Chapter Three

Day 2

Gene woke up with a pounding headache, nearly forgetting that he had spent the entire night drowning out his anger in liquor and shoving his face into pillows. The little man groaned as he rolled over on his back, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to clear his view.

"W-what time is it-?" Gene grumbled.

The man then looked at his watch, seeing that it was nearly 15 minutes to 9:00 am.

Opening.

"O-OH! PROGRAMERS!" Gene yelped, jumping to his feet and blasting off as fast as his tiny legs could carry him to his own apartment.

How could he slip up like this? What type of mayor would allow himself to get so drunk, especially on a WORK NIGHT of all times? Wasting no time, Gene sped off back to his own apartment to get ready for work, the minuets quickly ticking by much to his dismay.

"Urgh, I still smell of alcohol…." The man grumbled to himself as he hopped into the shower, hoping that the water spraying on his face would shock him out of his daze. He then reached for his soap and after a few seconds of frantic scrubbing, he noticed something.

"What?"

The man sniffed the air.

Something was…OFF.

He then looked down and saw that what he clutched in his hands was in fact NOT a bar of soap.

But instead of now half-melted bar of CHOCOLATE.

"What in the PROGRAMMERS-?!"

Gene then looked down, noticing that the heat of the shower had caused the bar to melt and drip messily on the floor but he had little to no time to clean it up later. He growled as he tossed the bar in the trash-bin and quickly washed off the remaining chocolaty residue off of his body as best he could. He then dashed to his closet and threw on a suit, not even taking the time to iron it like he usually did.

"Of ALL the things that could happen! I bet NORWOOD had something to do with this an-! GAH!"

Before Gene could move any further, he found himself being pulled back into his own closet, hitting the back of the wall so hard that several of his suits came raining down on him. Once his head was clear, he looked up.

Everything appeared normal. Just what in the world had happened?

The man then stood up but as he moved forward, he felt a tug on his arm.

He turned, seeing that somehow, someway, his suit had been tethered onto the back of the closest with string!

The man's jaw nearly hit the floor but he knew he couldn't stand there agape for long. He threw off his jacket and reached for another one, only to find that it too was tied to the wall with string!

And so was the next one!

And the next!

And the next!

All of Gene's suit jackets had been tied to the wall and even worse, in his frantic attempt to check them he had managed to get them all tangled together in one ugly lump of clothing. Gene let out a frustrated growl, wanting nothing more than to rip the entire wall off but he knew better than that. Besides not having the physical strength to even put a dent in the wall, he also knew that would be wasting time.

"Forget it, I'm going without the jacket!" the man said.

The mayor then made his way to the kitchen; he was so terribly hungry from not having eaten anything the night before and with time of the essence, he knew he couldn't stop and have the meal he so wanted to enjoy.

A muffin would have to do.

Gene for the box of muffins he had on his counter-top and reached inside but as soon as he did….

SNAP!

The mayor let out a loud yelp of pain as something struck his fingers. Pulling his hand away from the box, he then saw what had caused him such great distress.

A mouse trap?

Gene didn't know whether to be anger or just stunned as the thing continued to dangle from his fingers but a moment later, he pried his fingers from the metal bar.

What was happening? Everything was so normal yesterday!

Why was he asking? Gene KNEW someone was pulling a tricks on him and he had his suspicions as to who.

"RALPH."

He should have known.

Gene had a right mind to go reprimand the man for his actions but he stopped. What real proof did he have that Ralph pulled this tricks on him? He knew that the bet they had made could have been used to add strength to his argument but it would still be his word against Ralph and if no one SAW Ralph coming into his apartment the night before to set up all these elaborate traps, Gene would be the one looking like the fool in the end.

The mayor knew that for now, he had to keep his mouth shut.

Aside from that, if he let one sign of anger cross his face he automatically lost the bet and that was something he just wasn't going to do.

No, programmers! Mayor Gene NEVER loses a bet!

Well, not that many anyway.

The mayor looked down at his watch, realizing that he had run out of time during his exploits with the traps in his apartment. Dashing out of his apartment faster than a speeding hedgehog, the man made it down to the front of the apartments to greet his neighbors, nearly tripping on the steps as he did so.

"G-good morning! Good morning to you all!" Gene wheezed, a bit out of breath from running so quickly.

The Nicelanders were getting into position in their apartments as the arcade opened up though they bit their tongues at the condition they saw Gene in; they knew better than to say anything now, especially with how frazzled the man looked. Mary on the other hand couldn't hold herself back any further.

"Gene…."

Silence.

"Geeeene…."

"What is it, Mary?" Gene whispered, trying his best to remain in place.

"I-I just wanted to ask if you were alright." The woman replied, leaning over slightly to get a better view of the Mayor.

Gene twitched a bit in his place, an unnerved smile appearing on his face "I-I told you before, NOTHING is wrong my dear! Now, it's best that we focus on the game before the players take notice!"

Mary returned to her spot in the window but she knew better; no matter how much Gene was trying to hide it from her, she could see that the man was no better than he was the other night. In fact, there was something about him that looked WORSE than the previous night but whatever was bothering Gene, he wasn't going to tell.

And of all the things, that's what bothered Mary the most.

The woman shook her head and sighed, "Yes, mayor…."

Gene felt a lump form in his throat upon hearing how upset Mary was.

Oh, WHY was he forcing himself through this? He knew that it would probably make things better if he just TOLD Mary about the bet but at this point, but he felt that if he did he would be caving in and that was something he just couldn't do. Nonetheless, he hated having to drag Mary into the mess that was starting to form around him. The man prepared to say something when the familiar sound of the quarter entering the slot echoed throughout the cabinet.

"Well, here we go guys!" Felix whispered to the Nicelanders.

The group smiled as they looked towards the player, ready to give Felix pies.

And then Roy sniffed the air, a sweet scent hitting his nose.

"Um, does anyone else smell CHOCOLATE?"

"ROY."

The signal for the quarter drop sounded as everyone sprang into place.

Go time.

"I'M GONNA WRECK IT!" Ralph roared as he began to make his way up the building.

Gene braced himself for the impact, jumping into position once Ralph's massive fist broke through the wall.

"Go easy on me today, Ralph!" Gene said, his voice shaking a bit.

"Aww, somethin' the matter Gene?" Ralph whispered in a teasing tone "I thought I could take it!"

"I just don't have the enerGGGGGGGGGY NYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Before Gene could even finish, Ralph tossed him off screen but this time, Ralph made sure to aim in a certain spot and once the man left his hands, the wrecker made his way back up the building. Felix on the other hand, made a few quick glances to and from, not seeing Gene running from the side of the forest and entering into the side door like he always did.

"Ralph? RALPH?" the repair man whispered, trying his best to make sure not to get hit.

"Yeah? What is it Felix?"

"What happened ta Gene? He's usually here by now!"

Ralph snorted a laugh as he continued to pound bricks, "Oh, I'm sure he's fine! He might be a little caught up at the moment."

Caught up?

Felix knew something was up.

And at the moment, something WAS up; Gene.

The man was now hanging from the tree he had been thrown towards but as if that were not bad enough, he was caught helplessly in a massive web of strawberry taffy.

"I should have seen this coming…." The man mumbled, hopelessly stuck in the mess of goo.

From his position, Gene could only watch helplessly as Felix and the others continued on with the gameplay and no matter how much he struggled, he only seemed to snag himself even deeper into the trap.

"SOMEONE! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!" Gene wailed, but he was much too far for anyone to see him and even if they COULD see him, he knew the risk they would be going into if they even dared go out to help during the gameplay.

The mayor knew that if anyone was going to help him, it was himself.

The man struggled and pulled as best he could but the candy was much too strong and his own strength wasn't nearly enough to even weaken the substance. After five minutes of struggling, Gene was exhausted and being upside down was only making him dizzy.

"Urrgh, I have to get down from here before I pass out!" the man said, thrashing once more, only to have a piece of the candy fall into his mouth.

The man sputtered a bit but then realized two things; first off, the candy was delicious. No matter how aggravated he was, he could not deny good candy when he tasted it. Second, he already had a means of getting free and he was much too flustered to even use it.

"Of course!" Gene cursed to himself, as he rolled his eyes.

The man then began to chew the strands of taffy around his arms and wrist, freeing himself in no time. He tried to pull forward but found that there was another gob adhered to his back. There was no way he was going to be able to reach that. He looked upwards, seeing the taffy around his legs and ankles. The man groaned at what he knew he had to do next but seeing as he didn't have the strength to pull himself up and eat the remaining taffy, it was the only thing he could do.

He began to wriggle his feet free from his shoes which helped free him further but now….

Now?

"Oh programmers, I knew this was going to be a bad day…."

Gene reached up and began to undo the buckle on his belt and once he had loosened his pants….

"NYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Gene felt himself tumbling backwards as his weight fell pulled him to the ground, pulling him not only from his pants but form his coat as well. Gene landed with a bounce, pantless but free. He took a moment to recover from the feeling of the blood rushing to his head and got back onto his feet.

Just in time, another game was about to begin.

But he wasn't wearing pants.

But he couldn't just leave the rest of the group when he still had to give out pies and be thrown by Ralph.

But he wasn't wearing pants.

He still had a job.

But he wasn't wearing pants.

Gene cursed to himself again as he jogged back up to the apartments, quickly getting into place just in time as the quarter was placed into the game.

Mary and Roy made a quick glance over at Gene, seeing that he looked even worse than before as he was now missing his coat and had pieces of taffy and various sticks and leaves covering him.

"Um, did something happ-?"

"Not in the mood to talk about it right now…" Gene said quickly, making sure that he hadn't done so in a way that insinuated that there was rage in his voice.

"I'M GONNA WRECK IT!"

Ralph's fist broke through the wall yet again, grabbing onto Gene.

"Whoa, where in the world have you been, Genie-boy?" the wrecker chucked.

Gene faked a very horrid smile towards Ralph, wanting nothing more than to sock the man in his nose.

But he knew better than that.

"Let's just get going….."

Ralph smiled as he then tossed Gene off screen yet again, the man letting out his trade-mark yowl. As he was sailing through the air, the Nicelander felt a bit of relief coming over him. He remembered that he had destroyed most of the taffy webbing so there was no way he would come into contact with it again.

Nope, just the normal head-plant right into the trunk of a tree.

Just want he wanted to feel.

Gene closed his eyes and awaited the impending collision but as he did so he felt himself being snagged once more.

He opened his eyes and looked down.

It was taffy.

But this time….

BANANA!

To make matters worse, Gene had somehow gotten himself tangled up even worse than he was BEFORE, the man thrashing about in a hopeless desperation to free himself.

"Programmers, I'm going to run out of CLOTHES by the time the day is over!" Gene said to himself in panic, feeling that his outer shirt was now glued in with the sticky mass.

Thankfully, Gene was much too busy trying to free himself to even notice the sound of giggling coming from the bushes. A pair of hazel eyes peered at Gene, trying hard not to laugh too loud for Gene to hear.

"Oh, I have PLENTY more where that comes from, Genie-Beanie…." Vanellope said, snickering as she looked off to the side, eyeing the remaining cans of taffy she had.

By the time the day was over, Mary realized that Gene was once again missing. She darted up the apartment but when she found it empty she went to the penthouse, sure she would find him fixing himself a drink.

Nothing.

Mary looked about in concern, finding not a trace of Gene in the apartments.

"Felix?" Mary called out her friend "Oh, Felix! Please tell me you've seen Gene!"

"Not since the sixth game!" Felix replied, noticing the look of concern on Mary's face "But I'll start lookin' for him since he's been gone so long!"

"Thank you!" Mary said, bowing a bit "I don't know what I would do if something were to happen to him!"

Mary was about to go into the apartments once more but something stopped her; she knew it was against her better judgment but something told her to go look off into the woods. Granted, it wasn't like this was the first time she had gone off to the woods by herself but with Gene suddenly missing, there was a bit of fear going through her.

What if something had gotten into the game and managed to make off with Gene?

Or worse? Eat him?

No, that was silly talk!

The little woman tip-toed into the woods, holding her hands close to her chest and trying to remain brave at the moment.

"G-Gene? A-are you out here dear?"

There was a faint rustling in the bushes, the Nicelander squeaking in surprise as she jumped back.

"I-I have hat pins! Those won't feel too well if I stab you with them!" Mary piped out, taking a pin from her hat.

"Mary! IT'S ME!"

Mary stopped, moving a bit closer to the source of the sound.

"Gene?"

Mary looked closer to see the top of Gene slowly standing from the bushes but he only stood up enough so he could see his eyes and by the look of them, Gene was upset.

VERY upset.

Mary placed her hands on her hips as she glared at the man, more than a little miffed that he had stayed there the entire time.

"MAYOR NICELANDER GENE! What in the ARCADE have you been doing ALL THIS TIME?!" Mary yelled.

"I-It's not like I had a choice!" Gene stammered, ducking back into the bush.

Mary stomped towards the man, ready to grab his ear and pull him from his cover.

"Oh, don't think you can get your way out of this one, mister! You're-!"

"DON'T!" Gene shouted, pushing Mary away much to her surprise.

"What do you think you're-!?"

"Mary, look up!"

The woman stopped for a moment once she heard the tone of Gene's voice. He sounded mortified and from what little she could see of his face, the man was blushing like mad. Mary craned her neck upwards, only to discover the now rainbow-colored web of taffy….

And all of Gene's clothing, perfectly stuck and tangled in the mass.

Shoes, socks, tie, PANTS.

Everything was there.

Even his underwear.

The realization of what was going to happen hit Mary at that moment and the woman let out a loud gasp as she covered her mouth, blushing just as bright as Gene was.

"You mean-?!"

"Y-yeah…."

"Your clothes?!"

"Ah-huh…"

"A-are you na-?!"

"MARY! PLEASE!" Gene said in a horrified tone "No one else needs to know!"

Mary looked around to make sure she hadn't been followed before removing her jacket.

"Here, take this!"

Gene could only look at Mary in shock, "Oh, but you can't-!"

"I'm not going to leave you out here!"

Gene nodded as he quickly wrapped the jacket around his waist and came from being the bushes, covered in taffy of various colors. Mary couldn't help but glance up and down at the man but she then averted her eyes, blushing brighter than before.

"H-how did you manage to get yourself into this mess?"

Gene too looked away, much too humiliated to look ANYONE in the face "Er-heh….I guess it just an off day…."

"Off…" Mary echoed "Right."

Still looking away, Mary reached out for Gene's hand and took it into her own, "C-Come on. Let's get you back inside before anyone sees."

Gene just wanted to shrink away to nothing at that moment; he had never been so humiliated in his LIFE.

"Y-yes, dear…" the man said weakly, following the woman to the backdoor of the apartments.

Once the two Nicelanders were out of view, Vanellope glitched out the bush she was hiding in and fell into a mass of hysterics. She just couldn't take what she had just seen!

"Oh-oh! My sides! I-I can't breathe!" Vanellope laughed, doing so until tears came out of her eyes "This was so worth it! Every ounce of worth!"

"Big Bad Wrecker to the Ruler of Sweet!" cackled the sound of a walkie-talkie.

Vanellope turned and jumped on her walkie-talkie, making sure that it had not been heard by anyone how might have been snooping around in the woods.

"Geeez, big guy! Blow my cover why don't cha?!"

"Well, sorry for checkin' up on ya!" The wrecker said from inside the apartments "Did everything go as planned?"

"It went as planned and better!" Vanellope said over the walkie-talkie "I've got enough pictures ta last a life time as well!"

Ralph chuckled, cracking his knuckles "Perfect, just make sure ya hang onto 'em before-"

"Before WHAT, Ralph?" said Felix, appearing out of nowhere from behind the larger man.

Ralph let out a startled well as he threw the walkie-talkie out the window and turned towards his friend, a guilty smile plastered on his face.

"Oh-oh FELIX! Nice to see ya here buddy!"

"Why, yes I am here Ralph….we live here. I was just checkin' ta see if everything was alright with ya. Mary managed to find Gene, so-!"

"She DID!?" Ralph said, feigning concern as he placed his hands on his cheeks "That's WONDERFUL! For a second there, I thought he was gone…or eaten. Gone an' eaten…"

Felix arched his eyebrows at the larger man, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Now Ralph, I wasn't born yesterday. You an' Nelly have been doin' somethin' because of this entire bet thing…I just have ta figure out WHAT exactly…."

Ralph let out a booming chuckle as he placed a hand on Felix's back, leading him back into the apartments, "Felix, Felix, FELIX! Ya worry too much buddy! I promise you, this bet is goin' off fair n' square an' NOTHIN' is going to happen, okay?"

Felix huffed a bit, pouting cutely; he wasn't buying this act one bit. He knew that it was only a matter of time before something stupid was going to happen and of course, he was going to have to be there to clean up the resulting mess.

"Okay, but remember big guy, I have my eyes on ya. One wrong move an'-!"

"Felix, nothin' is gonna happen! An' if it does…then….."

Ralph hesitated for a second, rushing himself to find the perfect response.

"Then I had nothin' ta do with it so ya can't blame me."

"RALPH."

The next day, Gene woke up with a sore and aching body. Having been contorted in so many angles by the taffy webs had done a number on him.

"Gah…if I didn't have work today, I would rush to the chiropractor!" the man hissed through his teeth, cracking his back.

The man grumbled as he made his way to the bathroom, grabbing his toothpaste, but checking to make sure it was actually toothpaste and not some 'wonderful' surprise ready to come out at him. Luckily for him, no one seemed to have tampered with his property this time around.

"Ah, wonderful…" the man said as he went into the kitchen to fix himself a nice cup of coffee.

For the next hour or so, things went smoothly for the Nicelander, no bumps or hiccups to throw him off.

"Oh my programmers, this can't be real…." Nel said from down the hall.

Gene turned towards the door and peeked out, noticing that his neighbors had all collected near the elevator of his floor for some reason, each one holding a copy of the morning's paper.

"Pfft! Where did they get tha pictures for THIS?!" Norwood rang out, trying his best not to laugh.

"Has Gene seen this yet?" asked Don.

"Not that I know of…" replied Roy "But I'm sure if he does, he'll-!"

"Have I seen WHAT exactly?" Gene asked as he walked over to his friends.

The group of Nicelanders looked at each other before hiding their newspapers behind their backs.

"NOTHING!"

Gene smiled warmly as he walked over to Roy, "Come on Roy, let me see…."

Sweat began to bead on Roy's forehead as he backed away slightly, "Um, it's nothing Gene! Just some stupid story!"

"Well, Norwood was laughing so it MUST be funny!"

"Gene, ya know Norwood's an IDIOT! He'll laugh at ANYTHING!" Nel said with a forced grin.

"NEL!"

Gene tried to reach behind Roy for the paper but his neighbor wasn't even letting him near it.

"Roy! Come on! What is so bad that you won't let me see the paper?!" Gene asked, obviously flustered but not enough to break into any sort of anger.

"TRUST ME IT'S NOT-!"

Gene made a jump forward as he grabbed the paper from Roy's fingers, flipping through it and finding nothing out of the ordinary. The man chuckled as he looked over to his friend.

"What? I don't even see anything! How in the world can you be-?"

The mayor glanced down at the pages once more, a familiar sight hitting his eyes.

It was the sight of a Nicelander.

A Nicelander without clothes.

And the reason this Nicelander looked so familiar was because the Nicelander was HIM!

"Oh crud…" Nel whispered, making her way to the stairs "I ain't stayin' for this!"

Gene could do nothing more than look in utter HORROR at the picture, his naked butt winking for the camera of whoever had snapped the photo.

How did this happen?

How COULD this happen?!

Gene was beside himself with all sorts of emotions; humiliation, confusion, RAGE.

But he could do nothing to show them off.

He just stood in the hallway, his eyes wide as dinner plates as his entire body shook.

And to make things worse, he knew that the ENTIRE arcade was now opening up their papers to see a photo of a naked Nicelander Gene in black and white.

Don carefully approached the mayor, a little afraid to even put a hand on him since he didn't know if Gene would snap and try to bite it off.

"Er, you going to be okay there, private?" Don asked.

Gene stood silent for a moment….

And then fell to the ground like a three foot lead weight.

"GAH! SOMEONE GET THE SMELLING SALTS!"