It Was Only A Game- Chapter 1

GAME OVER


It flashed above him in bright red lights, illuminating his features.

All around him was darkness. Short bursts of electrical surges would dance around him like crackling thunder as the world shuddered and jolted around him. The words over head began to flicker out and fade. His world was malfunctioning, for whatever reason, and it didn't look good.

There was another sharp spurt of energy, one which he felt this time, but instead of feeling pain there was a billow of electricity and static. His entire body began to jerk and shiver, every little piece of coding within him rearranging as told- But the process was corrupted and instead of dissolving into simple matter, he stayed a solid form, one which began to tremor and glitch uncontrollably.

The small virus wobbled and fell. He curled up into a ball on the nonexistent ground, his frame quivering, sparks of electricity pulsating around him, causing him to convulse. He gritted his teeth, tightly shutting his eyes. He could feel his code separating, pulling away from his center, but somehow never going away completely.

The system was beginning to break down. His coding flashed from red to blue and back again as the computer tried to fix itself, tried to take back control. It was fritzing now, hardly able to stay intact. It still recognized the organism, the 'parasite' held within it. But the virus's coding said differently.

It wasn't sure what to do. It tried over and over again to delete this nuisance, but it just wouldn't go away. Its programming wouldn't allow it.  

Without a way to dispose of the virus, there was nothing else it could do but release it. It was still known as part of the game, which wouldn't allow it to die, but instead regenerate. Though its coding said it was something else. So it would not be deleted, but instead spit back out of the system as it was before. It would not keep the skin it had created, none of the information it had collected while being here. It would return the same way it had entered.

And all at once it was over. The shaking stopped, the static was gone, and the world around him was solid and flooded with light. He blinked, his eyes beginning to focus again. They were dull and had lost most of their color. His coding was still a little jarred, for his body hadn't completely reset. He looked up at the world simulated around him. He was back in Sugar Rush. Everything was unhindered, unchanged- back to the way it was before. All of his work was undone.

A growl began to rise in his throat before his frame released an awful tremor that caused him to gag and hiss. He glanced back up, one eye closed tight from the pain. He reached out an arm and winced before dragging himself to his feet. His legs shook with the strain, but he managed to stay up-right. He wrapped his arms around his chest, tucking his head down, making himself looked impact and small, then quickly headed off for cover. If anyone saw him like this, he'd be done for. No second chances this time. He was vulnerable now.

He could feel his frame grow weaker as he went. He was getting colder. His body had taken too much damage, too many manipulations. The change of skins, the cybug mutation, the shock of sudden and unedifying death, the coding being ripped from his being… He'd never died before. Not in his old game- not in this one. He didn't like the feeling of death. He didn't understand how others could endure it every day of their lives. The thought of it made him shiver in disgust.

Death. He couldn't let that happen again- Because if he were ever to die again, there was no chance of him coming back.

He had to be careful.

Then he felt that ever so familiar gaze fall upon him. He turned his head slowly, his eyes flashing a vibrant yellow, his face contorted into one of hatred and horror. He paused, and in that very moment in time their eyes locked. But the other hadn't had time to register as his body took full on defense and he dashed away, disappearing behind cover. He watched as the girl shook her head and glanced around, but was surprised to find nothing.

A large familiar figure joined at her side. It left a bitter taste on his tongue as he watched them. Those two. They ruined it all. And that man, Wreck-It Ralph. HE was the one who killed him, ultimately. He wouldn't allow that to happen again.

Then another surge, and his vision went foggy.

Maybe not now.

And he fainted.