Chapter One: New Friends and Old Enemies
The pale sprite backed quickly into the shadows, watching warily as the blue and red forms of Hack and Slash passed by. She sighed in relief when they were out of sight, but continued to creep backward. She shrieked in surprise as her foot slipped off the edge of the building, and the rest of her followed. She didn't have far to fall however: her breath left her as she found herself caught in a pair of arms. The brown eyes that met hers looked as surprised and confused as she felt.
"What the-"He was cut off as the hover board he was riding chose that moment to give out on the two sprites.
He made a clumsy landing on the nearest rooftop that sent both of them tumbling across the surface. Ada groaned as she pulled herself to a sitting position. She had a few scrapes, but nothing serious as far as she could tell. She turned her attention to the male sprite sitting a few feet away. He was staring at her as if she were some sort of web creature. She cleared her throat.
"Thanks for catching me." She said shyly.
"Uh, no problem." He answered.
There was long awkward pause as they appraised each other.
"I didn't know there were any more sprites in Mainframe." He finally spoke.
"I, uh, have a pretty strict dad." She stammered, "I don't get out much."
"Dad? Another sprite?" He sounded baffled.
"I was adopted." She said quickly.
He looked like he was expecting more, but he didn't press her when she remained silent.
"What is your name?" He asked.
"Ada." She smiled, glad that the subject had changed. "Yours?"
"I'm Bob." He answered.
Her eyes widened and her mouth formed a sharp 'o.'
"You're Bob? The Guardian?" She was frightened and excited all at once.
He smiled, and shrugged, slightly embarrassed. "Ya, that's me."
He offered her his hand, and pulled her easily to her feet. She was shorter than him, her head in line with his shoulders. She was younger too. Not as young as Enzo, but still a kid, a teenager. She had purple skin, like Mouse, but paler. Her shoulder length hair was a combination of wavy gold and magenta strands. Her eyes were a penetrating sea green. Despite her small size, she was all in all a very striking sprite. Bob felt that if he had ever seen her before he would not have easily forgotten. She squirmed uneasily, and he dropped her hand, coughing in embarrassment as he realized he had been staring.
Ada blushed. She was frantically searching for something to say that would break the tension when she once again heard the familiar voices of Hack and Slash.
"Can we get out of here?" She felt like she was being too bold, but it was better than the alternative.
"What? Oh, uh ya. Sure." He seemed a little dazed.
Moving far slower than she would have liked, he passed her his hover board and murmured something to the keytool on his arm. She watched in amazement as the device formed another board for the male sprite.
"I've never used one of these." She said, trying not to panic as the voices drew nearer.
Bob helped her onto the board, and kept a firm grasp on her hand, keeping her close to him.
"Just stay with me." He smiled kindly.
Their eyes met briefly and something passed between them.
"I will."
Ada was laughing in exhilaration by the time they approached a building labeled as 'Dot's Diner.'
"You're very good at this." Bob smiled, "Are you sure you've never tried it before?"
She grinned back, but shook her head. They both landed, much more gracefully than their previous rooftop crash, near the entrance to the diner. Bob started leading her inside, but stopped abruptly. Ada peeked over his shoulder to see a large, snarling red dog lying across the entrance.
"Frisket." Bob the blue sprite explained, "He doesn't like me."
Ada carefully approached the animal and knelt down, extending her hand. He sniffed for a moment, eyeing her cautiously, and eventually gave her hand a hesitant lick. She reached up to scratch his head and the dog relaxed visibly. Ada smiled and turned back to Bob, who looked shocked.
"You're not going to hurt my friend are you?" She asked the dog.
Frisket panted and stared at her affectionately.
"That's what I thought." She laughed.
She stood up and stretched her cramped limbs. She started to open the door, but hesitated. She had forgotten she was the new one here. She felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder and found her courage again. She pushed on the door and stepped inside.
"Bob!"
Ada narrowly missed being barreled over by a young, green sprite, but Bob, unfortunately did not get out of the way in time. She watched as the smaller sprite knocked her companion to the floor, straddling him, and talking at breakneck speed. Bob didn't seem at all surprised by this event, and somehow she sensed this was some sort of routine for the two males. She was pulled out of her contemplation when she realized the green sprite had turned his attention on her.
"Who's this Bob? Is she new? I've never seen her before, so she must be! Is she another Guardian? I didn't know that girls could be Guardians! Have you known each other forever? Is she your sister? Is she your girlfriend? She's pretty!"
Ada was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed by the ball of energy that still had Bob pinned to the floor, but for the moment the long string of words seemed to have seen. Bob laughed lightly and answered the little sprite.
"Ada, yes she is, no she's not, yes they can, no we haven't, no, no, and yes she is."
Ada was thoroughly lost by his answer, but the other sprite seemed satisfied.
"I'm Enzo." He said.
"Uh, Enzo, could you uh-"
"What? Oh ya! Sorry Bob." Enzo said sheepishly, scrambling off of the older sprite.
Bob propelled himself to his feet, wincing and rubbing his ribs.
Ada shot him a sympathetic smile. It was then that she realized there was yet another sprite in the room. This one was a green female that bore a strong resemblance to Enzo. She was older than Ada, and taller.
"I'm Dot." She said casually, "Enzo's older sister."
"This is your diner then?" Ada asked.
"Sure is. Come on, you look like you could use some food. You too Bob." She turned away and began having a fairly heated conversation with a monitor bearing the title 'Cecil.'
Bob made his way to Ada's side.
"Look at all these friends you're making."
"This is great." She agreed, "I've never done anything like this before."
The puzzled look crossed over his face again, but before he could probe any further the door to the diner was blasted off its hinges, knocking the pair to the floor for the second, or in Bob's case, third time that cycle.
Ada coughed and squinted, peering through the dust and debris. Her eyes widened when she saw the virus with his hand clamped firmly around Bob's neck. The virus looked ready to delete the sprite and Ada was instantly on her feet.
"Stop!" She yelled, angrily.
"Ada, no." Bob gasped with what little breath he had left. "Get away. Run away-"
He stopped when he realized that Megabyte looked extremely amused, and Ada was looking very uncomfortable. She coughed again, trying to rid her throat of the scraping smoke.
There was pause in which everyone in the room was perfectly still. Ada finally broke the silence.
"Hi Daddy."
