WorldWide Wreck-It

Log Off

Ralph headed inside the massive central point as users either wandered around aimlessly, freshly arrived into the internet or left for the day. There was a constant flow, so it was more like a swarm or stampede than a crowd. The wrecker headed over to his friends, who were all off to the side and watching all the users run about. Felix looked a bit thoughtful, and as soon as the wrecker joined them, he spoke up.

"So, how are we going to get home?" The handyman asked. "Do we just... stand on one of those brightly coloured patches, and we go back to Litwack's? Or do we do something else..."

"Let me try something..." The sergeant walked up to the centre of the room, and stomped her foot on the first coloured panel he reached. At first, nothing happened, so she stomped again. When nothing happened again, she took a few steps back towards the group, and they carefully watched the users that were signing off to hopefully learn something.

They watched like hawks, and saw how Calhoun was basically almost right. But rather than one powerful stomp, it was two light taps of your foot on a platform. When that happened, a quick scan was done, and the user was shot into the sky as a pod formed around them

"I guess that's it then", Rancis said in surprise. "Thought it'd be easier..." He walked up, Taffyta and Candlehead right behind, and they mirrored when the users were doing. Instantly, they were launched off, their coloured pods taking them high into the sky.

"You guys go ahead, I'll just slow us down if I go ahead of anyone", Ralph suggested.

"You got it, Ralph!" Felix said, walking forward a bit. However, he was stopped when Vanellope glitched in front of him.

"Hang on, I need to check something..." Vanellope walked over to Calhoun and snagged her walkie-talkie, clicked it on, and spoke into the speaker. "Guys, are you back at Litwack's? Just checking so we don't get lobed across the planet by accident."

There was static for a moment, before laughter came from the other end."It does, Prez!" Taffyta responded from the other end. "And boy, I never thought I'd be so relieved to be home. Get your butts back here!"

The candy president beamed and tossed the device to the sergeant, who caught it in shock. The racer then zipped over to the platform, tapped her for twice on the floor, and she was off.

The adults all shared looks, then shrugged. "Kids will be kids!" Felix said with a smile. "Kinda wish I had one of my own!"

Ralph caught a bit of a thoughtful look on Calhoun's face, who silently followed her husband. The wrecker tilted his head in curiosity as the married couple shot off into the sky. Now that he was all alone, the wrecker turned around to get one last look out to the internet proper. All the buildings that shot into the sky, all the users darting about as they constantly moved from one place to another, all the noise of the activity and action...

It was so much more different than the arcade. So much more energetic, but not as alive. Everything was slick, clean, and more pristine. It lacked that life back at home, feeling like a series of algorithms built up what they thought was ideal. It was jarring to really think about the discrepancy. But as the mountain man's eyes wandered to this internal hub he was at, his heart felt funny.

It never left his head how similar this place looked to the Hub in the old Convergence Universe, to the point it was almost uncanny. He really knew that when he and Vanellope told the others about this, he'd have to bring this up. Honestly, that idea made him feel a bit better, because it could help explain why things were so weird. At least, he hoped.

Shaking his head as his thoughts got louder, he walked forward and stepped onto one of the coloured platforms. It was a red, the same shade as on his sprite. It filled him with this sense of familiarity, and after taking a deep breath, he tapped his foot twice on the ground.