A.N. Now in this chapter a character never previously mentioned before in the movie or my stories will appear. Since I didn't know his backstory and personality that well Berserkeroo, who's more into arcade/video games than I am, helped me so I'd like to take this moment to thank her.

Now speaking of broken hearts...about a week or so after the arts and crafts show and science fair the Racers had just finished another Roster Race. Sourward was one of the ones who placed and Sourward's parents, Bitalo, and Citrusella were congratulating him...when something very unpleasant happened.

"So there you are." A female voice said.

Bitalo and Sourward's blood ran cold. A stabbing pain entered Sourward's heart.

"Oh no..." He whispered.

They turned and saw a pretty girl with blond curly hair, blue eyes, and expensive looking clothes. There was an expensive looking shoulder bag at her side.

"Thembara." Bitalo glared.

Everyone else there overheard and gasped. They had already learned about Sourward's history with her by this point.

Vanellope, Ralph, and Reneult each clenched a fist and went closer in case Sourward needed backup.

"What are you doing here?" Bitalo continued glaring.

"Looking for Sourward." Thembara said cooly; she then took some files out of her shoulder bag. "Here. We don't need these anymore, we already have altered versions in our computer at the factory." She sneered.

She then tossed the files at Sourward's feet, causing the papers to scatter a little.

"You and your parents actually moved here?" She laughed. "Unbelievable, I mean it's not like any of you deserve to live in a kingdom."

Sourward just knelt down and tried to neaten the papers, not wanting Thembara to see his tears.

"You're pathetic, a worthless-" Thembara continued.

"Shut up!"

Everyone gasped, shocked. It was because Citrusella, the shyest of the original Racers, had been the one who snapped that. Jubileena was the only one who wasn't shocked, instead she was impressed and proud of her sister.

"What did you say to me?" Thembara glared.

"I said shut up!" Citrusella yelled as she moved closer to Thembara. "How dare you speak that way to him! Who do you think you are, some goddess? Ha, you're nothing but a monster in expensive clothing!"

Sourward looked up, touched and impressed by Citrusella's words.

"Why you little brat!" Thembara glared back. "You-"

Sourward's tears disappeared. He was now angry.

"She's right!" He stood up, entirely forgetting about the files now, and moved closer to Thembara so that he could yell in her face. "You are a monster! I can't believe I ever loved you! You never deserved my love! You know what, keep those stupid altered recipes I don't care anymore! At least I finally found someone I truly love, but you'll spend the rest of your life unloved and miserable!"

"What?" Citrusella gasped.

Sourward froze, realizing what he had just said. He turned to Citrusella, who was looking at him with wide eyes.

"Is...is it true?" She sounded happy yet beyond shocked.

Sourward sighed. He knew there was no turning back now...and he also realized that he loved Citrusella more than he had ever loved Thembara. He smiled gently.

"It's true." He confirmed. "I love you."

Citrusella beamed, tears in her eyes. She hugged him.

"I love you too." She said. "I thought you would never love me back..."

"I couldn't help it." Sourward hugged her back.

They then pulled away a little...and slowly kissed. 8-bit hearts surrounded them as Sourward felt his heart completely heal and become overfilled with love. Bitalo beamed at them, more than ecstatic that his friend had finally found the true love he deserves. However he still had one last thing left to do...

Thembara, who had been caught off-guard by Sourward yelling at her and insulting her, started to look really hurt. Bitalo then went over to her, causing her to look at him with fear.

"You know, I'm too kind and sweet to ever hurt a lady." Bitalo shrugged.

Thembara relaxed...and then Bitalo suddenly punched her, knocking her down.

"But you are no lady." He glared. "Get out!"

Thembara, crying, ran away.

"That's my honey!" Torvald cheered.

Yeah, Torvald started using 'honey' as her affectionate nickname for Bitalo. It was not only fitting but also allowed her to show her love for him without sounding too gushy.

After Citrusella and Sourward recovered from their love for each other, she started to help him pick up the files. Sourward instantly noticed that Citrusella tried to avoid seeing the recipes as much as possible, causing him to love her even more. He knew that Citrusella was respecting the fact that the recipes belonged to his family and were none of her business.

"I wish we could get your recipes out of the Sluggum factory computer." Citrusella admitted.

"It's okay, like I said I don't care anymore." Sourward smiled. "My parents got over the theft a long time ago, we had back-up copies anyway. My real problem had been my broken heart, had been thinking that I would never find true love. But then I met you. Your kindness, sweetness, and especially sincerity won me over. Your love...your love is true, I feel it. So as long as I have you I'll never need anything else. Not even my family's recipes out of Sluggum's computer."

Citrusella smiled shyly...though deep down still wanted to get his recipes out of that computer.

Sourward and Citrusella weren't the only ones in love either, Candlehead was starting to realize that she had fallen in love with Matlow. She never told anyone though, she didn't think she had a chance with Matlow. And even if she did...what if things didn't work out? She just couldn't risk losing his friendship again, not after what they had been through recently.

One day, near Thanksgiving, Candlehead was sitting by herself in Game Central Station. She had entered there long before anyone else due to not having been on the roster at the time. The arcade then closed and other game characters started to enter Game Central Station as well.

Sonic and Shadow were among the first, mostly because Sonic always left as soon as possible to get to where he did the PSAs about leaving your game. He and Shadow were arguing about something. What they were arguing about no one knew, because it was hard to hear exactly what they were saying. They were almost speaking at the same time, so their words were getting a bit lost in each other's argument.

"But I'm the fastest-" Sonic cut himself off.

He had just seen Candlehead sitting sadly by herself. He instantly recognized her, but after that accident that had almost killed her and her friend Matlow how could he not recognize her?

"Time Out Shadow." Sonic said before running over to Candlehead.

Shadow watched where Sonic was heading, and instantly understood why Sonic had paused the argument. He ran over as well.

"Candlehead?" Sonic said concernedly. "Why are you sitting here by yourself? Did something happen with Matlow?"

"No...but it does concern him." Candlehead said sadly. "I've fallen in love with him."

"But that's great news." Sonic smiled.

"Normally it would be, but why would Matlow want to date someone like me?" Candlehead sighed. "I mean sure we have a strong friendship, but...but I'm not smart enough for him. He deserves someone who can't hold him back, who'll be able to go to the top with him."

"But what if your love for him is real?" Sonic pointed out. "I'm sure it is, and if it is then he'll more than likely return your feelings."

"But how will I know it's real?"

"It is real." Shadow said.

Sonic and Candlehead looked at him surprised.

"How do you know?" Candlehead asked with confusion, especially since she had never actually met Shadow before. "And...who are you?"

"This is Shadow." Sonic introduced. "He's...well not exactly a friend of mine but not exactly an enemy either. I guess we're more like...friendly rivals really. Being both fast hedgehogs and all..."

"Oh." Candlehead smiled at Shadow politely. "Nice to meet you."

"Same here." Shadow actually smiled back slightly, really surprising Sonic. "Candlehead, I know your love is real because only real love would cause someone to put herself in harms way for another even if it might cost her her life."

Candlehead and Sonic stared at him.

"You saw Candlehead risk her life to save Matlow when they first visited our game didn't you?" Sonic realized.

"Yes, I did." Shadow confirmed, still smiling slightly at Candlehead. "And I respect anyone who's willing to sacrifice their lives for someone else. After all that sort of thing is the reason why I'm alive."

"Really?" Candlehead now looked sorry for him. "Someone sacrificed their life for you didn't they?"

"Yes, in my backstory." Shadow nodded. "Her name was Maria, she was my best friend. She was...my sister. Not biologically, she was human instead of hedgehog, but she still felt like my sister. See I was a genetic experiment, and a bunch of people viewed those experiments as dangerous so they sent soldiers to destroy everything. Maria was able to help me escape, and she let herself die in the process." He quickly wiped an eye before a tear could form. "I never recovered from losing her, and have also dedicated myself to protecting Earth in honor of her memory."

"Well...if she's a backstory character then can't you bring her back?" Candlehead asked. "You know, go into the Code Room and reprogram her code or something?"

Shadow hung his head, this time letting a tear fall.

"He can't, he's not really part of our game." Sonic explained, looking at Shadow sympathetically. "He came from another game that used to be in the arcade, but when he and the other characters from that game - including the other me - explored one of the other games they died from an accident. Shadow was the only one who survived. Then when my game entered the arcade I let him become part of our game so that he would have a home even if he couldn't let himself be seen by the players. Fortunately he was able to save his code box before his old game was unplugged, so we were able to replug it into our game. His story is also the reason why I started doing the PSAs in the first place. It's to prevent anyone else from suffering such a huge loss, and also in honor of my predecessor's memory."

By predecessor he meant that the previous Sonic had been in the arcade before him, not that the previous Sonic existed before him. This current Sonic actually came from an older game that used to belong to another arcade. Mr. Litwak bought his game when that arcade went out of business.

"Oh...I'm so sorry Shadow." Candlehead said regretfully.

"It's okay...it's not your fault." Shadow shook his head. "And thank you for trying to help."

"Candlehead, listen, you have to tell Matlow how you feel." Sonic said. "If you don't you may end up regretting it."

"He's right. Even though I'll never recover from losing Maria I'll always be grateful that she at least knew how much I loved her." Shadow added.

"Okay." Candlehead smiled, feeling better. "I'll go tell him. Thank you, thank you both."

"Anytime." Sonic grinned.

"Of course." Shadow nodded humbly.

Candlehead ran off to find Matlow.

"You know, you're surprisingly wise for a copy." Sonic smirked to Shadow.

"Thank-HEY!" Shadow glared at him.

And as the other game characters most likely thought: there they go again.

Candlehead ran until she found Matlow leaving the beginning of the race track.

"Candlehead? Where were you, I was worried about you." He said.

"Sorry, I needed to be alone to think." Candlehead rubbed the back of her head. "I need to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"I...I love you."

Matlow beamed with surprise.

"I love you too." He said.

"What?" Candlehead now beamed. "But I thought I wasn't smart enough for you."

"And I thought I wasn't fun enough for you."

They both looked at each other incredulously and then cracked up. After they recovered they hugged...and slowly kissed. 8-bit hearts surrounded them.

Vanellope, Taffyta, Rancis, and Candlehead's parents were extremely happy for the new couple. Not that the other Racers weren't, it's just that Vanellope, Taffyta, Rancis, and Candlehead's parents were the happiest. Mr. and Mrs. Smartietiz weren't so sure about the idea, still wanting Matlow to get a great career like a scientist, but Matlow retorted that he already decided to have racing as his career and that he loved Candlehead more than science. His parents gave in and decided to support the couple, wanting his happiness more.

Also, Candlehead was so grateful for Sonic and Shadow's help, plus had become close to them by that point, that she decided they earned the right to know her real name. She went over to their game and took them aside the day off after she and Matlow ended up together.

"So how are things with Matlow?" Sonic asked.

"Wonderful, it turns out he loves me back." Candlehead grinned.

"Congratulations." Shadow smiled slightly.

"Thanks...and thank you both for giving me the courage to tell him my feelings." Candlehead said. "In fact, you two have been really great friends so I decided to tell you both my real name. Candlehead is just my nickname, and so far only the original Racers, Matlow, Ralph, Felix and Tamora know my real name. My real name is Candela."

"That's really pretty." Sonic smiled.

"Thank you." Candlehead smiled back.

"I do like that name...but I also like Candlehead." Shadow smiled.

"Same here, which is why I use it most of the time." Candlehead nodded.