Chapter Twenty Four- Inner Hero
"What's the matter, Fix-It? Can't you handle it?"
She's just mixed up, Buddy.
"Can't you fight any better than that?"
There's nothin' ta be scared about, there's nothin' ta be scared about.
"All those powers of healin' an ya can't even fix your own weaknesses."
Felix knew what he was facing; he had to stop Mal with the precious seconds before the arcade's opening but both he and his wife were still trapped within Moppet's hand-held, the girl more or less turning FLIPS outside the establishment as Calhoun continued her attempts at keeping their connection close.
If they were just a yard away from the right point, they would be unable to connect!
"Felix, hurry it up!" Calhoun cried out "We're here! We can head back before-!"
"NO."
"NO?!" the woman responded in shock, seeing Felix standing his ground with the hammer-armed virus "We don't have anymore time before-!"
"We can't leave these two monsters here…." The repairman growled, his wife surprised by just how gruff his voice came out "We can't let them stay here so they can destroy someone else's home!"
"Aww, don't tell me you're still sore about what happened back durin' that party!" Mal chortled to herself, her face twisting into a smirk "Are ya seriously THAT ruffled over it? I mean it was only TWO GAMES that YA let die after all, HERO!"
The anger took over as Felix LUNGED himself towards Mal but the woman caught his arm, bending it back painfully.
"HONEY!"
Calhoun was about to leap forward as well but a large explosion rose from under her, the woman turning back in time to see TOR erupting from the ground like a monster from the deep. She tried to cover, her fist ready to clock him on the jaw but his large hands took her, vines wrapping themselves around her as she was pulled closer, SLAMMED into his tick chest.
"AUUURGH!"
"T-TAMMY!" Felix wailed through the pain as he watched his wife fall.
"Ahahahahahah." The female virus giggled to herself, applying more and more pressure to Felix as she bent him down "I guess we get our good endin', after all this time!"
"N-no!" Felix coughed "NO! I WON'T LET YA! I WON'T LET YA HURT ANYONE AGAIN!"
"Shh, shh, shhhhhhh….it'll only be a moment, then everythin' will just end." Mal cooed cutely, placing her fingers softly upon Felix's lips "A'course, in your case I wanna make this a bit more….well, a bit more FUN!"
Felix's face was SLAMMED upon the ground, the woman's claws digging hard into his cheeks that he could feel them going through his skin.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAURGH!"
"Gotta admit. Ya belong in a special club'a mine, Felix."
"Y-Yeah? Wh-what would that me, ma'am?"
"There have only been a few 'HEROES' that have pissed me off this much." Mal growled, her eyes narrowing as she looked over to Tor, the man standing still as Calhoun feverishly attempted to escape from his clutches.
This could not be happening.
As the moments were slowly going by, the two heroes of Litwak's were now at the mercy of the viruses. Despite everything that the couple had planned, Mal and Tor always seemed to find a way to come back, they always seemed to have a way to worm their way through to every weakness the heroes had.
"There have only been a few…." Mal continued "But in the end, I've always managed to BREAK 'EM!"
The woman tossed Felix hard into a tree, the man crying out as he felt the pain ripple through him.
"FE-OOOMPH!"
Calhoun tried to call out but a handful of vines snaked their way around her mouth, halting her cries.
"That's enough out of you." Tor said, his voice cold but composed "You soldiers are always playing it up too hard."
Mal hovered towards Felix, her hammer glowing with the fires within her.
"I'm pretty sure ya an' everyone else in that cushy arcade'a yours think all viruses are just mindless zombies, right?"
Felix could see Mal approaching him but his body refused to move; he was just too exhausted. Mal continued to march towards him, the insanity clear in her eyes but there was something more to it.
As Felix lay injured he could see her, the look in her eyes.
"H-huh?"
What was happening?
Mal glitches, eyes becoming more and more distance as she looked down at Felix but from her stance, from the way she shook as she held upon her hammer it was if she were not looking at the Repairman…
"I'M NOT WHAT YOU THINK I AM!"
But someone else.
"M-Mal?"
The glitches got worse as Mal's form warped and flashed, crazed tears running down her face.
"I'M NOT GONNA LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN!" she howled "I'M NOT GONNA LET YA GET AWAY! I NEVER FAIL! I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO FAIL!"
Even from the distance where they stood, Tor and Calhoun took notice in Mal's behavior, the husband-virus' concern growing as he looked upon his wife.
"Malicious?"
Mal swung her hammer down but she did so clumsily which allowed Felix to turn to his side and roll away in time just before the flame-coated head came down upon him.
"AURGH!" he moaned in pain, his hammer coming out from within the folds of his costume.
He just needed to get it, to fix a few injures of his own.
"Almost-!"
"NOT TODAY!" Mal screeched as she moved in, kicking the hammer away from Felix just moments before his fingers could brush against it "We're doin' this on even grounds, HAMMER BOY!"
"E-Even grounds?!" the hero coughed "Without a weapon?!"
"IMPROVISE!" Mal spat, ready to hit Felix again "You guys are so good about doin' that! Ya brag about it all tha time!"
Felix cried out again as he rolled away just more but he knew he wouldn't be able to keep the fight up for long.
"J-Jimminay JAMMINAY!" he panted "There's gotta be a way ta-!"
"Where's my weapon?!"
Everyone looked up, seeing Moppet's worried face looking down upon the screen. Felix then remembered that as the child was looking upon the battle within it was all unfolding to her, she could only guess that what was happening was part of the story. Of course, what was happening was much more at stake and if Felix couldn't fight?
"Urgh, everyone in this game will be taken down!" the man shouted.
"INDEED-DO, THEY WILL!" Mal cackled again, going back to her maddened self "An' who's gonna be at the forefront for it goin' DOOOOOONW?!"
"No, no! I'm not gonna let ya beat me!" Felix shouted as he staggered back to his feet but Mal continued to toy with him, threatening him every moment to strike him upon his head with her hammer.
"Aw, don't be like that, Big-Nose! LEMME TURN YA INTA TASTY, TASTY MEAT!"
Felix did the best that he could to dodge, even so as not to arouse Moppet but there was only so much he could do to AVOID getting struck by Mal.
"I need a weapon, somethin' ta fight!" Moppet said as she took her stylus and placed it upon Felix. The man instantly felt himself connect to it, his body going locking up but thankfully Moppet was trying to dodge Mal as much as the man was himself.
"Urgh, stupid kid!"
Granted, with Moppet in control Felix was being thrown around like a rag doll, his body dragging on the ground and hitting everything near him.
Poor Moppet; her intentions were good.
Too bad her aim wasn't.
"Huh, maybe I should just let tha BRAT kill ya myself." Mal smirked as she watched Felix fumble around as she continued to chase him "But that'll mean missin' every chance I have at rippin' ya apart MYSELF!"
Mal was getting too close and Moppet was still clueless as what to do in the game. She tilted the game once more from Calhoun's previous instructions but nothing seemed to improve.
"Is-is my game glitchin' out? Should I turn it off?"
Anything but that! ANYTHING BUT THAT!
As the game was once more being thrown through such violent shaking, everyone within was being tumbled about with the exception of the two viruses. Mal was so entertained by what was happening that she doubled-over in mid-air, laughing up a storm.
"OH MY-! OH MY GAWD, THIS IS PRICELESS!" she snorted "Can tha kid DROP this thing next? I wanna see what happens ta ya just as-YAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"
Moppet may not have dropped the game.
But SOMETHING did.
In the midst of her gloating, Mal had not counted on waves of items coming down to their part of the battle from all the shaking, trees, rocks, and various other things sliding her way and BURYING her as Moppet titled the game again.
Seemed like all the uprooting the viruses had done before was now coming back to haunt them.
"HONEY!" Tor shouted in horror upon seeing his wife buried and in his worry he loosened his grip upon Calhoun-
"HO-HAAAA!"
Who gave the man a hearty punch under the jaw. He brayed out, his tendrils loosening enough to allow for her to escape.
"Think ya can put your hands on me like that, eh CREEP?"
"Oh, don't blame me for that…." Tor said in a calm manner as he rubbed the underside of his jaw. A moment later, the man began to revert back to a more monstrous form, more and more vines popping up around him "I JUST CAN'T CONTROL MYSELF, YOUNG LADY!"
As if worrying about Felix wasn't enough, Tor was back in action. The Marine dove and dived as Tor made his way towards her, the extra vines around him proving to be far too many hands for her to fight at once.
"So these vines…" the woman grunted as she punched and kicked "You're a pig….yet ya got vines that remind me more of an octopus? Is there some sort of meanin' behind this? Are ya a pig-ta-pus or somethin'?"
The virus roared as he took another dive for the woman but Calhoun wasn't going to allow herself to get played again. She jumped up in the nick of time and landed on the branch of a tree, her hands quickly going through her near-empty supplies.
"There's gotta be somethin', gotta be some-!"
BWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!
Calhoun screamed as she heard the boarish virus charging towards her, his body slamming against the tree. She grabbed upon it in the nick of time but in doing so the item that was clutched in her hand slipped from her grasps-
"NO!"
And headed right for the gaping maw of the virus below.
Tor CHOMMPED down upon the item, his mind too focused on Calhoun to even take a second thought about what he had consumed. The woman held tighter upon the tree, preparing for the worst.
"Aw, CRAP."
"And now-!" Tor growled "WE-!"
It only took a second but that second was all that was needed.
"YERP!"
The yelp that escaped Tor's mouth caused Calhoun to look down, the many flinging himself BACKWARDS as he fell on his back, his body flashing.
COT-COT-COTTON CANDY CONUMDROM!
A large pastel explosion rocked the area as Tor's body was being effected from within, large burst of fluffy rainbow clouds shooting everywhere.
"BWHOA!"
The entire area began to smell like the soft, warm scent of FAIRY FLOSS Calhoun looking down as a second even LARGER explosion hit, resulting in a rather dizzy looking BOAR laying on the ground and caked in a thick webbing of cotton candy.
Calhoun just looked, suddenly remembering WHERE such an item had come from.
"That Orangeboar kid!" the woman said as she placed a hand on her forehead "I still had those things he tried slippin' in our toilets!"
Once more, Calhoun had been saved by PRANKS.
Seeing her chance with Tor incapacitated, the space Marine climbed her way down and rushed to her husband.
and rush over to Felix.
"Babe-!"
The man held out a hand, warning her not to come within the area; they were still in-play and if Calhoun would come on screen again.
"Then what do you want me to d-?!"
The two could hear rustling from the piles of junk, Mal popping her head out as she looked about with an, as best could be said, UNIMPRESSED look upon her face.
"Just like old times…." She groaned, all before coughing up what looked to be some type of glove "Just like old times."
Even though Mal had been distracted that did not mean that anyone was out of the woods yet. Moppet was still in play and trying to figure out how to beat this boss before her.
"Aurgh! Aurgh!" the girl cried out, feeling so many shades of worried and confused "What do I do? What do I DO?!"
Mal growled as she found her way from the junk pile, her hammer ready to strike some skulls again.
"Get ready to have your ass beat, that's way kid."
"Felix, I can get her…." Calhoun said as she bared herself down, fists clenched and just ACHING to give Mal a well-deserved sock in the eye "Just let me-!"
"NO!" the Repairman said as he pushed his wife back.
"NO?!"
Felix spied something before him, the very thing he knew he was going to need to win the battle.
"This whole fiasco started because she wanted me…." The man said "So why rob her of that chance ta take me out?"
The man looked up again, taking notice of Moppet; if there was one thing she could do, if there was one thing that he could guide her to?
MY HAMMER!
Moppet and Calhoun shared a collective double-take, Felix's sudden outburst coming from nowhere.
"Hammer?"
"Hammer?"
Moppet looked around the screen, expecting to see the golden hammer that Felix had used before but instead there lay a silver one in the middle of the screen, one of the many things that had come from the massive wave of junk that had been rattled from around the game.
"Is that what he's talkin' about?" Moppet thought, her fingers shaking as she held the stylus.
What more could it be?
Still VERY unsure on what to do, Moppet knew that there was very little she could do BUT take a chance. She placed the stylus on Felix again and dragged him towards the odd hammer and the moment his feet lay before it-
*DA DIIIIING!*
He took it into his hands, holding it above his head as if it were his own hammer.
He was ready to fight.
"So Mal!" the man called, his voice just low enough so the gamer could not hear "Ya wanna do things hammer ta hammer?"
The virus scowled, nothing worse in her mind than seeing the Hero smile. He motioned towards her, his blood pumping.
"Then c'mon. Let's see ya got, GIRLIE!"
He wanted to see what she had?
He had called the FIRE down.
Mal didn't make a quip this time and instead wasted not a moment to RUSH Felix.
"AAAH!" Moppet screamed but this time she swooped the stylus just in time to dodge and with another SWIPE-
"HO-HAAAA!"
Felix returned a blow to Mal, the woman crying out.
"There, ya see!?" Felix shouted, flipping back "I betcha thought I could only fight with my own hammer? Didn't think I could do just as good with another one?!"
"Maybe…" the woman hissed, reeling from the blow "But did ya forget? It's not like ya can draw too many hits ta me anyway!"
"Maybe not?" Felix frowned, ready to strike again "But anythin' ta give ya a taste of what a REAL hammer wielder can do-?!"
A nerve had been struck within the small woman, her arms taking FURIOUS and fast swipes at the man but with the combined power of his own moves and Moppet's frantic dodging the woman was finding it harder and harder to land the impacts that she wanted.
"A REAL HAMMER WEILDER?! DO YOU THINK YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE?!
Felix said nothing as he took another swing, Calhoun looking on in AWE at the battle her husband was taking apart in. She could only go back to the moments in which Felix had tried to fight.
When they first met.
When he was up against Beta.
Candybug's return.
Big Boss Gene.
All those battles had something on common in that Felix had been placed out of his element and forced to fight in a different way. The conditions of this battle were nearly the same; Felix being FORCED to survive in a game in which his natural abilities seemed to serve no purpose.
But what if the whole idea of that were just another rouse?
Felix had been going on for so long about his own self-consciousness in his abilities; how he felt that he no longer fit in as a hero due to so many others offering so much more and maybe that was it. Mal and Tor had known this and they had FED on it, creating the perfect scenario for Felix to languish in, for him to die within the confides of his own weaknesses and guilt.
But along the way….
Something had been flipped.
Mal had gone too far.
Calhoun could see if from afar that Felix couldn't take it any longer that no matter what it took-
"I'm not gonna let ya kill another game!"
The two continued to clash, hammer going against hammer as Felix had finally found his foothold in the battle. This hammer may not have been his golden one, the one that everyone had assumed could solve so many problems but the man didn't need it. He didn't WANT it in battle.
He wanted to show Mal just what type of Hero he could be.
He wanted to show Mal that he was no longer scared of her.
He wanted to show EVERYONE that he was not weak.
So hard had the battle become that Moppet found that her movements within the game meant little but she continue to swipe, what little connection that remained feeling as if she were fighting alongside Felix. She could feel the blows from each strike Mal dropped as well as the odd sensation that Felix had more control over the stylus than she did.
She was unaware just how much time was left but she couldn't stop now. She watched the battle continue before her, her heart racing as she cheered on the little man behind the other side of the screen.
"C'mon Scribe! C'MON!"
"Yeah, C'MON." Mal hissed as the heads of both their hammers met "I would HATE ta see tha look on this kid's face should tha game just, I dunno, EXPLODE right in her hands!"
"I ain't gonna let that happen, Malicious…." Felix shouted, his voice low "I got plenty'a lives left!"
"Oh, an' what about your home?" the woman cackled "Yeaaaah! Dun wanna forget that if YOU don't show up on than job then it's game over, right?"
The Repairman gulped hard, Mal seeing the fault in his movements.
"Ha-HA!"
With a twirl, the woman dealt the man a hard hit, Felix crying out as he fell back.
"Oh, no!" shouted Moppet, watching as Felix's health went back down "That was a cheap shot!"
It may have been cheap but it was something that Mal wanted to watch over and over.
"Felix, that's enough!" Calhoun cried as she rushed towards the man, taking him in her arms "We gotta get outta here now!"
"But tha game-!" Felix begged "Can't leave it with these two in it!"
"I'm not done…." Mal said as she looked at the two "I'm not done with him so don't ya dare think 'bout takin' him away!"
"I don't think so, Small Fry!" Calhoun shouted as she pressed hard on her com, the signal between the hand-held and Litwak's strong enough to-!
CONNECT!
The large cackle and BURST of light and energy surrounded the three, Mal covering her eyes as she looked upon the gateway.
"Aw, no freakin' way!"
"Yes, freakin' way." Calhoun frowned as she readied herself to jump in with Felix "So see ya later, honey! He gotta-!"
Mal wasn't ready.
She wasn't done!
SHE WAS ANGRY!
Calhoun had prepared herself to jump into the gateway with her husband behind her but she felt a painful blow hit her in the back. So many voices collided together as something slipped from her grip, Her body falling through the gateway only to see that she was returning to Litwak's-!
"FELIX! OH, GOD! JUMP IN!"
WITHOUT Felix behind her!
The pull was just too strong for the Marine as she headed further into the gateway, her pixels feeling as if they were pulled everyway but the worst feeling of them all was seeing the look of pure helplessness upon her love's face.
"TAMMY!" the man shouted as he watched the woman disappear from view "TAMERA!"
"SHUT UP!" Mal shouted as she slammed a fist upon Felix's face "M'sick of your endless bitchin'."
"I got 'em!"
Mouse got up from her chair and ran to the game's access point pad awaiting the return.
"Okay, everyone! Get ready because-!"
The pad erupted into a flash of lights, the soldiers covering their eyes as a figure landed hard upon the floor.
"OOF!"
"Sarge!" Mouse cried in jubilation as she saw the familiar figure before her "Sarge, you're-!"
"He's still in there!"
"What?"
Calhoun got to her feet, looking around at the access point "Lemme go back! He's still in tha game with her!"
"Are ya CRAZY?!" said Markowski "We don't have anymore time an' with-!"
"LISTEN TA ME! GET ME BACK INTA THAT GAME OR SO HELP ME-!"
"Bout time ta open up?"
Everyone in the game froze, Litwak once more coming to the doors with keys in hand. The time was almost there, the time when the arcade would finally open and things would be found out.
"GUYS!"
Calhoun turned as she heard, and FELT, Ralph rushing into the room, panic all over his face.
"HE'S GOIN' TO-! KEYS-! CAN'T THINK STRAIGHT ANYMORE-!"
The only thing Calhoun could do was look towards her Cadet. The young woman rushed to the computer, typing away.
"We're still in a close enough proximity that I can open up another portal….but I don't know what Felix is doin'!"
"What do ya mean?"
"He's still online…." The woman said as she honed in on his signal "But-! But from the looks of things, he's still movin' all over the place!"
Indeed he was.
Even back within the other game, Felix was not giving up despite how furious Mal had become in the last moments. She continued to dive upon the man like a bomb, hammer swinging and fire swirling everywhere.
"YOW!" Felix cried as he ducked in the nick of time "Ya know, I think ya do well enough with fires that ya don't need a hammer!"
"SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" Mal roared in a maddened fury "STOP TALKIN' TA ME LIKE I'M NOT A HERO!"
"When did I ever say THAT?!" Felix said as he held up the hammer to protect himself but Mal wasn't listening. She just continued to bare down on him with all.
"THEYSAIDIWASN'TSMARTENOUGHTHEYSAIDIWASN'TSMARTENOUGHTHEYSAIDIWASN'TSMARTENOUGH!"
If there was one thing that now terrified Felix it was Mal's maddened babbling. He was used to her being obnoxious in her actions before but at least then there was always a feeling that the woman had some control over what she was saying, that there was METHOD to her MADDNESS but now?
Now things were different.
Mal was full bent on destroying Felix but it seemed whatever battle-hardened part of her was gone, replaced by the true insanity of a rampaging virus. He could sense it in her swings and the look in her eyes.
"Malicious!"
She was in full damage mode.
"M-MAL!" Felix called, continuing to defend himself against her blows "Mal! I-I know what I said before, 'bout wantin' ta end this but I don't wanna kill ya!"
"KILL YOU KILL YOU KILL YOU!" Mal repeated as she slammed her hammer hard, the entire area glitching from the amount of energy she released "KILL ME! KILL ME!"
"NO!" Felix called back, giving the woman a hit but not enough to cause too much damage "That's-! That's not tha type a'hero I am! I can't do that! I WON'T do that!"
The woman laughed madly, her body contorting and twisting in horrific ways.
"HURHURHURHURHUR! Ya say that, bu-bu-but I know you!" the woman glitched "I've be-be-be-be-1001010 wa-101000111-chin' you! D-D-Don't wanna pull tha same mis-TAAAAAAAAAAKES ya did with 1001010 NICELANDER!"
She even knew what happened with the game crash?
Where were the two picking up this information from?
"Be a HE-HE-HERO, FELIX!" Mal cackled again, striking Felix hard in his side "STOP BEING A WEAKLING! BE A HERO! BE A HERO!"
The man landed hard on his side, his body far too sore to get up.
"Ah, no!" the man could hear Moppet shout from afar "Why won't he respond?"
Why wouldn't he?
He no longer had the strength to do so.
He could no longer do it; no matter how much his heart was telling him to go on, Felix had no strength left, no more energy.
He was at the end.
"Get up, please get up!" Moppet said again, tapping on the man's body with her stylus but there as no action taken.
Get up, Felix!
Get up, please!
HELP US FELIX!
HELP US!
HELP US!
"N-No! NO, I can't!" the man wailed as he heard the voices of so many around him, everything surrounding him going black "NO! NO, I-!"
Felix! You're supposed to be a hero!
Why can't you help us?!
Why can't you protect us?!
The man was thrashing in terrible anguish, his mind feeling as if it were being TRAMPLED on as the darkness closed in, the feeling of so many hands surround him. He opened his eyes, seeing the figures of his friends and family around him, their faces empty and cold.
He had let them down.
He had let them DIE.
"NO!" he moaned again, tears starting to stream down his face "NO! Pl-please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry I could not save you!"
Calhoun appeared to his right.
"I thought ya loved me! Ya let me die!"
Vanellope to his left.
"Ya couldn't fix me! Ya can't fix ANYTHIN'!"
Ralph!
"Ya abandoned me again! You never cared!"
The Nicelanders!
"You couldn't protect us! You always allowed harm to come our way!"
It seemed like everyone from Litwak's was appearing before the downed hero, their voices pounding into Felix's brain as he sunk further and further into defeat.
"No….no…." he whimpered, crying harder "No….I just wanted everyone ta be happy. I just wanted ta see ya all smile. I'm no hero. I'm no-!"
Help me….
One voice seemed to break through the moans, perhaps because it was a voice that Felix had never heard before, one that carried more than the others.
Help me.
He opened his eyes, seeing a figure floating over him but….but who was this person. Who was this woman? Her colors broke through the lifeless grey of the Litwak's citizens but the look on her face showed she was in just as much pain.
"W-who-?"
Help me.
"Who are ya?"
Help me.
From within the midst of the crowd, Felix felt himself starting to rise, the others moving out of the way.
Help me.
"Ma'am!"
I never wanted this to happen!
"Ma'am!"
I'M A HERO! I'M STILL A HERO!
"Ma'am, who are ya?! What do ya want from me!"
I'm sorry I did this to you! I'm sorry I've hurt you so much!
"Lady, tell me-!"
AS soon as Felix reached out for the figure….
RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!
Mal broke through.
There was only so much Felix could do in those few seconds, the man looking HORRIFIED as they eyes of Mal appeared before him. He was frozen in place, his body petrified in fear!
"YOU'RE MINE!" Mal roared "I'M FINALLY GONNA-!
FIX-IT, FELIX!
Who had said that?
Where had that voice come from?
Whoever had said, wherever they were from….something CLICKED within Felix's mind. Mal was no less than a few inches from his face but the moment he heard his name shouted in the heavens, his body finally broke free. He reached to the side, seeing his hammer laying beside him and with one HARD HIT-!
DA-DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!
One hit.
One move.
One reaction.
Time seemed to stop the moment Felix's hammer struck upon Mal's head, the golden glow of power not only going through her body but the entire game's! The sky turned light but the brightness began to increase more and more and MORE until-!
KIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAURGH!
A reaction!
Mal screamed in horrible pain as the effects of the hammer began to course through her, far too much energy surging through her. Back in Litwak's, the Hero's Duty command post was going HAYWIRE as Mouse and the others gathered around.
"What's happening?!"
"I-I don't know!"
Even Moppet was taken for a shock as she watched the game glitch out before her.
"No, don't tell me I broke it!"
Felix ducked for cover as he watched Mal contort and surge with power but as he peeked at her he could see something else taking place.
Her body.
It seemed to be REJECTING something.
It was almost as if the virus he had gotten so used to fighting….was slowly being pulled off but what of? From what little the repairman could see, Mal was still folded backwards as the energy escaped from her but as the veil of corrupted data stretched off of her….
A person?
A person underneath.
And she looked so familiar.
It…it couldn't be!
It was the woman who had called out for him, the woman who had asked for his help!
"M-Mal!" Felix cried out, forcing himself forward with an extended hand "Wh-whoever ya are-! I-I can help ya!"
The woman, whoever she was, struggled to look at Felix, helplessness in her eyes.
"H-Help me…"
"I-I can!"
"H-H-H-HELP ME!"
"J-just-! Just give me your hand!" Felix cried out again "Just-!"
"NO!"
Hands were so close as Felix heard the voice of his wife behind him. He turned around, seeing her jump from another void and wrap her arms around him tight all before pulling him through.
"TAMMY, DON'T-!"
Too late.
The woman pulled him through just as a large explosion ripped through the entire game. There was a bright light, then silence. Moppet looked down at the screen, nothing responding for a moment but after a glitch or two the game back on, everything back into place….
But with the exception of two characters who had disappeared from the screen.
"What…what was that?"
"Hey, kiddo!"
Moppet turned, Litwak waving at her.
"Tha place is open! Why don't ya come in? It's hot!"
Moppet looked down at her game before looking back at the owner of the arcade.
Should she tell him what just happened?
COULD she tell him what just happened?
The idea ran through her mind….
"Um, comin'!"
But she closed the handheld and went inside.
"Ya okay sweetie?" Litwak asked, noticing the look of befuddlement on the girl's face.
"I guess I am…" Moppet said as she looked over at her favorite cabinet.
Fix-it-Felix Jr.
The Nicelanders were inside doing their demo screen.
Without saying so much as a word, Moppet went over to the game and inserted the first quarter of the day.
But what would happen?
Had it worked?
Were things back in order?
The girl felt her heart racing again, an odd feeling going through her.
"I CAN FIX IT!"
There he is.
"Sweetie?"
Rather than go through with the game, Moppet let the clock run out on her turn, the girl turning back to the arcade owner.
"Sorry, sir…" the girl smiled sheepishly "I think I'mma rest this one out."