Unplugged

Chapter Five

This is the first chapter of a story I posted in 2018! Yay me! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Ralph enters Sugar Rush Speedway. Maybe some time with Vanellope will clear his mind. Or maybe he should've drowned his depression in root beer at Tapper's, because he feels really guilty right now. It wasn't too long ago when he freaked out on Felix and shouted at him just inches away from his face. It was probably because Ralph made a promise with Vanellope that his game would be fine, but it won't be. He lied to her and blames himself.

Ralph has to tell Vanellope about what happened today. She's going to find out eventually from someone, and Ralph wants that someone to be him.

Ralph knocks on the giant candy doors to Vanellope's castle. The door opens with Sour Bill standing in the doorway.

"Where's Vanellope?" Ralph asks the little candy citizen. "I have to talk to her."

"She doesn't wish to see anyone at the moment..." Sour Bill replies. He begins to close the door, but Ralph stops the door from shutting with his hand.

"Come on, it's important," Ralph says. Sour Bill pauses for a moment. Then he sighs and opens the door wider for Ralph to step into the castle. Sour Bill leads Ralph up a flight of smooth, rock candy stairs. After walking down a long hallway for a bit, Sour Bill points to a door.

"She's in there," he says. Ralph thanks Sour Bill and the green piece of candy makes his way back downstairs. Ralph raises a fist to knock on Vanellope's door, but he stops to listen. On the other side of the door, he hears faint crying and sobs.

"Oh, boy," Ralph says to himself. He knocks on the door three times. Immediately, Vanellope shouts from the other side, "Go away!"

"Vanellope, it's me, Ralph," Ralph says calmly. "I'm coming in, okay?" Vanellope doesn't answer. Ralph lays a hand on the door knob and turns it slowly. He opens the door to find a bedroom with no one there. Behind him, he hears footsteps. When he turns around he sees Vanellope trying to sneak away. She must have glitched through the wall when Ralph opened the door.

"I don't want to talk to you," Vanellope snaps.

"What's the big deal?" Ralph asks her.

"Fix-It Felix Jr's getting pulled from the arcade Tuesday."

"Who told you?"

"No one-" Vanellope stops to wipe a tear from her face with her sleeve. "I overheard Mr.Litwak talking on the phone."

"Well, it's not that big of a deal-"

"Yes it is!" Vanellope shouts. "You lied to me! And the apartment building, the forest, the lake, EVERYTHING will be gone forever!"

"Vanellope, just calm down for a second," Ralph extends his hand to comfort Vanellope, but she pushes it away.

"No!" She yells. She glares up at Ralph with big brown glassy eyes. It takes her a moment to settle down and eventually her sharp breathing steadies.

"I'm sorry," Vanellope whispers while lowering her head. "For snapping at you and for your game. You can move here with me if you want."

"It wouldn't be too much trouble?" Ralph asks, kneeling down to get closer to Vanellope's height.

"Nah, there's room here for one more person. And you can watch me race every day now if you want. How cool is that?" Vanellope grins.

"Pretty cool, I guess..." Ralph sighs. Vanellope giggles a bit and gives Ralph a high five.

Meanwhile, Felix is still waiting for Tamora to come home. She should be at their house any minute now.

Felix walks back and forth across the carpet and he fidgets with his fingers. He doesn't know how to break the news to Tamora, and if he can't think of a way to tell his own wife, there's no way he can tell the Nicelanders and the bonus level characters.

"Maybe, I should wait to tell her tomorrow..." Felix mutters to himself. The arcade will be closed tomorrow because it will be Sunday, so Felix will have all day to think of a way to tell Tamora about his game getting unplugged.

No, he should tell her now. It's crucial.

Okay, I have noticed this before. When I'm writing a chapter for this story, Vanellope's name has the red squiggly line underneath it, stating 'Vanellope' is spelled wrong. If you right click to see how the computer thinks it should be spelled, the word 'antelope' appears. Ha! I just thought that was funny. (Vanellope the antelope)