preparing for the toss.

Ralph looked at her and then the catapult and then the coin. He looked back and forth at these things until he stepped over to Vanellope. "Try a little to the left," he said while gesturing his hands which way to move.

"The left?" asked Vanellope. "Does it look off? Looks fine to me."

"And make sure you don't swing your arm up in the air too much," Ralph added. "And swing it really hard!" Vanellope shrugged. She wasn't sure about Ralph's instruction, but figuring he saw something she didn't. So she made the adjustments. She swung her arms up in the air and the gold coin went flying. It landed on the base of the catapult only to quickly bounce off and go rolling into the racetrack. Vanellope smacked the side of the balcony in frustration. Suddenly, the very late Crumbelina drove up with such force, she ran right over Vanellope's coin, bending it. Vanellope held her head in a frustrated shock.

"No! No! No!" Vanellope shouted. "The code will never recognize it now! And that was my last coin!" Her shoulders dropped as she looked back at Ralph with a sourly angry expression.

"Look, Vanellope, I'm sorry!" Ralph immediately said to her. "It really did look off to me! I thought I… I was just trying to help you!"

"Yeah, well, thanks a lot!" she barked at him. "It'll take me forever to find another one of those coins." She crossed her arms and looked away from him. She sighed and went back to talking to the crowd. "Sorry everyone! I guess I won't be racing…"

"Aaaww…" the crowed sighed in disappointment.

"Anyway, let the Roster Race commence!" shouted Vanellope, trying to sound at least a bit enthusiastic for her adoring public. She turned back to the very guilty feeling Ralph and shot him a bitter look before walking to the ladder to get down from the balcony.

"I'm sorry…" Ralph muttered. Sour Bill looked up at him and gave a grumpy sounding sigh before following Vanellope down the ladder. Ralph sat up in the balcony, hidden away for a while.

After the race started, Ralph climbed down and walked onto the racetrack. He picked up Vanellope's bent coin and tried to bend it back to the way it was so maybe it could be useable again. This, however, didn't work, as he just ended up snapping in half. He groaned in aggravation, cursing his own strength. Ralph then had a thought. He was only good at breaking things, but he did know a certain repairman who could fix that coin up in no time.

Ralph headed out of Sugar Rush, hoping to get back to his game as soon as possible. But of course, Surge Protector just had to stop him. Ralph quickly stuffed the broken bits of coin in his pocket. "Name?" the Surge Protector asked.

Ralph rolled his eyes and said, "Tron!" The Surge Protector gave an annoyed grunt. "Wreck-It Ralph!" Ralph shouted at him. "Look, could you hurry this up! I have something I need to get done!"

"Ever think about doing your holiday shopping before Christmas Eve?" the Surge Protector said. Ralph sarcastically laughed. "Where are you coming from?"

"Sugar Rush, what do you think?!" Ralph said, getting extremely impatient.

"Where you headed?"

"Fix-It Felix, Jr."

"Proceed…"

Ralph was finally able to get back to the Fix-It Felix, Jr. game. He remembered there was going to be a Christmas party going on up in the penthouse. In the mood he was in, he wasn't sure he was up for it. But he knew no one had shown up yet since the part wasn't for another three hours. Ralph went up to the penthouse and let himself in.

Felix and Sgt. Calhoun were decorating. Lining the walls and doorways with holly and tinsel and adding decorations to the Christmas tree. Mary was practicing Christmas songs on the piano while Gene and Deanna prepared food for the guests. Felix was wearing a Santa hat, as was Calhoun (Felix made her wear it). Ralph looked around, but even all the festive lights and tinsel couldn't brighten his mood. "Hey, Felix," said Ralph.

Felix turned his head to Ralph. He smiled and said, "Hey, brother! Merry Christmas Eve!"

"Yeah, yeah, Merry Christmas Eve…" Ralph repeated. "How you doing, Sarge?"

"Pretty good!" Calhoun said, unusually happy for her. No doubt from all the holiday cheer, not to mention spending her first Christmas with her dear Felix. "Except Felix is making me wear this stupid hat."

"Aw, come on, Tammy!" Felix said. "You look cute in it!"

"Oh, that's even worse!" Calhoun joked. She turned back to Ralph. "So, is the Roster Race over already? Did Von Schweets win?"

"Um, yeah!" Ralph lied, not wanting explain anything. "Hey, Felix…"

"Yes, Ralph?" asked Felix as he climbed up a stepladder to hang a final piece of holly around the window.

"I, um, accidentally broke Vanellope's present… Could you fix it for me?"

"I will! Just before the party though. We still have lots to do!" Felix hopped down from the ladder and scampered over to Calhoun. "Milady, would you please hang this very special decoration up?" Calhoun took the decoration from him and got a good look at it. She smiled down at her beaming husband and hung the decoration on the ceiling.

"Mistletoe, huh?" Ralph commented upon seeing what was indeed mistletoe hung in front of the Christmas tree.

"Yup!" said Felix, who had a minor case of the honey glow. "I'm hoping to be caught under it with someone special tonight!" Calhoun laughed and rolled her eyes.

"As if I need it," she said. She leaned down and pulled Felix's face up to hers and engaged him in a kiss. After half a minute, she finally let her enamored husband go.

"Golly, I love you!" Felix couldn't help but to say to Calhoun in a rush of emotion.

"I know," Calhoun bluntly, but happily replied. "Now go decorate the little bar in the corner." Felix nodded and grabbed some more decorations. He scurried off to the mini bar in the corner to decorate. Calhoun stared at him and lovingly sighed with an uncharacteristic smile across her face.

"Hey, Sarge, can I ask you something?" Ralph quietly said to Calhoun as he approached her.

"Oh, sure," she replied.

"Now this is just out of curiosity, keep in mind. …What do you see in Felix? Why did you marry him? Just for my own information."

Without even having to think about it, Calhoun simply responded, "He makes me smile." Ralph thought about it. The more he thought, the more it made sense. Ralph couldn't think of a thing aside from Felix that made Calhoun genuinely happy. Anyone who could melt the heart of a broken war veteran like her had to be special. Nothing else in the world made Calhoun as carefree and happy as Felix. He was the one person able to teach her to love again after having the most tragic backstory imaginable programmed into her.

Just then, the Nicelander, Roy came in. "Felix!" he said. "Sonic wants to know when the party starts. He and his friends said he might be late because he promised to do something with Amy Rose."

"Well, it's not for three hours yet," Felix replied. "You can tell him that."

"You'd think he'd make time," said Calhoun. "You said you hold this party ever year, right sweetums?"

"That's right, but it I don't blame him," said Felix.

"Well, I do!" Ralph cut in. The frustration and guilt from breaking Vanellope's coin was beginning to get to him. "I mean, he knows you hold this party every year, he should've known the date, the time!" The others were perplexed by Ralph's sudden mood swing. He seemed so stressed out, but none of them knew why.

"Ralph…it's not a big deal," Felix assured him.

"I don't care!" Ralph snapped. "Mary, can you stop with the piano?!" He shouted at Mary, who was still practicing for the party. She instantly stopped and turned around to Ralph, who looked as enraged as he did during game-play. "Why can't anything just work out!? Is that so much to ask? Can't Sonic and Amy just put off their little date or whatever and come to what they promised to come to? Didn't this come first?! Didn't we plan this like a month ago? Why do they have to go and pull something like this! …And you can tell Sonic that too!"

Everyone was silently in shock. Ralph then realized what he just said and the look of anger melted into one of regret. He looked as if he were about to say something else, but instead he quickly ran out the door, regretting every word. He went down outside in front of the building. Q*Bert saw him and hopped up.

" #^&!?" Q*Bert asked him, very concerned. He had never seen Ralph looking so guilty. Now, of course Ralph didn't speak Q*Bertese, but he had picked enough up to know that Q*Bert wanted to know what was wrong with him or what happened.

"Q*Bert…" Ralph started. "I…I don't know what to do. I broke Vanellope's last coin and now I'm sure Felix, Sgt. Calhoun, and the Nicelanders all hate me." Q*Bert looked at Ralph with sorrowful eyes. "Look, Q*Bert, if you see Felix or Calhoun or any of the Nicelanders…tell em' I'm sorry. Okay?" Q*Bert nodded. "Thanks, buddy. …I think I need to go to Tapper's for awhile."

Q*Bert sadly watched his friend dismally walked off to the trolley and left the game. Ralph slowly and sadly made his way to Tapper's to drown his sorrows.