Arcade Armageddon
Chapter 11
"Kid?" Ralph disembarked the trolley back to Fix-It Felix, Jr., with Taffyta and Candlehead behind him. After he'd found them and told them that Vanellope had run off, the two racers jumped to action to find their president.
"Vanellope?" Taffyta called. "Vanellope, where are you?"
"Maybe she's in the apartment," Candlehead suggested.
They entered the Niceland apartment, glancing around the low-ceiling lobby for Vanellope and checking every level for the princess. After they checked the penthouse, the last place they would think she would be at a time like this, the trio decided Vanellope was nowhere to be found.
"I don't think she's here," Taffyta guessed, checking the second floor one more time but found nothing. "Maybe we should check Sugar Rush."
Suddenly, a thud was heard, startling them.
"What was that?" Candlehead pulled Taffyta closer in fear.
"I'm not sure," Ralph said, then his glance fell on the elevator, "It sounded like it came from the elevator, though." The wrecker approached the machine, which looked like it was going awry as it was moving up and down erratically.
"Looks like someone was here," Taffyta guessed as she pressed the up button. But the elevator kept going.
"Someone's definitely been in my game," Ralph said, "And did a little tinkering around while they were at it." He punched the elevator door open, but the machine still kept going, with a familiar passenger inside. The candy-coated hair was too hard to miss. Vanellope was lying in the elevator, unconscious.
"Vanellope!" Candlehead gasped. "Wreck-It, we gotta get her out!"
Ralph nodded, then grabbed one of the elevator wires, pulling the cabin inside the lobby. He scooped Vanellope out and into his arms, then examined her. "She's fine, thank User."
"Good," Taffyta sighed.
"But what about whoever else was in here?" Candlehead gestured to the now-totaled elevator. "It didn't jam itself, so someone had to have been in here besides Vanellope."
"And Vanellope was probably trying to stop him or her. And that person probably had something to do with what happened to Frogger and Fashion Trendy."
"Maybe," Ralph shrugged, "But I doubt we're gonna get anything about this until Vanellope comes to."
"Yeah," Taffyta nodded, taking the lead racer out of the wrecker's hands. "Whoever it is, though, they're not getting away with this."
"You're real intense, Taff." Candlehead took a step back from her sister.
"Hey, nobody's gonna conk my sister and live, okay?"
...
Opening time was approaching, and Mr. Litwak was setting up for the day, which consisted of the usual rush of kids that came in regularly everyday. That was what he loved about the arcade, because it reminded him a little of his childhood (a love of playing video games). Also, it kept them off the streets and out of trouble.
The arcade owner glanced up at the clock, which read eight-thirty, then his eyes fell on Sugar Rush.
Almost forgot. He reached into the drawer in his desk, pulling out the disc that contained the upgrade to the candy racing game. It had finally come yesterday morning, and as much as he had claimed that the game was better off without the upgrade, it was required.
Heading over to Sugar Rush and popping open a slender hatch, Litwak placed the disc in. The owner watched as the racing game's screens switched to loading bars.
"I don't know what this upgrade has in store for you, old girl, but whatever it is, I'm sure it'll get more kids to play. But between you and me, I'll always love the non-upgraded version of this game."
Mr. Litwak then turned to all of the other games in the arcade, smiling. He cared for all of his games, even if they were to be unplugged one day. He was proud to share his love for gaming with the kids and adults who came in on a daily basis. "Though I don't know all the details of what you guys do during closing, I know you all do your best to keep me in business." The arcade owner then stopped at Fix-It Felix, Jr., patting the cabinet. "Especially you, Ralph and Felix. Where would I be today without you two? You are the ones who started it all, being the heart of the arcade for thirty years. And I want you to keep it up, okay? Countin' on ya."
...
"W-Where am I?" Vanellope wondered, glancing around to realize she was in her room in Sugar Castle.
"I see someone's awake," Taffyta said, skipping into the room, with Ralph and Candlehead behind her. They all sported relieved looks as they found the princess awake. "Good thing Surge let us back in our game early."
"What happened?" Vanellope sat up, head reeling.
"We found you knocked out in Fix-It Felix, Jr.," Candlehead filled in, "In an elevator gone haywire. Who were you following in there, Vanellope?"
"Elevator?"
"You were knocked out in my game, kid, so you had to have been following someone to have a reason. Remember? We had to evacuate our games, and then you ran off in the middle of the rioting."
"Yeah, Surge had to quiet everyone down," added Taffyta, "Then Sarge had to get involved to tame the riff-raff. Don't worry, I heard the bullets."
"I remember that," said Vanellope, trying to remember what had happened after that. But the more she tried to, the stronger it was blocked off from her. "But what happened after that?"
"You don't remember anything after that?" Ralph raised an eyebrow. "How hard did the guy hit you?"
The princess shrugged, still at a loss to what the wrecker and her sisters were talking about.
"I know someone who can help Vanellope," Candlehead chirped.
Ralph and Taffyta turned to the birthday racer.
"Who, Candlehead?" The strawberry racer inquired.
"Kenneth," the birthday racer replied, "One of the angels in Celestial Wars. He's a healer, so maybe he can heal Vanellope. You know, help her remember what had happened last night in your game, Wreck-It."
"Wait, I know you're not talking about the guy who never stops smiling, Candlehead. 'Cause he creeps me out big time."
"But if it's gonna help us find out what happened with Pres., what choice do we have?"
"Unfortunately, it's gonna have to wait until closing time, girls," Ralph reminded, "Arcade's opening in a few."
"Um, we're in our game, Wreck-It," Taffyta retorted, "You're the one who's gotta hurry. And just to let you know, we probably won't be able to see Kenneth the Creeper until tomorrow."
"Why not? Don't you want to help Vanellope?"
"We do, it's just that..." The strawberry racer's eyes suddenly fell on the president's window, where she noticed a loading bar in the screen part of the sky. "Okay, now you really have to get outta here." She shoved Ralph toward the door.
"Why?"
"It's complicated, okay? Now go!"
The Bad Guy was rushed out of the room, with the door slamming behind him. He glanced back at it, wondering what their hurry was.
Why do we have to wait for tomorrow to get the answers? Whatever Vanellope saw yesterday might help us catch our guy. Something must be going on in this game for them to not be able to leave it at all today.
"Wreck-It Ralph?"
Ralph noticed Sour Bill at his feet, appearing as bored as ever as he was apparently going in Vanellope's room. The tiny adviser was also wondering what the wrecker was still doing in the game.
"I was just leaving, Cough Drop. Vanellope's fine, don't worry." As if he ever does worry. The Bad Guy hurried off, not wanting to keep anyone in Fix-It Felix, Jr. waiting.
...
It was fifteen minutes before opening time, and Calhoun and Kohut were glancing through the camera shots of yesterday's gameplay.
"Which one was it?" The sergeant inquired, quickly scrolling through the scenes, most of which only showed herself and the many soldiers following gameplay. But then she stopped when she saw something odd in the previous shot. Tamora scrolled back, then examined the scene.
"That's the one." Kohut nodded as he and she took a closer look at the green-tinted screen. "Though I can't tell who that is." The second-in-command pointed at a shining blur in the screen right beyond the first-person shooter.
Calhoun adjusted the camera, zooming it in to clear the obscurity a little. The mystery person was armored, which threw her off.
"It's not one of our men," Kohut pointed out. "And that thing in his hand... we didn't notice that the first time we checked the shots."
Tamora closed in a little more, then let the scene play a little. That was when she noticed it. Pausing it again, the sergeant knew exactly what it was. It was some sort of basket. She knew only one person who carried a basket, and that person had been toured around by Felix.
Her...
...
The new day started as normal after everyone was allowed back in their games, and Fix-It Felix, Jr. was already accumulating a line as a little girl was ready to play.
"Quite the crowd this morning," Mary pointed out, amazed by the cluster of children.
Ralph appeared on cue, roaring his programmed catchphrase as he started to wreck the Niceland building.
"Now the little guys are gonna call Felix," a little boy, the girl's brother, instructed.
"I know what I'm doing, Sam!" the girl wailed, darting a glare at him.
"Sorry," he sighed.
"Fix it, Felix!" the Nicelanders cried.
"I can fix it!" The Good Guy exclaimed, grabbing his hammer and proceeding to fix the broken windows.
But as soon as his hammer touched a window, it didn't mend.
"What's going on?" the girl wondered as she moved Felix up to another window, where the same thing happened. The broken windows weren't being fixed, no matter how many times she hammered on the button. "You said Felix can fix the windows, Sam!"
"Felix?" Gene whispered, "What's wrong?"
"I don't know," the handyman replied, continuing to follow the controller's movements. "It's like my hammer's not listening for some reason."
It only grew worse from there, as Felix felt his pixels separate, red binary coursing through his body.
"Felix!" Ralph noticed the Good Guy's suddenly just below him. "Did you just...?"
"I..." Felix started, glancing down at himself.
"Mr. Litwak!" The girl called, and the owner came over.
"What's the trouble?"
"Something's wrong with the game," the boy named Sam pointed at the screen, where Felix was breaking periodically into pixels.
"And he wasn't fixing the windows like he was supposed to," the little girl added.
Litwak took a look at the '80s game, noticing the Good Guy acting erratically, just as the kids explained. He'd had a problem with the game before, so it was nothing new. It was an old game, after all.
"This hasn't been the first time this has happened," the owner said.
"So, what's wrong with it?" the little girl asked.
"Let me take a look at it and I'll call the technician to see if he can fix it. In the meantime, try another game, okay, kids?"
The kids groaned, but complied as they scattered out to try other games.
"What's going on with you?" Litwak murmured, examining Fix-It Felix, Jr. with confusion.
...
"Attention! The arcade is now closed!" The intercom boomed throughout Hero's Duty.
"Alright, ladies, you're all free to go until opening time...except for you, Markowski. You, Green, Johnson, and Silverman!" Tamora glanced pointedly at the four men near the first-person shooter, one of them slowly regenerating.
"Wh-Wha...?" Green shook his head, just recovering from his brief death.
"In case you've forgotten, you four are on guard duty this weekend."
"Yeah," Silverman muttered, "All because we smuggled Fix-It into that fairytale game Wednesday."
"Talking back, are we, Silverman?"
"N-No, ma'am. W-We were just wondering where we were guarding this weekend."
"Yeah," Markowski agreed, "Besides, we all feel bad already for stealing your husband without your say-so, so we're willing to guard wherever you want us to, ma'am."
"No need to worry about that," Calhoun assured them, "I know exactly where to put you all."
The four men gulped, not liking this one bit. They knew their sergeant was going to make sure they were punished enough.
...
"What was up with you today, Felix?" Ralph asked. He and Felix were exiting Fix-It Felix, Jr. After the incident in the first round, the day had gone south from there, due to Felix's erratic movements and the surprisingly-faulty hammer. Neither Ralph or the Good Guy had any idea what it was, but it had been enough to bring attention to Mr. Litwak, who thankfully hadn't deemed the game out of order.
"I don't know. My hammer wouldn't listen to me for some reason today. It wouldn't fix windows or anything."
"And then you glitched."
"Glitched?" Felix repeated, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"You were on the bottom floor one minute and then you ended up just below the roof. Yep, I would say that was glitching."
"What? That's silly, Ralph. I-It w-was..." Felix felt the same sensation from earlier course through his body. "Jiminy jaminy..."
"You did it again!"
"But...I'm not a glitch." The Good Guy looked down at himself. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to leave the game. Maybe this is a one-time thing, you know?"
"But it happened twice."
"Felix, hey!" Red dashed toward the two men, throwing herself at Felix in a hug.
"Hi, Red." The Good Guy gently pushed the teen off of him. "I'm guessing your game went well today."
"Nope. Well, I did win second place once and fifth a few times today, but I've placed worse before. I'm just glad to be out of there, that's all. Hey, there's always tomorrow."
"Wow, that's what I call optimism. Unlike us today."
"Whoa, what happened? Did you get killed by ducks or something?"
"No," Felix replied, "My hammer was on the fritz today for some reason."
"Really?" Red gasped.
"And he glitched too," added Ralph.
"That...sucks. Did your game go out of order?"
"No, nothing like that, thank User," Felix said, looking away from Red in embarrassment. "It's probably just a one-time thing like I told Ralph."
"Surely it didn't top those same two guys who monopolized our game today. Gotta say they're really good racers."
"Were they those guys who always hog Sugar Rush?" Ralph inquired, remembering how often he'd seen the same two nerds take over the candy racing game. "Because I saw them come in but wasn't able to play it today, so they had to have an alternative."
"Speaking of Sugar Rush, I wonder what's going on with it today." Felix glanced at the port to the racing game, its port empty and pitch-black. No one was coming out.
"You got me on that one. It looked like it was loading something today." The Bad Guy remembered the loading bars he saw on Sugar Rush's screens during one of today's rounds. Was the game going through some sort of maintenance?
"Fix-It! Wreck-It!"
The two men and Red noticed Calhoun approaching.
"Good game today, Tamora?" Felix jumped up to kiss his wife, but soon realized from her serious expression that her day was the least of her worries.
"We need to talk." The sergeant then noticed Red, casting a dirty look. "Just the three of us."
"You don't mind, do you, Red?" Felix gave the young girl an apologetic smile. "It's sort of important."
"Go ahead." Red shrugged. "It probably has something to do with all the stuff going on now. And it apparently hit Hero's Duty. Good thing it's not mine."
"Okay..." Ralph trailed off, no comment whatsoever on how thorough Red was just now as he, Felix, and Calhoun headed off.
I can't stand that...that... Red couldn't finish the thought, glaring at the departing trio, specifically Tamora. What does Felix see in her, anyway?
"Someone's about to blow a short fuse." A Southern-accented voice with a bit of mock sympathy was heard.
"Kenneth..." the fairytale figure sighed, noticing the healing angel from Celestial Wars appearing behind her, the seemingly-never-ending smile on his face. He was around a foot taller than Red, with dark blonde hair, blue grey eyes, and an almost pale complexion. She couldn't help but wonder he could be so happy everyday. Red rolled her eyes, obviously annoyed about his sudden appearance, which meant he wanted updates on what she was doing. "You know that smile creeps me out."
"Sorry, Ms. Riding Hood." Kenneth bowed slightly. "I'm just happy to finally leave my game for the day, that's all. Or should I say, Liz's game." He huffed at this, knowing about the lead angel of Celestial Wars's popularity. It annoyed him to no end, especially after only a year in Litwak's Arcade. He'd never taken a liking to the Angel of Reason, which fueled his never-showing anger even more.
In the end, however, he always hid it with a smile. "It's not easy being in a game where you're not the main character." Kenneth slumped on one of the small benches nearby, his smile faltering a little, then restored its brightness. "But you know? I'll feel even better when that gift takes effect. You know, the one I placed in little Fix-It's code, just like Mr. Candy ordered." The angel chuckled, bouncing a little and causing his wings to rise and fall rapidly. "So what about you? You've done your part, I'm guessing?"
"Oh, don't worry." Red waved Kenneth off dismissively. "I'm planting my part right now. Burn and Whiplash did their parts, apparently. Usually those twins are as slow as a Squirtle on a racetrack. But they succeeded, considering Game Central Station is on high alert now. Putting two games out of commission and raising suspicion was pretty smart of them, but mine will be the icing on the cake when Monday night comes along." The young girl smirked, imagining the guests running scared and in a panic at the ball.
"It should be, Ms. Riding Hood, especially when the Mushroom Ball's still on schedule, except with heightened security," said Kenneth, grinning and starting to burst with light.
"Stop that!" Red shielded her eyes. She couldn't stand it when the healer did that. Sometimes she wondered if Kenneth was too happy.
"Sorry," the angel laughed lightly. "Sometimes I can't seem to control myself. Oh, and just to let you know, I got Juniper to make your dress for the ball." Kenneth grinned again. "It should be done tomorrow. She may be a siren, but she's an expert at fashion too."
"Thanks, Ken. Now go tell Mr. Candy everything's gonna be in place."
"You got it!" Kenneth saluted, then flew off, leaving Red to her next phase.
The fairytale figure dug into her basket, pulling out the Cy-Bug egg she'd smuggled out of Hero's Duty, glancing around the arcade until she found the Super Mario Bros. port. Red smiled wickedly, knowing that Monday's Mushroom Ball was going to be the night of everyone's life. Literally.
And I want to be there to see it.
Sorry this took so long to post. I have my beta-reader to look over every chapter before I update, so that it'll turn out well. Anyway, look forward to the next chapter and read and review!