DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or any of the Disney/Square Enix characters that appear in this work. Please support the original releases.


Author's note: Let's play, "Guess the video game references."


Chapter 17: Good Guys and Bad Guys


Vanellope's game, Sugar Rush, was infuriating. Sora, Donald and Goofy scoured every inch of the sweet world, but found no clue as to whether or not Hades was around. After getting lost in a jungle with laffy-taffy vines, a swamp full of gum drops, and an ice cream sundae tundra, the trio were as sick of sweets as they were of searching.

With nothing better to do, they went back to the race track, just in time to see Vanellope cross the finish line and win first place. A blonde girl in a pink helmet came in second, and she clearly wasn't too happy at her loss because she sat in her pink go kart and cried obnoxiously.

"Oh, stop cryin' Taffida." Vanellope said as she got out of her kart. "There will always be next time. Oh wait, no there won't, because I will beat you, every time!"

Taffida sniffled through a stream of mascara blackened tears. "Whatever, Glitch. Next time, you'll eat your words."

The other racers drove off, leaving only Vanellope on the track. She drove toward Ralph and jumped up to smack his palm with a high five.

"Great job kid! Top of the roster, three days running!"

"Naturally." Vanellope winked. "The arcade is going to open soon. You'd better get going. See ya, chump!"

Vanellope drove off just as Sora, Donald and Goofy approached Ralph.

"Hey, you guys are back. Want to head back to Game Central Station together?"

"Uh, sure," Sora said. "Hey, Ralph, is it okay if we stick by in your game for a while? No one, really, uh, plays our game much, and we still have some work to do."

"Fine by me," Ralph shrugged, "come on."

Ralph led the trio up a rainbow ribbon road and into a chocolate egg mountain. Once they passed under the chocolate arch, the sugary motif was replaced by what looked like a subway station. The walls were made of metal instead of cake batter. In the middle of the room was a railway that went into a long tube made exclusively out of electrical wires.

Ralph and the trio sat down on the tram in the middle of the railway. The tram lurched and then moved smoothly through the tunnel. Sora watched the sparks fly along the wires until they stopped at another platform. The trio jumped off the tram and followed Ralph through an arch that led into a bigger station.

Just as they passed the archway, an alarm went off, and a blue man in a security officer's uniform zapped into being.

Ralph groaned. "Come on! Again?"

"Step aside sir," said the officer, "random security check."

"Security?" Sora repeated.

The security guard clicked a pen and opened up his note pad. "I'm just a surge protecter doing my job."

"Yeah, sure you are? Why do you always stop me?"

The guard ignored Ralph's question. "Name?"

"Wrech-it Ralph."

"Where did you come from?"

"Didn't you just see me come out from Sugar Rush?"

"Where are you headed?" "Fix-it Felix Jr. Haven't we done this enough times for you to know already?"

"Anything to declare," the surge protector continued. "You're annoying."

"I get that a lot. Proceed."

The surge protector zapped away.

"What's his problem?" Sora huffed as he followed Ralph into a cavernous, open lobby that was labeled "Game Central station."

It didn't take long for Sora to forget the incident all together as a slew of colorful game characters drew his attention. All over the station, different game characters were moving from platform to platform. There were so many that Sora wasn't sure what, or who, to gawk at first. Tortoises with spiked shells chased after short mustached man in a red shirt and blue overalls. A kid walked by with a cute, yellow, electric mouse on his shoulder. Golfers, tennis and basketball players huddled together in a corner. A zombie with mushrooms growing out of its face walked around, making clicking sounds.

A purple dragon and golden dragonfly fly overhead. A martial artist with hair-buns was in a sparing match with muscular, four armed man with a top knot. A monkey in a red baseball cap gave a piggyback ride to his his blond, ponytailed girlfriend. A redheaded woman raced by on a robot horse. A blue hedgehog zoomed by so fast, Sora almost didn't see him. A jet did a barrel roll in midair and Sora swore he saw a fox in the pilot's seat. A square, line and l-shaped block bounced on the floor. A bounty hunter with a plasma-gun for an arm walked next to an blond elf-boy with a sword and shield. A beautiful woman with a braid sat on one of the benches, polishing her two pistols. A man in army fatigues hid under a cardboard box. And finally, a young dragonmaster walked by with a white, talking, winged cat flying right behind him.

It would have been much more fun to keep staring at all the video game characters if Sora didn't realize that most of them were moving away from his group, hiding behind benches, or darting away quickly whenever they neared.

"What's the big idea?" Donald huffed. "Why are they all avoiding us? Never seen a boy, a dog, and duck before?"

'No," Ralph sighed. "It's me. This always happens."

"Why?"

"In my game, I'm the bad guy. My job is to break the building and it's Felix's job to put it back together."

"Oh, so that's why the game is called Fix-it Felix Jr."

"Yep. The people in my game have started being a little nicer to me, but most members of the arcade still think I'm nothing but a bad guy."

Sora walked backwards in front of Ralph.

"Forget those guys. We know you have good inside. You may be the bad guy in your game, but you're cool in my book."

'Here, here," Donald and Goofy added.

Ralph grinned. "Thanks, but it doesn't bother me much anymore. I don't really care what everyone thinks of me as long as I've got the coolest friend in the world waiting for me back in Sugar Rush."

"Coolest friends in the world," Sora repeated.

He stared at Donald and Goofy for a moment. If the two of them hadn't been on this journey with him, Sora was sure he never would have accomplished half the amazing feats he had set out to do. Through out all the battles and the crazy shenanigans they got themselves into, it would have meant nothing if Donald and Goofy weren't next to him. And soon, he hoped, he could share his adventures with Riku and Kairi again.

Donald caught him staring. "What are you lookin' at?"

Sora leaned forward. "You got something on your face." He flicked Donald's beak.

Donald chased Sora all the way to the tram that led to Ralph's game. Goofy eventually convinced the duck to calm down just as the tram made its stop in Fix-it Felix Jr. Ralph's game was a lot simpler then Vanellope's. Instead of an expansive, colorful country made entirely out of desserts, the game was set in perpetual night. An apartment building made out of red bricks stood tall over a perfectly trimmed lawn and flower beds.

In the sky, right in front of the apartment building was a giant, orange screen, and, on the other side of the screen, Sora could see the interior of a gaming arcade.

"Well, fellas," Ralph said. "This is it. I'm going to get into position just in case a player comes to start the game. I suggest you finish what you need to do and get back to your own game quickly."

"We will," Sora said.

Ralph went to stand next to the apartment building. Sora, Donald and Goofy checked every corner of the world for suspicious activity but were interrupted when a loud voice screamed from the sky.

"QUARTER ALERT! QUARTER ALERT!"

A child's face appeared in the screen in the sky. From his place next to the building, Ralph raised his arms and yelled. "I'm gonna wreck it!"

Ralph jumped onto the windowsills of the apartment building and began smashing the windows and the walls. The residents of the apartment building lined up in the windows and cried out.

"Fix it, Felix!"

On the other side of the apartment building, a short man in a blue, button down shirt, baseball cap and jeans raised his golden hammer in the air.

"I can fix it," he proclaimed.

On the screen, the child stuck out their tongue as they began playing the game. Felix moved from window to window, fixing broken glass with his hammer while avoiding the bricks and debris that crashed down from above. Ralph climbed higher and smashed the walls of the building with his fists.

"Wow," Sora said, "Ralph really is good at breaking stuff."

"Oh no!"

Goofy pointed to the backside of the building.

A group of monkey heartless were climbing the walls.

One of the windows blew out from the side. A resident of the apartment slammed into the grass lawn at Sora's feet. Without a second thought, Sora chanted a healing spell. He helped the resident sit up.

"Are you all right?"

"Ow," the resident rubbed his head. "What kind of monsters were those?"

"What happened?"

"I was playing the game like usual and then one of those creatures came up from behind me and blasted me out of the my apartment! Oh no!"

The resident grabbed Sora's shirt.

"You can't let those creatures appear in front of the game screen! If the players notice something wrong in the game, they might think the game is broken and we might be unplugged!"

Sora looked at the building. The side windows showed some of the residents panicking as they ran from the heartless inside their apartments. Up in front, Ralph punched a heartless into the building to keep it from appearing before the game screen. The gamer behind the screen squinted into the game, suspicious.

Even Fix-it-Felix's smile twitched nervously as he continued to be controlled by the player.

Sora, Donald and Goofy snuck behind the building, and climbed up into the holes the heartless had made when they got in. Inside one of the apartments, a resident was cowering on their couch, throwing whatever they could get their hands on at the heartless.

The monkey jumped around, knocking down all the pictures on the walls, throwing over vases, chairs, anything that wasn't pinned down. It then jumped toward the window. Donald and Goofy tackled the heartless, slamming it to the rug. Sora dashed forward to help finish the job, but another heartless appeared right behind the resident.

Sora reached out, grabbed the resident's hand and then sliced through the heartless the second she was out of the line of fire.

"Oh thank you," the resident sobbed. "There's more in the apartment across from me! You have to keep them away from the windows! We can't let the players see them!"

Sora threw open the apartment door and ran into the next unit. Donald and Goofy chased him once they had destroyed the other heartless. They split up into the different rooms. The resident in the next apartment was running around in circles inside own kitchen, ducking from the heartless that kept trying to claw him from the ceiling fan.

Sora hurled a fire spell at the fan, and the heartless fell down, bursting into flames and leaving nothing but ashes behind. He then ran into the living room to fight a group of heartless that were jumping on the couch and coffee table. Sora sliced through two of the three heartless, but one of them got near the window.

A fist from outside obliterated the heartless before it could leave the room. Ralph stuck his head in from the window.

"Sora! Quick! There's more on the penthouse floor! The player is almost there!"

Sora dashed out of the apartment and ran up the stairs. The heartless had completely trashed the upper floor. He sliced through the first round of enemies, blasted through the second, but didn't catch the next four creeping up behind him. They threw him down onto the ground. Sora rolled and slammed against the window.

The heartless nearly tumbled out, but Sora grabbed two of them by the ankles and pulled them back in the room, but with his hands full, he didn't have the keyblade to defend himself and another heartless came at him, slamming him through the open window. Sora grabbed the sill with one hand, and the tails of the monkey heartless with the other. The heartless thrashed, trying to get free.

He looked at the screen. The player didn't spot the heartless because they were hanging out of the window that was three levels above where Ralph and Felix were still playing the game. The player smiled, passing a hard round and the game screen moved up.

Ralph looked up and saw Sora and the heartless dangling from the window. He looked down. Felix was still fixing the mess two levels below. One more level up and the player would see Sora and the heartless.

"Sorry, Felix," Ralph whispered.

He brought his arms back and destroyed six windows at once. The bricks rained down on Felix, and the player was not fast enough to dodge. A brick slammed on top of Felix's cap. Felix fell over and lay flat on the window sill, holding a flower in his hands.

There was a loud, angry announcement.

"GAME OVER!"

The player on the other side of the screen threw up his hands in annoyance. Then he walked off. Sora released the heartless he was holding and let Ralph pummel them as they fell down. He breathed in a sigh of relief for all about one second before another heartless stuck its head out the windowsill he was holding onto.

A fist slammed into the heartless' face, throwing it back into the room. Ralph grabbed Sora's hood and pushed him back into the penthouse.

"Now this is one infestation that I never saw coming. Let's take them down. Jump on, kid."

Sora climbed onto Ralph's shoulders. The big man bulldozed through the heartless, tossing them up in the air where Sora sliced them in half one by one. Nearly done, Sora spotted a heartless climbing up the stairs that led to the roof. He jumped off Ralph's shoulders.

"I got the ones down here! Go get the ones on the roof!"

Ralph gave Sora a thumbs up and began climbing the stairs.

A heartless crawled up the steps, chasing Ralph. Sora hurled his keyblade at it, breaking it and part of the stairs. The rest of the heartless switched targets and Sora prepared to defend himself.

Up on the roof, Ralph destroyed the last heartless. He was about to climb back down and lend Sora, Donald and Goofy a hand when a wall of blue flames light up all the sides of the apartment building.

"What the-"

Ralph reached out to touch the door that led back down to the penthouse, but the blue flames jumped out at him, pushing him back.

"Now, slow down there big guy, or you will ruin the show," someone said.

Ralph looked around the roof and spotted a pillar of blue fire. A tall, shadowy man with a head of blue flames waltzed out of the fire.

"Who are you?"

"Hey there, the name's Hades, Lord of the Dead. Hi, how are ya doing?"

Hades extended his hand. Ralph took a step back and brought up his fists.

"You're the guy wrecking my building, aren't you?"

"Hold yer horses there, lumberjack, I haven't done nearly half as much of the destruction you have today. Yeesh! Bad move," Hades grinned wickedly, "from a bad guy."

"The real bad guy here is you!" Ralph charged forward and aimed a punch at Hades' head, but only ended up hitting the air. The blue flames surrounding the building vanished.

Hades reappeared in front of the roof access door. He opened the door and the residents of the apartment building spilled into the roof.

"Ralph! What were those creatures," said one of the residents.

"What's going on, is our game broken for real this time?"

"My apartment is in ruins!"

"Ah, you poor, poor home owners," Hades sighed.

The residents turned around and screamed.

"It must be so hard living in this world, knowing that you're only a second away from losing your home to that brute. Oi."

"What are you talking about?"

"Why those creatures of course. See, they're attracted to darkness, and what better source of darkness," Hades pointed at Ralph, "then the bad guy."

"NO!" Ralph yelled. "I didn't do anything!"

"I mean, destroying that wall so that you can hit that poor fixer-upper down there and force the player lose the game on purpose? Couldn't you think of a better way to solve the problem then to throw the game's hero under the bus? I mean bad habits die hard, right?"

"HADES!"

The Lord of the Underworld winked. "Well, I've leave these nice folks to clean up the mess. I've got some robotic bugs to go see."

He vanished.

By the time Sora, Donald and Goofy caught up to Ralph, the residents of the apartment building had already lifted Ralph up and thrown him off the roof. Ralph slammed into the mud puddle down below.


Queen Minnie placed Mary's thick textbook on the desk in the library. Kairi watched as she flipped through the pages until she found a picture of a pointy, blue hat with stars. Raising the wand in her hand, Minnie closed her eyes.

A cold breeze swept through the library. Minnie's feet left the ground. The room dimmed. A blue glow casted shadows over the books, and the air twinkled with artificial stars. Minnie twirled in place. Silver rays of light sparked out of her wand.

The rays gathered into a ribbon that slowly morphed into a glittering scroll. With her wand, Minnie wrote something on the parchment. Minnie tapped on the scroll twice and it rolled itself up, flew up toward the library ceiling, and vanished.

Once Minnie's feet were back on the ground, the library had returned to normal.

"There we are. I hope the scroll reaches Master Yen Sid."

"Do you think he will know where the heartless machine is," Kairi asked.

"If anyone would have such foresight, it would be him." Minnie opened a drawer in the library desk and put away the wand. "Now then, Kairi, how are your studies going with Mary?"

Kairi fidgeted. "There aren't really any lessons. Magic just sort of happens when I'm hanging out with Mary."

Minnie giggled. "Well that's Mary for you. You can never tell what she's thinking."

"She told me to practice with you until she comes back."

"Oh my. Mary has you advancing faster then I thought if she believes you can practice with me."

Kairi blushed.

"Well, we're going to need a bigger space then this. Meet me in the throne room."

On the way to the throne room, Kairi worried about the message Queen Minnie had sent to Master Yen Sid. The queen had told her that Yen Sid was a powerful wizard that had once taught King Mickey. The only problem was that no one had heard from him in over ten years.

Kairi winced. Over ten years. That was before Hollow Bastion was taken over by the heartless. She paced in the throne room. If Yen Sid could tell her how to travel between worlds, could she travel freely to Hollow Bastion? Memories of her original world were still hazy, but just maybe...

Kairi shook her head. She needed to focus on other things. As soon as she finished her magic training, she was going to go out into the worlds and look for Sora.

The door to the throne room opened and Minnie and Daisy walked in. Minnie had exchanged her pink and red gown for a regal, red tailcoat, white skirt and boots. Her crown was replaced a pink ribbon tied behind her head. Daisy on the other hand had opted for a lavender skirt and pink dress shirt. She wore golden bracelets around her wrists.

"Wow, you two look amazing."

"Naturally," Daisy winked.

Minnie tapped her wand in her palm. "It's much easier to manage in then formal attire. Well then, shall we begin."

Daisy stretched. "Oh, I haven't had the chance to exercise in ages! This will be fun."

"You're joining too?"

"Why the surprised face? My fire magic could give Donald a run for his money. Let me just show you what I can do!"

Daisy hadn't been kidding. Within seconds she hurled several fireballs at Kairi. Jumping to the side, Kairi raised her arm and threw a water spell at Daisy. Minnie jumped in front of the duck and waved her wand. A line of pearls appeared in the air. The orbs flew through water spell, disintegrating it. Minnie summoned more pearls and it wasn't long before a dozen of them flew straight at Kairi's face.

Kairi protected herself with a reflect spell. The orbs bounced off her shield but did not vanish. Minnie conducted the light pearls around the room, making them zoom at Kairi from every angle. They broke through her shield. Soon, Kairi was dancing around orbs and fire spells, looking for an opening to attack Minnie and Daisy.

Her chance came when the two of them separated to flank her from both sides. Kairi threw a water spell at Minnie, but the mouse's body glowed with light. She raised her hand high in the air, and a whirlwind of light pushed the water back.

From behind her, Kairi felt something hot. She ducked just before Daisy's fire spell could hit the back of her head. Watching the fire spell hit the wall, Kairi remembered Oswald's words.

Imagine the sun in your chest.

Kairi concentrated, imagining the flames coming out of her body. She said the incantation, but nothing happened and she had to run to avoid getting hit by another round of spells. How was it that Minnie and Daisy could look so cute and harmless yet be completely ruthless at the same time? Kairi's back hit the wall of the throne room and she gasped. Daisy slowly approached her, a fire spell already glowing between her hands. Kairi threw up a reflect spell. The fireball crashed into her shield, but the heat of the spell passed through. The warmth sprinkled across her chest and neck.

Minnie's light orbs slammed one after the other against Kairi's shield. Cracks appeared in the reflect spell. The shield broke.

One more time.

Heat.

Campfires on the beach in Destiny Islands.

Hot sand under her toes.

Kairi raised her hand and chanted. "FIRA!"

Several balls of fire erupted from her hands. They flew outward, crashing into the light orbs. The magic exploded, and threw Kairi back into the wall, but she was too happy to care, or feel the burns on her arms.

"I did it? Yes! Oswald, I finally did it! I did a fire spell!"

Kairi wanted to cry. If only he had seen her.

Minnie and Daisy stopped their attack. They exchanged looks.

Daisy tapped her forehead. "Oswald? We never did research why that name is so familiar, now did we?"

"I vaguely remember reading that name in one of the books at the castle library."

Kairi, still celebrating, raised her arm and summoned another fire spell. The spell zoomed around the throne room. Kairi threw a water spell at it and watched gleefully as the spell vanished.

"Well done Kairi," Minnie said. She raised her wand and a healing spell sprinkled over Kairi's arm, healing the burns.

"We're not done are we?" Kairi asked. "I want to practice my new spell."

Daisy tapped her fingertips together. "Your Majesty, what do you say to a battle royal?"

Minnie giggled. "Oh I haven't this kind of fun in ages. Now, Kairi, the key to light magic is..."


"Oh my land! Ralph, what happened? Are you all right?"

Ralph picked himself up from the mud puddle and stared sadly at Felix.

"You'd better stay away from me, Felix, before I throw another pile of bricks at you."

"But that wasn't your fault! If you hadn't made that quick decision, the gamer would have spotted those monsters and would have reported our game as out of order."

"That's not how the nicelanders see it."

Speak of the devil.

The nicelanders all piled out of the building and swarmed Felix.

"Get away from him, Felix, before he ruins another good thing."

"Lucy, if you would please calm down and listen to what Ralph has to say."

"But Felix, we should have known he would revert to his old ways sooner or later."

'That's enough!"

Sora, Donald and Goofy squeezed through the nicelanders to stand between them and Ralph.

Sora spread his arms wide. "You big jerks! Ralph's quick thinking is what saved your game!"

"And where did those creatures come from huh? No one here has any darkness. Of course they would be attracted to the bad guy."

Donald stomped his flipper. "That's not true!"

"Ralph may be the bad guy of this game, but there's not a single shred of darkness in him," Goofy said.

"Yeah, he even fought the heartless off for all of you."

The nicelanders were done listening. One of them even stuck his nose in the air at Sora's words. They turned to Felix.

"How much hammering is going to fix this mess?"

Felix looked up at the building and sighed. All the windows were broken. So many of the walls had collapsed inward that it was a wonder the building was still standing. To top if off, the broken pipes leaked water into the units, flooding the already messy floors.

"I'd better start fixing all that before we get mold. You all go back to your apartments. I'll start at the ground floor and work my way up."

The nicelanders all went into the building. Felix turned around to face Ralph.

"Let me talk to them. I think they're just stressed from everything that happened today."

"Why bother," Ralph stomped away, "they'll just start treating me like a disease again."

Felix ran after Ralph.

"Listen, you're an integral part of this game. Logically, it makes no sense that you would try to ruin it on purpose. This is your home too. I think today's events just made the nicelanders want someone to blame. Don't lose hope, okay."

Ralph stopped. "Fine. I'll do it for you Felix. Thanks for vouching for me. And you guys," Ralph pointed at Sora, Donald and Goofy, "that was really nice of you, thanks."

Sora grinned. "Anytime."

Felix ran back to the building and it wasn't long before the windows and the broken walls on the bottom floor were magically fixed thanks to Felix's golden hammer. Ralph watched Felix work before he walked toward the tram that led back to Game Central Station.

Sora fell into step next to Ralph.

"What happened up there?"

"Some wierdo who calls himself the King of the Underworld, that's what."

Donald quacked. "That's Hades!"

"Gawrsh, he IS here."

"You know him?"

Sora's eyes narrowed. "Let's just say that he's from our game and unlike you, he's not a bad guy because it's his job. He's a bonafied villain."

"Why would he want to destroy my game?"

"We don't know, but we have to stop him."

"Already on it, kid." Ralph sat down on the tram. "That Hades fella mentioned something about robot bugs. There's only one game in the arcade that has that. Strap in boys, we're going to go talk to Felix's wife."


Kairi stretched her sore muscles, enjoying the feeling of the cool lawn grass under her arms and legs. Too bad the relaxed feeling of the topiary garden only added to her boredom. It had been days since Mary Poppins had left. Once her daily sparring matches with Minnie and Daisy were over, Kairi had way too much free time. Minnie and Daisy had royal duties and could only spare time in the morning to train her.

It was like being back at the islands. Day after day, she would go to school, come back home, miss Sora and Riku, worry about Sora and Riku, play half hearted games with Selphie, Tidus and Wakka, and then spend the rest of her nights doing absolutely nothing, except maybe homework. Never in her life had she wished she had something to actually do!

Wish granted. Mary's face appeared overhead.

"Taking a nap?" she said.

Kairi stood. "No, I was just, uh..."

"I heard you have indeed been practicing with Majesty Minnie. Brave of you. She doesn't hold back."

Kairi blushed.

"Well, since you seem perfectly rested, would you like to continue your studies?"

"Yes, please!"

"Good."

Mary moved toward the topiary castle in the garden and waved someone over. Kairi heard the clacking of armor. A castle guard Kairi had never seen before walked into to the garden. He bowed to Mary Poppins.

"Young man, take that helmet off, spit spot. We don't cover our faces when introducing ourselves."

The guard flinched. "Sorry."

He pulled off his helmet.

Kairi stared. "No way. Don't tell me!"

The young dog looked at her with a confused expression. "Uh, what?

Kairi pointed at the two buck teeth sticking out from under the boy's lips.

"You're totally Goofy's son! You have to be!"

The boy's eyes got wide. "Wait, you know my dad?"

Mary cleared her throat. "Well, let me be the one to introduce you two. Kairi, this is Maximilian Goof."

"Just Max is fine."

"He's going to be your sword instructor."

"What? Sword instructor?"

"Dear girl, what did you think those two gauntlets were for?"


Jiminy's Journal

Fix-it Felix Jr (First Appeared in Wreck-It Ralph, 2012): The titular hero of the Fix-it Felix Jr. video game. It's Felix's job to fix what Ralph wrecks and, with his magic golden hammer, he is more then equipped to do just that. Felix is easy going and an all around nice person. He treats Ralph with more respect then the residents of the apartment building Ralph routinely has to destroy.

The surge-protector (First Appeared in Wreck-It Ralph, 2012): The security guard that patrols Game Central Station for suspicious behavior. He seems to have it in for Ralph.