A/N: To everyone who has left reviews, favorite or followed this story: Thank you. From the bottom of my clockwork heart, thank you. I wasn't expecting this much enthusiasm for this story, but I welcome it nonetheless. Thank you to all of you. I cannot tell you how much your support means to me.
I feel I should tell you that this one gave me trouble. It was originally going to be much longer, but I got to a certain point that made me feel like I'd packed enough into this particular chapter. Don't worry, there'll be more to come.
On that note, I feel I should tell you guys that another reason this took me so long is because I'm in the process of trying to graduate. I've got two more weeks and then I'm free, so please don't think that I'm abandoning this work over the next few weeks. I just have to deal with reality first.
I also apologize if this chapter and the previous don't have a great deal of plot development, but I'm building this slowly. For now I ask that you all just enjoy the ride.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Be Careful What You Wish For
Chapter 1: …and What Should Never Be
Sunday morning usually saw Game Central Station completely deserted, most characters opting to stay in their games and rest. Even the Surge Protectors were relatively lax on Sundays, not bothering to check anyone passing in or out unless they were acting outrageously suspicious.
But on this particular Sunday morning, a blue blur was racing through the arcade at high speed. The blur would travel into a game, stay there for a minute or two, then rush back out and into another game. Because the station was deserted, no one was really around to comment or question just what exactly was going on, but they would all find out soon enough. But for now, the blur simply continued its pattern, eventually rushing into the terminal for Fix-It Felix Jr.
X – X – X – X – X
Despite the game being in a perpetual period of night, Fix-It Felix Jr. actually had one of the best positions in the arcade. With its screen facing the double glass doors into Litwak's, Niceland was one of the few places in the arcade that got to benefit from a bit of actual sunlight when the sun rose in the morning. Granted, it wasn't much, but the Nicelanders enjoyed the little dose of the outside world that their position in the arcade gave them. To nearly all of the game's denizens, walking up to an actual sunrise was undisputedly the best way to wake up.
Truth be told, it would surprise many of the game's citizens if they learned exactly who it was that didn't agree with them on the splendor of a sunrise, but that was because he had found something, or rather, someone who was worth more to him than any old silly sunrise.
Lying in bed next to his one and only dynamite gal, Fix-It Felix smiled in a way that bespoke that in the handyman's eyes, all was right with the world. Propped up as he was against the pillows, Felix let out a measured sigh of contentment, being careful not to let it out too quickly or loudly due to the fact that his wife's head was currently using his lap as a pillow, one of her firmly toned arms wrapped possessively around his leg.
'Sgt. Tamora Jean Calhoun Fix-It,' he thought to himself, his grin growing just a little wider. A year after their wedding, even just the thought of that name still gave him the honeyglows something fierce. There was a lot to be said about the kind of love that grows between a happy-go-lucky handyman and a woman who introduced herself by ordering her squad to open fire on him.
A bit of movement from his wife brought him out of his reverie, refocusing his attention back on her. She was mumbling slightly in her sleep and pulling herself even closer to him. Felix just laid his bead back against the pillow and gently ran his hands through her blonde locks. Though no one would ever believe it, and Tammy would rather face an entire hive of Cy-Bugs before she'd admit it, his rough & tumble sergeant was a closet snuggle-bug. Felix would often wake up just as he was now, her longer arms wrapped around him, keeping him close to her.
It still amazed Felix how his life had changed so suddenly all thanks to his game's bad guy. Because of Ralph, Felix had gone from a content bachelor living in his apartment to a happily married man living in a brownstone in East Niceland. Though the adventure had put the entire arcade in dire peril, Felix still couldn't help but thank Ralph for his attempt to break away from his bad guy label.
Lost in his own little world of happiness, Felix was just starting to drift back to sleep when a set of lips pressed firmly but gently against his own, jolting his eyes back open before they closed again due to dreamlike euphoria. One hand made its way up to cradle the back of his wife's graceful neck, just to make sure she couldn't get away.
After what seemed like a blissful eternity, Tammy finally broke the kiss. She was smiling in that quirky way that was reserved for her husband and closest friends, the kind of smile that, while subtle and controlled, told those around her that it was being fueled by infinite contentment.
"Morning Tammy Jean," Felix said as he ran his hand through her hair again. Felix knew he was the only one in the entire arcade allowed to call her that, but he was under strict orders from his wife that he was never, EVER to call her that in front of her men.
"Morning, handyman," she replied, saying her nickname for him in the kind of lovey-dovey voice that no one, arcade or otherwise, would believe her being able to produce. To the arcade and the gamers, she was Sergeant Calhoun, the fearsome leader of Hero's Duty who commanded fierce loyalty from the men who served under her and possessed a do-or-die attitude when it came to eliminating the Cy-Bug threat. To Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope Von Schweetz, she was Calhoun, friend and confidant who was just as ready to have their backs as they were to have hers. But to Felix, she was Tammy Jean, the wonderful, strong-willed, sweet as an apple pie woman who had made him the happiest man in all of Niceland.
Happy as he was to be here in bed with his beautiful wife, Felix was beginning to feel a bit peckish and Sunday was the only time when game characters had the time to enjoy proper breakfasts without any worry of having to rush. "What do you say we head to the 'mess hall' and cook up some 'chow'?" Felix still thought some of the jargon used by his wife and her troops was silly, but he still liked to use it every now and again.
Tammy gave a slight chuckle at her husband's attempt to utilize the military lexicon, always finding it adorable when he tried to learn more about her world. Breakfast did sound good, but she could think of something even better. Her smirk slowly shifted to the grin of a well-fed predator, one that was confident of the capture of her prey. "I was actually hoping for breakfast in bed," she said, her tone one of suggestive intent.
"Well, I guess we could do that, but we have to cook breakfast fir-WHAH!" Felix was abruptly cut off as his wife's hand grabbed hold of his pajama top and pulled him in for another kiss, her intentions making it clear that actual breakfast was just going to have to wait.
When they finally broke for air, Felix had a heavy case of the honeyglows while Tammy had a satisfied smirk bolted to her face. "Jiminy jaminy," he said as he took a deep breath. "It's a good thing we live here in my game. Otherwise I don't think I'd survive how rough you can be Tammy!" He punctuated the statement with a smile, indicating that he didn't mind her roughness at all.
Tammy merely returned his smirk with one of her own. "You've spent thirty years dodging bricks launched at you by the fists of a 600 lb. junkpile, Fix-It. I think you can handle me." She slowly pulled him back in for another kiss.
Felix closed his eyes, anticipating the press of their lips once more…
The next thing he knew he was on the floor, his wife lying on top of him and keeping him pressed to the carpet. When his vision finally aligned itself again, he looked up to see that his wife's demeanor had changed to one of deadly seriousness, her eyes narrowed into slits searching out an unseen enemy.
"Oh my land Tammy! What's the meaning of… mmmph mm mmmpha." Felix's protests were shut down by his wife's hand clamping over his mouth.
"Can it Fix-It," she hissed through clenched teeth. "And stay down." Felix could only watch as his wife cocked her head to the side, listening for something that he hadn't heard but was enough to put her into soldier mode this early on a Sunday.
He was contemplating the wisdom of trying to gently pry her hand off when he heard it. A noise like the staccato report of machine gun fire that sounded like it was coming from outside the house. Tammy pressed herself closer to him again, making sure to protect him.
The noise echoed through their home again, but this time Tammy began crawling along the floor, taking a moment to reach up under her pillow and retrieve the pistol she kept there. Felix made a mental note to talk to her later about keeping weapons in bed, but right now he could only watch as she racked the slide in order to chamber a round and then with slow and deliberate movements, she began making her way out of the room along the floor.
Once more, the noise came again, but this time it seemed to come even faster. Tammy didn't seem to notice, but Felix had, and he noticed something else about the noise: the sound of wood being struck.
The pieces of the mystery gradually began to fall into place in Felix's mind, but it seemed that his wife was bent on shooting something. Steeling himself for what he knew would be her ire, the handyman began following behind her on the floor, trying to catch up to her. "Tammy," he whispered. No response. "Tammy, I think it's just someone at the door."
Felix noticed a momentary hesitation in her crawl, but she continued forward, standing up as she reached the stairs, gun drawn and aimed. As she descended the staircase, the sound became even more insistent. His wife dropped into a crouch, but quickly continued on again, her steely blue eyes locked onto the front door at the base of the stairs.
By this point Felix was pleading with her. "Tammy, please don't do anything rash." But his pleas fell on deaf ears. No one put Sgt. Tamora Jean Calhoun Fix-It in fighting mode on a Sunday morning and didn't wind up regretting it. Step by step, she made her forward, until finally she had reached the door. Slowly and steadily, she put her hand on the knob, prepping herself. Felix watched as in one swift movement, she ripped open the door, brought her pistol to bear and found herself aiming at Sonic the Hedgehog.
X – X – X – X – X
Of all the greetings Sonic had ever received in his lifetime, this was the first time he'd ever had a pistol trained with deadly precision between his eyes by a tall, buxom woman in black pajamas. Even more disorienting was the fact that this was happening in Fix-It Felix Jr., a game that certainly did not have guns. But here he was, staring up the barrel of a military grade sidearm held by a woman who looked like she was ready for blood.
The normally unflappable and verbose hedgehog found himself at a loss for words, the surprise of it all catching him completely off guard.
'This is it,' he thought. 'My chili dog's cooked.'
Salvation, however, came in the form of the game's title character squeezing around the woman and zealously pleading with her to put the gun down. Sonic held his breath, watching as the barrel of the pistol finally started to lower, but the intensity in the woman's gaze did not abate.
Taking a chance, Sonic let out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. He was about to ask what exactly just happened when a question was put to him. "What are you doing here, rodent," came the hard-edged voice of the woman.
The insult didn't even register with the blue speed demon until he heard Felix speak again. "Sgt. Tamora Jean Calhoun Fix-It, there is no need to be rude," he said, in a voice much firmer than most people knew he possessed.
The name clicked in Sonic's mind. He had completely forgotten that Felix was married to the sergeant from Hero's Duty. Thinking back on it, it was little wonder that she had answered the door with a gun in hand: he had been knocking so fast that she must have heard it as gunfire.
Felix finally turned towards Sonic and offered him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry Sonic," he said while clasping his hands together in front of him. "We're just not used to company this early in the morning. So what brings you here neighbor?"
Sonic shook himself out of what was left of his shock and regarded his fellow good guy. "It's okay Felix. It's my fault for knockin' so fast. I just wanted to make sure you heard the news from last night."
A puzzled look crossed Felix's face. "News," he asked. "What news is that Sonic?"
Worry flitted across the features of the blue hedgehog. "You mean you don't know? Oh man, not good. Felix, we don't have long. I gotta get to DDR and tell Yuni to keep a look out."
"Sonic, please slow down," Felix implored, holding up a hand. "Tell Yuni to keep a look out for…"
But the words died in his mouth as the sound of synthesized drums echoed across the entire arcade…
X – X – X – X – X
A few minutes earlier…
Normally, the characters of Dance Dance Revolution took Sunday as a day to rest their legs and take it easy. For as active as they were during business hours, it would amaze gamers if they could see just how extraordinarily lazy the DDR dancers could be on their day off. Some chose to sleep the day through, others visiting games with snow-capped levels so they could soothe their aching legs in the cold conditions, and some just lying about and letting the day drift by, content to be as immobile as possible. Of the third category was none other than Yuni Verse herself, the self-appointed lookout of the arcade who gave the all clear every night to the rest of the arcade, letting them know it was safe to move around without fear of their sentience being discovered.
At that moment, Yuni was enjoying the comfort of a hammock she had acquired from one of the denizens of Paperboy, her arms crossed behind her head as she let out a blissful sigh of relaxation while the hammock swayed gently from side to side. As much as she enjoyed dancing, it was nice to kick back and relax every now and again. And what better way to spend a lazy Sunday than to relax in a hammock suspended between two massive amplifiers?
'Maybe I'll go to Tapper's later tonight,' she mused. 'It's been a while since I've the Street Fighter and Mortal Combat crowd start fighting each other in a drunken brawl.' The memory of the numerous fights breaking out between the characters of the two fighting games giving the blonde a chuckle. She stretched her arms out at length, a small yawn escaping her lips as she thought about the idea of a nap.
Kling-Knling-Kling-Kaling
Yuni's eyes opened wide at the sudden noise, her heart rate accelerating faster than a techno beat and her stomach feeling like it was falling off of the dance stage. 'It can't be,' she thought worriedly. What was possibly the most graceful exit from a hammock ever accomplished by anyone in history, Yuni vaulted out of her resting place and sprinted for the nearest dance stage, waking up her fellow characters as her shoes clacked by.
She came to a skidding halt on the dance floor and immediately peered into the gaming screen, the two-way mirror that allowed the gamers to see her and vice versa. What she saw confirmed her worst fears.
Litwak.
Stanley Litwak, owner of the arcade, was at the door. From what Yuni could tell, he was in the process of trying to pick up his keys. 'Why is he here,' she thought, but then shoved her questions aside in favor of more important matters. 'Have to warn the arcade.' Wasting no time, Yuni made her way to the song control console in the DJ booth, her hands quickly flying over the panel in a frantic search for the song that was designated as the Emergency Alert for the arcade.
"There you are," she shouted triumphantly, selecting the infamous song and hitting the play button.
X – X – X – X – X
Felix and Sonic locked eyes as soon as the sound of synthetic drums reached their ears. They knew that song, and it was the one that they never wanted to hear on a Sunday morning.
We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Calhoun simply looked between her husband and the spikey blue pipsqueak that had interrupted her breakfast in bed. She didn't know what was so special about this cheesy excuse for a song, but she didn't like how it put two of the most well known characters in the arcade into a deathly silence. She was about to ask what was going on when Felix sprinted off toward the Niceland Apartment building, the handyman hopping as fast as the first time he and his wife had met.
For the moment, Calhoun focused her attention back on Sonic, the annoyance in her eyes looking as though she'd burn holes through the poor hedgehog. "Alright Blue Streak," she growled out. "Just what the fun is goin' on here?"
Sonic took a hesitant step backwards, desperately wishing for the first time in his life that he were facing one of Dr. Robotnik's maniacal machines instead of this woman's anger. For a split second, he contemplated the wisdom of trying to run, but he could tell just by looking at the sergeant that he wouldn't get far. Trying to keep himself as calm as he could, he began speaking as slowly as he could manage.
"That song is Never Gonna Give You Up, and it's the emergency signal for the entrie arcade for when Litwak returns unexpectedly. I was trying to make sure that everyone knew that he was coming by with a new game this morning."
"New game," Calhoun echoed, an eyebrow raising quizzically. "What do you mean a new game? Talk fast road rash."
What little amount of control Sonic had left crumbled under her questioning gaze. "I'msorryIdon'tknowanythingmoreI'mjustthemessengera ndIneedtogetbacktomygameLater!" And with that, Sonic the Hedgehog spun his red sneakered feet into the grass and shot out of East Niceland like a bolt of lightning.
Calhoun watched as the hedgehog disappeared in the blink of an eye. She was about to call out that he come back when his words registered in her mind. Litwak was here, on Sunday. Granted, she didn't have to worry because her game's demo mode was done with previous footage of gameplay. But older games like her husband's needed the actual characters to demonstrate gameplay.
She suddenly realized why Felix had run off when he did. He was going to warn the rest of the game characters. But she remembered that not all of the game's characters lived in the apartment building. The most important character besides Felix lived on this side of town.
Breaking into a run, Calhoun ran along the rows of brownstones until she reached the small, discordant shack built and owned by the game's resident bad guy, Wreck-It Ralph. Without even thinking, the sergeant skidded to a halt in front of the door, planted one foot behind her and kicked the door open with her other, nearly ripping it from the hinges as she did so.
"Alright junkheap," she shouted in the familiar commanding voice her soldiers knew all too well. "Rise & shine and get to your post before I…" Calhoun's confidence dropped as she took in the interior of the tiny house, noting that the unmistakable form of Wreck-It Ralph was painfully absent.
Calhoun gnashed her teeth, figuring the wrecker had probably spent the night over at the cavity queen's palace. That wouldn't be a problem if they didn't need him right now, and she doubted there was time to get to Sugar Rush and drag the massive palooka back here. They'd just have to improvise, and she an idea or two on how to achieve that…
X – X – X – X – X
Hopping from window to window to window, Felix had woken everyone in the apartment building up in record time. The sleeping denizens of Niceland peered down from their windows, all in their pajamas and wiping sleep from the eyes. However, any lingering exhaustion they felt was wiped away the moment their minds registered the sounds of Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up, the situation becoming clear to them.
Confident that everyone in the building was ready, Felix spun around to go and get Ralph and promptly ran into his wife's legs, falling backwards after the collision. When he looked back up again, the sight that greeted him caused a large knot of worry to form in his stomach. Standing in front of him was his wife, still clad in her black pajamas but shouldering a very dangerous looking rocket launcher that he knew had come from her game. "T-t-tammy?"
"I'll save ya the trip Fix-It," she said without looking up from the minor calibrations she was performing on the heavy weapon. "The wrecker's not coming."
Felix could feel the panic rising in his chest. "Higgledy-piggledy Tammy! What do you mean he's not coming!?"
"He's not home Felix," she said as she loaded a clip of rockets into the launcher's breach. "My money's on him being over in Candyland with the sugar plum princess."
Felix felt his heart sink. If Ralph wasn't here, there was no one to wreck the building. And if Litwak noticed there was nothing to fix, he might put them out of order again. "Oh my land! What are we gonna do! What are we gonna- Tammy, what are you doing?"
Calhoun had dropped into a one knee crouch and was currently in the process of lining up her sights with the building, picking out her targets carefully. "Simple Fix-It," she replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "I'm saving all of your hides."
The meaning of his wife's words suddenly made it clear what she had planned. It was risky, but it just might work. Whipping around to face the building, Felix cupped his hands over his mouth and did something the Nicelanders had never thought him capable of: he shouted. "EVERYONE TAKE COVER!"
Every Nicelander slammed their window shut and dove for the nearest piece of protection in their respective homes, cowering behind couches, beds, china cabinets and television sets. Outside, Calhoun lined up the rocket launcher with the double-door entrance of the apartment building. When she was confident that she had the glass doors dead to rights, Calhoun allowed herself a rare smile and said something that only she could hear. "I'm gonna wreck it." And with that, she pulled the trigger.
X – X – X – X – X
I'd like to take a moment and inform everyone that Never Gonna Give You Up has actually been included in one of the DDR games. I discovered this while looking for a suitable song to serve as the emergency alert by combing through the list of songs that have been in DDR.
I'd really appreciate if you wonderful readers would tell me how I did on the characterization of the Fix-Its in this chapter. I don't feel like I've got them down square yet. Also, I hope everyone at least gets a chuckle from my attempts at humor. Looking forward to your reviews! The Phantom Soldier, signing out.