Hi everybody! I'm in shock at how much support this story's getting! I'm so glad to hear that people are liking it, and I'm especially excited to see new people reviewing my work! So thank you to all once again. You truly inspire me.

Many of you are saying that I've been keeping characters in character, which means a lot to me. I forgot to mention in the last chapter that with this story, I've been watching little bits and pieces of the actual movie and looking at pictures from the film, mostly so I can describe the scenery and the places that I mention in this story. But it's also been helpful for getting in touch with the characters. Disney did such a spectacular job with this movie and its characters that I'm glad to hear that people think I'm doing those characters justice.

Speaking of Disney and the film, here's the disclaimer yet again! I don't own Wreck-It-Ralph or the characters in this movie. And now that this is over and done with, please enjoy Chapter 4 and remember to review once you've finished reading! That's the best way for you guys to show your support and let me know what you think of what I'm doing. Once again, thank you, and now on with the show!

Chapter 4: Cold Welcoming

The travel wasn't easy with her injured leg, but Vanellope managed to get by. To keep her mind off of her leg, which was slowly swelling and getting harder to move, Vanellope focussed entirely on the sounds around her. Her ears worked in overtime as she tried to detect motors, feeling both worried and excited about what would happen once she heard them. The people with the motors would either be her friends or her enemies, and she desperately hoped that they wouldn't be the second option.

Before she reached the racing track she'd met Snowanna on, Vanellope heard it: the familiar roar that caused her to flash and her code to churn with yearning. Right in front of her was a different road with sides lined with dark brown chocolate sprinkles and scoops of pistachio ice cream. The road twisted and turned off into the distance, and that was where the sounds were coming from. Vanellope decided to keep off the road in case any other carts came ripping down it, but she struggled up the hill beside it until she came to the top. Looking around, she noticed another sign, this one looking much cheaper and not as well made. A sharp triangular piece of peanut brittle was nailed to two candy-cane sticks. Curvy letters in different sizes painted on the sign formed the word, 'JUNKYARD.' Moving over to the sign so she could lean on it for support, Vanellope glanced around to see the land was like. The road led past the side, and then curved around a corner and down into a stretch of bare land surrounded on all sides by high hills and pink and purple rock candy trees. The layout reminded Vanellope of a bowl. And right in the middle of the bowl were the carts.

The first thing she noticed was how many of them there were. They weren't moving, so it was easy for her to count out fourteen. The second thing she noticed was how different they all were. Each cart seemed to have a different theme and looked to be made with different coloured candies and treats that had to do with that theme. The carts all gave off strong scents which mingled together, along with the scent of the gas inside each one that allowed them all to run. All had the same basic shape, but were each so unique that Vanellope had a feeling that they'd been tailor-made to suit each of the racers.

She had completely forgotten to think about the other racers or even look at them once she'd seen the carts. As soon as the thought occurred to her, she turned her attention to them. Each one was unique, just like the carts, and judging by the way they were all laughing and talking to each other as they turned their carts off, they were all good friends. Before going down to meet them, Vanellope started scouring the area for the one she wanted to talk to.

She saw her almost immediately; it was impossible to miss her with all of that hair. Slowly and carefully, she made her way down the hill to the bottom of the bowl, praying that she wouldn't trip and end up tumbling down instead. Her eyes were trained on her friend instead of her feet, and as she moved, she started hollering as loudly as she could. "Snow! Snow! Hey, Snowanna! I need to talk to you!"

Watching, she noticed Snowanna's head turn in her direction at the sound of her name. Their eyes met, but only for a brief moment. The instant Snowanna saw her, her eyes widened, and she turned back around, looking almost uncomfortable. The movement confused Vanellope and made her only want to get there quicker. "She couldn't possibly have forgotten about me," she thought in confusion. "We only just met this morning!"

"SNOW!" she hollered, much louder than the other times. This time when Snowanna heard her name, Vanellope saw her mumble something to the other racers, who were staring at Vanellope and Snowanna in confusion. It was clear they had no idea what was going on.

After mumbling, Snowanna turned around and made her way to the bottom of the hill, where Vanellope had just arrived. "Hey Afro-Head," Vanellope giggled, rolling her eyes playfully. "Didn't you hear me? I need to talk to you! It's really important!"

"Vanellope!" When Snowanna spoke, her voice was hushed, as though she didn't want the others to hear her. To further suggest that, she shot a glance behind her towards the other racers. Most were still staring at her as though they had no idea what she was doing, though a couple had started talking to each other again, completely oblivious to what was going on.

Snowanna held up her index finger in a way that said, "Just give me a minute," and then turned back to Vanellope. Her eyes fell on the candy-wrapper bandage on Vanellope's leg, which had started to fall down due to the amount of walking she'd done. Vanellope hadn't done a very good job of tying it in Diet Cola Mountain. Both could see redness of the burnt, inflamed skin, and a little section of a clear blister was poking out from underneath the slipping wrapper.

Snowanna let out a gasp at the sight. "What happened to your leg?"

Vanellope brushed away the question with ease. She hadn't walked all that way to talk about her injuries. She had more important matters to discuss. "It doesn't matter. Listen, I need your help. I need you to help me sneak into the bakery."

"What?" Snowanna started at the request, and as she did so, the pitch in her normally level voice took a dramatic increase, causing the word to come out as a shriek. Vanellope jumped at the sudden piercing sound and cried out, "SHHH," desperately. Pressing a finger to her own lips, she shot a glance behind her friend to see if the other racers would do anything. Thankfully though they looked nervous, none of them came close. It almost looked as though their fearful glances were directed straight at Vanellope, but she dismissed the idea and turned all of her attention back to Snowanna. "I know it may sound crazy and drastic to you. But listen, I went to see King Candy like you told me to, and he wouldn't give me a permit to enter!"

Snowanna's gaze dropped to the floor and she started shifting her feet uncomfortably. Vanellope watched her intently, not understanding what was so interesting about Snowanna's fur-trimmed boots that they would make her look at them. She waited for Snowanna to speak, and she was finally rewarded with two words: "I know."

Now it was Vanellope's turn to be shocked. "What?" she gasped out in disbelief. Before she could even think about it, she had flashed, and the entire time, a confused look was growing on her face. The way Snowanna was acting was making her feel nervous as well, and she tried to laugh, but it came out sounding nervous and fake. "How do you—"

But before she could complete her sentence, the roar of another engine appeared out of the blue, and instantly all of the other racers were mumbling to each other, glancing up at the road Vanellope had just come from. Even Snowanna's eyes darted up, and Vanellope followed her gaze, wanting to see what all the fuss was about.

A pink streak ripped down the road and all the way down to the junkyard where everybody was standing. As it performed circles around the racers, it took Vanellope's eyes a couple of minutes to pick out details on the streak. Bit by bit it transformed into what it truly was: a cart. The engine roared like all of the other carts, but there was a purr to the sound as well, and it sent delighted chills down Vanellope's spine. None of the other carts had that quality to them, and it gave her the sense that this was one of the higher quality carts in Sugar Rush.

Finally the cart skidded to a halt and a girl jumped out. The amount of pink the girl and her cart shared made Vanellope think that perhaps Sour Bill had been wrong and this new girl belonged in the castle. When the crowd of racers parted like the Red Sea to make way for her to approach and Vanellope noticed an obvious gleam of superiority in the girl's blue eyes, the feelings strengthened, and Vanellope's chills increased, though for some reason they were more out of nervousness than delight now.

The platinum blonde girl couldn't see Vanellope from behind Snowanna's form, but she walked through the mass of racers in their direction. The way she strutted displayed total confidence, and many of the others gave her nods of recognition as she passed. She met eye contact with most of them, but only made actual physical contact with one of them, giving a high-five with a white-gloved hand to a green-haired girl with a candle on top of her head. Once she made it to the front of the crowd the girl pulled a lollipop out of her mouth and twirled it with her fingers as she spoke, her voice dripping with pure snobbish attitude. "I thought I told you guys to wait for me."

Apologies from the other racers began being mumbled immediately, but the girl rolled her eyes as if to say she really didn't care what they said to her and stood with most of her weight placed on one of her legs, making her look as though she was leaning to one side. Her empty hand made its way to her waist and stayed there casually as she spoke next. "So, what's going on?"

Snowanna turned so she could face the new girl out of respect, and by doing so, gave the girl a perfect view of Vanellope. When the girl's eyes fell on Vanellope, they narrowed instantaneously into a look of disdain. "Well, well, well," she spoke next, drawing out her words and putting as much emphasis on them as she could. Her arms moved from their original positions and folded across her chest in a territorial fashion. "Look who it is. Here to give us a little light show, glitch?"

Her words startled Vanellope for a number of reasons, and her sudden intense emotions caused a flash to occur, which made the girl in front of her start to laugh in a mocking fashion. Soon after she started, some of the other racers joined in, looking more uncomfortable than she did.

Why was this girl speaking to her in such a cold tone? The air she was giving off seemed to emit the words, "You're beneath me," and Vanellope had no idea why the girl would think such a thing, considering they'd only just met. "Who is this?" she finally managed to choke out to Snowanna, hoping that her friend could answer the questions running in her mind. "How does she know about my flash? Did you tell them?" A sudden thought occurred to her, and she voiced it as well, the fear causing her voice to crack unwillingly. "Did you tell everybody?" She had no idea why the idea of everybody knowing about the thing she was so proud to have made her so uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the way the new girl was talking about it. Perhaps it was because she was referring to it as a glitch.

"No!" Snowanna exclaimed, but before she could go on, the new girl interrupted her, flicking her lollipop at Vanellope as she did so. "My name's Taffyta glitch, and don't you forget it."

"Why are you calling me that?" Vanellope protested, the hurt she was beginning to feel pouring out of her words. "My name is Vanellope, Vanellope von Schweetz! And why don't you like my flashing?"

After hearing the word 'flash,' Taffyta let out a sharp, "Ha!" and rolled her eyes again. "It's funny how innocent you're acting. Listen Vanellope, after you visited King Candy, he held a meeting with all of us. He told us all about your little 'flashing' problem, and how you're not allowed to race because of it. He said it was dangerous and that we're supposed to stay away from you."

The way Taffyta spoke Vanellope's name and the word 'flashing' made it sound as though she was only using them to humour Vanellope, but she didn't care. She was too busy taking in what else Taffyta had said. It was all so much that it was almost overwhelming.

"Oh come on!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air and shooting a desperate look at Snowanna. "You're not going to believe those lies, are you Afro-Head? You know I don't have a glitch, I have a flash! And it's not dangerous; you've seen it with your own eyes! Tell them!"

Snowanna winced, keeping her eyes plastered to the ground ashamedly. She kept her mouth shut, and for a long while, Vanellope thought she wasn't going to do anything. But then she lifted her gaze ever-so-slightly and spoke in a mumbled tone that made her sound as though she was the one that was being betrayed. "King Candy says that the slightest touch can cause you to give it to us. You never told me it was dangerous Vanellope."

"But it's not!" Vanellope cried out defensively, unable to believe what she was hearing with her own ears. "Do you have cotton-candy and earwax stuffed in your ears? Didn't you hear me? I just told you I'm not dangerous! Here, I'll prove it to you!"

She extended an arm, ready to place her hand on Snowanna's shoulder. But before she could get that close, Snowanna's eyes widened, and she backed up quickly until she was behind Taffyta. Frowning slightly, Vanellope began to advance, but she was suddenly stopped when something flew at her, striking her in the cheek. "Ow!"

Another gumball stone flew at her, this time hitting her shoulder, and that one was followed by a stream of tiny gumballs flying towards her. Each racer had picked up a handful and was chucking them without mercy, though it was clear who had been the one to start the ambush. It was Taffyta, who was now screaming, "Don't you touch her, Glitch!"

Tears threatened to well up in Vanellope's eyes, but she desperately blinked them away as her arms flew up in a desperate attempt to shield her face and front. As she felt herself getting pelted, she cried out, "Why don't you believe me Snowanna? I thought you were my friend!"

Thankfully, Snowanna was the only racer not throwing pebbles at Vanellope, but she said nothing in response to Vanellope's painful cry, instead choosing to gaze down at the ground again and ignore her. So Taffyta spoke for her. "Look, King Candy says you're not allowed to race, and a person who's not a racer is no friend of ours. Right guys?"

To Vanellope's horror, Taffyta's words were received with an abundance of cries of, "Yeah!" and "That's right!" Taffyta's smile turned even smugger with all of the support she was receiving, and with that support backing her up, she spat out four final words. "So get lost, glitch."

The stream of pebbles and insulting cries continued relentlessly, and it was only when the part of her leg with the burn on it got struck that Vanellope gave up her attempt to get help from Snowanna or any of the other racers. Turning her back on all of them, she spat out, "Dumb cavities!" and limped up the hill as fast as she could. Because the slope was so steep, she slipped down multiple times. Sometimes she landed on her knees, causing the pain in her one leg to flare up, but she never quit going and she never cried out or shed a tear. Pebbles continued to rain down on her, and by the time she was at the top of the hill, safe from the flying projectiles, she was a muddy, bruised mess. Not even bothering to clean herself up or rest, her gaze dropped on an abundance of round chocolate balls on the hill in front of her, but only for a moment. She didn't even consider chucking them down the hill at her attackers. She would not stoop to that level. Instead she took off again, this time in the direction of the bakery. A fierce scowl of determination and anger had planted itself on her face when she'd started climbing, and she made no effort to remove it now that the first part of her challenge was complete. The pebbles landing on her skin had stung, but they hadn't stung as much as Snowanna's betrayal. It was unbelievable how willing she and all of the other racers were to act like teacher's pets and obey King Candy instead of trying to be her friend and help her. All because of a flash. The other racers hadn't even tried to give her a chance.

With great difficulty, Vanellope tried to shove her feelings of anger and betrayal to the back of her mind. She wanted to use them to fuel her later actions, but she could tell that doing so would result in an unclear head, and she needed to keep her head as clear as it could be in order to go through with her plans. So as she limped, she tried to build up her falling confidence instead of her hatred. Unfortunately, she couldn't get rid of all her fury and desire for vengeance.

"I'll show them," she vowed, speaking her words out loud, but quietly so only she could hear. The last thing she wanted was for them to be carried away by the wind and to the ears of her enemies. "I'll be the best racer this game has ever seen. I'll be so good those warty windbags won't even know what hit them. They'll be on their knobbly knees begging for mercy. They'll realize there's nothing wrong with being a flash."

Every couple of steps she flashed, and every time it ended, she was two steps ahead of where she normally would have been. But her footsteps never faltered, and the speed of her limp never slowed. Though she hadn't even had one full day with her uncontrolled flash, already she was used to it, and she didn't plan on letting it slow her down by even a second. She knew exactly where she was going, and she knew exactly what she was about to do.

She was going to get into the bakery, even if it meant going in alone.