“Jay, I’ve already noticed that you’re on a daze for the last few days. I know your mom always asks you this, but let me ask you again: are you really okay?”

My mind went back from flying because of what Dad said while we were having dinner, one Saturday night.

“Huh – what? Oh! Um, yeah. I’m okay… I guess..?” I slowly replied.

Mom took a deep breath. “Even you’re not sure of your own answer, so Dad, your brother, and I have come to the conclusion that you’re thinking of something.”

Mom and Dad are like that. Even if Chuck and I don’t tell our problems to them, they have a way of knowing if we really have problems. I just don’t know how I would tell them that I’m a bit struggling with my studies. There are a lot of things needed to study in Physiology, Biochemistry, Histology, and Preventive Health and Community Medicine. But what really drives me bonkers is Gross Anatomy… or maybe just for me. I naturally suck at memorizing numerous muscles, blood vessels, and nerves in the human body, so Gross Anatomy became even harder. But this isn’t really my biggest problem. It’s like I wanted to request the reinstatement of Clinical Epidemiology to the curriculum because of this.

During the three weeks that passed since I became a Medical student, we already had three meetings in P.E. every Saturday, from nine to eleven in the morning. And I think the administration put me in the most difficult of all P.E. courses: judo. Before entering the class on our first meeting, I’ve done a little bit of research regarding judo. From what I’ve read, only the code of conduct stayed in my memory. When I entered the dojo the next morning, I doubted the administration whether they were really fair in assigning a P.E. course to every student or not. All of my classmates looked like they were already experts in this sport. I can already compare their body sizes to Andre, just like Ernie and Randolf. There were also those who have the same size as me, but their stance are definitely stronger than mine, like Arvind and Cedric. I could probably say that I’m a lone sheep that strayed in a lions’ den.

We didn’t really do anything during our first meeting, but during the second meeting which took place last week, tiredness almost killed me. I couldn’t possibly count the times Darwin and Ricky slammed me onto the mat. But I am the type of person who doesn’t like to make a fool of himself. If I surrender immediately, they would definitely say that I have no determination. Many times have they slammed me onto the mat, but I didn’t stop. This is the reason why some of my classmates were impressed and they invited me to have lunch with them.

I didn’t have my own lunch because I thought I was able to go home immediately, so I just went with them in I Saw ‘D Light @ Isaw Delight. Here, I saw that my classmates were completely different people inside and outside the dojo. While conversing, I found out that Ernie, Arvind, Cedric, Darwin, and more of them have been playing judo long before, and they’re more than glad to help us who aren’t doing well. One of them actually volunteered to be my sparring partner because he saw how Ricky crushed me a while back. He introduced himself to me as Tobiah Magsangcay, or Toby for short. We had the same height, but he had bigger muscles and he’s two years older than me. He had black cropped hair, his black eyes are almost rectangular in shape, his nose is big and sharp, and his lips are really thin, and I think this is because he always shows his teeth. He also said that judo is easy to master and even small Japanese children are doing this. I was a bit reassured because of this.

Our second and third meeting are almost just the same, if you compare them to the number of times I fell on the mat. The only thing that might have changed is that I have learned to use my feet in tripping my opponent and make him fall on the mat. I managed to slam Toby twice or thrice on the mat, compared to the numerous times he did it to me.

After our training a while ago, our sensei approached me. “I saw how you played back there, Sereno-kun. You had a big improvement compared to last week. Please keep up the good work.”

“T-thank you, Hiragizawa-sensei,” I answered loudly and clearly, bowing down at the same time. That is the proper way of answering out trainer inside and outside the dojo. Because of what he said, I was really able to enjoy my lunch with my classmates. We went back the the restaurant we ate in last week. But when I was finally able to go home, the mountain of homework and readings for the next week met me.

Physiology and Biochemistry weren’t really a problem for me, because I can still understand what our professors were talking about, and Histology is just a cinch to me, but it’s Gross Anatomy which really ruined my day because even if I try to read and learn about the muscles of the head and neck again and again, I still can’t memorize a single thing. I was so angry at the time and a headache started to hit me, so I almost chucked my tablet out of the window while muttering profanities by myself.

If I study and do judo at the same time, I would really get exhausted. That’s the reason why I often go in a daze these past fre days, but I just told Mom and Dad, “It’s nothing. I could get used to this.”

Mama took another deep breath. “I think you should rest every now and then. It’s not good if you let studying get in your head too much.”

“Mom’s right,” added Chuck. “Just study tomorrow and rest tonight for a change. You could go down the floor below us and watch something on your laptop or something.”

“And why should I still go down there? I already have my own desk in our room,” I snapped back at Chuck.

“I know that your headset is not working. I’d like to sleep early because my date with Ice was pretty exhausting itself,” he answered, crossing his arms.

I should have teased Chuck on what he could do together with Ice, but then Dad spoke.

“He’s right, why don’t you do just that?” Dad said. “Take it easy for now. Sharpen your saw. If you continue on like that, it’ll get blunt easily.”

“I think,” I said while thinking of something to watch for tonight in my laptop, “you’re right.”

Right after dinner, I took my laptop from its bag. I planned to get my external hard drive because all of the movies I’ve downloaded long ago were there, but I suddenly remembered that one movie I copied from Chuck’s officemate’s laptop. I took my flash drive and proceeded to the seventh floor of our apartment complex. If I ever doze off, I’d be able to sleep there. I wouldn’t want to disturb Chuck in his beauty sleep.

I set up my laptop in a bedroom and plugged in my flash drive. It was still there: the movie Wreck-It-Ralph. I haven’t touched my flash drive for three weeks so that’s probably why I forgot to move it in my external hard drive.

The movie didn’t even start, but I’m already feeling sleepy. Weird. But after being thrown and slammed onto the mat this morning and having my brain fried because of all that studying this afternoon, this might be natural. Besides, I’m lying on my belly on the bed facing the laptop, so that’s probably another reason why I’m feeling drowsy. I just pressed ‘play’ and started the movie.

There’s the monologue of the protagonist. You can hear it at the start. But before long, I couldn’t even understand what he was saying because I’m really drowsy. This is not natural.

The protagonist then went out, his name is Ralph, if I’m not mistaken, from the meeting he just came from. And then I kinda caught a glimpse of Sonic the Hedgehog giving reminders that one must only die on your own game. The place was huge. For every entrance, the name of the game plugged in was shown. ‘That’s neat.’ I thought. It’s just a pity that there is no Legend of Zelda in the arcade. That was my favorite game. Hmm, it also doesn’t look like there’s Pokemon. Chuck will not take this well, I’m sure.

I thought that I should have brought something to nibble on while watching the movie so I won’t get sleepy from the start, when I couldn’t resist closing my eyes and I felt like I’m falling towards a very deep place. I couldn’t see where I was going, but the feeling went on and on, until I finally lost consciousness.

When I came to, I wasn’t in the bedroom where I was watching a movie about different arcade games anymore.

I looked around. The place where I am looks exactly like the place where Ralph came out from his meeting. A robot then went to me. He looks somewhat like a policeman for that place.

“This is the first time I saw you here, kid. From which game did you come from?” it asked me. Its voice didn’t have any intonation.

“G-game?” I stuttered. I don’t know how to answer its question because I wasn’t really from a game. I tried to scratch my head and then I felt that I was wearing something. I took it off and found out that it was a green elf’s cap. I looked at my whole getup. This is where I learned that I am really a game character.

I couldn’t answer for a long time, but the robot spoke again. “Oh, I think you’re one of the characters in that handheld game that was plugged here in the arcade. Hmm, if I’m not mistaken, that was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.”

“Really?” I told it unconsciously. I just said this all of a sudden because I was in deep thought. I then remembered the pendant Granddad gave me. I looked for it and found it still hanging on my neck. I didn’t know that I could also enter a movie. I was just broke back to reality when the robot spoke again.

“Why does it sound like you’re the one asking me if you’re from that game while you’re the one who should be sure that you came from there?” it asked me.

“Oh, um, I mean, yeah, really. I came from there,” I told it, pretending that I really came from the game.

“Ah, that’s settled. Unfortunately, your game has been unplugged only a while ago. It will be a long time before your game will be plugged again so you could enter other games while the arcade is still closed,” it told me.

“Thank you very much,” I answered. I then took a peek on what other stuff I had on me. At the corner of my eye, I saw a button floating in mid-air with the word ‘Menu.’ I pressed it and I saw the complete list of my items. I found out that all my items have been completed and upgraded, including the Light Arrows and the Biggoron Sword. My heart containers have also been completed and I have obtained all medallions I have to collect.

“Right, I have to remind you something before you roam around,” the robot said while I go through my stuff. “You can only die in your own game. If you ever die outside your game, you could never regenerate. This applies for all game characters.”

I was unnerved with what it said. “Thanks for reminding me. I’ll really be careful here.”

“With that, you can –”

The robot didn’t finish what it was supposed to say because an army plane came rushing out from one of the games plugged in the extension. It zoomed around the whole atrium; I can see that it was out of control. I didn’t know what to do when I realized that the plane was going straight to where I was standing.

I was petrified at the sight, but then I felt like I was suddenly electrocuted and I was tossed away from the spot where the plane should have hit. I heard the plane go round and round the place for several more moments before entering another game.

My vision became blurry for a moment because of the smoke the plane emitted. When my vision cleared again, I was shocked when I saw the one standing in front of me.

“G-ganondorf!?” I shook while saying his name. He’s way scarier in person than in the games, even with the 3D function turned on while playing OoT. But at least he was still smiling while staring intently at me.

He didn’t say anything. He just smiled while he continued on staring, but it looked like he wanted to give me a message. I just couldn’t understand what he was trying to tell me.

“Ah, I think you and Ganondorf had been colleagues for a long while, am I right?”

I realized that the robot that went to me was speaking to me again.

“I think it can’t be helped, especially when your game’s franchise has been around for a long while,” the robot said tonelessly. “As mortal enemies at work, I could probably say that you have become close friends in real life.”

I couldn’t comprehend what the robot just told me, but when Ganondorf turned his back on me and cackled just like he does in the game, I somewhat understood the story of this movie. All of the characters of these games are all friends, and that also includes me and Ganondorf. I’m guessing that he wants to be the one to defeat me in our own game so that’s why he saved me a while ago using his powers.

I just smiled and whispered to myself, “Thanks, Ganondorf.”

When I couldn’t see Ganondorf anymore, I started to think again. I wracked my brain for everything that happened the last time this happened to me. One thing is important: I can return to the real world when the story comes to an end. Because the movie has just started, it’s probably a good idea to follow the army plane in the other game. The story of this movie will probably take place in there.

I walked around the atrium, careful not to get hit by falling debris when a woman from Hero’s Duty, from the looks of it, came out. She was tall, has short white hair, narrow eyes, a sharp nose, and thin lips. She donned a battle-ready armor; looked like she really was from Hero’s Duty. Two guys were following her. One was also tall, but I couldn’t see his face because of his helmet. The other one was short and was wearing all-blue clothes that looked like they belonged to a carpenter. This has to be Fix-It-Felix, the one Ralph was talking about in his monologue at the start of the movie.

I saw Felix and the woman enter Sugar Rush. It did look like the out-of-control plane entered that place. Before they really entered the game, I approached them and asked, “Excuse me, but what just happened?”

The woman replied, “You have nothing to do with this. We need to go after that plane because it contains a Cy-Bug. We need to catch that Cy-Bug before it can reproduce and destroy Sugar Rush.”

“And my colleague, Ralph, is there, too. He didn’t show up in our own game so our game is in danger of being unplugged. We’re going to lose our home. So I need him to return to our game,” Felix narrated.

“Do you need any help? Maybe I could be of assistance to you,” I said.

Felix just shook his head and showed me his golden hammer. “Thanks for the offer, but I can fix this.”

I rolled my eyes. “Pfft! That’s what they all say, but those people tend to aggravate the situation. Why don’t you just accept my help?”

“Didn’t you hear me? I said I can fix this,” he answered severely.

“Okay, fine, you can fix it,” I told him, rolling my eyes again. I opened my Menu and saw that I still have two bottles of Lon-lon Milk. I took one and gave it to him. “Here, I dunno if this’ll work on you, but it’s better to be safe that dying outside your game.”

When the woman saw this, she inquired, “Are you Link from the handheld game that was just unplugged?”

“The very same. From The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D,” I boasted. “If you need any help, I’ll be here. If you already have a plan, I promise not to get in your way.”

The woman looked at me for a long time, then said, “I am Sergeant Calhoun, from Hero’s Duty. Our mission is to find and exterminate that destructive Cy-Bug that entered Sugar Rush. We need to hurry.”

Calhoun mounted herself on her hoverboard but Felix spoke again. “Wait! I’m coming with you.”

“You can’t go with me. This mission is dangerous. You couldn’t possibly handle it,” Calhoun said.

“My colleague is in there and he’s my responsibility. I can’t agree with you that I couldn’t come join this mission,” answered Felix.

Calhoun rolled her eyes then moved over on the hoverboard to give Felix some space to stand on. Felix hopped on and the proceeded to enter.

“Looks like they already left you,” the soldier told me.

I snorted and said, “I always run in my game. You think I couldn’t handle it? Here, you can have this, since the other one won’t take it.”

I handed him the bottle of Lon-lon Milk and he took it. I didn’t wait for his ‘thank you’ and proceeded to follow them in Sugar Rush.

The first time you enter that game, you’ll really get an eyesore because of all the colors you can see. It kinda looks like a forest, but everything is made of candy. Excellent. This would really help in avoiding diabetes. But amidst the colorful scenery, you can clearly see where the army plane crash-landed. I already know where to go.

Nothing would probably attack me so I didn’t have the need to bring out any of my weapons for now. I started to run towards where the plane crashed.

While running, I heard several strangled cries that sounded like a commotion. I followed where the voices were coming from and I reached a racetrack where something like a green ogre (or is it?) was chasing a little girl. It was bellowing something like he needed his medal. I was the one with the sword. Naturally, I needed to stop it.

I ran in front of the ogre and thundered, “Leave the girl alone!”

“Stay out of this!” the ogre bellowed.

It raised its arms and tried to smash me with them, but I managed to bring out my shield in time and I was saved from its attack. I was also able to bring out my sword and I started slashing the ogre nonstop. In every slash, the green parts of its body fell off little by little. Apparently, if you look at it closely, it’s also made out of candy. When everything has been removed, Ralph was standing in front of me.

“Ralph!?” I barked loudly.

“Yes, I am, so get out of my way and I need my medal!” he roared.

I was supposed to answer him when two policemen… or rather, two pieces of pastries dressed as policemen rushed towards us. They grabbed both of us and dragged us inside a castle. I have nothing else to say about the castle because it was also made out of candy. After a few minutes, a little old man riding a small racecar also made out of candy faced us.

“I am King Candy, the king of Sugar rush. I would like to know why you two are here and what your purpose of coming to my kingdom is.”

I looked at Ralph and said, “You go on ahead and tell him.”

He looked around and said, “I see that you like pink.”

King Candy rolled his eyes and answered, “Salmon. It’s obviously salmon.”

It was my turn to roll my eyes, and then I just cut across their conversation. “That’s not really important, is it? I’m Link, from the handheld game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, and this, if I’m not mistaken, is Wreck-It-Ralph from the game Fix-It-Felix Jr. I’m just here to look for something like a Cy-Bug from Hero’s Duty that managed to enter Sugar rush. It will then reproduce and it will destroy your whole kingdom, so we need to find it and I need it done yesterday.”

It’s not really my thing to beat around the bush. This is what we’re like in the College of Psychology. King Candy looked at me for a long time before turning to Ralph. “And what is you reason for ruining the race a while ago?”

Ralph rolled his eyes too, and said, “I was just chasing that little girl that stole my medal.”

“Ah! So you’re talking about Vanellope von Scweetz. She’s just a glitch that isn’t even supposed to be joining the race. That is all I can say for now. You two can go now,” he said nonchalantly as though the things we said had no effect on him.

“But what about my medal? That was important for me,” Ralph insisted.

King Candy shook his head. “You can’t get it until the race is over. Just look for another one.”

“But it was important! That was the only way so the people from my game would accept me for who I am!” he insisted again.

Before King Candy can think of anything to say, it was I who talked to Ralph. “Ralph, just let it slide. Your colleague, Felix, followed you all the way here when he found out that you came here. With those actions, you can already see that you’re important for him. So that medal really is just –”

Ralph turned his face full of pure hatred and contempt to me and thundered, “DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I JUST SAID!? THAT MEDAL IS IMPORTANT!”

I recoiled at what he did. My blood started to boil because of my anger, but it easily dissipated because I remembered something.

“You really sound like Felix, don’t you know that, Ralph?”

It looked like Ralph was infuriated by this even more, but I didn’t wait for an answer. I opened my Menu and looked through my stuff. I saw the Fire Medallion Darunia’s supposed to give me when I beat Volvagia in the Fire Temple. I took it and showed it to Ralph.

“Ralph, I’ll give you an example,” I began. “This is the Fire Medallion. Darunia, the Sage of Fire gave this to me. This is not just any medallion. This is also the reminder of our sworn brotherhood. This is also important to me.”

I went towards the window and threw it out. As I faced them all, looks of shock were etched on their faces.

“Now it’s gone. And because it’s gone, it’s not real and I don’t care about –”

I couldn’t finish what I was saying because I heard something like a shout from outside. It sounded like someone announced my name over a megaphone.

“LINK!” is what I heard from the place where the race is supposed to take place.

King Candy then panicked. “Ugyaaah! What did you just do? Now, you’re also part of the race! And you’re not even from this game! What’s happening in my kingdom! Graaah!”