Disclaimer: I don't own Wreck-It Ralph (and never will).

Arcade Armageddon

Chapter 3

Closing time came before anyone knew it. Ralph was picking himself up from the mud, brushing himself off from his recent plummet before closing time. It didn't faze him at all anymore. Then again, it wasn't supposed to, considering he'd been through this same routine for thirty years, where he'd been rejected and shunned simply because of his job description. Ever since the King Candy/Turbo peril, the mere fact of being the Bad Guy didn't bother him as much anymore. Although being thrown into the mud hasn't changed, it didn't make him feel undesirable like it used to in the past. He got up from the mud every time, picked himself up, and went on with the next round.

Mary and Nel went over to help the wrecker, with the latter giving him the usual "To Our Favorite Bad Guy" cake, with no chocolate. Just the way he liked it.

"Good job, everyone," Felix praised as he exited the Niceland building, pie in hand. He headed over to Ralph, who just completely righted himself to regard his partner and nemesis. Ever since the incident with a certain ex-racer, Ralph and Felix were closer than ever, especially after the latter married whom he dubbed a "dynamite gal," and the wrecker his best man. The Good Guy had to wonder: Who knew Ralph's "going Turbo" escapade would have positive results? If it weren't for him, where would Felix have been right now?

"Tapper?" Ralph nudged the handyman, causing him to stumble a little.

"You bet, brother. Just have to meet up with Tammy first. Hopefully I won't have to get past her men, especially Markowski. Him, Green, Kowaltski... They always play pranks. Like before our wedding day when they..."

"Threw you that bachelor party?" Ralph finished, wincing at the memory of that night. "With that exotic dancer?" And remembered it clearly, when Markowski and his men had thrown Felix a bachelor party and hired an exotic dancer, who had been one of the she-demons from Celestial Wars. And Ralph had known from that part of the party that things were doomed to head south that night.

And it certainly had, when the demon had danced and made suggestive moves toward Felix that even Tamora wouldn't dare to manage toward Felix, even used her dark charms on the Good Guy, which (to Ralph's surprise and relief) hadn't entranced him but had still made him a bit uncomfortable, making Felix nearly faint from the creature's staged advances. Ralph had been at the end of his rope after that, intervening and putting a halt to the act. Felix had been so grateful that night, even more so when they'd agreed not to breathe a word to Calhoun afterwards.

And continued to keep it secret.

"Let's just hope they won't be there this time, Ralph," said Felix. "Of course, Kohut's one of the only serious ones in the crew, so if he's standing in the way, it'll be easy. He supports Tammy and I, so I should be fine."

"In that case, I'm going to see if Vanellope's out of her game yet. I haven't seen her this morning. Wonder if she had some presidential things to take care of before opening time?"

"Who knows?"

...

"Aw, chin up, Taffyta." Vanellope patted her sister on the shoulder as they, Candlehead, and the other racers were coming out of Sugar Rush.

"How could I, Vanellope?" the strawberry racer whined, "I only got picked once today and came in fifth! I'm telling you, that kid was horrible!"

"Oh, stop being such a drama queen," Citrusella rolled her eyes. As being more mature than her cheerful twin Jubileena, she was a little less tolerant of Taffyta's dramatic tirades. "It's not like you haven't won before, Taffyta."

"Yeah," agreed Jubileena, "You can't win 'em all. There's always tomorrow."

"Just make the top nine again, of course," added Snowanna.

"As if she never does, unlike a certain pretty boy we know."

"Rancis? Please, there's always something or someone standing between him and the finish line."

"Which gets him tenth. Every. Single. Time."

"I feel a dance goin' on at DDR," said Snowanna, "Anyone wanna join me?"

"I could sure use a dance right about now," Candlehead said.

"And so does Taffyta," added Vanellope, giving the strawberry racer a little shove.

She sighed. "I guess you're right. Besides, I do need to take a load off. I'm in."

"Great. What about you guys?" Snow regarded Jubileena and Citrusella.

"We were thinking of going to Burger Time," said Jubileena, "Their burgers are calling my name."

"Right behind you, sis." Citrusella draped her arm around her twin's shoulder. "We'll see you guys later, then?"

"You know it," Vanellope gave the twins a thumbs-up as they headed off for the burger game. Then she regarded her sisters and Snowanna. "I wonder what Stinkbrain's up to?"

"Who knows?" Taffyta shrugged.

"Yeah," Snowanna agreed, "He's probably still in his game brushing himself off from the last round. Sometimes you wonder how many times the big guy gets thrown in the mud a day."

"Million-coin question there, Snow."

"Anyway, let's go! I wanna boogie the night away like you wouldn't believe it."

"Yep," Vanellope agreed, "Especially when there's..." The princess trailed off, stopping herself. Should I tell them now?

"There's what?" Taffyta inquired.

"Something...going...on..." Then Vanellope noticed Ralph coming out of Fix-It Felix, Jr., brushing the remains of mud from the latest round. "Ralph!"

"Ralph?" Candlehead repeated, then turned to notice the wrecker. "Oh."

"Girl, you almost gave me a heart attack." Snowanna chastised, placing a hand over her chest in relief. "All that suspense for Wreck-It."

"How's it going, kid?" The Bad Guy caught up to the four girls, high-fiving Vanellope. "Haven't seen you this morning."

"Yeah, I was kinda...busy."

"President stuff this morning, huh?"

"Yup. Sour Bill told me something interesting too about our game."

"What?"

"Um, can we talk about it in DDR, cause I'm ready to get in there and boogie," Snowanna interjected, anxious to dance her heart out in the dance game.

"That is, if you want to join us," Taffyta added.

"But I don't dance," Ralph countered, "Plus, Felix and I were headed to Tapper, so.."

"I don't see Fix-It around." Taffyta glanced over the wrecker's shoulder to see no sign of the Good Guy around the station. "You, Candlehead?"

Candlehead shook her head.

"C'mon, Stinkbrain." Vanellope grabbed the "villain's" large hand, dragging him toward Dance Dance Revolution. "Don't be such a 'Sour Bill.'"

Ralph groaned. What have I gotten myself into?

...