Notes: I've had this posted on tumblr for a couple weeks now and I've been meaning to post this here for about a week, but I've gotten distracted. This is my first Wreck-It Ralph fanfic, but I've read a decent amount. Regardless, apologizes if I don't get someone's personality right. I fell into this fandom, and I fell HARD. (especially for a certain little shit racer) Seriously, this is one of the best groups of people I've ever seen and everyone's pretty good natured about everything. Good community, especially on tumblr. I hope you guys like my story. I like it, but I have no idea if anyone else will. Please tell me if you find any typos. Constructive criticism greatly accepted and appreciated. I've got a good amount of this written already, but I'm still working out a decent amount of kinks.

Summary: Six months after Hero's Duty is plugged in, a new game enters the arcade. Everyone's excited until they find out what that game is. Meanwhile, familiar faces reemerge for better or for worse as Sugar Rush prepares to host an arcade-wide Grand Prix. Danger lurks behind corners and in dark forests… (this summary is bull and I'm sorry I'm usually better with summaries)

Pairings: Hero's Cuties (Felix x Calhoun) as basically a constant/background thing (they ARE married, so it's only natural)

Warnings: Um, OOC? Headcanons galore, um… I dunno, I guess that's it?

Timeline: Six months after Hero's Duty is plugged in, so that long minus about nine days since the movie

Sharpened Pixels
Prologue

Over the years since it first opened, Litwak's Family Fun Center and Arcade became one of the best of its kind around. Well known for its vast array of games and large building to house them, the arcade was always full, always busy, always entertaining. Companies lined up halfway down the block for the chance to get one of their games out into the game house. It's because of that success that a phone call to the owner was nothing out of the ordinary. Litwak got a call about once a week to every two weeks, its sole purpose to keep the arcade manager up to date with all the latest games.

When Mr. Litwak received a phone call on the eve of the six month anniversary of Hero's Duty getting plugged in, no one thought anything of it. The shooter's main character, a certain Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun, happened to overhear the entire conversation via the First Person Shooter. The game was idle, all the children playing other games or out to lunch, so the words were perfectly audible on Litwak's end of the conversation.

After the arcade closed for the day, Sgt. Calhoun immediately left her game and set out for Fix-It Felix Jr. to see its namesake. She skipped the undersized tram, opting instead to use her own personal speeder, and shot down the tunnel quickly, the short trip cut even shorter. She exited the hole just in time to catch Ralph and Felix as they made their way for the train station. The looks on their faces as she stopped in front of them were almost comical.

Felix snapped out his stupor first, a goofy grin on his face. "Well hello, darlin'! What a pleasant surprise! I was just on my way to see you."

Calhoun gave him a small smile, but straightened up again quickly. "I decided to come here first. I heard something you veterans might want to know."

Ralph cocked his head to the side, he and Felix exchanging glances at the wording she used. "Somethin' you heard that we need to hear?" he asked, returning his attention to her. "Who'd you hear it from?"

"I'm not one to gossip, but this came directly from Litwak himself," the woman told the men, her hands on his hips.

"Does this have anything to do with the phone call that was made to him today?" Felix asked with a distant look in his eyes, his hands clasped together in front of him.

"It has everything to do with that." Calhoun pulled out a small handheld device and presented it to the duo. "He was talking right beside our machine, so the First Person Shooter was able to pick him up. It records everything, so I was able to extract the audio from it right after closing." The males watched as she pressed a button and sounds began to pour from the small speakers.

"An offer?" Litwak's voice atoned. "What kind of an offer?" There was a pause. "Retro game? How old is it?" Pause. "Twenty-seven years? What game is it?" There was a pause that ended with an uneasy sound. "Eh, I had that particular game in here about twenty years ago. Had to unplug it because of the darn bugs…" He trailed off and listened to the person on the other end of the line.

He made a sound of pleasant surprise. "They fixed the bugs? That's great!" Pause. "So it was recalled a couple years after the initial release because it was broken?" Pause. "Well, I suppose I was pretty new to the industry at the time… Okay, yeah, that makes sense. So the machine you're willing to sell me is the exact same game except without the glitches?"

He paused before laughing. "Alright then; you've got yourself a deal! When can you be here with it?" Pause. "Tomorrow afternoon? Perfect! Let's see… Today's Wednesday, so that means it'll be ready to play by Friday." Pause. "Great! See you soon!"

The small recorder clicked as it reached the end of the clip. The soldier put it away.

"Golly," Felix murmured, eyes to the sky as he looked back into his memories. "I wonder what game it is…"

Ralph shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, buddy," the wrecker threw out. He made a strange sound in his throat and pulled a face, glancing between the other two. He turned and began walking away, one massive hand raised in farewell. "While this is interesting news, I promised a certain little crumb-snatcher that I'd be over right after work. I'll see you two lovebirds later."

Felix blushed at Ralph's words before looking up to the Sergeant. "Appreciate the heads up, ma'm," the fixer thanked with a small smile, looking up to the woman bashfully.

Calhoun gave him a small but exasperated smile in return. "C'mon, Fix-It. We've been married for a couple months now; I've given you express permission to call me by my first name."

"A-alright… Tamora," he stuttered, smile widening and his face absolutely burning red.

"That's the spirit, soldier!" the woman exclaimed, patting her husband on the head. "Now let's get out of here. Maybe go to Tapper's; how's that sound?"

"That sounds spiffy!" Felix agreed, practically glowing. Tamora laughed as the two left through the tunnel.

o0o

Ralph jumped off the tram for Sugar Rush with a thoughtful expression. He bothered by the news the soldier brought, but he was curious what the new game could be. Over the years, several different games had come and gone, but twenty years was a long time ago.

He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice his surroundings until he was tripping over his own large feet and hitting his chin on a pesky jawbreaker. He'd closed his eyes out of reflex, but they snapped open at a familiar voice.

"What, did the world run out from under your smelly feet?" Vanellope asked, a smirk gracing her face and her caramel apple eyes narrowed mischievously. Ralph looked up from the ground, still a bit too dazed for words. Vanellope rolled her eyes. "People don't bow to presidents, you know."

Ralph finally pulled himself together and pushed himself up, one massive hand reaching up to rub his chin. "Oh, hey, don't ask if I'm okay or anything," he muttered, glaring in mock indignation.

Vanellope gasped and clutched her hands together sarcastically. "Oh no!" she cried, voice high in mock worry. "Ralphie's hurt! Somebody, call a doctor!" She straightened and smirked down at him, a hand coming to rest on her hip. "Better?"

"Not much, but it'll do. I don't appreciate the smart mouth, by the way." The wrecker stood to his full nine foot height and brushed himself off.

"So why'd you fall over in the first place?" the diminutive racer asked, tilting her head. "Don't you get enough of hitting the ground in your own game?"

"I was just thinking." He chose to ignore the jab as he replied, scooping her up and sitting her on his shoulder.

"What about?" she continued, adapting easily to her new position.

"Oh, there's this new game that's coming in, but it's technically not, if you know what I mean." The girl shook her head, so he made a small gesture with his hand as he continued. "It's an older game that got some upgrading; Litwak said that it got a bit of a programming makeover to get rid of the bugs and glitches left over from the original. It was here at the arcade at some point before, but it got unplugged like twenty years ago."

"Do you have any idea what game it is?" the girl asked, he hazel eyes watching Ralph.

"Not a clue. Felix doesn't know either. Twenty years is a long time…" the man trailed off with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Well, let's forget about that for now. I told you I'd show you how to race for the arcade wide Grand Prix. There's only a couple weeks left!" Vanellope bounced in place as she spoke, her eyes going starry. "Tons of people are going to be here and racing around in my game!"

Ralph chuckled and shook his head at her behavior. "Yeah, yeah. It sounds fantastic, I'm sure. So are we just gonna sit here and talk about it, or are we actually going to be doing something?"

"Oh yeah!" she exclaimed, as she jumped and landed on the ground with a short glitch. "We've got a lot of work to do! Right this way, Lieutenant Dooty-head!" She turned and started to march down towards the tracks and the castle.

"After you, President Fart-feathers," he shot back as he followed with a good-natured smile.

o0o

By the next day, word had spread about the retro game coming to the arcade. All day, the characters had to keep their cool no matter how excited or interested they were.

At around four, a small moving truck pulled up, the man driving it coming around and unloading a covered machine. Some of the characters facing the door could have broken face right there and groaned aloud, but they kept to the programming.

The machine was brought in, effectively distracting the players and letting several characters fall out of sync for long enough to glance over at the new cabinet.

The game was set down and Litwak joined the man in shoving aside a few of the other games so that the new one (which was still covered, much to the dismay of the watching crowd and games) could fit snugly into the space to the right of Fix-It Felix Jr.

Litwak stood back and gazed at the three games in front of him, Pac-Man, Fix-It Felix Jr., and the new one, and he smiled. Litwak then turned, walked the man to the door, paid him for the game, and waved as he left.

Two hours later, the arcade was closing. Some of the less popular games had already seen their last player of the day and thus sat devoid of characters, nothing showing up but the title screens, the characters too eager to see the new game to wait until they were given the 'all clear'.

Back in the Game Central Station, Surge Protector was doing a preliminary head count as he waited for the game to be plugged in. He planned to block the name of the game from showing up on the sign over the top of the tunnel until Litwak was gone and all of the interested characters were present.

The day was a big one; Hero's Duty had been plugged in exactly six months prior and now a new game was joining the arcade. Surge wanted to give each of his charges the opportunity to experience the event first hand.

Litwak put the plug in the outlet and pulled the cover off, smiling with pride as the main character appeared on the screen. He patted the side before turning towards the door. "Tomorrow's the day, big guy," he called over his shoulder. "I'm sure you'll do great."

As soon as the man was out the door, every other character that was interested ran out, eager to greet the new game. Within five minutes, nearly every character in the entire arcade was crowed in front of the tunnel, eyes to the sign that would announce the name.

Surge cleared his throat and connected to the intercom system so that everyone could hear him. "Everyone, please turn your attention to the sign as we proudly present the newest addition to Game Central Station."

The sign cleared briefly before the name popped up, letters glowing red and unchanging. The effect was immediate and sparked panic amongst the majority of the crowd.

The new game to get plugged in was TurboTime.

Reviews are appreciated. Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for chapter one.