A/N: I hope you guys are liking it so far! And kudos to Purest of the Hearts for guessing the Portal reference. :)

Last chapter's phrase, courtesy of DMysterious, was "Tiny Tim." This chapter's phrase relates to Neverland. Cheers!

And Happy New Year!

"Intruder alert!"

The surge protector jumps at the sound. He's never heard that one before - he ignores the fact it sounds exactly like his own voice to examine the light flashing furiously on the wall. "Sugar Rush?" he says aloud. "What's happened there?" He taps the light, and a pixel ball forms in the middle of the room, showing everyone's surprised faces staring at...a little blonde girl?


Hannah blinks to clear her vision. "Whoa, that was really bright," she says aloud, lifting a hand to rub her eyes. "Mom, did you really have to scare me like-" She stops talking when she sees the building-high screen in front of her. On it is the Sugar Rush logo reversed, and behind it is the inside of the arcade. "Huh?" She steps closer to the screen, reaches a hand up.

"Hannah?"

She jumps and turns around, seeing every Sugar Rush-ian, racer and citizen alike, staring at her with wide eyes. "Whoa," she says again. "What are you all doing here?"

"We race here," Taffyta says as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Just then, Hannah notices the chocolate hills in the distance and the lollipop beds lining the track. "Wait, is this Sugar Rush? How did-"

"You're here!" Vanellope cheers, running up to the confused girl and throwing her arms around her in a hug. "You're here, you're here, you're here!"

"Er, yeah, I'm here," she says, not quite believing it herself.

"You just appeared in a flash of light," Swizzle says.

"Can you show me how to do that?" Candlehead asks.

The other racers spew questions as they swarm around Hannah. "Alright, kids," Candy says, waving his hands at them, "let's give her some room. Heh heh."

"Dude, this is so cool!" Hannah says, nearly dropping the gun in her excitement. "I'm actually inside a game? How's that even possible?"

"Hannah," Stephen's voice says, the jumbotron's screen glitching a little as the logo disappears and Stephen's face appears close-up. "Hannah, can you hear me?"

"Sure, I can," she says, stepping back so she can see the whole screen.

"Good, now-"

"These games are alive?" her dad says, shoving Stephen aside and taking up the whole screen.

Her mom also comes into view. "Hannah, honey, are you alright?" she asks.

"I'm fine, Mom," she grumbles.

"Sweetheart, come out of there right now!" her dad says.

"I don't know how!"

Vanellope says, "How did you even get in here?"

Shrug. "I dunno."

Stephen sighs. "You typed something into the device, didn't you?" he says, rubbing his eyes under his glasses.

Everyone looks at him. "Yeah, why?" Hannah says.

He mumbles something incoherent, then drops his hand and looks at her intently. "Miss, just type 'Litwak's Arcade' and get yourself back here so we can figure something out."

"How do you know all this?" her mom says, glaring at him.

The adults go back to bickering onscreen, but Hannah looks down at the gun. "How does that work?" Vanellope asks.

Hannah shows the president the black buttons. "I just press these, and I think I pull this." She taps a finger on the trigger.

"Ooh, cool," the raven-haired girl says, grinning. "Can I see it?"

"Uh, my dear," Candy says, watching Hannah hold the gun out for Vanellope to inspect, "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Aw, you worry too much," Vanellope says, tapping a few buttons.

"I agree with King Candy," Citrusella says, rubbing her arm. "We don't even know what that thing is for."

"So?" Vanellope taps a few more buttons, spelling out her name on the screen. "It's all just for fun." She hits another button, which clears the screen. She then types out "Litwak's Arcade."

Candy holds his hands out. "Sweetheart, be careful."

"I'm just typin' stuff here. It's not like it's gonna-"

A flash of light appears when she pulls the trigger. When the light vanishes, so do she and the gun.


Litwak is the first one to notice the flash of light and see Vanellope and the gun appear in the room. The gun falls to the ground, since Hannah is no longer holding onto it. "Vanellope?" Litwak blurts out. The other adults stop fighting and stare at the flickering image of the raven-haired girl scooping up the black-and-white device.

"What?" Stephen says. "How's that possible?"

"Hey, you're the one who said to type in 'Litwak's Arcade' and pull the trigger," the girl retorts. "You should know."

"Vanellope?" Candy calls out. "Vanellope, where are you?"

"I'm here, Dad," she says, sliding into one of the console seats. "Whoa, you guys look so tiny in there." She taps the screen.

Candy stares horrified at the jumbotron. How could this have happened? "Vanellope, my dear, listen to me: come back now!"

Vanellope bites her lip, but she does a bad job at hiding her smirk. "I'm sorry, it's just you look funny being so tiny."

"Kid?" Ralph's voice calls out.

She turns her head. Her hazel eyes widen. "Whoa," she breathes, hopping out of the seat and going up to the console for Fix It, Felix Jr. "It's so weird seeing you on this side of the screen, Stinkbrain."

"Kid, what happened to you?" Ralph says, he and Felix both standing on the roof of the Nicelander building and looking worried. "Why are you outside the screen like a gamer?"

"It's this weird gun thing," Vanellope says, holding up the device.

"Let me see that!" Mr. Grace says, hurrying over and snatching the gun.

"Hey, let go, mister!" the kid says, keeping a grip on the device.

"Honey," Mrs. Grace says warningly, stepping towards the duo.

"Stay out of this, Karen," he snaps, trying to tug the device out of the kid's hands.

Stephen stares in horror. "Will you just stop?" he shouts.

The two jerk back - and pull apart the gun.

"No!" Stephen says, running up to the group and taking a piece of the barrel from Mr. Grace. "What have you done?"

They grimace and say, "Sorry."

"How's Hannah going to fight Xehanort now?"

Everybody stares at him, and some of the arcadians appear in their screens to stare at the strange man. "What do you mean, how's Hannah going to fight now?" her mom, Karen, says, her eyes narrowing and fingers twitching.

Hannah stares at the jumbotron in shock, but all she can see is Litwak staring at whom she guesses is Stephen. "Is that why you gave me that gun thing?" she says.

"What did you do with our daughter?" her mother screams, lunging at him. He cowers back, but Mr. Grace wraps his arms around his wife to keep her from doing something crazy.

"I didn't think she'd learn how to use the portal gun so quickly!" he says. "And I certainly didn't think Vanellope could leave her game! That's not how the games were supposed to be programmed!"

Vanellope stares at Steven. He programmed our games?

Mrs. Grace, still struggling to break out of Mr. Grace's hold and punch Steven in the face, shouts, "You had something to do with this! You did this to Hannah!"

"Would you rather she die?" Steven says, narrowing his eyes. That was enough to make the parents stop fighting, but they still glare daggers. Steven continues, "If I didn't give Hannah the portal gun now and teach her how to use it, we all could be dead. Don't you understand? There are things going on that you don't know about!"

"Like what?" Mr. Grace says.

Karen Grace glowers at Litwak. "Did you know about any of this?" she snaps.

"Leave him alone," Stephen says, holding an arm out in front of his friend defensively. "He didn't know anything until I told him this morning. And all you need to know is Hannah's the only one who can do anything about this mess we're in."

Everyone inside Sugar Rush turns to Hannah, who just shrugs.

"Leave our daughter out of this," Mr. Grace seethes, leaning forward into Stephen's face and making him lean back.

Stephen opens his mouth to speak - something outside the glass door catches his eyes, and his expression morphs from anger to horror. "Oh, no."

"What's wrong?" Litwak asks. He looks out through the glass - he sees a black car pulling into the parking lot. His heart thumps. "I completely forgot!" He turns from the glass and stares at Vanellope.

"Forgot what?" she asks, fidgeting under the uncomfortable feel of Litwak's stare.

"It's him!" Stephen hisses. He hurries to the back and disappears through the door to the kitchen, but not before calling over his shoulder, "If you care about Hannah and the arcade, don't let him know I was here!"

"There's a reason I don't like video games," Karen says.

"Hey!" Vanellope says, narrowing her eyes.

"Guys, please not now," Litwak says, one hand on his hip and the other clutching his hair. He glances back out the front door. "I completely forgot. The businessman said he was coming by to inspect the place."

"Do you usually have inspections?" Mr. Grace asks dismissively.

Litwak ignores the harsh tone and turns to the adults. "I don't know why, but that man's been coming every week since last month."

Vanellope's eyes flicker to her game before finding Kingdom Hearts right behind it. She never knew she and Kairi were so close.

"He was supposed to come today, too," Litwak continues, "but if he sees Vanellope outside her game or Hannah inside Sugar Rush, who knows what he'd do with the arcade!"

"You're more concerned over your business," Karen says, "than our daughter?"

"Hey, leave him alone," Vanellope says, dropping her half of the used-to-be portal gun and storming over to the adults. She points a finger at them. "You don't know what it's been like in this arcade. We almost got our game unplugged last month! Litwak's just trying to protect us!"

Hannah's parents look down their noses at her. "Video games shouldn't be alive in the first place," Mr. Grace says.

Hannah cringes, wishing she could just disappear right now. She had never told the arcadians how much her parents hated games, and she's embarrassed that they had to find out this way. She hangs her head and hugs herself.

The one who breaks the awkward silence is Litwak, again. "Please, Mister and Missus Grace," he says, "don't tell anyone about the games being alive. I don't want anything to happen to them."

"What about Hannah?" her father says. "How are you going to get her out and return this one?" He waves a hand towards Vanellope.

She's never wanted so badly to slap someone.

The businessman parks his car.

"Please, just listen," Litwak says to the parents. "I'm in charge of all the games here, and the people in them, and if that businessman finds out they're alive, he could very well shut the place down." He ignores the gasps and murmurs coming from the consoles and continues, "Help me hide Vanellope, and I promise you don't ever have to worry about this place again."

"What about Hannah?" Mr. Grace says.

"You don't have to worry about me," Hannah says. "I'm fine." Though a small part of her wonders if she'll ever get out of the console. She places her hands on the jumbotron screen. "Just keep the arcade safe."

"You, too, Hannah?" her mom says, giving her such a look of disappointment that Hannah backs away from the screen.

Candy feels sorry for the girl, but he comes up to the screen and says, "Vanellope, sweetheart, where are you?"

"I'm right here, Dad," she says in the same exasperated tone as Hannah. She comes into view of the screen.

He lays a hand on the screen, wishing he could reach through the screen and touch her shoulder. "My dear, how are you going to get back?"

"Easy, we just fix that gun-thing." Her hazel eyes light up and she opens her mouth to speak, but then her smile fades and she slouches. "Aw, fudge. Felix can't fix the gun, he's stuck inside his game."

"Believe me, little miss," Felix calls out from his game, "if I could fix it I would." He wrings his hat in his hands. Ralph pats him on the shoulder, though he himself frowns.

Litwak gasps when the businessman steps out of his car and grabs something from the back seat. "We'll fix the portal gun later," he tells them. "Just take Vanellope with you."

"No!" Candy shouts.

"I'm not leaving without my daughter," Karen says.

"Neither am I," her husband, crossing his arms.

"Then rent a hotel room and stay around here. She's not going anywhere any time soon." Litwak's blue eyes flicker out the glass door before giving the parents a pleading look. "I'll call Stephen afterwards and have him fix the gun. Just please, go!"

Knowing they could come back to collect their daughter from a game brought little comfort to the Graces. And Candy was still screaming for Vanellope to stay.

Vanellope is the first one to spot the businessman a few yards from the front door. If Litwak doesn't trust him, neither should she. She slips behind Mr. Grace and pulls her hood over her face. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the Sugar Rush logo appear on the screen again, but not before she sees her dad's hurt expression.

The adults are so immersed in their staring contest they don't realize the businessman is here until he knocks on the door and makes them jump. Litwak slips a smile onto his face, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "Hey there," he says, opening the door. "You're just in time."

"I'm a few minutes late," the businessman curtly replies. He notes the Graces' wary expressions as he steps inside. "What was going on before? I could have sworn it seemed like you three were fighting."

Is Vanellope imagining it, or did the man sound like he wanted them to be fighting?

"No, no," Karen says coolly. "We're just fine. Right, Peter?"

"Of course," Mr. Grace says.

"Hmm." The businessman regards them for a second before taking a card out of his breast pocket and hands it to them. "If you do have any complaints about the management or anything at all regarding the arcade, don't hesitate to call me."

"There's nothing wrong here," Vanellope blurts out, marching out from behind Peter Grace, who grabs her shoulder and pulls her back behind him. She involuntarily glitches a little, but it was so small she hopes the businessman didn't notice.

"Who's this?" He peers around Mr. Grace to better see her.

"This is our...daughter, Penelope," Peter says.

"Vanellope," she hisses under her breath.

Karen waves a hand as if to silence her.

"You don't have to be shy, little girl," the businessman coos in a sickly sugary tone. "I don't bite."

She hides further behind Mr. Grace, but only so she won't have the urge to spit retorts in his face.

"We really should be going now," Karen says, after receiving an impatient glance from Litwak. "C'mon, honey." She motions for Vanellope to follow her.

"'Kay, Mom." She only takes one step before she freezes in place, her eyes glazing over as they stare off into the distance.

The four adults stare at the kid, but no one knows why she's just standing in place. "Um...Penelope?" Peter says, softly nudging the kid's shoulder.

She gasps and jumps - and glitches. She clutches her head, unaware of the others' shock. Her hood fell off. She quickly grabs it and yanks it over her head, ignoring the pulsing headache beginning to form.

"What did you just..." The businessman can't even finish his thought.

Peter and Karen exchange glances before quickly ushering Vanellope out the door. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Litwak!" Peter calls out as the door shuts behind them.

Before Litwak can say anything, the businessman turns to him and demands, "Who is that girl?"

He blinks. "You heard what her parents called her: Penelope. She's at the arcade a lot."

"And has she ever...shimmered like that?"

"No, not that I'm aware of."

The businessman cocks an eyebrow.

Litwak glares at him. "Look, any conditions the arcade people have is none of my business and it shouldn't be any of yours."

"I see." He takes his clipboard from under his arm - but instead of taking his pen and jotting something down, he looks back up at Litwak. "That should be all. Thank you for your time, Mister Litwak."

"That's it?" Litwak asks in disbelief as the businessman turns to leave. "You don't need to check anything else or ask me any more questions?"

"No, no, it's alright," the man says without glancing back. "You'll be hearing from us again soon." He slips out the door and walks to his black car.

It's only then that Litwak hears the soft sobbing coming from Sugar Rush.


Suspicions form in the businessman's mind as he pulls out of the parking lot and heads back to the company. He's sure Litwak and those parents were fighting about something, but what? And that girl, Penelope...she looks a lot like Vanellope.

But that's impossible. Stephen himself said that Vanellope couldn't cross over due to that spell. And yet...that girl could be her twin. The boss would want to know about her. And that weird flickering thing she did, too.

He just hopes none of this affects the activation. The company's spent too much time and energy programming those games in a specific way to let everything go to waste just because of one little girl.