CHAPTER VIII

The day was bright – too bright, the boy thought.  Of course, all those cycles cooped up in the P.O. might have affected his perspective a little.  He couldn't help but feel horribly self-conscious, feel the eyes of the others boring holes in him.  "I don't know what to do!" he whined.

"I know, Sweetie."  Dot squeezed his shoulder gently.  "Don't try too hard.  It's a beautiful cycle, we're in the park.  Just relax and enjoy it.  And think about what you want to happen, picture it in your head.  Like you did in the M.U."

"But Dot – what if…  You know.  What if I can't control it and something bad happens?"

"It won't.  Remember how you controlled the energy before?  And you're much stronger, now."

"But-"

"Trust yourself, Enzo." Glitch-Bob smiled.  Enzo absently noticed that he was still shimmering in that odd way of his.  "Remember that power-management patch that Phong uploaded?  That'll help you keep control if you need it.  Just trust yourself."

"But I don't know what to do!"  The boy could feel his frustration welling up.  "I don't know how to make anything happen, crash it!  I don't-"

"What do you want to happen?" Bob-Bob interrupted.

"What?  I…  I just want to be able to… Do stuff, I guess."

"Let's narrow it down a little.  Don't you feel a lot better now than you did?  Don't you feel less weak?"

"Yeah…"

"And your fever's down.  Well – looks to me like you've done a lot of good stuff already.  And look at all that software we downloaded into your icon.  You've got the best gear of any boy in the net, probably!  So just think about something much easier than what you've already done – something small and simple.  And then do it."

"Small and simple?" Enzo said hesitantly.  "Like what?"

"Surprise us." Bob chuckled.

"Uh, Sugar-"

"Don't worry, Mouse.  It'll be fine."

"Um.  All right."  Enzo took a deep breath, closed his eyes.  He settled down, cross-legged, on the grass.  Something was missing – something he needed.  He blushed slightly and looked up at Dot, hand out.  "Uh – could you…"

"Sure."

She smiled and settled next to him, taking his hand in her own.  He concentrated on the cool touch of her hands, closed his eyes again and breathed deeply, slowly.  "Thanks."  What should he do?  Something Hex could do…  No!  That was wrong – he wasn't like Hex.  But what else was there?  He was fresh out of ideas…

What could Hex do – just for the sake of argument?  She could teleport – but that sounded pretty scary without knowing what you were doing.  What if he figured out how to disappear but not how to come back?  Or what if he reappeared inside a rock or something?  Ouch!  No, that one was out…  She could fly.  Yeah, he'd definitely seen her do that.  That actually seemed like a pretty cool idea, flying without a zip board or anything.  Glitch-Bob could do it with Glitch's powers – why couldn't he do it with Hex's?

But how?  That was the question.  He had the power inside him – but how to bring it out without it just zapping all over the place and hurting somebody?  He couldn't be angry, that's for sure.  All the bad times had happened what he'd been angry – that's when the energy had come out.  Dot had made him angry too, in the M.U. – but just a little bit.  Just enough…

Dot.  Her hands were around his – she was right there, with him.  It was all right.  He breathed deeply, feeling the air filling the empty places in his lungs.  He imagined the energy doing the same thing.  Not a wall of fire, advancing, uncontrollable – not that.  Just a warmth – a glow inside him that he could feel, almost see.  A warmth that he could feel slowly coursing through his veins, slowly… Filling all the empty places inside him, making him strong.  Flowing out to his hands, to the very tips of his fingers.  In his mind's eye he could even see it flowing out of himself and flowing through Dot, could see the warm glow of her next to him even with his eyes shut.

User, it was exciting!  Enzo felt his whole body tremble, felt the energy dancing inside him, strong and unpredictable.  Desperately he tried to fight down his excitement, not let it control him.  He squeezed Dot's hand tight, concentrated on the firmness of her grip in his.  That energy was there, it was a part of him.  It could be controlled – if he could control himself.  It hit him like a bolt of lightning – it wasn't some outside force he had to control, it was himself.  The power was a part of him now, whether he liked it or not.  It was invigorating and terrifying at the same time…

No!  Concentrate!  It wasn't good to think about being scared, Enzo knew that much.  He felt his breathing speeding up and consciously slowed it.  Dot squeezed his hand a little tighter, as if sensing the spike in his adrenaline.  The boy relaxed a little, exhaled.  What did he want to do?  Just lift himself off the ground.  How hard could it be?  He hardly weighed anything – he was only a little spite, as he was reminded often enough.  He was just going to lift a little boy up, that's all.  Easy as pi squared.

The world of his senses seemed to leave him.  There was no sound, no smell, no sight – just the feeling of himself, a body, energy.  He imagined the body lifting slowly off the ground, rising into the air.  So slowly that it barely ruffled the grass.  The boy felt a tingling sensation all over his skin, a hundred pixels were dancing across it, a thousand.  His heartbeat became a thundering drum in his ears, loud, regular, strong.  He was strong – he knew it.  He could do anything.  The warmth was coursing through him like a river, touching all of him, leaving a sheen of energy everywhere it went.   He felt his limbs stretching out, making himself as big as he possibly could, stretching even to his toes.  It was wondrous, an ecstatic feeling.  It was being completely, totally alive.

"Enzo."

The voice was a mere whisper, but the shock of it was such that it sounded like a squadron of ABCs in his ear.  The voice was calm.  "Enzo, can you hear me?"

"Yes." He breathed.  He fluttered his eyes open, saw a reassuring patina of green directory trees.  But the trees – why were they moving?  He swiveled his eyes downwards and realized with a shock that he'd left the ground.  He was above it, dancing impossibly slowly in the air, as if caught up in the lightest of breezes.  The first reaction was sheer, unparalleled joy.  He was flying!

"I think we're getting a little too high up."  The voice was still quiet, but just a quiver of nervousness.  He jerked his head around to his left.  His hand, the grip…  Dot!  She was right next to him.  Her face was a mask of astonishment.  "Maybe we should… land?"

"Dot!" A gasp.  They were flying!  It was impossible.  Panic surged in Enzo's chest, and with it a spike of energy.  He felt his control slipping and desperately willed them downwards to the ground, slowly.  But they were moving fast, too fast…  With a shared "Oof!" the siblings tumbled to the grass with an impact that knocked the wind from their chests.

There was an explosion of concerned faces and helping hands surrounding them in a nano.  "Damn, Sugar – you guys all right?"

Enzo felt dazed for a nano, then a dull pain in his bitmap where he'd hit the ground.  His heart was racing but panic receded as he realized he was basically unscathed.  "Crash…"

"I'm fine." 

Dot!  He turned, found her in a tumble of limbs next to him.  "Sis!  Are you OK?"

"I'm all right.  A little shaken up-"

"I'm sorry!"  His arms were around her in a flash.

"Take it easy there, Kiddo!  You're gonna snap her like a memory wafer if you're not careful."

"I'm so sorry, Sis.  Are you OK?  I'm so sorry…"

"I'm fine, Sweetie!  Hush up, it's all right." 

"That was pretty amazing."  There was a note of awe in Bob's voice.

"Sis, I'm sorry-"

"I'm just fine."  Her arms were around him, holding him close to her as trembled from exhilaration and fear.  "Are you OK?  Nothing broken?"

"N-no.  I'm OK.  Jeez Dot, I'm so sorry…"

"Don't be sorry!" his sister laughed softly.  "You did fine, Enzo – it was exciting!  You did just great."

"Did you get all that?" Bob asked.

"Logged and filed, Honey." Mouse replied.  "I'm sure Phong an' me are gonna spend a few seconds porin' over this…"

"User – I can't believe it!" Enzo sighed.  His heart was still racing, along with his breathing.  "I can't believe that just happened."

"Calm down, Sweetie.  Just take deep breaths, relax.  It's all over and we're fine."

"But…  We were flying, Dot!  I mean – is that basic or what?"

"I know!  I was there!"

"Crash…"

Glitch-Bob knelt next to them, looking weary, and winked at Enzo.  "Pretty weird feeling, isn't it?  Flying without a zip board?"  Enzo returned his stare blankly.  "That was pretty good for a first try, Enzo – now, let's try and take it nice and slow, OK?  We're just finding out what you can do, that's all.  No point in taking chances."

"Yeah – I think that's enough for today, huh?  Let's rest." Dot smiled.  "How about that?  My little brother!"

Mouse shook her head in amazement.  "How did it feel, Sugar?  How'd you do it?"

Enzo was still dazed, still tingling from the feeling of the energy suffusing him.  "I…  I don't even know if I can explain it.  It was like…  It was like I could feel every part of me, somehow.  It was weird.  I sort of saw it all happening in my head…"

"What happened at the end, Pumpkin?  Did you lose the picture in your head?  The landing was a little rough."

Enzo felt himself blush.  "I don't know, I…  I kinda though about what I was doing, I guess – and I figured out how impossible it was and I felt the energy start to… Boil over or something, I dunno…  And then we were falling."

"Was it scary?" Bob smiled.

"A little.  There wasn't much time…"

"You didn't crash – you kept some control, even while you were falling." Glitch-Bob mused.   "Not bad at all, really.  We'll have to play it pretty careful, though.  No point in taking chances.  You're sure you're both OK?"

"Yeah – fine."

"Nothing broken." Dot sighed.  "Except my grip on reality."

"Eep." Bob frowned, peering over Enzo's head at something behind him.  "Nulls."

"What?" Dot turned, Enzo following suit.  There were perhaps a half-dozen of the creatures skittering through the grass, tentatively coming closer to where Enzo and Dot had crashed to the ground.  "Oh, great."

"They followed me before, too." Enzo said softly.  "In G-Prime.  Mister Pearson's, too."

Dot draped an arm around him protectively.  "Maybe we'd better get you out of here."

"I suppose they could be sensing some sort of energy trace – something familiar." Glitch-Bob mused.  "Mouse?"

"It's possible, Sugar.  We don't know much about what nulls think, but we know they're highly sensitive to energy fluctuations.  That's probably why they hung around Hex so much."

"Enzo, let's get you home-"

"Wait, Dot."

His sister shifted nervously.  "Enzo…  If they're reading your elevated energy levels we don't know what they might do.  They might try and surround you, drain your energy like they did with Hex-"

"Wait."  He took a step closer to the nulls, a burning curiosity driving him.

Dot grabbed his arm.  "Enzo, no!  Be careful!"

"Let 'im go, Honey.  This could be interestin'…  We'll keep a close eye on the l'il angel."

Enzo took another step towards the nulls, barely hearing Bob's voice behind him.  "Archiving this, Mouse?"

"You know it, Guardian."

"Enzo, you be careful!  Don't get too close."

"I'm fine, Sis."  The boy inched forward and the nulls squealed, seemingly agitated.

"Enzo!"

"I'm OK."  The boy started at the nulls, trying to concentrate, make his mind work, but it was no good – the squirming, squeaking creatures were a distraction.  The more he started at them the less he saw them.  With a sigh, the boy closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath.  He could hear the creatures, almost feel them as they skittered practically onto his feet.

"Enzo, come away from there!"

"Shhh." Mouse's voice.

He could see them now, but not like before.  He saw them in his mind – the energy traces they left, the different signatures of each null.  Each was as different to the other as a sprite was. Why hadn't he seen it before?  It was so obvious!  He felt the energy inside him again, the warm energy flowing through his body.  He could connect it – he could reach out with his energy and connect with the nulls, guide them, pull them.  He could do it.  Without even realizing it his hands were in front of him, acting out the vision in his mind.  It was as if the nulls were an orchestra in front of him…  As he moved his hands, they moved.  His energy and theirs were one, an unbroken circle.

A million systems away he could feel droplets of sweat forming on his forehead, slowly dripping down his face.  He swallowed, throat dry.  Controlling one was easy – his mind focused sharply on the signature in front of him.  But controlling several at a time was harder, much harder.  His mind had to be in too many places at once.  He could gather their energies to his, cluster them together side by side, even pile them one on top of the other.  But they were still distinct, each needing a little slice of his attention and every time he'd firm the link with one another would slip away from him.  He needed to combine them somehow, unite their energies – but how?  He could do it, it was energy, that's all it was.  But how?  How could it do it?

The boy heard a groan, realized it was coming from him, and felt soft grass under him as he fell.  The nulls were gone from his mind – now just squeaking, skittering blips on the edge of his consciousness.  He felt himself being gathered up and lifted off the ground.  "That's enough.  No more.  Come on, Sweetie, that's enough."

"Dot…"  Enzo blinked sweat from his eyes.  "I could feel them.  It was amazing…"

She carried him back to the others, sat with her back to a directory tree, the boy still in her arms.  "That's enough for today.  Just rest, now."

"I could feel them, Dot.  They're all different!  I tried to control all of them but I couldn't…"

"I know, Angel.  You did just fine.  Now just rest, take it easy.  You've done enough for one cycle."

Enzo could feel his consciousness slipping away.  He was weary, but not the same awful, ravaged weariness he'd felt earlier.  This was almost reassuring, in it's way – like being tired at the end of a long hike with Bob.  "Dot…  If I can control the nulls.  Maybe I…I can bring Dad back."

"I know, Angel.  I know.  But don't worry about it just now, OK?  You're tired.  Don't worry about anything right now."

"Amazing." Bob said softly.  "Never seen anything like it since I've been processing…"

His father was in Enzo's thoughts as he drifted off in Dot's arms.  It was really possible – he could do it, if only he were strong enough.  If only he were strong enough.  With that thought echoing in his mind, he gave in to exhaustion.

"Hey!  How long have you been up?"

"Just a few nanos." Enzo yawned.  Bob and Glitch-Bob entered the room, sat on opposite corners at the foot of the bed.  "Guess I was pretty tired…"

"Maybe you're pushing yourself too hard." Glitch-Bob frowned.

"Naw – I'm OK."  Enzo was in his own bed, in his own room – things weren't too bad.  There was a weariness after he worked on his program, but he wasn't sick.  It was just being tired after working hard. "What're you guys up to?"

"Just paying you a visit.  And dropping something off." Bob smiled.

Enzo frowned.  A present?  Neither of the Guardians was carrying a parcel…  "What did you bring me?  It's not my birthday."

"Nothing too much.  We were talking, Enzo – about a lot of stuff.  Scarface told me-"

"Hey!"

Bob winked slyly at Enzo.  "Scarface told me all about what happened before Ray brought me back through the portal.  About how you came back from the game and helped Matrix cure himself.  How you found Hex, helped her – I have to say I was pretty impressed.  That was a tough situation, and you really came through."

"Thanks."  Enzo blushed.  "I…  I was just trying to do the right thing, I guess."

"Well, good job!" Bob grinned.  "I noticed how you rebooted into a Guardian uniform before you did all that stuff.  You might not have been a Guardian, but you acted like one.  You did that uniform proud, Enzo."

"Really?"  Enzo knew he was grinning like an idiot, but he didn't really care.

"Really.  I made a decision once – a decision to promote a young sprite who was still pretty green around the ears – and everywhere else!  But he proved I made the right decision then.  And you proved it again."

"Phong's given you a lot of software upgrades already, Kiddo." Glitch-Bob smiled wearily.  "We have one more for you if you're interested."

Enzo's heart began to race in his chest.  "Bob!  You mean…"

Glitch-Bob patted the boy's hand.  "You're in for a pretty tough road, Pal.  It was pretty tough after I merged with Glitch – and it was a lot easier for me, because I could communicate with the Glitch part of me – sort of.  I knew Glitch almost as well as I knew him."  The Guardian gestured towards his shorter-haired colleague.  "You don't really know anything about this power you've been given – you're going to need all the help we can give you.  And I might not always be here to help you myself…  But there's another way we can help you."

Bob leaned forward.  "Enzo, the Guardian protocols can help you focus.  They can help you concentrate.  You'll still have a lot of hard work ahead of you, but we think this will make it easier.  When you're upgraded it strips away some of the distractions from your mind.  It might make a big difference."

"Also, the Guardian protocols are designed to interface with a keytool.  Keytools have pretty high power capacities.  Not trans-finite, but pretty high.  That could make a difference, too."

"You…  You guys are gonna make me a Guardian?  Do you mean it?"

"We agreed." Glitch-Bob nodded.  "Which hasn't happened very often over the last few cycles…"

"We really think it'll be good for you, Enzo.  But we still wouldn't have done it…"

"If we didn't think you deserved it."

"Crash!  It's true?  I can't believe it!"

Glitch-Bob leaned forward now, his head practically touching his clone's.  "It's true.  But I nee to know you're ready for this, Enzo.  If you accept the protocols it means you accept everything they stand for.  It means you commit yourself to mend and defend, no matter what.  You have to be sure."

"Yeah!  Oh User, yeah…  It's all I ever wanted, honest!"

"That's not all, Enzo.  A big part of being a Guardian is discipline – and that comes from you, not the protocols.  That discipline is gonna be even more important to you now.  You're going to have to promise me you'll train long and hard, and you'll listen to Bob, OK?  He's going to push you pretty hard sometimes.  You promise?"

"Yeah.  I promise!"  Something about what Glitch-Bob said was wrong, he could sense it…  But it didn't matter, he was going to be a Guardian!  A real one, not just a kid in a Guardian suit…

"OK, then."  Glitch-Bob sighed.  He turned to his doppelganger.  "Go for it."

"Right." Bob nodded.  He held out his hand.  "Your icon please, Enzo."  Trembling, the boy complied.  "Just one thing, Enzo – we don't know for sure that this is going to work.  It's possible that Whatever Hex did to your icon will effect its ability to run the upgrade."

"Oh no!  Really?"  The thought was almost too terrible to think about.  He was so close!

"One way to find out."  Bob removed his own icon and held it in his left hand, held the boy's purple and gold one in his right.  "Downloading Guardian protocol to version 1.0."  A stream of data passed between the two discs.

"Oh User… How long does it take?  What if it doesn't work?  Crash…"

"Relax." Glitch-Bob said softly, squeezing Enzo's hand.  His eyes never left the two icons.

Bob exhaled, replaced his own icon.  The boy's was unchanged, visually.  "I guess that's it.  Here you go, Tiger.  Put that on and reboot for me."

"OK."  Enzo took the icon in a shaking hand and pinned it to his chest.  "Crash!  It looks stupid over my pajamas like that…"

"Just reboot!" Bob giggled.  "The suspense is killing me…"

"Oh!  Yeah…"  Enzo closed his eyes and double-clicked his icon.  When he opened them he was dressed in a Guardian uniform – not the powder-blue jumpsuit that Bob wore, but a darker blue one with gold trim and black boots.  A cadet uniform.  "Alphanumeric!  It worked!"

"Looks that way." Bob grinned and turned to his companion.  "Well?"

Glitch-Bob closed his eyes and furrowed his brow.  "Yeah…  Guardian upgrade version 1.0 is running.  Everything looks normal."

"Looks like we got ourselves a cadet."

"Yes!" Enzo laughed, bouncing up and down on the bed.  "This is super-cooled, double-sided, pixelacious!"

"Just remember why we did it." Glitch-Bob said sternly, hands on Enzo's shoulders.  "Because we think it can help you deal with your new capabilities, and because we think you deserve it.  Don't let us down, OK?  We're counting on you."

"I won't.  Not ever!"  Enzo looked up from admiring his uniform and noticed for the first time that Glitch-Bob was shimmering again, like he had before the transfusion.  His face looked drawn and thin as well.  "Bob?"

"Congratulations." The long-haired sprite smiled, squeezing Enzo's hand.  "I want you to promise to listen to everything Bob says, OK?  I'm not going to see you for a little while."

"Why?"  Enzo felt like all the air had been kicked out of him.  "You're…  You're going away?  No!"

"I'm not going away.  But I have to go back to the medical unit for a while."

"The M.U.?  Why?  I thought you were better!"

"I am, Tiger.  Crewcut over there gave me a transfusion and it really helped.  But it didn't fix the real problem.  You know how I told you I merged with Glitch?  To get everyone back in so they could save Mainframe?"

"Y-yeah…"

"Well, I'm glad I did that.  But there's a reason we're not supposed to merge with our keytools.  And you know that Glitch was damaged – Megabyte did that, remember.  And now Glitch is a part of me, so I'm damaged too.  I can't maintain my energy levels, no matter how much energy I take in.  And it isn't going to get any better by itself."

"No!"  Enzo gasped.  "Maybe…  Maybe I could help you.  I've got tons of energy now!"  He threw his arms around the Guardian's neck.  "I can help you, Bob!"

"No you can't, Tiger.  I can't absorb enough energy, no mater where it comes from or how much there is.  Thanks, but it wouldn't work."

"No!"  Enzo felt hot tears stinging the corners of his eyes.  "You can't delete, Bob.  You can't, not now!  Please…"

Glitch-Bob returned the boy's embrace in kind.  "I'm not going without a fight Enzo, I can promise you that.  I'm not going without a fight."

"What…  What are you going to do?"

"Phong and Mouse are going to try and separate Glitch from my codes.  If they can do that, I should be able to regenerate and I'll be OK."

"R-really?" Enzo sniffled.

"We're going to try, Kiddo.  But it's not something anyone's ever done before, so we don't know what's gonna happen.  I'm going into the M.U. today and they'll start getting me ready.  But I want you to promise me that you'll work hard and listen to Bob no matter what happens, OK?"

"No!  You won't delete Bob, I know you won't.  You can't!"  Enzo thought that somehow a brand-new Guardian cadet shouldn't be crying, but he didn't care.  It just didn't seem important, anymore.

"I'll give it everything I have.  I swear.  But I still want you to promise me, OK?  Promise me you'll listen to Bob, and your sister too, while you're at it."

"I promise." The boy sighed.  "But don't die!"

"Is that an order, Cadet?  Are you ordering a superior officer?"

"N-no!"  A teary laugh.  "I don't want either of you to go away, ever.  I like having both of you here."

"Be brave." Glitch-Bob whispered, and pounded him on the back.  He gently lowered the boy to the bed.  "And remember what you promised."

"OK."  Enzo sighed, wiping his eyes.  "Thanks for telling me."  I bet Dot didn't want you to…

"It'll be all right."  Bob-Bob smiled his ever-youthful smile.  "Cadet."

"Yeah."  He wasn't sure if he really believed it.   "I wonder if they'll ever figure out which one of you is the original…"

"I don't think it matters too much." Glitch-Bob said softly.  "Do you think it matters, Enzo?"

"Not a byte." The boy said decisively.  "A copy's as good as an original any cycle!"  He smiled, looked up at Glitch-Bob's haggard face and started to cry again, just a little.  "Oh User, please don't delete…"

"Not without a fight.  Now – why don't you and crewcut go do some training?  Break in that new uniform?"

"But-"

"Come on, Pal.  I'll show you some of my secret martial arts moves.  Let's give the old man a little peace, huh?"

Enzo looked at Glitch-Bob.  The Guardian wanted time alone with Dot – it was obvious.  To say good-bye.  The thought almost made him cry again, but he fought back the tears through gritted teeth.  "OK."  Glitch-Bob tousled his hair once, softly, and the boy took Bob's hand and went out into the sunny Mainframe morning.