(The next day, 4 days til slaughter race delisting)
Vanellope didn't sleep well that night, and chose to not join her friends in gameplay. Instead she hung out around shanks garage, looking at different computer monitors of Star Wars squadrons trailers and gameplay videos.
"You are the empire's strength. We do not accept defeat"
"Remember why we fly, for hope, for the new republic"
"It was their bravery that ended Palpatine's reign, and brought about our New republic. However, the empire lives on, shattered though-"
"-conflict between the New republic and a shattered empire. Debrief with your-"
"Target and destroy the subsystems of your opponents massive flagship"
"As their empire collapses, they try to-"
"This game also supports flight sticks if you have any of those around, giving you the true pilot experience"
"This game reminds me of the old tie fighter and x wing games"
"EA doesn't deserve the Star Wars license, that was disneys big mistake. But this game is a lot of fun I'll admit"
"What I'm hoping for is a tie defender dlc. Or perhaps a clone wars campaign"
"This is Star Wars squadrons. Join the galaxy's finest and make your mark"
Vanellopes eyes darted back and forth between the computer monitors as she watched everything. She was finally getting an idea of how the game worked. It seemed to be a multiplayer online game with a single player campaign thrown in after backlash from another game before her time on the internet for good measure.
As her eyes darted, they landed eventually on her buzzphone. She thought about Ralph. They hadn't talked for a while, Vanellope was too ashamed to talk about slaughter race going offline. She knew the arcade was in trouble too but that was a month ago she had that talk. She thought about home too, part of her missed sugar rush and the bright clear skies compared to slaughter race, the candy coated air, her old friends, the racers.
Vanellope shook those thoughts aside, now wasn't the time to think about that stuff. Now was the time to save her new home. She was sure Ralph, the racers, and everyone else was fine.
"I see multiplayer is a big part of this game, maybe if I go in and mess things up, people will come back here. Brilliant" said Vanellope to herself
Vanellope grabbed an empty backpack and a couple small explosives and ran off to Star Wars squadrons. If these could cripple a car in slaughter race, they could cripple or destroy an imperial tie fighter, or an x wing.
(Star Wars squadrons, imperial hangar bay)
Vanellope was quietly sneaking around the hangar bay of an imperial Star destroyer called the Overseer. Stormtroopers marched about as pilots and mechanics worked on tie fighters. Vanellope glitched around quickly, placing the explosives on the solar panel wings of the ties. If they didn't destroy them, they'd cripple the ships at least. Vanellope even placed explosives on missiles.
"This will definitely make an impact" said Vanellope quietly
Vanellope even stole explosives from open crates and attached them around to the multiplayer ships, taking a detonator with her. As she was preparing to leave, she gave a small sneeze and glitched into a briefing room. Nobody had seen her, but it was only a matter of time. Stormtroopers stood near the door and technicians worked nearby. A squad of pilots was being briefed at a nearby table. She herself was hiding behind some control panels an officer was working at.
"The Nadiri dockyards are protected by a massive rebel fleet. We cannot engage the Starhawk until it is vulnerable. Admiral Sloane's strategy is simple, lure the republic fleet away from nadiri with-"
Vanellope closed her eyes and began to concentrate, she had to glitch past the door. Unfortunately for her, she glitched the wrong direction and ended up on the briefing table, blowing her cover.
"What the? Who are you? You're not one of us!" A woman shouted
"I bet she's a rebel spy with some kind of teleportation ability"
"Grab her!"
Vanellope glitched out of the way and ran for the door, the stormtroopers firing stun blasts at her, missing. Vanellope glitched through the hangar bay and towards a door, but not before activating the explosives, highly damaging the tie fighters and hangar bay. Vanellope burst through the door and through another, ending up in the hangar bay of the new republic side, where she was instantly recognized.
The pilots and mechanics tried to grab her too, but she was too fast for them. That was until she ended up in the arms of a human woman with dark skin and wearing an orange flight suit.
"I gotcha kid"
She was approached by a red alien also in a flight suit.
"You're coming with us, kid. Word just came in that you attacked the imperial hangar. We're gonna have a chat" said the alien
The 2 women took Vanellope to a back room and sat her down to question her.
"I know you're definitely not from this game, kid. Who are you, where are you from?" The alien asked
"I'm Vanellope Von Schweetz, princess of sugar rush, currently a racer in slaughter race" said Vanellope
"Slaughter race, surprised that games still functioning, heard it's player base is down" said the human woman
"Because you guys stole my popularity!" Vanellope shouted
"Hold on a second, I'm sure we had nothing to do with it. Suppose we should introduce ourselves. I'm Gracalia Vatara Sienar, Grace for short" said the human woman
"And I'm Kierah Koovah, you can call me Gunny" said the alien "Now what's this about us taking away your players?"
"My game is to shut down in a couple days. I keep seeing ads for this game in mine and I thought-
"Look kid, I know you're upset, but sabotaging our game isn't gonna save yours" said Gunny
"We've all lost things so we know how you feel" said Grace
"How could you have lost things, your game is like a week and a half old" said Vanellope
"Our backstories. My dear estranged family builds tie fighters for the empire, and I miss them" said Grace
"And I lost my arm in the clone wars. But that's not important. What matters is you planting explosives on the multiplayer ships. It's like you don't want us to succeed" said Gunny
"Well when you put it like that-
"Kid, this may be hard to understand, but games die all the time around here, for many different reasons. You haven't even given us time to see if we're successful in the long run. I mean how would you like it if I went to slaughter race and blew up your friends with my u wing? Or if Grace went to this sugar rush place you mentioned and blew up whatever was there?" Gunny asked
"I wouldn't like that. Wouldn't mind you blowing up Taffyta though" said Vanellope
"I don't know who this Taffyta person is, but that sounds kind of harsh. Don't start thinking like an imp around here, we heard about how you messed around the Star destroyer hangar. You're lucky we caught you and they didn't" said Gunny
"Why, what would they have done?" Vanellope asked
"Bad things. Come on, we'll take you back to slaughter race. We can take the u wing, be faster than walking" said Grace
Grace and Gunny loaded Vanellope into the u wing fighter and flew her back to shanks garage, where they had a talk with her.
"I'm sorry she did that, she should know better" said Shank
"The girls probably just scared for the future" said Grace
"So this is slaughter race? Thought it'd be more lively. Surprised she's lived here long as she did, she definitely sticks out" said Gunny
"She came from a candy racing game from the 90's. She's tougher than she looks. And we're due to be delisted in a couple days, players just don't like racing games anymore" said shank
"She blamed us for your problems, seeing the billboards I can understand why" said Grace
"Don't blame yourselves. Players' interests change. I'll talk to her" said Shank
After Gunny and Grace left, shank talked to Vanellope alone.
"I'm scared, ok? I admit it. I gave up everything to come here and now I'm losing it. Never thought this would happen but I should've expected it. When my old game broke it was almost scrapped because Mr litwak couldn't afford the part, our game didn't make the money anymore" said Vanellope
"I understand your frustration, V. But ruining others chance of success isn't going to save our game. Even if your plan worked and everyone came back, the game would still shut down. The developers moved onto other projects" said Shank
"My biggest fear is, where are we supposed to go?" Vanellope asked
"I'm not sure, but we won't be homeless I assure you. We'll find someplace new, there's many games where we can blend in" said Shank
"Are you sure?" Vanellope asked
"Of course. Come on, let's take a walk together, maybe it'll clear your mind" said Shank