LYDIA DEETZ AND WRECK IT RALPH
Capítulo 6: Day off at the arcade
The next day, although the children wanted to get up early, the sheets were glued on and they only got up around eleven in the morning.
“It can't be, we got up late,” Percy muttered to himself and then gently woke Lydia up.
“Percy, what's going on?” she tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't get it.
Percy insisted, and Lydia, seeing what time it was, got out of bed quickly, so the two boys rushed to get ready.
As they left their house they hurriedly met Mary.
“Good morning, boys. Where are you going in such a hurry?”
“Good morning Mary," said Lydia, " We' re going to the Video Central Station now that the arcade is closed, are you coming with us?”
“Thank you sweetheart, but I met the girls to play a game of cards, you guys go ahead and have fun.”
The boys thanked the woman and took one of the strollers to the VCS. Before entering, they could see that the place was being crowded by a multitude of game characters.
“This is going to be great Lydia," said the cat boy excited and together with Lydia they entered the site.
To say that the place was crowded was not enough, the whole place was full of activity with PJ's and NPC's walking everywhere, this time it was Ryu who was like an avatar in the information cylinders, besides, they could see a big line to get lost objects in front of the information office.
The two boys were walking and Lydia was taking a photo or two when Percy noticed a game.
“That's Tapper's, let's go inside, Lydia!” Percy said, and the boys went inside.
“Welcome, oh dear, you are the two players who came into the real world," Tapper said with a smile.
“How do you know we came from the real world?” Percy asked.
“Well, I'm one of the oldest characters in the arcade, and we all saw the two of you when you showed up one night before you entered the game Fix it Felix junior," said the man with a gentle look.
“And why doesn't anyone recognize us?” Percy asked again.
“Because the arcade activity is always exhaustive, now that Sunday is here, everyone is only concerned about their own business and having fun... I'll be right back, guys,” the man excused himself and went to hand out drinks to the arcade folks.
“Excuse me sir, how come all the arcade characters have the same 3D animation appearance?” Lydia asked once Tapper was back.
“Well, everyone in the arcade looks like that, but if you're out of the game you can just see the difference between old games like mine and Felix's, with more modern games like Street Fighter or Hero's Duty.”
“Sir, do you know if the bad-anon meeting in Pac Man has started yet?” I wanted to know Lydia.
“Not yet, it's still early," the man told them and went out to tend the bar.
Lydia and Percy said goodbye to the man and toured the place, in one of the corridors they could see stylized pictures of several ancient arcade characters.
“There's Coily," Lydia pointed out to the monochromatic picture that was well cared for over time.
As they left the bar, the boys walked around the arcade trying to see a face known as Ralph's but unsuccessfully.
“Look Percy, that's Chun Li over there," said Lydia when she saw the woman who was apparently talking to Cammy White.
Lydia took Percy by the hand and approached the two women very excitedly.
“Excuse me, Miss Li, can I talk to you?” Lydia asked him.
“Sure, what can I do for you?”
“Hey! I know you, you're the player who came from the real world," Cammy suddenly said, and Chun Li watched Lydia closely.
“How did you get into this place?” Chun Li asked.
“And your talking cat, is he with you?” Cammy asked.
“Yes, he's with me," Lydia said and walked aside so the women could see Percy, who smiled at them as he wagged his tail and ears.
“Oh, I'm sorry," Lydia apologized and introduced herself and her friend in a polite manner.
Lydia explained to the two fighters about her magical powers and Percy's cat boy nature. Chun Li and Cammy were impressed.
“I don't want to bother you, Miss Li, but could I have your autograph?” Lydia asked her.
“My autograph?”
“Yes, you are the first woman to participate in a fighting game, no one has ever done it before, you are a pioneer, now all games have women fighters because of you," said Lydia, who looked at the woman with respect.
“I didn't know you were so "experienced"," Cammy joked, but Chun Li didn't listen.
Not only Chun Li, but Cammy also gave her her autograph and both fighters posed for Lydia's photographs.
“Emm, sorry Lydia, but I think Percy is undressing me with his eyes," Cammy said.
“Percy!”
“Nya! I'm sorry, Lydia, I didn't mean to!” said Percy, red as a tomato.
"Lydia forgive me, I swear I will never do it again, I swear I will never do it again, but please don't hate me, please don't hate me, please, please, please," begged Percy, repentant and with true tears already peeking in his eyes.
“I don't think you should apologize to me Percy," Lydia said with a serious expression, then Percy, at lightning speed, knelt down in front of Cammy and apologized.
“I know it wasn't your fault," said Cammy, trying to calm the situation.
“I'm sorry about Percy," Lydia apologized.
“You don't have to worry, in fact I'm used to the strange looks," said Cammy.
“Thank goodness, because the first month that the game was connected you didn't want to go out to the Video Central Station," Chun Li reminded her.
“It's true, I was so embarrassed when everyone looked at me, I wonder in what were thinking the perverted character designers to have put me in this spandex-like suit," complained Cammy with a frown.
Lydia agreed with Cammy, for sure at first the blonde would be too embarrassed to walk around in what appeared to be a pre-2000 leotard.
“I had a really hard time at first too," said Chun Li, "you know, my dress was too short and everyone was looking at my legs.”
The girls continued talking when Percy dared to break the silence and dared to ask something.
“Cammy, you have very long braids, and you Chun Li, you have a hairstyle like Princess Leia, I wonder which one has the longest hair?”
The girls looked at Percy in surprise and then started laughing.
“Wow, of all the things we've been asked," said Chun Li, wiping a tear from her eye.
“Malicious or not," continued Cammy.
“That's the first time anyone's asked us something like that," said Chun Li.
“I don't know, Percy," Cammy said, looking thoughtful, "we never compared our hair... or other parts of our bodies.”
“Cammy, don't be crazy!” Chun Li said grimly, but her smile betrayed her.
The four of them laughed, and Lydia then asked them where the Pac Man game was, so that they could attend the bad-anon support meeting.
“Why do you want to go to a place full of evil players?” Chun Li asked her, and Lydia explained that she wanted to meet her friend Ralph.
“Ralph the wrecker is your friend!” Chun Li was surprised, so was Cammy.
“Why are you surprised? In fact, he saved Sugar Rush's game from being destroyed by a swarm of cybugs.”
“Lydia, the only thing we know, is that it was Ralph who was responsible for taking those cybugs to Sugar Rush, the rest is just guesswork running around, each one more implausible than the last one," Chun Li replied with a frown.
“Seriously, neither Ralph nor anyone else told you what really happened at Sugar Rush?” Lydia asked in surprise.
“Not a word," said Cammy.
Lydia, taking advantage of the fact that there was still time left for the bad-anon meeting, told them the story she had gathered from everyone involved in the adventure in the form of a film story. In the end the fighters were impressed.
“Unbelievable, then that's what happened," said Chun Li, exchanging looks of wonder with Cammy.
“I find it incredible that the wrecker, I mean your friend Ralph, would have acted so noble and would have been willing to sacrifice himself for Vanellope," said Cammy, impressed.
“Did you say Ralph attends bad-anon meetings?” Chun Li asked.
“Maybe we should take a look around Pac Man's game... To see what it's all about," Cammy said.
“I'm afraid that's going to have to wait," Cammy remembers, "we have other commitments later," Chun Li reminded her in a sad voice.
Cammy agreed with a sad gesture, and then they said goodbye to Lydia and Percy.
“I think Ralph has some fans now," Lydia smiled at Percy.
“I don't think they're interested in just asking for his autograph, though," the cat boy said with a chuckle.
The two guys went to the game of Pac Man and Percy was excited that he was jumping ahead without noticing where he was going.
In the end, what had to happen happened and Percy crashed into what appeared to be a red sofa.
“Who was the idiot who threw this couch right at the entrance of the game?” complained Percy, frowning and rubbing his nose.
“Percy...” Lydia said behind him.
“Wait a minute, Lydia," said Percy and started pricking the sofa with his finger.
“Percy...” Lydia insisted but the cat boy was still at it.
“Stupid couch, now you'll see," Percy threatened and raised his elbow and punched the couch, then someone above the cat boy rasped.
Percy looked up and it turned out that the "sofa" was actually a person, in fact, in front of Percy was none other than M. Bison in all his brutal splendour.
“NYAAA!” Percy shouted as his hair stood up, as did his tail, which stood up spectacularly.
Percy, fearful, hid behind Lydia, but after a second he realized what he was doing and stood in front of her with his arms outstretched to protect her.
“Don't come any closer! or... or... I'll scratch you and bite you!” Percy hissed to him, clenching his fists as if they were cat feet and showing him the fangs, which grew.
Bison raised an eyebrow and considered that he had nothing to fear from the "claws", however, the fangs were something else, they reminded him of a vampire's fangs, with the difference that he had four of them, two upper and two lower, the latter had a shorter distance between them than the upper ones and they were not as large, yet they could still cause damage.
Lydia pushed Percy aside and stepped forward to Bison.
“Excuse Percy, Mr. Bison, my name is Deetz, Lydia," she greeted him without fear and with a look of confidence.
Bison recognized the girl's face and shook her hand delicately.
“A pleasure, M. Bison, to serve you," said the man trying to smile at her, but all he could do was make his face even more malevolent.
Percy apologized to Bison and that's when Ralph and the orange ghost of Pac Man, Clyde, approached.
“Lydia, Percy, good of you to be here on time, I see you've met Bison," said Ralph with a smile.
Lydia was impressed to hear Clyde speak, in the cartoons she had seen on television, the voice they gave Clyde was comical, yet in reality Clyde had a voice that conveyed calm and sounded like someone very wise.
Then came the other members of Bad-anon: Saitine from Satan's Hollow; Smoke Shinobi from Mortal Kombat 3; Bowser from Super Mario Bros; Zangief from Street Fighter 2; Dr. Robotnik from Sonic the fighters; Yellow Robot 1011001 from Cyborg Justice; Mishaela sorceress from Shining Force; Neff from Altered Beast; Beholder from Baldur's Gate; Kano cyborg from Mortal Kombat 3; and zombie Cyril from House of dead.3
Ralph introduced his friends to the group and asked them to accompany them to the meeting and no one objected.
Clyde was leading the march and this made Percy uneasy.
"Why can't he float straight ahead? He's going forward giving S' as he's doing it," Percy thought as his tail and ears got into an attack position.
Percy couldn't take it anymore, turned into a panther, pounced on Clyde and... ate him.
A pair of eyes went where the meeting was to be held.
It was total chaos, thank goodness Ralph was in charge of calming the situation and everyone went to the meeting room where a regenerated Clyde was already waiting for them.
Percy apologized to Clyde.
“And if it's any consolation, Mr. Clyde, despite your color, you didn't taste at all like orange, rather like cheap sweetener with a mixture of oil.”
“You better stop apologizing, Percy," said Lydia, shaking her head and giving a sigh.
Lydia was delighted with the meeting but Percy was very bored, unable to bear it any longer he turned into a cat and began to doze on Lydia's thighs.
Everyone was impressed and to remedy the mess caused by Percy, Lydia gave Mishaela a still dormant cat. Mishaela thanked Lydia and was delighted to caress Percy who kept purring.
As the author Victor Hugo said: "God created the cat to give man the opportunity to caress a tiger" - Lydia paraphrased as Percy was stretched out and then passed through the dark elf to Zangief.
“Softer...” Percy complained because Zangief did not control his strength.
Percy the cat, jumped impatiently to the ground and made him grow tall enough for someone to climb on it. Then he lay down next to Zangief and let him caress him.
The meeting ended with the evil player's manifesto making Lydia and Percy enchanted.
“What a nice manifesto," Percy acknowledged as he and Lydia said goodbye to Ralph and walked the VCS.
The boys met Vanellope and the other runners, so the president excused herself with her friends and went to accompany Lydia and Percy.
“You know Vanellope, I'd like to visit the interior of the diet-cola volcano," said Lydia.
“But that's a dumpster, Lydia, believe me, I lived there," Vanellope said intrigued.
“Well, Lydia always wanted to visit the interior of a volcano, even if it is a boiling soda, and I think I could ask Felix to build a castle there. Can you imagine Vanellope, living inside a volcano!” exclaimed Percy.
“I don't have to imagine anything, I lived in that place," said the girl and suddenly made a sad face.
“Vanellope?” Lydia said.
“Don't worry Lydia, I remembered when all the girls treated me like a glitch, well, their memories were erased by turbo but... that's no excuse for being so horrible to me.”
“Vanellope, they were scared, turbo told them that if you participated in the race, they would think the game would be malfunctioning and then they would disconnect it," Lydia reminded him.
“I know, but Lydia, you should have seen their faces... They enjoyed it, they enjoyed it while they destroyed my car, not like Ralph, he did it because he believed the turbo lies, but they... they...”
“Do you have a grudge against them?” Lydia asked worried.
“Uh... no, but... You wouldn't understand Lydia," said Vanellope with a big sigh.
“Actually, yes I do, I understand it so much that it hurts," Lydia replied in a broken voice.
Vanellope looked at Lydia and, understanding, held her hand, while Lydia hugged the girl.
“Why are people so bad?” asked Vanellope.
“Ignorance makes them bad, and the worst part is that if they decide to learn something, they only learn what they are taught, very few decide to go further and investigate things on their own, although all the information they need is within their reach," Lydia replied.
Percy turned into a cat and began to purr and rub against her friends' ankles to try to comfort them.
“Thank you, Percy," said the two girls, who were already in high spirits, then all three of them went through the central video station, leaving their sorrows behind.
CONTINUARÁ...
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