Arcade Armageddon
Chapter 16
"Princess... Princess..."
Vanellope slowly opened her eyes, stretching and yawning to the new morning in Sugar Rush. She glanced down to notice Sour Bill looking...up?
That was when the princess glanced down at her bed, which seemed a little lower than usual. She received an even greater shock when she hopped out of be to realized she was around five feet off the ground, nearly stumbling as she tried to steady herself.
"Sour Bill?" Vanellope regarded her tiny adviser. "Why am I hovering?"
"Well, Princess...um..."
The lead racer raised an eyebrow at him, not understanding his point until she noticed her reflection in the corner of her eye.
Vanellope headed up to her mirror, nearly stumbling along the way. It made her wonder how people could walk on such long limbs. When the princess finally reachd the looking glass, Vanellope noticed something was definitely wrong...or just unusual.
She was staring at herself. Well, not quite herself, but it was her. The only difference was that the little girl who was supposed to be in the reflection was a woman, with long, dark hair down to her waist and still littered with candy. She also had longer, thinner legs and arms, along with curves that did not belong to a child. The last thing the princess noticed was that her pajama top seemed to stretch over her chest, where two large, round protrusions were hanging there...as if they were a part of her. Vanellope blushed at the sight of her new body, not believing it.
"Um, Sour Bill?" She turned to the little sour drop again, still confused on what was going on. "The upgrade worked, didn't it?"
"Apparently," he replied in his usually monotone voice, which made Vanellope wonder why he wasn't affected by the upgrade. Bill was still the same tiny, lethargic piece of candy with detached legs and arms. Maybe the upgrade had no effect on non-playable characters.
"I thought we were getting more tracks and new karts, but...this?" The president glanced behind herself, spinning around. She still couldn't believe this was happening. "Whoa."
But her initial excitement was short-lived when screaming was heard coming from the hallway.
"Taffyta!" Vanellope recognized her sister's voice from anywhere. She was in some sort of trouble and probably from her short supply of makeup.
...
"Taffyta!" Candlehead was kneeling over her friend, trying to shake her awake. The strawberry racer had passed out from the shock of seeing herself, who was now mature, with a supermodel figure. She had a larger bust, larger than that of Candlehead, which was average by comparison and nearly flat. The birthday racer sure wasn't going to gain any stares from male characters in-game or outside. Taffyta's short, choppy platinum hair was the same, except a little silkier than before as Candlehead was running her hands through it. It was a far cry from her still-coarse hair, which was lengthened into two longer pigtails extended down to her waist. Her candle was burning brighter than usual, which explained how woken up to burning bed sheets. What had shocked her and Taffyta the most was the lollipop-shaped lance lying right next to the blonde racer, which made one wonder what was going on?
This must be the upgrade Vanellope was talking about, Candlehead thought, although she knew there was no doubt about it as she continued to glance between Taffyta and herself. She definitely wanted to know what in User was going on here? And the birthday racer strongly hoped that Vanellope would have the answers. She had been the first to know about the upgrade, after all.
"Taffyta!" Vanellope burst into her sister's room, then glanced down to notice a passed out Taffyta and a worried Candlehead, which gave her the flag that they were just as confused as she was about everything going on so far. "What happened, Candlehead?"
"I heard Taffyta scream and when I came in here, I...found her like this." The birthday racer gestured to her friend, then noticed Vanellope's matured features and wowed. "Vanellope, you're... You too?"
"I know. We're all...older, somehow. And I'm trying to get the hang of it just as much as you, Candlehead." Vanellope placed a hand on her sister's shoulder, then looked down at Taffyta.
"She fainted when she saw herself," the birthday racer explained, supporting her best friend in her arms. "At least, that's what I'm guessing."
Vanellope glanced down at the strawberry racer, understanding her reaction completely. She knew that it was a lot to take in. No one person could adjust to this change overnight.
"So the upgrade worked?" Candlehead inquired hopefully, though knowing it was obvious.
"Which means Snow and the others should be older too," Vanellope guessed, "and there should be new karts and tracks waiting for us."
"And we got new powers too, judging from Taffyta's sword thing down here." The birthday racer gestured to the lollipop lance on the floor next to the strawberry racer, then added, with a slightly panicked note to her voice, "And how I torched my bed. I mean, I woke up, and then I noticed my hands were on fire. I burned my bedsheets, my pillow, and almost everything in my room. It's all toast." She threw her hands up, barely able to keep her calm.
"W-Wha...what happened?" Taffyta slowly raised her head up, rubbing her eyes and regarding Candlehead with a slight scowl. "You know your babbling can get annoying sometimes. And what are you doing in my room, anyway?" Then she craned her head to notice Vanellope right behind the birthday racer. "Vanellope? You're in here too?"
"You fainted," the birthday racer reminded, hands on her hips in mock annoyance. "And excuse me for 'babbling.' I just heard you scream in here and then when I came in here I saw you out like a light on the floor."
"Vanellope," the strawberry racer murmured, glancing up at the princess.
"You okay, Taffyta?" she asked, helping her sister up and brushing down her pink nightgown. And when the strawberry racer got up all the way, she stumbled.
"Yeah, I went through that same problem too, Taffyta," Vanellope said, remembering her falling and tripping session when she had woken up and on the way to her sister's room. "It takes getting used to, don't worry."
"Yeah, I got that now." Taffyta then glanced down at her matured self, namely the tall lollipop-esque lance, whose candy end was curved like a crescent moon. She held it up. "What happened to us? What's going on?"
"It's the upgrade," Vanellope replied, "It's finished."
"But why do we look so...so old?" Taffyta carefully went over to her mirror, doing a double take a herself, namely her hourglass figure and exposed neckline. She ran her hands, stopping at her newly-developed breasts, face turning the color of her nightgown as she felt their softness. Then she glanced at the lollipop-shaped weapon still lying on the floor, picking it up and holding it upright next to her. It was around seven feet tall, definitely taller than herself and a little shorter than Ralph. Then she raised it a little, as if trying to get a feel for it. It felt great so far, albeit still slightly weird. "I thought we were getting new tracks and karts. Where are they? And where did this come from?" Taffyta held up the lance.
"Same with my candle going out of control," Candlehead added, her hands suddenly engulfed in flames, which were threatening to grow as they started to brush against the pink, vinyl floor of Taffyta's room.
"Whoa, Candlehead!" Taffyta quickly backed away as the flames started to lick against her skin. The strawberry racer had to move behind the mirror to shield herself from her friend's uncontrollable fire. Vanellope followed suit, making room behind the looking glass as well.
"That's the thing: I can't control it!" The birthday racer tried to put the tiny flames out, but they kept growing.
"Don't worry, Candlehead!" Vanellope jumped from behind the mirror and grabbed Taffyta's pink comforter from the racer's bed in the corner. She tossed it over Candlehead's burning arms, patting and taming the flames for a few minutes until they were completely out.
"Thanks, Vanellope." The birthday racer sighed in relief.
"Anyway, this is crazy," said Taffyta, stepping from behind her "shield" once she was positive Candlehead wasn't going to light up again. "Our sudden growth spurt, these new powers..." Then she regarded, Vanellope. "Wait, Vanellope, you don't have any freaky powers, do you?"
"I'm not sure. Besides my glitching." Vanellope glitched a little to her right, proving her point. "Either way, we can say the upgrade apparently gave the other racers powers too. But that's an excellent question, Taffyta."
"But what about everything else? Like the new karts and tracks?" Taffyta wanted very badly to know if they had received everything as predicted, which included new tracks and karts. But she wasn't going to keep nagging Vanellope about it, as she knew that if she did want to know, they would have to head down to the track. Besides, the girls couldn't wait to meet up with the other racers.
...
"I gotta tell you this," Calhoun said, "they don't call it 'enchanted' for nothing." She, Ralph, Felix, and Gretel had just entered the Enchanted Castle, making it past the two guards who had been manning the door. They'd waved them past upon seeing Gretel (though a little reluctantly). Fairies had been greeting them the second they'd made it into the foyer, bowing or waving at the group.
The castle's interior was enormous, with a vast foyer with two adjoining flights of stairs leading up to the second floor. A large skylight above showed the full moon, which was shining down on a dais that displayed what looked like a checkered flag with fairies hovering around it.
There were rooms around the first floor, both split into two wings. The north wing of the hall held recreational and out-of-game events, while the south wing of the hall was the meeting area for the business side of Fairytale Speedway, including matters of things during arcade hours.
"I know." Gretel smiled halfheartedly. "Fairies tend to hang out here a lot, but they're nice and are just doing their job. Not to mention they're everywhere here. Come on, it's upstairs." The tween led the three adults up a long flight of stairs leading up to the upper rooms, where Gretel made a left down a long corridor full of rooms, which bore the names of the game's royal characters: Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, etc. They all lived and congregated there after hours. When they weren't working at the Grimm Lodge, that is.
"Slow down, kid," Ralph called, trying to keep up with her quick feet, which gave the Bad Guy the hint that Gretel wasn't just fast in a kart. Or maybe the wrecker couldn't navigate easily in the low-ceilinged hallway, which, unfortunately, couldn't contain all nine feet of Ralph's height. Which meant he had to take great care not to smash through anyone's door or the walls, or accidentally knock out either of his friends or Gretel.
When they went through the long hall of rooms, Gretel led them left toward the west wing, where she headed into the curtained area.
Calhoun, Ralph, and Felix followed her into the curtained room, catching something shiny in the darkness.
"This is it." The young racer continued down the pitch-black hallway until she reached the mirror she'd stepped through the previous day.
"Hmm..." Felix touched his hammer to his reflection. "Dead end?"
"Nope, watch." Gretel stepped up to the looking glass, invoking in a clear voice, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall."
When the mirror started to shimmer, Gretel grabbed Tamora's hand, with Ralph and Felix grabbing on to the sergeant's free arm. They stepped through, ending up in front of the racing game's code vault.
"Looks like Beauty's got the morning off," Gretel guessed as she noticed the room was empty, then punched in the Konami code to open the vault. "Let's go." She motioned for Tamora and the two men to follow.
"You heard the kid." Ralph followed, feeling light as a feather once he stepped into the code-ridden void.
"Let's go, Fix-It," Tamora grabbed her husband's arm, trying to drag him in.
"What if I accidentally touch anything?" Felix asked, fear creeping in his chest. He didn't want to unintentionally ruin anyone else's code with his affliction.
"You won't, Pint Size, don't worry. Besides, I'm here if you start going nuts again. Now come on."
The four characters swam through the code room until they reached Red's red-tinted code.
"Why is her panel red?" Tamora wondered, knowing that code panels were usually blue or purple. But this...this interested the sergeant and the men.
"Watch." With that, Gretel opened the teen's panel, revealing her blinking racing stats, all of which appeared normal. However, as Gretel was going deeper and deeper into the codes, the adults knew she found something suspicious.
As Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun moved in for a closer look, they caught sight of what grabbed Gretel's attention. Within Red's code, there were little icons in the form of faces that were all too familiar to them.
"Is that...?" Felix asked, trailing off. He was also at a loss for words at what he was staring at in the racer's codes.
"Creepy, yeah." Gretel glanced back at the flashing icons. "Even though I don't know who that is. Is he a character from another game?"
"If you can say that," replied Ralph, a slightly angered edge to his voice. He was staring at the strange faces and not believing who it was. He knew the racer in question was supposed to be dead, burned to death by the Diet Cola beacon. No one could have come back from that. If they were outside their game, that is.
But there they were, smiling mockingly at him. And inside a child's code at that.
"Let me guess: it explains Red's behavior and everything, doesn't it?" Gretel inquired, glancing over each of the adults' distressed expressions. She knew it wasn't a good sign. "Please, you gotta believe me. Whoever's in Red's body killed my best friend! He was in here last night too with another creepy guy. We've gotta do something!"
"We believe you, runt. More than you know." However, the more Tamora stared at the familiar icons, the more she failed to believe it. The sergeant turned away, trying to process it all. It just wasn't possible, but they objected to that, which meant...Felix was in danger. And so was the arcade.
The Good Guy noticed the icons as well, still unable to find words for the sudden discovery. His wife had been right the entire time about Red. Well, partially right. Red had been a sweet person, as Gretel had said earlier. Now the teen had been killed and taken over by the virus Game Central Station despised the most. The handyman should have known better, especially when Red could have been the very culprit behind his code going erratic.
...
"Well, well, looks like Taff's been serious about getting you up on time every morning, whoa," Snowanna said, greeting Vanellope, Taffyta, and Candlehead once they arrived at the track. The snow cone racer was especially impressed by the effort Taffyta had been making to ensure Vanellope was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed every morning. And it had been going smoothly.
The princess did a double take at the sherbet racer, who developed just as much as she herself had, except thicker around the waist. Snow's afro seemed a little more vibrant than usual.
"Wow, Snow," Candlehead gasped. "You look...well..."
"It's okay, Candlehead," Taffyta interjected, tossing her choppy platinum blonde hair behind her shoulder. "We all look hot."
"A half-hour ago, you passed out in your room, Taffyta," Vanellope reminded, smirking and knowing she'd just thrown her sister under the bus. "Now it doesn't bother you?"
"Okay, I get over things." The strawberry racer shot the president a playfully annoyed look.
"Can anyone tell me what's going on?" Snowanna asked. "I mean, why are we like this?"
"I told you that Litwak installed an upgrade into our game, right?" Vanellope filled her in.
"You told us that, yeah, but...this? I didn't know it would do this to us." The sherbet racer turned around, trying to get a good look at herself.
"Don't worry, Snow. We had the same reaction earlier," Candlehead assured her. "And it gave us these powers too."
"Wait, I'm not the only one, then. Weird, isn't it? Look." Suddenly, Snowanna vanished, but as the trio looked more closely, they could see an outline of the sherbet racer.
"Snow!" Candlehead jumped.
"I know, it's a little crazy." Snow reappeared before them. "But kinda cool too once you get used to it."
"Yeah, unless it's mine." The birthday racer's candle blazed a little, threatening to go out of control again. Calm down up there.
"Taffyta's got this cool staff thing." Vanellope nodded to the strawberry racer.
"Not that there's anything wrong with having a weapon." Taffyta snapped her fingers, but nothing appeared. "And now it won't come when I need it."
"Hey, we'll have plenty of time during arcade hours to learn how to control our powers, 'kay?" Vanellope assured the other girls. "Even though I won't have to worry about that. I still just have my glitching ability."
"Lucky," Candlehead muttered.
"So you're the first one here, Snow?"
"And how did you guess?" Snow said. "Everyone else seems to be taking their sweet time today getting here, but I'm sure when they come, you'll probably get grilled with questions, Pres."
Don't remind me, Vanellope thought, groaning upon knowing very well that Snow was right. This was a big thing, and it was going to take more than arcade hours to get used to it.
...
"I can fix it!" Felix raised his hammer, albeit a bit more overconfident than usual. He started to fix the windows, as per the norm, except a little more aggressively. It had been the norm all morning, ever since he and Ralph had returned to their games to prepare for the day.
Ralph was watching the surprisingly-arrogant Good Guy, wrecking the building and glancing down at Felix every few seconds. He'd been worried about his nemesis and partner since they'd found out that their worst enemy had possibly returned. They hadn't had time to alert Surge or anyone else in the arcade, so he had to watch Felix every now and then. Specifically the handyman's crimson eyes and eerily-white hammer, both of which heightened the wrecker's anxiety even more. It wasn't like Felix to be like this, that much Ralph knew.
"You might want to try a little harder, Ralph."
The Bad Guy was snapped out of his musings when he noticed Felix directly beneath him, smirking cockily up at Ralph. And it grew worse when he overheard the teenage boy playing the game call for Litwak.
"Mr. Litwak!" Ralph saw the teenage boy wave for the arcade owner.
"What's the trouble, kiddo?" Litwak hurried to the teenager's side. Ralph noticed the owner's worried expression on them. Just like the wrecker, who feared Litwak was suspecting something wrong with their game like last time, the owner feared the game was on the fritz again, which almost left the arcade one game short last time. But that worry was wiped away as soon as the kid spoke again.
"Did someone install an upgrade on this game or something? 'Cause I didn't know Felix could talk in-game let alone talk smack to Ralph." He smiled up at the owner, which relieved Ralph a little but the fear of what would have happened otherwise was still there. "Kinda cool."
"Really?" Litwak examined the screen of the '80s game closely. Ralph noticed the man's eyes on him and Felix, anxiety growing in the wrecker's chest out of fear that the Good Guy would cause an out-of-order.
"Stay in-character, Felix," Ralph whispered in a warning tone to the Good Guy. He did not want to draw any more attention to Litwak.
"I'm the hero of this game, Ralph, so I don't need a bad guy telling me what to do!" the handyman spat.
"Felix..." The wrecker warned again, which earned him another glare from the Good Guy. Then he heard a "huh" from Litwak, glancing up to notice the owner nodding.
"That's...unusual," Ralph heard him say. "Looks like some automatic upgrade. Little strange for ol' Ralph and Felix."
"I know, right," the boy agreed, pointing at the screen and nearly making Ralph jump back a little from the closeness. "Just like those bonus level dudes. I'm digging how you take care of these games, Mr. Litwak."
"Um, well, thanks." The arcade owner was flustered, but then took another glance at Fix-It Felix, Jr., examining it intently. Ralph gulped, still continuing his role and watching the owner. "Sure isn't an upgrade I installed," the wrecker heard Litwak mutter as the owner started to turn away.
Ralph breathed a sigh of relief once Litwak left their game. Who knew what would have happened if the owner had assumed something was wrong with it? They had already been through an out-of-order disaster once, and the Bad Guy did not want it happening again.
Once again, the Bad Guy snapped back to attention when a raucous quack was heard.
"Let's see how you like it, Ralph," Felix taunted as an abnormally large duck flew at the wrecker, threatening to attack.
"What's going on? They're not supposed to act like this." Ralph swatted away the raging fowl in confusion.
And it became more disturbing when Felix smiled hollowly at the Bad Guy, head cocked to the side. His words made the scene even more bizarre, sending slight chills down Ralph's spine.
"I fixed it, Ralph," the Good Guy chuckled darkly.
...
"These new powers roll," Jubileena said, disembarking her improved cherry pie-themed kart, which was sleeker and almost metallic-looking, with a cherry stem-shaped exhaust pipe and an ice cream scoop-shaped hull, making her kart resemble a pie a la mode.
Jubileena herself was a sight to behold, though not as supermodel glamorous as Vanellope or Taffyta. She possessed an average figure like Candlehead's, with her scarlet pigtails hanging down to her shoulders, cherry stems holding them. Her outfit, which remained the usual cherry T-shirt, red skirt and jacket, and cherry cap, were merely updated to fit her adult form. Despite the upgrade, Jubileena was still the same, cheery racer the others knew and loved. She skipped over to Citrusella, Vanellope, and Taffyta.
The Sugar Rush racers were storing their karts away for the day, parking them into the garage area not far from the track entrance. There were fifteen bays-one for each racer. As predicted, the upgrade gave their karts makeovers in addition to the matured avatars and new powers. Each kart was almost the same as their previous appearances, except they were updated to give them a more modern feel.
However, instead of new tracks, their main track was extended with new regions like the Black Licorice Forest, which was dark and foreboding with a slew of thorn bushes. Vanellope had found herself caught in a thorn during the Random Roster Race, but still had managed to make it to fifth place. Afterwards, she had brushed it off, knowing it had been an unfamiliar track. The other addition was the Sugar Free Desert with its artificially sweet obstacles, such as the Artificial Sweetener Quicksand, where Taffyta had ended up stuck, but had barely broken free if it hadn't been for Candlehead being there. It had still earned the strawberry racer fourth, behind Citrusella, who had snagged her up with her blueberry whip quite a few times throughout the day. It had annoyed the hell out of Taffyta, and she hoped the blueberry recolor knew that as well.
Overall, the upgraded game had pulled in quite a few players throughout the day. To their surprise, the teenage regulars who monopolized the racing game on a daily basis hadn't shown up, which granted Vanellope and friends relief.
Jubileena, especially, had quickly grown attached to her new Cherry Bomb ability. She'd been picked several times throughout the day, and every time had disoriented and taken out her opponents with it. Even Vanellope had struggled a little despite having glitched out of the way a few times. The cherry racer threw herself at Citrusella, pulling her into a hug.
"I love that whip of yours, Citrusella," Jubileena gushed, reaching down to get a feel of her sister's blueberry taffy whip, which appeared short at first, but when Citrusella activated it, it grew to almost impossible lengths. And how it had slowed Taffyta down was proof of that. "You know, how you snagged Taff up with it."
"Don't rub it in, Jubileena." The strawberry racer rolled her eyes, sighing, "You won today, okay? And that was because I'm still trying to get the hang of my little sword thing over here." Taffyta snapped her fingers once, twice, three times, to call up her weapon, but still no lance appeared. She couldn't help but wonder if it had a certain time frame on which it appeared. Did it just work during arcade hours? Or was it just too lazy to obey Taffyta. Either way, the blonde racer would get the hang of it eventually.
"You'll get it, Taffyta, don't worry." Vanellope placed a hand on her sister's shoulder, ensuring everything was fine and it wasn't game over. "You're not the only one who's having trouble. I mean, Candlehead's kart kept catching a little fire today. Heck, I thought I was gonna be toast."
"Says the only one whose powers stayed the same."
"Chin up, Taffyta. It's not the end of the world," Citrusella smirked mockingly, her twin sister behind her. Taffyta could tell the upgrade had done serious wonders on the blueberry recolor. If she was level-headed and Gothic before, she was twice those qualities now. Citrusella's complexion was paler, with dark mascara around her eyes, making them look like those of a raccoon's. Her indigo pigtails were longer like Jubileena's, except tied with blueberry vines. Her outfit possessed a slightly Gothic feel as well, with combat boots and spiked bracelets. However, everything else, such as her blueberry shirt, remained the same.
What was really pissing Taffyta off the most right now was Citrusella's attitude, which now had a snarky tone to it. It had smarted today when the recolor had pulled her whip on the strawberry racer, but Taffyta promised that on the next Random Roster Race she was going to make sure the blue recolor was her first target.
"Yeah, Taff," Jubileena agreed, giggling and latching her arm around Citrusella's. "There's always next time."
"Looks like someone's attitude got upgraded, too," Vanellope pointed out once the twins started off and were out of earshot. She watched them head off to the rainbow bridge, laughing and joking about something she couldn't make out.
"Tell me about it," agreed Taffyta, shaking her head and grabbing it as if she had a headache. Taffyta couldn't stand Citrusella already and they only had the upgrade for a day. She thought the blueberry recolor was cynical before, but now she was downright wicked. "Cit's worse than that Vyse guy now. Not to mention creepy. You know what? Scratch that. She's nothing like that guy. Vyse is just an overconfident jerk, but Cit's just..."
"Like some sort of vampire now?"
"Yeah."
"Hey, Snow and I were going off to DDR to celebrate our upgrade. We were wondering if you guys wanted to come."
Vanellope and Taffyta turned to notice Candlehead and Snowanna walking past. Both had hopeful looks in their eyes. The birthday racer was trying to keep her excitement in check, as her candle was threatening to heat up again. She looked up at Taffyta, jumping up and down and trying to contain herself.
"Sure, Candlehead." Taffyta smiled at her friend, knowing she could use some relaxation after dealing with Citrusella. "I could use a little celebration, you know?"
"And relaxation from Her Royal Snarkiness?" Snow added, having overheard the tension between the blonde racer and the Gothic recolor. Snow liked Cit enough, but whenever the latter's cynicism took over, the sherbet racer couldn't stand it. And it usually ended in Snow setting her straight.
"We asked Rancis and the guys too," Candlehead put in, calming down a little and pointing to Rancis, Swizzle, and Gloyd conversing by Rancis's improved peanut butter cup kart.
"Actually, Rancis begged to come with us when we mentioned Pres. Don't know why, but I'm guessing Rancis got a thing for you, Vanellope."
"Um...okay?" The princess blushed red at that, blue binary coursing through her body at the thought of Rancis having a crush on her. Of course, she'd seen the peanut butter cup racer once before Litwak opened for the day, and, Vanellope had to admit, Rancis was handsome. Not to mention muscular. Aside from that, he was still the same shy blonde racer he always had been. The princess had even seen Rancis in action in the Random Roster Race, where he'd accidentally stomped too hard on the brakes and lost control of his kart, which had resulted in Rancis being in dead last. She thought that had been cute enough to the point of being a little hilarious.
But Vanellope had never seen him as...her type.
Once they were done putting away their karts, the four racers scaled the rainbow bridge, heading out of the game and toward Dance Dance Revolution. Snowanna could hardly wait to dance the night away once they arrived. She was moving to a nonexistent rhythm, which caught Vanellope's, Taffyta's, and Candlehead's attention.
"Looks like some things never change." Taffyta shrugged, watching the grooving sherbet racer and her moves, which could creep a non-Sugar Rush resident out. Luckily, the girls were used to it, as they had seen Snow in action ever since they were first plugged in in 1997.
"Now I'm thinking she might get that Zangief guy's attention," Candlehead guessed, recalling when they had been in the dance game a few days ago, where Snow had been moving along with the techno beat and conversing with the bad guy from Street Fighter II. Now that Snow was a woman, she and her sisters were certain the snow cone racer had a chance.
However, just as they were ready to board the trolley to Game Central Station...
"Wait a minute!" Taffyta froze, whipping around to face Candlehead. "Candlehead, aren't we forgetting something?"
"Forgetting what?" the birthday racer asked in confusion.
"Remember? Before the upgrade, we were supposed to take Vanellope somewhere?"
"Somewhere?" Snowanna repeated, confused as to what the other three were talking about. In fact, she didn't know what the three sisters did without her. She had not hung out with them enough to know everything, so this was news to her. And she was curious to know what was more important than Dance Dance Revolution.
"Hey, Snow, you might want to go on ahead," Taffyta suggested, regarding Snow. "We'll catch up to you in DDR. We promise."
"No way. Vanellope's my friend too, guys." Snowanna folded her arms in annoyance. She wasn't letting them leave her in the dark anymore, especially when it involved Vanellope, whom she considered her best friend before and after the King Candy peril. Snow was like the princess's sister as well, and she was going to show it. "So I'd like to know where this 'somewhere' you all need to go to. And why does it include her?"
"I'm just as lost as you, Snow," the princess agreed.
"Candlehead." Taffyta shot her best friend a firm look.
The birthday racer was racking her brain, trying to remember what Taffyta was talking about. After a few seconds, she smacked her forehead.
"I remember now. Kenneth! We gotta see him about Vanellope."
"Kenneth?" Vanellope repeated, remembering her sister mentioning such a character. The princess recalled the birthday racer saying that Kenneth could help her remember something. Something that had to do with what was still going on in Game Central Station. She knew something happened the day everyone had to evacuate their games. But what happened after that?
"Remember? Kenneth the Creeper?" Taffyta tried to fill the lead racer in. "The angel who can heal others. Candlehead said he can heal amnesia too. We gotta get to Celestial Wars so we can get him to do that. After that, Vanellope can remember who was in Fix-It Felix, Jr."
"Sorry, Snow." Candlehead gave the sherbet racer a regretful look, understanding how much the latter's dancing fix meant to the snow cone racer. The birthday racer knew Snowanna had not had a chance to do it the previous day due to the upgrade, but celebrating had to wait.
"It's okay, girl." Snow shrugged. "Besides, didn't I already say I was coming with you guys? I'm sure DDR can wait. Plus, whenever the situation involves Vanellope, you might need me to have your back. I ain't standing on the sidelines anymore."
"Thanks, Snow."
...
"Okay, what's gotten into you today, Felix?" Ralph scolded as the Good Guy was helping him out of the mud. The wrecker brushed himself off, glaring at the shorter man.
"What are you talking about, Ralph?" Felix asked, confused by what his friend was talking about. He stared up at Ralph intently.
"You were catcalling and taunting me today. Luckily, the kids thought it was an upgrade, but Litwak was a little bit suspicious about it. And the duck that came after me...what was that?"
"Wait," Felix cut Ralph off. "I was taunting you?"
"Yeah, that's not like you, Felix. Let alone your 'fixing' ducks that come after me. We dodged a bullet with that last part, too!" The Bad Guy then regarded the shorter man. "What did you mean by 'fixing' ducks, anyway?"
The handyman, however, was trying to process everything the wrecker just said. He didn't recall doing any of that.
"All I remember is the first round starting. Everything else...it felt as if I was asleep somehow. Maybe it's that patch again. If so, it's taking over me faster than we thought." Felix sank to his knees, red binary coursing through him. He wrapped his arms around himself, rocking back and forth.
"What's with Felix?" Mary came up to the two men, worried about the Good Guy, whose body was crackling with energy. The female Nicelander then stepped back when she noticed a crimson eye glaring at her. "Sweet mercy!"
"What are you staring at?" the handyman growled.
"Felix! Come on! Wake up!" Ralph tried to pull the Good Guy to his feet, but felt an electric current course through his body, the same one as before. The Bad Guy pulled back, cringing a little under Felix's piercing glare, knowing that wasn't his friend before him but an entirely different person. Almost like a... virus."
"And what will you do, Ralph? Wreck me?" Felix smirked, cocking his head. He raised his eerily-white hammer, ready to strike at the wrecker.
"Felix..." Mary trembled in fear, running off. She had no idea what the handyman was going to do.
"Calm down! Snap out of it!" Ralph urged.
That snapped the handyman back to his senses. The red tint in Felix's eyes faded, and the Good Guy lowered his hammer, regarding Ralph with fear evident in his blue eyes. Then he glanced down at his infected hammer, its colorless hue intimidating. Felix couldn't believe what he had been about to do. He had been about to attack Ralph; the virus's effects having taken over him again. The Good Guy slowly backed away, fearing for his best friend's safety.
The wrecker approached him, reaching out to him, but the shorter man pulled away.
"Don't touch me!" Felix cried. "Stay away from me! Before I hurt you." His body broke into red pixels once more.
"Fix-It! Wreck-It!"
The shorter man cringed at the sound of his wife's voice, definitely not wanting to hurt her uncontrollably.
"Ralph, she can't..."
"That's your wife, Felix. I doubt she'll let you lose yourself and hurt her. Seriously, I doubt it."
"But...I can't face her like this. Please, she needs to leave. I...I...can't believe I didn't listen to her." The Good Guy began to rock again, with several thoughts were racing through his mind; the number one being his not believing Tamora about Red, because if he had, he wouldn't have been in the mess he was now. They could have found out how to cure the Good Guy sooner. But Felix knew it was too late, as Red's handiwork was already being put into action, which was why the handyman couldn't face his wife. He just couldn't, not without losing control again and putting her in harm's way. But he doubted Tamora would give him much choice.
"Fix-It!" Calhoun found the two men, then noticed her husband crouched on the ground, a nervous wreck. She knelt down to reach out to him. "Short Stack? Are you...?"
"Stay away! Please!" Felix pulled away.
"What's gotten into you?"
"The virus is getting worse," Ralph interjected. "But we can't get close enough to it to do anything. Felix could, but he still couldn't fix it. He got a power boost from it instead."
"And Surge Protector and Green Mustachio couldn't do anything?"
Ralph shook his head.
"Then whatever that girly-girl installed in your code has to be foreign, just like Dr. 'Stache Bro. had told us earlier. And he was right, which means it's going to be harder to kill this virus."
"What other option is there?" Felix inquired.
"Simple. We ask the little brat herself. Even if I have to wring that hood to do it."
"Hey, is Fix-It around?" A teenage boy's voice was heard.
"Vyse?" Ralph realized as he, Calhoun, and Felix turned to notice Vyse, with Aika catching up behind him. Both air pirates looked panicked. Had Red attacked that game, too?"
"What is it, kid?" the sergeant asked.
"It's our planes again! They're acting bizarre this time!"
"Wait, I thought Felix fixed them," Ralph said.
"I did..." the Good Guy retorted, glancing up to regard the two air pirates. "At least I thought I did, so why are they acting...?"
"That's why we came to get you so you can see what we're talking about," Aika explained. "You gotta come with us."
"But..."
"Don't worry, Felix. I'll come with you," Ralph assured him. "If you lose yourself again, I'll pin you to the ground, I promise."
The Good Guy nodded slowly, knowing the wrecker would be there should anything go awry with Felix.
"You two go ahead and see what the two swashbucklers' problem is," Tamora commanded. "I'll track Fix-It's little 'friend' down. We'll meet in Tapper's later." Especially when we might know who Little Red Vixen is, though I still think it's impossible that it is who we think it is.