....So....It's been like....forever since I updated this...? Ha ha ha...forgive me you guys....I've neglected this fanfic for like...forever...

Now that I've got my mojo to write this again, I would like to say that everything that I had originally planned for this fic has changed DRASTICALLY. I've planned everything differently now and I hope that everyone will enjoy this still just as they have in the past! :)

For all those who have stuck by and continued to pray that this is continued, thank you.

And now, without further ado...here is the next chapter!

Chp.5 Hello Neighbor

Within the firewall, Hotstreak glared at several graphs containing diagnostics of the entire computer system. He was not pleased with any of this weeks results and he was not pleased that today was Friday. Why exactly was he displeased?

It was because that stupid Tinkerbell came to visit him and try to "befriend" him.

A scowl formed on Hotstreak's lips as he crossed his arms. To him, the CPU A.I. was inferior, a pest that talked. Gear did not share the same beliefs that he did and did not resent the flesh bags as much as he did. He believed that the A.I.'s were superior to the monkey's and nothing the CPU A.I. could say would change his beliefs.

Even though "Tinkerbell" was a source of entertainment, Hostreak was still bored out of his mind. There were no other Firewall A.I.'s such as himself. He was the only one that controlled the Firewall and the only one that had enough intelligence to actually talk to Gear without sounding like a total and complete idiot. Sometimes, even though Hotstreak would never admit this, he would grow lonely without having a fellow Firewall A.I. to talk to.

But that's when the Virus A.I.'s fill the void.

Hotstreak LOVED to kill Virus A.I.'s. Killing them sent a pleasurable pulse though his entire body as he torched one into non existence. He could take on twenty at a time and not even break a sweat. The red head took extreme pride in himself that he had such mastery over his abilities. Anything that Hotstreak could do would put Gear to shame.

Why exactly?

Simple, it's because Gear is a Tinkerbell.

The red head nodded in agreement with this statement. What exactly could Gear do besides try to "DELETE" him? Seriously? Hostreak could take him out with just a flick of his wrist if he wanted to. Why was it that Gear was in charge of the system and not him? There was something extremely wrong with this picture. It should have been Hotstreak that should be in charge of the entire system, not Gear. But unfortunately, Alva decided that Hotstreak was more than capable to be in the position as the Firewall Program.

A growl escaped his lips as a window appeared before him with the image of Gear approaching the wall. Hostreak did not want to deal with the damned CPU A.I. right now and he did not want to hear his stupid stories about his flesh bag of a master. He didn't understand what was so special about some stupid human and his "comic books". It was obvious that Gear would rather hang out with the fleshling than someone of his own kind.

Hotstreak ignored the incoming signal that Gear was summoning him and continued to view the other windows around him. He was waiting for something specific to happen and he would be DAMNED if Gear distracted him from what he was waiting for. The red haired man was rewarded moments later with a signal with an incoming message. A feral grin spread across his face as he stared at the beacon.

Finally, the moment that Hotstreak had been waiting for, had been waiting for for months . Today he was going to do it. He was going to face a worthy opponent.

Today, he was going to fight a true blue Virus A.I.

With a snap of his fingers and a joyful laugh, Hotstreak launched himself out into the confides of the Firewall and into the unknown space of the system to face his foe.

EARLIER THAT DAY

Gear softly smiled as he listened to Virgil talk animatedly about his three month date with Frieda and how he and Frieda were planning on a trip for spring break together. The A.I. was delighted that his user was happy and was spending his time with someone he truly enjoyed, however, there was a strange feeling in his chest that wouldn't go away.

He ignored the feeling and continued to listen to his user until Virgil stopped and stared at Gear with concern.

"Hey, Gear...? Are you ok?"

"Huh?" Green eyes stared up into dark brown eyes in confusion. "Yes?"

"What's the matter?" The darker male tilted his head and watched as Gear shuffled under his user's concerned gaze. Sighing, the A.I. sat down on the edge of the screen and stared at his feet as Virgil continued. "You've been acting strange lately. One minute you're fine and the next minute you're in la la land. What's going on?"

Gear frowned at his user's concern. He shouldn't be worrying Virgil, that's not what he wanted. The poor A.I. did not know what to do with the continuing discomfort in his chest and he did not know how to approach the subject matter with the human.

It all started a couple of weeks back when Virgil had made the comment that if he was human that Virgil and he would be the best of friends. He didn't understand how they were not best friends at the moment. Did they not share the same interests in literature and technology? Did they not also share secrets like normal friends do or discuss about their hopes and dreams?

Didn't Gear mean anything to Virgil?

The doubt that Hotstreak had placed in Gear's mind started to slowly eat away at him. He was becoming more and more doubtful of his user and the so called "friendship" they shared. Shouldn't they be friends even though they were of different species? Gear could not comprehend as to why he couldn't be Virgil's friend now.

"I...I'm confused right now is all..." Gear softly said as he looked into his master's eyes. "I believe that I am going through a troublesome time at the moment."

Virgil frowned, "Well, you can tell me what's the matter, Gear. Something must be eating at you 'cause you've been really quiet since Christmas."

Ah yes...Christmas...The one time of the year when the humans celebrate peace on earth. Gear had learned of this event through Virgil when Virgil had received a special type of phone that allowed Virgil to connect to his computer anywhere anytime. Gear, of course, was ecstatic that he could travel anywhere with Virgil and be with him at any time, but as time passed by, a pain in Gear's chest started to form. Since then, the pain had grown into a discomfort that would make itself known when around Virgil.

This problem had confused Gear greatly because A.I.'s were not supposed to feel anything physically.

Gear had deduced that the growing pain had been possibly from a virus and he decided that today he would go to Hotstreak and demand a scan of his "inner core".

"Well...Hotstreak and I have been having a hard time getting along lately..." Gear weakly grinned as Virgil slightly nodded. "and I have been trying awfully hard to become friends with him, but alas, he doesn't seem to appreciate anything I do. His superiority complex is getting on my last nerve...I don't know what to do."

A small smile formed on Virgil's face as he watched the A.I. look up to him with a questioning gaze. "Well, Gear. There are all kinds of people in the world and sometimes there are people who are not easily satisfied with their lives." Gear nodded and listened intently as Virgil continued, "One thing I've learned about people is that you can't satisfy everyone or anyone completely. Everyone has got their problems, Gear and Hotstreak seems to be a train wreck." Both of the boys laughed at his statement. "Listen, I think that if he's just been beating you up most of the times that you visit him that you shouldn't be his friend. Just be associates and nothing more." Virgil grinned as he leaned back into his chair. "Besides, you've got me! Who needs a douche bag like him anyways?"

Gear frowned and stood up. "But...it would be nice to have someone who is like me to talk to. I mean, I am an A.I. after all and you are a human. You must get tired of talking to me all the time..."

"Are you kidding me? I don't mind talking to you at all!" Virgil closed in to the screen and stared at Gear right in his face. "Do you realize how many times I've come home early just to spend time with you? How many times I've rejected an offer to go out with my other friends just to hang out with you? Dude, you're the best friend I could ever have. All my other friends don't compare to you."

Euphoria erupted inside Gear's core and the A.I. stared into Virgil's eyes with the happiest look on his face. "R-Really? I...I guess I hadn't noticed...Thank you, Virgil..."

"No problem, Gear. Now then, I've gotta get ready for my date tonight." Gear gave him a thumbs up and wished him good luck as the human proceeded to get ready. For a few moments, the A.I. watched as Virgil was yanking shirts out of his closet and tossing them to the side of the room if they did not meet his requirements for the night's activities. He often wondered what it would feel like to actually wear human clothes instead of wearing the skin tight suit that was a default for all A.I.'s.

Gear thought of many things nowadays, many of these thoughts revolved around what it was like to be human.

A warm smile formed on Gear's lips as he pondered the subject. If he was human, he would go venturing around the world and explore every place known to man. He would go shopping for comics and wear normal human clothes and most of all...

He would be able to be Virgil's friend and go anywhere with him.

Don't get him wrong, technically now with Virgil's new phone, Gear could go anywhere with Virgil. What Gear wanted was to be able to physically go with Virgil and do normal human things with him. The blonde A.I. had composed a huge list as to what all he had wanted to do if he was human and the most important ones were with Virgil.

Sadly, his dreams of becoming human would never come true. He wondered if Hotstreak had mistaken in naming him Tinkerbell when he should've named in Pinocchio.

What? So Gear liked to watch Disney films? Big deal, he wouldn't tell Hotstreak that though. It was embarrassing enough to be called Tinkerbell let alone admitting he's watched a good deal of Disney movies while Virgil was away and he had nothing to do.

He didn't even notice that he had said goodbye to Virgil and watch the human leave the room. He didn't even realize that he had been alone in his train of thoughts for about thirty minutes until he received a message from the Firewall saying that it was due to be updated. An exasperated sigh escaped Gear's lips as he "JUMPED" to Hotstreak's plane.

Who knows, maybe today would be the day that Hostreak would finally be nice to him?

NOW

"Hotstreak? Hotstreak come on! It's been a freaking hour!" Gear angrily pounded his fist against the Firewall's wall. The blonde A.I. had been patient with Hotstreak and waited for the other to appear before him but there had been no signs of Hotstreak anywhere. Slowly, Gear backed away from the Firewall and formed a window in front of the window. "Fine, you want to act this way, then I'll FORCE you to come to me." He punched in a few commands and waited.

Fortunately and unfortunately for Gear, Hotstreak appeared before him but not by the commands he had punched into the window. Instead, Hotstreak literally busted through the Firewall and landed at Gear's feet. The CPU A.I. gasped in shock as he stared down at a damaged Hotstreak and an equally damaged Firewall. Hotstreak was moaning softly and his body was chipped in several places. Gear quickly kneeled down and tried to assess Hotstreak's damage but was quickly distracted by a figure walking through the Firewall and towards the two A.I.'s.

"Identify yourself!" Gear shouted at the figure as he clutched Hotstreak's unconscious body close to him. The figure stopped a few feet away from them and merely grinned down at Gear.

The stranger was clad in a dark purple, skin tight body suit with purple electronic lines running all over his body. His hair, spiked like Hotstreak's, shined lavender under the false sunlight of the realm. Wild yellow eyes stared down into Gear's soft green eyes as the stranger bowed formally to him.

"Well, hello there neighbor!" The purple haired A.I. greeted the CPU A.I. with a bow and a cheshire grin. "I do hate to bother you, but you see, I'm lost! And this mean fellow decided to attack me when I had tried to ask for directions!"

Bewildered and without looking, Gear pointed down to Hotstreak which received a nod from the strange purple haired man. "Um...Where exactly are you going to...?"

The purple haired man giggled happily as he straightened up and shuffled his feet coyly. "Wwwwwwweeeeeelllllll...Let's see...I was heading from this little get together with some friends in another computer system and I just happened to hear about this awesome computer system with this awesome computer program and well...I got lost!" The man pouted, "Now I'm all alone with no one to look out for me and this big scary dragon came out of no where and attacked me! I didn't do anything and the big fat meanie just scared lil ole me! Oh please won't you help me out!"

Gear just stared as the man stared at him with puppy dog eyes. He had never encountered anyone so dramatic or rambunctious as this fellow. However, he needed to figure out the fellow's intentions before he gave any information.

"Hmm...I will if you will tell me who you are and where you're heading." Gear gave the man a friendly smile and was given one in return.

"My apologies! My name is Shiv and I'm trying to find a computer system known as BRANIAC."

DUN DUN DUN!!!!! :D Can you guess what Shiv is? Well I think you can. You guys are extremely smart. Anyways, review please! I appreciate it!