Author's Note: Before we embark on this journey, I want to give a sincere thanks to everyone who read and left their wonderful feedback on "It's A Slaughterful Life"! I'm so glad that story went over as well as it did - as some readers were aware, I wrote it as a coping mechanism to deal with my dissatisfaction after seeing Ralph Breaks the Internet. I had to do something to plug all those plot holes and reconcile all that inconsistent characterization.

The reader response was generally very positive, with a lot of you wishing for more Wreck-It Ralph stuff from me in the future. And that got me to thinking.

Back in 2013, years before Ralph Breaks the Internet was even announced, I was so in love with Wreck-It Ralph as a movie that I began thinking about what I wished a sequel could be. The first film ends on such an optimistic and open-ended high note that my imagination couldn't help it - these four characters from three very different games had the good fortune to cross paths, and each of their lives ended up greatly improved for it... so what happens next?

My first answer to that was "Race For Your Life, Vanellope Von Schweetz", the first story I ever posted to this site. But after that story was complete, I began outlining my own ideas for something longer, a story that could essentially function as a legitimate movie-length sequel. I wanted it to be even bigger in scope, stretching beyond the walls of the arcade somehow, with a deep exploration of how the first movie's adventure changed these characters' lives and how they all interact with each other now. I delved into the lore of the film's world, studying the rules that were established for this universe and building upon them in ways I felt were logical considering what we'd already seen. And I wanted it to be big and exciting, the sort of thing I could see myself loving to bits if it was an actual movie.

I outlined the entire story from start to finish, and even began writing some of it. But the idea fell by the wayside when Disney announced an actual sequel was in production. I didn't want to write something that would seem redundant, nor did I think I could ever measure up to the standards of an actual Disney movie. But then the sequel came out...and, well, you know the rest. Looking around at all the fellow Wreck-It Ralph fans like myself who were let down so hard, I realized now would be the perfect time to go back and revive my own fan-made sequel. People were already asking to see it, as an alternate take on what could have been. And I figured if fans like myself wanted a better Wreck-It Ralph sequel, why not try to give them one?

So here we go. My original concept for what a Wreck-It Ralph 2 might have looked like. Some of the plot points I conceived in 2013 actually ended up bearing some vague resemblance to what happened in Ralph Breaks the Internet, and in updating my story for 2019, I did incorporate a few elements from the movie that I wanted to put my own spin on (you'll see what I mean). But overall, I hope this is more in line with what you folks at home were expecting the second movie would be. I know this is what I was hoping for.

"My name's Vanellope Von Schweetz. President Vanellope Von Schweetz, thank you very much. I mean, okay, sure, my code might say I'm a princess, but hey, if you think I'm gonna try to cram that poofy pink nightmare of a dress into my kart, you're out of your fudge-flippin' mind.

"Anyhoo, what else can I tell you about myself, um...I'm nine years old. I got a swimming pool full of blue raspberry cola. I hate washing my hair. Oh, and I'm a racer. Not to toot my own horn or nothin', but probably the fastest racer in all of Sugar Rush. You think Sonic's pretty speedy? Let him step into my home turf sometime, I'd leave that doofus shakin' in a puddle of his own blue pee.

"'Course, it wasn't always that way… Up until about a year ago, I couldn't even race at all. You ever heard of this geek named Turbo? Yeah, everyone thought he was dead - spoiler alert! Turns out he was hidin' in my game all along, pretendin' to be the king, screwin' around with the code to make everybody think I was some kind of glitched-up monster! I know, what a jerk, right? He stole my kart, my castle, he made my friends hate me...it was a pretty rough fifteen years, not gonna lie…

"But then, the most awesomest thing in the history of forever happened. This big doofy teddy bear of a guy named Wreck-It Ralph crash-landed into my game, and he didn't care that I'd been made into a glitch. He just wanted to help me race. And together, him 'n me built my super-cool kart, and then his friends Fix-It Felix Jr. and Sergeant Calhoun showed up, and all of us teamed up and kicked Turbo's big stinky manipulative butt! Pretty sweet, huh?

"Ever since then, everything's just gotten better and better! I get to race with all my friends again - Taffyta and Rancis and Candlehead and everybody, they don't pick on me anymore! Turns out they're all actually super-cool! And I'm a playable character - just like I always wanted to be! It's so great to see how happy all those kids are when I help 'em win - and after Turbo always said I couldn't! Well, shows what that moron knew, huh?

"But the greatest part of all is havin' Ralph and Felix and Calhoun there with me. After hours, when the arcade closes, we all have the best time together. They're always there to cheer me on at every one of my Random Roster Races. Ralph 'n me go exploring all around Sugar Rush - he's the best guy to have on your side when you get into an ice cream snowball fight on Soft-Serve Summit. Calhoun's like the mistress of stealth - she hasn't lost a single game of hide 'n seek yet! I don't know how she blends in with all those candy cane trees! And if my kart ever gets banged up, well, Felix fixes it like it was nothin'. What a sweetie he is, y'know?

"All four of us together, we're unstoppable. And dang, I'm like stupid lucky to have met them when I did - I literally wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. When I look out from the balcony of the castle at all the tracks and stuff, it really hits me how great it is to have them on my side. And I think to myself 'Man...look at me, Vanellope Von Schweetz, the glitch that no one believed in...look where I am now.' And oh brother, is that ever nice."

Vanellope leaned back against the shiny transistor bench, smiling. Before her, the two wide-eyed Angel Kids sat cross-legged on the sleek floor of Game Central Station, oblivious to the hundreds of other video game characters coming and going around them.

"Wow!" one kid gasped. "What a story!"

"That stuff with Turbo," the other asked quizzically, "did that really happen?"

Vanellope chuckled. "Of course it really happened! I mean, if it didn't…"

In the blink of an eye, she glitched off the bench, vanishing in a flash of pixels and rematerializing behind the startled Angel Kids.

"...How else would I be able to do this?" she concluded with a cheeky grin.

The kids gasped. "WHOA! That was awesome!"

Heads turned all throughout the atrium as a soft female voice boomed from seemingly nowhere. "Attention. The arcade will be opening in five minutes. Please return to your games."

With a skip in her step, Vanellope bounded away towards the outlet to Sugar Rush. "All righty, I gotta make tracks! Stay in school, kids, or whatever it is you do!"

As she drew closer to the outlet, her smile grew wider. There, waiting for her, were her three favorite people in the whole arcade.

Breaking into a run, she glitched up into Ralph's massive arms. "Incoming!" she laughed.

"Oof!" Ralph wheezed in mock surprise. "President Fart-Feathers over here wants to play tackle, huh? C'mon, you 'n me, mano a kid-o!"

Felix smiled, cuddling up to Calhoun's side. "Easy on the roughhousing there, Vanellope! You got a big duty to do for those players, you don't wanna poop yourself out already, now, do ya?"

Vanellope snorted, bursting into a belly laugh so loud she almost toppled off Ralph's shoulder. "Oh my gosh, 'doody' and 'poop' in the same sentence?" she wheezed. "Felix, you're amazing!"

Felix scratched his ear, the joke flying miles over his head. Calhoun squeezed his shoulder gently. "Not a great choice of words there, Sugarcakes," she whispered with a playful smile.

"No, the greatest choice of words," Ralph grinned, chucking Vanellope playfully under the chin with a finger the size of a brick.

Calhoun placed an armor-clad hand inside her inventory pouch. "Well, anyway, before President Poopypants here runs off to rip the Royal Raceway a new pothole," she chuckled, "I got a little present for her, courtesy of the Hero's Duty reconnaissance lab."

With a gasp, Vanellope glitched to the floor. "A present?! Cool! Whadja get me, whadja get me?" she squeaked, her ponytail flapping wildly as she jumped up and down.

Kneeling down, Calhoun produced Vanellope's gift - a rectangular photograph inside a sleek black frame. It was an arm's length selfie of the four of them, taken on the balcony of Vanellope's castle in Sugar Rush. There was Calhoun, smiling, her arm blurry in the foreground as she held her pen-like camera; Felix, in mid-leap, planting a loving kiss on his wife's hi-def cheek; and Ralph, grinning like a goober with that gap between his teeth, holding Vanellope up with one giant arm. Vanellope had her arms outstretched as if she could fly, her face frozen in time to preserve her mirthful laugh.

"Just got it developed," Calhoun said, brushing her blond bangs out of her eyes. "Put it anyplace you want, kiddo - I think it came out fan-flippin'-tastic."

Vanellope beamed, clutching the photograph with both hands, trying not to leave fingerprints on the shiny frame. "Oh dang, it really did! Thanks, Calhoun! I know just where I wanna keep it!"

Felix watched as the patrons of Litwak's Arcade filed back into their games all around them. "Jiminy jaminy, we gotta skedaddle! Good luck out there today, Vanellope!"

Swiftly, Ralph knelt down, eyeing Vanellope sternly. "And listen, kid - before you go, there's one more thing you gotta promise me, alright?" he said, putting on an air of theatrical seriousness.

Vanellope tried to suppress her giggles. "What's that?"

Placing a huge hand on her tiny shoulder, Ralph smiled sincerely.

"Have the best day of your life."

Vanellope leapt up and hugged Ralph around the neck. "You can count on it, Stinkbrain!" she laughed. "C'mon, top shelf!"

Ralph and Vanellope bumped fists, his boulder-sized hand dwarfing her little four-fingered one. "Hey, despite the temptation, try to stay out of trouble, 'kay?" Ralph joked as he, Felix, and Calhoun headed off to work.

And with a final wave to the three of them, Vanellope scurried off into the grounding prong, up the graffiti-splattered stairs and into the bright candy-colored train that would ferry her up the electrical cord into the video game she called home.

She took the frontmost car, laying back in her seat and gazing contentedly up at the slick copper wiring zooming by overhead. She loved riding the train to and from Game Central Station. The thrill of being able to leave her game whenever she wanted had yet to wear off. She hoped it never would.

A minute later, the train braked with a small hiss. Vanellope bounded out of the car, stepping out into the dazzling sweet sunlight of Sugar Rush. There was her kart, parked atop the rainbow gummi ribbon road that led to the portal nestled in the peak of the waffle cone mountain range. Her kart, her very own kart, a sloppy hodgepodge of multicolored icing, sprinkles, and mismatched wheels, with Pixy Stix exhaust pipes and a fudge-slathered vanilla wafer spoiler. It was the ugliest thing you could imagine. Vanellope loved it with all her heart.

She leapt into the driver's seat. Clutching her photograph, she carefully removed the back of the frame, sliding the picture out from within. She pinned it to her dashboard - Ralph, Felix, Calhoun, and herself, all smiling up at her, like a big goofy family portrait, ready to go with her wherever she went.

Driving down the sloping road, she spotted a clutch of her fellow racers at the foot of the hill. Taffyta Muttonfudge, Rancis Fluggerbutter, and Candlehead all waved to her, their kart engines idling softly. Taffyta flipped up the visor of her racing helmet and smirked.

"Races are gonna start any minute, Prez!" she chuckled, playfully twirling her strawberry lollipop. "Ready to get your candy-coated butt spanked?"

Candlehead let out a scandalized gasp. "Taffyta! Don't be mean! Vanellope's our friend! How would you like it if she tried to spank you?"

Taffyta rolled her eyes. "I see we're still struggling with sarcasm, Candlehead. Tell you what, we'll work on that later."

Candlehead blinked, clearly confused.

"And besides, everyone knows Vanellope's a great racer!" Rancis piped up, blushing slightly. "She's crazy fast and super-skilled and that glitchy thing she does is so awesome and her hair is really cool and…"

Vanellope raised a hand and laughed. "Thanks for the ego boost, Rancis, but I gotta cut you off before you run out of air."

"Oh!" Rancis gulped, blushing even deeper and clapping both hands over his mouth. "S-sorry, Vanellope! I, uh...I was just tryin' to help out 'n give you a little extra motivation, y'know?"

Vanellope's eyes darted to the photo on her dashboard.

"Oh, don't you worry your little blonde head about that, friend-o," she smiled as she strapped on her little red racing goggles. "I got plenty of motivation already."

And with a roar of their engines, the four racers drove away over the candy terrain, raring to go for their first race of the day.