Meetings.
Kohut's remark had an instantaneous effect on Ralph and Felix, and it wasn't a good one. Ralph pulled back a massive fist, and Felix drew his hammer, forgetting for a moment that it would do more… good than harm.
"Look here, you…" Ralph exploded as he swung his fist up to drive the man into the ground like a stake. Felix was filled with an anger he wasn't used to. He froze for a moment, since the happy-go-lucky repairman wasn't accustomed to thinking about harming anyone.
Kohut felt fear as he never had before. He wasn't in his own game, and this was serious. By reflex, he stepped backwards, catching the side of the train. He fell backwards into the middle of the three wooden cars. He lay there, his legs on the platform, and waved his arms madly. "WAIT!", he yelled, "Hold on! There's a plan! She's coming HERE!"
"SHE?" Felix and Ralph said in unison. They froze.
"I know it isn't her." Thought Ralph "She doesn't need me anymore. She has everything she ever wanted. Why should I be mad about that?"
Kohut got up and straightened his gear out as he saw the two relax some. Then followed a rapid-fire update on what was happening. He told them of the mob, of the fear, and that there were characters from all over the arcade ready to; "shut this place down forever.". He skipped the part about Markowski, since he really didn't want the mountain of a man to have a reason to be mad at another Marine.
During this was the expected "ooohh"s, and "huh?", and " but…" from the two. Felix suddenly understood how it must have looked from outside. He himself had thought Ralph guilty. The story of Turbo as they knew it is pretty tame stuff next to 'mad game-destroying Ralph'. But Ralph as the Bad… more the Evil Guy was wrong. Felix tilted his head a bit, as he did while thinking heavy thoughts.
Ralph was completely overwhelmed. It wasn't like it had happened at all. But, yes, that's how it looked. He did fly the escape pod across games. There was a cybug with him, and that one egg he tripped over almost destroyed Sugar Rush, and might have cut loose across the whole arcade. The people of every game here wanted to make sure another Turbo never happened again. HE didn't either. But his selfish, clumsy, stupid, unfeeling… his vocabulary started running low of words to describe himself properly with.
Ralph accepted the accusations. His thoughts were as low as the look on his face. "I'm guilty. I did everything they say I did." Then, he had another of those un-selfish thoughts he was not used to having, when he looked down at Felix beside him. "If we get locked in, he'll never see his girlfriend again. I screwed up my life and his at the same time."
He spoke into the silence, startling Felix and Kohut a bit. "Look, I promise, I swear that I will do anything I have to. But if I just leave the game, it'll get unplugged. If we get jailed, Felix never sees his girl again. But if I just promise to never leave here again, nobody will believe me." He didn't have any more options here. Leave or stay pretty much covered it. He thought of Vanellope and her offer to live at her castle. It had felt tempting. But his newly-discovered sense of duty to Felix, and even the angry Nicelanders stopped him from just leaving for good.
Kohut didn't have a ready answer. "Look", he said. "All I know is that the Sergeant has something planned. I have no idea what it is, but she sent me here to make sure you didn't just wander out into that mess. She's the smartest of us all, and I have never… never seen her fail in her duty."
He pointed to the control unit to the comm backpack he had on. "As soon as I saw you were still here, I sent a signal. Just a few beeps to let her know I got here. She's doing something now. When she's ready, we'll get told what to do. So I think maybe we should just sit down, have a beer, and wait."
Ralph, and Felix too, fumed at this, but really, it didn't sound like they had much of a choice.
As a note, all of the equipment in Hero's Duty is pretty heavy stuff. Those Space Marines were programmed to fight all over… in space, on hostile planets… extreme heat and cold... Their equipment, body armor, and even their weapons were made of the strongest alloys and compounds science could provide. So it was a bit ironic that during Kohut's fall, a small piece of plain iron from the rickety thirty-year-old train car had broken off and lodged into the one small cooling vent on the underside of the comm unit, where it had partly cut through the one weak connection in the area… the receiving antenna.
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
Sergeant Tamora Calhoun walked to the exit of Hero's Duty. She heard the 'thunk… thunk… thunk…' of her heavily armed escort two steps behind her. As the people in front of the entrance saw her, there was nudging, grabbing arms, and pointing as they tried to tell their neighbors. The characters of the arcade knew who she was, since any new game is food for gossip, and her men had frequented the station, especially Tapper's, quite a bit.
So they were recognized as she halted a couple of steps outside the gateway. The clatter of the two stopping behind her as she did her best "tough talk" pose; feet shoulder-width apart, with hands on her hips. With their sun visors down, the two looked more like robot sentinels than men. Calhoun was hoping that it would hold their attention long enough for her to speak. It had the desired effect. There was an expanding ripple of quiet as the people took notice, many of them moving closer.
"Well? What now?" she thought. Even though she could plan for any battle, down to the tiniest detail, she was definitely not in her world now. Her barely-prepared speech evaporated when faced with hundreds of characters, even non-player characters, filled with fear and apprehension of Wreck-it Ralph. She took a deep breath, and wondered if maybe she shouldn't have let the troops bring loaded weapons. All she could think of is that if Ralph went down, Felix did too.
"LISTEN UP, PEOPLE!" The roar was getting softer, but there was still a lot of talking going on. "I know that you are all upset by what happened the other day! I agree! It was bad! And Dangerous! But the whole thing was an accident! That's the truth, and I, personally, was there!"
"Then what did happen?" This came from a tall woman in the front. She was wearing a long, blue Chinese dress, her hair done up into two buns on the sides of her head. She looked strong. "We saw the ship!" Someone else broke in. Calhoun raised her arms before it got out of hand again.
"YES!" she yelled, "It was Ralph. But he didn't mean to take it! He fell in it, for crying out loud!"
"But why?" This question came from a short blue creature with hair in huge spikes sticking out.
"Good question, short stuff." She was glad to get to a normal conversation. She dropped down to one knee to be more on eye level with… him? "I had a talk with this guy. He wanted a medal. That's all. He wanted a bit of respect because he never had any. That's a feeling I can get behind."
She stood back up; "I know this guy… I fought beside this Ralph. I saw him do very brave things. He's…"
A medium-height man, clad in green overalls, with a large green hat marked with an 'L' shook his fist at her. His long black mustache wobbled as he spoke. "Oh, so he-a wanted a medal, say! What if he want-a my gold? What I do then?" Others were nodding and getting agitated again. Princess Peach looked scared, and lifted her hand to make sure he crown was still in place, as if Ralph already had plans on it. A knight off to one side, standing beside an angry-looking small dragon raised his lance and shouted "I think we need to make sure he never threatens us again! We've put up with him forever! Maybe it's time to quit being scared of him!"
The roar built up quickly. Already, people were moving towards the entrance to Fix-it Felix, Jr. Calhoun shouted, but no one was listening, or could even hear her if they tried, as the mob went from zero to enraged in just a few seconds.
She needed to warn them to batten down the hatches. They were safe as long as they kept the train at the console station. She took a couple of steps back in the tunnel to cut out some of the noise. Keying her comm, she shouted instructions to Kohut; "KOHUT! LISTEN! IT'S ALL GONE PEAR-SHAPED HERE! DON'T GO TO THE TERMINAL! DON'T LET THE TRAIN LEAVE! DON'T COME OUT HERE!"
"That went well, didn't it, girl?" She thought, as she watched the mob begin to gather closer, as she noticed all the big fighters and armed characters moving to the front of the slowly moving mass. She saw her chance of seeing Felix again slip away slowly. She was good at destruction, but that skill was useless here. "Not so good at politics, huh? I wonder if Felix can fix this?"
She would have agreed with Zangief, still standing beside Tapper down the hall… "This not look good for them, I think".
Then her comm unit buzzed with the last… the absolute ONE sound she could not imagine it ever making…
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
Kohut's radio was on auto. The message was garbled, static overriding the voice channel. Kohut shook his arm, with the microphone and speaker panel, before he muttered to himself and reached behind his back to whack the side of the unit. He caught the idea of the message, at least. The system recorded it for playback.
Kohut keyed the replay. "Sssssss… HUT.. zzzzz. GONE… bzzzt… terminal…. sssssshhhsssss… hsssss… COME OUT …". He couldn't catch anything else. He had his orders now.
He stood up from where he was sitting on the platform edge. Ralph and Felix were both on the other side, lost in thought and waiting for some magical answer to their problem.
"Hey! Let's go!" Felix jumped to his feet with his usual bounce, while Ralph rolled himself to stand. "Calhoun called us in! We get to the station, now!" Kohut relayed this as he jumped into the first car. Felix, the only one of the three who could sit comfortably in the small cars, got in the middle, while Ralph took his half-folded position in the last one.
As Kohut was stepping over into the car, he sent the 'Returning to station' acknowledgement code they had agreed on. As he sat down on the small wooden bench, the pressure drove the small piece of iron… remember the small piece of iron?... fully into the vent, completely severing the antenna lead.
There was the short pull as the train started its soft clattering run to Game Central.
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
Calhoun was shouting herself hoarse trying to get Kohut back on the comm. She stood there, comm in hand, feeling, for the second time in her life, a total failure. "But the first time wasn't real." She remembered. "This one was. What is it about me and men?"
Her comm buzzed yet again, this time the monitor channel. Absentmindedly, not really paying attention, she wearily raised the unit. "Sergeant!" From Smythe; "There's activity from the Sugar Rush exit!" Smythe hit the zoom button. "Looks like… it's a girl!"
Calhoun whirled around. Sugar Rush was just across the way. There she is! Dressed in all her finest, the Princess Vanellope had come to call. And not one… single… person… was paying attention. The mob would be at Fit-it Felix Jr. in just a few more seconds. What could she possibly do? As she looked across the empty section of Game Central at the girl, their eyes met… her own tired, disheveled self, and the wide, scared eyes of the young girl.
Time to roll the dice. One thing that made her a good Sergeant is that she always had a plan B, usually a plan C, and on occasion, a plan D.
"Well, this time we're going straight to F." She muttered. She turned around. "Your launcher!" She yelled to Forrest. He passed the heavy single-shot weapon over with a flip. Calhoun reached into her gear pouch and pulled out a single, low-load, short-range 60 millimeter concussion grenade. Flipping it into the breech, closing it, and slinging it straight up happened in one smooth, instant motion. She pulled the trigger and the cough of the weapon went unheard in the general noise.
Then the round went off on the ceiling. Designed more for noise and shock than damage, it was loud, flashy, and in this case, attention-getting. At the shock that slightly shook the whole terminal, the crowd skidded to a halt, milling around, bewildered. Then they were looking her way. It was some sight… the tall, armor-clad woman standing there, a light rain of ceiling ships falling on and around her. She dropped the launcher, its barrel clattering in the now almost complete silence.
She reached up and keyed her suit comm to full volume. "We have a very important visitor!" She looked over at Vanellope, who looked even more frightened than anyone else. "I think you should listen to what she has to say!" Calhoun raised her arm and pointed to Vanellope. "Sorry, kid. I tried, but it's all up to you now." She keyed off her mike.
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
Her heart in her throat, and trying hard not to vurp all over her gown, Vanellope stepped into the light of the terminal. Yelling, the explosion, the mess… she felt dizzy, like there simply wasn't enough air at all. "Ralph… think of Ralph…" was going through her head, getting her to force her shaking legs to carry her into the storm.
At least it was quieter now. The wave of shock and surprise was giving way to dozens of questions bouncing back and forth; "Sugar Rush?" "But they've never…" "…haven't seen in…" "Who is that?"
She didn't feel very impressive right now. Sour Bill was just off to her left. Duncan and Winchell right behind her, since she felt a small squeeze of Duncan's hand on her shoulder for a second, reminding her they would stand by her, no matter what. She didn't see them, but the other racers were behind the two Policemen, Taffyta and the others daring to peer from behind Duncan just a bit.
It wouldn't have helped her worries to see Sour Bill's face right now, since his mouth was open, his eyes huge, as he saw for the first time the range of people, animals, and… other things, that made up the general population of the arcade. He was totally unable to function.
Vanellope reached over with her emerald lollipop scepter and lightly tapped him on the… sort of… shoulder. "Ahem! Psst!" she tried to give him his cue in a low whisper. He finally got the point.
Was his usually depressed, dull monotone shaking a bit? "All hail… the rightful ruler… of Sugar Rush… Princess Vanellope." He then took a quick step back to almost hide behind the base of her gown.
She now had quiet, and their attention, despite the hundreds of whispers floating around. All she needed was a plan. A quick glance at the dust-covered Calhoun standing across the open hall didn't help at all.
"H… Hello. This is my first time here. Please forgive me, and I need your help." Looks were exchanged all around. Whispers grew louder. Vanellope raised her hands. "Please! We wanted to come here. But we couldn't!" Quiet again… that was a good sign. "My people… everyone, and me… um… I… have been held prisoner in our game all this time." You could have dropped a hair in the terminal now and heard it hit the floor.
"Now or never, girl." She had them. "BY TURBO!"
She knew Turbo had been evil, but she had no idea of the legend that had grown in the arcade for decades. The effect on the crowd could not have been greater if Calhoun had set off a land mine under them. Not a single word could be understood. Some people ran away, and others stared at the entrance to Sugar Rush, as if they expected Turbo to jump out at them that second. Others looked around and placed themselves nearest the strongest characters they could find.
Calhoun was a bit surprised at the reaction, also. Felix had told her the Turbo story, but that part hadn't really taken hold. Then she thought; To a video game character, he would have been the boogeyman, the devil, and death rolled into one. Raising her arm and giving the 'follow me' gesture to the troops behind her, she slowly walked over to the cluster surrounding the Sugar Rush gate, the formation momentarily upset as Forrest deviated to pick up his dusty launcher. She tapped a few shoulders in the general hubbub, waved a few people aside, and soon cleared a path to the front of the circle surrounding diminutive Princess.
Giving Forrest and Hundall the 'halt' sign, she slowly sank to one knee, her hands resting on her upright knee. She smiled at the courage that it must have taken for this one girl, who had never been out of her own little world before, to face down an angry mob. But then again, she had seen Vanellope charge cybugs without flinching. Love must be a funny thing.
"I don't know the script, here." She thought as she said; "Well, your Highness, what can we do for you today?"
Calhoun could actually see Vanellope relax and regroup a bit. The shoulders straightened slightly, the furrow in her forehead smoothed out, and her eyes lost a bit… just a little… of the 'trapped animal' look. Vanellope cleared her throat.
"People!" Vanellope looked upwards and around, trying to look into the faces of everyone, the majority of who were much taller than her. "I finally got to come here today, after fifteen years, because I can tell you Turbo is GONE! Forever!"
Another bomb. It took a while for this to subside. Calhoun stood up and waved her arms around, while Vanellope held hers up, trying to continue. At last, Calhoun's "AT EASE!" finally got some attention.
"Please, please!", Vanellope was finally getting to what she thought of as 'the good part'. As faces turned back to her again, she took a deep breath, and plunged…
"I have come here today, after all of this, to thank the one person who saved me." She was laying it on a little thick, but the details were boring, anyway. "There is one man here. This man fought the bugs. He destroyed Turbo. This man saved my entire kingdom, and made us free again. I am here to thank him, and reward him any way I can."
She was amazed at this point by the confused looks. This can't be real. "These are the slowest people in the world." She thought. She didn't know it, but not all the confused looks were from the rest of the arcade. Duncan, Winchell, and the racers were all as confounded as the others, since they had had few details since the days before. Taffyta, her mouth wide open, finally understood why Vanellope was so concerned about the Ralph guy.
"I am here to see the hero of Sugar Rush! I ask… no. We demand that you bring me Wreck-it Ralph!"
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Kohut, Felix, and Ralph were getting out of the train. Kohut was glad that the noise had died down. The Sergeant really did have it under control. Waving the other two to a stop, he started to walk towards the exit to scope things out.
At that moment, there was a huge explosion of sound. It was the sound of hundreds of voices shouting out in surprise, shock, anger, laughter, confusion… all at the same moment. Kohut skidded to a stop, and threw his arms out to the sides, since he heard the other two coming up. He slapped the button on the comm control. Nothing incoming. "I don't get it." He said to the others. "These things are bulletproof. This is busted."
"Busted?" Felix reached for his hammer. "Well, my lands, why didn't you say so?" He tapped the pack, there was the familiar sound, and suddenly the 'receive' light came on. Kohut slapped the mike.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Vanellope had been holding her hands over her ears, shocked at the sound. She lowered her shaking hands to her side. There was something in front of her face. Sour Bill was trying to hand her the scepter she had dropped. "Appearances… your Highness." He droned, but in a softer, less harsh tone than usual. She took it, and looked at the faces all turned to her, still unsure what to believe with all of the information their brains were trying to understand at one time.
The Princess shell she had been wearing like a suit or armor was starting to crack. Vanellope was trying to escape. "How dare these people keep Ralph from me!"
Beside her, Calhoun's radio beeped. She was a bit startled to finally hear something from Kohut's channel again. She could feel Vanellope's eyes, and most of the arcade watching her as she exchanged quick instructions in military shorthand. She sighed, and relaxed a little, before turning and looking downwards at Vanellope.
"Your Highness. I and my men…" She snapped her fingers, and the confused Hundall and Forrest thumped to rigid attention behind her. "…would be honored to escort you to Wreck-it Ralph… and Felix."
Vanellope caught the edge of the concern in the taller woman's voice. "She's scared, too. She's gonna lose Felix if I mess this up."
She waved her scepter like a magic wand. "Very well, Sergeant." Princess was back in charge. "Your men may assist my guards, and you may walk with me. Take us to my Ralph." "There's that my Ralph thing again. I'm gonna tell him that if I can."
Calhoun smiled at Vanellope. "Good show, you." , She thought, as she told her troops to flank the guards. They had never seen any stranger… soldiers… in their life. They still weren't used to the variety of life forms in this place.
So… Vanellope, walking with Calhoun beside her, Sour Bill on the other side, and followed by Duncan and Winchell, whose frosting was starting to crack from the stress. The racers; holding up better than expected, except for the peeks back at the two massive Space Marines tailing the group.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Kohut lowered his arm after turning off the transmitter. "Okay… right now, we walk slowly out the exit. No sudden moves, anyone." He looked around at Ralph and Felix. "Which one of you knows a Princess?"
Both of the Fix-it Felix Jr. characters registered surprise, but Ralph's mind jumped with concern and worry, for the little girl he had left standing at the racetrack. He swirled so fast he almost fell over, starting for the exit. Kohut was a little slow, but Felix jumped in front of him, not very sure how he could stop Ralph once he got going. "Wait, friend. Slowly. They're okay." He looked at Kohut for help. "Yes, sir." Kohut volunteered, "Sergeant Calhoun and troops are with her. And some other… people."
Ralph took a few breaths, calmed down a bit, and the three of them lined up, Ralph in the middle. The exit got closer. They could see, forming a circle around the gateway, a huge gathering. But everyone seemed to be standing around calmly. "No rioting is a good thing, right?" Ralph wondered as they entered into the main terminal.
Kohut waved them to the right, and…
ooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Ralph stopped. Six feet in front of him was a vision. He must have taken one hit to the brain too many. His mouth worked totally on its own, dropping, trying to talk, and closing like a fish with no water.
Vanellope was beautiful. Her gown was a deep emerald green. Sewn through it were thick, real gold threads. On top of her head, hair drawn up, was a gold tiara, set with emeralds. The look was one thing, but the lights of Game Central, mostly harsh and bright, was absorbed by Vanellope. She seemed almost to glow with reflected gold sparkles. A veil of magic seemed to surround her, reminding Ralph of when he had pushed her cart across the finish line. With hardly any recognition of Calhoun, the cops, even the massive troopers, he was seeing only one thing… those eyes. The dancing golden specks reflecting in those large eyes held him still, calm, speechless… thoughtless even. And everything smelled like chocolate. He loved chocolate.
He barely was able to listen when Vanellope began to move. He knew she was here to try and keep him out of trouble. Something for once he couldn't fix by wrecking something. He had to trust her, since his plans never worked out so good.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Vanellope wanted to run to him, to hug him, to reach out to the sad, beaten man in front of her. "I'm here now", she tried to send the thought physically across the space between them, "I'm here and I'll fix it, and you'll be mine, and… one step at a time, there."
She raised her scepter. "Kneel, Wreck-it Ralph. Kneel, Fix-it Felix Jr.!" She added that suddenly thinking of several things… Felix had helped in the battle of Sugar Rush, and since people already liked Felix, it would help to show the two together. The other was Calhoun. She was pretty sure that the tall blond had a thing for the handyman. Making him a hero would help them out, too.
"Everyone, I don't have fancy medals to give. I don't have castles, or gold, or statues. But I want the world to know that these men, with help from the brave Sergeant Calhoun here, ended fifteen years of prison made by Turbo. Turbo is gone, for good, and we can play our game like everything is supposed to be." Vanellope looked around. She almost wanted to giggle at the faces on Ralph and Felix. Even the strong Sergeant had a look of blank amazement. Turning to face Ralph again, she continued; "But I do have one gift to bestow upon Wreck-it Ralph. A personal gift, one to remind him every day of the life he saved from death, and worse.. non-reger… uh… genrat… oh, not-coming-back death." That drew a loud gasp from the crowd.
Vanellope turned around. "Rancis… Taffyta… the package, please."
All three racers and Vanellope stood there a moment, eyes darting to each other. Oops.
"Oh, that was just it." Totally un-Princess-like, Vanellope leaned forward, hands on her hips, and scolded the tree racers. "Really? You seriously forgot my present? You did! Now, somebody… anybody… go back to the train and get it!". Rancis, Taffyta, and Winchell all ran back down the terminal. Candlehead was still scared stiff, and was hiding behind Duncan, using him as support. Vanellope turned back around, fuming; "I can't believe it! I went through all THIS!" as she gestured to her formal gown. "And then the big finish gets ruined…"
She stopped. She looked up. Ralph was kneeling, and looking at her… through her, it seemed. But it was the smile on his face that shook her.
"Now that's the Princess I remember.", he said calmly.
Vanellope became still. When he smiled at her, there was no more anger, or fear, or anything but a sense of safe. But for the last few days, her whole life had been hiding… running… staying one step ahead of the plans of Turbo to rule Sugar Rush forever… without her in it. Ralph had made her feel safe. "Is safe good? Is it enough? Is there more? Do I feel more? Do I want more?"
Vanellope heard footsteps pounding up behind them. She turned back and took the package from the panting Winchell. Since it was almost as tall as her, she sort of dragged it around to hold it between herself and Ralph.
"Where was I? Yeah. I give you, Ralph, this token of my thanks, my respect, and my… 'whoops, you almost said something naughty there' … affection." She whispered rather loudly to him; "Well take it, Stinkbrain. This is heavy." Ralph, the grin on his face just getting bigger, reached out and lightly pinched the package between two fingers. Vanellope winked at him; "It's a picture for your wall. That way you can see me every morning when you get up."
Wall. Ralph's brain just kind of left for a moment. That was really about the only way to put it. Wall.
"Hello! Anybody there?" Vanellope was tapping his hand with her scepter. Ralph pulled his eyes into focus to look at her. She was beckoning him closer. He leaned down a bit further. She put her hands on either side of his head, and gave him a quick kiss on one cheek. A whiff of chocolate whenever she moved. She backed off a step. "Look, I'm going to come back tomorrow. At lunch. Maybe I can look around without a riot going on. We'll have some lunch. And please… PLEASE try to stay out of trouble until then, okay?"
"Closing act…" Vanellope turned to the crowd. The range of emotion on all the faces ran all the way from surprise and disbelief… to surprise and disbelief. "At least the hate is gone."
"Everyone, I'm going home now. There's a lot of work to do. When I come back, I won't be so formal. I'll just be… Vanellope." She raised her scepter in front of her and pointed it outward at the crowd. "And you just make sure he's here for me when I get back! Or… or I'll declare WAR!". Raised eyebrows at that. "That's right! I have a LOT of cupcakes, and I'm not afraid to use them!" Smiles then. Job done, now she could get home before she passed out. Turning around, she headed back towards the train to Sugar Rush. The dress was feeling very restricting by now. She had burned off all that sugar, and she was getting so exhausted that she was just hoping to get to the train without embarrassing herself or anyone else.
The procession was a bit disheveled. Calhoun had dismissed the troopers and Kohut, and walked back with them. She had passed a note to Felix, and given him a very obvious smile, and a wink, as they left. Kohut caught that, but he wouldn't tell anyone back at base, because they would never believe it. Duncan felt relieved… his fear of the massive, armored Marines was almost as great as his fear of the mob.
Their little group reached the train without further incident, much to Winchell and Duncan's relief. The racers were like zombies as their minds tried to absorb everything. Their first foray into the larger world had been a bit more… eventful than they had wanted, all around. As Vanellope started to board, Calhoun cleared her throat.
"Um, Princess?" She had knelt down to be more at eye level. She needed to unburden herself to someone, and this young lady… this soldier… had proved smarter than everyone else today. Here was someone who knew how to function in the real world. "Do you think you could come by an hour early? I'd… like to talk to someone about… feelings." The last word had been barely a whisper, meant only for her to hear.
Vanellope did not have the slightest idea what she could possibly help the Sergeant with. Calhoun was tall, strong, smart, and heavily armed. As for herself, her heart, her mind, her body and her brain were all going in different directions. "Is this growing up?"
"Sure. And really, if we're going to be friends, it's Vanellope."
ooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Ralph and Felix walked back towards the train slowly. The eyes of the people in the terminal still following them, but the crowd was already separating, spreading out to their normal pursuits in the evenings. Crisis averted. Even the most rabid among them were forced to admit that if nobody else could control him, that one girl had Ralph wrapped around her finger. In fact, pretty much the entire arcade had it figured out except for Ralph. Felix had his note in his shirt pocket. He would wait until he was alone in his apartment to open it. He was bouncing off the ground with each step. Her smile and wink had more power than any pie. He looked up at Ralph; "Ralph, was that concrete in her hair?"
Ralph hadn't heard. The picture was still wrapped, under his arm. His mind was working in its lowest gear. "She's coming here. Tomorrow. Wall."
Felix understood. That Princess was real pretty all gussied up, and just for Ralph. His bounce got a bit lower as he thought; "Those two are so easy to figure out. Why can't I do it?" Saying good night to his distracted buddy, he turned to the front door of Niceland.
Ralph got to the foot of the massive pile of rubble he called home. He just stood there, staring at where he had lived for thirty years.
"Wall."
ooooooooooooooooooooooooo
As people spread out, and started down their various gateways, Zangief felt a calm he wasn't sure he could believe.
Tapper finally stood up from leaning on the wall, and turned to go back into Tapper's. He looked around one last time. "Well, that just about answered every question I had left in my entire life. I don't think there's any secrets left now."
Zangief laughed; "Ho. You see Ralph and Princess? You see that look? Plenty more to learn around here, I think."