"You know, you'd think a massive complex that was controlled by nothing but killer robot butlers would be easier to find."

Vanellope yawned while learning on the wrecker's head for support. "Don't ask me. Just going by what she said. I don't even know what a butler is."

"It's a… ah, well… you know!"

The racer blinked and shook her head. "Uh, no, I really don't."

"It's kind of like Sour Bill. They dress funny, grow strange looking mustaches and let you order them around."

She nodded. "Oh! Quite the job description! Oh, oh! Maybe we can get a butler for Sour Bill when I go… uh nevermind," she finished with a sigh.

"Hmm, uh-huh? Am I losing you, pixie?"

He waved his hand in front of her face, causing her to shove it away in annoyance.

"Quit it! Just thinking."

"That's-"

"Dangerous, yeah. Thanks," she mumbled.

Ralph chuckled just a bit. "Did ya, um, forget what game you-"

"No, I did not. Thank you," she muttered, seething a bit in anger. Though the girl's pouting face made it very difficult to take her seriously.

"Woah. Didn't mean anything by it."

She nodded rather gloomily and the duo continued their trek. The silence was easily broken up by Ralph's power suit, creaking and groaning the quicker they walked. The wrecker glanced down at his pixie and considered saying something, but decided to ultimately let her be.

"Ralph?"

The power armor screeched to a halt and he glanced down again.

"Yeah, kid?"

"Do you think…" The girl trailed off and searched all around as if looking at people that weren't actually there. "I mean, about Sugar-"

Whatever she was about to say was cut short by a loud explosion that had gone off dangerously close to the duo. Vanellope yelped as Ralph suddenly grabbed the girl and lugged her onto his shoulder.

"Hey! Watch it, grabby hands!"

"Sorry, kid! But that doesn't sound safe and I'm not taking any chances!"

"I can take care of my- woah!"

Vanellope suddenly screamed as Ralph neared a cliff and screeched to a halt. The duo glanced down over and gasped from the sheer height of a broken up bridge they now stood over, but they also couldn't help but glance at the party below them.

Knee deep in blood and combat were a few of the online players of the game, indicated by their strange user tags which floated above their avatar's heads. What exactly they were doing wasn't immediately apparent to the duo, but it soon came clear. They would kill a few random enemies, loot their bodies, and move on.

"Ah, I guess they're grinding," Vanellope commented with a yawn.

"What the heck is that?"

"Eh, lots of players do it in my game. They gain experience and new stuff just by playing longer and longer. Or in this case, uh, killing," she said rather casually. Though Ralph noted that there was a bit of unease in her words.

"Right, well we should wait for them to leave. I think the place is right over that cliff up ahead," Ralph noted.

So the duo sighed and waited and waited. The players continued to do this over and over until finally one of them looked down at their wrist and clicked something. In the blink of an eye, they all vanished into thin air.

"What in the hay was that! They can disappear?!" Vanellope squeaked.

Ralph shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "No clue, but I don't hear anything so I say let's go for it."

"Whatever you say, grabby hands."

Van always took precautions when going out. Well… usually. There was the odd occasion when she threw all caution to the wind, especially on her days off. Just thinking about strolling through the internet, high as a kite while guzzling some Nuka Colas. Thinking about it alone made her feel so giddy. Though there was always the other part of her that prompted her to cower in fear because she knew what drugs were doing to her.

Nervously, she could sense the tips of her fingers edging along the outline of her lips. She could feel it: a primal, childish feeling to give in and just stick her thumb in so she could have something… anything to calm her nerves.

Then, she pulled away and scowled at her fingers. Without thinking, she punched the nearby locker and yelped in shock.

"Stupid habit! Stupid thumb!" she screamed, with each succession of the word stupid, she punched her chest in raw, unbridled anger. "Stupid nerves! Stupid game! Stupid players! Stupid everything!"

It was an incredibly stupid thing to do and with each punch, a particularly painful glitch ravaged her little body. She could even feel blood.

She paused mid punch and looked at her now bruised fist and whimpered. Should have just given in… so stupid!

Then, without warning, all of the outside noise just stopped. Thinking quickly, she donned her pipboy and looked around the map. While it wasn't always particularly accurate, it usually displayed where players were. She saw nothing. At least, nothing in her area anymore.

Then the hatred and adrenaline that had been flooding her body ceased. The raw and painful glitches all around her body slowly stopped and she sighed. She could feel a few bruises all over her chest as her skin and muscles screamed in pain.

"Stupid me…" she whispered.

"Little one, sorry to disturb you after such a stressful job. I was wondering if you wanted another? Perhaps something to keep your mind off such a dark place."

"Hmm?" Van scratched her head and mulled it over in her mind.

"Uh, as long as it doesn't involve getting punched in the face…" Or hitting myself.

There was a long and eerie silence that was swiftly followed by his voice again. "She did… ahem. Forgive me then and no this is a simple delivery job. Some occupants in a connected arcade had ordered some parcels from a few websites. If you're willing to accept, then the quest contract can be found in your stash box. The expiration date is forty-eight hours. It's up to you."

"Oh, uh, thanks, boss. I'll think about it," Van mumbled and took a seat on her bed.

"Splendid, but for now, communication terminated."

With that, the radio went silent. Van mulled over her thoughts and quickly realized something, she didn't really have any. Sure, she was looking forward to her 'treats' and just chilling while she got bored, yet again, but somehow she just didn't feel like that anymore. With a heavy sigh, she reached into a locker and brought out a jar that was labeled Healing Salve.

She made quick work of the stuff all over her chest and hands as a mind-numbing pleasure radiated through her little body.

With that done and no players detected, Van slowly lowered herself into her cozy bed and glanced up at the ceiling. Content to simply stare at the blinking and glowing designs of her bunker with dozens upon dozens of fake animated computers blinking away while creating just enough noise to almost lull her to sleep.

Then she glanced over at her miniaturized stash box; a simple-looking ornate box with a customized theme to it not found in the game's files. Black licorice etching. It always made her smile and reminded her of good times long past.

I never thanked him for this… she thought with a depressive sigh. She tried to think back to when they first met and her memories felt awfully fuzzy. Things like that often bothered her deep down, but it was so easy to just dismiss her emotions with a nice drug. Trouble was, she couldn't even remember the first time she took the damn things.

Whatever, this is my life, she thought depressively.

Her fingers gently pushed alongside her stash box and with a heavy sigh, she opened it. "Delivery job, huh? Fine. Better than sitting here in the dark."

She picked up the quest contract disc and read the contents to herself. It seemed simple enough. Apparently someone had ordered some digital parts and wanted it delivered to their game. With a shrug, she donned her bag and grabbed a few things for the road before leaving the safety of her underground vault.

When the duo finally arrived they looked bewildered. Dozens upon dozens of robots laid in shambles. Broken, glitching, or outright destroyed while a few others whirled about their business as if nothing was wrong. The massive golf course landscape meanwhile looked none worse for the wear and for a post-apocalyptic setting, it seemed fairly intact. Even the massive white building in the center didn't look destroyed in the slightest.

Vanellope scoffed. "Uh, is it supposed to look like that?"

"I dunno, that other robot did warn me that Fallout can be a bit… chaotic. I guess we can ask around for her. I mean, I don't see any danger, do you?" Ralph asked.

"Eh, not really. But what do I know, I'm just a dumb kid," she mumbled rather bitterly.

"No one said you were dumb, Vanellope. A kid? Sure. A brat? Of course." She gave him an annoyed stare from that. "But never dumb."

As they walked, Vanellope stayed silent for a while though seemingly deep in thought. "I feel pretty dumb."

"Hey, you're not the one doing drugs. so what's this I hear about being stupid?"

She buttoned her lip and looked away before shrugging. "Um, do you think S- Sugar Rush is doing okay?"

The clanking of his power suit suddenly ceased and he paused. "You really wanna know?" he asked and she gave a hesitant nod. "Honestly, kid, never better!"

Vanellope blinked in utter confusion. How could that be?! "Wh- what do you mean?" she asked rather nervously.

Ralph smirked. "Taffyta and uh what's her name… Crumbelina teamed up to run the place. After that, they made a few changes to the random roster race and fixed up the castle a bit. I guess it made the kids happier which made them race better on the track. It got the players super excited to have a new challenge. Sugar Rush hasn't been that popular in years."

Vanellope gave a pensive nod in reply. "Oh, t- that's good to hear," she replied without much emotion.

"Uh, you okay? Your eye is glitching a bit," Ralph pointed out.

She shook her head and clutched her right eye with her hand to calm it down. "Yeah, uh, I'm fine," she said with a fake smile.

"Uh, you don't seem fine, munchkin butt. What's eatin' ya?"

She shrugged while not meeting his eye and felt content to simply stare off at some of the worker robots, just doing their thing. "I, um, I just didn't think they would… uh."

"They? You mean your friends?" he prodded.

"Friends?" she mumbled. I don't think they like me that much as a friend. I know Taffyta definitely didn't after I kicked her butt a million times on the track!

"Hey, look, it's a giant mutant wreaking havoc on the place!" Vanellope suddenly screamed while pointing off into the distance.

Ralph glanced over and, sure enough, there was a massive super mutant doing its best to destroy everything in its path. But since it hadn't noticed them, he simply sighed. "Nice try, pixie head. C'mon, what's bothering you?" he pressed.

She took a quick glance up at him and had to resist the urge not to glitch out of sheer nerve. "What? No- nothing! I'm serious!" she said, though she quickly noted that the tone of her voice shot up an octave higher than she would have liked to. Good going, idiot, she thought with an inward sigh.

She saw the big goof pinch the bridge of his nose which was never a good sign. She was already in enough hot water as it was and tried to stay calm, but something about Sugar Rush was getting to her.

"Look, kid, I can't help ya if you don't talk. You're my friend and friends help each other out. Right?"

"Right!" she said with a comical salute.

"So?"

"Uh, the mutant just smashed a robot's head in," she noted.

"..."

"Vanellope…" he said with a very annoyed tone.

She felt her body glitch a few times and she slumped onto his shoulder. "I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"Oh yeah? Well, I do, president fart feathers!" he almost yelled while carefully placing her on the ground.

"You're not the boss of me!" she warned. What the hay is his problem? I said to lay off it!

"Oh no? How about we give up right now and I walk you back to Shank's place. You're not even supposed to be here and you promised me-"

"I didn- didn't promise squat! I said I'd stay for you… I- I didn't promise," she stuttered very nervously. She could sense some of her emotions spiraling out of control as she felt her nerves get the better of her. Guilt and anguish continued to toy with her as the conversation went on. She was digging herself a bigger hole and couldn't help herself.

"You didn't?" he actually paused at that and for a fleeting moment, Vanellope felt her hopes soar that he'd finally just drop it.

"No. I never made a promise, Ralph. C- can we please just drop this right now? It's not exactly the best time to talk!" she said while pointing to the rampaging super mutant that kept getting closer and closer.

She felt her body glitch again as he seemed to contemplate her like he was examining a strange dish that Gene had cooked. Until, finally, he sighed.

"Aw, I'm sorry, kid. I just want what's best for you."

Oh, Ralph… she thought. Shaking her head, the racer glitched up to his shoulder and carefully took a seat before patting the side of his head. "I know. I just… I just don't want to think about this right now. How about later?" she offered. She felt stupid for even saying it but honestly didn't think that Ralph was gonna let it go so easily.

"I- oh alright, later. But please don't hold stuff in, pixie princess. It's what… it…" Ralph trailed off and looked away rather shamefully.

"What? It's what…?" she tried and he groaned.

"Okay, look. I'm not saying you're gonna go down that path but-"

"What path? Is it like a race path? Dirt path? What kind of path are we talking about here?"

Ralph took his large fist and slowly brought his fingers down across his face before groaning in exhaustion.

"And why are you always doing that to me? What'd I do? I just wanted to know what you mean!"

"Vanellope," he started which caused her to glitch again. "It's an expression. My point is that part of the reason that I did that incredibly stupid virus thing-"

"Oh, man was that dumb, Ralphy boy. Probably stupider than making that custom track without thinking that through."

His face reddened significantly higher, but she couldn't help herself. "Or dumber than me breaking rank during a live quarter game to drive on it."

"Van-"

"Oh, oh! Or breaking my kart because of Turbo Butt-"

"I get it!" he screamed, causing her body to glitch in a few places yet again. She nervously laughed and quickly buttoned her lip.

"Just please let me finish," he said after a few calming breaths. She quickly nodded and resisted the urge to tell him that his breath had smelled like three-day-old hamburgers. "One of the reasons I did it was because I was stupid and didn't talk to you about my… you know… feelings."

"Ew, Ralph! Stop being a mushy head!"

"Arrg! I know, I'm awful. But, do you get it at least?"

The pixie sighed and slowly nodded. "I think so. Look, if it'll get yer gears out of a grind, I promise to talk to you about it later. Okay?"

She even offered him her little pinkie which he comically tried to wrap around with his own, leading her to giggle. He smiled and nodded.

"Alright, kid. Fine. Let's just go finish this already."

"Right!" she exclaimed and glitched to the top of his head. "Onward, trusty steed. We've got a drugged-out princess to save!"

"Vanellope."

"Yes?"

"Get off my head."

"No."

Van climbed out of her hideout and quickly shut the hatch door shut. As she did, the girl couldn't help but examine the rusted out shelter with a tiny smile. Sure, she hated Fallout far worse than anything she had ever experienced on the web, but her place had a certain charm to it. And while it wasn't much and certainly wasn't anywhere near as elaborate, fancy or well-furnished as her old castle. Well, it was hers and she was the one that had built it up.

"I mean… boss helped some, but still."

Her code was not compatible with Fallout's server or code. Nothing about the game really screamed her and no matter how many times she tried, the main features of the game remained locked off to her. Sure, she could use weapons and armor and items, but she had nowhere near the same agency as players did. She couldn't even use her pip-boy to fast travel to other locations; always being relegated to walking.

Players could do insane things like build houses and structures all to their liking, but that feature set remained wholly locked off from Van. This meant when it came to her hideout, she had to get creative. Thankfully, Fallout had no lack of shrubbery, dead trees, old leaves, and plenty of other scenery objects that she could affect and move. Looking around to make sure the coast was clear of players, she quickly gathered up some random pieces of junk - empty Nuka Cola bottles, salt shakers, dead pieces of shrubbery and a few other odd pieces to pile on the sealed doorway to her hideout.

With that done she could make her way to the game's exit. If only I didn't live so far from it…

That as one thing that wasn't so great about her hideout, being so far from the game's exit made it rather dangerous. Her boss had warned her, on numerous occasions to always practice her way out. Just in case there was an emergency shut down of the game's servers. Something that apparently used to happen a lot when the game first launched.

Not that I have much choice… she thought with a depressive sigh. The internet wasn't always the safest place for anyone least of all her. She hated thinking about it, but deep down she knew that a simple virus scanner program would mistake her for something wretched and wouldn't hesitate to delete her. But she knew, she knew that she wasn't some horrible virus. Even as she thought this, parts of her body twitched and electrified with a sickening red glow which was followed up by stinging pain. Biting her lip to ignore the pain, she trudged on while trying to focus on the task at hand.

Her thoughts began to wander, and it became very difficult to focus. I'm not a virus! she thought. Just the mere idea angered her. She saw how others glanced at her on the internet, judging her every move. LIke she was gonna explode! The girl clenched her fists and continued to apply more and more pressure until she felt her fingernails break skin. Warm, wet blood could be felt all over her fingers as a torrent of red glitching vibrated through her arm.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch!" she screamed while the stinging pain continued. "I'm so stupid!"

Without thinking, she brought her now blooded hand to her forehead and continued to pound it again and again. "Stop glitching! Stop it!" she shouted. She was beyond livid with herself.

More red glitches swam around her body, but with every hit, she could sense the pain subsiding while everything seemed to slowly come under her control. Tears of anguish poured down her face though she was quick to wipe them away. Finally, after a few minutes of agonizing pain which seemed to last an eternity, it stopped. She was only five minutes away from her hideout and already she felt like a dirty, bloodied mess.

With a heavy sigh, Van trudged forward toward her goal. "I hate my life…"

"We found her yet?"

Ralph had spent the last fifteen minutes poking around the golf course. Looking for anything that seemed out of the ordinary since Vanellope had quickly pointed out that if she did live there, and she didn't belong there, it had to be a secret hideout.

He sighed. "No."

Vanellope scampered up back to his head and quickly lowered hers so they were face to face as she hung upside down. "How about now?"

"I can't see now and no!"

She giggled and leaned back while hugging his massive head for support. "You'd think this would be easier to find. But look at this place! It's messier than Tappers on a Saturday night!" Vanellope exclaimed while surveying the massive landfills of trash and other miscellaneous Fallout themed objects that were strewn everywhere and on everything. There wasn't a building in sight that didn't look at least a little dirty.

"Leapin gumballs! What's that smell?! It's horrible!" She covered her little nose with her hand which gave her voice a nasally sound, but she didn't care. "Smells worse than your breath a million times over, oh Sega it stinks!" she yelled. Tears started appearing in her eyes while her nostrils and throat started to sting.

"I don't…" he trailed off and glanced inside one of the half-destroyed homes that seemed to have a strange-looking keypad on the outside. In fact, all of them did and a quick check proved them all to be locked. But inside was what gave the two pause. A massive corpse of a twisted and broken mutant that had been half destroyed into a puddle of oozing green liquid, while the less destroyed side oozed and pussed with rotting skin and sickening blood.

"R- Ralph? C- can we lea- leave please?"

She felt her body shake and everything around her seemed to grow as sickening as the sight before them. She couldn't help herself. She knew it was just code and that no one had actually gotten hurt, but deep down something in her stirred. Vanellope clutched her head and started breathing out of control. It's not real, it's not real, it's not real!

The racer felt the ground around them rumble and she could just barely make out that they were moving, but she didn't care. She kept repeating the mantra in her head, but no matter how much she told herself that it wasn't real, it still felt real.

"Hey, uh, kid? We're away from the smell. You okay?"

Her body continued to shake out of control. It didn't matter that the smell was supposedly gone, she could still sense it. Clear as day. Facing Turbo on a bad day would have been preferable to seeing that, she decided.

Suddenly, her whole world brightened significantly as a farm, fuzzy feeling radiated throughout her form. She blinked and glanced down to find Ralph smiling at her and giving her a hug. Vanellope blinked and sniffled a bit.

"Uh, s- sorry, big guy," she said. What the heck was that, girl?

"You okay. Seriously, are you okay?"

She hesitated and gave a pensive nod. "Uh, I am now. T- thanks. I don't know what came over me."

Ralph squinted his eyes and examined her all over, making her blush. "You seem fine. Does, uh, Slaughter Race not have anything like that?"

"N- no blood," she said. "It's not like I can't handle that!" she exclaimed, though her voice squeaked a tad.

"Right," he replied.

She pouted and shook her head. She could feel her cheeks warming and she hated that feeling. "It was just really, um…" she tried to search for the right word but she had it all along. "Scary. Okay, that was kind of scary."

"Oh? That's mighty mature of you for admitting that, princess."

She scowled. "Ew! Next, you'll be telling me I should act more proper, like Gene or something."

Ralph scoffed and shook his head. "Fat chance. But I meant it, girl. It's okay to be scared, you know."

Shamefully, Vanellope pinched the bridge of her nose and looked away. "Yes, thank you. Can we just keep looking now?"

"Sure kid, sure."

By the time Van had reached the portal exit, she felt exhausted. Fallout's sun and weather system may have been virtual, but to her, they felt all too real. Just a little more.

The final fifty feet that ended outside the portal left her worn out and she had no choice but to sit on the ground so she could catch her breath. "When was the last time I slept?"

If I don't count being knocked out… forever ago, she admitted in her head. Thankfully, while the internet had no end of virus scanners all over, the in-between spaces of programs and the web were usually safe. So safe in fact that she had spent many a night just drifting between door to door, itching to find a peaceful place so she could rest.

"Not much in the way of beds or bathrooms though…" she mumbled depressingly. But it was truly better than nothing.

The ex-racer took a seat on the cold floor and sighed. "Just need to rest for a minute. Just a minute," she assured herself. A horrible weight of guilt, worry, and anguish about everything seemed far less important. Just the very act of resting to her brought up a hint of joy which was always rare. At least she thought so.

With no use for the Pip-Boy, she set it in her little backpack and slowly brought her arm up so her head could rest on it. "Just a little rest…"

While it was a terrible idea, Van could sense sleep overtake her. Do I even wanna sleep?

She pondered her predicament while her mind struggled to stay awake. Just thinking about sleep brought back some painful memories that she would rather forget.

"What is this? Boss! W- what's going on?!"

Van blinked awake, unaware of how long she had dozed off. "Don't think about that day…" she hissed to herself. It was a stupid painful memory but she couldn't stop thinking about it if she tried. "Don't…"

"-Sorry, but it would appear that a part of your code is corrupted-"

"Stop!"

"-Need to be far more careful-"

"-Deletion is a possibility on the net-"

Over and over her memories poured from her mind. With everyone, Van pounded her head on the concrete floor. It served as an incredibly poor substitute for a nice drug, but after a while, it did the job. After three solid minutes of what she would consider to be torture, it was over with. The memories stopped and her glitching ceased. The pain remained, but that was to be expected.

With a trembling hand, she felt up to her forehead and sighed in relief. "No blood this time… yay," she said with very little enthusiasm. She considered using one of her comfort canisters, but that was very dangerous thinking.

"I don't even know how I got out that day… running into that big weird guy." she shuddered at the thought.

If there was one rule when it came to her little comfort it was that you never did it outside of a program or game. It was just too dangerous and you could end up wandering anywhere.

Or into anyone, she thought miserably. Still…

She brought her bag toward her face and dug into the pack, rummaging around. She wasn't really even sure why she was bothering, but a part of her needed to see that they were there. Finally, her hand brushed alongside a few dark green metal canisters and she let go of the breath she didn't know she was holding. She couldn't describe just how warm and fuzzy they made her feel and for a single moment, everything felt fully at peace.

Suddenly a massive slamming noise caused Van's heart to jump out of her skin. She looked up, shocked to see a human hand poking out of the game's portal entrance. Almost as if it were trying to claw its way out, but couldn't quite manage. A sickening red glitch started to interact with Fallout's entrance portal and the stranger's hand.

"LET ME OUT! YOU LET US DIE!"

Van's felt her eye twitch from fear and she resisted the urge to scream. Even if she really, really wanted to.

Sh- it can't get out. It's a glitch. It can't get out. It can't get out. It can't get out!

Then she saw the hand reach out even further and that's when she bolted for it back into the internet, all the while thinking how things had gotten so bad. Tears and pain had become so commonplace that it hardly even phased her. She felt like crying and certainly almost did, but what would be the point?

After minutes of running, she slowly slumped down onto the floor. All the while various games and internet avatars looked on in pity. She couldn't even work up the nerve to scowl at them.

Can't be real. She can't be real!

She clutched her head in fear. Had she just unleashed a virus into Fallout? Could she even come back?! "T- they'll do a- an emergency patch. A- and everything will be fine," she assured herself. While she spoke, her trembling hands caressed one of her comfort canisters. Inside her backpack, however, something caught her eye. A beeping quest contract disc.

Should I contact him? He told me to relax.

She thought about and quickly scowled. "He didn't even believe me. Forget it."

The contract continued to beep and with a heavy sigh, she picked it up. "I guess it might keep my mind off of this."

Still, even as she spoke, she continued to glance around nervously. Wondering if a zombie monster virus version of her long-dead friend was going to jump her. Her other hand clutched onto a Fallout plasma rifle found in her bag. She clutched it very tightly.

Authors Notes:

And there we have it. A new chapter and it only took me... infinity to finish it. I have my reasons: Work, other stories, being a perfectionist, always striving to be a better writer which usually causes me to overthink things, working on a video game solo. Etc...

I also tried an experimental story that I swiftly deleted. I don't think anyone was interested and I personally wasn't all too impressed with my work. I held back too much, maybe.

I re-wrote plenty of this chapter several times and it's all been mental torture for me, but hopefully, you all enjoyed it. On another note, Fallout 76 finally has NPCs! It's still not a great game by any stretch of the imagination and has more glitches than Van on a drug trip (I'm awful), but it was a free update and it's kind of fun. I am sad that they didn't replace all of the robot NPCs with real ones like Rose, but whatever. I guessed wrong, so sue me.

Thank you all for reading my work and sticking with me. If anyone wishes to join a Wreck-It Ralph! Themed Discord server then send me a PM.