Wreck-It Ralph: The Gamer

Chapter 1 – Plugged In

Some people call me a, 'Game-alcoholic'. I play games non-stop. Since my Dad's owner and operator of Litwak's Arcade, he gives me the chance to play all the old and new games that come in. Since I was a boy, since I figured out how to control and push a button on a gaming console, I got hooked. Before I knew it, $5 in quarters were gone out of my pocket. I literally searched the floor for dropped quarters so I could continue. Truth be told…I didn't find any.

And as I got older, more and more games came to the arcade. And as I got older, my name became popular. Josh Litwak, a.k.a., The Gamer. Any gamer who saw me knew I was coming in to make a new high score. ON any game in my Dad's arcade, you will find, me, 'The Gamer' at the top. And not a single gamer out there can beat my high scores. My life couldn't be any better. That's until I realized my life, was going to become something else when I was left alone inside the arcade, and I slipped on a puddle and landed my head on the broken power cord that was connected to all the games in the arcade. And when I awoke, I was in the games…

Early morning…

Josh gets ready for his day, he puts on his leather black coat and walks over to grab his skateboard. His Mom calls for him from downstairs and he goes to her. Josh heads downstairs and into the kitchen. He sees his Mom making breakfast.

"Hey Mom."

Josh's mom stays quiet. Josh just shakes his head and sits down. Josh's Mom walks back and puts eggs down on his plate. Josh begins to eat and breaks up the silence.

"Where's Dad?"

"You know where he is Josh."

Josh shakes his head.

"I know, I just want to break up the silence."

"You plan on going to the arcade later today?" Josh's Mom asks putting the dishes away

Josh smiles.

"I thought you might ask that, so yeah."

Josh's Mom shakes her head.

"Of course, why ask something that I know."

Josh just shakes his head in an annoyed way.

"Someone's awfully 'pissy' this morning."

Josh's Mom turns around and looks at her son hard. Josh sees, and looks away.

"You can only think why I'm 'pissy' this morning Josh."

Josh grabs his left wrist hard. Josh's Mom walks out of the room. Josh moves his leather coat back and stares at his high-tech Motorola Watch. He sees the time and heads out.

Out on the streets…

Josh rides fast on his skateboard. He hops a curb and passes an old couple who he almost bumped right into.

"Hey!" Old Man yells

"Watch yourself young man!" Old Woman yells

Josh looks back.

"Sorry about that! Move a little quicker next time!"

The old couple look disgusted at each other as Josh continues to ride away. Josh pushes hard and onto the street. But as he rides on cars honk at him to move over, Josh just does so he doesn't get hit. One driver rides up alongside Josh, rolls down his window and yells at him.

"Hey Kid! You trying to get yourself killed!"

Josh just looks over.

"Want to race?! I never loose!"

The driver looks funny at Josh as he just smiles. The driver floors it and Josh just stops because at the intersection, the lights red and the driver goes right through it with a cop on him in two seconds. Josh just laughs as he rides ahead. The officer gets the driver out and questions him. The driver slowly looks to the side and sees Josh ride right by him.

"Winner!', points at himself, points at the driver, 'LOSER!"

The driver almost loses it and the cop cuffs him. Josh just laughs as he rides on.

Parking lot of Litwak's Arcade…

Josh rides and stops. He looks at the arcade in the distance. He kicks up his board and looks at it from across the way. Josh sighs and throws down his board. He rides straight to the arcade. As Josh rides to the front doors, he kicks up his board and approaches. He looks off to the side and sees a poster telling kids about the upcoming days their going to be open. Josh just sighs and enters.

Inside Litwak's Arcade…

Josh enters and sees the place hopping, full of kids everywhere. Josh smiles and walks in. Some kids run past him and Josh moves out of the way. He passes up the game Sugar Rush and sees two little girls playing and almost to the finish line. Josh looks closer and sees the two little girls playing as Gloyd Orangeboar and Snowanna Rainbeau. Josh just crosses his arms and watches.

"Oooooh! Almost there, almost there! I'm going to win this!" Little Girl 1 says

"No, I'm going to win this! I'm right behind you! Watch this!" Little Girl 2 says pushing a button

The Little Girl 2 pushes a button and activates a weapon to screw up the Little Girl 1. Josh just watches as the Little Girl 1 drives out of control. Josh walks around the seat and grabs the wheel.

"Just hold on! Keep it straight!"

"Hey!" Little Girl 1 yells

"Watch the road!"

The Little Girl 1 looks back at the screen. She follows Josh's movements and avoids from being hit.

"Now, activate your special weapon." Josh orders the Little Girl 1

The Little Girl 1 does, her game character spins around and launches a weapon back on the other racer. She spins back around, slides across the finish line and Gloyd Orangeboar wins the race. He does his own winner's dance as he gets a the gold cup.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" Little Girl 1 shouts

Josh backs up as he watches the Little Girl's go at it again. He then walks around and watches the other kids play the old and new games. As Josh walks around, he spots his Dad wearing a referee shirt watching the kids. Josh smiles as he gets an idea. He sneaks up behind his father and jumps him.

"BOOO!"

"AHHHH!"

Some of the kids turn and see the scene. Mr. Litwak turns around and sees his son laughing at him.

"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh….Dad…that was…amazing. You jumped like 2 feet in the air, you should have seen it."

"I'm surprised I lived it."

Josh just laughs.

"What's going on?"

"Keeping an eye on the kids, also if you're here I guess I have to keep my eyes on you as well."

"I promise I'll behave', walks past Litwak, 'Sort of."

"I heard that."

Josh just smiles. As he looks around, he spots two men in grey jumpsuits enter the arcade. Josh watches as they pull in a jack with them. Mr. Litwak walks over to the men and guide them. Josh just watches.

"It's this one guys, take her away."

The men get ready to take a beat up game with them. Josh walks up to his father.

"Dad, what's going on?"

"I'm afraid our good game King of Fighters is being pulled out."

"What? Why? It's a good game."

"So is Street Fighter and the kids are playing that more than this. I'm afraid it's just collecting dust."

"Oh man, that was a good fighting game."

"There will be more games."

Mr. Litwak pats Josh's back. Josh just rubs his face.

"And I wanted to beat my high score on it too."

Mr. Litwak rolls his eyes.

"You and your 'high scores'. You have your name written on ALL of them."

"At the top, but not my name, 'The Gamer' is typed in on all of them."

"Right. 'The Gamer'. Nice name for yourself Josh."

" The way you say it, makes me feel bad Dad."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound bad but in case you didn't notice', moves closer to Josh, 'I think everyone knows."

Josh turns his head and sees some of the kids looking at him. Josh shrugs.

"Everyone knows I'm the son of the owner."

"And they also know you have the high scores on all the games."

Josh crosses his arms. Mr. Litwak looks at the men.

"Alright take it out."

The guys load up the game and the two boys watch. They get it on the jack and pull away. But as they pull away, they stop.

"Huh?" Mover says

"Did you unplug it?" Mover 2 asks

"Yeah I did."

Mover 2 looks.

"No you didn't, it's still plugged in, look!"

Mover 1 sees and sees the cord being pulled tight instead of loose.

"Well sorry, I must have pulled the wrong game out."

Josh rubs his face.

"And you guys call yourselves professional's?"

The two Movers look at Josh.

"Hey kid, in case you don't know, there's over a 100 plug INS on this surge bar. There's wires going all around." Mover 1 explains

"Then just follow the cord from the game to the surge bar."

"I did that, I must have followed the wrong one." Mover 1 says

"Obviously…"

The Mover's get annoyed. Mr. Litwak steps forward.

"Ahh…excuse my son, this is one of his favorite games here. He's just a little UPSET', nudges Josh, 'That it's going away."

Josh makes a face and looks the other way.

"Okay, I think I got it this time." Mover 1 says

"Alright, pull."

The two men struggle. Josh looks back and sees if any of the other games turned off. But none.

"Are you sure you pulled the right one?" Mover 2 asks

"Yeah, it's not going anywhere."

"Umm, excuse me guys, please don't pull to hard, those wires are old and around the other game consoles, I don't want a fire hazard on our hands."

"Just leave this work to us Mr. Litwak, will have it out of here soon."

"Or never the way you're doing it."

Mr. Litwak nudges Josh again. The men pull hard and struggle. On the surge bar, the whole thing moves by the Movers force. The plug that's connected starts to move but the cord starts to slowly rip.

"Almost got it!" Mover 1 yells

Mr. Litwak pulls Josh back and suddenly, the men finally get it free causing the cord to rip and spark a little of the surge bar.

"There, we got it." Mover 2 says

"In the most bizarre way I've, ever seen." Josh mentions

Josh and Mr. Litwak watch as they pull out the video game out of the arcade. Josh feels his chest.

"Watching that game leave…feels like a part of me slowly disappearing."

Mr. Litwak taps Josh's shoulder.

"More will come son, more will come."

Josh just watches as he sees his father keep an eye on the shop. He looks ahead of him and sees that sign he saw earlier. Josh looks down and follows his dad but…

"Oh crap!" Little Boy yells

Josh turns around and sees that a Little Boy spill his drink behind the machine.

"Oh come on!"

The Little Boy sees.

"There's electricity running behind here! Be careful!"

The Little Boy runs off. Josh sees.

"Dumb brat…"

Josh pushes the machine to the side and looks. There's a puddle but nowhere near the surge bar. Josh sticks his head in and sees everything's fine. He moves back and tries to find his father. Back at the surge bar, the recently pulled game plug sparks as it wasn't pulled out all the way.

Back through the arcade, Josh tries to find his father and finally spots him. He gives out quarters to everyone and goes on along his way.

"Dad."

"Hold on a second Josh."

Josh sighs hard.

"Dad?"

"Hold on Josh."

Josh gets serious.

"Dad!"

Mr. Litwak spins around.

"What?!"

Josh puts his hands up.

"Calm down."

"You yelled my name."

"It was the only way to get your attention."

"I swear, sometimes you act like a child. Worse than any of the children here."

Josh laughs.

"I am a CHILD."

"Your 17."

"Last time I checked, 18 is considered an adult. So I'm making good of my youth."

Mr. Litwak grabs his glasses and cleans them.

"What was it Josh?"

"What's with that sign out front saying the arcade's shutting down?"

Mr. Litwak puts his glasses back on.

"It's not 'shutting down', it's closing for the week."

"Oh the weekend? I can live with that."

"No, no. I said the 'week'."

Josh flinches.

"A week?!"

"Yes."

"7 days?"

"Yes."

"168 hours?"

"Yes I believe so."

"10080 minutes?"

"How do you know this?"

"604800 seconds?!"

"You've made your point! Yes! The arcade will close for the week! What is the problem?!"

"Why!?"

"I want a week off from this place Josh, no one's not going to miss this place when it's closed."

"Yeah there will, ME!"

"How did I know you were going to say that?"

"Come on Dad, you know I can't live without this place. Hey, how about this? I run the place. You can take the week off, I know how you do things."

"Never going to happen."

"Why not?"

"How do I know you won't be doing your JOB and not be playing the video games?"

"I swear."

Josh puts up his right hand. Mr. Litwak just sighs.

"I'm sorry Josh, I just can't risk it."

Josh watches his father walk away.

"Risk? Risk what? I'm your son, the least you can do is say, 'I'll think about it'."

"To you Josh, these video games are your life, it's like your second nature."

Josh rubs his face.

"When you talk like that I get a headache."

Mr. Litwak turns around.

"I'll put it in simple terms for you then. You wouldn't last a single day without playing these games and showing off who you are."

Josh sighs.

"Well the reason I do those two things is because I made a promise."

Mr. Litwak narrows his eyes.

"Promise? What promise?"

Josh walks to his father.

"Ask Mom, she knows."

Josh walks away from his father. Mr. Litwak turns around and watches his son. And as Josh walks away, he feels around his neck and grabs his necklace. On it in small square letters, 'Good Guy'.

Later that night…

The Arcade starts to close. Mr. Litwak checks around to see if there are any more kids in the arcade, and as he looks he sees Josh playing Hero's Duty.

"Come on Josh, game over, I have to lock up."

Josh shoots.

"Thirty more seconds! I'm right at the end of the level!"

"You got five."

"Plus twenty five!"

Mr. Litwak rolls his eyes and fixes his glasses. Josh shoots down more Cy-Bugs and Sergeant Calhoun walks on the screen.

"All right Rookie, you've gotten this far, let's see if you can make it up to the tower to finish this!"

Josh cocks his gun. In the game, the doors open and Mr. Litwak walks to Josh.

"Josh, your times up."

"Just a few more seconds."

Mr. Litwak shakes his head.

"Game over Josh!"

Mr. Litwak grabs the gun and puts it down.

"Hey!', looks at screen, 'NOOO!"

A Cy-Bug implants itself on the screen and kills Josh's character. He sighs and rubs his face.

"OOOOOH! Why would you do that? I was this close', makes impression with fingers, 'to reaching the end."

"Well, you have tomorrow to play this game again."

"Yeah, and then a week to wait."

"Don't you mean 167 hours?"

"168."

"Whatever."

Josh watches his father walk away.

"Don't you even care?"

Mr. Litwak turns around.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, don't you even care? You act like…nothing happened."

Mr. Litwak blinks.

"Is that what this is about Josh?"

Josh shrugs.

"You tell me."

"No, you TELL me. Is that why you spend all day here? Away from home. Away from your friends?"

Josh looks the other way.

"You think it was your fault?"

Josh shrugs.

"Mom clearly states that to me every morning."

"Your mother doesn't think that."

"Then why does she act like a ghost to me? Hmm? She's furious but doesn't show it."

"Josh…"

"I'm just sick and tired of how everyone is treating me. What's wrong with the way I live my life? Why do I have to change? Why don't you change? How about Mom? How about anyone but me! I'm not going to stop being who I am as long as I live in this harsh cruel world! You got that?!"

Mr. Litwak stares at his son. Josh breathes heavily and Mr. Litwak sets down the keys to the Arcade.

"If that's how you want it."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"If you don't want to change who you are, that's fine. But since you don't want to come home I figure, you can stay the night in the Arcade. That's your dream isn't it?"

Josh scuffs.

"Since these games are more important to you then your own family, I guess everything's the way you want it."

"Oh please Dad…"

"Good night Josh."

Mr. Litwak leaves. Josh stands there as he sees his Father disappear into the dark night. He sighs hard and looks around.

"Home sweet home…"

Josh walks around the arcade. The games continue to play on as no one is playing them. Josh reaches inside his pocket and grabs his last quarter. He stares at it and looks around. In front of him, Fix-It Felix, Jr. plays right in front of him. He hears the same old slogan, 'I can fix it!' coming from it. Josh sort of smiles and flips the quarter in the air. He goes to catch it but it bounces out of his hand and rolls on the carpet. Josh gets annoyed.

"Really!?"

Josh chases after it around the games. It rolls between two game consoles and right to the surge bar. Josh slides between the two games and looks out under the cords of games to find the quarter. As Josh looks, the cord that ripped sparks. Josh sees it.

"Whoa!"

It sparks again and Josh backs up.

"Those idiots ripped the cord!"

Josh moves along back behind the games away from the cord that's sparking. Josh steps into the puddle that the little boy dropped earlier. Then, all of a sudden, the ripped cord sparks again but bigger this time and touches the puddle Josh is in. He feels a slight shock and jumps.

"OW!"

He jumps and loses his balance. Josh grabs hold of the edges of game consoles but there not good enough. He looks behind him and sees the sparks of the ripped cord. His grasp becomes really loose and suddenly, he lets go. His head falls straight down towards the ripped cord. It hits and Josh gets electrocuted by the cord. He jumps and twitches and finally, it stops. But behind him, a small blue light flies through into the cord and into the surge bar. Josh lies completely motionless above the ripped cord. Not at all breathing.

Josh on the other hand, he flies through the cord's tunnel and out the other end. He flies through Game Central Station and gets pulled into Hero's Duty. Again, a blue light flies through the cord to Hero's Duty. Josh lands in Hero's Duty and into an open, abandoned field. Josh twitches as the electricity flows through his body. The current stops and Josh calms down. He moves his head and sees a dark greenish sky. And then…he passes out.

So, that's Chapter 1. More are to come. Here's a small preview of what to expect in Chapter 2.

So Josh, being lost and confused doesn't know where he's at. Upon arriving and walking around aimlessly, he sees soldiers in the distance. He tries to get their attention but they open fire on him. He runs in fear and before he knows it, he gets suplexed by Sergeant Calhoun. And in an instant, Josh recognizes Sergeant Calhoun from the game Hero's Duty. Sergeant Calhoun then states that he's IN Hero's Duty. She questions his reasons why he's in her game and not his. Josh states he's not from a 'game'. And just before any more questions and answers come out, the Cy-Bugs attack and Josh is caught right in the middle.

And later, Josh learns that 'Game Central Station' is the surge bar that connects all the games in the Arcade together and somehow, Josh was able to implant himself into it. And now he's trapped. Next time on Wreck-Ralph: The Gamer, Chapter 2 – The Gamer Meets the Games.