Chapter 10: In Which Ralph and Vanellope Teach Sorceress to Make S'mores

There were no roads leading from the Presidential Raceway to Diet Cola Mountain. In order to get Ralph and Sorceress there, Vanellope had to drive the Likkity Split 2 over several miles of rough, unpaved terrain. The bumpy ride didn't bother Ralph too much. He'd ridden on the chocolate-covered wafer cookie that was the kart's spoiler thousands of times before and was completely used to it. It was Sorceress he was worried about.

If she had her way she would have just flown straight to the mountain on her own power, but that was simply not an option. She was too weak to use any magic in this nightmarishly sunny world, and bumping around on the back of Vanellope's kart was in no way comfortable or pleasant for her. She was sitting in Ralph's lap huddled in the crook of his right arm, black cloak twisted around her waist and legs. Her hood and bits of tangled hair were sticking to her sweaty forehead and her skin was a paler shade of blue than normal, almost white. Her breaths were heaving and ragged, sunglasses sliding down her nose, eyes squeezed shut against the sun's harsh light and flying bits of sugar and cocoa powder.

Ralph had never seen her in such a weakened state before. Sorceress was a powerful woman. He knew what she was capable of. So to see her drained of all her power like this and too weak to even sit up was really scary. Still clinging to the kart's spoiler with his left hand, Ralph pulled her closer to his chest and held her there as tightly as he could without hurting her. He wished he could give some of his strength to her, but this was the best he could offer for the time being. "Hang in there," he murmured, trying to comfort her.

Sorceress squinted up at him dazedly from under her hood. It was hard to hear Ralph's voice over the noise of the kart's engine and the wind roaring in her ears, but the concern in his eyes was plain as day. The way he was holding her so close was comforting, too. It wasn't often she was rendered so helpless and it was humiliating. She was still mentally scolding herself for underestimating the sun's effects on her. She managed to smile feebly up at him. It was the only response she had enough energy to give.

Ralph smiled back at her bravely, doing his best to hide just how worried he really was. He turned his attention to the back of Vanellope's ponytailed head positioned between his feet. "Hey, kid!" he shouted over the noise of the engine. "Are we there yet?"

Vanellope kept her eyes on the road, chewing her bottom lip in concentration. If this was a casual drive through the countryside she would have been glitching wildly every which way and pulling reckless stunts just to give Ralph a scare. This was an emergency, however. For all she knew, Sorceress could be dying. There was no way one of her guests was going to die in her game, not on her watch. "Not much longer now!" she hollered back to Ralph. "We're about to pass the Kart Bakery!"

The wrecker looked up just in time to see the big green dome and tall white smoke stacks blur past on their right. Then they were in the foothills winding through giant red, orange and purple gumdrops. The bottle-shaped mountain loomed before them, skinny lollipop trees dotting its base and pink cotton candy clouds swirling around its narrow peak.

Vanellope squinted behind her goggles and stomped on the gas, kicking up a cloud of cocoa powder and bits of peanut brittle. "Hold on to your undies, guys! We're goin' in!"

Just as Sorceress was wondering what Vanellope meant by that, she saw that they were on a collision course with the side of the mountain. She tensed and gripped Ralph's shirt, breath catching in her throat. He curled his fingers around her and stared straight ahead, bushy brown eyebrows furrowed intently. Vanellope chewed her bottom lip and stepped on the gas, aiming for the spot under the two crossed lollipops.

SH-ZOOMP!

A grid of cyan light flashed and the wall rippled as the kart and its passengers slid right through the seemingly solid mountainside. Vanellope hit the brakes and brought them skidding to a stop. Then there was a clunk and a click as she parked and cut the engine. "We're here!" she announced.

Sorceress had the left side of her face pushed flat against Ralph's chest, still clinging to the front of his flannel shirt for dear life. When she realized she wasn't dead, she lifted her hooded head and blinked a few times in confusion. "Wha…W-What just happened?"

Ralph cupped both huge hands around her trembling form and carefully stepped down from the kart's spoiler. "We just went through a secret entrance," he said gently, hoping to calm her down. "We're inside now."

Vanellope stood up on the driver's seat, stretching her hot pink goggles off her eyes and over her head. "Welcome to Diet Cola Mountain!" she said, arms spread wide and a toothy grin on her dirty face. "You're gonna like it here, toots. There's zero sunlight, so you should be back to normal in no time."

As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, Sorceress saw that Vanellope was right about the lack of sunlight. They were in tunnel inside of the mountain, and the only light was a warm, orangey glow coming from somewhere further in. The walls and floor were formed of molten peanut brittle, complete with large drippy stalactites hanging from the ceilings and stalagmites jutting from the ground.

Meanwhile Vanellope hopped down from her kart, stuffed her goggles in her pocket and gestured for Ralph to follow her deeper into the cave. "Come on, let's find her a spot to sit."

Ralph nodded and trailed after Vanellope obediently. As he walked he cast yet another worried look at Sorceress. She was slowly beginning to recover her strength as she took in their surroundings with wide, crimson eyes. Soon they came to the huge open cavern at the heart of the hollow mountain. The warm, orange glow was from the pool of fizzing, boiling cola in the middle of the cave. A few thin beams of sunlight filtered through the cracks between the many giant rolls of white Mentos dangling precariously high above the bubbling spring.

Sorceress' eyes widened in awe. "Wow… What is this place?"

"Diet Cola Hot Springs," Ralph replied. "Don't worry, that stuff can't hurt you if you don't touch it," he added quickly, still trying to assure her she was safe.

Vanellope stopped at a large, flat lump of peanut brittle a safe distance from the pool. "Set her down here, Ralph."

The wrecker lowered Sorceress carefully down but didn't quite let go. She was still pretty weak and might topple over. "How do you feel? Any improvement?"

Sorceress nodded, slowly loosening her grip on his shirt. Leaning back against his arm for support, she pulled her hood back and pressed a hand to her still sweaty forehead. The dizziness was all but gone and her breathing was back to normal, but her face was still too white. "I'm thirsty…" she muttered, taking the sunglasses from her nose and tucking them inside her tattered black cloak.

After feeling around inside the cloak a bit, she pulled out a large, clear, plastic pouch. It was a full pint of dark, opaque liquid so big that Ralph and Vanellope wondered how Sorceress had been able to carry it around all this time with no signs that it was even there. Then they noticed what color the liquid was and the type of bag it was in and their eyes bulged in horror.

"Um…" Vanellope began, black brows climbing up her forehead. "Is… Is that a plastic bag full of blood?"

"Yes," Sorceress replied honestly. She placed the large bag in her lap and squeezed it to make sure the contents hadn't clotted. Then she pulled a thick plastic straw from her cloak, pushed one end into the top of the bag, and proceeded to suck the blood out as if it were a pouch of fruit juice.

Ralph and Vanellope were unable to tear their eyes away from the sight, faces pale and stomachs turning queasy. Neither of them had ever seen a vampire feed before, and this wasn't at all what either of them had imagined it to look like.

After gulping down several mouthfuls of blood, Sorceress paused, realizing that they were both staring at her. "Um… Could you two look away, please? I'm afraid there's no way for me to do this that isn't disgusting."

Ralph shifted his weight and cleared his throat, noting that his mouth had gone dry. "Uh, yeah!" he said, forcing himself to grin as if the sight of his date sucking down bodily fluids as if they were a health drink didn't bother him at all. "Yeah, yeah, no problem, we'll give you some space. Just, uh, are you sure you're gonna be okay now?"

Sorceress nodded her head firmly. "Yes, Ralph, I'll be fine." There was a familiar puff of twinkly purple mist as she pulled a handkerchief out of thin air and wiped some red drops from her lips. "See? My powers are coming back already."

Ralph's big shoulders sagged as he exhaled deeply. She was going to be fine. "Okay, just call if you need anything." He nudged Vanellope's shoulder with one thick knuckle. "Come on, kid, let's give her some space."

Vanellope had been gaping at Sorceress in morbid fascination all this time. "Wait, wait, I just wanna ask her one question." She clasped her hands in front of her and bounced excitedly on her toes, bright hazel eyes sparkling. "Is that human blood?"

With a heavy groan, Ralph plucked the tiny girl off the ground by her green hood as if she were weightless. "Come on, ya little sicko."

As he turned and walked away, Vanellope whined and kicked her little legs uselessly as she dangled from his big fingers. She finally managed to glitch herself free from his grasp but by then he'd carried her too far away from Sorceress for her to go back without getting caught.

"You're no fun," she grumbled, stuffing her hands in her front pocket and pouting petulantly up at him. "Now she's never gonna tell me."

Ralph smirked down at her. "Trust me, kid. There're some things in life we're not meant to know. Let's go make some S'mores while she's busy."

They made their way toward the spot where Vanellope's old shack once stood. Back when Turbo and the Cybugs were destroyed in the huge Diet Cola geyser, the little tumbledown shack Vanellope had lived in since 1997 was burned up in the explosion. After she crossed the finish line that same day and reset the game, any remains of the hut were permanently deleted. With 'King Candy' gone forever and as Sugar Rush's rightful ruler, Vanellope now had a much more luxurious home in the game's castle. It was wonderful to sleep in a real bed in a real bedroom room with walls that weren't constantly in danger of falling on top of her, and she was never lonely with all the servants bustling around and guards for her to play pranks on. Sometimes, though, Vanellope still liked to go back to Diet Cola Mountain to practice new stunts with her go-kart or to just hang out with Ralph.

Together they built a bigger and brand-new shack in the same spot as the old one from large pieces of cake, cookies and crackers. They even had a bunk bed; the mattresses were two sponge cakes and the frame and ladder were made of Popsicle sticks. Ralph was incredibly proud of himself for building that bunk bed. So what if it wasn't as fancy or structurally sound as something Felix could build? He made that bed with his own two hands and Vanellope loved it almost as much as her precious kart. She was so happy with the bed that when she first saw it she refused to sleep anywhere else for three weeks straight, and insisted that Ralph sleep over in the bottom bunk. Sometimes he still spent the night with her, even though it was nigh impossible to get Vanellope to stop cracking jokes and silly stories and go to sleep.

For now, Vanellope busied herself by rummaging around the Popsicle stick shelves in search of ingredients to make S'mores with. As she dug through her supply of snacks she continued her conversation with Ralph. "Does Sorceress drink blood when you're together?" she asked, pulling a bag of marshmallows from the shelf.

Ralph shook his head and bent down to sit on the bottom bunk. It was sagging in the middle from all the times he sat there. "Nope. This is my first time seeing her do it."

Vanellope tossed him the bag of marshmallows and tapped her chin thoughtfully with one finger. "Hmm…" A mischievous smile spread across her face. "I wonder what it's like to kiss somebody who tastes like blood?"

He frowned at her in annoyance. She was never gonna stop pestering him about the kissing thing, was she? "I wouldn't know," he grumbled, hunching his shoulders as he carefully tore the bag open with his big fingers. "She said it's too soon for us to kiss."

"Too soon?" Vanellope echoed, eyebrows arching in surprise. "Felix and the Sarge kissed on the first day they met. That's too soon. You guys have been dating for, what, three days?"

Ralph picked a marshmallow out of the bag and popped it in his mouth. "Four days," he corrected, chewing as he spoke. "Not even a whole week. Keep that in mind."

"Hmm…" As Vanellope dug out the box of graham crackers from the shelf, the mischievous smile returned to her face. "Maybe she wants you to bite her instead."

Ralph nearly choked on his marshmallow, face burning scarlet. "She does not want me to—" He cut himself off and groaned, rubbing his forehead with two thick fingers. Vanellope was too young to understand what that meant. She was just teasing him as usual. "Look. I don't really know what Sorceress wants me to do with her, okay? I just know that if she says it's too soon for kissing, then it's too soon for kissing. End of story."

The mischievous look on Vanellope's face faded into one of confusion. Grown-ups were weird. Then she shrugged and tossed him the box of graham crackers. "Okay, whatever." Her grin came back, more friendly than impish this time, and raised her tiny fist. "But when you guys do eventually get around to kissing, you gotta tell me about it when it happens. Got it?"

Thankful that she'd decided not to torment him anymore, Ralph smiled down at her and lightly bumped his giant fist against hers. "Got it."

Meanwhile, still sitting on her lump of peanut brittle, Sorceress was almost finished draining her pint of blood. It was slow going; ironically enough, she was a vampire who hated the taste of blood. It was a chore to muscle down so much of the nasty liquid in one sitting, but the more she consumed the stronger she felt. Once the plastic bag was empty a surge of fresh power flowed through her. With a relieved sigh, Sorceress unfastened her cloak and let it slide off her shoulders. All of her fatigue and dizziness was gone, but the salty iron taste was still in her mouth. She needed something minty to get rid of the flavor.

Fortunately she was in a game where everything was edible. Even better, there was a huge supply of mints right over her head. The colossal stalactite hanging over the boiling hot spring was composed entirely of giant rolls of Mentos. Perhaps she could go up there and break off a little piece. Leaving her cloak on the boulder, she took flight and rose up above the bubbling pool until she was face to face with the lowest hanging mints. They were gigantic, even bigger than her head, and completely smooth and white. She raised a curious hand to touch the lowest one and tapped it lightly with one finger.

To her surprise, it came loose with an audible crack and plummeted down to the pool of boiling Diet Cola below.

BOOM!

Startled, Sorceress instinctively raised a shimmering, spherical force field around herself. The few drops of scalding cola that reached her height bounced harmlessly off her magic bubble.

"Hey!" Vanellope's voice shouted from the ground. "What do you think yer doin' up there?!" Still by the shack, she and Ralph were safely out of the sizzling splash's range, though the sudden explosion gave them both a start.

Even at this height Sorceress could see that the tiny girl down below was annoyed with her. She dropped her force field and backed away from the stalactite with her hands raised in front of her. "Sorry!" she called back. "It was an accident! I just wanted a mint for my breath!"

Frowning, Vanellope planted her fists on her hips. "Just come down here, would ya? I can't have you blowin' the place up!"

Sorceress frowned but did as she was told. She didn't like being bossed around by a child, but this was her game so she had to respect her rules.

As the woman descended toward the pair, Ralph smiled up at her, clearly less annoyed than his young friend. Being in the dark and drinking blood had worked wonders for Sorceress' health. Her face was back to its usual light blue color and she was using her magic like normal. "Glad to see you've got your strength back," he said with a chuckle.

Sorceress smiled back, high heels clicking lightly on the hardened peanut brittle ground as she landed. She rested one hand on her hip and flipped some hair over her shoulder, trying to salvage some pride from her little mishap. "Thank you. I feel better now that I'm recharged." She noticed the box and the bag full of white things he was holding and arched a curious eyebrow. "What do you have there, Ralph?"

He held up his items up for her to read their labels. "Graham crackers and marshmallows. We're gonna make S'mores with 'em."

Sorceress stared blankly back at him. "Some more of what?"

"No, silly, they're called S'mores," Vanellope corrected. She was holding a king size Hershey's chocolate bar under one arm and three pretzel sticks as long and thin as fishing poles over her shoulder. "You know what S'mores are, right?"

Another blank stare from Sorceress. "I've never heard of them before."

Vanellope grinned brightly. "Then you're in for a treat, toots! Come on, I'll show you how to make one!"

Before Sorceress could ask her any other questions about what a S'more was, Vanellope spun around on one foot and scampered ahead to the edge of the pool, where she plunked herself down and waved the two adults over to join her. Sorceress looked up at Ralph in confusion, not understanding what was going on.

"They're food," he said simply. "They taste good, and they're really easy to make."

"Oh," Sorceress replied, beginning to understand what Vanellope wanted to do. "All right, let's do it. I still need to get the blood taste out of my mouth."

Ralph grinned somewhat uncomfortably. "That's the spirit."

They joined Vanellope at the edge of the pool. Ralph sat down on one side of her and Sorceress sat on the other. The girl began her lesson immediately.

"First you're gonna need one of these." Vanellope handed Sorceress one the long, skinny pretzel sticks. "You put the marshmallow on one end of the stick like this." She demonstrated how to skewer the squishy white treat on the tip of the pretzel stick. "Then you toast it over the hot cola like this." She held her stick out above the bubbling pool, just high enough above the bubbles that it wouldn't get instantly burned.

Sorceress watched Vanellope's demonstration intently. It seemed simple enough so she decided to try it herself. After carefully pushing the marshmallow through the pointy end of the stick, she held it out over the cola. "How long do we toast them for?"

"Just until they turn brownish gold on the edges," Vanellope replied.

"They're not bad dark, either," Ralph chimed in. He was busy putting extra marshmallows on his stick, four instead of one.

"Sure, if you like the taste of charcoal," Vanellope joked.

Sorceress wasn't listening anymore. She was completely focused on the task at hand, both hands firmly gripping her stick and bright red eyes fixed on the marshmallow hanging over the bubbling cola. It was as if she was practicing a new spell for the first time and she was determined to get it right. Soon her marshmallow began swelling up from the heat and turning light brown on top. Then it suddenly it burst into flames.

"Gah!" she cried, jerking it away from the heat. "It's burning! What do I do?!"

"It's okay, just blow it out," Ralph said calmly. He reached over, plucked the stick from Sorceress' hands with two big fingers and extinguished the flaming marshmallow in one breath. With a smile, he gave the stick back to her. "See?"

She nodded and took the stick back gratefully. The marshmallow was a bit black and bubbly on top but the rest of it was a nice shade of golden brown. "Now what do I do with it?"

"Here, watch me," Vanellope tugged her marshmallow smoothly off her stick and placed it skillfully between two graham crackers and a piece of chocolate. She squished it flat with the top cracker and held the finished treat up for the woman to see. "Tada! Now you've got a S'more!"

Sorceress copied her somewhat slowly and clumsily, creating a comparatively sloppy-looking S'more. She turned to Vanellope for her approval. "Is this good enough?"

The girl nodded as she chewed her snack, mouth covered in white goo, melted chocolate and cracker crumbs. "Perfect. Now eat it before it gets cold!"

Sorceress stared at the sloppy S'more in her hands. She had never eaten such a thing in her life. It didn't look very pretty but it smelled sweet. Was it safe for vampires to eat something like this? There was no way to know unless she tried it. So she took an experimental bite.

All at once the lingering taste of blood vanished from her mouth, replaced by sticky sweet scrumptiousness. The combination of crunchy cracker with gooey marshmallow and melting chocolate was unlike anything Sorceress had ever tasted before in her life. It was as if her mouth had died and gone to heaven.

"Wow!" she exclaimed, so amazed that she forgot it was rude to talk with her mouth full. "Thish shtuff ish delicioush!"

Vanellope got a few giggles out of that. "Is it better than blood?"

Sorceress paused to chew some more, briefly reveling in the flavors and textures before swallowing. "It's light years better than blood." As she took another bite, she noticed what Ralph had made while she wasn't paying attention. "What's that?"

"It's a quadruple decker marshmallow sandwich," Ralph said, proudly presenting his creation. "Four marshmallows, eight graham crackers, and zero chocolate."

"Hey!" Vanellope cried. "Don't hog all that stuff for yourself! Save some for the rest of us!"

Ralph took a big bite of his marshmallow-only S'more ensemble. "What?" he said innocently. "I'm leaving you all the chocolate, aren't I?"

"You can't make S'mores with just chocolate," Vanellope retorted. She snatched the bag of marshmallows from his lap and cried out in dismay. "What?! You've been stuffing your face all this time! There's nothing left in here!"

Ralph shrugged. "I'm a growing boy."

Vanellope stood up punched his massive arm with one puny fist. Then she crumpled up the empty plastic bag and tossed it out into the pool, where it burned up instantly. "I'm gonna check the shelves for more marshmallows. Sorceress, do not let him eat all the graham crackers."

"I shall guard them with my life," the woman said gravely, taking the box from Ralph and putting it in her lap.

With that, Vanellope's body dissolved in burst of blue and white code, leaving Ralph and Sorceress alone on the bank.

This was what Ralph had hoped for. As much as he loved spending time with Vanellope, he and Sorceress were technically on a date. Besides the trip into the game and watching the Random Roster Race they hadn't had much time to talk to each other one on one. He swallowed the chewed up marshmallows and graham crackers in his mouth. "So," the wrecker began. "How do you like Sugar Rush now?"

Sorceress finished off the last of her S'more and conjured her hanky to wipe the crumbs from her lips. "I still don't like how sunny it is here," she said bluntly. "Or the bright colors. Or the perky soundtrack." Her lips curved into a smile. "But… Miss Vanellope's race was fun to watch, and I really this cave. These S'more things aren't bad, either." She glanced over her shoulder to look at the shack behind them, where the young president was now rummaging around the Popsicle stick shelves. "Is this where she lives?"

Ralph licked some marshmallow goo from his fingers before answering. "She used to before the reset, but not anymore. Now she lives up in the castle."

Sorceress' brows furrowed briefly as she remembered the stories she had heard about the Sugar Rush incident. "Oh, right. That was after…" she trailed off, gazing out at the pool of bubbling cola before them. "This is where it happened, isn't it? The beacon…"

Ralph nodded and pointed up to the cave's ceiling. "I punched through the layer of Mentos on the outside, and the cola blasted up through the top like a volcano. So nobody died in here."

She nodded in understanding. "I see," she said, still gazing out at the bubbling cola with no trace of emotion.

As Ralph watched her, he recognized the somber, introspective look on her face as the same one from last night, after she told him she wasn't ready for him to kiss her yet. She was looking at the Sugar Rush console from the top of the Niceland Apartments building before, and now she was doing the same thing in the game itself. That couldn't be a coincidence.

"You okay, Sorceress?" he asked worriedly.

She blinked out of her trance and looked at him as if she had forgotten he was there. "Yes, I'm fine. I was just thinking, that's all."

His bushy brows furrowed "Thinking about what?"

Sorceress looked down at the box of graham crackers in her lap. After a moment of brooding silence she spoke. "Turbo."

Ralph frowned. Why was she thinking about Turbo? Was she worried about him coming back and trying to take over the arcade again? He placed one big hand against her back to comfort her. "Don't worry, he's gone for good this time. And even if there was some way for him to come back to life, I'd take him down all over again."

She glanced up at him with a small smile. He was still trying to protect her, even when there was no real threat. It wasn't entirely necessary, but it was kind of Ralph to be concerned for her. Then her smile faded and she was back to staring at the pool. "It's just… It's hard for me to believe all the terrible things he did… I always knew he was selfish and arrogant, but I never imagined he was downright evil."

Ralph arched one bushy eyebrow at her words. "What do you mean? Did you know Turbo?"

A moment of uncomfortable silence followed. Sorceress stared at the box in her lap some more, thinking long and hard about how to answer his question. "I met him soon after my game was plugged in."

Ralph frowned in thought. Blood and Thunder was plugged in in 1987. His eyes went wide in realization. "The same year as RoadBlasters."

She nodded. "There was about a month in between. More than enough time for Turbo and I to… spend time together."

Ralph echoed, confused once again. Then an impossible, terrifying thought struck him like a ton of bricks. His mouth fell open, then closed, then open again. Finally he managed to get some words out. "Ohhhh, no. No, no, no, no. No. There is no way. It's… It's impossible."

Sorceress looked straight at him with a firm crimson stare. She knew exactly what revelation he had come to, what she wasn't quite brave enough to tell him directly. "Nothing is impossible, Ralph."

His mouth went dry at these words. Then it was true. Sorceress and Turbo… Not only had she known him before the RoadBlasters incident, but the two of them used to be—

"Guys, guys!"

A burst of white and blue code flashing between them and a delighted Vanellope appeared, waving a fresh bag of marshmallows over her head. "I found these under the bed! Now we can make some more S'mores! Hah, get it? Some more S'mores?" She nudged Ralph's shoulder with one tiny elbow, expecting him to chuckle or roll his eyes at her joke.

Instead he looked down at his feet and hunched forward. "Yeah, that's… That's pretty funny, kid."

Vanellope stared at him in confusion for a moment. She looked at Sorceress, who was staring intently at some spot on the opposite side of the pool. Something had definitely happened in the few minutes that she was away. "What's wrong? Did you guys have a fight while I was gone?"

"Uh…" Ralph began. "No, not exactly. We're just talking about grownup stuff."

Frowning, Vanellope tucked the bag of marshmallows under one arm and propped her fists on her hips. "What kind of grownup stuff?"

"Nothing," the wrecker replied. "Okay, it's not nothing, but... I don't wanna talk about it."

"Why not?" Vanellope demanded. "I'm your best friend! Why can't you tell me?"

Ralph's eyes shifted from her to Sorceress. It really wasn't his place to talk about her Sorceress's past. She had given him no sign that she wanted this information shared. So he bit his lip and waited for some cue from her on what to do next.

"It's alright, Ralph," Sorceress said at last. "I'll tell her." Her eyes were back on her lap, only this time she was fidgeting with the box of crackers in her hands. "You both have a right to know the truth."

She set the box on the peanut brittle ground beside her, straightened her posture, closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply. Then she turned to face Ralph and Vanellope, both of them watching her intently and waiting for her to speak.

"Ralph, Miss Vanellope... I dated Turbo."

Author's Note: Dun dun duuun! Sweet mother of monkey milk, has it really been four months since I last updated?! I am truly sorry for going so long without touching this story for so long. There are many reasons why I stopped working on it, but the main reason is that I simply lost interest. I'm also getting excited about Big Hero 6, so that's been a distraction for me, too. That said I'm grateful to all of you reading this for being so patient with me. As I type this note this fanfic now has 104 reviews! Thanks to all of you for your support! I'm not sure how many more chapters this story will have, but if I can at least get Ralph and Sorceress to their first kiss that will be enough for me. But is that really possible after this surprising revelation? Stay tuned to find out!