"Okay..." Richard cleared his throat and shook his head. "No need to panic... Everything... Ev-Everything is fine..." He assured himself, eyes fixed on the opening ahead labeled 'Game Central Station.'

"I don't know where I am... But maybe if I walk through that opening... I may get an... answer..." Richard took a deep breath, then slowly, and carefully walked out into the opening. As he inched closer, he saw light flooding in. He also heard chatter.

"Talking?" he whispered, blinking in surprise. He hadn't expected to hear people—lots of them, by the sound of it.

Just as he was about to fully enter, someone... or something nearly bumped into him. "S-Sorry, pardon me-," they mumbled in passing.

Richard stumbled back, gasping as he fell to the ground. He blinked as he watched the figure keep on walking. "T-Tails?!" he muttered in disbelief, noticing more and more video game characters milling around. Scrambling to his feet, he shouted, "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" a bit too loudly, drawing the attention of several characters who turned to look at him. Richard gasped, and he went to move away, but then a blue flash of light zipped on the ground, materializing in front of him as a blue-looking man.

"AHH!" Richard yelped, shocked, and fell on his butt again.

"Name-?" the man asked, clipboard in hand.

Richard propped himself up on his elbows, staring at the blue man in confusion.

"Name?" the man repeated.

Richard noticed the clipboard in their hands. "Ri-Richard..." He said, not taking his eyes off of him.

The man glanced down at him. "What are you doing on the floor? Get up,"

Richard quickly stood up. "I-... uh..."

The man adjusted his glasses. "What game you're coming from?"

Richard blinked once. "C-Come again?" He said.

The man looked at him. "What game you're coming from?"

Richard blinked, then slowly looked behind him at the opening that was behind him. The one he had left from. He looked up, and saw that there was a screen.

The name 'Pac-Man' was on the screen.

"P-Pac... Man?" Richard said and looked back at the man.

"Good," The man said and wrote down something on the clipboard.

"Uhh... W-Who are you? What are you?" Richard asked.

"I'm just the Surge Protector kid, just doing my job,"the man replied. "Thanks for cooperating, enjoy your stay in Game Central," And with that, he zipped away in another flash of light.

Richard just stayed in the same place the man had left him, just staring at the ground. "Okay... Yeah, I'm definitely dreaming and or dead," He said.

He heard some people talking, he looked at them.

"Hey, wanna go grab a rootbeer at Tappers Ken?"

Richard's eyes widen. "I-Is... Is that fucking Ryu...? And... Ken? What the hell..." Richard decided to follow them. He made his way through the crowd of these random video game characters.

"They went into another opening..." Richard said. He looked up and saw the sign. "Tappers... Just like the other one I went through..."

He walked inside. It looked just like the other one, the same room with the roller coaster-like carts. He saw Ryu and Ken sit down in one of the seats. Richard slowly stepped forward, but then Ryu noticed him.

"Hey, kid! Heading to Tappers?"

Richard gasped. 'Ryu... Ryu said words to me...' He thought to himself. "Y-Yeah... I guess so..." Richard stammered.

"Well, hop on," Ryu said tapping the empty seat next to him.

Richard eventually found himself sitting on the seat. Before he knew it, it was off, and driving down this strange wired tunnel, taking him to who knows where.

"You alright? You look like you've seen a ghost," Ken said.

Richard turned his head to him. "Uh... I-,"

"Pretty sure he's a rookie. Probably just got plugged in," Ryu said.

"Huh,"Ken responded, "I haven't heard any new game alert in the station since the WIFI was added,"

"What game you're from?" Ryu asked Richard. "You must be from one of those modern ones, you're pretty high definition,"

"Tell me about it," Ken added. "And I thought Calhoun was realistic,"

Richard wasn't aware of the completely bewildered expression he had on his face as Ken and Ryu talked to him.

Ryu noticed it first. "Hm, you definitely do look a little dazed. Stick with me, I'll get a rootbeer for you. Will fix you right up,"

The train they were on, was beginning to slow down.

'Welcome to Tappers' a voice said from the train intercom.

"Just follow me," Ryu said, as he jumped off the seat. Richard did the same and tagged behind Ryu.

Richard was bracing for anything beyond this passageway they were traveling down. He just kept behind Ryu, but at a distance.

They turned into a room, that had long tables. With a root beer keg at each end.

Richard blinked. "What the...?" He said to himself.

"Ah...! Evening Ryu and Ken, go ahead, pick a seat,"

Richard's eyes widen... once he saw Tapper. The short man... was 3 dimensional, but was moving in an 8-bit-like fashion. "Oh? Who's the kid with you?"

"I believe he's a newbie. I reckon he got plugged in a few days ago or so," Ryu said.

"Still, I heard no alert," Ken said folding his arms.

"Okay, well, all three of you go find a seat, I'll get your drinks ready," Tapper said, as he left from them.

"Over this way," Ryu said, guiding Richard.

Richard sat at the table, still looking dazed as he watched the characters in front of him. He just now noticed the Tapper's main theme song playing as a piano, coming from some unknown speaker.

"Damn Ryu, this kid really does look... dazed, what's wrong with him?" Ken said.

"Shh! He can hear you-," Ryu said.

Just at that moment, Richard saw a glass of root beer slide down the table, and Ryu caught it. Another slid down, and then Ken got that one. The last one stopped right at Richard.

"There you boys, enjoy your rootbeer. Call me over when you want another," Tapper had said.

Richard looked over at Ken and Ryu who were drinking theirs. He looked back at his. 'Can I even drink this...?' He said to himself. He looked to the left and right, then back at the rootbeer. He placed two hands on it. It felt nice and cold. He picked it up and took a sip. He swallowed. Richard blinked, then licked his lips. 'Huh... that's... Why does this taste overly good...?'

Unable to resist, he started gulping down the soda.

"Woah take it easy there kid," Ryu said.

Richard slammed down the cup on the table, "S-Sorry, I just really love soda..." He said.

"You want some more? I can get Tapper over," Ryuoffered.

"Ah, hello kids. Come for some root beer?" Tapper said to some guests coming in.

"He's definitely not going to attend our table for the next half hour," Ken said shaking his head. "All of the racer kids came in,"

Richard looked at Ken. "Racer... kids?"

"Yeah, the Sugar Rush racers. If you really just got plugged in, I'm not surprised you don't know them," Ken said.

Richard felt his heart drop from hearing those two words come out of Ken's mouth. "S-S-S-Sug...S..." Richard stammered as his eyes darted around the room, then he noticed a few kids coming into the room. All of which, were the racers from Sugar Rush.

Richard's eyes were darting around them for one certain boy... and then... He felt like he was going to die when he saw him. The boy with the brown jacket, and orange shirt underneath, with the little peanut butter cup hat. 'Oh godohgodohgod...' He muttered to himself. 'Oh fuckfuck fuck... fuck... fuck...' He said to himself.

All of them sat at the table ahead of them.

"Yeah, I agree with you Ken. Tapper is going to take another hour to serve all of them," Ryu said. "Sixteen kids, oh shit,"

Richard tried not to make eye contact with the racers.

But, he then heard one of them talk to one.

"Something weird happened earlier," Candlehead said.

One of them scoffed. "I'll say. You just teleported in front of me!" Gloydexclaimed. "When did you get Vanellope's powers?"

"No! It... It wasn't that! There was a player, and they started the game,"

"What? How could there be a player, the arcade is closed," Taffyta said.

"I'm serious!" Candlehead snapped. "I was just racing with you guys for the roster tomorrow and I had the feeling that someone was watching me, and I looked behind me, and bam! A player in the third-person kart camera!" Candlehead said, with exaggerated arm movements, and nearly smacked Taffyta's head off.

"Ow! Watch it!" Taffyta snapped.

"That doesn't make any sense," Adorabeezle said. "The arcade is closed,"

"Maybe someone broke in?" Gloyd asked.

"Just to play games? Seems unlikely," Jubileena said.

"The player looked familiar too. I believe it was our top scorer," Candlehead said.

Goyld gasped, "Oh? Rich28? That was his gamer name right?"

Candlehead nodded. "Yeah,"

"Isn't he like, super obsessed with Rancis?" Gloyd snorted and covered his mouth, as he started to laugh.

Swizzle started to giggle, and he elbowed Rancis. "Yeah, always gawking at him from the screen,"

Rancis just rolled his eyes. "Well, what can I say? I'm beautiful," he replied with a smirk.

Candlehead rolled her eyes at her friend. "Ugh, come on man,"

Richard was just sitting there, listening to their entire conversation. He felt incredibly nervous. He also had a lot of mixed emotions and thoughts. This just proved to him that he somehow is inside the video games in the arcade. But how was that possible? How is he here right now?

"You heard what those kids were saying?" Ryu said. "Rich8... whatever he called himself. He's Litwack's grandson right?" He looked at Ken.

"Yeah. He played our game a few times remember? Not bad for a kid with few retro oldies like ourselves," Ken said.

Ryu nodded, looking over at Richard. "And coming to think about it, newbie here kinda looks like hi-... him..." Ryu blinked.

Ken darted his head over at Richard. Richard just stared back at them.

Ken and Ryu looked at each other with a shared shocked expression.

They looked back at Richard.

Richard opened his mouth to speak. "I'm just as shocked about this as you are," Was all he could say.