30 Worlds: The Vanilla Voyages, Episode I: "A Cherry on Top"

by William "Blissey" Raymer

BOOK ONE

Based on the Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film

Ralph Breaks the Internet

Screenplay by Phil Johnston and Pamela Ribon

Story by Rich Moore, Phil Johnston, Jim Reardon, Pamela Ribon and Josie Trinidad

Based on characters from the Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film

Wreck-It Ralph

Story by Rich Moore, Phil Johnston and Jim Reardon

BOOK TWO

Based on the Tsuburaya Productions, Co. Ltd. for TV Tokyo television series

Ultraman Z

With love, honor and respect to the cast, crew and fans of the Ultra Series for helping to keep the story of the Land of Light alive for 55 years and counting...

"Princess Scarlett" character and "Scarlett Warrior" concepts taken from the Sofia the First fan-fiction series

The Scarlett Saga

Written by Jake H Voronkov

AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you have not yet read A Fateful Encounter: Vanilla Voyages Episode 0, STOP READING THIS STORY NOW and read that story first.

BOOK ONE*PROLOGUE

To the majority of the over-100,000 people living in the town of Yuma, Arizona, it was just a perfectly-normal day. But for one dedicated gamer, it would turn out to be anything but.

William Edwards took a deep breath as his finger hovered over the button on his Playstation controller that would allow him to begin transmitting his soon-to-begin play session. He was about to risk the reputation of his growing Twitch channel on, perhaps, the single hardest mission in video game history.

In the preceding days William—known to his growing legions of fans as "NeoBlisseyX—" had been broadcasting a series of missions in the popular MMORG (massively-multiplayer online racing game) Slaughter Race.

These missions involved a character that the game's developers, Iktoma Corporation, had added to the game in order to celebrate their acquisition of the assets of the beloved and much-missed '90s developer CarGa Studios, the developers of the arcade kart racing game Sugar Rush.

Iktoma had added a grown-up version of popular Sugar Rush character Vanellope von Schweetz to the game and developed a series of missions around her that had become known as the "Vanilla Voyages." These missions involved the player going on missions to impress Vanellope with the final mission (where Vanellope was kidnapped by a criminal syndicate and the player being tasked to rescue her) supposedly leading to Vanellope and the player beginning a romantic relationship.

However, in the month since the missions had been added, William had been hearing horror stories online about the final mission being so difficult that Iktoma had ended up announcing the impending removal of the missions—and by extension, Vanellope—by the end of that week.

And so, William decided to go through the entire "Vanilla Voyages" mission chain in order to prove to the naysayers that the "Vanilla Voyages" were, indeed, beatable.

"Mom, if you're hearing this up there, please put in a good word with the Big Guy," William said before pushing the button.

"Hello, everyone. NeoBlisseyX here with the moment you have all been waiting for," William said. "Now I know many of you are expecting me to say that the mission I am about to attempt on Slaughter Race is so hard that I'm not gonna attempt it. Well, you can just forget that right now."

"I am gonna show you that not only is the mission completable, but I am gonna do it in style," William continued. "Now, as soon as the mission begins, I am going to mute my microphone so that I can concentrate. Wish me luck."

William flicked the switch on the controls of his headset to mute the microphone, but continued to broadcast. A flick of a different switch later, and William was listening to his "Pumped-Up Gamers" music playlist.

A half an hour later, William was one shot away from the unthinkable. The mastermind was teetering on the edge of a tall building. William watched in horror as the mastermind grabbed William's avatar, Edward "Eddie" Larson's, ankle and tried to take William's avatar down with him.

"Was the mission deliberately programmed to be unbeatable?" William thought. "Any last words?" the mastermind said.

William paused his music then reactivated his microphone.

Then, a dialogue selection popped up. William highlighted the option he intended to use. He had heard that the ultimate result of the mission could depend on this single dialogue choice. Then, with one last look up at the heavens, William pressed the X button to lock in his choice.

On the screen, William's avatar used his free leg to kick at the mastermind. Along with his (mute) avatar, William said, "I...have had...enough of...YOU!" Then with one last kick, William's avatar sent the mastermind falling to his death.

The scene then cut to William's avatar arriving at the location where the now-defeated syndicate had been keeping Vanellope prisoner.

"Vanellope, are you all right?" William said, reading the subtitles that the game gave as what William's avatar was supposed to be saying.

The face of Vanellope von Schweetz looked up at William's avatar. "Eddie? You came to rescue me?" she croaked out.

"Yeah," William read. "Can you walk?" "I think so," Vanellope responded. "Then, let's get out of here," William read. "Shank and your friends are waiting for you."

And so, William's avatar helped Vanellope out to his car and secured her in the passenger's seat. Then, William drove his avatar towards the hideout of Shank's gang.

When William's avatar's car approached the hideout, the guards outside simply gestured for William's avatar to drive in.

As soon as William made the car come to a stop in the center of the garage, a cutscene triggered that saw Vanellope unbuckle her seat belt and run to hug Shank. "I can't believe you did it," Shank said to William's avatar after the hug broke.

Another dialogue selection pop-up appeared. William chose the only selection that made sense. "It was the right thing to do, Miss Shank," William read. "Over these last few days, I have grown to like Vanellope as more than just a friend and confidante."

Then, William watched as his avatar walked over to and kissed Vanellope on the lips. As soon as the kiss broke, William's avatar turned and began to walk back to his car.

William watched as Vanellope turned to Shank and said, "Shank, will you excuse me?" Shank smiled, appeared to sniff back a couple of tears then moved away from Vanellope. Then, Vanellope suddenly glitched (her special power from Sugar Rush, William remembered) and appeared before William.

Then, Vanellope pinned William to the hood of his car and kissed William's avatar right on the lips. The screen faded to black. Then, moments later, the long-awaited "MISSION COMPLETE" message appeared on his screen.

"Oh, my God, I did it," William whispered into his microphone. It was then he saw a notice pop up in the chat window: "Slaughter Race will be shutting down in five minutes for weekly maintenance. Thank you for continuing to enjoy the game.-Iktoma Corporation."

"Guys, I gotta end this broadcast since the game will be going offline in a few minutes. Thank you for tuning in. Until we meet again, this is NeoBlisseyX, signing off. Take care," William said before turning off the broadcast.

Then, as he powered off his Playstation, William released a heavy sigh of relief. Then, as if nothing had happened, William got dressed to go to a nearby convenience store for some drinks and snacks.

Half an hour later, after returning to his house and giving his father his snacks, William returned to his room. Picking up his tablet, William was stunned to see message after message pop up on his screen from people congratulating him on his achievement.

There was even a request for a Zoom interview from the noted video game news website IGN. So, William went to the bathroom, got freshened up, put on his disguise (which he wore whenever he needed to appear on camera as NeoBlisseyX) and sat before his computer.

The IGN reporter appeared on his screen. "NeoBlisseyX, congratulations on defeating the final mission of the Vanilla Voyages," the reporter said.

"Thank you," William said. "I can understand the trouble the people who tried and failed before me had with that mission. There were times I was worried that I would wind up just like them."

"What turned you on to Slaughter Race in the first place?" the reporter asked. "Some of the people in my Fleet, or guild, in Star Trek Online suggested I try Slaughter Race," William said. "One in particular, Jynxfrye—although we just call him 'Jynx' for short, told me that since he knew that I liked a challenge, he felt that Slaughter Race would be the game for me."

As the interview came to an end, the IGN reporter asked William if he had anything else to say to his fans or the people who were watching the VOD posting of the interview. "Yeah, I do," William said. "I owe it to everyone watching this video that you know who I am."

With a deep breath, William took off his disguise to reveal his real face. "My name is William Edwards from Yuma, Arizona. Slaughter Race has changed my life. Iktoma Corporation, please do not change this game beyond some new content once in a while. Most importantly, PLEASE DO NOT GET RID OF VANELLOPE VON SCHWEETZ!"

And with that, the interview ended.

Later that day, William was outside getting some fresh air when he got an email. It read, "A major e-sports team is interested in talking to you about joining up with them. Meet their representative at Sanguinetti Park across from Woodard Junior High."

And so, William told his father that he was going for a walk. William made his way to the park, which was about fifteen minutes' walk from his house.

A few minutes after arriving, William was approached by an odd-looking sort. "William Edwards, I am Gerald Flynn of the Unity of E-Sports Professional Athletes," the man said. William chuckled at the acronym. "Got your acronym from Star Trek, huh?" William said.

Then shaking his head, William smiled at Flynn. "Sorry, Mr. Flynn. We're trying to conduct business, so I should be professional," William said.

"Not a problem, Mr. Edwards," Flynn said.

Finally, the negotiation seemed to be at an end: Flynn pushed a contract up to William. As soon as William signed it, however, he felt Flynn press something against his arm. The next thing William knew, Flynn said something in Klingon.

William didn't really understand the language all that much, but one of the words he did recognize was the word Flynn used. "jol yIchu'!" William felt himself dissolve.

The next thing he knew, William was sitting on the floor. Flynn helped William to his feet. "I know you're feeling a little disoriented," Flynn said. "Let me explain."

Flynn then, in a flash of light, changed from a tall man in an odd suit to a bearded man in a red robe with a tall, pointed cap on his head. "I am Yen Sid, a wizard from the dimension known as Traverse Town," the man said. "And you, William Edwards, are about to begin a journey with implications for the entire universe."

"Setting aside the fact that you just kidnapped me in broad daylight, what you are saying is very much impossible!" William said.

"It is very much possible," Yen Sid said. "The many dimensions that exist around us are inhabited by living beings that you would consider fictional characters. But these dimensions are also being threatened by a group known as the Army of Inter-Universal Chaos. There is a way they can be defeated, however."

"And that is?" William said. "You must travel to thirty different dimensions and acquire a particular person, group of people or an item that, once combined, would unite to form the one power that can destroy the A.I.C."

"And how would I go about traveling to these dimensions?" William asked. "We are on a travel pod flying to the vessel with which you will go on this journey," Yen Sid said.

A voice from a nearby control panel caught William's attention. "Enterprise to Master Yen Sid's shuttle. You're cleared for docking. Approach port-side torpedo bay," it said.

Yen Sid gestured for William to sit at the panel. So, William took a deep breath and sat at the pod's controls. Seeing the "open channel" button on the communications panel, William said, "Uh, Enterprise, this is Yen Sid's party on final approach."

"Enterprise welcomes you. Prepare for docking," the voice said. Somehow, William knew how to maneuver the travel pod into position. There was a satisfying clang as the travel pod latched onto the Enterprise. "Pod secured. Pressure equalized," a synthesized voice said.

Yen Sid was already at the hatch, which was hissing open. "Are you coming or what?" he asked. William stood behind Yen Sid as the doors finished opening. William saw Yen Sid approach a woman who looked familiar.

After Yen Sid finished talking to the woman, she asked, "Is this him?" Yen Sid nodded. From out of nowhere, the woman approached William and extended her hand. "Hello, William. I am Vanellope von Schweetz, and I owe you my life," she said.

::TBC::