Chapter 10

Damaged

They had won the game and were now dropped into a new system. AndrAIa looked to Enzo to see his reaction, he hung his head after a glance around. "It's not Mainframe." His voice barely audible.

She nodded her head and walked towards him and began to stroke his back. He turned towards and pulled her into him as he began to cry.

"Enzo, it is okay." She cooed, "What were the chances that we'd end up in Mainframe on the first try?" She said patting his back as she embraced him.

"I know! I just miss Dot!" His voice cracked as she felt his tears crash into her shoulder.

"I do too." She agreed. "Are there ports for the net?" She asked hopping for a ray of hope.

"No." He cried. She had figured that much. This system was desolate and very close to crashing. She couldn't believe her eyes. She kissed his cheek and he seemed to calm. He pulled back from her embrace, "I'm sorry AndrAIa. I'm sorry you have to go through this because of me. I'm sorry you have to listen to me cry."

"I do not care where we are Enzo, as long as we are together." She spoke words of pure truth, "Before you I was just a lonely game sprite. You saw how it was in the game. That was my life everyday." It was boring and lonesome.

He reached out and laced his fingers with hers. He used his other to wipe the tears from his cheeks. "We should go check out the principal's office." He said pointing to the rickety tower in the middle of the system. "Look for survivors." Their passion they had shared in the last game had disappeared for the moment being. Enzo's guardian protocol was urging him to fix this system.

Frisket bolted towards the office and they followed behind. Shacks were falling apart, businesses abandoned. AndrAIa couldn't believe her eyes. She thought all systems would be like Mainframe or Docker. This was a trash whole of waste.

They walked up the stairs that led to the office and a group of Sprite rushed out. A woman with long curly pink hair and a leather silver pants suit, covered in pink and black stars came out. She had a guitar slung behind her shoulder. She was obviously an entertainment code. She had 5 sprites behind her. They were all also in rocker gear. "What do you want with our system intruders!" Star woman yelled pointing at them.

Hostile sprites were new for them. The most hostile sprite they had met was Mouse and she seemed to have no where near the temper of this woman. No way would Mouse come out screaming at two teenagers and their dog. "We are here to help." Enzo explained, "I am a guardian and your system is crashing."

"Guardian you say? Aren't you a little young to be a guardian?" The Star woman asked, but her guard dropped and the hostility was gone from her voice.

"Yes, I guess I am, but I have been a guardian for a while now." He answered, "My name is Matrix. This is AndrAIa and this is Frisket." He gestured to them when he introduce. AndrAIa gave a waved.

"I am Asterisk, these are my band members." She pointed back to a man with a green Mohawk and holding a pair of drum sticks, "That is Solo," Then to a redheaded female with a keyboard for a stomach, "Melody," then two twin females that were bald with tattoos covering their heads, "Underscore and Shift, our sound synthesizers," then a younger boy with black liberty spikes and silver eyes holding a bass, "and this is bass." She continued, "We are called ITunes, the music program for this system.

"Asterisk, where is your command?" Matrix asked, "I would like to speak to him about what happened here."

"The command was deleted along with all the other sprites. It is just us now and a few binomes and digits." She said her face falling.

"How did this happen? How many survivors are here?" Enzo asked incredulously. AndrAIa eyes were wide. What could have done this?

"About 8 cycles ago we were invaded by viruses, 3 of them. We put up a hell of a fight, but they still won. Once the system began to crash beyond prepare the viruses took a portal to the net. Many followed behind them, however the portal closed not even nanos later. We were trapped along with 7 others." She sighed, "We know our deletion is certain. No one will enter the games to battle because we do not know how to win and with every loss we come closer to shutdown."

"That is terrible." AndrAIa cried. She couldn't believe what these sprites had suffered. "Enzo, we have to help them!" She hated viruses. They destroyed this system, and they were probably destroying Mainframe as the spoke.

"Stop calling me Enzo." He growled and watched her roll her eyes. She raised her hand towards the sky, as if to say we have bigger problems, "I know." He looked back towards the group of rockers, "We can help train you guys." He offered, "Games are kind of our thing. It is how we got here."

"You traveled by the games?" The Rocker seemed baffled by this.

"Yes, but we can teach you how to win games. You could save your system. We just need some volunteers to head into the game." Matrix tried to encourage them.

"We will go into the game." The twins volunteered. Then the rest of the band seemed to gain courage to join them.

"We need to start doing some repairs to this system before the next game." Enzo said, "Glitch and I will go fix some tears. AndrAIa you and Frisket scan the area and see what else can be done. Rocker go with AndrAIa and take her to problem areas." He directed them.