LYDIA DEETZ AND WRECK IT RALPH
Capítulo 3: She's his wife
Upon reaching the little street, the kids saw Q*Bert who was talking to Coily, Ugg, Slick and Sam, who were the bad guys in the Q*Bert game.
Felix and Ralph, called their friends and introduced them to the children. Lydia was delighted to meet such ancient and emblematic arcade characters, but unfortunately, Q*Bert and the others spoke only "Q*Bertese".
“Unbelievable, I never believed that words could materialize into dialogue balloons," admitted Lydia, looking closely at the strange characters on Q*Bert.
Lydia and Percy introduced themselves to the strange characters and they responded in their very strange language.
“# =)@(&$!" said Q*Bert who looked happy.
“Eh?” Lydia got confused, “Excuse me...”
“Don't worry guys, I can translate what Q*Bert says," Felix offered.
“No need Felix, Q*Bert said he was pleased to meet us both," Percy translated, and everyone looked at him in amazement.
“Can you understand what Q*Bert says?” Ralph asked in amazement.
“Yes, understanding the language of every intelligent being is a natural thing for cat boys," said Percy, inflating his chest with pride.
“Can you read the characters in the dialog box?” Wanted to know Lydia.
“Em, no. I can only understand when they talk, not read the characters," Percy explained.
“Still, it's wonderful," said Felix, "so I guess I don't need to be a translator anymore.”
“#@%#)%” Said Q*Bert and Felix blushed, causing Lydia to be surprised.
“Q*Bert said he was relieved because Felix was talking to him as if he was talking to a little boy," Percy translated.
Felix apologized in his own language, but Q*Bert understood the gesture and made the same happy face as his other friends.
Q*Bert and his friends had a friendly conversation with the newcomers and the main characters of the game, when Percy raised his arms and...
“Look Lydia, I caught Coily's dialogue balloon!” Percy exclaimed happily, making Coily and the others look at him impressed by holding the intangible.
“How did you do that?” Lydia asked impressed.
“I don't know, first time," Percy said happily and returned the dialogue balloon to his owner.
Percy who wanted to experiment, took one of the characters from Ugg's dialogue balloon and then squeezed it a little, making it disintegrate like the ashes of a charred paper.
“Sweet malapata," said Ralph apprehensive.
“I wonder what they taste like," Percy muttered, and at lightning speed he grabbed two characters, each belonging to Slick and Sam.
“Percy don't do that," Lydia advised him, but his friend already put the characters in his mouth and tasted them.
“Nyaeww, they taste awful, just like cigarette ashes” the cat boy spat a disgusted face and tried to wipe his tongue.
“Percy, what a fool” Lydia sighed, shaking her head but smiling at the same time.
Lydia apologized to her new friends for Percy's behavior, but they told her in their strange language that there was nothing to worry about. The latter had to be translated by Felix as Percy was too busy cleaning his tongue.
“I wonder if I can do the same," Percy said with a thoughtful gesture after he finished wiping his tongue.
Percy concentrated and after his face had turned purple from the effort, a few stitches of suspension appeared on his head, but they were not inside a balloon of dialogue. Lydia and the others looked at him in amazement and amazement.
“This is "I didn't understand",” showed the cat boy pointing to the dots.
Percy concentrated and this time droplets appeared behind his head.
“And this means “I'm nervous,'" said Percy, his breathing agitated by the effort.
“Percy, that's great," praised Ralph, who looked at the cat boy with his eyes open like plates.
“Now I'm crying," Percy said, pretending to be sad as the characteristic tears that appeared in the animes appeared on his face.
“Now I'm confused," Percy struggled, and on his head a croaking raven appeared, then a question mark and at the end an octopus that was stuck to his hair.
Percy kneeled on the floor because of the effort and Lydia went to lift him with Ralph's help.
“Are you all right, Percy?” asked worried Lydia.
“Ugh, I feel like I've run a whole marathon.”
Mary, one of the nicelanders approached the group and everyone saw that she was bringing a cake for Ralph and he thanked her.
“I love baking cakes, and ever since I realized how badly I treated Ralph, I've been trying to make up for these 30 years of pretending he didn't exist.”
Lydia was looking at the lovely cake, which had a smiling little figure of Ralph on it, when she saw someone arriving in the distance at the small train station. She seemed to be the female character in a modern game.
“Look Felix, Calhoun has arrived," Ralph pointed happily and raised one of his huge arms to welcome the newcomer.
“Oh, she's the sergeant of the game Hero's Duty, who helped you guys in your adventure," realized Lydia, looking at the woman intently.
“She's not just that cute," Mary said with a smile.
“What do you mean, Mary?” Lydia asked.
“("@")/$(%)” said Q*Bert
“Ehhhh!” exclaimed Percy.
Lydia didn't understand the reason for her friend's exclamation.
“Q*Bert said, "It's his wife,"” Percy translated, causing Lydia to be surprised.
“Calhoun, my love, I'm so glad you finally arrived!”
“Excuse me Felix, but we were very much in demand from the players these last few days, and I had to put my subordinates in order, it was a crazy goat thing.”
“Come on, honey, I want you to meet Lydia and her friend Percy.”
Lydia and Percy looked at the woman apprehensive, as Calhoun was very tall and had a severe look which was accompanied by a matching face.
“So you are the civilian-players who came into the game," said the woman looking at the children with a frown.
“Nice to meet you, ma'am, Felix didn't tell us he was married," Lydia nervously introduced herself, making Calhoun look at her husband with a frown.
“Sparks and more sparks, I'm sorry, it's that Calhoun and I got married after our affair at Sugar Rush and that's why I didn't mention to you guys about our wedding” Felix apologized who was red for the embarrassment and wrinkled his hat in his hands due to nervousness.
“I also forgot to mention that detail in our story," said Ralph, who was uncomfortable with the disapproving look he received from Calhoun.
“Ma'am, it's a pleasure to meet you, Generala, ma'am!” Percy's picture of pure nervousness.
“First, it's not Generala, but General, regardless of whether you're male or female," Calhoun corrected, "second, I'm not a General, but a sergeant.”
“Oh, sorry, nice to meet you, Sergeant Calhoun.” Lydia continued to be nervous.
“No need to address me by my rank, Miss Lydia.”
“Thank you, you don't have to call me miss either," Lydia said with a nervous smile as Percy continued to greet her militarily.
“Let's see," said Calhoun, approaching Percy. “That's not the right way to greet in the army, you should raise your elbow higher and the palm of your hand should be more horizontal and less at that 45-degree angle.”
“Emm? But I saw that in the animes the military salutes in this way," Percy said strangely.
“What are those things called anime?” asked the sergeant.
“They're cartoons made in Japan," Lydia told him.
“I don't know how they'll do things in Japan, but here the military salute is stretched out in a different way," the woman said dryly.
“But Hero's Duty is a Japanese game with its headquarters for software development and character design in North America," said Lydia.
“Humm, I don't know what to say, but the academy taught me the right way to salute and it's not how your friend does it.”
“Well, Felix, Ralph, you could give us an update on the wedding," Percy asked and the two adults told them the whole thing about the ceremony.
“Did they point their guns at the front of the church?” Lydia muttered incredulously.
“And didn't it occur to anyone to aim for the entrance, that is, to cover the rear?” Percy reasoned frowningly.
“Ha, I like the way you think, Percy," said Calhoun with an aggressive smile.
“Excuse me, Calhoun, but where do the rails lead to?” Wanted to know Lydia.
“They lead to the video central station, it is a public place to which all the characters who are connected to the arcades have access.”
“To all the arcades?” Lydia asked excitedly.
“No, not everyone, just the arcades at the Litwak facility, not including possible branches," Calhoun told them.
“What a shame, it would have been great if all the games of creation had a connection to the central station," said Percy crestfallen.
“True, but if that had been possible, Q*Bert and his friends would not have been homeless at first," said Lydia.
“Well, it's too late, we'd better go to the main building, Felix told me you're staying in the penthouse.”
“That's right Calhoun, all thanks to the kindness of Gene and the other nicelanders," said Lydia.
“I see that Gene is improving that hostile attitude,” the woman appreciated and Percy suppressed a smile.
“Emm, I remembered a military joke," Percy said to dissimulate.
Lydia and Percy said goodbye to Q*Bert and the others, including Ralph, and headed to the penthouse. Unlike the first time Lydia came to the game, this time all the nicelanders welcomed her.
Felix, seeing that his wife was exhausted, apologized to his neighbors to be left alone with the two newcomers.
“I'm not in the mood to deal with the nicelanders right now, but don't worry, guys, you can ask me all the questions you want," said Calhoun, putting on the warmest smile she could offer so far.
“I will go and prepare some drinks and food," Felix offered to leave the place.
“Thank you Felix, tell me Calhoun, do all the characters have access to the video central station?” Wanted to know Lydia.
“Most player characters and non-player characters can go there, however, there are exceptions, for example, in my game cybugs behave like viruses and the program prevents them from leaving the game, activating the beacon that destroys them every time the game ends. And after Ralph's incident, the emerging CSV protector (central station video) created a barrier that prevents cybugs from entering the site or going to other games, that also applies to other NPCs (non-player characters) who have no intelligence and are dedicated only to attacking in their game.”
“Do you think we could visit you at your Calhoun game?” Percy asked.
“Negative, I've had enough trouble with Ralph and his cybug getaway, sorry guys, but there are no exceptions," Calhoun said, gesturing authoritatively and pointing his finger at them to make everything very clear.
“Could we visit other games?” Lydia asked.
“I wouldn't recommend it, if a character dies out of his game he can no longer regenerate. In your case I would be extra cautious because you can game over or die even in this game, yes I know that Q*Bert and his friends are also taking that risk in this place,” Calhoun interrupted when he saw how the kids were going to ask him about Q*Bert “but know that Q*Bert and the others are professionals, you are not.”
“What about the CSV, and if you die there?” Lydia asked.
“I don't know, I didn't ask the surge protector, however, any kind of fight is forbidden. The guard surge can send any player back to his game, good or bad, and leave him there for as long as he sees fit. If you're wondering about Ralph and the cybug, they got in and out of the CSV very quickly surprising the manager so he couldn't do anything.”
“Then the area of protective surge action is limited to the CSV," Lydia assumed.
“Actually, a little further on, you can also go to the entrance of the CSV, but in no case can you go any further so you can't enter any game.”
“So there's no game we could get into?” Percy asked with pity.
“You didn't hear me, Percy, you can get into any game, but you shouldn't. The only games they'd be safe in would be Tapper's and Burger Time, which are a bar one and a restaurant the other. Now, there are games where they could be as spectators like Street Fighter, but there are also risks in that place, what if a huge player falls on you by accident. It is best to limit your trips to the CSV or to Tapper's and Burger Time.”
“Honey, don't encourage them to go to Tapper's, which is a bar," said Felix, who was returning with the drinks and food.
“I meant that in that place you can talk to Tapper about anything.”
“Don't worry, Percy and I are too young to drink.”
“Can we go to Pac Man's? I want to go visit Ralph at his evil support group," Percy asked.
“I guess it's okay, the ghosts are friendly like Ralph and the bad guys there are acceptable," said Calhoun.
“Are all bad guys good like Ralph?” wanted to know Percy.
“The bad guys label only comes for the purposes of the game execution, in reality they are neither better nor worse than the other characters that can be found there, either these PJs or NPCs. In fact, it was a good character who did the most damage to the arcade.”
“Turbo," said Lydia.
“Exactly, so you know where the shots are going," said Calhoun and started yawning.
“Well, more food and less talk than it is getting late," said Felix and everyone enjoyed the late dinner.
Once the dinner was over, Calhoun and Felix said goodbye to the boys.
“Where will you sleep?” Percy asked.
“”On the ground floor, the ceilings there are high. The nicelanders offered us the penthouse, but I didn't want to impose," said Calhoun.
Don't worry, guys, you're a special case," Felix said hastily.
“Thank you Felix, but we still don't want to be a hindrance," Lydia said.
“I have an idea," Percy said, "how about you, Felix, build us a little house next to Q*Bert's house.”
“Of course, I didn't think of that before! It'll be a pleasure to make a little house for you guys.”
“Won't that be a problem, Felix?” Lydia asked.
“Not at all, leave everything in my hands. Tomorrow you can go to the video central station and on your return at night I'll have everything ready," said Felix and together with Calhoun said goodbye to the boys.
“Felix and Calhoun are very kind, aren't they, Percy?”
“Yes, although Calhoun scared me at first, and speaking of Calhoun, I forgot to ask her how it was that Q*Bert was left without a game in the first place.”
“You should ask Felix that question, but I think I know why. From what I found out, the blame lies with the controls, in Q*Bert, these have a 45 degree rotation so that the character can jump between the blocks of the game's pyramid, this represented a bigger challenge than the traditional controls. When Nintendo's systems, Sega and others arrived, they were unable to reproduce these types of controls to perfection, and the game lost popularity because they didn't play it at home and therefore didn't play it on the arcades either.”
“But after thirty years, why are Q*Bert and his friends the only ones left homeless?”
“I'm afraid that several characters decided to stay in their games when they were unplugged, or they went to others who were going to be unplugged, that is, they committed game over," Lydia said with a sad expression.
“Suicide?” Percy said, and Lydia nodded in pity.
CONTINUARÁ...
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