The Search
Calhoun had reached her cache of weaponry, exchanged her dress for a suit, and loaded up with as many weapons and she could reasonably carry. As she turned around back to the others she heard a noise behind her. Quickly cocking one of her weapons, she spun around and found Rancis behind her with a load of weapons in his own arms. "What are you doing? Those weapons are not toys, put them down!"
"You're going to rescue Vanellope, I'm going with you!" Rancis said.
"Oh no you are not! This isn't some game, you are only going to get yourself hurt." Calhoun said.
"Vanellope is my friend, and you can't stop me from looking for her. You may not be aware this, being a soldier," Rancis said, "but friends help each other out. Haven't you ever had someone that you do anything to protect?"
As he said this, Calhoun series of images flood her mind: the day the Cy–Bug killed her fiancée, the time that she and Felix faced the Cy-Bugs together when they were threatening Sugar Rush with destruction, the day that she and Felix got married, and when Vanellope got kidnapped by Turbo–Bug.
Snapping out of her reminiscence, Calhoun reached down and took the weapons out of boy's hands. Putting the weapons back where they were, she turned back the direction where she had come from. With her back turned to the boy, Calhoun said, "If you're coming you better keep up. Fall behind, you get left behind." Calhoun then started back to the track.
Rancis then smiled and turned towards the Oreo guard as he said, "Oreo, your spear!"
Calhoun groaned in exasperation and continued walking back towards the track, Rancis marching proudly behind her with spear in hand.
When Calhoun came back into view, Felix had expected her to be dressed for war. What he had not expected was the peanut butter cup hatted boy marching along behind like a junior lieutenant. When Felix opened his mouth to speak, Calhoun raised her hand and said, "This is Rancis. He's coming with us to search for Vanellope."
"I don't know," Felix said uncertainly, "won't it be a little dangerous for him?"
"You try stopping him, he's determined to find and save her," Calhoun countered, "kind of like a certain handyman who ignored a certain soldier's orders to not follow her into dangerous territory?"
Felix, catching on to what Calhoun was saying, simply smiled and said nothing more about it.
"Well let's stop wasting time talking about it and get it done!" Ralph said.
The others nodded and as one they step into the hole.
After having Ralph dig a new tunnel to the surface using his impressive strength, Calhoun asked Felix to repair the hole in the track behind them. "The arcade will be opening in less than two hours. We have until then to find and rescue Vanellope. After, we are on borrowed time. If someone chooses Vanellope as a racer, then it is as good as game over for all of us."
"You mean to say Mr. Litwak will mark this game out of order?" Ralph asked.
"I think that's what Turbo was after all along," Calhoun answered, "it's his revenge for losing his kingdom to Vanellope."
"Why that little…" Ralph rushed over and punched a wall in his frustration, causing a small avalanche of pebbles on everyone's heads.
"Easy there tiger," Calhoun said soothingly, "save some for Turbo!"
"Don't you worry, there's plenty left over for Turbo!" Ralph said with a growl.
"All the same, I'd rather not be buried in a cave-in before we even get to our girl," Calhoun stated.
"Right," Ralph said apologetically, "sorry."
"Right then," Calhoun began, as she traced a path on the tracker, "Turbo went north down this one tunnel here, Then went Southeast down this other tunnel here. I think if we traveled along this easterly tunnel, we may be able to cut Turbo off and get Vanellope back in time."
"Why did he go down the northern tunnel?" Rancis asked.
"The coward is probably just trying to throw us off his trail," Calhoun said.
"Or he's laying for us a false trail," Ralph suggested, "Turbo has to be smart enough to realize that we are tracking him. If his objective is to keep us from rescuing Vanellope until it's too late, then the best way to that is to stash her someplace and lead us on a wild goose chase."
"We don't have time to check both," Calhoun warned, "and if we check the wrong thing, then we're playing right into Turbo's hands."
"We might have time if we split up," Ralph suggested, "You guys have the firepower to deal with Turbo so you take the easterly tunnel. If he has Vanellope locked up, however, then I have the strength to destroy her locks, so I will follow the northern path."
"Very well then," Calhoun agreed, "you take the kid with you, Felix goes with me."
"What!?" Ralph objected, "but..."
"By your reasoning the northern tunnel will be least dangerous, and I don't want to lead the kid into a firefight," Calhoun reasoned.
"What about Felix?" Ralph asked.
"He can take care of himself, and I'd rather not let him out of my sight," Calhoun said.
Ralph sighed. He was pretty sure that he was correct, though Calhoun was right that they should not be putting all the eggs into one basket. The most obvious solution is to split up, and truth was he did not want the kid anywhere near Turbo either.
"Fine then," Ralph agreed, "The half pint and I will look for Vanellope the in the north, while unit Felix cut off Turbo in the East."
"Will you guys stop talking about me as if I'm not here?" Rancis grumped, "And my name is Rancis."
"Fine fine," Ralph conceded, "Rancis, you and I will check to see if Vanellope had gotten locked up by Turbo this way while Calhoun and Felix cut Turbo off in the east in case he still has Vanellope still with him."
"Okay, fine. I guess I'll go with you." Rancis reluctantly agreed.
"Then it's decided," Calhoun stated as she tossed Ralph a communicator, "if you should happen to find Vanellope, then click the signal button and we will do the same if we do. Good luck everyone." Then Ralph and Rancis headed down one tunnel while Calhoun and Felix took the other.
Back At Litwak's arcade, Taffeta, Pamelapop, Snowanna, Crumbelina, Minty Zaki, Adorabeezle are all in position for the character select screen together with Pixie Stickra and Pete Nutbrittle, who are holding cutouts of Vanellope and Rancis respectively.
"Do you really think this is going to work?" Crumbelina worried.
"All we need to do is buy them time," Taffeta explained, "As long as no one chooses either Vanellope or Rancis Before Ralph and the others can help Rancis rescue her, then everything should be fine."
"And if someone does choose them?" Pete asked, "If they're not able to make it back in time?"
"Then it is game over for Sugar Rush," Zaki said fearfully.
"Do you think those two be all right?" Felix asked his wife.
Looking at the map on her tracking device, Calhoun replied, "I'm sure they will be fine, According to these readings Turbo is nowhere near them. They should have no problems rescuing Vanellope and getting her to the races on time."
"You mean that Ralph was right?" Felix asked, "Then why aren't we back there?"
"Because it's only a strong possibility that Ralph is right, not a certainty," Calhoun explained "and even if he was correct, once Turbo realizes that we had not fallen for his trick, he would certainly head back that way. We need to go after Turbo as if we had not gotten wise to him. If Vanellope is not with him, then we need to hold him off and give Ralph and Rancis time they need to locate and free her. Besides I owe that bug a splattering!"
"If you don't mind my asking," Felix said Hesitantly, "Why am I here? I'm not exactly a fighter, so I'm not sure what use I'd be against Turbo."
"Don't sell yourself short, honey. If nothing else, at least you're another pair of eyes." Calhoun explained, "I wouldn't put it past that creep to perform a sneak attack in the back. Also, it turns out to be a trap, then I'm sure your hammer would be useful to get us out."
"Oh, you mean..." Felix began.
Calhoun quickly reached back to put her hand over Felix's mouth. Raising a finger to her lips, Calhoun then reached back to unholster her plasma rifle. Gesturing that Felix should follow her, she counted down from three on her fingers, then Calhoun charged around the Rocky corner and aimed her plasma rifle into Turbo–Bug's face.
"Freeze!" Calhoun yelled.
Raising his hands in a gesture of surrender, Turbo-Bug said lightly, "You got me!"
"Can the sarcasm!" Calhoun snarled, pushing the barrel of the plasma rifle closer to Turbo's face, "Where. Is. Vanellope!?"
"So tell me kid, why are you really here?" Ralph asked, "why did you insist to come to help Vanellope?"
" I–I–I already told you," Rancis stammered, "Vanellope is my friend! I don't want anything bad to happen to her!"
"Uh-Huh," Ralph said disbelievingly, "you and the other kids were sure being friendly with that remodel you were doing on the Lickety-Split!"
"But that was back when we thought she was just a dangerous glitch!" Rancis Protested, "Things are different now!"
"You mean since you realized she was a princess?" Ralph guessed.
"What? No!" Rancis protested again, "Things are different since she helped me."
Ralph raised eyebrow in intrigued interest, Then gestured for Rancis to continue. Rancis explained, "You see I never won a Sugar Rush Cup, So Taffeta and the others would make fun of me. So one time after I'd suffered a bad bit of teasing After Vanellope had recovered her position and we recovered our memories, I went and sold all my possessions so I could go to the cart bakery and get the best kart I could possibly buy! That thing was beautiful, but unfortunately it was not very sturdy. I accidentally crashed it and it fell all to pieces! I was devastated! When Vanellope drove up and asked what was wrong, I explain to her how I went broke trying to build this kart and now cannot get a new one, she help me to build a new one using a slice of cake from the Stale Cake Depot and other candy parts. I named this new kart the RV1, after both of us. With this new kart I was finally able to win! That was when I finally saw how much of a jerk I have been to her, that is when we finally became friends. I can never think her enough."
Ralph smiled insightfully as he said, "Sounds like you're more than just friends with her, like you like her; Like how Felix likes Calhoun."
"What? No! It's not like that!" Rancis objected, blushing, "We're just friends, okay!?"
"Okay okay, I get it!" Ralph said chuckling, "Cool your engine, okay?"
As they came up to opening that looks like it opened up into another cavern, Ralph peeked around the edge and finally found what they were looking for.
"Vanellope!" Ralph yelled as he and Rancis ran into the chamber.
"Ralph! And Rancis? What are you doing here?" Vanellope said as she saw them.
"I'm here to rescue you!" Rancis said, then stammered as he corrected himself, "I mean we're here to rescue you!"
After stare at Rancis strangely for a moment, Vanellope he looked at Ralph and said, "I'm glad you guys are here! Turbo..."
"... Wants to get the plug pulled on Sugar Rush by making sure one of its racers, you, is not able to be chosen by the player," Ralph finished, "we kind of figured that out on the way."
"He wants to make sure that you guys are deleted too!" Vanellope said with tears in her eyes, "Turbo figured you guys would look for me, but wouldn't find me until Litwak had already marked the game out of order and pulled the plug!"
"Then we should be thankful that Turbo is not nearly as clever as he thinks is!" Rancis said smiling, "Okay big guy, do your thing!"
"Wait," Ralph said as he took out the communicator, "We should let others know first!" He then pressed the signal button.
"One last time," Calhoun said with the barrel of her gun touching Turbo-Bug's nose, "What have you done with Vanellope?"
"That's a good question!" Turbo-Bug said with a chuckle, "I swear, I would lose my head if it wasn't attached!"
"You still might exhibition point" Calhoun said menacingly, "You know, Felix, I think these walls are looking a little drab. Perhaps they could use a fresh coat of King Candy!"
"Do you think your threats scare me?" Turbo-Bug said with a smile, then scowled as he continued, "You guys ruined my Life! If it wasn't for your do-gooder boyfriend and his muscle-bound idiot of a friend, I would still be ruling this kingdom!"
"Felix is my husband, not my boyfriend!" Calhoun growled. Then when Calhoun's communicator started beeping, she smiled and said, "And it looks like Ralph is not so much of a 'muscle-bound idiot'! He just found Vanellope, which means that you lose!"
"No!" Turbo-Bug said in disbelief, backing away, "I won't let you guys ruin my plans again!"
"And who says you have any choice in the matter?" Calhoun said with a smirk as she leveled her plasma rifle on him.
"Why, just me and a few of my friends!" Turbo-Bug said with a smile. As he continued backing, hundreds of eyes started glowing in the dark, and Calhoun's detector started picking up a lot more bugs in the vicinity. Then, as the Cy-Bugs swarmed Felix And Calhoun, Calhoun started firing away with your rifle as she backed herself and Felix up, and Turbo-Bug disappeared down the side tunnel.
Vanellope covered her ears as Ralph hit the top of the cage again, making the spiderweb of cracks in the top even larger.
"Okay kid," Ralph said as he backed up for one more run, "one more should do it, then will get you out of here!"
"I don't think so!" Turbo-Bug said as he burst into the chamber. As Ralph and Rancis whirled in surprise, Rancis leveling his spear at the former leader, Turbo-Bug continued, "None of you are going anywhere!"
End Of Chapter