Several characters in a few games that were able to reach their monitor were pressed up against it concerned. The woman who had been fixing some of the games and updating them was laying wedged between ' Fix it Felix Jr' and 'The Flying Air Dogs' game. One sneakered foot was twitching. The surge protector who was one of the few who could travel between games and beyond jumped to the telephone line and called 911.

Felix frowned adjusting his collar. He was due to meet up with his gorgeous wife For a night at the candy cafe a little game that was geared towards the younger audience. You could make coffee, decorate donuts and scone and it was generally a festive cheerful place. He could see there was a commotion but jumping up to the top of the building peering out didn't show him what the commotion was.

He sighed and then glanced at his reflection in the window of the roof's door. He smiled pleased. They had obviously gotten something new as the colors of his clothes were brighter and the definition of his face higher. Of course he was no where near the pixels his wife was and that was ok by him. He left the roof and headed to the door to catch the train to gaming central. He passed Ralph who had picked himself up out of the mud and was moving to his shack looking concerned as he peered at the monitor trying to see what was going on.

" Hey brother your looking pretty bright today." Felix said. Ralph gave him a dead pan look. Felix frowned and motioned to their clothes. " Brighter, we look brighter, think we got a new video card cool huh? How do I look?"

Felix did a twirl causing Ralph to smile and roll his eyes. " Yea, yea man you look bright. Excuse me while I get my sunglasses. Big date tonight with the missus?"

" Oh Jimany Jaminy you best believe it! Can you believe we've been married a year already? Why it seems just yesterday I was flat on my back with her gun against my neck..." Felix trailed off his cheeks taking a honey glow and his eyes dreamy.

Ralph snickered " Yea I think she just likes beating you knowing you can fix your face anytime you want."

Felix grinned taking Ralph's teasing in stride he knew the giant meant no malice. " How bout you and the princess? Doing anything today?"

Ralph shook his head. " Nope today she has a meeting. We'll be getting together tomorrow for a race. She wants me to help her build a new car." He turned then looked back at Felix who was heading to the train stop. " and it's PRESIDENT Vanellope von Schweetz Felix she really doesn't like being called princess you know."

Felix waved at him then paused " Er you doing anything brother? You want to come have a float with us?"

Ralph shook his head " No thanks I got a few things to work on in my shack, sides don't want to be a fifth wheel."

He groaned at the concerned look on Felix's face and hoped to heaven the little man was not going to try to set him up again.

" Felix it's fine. Just go please? If you make your wife wait she might come shoot me."

Felix grinned at his humor and then got on the train settling back contemplating the night ahead.

After Felix pulled out but before Ralph had a chance to get to his shack blue and red lights seemed to show up in the arcade.

He found himself staring at the screen. He couldn't see what was going on but there was enough commotion to disturb him. After a moment he shrugged and headed to the dump. Whatever it was didn't have anything to do with him. Ergo he put it from his mind. Whistling softly to himself he approached the stack of bricks that he had built up into a kind of walkway to his shack and he stopped in his tracks.

There were a pair of tennis shoes sticking out from behind the pile of bricks he had not sorted yet. He put a hand on his hip and scratched his head. He wasn't afraid exactly, this was his game and in his own game he could kick ass and nothing could kill him here but he was puzzled.

A thought came to him and he relaxed. Obviously Vanellope was pranking him. They had done that many times despite her not being able to leave her game she still managed to get others to carry out her pranks. Obviously bored with the thought of her meeting she had pulled a fast one on him.

He chuckled and rolled his eyes. God he loved that kid. He stepped around expecting the shoes to be empty and was shocked to see they were attached to a pair of legs, which were attached to a body which was attached to a head.

There was a woman passed out in his dump. For a moment he stood there not sure what to do. She wasn't anyone he had ever seen before. She must have been some kind of carpenter like Felix since she had a bulky tool belt around her waist. Her face was even more incredible than Sergeant Calhoun's. The graphics in her game must have been crazy realistic even her clothes had texture. Her hair was white like snow and looked as soft as wool. Her face was young looking with laugh lines around her eyes and mouth, her eyes were slanted like some of the Ninja fighters in Flying Fist. Her nose was dainty her lips looked a bit wide but not so much as to make her look ugly. The more he stared the more details he picked up. She had 2 pairs of earrings in each ear. Her jeans while baggy were resting on her legs outlining long strong theighs attached to full hips. Her red hoodie hinted at a buxom but left alot to the imagination. She had some freckles on her nose. That he found charming.

" Um hello?" Ralph edged one of his large feet forward and nudged her shoe.

Nothing.

" Hey Helllooooo? Can you hear me?"

Nada.

Ralph wondered for a moment if he should get the Nicelanders involved. He quickly dismissed the idea. Without Felix around they tended to fall apart at the least bit of discord to their perfect world. The sounds outside the game caught his attention briefly.

" Patient has electrical burn down her arm. She's non responsive pulse is weak breathing is shallow Let's get her to a hospital."

" Let's move her out! "

There was clanking. A clatter of wheels as the gurney was brought down and then back up. He could see several shapes departing and the wail of a siren outside. Boy he hope Mr. Litpak was ok. Most of the games loved him. They were not so fond of his young son who seemed lazy. The older one was going to school to learn computer animation and they had gotten used to his staring at their graphics adjusting his glasses and taking notes.

All this was interesting but none of him helped him with the problem at hand. The woman. Who was she and why was she in his dump?

Ralph leaned all the way down and pressed his head to her chest. He could hear heartbeats so she wasn't from the zombie game unless she was one of the heroes. He knelt on one knee and carefully slid a large hand under her head checking for injuries. He couldn't find any.

He stood back up with a slight huff. He couldn't leave her out here. In the garbage. For granted his shack wasn't exactly a four star hotel and he hadn't built it with two in mind but he supposed he could let her have the bed and he could sleep outside. It might not be the most comfortable in the world but it would be like old times. A noise caused him to turn around. Q-bert, Curley, and the walking bomb stood slightly behind him waiting. Ralph could have slapped himself. Poker night. It was his turn to host. He'd forgotten. Again. He sighed.

" Sorry guys something came up." He waved his large meaty hand over his guest. " What do you make of this? Know her from anywhere? "

They all gave him negative answers. He sighed again then shrugged. He picked her up carefully and carried her to his shack. His friends followed curious.

He paused at the door with the woman dangling from his hands. She was about Calhoun's height and just as light with no armor on. He addressed the little group in front of him.

" Look she came from someplace. I'll take care of her for now but we need to get her back to her game before dawn. Q-bert can you start asking around in Tappers? Yea? Great Curly can you and da bomb check out central station? She's got to be a main character. Somebody somewhere is going to miss her."

The other characters made noises of agreements and hurried to the station. Ralph looked down at the burden in his arms...well ok she was light as a feather but he looked anyway again impressed by the graphics that made her up. He pushed open his door and ducked under the frame making his way to his bed. His shack was pretty modest since he had never needed anything extra before. His stump made up part of the roof and served as a chimney. There was a fireplace. A large red chair and a wide bed shoved up under the window so he could see outside NOT facing the apartment building.

He held her up with one arm using the other to pulled his patched quilted blanket down, it had been a present from Mary and bless her she had accidently made it too short but he didn't mind. He never got cold anyway. He laid the woman down and tucked the blanket around her. He figured he might bring Felix in on this. Maybe he could think up some way to help.

As he was rearranging the woman's arms on the bed something caught his attention. He slowly pulled up her right sleeve. Her arm from her middle finger down, around her wrist up as far as he could pull the sleeve was covered in a glowing network of cracks. No. Not cracks...they looked like thousands of tiny branches branching down from her arm to her hand. Ralph thought it looked rather pretty. He thought maybe she could shoot lightening or fire balls from her hands. He figured he'd find out soon enough. He went to get a wet rag for her head. That done he turned his chair around so he could face her. He picked up a paper that Gene had tossed and began reading it while watching over his unexpected guest.

-Real Life-

In the ambulance the paramedic were concerned about the young woman they had picked up from the arcade. Mr. Litwak had been called to observe the damage and had given them what information they had on the young woman. She wasn't responsive. Her pupils weren't responsive. Her heart beat, she breathed but she seemed to be deep in a coma. The fact she was alive at all was a miracle. The paramedic doubted she even knew what hit her. A lightning bolt had come down, blown a hole in a billboard, smashed through the window of the arcade, and struck the young woman as she was working on a game. A freak accident. This was the first he had seen anyone hit by lightening. Her arm had an ugly red branching burn that seemed to start at her middle finger and travel up to her shoulder. The burn was inside her body as opposed to outside.

They got a line in her and checked her for any other injuries. There were none except for the entrance wound on her shoulder. Of course an accident of this magnitude didn't need more injuries to make it bad. He filled out the paperwork quickly of her vitals. A burn doctor and neurologist were waiting at the hospital. The paramedic truly hoped the woman would wake up by dawn. It seemed a long way away.