"I'm questioning reality right now..." Richard muttered, gripping his glass tightly. "Are cars... like, alive too?"

Rancis scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Okay, don't be silly..."He glanced over at Swizzle and Gloyd, then back at Richard. "Maybe the computer components inside those modern ones might be alive—," he added with a soft smile.

Richard blinked a few times before slamming his head down onto the table.

Gloyd let out a small giggle. "Oop-..."

"I guess even my microwave is alive at this point..." Richard's voice came out muffled, his face still pressed against the table. Slowly, he lifted his head and adjusted himself on the bench.

"You feeling okay?" Swizzle asked, a note of concern in his voice.

"I mean... I guess..." Richard said. "I... I think I'm... ready to maybe see the other games now... if, I can do that," He said.

"The other games? Oh, you mean Sonic and the rest?" Rancis asked.

"We kinda have to be careful with you in games," Swizzle said, "I mean, other games can be... a little dangerous. It's why we don't go to other games much either, we just stay in Sugar Rush or Fix-It-Felix," he said tapping his fingers on the rootbeer glass.

Richard blinked, remembering when Gloyd had been plowed down by another racer, Torvald, only to flash for a second and then reappear. "Huh?"His face twisted in confusion as he looked over at Gloyd. "But don't you guys respawn? I mean, I saw it happen to you with my own eyes... which was... bizarre to witness, to be honest,"

"Oh, yeah, about that..." Gloydbegan. "We only respawn in the games we are from. We don't respawn in a game we are not a part of. For instance, if I went into Hero's Duty and got shot by one of the guns... I wouldn't come back at all,"

Richard's eyes widen a little after hearing that. 'Well, shit,' He had thought. "Okay, that... I wasn't expecting that one," He spoke, shaking his head. "So it... you... basically 'game over' in another arcade, and you cannot come back at all?"

"Pretty much," Rancis confirmed. "Unless you... like, rewire your code to the other games, but none of us know how to do that,"

Richard's brow furrowed in confusion, again. Rancis noticed.

"It's how Vanellope was able to join Slaughter Race. She had one of the characters there to rewire her code for her to be compatible with the game. So when she dies there, she respawns there,"

Richard nodded, finally understanding. "Wow, that's interesting... But how come none of you know how to, like, code yourselves or whatever? I mean, you're game characters."

Rancis scoffed. "Ugh, what's that supposed to mean? You're a human, and I'm sure you don't know everything about how humans work," He said.

Richard blinked for a moment. "Touché," he admitted with a nod.

Rancis laughed for a moment. "That honestly was a guess on my part,"

Richard giggled. "But yeah, most humans don't know how their own bodies work, so who am I to say how... a game character doesn't know how to code,"

Swizzle leaned back, hands behind his head. "The only one who knew about how code works... was Turbo... It's apparently how he was able to manipulate us," Swizzle sighed. "...However he did it..."

"Basically turned us all into Gloyd," Rancis teased, giving his friend a playful jab.

"Hey!" Gloyd gasped, narrowing his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

Swizzle giggled, covering his mouth.

"Just because I'm a prankster doesn't mean I'm an asshole!" Gloyd huffed.

"I beg to differ~," Swizzle teased.

Gloyd grunted, launching a tickle attack on Swizzle's stomach, who giggled and pushed his hands away.

Rancis chuckled, then turned to Richard. "So... what you wanna do now? You wanna come with us and watch us race, or maybe take a nap back at the Penthouse.. Or go to another game?"

"Nap?" Richard arched his eyebrow. "If I'm being stuck here, I might as well see all that the inner depths of my grandpa's arcade has to offer, sleep can wait," He chuckled. "I wanna go visit your game again, I don't feel like dying today,"

Swizzle laughed.

"Cool!" Gloyd smiled. "I'm sure you'd like to see us race, you didn't get too sad when the storm hit earlier," He said.

"Yeah, let's hope it doesn't happen again," Rancisadded.

The three racer boys took Richard back to their racing game. Richard was happy to be back in the candy world. Something was calming about it. Colorful, and pretty, and the atmosphere felt warm and sunny, it was pretty close to his world. So he felt at home for that very reason. Not to mention with all the candy and chocolate everywhere, there was such a nice mellow aroma.

The boys went up to the stands, from the rear entrance of them. Once they traveled up to the top of the seats, Candlehead and Taffyta were both there overlooking the track.

Candlehead turned around when she heard the group approaching. "There you guys are! Where have you been? I thought you were gonna race with us?"

"We just wanted to hang out with Richard for a bit," Gloyd explained.

Taffyta scoffed, but not in her usual irritated way. "Someone new shows up, and you ditch us?" She chuckled.

"Ugh," Swizzle rolled his eyes. "It's not like that,"

Candlehead smiled. "I know, you guys just wanna hang out with another boy your age. It's fine, we understand... there aren't many other game characters out there in the arcade that's teenagers like us,"

"Well, when you put it that way, yeah," Rancis agreed.

Gloyd plopped down onto a seat. "You know there's a storm, right? We shouldn't even have to race for the roster."

"You don't know if the storm will clear tomorrow," Taffyta said, pulling her lollipop out of her mouth and eyeing Gloyd. "It could blow over, and Litwack could reopen,"

Rancis stood up, nudging Swizzle and Gloyd. "We'll race. Come on, guys." He glanced at Richard. "You stay here, alright?"

Richard nodded, as he then sat down in the seat. "Okay," He said.

Gloyd groaned as he got to his feet. "We could all use a break, you know..." he muttered, following Swizzle and Rancis.

As they headed down the steps, Rancis suddenly stopped, causing Gloyd to bump into him. "Geez, why'd you stop?" Gloyd asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rancis glanced back at Richard, who was pulling his phone from his pocket. He squinted, then turned his gaze to Candlehead and Taffyta ahead of him. "Hey—girls, one of us could stay back, right?"

"Huh?" Candlehead looked confused. "Why would one of you stay back? Richard will be fine."

"Fine is one thing, but... one of us should stay back, what if the alarm goes off again? Depending on where we are, we wouldn't be able to come back in time to get Richard,"

Candlehead quickly nodded in agreement. "Oh, yeah, that's true. One of you can stay behind. One less racer won't make much difference to the roster."

Rancis turned to Gloyd. "You stay with him, and keep your kart nearby."

Gloyd tilted his head, "Me?" He asked.

Rancis nodded. "Hey, I need to keep my status as top racer on the track," He smirked.

"Hey, I'm the top racer!" Swizzle protested, folding his arms. "I take racing very seriously."

Rancis rolled his eyes, "Yeah, whatever~,"

Richard, unaware of the three boys' little plan to make it safe for him in case another power outage, was on his phone. 'I wonder if Steve came back?' He thought to himself as he went to play Minecraft again.

Just as he was about to open the game, he felt someone sit beside him. He glanced up to see the orange, rosy-cheeked boy. "Oh, Gloyd?"

Gloyd smiled softly. "Heyyo," he greeted, his tone sweet and cheerful, just like his candy appearance.

Richard returned the smile but quickly grew confused. "Weren't you going to race?"

"I was," Gloyd explained, "but Rancis asked me to stay with you. If the power goes out again, I can drive you to safety with my kart."

Richard nodded at his explanation. "Ah, I see. Yeah, I'm grateful for that... let's hope that doesn't happen though... because that literally looked like reality was being torn apart," He shook his head. "That looked low-key cool, but it was terrifying!"

Gloyd giggled. "Yeah, pretty much," He looked down at Richard's phone, and saw the Minecraft game running. He scooted closer over to Richard. "Is... that the game you showed us before?"

Richard blushed slightly at Gloyd's closeness. "Y-Yeah."

Gloyd placed his hands on his lap, as he turned to Richard. "You sure that's a good idea? At least at the moment? You might as well play something else while you're here with us,"

Richard blinked for a moment, processing that. "Oh-," He blinked. "Right, I forgot he... saw you guys... most of it was my fault. Yeah, I'll play something else,"

Richard exited out of Minecraft and went on one of his other games.

Gloyd chuckled. "Just don't try to talk to whatever game you're gonna start this time,"

Richard laughed softly. "I promise, I won't,"

As he scrolled through his games, he felt a gentle poke at his cheek. Blushing, he turned to Gloyd. "W-What are you doing?"

Gloyd just smiled, squeezing Richard's cheek. "I'm just... fascinated that you're human. At first, I thought you were some high-def game character, but you're actually... someone from outside."

Richard's blush deepened. "Well..." He struggled to think straight with Gloyd rubbing his cheek. He looked at him, feeling flustered.

Gloyd giggled. "Sorry," he said, pulling his hands away.

Richard, still blushing, looked away, lost in thought. Back when he used to watch Sugar Kingdom over and over, it wasn't just Rancis he liked. He had crushes on Gloyd and Swizzle too. His feelings for them all had only intensified since meeting them in reality.

He looked over at Gloyd. "Gloyd? Would you... find it weird if I said... I had a crush on multiple people?"

Gloyd just softy giggled. "No? Why would I?" He asked, smiling at Richard's shy expression. "Let me guess... you don't have just a crush on Rancis, but me and Swizzle right?"

Richard nodded, blushing. "I think so."

Gloyd smiled. "I always hear about humans having 'fictional' crushes on characters... and here you are with all of them," He giggled.

Richard shyly smiled. "I'm probably the luckiest person, like... ever," He looked over at Gloyd, he wanted to touch his face, like, how he touched his. He raised his hand slowly in an attempt to rub the mellowcreme attire boy's face, but he quickly lowered his hands, from his shyness coming back. Gloyd, picked Richard's hands back home, knowing what he was going to do. "No, it's fine," He smiled reassuringly. "I don't mind,"

Richard blushed more from feeling it. It felt incredibly smooth—almost unnaturally so, like perfect skincare. "Geez, your skin is... so soft," Richard remarked.

Gloyd giggled. "Yeah, and yours is... kinda bumpy," he teased.

Richard groaned. "Ugh, curse acne."

Gloyd chuckled as Richard lowered his hand. But before pulling away, Richard poked Gloyd in the belly, making him giggle. "What was that for?"

Richard giggled back, blushing. "Nothing."

"I remember the conversation you had with Rancis, yes, I have a belly button too, we all do remember?" Gloyd said. "Just in case you were gonna ask,"

Richard looked at him. "Can I see it?" He asked.

Gloyd snorted. "Why?"

Richard blushed. "I... Uh... Wanna compare it to R-Rancis's that's all...,"

Gloyd sighed playfully. "Well, it's not gonna look any different," He sat on his knees on the bench, then hoisted his shirt up, showing his stomach to Richard. "See? It's literally the same, we all have the same belly buttons,"

"Oh," Richard said, examining it. "You weren't wrong."

"Yeah," Gloyd said as he kept his shirt up. "We're all modeled with the same lower body, so that means we all have the same belly buttons, which are all innies... that's... that's a belly button type, right?" Gloyd asked since he didn't really know.

Richard nodded. "Yeah, that's... what you have," He said as he reached over, and poked it softly.

Gloyd giggled a bit, "Hey, what are you doing now?" He smiled as he watched Richard touching his belly button. "You weirdo, you were doing this with Rancis apparently,"

Richard giggled softly. "No... I wasn't, I don't know what you're talking about..." He said as he continued to poke it.

Gloyd just let him do it, as he was of course wondering why he was even doing it in the first place. "Yeah sure, I must have just imagined that conversation with Rancis-,"

Before Gloyd could finish his sentence, a slow voice interrupted them.

"Gloyd... are you... not going to... race?" Said a voice, slowly. Like, very slowly. "Uh... what you two doing?"

Both Richard and Gloyd gasped, and Gloyd quickly pulled his shirt down, spinning around. "Uhh... Nothing, Sour Bill!" He blurted out as his entire face went red.

Richard leaned over to get a better look. "Hey, isn't that the sour ball announcer?" he asked, eyeing the green candy ball, with floating hands and feet.

"Uhh... Yeah," Gloyd said. He turned back to Sour Bill. "Uhh... I'm not racing... for reasons. Just wanted to take a break,"

Gloyd wasn't even sure if Sour Bill was aware of the situation with Richard being a human, and he didn't want to let him know if he didn't have too. Sour Bill, along with Vanellope, well, used to be Vanellope, are the runners of Sugar Rush. Vanellope had placed Sour Bill in charge of the game once she left.

"Okay..." Sour Bill said, as he slowly turned around and walked away.

Richard blinked. "He... talks extremely slow. Er- is something wrong with his code or something?"

Gloyd chuckled despite his embarrassment. "Nah, that's just how he talks." He sat back down, playfully smacking Richard's shoulder. "Ugh, what was that, dummy? That was so embarrassing!"

Richard, giggling from the shove, just shrugged. "I-I don't know, I'm uh... "

Gloyd giggled, shaking his head. "You're silly."

After what felt like an endless day, Richard was finally ready to crash. But sleep could wait a little longer, since Rancis was still in the room, chatting with him before heading to his own separate room in the penthouse.

"I can't believe it's only been a day..." Richard muttered.

Rancis chuckled. "Yeah, a lot went down today," he said, glancing at his new friend. "I really hope we can get you out of here soon though. You've got to get back to your grandparents… heck, your parents too!"

Richard looked at Rancis. He'd only go back for his grandfather's sake. His parents? He didn't care about them. For some reason, being around them never felt right. Richard sighed. "Yeah," was all he could muster. "Feels like just yesterday I was here playing arcade games, and now… now I'm here."

Rancis giggled. "Well, it was just yesterday, wasn't it? You showed up then."

"Yeah, but I didn't play anything. I think you guys were all out of your games, it was after hours." Richard explained. "Plus, I hadn't been to the arcade in weeks before that. Schoolwork's been insane—oh crap... I totally forgot about my Friday homework!" He groaned, face-palming.

Rancis patted Richard's back as he saw him sulking. "I'm sure homework's the least of anyone's problems right now."

"Trust me, when it comes to Mr. Reynolds that will never fly," Richard let out a soft chuckle.

Rancis smiled. "Just tell him you were sick, maybe he'll let it slide."

Richard lay down on the bed, arms above his head. "I still can't believe that whole story you told me about 'Turbo' being King Candy... like, that was a total shocker," he said, shaking his head. "What the heck?"

Grinning, Rancis laid down beside him. "Yeah," he said, staring up at the ceiling, arms resting on his chest. He turned his head to look at Richard, a question forming in his mind. "Wait... Rich... how old are you?"

"Hmm? Thirteen," Richard answered, turning to look back at him. "Why?"

"How do you-..." Rancis shook his head, "Ah, nevermind," He said, looking back up at the ceiling.

Richard shrugged. "Okay," he said, his eyes drifting back up. "So… Sonic's chili dogs, am I right?"

Rancis giggled. "Making me hungry just thinking about it," He said licking his lips as he rubbed his stomach. "It's probably the only non-candy food we Candy racers like,"

"Probably gonna miss having them for dinner when I leave here," Richard said, glancing toward the window. He stared at the bright screen outside, his mind drifting to the strange dream he had. His brow furrowed. He turned back to Rancis, who was still staring at the ceiling.

"Hey... Rancis? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, anything," Rancisreplied, not looking at Richard.

"Do you... Do have any idea... what 'Kid Powers' is?"

Rancis blinked once, then quickly turned to Richard, squinting. "Come again?"

"Kid Powers," Richard repeated.

Rancis blinked again. "How do you know about that?"

A bunch of thoughts swirled in Richard's mind. It seemed like Rancis knew about this, but how? And why had he dreamt about it?

He didn't want to admit he'd seen it in a dream though—that'd sound too weird. So, he shrugged. "Uh... it's a game character, right? I saw him online once, I think." he lied.

Rancis narrowed his eyes. "So... you don't really know what it is?"

"No..." Richard hesitated. "What is it?"

Propping himself up on his elbows, Rancis explained, "Kid Powers is... kind of an urban legend around here."

Richard froze, blinking rapidly. "U-Urban legend?" His voice wavered.

Rancis nodded. "Kid Powers wasn't the first video game arcade, but... he was the character responsible for making all characters alive. And... apparently his arcade cabinet used to be here, in Litwack's,"

Richard gasped. "W-What?"

Rancis nodded again. "As I said, it's an urban legend, so take it with a grain of salt. They say the reasons we are all alive strings from this very Fun Centre we're inside right now... Kid Powers was plugged into the Game Central and unleashed a strange virus that infected all of the code in the arcade cabinets. All of the code changed, and made all of the lines of code sentient. It didn't just affect the cabinets, as the virus had traveled through the surge protector's cord, and into the power supply of the building,"

As Rancis continued, Richard was more and more engrossed in this.

"Once the virus hit the whole building, anything plugged into an outlet got infected. People took their devices home, plugged them in, and the virus spread even further. Soon, anything digital became alive."

Richard's jaw dropped. "I—," he blinked repeatedly. "Holy crap... are you sure that's just an urban legend? 'Cause with how you guys are alive, I wouldn't rule it out."

Rancis giggled at what Richard said. "Well, I guess you're not wrong, but there was nothing to prove it," He looked at Richard. "But you said you found information about him online... the internet! So... maybe there's information out there, what did you see?"

Richard hesitated. He hadn't actually found anything online. Why did he dream about this strange arcade character with such a bizarre story? He had never even heard of it before.

Not knowing how to explain, he simply said, "It was just a title I saw, nothing much. Didn't even show the character."

"Oh-," Rancis pouted. "Ugh, if only Surge would let the other racers and I go to the Internet... I'd probably find some interesting things about him,"

'I know what I'm looking up as soon as I get home,' Richard thought to himself.

"I'll let you get some sleep," Rancis said, sitting up before heading for the door. "See you tomorrow."

Richard smiled. "See ya Rancis,"

Before Rancis went to his room to sleep, he made a pit stop at Gloyd. Pushing open the door, he found both Gloyd and Swizzle perched on the edge of the bed, Gloyd leaning on Swizzle's shoulder as they munched on popcorn, eyes glued to whatever was on the TV.

"Hm?" Swizzle looked up. "Oh, hey, Rancis. What's up?"

"Hey," Rancis said as he walked over to the bed. "Something... is a little weird about Richard,"

Gloyd let out a little giggle. "I'll say~," He smiled. "He's a bit of a weirdo with that whole belly button thing,"

Swizzle tilted his head, puzzled by Gloyd's comment, but his focus shifted when Rancis sat down beside them. "No..." Rancis said. "There's... He's... I feel like he's not telling me something,"

The two boys noticed the serious tone in Rancis's voice, so they both sat up straight. "Huh? What?" Swizzle asked.

"He's 13..."

Gloyd nodded. "uh... Yeah, like us," He said.

Rancis shook his head. "But for some reason he knows who King Candy is... He told us he played as him,"

Swizzle and Gloyd exchanged confused glances.

"Uhhh... And what's... strange about that?" Swizzle questioned.

Rancis sighed, rubbing his temples. "Dude, you don't see the weird part in that? Ralph and Vanellope made Turbo burn in the volanco... ten years ago. That would have made Richard be like what... three years old?" He looked at them both. "You don't see how weird that is? Not many humans remember things at such a young age, and according to my knowledge, Litwack never did, and still hasn't allowed 3 year Olds and under in the arcade,"

Swizzle and Gloyd fell silent, contemplating the oddity.

"Eh, maybe Richard's just one of those kids with a freakishly good memory," Swizzle shrugged.

"Or maybe he's got some kind of 'grandson of the owner' special treatment," Gloyd chuckled, nudging Swizzle.

Rancis sighed, feeling no closer to clarity. "Yeah… maybe. It's probably nothing."