route_1065 | [OPEN TO ROCKETS] Run, run, as fast as you can!

Current Location: Goldenrod City; Rocket Base.

Entry tags:

[OPEN TO ROCKETS] Run, run, as fast as you can!

Who: Vanellope von Schweetz and ANYONE AT THE BASE.
Where: Goldenrod City - Rocket base.
When: May 21st - after the day's newbie training.
Summary: Vanellope's got a real bed. Time to check out the rest of her new digs.
Rating: A for Adorable? I will put something real here if anything comes up.
Log:
[There's a cute little girl running around the Rocket base. ...Why in the world is there a cute little girl running around the Rocket base.

Well, for one: she's bored. Two: nobody's tried to kick her out, yet. And three: how the heck did she get here, this wasn't Diet Cola Mountain at all. It wasn't anywhere in Sugar Rush Speedway, which would be impossible. It's time to find the station gate around here and try to go back through it, even if she wouldn't necessarily mind staying a while, what with having something more comfortable than a candy wrapper to curl up in at night.

Unfortunately, all her zipping around just keeps getting her lost. Even the Zubat following her around doesn't really seem to know where they are.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Uh-huh. Well, at least it proves you've got something in that head of yours.

[She skips on just ahead of him and starts to walk backwards--mostly so he can get the full effect of her offended face.]

VALARIE? Really? It's Vanellope. And I'm from Sugar Rush Speedway--by the Whac-a-Mole? That's what they say, anyway.

Vanellope, right, right. Yeah, I know that game. I see it every once in a while when they throw me off the building.

_{[Once they enter the lobby, Ralph doesn't waste any time. He shuffles over to the nearest bench and plunks down on the far end. It bows under his weight.]}

Ssssss ow, Jeez, maybe I did get a little scrambled. So neither of us have that medal then, huh?

[Against her better judgement, Vanellope plops down next to him, elbows going to her knees and her chin landing in her hands. Out of the corner of her eye, she begins to study him.]

Nah, we gotta win the race, first. Winner gets the entry fees for the race as a reward.

[She figured being clear was best, if Ralph was experiencing technical difficulties.]

_{[Ralph massages his forehead.]}

Racing, huh? The last thing I remember is spiraling out of control in a space ship with a giant bug for a back-seat driver...

There are medals you can win here, but I'm not very good at this kind of game.

Oh yeah. You crashed, and you took a chunk of the trees with you. That's why I'm going to be the racer.

[Probably not the best time to bring up the fact that she can't actually drive. Ralph's head might explode.]

Medals are more your thing--seriously, you practically drool when they're mentioned. I mean, more than usual. [Vanellope perks up a little, taking a look around the lobby. Oh, she's ran through here a few times.] What kinda game is this, anyway?

_{[Ralph wondered if something had happened to him when he'd come out of that chute. It didn't help his headache at all. He does stop pinching his brow long enough to roll one eye down at Vanellope.]}

I do not.

_{[He finally gives up making his head feel any better and mimics her pose, chin on hands, elbows on knees.]}

A weird one. There's no screen or anything. I'm not even sure there's a player. That's how busted it is. We're supposed to catch these little monster guys called Pokemon and then they fight each other and get stronger. Then you take 'em around to these gym places and fight those pokemon to win medals. From there? I got no idea.

And we get to be the bad guys.

How come we gotta play if there's no player?

[Though the thought of her being an actual playable character was...kind of thrilling. Figures it'd be in a game just as broken as she is.]

What'd you expect? People always think we're the bad guys.

I dunno...I don't think anybody here really knows what's goin' on. _{[He lowers his voice as a gaggle of Rockets passes them by on the way to the long halls]} Heck, some people I've met don't even know they're in a game.

_{[There was always a weird disconnect when he ran into people that didn't use gamespeak.]}

I'm tired of being the bad guy. That's the whole reason I left my game, but then I got stuck here and it's like some big sick joke!

_{[To punctuate himself, he kicks his mop bucket, sending it wheeling across the lobby.]}

Huh? Any idiot could know this is a game. [Pause.] Unless everyone's coding gets scrambled when they get here. Can they do that?

[Vanellope sighs, drooping even more as she watches the bucket.]

Okay, so it sucks, you're right about that. I'm sure we can do something to fix it, though. We were this close back home, and people don't know us in this game, right? Maybe we can get 'em to see we're alright even if we're on this team thing.

Apparently they can. _{[Ralph taps the side of his head.]}

I've met a few nice people outside Team Rocket but no matter what, don't let anybody know we're the bad guys, alright? That's a one-way ticket to jail.

_{[Ralph's doom and gloom lifts slightly.]}

But nobody can make us steal pokemon or attack people. We can do somethin' else. I, ah...mop. I guess. And do laundry. It stinks, but it's better than bein' bad. There's this girl I met named Alice, she doesn't steal either. _{[THAT HE KNOWS ABOUT Aahahahaa. Ha.]

[He squints at Vanellope.]} Actually, you two might get along.

Huh...

[But Vanellope was already screwed up before she came here, and glitches couldn't leave their games.

Had they fixed her instead? She hadn't bugged out for a whole day and a half.

Oh well. Even if they did, it didn't change the fact that they had messed with her only friend's code and made him forget about her.]

Alice? [She sounds skeptical, but that might be because her stomach did an uncomfortable flop at the idea of Ralph making friends without her.] What's she like? Is she the "bad guy" [--complete with finger quotes--] in her game, too?

_{[Oblivious, Ralph just shakes his head.]}

I think she's actually from team of good guys. None of them wound up here. She got my behind out of trouble more than once.

This place doesn't seem to care about who you were. It just sticks you on one side or the other.

[She leans back into the bench instead, allowing her legs to kick back and forth. Being a ~good guy~ instead of a bad-guy-but-not-really didn't do much to earn this Alice person any points, but surely anyone who helped Ralph--multiple times, to boot--couldn't be...too horrible...

Right? Right.

So now to just...keep that in mind. Yeah.]

How come y'think I'd like her?

She's stubborn like you, for one thing.
_{[He's already picked up that Vanellope doesn't drop something just because somebody disagrees with her.]}

Hey!

[Her brows furrow like she's trying to look annoyed, but a natural grin finally appears.]

I'm not stubborn, I'm...spirited!

I've known you for all of twenty minutes and I can already tell.

_{[He pokes the very top of her head and just holds his finger there to see if she'll lower her head or push against him.]}

Stubborn.

[Predictably, it's the latter, and while there's no way she can do the same to him, it doesn't stop her from trying.]

Stinkbrain.

Edited 2013-05-23 02:05 (UTC)

Hey! What is with the name calling? That is rude. _{[Sound familiar, Vanellope?]} How about I call you Monkeyface all the time? How d'you like that?

That'd be great, actually, and then I could point out the family of caterpillars living in your ears.

[For effect, she rolls her eyes in an outrageously dramatic fashion.]

C'mon, Ralph, get with the program. It's what we do.

Well forgive me if I missed the memo. _{[He gives her a gentle thump on the head before finally taking his hand away. Then something occurs to him.]}

Have you been outside yet? Outside th' building, I mean.

I'll let it slide, this time.

[Huh. Now that wasn't a question she was expecting.]

Nuh-uh. Why?

_{[Ralph jumps to his feet and abandons his mop by the bench.]}

C'mon, you gotta get a load of this.

_{[Without waiting, Ralph rushes across the lobby toward the glass doors that led out into the street. He couldn't remember her, no. But he could show her some cool new stuff like wind. And a sky that isn't corralled by an invisible box of code.]}

[She sits there for a moment, bewildered, before she hops to her feet and skips along after Ralph. It doesn't take long for her to catch up, and when she does, she eagerly whips her head around to take in this new game's environment.

Only when it registers, she stops dead.]

Woah...

[Jumping jellybeans, check out those buildings! Vanellope cranes her neck, trying to see the top of a particularly tall one, and shields her eyes as they hit the actual sky. Then she doesn't know what to focus on, because that sky not only goes on forever, but it looks connected to literally everything in sight. There are no distinct landmarks because everything looks exciting! And what a different color scheme you get when all your designs don't consist only of candy!

Finally, she turns to stare at Ralph with wide eyes.]

Are all the other games like this?

_{[Ralph shields his eyes from the sun and lets her take it all in for a second. Something like a grin tugs at the corner of his mouth.]}

The ones I've been to haven't been anything like this. Besides, this is just one city! Up here!

_{[He doesn't waste any time in leading her around the corner and up a creaky old fire escape. The climb is long but eventually opens up onto the roof of the Rocket headquarters. From there, all of Goldenrod can be seen along with the forests and the ocean's edge.]}

[Vanellope follows him readily, forcing herself to slow down just enough that she doesn't push past him and knock him over the side of the fire escape. Once they reach the top, she ducks around him to rush over to the roof's ledges.

Somehow, though, she decides this view isn't quite as good as it could be, and it isn't long before she's squirreling her way up onto Ralph's shoulders and pointing every which way.]

That water is so blue, it looks like Gatorade! What's that building with the flashing sign thing? Man, it's really warm here--Oh, oh! That looks like a forest! Are those supposed to be trees? Does this place have a racetrack? Is that it over there?

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[action] ;-; Vanellope bb

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