Prologue: The Upgrade

Sugar Rush, a racing game located inside an average arcade, average at least to the untrained eye. Behind the arcade screens, entire lives were lived once their daily gaming jobs were complete. Life had never been better for any and all characters who lived in the arcade. Life had really never been better for one President Vanellope von Schweetz. After her life was fixed and almost stolen away forever, racing became her life. Ruling over her virtual kingdom was just as important, if not incredibly boring.

Vanellope's new friends from various other arcade games-such as Ralph from the game Fix-It Felix, Jr. kept things interesting. Life was never as sweet as it was in that particular arcade, except when one of the machines was turned off for an upgrade. It wasn't a terrifying experience but it wasn't far off. Hanging around in a dark, lifeless kingdom while the electricity was entirely off just seemed wrong.

The present state of her kingdom reminded the president of her old days when she hid away in a dark volcano from the others. It had been the longest two days of her virtual life while she and her other racers patiently waited for the upgrade to be completed. To make matters worse, they had no idea what the upgrade would do.

"This is so boring!" one of her fellow racers screamed. All of them were forced to hang around the finish line next to their respective cars. "Why do need to hang around here again?"

The president/ princess/ brat sighed. "Because, Candlehead, if the owner of the arcade turns us on and we aren't in our cars, ready to race, he'll assume we are broken, and that would be really, really bad!"

"Oh. This still stinks!"

"Yep, still, an upgrade would be cool. I hope it has new characters!" At the mention of this, all of the racers crowded around the president and started demanding to know what she knew. "I told you all, I don't know squat! All I know is the owner got an upgrade shipped in and is installing it now, that's all!"

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww," they all said in union.

Vanellope almost felt like sulking. Moments like this made her wish she could be with her real friends. With the machine unplugged, it was impossible to reach Game Central Station, which was the one and only hub for the arcade for other game characters to mingle. It was insanely boring to simply stand around for two days talking with one another. She hated casual conversations, even with her own subjects. She did, however, enjoy the assumptions that her fellow racers were making on the upgrade.

Vanellope felt excited but mostly unnerved. Upgrades could do strange things to a game's code. It never changed personalities, but it could still mess up their game forever. If the game was unplugged and sold, that would be game over for her deep-rooted friendship with the other game characters. Or, worse, they could also be unplugged forever. It didn't mean death, but it was close.

"It's the waiting around that kills me," Vanellope said to no one in particular, but the girls heard her anyway. They assumed she meant boredom. However, she really feared their game's slow and painful termination from the arcade.

"I hope my car doesn't get upgraded," another girl remarked.

"They seem fine, Minty," Vanellope dismissed.

"Whatever."

As far as stimulating conversations went, phrases like "whatever" were as far as the president got in her game. If it wasn't for her other friend Ralph, she would have probably gone insane and abandoned her game long ago. It wasn't that she hated driving-far from it-but her subjects were spoiled and rotten as they could be. They weren't evil, at least not anymore. Tampering with the game's code and destroying memories, as it turned out, is the recipe for evil. Turbo the evil king was long gone. When the game was restored, her fellow racers changed back to normal, but they were still spoiled.

Several hours into that day, after they got tired of telling stories and complaining, a light turned on. And then another and another. The entire race track lit up as their car engines turned on without warning.

"Quick, everyone in your cars!" Vanellope ordered. Her subjects obeyed and struck a pose. From the outside, the owner of the arcade smiled and double-checked to make sure the machine was working properly.

"Let's see here…Okay, I can select racers, and now I can select tracks! Perfect! The upgrade worked!" The owner smiled and left the machine to its business. It was already closing time, so he had no choice but to close up the arcade, not bothering to turn the machines off before he left.

All of the racers sighed in relief. They then looked around and gasped. "Look! New tracks! Awesome!"

The president looked around and, sure enough, in addition to the standard ice-cream-and-candy-themed track they had gotten used to, new ones had appeared along with new areas of her kingdom. They saw massive new tracks, each with their own themes: "sour candy track," "liquorish track," and a few others had been installed. Still, Vanellope felt she should inquire further. "Anyone see any new racers?"

Her subjects all looked around; they knew that if any new code was added with a new racer, they would appear right before them.

"I don't see anyone."

"Nope!"

"Our cars seem the same too, what a jip!"

The president rolled her eyes and sighed in relief. "Alright, racers of my kingdom, take a break. The arcade will be open on Monday, so we have a few days." She couldn't be happier to be rid of the racers so she could visit her real friends. She darted for the exit of their game almost faster than her car could carry her. Ignoring the protests of her sour assistant, she left and took the tram for Game Central Station.

"Hmm, where's the power surge protector? Weird…" It was weird indeed; he was always there questioning people going to and from their games. Shrugging it off, Vanellope looked around for the game she wanted. Her racer friends seemed to want Pac Man over anything else. She couldn't blame them for that. She wanted Tappers, the root beer game that her friends met at every weekend.

She located Tappers and, once again, the surge protector security person was not there to stop or "greet" her. Odd. Shaking away those thoughts, she quickly found her friend sitting at their favorite table.

"There you are, Stink Brain," a rather large game character muttered under his breath. He was the very definition of huge. Even the buttons on his suspenders were large by suspender standards.

"'Sup, Butt Breath?" They giggled as the two other members of their group kept a safe distance from their banter. Both their counterparts knew all too well not to get involved during these moments.

Ralph asked, "What's up with me? What about you? And that upgrade?!"

"Oh Ralph, it was lame…Got some new tracks and that's it," she admitted with just a slight bitterness in her voice.

"That's it? I think me and Felix here would kill for some new levels!" Ralph gestured one of his freakishly long hands over to someone else sitting at the table. He was an odd-looking fellow, fairly normal-looking as far as humans went, which was abnormal for a game character and very out of place. To Vanellope, he seemed like a standard repairman. If standard workers held a magic hammer that could basically fix anything.

"Yeah I know, I know. But, man, I wanted some new racers! At least one would have been awesome! My kingdom gets so boring sometimes!" The president scowled and chugged down the chocolate milk the bartender placed in front of her.

Suddenly, a rather rough-looking lady sitting with them spoke up. "Take it from firsthand experience…new characters in a game are nothing but problems! Before you know it, the new recruits are pissing their pants at the first sign of a Cy-Bug. You're better off without them!"

Felix gave a sheepish smile to the smallest at the table. She just rolled her eyes in response. "We don't have those stupid bugs in our game. I just want a new racer, a new challenge! Calhoun, this stinks worse than Ralph's breath!" They all looked to the biggest at the table, who seemed to be staring off into space.

"Um, Ralph? Aren't you going to make a comeback or something?" Felix's voice echoed through Ralph's ears before he snapped out of his daze.

"Wha? Huh?" Before he knew what was happening, Ralph was smacked in the head by a tiny hand belonging to a certain president.

"What's wrong with you? I said your breath stinks! Now you say something, doofus!"

He laughed slightly but sighed. "I guess I'm just kind of out of it guys…and, girls…err, you know what I mean."

Vanellope sat down and tilted her head to the side in honest concern. She felt out of character in this moment, but she never wanted to be outright mean to others. "Um, wanna talk about it?" she offered.

Ralph shrugged. "Been doing the same gig for thirty-two years-"

"This again?!" Calhoun nearly shrieked.

Felix put a hand on her shoulder. "Um, honey bun, maybe we should quiet it down." She rolled her eyes but, oddly enough, listened to him. They all waited for Ralph to continue.

"It's not my game that's bugging me, um, gang. It's all of this!" He gestured to nothing in particular.

"What?" Calhoun asked.

"Being a game character. I'm not bothered by it, but…what happens when someday the arcade shuts down?" The other three groaned at that. Secretly, the youngest was outright petrified of the very idea. If that happened, they knew there was a slim chance that their machines would be plugged back in, but they wouldn't be with each other most likely, or, worse, their machines could be scrapped for parts.

"Um, I try not to think about it, Ralph," Vanellope said bitterly, surprising the others by hanging her head low.

"Aww, c'mon, gang! We're all going to live a long game-filled life! So, let's just make the most of what we've got and give it our all!" Felix cheered. Ralph and Vanellope cheered with him. It was a silly gesture, but it did succeed in raising their spirits somewhat.

"At least someone is giving it their all, cause Miyamoto knows it isn't my new characters!" Calhoun exclaimed.

They all giggled at this and tried their best to remain in high spirits throughout the night. It worked for the most part. Eventually, they all decided to give into the night and return to their respective homes in their games, or, in the Sergeant's case, their "quarters".

Vanellope tried her best to sleep that night, but what Ralph said was still fresh in her mind. Just the very idea of getting unplugged for good seemed a million times worse than living a false reality as a glitched non-playable character. She had hated those days, but it seemed better than dying.

Just outside the castle, a small power surge occurred in one of Sugar Rush's new tracks. It was small enough to go unnoticed, but the results would be realized soon enough.