Chapter 4: This, is how it's done

Dark Demon 122: I can't wait for the race either. These are my favorite chapters to write for my racing stories. And thanks for the feedback on Torvald, I'll keep that in mind :)

Dixie Darlin: I've tried my best to make them as cute as Rancis and Vanellope or Swizzle and Jubileena. And thanks again for the couple name: Wipp/Chocolate

Disclaimer: I do not own Wreck-It Ralph or Watkins Glen International or Sonoma Raceway


"Bring it Brit," Herschel mocked Rancis as he and the other drivers buckled into their karts to drive to Watkins Glen inside their game. Luckily, the game designers put up a special road that led to all three tracks. Watkins Glen wasn't as big as the main race track, but it was big nonetheless. "Ah, I'm home," Herschel said and took in a deep breath. All 16 karts parked on the front stretch, just before the start/finish line.

"Okay, Herschel, how do we do this?" Vanellope asked the Aussie. Herschel lifted his visor up and set it on his helmet.

"Well, since no one has raced here before, even me, I think it should be a five lap race and I'll start in the rear of the field since I am the new guy," Herschel said and flashed Dale Earnhardt's smile. Crumbelina and Adorabeezle swooned at Herschel's perfect grin while Minty just imagined dirty thoughts.

"Okay then Herschel, everybody just line up how we normally do," Vanellope announced as the track's jumbo-tron turned on to show the starting line up.

1) Vanellope von Schweetz

2) Rancis Fluggerbutter

3) Jubileena Bing-Bing

4) Swizzle Malarkey

5) Taffyta Muttonfudge

6) Gloyd Orangeboar

7) Minty Zaki

8) Crumbelina di Caramello

9) Citrusella Flugpucker

10) Adorabeezle Winterpop

11) Snowanna Rainbeau

12) Candlehead

13) Nougetsia Brumblestain

14) Torvald Batterbutter

15) Sticky Wipplesnit

16) Herschel Nougatson

All the racers lined up in their pre-determined positions on the track. Sticky was to start right next to Herschel, whom was doing a final check up on 'The Wonderboy.' "Good luck Herschel!" Sticky called out to her crush. Herschel looked over and winked at her and slid his visor back over his eyes. Sticky slightly blushed and shook it off. She lightly patted her checks to get the honey glows off. Her sister, Torvald, looked at Sticky in her mirror and gave her a thumbs up. With Herschel, his hands started to clam up.

"Come on Herschel, focus, focus, focus," he scolded himself. There was a storm of butterflies churning up his stomach. He was nervous about being around Sticky. He was supposed to have nerves of steel, but Sticky made his nerves feel like rubber. "I've got to talk to someone about this," Herschel said to himself. He thought Swizzle would be a good candidate to talk to about how he felt. Herschel snapped back to his racing self as the countdown light began, well, counting down. Herschel revved up his motor when the light hit yellow. He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. The light hit green and the air horn blew, signaling for the race to commence. Herschel's eyes snapped open and his right foot smashed down to the floorboard and he shifted his kart from first gear to second gear. Herschel laid his kart back to get behind Sticky to have a better angle going into turn one, which was a hard and narrow right hander. Sticky moved passed her sister and that allowed Herschel to take advantage of the open door. Herschel followed Sticky's line into turn two and up into the esses. Up ahead in sixth place, Gloyd was trying to hold off Minty as the leaders entered the inter loop.

"Quit cutting me off Pumpkin Head!" Minty yelled out at Gloyd. Minty swerved to Gloyd's right and got a better arc into the inter loop. She out broke Gloyd and rammed his right rear quarter-panel, causing his kart to wheel hop and spin off course. "Serves you right," Minty muttered and down shifted for the carousel. Back to Herschel, he had gotten by Gloyd's spin and passed Sticky and Nougetsia entering the inter loop.

"Aw damn," Herschel said as he felt bad for his friend wrecking. Herschel double-checked his mirror and saw Sticky was following his tire tracks in the dirt. He smiled and narrowed his eyes as he down shifted from third gear to second. Coming out of the carousel, Herschel got up along side Candlehead's right side and the two drag raced down the third straightaway into turn nine.

"Hey Hershcel!" Candlehead turned and waved. Herschel didn't pay attention to her, only the track ahead. He up shifted into third to try and pull ahead of the birthday cake racer. Herschel saw a power up right in the middle of the corner and drove his kart in harder to get the power up, hoping it would be his personal one. He drifted around turn nine and got not only the power up, but also the 10th position from Candlehead.

"POWER UP!" The game announcer declared. A giant rocket appeared on the back of Herschel's kart, launching him from 10th place, up into the top six as the front of the field crossed the line for lap two. "Not bad," Herschel said to himself once the power up went away and he found himself closer to the front. Knowing that the front-runners were normally the best, Herschel concluded that it would be more difficult to pass the others. Herschel down-shifted from fourth gear to third, to second to make the first turn. Up ahead of him, Taffyta got ahold of some syrup slick. "Oh mod," Herschel said to himself as the syrup splurted out of Taffyta's kart. The only way to avoid spinning from the slick was to get off the track, and lucky for Herschel, there was a wide run-off area in case some of the racers missed turn one. He over drove turn one and missed all of the syrup that Taffyta laid down.

"Damn," Taffyta said when she glanced over to her mirror and saw Herschel avoid her syrup. She saw Herschel flash a grin and shift up as they entered the esses for the second time. Back up to the leaders, Vanellope held off Rancis as the two battled to try and stay ahead of Swizzle and Jubileena. Sticky and Torvald meanwhile had gotten past Snowanna and Nougetsia when the latter two slid off course and spun off turn one. "This is a fun track!" Sticky called out to her 'older' sister. Torvald gave her a thumbs up in agreement as they shifted into third gear for turn two and the esses. Unfortunately, Torvald's kart clipped the rough gravel on the edge of the dirt and it sucked her kart into the wall. "DAMMIT!" She yelled as she jerked the wheel hard back to the right. Yet, she turned to hard and her kart slid sideways down the back stretch and nose dived the wall. The force of the hit lifted her back end off the ground and spun her kart in mid-air.

"Oh no!" Sticky said as she saw what happened to her sister right behind her. Sticky knew of course since they were in their own game that Torvald would be fine, but still, it was scary to Sticky to see any one of her friends wreck. Torvald's front end was smashed up and her engine was leaking chocolate syrup oil. Torvald took her gloves off and threw them on the floor as her kart regenerated back to the garage, waiting for her to fix it. Luckily, Sticky got a Candy Bazooka power up and shot it at Adorabeezle, Citrusella, and Crumbelina; knocking them out of the competition in the inter loop. Back up front, Herschel was putting a ton of pressure on Jubileena as the two exited the carousel.

"You're not getting by my 'Cherriot' Herschel!" Jubileena declared to Herschel, who chuckled to himself, knowing full well that the 'Wonderboy' was much better than Jubileena's 'Cherriot.' Going down the third straightaway, Herschel utilized the draft wake to suck his kart up to Jubileena's and gave it a bump. She squealed in surprise a little when her kart lurched forward. She tried to shake him off, but to no avail. Going into turn nine, Herschel drove his kart in deeper and nudged the rear of Jubileena's kart, shoving her out of the way and off the course, taking fifth from her and setting his sights on running Taffyta back down. Herschel's kart had a better top speed than the rest of the karts, so when he got a better run through turn 10, he knew he had Taffyta in turn one. Herschel pulled far to the right to get a better entrance to turn one, but Taffyta watched him in her rear view mirror and chop blocked him, causing him to slam on his brakes and lose all his momentum.

"Alright Pinky, I got you," Herschel said to himself as he narrowed his eyes and concentrated even harder on passing her since he only had three laps to go.

"You're good, but not as good as you claim Hershey," Taffyta teased. Herschel felt something in him boil. Was this what an insult felt like? Exiting the esses, Herschel floored the accelerator and shifted his gears so hard he almost broke the stick. Taffyta nearly soiled herself as she saw how fast Herschel was approaching her. She tried to block him again as they got to the inter loop. but Herschel had none of that! He hopped the curb and body checked Taffyta. Since Herschel's kart was sturdier, his kart didn't lose as near as much momentum. Taffyta's 'Pink Lightning' got cocked sideways in the middle of the inter loop and had to get on her brakes to not fully spin out. This allowed Herschel to zip ahead of her, leaving Taffyta sitting in the middle of the dirt, pissed off as her kart came to a stop. She floored it to get out of the way of the other racers who were flying toward her. Once she got back on track, she found herself back to ninth place. Swizzle, who had seen the scene unfold behind him, was happy.

"At least he took care of Taffyta," he said to himself as he shifted into fourth exiting the carousel. Herschel wasn't far behind and began planning to his pass on Swizzle. Sticky had just gotten out of the inter loop and saw the dust sitting around Taffyta's kart. "I wonder what happened there?" Sticky thought to herself as she got passed her original color, who tried to wreck her, but Sticky got a power up: Cherry Bombs. She threw all three behind her at Minty and knocked Minty from the race. Sticky now found herself in fifth place, right behind Herschel. Her heart started pounding in her throat as she thought about Herschel. She had to talk to someone about how to handle her feelings, so she figured she would ask Torvald and possibly Jubileena. Sticky shrieked as she snapped back to reality and almost blew turn nine which would have ended her day with a nose dive to the wall. Back up with Herschel, a power up cube had appeared on the finish line in front of him and Swizzle as they battled side by side.

"Good luck bro!" Swizzle shouted to Herschel as he swerved next to Herschel's kart to slow him down.

"Nice try Malarkey!" Herschel retorted in his accent. The two repeatedly hit each other to get to the cube first. They weren't trying to wreck each other, but they were having fun. The two were so close together that when they hit the cube, it split in two and went to both of them. "CHERRY BOMB!"The announcer shouted and three cherry bombs popped up around Swizzle's kart. "INTIMIDATION!" The announcer shouted for Herschel. "What is that?" Swizzle asked Herschel. Herschel grinned and pulled ahead of Swizzle in turn one. In front of Swizzle's eyes, Herschel's kart began to grow armor around the fenders and wheels! Swizzle tried to fire a cherry bomb, but it bounced right off of Herschel's kart and into the wall.

"Aww, to bad Swizzle!" Herschel chortled and took off. Herschel's kart was also louder when he accelerated. The loud noise startled Rancis as he looked behind at Herschel's heavily armored kart. Behind them, Swizzle launched two more cherry bombs, one of which again bounced off Herschel's kart and into a wall, while the other zoomed past him and slammed into Rancis' kart. It blew out his rear end and spun him around. Herschel tried to avoid him, but it happened too fast. Herschel's Knight Rider armored kart hit Rancis' and didn't get a scratch. The RV1 was destroyed and Rancis had to sit and wait for the racers to drive by before the game would regenerate his kart back to the garage area. Swizzle had to slow to miss the carnage, and Sticky took advantage. For once, she was actually not having a terrible race! Usually, she would be either out of the race, or in the back. She was glad to find herself in third, right behind her crush. With Herschel, he gained two car lengths in the inter loop on Vanellope and even more on her through the carousel. The power up wouldn't last much longer, so Herschel had to act quickly.

"You're doing good Herschel!" Vanellope called out, "now let's see if you can get the win!" she continued and shifted into third for turn nine. Vanellope's momentary mockery caused her kart to slip into the gravel and cost her valuable time as Herschel was now right behind her. Going through turn 10 and onto the front stretch, Vanellope's kart's higher acceleration allowed her to pull slightly ahead of Herschel's kart. The power up was gone, and the 'Wonderboy' was back to normal. Herschel did the last thing he could think of. If he could get Vanellope to screw up turn one, he could take the win: NO PROBLEM. He flashed her an intimidating grin and waved. She looked in her mirror and felt slightly uneasy at Herschel's calm demeanor. Vanellope looked back forward and panicked as she saw that the turn was rightthere! She shrieked and slammed on the brakes, but she hit them too hard while turning the steering wheel and caused her back wheels to lock up and hop. Her kart slid sideways into the run off area and came to rest facing the front stretch the wrong way. She pounded the steering wheel at her stupidity and got back going again in fifth.

"I can't believe that worked for him!" Sticky said in awe as Vanellope spun out from Herschel's intimidation. She now found herself in second, about four kart lengths behind Herschel with Swizzle about seven kart lengths behind her. Going through the esses, Herschel pulled slightly away from Sticky, but slightly missed his braking point entering the inter loop and allowed Sticky to gain time on him in the carousel. Sticky utilized the draft to get right to Herschel's bumper and gave him a tap going into turn nine. It didn't do anything except give Herschel a little boost exiting the corner as they entered turn 10 for the final time. Exiting the corner, Herschel lightly brushed the wall with his door, and let Sticky make a run on him. The two were side by side, but Herschel claimed the checkered flag in the name of NASCAR!

"ALL RIGHT! YESSS!"Herschel yelled as he slowed down for the cool down lap. He got onto the run off area in turn one and started doing a dirt burnout. He climbed on the door of his kart with both fists in the air and jumped up and down. He took off his helmet and visor to reveal just how dirty his face was where there wasn't helmet nor visor covering it. Sticky drove by with her fist out and her index finger extended, saluting him the 'real' number one sign. All the racers parked in the garage and made there way over to Herschel. Vanellope was still mad at herself, but was happy for Herschel.

"Hey Herschel!" She called out. Herschel looked up from his trophy and to the president. "Nice job out there today! We're gonna have to keep our eyes on you," she said and gave him a thumbs up. Rancis suddenly appeared next to her and shook Herschel's hand.

"Good work out there Aussie," Rancis said with a smile.

"You to Brit," Hershcel chuckled and wiped the dirt from his face. "You're good Rancis and I mean that, just a little bit o' bad luck is all," Herschel explained. Then Herschel felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see a fist contacting his face. He fell to the ground with a broken nose and dropped his trophy.

"That's for wrecking me in the inter loop!" Taffyta yelled at him.

"HEY LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Sticky yelled and knelt down in front of Herschel. "Are you alright Herschel?" Sticky asked with concern. Herschel wiped his nose with his sleeve and studied the blood on the sleeve. He chuckled and let Sticky help him up.

"You pack quite a wallop there Pinky," Herschel said to Taffyta. She fumed and got ready to punch him again when Vanellope held her hand back.

"No, no, no, no, no, I didn't wreck you Pinky," Herschel explained, "I rubbed you and rubbin' darlin' is racin'," Herschel continued as he stuck his face in Taffyta's. Sticky felt her face get warm as she watched Herschel take Taffyta down a few pegs with such confidence and aggression.

"My name is TAFFYTA you Crocodile Hunter knock-off! The next time you "rub" me like that, you'll find yourself face first into the wall!" She threatened and stormed off to Gloyd who shrugged an apology to Herschel.

"Uh-oh, someone better call the "WHAmbulance" for her," Herschel joked, which earned him quite a few laughs. Herschel turned back around and met eye contact with Sticky. Both of them stared at one another and felt as if time froze. "Uh, Swizzle, Rancis, could I interest you Gentlemen in a pint?" Herschel asked to break the awkwardness. The two guy racers looked at each other and grinned.

"Well Hell yeah Hersch!" Swizzle said and slapped his hand on Herschel's back. The three made their way to Tappers, leaving the girls alone at Watkins Glen. Sticky couldn't help but stare at Herschel with torn emotions.

"Vanellope, Torvald, could I talk to you two for a little bit, maybe some girl time?" Sticky asked. Vanellope and Torvald shrugged in a 'yes' and followed Sticky back to her house. Crumbelina, Adorabeezle and Minty all stood in the garage together.

"Did you see the way they acted?" Adorabeezle asked Crumbelina.

"Yeah, they totally have crushes on each other," Crumbelina said sadly. "It's over, right Mint?" She asked Minty. The sour green apple girl was leaning with her back against the wall and chewing on a tooth pick. She flicked it at Crumbelina and chuckled.

"You girls give up too easy," she laughed at them and left.

(With the two groups at the same time)

The guys were having a good time at Tappers while the girls were having a blast at Sticky's house. "So, what did you want to talk about Herschel?" Swizzle asked Herschel and set his mug on the bar top.

"Any reason you wanted to hang out with specifically us sis?" Torvald asked Sticky. Herschel sighed and finished his drink. "Well boys, you have girlfriends and I was wondering, do I just have a crush on Sticky, or do I feel more?" Herschel asked Swizzle and Rancis.

"I think I have more than a crush on Herschel," Sticky confessed to Vanellope and Torvald. The guys and girls looked at each other and began to explain to Sticky and Herschel just what their feelings meant.

END CHAPTER FOUR!


Okay cliffhanger again! How was that race huh? I think it turned out good. But I have to confess to you, my readers, that I write this chapter with tears in my eyes, for today on lap 14 at Watkins Glen, Jeff Gordon crashed and ended up 36th. He dropped from ninth in the standings to 13th, 15 points behind 10th place with only four races to go. But enough of my problems, I hope you liked the racing action. And if you have ANY questions about the track, feel free to ask me anything. And I hope you review a little more this time (chapter 3 was pretty disappointing) and I hope you can wait patiently for chapter 5 as I have to write chapter 9 for Nights of Lighting. This is Wreck-It Ralph, saying that Captain America is my favorite Avenger and good night!