Richard slowly opened his eyes, glancing around the penthouse suite. With a tired groan, he sat up, stretching his arms toward the ceiling. He smacked his lips sleepily, perching himself on the edge of the bed. "Is it morning? I can't even tell..." His gaze drifted to the window. "That's the one thing I hate about being in Fix-It Felix... who knows what time it is?" He paused, a thought crossing his mind.

"Does Sugar Rush even have nighttime, or is it just endless daylight?" He shook his head, dismissing the idea. "Probably not." A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.

Richard jumped out of bed and headed over to the door. Swinging it open, he was greeted by Swizzle. "Oh, hey, Swizz," Richard yawned, rubbing his eyes.

"Hey man," Swizzle smiled, then he giggled softly. "Geez, you look exhausted..."

"Urgggg..." Richard softly groaned as he rubbed his eyes, "I may or may not have had a bad time sleeping last night..."

"Aww," Swizzle pouted sympathetically. "Maybe some breakfast will wake you up," He chuckled.

That caught Richard's attention. "Well, I can't deny Gloyd's pankcakes..."

Swizzle laughed. "You really obsess over his cooking, huh?"

Richard stepped out of the room, and turned around and closed it. Ready to start the next day of him being trapped in this digital world. Richard was about to ask Swizzle if the arcade was still closed, but he choose to stay quiet. If the arcade were open, Swizzle would probably be in his game by now, not here with him.

As Richard and Swizzle stepped out of the Fix-It-Felix Jr. station, there was Surge, informing all the characters that the arcade remained closed due to the storm.

'Grandpa did say he was going away anyways...' Richard muttered to himself. 'If anything, he'll be back on Monday... which is tomorrow...'

Walking alongside Swizzle towards Sugar Rush, Richard was lost in thought until Swizzle suddenly gasped.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"I forgot to give this back to Sonic-," Swizzle said as he reached into his pocket. "Seriously almost forgot," He pulled out a golden ring.

Now, it was Richard the one to gasp. "I-Is... Is that a power ring?" He said looking at the large donut shaped golden ring.

"Yeah," Swizzle replied. "I meant to give it back, but I completely forgot."

Richard glanced around, his gaze shifting between the arcade openings—Galactica, Frogger, and even that old NASCAR game his grandpa recently got from a garage sale—until his eyes landed on Sonic The Hedgehog. "Wanna go there now?" he asked, turning back to Swizzle.

"Hmm?" Swizzle tilted his head. "But you're hungr—" Before he could finish, Richard's stomach let out a loud grumble. "See?" Swizzle giggled, giving Richard's belly a playful tickle.

Giggling, Richard swatted his hands away. "Hey, it can wait... I'm really curious to see what the other games look like,"

"Well—" Swizzle stepped forward, taking Richard's hand. "Just stay close to me. Sonic's game can get pretty dangerous."

"Come on, how dangerous can Green Hill Zone be?" Richard chuckled.

"You'd be surprised,"

After walking into the entrance, they had to take the little train from front end of the power cord, to the cabinet. Richard, was already in love with the train, "Okay, I love this!" He said looking at the train karts that were mini versions of Sonic's car from that one Sonic racing game.

Swizzle chuckled. "Hop on!" he said, motioning for Richard to sit beside him.

As soon as Richard settled into his seat, the train jolted into motion, zipping into the tunnel.

Swizzle tapped his fingers on the car's front, glancing at Richard with a playful grin. "Sooo..." he teased, dragging the word. "What was that thing Gloyd mentioned?"

Richard quickly looked at Swizzle, and saw the teasing look he had displayed on his face. He wasn't sure what he was talking about, but he had an idea. So, he tried to play it off, "W-What did Gloyd talk about?"

"That belly button thingy," Swizzle smirked. "He told me all about it~ You're weird,"

"T-That was nothing..." Richard quickly said, as he turned to face the other way. "N-Nice scenery, a-am I right-..?" Said Richard, as he stared at the interior of the power cord, going by.

Swizzle blinked, then burst out laughing. "PIFFFFT HAHAHA!" His laughter was so intense, he tumbled off the seat and onto the floor of the car. "Oof!"

Richard's face flushed in embarrassment. But upon hearing the thud, he quickly turned. "Swizzle! A-Are you okay?" He reached out to help him up.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," Swizzle was still giggling. "Oh my god..." He said shaking his head. He waved a hand around at the tunnel. "Yeah, that's gotta be the most breathtaking scenery in the whole universe," he said sarcastically.

Richard groaned, hiding his face in his hands, which only made Swizzle giggle again. Trying to play along, Richard muttered, "Yeah, people wait their whole lives for this ride..."

Swizzle chuckled. "Oh man..." He faced forward, still laughing. "When you get back, it's gonna be so hard for me to stay serious when you're playing as us. You're totally gonna make me crack up. I don't know if I can handle it!"

The train came to a smooth stop. "Woah..." Richard breathed, staring wide-eyed at the iconic landscape of Sonic the Hedgehog: the green hills, the spinning sunflowers, the loops, the drops, all bathed in a bright, tropical glow.

Swizzle hopped off the train, landing gracefully on the platform with the golden ring in hand. "Okay, listen," Swizzle turned to Richard, who was still gawking at the scenery. "Stay here, alright?"

"Huh?" Richard asked, snapping out of his daze. "Stay here?"

"Yes," Swizzle said. "I really don't want you to get hurt here, none of us do,"

"Alright," Richard agreed, sitting down on a nearby bench in the station.

Swizzle gave a reassuring smile. "I'll be back before you know it," he promised, before dashing off to find that Hedgehog.

Richard sat there, twiddling his thumbs, staring out at the mesmerizing landscape. The view was stunning, but after a while, boredom crept in. 'I'm in Sonic's world... I have to explore this,' Richard thought, itching to venture out.

Standing up, Richard mumbled to himself, "I'll just walk a little, check out the grass."

He made his way to the station's exit and stepped onto a grassy path, suspended in mid-air. As he peered over the edge, he gasped—it seemed to stretch endlessly into the void below.

"Okay... better be careful," he muttered. "No biggie. The path's wide enough. If I fall, I'd have to be an idiot."

He kept to the middle of the path, which soon arched and curved off to the right. As Richard walked, a soft shimmering sound caught his attention.

"Huh? What's that?" He blinked, looking around. His eyes widened when he saw a glowing, rectangular shape materialize—a shimmering distortion.

"What is that?!" he exclaimed, then there was a loud booming sound, and then screen took the glowing mass's place.

Sonic The Hedgehog - Press Start

But the text was backward.

"Oh! It's just the screen," Richard sighed in relief. "Thought something was about to explode..." As he walked, he realized the screen was following him. "Wait, what?" He blinked.

"Why it's...?"

He stopped, backing up, but the screen followed his every move. "Okayyy..."

Then it hit him. "Oh! I get it... I'm in a platformer! The screen follows the character," he murmured, intrigued, as he approached a loop.

"Yeah, I have no chance of going up and around that," Richard shook his head. He looked behind him, to see how far he was from the station. "Oh, I didn't reach that far," He looked back at the loop, then over at the little sliver of space where the other side of the loop meets. He stepped between it, "I can walk for a little bit more,"

He continued to walk. For a little longer.

But suddenly, a deep rumbling sound stopped him in his tracks. "What?" His eyes darted toward the screen, but it wasn't the source of the noise. The rumbling grew louder, and now he heard splashing too.

Now Richard was slightly in a panic. "What the heck is that?! Where is that coming from-," As soon as he turned around, he saw where it was coming from.

His eyes widen. "Oh SHIT!" He went in full panic mode now.

The ground was giving away. The part of Green Hill Zone, where the dirt would give out beneath Sonic's feet.

Richard took off running, but only Sonic could outrun this, and, well, he isn't Sonic.

The ground gave way, and Richard felt himself plummeting into the abyss. Desperately, he reached for something—anything—but his hands found nothing. He fell, crashing into water below.

He instantly knew he was some form of liquid, so he held his breath, and tried to swim upward. But he couldn't. "Mrfff!" He grunted, as he tried his best to swim, but it was as if something was keeping him down. He tried walking forward, then jumping up to get any form of leverage, but he couldn't swim, no matter how much he was moving his arms around. "Hrfm!" He grunted annoyed.

Then, a familiar yet haunting sound started to echo in his ears.

"HRFFFM?!" His eyes went wide as he saw the '5' flash above his head—the countdown to drowning had begun.

He tried to swim more, but he couldn't go upward.

'4'

"HRFFFMM!" He jumped, and was in panic mode.

'3'

His eyes scanned the water for anything to grab.

'2'

One last desperate attempt to swim upward.

'1'

His body went limp, bubbles escaping from his mouth as he sank to the bottom. He hit the ocean floor, lying still.

Then, a rapid flashing engulfed his body, an 8-bit sound ringing out, and Richard vanished—only to reappear back at the station.

Gasping for air, Richard collapsed to his knees, panting as he clutched his chest. "W-What just...?" he muttered, eyes wide. "And why are my clothes... dry?" He coughed, getting to his feet.

"Hey, Rich, I'm back!"

Richard spun around to see Swizzle returning.

"Uh..." Swizzle asked, concerned, seeing him. "Why do you look so... pale? What happened?"

Richard wasn't sure what exactly happened, but he didn't want Swizzle to know he didn't listen to him. "Uhh... I..." He tried to come up with a quick lie. "I saw Sonic come in, and well... he uh... died and respawned..."

Swizzle blinked. "Huh? But I just came from Sonic—"

"I-I mean, Tails! Yeah, it was Tails!"

"Oh," Swizzle said. He sighed softly. "It's okay, alright? Remember, we just respawn here, game characters like me cannot die. Well, that is if you're in your own game," He walked past Richard to get into the train. "But you on the other hand, are a human. So you wouldn't respawn,"

Richard stepped back into the train beside him.

"That is why we want you as safe as possible,"

"Uh-huh..." Richard mumbled, staring at the floor as the train jolted forward, heading back into the tunnel.

'Did... Did I just regenerate?' Richard thought to himself.

Richard was back in Sugar Rush, slowly eating some pankcakes, as he continued to think about what he had just witnessed, and felt. He was sitting with Gloyd and Rancis in the stands, as Swizzle was racing with the other racers. Gloyd and Rancis should have been racing too, but once Richard had came here, all they wanna do is hang out with him.

Richard was eating so slowly that Gloyd, sitting next to him, noticed. "Rich? You okay?" he asked, giving Richard a concerned look. "You're eating like you don't want any or something..."

Rancis decided to poke some fun at this. "Maybe he's had enough of your pancakes~."

Gloyd grumbled something inaudible, and slapped Rancis's shoulder, who only just giggled as he stuck his tongue out at his friend.

"Uh... it's not your pancakes, Gloyd," Richard mumbled. "I just don't feel that hungry."

"Huh?" Gloyd tilted his head. "But you haven't had breakfast?"

Rancis folded his arms, "Well, you can always give them to Gloyd, the eating machine~,"

Gloyd rolled his eyes, and shoved Rancis. "Shut up!"

Richard glanced down at the pancakes, then back at the race track. "I... I didn't listen to something Swizzle told me not to do..."

Rancis was about to tickle Gloyd for shoving him, but when he heard what his human friend had said, he quickly turned his attention to Richard. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Yeah?" Gloyd asked after.

"I-... uh... Swizzle took me into Sonic's game to... uh... deliver something. Once we got there, he told me to stay put, but I didn't listen and went exploring..."

Gloyd and Rancis exchanged a glance before turning back to Richard.

"Aww," Gloyd said, as he scooted closer to Richard. "It's fine, you were just curious." He leaned on him rubbing his back.

Richard's face went extremely red. "Uh- I... " He was going to continue talking, but then Rancis got up from next to Gloyd, and sat on the other side of Richard. "Yeah," Rancis had said, "at least you didn't get hurt, you're still here," Rancis also started to lean on Richard, but from the right side, and it made Richard melt.

"B-But I did get hurt..." Richard stammered.

Rancis stopped rubbing his back for a moment, "W-What?!" He gasped. "Get hurt by what? A-Are you okay?"

Both Gloyd and Rancis started to check Richard all over, to see if he's hurt.

"You look fine too me-," Gloyd said.

"Yeah," Rancis nodded.

"Guys..."

The two racers looked at him.

Richard struggled to find the words. "Guys... I... I think I respawned."

The two racer boys blinked for a moment. "Repawned?"

Richard turned his head to Gloyd as he also asked, "How did you regenerate? How could you regenerate?"

"I... I don't know," Richard replied.

"But you're human! You're not made of code like us. That's impossible!" Gloyd protested.

"Well," Rancis started thoughtfully, "we've never had a human here before. Maybe by being here, he got converted to code?"

Gloyd blinked a few times. "Now how would that make any sense?!"

"I don't know!" Rancis threw up his hands. "It doesn't make sense that Richard's even here to begin with!"

Gloyd couldn't argue with that, if that could happen, anything is a possibility for this new strange occurrence. He looked at Richard again. "What exactly happened? For you to respawn... You must have... well, died,"

"Uhhh... the ground gave way, and I... fell into some water."

Rancis gasped. "You drowned?!"

Richard fidgeted, his hands tapping nervously on his legs. "It... it was kind of scary..."

"Awww," Gloyd cooed, pulling Richard into a tight hug. Rancis quickly joined in, hugging him from the other side.

"Guyssss..." Richard muttered, blushing even harder, though feeling a little comforted now.

"You're okay now, alright?" Rancis reassured him. "Just be more careful next time. We don't know if respawning will happen again—it might've been a one-time thing."

A moment later, Rancis gave Richard a quick kiss on the cheek, sending him into another flustered daze.

Gloyd saw this and giggled. He leaned in and kissed Richard on the other cheek.

Now Richard was blushing so hard he could barely think. He had just gotten cheek kisses from two characters he'd liked for so long.

"Look at him~ all flustered~," Gloyd teased.

There was a loud rev from an engine, and a kart sped down the track, coming to a halt by the stands. It was Candlehead. She glanced up at the three of them, sighing when she saw Rancis and Gloyd draped all over Richard. "Can you two stop flirting with the player and come race with us? Litwack didn't open today, but he will tomorrow! It's Monday!"

Gloyd groaned. "Ugh, fine!" he shouted back.

"Stay here, okay?" Rancis said to Richard.

"I will," Richard nodded.