boxofmystery | Double Trouble

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Double Trouble

[Ralph's life had changed quite a bit ever since the events of last month had taken place. Things had been in a whirlwind and Ralph was still getting used to his new life.

The biggest deal was having friends now. While he was close to Felix, he was even closer to Vanellope, and they often had adventures all over the arcade.

She was still settling into things as well and learning the ropes of her new position. There were things that needed to be taken care of, so she always had to stay after closing and make sure things went smoothly.

Ralph didn't mind waiting for her, they often met up at Tapper, the old bar game that was the most popular spot to hang out in. He's spent a lot of time in this game, he knew it and most of the regulars well.

Tonight, he's sitting at one of the corner seats, they gave him the most space, and he's sipping a root beer. He's facing the doorway, keeping an eye out for his best friend heading on through the doors.]

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[There's no mistaking it. It is Ralph. Tas recognizes him too, after all these years. Of course it would be their luck that he would be here the same day they happened to stop by.

To top it off, Tas can't really tell if Ralph has noticed their presence yet or not. And if he has, has he possibly already recognized him...?

The twins were obviously not the focal point of Turbo Time in its hay day, that was a given. Still, they were there and did make up a big part of the game, so Ralph would either have to be blind or stupid to not know who they were. No, they've definitely over stayed their welcome in Tapper. Yet, Tas can't get himself to get up and drag Tic out with him. If Ralph points them out just as they're leaving, they'll draw the attention of the entire game. That wouldn't be acceptable.

He chances one more glance at the wrecker, not knowing that Tic is peeking at Ralph over his shoulder.]

[Ralph's fair at faces and names, but he never really knew the Twins all that well and thought they were dead, just like he had thought Turbo was. So, at the moment, he still thinks that they're some part of Turbo.

He catches both of them looking at him, and that's the final straw, he wants answers and he wants them before the two of them bolt.

So, Ralph gets off of his seat, walks in the direction of the Twins, and as he's passing them, he grabs the back of their jumpsuit collars and starts hauling them off towards the back hallway where the closets and bathrooms are.

He doesn't want to cause a scene and dragging them elsewhere seems like the best idea for a confrontation in a semi-crowded bar.]

ACK!

[Tas can't help but let out a sharp noise of surprise when Ralph suddenly jerks him off his seat. Tic is in the same boat, but they can only grab at their necks as Ralph all but picks them right up and carries them away, as easy as you like.

Tas's immediate reaction is to struggle and try to free himself from Ralph, but the thing they're trying not to do is cause a scene. This? This is very close to being a scene caused. On top of that, even if he could get away he'd be abandoning Tic. While an unnoticed escape is enticing, he can't leave him behind.

So the two simply continue to struggle, trying desperately to free themselves while making as little noise as possible. Ralph's size is kind to him here, making it so he can carry them off practically without being noticed at all.]

[When they struggle, Ralph simply tightens his grip on their clothes.

After a few moments, they arrive at their destination, once Ralph is sure nobody else is coming down the hallway, he drops their jumpsuits, only to immediately grab them again, changing his grip so that he had one in each fist.

Their arms are pinned to their sides, but their legs dangle out of Ralph's hands and their heads poke up above his thumb. He brings them up close to his face and talks in a low, dangerous voice at them in nearly a growl.]

You two better start explaining yourselves real quick.

[The Twins are quite literally in a bind. They both lean away from Ralph when he brings them close, ceasing in their struggling when they finally get a good look at him. Yep, that's Ralph alright.

Tas assumes immediately that he's recognized him, but the fact that he's hauled them to the back like this isn't making any sense. Sure Turbo branded them pretty badly with what he did, but was it really bad enough to garner this type of reaction?

Tic shrinks down a little in Ralph's fist while Tas resumes struggling for a moment, fighting to free his arms from his grip.]

We ain't gotta explain anything to you, Wreck-It. Now put. Us. DOWN.

[Without their helmets, Ralph doesn't recognize the Twins, at least not fully. His fairly recent encounter with Turbo is still stuck in his mind and he can't forget what that nasty little racer did to his friend.

He tightens his grip on them slightly, narrowing his eyes and furrowing his eyebrows.]

I'm not gonna let you go around and wreck anyone else's lives, Turbo...s.

[Ralph awkwardly finished the sentence, he still hadn't figured out how Turbo had split into two, but he wouldn't put that trick past him.]

[Suddenly, the Twins go rigid in Ralph's fists, their expressions quickly turning into ones of pure shock before they quickly share a baffled glance.]

Did you s- ....say......Turbos?

[Tas grits his teeth and resumes his vain struggling, fighting to wrench his arms free from Ralph's fist even though he knows it's pointless.]

You must be a complete idiot, huh?! Turbo ain't 'round anymore, you of all people should know that! He's finished- history! An' we're NOT him!

[Playing dumb- or as dumb as one can in this situation- seems like the best road to take for now. Ralph may not yet realize who the two are, and Tas would prefer that he stay ignorant. The less that know he and Tic are alive, the better.]

[Ralph growls and squeezes the Twins a little tighter.]

Don't play dumb with me. I've seen Turbo come back to life twice, I'm willing to bet the sneak can do it again.

The question is, how'd he split himself into two this time? One was more than enough trouble as it was.

Wh-...WHAT!?

[Tas chokes out briefly before Ralph has the chance to squeeze them any tighter, Tic letting out a groan from his other hand. Ok, this has transcended baffling into the realm of complete and utter insanity.]

Did...did'ja hit yer head on those bricks ya squat in or somethin'!? What in the name of pong are ya TALKIN' about?! Turbo...c-comin' back t'life?-

-splittin' himself in two?!-

[At this point, if Ralph gets any angrier and squeezes the two any tighter, he won't have any Turbos to be interrogating. So with everything in him screaming to hold back, Tas finally blurts out.]

We ain't Turbo! We're his brothers! Th'other racers from Turbo Time!

[Before Ralph can respond to Tas' insults, he suddenly yells out that they're the Twins.

In his shock, he nearly drops the both of them, but catches himself in time. His grip has lessened considerably, they'd easily be able to get their arms out.

He brings them back up closer to his face. If it wasn't for the fact that his hands were full of them, he'd run a hand over his hair.]

What?! You guys survived too?!

Did somebody spike the root beer, or are you really those other two guys, the ones Turbo didn't treat too good?

[The Twins let out a breath in unison, and before either make an attempt to answer they pull their arms free from his fists.]

Yeah....yeah we survived. Such a shock, ain't it?

[Tas spits, glaring up at Ralph spitefully out of the corner of his eye.]

What are ya talkin' about, too? We made it out, but....

[The two exchange another glance, falling silent for a moment. Then Tas glares back up at Ralph again.]

Will ya just-.....just stop manhandlin' us now?

Edited 2013-05-16 03:14 (UTC)

[It seemed like they honestly didn't know what happened with Turbo, so Ralph had a lot of explaining to do.

But, when Tas asks him to put them down, he shakes his head slightly, sighing.

Ralph gives them both a stern look.]

How do I know you're not gonna run off before I'm done asking you questions?

[That wasn't exactly a no, but they'd have to come up with a compelling answer that gave Ralph confidence that they weren't going to up and bolt before he found out what was going on.]

[Tas shakes his head too and lets out a heavy sigh, running his fingers through his hair.]

Answer me this Wreck-It- ...where do ya think we can run off to?

[He lets that question hang in the air, not saying anything more. He and Tic didn't have anywhere to go, truly. They'd been homeless for so many years, and they hadn't dared to try to join another game like Turbo did, with catastrophic results. Even then, what game would want them? From the way Ralph's been acting, it sounds as if the entire arcade would rather have them exiled to an unplugged console for eternity than to give them a second chance.]

[Ralph frowns for a moment before answering.]

Well, you were somewhere before, right? You couldn't have just poofed outta nowhere and ended up here?

...Could you?

[He personally has nothing against the Twins, what Turbo did back then hurt them more than it hurt him, especially since he found a new game to claim as his own. So far, it seemed like they had caused far less trouble than their brother had.

Did Turbo know that the Twins were still alive? Or had he been as clueless as the rest of them?]

Well....where else do homeless characters go when their game's been unplugged, huh...?

[They either get taken in by another game, or they water Game Central Station, homeless. ..Alone.

But for the Twins, it wasn't as simple as that. They had to retreat into hiding because of what Turbo had done. The fear and panic he caused became so wide spread that if they so much as set one foot out into the open, there's no telling what would have happened. It had been that way for them both for years, so many long, hard years...

Now, they seem tired, physically and mentally. Back when Turbo Time was first unplugged, if Ralph had caught them like this he would have had a real fight on his hands. Now? ....they barely seem to have much of a will to keep going, beyond just sticking together as best they can.]

[Ralph gives them a concerned frown at this, shaking his head slightly.]

I've been in the Station plenty of times since...well, you know, but I've never seen you around. I think I would've spotted you at some point in all those years. I talk to the homeless characters sometimes, in the past, they were some of the only ones who never judged me. Q*bert and his crew are always pretty nice to me.

Ya didn't see us cause we didn't want ya ta' see us, got it? Were gonna keep it that way till we ran into you, ham hands.

[Tas pauses between sentences every now and then to struggle a bit more, never relenting in his attempts to free himself from Ralph's grasp. Tic, meanwhile, has given up even trying.]

We ain't exactly th'most popular characters in this arcade. So people think we're dead, an' we'd like it to STAY that way.

[Ralph shakes his head.]

If you want people to keep on thinking that you're dead, you've gotta be more careful, especially since everybody knows what happened with Turbo. Everybody's more worried about things lately.

[The Twins hadn't done anything wrong, so now that he knows they're not Turbo, he's a little more friendly. He knows all too well how it's like to have everybody hate you for something that isn't exactly your fault.]

[Again, the Twins look at each other briefly before turning back to Ralph. It's Tic who speaks up this time.]

Not...everyone.

Everyone might know 'bout what happened, but that was years ago. People in this arcade nowadays hear 'bout it through the grapevine. Only oldies like you were actually there when it happened. S'easier to make breaks for it in the open these days, since what happened is becomin' more of a memory an' a warnin' than anything else.

['Going Turbo' indeed. While valid a warning, every time the Twins heard it uttered in hushed tones, it made them sick. Every single day reminded of what happened..]

[Ralph closes his eyes and sighs, then gives the Twins a sad look. His tone is quieter now, for he's got some interesting news that isn't pleasant in any manner.]

...I'm not talking about Roadblasters, I'm talking about Sugar Rush.

Your brother took over another game for 15 years, attempting to delete a little girl in the process. Nobody knew anything about it until I had an uh...incident of my own and I showed up in Sugar Rush.

His plans got messed up because I helped the little girl get into the race, and during that, everybody who was still in the game found out that Turbo was alive.

Then he got eaten by a robot bug and turned into some king of giant bug monster. He tried to kill me and then wanted me to watch my only friend die.

...This all happened about a month ago.

[To say that the Twins are stunned into complete silence after hearing Ralph's unexpected tale is a gross understatement. For a long time they stay silent and just stare up at him, mentally trying to make sense of everything he's unloaded on them. It's really so much to take in at one time that they wonder if they've heard him right.

But of course, Ralph would be mistaken if he thought the two would accept his story on his word alone. It shouldn't come as a surprise to him when their expressions shift, and Tas growls in a nasty undertone.]

....You expect us t'believe that load'a bull? I think you HAVE lost it.

[Tic shakes his head in defiance, his hands tightening into fists atop Ralph's hand that's still holding him fast.]

We...we might be desperate, but we're not that stupid. W-we....we saw Turbo crash RoadBlasters! We were right there, we WATCHED him die!

[Tic shudders a bit but fights to keep his voice level, surprising even Tas by the anger in his voice.]

W-with crashin' the whole game like he did, there's no way he could'a escaped! We barely made it out ourselves!!!

[Ralph should have expected a reaction like that. He snorts slightly.]

Okay, look, even if you don't believe me, you can ask nearly anybody, and they'd back me up. Vanellope in Sugar Rush saw him first-hand, Me and Felix from Fix-It Felix Jr. saw him on a video screen, Felix's lady, uh...what's her name...Calhoun? Yeah, Calhoun from Hero's Duty might have seen him on the video as well. And, there might have been a few stragglers from Sugar Rush who stuck around that got an eyeful of him.

I know me and Felix told some people, Calhoun told all of her soldiers, and me and Vanellope explained everything to the Sugar Rush kids. They might even still have video of Turbo!

I'm not crazy, and if you knew what was good for you, you'd listen to what I'm saying.

[Again, they fall silent. Of course they wouldn't be going and asking anyone else about any of this. They'd stayed hidden this far. Ralph had been the only true slip up, with just a few close calls scattered throughout the years. Nevertheless, his accusations were pretty heavy. The idea that Turbo somehow made it out of RoadBlasters and into another game was almost too hard to believe.

They watched him die, right before their eyes. ...Right?]

...Look, I ain't believin' this. Not fer a second. Not unless ya got some proof on ya that'll make me believe what you say. Why would you care 'bout what's good fer us anyway?

[Tic has fallen totally silent, too upset to say anything else.]

[Ralph shakes his head.]

Why would I carry proof of what Turbo did with me? What, I'm gonna carry around a photo of him like some kind of fangirl? Look, even if I did have something to prove it, I wouldn't haul it around with me, I'm trying to forget that it even happened.

[Regardless of whether or not the Twins actually believed a word Ralph was saying, he did sound sincere. The anger in his own voice was proof enough that whatever he saw, he believed it happened. So, for now, Tas doesn't say anything else, just glaring at Ralph again.

This time the pause stretches on long enough that Ralph might begin to think that the twins just aren't going to say anything else. It still was a lot to be expected to believe. Turbo getting RoadBlasters and Turbo Time unplugged all in one go was bad enough to begin with. But to be told that he not only survived, but somehow managed to infiltrate another game and...take it over? Nearly killing more people in the process?

Tas slowly looks over in Tic's direction without moving his head, in time to see his brother shudder and bury his face into his hands. Tas's expression falls noticeably at that, and quickly he looks back up at Ralph without a hint of anger for a brief moment before it all comes rushing back again.]

Put us down.

[His tone is still obviously angry, but it sounds more defeated than it does demanding.]

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