by Corrinthia Breuckner
"Nonsense, Binky!" He looked down at his empty mug and then up at the game layout. The sea around their tiny boat seemed to go on forever. He had no idea of the real point of this game. He didn't even know what level they were on. They were lost.
"Well, I'm sure Bob or that Matrix boy will have everything under control."
"Of course, Binky. Well, let's carry on shall we?" He looked over the horizon and picked a direction. "That way!"
"Very good sir." Binky rolled his eyes slightly and began rowing.
"Please, Madam, I must get down to level 4." Ray looked down at the hen who barely came up to his knee.
"And you say Nims from level eleven let you down?" The hen clucked and raised a white feathered eyebrow.
"That's right, the rabbit Nims. She said you would let me pass."
"And the other Key Masters have let you pass so far. Even Niles?"
"Niles?" Ray raised an eyebrow.
"Niles the duck. You must have passed him. Though I am surprised he would have let you by, even with Nims's blessing. He's a very stubborn game sprite." The hen clucked in a haughty laugh.
"Oh yes, he did. Look, I'd love to chat all day, but I really must get down!" Ray was getting impatient. This hen had insisted on asking every question twice and seemed content on talking to him until the game ended.
"Well..." The hen clucked. "All right, I'll let you pass." She clucked again and winked. "But only because you're such a cute boy!" She walked over to a basket of eggs and picked one up. She seemed to examine it for a moment, then clucked her approval. The hen took aim and threw the egg against a nearby fence.
"Thanks." Ray raised an eyebrow and waited for the hen to open the gateway.
"There you go, cutie!" The hen clucked as the egg slid down the fence and turned into a doorway. She sighed and watched as Ray hopped on his flying machine and disappeared into the doorway to level 4. "Why must boys like that always come and then go..."
"Oh, but I will. One way or another!" Megabyte snarled and headed to where Nims sat. Nims was proving to be much more trouble for Megabyte than Niles had been. Even the threat of infection hadn't made her change her mind about letting him pass.
"In no condition to make threats are you, virus." Nims tilted her head slightly as the big blue metallic creature walked toward her. She could tell he was injured by the way he walked.
"I don't need to make threats, Madam." He reached for her in the shadows. "I am a threat!" He reached out with the other clawed hand as she darted for a nearby tree. He grabbed her by throat and raised her in the air as she fought against his grip with her hind legs.
"Never give in shall I!" Nims choked on her words as the virus squeezed tighter. "Delete me you must, for give in shall I not!" Even as Megabyte squeezed the life out of her, she remained strong in her resistance.
"Very well." Megabyte leaned in and looker her in the eyes with a razor bladed sneer that slowly turned into a smile. "Have it your way."
Megabyte tightened his grip on the game sprite's neck, watching as her breaths became slow and labored. Just as she was about the draw in her last breath, he twisted his wrist with a sharp jagged pop. The crunching sound as Nims's neck broke filled the silent air of the garden she had called her home. Megabyte dropped her limp body to the ground and watched as the earth opened beside him. He sneered when the pain from A.v.A. returned to his files, but laughed arrogantly as he walked into level 12.
"Are you all right?" He reached down and helped her to her feet, using his massive body to shield her from the harsh wind. Their leather attire had offered little warmth, and AndrAIa's outfit had left her even more vulnerable to the cold.
"I slipped on a rock beneath the snow." She looked up at him, her voice sore from having to yell over the loud winds.
"We're almost there." Matrix pointed up to the entrance to the cave that lay just a little further up the mountain. This game had taken them through all kinds of landscapes. Some were easy, others, like this one, were not. The Key Masters had also gotten more difficult with each passing level. Matrix felt useless in this game. It was AndrAIa that had been getting them from level to level, answering the puzzles presented by the Key Masters with an ease that Matrix couldn't comprehend. He smiled down at her. He may have felt useless, but he also felt lucky to have her by his side.
"I'm so cold." AndrAIa shivered and wrapped the thin leather jacket around her bare legs. The jacket felt like razors against her frostbitten skin and made her wince.
"I know." Matrix wrapped his arms around her, trying to get her warm. His own frozen state didn't help very much. He sighed and scooped her up into his arms.
"Matrix, I'm fine to walk." AndrAIa made only a slight protest.
"I know." He smiled down at her for a moment, then set his glare on the cave entrance.
"What?" Dot stopped and looked at him.
"We have two ABC's on the map left to check, and Megabyte just joined us on this level."
"That is a problem. OK, so I will go to one ABC and you go to the other. One of them has to be the right one." Dot began walking to Bob to see where the two ABC's were.
"No, we aren't splitting up." Bob protested.
"We have to!" Dot put in her own protest.
"No. You are in no condition to deal with Megabyte on your own."
"I'm fine. It's the only way." Dot crossed her arms as Bob looked sternly at her.
"Dot, I'm not leaving you alone with him." Bob walked over and held onto her shoulders, looking her in the eyes. "Not again."
"But - "
"No buts, Dot." He gave her a small smile. "We will pick one and hope it's the right one. If it's not, then we will always have another chance to defeat him. If you go alone, in your condition.."
"I know..." she lowered her head slightly, seeing a loophole form in her plan.
"Hey," he lifted her head gently and looked back into her eyes. "It'll be OK."
"I know, Bob." She smiled as she looked into his eyes, and she knew that everything would be OK. "As long as we're together, right?"
"Right." He smiled wider and leaned down to kiss her. The kiss was small and sweet, yet true and filled with the love between them. He pulled away, still holding her in his arms, and smiled again. "So, fearless leader, pick one."
He had called her name out endlessly since reaching the level, but his calls had lowered in frequency the longer he surfed above the endless horizon of water. There had been a few tiny islands darted about the sea, but all had been empty banks of sand. Each empty island had caused his breath to stop and his hopes to fall just a little more. Looking out over the dark and silent water, his breath stopped again. He sped Baud to another small island, assured that it too would be empty of life.
"Empty." Ray sighed as he glanced about the small sand bank that was surrounded by a mass of kelp and beached drift wood from some distant land. He banked Baud in a sharp turn and checked the other side of the small sand bank that was hidden by a dune, just to humor himself. He stopped and looked down at the shoreline. Kelp. Logs. Kelp. Hand. Logs. His heart stopped.
"Mouse?!" Ray shouted and jumped off of Baud, running through the shallow waters to the mass of kelp and wood that held the hand and his heart. He feel to his knees and dug through the tangled green and brown mass, its matted nature like the many floating seaweed rafts he had seen in this level.
"Mouse? Oh please, luv." He tore the kelp away from her motionless body with a ravaging force. Lifting her up into his arms, he carried her away from the cold waters and fell to the sandy beach, Baud right at his side. His hands shook as he lifted them to her pale and cold face, his heart assured that he had lost her.
"Mouse please, wake up luv." Her still lips gave him no reply. "I can't lose you." He took her soaked body into his arms and held her close, his tears mixing with the matted wetness of her hair.
"I just found you." Ray held her in the silence of the sandy beach, his breath getting choked on the deep sadness in his throat. In that still silence he heard it. Faint and distant, it echoed in his files like a pulse of unimaginable beauty. It was the shallow rhythm of her breath. She was alive. His whole world returned to him as he smiled and held her tightly against him. She was alive.
"Well, warmer." AndrAIa shivered. "So, where is it?"
"Depends on what you're looking for, child." An elderly male voice echoed out of the darkness.
"We seek the Key Master." Matrix called into the cave as his eyes continued to search the darkness.
"Then you have come to the right cave." The game sprite hobbled out of the darkness, its massive but short body leaning on a cane. The majestic beauty of the snow tiger was not at all hampered by his aged and weary appearance. He sat slowly down on a rock and looked up at the two standing before him.
"We seek to pass to the next level." AndrAIa stepped forward with a smile.
"Do you? Then you have come a long way for nothing." The tiger peered his deep blue eyes up at her.
"But you are the Key Master! We must pass!" Matrix stepped forward and gruffed out.
"There is no we, boy!" The tiger glared at him and his rudeness. He turned back to AndrAIa and turned the glare into a patient, smiling face. "There is no we."
"I understand." AndrAIa nodded with a small sigh. She turned to Matrix. "There is no we this time, Sparky."
"What?" Matrix crossed his arms.
"Only one of us can go to the final level. That's the puzzle for this level. We have to choose."
"Well, it looks like you will just have to stay here and keep our friend company then." Matrix uncrossed his arms and looked to the tiger to open the gateway.
"Hold it! I'm going."
"No you're not! You're not going to the final level alone. There's no telling what's on it. It may not be a puzzle at all!" Matrix shook his head sternly and looked back to the tiger.
"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't." The tiger shrugged. "I've never been myself."
"If it is a puzzle, I stand the best chance." AndrAIa put her hand on her hip.
"I just can't let you go alone." Matrix sighed and placed his hand on Gun. He knew that if it was a puzzle, Gun would be a correct answer despite the risk of crashing the game. If it was a fight, he wanted it to be him fighting, not her. She could take care of herself, he knew, but the small possibility made him extremely uneasy.
"Matrix..." AndrAIa looked at the stubborn sprite.
"So, you have chosen?" The tiger raised an eyebrow and readied his cane to make the gateway.
"Yes." AndrAIa said as she stepped beside Matrix, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"What?" Dot raised an eyebrow and walked over to him.
"One of them stayed on level seventeen, and the other continued to level eighteen." Bob continued and showed Dot the image on Glitch.
"Why would they do that?"
"Maybe one of them got hurt." Bob shrugged.
"Hurt!"
"Sorry Dot," Bob frowned. "It may also just be part of the game. Maybe only one could complete the game, not both." He gave her a smile, mad at himself for not telling her that reason first.
"All right." Dot nodded slightly and gave him a small smile. "Well, let's continue then."
"It should be just around this hillside." Bob looked back down at Glitch to recheck the location of the ABC.
"OK. Let's hope it's the right one." Dot took a deep breath and continued around the hill. When she got to the other side she smiled. "Bingo."
"Oh!" The good doctor blinked when he noticed Dot. He dropped what he was doing and took off in a run.
"Going somewhere?" Bob crossed his arms and stepped into the path of the fleeing binome. "Where are they?"
"Where are what, Guardian?"
"No time for games." Dot stepped up behind the doctor. "Where are the rest of Megabyte's injections?"
"Oh? Und what injections would those be?" The doctor stubbornly put his hands on his hips and smiled innocently up at the two sprites.
"You know what injections. Come on." Bob grabbed the doctors hand and dragged him to the ABC.
"Ach! Mein digits!" the doctor whined as he tried to make his short legs keep up. "All right! I vill show you, ja?" The doctor crawled into the backseat of the ABC and lifted up one of the seats to reveal a compartment. He pulled out a small metal case and handed it to Bob. "Zere! Now let me go."
"Your cowardliness is greatly appreciated," Dot smiled as Bob handed her the case. The doctor glared at her then took off in a dead run for the tree line.
"Hey! I didn't say you could go!" Bob started to run after.
"Let him go, Bob," Dot said as she opened the case. Inside lay an injection gun and three vials of a bright green liquid. "We have what we need."
"Wrong, Ms. Matrix. You have what I need." Megabyte's voice sent a chill up her spine as she turned to face his razor-bladed sneer.
"It is not!" Slash stopped and turned to Hack. "It is your fault."
"You were supposed to be watching Enzo!"
"No, you were, and you lost him!"
"I did not lose him, you did!"
"No, you did!"
"You!"
"You!"
"YOU!"
"YOU!" Slash crossed his arms and turned his back to Hack. After a few killisecs, he raised an eyebrow. "Um, Hack?"
"Oh, so we are talking now?" Hack quipped. "What, Slash?"
"Are you afraid?" Slash turned and looked at Hack, his parts shaking slightly.
"Yes, yes I am." Hack turned to Slash, his own parts shaking slightly.
"OK, because I am very frightened!"
"Me too, buddy!"
"Hold me!" They held each other, shaking and looking about. The dark cave that they had been stuck in seemed endless. They never thought they would get stuck in a game cube when they went to go look for Enzo. They looked at each other, feeling lost and afraid.
"WHAAAAAAAAA!"
Go away! the child would yell before pulling her legs to her chest, inching her way as far back into the dark corner as possible. You're not real, you're gone. The girl would cry over and over again, the figure constant in its unrelenting approach. Momma, please, just leave me be.
The shadowed figure knelt down beside the child, its arms outstretched. For the first time, the figure broke the silence of the dark room as it spoke. It's all right, luv. She's gone. It's just me. The figure smiled after it spoke, causing the girl to cringe, and a great light brought an end to the darkness. The child disappeared with the dark, and Mouse looked up into the warmth of the light.
"Ray?" Mouse mumbled on her cracked lips as her eyes opened to the bright sunlight from over head. Her whole body felt stiff and unmovable as she tried to make her eyes focus from their jumbled haze. Where she was had yet to make its way into her mind. She could hear a distant sound, rhythmic and calm. The sound of the lapping ocean against the shoreline brought everything back into her memory with a frightening jolt. It caused her to sit upright, despite the pain. By all logical accounts, she should be deleted.
"What... where... how?" She looked slowly over the small island, confusion replacing the fear. A sudden wave of warmth caused her to look down. "What the dell?"
Baud had her hovering a few feet off the ground and wrapped in a formatted energy blanket. Her head rose as she looked frantically for Ray, wanting nothing more than to see that smile again. But the island was empty, except for she and Baud. She looked back down at Baud with a raised eyebrow.
"Where's Ray?" Baud beeped, causing her to roll her eyes. "Never..." Baud took the energy blanket and reformatted it back into itself before beeping again, changing light formations, and sending a beam of energy to the ground a few feet away. "...mind." Mouse finished and her mouth fell into a silent gasp as the energy beam took the form of Ray.
"Hello, pretty lady." Ray smiled at her as he walked over. The strange timidness in his voice made Mouse just as confused as him appearing from an energy beam. "I'm glad to see you awake." He slowly took a seat on the edge of Baud, wanting to just reach out and pull her into his arms. The strange look in Mouse's eyes, however, told him that an explanation was due first.
"Ray?" Mouse raised an eyebrow and touched him with a finger, as if checking to see if he was real.
"It's me, luv." He took her hand in his and kissed it gently.
"But how... I mean... I just saw... and you..." No matter how hard she tried, Mouse was unable to but her thoughts into a complete sentence. She took in a deep breath and shook her head, thinking her files must still be full of seawater. "And why in the dell am I not deleted?"
"Whoa, slow down. One question at a time." Ray was unable to make himself let go of her hand. If he did, he was afraid he would lose her with the explanation to come.
"OK..." Mouse slowly looked back up at his face. "How am I here and fully functioning for starters?"
"I don't know how you got here, but I found you on the shore over there. You were barely functioning, so I, or Baud rather, gave you a recharge." Ray breathed in, thinking that so far the explanation had gone simply enough.
"And the fancy light show?" Mouse tilter her head with a raised eyebrow.
"Well..." The simplicity ended. "That was Baud reformatting me."
"Reformatting you?" Mouse blinked a few times.
"Yes. You see... it's kind of like...I mean - well you know..." Now he was the one having trouble making complete sentences. "You know how you think that I'm a search engine and Baud is my search tool?"
"Yes..." Mouse spoke slowly, feeling an unwanted explanation coming.
"Well... you see..." Ray scratched the back of his head for a moment then sighed, taking her hand in both of his again. "It's the other way around, actually."
"What?" Mouse sat back away from him a bit, the raised eyebrow getting higher.
"Mouse, Baud is the real search engine. I'm... I'm a physical interface."
"Physical interface," she repeated, in the same slow tone she had used before.
"I'm the tool Baud uses to search and interact with others. " He sighed, hoping that made at least some sense.
"So you and Baud are the same person... er... program... whatever." Mouse had never seen a physical interface before. She had never even heard of one.
"No, well yes... but no. See, together, we are a search engine with a shared program code, but separately he is Baud and I am Ray Tracer." Ray let his shoulders sag slightly, wondering if this explanation could be any more confusing.
"I've been all over the net, honey, and I've seen other search engines... but I never thought, I mean it never even occurred..." She shook her head again. "Are they all like this?"
"No, not all. Most have an integrated physical interface, not a separate one. Well, at least that I've come in contact with. I'm just lucky I guess."
He smiled and attempted the joke, then frowned and realized he needed to work on his timing. Ray could tell how confused Mouse was by the look on her face. He knew she didn't like being kept in the dark, especially when it came to advanced and new programming. I should have told her before, he thought. Her hand started to slip from his and he tightened his grip, so afraid to let go. "It's still me, luv. I'm still Ray."
Mouse stared at him a while, trying to make her mind process what it was she was hearing. Her mind was having a hard enough time trying to keep her eyes from going hazy. Baud recharged her, but she was still extremely sore. She had so many questions, but had no idea how to put them to words. For her, it was best just to process over the new information for a while. She sighed and faked a tired yawn, laying back down against Baud. "I'm... I think I need to rest, sugah."
"All right, luv." Ray leaned away from her as she laid down. She was faking, and he knew it. Her hand slipped from his as she turned her back to him. He rose from Baud and went to the other side of the beach, taking a seat as he looked down at his hands. They had let go, and he had lost her.
"You have all the time I decide you do, boy!" The gruffed and darkly toned voice carried a growl to rival Matrix.
"Are you the Key Lord or not?" He continued to search the darkness, sick of listening to the voice without a form.
"Didn't you listen to that fat cow, boy? What I am doesn't matter. I ask the questions, not you!"
"What is the point to this? Give me a puzzle, attack me, or just shut the FAQ up!"
"My, you are an impatient one! I am surprised you passed the hen." Matrix had no idea who he meant. "You want a point? There is no point!" A flash of red peered from the dark source of the voice. "A puzzle? No, you would rather fight, wouldn't you, boy!"
"Stop calling me that!" Matrix glared at the red eyed creature.
"Why? You are a boy! A mere child!"
"Are you blind? I'm not!" Matrix ground his teeth as a sneer formed on his lips.
"Not now, but that doesn't matter, remember." The sound of the cows voice appeared from the darkness then disappeared again with a moo.
"What..." Matrix couldn't believe how seriously messed up this game was. "Are you saying I will be a boy in the end?"
"Am I, boy? I ask the questions, not you remember!"
"What do you want from me?" Matrix pulled Gun up, his muscles as tense as his emotions.
"You tell me, boy." The red eyes appeared from the dark shadows, accompanied by the sneering face of a large black wolf.
"Uhm... I..." Phong pondered over the cards in his hand for a moment, stroking his beard as he thought. "I fold." He laid the cards face down on the table.
"What?" Enzo rolled his eyes. "Phong, you can fold every hand."
"Why not? It is always better to be safe than sorry, my son." Phong gave him a smile.
"Fine." Enzo shook his head in a small laugh and adjusted his cap. He looked to the others playing the game and grinned. "Ok, show 'em." The binomes laid down their cards, most with a frown. "Woo-hoo! Alphanumeric!"
Enzo scooped up the several chips from the centre of the table. The little card shark had managed to wipe out several of the binomes in the bunker. Luckily, they were playing for jet-ball game credits, not real credits. To Enzo, jet-ball credits were just as good, if not better.
"Play again?" Phong began to reshuffle the cards.
"No," Enzo sighed. His answer caused many of the binomes to smile. "I just wish that game would end already!"
"So do I, my son. So do I." Phong looked over to the vidwindow that displayed the large purple game cube in the middle of KIT sector and shook his head lightly. He turned back to the table. "OK, well, how about go-fish instead?"
"Very good, Guardian." Megabyte rolled his eyes. "You always did have an amazing ability to point out the obvious."
"Then I guess I should point out the fact that you don't look so well." Bob laughed as he stepped between the virus and Dot, Glitch pointed and ready to strike.
"Your concern for my well being is touching, Bob." Megabyte sneered and began walking forward.
"That's far enough!" Bob took a step forward and pointed Glitch straight at him.
"Or what, Guardian?" Megabyte growled, then switched his attention to Dot as she stood clutching the metal case he needed. "Lovely to see you're better, Dot." His eyes on her and the presence of a small amount of concern in his voice made Dot cringe.
"Leave her out of this." Bob stepped in, blocking Megabyte's view of Dot. "You want those injections? " He glared at Megabyte, almost taunting him on. Deep down, despite his code telling him to mend, Bob wanted that virus to come at him. "You'll have to come through me first."
"Amusing." Megabyte did his best to laugh, despite knowing how unwell he truly was. "Fine Guardian, have it your way."
"Bob, no!" Dot called out, but it was too late. He and the virus were already in a dead run toward each other. Dot watched as Megabyte's claws unfurled and Glitch formed the energy blade. It was a mad dance of metal and flesh as they reached one another.
"No!" AndrAIa stopped suddenly and turned to him. "Not at all!"
"Then what un-nerves you?" The tiger scratched his chin.
"I don't know." AndrAIa finally sat down next to him. "I guess it's just this game. It feels odd, as if something besides a simple puzzle awaits him."
"As a game sprite, you should know that every game has its... odd points."
"What exactly is the point of this game?" AndrAIa tilted her head at the aged game sprite next to her.
"That, my child, is different for everyone who makes it this far." He sighed and placed his warm furred hand on her own. "In the end, only the winner of the game knows for sure." He smiled lightly as she nodded in at least some type of understanding.
"Fine!" Matrix raised Gun up and targeted the circling wolf.
"That is all you care about, isn't it?" The wolf kept circling, unwavered by the glowing red target on its chest. "Winning the Game? The next fight?"
"No!" Matrix wavered slightly in his aim. "I got over that a long time ago."
"Did you? You mean in that dream of yours? Or was it a dream? Are you so sure you've gotten over your infatuation with yourself?"
"What?" Matrix blinked. The wolf was reading his code like an open read-me file.
"It is still all you care about isn't it? At peace you are uneasy, aren't you? You feel trapped? Useless?" The wolf moved in for the kill. "That is why in the end you will be nothing but a lonely selfish boy!"
"No!" Matrix growled and tossed Gun to the ground. All he wanted to do was to take the wolf in his bare hands and silence him. That feeling building up inside of him made him look away from the wolf and down to his hands.
"You will never become the thing you hate, wasn't it boy?" The wolf drew his circle in closer. "Finding resolve for that drove you back here, did it not?"
"Yes," Matrix answered, so tired of fighting.
"And now that you have resolved it, why do you keep fighting?"
"It is all I have to offer." Matrix looked down to where Gun lay.
"Not the wars, boy!" The wolf stepped in front of Matrix's view of Gun with a low and glaring growl. "Why do you keep fighting with yourself?"
"Mouse?" He stood and walked across the sandy beach to where she lay on Baud. His shoulders sagged with a frown when he received no reply. "Are you awake, luv?"
"I am now." She said softly. Truthfully, she hadn't slept at all. Her eyes had been intently focused on the endless horizon, the discussion from earlier replaying itself in her head.
"Oh. Sorry if I woke you." He took another few steps closer to her as she sat up, her back still turned to him.
"It's all right, sugah." Mouse continued to stare out at the horizon, unable to take her eyes from its steady unending line. As Ray walked around the other side of Baud, she was forced to finally look at him, not really sure what her emotions were telling her.
"Can we talk, luv?" Ray took a tentative seat on Baud next to her, the same desire to hold her still present within him. Mouse only nodded slowly at him, which to him was better than nothing. He gave her a small smile and reached out to touch her hand. "Mouse, I..."
"Ahoy!" Binky's voice rang out from the bow of the ship as it came ashore on the small sandbank, bringing an end to the silent calm. "Ahoy there!"
"Even when I am not at full strength you are no match for me, Guardian!" Megabyte boasted. He growled and lumbered his massive form toward where Bob lay, dazed and slow to react.
"No!" Dot yelled at the virus, causing him to turn her way. Megabyte eyed the injection case she clutched for a moment, then turned his eyes back to Bob.
"We will continue this dance some other time." Megabyte turned sharply and grinned up at Dot as his legs put him into a steady motion toward her. "You have something I need, Dot!" He growled at calling her Dot again, still steady in his approach.
"Then come and get it, virus," Dot sneered at him and tucked the silver case into her belt.
"Dot?" Bob blinked a few times, their voices hazy and distant. He came to his senses in time to see Megabyte at a full out run toward Dot. Now the tables were turned. He rose to his feet and stumbled away from the tree.
"Dot, no!" Bob watched as Megabyte picked her up by the waist and sneered darkly at her.
"You have something I need." Megabyte repeated, his face inches from hers.
"Not for long." Dot slipped the case from her belt and tossed it to Bob. "Bob, catch!" Both she and Megabyte watched as the case floated in the air toward its target.
"Yes! No! I don't know..."
"What are you?" The wolf took slow and steady advances toward Matrix, its head falling ever lower as it waited for the sprite to slip and fall into its waiting jaws.
"I am Matrix." Matrix glanced toward Gun, then set his eyes back to the wolf. The wolf's unending gaze caused Matrix to turn away. That gaze was burning into him, searing his files with an unrelentless search for a truth that Matrix didn't believe was there. His answer caused the wolf to snarl and quicken its stride.
"Matrix is a name. Names mean nothing. What are you, boy?" The wolf's patience was growing thin, and its hunger was growing. It began to circle its target again.
"I..." The darkness began to play scenes of his life that only his eyes could view. He watched himself as he fought back the infected Guardians to protect Mainframe. "I am a fighter." Matrix stared blankly into the darkness as the wolf moved in for the kill.
"But the battles are pointless!" The image in the darkness shifted to his younger self, proudly winning the games.
"I am a Guardian."
"But you are a renegade that cheats in the games!" The image faded and left the young Enzo and a disappointed looking Bob staring at him. That image shifted in a haze to AndrAIa's loving smile, a small whisper of "hello lover," echoing into his ears.
"I am a lover."
"But you never told her, did you?" The wolf changed directions, ever closer to its meal. It could taste defeat in the air. This boy would never figure out the answer. This boy would never understand. This boy would lose.
"I've got it!" Bob watched as the case lowered to his hands, then he blinked as it disappeared in a flash of unexpected movement.
"Wrong! I have it!" The good doctor laughed as he landed with the case in his hand. He had jumped from the bushes just in time to intercept his master's precious serum.
"No!" Dot yelled out across the meadow as Bob looked up at her, empty-handed.
"Brilliant!" Megabyte couldn't stop himself from laughing as the good doctor began running toward him with the case.
"Stop!" Bob yelled out at the doctor and started running after him. He leapt at the doctor, catching one of his feet. The doctor tripped, and the case went back into airborne flight. Bob watched the case and Dot as she ran to catch it. Bob's attentions turned to Megabyte as he too began a dead run to the serum's possible landing point.
If only he could hear it. Dot and his younger self reappeared from the darkness, together. They were so sad, so alone, so in need of something. His thoughts raced as he searched for a way to hear what was being screamed at him in a distant echo. What did Dot need? What did he need? Matrix stopped and stared at his younger-self, his mouth slowly opening in an unvoiced realization. It wasn't him. It was Enzo, the copy. What did he need? The voices screaming to him began to clarify and grow louder.
"What is it, boy?" The wolf stopped suddenly and readied itself for the attack. "What do you see?"
"The User approaches." He peered out into the drifting snow, a dark patch of movement catching his eyes.
"Oh no." AndrAIa watched as two men, the User's game mode, approached the cave entrance.
"We seek the Key Master!" The User's voice called into the Tiger's cave. The Tiger looked back at AndrAIa with a small sign of regret before turning back to the User.
"Then seek no further, for I am he."
"Looks like I win again, Guardian." Megabyte began to laugh as he held Dot with one hand and the serum case with the other. Dot struggled against his strong grip and tried to kick the case from his other hand, with no luck. "Do calm down, Dot. I did tell you I would win, didn't I?" His leering eyes on her made her freeze in the struggle.
"It's not over yet!" Bob took another step forward and pointed Glitch up at Megabyte.
The wolf unfurled its claws, waiting for him to give up. The User would win and this sprite would become its meal. Another one lost and added to the score. So many sprites had made it this far only to scream and fail. Matrix stared blankly ahead still, peering at images his mind showed only to him. The wolf snarled and could take no more. It wanted an answer.
"Well, boy? What are you?"
"Are you the Key Lord?" The User watched as the horse drew nearer.
"Am I? I ask the questions here. What you seek is here. What is it you seek?" The horse shook its ivory mane and peered its brown eyes down at the User before it.
"I seek the key!" the User called.
"The key to what?" the horse tilted its head.
"The key to Eternity!" The User wondered when the horse was going to get to the puzzle.
"Eternity of what?"
"What?" The User took a small step back, not understanding the question.
"I ask the questions here. What eternity do you seek?" The horse tilted its head again, thinking that it was a simple enough question to answer.
"Not this time, Guardian." Megabyte sneered a menacing grin at Bob and Dot as he opened the case. He took one of the serum capsules and loaded the injection gun, holding it to his arm with a dark chuckle. "I always win." The searing burn from A.v.A. as the serum hit its program caused Megabyte to snarl in pain. He fell to his knees and dropped the case beside him, still clutching the injection gun.
"Is one enough?" Dot said in a painful moan as she rose from the ground.
"I don't know." Bob shook his head and then looked down at the case that held the remaining two vials. He started to run toward the case as Megabyte reached for the next injection. Megabyte knew that one injection would not be enough and Bob could see it in the virus's eyes.
"The only thing that matters..." Matrix watched as the image of Dot kneeled down in front of him, the words she had spoken to him in the past whispering across the dark room "I know Enzo, I'm just worried. You're my brother and I don't know what I would do if I ever lost you. So be careful." before her image disappeared.
"The only thing constant..." Matrix continued to think out loud, his eyes never leaving the empty space before him. The wolf and its jeering snarls were distant and meaningless now. AndrAIa and Enzo appeared, her voice speaking with a truth he sought. "He doesn't mean it, Enzo. He just cares about you, and that's just his way of showing it. Isn't that right, Matrix?" AndrAIa looked up at him with pleading eyes before fading back in the shadows, leaving Enzo staring up at him.
"What I have always been and will always be..." Matrix blinked as the words slipped across his lips. He finally understood. He finally found a true purpose. He finally realized what he was.
"Well, boy!" The wolf growled. The boy was figuring it out, and the thought of going hungry this time enraged the wolf.
"I am..."
"I seek an eternity of..." The User thought for a moment. It wanted to give the horse an answer that would make it happy. The User would love an eternity of fame, of wealth, and of victory. But what would the horse want to hear?
"I seek an eternity of peace!" The User called out, happy to have won the game.
"Then you shall have it!" The horse called out.
Megabyte pinned Bob down to the ground with his massive hand, his tendrils wrapped around the Guardian's body. Megabyte tightened the tendrils, squeezing Bob's body like he had done to that annoying rabbit. Megabyte reached for the serum case with his free hand and grinned darkly down at Bob. "And once I am free of this annoyance, you will watch as I make you lose everything."
"Not in my system!" Dot charged at the source of her hate with a large tree branch, his metal breast plate making a large clang as she struck him. Megabyte flew backwards as his tendrils released Bob. The mad growl from his throat muffled the loud sound made by his massive body hitting the tree behind him, the sharpness of his claws tearing it in half.
"Dot, look out!" Bob ran for Dot and pulled her out of the way as the large oak fell to the ground where she had been standing. They both looked at each other in a smile for a moment before turning their eyes to the crumpled mass of the tree. The serum case was nowhere to be seen, and a low muffled laugh began to sputter from beneath the branches.
"I am a brother," Matrix smiled with a dark glare. That smile broke the wolf into an uncontrollable rage. It leapt off off its back legs and sprang for Matrix's throat, its teeth bared. Matrix stood, unmoving and laughed. "And you are nothing."
"No!" The wolf howled out into the pitch blackness as its form shattered into a million pixels just as it hit Matrix's chest.
"The only true eternal peace comes in death." The horse blew the pile of ashes away and disappeared back into the shadows.
GAME OVER.
Everyone in the bunker held their breath, hoping that more words wouldn't follow. A great cheer echoed through out the room as the game cube ascended and disappeared into the sky.
"Pixelacious!" Enzo jumped into the air. "They won the game!"
"Let us hope that that is not all they won." Phong stroked his beard with a worried tilts of the head, waiting to hear if Dot's plan had fully succeeded.
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"I do say sir, I think we are lost."