History Main / WakeUpFighting

* In ''Film/Avatar:The Way of Water'', Recom [[Quaritch's]]first instinct upon waking up is to punch Lyle in the face.

* This can occur in sufferers of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_terror Pavor nocturnus]], better known as the night terror. A variant of sleepwalking, this sleep disorder involves the activation of the sleeper's fight-or-flight response while they're still in a deep sleep. While NeverWakeUpASleepwalker is for the most part, no longer current advice, this is one exception, as any attempts to calm the sleeper (who typically is [[WordSaladHorror speaking or growling unintelligibly]], [[BerserkerTears crying intensely]] and/or [[TheScream screaming at the top of their lungs]]) will result in an immediate and extremely violent response from the victim as they attempt to escape from whatever was stalking them in their dreams. Current medical advice is to passively guide the sufferer to prevent them from coming into harm, but without touching them, then reassuring them when they do wake, as the disorientation will likely serve as only further horror for them.

* ''Fanfic/InTheBleakMidwinter'': Hermione's years of combat and escaping have left her very sensitive to any kind of threat. At one point, when she falls asleep in her chair, Tom moves to transfer her to a bed, and the next thing he knows, he's waking up on the floor with a headache.

* In ''FanFic/{{Moratorium}}'', Harry has a habit of Stunning the first person she sees when she wakes up. Just ask Karkaroff and Dolores Umbridge.

* In ''Film/ "Avatar:The Way of Water'', Recom [[Quaritch's]]first instinct is to punch Lyle in the face.

* In ''Film/Avatar:The Way of Water'', Recom [[Quaritch's]]first instinct is to punch Lyle in the face.

* In ''Film/{{Avatar:The Way of Water}}'', Recom [[Quaritch's]]first instinct is to punch Lyle in the face.

* Kyle Reese in ''Film/TheTerminator'' wakes up from a nightmare of [[CrapsackWorld the bleak, post apocalyptic future he came from]] and reflexively racks his shotgun.

* This can occur in sufferers of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_terror Pavor nocturnus]], better known as the night terror. A variant of sleepwalking, this sleep disorder involves the activation of the sleeper's fight-or-flight response while they're still in a deep sleep. While DontWakeTheSleepwalker is for the most part, no longer current advice, this is one exception, as any attempts to calm the sleeper (who typically is [[WordSaladHorror speaking or growling unintelligibly]], [[BerserkerTears crying intensely]] and/or [[TheScream screaming at the top of their lungs]]) will result in an immediate and extremely violent response from the victim as they attempt to escape from whatever was stalking them in their dreams.

* Justified in ''Literature/TheBFG''. When the Fleshlumpeater has a terrible nightmare given to him by the BFG, his flailing limbs accidentally hit two of the other sleeping giants, who then wake up and pound him with their fists and feet, causing the wretched Fleshlumpeater to wake up, straight from one nightmare into another; and soon all nine giants have the most almighty free-for-all.

* Sousuke of ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' is quite prone to reflexively pulling his gun on anything that wakes him up unexpectedly. If the waker is human and close enough, he'll perform a lariat on them first. This becomes especially dangerous when he falls AsleepInClass.

* In fernwityhs ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' story ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8862456/1/The-Golden-Mean]]'' from ''Fanfic/TheEndOfTheWorld'' series: when ShellShockedVeteran Haymitch is woken up during the 3rd Quarter Quell by Toffy, another mentor to tell him that Blight's dead, he nearly strangles him. Toffy, to his credit, doesn't hold a grudge, commenting that he broke his sisters cheekbone when she woke him up after he got back from his games.

* This is the reason no-one tries to wake up Bun-bun in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance''.
* In ''Webcomic/CommanderKitty'', the first thing that Nin Wah[[spoiler:'s android clone]] does upon waking is [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2011/07/31/is-this-the-dream/ punch CK in the face.]]

* [[http://xkcd.com/225/ Richard Stallman]] in ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' takes a pair of katanas from under his bed and fights off Microsoft's agents who try to kill him. After this comic came out, [[{{Defictionalization}} some fans bought him a Katana]].
* ''Webcomic/UnknownLands'': Mischief finds that Vard is hard to wake up, so uses a jolt of electricity to do so. When Vard is still groggily complaining, not fully awake and not remotely trying to get out of bed Mischief ups the ante by suggesting he uses that trick during sex which wakes Vard up fully and gets him out of bed trying to deck Mischief in the face.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. Captain Crais in "Thanks for Sharing", through not without cause as his ship had been attacked and he's woken StrappedToAnOperatingTable (because no-one on Moya trusts him) being cared for by Jool, whom he's never met before. Crais grabs Jool by the neck and demands to be released--Jool responds by jabbing a huge frelling syringe into his leg and [[RunningGag screaming her head off]]. Crais only lets her go when John Crichton rushes in with his gun drawn, and he realises he's on Moya.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. Captain Crais in "Thanks for Sharing", through not without cause as his ship had been attacked and he's woken StrappedToAnOperatingTable (because no-one on Moya trusts him) being cared for by Jool, whom he's never met before. Crais grabs Jool by the neck and demands to be released--Jool responds by jabbing a huge frelling syringe into his leg and [[RunningGag screaming her head off]]. Crais only lets her go when John Crichton and Aeryn Sun enter with their guns drawn, and he realises he's on Moya.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. Captain Crais in "Thanks for Sharing", through not without cause as his ship had been attacked and he's woken StrappedToAnOperatingTable (because no-one on Moya trusts him) being cared for by Jool, whom he's never met before. Crais grabs Jool by the neck and demands to be released--Jool responds by jabbing a huge frelling syringe into his leg and [[RunningGag screaming her head off]]. Crais only calms down when John Crichton and Aeryn Sun enter with their guns drawn, and he realises he's on Moya.

** ''Literature/FeetOfClay'' has an apparently dead-drunk Vimes slam an approaching man's hand into a drawer before waking up (he wasn't drunk, but was very much sleeping). Even better, the man was the head of the Assassin's Guild, who take AsskickingEqualsAuthority and KlingonPromotion very seriously.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* This is essentially the root of the saying "Let sleeping dogs lie." Dogs are unpredictable when awakened and some indeed do wake up in fighting mode.
[[/folder]]