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“It’s here! Today’s the day! Come on. We’re gonna be late, ya big lug!” Vanellope was practically dancing around him as he straightened out his one overall strap. She’d been excited for days, ever since the announcement went out that they were getting a new game in the arcade. Ralph was mostly excited only because Vanellope was so excited. It was hard to be upset or down on himself with her around, just like it was hard to be unenthusiastic about a new game about ladies in fancy dresses with planet names.
Felix and Calhoun - he was never, ever, going to call her Tamara again after the thwack she’d given him - were going, and Vanellope had to go, since she was the ‘Princess’ of Sugar Rush. Not that she acted like one most of the time, which Ralph liked most about her. She was still a cute little brat who pulled her hair back with a twizzler and decorated the inky black strands with sprinkles, insisting on President of Sugar Rush as her formal title.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Ralph replied, giving her a slight smile. Their big brother/little sister relationship worked a lot better when he tried to keep a straight face around her antics. “I don’t know what you’re so excited about. Gotta wear that stupid frilly princess dress of yours,” he teased, tugging at her frilly lace collar gently.
“Yea, yea. Whatever, fartbrain. Have you seen their outfits? How cool are those ruffly skirts? And their Princess has a crescent on her forehead! They get to transform with pens or something. Totally worth having to dress up for it!” Vanellope stuck her tongue out at him as they made their way to Game Central Station, where all of the Welcome Parties happened now. It was a way for everyone to get to know each other and find friends outside of their own games if they wanted, which Ralph thought was pretty epic.
Plus, it didn’t hurt that a lot of the arcade-wide celebrations happened there, too. Next year, there was going to be a big hoopla for the arcade’s 50th Anniversary. There was going to be some kind of committee or something, to help organize it. Felix and Vanellope had already signed up, and were trying to coax him and Calhoun into it, but Ralph so did not want to be anywhere near something that important. His usual response is just, “They don’t call me Wreck-It Ralph for nothing.”
It didn’t work on getting him out of the party the first time it was brought up, but that was okay. Ralph was working on how he felt about his lot in life, and between the Bad-Anon Support Group and making himself an actual home, he was coming along. There were still bad days, but he had friends, and that made them easier to bear. Being social helped, and that was all on Vanellope, Felix, and Calhoun.
A bell signaled their arrival at Game Central Station and Ralph helped Vanellope out of the car by swinging her up and onto his shoulders. “Hey!” she complained half-heartedly. She liked the higher view after all, and he didn’t mind her dress. He grinned and took only a handful of easy steps to get them into the main hall of Game Central Station. Every entry way was decked out to match the theme of the game: Sugar Rush had all bright colors and candies, Hero’s Duty had bullets strung together, and Fix-It Felix, Jr had all bricks and hammers strung up. It was actually pretty cool, and it had gone a long way with improving his relationship with the Nicelanders. There were still a few that were a little prickly, but it was fine. Felix and Vanellope kept saying they’d come around.
“Look! Look! There they are!” Vanellope pulled at his hair with one hand as the other pointed toward the other end of the terminal. Her whole body was pushing against his head as she bounced and pointed, trying to steer him the way she wanted.
“Hey! I am not your go-kart, Miss Megabooger.”
That gets the tugging to stop. “Did you just call me a megabooger? Cause that’s pretty lame coming from you, nutty buddy.”
Ralph chuckled softly and rolled his eyes. “Whatever, sprinkles. We can’t all be good at everything.”
“You’re right, I am good at everything, aren’t I? Now will ya take me over there so I can be good at being President?”
“Yea, yea. Just keep an eye out for Felix and Calhoun, okay?” Having Felix around was sort of like a security blanket, since he could literally fix anything Ralph broke. When he was in big, crowded places like this, having Felix around just made it easier to not be so tense. He usually ended up breaking more things that way, anyway.
It didn’t take long for them to make their way over to the new residents, who were mingling but still staying pretty close together. The crowd parted for him, accommodating his larger size instinctively in a way that Ralph always sorta felt bad about.
“Hiya! I’m Vanellope, from-” she stopped abruptly and glared down at Ralph’s hair before thumping him on the head playfully. “Hey, put me down first! Silly.”
Ralph rolled his eyes, which caused the pretty blonde with a crescent on her forehead to giggle, and gently set Vanellope on the floor.
“Much better. As I was saying, I’m Vanellope and I’m the President of Sugar Rush over there,” she explained, gesturing toward her game’s archway. “It’s a cool racing game and our world’s full of candy.”
“Candy? That you can just eat?” The Princess - Vanellope had said she’d have a crescent on her forehead - seemed really excited about that fact, which caused her two darker haired companions to groan.
“Usagi!” The black haired one, with a fiery red and starch white outfit, scolded. “Don’t sound so excited. You can’t eat her home.”
Usagi narrowed her eyes at her companions. “I’m not going to eat her home, Rei! Why do you always think the worst of me?”
Before Rei could reply, Vanellope offered, “I really don’t think you could eat my game even if you wanted to. Can’t go wrong with a branch from a peppermint tree though. Just not the double stripe-”
“Those disappear,” Ralph chimed in, his voice overtaking Vanellope’s and effectively turning the attention on him. Embarrassed, he shuffled on his feet and lifted one hand up behind his head to rub at his neck. “Uh. Hi. I’m uh...Ralph. I’m Ralph. From Fix-It Felix, Jr,” he said awkwardly.
Vanellope just rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t mind him. He’s kinda antsy around people. Doesn’t know his own strength sometimes. You know how it goes.” She shrugged, even though it was pretty obvious she didn’t really know how it went.
Usagi smiled brightly. “I’m sure you’re a wonderful friend, Ralph. It’s really nice to meet you. You too, Vanellope. Sorry about before. Food’s kind of my weakness, especially sweets or pork buns or-” Rei cleared her throat and Usagi winked at Ralph and Vanellope. “Anyway, I’m Usagi, Princess Serenity or Sailor Moon over in our game. This is Rei, Ami, Mina, and Mako,” she introduced, gesturing to a different woman in turn.
Ralph just nodded politely while Vanellope looked up at the women with her look of childlike wonder. Mina, the other blonde woman, immediately knelt down to compliment Vanellope’s dress and inspect some of the more intricate patterns while Ami, the blue haired one, began typing away on some kind of compact. Ralph was content to watch over his friend, but he realized one of them, the brunette Usagi had introduced as Mako, was staring at him intently.
“You’re pretty good with her,” Mako observed quietly, watching her friends fuss and fawn over the small princess racer. She glanced up at him - only a little, since she came up to his shoulder - and smiled. “How long’ve you guys been friends?”
“Almost a year, now. She’s uh...something special,” Ralph replied, his fondness for his friend filtering through in his voice.
Before either of them could say anything else, Felix and Calhoun came up behind him and Mako. Vanellope waved excitedly at her friends and made the introductions. “Felix and Ralph’re in the same game. Ralph wandered into Calhoun’s game before crashing into mine, and then Calhoun and Felix had to come fix it,” she explained, stage whispering, “That’s what he does,” to the Sailor Scouts. Calhoun rolled her eyes and Felix chuckled embarrassedly, while Ralph just frowned and dropped his gaze. Vanellope didn’t notice as she continued on. “Ralph and Felix built apartments and stuff for people who don’t have games anymore. It was all Ralph’s idea. Looks pretty cool, too. You guys should come by. Sometimes there’s block parties,” she invited happily.
Usagi smiled widely. “We’d really like that,” she replied, her smile lingering on Ralph. “I think we’re really going to like it here.” Her friends all nodded in agreement, smiles on all of their faces.
Ralph actually felt sort of good about it, even though he had expected to feel a little like he wanted to run away. It was a nice feeling.
“Have you been making friends, Usako?” a deep male voice asked from behind the women.
Ralph knew he wasn’t the only one confused by the name, since Felix, Calhoun and Vanellope all looked a little confused. Usagi, however, lit up like a Christmas tree and spun around, throwing her arms around the tall man dressed in a sharp tuxedo.
“Mamo!” she cried happily, giving him a tight hug. The man returned her hug, an indulgent smile on his lips. “I did make friends,” Usagi replied, pulling away to give her new friends a smile. She kept her arm looped in the man’s. “Mamoru, I’d like to introduce Ralph and Felix, from Fix-It Felix, Jr., Calhoun from Hero’s Duty, and Vanellope from Sugar Rush. Guys, I’d like for you to meet Mamoru,” she said, causing Ralph to shift nervously at being introduced first. “Where are the other guys?”
Mamoru inclined his head in greeting, but replied to Usagi first. “They’re a bit hesitant. Beryl is refusing to come,” he explained quietly. Usagi’s face fell and the other Sailor Scouts frowned.
“Are they your bad guys?” Vanellope asked.
“Vanellope!” Felix chastised, immediately turning to the newcomers. “I’m sorry-”
“No,” Usagi cut him off, “It’s nothing to apologize for. Yes, Vanellope. They’re the villains of our game. It’s just a game, though. Beryl...she sometimes forgets that, and the other four are caught in the middle.”
Usagi just looked so sad, so Ralph offered, “I can go talk to them.” He swallowed hard as their small group all turned to look at him. “I..uh. I get it. I might be able to help.”
“I would really appreciate that, Ralph. Thank you,” Usagi accepted, her frown transforming into a hopeful smile tentatively.
Ralph nodded to her and then stepped around the group to enter Sailor Moon’s Legacy. Someone stepped up next to him, putting a hand on his arm.
“I’ll take you through to where they’ll be,” Mako offered. Ralph glanced at Felix, Vanellope, and Calhoun before nodding to brunette at his side. Her lips twitched just slightly, a ghost of a smile, before pulling him forward into the game.
They walked silently, Mako easily keeping up with Ralph’s longer stride. It was nice, having someone who could keep even with him, but he only enjoyed it for a moment before focusing on the task at hand. The game setting was beautifully designed, with a silver white castle in the distance to their left and a dark, foreboding castle to the right. Mako didn’t falter for a moment as she steered him down the path toward the scary castle.
Turned out, they didn’t have to go very far. They’d only been walking for maybe ten minutes before four figures shimmered into being in front of them. Ralph took a hard step back, causing the ground to rumble slightly beneath them.
“Sorry, sorry. Just startled me, is all,” Ralph said hastily, holding his hands up in a universal non-threatening sign. He looked from Mako to the four stoic looking men and forced a slight smile. “Hi, I’m Ralph,” he added, offering his hand to the man standing slightly forward from the others.
“What are you doing, Jupiter?” A man with long, wavy brown hair stepped forward, his voice hard.
“Nephrite, you guys should be out at the party with us, not sulking with Beryl,” Mako countered, hands on her hips.
Ralph spoke up, “Look, I don’t really know you guys or anything, so I know it’s not my business but...Litwack’s is a good arcade. You guys’ll be more than welcome. Not just with the good guys, too. We’ve got a support group for bad guys. They sorta really helped me out. Really though, all you gotta remember is that the game? It doesn’t even really exist once you cross over into Game Central Station. You’ll just be you, whoever that is. Might not be a bad guy.”
All four men looked at him blankly, but Mako had smiled and then returned to glaring at the four men. The silence felt thick and uncomfortable, but Ralph did his best to keep steady. He really meant what he said; Liwack’s really didn’t pay too much attention to who was the good guy or the bad guy. Some games, it was harder to forget the line, but Ralph didn’t even really feel like a bad guy anymore. It was a just a role he played.
“I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be, than me.” Ralph surprised himself, but it seemed to click with the four guys in front of him.
“Come on, Neph,” Mako encouraged, holding her hand out for the brunette. “Guys?”
The white haired one rolled his eyes, but that seemed to be some kind of yes, because Nephrite took Mako’s hand with a smile. Ralph relaxed considerably once they started walking back toward Game Central Station. He let them carry on a quiet conversation, feeling pretty good about himself. Vanellope would be proud and Felix was probably going to smile like the dork he was and probably fuss over the progress he was making. It’d be embarrassing, but Ralph was kinda looking forward to it. He was really starting to feel like he had a place at Litwack’s. It wasn’t even all bad.
His thoughts distracted him for the entire walk, his attention drawing back to the scene in front of him as each Sailor Scout gently chastised their General before greeting them. Ralph was pleased by the fact that they were all paired off. It was sweet.
“Thank you, Ralph,” Usagi said with a warm smile, closing the distance between them to give him a hug. “You’re a really good friend. I hope you’ll come hang out with us some time.”
“Oh uh...sure, Usagi. I’d really like that,” Ralph replied, a little startled by the affection but smiling all the same as he carefully wrapped one large arm around the small blonde. “I hope you guys like it here,” he added quietly.
“I think we’ll like it here just fine,” Mako piped up, grinning at him.
Ralph flushed, embarrassed by all of the attention. Usagi seemed to sense that, because she pulled away and moved to stand next to Mamoru again. They’d definitely be good friends for as long as they were both at Litwack’s, which Ralph was looking forward to. He hoped they four men would consider attending the Bad-Anon Support Group, and that Queen Beryl the others had mentioned.
“Come on, Ralph. Can’t hog them for the whole party,” Vanellope teased, tugging on his sleeve.
Usagi looked around guiltily. “Oops. I got caught up in worrying that I forgot. That’s my bad.” Her friends didn’t seem to mind though.
“Glad I could help,” Ralph replied sincerely. “If you need anything just let us know. I’m sure you guys’ll be settling in easy though.”
Everyone exchanged various goodbyes and see you laters, and the four Generals introduced themselves as they were saying goodbye.
“You did good, Ralph,” Felix complimented once they’d meandered away. “Real good. It was sweet of you to offer to go talk to them. Glad you found a way to make it work.”
“Come on, I know the racers wanna see say hi. You guys don’t come around enough anymore,” Vanellope complained, even though they all knew it was a total lie. Ralph was over at Sugar Rush every other day, it felt like. Felix and Calhoun stopped by at least once a week, too. It was a good distraction though, and Ralph was grateful for it so he let Vanellope lead the way.
Not such a bad party, after all.