Chapter 21-Bonding with Lucas
Later that afternoon, back at the Von Schweetz residence, Ralph and Vanellope were in the kitchen working on their math homework. As usual, Ralph struggled and Vanellope would usually be of assistance.
"…and that is the square root of 82." Vanellope finished explaining.
Vanellope's mother: Valeria who was just finished talking on the phone came over there to talk them.
"Vanellope, Lucas is over by the Muttonfudge residence playing with his friend Ness." Valeria said "Can you go walk over there and bring him back home for dinner?"
"You know, I can head over there and bring Lucas back home." Ralph suggested.
"That's very generous of you, Ralph, but you don't have to." Valeria replied.
"Please, it's my pleasure, Mrs. Von Schweetz." Ralph replied back.
Ralph walked over to the Muttonfudge residence to pick up Vanellope's 8 year-old brother Lucas which was just further down the street from the Von Schweetz residence. Vanellope's brother Lucas usually hung out with his best friend: Ness Muttonfudge. Even though Ness was Taffyta's younger brother, Vanellope and Taffyta were usually tolerant of Lucas and Ness being friends. As soon as Ralph rang the doorbell when he was at the Muttonfudge house, Taffyta answered the door.
"What are you doing here, Ralph?" Taffyta asked in a rude tone.
"I'm here to pick up Vanellope's brother Lucas." Ralph answered.
From that moment, Lucas and Ness walked to the door acting all giddy and noticed that Ralph was outside.
"See, Ness, that's the giant I was telling you about." Lucas explained.
"You're right, his face sure looks funny." Ness commented.
"Lucas, your mother says it's time to come back home for dinner." Ralph explained.
"See you at school tomorrow, Lucas." Ness greeted.
"I'll see you tomorrow too, Ness." Lucas greeted back.
As Ralph and Lucas were walking back home, Lucas was bantering on about his friend Ness and what they have done together. During that time, Ralph and Lucas were playing catch with a baseball. Ralph's throws were very light whilst Lucas' throws were hard. Lucas told a story about what he did with Ness at summer camp.
"…and then, when Ness came out from hiding by the tree, he ended up smelling like a stinky skunk." Lucas explained.
"Something tells me the stinky skunk incident was an improvement during camp." Ralph commented.
"Ness is like the only boy who talks to me." Lucas continued explaining "Everyone else thinks I'm too strange."
"It must run from the family then, doesn't it?" Ralph replied.
As they continued walking, Ralph accidentally walked into a nearby tree branch which broke after impacting him. Out of that reaction, Ralph exclaimed in pain and fell down which made Lucas laugh.
"You're funny." Lucas commented "I like you already, young giant."
"You know, I have a name." Ralph commented in reply "You can call me 'Ralph.'"
"I'm sorry…Ralph." Lucas replied.
"That's okay. You don't have to hide the fact that you are afraid of me." Ralph replied back.
"I'm not scared of you, I think you're amazing." Lucas corrected in an excited tone "Sometimes I imagine that you tower over everyone around you and making loud roars."
"That's great, Lucas." Ralph sarcastically commented.
After dinner time, Ralph walked into the garage and saw Lucas staring at his bicycle in a frozen state. Lucas did not move or speak, which made Ralph curious.
"Lucas, why are you staring at your bicycle?" Ralph asked.
"My mom is planning on giving away my bicycle since I've never been able to ride it." Lucas answered.
"Why haven't you been able to ride it?" Ralph continued asking.
"I'm afraid to get on it." Lucas continued answering "Every time I get on it, I always fall."
"Come on, just get on the bicycle, it's not that hard." Ralph replied.
Lucas then put on his helmet and proceeded to sit down on his bicycle. Lucas had his left foot on one of the pedals, but his right foot was still on the ground.
"Okay, you can put your other foot on it now." Ralph commented.
As soon as Lucas put both feet on the pedals, he soon began to lean and fall over on his right side, but Ralph caught him before he could fall. Ralph stood Lucas back straight up, but then began to lean and fall over his left side, and Ralph had to walk over and position him back straight back up. For the next few minutes, Ralph had to keep Lucas from falling on his sides which kept going on until Ralph held Lucas in the correct stance.
"Alright, here's what we're going to do." Ralph suggested "While you ride your bicycle, I'm going to hold you the entire time. Does that sound okay?"
"That's great." Lucas commented.
Lucas proceeded to ride his bicycle down his street and Ralph kept holding him to keep him from falling on his sides. During that time, Lucas kept bantering on as usual and Ralph reluctantly followed.
"So, how come you've haven't been able to ride your bicycle?" Ralph asked.
"Don't judge me for being slow, but no one has helped me ride it before." Lucas remarked.
All of a sudden, Ralph accidentally stepped on a large rock which made him exclaim in pain because he never wore any shoes. Ralph lifted up his foot and began to examine it, and noticed that there was nothing wrong. After looking at his foot, Ralph noticed that he just let go of Lucas. Ralph looked in front of him, and noticed that Lucas kept on riding his bicycle. Ralph then ran after him. Lucas turned around and noticed that Ralph was no longer holding onto him, making him nervous and shake.
"Lucas, you're doing fine!" Ralph shouted "Just stay perfectly calm and still."
Lucas stopped shaking and began to ride his bicycle all by himself, feeling so confident and began to pedal fast.
"Ralph, I'm finally riding my bike!" Lucas shouted.
"That's great, but you might want to slow down!" Ralph shouted.
Lucas turned around and noticed that there was a fence that was a few miles away from him prompting him to do whatever he could to stop. However, Lucas wasn't able to stop until his bike until it hit the fence. Lucas fell down, but didn't get hurt at all and stood back up. Ralph immediately ran over there.
"That was awesome!" Lucas exclaimed.
"You need to learn to take more control of your bike next time, kid." Ralph advised.
"I know, but I did great, right?" Lucas asked.
"Of course you did. Now come on, we need to head back home." Ralph replied.
Ralph and Lucas then walked back home together after bonding that afternoon. Ralph surprisingly enjoyed the time he spent with Vanellope's younger brother Lucas thinking that he was just like her in multiple ways because they were both high spirited and eccentric.