Chapter 1: Preparing For The Storm
"Location: Litwak's Arcade, The World Of Disney, October 22nd 2108"
It was another busy day in the arcade. Like all of the other days before, gamers were playing whatever games they wanted. However, while they were playing, Litwak had checked the weather and saw that there was going to be a storm the next day. He became afraid because the storm could potentially cause the power to go out and the games to power down. And if that happened, then the game characters could possibly have their memories wiped out. He then decided to have the arcade prepare for the storm after closing.
Eventually, it was closing time at the arcade. Once the last of the gamers had left, Litwak told the game characters about the storm. He then turned out the lights and left the arcade, locking the doors behind him.
Meanwhile, the characters in each game were hit with a wave of dread and doubt, practically paralyzed in fear.
"What are we going to do? Our memories could be wiped if our games power down!" Ralph wondered frantically, accidentally breaking the side of the apartment building in Niceland with his outburst.
Ralph had said it, but the other game characters were all thinking it.
"I have to think.. I got to think.. This isn't fair! I have the recognition that I've longed for, and I have so many friends... some of whom would disappear if our game got shut down. They aren't part of the game, so they'll die." Ralph thought.
Ralph slumped against the Niceland building next to the hole that he made.
"Everything that I've worked so hard for will disappear in an instant. Even if things only go back to the way they were... Vanellope... the thought of forgetting her. How we met, and how I saved her game and life..." Ralph thought.
Ralph got sick to his stomach. His eyes welled with tears and he could feel the rage building inside of him. He clenched his fists and breathed heavily through his nose, trying to calm himself down but failing.
Before Ralph had a chance to topple the building in his sudden grief-stricken rage, an alarm went off near the mine carts that led to Game Central Station, and an announcement could be heard signaling everyone there.
As the characters of Fix-It Felix Jr. left their game, they could hear a new repeating announcement that replaced the usual warning that Sonic said about characters leaving their games. Clyde could be seen on the screens.
"Attention, everyone. Please remain calm and report to the entrance of Tapper's. We are having an emergency meeting to discuss what we can do to keep the damage that may occur to a minimum." Clyde announced calmly.
The game characters nodded and most of them headed to the entrance of Tapper's. Once they were there, the message was replaced with a live broadcast from the entrance of Tapper's, so that everyone could see and hear it without needing to actually be there. A loud echoing sound reverberated throughout Game Central Station as Zangief tapped the mic, since Clyde had no hands to do it himself.
"Thank you, Zangief." Clyde said calmly.
Zangief stepped to the side and Clyde floated up to the mic.
"Now everyone, I know things are a bit hectic right now with the sudden news. But we do have a plan of action." Clyde announced.
Clyde smiled faintly, looking over the crowd. He paused to give everyone a moment to sigh in relief and then announced with a warm reassuring smile "Vanellope has offered sanctuary in Sugar Rush to those characters whose games erase their highscores and characters memories if they power down during the storm.".
Vanellope glitched onto the podium and took the mic from Clyde.
"That's right. You see, before our game was plugged in, Sugar Rush's programmers always meant to make the game have an increasing roster of racers, so our game has a large amount of unused space. However, the programmers never got around to making new characters." Vanellope explained.
Vanellope then placed the mic back on the podium, glitched over to where Ralph, Felix, Tamora, and Turbo were standing, and gave them a smirk.
"You are all coming with me." Vanellope said to Ralph, Felix, Tamora, and Turbo.
Clyde floated back up to the mic and continued to speak.
"The characters of E-Z Livin' 2 have also extended a similar invitation, since multiple instances of the same few characters are used no matter what location is loaded at the time, so their game can easily accommodate a large amount of characters. We have until tomorrow to prepare, so please decide on your game of choice before then. That is all." Clyde announced.
With that, Clyde concluded the meeting and headed back to Pac-Man in order to pack up a few spare bodies, just in case if he died during the storm.
Almost everyone else then left in a bit of a hurry. Once they were gone, Vanellope turned to Ralph, Felix, Tamora, and Turbo.
"This will be great! It's just like a sleepover!" Vanellope said as she jumped around in excitement.
However, Ralph had his doubts. He felt like something bad was going to happen during the storm.
"Vanellope, I can't shake the feeling that not everything will go as planned." Ralph said, hesitantly.
"It'll be fine, Stinkbrain." Vanellope said with a confident smirk.
"Yeah." Ralph said skeptically, his brow still furrowed. He then thought "I hope your right, Vanellope. And I hope that nothing bad happens.".