In the game Fix-It Felix Jr., after quite some time schmoozing.
"Ralph, brother. Mind giving me a hand?" Felix asked cheerfully, "I was thinking we could get to work on East Niceland."
"Sure thing, Felix," Ralph smiled before casting his girlfriend a knowing glance, "You're coming too, right Vannie?"
"Are you kidding?" Vannie asked with a wide grin, "Why wouldn't I want to see you in action? Count me in."
"It was-a nice meeting you," Luigi said cheerfully. Who would 'ave thought Bad Guys can be such-a good guys?
"We'll catch up later," Ralph said, still smiling.
"Bye," Vannie said as she ran out the door after Ralph and Felix.
"What a nice-a Bad Guy," Mario said to Luigi.
"Much-a better than we thought," Luigi said to Mario.
"I owe you one," Ralph said as they went back to the mountains of bricks, pretty close to where East Niceland used to be, "Never really been one for crowds."
"So are you building another apartment or something?" Vannie beamed as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her hoodie.
"A few, actually," Felix smiled, "Of course not all in one night." And really, one would be enough.. I'd rather not keep the neighbors awake though.
"You're not gonna go back on your word, are ya Ralph?" Vannie asked seriously while furrowing her brow and pouting slightly.
"No, I meant it," Ralph assured her as he lightly ran his fingers through his hair.
He's moving up in the world. Calhoun grinned wryly. She put the pieces together easily enough, since Ralph and Felix were about to build an apartment building, but decided not to say anything. Felix, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice they even said anything.
Felix, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice they even said anything. He walked over to an empty stretch of land–far from player view–and called out to them, "Alright, just let me grab a pie." He sighed and gulped in 'anticipation' at the stack of pies that Mary had graciously provided for him. It wasn't because he thought they would taste bad; they were delicious, after all. He did so simply because he had already eaten, and overeating always gave him a queasy feeling even though he could literally eat pies all day thanks to his programming.
With a swift game-like motion, Felix ate his first pie. Upon doing so, his hat began blinking several colors, which was the signal for Ralph to rapid-fire throw bricks at him while Felix quickly set them in place. A half hour later, Felix hit the building with his hammer to 'finalize' it. "We'll have to continue later, brother.." Felix held his hand over his stomach tightly with a pained expression on his face.
"Well, that's one way to do it, I guess," Vannie laughed incredulously as Felix bounded over to admire his handiwork from a better angle, "So what would happen if Ralph ate one of those pies?"
"Absolutely nothing," Ralph teased as he nudged Vannie in the side of her stomach as lightly as he could. While he could almost perfectly control his strength when it came to people before his game was reset, the reset had unfortunately left him with the impression that he couldn't. His memories were definitely all there–as they should be–but they weren't all fully integrated. "Tried it already. Must be something in Felix's code–Not that I'm complaining."
"So this is where you were!" King Candy(1) said with his all too familiar boisterous laugh, alerting them to his presence.
"Zombie here too!" Zombie groaned happily, with one of his hatchet-wielding arms pointed straight in the air, "King Candy also here." He pointed–with that same hatchet–to the King Candy of Sugar Rush 2 who was fast approaching from the direction of the Niceland apartment building. He had spent a moment observing that there was in fact a party going on.
"Hey Zombie, good to have you around," Ralph smiled.
"Zombie just here for moral support," Zombie let out a wheezing laugh. It's what I'm best at, my good friend.
"Hey Zombie!" Vannie said excitedly, "And Dad, what are you doing here? Oh, and well, other.. Dad?"
"Zombie glad you doing well."
"Felix, we were wondering if you could help us out with something," King Candy(1) politely interrupted, "You see, we were hoping to get some sort of holster for Zombie's hatchets so he.. well so he didn't have to carry them in his hands, you know?" He laughed nervously. I hate asking favors, but it's for a good cause. Like either one of us know how to program a holster.. I've never even seen one up-close.
"That right," Zombie agreed, "Felix person to ask since he have holster for hammer. It make sense." If I could just rest my arms, that would be amazing. Indeed, to not worry about the likelihood of my arms falling off due to the weight would be quite the blessing.
"Oh, of course! I can do that for you. I'll be but a moment," Felix said cheerfully as he bounded off in the direction of his apartment room in the main Niceland building. He wasn't exactly surprised to see Zombie. He had heard a lot about him from Ralph over the past few months. Not to mention the fact that Zombie was there when Felix fixed the door to Sugar Rush's code room the day before. Over the course of a few minutes, he fashioned a belt for Zombie to holster his hatchets in with some materials he always kept around in case he ever needed them for a project of some sort. It took no time at all, really, with Felix being the handy person he is.
"Here you go, friend," Felix beamed as he returned to the others and presented Zombie with a belt of his own, "Now, it may take some getting used to.."
"NNNNNGH!" Zombie groaned in approval as he placed the hatchets in their new home and put the belt on, "It good! Zombie appreciate it. Take getting used to, like Felix say, but good. Zombie always wish for place to put hatchets. They always in way." Zombie didn't quite know what to do with his new found hand-freedom so he just crossed his arms. Yes, this will do quite nicely. He briefly considered posing like a superhero, since in effect he had a utility belt of sorts, but he would be far too embarrassed afterwards to actually do something like that.
"It looks good, Zombie," Ralph beamed.
"The two of you make quite the excellent team," King Candy(1) laughed, "We didn't want to disturb your building." Ingenious use of game mechanics.
"Ah, you saw that?" Ralph said sheepishly. The first time they had built East Niceland, all Ralph did was move the bricks over one pile at a time, though this day's method proved to be somewhat more efficient since Felix was already where the bricks needed to be when they came flying at him.
"Zombie wish he had camera. It make good photo opportunity." If only.. Zangief and Clyde would absolutely love that. Zombie then went through a list of all the other Bad-Anons in his head.
"Ralph, would you mind if I had a word with you in private?" King Candy asked seriously. Whether this is for the best or not remains to be seen, but..
"Uh, sure.. We can talk over here," Ralph said with an especially bemused expression suddenly stretched across his face as he led King Candy away, towards his stump only to return after a few minutes.
"Nothing to worry about," Ralph smiled nervously–at which Vannie cocked a brow. "So where's Vanellope? I haven't seen her all day oddly enough.."
"Oh she's busy showing some new friends around Sugar Rush," King Candy(1) said cheerfully, "The older Jubileena and Candlehead, and two soldiers from Hero's Duty."
"Soldiers you say?" Calhoun asked curiously, "Oh.. Must be Markowski and Spears in that case." She blew her hair out of her eyes. Guess they've discovered girls exist.
Guess they've discovered girls exist.
Back in Diet Cola Mountain, after they had spent some time getting to know each other..
"Well Rancis and I are going meet ourselves," little Taffyta said plainly, "You coming Candlehead?" She was talking to the younger of the two, but didn't specify.
"Umm.. I think I'll hang out with big me for a while," little Candlehead said, "Sorry."
"That's fine. Come on, Rancis," little Taffyta said as they hopped into their karts and drove off.
"She's.. different from the Taffyta in our game," Jubileena said. Not quite as nice, that's for sure.
"Okay, so who's next?" Candlehead wondered aloud. In the back of her mind, the 'sort of dating' conversation was still nagging at her. It's weird! I'll have to talk about this at some point.. Not right now though. I probably already look stupid with the outburst I had earlier..
"Well, we could check in the town," Markowski said, "We're bound to come across the others at some point." It's kind of impossible, but she would probably make a good mom.. Not that I want kids or anything.
"Ooh, good idea!" Candlehead beamed. Well if I'm dating one of them, I hope it's at least Leon. Did I really forget something so important as agreeing to date someone though?
Markowski, Spears, and both versions of Candlehead and Jubileena made their way in town. The town, which was named Schweetz, by the way, was rather large, actually. It was more like a full-fledged city.. made of candy, of course. The sidewalks and streets were all made of bricked sugar. Between the sidewalks and streets were evenly spaced sections of short, green licorice grass, with each section also having three small spearmint flavored candy trees. The buildings were a mix of various building materials ranging from bricked sugar to various chocolates, to bubblegum and mints, among others. Of course, this was on the end where all of the businesses, such as Cafe DiCaramello resided.
On the other end of town were the cul-de-sacs for the majority of the racers, with the exception of Vanellope and King Candy, of course. The streets and sidewalks were similarly designed, only the houses were all giant cupcakes, with the houses sharing the same theme as the racers who lived there. They had found Gloyd and Swizzle playing a variation on basketball outside Gloyd's halloween themed house with what looked more like a pumpkin than a basketball. They were using a makeshift hoop made out of a giant hollowed out lollipop, which had taken ages for them to make, and red licorice tied together to form the net. The two boys made no attempt to escape Candlehead when she made her intentions clear. The only ones they ever avoided were Minty Zaki and Snowanna.
They chatted for a while until Candlehead was ready to move on.
Adorabeezle, Minty Zaki, Crumbelina, and Snowanna were next. They were found talking outside Snowanna's snocone themed house. Minty Zaki and Snowanna put up a small challenge, but eventually gave up. Crumbelina and Adorabeezle on the other hand were a bit more welcoming.
"Who's left?" Jubileena asked. Once it's out of Candlehead's system she'll calm down.
"That would be Citrusella, Torvald, Nougetsia, and Sticky," Vanellope laughed. The recolors are always off in their group.. She regretted the fact that the recolors weren't given their own unique looks, but it's not like they could really do anything about it since the players know them as recolors. There are limits to what you can change without it being too suspicious. Regardless of this nagging at her again, Vanellope was enjoying herself thoroughly while watching Candlehead's excitement at 'catching' racers.
The remaining racers were captured without fail outside Citrusella's blueberry themed house, where they had stayed to hang out for a short while.
"Feel better now?" Jubileena asked Candlehead with a knowing smirk as they turned and waved and the kids one last time. It'd like to get away from as many people as possible here. Be nice, Brain.
"Yep. Mission complete," Candlehead said with a satisfied smile. That was fun.
"What about King Candy?" Vanellope asked with a knowing smirk rivaling that of Jubileena's. Although he's not what I would call cute. Someone might disagree though, for all I know.
"No thanks, I'm good," Candlehead chuckled. Obvious joke, but still.
"Hmm.. It's getting kind of late isn't it?" Vanellope asked. I still want to visit Ralph, but he's probably headed for bed by now.
"Did that much time pass already?" Jubileena asked as she lightly scratched her head, "We should probably head back." Good excuse.
"It's been fun!" Candlehead beamed as she, Jubileena, Markowski and Spears headed back to Game Station West, where their games were located. They had dropped off little Candlehead and Jubileena behind at little Candlehead's house before going.
"Would you.. like to stay over?" little Candlehead asked somewhat sheepishly. We're apparently really good friends in the future, so..
"Sure," little Jubileena said with a smile, "Just let me call my mom." I don't see why not. We get along well as adults.
"Well it's about time we returned," King Candy yawned.
"See you later, Ralph," Calhoun said with a sly grin. It's the only thing it could be.
"You're scary," Ralph chuckled sheepishly.
"Huh? What?" Felix asked while alternating his gaze between them. This isn't the first time something has gone over my head. Since he's so short.
Vannie instantly perked up, seemingly realizing something. "He's coming live with Dad and I." She excitedly hugged Ralph from the side.
"Oh! That's wonderful," Felix said with a sappy smile before snapping out of it and pointing at Ralph authoritatively, "Well, you'd better not come back late, Ralph. I don't want to hear any excuses." He crossed his arms and put on his most-serious face. Whether you 'seal the deal' or not, you'd better be here when the arcade opens. He got a bit rosy in the cheeks, and he couldn't help but feel slightly awkward about where his mind had just wandered.
"Relax," Ralph said as he scratched the back of his head, "I'll be back with time to spare."
Ralph, Vannie, and King Candy finished their farewells and went home.
"Zombie happy for Ralph," Zombie said with a smile, "Zombie go back home too. Long day. Thank again, Felix." My words cannot properly express the magnitude of my gratitude.
"Any time, Zombie," Felix beamed.
"Well I suppose I'll excuse myself as well," King Candy(1) laughed.
The two of them went back to their games, leaving just Felix and Calhoun.
"Ralph is going to have his hands full," Felix said with a grin as he crossed his arms. I imagine that living in a castle will be quite the culture shock for him. He could have lived in the apartment we just built though. He just didn't want to make things more awkward by bringing it up.
"You bet," Calhoun said wryly. He's practically raring to go.. She just thought it was hilarious.
"Not like that," Felix said as his cheeks once again turned a shade of honeyglow. I somehow doubt Ralph is 'ready' for that sort of thing either.
"Well, you never know," Calhoun teased, "We got on pretty quick ourselves.. How about we head home too?"
"Your place or mine?" Felix chuckled. Come to think of it, we still haven't..
"Well I wouldn't want to disturb your neighbors," Calhoun laughed. I imagine they would be banging on the ceiling again.
"Jiminy jaminy.. Well, we could break in the new penthouse," Felix said with a sly grin. I've decided that will be my new home. It's only fitting.
"Sounds like a plan," Calhoun teased before the two made their way inside the fully furnished, oddly enough, new apartment building and up to its penthouse. It was furnished much the same way as Gene's penthouse, which was a start, in Calhoun's opinion.
"We've got the place all to ourselves for now," Felix said with a giddy laugh, "I'll tell Q*bert and the others tomorrow." He ran to the bedroom ahead of Calhoun. Jaminy, I've been looking forward to this all day. It's so good having my memory back! It's not like he was desperate for it. It's just that there was this odd after effect of the deed itself that formed a sort of link, a connection between both parties, that allowed the sharing of thoughts, among other things. In other words? Sex, for some reason, made two people telepathic towards each other. A good analogy would be two computers in a network that occasionally shared files.
"Careful not to trip," Calhoun called out as she casually made her way to the bedroom. It's not like he'll start without me..
"What took you so long?" Felix teased as he posed on the bed with his gloves and boots off as Calhoun entered the room, "I've been waiting." Should I have put on some cheesy music to complete the atmosphere, I wonder?
"I see you're raring to go," Calhoun scoffed lovingly as she crept over to him after climbing onto the bed. I'm getting a little impatient myself.
"I can't be the only one who regretted that we couldn't do this last night," Felix teased, "Jaminy, talk about a rough time.." If possible I'd have liked to reestablish our 'connection' immediately.
"Well, we get to make up for it tonight," Calhoun whispered warmly into his ear before biting it softly.
Felix giggled, "You know I'm sensitive there."
"That's the point," Calhoun teased as she lightly tapped his chest before pulling him into a tender kiss. Perhaps I should have taken my armor off first..
Felix giggled through his nose as he eased into their kiss while lovingly placing a hand on her cheek. After a moment of this he pulled himself away slowly and said, "I think we should get you out of that armor before going any further." He had a glint in his eyes that said he meant business. Someday I'll get her to wear normal clothes so that we have an easier time of this..
"I think you may be right, short stack," Calhoun chuckled.
"I feel stupid for asking.." Candlehead said worriedly as they wandered Game Station West, "I'm dating Leon, right?" She instantly wished she hadn't said anything. They must think I'm a total idiot. She had the strongest urge she'd ever felt to just either hide her face, or run away to a different game and change her name, yet her feet felt as if they were frozen in place. The others followed suit and stopped walking as well.
Markowski had tried to think, some time before Candlehead brought it up, about how he should handle such a situation. He didn't really come up with anything though. He was originally going to wait a while before asking her out in the first place, not wanting to ruin what was already a good thing, but this turn of events had forced his hand.. Or rather it forced his mouth. 'If that's alright with you,' just doesn't feel right. Just saying, 'Yes,' would definitely be no good. It would imply she has no choice in the matter. He sighed at his inability to string a satisfactory answer together in a timely manner while the others stood there in somewhat stunned silence.
"Well I was going to ask you out eventually," Markowski chuckled nervously. I'm not completely satisfied with that.. "but I don't want you to think that you have to go out with me just because someone said we kind of were." I hope that sounded as good out loud as it did in my head. He remembered how bad off he was when he was first plugged in. He often walked straight into walls while repeating the 'Hero's Mantra' in a drunken stupor until someone snapped him out of it, so he didn't really think anything of it. It's only natural for people, even game characters, to adapt to their environment over time. It just takes some longer than others. This is especially the case with 'gag' characters, or those who have bugs in their programming.
"No no! I mean.. I'd like that," Candlehead said frantically, "I just.. You know.. It took me by surprise earlier, and.." She shook her head. So it wasn't really decided on yet. That makes a lot more sense.. I'm not stupid! I just sound like I am now.. She scrunched her face in embarrassment. I sound like a total idiot. I should just go game over. She didn't mean that last part.
"It's alright," Markowski said in a reassuring tone, "I was worse off for like two weeks when Hero's Duty was first plugged in. Ask him." He pointed at Spears with his thumb.
"It's true," Spears laughed, "He would always walk into walls and trip over things while mumbling to himself.. Sorry man." I shouldn't have laughed, even though it was pretty funny.
"Yeah, a little too far.. I'm just saying it's nothing to be ashamed of, and it won't be like that forever."
He still trips over things. I'm not too sure what to make of the rest of that. "So are we game?" Jubileena asked Spears while trying to smile. She wasn't quite used to things either, obviously. If it's limited to just us four when we hang out, I should be able to handle this.. She really didn't like being around a lot of people. Four was already pushing it.
"Absolutely," Spears said with a smile, "Well, I'd like that anyways."
"Good. Then same time tomorrow?" Jubileena asked with a smile. Let's see if this works out. She was visibly nervous about the prospect, but none of them said anything about it. She figured that if she never took this chance, she might could be miserable for the rest of her life. Not that she was miserable, per se. So nerve wracking..
"Sounds good to me," Markowski beamed. I hope they forget what Spears said a while ago..
"Yeah!" Candlehead said excitedly while fist pumping the air. This will be awesome! She was still inwardly kicking herself for making herself look stupid.
"Affirmative," Spears said. I should probably just say yes or yeah around the girls. Affirmative is too stiff.
With that they returned to their games for the night.
Author's Note: This takes place during chapter 5 of 'The Honeyglow Surge'. The whole "sex makes you telepathic with your lover" thing was a spur of the moment thing when I originally wrote it. I don't really feel as though I should change it though, so I won't. Besides, it's played for laughs, especially later on.