Oh. My. Gosh. I finished it. I CAN'T BELIEVE I FINISHED IT! Please, forgive me! I lost my inspiration to continue, but now I made myself do it! And it's here! Cheers?

And please forgive me if Mavis sounds OOC. It's been a long time since I watched Hotel Transylvania.

Also, I put game references into the chapter for you to find. Can you guess them?

Time seemed to flow by at the speed of a snail for our two heroes. Five minutes spent sitting on a bench in the center of the Game Central Station felt like hours. Hiccup sighed. Sia, the cat girl who said she'd go find Candlehead in this endless mass of game characters for them, was nowhere to be seen. And no one seemed to pay any attention to the newbie Sugar Rush racer and his licorice dragon.

From somewhere in the distance a short guy wearing a white hoodie, a baseball cap, jeans and sneakers was slowly going towards them. Toothlice raised his head in curiosity, but the boy didn't pay much attention to it.

"Hi, guys!" said the shorty as he finally approached them. "Have you seen Tricky and Fresh around here?"

Hiccup quickly raised his head at the mention of the weird names he never even heard of. He looked at his dragon with a "what the heck is he talking about" expression, then back at the boy and shook his head with a short "nah-ah".

"Oh, okay," the stranger said as he started walking away. "Sorry for bothering."

The racer only smirked a little. Ironically, he didn't feel bothered at all because he wasn't doing anything interrupting which would be considered bothering. The boy was simply sitting on a bench, face in the hands, elbows on knees, and waving his legs forward and backwards.

"Where are they?" the situation was slowly getting on his nerves. Looks like he's pretty easy to get bored if nothing interesting's going on around him, or if there's nothing interesting for him to do. "She should've found her by now…"

'Sweet mother of marmalades… I wish they had a clock in here…'

A cylindrical board with holographic pictures, which stood not very far away from them, suddenly flashed with a Sonic the Hedgehog animation, for the Nth time repeating the words every single person on the station heard at least once in their lives:

"If you leave your game, stay safe, stay alert and, whatever you do, don't die! Because if you die outside your own game, you don't regenerate! Ever! Game over!"

'Hmm… Makes sense.' Hiccup thought about it.

Toothlice's patience seemed to start giving in as well. Making a groan from "tiresome" waiting, the dragon put his big black head on Hic's knees, surprising the kid a little.

"I know, buddy…" he murmured with a sigh, petting his best friend. "I know…"

Who knows how long they would've had to sit there if it wasn't for a familiar and slightly sqeaky girly voice:

"There you are!"

Hiccup and Toothlice raised their heads in an instant. Finally, she was found!

"Candlehead! What took you so long? Where have you been?"

"I was gonna ask you the same thing," the green-haired racer was obviously annoyed. "I told you not to traill off too far from me, but you did anyway! Getting lost in here is easier than an apple pie!"

"Okay, chill out, no need to shout like that," the boy tried to calm his friend down a little. "I was just... Impressed by this place. You don't visit places like that every day, you know."

Candlehead wanted to tell him that she actually goes here once in two or three days, and that she would gladly show him some other games, but decided to keep silent about it.

"Sure, whatever," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Oh, by the way, do you know some Sia girl?"

"Yeah, I do. I asked her to find you."

"She's got a message for you, guys. It said 'Glad I could help. Hope to see you sometime soon. Peace out!'" Candle repeated, and in the end showed the peace sign. "Alrighty, let's go while we still have time before the train to Fix-It Felix."

"Oh my, if it isn't Candlehead!" a voice came from behind them. "Cool like an ice cream and sweet like a cake!"

The two turned around and saw a teenage girl with pale skin, beautiful blue eyes, and short jet black hair with bangs. She wore a black turtleneck dress with long black fingerless lace gloves, black and red striped tights, and red Converse, and there was a black and blue bag in her right hand. She also wore black lipstick matched with black varnished nails and dark eyeshadow. Upon seeing the strange girl who looked a bit like a vampire, the brown-haired racer and his dragon looked a little confused, but both girls' faces, however, were bright with smiles.

"Mavis! I'm so happy to see you here!" Candlehead gave the teen girl a small hug.

"Me too, dear, me too," Mavis returned the hug to the small racer. Then she raised her head and saw Hic and his best buddy. "Oh, are these your new friends?"

"Uh-huh. Mavis, this is Hiccup and his dragon Toothlice. Hiccup, Toothlice, this is Mavis, our king's friend. She's from the game called 'Halloween House'."

"Nice to meet you," the vamp-girl shook the boy's hand with a sweet smile.

"S-same here."

"What a cute dragon you have!" she gazed at the licorice animal with genuine admiration. "And black, too! I love black. And red. They're my favorite colors."

Toothlice purred in satisfaction as he heard Mavis's words. It's the first time in his short life someone made him a compliment, after all, even such a little one. Then, he smelled something tasty somewhere close to him. Specifically, in the vampire's bag. And, like any other animal would, he started sniffing it, hoping to find the source of that delicious aroma inside.

"I see you like candy, too!" the black-haired girl said in a sweet voice and took some of it out and gave to the dragon. Then, she turned to the racers and gave each of them a tiny packet filled with sweets from her bag. "And that's for you!"

"Thank you!" Hiccup and Candlehead said in unison.

"You're welcome."

"Attention, please!" the announcement was made. "The train to Tapper is leaving in 5 minutes! I repeat: the train to Tapper is leaving in 5 minutes!"

"Oh my dear! I have to go now!" Mavis gasped in shock. "Must prepare the drinks for Halloween! Oh, freaking pumpkins! This party must be perfect! Don't forget to come!"

"Sure, Mavis!" Candle answered in her usual cheerful tone.

"I'll be waiting for you! Remember: everyone's invited! Bye for now! Trick or treat!" she waved the racers goodbye and ran in the direction of the train to Tapper, saying "Oh, North, Johnny, there you are!" as she approached it.

"Bye-bye."

With this, Candlehead looked at Hic and Toothlice, then nodded to the Fix-It Felix exit, and all three of them went there, slowly munching on their candy along the way.

"What's the deal with this Halloween party, anyway?" Hiccup asked while chewing.

"It's a tradition of sorts," the green-haired girl replied. "Every year's 31st of October is celebrated in Halloween House. It's been like that ever since the game was plugged in. Mavis is always the one in charge. She starts the preparations in the beginning of October, always rushes around and makes sure everything is done perfectly and on time. Of course, every single character who lives in the Arcade Center is invited. With a special reservation for our king Once-Lick."

"Why's that?"

The girl quietly leaned to the boy's ear and whispered: "Rumors have been going around here that Mavis has a little crush on him... But I don't know if it's true or not. King Once-Lick never leaves his palace, after all. But if what, I didn't tell you that."

Hiccup nodded. Meanwhile, Toothlice was trying to steal a few sweets from the boy's packet. Unfortunately for him, he was quickly busted. The Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream racer took his candy into another hand. The dragon's attempt failed. Speaking of candy...

"Hey, does she give candy only while preparing for Halloween?" the boy asked again.

"No, she gives them all the time. There's usually a hidden surprise inside them. A trick in a treat."

"Ohh..." he said. As he kept munching on the caramels, his hand reached something tiny. And it was certainly made of metal.

'Wait, what?' Hic thought to himself. Then he carefully took the strange object out, which turned out to be...

'A knife? In candy? Whoa. Trick, indeed...'

His eyes widened a little in shock. THAT'S definitely not something you'd like to find in a packet full of candy! The racer quickly hid the dangerous object in his belt, behind the waffle vest. Fortunately, neither Toothlice nor Candlehead noticed anything. He quietly exhaled in relief and kept on chewing.

Less than a few minutes, the trio finally reached the entrance to the Fix-It Felix train station. From there they could see tiny blue trolley-like wagons, standing on the rails lonely, which seemed to be impatiently waiting for someone to climb into them. The racers beamed with joy and were just about to go and sit down into the train, when something - or rather, someone - caught their eyes.

There was a little green creature with a long tube-like nose, black dots for eyes and four small legs. With him were a few other strange monsters, sitting back to back at the entrance arch, their faces shining with sadness and despair. And there was a reason for it. The green cutie looked at our heroes pleadingly while holding a cardboard with words scribbled on it with a black marker in an untidy chicken scratch. However, if you look close enough, one will be able to make out two small sentences. The ones that would hurt the heart of any arcade game character in any place of the world.

Game unplugged. Please help.

Needless to say, the feeling of sympathy towards the poor things was overwhelming inside the kids' hearts. They exchanged glances. They couldn't just go by and leave them at the mercy of Lady Fate, could they? Without a word, Hiccup emptied his packet of candy into Candlehead's, much to Toothless' dismay (since he didn't even get a chance to eat one), and the girl generously gave it to them.

"Here you go, dear," she said with the sweetest voice she could. "It's fresh. Straight from Mavis."

Then she lightly patted the green creature on the head. "Hang in there, guys."

The trio made its way to the wagons without a word. Even as it started moving along the cable, silence was hanging around them like a tight bondage around a wound. It felt like hours before Candlehead's whisper rang through the silence, barely audible:

"Can't believe their game was put out of order. Everyone seemed to like it..."

Indeed, it was quiet, but not quiet enough for Toothlice not to hear. He gently nudged her shoulder, like, "Don't worry, it's gonna be fine." Candle smiled a small smile and scratched him behind the ear. Now it was Hiccup's turn to break the tense air around them:

"Is that what it is?"

"Um... What is it that is?"

"Putting out of order for good," he clarified. "Is that what it is? Unplugging?"

"In a nutshell, yes."

Hic nodded without saying a word. The air around them became tense with silence once again. Only when they finally reached their destination, it dissipated.

The boy looked around in amazement. Even Toothlice's eyes widened from wonder. The sole person being unfazed was Candlehead.

"Here it is, Hiccup. The Fix-It Felix game."

"Wow. What... curious graphics it has," he replied, gazing at the trees with cubic upper branches and the dark, almost black, sky with bright dots which seemed to be stars. "It looks so... simple. Little to no details, basic landscape..."

"Well, what did you expect?" suddenly, a loud but friendly voice boomed behind them. "Some 30 years ago this was the best people could do."

HTTYD belongs to Dreamworks
WIR belongs to Disney

Hotel Transylvania belongs to Sony Pictures Animation
All the aforementioned games belong to their rightful owners