Chapter 26-Secrets Unveiled.
Dash walked out of the warehouse and down the sidewalk with his head down and tears pouring out of his eyes.
"Speed Demon!" he heard someone calling. He looked and saw everyone else running over.
He struggled crying before he shouted, "Mom!" and ran into Elastigirl's arms.
"What's wrong, Speed Demon?" asked Elastigirl as her son cried on her shoulder.
"Vanellope found out who I am! She threw our friendship away!" he said between sobs.
"Not again." Eric said before he thought about something, "Speed Demon, did you find out who the leader was?" he asked.
"It was Rancis. He's the one who took Vanellope." the young Super said.
"That little rat? Surprising, but it makes sense." Calhoun said before she realized something.
"Speed Demon, you said Vanellope ended your friendship. She never said anything about a friendship with one of the Incredibles and you've never met Rancis. Unless…" she said.
"Look, it's none of our business, but, who are you?" Felix asked.
The young Super looked surprised at the question before he looked at his parents.
"It's all right." Elastigirl said before she and the others grabbed their masks, showing they'd do it with him for support. Speed Demon nodded before the four family members peeled off their masks, showing their true faces. Calhoun, Felix and Ralph's mouths fell open in shock.
"The Parrs?!" Felix asked.
"You're the Incredibles?!" asked Calhoun.
"No way!" said Ralph.
"Now, do you understand why we said our work was classified?" asked Helen.
"Jiminy Jaminy...THIS IS TOO GREAT!" said Felix with a wide smile.
"Huh?" the heroes asked.
"We're best friends with the Incredibles themselves! Who would've thought?!" Calhoun said.
"You're not mad we kept it secret?" Bob asked.
"No way, we're honored!" Ralph said.
"That's great! Except…" Eric started.
"Except what?" Felix asked.
"Well, Agent Dicker over there works for the National Supers Agency. Any time a Super is seen in their civilian identity, he has to wipe their memories of them. It's like that person never even met the person they saw." Eric explained.
"Not this time, Eric." said Rick, "I can tell how good friends they are with them, so I won't do it as long as they can keep their identities secret."
The three nodded, showing they had their word.
"Dash, you said you found Vanellope. Where is she, and what caused that red mark on your cheek?" asked Violet.
"She slapped me and called me names before she ran out of the warehouse. As for Rancis, he got away." Dash said with his head down.
"It's okay, Dash. She couldn't have gone far. We just gotta look for her." Frozone said.
Afterwards, they wandered around the warehouse district, calling for Vanellope, only to get no answer. After about an hour, they regrouped.
"No luck." said Mr. Incredible.
"Same here." Felix said.
"Man, she could be anywhere." Helen said.
"Wait, I've got an idea!" Ralph said.
"What is it?" Eric asked.
"If we leave out a trail of candy, we'll lead Vanellope right to us!" Ralph said.
"All right! Let Operation Candy Land begin!" Mr. Incredible said.
A little while later, Vanellope was walking around the warehouses grumbling about Dash when she saw a candy bar on the sidewalk.
"Hey!" Vanellope said before she picked it up and saw another one and picked it up. She followed this trail of candy all the way back to the warehouse she had been kept in, not noticing the box in front of her or the rope attached to the stick under it. Eric and the others were around the side, waiting for her to go under the box.
Once she did, Eric pulled the string, successfully trapping her, "Gotcha!" Eric said before everyone ran over and Calhoun lifted the box and hugged Vanellope tightly.
"I'm so glad you're okay, you little cavity!" Calhoun said before Felix hugged her and she leapt and gave Ralph a hug. However, when she noticed the Incredibles, her expression turned sour.
"What are they doing here?" Vanellope asked.
"Vanellope, we need to explain to you why we kept our identities secret, especially me." Dash said.
"I don't want to hear it, Dash!" Vanellope said as she jumped down and pushed Dash on the ground.
"Vanellope von Schweetz, either stop that and listen, or no trips to Litwak's Arcade or Game Central Station for you for a month!" Calhoun said in a strict tone.
Vanellope sighed, "Fine. Go ahead with your explanation." she told Dash.
"You see, as I'm sure you know, being a superhero means we have to have a secret identity. Just because you're my best friend doesn't mean I can just go telling you anything I want. The reason why is because if you were to find out my secret identity and a bad guy was to find out that you knew, he could kidnap you to get to me or my family. Not only that, and this may not seem like a big deal, but there would also be video cameras and news crews all over our front yard, as Mom says." Dash said. As he spoke, Vanellope's expression changed slowly from bored to surprised.
"Not only that, but our family and friends could be used against us if a villain found out they knew our secret identities and then got a hold of them and threatened to hurt them. Like I said, Vanellope, I know I'm your best friend, well, former best friend, but that doesn't just mean I can go telling you every one of my secrets, because it is true that they say some secrets are better left untold. Vanellope, what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry. I know I was an idiot not to tell you about my secret identity, and for that, I'm sorry." Dash finished.
"And?" Vanellope, who had grown a surprised expression which was now an arrogant one, prodded.
"And a numbskull." Dash said.
"And?" Vanellope again prodded.
"And a lousy, cheap, selfish diaper baby." Dash said.
"And?" Vanellope once again prodded.
"And a stinkbrain." Dash said, finally having had enough.
"The second stinkiest brain ever." Vanellope said with a smile before she walked over to him.
"Dash, listen, I'm sorry for slapping you, calling you names, and yelling at you the way I did. Now, I get it. It wasn't right for me to judge you like that. Still wanna be my friend?" Vanellope asked, earning her a surprised look from Dash, who smiled with tears in his eyes before he gave her a hug that she gave back.
"Thank you, Vanellope." Dash said with tears rolling down his face.
The other heroes smiled before they started clapping. Afterwards, Vanellope looked at Dash with a sad smile.
"In fair honesty, I didn't have a right to be mad at you when we've been keeping secrets from you this whole time too." she said, surprising the others except for her family.
"Well, they had to find out sometime." Felix said before his family walked over to the Parrs.
"We probably should've told you sooner, but since you told us your secret, it's only fair that we tell you ours. We're not actual people with special abilities. We're characters from video games in Game Central Station." Felix said.
"What do you mean?" asked Elastigirl.
"Remember the blue hologram like man you saw the last time we invited you to Game Central Station? That was the Surge Protector. He's the guardian of it. Before we moved outside, I was a commander in a game called Hero's Duty, where the player has to shoot Cy-Bugs in order to get to the top of a tower to win a medal." Calhoun said.
"I'm the main hero of Fix-It Felix. Jr. My golden hammer fixes anything like magic that Ralph breaks." Felix said.
"Why does Ralph break stuff?" asked Violet.
"Believe it or not, and please don't attack me, but I'm actually the bad guy in Fix-It Felix Jr. But, I'm not a bad bad guy. I'm just like that in the game. In reality, I'm actually very nice. As the other bad guys say, "I'm bad and that's good. I will never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me." I don't let my bad guy nature define who I am." Ralph explained.
"I was a racer in Sugar Rush, a candy-themed racing game, which explains my fascination with candy. But, once a bug named Turbo came into the game, he rewrote the code so that I was an outcast. Treated like I just didn't belong. But, once Ralph and these guys came along after Ralph tried to be a good guy by getting a medal and helped me win a race and stop Turbo, it all went back to normal." Vanellope said.
"We got curious as to what life was like outside of Game Central Station and asked the Surge Protector to give us the ability to leave Game Central Station, so that's what he did to our family and Rancis'." Felix explained.
:Okay, but what about the jobs you said you had?" Mr. Incredible asked.
"We actually have them." Ralph said.
"Huh. Well, we can't be mad at you for keeping that from us. Only fair since you weren't mad at us for keeping our identities secret." Violet said with a smile before the two families high-fived.
Meanwhile, back at Game Central Station, in the Transformers game, Ratchet had gathered all of the inhabitants together for a science demonstration.
"And now, I will demonstrate what these two specimen are capable of." Ratchet said as he gestured to two syringe vials on the table as the audience clapped. One was filled with a black liquid, the other one with a red liquid. However, as she watched, Cream the Rabbit noticed behind the glass, a hand come from behind the desk and grab the two vials. She got up and ran towards the glass.
"Cream, you have to get back to your seat." Ratchet said.
"Sorry, Mr. Ratchet, but I thought I saw someone else in there." Cream said before a large red and black clawed hand broke through the glass and grabbed her by the throat, alarming everyone else.