Chapter Nine- IDs
Felix panted heavily as he made his way to the center of the station.
What a night. What a HORRIBLE night! This was his third trip through the station and each time he came close to gathering up the Nicelanders, something happened to get in his way. He had been thrown, stepped on, stomped! So many things had happened to the poor man that he wasn't sure he could take it anymore.
But he knew he had to continue, if not for Niceland than for the sake of everyone else in the arcade! He was just so stunned what the Nicelanders were capable of doing on their own.
"W-what has gotten into 'em?!" the man said as he wiped his brow, leaning against one of the benches in the station.
"FELIX!"
The repairman turned, seeing Ralph running from the game.
"Aw, man! Am I glad ta see ya!"
Ralph stopped in front of the repairman, surprised to see him so exhausted "Okay. I have some good news an' some bad news!"
"Good news?" Felix said, his eyes lighten up "Good is GOOD! I could use some GOOD! Gimme tha GOOD, PLEASE!"
Ralph backed away as he saw the madness in Felix's eyes; maybe things were worse than he thought.
"Um, well-! We do have TWO Nicelanders in tha apartment!"
"I KNOW THAT ALREADY!" Felix blustered, leaping up to his feet as he clutched his hat to his head "NEL AN' NORY HAVE BEEN DOIN' THAT HANKY-PANKY ALL NIGHT SO-!"
"Gah! Not so loud, buddy!" Ralph said, trying to calm the repairman down "We're in public!"
"SO?! SO!? It didn't take me THAT long to figure out what they were doin' when I left! I AIN'T THAT STUPID!"
Ralph grabbed Felix around his mouth with his enormous hands, lifting him off the ground.
"Yeeeeeah, we better this end this an' NOW! You're about to have a nervous breakdown!"
"MPPH! MMMMPH!"
Ralph made his way towards the crowd that was soon gathering towards another game, figuring with all the yammering that was going on there, a Nicelander was there making it WORSE. In his haste, he failed to notice the other fight that was going on near the end of the halls, bloodthirsty screams and landing blows easily heard.
"YOU APOLOGIZE TO HER YOU PIECE OF GARBAGE!" shouted a chubby blue figure.
"NOT UNTIL YOU GET OFFA ME YA TUB'A LARD!" returned another character.
"DON'T CALL GENE FAT! THAT'S MY JOB!" hollered a little woman in pink.
If only Ralph and the others were around to witness the true glory of the spectacle that was happening that moment. If only Ralph and the others could see the sight before them.
There in front of everyone were two Blissed Nicelanders, one Nicelander Mary and one Nicelander Gene, beating the living tar out of two characters. Gene was wrestling on the ground with the character who started the tussle, his comments at about Mary still fueling his anger. Mary on the other hand was clutching onto the back of the other, her legs kicking the in air as she slapped her hands upon his eyes and face, the character left with nothing more to do than scream at the top of his lungs as he spun in circles, trying with all his might to throw the woman off of him.
"GET HER OFF! GET HER OFF! SHE'S TEARING ME AP-!"
There was a crackle! There was a spark!
And then-!
"What is going ON here?!"
Everyone stopped in their tracks as a flash of blue light appeared before all, the form of Surge materializing and from the looks on the man's face, he was not happy! Not in the least!
"SURGE!" shouted Gene, his chubby cheeks smushed on the ground.
"So, decided to take your fighting OUTSIDE the game, eh?" the guard said, tapping his finger on his folder arms.
"Its-! Its not what it looks like, s-sir!" the first athlete said, shoving Gene off of him and getting to his feet "THESE two-!"
"YAAAARGH!"
Mary had pulled hard once again, the second character finally giving in and falling to his knees, only to cause Mary to roll forward and land at Surge's feet. The man let out a gasp as the woman lay in front of him, her clothing pulled every which way and her hair a mess. She looked back, a horrid frown on her face.
"Oooh, you try that again on me and I SWEAR-!"
"Wait a second…." Surge said, looking down at Mary with a confused look on his face "Who in the arcade ARE you?"
"Eh?!" the woman said, turning pink "Oh wait…."
Gene hobbled over to his fiancé, pulling her back "Oh no, we're not doing this again! Surge, these two ACCOSTED Mary first! Calling her such FILTHY names!"
"Mary? Mary WHO?!"
"NICELANDER MARY OF COURSE!" gene roared, his face turning red in anger "For cryin' out LOUD! When we need help from you, you act as incompetent as-!"
"Hold on buddy, lemme see your ID!"
"WHAT?! You've got to be kidding me!" huffed Gene, reaching into his wallet. Luck would have it that it was still in his pocket and it hadn't fallen out during the fight "Of all the stupid, worthless, no good…"
The man flipped the cover up, ready to hand the item over to Surge.
"Here…as if you needed any more proof ya foggy-eyed-!."
Mary leapt on the mayor, pulling his arm back "GENE!"
"What?!"
"Eh-heh, I think there might be a teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy but really, really important fact you've forgotten."
Gene turned and gave Mary a nasty glare. He was sore, he was tired and he was in no mood to deal with any other drama for the night "And what would that-?!"
"Hey! This isn't you!"
The mayor felt his blood running cold as he suddenly figured out exactly what his darling Mary was talking about.
While the Bliss had done wonders for ALL the Nicelanders, some things HADN'T changed.
One of those being the photos on their identification.
"Awwwww, SHIT."
"So smart-guy, starting fights AND stealing IDs?" Surge said angrily, shoving Gene's wallet into his face "I was going to let you off with a small ticket but now? HA, you've just dug your grave even deeper!"
"Now hold on here!" Said Mary as she got up "Surge, I can assure you that we're still-!"
"Not another word from YOU lady! You're in trouble too!"
"What, ME?!" said Mary, pointing to herself in anger "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"
"Dear!"
Surge took his clipboard, writing a few notes down "Public fighting, stealing property, talking back! Heh, you're stackin' up a nice list here if I do say so myself…."
The two Nicelanders looked at each other. They knew they had to get out of there as soon as possible as things were quickly going from bad to worse.
"Genie? Dear?" Mary whispered over to Gene, the tenderly touching his blackened eye "Once we're married, I never want you to mention this to anyone again…."
"Sure, sure. But what are you getting ready to-!"
"OH MY PROGRAMMERS!" gasped Mary "SOMEONE IS WRITING 'I LIKE MAI'S TITS' ON THE WALL SURGE! IN REALLY BRIGHTLY COLORED SPRAY PAINT AND BIG LETTERS TOO!"
Surge let out a gasp, his form sparking in anger as he turned. First he had to take care of these two and now that?
"You've got to be-!"
The guard felt a little twitch in his ear.
"They didn't…."
He turned back around and to his great dismay, both mysterious figures were gone, not a trace of them to be found in the crowd. Surge rubbed the bridge of his nose as he bit his lip.
"Every time. I fall for it EVERY time!"
"SURGE!"
The man let out a yelp as he turned, seeing Calhoun running up to him. He shook in his circuits, having good reason to do so since the woman looked furious!
"Gah, I'll clean up the graffiti in a second! Give me chance Sarge, give me a CHANCE!"
"What graffiti?" the woman growled "I'm lookin' for the Nicelanders!"
"Nicelanders?" asked Surge "Speak of the devil! Two hooligans were here just a second ago and tried to give me Gene's ID to cover their tracks! They might have THOUGHT they could pull the wool over my eyes but it doesn't matter HOW much make-up or clothes ya put on ta look like a Nicelander! I can never get past Surge!"
The look on Calhoun's face was something that should have been photographed and kept for prosperity. Never in her life had she shown a face of such disillusion, anger, and let down all at the same time as she looked at Surge, not sure whether to kick him or just let the man be. She looked down, seeing that he still had Gene's wallet clutched in his hand. She said not a word as she took the thing from the man's grip, marching off in anger as she stormed her way into the crowd.
"Wait! What if Mayor Gene comes back for that?!"
"I tell you young lady, this entire night has been one growing FIASCO!"
"Oh, that's TERRIBLE Mr. Nolan!" said a certain pink princess, a hand held to her face "More tea?"
"Thank you Peach…" the man smiled, holding his cup "If it wasn't bad enough that we were forced to stay in the apartments, once we got out all heck breaks lose here! Wouldn't ya agree Roy?"
Roy said nothing, sitting at the table and looking ahead at nothing. The tiny tea-cup was still held in his fingers as he shook slightly.
Poor Roy; he KNEW something terrible was going to happen once things returned to normal but the only question he had was WHAT exactly would be the punishment that he and the rest of his Nicelander neighbors would get.
If only he had stayed back at the apartments. If only.
"Mr. Roy?" asked Peach in concern "Are you okay?"
"Ah? Ehehe…s-sure I am." the man chuckled nervously "J-J-Just give me a moment…."
Nolan patted Roy on the shoulder, shaking his head "Trust me buddy, this is the safest place we can be at the moment."
"Hey! Someone turn on the TV!" shouted a Troopa.
"What's going on?" asked Peach as the little creature ran past her, looking for the remote.
"Ya HAFTA see for yourself! There's some fight startin' in Mortal Kombat!"
"Oh, BOO!" puffed Peach, her hands to her sides "There's always a fight in that game. What could POSSIBLY be any different this time?"
The Troopa finally found the remote, turning on the large screen. He looked up at the people above him, smirking "Heh, you'll see. You'll see."
The TV flickered on, the creature flipping through the channels until the familiar site of the fighting game appeared on the screen. It seemed that more people were there than usual, the crowd cheering loudly as two fighters began tearing their way through each other.
But they weren't any fighters that the characters had seen before. In fact, they looked NOTHING like the typical fighters in the Mortal Kombat line-up.
They lacked the muscles and the dark designs, looking more cartoonish, round and-!
"NO." Nolan said, taking off his glasses and wiping them off, making sure that he was not seeing things "You have got to be kidding me!"
"I'M GONNA BREAK YER BUTT IN HAAAAAALF!"
That accent. That familiar accent.
"You're only doing this to yourself Don. You wanna end it, SIT DOWN!"
"Dee-Dee! NO! You're going to hurt him!"
"MEG! GET BACK!"
Don.
Deanna.
Meg.
Someway, SOMEHOW, the three Nicelanders had made their way all the way to Mortal Kombat and if it wasn't bad enough that Deanna and Don were apparently the top attraction going on, now EVERYONE in the arcade knew that the Nicelanders had been Blissed. Peach stood in shock, Nolan simply shook his head, and Roy?
Roy passed out.
*WHUMP!*
"AH! MR. ROY!" cried Peach in concern.
"Leave 'im…." Said Nolan "He'll be fine soon enough…."
"Doom, doom, doom, doom….."
"There, ya see?"