Chapter Seven: Full Blown Wrecking Mode- Part 1
(This chapter and the next are kinda intense with some boy-girl bullying, but I promise that it does lead to a happy ending :) Plus, they both combined contains a message about bullying I think is important to share :) Enjoy!)
Ralph stood in the line for a few minutes, clearly getting impatient. The line seemed to slowly inch forward, made worse by the strong heat of the electronical sun.
How long is this going to take? the wreckor whined to himself in annoyance.
He decided to distract himself by looking back over to Vanellope to see where she was at in her line.
The food line she was in had all but almost disappeared. But Ralph was shocked to find Vanellope wasn't standing up at the window.
Looking around, he found she was still far back, almost where she had been standing when she first got in line.
And three boys who Ralph had never seen before were standing around her... and were laughing about something.
Looking at Vanellope's face, Ralph could tell something happened- to her, in particular. She seemed very panickly about something, looking all around her as if she had lost something.
Suddenly, one of the boys, a boy with a backwards facing hat and obvious attitude, whispered something quickly to another boy, a boy with aburn hair. The latter boy and the over hearing other boy with a baseball hat, seemed obviously hestistant about something, as if the whispering from the other boy was risky or even wrong.
Ralph was about to walk over to see what was going on, when, out of seeming nowhere, the boy with the aburn hair pushed Vanellope down. Hard.
She fell backwards into a puddle of muddy water, scraping her arms against the pavement and staining her bathing suit with brown, nasty blotches of muddy water.
"Haha! Nice one, Danny!" The boy with the backwards hat laughed to the boy who had pushed her in the mud.
Humiliated, Vanellope sat still, in too much shock to even stand up. She blushed as the boy with backwards smirked down at her, almost demeaning her just by his face.
Ralph, for his part, watched it all unfold in front of him- and froze.
If there was one thing the giant couldn't stand, it was bullying of any sort.
And if there was anything he wouldn't tolerant, it was boys bullying girls.
But boys bullying Vanellope...
THAT was a little too much for Ralph to be able to handle.
He suddenly felt his eye switch. His muscles tense up. His massive hands form massive fists. His hot temper rising. His innate anger that would lead to some serious wrecking. He could feel it.
Full Plown Wrecking Mode Ralph was coming out. And fast- without even a second thought.
Ralph started fuming uncontrollably. His eyes flashed red. Anything and everything was now a target of his wrath.
He found his feet pounding the pavement hard as his heart was as he rushed over to the scene of Vanellope and the bullying boys.
The boys looked up to see a large -and obviously angry- man approaching them, looking like he was mad enough to explode.
Noticing his large hands forming intimidating fists, two of the three boys immediately backed away from Vanellope in fear. But the third boy, the one with the back facing hat and attitude, stood defiantly where he was, unfazed by the man's angry demeanor.
Ralph's angry approach didn't go unnoticed by Vanellope, either.
She could tell solely by his face- how bright red it was, along with the look in his eyes- that he was anger. More angry about what the boys had done to her than he had ever possibly been before. It made how angry he had been with her earlier look like nothing.
Vanellope also knew unmistakably that Ralph was about was about to go into full-plown wrecking mode.
Ralph charge forward, physical steam almost seen coming from his ears in anger...
But right when he was about to smash the three boys' skulls together, he stopped suddenly.
The smashing. The pounding. The red flash in his eyes and face. Everything seemed to pause for a minute, calmed down slightly.
Normally, Ralph wouldn't have tried to supress it all that much; it was in Ralph's original coding and programming to wreck things and to get angry in ten-seconds flat, after all.
But when he actually paused to think what the results of his actions could be before continuing on his rampage, Ralph found it might be best if he didn't pound these kids into pure code.
Ralph quickly realized that he was the only adult in this situation; everyone else were kids...so, yes, he could completely wreck these three brats into fragments- but he'd definitely end up in the Game Central Station Jail for it...
And be, once again, looked at as a monster, a mad villain...except on even an even worse scale- because then all the accusations made against him would be true.
He knew it was wrong to hurt any child, even they did hurt Vanellope...and he knew he could seriously hurt these brat of kids if he wasn't careful.
Thus, Ralph had to capture those destructive wrecking instincts inside and chain them up, no matter how much they would fight it.
And he needed to do so now- before they completely took over him.
Don't flip out, Ralph, he told himself as he continued to try to get a grip on his anger.
He knew it wasn't really for the boys, but for Vanellope he needed to do so.
Vanellope needs you to here be with her, not in some jail for hurting some stupid group of inmature boys, Ralph reasoned with himself as he closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath.
Stay calm, Ralph. Stay calm.
Surprising himself - and Vanellope- Ralph found himself slightly calmer, fuming less. The red on his face, a lighter shade. The killer look in his eyes, not flashing as much. His programmed wrecking instincts, weakening ever so slightly.
He had somehow able to capture it all and shove it all back into the deep, dark corner of his mind to be chained up and locked up.
But when he opened his eyes again and saw the three brutes standing in front of him and his poor little friend, still the mud, Ralph could feel the key that locked it all up start to turn a little.
"YOU!" Ralph bellowed, pointing at the boy who had pushed Vanellope.
"How. Dare. You. Push. Her." the wreckor forced every word to come out slowly, shocking Vanellope with his strong yet composed demeanor.
Is he actully trying to be calm? she wondered to herself.
The boy with auburn hair just shook slightly in response, never seeing a man quite as angry - or as big- as Ralph was before.
Taking another forced deep breath, Ralph then pointed to Vanellope.
"Get over there and help her stand up. NOW!" the giant then growled at the shaking boy.
When didn't move, one of those boys pushed the boy forward.
"C'mon, Danny," the boy hised to the one who had pushed Vanellope. "Go over and help her alrrady before that man kills you!"
The boy, Danny, stood there for a moment, too afraid to even move.
"Oh, what? You expect me to be the one to help her get up?" Ralph challenged suddenly, his hands balled up on his hips. "You're the one who pushed her, weren't ya? So you're going to be the one who is going to help her stand up, not me!"
Ralph then growled and pointed to Vanellope once more, emphasizing his point that he wasn't going to help her the way Danny should.
Hesitantly walking over and looking admittedly ashamed, Danny offered his hand to her. Vanellope, although shocked, gingerly took it and slowly stood up.
"Now, help her wipe off all the mud from her," Ralph added sternly to the boy.
Eyeing his friends wearily, Danny help Vanellope wipe the mud off her arms and back. Once done, the boy went and stood back by his friends, sensing the large man was going to expect more from him.
After shooting more daggers at the boys with his eyes, Ralph gently beckoned Vanellope to come over to where he stood waiting, his voice obviously softer than before.
As she approached him sniffling, he was relieved to see she was walking fine, appearing to have no broken bones or fragments. He peered over her with his eyes, seeing that she seemed to physically unharmed.
But as she approached him closer and closer, Ralph saw Vanellope was beginning to cry more painfully.
"What's wrong, kid?" He asked her gently as he knelt down on his knee to examine her more closely to further make sure she really wasn't physically hurt.
"He- he broke it!" Vanellope cried out tearfully as she melted before him, her heart clearly in pain.
Ralph was wrong; she had broken something.
Don't lose it, Ralph, he forced himself to think. Be calm. For Vanellope's sake.
He quickly and gently pulled her closer to him to hold her.
"Broke what?" he asked her extremely worriedly as he looked her over once more, afraid he had missed something.
"M-my necklace!" Vanellope shocked him by saying. "T-the one you made me! He grabbed it and b-broke it!" She added as cried painfully into her hands, weeping so hard her shoulders shook.
Ralph immediately felt himself tensed up.
The necklace, his mind echoed painfully. Her necklace. It means so much to her. It getting broken must hurt her- way more than any broken bone would've.
The wrecking instincts scratched at the containing lock in his body with anewed flared anger.
"Wait, which was the one who broke it, Vanellope?" Ralph asked her, growling outloud as his voice heightened even more.
"That one, A-Andy, I think," Vanellope turned and wiped her tears away as she pointed timidly to the boy with the base ball hat.
With one large hand reassuringly on her back, Ralph stood straight back up to his original towering and intimidating height.
"You!" He growled at the boy with the base ball hat, who shook with fear.
With his other hand, Ralph snapped his large fingers together and pointed to the ground.
"Get on your hands and knees and find every single one of those beads from her necklace... and the string. Now!" he instructed firecely.
The boy, Andy, somehow to find the guts to challenge the massive man.
"What?!" the young boy began to object, "Why would I-"
"You're not expecting me to find them, are ya?" Ralph interrupted sharply. "You're the one who broke that necklace in the first place, so you're going to find all those beads to that necklace, not me. Go find them! Now!"
Nervously, Andy then complied and on hands and knees, started searching for every bead and the string. One by one, he brought them over to Ralph and laid them in his massive, outstretched hand. Each bead-including the middle, heart shaped one- finally was found after a few minutes, which felt like an agonizing eternity for Vanellope.
When Ralph's hand was filled with beads (and the string), Andy silently went and stood over by his friends once again as Danny had done.
Ralph narrowed his eyes at the three young boys in front of him, hopefully teaching them lesson. He was now merely ashamed of their behavior...
But proud of his.
The wreckor had somehow successfully controlled his anger and wrecking instincts. Those usually uncontrollable instincts were now quietly sitting tucked away in their dungeon, all but clearly behind and away from the lock that contained them.
Ralph could successfully handle a situation without wrecking things, with a little reasoning beforehand.
But still, one thought bothered him. And he needed to know the truth.
"Now...Whose whole idea was this in the first place? Huh?" Ralph demanded calmly, eyes jumping from each boy to the next.
All three boys just stood quietly for a minute afraid to answer him.
After a few minutes, Danny finally cracked.
"Aw, c'mon Jack!" his hissed beside him to the boy with the backwards hat.
"Yeah, admit that it was all your idea and apologize already!" Andy added as he shoved the boy named Jack by the shoulder forward where Ralph and Vanellope stood waiting.
"Shut up, scrubs!" The boy named Jack hissed back as he rolled his eyes and fixed his messed up sleeve. "I ain't apologize for nothing."
He glared tauntingly up at Ralph, clearly unfazed by the man's large size.
"Especially not to some giant's ugly daughter," the boy hissed rudely.
One of Ralph's eye twitched, his face flushed red.
His mind didn't catch the 'daughter' part of that comment...
But it certainly did the 'ugly' part.
Wait...did this boy really just call Vanellope ugly after all he's done to her?!
Ralph started panying, his anger flaring back to life. He could feel the wrecking instincts inside him come roaring back to life, wrecking the lock completely as their prison cell door swung wide open.
Forget the reasoning, the second guessing.
Ralph couldn't successfully handle a situation without wrecking at least once.
There was no doubt it- this brat of a boy was about to get a major wrecking.
