Omega Code 10.B
Friendship
I blinked. Sudden light filled the cramped, damp chamber that I was held in. As the light flooded the room, and my eyes came into focus, all I could see was the silhouette of a figure.
"Mother? Father?" I asked out to the mystery being.
"Nothing close." The figure replied. He reached inside, his silver armor flashing as the blue hand grasped the robes around my neck, and I was jerked to my feet. Not having stood within cycles, I heard bones popping, and my muscles...oh how they ached!
I groaned, but hesitantly brushed a few strands of silvery hair out of my eyes, looking up at the only blue-skinned guardian I knew...Bob. If anyone were to delete me, I wouldn't have been surprised if it were he, or Matrix.
"Ugh...deletion..." I muttered almost incoherently, with fatigue lingering on my mind and body. My wings were drooping with fatigue, their silvery forms not sparkling anymore. My silver irises, matching the color of my wings and hair, focused straight ahead of me, and my teal skin seemed to ripple as lights passed over me.
"I don't think so, little guy." Bob responded. He looked down at me as we walked along the halls. They didn't restrain me, though...maybe they knew I was weak...or maybe they wanted me to run...so they could enjoy annihilating me while I was attempting to flee. But, if they weren't going to delete me, then...
"Well, what're you gonna do to me then?" I asked, our footsteps echoing along the halls.
"I dunno. Probably a little of this, a little of that. The usual." He shot me an almost friendly little smile. I blinked.
"You mean like you're going to throw me in some room and have things shoot at me and see how I react?" and before he could reply, "Well, let me tell you what. I'll just let them delete me, because I'd rather face a game than hang around you guardians.
"Hey, hey little guy!"
"My name's Epsilon!"
"Alright, Epsilon! Hold it!" he cried out. I held my silence for the time he talked, "Look. We're not going to try anything like that. We don't want to harm you."
I kept silent the rest of the way. There was something in Bob's face. A lie? A trick? My suspicions grew, but I didn't care. I guess I could try trusting a normal sprite.
We then reached our destination. Matrix, Dot, AndrAIa, the shorter one...Phong was his name? He was there too. Even this little dog was there. They were all standing to each side, a small walkway in between them, leading up to a sphere larger than the jail cell I had been placed in. I looked up at it, wondering what it was. Bob then put his hand on my shoulder.
"Go ahead and step inside." He said. But something about that sphere just gave me a bad feeling. Reluctantly, I stepped up into the sphere. I looked around as suddenly energy began building around me. Phong slid over to a little panel, typing something into it. I then suddenly was unable to move completely. My arms and wings were spread, and I was turned to face the ground of people. I groaned and struggled, but nothing would even allow me to budge an inch. I could barely even breathe. Before long, I could hear them muttering to each other, and then looking back up at me. When a sudden pain shot through my body, I realized what was happening. They were deleting me! I then began a furious struggle, and my arms moved a little, but not near enough. A beam of light was waving around me, and everywhere it went, pain shot through me.
I then heard voices in my head...
"Wake up...You can't die this easily. You are of the Omega!"
"Mother...?"
"Come now, child...Arise and show them your strength."
"Father?"
"Show them your power."
With that, the light around me turned green. Phong scrambled to the desk, trying to figure out what was wrong, but it was too late. I then lost control of my own mind. The last thing I remember was charging up my kinetic energy for a small blast.
When I woke up, I was suddenly in the air. Every cannon from the Principal Office must have been targeting me. Yellow beams of light shot up at me, everywhere around me. I felt the warm air, which kept me rising. Many of the blasts came within inches from me, and I often had to snap around to dodge one or two. Finally, I just dove down, out of the path of the lasers, retreating to a fairly commercialized area, the buildings looking as if community centers (schools, small businesses, etc.). I set down on the ground, feeling quite safe, and yet endangered at the same time. I contemplated what happened while I was...not in my own mind, yet I couldn't find a clear solution. I let it slip from my mind, because it was over.
Just at that time, a little sprite ran around the corner shouting, "School's out Whoopee!!" He nearly crashed into me, but he skidded to a stop right in front of me. I blinked, stepping back a little. The boy had the same skin color as Matrix. But he acted nothing like him. The surprise was evident on his face enough, his eyes were wide, and he had a huge smile on his face.
"User!! It's another sprite! Oh this is my day! Hey, dude! Who are you? And where'd you come from? Do you know Bob yet? You're like, as bawsome as him! And like, your wings man! I've never seen them on a sprite before. How'd you get them? I want some wings; they look TOTALLY alphanumeric! So...what's your name?"
I blinked, trying to sort out everything he had said, and it took him less than a half a nanosecond to say it all. I muttered a few jumbled up things, trying to answer all his questions at once, then I just answered his last question, "I'm Epsilon."
"Hey, cool name, too! You're alphanumeric, Epsilon! I'm Enzo, by the way, and this is my territory. This is Mainframe. I'm gonna become a guardian here some day. What about you? You wanna become a guardian too?"
"Um...uh..." I couldn't even hear what he said clearly. I muttered, "Uh...yeah, sure."
"Alphanumeric!!!"
Just then, the red dog that almost watched me be deleted earlier came tearing around the corner. He looked up at Enzo, tilting his head, whimpering in confusion. He then looked at me, sniffing out in my direction. He then walked up to Enzo, panting normally.
"Oh yeah. This is my dog, Friskit. Friskit, this is Epsilon."
"...Um...pleasure to meet you, I'm sure..." I said softly.
"C'mon, Eps!" Enzo said as he began walking down the sidewalk, and we walked along, a few cars passing by, taking moments to stare at me. All the while, Enzo was pretty much giving me a little tour of the place, telling me where this was, and that was. We ended up at a place where Dot's Diner stood. My stomach rumbled, and I knew I needed to find about three binomes or so to delete for their energy.
"Enzo. I'll join you in a second. I've gotta get something from around here."
"Yeah, sure. Cool." Friskit looked up at me, looking quite worried. I couldn't help feeling slight regret for what I was going to do, but I ran off down an alleyway, and waited. Three binomes looked up at me. They were dressed in black, with spikes and chains all over them. One of them had a hot pink Mohawk. The zero binome (the circle one. One binomes are the ones made of three blocks) had long hair, which dragged along the ground. The other...had no hair at all. Punk binomes? It didn't matter. I launched myself at the first, and he cried out. It was no use, because within the next nanosecond, he and his two companions were deleted, and I was once again full of energy. I walked back to the diner, and pushed the door open. Enzo was sitting there in a stool, and I walked over to him.
A floating contraption, looking much like Mike, floated up behind me, "And what would you like, monsieur?"
Enzo answered before I could, "A famous energy shake for my new pal." He hesitated, then said, "Oh yeah! Epsilon, that's Cecil, he's the waiter here." Cecil shot both of us a glare, shaking up the shake. He then set it in front of us. He held out his hand to me, but Enzo reached into his pocket, and handed Cecil two silver circles...coins, supposedly. Cecil let out a, "Hmph" then turned, sliding back over to other customers.
"They should be here any nano now..." I heard Enzo say. Just then, I heard Friskit start growling, and a "Hey, down boy!" in the distance, as well as two people laughing. Just then, Bob, Dot, and AndrAIa walked into the diner. They hadn't noticed me yet. I glanced over at Enzo, wondering what I should do.
Finally, Dot looked up at Enzo, but noticed me first. She stepped back, muttering, "B-B-B-Bob..."
The blue guardian looked over, then also stepped back, crying out, "User!"
The three looked at each other, then back at me. Dot said softly, calmly, "Enzo...step back...he's dangerous."
Enzo blinked, and then said, "Hey, hold it! He's my friend!"
I was too busy watching Dot and Enzo converse, not noticing Bob, whom was powering up some form of energy. He released it, and suddenly, everything seemed to be in slow motion. Enzo ran in front of me, and a yellow light flew from around him, silhouetting his form to me. The others shielded their eyes from the light, and I ducked down. Finally, the light died down, and Enzo stood there for a second, before he just crumpled to the floor.
"Enzo!!" Dot cried out. AndrAIa had remained silent and unmoving through all of this. It seemed she was paralyzed in shock about Enzo.
Finally, she said softly, "I'll get him out of here..." and she walked over slowly.
"Don't hurt him..." I said softly.
Dot looked as if she were going to burst, "You...You think you can get away with all of this?? What is wrong with you?? You're causing pain to everyone! Why can't you just leave this peaceful little system alone??? You're...you're worse than Megabyte!"
Enzo burst back into the room, skidding to a stop. AndrAIa was right behind him, "I couldn't stop him..." He looked around at everyone, narrowing his eyes, "Alright guys. This is it. I finally found another sprite, and you think he's viral? After all this time I've been searching for another sprite, someone my age that I can be a friend with, you try and delete him?? I'm NOT going to let you do this to him!"
"But Enzo. He is a viral! Ask Phong!" Bob protested.
"I don't care! He's my friend..." tears were forming in Enzo's eyes. I just stood there while the kid and Bob argued. I could've escaped, but I was confused...
"Bob...can we talk for a second?" Dot said, taking Bob's arm in both of her own. He nodded, and the two walked outside the Diner.
I looked at AndrAIa, "...So you all want to kill me now..."
She looked a little glum, but she nodded anyways, "They all have a natural hatred for virals. And your deleting so many people just adds to it."
"AndrAIa. You don't want to kill him, do you?" Enzo said.
The female spoke hesitantly, "I...I must do what I'm told. But something tells me I shouldn't harm him." She looked straight at me. I could tell that her words were true. I just stood there, an almost piteous look occupying my face. She walked over to me, hesitantly reaching out to touch my shoulder. I didn't absorb any energy when she did so, because I was already full of energy.
I muttered softly, "If I could avoid killing, I would do so...but I need to become strong..."
AndrAIa and Enzo looked at each other, then Enzo spoke, "Hm...maybe we could think of something...AndrAIa, come with me for a nano. We need to talk." The two walked off to a corner of the diner, and I finally got to sit down and figure out what an energy shake tasted like. It was incredibly appealing. The taste was marvelous...considering I don't ever remember having to take food or drink for energy.
The two came back again, and Enzo smiled brightly, "We can help ya, Eps! Come with us!"
"But...what if I get spotted?" I asked.
"That's why we got...this!" and out from behind him, stepped...Mike, the TV. He had an innocent grin on his face.
"Uh-um...I hope you know I didn't mean any harm the other cycle...eheh..." He hesitated, then added, "...Mommy..." and he then looked as if he were going to cry.
Some time later...
I looked around the junkyard. It would be perfect for a training battle or spar or two. I looked at my two new friends, nodding in thanks. They responded by returning the nod, and I walked off, before I was interrupted.
"Wait." AndrAIa said. She walked forward with Enzo and said, "We're going to help you get stronger, if you promise not to delete or harm anyone else."
I blinked, "I will need energy..."
Enzo held his hand up, "That's what I'm here for." He dropped a little circle to the ground, and then it unfolded into a hoverboard. He gave me a thumbs-up signal and said, "I can run you energy shakes whenever you're low on energy."
I nodded in approval. AndrAIa stepped forward and said, "Alright, let's begin our training. You'll need a weapon..." she looked around, then walked over to a thin, sturdy metal pole, "This'll do for now. Are you good with staves?"
I blinked, and then just nodded, never having used a weapon before. She tossed it to me, allowing me to catch it before she said, "Alright. Come at me with all you got!"
I blinked, but obeyed. As I dashed towards her, I realized this was just a spar. We exchanged blows with the staves; a "CLANG" heard more than at least a hundred times a nanosecond. We raced at each other, leaving Enzo to just let his jaw drop in pure awe. Our fighting techniques rendered him speechless. A few times I stepped back, raising my left hand from the staff, and I fired a small viral blast at her. It did nothing, but had it been true energy, she would've been sent into the wall.
I had gone a good millisecond before I grew weary. AndrAIa noticed this and backed off. Mike showed himself, "Guys! They're coming!" AndrAIa looked over at me, then picked me up, ignoring the energy being drained from her as she heaved me over to a small shack, almost throwing me harshly inside. She then turned around, closing the door. I heard voices for a few minutes, but then slowly, they went away. This would be my routine for hours.
After about 6 energy shakes, and two more close calls from the guardians, the cycle was about to end, and Enzo and AndrAIa needed to head home. I asked them where I could stay, and they just said here. It wasn't exactly a 5-star hotel, but it would do...
Dream...
I looked up, seeing my brother and sister. But how were they there? They were looking at me with a big smile on their face. I ran over and embraced them both, looking up at them, "Beta...Delta...I'm so happy to see you. It's been so hard here."
Delta nodded, but then noted softly, "We are nearly ready for the Omega Fusion. Are you?"
I blinked, and then shook my head, "No, not yet. But I have begun my training. Within about five cycles, I should be ready if my training goes well enough. If not, then I might be as long as nearly two sevencycles."
Delta frowned, but then spoke with slight happiness, "As soon as you have upgraded, we will all come and get you. Then you may join us."
"We?" I questioned. My question was then answered as Alpha and Zeta stepped into view. I inhaled deeply. Something seemed different about them. Alpha had a wicked smirk, and Zeta...she looked almost as if she were a witch. They all smiled happily, and they said together, "Show them your power, and you will then join us..."
Awakening...
I shot awake. Sweat was beading my forehead. I heard their voices in my head once again, but I didn't care. I looked outside the walls of the junkyard. The mist was rising off the celestial waters, and there was some idiotic melody (those ones you see in bugs bunny cartoons) followed by a gunshot (like one you'd hear from Elmer Fudd). I shook my head slowly, because the idea of a system based slightly on comic relief was just stupid.
AndrAIa came within the next millisecond. She hopped down to the ground, holding a strange-looking stick in both of her hands. It looked to be about as tall as me. She had another on her back, and she had a large pouch hanging from her shoulders. She set the package down and opened in, and tossed a small vest to me, "Put it on."
I did as I was ordered, and she also put a second vest on. She then tossed me one of the sticks, and she held her own. It was slowly flashing green and red. It almost looked like something from a child's game.
AndrAIa smiled softly, and then spoke, "Alright, Eps. Here's the deal: these vests we're wearing will tell us how much we get hit, but won't let us get hurt. It's just a modified version of one of Enzo's old games. So now we can attack each other all out and not get hurt."
I nodded in appreciation. We both then pressed a little button on our vests, and suddenly, their sensor-covered cloths shot out, covering my entire body, and a visor came down over my eyes. AndrAIa got into a ready stance, then said, "Whenever you're ready..." and my muscles tensed up.
I pushed away from the ground, trying to outstretch my wings. Finally, they ripped through the cloth, bursting outwards. I flapped them once, and my speed greatly increased as AndrAIa quickly attempted to get herself ready. I moved the left side of the stick, or staff, forward in an almost angled sweeping motion. Her staff came up, and a loud, "CHINK" was heard. She pushed away with her staff, but I just used the momentum to spin counter-clockwise. As I did so, she turned her staff vertical, and once again, blocked my swipe.
I leaped back a little, and this time she made the advance. She shoved her staff towards mine, not even pointing it towards me. She wanted to get my staff out of the way. I raised my staff to cross with hers. Another "chink!" was heard, and we kept the engage at full. I hopped up, keeping my staff in front of me so hers was pushed below me. I flapped my wings heavily, and kicked outwards with my right foot. My foot caught her in the chin, and she stumbled backwards. As she was of-balance, I lowered back to the ground a little, and then shot off towards her, racing along the ground. My left shoulder caught her in the chest, and this time she flew back into a pile of junk. She hopped up once again, a bunch of beeps and other sounds being heard from her suit.
My adrenaline began flowing, and suddenly, AndrAIa just seemed to stop moving. She was mine now. My speed became greater than she could ever imagine. I dashed off towards her, and sent of series of slashes towards her. She didn't even get time to wince before the next one had hit. Shadow images were following me, so when my next attack rang out, a shadow image of the one before it hit AndrAIa harmlessly. But this incredibly confused her. She just held her staff out in front of her, but I just moved around it, continuing my assault on her vulnerable form.
She just fell victim to my blasts, her suit beeping upon reaction to every little time I hit her. Finally, I ducked around behind her, and gave her a quick shot to the back. She flew forward, rolling to a stop on the ground. I was breathing oh so heavily. I had used so much strength...and AndrAIa was surely too weak to go out to the diner to get energy shakes. I lowered my arms...I would need to work harder when I recovered. Mike the TV came, and we sent him for the energy shakes.
Later in the day, Enzo joined us as well, and we continued our strenuous training. By the end of the day, I was going twice as long without an energy reboost as at the beginning of the day. I was growing stronger rapidly...
I continued my training for quite a few cycles. Just cycles and cycles of exchanging attacks, changing my own attack patterns. This was my routine. The only ones who knew I still existed were Enzo, AndrAIa, and Mike. There might have been a few others, but that was it for now. All I needed to worry about was growing stronger...so I may join my family once again.
-Okok, I know...not much of an ending, but like I said...these are just like episodes. In the next little segment, I'll add the last of the reboot cast, which is only Hack and Slash if I remember correctly, maybe Scuzzy. I might also bring back a few other slightly-famous people. But, anyways, I hope you'll enjoy the rest of Epsilon's story more than this episode...-
Friendship
I blinked. Sudden light filled the cramped, damp chamber that I was held in. As the light flooded the room, and my eyes came into focus, all I could see was the silhouette of a figure.
"Mother? Father?" I asked out to the mystery being.
"Nothing close." The figure replied. He reached inside, his silver armor flashing as the blue hand grasped the robes around my neck, and I was jerked to my feet. Not having stood within cycles, I heard bones popping, and my muscles...oh how they ached!
I groaned, but hesitantly brushed a few strands of silvery hair out of my eyes, looking up at the only blue-skinned guardian I knew...Bob. If anyone were to delete me, I wouldn't have been surprised if it were he, or Matrix.
"Ugh...deletion..." I muttered almost incoherently, with fatigue lingering on my mind and body. My wings were drooping with fatigue, their silvery forms not sparkling anymore. My silver irises, matching the color of my wings and hair, focused straight ahead of me, and my teal skin seemed to ripple as lights passed over me.
"I don't think so, little guy." Bob responded. He looked down at me as we walked along the halls. They didn't restrain me, though...maybe they knew I was weak...or maybe they wanted me to run...so they could enjoy annihilating me while I was attempting to flee. But, if they weren't going to delete me, then...
"Well, what're you gonna do to me then?" I asked, our footsteps echoing along the halls.
"I dunno. Probably a little of this, a little of that. The usual." He shot me an almost friendly little smile. I blinked.
"You mean like you're going to throw me in some room and have things shoot at me and see how I react?" and before he could reply, "Well, let me tell you what. I'll just let them delete me, because I'd rather face a game than hang around you guardians.
"Hey, hey little guy!"
"My name's Epsilon!"
"Alright, Epsilon! Hold it!" he cried out. I held my silence for the time he talked, "Look. We're not going to try anything like that. We don't want to harm you."
I kept silent the rest of the way. There was something in Bob's face. A lie? A trick? My suspicions grew, but I didn't care. I guess I could try trusting a normal sprite.
We then reached our destination. Matrix, Dot, AndrAIa, the shorter one...Phong was his name? He was there too. Even this little dog was there. They were all standing to each side, a small walkway in between them, leading up to a sphere larger than the jail cell I had been placed in. I looked up at it, wondering what it was. Bob then put his hand on my shoulder.
"Go ahead and step inside." He said. But something about that sphere just gave me a bad feeling. Reluctantly, I stepped up into the sphere. I looked around as suddenly energy began building around me. Phong slid over to a little panel, typing something into it. I then suddenly was unable to move completely. My arms and wings were spread, and I was turned to face the ground of people. I groaned and struggled, but nothing would even allow me to budge an inch. I could barely even breathe. Before long, I could hear them muttering to each other, and then looking back up at me. When a sudden pain shot through my body, I realized what was happening. They were deleting me! I then began a furious struggle, and my arms moved a little, but not near enough. A beam of light was waving around me, and everywhere it went, pain shot through me.
I then heard voices in my head...
"Wake up...You can't die this easily. You are of the Omega!"
"Mother...?"
"Come now, child...Arise and show them your strength."
"Father?"
"Show them your power."
With that, the light around me turned green. Phong scrambled to the desk, trying to figure out what was wrong, but it was too late. I then lost control of my own mind. The last thing I remember was charging up my kinetic energy for a small blast.
When I woke up, I was suddenly in the air. Every cannon from the Principal Office must have been targeting me. Yellow beams of light shot up at me, everywhere around me. I felt the warm air, which kept me rising. Many of the blasts came within inches from me, and I often had to snap around to dodge one or two. Finally, I just dove down, out of the path of the lasers, retreating to a fairly commercialized area, the buildings looking as if community centers (schools, small businesses, etc.). I set down on the ground, feeling quite safe, and yet endangered at the same time. I contemplated what happened while I was...not in my own mind, yet I couldn't find a clear solution. I let it slip from my mind, because it was over.
Just at that time, a little sprite ran around the corner shouting, "School's out Whoopee!!" He nearly crashed into me, but he skidded to a stop right in front of me. I blinked, stepping back a little. The boy had the same skin color as Matrix. But he acted nothing like him. The surprise was evident on his face enough, his eyes were wide, and he had a huge smile on his face.
"User!! It's another sprite! Oh this is my day! Hey, dude! Who are you? And where'd you come from? Do you know Bob yet? You're like, as bawsome as him! And like, your wings man! I've never seen them on a sprite before. How'd you get them? I want some wings; they look TOTALLY alphanumeric! So...what's your name?"
I blinked, trying to sort out everything he had said, and it took him less than a half a nanosecond to say it all. I muttered a few jumbled up things, trying to answer all his questions at once, then I just answered his last question, "I'm Epsilon."
"Hey, cool name, too! You're alphanumeric, Epsilon! I'm Enzo, by the way, and this is my territory. This is Mainframe. I'm gonna become a guardian here some day. What about you? You wanna become a guardian too?"
"Um...uh..." I couldn't even hear what he said clearly. I muttered, "Uh...yeah, sure."
"Alphanumeric!!!"
Just then, the red dog that almost watched me be deleted earlier came tearing around the corner. He looked up at Enzo, tilting his head, whimpering in confusion. He then looked at me, sniffing out in my direction. He then walked up to Enzo, panting normally.
"Oh yeah. This is my dog, Friskit. Friskit, this is Epsilon."
"...Um...pleasure to meet you, I'm sure..." I said softly.
"C'mon, Eps!" Enzo said as he began walking down the sidewalk, and we walked along, a few cars passing by, taking moments to stare at me. All the while, Enzo was pretty much giving me a little tour of the place, telling me where this was, and that was. We ended up at a place where Dot's Diner stood. My stomach rumbled, and I knew I needed to find about three binomes or so to delete for their energy.
"Enzo. I'll join you in a second. I've gotta get something from around here."
"Yeah, sure. Cool." Friskit looked up at me, looking quite worried. I couldn't help feeling slight regret for what I was going to do, but I ran off down an alleyway, and waited. Three binomes looked up at me. They were dressed in black, with spikes and chains all over them. One of them had a hot pink Mohawk. The zero binome (the circle one. One binomes are the ones made of three blocks) had long hair, which dragged along the ground. The other...had no hair at all. Punk binomes? It didn't matter. I launched myself at the first, and he cried out. It was no use, because within the next nanosecond, he and his two companions were deleted, and I was once again full of energy. I walked back to the diner, and pushed the door open. Enzo was sitting there in a stool, and I walked over to him.
A floating contraption, looking much like Mike, floated up behind me, "And what would you like, monsieur?"
Enzo answered before I could, "A famous energy shake for my new pal." He hesitated, then said, "Oh yeah! Epsilon, that's Cecil, he's the waiter here." Cecil shot both of us a glare, shaking up the shake. He then set it in front of us. He held out his hand to me, but Enzo reached into his pocket, and handed Cecil two silver circles...coins, supposedly. Cecil let out a, "Hmph" then turned, sliding back over to other customers.
"They should be here any nano now..." I heard Enzo say. Just then, I heard Friskit start growling, and a "Hey, down boy!" in the distance, as well as two people laughing. Just then, Bob, Dot, and AndrAIa walked into the diner. They hadn't noticed me yet. I glanced over at Enzo, wondering what I should do.
Finally, Dot looked up at Enzo, but noticed me first. She stepped back, muttering, "B-B-B-Bob..."
The blue guardian looked over, then also stepped back, crying out, "User!"
The three looked at each other, then back at me. Dot said softly, calmly, "Enzo...step back...he's dangerous."
Enzo blinked, and then said, "Hey, hold it! He's my friend!"
I was too busy watching Dot and Enzo converse, not noticing Bob, whom was powering up some form of energy. He released it, and suddenly, everything seemed to be in slow motion. Enzo ran in front of me, and a yellow light flew from around him, silhouetting his form to me. The others shielded their eyes from the light, and I ducked down. Finally, the light died down, and Enzo stood there for a second, before he just crumpled to the floor.
"Enzo!!" Dot cried out. AndrAIa had remained silent and unmoving through all of this. It seemed she was paralyzed in shock about Enzo.
Finally, she said softly, "I'll get him out of here..." and she walked over slowly.
"Don't hurt him..." I said softly.
Dot looked as if she were going to burst, "You...You think you can get away with all of this?? What is wrong with you?? You're causing pain to everyone! Why can't you just leave this peaceful little system alone??? You're...you're worse than Megabyte!"
Enzo burst back into the room, skidding to a stop. AndrAIa was right behind him, "I couldn't stop him..." He looked around at everyone, narrowing his eyes, "Alright guys. This is it. I finally found another sprite, and you think he's viral? After all this time I've been searching for another sprite, someone my age that I can be a friend with, you try and delete him?? I'm NOT going to let you do this to him!"
"But Enzo. He is a viral! Ask Phong!" Bob protested.
"I don't care! He's my friend..." tears were forming in Enzo's eyes. I just stood there while the kid and Bob argued. I could've escaped, but I was confused...
"Bob...can we talk for a second?" Dot said, taking Bob's arm in both of her own. He nodded, and the two walked outside the Diner.
I looked at AndrAIa, "...So you all want to kill me now..."
She looked a little glum, but she nodded anyways, "They all have a natural hatred for virals. And your deleting so many people just adds to it."
"AndrAIa. You don't want to kill him, do you?" Enzo said.
The female spoke hesitantly, "I...I must do what I'm told. But something tells me I shouldn't harm him." She looked straight at me. I could tell that her words were true. I just stood there, an almost piteous look occupying my face. She walked over to me, hesitantly reaching out to touch my shoulder. I didn't absorb any energy when she did so, because I was already full of energy.
I muttered softly, "If I could avoid killing, I would do so...but I need to become strong..."
AndrAIa and Enzo looked at each other, then Enzo spoke, "Hm...maybe we could think of something...AndrAIa, come with me for a nano. We need to talk." The two walked off to a corner of the diner, and I finally got to sit down and figure out what an energy shake tasted like. It was incredibly appealing. The taste was marvelous...considering I don't ever remember having to take food or drink for energy.
The two came back again, and Enzo smiled brightly, "We can help ya, Eps! Come with us!"
"But...what if I get spotted?" I asked.
"That's why we got...this!" and out from behind him, stepped...Mike, the TV. He had an innocent grin on his face.
"Uh-um...I hope you know I didn't mean any harm the other cycle...eheh..." He hesitated, then added, "...Mommy..." and he then looked as if he were going to cry.
Some time later...
I looked around the junkyard. It would be perfect for a training battle or spar or two. I looked at my two new friends, nodding in thanks. They responded by returning the nod, and I walked off, before I was interrupted.
"Wait." AndrAIa said. She walked forward with Enzo and said, "We're going to help you get stronger, if you promise not to delete or harm anyone else."
I blinked, "I will need energy..."
Enzo held his hand up, "That's what I'm here for." He dropped a little circle to the ground, and then it unfolded into a hoverboard. He gave me a thumbs-up signal and said, "I can run you energy shakes whenever you're low on energy."
I nodded in approval. AndrAIa stepped forward and said, "Alright, let's begin our training. You'll need a weapon..." she looked around, then walked over to a thin, sturdy metal pole, "This'll do for now. Are you good with staves?"
I blinked, and then just nodded, never having used a weapon before. She tossed it to me, allowing me to catch it before she said, "Alright. Come at me with all you got!"
I blinked, but obeyed. As I dashed towards her, I realized this was just a spar. We exchanged blows with the staves; a "CLANG" heard more than at least a hundred times a nanosecond. We raced at each other, leaving Enzo to just let his jaw drop in pure awe. Our fighting techniques rendered him speechless. A few times I stepped back, raising my left hand from the staff, and I fired a small viral blast at her. It did nothing, but had it been true energy, she would've been sent into the wall.
I had gone a good millisecond before I grew weary. AndrAIa noticed this and backed off. Mike showed himself, "Guys! They're coming!" AndrAIa looked over at me, then picked me up, ignoring the energy being drained from her as she heaved me over to a small shack, almost throwing me harshly inside. She then turned around, closing the door. I heard voices for a few minutes, but then slowly, they went away. This would be my routine for hours.
After about 6 energy shakes, and two more close calls from the guardians, the cycle was about to end, and Enzo and AndrAIa needed to head home. I asked them where I could stay, and they just said here. It wasn't exactly a 5-star hotel, but it would do...
Dream...
I looked up, seeing my brother and sister. But how were they there? They were looking at me with a big smile on their face. I ran over and embraced them both, looking up at them, "Beta...Delta...I'm so happy to see you. It's been so hard here."
Delta nodded, but then noted softly, "We are nearly ready for the Omega Fusion. Are you?"
I blinked, and then shook my head, "No, not yet. But I have begun my training. Within about five cycles, I should be ready if my training goes well enough. If not, then I might be as long as nearly two sevencycles."
Delta frowned, but then spoke with slight happiness, "As soon as you have upgraded, we will all come and get you. Then you may join us."
"We?" I questioned. My question was then answered as Alpha and Zeta stepped into view. I inhaled deeply. Something seemed different about them. Alpha had a wicked smirk, and Zeta...she looked almost as if she were a witch. They all smiled happily, and they said together, "Show them your power, and you will then join us..."
Awakening...
I shot awake. Sweat was beading my forehead. I heard their voices in my head once again, but I didn't care. I looked outside the walls of the junkyard. The mist was rising off the celestial waters, and there was some idiotic melody (those ones you see in bugs bunny cartoons) followed by a gunshot (like one you'd hear from Elmer Fudd). I shook my head slowly, because the idea of a system based slightly on comic relief was just stupid.
AndrAIa came within the next millisecond. She hopped down to the ground, holding a strange-looking stick in both of her hands. It looked to be about as tall as me. She had another on her back, and she had a large pouch hanging from her shoulders. She set the package down and opened in, and tossed a small vest to me, "Put it on."
I did as I was ordered, and she also put a second vest on. She then tossed me one of the sticks, and she held her own. It was slowly flashing green and red. It almost looked like something from a child's game.
AndrAIa smiled softly, and then spoke, "Alright, Eps. Here's the deal: these vests we're wearing will tell us how much we get hit, but won't let us get hurt. It's just a modified version of one of Enzo's old games. So now we can attack each other all out and not get hurt."
I nodded in appreciation. We both then pressed a little button on our vests, and suddenly, their sensor-covered cloths shot out, covering my entire body, and a visor came down over my eyes. AndrAIa got into a ready stance, then said, "Whenever you're ready..." and my muscles tensed up.
I pushed away from the ground, trying to outstretch my wings. Finally, they ripped through the cloth, bursting outwards. I flapped them once, and my speed greatly increased as AndrAIa quickly attempted to get herself ready. I moved the left side of the stick, or staff, forward in an almost angled sweeping motion. Her staff came up, and a loud, "CHINK" was heard. She pushed away with her staff, but I just used the momentum to spin counter-clockwise. As I did so, she turned her staff vertical, and once again, blocked my swipe.
I leaped back a little, and this time she made the advance. She shoved her staff towards mine, not even pointing it towards me. She wanted to get my staff out of the way. I raised my staff to cross with hers. Another "chink!" was heard, and we kept the engage at full. I hopped up, keeping my staff in front of me so hers was pushed below me. I flapped my wings heavily, and kicked outwards with my right foot. My foot caught her in the chin, and she stumbled backwards. As she was of-balance, I lowered back to the ground a little, and then shot off towards her, racing along the ground. My left shoulder caught her in the chest, and this time she flew back into a pile of junk. She hopped up once again, a bunch of beeps and other sounds being heard from her suit.
My adrenaline began flowing, and suddenly, AndrAIa just seemed to stop moving. She was mine now. My speed became greater than she could ever imagine. I dashed off towards her, and sent of series of slashes towards her. She didn't even get time to wince before the next one had hit. Shadow images were following me, so when my next attack rang out, a shadow image of the one before it hit AndrAIa harmlessly. But this incredibly confused her. She just held her staff out in front of her, but I just moved around it, continuing my assault on her vulnerable form.
She just fell victim to my blasts, her suit beeping upon reaction to every little time I hit her. Finally, I ducked around behind her, and gave her a quick shot to the back. She flew forward, rolling to a stop on the ground. I was breathing oh so heavily. I had used so much strength...and AndrAIa was surely too weak to go out to the diner to get energy shakes. I lowered my arms...I would need to work harder when I recovered. Mike the TV came, and we sent him for the energy shakes.
Later in the day, Enzo joined us as well, and we continued our strenuous training. By the end of the day, I was going twice as long without an energy reboost as at the beginning of the day. I was growing stronger rapidly...
I continued my training for quite a few cycles. Just cycles and cycles of exchanging attacks, changing my own attack patterns. This was my routine. The only ones who knew I still existed were Enzo, AndrAIa, and Mike. There might have been a few others, but that was it for now. All I needed to worry about was growing stronger...so I may join my family once again.
-Okok, I know...not much of an ending, but like I said...these are just like episodes. In the next little segment, I'll add the last of the reboot cast, which is only Hack and Slash if I remember correctly, maybe Scuzzy. I might also bring back a few other slightly-famous people. But, anyways, I hope you'll enjoy the rest of Epsilon's story more than this episode...-