Chapter 7

Big 4 Bash

Ralph woke up to find that Ray was nowhere in sight.

They had both crashed on his couch after the confrontation with Bowser. Ray's clothes were gone and Ralph's overalls were folded on the chair in the corner.

"Did he just leave without saying goodbye?" Ralph thought to himself as he sat up.

His doubts were vanquished when Ray walked through the door with a tray of breakfast foods.

"Oh good you're up. Ready to eat?" Ray inquired as he sat the tray down on the coffee table.

"You made all this?" Ralph gushed as he looked at the spread in front of him.

"Well... my mom's almost never around so either I learned how to cook or starve."

"It looks great, Ray."

"Wait until you taste it."

Ray fed Ralph a piece of an omelet and waited for him to swallow.

"You need to cook more often. This is the best omelet I've ever tasted!"

"Aww Ralphy. You're too nice." They both laughed while Ralph continued to eat the food his boyfriend made for him.

"I have to get to class..." Ray sighed. "See you after work?"

"We could just lie here and cuddle." Ralph rebutted as he patted the spot next to him.

"Sounds good to me." Ray hopped onto Ralph's lap and kissed his cheek.

"Love you Ralphy~"

"Love you more." Ralph replied as he held Ray close.

A week went by and Ray had gone out with Ralph quite a bit.

Of course Sarah got the play-by-play when she could, but while she was with the new couple, she let some damage pile up in her arcade. She was put on indefinite region lock. (Aka Grounded in her arcade)

The league hadn't attacked during this time so Mr. Litwak got suspicious.

"We need to be ready for the next attack. You have been training right?" Litwak inquired as he wiped off a retro game's screen.

"Of course. In fact, I'm going to train with Ralph right now." Ray responded as he clocked out.

"Are you gonna train or are you gonna make out?" Litwak inquired with a smirk.

"We're gonna train... We haven't even really kissed yet." Ray retorted as he teleported to Fix-it Felix Jr.

"Ralph?! Where are you?" Ray queried as he entered the shack. Suddenly, a huge hand wrapped around Ray's body.

"Give me all your love and affection and no one gets hurt."

"But all I have are hugs and kisses."

"Well hand em over!"

"Oh Ralphy." Ray moved the hand and kissed his boyfriend on the cheek.

"You ready to train?" Ralph inquired as he stepped outside.

"You heard that huh?"

"Kinda hard not to when you always talk in front of my game." Ray blushed at this statement.

"How about we train after I rest a bit?"

"Now Ray..."

"Pweases?" Ray asked as he gave Ralph 'the puppy dog pout'.

"Okay, but only for a few minutes." Ralph replied as he carried Ray inside his hut.

2 hours later, Ray and Ralph were sprawled out on the bed sleeping with Ray on top of Ralph's gut.

"L.O.S. Alert! L.O.S. Alert! Big 4 Warning!" Ray's gauntlet chimed interrupting their peaceful nap.

"Ugh... I'll be right back Ralphy. Don't go anywhere. This'll be quick." Ray spoke as he kissed Ralph's forehead and ran out the door.

"Looks like it's coming from Guitar Hero." Ray teleported to Guitar Hero and found the stage smashed and Heihachi standing off to the side with his arms crossed.

"Took you long enough to get here. You've dealt the league quite a loss. Now you answer to me!" He took his stance and taunted Ray into action. The dark aura that powered the former league members was strong around him.

"Fine by me! Codemaster! Wreck the code!" His armor uploaded and he charged Heihachi.

As he tried to land a hit, Heihachi just deflected his limbs.

"Grr... Heat Riser!" Ray barked as he shot around Heihachi trying to land any hit he could, but he still blocked like a champ.

"You done? My move!" Heihachi began to assault Ray with lightning fast punches and kicks while he was struggling to block. He finally threw a hard punch to Ray's chest which caused his armor to code-out.

"What a waste of time. I thought you were more of a challenge." Heihachi spat as he teleported away.

"Ugh... What was that?" Ray spoke as he sat up and and noticed Heihachi was gone.

"The bad guy beat your ass. Pretty badly at that. Isn't it obvious?" a voice from the shadows answered.

"Who are you?" Ray inquired as he limped towards the voice.

The fair skinned man wore a white t-shirt and white jeans with white hi top sneakers. "You can call me Razor... I'm the guy who's gonna defeat the league all by himself. Although I'd never trespass on another codemaster's turf without compensation." He threw Ray a card with a picture of a gun.

"You need to get your priorities straight and fast." Razor scolded as he teleported out of the game.

Ray fixed the damage and teleported back to Ralph's hut.

"Babe, you okay?" Ralph asked the injured human.

"Yeah. Just a little banged up." Ray dropped on the couch with a thud.

"What happened?" Ralph inquired as he tossed Ray an old-timey looking bottle of Sprite.

"I got whupped. He hardball countered me. It was like he knew what I would do before I did it." Ray explained as he glugged the soda down with ease.

"I'm not surprised." a voice from Ralph's front door said.

"Mr. Litwak?"

"You let your guard down against a member of the Big 4, you shirked training, and you let Heihachi get away." He chastised as he threw Ralph a pair of brass knuckles. They resized in his hands.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"You just need to reach the next level of the Codemaster."

"How?"

"Training." Litwak saluted the couple as he teleported back to the arcade.

"You ready, Ralph?"

"Ready for what?"

"Training"

"In your condition?"

"Codemasters heal faster in their home game, and I think you know what mine is." Ray elaborated by running outside and doing a perfect front flip.

"OK then." Ralph said as he slipped on the knuckles and took a fighting stance.

"That's enough for today. I'm beat." Ray huffed as he fell on his butt.

"Me too." Ralph replied as he fell beside Ray.

"Wanna go back home?"

"Yeah. You coming?"

"If you want me to."

"You know I do." Ralph replied as he gave Ray a kiss on the cheek.

"You big softy."

"Only for you."

"And Vanellope."

"But she's implied."

"C'mere you." They began to wrestle but Ray's gauntlet interrupted once again.

"L.O.S. Alert! L.O.S. Alert! Big 4 Warning!"

"Good! This time I'm taking him out." Ray stood up and shook off the fatigue.

"Maybe I should go with you. You might need backup."

"Can't argue with that. Let's go!" Ray grabbed Ralph's arm and teleported to Guitar Hero.

When they arrived, Heihachi was standing on the stage surrounded by 12 training bots.

"Hey look! The weakling came back and brought a wrecking ball!" Heihachi taunted from the stage.

"Time to rock! Codemaster! I'm gonna wreck it!" The armor appeared as Ralph slipped on his brass knuckles.

Suddenly, the card Razor gave Ray began to glow.

"Thunder Blasters! Activate!" Ray slid the card through his gauntlet, then crushed it spawning two blasters.

Ralph smashed the 3 in the front, then Ray springboarded off his back and took out 4 more with his blasters.

The last 5 shot lasers at Ralph, but Ray deflected them with his armor.

"Throw me up!" Ray commanded as he landed on Ralph's fists.

Ralph chucked Ray in the air and smashed 3 bots when they looked up and Ray blasted the last 2 out of existence.

"Looks like someone's been practicing, but practice is over and the real battle begins now!"

Heihachi jumped down from the stage and jabbed Ray in the chest sending him flying across the room, dropping his blasters.

"Ray!" Ralph shouted as he began to attack Heihachi in a blind rage, not landing a hit.

"Away, peasant!" He shouted as he dealt a 3 jab combo to Ralph's chest and threw him into the drums.

"Ralph!" Ray shouted as he ran towards his boyfriend.

"Are you okay?"

"I can take a hit." Ralph replied as he brushed himself off.

"I can handle it from here."

Ray stood in front of Ralph and took a fighting stance.

Suddenly, codes started uploading into Ray's helmet while a glowing white card floated in front of him. It flashed and knocked Ray out cold.

You can't trust anyone...

You trusted Dimitri and look where that got you...

He'll never accept that part of you...

You can't even trust yourself...

You couldn't even stick to training...

You got cocky...

You got careless...

You're trust is an illusion...

"Huh? What was that?" Ray thought as he sat in a blank room with only splashes of the things he heard written on the wall.

"This is how you think? How pathetic... And to think I'm you..." A voice snarked from behind him.

"Jack... I thought I locked you deep inside me." Ray retorted as he charged his fists with energy..

"Whoa... Normally I'd be all for a fight, but you're in the middle of one."

Ray relaxed his hands at this statement.

"Good. Now... You need to man up and stop dwelling on the past. You can't move forward if you keep looking back." Jack explained as he ripped a phrase off the wall.

"You're never the voice of reason... Why now?" Ray inquired as he felt a surge of power enter him.

"Because if we lose to this guy again, I'm gonna kick your ass. Now go... You have someone waiting on you." Jack pushed Ray through the wall and let him fall through the darkness.

Ray returned to his body and let the card float in his palm.

"What's happening?!" Heihachi shouted as he backed away.

"I finally understand. This cards is a part of me. If I let others into my life, I can find new ways to be myself!"

Ray pulled out Ralph's card and let it float next to the blank card. "Code Fusion go!"

The cards merged and Ray threw the result into the sky. Ralph turned into code and spread around Ray's armor.

The armor became brick red and his fists grew drastically.

"Code Card! Thunder Rush!" He crushed the card in his hand and his body surged with electricity.

Ray uppercutted Heihachi and began to rapidly juggle him in the air using different styles of martial arts.

"Thunderblast!" Ray shot a bolt of lightning at Heihachi, knocking him out cold.

"Code down..." The armor disappeared and Ralph turned back to normal next to Ray.

"That was..."

"Amazing? Astounding? Some other A word? I know."

Suddenly, a darker version of the cards that Ray found in Beastman and Bowser sprouted from Heihachi's chest.

"I'll take that!" Razor bellowed as he swooped down and took the card.

"Hey! You can't just take that!" Ray barked from the drum kit.

"Can't I?" Razor shouted as he shot towards Ray and knocked the wind out of his chest.

"I payed the fee to play. Don't get in my way next time. You're not on our level." Razor disappeared as quickly as he showed up.

"Who was that guy?" Ray inquired when he could breathe normally.

"I don't care at this point. I'm just glad you're okay." Ralph spoke as he lifted Ray up.

"Same to you." Ray cleaned up the damages and teleported to Ralph's hut.

"So how'd you do that?" Ralph inquired as he cuddled with Ray in his bed.

"Well... I guess after I saw you fly across the stage, I went crazy. Then, the cards just told me about Code Fusion."Ray half-lied. He didn't need to know the full truth yet.

"You know I can take care of myself."

"I know, but if you saw me fly into some drums, you wouldn't worry?"

"Touche. Now get over here." Ralph commanded as he pulled Ray into his chest.

"I think you've earned a special present.

"What?"

Ray slid up to Ralph's face and pressed their lips together. Ralph hungrily responded with his hands exploring Ray's back.

No words needed saying as their bond deepened.