1.1.1 Chapter 5





Mouse starred at Kerry for a nanosecond.

" What do you mean by taken by a viral? Explain," Dot ordered.

" A horrible virus called Malestorm. She hopes to take over from where Daemon left off," Kerry sighed. Suddenly, Glitch began to bleep.

" What is it, Bob?" Dot asked.

" This is unbelievable," Bob gaped.

" What?" Kerry asked, looking and Glitch. " Vixen?" she gasped. Glitch opened a vid-window which showed Vixen walking down a corridor, tentacles flying at her, her going unconscious, the creature and Vixen disappearing, Glitch flying up, glowing gold, and another Vixen appearing and walking on. The window closed.

" What does this mean?" Dot asked, obviously confused.

" It means that Malestorm can transverse time. But what gets me is what the deal is with this second Vixen," Kerry said, rubbing her chin.

" Whoa, whoa. Wait a nano. What do you mean, she can transverse time?" Dot asked.

" It means she can capture her victims from any time since the beginning of the Net. Bob, any theories as to why there was a second Vixen?" Kerry said, turning to Bob.

" The only thing I can thing of is that Glitch didn't want to go to Turbo without proof, so he used what he had of Vixen's code, extrapolated the clone from his memory of her, and continued on. Glitch, what happened after that bit that you showed us?" Bob asked. Another vid-window opened. Bob saw Vixen yell to a virus,

" Hey, Kilobyte? Ready for oblivion?" Bob nearly dropped to the floor.

" Oh, my," Kerry said.

" That means that even if we get Vixen back, she can't go back to her own time," Bob whispered.

" Why? What's the problem?" Dot asked.

" Dot, remember when I told you that Vixen was deleted by a virus?"

" Yes."

" That's him. Kilobyte."

" Oh, my," Dot gasped. There was silence among the four sprites for a few moments.

Malestorm put down her victims, then scanned her group, sighing at the renegade. Unfortunately, the renegade's memories were quick to return. Oh, well, she sighed. At least she was depleting the Net of failures. She left, and did not look back. As soon as she was gone, Enzo got up.

" She's gone, guys," he said. Kiyan, Andra, Matrix, Illan, Tweek, Lan, Liro, Toque, Blank, Pixel, Backup, Terrin, and Phong sat up.

" Matrix, it's still hard to see you all grown up. Last time I saw you, you were- Him!" Terrin said, looking at the young Guardian Enzo. Matrix gaped.

" Anyone here you guys recognize?" Illan asked.

" Surfr, me, AndrAIa, Frisket, and Terrin."

" By him, AndrAIa, and me, he means as kids," Terrin said, gaping at his younger self, " And I recognize the female Guardian. Her name is Vixen. But she deleted thirteen and a half hours ago."

" Well, we already figured Malestorm could transverse time," Phong said.

" Yeah, but still. This is creepy," Terrin said.

Malestorm let them talk. She had bigger fish to fry. Terror was terrorizing System 2,424,397 and she knew he'd soon return here. All he needed was the portal, which she'd open in three microseconds. First, she had to get more failures. She already had the perfect targets in mind: A med Guardian, a Codemaster named Lens, a former Codemaster know as Old man Phearson, a hacker, and a Command.com named Dot Matrix.

Lenson walked down the corridor with the organizer in his hand. He didn't see the tentacles fly towards him, which meant he didn't have the time to even scream. Malestorm captured him, believing him to be the simplest catch ever.

Lens was in the practice room. As such, he was actually able to fight back when Malestorm arrived.

" You are a fool if you attempt to capture a Codemaster," he growled.

" Really? Where was that arrogance when Daemon took over the Net? Oh, that's right! You all went hiding in the Web because you were all scared of her!" Malestorm smirked. Lens simply growled.

" Daemon attacked several of the Codemasters before she could attempt to attack the whole Guild. We needed to heal our numbers," he growled. Malestorm stilled smirked. She just blasted the Gibson-Coil Pike out of his hands then latched her tentacles on Lens.

Phearson was asleep when Malestorm arrived. He was much simpler than even Lenson. Malestorm just zapped him into her side ball. She looked down at the collection. She only had eight left. Just enough for the hacker, the Command.com, and the Command.com's staff.

" Mouse, it isn't right that you and Kerry are fighting. Besides, we need to get the others back. Ray, Matrix- they may only have been the first that Malestorm is after. Who knows who is next?" Dot said, putting a hand on Mouse's shoulder. At least Kerry and Bob were out attempting to see if Malestorm had been in Mainframe so Dot could talk to Mouse.

" Oh, I know. Me," Malestorm snickered. Mouse grabbed her katana, but Malestorm's tentacles knocked it out of her hand.

" Specky! Activate emergency code six point zero two!" Dot cried, using some of the acrobatic moves and jet-box maneuvers avoiding Malestorm's tentacles. She reached Mouse's katana. " Mouse! Catch!" she cried, tossing Mouse's katana to her. Mouse caught it.

" Thanks, sugar!" Mouse cried, slicing a few tentacles. Malestorm cried in pain and Mouse threw back her veil. " Specky! Get a picture!" she cried.

" Right! Say cheese!" Specky said, pressing a button.

Outside of the P.O., Bob and Kerry turned as the sirens went off.

" Bob, what's going on?" Kerry asked, just as the sky turned purple.

" Warning. Incoming game. Warning. Incoming game," was announced.

" Bob! Let's go!" Kerry cried.

" But, what about Dot?"

" She's a grown sprite. She can take care of herself. Plus- don't tell her I said this- she's got Mouse on her side. Now, come on!" Kerry cried. The two flew into the game.

" Glitch!" Bob cried.

" Gardro!" Kerry cried at the same time.

" Game stats!" they cried together. They looked at each other.

" You have seniority," Bob said.

" All right. We're in a character fighting game. The User has to defeat four of the six different characters," Kerry said.

" And that means one fighter isn't going to play."

" That's right. We both need to choose characters."

" Matrix told me about a game like this, only there were twelve characters and the User had to beat five of them."

" Really? Let's hope this isn't a sequel," Kerry chuckled. The User made his choice.

" Megabyte," the simulated voice said. Bob gasped. The version of Megabyte that appeared looked like he had after the Web had altered him.

" Impossible!" Bob cried.

" Could Users know about us?"

" They can't! As far as Users know, we're just game characters!" Bob cried. He looked around. The characters left were AndrAIa, Matrix, Bob, Daemon, and Hex.

" Quick, pick a character!" Kerry said, choosing the character that looked like AndrAIa. Bob headed for himself. The game chose for Hex to go up against the User.

" How is this possible?" Bob asked himself.

Malestorm had left. Specky had programmed the camera to give the brightest flash, which scared her off just like a Web creature.

" Specky, get Hex in here. We may need her viral powers," Dot said.

" It seems weird having her here after she saved the Net," Mouse said.

" No, that was the original Hex. Remember, Bob wanted her back for the big fight against Megabyte. We used our backup of her that was stored in the archives," Dot said.

" I know that, sugar, but still, I remember how you were very upset with her after the kiss she gave GlitchBob," Mouse said.

" Mouse, remember, we don't use those terms at all," Dot said.

" Well, I guess it's true," Mouse said, just as Hex arrived.

" Yes, Dot?" she asked, sweetly.

" Hex, I need some info. Have you heard of a viral called Malestorm?" Dot asked.

" No, I'm afraid not. Biscuit?" Hex asked, bringing out her plate of biscuits.

" Not right now, but maybe in a few microseconds. Specky, go to my room and get the Java out," Dot ordered. Just then, the communicator bleeped. " Excuse me, I'll be back in a Nano." When Dot returned, the color had drained from her face.

" Dot, what is it?" Mouse asked.

" Hex, is it possible Megabyte had a clone?" she asked.

" Not that I'm aware of," Hex said, looking worried.

" Then Megabyte somehow got a clone, because now he's attacking systems alongside an unknown viral," Dot said as AndrAIa entered.

" Dot, I came as soon as I heard the P.O. had been attacked. What's up?" she asked.

" AndrAIa, you and Matrix encountered several virals, right?"

" Yes. Why?"

" Can you identify this one?" Dot asked, opening a vid window of Malestorm. AndrAIa gasped.

" Dot, that woman wasn't a viral when I encountered her. She was one of the infected Guardians. I met her as Matrix fought alongside Turbo against some Guardians. Dot, there is something wrong here," AndrAIa said, eyes wide.