Ralph was running around in a panic as a swarm of bees exploded from the small box he opened, angry and intent on stinging the wrecker into a bloated red balloon. As he freaked out, Yesss was howling with laughter in her chair, as most of the rest of the crew joined in. The whole sight was very comical for them and any outside observer, Ralph was in utter hell.

As per Yesss' requests, the wrecker was expected to dance around like a sad monkey as he was forced to: Eat three ghost peppers, try and intentionally mess up baking a pie, play in a match of the popular online shooter Fortnite, and even impersonate the famous artist Bob Ross. A lot of it was really against what he stood for, but because of the money he had to keep going.

Things were starting to get to him, considering he's been filming videos for almost two hours straight. They were short videos, not all that long because Yesss said so, which meant he did not have a lot of say. Not like he could say all that much, considering he was completely out of his element.

As one of the crew members called a loud "CUT!", a vacuum was brought in to suck up all the bees and thus saving Ralph. When the danger was gone, Ralph let out a heavy sigh and stood back up, stumbling as he used the countertop to get back on his feet.

As the crew cleaned things up, Yesss walked over with wide strides, looking excited and proud. "I gotta say, big man! You've got the chops of a master actor and content creator. It's like you've been doing this for years."

"Yeah, that's what happens when you have to act like a bad guy for thirty plus years…" The wrecker adjusted his only overall strap and walked off the set, heading back to his chair and sitting down. "So I know a thing or two about staying in character."

"Well, it's definitely helping." The algorithm sat down next to him, and started drinking her water. "But we're only halfway there, Ralph. I still have a lot of ideas that you need to do, so don't get comfy now!"

Ralph's eye instinctually twitched, and his legs buckled even though he wasn't using them. "Honestly, I think I need a break, Yesss."

The algorithm's beaming smile instantly fell, and she looked at the wrecker with a shocked expression. "What? But you've been doing so good! And I know you got to deal with a busy arcade pretty much everyday, so why the break?"

"Because in my game I'm numb to those motions", the wrecker explained with a pointed look. "And it's my game. I'm more comfortable there, so it's only after a massive rush do I actually get tired. Out here… It's different. I'm actually feeling tired."

Yesss opened her mouth to fire off a counter-argument, but was silent for a moment before shutting it and looking down. "You know what, you're right. And we filmed, like, 7 videos at this point. So we'll give the editors time and then post them too see if anyone is hooked."

"Thank you." Ralph let out a second heavy sigh as he leaned back in his chair. As he sat there, a buzzing sounded off from his pocket, and he reached in and pulled out Calhoun's walkie-talkie. Pressing the receive button, he opened his channel. "Hey there, Sarge. I'm assuming you're checking up on how things are going over with us?"

"You know it, Wreck-It", Calhoun sounded off from the other side. Yesss perked up at the voice and looked over with more intrigue. "Me and Fix-It have made us… I think over 300 dollars at this point? We're working hard, and Spamley was able to get some more high paying jobs."

"How high are we talking?"

He said at least 10 thousand for one, and 5 thousand for another two. Which means if you get enough cash, we'll have enough by Sunday."

"That's great, Calhoun! Man, that was really needed."

"How's BuzzTube, by the way. And how are the kids holding up?"

"Everything is going okay right now. We've teamed up with the lady in charge of the site, Yesss, to make videos to hopefully give it more traffic. I'm making videos while the kids are doing their own thing."

"Good. Oh, Felix wants to talk to you by the way." There was shuffling on the other side of the speaker, and soon enough a new voice sounded off.

"Hey there, brother!" Felix called through happily. "Hope everything is going okay!"

"Yeah, don't worry Felix, it is. Just started my break."

"Great to hear! Be sure the kids are all okay, and don't worry about not making all the money you feel you need to. We've got that handled."

"You got it, Felix."

"Great. Well, we should get going. Talk later, Ralph! Hope everything keeps going well for you guys!"

"Thanks, Felix! See ya' soon!" The walkie-talkie turned off, and the wrecker stuffed the device back into his pocket. He looked over at Yesss, who was giving him a curious look.

"So I'm assuming those were your friends?" She asked.

"Yep. Fix-It Felix, the hero of our game and my brother, and his wife Sergeant Calhoun, the squadron leader of Hero's Duty."

"Wait…" Yesss held up her hands as a look of confusion crossed her features. "So, at your arcade, people are allowed to marry even if they're from different games?"

Ralph looked at her like she was crazy. "I mean, yeah? Vanellope and I are friends, and when we aren't working all of us at Litwack's during the night we all do our own things. Heck, M. Bison and Chun Lee are pretty good friends after hours."

Yesss blushed a bit and looked away in embarrassment. "Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Sorry, just… I've been running this site for a long time. I go out occasionally, but never to anywhere like your arcade. Heck, nowhere here on the internet is like that."

"Nah, it's okay Yesss, I get. I was and still am like that with this place. So consider it a… mutual understanding."

The algorithm snorted and laughed, pushing the wrecker lightly. "Alright, Muscles, whatever you say." She calmed down and looked over in another direction, towards where the racers were. "You want to check in on the kids and call for a break?"

"Yeah, let's go." The wrecker and algorithm got up and made their way over to the other set that was in use. They passed crew on break, on duty, or just users that Yesss explained were the site employees from the real world.

As they weaved and shuffled around stacks of props for video making, they soon reached where the others were. Maybe was watching over the production, and the sight before Ralph was genuinely impressive. It was an elaborate set that looked like a giant dollhouse, with the back wall pulled away so they could get a good view of everything.

Inside, the racers were all seemingly just acting out like they've been living in this home their whole lives. As Ralph watched with intrigue, the camera crew inside following after them, Yesss walked over to Maybe.

"So how far along are they?" She asked her assistant.

"Episode 3, almost at the end", he responded. "Almost done with the trilogy, which means this part of the plan is nearly finished."

"Great. We were going to give them a break, but if they're almost done we might as well let them finish up."

"Uhhh, question", Ralph began. "How is the wall gone without it ruining the video?"

"One-way", Maybe explained. "That way we can keep track, and not ruin the set design."

"Okay, okay…" The wrecker continued to watch as it seemed to be the whole falling action of this trilogy. After all of this was said and done, he should watch this just to see what happened with this.

As the kids all acted out more, Ralph subconsciously took a step back and sat in an available chair, watching intently as the racers all acted out like this was in their code. Vanellope was the focus, which made Ralph suddenly realise what was happening was some sort of loose adaptation of what happened after Turbo was beaten.

Looking closer, the wrecker could see the anxiousness and fear in her eyes, which made him want to rush onto the set and get her out. Luckily, he didn't have to, as the scene ended, and a loud "CUT!" was called out. As soon as the cameras shut off, Vanellope glitched out of the building at light speed, zipping right onto Ralph's shoulder.

"Worse. Thing. I have ever done", the racer droned out. "I never want to do that again.

Ralph glanced at Yesss and Maybe, both of whom were distracted, before looking back at his best friend. "I could tell. But hey, it's over now, and we get to relax till I go back to making videos."

Vanellope looked down at her friend with a conflicted expression. "Yesss let you take a break?"

The wrecker nodded. "I was getting burnt out, so I said I needed it, and she caved. Although she did seemingly want to shut me down when I did ask…"

"She's really desperate to make her site big", Taffyta said quietly as she and the other racers walked up to the duo. "And so is Maybe. He was pretty stingy about us getting breaks, to the point we had to pull out the puppy dog tactic on the crew."

Ralph looked down at her in shock, then over at Vanellope. She nodded in response, which made the wrecker sigh for the third time. "Man, I'm honestly really starting to regret going through with this. We could have done this without Yesss breathing down our necks…"

"Agreed…" Rancis whispered. When he looked over at the two who ran the site (in a way for Maybe), he squeaked and took some timid steps back as the algorithm walked up with her assistant.

"Well, I have to say I am massively impressed!" Yesss started with a joyous tone. "Maybe's projected numbers tell me your videos will bring in over 500 thousand new users, and that's just the start of it. If we're smart, then we can get more users in!"

"But how do we do that?" Candlehead asked innocently. "Because, you can't force people to come here… Right?"

Yesss shot her a smirk. "That's what happens when you're friends with the algorithm of a website. All of you, follow me!" As she walked off with Maybe right behind, the arcade denizens all watched in confusion. They quickly all shared looks before following, with Vanellope staying on Ralph's shoulder as they walked.

From her sweater pocket she pulled out the puppet, his googly eyes bouncing around a bit before stilling. With a quiet sigh through her nose, she hugged the puppet close as her eyes wandered upward to the ceiling. As the buzzing lights above occasionally blinded her, she let her mind wander to the past, namely one day when she had… a really bad panic attack…

~

Amy and Rory were sitting together and chatting at their table as the sounds around them echoed throughout the building. They decided, out of boredom and kindness, to take all the kids to the Capital's largest arcade to flex their muscles and such. It was mainly so they could do a sort of pseudo-date, but also because they wanted to get out and see some more of what this sprawling city had to offer.

As the married couple continued up their conversation, Corey suddenly ran up to them in a panic.

"Corey?" Rory said in concern. "What's going on, where's the fire?"

The band leader took a few deep breaths as he tried to steady himself. "Vanellope… Ran off… Looked freaked out… Don't know where she went…"

Amy's expression twisted in deep concern. "What? Why, where is she?"

"Gretchen last saw her heading into the employee only area…" Core pointed in a random direction, still incredibly winded. "And I think she said something about some other kids doing something around her…"

The redhead suddenly got very angry, and stood up with enough force to knock down a building. "Rory, c'mon, we have a kid to find and some punks to chew out."

The nurse nodded firmly and followed his wife, leaving the removing band leader at their table. As the couple weaved past kids and around unused arcade machines, they ran into Gretchen with McGee, Laney and Hilda. The trio were pacing in front of a door in worry. When the adults made it over, they looked up, and looked the slightest more relieved.

"I'm glad you guys are here", Hilda said with a weak smile. "Vanellope ran in here, but we couldn't follow after her because the staff stopped us."

"Okay…" Rory glanced around. "Where's the others?"

"Iris, Ruby and the Powerpuffs ran off looking for the punks that caused this whole thing", Laney spat in distaste. "As soon as Vanellope ran off, they scattered." She paused for a moment. "While you two get her, we'll help the others find these brats."

The kids all ran off, scattering as they started their search. Amy and Rory watched them go, then shared a look filled with simmering rage. They entered the employee only area, but as soon as they stepped in, there was a very frustrated staff member right there to greet them.

"I'm assuming you're with those kids?" They asked impatiently.

"Yeah, you have a problem with it?" Amy, with a cold and angry look, pulled out her ID card, which made the staff member instantly crumple.

"O-Oh, sorry. I didn't know you were knights of the castle. Please, go ahead." The staff member stepped aside, and Rory sped walk ahead as Amy slowly checked all the room on either side of the short hallway.

As the nurse got closer towards the end, he could hear what seemed to be faint sniffling, and opening a door to his right ever so slightly, he saw Vanellope curled up and weeping in the closet.

Amy carefully came over and knelt down, looking at the racer with a concerned gaze.

"Vanellope?" She began quietly. "It's just me and Rory. It's all okay, you can tell us what's going on."

Vanellope sniffled and looked over, tears staining her face and eyes holding more tears. Silently, she stood up on shaky legs and walked over, letting Mrs.Pond pick her up and hug her close.

"Okay, are you doing better?" Rory asked gently as he ran a hand through the racer's messy hair.

Vanellope nodded ever so slightly. "T-Thanks, guys…" She said, sputtering as she glitched a bit.

"Want to tell us what happened?" Amy asked as she adjusted the racer a bit so she was more comfortable.

"Y-Yeah…" Vanellope took a deep breath as she tried to calm down and explain. "B-Basically some other kids, th-there were two guys and a g-girl, I beat them in B-Burnout, and they hated that. So they d-decided to force me over to the… to the T-Turbotime cabinet."

Amy stiffened in anger as Rory let out a heavy breath through his nose. "And?"

"They wouldn't sh-shut up about what I went through… T-Telling me how awesome Turbo was… After a bit, it j-just became too much and I ran…"

Amy's eye twitched, and she handed the racer over to her husband. He took her with no hesitation as the redhead stormed down the hallway and back into the arcade proper. Rory hugged Vanellope close as he followed at a slower pace, knowing all that anger was the last thing the racer needed.

"Hey, it'll be okay, Vanny", he said warmly. "If you want, you can sit with me and Amy after we deal with this, okay?"

Vanellope nodded quickly, and sighed as she leaned into the warmth of her adoptive uncle. Maybe she could ask them to get her an ice cream later…

~

Vanellope frowned deeply as the memory ended, but she knew how that little incident ended all too well: Amy chewing out the kids' parents, and the kids who hurt her apologising profusely. That was a shining moment, but that whole thing just cemented to her and everyone else that what Turbo did affected her a lot more than she'd like to admit.

As she was about to reminisce more, she was knocked out as Ralph flexed his shoulder to gain her attention, and she sat up to see they were all in a large room with what seemed to be a massive hanger door at the end.

"Welcome to my pop-up deployment hanger!" Yesss said with a beaming smile.

Ralph rose an eyebrow and looked at the woman. "Pop-ups? You have pop-ups of your own?"

"Oh yes", she said, her smile not faltering. "See, I have a permit to run pop-up adds on other sites, so I have this whole place to send out my army to hopefully get more attention here."

"And you're going to use the pop-ups to advertise our videos?" Taffyta asked. "That seems kinda… not good? Like, if you shove this stuff in people's faces, I feel like it'd make them hate BuzzTube more than like it."

"Welcome to the internet, kid. Where everyone has a chance to look at stuff others find annoying."

Rancis and Candlehead walked over to the railing and looked over into the greater room in wonder. "This place is so big!" Candlehead said. "You could probably fit the whole internet in here!"

Maybe cringed, but didn't say anything as his tablet made a noise. "Ah, Yesss, the videos are done and uploaded."

"Excellent." The algorithm pulled out a microphone and turned it on. "Could all staff with access to the pop-up facility enter the hanger, that'd be lovely. Thank you very much!" She put the microphone away and turned towards the group. "Once they get here, we'll send them off and we'll have users rushing in by the thousands."

"Well, your optimism definitely helps mine", Ralph said in an unsure tone. "Here's hoping this all works."

Maybe's tablet pinged again. "The videos have been uploaded."

"Hey, should we watch them, since we're done?" Rancis asked. "Just to pass the time till we're done?"

"I'm down for that", Taffyta said with a nonchalant shrug. "I'll probably talk to the others before we do, just to update them on how we're doing."

"I'm in!" Candlehead said with a smile and cheer.

Vanellope stayed silent during all of this, instead watching the massive hanger door slowly open. As the bright blue light of the rest of the internet flooded in from the slowly growing opening, the racer started to wonder something that she was still unsure of. But before she could say anything, the crowds of staff called for pop-up duty showed up and all lined up.

With everyone in position, Yesss started up this rousing speech as to what was going on and why they were doing this, seemingly in an attempt to motivate the staff to be the best pop-ups they could be. Ralph was pretty impressed and flattered Yesss was going to such lengths to help them, even if it was mainly for her own benefit too.

With the speech concluded, the staff all started their trip. In a complete row of ten, the staff would walk up, sit in a chair that emerged from the floor, be given a pop-up sign from a dispenser in the floor, then they'd be encased in a vehicle and speed off.

The group all watched this repeat for all the staff silently, and with that Vanellope decided to finally say her idea.

"Hey, Ralph?" She asked her massive friend.

"Yeah kid?"

"Is it okay if I… join in with the other pop-ups?"

Ralph and the other racers all looked at her in shock and then uncertainty. "Are you sure, Vanellope?" Candlehead said in worry. "Because what happens if something goes wrong?"

"She'll be in my personal browser", Yesss said loudly, having eavesdropped. She pulled out a small remote and pressed a button, and the group turned to see a vehicle more sleeker than the other ones from a small sitting area. "Maybe can also tag along with her, is that okay?" She looked at her assistant, who nodded firmly.

Ralph hummed in thought. "Okay, you can." He picked up the candy president and set her down. "But I want you to keep in touch with me, okay? If anything happens, call me as soon as you can. Got it?"

Vanellope nodded earnestly. "You got it, Stinkbrain. I promise."

"Okay." The wrecker stood back up, only for the other racers to besiege their friend in a tight group hug.

"You better be careful, Prez", Taffyta said in concern. "Because if you die, I'll bring you back to life just to kill you myself."

"And don't talk to strangers", Rancis said with a nervous stutter. "We don't know who else we can trust. I feel like we got really lucky with Spamley and Yesss."

"Be safe, Vanny", Candlehead said with tears trailing down her face. "We'll miss you so much!"

Vanellope smiled brightly and hugged all three of them back. "I promise, guys, don't worry. And hey, I'll be sure to tell you about all the crazy stuff I might get into."

The group dispersed so the candy president could head over and enter Yesss' personal browser. As Maybe got into the driver's seat, the algorithm walked over and handed her a pop-up sign, which depicted Ralph's pixel head surrounded by bold text to advertise BuzzTube's newest star.

Ralph walked over and leaned down a bit, giving his friend a confident smile. "Best of luck, kid. Top shelf?" He held up his fist.

"Top shelf, chumbo." Vanellope returned the fist bump happily, waving to Ralph as he stepped back so Maybe could take off fully.

When they were out of sight, Yesss pulled out a tablet of her own and activated a massive hologram globe. The light made the others turn towards it and look at it in curiosity.

"What's this, Yesss?" The wrecker asked.

"Just the search function", she said simply. "I was thinking of giving Maybe directions to the gaming district, since Vanellope is a game character and all."

Ralph hissed in worry. "I don't think that's a good idea. Me, Vanellope and Rancis already were there and stole some stuff already, so the cops might be a bit suspicious of her. And with Felix and Calhoun still loot hunting around there, it might make things harder for them."

Yesss looked up, and winced. "Good point…" She kept scanning through the sites, making the globe rotate. As it moved, Ralph noticed a certain logo that made him feel… off.

"Hold on, what's this?" He asked, stopping the sphere to point at the image of a castle of some sort.

"Ah, that's Oh My ! A website run and owned by the biggest media company on the planet. It's basically a massive theme park…" Yesss' eyes lit up. "And I have advertised there before! So This is perfect!"

"Wait-" But before Ralph could say any interjection, the algorithm selected the website, which set in stone Maybe's destination.

"There we go. Alright, if you three want to watch Ralph's videos, follow me." Yesss led the racers away, the three of them following after with no issue.

But Ralph simply lagged behind, because he was stuck staring at the website icon. The website for the very studio that made their whole world, it was here and existed in their own world. The wrecker blinked rapidly in a daze as a very weird and tight feeling formed in his stomach. It was our worry and terror.

"If Disney exists here…" He whispered to himself. "Then… Then what even are we?"

~X~

When Maybe pulled into the site and dropped Vanellope off without much fanfare, she walked in and found herself in a place that made her brain run a mile a minute. Tie Fighters and X-Wings soared overhead as massive signs that advertised Marvel, Star Wars, The Muppets, and various other things all under one banner.

The banner of Disney.

"B-But… How???" She whispered to herself in shock and growing terror. Looking around, she saw how swarms of users rushed in looking like they were dressed and ready for a theme park, empty smiles plastered on their faces.

She looked elsewhere while hugging the pop-up sign close, seeing Buzz Lightyear posing and greeting users with a bright smile. Other Disney characters were all over the place, doing a variety of things.

But despite the exciting and happy atmosphere, Vanellope felt nothing but a hollow feeling of growing terror. She was in a site of the company that made her that was in her own world. It made her feel ill, as the thought she didn't technically exist ran through her head like a siren screaming in her ear.

A paradox that completely broke her brain.

Just before she was about to faint, she bumped into someone, quickly snapping back to reality and looking at who she collided with. It was none other than Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh, who was looking at her with a flat expression.

"Heeeeyyyy…" The stuffed donkey droned out.

"O-Oh, sorry", Vanellope stuttered. "Didn't see ya'… there. I'm just… I'm just going to go…" She quickly walked off before he could say anything else, and merged with the crowd as she went further into the place.

"Ralph, where did you let Yesss send me…?" The racer whispered to herself. She continued to look around at all that surrounded her, eventually breaking away from the flood of a crowd and to a little break area with a few benches. Taking a deep, slow, shaky breath, she sat on one of the benches and curled up slightly.

"What… What even am I? If Disney is here, what seriously am I?"

She shook her head and looked down at the pop-up sign, which was placed next to her. She swallowed a very large lump that was building in her throat, and grabbed the sign. Holding it before her, looking at the reminder of why she was here helped steel her nerves just enough so she could at least walk.

With a very heavy sigh, she hopped off the bench and continued her journey deeper into the website, her eyes glued to the pop-up to keep her as grounded as possible.

As she wandered around somewhat aimlessly, she'd occasionally find a user broken away from the chaos and zipped in front of them, holding up the sign.

"Hey, why don't you check out BuzzTube? My friend is an upcoming star!", "Why, you look like you could use some high quality videos, come down to BuzzTube and check our by buddy's stuff!", "BuzzTube is the place to be, dude, because there's a new face rising up that needs your help to grow!" were just a few of the things she said to get people to click her sign and head to BuzzTube. And every time, it somehow worked.

"Maybe Yesss was giving these guys too much credit…" The racer mumbled, her mission having distracted her just enough from the existential paradox this website was.

Vanellope headed elsewhere, zipping about and getting more and more people to head to BuzzTube. Once or twice an ad blocker would materialise whenever she approached a certain user, but luckily she dodged their violent shove with her quick reaction time.

"Now I know how Spamley feels…" She continued along her way before catching sight of something that made her completely freeze.

There was a small gathering area with banners hanging above that each depicted a young woman. It was the Disney Princesses, all smiling brightly. And one of them…

Was Merida.

Well, a Merida.

It just wasn't Vanellope's Merida.

It wasn't the Merida.

The banners brought Vanellope right back to reality, and how things were just a complete disaster right now for her mentally. Not only was she just a complete paradox in her own world, but now there was a version of Merida that was probably nothing like the Dun Broch Princess she actually knew.

Trying to swallow the lump that was forming in her throat once again, she took a few shaky steps back and immediately bumped into someone's leg. Turning around and looking up, she saw it was a First Order Stormtrooper accompanied by two more.

"Hey, do you have a licence for that pop-up?" The lead one asked sternly.

Vanellope shook her head and blinked. "Y-Yeah, I should have it…" She trailed off when all she felt in her sweater pocket was her puppet, and her heart dropped.

She forgot to grab the licence from Maybe when they parked.

Now that she was on the spot, she was terrified. She could tell the Stormtroopers were growing impatient based on how the leaned forward a bit, so in a panic state she slammed the pop-up sign into the lead trooper and made a run for it.

As the other two gave chase and called for reinforcements, the racer glitched away and into the more dense part of the crowd, frantically looking for some sort of exit. But everywhere just led to more website, looping in on itself to the point she felt claustrophobic. When she heard the footsteps approaching, she dashed away as fast as she could. She bumped into other users all along the way, which made some of the Disney characters notice.

One user she bumped into knocked down a whole Muppet set up, making her even more panicked and glitch away before they could corner her.

Eventually, she made it to the far side of the website, with a blue curtain acting as a blockage for what was clearly the character-only area. With a moment to catch her breath, she took it even as danger was gaining on her. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, and turning around she saw some Stormtroopers walking around, holding up a sign that had her face.

She let out a terrified squeal, and looked around for some sort of way out. But she was completely cornered, everywhere but through the curtain leading to her capture. With nowhere else to turn, Vanellope ran into the character-only area…

~X~

Ending on a bit of a cliffhanger is such an evil move from me, huh? Well, I felt this was a good place to end things on, since I want the princesses to have a longer scene with Vanellope. I've got plans for how they impact things, so look forward to that.

Otherwise, I really liked how this chapter turned out! With more emphasis on Ralph's video making, and having Yesss be a bit more selfish, I think I made this a bit more… realistic, I wanna say. Just because she deserved to have some sort of stake in things.

Also, I hope you all liked this chapter! A bit longer than the last few because more was going on, yeah.

Not much else to say. Just look forward to the next update!

Up next: Vanellope explores the backstage area a bit before coming across the princesses. Ralph, meanwhile, has a talk with the other racers about life and such…

~Caleb~