Chapter 2: Secrets Of Sugar Rush!
'As the princess's joint coronation and birthday approaches, the game is in danger of being unplugged due to the uncontrollable tremors! Was Vanellope's nightmare a possible premonition of what's to come?'
Previously
Turning her vision back to the three headed virus, the royal noticed the devious grin on Turbo's face, his horribly stained teeth clear in her view. As much as Vanellope wanted to scream and run, her former best friends turned viruses and crippling fear prevented such an action.
As the monster advanced closer to the teen queen, the head of Turbo extended its neck towards her at lightning speed as the monster stomped its left foot and created another earth shattering quake. Quickly reacting, Vanellope shut her eyes tightly and covered her face with her right arm, quickly defending herself against the attack Turbo launched against her.
Unhitching her breath from her throat, breathing as if she were taking her last breath, Vanellope's eyes shot open as the core quickly sat up. Panting heavily, the royal frantically looked around and noticed she was in her bedroom, surrounded by the Sugar Rush racers. Even Jet and Set stood among the racers dressed in their new blue and white jumps suits with Sugar Rush's logos on the front of the jacket, matching shoes included.
Getting her breathing under control, Vanellope carefully observed the looks that graced their faces and noticed that they looked upset. Confused by their expressions, Taffyta approached her and broke the silence.
"Van, we got the orange tag." Taffyta informed her, the painfully sad expression on her face unchanging. "Gloyd and I overheard Litwak saying that it is a possibility that our game will be unplugged if the tremors continue. They have gotten so bad that we haven't had a quarter alert since early yesterday."
"We just became racers of this game." Set added in, his voice also dripping with worry. "If this game gets unplugged, we will never get the chance to race!"
"For most of us, never again." Swizzle voiced as he turned his vision towards the ground.
Hearing that caused the core's eyes to widen to the size of medium sized dinner plates. Running a lazy hand through her damp raven hair, Vanellope looked among them while trying to search for the right words to calm their fears.
However, from what she just learned, there might not be any words that could possibly accomplish that, especially after the nightmare she just had...
Currently
There it was, clear as day, the orange tag that no game cabinet ever wanted to receive. Staring at their possible doom like she was, Vanellope could have sworn that her pupils were the same as the picture that sat before her. Gathered behind her were the turbo twins and the other sugar rush racers as they all stood at the game's screen that was positioned right over the race tracks. The game's demo silently played underneath the orange tag as the shadow of Litwak and his technician were seen right in front of the game cabinet.
"I don't know what happened." Everyone heard Litwak begin. "It was working fine before the holiday weekend and when I came back, the game was acting extremely wonky!"
"Did the arcade experience a blackout or any power surges that you know of?" The technician questioned as he turned his vision to the game's screen to notice the demo playing. Hair line zig zag lines zipped across the screen as the game experienced a slight tremor.
"I checked in on everything during the break and everything was normal to me." Litwak continued as he looked to the screen. "At least it appeared that way to me."
"The game may just be experiencing a short lag." The tech voiced. "Those happen during the time a game is not being played. How old is this thing anyway?"
"About fifteen years old, but Fix It Felix Jr is older than this game by 15 years and it's working just fine." Litwak explained. "Both were here during the break. The wack-a-mole is twenty years older than both of these games and even that is working to efficiency."
"Are your surge protectors plugged into the wall or some other source of power?" The tech continued to inquire as he turned his attention back to Litwak.
"The wall." Litwak simply answered.
"Has any electrical work been done in the arcade or any other part of this area before the game's recent hiccups?" The tech asked once more as he pulled out his clipboard and began writing down information on the top sheet. "Any electrical poles being changed?"
"In here, no, the general area, not to my knowledge." Litwak answered.
"When you close the arcade for the night and during the breaks, do you shut down every game?" The tech continued as he continued writing.
"Do you know how long that would take to shut down each and every one of these machines at closing and how much longer it would take to boot up every game when I open?" Litwak replied his voiced slightly pitched.
"Alright." The tech voiced as he clicked his pen and placed it at the top of his clipboard. "I will send someone over later on to check everything out. From what it sounds like, the game maybe on its last legs and may need to be unplugged."
"But the game is still pretty new and just had an upgrade." Litwak calmly argued. "It can't be ready to go out to the pastures just yet."
"Maybe the upgrade caused a malfunction in the software." The tech expressed. "It happens sometimes when an upgrade seemingly installed fine, but later corrupts the game's software due to the game developers' oversight. If an exact determination can't be made as to what is causing the malfunction after the test is run, you may not have a choice in the matter."
The tech then tore off the top sheet of paper and handed it to litwak before walking off. The arcade owner looked to the sheet and then turned to the sugar themed game, a sad sigh being released.
"I hate to admit it, but it looks like it maybe time to replace you." Litwak voiced as he turned from the game and walked out of sight.
At the mention of possibly being unplugged, gasps and chatter of worry began behind the royal as a pang of hurt struck the raven haired teen's heart. She gripped the area of her shirt where her heart is located.
"They can't unplug us!" Taffyta being the first to speak up as Vanellope turned to the crowd behind her. "We just got rid of the virus and had one killer upgrade!"
"We just our avatars integrated into the game!" Set added in as he motioned between himself and his brother. "We can't lose it now!"
"We can't let our game go becuase of what one virus did to it!" Minty voiced with worry.
"Two." Gloyd chimed in.
"Two viruses did to it!" Minty corrected herself, her voice still laced with worry.
"Alright everyone, please calm down." Vanellope calmly voiced to her friends/teammates. "I know things look bad right now, but there is a way to fix it. I will-"
"Why didn't we catch this virus unlike before when Turbo invaded our game and wiped our memories?" Jubileena spoke up abruptly, her voice also laced with extreme worry. "Why does everything happen to our game?! Wack-a-mole doesn't experience this! Not even Tron experiences these problems! Why us?!"
"Jubileena, I have a plan to fix this." Vanellope patiently continued. "I know that I have to-"
"Why wasn't the virus protection turned on?!" Adorabeezle expressed with slight anger. "We could have stopped another incident from occurring! Why is it there if we never use it?!"
"Garry must have shut it down somehow when he got into the code vault." Swizzle theorized. "Prez, did you notice anything different when you were in the code vault and discovered Garry was there? Was the antivirus code box damaged in anyway which was why it didn't activate?"
"I didn't get to check everything out." Vanellope voiced as she tried her hardest not to let her temper flare amongst the present confusion. "I only noticed that Rancis's code box was affected by Garry and that a cybug was present. That was all!"
"If our game gets unplugged, what are we going to do?" Crumbelina spoke up. "Where are we going to go? I can't imagine living in Game Central Station!"
"Neither can I!" Citrusella Flugpucker added in.
"I'm certainly not doing that again." Jet added in.
"What are we going to do Vanellope?!" Sticky added to the worry.
"I'm going to go Turbo to get our game fixed!" Vanellope blurted out to prevent being cut off once more.
Sudden gasps were heard among the group as everyone turned to the racer next to them before turning back to Vanellope with gazes of horror and concern.
"You're what?!" Taffyta nearly screamed as everyone's eyes widened. "Vanellope, are you nuts?! If you go turbo, we'll be unplugged for sure! Vanellope no! There has to be another way! No way you're going Turbo!"
"What other choice do I have Taffyta?" Vanellope replied with an exasperated sigh. "Rancis and I discovered a map in my father's code box that points out exactly where his blocks of data are in this game and in Tron Legacy. It's the only choice I have, not to mention these tremors are wrecking havoc on my code alone. In order for this game to exist beyond it's prime, the king must exist in this time. I have to bring my dad back so our game can be saved and so these tremors can stop threatening to shut it down."
"Rancis, you knew about this and you didn't try to talk her out of it?" Crumbelina questioned as everyone angrily turned to Rancis and slowly began to advance on him. "Do you know what could happen to us?!"
Unable to keep her temper from bubbling to the surface, Vanellope glitched from in front of the screen and front of Rancis to keep the angry racers back.
"It is not Rancis's fault for the decision I have made." Vanellope calmly voiced to everyone. "I made the decision to go turbo because if I don't, we will lose this game for sure! The only way to fix it is from an outside source and the only one who can fix this is me!"
"But I encouraged you to do this so it is practically my fault." Rancis spoke up, guilt riddled in his voice. "They have a right to be upset with me."
"No they don't." Vanellope calmly expressed as she turned to Rancis with a slight smile. "You had nothing to do with my decision. If anything, you supported my decision and that's what anyone would want. You have nothing to be sorry for."
Vanellope's smile widened a bit more with Rancis returning the smile to her. From where the mellocreme pumpkin themed racer stood in the crowd, Gloyd felt himself becoming jealous at the scene before him. Although he would never admit to it.
"So here's my plan." Vanellope began as she turned back to the racers. "I will head into the code vault, upload my father's map into my code box, and from there head off to the first destination, Tron Legacy where the first block of his data is located. I am putting Taffyta in charge while I'm gone and frequently check in on you all to make sure you are all ok. In the event that I have to turn back from my mission, I'm not letting you guys go down alone becuase I'll going down with you."
"But how are you going to keep in contact with us?" Gloyd questioned as he stepped forward.
"Through Taffyta and the open link we share through my code." Vanellope answered. "She is the only one, outside of my father, that I have this link with. That's how she will keep me updated while I'm gone."
"How did that happen?" Sticky questioned to Adorabeezle, who in turned shrugged.
"Do we share an open link through our codes Swizz?" Gloyd questioned to the twisted candy themed racer.
"If we did, you wouldn't know how to use it." Swizzle cracked.
"So without further ado, I'm going to head to the code vault to upload the necessary data from my father's code box and then head off." Vanellope informed everyone. "Does anyone have a concern of any kind that they would like to voice before I head off?"
All eyes were on the royal, but no one uttered a word of concern or had any questions to ask.
"Alright then." Vanellope voiced with a nod. "Taffyta, you're now in charge and I trust you will keep things together while I'm gone."
"I'll try to do my best." Taffyta quietly spoke.
Turning from the crowd, Vanellope began heading back towards the castle, leaving the group of racers at the tracks wondering just what will happen to the game when their ruler game jumps. Taffyta then broke from the crowd as she began following behind Vanellope, with hopes of trying to talk her out of her plan.
Turning from the crowd, Rancis also began moving towards the castle when he felt someone roughly grab his shoulder and whirl him around. He found himself face to face with Gloyd with one annoyed expression on his face.
"Why did you encourage her to game jump?!" Gloyd angrily hissed to the peanut butter themed racer. "Do you know what could happen if she actually goes through with it?"
"You heard what she said Gloyd." Rancis spoke up as he stepped back from the angry racer. "There is no other way to do it. It's either we gather those blocks of data of the king or this game will shut down with one good tremor. Without the king in existence, this game's instability will be its end! Weren't you listening to anything she said just a moment ago?"
"You should have stopped her and I didn't once hear her say 'we' when she mentioned game jumping!" Gloyd continued as he stepped closer to Rancis and poked his right index finger into his chest. "But if you don't stop her, I will! She's far too important to this game, obviously something you weren't thinking about when you encouraged her to pull that suicide move!"
Looking into the pumpkin themed racer's eyes, Rancis gave him the once over as a sly smirk appeared on his face.
"Wait, this isn't about Vanellope game jumping isn't it?" Rancis began deducing as he shook his head. "This is about what she decided about us. Gloyd, now is not the time to get into this."
"This is totally about you practically pushing her into game jumping!" Gloyd defended. "Don't try to stray from the topic!"
"No it isn't." Rancis argued back. "Look, Vanellope made her choice when she called me her boyfriend. She chose me so let's put that aside and focus on what's important now which is our game and the apparent doom it's in."
"So it couldn't be any other girl on this team?" Gloyd continued. "It had to be her?! What about Sticky or even Minty? Why Vanellope huh?!"
"Gloyd, I'm not getting into this with you." Rancis dismissed as he threw his right hand up and turned away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have my girlfriend to see off."
As the racer continued walking away, Gloyd kept his angry gaze on his racing and now romantic rival, his anger seething with each step he watched him take.
"This isn't over Fluggerbutter!" Gloyd hissed as he turned from Rancis's direction and back towards the tracks.
Having left the death gaze of the pumpkin themed racer, Rancis began making his way towards the castle, shutting his eyes as he released a sigh along the way. Inhaling and exhaling one last time, Rancis opened his eyes as he suddenly bumped into something that caused him to fall back on to the ground rather roughly. Looking up, the peanut butter themed racer found out just what, or rather who, he bumped into. Ralph turned around and noticed Rancis sitting on the ground behind him.
"Oh I'm sorry kid." Ralph apologized as he offered Rancis his rather large right hand to help him up. "I didn't see you back there. You ok?"
"Yea, I'm fine." Rancis replied as he took Ralph's hand and got to his feet. "I guess I didn't see you there."
"I knew we should have let Vanellope know we were coming first." Felix expressed in a light laugh as he walked to Ralph's left. "But you always have to do it your way don't you brother?"
"Well, I just came to check on her and see how she's doing after everything that happened with Garry." Ralph replied as he turned to Felix. "Plus her coronation and birthday is coming up."
"You wouldn't happen to know where Vanellope would be at the moment would you?" Felix politely questioned to Rancis with a smile.
"Everything is fine Ralph." Rancis answered as he looked away from the wrecker and the handyman. "She's in the castle and is packing up to go out at the moment."
"If I had of known she was busy, I would have come much later to check on her." Ralph expressed as he ran his left hand through his hair. "Any idea where she's headin' off to?"
"To Tron Legacy." Rancis revealed as the ground beneath them moderately shook from a tremor. "She's planning to go turbo."
The look of shock crossed the handyman and wrecker's faces as they quickly turned to each and back to the peanut butter themed racer.
"She's what?!" Felix and Ralph questioned loudly, shocked by the news they just received.
Candy Kingdom (Code Vault)
"I know you placed me in charge while you were gone, but there is no way I can run this place like you can!" Taffyta continued trying to reason with the royal, who was intently focused on her father's code box as she put in the code to unlock it. "I was able to keep things going while you were recovering from your fight with Garry, but that was while you were around!"
With the code inputted and approved, the king's code box opened after the two taps Vanellope gave it. Using her right index finger, Vanellope shuffled through the files in the code box and once the one file she needed came into view, she plucked it from the lineup. It then closed as Vanellope floated two inches back from the box and swam up to her box high above the rest in the vault, the royal clutching the file tightly.
"Will you listen to me Vanellope?!" Taffyta pleaded as she watched Vanellope tap and open her code box. "There is another way to do this that doesn't involve game jumping! Did you stop to think what would happen to us if you fail to bring your father back?! If something were to happen to you outside of this game?! Any of that?! You are the core here and without your code running this game, we are all doomed! If you die outside of your game, you don't regenerate Vanellope!"
"Then tell me Taffyta, what other way is there to save Sugar Rush?!" Vanellope barked as she placed the file from her father's box in her own while turning to her cohort. "You heard what Litwak and the tech said. If the bug doesn't get fixed after what he tries, we will be unplugged! The only way to save this game is through game jumping! The first block is in Tron Legacy while the rest of his data is here in the game so I will be back, just not right away. There is no other way around this so whether you like it or not, I have to do this!"
"You don't know anything about Tron Legacy!" Taffyta continued, her noticing data streams scroll down the royal's eyes as her father's file was downloaded to her code box. "What if you step one foot in there and you're eliminated on the spot? I heard how rough that game is and they have laser guns with precision shots that will destroy your data instantly! Please Vanellope think about this and don't do it!"
"I have no other choice Taffyta." Vanellope calmly replied as she turned away from the strawberry themed racer and back to her code box as it closed. "I know you're worried about what I'm about to do, but just know that I am doing this for all of you. My mother and father left me this legacy and if they were here, they would be disappointed, livid even, if I let the Candy legacy go under. This is my job as the future queen to go the lengths for you all, for this game and I won't rest until I save our home. Even if it means losing a part of me in the process."
"And just what part of you were you planning to lose along the way?!" Taffyta panicked as Vanellope turned to her, a defeated look upon her face.
"Whichever part makes sure my father is regenerated back on to this grid and that this game will stay in this arcade." Vanellope sympathetically voiced as she approached Taffyta and placed her hands firmly onto the girl's shoulders. "But what I really need from you and everyone else right now is to trust me. Trust me when I say I will return to you all and trust me when I say that everything will be fine. If I can handle two deadly virus invasions and becoming a virus myself with the second invasion, then I can handle anything that is thrown at me. I have the Candy Code remember? The strongest code there is."
A smile then graced the royal's face as tears swelled in the strawberry themed racer's eyes, the iridescent purple and blues of the data streams besides them highlighting the salt water. Just staring into her leader's face, large tears spilled down Taffyta's cheeks as she hastily pulled Vanellope into a hug, gripping her shirt as more tears rolled down her cheeks.
"You better return to this game in one piece!" Taffyta expressed as more tears spilled down her cheeks and onto Vanellope's shirt. Her body deeply shook from an oncoming sob.
Vanellope returned the hug and laid her head on Taffyta's right shoulder as she shut her eyes, tears rushing to the surface of them. As hard as she tried to retain them, tiny tears spilled down Vanellope's cheeks as she inhaled a sniff.
"I won't let you down." Vanellope voiced as she squeezed Taffyta closer into the hug.
Race Tracks
"You better start talking cavity and now!" Ralph demanded as he towered over the peanut buttercup themed racer who looked as if he was ready to faint from an overload of fear. "Whatever convinced her into goin' turbo, you better go talk her out of it right now!"
"Ralph, calm down." Felix calmly requested to his cohort as he held onto the large wrecker's right arm as the index finger of that hand was pointed towards the scared racer. "I'm sure Vanellope made up her own mind to do this."
"She did." Rancis finally spoke, though his words came out in a stammer. "Our game is extremely unstable thanks to Garry's virus invasion and the only way to save it is to regenerate her father back onto the grid. He even left that message in his code box under the map Vanellope found when we were in the code vault. You have to believe me when I say that she made up her mind to do this. I guess I just helped her along as I want to save this game as much as she does."
"You WHAT?!" Ralph fumed further as he took a step towards Rancis, but was stopped by Felix stepping in front of him.
"Ralph, calm down before you have one dozy of a game over!" Felix sternly spoke to the wrecker. The wrecker stepped back and turned away while running his left hand through his hair, exhaling a frustrated sigh through his nose.
Turning back to Rancis, who breathed a sigh of relief that Ralph was no longer interrogating him for the time, Felix's signature smile returned to his face.
"So what exactly happened that lead Vanellope to want to go turbo?" Felix calmly inquired.
Before the racer could open his mouth to answer, an intense tremor suddenly struck the game that threatened to tear the ground beneath the three a part. Felix quickly grabbed onto Rancis's arms to prevent himself and the racer from taking a tumble while Ralph easily regained his balance.
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say maybe that is the reason?" Felix expressed as he fixed his hat on his head.
"I don't care what the reason is!" Ralph roared as he turned back to Felix and Rancis, who immediately stiffed up at the wrecker's death glare. "She's not doing it!"
"It's not like she has much of a choice Ralph!" Rancis dared to argue with the fired up wrecker, never minding the consequences for doing so. "Our game is done for if he's not regenerated back onto the grid! But she won't be doing it alone because I'm going with her!"
"You better believe you are!" Ralph confirmed as he pointed his right finger firmly in the boy's direction. "Because if anything happens to her, you'll suffer the same fate and I'll see to that!"
Felix released an exasperated sigh as he stood between the racer and the erupting volcano that was Wreck It Ralph. While Felix was aware that Ralph cared deeply for Vanellope, he knew he had the tendency to go overboard sometimes.
"We all care deeply about Vanellope Ralph, but now is not the time to get in an uproar." Felix intervened calmly. "I believe him if he says she decided this on her own. If she has a good reason for game jumping, then she is aware of what the consequences are for doing so. You just have to trust her."
The wrecker grunted as he turned away from Felix and Rancis while throwing his hands in the air with dismay.
"I'm going to go check on Vanellope now." Rancis quietly spoke as he turned in the direction of the castle only to see Vanellope with a backpack on her back and Taffyta walking in their direction. "Or maybe not because she's headed this way with Taffyta."
Hearing that, Ralph looked to his right to see Vanellope and Taffyta running in their direction.
"Ralph! Felix!" Vanellope hollered with excitement as she quickly neared the three and leapt into Ralph's arms while latching her arms around his neck, locking him in a hug. "I was hoping to see you guys today!"
Ralph returned the hug and released the teen as she ran over to Felix and hugged him.
"Listen kid, we know that your game has been experiencing a bit of an issue since you defeated Garry, but game jumping won't fix it." Ralph voiced hesitantly as he caught eyes with the royal. "We'll figure something else out, but you don't have to go turbo. This game is far too important to the arcade to get unplugged and I will have the biggest game over if that happened."
"I guess Rancis told you the entire story then." Vanellope expressed. "Ralph, I have no choice and as much as you may try to talk me out of it, I'm not changing my mind. As a future queen, I have to take these kinds of risks. I have a responsibility to everyone here and this is a part of that responsibility."
"I already tried and she won't even listen to me." Taffyta chimed in with a slight smile, despite the dried tear stains evident on her flushed cheeks.
"After I return from Tron Legacy, I'll return to the game as the rest of my father's data blocks are here." Vanellope explained as her vision held strong to the wrecker's. "I know how you feel about this Ralph, but there is no need to worry. I can handle myself out there and I'll be in contact with Taffyta along the way. So I won't really be alone."
The wrecker lowered his vision to the ground as he released a sigh, but just as quickly returned it to his best friend. Despite her upgrade, a part of him still sees the princess as the little girl he met as the game's outcast. That part of him just won't let her grow up.
"I promise I'll be ok." Vanellope voiced with a small smile to her best friend. "And I'll see you soon, all of you. This isn't goodbye, but more see you later."
Hugging the wrecker as best as she could around his middle, a small smile appeared on the man's face as he returned the hug as best as he could.
"Ok, ok, don't get all mushy on me kid." Ralph joked.
Releasing the wrecker, Vanellope gave her last goodbyes to Taffyta, Rancis, and lastly Felix. From there, she headed off towards the entrance of the game to her first destination. Ralph then turned toward Rancis, a sneer that can cut glass etched in his features.
"You better follow her and keep a close eye on her." Ralph growled deeply in demand. "I don't care what you have to do, but make sure she returns here without a scratch!"
From where he stood with what racers were left standing at the game's screen, Gloyd overheard the entire conversation between Ralph and Rancis, a devious smirk coming to his face.
"You better believe I will Ralph." Gloyd voiced to himself as he began making his way towards the castle...
As mentioned in my profile, I will try to make next month's update despite next month being a really busy month for me. I just got a job promotion so that's keeping me progressively busy during the weekdays plus my wedding taking place on the 14th of next month so lots to do, lots to do lol. At least I got the weekends off so no matter what happens, updates are still in the forecast! :) If nothing else,
Review Please!