Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after.

Oh, and I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

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"Legacy"

Part 10

As the Cube settled around them, the sprites turned to see what the game was. Bob glanced at Keevan as the younger man groaned and smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Oh.. no.. not "Lode Runner".. this game is soooo basic!"

Bob looked around at their surroundings. They were in a narrow hallway, wide enough for a sprite to reach out with both hands and touch the walls, but no more then that. The floors were made of stone, polished smooth and very slick. Bob looked up as Keevan tapped his icon, then did the same.

"ReBoot!"

Bob took a step forward and nearly tripped on the hem of his new.. robe??? He was now dressed in a deep purple robe with a large hood and full sleeves, not to mention that the robe itself dragged on the floor. He looked up at Kevan and smiled. "Well, at least we all look the same - totally ridiculous." Keevan grinned and shook his head, the lifted the edge of his robe to show the soft leather slippers on his feet.

"We have to be careful, you slip very easily on the floors here, so don't run too fast or you could fall into the holes the User digs. The holes fill up after a short time too, and if you're caught inside it as it fills, you're dead, so be careful. Main objective is to stop the User from getting enough of the treasure chests to piece together a key. If he manages to make a key, a door will appear somewhere on the map that exits the level and wins the game."

Enzo nodded, "What weapons does the User have?"

"No weapons, but a stick that he can use to dig holes in the floor in front of him. They fill up after a short time, but if he's fast enough, the User can actually dig himself down through the floors to the level below. Like I said, don't get caught in the holes, if you fall in, get out as fast as you can."

Mouse laughed. "No problems with that, we're used to moving fast. Now, what do we have to stop the User?"

Keevan sighed. "We don't have weapons, all we can do is run and touch him - that's all that is needed to win the Game. It's a simple enough Game, just tricky to play. We all know the layout of the level and the User's starting position, the only thing we don't have is a way of tracking the location of the User after he starts moving." A musical tone sounded throughout the Game, making the stone underfoot tremble.

Keevan gritted his teeth and started down the corridor. "Here we go... Everyone split up! Block the ladders to the higher chambers, and patrol the passageways!"

The sprites started running, sliding on the slick floors at first, but soon found the trick to running on the smooth stone. Bob was the first to encounter the User, climbing up a ladder to the walkway. Bob shouted and ran, arm outstretched to touch the figure, then realized the User had halted a few rungs from the top. Bob soon found out why, as he slid past the User and crashed into the stone wall, unable to stop. Bob looked up, seeing stars and a doubled image of the User running down the corridor.

"He's-" Bob coughed on stone dust and cleared his throat. "He's over here! Headed up to.." Bob paused as he summoned up a mental map of the Game. "Corridor 5 on level 3! Someone stop him!" Enzo, a few levels above Bob, heard the shout and glanced around. The level he was currently on had three ladders coming up; one at each end and one in the middle. There were also two ladders going up from the corridor, and they were both at the far end.

Keevan scrambled up one ladder and down another to join Enzo on his level as they waited for the User to climb up. Enzo stood beside one ladder while Keevan covered the other, both of them ready to pounce at the first sign of the User. They waited.

And waited.

And waited...

Enzo was getting nervous, and finally he shook his head. "This is ridiculous! He probably didn't even come up this way! Maybe he's-" Suddenly, the User's head popped up from the middle ladder, followed by his body. Enzo and Keevan both started running at the User, trying to get to him before he made it all the way into the corridor. Unfortunately, the User's body blocked their view of each other. The User, however, saw them both and waited till the last instant before making his move.

Just as they got within a few lengths of him, the User scrambled down the ladder again. Too late, the two sprites saw each other... much too late. They smacked into each other and fell in a heap on top of the ladder. Keevan sat up and rubbed his head, glaring at Enzo for a moment. The older sprite glanced down the ladder, sighed, then stood and offered Enzo a hand up. "The others will head him off if he goes another way, so don't worry. Let's go, we should get back to the ends of this hall in case he tries again." Enzo nodded and limped back to his post.

Elsewhere in the Game cube...

Mouse climbed up a short ladder only to come out into a large hallway with almost a dozen other ways out. She groaned and paused at the top of the ladder, then scrambled up it when she saw the User slide down one ladder and start up another at the far end of the hall. She ran over and looked up the ladder.. and saw nothing. She cursed, annoyed that she'd let the User get away.

"Here! He's coming down this one!" Mouse's head whipped around and she stared in shock at the sprite in front of her. A beautiful woman with powder blue skin and flame red hair was standing below a ladder at the other end of the hall. Mouse blinked and stared.

"Hurry up! He's heading back down!" Mouse was frozen, still staring at the strange sprite, so she missed her chance to catch the User as he appeared at the base of the ladder. The strange woman snarled at the User and swiped at him, and Mouse's jaw dropped as she saw the sprite's arm go through the User.

"I can't touch him.. you've got to do it! Come on! Get moving!!" The woman's green eyes blazed even brighter as she watched the User run away.

Mouse finally found her voice. "Who are you?"

The stranger turned away from Mouse, revealing a wide-eyed child in a backpack while she muttered something Mouse couldn't hear. Mouse scrambled up the ladder and headed for the hallway the User had taken. The woman glanced at the Hacker as she neared, then sighed.

"My name is Sentra...I'm a Game Player. I was trying to help you catch the User-"

"You're a Player? Like Keevan?"

"Yes, like Keevan." Sentra smiled and the green-skinned girl on her back waved shyly at Mouse. The little girl was older then Mouse had originally thought, and was probably around 0.3 or so. With her green skin, and from the shape of her face, not to mention the fins, Mouse had a feeling she knew whose child this was.

"I take it then, that this is your daughter? Yours and Keevan's?"

Sentra arched an elegant eyebrow and smiled again. "Yes, she's our daughter, her name is Rahne... and just where is Keevan anyway? I take it he's here in the Game somewhere, right?"

Mouse was about to answer when another unfamiliar sprite poked his head around the corner. He had rich brown skin with yellow hair and silver eyes, and he wore a pure white jumpsuit. He too had a child on his back, and this child was also green-skinned.

"Hey you two! The User's gone down two levels.. if you go through the next corridor, you can cut him off when he comes back up! But you have to go NOW!" Sentra nodded and turned to Mouse.

"Aaron's right.. you'd better get going. We'll help you by letting you know if the User is coming, but one of you has to touch him to win the game."

Mouse nodded and jogged alongside Sentra and the other sprite, Aaron, as they headed down the corridor. Mouse tried not to stare too much, but didn't succeed very well: there was a strange sprite at the top of every ladder and in most of the hallways, standing around, watching for the User. Mouse stopped when Sentra did, and waited as the other woman talked to a man who stood at the top of one particular ladder. Sentra nodded, then turned back to Mouse.

"Ok, Vassir says this is the only way the User can get up to the door... we've got Ray down below to trap the User on the ladder when he starts up, and as soon as he gets half way up, you start down. Remember, you'll have to move fast... if he has the chance, the User might cut a hole in the wall beside him. It's a lot harder for him to do that, but he can do it. So once you start down the ladder, climb down as fast as you can."

Mouse nodded, a half-grin on her face. "You know... I've only played a couple of dozen Games.. but compared to them, this is both more simple, yet more complicated at the same time."

Sentra shrugged. "It's not that bad... just a bit tricky. Besides, there's not much to do in this one but run around and whack into walls when you don't pay attention." The Player grinned, and Mouse got up her nerve to ask the question that had been bugging her.

"Um.. Sentra? Where did you come from? I mean, how did you get in the Game? You weren't here when it started...?" Sentra smiled, and kept her head over the ladder to watch for the User, as he wouldn't be able to see her.

"Oh, all of us here now transferred in when our other Games were done. It's one of our abilities as Players... we can switch from Game to Game, we can enter Games already started, and we can be observers in Games that we enter at the half-way point. We can also send messages through the Games. When Keevan sent his message, it went through Game-space like a rock being dropped into a pond... the ripples hit those nearest first, and we homed in on the center of the call. Others who are farther away will get the message a bit later, but they'll be on their way as soon as they can."

Mouse stared. "You can move through Games? Like, from one Game to the next, without going into the system?"

Both Sentra and Aaron nodded. Aaron said, "The changes to our icons let us do that and more... mind you, those who are born Players have even more changes, and more abilities."

Sentra grinned and was about to speak when she saw a small flicker of movement below her. "Mouse! He's coming up! Get ready!"

Mouse tensed, and placed her hands on the side of the ladder, ready to vault down onto the rungs.

"Wait for it.... wait for it...." Sentra watched intently as the User climbed up, then grinned wolfishly as Ray appeared at the bottom of the ladder. "NOW!" Mouse jumped on the ladder and scrambled down the rungs. Mouse didn't bother to look down, after hearing Sentra's warning, all she concentrated on was climbing.

"Go Mouse, GO! He's cutting into the wall!" Aaron yelled a warning and Mouse decided to chance something. Wrapping her hands around the outside of the ladder, she took her feet off the rungs and slid down.. down... down... until she hit something slightly bouncy. She heard cheers from above and below, and a cry of pain from under her feet. That wasn't the best thing she heard though, that was reserved for the system announcing "Game Over".