Survival of the Fittest

Hero's Duty.

The place where Ralph was about to prove that under the thick layers of bad, there was some good in him. He'd overheard a soldier at Tapper's talking about how horrible the game's lifestyle was. Destroy man-killing bugs, rest, destroy, rest.

That didn't sound too far from what Ralph was capable of. He destroyed things for a living.

Ralph yanked the strap of his overalls over his broad shoulder, straightened his posture, and was about to step inside the game tunnel. But he heard the sound of short legs running towards him.

"RALPH!" A shrill voice called out to him.

Ralph's face became red again and he turned to the tiny hero approaching. "What do you want, Felix?"

The handyman rested his hands on his knees and steadied his breathing. Had he seriously ran all the way from the top of the Niceland apartment complex, all through the GCS, and to where Ralph was standing right now? His face looked like the sun had been shining on it for too long.

"I..." He panted. "I can't let you do this."

Ralph rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Felix, if you came all the way over here to tell me to change my mind about this, you won't. I've already made my decision. It's time Gene and the other tenants learned a lesson about misjudging other people's character."

Felix straightened and wiped the sweat off his brow. "Then... I'm going in there with you."

The taller man's jaw almost dropped to the floor. "You... you don't actually mean that."

"Of course I do!" Felix threw his arms up. "For land's sake, Ralph, I can't let you go in there and risk your life just to prove something to Gene! He's not worth it! I can tell you that..." His blue eyes looked down to the floor. "But I can see that this is eating you up inside, and I don't want you to go home with an empty hand. So, I'm going to accompany you on your mission."

"But if you die outside your game, you don't regenerate."

"Well..." Felix's eyes shifted from one corner to the other. "Neither do you, Ralph. Listen, I can fix whatever damage comes to us, and you've got your enormous fists. We're a perfect team!"

The big man's face turned an even deeper shade of red.

"And if all else fails," The little man continued. "We can always hightail it to the nearest safehouse-"

"Alright, alright!" Ralph pinched the bridge of his nose. "You can come with. But I don't think Gene would approve of us working together."

"Pish posh! He doesn't have a say in what we do together."

The thoughts in Ralph's mind of what Gene wouldn't approve of them doing together went even further than teaming up to take down monsters. But only for a second. Ralph may have locked lips with Felix but that didn't mean anything. He was just caught up in the moment. That's what Ralph was trying to tell himself throughout that whole evening.

Felix walked ahead of the taller man, with a determined look on his face. "Now let's show the arcade its newest big hero."

They were halfway through the game tunnel before Ralph turned to his friend - because that's all Felix was, nothing more - and said, "Brace yourself, shortstop, this isn't a very kid-friendly game."

Felix looked slightly offended. "I'll have you know that I can handle anything T-rated and above!" He pointed towards himself with his thumb. "I may be small, but I still pack a good punch!"

Ralph couldn't help but laugh. "Sure, sure, whatever you say, Felix."

"Besides," Felix's turned his attention towards the entrance to the game. "How hard can a game called 'Hero's Duty' be?"

"That's what we're about to find out."

The light at the end of the tunnel wasn't the light of a sunshine-filled valley full of flowers, or a nice meadow filled with big-eyed animals and soft-singing birds. It was the darkest, grittiest, and scariest-looking game Ralph and Felix had ever seen. Both men gaped with their mouths hanging open at the cloud-filled sky and the smoke peering out from all corners.

There were these flittering creatures above, with glowing wings. They were traveling in packs, like a murder of crows. To say that Felix and Ralph were both in over their heads was the understatement of the year.

Bombs detonated in the distance and gunfire could be heard along with it. Such violence and destruction. Where there was violence, there was often death. Felix knew this because he faced a mild form of both every single day.

"Well," Felix squeaked with his hands at his sides. "That's enough sight-seeing for me! Come on, Ralph, let's get out of here before we-"

"No," Ralph responded, much more harsh than he intended. "I'm not leaving here without that medal."

Felix looked at him. "Medal?"

Ralph nodded. "The wacko at Tappers said that players get a medal of honor at the end of this. That's how they can prove that they've become heroes." His eyes traced the tallest feature of the game. "If we can just climb up to that tower."

Felix's hands were shaking as he stepped forward. "T-That place looks awfully big." He gulped and felt his vision become slightly blurry at the sight of how far they would have to climb. "It doesn't even seem possible to get there."

Ralph continued on. "We have to try. Don't worry, little guy, I'm basically a human shield. I'll protect you along the way."

"Y-you will?"

Ralph shrugged. "Hey, I may be bad, but you'd have to be even worse to let something happen to a person like you."

There was a slight hint of a blush across the little man's cheeks. It wasn't as dark as when Ralph "accidentally" locked lips with Felix, but it was there. The little handyman nodded and kept close to the bigger man's side.

...

While they walked tactfully along the metal platforms, neither of them spoke about it. Ralph occasionally kept stealing glances at Felix and as it turned out, the short man was doing the same. It felt like they were both desperately trying to say something to each other with their eyes, but couldn't tell exactly what the messages were from sight alone.

Ralph was humiliated beyond measure, but he was eternally grateful no one else was there to see it. Although, it wouldn't have surprised him if Gene had been spying on them the entire time. Nobody really trusted Ralph with anything, but Gene especially didn't.

Also, Ralph had the suspicion that Gene probably had suppressed feelings for Felix, just as he did, but refused to say it. But since when did Ralph actually have feelings for Felix? It was just one kiss. It was experimental. Ralph had been feeling pretty awful about himself for a long time, and Felix just happened to be the person that lifted his spirits a little.

It meant nothing. And even if it did, how could he even be with Felix? He and Felix were supposed to be enemies. It didn't seem possible that they could even be platonic friends.

"Who could ever find a game like this fun?" Felix asked while keeping an eye on every corner he turned.

Ralph shrugged. "Some people just have different tastes. I think it's fun to swipe Gene's pie whenever he leaves it to cool on the window."

"Ralph!" Felix scolded. "That's terrible!"

The wrecker grinned. "Hey, he's the one that decided to leave it sitting there on the windowsill. He was asking for it."

"The man's not as bad as you think he is." Felix seemed to forget about the weight of the situation and the game they were in while he talked. "I'll bet if you two sat down and hashed it out, you could be friends."

The little man really was naïve. "Please, Felix, the man wouldn't be friends with me even if he and I were the last two people in the arcade. He could be hanging off the edge of the cliff, and he would still refuse my help if I was standing there in front of him."

"Oh, I bet my socks he wouldn't."

The big man started to feel that anger creep up in him again. "That's because he always follows you around like a little lapdog! He's always slobbering all over you and treating you like royalty! I don't even get a nod of approval from that guy!"

Ralph's louder volume attracted the attention of a nearby enemy. A monstrous insect with two sets of glowing wings. Then there was another. Then another. Until the entire empty space before them had filled up with more than a dozen creepy crawlers. They all floated up in unison and growled a hideous mechanical growl.

Felix took a step back. "Uh... have we disturbed you?"

The leader of the bug lunged forward towards him. Ralph stepped in front of the handyman and his fist collided with it. "Felix, stay behind me!"

...

Ralph smashed as many bugs as he could, while Felix ducked and dodged everything that came his way. How was he to help in a situation like this? He was only good at fixing things, not taking things apart. He couldn't even hurt those flying ducks that knocked him off the building in his game.

He had to think of a way to provide assistance. There was an incoming bug headed his way and he squeezed his eyes shut, and waved his hammer like a magic wand. There was a little digital "blip" he could hear and then when he looked down, he wasn't looking at a bug. There was a round, egg-shaped object in front of him, instead.

"Is it dead?" He tapped at it and saw the inside of it glow brightly. The two shells of this egg cracked open and he was looking at a miniature version of those monsters. It was still alive. It looked up at him innocently, but Felix didn't trust it one bit.

"Look out!" Ralph brought his fist down on it and when he lifted it, the bug was nothing but a few broken mechanical pieces.

And that wasn't the end of it. There were still at least thirty of them left. There was no way either of them could have gotten rid of all of them before they were clobbered.

"There's too many of them!" Felix said. "What do we do?"

Ralph turned his head every which way and decided the best thing to do in this situation was to escape.

"We skedaddle on out of here, that's what we do!"

One of his huge arms scooped up Felix's tiny body and he bolted as fast as he could towards the exit. But it was guarded by those enormous pests. He went the other direction, with Felix tucked under his arm and squished against his side.

He headed towards the tower, where he hoped there was a place they could seek refuge. But Ralph was scurrying so fast, he didn't see the giant crack in the middle of the floor and fell into the hole before he realized it was there.

"AH!" He screamed.

He did his best to keep Felix from being crushed by his extreme weight, and landed on his back. When he opened his eyes, he saw the little man laying across his stomach, with his little arms tightly grasping Ralph's chest. Felix lifted his head up and when his big blue eyes met Ralph's, his face turned crimson red. And he hopped off the big man right away.

"Are you alright, brother?"

Ralph got up onto his feet and brushed off the dirt. "I'm fine."

Felix's gloved hands pressed against Ralph's leg. "You took a pretty hard fall, there."

"I said, I'm fine."

There was no getting away from his pride. That was a feeling Ralph knew very well.

"Oh, okay..." Felix looked around at their surroundings. "Where have we ended up now?"

Ralph surveyed the area. "I think we landed in some sort of trench."

It was dark and smelled like wet dirt. Instead of the hard, metal surface they were standing on above, it was soft and earthy. And deep. Perhaps it gave those soldiers who fought against these bugs the upper hand.

Or lower.

"No time to lose." Ralph stated. "Let's get out of here before they find us."

But Felix stayed where he was standing and his eyes grazed over the dark surface underneath him.

"Hold on a sec, Ralph." He mumbled.

The big man did as he was asked.

"So," Felix began. He wasn't good with confrontations. Not that this was a confrontation, but it certainly felt like one. "I wanted to ask... why did you kiss me?"

Ralph's blinked. "Lets wait until we're out of this pit to talk."

"But-"

Ralph cut him off. "Listen, I was sad and lonely, and feeling down about myself for the past thirty years. I don't know why, but you've seen something in me that the others didn't. I got a little carried away. That's all." He made a small gesture with his hands to emphasize his point. "It didn't mean anything."

Felix didn't expect the answer to hurt him as deeply as it did. Here he was, stressing out about accidentally making Ralph think that he had felt something for him, just because Felix was nice to him, and it turned out that Ralph was just caught up in the moment.

Why did it bother him? Now things could just go back to normal without the awkwardness. But Felix definitely felt like there was a spark there. Maybe it was too soon to tell if that was the case, but Ralph wouldn't have just expressed affection towards Felix for nothing.

Right?

"Um... w-well..." Felix's voice trailed off. "I just wanted to apologize to you."

Ralph eyed him suspiciously. Or rather, it sure looked suspicious from Felix's standpoint. "Why would you apologize to me? If anything, I'm the one that should be asking for your forgiveness."

"I didn't mean to make you think that I saw you that way." Felix stated, feeling his stomach knot together.

"Felix, you didn't make me think anything," Ralph insisted, his voice soft. "It's like I said, I was just caught up in the moment."

The short man decided to accept it. But it didn't make him feel any better.

As a matter of fact, it actually made him feel worse.

There was the very loud sound of a cable snapping - or something much bigger - and it spooked Felix enough to make him walk faster towards the wrecker. He didn't mean to do it, but his tiny hands wrapped around Ralph's right arm and he squeezed ever so gently.

Just from that, Ralph's heartbeat began to speed up.

"You're really scared."

Felix looked up at him. "Aren't you?"

Ralph shook his head, but that was only the half-truth. Yes, he was a bit afraid after what he just had to experience. But his desire for respect and that shiny medal was stronger.

"I'm built like a metal wall, shortstop." Ralph said. "You can hit me as many times as you want, but I'll still keep standing. My body as well as my feelings are unbreakable."

Felix seemed to realize he was holding onto Ralph and let go.

"I sure wish I had your muscles, Ralph. I'm practically defenseless here." He lowered his eyes. "I feel like I can't be any real help to you."

Ralph was shocked to hear that Felix wanted something of his. "Well, I don't have a magic hammer to fix me up if I ever ran into any trouble, my good friend."

Felix placed a hand on his hips and a huge smile appeared on his face. "That's what you've got me for!"

"Yeah, but you aren't going to be around me all the time, are you?"

Felix blushed. "Well... why not?"

And for a moment, it seemed that the air had stilled around them. They were both gazing into each other's eyes, not bothering to pay attention to the world around them. The big man was in disbelief at what he heard, and he expected Felix to correct what he'd said.

Of all the people that reached out to Ralph, why did it have to be the hero of their game? Why not another villain, or someone who was on the same level of bad as Ralph?

The wrecker had always been told that he was accident-prone. He caused so much chaos everywhere he went, and he didn't even need to lift a finger. He couldn't help but feel like a connection between himself and Felix would have been ruined like everything else in Ralph's life. That was just the tip of the iceberg of things that could go wrong.

The moment between them didn't last too long because there was a loud and intense growl coming from the opposite end of the tunnel.

"Ralph?" Felix said. "I don't think this is a trench built to fight against those things..."

There was a glowing light, the noise similar to a buzz saw, and a creature almost similar in size to Ralph right in front of him.

"Oh, boy..." Ralph said. "I think that's our cue!"

And he snatched the tiny body of the handyman and leapt out of the tall tunnel.

AN: In the deleted scenes of the movie, Ralph seemed a lot more resentful towards Felix (and it makes sense after all he's been through). I'm surprised he wasn't a bit more hostile in the movie, but I guess the point was that Ralph isn't mean or hateful towards the others. He just wants to be seen as good.

It's not easy to understand when a person's had everything handed to them on a silver platter.

I don't know if Disney has a movie about a villain romancing a hero (or heroine), but now I really, really want it.