Chapter Four: What Makes You Tick

Changelina stood still as Felix, Ralph, and Calhoun examined her. Vanellope stood off to the side, leaning against a wall. Part of the way through her examination-which consisted of being poked a few times-she shifted into Princess Vanellope's dress and gave a bashful smile.

"Alright kid, run us by exactly what you did at Tappers," Ralph exclaimed, breaking the long silence.

"I-" She paused and glitched into Vanellope's regular form. "That plumbing guy was there, Mario, and I just had to touch him. I don't know why, but it felt great!" She grinned and ignored the odd looks from the adult characters. She then glitched into Candlehead. "Then I just went crazy and suddenly it was all too much and I just had to take their costumes. It felt so good!" She jumped in the air and glitched back to her normal self. "And then the pain started."

Calhoun examined her head before groaning. "It seems the switching girl here can't show emotions without switching. It's like a jumbled mess of characters I've only seen from outside the arcade," she finished smugly.

"Outside the arcade, honey bun?" Felix questioned.

"Before my game was plugged into Litwak's Arcade here, it had to briefly be plugged into another one. I guess I never shared that, huh? Some weirdo characters were there, but the girl here is showing weird code symptoms."

Ralph raised an eyebrow. "Like what exactly? I still don't get how she works."

"Do I need to spell it for ya?" she snapped, but calmed once more. "Changelina here can't properly vent her emotions without switching into character."

"But I've seen her display emotions around me without switching!" Vanellope countered.

"Kid, I said properly vent them. Doesn't mean she can't feel emotion or anything, just that up here-" she pointed to the girl's brain—"it's just a bit different from us."

"So she can't use any emotions when outside our game?" Vanellope asked the sergeant.

"No, she can. What happened with her code was just an overload. She has to be careful with how fast she talks and how many characters she touches with that ability of hers."

"Oh."

Changelina had remained quiet the entire time and took in all the information to process. She didn't feel different from the other characters, but how would she tell? Whenever she talked, she felt normal, but if she felt excited or angry or shy or sad, she would feel her ability bubbling up inside and would be forced to change. Once the change was done, she would be running on pure code adrenaline and would display whatever emotion she was supposed to be feeling full force. She just hoped any of that made sense.

"Um-" She paused and all eyes turned to her. "Whenever I feel angry I just turn into you." She pointed to Calhoun. "And then I feel that I have to be angry…"

"Hmm, well why do you have to be angry?"

"It just feels good," she admitted shamefully.

Calhoun was at a loss for words and simply shook her head before turning to her husband. He tilted his head to the side before responding. "Well, Sweetie, maybe next time you feel overly emotional you can just calm down? That way you won't hurt your code!"

"But how?"

"Ahh that's easy!" Vanellope countered. "This one time, I couldn't stop getting mad at Ralph over here over this one name he kept calling me… And I ended up hitting him a few times before old Felix over here called me aside and helped me figure out how to relax before I did something that stupid again."

"Yeah, hitting a six-hundred-pound friend does seem pretty stupid, huh?" Ralph replied, while Vanellope just rolled her eyes and continued speaking.

"Anyway, you just hold your breath and count to ten like this!" She turned red for a bit before letting out her oxygen reserve. "And then you should be calm! So next time you get super mad and change, just do that!"

"Okay, that makes sense I guess," Changelina muttered.

"And don't go changing into every Tom, Dick, and Harry character you meet without knowing what they can do and who they are!" Calhoun announced, keeping her attention focused on Changelina. "We don't know exactly how that ability of yours works, but if I had to guess it does have a limit and you can hurt yourself. I know you can't help your emotions and if you change then fine, you change. Just remember what Vanellope said and you should be fine."

She nodded and smiled slightly but kept quiet. This time when the urge to switch into the Princess Vanellope dress costume surfaced, she could feel it. It felt good and it was urging her body along to just succumb and let it happen, but this time, she resisted. Her body tensed and glitched slightly but she remained the same. Her dress was still brown.

"That was weird," Vanellope said.

"Well, I felt it, and I kind of stopped myself from changing just now."

"Good! See, you can control it!"

"Yeah… well, it's been fun here, but we all need to head back to our own games before the arcade opens." Ralph said.

"Oh! C'mon girl, we gotta get moving!" Before Changelina could object she was playfully shoved back towards the racetrack from the castle. She watched Ralph and the gang leave and then instantly frowned.

"I'm not on the roster, Vanellope."

"I know, I know! But wouldn't it be more fun to watch us race?" She thought about it and then nodded. It certainly sounded a bit more fun than just exploring on her own.

The candy crowd was cheering while Changelina was standing off to the sidelines, silently cheering her friend on. A few of the racers shot nervous glances at Changelina, who ignored them. She did, however, feel out of place without a racing outfit.

The arcade had just opened and the oddest thing happened in front of Changelina. Part of her pre-programmed code had been expecting a giant window to come flying down. It was odd. A player that they could all see as a small girl had just entered her quarter and was picking her avatar. As she steered the wheel slowly, each avatar was quickly levitated into the air from her car and struck a pose. Each time Vanellope was glanced over, her pose seemed automatic. She would look shy and then burst in surprise when the wheel glanced over to her and then quickly placed back into her car. It almost looked silly, but Changelina just watched in awe.

"Hey, what's this?" the girl asked while glancing at the screen. "New upgrade, press the brake pedal to see…" She did and, suddenly, the window switched over and started to hover above Changelina. All the racers shared nervous glances but remained quiet.

Changelina felt what was happening was natural and she, like Vanellope, struck a shy pose.

"Why does she look so plain?" the girl muttered. More words appeared on the screen. "Changing Avatar. The New Racer will change avatars upon activation in the race. Pick her clothes and accessories in order to make her look like you are in the race… huh."

The amount of clothes the girl had to pick from consisted of any costume that Changelina had accumulated from her time in Game Central Station and in Sugar Rush. "Cool! Oh my gosh, only twenty seconds! But which one do I want?" Each time the girl chose a costume, it would switch Changelina and her car. "Not compatible?" A few of the costumes would not work, to her confusion. Eventually, the girl choose Calhoun's and selected her race track. "This is gonna be sweet!"

Mystery Racer Joined Race!

Changelina and Calhoun's hover-board materialized along with the other racers. She was now in fifth place. She tried to share a glance with Vanellope, but her body would barely move with the player in control. All movements would be automatic until the end of the race.

As the race started, the girl talked to herself while trying to get a feel for the new upgrade. "She controls kind of weird… Oh, sweet, a power-up box!" But instead of a candied gun like the girl was expecting, a large question-mark box appeared in the bottom-left corner of the screen. Near the steering wheel, there were two physical buttons on the arcade cabinet. One was labeled "Fire," while the other was labeled "Power," as usual. The girl had a choice: she could fire her gun and ignore the question mark while steering Changelina to aim her gun towards the right racer, or she could use the question mark power.

"Why not?" She pressed the button and code surged through Changelina until she morphed into Candlehead's car and costume. "WOW! And just in time, too!" The players all knew this was the part to swerve the car while riding uphill if you had chosen Candlehead as a racer. "C'mon! I can do this…"

And she did. Changelina's car swirled at the correct angle and speed and each cherry bomb went off, one after the other, causing several cars to crash and regenerate in last place. Changelina was now in second place.

First place was held by Vanellope, who was about to be passed up by the player. Just before they hit the finish line, Vanellope glitched and won. "Shoot!" the girl moaned. She left the game.

Suddenly, each character was teleported back to the starting line inside their cars, waiting to be played. The other racers drove off in a demo race as they were programmed, but Vanellope held back off screen and so did Changelina.

"What was that about?" Vanellope asked.

"I don't know, she just selected me and I was in the race…"

Vanellope pondered this, making a few "hmm," noises before shrugging. "Maybe that's why the board wouldn't let you win. Because a player can just choose you whenever."

"But isn't that not fair to you and the other racers?"

"A bit, but I learned a long time ago that anything the players do is out of our hands and we just have to accept that."

Changelina considered this before nodding slowly.

Throughout the day, Changelina got some amazing cheers from the players. Some choose not to race her out of sheer respect for their favorite racers, while others tried to argue that she was all of them and more. Unfortunately, the more the players used her ability, the more her emotions ran wild. The worst part was not being able to vent her feelings while someone else was in control of her body. When she wasn't chosen, she was still in the races. There, she tried her best to let out any anger or anxiety or feelings of recklessness, but it was never enough.

By the time the arcade was closed, Changelina felt like a nervous wreck. She had changed so many times that her emotions were running wild. Anger would switch to jealousy, then to excitement and shyness, and then right back to anger. It was all so forced; each button from the cabinet would force her to change. She hated it. She hated every last minute. The players took all the fun out of the game for her and her very existence. If her brain hadn't felt so fried, she would have started crying once the arcade closed. She was sitting down on the ground, panting, when Vanellope walked up.

"Uh, long day?" she asked.

"That was horrible!" Changelina exclaimed, instinctively switching to Candlehead's costume.

"Uh, what do you mean?"

"Every time I changed—every time!—I felt a new emotion!" she exclaimed. For the first time, she was angry while not in Calhoun's outfit. "It just kept happening over and over and I couldn't stop it…" Vanellope saw that she was on the verge of tears as she shifted back to her true form, her form of Changelina.

"I'm sorry," Vanellope replied, giving her a comforting hug. "I'm sure if we work together, we can get your emotions under control, alright?"

"But how?"

"I'm not sure yet. But you're a part of the game now. I'm sure there's a way to get those emotions to stop happening when you change."

Changelina just nodded, feeling too tired to respond.

"Hey, cheer up! Let's head back to the castle. I have a surprise for you…" Vanellope's voice tried to sound inviting, but Changelina felt too tired to do much of anything but follow her friend and nod again.

One thing Changelina noticed as they entered the castle was how vacant it looked. She assumed the other racers had homes to go to and did not live there. It made sense on some level, but the castle took up such a big part of their world, it just seemed like such a waste. This was something that Vanellope was hoping to fix; she would never admit it, but nights in the castle were lonely as could be.

She almost wished Ralph could be there for her, but Changelina would have to do.

"Alright, so, as you know, that is my room," Vanellope said, gesturing to two large double doors made out of red-painted wood. Changelina nodded. "And, now…" Vanellope trailed off and swung open the door right across from it. "And now, this is your room!"

The changing girl made a few slow steps and passed Vanellope, who was grinning from ear to ear. She looked around, but the only thing she spotted was the bed at first. She then shook her needs aside and gawked at the room before her. An assortment of random objects littered the walls. From power-ups to weapons, armor, and artifacts from other games that she had never heard of. Her bed was almost as lavishly designed as Vanellope's, though it was themed differently.

"I, uh, hope you like it. I wasn't exactly sure what you liked, but I talked to Ralph and my other friends and they agreed that your room should be as prismatic as your car. At least that's the word they used… you do like sour candy, right?"

Changelina nodded. Her bedding was designed with that very thing in mind. Sour-candied dots and other sour sprinkles lined the wood of the bed frame. The same sour-candied decorations were on her other pieces of furniture.

"Good! Ralph and the others collected a bunch of this stuff from other games. They said that you would feel more comfortable this way. Do you?"

Changelina still was lost for words and kept staring at everything. She felt so exhausted that she wanted to jump on the bed right then and there and just sleep, but she knew that would be rude to not answer her friend at least. She did like it; she liked her room a lot. The assortment of random objects spiked her curiosity and filled her with warm feelings more than anything. She gave a mental shrug on what to do next. Why would any other action be needed?

She lunged forward and hugged Vanellope in another code-crunching hug.

"I take that as a yes?"

She gave a slight nod and then dozed off to sleep in her arms. She didn't want to sleep right there, but ther first day "on the job" and her constant switching of costumes had made her very exhausted.

"Uh? Are you asleep?"

Vanellope groaned after realizing that she was. She awkwardly tried to shift the weight of her friend towards the bed, but she was too heavy, and she certainly did not want to drag her on the ground.

"Hey kid! Did she-huh?" Just then, Ralph had decided to come in unannounced at the worst possible time.

"Give me a hand, you big lug. She fell asleep."

"In your arms? Uh…"

She rolled her eyes. "Just, please, pick her up and tuck her in or something! She's heavy!"

"Alright… but I still don't understand how she-"

"She was thanking me for the room, so she gave me a hug and then, just…this!"

"That's weird," he replied while tucking Changelina into her new bed. "What made her so tired?"

"Yeah, we need to talk about that… also, thanks for helping out here."

"Don't mention it. After what you told me about not being able to win, I just felt she could use a pick-me-up or something."

"Right, about that…" Vanellope paused and watched her friend sleep for a moment. "She was able to race today. The players played her."

"…What? I thought you said the-"

"It didn't let her be part of one of the featured racers, but that didn't matter because apparently she's a new feature for the game. Players can pick one of the nine featured racers, or they can pick her."

"Huh. Well, that's a good thing, right?"

"Kind of. The players also get to use her special power on the track to switch her cars and powers around. She was a big hit. But afterwards, she told me that it was like torture. She said her emotions would change each time that she changed, which was quite a bit."

"How many times did the players switch her around today?"

"Hundreds of times, I think."

"And each time-"

"Yeah. Ralph, we need a way to get her emotions under control! That can't be fun at all! She's supposed to enjoy her time on the track and being played, not hate it."

"Alright, alright! I don't know what you want me to do. I don't know anything about her ability or anything."

"You gotta have some idea! I don't know what to do!"

"What about your racer friends? Can't they help? They are a part of her game, after all."

"Uh…" She glanced back to Changelina as she unconsciously shifted in her bed. "I don't think they like her very much."

Ralph crossed his arms. "And why's that?"

"She kind of beat them in that race I helped her win. She beat them pretty good, especially Candlehead."

"Well, tough! That happens! It's a racing game. Changelina needs help. Now, I don't know what a bunch of screaming brats are going to do, but it's better than no plan at all. So, ask them for help."

Vanellope muttered something under her breath.

"What?"

She sighed. "I hate asking for help from them. It's demeaning!"

He smirked. "Tough, you're a princess-"

"President!"

"Whatever. You're in charge of this game and that means you need to look out for your citizens. Changelina needs help, and our only plan is to ask those races to help her. Sometimes helping others means doing something you don't want to do."

"I know, I know… stink brain," she replied, smirking. She would never admit it to his face or anyone else, even Changelina. But she did enjoy these moments with Ralph the most, the moments where he was fatherly to her and gave her advice.

"I never get tired of that. Anyway, I'll do my best to ask around Game Central Station to help her too. Someone has to know how to control her emotions. I mean, we've got dozens of arcades games at our arcade."

"Good point. Hey, Ralph?"

"Yeah?"

"Uh, remember when I asked you if you wanted to talk? Back at the bar?"

"What? Oh! Actually, kid, Felix kind of helped with that. We had a nice chat."

"Really? What about?"

"Well, uh… he said that Calhoun kind of has this emergency plan in case something ever happens to the arcade."

"Really? What?"

"Through the plug in the wall! It's risky, but it's better than waiting around for, well, you know."

"That would be awesome! Oh my gosh, what would we find out there? And-"

"Kid, this is just for if the arcade is shut down or something big. Not for exploring!"

"Oh right, alright fine." She exhaled and sighed. "I better go talk to the girls. Wish me luck!"

"You're gonna need it kid. I'll see ya later."

"Bye, barf breath!"

Ralph made his way back on the tram from Sugar Rush with Changelina on the brain. He literally had no clue where to start other than asking Calhoun again, but he had bothered her enough.

"Maybe Dr. Robotnik... well, it's Eggman, but I heard he likes to go by Robotnik more. Eh, worth a shot!"

Ralph smirked at his cleverness and made his way to SegaSonic the Hedgehog. He found the place and was immediately stopped by The Surge Protector.

"Hey, where have you been?!"

"That's my job to ask the questions, sir. Name?"

"Lara Croft."

"Name?"

"Wreck-It Ralph!"

"Where are you coming from?"

"Sugar Rush."

"And where are you heading to?"

Ralph groaned. "Where do you think?!"

"I'm just doing my job, sir. Do you have anything to declare?"

"This is pointless."

"I get that a lot. Proceed."

Ralph proceeded into the tram and waited. He expected to find an island with odd and unique multi-colored levels, but, oddly enough, the tram exited to Robotnik's laboratory, where he found the Eggman hard at work.

"Excuse me?"

Robotnik whipped around in his rotating chair. "What? Wreck-It Ralph? What are you doing here? You're not going Turbo, are you?" Ralph had to admit he felt nervous when he saw Robotnik's angry-yet-excited smile. He knew he was a mad scientist, but this was a little much, Ralph thought.

"No, but I do need your help."

"Oh? And what does the great Ralph need from little old me?"

"…Little? You're practically half my weight," Ralph retorted.

He scowled. "Oh? Well, why don't you just get lost before-"

"No, wait! I'm sorry. I really do need your help."

"Well, spit it out already. I'm a busy man," Robotnik replied, scowling some more.

"Right. Uh, do you ever do experiments on code?"

"You're kidding, right? It's all I do! Ha! What? You think I make crazy robot experiments like my backstory says? Hardly!"

"You're not doing anything illegal, right?" Ralph questioned, growing more uneasy.

"Oh, please. Who do you think I am? Turbo? Besides, Sonic comes by here from time to time. I think he would have noticed if I was doing anything against the arcade rules."

"Right, sorry. Anyway, a new character was installed into Sugar Rush. You know, the racing game?"

"Go on…"

"She's pretty neat, but her special ability leaves her in a bad spot."

"Just what would that be? She's not some crazy, overpowered character, right?"

"No! Well…" Ralph pondered this for a moment before raising his large hand and bringing his index finger and thumb together. "Tiny… I guess you could call her overpowered, but its only because she can absorb other characters' costume and powers."

"Great Naka! Can I see her?! Oh this is so exciting, I've never studied a specimen-"

"She's not a lab experiment!"

"To me she is." He gave a playful grin, but Ralph was not having it. He crossed his long arms and glared down at Robotnik. "Well, do you want my help or not?"

"I do, but only if she is treated fairly."

"Yes, yes, of course. But what's the problem, anyway?"

"When she changes costumes, she gets emotionally involved. That's what Calhoun and Vanellope said. Each time she changes, she feels a new emotion and that's the problem. Players play her and just assumes she some toy, so they change her costume all day and-"

"She feels every single one? Interesting. And you want me to help her control these feelings?"

"Can you?"

"Well, I'm not exactly a touchy-feely evil scientist, but I'll do my best. She will have to be brought in though. Where is she now?"

"Sleeping. The whole day left her exhausted."

"Pity. Well then, either bring her in after closing or on the weekend." Robotnik then turned around dismissively and began to toy around with his massive computer.

"And you can help her, right?"

"Probably. I can't promise anything, though." Ralph noticed that he finished with a grin. He desperately wanted to spin the scientist around and smash his face in, but he knew that would be doing no favors for Changelina. So he decided to leave the game.

"Better go find Felix or something," he muttered, scanning his surroundings. It was late, but most of the game characters were asleep in their games.

He entered Tappers and found the gang only missing one at a table. Vanellope was back in her game, hopefully talking to the other racers.

"Hey gang," Ralph said.

"Hey Ralph. Did Changelina enjoy her surprise?" Felix asked.

"I'm not really sure. She kind of passed out from her first day of racing."

Felix and Calhoun raised their eyebrows. "I thought you said she wasn't part of the—"

"She wasn't, Felix, but apparently its part of the upgrade. Players can pick her or the other nine racers for the day."

"Really? Well, what do you know honey, we didn't need to give her that surprise after all…" Felix's voice trailed off when he realized that his wife was practically glaring down at him. She was, after all, twice his height.

She scoffed but kept her comments to herself. Ralph then took a seat and ordered a drink. "But, there is still a big problem with her, guys."

"What now?" Calhoun demanded.

"She said each time a player uses her ability to change on the track, she feels a new emotion each and every time."

"So? Didn't seem to bother her when she was going glitch crazy in Tappers the other night." Calhoun's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Yeah, but I think that was different. Frankly, I don't know what that was or what happened there, but Vanellope said each time she changed on the race track it felt horrible. Like her not being in control of her body made those emotions happen instead-" Ralph spoke, but was interrupted.

"Instead of her feeling those emotions first, and then changing? What a mess," Calhoun replied while chugging down her root beer.

"Yeah, exactly. I talked to Dr. Robotnik and he claims he can help her after an examination."

"Heh, crazy scientist will do anything to examine new types of code," Calhoun muttered under her breath.

"I don't like it, but it's all we got. I wouldn't want to do my job in our game if I actually felt angry each time I destroyed the building. What's the fun in that?"

Felix, who had remained quiet this whole time, decided to speak up. "Well, how many different costumes does she have? Do they all work on the track?"

Ralph raised an eyebrow. "You know, I'm not sure, but if its more than two, then I would imagine that it must be exhausting and annoying to say the least. Just going from angry to happy to bratty? Then smug? At least that's what I noticed about her so far," he admitted, with just a slight hint of embarrassment.

"Sound like a certain wrecker is reconsidering our little daddy plan to Vanellope and this Changelina," Calhoun said seductively.

"I told you guys before that even thinking about that is crazy! They are just friends from a racing game that I like to help out! End of story."

Felix smirked and took a swig of his untouched root beer. "I don't know, Ralph. Vanellope tends to look up to you the most. None of those kids in Sugar Rush actually have an authority figure to look up to and they are pretty much the only game in the arcade with programmed children."

Ralph looked at the two before narrowing his eyes. "They are just friends, period."

"Sure they are," Calhoun mocked.

Ralph clenched his fists tight and then slammed his glass down. It shattered into a million pieces. No one in the bar noticed. Calhoun and Felix just giggled a bit as Tapper came up and spit out another root beer for him.

"Where do those extra glasses come from, anyway?" Felix asked Tapper.

"The game generates them," he replied, shrugging.

"Ralph, you just threw a hissy fit when we told you that you were the closest thing that Vanellope and those kids have to a father. If that were a love interest, you would have sold yourself out, wrecking boy." Calhoun said.

"Look you two, just find a way to help Changelina, got it?"

Felix gave a shy smile in response and spoke up. "You used your free time to ask your friends to set up her room. You used more of your free time to ask Dr. Robotnik for help and I don't know anyone who would talk to him unless they really needed to. No offense to him, of course. And you're stressing about this just as much as Vanellope," Felix stated in the same seductive tone, only softer.

Ralph stared at both of them for a long while before a quiet realization dawned in his head. His eyes went wide but his friends simply shrugged and chugged on their glasses.

Ralph left much later than the other two, trying to sort his thoughts out. Eventually, he found himself back at his house, lying on his bed.

"Father, eh? I swear, those two are too lovey-dovey," Ralph muttered. He soon went to bed. Just before his eyes drooped closed, he humored his thoughts and pretended he was their father, surprised to find himself smiling.