Soli Deo Gloria

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Big Hero 6. Or Wreck-It Ralph.

"Litwak's Family Fun Center and Arcade is the hottest spot in all of downtown San Fransokyo," Fred said excitedly.

"Sounds like they need to shorten their name," Gogo said sarcastically. She growled; the front seat of Wasabi's car was literally built for two people. Yet Wasabi took up most of the seat and she could barely move her arms to steer the car. To his credit, Wasabi wasn't particularly comfortable about it. He nervously looked at the road ahead, which they were heading down at 70 MPH, and at the angry look on her face—she, the driver of his car. New car. Emphasis on the newness. There'd been no hope of retrieving his old three-door car from the bottom of the harbor, so a new car had been found, bought, and paid for. Wasabi questioned his own sanity for letting Gogo drive it at all.

"I'm surprised that that's true, Fred," Honey said. She had plenty of room in the backseat, sitting next to nobody but skinny Fred. Her green eyes were lit up with excitement as she said, "Research shows that arcade and other recreational entertainment attendance is down due to recent technology."

"Whoa. How so?" Fred asked, interested.

Gogo held up her phone. "Apps. Everyone has games on their phones. Duh."

She dropped her phone and Wasabi caught it. "Careful, Gogo! I don't want this to clutter my car—um—I mean—I don't want you to lose your phone—erm, no texting while driving—"

Gogo rolled her eyes to the roof of the cramped car. "Next time, I'm riding with Hiro."

"Can Baymax take that extra weight?" Wasabi wanted to know. "Like, he won't slow down or anything, right?"

Gogo looked at him for a long time. He got nervous—what if they crashed? "Are you calling me fat?" Gogo said, before blowing a bubble. Wasabi gulped as she withdrew the pink bubble and chewed it very, very slowly.

Fred leaned forward into the front and looked Wasabi straight in the eye. "Do not answer that question, okay, man? It's so loaded!" Fred sank back into his seat and leaned his head against his hand to listen to Honey discussing survey statistics. It was so super boring in reality, but Fred was interested.

"—and that's why you should never buy pineapples from Oregon. So, Fred, why do you like Litwak's so much?" Honey wanted to know.

"Yeah. Why are we driving an hour on the highway to Southern California when you literally have an arcade in your house?" Gogo muttered, using the front mirror to glare at Fred.

"In answer to Gogo, because Litwak's is the best. And also to answer Honey, it's where I get most of my arcade consoles from. Litwak and I are old buddies; I've been going there for years. When his old consoles break down, I get them shipped to my house."

"But they're broken consoles," Gogo pointed out.

"Yeah. Well, my dad makes a habit of fixing them up. He's good at that kind of stuff," Fred explained.

"Wow, man. Your dad sounds pretty cool," Wasabi smiled.

Fred smiled to himself. "Yeah, he's pretty cool, I guess."

Meanwhile, overhead Baymax flew like a superhero in the cloud-filled skies of San Fransokyo. Hiro posed as his cape, holding on for dear life to his robot; the winds had passed seventy MPH an hour ago. It was cold; Hiro wished he'd thought to bring his compact superhero armor. He usually sweated to death in there. Right now he only wore the gloves, special shoes, and kneepads. You know, 'cause doing civilian type activities looked suspicious in superhero armor.

"How much longer, Baymax?" Hiro yelled over the noise of the wind.

Baymax checked his GPS and replied, "Litwak's Arcade and Family Fun Center is only 1.2 miles away."

"Good. I'm freezing up here," Hiro said. Suddenly, as if on command, Baymax turned a slight shade of pink. Hiro's hands on his robot grew warm; his whole body felt like he'd just slurped down a hot chocolate.

"Your internal temperature should now be 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit," Baymax said calmly.

Hiro smiled. "Thanks, Baymax."

They followed the green car on the highway below them off onto an exit. Following a long, windy road often hidden by trees with canopying branches, the car finally slowed down (to Wasabi's relief) and pulled into a parking lot. The asphalt had faded into background grey a long time ago, but was friendly despite a few filled-in cracks.

"All right, Baymax," Hiro said, once he saw multi-colored figures come out of the car from either side, "let's land."

"Would you like me to go on autopilot and land us according to field instructions you have downloaded into my software? Or do you want to, as the kids call it these days, 'wing it'? It is just a saying."

"We're totally winging it! Don't you trust my driving you, Baymax?" Hiro asked, as he flew his robot into a nosedive, falling heavily down towards the concrete like an arrow driving into a target at hurricane-wind-speeds.

"We have now exceeded ninety miles an hour. If you do not pull me up, your death is your next health diagnosis, Hiro," Baymax said. His words, so dire, sounded almost casual in his soft voice.

Hiro pulled up, putting on wind-resistant brakes and bringing Baymax into a standing position. Baymax, being full of pipes, wires, and electronics, was otherwise hollow behind the vinyl surrounding his body. He almost floated, light, down the rest of the way, landing softly on his soft feet.

"Nice landing, Baymax!" Hiro hopped down from his back. Baymax offered his hand, and Hiro gave him a smashing high-five. This evolved into their handshake, with the customary ending of "Ba-la-la-la-la!"

The four older college students popped out of the green car like sardines out of a tight can. Gogo cracked her spine, Wasabi inhaled the fresh air like he'd been without oxygen for quite some time, and Fred pointed ahead at the arcade. It stood as a palace over an empty parking lot kingdom. "There it is! Whoa, it's smaller than I remember."

"Where are all the cars? Is this place even open?" Gogo questioned incredulously. She looked at Fred with a confused, sidewise glance. "When was the last time you were here? Ten years ago?"

"No, just last week!" Fred said. "It's just school-time. The peak crowd time is between two and five o'clock on weekdays running Monday through Thursday."

Gogo rolled her eyes and popped a gum bubble. "Never thought I'd say this about you, but you're such a nerd."

Fred watched her walk to the entrance with nothing but the biggest grin growing to engulf his face. "Did you hear that?!" he shrieked, grabbing Honey by the arm for her attention. "Gogo called me, silly old me, a nerd!"

"Fred, that's so great!" Honey squealed.

Fred wiped away a tear from his eye. "This is only the single greatest compliment I have ever received in my entire life. Guys, stop a moment—let me savor it. Give me a minute."

"Yeah, we're not doing that," Gogo said over her shoulder. Hiro passed her to head the group as they came to the front of Litwak's.

From the outside, it didn't look like much. The crack-filled, vacant parking lot hadn't given much hope for the inside; neither did the two fingerprint-smudged doors that looked like they dated back to at least the 70s'. The pop and charm of animation and game themes could be heard humming behind the doors.

There was a certain hesitation in the group of six. Fred, of course, burst from the rear of the pack and said, "Come on guys, we gotta hurry, before the schools let out!"

"I highly doubt this place will be crowded anytime soon," Wasabi said, folding his arms.

"We'll probably be this day's sales," Gogo said.

Honey wanted to sound cheerful against her friends' pessimism. "Let's get in there and kick some arcade console butt, Fred!"

"That's totally the spirit, Honey!" Fred said, pumping his fists. He pointed a finger at Hiro. "Man, you've seen some technology at SFIT, but you haven't seen anything yet!"

"All right." Hiro shrugged, his hands in his hoodie pockets. "Let me see."

"All right." Fred stood squarely in front of the entrance doors, barring any entry. He held out his hands. "Everyone breathe. Prepare yourself for the greatest time of your life. By the time they close, you're going to be begging to stay."

Gogo popped another bubble. Wasabi's face held a certain ounce of disbelief. Hiro looked confused as to how that could happen. Honey smiled nervously, ready for everyone else to be proved wrong. Baymax, as usual, was expressionless.

Fred closed his eyes and breathed. "Okay, guys. Here we go." And he turned and pushed the doors open.

The SFIT college students had seen some groundbreaking technology in their day. Fred also had a bit of a reputation for being a braggart. Still, they were blown away. For once, he hadn't been exaggerating for emphasis and excitement. For once, their expectations were blown away.

It was full of every good part of every childhood arcade with none of the cons. It was full of colorful consoles, bouncing with noise and music and fun characters begging you to play a game with them. It didn't smell and there was no bad music playing overhead, no crowds of pesky, nasty kids. It was pleasant and inviting. It inspired the smiles of childish delight on the faces of Fred's friends. He stood back with his arms folded, nodding in agreement.

"Wow!" Wasabi said breathlessly.

"I know man, I know," Fred said calmly.

"Oh my goodness, I don't know what game I want to play first!" Honey squealed. She danced on tiptoes, full of bubbly energy.

Hiro's mouth dropped open; he didn't say anything. He just looked like standing there motionless while his fingers inched to play a game was a kind of exquisite torture.

"Not bad," Gogo admitted. This was said begrudgingly. She could still be way more impressed.

Baymax's head moved back and forth, scanning the interior of the arcade. A blue scan laser flew from him and examined the entire floor. It retracted; he said, "The temperature is 74.3 degrees Fahrenheit. The level of cleanliness concerning germs is far lower than many other arcades."

"You'll find that Litwak's is a lot better than a lot of arcades, because there are no arcades like it. It's on a cool level all on its own, you know," Fred bragged.

"Okay, I can't stand it anymore! I'm playing a game!" Hiro grabbed Baymax's stubby hand and dragged him away. The robot hopped and skipped and rocked as he hurried to match Hiro's hurried pace.

Fred held a finger up, saying, "Wait, you don't know what game is perfectly tailored for your specific interests!"

"What game were you going to recommend to him, Freddie?" Honey asked.

"Fix-It Felix Jr. It's all about fixing things. Hiro's good at that. Just like Tadashi was," Fred said, a little sadness tinting his last words.

"That would be good for him," Honey said. "Well," she said, brightening a little, "what do you recommend I try?"

Fred smiled, cheered up. "Honey, I know exactly what game you should play." He offered his elbow and said in a gentlemanly way, "Milady."

Honey grinned and took his arm, skipping a little as he whisked her away.

Wasabi stared after them with wide eyes. He looked between them and an unimpressed Gogo with the same horrified, blank expression on his face. "Did you see that? I wasn't the only one who just saw that, am I? PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one!"

"I'm not blind, Sabi," Gogo said, glaring at him.

"Okay, and neither are they," Wasabi said. He panicked a little, hyperventilating some. "This, this is a thing! Oh my gosh, they're a thing! This is a thing! The—the friend group!? What's going to happen to the friend group?! What are we going to do?!"

Gogo grabbed his shoulder and pulled him down to look her in the eye. "We're going to lose our minds and consciousness about the world around us by playing some video games. Got it?" she commanded.

He whimpered and nodded.

She let go of him, letting him bounce back to past six feet. She cracked her knuckles and looked around. "Let's show this place who's boss," she said.

Wasabi breathed in relief; if Gogo was undeterred, there was no reason to be worried. Right? Then again, she saw no need to panic in a speeding vehicle. Maybe he shouldn't trust her judgement as much as he does. Still, he quickly caught up to her.

"What are we going to play?" Wasabi wanted to know.

"There's not much of 'we' involved in video game consoles," Gogo said. She shrugged. "Still, Hero's Duty's got my name on it."

"Okay. Cool. Hero's Duty. Sounds sooo sanitary. Sounds like fun. Sounds like lots of fun, and animated blood and fighting and battle, and nope nope nope can't do it!" Wasabi said.

Gogo approached the game console—no line. Huh. She got why Fred liked the place. She plugged in her quarter and then saw Wasabi right next to her. He had one hand covering his eyes and the other swabbing an antibacterial wipe all over the console in front of her.

"What is wrong with you?! You're a superhero for Pete's sake!" Gogo smacked his wiping hand away. "You've seen blood before and haven't passed out! Woman up!"

"You think I can help my antibacterial tendencies?!" Wasabi peeked an eye at her and threw away the wipe. "Okay, so the whole blood thing in real battle, I can handle. For the most part. Because of the necessity of the situation, of course. But if I don't have to look at it, I won't!"

Gogo growled as she pressed 'START'. "You're so aggravating."

"Funny, I could say the same thing about you." Wasabi folded his arms and harrumphed.

A few moments of silence prevailed between them—save the animated noises coming from the game. Wasabi finally peeked over at her game. "There's . . . no blood," he said lamely.

"Wow, how observant, genius," Gogo said. "It's—cybugs!" She growled as she shot at them. She wasn't overwhelmed in the slightest, though. She had this all under control.

Wasabi brought his body to face the game, too. He didn't look away; he didn't want to appear interested, but he couldn't help what piqued his interest. It was all electronic and technical and black and blue and green and glowing—just like him and his suit.

Gogo finished in a glorious blaze of victory. She stepped back as the monologue of the General congratulated her. Wasabi's eyes widened. "You're in the top ten high scores!" he exclaimed. "How'd you do that?"

"Natural talent. Duh." She stepped back and shrugged.

"Well, now you have to put in your username to keep the high score up there for everyone else to see. You'll be immortalized in Litwak history!" Wasabi said, excited.

Gogo scoffed. "Immortalized in a kid's arcade. I've finally fulfilled one of my lifelong ambitions."

"Lighten up for like, two seconds, Gogo," Wasabi said. "What's your username?"

"Nonexistent." She walked away.

"'Nonexistent?' That's a weird username. . . Hey!" Wasabi said. "Come back here, Gogo, and pick an actual username!"

"Don't care,"—she gave him the Hand.

Wasabi gasped; his face turned determined as he faced Hero's Duty. He groaned and whimpered as he ran an antibacterial wipe over the console. He then carefully typed in a username for her. Satisfied, he hurried after her.

He found her watching as an uninterested bystander as Hiro dominated Fix-It Felix Jr. His quick fingers finally found something that met their speed. He left Wreck-It Ralph and his oddball friends in the dust as he anticipated their premediated moves. The apartment building looked relatively unbroken, brand spanking new, as long as Hiro was at the console. The Nicelanders cheered as time ran out and Hiro was rewarded with—

"That is his sixth pie. So many calories so high in fat and sugar are not good for a growing boy's health. I recommend an apple or some carrot sticks for a nutritious snack alternative. One should have at least five servings of fruit and vegetables a day," Baymax said.

Hiro popped in another quarter. "Just be glad they're just animated pies then, Baymax."

"Six pies?" Gogo said, as Hiro started another game. "Isn't addiction to computer screens also dangerous for a young growing boy's health?" She leaned on the front of the game, getting in Hiro's face.

"Hey, Gogo, do you—mind?!" Hiro said.

"You're turning into Fred, and that isn't a good thing," Gogo said.

"No, I'm not! This isn't an addiction! I'm just memorizing details of this so I can create my own model of it on my computer!" Hiro craned his neck around Gogo.

"Like I said, addiction," Gogo said, undeterred.

"Also, pretty sure this is copyrighted," Wasabi, the technical one, had to say.

Hiro, distracted by his conversational friends, lost focus—Wreck-It Ralph and the oddballs overwhelmed the apartment building, Fix-It Felix Jr, and Hiro. Game Over! music blared.

Hiro stood back, panting. "There. I lost. Happy?!"

"Your friends are right. Your blood pressure is elevated, and the dopamine levels in your brain are lowered. Taking a break from the video games will alleviate these symptoms," Baymax said factually.

"Yeah, I bet," Hiro said. He didn't look at Gogo and Wasabi as he said, "Let's find Fred and Honey."

These four found Honey at the Sugar Rush game. She played intensely, her tongue between her teeth, her smile gone. Fred stood by her. He leaned against the machine and proved himself as an awesome mascot/cheerleader. "Honey, you've got this! Those other powderpuff racers are going to be eating your powdered sugar dust!"

"What's this diabetic shock?" Gogo said, taking in the Sugar Rush console.

"Hey Baymax, how many calories in that?" Hiro joked.

"It's only the greatest racing game ever made by man," Fred said. "Sugar Rush has had a steady run in the history of Litwak's. Only in the past two years, though, has it gained the well-known reputation it holds to this day."

"Is that reputation known for advertising junk foods to kids?" Wasabi wanted to know.

"Well, aren't you the nutritionist?" Gogo muttered.

"It's just an observation! Can't a guy have one without getting your irrelevant commentary?!" Gogo rolled her eyes and Wasabi threw his hands up.

"Wow, are they into each other," Fred muttered to Honey.

"What, Freddie?" Honey was distracted by the game. She'd almost reached the finish line.

"Oh, nothing. Probably." Fred shrugged. "No, to answer your earlier question, the reputation Sugar Rush has gained has been courtesy of its lead player, Vanellope van Schweetz. See, she had disappeared from the game entirely for a long, long time. No one knows why. Then, one day she just reappears. Sometimes she's gone for a day or two, but she always turns back up again. They have a rotating cast of players to choose from day to day. She's the number one pick—she's got some crazy cool powers! It's like she's glitching, but like, in a helpful way!"

"How can someone glitch in a helpful way?" Gogo wanted to know.

"Look!" Fred pointed at the game.

Everyone bent to look—poor Honey: despite her best efforts, she was still in sixth place as Vanellope. Even this racing queen/president seemed to be losing under the control of Honey. There was only one last turn before the finish line—there wasn't much, if any, hope of Honey winning. But then Vanellope shimmered and jerked and suddenly she was already around the curve, the leader of the mad pack of racers. Honey and Vanellope won in a shower of confetti and a cacophony of ecstatic cheers.

"Whooo!" Honey said, clapping her hands excitedly.

Gogo scoffed. "You're still third overall."

"It's over the course of three rounds. I-I didn't win the first one," Honey said, shrugging apologetically.

"Which round did you just win?"

"The second. There's one more."

"If you beat first place right now, will you be first overall?"

"She totally would," Fred said.

Gogo considered this. She looked at the roster. Some character named Taffyta Muttonfudge was in the lead. "Not for long," Gogo muttered to herself. She took out her gum and smashed it against the nearest object—which, unfortunately for Wasabi, was his sweater. He screamed like a little girl as Gogo said, "Step aside," to Honey and took the player's spot.

"WHOOOOOO GOGO'S GONNA TAKE FIRST!" Fred screamed, waving his arms around. He looked to his friends like he would to a science convention he had to motivate as the school mascot. "Come on guys! GET HYPED! THIS IS SO EXCITING!"

Wasabi whimpered as Hiro obligingly picked the gum off of him. "This is SO DISGUSTING! Gogo, how could you do this to me?!"

"Save it until after I win, Sabi. I gotta concentrate." The 3-2-1 countdown over, Gogo zoomed into first. Her friends watched breathlessly as she blew through the sugar-filled landscape. Her mastery around the turns was skilled; she used Vanellope's glitching to an unparalleled advantage. Honey could barely breathe on her tippytoes. Fred added commentary like an overzealous sports broadcaster.

Wasabi breathed and even unconsciously pumped his fists in encouragement. "Come on, Gogo, go go get them!"

"No puns on my name!" Gogo said, even as she mastered that last turn and got Vanellope screeching across the finish line with the rest of the racers stuck eating her powdered sugar dust. She smirked as Vanellope rose to the top of the list of winners.

"You're number one!" Fred said to Gogo. Then, to Honey, he shouted, "And you are too!" Honey squealed and gave Gogo a thank-you squeeze on the shoulder before being engulfed in a big hug by Fred.

"That—that was AMAZING!" Hiro said. The kid was almost overcome with excitement and amazement. "How did you DO THAT?!"

"I'm just fast," Gogo said, shrugging. She looked around and said, annoyed, "Wait, where'd my gum go?!" She looked at Wasabi's shirt and scoffed. "Where'd it go?"

"Where it belongs: the trash can," Wasabi said, with a certain smugness in his voice.

Fred, Baymax, Honey, and Hiro watched those two argue. "They look sooooo cute together," Fred said absentmindedly.

"Awww, they really do," Honey said, clasping her hands together.

Hiro rubbed the back of his neck, looking at them with some confusion. "I . . . guess?"

"My scanners are detecting on both of them heightened levels of dopamine and—" Baymax began.

But Hiro wasn't about to let him finish. "And that's enough of that." He pushed Baymax to another game.

They spent a lot of time at Litwak's. Gogo, after pulling out another stick of gum and dropping its wrapper on the ground ("That is littering. That is disgusting AND illegal!" said Wasabi, making her smirk), mastered every round of Sugar Rush. Fred introduced Hiro and Honey to the greatest arcade games of all time. Despite the after-school crowd, they stuck it out. It was great.

Finally, around 8:30, Fred went over to Litwak's counter. "I hate to tell y'all I gotta lock up," Litwak said apologetically.

"It's okay, Mr. Litwak. Still," Fred sighed, leaning against the desk and watching his friends have a great time, "it's going to break their little hearts."

Litwak followed them to the door. Hiro asked him all kinds of technical questions concerning how the video game consoles worked and how he fixed them when they broke. "Oh, I don't know how to fix 'em. I just send them to Fred's dad when they get broke," Litwak said. He gave Fred a pat on the back. "Tell your dad I said 'Hi' when you see him."

"Will do, Mr. Litwak. See ya." The six waved hands to Litwak. The old arcade owner waved back before locking the doors and turning the OPEN sign around.

"Man, I already miss that place," Wasabi said, sighing, as they trudged to the car.

"It was okay," Gogo said. Then she amended that statement with, "It was really good, actually, Fred. Sorry."

Fred pointed finger guns at her. "Totally cool, Gogo," he said cheerfully.

"I miss it too! Let's go again this weekend," Honey suggested.

"No, believe me, this place is packed on the weekends. Perhaps on Wednesday, around 1:40 PM, will be the best time. . ." Fred rambled on.

Wasabi and Gogo walked side by side, silently. Wasabi scratched the back of his neck; he didn't want to leave them the way they were. "Um, Gogo?" he said.

"Yeah?" She didn't look at him until she heard the jiggle of keys.

"Wanna drive?" he asked.

She actually smiled. She took the keys. "I'm sorry for sticking my gum on you. I know you got that germ thing, but I did it anyway. I'm sorry."

"It's okay." A moment passed before he said, squeezing his eyes shut, "I saved your high score as ReadySetGOGO on Hero's Duty." He opened his eyes to see her think this over and then shrug. Whatever. She wasn't mad.

He smiled as they opened the doors to his car. They waved Hiro goodbye as he took off with Baymax. Gogo started the car up. And, despite the fact that she was a speed demon, Wasabi decided to calm down and relax. She was crazy, but she also knew what she was doing. With that fact in mind, he still held onto the handle above his head as she put the car into DRIVE.

She saw him do so. "Don't trust me, Sabi?" she asked, a little bite of humor in her voice.

"I do. Safety first, as Baymax would say," he said through a gritted-tooth smile.

Gogo shook her head as she pulled out of the parking lot, the glow of Litwak's lights shining off the windshield.

Thanks for reading! Review?