Vanellope had settled back on one of Ralph's shoulders as they poked and prodded practically every inch of the place. The game's automated day and night cycle had gone through several cycles already, and she felt exhausted.

"Ralph? I-"

"No, we haven't found it yet, okay?"

She slapped him in annoyance. "That's for interrupting me. Look, we've looked everywhere and I'm exhausted!"

The big lug groaned in annoyance. "How do you think I feel? But we can't just give up!"

She hesitated before speaking again. "I'm not saying we do, stinky breath. But you have to go back to the arcade soon. We can't look for her forever," she pointed out.

"I… I know. You're right. But we can't just leave this be!" He practically yelled. Exhausted, Ralph took a seat on the floor and sighed. "It's too important, kid."

Vanellope glitched in annoyance and nodded. Running on fumes, she settled onto the back of Ralph's head and snuggled her head in, using it as a makeshift pillow. "I know, Stink Brain. I know," she said, sounding incredibly tired.

"Heh, am I losin' ya, Pixie Princess?"

She yawned, her voice squeaking a tad. "I usually take a na- Uh, I mean I'm just pretty tired is all," she finished quickly. She could feel her cheeks light on fire from the embarrassing slip.

Ralph nodded and shrugged. "Sorry, but no naps today," he said with a chuckle.

Vanellope groaned. "Stupid big mouth."

"You know even adults take naps, right?" he exclaimed with another amused chuckle. He climbed up on top of a strange-looking bunker style building with a loud clang.

"Yeah, if you're a big diaper baby," she mumbled. I really do want a nap. Stupid sleep… she thought with a sigh.

"Uh-huh." Sighing himself, Ralph took a seat on top of the bunker and looked around. "Okay, kid, I need you to think."

"This must be a new experience for you."

"Be serious for a second, please. If you were… uh you, where would you hide?"

Vanellope slowly slid down Ralph's back in a comical manner and shrugged. "Giant volcano?"

"In this game, Vanellope," he said with a slightly irritable mood.

"I don't know! If I was stuck in this game, I'd stick near the entrance. It's the only clean place about Fallout," she shot back. "Or maybe this bunker, the roof is kind of comfortable."

She patted the metal flooring and shrugged. "Or I'd hole out in that hole over there. Looks just as creepy as anything else…"

"Hole?" Ralph blinked and looked all around the bunker. Poking and prodding it and going so far as to crawl on the roof just to check every square inch of the place.

"Uh, Ralph? Did you break your brain or something? What are you doing?"

She watched Ralph shake his head and stared back at her, confused. "You said there was a hole? What hole?"

Vanellope blinked and raised her eyebrow in his direction. "Do you need some water or something, bozzo? It's right there," she said, pointing to the obvious opening on the roof.

Ralph was seen pinching the bridge of his nose. "Kid, this isn't a game. There is no hole there, just a solid roof… thing!"

Glitching a bit in nervousness, Vanellope stood up and shook her head. "Are you sure you didn't drink some of that rancid water or something? Look, there's a big hole right here!" she screamed, pointing right in front of her.

Ralph took a very deep breath and placed his hand in the apparent hole and, as expected from the big goon, nothing happened. Vanellope saw his hand hover over the hole that she saw, but it couldn't reach through. LIke something blocked it.

"See, no hole, pixie brain. Now, can we please stop it with the games and-"

Feeling very annoyed and irritated at the big lug, she wasted no time in jumping right into the whole. She landed inside of the bunker with a loud thump. "See?!"

"What in the world- Did you glitch through there?!"

Vanellope rolled her eyes and jumped back through the hole. "No. I just went through it, there's a whole room down there, stink brain."

Ralph still looked rather annoyed and pointed his large finger at her. "I saw you glitch through the ho- ceiling. I saw your glitch power thing!"

She blinked. What's with him? "I swear on your fathead, I did not glitch!"

"Oh yeah? Then how can… how are you doing that?"

Vanellope had sat down and was swinging her little legs in and out of the bizarre hole. "Doing what?! Sitting?"

He leaned down and stared at her feet which made Vanelllope back up in fear. "You know those aren't actually candy, right?"

She watched Ralph blink and then she saw him rub his eyes several times. "Y… you're swinging your legs back and forth into the ceiling. That's solid!"

Okay, I'm worried, she thought with a shake of her head. She reached up and grabbed his head and then quickly yanked it down to the hole.

"Vanellope! Stop- What?"

As expected, Ralph's head went right through the hole. She watched him look around inside and she smiled. "See, hole! Ralph, hole. Hole, meet Ralph."

Ralph looked around and without warning jumped right in. The entire structure shook and trembled with a loud clunk when he reached the bottom. Feeling confused, Vanellope jumped down with him.

"What was that about?!" Vanellope squeaked in confusion.

She saw Ralph looking up at the roof. He squinted and sighed. "Kid, I don't get it. I can't glitch through stuff and I don't see a hole at all! It doesn't make any sense."

Tilting her head in confusion, Vanellope looked around and shrugged. "I dunno, stink breath. I can see one just fine. Hey, what's that?"

She pointed up and Ralph followed her finger. They found a strange-looking mechanical device that certainly looked like it belonged in Fallout. Stretched out across the whole was a web of strange-looking holographic projections all generated by a ring that ended in what looked like a handheld computer device that had been haphazardly jammed into the wall. Vanellope squinted her eyes and read on the device Pip-Boy. On the monochrome green computer screen, a series of numbers and words would scroll by at an impossible rate.

"Kind of looks like someone jammed this Pip thingy open," Ralph said. "There's more wires around that thing than the code vault in your place!"

She nodded and glanced at it one more time. "There's something else," she exclaimed and pointed off to the side. Ralph followed another wire which ended in a strange-looking power connector that had been attached to a ribbon.

"Wait, Ralph. That's my candy ribbon!"

Ralph examined the thing and, sure enough, it resembled her red licorice style ribbon right down to the candy coating and style. "Well, 'least we know we're in the right place," he said with a shrug.

"Yeah, I guess. But what's this for? Why all of this…" she trailed off and examined the hole and looked back at the ribbon. Vanellope did this a few more times and then smacked the side of her head. "Oh doy, it's a cloaking device!"

"A what?"

"Cloaking device. We don't have 'em in Slaughter Race, but Shank's told me that some games use them. It makes it so you can't see something… uh or something. I wasn't paying attention when she talked about it," she admitted sheepishly. "Van must have set one up to cloak her hideout."

Vanellope smirked slightly and met Ralph's eyes. "Clever girl."

"But, why can you see through this cloak thing and I can't?"

"Hmm, good question." Vanellope looked back at the connected ribbon and then felt behind her head. "Maybe it has to do with her ribbon? Like you need the same one to enter?"

"Well, I guess that makes sense. Whatever, we're here so good job, President Fart Feathers."

She bowed and giggled. "Thank you, Sir FatHead."

Vanellope glanced around the place and immediately hated what she saw. A broken down, mushy looking old mattress along with several dented lockers covered in grime. The mint racer studied one of the metal doors and quickly backed up, bumping her head on Ralph's foot.

"What is with this place and b- b- blood! I hate it!" she squealed.

"Hey, hey! Relax," Ralph commanded, but she wouldn't listen.

Vanellope continued to stare at the dented, bloodied locker and shook her head. She could feel herself breathing harder and faster, but she didn't care. Nothing would calm her down, but she had to try! Suddenly she felt a warm presence on the back of her head. She glanced up and saw Ralph give her a comforting smile which she reluctantly returned.

"I'm not gonna leave ya, kid. Not with all of this creepy stuff here. Now, let's do some investigating."

She moaned in annoyance but nodded. "Whatever we do, make it quick please."

Ralph nodded and started poking around more. He opened up the first locker very slowly, but all the tension left when they saw nothing but discarded soda bottles and old drugged canisters left inside.

"Lovely," Vanellope said. Feeling a bit braver, she leaped forward to open the second one, but its contents made them both pause.

Inside there were some items that could only be described as personal. There wasn't a whole lot, but they found several weapon looking things that clearly belonged in Fallout, along with several photographs that had been hung up on the locker's door. Vanellope couldn't help herself when she plucked one just within her reach and studied it.

It showed, well, her. It was none other than Princess Vanellope von Schweetz standing next to what she presumed to be very good friends of hers. One Taffyta Muttonfudge and Adorabeezle Winterpop standing next to her looking awfully comfortable. The three were smiling with hands joined together. Something about it seemed serene.

"I don't think I've seen you smile like that in ages, kid."

Vanellope blinked and blushed. She quickly wiped the dumb smile off her face and set the photo down. "Whatever," she said, trying to play it cool.

"Right. Well, I guess we found her hideout. Should be useful at least."

The racer nodded, but inside the photo bounced around her skull. It was a sobering moment and made her feel uneasy, if not a bit sad.

"M- maybe we should head back now, Ralph. Okay?" she pleased rather slowly. She could feel what was left of her energy long ago spent.

She watched him check his internet phone for the time and he slowly nodded. "Yeah, yeah I think we should probably head back. Good going, ya little brat. And I mean it, nice job."

She showed his massive hands away but she couldn't deny that the few playful pats to her head did feel really nice. Even if it made her feel a bit silly.

"Thank you, sir fart feathers. Now then, onward!" she exclaimed and glitched up to his shoulder. The familiar buzzing feeling spread a pleasant tingling sensation that she wouldn't give up for the world.

"Now, which way out of this place?" Ralph said while glancing around.

Vanellope merely rolled her eyes and pointed up.

"Oh, right."

Van rubbed her eyes and let loose an earth-shattering yawn. Ever since she had tossed the can away, she had steadily become more and more exhausted. She stumbled through a few game characters who gave her odd stares, but she paid them no mind. At first, seeing a massive arcade bustling with other characters and endless games plugged into the same station had been shocking to her, but then Van's often fuzzy memory started to re-surface. It was just another arcade, nothing special, even if she hadn't been in an active one in ages.

She held her head low and just kept telling herself she could rest soon. She even caught herself practically drooling when glancing at a few public benches off in the distance. Van promptly smacked herself after that.

Keep it together, just deliver the stupid thing and leave…

Despite herself, Van would occasionally linger near the entrance of a game. Studying the strange graffiti on the wall or looking at several of the passing game characters brought up very old memories. Ones that filled her gut with an equal sense of dread and warm nostalgia. It twisted her stomach in two and she hated that feeling, yet a big part of her just couldn't help herself, even if she constantly had the nagging feeling that she was doing something wrong. Grunting in annoyance, she swiftly shook her head and decided to march to her destination.

Van turned a corner and suddenly felt an immense sensation of exhaustion ripple through her body. When it was over with, her eyes felt like they were burning and a few minor glitches sizzled off of her clothing. Overall, it wasn't awful, but it left her feeling less than ideal. Sighing, she trudged forward and re-read the quest contract on her Pip-Boy. A few more tiny glitches were set off and she started feeling nervous that someone was following her. Glitched characters weren't often welcome in another character's game.

"Fix-It Felix Jr.? That's a weird name for a game…" she mumbled.

Shrugging, Van brushed off her dirty clothes and walked over toward the middle of the place before spotting the game in question. With a small gulp, she walked into the doorway and nearly shrieked in shock when something blue looking materialized out of normal.

"Name?" he asked in a monotone voice.

It was a short, balding man wearing a strange security outfit and not even bothering to glance at her with his own eyes; choosing instead to study his clipboard. She blinked and went to walk ahead, but a gentle push from him caused Van to stop.

"Name?" he repeated.

"What's it to ya?"

The strange character sighed. "Just answer the question, please, I'm just doing my job."

"Van," she quickly replied while tapping her right foot in annoyance.

"Uh-huh. Game you're coming from?"

"None," she said quietly.

"You and I both know that is not true, Vanellope. Just answer the question please."

Feeling slightly more than irritated, Van glared at the shimmering man and sighed. "Sugar Rush…" she hissed out.

"Thank you, any fruits or vegetables?"

Van glanced at her delivery package and looked it over. "Probably," she said with a shrug.

This caused the surge protector thingy to pause and glanced at her, for once. He blinked a few times and actually wiped his eyes a few times. "I, uh…"

"Can I just go in now so I can finish my job?"

He blinked and glanced back at the entrance. "...Yes, I suppose."

"Finally! Bye!" she went to leave but it didn't take the annoying protector long to materialize in front of her, again.

"Are you alright? You seem… off," he said.

She groaned. "I'm fine! I would be better if you just got out of my way and let me do my job, okay?!"

She had worked herself up into a panting fit and was huffing and glaring again and again. Van suddenly felt incredibly dizzy, but she stood strong and leaned against a nearby wall. Her eye twitched several times and she felt a few more glitches tickle onto her clothes.

With wide eyes, Surge could only nod and back up slightly. "R- right. S- see you," he mumbled and suddenly disappeared.

Van took a few minutes to compose herself and slowly got back onto her feet. The dizziness remained, but it wasn't so bad that she couldn't hop onto the strange trolly which quickly whisked her into the game. A small little crash later and she hopped out of the train. Still quite dizzy, Van quickly took a seat and moaned. She reached up for her hair and scratched around, trying to net any comfort she could. Every part of her was in pain, and all she really wanted was sleep. Sleep and enough food to stuff a super mutant.

She glanced down at her package and gave it a curious once over. "Just a few more feet and the job's done," she slurred. "Oh, I need a Nuka Cola or somethin'."

She stumbled a few times and eventually after the world righted itself, her vision cleared and she could see what she was dealing with. What she saw was incredibly lackluster looking. She didn't even know how a game that old was still operating! "This looks older than that Turbo guy," she mumbled.

The game was barely large enough to allow for a quick jog and the main building looked as pixelated as half the characters out in their Game Central. Only more pixelated, somehow. She did have to admit, though, that the apartment was almost impressive looking with its massive height and bright and cheery glow.

With another heavy sigh, she stumbled forward and opened the front door. "In we go…"

Author's Notes: What can I say except I am sorry for the wait. I've hit massive writing blocks lately and I've hit this sort of critical point in the game that I've been working on, it requires a lot of my attention. But I can't just leave this story to rot, I love it too much. I hope you all enjoy it.