Wow! I'm actually writing lots! And I have more to come! Right, happy reading. FD.
"And that's what happened. She said she hasn't talked to him yet either."
"So she's not really ready for someone else. Okay, I understand." Garrison sighed inwardly. He had figured as much.
"It's more than that. Give her time. I think Andraia is still young in her heart. She spent her years growing up with only one sprite. She'll always be fiercely loyal to Matrix, but having to see that side possessive of him in front of her friends and family made her understand that sprites can't act like that. In you, she sees the type of sprite she likes, and wants. In the Super Computer, where only Guardians can call it home, you make her feel comfortable. Not only that, but she spent enough time around you to connect and become friends. You're not just another sprite in some distant system that she will have to forget about once the next game cube falls." Tronnie skewed her lip in pity. "You are her friend, and one of the closest friends she's had since Matrix. Take pride in that, and don't feel bad. Like I said, she's young." The tech shifted her chair and turned off the private lock she had placed over her office; she didn't want anyone interrupting her talk with Garrison. As soon as she did, a vid window popped open.
"All head security personnel please come to the War Room immediately."
It was an automated message from Turbo half a cycle ago.
"User cursed! Jarrel's going to nullify me!"
But before Tronnie had a chance to say bye, the security Guardian shot out of her office.
"Uh… bye?"
"We cannot fight it. It somehow bears the code of weblife." Lore said. He was one of three Web Codemasters that had emerged from a rift they created to enter the Super Computer three quarters of a cycle ago. To his side, Corral, another Codemaster hissed at the blank looks Turbo and the other Guardians gave them.
"Unlike the Net," Corral's metallic lisping voice dripped hostility, "the Web is a place of unity. No creature of the Web can harm others of the Web. Now, we can barely defend ourselves from the web whales. The Invader has infected our web kin, changed their codes so that they can attack us, but we cannot attack them. They retain enough of the Web so that we cannot defend and fight them back, yet they have been changed enough so they can attack us." The Codemaster paused. His ever-shifting scaled obsidian exoskeleton bristled. "For the first time in all history, we fled from battle. We fled to the lower caste of Codemasters, the Codemasters of the Net. We went for sanctuary and for aid in battle. Yet little help they provided." Corral lifted his Gibson coiled pike, and pointed it forward. From the purple red globe at the top, a hologram emitted. A silent battle scene replayed for the Codemasters and Guardians. "As you can see, while their code is different enough that they can fight the Invader's forces, they cannot withstand the Web. They degrade severely, and they are incompatible with the upgrades we provided to them to try to withstand the Web."
Rom, a female Codemaster spoke up.
"We have been exiled from the Web for many minutes. Every time we tried to go home, the forces of the Invader were on us in an instant. Our numbers were decimated from the many time we tried to enter back into the Web. We have spent all this time trying to get back, yet to no avail."
Turbo nodded, but pointed at part of the hologram.
"What is that? Replay that."
It was a brief glimpse of a gigantic green, black, and purple mass.
"The Invader. We believe he is of the Net, yet he is in control of the Web in more ways than we can comprehend. The pods of web whales, which are usually peaceful unless exposed to the Net, throw themselves against us." Lore said sadly.
The War Room door hissed open and Garrison rushed in. He doubled backed and automatically reached for Eagle, but Turbo refrained him.
"You're late. They aren't here to cause trouble." Turbo turned back to Lore. "Please continue."
"We come to you Guardians for an alliance in war. We have exhausted all ways to return to the Web and deal with this problem ourselves, yet we fail. We believe you are the only other warrior class capable of fighting." Lore opened his arms and dipped his elongated head in the Codemaster sign of appeal. "Help us, and in return, we will ensure that no creature of the Web shall ever enter the Net. We will provide you with ways to contact us, and if such an instant should ever occur call us so we may rectify the problem without destroying the Net system."
Turbo glanced at the other Guardians in the room. If he agreed to go to war, and they won, that would mean they would never have to destroy another system because of a stray web creature. Garrison had moved closer to the hologram that still played.
"That is a virus. I recognize those abilities. It matches a virus." Garrison pointed to part of the image.
"Then you must help us. Virals," Corral spat out the word in pure disgust, his voice rising as he continued to talk. "do not originate from the Web. Nothing that corrupt could come from the Web. They are disgusting creatures of the Net!" Corral roared loudly and aimed his pike at Garrison. The tip flared an angry purple light.
Lore grabbed the end of Corral's pike and pushed it down.
"No!" Lore shifted his large, bugged eyes over to the Guardians and then back to Corral. When he continued talking, it was in the eerie beeping and clicking speech of the Web.
We want them to help! The Guardians are the only other battle force large enough capable of the battle ahead!
Corral snarled.
Invader is of the Net! It is them that allowed that abomination to enter our home! Virals are our mortal enemy, and virals are a creation of the Net! Time after time I urged the brotherhoods to wipe clean the scourge that is the Net, but always, I was denied. Now you see I was right. Do you dare forget the destruction of life that has occurred? As Codemasters we were to guard the life!
Lore narrowed his eyes, and his own pike sparked to life.
I am of a higher brotherhood than you. My responsibilities in the Web far outreached yours. My shame far outreaches yours. War on the Net is not an issue for discussion now, or ever. Calm yourself or I will throw you to the Invader myself. Lore turned back to the Guardians and released Corral's pike. His own pike retracted and was placed on his hip. The disarmed master made the gesture of appeal again before continuing to speak normally.
"I apologize for Corral's behavior. All Codemasters were once protectors of various sectors of the Web. Within those sectors were thousands of beings. Since the Invader has come, many of those beings have been slaughtered or sequestered to the Invader. It shames us greatly that we could not safeguard the life entrusted to us."
Jarrel raised an eyebrow. He never envisioned Web Codemasters as protectors. Their Net counterparts were virtually mercenaries for hire.
"You have our help." Turbo said. "If it is a virus, then Guardians are involved."
Rom pointed her staff at Turbo's icon and a small burst of soft purple light shot out and entered the Prime Guardian's icon.
"I have uploaded you with the ability to resist the Web. You should be compatible." She said flatly.
Turbo hesitantly double clicked his icon, and from it spread a silver-purple coating. It webbed itself over Turbo's body and formed a blue shielding around his eyes and nose. He clicked his icon again and the webbing retracted. He nodded and Corral, Lore and Rom went around the room uploading the program into the other Guardians.
"I'll call my teams together and have them bring weapons from the Armory. I'll draw up a battle plan in the mean time." Garrison said while testing out his web shielding.
"Weapons will degrade. Ensure your key tools are fully charged. That is the only tool you will be able to have that will not degrade in the web." Lore said in response.
There was an odd silence in the room, but then Turbo spoke.
"We do not have our key tools. They left us when a super virus managed to infect the Guardian core."
The masters dropped their gaze to Turbo's bare arm, and suddenly, Turbo felt very naked.
"They haven't returned to us since." Jarrel rubbed his arm and clenched his fist.
"Then they are gone. Key tools fragment apart without a Guardian to bond too." Corral said thoughtfully before raising his pike and scanning Jarrel.
A second round of silence ensued as the metallic master scanned the Guardian.
"Guardians, you believe yourself to be so advanced, yet your knowledge is so limited." Corral said, amusement tinted his serpent speech. "The code you exchanged with your key tool still remains in you. They key tools must have known they would not be able to return to you in time. From the dormant code left in you, a key tool may be reborn."
Lore extended his pike, spun it and from one end a purple shaft of light emerged. He drove it quickly into Jarrel's chest before anyone could react.
Turbo raised his hand and shouted for his gun.
"No!" Jarrel gripped his right arm and shouted at Turbo to stop. As Turbo lowered his weapon, he watched in shock as particles of light emerged from Jarrel's arm and coalesced into a key tool.
"Golren!" Jarrel gasped, and when the key tool whirled and clicked in greeting Jarrel stood up straighter. "We are one."
Lorna, the female Guardian who took over as head of Internal Security in the Super Computer after Daecon, tapped her fingers on her leg.
"Many of the Guardians who died fighting in the Daemon wars had key tools…" She left the sentence hanging, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.
"Then they are lost." Lore said sadly. Key tools were very much revered by the Codemasters.
Turbo turned his attention away from Jarrel and Golren. Though many key tools would now be forever lost, Turbo saw there was indeed hope.
"Round up all the Guardians that had key tools. Have them meet in the plenary hall. Have Bob gather up any Guardians currently stationed in other systems that use to have key tools. I want him to portal them back here. I want all scanners sweeping the Web for viral signatures." Turbo turned to Garrison. "Garrison, draw up that battle plan. Within the next two seconds I want all key tools returned, and I want Guardian forces prepared to enter the Web."