Anna Code had awakened to a slightly stiff neck. She'd always had difficulty sleeping whenever she entered a different system. It didn't matter if she was camping or in a comfortable apartment, there was just something different about each system that she needed time to adapt to. It had been the same way the first few Minutes she'd spent in the Supercomputer during the early stages of her Guardian training.

She sat up and rubbed her neck warily, glancing around to make sure her companions were still present. They were still fast asleep. She carefully got up, not wanting to disturb their beauty sleep for the moment. She undid the tent flap and stepped outside, blinking at the sky above. So far it seemed to be clear and static; no sign of problems, no sign of games. Although that could change any moment, she knew.

The Island appeared to be fairly run-down, as if it had once been occupied but had been abandoned for some reason or other. She yawned softly, stretching her limbs. Anna then grabbed her nearby pack and grabbed some energy rations, rejuvenating herself with a quick energy drink and snack. Once that was finished she decided to take a quick look around.

"Cappaten," she said, "scanner." What she found on the close-range scan was actually a bit unnerving. There were remnants of viral activity emanating from this area. Much of it had degraded, but she knew to be on her guard.

A part of her mind remembered Bob's warning, that she was treading into things she didn't know. She also remembered that he said that viruses were apparently allowed to stay here without being deleted. Did that mean there was one living on this island?

Or was it possible that this area was once the territory of Hexadecimal, the Virus that defeated Daemon? She shook her head slightly, and decided to check out the area a little more. She was already a rogue Guardian (she refused to consider herself a "renegade") and she decided that, if the rest of the Guardians were not going to do their job and get rid of anything that endangered a system… she would.

At the very least, she hoped that the Mainframers were dutiful enough that they would clean up this Island after it had been abandoned. The fragmented chunks of viral code and viral activity indicated that this area had not been touched or even investigated, let alone cleaned up. That thought really bothered her.

"Bob is an idiot," she murmured to herself as she pressed on across the Island surface. "If Turbo allowed this, then he's an idiot as well." She didn't know either of them very well, although she had interacted with Turbo more than she had Bob. Guardian 452 had crossed paths with her once or twice before he left the Supercomputer to go to Mainframe. She had no idea what his impressions of her had been, but she had neither been impressed nor disinterested in meeting him; they were all Guardians there, at that Academy, after all. She simply knew that she would one day get her own System to look after.

Yeah, and you abandoned it, the responsible part of her Guardian mind told her.

She gritted her teeth. "I didn't abandon anyone," she argued in a low, fierce tone. "I tried to contain a User, someone more dangerous than a virus. If Bob and everyone else can't see that, then I have to take matters into my own hands."

Her lips thinned into a determined line as she quickened her pace, heading straight for the heart of the Island… wherever that may take her.

Anna eventually came to a building further in, which appeared to be a lair of some sort. She cautiously approached, keeping Cappaten at the ready in case something happened. She moved very slowly, keeping herself alert as if the shadows themselves might attack her. It was, after all, best to stay cautious when it came to a virus's dwelling.

She had only hunted one in her system, where she had terminated it. She hoped she would never have to repeat the experience… but oftentimes, not many sprites got what they hoped for.

It took some maneuvering and some aide from Cappaten to get around, but eventually she made it to the heart of Lair. It was like a large saucer-shaped sphere hovering in the middle of the air, as if the person who once lived here had no problem with flying or levitation. It also contained something that looked like a throne.

But there was more. There was a small box in the middle of the floor, and it was locked.

"Hmmm," Anna purred, kneeling down to get a closer look. She wasn't complied yesterday, though; she knew that the box could possibly be dangerous. Her first impulse was to simply use Cappaten to cleanse the entire area, removing all viral traces and residue. And yet…

The rogue side of her kicked in again, thinking. If Bob wasn't going to do what needed to be done about the User, or even Viruses for the most part… what if she used something viral against the User herself? Give a User a taste of its own medicine for once. Let a User become infected or damaged, or possibly erased, by a Virus's toys.

"Cappaten, scan the box," Anna ordered. The box appeared to be impenetrable by a scanner. "Hmm," she purred again. "Looks like I might just have to take a chance and open it." She stuck her fingers just under the lid, trying to pull it off. She gritted her teeth; apparently this was going to require some elbow grease.

"Come… on!" She grunted, putting her back into it. "Ugh!" She removed her hands; her fingers were starting to sting from the effort. "Okay," she murmured. "Cappaten, pry bar." The Keytool dutifully changed, and then she jabbed the end of it under the lid. With tremendous effort she finally managed to get it open.

Just as she peered inside, she heard someone call out from a distance away. "Hey!" It was Dana Line's voice. "What did you find?" Of course a Search Engine would be mildly curious. It seemed that Miss Cookie was right behind her, although neither of them could reach the platform that Anna was on; neither of them had zip boards. So they stood at the edge of the precipice, near the entrance, looking at Anna.

"I'm just seeing what's here," Anna answered. "There might be something I can use to complete my… quest." Somehow it didn't seem right to refer to it as a "mission" anymore. Maybe some part of Bob's lecture had gotten to her more than she thought it did. After all… she was technically a rogue Guardian now.

But didn't the ends justify the means, to some extent? A User, a being worse than any virus, was loose in this system. She had to take care of it, especially since the problem had escaped from her own System. She had to make up for her own failure.

"What's in the box?" Miss Cookie called out, cupping her hands around her mouth to focus her shout.

"That's what I'm about to find out," Anna said, opening the box the rest of the way. "I thought you girls were sleeping," she added as an afterthought. She leaned closer to peer into the box. It looked like it was… empty. Apparently the effort of getting it open had been in vain.

"We were sleeping," Dana Line acknowledged. "But I heard you moving around and when I looked out, you were heading off."

"So she woke me up, and we decided to follow you," Miss Cookie finished.

"I see." Anna stood, frowning down at the box. "There's nothing here," she said, surprised at the disappointment in her voice. Then again, wasn't that a good thing? The idea she'd been considering was almost monstrous in a way…

Suddenly there was a noise, one that nearly made Anna jump out of her bitmap. A small hologram appeared in the bottom of the box, a form that she had never seen before. "Oh, lookie here!" the masked, feminine figure said with a flourish. "You have found my surprise! I just love surprises so very much, and now I get to share this one with you. For you have opened…" The masked face became almost psychotic, revealing a row of sharp, pointy teeth. "The Pandora Box!" A cackle of hysterical laughter sounded as the hologram vanished.

"What in the Net?" Anna held her arm in front of her, keeping Cappaten ready.

Something sprung out of the Box, something that looked like a small orb... and it exploded into a ball of fiery energy.

"Cappaten, contain that!" Anna yelled. Her Keytool sprang into action, attempting to form a force-field around whatever it was.

However, the attempt failed; the fiery orb broke free of its containment. Anna recalled her Keytool and jumped onto her zip board, attempting to fly away.

"YOU TWO!" she yelled at Dana Line and Miss Cookie. "GET OUT OF HERE!"

But it was already too late; the orb enlarged itself, then flew directly toward her two companions. It then split at the middle, each half of it engulfing the Tracking Cookie and the Search Engine. They didn't even have time to scream or cry out.

The Phoenix Infection engulfed the energy and the coding of those who'd once been Miss Cookie and Dana Line; nothing remained. The Infection had overtaken each of them, having converted them into something else.

Anna's eyes widened with horror. This was a vile corruption. She thought briefly of her own sister, who had been deleted by a Virus. Anna's bitmap shook slightly as she recalled the feeling of horror and violation she'd felt after her own Daemon infection was cured. She vividly remembered holding her sister's form in her arms after a scorpion-like virus had been dealt with, when she could only watch helplessly as Kat winked out of existence…

The twin orbs of fire grew larger as they absorbed and processed the sprites they had consumed and converted into viral forms.

"Oh no," Anna gasped, her form becoming rigid.

Then each of the orbs changed shape, into a pair of fire-like birds. They each gave a shrill shriek, spreading their wings and rising above the ground, gliding as they left a trail of fire behind.

Anna cried out when she realized something; the very ground itself was on fire, rapidly being consumed. "I need to get out of here!" she exclaimed.

She fled from the Lair, realizing that a wild-spreading fire was going to spread and consume the island. But that wasn't the worst part. The pair of Viral Phoenixes were flying off, in the direction of Mainframe's main city. The pair of Phoenixes had left the Island; they were moving rapidly toward the edge of the city. One of them had paused to engulf the Search Engine's little ship, destroying it almost instantly.

There was no doubt about it. Dana Line was definitely gone now; nothing of the Search Engine remained.

Anna glanced back at the building she had just left, and decided that that fire was irrelevant, even as the nullifying fire began to spread. The real concern was the active, moving Viral Phoenixes. They were going to burn the city, or at least infect others!

She barked a command at Cappaten and then spoke into it, attempting to transmit a general warning to the Principal's office or anyone with a receiver. "Attention! There is a viral infection moving toward the city! This is Guardian Anna Code requesting assistance!"

Anna Code stayed on the trail of the Phoenixes; it wasn't difficult to follow them, especially since they left a thin trail of fire behind them for some distance. They were heading straight for the city.

Anna could only hope that someone on the other side would be ready for what was coming.

"No!" she cried out when one of the Phoenixes sped forward, directly toward the end of a Bridge. It seemed to be zeroing in on a target, though she couldn't quite make out who it was.

The second Phoenix spread its wings and flew higher into the sky, expanding its form with a shrill cry. It then spread its wings and went vertical, casting a massive shadow across a portion of the city.

"What's it doing?" Anna blinked.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Matrix stood on the Bridge between Mainframe and Lost Angles. The Bridge itself had been broken a long time ago, and it had stayed that way, despite the System Restart. He stood on this and watched the Energy Sea. He hadn't been able to go to sleep, not since Phong's Scan. Sure, he could still enter Games, but what would happen when he Rebooted, that was a different story altogether.

He saw the Viral Infection as it came closer. "What in the Net?" Matrix peered at strange orange lights. One was coming in close. "Gun, Target!" Matrix took his weapon and aimed. Shoot first, ask questions later. He fired.

The Phoenix screamed like a banshee, not in pain or terror but in fury. It's function was to infect all that it could, to convert them into others like itself. It dodged the bullet from Gun, twisting and changing shape in a way that only fire could. Bullets passed right through it as portions of its fiery body parted to let them pass.

It then retook its original form, fiery wings stretching out. Talons extended from the outermost edges of the wing tips. The digits seemed to harden and drip molten fire as they stretched out and gripped Matrix by the shoulders. The touch burned hotly, struggling to convert his code into another Phoenix.

However, it found the coding of this sprite... difficult to convert for some reason. It shrieked in annoyance, and redoubled its efforts. "You can't infect me, virus!" Matrix aimed Gun, and fired at the virus.

The Phoenix shrieked, taking a bullet. It withdrew from Matrix, its flaming form swirling as it recovered from the direct hit. It then flew up into the sky, high above his head, and it began to intermingle with its viral companion. The two Phoenix's merged into one.

Anna came forward just then, on her Zip Board; she approached the edge of the Bridge, somewhat cautiously. She looked straight up, and then back at Matrix. "That thing came from that Island!" she told Matrix, pointing in the direction of Lost Angles. "I don't know how it got loose," she fibbed, "but we have to stop it!"

Even as she spoke, a nullifying flame could be seen behind them, consuming the Island like a forest fire. A chorus of dozens, possibly hundreds of nulls could be heard crying out like a continuous, ear-splitting scream as the fire affected them. It was impossible to tell from this distance if the nulls were being harmed or if they were simply in great pain.

If the Phoenix touched down on the city and started a fire like that there...

CPU cars flew over head, surrounding Mainframe.

"Hexadecimal..." Matrix muttered, and then shouted, "Stay out of my way Guardian!" He began to climb onto the thick bridge wires, the only things that connected Los Angles and Mainframe.

Anna stared up after him, feeling conflicted. Her Code urged her help them, to do something, but she also felt a strong need to track down the User. It was the reason she'd come to Mainframe, after all. Dana Line and Miss Cookie were close; their codes had been completely altered. She wouldn't let their sacrifice be in vain.

This is the User's fault, she thought. It was, at least in a round-about way. The Mainframers could defend their own home; she needed to locate Starwell while this diversion was going on. An unplanned diversion, but effective.

Anna thought she saw Bob fly past on his own zip board, ready to assist. Perfect, she thought. Now there would be two less sprites to get in her way. She cast one last look toward the virus; it was almost finished merging. She then kicked her zip board forward, moving toward the heart of the city.

0o0o0o0

"Matrix!" said Bob, "Here!" He tossed the Zip Board towards Matrix. Matrix caught it, and activated it immediately.

The virus finished forming a complete, merged Phoenix above their heads that was larger than anything they'd ever seen. It spread its massive wings high and far, causing a dark, ominous shadow to fall across the entire city. It was somehow both energetic energy and solid pixels; it would be one tough virus to take down.

It opened its beak and a deadly beam of flame burst from its mouth, as if it were a dragon. The fire hit the edge of the Bridge where Matrix had been moments ago, and a nullifying fire began to grow and spread like wildfire. It was the beginning of the same kind of fire that was engulfing Los Angles. Then the giant virus turned its attention on the sprites coming toward it. A giant, fiery tentacle sprung from its chest, wrapping around Bob in a burning grip. It then attempted to infect him, trying to corrupt his Guardian code.

The CPU cars began to fire against the fire like Virus.

"Leave it to Hex for something like this," Bob grunted, staring up into the Virus. It's form becoming blindingly bright as its fiery mass reflected in the orbs of his eyes. "Glitch-" The tendril cut him off, encircling around his throat and tightening over his mouth. Only a muffled grunt emitted from the Guardian.

The Phoenix brought him closer to its mouth. It screeched in its face, banshee-like, and then it spread its massive wings to take a swing at the CPU cars. It succeeded in knocking several of them out of the sky, sending them careening toward the ground.

"Gun! Target! Full Delete!" Matrix aimed Gun, and fired.

The blast from Gun hit the Phoenix in the chest. I shrieked, obviously wounded, but it was one tough bird and it had the capacity to regenerate. It focused its attention on Bob. It began to drain some of his energy like a leech to aid its regeneration process.

"Bob!" Matrix rushed over with his Zip Board, and fired Gun multiple times.

The Phoenix Virus only had a chance to take a small amount of Bob's energy. Matrix's attack, along with suppression fire from the remaining CPU cars, managed to penetrate its fiery exterior. It shrieked. Then it let go of Bob. Bob started to fall.

"Bob!" Matrix flew down, and snatched Bob just before he hit the Energy Sea. Bob groaned in Matrix's arms, his form flickered for a moment.

Above their heads, the Phoenix shrieked again. It was obviously wounded; it seemed to writhe under the continued fire from the CPU cars. It changed shape into the form of a fiery orb, apparently its default for when it needed to converse energy and repair itself. Then twin tentacles erupted from its center, wrapping around two of the CPU cars. It then attempted to drain energy from them.

A shield formed around the virus. It was no longer attacking; it had gone into self-preservation mode.

And then something else happened; the sky darkened, and the System Voice spoke: "WARNING: INCOMING GAME. WARNING: INCOMING GAME."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Anna Code made her way toward the Principal's Office. She kept a sharp eye out for anything that might stop her or slow her down. Thankfully for her, she saw the sprite she sought-Alpha Starwell-peering out of the front door of the Principal's Office. It seemed that the little User wanted to see what was going on for herself.

Anna swooped down on her Zip Board and grabbed the User roughly by the arm, causing her to yelp. "You are MINE now," she hissed.

"You stop-"

"- Right there!"

Two Robots, both blue and red, came behind the Guardian.

"Get away from me, both of you!" Anna snapped at the two annoying robots. She yanked on Starwell's arm, pulling her close.

Well, if these bozos were so intent on guarding this User...

"Cappaten, gun." Once her Keytool obeyed, she pressed the weapon against Starwell's temple, causing the girl to whimper. "One wrong move and I delete her," Anna said coldly. Of course she planned to delete her anyway, but she planned to do it from a safe distance.

"What should we do Hack?"

"I don't know, let me think!"

"Have you thought of something now?"

"No Brainiac, I haven't!"

"Well think of something quick!"

Gizmo made another one of its hissing noises.

"You keep your Keytool under control, little girl," Anna growled into Starwell's ear. She then began to back away from the robots. "Just stay right where you are," she ordered Hack and Slash.

She then stepped onto her zip board and, holding the girl close, began to fly off. However, something began to happen… something that caused Anna to stop in her tracks for a moment. The Rogue Guardian's head shot up as the sky began to darken.

"WARNING: INCOMING GAME. WARNING: INCOMING GAME."

"Great," she muttered.

Gizmo took advantage of her momentary distraction. It sent an electrical current through the Guardian's arm, causing her to jump.

Starwell then slapped the gun away and kicked Anna in the shin. The Zip Board swerved and both of the female sprites grappled with each other. Starwell gave one final shove, and another electrical jolt from Gizmo allowed her to break loose.

The teenager screamed as she began to fall.

"GIZMO!" Starwell screamed as she hurtled out of control toward the ground. "DO SOMETHING!"

It did something. It left her arm and zoomed off below her until it reached the ground. It then took on the shape of a massive cushion, just large, soft and thick enough to break her fall.

Starwell had the wind knocked out of her when she landed in the center of it, leaving her stunned for a few nano-seconds, but she was otherwise all right.

Gizmo returned to its Keytool shape and returned to her arm. It urged her to get up and move; the Game was about to come down right on top of her. When she didn't respond, the Keytool began shrieking so loudly it nearly shook itself off of her arm.

"Huh? What?" Starwell groaned. She rubbed her head warily, feeling a bit sore all over. "Where am I?"

She realized that something large and purple was coming down straight toward her.

Then she heard the System Voice announcing a game, and not for the first time.

She screamed just as it landed on top of her, throwing her arms up as if that could keep it off of her or away from her.

It didn't.