It just wasn't happening. Despite the day's events exhausting him in both body and mind, the welcoming staff and the wonderfully soft bed, Sora just couldn't fall asleep, no matter what he tried. Covers on, covers off, on the side, on the front, on the back, facing the other way… nothing was working.

Of course, there were several things that weren't helping. Goofy's snoring could be heard from the next town, forget the next room, while this stupid glitch thing had him 'falling' out of the bed every half an hour or so. There was one time where he half dozed off and found himself in the adjacent cupboard, still wrapped up in the bedsheets. His patience had just about had it.

Oh, and there was the feeling that he was being watched. Constantly. From the moment the three of them had signed into this motel for the night, Sora couldn't shake off the feeling of someone analysing his every move. Maybe that King Candy guy didn't quite trust him. The feeling was mutual, he supposed, but it was still unnerving, nonetheless. No matter which way he turned, he could swear someone was breathing heavily in the corner, or staring at him from outside, or muttering his name in the distance, and when he finally found a position that promised comfort, the glitch thing would ruin it. It hadn't been this bad since he'd first 'discovered' it upon entering this world. Maybe there was something about this Sugar Rush game that was aggravating it. All the sugar, maybe?

After what must've been about fifty attempts, he was on the verge of giving up. Clammy, sore and frustrated, he was glancing vaguely upwards at the weird pattern on the ceiling. His senses prickled at the hint of heavy breathing in the corner once again, and by this point he must've gotten used to it or something because it just wasn't bothering him any more. Whatever was stalking him was just going to have to watch him stare at the ceiling for a few hours now.

That was until something rattled.

Once again snatched from the clutches of half sleep, Sora's tired eyes twitched when something shook, rolled, and fell from the nightstand to his left. His eyes lidded half open, only to find the blurry glow of something greenish staring right back at him.

"Ung?! What the-!" He gasped, bolting upright. The thing in the corner zapped away in a flash of green light, and Sora collapsed onto the floor, entangled in bedclothes. He flailed himself out of the mess of bedclothes and then threw on what he hoped was a shirt, ready to pursue whatever had just escaped from him.

Keyblade at the ready, he bounded down the carpeted corridors in his bare feet before unlocking the front door – how did they go through it? – and readying his attacking stance outside. Keyblade drawn across his body, he stared vigilantly out into the… nothing.

Try as he might, he couldn't stop the heavy sigh of frustration from leaving him. He was sure he'd seen something. Certain something green and flashy was staring at him while he tried to sleep. Yet after chasing it, the only thing out here to greet him was the occasional chilly breeze.

His shoulders slumped. Conceding defeat, Sora turned and-

"Who are you?!" A voice hissed into his ear. Sora yelped and span around, but again there was no one there.

"I-isn't that my line?" The squeak betrayed him. "L-look, just… just come out from wherever you're hiding. We can t-t-talk about this, okay?"

It was the cold, he kept telling himself. Out on a cold night with barely anything on… what else could it be? Nosiree, he wasn't scared at all.

There was another flash of green, and a familiar face appeared in front of him. Wearing a jade hoodie, a skirt that looked like it was made of a giant cupcake wrapper, and a raven ponytail decorated with literal sprinkles, it suddenly made sense. Sora's keyblade disappeared. This kid wasn't a threat…

"You're… that girl from the racetrack…" Sora was hugging himself to stay warm now. "What do… what do you want with m-me?"

"Oh, nothin'," this girl was a bad liar. "I was just kinda curious, that's all. Y'see, I never met another one like me before!"

"L-like… you?" Sora frowned. Maybe his mind was starting to freeze from this cold, but nothing this kid was saying made any sense.

"Yeah!" She squeaked, her shrill voice carrying for miles in the desolate night. Some lights flickered on in a nearby house, and a cat mewled indignantly, but thankfully it didn't seem to wake anyone.

The girl chuckled to herself and lowered her voice. "I'll just… cut to the chase. I'm Vanellope, pleased to meetcha!"

She held out a hand, which Sora supposed he had to shake. That of course meant removing a layer of warmth from around his middle but hey, politeness dictates and all that. His shaking fingers intertwined with hers, and suddenly there was an impact from deep within him, as if he'd been hit by a bolt of lightning.

The cold serenity of Sugar Rush was quickly blotted out by a dark, greenish black landscape – if he could call it that – seemingly made of blocks and nothing else. From the buildings to the plants to… him, everything in sight was nothing more than rough pixels. Sora yelped again, and quickly let this Vanellope's hand go. With every hasty breath he could intake, a little more reality bled back into their surroundings, until it was as if nothing had happened.

"W-what… was that?!" Sora gasped, clutching at his quivering hands. Simple contact with this kid had messed up reality. Even if it was only for a few seconds, Sora had seen enough bad news like that to last a lifetime.

"I knew it, I knew it!" Vanellope hopped from one foot to the other, punching opposite fists into the air. "I knew you were like me! Isn't it great?!"

"N-no, it's not great! What could be great about that?!" Sora hissed at her.

"It means I'm not alone any more!" Vanellope exclaimed.

"Al… alone?" Sora mumbled. His heart just fell into his stomach. "Is-is that why those cops were trying to grab you yesterday? Because you're… different?"

Vanellope's manic energy had washed out, replaced with a meek smile. "They treat me like I'm some kinda… outcast. All 'cause I gl-gl-glitch sometimes."

As the words left her lips, mottled greenish blocks surrounded her body and her voice took on a metallic tone. An experience Sora was all too familiar with as of late.

"Well… I know why I glitch… I think," Sora knelt down to talk to her properly. "But why do you? Don't you live here?"

"Uh huh…" Vanellope sniffled. "Or at least I think so? My memory's been kinda fuzzy for a while, but I remember racin' around the track with all the other guys. King Candy made me stop, though… he said it was too dangerous for me to race because of my glitching. Apparently we could all get erased if Coin Duty saw me g…glitch…"

Vanellope glowed green again, and suddenly her body shot a couple of feet to the left, leaving Sora little option but to go chase after her.

"But… but you haven't been caught yet, right?" He pondered.

"I hide." Vanellope deadpanned. "E-even if they don't like me, I don't wanna see them all get erased. I-it's… too much of a risk."

Sora brought a hand to his chin and frowned. "I-I get where you're coming from. The last thing you wanna do is put everyone else in danger. Trust me, I've been there. But there's something about this whole thing that sounds kinda fishy. You definitely raced before? A-and no one got hurt then?"

"No, never!" Vanellope threw her arms out. "I-I mean sure, there was the occasional crash or somethin', but what can you expect in a racing game?"

"And that King Candy… he basically runs the place, right?" Sora muttered. "They said something about him adding the new track we uhh… made, into the town charter so that it doesn't mess up Coin Duty or something. Can't he just do that with you?"

"You'd think that wouldn't ya?" Vanellope shrugged. "But apparently it ain't that simple. No one'll talk to me and tell me why it isn't, but if it was I'd be racin' all the time!"

"Yeah, I don't blame you. I mean, what else can you do in a racing game?" Sora said.

"I mostly hide from the cops…" Vanellope looked away. "But hey, now that you're here I might not have to!"

"…huh?" Sora frowned. "You what now?"

"You can help me race again!"

"…how?"

"Well it's simple. King Candy doesn't want me racing, right? But he can't stop you from racing. Say you're doin' it under official business or something, and there's no way he can say no!"

"Huh." A smirk touched on Sora's lips. "I'll… have to swing it by Calhoun – she's my boss lady, sorta – but I might be able to make it work. There's just one problem with that though…"

"W-what's that?" Vanellope stammered. A surge of greenish blocks enveloped Sora, and he disappeared in another flash of light, reappearing a few feet away upside down. He unavoidably crashed onto his head, and the rest of him just curled over with gravity.

"…I glitch too." Sora moped, feet dangling helplessly above his head.

"Hmm…" Vanellope crouched down in front of him and grinned. "Well that's fine. Cause I can teach ya how to control it!"

Sora's lower half fell back to earth with a heavy dunt, and he straightened himself back up again. "You… you can?"

"Well I taught myself, didn't I?!" Vanellope cried. "Not here, though. They'll see us. Follow me!"

In another flash of green lightning, Vanellope shot over to the other edge of the clearing. She brought both hands towards herself, before disappearing again.

"Hey! Wait a second, I gotta put some clothes-!" Sora gasped, before he too glitched out of sight. There was a crash, followed by the sound of a table falling over or something, and Sora reappeared outside the motel again, fully dressed.

"…on." He got to finish his sentence at last. But after a quick self-study, it became painfully obvious. With a shrug he took to jogging after Vanellope, who of course was covering massive distances at once with her glitches.

It felt like he had been chasing her for miles, with the scenery changing smoothly from urban to rural, and from night to dawn. The sun was cresting over the horizon by the time Vanellope seemed satisfied, drawing Sora all the way out into what looked like a mountain range. The soft, dry chocolate soil collapsed under his feet, as if he were walking on freshly laid snow. This of course made it even harder to keep up with the kid, who had… disappeared entirely?

Sora scrabbled to a halt and spun around once, twice, three times looking for her. He'd gotten used to the customary flashes of green in the corner of his eye – it seemed to be all the patience this kid possessed – but now she'd really thrown a curveball, disappearing out of sight in the middle of a mountain range. Sora thanked his lucky stars for footprints, otherwise he could've easily gotten lost out-

His stomach dropped. Was that the kid's plan all along? Lure him out here so that he couldn't complete his work for Calhoun, and ultimately get caught out by that Coin Duty thing or starve to death?

Nah. Sora wrinkled his nose at the idea. The kid didn't even have a motive. Maybe he was just overthinking things. It was easy to do when you were alone with them.

"Psst!" Vanellope's voice hissed from somewhere. Sora span around to find a disembodied arm sticking out of the middle of one of the mountains, beckoning him towards it. "In here!" Vanellope's head burst from the depths, only to then disappear within what looked like solid mountain.

Sora simply frowned at it. It wasn't the weirdest thing he'd ever seen, but something told him this was just the tip of the crazy iceberg. He couldn't decide whether the two giant lollipops criss-crossing over the entrance made it more obvious or not. With a deep breath, Sora plunged an arm into the mountain and felt nothing but air. A barrage of green lights lit up the space between the lollipops, creating a checkerboard pattern which dissolved away as Sora passed through it, entering into what looked like an abandoned mining shaft.

"Ta daa!" Vanellope threw her arms out wide. "Pretty cool huh? They'll never find us in here! Not in a million years!"

"What is this place?" Sora glanced up and around. It looked ancient, and ready to collapse at any second.

"Well… I'm not sure exactly." Vanellope shrugged. "I think it was like some kinda bonus level that got dummied or something. But it's a great hiding spot, so now I live here!"

"Well that's for sure," Sora was still gazing at the splintery old railroad tracks above them and dreading the thought of them collapsing then subsequently covering up the entrance. "…hang on wait, you live here?"

"Well yeah, cause where else am I s'posed to when the whole town hates me?" Vanellope's gaze hardened. "They probably think I'll gl-gl-glitch and break somethin'."

"…huh. Well I... sorta know the feeling?" Sora shrugged. "So uhh…" He glanced about. Kicked a pebble across the floor. Found himself staring up at the rickety railroad again. "You said something about training? I kinda wanna get outta here before that falls down and crushes us."

"Oh, that?" Vanellope met his gaze and cackled. "It's not gonna fall down! Here, watch!"

She burst up from her makeshift bed and disappeared in a flash of green lightning. Dust rained down upon Sora as Vanellope appeared right above him, standing proud atop the tracks. Jumping up and down on the tracks, they held as sturdy as ever.

"Well c'mon, what're you waiting for?!" Vanellope cried from up above. "Get on up here!"

"How?" Sora yelled back. "I thought you were gonna train me?!"

"Think of it as learning on the job!" Vanellope brought her hands upwards towards herself. "Now, tell me what you feel. Some kinda feelin' deep in your stomach, right?"

"Uhh… nausea?" Sora grimaced up at her.

"Great, use it!" Vanellope exclaimed. "Bring that nausea out and vurp yourself up here!"

"Vurp…?" Sora frowned.

"Yeah, like a vomit and a burp at the same time! Use that feeling in your belly! Control it!"

The acidic feeling in his stomach churned. How was he supposed to control this?

With a grunt, he stared up at Vanellope above him on the dusty, rickety railroad tracks. She could do it, so why couldn't he? If they were one and the same, it should just come naturally… right?

Sora squinted, concentrated, and continued to stare up at the tracks. Was it just supposed to… happen? That's what happened when he wanted to summon his Keyblade or use a magic spell or something. The thought crossed his mind, and said Keyblade appeared in his hand.

Sora chewed his lip. So it was that easy. Just not that kinda power. He placed a hand to his temple and closed his eyes. He envisioned himself standing on top of the rails next to her, with her dumb kid smirk and annoying voice;

"Hey, what's takin' so long?"

Yeah, just like that. With a grin, Sora opened his eyes again, only for his smile to wither and fail immediately. He was still on the ground.

"Dammit!" His Keyblade hit the floor with a clatter. It looked like this wasn't going to be so easy after-

But then the world around him disappeared in a flash of green for all of a second, and next thing he knew he was holding it again.

"Heyyy!" Vanellope called from above.

Sora grunted at the Keyblade in his hand, and then glanced up at her. "Wh-what… happened?"

"You did it!" She cried. "I mean well, you sorta did it. You glitched like a metre or something and it was only when you threw your weird key thing but hey! Ain't I the best teacher?"

"When I… threw it?" Sora raised an eyebrow. The cogs began ticking in his mind. "So what if I…"

He weighed the Keyblade in his hand and judged for distance. He clumsily lobbed it about three or four feet away from him and closed his eyes. The strip of metal once again clattered across the rocky ground, and once again Sora appeared by it in a flash of green lightning holding onto it.

"Neat!" Vanellope shouted from above. "Not the way I expected, but you made it work. So what're you waitin' for? Get up here!"

Sora glanced skywards yet again. The same problem was still there, if he were honest. There was no way he was going to be able throw his Keyblade ten metres up in the air. He glanced around however, and noted that there were a few tongues of rock just sticking out of the mountain wall. A thought struck; maybe he could use those as platforms?

Worth a shot, he shrugged. Clambering on top of Vanellope's makeshift bed thing, he wobbled on the uneven surface and took careful aim.

"Hey! I hope those shoes are clean!" Vanellope jeered from the distance. Sora turned to confront her the moment his Keyblade left his hand, only for it to miss its mark and clatter to the ground.

"Ughhh…" he groaned, teleporting to where it landed. "Maybe don't distract me while I'm concentrating?"

"Yeah, cause the world's just gonna stop movin' while you concentrate!" Vanellope poked her tongue out at him. "Trust me, I'm helping!"

"Sure, sure," Sora trudged back to where he started. "But now I gotta jump all over your bed again."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, chump!"

Sora groaned again. What was with this kid? She sounded actively annoyed by the things he did, yet also encouraged them at the same time?

With a careful fling, his Keyblade landed on the platform with a jangle, followed by Sora himself moments later.

"C'mon Stinkbrain, you're takin' forever!"

"And I'll take longer if you keep yelling at me!"

"Like I said, the world ain't gonna wait for ya! You think the people stopped callin' me names while I was learning?"

Sora massaged his forehead. The kid had a point, he had to admit. If he had to learn how to do this, learning under ideal conditions would just work against him if he ever had to use it in a real situation. Despite everything, her teaching methods might actually be paying-

"Oww!" Sora yelped, as something heavy and green bounced from his head. "What was that for?!"

"Oh I'm sorry! You think bad guys are just gonna wait for you to make yer move?!" Vanellope cackled. She was back on ground level and holding another bright green rock. "Better get moving, else you'll be getting some me-Mentos!"

She threw the rock she was holding, which arced through the air and shattered into the wall behind him. Another one seared past his vision moments later, followed by a third thumping him in the side. A quick reaction had him deflecting one with his Keyblade, which ricocheted back towards Vanellope. Who dodged it effortlessly.

"Ha-hah, gonna have to do better than that!" She taunted, launching another handful of rocks. Sora shielded himself from two of them, while others thankfully missed. He needed to use his Keyblade to deflect any rocks, but also to teleport himself. This was an issue. He couldn't do both at once… could he?

With a grimace as another rock hit his shoulder, Sora lobbed his Keyblade outwards. It deflected a rock in mid-air, and then curved towards another platform in the distance. Vanellope zipped out of the way to dodge the deflected rock, but next thing she knew, Sora was clambering onto the next platform.

"Heyyy, nice!" She dropped the one she was holding. "You're gettin' the hang of this!"

"That's… a word for it!" Sora heaved, hauling himself over the edge of the platform.

"Take… this!" Vanellope launched another rock, which soared through the air, smashing into the ceiling and knocking another couple of rocks loose. Sora just frowned in confusion at it all, until the rocks fell into the lava beneath. Moments later a torrent of flame surged from the lava pool, roasting everything near it.

"Yow!" Sora stumbled, falling away from the plume of lava. Another one surged on his opposite side, and the heat surrounding him was damn near unbearable. He felt like he was in an oven, with the sweltering heat gushing out from either side of his little platform. He wiped his sweaty brow on his arm and concentrated for a moment. Even if the plumes of lava weren't there, he wasn't sure he could reach the next platform with a throw. If his Keyblade fell into the lava below, he was going to have to explain that to King Mickey, and he was pretty sure they didn't have insurance or a backup Keyblade or anything to compensate for him losing it.

Sora huffed and puffed. This heat was just too much. He could barely think straight, forget work out how to get to the next platform.

"Ung…" he grunted. "B-Blizzard!"

A flurry of ice billowed from the end of his Keyblade, coating the nearest plume and freezing it solid. Now a giant chunk of ice floated on top of the lava, gently sinking back down and releasing steam. But as soon as that one had melted down, had another one flared up courtesy of another rock thrown by Vanellope.

"You're gonna fry if you don't move soon!" She jeered, lobbing another rock into the lava. Yet another plume of lava exploded a few metres away, and again Sora found himself caked in sweat. Another Blizzaga spell had one of the plumes frozen, which again gently sank back down into the pool of lava. Sora wracked his brain. There was no way he was making that distance. But there was nothing in between them. How was he supposed to get there?

He froze another plume and watched it sink down. For ice platforms, they were suspiciously flat.

Sora's eyes widened. Could he use those, maybe? Risky was an understatement, but it cut the distance between the platform he was on and the railroad tracks he had arbitrarily been told to get to. If he timed it well, it just might work…

Another plume of lava surged upwards. Now was his chance. Bracing himself, he started off with the Blizzard spell to freeze the plume, followed immediately by his Keyblade clanging towards it. Sora teleported onto the frozen plume and struggled to keep his balance. Meanwhile the plume had started to sink into the lava, loosing steam all the while.

"Uh oh…" Sora muttered. This wasn't part of the plan. With every passing second the giant icicle he was trying to stand on was slipping farther and farther away from the tracks. He had to act quickly and accurately. Between the slippery floor, the time pressure, the slowly increasing heat and the ever-moving target, he just had to brace himself and hope. With a swallow, he flung the Keyblade skywards. It arced through the air and pinged off of the edge of the tracks, before curving on the momentum and rattling across the planks. Suddenly the heat disappeared, and Sora found himself standing on top of the tracks, Keyblade in hand.

"Hey, you made it!" Vanellope cried, dancing about on the cave floor. "Took you long enough, but you got there in the end. Alright, next challenge. Catch me!"

"You gotta be kidding me…" Sora gasped. He'd only just got up here, risked his life who knows how many times, and now he had to go chase after her?

Vanellope disappeared in a flash of green lightning, and Sora guessed it was decided. He threw his Keyblade to the ground below, where it pierced the rock floor and held prone. Moments later he reappeared, pulling it from the ground and running after the elusive green flash.

A few hours later…

"Soraaaa…!" Donald shrieked into the morning skies.

"Where'd ya go, Sora?!" Goofy echoed Donald. "Oh gee, it ain't like him ta miss breakfast. Where'd'ya think he's gone, Donald?"

"How should I know?" Donald hissed back. "Just keep shouting, okay?!"

Donald took in a breath to ready another shout, however something glinting in the distance caught his eye.

"Incoming!" He gasped, and the pair of them took a fighting stance. Whatever the glinting object was, it sparkled through the skies, ready to land just a few feet away. A green flash caught up with it, and out of nowhere Sora appeared, catching the Keyblade before it could hit the ground.

"Morning guys!" Sora's eyes were sparkling. "Ya miss me?!"

Author's Note:

Hey there guys. Another update. I swear these chapters keep getting longer lol.

I figured Vanellope needed some sort of screen time in this, seeing as Sora is currently visiting her world and everything. Sora's current status as a 'virus' in the Game Central World, combined with his position as a Keyblade Wielder, essentially becomes what's Noctis' teleporting ability thing from FFXV (or the shotlock teleporting thing from KH3, take your pick)

Vanellope's tough love teaching was just an excuse to show more of her personality.

All in all it's a bit wordy, but the plot's set in stone now, and the training montage is out of the way. Coming up next; Sora tries to convince Calhoun to let him race, and King Candy gets his comeuppance. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading. :3