Song Listened To : Bird of Prey - Shirk

*Chapter 121*

Zed skid his light-cycle to a hard stop just after Sugar Rush's cheery, rainbow road entrance. He heaved a soft few breaths as adrenaline coursed through his body, though he flinched once Lickity's strong, powerful wings whipped the air near him and halted to a stop, in her flight, as well. She chuffed a hard noise and, as easily as Ralph could, he leaned over, aboard Lickity, and, for once in his life, he wasn't thrilled to see Sugar Rush's cheery castle, poised and dainty in the distance. The foreign sight had both boys gazing at it, as if to plead it was simply a mirage. Lickity groaned a soft noise, through the painful silence, as if to agree with the notions buzzing about in their heads. She perked her ears as Ralph readied his thoughts.

"Never thought I'd be disheartened, to see the castle in this shape, again," Ralph slumped his shoulders, though Zed shifted his bike to an idling gear and relaxed as well; Ralph continued on, "Not to mention, the whole game."

"I don't know when I should start apologizing," Zed uttered, though he flinched as Sugar Rush's overly, sinfully sweet air picked up around the three and licked their hair about. He shook his head and peered out to the game that was so close to being his, though he knew he didn't deserve it.

"It was a mistake," Ralph grumbled, "A very well thought out mistake... We ran so many checks, on your brain additive... Even after you were long gone, from the game. It was so well cloaked that we were certain nothing fishy was going on."

"Well, he's in his own game," Zed shrugged softly, though his brilliant eyes hooked into Ralph's once and for all, "I'll do anything, and everything, to make sure the game reverts back to how everything was."

"Are you sure you're up for the task?" Ralph wondered nervously, he felt as if he was somehow saying goodbye to Zed, for the very last time, though he tried to brush those thoughts away.

"I don't have a choice," Zed chuckled as he fastened the tightly zipped backpack firmly to his spine, it held a mess of things he knew he'd need for this venture he was about to set out on, "... Will I see you guys again?"

"Yes," Ralph urged as he softly pat Lickity's neck. She grumbled a small noise, as if to agree.

"Wh-what if... What if we don't?" Zed worried, as if he didn't want to be the one to say it, though he figured it had to be thrown out there, somehow, "What... What do I tell Tessa?"

"Stop," Ralph uttered as he furrowed his eyebrows and pointed, "You will see us, again. If Sugar Rush can't be saved, at least my game is still plugged in... As well as yours."

"I've got some fiddling to do, with Dead Zed, as well," Zed scoffed as he bulged his eyes and peered off into the vast, glorious, though unfamiliar distance, "But... It'll be fine. Tessa and I won't be gone but maybe a day or so."

"Any longer, and I'll have to trek to Tron, myself... Bring this lug, with me," Ralph chuckled as he motioned to Lickity.

"I don't think the world is ready for dragons," Zed beamed, as unnatural as it felt, in this situation.

Lickity suddenly whimpered a soft noise, as if to understand just how detrimental this situation was becoming. She took a few steps closer to Zed, on his lightbike, and as easily as she could, she cranked her head around, nestled at a few of her feathers, and pulled one out of her scales. She lovingly handed it over to Zed, with her mouth. She gently nuzzled her whole snout into his hands, as if to give him a token of herself, in case the inevitable happened. Zed scoffed a small noise and let his hands meet Lickity's snout. He gratefully took the massive, gorgeous feather in his hands and peered down at it. It was a creamy tan, though the ends held decorative, imperfect splatters of the dark tan her whole spine was lined with. He gave Lickity a look, as if to appreciate her more and more with every passing second.

"I'll see you again, girl," Zed chuckled, though he shook his head, leaned down, and placed a loving smooch on her snout. She whimpered a soft whine, as if to beg him to promise.

"Alright," Ralph gestured Eastward of the castle, in the direction of Starkrem, "I'm headed to Starkrem, to meet up with Vanellope, Taffyta, Rancis and Orion... I'm sure they'd probably made some sort of headway, on how to solve this."

"The more heads, the better," Zed nodded, though Ralph gave Zed a longing, sad look of endearment.

"Be safe," Ralph urged softly, though his eyes honed in on Zed's, as if he had taken on a fatherly figure on this lone soul, "You uh... I guess you guys know where to find me, in the Arcade. Either Sugar Rush's cabinet, or Fix-It Felix Jr."

"Don't worry, we'll be very nosy," Zed chuckled, though he shook his head and peered to Sugar Rush's entrance, "If my plan even works..."

"No time to waste," Ralph urged gently as he nudged Lickity's back. She perked up and prepared to sprawl her wings, "Stick together... Meet back here in no more than two days."

"Yessir," Zed eased politely, though Ralph chuckled, wrinkled his nose and shook his head.

"What're you 'yessir'ing me, for?" Ralph urged with an incredulous, knowing smile, "You're the King, still."

"What?" Zed's look of humble curiosity was surely palpable.

"Hey, I'm downgraded back to regular 'ol Wreck-It Ralph," Ralph shrugged, "You made this Kingly mess... It's your job to right your wrongs."

"Touche," Zed uttered through a smile, though Lickity reared up to prepare to take off.

"Good luck," Ralph eased, though just as Zed replied to his notion, Lickity bellowed a soft noise and took to the skies.

Zed slumped his shoulders and watched as his favorite dragon soared away. The wind swept around him, as if to somehow comfort him with it's own sweet smells, as if to urge him to chin-up. He shook his head and knew, somehow, this mess would hopefully get solved. He knew he had a very long and tiring road ahead of him, though for now, reconciling with Tessa was all he wanted to do, in this moment. As quickly as he could, he launched his light-cycle across creation, a landscape he was quickly trying to relearn.

"Breathe in," Penny urged quietly to Oliver, though it took everything inside Oliver to even look Penny in the eyes. He nodded, just barely and took in a large breath of air. Penny gently gestured her hands and, though they trembled, she knew she had to remain strong for her little brother, "Breath out..."

"There's really nothing we can do for him?" Selka worried gently as he stood a handful of feet away; he knew attempting to get any closer would have Penny launching herself at him, like a predator to prey.

"Nothing but make sure he's comfortable," Penny spat in Selka's direction, "You're not helping."

Selka wrinkled his nose, crossed his arms, and gave the back of Penny's head a hard, annoyed glare. He finally looked around the room and began to skulk around.

"So, where exactly is Tessa?" Selka wondered as he curiously let his eyes scan the entrance to the Loft, "Is she in there?"

"No," Penny uttered as she lovingly rubbed Oliver's arm; both of his arms were on the verge of showing every single bit of circuitry and vein, a see-through model he hoped he'd never have to look at. Penny rolled her eyes and glared Selka down, "It's none of your business. All I can say, is she's trying to sort this mess out. We just have to wait."

"Taking her long enough," Selka mumbled in a disgruntled way. He gestured his hand, in annoyance and eagerly began to head towards the entrance, to the Loft, "You'd think, since coding seems to be her thing, that she wouldn't be so slow at it."

"I can tell you one thing, though," Zed suddenly scoffed as he slowly slunk into the room. He flipped his light-cycle of a baton in the air, smoothly caught it, and stopped to face Selka head on, from across the room, "It'd take her two seconds flat to up that one certain thing your huge ego is overcompensating for."

"Zed!" Penny cried softly in glee as she perked up, in her sitting position, and gave him the ultimate look of relief. Zed glanced down at her, with a kind smile, though he flinched and kept his whole attention to the threat in the room.

"Zed, my hero!" Selka spat in hard sarcasm as he suddenly exhaled a mean laugh and rolled his eyes, "You're no hero. I heard about what you did, to this poor game."

"Through hearsay," Zed urged.

"Through Tessa, herself!" Selka chuckled as he began to saunter closer to Zed, "I sat in the station and let her cry on my shoulder."

"What?" Zed hissed in hard annoyance.

"That's right, lover boy," Selka beamed a dark grin as he got within feet of Zed, "Your girl sought out my shoulder, to cry on. And where were you, when she needed you?"

"Get out of my game," Zed growled as he tucked his light-cycle into his tattered, black jean's back pocket.

"This isn't your game, you only THINK it is, cause you've let a virus loose, into it," Selka's voice grew quieter, with their closed space, though it grew more aggressive as well.

"I'm the King of this game," Zed urged as he stood his ground, "Get out. Before I make you."

"You're not the King, who crowned you!" Selka laughed, though Zed got more into his face, a poised act of aggression both boys knew well, at this point.

"Wreck-It Ralph, himself," Zed glowered, as he squinted his eyes, though he suddenly noticed Oliver arch his back, in impending pain, in his peripheral.

Just as Zed just barely glanced away, he knew, in the split second that his eyes were off of his enemy, that he had made a very fatal mistake. Zed flinched and, just as he was about to let a hard punch fly, Selka largely grabbed Zed's upper arms and viciously kneed him right in the groin; a cheap shot Zed was almost positive he could have seen coming from a mile away. Zed choked a hard noise and, as his body recoiled to hunch over itself, so he could writhe in the most ultimate, unforgiving pain, Selka largely grappled for his throat and shoved him to the lovely birch wall, the carvings of the circuitry that secretly led to the Hull. Zed coughed a hard, startled wheeze of a choke and squinted his eyes in growing pain. He largely swiped at Selka's hands and, as much as he wanted to use every last byte of strength in his system, the pain that coursed through his body made it impossible to even see.

"Zed!" Penny cried as she largely stood, and just as she was about to jolt to his aid, she sharply stopped and stood close to Oliver, for his safety.

"Aww, you seeing stars?" Selka uttered through gritted teeth, though his voice was soft and cynically dainty, right in Zed's face. Zed scrunched his face in ever growing pain and, as easily as he could, he tried his hardest to inhale for air, though Selka largely pushed down on his windpipe, with both hands, "How unfortunate, it has to end this way," Selka eased, as if he was somehow going to give Zed a kind fairwell, out of Arcade, and out of life.

"Selka, stop!" Penny hollered as she threw her fists down; she could swear she could feel the circuitry in her body attempt to come to life, though she was surprised to feel her palms get unusually hot.

"Shh, I'm trying to rid Sugar Rush of the ultimate problem," Selka eased, though he grunted and jolted as Zed's strong figure attempted to fight back.

With a few seconds of success, Selka largely shoved Zed back to the wall, which slammed the back of his head into the birch wood. Zed's eyes shut tight in the never ending pain that plagued him, though he still fought with whatever strength he had left, to get free. With as much effort as he could, he tried to let his palms come alive with his blue coding, though it only largely swarmed his body in confused chaos, as if it didn't know where to head first. Selka gently glanced about the blue circuits, that snaked Zed's powerful arms, though he beamed an ever growing, sarcastically mean smile and furrowed his eyebrows, as if he had just struck gold.

"Aww, how sad!" Selka eased as he pushed harder on Zed's windpipe, which had him silently choking for air, "Poor Dead Zeddy... He died a virgin, with his own, original coding and no one to come to his rescue. Tsk."

Penny clenched her fists open and closed, as if she was majorly struggling with who she needed to stick with. She glanced down at Oliver and noticed he was having a hard time even existing. He sat slumped on the ground, against the wall. Penny furrowed her eyebrows and, as tears streamed her cheeks, she finally peered back to Zed and Selka. She could hear Zed's near last cries of raspy, wheezing air escape his body. She felt her skin prick as, suddenly, Oliver choked a small noise. She jolted and eagerly peered down to him, though she remained in her stance. It took all of Oliver's energy to utter her name, and as soon as he had her full attention, he softly cocked an eyebrow and peered across the room, to just what was hanging on the wall, above Vanellope's dresser; it was her father's infamous double striped candy cane sword.

Penny glared at it, hanging on the wall, practically begging her to finish the deed. Penny panted softly, her shoulders and chest rose and fell in the impending task Oliver had kindly led her to. She finally peered back to Zed and Selka, and as if she understood the horrific task at hand, she felt a ballistic, protective rage come over her skin. Just as she noticed Zed's arm begin to go limp, she leaped into action. As quickly, and quietly as she could, she swiped her father's long, sharp sword off of the decorative display, on the wall, and readied it in her hands. She lulled it in her hand, to very quickly get used to the handle, though once she got a good grip, she let every single sword and dagger lesson come back to her; all skills her father, Rancis, had given her a master class to.

"Say goodbye, Penny," Selka chimed as he tilted his head over his shoulder, to Penny, though his eyes remained glued to Zed. He grunted a small laugh as he continued to shove into Zed's throat, to cut off any chance of air getting into his lungs.

Zed scoffed a silent puff of a noise and felt the room begin to blob about, as if they were suddenly on a merry-go-round. He felt the strange, kind sensation of a permanent game-over try to overcome his body, though he suddenly felt air come back to his throat, and as if he forgot how to breath, he sucked in the largest inhale and went wide eyed as to just was planted right before his nose. He largely flinched as the whole room froze with the strange, painfully cold predicament they were in. Zed furrowed his eyebrows in the hardest confusion he had ever been sat in, though he finally got a good glimpse as to just what was sticking straight into his face. He dared to let his brain believe it was the sharp end of a sword.

Zed tried his very hardest to read the expression on Selka's face. It was still held with mean delight, though his eyes read something different. Laced with growing fear, pain and knowing, Selka's body finally relaxed and, as if on a cue, his whole existence riddled with angry, upset circuit lines and pixel cubes that began to crumple to the ground. The game loudly beeped a game-over tone, and, as if something straight out of a horror show, Selka's pixels flopped to the ground and dribbled around the sword that Zed wasn't imagining. Behind the sword was Penny, stanced to perfection, though the look of pure, terrified horror and anger was written all over her face. Zed largely panted and remained frozen as the tip of her bloodied, sharp sword hung about an inch from his nose. He put his hands up in a massive amount of defense, as if he had to beg Penny to let him live. Penny and Zed loudly panted, though she cocked an eyebrow and, in mean, sarcastic, angry delight, she coughed a small conclusion.

"Goodbye."