Chapter 1: A Talk With A Friend

The Cybugs were destroyed, Turbo was gone, Sugar Rush was back to normal, and everyone was happy. Vanellope Von Schweetz was back in place as the Disney princ- (ahem) PRESIDENT of Sugar Rush. She was living her dream as an incredible racer, and the arcade gamers loved her for it. Especially because of her unique-teleporting-glitchy-Midna powers! Most importantly, she had new friends in Wreck-It-Ralph, and (to a lesser extent) Fix-It Felix Jr. and Seargent Tamora Jean Calhoun, all of which she considered to be her surrogate family.

Vanellope was truly happy for the first time in years. Once Litwak's arcade closed, Vanellope left Sugar Rush to go visit Ralph.

"I wonder what Ralph's game is like?" she said to herself as she entered Game Central Station. Ralph had promised her a tour of his game once the arcade closed. Though she was a bit miffed when Ralph told her that Niceland wasn't made of candy, she still wanted to visit. Vanellope boarded the train to the game in question, Fix-It Felix Jr. She liked the train. She made train-like sound effects.

"Chugga chugga, choo choo!" she shouted. This gained curious glances from other game characters riding the train, which urged Vanellope to calm down. Once she arrived in the game, Vanellope gasped at the scenery.

"Wow! Everything is so…square!" she remarked towards the pixelated design of the classic 8-bit game. She immediately took notice of a smoothly running blue river, a huge pile of bricks, and a brightly lit building in the center of the landscape.

"Hey, kid!" a loud voice boomed from nearby. Vanellope looked to see Ralph walking towards her. He was accompanied by Felix and Calhoun.

"Ralph!" she called back, and ran over to hug him.

"Good to see you, Vanellope", said the giant as he returned the hug.
"Happy to see you too, buddy! Hi, Uncle Felix!" Vanellope greeted Felix with a hug also.
"Hello, young lady!" Felix replied. "How are things in Sugar Rush?"
Vanellope jumped up and down. "GREAT! I'm SUPER popular with the gamers, and I won 46 races today! That's gotta be a new record."
Felix applauded. "Good job, Miss President", he said with praise.

Vanellope then hopped in front of Calhoun and stood at attention, giving a salute. "President Vanellope reporting for duty, Commander!" she said, and giggled at the word 'duty'. Calhoun cracked a small smile and returned the salute.
"At ease, soldier," the sergeant replied. "Glad to see things are ship shape with you."

"So, ya ready for a tour of the place, kid?" asked Ralph, putting Vanellope on his shoulders.
"Of course! Onward, my royal chump!" replied the energetic girl. The two friends walked away, leaving Calhoun and Felix standing on the platform.

"So, do you want to get pie?" Felix asked his tall wife. She shrugged.
"Sure, I'll try anything once", she replied. "Let's get pie".
They then went to go get pie.

Ralph proceeded to show Vanellope around the compact game. "This is the dump".
"What a dump", Vanellope retorted jokingly. Ralph rolled his eyes.

Ralph then brought her to the group of apartments the cast of Q-Bert's game now lived in.
"This is the apartment complex, and this is Q-Bert", Ralph said, directing her to the small orange creature who had walked up.
"Whoa", Vanellope said curiously. "What is he?"
"Well, he's actually a - HEY! Don't LICK him!"
Vanellope was trying to lick Q-Bert, much to his and Ralph's disapproval. Ralph separated the small girl from the small... whatever Q-Bert is. "Okay, let's see something else", Ralph said, slinging Vanellope over his shoulder.
"I'll be back for YOU later!" Vanellope evilly sneered, discomforting Q-Bert even further.

"This is... a tree", said Ralph, showing her the square tree in front of them. Vanellope hopped over and licked it without question. She immediately turned up her face.
"YUCK! This doesn't taste like candy canes! It doesn't taste sweet at all! It tastes like BARF!"
"You mean bark", Ralph said with a chuckle. "I told you, not everything is made of candy." Vanellope wasn't listening. She was still scraping her tongue.

"This is the train station", Ralph stated, forgetting that they had already been there.
"I know, Stinkbrain. We were here already", Vanellope replied.
Ralph ignored the name calling. "I'm sorry, kid. Besides the building, that's all there is to show." said Ralph, now quite crestfallen. "It's a small game, you know."
Vanellope patted Ralph's head and smiled. "Ah, it's alright big fella! I like your game regardless. It's a nice change from what I'm used to. In my game, there's Pink EVERYWHERE", she replied with a shudder. Ralph felt better.

"And here's the building", Ralph said, implying that they had reached the end of the tour.

"Mmmm, Sugar Glass!" mused Vanellope, and she tried to lick the front door's glass windows. Before she could, Ralph grabbed her. "Let's just go inside, okay kid?"

Ralph carried Vanellope up to the penthouse, making sure the sweet little girl didn't put her tongue on anything else. He accidentally broke some stuffs on the way up, but he paid them no mind. He was sure Felix would come through and fix the broken items later.

The Nicelanders were waiting for the duo in the penthouse, along with Felix, Calhoun, Q-Bert, and that Skrillex guy with the cool hair. When Ralph and Vanellope entered the room, they were greeted with a party.

"Surprise!" shouted the Nicelanders and Felix. They all wore party hats and huge smiles. Calhoun merely gave a bored 'toot' on a party favor hanging from her mouth. She wore her party hat more crookedly, and had her arms folded tightly. She did not look pleased. Q-Bert cursed out loud, yet no one minded.

"A party?" questioned Ralph.

"Yes!" chimed Mary. "To celebrate little Vanellope's first visit to her new home-away-from-home!"

Ralph felt silly for asking. The Nicelanders celebrated everything, no matter how cryptic. Be it an anniversary, or Don's paper cut healing.

"By the way", started Don. "Where is Vanellope?"
"What do you mean? She's right he-" Ralph was surprised to see that the candy coated kid in question was no longer standing on his shoulder. After quickly scanning the room, he saw Vanellope. She had a very frightened Q-Bert trapped in a corner, and looked ready to pounce on him. She almost did! Fortunately, Ralph managed to save the orange bipedal midget elephant by catching Vanellope in midair.

"Hey-hey! I told you not to lick the Q-Bert!" Ralph scolded her. "Sorry, Q-Bert".

Q-Bert cursed for realsies this time, yet still no one noticed, besides Calhoun, who chuckled. After that ordeal, Ralph proceeded to introduce Vanellope to the rest of the Nicelanders. She agreed that they were indeed...nice. Though she was slightly annoyed at Mary for coining the pet name 'Lil Lope', mainly because she stood about 6 inches taller than all of the Nicelanders. She still refrained from bringing this up.

Everyone talked and laughed, even while Vanellope kept licking things all throughout. This received disturbed glances from the Nicelanders, and awkward forced smiles from Ralph and Felix. Calhoun merely shrugged, and returned to her pie. She liked getting pie.

Finally, Skrillex played "Fireflies" by his band, Owl City. This prompted everyone to dance. Felix and the Nicelanders did their usual stiff 8-bit dance movements. Ralph did a Michael Jackson styled routine, while cautiously making sure not to step on anyone.

"C'mon, Tamora! Get in on this. Everyone else is dancing", he said to Calhoun, who had finally finished getting pie. She gave him a hard look.

"No thanks, Wreck-It", she replied, turning her gaze towards the dancing Nicelanders. "I don't dance with... small men."
Felix, who had come to stand next to her, looked upset. He was often considered to be a small man. Seeing that she had upset her husband, Tamora gave Felix a pat on the head. "I'm just kidding, sweetums. Maybe we can dance alone later." She gave her husband a playful wink. Felix's innocent smile returned. He clearly did not get the innuendo. Ralph shrugged, and went back to dancing.

Vanellope energetically hopped around with her unorthodox arsenal of moves, glitching as she did so. Everyone watched her intently, including Ralph. He should have watched where he was going though, as he accidentally knocked over a large candle which caused a tablecloth to catch fire!

"Whoops..." he said meekly. The Nicelanders panicked. Skrillex appropriately played "Evacuate The Dance Floor" by Cascada.
A quick-thinking Calhoun of quickness quickly grabbed a large bowl of Nesquik-punch and poured it on the fire, effectively killing it.

Quick.

Everyone calmed down after that, and commended Calhoun for her quick thinking, though she paid them no mind. Felix fixed the table.

"Sorry", Ralph sputtered meekly. "Clumsy me".

"You'd better be sorry, Wreck-It", Calhoun scolded. "I was gonna spike that punch". She muttered that last part so only Ralph and Felix could hear.
"It's a good thing you didn't", Felix whispered. "Otherwise, it would have been useless against the fire."

After all of those shenanigans, Mary brought out her cake. For once, it was not shaped like the apartment building. The cake was big, but looked like a small purple and green race car. Vanellope was delighted. Once the cake was cut, she was offered the first slice, to which she gladly accepted.

"Mmm! This is amazing, Miss Mary!" she said happily. "It's about time I ate something that doesn't taste like bark."
"Oh.. Uh, thank you, dearie. I think..." Mary replied, confused as to how she should take Vanellope's "compliment".

More disturbed glances from the Nicelanders.

More awkward forced smiles from Ralph and Felix.

More snarky chuckling from Calhoun.

More cursing from Q-Bert.

Noticing these disturbed looks, Vanellope apologized and reiterated that she came from a world entirely made from candy.

"Well that explains all if the weird licking.." grumbled Gene.

Q-Bert cursed.

After the party calmed down, Ralph and Vanellope sat on the roof alone, eating leftover cake. Ralph's slice was significantly larger than Vanellope's slice.

"Well shoot, if you set my house on fire, I'd wanna throw you off the roof too!" Vanellope said, joking about Ralph's job as a bad guy. "And to think, you've been falling 11 stories every day for 3 decades. No wonder your brain is all PPTBLLPT"

Ralph laughed at her lighthearted shots at his job. "Yeah, I'm a real Mick Foley", he replied.

Vanellope gave him a confused look. "Huh?"
Ralph only chuckled and said, "That's a reference only the writer and I will understand." He winks at whoever is reading this story. Vanellope rolled her eyes.

"Anywho, it's not that big a deal. I have the mud puddle to cushion my fall..."
Vanellope immediately perked up. "Is it a CHOCOLATE mud puddle?!" she asked, seeming ready to jump off the building herself.
"No! No, it's not", said Ralph, stopping her from going any further. Vanellope blushed with embarrassment, and sat back down.

"But enough about me, ya candy head", said Ralph, ruffling Vanellope's hair. "How are things in Sugar Rush?"
"Fine. Now that I'm the president, I have to organize events, manage races, fix problems, all that stuff" she replied, as if she had rehearsed that answer. "And when I'm not busy with politics, I'm kicking butt on the racetrack.

"Cool. Well, what about the other racers? Ya make any new friends that might replace me?" Ralph asked, half jokingly.

Vanellope...went silent. The subject of the other Sugar Rush racers was still a bit touchy for her. They were 72 hours removed from the fall of Turbo, and the only real interaction between her and the other racers was during the races. Vanellope otherwise kept her distance from them, and rightfully so: they had tortured her for 15 years, and made little effort to properly make up for it. All the thoughts of her many days as a hated glitch came rushing back, and she had to force them away. Sure, she had forgiven them for their heinous actions, but Vanellope didn't feel comfortable calling the racers her "friends". Heck, she had only invited them to Felix and Calhoun's wedding to clear the air, along with any lingering fears of being executed! Vanellope realized she would have to come to terms with the matter at some point, but...not now. She was still hurt. She was still recovering. And she still had a lot to think about. She also still had not answered Ralph's question.

Noticing his friend's obvious conk-out, Ralph waved a giant hand in front of Vanellope's frozen, pale face. "You... you okay there, kid? Did I hit a nerve or something?"

Vanellope suddenly came to. "THEY'RE FINE! They're-... fine."

Ralph looked startled. "Okay..."

Vanellope's face turned serious. "Ralph... can I ask you a question?"

"Uhh, sure kid. Anything." Ralph replied, a hint of worry in his voice.

"How were you so... quick, to warm up to everyone after they were such butt-heads to you all your life?"

Ralph smiled, getting the gist of what his small friend was really getting at. He replied in a somewhat joking manner.
"Well... The same way I came to like you after you took my medal, made me fall in a taffy swamp, and called my neck fat", he said, lightly nudging Vanellope, nearly making her spill her remaining cake slice.

Vanellope frowned and said, "Hey, you wrecked the kart we worked hard on, because you trusted some evil bald wackjob over me. And after I gave you such a lovely replacement medal as a 'thank you' gift nonetheless! We're even!" she shot back, returning Ralph's nudge, though his cake remained firmly grasped in his hands.

"And then I fixed the kart, saved your game from being DELETED, got rid of Turbo, AND willingly let you call me Stinkbrain", Ralph retorted, a huge smirk on his face. "Heck, I even put up with your 'duty' jokes".

Vanellope was growing impatient. "HEY. My 'duty' jokes are AMAZING. And for the record, Felix fixed my ka- Ralph, THIS IS SERIOUS!" she raised her voice, eyebrows slanting a bit.

"Alright, alright", Ralph complied. "Well, I suppose since they realized that I'm actually an okay guy and now accept me, there's no point in holding a grudge, you know? And I'm content now." He took a bite of his cake.

Vanellope sighed and looked at her shoes. "But how did you get rid of the negative feelings? You know, from their butt-headedness..."

"I guess the positive feeling of friendship overpowers the negative feelings of.. 'butt-headedness'. Sweet Mother Hubbard, I sound like a cat poster..." Ralph replied to his best friend, eating more cake. "But that might just be the cake talking.." he continued, and gave a light pat to his semi-full stomach.

Vanellope wasn't so sure, but Ralph's words made her think. She thought about her past and how lonely she felt in those times. She thought about how sorry the other racers (kinda) seemed when their memories returned. She thought about how she made Taffyta cry. 'Heh...that was funny', she thought to herself. She thought about the happiness she felt being friends with Ralph. She thought about cake.

Caaaaaake...

She conked out on Ralph again.

"Yo! Vanellope! I don't think this emotional stuff is healthy for ya! I'm starting to get a little concerned", said Ralph. He shook Vanellope a bit.

Vanellope woke from her second trance, and immediately hugged Ralph. "Thanks, Ralphie. That helps a lot. And don't worry, you'll always be my best friend."

"Ah shucks, kid", Ralph mused, returning the hug. Vanellope eventually broke away and sat back down. She took a deep breath, pondering her new life.

"You know, part of me can't believe he's finally gone.." she said solemnly. "And I think another part of me is afraid that I'll be expected to fill his shoes... or, racing boots."

Ralph looked at his friend, mulling over every word. He, in fact, didn't know what Vanellope must be feeling. He imagined it must be a lot to take in, having such a sudden change happen to the young girl, and a rather large sudden change at that. Sure, he had gone from zero to hero by helping Vanellope get her life back from the evil tyrant Turbo, but Vanellope had spent the bigger portion of her existence being hated, hunted, and afraid. All because of the wrongdoings of some evil stranger she had no way of preparing for. And now she was at the very top of her game, in a near literal sense. She was the leader of her people, the same people who had forsaken her and made her feel like nothing. Made her live in squalor and fear. Made her forget who she once was.

That must be a very complicated pill to swallow, Ralph thought. Vanellope then continued voicing her turmoil-stained thoughts.

"I mean, I'm glad I don't have to live in fear of being destroyed anymore, but.. I don't know the first thing about spearheading a whole kingdom. I don't really remember much of what I was like before I got demoted, and it doesn't seem to be coming back to me as fast as the racing did. And to be honest Ralph, that makes me a whole new kind of terrified."

"Look kid, I know you're still trying to find your balance with everything, and that's tough. But I also know that you're smart, and you're tough. You didn't let fear get in your way before, and you're not gonna let it get in your way now. Look at what you've accomplished because you decided not to quit! This is no different. You can definitely be the poster girl for a whole game," Ralph said, getting Vanellope to cheer up a bit. "Just be yourself, you'll find a way. And remember: you are an adorable winner!"

Vanellope smiled and chuckled. "You're right again,Stinkbrain. I should talk your ears off about my problems more often! I might even make you my official confidante!"

"Oh, I don't know about that," Ralph replied with a smirk. "I've still got a full-time wrecking job to do."

They sat in silence after that, looking out the Fix It Felix Jr console's screen to the vast layout of the quiet arcade. It felt nice to have a friend they could talk to about their troubles, and it felt even nicer to have a friend that they could sit with quietly and comfortably without becoming bored of each other's company.

The moment was interrupted by a loud automated voice. "Attention: The arcade will open in one hour", the voice announced.

"I guess I'd better go. I've gotta prepare before the day starts", Vanellope said, a smile on her face.

"I figured", responded Ralph, running a colossal hand over his not-so-colossal head. "I'll see you at closing time?"

"Of course!" Vanellope replied.

"Top shelf". Ralph offered his huge fist for Vanellope to bump, which she did. "Top shelf!"

Vanellope walked backwards near the edge of the building's roof. She gave Ralph a salute, and free fell backwards over the side.

Ralph was horrified. "Wha- Kid!" He scrambled to the edge and frantically looked over the side of the building, only to see Vanellope standing on the ground below, grinning up at her friend.

"I glitched down!" she shouted. "See ya!" She then ran toward the train station, waving back at Ralph, who couldn't help but laugh.

"That kid is unbelievable", he said with a toothy smile.

As Vanellope boarded the train, she repeated Ralph's words in her head.

'The positive feeling of friendship overpowers the negative feelings of butt-headedness'.

End of Chapter 1