Late at night, in a treehouse in the middle of Dragon Valley, two friends are having an argument.
"How much longer are you going to play that game?" Lilac asks.
"Come on Lilac, it's a classic!" Carol responds, her eyes fixed on the television, her thumbs playing over the controller in her hands with speed and dexterity.
"So you keep saying," Lilac states flatly. "I just don't get the appeal."
"Really?" Carol asks in disbelief. "It's a game where you run fast and collect shiny rings. I'd've thought you'd like that."
"What makes you think that?" Lilac asks, waiting for the inevitable friendly jibe.
"You like running fast and collecting shiny things," Carol teases.
She is, of course, absolutely right. "I'm not bothered about collecting shiny things," Lilac fibs.
"Explain those gems under your pillow then," Carol smirks.
"Emergency funds?" Lilac offers.
"Nice try," Carol smirks.
"OK, I'll concede," Lilac sighs. "But if I want to run fast and collect shiny things, I can do that in real life. Why would I want to also do that in a videogame?"
"Because it's fun!" Carol grins.
"Makes sense, I guess," Lilac mumbles.
"No, no, no, no, no! Ancients darn it!" Carol suddenly exclaims.
"What happened?" Lilac asks.
"Lost my last life and got 'Game Over'," Carol grumbles. "I almost had him this time…"
"You'll get him next time," Lilac assures. "But right now, we should get some sleep. We have a full schedule tomorrow, and we'll need all the energy we can get."
"OK," Carol relents, shutting off the games console.
As the girls leave the den and head for the bedroom, they hear the game start up again.
"Didn't you just turn that off?" Lilac asks, confused.
"I'm sure I did," Carol answers. "I guess not."
Carol returns to the console and turns it off again. But as she turns to head to the bedroom, it reactivates itself.
"Come on Carol, stop messing around," Lilac sighs.
"I'm not messing around!" Carol protests, turning the console off a third time. "See? I'm turning it off."
The console reactivates itself again.
"I'll turn it off then," Lilac states, her patience wearing thin. She strides up to the console and turns it off. "There, done. Now, let's go to b‑"
The console reactivates itself.
"What on Avalice?" Lilac turns the console off again, only for it to reactivate itself. Lilac tries a few more times, but no matter how firmly she turns it off, the console always springs back to life.
"See?" Carol asks.
"The switch must be broken," Lilac concludes. "Pull the power."
"OK." Carol disconnects the power supply.
The console doesn't switch off.
"OK, now I'm starting to get concerned," Lilac states, her tone belying her growing nervousness.
Carol tries to disconnect the video cable, but it won't move. "Uh‑oh…"
"What?" Lilac asks.
"I can't disconnect it from the TV."
"This is starting to freak me out…"
"Me too…"
"Is it getting colder in here?"
"A little, yeah."
"I think we should‑" Lilac begins.
Suddenly, two arcs of pure energy burst from the console and wrap themselves around Lilac and Carol, immobilising them.
"What the… I can't move!" Carol exclaims, trying hard not to panic.
"Me neither!" Lilac replies, struggling to remain in control herself.
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know… I'll try to think of something."
"Make it quick, Miss Heropants!"
"I'm trying!"
"Try harder! I think something bad's about to‑"
There's a sudden flash of light. When it dissipates, the girls are nowhere to be seen.
Lilac is the first to stir. "Ugh, what happened?" she asks, opening her eyes slowly. "Carol? Where are you?"
"…five more minutes…" Carol mumbles, rolling over on the grass.
Lilac stiffly props herself up on all fours and looks around at the emerald hills that surround her and her friend. "Where are we? This isn't Dragon Valley… I'm not even sure this is Avalice."
"What are you talking about?" Carol murmurs, opening her eyes. "I'm trying to… Um, where are we?" she asks as she sits up.
"I don't know," Lilac answers as she stands. "Everything looks… I'm not sure how to describe it."
Carol surveys their surroundings. "Pixellated," she concludes.
"This is going to sound crazy," Lilac admits, "but I think we might have been transported into your videogame."
"You're right, that does sound crazy," Carol agrees as she stands. "It also appears to be true. How do we get out?"
"Well, I don't see any doors or anything nearby," Lilac observes. "And it seems there's only one direction we can go in, so…"
"You'll have to play Sonic the Hedgehog 2 after all," Carol concludes.