Universal Zone: A Wreck-it Ralph Fiction 9

Chapter 9: On the Chase

"What're we doing here!?" Ralph asks Sweeper, demanding a reason for coming to the Console Wing, "Shouldn't we be going after Turbo?"
"Listen Wreck-It Ralph," Sweeper begins, "If we're going to go after Turbo; we need to face him on his turf."

"Oh! I get it! Beat him at his own game!"
"Now you're catching on. So let's not waste any more time."
"So lemme guess, you have this super fast Sweeper-Mobile and we'll catch up to him no problem!" Ralph asks, pounding his fist on his palm. Sweeper didn't respond other than giving Ralph a face that literally said, 'You have got to be kidding me'.

Ralph shut his mouth and concluded that he should stop guessing about it and keep following. Sweeper then leads Ralph through that the game gate of Sonic and Sega All Star Racing Transformed. As they moved, a small thought came to Ralph's mind; that overlapped the worried thoughts he had of Vanellope, who was going on a destructive joy ride though the arcade. No, it wasn’t Vanellope who was doing any of this, It's all Turbo’s fault.

"Hey, Sweeper!" Ralph calls, "Why bring me to this specific game?"
"You'll see." Sweeper replies, only giving Ralph a slight sideward glance as she continued moving deeper down the path into the game.

Ralph gives an expression of both frustration and concern, seeing Sweeper was being very secretive of her plan. Before long, the two arrived in All Stars Transformed. Ralph's eyes widened as he saw the game, he was just as dumbstruck as when he first saw Sugar Rush 2. The game was definitely filled with zaniness, the graphics were just as good as Sugar Rush 2's and the racing competitions were wild and fast; but the biggest draw was that the racer's vehicles transform to traverse land, water and air during different parts of the racetracks.

Sweeper nudges Ralph out of his amazement and leads him to the pits; where the racers of the game maintained their transforming vehicles, but they only approached one: the games title character, Sonic the Hedgehog; who was making some modifications to his blue sports car.

"Yo Ralph, Sweeper!" Sonic greets the two as they approach him, giving them a friendly wave, "What brings you guys here during business hours?"
"Yeah sorry for bothering you Sonic, but we have a situation." Ralph states, seeing that Sonic probably didn’t know about the crisis they were having, "Turbo's back, and going on a crazy rampage in the arcade!"
"Wait? Turbo?" Sonic questioned, "You mean 'our' Turbo, from Litwak's? I thought you got rid of him for good!"
"Sonic the Hedgehog, we don't have much time to explain." Sweeper states, "I thought I could stop the virus before it could get out of the Racers Wing and to make precautionary measures with the nearby Wings, but the situation has changed and the entire Arcade is no longer safe. Quickly, where is Wreck-it Ralph?"
"I'm right here." Ralph says to Sweeper with an expression looks as if he's asking 'why would you ask that'.
"Not you."
"He's over there." Sonic answers, gesturing his thumb in a direction.
"Thank you. Follow me, Ralph."

Ralph gives a very puzzled look to the current situation as he followed Sweeper. Once again, Ralph's astonishment returns as he sees another him, maintaining some sort of tow-truck with a spiked wrecking ball as the tow. For him at the moment, it was weird seeing an exact replica of himself. Sweeper then has Ralph stand back for a moment, as she approaches the other Ralph.

"Wreck-it Ralph?" Sweeper starts, "May I have a word with you?"
"What do ya' want?!" asks the other Ralph in a very rude tone as he continues fixing his truck, "Can'tcha see I'm busy?"
"I can see that, but there is a very important matter that we need to discuss." Sweeper insists. This causes the other Ralph to throw his wrench to the ground in an angry fit as he turns to face Sweeper.
"What part of 'I'm Busy' do you not understa --" the other Ralph's sentence is cut short by the sight of his Fix-It Felix Jr. counterpart, "What is this!? Some kind of joke!?"
"No. We need to commandeer your vehicle."
"What?" The All Stars Transformed Ralph grunts.
"We need to borrow your car." Sweeper clarifies.
"OH NO! No blue ghost-lady and some look-a-like are taking my car!"
"Look buddy," Ralph butts in, "We're kind of in a hurry, and we really need your cart, so if you can lend it to us, we'll return it right after."
"No one drives MY car, but ME!" retorts the other Ralph to Ralph's face in an angry tone with an equally angry expression, "Get that, fat hands!?"
"Whoa buddy, no need to get your overalls in a knot! We just need the cart."
"Well you can't have it. It's mine!"
"Hey! We're in the middle of a crisis here, and the least you can do is to loan me your stupid cart!”
"You want it so bad? Try taking it, marshmallow fists!"
"Alright I will!"
"You lay a single sauage finger on my car, I'll Wreck you!"
"Is that a threat?"
"What do you think it is, dummy?"
"Oo-hoo-hooooo! I am THIS close to Wrecking that mug of yours!" Ralph says back with his patience waning ever so short, gesturing how much patience he has left with his pointer finger and thumb.
"Try it then!" the other Ralph challenges as he shoves Ralph.
"Oh, NOW you did it! I'M GONNA WRECK YA'!!!"
"Bring it punk!!!"
"We don't have time for this..." Sweeper says as she takes out her taser and aims it at the two Ralphs.

Pulling the trigger, two wires shoot out; one wire attaching itself to one of the Ralphs. This stops the Ralphs from fighting, and makes them pause in wonder. For Ralph he knows all too well what's going to happen next, but not in the way he expects.

A sudden electrical surge then pulses through the wires, into the two Ralphs; electrocuting them. Soon enough, Sonic, his friends, and the other characters of the game gather around Sweeper as she continues electrocuting the two Ralphs. Before long, the bodies of the two Ralphs start breaking down into pure code. Sweeper tightens her grip on the taser, intensifying the electrical charge. Soon the two codes begin to meld together. The two codes join together and build into one dizzied Ralph, who then falls over onto his back from the ordeal. Once Ralph was whole again, Sweeper retracts the coils of her tazer back and holsters the device.

"Compression complete." Sweeper announces.
"Urgh...." Ralph groans, as he sits up. He then rubs his aching head with one of his wrecking hands, "What did you do to me...?"
"Data Compression." Sweeper explains, "To simply put it: I took two Ralphs, and compressed them into one."
"You what?" asks Ralph as he gets back to his feet, stil very confused and dizzy from the experience.
"Ever wonder why you don’t see two Sonics or countless Koopas running around Universal Zone? Data Compression saves space in Universal Zone and keeps it from being overcrowded with too many similar characters."
"I still dont --?"
"All you need to know is I put Fix it Felix Jr.’s Ralph and All Stars Racing Transformed's Ralph into one Ralph."
"Okay... Let's just say that I understood all of that..." says Ralph as Sweeper helps him back onto his feet.
"Very well then. How do you feel?"

Ralph then closes his eyes tight. He then finds his head is then filled with knowledge and skills he never knew he knew.

"Why... do I know how to drive all of a sudden?"
"As I said: I compressed you and your Sonic and Sega All Stars Transformed counterpart." Sweeper anwsered, "What knowledge he has and what skills he uses; are now yours."
"Hold on a second: if you 'compressed us', why do I still feel like myself? And why was the other me such a jerk?"
"Because you are the original. You existed for more than thrity years, while he only existed for a mere few weeks. You grew out of your programmed personality; he has yet to. But now you two are one and the same, but don't think too hard on it Ralph. You'll get used to it."
"Good grief..." Ralph says, as he slaps his forehead, "First it was with Vanellope and the Princess, now this..."

A beeping sound then rings. Sweeper then takes out another device that alerted her of what's going on in the arcade. Sweeper then activates the gadget, which then tells her of a distress call about a virus alert in another wing. It was obviously Turbo Vanellope causing trouble. Sweeper opens the communications link to communicate with the distressed call sender, and instantly the familiar voice of a character speaks out. It was Mortal Kombat's Scorpion, who was also from Litwak's.

"This is Scorpion! We need help!" Scorpion's voices rings through the device, "A virus is wrecking the Fighters' Wing! Someone has to... GET OVER HERE!!!"

But then, a loud scream from Scorpion rings out from Sweeper's device, followed by maniacal laughing. It was Turbo Vanellope.

"FATALITY!!!" screams the device, "TURBO WINS!!!"  
"Ralph! We're running out of time! Get into your car." states Sweeper in a dire tone as she hides the device.
"But I --" Ralph stops himself as the racing skills of his counterpart comes to mind, "... Okay."

Ralph then jogs to the truck and gets into it. Settling in, he gives a pause before his counterpart's knowledge starts kicking in. Ralph then starts ups his red tow truck, much to his amazement.

"Whoa..." Ralph comments. Sweeper then hops onto the side.
"Okay. Now, we can go after Turbo."
"Wait!"

Sonic then speeds over to the side of Ralph’s car with a golden ring in hand.

"I don't really know the whole situation of this mess, but you look like you're off to a race! So..." Sonic says as he holds up the golden ring, "Take this. It'll help"

Sonic then goes over to the hood of Ralph's truck and lifts it, revealing the engine. He then places the ring on the engine. In response, it begins to glow and give out a load roar. After, Sonic gives his signature smile and closes the hood.

"There." he announces.
"What did you do?" asks Ralph.
"I just modded you ride to give it high and balanced stats; best in this game, but it still runs down to your skill as a racer. It'll help chase down that Turbo nut."
"Thanks Sonic."
"Keep everyone safe, Sonic." Sweeper instructs, "The threat may come here soon."
"You got it!"

With one final nod, Ralph steps on the gas and races out of All Stars Transformed with Sweeper.

"Okay where to!?" Ralph asks to Sweeper.
"You heard Scorpion; Turbo's already reached the Fighter's Wing."
"Alright then!" Ralph says as he shifts gears and puts the pedal to the metal, speeding straight to the fighting wing, but in his minds, he still worries for Vanellope. "(Just hang on Vanellope! We're coming!)"


Meanwhile in the Fighters' Wing...

Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition

On top of the tall under construction skyscraper roofs of Metro City, resident criminal anti-hero, Cody and famous kung-fu movie star, Fei Long were duking it out. Each of them were showing off their moves against each other, as they chip one another closer to a KO, but then they stop.

"Do you... Hear something?" asks Fei Long.
"Yeah..." replies Cody, "Sounds like a race car engine. But what how could --"

Before Cody could finish his sentence, Turbo Vanellope drives through both Fei Long and Cody, knocking both of them out at the same time, causing them to scream out their Knock-Out quotes and giving them a double KO; before driving straight down to the the streets below.

"HAHAHAH!!!" Turbo Vanellope laughs as she drives off, "K-O! I WIN!!!"

As the two two fighters hit the floor unconcious, Ralph and Sweeper appear and drives around them and fallows Turbo Vanellope to the streets, slowly catches up with her and pulls up to the side of her kart. Seeing that someone actually caught up with her, Trubo Vanellope couldn't help let out another laugh.

"I can't believe it!" Turbo Vanellope yells out to Ralph and Sweeper, "YOU!? Driving a KART!?! OH this is just too good!"
"Yeah, trying to believe it myself..." Ralph then says.
"We're taking you in Turbo!" Sweeper then calls, "Pull over!"
"REALLY NOW!? Like I said, Halo-sham: You gotta catch me first!"

From that point, Turbo Vanellope then puts the pedal to the metal and speeds off ahead of Ralph and Sweeper. The two give faces of astonishment to this, but they regain focus and continue the pursuit. As they begin to inch closer to Turbo Vanellope, she then glitches out of Street Fighter IV, with Ralph and Sweeper following close behind.


Meanwhile in the Real World...

Mr. Litwak was at the help desk, reading a news paper and having a nice cup of coffee. All of a sudden there was a ding at his desk.

"Mr. Litwak!" calls a voice of a child. "Something's wrong with my game."
"Oh! hey! How can I -- WHOA!!!" yelps Litwak as he jerks back seeing the large group of customers in front of the help desk. Dozens of children and even adults were clamoring on, reporting multiple machine crashes, blue screens and other problems with the games.

There were so many of them that Litwak could barely keep up. Young Litwak then sees what's going on and goes behind the desk to join his father.

"Dad what's going on?" Young Litwak asks, "What's with all the customers?"
"I dunno! It's almost like the arcade's gone cuckoo!"
"Like Nana?"
"Like Nana..." Litwak replies before they both give a sigh and look to the chattering crowd that was growing larger by the minute.


- To be continued... End Chapter 9.