All was silent throughout Game Central, with the exception of a few characters roaming about to get from point A to B; Tapper's was unusually full tonight, though. NPCs and a few mains' were all about; well it was a Saturday night. Late Saturday night. Due to the mix volumes of chatter and laughter, it was quite obvious that everyone was enjoying themselves, even the two strange men located just in the back of the restaurant. The two men consisted of a red haired prince and an old man dressed as a duke.
The elderly man had finished taking another gulp of root-beer, as did the red haired prince. It was the most satisfying beverage the young prince had ever consumed. The consumed contents earned a satisfying sigh from the prince as he placed his glass down, a small grin now on his face.
"Now then," The elderly duke finally spoke, breaking the silence in between them, "you do understand the consequences of tampering with such things, don't you?" He finished by taking another sip from his mug.
The youngest Prince of the Southern Isles nodded, "Of course I do!" He confirmed before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small napkin and placing it down onto the table. The napkin was worn and crumbled, but it was obvious as to what was scribbled on there. "What with the practice I've had earlier, I'm sure I've gotten the hang of this. Everyone is against the Queen, and apparently she's as unstable as ever."
The elderly man reached for the old napkin and carefully tucked it into his blouse, but something that the read head said had caught the Duke's attention, "Unstable you say?" He repeated before taking more sips of root beer.
The prince nodded, "Something happened today, that caused her to clog the cable tunnel to Frozen with snow. When I asked around, I heard of some guy named Wreck-It Ralph being the prob-"
The sudden burst of root beer being spat out from the Duke interrupted the prince. His hands shielded his face, as to not get any of the sugary beverages on his uniform. "Wreck-It Ralph?!" He repeated in surprise, his eyes now wider than usual.
The young red head grabbed an extra napkin from the napkin holder and began wiping the root beer from him. "Yes, Wreck-It Ralph. That's what I said." He sighed, with a hint of annoyance in his voice. As the prince continued wiping himself off, he raised his head to see the Duke was…contemplating? "Uh, what's the problem? He won't interfere with my plans, will he?"
"Not at all, my boy! And from what I hear, he's a Bad Guy." The Duke had then mumbled something that was drowned out by the noise around them. The Prince made a strange, yet, curious face when he heard the word 'cahoots' along with the names of Ralph and the Queen.
The Prince cleared his throat, "Well then, I have to find Princess Anna. I don't want her getting hurt." He said with some sincerity in his voice, before it pitched lower and began to sound dark. "She's the last step in my plans."
A nod of agreement was earned from the Duke, "Very well then, Hans. Come, we must raise your principle and moral points! And what better what to do that, than help a few homeless old timers."
Hans raised one of his eyebrows, "'Principle and moral points'? That's not an actual thing is it?"
The Duke rolled his eyes, Prince Hans could be a bit naive at certain points. "Of course not, now let's go!"
The two rose from their seats and made an exit from Tapper's. "Have a good one!" shouted the owner.
Time had gone by, and the sun began to shine on Litwack's Arcade, emitting light through its glass doors and shining right on Fix-It Felix Jr. Reality's light had shined upon Niceland's lone apartment building, through its front windows, and poured into the rooms it the windows were built into. Felix had long awakened and had begun to fix breakfast for his guest, but she hadn't come out of his spare room yet.
The short carpenter had hoped that she didn't sneak off into the night, and try to venture home alone. Felix stepped out of his kitchen for a moment and peeked down the hall that lead him to his room and his guest's room, the door was still closed. After a few more thoughts swirled in his mind, he finally made his way to the closed door. Felix placed his left ear to the door; he could have sworn he heard something strange. For a while it was silent. This worried Felix, he hoped his previous thoughts weren't correct. However, those sudden feelings dispersed when he heard a loud snore come from the other side of the door.
Snoring. That must have been the strange sound Felix had heard earlier! The small fixer sighed in relief and chortled at the thought of a snoring princess, as a matter of fact, Anna was unlike any princess he had ever met. Most of them, were a bit defenseless, wore princess attire, and needed a hero. But not Anna, Anna was a heroine herself, and she probably didn't know it yet. Everything that she was doing to help her sister-a villain-was all it took to dub her as a heroine. She was a bit odd for a princess, with her hyper, yet quirky personality, but it was obvious that she meant well.
A curled hand gently knocked against the door, "Princess Anna? It's morning and there's breakfast!"
The loud snoring that filled the room had instantly ceased, "I'll be right out!" the former sleeping princess shouted, her voice straining and groggy, but there was no doubt that her voice held happiness and excitement. The stress from yesterday's events must have left her famished.
It had to have been about twenty minutes before Anna exited the guest room and joined Felix at his breakfast table. Five, to wash her face of any drool that may have leaked from her mouth and brush her teeth with the spare toothbrush beneath the sink, and fifteen just to brush her mess of a hair, it usually wasn't such a mess, but she slept so good last night. She put on her long-sleeved aqua undergarment first, then her patterned black bodice, and finally slipped on her long, dark blue skirt, leaving out her magenta hat and thick matching cape.
"Sorry I'm late!" She spoke while eyeing a plate containing pancakes, a few slices of bacon, and eggs.
Felix had over done it and made so much batter for pancakes; there were more than just a couple of extra pancakes left over. "Don't worry about it! It's still morning, ya' didn't even need to wake so soon." He sounded a bit apologetic, not meaning to disturb Anna from her sleep, however she showed no amount of grumpiness as she sat at the table. "By the way, that's for you." Felix added when he noticed her eyeing the plate of food.
This earned an excited 'thank you' from the giddy princess. Anna quickly placed the fork in her hand and stuck it into a pancake slice, but before she could take a bite, her mind began to roam, "Oh, but won't Ralph be joining us?" She asked while gazing at the short carpenter.
Felix began to shake his head, until he remembered the large stack of pancakes. He wasn't too fond of leftovers, especially breakfast leftovers, and he was sure that Ralph was hungry. "We should have breakfast with him." He piped up, "For saving our hides yesterday, his good deed shouldn't go unnoticed!" Felix let out a small chuckle before adding, "And I've seem to have gone a bit overboard with the pancakes."
Anna's eyes lit up a bit before agreeing with Felix, "You're right!" She rose from her seat, "Here I'll help gather the pancakes, and you grab our plates."
"Can do, ma'am!"
The princess giggled, she loved the the southern drawl in the short carpenter's voice.
Meanwhile, in the dumps of Niceland, Ralph was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. He didn't get much sleep due to being concerned about Elsa. It was strange, really, he had never worried about anyone before. Sure there was Q*bert and company, but the way he felt about Elsa was different.
With a look of boredom, the giant sighed and snapped a brick between his fist and thumb, the thought of Elsa still on his mind.
They were so different, yet so similar. She was pretty—no—gorgeous, wait…striking. No doubt about that. Her soft looking, platinum blonde hair, and those blue eyes that held elegance, yearning, sadness, and loneliness, but like magic, they seemed to light up whenever they began to have fun. And then, there was the way she smiled, even when Ralph felt like he made a mess of things, she wouldn't put him down, she'd just smile. Elsa's smile and giggles always came out as elegant, probably because she'd use the tip of her fingers to cover her mouth. But whenever Elsa truly laughed, he could see her full smile in action. Whenever Elsa truly laughed, he felt like he accomplished something important, something that no amount of building smashing could ever achieve. Ever since Tapper's he hoped they could be together more often.
Being with Elsa made him feel at home.
As for Ralph well, he saw himself as just Ralph. He didn't give himself much thought, but he never thought low of himself. He was tall, no doubting that, a bit of a klutz—something he would never own up to— but he would admit his temper, rarely. It was a rare sight to see the giant smiling, but if you could catch it, you'd find that he had a small gap at the top row, in the front of his teeth. Despite the way Ralph is treated throughout the arcade, he found himself pretty strong; not just physically, in most situations, that others would not.
But is that what really made them so different? Nonetheless, Ralph had this particular thought on his mind, what was it that made them so similar? Sure they were both Bad Guys, but besides that. There was something they both wanted, but Ralph couldn't tell what, exactly, it was.
The giant sighed and ran his giant palm through his hair, the thought of him and Elsa's first encounter replaying in his mind. Their brief conversation, Elsa bursting into laughter—it was obvious that she hadn't had a good laugh in a while. And then revealing her powers…
Feeling confused, Ralph stood up and made his way off the mountain of bricks and down on to the soft grass. He began pacing back and forth with the thought as to why Elsa could control her powers at certain times, like when they first arrived to her Ice Castle, and then when she became upset. Ralph was on the verge of his epiphany.
"Aha! It all makes sense now!" Ralph exclaimed.
"What makes sense now?" Asked a sweet voice, which was holding a plate stacked with pancakes.
Ralph turned around to be faced with Anna and Felix. He gently placed his hands on the Princess's shoulders and lightly shook her before enlightening her on this particular thought, "Your sister and her powers!"
"Oh? WhAt AboUt tHEm?!" She asked once again as she was being shook, careful as to not let the plate of pancakes spill over. But now she was more interested in her sister and what Ralph had to say.
Ralph released his light grip and made an attempt to continue his explanation, "It's like this—"
"Oh! These are for you!" Anna quickly interrupted as she held up the stack of pancakes. Ralph arched an eyebrow of uncertainty. He never had something prepared for him.
"For your help yesterday!" Felix added.
For a moment, the giant was silent, he couldn't believe it. "Uh, thanks!" Ralph finally answered with gratitude, trying to hide how surprised he was, but he knew better than to get used to such praise.
The three sat on the plush grass and started on their breakfast.
Once settled, Ralph began his explanation again, "As I was saying earlier, when Elsa and I were together, she was in a very content state, maybe even happy. And when she first showed me her snow powers, she had it under control, even if it was just a tiny bit of it. Then when we went to her Ice Palace in the mountains she began making all sorts of magical snow things happen." His happy little expression began to slightly sink as he began to explain his next thought, "But then I made her upset, and that blizzard happened…so it means that-"
Anna and Felix both processed all that Ralph was saying and when the two caught on,
"Her powers are connected to her emotions!"
Anna almost felt ashamed of herself for not knowing this sooner, or at all actually. But being the optimistic fireball she is, she just lightly bopped her forehead.
"Of course! Why didn't I connect the two sooner!" She exclaimed. It really wasn't her fault, it was in her code and her game was just plugged in a day ago.
Honestly, there was a lot that Anna needed to catch up on. She really wished she had met Felix and Ralph under different circumstances, they were such great people and it was unfortunate that they had to bond like this.
Speaking of bond…
"Hey Ralph," Ralph knew it was rude to talk with his mouth full, so he hummed, letting Anna know that he had her attention. "How did you meet my sister? She's always been distant towards people, but you two seem to get along just fine!" The princess huffed a bit, feeling a bit jealous of Ralph.
Felix and Ralph both exchanged glances at each other. She was definitely unlike any other princess they had ever encountered.
Ralph adjusted his overall strap and cleared his throat, "Uh, well..I was visiting a few characters, whose game was unplugged, when one of them mentioned your game. Everyone seemed to have been talking about the Bad Guy of the game, saying how…uh" Ralph began to mumble a bit and sped up that part of the explanation, "pretty she was and stuff..."
The giant paused a moment and stuffed a pancake into his mouth, hoping the awkwardness would soon fade. Anna bit down on her lip, she noticed that Ralph was becoming a bit flustered; she didn't want him to know that she knew about this, so she continued eating a bit more.
When she swallowed the contents in her mouth she finally spoke again, this time more calmly, "Please, continue."
Ralph nodded, "Then!" He exhaled "I saw someone make a break for the back of Game Central. I could tell it was a woman, ya' know, the sparkles from her dress and stuff. She seemed nervous and upset so I thought I'd go check it out." Ralph then went on about introductions and how he was fascinated by her snow powers.
"Hmm, now that I think of it," Anna began before looking at her surroundings, "It does always seem to be night time over here. Is your game always like this? No weather patterns, sunrises? Sunsets?" Frozen ran on time, unlike Fix-It Felix Jr.
Felix nodded, "Since the day we were plugged in. It's always night over here." Felix looked to the sky, wondering how things would be if they did have a daytime. A bright, burning sun looming over them for a few hours, the thought made Felix heat up as if he had been working under that burning sun all day. But then there would be a sunset and a sunrise, just like the one in Reality.
"Well if we're done here," Felix stated as he broke from his trance, now glancing from Ralph to Anna, "Let's go help Queen Elsa."
The eager princess rose to her feet, exclaiming, "Yeah! Let's go!" She was ready to see her sister, maybe if she let Elsa know of this new found information, they could be close again. Like when they were kids. With this goal in mind, she began sprinting towards the train that would lead them back to Game Central, happily shouting, "I'm coming Elsa!"
Ralph chuckled at Anna's attitude. "Ya' sure she's a princess?" Ralph lightheartedly asked.
As to which Felix responded, in an infatuated tone, "Jiminy, jaminy…she sure is."
Ralph quirked an eyebrow at his colleague, he'd never seen him like this before. "Uh, you ok th-?" The sound of the trolley bell began to ring in the distance, someone was coming.
"Princess? Princess Anna!" A familiar voice called out to her, Anna recognized this voice, it was Prince Hans.
"H-Hans?" Anna was surprised, she didn't expect to see Hans here, she thought he was in Arendelle. Nonetheless, she was glad that he was safe.
The Prince stepped out of the trolley and quickly wrapped his arms around her. "You had me worried! I've been all around Game Central looking for you."
Anna quickly returned the hug, "I'm so glad you're safe! I haven't seen you since yesterday. I thought you were still in Arendelle."
The two continued on with their conversation, leaving Ralph and Felix to watch from a distance. "Who is that?!" Felix blurted out. That light red, innocent infatuation in his cheeks now turning green.
Ralph simply shrugged his shoulders, "Could be someone from her game." Ralph rose to his feet and started towards Anna and this new character, Felix trailing next to him.
After the royals caught up with what's happened in the past day, Anna noticed her new friends heading her way. "Oh, here they are now!" She extended her arm out towards Felix. "This is Fix-It Felix Jr.!" She then shifted her extended arm to Ralph, "And this is Wreck-It Ralph!"
Hans curled a finger under his chin, intrigued that Ralph didn't come off as hostile. By the way Anna had spoken about him, he wasn't too surprised, however, Anna was naïve. "Aaah, so this is the one everyone's talking about." He stated as he stepped closer to the antagonist of the game.
Perplexed, Ralph rubbed his head. "Uh, 'scuse me?"
"You were quite the talk of the town. There's been commotion of you accompanying Queen Elsa yesterday. It's a pleasure to meet you both, Ralph," The prince extended his hand out to shake Ralph's, which the giant awkwardly shook. "And Felix." He added while extending his hand out to Felix.
The short carpenter was still unsure of this new guy, but he shook his hand anyway. "Yeah. Same." He replied with no significance.
Anna beamed at Hans with a smile, her hands clasping together. "We're on our way to Frozen right now. We may have found out how Elsa's powers work!" She stated excitedly as she inched towards the small trolley.
How they work? This made Hans a bit nervous, but it didn't show. If Elsa had her powers under control then it would make it harder for his plans to come through. However, like a mirror, he portrayed Anna's excitement. "That's wonderful, Anna!" The Prince congratulated while lending Anna a helping hand.
"C'mon, boys!" Anna shouted, while Hans took a seat next to her, leaving the back seats vacant.
"Queen Elsa!" The male voice repeated, which made Elsa crank her head from the clogged cable tunnel to the voice. "Please, come with me." The voice was so kind and gentle, that it almost terrified her. She thought that everyone hated her, but when she realized who it was, she became so relieved. It was Kai a loyal servant from her home.
While Elsa was thankful to see a familiar face, she was also afraid. Afraid that she may hurt him, she knew Kai for as long as she could remember. He treated her like family, and from a young age she did the same.
"Please, Kai, just go home. I-I'm sure things will get better once we get a quarter alert, and the game starts. Then all the snow will be lifted." Maybe if she put this idea in mind, he'd go back to the castle, then everything will be alright again. "Please, just stay away from me." She pleaded as she stepped a few inches back, not that he was too close or anything.
The burly man had a concerned look on his face, he knew the Queen wouldn't hurt anybody on purpose, which is why he came to talk with her. It pained him to see Elsa like this, especially since he had known her since she was a child. She was so happy, until the day the King, Queen, and young princesses left the castle one night, due to an urgent situation.
"Please, your majesty, I know the code says for you to live alone in isolation," He began while stepping a bit closer to her highness, his words anxious and sincere, "but please, come back to Arendelle. Come back home." The man treated both Anna and Elsa like family, it was an honor that he and Gerda were able to stick around after the staff decreased.
The Queen turned her head from her loyal servant; doubtful that anyone in Arendelle wanted to see her, after all the hateful words that were spat once her powers were revealed, it made it difficult to even look at Arendelle the same. She feared the worst, would she be shunned? Would the kingdom be afraid of her?
Elsa began squeezing her hand with the other, she seemed to be contemplating now. There was a lot that swirled in Elsa's mind, would leaving the North Mountain make things easy, could things really go back to the way they were? And what about Anna, how could she protect her?
It would probably be for the best for everyone and herself that she follows her code, and just live in isolation.
With a sigh, the Queen gave Kai a forced smile as she made her final decision, "Kai…Please, go ho-OH!" There was a slight distant rumble that the two hadn't noticed before, but when the rumbling got louder, it surprised Elsa. "Wh-what in the world?!" She gasped as she turned her attention back to the snow-clogged tunnel…it couldn't have been someone from the other side, the snow was so thick.
The rumbling grew louder, which caused Elsa to step back. Someone was trying to come through. Elsa grew anxious as dreadful thoughts filled her mind. Lately, she had felt like everyone was out to get her. The Queen clutched her hand, While Kai signaled Elsa towards her, "Please your majesty, this way! Who knows what could be trying to get through!"
Elsa gulped, she knew she could trust Kai, and the firm yet alarmed voice made Elsa feel obligated to join his side. As soon as Elsa took the first step to rushing towards her servant, the rumbling came closer and grew louder, leaving Elsa immobilized by her fear of what was trying to get through. A second later, there was silence, leaving Elsa and Kai to stare in wonder at the tunnel. Then a small suited man had poked through the last bit of snow, with a pump-like device in hand.
Again, leaving Elsa surprised. Actually, so surprised that she just had to ask, "W-Were you the one who created that entire ruckus?"
The short suited man faced the Queen and just nodded, if you could see well enough into the area that showed his face, you could see the happy, if not bashful, look on his features. With a hand behind his head, he made an apologetic gesture, he didn't mean to cause such calamity while digging through, there was just so much ice falling each time the little man dug, that it caused a great ruckus. But now the tunnel was cleared for his associates.
"Ah, thanks Dig-Dug! I owe you one for this!"
It was a masculine voice that echoed from the tunnel, one that Elsa knew for a while now, and for a moment, her body was frozen.
"Ralph? Wreck-It Ralph?" She questioned in disbelief.
Kai shifted his gaze from the tunnel back to Elsa, the look on her face was bothering him, she just seemed so distraught from it all and he had hoped that she wouldn't get sick anytime soon. The loyal servant rushed to her highness and stood in front of her. Being just plugged in yesterday, he wasn't sure who was very trustworthy. But he knew for a fact that he would protect Elsa at any cost.
Said Queen had stepped back once more from the tunnel, she was very conflicted. On one hand, she wanted to apologize for losing her temper over something so trivial, and if she had to be honest with herself, she actually wanted Ralph near. Just like she wanted to be near Anna. It was strange, but she felt safe with Ralph. But on the other hand, she wanted to protect him from herself, just like she wanted to protect Anna.
As the Queen was lost in her self-confliction, a shadow had loomed over Kai, breaking Elsa's concentration.
"Fancy meeting you at the front gate, Elsa! I see you have a bodyguard now." The familiar voice joked, causing Elsa to actually focus on who came through the tunnel. It was Ralph.
Out of all the things Elsa wanted to do, she found a smile slowly spreading across her features. "Ralph…What are you, how did—"
"Wait! Elsa! I'm here too!" Shouted another voice, whose owner didn't make it through the tunnel yet, but Elsa knew exactly who this voice belonged to, which automatically made her step back a few more paces from Kai's body.
Anna finally made an appearance from the tunnels and leaned against Ralph's arm, as she struggled to catch her breath, "I…I'm here…too…! Phew!" The younger royal gasped, earning a small giggle from her big sister. Seeing Anna so winded was a bit entertaining, despite having so much energy. "Oh, Kai! It's great to see you!" Anna perked up once she caught her breath.
The servant smiled, "It's a pleasure to see you too, Princess Anna. Might you introduce your friend here?"
Anna cheerfully nodded, "Yeah! Well you see he's not my friend, well, I mean, he is! But he was Elsa's friend first, and so that's how we came to know each other, well actually he saved my butt yesterday, and now we're both here to see Elsa!"
The slight amused look on Elsa's face had quickly faded, something that Ralph had noticed. He felt that if he didn't state the reason why they were here, Elsa would find a way to slip through their fingers again.
Elsa began to rub her hand with the other. "Um, look," she started, "I'm really sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to get so upset—"
"But that's just it!" Ralph interrupted, soon to be followed by Anna.
"Yeah! We found out how we can help you!"
"How!" Elsa snapped, her nervous feelings now turning into dread, "What powers do you two have to help me?"
"Please, Elsa, just listen!" Anna pleaded, now stepping in front of Ralph and toward her sister, but Elsa was turning away, like she always did, leaving both Ralph and Anna behind.
Something had to be done before the Elsa was to slip away, and then, "We know how you powers work!" Ralph finally shouted.
This grabbed Elsa's attention. Did she hear that correctly? Skeptical and hesitant, "What did you say?" her eyes were filled with interest as her head cranked around to face the two.
"It's true Elsa! Ralph may have figured it out!" Anna answered, "Will you at least hear us out, please?"
The look in Anna's eyes was so hopeful that Elsa just had to at least listen. She stepped closer to Anna and Ralph, that small smile from before finding its way back on to her features. However, she aimed it at Ralph, interested in what he knew about her powers. "Please, tell me everything."