ReBoot Time         User Time

1 Nanosecond        1 Second

1 Microsecond    1 Minute

1 Second              1 Hour

1 Cycle                   1 Day

1 Macrosecond      1 Week

1 Minute                1 Month

1 Hour                    1 Year

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN REBOOT: NOR DO I OWN SONIC ADVENTURE 2 OR SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG. Just for those who've played SA2, I've done a kind of crossover thing here: what if a sprite was born with Shadow's abilities? I know the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds are a lot larger: but you'll see why they're in some kind of compact form: easier to carry and hide.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I did watch the episodes, but I'm just assuming that each season is at least a year. Remember, this is a fan-fic, so it ain't fixed.

TIMELINE: Just After Season 2 Episode: AndrAIa

 FOUR HOURS LATER…

PROLOGUE

With a muffled curse, a black and red haired figure streaked from shadow to shadow. Dressed in the blue uniform of a full-fledged Guardian, the outline of a young female sprite darted from corner to corner.

(I hate to copy Bob, but . . . this is bad. Very bad.)

Janelle Shiftlock, now 21 hours old and an honor graduate from the Academy, raced towards a primitive seaside town in the system of Atavla. Ducking into the shadows again, she hid, easily melting into the darkness. Her long hair even in battle mode easily hid her blue and gold uniform. 

(Spammit: why the hell can't the Academy issue uniforms in black?) She thought angrily as the sound of pounding feet slowly made itself known. Her keytool, Covela, chirped softly in concern.

"Hush, Covela, they'll hear you," she hissed. "Don't worry: we have the viral ASCII-kissers right where we want them . . ."

She had been hunting these hackers for at least three minutes now. Ever since that failed hack into the Supercomputer for the portal generation codes, Turbo knew that they had been dealing with professional hackers that were working for a unknown Virus somewhere on a small system: and he had sent four other Guardians after them. A couple of veterans had almost captured them, but all six Guardians were forced to retreat and then call for help after being seriously injured. Turbo then realized he had no choice but to send Cadet . . . no, Guardian 751- known as Janelle Shiftlock, nicknamed Shadowblade. Janelle smiled with yearning when she thought of the handsome, charismatic Prime Guardian. He may have been ten hours older than she was . . . but she knew she loved him anyway. She remembered when he had shown up in the infirmary five hours ago when she had busted her arm in a stupid game—and asked her if she was all right, telling her how she had upheld the motto of the Guardian Academy and that she was a credit to the Collective.  Then in an under tone, he had told her in private that he was intensely proud of her. And he had said before he left:

(Flashback)

"Ah wish Ah had been with you in that game, Shadowblade."

 

"Why is that, sir?" He sighed and looked back at the confused cadet. The lack of understanding she knew was on her face was replaced with astonishment when the Prime Guardian actually turned around, came back towards her and cradled her closely in his strong arms.

"Because—and this is just between you and Ah, Shadowblade . . . Ah care for you very much . . .and Ah wanted to rip that User to shreds with mah bare hands when Ah heard what he did to you!"

Amazed, she tentatively put her good arm around his neck—and he tenderly stroked her back, nuzzling her soft hair. Then he disengaged himself from her and left, giving her a gentle smile before he left. It was then she knew she loved him . . .

(End Flashback)

(Prime Guardian Turbo—worrying over me?) She thought with a smile. He not only went out of his way to actually listen to her but he always had managed to coax a smile or a laugh out of her: that was one of the reasons why she cared about him—he made her laugh and he appreciated her for who she was. Furthermore, he was gentle as a dove with her and understanding and that had made her think if he too shared the same feelings that she had for him. She sighed. It was impossible, however. He was Prime and outranked her: and he was much older than she was. Shaking her head and brushing the tears from her eyes, she waited, hiding deep within a shadowy side alley, waiting and watching. A macrosecond later, she smirked in triumphant amusement when the last three ran past her, their conversation audible when they stopped a mere seven feet from her hiding place. She didn't have perceptive hearing for nothing . . .

"Crash it! That damned Guardian: I've never seen one move so fast before!" one of the remaining hackers, a pink skinned female with silvery hair and blue eyes commented.

Another, a male sprite with metallic teal skin, dark gold hair and green eyes snapped in frustration and pent up anger. "What was that lightning attack? She took the other five of our group…and she didn't even break a sweat! All of the others, gone: and to the Guardian Justice Council in containment fields I'm sure! Your Lord Virago will not like this…we must contact him at once! Besides, I've heard of that particular Guardian—she may be fresh out of the Academy but a definite force to be reckoned with! Besides, they don't call her the 'Guardian of Shadows' for nothing!" the sprite brayed in panic and in rage.

The third, a silver, gold and green male viral One binome who was in charge, growled at his underling.

"You basic fool, you know we can't contact our Lord face to face: too much risk involved! And he wants the Guardian Collective dead, not infected! That was how Daemon fell! I'll give you the comm. connection code on Mainframe and we'll tell his go-between we got problems. We didn't even get the master portal codes either: Damn that Shadow Guardian, damn all the Guardians!"

Janelle narrowed her crimson eyes more out of thought than annoyance. Mainframe . . . There was something fishy about that name. Then she remembered a conversation she had with Bob, a Guardian stationed on a system called Mainframe!

(Flashback)

Bob, Dot, Enzo and AndrAIa, all relaxing in Floating Point Park in the afternoon, were quite surprised to see a Vidwindow with Phong on the other end pop up. "Greetings, my children. I hope I am not disturbing you?"

"Not at all, Phong! What's processing?"

"I have an incoming call from the Supercomputer. Some one who calls herself 'Shadowblade' wishes to talk to you, Guardian."

Bob grinned. "Go right ahead and send it here, Phong. It's been hours since I've seen her."

The vidwindow switched from Phong to a young woman wearing full Guardian blues.

Janelle smiled. "Hey, Bob! So this is where you ended up, huh? Nice system."

"Shadowblade! Long time no see! What's processing, buddy?"

The young Guardian, despite her cheery greeting, looked serious . . . and pissed off. Bob then noticed his friend's black and red hair and fierce crimson eyes and knew something was wrong. Her long, bronze hair was in 'battle mode' and that meant trouble.

"All right, spill the java beans, Shadowblade, I know you well enough to know something's got your hackles up."

Janelle chortled at the pun, but then she sobered up again. "Turbo just informed me that a group of hackers led by a binome with viral codes in his energy data just tried to hack into the Supercomputer for the master portal generating codes. What's more…the hackers are working for a unknown class virus."

 At this piece of news, Bob looked grim. "There are two viruses here, but Hexadecimal is a Class 6 Chaos Virus. Megabyte is also Class 6: but I don't think he'd be desperate enough to pull it off, cause he wants to take over Mainframe . . .but my friends and I constantly keep tabs on them both."

"And knowing you, you won't let them, not with your basic 'live on the edge' philosophy that got you into a lot of scrapes in games and at the Academy . . . " Janelle smirked. That made his friends start laughing.

Bob snorted and rolled his eyes in amusement and embarrassment. "Funny, Shadow, real funny. It was my so called' basic philosophy' that got me out, too."

Janelle chuckled. "Well, I better inform Turbo. But keep an eye out: the one who wants these codes is downright dangerous enough to seriously injure veteran Guardians, and I know it isn't Mouse who attacked them, the wounds are not viral claw gashes, but look like serrated blade slashes on the Guardians who were sent to apprehend these low-density, single sided, preprogrammed jerks."

"Duh, Shadowblade. Even Mouse wouldn't be that basic, even though she did do that for an entirely different reason. Who were the veterans?"

"Guardians Feng and Drake. They were both torn up real bad. Almost like a huge jagged piece of scrap metal had attacked them of its own free will—if it had any." 

"Crash. This is bad: very bad. We'll keep an eye on the virus activity here on Mainframe."

"I won't be reachable, so contact Turbo if you spot anything strange going on. Stay frosty, buddy, and say hi to your newfound friends for me."

"Stay frosty, Shadowblade."

(End Flashback)

(That's it! So, we know who's responsible and even more importantly, where his go-between is located. But it's not that I don't enjoy busting hackers like these viral scum…)

With a fierce grin Janelle prepared to make her move, and crouched preparing to spring. The three were just about to leave when . . .

"Hey, who's that over there . . . "

Janelle cursed. (User damned uniforms!)

"FAQ! Covela! Viral containment fields, at once!"

"NO!"

The viral binome turned to flee, but Janelle was on him fast, lashing out with her devastating Ancient Light. The other sprites attempted to escape, but since Ancient Light was a homing attack for multiple targets, she had them subdued within a matter of micros, all locked in gleaming crystal red capsules and unconscious for good measure.  A sudden whistling noise from the viral binome's direction alerted her and with a snarl, she spun and Chaos Speared a bizarre and deadly looking knife out of the air. It shattered and fell to the ground in unusable fragments of sharp green crystal with a silver and gold hilt and fastenings. Knowing her prey wouldn't break out, she looked carefully at the once single, now multiple blades of the outlandish weapon, now harmless. A sharp stinging sensation on her left arm told her that she had been hit by a shard of the crystal. She looked over and pulled it out, grimacing in pain. It was a long, clean cut, blood not yet congealed, but she couldn't worry about that now: what she had to worry about was the viral infection she felt seeping into her. "Covela, viral med-gun," she called. She used it on herself and felt the effects from the viral blade die away, but she had forgotten about the cut. It still stung, but she could get it treated later.  "Thanks, now Covela, carrier containment field." She said, shaking her head in disgust as she Chaos Controlled herself, her prisoners and the strange fragmented blade that had tried to strike her to the Guardian Academy.