Surprise! I have decided to come out of my long ass hiatus and try and finish this story. I have changed a lot as a writer since I started this fic in 2014, but despite this I still couldn't help but return. This fic and its world means a lot to me. I started it as not only a means to show my love for the movie Wreck-It Ralph, but it would quickly become my love letter to video games in entirety.

If you're still here, and still reading this, know that your support means a lot to me. I can't say our apocalypse is as exiting as the one written here, but we can make the best of it, regardless.

Just an FYI, I have made grammar fixes and some slight revisions to my old chapters. The story is still exactly as it was, however. I have also added chapter titles to help with bookmarks, since my old chapters were long as hell lol. I had anticipated splitting chapters, but I didn't want to confuse anyone.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well, and are safe! It's good to be writing again.


Chapter 15: TheCave_Pt. 2. (jpeg)

What minimum light that managed to peer down a small skylight above the rocks became dimmer, as Turbo and I ventured deeper into the cave. I could hear small droplets of water somewhere around us begin to replace what sound was left over from a breeze that whistled through the stones. The transition was so subtle between light to dark that if I had not been paying much attention, losing track of my footing, and my way, would have become an easy reality. I began to question how it was even possible to get out of here, though. With Ralph unconscious at the entrance, we didn't have a means to move the boulders out of the way that now trapped us. On top of it, making progress was vital to our plans at this point. It would only be a matter of time before the Cy-bugs would begin to spread further into the real word. There was only so much that could be done by the human military, and handful of game characters, that were holding the swarms back.

My mind began to shift through ideas. On my person, I had three game-items: the Light Cycle, one of Calhoun's communicators, and the lightsaber that was given to me during the Goliath battle. As I walked, I would take out the lightsaber, and ignite the blue blade to light our way. I kept the com-link in my other hand as a means to keep an eye on the radar that began to generate a map of the cavern as we walked. I could not see far ahead on the radar, but I hoped as we made progress I could get a better view of what the place looked like—and if there was even a way out.

"It's too quiet in here…" I muttered, attempting to break the silence that seemed to smother me. Turbo was walking next to me, awfully quiet himself. I admit, I was a little nervous with the idea of being alone with him, but I had to try. I wasn't one to back down from my word; since promising that I'd keep an eye out on him, it was essential at this point to act as a shield, of the sorts, to keep the gang intact. I had not freed Turbo from the confines of that Cy-bug coding for him to just run off. There was just too much at stake if I were to accidentally loose him to the Cy-bugs again.

But among my worries of those things, I also worried about how this assimilation would work. He had been the enemy for so long that not only was it going to be hard for everyone else to get used to him, but for Turbo to come to terms with it as well. While he was small, I didn't know if he'd pull a fast one at any minute to take advantage of the situation. It was kinda like having to keep your eyes on two different targets… if one were to slip, it would be hard to keep the other in line, too. It felt like I was juggling more than I could handle.

"Turbo, I know things are a little… well, awkward, right now…" I started to speak; I felt like it was a good opportunity to try and soothe what hostility he might be carrying.

"Oh, it'th's not awkward…" Turbo responded, but his response had that twinge of cockiness in it that he had before when he was trying to kidnap me in the truck. "I don't mind. Being with you alone, and all."

I was so glad it was dark, because I felt my face fluster red. "I was talking about how you felt about the others." I had to control the tone of my voice from coming off as to irritable. "Like, I know you guys aren't really on the best of terms."

"Oh, them," Turbo huffed. "What of it?"

"I don't know what happened between you, Vanellope and Ralph, and all, but desperate times call for desperate measures."

"It's a long story."

"How so?"

"It was a long time ago… you wouldn't care to know."

"What if I did?"

Turbo got quiet for a minute. I found I couldn't help but look from my view ahead, and over at him. The blue light highlighted his features, even ironically adding some emotion to what he must have been feeling. Even in his King Candy persona, as bubbly as an appearance as it should have been, it couldn't mask his inner turmoil. His fluffy, grey eyebrows were curving upwards into an uncomfortable furrow, as a grimace of what I could tell was a mixture of anger and melancholy took over his expression. In his eyes I could sense he was shifting through thoughts.

"What do you say to a human?" Turbo began, as if he was trying to test the waters with me. "Honestly, up until this whole thing, it would have been going against the program to talk to someone like you."

I remained silent as we walked, listening.

"You may have heard of my game before. My original game…" Turbo's voice sounded strained, but he was hiding it very well. "TurboTime was in all respects, my kingdom. Back when the arcade was mostly new, my game was all the gamers talked about. I loved being the center of attention… what Program wouldn't want to be adored by humans?"

I could tell he was getting to a point, but he was hesitating. I said, "Of course…" as a way to push him along.

He side-eyed me for a second before he continued, saying then, "But… soon TurboTime wouldn't be the only racing game around."

I knew this story. Calhoun and the others had mentioned it quite eloquently before. But small details are missed in hearsay. Everyone could tell the same story in millions of different ways, and yet how Turbo was telling it you could hear the story in his voice as if you were looking at history through a book that could speak. Yes, it was the same old story of going Turbo. The story of how he left his game to venture into another, and take it over. But it was also a story of what happens to Programs when they are denied the one thing they are made for. It was a story of what happens to a living soul being separated from its creators.

I started to feel a pit in my stomach as he talked. I knew I wasn't directly responsible for what happened to him. Of course I wasn't. I wasn't a programmer, let alone a programmer that made video games, but I was a human, nonetheless. How is it that the human race had gone this long without realizing something so important?

"Turbo…" I spoke up, making sure my voice was as gentle as possible. At first I didn't know what to say, exactly. I wasn't about to excuse his actions of course… many Programs must've suffered from what he had done. Hell, I had suffered among the domino effect of his choices. There was so much destruction in his wake it was so obvious why fear and hatred followed wherever Turbo went. To say that the Cy-bug was a manifestation of all that anger would have been more than just a metaphor. Everything that had happened to him up to this point had fallen on the inadequacy of those who unknowingly brought Programs to life. If it were known that computer codes and commands were literal acts of creation… then maybe things would have been different.

His torment was an easy fuel to his hatred. How do you console something beyond your own understanding?

"If I could take away what happened to you, I would," I said. "Human beings, many of them you could say, don't realize how surreal life is. If you could imagine the entire human race blindfolded, I would say that's a pretty good visual for how we are."

I began to imagine my own life… the mundane things that didn't mean anything. I visualized how in the wake of all things that life threw at me, for some reason, it was the most trivial—unimportant things that took over my life. It was the grind of school, work, and meeting standards. It was the giving and never taking. The real world had created a void around me, forcing me to look at life through a narrow tunnel of going, but never returning.

"Sometimes I wondered how to take the blindfold off. Sometimes I wondered if it's even possible to open your eyes after you've been in the dark for so long." I felt shame as I said this. Like millions of others, I was not exempt from this way of life. 'Put your head down, and just do it,' they'd say. And if you couldn't? Be left behind.

My shame would slowly start to grow into anger. A world that couldn't see was bound to fall. Even if I hadn't known beforehand that the Shiva Laser would have unleashed chaos into the world, perhaps it was for a reason. The veil had opened our eyes. Sooner or later, our parallel worlds would have had to collide. If it had not, who knows if humanity would have ever have woken up.

It had gotten quiet in the cave. I soon found we had completely stopped walking. I had been so deep in thought that I hadn't even seen the darkness of the cave intensify. The blue lightsaber cast it's light around me, but just enough to where the outlines of the rocks surrounding us became illuminated with the glow.

It was among my observation, however, that I began to take notice of how different the cavern looked way back here. Unlike the natural curves and twists of the main tunnel, here there looked like a giant passage had been dug through the solid rock. It was obviously not natural, as scattered around the floor were thousands of small pebbles, and rocks, and dust that had looked to have just recently settled.

Looking down at the Hero's Duty radar and com-link, I took notice of an array of tunnels among us. However, among the many passageways hidden just out of sight, the radar expressed a single orange dot among the cavern. I felt my heart skip momentarily as I began to comprehend that we were not alone down here.

"Errr… I got a bad feeling about this," I muttered, but this caught Turbo's attention. It took him a moment before he realized I was talking about the radar, and looked up to the image of the map that I held in my hand.

"A giant gerbil, maybe," Turbo said sarcastically, having taken notice of the large pathways cut into the rocks, too.

"Was there a game with gerbils in it at Litwaks?" I didn't recall any game about giant rats.

"Well… not th'sat I can think of," Turbo admitted.

As we contemplated, a red light from above suddenly clashed with the hue of my blue lightsaber, the colors conflicting in the center and sending the cavern hall into a shade of purple. At first I was stunned, not quite processing exactly what was happening. However, as I looked toward the red light, I soon realized it was one giant red and glowing eye. The sound of a digital-like hum filled my ears as whatever it was seemed to stir, awakening from what had apparently become its new underground home.

At first I couldn't believe what I was seeing. In the dark cave it was difficult to process, but as I took in the fine details of the robotic monster that was before us, I soon realized it was a Hanmuru Doll Reaverbot as seen in the arcade version of Megaman Legends that had been installed at Litwak's before the Shiva Laser incident. How on earth it had gotten this far away from the location of the portal was beyond me, but I justified it must've been the nature of distribution during the destruction of the laser itself, as it had proven to be able to do before with other instances like this.

"What is th'sat thing?" Turbo asked, a bit confused and disturbed in its presence. I'm sure he was also getting used to be small again, so he was getting a taste of his own medicine with all these big bad guys.

"Shit, we need to get the hell out of here!" I exclaimed. I knew exactly what this freaking thing was. The Hanmuru Doll in its game was programmed to be a boss-type like Program, venturing through the underground world waiting for the player. It had two large arms, made specifically for smashing things, so it was no wonder it had managed to make itself an assortment of passages to mimic the underworld in its game.

The machine Program began to lift its massive arms in the air when I started to make a dash for it. I could hear its many feet begin to trample the floor as it moved itself to anticipate its procession after us. Playing the game, I knew that at any second it was going to start after us, so I was literally running for my life. I just hoped that Turbo was going to be able to keep up with me. He might a racer in a kart, but I didn't know if he could run quickly enough.

It happened then, that the giant Reaverbot began to chase us. I felt like my eyes were about to fall out of my head I was so scared. Calhoun and there others weren't here to help attack it, so I felt like there was literally nothing I could do. Of course I had my lightsaber, but it was easy for someone like Starkiller to get close enough quickly to a bad guy without getting hit. Me? I might as well be dead if I attempted to fight this thing back.

As fast as I was running, it was gaining up on us. The sound of its massive arms pulverized the ground as a way to attack, and the booming noises filled up the entire cavern with huge blasts, causing the rocks to shake and the floor to shatter as it made its way towards us.

I quickly felt Turbo grab my wrist, and yank me to the side. It happened so quickly, but the next thing I knew he had taken my lightsaber, shut it down, and pulled me somewhere into the dark, leaving the only thing to be seen the shine of the red light of the Reaverbots one large eye. The Program would continue forward for a bit, hammering the ground with its arms, until it noticed we were no longer in its sight. Believing that we had vanished, the Program reverted into its dormant state, slowing down considerably, and then turning around to head back to its resting spot. The light from its red eye scanned over the large rock we were hiding behind like a spotlight until it finally made the turnaround; the slow walk of its massive footsteps could be heard as it went back the way it came at the end of the hall.

"Oh my God," I whispered, although my breath was heavy due to the sprint. Turbo still clung to my wrist, but other than that, it was pitch black to the point that I could barely see him. A red hue slightly lit the cavern room we were in, but from behind the rocks this was dimmed considerably to where only outer lines of objects could be seen.

"We can't use that light'thsaber or else that th'thing will know we're here," Turbo said. "Or move, for that matter."

"Shit, you're right," I responded, though as quietly as possible. "How the hell are we supposed to get out of here now? This stupid radar only shows me a few yards around the cave at a time—I had no idea there was something else in here."

"At least we don't have to go back to that halitosis imbic'thile and that brat," Turbo spat out irritably.

"How could you say that? You actually think its worse being in here with this monster than around the others?"

"Well duh… and besides, it's just me and you. It can't be that bad." I could hear Turbo chuckle.

"Would you stop with your infuriating flirting?!" My voice got a little too loud that time, so I paused, listening for the Reaverbot and if it had heard me. After a few seconds of listening, quietness lingered in the cave, giving me the signal that for now everything was still. "Look, you can hate them forever if you want to, but right now we have to stick together. I'm not some fancy space warrior, or whatever. I can't fight that thing, let alone Cy-bugs by myself. We need them to get to the original Shiva Laser, and that's going to be a long ass trip." I shivered at the thought of trying to make it all the way to California alone to get to this other arcade that, may or may not, housed the machine Steven and Dannen had attempted to replicate.

"Yeah, but you are a User," Turbo said.

I didn't connect the dots at first, but I soon realized he was complementing me; a complement that really meant something in midst of the situation we were currently in.

Of course, I was a User. Being a gamer wasn't just pushing buttons, and watching a character move on the screen. Playing video games took concentration, calculations, and planning. Sure you had a few gamers who pressed buttons like crazy, but there were times where button-mashing didn't quite cut it. That time was now.

Despite being really and truly in the face of danger, I focused my thoughts on pretending this was a videogame. I imagined myself as a character: what could I do? I had some items on me, so I had to utilize what I had. However, I also had a goal in mind. We were in this cave in the first place because we were trapped. Our only help out would be Ralph's strength, but he was out cold. Going further into the cave was futile, as it had been claimed by the Reaverbot.

"We gotta lead that thing to the front, and break down the rocks," I whispered aloud. I put my hands to my chin in thought, attempting to weigh the odds.

"We could barely outrun it before, you kidding?" Turbo responded.

"It's gone back to its starting point…which means we have some space in between us. If we go fast enough then we should be able to make it to the front of the cave before it gets us. We haven't been walking for long, so it's not too far." I paused for a second, my mind having already been made up. I was scared shitless but it was the only plan I could come up with, and what else were we supposed to do? I wasn't going to be trapped in this cave forever, and if an opportunity was going to reveal itself like this, as dangerous as it was, I was going to take it. "Do you trust me or not?" I asked Turbo then, after I had gone through all the scenarios.

"I gue'thss," Turbo admitted, although rather reluctantly. Whether or not he actually did or not, or if he was just mad about having to go back out to face the others, was beyond the point at that time.

"Okay, give me the lightsaber."

"Why?"

"Do you want to get the Reaverbots attention?"

"Not exactly."

"Well hand it over then, Shortcake!"

The lightsaber hit my palm then, no questions asked. I felt a smile coming over my expression due to the irony. It was funny how Turbo acted so cocky, but at the same time knew his boundaries. I guess it was taking him getting used to his size again. In a way it was interesting getting to know the real Turbo, and not some giant King Candybug guy.

"I'm going to pull a Jurassic Park, and get it to come after me," I explained. "You can stay here like a pussy, or you can run with me. Up to you."

"What's a Jarath'ssic Park? Ugh—Nevermind! I'm not th'staying in here alone, are you kidding?"

"Okay, then on my count we run out in front of it. I'll turn on the lightsaber, get its attention, then we'll have to run back towards the entryway we arrived in." I lowered the radar down to where both of us could see it, trailing my finger over the path we needed to run. After I made clear of our track was when I diverted my finger to begin initiating contact with Calhoun. I hoped by alerting them to the situation that they would be on the outside to be prepared for all this.

"What's happening?" Calhoun's voice immediately responded.

"Okay, so I have some good news and bad news." I tried breaking the ice softly.

"What the blazes happened, it hasn't even be thirty minutes!"

"Shhh! Keep it down. Listen, there's a Program in here. A giant Program. It tried to kill us, but we're fine… look I have a plan and need you on the other side of the rocks where the truck is."

"Seems like we can't catch a break!" Calhoun huffed. "All right, what do we have to deal with?"

"It's a Reaverbot… it will be strong enough to break down the rocks, so I'm going to lead it on over. Once it breaks out the other side I need you to take it down. It will keep acting on its programming, and attack us if we don't stop it."

"Ah, I've heard about those things… Okay, civilian, we're on it. Meet you there." The line was cut then. It was time we made our move, and this time I was determined to get out. My heart started to race, however, before I even moved my feet.

"Okay, let's go Turbutt," I said quickly, then darted as fast as I could. I heard Turbo grumble as if he wanted to say something, but the second we started running he found he didn't have time to respond. Despite our dire circumstances I couldn't' help but chuckle. It was almost too easy to tease him.

The second we were in the center of the hall, I ignited the lightsaber. Again, the blue light shed against the Reaverbots red eye, clashing together like strobe lights and giving a hue to the cave. I began waving the lightsaber in the air next, its movement making the iconic buzzing sounds as it swayed back and forth.

"Hey, yeah you!" I yelled. I didn't have to say or do much else at that point. Once the Reaverbot saw me, its glowing red eye got brighter, and it lifted steadily from its stationary position as its legs began to position itself. Those odd robotic-like sounds began to echo in the cavern hall as it positioned itself for only a brief moment, but after it settled, and before launching into the cave, a growing and eerie silence took over one last time.

Before it even started running after us, I had already taken off. Turbo was following my pace with ease, despite his small stature, and we made ground quickly across the cavern. I instantaneously heard the Reaverbot crashing through the cave after us then; with every hit it gave, the ground shook, causing me to have to concentrate on my footing harder than normal as to not trip.

As it slowly began to gain on us, that's when I saw the boulder covered entryway. Laying to the side still was Ralph, with Felix next to him. The second he saw us turn the corner though was when he became alerted.

"Jimminy, Jamminy, is that what's causing that commotion?!" Felix hollered with worry.

I didn't really have time to respond to him, of course. All I could do was swat my arm that held the lightsaber back and forth, and scream, "Stand back!"

I felt my legs were beginning to wobble the closer we got to the edge. I was anticipating the moment I would dart to the side to allow the Reaverbot to rampage onward, destroying the rocks. I just hoped that Calhoun and the others were ready for this once that happened.

A few yards before we reached the rocks, I darted with Turbo to the side, and like I had foreseen, the Reaverbot continued and began to slam its large metal arms into the rocks. I covered my head and ducked, seeing the boulders quickly begin to disintegrate, sending stones and shards flying everywhere from the violent impact. Slowly, more light would filter into the room as the blockage was chipped away, soon, and with another giant blast, the Reaverbot breaking free and into the outside world.

The instant it peered to the outside was when Calhoun began to blast her Hero's Duty rifle at it.

I took the opportunity then to run over towards Ralph and Felix. Looking down at the wrecker, it seemed he was still out, but this time I could see his eyes shifting underneath his eyelids. All the commotion was bound to wake him up at any second.

"Is he always this dense?" I asked Felix with concern.

"Yeah, it's hard to wake him up…even if he were just sleeping, that is," Felix admitted. I hope in this instance that statement was wrong, though.

Looking back over toward the entrance, Calhoun was fighting the Reaverbot. I saw Dannen, Vanellope, and Steven back off towards the sides, watching in amazement as the Sergeant maneuvered out of the way of the massive hits the boss Program sent her way. It was only a matter of time before I could tell the Reaverbot was running low on life-points. Slowing down considerably, once its gauge must've hit zero, the Reaverbots large arms dropped at its sides, and it fell backwards. However, before it hit the ground, it exploded, the feeling of the blast sending heat around it as a rush of hot air spilled over me and the others in the cave.

After I adjusted my gaze after the explosion, I again took notice that it itself had also shattered. Many of the glass-like shards of pixelated material were spread around the ground, indicating it had been defeated permanently.

"Ah, it's a shame…" Calhoun muttered, allowing her rifle to express smoke from its barrel as she stood looking down at the pixels. Maybe it wasn't quite a sentient Program, but it was till a Program, nonetheless.

"Guys!" I hollered, waving my hand to get their attention. Looking through the rubble, and smoke, I could see everyone was okay.

"Is Ralph okay?" Vanellope asked next. The group began to converge in the cave, everyone looking down at Ralph. Luckily he was beginning to mutter, which indicated he would be with us at any time. In the meanwhile, I knew what was going to happen next: we had to figure out a way to keep moving.

"All right, ladies, we need to think of next steps," Calhoun said on queue. "That truck isn't going to fix itself."

"What do you suggest, we don't have any spare parts," Dannen pointed out. I could tell he was a bit unsure how we were going to get out of this new conundrum of not having a vehicle. I couldn't help but cringe at just the thought of walking it out again.

"Felix, I wonder if it's possible to fix the truck with your skills," Calhoun started to explain. She shifted her attention to her husband, who looked to be distraught still from what had just happened. "Remember when you repaired Kailey's arms from that dragon attack back at the arcade? If you can fix her, maybe your fixing stuff powers will work on the truck."

"That was in the arcade, though, honeybunch," Felix replied. I could tell he was trying to work the logic of it all. "Will it even work out here in the real world?"

"We'll never know until you try," Steven responded. "I might have all the scientific data about how the virtual and real worlds interact with each other, but it always helps to see things in action for yourself."

"Well then what are we waiting for, ya chumps! Felix should get to working!" Vanellope seemed to be getting a bit anxious, which I couldn't blame her for.

Everyone looked down at Felix, who sat up immediately, and began over towards the truck. We watched as he contemplated the vehicle for a moment, eyeing how its front was completely smashed into the rock, and kneeling down to see it was leaking transmission fluid. By all means, the truck was literally a total wreck. I had remembered seeing a sight very similar to this when my brother had gotten into his first car wreck. Having slammed behind someone going over 45 MPH, the impact had left the front face of his truck completely destroyed. The last time I saw of it, it was being towed away. By all means in this current situation, a truck that looked like this was merely destined for the landfill.

It was hard for my brain to logically comprehend what happened next, though.

With a strike of his golden hammer, Fix-It Felix yet again, lived up to his name rather well. I couldn't believe my eyes—at one moment, the truck was in absolute shambles. The next, it had been made as if the wreck never happened. The rock it had hit remained punctured from the crash; you could still even see the marks of dark paint on its surface from the trucks collision with it. Yet, amazingly, looking just inches to the left of it, the truck itself was in tip-top shape.

Felix would inspect the truck with another once over, striking his hammer on spots that needed some help, before he would turn around to face the group.

"Okie dokie, it's done," Felix confirmed, giving off a surprised grin of himself as he shrugged his shoulders. I'm pretty sure everyone at that moment jumped for joy, although subtly, as Calhoun ran over to her husband, lifting him in the air, and spun him around before giving him the biggest kiss I'd had seen yet.

"What would I do without you?" Calhoun hummed happily. Even our war-hardened Sergeant couldn't help but smile.

"Awe, shucks, hon, I'm just doing what I do," Felix responded with a coo. He blushed as Calhoun gave him another overwhelming kiss.

"Ugh, barf!" Vanellope said, sticking her tough out of her mouth as she made a gag gesture. "You guys are embarrassing." However, our attention on the lovebirds didn't mingle for long. At that moment, Ralph began to move around. Everyone would quickly pull their attention to Ralph, as he slowly but surely began to wake up.

"What did I miss?" Ralph muttered as he propped his head up, looking around the demolished cave entrance, and over towards Calhoun, Felix, and the fixed truck.

"It's a long story, Stink Brain," Vanellope hummed. "We all better get going now that we got that setback taken care of."

"She's right," Steven said, looking through his Omni-Tool. "By my calculations, with the help of traveling by car, we can make it to the address as soon as 15 hours if nothing stops us again like this."

"You mean a trip with no setbacks?" I joked. "You're looking on the bright side, I see."

"Hey, it's the only think keeping me sane right now, Kailey," Steven responded, his eyes narrowing.

Everyone began to trek back towards and into the truck by that time. Even as the engine started, prepping us all too yet again set out on our long, far journey, I couldn't help but look down at Turbo. He seemed to be uncomfortable, of course, but at least he was complying a bit better now. I didn't know if our little talk in the cave helped him any, but at least I understood him better. I just hoped he kept behaving. After all, we'd be around each other for a very, very long time.