A/N: yes. I'm still alive, chapter 10 was a bit of a mission to complete. Also I'm a moron, basically I forgot most of the Slaughter Race characters' names, so Little Debbie is actually Nafisa, or whatever the hell I named her before. anyways, read it if you want, and enjoy.
The four adults finally reached the internet and were safely dropped down by their circles around them, except Ralph, who fell and dusted himself off of the ground.
"You guys okay?" Spamley asked, the arcade characters nodding their heads.
"So what's our duty, honeypie?" Asked Felix.
"Let's-" A tanned woman and her four friends trampled up to the quad, completely interrupting Tamora's idea and train of thought.
"RALPH! Thank goodness you're here, did you find Vanellope yet!?" Shank asked hectically, answered by Ralph shaking his head.
"What the heck happened? You should've been taking care of her." Tamora pointed out in a stiff tone behind the wrecker, glaring at the online game characters with hands on her hips.
"Well, uh-"
"Can you just look for her? Please?" Pyro begged, eager to not feel more guilty.
Not like it would matter now anyhow, Vanellope heard everything she needed, and their reactions last night showed it all.
Felony's heart felt like it completely shut off and on again when she heard her voice. Shank and Butcher Boy turned their heads slowly, while Pyro and Little Debbie tried convincing themselves it was just someone in their meeting pulling a prank.
Ralph rubbed his big hand on Shank's shoulder, trying to make her feel better. He could tell something inside her almost cried.
"It's gonna be okay. You guys stay safe in your own game, and we'll go look." He certained.
She nodded her head, sniffing. "Thank you so much. I really appreciate it." She hurried with her friends back to Slaughter Race, making sure to use the caller she borrowed from Yesss some hours ago.
"Ready to go, Boss?" Spamley joked, pointing finger guns at the Sargent woman. Tamora expanded her hovercraft, large enough so the three men could fit inside.
"So where do we start?" Asked Felix.
"How am I supposed to know?" His wife sighed, annoyed that she already had to look for such a small character in a never-ending world like the internet.
"You know Ralph, I don't even know why you let her go in that game." She criticized. "If she was in Sugar Rush, we wouldn't have to deal with this."
Ralph took offense to her. "What?"
Felix chimed in. "Well he did put a virus in the gane to stop her-"
"Seriously!?" Spamley snapped, bending over a bit to face him.
Tamora put her hovercraft to a halt, making them almost fall out of their seats.
"While she was in the GAME? Why would you do something like that, Ralph?"
Ralph got defensive, almost stumbling upon his words, worried that he'd be blamed and judged again. Like how it used to be for twenty seven years.
"I-I was scared for her! Is that what you wanted to hear, Calhoun? I was scared. I didn't realize it then, but I knew there was a reason! I wasn't thinking and- and I didn't want her to leave so soon. I just..."
His eyes fell down to the cookie medal wrapped around his neck, the thought of losing the sister-like friend he cared for most taunting him inside.
"...I just didn't want her going Turbo, okay?" He whispered somberly, trying to hold back the sound of his shaking voice.
Spamley could tell Ralph needed a hug more than ever, but he instead rubbed his hand on his upper back, a warm smile on his face, while Tamora and her husband sat in the thin quiet with them, only able to hear the hovercraft's engine from below.
"I'm sorry." She didn't get any other answers, just the quiet.
•••••
Ralph pointed to a small, glitch-themed ad that read: 'Call and fix computer bugs today!' Lying on the street with a phone number at the bottom.
"Look, that's a glitch right?"
"That's a sign."
"Oh, Right."
"Dude, what are we doing!?" Spamley asked, irritated as he and Ralph traveled to the same avenues for more than two hours looking for his best friend.
Ralph jumped, snapping out of the thoughtful silence that's washed over them for a while.
"I told you, Cal's good with this kind of stuff. She can make a guess on what the closest virus is around here." He informed. "I think."
"We've been here for like, ever!"
"Yeah, I got that." Ralph mumbled, checking the clock on his caller and rolling his eyes. "Just be patient for once, okay?"
"We're back!" Tamora came out of her shuttle confidently as Felix came running behind her.
"And we found somethin'!" Felix added.
Finally, Spamley thought.
"Really, what'd you find?" Ralph said feeling relieved.
"It's minor, but it seems like a shortcut to..." Tamora shook her sensor seeing the title of the area.
"The Dark Net!?"
"Dark Net? I don't think you showed us that, Spams." Felix said seeming interested.
"The what? Oh heck no, I'm not goin' back there again!" Ralph stated.
"What do you mean again?" Tamora questioned.
"Nothing, but there's gotta be somewhere else."
"Oh Bull, We've been nilly-nallying all over this place and NO Candy Girl in sight!" Spamley protested, looking up at Ralph.
"Listen, where else do you want us to go, Wreck-it? We should check it out just in case." The blonde woman said, checking her sensor again and it beeped radically.
"I'm getting something!"
"What!?" The boys asked all looking at her sensor.
Teal spots glowed around the shortcuts and disappeared, repeating the action until they ran to what they thought was roaming underneath.
They hopped in Tamora's hovercraft and she pointed to multicolor spots on the ground.
"There! Y'all see em?"
"Yeah, but why are they all different colors?" Ralph asked.
"Yeah, I saw them flash on my sensor earlier too. For once, this thing's useful." Tamora mumbled tracking the stains.
"…Are you sure this is safe?" Spamley sank lower into his seat.
"Uh, Ralph...what is that?" Felix said, pointing at the white pixelating splotches, alarmed by the continuation of them appearing one by one.
Race tracks appeared in sets of three, glitching through buildings and displays, knocking them over.
Ralph's gut told him something was wrong. He knew something was extremely wrong.
When he looked hard enough, he discovered the pixels were coming from a girl with dark hair wearing a sports suit, laughing and driving her motorbike off of roofs of buildings.
It came from Vanellope.
"She's right there, Sarge!" Ralph exclaimed pointing to the child in the air.
Tamora saw the destructed buildings of the internet that were turning into a deadly cake-themed simulator.
"We're fallin' out, okay?" Tamora declared as she zoomed down, inviting everyone out except Spamley since she told him to keep a lookout.
Screw that, I'm comin' too! He thought to himself as he caught up with the others.
Vanellope couldn't hear anything, nor feel anything. All she was focused on was winning.
The combination of her vehicle glitching fixed energy all over the internet to her liking. And her track suit made her invincible to everything in her way.