Many thanks again to my dear friend and beta reader, The Phantom Soldier, for helping on the edition of this chapter :)
Chapter 6: First date?
Chocolette walked through a different corridor as Ralph hurried to catch up with her. He was still shocked by how easy had it been to convince the queen into attending the Bad-Anon meeting, and was even more shocked by the fact that she had decided to attend it that night.
Bonbon Lola struggled to keep pace with them, as she was considerably shorter than the two bad-guys. "M'lady s'il vous plait! I-I don't know if this is such a good idea. What if General Nabisco finds out that you've left the castle?! What if he tries to arrest you?!" she shouted concerned.
The wicked queen snorted sarcastically. "I have a hunch the old man will be relieved about me leaving the game for the night ," she said with an excited smirk on her lips. "Pull your sugar-free self together Lola. Didn't you give me a lecture yesterday about making friends and all that jazz?" The queen adjusted her purple cat-eye shaped goggles on the top of her head.
"Oui your grace but-"
"Well I'm going to be making some pretty badass friends tonight, right Ralphie?" she asked him with a half smile as he finally matched her stride.
"Ah, I guess that will depend on how the meeting goes for ya, but yeah sure," he said with an eyebrow raised in doubt as he kept walking with her.
Lola sighed in resignation. "What should I do about the Sour Racers, your majesty?"
The queen glanced at her with an annoyed look etched on her face. "I don't know! Just… Just tell them to guard the castle! Oh yeah, and the perimeters too. I don't want any of those sugar brats prowling around my land. That'll surely keep them distracted for a while; Tell them those were my explicit orders and you know, the typical 'you know what will happen if you fail' finish line."
Ralph frowned a little at her. It wasn't that he really cared much about the Sugar Racers but they were Vanellope's friends after all. He worried about what would happen to them if Chocolette's racers attacked while she was absent.
The queen opened another set of tall black doors that led to a dark and spacious new room. Ralph narrowed his eyes as he watched the queen disappear into the darkness; he looked at Lola with a confused frown just as he heard the sound of snapping fingers and the lights turned on instantly, revealing what looked like the royal garage of the castle. Chocolette's monstrous black racing kart was in the middle of the room, its slick and shining black marzipan surface sparkling under the white neon lights.
Ralph gasped as his brain figured out what Chocolette was intending to do.
"Hop on Ralphie!" she said seductively as she strapped her gloves on. "We're going for a ride!"
Ralph's brow knit into a straight line at her not so subtle innuendo. "We can't go in your kart, Chocolette" he told her, using her name for the first time. Lola looked at him in utter shock as the queen's playful smile dropped in confusion.
"Why not?" she asked him, sounding a bit angry as she put both of her hands on her hips. "Are you afraid of high speed rides?"
He snorted at her with an equally arched eyebrow. "No your 'sassiness'; game vehicles in general are forbidden in Game Central Station."
Chocolette went wide eyed in surprise, not expecting that answer at all. "Oh… okay, and how are we supposed to get to wherever this meeting is," she asked him crossing her arms in annoyance.
Ralph chuckled at her stubbornness. "I don't suppose you know how to walk, right?" he asked her sarcastically.
"Look who's being sassy now," she said with a smirk, finding his newfound confidence with her quite enjoyable. She walked out of the garage at his side again.
"Come on now, we only have half an hour," he said as walked with her towards the castle's main entrance, leaving a very confused Bonbon Lola behind.
Flabbergasted, she saw them disappear behind the big chocolate doors. A tiny, knowing smile crept over her facial features. "Hopefully this will turn for the best," she said as she turned on her feet and glanced back at the door with hopeful eyes.
-0-0-0-
The bright blue light of the place blinded Chocolette for a moment after stepping out of the Sugar Rush terminal. Her eyes bugged in amazement at her surroundings, noticing each singular game character walking by in the crowed main area of Game Central Station.
Ralph stood by her side slightly glancing down at her with a half smile, amused by her dumbfounded expression which reminded him of Vanellope's first time seeing the station. He mentally promised himself to help them build their sisterly bond.
The dark queen looked up at him with an arched eyebrow. "So, lead the path," she mockingly ordered him with a queen-like wave of her hand.
Ralph rolled his eyes at her and just as he was taking his first steps, Chocolette yelped in surprise as an alarm went off right after Ralph had crossed through what she thought was an invisible wall at the terminal's entrance. Ralph grunted in annoyance, face palming as the Surge Protector made his routine appearance.
"You gotta gimme a break man," he told him irritated.
As usual, the blue man didn't even look at him once. "Name?" he asked in his typical monotonous voice.
Exasperated, Ralph proceeded with the supposedly 'random' security check quickly. "Wreck-It Ralph, comin' from Sugar Rush 2 and going to Pacman… no food this time and yes I still hate you," he answered through gritted teeth.
Chocolette sniggered behind him and the Surge Protector raised his eyes for the first time to discover the unknown source of the faint laugh. He offered her a sheepish smile. "Ahm… excuse me ma'am but I'm afraid I've never seen you before. Could you give me your name please?" His voice was dripping with honey as he looked her up and down.
Ralph's jaw dropped in disbelief at the sudden change in attitude of the Surge while Chocolette eyed him with a frown.
"The name is Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz, my dear little man, and yes I'm 'new' around here" she said proudly, crossing her arms under her bust.
Ralph wrinkled his nose at her vivaciousness while Surge wrote down her information. "Oh! A new royal character uh? Very well, and what is her highness's alignment if may I ask?"
Leaning a bit to look him straight in the eyes, Chocolette grinned viciously. "Bad guy," she said in a dark tone.
The usually unflappable Surge Protector bugged his eyes in surprise and stopped writing on his clipboard. "Oh… oh…you-you must be Sugar Rush's new update then…uhmm." He stuttered as he fixed the collar of his shirt nervously. "Well there are a few rules you must…," he started saying but changed his mind as he noticed the threatening glare that the queen was suddenly throwing at him. "You must probably know already of course!" He laughed fearfully. "Well, enjoy your first visit to Game Central Station! All royal characters have special discounts at Tapper's. Have a nice evening!" He disappeared instantly.
Ralph blinked several times as he stared at the spot where the Surge Protector had been standing. The gears of his brain started to move again as he looked at Chocolette wide eyed.
"What in Atari's name just happened?" he blurted in confusion.
"I can be very persuasive when I want to, my dear Ralphie," she winked at him and Ralph felt his cheeks burn at her gesture.
"Right, remind me to explain the arcade's rules to you later and let's just hurry to Pacman" he said, already walking ahead of her, trying his best to hide his blushing face from her view.
-0-0-0-
"This game looks ANCIENT!" Chocolette's voice echoed in the tunnel while they were both traveling on Pacman's train. "Is your game as old as this one?"
Ralph sighed deeply, trying very hard not to lose his temper with the queen as she had been asking him thousands of questions the last 30 minutes since they left Sugar Rush's terminal. He had officially concluded that both Von Schweetz sisters had A LOT more in common than what he already expected, both being rude, sharp mouthed and sarcastic; the difference was mostly that Chocolette seemed to be more conscious about her malice when speaking than Vanellope, something that was obviously because of their different programing.
He looked at her with his brows formed in a straight line, only earning a flirtatious bat of her eyelashes in response. "Aw come on Ralph! I'm just messing with ya, you know?" She leaned over his arm and pressed her bust against him on purpose.
He whirled his head around immediately as he felt his pixels burn with her proximity. What was it with this girl having so much of an effect on him? She was not the first 'Bad Girl' he had ever met in 30 years and yet she had managed to affect his binary code in so many embarrassing and inexplicable ways. He could feel his entire body turn hot and closed in, but still he couldn't bring himself to push her away from him.
The train finally stopped at the main entrance of Pacman but Chocolette didn't budge from her spot.
Feeling a sudden spark of confidence deep in his program, Ralph smirked down at her. "Chocolette," he crooned softly.
The queen giggled as she heard him call her by her name. "Yes Ralphie?" she sang sweetly.
"Get off," Ralph said firmly while gently shoving his arm a little to shake her off, never losing his smirk.
Chocolette sniggered devilish but finally released him, not wanting to push her luck with him any further. She descended from the train first and gave a quick glance at Pacman's 8-bit main entrance, noticing the works of graffiti all over the walls. Ralph walked ahead into the dark portal.
"Come on ya royal pain," he called back to her. "No time for sightseeing, we're already late." Chocolette quickly tailed him, a predatory smile spreading across her lips.
-0-0-0-
Ralph was the first to arrive in the room since he was already familiar with the game's maze. He noticed most of the members of Bad Anon waiting in their chairs, ready to start the meeting.
Zangief was the first to greet him. "Ralph my friend! You came! Congratulations for update! Big moment for you and your Good-Guy, yes?" he said in his thick Russian accent, flashing a friendly smile.
Dr. Eggman adjusted his glasses as he noticed Ralph's physically updated appearance. "We thought you were not going to come today. How is the update going?"
The wrecker smiled at them awkwardly, sensing Chocolette's heeled steps approaching in the distance. "Well… everything seems fine for now… Felix says we still have to wait a little longer before giving a proper judgment on the new changes," he told them not quite entirely referring to his own game's update.
"I heard that Sugar Rush got a new Bad-Guy! Did you happen to meet him while you visited your little friend?" Satine asked him suddenly, shifting everybody's attention to Ralph.
"New Bad-Guy updates are so rare! There hasn't been one in Game Central Station in years!" The only other female villain, Sorceress the blue elf, said playfully as she floated above her chair.
"Yeah about that-"
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen and what a fine group of evil doers we have tonight," Chocolette cut Ralph off abruptly, stepping out from behind him and into everyone's view.
The room went silent for a few seconds, with everybody silently blinking in confusion at the unknown and quite gorgeous female companion that Ralph had brought with him. The wrecker face palmed at the awkwardness, with Chocolette arching an eyebrow quizzically at everyone.
She decided to introduce herself properly. "My name is Chocolette Von Schweetz, racer queen and main villain of Sugar Rush 2," she finished with a wink and a two fingered military salute.
Everybody gaped at her with wide eyes, except for Ralph who just chuckled at her bravado.
"You are Sugar Rush's new bad-guy?"
"A bad-girl queen?"
"We haven't had a royal villain since Bowser!"
"This is so unexpected!"
All of them blurted incoherent and rapid questions at the same time, startling the queen a bit.
"This is quite a pleasant surprise." The bad-guys whirled around to see Clyde entering the room with a half smile drawn on his 8-bit lips. "We gladly welcome her highness to Bad Anon. We are honored by her presence.
Clyde politely bowed in a straight down line movement and everyone mimicked him in the same fashion. Ralph cocked an eyebrow in puzzlement, not grasping the meaning of the importance of Chocolette being a royal bad-guy. He had to admit that he had never heard of the case in the arcade, but to him Chocolette didn't seem out of ordinary, at least as a bad girl. But then again, the only 'royalty' he had ever met were Vanellope and Bowser, since bad-guys were rarely given the chance to meet any royal character outside their own games.
"Geez guys, no need for formalities, please! I'm just another bad-guy just like all of you. Relax!" She waved at them with a sheepish smile much to Ralph's amusement.
Everyone raised their heads again as Clyde smiled apprehensively. "Oh but it is a very important thing, your highness. You'll understand it soon enough," he said solemnly as he took his rightful seat in the circle.
Chocolette and Ralph exchanged confused looks with each other, but neither said another word.
"Well why don't we use this meeting to know more about our new member, fellas," Clyde said while everyone took their usual seats. "But first, let's introduce ourselves to her, who wants to go first?"
Ralph brought an extra chair and gestured Chocolette to sit next to him, to which she most eagerly accepted, squishing herself between him and Zombie.
He then noticed an empty chair next to Zangief and realized that Bowser hadn't arrived yet.
"Clyde, shouldn't we wait for Bowser?" Satine asked out loud to Ralph's surprise. "He never misses a meeting."
Clyde frowned in a worried manner. "I'm afraid I haven't heard anything from Bowser since the installation of his new home at NES Central, so I'm not really sure if he's going to be able join us today. But don't worry, I'm pretty sure he'll be back as soon as he has solved whatever business he must be attending to in the Mushroom Kingdom." He offered a reassuring half smile, easing everybody's worries. It was Bowser after all, one of the most powerful bad guys there was.
-0-0-0-
The meeting quickly started. One by one the members introduced themselves and told brief summaries of who they were, what their current jobs in their games were, a little bit of their back stories and how they dealt with the drama of being bad-guys inside and outside their own games.
Queen Chocolette listened to them, at first amused and entertained, but halfway through it she started to get bored, and then she became annoyed and finally pissed, especially after listening to all of their 'dramas'.
But then, when it was almost over, Ralph's turn came and her attention quickly returned. She sat herself straight as she listened to every single detail of Ralph's story. She frowned in disapproval as the wrecker explained his life before meeting her sister, learning about the bad-guy social stigma and understanding why the support group was formed in the first place. She also gasped in shock when she learned about his bold game jumping adventure, and how he ended up destroying a crazy old foe of the arcade and became the hero of the queen's original game.
Once he finished, Chocolette slumped back in her chair, crossing her arms with an angry frown plastered on her face. Clyde noticed the queen's expression and decided to interrupt. "Is something bothering you, your grace?" he asked her politely.
Ralph looked at her after mostly ignoring her during the whole introduction and took notice of her demeanor. "Do you want my honest opinion?" she asked in a monotonous tone with a raised eyebrow; Clyde bowed affirmatively.
Chocolette sighed deeply as she rolled her eyes; she stood up with her hands on her wide hips. "I think…," she started slowly. "You all are a bunch of wusses." She declared with a scolding frown, earning collective gasps from all of the bad-guys.
Ralph's eyes almost fell out of their sockets and his jaw dropped in utter shock at the queen's reckless claim. He glanced nervously at everyone in the meeting and after quickly regaining his composure he proceeded to scold her.
"Chocolette, that is not-"
"Wait Ralph, let her finish," Clyde cut him short, the only one who didn't seem shocked at the queen's confession. The wrecker looked at him confused but decided to let him be.
"And why does her majesty believe that?" the orange ghost asked her with a confident smile.
"Well, first of all I don't see why you guys have to worry so much about what other characters may think of you," she started, glancing at everyone in general. "As far as I understand it, it's just a job we do, right? So stop moping about it! Don't you love your jobs?" She flashed them a smirk.
Ralph noticed everyone nodding and affirming her words. He mentally admitted to enjoy his wrecking job.
"See?" she said, smiling a little more brightly. "It's all right, it can't be wrong if we love our jobs and it's a really important job my people! Take dear Ralphie's example here: his game almost got unplugged because he didn't come to wreck a simple building for one day. Imagine what would happen if all of us decided to miss our jobs for a day?" That thought silenced the room and even shocked Clyde with the realization. "With all due respect… I think the arcade in general underestimate us completely…" Her voice echoed in the room, and to Ralph's shock he found himself silently agreeing with her.
"Honestly, we are bad-guys, but we're not really bad… unless well, the situation requires for us to be bad," she chuckled and Ralph saw some of the others sniggering with her. "And hey, if someone is treating us bad, why do we have to put up with that? I'm not saying you have to go and do anything drastic, oh no no, but one tiny but strong threat every once in a while will keep the snobbish ones off your back effectively." She gave a half smile as she checked her black nails.
Ralph frowned at her in disapproval but found himself even more surprised at the fact that everybody, including Clyde, was nodding at her and mischievously smirking in understanding. He wondered if it had been a mistake bringing her to the meeting.
Clyde cleared his throat, redirecting everyone's attention back to him. "That's a pretty bold affirmation, m'lady, though we have to remember that our goal is to gain the arcade community's acceptance, not their fear," he finished solemnly.
Chocolette rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, old man. I just think you guys should start behaving more according to who you are instead of how people want you to be."
A couple of 'Yeahs' and 'She's rights' were exchanged among the attendants as the queen sat back down next to Ralph. She looked at him arrogantly as she crossed her arms with a snort, while Ralph furrowed his brow, still disapproving of her behavior.
"Well, since everyone has already shared today, I guess it has come to your turn, m'lady," Clyde said with a pixelated brow raised.
She straightened herself and grinned evilly at him. "All right, let's do this your way old man…," she said as she leaned forward and supported her elbows on her knees, tangling her fingers with each other.
Ralph focused his entire attention to her this time, eager to finally discover more about the sassy queen's 'story' and hopefully figure out what her real intentions were. Did she have a traumatic back story just like most of them? Was she fully aware that everything was just part of her 'job'? He hoped to find answers to all his friends' and his own questions.
"My name is Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz and I'm a bad girl," she started, giving a flirtatious look at Ralph.
"Hi Chocolette," everybody greeted as usual.
"I'm from the game Sugar Rush Speedway 2, and I'm Princess-"
"President," Ralph corrected her smugly.
She wrinkled her nose at him. "…Right… President Vanellope Von Schweetz's older sister, who also happens to be my game's main good-guy. So far my job consists of preventing my sister or any other avatar the gamers choose, from winning the races. I'm a badass racer, no pun intended, and nobody can honestly beat me at it. I can use any trick to win with my wicked powers, even if it's not fair or safe enough which doesn't really matter since everyone can regenerate after all." She sniggered darkly, earning a glare from Ralph.
"And… about my back story-"
"Sorry for being late Clyde," said a raspy booming voice suddenly, and everyone whirled to acknowledge a familiar giant figure.
"Bowser?" Ralph gasped, looking at the legendary bad guy with his eyebrows arched in surprise.
Bowser slowly stepped inside the room with difficulty; he looked uncharacteristically old and tired, his scaled skin darkened and more defined with some faint wrinkles and rings drawn under his red dragon eyes. He also had some prominent battle scars all over his jaw, chest and arms that, even though they looked severe, were obviously already healed.
Sorceress quickly levitated away from her chair, which was next to the legendary bad guy, as she signaled for him to sit in her spot instead, noticing his fatigue with worry. Oddly, he didn't refuse and did as she suggested, the chair whining in complaint as he set his new heavy weight down slowly and carefully.
"Thank you sweetheart," he said with a sigh, making her blush.
"Congratulations on your upgrade, old friend," Clyde greeted him with worried eyes. "Seems though that it's taken too much from you this time."
Bowser looked at him with a tired smirk. "Well, that comes with being so popular I guess. We got another massive fighting game again."
Chocolette leaned over to Ralph as Bowser kept talking with Clyde. "Is that the other big bad-guy you mentioned before?" she asked him in a whisper.
"Yeah that's Bowser," Ralph whispered back. "He's the only one from NES Central who comes to the meetings. He is also a royal bad guy like you." Chocolette kept her eyes glued on the turtle dragon with curiosity.
"If you need help we can always assist you with some training, right Zangief?" M. Bison offered with a friendly smile.
"Oh yes, of course!" the Russian Street Fighter agreed.
"Thanks folks but I must remind you that this is not my first fighting game," he said with a dismissive gesture. "And it's not the fights that has me this tired but the politics!" He began massaging his temples with a scaly talon.
Ralph and Chocolette noticed Clyde frown. "The Princesses Council again?" the 8-bit ghost asked dryly.
"Yes… hopefully Peach will calm down soon, but I highly recommend you avoid visiting NES Central if you don't have any serious business to attend there," he said, earning whispers of confusion from all of the members. "It's nothing serious, really. But you know how the princesses can over react when scared." His assessment earned knowing chuckles from the group.
"I'm sure everything will turn out fine soon. Well folks, let's just finish the meeting here so we can all return to our homes and have a proper reset, shall we?" Clyde announced and everybody stood to recite the Bad-Guy Affirmation.
Chocolette looked confused as she stood up and saw everybody take each other's hand. She wrinkled her nose in disgust as she saw Zombie clumsily trying to take her right hand, but then her expression dropped when she felt her left hand being wrapped into a massive, warm and welcoming object. She whirled in shock to discover that Ralph's big hand had been the source of the unknown feeling, and slightly blushed as she exchanged wide eyes with him for an instant.
They both glitched after looking into each other's eyes but quickly looked away in stubborn embarrassment while a slight blush crept up on their faces' pixels.
As everybody chanted the group's motto, Bowser whispered secretly. "Clyde, who is that new bad-girl who just made Ralph glitch like a school girl?"
"She's Sugar Rush's new main villain and Princess Vanellope's older sister apparently. She's a royal too," he said in a half knowing smile with one open eye.
"Interesting," Bowser commented as they finished with the recite.
Just as everybody waved their goodbyes, Bowser and Clyde approached Ralph and Chocolette.
"I offer my sincere apologies for the interruption, m'lady," Bowser bowed to her apologetically with a knowing smile, a claw over his shelled chest. "My name is Bower, Koopa King and bad-guy of the Mushroom Kingdom. It's an honor to meet you."
The wicked queen looked up at him with a proud smile. "The honor is mine! My name is Chocolette Von Schweetz, racer queen of Sugar Rush. Ralph speaks very highly of you," she said cheerfully, bowing respectfully to Bowser.
Bowser smiled in amusement. "I'm sure he has" he said while looking down at Ralph, who know matched his eye-level. "You have grown a few inches, boy. Mario told me about Fix-Its upgrade. Congratulations to you too." Ralph cringed at being called 'boy' which earned a muffled giggle from Chocolette.
"Thanks… grandpa!" he mockingly barked back at him, and the giant dragon laughed loudly.
"Ha ha! If you ever feel like giving a REAL try to those new muscles of yours, you should come to my new home in Super Smash Bros. Brawl once things have calmed down with the princesses," he said slapping Ralph's back hard in amusement.
"I'll think about it," Ralph said sheepishly, flinching in pain at each friendly hit.
"I can assure you, m'lady, this guy right here is one of the greatest bad-guys around the arcade, so don't let him escape your grasp!" the old bad guy said with a knowing smile as the queen smirked victoriously and Ralph blushed with an annoyed frown.
"Real smooth my friend," Clyde said with a mischievous smirk. "Anyways, I hope you can forgive our interruption today, your grace. I'll make sure you have the first turn next week so you can tell us about your back story."
"Oh! It's okay, really! I was just going to say that my back story is still locked so I'm still clueless about it," she answered him with a shrug, earning a surprised look from Ralph.
"Oh well, then I hope her majesty still graces us with another visit next week," Clyde smiled with his eyes closed.
Ralph looked at Chocolette out of the corner of his eye, interested in her answer as he remembered the deal they made before coming to Pacman.
"Sure thing old man. It has been quite entertaining," she said, smirking with a slight bow of her head. Ralph smiled unconsciously.
"Excellent! We'll see you both next week then. Enjoy the rest of the evening, children," Bowser jokingly said with a bow as he proceeded to leave. Ralph and Chocolette waved their goodbyes to Clyde and left right behind Bowser.
"Well, that was interesting," Chocolette said as they walked side by side through the dark maze.
Ralph looked down at her with a smirk. "I told you it was cool. Was I right or was I right?"
"Yeah, yeah don't get too cocky with me. It's certainly more entertaining than staying in the castle with Lola and the Sour Racers," she said with an arched eyebrow.
"I'm heading to Tapper's right now to meet with Felix and your sister. Care to join me?" he asked with surprising confidence.
"What's Tapper's and why is my sister there?" she asked, wrinkling her nose in confusion.
"It's a bar," he said before suddenly realizing how wrong that sounded when her eyes bugged.
"My 13 year old sister is in a bar waiting for you?" she said, frowning in disbelief. Ralph didn't quite understand why it bothered her that much but still smiled at her slight show of concern.
"Uh… I know how that sounded but it's not like that," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "Tapper only serves root beers, totally alcohol free."
"Okay… is the sergeant lady going to be there?" she asked him with curiosity.
"Probably, she usually tags along with Felix," he replied as a mocking smile spread across his face. "Why? Are you scared of her?"
Her cheeks huffed stubbornly. "You can't blame me for being cautious. I heard what that blue hedgehog said while we crossed Game Central Station, and I'm not risking myself getting permanently deleted because of the crazy temperamental wife of your good-guy."
Ralph sniggered. "Don't worry, I'll protect you," he said and he instantly blushed profusely after hearing himself. Just why exactly had he said something like that, he wondered.
Chocolette smirked with her eyes narrowed at him. "Oh my hero," she mockingly said as she raised a hand to her forehead in a fake damsel in distress fashion, leaning over Ralph's arm pretending to faint.
Ralph's blush dropped and he quickly shook her off his shoulder with a chuckle. "Oh shut up! Are you comin' or not?" he asked her.
She tangled her arm around his. "Lead the path my handsome bad man!" she ordered him loudly, as they hopped on the train with the rest of the bad guys. Much to his own embarrassment, Ralph's bad-guy friends chuckled at him.
-0-0-0-
Check my Tumblr (KicaCris) and my Deviantart account (GND-KicaCris) for some brand new art of the story! Some are a bit spoilerific ;)