Chapter 1
Update!
"I'm not entirely sure about this, kid. Are you sure it will work?" Mr. Litwak asked while rubbing the back of his neck, watching the game carefully as the technician messed with cords in the back. The 'kid' sat up, revealing himself to be almost 30-years-old, proving to be long past those days. However, he didn't mind the arcade owner calling him a kid, it'd become a nickname to him since his first visit to the arcade.
"Positive. All I'm doing is connecting information from the later version, and 'Petitioning' it onto the hard drives of the existing game. Well, not really that, but a process pretty similar. That way I'm not messing with the old information while adding in the new."
Litwak just stared at the man and blinked twice. "Ah," he commented with a simple nod of understanding, regardless of the fact that he had no idea what the repairer was talking about. The technician himself had been a former customer of the arcade many times; from prepubescent years to early adult hood. Not an every day face of the arcade, he was definitely present at least three times a week, making him a familiar face of the arcade regularly.
A week ago, he'd gotten a call from the long forgotten youth once he'd graduated and started going to a college for technical services. He said he wanted to come by the place and check out all his old favorites. Needless to say, when he had showed up, the man was ecstatic to see Fix-it Felix Jr. still fixing the day away. Reminiscing in all the memories of his childhood, the grown-man stood with his face practically pressed against the glass to clearly see all his favorites race across screen. Though he did notice that some games from his old visits were missing, and knew almost immediately that they had probably broken down and then unplugged. Once the overall excitement died down, it allowed the tech to explain why he'd come.
Because he was such a fan of the arcade as a child, and respected the old man greatly for keeping the place open to kids from newer generations, the technician offered to check and update any game; new or old. Skeptical at first, Litwak eventually agreed under one condition; Litwak would be allowed to watch anything done to his games. And the man was always true to his word; updating what could be and keeping the life on all that couldn't.
The game receiving an update now, however, was not new. Sugar Rush Speedway was plugged in around 1997, and fancy games that could receive updates didn't exist yet. The technician had explained, however, that new versions had been released. He was determined to pay Mr. Litwak back for all of the amazing childhood experiences in his arcade that led him to become an arcade machine technician; professionally. He wanted to have the game updated without the old man having to completely buy a new machine that had all the latest features. Not that much had changed, but he felt that it was the least he could do, especially for one of his favorite games.
"So the computer that you're hooking this up to… it has to stay connected all day?"
The Technician stood up and squeezed out from between all the games, dusting his hands off and opening the computer in question.
"Yeah. This laptop here is the strongest one my company's got. It should be able to do the trick, but it will have to stay plugged in for a day. The downside is, I only have one cord that fits into the outlet of the game."
"Well why's that bad?" Mr. Litwak asked, shrugging. The technician grimaced and picked up a section of the cord, showing off an area where the covering had been stripped away to show off the colorful assortment of wires hidden beneath its flesh. Letting out a low whistle, the old man looked at the wire, then back up at the technician with a pained expression on his face.
"That won't affect the update, would it?"
"No, but it would affect a kid who steps on this part. Do you have a mat to cover it for now?" the technician asked.
Nodding, Mr. Litwak walked over the front doors and rolled up the large welcome mat. The Technician showed agreement while rolling the kart housing the laptop and other supplies securely between two games where it fit snugly. The owner of the arcade covered the walkway and dusted his own hands off like the technician had done before. Both stood for a moment and admired his handy work, as the logo to Sugar Rush Speedway faded to a screen of black. The sole occupant had become a candy cane, the familiar red and white slowly swirling its way from one end to the other. With thirty minutes until opening the arcade, Litwak sighed and put an 'Out of Order' sign on the screen, so no kids tried to play while the update was in progress.
The technician looked down at his watch and smiled, still impressed with himself and the job he had done on the games.
"Twenty five minutes until opening, Mr. Litwak. May I… go play some Hero's Duty and check out the new weapon selecting features that I added?" the technician asked with a hopeful smile on his face. The old man snickered and shook his head side to side. He uncrossed his arms, pointing his thumb in the direction of the front doors, and with a grin he said, "Arcade's not open. Go wait outside with the rest of the kids."
Hanging his head in mock disappointment, the technician exited the doors to wait with the other children that had gathered, passing Litwak one last smile.
As soon as that 'Out of Order' sign was stuck onto the screen of Sugar Rush Speedway, Ralph had bolted straight for the candy-coated game that was home to his best friend. Not only had he panicked, smashed his fists into a few things, and left Felix a 'small' mess to clean up, but he had also ran out of the game without explanation. The Nicelanders were more than likely disturbed with this recent behavior, especially with the arcade so close to opening. Most of them cried out after him, but he wouldn't listen; not even taking the train and running straight through the tunnel all the way to Game Central Station.
An alarm went off as soon as he entered the station, but before Surge could appear and announce a 'random security check,' the same alarm had gone off a second time as he passed through the entrance to Sugar Rush without stopping. Surge looked up from his clipboard, usually not having to do so, but clearly he had missed whatever alarm tripping entity that refused to follow the rules. Scowling, Surge was about to pixel out, back to his 'office' so to say, when he was nearly toppled over by the good guy of the first game notified.
"Mornin' friend. Have you seen Ralph come through?"
"That… was Ralph..!? Surge's bewildered look went from Felix to the entrance to the candy-coated haven, somehow expecting the nine foot tall nuisance to still be stomping around. To be honest he wasn't entirely surprised that it was him that tripped the alarms, but usually he had the decency to at least stop.
"Yes he… sort of stormed out on us last minute. I'm not sure why. Do you know where he went by chance?"
Surge pointed Felix towards Sugar Rush before he quickly began running in that direction. Honestly, he should have guessed that Ralph had been heading to Sugar Rush in the first place; though with acting the way he was, Felix wasn't going to assume anything.
Ralph had just about made it to Sugar Rush when he was stopped. Suddenly in front of him was an out of breath Felix, who had practically sprinted the whole cord to the game just to catch up with him.
"What is wrong with you?!" Felix demanded, putting his fists on his hips and trying to not look so winded while doing so. His chest still heaved as he stared up at Ralph, his gaze half annoyed, half curious.
"Did you not see 'Out of Order' sign on Sugar Rush?!" Ralph demanded, walking around Felix, continuing across the rainbow bridge and heading down to the racetrack. Before he could take another step, though, he was abruptly stopped again, to his annoyance, but this time by a smaller character.
"Hiya, bigfoot!" Vanellope beamed as she smiled up at Ralph. Confused as to why she was smiling and being… well… Vanellope, Ralph picked up the pint-sized girl and examined her as if something were off about her. Felix was beside him now too, appearing worried now that he knew of the sign placed on Vanellope's game.
"What are you doing? You two are looking at me like I just blew up the whole arcade…"
"Is your game all right?!" Felix asked. Now the girl, too, looked confused, her gaze shifting between the two scared and anguished faces of her friends.
"Wh…Why do you ask?" she questioned, voice shaking with her own fear as she was completely unsure of their behavior.
"Oh, geez, I don't know," Ralph started, shrugging and looking away for a moment; acting like himself again, "Maybe it could have something to do with the sign on your game?!"
"Oh! That's what I was on my way to come see you guys for, stinkbrain!" Vanellope beamed again, and pointed behind her, gesturing at the whole of Sugar Rush.
That was when the two finally noticed exactly what was going on.
Every inch of the game's sky had changed from its usual clear blue with puffy pink clouds, to a dark, near black shade. The clouds themselves were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sky, and seemed low to the ground, but not menacing at all. Light blue lighting flashed here and there, with no thunder following, and still appearing to be harmless. Most of all, the clouds were spinning in a large circle, appearing almost as if a huge hurricane was hovering directly above the game, and the eye of it was just over the finish/starting line.
Before either character from Fix-It Felix Jr. could ask what was going on, Vanellope leapt up in excitement.
"We're getting updated!"