With An Iron Fist

"Remember when I said I wanted to go on an adventure, Ralph?" Felix raised his voice over the loud commotion, while he swung his temporary weapon at incoming enemies.

"Uh-huh." Ralph responded, half-listening while keeping most of his attention on the bugs.

"Hi-yah!" Felix yelled as he smashed away. "Well… I was sort of thinking that maybe…"

His voice trailed off as he had a difficult time finishing his sentence.

"You take it all back and life is way better back in Fix-It Felix, Jr?" Ralph finished for him.

The handyman dodged out of the way of a flying menace. "Well, I wouldn't say that I take it all back." His face tinted. "There are things I'm really glad happened here."

Ralph didn't take his eyes off his targets, but he had a moment of satisfaction as his lips curled into a grin. "Yeah, you and me both."

They were trying to make their way back to Vanellope, and they noticed that some of the monsters attacked at a distance, with their pincers turned into guns. Yet another complication that raised the stakes.

"Jeez, those sons of guns got their own battalion now." Calhoun muttered, switching weapons every now and then. She was running out of ammo, and it was far too late to call for reinforcements. It had been too late since she'd stepped through this game's tunnel.

The entire time they fought, part of her was beginning to lose hope; she was used to a programmed number of bugs on a daily basis, but nothing of this level. This was something more. This was a hacked code that put the odds in that maniac's favor. It had to be, because no regular program could have done this on their own.

A cy-bug shot her in the shoulder, causing her to drop her gun. Then it shot her in the leg and made her drop to her knee.

"Sarge!" Ralph called out and tore the bug to pieces. Felix was at her side and helped her up. As much as he could, with their height differences.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Just fine." She said, wondering why they cared so much to keep asking her. No one's ever checked in with her this many times. Maybe it was because of her typical response to it. "But we're going to need to pick up the pace if we're going to make it out of here in one piece."

Seeing how hard the two men were working to retrieve their friend kept her from spiraling into that swirl of self-doubt and hopelessness.

Then something unexpected happened. The cy-bugs had come to a complete standstill. Calhoun told them to cease fire as she inspected each and every one.

They were twitching in their floating positions above the ground, disengaging from the fight entirely.

"What's happening?" Felix asked, holding his elongated hammer in front of him with both hands. The three of them took several steps back, bumping against each other.

"Look!" Calhoun shouted, pointing towards the sky.

They all turned their heads in the same direction, and to their complete horror, they saw the modified king riding atop of a cy-bug, with a struggling Vanellope in its pincers.

"I h-have the high ground n-n-now!"

The king's glitch was out of control. He shifted between his past and current ego, both cackling and screeching in pain at the transition.

Ralph and Felix were both frozen in their tracks, while Calhoun didn't hesitate to bring out her rifle and aim it. She cocked it back and was ready to fire, but Ralph grasped the barrel.

"Wait!"

She blinked. "What do you mean 'wait'? He's got her in his grasp!"

"We don't know what'll happen if he's hurt! That bug's under his control!"

Calhoun had once been a "shoot first and ask questions later" kind of person, but those circumstances didn't involve the life of another character. She stumbled back, lowering her weapon, and swore under her breath.

Felix, who had been keeping himself close behind the taller and stronger man, had an idea. He knew Ralph wouldn't have agreed, but it could work.

He pointed upwards at the wrecker. "Throw me! I can catch her!"

"What!" Ralph shrieked. "No way!"

"Trust me, Ralph! If she's with me, he won't attack!"

Ralph shifted his head from the cy-bug to his lover, knowing that Felix was right and that they had an advantage since all of the cy-bugs were awaiting their master's order. He gave Felix a firm nod, took him to a higher point, and held him in one giant palm.

"I'll meet you on the other side." Felix said to him.

"Yeah, you will." Ralph muttered, throwing with all of his might. Felix soared through the air, his heart thudding against his chest, reached out with his arms, and easily snatched the little girl. He landed hard against the ground, with Vanellope in his arms, and heard the sound of Candy shout in frustration.

"Are you okay, Vanellope?" He asked her.

He laid her on her feet, and she dusted off her clothing. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I just need to get to my kart!"

Ralph and Calhoun immediately charged forward to where they assumed Felix would land.

"Kid! Are you okay?" Ralph asked, frantically.

"Yeah, I gotta get to my kart!"

Above them, King Candy screeched and pointed towards them. "S-seize them!"

Tired of seeing his face and constantly being under someone else's thumb, Calhoun fired her rifle at him without hesitation. She hit him in the side.

For the first time in her programmed life, she'd shot a creature that wasn't a virus, or a mindless being. She didn't think she was capable of doing so until now. The time for mixed feelings would be later. For now, the king had fallen over, limp and finally weakened. In response, the bugs all were in disarray, swarming like angry hornets around their nest. Now they were as out of control as their master.

Ralph grabbed the two smallest characters and headed the opposite direction of the racetrack.

"Wait, where are you going?!" Vanellope shouted over his shoulder.

"Evacuating."

She could see the Rainbow Bridge right ahead of them.

"It's not going to work! I can't leave!"

Ralph slid to a stop, suddenly remembering what she told him before. He shook his head and kept going forward. "We have to try."

"No, Ralph!" Vanellope wriggled herself out of his grip. She headed towards the chaos. "I have to cross the finish line! Everything will go back to normal when I do!"

She didn't take a step closer, as if waiting for Ralph's support.

The wrecker set down Felix and turned towards him and Calhoun. "You two head for the exit."

Felix shook his head. "I'm not leaving without you."

"Yes, you are."

"I said I'd stick by you no matter what!" He protested. "I'm not about to go back on my promise!"

"Felix-"

"Please, Ralph, let me-"

"NO!"

He said it loud enough to make Felix step back. It was much harsher than he intended, but the weight of the situation was finally hitting him. Even more than a ton of bricks.

He slowed his breathing, took a knee in front of Felix, and lowered his head. "This isn't 'goodbye', Felix. This isn't about me not trusting you to take care of yourself, either. But I can't go back out unless I know you're safe. If something ever happened to you, I'd never forgive myself."

Felix lowered his eyes. "Ralphie…"

"Hey." The big man lifted his chin up. "Listen to me. When this is all over, I'm going to need you to meet us when we come out of this tunnel. Deal?"

Felix wanted to shout at him for being so selfish. For throwing himself into the wasps' nest and keeping his lover on pins and needles as he wondered whether or not Ralph was still standing.

But his tongue was tied, because in the back of his mind, he knew he wasn't about to leave just yet. He nodded his head, keeping his fingers crossed behind his back. "Okay, Ralphie. Please, be careful."

And Ralph nodded, bit his tongue as he struggled to get the next words out of his mouth. But he'd waited thirty years to tell him, and there didn't seem to be a more perfect moment.

"I love you."

He said it hastily and almost too quiet for Felix to hear, and stood up to leave with Vanellope without waiting for Felix's response.

The handyman stood in his tracks, jaw hanging open and hands almost numb at his side. How could Ralph had done that to him? How could he have said those words and left so quickly without giving Felix a chance to say it back?

Ralph said it wasn't his way of saying "goodbye", but no one, absolutely no one, ever said such things if they weren't permanently parting. No one said those words if they weren't about to jump into the shark tank with a slim chance of surviving.

Once Ralph and Vanellope had gone, Calhoun turned to Felix, after seeing him cross his fingers, and said, "You totally just lied to his face, didn't you?"

Felix took his makeshift weapon in his hands. "Yes, ma'am."

Calhoun admired those who didn't back down from a fight, the obvious exception being a battle too risky. "Then, let's get this show on the road."

He turned up to look at her. "I can't thank you enough for helping us out."

She paused, stared forward at the mess they had made, and said, "I've let those critters take an important life to me before." She shook her head and reloaded her weapons. "I ain't about to let that happen again."

…

Vanellope held onto Ralph's overall strap as she sat on his shoulder. He was running at top speed, easily moving in between oncoming creatures, despite his size.

"Where's your kart?" He shouted to her.

"I don't know! It's around here somewhere!"

Ralph dismissed the pain and bruises in his knuckles, and he slapped the bugs, smashed them, pulled them apart, while Vanellope scanned the area for her vehicle.

She kept the object Taffyta gave her in her sweater pocket.

"Do you have to use your kart to cross it?" Ralph asked.

Vanellope hadn't thought of that. There were plenty of other racers' karts scattered around, all still in good working order.

"That one!" She said, gesturing to a brown and white cake-themed kart.

Ralph carried her over and dropped her in the driver's seat. He climbed onto the back of it. "We're finishing this together."

He noticed she didn't immediately start the engine and drive off. She seemed unsure of herself.

"What's wrong?"

She looked up at him, an apologetic look in her eyes, and said, "I'm sorry I jacked your medal, Ralph."

The big man blinked. Until now, he'd completely forgotten all about it, despite it being the main reason he came here.

Right now, he couldn't recall why he was so adamant about getting one at all. It hardly was worth anything.

He nodded to her. "It's okay, kid. It's just a medal. I got something even better now."

She gave him a small smile, started the kart up, and accelerated forward, nearly knocking Ralph back yet again.

…

His body was on the brink of fading away for good. Combined with the sharp sting in his side from the bullet, his body ached from shifting back and forth.

He'd let the grand prize get away once again. He was desperate, now. He needed her. He needed every pixel of her memories, her physical form, and all that defined her. Or his shell would shed until there was nothing left. He was running out of time.

He had worked himself to the bone shaping this game. And though he was starting to doubt he would get out of this scenario alive, he was too stubborn to give up.

He was always too stubborn to give up.

King Candy raised his hand up to his loyal cy-bug, who had been awaiting his command.

"My subject…" He croaked. "Y-you have been a m-m-much more valuable asset t-than any of those brats…"

The cy-bug did not respond, as it did not have the mental capacity to do so.

"Please…" The king begged. "L-lend me your power. L-let us become the u-ultimate hybrid…"

The cy-bug did as it was asked, opening its rows of razor-sharp jaws and fully consumed the king.

AN: Ooooh, things are about to get crazy.

I'm thinking about making a sequel where I re-vamp Wreck-It Ralph 2 with the continuation of this story. I'll keep some of the elements of the actual sequel, except I'll put some extra thought into the story and less internet memes.

I'm trying to limit the amount of stories I work on so I don't overwhelm myself and end up getting writer's block, like I usually do. It's been easier to finish my Ralphix stories because of how happy they make me.

Anyways, onto the next chapter!