I Need a Hero
The big wrecker was treading the space before his simple hut on heavy steps, still feeling the weight of his decision on his broad shoulders. He held his half of his most treasured gift from Vanellope in his hands and kept eyeing it as he walked from one corner of his home to the other.
He was having mixed feelings. All that mattered was making sure that Vanellope was happy, and after all the selfish stunts he pulled, he knew he owed her this. But it might have permanently cost him his friendship with Tamora. He knew those two wouldn't have taken the news very well; heck, they cared every bit as much about Vanellope as Ralph did.
But how would they have felt if they knew how stuck Vanellope was feeling? It wasn't just the week before the steering wheel incident. It was for months. Maybe even longer, if Ralph bothered to pay a sliver of attention.
Tonight, something didn't sit well in his chest and it wasn't just because now he was going to spend his free time without his closest friend. Something was off.
And Ralph figured he was about to find out what exactly that was.
Frantic little steps were approaching him from miles away.
Ralph turned to see the little pumpkin-head Orangeboar flailing his arms wildly and heading towards his way.
"Ralph!" The little boy screeched. "I finally found you!"
Ralph bent down on one knee. "Slow down there, shortstop, what's got you in a-?"
Gloyd grasped the wrecker's large hand and yanked him forward with surprising amount of strength. "You got to come to Sugar Rush! It's Taffyta! She's trapped!"
The big man looked towards the game tunnel with his brows furrowed. "Say no more. Let's get moving."
...
They hurried through the tunnel, past Surge as he was doing his nightly patrols, and through the sugary atmosphere of the game. Ralph went through every worst-case-scenario in his head, but the situation that he was presented with was the last thing he could have ever expected.
Gloyd led him through the fondant halls and the burning marshmallow torches towards the chrome doors. Ralph looked down at him with his brow raised. "Kid, I don't think I'm going to fit in that tiny box."
Gloyd pressed the button rapidly and the two doors slid open. "We have to try. Taffyta's down there and she's probably freaking out."
And going forward from that day, Ralph was still unsure how he managed to stuff his entire bulky body into that tiny transporter - it was almost like it shaped itself around him while he stepped in - but he did it without crushing Gloyd's tiny body.
"Here we are." Gloyd said while the doors opened. Ralph ducked his head and was momentarily hypnotized by the glowing tubes.
He was about to ask what this place was, but he already assumed Gloyd hadn't the slightest idea, so he asked, instead, "How'd you kids find this place?"
The little pumpkin boy responded, "We were poking around the castle and we happened to arrive here."
"And... exactly why did you little sugar pills go snooping around?" Ralph was putting on his parental face when he said it.
Gloyd didn't answer. Whatever it was, Ralph thought it was nothing safe or good. The little boy ran forward down the hall to the awaiting gate.
"Rancis?"
The one with the Reese's cup on his head stood up. "Ralph! I'm so glad you made it!"
Ralph stomped forward, wide eyes gazing at the controller door behind the little blonde boy. "Don't tell me she's in there!"
From behind the door, a shrill voice called out, "Ralph! There's no time for a lecture! Smash through this door already!"
Ralph palmed his face. "Ay-yi-yi." He marched forward. "Stand back, boys. I'll take care of this."
He popped his large knuckles and punched a fist forward.
And the door did not budge.
"What...?"
He tired it again. The result was the same. Each time he banged his fist against it, a small spark of light reflected off the surface, like there was a shield of protection around it. Or a force field of sorts.
"Ralph?" Taffyta said. "What's the hold up? It's not rocket science!"
It didn't make any sense. Ralph could smash through any solid surface anytime, anywhere. Except apparently this unfamiliar door that he assumed didn't come with the rest of the game already.
"... I can't wreck it?"
He heard tiny hands knocking on the other side. "Are you serious?! Ralph! You've got to think of something! I can't be in here much longer! I'm starting to get dizzy!"
"Okay, okay, okay," Ralph ran his hands through his hair. "Let me think..."
What could have been through that door that Vanellope would have set up an anti-Ralph shield? It had to be Vanellope who set it up, because the castle was still her home. There might have been some important information that could not have fallen into the wrong hands, if everyone could have avoided it. Or maybe the entirety of the game's data.
And then it suddenly clicked in his head why the kids, specifically Taffyta, would have wanted to loiter around a place like this.
Mother Hubbard... If venturing through the Internet didn't give him a heart attack, these kids would.
He tried to remember what Vanellope told him during this one conversation that might have been the start of his insecurity.
...
They were sitting in the GCS before the arcade's opening hours, waiting for the sun to shine through the outlet.
"Here, Ham Hands." Vanellope said, handing him a piece of paper with several pen markings on it. "A little memento to remember me by."
Ralph eyed the paper suspiciously and took it between his thumb and index finger. "Something to remember you by? Don't tell me you're planning on glitching out of existence anytime soon, Baroness Booger-face."
Vanellope waved a hand. "Ah, Ralph, you bird brain, this isn't my will. You ain't getting rid of me that easily." She rested comfortable atop of his shoulder. "This is an emergency code in case you ever needed to get into my secret vault."
Ralph raised an eyebrow. "Secret vault? What are you going on about, kid?"
Vanellope sighed and rested her hands on her legs. "I've been thinking, the world's a dangerous place for a tiny little number like me. If anything happened to me, I want my bestest friend in the whole world to get all my good stuff."
Ralph wasn't expecting this out of his little friend. It was a bit of a morbid way of thinking, but it wasn't as if he hadn't considered the same thing. He would have been lying if he said he didn't still think about trying to get Vanellope out of Sugar Rush before the cy-bugs consumed everything in their path. But he didn't know where all of this was coming from.
"Planning on hitting the road anytime soon, President Pain in my Behind?"
He was expecting Vanellope to retort back to him with another insult, but she looked very serious in that second. Serious and determined. "What if we did?"
Ralph laughed. "Leave the arcade? Where'd we even go? If we don't have electricity, we don't set foot anywhere outside this outlet."
"I know, I know," Vanellope sighed. "But wouldn't it be cool to have an adventure outside of both our games?"
Ralph shrugged. "I guess. But that probably won't happen. Not unless we get a new game, or an upgrade."
The conversation was quiet while the sun was rising, but then Ralph presented the question, "What's in your secret vault that you don't trust anyone else to know about?"
"Well," Vanellope fiddled with her hands. "I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you this, but the whole gosh dang skeleton of my game is in that castle. I'm the only one that can get into it." She gestured towards him. "And now you got the rights to it. You're the luckiest guy in Sugar Rush right now, Grand Admiral Body Odor. You've got access to everything in my game."
Ralph tucked the piece of paper in the pocket of his overalls. "You have my word, your Sassiness, I'll make sure nothing happens to you that would make me have to take over your leadership."
Vanellope chuckled. "Okay, Mister."
And since then, Ralph has kept on his promise. Possibly went a little overboard, but regardless, he made sure she was safe at all times. And always by his side.
...
The wrinkled slip of paper was still in his overalls. He pulled it out and read the scribbled lettering and walked over to the controller.
"... down, down, down, up, A, B, A, B..."
It was Vanellope's special code to break into the vault door. There was a "clink" noise that sounded like a level-up, or a coin popping up. The controller door was still sealed but Ralph figured it was easier to crack into now.
"Stand back, Taffyta!" Ralph warned.
"Uh... okay."
He inhaled deeply, readied his fists, and used almost all of his strength to pummel through this door. The entire room shook from the impact and the controller was busted in. The door wasn't open yet, but there was progress. He did it enough times that the controller attached was sparking.
"Bah!" Ralph roared as he smashed a big enough dent to yank the door out of its hold. Ralph mustered enough strength to pull the busted-up controller out of its hold and stared into the dark abyss. It was incredible how one space can withhold so much information about an entire game console. If one of those pieces of the data went missing, the entire game could have lost its function.
He saw Taffyta floating in the distance.
"Ralph! Get me out of here!" She pleaded.
The big man snapped out of this trance he was in, held onto the edge of the door and reached out to her. He strained the muscles in his arm to be able to grab her and she pushed herself forward. Finally, her tiny hand was in his and he yanked her small body back.
As soon as they were back in the hall, the vault door reset itself and was back as if it hadn't been touched. The sound of a lock could be heard.
Ralph breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, now no more going through these places unsupervised, you never know when you might-"
And to his surprise, he was cut off by a pair of little arms wrapping around his neck.
"I thought I was done for!" Taffyta screamed in his ear and immediately began sobbing. "I'm so stupid!"
This was the first time ever since he'd known her that Taffyta had ever shared any moment of physical affection towards him. He was completely thrown off for a split second, but then he gently wrapped a cushion-sized hand over her tiny frightened body. "It's okay, kid. I got you."
...
While he escorted the three troublemakers back to their homes, Taffyta was content with sitting on Ralph's shoulder, like how Vanellope usually did. She hadn't said a word since they left the spiraling tunnel of danger. Her head was turned up towards the sky, deep in thought.
The two little boys turned to the wrecker and bowed their heads. "Thanks for helping us out, Ralph."
"Yeah," Gloyd said. "We couldn't have done it without you."
"Hey," Ralph lowered himself onto the ground. "If anything else goes haywire in this candy coated heart of darkness, you kids can always come to us. We'll be there."
Taffyta lowered her head and said nothing. Ralph carried her over to what he believed was her home, with its pink taffy walls and enormous roof with an octagonal window right above the door. Several strawberry lollipop trees decorated the sides of the grassy lawn, which smelled of watermelon-flavored gum strips. It was the second-largest residence here.
"Well," He turned his head to her. "Looks like this is your stop, kid."
Taffyta slid off his shoulder and started towards her home. "Thanks."
Ralph didn't think that he would need to bring it up - as he thought Taffyta had been through enough already - but he needed to know. He scratched the back of his head and asked, "I know it's none of my business, but... what were you kids doing in a place like that? That place has everything that's ever been apart of this game, so I don't see what reason you guys would have to hack into it."
Taffyta grasped her upper arm and looked down at the ground. It seemed Ralph's suspicions might have been right after all.
"You weren't trying to modify your code were you? Because, that's something not even the creators of the game could do without serious consequences."
She spun around. "No, of course not! I'm not a fool, Ralph. I just wanted to see what was behind that door, is all."
The wrecker wasn't buying this, at all. "Don't lie to me, kid. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but there's a little more behind this thick skull than meets the eye."
Taffyta held an arm up. "Ralph, I swear on my right hand that I did not try to mess with my code." She crossed her arms. "Does that even sound like something I could do? I'm just a regular kid here. I'm not Vanellope."
Ralph nodded. "Alright, alright. Just a concerned mentor here, that's all."
The little girl scoffed and turned away. "Why is everyone always on my case? Like... can't you people just leave me alone? I don't need anyone's help. I've never needed anyone else's help, and suddenly when Vanellope decides to hightail it, everyone keeps hounding me about my safety. I drove on high-risk tracks every day of my life since the 90s, and now I can't even step outside my own game without someone breathing down my neck. There's nothing I can think of that's more annoying than that."
The big man rolled his eyes. "Well, it sure looked like you handled yourself when you got stuck behind that door and practically begged me to help."
The pink racer put her hands in the pockets of her jacket. "That was different."
Ralph knelt down and leered into her blue eyes. "Listen, shortcake, if I were you, I would swallow my pride and learn to appreciate all the people in my life who give a donkey's tail about me. You may say that you want everyone around you to pretend you don't exist, but trust me, you don't." He folded his arms over his broad chest. "I've been there, and it's not the kind of life I'd want to live."
Taffyta opened her mouth as to make a counterargument, but shut herself down. "All I'm saying is, I'm perfectly fine on my own." She turned back towards her house. "I have to be now."
"No, you don't." Ralph insisted. "Just because you're the president now, doesn't mean you have to go about it by yourself. You heard Felix and Calhoun. We're all in this together."
There was no eye contact after that. The little girl kept her eyes on the white path ahead of her. Ralph was about to head out back to his own game but he heard her little voice telling him, "Thanks for bailing me out. And... please don't tell your friends that all of that happened."
Ralph was already on thin ice with his friends, but he knew that Taffyta was in need of some trust. Especially from him. Ralph and Taffyta never saw eye to eye, nor did they actually get along with each other, despite Vanellope being on better terms with the pink racer. But things could have been different between them if he cooperated with her.
He decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. "Sure, kid."
Though it wouldn't be for long. He also wanted his friends to trust him, again. Taffyta accepted it, and she walked off silently to her home and slammed the door shut behind her without looking back.
AN: Ah, the camping trip was amazing! Went out shooting in open fields :3 (no animals or people were harmed)
Anyways, I hope that if Disney decided to do a third movie - which wouldn't surprise me because of all the recent sequels and live-action remakes they've already got so far - I hope there will be more Ralph/Felix/Vanellope interactions. There's some really cute deleted scenes from WIR 1 with the three of them together and it makes their family bond appear much stronger.
Though I feel like WIR 3 would just have more new characters and different situations that will probably contradict its predecessor just like another movie whose name will not be mentioned.
As always, thanks for reading and reviewing.