Note: I reread the first few chapters, and realized I did make a mistake. Since this is an alternate beginning, there's hardly a chance that the kids have met Gigabyte yet...so I've decided that there's almost a complete month's difference between chapters 2 and 3. This chapter is the longest of all, definitely. I guess it's because I liked this chap the most! Don't worry, the other ones won't be this long. At least I hope not! OO;
EXTRA CREDIT: The song featured in this story was written by Kossmoe. Please give her credit for it. The song's name is "Nothing".
ALTERNATE DIMENSIONS
Story by DarkHououmon
Inez saw the light ahead of her. Her mind was rushing with all sorts of questions. Where was she? Why was she there? Who did this? How will she get out? She was interrupted as the light broke out in a bright flash, pulling her in like a vacuum. She covered her eyes, shielding them from the intense light. She went right through the light like a shooting star, sailing high into the air. She found the courage to open up her eyes, and was horrified at what she was seeing. It was Cyberspace...only a few things were demolished! Even Headquarters had a bit of dents in it. But the damages weren't so bad...Inez tried to find something to grab onto. 'But how can I grab something in midair?' The hispanic girl thought. She looked down again, and saw she was about to land right on top of Headquarters, which somehow reminded her of the one place where she and her friends did that numbers below zero technique to find Delete and Buzz. She shook the thought out of her mind...wondering why she had thought that.
She crashed pretty hard on the ground. Then again she didn't have anything to protect her from the harsh landing. She got up and brushed herself off. She looked at the building, whose windows looked smashed. Well, three of them were smashed. The others looked scratched or slightly dented. "I wonder why the place is like this? Could Hacker have..." She shuddered, and shrugged the terrible thought. She decided to ask Motherboard about what was going on. She walked up to the doors. They seemed a bit scratched up. "What could have done this?" She said to herself. Cyberspace was looking a bit dark lately. Even the building looked dark. She gulped, and slowly opened up the door. There was an eerie creaking sound, and a crack of light shown through into the room. She didn't see any light inside, but shrugged that aside. She decided to take a chance and stepped in.
"Someone came through into this dimension!" A voice sounded out. Inside the Control Room, a blue cyborg, Dr. Marbles, was scrambling through data papers and computer pictures. There was some type of disruption between worlds. A metallic bird, who could only be Digit, flew in, full of panic. "What is it, Doc!" "There was some type of temporal displacement. Someone has entered Cyberspace!" Digit's eyes registered in shock and surprise. He knew what this meant...more humans. That's the last thing any of them needed! More humans...what a nightmare. "Digit, go get the others. We need to deal with this, right away." "But..what if it's another..." Dr. Marbles raised his hands. "We cannot worry about that right now, Digit. Just get the others!" Digit nodded, and left the room. Dr. Marbles was left behind, trying to deal with the current situation.
"Another human...the ones here are bad enough. Why do we need another?" He turned towards Motherboard, who was very weak from a human virus that entered her system. He was still very angry with himself at what had happened. If only he could have stopped it! Those kids...they would pay dearly for what they've done!
The room was dark and quiet. She looked ahead, seeing that no lights where on. 'This is weird...' Inez thought as she walked down the hallway, the only sounds being made were her shoes squeaking on the solid ground. Being in darkness for an extended period of time gave her the chills. There was a time when she was in a situation like this. It was out in the woods. At least here she didn't have to worry about wolves, bears, and pumas. But something wasn't right here. Something was way off. She exited out of the room and entered the hallway. It was pitch black. Inez could feel the tension inside of her rising. What was going on? Normally the room wasn't this quiet. The whole area was shrouded in silence...
She continued to walk towards the room with Motherboard. She believed that maybe she would be able to answer what's going on. After all, Motherboard was a supercomputer and knew the answers to almost anything. The keyword in there was almost. As she closed in, she felt a change of wind behind her. Someone had ran past her in the back. She whipped her head around quickly. All she saw was black. A single ray of light shown down through a crack in the wall, providing a bit of light. 'Thank goodness...' She said in her mind as she continued to walk towards the main room. Maybe it was just her imagination that saw..err...felt that brush behind her. She was only 5 ft away from the door, but then, someone suddenly jumped out of the shadows.
"Ahhhh!" Inez screamed in surprise, jumping back a few inches. The person in front of her was tall and green. He had a pointy chin and a purple cape. She recognized this guy anywhere. "Hacker!" She looked up at the man, some fear in her eyes. 'What's he doing here?'
"Oh no you don't!" Hacker yelled, "You're not going to mess with Motherboard. Not while I'M around!"
Inez blinked her eyes in surprise. Hacker? Protecting Motherboard? That wasn't right! HE was the enemy. Why did he think she would hurt Motherboard? She scratched her head a bit. "What are you talking about? You are the one who wants to mess with Motherboard." It was now Hacker's turn to look surprised. He raised his hands in the air, waving them as he said, "No, I am here to protect Motherboard." 'Something is definitely off here...' Inez sat down on the ground, her hands on her head. She was trying to think of the possibilities here. Hacker seems to be telling the truth about protecting Motherboard. After all...if he had been lying, then why didn't he attack Motherboard now? She seemed to be the only one there. The only human that is. Matt and Jackie were no where in sight. Neither was Digit.
Hacker noticed the girl was keeping quiet. 'Why hasn't she said any threats?' He looked at her, his eyes showing his confusion. He, too, didn't know what was going on. Using caution, he stepped closer to the hispanic girl. She adjusted her glasses as she looked up at him. She knew that he was just as confused as she. "Why didn't you threaten me? Why no rude comments?"
"Why would I do that?" Inez asked.
"Because that's what you always do." Hacker responded.
Inez glared at him. "I would never do that! Well...at least not in front of you, anyway..." Her voice trailed off. Hacker folded his arms, almost harshly glaring at her. But it was more out of confusion than anger. 'I need to get to the bottom of this.' He held out his hand as a gesture showing he was going to explain or ask something. "Why are you acting so strangely?" "Me?" Inez gasped, placing her hands on her chest. She then pointed out towards him, "It's you who's acting so strangely lately!" Hacker shook his head. He rubbed his forehead as he was getting a headache from this. Inez cocked her head to the left. Perhaps neither of them was lying. There must be an explanation! She brought out her bag that she had brought with her. She had almost forgotten that it was there. She had it when she was sucked through the strange red portal.
"We both know that something is off...abnormal."
Hacker nodded his green head, brushing his black hair. "Yes, I can see that."
Inez then pulled out a device. The Squwak Pack in her heads was shaped oddly. That's how it always is. Hacker looked at her in slight amazement. "A Squwak Pack! How'd you get that?" His voice was laced in shock. The hispanic girl narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Don't you remember? Motherboard gave my friends and I this when...wait! Hacker, may I ask you a question?" The cyborg in front of her thought about this. A few questions could settle everything. It would stop the confusion. "Go on..." "Okay, when you were invented by Dr. Marbles...sometime later..didn't you infect her harddrive with a virus?" Hacker's eyes registered in anger. Appalled, he shouted, "OF COURSE NOT!"
The girl, surprised, stepped backwards. "Then who did?" What was said next would forever be engraved in her mind. The cyborg responded impatiently, "You did!" Inez, shaking, almost fell back to the ground. She struggled back to her feet. "Then...I think I know the explanation." Hacker narrowed his eyes, awaiting the explanation. "Well..and that would be?" "Alternate Dimensions..."
Not far, a group of what appeared to be shadows, two of them, was walking around. They carried bags with them, and appeared to be running away from someone. As they entered a bit of light, it was apparrent they were just kids. 9-12 years old at least. They narrowed their eyes at their chasers. One of them pulled out something from within their pockets and tossed them at the followers. As the objects landed on the ground, they exploded, creating a cloud of smoke all around them. The kids laughed as they evaded the police easily. The group headed towards the Grim Wreaker, which lay in front of them. The door was already open. Another figure stood within the door, their hands on their hips. They signalled for the other two to hop inside. They did, and as soon as they got inside, the door instantly closed, causing the police to hault in their tracks.
"They've gotten away!" One of them shouted. Horror was in his voice. The Grim Wreaker acted up, smoke spewing from the engines. The hovercrafts activated, causing the giant ship to rise from the ground. It turned the opposite direction, and flashed into Cyberspace. The smoke left behind caused the men to cough.
From inside, the three kids who had escaped all laughed evilly. They placed their bags on the table. The ship was on auto-pilot. They didn't need to operate it the whole time. Inside there was dark red jewels and a single light purple one. The light slowly came into view, and revealed who they were. There was no mistaking the orange hair...the dark brown skin...the dark glasses...The kids were identified as Matt, Jackie, and Inez! But they seemed different. Not just in the way they acted, but how they looked as well. They sat at the table, counting up how many jewels there were. They were discussing on what they should do with them. With their reputation, they didn't need to buy anything at all. The new Matt still had the green shirt and blue pants, but now had two light pink scars snaking up his right arm. He wore a black ring around his left arm. His shirt had a few rips in it. Same with his pants.
Alt-Inez had red glasses instead of the black ones. But unfortunately, other than the rips of her clothes, there was nothing else different between her and the other Inez. She held in front of her the single light purple jewel, a dark smile casted on her light tan face. Jackie sat next to her. Her face wore a mask of darkness. She glared at the jewels ahead of her. She had a spiked collar around her neck, ripped skirt, and a scar on her face. Her eyes were full of darkness. She thrusted her arms onto the table suddenly, lifting her body slightly in the air, and leaned over the table. "We're missing a few of the jewels!" Her voice was a hissing snarl. Inez scoffed. She lifted up the purple jewel, holding it out at her, but not signalling for her to take it. She said, "It only takes one red jewel to activate this one, glitch brain." Jackie clearly looked furious at what Inez had called her. But she was the leader around her, and the leader always got the last word, or at least that's what Alt-Inez says. She lowered herself back down in her seat. Alt-Inez sat back down, cracking her knuckles. "We still need to design that machine. Matt, have you gotten the tools yet?" The hispanic turned over towards Matt, who didn't seem to be paying attention. He had gathered a few of the jewels and was building what looked like a bridge. "Bye bye, stupid bridge!" He murmured, taking out a slightly larger red jewel and thrusting it forward to knock down the bridge construction.
"MATT!"
The boy yelped in surprise. He dropped the jewel onto the bridge, causing all the crimson-colored jewels to collapse on top of one another. They spilled down, leaving a pile of red in front of the american. He shook his head in surprise, and stared at Alt-Inez, an annoyed look on his face. He brushed off a few of the gems that landed on his pants, all of them hitting the ground lightly, and asked, "What was that for?" "Well, glitch brain, if you were paying more attention maybe..." Matt glared at her, but stopped almost immediately. The one thing he didn't want to do was get her too mad. The last time he did he was locked up in a closet. 'I've been locked in there millions of times...' He said to himself. Alt-Inez backed off, still holding the light violet jewel. It began to glow faintly. "Well, have you done your job or what?" She asked impatiently. She had her hands on her hips, and she was tapping her foot impatiently. Her eyes were narrowed so much that they almost looked like cat pupils against the red brim of her glasses. Matt shook his head slowly. "No...I haven't been able to..." He felt a sudden force hit him as the girl grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards her, an icy glare on her face. "And what NOT!"
The boy shook a little in fright. He wasn't too scared...he and Jackie were used to having Alt-Inez bully them like that. It was her way have keeping in charge. Besides, they were the same way. Matt just didn't see any reason to go against her...but he didn't totally agree with her being the leader and all. She was, in fact, the youngeset one there. He always said that he should be leader, but the hispanic always pointed out that he had a short attention span. "I-I-I...don't know..." He finally muttered, his eyes focusing on the angry girl in front of him. She let him go, dropping into the seat. She turned back to her own seat. Alt-Inez took of her glasses and cleaned them a bit. They got a bit foggy when she was grabbing Matt. "I don't even know why I am stuck with such glitch brains like you." She said aloud. Jackie snarled, turning her head to the side. "Can't you find any other insults to say other than 'glitch brain'?" She folded her arms angrily. Alt-Inez turned her attention towards the african-american black girl.
She said, "You got a problem?" Her tone was low and very threatening. Jackie gulped a bit, backing into her seat more. "Uh...no." "Good..." Suddenly the radar started beeping. The lightbulb in the room that they were in was flashing brightly. The red light covered their faces, making them look like they were painted dark red. Alt-Inez reached into her pockets and got out some leather gloves. They were also fingerless. She slipped them on, a nice tight fit. She ran over to the radar and typed into the keyboard. She stared up at the screen while the light still flashed. Matt and Jackie waited at their seats, and they were positioned to jump out into action.
Alt-Inez growled softly. "Now this is quite the surprise." Jackie asked, "What is?" Alt-Inez turned off the radar, but kept the screen of where the radar was pointing on screen. She pushed in the keyboard, and got up out of the chair. She slightly tugged at her gloves, but didn't remove them. "Turns out that someone has crossed dimensions." She finally tugged hard on her gloves, pulling them completely from her hands. She gave her friends a harsh glare. "You two have any idea who it is?" Matt was yawning, his eyes closed. He held his hand out in front of him, but sensed people looking at him. He opened up his eyes, was shocked, and snapped back to reality. Jackie adjusted her collar, and she and Matt stared at eachother in confusion. Finally, they turned back to Alt-Inez, shrugging their shoulders in confusion. She scoffed a bit. "I wouldn't know either. Stupid radar doesn't show that...but I do know where to find him or her..." The two looked on eagerly. Smiling darkly, she said, "She or he, it even, landed near Control Center. We will go there in a few hours." She turned to Matt, who immediately backed away, almost knowing what was going to happen. "Meanwhile...Matt...if you don't get that machine done by 2 hours, this fist," She forms a fist with her hands, "..is going to be in your mouth!" The green-shirted boy didn't look to scared. 'You've gotta be kidding me...' But he decided not to question his leader's words, and went to the room where some of the tools they needed lay.
Hacker looked at the girl and was a bit amazed. "Alternate dimension...you say..." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He looked up at the air above them, thinking everything through. The girl in front of him looked so much like the one he knows, but there were somethings different about her. He was in a bit of a big hurry and didn't catch that she didn't have red colored glasses nor did she wear a spiked collar. Inez looked up at the green cyborg. She was still feeling threatened about his presence, even though he seemed to be a good version of the villain she has to deal with back home. She slowly nodded her head. "I am pretty sure that's what's going on here. You said that I infected Motherboard, but that's not how I remember it..." Her voice trailed off almost hauntingly. Hacker narrowed his eyes, fixated on the girl. He asked lowly, "And how do you remember it?" Inez sighed. She placed her head on the ground, and flipped her body straight up. She was doing a handstand. Hacker's white eyes widened in shock. 'Why did she...' "Why are you doing that?" "I think better this way." She replied. Hacker laughed to himself. "You really think so?" He managed to choke out, trying to hold back loud laughter. Inez glared coldly at him for a second, then continued. "Well, here's the story..."
FLASHBACK:
Hacker was seated inside the Grim Wreaker. His hands weren't on any controls. He was staring at the screen. A picture of three kids, later identified as Matt, Jackie, and Inez, shown on the screen. An evil smile was on his face. "This is great!" Hacker shouted evilly, raising his arms into the air. "Yeah." He heard his robot minions say. They were standing near the window, looking out at Cyberspace. "You're right. Cyberspace is great!" Delete agreed, smiling gayly, "Yeah!" He placed his hands on the window, and pressed his face against it. The green cyborg growled in frustration. "NOT CYBERSPACE, YOU DUNCEBUCKETS!" He calmed down, and gestured towards the screen. The robots turned to look, noticing the children on the screen finally. "Them." Hacker continued, looking them through eyes promising something not so nice. "Those children are going to help me achieve my master plan!" The robots looked at the screen in confusion. 'How are they going to help?' Buzz thought. The Hacker moved back in his chair, a wide grin on his face. Delete, in his usual giddy mood, replied, "You mean your all-time best plan to take over Cyberspace?"
Hacker glanced down at the tall machine. He raised his hands, and the robot backed away. The cyborg looked like he was going to strike, but instead slammed his fist into the table. "OF COURSE THAT PLAN!" He turned back to the screen, a dark smile on his face. "Soon, Motherboard." He whispered to himself. He continued to fixate his gaze upon the kids, who were looking at a library map. They were unaware of the evil that was stirring up someplace they couldn't see at the time. They were oblivious to the danger...oblivious to the face that Hacker can see and hear them...He sat in his chair, waiting, and watchin...for the right moment...to strike!
Inez stood beside the map, growling impatiently. She had been waiting for hours to get to the library on time. She had to run a couple of errans. She would've gotten them done in time, but because of traffic, she was slowed down greatly. She barely made it through the doors 10 minutes before they closed. Now she had to wait even longer because two other kids, one white male, and another black female, had to use the map as well. 'I don't have time for this!' The boy, Matt pointed towards the map, as if showing the girl something. The female laughed. Her name was Jackie. Inez shook her head a bit. Matt asked, "Is this the way to the Mythology section?"
Suddenly, Inez found herself marching forward, almost ready to push them out of the way. They stare at her in surprise. "Excuse me! You're not the only one who needs to use the map!" Her hands on her hips, she growled harshly to herself. Matt narrowed his eyes, but focused his attention at the digital map in front of him. He pointed upwards towards one of the squares, as if he were lost. "I'm trying to figure out how this map works." He said to the smaller girl. Jackie placed her face in her hand, and moved her head from side to side. "Look, it's easy." She points to one of the squares, a far corner one, and pressed against it, revealing a colored red dot. "That's where we are, right?" Matt and Inez nodded in agreement, and watched the black girl move her finger towards another square. "Here are the places we each want to go. All we have to do is look at this map, and see which directions we should go to get there. We can do that by pressing the place we want to go to. I need to find a place where I can get my homework done. The Reading Room seems to do nicely." She presses the box where directions to Reading Room were contained. Inez walked in, gently pushing the two older kids aside. "But I need to do some research. I need to go to the Library!" She pressed the next square hastily. Matt came up, a smile on his face. He said, "I want to look up about mythology." He pressed a square. There were now 4 red dots glowing on the screen.
Hacker laughed, and knew this was his moment to strike. "It's time!" He pressed a button in front of him, and watched the fun begin.
"What's going on?" Matt asked, a bit scared. The red dots were suddenly moving! They moved in closer to eachother. The kids gathered around, and, almost instinctively, moved their hands forward, pointing out a finger. Inez said, "They're moving..." Jackie agreed, "They're going to crash!" Sure enough the dots soon touched eachother on the map. The kids, at the same time, pressed their fingers against the dots as they attached to eachother, and they yelped in surprise when what looked like lightning sizzled out in all directions. They fell to the ground and watched as the lightning moved around in a counter-clock wise motion. "What have we done?" Jackie whispered.
"HAHAHAHAAA!"
Hacker laughed, his arms raised up in triumph. Delete and Buzz were cheering him on. "Way to go Boss!" The short robot said. The cyborg didn't pay any attention to him. He held out a remote control and pointed it towards Control Central. He said, "Now I can send a virus to Motherboard, and NOTHING WILL STOP ME FROM TAKING OVER...CYBERSPACE!" He quickly pressed the button, his evil gaze on the round material that jetted out from his ship. He sat down and waited to see what was going to happen. The virus got closer towards Control Central...closer to Motherboard.
Dr. Marbles sat in front of Motherboard. He was lowered underneath her main computer system. Digit stood close by, his iron chest open up to reveal some tools that the doctor was using. "Don't worry, Motherboard. The upgrade should be done soon!" Digit watched almost cautiously as Dr. Marbles tightened up a few screws and added some things. Motherboard looked left to right, as if she were worried. "Please hurry. It's not safe for me in this mode." Digit cocked his head to the right. He raised up his hands into the air, as if indicating nothing was wrong. "Relax Motherboard. What could possibly go wrong?" He shouldn't have said that. Dr. Marbles was just about finished when the supercomputer sensed something coming closer to her. It had breached her systems! She shouted out in shocked alarm, "HACK ATTACK! HACK ATTACK!" Dr. Marbles sat up surprised, and Digit reared back in horror. He said, in a terrified tone of voice, "Hacker's BACK!" Marbles looked in in disbelief. He didn't want to believe it either. But Motherboard was never wrong. "That's impossible!" The doctor looked up at the supercomputer, worry in his voice. "We drained his power and banished him eons ago!" Motherboard shouted again, "Hurry! The virus he sent is getting closer!" Dr. Marbles fumbled around the buttons.
"The Firewall is being set up." He read the meter closely. "Meter is at 56...66...67 percent up." All he and his cyboid friend could do was wait until the firewall was complete. Unfortunately, they were too late...
"Too late...the virus has breached my system. I am shutting down..." Her voice deepened mechanically; it was what robotics, even computers, did before they die, or as they say, shut down. Dr. Marbles quickly glanced at the meter as Motherboard's systems were being destroyed one by one. The meter finally read 100 percent, and the virus stopped completely. But the damage was still there. "There, no further harm done." Digit cautiously walked to his boss. His face bore a sad one. Looking up at the doctor, he asked, "She's in bad shape, huh Doc?" Dr. Marbles looked at the cyboid, then looked towards the exit. He started walking towards it, and said back to Digit, "Her Encrypto Chip has been damaged. I'll have to go and get a new one." As he exited the door, he reminded Digit, "Watch Motherboard while I'm gone!" Digit smiled, and nodded his head. He raised his wing and placed it against his forehead like a soldier soluting someone of a higher stature. "You can count on me, doc!"
Dr. Marbles hopped into his HoverCoop and began flying towards whatever Cybersite had another available Encrypto Chip. He unknowingly fell right into Hacker's trap. "I still don't know how Hacker was able to..." "HELLO!" A voice boomed loudly above him. He gulped. 'That sounded familiar...' He shook in slight fright and looked above him. He was horrified to see a giant green ship sailing above him! He peered closer and saw Hacker standing behind the large glass window, located in the very front of the enormous ship. "HACKER!" The android shouted in surprise. He kicked his Coop in overdrive in an attempt to get out. The cyborg just smirked. He pressed a button, and a door opened up, revealing a black chamber. Before Marbles could activate the overdrive, a large metal hand, which looked like a shovel in a way, swooped down and grabbed his ship tightly around the sides. "Gotcha!" The android looked up in terror as he was pulled to the ship, and the door enclosed in front of him. Hacker laughed darkly as he soared across Cyberspace, looking for the perfect place to drop off Dr. Marbles for hostage uses.
Digit saw this and panicked! Who was going to help Motherboard now? And Dr. Marbles was in trouble, too! The bird backed up near the supercomputer's harddrive, shaking visibly. "What are we going to do now?" The supercomputer smiled slightly, saying, "I have an..idea. But it's never been done before." Digit looked up at her, wondering what she was talking about. "I am...going to contact...the...other side." She said simply, making the bird jump into the air in shock. "YOU'RE GONNA WHAT!" "It's the only thing we can do, Digit."
"But Motherboard...it's never been tested...I mean...how can we..." But before he could finish, Motherboard activated a device. This one would allow her to be seen and heard by any humans on the other side. It's never been tested, that's right. And there's a chance she could get the wrong people. But she trusted the device wouldn't fail her. This was her only chance!
The three kids in the library shook from the mere shock of what just happened. One minute they were trying to help eachother find their way around the place. The next minute, the map started acted weird and when they touched it...
"We broke it!" Jackie shouted, horrified. Matt walked closer towards the machine, placing his hand on it. A red dot never appeared, and the screen was dark. "It sure seems that way!" Inez didn't look any better. She had her hands on her face, worried that someone had seen them break it. They could get into big trouble for this! She didn't have time...She still had research to do, but all thanks to a miscalculation... "This is bad! Bad! Bad! Bad!" She whimpered to herself, hoping that the other two kids never heard her. They stepped closer to the screen after seeing something flicker on. "What's going on?" Matt asked, but his question was answered when the screen went completely blank for one second, then a face shimmered on. It was definitely feminine, with a boxy kind of face. 3-D, actually, and she had curly hair and odd shaped eyes. Flashing lights were visible in the background. 'What's happening?' Inez said to herself. She and the kids drew back a few centimeters, unsure of what was about to happen.
"Hello." The being said. "I am Motherboard."
Jackie placed her hands on her face, shaking. 'Oh no!' "Oh, man. We're in for it now!" She moved back behind the girl with the glasses, voice full of anxiety. "She's probably FBI!" The supercomputer shook her head, reassuring her. "No I'm not. I'm the ruler of all Cyberspace." 'CYBERSPACE? But that place is fantasy!' Inez had been there thousands of times. She was a computer geek, as people say. She didn't mind being called that, because it was very much true. She would spend hours online, and did go to some place called Cyberspace. But it being real? That had to be a fake! Something is really wrong here... She scoffed silently, her hands on her hips. "Right..." She said sarcastically, "And I'm Xena, Warrior Princess!" Motherboard could sense the girl's doubt. 'Maybe if I take them there, they'll believe me...' "I need your help." Matt shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know how or why he should help the supercomputer. After all...they had just met, and he didn't know if he could trust her or not. The same thing with the other children. Jackie informed her, "I don't know if we can..." The computer simply replied, "We need your help right away, Jackie." "Now how c-...wait! How did you know my name?"
"Jackie...Matt...Inez..." The humans huddled closer together. They looked at eachother with the same expression. The being knew them! They had just met, and already she knows their names! Maybe she was telling the truth. The boy looked up at the supercomputer, still feeling anxious about the whole procedure. "Dr. Marbles needs your help! Come on!" Suddenly the screen blacked out, and something ripped open in front of them. It wasn't a door. It looked like a tear in the room, yet at the same time, it didn't. It glowed a light purple, and lights seemed to speckle the area. Inez walked closer to it. "WHOA!" She was pulled right inside of it! Matt and Jackie gasped in shock, backing up. "She's gone!" Matt sounded horrified, then felt the magnetic pull of the thing in front of them, which he suspected was either a wormhole or a portal. Jackie yelped, as she was being pulled in along with the boy, "So are we!" They were pulled inside, and the portal on the other side, the Real World, closed in on them. They found themselves flying through what seemed like a tunnel and an endless abyss at the same time. They came through another end, falling and landed harshly into the ground. They were instantly greeted by one of the locals. A cyborg bird creature, Digit. He walked up to them, and said, "Hello. My name is Digit, and this is Motherboard." He gestured towards the computer above him, the same computer that had brought them into this world in the first place!
END FLASHBACK:
Hacker watched the girl gasp for breath after telling the semi-long story of how she remembered the beginning. He walked up to her, holding his hand out in confusion. He scratched his head, gesturing her to stand up. She did so. "Well, that's how it hapened. At least where I came from." She nodded, noting that what she said was the truth. The cyborg in front of her seemed a bit suspicious, but she did have a Squwak Pak after all. He and his robotic creations also had one so that they could communicate with Motherboard easily. "That's not how it happened here...I don't like long flashbacks, so I'll just give it to ya short." The girl nodded, signalling for him to continue on.
"Well, as you know, I was created to protect Motherboard. I did serve her well, and was proclaimed to be one of the best cyborgs in Cyberspace!" He pulled out a nearby chair. Inez hadn't noticed it there before, but didn't want to interfere. The robot continued talking about what had happened from how he remembered it. "I created Digit to help me around the place. He was a fine worker, always prepared. I didn't think it was fair that he had to do most of the work while I was gone, so I created Buzz, then Delete, to help him fix the place up while Dr. Marbles and I would run out doing errans for Motherboard. For a while, everything worked out fine...until Delete made a horrible mistake that was forever regretted!" Inez leaned in in curiousity. "He had tripped over something, which we never found out what it was, that caused a temporal rip to tear open between our world and the Real World. When we came in, we were too late. 3 kids, who called themselves Matt, Inez, and Jackie, had came through. They seemed confused at first, but Inez seemed very intelligent compared to the other two, and instantly uploaded a dangerous virus into Motherboard. We were able to chase them away, and I was fortunate enough to be able to remove half of the virus, but the other half had already damaged her. Ever since they stole my Grim Wreaker, they've been..wreaking havoc all across Cyberspace! We've tried several times, but never could catch up to them. By the time we arrive, they've left."
Inez backed up a bit. Her face narrowed in anger. "You're saying that my alternate...did this to Motherboard?" Hacker moved back a few steps. "Y-Yes. I am." The girl scoffed angrily. She did believe what Hacker was saying, she just couldn't believe that her alternate was responsible for this. She had to do something!
"These kids sound like bad news."
"They are! Anyone who tried messing with them gets clobbered by that Matt guy."
"Hmmm...maybe I can help you. But it'll only be temporary." Hacker moved in closer. He was just about to ask what she was going to do when he heard a voice from behind one of the doors ask, "HACKER!" He whipped around him, but saw no one. He knew who it was calling to him though. It was Digit. And he wasn't behind the doors. He was flying in the hallways, looking for the larger cyborg. Hacker hinted to the girl to hide behind his cape while Digit was around. She abided and went behind the large robot, waiting for the alternate Digit to fly in. He was holding something in his wings. He landed in front of Hacker, and brushed off his wings. He smiled, and said, "Dr. Marbles needs you to come back. Those kids are at it again!" Inez could feel her heart beating faster. What if she is caught? What if they think she's one of them? What if they try to imprison her instead of the true enemies! 'Man oh man...' Hacker nodded, then placed his hand on his face thoughtfully. "Alright Digit, but I think I found someone who can help us."
The bird's eyes brightened in joy. "YOU HAVE! Who is it?" Hacker sweated a bit, and looked nervous. "You promise not to scream?" He fumbled with his fingers while Digit scratched his head. "Sure...but why would I..." He didn't have to continue. The Hacker stepped aside to the right, revealing a girl that was hiding behind him. Digit's eyes widened in shock. The girl may have looked a bit different, but there was no mistaking her! "INEZ!" He shouted so loud that everyone, including Dr. Marbles and Motherboard, overheard the scream.
Dr. Marbles jumped in shock. "Digit!" Buzz and Delete were alerted as well. They dropped the tools they held in their hands and dashed in the direction of the voice.
"Digit...It's alright..she..." Hacker tried to reason. But the bird didn't listen. He was inching away from the girl, who was trying to shake hands with him. She looked at him sadly, and sighed. "This is hopeless..." She said quietly, her head lowered. Digit looked up at Hacker and asked terrifiedly, "Y-Y-You let h-her in?" The cyborg immediately shook his head furiously. "Of course not! She came in here, but she isn't..." His voice trailed off. "Uh...uh..." He seemed to be in a trance. His eyes were widened in shock, and he was frozen in place. Inez cocked her head to the left. 'What's wrong with him?' She saw that his gaze wasn't on her or Digit, but on something behind them. "What's going on here!" Inez scrunched her head towards her shoulders and widened her own dark-colored eyes. 'That answers that...' She slowly turned around, although she knew who it was. The voice had belonged to Dr. Marbles. Beside of the android were Buzz and Delete. They still looked the same, she noted to herself. She met the doctor's eyes, who were glowering down at her like she was something very...distasteful. She smiled weakly, and said in a squeaky voice, "Hello..." She waved a bit at them, then got a worried look on her face again. 'This isn't good...'
"Inez! How did you..!" Marbles began, but he stopped abrubtly. He scowled at both her and Hacker. "Hacker, I'm disappointed in you. I said guard this place from intruders, and what do you do?" Hacker pleaded, "Please, let me explain..you see..." He was cut short by a couple of hands gently nudging him over to the side. He looked down and saw Inez standing there, giving him a reassuring look. "Let me handle this." She may have felt confident on the outside, but on the inside, she was sweating like a pig. 'Even though pigs don't sweat...' She thought. She rubbed her arm nervously. She swallowed once, and started to speak shakingly, "I-I-I was sent here b-by..." She was about to say Hacker, but if she had said that right there right then, she would've made Marbles think that the good Hacker betrayed him. Instead of risking that, she said, "A red portal." Digit narrowed his eyes. "A red portal huh? Everyone knows that you and your punk friends travel in that Grim Wreaker thingy." Delete nodded. "Yeah, why would you use a portal?"
"Not like I had a choice in the matter." She rubbed her head while trying to think of a way to get them to trust her. She knew there was little chance in that. She hated the dark Inez for what she's done, but right now there was more important things to worry about. She looked at the androids in front of her. "Look," she told them, "I know you don't trust me...but I would like to help you a bit." She got quite the response. Laughter...the laughter filled up the area of the hallway. All except she and Hacker were laughing. She knew why of course. Here, they were used to her being evil and smarty. But she wasn't...at least she herself wasn't. Her alternate was that way. She would find a way to get back at her for this... "Look I'm serious about this!" She half shouted, her arms thrusted at her sides angrily.
Dr. Marbles was the first to recover from the laughter. "Now why should we trust you? After all you were the one who did this...this...terrible thing to Motherboard!" He pointed an accusing finger at the little girl, who backed away in fear. Digit scratched his head in bewilderment. 'The girl hasn't even...' "Hey doc!" He turned to look at the blue bird. "Haven't you noticed somethings...uhh...different about the girl?" The doctor's eyes half closed in confusion. "You know...she doesn't have red glasses anymore? She has black ones!" He pointed anxiously at the different set of glasses that she was wearing. They were identical to the red ones, just a different color. Since the size and shape was perfect, there was no way it could've been counterfeited. Even in the perfect counterfeit, there is always some different, whether it be tiny or big. "My gosh...you're right...and she seems a bit wimpy..." The girl immediately snapped out of her frightened trance and snapped at him, "I am NOT wimpy!" Dr. Marbles jumped back, taking on defensive mode. Inez stared at him with wide eyes for a while, then placed her hand on her face and slowly shook it back and forth. "Look, I said I will help."
Buzz frowned a bit, then looked at Delete. "I don't know...think she can be trusted?" Hacker walked over. "Of course she can! Show 'em!" He gestured the girl. She nodded, and reached into her pocket. The others waited and stood in defense, unsure of whether or not she was reaching for a weapon. She fumbled through her pocket for a while, then found what she wanted. She tugged out the object and held it straight up. The others were dumbfounded. A collection of gasps rang out, and Dr. Marbles pointed, surprised, at the girl holding the object. "A Squwak Pak!"
"Just a few more turns and...finished!" The dark version of Matt finally finished adjusting the machine in front of him. It looked like the Symmetrizer, only a bit bigger and was designed to destroy anything. It didn't matter if it was symmetrical or not. He grabbed a couple of red jewels and fitted them into the chambers in the device. There was a large open space for the purple jewel, but he didn't have it with him. Alt-Inez was guarding it...she didn't trust Matt with it. Scowling, he shut the machine up, and picked it up. "Let's see if Inez likes this." He said to himself as he walked towards the main control room, where Inez was monitoring the place. She turned around to see him carry the dark machine in his arms. "You done already?" She asked. The boy nodded, and set the machine next to the girl, and backed away.
He answered, "Yes, I have."
"You did a better job than I thought." She took it and placed it in the center of the room. She pushed a couple of buttons and a shield formed over it. "This should keep it as safe as possible. In the meantime, we have to go run our errans." She gestures Matt to follow her. Jackie came out, too. Whenever they went anywhere, they went together. They felt stronger that way. But what they didn't know is that a big surprise awaited them when they got back.
Digit flew over towards the girl, his eyes locked on the device. Stammering, he said some nonsense words. 'He's really nervous or something...' Inez complimented mentally. Marbles nudged Digit aside. Preparing to answer the question himself, he gave a slightly stern glare towards her. "All right, where did you get that?" Inez held it closer to herself, looking at the screen itself. "Motherboard gave me it."
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Buzz shouted angrily. "Motherboard would never trust you to..." "...to help her. Isn't that right, Buzzy?" Delete asked his older brother nicely. The girl smacked her head. "Look, I have no time for this. This is my Squwak Pak. I work for Motherboard. End of story!" But she knew deep inside, it would take a lot more than that to convince them. She had to do something to help Motherboard...but...hey! That's it! Inez knew just how she would help this Motherboard! "I know..Why don't I get the antidote for the virus?" She offered nicely, making everyone in the room freeze in their tracks. Hacker asked, "You'd really do that?" She nodded. "I will have to have Motherboard send me a portal, of course. It'll be faster that way." Dr. Marbles stared at the girl for a while, and rubbed his chin. Digit looked up at him expectedly. The doc looked down at the bird. 'I have no choice at the moment.' "Alright, I'll let you go in...but I'm keeping my eye on you." He led her in the direction of the Control Room, keeping the robots and himself close to Inez, to keep her from doing anything funny. They did admit she looked and acted different, but kept in mind that it could be a trick.
They arrived in the Control Room, and Motherboard immediately recognized the girl. "Inez? Why are you here?" She demanded. Inez gulped, hoping she wouldn't get on Motherboard's bad side. 'Does she have a bad side?' "H-Hi...Mother B...I uh...came to help you."
The supercomputer looked down at the girl in disbelief. 'Help? Why would she want to help me?' Motherboard thought that it might be a trap. But she knew Inez...she wouldn't go with a plan like this. It wasn't her style! It just wasn't like her to act this way. Even through deception, she would've done a bad job. She was a terrible actor. Motherboard asked, "How?" "I was just wondering if you could open up a portal to the place where the Grim Wreaker was the closest, I could break in and grab the antidote to the virus inside of you." She offered politely. Inez was indeed trying to get the computer to trust her. She just didn't know if it'll work or not. Hacker looked at Motherboard, then at the girl. Buzz, Delete, and Digit watched, cautious of the girl's actions. Dr. Marbles didn't know what to think or say. If Hacker thought the girl could be trusted...maybe they should, too. Motherboard finally answered, after a long silence, "Alright...but I'm sending Hacker and Digit with you. I can't take any chances, you know."
"Thanks Motherboard! You won't be disappointed!" Inez shouted happily. The image of Motherboard disappeared, and the purple portal opened up on her screen. The 3 jumped inside, and the portal vanished. Dr. Marbles looked at the where the portal was, and Motherboard's face shimmered back on. "I hope I didn't make a mistake..send her to the Grim Wreaker." Marbles nodded. Buzz said, "I hope she's telling the truth...she could've easily created that Squwak Pak to fool us, ya know..." Delete agreed with his brother. "Yeah, you never know. She could be..." He stopped as he saw Dr. Marbles walk over to the smaller monitor he had been keeping in the back for some time. "This should help us watch their every move." He pulled a switch, and the image of Inez, Hacker, and Digit came on. The four looked at the screen, and they refused to take their eyes off of it. 'Now we'll see if she's for real...' Dr. Marbles thought as he watched the girl carefully.
"Wow..." Was all Inez could say when she arrived in the area with the Grim Wreaker. It was sitting right in front of them. Hacker glared at the machine darkly. "It seems that the kids aren't there at the moment." "How do you know?" "Because.." Hacker said, still looking at the flying machine, "if they were still there, they wouldn't leave the door wide open like that." Inez looked and saw that the door was indeed wide open. She laughed to herself, then walked on towards it. Hacker and Digit stayed behind as backup. They would try and warn her if the kids were returning or not while she was away. The girl swallowed a bit, then hopped right into the Grim Wreaker.
"Oh man...This place is huge!" Inez said out loud, since she knew that no one was around to hear her. She was about to enter one of the rooms when Hacker beeped in. She pulled out her Pak and pressed the Talk button. "Inez!" She heard Hacker's voice over the intercom. She then heard Digit's voice, "Well, sorry I doubted you kid, but..." Inez's mind was clouded by several questions. Why did they call? Did the alternates come back so soon? "What's going on?" The cyboid was about to answer, but the bigger green robot quickly snatched the communicator. "Oh nothing...nothing except this." He turned on the image duplicator and pointed in the direction where the kids were coming back in. It didn't take long for the image of the kids coming back to reach Inez. Her heart beating faster, she took Hacker's advice to run and hide, and ran over to the air duct area. 'I'll be safe here.' She crawled in, and immediately coughed. It was so dusty it was nearly impossible to breath. She swatted a way a couple of spider webs that blocked the path up. Lucky for her there was some steps she could use to climb up. She barely heard the door open and close behind her. She wasn't worried about being caught anymore. Since she was now in the air ducts, why should she worry?
She stayed long enough to see what the alter-kids were doing. They didn't say much, just dropped off some stuff, and they each went off in the same direction. 'Probably towards the kitched..if there is even a kitchen here...' Inez said to herself. She sighed, and turned towards the tunnel. She had been on the Grim Wreaker before, so she didn't need directions to the main control room, which has the computer in it. She guessed it would be her alternate's room that had it. She crawled for about a minute when she came to an opening. Curious to know whether or not it was the room she was looking for, she quickened her pace. She peered through the vent, and was very shocked to see what the room looked like. The bed was completely unmade. The sheets and covers crumbled on top of one another, halfway to the floor. The dressers were wide open, clothes spilt all over the floor. There was barely anything in the dressers at all! Whoever room this was also didn't believe in laundry. All the dirty clothes stacked on top of one another nearly 3 feet high!
"This is Matt's room, no doubt about it." Inez said, an annoyed look on her face. She sighed and looked around to the other side of the room. She saw that there was a table and a chair. On top of the table stood a black computer with a red mouse. She squinted to look harder, and saw at least 26 video games next to it, neatly stacked. A game controller lay sitting next to it, nicely wrapped. 'It's amazing how messy he keeps the room yet how clean he keeps the games.' She had her eyes half closed as she scanned the other side of the room, which contained all sorts of weights. 'So this is why Matt is so strong...' She said to herself as her eyes scanned the very heavy weights. They were sitting on the floor and there was a long chair, probably where he did his exercising. She was about to continue to crawl when she noticed something else in the room. In the very north right corner of the room, she noticed a large punching bag daggling by a thick string. As she looked closer to it, an angry scowl appeared on her face.
Right there, in the center of the thing, was a very crude, simple drawing taped to it. And the drawing was of her...or at least her face. She glowered, and thought to herself for a moment. 'When I get home, or if I do, Matt and I are going to have a nice and looooooong chat!'
She continued to crawl when another vent caught her eye. 'Gee, I wonder who's room this could be!' She struggled for a while, but finally managed to peer through the crooked slit openings of the air duct. She almost had to pull back onto the ground when she looked inside because it was all one color: pink. 6 shades covered the entire room. The bed was a light pink with dark pink pillows. The main side walls were medium pink, while the ceiling was a pale pink and the floor carnation pink. The hispanic girl shakes her head. "This has got to be Jackie's room. Only she would be a fashion maniac." There wasn't much to look at in the room. She turned towards a corner and saw a mirrored table with some potions and sprays and all kinds of make-up on it. 'Now I know why Jackie's afraid of water..' She snickered to herself. Of course she meant that as a joke. The real reason that Jackie hated water was not because of make-up, but because she couldn't swim. Laughing a little, she then turned to give one last look at the stupidly pink room, and saw something that sort of stood out. She rubbed her eyes a couple of times, and said, "Oh...brother..." Her gaze was on a dark pink desk sitting near the window. On top of it was a light pink computer. Even the monitor was pink! 'Jackie is a pinkish maniac!'
"One of these has got to lead to..." There was only one vent left. This was her only chance left! There was no other direction to go, and if this wasn't the correct room, she could be in big trouble. She looked through it, and was amazed to see that this looked completely different from the other rooms. Although the cleanest, Matt's room looked more like a bedroom than this one. In the very center was a tremendous computer, which looked about the same size as Motherboard's monitor. Wires spread all across the floor, connecting to multiple outlets. They connected all sorts of stuff to the computer. What stuff Inez would never know. She didn't even want to know. Inez saw that there was a bed and dresser in the room, but that was about it. They looked like they were stashed into the nearest corner. They seemed so small and insignificant compared to the rest, which was all technical stuff.
"This has got to be the alternate Inez's room."
She jumps inside of the room and walked towards the computer. She tiptoes towards the computer. The screen was flashing white, indicating that it was on. She smiled, and sat down in the chair. She looked at the keyboard and stretched out her hands. She began typing a few things to try and activate the computer. The screen turned black and a window popped open. It asked for her password. There were two blanks, so she would have to type it in twice. Inez was now stumped. What was she going to do now? She hadn't counted on this! "What password would my alternate use?" She began thinking, then thought up something that might be crazy enough to work. "I wonder..." She turned back to the computer screen, and started typing.
PASSWORD: GATITO
COMPUTER: ACCESS GRANTED
Inez's eyes were a bit wide in surprise at this. "That worked...I don't believe it." She then got into computer mode gear and learned in closer to the screen, holding the mouse. "Let's see what she has here..." She opens up the Programs department. She was astonished that every single program listed on the computer dealt with all sorts of bad things, like how to make computer viruses and how to hack into any system with virtually no problem. She narrowed her eyes at this. "My alternate has some nasty habits...but let us see if she likes this!" She moves the pointer to over the programs and highlights. She pulls it towards the bottom, not letting a single file to unhighlighted. She then goes up to file, and clicks on the delete button. In a flash every single file was gone. She left the area and went up to the Recycle Bin, then emptied it, leaving no trace of the programs behind. She was even smart enough to rig it so that the D Drive couldn't make a copy of the deleted files.
"There...that should work!" She logged off and walked towards the exit.
She presses the button to open up the door, and it slides open. She was done with the sabotage. She just hoped she could get out without getting noticed. In her hands, she was able to snatch a disk which, after checking, contained the antidote needed to cure Motherboard. She just hoped she could reach her in time! Just as she was halfway out the door, she noticed someone running towards her. She saw that it was Matt, and noticed the differences. The ripped clothes caught her attention the most, but ignored everything else. She backed up a bit, but tried to play it cool. He spoke to her, his voice slightly more harsh than she's used to, "What's going on?" His gaze fell upon the open door, then on her. She gulped, starting to believe that the evil Matt wasn't used to seeing her alternate on at this time. 'Of all the times for my alternate to be an all-nighter...' She struggled to say something, and managed to say, "Someone snuck on board! They're in that closet!" She pointed towards the closet next to the room.
Matt's facial expression squinted into an angry expression. In a dangerous tone, he said, "We'll see about that!" He ran towards the door, and opened it up. Before he had a chance to get a good look around, someone pushed him from behind. As he was trying to get up, he heard the sound of locking behind him. He was confused at first, but finally caught in."
"INEZ! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" The boy shouted loudly, and Inez suddenly wished she had ran off when she had the chance. Footfalls were heard ahead of her. The shadows of the other two kids appeared, casted on the side walls. "What are you talking..." The evil girl's voice trailed off in shock, looking ahead to see who was standing next to the closet door. It was an almost exact duplicate of her, staring back at her in equal shock. "What the?" Alt-Inez asked, shocked. Inez backed up in fear and terror. Her heart pounded like a drum and she began shaking fearfully. "Oh no..." She squeaked, looking at the alternates.
Jackie shook her head in disgust. "One of you is bad enough, but two?"
Alt-Inez glared harshly at her companion. "Can it, princess! Go and grab her!" She pointed towards the girl in front of them. The hispanic finally broke out into a run, sensing the others were chasing her, not too far behind. 'Man oh man!' She darted across the rooms and found a door wide open. She dove into it, and realized she was in Matt's room. 'This is soo gross!' She realized that she had no choice, and dove right into the pile of clothes to conceal her from visionary. The girls came by the room. "Do you see her anywhere?" "No, but I bet that brat went to your room, Inez!" They soon left the area of the room, and Inez crawled out. She pressed a button on her Squwak Pak. An image of Hacker came up. "Inez! You alright?" She nodded, smiling. "I got the antidote! At least I think it's the antidote..." Digit immediately responded, "Send it in! We'll check it out!" The girl nodded, and scanned the file into the Pak, then sent a copy over to Digit and Hacker.
"WHY YOU LITTLE...!" A dark voice sounded from behind her.
Inez gulped, turning around behind her. She turned off her communicator, and saw her dark alternate and Jackie, with Matt, standing in the door way. 'Uh oh..' She whimpered to herself, a scared look appearing on her face. 'I'm really in for it now...' She backed up a bit towards the corner, and the kids started to corner her. "You just ruined my detailed plan of getting that machine to do what I want it to do!" She pointed towards the device in the corner, the one with the jewels. Inez slapped herself mentally for not noticing it earlier. Alt-Inez signalled to Jackie who ran up behind her. Inez screamed as she tried to dart away, but Jackie grabbed onto her. "You may look like me..." Alt-Inez said evilly, "But I know a spy when I see one. Matt?"
Inez looked horrified as Matt cracked his knuckles, looking at her like a demon ready to attack. He walked closer to her, his fists raised up. "We know how to deal with intruders..."
'This is not good...' Inez whimpered as she saw the first punch being delivered.
Whew! The end of a very long chapter. I was going to add a bit more in the end, but figured I made the story long enough. Yep definitely. How do you like? The next chapter will have Matt going in a dimension where he's...wait! I'm not going to spoil it! You can count on that. But for those who can't wait, here's a very short sneak peak(which will be more detailed in the chapter itself):
Matt crawled into the room where Motherboard usually was. She was sleeping, since the monitor was turned off. He looked around the place. It was lighted, but no one was around at all. This was pretty unusual. "Hello? Anyone here?" He then heard voices coming from outside of the door. He walked closer, waiting to know who the people were. The voices belonged to Inez and Jackie. Inez said, "I know I heard something in here..." "Like what? No one's here but us!" Jackie reassured her. They opened up the doors to the control room, and came face to face with Matt. Their eyes went wide instantly and Matt stared back at them like nothing was wrong. They stared at eachother for a while, then finally the girls screamed loudly, causing Matt to cover his ears. He tried asking what was wrong, but the girls had ran off towards a closet and dove in. The door slammed in behind them, trapping them inside. "What has gotten into them?" He asked, scratching the back of his head, confused.
Well...I told ya it would be short! See ya soon!