Hunt or Be Hunted
By Julia Cat
Note This fanfic takes place right after season three, so just forget season four hasn't happened for my purposes. Thanks. ;) Also, this fanfic is under revision, so it will (finally) be finished.
Part 1 - The Great Beyond
Bob leaned back in his chair and stretched. It's so great that everything's back to normal again. I almost miss the excitement of the Web. Very few games had dropped since the restart, rendering the adventurous guardian bored, bored, bored.
Since Dot had officially been granted the position of Command.Com, she had spent most of her waking hours at the Principal Office, having Phong show her the ropes. During his time in the Web, Bob had really missed having Dot around, and, upon returning home, had hoped to be able to spend some quality time with her. Unfortunately, her new position wasn't allowing her nearly enough free time.
Bob sighed miserably. "Well," he said out loud, standing up, "it looks like I'm going to have to go relieve her of her duties myself." That said, he grabbed the keys to his ancient red convertible (which had, quite miraculously, been running relatively well since the restart) and drove over to the Principal Office.
* * *
Around this time, Dot was beginning to look quite exasperated. "Let me get this straight," she said, rubbing her temples. "Security code 0214 activates the emergency exits and security code 3746 allows access to the core control chamber?"
"That is correct, my child," Phong said proudly, adjusting his glasses. "Before we take our break, there is one more thing you must remember."
Dot stopped massaging her aching temples and looked up, urging Phong to tell her his three hundred and forty seventh piece of advice for that day.
Phong wanly smiled. "You must always know when to take a break." At Dot's eye-roll and exasperated sigh, the old Sprite added, "You're dismissed. Be back at 20:00 hours."
Relief washed over Dot's face as she smiled for the second time that day. "Thank you, Phong," she said gratefully, and left Phong's office.
A myriad thoughts found their way into her semi-active mind as she almost mechanically made her way to her own office. Her life sure had been complicated lately. First there had been the Web War, in which she had lost Bob, then that fateful game in which she lost Enzo, AndrAIa, and Frisket. She had come very close to completely losing it when the remaining Mainframers had lost the Principal Office to Megabyte, Phong with it. Dot had been shocked beyond belief when, holding onto the precious remaining threads of her sanity, she had witnessed the surprise reappearance of Bob, along with Enzo, AndrAIa, and Frisket, who had been game hopping. This emotional roller coaster had taken quite a toll on Dot, its aftermath causing her to sleep for days on end, only waking to eat. She had to admit that it was great having everything back to normal again, and finally telling Bob her true feelings for him had taken a lot off her conscience.
She stopped, suddenly realizing that she had reached her office. The door opened automatically, its rather handy pre-programmed greeting. It was only after the door slid shut behind her that she noticed Bob sitting in her chair, hands behind his head, and feet resting comfortably on her desk blotter. He grinned cheerily and said, "Hi there."
Dot shook her head in amazement. "I should have known," she mused, walking over to Bob and giving him a quick hug.
"Miss me?" Bob asked slyly, holding up a bottle of Advil. At Dot's grateful look, he added, "I know how tedious Phong's lessons can be. I remember them well."
Downing two of the pinkish tablets with a swig of energy from her desk, Dot said, "I have a few milliseconds to spare. Want to go for a walk? I'm supposed to meet Matrix and AndrAIa at Kits in a little while."
Bob was instantly curious. "What for?"
"Oh, nothing much. I figured I should relieve them both of Enzo for a while. I know what a Matrix temper is like, and if I know my brothers like I think I do..." her voice trailed off. Bob nodded, understanding instantly.
Dot grabbed her organizer from her desk, clipped it to her belt, and the pair headed for Kits.
* * *
"Hey, look!" little Enzo cried, pointing off towards the center of the city, "Bob and Dot are coming this way!" And then, before either Matrix or AndrAIa could stop him, he set off like a bullet, a green, blue, white, and red blur of motion, heading right for Bob. "BOB!" he shouted, doing his typical Enzo-style bowl-over that had become his trademark.
The guardian smiled a little pitifully, and Enzo allowed him to get up. Bob did so, brushing himself off once he got to his feet.
"Super cool," Enzo exclaimed, seeing Dot. "Bob, how'd you do it? Dot never gets away from her work unless you make her do it. What's your secret?"
Bob laughed. "No secret Enzo. Phong was giving your sister a headache. You remember his lectures, don't you?" Bob said, narrowing his eyes and grinning just enough to make him look evil.
Enzo shuddered, nodding his head vigorously. "Aw, man!" Enzo said, grimacing. "Don't remind me! That old dude's got too much free time on his hands."
"Tell me about it," Dot said, grimacing a little herself. "But he's got good intentions. I'm sure my having to memorize every code and every safety procedure will come in handy someday. So, little brother, what's processing?"
As if to punctuate Dot's statement, the system's voice, more commonly referred to as 'The Voice of Doom' reverberated down upon the system, as the sky started to glow a menacing purple that could only mean one thing: WARNING -- INCOMING GAME
AndrAIa rolled her eyes and groaned. "Well, looks like it's back to the old grind."
Bob ignored her and exclaimed, "Yes! Finally, some excitement!" Everyone else just shook their heads and cursed that guardian programming. After all, guardians did have a tendency to live for danger. All five of them shivered as the tingly energy of the game surface washed over them, a feeling that was all too familiar to each and every one of them.
As the game hit the ground with an earth-shattering crash, each member of the little party surveyed their surroundings. They were standing in the middle of a very large open plane, that, judging by the dry ground and spattering of odd-looking trees, could only be the African Serengeti. The heat from the sun was intense, and each member of the group was definitely feeling it. The soil under their feet was extremely dry and cracked, from way too much exposure to the extremely hot sun. Oddly-shaped trees, which reached their spindly branches up into the heavens, were scattered and few. A lion could be seen trying to find some water in the distance, and big ugly birds could be seen circling above the poor creature, which looked like it was about ready to drop from fatigue.
Tearing their eyes away from the sad sight, Bob and company double-clicked their icons and ReBooted. When the green pillars of light that had washed over them, initiating the ReBoot, disappeared, the Sprites were dressed very similarly. All of them were wearing slightly different renditions of safari uniforms, and Dot was unsettled to see that Bob, Matrix, and herself were armed with rifles. AndrAIa and Enzo had, respectively, lethal-looking knives, and binoculars. Each member of the team was equipped with a minute microphone and earpiece set.
There was a brief silence as Bob called upon his Glitch powers and analyzed the game. "We're in a game called 'African Safari.' According to my sensors, a mysterious creature has appeared on these plains, the Serengeti. Our job is to hunt it down and kill it before it does the same to us. It's bloodthirsty and extremely dangerous. We are to use extreme caution."
Silence followed this shocking revelation. "Well," Matrix finally said, "isn't that alphanumeric."
"So basically what Bob is saying is we're beast bait? Dude!" Enzo exclaimed. "This is going to be fun!"
Dot opened her mouth to protest, as everyone expected her to do. To everyone's surprise, especially her own, she said, "Never mind. I'm not even going to bother."
"We're in trouble, aren't we?" AndrAIa asked, looking more than a little nervous.
"Big time," Bob said. "Now. Let's make a plan."
All eyes drifted to Dot, who looked rather incredulous. "What are you all looking at me for? I'm just as clueless as you all are. I think our best bet would be to split up, to narrow our chances of being caught." She paused. "What is this dangerous monster, anyway?" As if to punctuate her statement, a distant roar could be heard, echoing over the dry plains.
"This is bad," Bob said, uttering a long-forgotten phrase. "Very bad."