Author's Note: Okay, so it's natural to start freaking out now. I wouldn't blame you. Also, I'd recommend reading my other story, 'Zombie Candy' to understand where Zombie and King Candy are coming from all of a sudden. It's still in the old style I used to write in though and a few extremely minor details have changed.
To distinguish both King Candys from each other, I have the one from the first Sugar Rush labeled as 'King Candy(1)'.
The underlined text you see in this chapter is the thoughts of either Vannie or Vanellope, whichever one is not in control of their shared body. The one in control is denoted by the name used for their dialogue. The thoughts of the one not in control can be 'heard' by the one in control. It's similar to how I imagine it would have been like for Turbo controlling King Candy, except in his case he could block it out because of how he merged himself with King Candy intentionally.
"What do you mean, 'No..'?" Vanellope asked curiously, "What happ-" I'm in here too.. "Oh that's weird.. The other me is in here too. What the heck is going on around here?!" Is it because we're in my game? My dad might know something about this..
Vanellope glitched into her smaller form, Vannie's personality taking over in the process. Now I'm stuck.. This stinks. I hope we can get this fixed.
"O-okay, now stay calm.. There has to.. There's got to be some kind of explanation for this," Ralph said nervously. This isn't what I wanted. Not at all..
"Well I'd certainly hope so, I've got to get back to my game in the morning," Vannie said nervously. She glitched into her older form.
"This is confusing.." Vanellope said as she stroked her temple. It's giving me a headache too..
They could hear someone yelling into the microphone at the race track.
"What's going on over there?!" Vanellope asked nonchalantly, "Come on slowpoke, let's go see!" I don't want him to worry.. We should be able to fix this somehow. She ran off in the direction of the race track. She was still glitching between her younger and older selves with no signs of it stopping.
Ralph's head started aching again as if it was slowly being squeezed in a vice, as he looked out at the landscape before following her. "Vanellope, wait!" We need to worry about getting you two separated somehow first..
From the large stand where King Candy used to sit, Zombie of Bad-Anon could be heard yelling, "Zombie have hobbies! Not just eat brains! That just in game! Zombie like racing, having meeting with other Bad Guys, and meeting new people! You know Wreck-It Ralph! Ralph Bad Guy too! But he save Sugar Rush, game you love! Bad Guy save your game! 'Candy Kane' trying to set things straight! He not Turbo! You not giving chance to talk! Not listening! Who real Bad Guy here?! HAH?!"
Vanellope couldn't believe what she was hearing. Turbo.. No.. King Candy is alive? Here? He can't be.. She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard his voice. Dad..
"..Thank you, Zombie.." King Candy(1) said solemnly, "I apologize on Zombie's behalf. He's right, mind you. But he's had it rough and didn't know how else to express it. As for me.. I told Zombie the full story earlier, but I'm afraid that it's a bit too long. It's long enough to make a movie out of, you could say." He sighed. "This dates back to when Sugar Rush was first plugged in 15 years ago. The one you know as Turbo came to this game then. I was always a real racer within Sugar Rush. Yes, I really was the rightful ruler. Turbo, I don't know how he did it, but he took control of my body while everyone was busy watching the very first Random Roster Race. I'm sure at least some of you from this game must remember seeing me crash that day. It didn't happen often, after all. Me crashing, that is.."
There were murmurs of disbelief in the crowd. How could what he's saying be true? Can that really happen? Someone stealing your body and posing as you for 15 years before being discovered.. And yet that's no more farfetched than what they thought happened. That Turbo had simply created a design for himself, from scratch. That he added code to make himself King, from scratch. Ralph made his way towards where Vanellope was. He looked up to the stand when he heard King Candy talking about him.
"It's true that in Ralph's game he's a Bad Guy," King Candy(1) said, "But to me he's the best Good Guy of all for what he did for Vanellope and this game. For what he did for me. I don't even want to be a king anymore.. Just please don't make me live alone. I've been alone since game one."
There were more murmurs in the crowd, but they never solidified into any sorts of cheering or boos. Nor calling for his head.
Vanellope, as if in a trance, slowly walked to the stand where King Candy(1) had been giving his speech, fixated on where the voice was coming from. King Candy was escorted down in candy cuffs made of rock candy. It was then that she saw him. There he was.. King Candy.. He no longer had a crown atop his head, and his clothes were severely torn. Vanellope glitched into her younger self involuntarily. She stood there, as if she were frozen solid, that old familiar feeling of anxiety taking hold. No.. Turbo is definitely dead. He has to be the real King Candy from this game, right? "Are you really not Turbo?" Vanellope asked apprehensively. Of course he isn't..
King Candy(1) looked over to her, eyes full of shock and fear. Fear of being rejected by the one who Turbo hurt most. His daughter.. His knees went weak and he fell backward onto the ground sitting up. He took a deep breath and said, "I'm not.." I'm supposed to be your adoptive father.. Don't you remember?
Vanellope slowly forced herself to walk up to him, stretching her arm out. She grabbed his forearm tightly. Touching him like this sent chills down her spine. She looked into his eyes, afraid of what she might see in him in the next instant. This will prove one way or the other. When Turbo attacked me during that Random Roster Race it kept messing up his disguise and his code turned red.. She glitched in place, making him glitch alongside her.. But this time it was just a soft blue colored code that he glitched into. There was no sign of Turbo. He's clean. I don't really get it, but he's our dad, okay?
"You're not.." Vanellope said in disbelief, glitching to her older self and back again. She let go of him and backed away. "Let him go.." She sat down and put her hand on her forehead. She closed her eyes, suddenly having an unbearable headache.
"Vanellope!" Ralph yelled, "Are you okay?!" We have to fix this!
Vanellope glitched into her older self and opened her eyes. "My.. Our? head is killing me.." Vannie said tiredly. I feel like I'll pass out any minute..
Wynnchel uncuffed King Candy(1) as instructed. I don't really get what's going on.
"Ralph, what's going on? What happened?!" King Candy(1) asked, getting to his feet. She's older? Did she try to make herself older for him?
"I don't know!" Ralph said, "We were with the Vanellope from Sugar Rush 2 and once we got here they sort of.. merged or something."
"Merged?!" King Candy(1) asked worriedly. So there's a Sugar Rush 2 now.. Is someone in the code room right now, messing with files?! No.. It only happened as soon as they got there, it can't be that.. "Ralph! We have to get her to the code room! If there's any way to fix this, it would have to be there!"
Ralph briefly glitched into yellow code as he suddenly remembered interrogating Sour Bill about what Turbo did to Vanellope.
"You appear to be glitching as well! What in the world is going on?!" King Candy(1) asked worriedly. I somehow doubt there's a Fix-It Felix Jr. 2..
"I lost my memory. It's not important right now," Ralph said insistently, "We need to get her to the code room now!" I can't lose them..
"I have no right to go there, Ralph," King Candy(1) said, "Not after what Turbo did.. Take this code.." He reached into his suit, but couldn't find it. Where's the code?! Did it disintegrate along with Turbo and that Cy-bug when I died at Diet Cola Mountain? "The code is gone.." He was mortified. If anything happens to them, what would I have left?
Ralph paced around. His head was still killing him, and it wasn't helping him think in the slightest. Neither was everyone standing around or sitting in the stands watching, not like they could really be expected to know what's going on. If only Felix were here, he might be able to fix her with his hammer somehow. Not like that helped with his memory earlier. I can trust King Candy, Vanellope even said so herself that he's not Turbo..
"No, you're coming with me," Ralph said, "You might remember the code when we get there. Besides, you've been in there before. You would know better than any of us what to do." I can't just stand around doing nothing. The girls' condition might be unstable. At worst, I might lose either Vanellope permanently.. Or even both. He carefully lifted Vannie up into his arms, since she was just sitting there. Maybe she can't stand.. "Get a kart."
"These karts are made for one, you know!" King Candy(1) said, "How do you expect us to fit?!"
"I can drive, you know!" Vannie said in an annoyed tone. Hello? Racer here.. But Ralph's arms are so comfortable.. She eased into his arms as best she could. I can stand, but.. You love him, don't you? I'm glad..
"Absolutely not!" Ralph said softly, "I can't trust you to drive in this condition." Even though it's pretty much impossible to die in a kart crash in this game I don't want to risk it. Who knows what could happen if she were to die in this state? He tried to remember anything that could help in this situation and glitched again into yellow code. He remembered, with some effort, his and Vanellope's escape from the Kart Bakery after making her kart. How he 'drove', just like he did on his way into Sugar Rush 2. "I'll drive, you sit. Candy, get another kart and drive yourself."
Vannie frowned, but went along with it. I don't feel like driving anyway..
"Zombie come too," Zombie said insistently, "Zombie drive for 'Candy Kane'!"
And with that, they headed for the castle. Zombie and King Candy were using Zombie's 'Smartie Kart'. It was decorated with smarties and looked similar to a brain. Ralph grabbed the kart Guile from Street Fighter II had used in a race that had finished minutes before, since it was closest to where they were. Guile didn't seem to mind. He could always just make another one if it got trashed. It was grey and shaped like a rocket. There were flames on the back, painted on with red and orange frosting.
"How you holding up?" Ralph asked Vannie as he furiously propelled the kart with his hands.
"I'm.. Well, we're fine," Vannie said. I kind of remember this.. Coming from the Kart Bakery with Dad chasing us.. Our memories are getting mixed up.. I don't want to make him worry more though.. She looked at Diet Cola Mountain, remembering how Ralph almost sacrificed himself to save the game and Vanellope. She smiled and blinked a few times as tears streamed down her cheeks. He really is a good guy.. No one else can even compare to him, can they?
Ralph let the kart coast to a stop as they reached the castle. It wasn't the fastest of rides. Zombie and King Candy had to slow their pace to match.
Vannie got out of the kart by herself. It's not like she couldn't walk or anything, although she did feel mentally drained. Ralph is panicking a little too much Dad split from Turbo safely enough, it seems. Why wouldn't this be the case for me and myself as well?
As they went inside, a chill went down King Candy(1)'s spine. It's weird, being back in the castle. I had given up on even seeing it up close again. "It's this way, behind this curtain," he said, quickening his pace to pull the curtain back. They went into the hidden elevator and went down.
There it was, the entrance to the code room.
"You think you can open it?" Ralph asked hopefully. Surely, even without the code written down..
Author's Note: For those of you who don't really get where I'm going with this, it's understandable. I get a bit technical here.. I'll explain exactly what's going on with Vanellope and Vannie in the rest of this note. So if you don't want to wait for King Candy(1) to explain it for you later, keep reading this note.
Alright, so what I am going for here, is this.. The way I see it, the files for each character are more like folders in a computer. If you've ever moved a folder somewhere that another folder with the same name is, you'll notice it will tell you that if there are any files inside, it will ask you if you want to replace them if those have the same name, and it will ask if you still want to merge the folders. It's basically that, without the 'Are you sure you want to do this?' prompt. So inside the 'Vanellope von Schweetz" folder, there are conflicting character sprites as well as their memories getting mixed up because they're sharing the same body. This is the reason for their glitching between Vannie and Vanellope, as the game doesn't know which it should prioritize. The reason this didn't happen in Sugar Rush 2 is that it has a separate directory for 'guests', or non-native game files.