Disclaimer: "Wreck-It Ralph" and all characters related to the movie belong to The Walt Disney Company, and/or their respective gaming companies. Wreck-It Ralph was created by Rich Moore, Phil Johnston, and Jim Reardon. Level Up! and any characters not associated in their own respective franchise belong to Berserkeroo. All rights reserved.
(A/N: Sorry for the long time it took to post this. I've tried writing it as much as possible, but I've had finals, one of which I'm sure murdered my grade in that class, but I digress. I've been busy moving home today too so I've wrote the remainder of this chapter the night I finished my final so it would be ready by the time I get home. Here's the chapter, hope you guys enjoy.)
"Danger lies up ahead..."an elderly voice echoes. The entirety of the sugary lands were on fire. Everyone was screaming as many fled from the game in fear. Vanellope was fleeing her game with her friends until a scream came from above head. "Help me!" Candlehead shouted with tears staining her face. An elongated coleopteran with oozing green saliva cut off her path. Almondandro took his ice cream cone mace to come to her aid.
"We need to vacate fast. They're coming!" Roxas said as he surveys the area. "I'm not leaving her! Just go!" Almondandro shouts as he bashes the creature's skull in. Candlehead lands in his arms before he sets her to the ground. The skies faded from blue to red. "Vanellope!" she could hear her name being shouted. She looks over to see Ralph rushing over with his clothes tattered.
The group sprints until they get to the gate of the game. Candy citizens were still running away from the impending dangers. Everyone makes their way through the gate; Roxas took point to lead the way out followed by Taffyta, Candlehead, Snowanna, Almondandro, Swizzle, and then Ralph made his way out. "Come on!" he shouts as Vanellope watches her home fall to ruin. With a bereft sigh she runs for the gate until she's hit with a barrier. Shock immediately falls upon her face as she pushes against the shield, but to no avail. She turns her back to the sound of loud tromping steps. "Oh no, oh no, oh no..." she mutters in a mantra.
Another slim coleopteran slinks upon the girl as she starts to glitch. This one was different as it had someone riding upon its head. The being was shrouded, but a sinister golden smile pierce through the inky silhouette. "A new enemy will rise from the ashes of the old," the same voice echoes as the creature is but a hair away from her face. It reared back its head before making its strike. She let out a scream as her fate was now sealed.
Vanellope was still screaming as she thrashes about in her sheets. Someone or something was trying to shake her awake, but they were met with a fist to the face. She wakes up in a start as she takes in that she was safely in her room. A sigh of relief escaped her as she tries to calm herself down. A groan came from the floor. She glances down to the floor to see that Sour Bill was holding his face in a fetal position. "Oops. Sorry Sour Bill," she apologizes.
Sour Bill mutters something she couldn't make out too clearly, but he shook off the pain. He glances up at the now awake president. "I just came to wake you up for the morning," he droned. "I don't see why. I'm not on the roster today," she said as she stretched her arms upward. "You still have to eat plus your parents wanted you to handle some of the duties today since they're racing today. Also, Ambassador Popper wanted to see you when you're done. He said something about training," he said with a platonic look on his face.
"Ode to joy," she mutters with false jubilation. A thought went through her head. "I have the day off after this. What should I do?" she ponders. It could wait until she finished her duties for the day. A small chuckle erupts from her as she replays the humorous play on words.
Vanellope finishes her chores with ease, and heads out to the castle courtyard to find Roxas standing in wait for their lesson. He seemed acutely interested in his manicure until he noticed her presence. "Afternoon Your Majesty," he gives her a curtsy. She took that opportunity to hit him while his head was bowed, and she would have succeeded too if he didn't block her hand. "Rule one Your Majesty, never lower your guard," he chides with a smirk. The young president quirks her brow at her instructor.
Roxas poises himself in an erect stance. He paces a few steps back before addressing her. "Oh I've got a treat for you on our next lesson. I've decided to take Taffyta as a pupil too. I think it would be fair for you to spar someone on your own level to reenact what you've learned more than having me throw you flat on your butt," he chuckles. She sticks her tongue out at the arrogant teen, but she could understand his point.
The ambassador smirks at her expectantly. "We have until closing time for you to practice. Now lets begin. We'll start with defensives, to be more precise; your ability to be flexible." His hands sway about in a circular motion before enticing the body to follow in their path. He leads his hand through the gap between his legs before placing his palms firmly on the ground and striking a balancing pose with his back arched. His crimson eyes went to her. "By the end of our practice you'll be this flexible... or a pretzel."
Vanellope was leaning more towards her becoming a pretzel before being able to stand on her palms in that position. If the arcade had a god, she wished that they would have mercy on her back.
Vanellope was rubbing her lumbar region with mild irritation. "And I thought Sarg could drill a person," she stretches her spine until it popped. To her relief it soothed the pain. Much better. She decided that now was a good time to start walking. Roxas recommended her to condition her muscles for extensive workouts so that they don't have to bring their sessions to a close early like they did today. The gate Fix-It Felix Jr.: Extended came into view. The Surge Protector was with Cyril Zombie this time so she took her time entering the game.
A few of the Nicelanders acknowledged her as she enters their game while they're taking their leave. She walks around the town to look for her partner in crime, but couldn't find him. "Where is he?" she mutters.
Ralph was placing some of the collectable coins from the new gameplay into his pockets. He notices that Vanellope was up the road looking around for him so he decides to go to her. "Hey squirt," he calls out.
Vanellope grins before running to the large villain for one of her infamous pounce-hugs. As she nears him she notices that he was in his younger form. "Right. You can't do that with him anymore." She immediately stops about a foot away from him. "Hey pal o'mine," she gins with an extended hand.
Ralph quirks an auburn eyebrow at the change of her greeting, but it didn't bother him much. He takes her extended hand and shakes it, but unknown to her the young wrecker had a backup plan. He shifts his hand to grab her by the wrist and brings her into a hug. "A for effort, but I still get a hug," he laughs. Vanellope's eyes grew large at the sudden action, but she gradually accepted it and hugs him back.
After being released she glances around for any sign of Felix. "Where's Hammer Time?" she finally asks since she couldn't find him. Ralph had to resist the urge to laugh at that nickname. Felix would never live down that night at Tappers. "Gene made an appointment with Dr. Mario and he couldn't reschedule so Felix is attending one of those multi-game representative meetings in his place with Calhoun. I'm surprised that you're not going," he asks with suspicion. "Well since my parents are king and queen, they are handling more of my old responsibilities so I've got more free time these days," she explains. Her eyes glance up at him. "So what's the plan for the day?"
In all honesty, he didn't know. He was planning on drinking at Tapper's for most of the day and enjoy a well-earned day of rest. Today was going to be a day of spontaneousness for them since she came out of nowhere. "Well since we don't have Tammy and Felix, why don't we do some real game-jumping today? Lets go through the outlet to the home consoles Litwak keeps on the other side of the arcade," he offers. Vanellope can't say she saw that suggestion coming, but she agrees to it anyways.
It was a long trek across Game Central Station, but they reached the port that would lead them to the other section of the arcade — to Game Boreal Station. The walk wasn't that bad, at least not from Vanellope's perspective since her favorite spot in the arcade was also her mode of transportation most of the way. She slides down from his shoulders and dusts off her cocoa-colored wrapper skirt.
The pair walks up to the glowing grand archway that reads Game Boreal Station. They take their seat in the massive train. On the way coming in a few characters were taking the opposite lane on the way in to GCS. A bright white light temporarily impairs the two before showing the bustling cerulean station. GBS was quite similar to GCS, even down to a rather annoying Surge Protector trying to put a damper on everyone's mood.
"Unbelievable. Nowhere is safe," Ralph comments as the blue coded woman stops the entire Sly Cooper gang from taking another step forward. She asks them the standard set of questions in her default programming. "Come on static diva, you're crampin' our gang's style. Can't we just live and love baby? Everything will be sleek and sweet if you let us go surge sister," Dimitri said throwing his various hand signs as if to emphasize his point. "Say what now?" she asks with a confused look. "I think he basically means that we'll be on our best behavior and that we won't steal anything... yet," Sly silently added the latter. The female Surge Protector let out a sigh, but let the gang of vagabonds go to do as they please.
The visitors to the region try to slip by the woman while she was busy, but she made quick work of hassling the newcomers. "This place won't get many visitors with you harping everyone you know," Vanellope informs her. "It doesn't matter so long as I keep this place safe and do my job now answer my questions," she states deadpan. The president wanted to throttle her for the bark in her tone, but knew it wouldn't be any use. They quickly went through the procedure before being left alone by the blue she-devil. "I'm starting to miss our Surge," she comments.
They gaze at the various gates that lead to console sub-regions. "How about we try the Wii gate. It looks like it might be fun," Ralph offers with a shrug. Neither of them had anything better to go off of so they went through the gate.
Several game file-gates were active in the Wii sub-region. Vanellope grabs his arm to get his attention. "Dude they stole Tammy's game!" She points at a gate that reads Call of Duty. Ralph held an astounded look, but he knew that some games were bound to repeat in gameplay; he just silently hoped that the game wouldn't result in Hero's Duty getting unplugged. He scans the area a little more to find a decent game for their first visit — and then he found it. Brunswick Pro Bowling.
"Bowling? Are you serious," Vanellope asks with scrutiny. "It's fun, safe, and we've never done it before," he reasons. Well she couldn't really fault him on his reasoning behind it. They weren't at home and it wouldn't be wise to foolishly test unknown waters. "Fine," she shakes her head as they walk in to the gate.
Soft competitive music plays in the background as the two walk into the bowling alley. A man was polishing one of the balls until he notices the pair. He's never seen them before so he decided to do his job and show them to the equipment. "Hi, my name is Paul and I'm the owner of the bowling alley here. This is the only area we allow for characters since we don't want them unlocking levels for the players. Over here is where you can get your shoes." He walks over to the counter. "Size sir?"
Ralph looks at his bare feet. "Uh, I don't wear shoes." Paul tisked at this. "I can't let you on the floor if you don't wear bowling shoes. It's a hazard and you might mess up the lanes pretty badly if you don't," Paul explained as he peered over the counter to clarify that the man did indeed lacked shoes. "I'm going to guestimate and say you're around a size sixteen," he says, pulling out a large pair of shoes.
Paul looks up and down at Vanellope before glancing down at her feet. "I wear a size 9½ Paul," she calls to his attention. "Right, so that'll equate to a size 7½ ," he responds before pulling out her respective size. "Balls are over on the rack near the lanes. Feel free to experiment with the weight and have fun you two," he gives Ralph a thumbs up with a wink.
Ralph's eyes grew large at the encouragement, but he tries to hide it. After Felix lectured him last night, he didn't want to try to spark any of his hormones again. "Keep control. Keep control..." They both fiddle with the weight of the bowling balls before finding a size that would suit their strength. Soon after, they find themselves on the floor setting up their respective scoreboard. Being the gentleman that he is, he offered for Vanellope to go first.
Vanellope lets out a breath before rolling the ball. They both watch as the ball goes down the lane and then straight into the gutter. "Oh fudge bunnies," she mutters before leaving for Ralph to take his turn. "It's not like you're instantly good at a game on the first try Vanellope," he comments before rolling the ball down the lane. It was a perfect strike. "It's not like you're instantly good at a game on the first try Vanellope," she mocks in a masculine voice.
Ralph rolls his eyes at the comment before leaving the girl to have her turn, which she manages to at least hit a few pins this time. He smiles as she cheers at her victory, however little it may be.
They continue their game with Ralph having a darn near flawless victory in the game. Vanellope didn't really hold any contempt since she could handle losing with dignity and grace, but it didn't help her ego that she barely got into the double digits either. "Want to play another round? I can help since I seem to be pretty good at this," Ralph offers. "Well of course I would. It involves knocking things over," he mentally chuckles. "Eh, I'll bite," she shrugs before taking her ball.
Vanellope positions herself to get ready to roll her ball. "See that's your first problem; you're leaning your weight too much on the right. You're going to make the ball run straight into the gutter. So maybe if you weren't bent over like this," he repeats her pose, "... and positioned more like this," he positions himself with his feet placed firmly apart, "... maybe you'd hit the pin." His muscles rippled through his shirt and his biceps flexed quite impressively. She glances away for a moment, before deciding to take his advice. She shifts more of her weight to the left before rolling the ball down the lane — knocking down at least seven out of the ten pins. "Sweet!" she fist pumps the air.
She waits for her ball to return. The pristine purple orb rolls from the opening of the machine that retrieves the bowling balls. Vanellope shifts her weight again, but the ball goes straight in the gutter. "Son of a..." she snorts. "I just hit seven and now I'm in the gutter!" Ralph noticed how she was rolling the ball. "Repeat how you were releasing the ball." She looks at him questioningly, but does as she was told. Her cheeks were stained scarlet as he wrapped his form around her and morphed his arm to slide along hers. She felt a little lightheaded and then she remembered that she had to breathe. His large cupped the back of her hand and gently led her hand in the proper motion. She was sure he was saying something, but she was too distracted to listen.
Vanellope rapidly struggles out of his embrace with her face the equivalent of a strawberry. After she's certain that her face isn't flushed, she turns to her friend. "I think we can hold off on bowling. Maybe we can come back with Felix and Sarg or something," she said in a rushed voice. Ralph looks at her with mild curiosity, but decides to not get too hopeful and drop her behavior. "All right. How about we go to another game?"
"How about we go to Dance Dance Revolution?" She suggests. "But that's all the way back in GCS," Ralph states. "No, there's one I saw on the other side of the sub-region. Come on. It's DDR. It's fun, safe, plus we both can dance."
Ralph and Vanellope walks through the Wii sub-region until they come across their destination. They could actually hear the music from the tunnels. They ease into the booming club with quite a few people on the dance floor.
A spectrum was radiating off of the bright afro of a vivacious ebony girl on the dance floor. "Yeah baby! It may be hot in here, but I'm about to make you boys shiver at these moves," a familiar voice shouts over the crowd. The group was cheering on the girl as she showed off some of her new moves. "Snow? What is she going on this side of the arcade," Vanellope questions over with confused look. A small finger taps her onto her shoulder. "Candlehead?" The girl in question giggles at the bemusement on her face. "Hi Vanellope! You finally decided to join this neck of the wire I see." She eyes the sessile biker Almondandro who didn't look very interested in the club, but she knew that he was an observer and that's how he enjoyed scene in his own way. Her eyes slowly glance over to Wreck-It Ralph. "Oh you're here with Ralph. You two out on a date I see," she nudges her in the rib.
If Vanellope's face scrunched up any more she'd fear that wrinkles might permanently permeate her skin. "This isn't a date. Sarg and Felix are at Game Central Council so it's just us today," she replies.
Ralph glances over the crowd to find one of his Bad-Anon buddies dancing with the disco diva. Zangief notices his immensely tall comrade and walks over to him. "Ralph my friend, is good time to hang out in dance club no?" he pats him on the back. "Uh, no... yes? Maybe," Ralph replies with a hint of confusion. "I see you're with sugar princess tonight. Going to strut the moves for her right? I am doing the same with little snow bunny on the dance floor. She's very good at dancing. Makes it an art form; nice and sweet and sexy," he comments.
Without her dance partner, Snowanna decides to join Candlehead, who was with Vanellope. "Vanellope? Hey girl. Did know you knew about Wii DDR," she says before giving her a hug. She notices two large males chatting not that far away. "And you're here with your beau too? Work it Ms. President," she teases, which makes Vanellope the color of a cherry. "Oh guys stop. Ralph and I aren't dating and hopefully it can stay that way," she says quite firmly.
Snowanna and Candlehead glance at each other before looking at her. "A little defensive much?" Candlehead whispers in concern. "That or denial is more than a river in Egypt," Snowanna whispers back. "Well that just won't do now will it?" The two whisper out a plan before look at Vanellope who was giving them a look of conviction; she knew her friends were up to something.
Candlehead walks over to Almondandro before telling him the plan. He looks at her with a disapproving scowl, but he knew it was just for show. She pulls him out on the dance floor and they disappear into the crowd. This leaves Snowanna with Vanellope. "Okay something's bugging you about big boy over there so spill," she asks. "Snow there isn't any-" A tawny colored hand halted her from further protest. "Did you forget who your best friend was before Turbo had to mess things up? That's right, it's me. I know you better than the comb in my fro," she fluffs her hair.
Vanellope couldn't deny it, after all it was true. "There's a long list of things as to why I don't want to/shouldn't date Ralph," she pauses with a look towards the wrecker. "What if we don't work out? Things are already starting to change and I don't want to lose my best friend. On a worse note, what if he doesn't even see me that way and mom was wrong?"
She snaps back to her ever-patient friend who seemed intent on helping in anyway possible. "What if he still thinks of me as a kid. It's still a work in progress with Tammy and Felix treating me more around my age, so why would he be any different?" Deep down she believed that statement was a lie, but what if he was just being protective of her — as usual — and it was all just in her head? "If I said hey buddy o'mine, I think I might like you. We should try dating. Yeah that's going to go well. Daw, cute little Vanellope has a crush," she vents out.
Snowanna nods her head in understanding. "I can understand that, but that's why you've got to put your best foot forward and show him you're a woman. We may be sweet and cute as sugar, but we're not kids anymore. Quite a few of us liked characters outside of our game, and we thought that it would never happen since we were kids and that they'd always see us as kids, but look what happened. This is our chance and to be honest, all of us are taking full fledge advantage of it," she waves at Zangief. "You're with Zangief?" Vanellope asks, as she couldn't see how in Litwak's Arcade could she have gotten a crush on him. "We're a lot alike Vanny. We like our guys with a little muscle," she takes her eyes off of her eye candy.
Vanellope mentally bats away the unwanted — well it was wanted, but not right now — image from her head. She breathes out through her nose. If her face went red again, she was certain that her binary might rush to her head and she'd black out from numerical overflow. She hears snickering from Snowanna, who raises her hands in mock surrender. "Oh yeah, you like him." Her amethyst eyes went to the DJ booth to see if Candlehead had made it there yet.
Candlehead sifts through the crowd with the help of Almondandro. Her eyes went to Ralph and Zangief who were having an in depth conversation based on the way that they exaggerated their body gestures. She notices that Snowanna had managed to get Vanellope to come with her on the dance floor, which led Zangief to follow her like an excited puppy; and Ralph not that far behind. She whispers over to the male DJ who was bobbing his head to the syncopated beat of the new song.
The DJ glances her way with a questioning look. "After this song I have a request. This request is important. In a minute I need you to..." she whispers the song in his ear. "Lucky for you that a player uploaded that song on here little lady," he winks. A pair of vermillion eyes glare over at the flirtatious DJ. He recoils back as the biker takes her by the hand, kisses it, and leads her through the crowd.
Hot bodies were already on the dance floor either by themselves, with a partner, or with multiple partners. The music was fast paced and left little room for those who wanted to really cut loose. Crash Bandicoot spins around the dance floor with his own zany flare. Vanellope bumps into Ralph who was less than a hair away from her. She stumbles back a bit, but he secures her balance with one of his massive hands in the small of her back. Her breath hitched in the back of her throat as their eyes meet. Hesitation plagued his face, but she knew he wanted to say something. "I'm not setting myself up for this..." She pushes away from him before rushing out of the club.
Snowanna glances back to see that her best friend had fled the scene. She bit her lower lips as her plan hasn't even started yet and the girl just bolted. She stares at Ralph who was still a little confused and hurt on what just happened. She gave him a look that clearly stated: hey stupid, go after her! He seemed to get the point since he was shuffling through the crowd. Candlehead walks over to her. "What happened?"
"They were this close and she bails out," the afrocentric young woman exasperates. "But he went after her," Candlehead noted. "He needed a little motivation. These two are such a handful. I swear I would have pushed that big lug if I had to," Snowanna rolls her eyes.
The music was booming in the background as Ralph manages to catch up with Vanellope without much plight. He grabs her by her hoodie, instantly stopping her from making another step. She hated being grabbed by her hood; it reminded her of whenever she was going to get scolded when she was a kid. "Ralph let me go," she starts to slip through her jacket. A muscular arm grabs her around her abdomen to prevent her escape. "Will you talk to me? You're being so distant today," he asks.
Vanellope knew she wasn't going to get away from Ralph; one: he was faster than her, two: he was stronger than her, and three: she didn't want to get away. She halfway twists around so that she could look at the expecting wrecker. Her mouth opens and closes mechanically. Ralph quirks his eyebrow at her as she starts to cry. He couldn't say he saw this coming. "Uhm, Vanellope are you okay?" He wanted to smack himself for asking that. "Of course she's not okay you yutz, if she was she wouldn't be crying right now would she?"
He could hear her mumble something that he couldn't make out. "What?" She lifts her face to make herself clear. "I don't want to lose you Ralph," she states while glitching a bit. Okay his brain felt like it was going to go into shutdown mode. "Wait, wait, wait. What?! Vanellope, you aren't going to lose me. What makes you think that anything would take me away?"
Vanellope took a soothing breath. "It all started when those representatives came in. I was flipping out when I saw someone come in for Fix-It Felix Jr. Who knew it would have been for an upgrade? You're game is so vintage that I thought that it meant they were going to unplug your game or that they'd move it somewhere for weird hipster kids; I wouldn't see you guys again," she starts off, but she was nowhere near done. "Then I wake up in this," she gestures to her older form, "... and I thought that if I looked different then the programmers might have changed my personality and you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore — lucky for me that they didn't. When I saw that you came to visit and treated me the same, I thought that we were going to be just fine.
"Then it hit me! I'm older! We could all have so much more fun together now that I looked my game's age. Maybe we could do more daring game-jumping and I wouldn't be looked at like a kid who needs her friends to save her butt." She looks up at the always constant nighttime sky of the game to take a moment. "It's been great that you guys have been trying to treat me more my age, and I seemed content with that until I've had a conversation with my parents and then there was the staring that we've been getting in GCS..." Ralph flinches a bit. "Oh no. She's heard about the rumors," he mentally groans. Clearly, he wanted to say something, but he knew that she needed to get her point out first; for all he knew things weren't as bad as they seemed. "I've been talking with a few friends and my mom and they've been saying things..."
Ralph decided to play things safe and feign naivety. "What kind of things?"
"Things like dating, specifically you and I... dating," she finally blurts out. Ralph's face was close to staining red. He licks his drying lips. "And?" he nervously inquires. "I don't know if I want to; or better yet, I'm afraid to. I'm afraid of how we would change," she puts it more bluntly. The villain releases his held breath. "Nothing will change between us, even if we tried... dating," he says in a rushed tone. "You know if you wanted to." Vanellope glances up at him. "He's actually considered this? Holy smokes everyone's been dead on the money," she realizes. "But what if things don't work out? I've seen players break-up. Some of them become bitter and refused to be on the same side of the arcade. I don't want one of us so bitter towards the other to the point where we never want to see each other again. I wish we never had these stupid upgrades!" she whispers the latter.
Ralph finally pieced together all of her statements; she feared that if they dated, and things didn't turn out right, she'd lose her best friend. He couldn't fault her for that reasoning. "Then answer me this: have you ever hated me?" Vanellope quirks her brow at the question. She's never hated him — even when he crushed her kart — she could never bring herself to hate him. "No..." she confesses. "And I've never hated you. I could never hate you. You're too important to me and hurting you is something I'd never be willing to do," he clarifies. "But things will be different? We'll have to act different." Ralph had to chuckle at that. "I don't think so. I don't think I'd want a clingy little princess as a girlfriend," he teases. "Hey watch it Stinkbrain!" she puffs out her cheeks. "See, I like this Vanellope." The confession shocked both of them, making them both blush simultaneously.
"So are we dating?" she tries to clarify. "Let's take it slow; you know, come what come may," Ralph says as he thinks of the advice he's received from his friends. Vanellope thinks about Everlyn in that moment; which she thought was an awkward coincidence. "I'd like that," she hugs him. The auburn teen froze for a moment before returning the display of affection. He hears her chuckling a bit. "You know you've just set yourself up for more of my infamous pounce-hugs," she notes. "Can't say that it's a bad or unwelcomed thing now can I?"
The music from the club seemed to die down into a faint song, which they took as odd for a Dance Dance Revolution game; it was uncommon that they played softer music. The soft strums of a guitar started to play before the lyrics started to play.
Ralph looked at her. "Since we're already like this, care to dance?" he asks. "Sure," she replies. Little did the newfound couple know, they were being spied on. Snowanna squeals with excitement. "I am such a genius. Dancing always get the emotions flowing," she fist pumps the air. "Hey genius I didn't see you going through the masses to request to darn song," Candlehead notes with a scowl. "I'm a genius with a good co-genius. Happy?" she adds. "Very." The pair continues their observation of the two from one of the windows in Wii Dance Dance Revolution.
(A/N: See I told you guys that it'll come sooner than you think. You can all thank Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat for this. The song they were dancing to is the song collaboration by those artists called Lucky. Just finished moving in so I'll be resting for a while and maybe working on the next chapter tomorrow.)