Chapter 1: Arriving In An Alternate Present
Note: Overdrive is owned by supersaiyanjin219.
"Location: Litwak's Arcade, The World Of Disney, April 16th 2109"
One day, Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle were arriving at the arcade after a long day. Earlier that morning, Candi had found Peter's old DeLorean time machine in a tunnel at the castle, and she had suggested to Swizzle and Adorabeezle that they should go to another time and see what it was like. They agreed and visited the time of the dinosaurs in the real world at the beginning of time. After exploring for a bit, they got back into the DeLorean and returned to 2109.
The DeLorean started slowing down from 88 while hovering in the air, thanks to an anti-gravity that Peter had installed while building it back in 2015. Swizzle and Adorabeezle looked around nervously. Candi, who was driving, had chosen to take them to the nighttime of their date.
"Are we back?" Swizzle asked.
Candi glanced down at the time circus and nodded.
"We're back." Candi replied.
She looked down and spotted Niceland. She dived down and landed beside the apartment. Swizzle and Adorabeezle jumped out from the DeLorean, and they turned back to Candi.
"If you need me, I'll be at my castle." Candi said.
Adorabeezle nodded.
"Alright, Candi." Adorabeezle said.
Swizzle turned around and frowned in confusion.
"Hey, guys? Is it me or does Niceland seem... different?" Swizzle asked.
Candi and Adorabeezle turned around. Sure enough, there was a lack of activity and silence, which was unusual for the game. There was also newspapers and trash on the ground, and the ground floor of the apartment building was covered with graffiti. But the strangest thing was that East Niceland was no longer there. Candi got out of the DeLorean and frowned.
"That's weird. Where is everyone? And what happened to the game?" Candi asked.
Adorabeezle frowned.
"I don't know." Adorabeezle replied.
Suddenly, the apartment door opened up, and someone appeared in the doorway. The figure noticed Swizzle and Adorabeezle, and they gasped.
"Swizzle? Adorabeezle?" the figure asked.
Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle turned around. Standing before them was Rancis, but he looked different. His face looked smaller, his hair was messy, and there were faint scars that crossed his body at several places.
"Rancis? What happened to you?" Candi asked in shock.
Rancis turned to Candi.
"Who are you?" Rancis asked in confusion.
Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle became confused.
"What do you mean? I'm your friend, remember? Candi DiCaramello Owens? I'm Crumbelina and Timothy's daughter." Candi replied.
Rancis frowned.
"What are you talking about? Crumbelina was never married and she never had a daughter, and I've never met you before in my life." Rancis replied, still not looking convinced.
Adorabeezle frowned.
"Well, can you at least tell us what happened here?" Adorabeezle asked.
Rancis hesitated to speak from a combination of faint memories and sorrow that flashed behind his eyes quickly. He began to think, seeing a few scenes of the past fly by in red hues. He took a moment to speak.
"Overdrive. He destroyed everything." Rancis replied with anger in his voice.
"Overdrive?" Candi, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle asked simultaneously, exchanging looks.
"He was a virus that took over Sugar Rush in 2012 and set himself up as our king." Rancis replied. He kicked the dirt in aggravation and explained "He's a monster. He kidnapped the glitch, Vanellope, and no one's seen her since. One by one, he took over every game, hacked it's coding, killed everyone, and turned some of the arcade's most beloved characters into monsters. They were like his minions, helping him kill off the competition and implanting codes into the games to keep them alive during an unplugging. I'm probably the only one left in the arcade that hasn't been affected.".
"Is... is there any way we can help?" Swizzle asked.
Rancis turned away.
"It would be too much to ask, and too dangerous." Rancis replied.
Candi frowned.
"Rancis, don't you remember that we're part of a super hero team called Sugar Rush? And Vanellope is our leader!" Candi asked.
Rancis raised an eyebrow.
"We were never super heroes! And Vanellope was never our leader! She's a glitch that wasn't supposed to exist!" Rancis replied angrily.
Adorabeezle frowned. Obviously, Rancis's memories were locked and he still thought that Vanellope was a glitch. But then she realized that worse things were more important to take care of then his memories.
"Come on, we're the only ones that know about all this, and you need help. We're your friends, Rancis. There's got to be something that we can do." Adorabeezle said.
"Even if you could help, it would be too dangerous and useless." Rancis said.
Rancis shut his eyes and tried wishing away the memories.
"We'll do what it takes." Candi said in a serious tone.
Rancis sighed and looked at her, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle.
"Well... from the knowledge that I have, Overdrive is unstoppable. Although... somthing tells me that Tapper knows what to do." Rancis explained.
"Tapper?" Swizzle asked.
Swizzle looked up through the console screen and saw the Tapper game cabinet. There seemed to be a blue and green blob of some sort in the corner, but the pixels made it blurry. He turned back to Rancis.
"Is the cord still available?" Swizzle asked.
Rancis nodded.
"Yes, it is. The only thing is that I haven't been out of this game in years. I have no idea what's out there waiting for you and what lurks in the games. All I know is that Tapper holds answers that could help all of us." Rancis replied.
Adorabeezle nodded.
"Alright then. Rancis, you stay here while we take care of Overdrive." Adorabeezle ordered.
Candi walked over to the DeLorean and activated a cloaking device for it. She, Swizzle, and Adorabeezle then ran off towards the exit to Niceland. As they ran, Candi turned to Swizzle and Adorabeezle.
"I don't get it, guys. It's like we're in a nightmare or something." Candi said.
"No, this is the arcade. It's just that everything is so wrong." Swizzle said.
Adorabeezle sighed.
"Guys, I think I know what happened. The time continuum has been disrupted, thus creating a new temporal event sequence resulting in an alternative reality." Adorabeezle explained.
"In English?" Candi asked.
"Somewhere in the past, the timeline skewed away from the 2012 that me and Swizzle remember into an alternate 2012. Alternative to the three of us, but reality for everyone else. I think Overload went back in time and made it so that all of the arcade became his." Adorabeezle replied.
"Okay then. We'll stop him and set things right." Swizzle said.
"But what about me? Rancis said that he didn't know me, that mom and dad never got married, and that mom never had me. Do I not exist in this timeline? And if so, how am I still here?" Candi asked.
Adorabeezle sighed.
"Yes, I'm afraid that you don't exist in this timeline. As for why you are still here, I think you caused a paradox. But don't worry. We'll fix everything." Adorabeezle replied.
"But why don't we just use the time machine to go back to 2012 and stop Overdrive then?" Swizzle asked.
"Because we don't know what date Overdrive went back to, and we need to find out how to defeat him before we go back." Adorabeezle replied.
Candi and Swizzle nodded, and they and Adorabeezle reached the cord that led out of the game. They took deep breaths before entering the tunnel of the cord.
