A.N: Hey, everybody! I just wanna say something quick beforehand: this fanfic is more like a collection of drabbles or snapshots over the years, not a novel-ish story. The whole idea started when I wanted to draw some wordless Wreck-it Ralph storyboards for art practice. The ideas were too jumbled in my head though, so I had to write them down in fanfic form first.
The main characters in this story are Tapper and Turbo, but for the first few chapters until the heart of the story is reached, the focus will be distributed on many others, as well.
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Best of Intentions
Prologue
As far as generic rules went inside game worlds, the occupation of a game character had a significant effect on what their personality shaped up to be. Tapper was very grateful for what he was programmed to be. He took pride in his quick reflexes, excellent memory, and the talent to accommodate everyone. Tapper did not gossip, or spill secrets - most importantly, listened to everyone regardless their position within their own games.
Other games were already there when he was first plugged in; Fix-It Felix Jr., Asteroids, Pacman, and TurboTime among a few others, and although Tapper felt it was – or rather should be – his job to treat all characters that come into his game equally, and never to take sides...some had left their undeniable impression on him, and against his better judgment – had come to remember them much more fondly than others.
Litwak's arcade back then was quaint; everyone knew everyone else. But that did not mean there were no problems.
There was Wreck-it Ralph, antagonist of Fix-it Felix Jr. He had been one of Tapper's personal favorites for the longest time, but the large fellow was an outcast - shunned by his own game mates and a large portion of their community – fear of his impressive strength combined with a passionate nature. Another character who stood out was Turbo.
Like Fix-it Felix, Turbo was the title character of his game, but he had none of Fix-it Felix's (and most protagonists') humble, down-to-earth heroic aura. Turbo was loud, childish, and very ambitious; a deadly combination.
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In those few early years, years the oldest games in the arcade would later remember like a faraway, nostalgic childhood, everything was alright. Even Ralph was happier then. Fix-it was renowned for being the best handyman in the arcade. Niceland was where the best pies were made. Clyde was the very first antagonist to make a public announcement of embracing his identity. Pacman was constantly hungry, and had to be banned from several games until he could control his appetite and differentiate between food and other game characters. Qbert was the cutest character of all, according to most. Turbo was the racer who loved attention and racing to the point of ridiculousness, but was too fickle to make close friends with anyone but the twin racers from his own game.
Amidst them all, Tapper's life was the most routine. Every day was more or less the same old same, both during and after arcade hours.
And he was content with that.
The nature of his job and his own code made him dislike surprises, and he always thought it highly unlikely he would ever get involved in crazy shenanigans (oh, how wrong time proved him). The most interesting that had happened to him up till that point in time was the plugging in of the SegaSonic the Hedgehog prototype.
It was not long before the antagonist scientist of the new game warmed up enough to Tapper one evening to confess his helpless sense of unappreciation from his own game mates -
"I have an I.Q of 300, Tapper. ! I have this lab - no, a city of labs…with all these amazing gadgets no other character can even think up – things even our programmers wouldn't be able to achieve in their own world for a hundred years!
And I get stuck with a pre-teen hedgehog whose hobby is to smash them!"
"Dr. Eggman, it's not exactly a hobby if it's his job.."
"He enjoys it! I know he does! He doesn't appreciate any of my robots even outside of game time! Every single animal in that game thinks of me as the Loony Scientist," he huffed dejectedly and leaned his face against his palm. "..Of all the protagonists..I get stuck with one that can't even tell the difference between a car engine and a plane engine."
"Hey, EGGMAN! I've been lookin' all over!"
Eggman swore softly. Tapper turned to hide his smile, pretending not to have heard. "Here we go again…" Tapper looked around at the newcomer with curiosity.
A small cobalt hedgehog with big spines and a short pointy tail trotted up to the rotund antagonist, carrying what looked like a black lump of metal and confused wires resting on a dirty green hankerchief. "Look at this - ya have any idea why ma plane engine won' work?"
"...it's in your hand and not under your hood!"
"Oh…that's no good."
Thus began Tapper's life sentence of being an on-the-side psychiatrist.
It was draining, and it didn't pay. But the happy, content faces of his visitors – good and bad, was always worth it. He was a good guy himself, after all.
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