ReBoot

Introduction

"I travel through the net, chasing the virus who corrupted my code, Kilohertz. My format: rogue, to hunt and destroy; to destroy those who have wronged me. I am Vector, and I will not stop until Kilohertz is deleted."

Vector Prime

A male sprite of slender build, wearing a black jacket with a white shirt, pants that would resemble blue jeans, black boots, was flying on his zip board, pistol on his hip. He was chasing a strange white glow towards an open port.

Chasing him, were four CPUs, with sirens blaring and lights flashing. The sprite accelerated, and weaved between glowing energy lines. The white glow was traveling much faster than anything he had ever seen before. His zip board could barely keep up.

A warning shot streaked past him from one of the CPUs. The sprite followed the glow past the edge of the system and onwards towards the port. The CPUs followed. The sprite thought he heard a strange cackle coming from the glow as it disappeared into the port. As the sprite was just about to reach the port, it closed.

The sprite slowed to a stop and the four CPUs surrounded him. The sprite's gaze darted between the CPUs, but he surrendered. A binome hovered over to him on a zip board of his own and demanded the sprite's pistol. The sprite turned it over and the CPUs escorted him to the principle office.

Nanoseconds later, the sprite as in a barred holding cell, pistol and keytool on a table just outside. Two binomes stood guard outside the cell, along with another sprite. The other sprite was running a scan, and looked up at the prisoner. "State your name and function."

The prisoner looked at him with contempt, but answered. "I am Vector, rogue virus hunter."

"Vector, your scan says you are a guardian."

"Former guardian." Vector corrected, "My code was corrupted." Vector turned his head to show the other sprite his left cheek. A black scar was visible, and strange black veins seemed to branch off of the scar.

"Vector, you are under arrest for the murder of three binomes."

"They were infected."

The sprite looked up from his scan. "They could have been cured."

"There is no known cure for Kilohertz."

"How do you know it was the Kilohertz virus?"

"I tracked him here, but he was already gone when I arrived last cycle." Vector and the other sprite stared at each other. Suddenly, a system-wide announcement was heard.

"Warning! Incoming game!"

Vector smiled. "I suppose you'll be going to defend the game?"

The sprite seemed to hesitate. He closed the vidwindow he had been using and headed for the door, issuing an order to the binomes. "He's a wanted murderer. If he tries anything, delete him." The sprite turned to Vector. "Hope you like it here in Prime. You're going to be here a long time, if the doesn't delete you."

Vector watched the sprite leave. "We'll see about that. Pixel, here!" Vector's keytool rose up from the table and flew across the room and through the bars of his cell. "Pixel, cutter." The keytool fired a thin beam and cut through two of the bars.

The binome guards aimed their weapons at Vector. "Stop!"

"Pixel, stunner." The keytool fired a short pulse and the two binomes fell over. Vector stepped out of the cell and picked up his pistol. "You guys ought to think about using an energy barrier next time... or maybe even a firewall." Vector rushed out the door and down the hall. "Pixel, give me a map of this place." A holographic display of the principle office appeared. Vector followed the map to the nearest exit, snatching a zipboard from a rack as he went.

Outside the principle office, Vector could see the game cube descending. It had already descended half way to the ground. Vector opened his zipboard and rushed towards the cube at full speed. As he drew nearer, he dove, trying to beat the cube to the ground. As he made it to the bottom of the cube, he dove under it, his zipboard getting cut in half as the game cube hit the ground.

"Well, that was close." Vector looked around at the mass of purple. The game environment began to appear. It looked like a series of heavily damaged buildings, with random objects spanning gaps between roofs and platforms. "Pixel, game stats."

Pixel displayed the game information for Vector. He was in a shooter. The user had selected a 3-on-1 team fight with a 10 minute or 10 kill limit. "Hmm... three opponents against one user? Either he's good, or he's stupid."

Vector tapped his icon, switching himself to game sprite. "Well, either way, I'm getting out of here. I might as well get some target practice in. Reboot!"

Vector was now holding an assault rifle, and wearing combat armor. He heard a voice that seemed to come from no where, "Fight!" Vector headed for the nearest cover and found a ramp leading to a higher level. He took the high ground and looked around. He was wearing blue armor. He saw someone below wearing red. "That must be the user."

Vector took his shot. Two quick bursts, and the user disappeared. Vector looked down at Pixel and saw a red 0 and a blue 1. "Nine more to go." Vector began looking for another spot to take his next shot. He soon saw the user again, and took his next shot. "Eight..."

After several more bursts from his assault rifle, Vector heard the announcement, "Game over." The game environment turned purple, then Vector was assimilated into the game. The game cube rose into the sky, and a team of CPUs waiting outside were very disappointed at what they didn't see.