"I thought for sure Adon was going to win," Ralph said as he leaned back in the mostly empty stands in Street Fighter, where the Bad Guys and Felix were sitting, "So, Zangief. I hate to pry, but I was wondering.." Forgive me for asking..

"Ask away," Zangief said while raising a brow.

"If you're not a playable character, or otherwise shown in the game, how come you came with it?" Ralph asked, "I don't really mean anything by that. It just strikes me as odd. I've always wondered how that works." It's not the first case of extra people or things being in a game by far. Even the Nicelanders' homes are fully furnished by default.

"I ask that question to myself often," Zangief said, "It does not make sense, but it is better than not being here, no?" He chuckled. I have no role in game, but still I am treated like Bad Guy. Something wrong with this picture, but things are getting better. Especially today.

"Well we're glad you came with the game," Felix said cheerfully, "You're a good guy to us, Zangief." This sure beats being coddled by the Nicelanders. They mean well, but jeepers. They go overboard sometimes.

"I appreciate that," Zangief said with a chuckle.

"Next challenger!" an announcer's voice rang out.

After a moment of nobody jumping onto the stage, Zangief said with a smile, "I guess it is my turn." He jumped out of the stands, did a few flips in the air and landed on his feet on the stage. "Come."

"Geki vs. Zangief!.. Round 1! Fight!" the announcer's voice rang out again.

While watching the fight unfold, Ralph said, "He's pretty good." I could probably take him if that's all he's got though.

"Think you could take him?" Felix asked cheerfully, "I've never seen you in an actual fight."

"You mean since all I ever do is smash up a building and drop bricks on you?" Ralph asked with a chuckle, "I probably could. Over a decade of living alone in the woods and living in a stump can really toughen a person up. Lucky me, otherwise I'd probably die when the Nicelanders throw me off the building at the end of every level." And into mud.. I don't mean to sound so bitter about it.

"Right.." Felix said nervously. Sorry, Ralph..

"Round 2! Fight!" the announcer's voice rang out again after Zangief won the first round.

"Don't worry about it," Ralph said, "It's in the past." Having a friend after 5 years of being avoided is pretty nice. I shouldn't ruin it by holding a grudge. They're programmed to throw me off the building anyway.


"You sure as hell had better have waxed my car," Turbo said bitterly as he and Jet walked across Game Central Station towards Turbo Time. He was still pinching his nose to keep blood from dripping onto his outfit. Otherwise you may just lose what little respect you've earned from me today.

"I did," Jet said while rolling his eyes, "Not like it matters, you know? The first quarter alert would have done it anyway." You're just wasting my time with that.

"That's no excuse to leave a car in imperfect condition," Turbo said bitterly, "And you need to keep a better handle on your brother. I'll kill him, you know?" This time I don't think I'm joking.

"You very well might.." Jet said dryly, "But at least do it in Turbo Time."

"I'm not so foolish as to get our game unplugged," Turbo said, "Who do you take me for?"

Jet swallowed hard. If only you knew.. If he knew though, would it change anything? I guess the simple act of knowing about the future changes things, but would it be a good change or a bad change? No.. It's too risky. 30 years worth of too risky.

Turbo sighed as they stepped into a set of small, dinky mine carts which were shaped like race cars and went inside their game. Stupid mine carts. Why can't we just have real cars?

Their blood ran cold when they finally got inside.

"What the hell is this?!" Turbo asked angrily as he looked around the inside of Turbo Time. No.. No no no!

Random lines of multi-colored code were rapidly flying and glitching around. The entire world shook violently, with the ground shifting up and down in blocks. Occasionally everything would go black for a few seconds and their limbs would seemingly detach and reattach themselves, though there was thankfully no pain from it.

"No!" Jet yelled in a distraught tone, "This can't be happening.." He fell to the ground, weak at the knees. The violently shaking terrain only made it worse. This never happened! Someone did this to us.. There has to be.. How can we fix this? Can we fix this?!

Jet and Turbo's eyes caught a string of code passing by that read, "A GAME FOR A GAME."

"A game for a game?!" Turbo asked angrily, "Do you know something about this, Jet?! You were here last!" You've been acting strange lately as well.. He narrowed his eyes at Jet in suspicion.

"I-it was fine when I left!" Jet said anxiously, "A-anyway we have to do something about this or our game will get unplugged in the morning!" Think think think.. He pinched the bridge of his nose in thought, shutting his eyes tightly. Forget about who may have done this for now. I can tell William about it once our game is safe. Sonny.. I need to find Sonny!

"Well isn't this Turbo-tastic?!" Turbo asked with all the frustrated anger in the world, "And where are you going?!" Did you do this?!

"I'm going find someone who I think can help!" Jet said anxiously, "Don't do anything rash!" What the hell am I going to do? Someone is out to get us..

Turbo clenched his teeth. No, he probably didn't do this.. It would be too obvious. I'd better get out of here as well before the game shuts down or something.

Turbo left Turbo Time a short while after Jet.

"Don't bother going in there," Turbo said frustratedly as he crossed his arms. There was a look of pure hatred in his eyes. "Someone screwed up our game. It's a disaster area." I'd blame you if it made sense to do so. But you were stuck in a web the entire time.

Set's grin instantly vanished and he angrily asked, "What?! Who?! Someone needs to game over for this. Where's Jet?" He might know something about this if he's not with Turbo anymore.

"I don't know what he's thinking, but he says he's going find someone who can help," Turbo said while rolling his eyes, "If it means our game survives, let him do what he wants. We can settle our little problem later."

"Do you think maybe it's the guys from RoadBlasters?" Set asked while clenching his fists tightly, "This happens the day their game gets plugged in. Don't you think that's suspicious?"

"It hadn't occurred to me, but you're right for a change," Turbo said bitterly, "Shall we?"

"Let's shall.." Set said bitterly.

The two made their way to RoadBlasters.


"Paperboy. Here it is.." Jet said anxiously to himself as he went inside. He breathed deeply, trying to calm his nerves so he could think more clearly, though it wasn't helping as much as he would have liked. 'A game for a game.'.. He tapped his foot nervously. It can really only be someone from 4 games then, couldn't it? Food Fight, Agent X, Star Wars, or Battlezone.. But how would they know unless they also came back whichever way I did? Or is it something else? RoadBlasters wouldn't be the cause, would it? One game getting unplugged after a new game comes in? It could have that meaning.. But it doesn't make as much sense. I've only met Roxie, and she seemed reasonable, even though I was a bit rude with her.. That's the only variable that changed there, isn't it? No, it can't be someone from RoadBlasters..

Jet carefully got out of the mine cart and went into the neighborhood. Just how exactly am I going to find Sonny in this place? He walked for a while, eventually seeing someone with a jackhammer in the street. What's he even doing? No, not important.. "Excuse me, have you seen a man named Sonny recently?" he asked nervously.

"He left a while ago," the man said, "Probably went to Tapper's."

"Alright, thanks," Jet said with a nod. I guess I should have checked there first. He left the game immediately, but not before noticing a tornado touch down and start following a kid on a bike. Let's not come here again..

Jet headed to Tapper's in hopes of finding Sonny.


"So this is the game stealing all of my players," Turbo said bitterly. And possibly the one responsible for sabotaging my game is here as well..

"Actually, this might not be the smartest of moves," Set said contemplatively, "This is their home turf. We don't know how they screwed up our game, if it's even them. We should take a more low key approach to this if we're going to get them back. I didn't even see what it looks like..

"It's called information gathering," Turbo said bitterly while rolling his eyes, "I still owe you a game over, by the way. Don't think I've forgotten that for an instant. This is just more important.. We'll ask around. If they wanted us dead, they could have probably left a death trap or something." Looks like we have a long ways to walk though, what the hell? There's no cars or anything around. We could be walking for hours and still not make it there, probably.

The two argued for a few minutes until Roxie's red car spawned at the entrance.

"Let me handle this," Turbo said while narrowing his eyes at the car. You stay out of my way, Set. At least my nose stopped bleeding. Now. Who is this guy, and are they responsible?


Author's Note: I tried to portray a kill screen from the perspective of inside the game. I hope it came across well enough.

I did realize that Zangief isn't in Street Fighter, by the way ;). I just wanted to include him anyway, haha. The way I see it, if there are things like restrooms in Pac-Man, then why not have extra characters not actually programmed into the game? Let's just say he was an idea that somehow slipped in without the developers even realizing it.

I've decided to update this story a bit more often. I'm still deciding just how much more often though, as it takes time away from my other story I'm working on, 'The Honeyglow Surge'.