A/N: Sorry for the delay: needed to fix some grammar on the story.

Chapter 3

Ralph

"All clear, the arcade's closed!" I hear Yuni call from outside. I stand up from the mud puddle and rub the dirt off from my overalls.

I raise my head and call towards the forest. "Hey RJ, the arcade's closed. You can come out now."

RJ walks out of the trees, and as he did, his body bursts into green sparks again. The ground tremors again, this time with stronger intensity.

Felix hops down from above and lands beside us. He takes off his medal and shoves it in one of his pockets. After my previous quest for 'wreck-ognition', Felix had occasionally given me some of his medals as a sign that I should be rewarded for my wrecking in the game. I had offered to teach him some wrecking skills, but he had politely refused.

"You're gonna go and visit Tammy, right?" I tease Felix.

"Um…who's Tammy?" RJ asks in a hushed tone.

"His wife" I whisper back.

"Nah, I think I'll stay here tonight, in my game." Felix replies, "Why don't you show RJ around the game?" He asks back. For the whole time, I notice his eyes never left RJ, and they still cast a look of suspicion.

"Oh, can we Ralph? Can you show me?" RJ asks excitedly, clutching my arm.

"Um…yeah, sure." I mutter, although I had other plans for the night, mainly visiting Vanellope in Sugar Rush and swiping a few cherries from Pac-Man.

"Great," RJ says "so where shall we start?"

"And here," I say, pointing, "is East Niceland. This is where the guys from Q*bert and I live."

I had purposely put this as our last stop since this is near my home. Earlier, RJ and I had explored every inch of the forest, and RJ had even begged Felix and the Nicelanders to let us take us look at the building apartments. Of course, we both needed to climb up the side of the building to visit since we were both too tall for the lift, and only Felix was brave enough to let us visit his apartment and the penthouse, which I think RJ has taken a liking to.

"Q*bert? What kind of game is that?" RJ asks me.

"It's an old game, like us. Their game got unplugged ages ago, very unfortunate, so we invited them in our game. Apart from Q*bert, the rest now help me in the Bonus Level."

"So…why didn't I see them earlier in the game?"

I stop in my tracks: RJ did have a point; I didn't see them at all today. "Maybe today they just wanted a day off, that's all."

"Okay…" RJ mutters to himself, glitching again. The ground shakes a little beneath us. Suddenly, he gasps "what is that?!"

A round orange being with a long nose and legs runs towards us. I smile, "speak of the devil," and I pick him up. "How you're doing today, Q*bert?"

"*#&$% "

"And…what does that mean?" RJ asks, scratching his head.

"I think it simply means that he's fine," I say as I put Q*bert down again. Since we invited the guys from Q*bert, I have been trying to brush up my Q*bert-ese with the help of Felix. It hasn't been smooth sailing, I'll admit.

We walk further into East Niceland, and RJ gazes around in wonder at all the sights around him. Seeing him is like seeing a child taking his first steps into the wide open world.

"So, my brother, right?" I causally ask "why did you get locked up?"

RJ pauses for a moment, stopping in his tracks "Well, my parents found out that I was a glitch, so they didn't really want me. Then, um…they locked me up."

"What terrible parents." I mutter. "Well, it's a good thing that you were not deleted; but then again, it is pretty difficult to completely delete a character." I thought of Vanellope again. Which is when…

"Hey, actually I have some stuff I need to do tonight. I don't think you'd like that I throw you behind, so why don't you come with me?"

RJ's face slightly falls at my words, but then beams as he heard that he could join me. "Sure, why not?"

RJ

We head over to the train station, which is quite near East Niceland.

"Just in time." I hear Ralph say as the train smoothly glided into the station. The train is of the three cars joined together, each car allowing 2 characters, or in this case, 1 wrecker to sit in.

"After you," Ralph says, bowing and gesturing to the first car. I can't help giggling as I step into the car, squeezing in my body.

Ralph slips into the car behind me. The train jolts, and starts moving forward into the tunnel ahead.

"So what's the end point?" I ask.

"Game Central Station; A place where all characters meet and go to other games."

"Sounds cool." I say back.

When we get to the tunnel, I suddenly hear a loud buzzing noise and I look up. What seems like an opaque wall over the tunnel entrance is quickly descending. I gulp. "This cannot be good."

Turns out I was right: I slam into the wall and fall backwards, knocking Ralph over and tumbling onto the train tracks. I glance and see the now-empty train disappearing into the distance.

"Wait, what? What happened?" I ask Ralph, still sprawled on the tracks.

"Can't believe I forgot it…" Ralph says, rubbing his head. "You're a glitch. Glitches can't leave their games."

"You mean…I'm stuck here?!" I practically yell.

"Well, um…yeah."

I look up at the tunnel in disbelief. "Stuck here in this game?!" I think; this has to be a lie, it has to.

I walk over to the tunnel entrance and gently place my hand on what seems to a patch of nothingness. Sure enough, I hear the same buzzing noise from above and my hand is forced against the same opaque wall from before. I push with all my might against the seemingly invisible wall, but my strength is no match for the force that pushed back.

Ralph walks over to me and to the tunnel entrance, right in the place where the 'wall' is located. He walks freely back and forth, while with a sad expression on his face.

I sob. I can't leave, I can't leave this game. I look at the tunnel and imagine what lies at the end. But even if I wished with all my heart, I cannot go and discover it.

Ralph is right: I am stuck here.

"You keep going," I tell Ralph, lowering my head "I'll just…stay here till you return."

Ralph thinks for a moment, then nods his head. "Fine, if you say so." He points to what seems like a red mountain next to East Niceland. "Wait there by the pile of bricks; I'll be back soon. I promise."

"Okay." I mutter. I lumber towards the bricks and sit down, the broken bricks somehow comfortable despite their appearance.

I glitch again. When I look down, I see a small crack in the ground below, running for quite a distance and ending at my feet. I gulp. My secret might be revealed faster than I have thought.

When I look back up, the train has returned and Ralph is just climbing into the car. He looks up, expecting me to return his gaze.

I don't look at him; instead I keep my eyes fixed to the starry sky above until I hear the train move away, and I am alone by myself again.

I don't wanna leave, but time is running out.

What's a glitch to do?

I lie back in the bricks, thinking quickly about my next move.