The next morning Vanellope slowly woke up. She was at first surprised to find herself back in her bed, but then realized that Ralph must've brought her back. She sighed sadly, thinking about Ralph. She didn't realize how much Ralph really meant to her until yesterday. But then, just the thought of Ralph being killed, of her never seeing him again...her heart nearly broke. She looked at the photos of her other-game friends and picked up the one of Ralph. Her heart, to her surprise, glitched as she gazed at Ralph's face.
"What?" She said, confused.
She put her hand over her heart and gazed at Ralph's photo again. Sure enough her heart glitched again. It then started to beat a little faster.
"Wha-what's happening to me? Oh man, I hope I really haven't cried myself sick last night. The last thing I need is missing more days of racing, today's bad enough."
She felt her forehead and it felt a bit warm.
"Oh great." She groaned.
She got off her bed to take a good look at herself in the mirror. That's when she got a shock: her cheeks were a deep pink. And despite the rest of her being warm, they were the only parts of her that were a deep pink.
"Wait...Felix's cheeks get like that around Tamora...I think he calls it 'honeyglows'-" Vanellope's eyes widened. "You have got to be kidding me! I can't have..." She looked at the photo of Ralph again and her heart beat a little faster again. "I-I guess I have."
She glitched back onto her bed and lay down. She then looked at the photo of Ralph and her heart kept beating faster until she couldn't help but smile in a lovesick manner.
"I've fallen in love with Ralph." She realized; she then looked worried. "Oh man, how could this happen? I mean sure he means a lot to me, and he is my best friend but...but what if it's just a hero's crush? He is my hero after all..."
There was a knock at her door.
"President Vanellope?" Sour Bill said.
"Sour Bill, great." Vanellope sighed with relief. "Good timing, come in I need your advice."
Sour Bill opened the door and entered the room.
"Anything wrong?" He asked.
"I dunno, it depends...Sour Bill I-I've fallen in love with Ralph." Vanellope admitted.
Sour Bill looked stunned.
"The problem is what if it's just a hero's crush? I mean how will I know if my love is real?" Vanellope continued. "It can't be a hero's crush, it could ruin my friendship with Ralph."
"Well, I don't know much about love." Sour Bill thought it over. "But I think the best thing to do is to first figure out what caused you to fall in love with Ralph and then go over the reasons. If it's just a hero's crush then just try to get over it, crushes don't last long anyway. But if it's real love don't tell anyone else, especially not Ralph, until you find a way to become an adult. Adult/kid romances aren't approved of even amongst games. It is hard to determine a character's true age, so because of that we've decided to just go by physical appearances. Hence why Felix and Calhoun's relationship was approved of despite Calhoun having been a week old at the time."
"Yeah you're right." Vanellope nodded. "If my love is real then I do have to find a way to become an adult." She then smiled. "Thank you Sour Bill, now I know why Turbo kept you around."
"Your wel-hey!" He glared.
"I'm just kidding." Vanellope laughed. "Don't get more sour than you already are."
"Sheesh, I'm glad you decided to be president instead of a princess." Sour Bill grumbled as he started to leave. "If we want to get you off the throne we only have to vote you off instead of pulling a Marie Antoinette."
"Yeah please don't." Vanellope clutched her throat and winced.
Game characters knew about Marie Antoinette and other facts due to one gamer having a friend test him as he played games. He wanted to see how well he did under pressure and with distractions around him.
"Sorry." Sour Bill said regretfully. "I really do care about you."
"I know." Vanellope smiled. "It's okay. So, if my love is real then after breakfast I'm gonna go explore some other games to see if they have any way of turning kids into adults. Whenever someone asks where I am just tell them that I decided to take a break and explore other games in order to get over yesterday's events."
"Very well...wait, you can just alter the code to become an adult." Sour Bill pointed out.
"I know, but I don't want to alter my age that way." Vanellope winced. "If I ever alter any of the codes it'll only be for the benefit of a citizen or of the game itself. I'll never alter the code for my own desires."
"Oh, okay. I'll go get breakfast started." Sour Bill nodded understandingly.
"Thank you Sour Bill, seriously you've been a really great advisor."
"And you're a really great ruler, president or princess." Sour Bill couldn't help but smile a little.
He then left. Once he did Vanellope decided to make a list of reasons why she loved Ralph. On one side was a list of shallow reasons, like appearance, and on the other side was a list of good reasons, like personality. To her surprise she didn't have many shallow reasons at all, mostly just Ralph being her hero and him having a handsome face. Otherwise she had a lot of good reasons, including his friendly and fun side and how he'd do anything for his friends. That's when she knew that her love was real, and so she went down and had breakfast. She just gave Sour Bill a thumbs-up to let him know that her love is real, since she didn't want to tell anyone else about her feelings either. Sour Bill nodded and smiled approvingly in response.
Now, Sour Bill had told Vanellope to find a way to become an adult before letting anyone else know about her feelings for Ralph because he didn't want her to be mistreated again. However, Vanellope didn't care about herself. Instead she agreed to find a way to turn herself into an adult because she didn't want Ralph to become an outcast again. Having to deal with gossip and disapproving stares that were directed towards her, she could live with that. It wouldn't be as bad as having her kart destroyed and being pushed into a chocolate puddle anyway. And especially not as bad as being forbidden to race. However Ralph getting the disapproving stares and maybe even being shunned by other characters? No, there was no way that Vanellope was going to let that happen again.
So after breakfast she left Sugar Rush and headed for the main plug. She knew that there was probably no game nearby that could turn her into an adult - not even Dr. Eggman was that smart - so she decided to explore other Game Central Stations and see what games they had. She couldn't find anything in the next Station, nor the Station after that (fortunately the trains in the main plugs were much faster), but the third Station proved promising. There she found a game called Wizards Vs Warlocks. Now characters who could perform magic, yeah, maybe they had a way of changing the age of a character. The train wasn't there at the time so she decided to glitch inside instead. When she came out the other end she found herself in a spooky looking forest. She hesitated for a moment then took a deep breath.
"Come on Vanellope, you made it this far you can't give up now." She said. "If there's any hope of ending up with Ralph, it's in this game."
She slowly walked through the forest, not wanting to draw attention to herself with her glitching. But after many minutes, she heard growling. Nervously she turned around and saw a large wolf. Vanellope knew that since this was a magical game it might not be an ordinary wolf, but she hoped it was.
"Werewolf or ordinary wolf?" Vanellope asked herself.
The wolf suddenly stood up on two legs!
"Werewolf." Vanellope decided. "Oh black licorice!"
She ran ahead, using her glitching to speed herself up. Unfortunately the werewolf was too fast for her to completely lose him. Eventually she saw a castle in front of her and hoped she could gain refuge in it, but she tripped. She cringed as she waited for the werewolf to attack...but it didn't. Instead a blinding light appeared behind her and the werewolf ran away whimpering. Confused, she looked in front of her and saw a friendly looking wizard with a platypus by his side. The wizard had his wand out, hinting that the blinding light was a spell he had conjured.
"Silver spell." The wizard explained. "What did you think you were doing exploring the forest like that? I mean you're lucky that was only a werewolf, there are giants and other dangerous creatures in this forest too."
"Sorry, new to this game." Vanellope got up apologetically. "I was too impatient to wait for the train so I used my glitching to enter the forest."
"Glitching?" The wizard said with confusion.
Vanellope demonstrated.
"So that's what I was seeing earlier." The wizard smiled. "Oh sorry, the name's Perry Dragonheart. This is my pet platypus Hadrig."
"I'm Vanellope Von Schweetz." Vanellope smiled.
"From Sugar Rush? I've heard of that game even though it never reached our arcade, the gamers have been talking about it." Perry said. "So, what brings you here?"
"I've been looking for a game that can alter a character's age and I figured this game could." Vanellope explained.
"Ah." Perry said understandingly. "Actually there is a potion that works like that back at the school, I'll take you there."
"Thanks, and thank you for saving my life." Vanellope followed Perry towards the castle she had seen.
"No problem, you're lucky I'm a wizard and not a warlock." Perry said. "I mean most of the warlocks are only acting but the main one really is evil. He killed my parents when I was very young. Well that's my backstory anyway."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Vanellope said sympathetically.
"It's okay, I've learned to live with it now even though I still miss them." Perry shrugged. "It's also why I took that potion myself. Originally I had to live with my aunt and uncle, who hate magic. I hated living with them so much that out of desperation I asked the headmaster Humblecore for something that could help me escape them. Since I was still a minor at the time there were only two options: be adopted by someone else or speed up my aging. I didn't know anyone who'd want to adopt me so I took the aging. Humblecore then gave me the potion, though there are rules that come with it. I'll let Humblecore tell you what they are. So, why do you want to age anyway? Isn't your game supposed to have mostly kids?"
"Yeah but...uh..." Vanellope blushed. "There's an important reason, though I'm not allowed to say anything until I actually am an adult."
"Well you'll have to tell Humblecore or he won't really be able to help you with the rules."
"Okay, I guess I can tell him as long as he keeps my secret." Vanellope gave in.
As they continued on Perry explained Wizards Vs Warlocks, which had been based on this popular book series about a wizards' school. In the game gamers make their own avatars and fight evil warlocks until they reach the main one. Making the avatars doesn't make new characters though, instead the avatars are matched up to a particular wizard or witch who looks like the avatar. Because of this characters in the game can age and have kids of their own just like in the book. As for names whatever name a gamer gives a character becomes that character's battle name, like how athletes sometimes get nicknames.
Eventually they reached the castle. Perry knocked on the door and the caretaker opened it.
"Found out what those weird flashes were?" The caretaker asked.
"Yeah it was Vanellope Von Schweetz from a few arcades over." Perry explained. "The flashes were her glitching, or ability to move from place to place quickly. Anyway, we need to see Humblecore please if he's not too busy."
"Not at all, follow me."
The caretaker led them to an office a few floors up. He then knocked on the door and opened it once a voice inside said "Come in".
Perry and Vanellope walked inside and came upon an old but very friendly looking wizard.
"Perry!" Humblecore smiled. "Glad you're back from vacation. How are things going?"
"Wonderful sir, thank you." Perry smiled back before explaining the situation.
"Ah I see. Well before I consider giving you the potion Vanellope I must know the reason behind it." Humblecore mused.
Vanellope blushed again.
"Okay but you can't tell anyone...at least not yet." Vanellope sighed. "The truth is I'm in love with a character from another game...only, he happens to be an adult."
"I see, so you want to become an adult so that you can be with him." Perry realized.
"More like to prevent him from becoming an outcast if we do end up together." Vanellope shrugged. "I don't care about myself, but I'd rather not let him suffer."
Perry and Humblecore smiled at her approvingly.
"Very well." Humblecore said. "One moment."
He left and some minutes later came back with a potion bottle.
"This potion will make you whatever age you want, though it only lasts a month. That's thirty days total." Humblecore explained. "In order to make the potion permanent you must prove that your reason for taking it is good."
"Yeah, in my case my reason was to escape my aunt and uncle." Perry smiled. "I proved it within two days by packing up and moving out. Would've done it sooner but they live kinda far away. I've been living here at the school ever since, and even became a teacher."
"Exactly." Humblecore nodded. "In your case Vanellope you have to get the one you love to love you back for real and kiss you."
Vanellope honeyglowed at the idea of Ralph kissing her.
"Uh, not that I'm complaining but why does he have to kiss me?" She asked. "That sounds more fairytale than wizard."
"It's because a kiss always 'seals the deal' between couples, to put it metaphorically." Humblecore explained. "Those who aren't meant to be together don't feel anything special from the kiss and those who are meant to be together...well, I can't really describe what they feel since I never experienced it. All I know that they feel some sort of connection."
Vanellope thought about that. Maybe that was why Tamora was more open to starting a relationship with Felix after they first kissed: she felt a connection with him.
"Okay." She said. "I guess I understand."
Humblecore poured her a glass of the potion.
"Oh one more thing: you can only take this potion once." He added. "Altering your age more than once could have a bad affect on you. For those who age naturally, taking the potion more than once might mess up their natural aging big time. As for those who constantly stay the same age...well, no one who stays the same age has ever taken the potion before so I don't know what the affect might be. Even so I'd rather not risk it. So once you turn back into a kid, that's it. You'll have to stay a kid for the rest of your life."
Vanellope hesitated now. She knew that if she did turn back into a kid before Ralph returned her feelings she'd end up spending the rest of her life wondering if she and Ralph weren't meant to be after all, of if they were and had just run out of time. And if Ralph did return her feelings but didn't tell her in time...well that would be even worse. Then she decided that not trying at all would hurt even more than trying and failing.
"Well, here goes nothing." She took a deep breath and drank the potion.
After a few moments she felt groggy. Her vision became blurry as her legs started to buckle. Perry, remembering how the potion had affected him back when he took it, conjured up a large pillow behind her. Sure enough she collapsed onto it unconscious.
Then Vanellope started to slowly open her eyes.
"Ugh..." She didn't feel too good. "Where am I?"
"You're in one of the bedchambers." Perry's voice said.
"Huh...?" Vanellope's vision cleared. "Oh Perry. Forgot where I was for a moment."
"It's okay, the same thing happened to me." Perry smiled. "Well, the potion worked. Do you want to see your new look or would you rather recover some more first?"
"Recover a bit...so I'm an adult?" Vanellope, despite having taken the potion for that reason, still was grasping the fact. "It does explain my older-sounding voice...wait, that means that my body grew larger. What about my clothes?"
"Don't worry, I put a spell on them so that they would enlarge whenever your body grew." Perry explained.
"That's good." Vanellope said with relief. "Okay, I'm starting to feel better..."
She slowly and carefully got up. She was feeling a lot better now but had to get used to her new body. It wasn't long before she was walking around as if nothing had changed though. Then she saw herself in the mirror and dropped her mouth open. She still looked the same, only taller. Plus her face wasn't as round and she...well, let's just say she had a woman's body.
"Wow, I actually look really good." Vanellope smiled. "I think I won't mind being an adult. Especially since I don't feel different on the inside."
"Yeah well the potion only changes you physically, it does nothing to your personality or anything like that." Perry shrugged. "You're right about your looks though, the guy you love sure is lucky."
"I'm lucky too." Vanellope honeyglowed a little. "Lucky to have him in my life that is. Huh, my feelings for him didn't change either."
"Well love does come from the heart." Perry smiled.
"Glad to hear that, it makes me feel better about all this." Vanellope said with relief. "Knowing that my love comes from my heart and nowhere else means that Ralph and I have a really good chance."
"I'm sure you both do...Ralph? Wait, do you mean Ralph as in Wreck-It-Ralph?" Perry frowned thoughtfully. "The gamers had been talking about him and Fix-It-Felix Jr too, including having Q*Bert and other characters in their game. I guess the gamers who come here have also been going to your arcade."
"Sounds like it, and it's not surprising." Vanellope nodded in agreement. "Gamers do like to travel all over...wait, how long have I been out?"
"Many hours, it's almost morning actually." Perry checked his watch.
"Oh geez, I'd better get back before anyone I know sees me." Vanellope started to leave. "I want my friends to be the first to see me like this...oh, almost forgot." She went back and hugged Perry. "Thank you so much, I'll never forget this."
"No problem, and don't worry about you and Ralph." Perry smiled, hugging her back. "You practically risked your life to find a way to be with him. Since it looks like you love him more than your own life then there's an extremely good chance of things working out between you two."
"Yeah." Vanellope smiled, remembering how Ralph was willing to sacrifice his life to save her from the Cy-Bugs over a year ago. "You're right."
She then glitched backward excitedly.
"Whoa." She was a bit surprised. "Well, it's good to know I haven't lost that ability. I'd better get going now, I'll let you know how things go later. Bye Perry!" She left.
"All right, bye Vanellope!" Perry smiled back.
Vanellope rushed back to her Game Central Station. Once she arrived she saw that a few characters were already moving about so she decided to just rapidly glitch back to her castle. She then quickly went inside. Fortunately Sour Bill was the first one to see her.
"President Vanellope?" He stared. "Wow, you did find a way." He said with relief.
"Yeah, took a potion." Vanellope explained. "Well, since I'm obviously not racing again we'd better prepare a few things. First of all this potion is temporary, so I'd better make a calendar to help me keep track of how much time has passed."
They started walking back to her bedroom.
"Good idea." Sour Bill agreed. "So, how do you make the change permanent?"
"Ralph has to return my feelings and, uh, kiss me." She honeyglowed again. "Boy, I hope I can hide my feelings well enough for him not to catch on. I want him to love me on his own."
"So, what's the next thing we should prepare?" Sour Bill asked. "Oh wait, your appearance of course."
"Yeah, the gamers would be confused big time if they saw me as an adult and that would be bad for the game." Vanellope agreed. "So I'm going to, uh..." She winced. "Alter my code a bit so that I still look like a kid to them. Should alter my kart's code too so that it's bigger, there's no way I'm making a new one. The Blender was made by both me and Ralph after all so it's very special to me."
"Those are good ideas." Sour Bill agreed. "Come on, I remember how to get into the Code Room so I can help you with that."
He led her to the Code Room and inputted the code that opened the door.
"Back when Turbo used to mess with the codes I would hold onto him with a licorice rope." Sour Bill explained, pointing to a licorice rope on the floor. "Do you want me to do that with you or do you think you'll be fine with your glitching?"
"I think I'll be fine, back when I saved Ralph from the Diet Cola eruption I found out that I can glitch in midair too." Vanellope shrugged.
She took a deep breath and swam out into the codes. She then headed for her code and touched it, opening it in the process. She read through the info, until she found her appearance description. Due to the potion the description said that she looked like an adult, so she added 'And will always look like her kid self through game screens no matter what she looks like inside the games'. She then found her kart description and altered it so that it was actually bigger inside the game but still looked the same to the gamers.
As Sour Bill watched Vanellope he felt as if there was something strange about the Code Room. He couldn't figure out what it was, but I can tell you what it was: the number of code boxes hadn't changed at all. However Vanellope didn't even seem to notice, nor did she see a code box near hers that somehow looked familiar despite being the same size as the other code boxes.
Vanellope, once she was done, glitched out of the Code Room.
"Well, that should take care of that." Vanellope dusted her hands. "Better check The Blender to see if it worked."
"Right." Sour Bill agreed.
They headed for the throne room, where Vanellope kept her kart. Not as a throne like Turbo had done but rather off to the side of her chair. Her kart meant so much to her that she liked to keep it near her while handling affairs, plus you never know when you'd need a quick getaway. She only never took it to her bedroom because there wasn't room for it.
Sure enough The Blender was a larger size, large enough for her to drive it comfortably.