Filling in the Empty Spots
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Chapter 6: A Painful Anniversary
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A week later Ralph met Jubileena at the end of another Random Roster Race. He took her little hands in his and swung them playfully. "Congratulations on your win again. I suspect the other racers are starting to wonder how you're cheating since you're doing so well now."
"Well thank you," she beamed. "Taffyta's been rather miffy about it lately. And thank you again for the flowers you brought me last night. They were so pretty!"
"Weren't they? Normally the flowers in Fix-It Felix, Jr. are much smaller, but for some reason those grew really huge. It's odd. It seems like there's something weird happening every day now."
At that moment Swizzle walked past and whistled at them. "People are starting to notice we're together a lot," she said, glaring at Swizzle. The racer just made kissy lips at her but thankfully Ralph didn't see.
"I suppose we are. Hey, I was thinking, would you like to go up to the Snowcone Mountains again sometime soon, when the arcade's closed? I want to go back to those caves again with a rope and try to explore a bit further in. I noticed a few other passages when we were there."
"I was actually going to ask you about making plans too. In a couple of Saturdays Princess Vanellope's having her birthday party at the castle. Her second birthday, and it's going to be a huge event. This Vanellope just loves to have big parties. I was hoping you'd come with me as my date."
Ralph's face immediately fell. "Two years for her inSugar Rush. Two years since the President was lost."
Jubileena suddenly looked horrified. How could she have forgotten? The birthday of one Princess was the deathday of another. Vanellope had been killed, and within an hour, a brand new princess took her place on the throne of Sugar Rush. She had no memory and was essentially a newborn, blissfully unscathed and unchanged by the reign of King Candy, completely unaware of ever having had a predecessor. "Oh Ralph. I'm so sorry. I didn't even think about it like that."
He sat down but did not release her hands. His eyes fell dejectedly to the ground. "I suppose this year we'll do the same thing we did last year—Felix, Calhoun and I just having a little memorial ceremony to her. We'll go to where she died and stand around crying for a while, and then we'll head over somewhere, probably Tapper's, and get embarrassingly drunk trying to undo the sadness of the loss."
"That sounds kinda strange."
"Yeah, well. It's us." He forced a smile. "You go to the birthday party and forget all about the President, and have a good time. We'll take care of the sad side of the story."
"I don't want to go if I know you're feeling bad about it."
"Jubileena, I'll be honest. I don't want you to see me crying like a baby over a dead friend. And I don't want you to be having a sad time when you could be having a good time. Besides, the princess might throw you in the Fungeon for missing her birthday party."
"She wouldn't."
"She might. I insist you go."
"Well all right. While you're off feeling miserable I'll try to have a good time," Jubileena pouted.
"Good," said Ralph with some finality. "And when I've sobered up and my tears have dried, we'll just forget the anniversary and move on from there."
"And tonight, if we leave now, would we have enough time for exploring the caves some more?" she asked, a sudden eagerness in her voice.
"I think so. I'll just have to go back and get my equipment from my house. Think I could bum a ride off of you?"
She giggled childishly. "Of course." And so Ralph climbed onto the back of Jubileena's kart and they sped up the rainbow bridge toward Game Central Station. But for the entire drive, he kept thinking about Vanellope and the appearance of her successor, the innocent girl who sat alone on the throne of Sugar Rush. How different she was from what her predecessor had become.
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Felix hopped to the top of the information desk in Game Central Station and took the microphone the woman below handed him. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, reached into his chest pocket and fingered the badge pinned inside of it. In all his years he'd never had to make such a painful announcement. But it was the right thing to do—the thing the citizens of Sugar Rush wanted—and everyone needed to know. Then he opened his eyes and switched on the the microphone.
"Everyone..."
The crowd quieted down.
"I know there are a lot of rumors going around about what happened, and I'm here to give you the truth and an important announcement. We all know that Sugar Rush was locked down last night and still is, but you'll understand why in just a minute."
The throng hung breathlessly on every word as Felix told them the circumstances of President Vanellope's death and of the sudden appearance of a replacement princess in Sugar Rush.
"The citizens of Sugar Rush have voted and made the decision that the new princess is not to know that she is a replacement, and that secret needs to be kept by everyone here as well. Given the experience and the trauma the President went through in her life they've decided that this is for the best."
He paused, took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his brow before beginning again. "What this means for all of you, is that as far as anyone knows, Sugar Rush was plugged in last night, and you all are to treat it as a brand new game in the arcade."
The crowd rumbled.
"Now some of you may not agree with this policy, especially those of you who have lost loved ones and those of you who knew the president personally, but again, this was the consensus of the people of Sugar Rush." Felix himself was against the decision, and despite their status in the kingdom he and Calhoun were completely outvoted and were bound to honor the will of the populace.
Surprisingly though, Ralph had voted with the racers in favor of burying the memories of President Vanellope.
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On the painful anniversary, Felix, Calhoun, and Ralph made their way somberly over to Formula One Xtreme and to the place of the fatal crash that had claimed the life of their Vanellope. A few others from the arcade showed up as well in remembrance of her, each placing a bouquet of flowers and handfuls of candy beside the track where it had happened. Sorrowfully they stood about in quiet mourning, until Felix made a little speech, as did Calhoun and a few of the others. Ralph simply sat to the side, his head in his hands, quietly sobbing and sniffling in his world of grief.
And then he felt a tiny hand take his and squeeze it. He looked up with puffy eyes to see a small figure in a deeply hooded white robe standing there. "Shhhh," she hissed, her finger on her lips. Other small people in white robes were there as well, laying bouquets of flowers obviously picked in Sugar Rush into the line of remembrances. And after placing them, each hooded figure ran up and hugged Ralph comfortingly, little arms wrapping around him as best each could.
"We have to get back and go to the birthday party," whispered the last, "before it's noticed that we're missing."
"Thank you," he said. "This means a lot to me."
"Remember, you didn't see any Sugar Rush racers here," she whispered and took her turn at hugging him. "Why would any of them remember someone who never existed?"
"Of course not," he said, a faint smile finding its way to his eyes as she hurried away with the others, the scent of cherry candy lingering in the air even after she was gone.
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After the memorial ceremony broke up and Ralph was able to drag himself away, everyone adjourned to Tapper's, where they all toasted "the Unknown Soldier" and drank a round. From there they moved on to every bar they knew of in the arcade, even venturing out to the tavern in Dragon Kingdom and the saloon in Wild Gunman. The group grew smaller as the night wore on, and eventually those left went back to Tapper's again where Tapper offered them use of the private room where they could drink hard and reminisce about their missing friend.
Tapper ended up closing his establishment early and joining them. His usual placid demeanor soon disappeared behind a haze of strong rootbeer and soon he too was barely standing. Though Vanellope had only been a short-time customer, he too missed the girl and ended up sobbing with the friends she had left behind. Zangief ended up crying on Ralph's shoulder and Calhoun was mumbling about how great a soldier Vanellope had been and was starting to confuse the memories, going on about how valuable a member of her unit Vanellope had been as a trained sniper. Felix, having left his hammer in Gene's custody, was soon hitting them all with a rolled up newspaper trying desperately to "fix it."
There wasn't much worry about their games the next day. As had happened the year previous, Gene had been left to hop his way up Niceland, fixing things and dodging bricks. Instead of pies, the ladies of Niceland handed him cocktails for his power-ups. As for Calhoun, she'd left the task of leading the missions again to Kohut, who knew her lines word for word and knew his way up the tower as if he'd grown up there. Earthquake, from Samurai Shodown, had been called up to stand in for Ralph. He'd first been found as a substitute for Ralph right after Vanellope's death. The wrecker had been too consumed by grief to report in at the first quarter alert, or any other quarter alerts the rest of the week. The huge, flabby ninja had kindly stepped in to ease the panic of the Nicelanders, knowing that he'd be little missed in his own game, and proved a popular substitute. Sometimes instead of throwing bricks, he'd use his kusarigama, or spit fireballs down the face of the Niceland. The weapons were something of a shock for the Nicelanders, who were completely comfortable with seeing bricks and masonry dropping past their windows, but actual weapons and ninja conjurations were a bit startling. And then he started to use his teleportation tricks...
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Filling in the Empty Spots continues in:
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.