Digital Displacement

Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fanfiction based on the movie Wreck-It Ralph. Wreck-It Ralph, Fix-It Felix Jr, Sgt. Calhoun, Vanellope Von Schweetz, Sugar Rush, Hero's Duty, and the characters within those games are all owned by Disney. All game characters not created by me are the properties of their respective companies. All products based on the characters I did create are property of their respective companies.

Chapter 1: Unexpected Deportation

It all began on a Saturday afternoon when a young man in his mid 20s with short black hair, a black Pac-Man T-shirt, blue jeans, and black chuck taylors named Joe walked into the arcade. He had been a regular since 1993 as a 7 year old boy who would come on weekends and birthdays with his mom. You could say he was Litwak's best customer. He had played every game in the arcade, from Arkanoid to Zoo Keeper. Or at least the machines that had been around since 1993. A lot of them he liked, a few of them he didn't. If he had to choose one game he loved most, it would be Fix-It Felix Jr. He always loved the game for it's simple charm ever since he first played it in 1993(Yes, the game was released in 1982 but he wasn't born then). Though he liked Felix enough, his favorite character in the game was always Wreck-It Ralph. He always thought he was a misunderstood villain who was just angry for losing his home, but most people would just say that he was over thinking things. After all, it was only a video game.

The first thing Joe noticed was that not too many people were in the arcade today. There were a couple of high school students playing the Mortal Kombat II cabinet, those two boys that would hog the Sugar Rush machine, the "Moppet girl", Jennifer with the pink glasses, and maybe two or three other kids.

"Morning Joe," said Mr. Litwak.

"Hey, Mr. Litwak," said Joe, "Why's the place a ghost town today?"

"Didn't you hear?" asked Mr. Litwak, "That newfangled gaming console, the Gamestation 3000, just came out today. Everyone's gone over to GameShop to buy one."

"Gamestation 3000 already?" sighed Joe, "Game consoles are nice and all, but if you ask me, nothing beats going to a good old fashioned arcade to hang with some friends."

"That's something considering you own quite a few consoles yourself," said Litwak, "Too bad more of my customers aren't like you."

As Joe looked around, he sees that the boys over at the Sugar Rush machine had finally used up their last quarters and the machine was free.

"Yes!" Joe said to himself as he fist pumped into the air and walked over to the machine.

He took a moment to examine the machine and the first thing that always caught his eye was that there was a GameCube memory card slot. Not many people know it, but there were two different versions of Sugar Rush: the original 1997 version and the 2003 re-release that ran on the Triforce arcade board. You see, when the original first came out, despite being a good game in it's own right, people were disappointed by how the graphics didn't match those seen on the commercials so TobiKomi(in a deal with Nintendo, Sega, and Namco) re-released the game in 2003 with improved graphics and GameCube connectivity that allowed you to play with exclusive racers from the GameCube version and unlock characters and tracks from the arcade version. From the looks of the cabinet, it seems that it keeps the original game's artwork leading Joe to always suspect that the machine may have been upgraded from the inside. He shrugged, placed a GameCube memory card he had been holding in his pocket that he was planning to use for F-Zero AX and inserted his quarters...

Meanwhile inside the game "Fix It Felix Jr", the characters were going through the "attract mode". Unfortunately, they haven't attracted a customer in over 3 hours. The Nicelanders did the usual "toss the villain off the roof and into the mud routine". Ralph was pretty used to it by now, though, but it seemed that he had to do it about 45 times already in the past 3 hours.

"You okay, buddy?" asked Felix as he helped Ralph from the mud.

"Yeah, but it's really starting to wear thin when it happens 45 times in 3 hours," said Ralph.

"It's only just part of the program," said Felix.

"I know, I know," said Ralph as he wiped the mud from his clothing, "Felix, listen... since the arcade is pretty slow today, I was thinking that we could head over to Sugar Rush and watch Vanellope race."

"Whoa whoa whoa," said Felix, "The arcade is still open. What if somebody wants to play the game?"

"From what I could see out there, there are 8 people in the arcade. Those two high schoolers will be on the Mortal Kombat machine for hours, the elementary school kids just started the first quarter on a game of NBA Jam, that girl with the glasses is playing Pac-Man, and Joe is gonna play Sugar Rush."

"Joe usually likes to play this game, though," warned Felix, "It's his favorite, after all."

"No problem," said Ralph, "We go now, when can watch while he's playing and then get back to Fix-It Felix Jr after he finishes."

"Okay, I guess," said Felix reluctantly.

And with that, Felix and Ralph head on over to their train and make their way to Game Central. Ralph heads over to Sugar Rush while Felix goes on over to Hero's Duty.

"I'll meet you in the game," said Felix, "I just have to go get the Mrs..."

Ralph smiled, and waved back to Felix as he headed over to Sugar Rush.

"That lucky son of a gun," thought Ralph to himself, "Yeah, Calhoun is tough as nails and little rough around the edges but it sure must feel nice to be able to have that special someone in your life..."

Back in the arcade, Joe finished pumping his quarters into the Sugar Rush machine and pressed the start button.

"Please be there... Please be there..." said Joe to himself as he was looking at the character roster screen.

Joe never liked the "New Racers Daily" mechanic, especially if he would end up with mostly racers he didn't like(ESPECIALLY if it was King Candy. He was so sick of always having to race against that guy). Why they couldn't just have all the racers available, he'll never know. He just wanted to make sure one certain racer was there.

"Yes! There she is! Vanellope Von Schweetz!" said Joe excitedly.

"Cool, is it alright if I play with you?" asked Jennifer the "Moppet girl" as she spoke from behind him apparently having finished her game of Pac-Man.

"Sorry, I need to do a single player race," said Joe, "I just need to beat Vanellope so I can finally unlock her for the home version and then I'll let you play."

Joe then goes to select the memory card icon and selected his racer named Butterfinger Billy, a light skinned boy with blonde spiky hair, blue goggles atop his head, an orange jacket with two B's on the back in the style of the "Butterfinger" logo, black fingerless gloves, blue pants, and black sneakers. The boy gave a cheesy grin and a peace sign upon selection.

"Who's Butterfinger Billy?" asked the girl, "I've never seen him before."

"He's a console exclusive kart racer," said Joe, "Brought him and his kart from home in my memory card."

Back in the game at the starting line, Billy and his kart materialized in the starting line up next to Vanellope's kart.

"Whoa, you're new," said Vanellope, "Who are you?"

"Butterfinger Billy is the name and winning races is my game," said Billy as he lowered his goggles.

"Well you haven't raced a racer like me," said Vanellope as she revved her engines.

Over at the stands, Ralph, Felix, and Sgt. Calhoun were watching curiously at the new racer.

"What kind of a name is 'Butterfinger'?" asked Ralph.

"I think it's some sort of product placement," said Felix.

"Whoever he is, the boy doesn't stand a chance," said Calhoun.

"I don't know about that," said Felix, "She isn't the player character this time around so she can't really use her glitching without someone getting suspicious."

"How can you say such a thing?! Kid's got this in the bag! YOU'VE GOT THIS KID!" shouted Ralph from the stand, "Show that Chick-O-Stick wannabe what you're really made of!"

"I will, stinkbrain!" shouted Vanellope as she turned to the stands and with a big smile she gave Ralph and the others a thumbs up.

Billy turned to the stands and stared at Ralph in disbelief for a few seconds.

"Is that...? Nah..." he said as he quickly shook his head and faced the road once more.

As the countdown reached 0, the racers sped off. Vanellope was in the lead at first, Taffyta was tailing her in second, Rancis was in third, Candlehead was in fourth, and Billy was in fifth. Through the long stretch of road, Billy grabs his first item box which contained a "Sugar Rush" which he uses to boost past Candlehead. Now he was neck in neck with Rancis. He slams his car into Billy's, trying to veer him off the road, but they come to a sharp corner where Billy power slides around and Rancis is sent crashing into the Candy Cane Forest.

The only thing standing between Billy and Vanellope was Taffyta. Every attempt Billy would make to maneuver around Taffyta, she would always swerve to block his path. After running into another item box, Billy rolled a Jawbreaker in the roulette. The jawbreaker was like the sweet seeker minus the seeking part plus it could bounce against walls. He then launches his jawbreaker, sending it past Taffyta.

"Ha ha! You missed!" taunted Taffyta.

"Wait for it..." said Billy.

The jawbreaker bounced against the walls ahead like a pinball, bouncing at a 30 degree angle with each rebound. As Taffyta continued cruising ahead at full speed unaware of the jawbreaker rebounding from the side, it collides into her cart sending her tumbling backwards. Now it was just Vanellope and Billy.

"Vanellope Von Schweetz, you are mine..." chuckled Billy.

Back at the stands...

"Jiminy Jaminy! That Butterfinger fella is really good," said Felix, "It's only the first lap and he's already in 2nd place."

"Beginner's luck, if you ask me..." muttered Calhoun.

"Yeah, show him no mercy, kid!" shouted Ralph.

And for most of the race, Vanellope and Billy kept trading places for 1st place. It was the final lap and the final stretch. Vanellope was ahead by a few feet, but Billy had one trick left up his sleeve: he had stored a sweet seeker.

"VICTORY!" shouted Billy as he launched the sweet seeker.

Everything began to move in slow motion for Vanellope. She looked behind her in shock as the sweet seeker was moving in closer. She wasn't ready to lose. Not today and especially not to a guest racer. So at the very last second she glitched, causing the sweet seeker to fly harmlessly past her. Billy looked in disbelief as Vanellope flew past the finish line.

In the real world, Joe looked on in shock at what just happened...

"You've gotta be kidding me!" shouted Joe in frustration as he banged his head against the steering wheel and groaned very loudly in disappointment.

Vanellope was scared for a moment. She was afraid that the player would tell Mr. Litwak about her glitching and her game would be unplugged.

"Ugh... Rubberband AI at it's worse..." sighed Joe, "I was so close..."

Vanellope released a sighed of relief. It was a good thing he only thought it was blatant rubberband AI. As Ralph and the others ran from down the stands to celebrate Vanellope's victory, Billy hopped from out of his car, lifted his goggles atop his head, and walked up to the girl with a puzzled look on his face.

"Did you see me, Ralph?" asked Vanellope in glee.

"Sure did, kid," said Ralph, "But you gotta be careful. You're lucky Joe just thought it rubberbanding."

"Okay, how'd you do that?" asked Billy as he crossed his arms.

"You mean how'd I do... this?" she asked as she teleported behind him.

"Glitching? So you cheated, then," said Billy as he cocked an eyebrow.

"Don't think of it as cheating," said Vanellope, "Think of it as a CPU drone advantage."

"Yeah, sure," said Billy flatly, "If this were a Midway developed game..."

"You're from Sugar Rush, but I've never seen you before," said Vanellope, "You're now from another game going Turbo are you?"

Before Billy could answer her question, a warning announcement was being made.

"Warning, memory card saving," boomed a disembodied voice.

"That's my cue. Gotta go!" said Billy as he hopped into his cart and drove off, "Catch you later."

"Wait, I wanna talk to you some more!" shouted Vanellope as she hopped into her cart and drove after him.

"Kid wait!" shouted Ralph as he ran after her.

"Jaminy! What's Vanellope doing?" asked Felix.

"We better go after them," said Calhoun as she and Felix hopped on their cruiser, grabbed Ralph, and sped off.

Billy was racing off the track and into what appeared to be a large rectangular dock in the distance with Vanellope following suit. After parking into the dock, Billy steps out of his car only to be met with Vanellope parking next to him.

"What are you doing here?" asked Billy.

"I gotta know!" said Vanellope, "Why have I never seen you before in the game? Where did you come from? What's a Butterfinger?"

"No! You have to get out of here! NOW!" urged Billy, "You shouldn't be here!"

"Still mad that I beat you?" teased Vanellope.

"You don't understand," said Billy, "This is the memory card dock! You have to get out before-"

Suddenly, Billy and Vanellope both tumbled to the ground from the sudden shaking. They could see Sugar Rush slowly getting further and further.

"It's too late!" moaned Billy, "Joe's pulling the memory card out!"

Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun arrive to the seen only to see Vanellope and Billy being pulled away from Sugar Rush through the card port.

"VANELLOPE!" shouted Ralph as he tried to run to her but was held back by Calhoun and Felix.

"RALPH!" shouted Vanellope as Sugar Rush was getting further and further.

"NO! LET ME GO!" shouted Ralph as he was struggling against his friends holding him back, "I gotta save her!"

"Ralph, it's too far out! You'll never make it!" said Felix.

"There's nothing we can do for now," said Calhoun.

The memory card was gone from sight. Ralph could only stare in disbelief. Vanellope was gone. The one character that gave him a new lease on life was now gone. After finally being let go, all he could do was scream at the top of his lungs and smash nearly everything in sight. Felix looked to his wife in sadness as did she. After his little rage fit, Ralph sat on a nearby jawbreaker and began to sulk.

"Don't worry," said Calhoun as she walked up to him. "We'll get her back. I don't know how, but we will."

Outside of the machine, Joe pocketed his memory and walked away.

"All yours kid," he said to the Jennifer as he walked off in search of his next machine.

As he was making his way to his next game he noticed that Mr. Litwak was talking to a man with balding gray hair and a business suit.

"And I am willing to offer you $750,000 for your arcade," said the man in the suit.

"What's going on?" asked Joe.

"This gentleman here is offering to buy up the arcade," said Litwak.

"How do you do?" asked the man in the suit as he extended his hand towards Joe, "I'm Mr. Walter Black. I'm pretty sure you've heard of my Mega Burger food chains."

"Why yes I have," said Joe ignoring Mr. Black's gesture, "And let me say that I think that your burgers taste like old shoes."

"I see you quite a sense of humor there," chucked Mr. Black.

"So does this mean that the arcade is gonna be under new management then?" asked Joe, "Let me guess, your first order of business will be to hike up the quarter intake on all the machines?"

"Actually, no," said Mr. Black, "See what I'm planning to do is get rid of all these... 'Carnival Games' and turn this building into the newest location for the next Mega Burger restaurant."

"What? But there's already a Mega Burger down the street!" replied Joe, "In fact, you can't even go a block without walking into one!"

"It's a little thing called franchising," said Mr. Black, "You probably wouldn't understand considering that you are a consumer and not a business man such as myself. It's the only logical move"

"Will it at least have a play place?" asked Joe.

Ha ha ha... no," said Mr. Black flatly, "Mega Burger is a family establishment and children will be plenty entertained by the toys included in our kids' meals."

"Those things are made of cheap plastic! They fall apart just by touching the grease from the fries!" exclaimed Joe, "You can't do this Mr. Litwak!"

"Sorry, Joe, but the place just isn't making enough money to justify keeping it running like it used to," said Mr. Litwak.

"So the only logical thing to do would be to sell it to me," said Mr. Black.

"But I've been coming here ever since I was a little boy," said Joe, "As I grew up I watched as every other arcade closed down one by one all around me. Sure, there were a few cabinets in laundromats & bowling alleys but they just aren't the same. I mean they're always so filthy with sticky buttons and broken controller, but not this place. I always thought that at least Litwak's would always be there."

Litwak was a little touched by Joe's sentiment for the place, but Mr. Black, however just rolled his eyes and pointed his finger into mouth in a gagging motion.

"Ugh, you sound like a 90s after school special," said Mr. Black dryly, "Listen young man, arcades are just another worthless relic of the past like roller disco and the elderly. They can't compete with home consoles, iPhones, and free internet flash games. I mean, who would want to spend quarters in an arcade when they can they stay in the comfort of their homes and play video games for a 1 time fee?"

"Mr. Litwak, what if I could figure out a way to get the arcade to make more money?" asked Joe, "Would you reconsider selling?"

"I suppose I could," said Mr. Litwak, "I really would hate to see the place go."

"Well, Mr. Litwak, I'll be back when you change your mind," said Mr. Black as he was leaving.

"You mean if he changes his mind," said Joe.

"Ha ha... no I don't," said Mr. Black as he walked out of the front door.

"So, exactly what do you have planned to save the arcade?" asked Litwak, "Whatever it is, I'll see you Monday morning and remember, I and all the patrons are depending on you."

Joe could feel a lump in his throat as the seriousness of the situation began to set in. The fate of Litwak's Arcade rested on a young man's shoulder. A young man who had no experience running a business. A young man who could barely make minimum wage at a grocery store.

"Oh, what have I gotten myself into?" Joe whispered himself.

End Chapter

Atuhor's Nose, er, Author's Notes:

This has been my first fanfic in quite some time. Recently I finally got to watch Wreck-It Ralph on DVD. It had been something I had been wanting to do ever since it came out in theaters, but never did because I couldn't afford movie tickets. The DVD finally showed up at the library and I loved every minute of it. In fact I've watched it 3 times already which is pretty rare for me to do with movies I check out from the library. I was also very surprised that my favorite character in the movie wound up being Vanellope Von Schweetz, considering all the not so pleasant things that I've heard of Sarah Silverman.

Then I started thinking, wouldn't it be cool to explore the world of console gaming and the internet? This isn't exactly something new to WIR fanfiction but I haven't really done anything productive in a very long time and I LOVE video games so I decided 'why not?' and so here we are.

The explanation for the GameCube memory card port in Sugar Rush sounds pretty flimsy, I admit, but I was thinking between this or an N64 memory pak. Then I noticed how Sugar Rush Speedway looked way too good to be a game made in 1997(from the gamer's point of view, not inside the game) and although it probably still wouldn't look as good if it were a 128-bit game, it's a little more believable IMHO.

Butterfinger Billy... A Sugar Rush OC is pretty cliche, I know but before you ask, no I did not create him to pair him up with Vanellope(waits for sighs of relief to stop). I was just thinking about how much I wanted a Butterfinger while I was looking at Sugar Rush and imagined what a racer based on the Butterfinger brand would be like, plus I needed a way to get Vanellope out of the arcade. Appearance wise, he's a bit more Americanized than the other Sugar Rush racers and that will be explained in the next chapter. The goggles and spiky hair were based on Jack Spicer from Xiaolin Showdown and the colors of his attire were to match the colors of Butterfinger wrappers.

While you can imagine the voices however you like, here are voices that I like to imagine hearing from the characters' mouths. It also kinda helps me get a better idea on how to write the characters. The voice cast for the movie characters are the same but for the OCs:

Joe: Jerry Trainer

Butterfinger Billy: David Spade

Mr. Black: John Lithgow

And that's just for this chapter. I don't wanna give away any spoilers. I've already compiled a character list with a voice actor for each them.

Yeah, pretty long author's note, huh? Anyway, reviews are much appreciated and I'll see you next chapter.