Chapter Text
Felix watched as Ralph’s arm wound back, smashing a Cybug with his massive fist. It exploded with a sicekening crunch, a teal burst of light marking its demise. They came in large droves, swarming to Ralph or the glowing finish line. Thankfully, Calhoun was picking most of them off with her gun, so Ralph wasn’t totally overwhelmed. Felix looked up the the finish line, which was already taking damage from the Cybugs’ chewing. “I’ll fix the finish line. Hold them off for me, brother!”
“Working on it!” Ralph grunted, backhanding another Cybug with the momentum of his previous swing.
Felix hopped up, grabbing the pole with one hand to support himself. With his other hand, he struck the chipped material with his golden hammer several times until it was restored. Then, he jumped to another portion to repeat the process. The movement was familiar; it was something he did every day in his own game. Yet he still felt beads of sweat form on his brow. At least Ralph knew when to stop before hurting him, and he could always respawn if the worst happened. The thought of the Cybugs’ mandibles tearing incessantly through his flesh gave him a shiver. Calhoun was right; these things were monsters.
As he worked, he found himself glancing at the Jumbotron to check up on the girl. She was making good progress; she’d gotten ahead of the King and was nearing the end. Out of nowhere, though, King Candy’s cart jumped from a gap. The collided and swerved, with the girl’s go-cart lodged on top of the King’s, the two facing each other. Over the gunfire and sounds of wreckage, it was hard to see what the man was saying, but his expression was frantic and twisted with anger. He wrenched his horn off his cart and swung.
“Ralph, look!” Felix cried, just as the girl dodged another swing from the King. Wasn’t this supposed to be a friendly race?
“Kid!!”
Felix jumped from the finish line next to Ralph and was close enough to catch some of the speaking emanating from the speakers.
“-Stop it!!” She grabbed hold of the horn, trying to yank it from King Candy’s grip. Blue pixels burst from her body, warping her form as she pulled. The pixels traveled up the horn to King Candy, turning red on contact.
The King’s voice was garbled yet familiar, as the glitch wrapped around his body. “I’m not letting you undo all my hard work!” As they pulled back and forth, both of their bodies began to glitch. Felix caught a flash of a yellow eye here and a red helmet there, until-
A pit of sickness formed in Felix’s gut. His face reflexively pulled back into a disgusted grimace. “Is that…?” He didn’t want to accept it, he couldn’t accept it. His eyes had to be playing tricks on him.
“No way!!” Ralph gasped.
The red glitching subsided. It was Turbo. The man who was supposed to have died ten years ago, the man Felix wanted to forget more than anything. His ghost had haunted the arcade ever since the incident, leaving behind a shadow where his game console used to rest. His story had spread like wildfire, then died just as quickly, leaving the smoldering ashes of his mistakes. It was like invoking his name would somehow bring him back. But here he was, hidden away in an innocent go-kart game. How long had he stayed under the radar? Felix hadn’t ever met the King before today, but if he had, would he have recognized the demon that lay beneath the surface?
Would he have fallen back in love?
Ten years ago
Felix watched from the top of the penthouse as Litwak closed the doors to the arcade, swinging his keys on one finger. As the doors shut, the lights of the arcade blinked off. “Well, folks, that’ll do it for today!” He closed his hand around the door, opening it for the Nicelanders. They filtered through, some giving him pats on the back or parting words. Gene lingered behind the pack, motioning for Felix to close the door. Felix obliged, giving his friend a worried look. “Gene? Is your back giving you more trouble? I can give it a good hit with the hammer if you’d like.”
“A little.” Gene reflexively rubbed his back. “You need to tell Ralph to be more careful when he throws me out of the building; its really getting on my nerves.”
“Sure thing,” Felix responded immediately.
Gene let out a short sigh. “But that’s not what I wanted to talk about. Our twentieth anniversary is coming up… But with how little traffic we’re getting, I don’t think throwing a celebration is a good idea. With all of the classics getting replaced by newer games…” The man trailed off, giving Felix a pointed look. “I’m just worried, for the Nicelander’s sake.”
Felix bit his lip, nervously fiddling with the clasp of his hammer. “Gosh, Mary was really excited to bake a cake. She wasn’t all that happy with the ten-year-old, and she’s hoping to try again. I’ll see what I can do, but I don’t see the harm in partying. It might even help a little.”
“Maybe talk the planning committee down into something smaller at least?”
Felix laughed. “No problem, Gene. Now turn around, unless you want your back aching for the rest of the night!”
Felix entered his room. Being on the top floor had its perks: the best view, the biggest room, close access to the elevator, and the roof. Yet with so little to put inside, it felt empty without people inside. He unslung the medal from around his neck, pinning it to the wall next to the others. Dust had begun to collect on the ones near the top, ones he earned when the game was in its heyday. He reached up to one, rubbing the faded metal with a thumb. The light from his chandelier lit up the portion of clean gold like a stray beam of sunlight. For some reason, it seemed brighter than the ones he was getting nowadays. He looked down at his glove: it had earned a nice dirt smudge. Slipping it off, revealing his stubby nails, a consequence of his bad habit of biting them when stressed. It only seemed to be getting worse these days. Gene was right about the stress. It seemed all the Nicelanders were affected by it. Even though they didn’t want to admit it, everyone was silently counting their days until their game became obsolete. As the hero of this game, it was his job to find the solution. Whatever it took to put everyone at ease, that’s what he’d do. He sank onto his bed, chewing absentmindedly on his nails as he thought.
A knock came at his door, breaking his spell. “Hello?” Mary’s kind voice floated from behind the door. “It’s Lucy and I. Can we come in?”
Felix jumped up, falling back into a familiar grin. “Why, of course! Come on in!”
The two Nicelander girls entered, Mary, holding a pie. “We were just thinking about how hard you always work, and we wanted to make you something nice!” Mary presented it to him, giving him a smile.
“Oh, wow!” Felix took it gingerly, setting it on his table. “Thanks a lot! But really, the work I do is because all of you are always supporting me.” He took a knife from the block and started cutting. “But would you girls like a slice? I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish it all myself.”
Soon, the three were seated around his table, each with a slice of steaming cherry pie in front of them. Felix took a bite, letting the flavors melt in his mouth. “Mmm. Mary, I really don’t know how you do it, but your pie always makes me feel so safe and protected. It’s probably the best part about living here.”
Mary giggled, covering her mouth with a hand. “Oh, Felix. I’m glad you think so.”
“Just wait until you get to eat her cake at the anniversary party!” Lucy chimed in. “It’ll really be a big hit this time around.”
“That reminds me. Is it you two plus Deanna who are on the party planning committee?” The girls nodded. “I was just thinking, maybe this year, for our anniversary, have a more toned-down party? We can still have cake and dancing, but maybe not the ice sculptures?”
“You didn’t like the ice sculpture idea, Felix?” Mary asked.
Felix waved his hands. “No, nothing like that. There’s just a little bit of tension going around, so maybe we could do something a little more… Homey? Connect better with the Nicelanders instead of inviting lots of guests?” Because this might be our last party. Felix didn’t want to say that part out loud, but it was the unspoken phrase lingering in the air.
The two girls deflated slightly, but after exchanging a look, they nodded. “I suppose that’d be all right,” Lucy said.
“Thank you so much! I promise on our thirtieth, I won’t stop you from going all out.” He panned his hands out like a camera. “Ice sculptures and everything.”
“Oh my! “ Mary reached out to grab Felix’s ripped-up hand, carefully turning it over. “Felix, what happened to your hand?”
“Ah, this? It’s nothing but the natural wear and tear from work, nothing that my trusty hammer can’t fix.” In reality, no matter how many times he’d hit his hands with the hammer, the scars didn’t go away. It was some strange clause etched into the hammer’s code that prevented it from fixing self-made injuries. Thankfully, the gloves he normally wore hid away those embarrassing secrets.
“Mary, now that we’re decreasing our party size, we’ll have to uninvite all those guests,” Lucy complained.
Mary set down Felix’s hand, giving it a comforting pat. “That’s right! Ugh, writing all of those letters will be such a bore!”
Felix took a final bite of his pie. “If you’d like, I can always go to them personally to let them know.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that, Felix,” Mary said.
“Really,” Lucy added.
“I don’t mind it. Besides, I’m the one who gave you ladies all this trouble. You should spend your time planning instead.” Felix stood, grabbing empty plates and forks and bringing them to the sink. He walked back to the table, handing them the notepad and pen he always kept in his utility belt. “If you can write them down for me, I’ll get it taken care of tonight.”