Ralph didn't have many clear memories of that night out. Just some flashes like cards shuffled together. It sure seemed like he and the Bad-Anon guys had a good time, though: Zangief thumped him on the back like they'd known each other forever; Saitine's sharp little grin when he told a joke; Zangief's laughter booming like a drum at Ralph's side; Bowser bringing a fresh round of drinks, balancing too many beer mugs in his claws. A few more bits of warm voices and grinning comments. Zangief telling stories about how a bear's personality came out in its wrestling technique — and Ralph recalled thinking wow, he must be really good with animals to know that. Like some kind of bear whisperer.
Actually, Ralph found as he nursed his pounding head, a surprising amount of that night's good times had Zangief front and center in them. Maybe he had just instigated all the highlights of the night.
Like the arm-wrestling match that broke out at some point near the end. That had to be Zangief's doing because he was the one putting his hand in Ralph's. Nobody had ever malfunctioned in the head enough to arm-wrestle Ralph before but there it was, in peach-fuzz clarity. A crowd gathered around but Ralph hadn't even noticed who all the faces were: he only guessed at how far to curl his fingers around the mighty little hand in his palm, and then only saw the blue of Zangief's eyes. Were they blue? It was hard to tell in the low light, in the rush of adrenaline before that challenge and the weirdest, most swimming sense of delight Ralph had ever known. Yeah, Zangief's eyes definitely looked blue. Or maybe, maybe green. Ralph had never noticed before.
Then their strength took over. It had been a surprisingly even match-up, if that was Zangief's best, if that hard-smiling determination on his face meant anything.
Funny, though. Ralph couldn't seem to remember who had won. How could he miss something like that?
As the day wore on and the quarters came and went, Ralph's headache faded away but he couldn't pin down what was so special about that remembered thing that happened. He held on tight to it anyway.