A sideways, platform scroller is what I had been. With various power ups, guns and evil, half-robot monsters. 8 bits of hard drive created me, all alone with a few, faceless background characters. I mean, literally faceless. I always wondered why they didn't have faces. No eyes, no mouths, not even a nose. It creeped me out sometimes.

I've been here at the arcade for 2 years now and I'm neither popular or unpopular. It really just depends on the day. The name of my game is Jungle Fever. My name? Jungle Girl. Real creative, right? I was nicknamed by the gamers "Jay-G", literally spelled like that. I jump up and down across my screen, eagerly awaiting for the arcade to open.

"Lets get this started!"

A soft, echoey voice announces that a quarter has been inserted. I stand ready at the start. The player controls what I do and when I do it. I shoot bugs and bounce across the screen. I loved how high I could jump. But the power up I loved most were my super boots. I could jump ontop of, and smash everything in my way.

Of course, after the arcade closes, I go over to Tappers to have some fun. I occasionally travel to other games, but not really. Today was different though. I was getting a small upgrade to my game! I've been waiting weeks for this upgrade, and it was finally here!

It was in the middle of a game when the arcade closes the kid doesn't bother to finish and just walks away. I cry out as a bug eats me, marking it as game over. I regenerate in the same spot and walk away, headed towards the bridge that would take me to Game Central Station. The entire world seems to rumble as I can see the outlet being pulled away from game central station.

I break out into a run as pixels fall apart, wires spark. I could see my coding flash before my eyes. I make a wild jump, but am suddenly sucked back by an unknown force. I see one of the many larger species of bugs in the game dragging me back down. I scream out as I could feel my own coding being ripped apart and turned into nothing but junk pixels as my game is unplugged.

The downside to upgrading a game. It has to be unplugged.

Cold. Cold and dark... With multi-colored pixels and wires. This is what my life has become. Not a single memory, no friends, no family. No point. Alone in the dark, wandering aimlessly. I didn't feel very together, some of me was over there, some over here. I couldn't see, only feel. How did I feel? Alone. Very... Very... Alone.

Who am I? I don't know. Where am I? I don't know that either. What do I know? Nothing. I don't even know why I'm still conscious. All the others have faded away, every pixelated tree has died, yet I'm still here. I suddenly feel a burst of energy, from who knows where. Suddenly... I'm me. I have a body, clothes... Do I have a voice?

I was afraid. It was still dark, I was still alone. Suddenly, another burst of energy. A phrase, lodged deep into my mind and my coding. I grin, standing on what seemed to be ground. Pixels flicker to life all around me.

"Lets get this started!" I half shout, half laugh.

The pixels take the form of trees, dirt roads appear beneath my feet. Buildings spring up from the ground, then a forest. My memories return, both gamer and personal. Now that I think about it, it looks a lot more different. The town of... Uh... Hmm. The town of what? I'll probably remember later.

But as I was saying, it seemed more high definition. Realistic. The sun shined brightly as more pixels form more people. I look down at my smooth hands, colored light brown. I look down at my clothes to the best of my ability. I wore a spotted, leopard tank top and tiger-striped shorts. I grin and jump around excitedly.

"I can't believe this! I'm real! I'm alive!" I squeal.

As the man walks away with his cart, leaving the new game plugged in and starting up in time for the arcade opening. The new game was still a sideways scroller, but allowed up to 4 players at a time. You could do 2 things: Story Mode or Fight Mode. There was a joystick and 4 buttons to use. What was the name of this game? Jungle Fever 2, the upgraded version of Jungle Fever.

"Hey, a new game!"

"Cool!"

"Come play with me!"

"Your going down!"

~~~(Later that day)~~~

I go to the mini tavern that was used to select your character. I wanted to truly meet the new characters. They were a lot taller than me, not to mention buffer. I stare up at them with a goofy grin.

"Hey, I'm Jay-G! You guys must be the new characters!" I wave. "What are your names?"

They give me funny looks. The biggest one, a guy with pitch black hair leans down and stares at me.

"I never noticed, but your actually very tiny." He nudges me with his huge hand.

"Hey!" I stumble back, slightly offended.

"I think they forgot to upgrade you while they were at it." A red-headed girl teases. "Can you even hold a gun?"

"Yes!" I scowl.

"Aww, don't be such a baby. We're just joking!" A blonde jokes.

"Whatever." I roll my eyes. "Can I just know your names?"

"Whatever, pipsqueak." The black-haired guy shrugs. "Call me Drake."

"I'm Rose!" The red-head pipes in.

Of course.

"The names' Violet." The black-haired girl looks down at me.

"And I'm Chris." The blonde adds.

There's this awkward silence as they stare some more. I cross my arms and tap my foot, raising my eyebrows in annoyance.

"Are you sure you're part of this game?" Chris leans down to my height.

"YES!" I throw my hands up. "Just because I'm not 6 feet tall doesn't mean I'm not apart of this game!"

"Oh yeah? Then where's your gun?" Rose narrows her eyes.

I walk over to the Inventory closet and pull out an automatic with an attached blaster. I prop it on my shoulder and walk back, gesturing to it with a smug look.

"Wow, she can hold a gun." Violet jokes. "But that one's a lot smaller than ours,"

"Whatever, I can hold any gun, anytime and shoot it better than any of you." I snap, sick of their constant teasing.

I cry out in surprise as Drake drops his gun on me, barely giving me the chance to try catching it. I end up trapped under it, on the floor. I kick and shriek angrily as I try to push it off and stand back up. The others burst into laughter, banging on the table and slapping Drake on the back.

"I hate you guys!" I manage to scoot out from under the gigantic weapon. I stand up and dust myself off.

With a final glare, I turn and walk away. I go back into Inventory and search around for one of my power ups from the original(things that were rarely achieved in this new version). I pick up a small box that had the picture of a wheel on it. I take it outside and set the box down. I jump on top of it, then bounce back.

The small box transforms into a bright orange motorcycle. I hop on it and take off into the always-sunny land. I shudder slightly as I run over a bug, it's guts splattering across the front of my shirt. I speed up and turn a sudden corner.

I race up a hill, going over the edge. I close my eyes and breath a sigh of relief as the wind blows through my hair. I land heavily on the ground and loop through the pixelated mountains. I pull out my gun as the bugs finally take notice of me. I shoot them all, very uncaring of the bug goo splashing all over me and my motorcycle.

Once I reach the midway point of the mountain, I stop and turn around. I barrel down the mountain path at break neck speeds. As I go over the jump, I smile a bit as I see outside the screen into the arcade. I start to fishtail as I hit the ground, but I quickly get it under control. I head for the bridge that leads to Game Central Station.

I slow my motorcycle down and hop off, the thing automatically morphing back into its box form. I stick it in the bushes and cross the bridge for the first time in awhile. I blink in surprise at all the unrecognizable games. I walk and look around curiously. How long was I unplugged?

I smirk, glad to see Tappers still exists. I go into the game portal and enjoy myself. I sit in a chair and look around. I quickly get the bartenders attention.

"Hey, remember me?" I wave.

"Of course I do, Jay-G! Your alive!" He replies, cleaning a mug with his towel.

"Alive...?" I give him a questioning look.

"Yeah, your game was unplugged 10 years ago. You never made it out."

"T-T-Ten years?"

"Glad to see the plugged it back in though." He looks back. "Oh, gotta go!"

I stare off into space, a bit shocked at this revelation. I've been fading into useless pixels for 10 years. I'm amazed I even survived. But then, after those 10 years, the creators decided to forget me and just make a sequel. A sequel with the most jerkiest characters ever.

I groan and rub my head. "I can't believe this..."

As I think about it, there's gotta be at least one game that's still here that I'm on good terms with. I mean... Pacman hates me. I went into his game one day after the arcade closed and ate all the pellets and fruits out of most of the levels while he was practicing. Those things aren't very filling, that's for sure. The only one that doesn't threaten my life is Fix-It Felix Jr.

So that's where I'm headed.

I leave tappers and head for Fix-It Felix Jr., then am almost run down by Sonic. I jump back as he speeds past me, pushing up a gust of wind. I squeak and walk more carefully. I make it to the right game safely and hop onto the old train car.

I go through a tunnel and the Penthouse comes into view. Not only the penthouse, but also a bunch of new buildings. I step off the train and go into the building Ralph was suppose to wreck everyday. After some wandering, I find Felix's floor.

"Fix-it! Hey!" I bang on the door.

It swings open and I'm greeted with a grin from the intensely happy go lucky handyman. Well... He probably wouldn't be a good carpenter without that hammer of his. But whatever. He's a friend... Who I hope remembers me.

"Jay? Your back!" He waves me in. "Come inside, take a seat. Long time no see!"

"Yeah, it's been awhile... 10 years actually." I mutter. "And then I come back and everyone in my new game hates me."

"What's that, Jay?"

"Nothing."

I sit on the edge of the table and sigh. I felt so... I felt like a stranger. I knew everyone, but at the same time I didn't. Not a very good feeling, just in case you didn't know.

"So... What did I miss?" I ask with a sigh.

"Well..."

I attempt to fix my position on the slightly to small furniture and hear a loud crack as the table splits and sends me crashing to the ground. I don't know why, I guess I just had enough for one day, but I burst out in tears.

"Jiminey, jaminey! Jay, it's okay! I can fix it!" Felix produces his magical, golden hammer out of nowhere.

"No you can't, I destroyed iiiiiit!" I hug a piece of table. "I'm too small for my own game, to big for this game! And I broke your taa-bllle!"

"It's fine, really!" Fix-It taps the table and it fixes itself. "See? It's like it never happened."

"...I'm being dramatic again, aren't I?" I sniff.

"Maybe, a little bit. But not really."

I sigh and stay sitting on the floor, afraid of breaking something else and going into another breakdown. I cross my legs and stare at Fix-It.

"So, continuing my previous question..."

"Oh! You didn't miss much, just a few new games is all."

"New games!? Really? I love the newbies, they're always so sweet and innocent... Then they meet Ralph."

"Ralph isn't that bad."

"You just keep believing that Fix-It... So tell me about these new games!"
"Well, there's quite a few! There's Sugar Rush and Heroes Duty-"

I break off into a fit of giggles, "Hehe. Doody."

"Not that kind of duty!"

? P.O.V

That stupid, literally pint-sized brat. She thinks she's important? She thinks she can just waltz in here, somehow surviving 10 years of deletion, and act like everything's normal? Those stupid bugs were suppose to make sure she was dead, make room for me. Just goes to show; never let a bug do what you can do yourself.

I'll handle her soon enough. If I get lucky, she'll leave the game herself with the way the others treat her. Yes... They were programmed just right. I'm bigger and better than her. I'll kill her myself if I have to! The moment her upgrade was to be delayed was the day of her downfall and my uprising... And I will garuntee that it stays that way.

There's not enough room in this console for the both of us.