Chapter 14: In Which Ralph And Sorceress Are Trapped in A Tunnel

Ralph gaped in horror at the injured woman sitting in his arms. "You… You lost the map?"

Sorceress patted her clothes, checking to make sure she hadn't tucked it away somewhere. Finding no trace of the scroll, she nodded gravely. "I think I dropped it in the first cave."

"Why didn't you just poof it away like you did before?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Sorry, I was a bit distracted at the time because someone was about to get eaten."

The wrecker opened his mouth to say something equally sarcastic but all that came out was a groan. He didn't have the energy for another argument. The wrecker turned to the steel doors sealing off the cave behind them. "Well, we can't go back and get it. Even if we could get the doors open there might be more bugs in there by now."

Sorceress scowled at the ugly burn spreading down her right thigh. The skin was all red and blistered, and the searing pain made the slightest movement difficult. "We can't risk another fight. I can't use any attack spells with an injury this bad."

Ralph adjusted his grip on her and stared down the tunnel ahead of them. The meager light spell only illuminated a circle around them and cast flickering shadows on the walls. The tunnel was relatively spacious, with dim lamps shining weakly from the ceiling and a set of steel tracks running along the ground for transporting carts and equipment back and forth from the caves. Venturing into the mining network without a map would get them hopelessly lost or killed. There was only one choice left that could get them out of here, and just thinking about it made Ralph's stomach sink. He stared blankly into the darkness for a long moment.

"You'd better call Kohut," he said dully.

Sorceress' head jerked up in surprise. "Huh?"

He continued to stare into the void, stomach sinking more and more. "He's the only one who knows we're in the game."

Her eyebrows crinkled with unease. There was no sign of resentment in his voice, but there was definitely some sadness there. "Um… Are you sure you're okay with that?"

At last he looked down at her, doing his best to mask his feelings with a crooked smile. "I'll be fine. It's you I'm worried about." This was true. He was worried about her leg and she needed medical attention he couldn't give her.

Sorceress hesitated. She was still reluctant to get Kohut involved in their affairs, but Ralph was right. The corporal was the only person who knew they were here and the only one who could send them help. With a puff of twinkly purple mist the comm-link appeared in her open palm. After studying the device for a moment she pressed a button, held it up to her mouth and spoke. "Corporal Kohut? This is Sorceress. Are you there?"

A deep male voice came through the speaker, crackling slightly with static. "Kohut here. What's the situation?"

She straightened up and assumed her most composed, businesslike tone. "I need your help, corporal. Ralph and I went exploring in the secret bonus level and now we're lost."

"The bonus level?" Kohut echoed with some surprise. "That's a restricted area. How'd you get all the way down there?"

"We flew," she said dryly. "But enough about that. Send someone down to fetch us with medical supplies. I've got a nasty burn on my leg from battling an energy-belching Crystal Bug, and it's highly uncomfortable."

"Understood." He sounded as serious as one would expect of a Space Marine, but there was a subtle tinge of worry in his tone. "Are you two in a safe place?"

"I think so," Sorceress replied, calm and businesslike. "We just came out of the Crystal Cave after killing all the Cy-Bugs. It's sealed off now, and we haven't met any others in the tunnel."

Kohut seemed relieved to hear this. "Understood. Stay put and stay safe. Oh, and Ralph?"

The wrecker flinched at the sound of his name. "Uh, yeah?"

"Don't let anything else happen to her, okay?"

Ralph's heart twisted inside his chest. "I will," he said with a nod. He couldn't hate a guy whose concern sounded so genuine.

"Roger that. Kohut out." With that, the transmission ended and the tunnel was quiet again.

Sorceress sent the comm-link away with her usual puff of twinkly mist. "Well, that's that. Nothing to do now but wait."

Ralph glanced around for a place to sit. There was nothing to sit on except for the steel tracks and the rough, stony ground under his feet. Taking care not to rub her burnt leg, he lowered Sorceress to the ground with the tunnel's wall against her back. As he slumped down to sit beside her on her left, Ralph kept a respectful space between them. The familiar awkward silence was back. Neither of them made any attempt to speak or look at each other.

Then, out of nowhere, Sorceress' voice broke the silence. "I'm sorry."

Ralph looked down at her in surprise. "Huh?"

She had her left leg pulled up to her chest and her right stretched out in front of her, head bowed and face hidden in shadows. "This mess is my fault. If I hadn't been so set on going to Hero's Duty tonight none of this would have happened."

"Oh." He paused, searching for something to say in reply. "Don't worry about it. You didn't know what the bonus level was gonna be like. And it's not like you asked that Crystal Bug to zap you."

Sorceress shook her head, long hair swaying from side to side. "It's not just that." She lifted her eyes just enough to meet his gaze. "I talked about Kohut too much. That was inconsiderate of me."

Ralph's eyes shifted to his bare feet. In retrospect, Sorceress really hadn't been as inconsiderate as it seemed at the time. If she had spent the evening singing Kohut's praises or making comparisons between them that would have been worse. But she had done none of that, and so he had thrown a tantrum for nothing.

"I'm the one who needs to apologize here." He sighed, big shoulders sagged. "I shouldn't have blown up at you over that. I'm sorry, I overreacted and I scared you. It's just… I don't get it."

Her brows drew together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

He hesitated. "Never mind, it's nothing."

She leaned over to rest a hand on top of his. "Tell me the truth."

He looked back at her and his heavily fortified walls of masculine pretense crumbled immediately. It was useless to try and pretend nothing was wrong around her. She could always see right through him. He turned his gaze down to the floor, searching for the right words to explain how he felt.s

"Sorceress, I… I'm not good enough for you. You deserve someone who's just as amazing as you are, not… this." He spread his giant hands and moved them up and down his front. "I mean, just look at me. I'm too gigantic to fit through most doorways, my fashion sense is hobo chic, my hands are bigger than my head, and I always stink no matter how many times I wash. Not to mention my temper tantrums." With a resigned sigh, he propped his elbows on his knees and let his head droop in dejection. "A grubby chump like me doesn't belong with a classy woman like you."

Sorceress tipped her head to one side, thin brows crinkling in confusion. "And you think a man like Kohut does?"

Ralph grunted in reply but said nothing. He continued to sit slumped over and glum.

Sorceress' frown went from confused to worried. This was worse than she thought. She had only seen him this downcast once before, when he first came to Bad Anon on the night of his game's thirtieth anniversary and declared he was fed up with being a Bad Guy. Back then she had kept quiet and let others do the talking, but she couldn't do that now. There had to be something she could say that would make him understand he really was a good guy.

Wait. Bad Anon… Yes, that could work.

She shifted around to face him, resting her weight on her folded left leg, and raised her open palms in front of her. "Give me your hands."

Ralph lifted his head and stared blankly at her hands. Then he looked at her and blinked a few times in confusion. "What?"

"Give me your hands," she repeated. "Both of them."

Still confused, he did as she said. Once again he was struck by their tremendous differences. They were such a drastic mismatch in every possible way. Her fingers were smooth and slender with the nails neatly manicured and painted, so unlike his callused, clumsy things. She could barely get a grip around one of his fingers. If he wasn't careful he could grind her delicate bones to dust.

They were sitting face to face now. Holding his index fingers in her hands, Sorceress closed her eyes and spoke solemnly. "I am bad…" She trailed off, waiting for him to finish the sentence.

Ralph rolled his eyes to the tunnel's ceiling and groaned. "Seriously?"

Her eyes remained shut and her forehead crinkled slightly with annoyance. "I am bad," she repeated more firmly.

With a shake of his head, he decided to humor her and closed his eyes. "And that's good," he finished.

She gave his index fingers an encouraging squeeze and began the next line. "I will never be good…" she said, her tone gentle and patient.

Strangely, the simple touch made him feel somewhat better. "And that's not bad."

"There's no one I'd rather be…"

"Than me."

They opened their eyes and Sorceress smiled up at him with nothing but kindness and affection. "See, Ralph?" she said, still holding his fingers in her hands. "You don't need to be like Kohut or anyone else for me to like you. So what if your hands are big and you smell kind of funny? That's not bad." She leaned forward, earnest and sincere. "You're absolutely good enough, Ralph. And right now, right here, there's no one I'd rather be with than you."

Ralph's formerly heavy heart skipped a beat and a warm feeling filled the pit of his stomach. Seeing her look at him that way and speak to him like this almost made him forget his doubts completely. With a slow smile, he curled the rest of his fingers around hers and stroked her knuckles lightly with his thumbs. "Thanks, Sorceress."

She squeezed his index fingers once more. "You're welcome."

His eyes drifted to the red, blistered skin on her right thigh. "By the way, how's your leg?"

Sorceress sighed and shifted back to her former sitting position with her leg stretched out in front of her. "Still hurting. And kind of itchy." She chuckled dryly. "I guess we're finally even from our night in Street Fighter II. Right down to the second-degree burns."

His forehead wrinkled with worry. "Can't you make some ice to put on that?"

She arched an eyebrow at him. "I barely had enough power to make that light spell. Ice isn't going to happen."

"Sorry. If there's anything I can do to help, just let me know."

"Talking helps keep my mind off the pain. Why don't you tell me about your day?"

Ralph shrugged his big shoulders. "Eh, it was just the usual. I wrecked the building, Felix fixed it, the Nicelanders threw me off the roof." He perked up suddenly as he remembered something. "Oh, and Vanellope won five races in a row! She even won first place in the Random Roster Race again!"

Sorceress chuckled warmly. Of course he would get excited about that. Watching Vanellope was the highlight of his day. "My goodness, she really is something special."

His eyes lit up and a smile spread across his face. "You should have been there. She did an evil laugh after crossing the finish line, just like you taught her."

She let out a laugh of her own; her warm, natural laugh, not her melodramatic evil laugh. "Oh no, I've created a monster! If only I could have seen the looks on the spectators faces."

"It was pretty funny," he said with a chuckle. "Sour Bill looked like he was gonna have a heart attack."

"Poor Sour Bill," she said, shaking her head. "Do you have any more Miss Vanellope tales?"

He flashed a broad, gap-toothed grin. "Are you kidding? I've got millions of 'em."

As Ralph told Sorceress story after story, neither of them realized how much time was passing. He began with the story of how Vanellope stole the Medal of Heroes from him after he first crash-landed in Sugar Rush. He told her how they snuck into the kart bakery and built her candy go-kart together, how he helped her learn to drive in Diet Cola Mountain, and how she rejected the title of princess in favor of leading her game as a president. Then he told the story of Vanellope's first time leaving her game and the many adventures they shared as he showed her around the arcade.

Sorceress was so enthralled with Ralph's stories that she forgot all about the horrible burn on her leg. She never laughed so much in her life and he loved seeing her smile. It gave him a sense of pride watching her clutch her stomach and double over, shaking all over with laughter at the latest story of Vanellope doodling on his face with a washable marker and tying little bows in his hair while he slept.

As he thought about other stories to tell, his fingers idly reached for the cookie medal inside his shirt. It occurred to him then that Sorceress still didn't know anything about it. Now would be a great time to tell her about his most prized possession and what it meant to him. "Here, I wanna show you something."

Still catching her breath from the last laughing spasm, Sorceress pushed some stray hair out of her face and arched a curious eyebrow as he pulled the medal out from his shirt and scooted closer to get a better look. As she observed the heart-shaped cookie dangling from the sugary pink ribbon, she read the loopy icing words aloud. "To stink brain?"

"Whoops, wrong side." He flipped the cookie around.

Sorceress had to give Vanellope credit for taking the time to decorate both sides of the cookie. This side was more colorful than the other, coated with turquoise green frosting and dotted with pink, yellow and white sprinkles. Another message was written there with the same loopy white icing.

"You're my hero," she read aloud. Then she smiled. "I see. She made it for you."

Ralph beamed and puffed out his broad chest with pride. "Yep. It's a medal. She gave it to me the day we met and I've worn it every day ever since. Haven't taken it off once."

"It must be made of stern stuff to survive your rough-and-tumble lifestyle," she remarked. She leaned in to study the medal more closely. It looked small hanging in the middle of his chest, but it was actually big enough to cover her entire hand. "It's lovely. She's very talented."

"I know, right?" He lifted the medal carefully in his fingers and turning it to smile fondly at the inscription. "It might seem kinda silly, but this is the most precious thing I own."

Sorceress watched the tenderness on his face and felt an odd twinge of envy. Almost immediately she doubted the emotion. What reason did she have to be envious? Vanellope was just a little girl. Ralph's bond with her was powerful and devoted, but it was a bond of based on platonic friendship, not romantic or physical attraction. Yet Sorceress envied the closeness they shared. She wanted Ralph to look at her with that kind of tenderness in his eyes, too.

Leaning back against the stony wall, she twisted her fingers in her hair. "You two really love each other, don't you?"

Ralph nodded and tucked the medal safely inside his shirt. "Yeah. She's my best friend in the world. I'd do anything for her."

A pause as Sorceress tugged her hair and chewed her lip. She cast an insecure, sidelong glance at him. "Do you think you could ever love someone else that much?"

The question caught Ralph by surprise. In all honesty he had never thought about that before. Until Vanellope came into his life he had never loved or been loved by anyone. Even now he was still learning about relationships and the nature of love itself. Friendship was different from romance, but both of them were forms of love. Could that be what Sorceress was asking him?

She was still fussing with her hair when he reached for her hand. He held it gently between his thumb and forefinger as he looked into her eyes. "I think I could."

The flickering light spell above their heads illuminated their faces enough that Ralph could make out a hint of a blush stealing across Sorceress' cheeks. The way her eyes caught the light was beautiful, too. Everything about her was beautiful. It still amazed him that someone like her would choose to spend her time with someone like him. He chose not to question it this time. They were together. That was good enough.

A long moment of silence passed. Then his eyes drifted to her lips and the thought of kissing her popped into his mind. It had only been a few days since he first asked her permission to kiss her. She had turned him down, saying it was too soon. Would it be wrong to try asking her again? There was only one way to find out.

Mouth going dry, he cleared his throat to speak. "Sorceress?"

She didn't move, as lost in the same haze as him. "Yes, Ralph?"

His stomach fluttered with butterflies. He tried to speak but his tongue wouldn't cooperate. "Um… W-Would you be mad if I… That is, is it okay if we…" He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

"Kissed?" she offered.

He nodded, cheeks flushing scarlet. "Y-Yeah… Is it still too soon for that?"

Sorceress stared down at her hand in his. There was so much power in his hands yet he was holding her so tenderly. He was huge and brawny yet so kind and gentle. So much had happened between them since the first night Ralph asked her that question on top of the Niceland Apartments. They had only been seeing each other for six days yet it felt like years. Whenever they spent time together she fell for him more and more.

She lifted her eyes to his face, nervous and waiting for her answer. There was some unshaved stubble on his chin and his brown eyes were warm and soulful, glowing golden in the light of her spell. It was hard to think straight with him gazing down at her that and holding her hand so gently.

Maybe letting him kiss her wouldn't be so bad.

"Ralph, I..."

A loud, distant noise echoed off the tunnel walls and cut Sorceress off. Startled, Ralph dropped her hand and stood up, fists clenched and ready to defend her from any Cy-Bugs that might be coming.

But wait. That sounded more like rockets firing than the droning buzz of Cy-Bug wings flapping. Could it be Kohut's rescue party coming to save them?

It wasn't a group of armored Space Marines that emerged from the other end of the tunnel, nor was it a Cy-Bug. Instead a lone rocket-powered surfboard appeared, carrying a familiar blonde woman dressed in futuristic black armor and a shorter man in blue jeans and a matching baseball cap.

It was Sergeant Calhoun and Fix-It Felix, Jr. riding the sergeant's cruiser down the tunnel. And they were on a collision course with Ralph. Before he could get out of the way, the cruiser was right on top of him and Calhoun swung a fist at his face.

POW

The blow struck with enough force to send the huge wrecker sprawling backward on the tracks. Sorceress gasped and started to get up but fresh pain shot through her leg and forced her back to earth.

Calhoun swerved the cruiser around, brought it to a stop and cut the jets. Before Felix could stop her she marched up to Ralph's prone body, grabbed the front of his shirt with both hands, and lifted his head off the ground so she could scream at him. "You colossal moron! What the flaming flapjacks do you think you're doing this time?"

Felix hopped down from the cruiser and frantically waved his hands as he tried to soothe his wife's temper. "Go easy on him, Tam-Tams! This is a rescue mission, remember?"

Calhoun addressed him over her shoulder, not soothed in the slightest. "Then you take care of the wounded bird while I deal with this knuckle-dragging circus freak." She went right back to shouting in Ralph's face. "What is your malfunction, trash bag? Did you honestly think hunting Cy-Bugs with your little bimbo girlfriend was gonna be a trip through the tulips?"

Ralph had cringed in fear from the angry sergeant until she spoke negatively about Sorceress. Then his eyes hardened and he pushed himself upright to glare down at her. "Watch it, sarge. Say what you want about me, but don't talk like that about Sorceress."

The sergeant blinked in surprise, not expecting him to talk back to her. Then her scowl was back in full force. "Don't get insubordinate with me," she snapped. "Kohut told me everything. What made you think exploring the secret bonus level with no weapons and no support team was a good idea? You could have gotten yourself eaten and transformed into a biomechanical sin against nature! Is that how you want to prove your manliness to Tinkerbell over there?"

Ralph bristled and glowered at her, big fingers digging into the metal rails under him. "Don't call her that," he growled.

Watching the argument from her spot by the wall, Sorceress saw the signs that Ralph was teetering on the brink of another outburst. Calhoun wasn't backing down and Felix still hung back by the cruiser, not knowing what to do to defuse the conflict. It was up to her to intervene.

Sitting up straight and folding her hands neatly in her lap, she coughed to get the sergeant's attention. "Excuse me, Sergeant Calhoun? May I say something in Mr. Wreck-It's defense?"

Calhoun released Ralph's shirt and stood up, propping her fists on her hips and glaring icy blue daggers at the woman seated on the floor. "Whatever you have to say, doll face, say it now."

Sorceress frowned at the sergeant's rudeness but managed to speak in the most composed, diplomatic tone she could manage. "It was my idea to go looking for Cy-Bugs, not Ralph's. He tried to talk me out of it, but I insisted on finding the secret bonus level with him. If anyone here deserves to be scolded it's me."

The sergeant stood scrutinizing her with cold, critical eyes. After a long moment of tense silence, she snapped her fingers and pointed to her husband. "Take care of her leg, sugar lumps."

Now that things seemed to have settled somewhat, Felix was visibly relieved. "Can do, cuddle buns." He jogged up to Sorceress and studied her burnt leg with a concerned frown. "Jiminy jaminy, that must hurt something awful. Don't worry, ma'am, I can fix it." He took the golden hammer from his belt. With a few light taps, the painful second-degree burn on her thigh vanished.

Sorceress gaped at her leg in amazement. The burn was gone without a trace and so was the pain that went with it. "Great goblins. That hammer really is magical."

Felix beamed with satisfaction and tucked his hammer back in his belt loop. "Aw, shucks. I'm happy to be of service, ma'am."

"Good work, baby cakes," Calhoun said to her husband. "Now that that's out of the way, I've got a bone to pick with Princess Periwinkle here." She resumed glaring at Sorceress in obvious disapproval. "You're the Bad Guy in Blood & Thunder, right? I'm sure you've heard about that giddy Good Guy of yours giving us trouble."

Sorceress rose to her feet and dusted herself off. The sergeant's attitude was trying her patience, but she did her best to stay calm and composed. "Yes, I'm well aware of Hunter's escapades. He means well, but he often gets in over his head."

Calhoun narrowed her eyes. "Apparently you're not so different from him. Until further notice, you and Brick-For-Brains here are both banned from Hero's Duty."

Felix gasped in horror and put his hands over his mouth. "Tammy!"

Pushing off the floor to stand, Ralph stepped up to Sorceress' defense. "You can't do that!" he said, puffing up and clenching his fists at his side.

"I can," Calhoun retorted, not at all intimidated. "And I just did."

The wrecker glared at her harder than ever. Before he could say anything else, Sorceress came up next to him and placed a calming hand on his arm. The last thing he wanted to do was lose his temper in front of her again, so he held his tongue and fumed silently.

Sorceress turned to Calhoun with some bewilderment. "I don't understand. What is our crime?"

"The same thing your swaggering fop of a Good Guy did," Calhoun replied briskly. "Entering a restricted area without proper clearance. I don't know how you found your way down here, but the secret bonus level is off-limits to outsiders."

Sorceress took a deep breath. It was getting harder to keep her composure. "Pardon my bluntness, sergeant," she began, doing her best to stay calm and polite. "But this is unfair. No one told us the bonus level was restricted, and there were no signs denoting it as such. Perhaps you should post guards at the entrance to keep people out."

"Don't tell me how to do my job, sister," Calhoun snapped, jabbing a scolding finger at the blue-haired woman. "I've had it up to my eyeballs with you swashbuckling wood nymphs prancing around where you don't belong." She turned her disapproving scowl to Ralph. "And as for you, Wreck-It, don't think you're off the hook here. You may not have been the mastermind behind tonight's fiasco, but you're still an enabler and an accomplice."

Ralph was now trembling with barely controlled rage and fighting harder than ever not to explode. "Fine," he spat, folding his huge arms and turning away. "Like I need an excuse to stay away from this little corner of Hades."

At last Felix couldn't keep quiet any longer. This situation was going from bad to worse and he couldn't stand idly and let it happen. He stepped up to his tall wife and tapped her leg to get her attention. "Ahem… Excuse me, Tam-Tams, but don't you think you're being a little too hard on them?"

The sergeant shrugged her armored shoulders. "Not at all."

He reached up and took her hand in his. "Come on, pumpkin," he said sweetly. "Be reasonable. You saw the burn on Miss Sorceress' leg a minute ago, and I'm sure Ralph was worried sick about her all this time. Haven't they suffered enough? It's not right to ban them for doing something they didn't know was wrong."

Under her husband's gentle coaxing, Calhoun's harsh demeanor gradually melted away. "Darn it, Fix-It," she grumbled. "You're turning me soft." She focused her glare back on the Bad Guys but it was noticeably milder than before. "Alright, you clowns, I'll let you off with a warning. Don't let me catch you snooping around down here again or I won't be so nice next time."

Sorceress was too astonished by the sudden mood swing to answer right away. Then she nodded her head slowly. "Thank you for giving us another chance, sergeant. We're deeply sorry for causing trouble." She put a calming hand on the wrecker's shoulder, quietly signaling him to side with her. "Aren't we?"

Ralph let out a grumpy snort and continued sulking. He saw no reason he had to apologize to Calhoun for anything. The only person who deserved an apology in his mind was Sorceress, and he had already given it.

Sensing the remaining awkwardness of the situation, Felix fidgeted nervously and tried to think of a way out. "Say, sweetie kins? Why don't we show them the way out of here? I'm sure they've been stuck in the dark for too long and want to go home."

"Great idea, peach pot," Calhoun replied. "Shoot, now I wish we'd brought a ship with us. It's gonna be a long walk back to the surface."

Sorceress winked at Ralph and raised her arms straight out to her sides. "That won't be a problem."

The wrecker quickly guessed what she was about to do and hooked an arm around her waist. Then she created her shimmering pink force field bubble and the two of them lifted off the ground, much to the surprise of the other couple.

"Oh my land!" Felix gasped, eyes wide with amazement.

Ralph took a moment to savor the look of shock on Calhoun's face. "Lead the way, sarge!" he said from inside the floating bubble. "We're right behind you."

Calhoun rolled her eyes at him. "Alright, wipe that smirk off your face. Come on, honey muffin, let's go." She marched off to her glider with Felix hot on her heels.

The married couple led the way through the mining tunnels on Calhoun's glider with the Bad Guys following a short distance behind in the magic bubble. This turned out to be a blessing for several reasons; they made better time than they would have on foot, and they didn't need to have any awkward conversations. It was quiet inside the bubble for most of the trip. Sorceress needed to concentrate on steering and following their guides, and Ralph was busy brooding. He kept a firm hand on her back, still glaring at Calhoun flying ahead of them. It was a good thing Felix had been there to calm the sergeant down and convince her to ease up, but Ralph was still mad at her for being rude to Sorceress. It was funny. Usually he was too intimidated by Calhoun to stand up to her, yet he wasn't afraid to come to Sorceress' defense. It seemed he'd been overcoming a lot of his fears today.

Soon they were out of the tunnel and back in the foggy chasm. They lost sight of Calhoun and Felix in the dense mist, and Sorceress was left to steer the bubble blindly through the clouds. It was slower going up, and this time Ralph couldn't help navigate without the magic map to tell him which way to go. After a banging into a few steel walkways, they finally made it through the fog and out of the chasm. Ralph had never been so glad to see the building before and never would be again.

Felix and Calhoun were waiting for them on the bridge spanning the chasm. The pair approached as Sorceress brought the bubble down to land a few feet away and dispelled the force field. With his feed back on solid ground, Ralph relaxed but kept one hand on her shoulder. Until they were safely out of the game he wasn't letting her go.

"There you are!" Felix said cheerfully, bouncing up to them. "For a while there we thought we lost you in the fog."

Sorceress flipped some hair over her shoulder and smirked proudly. "There were some bumps in the road but we made it just fine. Thank you for showing us the way."

"Yeah, thanks," Ralph said. "By the way, I was wondering. Why did you guys come down to rescue us? Wasn't Kohut supposed to come?"

"He was putting together a search party when we came back from Tapper's," Felix replied. "When I heard it was you who was in trouble and that Miss Sorceress was hurt, I begged Tammy to let me come fix her up."

"And I figured you needed a boot to the head," Calhoun added, striding up to join them.

"Well, we won't be causing trouble for you anymore." Sorceress glanced up at Ralph. "I think we've had enough fun in Hero's Duty for a while."

The wrecker nodded in agreement and relief. "Yeah, this place is a too exciting for me. I'm ready to head home."

"Good idea. I've had enough of this game for one night." Sorceress curtsied to Felix and Calhoun. "Thank you again for all your help. I'm truly sorry for the trouble I caused, and regret that our first interaction since your wedding had to be like this."

The sergeant shrugged, noticeably less angry than before. "Like I said, I'm letting you off with a warning this time. You're lucky you had Wreck-It here looking out for you. He's good at making messes, but he's one of the most dependable men I've ever met."

Ralph arched his bushy eyebrows in surprise. "Did you just say something nice about me, sarge?"

Calhoun folded her arms and smirked. "Don't get used to it."

The couples said their goodbyes and soon Ralph and Sorceress were back on the train headed for Game Central Station. The wrecker sank into his seat and stretched his arms over his head, joints popping noisily. "Ahh," he sighed. "It feels so good to get away from that freaky game."

Seated next to him with one leg crossed over the other, Sorceress chuckled. "It's your turn to choose where we go next time, by the way. It's only fair."

Ralph smiled at her, grateful that she had remembered. "Hmm, let's see. Tomorrow is Friday, and I could go for some nonviolent fun. We could go back to Tapper, or Burger Time, or… Hey, what about Dance Dance Revolution?"

Sorceress tapped her chin in thought. "That might be nice. I've been there a few times before with some of my friends from Bad Anon. Zombie isn't such a good dance partner, though."

He couldn't help snickering at the mental picture. "Heh. Well, I can be kind of clumsy, but I like to think I have a little more agility than a half-dead guy."

"Yes, you do." She nudged his giant arm with her elbow. "Maybe you'll be a bit more relaxed than you were the first time we danced, hmm?"

"Yeah," Ralph said, smiling nostalgically.

It was a little over a month since they had their first dance at Felix and Calhoun's wedding reception. That was his first real conversation with Sorceress ever. It was weird to think how many years they had lived in the same arcade without getting to know each other. If only he had taken the time to talk to her in the old days, then maybe the past two-and-a-half decades would have been less lonely for them. Now he couldn't imagine spending another evening without her around.

A small, elegant hand brushed against his left pinky finger. Wordlessly Ralph turned his hand over, allowing Sorceress to slip her hand inside his. He closed his fingers around hers and stroked her knuckles with his thumb, quietly marveling at how soft and smooth her skin was. Then she was leaning against his arm, her head resting comfortably on his shoulder, and warmth flowed into his stomach. No one else could make him feel like this. No one ever had.

Just as the train pulled into the terminal, it occurred to him that he still didn't know if it was okay to kiss her or not. Back in the mining tunnel when he asked her that question, Sorceress wasn't able to answer because his friends had interrupted. He couldn't leave her until he knew what she wanted.

The train's doors slid open and they stood up, hands still joined together. As they left the tunnel of Hero's Duty Sorceress tugged Ralph to the right. The entrance to Blood & Thunder was on the same side of the station, only one outlet over. This was perfect. Now he had a chance to ask his question. But not right away. Better ease into it so it didn't sound awkward.

"So, uh," he began, hoping he sounded calmer than he felt. "DDR tomorrow, then?"

"Yep," she replied, floating along beside him. "Pick me up at my game after you see Miss Vanellope's race. I need time to get ready."

Ralph made a grunt of understanding and tried to think of a smooth way to direct the subject where he wanted it to go. Soon they were standing in front of the outlet to Blood & Thunder, neither one quite willing to let go of the other's hand.

At last he spoke. "Hey, so you remember when we were stuck in the mining tunnel? Right before Felix and Calhoun showed up?"

Ugh, that wasn't smooth at all.

Sorceress' stomach flipped and her heart fluttered. She shifted her gaze to the pointed toes of her boots and nodded her head. "You asked if it was okay to kiss me."

He swallowed a dry lump in his throat. "Y-Yeah… Sorry if this is annoying, but… is it okay?"

Sorceress chewed her bottom lip and pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear. This wasn't the most romantic setting for this conversation, but she felt the need to answer him. "Yes," she said. "It's okay. You can kiss me."

Ralph blinked at her in genuine surprise, as if he never expected her to answer like that. "Oh." He squirmed in place a bit. "Um… Right now?"

She peered up at him through her long bangs. The tips of her ears were slowly turning from blue to pink. "Do you want to do it now?"

He swallowed to moisten his throat, feeling warmer and sweatier than before. This was all happening so fast, and there was no way he could refuse with her looking at him like that. "I… I-I…" he stammered, tripping over his tongue. "I c-can if you want me to…"

Sorceress smiled and pushed her long bangs aside, revealing the same pink color on her cheeks. Then she shut her eyes and tilted her face up toward his.

Ralph's mouth went dry. He held her shoulders in a firm but gentle grip, palms turning hot and sweaty, and lowered his face down to hers. When they were mere inches apart he hesitated. This would be his first kiss. But he didn't know the first thing about kissing. What if he screwed it up? She would hate it and never let him kiss her again.

He couldn't go through with it. Not now. Not like this. He didn't know what to do, and there were people around. He wasn't ready. But she was still waiting for him to do something. He couldn't just leave her like that. Maybe he could kiss her on the cheek instead. That still counted, right?

Heart racing and palms dripping with perspiration, Ralph squeezed his eyes shut and gave Sorceress a quick, timid peck on the cheek. That fleeting contact was enough to set his insides on fire. Flustered and red-faced, he pulled away as fast as he could and yanked his sweaty hands from her shoulders to hide them behind his back.

"Okay, uh… G-Good night!" he stammered. "S-see you t-t-tomorrow!"

Sorceress' eyes fluttered open just in time to see him turn around and start speed walking away. She stood watching him in silence for a moment. Then she touched her cheek where he kissed her. It happened so fast and lasted only a split second, but it still felt warm.

Blushing to the tips of her ears, she smiled and let out a dreamy sigh.

Author's Note: Damn it, Ralph, you blew it. XD

Welcome back, Felix and Calhoun! We missed you! I'm really glad I could include them this time. They're fun to write so expect them to make another appearance soon, possibly even in the next chapter! Not sure how soon I'll get it published, what with Christmas coming up and family stuff happening this month. The story is drawing nearer and nearer to its conclusion, and as much as I love these characters I'm running low on steam. Hopefully the holidays will help me charge my batteries up. Happy holidays, everyone! Thanks for reading, following, favorite-ing and reviewing!