The throne room hummed with activity. Or maybe groaned would be a better word; most of the candy army was still recovering from their defeat. They nursed lick-wounds and bite marks, and kept darting nervous glances over at the Level 1s. For their part, although the Level 1s recovered from injury too fast to be wounded, a number of them were suffering from indigestion after swallowing a few too many of their attackers.

"Oh, man, is it gonna be great getting back home," Vanellope said. "I can't believe you guys found a game that connects this place with the arcade."

"You're going to need a, a class, I think it's called," Ralph reminded her. "I'm thinking 'wizard', what with your zapping all over the place and all. That seems, uh, wizardy, right?"

At the front of the room, General Atomic F. Bill and some of the Sugar Rush Speedway 2000 racers were setting up a podium and an entire ice-cream shoppe's worth of microcones.

"Whatever it is, I can handle it, no problem!" Vanellope said, making a smooth "everything's cool" gesture with her hand. "I beat the evil me, right?"

"What, that shrimp? She's even smaller than you! And that's pretty small."

"You should have seen her before she regenerated!" Vanellope protested. "She was super gross queen monster butt. It's just that all her extra code came from other games, so when she died, all that came back was the original stuff."

Vanille 2k was currently up on the stage, fuming, her tiny hands wrapped around the candy cane bars of her portable jail.

"Look at that face," Scourgica said from Ralph's other side. "Kinda makes me glad I don't have kids."

"They wouldn't necessarily turn out like her," Ralph pointed out.

"I guess that's true. Who knows?" She coughed. "So, er, we have these card games. My friends and I. We, er... we could use another person. If you're not busy, I mean-well, obviously you're busy, I mean people are still playing you, but maybe if there's a time where you're not as busy-then maybe-"

"I'd love to come over some night," Ralph said. "I haven't played cards in forever. And if you ever want to come to the arcade-"

"Yes!" she said. "I mean...yes, that would be... fun!"

Several rows back, the Calhoun-Fix-Its were piling phone books on a chair, the better to provide their son with a view of the proceedings.

"I oughtta just sit in front," Third grumbled. "There's an empty chair right there."

"Negative, soldier," Calhoun snapped. "After that stunt you pulled, I'm keeping you right where I can see you."

"It was very dangerous!" Felix added. "Why, if something had happened to you outside of your game-jiminy jaminy!"

"So I took a few risks!" Third growled. "I got the job done, didn't I? When the time comes, when the last straight line piece falls into place and the precious little wall of Tetris blocks that brass builds to protect it for the reality of what its like out there vanishes, you're not gonna need a "good boy". You're gonna need some who does what's right, no matter how many time outs it gets him, no matter-"

"Soldier, one more word of backtalk out of you and you'll be changing your own diapers until you're eighteen."

Third saluted. "R-right, Sergeant Mommy!"

"All right, everyone," General Bill announced. "Think we're ready. I'm not much for speeches, so let's just do this."

He cleared his throat.

"It has become obvious that Princess Vanellope is no longer fit to rule. She has committed grievous crimes against the citizens of other sovereign games as well as her own subjects, and has flagrantly and illegally altered game programming for her own personal gain-"

"You were right there with me, you traitor!" Vanille 2k fumed. "You all were! Don't pretend I was the only one who had anything to do with this, you all took up arms against-"

"Yes, ah, well, that as may be," the general said loudly, "the time has come to put this unfortunate episode behind us and turn to new leadership, fresh code to reinvigorate the crown and move us forward into a new, hopefully less-megalomaniacal future. Of course, my first choice was to offer the role to our visiting President Vanellope-"

There were a few cheers from some of the Sugar Rush racers and candy people. Ralph clapped Vanellope on the back.

"-the hero who cut our own Princess down to a much more manageable size. She is dedicated, brave, and good-hearted-"

"And she's got a Sugar Rush of her own to run!" Vanellope protested, hopping up on Ralph's head so everyone could see her. "What kinda president would I be if I just ditched them for this place."

"Errm, just as you say," the General said. "That is unfortunately not an option. Now, my own name has been bandied about-"

He paused and waited for the cheers. A few of the sweeter candies let out half-hearted hoorays when they realized what he was after.

"-ahmm, thank you, but it has been pointed out that I was, perhaps, a bit two close to the old regime, being second in command and presiding over the attack and all. So I must, regretfully, decline."

He straightened up and spoke directly into the microcones.

"That brings us to the matter of who will be our new ruler? The interim government and I have been discussing the matter at length and we believe we've hit upon the best solution. A former political prisoner who has no reason to love the old regime. A racer, like us, with the love of the wind and the open road in his heart. A warrior who stood behind this brave President Vanellope, stepping up to help her against great evil in her darkest hour. Truly, this man-yes, yes, come up here-this man is the man for the job. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Turbo!-henceforth to be known as King Candy the First, ruler of Sugar Rush Speedway 2000!"

Turbo beamed as the crown was placed on his head. The candies burst into applause.

"I don't know about you," Vanellope said, nudging Ralph, "but I've got some reeeally mixed feelin's about this."

"We'll check up on him," Ralph promised. "Later. Right now, I can't wait to get back to the arcade. I think one of Tapper's root beers is calling my name."

"Tapper?" Scourgica asked. "Is that a tavern?"

Ralph grinned. "Better than a tavern. Why don't you come on back with us? I'll show you around..."

GAME OVER

Thank you everyone, for sticking with me through what turned into kind of a novella! It's been very rewarding to read all your kind reviews, and I'm so happy that so many people liked this story! It makes me eager to write more. If you've enjoyed reading this story, I hope you'll check out some of the others I've written. To quote the airlines, I realize you have a choice in fanfics; thank you for choosing mine.