A Racer's Heart (Wreak-it Ralph Fanfic)

Chapter Five

"That. Was. Awesome!" I cried, jumping from my kart. I quickly inspected the outside for any damage; after hitting the Mentos into the boiling Diet Cola below, I had to make sure my vehicle was still in tip top shape for the race.

Not a scratch.

I whooped with excitement, throwing my fist in the air and doing a little happy dance. I looked up to see Ralph staring at me.

"What?" I asked. "Was it the Cola?" Just as I said it, the boiling liquid exploded again, shaking the ground beneath us.

"You need to get that glitching under control, Vanellope," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, okay, I will!" I said. "Then...maybe do you think I have a chance?"

He looked like he was thinking for a moment, and I waited anxiously. He cracked a smile and nodded. I cheered again.

Together, we pushed my kart outside the mountain. I was buzzing with excitement, possibly glitching a few times as well.

"This is gonna be awesome!" I squealed. I stopped suddenly, putting a hand over my stomach. "I feel like I'm gonna throw up. Or maybe it's just a burp," I gasped. " A vurp!"

"A what?"

"You know, a vomit and a burp mixed together, and you can just taste it afterwards!" I explained. Ralph laughed, shaking his head. I noticed something else. "I don't think I've ever seem your teeth before," I smiled. "You really do have a nice smile."

Ralph looked bashful in result of my comment. I started towards my kart, ready to jump in. I felt gloriously happy for the first time in my life. Ever since I came to exist, everyone put me down. They wouldn't accept me, just because I was faulty. I was avoided, laughed at, beat up, and all for something I had no control of. I couldn't count the many nights I cried myself to sleep, wishing there was some way to end my life. I tried everything I could think of - falling off a high place, drowning myself in the taffy ponds; I even threw myself into the boiling Diet Cola. Each attempt only ended with me resurrecting. Then, I wanted to leave the game, then find some way to die without coming back. But with me being a glitch, I was unable to.

But now, I had found someone whom I could call "friend". Sure, Ralph seemed like a bitter dude at first, but now that I've gotten to know him, know that he's the same as me, I felt like he understood me. Even if it was all to get his medal back, he had done what everyone else would dare to do: befriend me. And now, seeing him laugh and smile like that, I knew that I had finally found a friend.

And I wanted to find some way to thank him.

"Hold on a sec," I said to him, racing back inside the mountain.

* * *

Ralph watched Vanellope run back inside the mountain, leaving him to watch the kart. He wondered what she was doing.

"Yoo-hoo! There you are Ralph!"

Ralph snapped his head around to see a white kart appear, it's driver waving at him like he was an old friend.

"You!" He spat accusingly. King Candy jumped out of his kart, a big smile on his face.

"Wait - I come alone, unarmed, and-" he shrieked as he ducked to avoid a gumdrop being thrown at him. Ralph started towards him quickly.

"I've had enough of you, Candy," he said, chasing after the flamboyant character. King Candy ran behind a rather large gumdrop, racing around to the other side. Ralph was already there, lunging at him. He evaded him, trying to escape the other side, but he was already there. Ralph quickly grew tired of the game, and he lifted the piece of candy, tossing out over this head. He had King Candy backed against the wall now.

"I'm gonna beat the filling out of you," he threatened.

As a last resort to avoid being hurt, he took out a pair of spectacles, slapping then on his face. "You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would you?" He chuckled nervously. Ralph removed the glasses, breaking them on his head. "Oh...hit a guy with his glasses...well played,"

Ralph grabbed King Candy by his jacket, lifting his feet off the ground with ease. "What do you want, Candy?" Ralph demanded.

"I, I just wanted to t-talk with you," he stuttered, trying to hold his hands up to protect himself.

"I'm not interested in anything you have to say,"

"I can understand that, b-but would you be interested in this?" He said, pulling something from his pocket. Ralph let him fall to the ground in his shock at the item.

"My metal," he muttered. "How'd you get that?!"

"It doesn't matter, Ralph!" King Candy said, holding it out. "Its yours. Go on, take it!"

Ralph carefully took the medal in his pudgy fingers. The familiar coolness of the coin rubbed against his palm. He looked up at King Candy.

"All I ask, is that you'll hear me out," he said, his normal bubbliness replaced by concern and seriousness.

"About what?"

"You know, the hardest part about being king is that you have to make the right decision,"

"Just get to the point," Ralph groaned.

"My point is, Vanellope can't be allowed to race," he said.

"Why is everyone so against her?!"

"Listen! I'm not against her, I'm trying to protect her," he protested. "If Vanellope wins that race, she'll be added to the roster. Gamers will be able to choose her as their avatar,"

"And?"

"When they see her glitching and just being herself, they'll think the game is broken. Sugar Rush will be put out of order for good, and all my subjects will be homeless. But there's one who won't be able to escape," King Candy sighed. "When the game's plug is pulled...she'll die with it,"

Ralph was silent. Images of Vanellope, trapped by the barrier that forbade her to leave, with Sugar Rush crumbling around her. He felt helpless as he could practically hear her screams as she tried to pass through the wall, only to be sucked up into a dark abyss of nothing.

Ralph furrowed his brow. "You don't know if that'll happen. The gamers could love her,"

"But what if they don't?" King Candy said gently. Ralph took the possibility into consideration. For a moment, he didn't want to take that chance. Risking her life wasn't a decision he wanted  to make.

He sat down on a gumdrop. King Candy sighed. "I know it isn't easy, but heroes have to make the tough decisions. She can't race, Ralph, but she won't listen to me. But maybe she'll listen to her friend," he took in a breath. "Ralph, can I depend on you to talk to her?"

Ralph hesitated. Vanellope had her heart set on racing; could he make her understand? Probably not, but he wasn't about to have her make the risk of killing herself.

He nodded faintly. King Candy saw that Ralph was torn by this decision, and was somewhat relieved that his notion had been right - Ralph did care deeply about Vanellope.

At the same time, he felt weird that someone else cared about her. Jealous, perhaps?

He shrugged it off for now, backing away from Ralph. "I'll give you two some time alone," he said.

Ralph watched the white kart disappear from sight, and he sighed to himself.

Vanellope wasn't going to like this...