A/N: Okay so this is a collaboration fanfic written by me and CloudNineInsanity who is a wonderful authress to talk to. Please read and review our combined fanfic. We do not own Cyberchase nor its characters.

Chapter One: Called Back

Since their time had ended in Cyberspace seven years ago, Matt, Inez and Jackie had all drifted apart. Matt was the high school jock, Jackie was on the school cheerleaders team and Inez was the school's top student and journalist. The three weren't even friends anymore due to no longer having to work together. It seemed that had been all that had kept the three of them remaining friends when they were in Cyberspace. It was a surprise when all three were brought together for the school soccer match for different things to do. Matt was of course the star striker of the soccer team. Jackie was here with her cheerleader group to cheer for the team and Inez was writing a report on this game since if they won, the team would be in the grand finale.

It was odd for all three of them to be pulled together like this, almost like a coincidence of some sort.

"What's the school nerd doing here?" Jackie asked rudely, sticking her nose into the air before looking at Inez, her once best friend. A small part of her felt bad about this considering how close the two of them had once been. Childhood friends actually but honestly it wasn't her fault they had all strayed to go their seperate ways was it?

Matt turned to Inez.

"What are you doing here?" Matt asked curiously. "I thought you and your science club consider soccer to be useless." He tried to be a bit more politer than Jackie since a part of him still looked at her like a little sister and while he could be a jerk at times, he still cared about both Inez and Jackie, although nowadays was unable to express that very well.

Inez frowned. How had all three of them become so distant? It made her wonder if Cyberspace was the only thing that had kept them together. If that was true, it was saddening. They had been through life and death circumstances together, how could they just forget everything? Pushing away the depression that threatened to engulf her, she turned to her former friends.

"The principal wants me to write an article on the soccer game for the school newspaper," Inez explained. "Can't let the school down can I...?" Her voice got cut off and her eyes widened as a blue whirlpool seemed to suck her, Matt and Jackie inside it. She felt the familiar sensation of travelling through a Cyberportal and her heart began to thud fast from both excitement and fear. She knew they were going to Cyberspace again but why? Had something happened to Motherboard or Digit?

"Matt!" The soccer team cried. His team members' cries echoed through his hears as he felt himself sucked into the whirlpool. Matt desperately wanted to call back but he found his voice get stuck in his throat when he realised he had been pulled into a Cyberportal.

"Jackie!" The cheerleading team said running forward. Jackie couldn't believe this. How could Motherboard pull them into a Cyberportal without even asking if they wanted to come? It was common courtesy to ask for consent when they were practically risking their lives for this. Thinking over it, it didn't seem like Motherboard and a subconscious part of her wondered if someone else had sent them a portal. But Digit had once said only Motherboard could do that unless there was a portal ready. She didn't understand what was going on but she had a feeling they'd all be finding out soon.

"Inez!" A girl from the science club screeched out as the three disappeared. Inez managed to call back before her voice got cut off. This was the worst way to get into Cyberspace. It would be exposed like this though she wondered why Motherboard wasn't worried about that. Considering how active some human minds could be, it would be chaos if someone decided to join Hacker in his plot to conquer Cyberspace.

Once the three fell into Cyberspace, it was barely recognizable as the place it once was. The only way Matt, Inez and Jackie were able to recognize the place as the Northern Frontier was because of the Grim Wreaker being there.

"C-Cyberspace?" Inez whispered. "Is this really...?" Her heart ached seeing this place like this. It looked as Hackerised in appearance as Sensible Flats had after what Ledge had done. She really hoped that double-crossing creep had not joint forces with Hacker again. Despite it being seven years, she still hadn't forgiven him for using her and her friends like that.

"Oh man, don't tell me we'll get stuck in this mess again," Jackie groaned a little too loudly though her protests were muffled as Matt and Inez pulled her into a bush. "What's the big deal?" She didn't understand it until her former friends gestured to the sight in front of them.

Jackie followed their gaze and frowned when she saw Hacker come out, holding Digit. The condition she saw her dear friend in made her almost faint. He was beaten, battered and barely conscious. Her heart ached painfully and she couldn't believe she was really seeing their usually cheerfully cybird friend in such a horrible condition.

"Didge?" Jackie whispered, feeling numb inside. "What...what did Hacker do to him?" She had always known Hacker was cruel and that he had a particular grudge against the cybird but this felt like too much.

Matt's eyes were distant and cold.

"This is low," Matt gritted out furiously. "This is low, even for Hacker." He was counting to ten inside his head, trying to calm himself down enough to accept what he had just seen.

Inez wanted to say something but her throat became dry and her face paled at seeing her old friend so weak and frail. She looked back at her former friends but didn't know what to say. Despite the three of them not being friends anymore, they were all still friends to Digit. Seeing their expressions, she knew they still cared about him and it tore at her heart too.

Jackie wanted to cry. Matt was right, this was low, too low even for Hacker. She refused to cry though and show weakness. Besides, crying wouldn't help them at all right now. No matter how much she didn't want to be here, no matter how much she wanted to be back at school, cheering on Matt's team, she knew she couldn't leave Digit. He had been there for her whenever she was upset, like when she had that fight with Inez or when she had to remove Wicked's spell for the Pampadorians.

Matt on the other hand wanted to beat Hacker up for treating Digit the way he was. The cybird was not his slave to beat up and push around. It wasn't fair for anyone to be treated like that, especially not his dear friend.

"Stop it please!" A pleading voice said that could be recognised as Creech's as she ran forward. There was desperation on the female cyborg's face, one that tore at the hearts of the Earthlies, especially Inez.

"Creech..." Inez whispered, fearful for her dear friend. She had understood her more than her former friends at the time. She felt her heart twist even more. Creech was hurt pretty badly as well but luckily not as much as Digit was. However, she feared for the other's safety. Considering how cruel Hacker had become now, she had a feeling he wouldn't show anyone mercy. Her gut instinct was proven to be right when Hacker knocked Creech to the ground without a second thought.

"I told you not to get in my way," Hacker said coldly, glowering at her, a threatening gleam in his eyes.

Creech, however did not back down.

"Inez won't forgive you if you go through with this!" Creech cried desperately. "She'll hurt you, she'll avenge Digit if you do this!" Her eyes filled with tears at her own helplessness. She was so useless, she wished Inez were here. Her friend would get their leader out of there without a second thought.

Hacker began laughing, his cackle echoing loudly through the Northern Frontier.

"Even if those Earth brats come, it'll be too late," Hacker said smirking. "Once I shut down Digit's systems there's no way they'll ever see him again." He knew the Cyber turkey was weak, much too weak to resist what he was about to do to him.

Inez felt her heart drop. Shut Digit down? No! She reached into her back pocket. There was no way she'd let Hacker get away with this.

"We made a smokescreen that lasts five minutes in the Science Club," Inez whispered to the other two. "If someone can run in and grab Digit then run out within the five minutes, we might be able to save him."

Matt looked at Inez. He could see the same pain reflected in her eyes as he felt in his own but the sad part was he didn't know what to do to make it better.

"I can make it in three minutes but what about Creech?" Matt asked, worried about her too. After all, Creech was their friend too even if she was closer to Inez than she was to him but as much as he wanted to save Digit, he didn't want anyone else to get hurt either.

"We can only save one of them," Inez admitted with a sorrowful expression on her face. Her eyes threatened to brim with tears. She knew it had been seven years since they had last worked together. It wasn't even as likely that they'd be able to save Cyberspace this time around but at the same time, she didn't want to give up. Her thoughts drifted to Slider and she hoped he was in one piece. The thought of leaving Creech behind was tearing her inside but there was no choice.

Jackie felt for her former best friend and laid a consoling hand on her shoulder.

"It'll have to be Didge," Jackie said frowning as she said this. "Otherwise, he'll be shut down permanently." The thought terrified her. The image of Digit's eyes full of life turning dull and unmoving.

Matt nodded towards Inez as she suddenly sprayed her smokescreen, he ran. Due to the smokescreen glasses Inez had given, he could see clearly and grabbed Digit. The cybird struggled, thinking it was the enemy but finally relented, being too weak to fight. The thought of Digit giving up so easily made Matt's heart give a painful twinge but Matt managed to get out of there in three minutes, giving the group enough time to hide in a cave.

Digit had shut his eyes when he had relented himself to his fate when he opened them. His eyes widened.

"E-earthlies?" Digit croaked out weakly. He couldn't believe his eyes, after days of praying that somehow his friends would find their way in here and by some miracle they had. Maybe he had hit his head somewhere and this was some hopeful dream that he was seeing. But he realised it was real as Matt touched his shoulder.

"Hey," Matt said gently. "How do you feel?" He could tell Digit was in shock and that worried him. Had he given up hope that help would ever come to them?

"B-better now," Digit admitted. "I was almost preparing to be shut down..." It had been terrifying because he knew he was too weak to resist being shut down but at the same time, he hadn't wanted to accept defeat. Cyberspace was counting on him now that Motherboard was no longer active.

"It's not like you to accept defeat," Inez said, concern laced in her tone. "You used to always be full of energy and spirit."

"T-that D-Digit d-died w-when M-Motherboard w-was s-shut d-down..." Digit explained and the three teens gasped but he continued. "After that, C-Cyberspace k-kinda assumed I-I w-was i-in c-charge so they t-turned t-to me."

Inez's face turned white at the thought of Motherboard being shut down. It was all their fault. A lone tear cascaded down her cheek albeit she wiped it away, refusing to shed a tear. Now was not the time to cry. It was time to fix Hacker's mess and help Digit. The thought of leaving Creech still weighed heavily on her heart but they'd save everyone somehow.

Jackie, seeing Inez like that wanted to cry herself. It made her realise how horrible she had treated her ex-best friend. She had gained popularity and it had gone to her head so she began treating others beneath her kind of...like Hacker. Seeing Hacker do that to Digit had made a guilt churn inside her for the way she had been acting towards her former friends. She'd become almost as bad as Hacker, only she hadn't abused anyone physically though verbally she had. Despite all that, she felt impressed that everyone turned to Digit as their leader. She supposed it was natural, considering how close Digit had been to Motherboard and he was usually good at encouraging people.

Matt, on the other hand felt irritation. While he understood the people of Cyberspace were lost and needed a leader, he had to wonder why force something like that onto his friend? Poor Digit must have been stressing even more since he was put into that role. But now that they were together again, they'd fix things. He looked at Inez and Jackie, before looking down at Digit. He just hoped their lack of friendship and unity with each other wouldn't disrupt things.