[OPEN] You don't know what you got till it's gone.

[rocketralph]

Who: Ralph and anyone else!
Where: Rocket base gym and training area.
When: June 7th, morning
Summary: Ralph is furious at his fourth wall memories and no longer hhaving his wrecking ability. The only thing he can do is try to get stronger the old fashioned way. [prose and brackets welcome!]
Rating: G
Log:


BAM!

BAM!

BAM!

Loud, deep thuds echoed throughout the far end of the Rocket base. Like the pounding of some rhythmic machine, the sounds were slow and deep. Everyone in the gym area had a front row seat to the source of the sound, and if they were smart, stayed away from it.

A mountain of a man in uniform was slamming fist after fist into a freshly painted concrete wall. His hands were wrapped in boxing tape and the red glow on his face suggested he'd been a this for quite a while. He didn't say anything to anybody when he came in. He didn't look at any of the other Rockets. He just kept throwing punches at the bricks. The weight stand next to the wall had toppled over and sent its contents rolling across the floor.

Ralph's sandshrew, Bossy, sat nearby with a juice box in her claws and quietly pretended not to be concerned.

He had to get stronger. He was Wreck-It Ralph. He was supposed to wreck stuff. The fleeting dreams from the strange weekend had dangled what he'd left behind over his head. Sure his job hadn't been fantastic, but he'd still been himself. How did the other people here not go crazy? How did they deal with missing the parts that made them who they were?

Anybody passing by would hear the ape-like man muttering to himself between the blows. "I'm. Gonna. Wreck it."

Comments

[rarestcandy]

[It isn't that she's not smart, she's just gotten used to it. That, and sticking by Ralph was way safer with all these weird buggy things chasing her around whenever she went outside for more than a couple of minutes at a time.

Still, he seemed pretty focused, which is why instead of interrupting, Vanellope sits herself down beside Bossy and silently offers her a gumdrop from her bowl of candies.]

[rocketralph]

<sub>[This goes on and on and on. He's been a grouchypants since he crawled.]

[Bossy, on the other hand, looks up form slurping on her juice box and flicks her ears. Ever since The Kid showed up, she's been claiming her spot on the big guy's shoulders.]

[Not cool.]

[The grouchy yellow armadillos wrinkles her nose and snaps at the girl's fingers.]</sub>

[rarestcandy]

[Uh, rude. She's pretty sure that wasn't an attempt to eat the gumdrop, which is why her hand gets pulled away and she pops the candy into her own mouth instead. Look, it's not her fault. She just had dibs.

Oh well, time to get away from Miss Bitey and saunter on over to Ralph.]

If y'keep doing that, your knuckles are gunna pop out. It'll be gross.

[rocketralph]

<sub>[Bossy chitters at Vanellope as she walks away.]

[Ralph, meanwhile, seems to be wearing down. He doesn't answer right away, but after a few more blows, he lets his arms hang at his sides and rests his forehead against the wall. The kid had a point. Bloody knuckles wasn't going to get him anywhere.]</sub>

What am I gonna do, Vanellope?

[rarestcandy]

[She offers the candy bowl out to him instead--he won't bite her hand off, she's pretty sure. Head, maybe, but not hand.]

Alright, big guy, talk me through it. What's this about?

[rocketralph]

<sub>[Ralph huffs and chuffs and pulls away from the wall long enough to look down at what she's offering him.]

[. . .]

[Aww...]

[Ralph sighs and sits down there on the gym floor with his elbows on his knees. Almost daintily he reaches out to select one of the candies from her bowl.]</sub>

I had a dream. I dreamed I could do everything the same as back in my game.

[rarestcandy]

Huh...

[She picks out another candy for herself, chewing thoughtfully at it while her brain kicks into 'gear. It was like a memory just out of reach--except it did seem familiar. No harm in asking.]

Did we wreck some buildings together in your dream? Goldenrod City buildings, I mean.

[rocketralph]

_{[Ralph squeezes his eyes shut and scrunches up his whole face in thought. That did kind of sound familiar. The edges of the dream were fading now, but he remembered how it felt to be his old self again. It had been so real. Had Vanellope been there? Yes. Yes, she'd been laughing.]}

Probably...I'd tear this place apart in a heartbeat if I could.

_{[He squashes the candy between his taped-up fingers.]}

[rarestcandy]

Yeah. You punched through the walls. Then we...we did the record store. Right? That's how it happened in my dream.

[And it had been fun, she definitely remembered that. It had been the only fun part of the dream, really. But if Ralph had also been happy in the dream (which she was sure he had been) then his bad mood was confusing.

...Or maybe not.]

You miss being able to break everything? That's why you're in here?

[rocketralph]

Yeah...yeah I do.

_{[Wait. He trades in his pouty face for a surprised one and wipes the crushed candy off on his uniform.]}

You're tellin' me you had the same dream? Then it couldn't have been a dream, could it?