Game Central Vault Hunters
Ralph woke slowly, his head throbbing. He felt soft, cold ground under him, and he opened his eyes. The snow blew violently around him. Where was he? He rose his head a bit higher, and noticed a funny little robot in front of him. "Another dead game character. Man, Handsome Jack's been busy." He scooped more snow over top of a body. The robot turned to face Ralph, and a joyful sound came from him. "Hey, you're not dead! Now I can finally get outta here!" Ralph pushed himself up, and glanced around.
Now he remembered. Handsome Jack had invited video game characters to try his new system. More like a game virise, but it benefitted the characters. It allowed them to 'respawn' outside of their own game.
He noticed three others spewn about. Fix-it Felix, Tamora Jean Calhoun, and Vanellope Von Schweetz. He hovered over Felix, and tapped his helmet lightly.
"Felix? Don't quit on me now." The short man rose his hat out of his face, and moaned painfully.
"Did we blow up?" Ralph laughed.
"Yes, we did. Now, help me wake up the others." Felix slowly got to his feet, and looked over at the now rambling robot. He cocked his head, but did ask questions. He just knew that he knew nothing of this game.
Calhoun was already picking herself off the ground when Ralph got to her, and she pushed his hand away. "I'm fine." She replied to his outstretched hand. He retracted it, and she stood. She looked around at the frozen space she was in, and turned her head toward the sound of a voice. Her eyes locked on the metal box in the center of the circular dip.
She was suspicious of it. "Who is that, and should I be worried you guys already screwed up?" She kept her eyes on the funky mechanical thing, as it talked endlessly. She looked over towards Felix, and a smile tickled at the corners of her mouth. He smiled back.
"There's my Dynamite Gal."
"And I found my Dynamite Guy." She turned to the opposite direction, and noticed the Sugar Rush princess laying face down in the crunchy snow. She laughed at her awkwardness.
Ralph hovered Vanellope, and spoke. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty! Get up." She stirred. She moaned, and her candy littered head turned sideways. She looked up at the large man above her. A fake smile spread across her face, then faded as she closed her eyes again. Raph rolled his eyes and grabbed the hood of her jacket.
She whined as he picked her up and put her on her feet. Vanellope stood limp for a minute, a small burn streaking across her face. She pushed her palms into her eyes. After a while, she stood up straight and followed Ralph toward the couple near the robot. They were laughing about something.
"But they were so annoying." Calhoun laughed as Felix tried to imitate something. He smiled as her voice rang softly through the cavernous indent in the clif. Calhoun's laugh was rarely heard, and it was soft and sweet when she wasn't doing it just for the flattery of the other person. Felix loved the sound.
"Is it bad that I enjoyed punching you? Of course, I wouldn't let you know that." Calhoun smirked. Felix laughed at her.
"Only if you really didn't, ma'am." Both became serious as Ralph and Princess Schweetz approached. He looked up at her, and she smiled at him and looked down from the corner of her eye. She turned her attention back to the small electronic device talking to them.
"I'm a CL4P-TP steward bot, but my friends call me Claptrap! Take these!" He pulled small bracelet like devices from corpse's, and gave one to each. "Echo devices. Keep them on!" Each shrugged and pushed the screen onto their arm.
They formed closely around each wrist. "Interesting. Where are we, anyway?" Calhoun investigated the Echo, while still eyeing Claptrap. His eye moved around to set on her.
He noticed her for the first time, since he was more focused on their feet and talking. He didn't speak. Calhoun repeated the question, and he finally replied. "U-uh, Borderlands 2: Arcade Edition. You are… wow." Calhoun stayed straight faced. It was Felix all over again. At least he didn't remind her of her previous fiance.
"Thank you, but i'm taken. Married, actually." Claptrap made a sad noise, and Felix inched his hand toward hers. She wished he would just hurry up and hold it. She stretched her fingers open, and he interlocked them. She ran her other hand through her sandy blonde hair, and sighed. "Can we hurry this up? I have an army to run." Claptrap perked up.
"Of course! This way!" He began rolling through the snow, and each followed. Each noticed themselves and the others acting weirder as they came closer and closer to the edge of the stormy dip in the clif.
Vanellope was less excitable and even sensible. She seemed to be 'Ow' -ing a lot.
Ralph seemed a bit more impatient than usual, and he clipped ammo to the straps of his overalls.
Calhoun found herself pulling her visor over her face and darkening it, obscuring her features and covering the small part of her body still visible.
Felix was content with just walking and holding a gun in his hand, which he had taken from Calhoun's back, with much effort.
Claptrap seemed to notice, but said little more than murmurs. Something about Vault Hunters and Sanctuary? Anyway, they made it to Claptrap's little home, and he opened the door. The game characters entered a cave that smelled of death and oil. Calhoun flinched a bit, Felix made a few noises, Ralph shook it away, and Vanellope, of course, said something. "Hey, why does it smell like Stinkbrain in here?" Ralph rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"I dunno." Claptrap lead them into the largest part of the cavern. The reason became very apparent. Dead bodies and other Claptrap units littered the space. Claptrap moved as fast as possible to a door. He input a secret code, and it slid open, revealing a hidden fast travel. The floating words and lights gave it away.
Calhoun laughed. She had heard the words "I wish this game had a fast travel" too many times from the children playing Hero's Duty. Claptrap pushed a button on the machine, and it began clicking as it counted down. The last click hit, and the machine digistructed them.
The feeling of pixelation was awkward for Vanellope and Calhoun, being from newer, more realistic games, but Ralph and Felix had no problem with it. They faded away with odd sound from Vanellope, and a long, yet hidden shudder from Tamora.