The next morning, Luke woke up in his manor. He pulled his Arctic blue eye mask off of his face and got out of bed. Today was special for two reasons. One, today was his 11th birthday. Two, he was on today's race roster and would get the chance to be controlled by the gamers.
He turns on the radio in his kitchen and begins to sing "Perfect Day" by Hoku. He then looks for some breakfast.
The racers had a special breakfast surprise planned for him. But it was an awkward moment as they saw him shirtless and barefoot.
"Have you heard of knocking?!" Luke asked the racers. "And who in the world let you into my house?!"
They look at Luke. Then Luke just looks at them.
"Okay. Why are you all in my house?" Luke asked.
"To bring you a special birthday breakfast, of course!" Vanellope says.
"We want your first birthday here in Sugar Rush to be special!" Admorabeezle says. "Everyone contributed to the breakfast before you!"
Luke looked at the spread. There was vanilla frosted donuts with colorful sprinkles from Vanellope, strawberries & cream oatmeal from Taffyta, Cocoa Puffs cereal treats from Crumbelina, candy corn from Gloyd, Rocket Pop Crunch cereal from Adorabeezle, blueberry pancakes from Citrusella, butterscotch waffles from Torvald, raspberry yogurt pops from Nougetsia, minty taffy from Sticky, candy apple breakfast shakes from Minty, rainbow sherbet from Snowanna, peanut butter cup pancakes from Rancis, cherry-topped chocolate waffles from Jubileena, Rainbow Nerds from Swizzle, blue velvet pancakes from Candlehead, Froot Loops cereal treats from Felicity, Almond Joy breakfast smoothies from Almondine, Bottle Caps candy-topped waffles from Charlie, Fruit Stripe breakfast gum from William, and breakfast pastries topped with gumballs from Bubblebetty.
Luke had no idea what to try first. So he tries a little bit of everything.
After breakfast, Luke gets ready for his first day of racing on the game's roster. He dresses in his racing attire, which is a silver and Arctic blue racing suit, blue shoes, silver racing goggles, blue racing gloves, and a silver and blue peppermint-inspired racing helmet. He grabs his keys and leaves for the track.
"This day better go right." Luke says as he gives his kart a full pre-race once-over.
"The arcade is opening in five minutes! I repeat, the arcade is opening in five minutes! Racers on today's roster need to get in position to prepare for the arcade's opening!" An announcer says.
Luke has The Silvermint Special in the first position and is ready for today's races.
The fans were all in their grandstands and getting ready to cheer the racers on.
Aside from Luke, the other eight racers on today's roster were Gloyd, Charlie, Crumbelina, Almondine, Minty, Felicity, Rancis, and Jubileena.
Crumbelina smiles at Luke as she pushes her Tira-Missile into the fourth position on the track.
"Oh, hey, Crumbelina." Luke says with a smile. "I like your racing jacket. Where'd you get it? Because I'd love one in Arctic blue…"
She smiles back. "I got it from that racing gear store in town, High Class Racers R'Us." Crumbelina says. "Maybe we could check it out together sometime…"
"I'd love that." Luke says and thinks about the race.
Lucy and Lincoln were at the arcade once it opened. They explored all their options when it came to the games.
Lucy came upon Sugar Rush and looked at it. She then read the caption below the "New Racers Daily!" line.
"Meet Luke Silvermint!" Lucy read. "He's the coolest racer on the track!"
"Whoa…" Lincoln says.
"Luke Silvermint?" Lucy asked curiously. "Who is he?"
"It's Luke. Our Luke." Lincoln says.
Lucy froze. "He's in there…Why didn't you tell me?" Lucy says.
"Well, we knew you'd freak out, so we lied." Lincoln says, but Lucy was long gone.
In the game, Luke waited by his kart.
Lincoln decided to play as him, so he inserted a quarter.
"Quarter alert! Quarter alert! Racers to your positions for selection!" The announcer says.
All nine of today's racers strike their selection poses. Lincoln chooses Luke.
"You and me? We're gonna weather the storm together!" Luke says his catchphrase and gets ready to race.
Lincoln smiles as the race begins. He couldn't believe he was playing as Luke on the Sugar Rush arcade console. He then runs into a power-up box.
"Power-Up! Sprinkle Spikes!" The announcer says. Luke releases them onto the track as he holds the lead. The spikes slow the other racers down a little.
Today's race route goes through Gumball Gorge, Birthday Sweets Peak, the Minty Frosting Metroplex, Lollipop Luge, and Royal Raceway, where the finish line waits.
Luke soon wins the race as his winning animation begins to play.
"Victory tastes sweet! This is a storm well weathered!" Luke says as a trophy appears in his hands. Lincoln smiles and fist-bumps the screen.
As soon as Lincoln walked off, Luke smiled at the trophy in his hands. He got his first gamer-controlled victory, and it felt amazing!
Soon, more kids wanted to play as him. Luke was smiling a lot as the day went on.
Later, once the arcade closed, Luke went off to take a break. His thoughts turned to the second reason why today was special.
He felt like he wasn't getting a happy birthday at all.
Lucy was trying to use a spell to try and get access to the arcade world.
"If I can't access the arcade world, I'll have to use a spell and pull him out." Lucy says and looks for a spell. She needed him to see the party she set up. The siblings just watched until Lisa finally walked up to her.
"Lucy, you need to stop this." Lisa says.
Luke sighed as he entered his manor after the roster race that night.
There were decorations everywhere, as well as balloons and a banner with Luke's name on it.
He looked around. Suddenly, all the racers and Luke's friends jumped out at him. "Surprise! Happy birthday, Luke!" They say.
Luke sniffed. "This…this is absolutely unbelievable…" Luke says.
There were gifts and party games. And there was music playing. Luke smiles at everyone as the party soon begins.
"This is amazing!" Luke says.
"Luke hates us. Now he has left us. I need him back…" Lucy says as she thinks of a spell.
"So you can be overprotective of him again?" Lincoln says, folding his arms.
"It's his birthday." Lucy says. "Why can't you see that?"
"I don't think he wants us at his party." Lisa says.
Lucy frowned and stopped.
At the party, Luke was sharing a dance with Crumbelina. He blushed a little.
"Are you okay?" Crumbelina asked.
Luke nods. "I really like you…" Luke says.
"I like you, too." Crumbelina tells Luke and kisses him gently.
Soon, it was time for gifts. Luke sat on his couch, seeing the brightly wrapped gifts sitting in front of him on his living room table.
He opened Crumbelina's gift first. It was a cookies & cream welcome bar for his front door. He smiled at it.
"Thank you." Luke says. He then opens more gifts.
He opens Vanellope's gift next to reveal an Arctic blue racing jacket. It was from the store Crumbelina mentioned to him.
"Vanellope, how did you know?" Luke asked.
"I just do. Glad you like it!" She says.
The other gifts ranged from toys to racing gear to books, and even to candy itself. Luke smiled and thanked everyone.
The party games soon begin.
They play Pin The Wheels On The Kart, musical chairs, balloon volleyball, Freeze Dance, Pictionary, and Twister. Luke was enjoying himself and having fun playing the games, even if he didn't win most of them.
Lucy lays on her bed, listening to "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum on repeat. She missed Luke. A lot.
She goes to Charity, who was smiling at a letter she received from her son.
"Luke…" Lucy uttered sadly. Charity let Lucy read the letter.
"Dear Mom and siblings, Sugar Rush is amazing! I really like it here. I'm an official racer now. I'm not coming home for a while, but the racers are throwing me two birthday parties. One on my birthday and one on the day after. I'm cordially inviting you all to the second party. Love, Luke." The letter says. Lucy cries.
With Luke, he was eating some of the party food and talking with the racers.
Soon, a pinata was shown as Luke's eyes lit up. It looked exactly like Mt. Veserveius.
Luke smiled as he got in his kart and drove through it. Candy went everywhere as everyone cheered.
Luke smiled as he got his share. He then smiled at everyone as he ate his candy.
They chatted about the race and about how well Luke would fit in. Luke just smiled.
"So, are you excited for your party tomorrow, Luke? The whole arcade is invited to this one!" Vanellope says. Luke giggles with glee always wanting attention.
Soon, the lights were out as Luke let out a scream.
The lights then came on to reveal the cake, which looked like the Minty Frosting Metroplex with a number 11-shaped track. Luke smiled at the sight of this cake.
There were candles scattered all over the #11-shaped cake. Candlehead lit the candles and everyone sang to Luke.
Luke wished for the entire arcade-verse to love him and attend his party. He blew out the candles and grinned, hoping his wish would come true.
Soon everyone had cake as Luke had four pieces to himself.
Luke smiled. This was his best birthday yet. But he knew that the siblings were coming tomorrow. And he somehow regretted inviting them.
He sends a message to Charity, telling him he just wanted her, not the siblings. Charity asks him why.
He explained he wanted his second birthday party to just have her and Lucy showing up to it. He knows Lucy misses him.
Meanwhile, the others were doing their usual things, having accepted that Luke moved on.
Lucy was smiling, as she and Charity had plans tomorrow.
She goes to Lincoln. "Lincoln, can you keep a secret?" Lucy asked.
"Sure." Lincoln says.
Lucy explained she was going to see Luke tomorrow. Lincoln smiled, happy for her.
Lucy goes to bed after putting on her pajamas. Even if the siblings did find out, they couldn't get in.