Filling in the Empty Spots
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Chapter 5: Pie, Performances, and Pleasantries
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Even before the arcade day ended Jubileena scrambled back into her clothes and hopped into her little kart and headed straight for the rainbow bridge to Game Central Station. Parking her kart hastily, she rushed out of the terminal and crossed paths with Ralph, who was rushing into her game. Spotting her, he stumbled in surprise and went skidding across the floor on his stomach. In his hands, lifted up to keep it from smashing, was a large pie.
"Ralph!" she exclaimed as he went sliding by.
"Jubileena!" he exclaimed as he slid past. When he came to a stop he stood up and checked the pie, breathing a sigh of a relief that it remained intact. "Here, I brought this for you," he said, presenting it. "I knew you liked pie, well since your kart's shaped like a big slice of pie."
"Ooh! Where'd you get it?"
"The ladies in our game bake them. This one's pumpkin. I'd not seen pumpkin pie in Sugar Rush, so I thought you might like to try it."
"It's one of Felix's pies? Awww Ralph. That's really sweet of you."
They sat down on a nearby bench in Game Central Station and Ralph produced a fork for her. Timidly at first, and then with more confidence as she became accustomed to the flavor, she ate it right out of the pie tin. "Mmmm. It's really good," she said licking her lips. "But please have some. I can't eat this all by myself."
"I'll eat whatever you don't," he said. "I mean, that pie is like three bites for me."
Jubileena giggled. "It's like a hundred for me."
Eventually she felt full and gave the rest to Ralph, who inhaled it. Jubileena laughed and asked if he'd even tasted it. "Well sure I did," he answered. "It was peach, right?"
She laughed all the harder knowing that he was teasing her. "Ralph, thanks again for taking me exploring with you," she then said with all seriousness.
"It was nice to have some company. Seeing the world with someone else was really nice." He meant it from the bottom of his heart. All his travels inside Sugar Rush had been made alone without a companion or friend to share the struggles and sights.
"I thought so," she said. "I hope we can do it again sometime."
"I'd like that," was his response. "I'd like to see you race too."
"You've seen me race lots of times. You're there at the Random Roster Race most nights, right?"
"Well, yeah, but I'd like to come and watch now that I know you better."
"Well, you could come tonight."
"That's true. The races are back on again. Maybe I could cheer for you?"
Jubileena's eyes lit up. "You would cheer for me?"
"Of course, if you wouldn't mind."
"I'd love that! If you do, I'll be sure to win for you."
"I bet you will."
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Jubileena barely felt the ground beneath her feet as she walked out to the Cherriot, her giant slice of cherry pie set on four wheels. There was Ralph sitting at the base of her stand of fans, waving and smiling. She hopped gleefully into her kart and waved back to him. She pulled on her helmet and dropped her visor. And when the green light flashed she was off like a rocket, leaving all the others behind.
It was as if distilled luck was the fuel in her gas tank that night, for she easily snatched several power-ups before the other racers could get them. She easily dodged the hazards of the track. She easily spirited her way around the others in her path. To everyone's astonishment, her usually average performance had turned top-notch. She crossed the finish line noticeably well ahead of the other racers, even ahead of the princess.
Her sudden success did not go unnoticed, and several of the other racers all crowded around her, giving her high-fives and congratulatory hugs. Ralph hung back against her stand, beaming proudly. How could he have never noticed her before. She was so cute and sweet and could really rule the track when it was in her mind to.
Eventually the others drifted away to acknowledge their fans or to take their karts to the garage. Jubileena walked over to Ralph, and he picked her up and gave her a big hug.
"Ooh!" she squeaked, loving every moment of it. The euphoria of her win on the track had just been topped by the delight of her friend's embrace.
"You were amazing out there," he said.
"Thank you," she said, blushing. "I told you I would win if you cheered for me."
"Well if that's all it took, I should come cheer for you every night."
She giggled. "If you do that, the others will get suspicious. And they'd try to steal you away to cheer for them."
"Good point," he said, setting her down.
She hugged him again around the leg. "Thanks for coming tonight. It meant a lot to me."
"Anytime," he said, and then he stretched and looked off into the distance where the rainbow bridge led out of Sugar Rush. "Well I guess I'd better get going back to my game. Felix and I were going to do a bit of building tonight."
"Oh," she said, hiding her disappointment. She'd been hoping for more time together. "All right. Well, sometime I'll have to come over and see what you're building."
"You'd come look?"
"You came to watch me race. It's only fair."
"Would...would you like to come...maybe..." Ralph was blushing. "Would you like to come over for dinner tomorrow, after the Random Roster Race, maybe?"
Her face lit up brightly. "Could I?"
"I could get another pie. Maybe a cherry one even."
She giggled. "I'd love to."
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Jubileena appeared at the portal to Fix-It Felix, Jr. at the appointed hour, just as the old-fashioned little tram was arriving. There was Ralph, stuffed into one of the carts, who waved to her to jump in.
"What did you cook?" she asked as the carts reversed and headed back into the game.
"Nothing. I told Felix I was going to have you over and he invited us to his place. We're having dinner with the Fix-It's up in Niceland."
"Oh. I thought we were having dinner together."
"We are. We're just joining them. Felix insisted. I hope you don't mind. Besides..." He scratched the back of his head. "I'm...uh...not the best cook. But Felix is pretty good."
Somehow she did mind. Her week alone with Ralph had spoiled her to his company, but perhaps this was for the best. She kept questioning her enthusiastic feelings for him, wondering if perhaps she was going too far or seeming too forward or perhaps seeming a bit too creepy for him. Every time she passed a mirror she was reminded of her overly youthful appearance—her body and face trapped perpetually at nine years old. In reality, if her character age was added to all the years Sugar Rush had been plugged in, she was much closer to thirty. Of course by the same standards he was about twice her age. But what was age when one never aged physically?
"No, I'd like to get to know them a bit better." She said, trying to hide her disappointment. Felix and the Hero's Duty lady had saved the populace of Sugar Rush in the incident, but since the death of the president they had become practically strangers to the game.
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"Now what's this all about?" demanded Sour Bill as Felix charged into the castle.
"There's been an accident..." Felix began, his face pale and his expression steeped in worry. "Vanellope's..." And then he noticed the small character sitting on the throne at the far end of the hall.
"Vanellope's what?" asked Bill, a strange gloating quality in his voice. Normally his emotions could be classified as depressed, morose, bored, or glum. This time something was different.
"She's..." Felix rushed along and up to her where Princess Vanellope von Schweetz sat on her throne wearing her fluffy pink layer gown and posed with her scepter angled across her chest. "Vanellope! We thought you were dead!"
"Of course I'm not dead," she replied. She held out her hand and twisted it before her eyes. "See. Perfectly alive."
Felix breathed a huge sigh of relief. "We thought we'd lost you. They said you died in Ralph's arms."
"Died? What nonsense are you talking about, Mr...Mr...I don't believe I know your name." Her voice and manners seemed somewhat dazed and disconnected.
Felix was puzzled. "I'm Fix-It Felix, Jr." he replied, his confusion growing.
"What a charming name. I take it you're some kind of handyman," she said, her eyes falling on the golden hammer hung at his waist. "I'm just surprised that I don't know your name. I thought I knew all of my subjects."
Felix stared. What was going on?
"Well I'm pleased to meet you," said the Princess, hopping off of her throne and taking his hand. She shook it sweetly. "You seem like a very nice fellow, and I'm sure there are a lot of things here in Sugar Rush that will need fixing." She turned back toward her throne and was about to seat herself again when she looked back over her shoulder at him. "Besides the races. I don't need you to fix them for me to win." She winked and tittered a sweet sounding laugh at her little joke.
"Of course not..." he said slowly. "If you'll excuse me, your highness." Without waiting for her leave he ran off, nearly crashing into Sour Bill near the door of the main hall of the castle.
"Bill...what's going on? She doesn't recognize me!" he asked, fighting back the panic.
Sour Bill folded his arms over what might be considered his chest. "So, you and your friends' game-hopping antics got her killed," he said with a bit of a snide tone to his voice.
"What? No! Well...yes. She died in a car crash in Formula One Xtreme."
"They're right. You don't regenerate if you die outside of your game. Instead, a new character is created...the same character, but not the same person. The Vanellope you knew is dead and gone forever. Now we have the Vanellope that Sugar Rush is supposed to have. A real princess...not some distorted mockery of one."
Sour Bill would never have thought that nice-guy Felix had it in him, but suddenly Felix's hand flew out and slapped him hard enough to knock the candy ball to the ground. "Don't you ever say that again" he said angrily. "And if I ever hear you disrespect her again, I'll send Ralph to remind you of your place. We still outrank you, Bill."
Sour Bill sat upon the floor, startled by Felix's sudden temper and trembling at his threat.
Felix's hands balled into fists and he marched out.
Two of the Oreo guards ran over and helped Sour Bill up, sniggering at the green candy man. "Looks like he's picked up a few things from his wife," said one of them amusedly.
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To her surprise, Jubileena enjoyed herself at the informal dinner party, sitting next to Ralph and enjoying Felix's cooking. Ralph had been right about Felix's skills in the kitchen. Calhoun, not much of a cook herself, did the serving.
Through the meal Ralph and Felix kept laughing about this glitching brick in the game that day. Apparently every time Ralph had grabbed it, it stuck to his wrist awkwardly and he couldn't get rid of it, even through the level changes. Only after the game over message appeared did it disappear. Ralph tried to make a mental note of which particular brick it was acting up, but kept forgetting, and so he kept grabbing it and getting stuck with it. Calhoun and Jubileena found it amusing, but the two men were nearly in tears laughing about this brick attaching itself to Ralph.
After dinner they didn't linger. The effects of a long day at work for the two protagonists were showing as they began to yawn and close their eyes over dessert. So Jubileena and Ralph said goodnight surprisingly early and headed out of Niceland.
Ralph took her on a tour of his game, tremendously smaller than her own, and showed her around his neighborhood. Coming to his little house she was stunned. "It's so tiny," she said. "I thought a big guy like you would have a big house."
He laughed. "I don't need much space. Just somewhere to sleep and hang my hat."
"May I look inside?"
"Well sure...but there's not really much to look at. But it sure beats the dump." He opened the door and let her inside.
"Awww...it's really cute!" she decided.
"You think so?"
"It is." She looked around. His bed took up a third of the floor space, and the rest was occupied by a desk, two chairs, and a large dresser. A shelf of curios ran along one wall above his desk. Not surprisingly, a picture of him and Vanellope held the place of honor. But she also noticed a few of the things he had picked up in their travels together. "I remember these," she said, picking up a particularly nice chocolate seashell.
On the desk below was his notebook and a stack of his hand drawn maps. "Oh...look how many maps you have!"
"Yeah. I've been working on them a lot, filling in all the empty places."
"Neat-O! I might need you to make me a map someday."
"Tell me where and it's yours," he said smiling. "If you'd like, I'll draw you one right now."
She smiled at him. "I don't know where I'd need a map of, but I'll think on it."
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Filling in the Empty Spots continues in:
Chapter 6: A Painful Anniversary
Chapter 7: Changes
Chapter 8: Breakdown
Chapter 9: Little Cabin in the Woods
Chapter 10: Back to the Meadow
Chapter 11: The Spring Solstice Ball
Chapter 12: The President's Legacy
Chapter 13: A Heavy Crown
Chapter 14: The Final Secret
Chapter 15: Filling in the Empty Spots Commentary
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Wreck-It Ralph and all related concepts, characters, worlds, and events are property of Walt Disney Pictures. Original characters and story elements are property of E. Potter, writing under the pen name of Miratete.