Application for gargleblasted (WIP)

[alphanumeric]

OOC:

Name: Hina
Are you over 16?: By about ten years
Personal DW: [none]
Email: keyofgdemolished@gmail.com
Timezone: EST
Other contact: plurk (hina_mun)
Characters already in the game: Brittany S. Pierce (stoptheviolence), Midii Une (unetrustworthy), & Zatanna Zatara (backwordscompatible)
How did you find us?: Been here for nearly three years!


IC:

Character name: Enzo (\/)atrix
Fandom: Reboot
Timeline: post-Number 7, just after he shoots the Users to end the Game.

Age 
Okay, this one's complicated.  In Sprite Cycles--their equivalent of Years--he was identified by the Prime Guardian as being "about One-One" (except not really because he aged faster due to Game Time).  Which means, in User Years, he should be between 11 and 15.  BUT, because he and AndrAIa spent the System TIme equivalent of ONE CYCLE (5 YEARS) in the Games (something he has not learned yet at his given canon point, mind you), which felt more like THREE CYCLES (15 YEARS) to him, he's physically and mentally aged to where he appears as a man in his Mid-Twenties. 

NOW THEN, if you assume that every Five User Years = One Sprite "Cycle", where "Zero-Zero" is his age up until 5 User Years, then according to the Reboot Binary Age System,

0-0 = up to age 5

0-1 = up to age 10

1-0 = up to age 15

1-1 = up to age 20

1-0-0 = up to age 25

...so, assuming he's approximately 25 User years, this would put his Sprite Age at somewhere around 1-0-1.

Told you it was complicated.


~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths:
ICON - Every Sprite is Registered into the System by means of an icon.  The icon stores all the code of said Sprite, and is invaluable.  Without it, a Sprite cannot REBOOT into the game, or download important costumes and skills required to play.  Enzo's icon is particularly special because it is a Guardian icon.  Guardian icons also contain a protocol to Mend and Defend.   He cannot ignore the call of the Games because playing the Game is what allows him to save the Sector.  Even if he's strayed from the Guardian path, the protocol still remains.

GLITCH - Glitch is Matrix's Guardian Keytool.  Albeit damaged and thus limited in capabilities, Glitch has the power to transform or perform several basic functions.  Most useful is System Scan, in which Matrix could search for things like Viruses, other Sprites, System tears, etc. 

GUN -  The name says it all.  Gun is Matrix's voice-command weapon of choice, capable of tracking multiple target through his mechanical eye, stunning, or even deleting (killing) with a single shot.

EYE - After losing his right eye in a devastating Game defeat, Matrix had it replaced with a mechanical alternative.  The eye is connected to his Gun, and capable of seeing what normal vision cannot, including through walls and from very far away.

PHYSICAL STRENGTH - Those muscles aren't just for show; Matrix has incredible strength, capable of lifting impossibly heavy objects, not to mention delivering a particularly painful right hook. 


How would they use their abilities? 
For survival, mostly.  However, given his temper and sudden lack of girlfriend by his side, "survival" will more often than not lead to getting into trouble.  Of the physical altercation kind.



Appearance 
Matrix is big.  Very big.  Translated to User Measurements, he would probably be something close to seven feet tall.  Give or take.  He is also extremely muscular, with bulging biceps and rock hard upper torso.  Going further into detail, he is green-skinned with dark green hair, a scruffy beard & mustache, wears gold hoop earrings in one ear, and has a yellow mechanical right eye.  

His clothing consists of a sleeveless black vest, bearing his Guardian yellow & black icon (displaying the three basic geometric shakes of Circle, Square, and Triangle in a symbolic pattern); blue pants with the Guardian shin guards, and black boots.  He used the Guardian wristband material to make a silver chain belt, from which he hangs his Keytool, Glitch, and also carries Gun on his right side.  His left bicep has a black tattoo that blends both his Icon and images of AndrAIa's fins/starfish hair piece. 


Personality
To the outside observer, Matrix comes off as gruff, temperamental, and somebody who shoots first and asks questions only if he feels like it.  He rarely smiles--(as AndrAIa once put it, "If he does, run.  Very fast.")--and is quick to anger.  He is also impatient and immature, picking fights often because he doesn't like somebody, finds them useless, or just doesn't agree.  Even AndrAIa has found herself on the receiving end of his wrath more than once.  By his own words, he has worked hard to become what he has, putting behind the weak little boy he used to be.

But there is a deeper reason for his behavior.  Matrix was quite literally forced to grow up before his time, his age accelerated by Game Time. The longer he spent in the Cubes, the faster he aged; in many ways, he is still a child.  Brash and impulsive.  Unwilling to take orders or listen if he thinks he knows better.  Quick to act, if only because experience has told him that was how one survived.  He also carries a dark hatred of all Viruses, regardless of personality or intention, because of the horrors Megabyte had inflicted upon him and his loved ones.  (His one and only compliment to Daemon, a SuperVirus, was that she "couldn't be all bad" because she had rejected Hexadecimal, despite Hex being an ally of Mainframe at the time.)  When a rogue Virus once begged him for mercy, he replied with a cold "never" before pulling the trigger.

There is more to the Renegade than his hatred, however.  He and AndrAIa are shown to do everything within their collective power and abilities to help devastated Systems they come across.  Teach the natives how to win against Users in Game Cubes.  Rally moral support and bring together opposing sides to fight for a common cause.  In these instances, Matrix can be seen showing sympathy and even compassion.  He also proves himself to be immensely loyal to those he considers friends.  Insubordinate at times, but always willing to keep his eye on the cause and fight for what he believes is right.

Of course, nobody knows his softer side better than AndrAIa.  The two have been inseparable since the Game they met.  As she later confessed to Daemon, "It was love at first sight."  Especially on her part.  Her place has always been with him, and it was her constant presence by his side that kept him sane throughout their ordeal.  If he loves nothing else in his life (not to say he doesn't), he loves her.  With everything he is, everything he once was, and everything he strives to be.  Unconditionally. Even when they fight, the love and respect they have for one another reassures them that they will never be kept apart for long.

...until now.


History

Have you ever wondered if there were tiny people living inside your computer?

 

If so, you should probably see a shrink about that.  But you’d also be right; there are actually a multitude of creatures: Sprites (which resemble Human Users aside from the widely unnatural shades of hair and skin tone), Binomes (robot-like beings that take on the forms of three vertical cubes representing the number “1” or a single sphere representing the number “0”), Search Engines (similar to Sprites, but with the ability to surf the Web), Viruses (creatures which live to prey on and infect), Web Creatures (fairly self-explanatory)...all these, and more existing and even thriving inside our machines.

 

Our story began long ago in a System known as Mainframe, with a Sprite by the name of Wellman Matrix.  Wellman was a simple man with a simple dream: to seek out new life beyond, and prove to the residents of his home (and its Twin City) that they were not alone.  As a scientist, he dedicated both his life and reputation to creating a machine that would Search and Retrieve.

 

A machine that would, for many years, be believed to have destroyed the Twin City in a devastating accident.

 

The reality of what happened was, of course, far more complicated than that: Wellman’s machine had worked the way it was supposed to.  Unfortunately, it had Searched out a System known as the SuperComputer, where it then Retrieved a dangerous Virus known as Gigabyte.  Somewhere along the transfer, Gigabyte’s power proved too much for the machine to handle; it overloaded, and the resultant explosion created two Viruses known as Megabyte and Hexadecimal.  Brother and Sister.  Twins.  One with unmatched brains, and the other with unrivaled power.  

 

It would be Cycles (Years) before anybody learned the truth about their Genesis.

 

All but two Sprites were in the Twin City that day.  Ironically, it was Wellman’s own children who had been running late.  Dot, the older sister, had been in Mainframe overseeing the construction of her new Dot’s Diner with baby brother, Enzo.  Her uncharacteristic moment of tardiness saved them both.  The remaining Sprites of both Systems were nullified: an alternative to total deletion, where they are transformed into slug-like creatures called Nulls.

 

The Twin City was destroyed, becoming Lost Angles.  Mainframe also suffered a severe aftershock, with Tears (bursts of energy that literally “tear” through the air) popping up everywhere amidst ruins and panic.  But all was not lost.  Soon after, another Sprite appeared from a portal.  A young male with pale blue skin, short silver hair, and a formal uniform.  Bob.  A Guardian.  He had followed Gigabyte’s signal after the Virus killed his parter, only to come across the devastating aftermath.

 

Immediately, Bob set to work trying to help wherever he could.  Using his recently inherited keytool, Glitch, to mend tears.  It was at this time he came across the System’s two remaining Sprites.

 

"Who...who are you?" Dot, removing her glasses in shock, asked.

 

"My name's Bob.  I'm a cade--I mean, a Guardian." The newly upgraded Guardian answered.  He looked around, taking in everything around them. "I'm so sorry."

 

Still in shock, Dot initially took this apology to mean he was somehow responsible.  She began beating as his chest.  Of course, her tears were misguided and her strikes weak, and she ultimately collapsed into his arms out of sorrow.  Poor Enzo, who was barely 0-0 (the User equivalent of 5 years old), could only watch from below, eyes wide and lower lip quivering.

 

Cycles passed, and the residents of Mainframe rebuilt.  Lost Angles became Hexadecimal’s playground, and Megabyte took up residence in his Tora tower.  Their relationship with the Sprites was...odd, to say the least.  Sometimes antagonistic.  Others, almost symbiotic.

 

When Enzo was 0-1 (Just shy of Ten User Years’ Old), he decided he wanted to be just as successful as his older sister, Dot, who had become a prominent member of Mainframe’s business district.  His first customer?  Megabyte, who requested the young Sprite deliver a package to his “dear” sister.  Despite insistence that the delivery be kept a surprise, Enzo couldn’t help telling Bob and Dot about his success...and, in the process, accidently let slip he was going to be traveling to Lost Angles.  

 

Dot quickly made the connection, immediately ordering Bob to deliver the package instead.  Enzo’s business reputation would remain intact, and her little brother didn’t have to interact any further with the chaotic Virus.  Bob, having no say in this, left to deliver the package.

 

In fact, many of Enzo’s early adventures were left in the shadows of his older sister and System Guardian.  At times, he was even the cause of them, like the time Bob brought a powerful magnet to the Diner after a recent victory over Megabyte.  He reassured everyone that it was contained and of no danger to anyone.  What he didn’t take into account was Enzo’s insatiable curiosity.  The young Sprite had been eyeing his Glitch keytool, and with Bob’s permission, tested it out.  He asked Glitch for basic tools like a hammer, flashlight, and a jackhammer.  But the latter caused a small earthquake that ultimately released the magnet from its casting.

 

Dot was the one it struck, clinging to her forehead.  The damage was reversible, but needed to be treated soon.  Once again, it was Bob to the rescue...though, this time, there was a twist: Dot was actually partners with the very Sprite Bob needed to see for the cure.  While Bob was busy fighting a Game--which involved “rescuing” Princess Enzo, the young boy having Rebooted into a dress so large his legs couldn’t even reach the ground--and desperately seeking the “really, really, really slow food” she needed, Dot had simply called Al up.  Saving herself with a fraction of the effort it usually took the boys.

 

When Bob and Dot got into a major fight over clashing personalities, Bob being of a more carefree nature with Dot thriving on organization and strict rules, it was up to Enzo to try and bring them back together.  Or so he thought.  Every plan of his was thwarted by their inability to cooperate and makeup the way they were supposed to.  He called Bob at his apartment.  He had a sit-down with his sister.  He even tried to set up a Tragic incident in which the two of them had to come save him from impending danger.

 

They spent so much time arguing, that his dog had to free him from the self-created trap before he was actually deleted.

 

After the pair were caught in a Game, Enzo dejectedly made his way back to the Diner in wait.  However, much to his surprise, they came out getting along against just fine.  Having found common ground amidst their unqiue approaches in order to defeat the User and avoid Nullification.  Enzo was left confused as to how they managed to solve their problems, but went with it because it was was he wanted all along.

 

Enzo’s first real chance to shine came when he and Frisket were captured one afternoon while walking back from school.  The canine had swallowed something Megabyte wanted, and was determined to get back.  Even if it meant forceful extraction.  Enzo, however, was having none of that; he used his Yoyo to perform a series of tricks that released Frisket from his restraints.  Frisket then went to town on the viral binomes that had sought to harm him in a vicious off-screen attack while Enzo looked on.  Wincing occasionally in a disturbingly telling manner.

 

But they weren’t done yet.  Seeking to escape through the ventilation systems, they ended up in the armory room.  An inflatable raft machine was used to incapacitate several of Megabyte’s lackies.  Before long, they even cut power to the entire Tower.  By the time Megabyte himself managed to catch up to them, Enzo had somehow acquired an ABC vehicle and was flying it.  badly.  A combination of pure luck and destructive driving allowed them to escape...though not before Frisket left a little “present” for Megabyte at the exit.

 

Once home, Enzo was quick to relay the story of how he had outsmarted a Virus.  Bob and Dot were torn between utter disbelief, amazement, and pride.

 

Pride that took a serious blow during one Game when Enzo’s “bigger is better” strategy was outsmarted by an uncharacteristically well-planned burst of inspiration from Bob.  Feeling BASIC from his failure, Enzo decided that he needed to become smarter.  He saught out Phong, Mainframe’s Command-dot-com (Mayor) and the wisest Sprite in the System.  Phong brought him to a place called the Read Only Room, the computer equivalent of a huge library database, where Enzo would be free to study anything and everything he could find to his Code’s content.  

 

A short time later, Enzo’s head was literally spinning.

 

“This could take millions and millions of nanoseconds.”  He whined to an empty room.  “Why...this could even take one whole second!”  He didn’t want to do it the hard way.  He wanted to be smarter NOW.  

 

The Read Only Room’s solution was to bring him to another room called the Clock Speed Room.  Here, Enzo put in the formal request to be smarter than everyone else.

 

“How much smarter?” It asked.

 

“Ooh...” Enzo vocalized, impressed, before declaring he wanted to be “twice as smart.”

 

His wish was granted, but not in the way he planned.  Rather than make Enzo smarter, it made everyone dumber.  The moment Enzo stepped outside the Principal Office, he was greeted with a system that had literally gone 8-bit.  Color quality, processing speeds, memory....even Phong, once the wisest of them all, was running into walls because he couldn’t figure out the door.  And before Enzo could run back and fix things, a Game Cube chose that moment to land.

 

It was an Olympic Game, requiring a combination of brains, brawn, and stamina to win.  Much to Enzo’s frustration, he Rebooted as the Coach of a team that can’t even figure out how to use their equipment properly.  Guardian Bob picked up a pole vaulting pole...and just kept running with it...and running...and running....

 

Loss after loss, Enzo began to fear Nullification.  Then, during the last event, he had a brainstorm ("What would Bob do?" He asked, before catching a glimpse of said Guardian running past with the pole. "I mean the smart Bob!"): he switched his entire group to the User’s team, where they proceed to “help” by blocking the Users from crossing the finish line.  Bob, with his precious pole, accidently crossed it first.

 

From there, Enzo high-tailed it back to the Principal Office to get everybody back up to speed.  Interestingly enough, when he emerged from the Clock Speed Room, Phong was there to ask if he has learned anything from his “experience,” implying he knew what would happen all along.  That crafty so-and-so.

 

The next time Enzo was forced into the spotlight, it was also by accident.  Megabyte sought to use his robot henchmen, Hack and Slash, to take over Bob’s brain by shrinking them down and inserting them into an energy shake.  Before the Guardian could take a sip, Enzo asks for a taste, and the duo end up in his brain instead.  Almost immediately, he was forced to start dancing wildly, losing all sense of control over himself thanks to Hack and Slash goofing off inside his brain.

 

Bob ultimately saved him, of course, thanks to somehow knowing the professional Hacker who had been hired by Megabyte to oversee the operation.  He once arrested her, and they became friends.  Go figure.

 

Enzo’s First Birthday (though technically, his second, if you could his turning from 0-0 to 0-1) was considered the Event of the Cycle.  He spent most of the day with his Hero Bob, who took him all over Mainframe in hopes of keeping him distracted long enough for Dot to set everything up.  It was a challenge which almost proved too much for the Guardian.  He just barely managed to keep Enzo’s borderline ADHD in check before the young Sprite hopped a zip board (two connected floating disks which Sprites use to travel long distance across the System) and headed back for the Diner.

 

He was greeted by a fully set up stage, and an impressive lineup of performance ready to entertain the Mainframers.  Once again, despite it being Enzo’s birthday, his sister was the one to take center stage first, opening the show with a musical tribute to both boys in her life called “You’re Alphanumeric.”

 

Of course, Megabyte had something of his own planned: he crashes the party soon after...with a lime green electric guitar.

 

Bob knew what he had to do.  “Glitch: BFG”

 

Guardian and Virus have one of the strangest, yet somehow most epic showdowns in Mainframe history.  Dueling rock guitars, amps being cranked up to 11, and a finale that had Megabyte looking out into the audience with a chuckle and declaring:  “I’ve always wanted to do that.”  With that, he handed Enzo the guitar as a birthday present before exiting the building in his coffin-shaped limousine without a single fuss.

 

Not quite sure what just happened, Dot could only shrug and wish her little brother a Happy Birthday.

 

Now older, a new problem eventually emerged in Enzo’s life: the gradual realization that he was alone in the System.  His sister was always busy running half of Broadway, and wouldn’t let him follow Bob into Game Cubes anymore because of the danger.  Even when he returned, Bob was so busy chewing out the binomes that had almost gotten them Nullified because of a stupid mistake that he missed both Enzo’s attempt to bowl him over (a favorite pastime) and the young Sprite’s overall presence in the Diner.  Enzo was left depressed, sulking in his lone corner booth.

 

Coincidently, the Diner was later chosen by the User as the next Sector to receive a Game Cube.  Bob and Dot were halfway across the System at the time it appeared, the latter concerned for her younger brother.

 

“I told him not to go into any more Game Cubes,” she told Bob.

 

“But did you tell him to get out of the way if one landed on top of him.”

 

“...”  Oh, snap.

 

Sure enough, Enzo happily waved goodbye to all the patrons scrambling to leave as he hung back, not wanting to miss the fun.  The Cube landed directly on top of him, and he found himself deep underwater.  Rebooting, his unexpected swim was interrupted as an entire submarine materialized around him.  He was given an eyepatch and not much else, but the submarine (which was shaped like a fish) came with a useful navigation system and torpedos.

 

Off in the distance, a young female Sprite had her sights set on the User.  She attacked with her starfish hair clip, only to be taken down.  Left floating in a state of unconsciousness, she was nearly devoured...until Enzo saved her at the last moment.  He laid her out on the floor, muttering to himself how he hoped she’s okay.

 

She awoke shortly after, and her first instinct was to extend her claws and hiss.  

 

For a moment, it looked as if Enzo was in trouble, until he started speaking to her in his usual rapid-fire, excited manner.  Introduced himself, and admired her weaponized nails.  The poor girl was so caught off-guard, she could only respond to his questions with honest answers.  Before long, the two struck up both a conversation and a friendship.  She told him her name was AndrAIa, and was about to go into more detail about who (or rather, what) she was, but was once more cut off by Enzo being Enzo.

 

In a moment of bravado, he even told her that he was a Guardian.  

 

The longer the two of them worked together, the closer they became.  Enzo told her stories of his past adventures (with slight modifications to make him come out the hero each time), to which she laughed in delight.  Before long, AndrAIa openly admitted that she liked him.  Embarrassed but pleased, he returned the declaration. 

 

Unfortunately, AndrAIa had a secret that threatened their friendship: she wasn’t actually a Sprite.  She was a Game Sprite, an artificial intelligence that was created inside, and would leave with the Game when it ended.  The truth came out when things looked hopeless, Bob and Dot were caught by an octopus obstacle, and their ship had crashed into the User, damaging but not defeating it.  The water continued to flood the cockpit, and Enzo was left devastated at the thought that, win or lose, AndrAIa would soon be gone.

 

“We can never be together.  Never!” He snapped at her.

 

She had other plans.  

 

“You’re wrong, Enzo.  We can be together.”  Using her paralyzing nails, she knocked him unconscious, then took her Icon and places it inside his.  A saddened smile bid her new friend goodbye, sending him in a torpedo capsule to the Atlantis treasure, winning them the game.

 

Enzo woke up shortly after the Cube rose, as Bob and Dot ran towards him.

 

“Are you okay?” Dot immediately went into protective sister mode.  Bob followed up by asking if the Game Sprite hurt him.

 

“I’m okay.  And that Game Sprite was my friend.  She saved us all!” He told them, dejected.

 

As he stood up, Bob noticed something strange on Enzo’s icon.  When he touched it, a strange light show appeared...revealing AndrAIa.

 

“AndrAIa!” Enzo exclaimed, and the two embraced.  “But...how?”

 

“I downloaded a backup of myself onto your icon.  The Game let me out thinking I was you!”

 

Enzo was left in pure awe, AndrAIa wanted to meet her Guardian companion’s friends she’d heard about, and Bob couldn’t believe it.

 

“A Game Sprite?  In Mainframe?”  Then something AndrAIa said caught up with him, and he turned to Enzo with a slight frown.  “Hey...what does she mean ‘Guardian’?”

 

The boy could only smile sheepishly, as AndrAIa raised an amused eyebrow at him.

 

From that day on, the two young sprites were nearly inseparable.  She was constantly at his side, be it at school, the Diner, or even the Principal Office.  Enzo took on the additional role of guide, explaining anything and everything about the System he could.  She was smart, but also painfully naive to life outside the Games.  When the City was attacked by a large creature known as Nullzilla, she was initially left behind while Dot, Enzo, Bob, Frisket, and (for reasons beyond anybody) even Mike the TV were each given giant mobile suits to battle the creature in.

 

It was only when the realized they had all left their secret weapon behind that AndrAIa was asked by Phong to join in the battle.  She delivered it in a timely fashion, and surprised everyone by navigating her way to the main battle cockpit even before Bob could finish sending her verbal directions.  Enzo was particularly proud of his companion.

 

Nullzilla was just the beginning, however.  Of a threat so detrimental to Mainframe that Sprite and Virus came together to work: a Web Creature.  Something that came through Hexadecimal’s magic mirror to individually attack and take over each of the twins, briefly joining them once more as a Web Creature possessed-Gigabyte, before unleashing a giant Web Portal that loomed over the entire System.  As Mainframe’s destruction would also mean the destruction of Megabyte and Hexadecimal, they begrudgingly accepted to work with the Sprites to defeat the creature and close the portal.

 

For most of the battle, Enzo watched from the background.  AndrAIa continued to ask him questions, once more referring to his prior lie about being a Guardian.  He was left with no other choice but to come clean.  And would have, had Bob not chosen to intervene at just that moment.

 

“Cadet, why are you not in uniform?”  He declared in his most authoritarian voice.  

 

Enzo blinked in confusion, until he leaned in and whispered for him to play along.  Clearing his throat, he put on a show for AndrAIa that officially made Enzo into a Guardian Cadet, in accordance with the Emergency Protocol.  Taking their Icons, Bob transmitted his own Code into Enzo’s icon.  White turned gold.  When he double-clicked it, Enzo was suddenly in the Guardian uniform.

 

It was for more than show, however.  Bob insisted that, once this was all over, Enzo would really be sent to the Academy for training.  He’d earned it.  

 

Beaming, Enzo saluted back.

 

“...you look cool, Enzo.” AndrAIa grinned.

 

As it turned out, Enzo would never make it to the Academy; while the citizens of Mainframe succeeded in defeating the Web Creature, Megabyte had one last double-cross up his sleeve: a special capsule he had designed just for Bob, meant to shoot the Guardian into the Web seconds before the portal was closed for good.  They won, but at a terrible cost.

 

Dot was left to deliver the news to a devastated Enzo.  While AndrAIa gasped softly in the background, the older Matrix sibling sadly placed a crushed Glitch into Enzo’s palm.  No words were needed to convey what it meant.

 

“NO!” Enzo screamed into the air, before his shoulders slumped.

 

Without a Guardian, Megabyte and Hexadecimal were all set to take control of the City, demanding that the residents take their “rightful place” at their feet.

 

Enzo refused to surrender.  Insisting that yes, the System still had a Guardian, he made a show of placing Glitch on his arm and standing up to the Viruses, declaring at they would never give up.  Never surrender.  He would protect his home the same way Bob had, and Mainframe would fight them to the very last.

 

Except there was one major problem: nobody but Enzo (and AndrAIa) really considered him a Guardian.  Dot put her foot down from the very start, still torn over the loss of Bob and not wanting to lose her brother too.  Still, Enzo couldn’t ignore the Guardian Protocol, and when the next Game hit, he and AndrAIa were halfway to the sector before Dot could stop them.

 

“He can’t help himself,” she told Mouse (who had since rejoined the fight as a Mainframe ally) while they chased after the young Sprites.

 

“And AndrAIa’s a Game Sprite,” Mouse reminded her.  “Win or lose, when the Game goes--”

 

“--AndrAIa goes with it!” Dot’s eyes widened at the realization.

 

Fortunately, Mouse was quick enough to grab her before she could make it inside the game, leaving the Matrix siblings to fend off against a hoard of Zombies and chainsaw-weilding user who could say nothing other than the word Groovy.  For a moment, Dot continued to shoot down his insistence of his Guardian status.  But Enzo won her over before long by insisting that Bob knew he could do it.  She even smiled when he uses Glitch to request for Game stats.

 

Outside the Game, AndrAIa innocently asked Mouse how long it will "take for Enzo to win the Game,” indicating she had the utmost confidence that he would.

 

Frisket, who had also joined them inside the Game, reboots into a hell hound.  Enzo rebooted into a Thriller-esque Zombie, while Dot reboots into Elvira.  Her dress immediately proves a hassle, as it was so tight she could barely walk, so she rips most of the skirt off and uses it to tie back her hair.  Together, they find they have to not only battle the User and his chainsaw, but the protesting of Mainframe citizens who refuse to accept Enzo as their new Guardian.  

 

“Bob was bigger.  Bob was...blue!” one of them insisted.

 

Dot shouted at them to move it, and thee reluctantly did so.  Still complaining all the while as they search for ammo to hinder the User’s firepower.  Meanwhile, the User managed to collect all the pages it needs to fufill its mission, and only needed the book itself.  Enzo used Glitch to locate it in a shack up ahead, which he and Dot barricaded with anything and everything they could find.  When the User broke through, Enzo busted into a series of dance moves to avoid being shot.

 

“What are you doing?” His sister tiredly asked him.

 

“Using up his ammo!”

 

“By letting him shoot at you?!”

 

Somehow, the strategy--unorthodox as it was--worked, and the User was left only with his Chainsaw.  That too was soon lost as he got it tangled in a knot of piano wires they hid behind.  Weaponless, it didn't take long for the pair to outsmart the User, winning the Game.

 

When he returned to the Principal Office, Enzo was rewarded for his victory by a very enthusiastic bowling over by AndrAIa, not unlike how he himself used to greet Bob.  She pinned him to the wall while exclaiming his name.

 

“Uhh...hi, AndrAIa,” he replied sheepishly.

 

Their victory didn’t last long, however.  Megabyte had caught wind of the seeds of doubt looming over the new Guardian, and decided to use it to his advantage.  He began setting up his ABC force of viral binomes to block Enzo from being able to make it to Games, leaving entire sectors destroyed and citizens nullified.  He spread propaganda labeling the boy as incompetent and childish.  

 

Worse, Enzo was starting to believe it.

 

Phong decided that in order to fight back, they must not only help Enzo claim his rightful place as the System’s Guardian, but turn him into a beacon of hope.  A light in the darkness.  The epitome of everything that stands against Megabyte’s threat of tyranny and devastation.  And to do that, he must start winning Games without his sister’s help, since Dot was needed in the Command Center to help rally troops and plan behind the scenes.

 

Mouse promised to look after the kids in the Games, and even offered a solution for AndrAIa’s dilemma.  Using Enzo’s icon, she worked a little bit of Hacker magic and transfered a bit of Enzo’s Sprite Code into AndrAIa’s Game Sprite icon.  The girl accepted her new gift with gratitude, wanting to know if it would help her reboot like Enzo could.  In theory, it should.  But it was also untested, so Mouse could make no guarantees.  Still, AndrAIa was unafraid.

 

Unafraid for herself, that was; during the next Game descent, she pretended her zipboard was failing so she could steal Mouse’s and preventer her from going into the Game as well.  When Enzo questioned her, she insisted that there was no reason to put them both in danger.  He was upset at the thought that she could be trapped, to which she reminded him that she was a Game Sprite.  A warrior.  If trapped inside a Game, she would be able to survive.

 

“It is all I knew before I met you, Enzo,”

 

The moment was interrupted by a hillbilly prospector binome, who wasted no time in belittling Enzo for just being a kid.  Even Glitch’s Game Stats function was all but useless, as the Game itself told them what it was.  In big, flashy letters and a large picture of what the User looked like.

 

Meanwhile, Mouse returned to the Principal Office to inform Dot of what had happened.

 

“Let me get this straight.”  Dot managed to get out, in partial disbelief.  “My little brother...is trapped in a Game...with a Game Sprite?!”

 

“A Game Sprite who loves him,” Phong reminded her.  Her eyes widened in surprise.  Not for the first time, she was beginning to realize just how much the young couple had grown.  And how close they really were.

 

The Gamers Rebooted.  Enzo became an Elmer Fudd-like character, complete with trademark speech impediment.  AndrAIa turned into a biker chick, laughing when she saw what her best friend transformed into.  Still, despite his ridiculous appearance, Enzo manages to get off a single shot that, in a Gold Ruberg chain of events, ends with the User losing one of his three lives.

 

“...eh, lucky shot,” the hillbilly prospector criticized.

 

Gradually, with the help of a growing number of binomes who decided listening to a kid was better than nullification, they managed to not only rid the User of his second life, but prevent him from gaining an extra.  The final showdown came when they collaborated to trap him in a back alleyway, suck in tar.  Enzo and AndrAIa came around the corner, driving a large bulldozer and wearing matching smug grins.

 

Before they ran him over, Enzo hesitated.  Paused the bulldozer.

 

“AndrAIa, your icon...what if it doesn’t work?”

 

She refused to answer him, just placed her hand atop his in silent encouragement.

 

“This is gonna hurt,” Rocky, the user, declared just before getting flattened.  Ending the Game.

 

Back in Mainframe once more, Enzo found himself surrounded by the very binomes who had once doubted and questioned him.  But he didn’t see AndrAIa.  Fearful that she had been trapped after all, he called out to her in panic.  But the once hillbilly prospector, now dressed in a cap and gown reminiscent of educational scholars, just chuckled and motioned behind him.

 

This time, he was the one to initiate the embrace, holding her tightly.  Mouse’s program worked.  AndrAIa could now enter Game Cubes with him.  They were a team.

 

And what a team they were!  Their next Game, again just the two them (plus Frisket), involved taking on a Santa User.  Having rebooted into snowmen, they worked together along the snowy mountainside to win the Game with little difficulty.  As the Game Cube rose, they two celebrated with a jumping high five, their hands remaining clasped just a little bit longer.

 

While they shared enjoyable moments from the Game, Enzo realized that the CPU’s, his sister’s recovery squad, should have picked them up.  Instead, Megabyte was there to greet them, insisting that the squad had been...delayed.  But he was not there to fight.  He was there to have Enzo deliver a message, and when the young Guardian tried to insist he was no delivery boy, Megabyte grabbed him by the throat and insisted that that was exactly what Enzo was, all that he was, and it was by Megabyte’s will alone that he even survived this encounter.

 

His confidence shattered, Enzo hung his head in shame back at the Principal Office while AndrAIa explained to the others that Megabyte insisted he would make the citizens suffer while they all hid behind their sanctuary walls.  She went on to add that she now understood what the word Propoganda meant, and knew that this is all Megabyte’s way of trying to get into Enzo’s head so the young Guardian would give up. Lifting his chin, she calmly insisted that he can’t give up, no matter what, because they Megabyte would win.  They had to fight back.

 

“Then he’s done it.  Megabyte’s beaten us with words,” Mouse chimed in from behind, giving Phong a knowing wink.  “I only wish Bob wasn’t here to see this.”

 

“Bob...” 

 

That one single word, and the memory of the Sprite were enough to pick Enzo up.  Bob wouldn’t’ve stayed in the Principal Office.  He would’ve found some way to lock Megabyte up!  Fortunately, Mouse and Phong had just the thing: an inverted Firewall.  All they needed were Enzo’s words to twist around and make seem like it was his idea all along.  Out of the mouths of babes, as Mouse put it.

 

While the tech team set to work preparing everything needed, AndrAIa and Enzo were called away to another Game.  A mix of Toy Story and Wacky Races, the objective is to keep the Penelope-lookalike User from leaving the room.  Enzo rebooted into James Bond.  AndrAIa rebooted into...a biker chick.  Again.

 

“What is it with you and bikes?” Enzo asked.

 

“You look fantastic, Enzo,” she replied, admiring his snazzy tuxedo and slicked back hair.

 

“The name’s Matrix.  Guardian Matrix.”  Sliding his thumbs beneath his lapel, the young Guardian smiled.  “You know, I feel better!”

 

The race was on, with Enzo in a sports car, and AndrAIa on her bike.  They had to dodge various obstacles, including toy police cars and a moving wooden dinosaur skeleton.  AndrAIa saw an opening, and jumped the back of the dinosaur, while Enzo cheers her on.  He managed to distract the dinosaur enough to get it away from Cyrus, a viral binome who had betrayed them to Megabyte.  But now that Enzo had saved him, he was singing a different tune.

 

“What do you need me to do, Guardian?” He asked, allegiance changed.

 

With Cyrus’ help, Enzo managed to hop onto the airplane the User was now flying to escape the room.  He had no gun, having lost it in the jump, but a small teddybear a child had earlier thrown at him.  A blue teddy bear wearing a Guardian uniform.  

 

“You’re no help,” he said to the inanimate object.  But then he got an idea, “...or are you?”

 

He placed it beneath one of wing flaps, keeping the User from properly steering.  This caused her to crash into a wall, ending the game.

 

Just in time for the Firewall to go up, trapping Megabyte and Hexadecimal within their own Sector (called Ghetty Prime) at a single command from Enzo: “Glitch...FIrewall!”

 

Life wasn’t perfect; Megabyte was still attempting to escape, and Bob was still missing...but it was the best things had been since before the Web Wars.  Enzo was riding on a victory high.  He was the face of success, a representation of their latest victory over the Viruses, and beloved by all of Mainframe.  A young binome pointed up at him, telling his mother “That’s our Guardian!”

 

Then the Game Cube landed that would change his and AndrAIa’s life forever.

 

A combat game.  Gods, Mortals, and Demons.  There were twelve opponents for the User to select, but he only had to defeat Five to win.  For the first time, there was something completely out of Enzo’s control--a strong chance they could lose without even being selected to fight!

 

Enzo had a plan.  He instructed AndrAIa to take Frisket and Reboot into one of the possible characters.  He would linger behind and try to second-guess the User, which had taken on the form of a Fiery Demon named Zayten.  But Enzo refused to believe in a no-win scenario. Even when he missed the first opportunity to fight, he sat back and watched carefully.  Looking for the finishing move, so he’d know to be ready for it when his time came.

 

The final level came, and Enzo rebooted into a ninja warrior.  After complaining about the mask, he set to work unleashing a skillful wave of attacks.  The first victory was his.  The second...went to the User.  Enzo rolled his shoulders, telling himself it was one-all and that he needed to get it together.  It was winner-take-all.

 

The User showed no mercy.  One of his strikes clawed away at Enzo’s right eye, severely damaging it.  AndrAIa was left to helplessly bang away at the window, knowing what was coming next.  From his position on the ground, Enzo’s one good eye briefly met with AndrAIa’s.  He gave a short nod, and reached for his icon.

 

Quivering, she knelt down beside Frisket. 

 

“It’s okay, boy.  We’ll be okay...” her voice shook as she tapped both their icons, converting them to Game Sprite mode.

 

Zayten went in for his final move.

 

“Game Over.  The User Wins.”

 

...

 

...

 

Time passed.  

How much time exactly couldn’t be certain.  

Matrix and AndrAIa were in another game.  Fighting as green and pink alien-like creatures in outer space.  Frisket, as always, was seen as an alien by their side.  Voicing his input with a solid “woof woof”.  It was business as usual, except for a noticeably unusual conversation the pair shared just before ending the game:

“Are we going or staying?”

“Staying.”

In unison, they double clicked at the Game Sprite icons on their respective belts, switching them back to Sprite mode.  The green alien then focused his strange, mechanical eye on the User.  Targeting.  It twisted and spun around from a W to distinct, glowing red M...and the User was blown out of space, into an oncoming asteroid.  Game Over.

The Cube disappeared to reveal Frisket already sniffing away at the ground.  All around him, nothing but ruins and destruction could be seen.  He sensed a presence in the distance, and starts to grown, until a large green hand comes down to sooth him.

“Easy, boy.  I see them too.”  The voicewas unfamiliar.  Rough.  Deep.  “This isn’t Mainframe.  It never is.”

Matrix and AndrAIa both appeared, now fully grown Sprites.  They surveyed the area with surprisingly neutral expressions, and AndrAIa even made a passing comment on how it was the most devastated System they’d ever come across.  Meaning they’d seen this sort of thing before.  And often.

A few more natives came out of the woodwork, and the pair calmly introduced themselves.  AndrAIa took the lead, with a warm smile and gentle voice.  They came from the Games, yes, but they weren’t Users.  They were Sprites.  AndrAIa and Enzo.

“Matrix.” Enzo corrected her.  “Call me Matrix.”

A frightened binome accidently steped on a small horn left discarded; reflexively, Matrix reached for his Gun and shoots the horn.  This caused the few natives who lingered to scatter.  AndrAIa just rose an eyebrow, commenting that he needed to work on his people skills, to which Matrix shrugged off the incident.  Still, their mission was clear.  Matrix told her he would do his best to work on repairs to the System.  AndrAIa would see out the Command-dot-com.

“Don’t worry,” she turned back to the binomes once Matrix and Frisket were out of sight.  “Matrix and Frisket are justa couple of pussycats...once you get to know them.”  Right.

Sure enough, Matrix was quick to find trouble.  Trouble in the form of a Virus, which he quickly located and Deleted with extreme prejudice.  When the Virus pleaded for mercy, he merely scoffed at it.  A witness to the battle, a young Sprite, came out to declare that he was fine and hadn’t needed Matrix’ help.

“I’ve been on my own for seconds.  I don’t need anybody!”

So Matrix left, much to his surprise.

Over in the Principal office, AndrAIa explained how she and Matrix came to be.  The Game that they’d lost so long ago was only the beginning.  To avoid Nullification, they had become part of the Game.  It took them away from Mainframe, but they survived.  Ever since, they’d been Game Hopping from one System to the next, using their icon switching method as a means of travel.  Hoping to one day be brought back to Mainframe.

“Lost and far from home.  How sad.”  The Command-dot-com, Wise One, commented.

“Mainframe is Matrix’s home.  My place...is with him,” AndrAIa told them.

The Sprite in question arrives soon after, with bad news.  The System was in such poor shape that a single lost Game could be it for them.  While the residents attempt to offer Matrix and AndrAIa gifts in exchange for remaining as their protectors, the two have another idea: they agree to stay long enough to train a group of volunteers in Game Survival.  At first, few people sign up.  But a (fairly unimpressive, despite his insistence otherwise) performance on Matrix’s behalf, four sign up.

“Four?”  He scoffed, playing with his Yoyo behind a wall.  “I thought I’d get at least a dozen.”

“Face it, Matrix.  You’re just not that good an actor.”  She replied back.

“Oh, yeah?  What about the time I got over two dozen to join.”

She rolled her eyes.  “I knew you’d bring that up.”

He eventually returned to carefully inspect his new recruits.  Unimpressed.  Large and imposing, the four volunteers ranged from a writer named Gabby to a muscular Zero binome who went by Hardboot.  The name said it all.  After they introduced themselves, Matrix took over.  He told them he didn’t like to lose.  

Soon, the skies once more turned dark as the all-too-familiar warning came from the sky.

Seconds before it hit, a fifth volunteer appeared.  The young Sprite Matrix had saved earlier attempted to bowl him over, but Matrix was too solid.  He bounced right off, rubbing at his head, and declared that he was joining up.  Matrix made an off-hand comment about how Games weren’t for small Sprites, but AndrAIa smirked knowingly at him from behind:

“Where have I heard that one before?”

The Game this time was Cron the Destroyer.  Matrix and AndrAIa, like clockwork, rebooted into Conan the Barbarian and Xena the Warrior Princess garb.  But AndrAIa noticed that the others were shaking and scared.  She whispered that maybe it was time for Matrix to use the Team Speech.

“Yeah, why not?”  He agreed.  “It’s worked before.”

They were now a team, he declared, and deserved some new codenames to show for it.  Barry the racer beacme Overdrive.  Gabby was Tweek.  Jeff was TacTic, and Hardboot was...Hardboot.  (The name really did say it all.)

“What about me?” The kid popped up.

“You’re really starting to get my back up!” Matrix snapped.

“Backup.  Hey, cool!”  He liked it, and took it on as his codename.

They traveled on as a group, with Tweek occasionally narrating the atmosphere in the most dramatic way she knew how.  But before long, Matrix realized that Backup was missing.  Groaning, he told AndrAIa to go on ahead while he looked for him.

“Please keep your temper,” she reminded him.  “It’s his first Game.”

“Yeah.  And I gotta make sure it’s not his last.”

He eventually located Backup in the Castle, where the two of them were taking on a wave of Guards.  Matrix occasionally poked his head around the corner to offer forced words of encouragement while he took on twice the number of opponents, only to have to rescue Backup from falling through a large sewer by simply lifting the whole iron grate with one hand.

“That was Pixelacious!” Backup exclaimed.

“Yeah, real Alphanumeric,” he replied dryly.

Game Sprites bested.  The User defeated.  All that remained was for the binomes and young Sprite to come together and claim their prize.  Behind them, Matrix and AndrAIa shared a look.  They would be leaving with the Game, continuing to find their home now that the team was ready to help defend and repair their own.  Switching to Game Sprite mode, they left the locals to their victory as they walked off to share their own, private victory.

“Did that young Sprite remind you of anyone?” AndrAIa asked him.

“Not particularly, no.”

“Didn’t think so.”  She looked an arm through his just as the Game slowly began to fade away, and them with it.  “Have I told you lately how wonderful you are?”

“Not lately....”

The next Game brought them to a System that appeared to be in good standing.  Except it also brought them directly in the middle of a warring feud between the two races residing within it: Spectrals and the Hero Selective, Spectrals who had been converted to Sprites in order to reboot and play the Games.  But the Heroes had grown tired of the Games and wished to return to their original states.

Until then, they refused to play Games in hopes of causing just enough damage to get the Spectrals to agree to their demands.

First impressions aside, the leader of the Heros soon approached and ordered them to stand down.  A leader who, chrome outer shell and wardrobe change aside, looked (and sounded) suspiciously like Bob.  So much that Matrix had a hard time believing it wasn't the Guardian he knew.  But while Robert Curser might not have been Bob, he was a friend and ally, if they would accept.

Matrix was unusually quick to do just that.  But AndrAIa was a little too put off by their habit of capturing Spectrals, and refused to take sides.  Until she did.  And chose the Spectrals, putting her at odds with Matrix.  The couple had a brief exchange of words, resulting in her pushing him out of the way as she stormed out of the Hero's main base.  Matrix let her go without a single glance back, folding his arms stubbornly.  Frisket alternated between the two, whimpering softly.

Despite this, when the leader of the Spectrals questioned what AndrAIa would do now that she and Matrix were no longer together, she dismissed the notion with a weak laugh.

"Oh, we've been through a lot worse."  She told him.  "Love and Respect...that's what binds us together, and with it, nothing will ever keep us apart."

Together or otherwise, Matrix and AndrAIa ultimately approached the same problem from opposite ends.  Matrix had a long discussion with Robert Curser, while AndrAIa spoke to the Spectrals in the Principal Office.  Independently, without knowledge of what the other was up to.  It was their Prime Directive, and second nature to them at that stage of their lives.  They both realized that what needed to happen was for the two groups to come together to fight a common enemy.

A Virus.

At first, this wasn't enough to stop the longtime enemies from fighting one another.  Spectral vs Hero Select, each side was quick to blame the other for the damage to the System.  But in the heat of the moment, Matrix and AndrAIa found themselves fighting back to back once more.

"Still mad at me?" He shruged sheepishly.

In response, she grabed him--"What do you think?"--and planted a very passionate kiss on his lips.

Robot Curser and the leader of the Spectrals eventually agreed that the fighting must stop.  Together, they found not one, but both Viruses.  One hidden in each group.  It was Frisket who ultimately sniffs out the second, but the Virus went in for a last-ditch attempt at retaliation.  The head Spectral jumped in, hoping to save the others, but it was ultimately Curser who took the brunt of the attack, saving Matrix in the process.

The Virus was quickly Deleted by Matrix, who then was forced to watch helplessly as Curser was also Deleted as a result of his injuries.

"He wasn't Bob," AndrAIa tried to remind him gently.

"No.  But he was a friend."

A Game chose that moment to announce itself, drawing both Sprite's attention.  They shared a knowing look, and were told to go with the blessing of both Spectral and Hero Selective alike.  As they departed, they left with the knowledge that, in Robert Curser's name, the two sides agreed to get through their difference for the greater good.  Once again, Matrix and AndrAIa did their part in helping another System.

But it wasn't enough.  Not for Matrix.  Not anymore.  System after System, Game after Game.  They were helping others, sure, but he was beginning to lose hope of them ever finding Mainframe.  Especially when it was the User who controlled where they went.  As it was, they'd recently ended up in the same Sector, playing the same Game for the last five times.

"I give up." He muttered.

AndrAIa, having heard it all before, glanced up just as the next Game came crashing down on them.  "Too late, lover."

This time, it was a Golf Game.  One of too many, based on Matrix's initial reaction.  Having a sigh, he lifted up Glitch and requested the Game Stats.  Nothing happened.  Poking at it a few times in confusion, Matrix scratched his head.

"It...doesn't work."  Not that this was too unexpected, as Glitch had been broken for a long time.

Meanwhile, AndrAIa's eyes had widened in shock when she caught sight of something in the distance.

"Uhh...Enzo?"  She called back.

He groaned.  "I told you not to call me that.  Call me--" But then he turned around, and his eyes too went wide.  "...Mainframe?!"

It was Mainframe, only not.  A System that looked nearly identical to the home he had once known and love, somehow meshed with the Golf Game.  Even Stranger, as they were debating over whether or not the entire System could have been converted to Game Sprite Mode, Dot and Bob appear overhead, chasing after Hack and Slash in a manner very similar to how they used to.  While the end result of golf-swinging the lackies back into a golf hole atop the Virus' Tower was...odd, everything else about them was just as Enzo had remembered.

"Why didn't you call out to them?" AndrAIa wanted to know, after they'd flown off.

Enzo insisted that he wanted to, before revealing he was suddenly nervous.

AndrAIa suggested they Reboot, but again Enzo stops her.  Fearful he might reboot back into little Enzo.  Despite her reassurance, he insists that there was nothing of that "weak little boy" in him now.  He'd worked hard to become what he had, and refused to go back.

"Big or Little, I will always love you," she reminds him, placing a hand on his chest in comfort.

They rebooted.

...into Hexadecimal and Megabyte.

"Oh, my," was all AndrAIa could say.

"What have we done?" Enzo asked, shocked and appalled.

"We've gone Viral."

The rabbit hole only went deeper from there.  Matrix found himself accidently slipping into Megabyte's voice more and more, particularly in moments of anger.  Something which, strangely enough, AndrAIa seemed to find alluring.  Forceful.  Powerful.  He wanted them to be quiet, and he got it.  

Continuing to fight the Viral temptation, Matrix attempts to go directly to his former family.  Hoping to convince them.  Of course, neither Bob nor Dot believed his story, the former claiming he was "crazier than Hexadecimal."  They attacked, and attempted to file and index him as punishment.  A large mechanical arm appears to carry him off, but he infects it and escapes.

"I will not be filed, stamped, indexed, debriefed, or numbered.  My life is my own.  You won't hold me!"

He returns back to the Tora in Megabyte's motorcycle, which AndrAIa immediately compliments.

"What is it with you and bikes?" He wondered, not for the first time, as he approaches.

AndrAIa had been growing increasingly comfortable with her role, to the point where she had been messing with Hexadecimal's masks in an effort to get more in touch with her emotions.  The longer she played, the clearer Hex's voice came through.  She then turned on Matrix/Megabyte and began insisting that there were several plus sides to being Megabyte.  

Matrix spat back that he and Megabyte were nothing alike...yet the next words that come out of his mouth are in the Virus' voice: "I'll prove it...even if I have to delete them all to do it."

Following Bob and Dot to a secret location, Matrix/Megabyte found himself bursting into a dimly lit room.  A spotlight shone on him, and he realized he had been tricked.  This was a courtroom, and he was on Trial.  Not just any trial.  A trial in which his crime was "...believing the ends justify the means, and becoming everything you claim to hate."

He was declared Guilty multiple times, despite all protests.

In a fit of rage, he struck out at everyone and everything in his path, claws Deleting the entire room.

AndrAIa/Hexidecimal's face appeared in the darkness, asking him if he'd figured it out yet...because she had...

"WHO  IS  NUMBER  ONE?!" He cried out into the abyss.

A video window appears, revealing his reflection.  As Megabyte.

"I am Number One," the Virus declared.  He represented the darkness within.  The Hatred that threatened to consume.

With a cry, Matrix shatters the vidwindow with his Viral Claws.  A second appears, this time as a reflection of himself.

"I am Number One." Reflection Matrix declares, adding in a taunting voice, "I care for no one."

"That's not true!  I love AndrAIa."

"You love yourself.  Just looking out for Number One."

In anger, he shoots the vidwindow to pieces.

But there was one more person he had to face...

"No.  Not you!"

Little Enzo, bearing his 01 jersey, rose up from the shadows.  "I am Number One."  When Matrix tried to insist that it was him, Little Enzo replied back, "But you hate me!  You must!  Look at what you've become."

"I had to become strong.  I had to survive the Games!"

"Games, games, games.  It was only a Game."

They continued to exchange words, during which time Little Enzo declared that not only had Matrix forgotten his family, but he had allowed himself to become a Prisoner of the Games.  The very epiphony Matrix needed to wake up....

...only to find he had been knocked out during his latest Game, as AndrAIa explained, by a rogue golf ball.  He could still feel the lump on his head.  But that wasn't all he felt; as he stood up, he declared to her that he was tired of merely Surviving in the Games.  That he and AndrAIa had become little better than Viruses, infecting Systems.  Well, that ended.  And the search for Mainframe...and Bob...began now.

In response, AndrAIa proudly leaned up to plant a kiss on his cheek.  "Welcome Back."

"Now then..." turning to the anthropomorphic Users at the tee, Matrix's expression twisted into a sly grin.  "Who hit that golf ball?"

The Two Users ran away just as he Targed and Locked his Gun onto them, with three simple words before he pulled the trigger, ending the Game.

"Be Seein' You!"

 

Why should that character be in this game: N/A

Why do you want to continue their history here: N/A

For applicants considering an alternate version of a character already in game, please use this as your chance to explain the key differences between your character and the one already in play:  N/A


Have you read up on how the game works? 
I would hope so, by now.  

(A) Flaming Ferret.  

(B) Jobs:  -Freelance for Hire  -Survival Instructor  -Ridiculous Monthly Missions



1st person sample

[The Guide turns on to find a scruffy, green face staring into the camera.  Judging everything and everyone, and deciding they weren't worth his time.  Unless they had what he needed.  And right now, what (\/)atrix needed was information]

I'm looking for some friends of mine.  A Sprite and a Dog.  They traveled with me to your system, only we somehow separated when the Game left.

[A pause.  Oh, yeah.  Physical descriptions might help.]

She's tall.  Blue hair.  Orange skin.  Trident.  Believe me, you'd know her when you saw her.

[Is that...a hint of a smile on his face?  Perhaps.  Only AndrAIa would ever know why.]

If you know where they are, come find me.  

If you don't...just stay out of my way.



3rd person sample

He was anxious.

Then again, deep down, (\/)atrix was always anxious.  Or frustrated or angry or just...something.  But he was usually able to find outlets for his emotions.  A virus to delete here.  A User to off-line there.  They might not have been the healthiest means, but they certainly did the trick.  

But there were no Viruses or Users here.  Only strange Sprites who had crowded him the moment he arrived, ranting something about paperwork and shoving some sort of translator program into his ear.  It had taken three "warning" shots before they'd even begun to consider leaving him alone.  Clearly, used to Sprites of (\/)atrix' size and level of intimidation.

That was another thing that bothered him.  He preferred it when others found him threatening.  It was reassuring.  He'd worked hard to become what he had, to survive and carry on in hopes of returning home.  And they'd all but dismissed him like when he was a young Sprite.  Like was weak.

He was not weak.

...but he was alone.  

That realization was becoming more and more clear with every passing second.  AndrAIa was nowhere to be seen.  He'd tried contacting her, but not even Glitch could catch a trace of her anywhere in the System.  A fear like he'd never known was slowly coursing through him, fueling the anxiety.  AndrAIa wasn't here.  AndrAIa was always here.  They'd been together since they were both 1-0.  Her place was at his side.  She'd told him as much more times than he could remember.

He was sure she had switched icons.  They made a point of doing it together, just to be safe.  She'd been standing right next to him when he'd shot that idiotic user, ending the Game.  So why wasn't she here?

This was bad.  Very bad.




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