The king got into his white candy kart & prepared to drive off, when Ralph quickly came down the hill & over to him to talk.
"Candy guy, can I talk to you?", he said, slightly out of breath.
"Wreck-It Ralph?!", the king jumped.
"Yeah. That would be me.", he said proudly.
"I don't have time to talk right now. If lt's important, come to the throneroom of the castle. Tell Sour Bill that King Candy invited you.".
Before Ralph could think of a response, King Candy drove off, following the trail of the police truck. It was such a drastic contrast to see what seemed like a zany & carefree character turn so serious, espeacially about a harmless girl. His next move was to get to this castle, which could easily be seen far off. With a kart, this was nothing to fuss about. But walking, lt was a bit out of the way. With every step Ralph took, the resolution of the castle image increased. Meanwhile, the Sugar Rush racers who saw him ran or drove away in fear.
"Aaaah! Bad guy!".
Ralph just grimaced at them.
'You would think that after thirty years, I would get used to this. But no, no. It still hurts.'.
Finally, the doors came into view. They were large & wooden & there was a grey, 'welcome', mat at the foot of them. Ralph knocked on them with his gargantuan fists, dealing some damage to the wood.
"Hello? Anybody in there?", he asked obnoxiously.
The right door opened a crack, revealing the green gumball from earlier.
'He looks even more sad in person.'.
"Yeeeeees?", he asked, stretching the word out as lf lt were painful to say.
"You must be Sour Bob.".
He looked slightly irritated, showing Ralph a face that indicated for him not to get on his bad (or worse) side.
"It's Bill.".
"Bill, Bob, Ben Stein, whatever. Who needs formalities anyway? I was invited here by that pillow pants guy, King Candy. He told me to say he invited me in.".
Sour Bill let out a dramatically elongated & lackluster sigh before rotating thirty five degrees West & allowing Ralph in.
"I think you need some Mentos. Or is that cannibalism?".
Bill just stared at him lackadaisically. If he didn't hate Ralph before, he hated him now.
'Ee', Ralph half-shudderred, as he made his way to the throneroom.
It was there that King Candy sat in his go-kart throne, protected by a pink ceiling & walls. He was politely sitting, facing straight, hands folded neatly in his lap. His cane was leaning on the throne. Interestingly, he was back to his cuckoo state of being. He anticipated Ralph's arrival & when Ralph came into view, he motioned for him to come into talking vicinity.
"Okay. What do you want Ralph?", the King asked humoringly.
"What happened to that girl, Banannaby; or whatever her name is? Where did you take her?".
"Vanellope? Wait. You were spying on us?!", his serious persona was returning.
"No. She stole something from me & I was devising a plan to get lt back.".
"By spying on us.".
"No. Look...", he was cut off.
"Hold on, there. She stole?".
"Yeah", he said slowly. "Why, did she steal from others?".
"No. Never. Not at all.", he said, surprised.
Ralph took down a mental note that she wasn't arrested for stealing, having never stolen before.
'He's hiding something.'.
"So, I want...", he was cut off by King Candy again.
"What did she steal?", in a somewhat distrusting tone.
"My hero's medal.".
The King looked ready to laugh.
"No, really. Tell the truth.".
"I am. She stole the hero's medal that I earned.", he said with a no-jokes face.
"Way-wait.", he rushed out before Ralph could start again, waving his arms about. "Let me get this straight: Not only are you apparently the first villain to get a medal, but a nine-year old girl stole lt from you.". He began laughing & choked out, "It's taking candy from a child.
Not the other way around.".
Ralph was botherred.
As King Candy regained his composure, he simplified his point to, "Bad guys don't win medals, Ralph.".
Ralph raised his voice saying, "I'm a bad guy & I'll have you know that I did WIN that...".
He was cut off a third time. The King clearly had no respect for him.
"Oh. That's how Vanellope got into the race. She used your medal as a coin.".
Seeing that Ralph wasn't lying, he decided on a friendlier but straight tone.
"Ralph. I'm afraid I can't help you. Your medal is nothing but code now.".
"There has to be a way to get lt back. I need that medal.", he persisted.
"You'll have to wait until someone wins the race. Until then, you should go home. I'll mail lt to you.".
And again, before Ralph could speak, the King added, "Now, I answerred your question. Leave me.".
"But that's not my question...".
As Ralph struggled to form words, Sour Bill came in & began leading him toward the exit.
"...I need to know why you arrested Vanellope.".
The King's expression changed again. He wasn't comfortable with this topic.
"That's none of your buisness. Mind your own game. Why are you even here, have you gone turbo?".
"No. Hey, that girl didn't do anything wrong, did she?".
"Poll closed. Hand in your ballot.".
"What's her crime?".
"Ralph, you need to learn to shut up when you're told to!", he said in a strict voice. "I'm not talking about that Glitch to you!".
Realizing what he said, disappointment overtook him.
"That's what that flash was? Ah, you arrested her just because she's a glitch! That's cruel.".
Though the King interrupted once again, Ralph kept arguing stubbornly.
"Ralph, I want you out of my castle now or you're going into the Fungeon with her!", he shouted angrily.
The room was silent. After a moment, Ralph started giggling. King Candy kept a straight face. Ralph's giggling evolved into laughter & then outright cracking up.
"Fungeon!".
King Candy started laughing with him, in that zany sort of way. If Sour Bill's frown was upside down, lt would look like he joined in on the fun. Ralph & the King eventually calmed down & he took on his bad persona again.
"I want you off the premises & out of the game or I'm calling security.".
Ralph stopped retorting as he was booted from the building.
"I thought he'd never leave.", joked the King to Bill.
King Candy exitted his kart & left the throneroom. Sour Bill rushed to follow him & provide fanning. He rounded the corner into an equally large room, where there was a narrow stairway tucked into the corner around the wall. The entrance to lt was shorter than the ceiling & very dark, as opposed to the rest of the castle so far. King Candy proceeded to descend the stairs, grabbing & lighting a torch from off of the wall.
Vanellope saw him coming down the final few steps.
'Great. Just who I wanted to see.', she sarcastically thought.
"Vanellope", he called.
She rolled her eyes & turned around to look at the wall, which was better than facing him. She was in a large, round shackle that she wore tightly around her waist. Her hands & ankles were shackled as well. She was in her own poorly lit cell, with paint-deteriorating walls & tough but dusty metal bars. She had no space to move forward or back or to strafe. She could only rotate in one direction. Even lf she could somehow glitch out of those chains, she would have to glitch out of her cell & out of the Fungeon, then leave the castle. And she couldn't even controll her glitching, so she was renderred helpless. Upset that she wouldn't look at him, he began talking softly.
"Vanellope, I need to talk to you. I need you to listen to me.".
She did the opposite. She coverred her ears & continued to admire the shabby wall in contrast to the King.
"Vanellope. This is really important.".
Still, she ignored him. She literally couldn't make out any of his words & liked lt that way.
"I don't want to hear anything you want to say. Talk to someone else.".
He persisted for some reason, but Sour Bill came down hurriedly.
"Bad news, your highness.".
"It can wait.".
"No, lt can't.".
Even in a crisis, he maintained his monotony & expression. He began whisperring something into the King's ear & he leaned his head slightly closer for better reception. His eyes widened & he jumped. He then nervously debated between remedying the situation & continuing his effort with Vanellope. He settled on the former & left her, to her relief. He bounced up the stairs with Sour Bill following & fanning him. The brightness falterred as the torch was taken away & Vanellope was back to being alone in the dark Fungeon. Well, not completely alone.