Here finally the Matrix series! Co-writed with Wilbur-Nator, also author of the OCs Virtual and Morpheus. The OCs RRae and Sandy belongs to RobinsInTheSkye and her little brother. The OC Erik belong to my little brother. The other OCs belongs to us, the Big Sugar Rush Four.

The Matrix Series

Season One: The Virus

Chapter One: Sweet Dreams

Headache.

Maybe that was what had awakened her, so Clarion Grace Jackson, also known as Pammy Cotton Candy, groaned and opened her neon blue eyes. She assumed it was morning by now, but then again, it was always morning in Sugar Rush Speedway, the candy kart-racing game of Litwak's Arcade. The bright sunshine streaming through the windows wasn't currently helping her pounding head at the moment either, and she wondered if Sugar Rush had pain-killers around somewhere.

Most likely not. This was a candy game, not Dr. Mario ... she sat up and looked around. The other girls were still asleep around her, after the little slumber party that they had had the night before, and the red-haired girl couldn't help but smile. "Vanellope, wake up!" she called softly, reaching over and shaking her black-haired, hazel-eyed friend's shoulder.

No answer.

Clarion frowned slightly. That was unusual, the President of Sugar Rush was always an early riser. She looked back around at the others in worry as she noticed they, too, were not even stirring. "Vani! Citrus! Kand! Lily!" she called the name of each of the girls, but none of them responded, just continued to slumber peacefully.

Clarion huffed slightly, crossing her arms, then spotted a book and picked it up, throwing it at a nearby wall with a thud. Nothing. She picked up another book and, aiming, threw it at the bookshelf full of trophies. The book collided with the golden cups, which fell to the floor with ear-splitting crash that sounded like banging pots, didn't matter if they got dented, they'd regenerate next time the game was played. But still nothing. She drew in a deep breath."HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Not so much as even the flicker of an eyelash. She finally gave up and just sat there, blue eyes narrowed thoughtfully as she figured her necklace. She knew something was very wrong. She could feel it in her code. And her code was never wrong. Clarion silently counted the group of sleeping racers. All of them were there and accounted for, except for herself and ... Jelly.

Where was Jelly? She wasn't one for early rising either, but maybe if she was up, she knew something about this whole thing. Rising to her feet, the girl quietly slipped on her blue boots and, grabbing her white bow from a nearby table and fastening it in her hair, turned and ran out of the room.

Clarion opened the door to the kart workshop and, stepping inside, was greeted with the sight of a purple-haired girl working underneath a rainbow kart. She waved, approaching the racer. "Hey, Jelly!"

The girl rolled out from under the kart and sat up, wiping the chocolate oil off her hands as her blue eyes half-closed sarcastically. "Oh look, if it's not the Super-Powerful Madame that finally awoke. What brings you to visit the mere mortals like us?" she asked in her English accent.

Clarion rolled her eyes. "Don't be like that, Jel. I can't wake the other girls. You know something about all this? Is this some kind of trick you're pulling?"

Jelly threw away the cloth. "Believe me, if it was me, you wouldn't be awake to ask."

The red-head glared at her, and she held up a finger. "But, if you want, we can go find Gloyd and the others. I heard they were having a slumber party like the rest of us, and maybe only the girls refuse to listen to the birds sing."

Clarion frowned, but nodded. "Makes sense. Then c'mon, let's go!"

The two racers stood in the doorway, letting their blue eyes scan over Gloyd's bedroom. All of the boys were curled up in sleeping-bags, and like the girls, were sound asleep ... showing no signs of waking up. That was it. Something was defiantly wrong here. Did Sandy go overkill? "I think I'll take a leap back home and report this problem to the authorities," Clarion finally said, half joking to try and lighten the dark mood that had just settled. "See you later."

She spun around to exit the room, and Jelly stared at her in disbelief. "Are you really going to leave me here alone?" she asked incredulously. "In charge of a world of sleeping people?"

Clarion stopped. "Do what you want," she shrugged.

Jelly crossed her arms. "Then I'll go with you."

The red-haired racer rolled her eyes. "Oh, will you just tell me you're scared right now and get it over with?!"

Jelly ignored that. "Just think, together, we have less chance of one of us becoming the next vicim," she pointed out.

Clarion raised an eyebrow. "One of us? As in, meaning you don't have a chance to fall asleep? I put more fear into this Arcade then anything else."

Jelly chose not to answer that, and the girls quickly left the silent room, heading for their karts outside so they could leave Sugar Rush and check up on the power bar, Game Central Station.

Noticing something was wrong was even easier then in Sugar Rush, for two reasons. The first reason was that Game Central Station was empty. Completely and utterly empty, silent as a ghost town. On a weekend holiday. The second reason was that the Surge Protector didn't appear to interrogate Clarion, as he had acquired a habit of doing lately. Honestly, the whole thing was beginning to creep the two racers out.

"I don't like this ..." Jelly whispered nervously as she grabbed onto Clarion's arm, scared.

Clarion huffed in frustration. "Seriously, Jel, stop being such a scaredy-kit-kat."

Jelly shot her a mild death glare, when a voice rang through the empty Station. "Girls!"

Both turned their heads in surprise to see James Robert Grace, also known as Jay-Jay Cotton Candy and Clarion's twin brother, sitting on one of the benches nearby the game Fix-It Felix Jr,. Sitting on his lap and hugging him, blue eyes wide with fear, was two-year-old Erik Fix-It, the son of the game characters Fix-It Felix Junior from his namesake game and Sergeant Tamora Calhoun from Hero's Duty. Standing besides them were two other game characters, the brown-haired, purple-eyed, three-year-old Tory Wreck-It, and four-year-old, brown-haired and blue-eyed Crystal Fix-It, looking around the Station nervously.

Clarion smiled faintly and walked over to the bench with Jelly, sitting down next to James, and Crystal's blue eyes lit up in relief. "Clar!" the girl exclaimed, throwing herself at the red-head and settling into her lap.

Clarion laughed, stroking her light hair. "Good morning, little jewel. Did you sleep well?"

Crystal nodded, the relief draining away from her face as if reminded of something, and hugged her sister with a whimper. She frowned. "Is there a problem, little Sugar Cube?"

James sighed, shifting Erik onto one of his knees. "They're all sound asleep, I'm afraid."

Clarion looked around Game Central Station. Well, that explained why it was so empty. "All?" Jelly asked, blue eyes wide in shock.

James nodded. "Every last character in that game," he answered, motioning to the outlet of Fix-It Felix Jr,. "Probably every other game, too. They're alive, but there's something wrong."

"The same thing's happened in Sugar Rush," his twin mused thoughtfully. "So far, I think we're the only characters that are actually awake in the entire Arcade."

Jelly scowled. "But why us?"

The boy paused. "Well ... maybe because we have something the others don't. Our codes were never plugged into the games. We were actually born, not created. Whatever's affecting the codes of the characters can't hurt us because we're not part of a game."

The purple-haired racer rolled her eyes, putting her hands on her hips. "I feel flattered."

Clarion abruptly squinted ahead at the other side of Game Central Station, then let a slow smile decorate her features. "Sorry Jay, but your theory was just flushed down the drain."

She waved one hand in the air. "Guys! Over here!"

James and the others turned in time to see four anthropomorphic animals make their ways towards them from the outlet of one of the latest Sonic the Hedgehoggames. There was a black and purple hedgehog holding the hand of a much smaller, golden hedgehog, and next to her was a gray cat with three tails. Trailing behind warily was an identical cat wearing a hooded robe. The animals, rare add-on characters in their game, stopped in front of them, and the first cat, Virtual the Gospel Kitsune Cat, breathed outward in relief. "Finally, someone's alive in here. I though we were the only ones."

James grinned. "It's good to hear a familiar voice when everything seems dark, both emotionally and realistically, right?" he commented, as Virtual was blind. "But how'd you guys escape the sleeping spell that hit the whole Arcade? It obviously wasn't caused by him."

He pointed at the smaller hedgehog, Sandy the Sandhedge, who rolled his golden eyes with a look that read, Obviously.

Rae jabbed a gloved finger at the hooded cat. "Morpheus," she stated blankly.

The Arthurian-version of Virtual shrugged. "I do not know how I managed to wake up," he replied. "I remember having a very strange dream, where life was perfect – but I knew that everything was not real. That was when I awoke, and I tried to wake everyone else, but only Virtual, Sandy, and Rae would. I fail to comprehend why at the moment, as well as why the others are asleep in the first place."

"And we also had similar dreams like his before he woke us up!" Rae added. "You?"

Jelly blew a strand of purple hair out of her face. "No dreams except for the ordinary," she said, and the twins nodded.

Tory bit his lip, blonde bangs falling into his face. "Go do something, won't you, Clar?" he asked innocently.

Clarion smiled. "Sure, sweetie."

She looked back at the others. "Let's take care of this. I swore to their fathers that I would protect them at any cost, and that's what I'll do. Now, let's see, where do we start to check up on this mystery ..."

None of them noticed the pair of glinting, green eyes peering out at them from the shadows in an outlet nearby. The shadowed person held up his wrist, where a gleaming, silver watch was strapped, and whispered, "We have ten lost here ... restart the program."

"Reactivating program in three ... two ... one ... program reactivated," a voice answered from the mechanical clock.

Clarion stiffened. "Did you hear that?" she asked her friends.

"Look, if you need me I'll be working in the shop, okay?" Jelly called, starting to walk away.

"Wait just a second!"

The redhead grabbed hold of her arm, stopping the racer, then motioned for complete silence. Still grabbing Jelly, she began to tiptoe over to the outlet discreetly, out of sight of the shadows. Meanwhile, the person stared at James, Morpheus, and the others, a frown coming over his face as his eyes darkened. "They're still there!" he hissed to the watch. "What went wrong?! Who are they?!"

"Codes do not match," was the only answer he received.

He growled. "How can that be?! Out of anyone here, they're the ones that give–"

"Well, well. Looks like we got ourselves a nosy spy."

The person turned, and Clarion's arm shot out as she grabbed the front of the person's shirt, yanking him out into the light as she held him in a tight grip. The person was a boy, no more the twelve years of age, with extremely bright, neon-green eyes and hair the color of tar. His skin was pale, and he was wearing a white shirt, blue jeans, black sneakers, and a silver watch around his right wrist, all very simple and seemingly new. Clarion, James, and Morpheus stared at him suspiciously, as the three oldest characters were sure they had never seen him before.

"Who are you?" Clarion asked angrily.

The boy's green eyes narrowed. "The question is, who are you?"

The girl gritted her teeth. "You think you have the right to ask anything? You're in our territory and outnumbered, forget it. Answer our questions now, and ..."

She cast a glance at the others, who had gone into defensive mode. James' hand was at his belt, ready to pull out his gun, while Sandy had summoned his Sand whips and Rae clutched a knife in each hand, both Virtual and Morpheus holding their blue lightsabers at the ready. "... And maybe we'll let you live."

The boy looked at them, and Rae bared her fangs, red eyes glowing. He winced. "All right, all right! You don't need to fret! Put me down, and we can talk."

Clarion literally dropped him, sending the boy crashing to the floor, and put her hands on her hips. "I have a gun," she warned. "If you run, I won't hesitate to shoot."

The boy scrambled to his feet, holding up his hands. "Okay, okay! I'm Matthew. Matthew Daniel Anderson."

"Game?" Jelly, the only person not armed besides the younger children, asked curiously.

Matthew shrugged. "None. If I ever belonged to one, I can't remember it, but I can guarantee you that I've been around here a while."

The redhead's blue eyes narrowed. She could tell she wasn't lying, nor was programmed to lie that way, but didn't let that put her guard down. Her twin stepped forward. "Why were you spying on us?" he demanded.

The boy rolled his green eyes. "Well, sorry, but it's kinda strange to not have anyone else out here," he shot back sarcastically.

Clarion scowled. "I heard voices, though. Who were you talking to?"

Matthew shrugged. "No one. It's just me here."

Her eyes narrowed until they were mere slits. "You can lie, but the lie has short legs and it's not going far."

He huffed. "All right! I only have one thing on my watch. Want to see it?"

Since nobody answered, as they were waiting for him to show him, the boy pressed a black button on it, causing a holographic screen to appear. Codes began to run across the screen, flickering and flashing, and the group stared at the screen in surprise. Nobody noticed a sly smirk cross Matthew's face as he stepped back and closed his eyes. Instantly, the screen shot out a bright light, and the friends cried out as it engulfed them before collapsing to the floor, unconscious.

The screen faded away as it was sucked back into the clock's face, and Matthew opened his eyes to gaze down at the unmoving characters, smiling creepily. He lifted the watch up to his mouth. "Mission accomplished."

"Good job, Matt," came the reply, and the boy spun around, vanishing into the shadows.