Chapter 1: Return
"Location: Unknown, Unknown Time"
Vanellope groaned in pain as she felt herself floating, being tugged and pulled in different directions. Opening her eyes, she looked around and saw lines of light wrapping around her, pulling her through what seemed to be some sort of river of light. In the distance, she saw other rivers of light, suspended in the void, as numerous as the stars in the sky.
She remembered her and the other heroes having foughtagainst Avina after invading Umbros by using all four freed Divine Beasts to create a giant Monolith Portal there. She remembered everyone fighting Avina in her throne room, with the battle being extremely gruesome and tiring, more so than even both battles with the Nightmare King. Iniabi had eventually managed to weaken Avina with Shadow Erebus just long enough for her to latch herself onto Avina's back and channel her power into her injuries, with the Shadow Stone, which Reader had given to her just before invading Umbros, in her possession, causing a massive explosion of energy as she was defeated and sealed away. However, that had cost Vanellope too much, as the seal only would activate if she used her body as a source, and she had apologized to everyone, especially Rancis, before fading away. Now, the girl found herself here, floating in the void between time and space. Focusing on the lines of light, she could feel the love, hopes, and dreams of her friends.
"This is... nice. I feel all warm inside." Vanellope whispered.
She twisted her body around to look at all the rivers of light. Focusing hard on them, she could make out some of the events occurring, as faded out images, and feeling the emotions of those in the scenes.
"Are these all the different worlds out there in the multiverse? I can see Reader's universe right over there. And there is Iniabi's original timeline." Vanellope asked.
As she looked at the different parts of the river of light, Vanellope noticed that the flashes she saw were of different points of time, some of which were familiar to her. In one, she recognized herself meeting Ralph for the first time, eventually before regaining her title as a racer and Princess of Sugar Rush, to which she changed to President. In another, she saw herself and the original Sugar Rush team members fighting against Licortwist on her castle's rooftop for the first time. In another image, she noticed Jubileena going through her trip into the bad future with Jubilee. And in another, she noticed the struggles against Avina. However, she also noticed other images that she wasn't familiar with. In one, she saw X, Zero, and Axl, who for some reason looked like he was made entirely out of energy, fighting against strong opposition. In another, she saw Seasar fighting what appeared to be a male and female Octoling at close range, before the three got broken apart and the Inkling seemed to get taken control of by some sort of goopy substance. In another, she saw who she recognized as the Guardians of Light confronting the Seekers of Darkness in the Keyblade Graveyard. And in another, she noticed the Louds in the future seemingly sad about something, with Lacy and Lynn III not being with them, but she couldn't tell why. She then noticed something else that was quite intriguing. In several, whenever the river of light faded, a cluster of lights erupted out of the fading end and impacted the river in a graceful arc earlier on, causing a split. The newly formed split would grow stronger and become the new main path of the river, while the original path withered and faded, becoming a dead end. Other times, the arc became too wide and it impacted other rivers, diverting the path there but still causing the same conclusion.
"Is this how time travel looks like from the outside? Splitting timelines until the ideal one is the dominant one? Maybe if I hitch a ride on one of those arcs, I can find my way back home. I know it might take awhile, but that's better than just waiting out here and doing in this void." Vanellope thought.
Vanellope watched carefully as she studied the arcs of light. For what seemed like an eternity, she watched. Arcs from several of the sibling rivers remained just of her reach, until the closest river finally flung one back. The arc swung close to her and she reached her hand out. Grazing the outermost light of the arc, she was pulled in and found herself careening into darkness
"Location: Litwak's Arcade, The World Of Disney, August 15th 2112"
"Ugh... ow." Vanellope whispered.
The girl shook her head and peeled herself off the floor. She breathed out, sweat beading on her brow, and looked around. She had been laying in a pile of old newspapers and a small amount of junk right outside the wired tunnel to what she recognized as Santa's Sled. She sighed in relief and looked around the small lobby she was in.
"That sure was intense, but at least I'm back. I wonder what has happened in my absence. How long have I been gone for?" Vanellope wondered.
The girl stood up and dusted herself off, before leaving the game portal and heading out into the main area of Game Central Station. It didn't look like it had changed for the most part, since she had last seen it. All the damage from the war against Avina and the attack on the world seemed to have been reversed and repaired. And it seemed like it was a day off for the arcade, so there were no games being played and everyone had free time. However, as she walked down the halls of Game Central Station, Vanellope noticed that no one seemed to notice her. No one gave seemed to give her any greeting. Before, at least one person would come over to say hello and talk to her. She and the other members of Sugar Rush also had a large amount of respect, but now no one seemed to want to interact with her. In fact, most of the characters out in GCS seemed to either be afraid of her or purposefully avoided her. Vanellope knew she had just returned after who knew how long, but she expected at least a welcome back, especially after having sealed Avina away and essentially saving them all. She realized something was wrong and immediately glitched her way over to Sugar Rush's game portal. It seemed to have been restored following Avina's defeat, with the shutter down and the tram car running.
It didn't take long for Vanelloe to arrive in Sugar Rush. Without her kart, she had to use the train to pass through the tunnel. It took her two minutes to do so, and when the train stopped, she hopped out and glitched down to the end of the rainbow bridge. From there, she looked around to see what had changed.
At first, nothing seemed to be wrong. Everything looked the same at first glance. However, as Vanelloe left the range of the rainbow bridge and started walking through the game, she noticed some things different than what she remembered. The cheerful background music, which always played throughout the mainland area of the game, was shut off, which had never happened before. Then, when she reached Sugar Rush, the candy citizens that were out just continued on their way. And like almost all those she saw out in the station, most of her subjects seemed to be afraid of her, or at least seemed to be avoiding her.
"What is going on? It's just like what happened in Game Central Station. Everyone seems to be afraid of me for some reason. It hasn't been like this since the days Turbo ruled here and I was a glitch." Vanellope wondered.
It was then that Vanellope noticed how the game was decorated. She noticed her banner dotted around the land, hanging from the fixtures and posts, just as they had after Turbo's defeat back in 2012, as well as after her and Ralph's journey to the Internet during the second film in 2018. However, instead of her face having her hazel eye color, her eyes were red. She also noticed that instead of her castle being white, it had been repainted mint green, the same color as her hoodie. Vanellope felt more and more lost in her game. Defeating Avina and sealing her away, followed by then returning to Sugar Rush after who knew how long to see it transformed before her eyes, really made her feel confused and like she was in a loop. Vanellope quickly rushed to the castle, where she found the Oreo guards guarding the gate.
"Hey, lemme in." Vanellope ordered.
"You need an appointment with our leader." one of the Oreo guards said.
Vanellope growled.
"But I AM the president!" Vanellope said.
The Oreo guards looked at each other before peering down at the girl. One on the right scratched his head.
"Um, didn't Master Vanellope switch over from being President to having the title "Master"? And how do you look and sound so much like her? Are you a clone character?" the Oreo guard asked.
Vanellope became confused.
"Master Vanellope? Clone character?" Vanellope asked.
She sighed and put a hand on her forehead.
"Look, guys, I just got back. I feel like I've just sealed Avina and only been gone for a few minutes, when I can clearly tell I've been gone for much longer. I've never changed my title to Master. I'm still Vanellope von Schweetz. I'm still me. I'm tired, I'm confused, I just want to know what's going on." Vanellope said.
"I see. You must be a clone character. If you're tired, we could have someone help you." one of the Oreo guards said.
Vanellope sighed, tired. She didn't know why her own guards thought she was just some alternate racer, but at least then she could get into her own home. One of the Oreo guards closer to the castle entrance hit the buzzer on the gate and spoke into the microphone.
"Hello, we have a guest for Master Vanellope." the Oreo guard announced.
There was silence on the other end, before a voice that Vanellope recognized as Sour Bill spoke.
"The Master is busy, but she can come in." Sour Bill announced.
The Oreo guards nodded to each other and opened the gates up.
Reviews (I know this is just the first chapter and reviews should wait until the second one, but I feel as it's important to reply back to a certain review now in order to clear up some things):
Aiymann Eedyot: I suppose it's sort of like Chapter 2 (or technically Chapter 1, due to the true story being started during it) of their story, but like I mentioned in the story description, it was inspired off of it. I mean no intention of plagiarizing the story, so I did my best to make it seem different from their own. Chapter 2 is when things will become much more different, as this story focuses on something entirely different from their own story, though Chapter 2 will wait until WiR 2 releases in three days. As for who Avina is, she is the main antagonist of my story Sugar Rush Continuing Adventures: Armageddon, which Vanellope's Return is a sequel to. I hope this answers all your questions, but feel free to let me know if you have anymore "concerns".
