Unplugged

Chapter Three

Hi, again! It seems like the chapters get shorter and shorter, but really...they'll get a bit longer later on. Who knows? I don't. Enjoy the chapter.

The arcade has been open for a while today. Because it's the weekend, numerous teenagers and little kids accompanied by a parent wander around the arcade, deciding which game they should play. Felix looks out at the human world. There's a line by Sugar Rush Speedway, and Hero's Duty has two players at the console inserting more quarters to continue where they had left off. But, Fix-It Felix Jr. remains untouched.

"Come on," Felix mumbles with high hopes. "It's only twenty-five cents to play. Come on." He thought he saw a kid walking over to his game, but that player just inserted a quarter into Pacman- a game right beside his. Felix groans.

"Felix, it's fine," Ralph says from a higher spot on the building. "Some kid's gonna play us eventually." He makes sure to keep his voice down so the gamers don't hear him.

"Ralph, we're more than half-way through the day and not one kid even looked at us!" Felix worries. "We're never gonna make money," he sighs.

"Wow, I thought you were always so positive. What gives?" Ralph asks.

"Remember Asteroids?" Felix asks.

"Uh, huh..."

"That game didn't get a lot of quarters and bam! The plug was yanked. Game over."

"Yeah, but-"

"Remember Centipede?"

"Felix, I seriously doubt-"

"That game was unpopular, too. Game over."

"Felix, shut up and listen."

"Remember Donkey Kong?"

"Shut up."

"Unpopular: gone for good. If our game doesn't get played soon, we're going down also! And no one's playing us and-"

"Felix! SHUT UP!!" Ralph shouts and a few gamers look to where the shout came from. Felix's face turns red when he sees gamers staring at him. The kids caught him out of character.

"Must be broken," a boy says and his friends follow him to another game. When no kids are paying attention to his game anymore, Felix lets out a mix of a chuckle and a sigh and faints.

Luckily, Ralph wakes him up before anyone notices.

"What happened?" Felix asks while sitting up.

"You fainted," Ralph easily answers. "But that was only like two minutes ago."

"Still, fainting isn't a good sign," Felix pulls out his magic hammer and hits himself, just in case he had a minor bug. He then slides the hammer back in the loop on his tool belt.

"You're just under a lot of stress, with our game being unpopular and what not."

"That's true," Felix stands up and dusts himself off. "Sorry I freaked out."

"Sorry I yelled," Ralph apologizes. The two get back to playing through their demo screen. Ralph isn't showing it, but he's a little worried himself, too. He may not be worrying as much as Felix is, but he's still concerned. If the game's plug is pulled, Ralph will be a hobo for real. Well, he can live with Vanellope, though, and Felix can move into Hero's Duty with his wife, Sergeant Calhoun. Ralph doesn't know where the Nicelanders will go. He doesn't know where Q*Bert and the rest of his gang will go, either. They'll be homeless.

Ralph shakes his head. He shouldn't be worrying.

"Everything will be fine," he says to himself. He assumes the plug won't be pulled. Sometimes gamers just lose interest, but not forever, right? "We'll get some coins today."

But sadly, the entire day passes, and not one gamer inserted a single quarter.

Turns  out when I was editing this chapter, I found out I spelled 'centipede' wrong. Whoops! It's good now. I think I fixed it. So, if you knew how to spell 'centipede' before you read this, give yourself a pat on the back. Byyyyyeeee!