Reviews :
Burgie : Yeah, poor guy had no clue how to juggle all of it. Doesn't excuse anything, but yeah, Gideon's grateful for the closure at least lol
Lyssdoodle : Hahaha in time, you'll see. She actually meets one of Gideon's siblings shortly here, and on accident, too, so that'll be fun/interesting :)
Snake557 : Thanks so much! Novus is a good boi
chuckiboo : Aww, wow! I didn't even connect those chapters, but you're absolutely right. The whole gang has definitely been through some extreme highs and lows. I'm really glad you're enjoying everything! :D
Song Listened To :
Sweet Dreams by Trinix
*Chapter 102*
"It wasn't just any ordinary trip," Vanellope started, her voice was soft, the usual brattiness in her tone was diminished and hushed for the sake of her bout of storytelling, though even within the second sentence of said story, the air about the campfire grew into a colder shiver of seriousness, seriousness she was aware truly only Ralph and Zed could fully understand. The flickers of the fire in her hazel eyes caught with the frozen, eager gazes that peered to her in patient, nervous listening, "I don't know what you would call it. It was just an innocent getaway, but the thing we didn't consider was Rancis's death wasn't technically... Final."
"Radex," Zed grunted in mild irritation, though with the word uttered, Tessa raised her eyebrows and somehow felt the haunting roll of goosebumps travel up her spine. With said kiss of coldness over the group, she scrunched her shoulders and snuggled a little deeper into Zed's side as his deep voice continued on, the air before him fogged as him and Vanellope tightly caught eyes, "Weird to think we were all somehow intertwined long before you guys even knew me."
"I think about that all the time," Vanellope huffed a small giggle, Ralph bobbed a nod, and due to his wary, protective gaze that tossed out to the black across the stretch of his broad shoulder, everyone now nervously began to sag with the roll of this potentially silly ghost story now rapidly turning into something a bit more intense, "This cabin was left abandoned for quite awhile. That trip we took after Radex drowned in Vanilla Lake, before Ralph and I were even married, tortured us for quite awhile. I know Taffyta had horrible nightmares for a long time after."
"Wh-why was this cabin just left abandoned?" Gideon piped up; now able to fully experience Honeydew Ridge, he cocked an eyebrow and eyed the cabin's sturdy side wall they all sat near, the bonfire pit having a welcoming view of the entry way to the main room of the large cabin, all of the sudden, this cozy, wintery fantasy escape felt like it was riddled with lore he wasn't ready to go nosing through.
"Radex haunted it," Vanellope stated with certainty as she nodded and looked off into the fire, "I'm sure there's things Taffyta hasn't expanded on, but, I wonder if she somehow visited Rancis in a dream, had some sort of conversation with him that night, stories of unfinished business they had together... He came and terrorized us all. I'll never forget seeing the apparitions of him about the cabin, hm standing in the field with the bloodied candy cane sword... Cloaked in a hood, pale as the moon, glowing eyes..."
"Really should'a known it was Turbo's and Lash's odd mixture right then and there," Ralph grumbled as everyone lofted their eyes to Nox's cute, cozy positioning with Koko.
"I can run around the cabin in a cloak and recreate it all for you guys, if you want," Nox chirped excitedly, the group erupted into laughter, though it was here did Gideon nervously swallow a hard gulp and tuck his hood over his head.
"Yeah, watch me pummel the shit out of you if you try it," Oliver blurt with a nervous laugh as everyone's laughter got a bit louder.
Gideon sagged and was glad the air was filled with warmth, even if it was temporary. With everyone sat in a perfect circle about the bon fire, their backs to the black of the cold ridge about before them, and though it was a gorgeous, perfect bout of scenery during the day, seeing nothing but silent, still, haunting trees cast in dim moonlight and scatters of white snow was an other worldly realm only meant for scary stories. Although thrilled to have Novus sat next to him, he snuggled a bit deeper into Novus's side and was certain that if there was danger, Novus would pick up on it. Hopeful this would be the case, he cautiously tossed his eyes out behind himself in a show of now open nervousness, though he swiftly turned back around upon seeing nothing but near pitch-black wilderness out behind him. Gideon exhaled a long, shaky breath through his nose and now felt his eyes tightly grip to his mother's, across the way.
"It really makes me wonder about... Going Turbo, for lack of better words, forgive me, Nox," Vanellope muttered, Nox lulled his eyes closed and bobbed a smiling, understanding nod, "In all our years of reconstructing our views on coding, swapping self-programmed gamers with user-made, the conversation around viruses has taken a weird turn that I wasn't expecting."
"You mean in brain coding?" Tessa wondered.
"Yeah, cause... Turbo is living proof that not getting a refill of coding, from your swap mate, won't turn you into a virus like the Arcade once thought," Nox rushed, Koko nodded as everyone eagerly peered to Vanellope and Tessa for further clarity.
"It's been nice to learn everything there is to know about core coding, through Turbo and his research added to Sugar Rush's code room, but... One thing we have yet to fully dabble in is brain coding," Tessa mumbled in wary defeat, she inhaled a shaky breath and shrugged, "I wonder if all that coding crammed into one body messed with Uncle Rancis... I hate to talk about really anyone without them here to defend themselves."
"It's BEEN a conversation that has needed to happen, it's just been difficult to do so on palace grounds," Zed stated calmly with a nod, he cued his silver coding and, with masterful skill and effortless ability, he brought up a holographic display that he could properly manipulate. For everyone to see, he easily drew it out for everyone to see, "Per Ralph's tellings, when Lash, disguised as King Candy, was blasted by the splay of Diet Cola mountain, Lash regenerated in Sugar Rush's code room. He discovered the manipulation of his King candy disguise, converted with a Hero's Duty cy-bug, was too much for his mainframe to handle. I can't imagine warping into so many different disguises, from multiple different games, was easy... The only thing he could think to do was take his weak coding, merge it with Turbo's, and shove it into the nearest code box he could find."
"... Just HAD to be Uncle Rancis," Tessa muttered sadly as Zed showed one singular drawing of a code box labelled 'Radex'.
"And, of course, no one could detect this, I'm sure Rancis didn't even know what was going on," Zed mumbled, he rubbed the back of his head and shrugged, "It's the same thing that happened to me. The only reason I found out that there was something wrong with my brain coding was because I seriously went nosing into it, in my code room back in Dead Zed."
"So... That one New Years I took Vanellope to Vanilla Lake, and Rancis followed us," Ralph staggered with a nervous toss of his handsome eyes to his bride, to which they caught in a whirl of an apprehensive stare, "Rancis followed us to kill me, cause I wasn't coded for Sugar Rush yet, and he somehow wanted Vanellope for himself even though I had won her over. Felix also followed, cause I think he got bad vibes from Rancis, rightfully so."
"He hit Rancis with his hammer, took a cheap shot at Felix with his sword, and... Ralph's fist tossed Rancis into the lake," Vanellope sighed, "The SHEER mixture of discombobulated coding, the hit of Felix's perfect golden hammer, the reintegration the lake claimed on his coding... It only seemed right that Radex returned as a paranormal figure."
"Yeah, as much as I do enjoy coming here," Ralph started tenderly, though with the dip of his voice and the dreaded gap he took to heave a trembly sigh and, yet again, watch his back, had everyone stiffening, "It always will feel... Extraordinarily spooky at night."
"I'm not sleeping tonight," Koko muttered nervously, the group quietly eased apprehensive chuckles out into the cold air, as if to guffaw at her notion and boldly agree all in one fell swoop.
"Wait, so... Uncle Rancis came back, he's been here this whole time, he's never once made me feel nervous or like he was going to outright try and hurt or kill people," Gideon firmly defended, he narrowed his gaze and shook his head, "I don't understand how he was reverted."
"The game went through a move and was given a hard reset. With such, Rancis was reset to the code room, good as new... Lash and Turbo were likely reset right at the entrance of Sugar Rush because they, then, went on to terrorize Dead Zed," Vanellope rushed.
"They were still conjoined though, one person, they looked JUST like Rancis," Zed urged nervously.
"It did, even the hologram of him, here at Honeydew Ridge," Vanellope shook her head and tossed her eyes to Ralph.
"Yeah, I remember he had Taffyta cornered in the master bedroom," Ralph grumbled, he donned an annoyed grin and looked about to everyone, "NOW do you guys want the big bedroom?"
"Nope!" Nox urged as he hugged his knees to his chest.
"Yeah, dad, you can have it," Tessa muttered.
"So... Everything in Uncle Rancis's brain coding, it all was reverted? He's entirely back to normal?" Gideon prod, he inhaled a wary breath and now wondered if he could delve deeper into this topic.
"I would assume so, bud," Tessa bobbed a nod and shrugged, and though her eyes were kissed with maturity, Gideon narrowed his gaze and could easily see that Tessa hadn't connected the dots all the way.
"The Fluggerbutters are a strong, determined bunch," Oliver started through a sigh as he hugged Emery a little tighter into his body, "They always got a look in their eye... As if they're teetering on the verge of deviousness."
"Those swords could be the cause," Nox started with a chuckle as he rubbed his forehead, "I'd feel mighty big with a near-indestructible weapon sheathed on my hip... Let alone two of them, Rancis AND Wren dual-wield."
"They all do," Tessa interjected.
"So, you don't think a tiny shred of said corrupted, hologram-virus brain coding didn't stick with ANY of those three men?" Gideon dared, he could feel Novus tilt his head a little and eye Gideon in a show of rising, cheeky curiosity.
"You mean Turbo and Lash?" Nox wondered with a wrinkled smile of dismissal, "You're with Lash all the time, and him and Turbo are master-coders themselves."
"I've done a million scans on everyone underneath Sugar Rush's sun," Zed comforted with a smile, "We'd know if there was something wrong... Especially with the trauma I've been through, considering messed-with brain coding."
"You don't think it's something that can just develop over time?" Gideon gestured to his chest in the throes of an explanation, "Like Wrecking... Sooner or later, generations down the line, wrecking or glitching traits may dwindle... But not vanish completely. Just when you think it's gone, it could pop up in offspring, stronger than ever."
"...What are you getting at, Gid?" Ralph prod nervously though his tone held stern with smiling authority.
"I don't know, I'm just... Brainstorming, I guess," Gideon shrugged, he now shrunk in the strike of shyness due to stage fright, and though he wanted to carry on, he also wanted to bite his tongue and keep his musings to a minimum.
"I guess that makes sense, sometimes traits skip a generation," Zed smiled, "Although... I don't think I'd call corrupted brain coding a trait."
"It's still in the brain coding, though," Gideon brightened, once more, now that he was on this deducing train, one of snaking into hot topics and getting to the root of an issue, hyper-focusing on problem solving, the group fell silent and tossed nervous gazes to Ralph, Vanellope, Tessa and Zed. Gideon side-eyed Zed and dared to shoot him a cheeky, devious smile, "It's still a trait of the brain... It's still embedded inside someone's coding, something that could be passed on. When a baby is made, it's the perfect conjoin of two individual's coding, no matter that current standing of coding... Right?"
"You trying to insinuate that your Uncle Rancis is still secretly a virus and somehow passed it down to his kids?" Ralph grunted with a chuckle of disbelief, though as the words rolled from his mouth, everyone stiffened with realization and shot their eyes tight to Gideon in a downslope of frozen surprise; Gideon allowed the still silent to marinate into everyone's ears with firm knowing, the flickers of the fire grew louder and louder, Gideon's sharp, golden eyes almost meanly tossed about the group, and with the gather of everyone's rather terrified eye contact, Gideon donned a devious little smirk and bravely revealed his right arm from the gape of his hoodie sleeve.
"I have reason to believe that you guys may want to do a bit of digging in Callum's brain coding," Gideon's deep voice grunted out to the fire as he spread his right, bare arm out and fully revealed the bandage he had reapplied to himself, due to Kepa's sweet instructions. Gideon's fiery eyes now firmly dragged back to Zed's, and with a slow shake of Gideon's head, he scoffed a chuckle and shrugged his muscular shoulders as the cold air licked the skin of his bare right arm, "I don't know, just a suggestion. Don't think it's normal to just... WANT your cousin dead, is it?"
The group remained silent as Gideon held his right arm out and still, as if to plaster the image of his bandaged wound into everyone's eyes, the fire bounced the shadows about as promise of the only movement currently present, the presence of the surrounding crickets suddenly drummed to a halt, and with the very roll of energy now laid over the land, Gideon felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as he looked about the group of fear-struck family members he sat with. Confused as to why he was the only one to truly come to this conclusion, he suddenly felt elite, as if he was operating on a higher plane than everyone, the newest to arrive and the first to soar higher above the rest. Well aware he was one with his family, he wondered just what his manifestation skills had to do with all of this, how said trait wasn't anything his mother or father ever had, confusion plagued him though somehow his heart thud with devious excitement over all of this. Gideon finally lowered his arm and tossed his eyes tight to Zed's, once more, to find that Zed's scared, piercing blue stare had never left Gideon's face.
"Callum tried to murder me. He knew I've been spending time in Turbotime, he KNEW I'd run off to find Kepa," Gideon's deep voice softly growled, he almost felt brave enough to glare Zed down and was thrilled everyone was allowing it, "He banked on me dying inside Arcadia. Put him on the hot spot and dig it out of him, I'm almost positive, at his root, this was his intention."
"Love, Callum didn't WANT to try and kill you," Vanellope begged gently, though Gideon did what he could not to stiffen.
"Oh no, of course not, you ask him that, mom?" Gideon mumbled in smiling irritation, "Of COURSE he's going to say he didn't want that, or wasn't trying. No way those of us with mental issues are gunna let you in on it..."
"Bud, your cousin isn't a virus," Ralph sagged, he heaved a fogged sigh and shook his head, "I understand what he did was absolutely wrong, but he's not a threat. You boys got heated, he fought dirty cause he doesn't have powers, and things got out of hand."
"Right, right," Gideon sat back a little, nodded and knew throwing in the towel was best; he knew reserving his energy was now something sacred, taking notes from Kepa was something he was diligently filling his head with, "It's the powerless who aren't desperate for any sense of control, right? That's surely not it."
"Gideon, truly, I think you may be looking too far into it," Oliver mumbled sweetly, "Not defending Callum's actions whatsoever, but... Wren and Penny wouldn't ever dare do anything like that, it's not something embedded in THEIR coding."
"Do YOU have manifestation powers, Oliver?" Gideon bravely retort, causing the group to go cold, once more.
"That's not a corrupt ideation of coding, Gideon Fox Von Schweetz," Ralph suddenly pressed with hotter fervor than anyone, ultimately shutting everyone up, including Gideon, "Son, there's still a lot we all don't know about brain coding, but I can assure you, your cousin isn't a virus. I can assure you that neither are YOU. I don't know why you're bringing your own powers into this."
"It's always confused me, no one else can do what I do," Gideon's deep voice pressed in full confidence, though due to the silence of crickets and wildlife, Gideon flinched the second Novus's head flew up, his huge ears held tight to the black beyond everyone, and he stiffened as if he could potentially hear something suspicious out in the void.
"ON THAT NOTE," Nox barked as he scrambled to get to his feet, and in the frenzy, nearly everyone urgently began to playfully squeal in a flail of playful terror and scramble towards the warmth of the cabin's interior.
"This has been fun! I'm gunna go binge watch videos of kittens on Youtube, anyone with me?" Emery loudly urged, and though everyone seemed to flee, Ralph, Tessa, Zed, Gideon and Novus were the only beings to remain about the bonfire.
"Bud... You're not an outlier, Callum's not an outlier," Ralph grumbled as the rest of the group began to slowly get to their feet in preparation to head inside the cabin, though Tessa began to struggle with the beginning attempts to put out the fire.
"He has devious tendencies to harm me and I can now manifest a heaping pile of snow at will," Gideon stated in sarcastic cheeriness as he bravely dipped his hand into the licks of the fire, cued his coding and dumped a mass of snow on top of the blaze. All at once, the fire seared in a hissing sound of dissipation, and as the surrounding areas now tightly dimmed to nothing but the fragile kiss of blue moonlight, Gideon's eyes seemingly still flickered with the licks of remaining embers below him, "Textbook definition of outliers."
