A/N: Hey guys! Here's another update! Thank you to those who continue to support me and read this, it really means a lot to me. I need that extra bit of motivation lol. Especially because things in my personal life can get pretty rough sometimes. Anyway, I appreciate it and would love to hear some more feedback! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy!~
Also, I'd like to give a little shoutout to Moises781! I enjoy reading your kind reviews, and yes, lol, I know the whole update thing is a little overdone, but hopefully I can give it my own personal twist and keep the story original. I've just wanted to write about something like this quite literally for years and I'm just now getting around to it. Anyway, thank you for reading and supporting this! I appreciate it :D
Chapter Six
*That morning*
"Vanellope! Vanellope, get up! Please, come on! Get up!"
With a low groan, Vanellope turned over in her bed, blinking open her groggy eyes as the room around her slowly came into focus. "What is it?" She croaked, her voice even scratchier than usual as she sat up in bed and rubbed wearily at her eyes. "Jeez, you'd think we were getting shut down or something."
The two gamers in front of her, Candlehead and Taffyta, exchanged a nervous look. Taffyta looked back at her, sheepishly biting her lip. Slowly, the realization dawned on Vanellope. "Wait a second….are we getting shut down?" A feeling of alarm spread through her system and the tiredness suddenly evaporated from her body. She shot out of her bed and hurried over to her dresser to fish for her clothing.
Changing without shame in front of her two friends, she hastily pulled on her tights and stared at them from across the room. "What is going on exactly?" She barked. "You still haven't told me anything.
"Well," Candlehead started nervously, "There's some strange men messing with our cabinet...The Sugar Rush citizens are freaking out. They think our game may have been turned off."
Vanellope's brow furrowed in worried concentration. "Okay," she said slowly as she finished changing, pulling on her mint green hoodie with a determined tug. "I guess I should probably give a speech or something - try and calm everyone down."
"Yeah, that's what we thought should be done," Taffyta agreed. "Everyone's up in arms. I swear, if some fights break out I won't be all that surprised.
"Fights?" Vanellope coughed out in surprise. "They're really that upset over this?"
"I mean, yeah," Taffyta replied. "None of us knows what being turned off means for us. Will we get unplugged and wheeled out of the arcade? Nobody knows."
Finally, this thought settled down on Vanellope and she felt a small spike of grief rise up her throat and overwhelm her mind. Ralph. She couldn't bear the thought of potentially never seeing her loveable wrecker again. He was her best and first friend. She couldn't lose him. No way.
"I'm sure we'll be fine," she soothed the anxious racers, though her tone had lost some of its confidence. "I should probably head out there."
"Everyone's gathered at the track, waiting for you," Taffyta informed. "I rallied everyone and told them what to do. I told them you'd be there to explain everything soon."
Vanellope looked at her with surprised admiration. "That was a good call," she praised.
"Yeah, well, I had Candlehead and Rancis' help too of course," the blonde admitted humbly. "Candlehead managed to calm them down enough for me to actually talk to them and Rancis is down there now moderating the citizens and the racers."
Vanellope beamed her signature toothy grin. "You three'll make swell advisors one day."
The two girls smiled bashfully back at her, and Candlehead averted her eyes shyly to the ground. "Yeah well, we should probably head out there now," she added calmly. Vanellope nodded firmly.
"You're right. Let's go."
The three girls made their way to the race track together, but when they reached the bottom of the President's podium, they said their goodbyes and Vanellope began climbing and glitching up to the top while the others headed over to join their fellow racers.
As Vanellope found herself at the top of the booth, she stared somewhat nervously out at the restless, quietly chattering crowd in front of her. The candy citizens, who were normally arranged in their respective boxes for the races, were now gathered and mingling haphazardly out on the track. As she stepped forward and cleared her throat, the chattering died down and all eyes were turned on her.
Come on Vanellope, she urged herself inwardly. This is what you're programmed for; it's in your code to be a leader. Even if you had to glitch the system a little bit.
She slowly let a smile spread across her features as she brought the microphone closer to her mouth. "Alright, listen up everyone," she began. "This is your President addressing you. And I hope you all know that you're in perfectly capable hands. I promise you all, we are perfectly safe. No matter what happens, you have me to lead and guide you. And even though I'm still going through a learning process and trying to get used to this whole thing, I swear on my life I am dedicated to keeping our game safe and peaceful. I know I'm just a kid, but your trust is well placed in me. I don't know what exactly is going on, but from the sounds of it, we may be turned off for a bit. If we're moved to a different arcade, or whatever it is that's happening, I'll make sure everything runs smoothly and all of you are okay." She took in a deep breath and scanned her eyes across the crowd. She could see Taffyta jumping up and giving her an eager thumbs up from down on the track. The racers seemed to be milling about and delivering more confident reassurances to the citizens. Vanellope felt herself well up with pride. She was more than happy to be able to call this group of gamers her family.
"So, anyway," she continued with a more genuine smile than she started with. "I'll be going down there to be with you guys, ready for whatever happens. If anyone has questions for me, you can come find me with the rest of the racers at the front of the track. Thank you."
The small racer half climbed, half glitched her way back down the tower and landed herself softly on the dirt. She walked forward to meet the large group of racers halfway, and gave them all hesitant smiles. "How did I do?" she asked sheepishly.
"You did great!" Jubileena confidently enthused.
"Yeah," Gloyd piped in with a sly smirk. "This President thing is starting to suit you."
Vanellope smiled and laughed as the rest of her friends gave her glowing reassurances. "Thanks guys," she chuckled bashfully. "I just really hope everything will actually turn out okay," she worried, lowering her voice and checking to make sure none of the citizens could overhear her. "I'm actually really worried that we might be moved or….or worse."
"Shut down for good," Candlehead breathed, finishing her thought.
"I'm sure everything will turn out fine," Rancis eased, though a glint of fear flashed in his honey colored eyes.
"I sure do hope so," Vanellope agreed. Little did they know, at that moment, a panel on the back of their cabinet was being opened, and as their world suddenly turned black, the power switch was flicked down.
When their vision was renewed, and life finally returned to Sugar Rush as the power was flicked back on, Vanellope blinked in confusion. It was as if only a moment has passed. Yet the differences in the landscape were noticed immediately. A surge of colorful pixels ran through the entire game, in much a similar manner as to when it reset the last time. Vanellope felt a similar, strange sensation to what she had experienced before, as she was lightly lifted from the ground and her pixels glitched and crawled with new, updated coding. She watched curiously as the gamers around her all experienced the same thing.
The track remained relatively unchanged, but she could see a noticeable improvement in graphics and texture and a slight difference in the layout. Also, from a difference she could see something had changed about the racers' cars, which were lined up waiting for that day's roster race.
Vanellope felt herself finally settle to the ground and looked around in confusion. Am I...taller? She looked around her surroundings in a confused manner, before she suddenly realized the difference in the racers around her.
They were all already staring at each and gasping, pointing and clutching their faces as they rambled softly in flustered voices.
First of all, everybody looked significantly...older. They were all several feet taller and slimmer - less chubby and chibi-like in appearance. The girls were much more womanly in their builds, with updated, more flattering and age-defining outfits. The boys were also more handsome and mature looking, with sharper, more masculine features and streamlined appearances. They even had subtly sculpted arm muscles.
It took Vanellope a minute to process that these changed must have also occurred to let out a small gasp and felt her face flush. Her three best friend of the group rushed over to her.
Taffyta was dressed in a hot pink cut-off hoodie with a pair of high-waisted vivid green shorts and the same customary candy-cane striped leggings. Her hair was now nearly shoulder length, though still choppy and with long, uneven bangs that nearly covered her eyes now. Her eyes sparkled and she clutched Vanellope's hands eagerly in her own. "Vanellope!" She cried out. "What's happened to us?!"
"I-I don't know," she nervously stammered back in response. She looked over at Candlehead. She too had changed significantly. She was slightly thinner than Taffyta, but with a slightly larger bust. She stood in flabbergasted shock, nervously clutching her arms. Her hair was still draped in its customary loose pigtails, though they now reached just below her armpits. She wore a dark pink sleeveless jacket that hung all the way to the tops of her thighs, flaring out at the bottom in a similar fashion to the skirt she wore underneath. She also still wore her customary dark brown leggings.
Rancis definitely look a lot less dopey than he did before. His hair was shorter and a little more messy, though it still had small curls that swooped to the side like previously. He too sported a sleeveless brown hoodie and dark brown and yellow racing pants. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, looking between the three girls with a dark blush crawling across his features.
"M-maybe I should go talk some more," she said to her friends nervously. She noticed all the gamers were looking around in a dazed manner. "We must have had some sort of update or something. I should just go reassure everybody."
After Vanellope said a few quick words to the citizens of Sugar Rush, they completed their daily roster race, considering they were all already there, and she made her way hurriedly to the castle. She wanted to go see Ralph, but first she needed to look at herself. Taffyta, Rancis, and Candlehead decided to look around the game and figure out what else had changed.
The candy citizens hadn't changed much, except there had been a few different types, and they all seemed more sleek and graphically defined. Something about them seemed somewhat more intelligent also.
The walkway to the castle was much shorter, thankfully. Vanellope figured that must have come with the update. She had wanted to change that anyway. As soon as she entered the entrance/throne room, she noticed a huge difference.
No more pink.
The walls were covered in a pale seafoam color with delicate pink and cream-colored swirls. Vanellope held back a small gasp as she stared eagerly around the newly decorated room. The layout was also completely different. Instead of being an insanely long walk to the throne, it was more compact and filled with warm, natural lighting that flooded in through long elegant windows. Lush plants were dotted throughout the room, some normal, green and flowering things, as well as the more native candy-structured flora.
She walked slowly up towards the throne. Now there were two seats up at the front. She furrowed her eyebrows as she traced her hand along the pale gleaming wood of the two chairs. She noticed she fit a lot more comfortably in her place now, considering she actually filled it.
But why do I need a second throne? She wondered curiously.
She continued walking through the castle, passing the kitchen, which was colored and decorated similarly to the entrance way, and into her wing. The living space had cream colored walls with small, glimmering sprinkles dotted across. The arrangement of furniture was the same, though the couches were now a lively turquoise, draped in soft pink blankets and pillows.
Hardly able to contain her curiosity and excitement any longer, Vanellope practically sprinted up the familiar staircase. She burst open the freshly updated doors and ran into her bedroom. She skidded herself to a halt and gazed around the room in awe.
The walls were painted a delicate minty green, with gentle interloping swirls of cream and pastel pink, much like the walls of the entrance room, except there were also small sprinkles and lollipops - an homage to the signature dirtiness of her hair.
She beamed from ear to ear and approached her bed. Though it still had a marshmallow mattress, the frame was more sleek and rectangular, made from pale cream-colored candy cane wood with cute green peppermints scattered over the headboard. The blankets were soft and billowy, a beautiful satiny champagne color with an overlay of frosty mint colored lace. It looked like a dream.
With a sigh, she sat down and ran her hands over the smooth material, closing her eyes and smiling in content. At least I didn't have to do all this work myself, she relished.
Anxious to see what she looked like, she stood up from her bed and hurried over to the floor-length mirror on the other side of her room. Slowly, she approached it, her heart pounding nervously in her chest. What she saw made her eyes practically bulge out of their sockets.
She was several feet taller, of course, with a much more feminine and womanly physique, similar to that of Taffyta's though her build was slightly wider and curvier. Her hips were broad, but her waist slimmed down into a trim hourglass figure that widened out again at her chest. She felt a blush rise up to her cheeks as she stared at herself from all different angles.
She wore a sleeveless, cropped mint green hoodie with a tight, cream-colored tank top below, a short black skirt, and her signature green candy-cane striped tights. Her sleek black hair was still pulled into a high ponytail, though it seemed a few inches longer at least. She had on black fingerless racing gloves and noticed black racing goggles pushed up on her head. Scoffing, she pulled these items off and set them on her dresser. Not exactly casual wear, she chuffed inwardly.
"Now I just need to find Ralph," she muttered aloud to herself. She didn't know how long it had really taken to update her game, and hoped he hadn't been sitting around worrying about her. With a glance at her clock, she saw it was already four-thirty p.m. Letting out a sigh, she turned and let her bedroom. "The poor Stinkbrain has probably been sitting outside my game this whole time."
As she exited Sugar Rush's outlet and walked into Game Central Station, she felt her gut twist strangely in her stomach and suddenly a nervous, queasy sensation. What's Ralph going to think of all this? She pondered as color flooded to her face.
She immediately noticed her best friend dozing off in a nearby bench, slumped against the back of it, his head drooped over to rest on his shoulder. With a toothy grin, she laced her hands behind her back and anxiously approached the slumbering wrecker. I knew it.
She approached his side and gently placed her hand on his shoulder, feeling her heart skip curiously. "Ralph?" She asked softly, shaking his shoulder just barely. He slowly stirred from his sleep and groggily peeled open his eyes to look at her. Her face flushed as he squinted at her, unresponsive, in mild confusion. "Hey, Stinkbrain," she called to him hesitantly, searching his face for any sign of recognition.
In a moment, she watched his eyes widen and his face flush with intense color. His eyes quickly scanned her figure. She opened her mouth to speak, her blush growing deeper. "It's me, Vanellope. Y-You do remember me, right?"