*Chapter 57*

"Rancis?" Vanellope hissed as she took a step closer.

"Thanks for that reset," Rancis said gently as he wiped his clothes free of pixelly dust; he had a mean look in his eye, "I was wondering when one of you would be stupid enough to do that. Apparently, Vanellope takes the cake."

"But, how? You were a hologram," Taffyta barked, both girls were tense with sudden fear.

"Yeah, and you wouldn't believe how much fun it was to terrify you guys at Honeydew Ridge," Rancis chuckled as he pat the sheath on his belt, which held his double striped candy tree sword, "Ralph, save me! Ralph, my hero!" Rancis mocked before he chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"Rancis," Vanellope started as she stepped closer to him, "Can't we just talk about this? Surely sorting out our differences is a lot easier than constantly fighting."

"It feels good to finally be in the code room," Rancis said, ignoring Vanellope, as he looked around, "You guys were so adamant about me not coming in here."

"Because, look what you've become!" Vanellope shouted as the three grew closer to each other, "You've become nothing but a power hungry monster. What happened to all the good times we had? We all would race, and you were your sweet self."

"We want the old Rancis back," Taffyta barked as she gently held onto Vanellope's arm.

"Well he's gone," Rancis shouted, his eyes a little less crazed than what they were recently used to, he looked more refreshed, though he seemed to desperately try to keep his evil front, "That ugly wrecking guy chased him away."

"Ralph?" Vanellope cried before lulling her head back and chuckling, "Are you jealous? Does all your anger just revolve around your jealousy?"

"I'm not jealous!" Rancis hollered as he drew his long sword and pointed it out to the two girls; he was a mere twenty yards away now, "Do you even see who you've brought to our kingdom? The very guy that wants to take over this game? His name is WRECK-IT Ralph!"

"He doesn't want to take over the game," Vanellope shouted, feeling a rush of wrecking adrenaline shoot through her code, "You don't know him at all! You would if you just chilled and acted like a normal person!"

"And you think he's normal?" Rancis shouted, his sword still at the ready, "He's going to ask for your hand in marriage, and you know what that will bring? A king, whose sole purpose in life, is to RUIN everything!"

"Shut up, Rancis!" Vanellope hollered, her fists clenched; Taffyta held Vanellope's arm and gave her a knowing look. She didn't want Vanellope wrecking anything in the code room.

"I tried to save this game," Rancis hollered as he clumsily began to step closer to the two trembling girls, "I tried to get our precious game as far away from that warthog as possible. Because I knew…I knew, he'd be trouble."

"How?" Vanellope begged, "I don't understand. Everyone here loves him, we all miss him and his family so much. You're the only one who has never hung out with any of them, so how would you even think you're in a position to judge his character?"

"Character," Rancis spat as he lulled his head, "What character! The guy is just a big pile of hands and no brain!"

Vanellope quickly began to march over to Rancis, her blood boiling. Taffyta gasped and quickly held her back but struggled. Vanellope resisted Taffyta but stopped walking; she inhaled an angry breath and breathed out in a chuff, her fists clenched practically to the bone. She glared at Rancis, who quickly began to laugh at her attempt to fight him. He lulled his sword around as he drew closer to the two girls.

"Where's your wrecking ball, now," Rancis growled as he stepped closer, "He's half way across the state, without a single clue that his two girls are going to be holograms with no return to him."

"You wouldn't hurt us," Vanellope said deeply, her eyebrows locked in an angry expression.

"An eye for an eye," Rancis breathed.

Vanellope inhaled a breath to speak, but before she could let anything out, everything went dark; they slipped into an unplugged sleep.

"Felix," Ralph said with a deep sigh as he lulled his head in annoyance, "Do you really have to do that?"

Felix looked back at Ralph with a sheepish look. Felix, Ralph and Tammy were in the center of Game Central Station. Felix calmly hammered any little scratch or ding he found around the station, his fixing OCD at its finest. He heaved an embarrassed chuckle and lulled his golden hammer back into his belt loop.

"I-I'm sorry," Felix chuckled before he eyed Ralph, "Don't you ever see a nice, neat pile of something and ever get the urge to wreck it?"

"Not usually," Ralph breathed through a laugh as he put his hands on his hips, "You think I live to ruin everything? That's not the first thing on my mind in the morning, brother."

"Well, neither is fixing, for me," Felix said with a small laugh, "I just want the station to look nice."

"You did great," Ralph chuckled as he adjusted Tammy, who was perched on his shoulder.

"I think dad has it worse than me," Tammy giggled as she leaned into Ralph's head and shoulder.

"I'm starting to think so, too," Ralph smiled.

"The arcade will open in ten minutes." Came the automated voice over Game Central Station.

"Looks like we better head out," Ralph breathed as him and Felix began to mosey back to Fix-It Felix Jr.

Felix opened his mouth to speak, but before words could be exchanged, Game Central Station suddenly creaked and moaned. The whole station suddenly jerked to the side, causing everyone to stumble to their knees. Ralph exhaled a nervous breath and shoved his large hand to the ground. He steadied himself as Tammy quickly wrapped her arms around Ralph's neck and shut her eyes tight. A few more shudders shot through Game Central Station before it finally calmed. Everyone in the station clumsily stood and frantic chatter began to fill the air. Ralph firmly stood and looked around, his heart began to pound.

"What got unplugged now?" Felix complained as he fixed his hat, "I just fixed up the place, look at this mess!" Felix whined as he motioned to a few benches and trash cans fallen over and out of place.

"Everything's still here," Tammy said nervously.

"Maybe something got plugged in?" Ralph mumbled before he held his breath and whirled around, looking at each outlet's name. He bit his lower lip as he felt his heart began to pound harder with hope.

"There!" Tammy hollered as she pointed; she furrowed her eyebrows before gasping and looking down at Ralph.

"Sugar Rush," Ralph breathed. He quickly shot his attention down to Felix, whose facial expression was that of pure shock. Ralph quickly, yet gently, put Tammy down and began to hurry over to the new addition to Game Central Station.

"Ralph!" Felix called after him; Ralph continued to sprint away, "What if that's not her game? What if it's a different version?"

"I have to find out," Ralph hollered as he vanished into the crowd. Felix slumped his shoulders and gazed longingly at Sugar Rush's outlet; he hoped, for everyone's sake, that this wasn't too good to be true.

Vanellope gasped a breath as their game quickly hummed to life. Vanellope began to pant nervously as she eagerly looked around; Taffyta and Rancis were still where she last saw them. She gave Taffyta a hopeful look before glaring back at Rancis, who was still making his way over to the two.

"What was that?" Rancis asked in a demanding tone as he looked around, "Did our game just get unplugged?"

"I think so," Taffyta said, trying to hide her excitement.

"Give it up, Rancis," Vanellope urged as she glanced at the code room doors. It took absolutely every single ounce of her being to keep her from sprinting out of the code room to see if they were back home. She inhaled a sharp breath and kept her eyes on Rancis; she knew her first priority was the safety of her game cabinet.

"I will rule Sugar Rush," Rancis said deeply, "Whether you're by my side or not!"

Rancis swiped his sword downward towards Vanellope and Taffyta harshly. Both girls split and darted out of range of Rancis's sword. Vanellope could feel that building adrenaline rush suddenly burst with life; she threw her hands into the air and swiped them downward, just like what Tessa had taught her. All at once, the code boxes in the room obeyed her and shot in the direction her arms moved; Rancis whirled around in confusion before glaring at Vanellope through the passing code boxes. Taffyta urgently gazed towards the code room door, which she was farthest from. Vanellope inhaled a sharp breath and threw her hands up again to swipe them down; the code boxes obeyed their princess, yet again, and whizzed faster past the three. Vanellope tilted her head down and gazed at Rancis with fury, hoping he'd be thrown off. She began to rush Rancis in hopes of getting his sword, the only thing that outmatched both girls.

Rancis smiled an evil smile as Vanellope quickly approached him; he drew his sword ready for her. Vanellope's eyes widened once Rancis quickly shoved his hand firmly into a code box. It shuddered and made an electrifying buzzing noise, under the impact, and opened quickly upon touching it. Vanellope hollered with protest as she rocketed as fast as she could towards Rancis. The box he had opened was the Fungeon box; his hand quickly worked the code box like he had known the code room front and back. Just as Vanellope was mere feet away, Rancis quickly dragged Vanellope's name into a certain portion of the box. Vanellope suddenly burned up with code and vanished into thin air; hot purple pixels dotted the air in confusion.

"Vanellope!" Taffyta screamed as she began to rush Rancis. She threw her hands on his shoulders and threw him to the ground, "What did you do to her?"

"She's in a place where not even she can escape," Rancis breathed with a chuckle as he clumsily stood.

Taffyta instantly reached for the handle of his sword, but Rancis quickly swiped it away from her, slicing the palm of her hand. Taffyta hollered in pain and took a few nervous steps back. Rancis quickly began swiping at her, the sword glistened in the white glow of the room. Taffyta urgently tried to grab Rancis' hands, the fear in her eyes were more than noticeable. She whimpered nervous noises of protest as Rancis continued to swipe at her. He clipped her shoulder, causing the fabric of her clothes to tear; blood quickly began to stain her clothes. Taffyta winced and shut her eyes; within the split second she was blind with fear, Rancis shoved her against the back of an idle code box. Taffyta gasped as Rancis held her throat with his firm hand; he kept her pinned to the code box, his sword pointing straight into her face.

"This is what you guys get," Rancis panted in a growl, he smiled a menacing smile, "This is what you guys deserve. Bet you wish you hadn't have rejected me now, don't you."

"Rancis," Taffyta choked as she gripped her hands on his wrists; she could feel her head become light with lack of air. She tried her hardest to gasp inhales, her fingers desperately clawing at Rancis' arms. Taffyta wheezed a rough inhale and shut her eyes tight as Rancis shoved his whole palm into her windpipe. She could feel her blood run coldly down her arm and hand.

"Please," Taffyta urged again, her mouth hardly forming the word let alone letting anything out.

"You'll regret what you did to me," Rancis said deeply down to her, "I hope it gives you hell, when you see me crowned King of Sugar Rush."

"You've gone…T-Turbo," Taffyta uttered as she grimaced; her nails dug into Rancis' skin, but he didn't bat an eyelash. Her bloody palm left horrific blood streaks all over Rancis' arms.

"The best is yet to come," Rancis said loudly as he raised his sword, pointing it down towards Taffyta's skull. Taffyta opened her mouth to yell but nothing came out. She could feel the arcade around her begin to spin. Just as the beautiful white room was about to go dark, a large figure rocketed itself towards the two. Taffyta closed her eyes as her struggling breath practically ceased.

Rancis chuckled deeply before he was suddenly flung backwards and shoved firmly into the back of a nearby code box. Rancis hollered in pain as the electricity of the code box shot volts up his spine. He opened his weary eyes to see none other than Ralph; he gazed down at Rancis in hatred, his large hand was pushed to Rancis' throat as the rest of his fingers gripped the chest of Rancis' dark brown hoodie. Rancis wasn't sure how it happened, but in the whirl of it, Ralph ended up with Rancis's double stripe sword. He gripped it in his other large hand, the blade pointed at Rancis' face for once.

"I should've known you'd be behind this," Ralph barked, he could feel his very center shake with rage, "I oughta delete you right here, right now!"

"You pig!" Rancis hollered as his little hands tried their hardest to pry Ralph's large hand from his body, "You weren't meant to rule Sugar Rush. The game is going to go down under your wrecking rule!"

"I love this game more than your puny little head could imagine!" Ralph bellowed loudly as he just barely removed Rancis from the code box before firmly shoving him back into it with all of his strength. Rancis hollered loudly in pain as the electricity jolted him again. The code box glitched and jolted a mess of hot orange streaks of painful binary. The code room hummed with life. Ralph furrowed his eyebrows and drew closer to him as he inhaled deeply to continue, the viens in his forehead began to bulge as his whole core was filled with grief and protective rage for his new home, "You have been nothing but a thorn in my side ever since Vanellope became President. You have caused nothing but grief, for everyone."

"I know what's best for Sugar Rush," Rancis choked as his eyes almost lulled into the back of his head, his hot yellow code jolted and shook against the code box he was shoved to, "And it sure as hell ain't you."

"I know I'll do a far better job than you, thank you very much," Ralph mocked before he quickly jerked Rancis away from the code box and looked around, "Let's see, what should we do with you?"

"You don't know the code like I do," Rancis choked as he struggled to get his feet to touch the ground, his hands desperately clawed at Ralph's solid fist.

"Who do you think has had your precious code book for the last month?" Ralph barked in his face, his blood still boiling.

"YOU had the code book?!?" Rancis coughed in surprise, his hands still desperately trying to budge Ralph's enormous hand.

"You want to know why?" Ralph said loudly in Rancis's face, the code room shook in a grateful dance of relief under Ralph's control and power, "Because everyone here trusts me! This is my family now! And you have earned your rightful, and permanent, place in deletion."

"Y-you wouldn't delete me," Rancis wheezed with a struggle, his eyes began to look desperate, "You and your fat head, you don't even know HOW to delete me!"

Ralph gently dropped Rancis's double striped sword and quickly shot his arm up and sideways, causing the code boxes to lull and slowly move forward. Ralph kept his eyes glued to Rancis as his large hand firmly stopped a certain code box. Rancis's eyes widened as the large code box opened; it has his name in big bold letters. Ralph smiled daringly and gazed into Rancis' code box.

"Let's see here," Ralph said in a mockingly cheerful voice. He scanned through Rancis' reset code box and bit his lip. He held Rancis firmly to the back of one of the idle code boxes. Every single fragment of code seemed to shine under Ralph's presence.

"You wouldn't," Rancis choked, his eyes almost turned pleading. He clawed at Ralph's large hand.

"I would," Ralph barked as he menacingly glanced at Rancis. He took a double take on Rancis and felt his facial expressions unwillingly, and just barely, soften. He stared Rancis down, long and hard; he felt something tug at his heart. He gazed at Rancis's struggling figure and held his breath. He furrowed his eyebrows and almost wished he didn't have a heart in this moment.

"Please," Rancis begged, his eyes were shut tight as he tried to cough for air.

Ralph inhaled a slow breath and slumped his shoulders. He gazed into Rancis' code box, his hand was hovered over the big, red "delete" button for Rancis' code. Ralph felt his mind race with the dilemma he was suddenly sat in. He glanced around Rancis' code box before a lulling voice came over Sugar Rush.

"The arcade will open in two minutes. Please return to your game." Said the familiar voice.

"I'll tell you what," Ralph started firmly, he tried to hide his soft side, "I'm going to put you somewhere where you can't get into trouble, and I will deal with you after the game day."

"You think you're doing me a favor?" Rancis croaked, his voice becoming angry again; Ralph widened his eyes and glared down at Rancis.

"You're lucky I have a heart," Ralph barked before he shoved Rancis' nose mere inches from his very own delete button, "It would be too easy to just push it. Or would you like to have the honor of deleting yourself?"

"O-okay I get it, I get it," Rancis hollered as he tried to yank his face away from the button, "So what are you going to do then?"

"I hope you like the Fungeon," Ralph chuckled as he quickly closed Rancis's code box and strolled over to the Fungeon's code box.

Before Rancis could protest, Ralph opened the code box and dragged Rancis's name to one of the small, inescapable hollows of the Fungeon. Before Ralph could process everything that had happened, Rancis's yellow code burned up, and he quickly evaporated. His code reappeared in the Fungeon via Ralph's actions. Ralph finally breathed a soft sigh and closed the code box. He gazed around the beautiful code room; he could feel his heart swell with excitement. He was finally home; he widened his eyes and quickly remembered Taffyta. He gasped and whirled around, only to find Taffyta trying her very hardest to push herself into a sitting position.

"Taffyta!" Ralph hollered as he quickly ran over to her. He skid onto his knees before her and quickly scooped her upper body into his chest. He hugged her tight in his strong arms before pulling away and beaming down at her, "Taff, you guys made it back! Are you okay? Where's Vanellope?"

"Ralph," Taffyta beamed with pure joy, though she winced at her arm. Blood ran down her sleeve.

"You're hurt," Ralph frowned as he quickly stood and pulled Taffyta up with him. He set her on her feet and warily held the lower end of her injured arm. Taffyta rubbed the front of her neck nervously but gazed up at Ralph through joyous, teary eyes.

"I'm so happy to see you again," Taffyta whispered in a raspy voice as tears spilled down her cheeks. Ralph finally let a small smile break across his face as he gently took Taffyta's hands in his.

"You have absolutely no idea," Ralph sighed shakily before he urgently looked Taffyta in the eye harder, "Where's Vanellope?"

"I-I think Rancis put her in the Fungeon," Taffyta was quickly cut off.

"The arcade will open in one minute. Please return to your game." Came the familiar announcement over the arcade.

"We have to go get her," Ralph hurried as he glanced towards the exit; Taffyta gripped his hands.

"Ralph, I'll go get her," Taffyta urged, "You have to return to your game."

"But, Taff-"

"Ralph, listen to me," Taffyta barked, "Return to your game, I'll go get Vanellope. If we all don't respond to quarter alerts, all this hard work will be in vain. We HAVE to abide by the quarter alerts. After game day, you can see Vanellope," Taffyta urged as she shook Ralph's large hands. He gazed down at her through uncertain, sad eyes before Taffyta gave him a loving smile, "I promise."

"Okay," Ralph finally breathed, "I'll be back the second the arcade is closed."

"I don't doubt that for a second," Taffyta smiled as they both raced for the code room's exit.

"Please tell her that I'm here, and that I love her," Ralph said shakily as the two burst out of the castle. Ralph didn't have time to take in the feel of Sugar Rush, or the familiar sights. Taffyta agreed to Ralph's words as she quickly rocketed around the back side of the castle, towards the Fungeon.

"See you soon, brother," Taffyta called; Ralph waved before he quickly began to rush towards Sugar Rush's exit.

Ralph inhaled Sugar Rush's sweet air and beamed a wide smile. He ran past the racing arena, right past all of Sugar Rush's racers. He caught eyes with Candlehead; she had an excited, surprised look on her face. She burst out of the group of surprised Sugar Rush racers, her demeanor was lively and the candle atop her head sparked with happiness.

"Ralph!" She called as Ralph tried to slow down, "You're back! I-I mean, we're back! H-How did we manage this?"

"I'm not even sure," Ralph chuckled as he squeezed Candlehead into a hug; Candlehead beamed and squeezed her arms around Ralph's neck, "I'll be back after game day, I promise."

"I'd be willing to bet money that you'll be the one with the most awards at the end of THIS game day," Candlehead laughed as a few of the racers beamed and waved Ralph off.

"You betcha," Ralph beamed as he ran off towards Sugar Rush's sloping rainbow road.