Chapter Thirty-Three
Confrontation
Portia emerged onto the beach in Lifeguard, her mind working furiously.
SANG would lose the battle. That much was clear from the moment the forces occupying the various games had emerged once more with their numbers substantially depleted, and outnumbered by the still living, very angry arcade characters. After this, the Surge Protector's attacks had begun to discomfit the remainder of her soldiers such that they could barely land any hits on their foes. She knew they would fight until the last breath, but victory was now out of the question.
The only thing left is to salvage what I can and get out, so I can meet with the troops I left on the internet. Not much to work with, but I can rebuild a powerbase from there.
How did it come to this? How is this possible? How can these degenerates coordinate such an enterprise?
Never mind. Next time, I won't show such mercy. Crash and burn, crash and burn- strike quickly, kill, and get out. That will be the best method from now on.
The sound of a kart passing through the wire reached her ears. She steered her board into the air and scanned the environment. Apart from a trio of sharks swimming further out in the bay and numerous corpses of SANG members, the game was completely empty. Glancing downwards, she saw the kart emerge.
Rancis and Vanellope. So Ainsworth failed to crush that princess into the mud? Well, I guess I'll just have to finish what he began. A little reward for all my pains.
"Lifeguard?" Rancis said aloud as his kart rolled out of the wire. "Why'd she go in here?"
"More importantly," said Vanellope. "Where is she exactly?"
Rancis parked the car parallel to the shoreline, and he and Vanellope stepped onto the sand.
"Just the sharks," said Vanellope, gazing out at the water.
"She was on a hoverboard," said Rancis. "Which means she might be in the- agh!"
He clutched his throat as he was lifted into the air by an invisible grip. Beside him, Vanellope was also being dragged upward.
"That's right," said Portia, halting the racers' descent once they were directly in front of where she was hovering. "I'm in the air."
A metal shield struck Portia full in the side, knocking her from the hoverboard. Startled, she lost her concentration as she struggled vainly to right herself in mid-air. Rancis and Vanellope dropped onto the sand.
"It was my turn to save somebody from her," said Ralph, running across the sand towards the racers.
"Hah, indeed," said Portia, standing up from the point on the sand where she had fallen.
"Hey Vader, why don't you just surrender?" Vanellope suggested, a cheeky grin on her face. Moments later, a large rock was hurtling across the sands towards her. Ralph swatted it away, but Vanellope's grin was already gone.
"I think I made her angry."
"You think?" said Rancis.
Portia seized the moment to leap astride the hoverboard. She sped out over the bay, laughing with relief. The realization that something was hanging from the board's edge, slowing her speed, made her stop laughing. Looking down, she saw Vanellope clutching the board. Before she could react, the racer had glitched atop the board. Alarmed, Portia failed to see the dock straight ahead until it was too late. The hoverboard smashed into a wooden piling, sending both girls tumbling onto the pier.
Portia was the first to recover. She leaped into a white speedboat and gunned the engine, steering out into the bay. By the time Vanellope was upright, she was already too far away for the racer to glitch herself aboard. Instead, she made for one of the boats herself. Ralph and Rancis arrived just in time to leap aboard before Vanellope sent the boat hurtling after Portia.
"Ah, you picked the S. S. Awesome," said Rancis, peering over the railing at the name on the boat's side. "I approve."
"I didn't see the name," said Vanellope.
"Don't spoil my illusions," said Rancis.
"Less gab, more chasing," said Ralph. "She's headed for that rock pile on the far side of the game."
"Why that way?" Rancis asked aloud.
Moments later, a large rock fragment smashed through the windshield of their boat, narrowly missing Vanellope and Rancis, and striking Ralph full in the chest. Ralph fell backwards, winded.
"Ralph!" Vanellope cried. "Are you okay?"
Ralph groaned. "More or less."
"Stay down," said Rancis. "We'll take her."
"You can't," said Ralph, sitting up. "Not alone."
At that moment, Portia's boat rammed them from the side. The impact sheered the S. S. Awesome in two, knocking Rancis onto the white boat's prow and spilling both Ralph and Vanellope into the water. The two halves of the shattered boat disappeared as it regenerated back at the pier.
Rancis tried to rise to his knees, but he lacked the energy to move. Portia leaned over the windshield of her speedboat, dragging him into the cockpit.
"Good afternoon," Rancis said weakly. Portia punched him hard in the back. As she prepared to hit him again, she herself was slammed into the windshield from behind.
"No assassinating the president," said Vanellope.
Before Portia could reply, the speedboat struck the rock pile. It splintered apart, throwing all three occupants into the water.
Catching hold of Rancis's collar, Vanellope glitched onto the rocks, dragging the president of Sugar Rush up alongside her. Moments later, Ralph arrived at the rock pile, astride the backs of the three sharks.
"Thanks," he said as he climbed onto the rocks.
"No problem, pal," one the sharks said. "Though no offense, but you're heavy."
"I know," said Ralph.
"Meantime, we've got to see where that kid landed," said the shark. "You check here and we'll do a scan of the surrounding area." The three sharks swam away.
"I don't see anything," said Ralph, staring out at the waves. The fragments of the boat had disappeared, it having already regenerated at the pier. The water seemed undisturbed.
At the sound of heavy breathing, Ralph and Vanellope turned, and Rancis twisted his face in the direction the sound was coming from. Portia was half out of the water, trying to pull herself up onto the rocks. She appeared to have been injured by the debris of the boat; one of her shoulders was bleeding profusely from a jagged wound, and her side was similarly injured. Before any of them could react, Portia lost her grip and slid into the water.
Vanellope was the closest to the leader of SANG. As Portia sank beneath the surface, Vanellope caught a glimpse of her face. Gone was the haughty, arrogant look. In its place was the frightened expression of a battered child who knew she was about to drown, and could do nothing about it.
Without a word, Vanellope leaped into the water. Ignoring Ralph's pleas for her to stay on the rocks, she dove beneath the surface. Not far below her, Portia was drifting down towards the ocean bottom. Vanellope glitched forward and arrived beside her within moments.
Portia's straw-colored hair was splayed above her head. Her body was motionless. Her sightless eyes were fixed upon a small emblem of carved wood that she held in one partially outstretched hand.
Vanellope watched briefly as the corpse of the president of SANG sank out of sight. She then swam back to the surface. Glitching atop the rock pile, she took in several large drafts of air.
"What were you doing?" Ralph demanded. "You could have drowned."
The half-dazed Rancis, unable to summon enough energy to speak, merely gave Vanellope a look of curiosity mingled with relief.
"I tried to…" Vanellope's voice trailed off.
"You couldn't have saved her from herself," said Ralph. "Nobody could have."
"Except herself."
Ralph scratched his chin. "Maybe you're right. But the chances were pretty low regardless."
They sat silently on the rock pile for several moments.
"We'd probably better get back to Game Central Station," Ralph finally said.
"I'll call the sharks," said Vanellope.