Author's Note: Sorry for the false alarm, but this isn't a chapter update. I hate to do this, but I'm officially going on hiatus. I figured I should at least tell you all. I don't know how long I'll be gone. It may be a long, long time before I'm back at this rate. Truth is, I've been depressed for the past.. long time, I guess. I was kind of in denial about it until very recently. Most days I've been 'alright', and for a short burst I was able to get a chapter out like every 3 days, but the past month or so it's just gotten worse. It's to the point where I can't make myself write no matter how much I want to be able to finish this story, and I can't help but feel like garbage. Lately all I can make myself do is scroll through tumblr, talk to friends, and watch videos on youtube. So.. Yeah. Sorry everyone :/.

Author's Note: Chapter 11 is March 16, 2016's update. I'm revising them all in order, so it's 'safe' to read from 1-11 now without worrying about contradictions–and the writing is better. It'll be a long while before I get an actual new chapter out, so if you're waiting for one, you might want to follow me/the story for updates.

Author's Note: This is the main sequel of my first story, 'A Sudden Surge'. It's much more 'slice of life' compared to its predecessor, though that's not to say it doesn't have its fair share of action on occasion. The other sequel is 'The Honeyglow of Heroes'. It shares the same timeline, but is in the perspective of Felix, Calhoun, Markowski, Candlehead, Spears, and Jubileena.

Pairings: Ralph/Vannie, Jet/Crumbelina, and Rancis/Taffyta. Being from Sugar Rush 2, the racers are 10 years older than their canon counterparts, which means they are 19 years old.

"Did you see Litwak's face when he saw the highscores were still up?!" Ralph said with an excited laugh. His face was priceless. They were in their game, Fix-It Felix Jr.

"Jiminy jaminy, it was priceless!" Felix said before joining in on the laughter, "The poor man almost had a heart attack!"

"Ah man.." Ralph breathed, "It's nice to see the old man still cares. It's been a long time since he played our game.."

"Yeah.. It happens to the best of us.." Felix sighed, "So.. You and Vannie, huh?" He made that same cheesy grin he loved so much.

"Yeah.." Ralph leaned against the front wall of the apartment building, "It's almost like a dream.. I was such an idiot for a while there, not seeing what's important."

"Sounds like you've got a story there, brother," Felix grinned curiously as he too leaned against the wall, "Care to tell me about it?"

"Ahh, it's not really worth telling.." Ralph said dismissively, "I was just having a hard time seeing the two of them as separate people at first.." Well obviously I knew they weren't the same person.. I just couldn't date Vannie and still look Vanellope in the eye. It would have been too weird, at least that's what I thought at the time.

"Well that's somewhat understandable, Ralph," Felix said, "I mean, they are really similar. Vannie was based off of the original, after all."

"I still have to apologize to her about that," Ralph said as he looked out past the game screen in the sky, not that he could see much from that angle, "I owe her lunch as well." He chuckled warmly. "On that note, I gotta go.." He made his way toward the railway leading out of Fix-It Felix Jr.

"What about the party, Ralph?" Felix asked hopefully, "It starts in about an hour, you know?"

"Sorry Felix," Ralph said, "You understand, right? Just save me a slice, will ya?"

"Sure thing, brother," Felix said under his breath in disappointment as he watched his best friend leave to see his girlfriend. He perked up quickly however. "Oh! I wonder what Tammy is up to about now.." He grinned and held onto his hat as he skipped off behind Ralph, headed towards Hero's Duty.

In Sugar Rush 2, moments before that day's Random Roster Race took place.

"You ready for the Random Roster Race, Jet?" Crumbelina asked. She and Jet had been sitting in the stands watching the races of the day, since neither of them had won the previous day's Random Roster Race. Which Jet hadn't even had a chance to attend it, much to his disappointment. She had curly, medium length brown hair. She wore a beige racing cap that had a shortbread cookie brim, which was drizzled with chocolate. Her jacket and ruffled skirt were latte colored, and her leggings were the color of milk chocolate, with darker stripes that matched her boots.

Jet smirked, "I was born ready.." He then immediately went straight-faced before adding, "is what I would like to say, but it's been decades since I've done any actual racing.." He was visibly nervous, and still not quite used to his new look. King Candy had gone above and beyond his request for his outfit and appearance. Rather than a simple recolor like he expected, he looked unique. His face was a bit thinner, and younger than his Turbo Time appearance. He figured he was probably about 20 years old. His nose was also completely different, to match with Sugar Rush 2's art style. His skin was no longer grey, naturally, and his teeth and eyes were also no longer yellow. His helmet, surprisingly enough, was untouched. It was something he was thankful for, as it reminded him of his old game, Turbo Time. He didn't wear his helmet when he wasn't racing, however, much like the other racers. He preferred to let his short, unruly brown hair breathe. As he had requested, his outfit was blue, much the same color as his old jumpsuit. Instead of a jumpsuit, however, he wore a racing jacket with the initials JC on the back in stylized letters, with a white t-shirt underneath. His pants matched the color and style of his jacket perfectly.

"Oh, it'll be fine," Crumbelina said, "Once a racer, always a racer."

"I wanted to thank you.." Jet said earnestly, "For being so nice to me.. Everyone else is still a bit wary of me.. But with good reason, I guess." Jet, destroyer of worlds, ladies and gentlemen. I'm surprised she is even talking to me, knowing what I've done.

"Well, the way I see it, you must have earned your second chance," Crumbelina said plainly, "Otherwise you wouldn't be here, right?"

"I wonder if it's really like that," Jet shrugged and stared out at the race track. Cooperation and a sob story won't bring those games back.

"Come on. It's about time we got ready.." Crumbelina tapped him on the shoulder twice as she stood up, then dusted off the back of her skirt. He really has changed.. Or maybe he was always like this?

"Alright."

The two went to the garage near the starting line to spawn in their karts, then lined them up alongside the rest of the racers. Jet's kart strongly resembled a halfway-unwrapped chocolate bar. The back of his kart was the same deep blue color as his outfit, with a yellow trim and interior, while the front was made up of a grid of chocolate squares.

All of the racers tossed their coins into the giant 'Winner's Cup' one after another as a voice announced their names.

"Good luck, Jet!" Crumbelina said cheerfully as she hopped into her kart.

"You too!" Jet smiled he hopped into his kart and put his helmet on. How many years have I waited for a moment like this? All those years it was always something else. Collect this, Destroy that.. Sure those games were fun and everything, but it's not what I was programmed to do. It's this.. I finally have a chance to race again.. He tightly gripped the pretzel steering wheel of his kart in anticipation.

Ralph, just barely in time, sat down in the stands before the Random Roster Race started. I would definitely regret it somehow if I missed this race. Vanellope won't be too happy that I'm missing hers though.. I'm gonna have to talk to King Candy.. well, either one of them, about changing the scheduling.

Vannie looked over to Ralph–he wasn't easily overlooked–with a smile and waved before hopping into her kart. Her hair was much like Vanellope's, candy decorations included, but it was much longer in the back. Everything about her outfit was identical to Vanellope's as well, just resized to fit a 19 year old whose head reached up to Ralph's chest. Her kart, unlike Vanellope's, had teal frosting over what was meant to resemble a long sugar cookie. It had lots of white star-shaped sprinkles and the interior was all white, complete with marshmallow seats. Glad he showed up. Now I absolutely can't lose.

"My sweet subjects!" King Candy said excitedly over the speakers from his announcer seat, "I can without a pinch of hesitation assure you that I have never been so happy in all my life to say the following words! Let the Random Roster Race commence!" He pulled a lever which made a purple carpet roll out to form a slide, which he excitedly slid down to his kart.

A marshmallow race attendant floated down, holding a traffic light which signaled the start of the race. It's a living.

The racers were off! Vannie was off to a bit of a slow start, at a steady 4th place, just barely behind Taffyta.

Taffyta wore a racing cap which resembled the top of a strawberry. Her hair was still a bright platinum-blonde, with trimmed bangs. She wore a light pink skirt with a white t-shirt partially covered by a dark pink jacket. Her leggings were light pink with white spiral stripes and matching boots. Sorry Vannie, I'm going to win this time.

Jet was in 6th, just behind Jubileena.

Jubileena's hair was a vibrant crimson color, with trimmed bangs and the rest pulled back into a ponytail that went past her shoulders. Her helmet resembled a giant cherry, which matched the rest of her outfit which was a white shirt with two cherries on it covered by a glossy red jacket and matching skirt with leggings that were a shade of deep pink and topped off with ruby-colored boots.

Jet slowly passed Jubileena at the first turn. She was the one person he wanted to beat in this race for sure, as she was the one who trapped him before, which resulted in him getting caught–not that he wasn't happy with the way things turned out in the end.

Vannie managed to pass Taffyta, though Candlehead and King Candy held a healthy lead above the rest.

Candlehead's attire consisted of a pink hoodie and skirt, with chocolate swirl patterned leggings, and black boots drizzled with pink icing. Her hair was mint green and went down to her shoulders. As her nickname would suggest, she wore a pink iced helmet with a lit candle on top.

King Candy picked up a power-up–the Ice Cream Cannon–and fired it behind him. Vannie narrowly avoided getting hit by it, but Taffyta wasn't so lucky. It put her behind quite a bit as she had to wait a few seconds for her kart to respawn.

Vannie also picked up a power-up. It was one of her favorites: Sugar Rush. She shot ahead at great speed, easily passing up Candlehead, and almost catching up to King Candy.

Jet almost missed it, having only just grazed it, but he managed to grab the final power-up floating in that section of the race. It was a Sweet Seeker. He was thankful that at least now he was familiar with how the karts worked, so he didn't have to guess how to activate it. It shot three homing projectiles ahead of him, hitting Candlehead, Vannie, and King Candy each.

"Sorry!" Jet yelled excitedly as he passed them by as he drove onto the ice cream themed portion of the track. At this rate I might actually win!

Taffyta regained 3rd place, narrowly passing Crumbelina. "Maybe next time, Crumbelina," she teased, though not to be mean. Just a bit more..

They came to another section with power-ups, but Crumbelina instead opted to use the speed stripes on the side of the track to speed ahead, regaining 3rd place, much to Taffyta's dismay. She also made some headway in catching up with Jubileena as well, who was now in 2nd. Taffyta used the power-up she grabbed, Sticky Slick, which made King Candy fall further back to 7th, though Vannie and Candlehead managed to avoid it, with much cheering from Ralph as he watched on the Jumbotron.

Vannie used the speed stripes, while Candlehead grabbed a Sugar Rush power-up and pulled ahead past Taffyta, reaching 4th place.

It was a long race, but in the end Vannie narrowly won after a few lucky breaks with power-ups, followed by Crumbelina, Jet, Candlehead, Jubileena, Taffyta, King Candy, Rancis, and Swizzle.

Author's Note: At this rate, it will take me a full 6 months to finish revising everything, but reviews will undoubtedly help me stay motivated since I love hearing from you all and it reinforces to me that people do indeed want to see this story finished someday.

114 chapters or so to go.