The next morning, the first Hero's Duty gamer of that day found something new. It started off normal, with Tamora's usual speech, then...
"You ready rookie? Let's find out." Tamora said.
Luann suddenly showed up! She had been with the other soldiers in armor but then joined her mom and took her helmet off! The other soldiers dropped their mouths open and Tamora tried very hard to act as if this wasn't surprising for her.
"Don't forget soldiers, there are new weapons for all of you to use out there." Luann said as if this really was part of the game. "They have been built to be undetectable by Cy-Bugs, so don't worry about them eating the new weapons. Grab them and blast those pests!"
Meanwhile Felix did a double-take upon hearing his daughter's voice. Ralph was caught off-guard too and they both looked towards Hero's Duty. Fortunately there wasn't a gamer at their console at the moment. Felix and Ralph dropped their mouths open upon seeing Luann in the game. Vanellope had heard Luann's voice and seen her too and was also shocked that Luann was taking this risk.
As for the gamer, well he wasn't sure what to make of this new part of the game so he decided to just go with it and see what would happened.
The game then started, since Luann had altered the timing so that she could get her speech in, and Tamora and the soldiers started blasting Cy-Bugs alongside the gamer. Luann stayed behind to watch her mom at work. The gamer found the new weapons and loved them, especially since they were more effective at killing Cy-Bugs. This obviously meant that he was getting a lot of points.
Tamora stayed in character at first, but then forgot all about the game when she looked back to check on her daughter.
"Luann!" She cried. "Look out!"
Startled, Luann turned around and saw a Cy-Bug advance on her! First Person Shooter turned around automatically too and so watched as the Cy-Bug ate Luann!
"Oh no you don't!" The gamer blasted the Cy-Bug! Luann was gone!
"NOOO!" Tamora cried.
Felix, Ralph, and the other Nicelanders gasped. Felix suddenly froze and started to shed tears.
"No..." He said to himself. "No...Luann..."
Ralph gave him a sympathetic look. Being a father as well meant that Ralph knew what had happened to Felix: his heart had broken.
The gamer of course had no idea that anything was wrong. He just thought it was part of the game.
"Whoa, that was a cool upgrade!" He grinned after the game was done. "Too bad about that new character though, but she'll be back for the next game anyway."
"No she won't..." Tamora said to herself as tears rolled down her cheeks; she then composed herself a little. "Back to the starting position men." Her voice cracked.
The rest of the soldiers understandingly went back. Tamora followed, her heart broken all over again.
Then once they were at the starting position Tamora sat down and cried. After some minutes...
"Mom?"
Tamora and the other soldiers couldn't believe it, that sounded like Luann! They looked towards the voice and sure enough it was Luann! She was back! Tamora slowly went over to Luann and touched her to make sure that she was real.
"Luann? Honey is...is that you?" Tamora still couldn't believe it.
"Yeah..." Luann winced, expecting to be slapped or at least yelled at.
Instead Tamora hugged Luann and continued crying. Luann had no idea of what to make of that since this wasn't like her mom at all.
"Hey mom it's okay." Luann said once she recovered from the surprise. "When I decided to make my weapons part of the game I visited the Code Room and saw that my code was also part of the game. That's why I showed up earlier, I knew I'd be able to regenerate. Since I partially have your codes the game recognized me as a character. This means that I can regenerate in dad's game too."
"I thought I lost you." Tamora sobbed, starting to calm down.
"I know, I'm sorry for not telling you sooner but I ended up sleeping late and didn't have time." Luann explained. "I've been visiting this game late every night for the past few nights. I thought that maybe if I just continued fixing weapons for you and the other soldiers then I would feel like I was part of the game without putting myself at risk. I also decided to try out some weapons, but none really suited me so I started inventing my own. I guess that's my program: fix weapons and invent new ones."
Tamora actually smiled.
"Well, I'm glad your father and I don't have to worry about you anymore...at least not as much." She said. "So, do you want to continue being part of the game or just stay in the background?"
"I think I'll do the same thing as before, only with a weapon at my side so that I don't get eaten again." Luann winced. "Not a pleasant experience, I was actually glad that the gamer blasted me before I turned into a Cy-Bug hybrid."
Tamora just sighed with relief. Everyone else thought that it was just because she was glad and grateful that Luann was alive and well, but there was another reason. Part of her pain from her backstory had been guilt over killing Brad, Cy-Bug or no Cy-Bug. However hearing that Luann had preferred being killed instead of completely turning into a Cy-Bug made Tamora realize that perhaps Brad was grateful to her for killing him before he could completely transform as well.
Meanwhile, before the second gamer started Hero's Duty, some gamers had surrounded Fix-It-Felix Jr. They noticed something weird with the game right away.
"Mr. Litwak?" One girl said. "We think there's something wrong with Felix."
Mr. Litwak came over.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Take a look, Felix doesn't have his smile anymore." A boy said.
Mr. Litwak looked and sure enough Felix still had his heartbroken expression on his face. Surprisingly, Mr. Litwak actually looked concerned instead of confused.
"Well, play a game and see if he can still perform." Mr. Litwak suggested, giving a gamer a quarter.
A gamer did and to everyone's relief Felix was able to do his job despite his expression. One of the benefits of being attached to the controls really. Now if it had been Ralph who had lost his child, or at least thought he had lost his child, that would've been a different story.
Then when the second gamer for Hero's Duty started the game, Luann's voice was heard. Vanellope could see what was going on and smiled with relief (beforehand her smile was fake) but the Nicelanders couldn't see over the gamers and so didn't know what to think. Had Luann miraculously come back or were they just hallucinating? Since their game was surrounded by gamers, like almost every day, they never found out for sure until after the arcade closed.
However Mr. Litwak didn't leave as expected. Instead a while after the last kid left he approached Fix-It-Felix Jr.
"Felix?" He said. "Are you okay?"
The game characters didn't know what to do at first, so they just continued their Attract Mode.
"Okay, I know you guys are alive." Mr. Litwak finally confessed.
This time all the game characters stopped and stared at Mr. Litwak eyes wide and mouths dropped open.
"What?" Ralph said. "How did you find out."
"Turbo." Mr. Litwak sighed. "When he entered Roadblasters I wondered how he got in there and why...and then I came to the conclusion that all game characters are alive and can visit each other's games. That was why I unplugged his game, I figured Turbo entered Roadblasters out of jealousy and I wanted to teach him a lesson. I didn't know which game he was in at the time so I unplugged both his and Roadblasters."
"But...but unplugging a game with the characters still inside kills off the characters." Gene said.
"No it doesn't, my PacMan game came from another arcade and they were fine."
"Really?" Frogger said.
PacMan then said something. Of course all everyone else heard were 'wakka-wakka' sounds.
"Oh, gee, none of us can really understand PacMan, I mean I've learned a few of his words but not enough to really talk to him." Felix said sheepishly. "I guess he has tried to tell us the truth and no one understood him."
PacMan nodded.
"Well actually the other ghosts and I can understand him." Clyde said sheepishly. "Uh, sorry for not saying anything earlier but we don't leave our game that often, so we didn't know that you guys believed that a game getting unplugged meant death for the characters."
The other game characters were indescribably relieved.
"So, is everything okay Felix?" Mr. Litwak asked again.
"No." Felix sobbed. "You see years ago Sergeant Calhoun of Hero's Duty and I married. Then months ago we had a daughter...but she was in Hero's Duty today..."
"Oh so that's who that new character was." Mr. Litwak realized. "Explains why she looks like Sergeant Calhoun, they have the same hair and nose. Only your daughter's hair is longer."
"Yeah, anyway a Cy-Bug ate her..." Felix started sobbing.
"Dad I'm okay!" Luann said.
Startled, Mr. Litwak moved to the side to look at Hero's Duty. Felix and the other Nicelanders saw Luann there too.
"Luann!" Felix brightened. "You're alive! But how?"
"The game recognized my code after all." Luann grinned. "And your game will be able to recognize my code too."
Felix suddenly left his game.
"Felix?" Gene said with confusion.
After less than a minute, Felix appeared in Hero's Duty and hugged Luann.
"I thought...I mean..." Felix hugged her tightly, sobbing a little.
"It's okay dad." Luann hugged him back.
Tamora then showed up and smiled.
"Well, I guess since you already know this much you might as well know the whole story." She said to Mr. Litwak.
"Yeah...like why I was absent from my game all those years ago." Ralph said sheepishly.
"Visiting another game huh?" Mr. Litwak guessed.
"Oh not like Turbo did." Ralph raised his hands. "Actually I was just trying to earn a medal in order to make the Nicelanders respect me more."
"Wait...you mean the Nicelanders didn't respect you even outside the games?" Mr. Litwak frowned. "What's wrong with all of you? I mean sure Ralph wrecks the apartment but that's just part of the game!"
"Easy Mr. Litwak, they've been treating me a lot nicer now." Ralph said before Mr. Litwak could really lose his temper.
Mr. Litwak relaxed. Ralph, Felix, Vanellope, and Tamora then continued the story. When the part where King Candy was revealed to be Turbo came up Mr. Litwak was either as shocked as Ralph and Felix had been or more shocked than they had been.
"What?" Mr. Litwak said. "Aw man, then he must've been in Game Central Station when I unplugged those games."
"Yeah I guess he caught on in time to escape." Vanellope shrugged.
"This also explains what happened to King Candy...so what did Turbo do to the real one?" Mr. Litwak asked.
"I'm right here." Candiel smiled, appearing on the Sugar Rush screen. "You see when he attempted to take over Sugar Rush he threatened Vanellope's safety. Not wanting her hurt I agreed to surrender as long as he promised not to hurt her. He then locked me up in the dungeons, but Ralph later found me and freed me."
"Yeah it was thanks to you too." Ralph added to Mr. Litwak. "We didn't even know that King Candiel was a real character until you mentioned it."
Mr. Litwak just smiled.
"Hi Mr. Litwak!" Reneult then suddenly appeared on the Sugar Rush game screen.
Mr. Litwak was a bit startled at first but then smiled.
"Well hello, you're a new Racer huh?" He said.
"Nah, mom and dad don't want to risk me getting killed or something like that." Reneult shrugged. "You know, like if I accidentally crashed or something."
"Mom and dad?" Mr. Litwak was now confused.
"Yeah, Vanellope and Ralph." Reneult pointed to his parents. "I'm Reneult."
"Uh, Reneult, I still look like a kid through the game screen remember?" Vanellope said awkwardly.
"Oh yeah...sorry I forgot." Reneult said sheepishly.
Ralph and Vanellope then had to quickly explain how they ended up together. Fortunately Mr. Litwak was okay with the relationship, though it was mostly because he was glad that Ralph and Vanellope were happy.
"Well, I'd love to chat more but I have to get home and have dinner, I'm kinda hungry." Mr. Litwak said.
He and the game characters said their goodbyes and Mr. Litwak left. Ralph then left his game to go to Sugar Rush. Felix, Tamora, and Luann joined him.
"So Luann's codes are part of both our games..." Felix said.
"I double-checked the Code Room in your game last night, my code is in there." Luann confirmed.
"So maybe Reneult's code is in both your game and this game." Vanellope finished.
"One way to find out." Ralph said.
Ralph and Vanellope went to the Code Room to double-check. Felix and Tamora stayed behind to watch their daughter as she played with Reneult. No not watch as in 'keep an eye on her', more like they were just that grateful that she had regenerated.
Ralph and Vanellope soon came back grinning.
"Reneult's code is in there." Ralph confirmed. "This means that Reneult can regenerate in this game."
"Really?" Reneult brightened.
"Yeah, which means there's only one thing left to do: go to the Kart Bakery and build you a kart of your own." Vanellope smiled.
"Yes! I can race!" Reneult leapt with joy.
"I can't wait to see you race Chocolate Chip." King Candiel grinned. "I just know you'll be as good as your mother."
"Maybe better." Reneult grinned.
"Is that a challenge?" Vanellope smirked.
"Well I'm going to need to race if I want to be on the roster anyway." Reneult smirked back.
Vanellope suddenly hugged Reneult.
"I'm so glad you'll be able to race without any worries." She said.
"Hey mom, it's okay." Reneult hugged her back. "I understood why you and dad didn't want me to race before and frankly I don't blame you. I'm just glad I can regenerate in this game."
Vanellope smiled, glad that her son didn't hate her or even blame her for not letting him race before.
So they went to the Kart Bakery and built Reneult a kart of his own. Not all of them though, Felix, Tamora, and Luann decided to just hang out back in their apartment in Fix-It-Felix Jr.
This time Ralph just watched since Reneult didn't want a kart that looked similar to The Blender. Instead Vanellope and Candiel helped Reneult. Reneult liked both orange and green, so they tried to stick with mostly those colors in making the kart. Fortunately since the Kart Bakery ended up not becoming a playable part of the game Vanellope was able to modify the factory so that it worked slower like a normal factory rather than on a timer like a mini game. Reneult wanted his kart to have a special feature, like how Vanellope's kart had the 'made by Vanellope and Ralph' sign on the side, so they put the kart-making on pause as they thought of what special feature to add. Then Reneult looked at his hands.
"I've got it!" He smiled. "Each Racer has a special feature that can be used to help win a race right? For example mom has teleporting and Candlehead can light the cherry bombs. Well I have dad's fists, so why don't I use them during races? I can 'wreck' away obstacles to help stay on the track."
"Hey that's a great idea!" Candiel smiled.
"Which means we should add a feature to his kart to represent that..." Ralph smiled before thinking; then he got an idea. "How about one of those spiked cylinders that you see in front of some vehicles? It could help to prevent the wrecked obstacles from reaching his wheels and making him lose control."
"Yeah...only this factory doesn't have that kind of feature." Vanellope frowned. "We're going to have to build one ourselves outside the factory."
"Heh, here I go again." Ralph chuckled. "Be right back."
After a couple hours or so Ralph came back with a jawbreaker that had been broken into a cylinder shape.
"Good thing I'm used to wrecking hard objects..." He muttered.
"A jawbreaker, perfect." Vanellope grinned before gazing at her engagement ring, which she always put on along with her wedding ring after arcade hours.
"Still have to add the spikes, but it should be easier than carving out a ring was right?" Candiel said.
"I think so." Ralph nodded. "Especially if we work together."
So they did. It was easier than carving out a ring, but still very hard. Fortunately Ralph had the foresight to bring metal tools, which was why it had taken him so long to return. After a few hours, the spikes were done and the spiked cylinder was then attached to the kart. By that point the only thing left was to add decorations. They decided to do that by hand instead of using the factory machines.
Reneult definitely wanted orange and green frosting and candies, though they decided to add a few other colors due to the multi-colored stripes on the jawbreaker spike cylinder. Finally all that was left was to name it.
"Well there's only one name for this beauty." Reneult admired his kart. "The Wrecker."
Everyone else agreed.
Now that the kart was done it was time for the Roster Race. As Candiel predicted Reneult ended up being a natural-born Racer. In fact he nearly tied with his mom, which was impressive considering it was his first time. This also meant that he was on the roster.
"I'm so proud of you Reneult!" Vanellope hugged him after they got out of their karts.
"Yup, you really are a chip off the ol' chocolate cookie." Ralph agreed. "Our little Reneult, a Racer. And an excellent one at that."
"Thanks mom, dad." Reneult smiled. "But I'm just glad that I can now race with the rest of you."
"He's definitely a true Sugar Rush Racer." Candiel smiled.
After that Vanellope admitted another worry of hers: Ralph spending so much time in Sugar Rush. After all since he wasn't a Sugar Rush character...well everyone understood, even Ralph, and so thought of what to do about it. Then Ralph remembered that it was possible to remove codes and input them into another game. He wondered if you could copy codes as well, so he, Vanellope, Reneult, and Candiel decided to ask Surge Protector. It turned out you could, so Surge Protector helped Ralph copy his code so that he could input the copy into Sugar Rush. They then did the same thing with Vanellope's code so that she could input her copy into Fix-It-Felix Jr. Felix and Tamora did the same thing with their codes so that Felix could visit Tamora in Hero's Duty more often without her worrying too much.
The next day the Sugar Rush gamers saw Reneult on the roster and asked Mr. Litwak about him.
"Oh he's a new character I had installed to help balance the boy-girl ratio." Mr. Litwak covered up. "He's supposed to be Vanellope's brother."
He went with brother because he very well couldn't go with son. After all Vanellope did look like a kid to the gamers.
One guy gamer decided to try Reneult out. His friend picked Vanellope, which wasn't surprising.
As the race went on it was mostly between Reneult and Vanellope. Reneult's wrecking powers ended up coming in handy a few times, like when he wrecked some cherry bombs off the track. It wasn't long until he became around as popular as his mother.
And of course this made Ralph even happier to be tossed off the building. Now he can watch both his wife and his son race each time he was lifted.
Luann made Hero's Duty extra-popular as well. The gamers loved the challenge of trying to find better weapons while trying not to get eaten.
Fortunately, The newfound popularity of Fix-It-Felix Jr, Sugar Rush, and Hero's Duty kept the arcade from being shut down for many many decades. So, both the Calhoun and Von Schweetz families, along with the other game characters, were able to continue their lives in Mr. Litwak's arcade happily for a long time.