Hi, everyone! Hope everyone's had a Happy Thanksgiving! We are officially in the last 5 chapters! Thanks to everyone who's been with me for the past two years that I've been working on this project. I never thought I would reach the homestretch of this story. Seriously, who would've thought? I told you all I would be seeing this story to the end, and now it's going to happen. That being said, everyone enjoy the last five chapters.
Chapter 51
"Ralph, it's me!" Vanellope began to reach out to him. "I'm going to give you a chance to remember. Otherwise, I'll have to stop you, which I don't want to do. So help me out here, Stinkbrain!"
Ralph lunged at the princess, who jumped out of the way. Vanellope's fists crackled with blue bolts, ready to pummel the Bad Guy if need be.
But T.K. jumped in after dropping an unconscious Calhoun, and whipped her across the feet, knocking the lead racer to the ground. The succubus raised her whip for another attack, with Ralph aiming a punch at Vanellope.
Vanellope rolled out of the way just in time, responding with a stream of blue lightning that struck Ralph and T.K. full force. Ralph was sent flying into T.K.'s throne, and the succubus stumbled to her knees.
"Bitch!" T.K. growled, picking herself up. She raised her whip for another attempt, but Vanellope hurled a second stream at the succubus, this time sending her into her throne, where Takuya was still chained.
"Ralph, don't make me have to keep going! I can kill you if you have to, but I don't want to! Please remember!" Vanellope pleaded. She stared into the Bad Guy's blank brown eyes and still saw nothing but obedience to T.K.
It showed when the wrecker threw another punch at Vanellope, who dodged it. The president responded with more blue lightning, a more powerful stream that electrified Ralph. This time, he collapsed, and when he attempted to get up again, Vanellope pinned him to the ground, gripping his arms and staring into his eyes. Ralph struggled constantly, but Vanellope maintained her hold, for once thanking User that Ralph was weakened bythe virus. She had to make another attempt, at least one final attempt to reach out to Ralph.
"Ralph, you don't want to do this. I know you don't want to do this. You hate T.C. just as much as everyone else. You don't even like her anymore. You hate her guts." Vanellope never took her gaze off of Ralph, who cocked his head to one side like a confused child.
"I..." Ralph mumbled.
"Do you know who I am, Stinkbrain?" Vanellope continued to push. "We met in Sugar Rush. We kicked King Turbutt's butt together."
"Sugar Rush? King Turbutt?" Ralph repeated. "Turbo... Going...Turbo..." The Bad Guy tried to put the pieces together.
"Yeah, that was when you met me."
"Vanellope..." the Bad Guy said.
"Yeah, that's it, Ralph." Vanellope felt a little hope for the Bad Guy. "It's me, President Vanellope von Schweetz."
"President...Vanellope..."
"You taught me how to drive and helped me get back my kingdom. And Taffyta and everyone respected me again. Ralph, you taught me how to be myself!"
Ralph's eyes widened as he took a double take at Vanellope. He scanned her adult form up and down while trying to put together the whole picture of the memories buried by Takeru.
"Vanellope?" Ralph finally asked, making sure he was looking at the right character. Life returned to his brown eyes.
"Yup, it's little old me, Major Bodyodor."
"Vanellope!" Ralph pulled the princess into a hug. "Kid!" Then he looked around at the ruined Game Central Station, the fighting, the dropping cages, and the chained Takuya along with the recovering T.K. He stopped at the unconscious Calhoun. "What happened? And why am I here? How did I get here?"
"Long story, Ralph." Vanellope hugged him back, then pecked him on the cheek.
"Kid!" Ralph pulled back, flustered. "I didn't know you were that glad I was back! What's gotten into you?"
"That's a good question, Ralph."
Ralph and Vanellope turned to see an enraged Takeru snapping her whip. She'd recovered her footing, and her emerald glare blazed at the duo. The princess returned to her feet, helping her friend do the same.
"Get behind me, Ralph," Vanellope instructed. "You're a little weak."
The wrecker shook his head, staying by the president's side. "No way, kid! I'm helping!"
"But you just broke free, Stinkbrain!"
"Yes, I'd listen to the little cavity if I were you!" Takeru growled. "And speaking of the cavity, you're going to pay for what you did to my Ralph!" She raised her whip, a wild expression on her face.
"Vanellope!" Ralph jumped in front of Vanellope.
"You will not, T.K.!"
Both characters looked up to see the succubus frozen in a silver aura. T.K. tried to move but couldn't. Ralph and Vanellope glanced over her to see Sora and a liberated Takuya who was holding the unconscious Calhoun.
"White Hair!" Vanellope greeted the witch.
"Sora," T.K. hissed.
"Takeru, you will stop your tyranny at once!" Sora demanded.
"Hardly, hag. Have you forgotten I still have the key?" The succubus struggled, against Sora's spell but the spell didn't give. "And that my virus is at work?"
"Why does that matter now?"
T.K. chuckled. "Just look around you."
Ralph, Vanellope, Takuya, and Sora surveyed their surroundings, where they saw the free characters collapsing one by one.
"What the...?" Takuya wondered.
"You're surprised, are you not, Takuya?" T.K. sneered. "Surge is doing what he's supposed to be doing. He's injecting my viruses into everyone in this arcade." Then she noticed the gradual pace of the process, grimacing. "But not quick enough. My soldiers are still getting picked off. Can he not move a little faster?"
"You're not going anywhere!" Sora poured a little more energy into her skull, keeping T.K. still, but then she felt a dizzy spell come over her. Her hold on the succubus was starting to falter.
Takeru felt her limbs twitch. "At least he's hitting the important victims."
"What's wrong?" Ralph asked, he and Vanellope hurrying to her.
"I just feel weak, all of a sudden," the witch responded, collapsing to her knees. She grabbed her head, dizziness overcoming her. "Like I've had about a dozen vodkas."
"I'm sure you had more than that before and haven't passed out," Takuya said dryly. "Back in the day."
Sora shot her a dirty glare as Vanellope tried to help her to her feet but found difficulty.
"Don't worry about me." The witch waved away the president. "Just take care of T.K."
But when Vanellope and Ralph turned around, Takeru was gone.
"What?" Ralph wondered. "Where'd she go?"
"I don't know..." Vanellope glanced around for the succubus, but T.K. was nowhere to be found.
"I think I know where she scurried off to." Takuya laid the unconscious Calhoun next to the throne. "Snow and I followed her, Surge, and Ralph there." She regarded Sora. "Sora, watch over this woman." The siren gave Tamora to the witch. "Penelope, Ralph, come with me. Well, just Penelope."
"It's Vanellope," the princess corrected.
"And I'm coming with you two," Ralph said.
"Again, Stinkbrain, you're still recovering from T.K.'s spell," Vanellope pointed out. "She probably fried your brain."
"Good looking out, but I can hold my own even..." But a dizzy spell overcame the wrecker when he attempted to advance a step.
"Yeah, you can hold your own," the president mocked. "Sorry, but you're staying with the old crone."
"Hey!" Sora blurted out.
Ralph grumbled, then gripped Vanellope's shoulders. "You come back, kid. Hear me? Come back!"
"I will, Ralph," Vanellope assured him. "Don't worry."
...
Surge was glitching in and out, swimming toward the clusters of characters in Super Mario Bro. Most of the characters were already infected, while others were not. T.K. wanted him to infect everyone in the arcade, leaving none behind. The arcade guardian had been busy doing just that, and it was making his already-weakened condition worse. But Surge had to press on, as her took the cord of a Koopa and one of Takeru's red panels and connected them, sending a stream of crimson from the virus to the character's code box. Red started to fill the panel, just as much as regret started to fill Surge's chest.
"Can you not work faster?"
Surge turned around to see Takeru entering the code room, diving in to join the arcade guardian. The succubus looked none too pleased as she wore a scowl.
"Ms. Nightrose..." the hologram began.
"Save it!" T.K. neared him. "Speed it up with my viruses! Ralph has broken free of my spell, and I was almost overpowered by that glitch and Sora. I need more cohorts to stop them; the others are occupied by the rebels!"
This is as fast as I can go," Surge said. "Considering my condition. I'm feeling like I'm ready to...faint." The hologram slumped, struggling to remain standing, but his body felt heavy.
"I don't care if you have to kill yourself to do it. I'm sure you can speed things up if you can sacrifice your life."
"There's one problem with that, though," Surge explained. "If I die, the arcade goes out."
"Hm, is that so?" Takeru stared at him, then her lips curled into a smirk. "Well, then, what if I combine the key with your energy and continue to plant my malware?"
"What...?"
But Surge had no time to think about that, as Takeru gripped Surge by the neck, causing him to rapidly blink in and out until he disintegrated into blue code and entered T.K.'s body. Takeru glowed with blue energy, light blue bolts crackling along every inch of her body. The succubus looked down at her hands, whip, and the rest of her body.
"So much power. Surge has been holding out on me all along." Takeru then turned to the clusters of panels, specifically the untouched ones. "Now to finish what the slowpoke started."
"T.K., stop!"
The succubus turned to see Vanellope and Takuya entering the code room. She scowled in disgust.
"Stop this right now, Takeru!" Takuya demanded.
"I'm afraid I can't do that." T.K. narrowed her eyes. "And how in the fuck did you follow me?"
"Does it matter, T.B.? Vanellope's fists crackled with blue bolts. "You're going down, lady."
T.K. chuckled. "I highly doubt that."
