Thanks for all the reviews everyone! Also, thank you so much for the encouraging words, from reviewers and those who sent me a private message. You are all SO amazing, and I really appreciate the kind words. I love Vanellope and Ralph, and I love writing about them in a natural way, and I'm so happy that people like it. :D Anyway, enjoy the new chapter, and take a look at the note at the bottom.
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Chapter Two
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Earlier the same day...
Vanellope groaned and stretched as she woke up, then exhaled loudly as she relaxed back onto the bed. Something felt off, but it was a few minutes before she figured out what it was. Then, remembering, she gasped and leaped out of bed, looking down.
She was taller. Her hair was longer. She pulled the top of her camisole open and looked down.
"Yay! Yay! Yay!" Vanellope yelled, dancing around the room. She rushed over to the mirror, examining the results of many days hard work.
Being a petite girl to begin with, the mushrooms they had tested on her had only made her five feet tall, but since she knew Ralph was nine feet at least, she had asked Crumbs to adjust the measurement to make her a bit taller. Not too much more, because the wider the variation, the more likely they were to make an error in one of the compensating adjustments, but she ended up five feet, six inches tall. She turned to examine her behind which, along with her breasts, she had asked to have a little larger. She was thinking of her friend Calhoun and how men's gazes always seemed to linger on her form.
Completely unaware of how silly she looked, she turned a few times before her full-length mirror, stretched her arms back to see how she looked with her shirt stretched over her chest now, immediately giggling at herself. Then ran her hands up and down her long legs; as soon as she thought about how different the view was, she stumbled, feeling a bit of vertigo.
As she flopped back onto the bed, the door opened and Crumbelina came in. "Did it work?" she asked groggily. Then, as soon as she got a look at her friend, she jumped up and down, shrieking in delight. Vanellope leaped up to join her, getting used to the strange sensation of reaching down to grab the girl's hands as they hopped around, squealing in joy together.
After the initial excitement, Crumbelina really examined her head to foot. "Everything is how you want it?" she asked seriously, inspecting her hands. "Even... you know...?
Vanellope blushed. Their sessions had included an awkward two hour span where she'd been forced to think about what her private areas were going to look like. "I haven't really checked..."
Crumbelina scowled. "Well, let me get out of here for a few minutes. You want to make sure it's all exactly right so you're ready to go get him later." Walking to the door, she turned to Vanellope once more. "Just come get me if you need anything else, and we'll go talk to everyone together before opening time."
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Soon, Vanellope had picked out a new racing outfit based on what she thought would look the best over her new features. The shiny mint green jumpsuit was broken up on the sleeves by pink and white squares making a checked pattern on the smooth material. She also popped her pink goggles on and strode confidently out to the track.
Although she had enjoyed an exciting morning, and the other racers had been super excited for her, some even expressing interest in undergoing the same process, the rest of the day was... less than stellar.
Although adjustments had been made to the code of her cart as well, so she could still drive it, working with a new cart in a new body made for a rough racing day. She was hitting the wrong pedals, over-doing turns. At least she hadn't run into any walls, and she was doing better by the end of the day, although she hadn't won a single race. The Random Roster Race hadn't gone well either. She placed eighth, the worst she could remember placing. Ever.
As she climbed out of her cart, Snowanna ran over to her. "Look, I'm still angry with you for leaving me out of the loop on this one, but you should know Ralph has been trying to find you."
"Really? He was looking for me?" She hadn't considered that he would, but now she felt stupid.
"He said he wanted to apologize. I think he thinks you don't want to see him." She sniffed. "Frankly, so did I. I might have been able to reassure him if you had told me what was going on."
Vanellope rolled her eyes. "Snowanna. You would have told me to talk to Crumbelina, right?"
"Maybe." If possible, the rainbow haired girl looked even more disgruntled.
"You know you would have. She's the best person for the job. You've seen her marzipan sculptures, you know she was the only option." Vanellope was quiet, waiting for Snowanna's response. When she didn't, Vanellope sighed. "Okay. I'm sorry."
As she said it, Princess Peach appeared over Snowanna's shoulder. "Sorry to interrupt! Just wanted to see our results! Oh, Vanellope, you look amazing! Has-"
"Princess Not-Even-In-This-Game knew about it, TOO?" Snowanna interrupted, outraged. "What the fudge, Vanellope!" She stormed back toward her cart, ignoring Vanellope's cries.
"Want me go tell her why you needed me to be involved?" Peach offered, looking slightly offended.
"No, I'll... no. I'll explain later. Maybe Ralph-" She broke off, looking excited again. "He's been looking for me! I can't wait to see him! And he always helps me know what to do, I know he could help with this."
"Oh, how romantic!" Peach said dreamily, clasping her white-gloved hands together against her cheek. "See, I bet he's reconsidered what he said already. Just wait until he gets a look at you now!"
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"Where's Ralph?" Vanellope hadn't meant to sound so quite so rude, so she tried to smile into Felix's disbelieving eyes as the train came to a stop in Fix-it Felix, Jr.
"Ralph? He's out lookin' for- My lands, Vanellope, what- how-" The handyman seemed at a loss for words as Vanellope stood, several inches taller than he was now. "What have you done, sweet-pie?"
"Ralph said he couldn't date me cause I was little," she said, face falling. "I'm not little anymore. Well," she paused shrugging, "I'm still littler than him, but who isn't? I mean, come on, look at the guy," she finished, laughing.
Felix looked extremely concerned, frowning up at her. "You- you changed your code? This is extreme! Bad news!"
"Why are you being such a Fuddy-Duddy?" She scowled, crossing her arms in annoyance. The movement wasn't as seamless as it used to be, and she accidentally punched herself in the chest. "Ouch! Darn it! That was your fault for being stupid!"
"Maybe you should head back ta your game and let me talk ta Ralph 'bout what you've done before he sees you," Felix said imploringly, his head full to the brim of terrible visions of how horrible awry his friends reaction could go. "He might not be quite as pleased as ya think..."
The girl flipped her candy-coated hair over her shoulder and strode off the platform, Felix hurrying to catch up. "I'll just wait in his house, I'm sure he'll be back soon. Oh, I can't wait! It's gonna be AWESOME!"
He trailed along as she opened Ralph's front door and walked right inside, acting for all the world as though it were her own home. "Wait, maybe we shouldn't-"
With a happy sigh Vanellope flopped back onto Ralph's bed, burying her face in his pillow, and Felix stood by and fidgeted with his hat. "I don't think it's a good idea to let Ralph see you like this without any warning. He'll be downright spooked." He tried to meet her eyes, but she didn't seem to be listening.
Glancing through the window, he saw Ralph looking around, something akin to disappointment on his face. Vanellope was still rolling around excitedly on bed, so Felix moved to the door, opening it and trying to close it quietly. "Ralph, wait a sec-"
"Felix! Great! Have you seen- Hold on. What are you doing in my house?" Ralph's face took on a suspicious expression.
Felix rushed over and grabbed his arm, pulling him away. With any luck he could at least soften the blow. "She insisted on waiting inside- We gotta talk before-"
"RALPH!"
Both their heads snapped up at the cry, and Felix winced as he saw the Vanellope, seemingly even quicker with her longer legs, tackling Ralph. Surprisingly, the large man went down. They landed with Vanellope straddling his stomach, her hands leaning on his chest as she grinned down at him.
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When Ralph's eyes finally focused on her, his face went completely white. Was this... "Vanellope?"
"In the flesh, Stink Brain!" She sat back up and gestured to herself. "What do you think?"
He stared at her new form, eyes caressing the lines of her face, then unable to tear his eyes away from her chest, which was partially exposed because of the plunging neckline that led to a zipper. When he realized what he was doing, and who he was talking to, he ripped his eyes away and stared up at the stars. "What happened to you?" he grated out, breath coming fast and erratic.
"Uh, I'm headin' home, see ya later, friends," Felix said awkwardly, taking off at a jog for the apartment building.
Ralph stared after him for a moment, but then Vanellope said, "Finally. Alone at last." He turned to her and found her lips to his for the third time, her chest pressed against him.
This time, it felt a lot less wrong.
He pulled away, horrified. "Stop it," he said, shoving her off of him and onto the ground. "What- Why do you look like that?"
Vanellope pouted from her new spot on the grass, her hair coming forward to hide her face. "I was tired of being a kid, tired of you treating me like a kid. Don't you like it?"
Ralph sat up, his eyes narrowing as his arms crossed. "You did this on purpose?" It took a moment for the full impact of what had happened to descend upon him. "You changed your code?"
"I did what I had to do," she said quickly, feeling that the conversation was not going in the direction she wanted. She sat up on her knees and grabbed his hands. She was totally unaware of how the position made her look to him, her knees spread and her new breasts about to pop out of her top. "Now we can be together, Ralph, like we're supposed-"
Filled with an equal amount of inappropriate desire and disgust, his face filled with revulsion, he stood. "You can't mess with the program, Vanellope." His blood ran cold. "This is exactly what Turbo did."
"No, no!" she rose quickly, reaching up to put her hands on his shoulders. "I'm not trying to steal anyone's spot! I'm still me, I'm still Princess Vanellope in the game! I did this because I-I love you! Don't you love me?"
His heart twisted as he looked into her eyes. "I can't. You're still just a little girl."
He watched her eyes dying as she took in what he'd said, felt her pulling away slightly in the small silence. "I was never just a little girl, Ralph," she whispered, staring at his chest. "I thought you were the only one who saw that, but..."
"I didn't mean-" His voice cut off as she raced away, hopping into the train that was still waiting. As soon as there was weight on it, the train registered the need to move and took off, and by the time Ralph had found his feet she was gone.
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To Be Continued
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I originally wrote in a mature bit at the top where Vanellope as some fun by herself, but I still wanted this fanfic to be "T" too. I have it saved if anyone is interested. I almost didn't ask because it seems like EVERYONE would be interested, but please feel free to leave a quick note in your review or private message if you don't want to call yourself out.
Thanks for reading again!