The arcade duo left Slaughter Race with conflicted expressions etched on their faces. The roar of the engine above the building kicked up before dying down, but neither reacted. They simply walked down to a bench, looking back into the orange glow from where they came.

"So that was a complete bust", Vanellope said dejectedly, crossing her arms and glaring at the ground. "We were so close, but of course Shank was a good racer…"

"I honestly thought you'd be impressed with her, kid", the wrecker mentioned.

"I am, that's the problem. But also just because she set us back a few hours." She growled, her eyes gaining this somewhat sad glint. "Now we have no car, and that means no money. And if that's how things went, I don't want to go after anything else that expensive…"

Ralph gave Vanellope a concerned look. "Kid, you okay?"

"No I'm not, Ralph!" The racer glitched onto the ground as she screamed, tears pooling in her eyes. "I'm not okay! I was terrified out of mine back there, and now here we are with nothing to show for it! We have until the end of the weekend, and so far it's looking like we're just not going to do it!"

She started to pace, her face twisted in miserably rage. "All of this is because some punk had to break my game, and now all my friends and people are homeless. I'm so close to ripping my hair out because of all of this!" Her glitching was getting worse, and her voice broke and stuttered more and more. "And I had to be an idiot and decided not to get outr friends involved. I betrayed Hilda, Ralph! Betrayed my sister who I promised I'd tell everything to! But now it's too late, and we're going to lose the wheel. I'm going to fail, and everyone will hate me…"

She crumpled on the floor, her body flickering into a messy splotch of pixels. "I should have just said no…"

As she wept, Ralph stood up, walked over, and scooped her up into a hug. With a sigh, he let the racer bury her face in his shoulder. "I get it, kid. I messed up too by not just telling Caleb. But we need to learn from this, and right now we need to try and do what we can.."

He pulled the racer back so he could look her in her miserable eyes. "Right now, we need to think clearly and be calm, okay?"

Vanellope sniffled and nodded, but said nothing.

"So, take some deep breaths for me, okay?"

Vanellope nodded again, and began to take some deep, slow breaths. Her glitching began to calm down, but she still looked very upset. As that was happening, the wrecker set her down on the bench and stood up tall, casting the racer in a comforting shadow. As she calmed down, Ralph looked up and into the distance.

There was a massive building with the sign reading BuzzTube on it, and at the sight of it he took out the business card and looked it over. Something about this seemed enticing, but he wasn't sure if this was a good idea.

As he stood there, he heard footsteps approaching, and when he turned he smiled when he spotted the others.

"Glad to see you here", the wrecker said happily. "Because right now… we're kinda stumped."

Felix glanced at Vanellope as the other racers rushed to her side. "What happened, Ralph?"

Ralph sighed. "We got caught. Right when we were about to make it out of the game with the car, Shank distracted us and caught us. Luckily, she was pretty understandable, and decided letting us go was better simply because she felt bad. She also gave me this."

He gave Calhoun the card, which the sergeant looked over with a frustrated look. "BuzzTube, huh? So… she basically offered another way to make cash?"

"I assume so", the wrecker said with a shrug. "But I'm really conflicted. I don't fully trust Shank, considering she is a gang leader and all. So right now, I don't know if me and Vanny should head back to Spamley's, or go to BuzzTube." The wrecker looked at the distant building, with the other adults following his gaze.

"Yeah, I don't know either, Wreck-It", Calhoun said as she gave him back the card. "We're doing… fine, with our jobs. But we dumped some stuff back a J.P. a while ago, and he said aside from that car, nothing he has even get that high with the cash." She glanced up at the main building of Slaughter Race. "I think I should try and get it…"

"I don't think that's a good idea, Tammy", Felix said in concern. "Miss Shank will know there's loot hunters after her car, so if even just you go after it, then she'll blame Ralph and Vanellope and probably have them hurt in some way." He sighed and tipped his hat up. "It is a puzzle, huh? We aren't making money fast enough, and we're only at 250 dollars right now…"

As the adults stood around in contemplative thought, the three racers around Vanellope looked back at the BuzzTube building.

"Prez, what do you think?" Taffyta asked, giving her friend a reassuring look. "Because we don't want you dragging yourself through the mud over this."

Vanellope simply shrugged. "I don't know, and I don't care. I just want to wallow and cry…"

Rancis and Candlehead shared a downtrodden look, but then something flashed in Muttonfudge's eyes. "Wait, BuzzTube…" She looked back at the others. "Doesn't that sound like that YouTube place we passed a bit back?"

"That big place with the red logo?" Rancis answered with a curious head tilt. "Yeah, why?"

"Because what if that place is the same as BuzzTube."

Vanellope looked between her friends with a weird look. "What are you two talking about?"

"Okay, so", Taffyta began. "When Felix and Calhoun were getting one of the items and I was distracting some snob in a suit, I asked about YouTube, and he gave me the rundown of how it worked."

Candlehead's face flashed with realisation. "Oh Em Gee, I remember that! He said we could make money there by making videos!"

That caught the attention of everyone except Rancis, who also seemed to be in the know how. "Wait, you can actually make money there?" Ralph asked.

"Yeah!" Candlehead continued with an excited shout. "So if it's that easy, then we could join you two!"

Vanellope gave her friend a double take. "Wait, huh?"

"Yeah! We could help you make videos! Taffyta is great with makeup, and she's so totally a director. Rancis is great with all that… machine stuff, and I can be morale support!"

Taffyta looked her friend over with a wide-eyed look, then laughed and smiled. "Dang, Candle, that's all really good points! Honestly, I'd be down with that. Better than just being a distraction for stealing stuff."

"Oooooo, yeah!" Rancis said happily, quickly looking at Calhoun and Felix. "Plus, that way we won't hold you two back because you've got three other heads you need to keep track of."

The handyman and sergeant shared a look, then glanced at Ralph with unsure looks. "What do you think, Ralph?" Felix said. "Is it cool if they tag along?"

The wrecker looked the quartet over, with the three racers excited to do some video making. But Vanellope's expression hadn't once changed since the others first arrived. But as he looked closer, he could see the subtle and silent 'yes' glinting in the shattered and hurt eyes.

"Yeah, they can tag along", Ralph said, making the racers cheer, and Vanellope smile ever so slightly. "We'll head to BuzzTube, talk with Shank's friend, and hopefully start making bank."

"Well, that does make things easier for us, Fix-It", Calhoun said. "My cruiser is faster than whatever the users have been using."

"Alright. So you two will keep getting stuff for Spamley", Ralph said. "While the five of us head to BuzzTube and talk to Yes."

The married couple gave the wrecker a weird look. "Yes?"

"I don't know, that's apparently her name."

"Well… okay then!": Felix perked up and flashed Ralph a smile. "We'll keep in touch brother!" Felix jumped up and hugged Ralph, and when he stepped away, Calhoun walked up. The two bruisers shared a handshake and smile.

"Good luck, Wreck-It. We'll keep you updated."

The two adults then said their goodbyes to each of the racers, with the hopeful mood making Vanellope smile after all the crying. She glitched up onto Ralph's shoulder as the married couple hopped onto Calhoun's personal cruiser, and flew off into the sky back towards Spamley.

When they vanished, the trio of racers looked up at Ralph. "So… now what?" Taffyta asked.

The wrecker looked around, and pursed his lips. "I'm not seeing any consoles, so I guess we're walking till we find one."

The trio of racers all groaned, but didn't complain as the group all walked over the bridge towards the distant BuzzTube. As they walked, the trio on the ground sparked up a conversation amongst themselves to pass the time, and Vanellope found herself silently looking around at the surroundings. It was nice, seeing the internet when they weren't whizzing past at high speeds.

It was hectic and loud, but it was something she was kinda used to at this point. The Capital was very busy too, but nothing like this. This was a whole new level of hectic. But it made sense, considering this place literally had everything, with thousands of people across the planet using it 24/7.

As then she realised something. All these users… Did they even exist on the other side? Or was it just a blank void?

Those ideas constantly entered her head, and it made her uneasy.

As the group walked, they passed by a bunch of smaller stands that were just as crowded as the bigger websites. It was very overwhelming, which was luckily solved when Ralph spotted a console further up ahead. With a relieved sigh, he started to march over, dodging past the plethora of users that clogged the path. The racers all kept a close tail, although it was a lot harder considering they were the exact height as the users.

Soon, though, the group all reached the terminal.

"Alright, kids", Ralph said warmly, gently picking Vanellope up and setting her on the ground. "Get into position, we're heading to BuzzTube!"

The racers all headed onto the spot, and laughed/giggled as the vehicle spawned into thin air when Ralph pressed enter. With everyone situated, the wrecker climbed onto the back, and they were off, heading towards the video sharing site.

~X~

The trip to BuzzTube was delayed simply because there was another traffic jam, only this one was moving. Just really, really slowly. So as they went ahead as fast as a snail, the racers decided to spark up a conversation.

"Okay, so, I've been hearing this for a long while now", Taffyta said as she twirled a lollipop between her fingers. "But I've heard from Minty that one of us has a crush on another."

Rancis looked at Taff wide-eyed. "What??? How did she learn that?"

The sassy diva gave her friend a side eye glance before continuing. "Well, she just told me that some of our fans were talking about it after an RRR a few days back. She didn't learn who the two were, but it's happening."

"I think it's Swizzle and Nougetsia", Candlehead said. "They've been teaming up a lot for pranks…"

"I was thinking it could be Jubileena and Minty", Rancis said. "They're already really close, and I wouldn't put it past Mint to arouse suspicions by deflecting."

Taffyta nodded absentmindedly. "Both of those I can see happening. What about you, Ms.Prez?"

Vanellope blinked, then looked at the others. "Hmmmmm… Gloyd and Adorabeezle."

The other three all looked at her for a moment, then nodded with noises of understanding.

"Makes sense", Taffyta said with a shrug. "Those two have basically been a thing since forever, they just never said anything."

"You want to set up a date for them after we get back home, don't you?" Rancis asked flatly.

"Bingo, blondie."

"Ooooooooo, can I help?!" Candlehead shouted excitedly.

Ralph was watching all of this unfold with a warm smile, glad that this was distracting Vanny from the sadness and misery from earlier. But as he looked up to the vehicles ahead, his smile fell as his mind wandered to other things. Mainly about how they could use BuzzTube to earn money. He didn't see it as all that practical, and highly doubted it could make them thousands of dollars super fast.

But for all he knew, maybe Yesss was very generous with the money handouts. So he simply shook his head so he didn't start going down a thought trail that would make him change his mind. They were this deep already, and they needed every cent. So he instead let his mind wander to what they could make. He wasn't much of an actor, and didn't know anything about the video making process, so he was in the complete dark.

He off knocked out of his thoughts when the vehicle suddenly sped up, signifying the traffic jam was dealt with. He held on as they shot ahead, ducking to avoid getting his head taken off by an overhanging sign. With things moving smoothly, Ralph simply took in all the sights of this part of the internet. It was kinda sad how samey everything looked, which made it very uninteresting to look at.

And even though he was only here for almost a whole day, he was getting tired and never wanted to come back.

After a few more sharp turns, the transport pulled into the station and the group all headed onto the ground just before BuzzTube's entrance. There was a massive crowd of users all wandering around and heading inside.

"Okay, kids, listen up!" The wrecker bellowed. All four racers lined up before Ralph, and looked up at him with their full attention. "We're entering uncharted territory, and because we don't know who Yes really is, I want you all to stay close by."

The racers all nodded, as a collective, the group headed inside the building.

As soon as they entered, they were blasted with a plethora of loud sounds and hearts, which made the group all wince for a moment. After they adjusted, they looked around.

It was a massive room with screens everywhere, each one playing a different video. Crowds of users flocked in front of the screens looking at the videos with wide, vacant smiles, and occasionally pulling out a heart that some of the staff would suck up into vacuums.

"This place is weird…" Rancis said. "Why do you think there's so many hearts?"

"Maybe it's to show they like the video?" Candlehead said innocently.

"That makes sense", Vanellope said, looking around in mild wonder. She then glanced up at her large friend. "Stinkbrain, where do ya' think Yes could be?"

The wrecker hummed, looking around. "I don't know, maybe we should ask someone…" He looked over, and immediately looked at a staff member who was just walking around with a clipboard. "Hey, excuse me?"

The staff member looked up and smiled. "Hello there, sir. How may I help you?"

"Okay, so, we were hoping you could tell us where to find the owner of this place." The wrecker pulled out the business card and showed it off. "A friend of hers told us she could help us out with something."

"Oh, of course", the staff member said with a slight nod. "Just show that card to security at that door down there." He pointed down at a door that was blocked by an officer on the lower floor, just barely out of the way. "She's on the top floor of the elevator that's not that far. Her office is labelled, so don't worry about getting lost."

"Alright, thanks!" The wrecker and racers waved the staff member goodbye, and followed along the balcony towards a staircase. "Okay, so we'll talk to Yes, and hopefully she'll help us out."

"And if she doesn't, we'll butter her up", Taffyta said smugly. "Because no one can ignore the puppy dog eyes."

"Oooooooo, I've been practising…" Candlehead said with a light smile.

Ralph frowned over dramatically at what that implied, and feared when he would be the target of the quadruple puppy dog eyes. Or even all the racers at once, which made him completely terrified. Simply because he knew he'd crack instantly.

He shook his head and marched onwards, heading down one of the many sets of spiral staircases, the racers staying close behind. What was nice was it seemed Vanellope was getting better mentally and emotionally, which did relax the wrecker significantly.

The group slowly began to make their way across the bottom floor, getting somewhat distracted by the videos that okayed on the screens all over. There were gaming videos, tutorials, cute animal showcases, the whole package. They did their best to not get sidetracked, but it was nearly impossible to with how much was going on. So for a few minutes, the group watched snippets of some of the videos set up, before continuing along their way and making it to the door.

When stopped by security, Ralph reexplained what was going on and showed the card, letting security move aside so they could enter. They headed inside and Ralph glanced down the left and right of the hallway. Down the left side were the elevators, so the group quickly made their way over.

Rancis stood on his tiptoes and pressed the button to head up, and the group all waited for the lift to head down. As they did, Vanellope looked around aimlessly. She was still somewhat off from all the earlier screaming, but was recovering. But she still had that inkling in her, that little blotch that could bring it all crashing down.

And based on how Ralph was glancing at her, he knew too.

When the lift door opened with a ding, the group all headed inside, and Ralph pressed the button to head to the top floor. With a second ding, the doors closed, and up they went.

~X~

And that's chapter 9 done! I'll be honest, this is a much shorter chapter because it was just meant to bridge the previous and next ones together. And because I like working in groups of 5, I wanted to keep the total 20 for this story. So only about 3k words this time around!

Even so, this was a fun chapter. Just setting up what to expect with the video stuff, which we will see more in depth in the next two chapters. Especially since we have the three other racers with us this time.

Also, I'm writing these notes when I'm pretty tired, which is why it feels kind of… vapid, is the best way I can describe it.

Anyway, hopefully y'all enjoy! We're officially halfway through the main story (not counting the epilogue and credits).

Up next: The group meets up with Yesss, who agrees to help them on one condition, which leads to a lot of video making…

~Caleb~