LYDIA DEETZ AND WRECK IT RALPH
Capítulo 4: The Central Station Video
The next morning, after a happy rest, Felix woke the boys up again and they followed him to Ralph's house. There they bid farewell to their friends who were quick to take their places for the new game that was about to begin.
Lydia and Percy watched as Felix was controlled by the player (who was a blonde girl with glasses) and then the other characters from the old Q*Bert game joined in. Game after game, they watched Ralph and Coily and Company lose to the skills of Felix and Q*Bert, but once witnessed the heroes lose to the poor control performance of a player who was sure to be a rookie.
“Lydia, I'm already bored, how about we take the strollers and go to the famous and so far unknown Video Central Station," said Percy as he yawned.
“Okay, but let's get back before the arcade closes or Felix and Ralph worry about our absence.”
The two boys took the strollers, got out of the game and arrived at the entrance of the Video Central Station.
“Look Lydia, this place doesn't look as nice as I'd hoped it would," Percy said, frowning and looking everywhere, especially at the dirty walls.
“It's true, it looks like an underground train station in New York, everything is full of graffiti," said Lydia, who was also frowning.
“If we go through that arch we will enter the VCS," said Percy, and then the boys holding hands walked forward.
"Aerith lives....How strange", Lydia thought when she saw the graffiti, but soon her attention was focused on the open, clean space in front of her.
The boys were walking through the entrance arch, when they suddenly felt as if they were passing through a red network of energy, while a loud alarm sounded.
Lydia and Percy raised their heads in fear and looked everywhere to see where the ugly sound came from, when suddenly they heard the voice of a man in front of them.
“Your names please.”
In front of the boys was the strangest character they had ever seen including Q*Bert and his friends: he was a bluish man who seemed to be made of pure energy, was translucent and had the appearance of a fifty-year-old public employee and bald, well, there was an electric current circuit that simulated something that looked like hair.
“Your names please,” the man who was carrying a notebook asked again.
“Emm, my friend's name is Percy, and my name is Deetz Lydia.”
“What game you come from," said the man in a boring tone, as if he had asked the same question a million times, and he kept looking up from his notes.
“Repair it, Felix junior," said Lydia immediately so as not to disturb the strange individual.
“Something to declare," asked the man with a monotone voice and a bored expression.
“Are you the surge protector?” Percy asked, making the man leave his notes and adjusting his glasses, he looked carefully at the young pair.
“You're not from the game repair it, Felix junior. What game are you from?”
“We're not from any game, sir, we're players from the real world," Lydia explained apprehensively.
“That's impossible, please tell me what game you're from.”
“We already told you sir, we didn't come from any game,” Lydia tried to explain it over and over again, but the surge protector still insisted that they tell him the name of the game they came from.
“What are we going to do, Percy, he doesn't want to understand.”
“I'll take care, Lydia... Yes, we're from a game called Beetlejuice, Skeletons in the closet.”
“Why didn't you say the name of the game.”
“We were embarrassed, you see, sir, they disconnected our beloved game, our home, the same day they connected it because of problems, I think with the software, or would it be the hardware?” Percy said with such an innocent face that anyone who heard him would believe him without hesitation.
“Disconnected just a few hours from the Video Central Station," said the surge protector with a sad expression on his face.
“Actually, I think it was about five minutes after they disconnected us," Percy said.
“Five minutes and now homeless... poor children, you can come in and anything you want to ask just go to the information office in the center, I also recommend you go to the advertisement cylinder, this day the advertisement avatar is Mario," said the surge protector while he was away from the children and kept muttering: "poor children".
“I think we put it in our pocket, Lydia, it's in the palm of our hands, he dances around our little finger, if we tell him to jump, he'll say, "How high up," if we tell him...”
“Yeah, I get it, Percy, I just wish I didn't have to lie to him.”
“There was no choice Lydia, the surge protector is just a programming, he would not have listened any reason if we had insisted on telling him the truth.”
“You're right, anyway, let's see the place.”
The Video Central Station was a huge place with a single wide corridor and with several games connected along its two walls, each entrance had the name of the game that could be accessed and although it did not have a second floor, the ceiling was at a very high height. Throughout the center of the corridor were several benches and some cylinders of information showing the figure of Mario moving and reciting some announcements.
“How strange, I thought there would be many, many more people in this place,” Percy was surprised who stood on tiptoe and tried to see every corner.
“Remember that at this moment the arcade is open and everyone is in their respective games, whether they are player characters or non-player characters," reminded Lydia, who was already taking her old camera on film and starting to take pictures of the place.
“Lydia, take a picture of me next to Mario's advertising cylinder, pretty please" asked the cat boy, holding his hands together as a plea, and his friend started to focus on him.
“Remember, if you die out of your game, you won't be able to regenerate yourself, game over," said the Mario figure as an information to whoever was watching and listening to him at the time.
"You'll be given five minutes' notice every time the arcade opens, you shouldn't keep busy, go to your game," continued Mario's ad, at the same time as Percy posed for Lydia.
"If you have lost any of your possessions, do not try to look for them, go to your game and you can then look for them in the information office.” The message continued and the children heard this and saw how the surge protector came to the place to see if anyone had forgotten something.
"The protective surge can regenerate any structure within the VCS, but it is asked not to cause damage to the infrastructure," said Mario, and this time it was Lydia who posed for the camera, and Percy was in charge of taking photographs.
“We'd better go to the information office," Lydia suggested as she pointed to a circular structure in the middle of the Video Central Station.
“Go to the other window.” Lydia read an advertisement attached to one of the windows of the information office. The boys went to the window and to their surprise they saw that inside there was nothing more and nothing less than the surge protector .
“There are two surge protectors Lydia!” Percy exclaimed at the sight of the bluish man.
“Hi, it's you," said the man, "don't be scared, I'm always at the information office, and if the case warrants, more versions of me patrolls the sector after the arcade closes or when a player tries to enter the VCS objects that are not supposed to leave their game, or take these objects to another game.”
“Like cherries from the Pac Man game?” said Lydia, recalling how Ralph told her the story of how the surge protector stopped him when he smuggled a cherry into his game.
“That's right, that's where the bad guys' support group or "bad anon" meeting is held every week, and there's always someone trying to take things from the Pac Man game.”
“Excuse me, but you could tell us what kind of games it is advisable to go to," Lydia asked, and the man repeated the same thing Sergeant Calhoun told them about guarding their safety while they were in the game.
“Sir, our friend Ralph told us there's a zombie who attends bad anon games," said Percy.
“Yes, what do you want to know?”
“Aren't you afraid that someone will get bitten and the zombie apocalypse will spread in this place and in the rest of the games?”
“As far as I know, that is a resource that is only used in movies, there is no risk of such a contagion in games.”
“Then why is it dangerous to go to The House of Death game?” Percy asked again.
“Due to non-playing characters such as zombie dogs, or mutant fish and carnivorous worms, not to mention vampire bats.”
“I've been told they behave just like the cybugs in the game Hero's Duty," said Lydia.
“Exactly, that's why it's not recommended that you go to that place, do you have any other questions?”
“Yes, I was told that no fighting is allowed in this place. How do you defeat characters with many powers?” Wanted to know Lydia.
“Any power that the player characters or non-player characters have, stays in the game, only powers that are not related to the combat are allowed, for example, Beholder can fly, otherwise he could not move to go from one place to another; Q*Bert, can materialize the words he speaks, in short, if you want to see a list of the powers that can be used here, I will gladly provide you,” he offered them at the end, “as for fights, I have the power to automatically take back to those who lead any.”
“They told me they can't go back to the Video Central Station later," said Lydia.
“The length of time they stay locked up in their game without the right to enter this place depends on the fault committed and my personal criteria," said the protector with a face of authority.
“What if a guy decides to go turbo?” Lydia asked.
“The punishment for such a fault is to be banned from the VCS forever.”
“Can a player die in the Video Central Station?” Lydia asked again.
“No, it's the same as in his game, he regenerates again, but not in this place, but in his original game," said the man.
“What if someone decides not to control someone else's game, I mean. not to become a turbo, but tries to kill a player in a game other than the victim's game so that he or she cannot regenerate?” Wanted to know Lydia.
“The penalty for such a case is the same as if he tried to go turbo, regardless of whether or not he succeeded in his evil murder plan.”
“Is smuggling common in this place?” Percy asked.
“My other versions control that no one can enter objects that should not be moved from their original games, or that these go to other games, of course the system is not perfect and could be the case," said the man this time with a worried gesture, "fortunately, no PJ or NPC has tried to make a smuggling business, the only cases reported are of simple consumption of their own, such as taking cherries from the game of Pac Man to consume them.”
“Ralph told us that you took the cherry you were trying to eat, did you do the same with the cherry he gave to Q*Bert that time?” Percy asked.
“I confiscated the cherry from Ralph, but I didn't do anything with the cherry he gave to poor Q*Bert. As for Ralph, as a first offender, I only gave him a warning notice.”
“Can players starve to death?” Lydia asked.
“No, that's not possible, but that doesn't take away the fact that you feel starved, that's why Q*Bert and his friends were begging in this place.”
“What if someone who lost his game makes stealing food for his own consumption his modus vivendi?” Lydia asked.
“So far there has been no such case and I hope it will never happen, I would not know how to handle it," answered the man sincerely.
“What do you think of the fact that Q*Bert is now participating in the Fix it Félix junior game?” Percy said.
“As long as he doesn't try to go turbo, he and his friends, I'm not interested in what happens to him, although I'm not very comfortable with the idea of that crossover game.”
“One last question, sir," said Lydia. “What are those three huge windows at each end of the station?”
“They're just holograms to make the station more colorful.”
Once the curiosity of the boys was satisfied, they said goodbye to the surge protector and wandered around the place taking pictures.
“Attention, in five minutes the arcade closes.” A message was heard throughout the station.
“We'd better get back to Felix and Ralph," Lydia suggested and Percy nodded.
The journey with the strollers to Felix's game was slow and when they finally arrived they saw to their surprise that Deanna and Gene were waiting for them.
“Lydia, Percy, how good of you to come," said Deanna with a smile.
“Felix has your house ready, you will see that it is beautiful," said Gene happily.
The guys were guided by the two nicelanders to the house that Felix built for them. This was similar to the other houses, with the difference that the color was darker than the other purple ones.
“Felix, you guys, It's beautiful," Lydia exclaimed with tears in her eyes.
“Lydia, looks great! Thank you all so much!” Percy said, jumping for joy.
“I'm glad you guys liked it, how about we come inside," said happy Felix, puffed up with pride, and everyone came into the newly built house.
The house was well furnished, spacious and had high ceilings, so that people like Ralph or Calhoun could visit the young couple and feel at home, or in Ralph's case, not destroy the place accidentally.
It turns out that several nicelanders contributed to the interior decor of the house, so Lydia and Percy thanked them.
Mary brought one of her famous cakes and the party prepared by the nicelanders began, after an hour Calhoun arrived, who did not come alone, she was accompanied by her men and a little girl with candy stuck in her ponytail hairstyle.
“Calhoun, hurry up!” Ralph said excitedly, approaching the little girl and stirring her hair.
“Hey, not so strong, dumb hands, you'll ruffle my brains!” The girl said somewhat uncomfortably but with a smile on her lips.
CONTINUARÁ...
The game Beetlejuice skeletons in the closet, really exists, is from the company Riedel software productions and is based not on the film, but on the cartoons, in which you must help Beetlejuice to catch the skeletons he had hidden, with Lydia's help, before a worm of no world comes and swallows the ghost.
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