Original story by GND-KicaCris.
Revised and edited by The Phantom Soldier.
"Wreck-it Ralph" © Disney
Chapter 7: Two bad guys, two evil plans.
"I wonder how Ralph did" Vanellope pondered from her stool at their bar's counter as Felix and Calhoun drank their root beers.
"Knowing Wreck-It, he probably left the invitation at the castle's door and ran away," Calhoun said with a mocking smirk as she gave a quick sip to her drink. "He doesn't seem to be skilled in dealing with the department of the opposite sex."
Her short husband frowned at her as he taped the table with his fingers. "Well in his defense, he doesn't have many lady friends apart from you and little 'V' here," Felix defended his brother with a sheepish smile. "I don't think the girls from Nicetown count since most of them still seem wary of him."
"It would be so cool if he dates my sister," Vanellope piped cheerfully, supporting her face with her two tiny hands in a dreamy manner.
Calhoun cocked an eyebrow at her as she put down her tall glass. "Kid, they just met yesterday! We aren't even sure if your sister is trustworthy yet, let alone if Ralph would be interested in dating her." She patted Vanellope's head lovingly.
The princess made president huffed at the sergeant. "Are you kidding me?! I told you already, my sister is cool! She can't be bad! No way! AND I just know that she and Ralph are destined for each other." She finished by confidently crossing her arms.
Felix chuckled at her innocence. "How are you so sure about that last part?" he asked her, playing along.
"Because I'm a princess, gaddoi," she declared smugly. "We princesses are EXPERTS on this matter because we have 'romance' written in our codes! No character knows more about looooooove than a princess." She batted her eye lashes to punctuate her statement.
Calhoun and Felix exchanged smiles. "But you're not a princess, pipsqueak, you're a president," Calhoun teased.
Vanellope knit her eyebrows in a straight line, dropping her smile. "You know what I'm saying so bite me," she barked at them as they both laughed loudly at her in amusement.
Just then, Felix noticed the colossal frame of his antagonist entering the bar.
"Oh look! Ralph's here!" He pointed with a gloved finger, making Vanellope and Tamora spin around in the direction he was aiming at.
The three gaped when they saw Vanellope's older sister enter behind him, her eyes wandering around her surroundings in curiosity.
"Oh my land!" Felix beamed in surprise as he readjusted his cap to look better.
"Is that-?"
"It's Ralph and he brought my sister with him!" Vanellope exclaimed excitedly. She stood up on her stool with her hands in the air and waved at them. Ralph and Chocolette immediately averted the younger jumping Von Schweetz and walked their way towards them.
"Hey guys!" he greeted them with a toothy grin. "I almost thought I wasn't gonna make it on time to meet you guys here." He glanced around for spare tools to sit on.
Chocolette stood next to him with a smirk as she eyed her sister with an arched eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be in bed already lil' sis?" she asked in a playful tone.
"Sis!" Vanellope cheered, jumping over to hug her around her waist. Chocolette froze in shock at her sudden show of affection, not knowing how to react as her arms hovered on each of her sides. She felt three pairs of eyes looking smugly at her.
"You didn't stay long after the arcade closed and since I'm not allowed to go to BlackColaCastle, we couldn't hang out today!" Vanellope rapidly complained with pouty cheeks and big puppy-dog eyes.
Chocolette smiled awkwardly at her. "Y-yeah sorry," she said as she tried to pry Vanellope from her waist. "I had things to do, you know? Queen stuff to attend to!"
"Oh right, because baking pies is a REALLY important royal duty," Ralph joked as he eyed the queen down with a cocked eyebrow. Chocolette wrinkled the side of her mouth and rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"You bake pies ma'am?" Felix chimed in delight as Calhoun crossed her arms and looked slightly jealous. "That's outstanding! Are they good? Did you try any, brother?" Felix looked almost as excited as Vanellope.
"Yep and I gotta admit it, Mary has some serious competition now," he said as he sat on a stool and gestured for Tapper.
Vanellope noticed her sister cast a small proud smile while her cheeks became slightly rosy. She giggled and her sister quickly returned her focus to her clinging frame. "Are you gonna let me go any time soon, princess cavity?" she asked in a tone of amused annoyance.
Vanellope looked at her with a scolding frown before letting her go. "It's president, not princess," she corrected her with a wave of her index finger, earning a chuckle from the older Von Schweetz.
"Does that make me a dictator or something?" she asked her sarcastically with her hands on her wide hips. Vanellope giggled with a nod as she glitched and appeared on Ralph's shoulder.
"I guess so! 'The Dark Dictator Chocolette Von Schweetz'. Hey, it has a nice ring to it!" Vanellope gestured an invisible title above her head with a wide toothy grin. Her sister shook her head in disapproval.
"I'm keeping the queen title, thank you very much," she leered at her sister darkly, earning a frown from Ralph.
Chocolette took her sister´s abandoned stool and sat next to him, glancing at the Fix-Its. "I hope you don't mind me joining you tonight… Fix-Its, right?" she asked with elegant sarcasm.
Calhoun narrowed her eyes at her. "Yes, but its Calhoun to you, queenie," she barked, struggling with being friendly with the dark queen. Her 'good-guy' code was tingling in the back of her skull, telling her to keep her guard up.
"You can call me Felix, ma'am, and it's great to have you join us tonight," Felix said as he took off his cap in respect.
Tapper approached them with his usual mustachioed smile. "Hey Ralph, good to see you," the friendly bartender greeted him. "Nice upgrade." He said as he noticed Ralph's new height and gloved knuckles.
"Thank's Tapper, but it's no big deal," Ralph grinned blushingly at his old confidant, scratching the back of his neck with a gloved hand.
"Hohoho, but you've already got a lady friend with you! May I offer you a root bear miss?" The bartender smiled with courtesy to Chocolette who smirked knowingly at Ralph while Vanellope sniggered on his shoulder.
Ralph blushed profusely. "Sh-she is not-"
"I would gladly accept your offer my good man" she elegantly interrupted the reddened wrecker. "The name is Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz, pleased to meet you." With a light giggle, she shook the bartender's hand. Ralph could read in her eyes that teasing him in public was turning into her favorite hobby.
"Oh! A royal! Ralph you dog!" Tapper chuckled, and this time Calhoun and Felix joined him in as Ralph face palmed himself in embarrassment.
"Cut it out Tapper!" Ralph barked in annoyance, his face still red. "She's just Vanellope's older sister, okay?"
"I'm sorry my friend, I was just messing with ya! Two root beers coming!" With a practiced hand, the bartender slid two tall foaming glasses to them. Ralph caught both effortlessly with his hands, and handed one to Chocolette who still had a mocking smirk plastered on her face. Tapper left them to attend to other costumers.
Ralph looked down at Chocolette, ignoring the giggles from Felix, Calhoun and Vanellope. "I swear I'll get you back for this," he said, glaring daggers at her.
Chocolette took a sip from her root beer with a chuckle and narrowed her eyes seductively at him. "Oh I can't wait for that," she said gently as she licked her bottom lip teasingly, much to Ralph's distress and making the Fix-Its hit their table in mirth as the humor had gotten too much for them to bear.
"Knock it off!" Ralph insisted with wide eyes; his glass slightly cracking for his tense grip as Chocolette laughed heartily too.
Calhoun wiped her eyes as she tried to recover her breath. "Oh my, I haven't laughed this much since my bachelorette party. I've got to admit, you've earned some brownie points with me here for embarrassing Wreck-St like a pro." She raised her glass in the air in a cheering gesture.
"You should have seen him before we came here. You missed a couple of stellar moments at the Bad Anon and when I invited him to eat some apple pie at my castle." She sniggered, mimicking Calhoun as she also raised her glass at her. "I might turn this into a sport if I keep hanging out with him" she said as she took another sip of her drink with her eyes closed.
Chocolette yelped in surprise as Vanellope jumped off Ralph's shoulder and landed gracefully in front of her with hopeful shining eyes. "Does that mean that you're going to hang out with us from now on?" she chirped at her.
Calhoun and Felix dropped their smiles as they exchanged quizzical looks with Ralph, who secretly looked down at Chocolette out of the corner of his eye as he pretended to keep drinking his beverage. The older Von Schweetz's expression was blank for a couple of seconds as she kept her eyes on Vanellope in deep thought. Then, a half smile crept over her black lips as her eyes softened slightly.
"Well…," she started warily. "I don't know sis, I don't want to be the fifth wheel on your friend group's kart" She almost seemed timid but Ralph snorted, obviously not buying it.
"Don't be silly! The bigger the group the better! Right guys?" She whirled around to face her 'family' for support. Chocolette glanced at them with an innocent glint in her eyes while Vanellope did almost the same involuntarily.
"Oh great, now they're both doing the puppy-dog eyes thing together," Ralph chuckled in amusement, pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried not to laugh even harder.
"I can't say no to those eyes, brother," Felix said looking at him with a shrugging smile. "What do you say, my dynamite gal?"
Calhoun remained silent as she kept looking at the pleading eyes of the Von Schweetz sisters. She rolled her eyes and snorted. "I'll keep my gun close, just in case," she said with a slight nod as she emptied her glass.
Vanellope jumped in cheer as Chocolette giggled in modest victory. "It's decided then! Sister, you shall come with us to tomorrow's game jump extravaganza!" Vanellope finished with a royal bow and a toothy grin.
"Game jump?" Chocolette asked them quizzically. "I thought that wasn't allowed."
"Well not exactly," Felix began slowly. "As long as you don't go Turbo, we can visit whichever game we want. Oh wait, I don't know if you know what going Turbo means." He frowned apologetically.
"Ralph kinda explained it when he told his story today at the meeting, so please go on," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
Felix smiled proudly at her, his good-guy demeanor taking over. "Great! Well last year, after what happened in Sugar Rush, the Surge Protectors installed security cameras inside all games so they could monitor them at all times. There are even big flat screens at the top of each game port so everyone in the arcade can report any kind of abnormality if Surge is not looking for any reason." Felix signaled Tapper to bring a couple more root beers for them.
"I didn't notice them when we crossed Game Central Station," she said glancing at Ralph with a cocked eyebrow.
He finished his own glass with a long gulp, suppressing a burp with his hand; the wrecker smirked down at her and proceeded to answer her. "That's because they were turned off at that moment, and since they're black it's hard to spot them at first glance. They only get activated if the sensors perceive someone 'playing' or actively 'game jumping' into the game. It's not very common around here to game jump; we're mostly the only ones who do it. I actually have a hunch that Surge only installed them to keep an eye on us exclusively." He rolled his eyes, earning a light laugh from her. He also signaled Tapper to bring another glass for him.
"All right so, where are we going tomorrow?" Chocolette asked them with a glimmer of curiosity and excitement sparkling in her green eyes.
Ralph, Calhoun and Felix smiled down at Vanellope, who crossed her arms over her tiny chest with a smug expression. "Tomorrow's my turn to pick the game. We change turns every day so everybody is happy and all that yadayada that hammer-time here usually says. But I still haven't decided which one and since you're coming with us tomorrow, I'll plan it tonight before going to sleep." She flashed a mischievous grin, tapping her fingers together in an evil plotting kind of way.
Chocolette raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Sounds interesting," she simply said with an evil smirk as she finished her own drink. "Well, this has been lovely but I better get going. Who knows what kind of pranks my Sour Racers are using against dear Bonbon Lola by now."
"Aw I haven't met her yet," Vanellope asked her as her code tingled with the mention of her sister's majordomo. "Is she as gloomy as Sour Bill?"
Chocolette giggled at the idea of a dour Bonbon Lola. "I wish! Tobikomi only knows why the programmers gave the sour majordomo to you while I kept the sweetie-cheery one for myself. I'll see you tomorrow then, Fix-Its. Don't stay up all night, lil sister, and you," she said glancing up at Ralph with a smirk.
He mentally braced himself for whatever kind of flirt she was about to throw at him.
"Good night," she said softly as she started walking towards the game's exit.
Ralph stared wide eyed and followed her movements closely. He kept watching her leave until she reached the exit. Just when the shadow of a victorious smile started to be drawn on his lips, relishing in the hope that she had stopped her flirting game with him, the dark queen turned slightly over her shoulder and winked playfully at him knowing that he still had his eyes on her. Ralph grunted in annoyance as a blush appeared on his cheeks for like the 10th time that day and immediately turned over to his friends again.
-0-0-0-
Calhoun smiled knowingly at Ralph as she watched the wrecker's eyes follow the parting figure of the queen. "So Wreck-It, what do you have to report to us about your first date with miss hard candy?" she asked him teasingly, earning a glare from him.
"It wasn't a date, argh!" he fumed, supporting his chin with a massive hand. "Anyway, I think she did well at the meeting. Everyone seemed impressed with meeting another royal bad-guy, even Bowser."
Felix perked up at the mention of the Koopa King. "Bowser went to the meeting? How is he? I still haven't talked with Mario about the new update in NES Central."
Ralph's expression turned serious. "The old man has gotten HUGE! And he seems much stronger too, but at the same time he looked just more tired and worn out than usual. He even arrived really late! Barely making the last few minutes of the meeting. Apparently it had something to do with The Princesses Council. He didn't explain much but said it wasn't something serious."
"Do you know something about it, kid?" Calhoun asked Vanellope, remembering that even though she liked to be referred to as 'president', the littler racer still had royal duties that included taking part in the arcade's royal council.
She shrugged at them, uninterested. "Beats me! I'm the only princess in Game Central, so they don't summon me unless they have something to discuss with us specifically. And that has only happened twice. But seriously, they are such a pain in the bumper!" Vanellope sourly remembered when she met Princess Peach and the other five main princesses of the other central a month after her game's reset.
She was summoned the first time to be officially introduced to them, which resulted in a very boring and protocol gathering meeting, much to her own joy. The second time was when Princess Peach had ultimately forbidden the use of racing karts entirely outside their games, after Candlehead had accidentally crashed into Sonic a few months ago in the middle of Game Central Station. The blue hedgehog took full responsibility for the accident, as the good guy he was, but Princess Peach hadn't bought it one bit and so banned all racing vehicles after closing time. Since then, Vanellope had had a sour relationship with them.
"It's probably some exclusive issue of NES Central," the little racer waved off.
"Hopefully it is," Felix tapped his hat with confidence. "So, returning to the main subject, is the queen trustworthy enough, brother?"
Ralph straightened up on his stool and looked at them with his frown. "I don't know. I still feel like she's up to something fishy." He looked down in concern, but a smirk quickly appeared on his lips as he glanced at them again with a mischievous spark in his brown eyes.
"But I have a plan on how I'll get it out of her" he said with a chuckle as he gave a quick sip to his refilled drink.
The other three exchanged curious looks with each other.
"Enlighten us with your evil plan, Stinkbrain," Vanellope ordered him playfully, with excitement in her voice.
"It's very simple," he said, smirking. "I'll just have to play along with her little game and pretend to be… well… somehow… less 'good' I guess."
Felix and Vanellope gasped in surprise as Calhoun sniggered. "Oh I see… a double agent mission!" the sergeant sneered mockingly. "Once she believes you are just as 'bad' as she is, she'll trust you with whatever plan she is plotting."
"Oooooooh sneaky!" Vanellope chuckled evilly, rubbing her hands together in fun.
"Yeah, but I have to be very subtle. She already knows that I'm not that evil, so if I start to act too differently tomorrow she'll instantly suspect something's up and the plan will fail." Ralph closed his fist and looked at them smugly.
"Uh… I don't know brother… what if she ends up turning you truly evil instead?" Felix asked in concern, his good-guy gut tingling in alarm. "She seems to be… very persuasive." Felix wasn't sure if his antagonist would catch his drift.
"Pff, like that could ever happen!" Ralph said with a chuckle. "I have more years being a bad-guy than her, so I know what I'm doing and what to expect from her. She would have turned completely 'good' long before she'd have the chance to wrap me around her finger. Plus, if something goes wrong, I'm counting on you guys to stop the plan, right?"
"You can bet on it!" Calhoun said slamming the table with her glass.
"But Ralph, I don't think my sister is really bad!" Vanellope insisted with a sad pout, glancing gloomily at her tiny hands. "I think she just acts evilly because of her programming." She said with her eyes down.
Ralph sighed and lifted her chin with his index finger to make her look him in the eyes. "Look kid, I know you're programmed to care for her and stuff but we're just taking precautions here, okay? I'm doing this for your own safety. I can't take any risks after what happened with King Candy." He reassured her with a half smile, brushing her bangs gently out of her face. "I'll just keep a close eye on her while she gets the idea that what she does is just a job, I promise."
"Ok… I'll trust you with this mission, Major Body Odor," she giggled in contentment.
Calhoun raised her glass. "Cheers for the success of our 'evil plan'," she said with a toothy grin.
"Cheers," they all said as their glasses clashed with a sonorous klang.
-0-0-0-
The dark doors of Black Cola Castle closed slowly behind the queen, creaking until they were completely locked. The shadowed face of Chocolette lit up with a dark smile as she turned on her heels and began marching with resolution.
The white walls around her started to turn black as the black furniture and decorations switched to white with each determined step the queen took. She snickered evilly as she approached a pair of crystal white doors and opened them widely, revealing the spacious hall of the castle's throne room.
It was basically a long hall with tall, cola shaped pillars supporting the glamorous purple crystal ceiling that hovered above her; black hard candy chandeliers hung from it, providing illumination to the room. Several stained glass windows with various pictures of dragons adorned the lengthy black and white walls, the eyes of each dragon glowing green with each bolt of lightning.
There, in the middle of the room, she saw with a mocking smile her loyal Sour Racers, cheering and laughing at the top of their lungs as Warhead and Franknerd held Bonbon Lola miserably above a bubbling hot pit of melted green acid candy.
"Stay still Lola, we know what we're doing!" the green haired lad sniggered as Franknerd babbled something incoherent in apparent agreement, his face twitching between laughs.
"No s'il vous plait!" she stuttered, glancing in fear at the bubbling green liquid. "The queen would not approve of this!"
"It's not like you won't regenerate," cheered Zoet, the twin with the lightning bolt painted over her eye as she high-fived her sister.
"We just want to check how long it takes to die in there, Lola," Razz said with her arms crossed as she casually leaned against a wall. "You know, in case we capture any of those cavities like the queen ordered. We have to make sure the pit works properly, right guys?"
"Let the counting begin!" Rocko announced as he stood tall between Warhead and Franknerd as a referee. They started to swing Lola back and ford repeatedly.
"3...2..."
"No please!" Lola pleaded with teary eyes.
"...1!"
"Just what in Atari's name do you think you are doing?!" the queen barked with a booming voice from the doors, letting herself finally be noticed. The Sour Racers gasped in terror as they quickly stopped their prank in mid launch. Lola sighed in relief as she saw the silhouette of the dark queen upside down.
"Your grace!" Rocko blurted in fear as he stepped away from the two main pranksters.
"We-we just were kidding!" the twins defended in unison.
"We weren't really going to-"
"SILENCE!" she bellowed with a frown and they obeyed. She walked slowly, her face as impassive as steel, passing by them and ascending the steps that leaded to her throne. She sat in the big, black gothic styled throne, made of frozen dark cola and adorned with different carvings of dragons, looking at her subjects with a scowl. The Sour Racers immediately lined up at the bottom of the steps and kneeled respectfully to their queen.
Bonbon Lola dusted herself off with a frown as she cleared her throat and said, "All hail the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush: Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz... the Dark." A bit of sadness rang through at the end of her words.
"Long live the Queen!" the racers responded in fear.
A minute of complete silence followed, with the queen frowning deeply at them while they gulped in fear. "If I remember correctly, I ordered you all to guard the castle," she began through gritted teeth. "So imagine my surprise to find you all here fooling around and torturing Bonbon Lola instead of doing your jobs! I'm disappointed in all of you!"
All of them raised their heads with eyes wide in fear.
"Your majesty, please!"
"We were guarding, I swear!"
"We-we were just making sure the pit worked!"
"We guarded for a couple of hours but-"
"It's Warhead's fault! He convinced us to leave our positions!"
"WHAT?!"
"I'll crush him if you wish, your majesty!"
"Just wait a minute here! It was Razz's idea!"
"You son of a gumball!"
The queen quickly grew bored at their bickering, massaging her forehead in annoyance. "I'm surrounded by idiots," she groaned, earning a playful laugh from Lola who stood at her side.
"I… said… SILENCE!" she bellowed again, silencing the room. "I'll think about a proper punishment for all of you later. We need to discuss other more important things before the arcade opens."
Lola frowned in disapproval, while the Sour Racers looked relieved at the change of subject, and smirked darkly in approval as they rose to their feet.
"Has her highness finally come up with a plan to take over the kingdom?" Razz asked with an excited spark in her orange eyes.
Bonbon Lola looked at her queen with worry as the black and white haired sovereign smiled darkly at them. "Yes," she said softly and they all whistled and cheered wildly.
"Can we use the pretty weapons?" the twins asked in unison with a playfully dark snigger.
"I call the acid cannon!" Razz said smugly as Warhead glared daggers at her.
"That's my kart's special attack Razz!" he barked in her face. "Get your own cannon!"
"Make me!" she barked back, pushing their noses against each other.
"I'm cool with the big foot spike wheels," Rocko said, crossing his toned tattooed arms over his chest in pride.
The queen rolled her eyes as their barking started all over again. "QUIET ALL OF YOU! We won't need weapons for this plan." She rose from the throne with her hands planted firmly on her hips. Everyone whirled around to face the queen, just as Warhead and Razz were choking each other.
"I've come to the realization that in order for me to take the throne, we'll have to play... nice and quietly," she said as she descended the throne's steps, narrowing her eyes as she noticed the wave of disbelief that ran across the faces of her racers. "My sister has some powerful outside friends that will surely have no problem interfering if we dare to make a move against her."
"You mean that giant warthog and the mismatched couple the other day?" Razz asked with a mocking laugh. Chocolette glared at her with her green eyes glowing dangerously, scaring every single pixel out of all of them.
"DO NOT EVER speak of him like that again!" she threatened Razz through clenched teeth as she yanked her by her orange braid.
"So-sorry, your grace!" Razz barely managed to say with her eyes squeezed shut in pain.
Bonbon Lola cocked an eyebrow curiously at the queen's violent reaction to the dig at the wrecker.
Chocolette realized her overreaction and quickly let Razz go, clearing her throat with a light blush on her cheeks. Turning her back to them and crossing her arms behind her, she continued her explanation. "He is a key part of my plan... I learned today that my sister and therefore everyone in the kingdom consider him a hero after he saved them from a wacko who tried to take over my game and the arcade a year ago." She said solemnly.
"A hero?" Rocko asked as he stroked his beard in confusion. "But Lola told us when you left that he's a Bad-Guy!" the oldest of the evil racers said quizzically.
"I know, it's a long story but apparently not all bad-guys are truly evil," she said dismissively as her racers exchanged dumbfounded expressions. "He is very interested in making me and my sister have a nice, warmhearted sisterly bond… again." She glanced hesitantly at one of the stained glass windows, through which she saw the silhouette of Sugar Rush Castle.
A small hopeful smile appeared on Lola's face as the Sour Racers laughed in amusement.
"Yeah right, like that's possible!" Warhead said, brushing off a tear of laughter.
The queen frowned but said nothing to rebuff him. "Anyway, I just need to gain his and my sister's trust and I'll back on the throne in no time! Once the sugar citizens see their hero and 'president' hanging around with me harmlessly, they will believe in my 'innocence' and the kingdom will be mine again."
The Sour Racers wrinkled their faces in surprise. "Wait, like does that mean that we have to pretend to be 'good' with them?" Zuur, the twin with the broken heart painted over her eye asked in disgust.
"Just for a while, but yes, ALL OF US must do it," she said in threatening tone as the Sour Racers whined in complaint. "And don't any of you dare disobey me this time, or else I'll make sure you don't regenerate next time you get eliminated in a race!" the threat silenced any complaints immediately.
"Don't worry," she said in a soft and friendly tone. "I guarantee you'll be rewarded greatly and the sacrifice will be worth it." Dark smiles of acceptance met her promise.
She looked back at the castle and started chuckling darkly as her eyes glowed vibrantly green.
"And if my plan works perfectly... and if I make Ralph's heart mine… then I might even claim a king for myself as well," she said dreamily before laughing maniacally with her Sour Racers joining her.
Bonbon Lola frowned sadly, but a tiny spark of determination shown in her big pink eyes. She looked back at the throne and fixed her eyes where a large painting remained under a white cloth. "Sir Wreck-It… you are her only chance…," she said as thunder boomed in concert with the queen's laugh.
-0-0-0-
A.N.: Plotting time! Who do you think will fall first? Make your bets!
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