A/N: Sorry for the short hiatus, if anyone cares. Been on a camping trip and I made a mistake of starting too many fanfic stories beforehand, resulting in a story that came later than usual. I don't own Wreck-It Ralph.
It was after hours at Litwack's Arcade and Vanellope and the gang are starving! It was a great day of racing and they worked up quite the appetite in doing so, so they had a quick discussion on where to go for dinner now. Unfortunately, no one seemed to agree where. Taffyta suggested they go to her place, but some of the racers declined as politely as they could. Adorabeezle asked if they wanted to go to her igloo, but most said no, not wanting to freeze to death during their dinner with the Winterpops. The discussion seemed to never end until Ebony piped up.
"Hey, maybe we can go to Ivory and mine's place! I've got some interesting food you guys can eat AND you've never visited our house yet!" Ebony happily suggested. The racers scrunched up their noses a bit, a little disheartened at the concept of eating dark chocolate for dinner, but the Viking girl chided, "hey! Don't knock it till ya try it!"
So the racers conceded, deciding to give the unloved sweet a chance. They followed Ebony and Ivory to the Dark Chocolate Highlands, enjoying the brisk breeze and the warm, soft glow of the sunset hanging low on the horizon. The brooks of cream soda bubbled and gurgled peacefully, the inhabitants waving at the racers. The inhabitants were quite mellow and petite, as per usual Sugar Rusher look, and the sound of bagpipes were heard in the distance, nice and loud, but not overwhelming. The general atmosphere of the place felt calming, really, especially after a day like today.
"Ladies and boys, welcome to our humble abode!" Ivory smiled, hopping out of the Chocolate Bull, she opened up the door to let everyone in. Like every other Highlander home, the Chocolate Twins' home was really a hole in the ground just like a hobbit hole would be like, except the homes are connected by passageways. Sometimes that can be confusing and a Highlander had gotten lost once in a while and so had to stay over at a neighbor's place for the night. However, Ebony and Ivory knew this place inside and out, so no worries of them getting lost. They just need to warn the guests of not going through the "backdoor", as that would lead into the passageways. Their home led into the kitchen, which was pretty basic but works well for their needs. The dining area, however, was large; large enough for a small party, even! The Sugar Rush gang will soon find out about the twins' voracious appetite...
The home was lit up by licorice glowworms in numerous jars, giving the place a nice orange glow. There were really only three rooms: kitchen/dining area, the twins' (which also has room on the other side for two more people) bedroom, and a garage below the house for Ebony to work on the Chocolate Bull. The garage area had an exit that leads out to next to the main home entrance, which was pretty nifty considering you can't just somehow drag your kart through the kitchen and into the stairway that went into the garage. Anyways, the home was made primarily of solid dark chocolate, as expected, with white chocolate accents on the edges of the table and countertops. Very minimalistic, but why go for something fancy when you need it to be practical?
"Sorry that it doesn't look as great as, say, Taffyta's place, guys. We just don't care for fancy whatchamacallits and doohickeys," Ebony apologized, preparing dinner.
"Ah, don't cry about it, King. It's definitely a nice break from Taffy's mansion and my overglorified castle! No offense, Taffy," Vanellope smiled, blushing a bit. The few racers who were lucky enough to go to Taffyta's mansion, namely Crumbelina, Candlehead, and Rancis, agreed.
"Well, I guess you're right, Vanny. But don't think it gets boring going to your castle for dinner, too!" she teased her, smug grin on her face. If it were anyone that were unlucky to stray from the President's protection that agreed that they were tired of going over to Taffyta's for dinner, rest assured that they'll get a walloping from her... But no. Only to Vanellope she wouldn't flip out.
Ivory grabbed a sledgehammer and Ebony grabbed a block of dark chocolate, surprising their guests. "We really should have planned this better, Ivory!" exclaimed Ebony, pushing the solid block onto the kitchen floor.
"Yo, Eb! Ya think ya need help there? Gloyd and I can help, if that's alright," Swizzle offered.
"Nah...I'm pretty strong," she declined politely. "Besides, you're the guests and guests relax while we, the hostesses, do the manual labor!" she smiled reassuringly, giving the block a solid kick to make it slide to a view everyone can see. "Alrighty! Ivory, the sledgehammer, please," the Viking girl requested, holding her hand out. When Ivory gave her the sledge, Ebony raised it up, saying, "the great mods, grant me with your strength!"
With a great swing, Ebony managed to shatter the block, surprising the boys with her strength. "How's that for girl power, guys?" she gloated, flexing and kissing her nonexistent muscles. Swizzle sat back in awe, impressed by her strength. Clearly, if Ebony were to ever get into a fist fight with the racers (which will never happen), Ebony would definitely win. Maybe except if she were to square off against Vanellope, of course, due to the spunky President's glitching powers. The dark chocolate pieces sat all around what remained of the block and Ebony quickly gathered up the pieces while Ivory got some white chocolate syrup from the fridge.
Ivory commented, "you guys should try dark chocolate dipped in white chocolate. Contrasting flavors blend real well. Think of this as an appetizer for now and Sis and I will be back with dinner lickety-split!"
The twins quickly leave, but Ebony came back as soon as they left to give the racers a word or two about the backdoor not far behind them. "Oh, and don't go through the backdoor. That'll lead to a passageway that connects our house to everyone else's house. Here, lemme show ya guys!" She led the group through the backdoor to show them a quaint little path. Just across from their door is another door, where one of the supporters live.
"Sweet," Vanellope replied. She personally thought that the passageway system was pretty cool.
"Ya gotta be careful, though: once in a while, someone gets lost and has to stay over at the nearest house for the night," the tough girl warned, leading the group back in.
Finally, the twins actually get to make some food. Working a frenzy at the kitchen making dark fudge doughnuts, the racers see how skilled cooks they are. It almost seemed as if they were in a competitive cooking show! Ivory left for a little bit, but quickly came back with a few buckets of cream soda for the guests.
"This is the freshest soda you'll ever taste! Straight from the brooks, ya know," she boasted as she poured them mugs of the bubbly delight. As the racers took a sip, they nodded happily, enjoying the crisp coolness and sweet taste of the soda.
Crumbelina was the first to praise the savory drink, stating that the soda "is as divine as the angels make it."
Vanellope wanted more of the soda, though, so Ivory happily obliged. "Just don't drain our whole lake!" Ivory joked.
Ebony came back to the table, relaxing for a minute or two. She licked her lips, excited for dinner. "Ya know, ya guys can try the sledge if ya feel like you're strong enough," she challenged, smirking dopily.
The boys looked at each other excitedly, rushing over to the former block to have a go at the sledgehammer. Rancis decided to go first, as he just wanted to get the embarrassment over with. "Okay..." the blonde boy told himself, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves.
Everyone watched with excitement, but none more so than Ebony. Rancis used all of his strength and as able to hold the sledge up, at least, up to his waist. However, the five seconds of fame ended very quickly, as he fell backwards due to the heaviness of the sledgehammer. The whole crowd laughed and Rancis blushed with shame. It was bad enough that he couldn't play the bagpipes, which was understandable, really, but being so weak as to being unable hold the sledgehammer for more than five seconds? Well, at least I got that out of the way, he thought as he went back to his table.
The other two boys didn't do much better, either. Swizzle was able to hold it higher, maybe close or up to his head, but failed miserably as he couldn't hold the sledge high enough to swing it down. Gloyd was the most successful, but before he could swing it down, he, like Rancis, fell backwards due to the weight of the sledgehammer.
Some of the other girls, namely Adorabeezle and Candlehead (much to everyone's surpise) tried out. Adorabeezle had the same degree of success as Gloyd, but Candlehead couldn't even lift up the sledgehammer. Taffyta, as always, passed on the opportunity. At that point, Ebony was already starting another batch of dark fudge doughnuts, while Ivory pulled out the batch in the oven to let it cool. The scent of chocolate filled the air, making the guests excited for what's to come.
After about half an hour more, two dozen dark fudge doughnuts were ready to be eaten. They looked nice enough to eat: sickly sweet scent that'd make one's teeth rot, a beautiful dark brown frosting, and, as the racers will find out, a delicious white chocolate filling.
Ivory got a fake mustache and served the doughnuts to the guests, using a rather ridiculous and fake French accent, "bon appetit, my guests! Enjoy the Highlander delicacy that is known as fudge doughnuts!"
They all took one, figuring out how to split the remaining nine doughnuts amongst themselves. Jubileena and Candlehead looked like they were in a state of ethereal bliss when they took a bite of their doughnuts. "Whoa... These doughnuts are outta this world!" they both exclaimed, devouring the rest of their food.
The other racers were still a little unsure, but decided to trust in their two friends. True enough, they actually enjoyed the doughnuts! Maybe dark chocolate shouldn't get the irrational hate it so obviously suffers from. Meanwhile, the twins made their own batch of dark fudge doughnuts, as they really love to eat. Unlike the typical Sugar Rusher, Sugar Rushers that hail from the Dark Chocolate Highlands tend to eat a lot, which would mean that, while it took one or maybe two fudge doughnuts to satisfy a Sugar Rusher, it would take twelve or so fudge doughnuts to satisfy one Highlander. Reason being isn't known why, but it wouldn't be farfetched to assume they needed the energy to do some crazy tasks, if how easily Ebony swung the sledgehammer is any indication of a typical Highlander job.
So another half an hour went by and that was when the gang learned of the twins' insane appetite. One minute, the twins' dinner was there; the next minute, half of it was gone already. Could Swizzle and Gloyd eat that fast? Could even Vanellope, of all people, devour her food that fast?
"Whoa! Ya eat faster than morbidly starving tigers that caught a buffalo or something!" Vanellope complimented. The other girls looked at their President with surprised looks on their faces. If it's one thing that Turbo's rule taught them, it's that the words like "morbidly" and "starving" are bad. The fact that Vanellope turned those two words into a compliment is rather morbid in of itself.
"Thanks," replied the twins, who stuffed the last of the doughnuts into their mouths and quickly washed it down with big swigs of cream soda.
By the time dinner ended, there were only about five doughnuts left. The twins offered to eat them if no one else wanted them, so Adorabeezle happily ate one more so it would be an even split between the sisters. After a "bloodbath" of devouring the last of the doughnuts, they all relaxed for a bit to let the food digest. After a while, Ebony burped loudly, yawning as the food caught up to her and made her drowsy. Who could blame her? After all, she and Ivory did eat much more than the others did.
"Thanks for coming by, guys. Hope you enjoyed...dinner," Ivory yawned, waving bye to their friends as they walked out.
The raven-haired firebrand smirked and replied, "it was a great dinner, you two. You're pretty great at cooking and I'll be honest... Dark chocolate's better than we all thought." And with that, she left the house and drove off home.