Relatively Horrid by SpelCastrMax
Disclaimer: Reboot belongs to a company in Canada. I've never been to Canada, but I do know a guy from there. When he lived there, his name was Michelle. When he moved here his name was Michael, so his parents had another child-a girl-who they named Michelle. So, technically, he and his younger sister have the same name. This is why I've never been to Canada.
Let's just say this fic takes place in a Reboot Fantasy Land where season four actually HAD an ending (I'm not bitter) and it included Bob and Dot starting over.
Chapter One: Guess What!
Bob couldn't help feeling a little nervous. True, he and Dot had been friends through the happiest and hardest moments of their lives, including Dot's engagement to Megabyte. However, after the capture and containment of the virus, things started to go back to they way they used to be. Whenever Megabyte would escape, the group would go after him in the casual, almost game-like way they did before the Web World Wars. Okay, so there were some major differences to it all, for example the fact that there were two Enzos AND Megabyte's Trojan Horse abilities did complicate things. Still, somewhere amongst the virus chasing, User battling, and peace treaties between the older and younger versions of Enzo Matrix, Dot began to forgive herself for all her mistakes. It took longer for Bob to convince her that, yes, he had been hurt, but he had forgiven her almost the moment after it all happened. Megabyte tricked everyone, including him, so why should he be angry when he understood her wish to return to the better times.
So, at last they had made it to another level-they were on a real date. It seemed a little silly after everything they had been through, yet, as Dot put it, probably a good step in the starting over process.
They sat on a bench in Floating Point Park, the way they used to back before every crisis came crashing down over them, and just talked.
Dot was smiling contentedly as she asked, "You know something, Bob, you never talk about your family."
Bob whistled at the thought of his relatives. "Trust me, you don't want to know about them," he replied, "I'm probably the best thing to come out of my family."
"Then they must be really bad," Dot teased.
In mock insult, Bob shouted, "Hey! Just be happy you never have to meet any of them."
"Bob, how bad can they be? I mean, everyone's family gives them trouble. Look at me. My brother has a copy, so now I have two brothers who are only now starting to get along. The family pet doesn't even really belong to us. My almost sister-in-law is a game sprite. My dad is a nullbot. I had a virus calling me 'sister' for a time. One of my closest friends is a hacker slash mercenary. Only grandfather figure I've ever known is Phong. And my boyfriend is a 'living on the edge' Guardian who lied to me when we first met."
"It was just little lie. I was practically a Guardian then," Bob defended, then his eyebrows rose in realization, "Hey, did you just call me your boyfriend?"
Dot shook her head as she continued to smile. "Bob, you're missing the point."
"Okay, okay. So, everybody's got problems. It's just that these sprites are really random," he argued.
"C'mon Bob." She stared up at him with her sweetest expression.
At last the Guardian sighed in defeat. "Fine. Who do you want to hear about first, my aunts and uncles or the second generation of nuts."
"What about your parents?"
"Oh, they were alright. They were both guardians like me. No, it was my relatives you had to look out for." He held up a finger as if he was counting them. "First of all there's my oldest cousin who had his name legally changed to Radno after he woke up one morning. He claimed that the User spoke to him in a dream and it was his new programming to rescue nulls from large bodies of water."
"Next, there's his sister, Jewel. Ran away from home when she was 1.1 to join a circus where she is known as 'The Amazing Jewel and her Case'. Basically the whole act is her pulling things out of a bag and then piling them on her head while making corny jokes."
"The twins would be next on the tree. They are the babies of the family and think they can get away with almost anything. I once caught them trying to steal data files from the Guardian Academy."
Dot rose her eyebrows this time and sighed, "It could be worse."
"Worse! Oh, worse is coming. I haven't told you about by Aunt Trudy yet." Bob lead back against the bench, relaxing the way he used to in the diner with his arm stretched along the back. "She's a hypocrite and old busy-body for start. And she wears the most annoying hat. It's covered with these little fuzzy balls that look like pixels landed there to die."
Turning her whole body so as to listen better, Dot caught a glimpse of someone behind them wandering around the other side of the park. "This annoying aunt of yours, what does she look like?"
"Um...it feels like minutes since I had to talk to her last, but I doubt she's changed much. She's overweight and wears a lot of bright colors. Like half of my family she has blue skin and hair like mine..." Pausing, Bob realized that Dot had his attention on something that wasn't close by. She was trying not to laugh, but couldn't help allowing a smirk to sneak out. With a sickened tone, the Guardian commented, "My aunt's here, isn't she."
Dot laughed and turned his head so he could see what she was looking at. He released a long breath of relief as he saw that she had been watching Enzo and Matrix playing with Frisket.
Nearly collapsing against her, Bob scolded, "You nearly drained me from worry. Don't ever do that again!" He sat up once more and decidedly added, "In fact, I think you need to be punished."
"You wouldn't dare," she challenged.
Bob reached out to grab her, but Dot was practically sprinting to be out of his reach. The two didn't even bother to throw down their zip boards as they playfully chased each other through Mainframe. Spectators just smiled and shook their heads, all a little surprised that Dot was finally being so carefree.
As the pair rounded Bob's apartment building for the third lap Guardian 452 decided it was time for this game to end. He called out, "Glitch, tongs." The keytool changed into what he had requested and gently caught Dot's wrist, preventing her from running any more.
"That wasn't fair," she complained, trying to shake off the cold metal around her arm, "I should have seen it coming, but it still wasn't fair."
Glitch beeped and pulled her closer to Bob. Judging by the expression on his blue face, Bob didn't expect the keytool to bring Dot right up in front of him. The tongs changed into a cable that loosely wrapped twice around the couples' waists.
"What are you doing, Glitch?" Bob, dumbfounded, wanted to know as he realized that his trusty (but broken) tool was tying him and Dot together.
Dot inspected their situation. "This is different," she told Bob, glancing suspiciously into his face.
"Hey, don't look at me. I didn't know..." Bob dropped his head, then gave in, "Okay, Glitch. I get the point. Now will you let us go?" The rope uncoiled and retracted into the box on Bob wrist. He shrugged apologetically to Dot. "Glitch has been a little...emotional ever since..."
He watched the commander's eyes fall with shame. Bob wished he hadn't brought it up. He wrapped his arms around her and wouldn't let her go until she smiled.
"I know, I know," Dot recited, "Not my fault and it's time to get over it." She rested her head on his chest and faced the entrance of his apartment building. A little round woman wearing the most hideous hat Dot had ever seen was inspecting the front door as if she were going to purchase it. "Uh...Bob...I think your aunt is here."
"Dot, that's only funny once," he groaned.
He leaned his head down to rest atop hers and the two stood in a comfort. That was when he heard the loud, high pitched words shout at him, "Bobby Boy! Is that you?!"
The Guardian acted as if a bomb had gone off. He was completely at attention, his hug on Dot changing to a protective shield as he faced the one sprite he could have gone his entire life without seeing again - Aunt Trudy.
Disclaimer: Reboot belongs to a company in Canada. I've never been to Canada, but I do know a guy from there. When he lived there, his name was Michelle. When he moved here his name was Michael, so his parents had another child-a girl-who they named Michelle. So, technically, he and his younger sister have the same name. This is why I've never been to Canada.
Let's just say this fic takes place in a Reboot Fantasy Land where season four actually HAD an ending (I'm not bitter) and it included Bob and Dot starting over.
Chapter One: Guess What!
Bob couldn't help feeling a little nervous. True, he and Dot had been friends through the happiest and hardest moments of their lives, including Dot's engagement to Megabyte. However, after the capture and containment of the virus, things started to go back to they way they used to be. Whenever Megabyte would escape, the group would go after him in the casual, almost game-like way they did before the Web World Wars. Okay, so there were some major differences to it all, for example the fact that there were two Enzos AND Megabyte's Trojan Horse abilities did complicate things. Still, somewhere amongst the virus chasing, User battling, and peace treaties between the older and younger versions of Enzo Matrix, Dot began to forgive herself for all her mistakes. It took longer for Bob to convince her that, yes, he had been hurt, but he had forgiven her almost the moment after it all happened. Megabyte tricked everyone, including him, so why should he be angry when he understood her wish to return to the better times.
So, at last they had made it to another level-they were on a real date. It seemed a little silly after everything they had been through, yet, as Dot put it, probably a good step in the starting over process.
They sat on a bench in Floating Point Park, the way they used to back before every crisis came crashing down over them, and just talked.
Dot was smiling contentedly as she asked, "You know something, Bob, you never talk about your family."
Bob whistled at the thought of his relatives. "Trust me, you don't want to know about them," he replied, "I'm probably the best thing to come out of my family."
"Then they must be really bad," Dot teased.
In mock insult, Bob shouted, "Hey! Just be happy you never have to meet any of them."
"Bob, how bad can they be? I mean, everyone's family gives them trouble. Look at me. My brother has a copy, so now I have two brothers who are only now starting to get along. The family pet doesn't even really belong to us. My almost sister-in-law is a game sprite. My dad is a nullbot. I had a virus calling me 'sister' for a time. One of my closest friends is a hacker slash mercenary. Only grandfather figure I've ever known is Phong. And my boyfriend is a 'living on the edge' Guardian who lied to me when we first met."
"It was just little lie. I was practically a Guardian then," Bob defended, then his eyebrows rose in realization, "Hey, did you just call me your boyfriend?"
Dot shook her head as she continued to smile. "Bob, you're missing the point."
"Okay, okay. So, everybody's got problems. It's just that these sprites are really random," he argued.
"C'mon Bob." She stared up at him with her sweetest expression.
At last the Guardian sighed in defeat. "Fine. Who do you want to hear about first, my aunts and uncles or the second generation of nuts."
"What about your parents?"
"Oh, they were alright. They were both guardians like me. No, it was my relatives you had to look out for." He held up a finger as if he was counting them. "First of all there's my oldest cousin who had his name legally changed to Radno after he woke up one morning. He claimed that the User spoke to him in a dream and it was his new programming to rescue nulls from large bodies of water."
"Next, there's his sister, Jewel. Ran away from home when she was 1.1 to join a circus where she is known as 'The Amazing Jewel and her Case'. Basically the whole act is her pulling things out of a bag and then piling them on her head while making corny jokes."
"The twins would be next on the tree. They are the babies of the family and think they can get away with almost anything. I once caught them trying to steal data files from the Guardian Academy."
Dot rose her eyebrows this time and sighed, "It could be worse."
"Worse! Oh, worse is coming. I haven't told you about by Aunt Trudy yet." Bob lead back against the bench, relaxing the way he used to in the diner with his arm stretched along the back. "She's a hypocrite and old busy-body for start. And she wears the most annoying hat. It's covered with these little fuzzy balls that look like pixels landed there to die."
Turning her whole body so as to listen better, Dot caught a glimpse of someone behind them wandering around the other side of the park. "This annoying aunt of yours, what does she look like?"
"Um...it feels like minutes since I had to talk to her last, but I doubt she's changed much. She's overweight and wears a lot of bright colors. Like half of my family she has blue skin and hair like mine..." Pausing, Bob realized that Dot had his attention on something that wasn't close by. She was trying not to laugh, but couldn't help allowing a smirk to sneak out. With a sickened tone, the Guardian commented, "My aunt's here, isn't she."
Dot laughed and turned his head so he could see what she was looking at. He released a long breath of relief as he saw that she had been watching Enzo and Matrix playing with Frisket.
Nearly collapsing against her, Bob scolded, "You nearly drained me from worry. Don't ever do that again!" He sat up once more and decidedly added, "In fact, I think you need to be punished."
"You wouldn't dare," she challenged.
Bob reached out to grab her, but Dot was practically sprinting to be out of his reach. The two didn't even bother to throw down their zip boards as they playfully chased each other through Mainframe. Spectators just smiled and shook their heads, all a little surprised that Dot was finally being so carefree.
As the pair rounded Bob's apartment building for the third lap Guardian 452 decided it was time for this game to end. He called out, "Glitch, tongs." The keytool changed into what he had requested and gently caught Dot's wrist, preventing her from running any more.
"That wasn't fair," she complained, trying to shake off the cold metal around her arm, "I should have seen it coming, but it still wasn't fair."
Glitch beeped and pulled her closer to Bob. Judging by the expression on his blue face, Bob didn't expect the keytool to bring Dot right up in front of him. The tongs changed into a cable that loosely wrapped twice around the couples' waists.
"What are you doing, Glitch?" Bob, dumbfounded, wanted to know as he realized that his trusty (but broken) tool was tying him and Dot together.
Dot inspected their situation. "This is different," she told Bob, glancing suspiciously into his face.
"Hey, don't look at me. I didn't know..." Bob dropped his head, then gave in, "Okay, Glitch. I get the point. Now will you let us go?" The rope uncoiled and retracted into the box on Bob wrist. He shrugged apologetically to Dot. "Glitch has been a little...emotional ever since..."
He watched the commander's eyes fall with shame. Bob wished he hadn't brought it up. He wrapped his arms around her and wouldn't let her go until she smiled.
"I know, I know," Dot recited, "Not my fault and it's time to get over it." She rested her head on his chest and faced the entrance of his apartment building. A little round woman wearing the most hideous hat Dot had ever seen was inspecting the front door as if she were going to purchase it. "Uh...Bob...I think your aunt is here."
"Dot, that's only funny once," he groaned.
He leaned his head down to rest atop hers and the two stood in a comfort. That was when he heard the loud, high pitched words shout at him, "Bobby Boy! Is that you?!"
The Guardian acted as if a bomb had gone off. He was completely at attention, his hug on Dot changing to a protective shield as he faced the one sprite he could have gone his entire life without seeing again - Aunt Trudy.