Vanellope sat impatiently in the five-car train that led from Game Central Station to her game.
She fidgeted and squirmed until she was in a comfortable position. She rested her elbows on her knees and stared straight up, looking at the tunnel that consisted of a system of wires and cables that connected her game to GCS. Spastic and random blue sparks flew by over her head as the Chocomotive carried her to her destination. She sighed and looked down at her feet which were dangling over the side of the seat.
Her mind raced a mile a minute as she thought about what had happened just a few moments ago.
Stupid Ralph and his stupid rules. Why is he so overprotective? I can take care of myself just fine.
The Chocomotive took a final turn and the scent of sugar and other tasty delicacies reached her nose. She looked straight ahead and saw the bright pink and teal sky of her game. The train came to a slow stop and she hopped off and walked slowly to the entrance of Sugar Rush with her hands in her sweater pockets and nose crinkled in anger toward her friend.
She stepped out of the tunnel and onto the rainbow bridge, unfazed by the vast, bright, sugar coated world before her with her head hung low and mumbling hurtful words to Ralph under her breath. She lifted her head and looked for any place that she could go to just be alone for a while.
Her eyes instantly drifted over to Diet Cola Mountain.
No, too many memories of him.
She looked over to the grandstands and the finish line where she saw Taffyta and the other racers standing in a circle and conversing. Albeit that they were just tiny colorful dots from where she was currently standing, she could still tell it was them.
Definitely not. I'm not gonna put up with queen sour pop and her gang of rotten tootsie rolls right now.
After shaking her head, her eyes then landed on her castle which resided on the other side of the map. She sighed.
Well, at least I'll be alone.
Vanellope turned to her left and walked over to her kart, which she parked at the exit of the game whenever she left. She hopped in, started the engine, and in a puff of bright red, yellow and green sugar clouds, her car came to life.
She turned it around and sped off to her castle.
At the same time,
"Guys, I'm starting to feel bad." Taffyta turned to look at her cherry themed friend.
"What is it now, Juby?"
Jubileena twisted her hands together and gulped nervously. "Well, I was just thinking about Vanellope and that big friend of hers."
Taffyta rolled her eyes and took a lick of her strawberry flavored lollipop. "For the last time, Bing-Bing, there's nothing to feel bad about. Vanellope needs to learn to stop hanging around that big oaf sooner or later. I'm just trying to make it sooner."
"But, she was right about one thing," Taffyta's eyes narrowed and she glared at the racer standing to Jubileena's left.
"And what would that be, Minty?"
Minty twiddled her fingers together nervously. "Well," she started, "he did kind of help save our game from those bugs . . ." she trailed off after being stared down at by Taffyta.
Nobody ever has really stood up to Taffyta before. Honestly, they were afraid to. Crossing paths with her on a bad day (which was almost every day with her) or getting on her bad side usually resulted in her grouping up with the other racers and convincing them to sabotage their kart or to flat out destroy it, forcing them to get a new one before the next day.
No one knows why Taffyta always has to act this way, so high and mighty, behaving as if she's better than everyone else. They just assumed that to act like this was in her code, simple as that. The programmers just thought that in a world of sweets and adorable children, there had to be that one stuck up little sour puss to ruin everyone's fun.
The other racers thought that after the game was reset and Vanellope was restored to her rightful place in Sugar Rush, Taffyta would change her ways and actually try being, well, sweet. You know, like her catchphrase? "Stay Sweet!"
But no.
If anything, it has gotten worse.
Because her usual target for emotional abuse has become the leader of their game, she felt she had no choice but to target the other racers instead.
When Vanellope is around, Taffyta can still cough up an attitude, but once she's gone, the pink racer thinks that she is the one in charge now and bosses the others around.
Come to think of it, that's the way it usually was, even before they figured out their leader, King Candy was a fraud. She would convince the racers to ruin Vanellope's newest project and have a good laugh about it later, but right after that, she was barking orders and bossing them around as if nothing had happened.
Sometimes, it was just hard to even be affiliated with the game that she was a part of.
Taffyta huffed and looked right to Minty. "Oh, and who was the one who let the said bugs into our game in the first place?" She asked, lifting both arms at her sides. Minty raised her pointer finger questioningly.
"Um . . ." Before she could come up with an answer, Taffyta snorted and nodded.
"Exactly."
"But, you know," Taffyta was practically steaming at this point, wondering what was causing the others to question her like this. She turned to Snowanna. "If he hadn't brought the bugs here, then we never would have found out about Vanellope being our real leader and still be treating her bad." The other racers nodded and agreed with the girl with the large shaved ice afro.
Taffyta darted her head from side to side, looking at her friends with the utmost surprised expression, mixed with just a touch of betrayal.
"You know, I'm starting to feel bad too," Gloyd spoke up. Taffyta whipped her head around and faced the candy corn themed boy who was scratching the back of his neck. "I mean, if Vanellope could become friends with him, then why can't we?" Taffyta started walking over to the black haired boy with the pumpkin hat with an accusing finger pointed to him.
"Because, Orangeboar, we are adorable, sweet little angels. And we are not meant to be hanging around with big, ugly wrecking machines that smell bad. That's why we can't." Gloyd took note that she didn't exactly sound adorable or angelic at all.
"Look, Taffyta," Taffyta turned around to face Swizzle, "I think you're overreacting. Why can't-"
"I'm overreacting?! Well, what about all of you guys?" She asked, gesturing to each racer as she did. "I can't believe that you're actually defending them! Well, answer me this, if you feel the way you do, then why didn't you speak up when they were here earlier?"
None of them said anything, they just lowered their heads and looked ashamed of themselves.
"That's what I thought," Taffyta said with a nod and scrunched up nose.
"Look, the point is," Crumbelina started, "we've all done things that we're not proud of. And we can't really forgive ourselves for that. But Vanellope seemed to forgive us for bullying her for fifteen years straight. I think the least we could do for her is at least give that bug guy a chance. I mean, he seems nice enough."
Taffyta stared unbelievingly at the girl as the other racers nodded and agreed.
"Yeah, Crumbs is right."
"I second that."
"Hear hear!"
"How long have I had this candle?"
"I can't believe what I'm hearing right now!" Taffyta wailed. "Y-you're actually, but I, you can't just . . . Rancis!" The blond boy's eyes opened widely as he was startled back into reality. Taffyta came up right beside him, put her arm around his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "You're my right hand man, right?" Before he could get a single word out, he was interrupted by her. "Of course you are. Tell them that they're being unreasonable."
Rancis looked to each racer nervously then back to Taffyta, who was dreamily staring at him.
"Um, well, the thing is Taffyta," he muttered quietly, but loud enough for the others to hear, "I kind of agree with them. We never really did give Ralph a fair chance."
Taffyta's eyes were so wide with shock and anger that Rancis was afraid they were going to fly out and hit him in the face.
"No, no, no! Don't side with them!" She said the word 'them' as if they were a piece of rotten road kill. "You're supposed to agree with me! What kind of sidekick are you anyway?" She grumbled to herself and left the circle. "You know what? I don't need this from you guys right now. I'm leaving. I'll catch you all at the roster race."
She grumpily marched over to her kart, started it up and zipped off in the other direction, but not before doing a quick burnout and spraying mounds of dirt and dust in everyone's faces.
They all coughed and gagged until the dust cloud cleared up. "Man," Gloyd said, "looks like somebody's twizzler's are in a knot."
"Yeah, you said it," Adorabeezle agreed.
After a few moments of silence, Minty spoke up once more. "Well, I'm up for some practice laps over on Sweet Ride. Anyone with me?" The others all shook their heads yes and ran to their karts . . . Except for Rancis.
Swizzle started his engine and was about to speed off over toward the next track with the others, but he saw Rancis standing in the same spot as he was before, not moving a muscle.
"You coming, Rancis?"
Rancis lifted his head up and looked at his friend. "Oh, um, I've got some stuff I need to take care of. You go on. I'll catch up with you later."
Swizzle shrugged. "Suit yourself. Later."
Swizzle brought his foot down onto the accelerator and drove off with the others, leaving Rancis alone with his thoughts.
He sighed and rested his hands in his pockets, kicking a chocolate rock over to the grandstands.
The others are right, we need to give that Ralph guy a chance. Besides, if there's any chance that she'd feel differently around me, it starts by befriending Ralph.
But what's the best way to apologize to her?
Flowers? No, too forward and weird.
How about I-
His thoughts were cut off by the sound of a go kart engine approaching fast.
He turned and saw the familiar, sloppily made (yet surprisingly kind of cute) kart and its driver speeding over to him.
Rancis' eyes widened as he saw his chance to make it up to her.
"Vanellope! Hey Vanellope!" He ran a few paces forward and waved, trying to get her attention.
"I wanted to talk-"
ZZZZOOOOOOOOOMMMM
Vanellope rocketed past him, not even sparing him a backwards glance. The wind from her kart blew Rancis' hat right off of his head. He stood frozen in place for a few seconds with his finger helplessly raised. He dropped both hands to his sides and sighed disappointedly.
I guess she's still miffed at us from earlier. Can't really blame her though, can I? It's not like I stood up for her when she needed it.
With one last breath of disappointment, Rancis walked back to his hat and dusted it off. He placed it back on his head and made his way to his kart. He started it up and went to join Swizzle and the others at Sweet Ride.
Later,
Vanellope stomped on the brakes as hard as she could and skidded to a violent stop just yards away from the castle's entrance. She cut the engine and hopped out, walked straight for the large doors and dodging the Oreo guards as they marched in formation, chanting as they did.
"Or-e-o, Oreeeee-o, Or-e-o, Oreeeeeo."
She had her eyes set on the door, not allowing anything else into her peripheral vision, which was a big mistake. She took another step forward and got bumped by one of the guards. She lost balance but quickly regained her footing and pressed onward. "Watch where you're going pal."
It wasn't long though before another cream filled chocolate cookie guard walked straight into her once again. She lost her footing and fell to her hands and knees, grumbling to herself and making a mental note to replace these guys.
Vanellope's eyes narrowed and she stared straight at her guards. "Can you guys give it a break for a while?! Sheesh." In an instant, the enlarged Oreos froze in place and quit their chanting. She waved them off and made her way inside the castle. Once the door was closed, the Oreos took that as their cue to continue.
"Or-e-o, Oreeeeeo."
After she had closed the door, Vanellope leaned her back against it and slid down to a sitting position, exhaling loudly and grumbling under her breath.
"Welcome back, Miss President."
"Eep!"
Vanellope started violently and looked to her right to find her tiny, sour, green assistant standing there, not showing the slightest hint of any emotion, as usual.
Vanellope took in a calming breath. "Sweet mother of monkey milk, Sour Bill, you scared the living code out of me!"
He blinked. "My apologies. Hard day today, Miss President?"
She let out a hollow snort. "I guess you could say that."
Sour Bill nodded his head slowly. "Mmm I see. Anything you need at the moment, Miss President?"
She sighed and shook her head, lifting herself back up to her feet. "No, no, for right now I think I just want to be alone for a while."
He closed his eyes and nodded. "As you wish," he sighed. "Please call if you need anything else, Miss President." He added that last part as if he were forced to, like it was part of his job to be miserable.
She nodded. "Thanks."
"Mhmm."
With one last nod, Vanellope watched her armless and legless sourball of an assistant turn his back to her and walk past the royal kart and to the other side of the curtains.
Vanellope took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, walking with her hands connected with each other behind her back and her head hanging low as if she were thinking of something.
She approached the steps that were right beside the throne and walked up, not before sneaking a quick glance at the kart that was meant for her though.
She looked at the sparkly white kart with a crown painted on the hood with disinterest.
She was the leader of the game, and therefore, she was supposed to be the owner of that kart. But she doesn't ever use it, it brings back too many painful memories of King Candy and his horrible methods of keeping 'glitches' in their place.
She kept the kart for two reasons:
She keeps it there to remind herself to never, ever stoop to his level and to be a nice, reasonable and fair ruler. Even if it can be challenging to stay that way around particular racers . . .
She also keeps it there so it makes the throne room look complete.
Besides, she already has a perfectly good kart now. A special one made by her and her best friend. Well, at the moment, he was anyway.
She reached the top level and was greeted with a long hallway that stretched down for at least fifty meters. Doors lined themselves up along the walls on both sides making a staggered pattern. Vanellope started walking down the hallway with her head still hanging low and her hands behind her back, looking at nothing but the salmon rug beneath her feet as she went.
She blinked and looked at the doors on her right hand side as she walked. Each room was numbered accordingly with odds on the left and evens on the right.
With nothing else to do as she continued down the hall and to her presidential headquarters, she counted the numbers in her head.
56 . . . 58 . . . 60 . . . DO NOT ENTER . . .
She stopped and looked at the door again. She rubbed her eyes and blinked them clear and read the sign on the door once again.
62.
Her eyebrows knitted in confusion.
I could've sworn that just said,
"Huh?" She spun around and looked at the door behind her and read what was displayed.
WI-FI ROOM.
She closed her eyes and shook her head violently. She opened them back up and read the door again.
61.
She took in a few deep, calming breaths.
Calm down, Vanellope. Your head is just messing with you. Just keep calm, and,
"What?"
She looked to the door next to it and read, "Very Dangerous. Do Not Enter."
She spun on her heel and took a look at all the other doors. Either someone was playing some cruel trick on her, or she was going insane.
DO NOT ENTER.
WI-FI ROOM.
KEEP OUT.
STAY CLEAR.
VERY DANGEROUS.
She closed her eyes tightly and thought silently to herself.
Come on, girl. You're stronger than this. It's just a stupid door, I don't care what's inside anyway.
Suddenly, Ralph's voice came flooding into her head again.
"The internet is a big place . . . It's too dangerous . . . I'm not letting you put yourself in danger again . . ."
Vanellope grabbed hold of her head and dug her nails into her hair and pulled wildly. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Clamping her eyes shut, she ran forward in a straight line, careful as to not bump into the walls or doors. She opened them back up to find the door to her room quickly approaching on her left. She dug her feet into the ground and came to a quick halt. She turned to face her door and reached for the knob.
She closed her eyes again and could feel a trickle of sweat slide down her cheek, not wanting to look up to see what this door would say.
"Don't look up, don't look up, don't look up." But her curiosity overcame her will power, and her head slowly lifted up. Her eyes immediately darted to the sign above her head.
And what this single sign said was the most convincing and frightening of them all.
GO.
Vanellope stood frozen in place, staring with wide eyes at the word in front of her, analyzing and thinking at a mile a minute as to what the meaning was behind it.
But she already knew.
Without another moment's hesitation, she let go of the knob and bolted in the direction she came from, rocketing and glitching herself forward faster than she knew she could.
Stupid Ralph . . . Thinks I can't handle myself. I'll show him.
She bolted down to the exit of the hallway, raced down the stairs, exploded into the gigantic throne room and quickly made her way over to the large double doors.
She didn't even bother opening the door. She glitched herself through and reappeared on the other side, startling the Oreo guards. She barreled past them and hopped into her kart. She immediately pushed the starter button and the kart came to life. She turned around and the kart rocketed down the path it came from, leaving the Oreo guards in a trance of confusion.
She squinted her eyelids as the wind blew by her, flipping her ponytail in the air as she went. In what seemed like seconds, she reached the base of the rainbow bridge and began ascending up to the exit of her game. The Chocomotive station came into view, but rather than slow down to a stop, she sped up.
She reached the platform and then drove into the tunnel. Blue sparks flying and bursting under her tires as she went sailing by with determination clearly visible in her eyes. She pressed her foot down on to the gas pedal all the way to the floor. Her head jerked back slightly and she proceeded down the dark tunnel. She took a left turn and the kart was driving along the curve of the wall of wires.
A light appeared at the end of the tunnel and she squinted her eyelids.
In an instant, she burst through the entrance platform and flew straight into Game Central Station. It wasn't as crowded as Vanellope thought it would be, considering that it is after arcade hours. But at least it gave her more room to drive.
She drove to the entrance of Tapper's and her target finally came into view.
Meanwhile,
"No way," Ralph said disbelievingly.
"It's true. Every word," the Sergeant confirmed, taking another drink of root beer.
"Jaminy. Somebody actually found a short cut in your game?"
Calhoun set down her mug and nodded to her husband. "I'm just as shocked as you are, sweetie. Nobody's ever found that secret entrance before. I was starting to believe no one would ever find it."
Ralph pursed his lips and squinted his eyes, clearly trying to piece something together. "Where was it?"
"I'm glad you asked, Wreck-it. You know that elevator shaft that is on the other side of the building?"
Ralph raised his finger, ready to answer the question, but he quickly dropped it, realizing he had no idea what she was talking about.
"No."
"Well, the secret room that leads directly to the lab at the top of the tower is about five clicks due east from there."
Felix looked astonished. "Wow. That sure must be handy. I bet that that's a heck of a lot easier than fighting off all those bugs." His wife nodded and took another sip while Ralph still looked befuddled.
"But I still don't know anything about that elevator."
SSSSSCCCCCCRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
KKKKKSSSSSSRRRRRRAAAAAASSSSHHHHH
Ralph raised his head and fists in alarm while Felix raised his hands over his head defensively and Calhoun spat out her root beer. Everyone else in the bar froze in place and looked around frantically for the source of that noise. Calhoun wiped her chin with her fist and unstrapped her pistol from its holster. She turned on her heel and faced the entrance of the tavern.
Ralph stood up from his seat and looked over to the exit as well, raising his fists in a fighting stance. Felix jumped off of his stool and hid behind his wife's legs, peaking over the side at the exit cautiously. "What in the name of Leroy Jenkins was that?" Calhoun asked, her pistol never looking anywhere else but the exit.
"I have no idea," Ralph breathed. "Should we go check it out?" Felix shrugged. "I'm not sure. Maybe we should let the surge protector take care of it. Whatever, or whoever it was sounded like they had some sort of vehicle with them. Did you hear how loudly those tires squealed?"
Ralph looked down at his friend then back to the entrance.
That did sound awfully like . . .
His eyes widened in realization.
"Oh no."
The Fix-it's looked at Ralph questioningly as he slowly let his fists fall to his side and a spooked expression on his face. "Ralph, you alright there, brother?"
He didn't answer. Rather, he just took off in a sprint and ran straight through the entrance, not waiting for Felix or Calhoun. "Ralph! Wait!" Calhoun called, but he was already gone. She looked down to her husband. "Let's go, hun."
At the same time,
Vanellope successfully broke down the door with her kart. She didn't even bother trying the door knob, it was probably locked anyway.
She inched her kart forward and ran over the door which was now lying on the floor with its hinges bent and destroyed. Vanellope gaped in wonderment as she entered a bright white hallway that lasted about fifteen feet and led to a room which she couldn't see from back at the entrance. All she could make out was a strange, blue flickering light.
With an eyebrow raised, she lightly tapped gas pedal and slowly made her way to the other end of the hall. The blue light becoming brighter and brighter as she went.
A brown, wooden sign hung from the ceiling close to the opening of a larger room. Vanellope read it out loud. "Litwakrouter950501?" She waved off the mild curiosity she had toward it and went on her way.
A slight humming sound was emanating from the room up ahead, the only other sound in this hallway besides Vanellope's kart engine rumbling and echoing off the sides of the walls. The entrance was a mere few feet away. The blue light was now flickering brighter than before as she finally drove through the entryway and in the open room.
Vanellope's eyes nearly bugged right out of her head at the sheer size of the place. The room must have been twenty feet long and wide with a seemingly never ending ceiling. At the other end of the room were five circular steps, each one slightly smaller than the other as they rose up. At the top of the last step is what caught her attention, however. On the top step, a blue, circular, pillar type object that rose higher than she thought possible. She heard the sound of something humming and vibrating and noticed it was coming from the blue pillar. That's when she noticed it wasn't just an object.
This blue, thing, seemed to be a beam of pure energy with a hint of white around the edges and at its core. The beam went up and up, higher and higher until it disappeared into the blackness high above her.
She quickly realized that this must be the thing that allows people to go to the internet.
She stared in awe and amazement at the never ending blue beam.
"Wow," she whispered.
She stood up from her seat and leaned forward on the dashboard to get a better look.
"Vanellope!"
Her heart skipped a beat and she jumped nearly out of the kart. She turned around and saw three familiar figures making their way down the hall and coming straight for her. Ralph, Calhoun and Felix stopped breathlessly a few yards behind her with mixed expressions of anger, surprise, and shock plastered on their faces.
"What are you doing?!" She looked over to Ralph who looked just about ready to blow a gasket.
"Well, I, um," she stuttered helplessly.
"No, stop. I'll tell you what you're doing. You are coming back with us right now, young lady!"
Vanellope stuck out her bottom lip. "You can't just-" she was cut off by Calhoun.
"No back sass, Private! You're coming with us right now! That's an order!"
The little girl glared at the Sergeant. "I'm not back sassing! I was just-"
this time she was cut off by Felix. "I'm afraid theirs no flex on this one, Miss Vanellope. You are coming with us right-"
"NO!"
The trio blinked in shock and backed up a pace. "I'm sick of you three always treating me like a defenseless kid who can't take care of herself, but you know what?" The three of them continued to stare at the little girl in her kart.
"I can take care of myself! I've lived alone in Diet Cola Mountain for fifteen years looking out for myself only and I did just fine! I went through physical and emotional pain for fifteen years and I'm fine! I can take care of myself without you guys' help! I'm tired of you always saying 'we can't do that, it's too dangerous! Let's go over to the safer game and just . . . Just,' No! Not anymore!"
The adults just stood rooted in their spots, not moving a single inch as they waited for Vanellope's tantrum to fade away. Which didn't seem to be any time soon.
"I'm going to show you I can watch out for myself."
Ralph finally stepped up. "Vanellope, no one is saying you can't look after yourself. We're just trying to-" Vanellope clenched her hands into fists and stared up at the large wrecker.
"Nothing you can do is going to change my mind! You are going to start treating me fairly and-"
"Vanellope, you're acting like a brat! I can't believe you'd disobey me like this! You don't think going in there is a big deal. But guess what, it is! You're going to hurt yourself!"
"That's exactly what I'm talking about!" She shrieked, pointing at him furiously. "Trying to do 'what's best for me' when you know I am totally fine on my own! Well you know what? That's going to change right now!" She pounded her fists on the rear end of her kart, causing it to jerk slightly and hiss.
Ralph noticed the compartment over the hood opening up and the familiar grappling gun rose from below, whirring and twisting as it did. Vanellope stared at it in confusion as she heard it click and grind, like it was working on its own. The three fingered claw burst out of the barrel and flew straight into the beam, disappearing instantly, the licorice rope going taut as it did.
Vanellope's and Ralph's went wide as they heard her tires starting to squeal. They looked down and noticed her kart was beginning to inch forward. Ralph's heart plummeted once he realized what was happening. Vanellope and her kart were being pulled into that thing.
The kart suddenly rose from the ground and took off like a bullet towards the blue beam. Vanellope let out a shriek of fear as she was pushed back into her seat and saw it coming closer and faster. "No!" Ralph jumped forward just in time to grab her two back tires. He dug his feet into the white linoleum floor, trying with all his might to pull her away from that thing. Vanellope turned her head around and looked Ralph right in the eyes, her fearful expression matching his, only his facial expressions were mixed between fear and physical exhaustion.
Ralph tried to step backwards but the force opposing him was too strong. He lost his footing and fell straight on his face, releasing the wheels. He looked back up quickly to see Vanellope leaning out of her kart with her hand outstretched towards him, as if trying to pull herself back with some invisible force. Ralph watched helplessly as his best friend in the whole world disappeared in the beam.
"No! Vanellope!" Without thinking, he shot up to his feet and raced over to the circular steps at the end of the room.
"Ralph! Wait!" He heard Felix's panicked voice behind him, but chose to ignore him.
Ralph reached the base of the steps, climbed up each one and leapt into the beam.
"Ralph!" Felix cried before his wife lifted him up and tucked him under her arm. "Hold on honey!" She shouted.
With her husband securely under her arm, she started sprinting over to the beam as well, letting out a war cry as Felix let out a cry of fear.
They reached the steps, leapt up and allowed the beam to consume them.
