A/N: Finally, the awesome part. Hope you enjoy it!
(back in the arcade)
Sour Bill was being bombarded with questions by about ten children in his face.
"Are we gonna be able to race randomly today or not!?" Gloyd asked impatiently after not getting an answer for the past five minutes.
"Yeah, and when are you guys gonna fix my wheels? You know dad's on vacation." Questioned Snowanna.
"I don't know, you guys, ask Taffyta. Your her friends after all, jeez." Sour Bill groaned.
"Oh, good idea! Let's go guys!" Jubileena gestured for them to come out of Sugar Rush and into Fix-it-Felix Jr.
"Taffyta? Oh, there you are! Can we please do the Random Roster Race? We want you in it with us this time!" Swizzle begged.
Taffyta was confused, and set down her nail polish set. "I don't know if I-"
"Well you can think of something, can't you? By the way, the devil dogs have been making a mess all over Sugar Rush!" Minty added.
"Yeah, and me and Snowanna need help with customizing our new wheels!" Rancis added, pushing Gloyd out of the way.
Candlehead grabbed Taffyta's hand and set down a purple nail polish. "We gotta do something about our game Taff. Come on, lets go."
"Why do I have to do it? Can't I just relax?" Taffyta asked rhetorically, sinking into her vanity.
"Taffyta please, pretty please! We don't know what to do!" Crumbelina said as she spoke over the other six children.
"Ugh, leave me alone you guys! JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!" Taffyta growled, slamming her parent's bedroom door and hid inside. Their mother heard the large noise before getting ready for work and jumped a little, so she set down her gun and got up from the couch.
"Give her some room, kids." Tamora told them and softly knocked on the door. "Darling, you okay? Can I come in?"
"Yeah." A faint voice answered and the knob turned showing a distressed little girl.
"Talk to me, what's the problem?"
"It's just- their always asking me if we can do something in Sugar Rush, or if I can help them with driving, and I hate it! I'm not their leader or anything." Taffyta yelled throwing off her hat in anger.
"...when's dad coming home?"
"He called me. Said he'd be back tonight. And soon all this catastrophe will be over." Tamora said comfortingly, holding her daughter.
"I just wanna race, Mom. I'm not programmed to be some leader, or be responsible. Vanellope was the only one in our game who was like that. And she's, well-"
"Gone?" Tamora finished off her sentence, as if she read her mind. Taffyta nodded in response.
"I know. Losing people's pretty tough. But look at this. When I'm in Sugar Rush, I'll be there takin' those weights off your shoulders okay?" She promised. "You can't lash out at them like that, though. There still your brothers and sisters."
"Thanks. I think I'm gonna go apologize to them now."
Tamora chuckled. "That's my girl. Oh, tell them that breakfast's ready too."
"Aah, finally!"
•••••
Vanellope spray painted one side of Shank's garage wall with everyone she cared about back in the arcade: Ralph, her Uncle Felix and Aunt Tamora on the left, and even saving a small room for her internet friends on the right.
She wrote her signature with a big heart around it when she was finished. It was really messy and it dripped on the grass a lot, but it was made out of love, and she couldn't wait to show her new creation to her friends.
"Perfect!" She grinned, clicking the cap back on the yellow bottle and skipping into the garage.
"Hey guys! Look what I made, I think you'll like it!"
Vanellope stepped into a big dry room, with no one in sight. Only a shiny red muscle car in the middle of it.
"Guys? ...Shank?"
From the other side, she heard faint voices talking on top of each other.
So that's where they went.
She questioned on why they were having a meeting without her, but she pushed it to the side when she heard the voices increase the closer she walked to the wooden door.
Through the blinds, she heard them even more clearly, and split them with her fingers to see what was happening.
"Look Shank, I'm trying to be nice, but you know I can't deal with our game glitching. I just can't." Felony explained, cringing at the thought.
"Facts. This has been going on for like two weeks already! Do you see how people talk about our game out there!?" Pyro agreed.
"I know, I know. But we can't just leave. Where's Vanellope supposed to go?" Shank stated as she took off her hood.
Vanellope's eyes furrowed. She didn't like where this was going. She noticed a crack in one of the doors and creeped over to it.
The other five members were sitting on chairs and a bunk bed, with a bright lamp above them, having very serious looks that the little girl never seen.
"Honestly, that kid your friends with makes the game lag when she drives. And makes us lose internet..." Nafisa added.
Shank denied her accusation."Okay, that's not entirely true-"
"Yes. It is. So your gonna tell me all those blue pixels aren't because of her? That's a bunch of crap."
Shank seemed almost disapproving of their opinions before she spoke again. "I won't lie, I'm sick of babysitting her everyday. She's gotten too annoying for me..." She mumbled. "But what am I gonna tell Ralph?"
Vanellope was taken aback. How could they? After everything they all did together? No. It had to be a joke. It just had to be.
"Take her back to the arcade. We'll say our game got deleted or it's on hold. All she does is glitch and cause us problems. I'm sorry but it's true." Butcher Boy chimed in.
"V is a little girl, Butch. I mean she's a disruption but still. She's a good driver."
"And what good does that do for anyone else? I knew she was trouble the second you entered her code in. A glitchy character from the nineties? Come on." Felony pointed out, losing her patience.
"...Our games losing players, you guys. It's either our home or we're screwed." She finished softly.
"I get your point, but, let's just give her another chance, maybe tell her to hide it." Shank said cheesily.
Hide her powers? Why? It's what she finally liked about herself.
Nafisa sucked her teeth. "Don't you get it, Shank? This is probably why she left her game in the first place. She's nothing but a mistake and she shouldn't exist!" She yelled.
Vanellope gasped in defeat, and a face full of hurt was splattered on her. Her first instinct was to wake herself up from this awful scenario she was making up. To stop worrying so much. But she couldn't. It was real.
The adults turned, seeing Vanellope on the brink of tears near the half-closed door. A volcano of insecurity suddenly grew inside her, starting in her stomach and throat.
They all looked at her in shock, terrified that she heard what they said. Shank was wide eyed in guilt and came to her slowly, picking up her pace. She opened the creaking door and reached out for her best friend's hand.
"V we can explain. We didn't mean to-"
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" She choked out, swiping her hand away as she glitched and sobbed. "Don't touch me." She stepped back and ran out of the garage, continuing to cry in pain.
"V, wait- No! Look what you did, Naf!" Shank scolded.
"What did I do!?" She yelled back.
"Oh my gosh. Ohhh my gosh, this. This is bad." Shank panicked to herself.
•••••
Vanellope was hurrying down the steps, wiping her eyes as she increased her speed, glitching every few seconds.
Far as she was concerned, she never wanted to step foot in Slaughter Race, or another game, ever again.
•••••
"C'mon Felix, look! A Baskin Robbins roller coaster!" Spamley yelled pointing to an incredibly large yet dangerous looking roller coaster that looked like it went on forever.
The boys spent half of their day in Google, , and took a trip on Eggman's hovercraft. Although being exhausted, Ralph, Felix, and Spamley had a great time watching Sonic and Knuckles getting those gold rings.
Felix couldn't get enough of the insane display. "Get over here brother! We didn't forget about ya!" He said, grabbing Ralph's hand and pulling him over.
Ralph's heart pounded roughly. He was terrified of heights. Especially heights with rides as twenty five feet tall.
Making their way on the ride, the trio were lifted faster than the speed of light, and were seated on what felt like marshmallows and twizzlers. The scary part hasn't even started yet, and Ralph was already going to faint.
It began steady and slow, but after a second, the ride whirled as if it had a mind of it's own, relentlessly swinging from back and forth, up and down, and side to side.
Big scoops of different ice cream flavors flew at their seat rapidly, making Felix and Spamley scream in surprise. Smaller ones came at the same speed, some hitting the men in their face.
While he kept his eyes shut, Ralph's phone buzzed in the pocket of his overalls, but the gush of wind and his other two friends screams blocked out the noise.
It buzzed for the last time, again the sound being drifted away.
In a way, Ralph liked the wind blowing in his hair. Relaxation sank into him so much, he forgot he had any worries. About his self esteem, about his social anxiety, even his fear.
The ride fell to a nasty stop, causing the friends to go dizzy.
"Holy smokes, I feel so... FREAKING ALIVE!" Felix grinned with a hot new burst of energy.
"I know right!? I don't know why I don't do this more often!" Spamley turned around and saw what looked like a Chinese New Year themed parade. "Let's go to that next!"
Before Felix could agree, Ralph grabbed him by the hand and said "Actually Spamley, we should probably get going. We don't want his wife gettin' on our behind."
"Yep, He's right." Felix added. "A deal's a deal."
"Aww, already? Well, if you need anything, you know where I'm at." Spamley said.
When Felix and Ralph turned around to go home, the handyman turned back to Spamley.
"Say, Spams, you wanna stop by our house?"
Ralph turned to Felix, "Are you serious?"
"Why not? Besides, the arcade's closed at this time anyway, nobody will care." Felix replied.
Ralph sighed looking down. "I-Oh, I guess so. But when we get home, nobody bother me, I'll be in my room."
"Aw, sweet!" Spamley said with a big grin on his face. "Gimme one second, I'll let Gord know where I'll be."
•••••
"Woah. Nice place you got here." Spamley said as he walked in their penthouse floor, staring at the interior.
"Why, thank you buddy." Felix said appreciatively.
While Felix introduced him to the Nicelanders and waited for everyone else, Ralph looked into one of the drawers and took out his crossword book.
When he sat himself down with a pencil in hand, he felt something slip out his pocket.
"Huh?"
He picked up the caller and saw that it had a icon of a red phone put down. Confused, he opened it and the hologram read: "Vanellope: 4 missed calls".
"Hey, I'm back." Tamora said bending down and kissing Felix on his forehead, a blush growing on his cheeks.
"Hey lovebug, who's the newcomer?" The blonde woman asked smiling at the stranger.
"J.P. Spamford. But you can call me Spamley." The green man said shaking her hand.
"What you three been doing, how was the internet?" She asked Felix.
Oh, we did so much! And there were these big rides! And popcorn and wizards- oh we've gotta take the kids someday. I even got some new stuff, wanna see?" Felix rambled on happily, and gesturing to the overflowing suitcase.
"Sup, Wreck-it?"
"Hey Cal." Ralph replied kindly.
"You saw Van?"
Now realizing it, he hadn't seen her anywhere all day.
"No, I don't think so. Weird too, because there's like, four missed calls on my phone." Ralph said brushing it off.
"You didn't answer 'em?" Felix questioned, along with Tamora raising her eyebrow at him.
"No, that's not what I-" Ralph was cut off by a blaring ring on the phone. When he opened it there was fast breathing on the other end.
"Hello!? Hello? Anyone there?"
"Hi Va- wait, Shank? Why do you have Vanellope's phone?" Ralph stammered, being weirded out by the different character.
"Yes, I- do you where Vanellope went? Shank gave me your number."
The four looked at each other, and Ralph looked back on the phone. "No... why?"
"I- I can't seem to find her and look, it's a long story, okay? Please I need to know where she's at!"
Before he could say anything else, the call ended.