"...No one will ever like you...Why bother trying?..."
Flash was silent as the monorail had reached its destination, the central hub of Game Central Station. He was having a constant battle with his own thoughts, not sure whether to be excited or worried. He hoped endlessly that things would be alright and no one would judge him. The vehicle came to a stop and Flash, Ralph, and Vanellope had hopped off.
"Welcome to Game Central Station." Said the same voice on the PA.
"Didn't think I would hear that again." Flash chuckled, with low expectations.
Vanellope grabbed Flash's hand and pulled him out into the open. Everywhere, characters walked and conversed with each other, just like a year ago. The sounds of 8-bit padding and chatter filled the air.
"C'mon, Flash! You're gonna love it out here!"
"Hold up, Vanellope!" Ralph called, trailing. "We don't even know where to go first."
"$&!?%#!$#!" A garbled electronic sound that sounded like speech was heard.
Coming from Fix-It Felix Jr. was a familiar face to Flash. A small orange ball with feet, two eyes, and an elephant-like snout walked toward the three.
"Hey Q*bert." Ralph greeted.
"?&$!%%!" He responded cheerfully.
"Hey! It's you!" Flash said.
"You know him, Flash?" Vanellope asked.
"Yeah. I met him a year ago on my first time out here. So how are things going at your game?"
Q*bert gave a sad look to Flash, as if something happened. Flash didn't understand why. Ralph shared the same look.
"What's wrong?"
"Uh...Flash, Q*bert's game was unplugged a few months after you saw him." Vanellope said.
"Oh...I'm sorry to hear that."
"&?!%$!" Q*bert said with a happier expression.
"You don't have to. We took him and his friends in and gave them a home in my game. They help out in the bonus levels."
"Really? That's great to hear."
"?!$*%*?!"
"Well, we'll see you later, buddy." Ralph said to Q*bert.
"Bye." Flash said.
"$&?!"
The trio walked off, saying goodbye. Flash was happy to know that there were some people like Ralph and Felix to help out abandoned characters like Q*bert. "If only more people were like that." He thought.
"Ralph! I know where we can go first!" Vanellope said excitedly, while hopping up and down. "Let's go to Pac-Man. We can play hide and seek in the maze."
"Okay. Let's go."
Vanellope briskly paced over to the Pac-Man train, with Flash and Ralph following.
"First stop, Pac-Man!" Vanellope whooped.
All three got on the train and after a quick ride, they got off at the Pac-Man Station and entered into the dark maze, illuminated only by the blue light shining on the top of the walls.
"This game is a lot simpler than yours, Flash, so don't expect too much." Vanellope said.
Flash looked around in the maze and was amazed by how different it was to his own game.
"This place is unbelievable." He said.
"First time I heard that about our game." Said a voice.
Flash was startled and turned to look behind him. He saw a small orange ghost, floating in front of him.
"Hi. My name is Clyde." The ghost greeted cheerfully.
"...Uh...Hi..." Flash hesitated to say.
"Hey, Clyde." Ralph greeted.
"Hey, Ralph. Bad-Anon Meeting on Wednesday, and tell Zombie he left his hatchet here."
"Alright. Do you mind if we play in here? Vanellope wants to help out our hedgehog friend, Flash."
"No problem. I'm just gonna head out to find Inky, Blinky, and Pinky. Luigi is having a haunted mansion party tonight. Anyone can come in."
"That's cool. We'll see you there then."
Clyde had exited back to the station, leaving Flash, Vanellope, and Ralph alone in the game.
"Alright, I'll be it first, you two can go and hide." Ralph said.
He covered his eyes and faced the wall to begin counting.
"1...2..."
"Follow me, Flash!" Vanellope said as she dragged him with her.
"Whoa!"
Vanellope and Flash ran around, turning corners, trying to get as far away from Ralph as possible.
"5...6...7..."
"Stay quiet and step lightly. We don't want him to hear us."
"Okay."
"10!"
Flash and Vanellope snuck around the dark maze, keeping a low profile. Surprisingly, Ralph was also light on his feet for a big guy. Flash felt sort of excited. He felt like this is what he would feel if he was actually played as, like if he was on an adventure. The two walked through the corridors making occasional turns. Still no sign of Ralph.
"Where is he?" Vanellope whispered.
They were nearing a corner and Ralph jumped out, rushing to grab them.
"Gotcha!"
"AAH!" Both of them yelled.
They turned around to try and get away from Ralph. Flash and Vanellope began laughing as they ran. Flash was actually having fun, something that he doesn't experience very often. In the excitement, he crackled into cyan binary and teleported against the wall. He tripped after running his foot on the wall and fell over.
"0w...01"
Vanellope stopped and ran back to help Flash. Ralph stopped and knelt down next to them.
"Hey, Sneakers, you okay?" Vanellope asked.
Flash rubbed his head and dusted himself off as he got up.
"I'm fine. Just lost control of myself there. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to glitch again." He responded.
"You know, Flash, you can't stop yourself from glitching." Vanellope said.
"Yeah, well, what can I do?" He said, down on himself.
"Do what I do." Vanellope sparked blue for a second then disappeared. "Use it to your advantage." She said behind Flash.
"Whoa! How did you do that?"
"I taught myself how. It's not too hard."
"Do you think you could...teach me how to do that?" Flash asked timidly.
"Of course. Let's go over to my game. We'll have more room over there."
"Alright."
"C'mon, Stinkbrain. We've got some glitchin' to do."
The trio made their way onto the train back to Game Central. During the ride, Flash became curious.
"Vanellope?"
"Yeah, Sneakers?"
"How is it that you are a main character in your game while you're also a...glitch?"
"Long story short, I wasn't always a glitch. This guy named Turbo wanted to take over my game, so he tried to delete my code. Major Body Odor here came along and helped me reset the game so that I could be in the game again, but I decided to keep the glitching." Vanellope explained
"Wow. That's quite a story." Flash remarked, impressed.
"...Freak..."
"What?" Flash asked
"What is it, Flash?" Ralph wondered.
"Did you hear something?"
"No."
"I thought I heard a voice."
"Maybe it was just in your head." Vanellope suggested.
"Yeah, maybe you're right."
Flash put aside whatever he had heard and set his mind on what will happen. If things go well and he can glitch to his advantage, maybe he will be able to be a playable character. Flash, Ralph and Vanellope reached Game Central and
Vanellope began leading the way to her game. While walking through the station, Flash saw a familiar face he wished he wouldn't see. Across from him and the others walking their way was Bowser. Flash remembered what happened a year ago...
"...YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE OR ANYWHERE IN THIS ARCADE! FILTHY GLITCH!"
Flash hid behind Ralph, shivering in fear.
"What's wrong, Flash?" Ralph asked.
"Don't let that guy see me." He explained, pointing at Bowser.
"What? Bowser? Look kid, he may be a cold-blooded king of koopas, but outside the game, he's nice guy." Ralph said, assuringly.
"Trust me. He wouldn't be very happy to see me." Flash tried to convince Ralph. "Here he comes!" He gasped, hiding behind Ralph.
"Ralph! What's going on!" Bowser greeted brightly.
"Uh...Hey Bowser!" Ralph said, making sure to hide Flash behind him. "Not much. Just playing with President Von Schweetz here. By the way, there's gonna be a Bad-Anon meeting Wednesday."
"Alright. I'll see you there then. You going to Luigi's party?"
"You bet."
"Great! See you later. Bye Vanny."
"Later, Turtle Shell." Vanellope saluted.
Bowser waved good bye, heading to Tappers.
"Alright, Flash. You can come out now." Vanellope called.
Flash padded back out in the open, breathing heavily.
"I just saw...my code...flash before my eyes." He gasped.
"What's the deal with you and Bowser?" Ralph asked.
"I don't want to talk about it." Flash remarked flatly.
"Are you sure? We could help you out. That's what we're here for, right?" Vanellope reasoned.
Flash pondered for a moment.
"Okay, but let's talk on the train."
"We're already there." Vanellope said, pointing to the portal that was right next to them. Over the portal were red words saying "Sugar Rush". The three walked in and climbed onto a colorful red train that looked like it was made of hard candy.
"Please avoid licking the train. That would make it all sticky and yucky." Vanellope noted.
With a toot of the whistle, the train was off toward a new game.
"Next stop, Sugar Rush!" She hollered.
A/N: Sorry for the delay. Had been busy with a lot of schoolwork.