I felt like doing a bunch of stuff with King Candybug. He's very fun to RP in my forum, despite all his angst. Such a funny yet kingly bug, he is.

References to my Wreck-It Ralph forum will be made. If you are confused, I shall point you to it—Wreck-It Ralph: Expansion—in hopes of enlightening you…and perhaps tempting you to join our RPs…because I can. :P

Suggestions are welcome, both for chapter names, chapter ideas, or possible scenarios involving our poor kingly bug. For chapter names, they must be two or three words and the last word must be 'Me' (ex. Remember Me, Visit Me, Hug Me, etc.). Just a theme I'm going to kind of try to stick with. Let's see how long that lasts…

WARNING! This entire chapter deals with events that occur in my forum. None of this is canon. This universe is purely AU. As such, OCs will be involved here. END WARNING!

DISCLAIMER: Jacks Mapleman and Mallow McSmorely do not belong to me. They are property of Jac Bandit. No stealing!

CLAIMER: I own Cocoa Cupcakia, Cotton Candioso, and Pepper Swirlminta. I also own the track known as Fudgeway. No stealing!

Wreck-It Ralph

Sugar Rush: Expansion

Why Me?

Chapter 1: Search for Me

"Ugh… Where…am I?"

There were tall candy cane trees all around. Bushes of candy floss and cotton candy were nearby. Peeps chirped as they flew overhead. The scent of chocolate rose up from the ground.

"The candy cane foretht? How did I get out here? I'm thuppothed to be in the cathtle!"

A massive mechanical insect rose from the ground, four long legs supporting its elongated body. Twin neon pink tails dragged along the ground before rising up, lighting up softly at the creature's movements. Two long arms ending in frilly white cuffs and razor-sharp claws stretched, the fingers clicking as they moved. A long neck made of candy rings rose, the round head at the end yawning loudly. A golden crown atop said balding head glinted brightly in the sunlight.

The beast looked around, confused. "Where'th the cathtle? Thurely, I can't be too far from it!" he declared, stretching his neck as far up as it'd go in the hopes of seeing over the trees.

After a few minutes of aimless wandering, the insect monster slumped over. The face, resembling that of an old man's with silvery hair on the sides of his head and purple lines extending from his forehead and chin, contorted into an expression of despair. He looked up at the sky fearfully, two tiny legs on his chest scraping against each other as they wrung themselves about uselessly.

"Hello? Ith anyone out there?" he called. "Pleathe! I'm in need of athithtance!"

There was no reply.

"…Thour Bill? Wynchell? Duncan?" he tried again.

Still nothing.

"Vanellope? Taffyta? Rancith?" he cried desperately.

Nobody answered him.

The creature took a step back, pulling his long arms closer to his chest. "Where ith everyone? Why ith no one out here? I can't be that far from the cathtle, I jutht can't be!"

He skittered deeper among the trees, long neck twisting to and fro as he sought out anyone that might point him in the direction of home. Aside from a few peeps and gummy worms, he found no one. No racers… No Sour Bill… Nobody at all…

"…Where in Thugar Ruth could I pothibly be that my royal thubjecth can't find me?" the creature whispered, becoming more fearful as the minutes ticked by. "Oh! If only I had…wingth to thearch the thkieth with!"

As he smashed his fists angrily into the ground, frustrated beyond belief as his sudden and total isolation from the society that adored him, he suddenly froze when he felt something on his back move. Twisting his long neck around, he noticed two pairs of stubby pink cases along his back. He frowned, watching them wiggle slightly.

"…I thwear I feel thomething in thothe thingth…" he muttered.

He focused again. A strange whirring noise along his back caught his attention. The cases suddenly froze in place…and then a blast of neon pink shot out, causing him to yelp as he pulled away. He rubbed his eyes with an arm, trying to clear his blinded vision. When he could see properly, he looked again.

They were still bright pink, but at least he wasn't going blind from looking at them. They were four wings, one extending from each case. They weren't salmon but a brilliant neon pink, almost bordering a purple color. They were really pretty to look at, admittedly.

"Funny," he muttered, a clawed hand under his chin. "I don't theem to recall having wingth…"

After a moment, he shrugged.

"I mutht have forgotten about them. At leatht I can finally thee above all thethte treeth now!" he chirped merrily. "Jutht…need to remember how to uthe them."

The wings began to flutter quickly, pulling him up into the air. The beast yelped when he nearly careened into a tree, struggling to maneuver around the peppermint branches. A few broke off as he collided with them, bouncing harmlessly off his armored body. His face, meanwhile, sustained quite a few scratches as he fought to get above the tree line.

"Thweet gumdropth, that wath hard! When wath the latht time I uthed thethe?" he wondered, hovering precariously above the forest. "I mutht have been racing tho much that I forgot how to fly! Thilly me… Now to find the cathtle! I don't want my poor thubjecth to worry too much about me, after all. What a horrible thing for a king to do to hith thubjecth!"

He looked around, hoping to find one of the many racetracks snaking through Sugar Rush. It didn't take long to locate one. If he guessed correctly, it was a section of track that led from Royal Raceway to the Kart Factory with a branch-off track heading toward Fudge Fields. Yes, that had to be it. He could just barely see the factory from his current position.

"If I get to that track, I can follow it back to the cathtle!" he deducted. "Ooh, I hope Thour Bill ithn't too worried about me. He hath enough on hith plate ath ith without needing to worry about me, too."

Really, Sour Bill did too much around the castle as it was. He oversaw everything, set the castle servants to work, ensured the code vault remained un-breached by outsiders, kept an eye out for cheaters during the races, and advised his king on just about everything. The poor sour ball needed to take a vacation. He'd told Sour Bill this many times. It just seemed like Sour Bill enjoyed making himself miserable by working nonstop. He didn't need to do so much for his king, really…

Makes me seem useless sometimes, he thought with a giggle.

He flew over the forest, wings buzzing loudly as he headed toward the track. It seemed pretty empty at the moment. Judging from the sun, it had to be past arcade hours. Surely there had to be a few racers out and about! It wasn't like them to just turn in after all that racing.

Especially since today was their first day in the arcade!

The giant bug froze mid-flight. "Oh no! Did we glitch or thomething? Ith that why I ended up out here? Oh, I hope everyone elthe ith okay! Mod, pleathe don't let uth get unplugged! I have to get back and fatht!"

He shot toward the track, eyes wide in terror. Just the thought of getting unplugged sent a shiver down his spine. Not on their first day, please no! The racers have been looking forward to joining an arcade since the Fudgeway. He couldn't bear to see his royal subjects' dreams crushed so soon after being plugged in!

Especially Vanellope, he thought. She worked so hard in Fudgeway to improve her racing! To not be able to race, especially when it's in your code… Mod, please no! Don't let us be unplugged so soon! Please, no!

His wings were buzzing so fast that he could hear the gears grinding in his back. The armor was heating up. If he kept this up…

He stopped short of the track, landing heavily on the upper branches of a candy cane tree. His wings pulled back into their cases. The heat was dying down now. At least it didn't feel like he was about to roast anymore.

Movement below caught his attention. He paused, swinging his head around. He could make out two tiny figures…

Is someone out here after all? Oh, I knew someone would come looking for me! he thought giddily, skittering quickly along the thick branches of peppermint in order to get closer.

He recognized one of them immediately. That shock of white hair brought up only one name in his mind—Mallow McSmorely, the local crasher of Sugar Rush. What a delightful boy he was…when he wasn't crashing his kart during races. He could recall a number of particularly bad crashes occurring back in Fudgeway…

Ah, memories, the insect beast thought fondly.

Then his eyes came to rest on the other figure. It was a small girl with white hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was dressed like a jester, her clothes divided down the middle into red and blue colors. He could barely see a pair of candy canes in her hair.

Now who in mod's name is that? I don't know any racers that look like her, he wondered, squinting to see the scene better.

A pair of eyes, one red and one blue, suddenly met his. The giant bug nearly stumbled off his branch in shock. The girl was looking right at him. And…was that fear on her face?

She lifted a hand, shakily pointing at him. She started to say something…

Then her avatar glitched violently. He watched in horror as she suddenly shattered, her coding collapsing in on itself like a house of cards. Mallow seemed equally shocked, jumping back as the girl's code vanished into nothing. Loud cries from the track alerted the bug to the presence of other children.

He recognized the four children up on the track. Jacks Mapleman, a skittish brunette boy wearing glasses. Cotton Candioso, the cutest blonde girl you'd ever see who had nothing bad to say about anyone at all. Cocoa Cupcakia, a stubborn brunette girl with a negative outlook on most things but her loyalty to her friends went unmatched. And Pepper Swirlminta, a bespectacled raven-haired girl with a devious grin and a knack for building strange things in her spare time.

They must have all come out here looking for me, he decided. But…that girl… What happened to her? Her coding…shattered? Great caramel, I've never seen such a thing before! Did we really get glitch after all?

He focused back on Mallow…who was also staring right at him. He could hear Cotton shouting something…about…a 'turbo'?

Brushing off the strange words, he pounced off of the branch and crashed onto the ground in front of Mallow. The resulting tremors threw the four racers up on the track off their feet. He lifted his head to apologize…only to see Mallow fleeing from him.

What in starbursts' name is going on here? he wondered. Did I scare them that badly? Oh, dear!

Cotton was shouting again. "Run, Mallow! Run!"

The insect lunged forward, easily catching Mallow. Lifting the squirming boy up until he was eye-level with the beast, he sighed in relief before moving his head forward to nuzzle the racer. Mallow's squirms and cries ended instantly, as did everyone else's shouting.

Now they recognize me, he thought happily. "Oh, thank thtarburths I found you! I've been looking everywhere for you, my loyal thubjecth! I wath getting worried!"

Mallow froze, staring as the monster pulled away. "Uh… What?" he squeaked, dumbfounded.

Cotton was the one to finally reveal his name. "…King Candy?!"