Vanellope's Bug Problem
Chapter One

Ralph sighed as he walked through Game Central Station with Vanellope on his shoulder. "Kid, how many times have I told you it's not polite to stare at people?"

"I was staring at the light over there, Captain Sardine Salad."

"They're still gonna think you're staring at them." He reached the entrance to Fix-It Felix Jr. "And you've been staring at every light in Grand Central Station ever since you were able to leave your game, and walking toward it when you weren't on my shoulder."

The buzzer sounded as Ralph crossed the threshold of the plug, and the Surge Protector was on the scene. "Names?"

"Wreck-It Ralph."

"Vanellope von Schweetz."

"And where are you coming from?"

"Sugar Rush."

"Sugar Rush."

"Did you bring any candy with you?"

"Nope."

"Just what's in my hair. Nothing else."

"And where are you headed?"

"Fix-It Felix Jr."

"G'doi."

"Reason for travel?"

"It's my game."

"To pick up Felix for Tappers."

"Anything to declare?"

"I hate you."

"Your glow is beautiful."

"26 times and counting. Proceed."

As soon as the Surge Protector was gone, Ralph shook his head. "What's so beautiful about light all of a sudden? It's always daytime in Sugar Rush!"

"What are you talking about?"

Ralph was stupefied. "You keep staring at things that produce light, kid!"

"It hasn't gotten in the way of my racing."

Ralph facepalmed and loaded Vanellope and himself in the train to Fix-It Felix Jr. "That's not the point! It's like Surge said, you've mentioned his glow every time he stops us for a so-called 'random' security check! And you act like your thing for light doesn't exist when nothing's glowing!"

Vanellope locked eyes with the wrecker as they headed through the power cord. "Hey, look, Stinkbrain. If it doesn't stop me from being a racer during arcade hours, it's not a problem."

Ralph sighed. "Look, I'm just trying to look out for you, kid."

They reached the game, where Fix-It Felix was waiting at the station.

"Hey, Felix."

"Hello, Ralph. Vanellope."

Vanellope teleported to the station roof. "Boy, am I excited for tomorrow's races!"

"Yeah, you did good at the Roster Race, Waffle Dress."

"So, who's on the roster for tomorrow?"

"I made it to first place, and then there's Taffyta, Gloyd, Jubileena, Rancis, Swizzle, Candlehead, Snowanna, and Minty."

"Cool. Sounds like tomorrow's gonna be a fun day."

Ralph nodded. "So, what's new with you and Calhoun?"

"Well, you probably heard about the player who reached the final boss of Hero's Duty."

Vanellope snickered. "Yeah, he got himself in deep doody!"

"You can say that again."

"I don't know if I was more surprised by the final boss of Hero's Duty or finding out that King Candy was Turbo."

"Yeah, so I was going to meet up with her at Tappers tonight and ask her about that."

Ralph nodded. "Yeah, I did have a few questions for Calhoun myself."

"About what?"

"I'll explain when we get there."

Felix looked at Vanellope. "Uh, Ralph?"

"I know, I know, I know. She's just going for Calhoun to look at her."

Vanellope was in the dark. "What?"

"We don't want you making a mess on the track tomorrow, Fart Feathers."

"Right. That's probably something Turbutt would've done."

"Calhoun might be able to figure out if my hunch about you is correct."

Felix shrugged. "I've heard stories of him frequenting Tappers before he went Turbo."

Vanellope laughed. "'Going Turbo'? Sounds as scary as the Fungeon."

"You and Felix got locked up in there."

"I was talking about the names sounding cool, even though they're anything but cool."

Felix nodded. "Yeah, Calhoun was the first person to whom I had to explain the namesake incident behind 'going Turbo'."

"I think Turbo might have gone to Tappers secretly even after trashing RoadBlasters." Vanellope provided a napkin with a code written on it.

Ralph took a glance. "What's that?"

"I found it in one of my dresser drawers the day before Felix's wedding. Sour Bill told me that Turbo used this to get into the game's code room."

Felix was surprised. "How did he get this code?"

Vanellope shrugged. "Turbutt wasn't going to blab all his secrets for everyone to hear, was he?" She teleported into the train. "I think Sarge is waiting for us at Tappers. Or at least one or both of you two headbonkers."

Felix climbed into the train, sharing cars with Vanellope.

As they headed off, Vanellope looked to Felix. "Although I might know how he got the code to my game's code room."