The Other Side of the Mirror

[wreckofaguy]

[Sour Bill had unexpectedly shown up to Fix-It Felix Jr. not so long ago and had told Ralph that Vanellope had something she wanted to show him and that he should come as soon as possible.

After Sour Bill had left, it had taken Ralph a bit to head over to Sugar Rush, he had helped to clean up the game after the arcade closed.

Finally, he made his way to Sugar Rush and poked his head into the castle where Vanellope now lived.]

Hey, kid, you in here?

Comments

[notaglitch]

Nah, M'fine! Fine I just- ...

[She shrugs quickly, shaking her head a little.]

I'm just excited, yaknow? Since I found this old thing and...all..

[Vanellope has been continually sidling towards the door as she talks, backing up with...a pretty fake looking grin on her face, even for her.]

[wreckofaguy]

[Ralph scratches the back of his head with a giant hand, a puzzled expression on his face.]

Funny, I never thought you'd be so excited about jewelry.

[He raises an eyebrow.]

Where are you headed off to?

[notaglitch]

Hey, it's uh- ...it's an old thing I found, why w-w-w-wouldn't I be excited?

...

[She freezes in the center of the throne room, glitching uncontrollably again. It's obvious she's not doing it on purpose now, and the act she's putting up is waning. He's not as stupid as she first realized.

Vanellope glances up at him before suddenly giving him a sinister grin, before turning and taking off for the doors, cupping her hands around her mouth as she goes.]

Guards!! Guards! Lock the throne-room up tight, quick!!

[wreckofaguy]

[Before Ralph can respond to Vanellope's answer, she grins at him nastily and then yells for the throne room to be locked up.

He's the only person in the throne room, so she's trying to capture him!

This wasn't like Vanellope at all and he runs after her, giving chase. She's faster than him, but he isn't going to give up that easily.

He's not too concerned about being contained in the throne room, he broke through the sugar cube walls once before without even trying, and he can easily do it again.

What Ralph is worried about is Vanellope, something weird was going on and he was going to figure out what.]

Vanellope! What are you doing?!

[notaglitch]

[Vanellope doesn't answer though and just keeps on running, glitching erratically as she makes her way to the end of the room. She manages to just barely make it past the doors before the Oreo guards shut them- but she knows Ralph will be able to get out without a problem.

But she's planning for that already- hoping he'll continue to chase her. So what if the Oreo guards get crushed in the process?

Not her problem.]

[wreckofaguy]

[Ralph stops up short right as the doors were slammed in his face.

He'd rather not get into too much trouble with the guards, so instead of smashing the doors, he punches the wall next to them. He's hoping that nobody's standing in the way.

Ralph looks out the hole he made, trying to avoid hurting anyone.]

[notaglitch]

[Vanellope skids to a stop, looking over her shoulder. The guards are safe- they managed to jump out of the way in time. So with a hiss she barks at Ralph down the hallway, glaring at him.]

Better keep up slow poke!!

[Before she turns and takes off down the hallway again.]

[wreckofaguy]

[Ralph glares at Vanellope as she challenges him and he rushes out of the hole, charging down the hallway after her.]

What's this, some kind of game of tag or something?!

[notaglitch]

[She chuckles deeply and keeps running, going down a hallway Ralph's probably never been down before. It's deeper into the castle than he's been too, but somehow it seems familiar...]

C'mon, you run like a grandma!

[wreckofaguy]

[Ralph's too concerned with following Vanellope to really pay attention to his surroundings, so he has no idea where he's at in the castle.

He's not wanting to move much faster, if he does, he'll have difficulty with the corners and probably end up smashing into more things than he already is.]

[notaglitch]

[Vanellope can feel the vibrations of his footsteps- so grinning she ducks down a final, narrow hallway.

..The dungeons. But why would she want to go there?

Quickly she hops down the stairs and into the first, biggest cell she sees- ironically the one that King Candy trapped her in before. ...Well, here goes nothing.

Skidding to a stop she turns, her back to the far wall before calling out, her voice echoing loudly in the confined room.]

C'mooon, I ain't g-g-g-gettin' any youU-UN-ger!

[wreckofaguy]

[Ralph finally realizes where he's at, he had spent enough time in the dungeons smashing walls until he found Felix's cell. Vanellope's hadn't been too hard to spot, but he had wanted to bring her kart to her fully-fixed.

Why would Vanellope lead him down here? It was likely a trap, but Ralph was confident in his own strength. He felt like that if she did capture him, he could easily free himself.

Vanellope's special cell is rather creepy, but even so, he enters the room, slowing down as he frantically searches out his best friend.]

What are you playing at, kid?

[notaglitch]

[Panting, Vanellope backs up a bit, but the necklace she's wearing is glowing an ominous red- it's easily visible in the darkness of the cell now. She doesn't seem like she's upset she's been cornered in here, essentially- in fact, she's just grinning even wider now.]

Good job ham-hands, ya caught me. So now what are ya gonna do? Go- 'Ooh Vanellope, kid! What's gotten into ya??'

[wreckofaguy]

[Ralph narrows his eyes.]

No, I've got a fairly good idea of what's gotten into you. You only started acting weird after you got that necklace.

[notaglitch]

Whaaat, this o-old thing?

[She rolls her eyes, flicking the corner of the necklace with a finger.]

This ain't got nothin' to do with ANYTHIN' stink-brain. An' here I was thinkin' you were usin' that brain of yours for once, if it even exists-

[Carefully she peers around him before taking a step back, keeping her eyes fixated on the exit for a moment.]

I just think ya keep forgettin'... that us racers aren't 'xactly as sweet as we appear to be. ...Don'tcha remember what everyone did to my kart?

[Of course, that was BEFORE they'd regained their memories..]

[wreckofaguy]

[Ralph frowns, something definitely wasn't right here, especially with the way Vanellope said "stink-brain". Usually it was a joking term of endearment, but now, it had become more like a biting insult.]

Well, yeah, of course I do. And don't you remember that I chased the bullies off?

Sure, you had your moments, like when you snagged my medal, but you never were as bad as the others.

[notaglitch]

...Maybe.

[She lets that single word response hang in the air for a moment or two as she glances over at the exit again. She can barely see it past Ralph's girth, but if she needed to make an escape she would easily be able to get past him- ...as...unpredictable as her glitch had become right now.

Suddenly she looks up at him, her gaze not teasing anymore- ...it's filled with malice and spite, and it almost looks like she's ready to jump and attack him at any moment. ...She glitches again, red pixels altering her structure before she goes back to normal, but she talks anyway, acting as if it never happened.]

Since I'm in charge 'round here...I was thinkin' I make a few changes. And all that's gonna start today.

[wreckofaguy]

[The look in Vanellope's eye worries Ralph, but he's not concerned with what she can do to him. She's just a little girl and he's proven more than capable of stopping her from doing what she wants.

But, she's tricky and can slip away, and that's exactly what he doesn't need if he's gonna get that necklace away from her.]

Obviously. Your little trick with the guards more than proved that.

What's your angle with trying to lock me up? If you don't want me coming around, you could just say so.

After all, you're the one who invited me here in the first place.

[notaglitch]

...Did I eeever say I didn't want ya here? ...Shame on you Ralph.

[She sighs, polishing the necklace again with her sleeve- not unlike the time she did and SAID the same exact thing when she stole his medal. That felt like years ago now.]

No...if I didn't want ya here for all this, I wouldn't have wasted my time. I got plans, don't you worry your fat head about that..

[She glances back up at him, pausing.]

....

[Suddenly she tries to make a move, lighting the room up red again when she glitches, trying to get past him to the door.]

[wreckofaguy]

[Ralph's eyes haven't left his friend as she talks, he's trying to figure out the best way to grab a hold of her and remove that necklace, but so far, an opportunity hasn't arisen.

When she glitches, he quickly puts a massive hand out to block her way. However, compared to Vanellope, especially with her glitches, he's quite a bit slower.

And even if he did manage to stop her, there's so many ways she can easily escape from him.]

Where are you going?!

[notaglitch]

[She gasps sharply when she blocks her way. She can't glitch around him, because- for some reason- she's lost a lot of her former control over the glitches that she had previously. Grimacing, Vanellope glares up at Ralph before darting to the side again, trying to run between his legs.]

Where does it look like I'm goin'!? I'm gettin' OUTTA here!

[But you're not following her Ralph, if she can help it.]

[wreckofaguy]

[Ralph wasn't expecting her to go under him, he figured she'd run around his hand or go over it, so his reaction time is much slower and he's not able to nab her.

He spins around and tries to chase after her, hoping that he'll be able to get to the door before she closes it.]

Why are you leaving me behind?!

[notaglitch]

Cause I don't want you tryin' t'stop me, that's why!

[Quickly she hops out of reach of his hands and takes off through the cell's exit. The cell is actually quite large, so she has just barely enough time to get out and throw herself against the door. It's quite heavy, and she almost doesn't get it closed before he can grab her. The door isn't locked though- ..and she has no way to lock it either. She hadn't...thought about that.

Instead, she stands right in front of the door with her hands against it, knowing full and well she wouldn't be able to hold it shut- ...but she also knows he's not about to smash the door down with her standing so close. He'd hurt her, surely- and no matter what state, she knows he doesn't have it in him to do that.

But as soon as she moves, he'll be able to get out- ...so she needs to stall for time, to think of a plan.]

[wreckofaguy]

Stop you? Stop you from doing what?

[Apparently Vanellope had some kind of nasty plan up her sleeves, who knows what she was up to.

To make matters worse, she's currently blocking the door, so if he did try to break it down like he did before, she'd be caught up in the disaster.

Ralph stands there for a moment, thinking over the situation, then he braces his shoulder against the door. Little by little, he increases the amount of weight he's pressing up against it, planning to just slowly edge the door open.

If he does it right, he'll be free without hurting Vanellope and keeping the door intact, though maybe a little dented.]

[notaglitch]

Hey! Hold up- stop that!!

[Gritting her teeth, Vanellope glitches again and struggles to keep her footing, Ralph having no trouble pushing the door open like that. She would have had him trapped mostly, if she'd had the chance to get the cell locked.]

Augh, since WHEN did you start havin' a brain, huh?!

[Now she just seems to be getting angry. Her glitching is getting worse, and more erratic by the second, making it even harder for her to stay where she is.]