Chapter 42
"Fix-It, don't hit the switch!" Calhoun urged, knocking T.K. aside with the base of her rifle as Felix neared the switch. She refused to allow the arcade to fall into T.K.'s hands, meaning she had to reason with the Good Guy and make him reconsider. The sergeant hadn't had a lot of luck stopping Felix, as Takeru had just cut off her route toward her husband, resulting in him being only inches from the blue switch. Tamora had had the upper hand against T.K., who'd been severely damaged by the Hero's Duty lead's bullets. The succubus was on her knees, Calhoun pointing her rifle in her face to make sure T.K. wouldn't make any moves.
Tamora glanced aside to see that Turbo hadn't had too much luck with Ralph; the wrecker was holding the limp ex-racer by the throat and tossed him aside. Lucina, Shulk, and Rosalina had tried to stop the Bad Guy, too, but even the trio collectively couldn't stop him. The three characters were sprawled across the floor.
"You can get distracted sometimes, can't you?" T.K.'s voice snapped Takeru back to attention on her, where the succubus hurled her whip at Calhoun's rifle, yanking out of her hands.
"Fuck!" the sergeant swore, and T.K. recovered and tossed her aside with her whip. Then Calhoun noticed Felix glitching between them upon sensing her mistress's struggles. The Good Guy fired a crimson bolt at Tamora, immobilizing her. "Fix-It!"
"You fool!" T.K. scolded. "You were supposed to hit that switch!" She rose to her feet, grabbing Felix by the throat. "Well, I guess I'll have to do things myself!" The succubus felt scarlet energy course through her body.
"What the hell?" Calhoun wondered. She watched as the succubus gained a few inches. Her figure enhanced, namely her breasts and hips, nearly straining her dress, and her waist-length hair grew fuller. T.K.'s dress started to gain spikes along its trim and edges, and her whip lengthened and turned spikey. If Takeru wasn't sexual before, she gained the ability to turn nearly every head she wanted along with the power to kill whoever she wanted.
Takeru cackled, glancing down on Calhoun. "I should've done this in the first place instead of trusted that useless husband of yours." She smirked. "But I've done it now, and now I can get that key." She headed for the switch.
"Fix-It!"Calhoun shook her husband, trying to rouse him awake, but he wouldn't budge. He didn't even twitch.
"Forget it, bitch! He's dead," T.K. said. "The virus eats away at the victim's code and life force. The virus was the only thing keeping your Fix-It Felix alive until I ended his suffering." She laughed again, approached the switch.
Calhoun, now enraged, refused to allow it, for she charged the succubus again, but T.K. swatted her away with her newly-spiked whip. The whip hurt this time; the sergeant found herself spitting up blood and wiping it off her face. The next thing she noticed was T.K. punching the barrier to pieces, leaving the switch naked for the succubus to press. The pedestal and the button descended into the floor, then the ground began to shake. Tamora held on to brace herself against the tremor. When the quake stopped, Tamora noticed a round blue orb emerging from the floor in place of the switch. Tamora squinted at its brightness, which matched that of the sun in Sugar Rush. She shielded her eyes, but she could get enough of a peek to witness T.K. taking it into her body. Takeru spread her arms out, and the orb entered her chest. When it fully entered her body, light flashed around her body, blinding her to the point where she couldn't see what was happening.
"Yes, yes!" T.K. cackled more, closer to a maniacal tone. "I never thought this key would grant such power! Maybe I should thank Turbo for something...if he were still alive."
"No..." Calhoun trailed off, then glanced around upon noticing that the sanctum went dark. "What in the...? What's going on?"
"That's the sound of the arcade going out," replied T.K. "The key apparently is its power source, and now it belongs to me." She looked down at her hands, reveling in her new power. "I need to try it out. Ralph, come here!"
The wrecker approached T.K., his expression screaming adoration, as he knelt before her. Takeru placed her hands on Ralph's shoulders. Silvery blue code transferred from Takeru to Ralph, whose body started to light up. His complexion regained its color, and his strength was returning. It felt like T.K. was refilling a dry fountain as Ralph slowly rose to his feet with no problem.
"No way," Tamora said in disbelief when Ralph stood over T.K.
"I'm afraid so." T.K. regarded the Bad Guy. "This key is...powerful." Then she briefly noticed Felix. "I'm sorry, I can't heal the dead. Too bad, I know. But you'll endure it, won't you?" The succubus turned back to Ralph. "Now, if you'll excuse me, we're going to test out this key. If it can purify a virus, I wonder what else it can do?"
When T.K. and Ralph glitched away, Tamora hugged Felix to her. So many emotions played in her head; anger, sadness, fear, but mostly anger. Anger at how she lost another love, this one not programmed in her code like Brad. And that was what made it heartbreaking, along with how T.K. made the death sound like no big deal. That burned her up, and she would not allow T.K. to get away with it. Tamora would stop Takeru, but first she'd warn Surge of what had transpired in the sanctum. Surely he noticed the blackout in the arcade. She noticed the unconscious Lucina, Shulk, and Rosalina, knowing she should tend to them as well. Calhoun needed as much help as she could. The Nicelanders, on the other hand, were dead, adding on to the number of victims requiring avenging.
…
"We still don't know where T.K. is to go with that plan," Taffyta said. She, Vanellope, Candlehead, Sora, and the others congregated in the witch's office in Tapper, where Candlehead had suggested that a few of their group ambush Takeru in one of the alleys to pin her down and allow Vanellope to pummel her with her new ability, which would kill her in one shot, according to the birthday racer. "Of course, you'd go with that plan, Candlehead." The strawberry racer sighed.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple," Sora explained. "Takeru is more powerful than you think now, especially with Ralph by her side."
"And nobody can even get pasth Ralph without being stheverely injured," added King Candy.
"Also my not having any luck tracking down this key doesn't help anything." Sora was pecking furiously at her laptop, scanning sections of Game Central Station, such as the stations leading to other arcades, Surge's office, and the alleys. So far, nothing unusual gave away any indication of a key. "It's clear she's looking for the key, but these screens aren't showing anything with an eyecatcher implying such an item. And she isn't showing up on any of these maps."
"Have you tried casting a tracking spell on T.J. before she glitched?" Vanellope asked.
"That would've been nice if if I'd thought of that just then." Sora scrolled through the maps for another scan before shutting it down. "Too bad these maps only show general areas, not the exact location of a person." She slammed her head against the table. "I need some alcohol right now; I feel so...useless."
"And you think drinking will help easthe that?" King Candy raised an eyebrow.
"It helps me focus and lifts my spirits up." Sora lifted her head to regard him with a scowl, then suddenly the entire room went black.
"What the...?" Vanellope glanced around the darkened office.
"Freaky," said Candlehead.
"Tapper can't pay his bills?" Taffyta questioned, then heard panicked voices outside. "And I'm betting we're not the only ones confused."
"And look at this!" Citrusella grabbed everyone's attention.
The others noticed the office disintegrating into code, revealing nothing but darkness.
"Time to go!" Taffyta urged as she, followed by everyone else, made a break for the door.
The group filed into main bar area, where customers were frantically stampeding toward the port like untamed bulls at a rodeo. Characters were tripping over chairs, and tables, pushing past one another, and stepping all over others to get to safety.
"Everyone, calm down and move in an orderly fashion!" Tapper urged, standing by the exit and waving the panicked mob through, but he couldn't keep anything under control.
"Not so much an orderly fashion!" Taffyta yelled so she could be heard over the din of raving survivors, then noticed portions of the walls turning into pixels like Swiss cheese. "And I see why. Sora's office was chewed up!"
"I don't know what the hell's going on," said Tapper. "The lights just went out with no warning, then my bar's starting to disappear."
"We may not know what the hell this is..." Sora added, "But I think I have an idea who's to blame for it. And at the same time, I fear we may not have to find that key."
"What?" Citrusella blurted. "Why?"
"Because we may be too late." Sora's voice held a grim edge.
…
"We're almost out," said Kohut. He, Tails, and Surge had negotiated the code chamber after subduing the corrupted Erholtz. After him, they had no problem working together knocking out the other henchmen. Tails had used his two tails to clip the foes, and Kohut had pummeled them with his own physical strength. Both had defended Surge until they reached the end of the chamber.
Now they made the final turn, closing in on the exit. They needed to head to Sugar Rush to warn Vanellope of T.K. before the succubus killed the princess and her friends.
But the second the trio reached the weak wall entrance, Surge collapsed to his knees. He began to flicker in and out. The arcade guardian gripped his head, taking deep breaths and feeling as if media reels were spinning in his head.
"What's wrong, Surge?" Tails hurried to the flickering hologram, who was struggling to his feet. The fox helped him to his feet, draping his arms around his shoulder.
"Someone's messing with the key," Surge guessed, rubbing his head.
"Key?" Kohut repeated.
"Normally I'm not supposed to disclose the information about this subject; the info on this key is meant to be classified," explained Surge. "Therefore, I cannot describe everything about it...but I can say that the key is the heart of the arcade and not to be tampered with."
"And someone's tampering with it?" said Tails. "Whatever this key is?"
"Someone has to be..." Surge blinked in and out, collapsing to his knees once again. "And I can guess that T.K. isn't in Sugar Rush anymore if it's her."
"Then we need to find T.K. whereever she is," Kohut decided.
"That's the thing. We don't know where she is," reminded Tails. "But someone in here might, and we can use him to track her down. We can also ask about her viruses so we can come up with an antidote to combat them."
…
"What the hell?" Taffyta wondered as she and the group exited Tapper to see that Game Central Station to see that the main hub's lights were out. They glanced around to see that every light, along with those in the games, were out. Characters rushed out of the ports frantically, shoving and pushing each other for safety.
"Everything's gone out in the arcade!" Candlehead pointed out. "Like a huge blackout!"
"Wonder what's going on?" Vanellope regarded her friends for answers. "Does this have something to do with the key already being taken?"
Suddenly, a maniacal cackle filled the hub, causing everyone to freeze.
"I'm guessing yes," Sora replied. "Just as I feared."
"Oh...no..." Citrusella and the others noticed T.K. and Ralph glitching in the middle of Game Central Station. The succubus appeared completely different from before, with enhanced features, namely her spiked armor and exaggerated body. Ralph seemed entirely cured of the virus, but his eyes were empty and staring into nothing.
"Who are hell are you?" one of the other characters demanded. "And what did you do to Game Central Station if you've done something?"
T.K. released another laugh. "I am Takeru Nightrose, the new ruler of this arcade. And everyone will recognize me!"