Chapter 6
Matrix once again stormed down the halls of the Principal office, but this time he headed back to the room he had stayed in the night before. He wondered what Bob would tell Dot. He also wondered how Dot would react. Just then he heard a familiar high-pitched annoying voice from down the hall.
"MATRIX!" yelled the young sprite sprinting down the hall after him. Matrix cursed to himself. This was certainly not the best time for Enzo to come across his path. Just as Enzo leaped to tackles him, Matrix moved, sending Enzo to the ground. "Hey! What was that for?" Enzo yelled as he got up. He shrugged it off as he caught up with Matrix. "Hey Matrix! Can we go circuit racing right now? Can we? I'm so bored. There's nothing to do. I would have asked Bob, but he isn't here yet and seeing as how you don't look too busy I asked you," He said to his older self. Matrix had no intension of replying. He tried to block Enzo out as he neared his room. "Matrix? What's with the silent treatment? Did I do something? What did I do? I don't remember doing anything recently!" Enzo said puzzled as they arrived at Matrix' room. "So can we go circuit racing then? There's no school today. Because of the restart and all they gave us the day-" Matrix lost his patience with the hyper young sprite as he quickly turned to him with a fierce glance.
"Listen kid, I've had enough of you," he said loudly, his mechanical eye glowing red, " Now unless your looking to be deleted, I suggest you leave!" he yelled. Enzo backed up to the wall, gaping at him in fear. Matrix came closer to his face. "Now!" he said in a low, threatening voice. Enzo was so scared he could hardly move but his adrenaline forced him to as he took off in the opposite direction. Matrix opened the door and went in. It closed behind him as he went to the couch to lie down. He could not deal with anything right now. He fell asleep, hoping to wake up and find that it hadn't happened.
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Phong and Dot came out of the training room. Dot shook her head. She hadn't been able to get through to Matrix.
"What in the net happened in there?" Mouse asked.
"Nothing, he just stood there and wouldn't say anything or move, then he had the outburst," Dot said. Mouse shook her head. None of this was making any sense to her.
"Are you ok Dot?" Mouse asked her.
"Oh, no, I'm fine, but I'm worried about Matrix. I've never seen him this upset before," she replied.
"Well what do we do now, mates?" Ray asked after a pause. Phong spoke up.
"Matrix mentioned Bob. Perhaps if we find him, he can tell us what is bothering Matrix," he suggested. Dot wanted to speak with Bob alone so she spoke before anyone else could.
"I'll go and talk to Bob," she said. Phong nodded his head.
"Yes child, that might be best," he told her in agreement.
"Ok mates, that's all very well, but in the mean time what do we do about Matrix?" he asked.
"Let him be for the time being," Dot said. She knew her brother wouldn't have it any other way anyway in his current state, "We'll deal with him after I've talked to Bob and found out what's going on." Everyone agreed. "Has Bob come in yet?" she asked.
"No, Dot, he has not checked in with me yet," Phong replied.
"Could you send him a vid-window through glitch, Phong?" Dot asked. Phong sighed.
"I am sorry child, but I have not been able to work that out now that Bob has merged with glitch," he said.
"He might be at his complex yet sugah," Mouse said. Dot nodded.
"Ok," she said as she walked away. It wasn't a minute later that Enzo came running after Dot.
"Dot!" he called out. Dot looked back at him.
"Sorry Enzo but I don't have time," she told him.
"But Dot, Matrix has gone random or something!" Dot looked worried.
"What did he do?" she asked.
"All I did was walk up to him and I asked if we could go circuit racing and he was real mad and he yelled at me! I thought he was going to erase me! Off line! End file! Deletion City!" he said promptly.
"Enzo! Calm down. Matrix wouldn't do that," she said, "He's just in a bad mood right now. Just give him some space for a little while ok?" Enzo sighed.
"All right sis," he said as he went down the hall. Dot hoped it wasn't too much more than a bad mood as she walked out of the Principal Office and maximized her zip-board and got on it. She went to the diner and peaked in as she passed, making sure that everything was all right. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary so she kept going on to Bob's apartment.
A few sectors away, a binome sat on a bench in the park with a notepad. It was blank and the binome was frustrated. He was a reporter for the Mainframe Times. His boss had given him a deadline for a story was in 2 hours so he could upload all the issues by evening. Even after a crisis he wouldn't let up on his reporters. It was either write or be fired. The problem was that there were no stories to report on. Mainframe had just rebooted and everything was back to normal. Boring normal. No crimes were committed. No one had done anything. How was he supposed to write an article on nothing?
Just then he saw Bob on his zip-board overhead. The guardian would surely have something to say for an article! He quickly got off his bench and followed him as best he could.
Bob was on his way to the Principal Office. He could have easily opened a portal to the P.O. but he liked seeing Mainframe, especially after being away from it for so long. He figured he would check in with Phong because he was a little late. He stopped and opened a vid-window to Phong. The binome was glad Bob had stopped so that he could catch up to him.
"Bob!" Phong said shocked. Bob looked worried.
"What is it Phong?" he asked.
"We were just looking for you," Phong told him. Bob frowned.
"For what?" he wondered.
"Well it seems that Matrix is upset over something. We were hoping that you could tell us why," Bob sighed.
"Well old friend, it's a bit complicated. More complicated than I could tell you on this vid-window right now," he replied.
"Then it is good that Dot is on her way," Phong said.
"What?" Bob asked panicked. Phong nodded.
"Dot is on her way to you, she should come across you at any moment," He told Bob. Bob tried to end the conversation as quickly as possible.
"Thanks Phong, well I'll be patrolling the city for the day, bye," he closed the window before Phong could say anything else. Bob wasn't ready to face Dot right now. He zipped to the shadows and waited about a minute until he saw Dot up in the sky on her zip-board heading for his apartment. The binome was puzzled as Bob went to the shadows, but he followed him. As Dot passed by she did not seen Bob. It was then that Bob realized that he couldn't hide forever. He would have to tell Dot sooner or later. This might be the only time he would be able to talk to her alone. Bob was not ready. He didn't know what he would say, but he had to tell her. He took a deep breath and got back on his zip-board. He caught up with her from behind.
"Dot!" he called out. Dot stopped and turned around.
"Bob?" she said puzzled. "I was just on my way to see you. Matrix is-" Bob interrupted her before she could finish. He already knew what she was going to say anyway. The binome watched from the ground, unable to hear what they were saying.
"Dot, before you say another word, there's something I need to tell you," he said with a serious look on his face.
"What?" she asked.
"No, not here. Come with me," he said as he took her hand and went down to the park. Dot had no choice to follow. She wondered if what he had to tell her had to do with Matrix. Bob lowered them to the ground. The binome was very thankful that they were on the ground now as he followed, huffing his way over to them. Still a good distance away, neither Bob, nor Dot had seen him yet. He got off of his zip-board and minimized it. Dot did the same and Bob directed her over to one of the benches, hidden from the rest of the park. The binome was curious why they needed to be isolated from the rest of the park. He followed them and quietly went into a nearby bush where he could hear them easily. Bob still had no idea what he would say, but he would tell her somehow. Bob sat on the bench and signaled Dot to also. "Dot," he began "I did something that I'm not proud of, and it's important that you know," he said, looking down slightly. "But, I don't know how to tell you." Dot frowned.
"Bob, you know you can tell me," she said taking his hands into hers to reassure him.
"Last night, at the diner, when everyone had left, AndrAIa stayed behind to ask me something." he paused, not wanting to say the next sentence, "Well, we both got drunk, and this morning," he swallowed hard, "we…woke up together." Bob looked down and closed his eyes, not wanting to see Dot's reaction. Dot could not believe what Bob had said. 'He and AndrAIa had done what? No that couldn't be true!' she thought to herself.
"What?" was all she could manage to say after a long silence. Bob looked up directly at her.
"Dot I am so sorry," he said quietly. "But I don't remember what happened last night. AndrAIa doesn't either," he said. Dot then pulled her hands fiercely away from his.
"And that makes it ok?!" Dot snapped at him, still in shock. "No, it doesn't make it ok," he said,
"What I did was wrong, and I admit it, but you have to understand that I didn't mean for it to happen." Dot looked at him hurt.
"How could you do that when just yesterday you promised me that you would never leave me again?!" she yelled at him, the tears that started to build up in her eyes now threatened to fall.
"Dot, no, I would never do anything to hurt you," he said, reaching for her hand again. Dot pulled back from him
"But you already did!" she said, trying to hide how much her body was trembling.
" Dot, I didn't mean to! I love you!" Bob told her. It wasn't going as he had hoped.
"I thought I felt the same way about you," Dot said as she looked to the side, blinking to try and make her tears go away before Bob could see. "I can't love someone I can't trust," she said looking into his eyes. Bob looked back at her. He saw how hurt she was just by looking into her eyes. He couldn't have hoped for that to go any worse. With that Dot got up.
"Dot," he called out quietly, "please." Dot turned around and looked at him one last time. She saw the sadness in his face. She wanted to go to him, but after what he had done to her, she was glad he was miserable. She turned the other way and took out her zip-board. Without any pause, she got on and left. But little did they know that a binome in a nearby shrub left also, but he was far happier than the two sprites, now he did have a story.
End of Chapter 6
Matrix once again stormed down the halls of the Principal office, but this time he headed back to the room he had stayed in the night before. He wondered what Bob would tell Dot. He also wondered how Dot would react. Just then he heard a familiar high-pitched annoying voice from down the hall.
"MATRIX!" yelled the young sprite sprinting down the hall after him. Matrix cursed to himself. This was certainly not the best time for Enzo to come across his path. Just as Enzo leaped to tackles him, Matrix moved, sending Enzo to the ground. "Hey! What was that for?" Enzo yelled as he got up. He shrugged it off as he caught up with Matrix. "Hey Matrix! Can we go circuit racing right now? Can we? I'm so bored. There's nothing to do. I would have asked Bob, but he isn't here yet and seeing as how you don't look too busy I asked you," He said to his older self. Matrix had no intension of replying. He tried to block Enzo out as he neared his room. "Matrix? What's with the silent treatment? Did I do something? What did I do? I don't remember doing anything recently!" Enzo said puzzled as they arrived at Matrix' room. "So can we go circuit racing then? There's no school today. Because of the restart and all they gave us the day-" Matrix lost his patience with the hyper young sprite as he quickly turned to him with a fierce glance.
"Listen kid, I've had enough of you," he said loudly, his mechanical eye glowing red, " Now unless your looking to be deleted, I suggest you leave!" he yelled. Enzo backed up to the wall, gaping at him in fear. Matrix came closer to his face. "Now!" he said in a low, threatening voice. Enzo was so scared he could hardly move but his adrenaline forced him to as he took off in the opposite direction. Matrix opened the door and went in. It closed behind him as he went to the couch to lie down. He could not deal with anything right now. He fell asleep, hoping to wake up and find that it hadn't happened.
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Phong and Dot came out of the training room. Dot shook her head. She hadn't been able to get through to Matrix.
"What in the net happened in there?" Mouse asked.
"Nothing, he just stood there and wouldn't say anything or move, then he had the outburst," Dot said. Mouse shook her head. None of this was making any sense to her.
"Are you ok Dot?" Mouse asked her.
"Oh, no, I'm fine, but I'm worried about Matrix. I've never seen him this upset before," she replied.
"Well what do we do now, mates?" Ray asked after a pause. Phong spoke up.
"Matrix mentioned Bob. Perhaps if we find him, he can tell us what is bothering Matrix," he suggested. Dot wanted to speak with Bob alone so she spoke before anyone else could.
"I'll go and talk to Bob," she said. Phong nodded his head.
"Yes child, that might be best," he told her in agreement.
"Ok mates, that's all very well, but in the mean time what do we do about Matrix?" he asked.
"Let him be for the time being," Dot said. She knew her brother wouldn't have it any other way anyway in his current state, "We'll deal with him after I've talked to Bob and found out what's going on." Everyone agreed. "Has Bob come in yet?" she asked.
"No, Dot, he has not checked in with me yet," Phong replied.
"Could you send him a vid-window through glitch, Phong?" Dot asked. Phong sighed.
"I am sorry child, but I have not been able to work that out now that Bob has merged with glitch," he said.
"He might be at his complex yet sugah," Mouse said. Dot nodded.
"Ok," she said as she walked away. It wasn't a minute later that Enzo came running after Dot.
"Dot!" he called out. Dot looked back at him.
"Sorry Enzo but I don't have time," she told him.
"But Dot, Matrix has gone random or something!" Dot looked worried.
"What did he do?" she asked.
"All I did was walk up to him and I asked if we could go circuit racing and he was real mad and he yelled at me! I thought he was going to erase me! Off line! End file! Deletion City!" he said promptly.
"Enzo! Calm down. Matrix wouldn't do that," she said, "He's just in a bad mood right now. Just give him some space for a little while ok?" Enzo sighed.
"All right sis," he said as he went down the hall. Dot hoped it wasn't too much more than a bad mood as she walked out of the Principal Office and maximized her zip-board and got on it. She went to the diner and peaked in as she passed, making sure that everything was all right. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary so she kept going on to Bob's apartment.
A few sectors away, a binome sat on a bench in the park with a notepad. It was blank and the binome was frustrated. He was a reporter for the Mainframe Times. His boss had given him a deadline for a story was in 2 hours so he could upload all the issues by evening. Even after a crisis he wouldn't let up on his reporters. It was either write or be fired. The problem was that there were no stories to report on. Mainframe had just rebooted and everything was back to normal. Boring normal. No crimes were committed. No one had done anything. How was he supposed to write an article on nothing?
Just then he saw Bob on his zip-board overhead. The guardian would surely have something to say for an article! He quickly got off his bench and followed him as best he could.
Bob was on his way to the Principal Office. He could have easily opened a portal to the P.O. but he liked seeing Mainframe, especially after being away from it for so long. He figured he would check in with Phong because he was a little late. He stopped and opened a vid-window to Phong. The binome was glad Bob had stopped so that he could catch up to him.
"Bob!" Phong said shocked. Bob looked worried.
"What is it Phong?" he asked.
"We were just looking for you," Phong told him. Bob frowned.
"For what?" he wondered.
"Well it seems that Matrix is upset over something. We were hoping that you could tell us why," Bob sighed.
"Well old friend, it's a bit complicated. More complicated than I could tell you on this vid-window right now," he replied.
"Then it is good that Dot is on her way," Phong said.
"What?" Bob asked panicked. Phong nodded.
"Dot is on her way to you, she should come across you at any moment," He told Bob. Bob tried to end the conversation as quickly as possible.
"Thanks Phong, well I'll be patrolling the city for the day, bye," he closed the window before Phong could say anything else. Bob wasn't ready to face Dot right now. He zipped to the shadows and waited about a minute until he saw Dot up in the sky on her zip-board heading for his apartment. The binome was puzzled as Bob went to the shadows, but he followed him. As Dot passed by she did not seen Bob. It was then that Bob realized that he couldn't hide forever. He would have to tell Dot sooner or later. This might be the only time he would be able to talk to her alone. Bob was not ready. He didn't know what he would say, but he had to tell her. He took a deep breath and got back on his zip-board. He caught up with her from behind.
"Dot!" he called out. Dot stopped and turned around.
"Bob?" she said puzzled. "I was just on my way to see you. Matrix is-" Bob interrupted her before she could finish. He already knew what she was going to say anyway. The binome watched from the ground, unable to hear what they were saying.
"Dot, before you say another word, there's something I need to tell you," he said with a serious look on his face.
"What?" she asked.
"No, not here. Come with me," he said as he took her hand and went down to the park. Dot had no choice to follow. She wondered if what he had to tell her had to do with Matrix. Bob lowered them to the ground. The binome was very thankful that they were on the ground now as he followed, huffing his way over to them. Still a good distance away, neither Bob, nor Dot had seen him yet. He got off of his zip-board and minimized it. Dot did the same and Bob directed her over to one of the benches, hidden from the rest of the park. The binome was curious why they needed to be isolated from the rest of the park. He followed them and quietly went into a nearby bush where he could hear them easily. Bob still had no idea what he would say, but he would tell her somehow. Bob sat on the bench and signaled Dot to also. "Dot," he began "I did something that I'm not proud of, and it's important that you know," he said, looking down slightly. "But, I don't know how to tell you." Dot frowned.
"Bob, you know you can tell me," she said taking his hands into hers to reassure him.
"Last night, at the diner, when everyone had left, AndrAIa stayed behind to ask me something." he paused, not wanting to say the next sentence, "Well, we both got drunk, and this morning," he swallowed hard, "we…woke up together." Bob looked down and closed his eyes, not wanting to see Dot's reaction. Dot could not believe what Bob had said. 'He and AndrAIa had done what? No that couldn't be true!' she thought to herself.
"What?" was all she could manage to say after a long silence. Bob looked up directly at her.
"Dot I am so sorry," he said quietly. "But I don't remember what happened last night. AndrAIa doesn't either," he said. Dot then pulled her hands fiercely away from his.
"And that makes it ok?!" Dot snapped at him, still in shock. "No, it doesn't make it ok," he said,
"What I did was wrong, and I admit it, but you have to understand that I didn't mean for it to happen." Dot looked at him hurt.
"How could you do that when just yesterday you promised me that you would never leave me again?!" she yelled at him, the tears that started to build up in her eyes now threatened to fall.
"Dot, no, I would never do anything to hurt you," he said, reaching for her hand again. Dot pulled back from him
"But you already did!" she said, trying to hide how much her body was trembling.
" Dot, I didn't mean to! I love you!" Bob told her. It wasn't going as he had hoped.
"I thought I felt the same way about you," Dot said as she looked to the side, blinking to try and make her tears go away before Bob could see. "I can't love someone I can't trust," she said looking into his eyes. Bob looked back at her. He saw how hurt she was just by looking into her eyes. He couldn't have hoped for that to go any worse. With that Dot got up.
"Dot," he called out quietly, "please." Dot turned around and looked at him one last time. She saw the sadness in his face. She wanted to go to him, but after what he had done to her, she was glad he was miserable. She turned the other way and took out her zip-board. Without any pause, she got on and left. But little did they know that a binome in a nearby shrub left also, but he was far happier than the two sprites, now he did have a story.
End of Chapter 6