QUARTER ALERT! QUARTER ALERT!
The alarm wailed, warning the inhabitants of a particularly popular 8-bit video game that a new player has arrived, waiting to repair a certain penthouse that is destined for destruction at any moment.
"Alright everybody! Get to your start positions!" Called the game's tiny mustachioed leader.
"Yes! Thank you, Gene. You heard him, hurry on up now before he sees us!" The citizens of the game hurriedly scurried off screen before the opening cut scene began playing.
"You ready, Felix?" Asked Gene, looking up at his games' protagonist. He wasn't a tall man, roughly around three feet in height, but he is very talented when it comes to restoring or rebuilding. He wore two yellow gloves and steel toed shoes, a blue cap atop his head with two F's on the front, his usual blue repair shirt and jeans that were held up by his utility belt which held his trusty golden hammer at his side. Fix-it Felix looked down at the NPC warmly. "You bet I am." Gene nodded and turned to face his fellow Nicelanders. He found Don, Mary, Deanna, and Norwood conversing amongst themselves quietly as they awaited their cue to enter. Gene squinted his eyebrows then let out a startled gasp."Where's Ralph?!"
Felix's eyes widened as well. He hadn't even noticed that their bad guy wasn't present. He didn't know how he couldn't have noticed it, he always seems to make his presence known some way or another. "Jiminy! Where is he? Ralph? Quarter Alert!" He whispered loudly through cupped hands over his mouth. The other Nicelanders each had a worried expression on their face as well, heads turning and bobbing, each one trying to find their antagonist.
"Wait up! I'm coming!" Felix turned around and let out a sigh of relief. Running up to them from behind was the bad guy in question. He stood a breathtaking height of nine feet, wore a tired, worn out plaid T-shirt under maroon overalls with a strap hanging loose on his left shoulder. He had rusty red hair that stood up and wore no shoes to cover his gigantic feet. But the one thing everybody noticed about him first were his hands and how enormous they were. He strode up to Felix's side short of breath.
"Hey guys, sorry . . . About that. . . I, uh, over slept. I didn't miss it, did I?" Before Felix could reply, Gene spoke up.
"No, but you almost did! How many times do we have to go through this, Ralph? You're almost always late and you never seem to-"
"Thank you, Gene! I'll take it from here," Felix interrupted before Gene could say any hurtful words to Ralph.
"No, you didn't miss it. But it would be much appreciated if you did try to be a little more on time than this. Just so we don't have to worry. . ." Ralph nodded. "Right. Got it. Sorry."
The sound of a quarter sliding down the slot and landing with a plink reached their ears and the choppy theme began to play. A boy appeared on the other side of the screen and his eyes were set on the stump that was lying right in the center of the screen. Felix smiled at his friend. "Go get 'em brother." Ralph took in a few deep breaths, bounced on the balls of his feet and swung his arms at his sides, rolling his head side to side as he did. Once he finished doing his exercise, he began walking over to the stump, listening to the game's 8-bit tune as he went.
As he walked, he could finally get a good look at the player. He had a face riddled with freckles and brown hair that reached down to brush the top of his rectangular glasses. Ralph reached the stump, stepped one foot in, then the other, let out a loud yawn and sleepily slid down into it, just as he always did. The gamers couldn't see it, but there was a large pocket under the stump big enough for him to rest in until his cue to come out approached.
But as he lowered his large, bulking body into the stump, he noticed that it felt a little more stuffy than usual in there. He squirmed and wiggled and grunted He let out a frightened gasp once he felt the lump against his side begin to move. He looked down and could hear the lump moan and groan, trying to position itself away from Ralph's side. His heart plummeted once he saw what the lump was.
The lump successfully squeezed itself between Ralph and the wall and was now sitting in his lap breathlessly. It was wearing a bright green hoodie and had raven black hair that was decorated with tiny pieces of candy and tied in a ponytail by what appeared to be a licorice whip. It also had a skirt that looks like it was made to resemble a candy wrapper. It also had leggings with a green swirling pattern on each leg. It looked up at him with its large, adorable hazel eyes and spoke.
"Oof, you really put the 'stink' in Stinkbrain, doncha?" Ralph's jaw dropped.
"Vanellope?! Oof!" On cue, the bulldozer chugged up next to the stump and began pushing it off to the side and to the junkyard. Ralph looked back down to the girl.
"What in the name of malware are you doing here?! You can't be here during arcade hours!"
She waved off his concern and rolled her eyes. "You worry too much. I can handle myself you know."
Ralph closed his eyes and shook his head. "I know! But," before he could finish, they both felt the stump stop moving and the sound of the bulldozer began to fade away. He looked back down to his friend and held up his finger.
"Hold on, stay here." Ralph rose to a standing position and poked his upper body above the stump and said his line. "HEY, YOU MOVED MY STUMP! AAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHHH!" Vanellope couldn't help but giggle at her friends' overacting as he flailed his arms up and down. Even the player let out a little chuckle. Then the large construction vehicles drove in from the sides and began building the penthouse. Ralph made sure that the gamer wasn't paying any attention to him as he lifted himself out of the stump. Then he leaned down, reached in and scooped Vanellope in his hand and lifted her out of the stump as well.
Her eyes went wide with wonder as she watched the multi-story apartment being built virtually out of nothing inside the large, pixelated puffs of smoke the construction vehicles were making. Once the puffs of smoke faded away, they revealed a very tall building with four windows along each section. Once the vehicles backed up and were out of screen, the Nicelanders hopped joyfully through the double doors and ran up the stairs to get to their respected levels in time.
Vanellope let out a short shriek as Ralph quickly set her down on the edge of the stump. "Stay here and don't move until the game is over, understand?" He said sternly with a finger pointed at her.
She saluted him in return. "Got it."
He turned his back to her and trudged over to the side of the apartment. Once he was in position, he raised his fists in the air and said his famous line. "I'M GONNA WRECK IT!" Ralph turned to face the building and began climbing, smashing and punching and breaking every window or brick he saw.
He shimmied over to the far side, punched a large hole in it and grabbed the unlucky Nicelander in his massive grip. Without hesitation, Ralph reeled his hand back and threw the tiny being forward. The NPC shouted in fear as he was hurtled over toward the junkyard. Vanellope's eyes widened and ran behind the stump before the man fell right beside it. He picked himself up and dusted off his tuxedo. "Ugh, I hate my job." And with that, he turned his back to the stump and began walking back to the building off screen so the player wouldn't notice . . . just like he always did.
Vanellope let out her breath in relief that the small man didn't see her. Her attention was then redirected over to her best friend, who was now at the top of the penthouse, pumping both fists in the air and an angry expression on his face. Below him, four Nicelander citizens peeked their heads out of smashed windows and all shouted in unison, "FIX IT FELIX!"
On cue, the lovable repair man scuttled up next to the building, grabbed his hammer which seemed to appear out of thin air right above him and said his signature line. "I CAN FIX IT!"
Vanellope turned her head to look at the player who was now gripping the joystick and moving it left and right. Felix, mirroring the controller's commands, jumped up to the nearest windowsill and hopped over to the first broken window. The player gave the 'fix' button a tap, causing Felix to hit the window with his hammer. But rather than breaking it even more, there was a happy bling and the window's image began to flicker before it stopped, revealing a newly restored window. Ralph squeezed his fists together and beat the roof mercilessly, causing a shower of bricks to fall directly over Felix.
The player evaded the bricks with ease and repaired the next window with a similar bling. And for a while, it was the same thing over and over again: jump, fix, dodge. Jump, fix, dodge. Vanellope's eyes began to droop in boredom until she heard a cheery "Yoohoo!" Her eyes shot open and looked back up to the building. She saw a female Nicelander open a window and place a smoking hot pie out on the sill. The player instantly led Felix over to the pie. He reached down, lifted it up and shoved the entire pie in his mouth. His body began to vibrate violently. Vanellope watched in awe as Felix instantly turned into a swirling fixing frenzy.
In what seemed like a heartbeat, he went from broken window to broken window. And each time he passed one, it seemed to fix itself without him even touching it. Felix then came to an abrupt halt and stood proudly on a sill, looking down at the fully repaired building. Text appeared in front of the penthouse reading 'you've fixed it!' Pixelated fireworks exploded behind the penthouse in celebration.
In an instant, Felix somehow teleported up to the roof right next to Ralph, who was now wearing a disappointed frown with his hands at his sides. The occupants of the building swarmed out of the door in a single file line, ran past Felix and stood at his left side, except for one Nicelander woman who remained at his right side. A medal with a blue ribbon around it materialized out of thin air and lowered itself down and hung itself around Felix's neck and the woman on his right leapt up and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek.
Then, all eyes turned to Ralph, and they looked angry. Vanellope leaned forward to get a better look. The tiny people charged forward, scooped Ralph up and carried him to the edge of the building. Once there, they tossed him over the side and he fell head over heels down the building until he landed in the mud with a squishy sounding splat. Text appeared over his body which read 'Level 1 Complete'. The player pumped his fist in the air in triumph.
After that, more and more stages followed, each consisting of the same thing: Ralph breaks, Felix fixes. Ralph destroys, Felix repairs. Ralph demolishes, Felix renews. Felix jumped and scuttled along the windows, fixing each one in an instant. And each time he finished, it resulted with an angry mob of tiny people throwing Ralph off of the roof.
The cycle continued until, finally, a certain brick arrived that the player couldn't avoid. The brick hit him in the head and he did a full three sixty degree spin and fell on his back, hands folded over his chest with a flower between his fingers and funeral music sounded. Ralph flailed his arms in the air in triumph as the screen flashed the text 'Game Over'.
The player mumbled under his breath and walked away. Felix opened one eye and looked at the screen. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he jumped back onto his feet with a joyful boing and dusted himself off. He looked up at Ralph with a smile on his face and waved. "Well done, brother. Now, let's get down and . . . Ralph?"
Ralph wasn't listening. He had his fists clenched and he appeared to be breathing heavily while looking over to the junkyard pile of bricks. "You alright there, Friend?"
Ralph walked over to the edge of the roof and started to climb down. Felix could hear the wrecker grumbling something under his breath as he continued his descent. As he passed Felix's current level, he didn't even spare him a glance. "Uh, Ralph?"
He continued climbing down. "Hold on, Felix." Once he had about seven stories left to go, he decided he didn't want to climb anymore and just let go. He landed on the ground with a hard thud which shook Felix to his core. He looked down and saw Ralph now making a beeline towards his stump which resided at the base of the massive brick pile.
"Ralph! Wait up!" Felix leapt down from window to window until he was on the ground once again and ran for Ralph, wondering how he could help whatever it was that was eating him up inside.
Ralph thundered up to his stump with an anxious Vanellope sitting on it. "Wow, Ralphie! You were great! That player could barely keep up with your mad breaking skills! Oh, Ralph, you've outdone yourself- "
"Save it! Just tell me, what exactly possessed you to game jump while the arcade is open?"
She stopped. "Oh, that. Well, I just thought that-. "
"Thought what? What could you possibly be thinking?"
She narrowed her large eyes at him. "Well, if you can just cool down your hot tamale's and let me finish I'd be glad to tell you!"
"Ralph! Hey Ralph!" The two stopped their arguing and Ralph turned around to see Felix quickly making his way up to them, chest heaving heavily as he came. "Ralph . . . Ralph, I uh, wanted to . . . to talk to you. You seemed upset back there and I wanted to," His eyebrows knitted as he leaned to his side and saw Vanellope standing on Ralph's stump, looking at him confusedly. "V-Vanellope?! What, what are you doing here little lady?" He asked, trying to keep his kind attitude.
She snorted. "Well, I was going to tell Ralph something cool, apparently his overalls are in a bunch and he feels like being a big fat jerk!"
"I'm only trying to-"
"That's quite enough. Ralph, could you, uh, give us a moment please?" Ralph's gaze switched from Felix to Vanellope then back to Felix. Then he threw his hands in the air, turned his back to the two of them and trudged away. Felix let out a discouraged sigh, took off his hat and looked at Vanellope with wide eyes.
"Why does he have to be so mean to me?" She asked with crossed arms. "I take the day off of the roster and come all the way over here to tell him something really cool, and for what? To get yelled at by captain grump over here? Well, if he thinks that I'm going to put up with it, he can kiss my big, fat presidential-"
"Ok! Ok," Felix interrupted. He sighed. "Look, I know Ralph can be a little, uh, let's see, how do I put this?"
"How he can be a big headed, overbearing, stuck up jerk?" She finished for him.
Felix fiddled with his fingers. "Yeah." Vanellope grunted.
"Listen, I know how he can be, but you have to understand that he's just acting the way he is now because, well, he cares about you."
"Really? Cuz it doesn't really look that way right now."
"He'd be devastated if anything were to happen to you. You're his whole world, Vanellope. If you were to get hurt or, Litwak forbid, somehow," he gulped, "deleted, he would never forgive himself. He cares about you that much. He's only looking out for you and he wants what's best for you. You know that, don't you?"
She sighed. "Yeah, I know."
Felix smiled warmly and held out his hand. She smiled shyly in return, grabbed his hand and he helped her off of the stump. "Now wait right here." He patted her head and walked back over to Ralph, who had his back turned to them rocking on his feet and arms crossed, silently grumbling to himself. Felix came up to his side and patted his arm. The wrecker looked down. "Go talk to her. And, take it easy. You know she means well."
Ralph sighed. "I know. I know." Felix gave him one last pat on the arm and walked back to the penthouse.
Ralph turned around and saw Vanellope still standing by the stump. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together, sighing loudly. He walked over to her and knelt down, resting his elbow on his knee. He placed his hand on his temples and slowly lowered down his face. "Look, kid, I'm sorry I snapped at you. I just, don't know what I would do with myself if something were to ever-"
"I know, Felix told me all about that."
He sighed again. "But I still want you to know that game jumping while the arcade is open is very dangerous. You could be seen outside your game. And I don't know if you know this, but if that were to happen, it wouldn't be good."
Vanellope sighed too. "I know."
Ralph nodded. "But, you're here, you're not hurt, and also came with news." He chuckled a little. "And you went through all this trouble to say it. So . . . What's up?"
Her face immediately lit up. "Well, did you see Litwak walking around with that plug in looking thing?"
Ralph scratched his chin and had a quizzical look on his face. Then he snapped his fingers. "Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes I do."
Vanellope nodded. "Well, he plugged that into Sugar Rush! We got an upgrade!" Ralph's eyes bugged out. "W-Wow, Vanellope that's great! What's changed?"
"Nothing too major," she said while pacing back from side to side. "Each and every one of our karts have their own special abilities!"
"That is good news, kid. What can your kart do now?" She stomped both of her feet up and down and squealed excitedly.
"You'll have to come and see for yourself. It's that good!"
Ralph squinted his eyebrows. "So let me get this straight: You come over to my game during the work day and tell me that I absolutely have to see something at your game and I can't even see it until the day is over? Why didn't you just wait until the day was done to come tell me?"
She shrugged innocently. "I was so excited! I couldn't wait."
He sighed and chuckled halfheartedly. "Oh, I will never understand you, kid." She giggled. "I promise, at the end of the day, we'll go over and I'll check it out with you. Deal?"
She nodded. "Deal." She jumped up and latched onto his arm like a leech. He put his arm over her and hugged her softly. They let go and she jumped to the ground.
"Well, since you're here, you might as well watch me do my job for the entire day." She smiled nervously and chuckled lightly. "Hey, you're the one who decided to game jump. Not me."
QUARTER ALERT! QUARTER ALERT!
Ralph looked back and saw Felix and the Nicelanders assuming their positions.
"Stay right here." She nodded and watched him walk off to the other side of the map.
Later,
The sound of go-kart engines drowned out the sounds of the roaring grandstands in the sugar coated world of Sugar Rush. The current player kept her foot on the gas pedal and watched the peanut butter cup themed boy mirrored her exact motions in his kart, which resembled his theme. The boy with blond hair and peanut butter cup hat cut in front of the girl with a candle on her head and was now neck and neck with the cherry pie themed girl (She could never remember their real names).
The player shifted gears and pressed harder on the accelerator and Rancis went rocketing by her. The finish line was rapidly approaching and the sounds of the cheering assortments of candy came rushing back. He crossed the checkered ground and tiny candy sprinkles were raining down as confetti. He swerved to a stop and waved to the cheering fans. The player pumped her fist in the air and laughed excitedly as the screen now showed her peanut butter avatar standing on a podium and a trophy floated down into his hands. He gripped it in both hands and held it proudly over his head as more confetti was launched in celebration.
"Alright kids, last call! Finish up your game and have a good night." She turned her head and saw several kids walking out the door of the arcade. The friendly arcade owner, Stan Litwak, holding the door open for them as they went. The girl sighed and looked back to the screen to see her racer still holding his trophy with pride. She hopped out of the driver's seat and made her way out the door as well. Mr. Litwak looked inside once more to see if all the kids have exited the arcade. Once he was sure, he closed the door behind him and locked it. He put his keys in his breast pocket and walked out of sight.
Rancis blinked, held the trophy limply at his side and scanned the screen in front of him. He sighed and looked down. "It's all clear. They're gone." His fellow racers let out an exhausted sigh in unison.
"Wow. What a day. I thought it'd never end," breathed Jubileena with a hand on her chest.
"Who knew that just sitting down could get so tiring?" Asked Swizzle, shrugging his shoulders as he did. The others murmured in agreement. Rancis stepped off of the podium and rejoined his friends.
He squinted his eyebrows and looked through the crowd of brightly colored children. "Hey, where did Vanellope go?"
A girl in a bright, sparkly pink race jacket answered. "You didn't see her? She left this morning to go over to that big ape's game for some reason. Seriously, I don't even know what she sees in him." Rancis sighed disappointedly through his nose.
Ah man, she missed it. I finally win and she missed it.
"Well, he did save our game. Remember?" Asked Citrusella.
"Well, duh I remember! I just don't get why she keeps hanging around with him all the time."
"And did you see that other player a few races back?" Asked Gloyd. "She was really disappointed when Vanellope wasn't on the roster. Did you guys notice that?" The others nodded their heads.
"Well, there's always tomorrow. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see what else my upgraded kart can do!" Said Minty. But before she even made her first step, they all heard a distant noise.
THUMP THUMP THUMP
Minty and the other racers turned around to see a familiar giant making his way past the grandstands and onto the racetrack, approaching the winner's circle where they gathered. Rancis' face lit up once he saw the tiny green figure riding on the hulking wrecker's shoulder.
"Sour drops," Taffyta cursed quietly, "him again."
Ralph climbed on the stairs and onto the winner's circle platform, smiling awkwardly at the children in front of him. Vanellope waved at her friends excitedly before she vanished in a blue puff of pixels off of his shoulder and appeared right in front of them. "Hello everyone! I'm back!"
They turned to their ruler and waved back."Hi President Vanellope!"
She gestured back towards Ralph. "You all remember Ralph?" Their heads craned upwards to meet his gaze.
They put on nervous smiles and waved. "H-hi Ralph." Taffyta only put her hands on her hips and glared at him.
Vanellope turned to Ralph with a confused expression plastered on her face. "Uh, Ralph? Don't be rude now! Say hi to everyone!"
Ralph's eyebrows raised instantly. "Oh. Right! Uh, let's see," he scanned the crowd of racers pointing to them individually and muttering under his breath. "Um, yeah. Hi there, Peanut Butter Lad and uh, Cherry Cheryl, and . . . Uh, Gum, Ball, McGee?" Rancis, Jubileena and Swizzle drooped their shoulders downward and stared at him with expressions on their faces that basically said 'You kidding me?'
"Really?" Vanellope asked with her hands on her hips.
He looked back down to her. "Oh come on! It's not my fault that you all have ridiculous names! The only one I can really remember is Candlehead!" He gestured his massive hand in the girls' direction. Everyone turned to face her, but she paid them no mind as she folded her hands and rocked on her heels, obliviously staring off into the distance while humming something to herself.
"Which reminds me," Gloyd spoke up. Ralph watched as the boy in an orange jacket and pumpkin hat tip toe behind the green haired girl. He licked his thumb and pointer finger and squeezed the wick of her candle, extinguishing the flame with a hiss. Vanellope and the other racers gasped in shock and stared at Candlehead, expecting her to explode into a massive tantrum at the boy.
But she never did.
Gloyd ran backwards and hid behind Snowanna, peeking over her shoulder with a satisfied smirk waiting to watch Candlehead flip out. His eyes squinted in confusion when she didn't. Vanellope raised her finger slowly and spoke up "Um, Candlehead?"
The oblivious girl blinked and turned to Vanellope. "Yes, Miss President?"
"Um, aren't you upset?"
Candlehead suppressed a giggle. "Of course not! Why would I be?"
Vanellope looked up at her extinguished candle then back down to her. "Well for starters, Gloyd just put out your candle. You hate it when that happens, don't you?"
Candlehead knitted her eyebrows then looked up. "Oh, hey, look at that. It is out," she observed.
"And, you're not mad?" Taffyta asked from behind.
She shook her head. "Nope. Here, watch. Give it a sec." Everyone's eyes squinted in confusion and they looked back up to her candle.
Pop
A tiny spark ignited and disappeared right next to the wick. Everyone blinked in shock as another spark came and so did another pop. Then another one appeared, but this time, the wick began to glow a bright orange. Everyone's eyes went wide with wonder as her candle reignited itself. "Wow," they all said, staring at her in utter disbelief.
"How did you do that?" Crumbelina asked.
"Hm? Oh! See, I replaced my old candle with one of those trick ones so that I don't have to worry about my candle going out again," she said proudly.
Gloyd revealed himself from behind Snowanna and sighed. "Well Candlehead, we've gotta hand it to you. That's probably the smartest thing you've done."
"What is?"
Gloyd's face returned to its original confused stare. "Um, your candle?" He said, pointing to it.
She let out a tiny laugh. "My what?" She stared up and her eyes grew wide with horror. "Sweet and sour milk duds! My head's on fire!" Everyone's jaws dropped and stared at the oblivious child.
"Anyhoo," Vanellope spoke up, drawing everyone's attention back to her and Ralph. "How about we get down to business." They all nodded their heads in agreement, except for Candlehead, who was holding onto her hat and staring at the flame in fear. "Alright, I brought Ralph with me this fine and dandy afternoon because he insisted that he wanted to see what our karts can do."
He stared down at her with an expression that was a combination of shock and annoyance. "Hey! You're the one who-"
"So I brought him here to show him! Everyone to your karts!"
None of them moved. They all stood there with nervous smiles and just stared at him.
Vanellope turned to them confusedly. "Um, you guys coming or what?"
Taffyta cleared her throat and walked up. "Well, Miss President, it's not that we don't want to use our new upgrade, it's just that, well," she stared accusingly at Ralph, "accidents happen, you know?"
Vanellope stared at her, not believing what she was hearing. "What, what are you saying?" The strawberry themed racer gulped and rocked on her heels, still staring at Ralph. "Wait, you're afraid he's going to break your guys' karts? That's ridiculous! Ralphie here may look tough, but once you get to know him, he's just a big, misunderstood sour patch kid."
"Still," Taffyta continued, "we're not exactly comfortable with him around." Ralph stared down at the girl with an eyebrow raised.
"Plus, remember the time when he destroyed the grandstands?" Adorabeezle asked and everyone nodded and murmured in agreement.
"But that's because he was chasing me! He was just trying to-"
"Look Vanellope," Taffyta interrupted, "we know that you're protecting your friend here, but we still aren't comfortable around him. After all, he did almost destroy our game." Vanellope gasped in shock at the words that just escaped the girls' mouth.
"Oh, so you're holding that against him, are you? 'Cuz last time I checked, he's also the one who was ready to sacrifice himself to save it! Well, hey, I might as well hold all of you accountable for all those years of torment and rejection you put me through!"
Taffyta held up her gloved hands defensively. "That's not what we're trying to say, we're just-"
"Just what, Taffyta?" Taffyta sighed and lowered her head. "I'm not going to put up with this right now, and I'm especially not going to let you guys talk to my friend this way."
She spun on her heel and walked past Ralph and off of the winner's circle. "C'mon Ralph. We don't need them for this anyway." Ralph turned to look at all the racers and their defeated faces, then he sighed and followed his friend.
Her kart was directly behind the starting line and in front of all the others karts. She hopped in and started the engine. Ralph walked up to the kart and sat carefully on the spoiler made out of a purple wafer. She shifted gears and pushed down on the accelerator, propelling the sloppily made kart forward, leaving Taffyta and the rest of the racers standing alone and saddened on the winner's circle. Taffyta sighed and walked forward and to her own kart. Soon, the rest of the racers followed suit, going to their own karts and speeding off.
Except for Rancis.
He remained alone on the winner's circle platform, holding his trophy sadly at his side. He let out a sigh of disappointment and watched his friend zoom away and out of view.
Vanellope and Ralph reached Diet Cola Mountain and passed through the secret entrance, entering the dark and warm cave that Vanellope used to call home. She screeched to a halt right at the edge of the hot springs. Ralph looked up and marveled at the hundreds of Mentos mints dangling precariously over the pool of scorching hot liquid.
Vanellope hopped out of the kart and paced back and forth, grumbling under her breath. "Stupid Taffyta and her stupid grudge holding skills. Why can't she just accept that you're not a monster and just-"
"Vanellope," Ralph interrupted, but she continued.
"I mean, you did destroy the grandstands but that's because I stole from you and you were just-"
"Vanellope," he tried again.
"Why can't she and the others just be nice to you and give you a chance like I did?" She stopped pacing and looked up at her friend.
Ralph closed his eyes and sighed. He stepped off of the rear of the kart and knelt down over her. "Look kid, I know you don't like it, but it's ok," he reassured. "I'm used to being treated like that."
"Well you shouldn't be," she said crossing her arms over her chest.
"I know you're just looking out for me, and you have no idea how much that means to me, but you have to understand that sometimes there are just things that you can't really change."
She sighed sadly. "I know. I just wish there was something I could do to stop it."
"So do I, kid. So do I." He stood back up and rubbed his hands together. "Well, let's not throw ourselves a pity party. You said you have something to show me?"
Her face instantly lit up. "Right! You're gonna love this!" She glitched herself back into the driver's seat and started the engine. She backed up a few feet then stopped. "Come here," she said, gesturing with her finger to come closer. He obeyed and came up next to the kart, peering down at his friend.
"See this button?" She pointed to a large, red, blinking button down on her dashboard. He nodded. "Watch." She pushed it and immediately, a small compartment opened in the hood with a hissing noise, then some object began to rise from it. It looked like a water pistol but slightly larger with a sight on the top of it. Ralph looked at the foreign object carefully. "Now watch this!" She held on to her steering wheel and began turning it in specific ways. The gun looking contraption on the hood of her kart began to swivel and pivot upwards, aiming the barrel at the Mentos over their heads.
Vanellope stuck out her tongue and pushed the red button again. A claw with three fingers pushed itself out of the barrel and it snapped open quickly. Then it burst out of the barrel with blinding speed with a long strand of red rope being fed out of the barrel connected to the claw. It soared upwards until it hit a single Mentos mint and latched itself tightly. There was a whirring noise and Ralph realized that it was coming from the gun on Vanellope's kart. The red rope pulled back and the Mentos that the claw was holding onto snapped off. It let itself go of the mint and retreated quickly back into the barrel. The mint fell in the cola with a splash and immediately exploded with a mighty FFFLLLLWWWWWOOOOOOSSSSHHHHH.
A massive geyser of hot cola erupted upwards, sending the hot liquid shooting everywhere. Ralph ducked and dodged out of the way of the cola, not wanting to be burned once again. The geyser fell down and the pit was calm once again.
Ralph held onto his chest and heaved deeply, attempting to catch his breath. Vanellope looked up at him excitedly. "My kart gets a grappling gun! Now I can latch onto the racers ahead of me and bring them down to my position! Isn't that cool?"
Ralph stared back down to her. "Um, yeah. Cool." His eyes darted back down to the dashboard and he raised his eyebrow. "Hey, kid, what's that?"
He pointed to an object next to the blinking red button. A blue, electronic screen with the number two was shown. She raised her eyes and said, "Oh, that's the indicator. You see, I do get a totally awesome grappling gun, but there's a catch. I can only use it three times per race. Because I just used it, I've got only two left until the next race starts."
"Ah," Ralph said as he nodded his head in confirmation.
He rubbed his hands together and looked around the cave. "So uh, now what?"
Vanellope's face went from excited to confused as she too looked around. "You know, I don't really know either. This was pretty much what I wanted to show you. What do you think?"
He smiled down to his friend. "It's awesome, kid. But how about we do something a little less life-risking? Let's head on over to Tapper's, whaddya say?"
She smiled and nodded. "Hop on!"
Ralph sat back on the wafer and she turned the kart around and sped out the exit, heading for the rainbow bridge.
Later,
The two of them jumped off of the five-car train as soon as it stopped at the loading deck. Vanellope ran ahead of Ralph, heading for the entrance to Game Central Station. "Hey kid, wait up! I'm not as fast as you, remember?" She came to a halt and stood impatiently for a few seconds, waiting for her friend to catch up. As soon as he was close enough, she walked forward and entered the massive, golden room.
Vanellope had been in here about a million times when she goes to visit Ralph, but this place never fails to amaze her with its vastness and the all-round giganticness of the entire place. It isn't as big as Sugar Rush, but it's still impressive. The two of them passed character after colorful character, each one ranging from tiny and weak to enormous and scary. But Vanellope held her head high and walked straight toward their destination.
The red digital sign blinked and scrolled the word 'Tapper's' over the large opening. Not needing anymore invitation, she continued forward . . . Then stopped.
Ralph walked past her, not even realizing he did and kept on going. Vanellope, frozen in her tracks, was looking at something she had never noticed in GCS before. She felt silly for not even noticing it, she'd been to Tapper's multiple times with Ralph, but this is the first time she's seen this. To the right side of the opening into Tapper's was a door. Not a giant, gaping door like the others that led to a new world, it was just a regular, plain old door.
Once she noticed that there were words on the door, she squinted her eyes so that she could read it fully.
WI-FI ROOM
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
DO NOT ENTER
She knitted her eyebrows in confusion and stared at the door.
What's in there? What the heck is Wi-Fi?
"Hey! You coming, kid?" She blinked and stared ahead of her. Ralph had turned around and was waiting directly under the digital sign for his friend. "What's wrong?"
"Um," she started, "Nothing. I'm coming."