I don't own Wreck-It Ralph!

Arcade Armageddon

Chapter 5

"That Markowski..." Calhoun disembarked the train from Hero's Duty to Game Central Station. She was enraged, having heard from Kohut that Markowski, Green, Silverman, and Johnson dragged Felix off. The sergeant (or Kohut) had no idea where her husband had been off to, but once she found her soldiers, she was going to make sure there was going to be hell to pay. Especially when Markowski and the others hadn't been present at drills, which was a pet peeve of Tamora's, as drills were always a must for her men. Who knew when a Cy-Bug would break out into the arcade.

Calhoun scanned the arcade hub, watching for any sign of Markowski or her husband, but saw no one around who looked like either of them.

Where could they be? she wondered.

"You looking for someone?"

The Hero's Duty lead turned to see two angel characters behind her. One was female, with long dark, curly hair, and the other was male with short, sandy blonde hair and a smile that never seemed to leave. It was almost creepy, as the sergeant raised an eyebrow at the too-optimistic-looking angel. But if they knew where Felix was...

"I'm looking for my husband Felix," said Tamora.

"Fix-It Felix, Jr.?" The male lit up, almost glowing with light, but then contained himself. "I saw him with four guys earlier."

"Where?"

"They went to some game on our side of the arcade." The female angel jerked a thumb behind her, indicating the side of Game Central Station where they'd apparently come from. "To Fairytale Speedway."

Calhoun thought about this for a second, wondering why Markowski would carry Felix off to that game. And here she was expecting something worse. A racing game like Sugar Rush? Tamora knew she had to see this.

...

"That...was..." Taffyta slumped into one of the cushy seats in the corner of the room. "I forgot how much dancing could take out of you. Not as much as racing, I'll tell you that."

"Not lying there, kid," Ralph agreed, taking a seat next to Vanellope, who was next to Candlehead. "I nearly knocked somebody over."

"Don't you mean you actually knocked somebody over?" The birthday racer corrected.

"Looks like you weren't kidding about the dancing thing, were you?" Taffyta said.

"But he sure had fun out there."

"And Snow's still enjoying herself, I see." The strawberry racer nodded to the vibrant snow cone racer still boogieing down on the dance floor and minglng with the other dancers.

"That's normal for her, Taffyta," said Vanellope, "She never gets tired. It's probably in her code. She's not called Snowanna Rainbeau for nothing."

"Sorry we're late, guys."

"Well, look who finally showed up." Taffyta and the others turned to notice Swizzle, Gloyd, and Rancis approaching their booth, having finally arrived after having waited for the latter. "What took you guys?"

"Rancis was looking for 'something'," Gloyd made air quotes. "He'd rather not say, though."

"Yeah, we had to wait a whole hour for him to find it." Swizzle added.

"Hey, it was important, okay, guys?" Rancis stuck out his tongue in annoyance, then glanced around. "Where's Snow?"

"Having a great time out there. Wait, what's she doing?" Candlehead glanced past the boys to see Snowanna flirting with Zangief, one of Ralph's fellow Bad-Anon members. Both were laughing at something Snow had said, the sherbet racer punching the fighter lightly in the arm before the latter headed off, chuckling in his heavy Russian accent. Snow turned to rejoin her group.

"Finally decided to take a breather, huh?" Vanellope nudged her.

"What were you talking to him about over there?" Taffyta cast a glance to Zangief, who was on the other side with M. Bison from Street Fighter II and Medusa from Kid Icarus.

"We were talking," Snow said simply.

"About what?"

"Stuff," Snowanna looked away, trying to hide her reddened cheeks, but Taffyta noticed.

"Sounds like something more than just stuff. Your face is red." The strawberry racer lit up. "You got a thing for him or something?"

"No!"

"Besides, Taffyta, don't you see a problem there?" Candlehead asked, indicating Snowanna and Zangief (who was with his group) for emphasis.

"Yeah, aren't we, like, twelve?" Vanellope reminded. "Well, we've been twelve for the past ten years, so technically we're twenty something."

"And that Zangief guy's at least thirty," added Rancis. "But we're still kids to everyone else, so even if he and Snow wanted it to work, it wouldn't. It's kinda like Vanellope and Wreck-It getting together."

"Not that it'll happen, of course!" The princess blurted out quickly, face beet red.

"Yeah!" Ralph agreed, face just as crimson. "Whoa there, kid!"

"I'm just kidding around, you two," Rancis chortled, waving them off. Swizzle and Gloyd joined in the laughter. "Calm down."

"Everyone! Attention, everyone!" Yuni Verse's voice blared over the intercom, snapping everyone to attention. The music's volume was reduced to a dull roar as the guests turned their attention to the Dance Dance Revolution lead, who was on stage with Rosalina, Peach, and Daisy from Super Mario Bros., all waiting to speak. Once it was completely quiet in the club-like atmosphere, Yuni stepped off the stage, giving the trio the floor.

"Greetings, everyone," Rosalina greeted, "I trust everyone is having quite an evening so far. Forgive us for interrupting your festivities here but we come to Dance Dance Revolution today with an announcement you all would enjoy."

"We've been to five games already." Daisy was heard whispering to Peach, which earned her a scowl from Rosalina before the galaxy princess continued.

"Anyway, we're here to announce the sixth annual Mushroom Ball. Yes, it's that time of year again."

As if on cue, two Toads rushed out to the front of the stage, rolling out an enormous banner reading Come to the 6th Annual Mushroom Ball in Super Mario Bros. and dance the night away!

Murmurs were heard among the crowd, along with whispers of intrigue and interest.

The Sugar Rush racers glanced at each other, not believing it was that time of year again already, when the three princesses of Super Mario Bros. planned their annual Mushroom Ball, where characters from every game was invited.

Of course, except for the Sugar Rush racers due to age issues. They were never invited to formal affairs, or Tapper after a certain time, or even Hero's Duty much because of the atmosphere being "too dangerous for mere runts," as Markowski had put it one time. They wouldn't be surprised if they weren't invited this year.

But the next announcement changed everything.

"And new this year, we're extending the invite to those who are programmed forever as children." Daisy stepped forward. "And you can thank the Koopa King himself for that idea."

"Especially when we want Monday night to be a success," added Peach.

"Looks like we can go too this year," said Vanellope, jumping up and down in her seat.

"And we have Bowser and his trying to get his eight little troublemakers into a party to thank for that," Ralph said, remembering a few of the times he'd seen the Nintendo Bad Guy try to sneak his oldest son Roy into Tapper during adult hours...and had gotten kicked out for it. The wrecker had almost felt sorry for the kid that night.

"Finally," Taffyta sighed, "It's like we never get invited to anything."

"Because we're children to everyone," added Vanellope, "Does anyone not realize that our game's fifteen years old?"

"Which technically makes us older than we look," Candlehead put in.

"And that's why we need to take advantage of this opportunity," said Taffyta, "Especially when I can finally wear that dress I've been itching to wear for a while."

"Wish I had one."

"You can look through my dresses." Vanellope offered. "I'm sure you'll find one you can wear. Hey, I've got plenty of 'em. Came with my being President and all. And we can get Crumbs to work on them if we need her to."

"Girls..." Gloyd muttered, shaking his head at the four chattering girls.

"Oh, come on, Gloyd," Swizzle scoffed. "It's our first time being invited to something for a change."

"That's right," agreed Rancis, "Plus, I'm kinda anxious to see how the ball's gonna turn out." And what Vanellope might wear. The peanut butter cup boy's eyes fell on the president, lost in the image of how beautiful she would be when the night of the ball came. He had a crush on her. A huge one, and it had been like that ever since King Candy had been sent packing. And since then it was growing. That was when Rancis decided. He was going to ask her to the Mushroom Ball. It would be difficult at first, but Rancis felt that he could do it.

His only fear, however, was whether or not Vanellope would say yes.

...

"Now ain't this fun, Fix-It?" Markowski asked, snickering as he took a swig of what appeared to be whisky.

The soldiers and Felix were in Fairytale Speedway, at the town section of the racing game. In a small bar/inn called the Grimm Lodge, which was similar to Tapper, except for the fantasy atmosphere...and that the waitresses were the female racers of the game during after hours.

But what really added to the icing on that cake was that they were scantily dressed, with plaid miniskirts (each character had a different color) and green shirts that only went down to their bust lines. It was from that fact alone that Felix realized why Green had suggested this particular place.

And it wasn't just for the drinks.

Felix really needed to get out of there before his wife found out or who knew what she would do. The Good Guy glanced around for an escape route to the exit, nibbling on bits of the pie he'd ordered to avoid raising suspicion among Markowski and the soldiers, who were too busy staring at the fairytale figures. The former had his eyes fixed on Snow White, whose long, dark wavy hair flowed behind her as she was serving a drink to one of the other patrons. He and the men took a large gulp of their beers as their eyes were fixed on the princess's rear.

Felix, on the other hand, had his glued between his dessert and the exit, wondering how he was going to pull off an escape without Markowski and the men noticing. Luckily, the Good Guy had the advantage, considering that the four weren't the brightest of Calhoun's men. From what he'd witnessed so far in this racing game during after hours, it was a wonder what would happen if kids and/or Litwak were able to find out what went on in Fairytale Speedway during after hours on Wednesdays. Felix doubted it would attract more gamers. It was supposed to be a family game, after all.

The Good Guy took one last glance at the still-distracted men, who were so engrossed in the sights before them to notice. Felix couldn't help but smirk. Now's my chance. There's still time to find Tammy and...

"Anything wrong?"

Felix was jolted back in his chair by the peppy voice of one of the waitresses-a dark-haired girl with red streaks. She had on a red plaid miniskirt and was only a foot taller than Felix.

"Um, no, nothing's wrong." He gulped, "The pie's good. Just like how Mary makes it back in my game."

"Glad to hear it," the girl smiled, "Baked it myself. You and Granny are on the same boat. I'm Red, by the way. Can't believe I forgot to introduce myself earlier when I first came over."

"Red?" Felix repeated, blushing. "As in...Red Riding Hood?" As he was taking in the sight before him, the handyman was finding it hard to believe that the developed teenage girl was supposed to be the little girl famously told in the fairytale among children. Felix had once overheard the story from two boys during a round of Fix-It Felix, Jr.. But this was a game, and developers always had aces up their sleeves when they created their characters. It had probably been the same deal with Tamora.

"Who else would I be? Cinderella?" Red placed her hands on her hips in mock annoyance. "And for the record, I've never been in your game, let alone known anyone named Mary, Shorty. It must be on the other side of the arcade, isn't it?"

"Red?" A voice called from the other side of the inn, snapping the two out of their conversation. Felix and Red turned to see another teenage girl carrying what appeared to be a huge order to a table of ten in the corner. "We need you over here!"

"Coming, Gretel!" Red then regarded Felix somewhat apologetically. "Duty calls, Shorty. Wait, do you have a name? Unless you don't mind being called Shorty."

"Fix-It Felix, Jr., ma'am," replied the Good Guy, smiling bashfully. "From the game Fix-It Felix, Jr.."

"Looks like I'll have to check out the other side of the arcade sometime, Felix. You're cute, too."

When Red left, Felix's face was burning so red he felt like he was going to explode.

What am I doing? The Good Guy quickly shook his head, reminding himself that he was already married to a dynamite gal and loved her dearly...until game over did them part. Besides, Red was too young for him, despite being taller than him like Calhoun. Also, he had to get out of the bar.

"Who was that, Fix-It?" Johnson patted the small man on the shoulder, stopping his progress. The soldier's breath was saturated with beer.

"Oh." Felix looked down at the floor, a little flustered. "That was Red. You know, Red Riding Hood? Like the story?"

"We haven't heard of stories like that, Fix-It," said Green, "That's why we're asking."

"Wait, you haven't..." Then the Good Guy realized that Hero's Duty was still one of the newer games, so they couldn't have heard of fairytales that have dated before video games themselves. Granted, Fairytale Speedway had only been in Litwak's for a week, but were based off of said stories.

"Nope," Silverman chimed in in a slurred voice.

"But I'm sure we'll be hearing about it in a bit," added Markowski, "So tell us. What were you and Red over there talking about?"

"Yes, we'd like to know, Pint Size."

The men and Felix froze, then turned to see none other than Calhoun glaring down at them. It was most certainly 'til game over did them part.

But the how in that part of their vow could mean anything.

"Oh, h-hi, T-Tammy..." Felix stuttered, sweating and face beet red.

"Having fun, Fix-It? Don't mind me, I was just walking by." Then the Hero's Duty lead's glare fell on the four men, who started to cower under her heated gaze. Tamora was already angered enough that they'd skipped out on drills, now she was beyond that upon finding out her husband had been dragged along for the ride.

"If it's about that girl over there, we were just talking. Besides, Markowski dragged me here." Felix pointed over to the cowering soldiers.

"W-We were going to give him back," Markowski stammered.

"I know you will." Calhoun smirked, which intimidated the soldiers even more.