Hi again.

I'm sorry that it's been taking me a while to update these stories, but I've been busy with school and all, so it's hard to work like this every night.

I also wanted to say I'm shocked by how many of you enjoyed this story so far. I just wanted to show my story to the world, but I never expected it to be popular.

Thanks to all of you who have favorited and added me to your story subscription list!

Chapter Seven

Ralph admitted that he hadn't planned on going all "Mission Impossible." That had been Vanellope's idea.

"It'll be perfect! We'll sneak in, all spy-like, and get her out of the glass tube and whatnot, and then…presto! We escape. She's free to do whatever." Vanellope jumped around. She had been moody and silent all day, just drawing diagrams on how to get the glitch-girl out, and finally she cracked by the time she had downed her third cup of cola. "It'll be easy. Simple and efficient."

Ralph rolled his eyes. "What about her? She's obviously a glitch. How are we going to guarantee that she'll be safe from Mister What's-his-face?"

She tapped her chin in thought. "I know! Um…give me a second here."

"You see? We've got no plan." Ralph shot at her, and he knew he had her stumped. She mumbled to herself and groaned.

"Well, maybe you've got a plan, genius!?" she was obviously not in the mood for fun and games.

"Well, maybe I could just enter the championship and win, how about that!" he was greeted with stunned silence. That was the question everybody wanted answered. Vanellope looked hurt. She crossed her arms.

"You're not actually considering it, are you?" her voice was soft. "Because we're…we are not negotiating with that scumbag!" she yelled, her voice echoing around the tiny cabin.

"It's better than going with Operation Blackout!" he screamed, his voice stretching throughout the house.

"Then…I have another plan, but…it's Plan B. We either go with my plan, or we go with Plan B. And I think you're going to hate Plan B." she sounded determined and serious, but her voice wobbled a bit, nothing like the happy-go-lucky racer she usually was.

"What's Plan B? I'd like to hear it before I decide."

"If we go through with Plan B, I probably won't make it out alive."

Nothing happened for a few seconds. Ralph wondered what it was that Vanellope was so angry about, and then he realized that she was reminded of her own days, when she was treated like the outcast, like the mistake. It must've hurt, seeing and knowing how it felt to be teased and ridiculed because of who you were. He stopped grumbling and gave a disappointed sigh. "Fine. Let's go with your idea. But you definitely owe me!"

She smiled gratefully. "You got yourself a deal, Stink Brain."

He groaned. He didn't know much (video game characters didn't get a good education.), but he knew one thing: he was so not getting his money's worth.

That was two hours ago. Now, it wasn't looking so good.

"Come on, girl, what's holding you up?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" she snapped. "But, um…do you think you could bust me out of here." she knocked on the glass, but her knuckles didn't make a sound. Somehow, she was able to talk through it, but was unable to break the glass container.

He mumbled something, and then flexed his fists and smashed the cage wide open. The sharp pieces toppled onto the floor. Kathleen smiled. "That took care of that!" she grinned, proud and finally free, and she jumped out. Ralph grabbed her in midair.

"Are you crazy? You're going to end up with glass in your feet!" he motioned to her bare feet, and the glass scattered throughout the stadium. Her mouth went into a perfect O.

"Okay then." She let herself go limp as Ralph carried her around. He was careful not to pierce himself. Her stormy grey eyes seemed to see right through him, and they had this fierce look that was kind, yet dangerous, as if he was trying to cut a single wire on a pipe bomb: one wrong move, and SPLAT. Wreck-it Ralph pancake. This continued for a while, with himself tip-toeing and placing his feet in the spaces between the randomly placed glass. He had not thought this through, he realized with a sickening feel in his stomach. He doubted anyone in this game would be able to even slightly crack this glass, and that made him the prime suspect. Then, suddenly, Kathleen went rigid and her code was exposed, and this time is shone a dark crimson, the color of blood, not like Vanellope's sky blue code. She glitched through Ralph's hands and down towards the floor.

Where hundreds of sharp pieces of glass, just waiting to hurt her, sat.

Ralph's hand shot at her but he knew he was too late. She stared at him, an agonized glare, and…

SNAP!

She bounced up as if she was attached safely to a bungee cord. Mr. Grease was holding her by the scruff of her shirt. Her arms struggled wildly, trying to harm him, and her legs were swinging like a feral animal. "Let. Me. GO!" she screamed, and just for a second, all the crickets stopped chirping. The grass seemed not as green, and the dark night was scary. It was ominous and threatening.

"Let her go!" this time, the voice didn't belong to Kathleen, but it might as well have. Vanellope was yelling now, positioned on the top of the now-deceased cage, the one that had once trapped Kathleen. She crossed her arms, and she tried to look big and mean. "What did she ever do to deserve this? You have to let her go!"

His repulsiveness spoke. "You wouldn't want anything to do with her, if you really knew what she was." He was hissing now, and Ralph realized it was actually laughter.

"Please, no." her eyes shone with tears, and Kathleen sounded afraid.

"She's a hack, nothing more than a mistake. Someone had input her into the game's code, and even the game designers tried to get rid of her." But Ralph saw his eyes were red with fire, and they burned with the desire to murder. Ralph knew there was something more. "She is not meant to be here. She'll die eventually. The game will finally track her down and eliminate her. But, what can you really say? She's nothing but a stupid, insignificant…"

Vanellope lost it. She tried to jump after him, but Kathleen was just shivering in his scaly hands, pained and obviously not in the mood for a battle. She was submitting to him, giving up. This was nothing like Kathleen. "YOU STOP!" she said, tears streaming down her face now. "You stop that! I know that she may not be meant to be here, but this is enough!"

"I don't think you understand!" the man's voice was just as gruesome, but it carried a hint of envy and pure, raw, hatred. "She took it all away from me! All of it! They said that I wasn't good enough for them, they said it! And they wanted to just keep her! But they'll never understand what it's like. They'll never know what it's like to be the one everyone admired, the one people were dying to unlock, and then just be replaced! They don't know what it's like to become the outcast, the one who isn't going to be playable! They don't!" he stopped himself, but Ralph had heard enough.

Unless his ears were deceiving him, Grease here had just revealed something incredible.

Kathleen wasn't a glitch. She was meant to be here.

He was the glitch.