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BanannaSammich : Ralph to the rescue! haha


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In Wonderment of Winter by Gareth Coker


*Chapter 216*

Like being thrusted into the the bluest, iciest water, both Ralph and Berri gently popped into existence in the coldest reaches Sugar Rush had to offer. Berri fluttered her eyes in the harsh, stark dip of temperature that the two were graced with, and although they were both prepared for said sudden switch up of polar opposites, both Berri and Ralph urgently peered to each other in the dip of hot concern. The raw fact that neither of them had actually experienced The End's bitter, nasty bite, Ralph suddenly exhaled a hard, fogged breath as he stood up a bit and assessed his and Berri's barren surroundings. Although it was apparent just where The End's emanating light was, the void of a glowing pit where coding went to officially die forever, Ralph held his breath and immediately noticed Turbo stood frozen near the edge, just like he had dreaded. Berri covered her mouth in hard, surprised agony and furrowed her brow in crumpling despair, though before she could open her mouth and urgently call out to Turbo, across the gap, Ralph turned to his precious granddaughter, knelt down to her level and firmly held both his large hands to her sides and upper arms in a grip of urgency.

"Berri, listen to me, I know you want to go rush Turbo and help me help himself from doing something really stupid, but please... Please let me talk to him," Ralph begged quietly, the snow and ice all about kicked up in a soft, light flurry of frigid wind that began to cause Berri's jaw to chatter in a draw of becoming extremely cold; she relished in Ralph's close body heat, the grip of his massive hands, though Ralph urgently peered into her eyes and pressed on in a whisper that fogged the air, "Please promise me you'll just be my support, here, next to me, please."

"I promise," Berri whimpered nervously, how desperately she wanted to dive out and loudly beg Turbo to calm down and ease away from The End's terrifyingly haunting void, and though she herself was a natural born wrecker, she peered hard into Ralph's eyes and was well aware this was his expertise, this was something original gamers had to deal with, something that Ralph and Turbo both had over thirty years of experience with, age that Berri could hardly hold a candle to.

"C'mon," Ralph huffed as he finally got to a stand, and with such, the two began to press across the snowy land under their bare feet.

Berri's teeth loudly chattered now, she furrowed her brow and peered hard to Turbo's silhouette on the glowing horizon as they neared. A haunting sight, the view of Turbo staring into the endless nothingness, the glow of lovely white that was almost alluring, intoxicating, as if sinking into it forever maybe wouldn't be so bad. Berri did what she could to sag her little feet into the hefty, hot sag of Ralph's bare foot prints he left behind. Easily five times the size of her own feet, she relished in the fact that the snow and ground underneath held a twinge of warmth as they went, and as the two got within a dozen feet of Turbo's figure, Berri slowed her roll and allowed her grandfather to rightfully carry on. Ralph inhaled a deep breath and firmly called out to Turbo.

"You're on the map now, my guy, there's really no getting rid of us," Ralph urged, he desperately did what he could to sound easy going, though with the way Turbo whirled around in a red, blind rage of total shock, it assured Ralph and Berri that Turbo was absolutely certain he wouldn't be followed.

"How'd you get out here?" Turbo hissed in hot agitation, the scary black slits of his red rage of a gaze stabbed tight into Ralph's, and then again in a subtle glance to Berri's figure, a few feet behind Ralph.

"How do you THINK? You're not the only one with your powers, now. Berri may not have been a physical body here, in that epic finale fight for Sugar Rush, but she was still HERE," Ralph urged in hot irritation as he gently gestured to the shivering blue beauty a little ways behind him, and although Ralph was certain this would soften Turbo's red gaze, it didn't; he only glanced to Berri in a soft show of remorse, though his creepy snake-like gaze was unwavering.

"Please go back to the palace, I'll come home eventually, I just..." Turbo trailed off, grit his teeth and messily gestured out to Sugar Rush's vast, icy end, he grimaced in further irritation and urgently peered up to Ralph as he clumsily carried on, "I need to be-"

"ALONE?" Ralph pressed in challenge as he side-eyed Turbo, though Turbo pursed his lips in spiking anger and firmly looked off in a hot red glower. Before Turbo could retort in his seething, Ralph gently gestured out to his right, the snowy vast amount of land that was away from the edge of The End, "Turbo, for everyone's sake, I'm begging you... PLEASE step away from the edge."

Turbo inhaled a deep, angry breath through his nose, and as he let in out in a fogged show of an almost fire-breathing display of powerful anger, he finally shot Ralph a dirty look and trailed it to Berri in a softened show of apology. Berri's shivering blue eyes hooked tight to Turbo's terrifying red gaze, knowing full well she was absolutely his kryptonite. Turbo lulled his eyes closed and, much to Ralph's relief, Turbo's bare feet began to press through the thin layer of snow and away from the edge. Although still about a dozen feet away from the two, Ralph exhaled a shaky, long breath of whole relief and was prepared to finally dig into these issues, with Turbo, without the fear of him slipping or even purposefully diving off The End's scary, never-ending edge.

"Turbo, you can't RUN from this, you're angry about something, clearly," Ralph gestured outwards towards the glow of the end, the wind whipped their hair and clothes about, "You don't need to be alone, User-dammit, you've BEEN alone for the past thirty years!"

"And I've gotten on JUST fine," Turbo sharply retort, though Ralph inhaled a sharp breath and knew a shouting match was likely overdue.

"Oh HAVE you now?" Ralph's booming, terrifying voice coat the entirety of The End in a foggy echo of a never-ending reverb, "That's why you come back to the one place you were loneliest, the one place you somehow felt safe, floating over one of Arcade's largest, scariest voids."

"I-I didn't have all these emotions, I didn't have all these lives to care for, I didn't have to FACE everything in me," Turbo begged, his red eyes stabbed hard into Ralph's, though it was here did he begin to look desperate, as if these thoughts had potentially been weighing heavy on his heart for quite some time. Ralph shook his head in confusion as Turbo firmly pressed on, the glow of his red eyes was more prominent than ever, "It's not enough to have to sit and take on new coding and relearn everything you thought you knew to be right, but NOW I have to unravel myself, thirty years of it, and desperately stitch it all back together as if it's NOTHING?"

"No one ever said that it'd be easy," Ralph grunted as he pressed the tops of his knuckles into the snow, and with a gentle swing, he moved a bit closer to Turbo, something Turbo eagerly took note of and warily took one nervous step backwards.

"I'm just put in this Arcade to be DESTRUCTIVE, the scary thing about these wrecking powers is the urge to destroy and wreck lives about me is easy," Turbo now loudly pleaded, as if he was certain Ralph wouldn't understand, though Ralph stood to full height and peered down to Turbo from their few foot gap. Much to Ralph's surprise, Turbo's angry red eyes began to grow glassy and tint to that of a very tender purple. The perfect mix of sadness and anger, the creepy slits of his pupils remained, making clear that he was genuinely still angry, though tears now easily spilled down his cheeks, "I started this whole journey out destroying thousands of lives, I destroyed my own HOME."

"What are you going to do about it?" Ralph firmly questioned, the look in Turbo's eye began to grow crazed.

"There's nothing I CAN do about it!" Turbo's deep voice suddenly bellowed in hot, terrified frustration as he clenched his fists and grit his teeth, "And now I'm just... GIVEN this vehicle to immediately transport all my anger into the physical embodiment of destruction?!"

"You're telling me that's how you view your's and Berri's love, here?" Ralph wondered in a quip of sarcastic, venomous irritation, to which Turbo's chest halted in its heaving, his glowing purple eyes nervously stabbed to Berri, who stood well out of the conversation, though clearly close enough to converse if she wanted to. Ralph largely furrowed his brow and leaned down a little, so to begin potentially getting in Turbo's face, "That's just how you're going to go about all of this, then? I've done so much work to not only build myself up, but to build up this kingdom, this game, to show my own kin that this power that I'VE given EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM, isn't to be taken advantage of?"

"You're destroying stuff," Turbo spat angrily as his eyes began to sag back to its normal red rage, though tears still streamed his cheeks.

"That's in MY code," Ralph growled through the grit of his teeth as he finally got in Turbo's face, properly; Turbo glowered up into his figure, though the still, hovering beast, that was Ralph, very clearly had Turbo in a sag of intimidated nervousness, "It's in MY CODE to wreck that god-damned building every single day. You don't see me coming to Sugar Rush and destroying the palace."

Turbo opened his mouth to nervously retort, though Ralph urgently beat him to it.

"Tessa doesn't have a game day, nor Oliver, Koko, Theodore, Beaux, Mara, Ace, BERRI," Ralph growled down in Turbo's face, "Without my teaching, as their father and grandfather and GREAT grandfather, they'd likely do just what you said... Use wrecking as a vehicle to transport all their anger into the physical embodiment of destruction."

"I've seen other wreckers slip up, before," Turbo muttered darkly, to which Berri wildly furrowed her eyebrows and took a step closer to the situation.

"If you're talking about me wrecking the wall in your house because of my conversation with Gunner, then that's a cheap shot, Turbo," Berri firmly defended, and it was with this did Turbo's shoulders sag, the vivid red in his gaze immediately sagged to that of said dreaded, sorrowful blue. He apologetically peered to Berri as she angrily pressed on, she pointed a firm finger down to the ground, "Don't you dare lump all of us natural born wreckers into this box of perfectionism, NONE of us are above experiencing anger and letting it get away from us, from time to time."

"The difference is what's going on here and now," Ralph firmly pressed as he gestured to his own chest, and then to Turbo's, "With your anger, you have to SPEAK on it. Dig it out of you, don't let it come out in the form of destruction. TELL us why you're angry... You could show us all day long, but nothing would ever get solved. You could tear down WHOLE cities and no one would know how to help you."

"How dare you chalk this all up to just me simply lofting you new coding, new emotion," Berri hissed as her hair fluttered in the wind; Turbo largely frowned and peered hard into Berri's eyes, "I gave you my coding because I love you. I didn't give you this coding to torture you..."

"You want to undo all your's and Berri's hard work and tell Ace that you two need a code-reversal?" Ralph wondered in sarcastic nonchalance, to which Turbo grimaced, grunted in dire frustration and looked off with a sharp huff of a sigh, fog that spat out of him in the form of angry heat.

"No, never in a million years," Turbo begged as crystalized tears tried to stream his cheeks, and though the group was silent for a moment, Ralph looked about the glowing void for a few silent seconds before he finally tucked his larger finger underneath Turbo's chin.

"Turbo, I may not have thirty years of hiding from the Arcade, I may not have gotten Fix-It Felix Jr. unplugged... I may not have allowed my brother to ruin the lives inside this game, and other games, for nearly fifteen years," Ralph rattled off as Turbo panted through his nose and peered his becoming-purple gaze tight to Ralph's, "But I DO have thirty years of feeling as if I was hardly any shred of a good guy, hardly enough for this Arcade. You want to know who pulled me out of it?"

"...Vanellope," Turbo's voice crackled as he gently peered down to Ralph's bare feet, though he finally dragged his sorrowful, purple glowing gaze to Berri's.

"It was in her friendship, and upon her upgrade, in her love, that I was able to do the unthinkable... To unravel myself, to rediscover the coding inside of me, to stitch myself back up," Ralph's voice softened as he narrowed his gaze and peered hard into the look of pure desperation in Turbo's eyes, "Look, maybe the quilt I had to re-stitch is a little smaller than yours, but... You have this whole team of people here to help you, whatever is burying you alive HAS to come out, or else your new powers, mixed with your old ones, will surely be used for destruction. Something that will eventually be out of your control."

Turbo panted through his nose, his chest rose and fell in a chaotic show of the sheer amount of power he suddenly exuded, the way his searching eyes dart about Ralph's face, chest and then feet, to the vast surroundings about him, and daringly to Berri's hurt and confused eyes. The peak of red, blue and purple subtly eased in and out of each other, though the vivid, angry slits of his pupils tightly remained, a haunting sight no matter what color hung behind them. The frigid End's wind softly ruffled their hair and clothes about, and though the chattering of Berri's teeth could be heard a little, everyone remained still in this patient venture, the dire urge to draw Turbo's anger out of him before it was fully fueled in his new abilities. Ralph inhaled a deep breath, shook his head and side-eyed Turbo in the thick of this whole mess.

"So, let's get it out. In rapid-fire, you're going to tell me just why you're angry, don't think, just make it clear," Ralph urged as he gestured down to Turbo, and though Turbo warily looked up into Ralph's eyes, he began to seethe, as if all the anger was now desperate to find an out.

"I'm mad at myself," Turbo spat, his tight-lipped death glower into Ralph's eyes only proved to Ralph and Berri that he was, indeed, livid, though simply at his circumstances.

"You're mad at yourself for letting all of this happen," Ralph added, to which Turbo grit his teeth and clenched his fists a little in a show of rising anger; Berri glanced in Ralph's direction and was certain that, if it weren't for his incredible size against Turbo, she'd be shocked as to just why he wasn't backing away from Turbo's physically threatening stance.

"I was the jealous ASSHOLE that got Roadblaster's unplugged, to chase some sick fantasy that I ALWAYS had to be in the spotlight," Turbo ushered angrily, his eyes eagerly dipped back to that scary red glower Berri was not thrilled to be witnessing, yet again.

"Everyone inside Turbotime and Roadblasters suffered because of you," Ralph goad; knowing this was not his typical way of driving anger and information out of his precious wreckers, he was well aware Turbo's mountain of trauma was something even The End couldn't contain, "Lash wasn't far behind you... He never was. He LIVED in your shadow, so of course he fueled you and your decision to overthrow Sugar Rush."

"It was the worst years of my life, just trapped as that stupid... GUMBALL," Turbo urged loudly with a flippant gesture of his hands; Ralph did everything he could to stifle a chuckle, though the edges of his mouth curled a little, "It was just years and years and YEARS of bad decisions that just eventually turned into a BAD LIFE. It was... ALL my fault."

"And now, due to Lash hiding you away, unbeknownst to you, you have Aroq and his band of deleters after you and all faux-codes," Ralph pressed nonchalantly, though it was here did Turbo finally crack.

"Are you here to HELP me or just rub my nose in my own shit?" Turbo loudly stabbed, Berri flinched and took a nervous step away as Turbo dared to challenge Ralph's incredible height; with a puffed chest, clenched fists, the proper form for preparing to wreck and destroy, Turbo bravely got in Ralph's face, enough to see that vivid red glow against Ralph's now frosty skin, "For such a great and valuable teacher, you REALLY know how to tear your students down and teach them NOTHING."

"Turbo," Berri urgently lilted in full offense, though Ralph lazily tossed his gaze to Berri in a sweet, quick glance.

"It's okay, Bee," Ralph mumbled warmly as he gestured his hand, though he brought his eyes back to Turbo's in full confidence.

"It's not okay," Turbo sharply retort.

"Why don't you tell me JUST where you'd be, if it weren't for me? Where would you be, had I not gotten off my ass and proved I was valuable to this Arcade? Where would you be if I hadn't have climbed to the top of Hero's Duty's tower, won that stupid medal, shot like a ROCKET straight into Sugar Rush's pits of gooey, toxic goodness?" Ralph quickly challenged in rapid-fire succession, though Turbo heavily panted through his nose and scanned Ralph's eyes in a gentle, slowly-sinking vat of warm defeat that was beginning to climb upon his shivering soul. Ralph bravely took a step deeper into Turbo's presence and dared to stab his much larger pointer finger into the center of Turbo's chest, "Where would you be if Vanellope never crossed that finish line, never upgraded, never rejected your's and Lash's combined pleas for romance? WHERE would you be, had I never continued to come back to Sugar Rush... To inadvertently shake you down and ruin your's and Lash's plans. WHERE would you be."

"DEAD," Turbo barked shakily in defeat, he looked off and huffed a hot, trembling, fogged breath out before him as he sagged his shoulders. He grimaced in a tight-lipped show of dread and shook his head, "I'd probably be dead."

"Where would you be, if you still had 'King Candy' to kick you around, where would you be inside those pink walls... Where would you be the day Aroq decided to source deleters from the internet and ruin everyone's lives, inside Litwak's," Ralph stood to full height and gestured to Turbo in nonchalance. He shrugged and looked off, for a moment before revisiting, "Where would you be? Trapped with mixed coding, shriveled, weak, defenseless?"

"Dead," Turbo repeated in a mumble as his eyes softly dipped from red to a final stage of gentle, deep blue. He huffed a shaky breath as more tears began to sag down his cold, frosty grey cheeks, tears that didn't make it to his jaw line without crystalizing.

Ralph narrowed his gaze and peered down to Turbo in tenderness, he shook his head and bravely allowed a small smile to grace his face, "Turbo, it's okay to admit fault. It's okay to understand that you made huge mistakes. You're here, now. Because of ME, you have access to all the things you were originally wanting. Attention."

Turbo shakily panted through his nose and lofted his sad eyes to Berri's equally as teary orbs, he sagged his shoulders and finally looked down to his fingers in a tight grimace of wanting to fully cry, to fully allow his emotions to show.

"Whatever you were wanting, you have it now... You have family, security, royalty, responsibilities. Hell, the whole ARCADE deems you famous now," Ralph gestured his arms outward and eagerly looked out to their blue, icy, barren wasteland, "You have camaraderie, you have all your brothers, you have new, GAINED brothers, you have PARENTS... A future!"

Turbo bobbed a nod and breathed a soft noise of a stifled cry of despair as he grit his teeth and allowed Ralph's words to drown him in his new, lovely reality, one he had a hard time coming to grips with. Ralph shook his head and finally grappled the top of Turbo's left shoulder, as best as he could.

"ALLOW yourself to it, Turbo. Forgive yourself... You deserve all of this," Ralph hissed in kind frustration, "Your anger stems from your past mistakes. Mistakes that can't be erased... But they WERE owned up to, they were fixed, they were righted. Look, my guy, Sugar Rush is alive and well, the whole royal family is TEAMING with energy and camaraderie, and, quite frankly, Sugar Rush has never been better. The game's new hierarchy, and the next King and Queen to follow, have made sure not a single pixel is out of place."

Turbo lulled his eyes closed and drowned in the warmth of Ralph's words, notions that easily snaked to every single one of Turbo's insecurities, every single one of his frustrations and worries, and kicked it to the curb without question.

"Cause, let's face it... If it weren't for me, we wouldn't be here, having this conversation," Ralph titled his head and gave Turbo a cheeky look, and once they caught eyes, Ralph gestured his larger thumb over his shoulder, to their blue beauty behind himself, "I wouldn't have swapped with Vanellope, we wouldn't have coded Tessa, she wouldn't have swapped with Zed, nor have coded you this incredible blue gem, behind me."

Turbo pierced his desperate, becoming minty eyes tight to Berri's and gave her a pleading, sorrowful look of apology. Due to the still, frozen look of continued hurt in her eyes, Turbo knew this wreck-fest was something that now came with further healing to be done between him and Berri, words exchanged that were harsh, ones of which he was prepared to own up to.

"If it weren't for her, you wouldn't have MY powers," Ralph then firmly gestured his larger thumb into his own chest and shook his head as him and Turbo caught eyes. They hovered for a moment before Ralph let out a hearty laugh of understanding, one that finally got the edges of Turbo's mouth to curl a little, "Y'EVER think, in a million years, that you'd somehow end up with MY coding? I told you! I'm put on this Arcade to make THE Turbo's life difficult."

"You're doing a fantastic job of it," Turbo mumbled as he bravely smiled to Ralph's chest, though he sniffled and felt his veins wiggle in final release.

"Forgive yourself. You're the ONLY one still mad at yourself, for what happened. Everything's been righted, and sure, we're not out of the dark," Ralph shrugged and looked off a little before he gave Turbo a softened look of calm reassurance, "You have new powers now. Ones that could easily be fueled by anger. My goal, here, is to carefully tend to each and every single wrecker my decisions blesses me with... To carry on my legacy, for good. I don't want people looking back on me and say I only ever sought destruction. You're a part of this now."

"Yes, sir," Turbo mumbled in grateful defeat, though his eyes scanned Ralph's chest in aimless, mild exhaustion as Ralph carried on.

"It's my job to set you guys up for success... One day, I might not be here. One day, my kin will have to carry this on for me, for the children you and Berri have," Ralph rattled off in soft urgency, "Aroq wants faux-codes out of the picture, User knows why... It's our job to prove to Arcade that they're not just a bunch of destructive messes of coding, to stop that threat. And that starts with us."

"...I won't let you down," Turbo meeped as he inhaled a shaky breath and nodded, to which Ralph tilted his head down and gained eye contact with Turbo's shivering soul.

"You won't let yourself down, either," Ralph assured, though he finally inhaled a deep breath, stood to full height and lofted his eyes back to Berri's, "Why don't we head back to where we were. I think it's time Turbo takes a swing, sourced from identity, nothing more or less."

Berri bobbed a nervous nod and began to step a bit closer to the two, and it was in their gained perspective did Berri notice Turbo's eyes begin to sag to that of a curious show of glowing white. His apologetic, wiped eyes looked as if he had somehow been rebooted, as if the memory inside of him had finally been ironed out after years and years of angry wrinkles and confusion. Happy to finally have a clean-slate version of her swap mate, she still sagged her hands into Turbo's and Ralph's and felt confusion and hurt still continue to plague her. Thrilled this was all a part of the process, both healing, discovery and properly sourcing a point of origin, she lulled her eyes closed, amidst their deep swoop of a coded time-warp, and felt as if, for certain, another wave of digging was likely overdue, something she was worried a code swap alone wouldn't be able to solve.