Vanellope's Bug Problem
Chapter Two

The trio made it to Game Central Station and saw Sergeant Calhoun waiting at the entrance to Tappers.

Vanellope was the first to call to her. "Evening, Sargeant!"

Calhoun looked to Ralph and Felix. "Evening, boys."

They crossed the threshold of Tappers's plug, and the buzzer went off.

The Surge Protector appeared. "Names?"

"Wreck-It Ralph."

"Fix-It Felix Jr."

"Vanellope von Schweetz."

"Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun."

"And where are you coming from?"

"We're coming from Fix-It Felix Jr."

"I'm coming from Hero's Duty."

"Did you bring any bricks with you?"

"Nope."

"Any Cy-Bugs?"

"Negatory."

"And where are you off to?"

"Tappers."

"Reason for travel?"

"Dining out."

"Anything to declare?"

"I hate you."

"Nothing."

"Your glow is beautiful."

"Surge Protector my rifle handle."

"28 times and counting. Proceed."

Calhoun looked quizzically at Vanellope as the Surge Protector disappeared. "Did you say that every time you got stopped by the Surge Protector? (As bad of a security guard he is.)"

Ralph nodded. "Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that."

"What do you mean?"

"She's been staring at lights and walking toward them ever since she was able to leave her game."

"After that Cy-Bug invasion you started, you mean?"

"Yeah, don't remind me."

"Yeah, I'd been looking into that myself to see if there were any lasting effects from her becoming a Cy-Bug. What's getting in the way of finding conclusive answers is the risks involved in gathering data."

Ralph nodded. "Right. Cy-Bugs are much more dangerous outside Hero's Duty, and characters that die outside their games don't regenerate."

"Exactly. I already know what happens when a Cy-Bug eats a soldier in my game because I'm the final boss of Hero's Duty."

"Yeah, we saw that today."

"It was quite a surprise."

"Wait, you mean you get eaten by a Cy-Bug at the end of your game and the player has to fight you to win?"

"In a nutshell, yeah."

Vanellope was awestruck. "Awesome!"

Calhoun turned a flat face to Vanellope. "You of all people should know that being turned into a Cy-Bug is anything but 'awesome'."

"I meant being the final boss of your game."

Ralph chuckled. "I guess if you gotta be the final boss of your game, it'd be great to start out as a good guy."

"Yeah, so, unless that mangy dog Turbo somehow resurfaces, I'm not gonna experiment to figure out what the boundaries are for Cy-Bug hybrid regeneration." That's when the group reached Tappers. "Assuming he's the same Turbo that swiped Vanellope's game from her."

Vanellope approached the waitress. "Table for four, please."

"Right this way." The waitress brought them to a booth in the corner of the room.

Once they were seated and the waitress had left to get their drinks, Calhoun started probing Vanellope.

"Now, granted, you're the only non-Hero's Duty character (as far as I know, anyway) to be eaten by a Cy-Bug, and your restoration was down to unique circumstances, but it's possible that one or more of your fellow racers was eaten by a Cy-Bug and flew into that beacon that you managed to avoid at the last second. I'm not saying that that was the case, but when you get home, I want you to figure out if that happened to anyone in your game. That being said, I want to know if there are any traces of Cy-Bug still in your code, and what effect, if any, it's having if there is."

"So, how do you plan on finding out?"

"I do have a few tests in mind, but we'd probably need to do them in your game just in case."

"Right, don't want to die outside my game. Although I can say first hand that glitches can regenerate in their games."

Ralph nodded. "Or at least someone whose code someone tried but failed to delete."

"Yeah. If glitches couldn't regenerate even in their own games, I'd have been killed long before now, either by my wandering around Sugar Rush or being killed by Turbo."

The waitress returned with drinks for everyone. Once she headed off to serve other customers, Ralph looked to Vanellope.

"I dunno, kid. There's not much Turbo could've done to kill you without ruining his King Candy image."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Ralph. If he could lock up everybody's memories, he'd have had a lot of options for trying to eliminate me for good."

Calhoun picked up her drink. "So, how did Turbo get into your game, anyway? Do you remember?"

Vanellope nodded and took a sip from her drink. "Well, it all started the day my game was plugged in..."