Cy-Bug Vanellope
Alternate Climax

Vanellope looked over her shoulder, baffled that King Candy had driven himself off the racetrack. She shrugged and pushed forward, more determined than ever to reach the finish line. She drove into the Rainbow Bridge Cave, and with no other racers behind her, she could focus on keeping her kart from falling into the dark abyss. For her, it was like riding a rollercoaster, and she was having more fun than she had ever thought she'd have in her life.

But the fun soon came to an end when King Candy drove in from another track and rammed his kart into Vanellope's. The poor glitch was stuck on the hood of her ruler's kart, forced to lock eyes with the broiling mad monarch.

"Get off of my track!" the fanatical king barked at her.

"Hey!" Vanellope tried to reverse off of King Candy's kart, but it was no use. "What are you, crazy?!"

King Candy plucked his candy cane from its holster. "I forbid you..." he wedged it between the steering wheel and gas pedal to keep the kart moving, "...to cross..." he plucked the radio stand from the kart, "...that finish line!" He climbed up over his kart's windshield and started swinging at Vanellope.

The girl dodged his attacks as he chipped away at her kart's windshield. "Hey! Knock it off!"

Ralph was at the finish line smashing Cy-Bug after Cy-Bug into the ground around him. He finished off the last wave of hungry monsters in time for his partner to call his attention to the JumboTron. "Ralph! Look!"

He saw Vanellope dodging King Candy's swings at her as they drove through the tunnel. "Kid!"

By the time Candy had destroyed the windshield on Vanellope's kart, the girl had grabbed hold of the staff and was fighting to wrench it from her ruler's grasp. The physical exertions caused Vanellope to ripple with glitches.

"No!" King Candy caught some of her glitches.

"Stop it!" Vanellope was too caught up to notice changes happening before her.

"Let it go!" Pixels of white rippled across Candy's body.

"Gyah!" She saw pixels of red surround Candy.

"I'm not letting you undo all my hard work!" The voice of the king sounded demonic and possessed.

Felix jumped down as a familiar sight materialized on the JumboTron. "Is that...?"

By the time the glitching subsided, the sprite occupying the sugar white kart had taken the shape of a skull in a Kick Buttowski helmet perched atop a red and white racing suit.

Ralph gazed at the infuriated face of the man whose name had gone down in Litwak history as the local definition of absolute evil. "NO WAY!"

Vanellope reeled in shock as the zombified race car driver stared her down with a Patrick Bateman glare.

"WHAT TH - - WHO ARE YOU?!"

"I'm Turbo! The greatest racer ever! And I did not reprogram this world to let you and that halitosis-riddled warthog take it away from me!" He knocked the candy cane loose and stamped the gas pedal with all his might, turning the kart to flip Vanellope's kart sideways.

He paused long enough to show off his wide-eyed yellow piano to the camera with an outstretched thumbs-up. "TURBO-TASTIC! Mwahahahahaha!"

Vanellope saw a column in the middle of the track and realized the deranged virus was going to ram her into the column.

Turbo clenched his teeth and practically stood on the gas pedal. "End of the line, gl-l-litch!"

Vanellope was used to hearing King Candy rolling L's in the same way most people rolled R's, so she had the opportunity for an epiphany. "Glitch! That's it! Come on, Vanellope. I know you said you weren't going to do it again, but you're going to do it again just one more time. Just focus, concentrate, and... GLITCH!"

She suddenly appeared upright to the left of the column and sped full speed for the tunnel's exit. "SWEET MOTHER OF MONKEY MILK! I DID IT!"

"NO!" Turbo tried to clear the column, but his kart grazed the column and he lost control, skidding into the column and wiping out.

The wipeout was punctuated by a high-pitched scream from outside followed by a metallic jaw clamping shut.

Turbo got back on his wheels and sped down the track in search of Vanellope, who he had to stop from crossing the finish line if he was to maintain his position as king of Sugar Rush. But there was no sign of the little glitch anywhere.

Felix was keeping an eye out for the girl's arrival. "I don't see her, Ralph!"

Ralph saw Turbo approaching and feared the worst. "Oh, no!"

Before Turbo could get any closer, Cy-Bugs started erupting from the ground around the demented racer, while another swooped down and tackled Turbo from his kart.

Ralph saw the Cy-Bug in question, and when he realized that it wasn't eating him, his discovery of why made his code run cold.

Sergeant Calhoun swooped down over the finish line. "That's everyone! Let's clear out!"

Ralph was the only one who ran off toward Turbo, who was pinned down by a minty green and white Cy-Bug held together with red licorice, that was sporting the same sloppy design as the newest kart in the game, and a candy ring neck sporting a glitching head that was only changed by green scars above the eyes and down the chin, as well as a mouth full of sharp teeth.

"Vanellope!"

Turbo was laughing nervously in gasps. "Come on, it was Ralph who brought these here!"

VanelloBug grabbed him by the throat. "You don't belong in this game!"

"Kid!"

"Ralph?" VanelloBug looked to the wrecker. "What's going on here? What happened to me? And who is this guy?"

"I'll explain later." He climbed up VanelloBug's leg. "We gotta get outta here."

"But I didn't cross the finish line!"

"There is no finish line!"

"And besides," Turbo was able to breathe as VanelloBug lifted off, "you're too big to fit in a kart now."

"Shut up, Turbo!" Ralph and VanelloBug yelled.

VanelloBug flew to the game exit. "So, what am I supposed to be?"

Calhoun caught sight of her and aimed her weapon at VanelloBug. "Let go of that wrecker, Cy-Bug!"

"Is that what I am now? A Cy-Bug?"

"Yeah, they become what they eat."

VanelloBug threw Turbo down onto the Rainbow Bridge and set Ralph down next to Felix.

Turbo immediately ran into the tunnel and was caught by Felix. "At least she can't get to me now."

Calhoun looked over her shoulder. "I got plasma guns and I'm not afraid to use them."

"Not you; the glitch!" Turbo pointed to VanelloBug. "She can't leave the game!"

Calhoun wasn't convinced and returned her focus to VanelloBug. "You better stay out of that tunnel if you know what's good for you."

"He's right. I can't leave the game." To prove her point, she reached a claw at the tunnel entrance, which repelled her touch.

Calhoun looked to Ralph. "Wreck-It, guard the exit while we get ready to blow it up."

Felix was concerned. "But what about the game?"

Calhoun prepared a bomb. "There's nothing we can do. Without a beacon, there's no way to stop these monsters."

Ralph noticed Diet Cola Mountain in the distance. "Beacon?" He grabbed Calhoun's cruiser. "Can I borrow that?"

VanelloBug watched Ralph fly off. "Where are you going?"

"I got some wrecking to do!"

"Ralph!" Realizing what her friend was planning, VanelloBug flew off after Ralph, unaware that Turbo had grabbed onto her tail.

Ralph reached the summit of Diet Cola Mountain and ran for the center of the Mentos pit.

He started laying punches to the Mentos, sending bits and pieces into the Diet Cola hot spring within the mountain. Bursts of gas shot up around him, a sign that his plan was working. Finally, the entire block of Mentos shifted downward a good 15 feet.

"One more! One more!"

Before he could lay down the last punch, he heard the approaching sound of Cy-Bug wings and a familiar voice shouting "Welcome to the Boss Level!"

Ralph turned around fearing the worst. "Turbo!"

"In this corner, we have... weighing in at over 900 pounds,... Vanellope the Cy-Bug! And in the other corner, weighing in at 643 pounds, the oldest bad guy in the arcade,... Wr-r-reck-It R-R-Ralph!"

Turbo was dangling from VanelloBug, who flew down and plucked up Ralph from the crater of Mentos. "Ralph! Are you crazy?!"

"Kid, I have to do this! It's the only way to save the game!"

"But you'll fall in with the Mentos!"

Turbo snatched a glance at VanelloBug. "Not if you pull him out in time."

Ralph was confused. "Wait, you want this thing set off?"

"But of course. The game isn't safe with all these bugs flying around, is it?"

VanelloBug realized what Turbo was getting at. "Oh, no! Ralph, get out of here while you can!"

Turbo laughed. "Hoohoohoo! Tight spot you're in now, aren't you, Ralph? I told you heroes have to make the tough choices."

Ralph looked back to the middle of the crater. "Look, kid,... the entire arcade depends on all of these Cy-Bugs being stopped. It'd be bad enough for both of our games to get unplugged because of me."

Turbo chuckled. "We really aren't so different after all, are we, Ralph?"

"But what if I die with the rest of the Cy-Bugs?"

"Finish the job, Ralph. Let's watch her die together, shall we?"

Ralph took a deep breath. "The candy trees might be your best bet to staying alive, kid."

Turbo climbed up VanelloBug's back. "Off we go!"

VanelloBug didn't move. "I'm not leaving Ralph to die here!"

"Kid,... my game's been around longer than yours. The least I can do is clean up my own mess."

VanelloBug grabbed Turbo and Ralph and flew up into the air with both of them.

"The candy tree forest is over that way!" Turbo pointed out to the horizon. "Why are we going straight up?"

"I need enough height for you to break the Mentos, Turbutt."

"Vaneollpe, no!"

"He deserves it more than you, Ralph!"

"It still won't be enough to break it, kid."

Turbo started laughing. "I guess it's GAME OVER for both of you, then."

"No." Ralph glared at Turbo. "Just for me!" He forced himself out of VanelloBug's grip and plunged down to the Mentos below.

"Ralph!" VanelloBug flew after Ralph as he fell.

Ralph aimed his fist at the summit of Diet Cola Mountain. "I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be..." he glanced at the cookie medal around his neck, "...than me."

Ralph slammed his fist into the Mentos, completely dislodging every last one. The impact slowed his fall enough for VanelloBug to catch up and pull him away from the imminent eruption.

"Kid!" Ralph's face lit up.

"Don't worry! I got it under control!" VanelloBug saluted as she flew full speed toward the candy tree forest.

She made it to the forest as the lava stack erupted into the darkened sky, hypnotizing the Cy-Bugs and drawing them into the light.

Before long, VanelloBug had slipped into a trance and dropped Ralph on one of the candy trees before slowly flying toward the light with Turbo in her grasp.

"Help! Let me go! Vaneollpe, don't look at the light!"

"I can't help it; it's so beautiful!"

Turbo could feel the heat of the "beacon" growing nearer as VanelloBug dazedly flew closer and closer. "No! NO! NOOOOOO - - !" His squirming brought him headlong into the lava, and he was gone with the fizz.

The lava flow fizzled out before VanelloBug reached it. Fortunately, she was the only Cy-Bug left in the game now.

"Phew! What a rush!"

VanelloBug flew back to the candy tree forest to find Ralph.

She found him perched atop the tree she left him at.

"I think that did the trick."

"It sure did." VanelloBug picked up Ralph and tossed him onto her back, which was covered in chocolate from her kart.

He landed face-first in the hardened frosting. "Chocolate!" He started laughing as VanelloBug made course for what remained of the finish line. "It's chocolate! I love chocolate!" He started licking VanelloBug's back like crazy.

"Ralph, stop! That tickles!" VanelloBug laughed.

Felix had witnessed the Cy-Bugs' demise from the game's entrance. "Haha! You did it, Ralph! Way to go, brother!" He jumped up and kissed Calhoun on the cheek.

Calhoun stared at the handyman in shock before grabbing him by his shirt.

"Uh, I-I was ju - - " his lips were smothered by Calhoun's.

Hearts orbited their heads as they embraced each other.

Soon, Felix was fixing the finish line for VanelloBug to cross. "All fixed!"

Ralph dismounted from VanelloBug. "You ready for this?"

VanelloBug curled herself up. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Calhoun stood at the ready prepared for the worst.

The finish line lit up as the mutated racer rolled herself over it.

As she unfurled, her body started to glow. "Whoa, what's with all the magic sparkles?"

In the code room, Vanellope's code box regained its connections and reintegrated itself into the grid.

Light oozed out from all over VanelloBug's body, compelling Calhoun to brace herself behind a gumdrop, still keeping her weapons ready.

In an instant, a blinding flash showered the entire game world with sparkles.

The game's inhabitants returned to the game in time for their memories to be restored.

At the finish line stood a girl in a fancy pink dress, a sugary white crown, and a candy cane scepter in her hand.

Sour Bill, still stuck to a lollipop, was the first to reach her. "Now I remember!" He turned to face the group of racers gathered at the finish line. "All hail our rightful ruler, Princess Vanellope."