Bob: Alright, first we are faced with a snippet from Ebony Icon's "What a Crazy World". In this story that takes place right after the episode "End Prog.", Enzo is a little... different.

What a Crazy World

Tom: (Mike) Staring all those crazy and whacky Mainframers!

By Ebony Icon

Tom: (author) So rub me with wool and use me in science demonstrations

DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters I am not accepting money for this story. They are owned my MainFrame Productions

Bob: Oh, her Mainframe? I beg your pardon?
Tom: (Ebony) I don't own the characters. I just own the company that owns the characters! AHAHAHA!

and currently Cartoon Network.

Bob: (buzzer sound) That's two wrong! CN does not own ReBoot and never will, thank-you-very-much.

And even if they do sue me they will not get much out of it.

Mike: Nah! Ebony's just saying that. Really, Ebony is rich multimillionaire who is just hoping to be sued and therefore get more money out of the deal.

Summary: (note: Daemon does not exist, so there.)

Bob: Sure could have fooled me. She looked real enough when she arrived here.
Mike: (smiling) I even got a kiss from her.
Tom: After you betrayed the entire net by letting her go.
Mike: (sulking) Won't you ever let that die?
Crow: Not in this lifetime.

When the second Enzo came out of the Principal Office he created confusion.

Bob: (Enzo) If there's two of me and I'm an evil renegade Guardian... do I still have to go to school?

But what he was about to create was pure havoc.

Mike: By having both Enzo's go to school and fighting over lunch boxes and seating arrangements and ending with the tragic, yet comical, death of Billy the binome.
Bob: I love "Back to School".

The restart causes side effects left over from Megabytes reign.

Crow: (Author) Nibbles grows to an enormous size and eats all of Mainframe.

A second Game Sprite comes to Mainframe and appearance of a new race ensures a very use full plot device.

All: Oooo! Ahhh!
Mike: Very nice!
Crow: We'll have a plot device? Oh please let this not be false advertising.
Tom: "Use full" plot device? Oh... never mind.

Principal Office: Just After The Restart.

Tom: The runners keep on starting before the gun fire.

Enzo was just there, he knew where he was just not why he was there.

Tom: Enzo - your mission, should you choose to accept it...

And the whole thing was starting to scare him. Then he felt it, a steely viciousness that filled his thoughts.

Bob: (voice) Kill them Enzo. They're out to get you! They're jealous of you!

His format felt different, changed, and he knew why.

Crow: It felt all silky and smooth now.
Mike: He knows why his code felt different, but he doesn't know why he is where he is? Alrighty then.

He was a Virus.

Bob: Wha?
Crow: Come again?

He started to panic this couldn't be happening the last thing he remembered was being scanned for a backup program.

Tom: What happened to the punctuation in there? I don't see any.
Crow: Must be hiding.

Then it hit him he was the backup.

Mike: (Matrix) Back-up! Go home!

This made him start to panic more.

Crow: (Enzo, panicking) I'm a virus! I'm a back up! I don't know how this happened... but it's kinda cool!

Then he started to relax.

Tom: (Enzo) Okay, breath in and out. Slowly. In. Out....

His new Viral instincts blended in with his Sprite instincts.

Mike: Place instincts into food processor and mix well.

His breathing slowed and his mind cleared.

Bob: (Enzo) Duuhh!

Out, he had to get out.

(Snickers from the guys.)

Tom: Out. OUT!

He bolted out the door of the main hall finding the next hall, it's door to the outside wide open.

Mike: (Enzo) Must... get... out!

He also saw Bob, the Guardian.

Bob: The one and only!
Crow: Not you.
Bob: (sadly) I know.

He cursed inwardly before the first priority of a Virus blinked into his mind.

Tom: (Enzo) Aww crap! There's my hero and mentor!
Bob: (Voice) Kill him, then you will be the Guardian.

‘Preserve self’,

Tom: (Self) Store your body in formaldehyde.
Mike: Then he would be in suspended animation! Ha!

(Everyone groans)

he immediately knew what to do.;

Mike: He had read the "Always know what to do" chapter in the Boy Scout handbook.

He yelled Bob's name and bolted down the hall and then bowled him over and spoke at incredible speeds.

Tom: And used three 'ands' in one sentence and turning it into a run on sentence and annoying Tom Servo to no end.

Then in the middle of everything he realized they were all staring. This was going to be interesting.

Bob: Indeed.

****

Mouse glanced down at the various windows that made up her hacking equipment. The readings were strange.

Mike: She had Pokémon, Animorphs, and Telly Tubbie books.
Tom: Those aren't strange readings, those are torture!

Energy spikes littered the screens

Tom: What are energy spikes?
Bob: Beats me.

Bob was even having trouble figuring it out.

Crow: Are you, Bob?
Bob: I'll say.

He kept picking up viral energy signatures that were not Hexadecimal's.

Tom: So, they were Megabyte's? Seeking his revenge?
Crow: We can only hope!

They were from a different category of virus, a new one perhaps.

Mike: Daemon's then?
Crow: Please, oh please, oh please!

"Ah just don't understand it." Mouse said sifting through the energy spikes. "Shouldn't we be able to pinpoint the virus from here?"

Bob: Well... yeah!

Bob bit his lip as he concentrated on using his Glitch half.

Tom: (Bob) Ow!

But it didn't help whatever was causing the interference was almost impossible to track.

"Yes we should but," He trailed off inhaling in concentration.

Mike: (confused) How does one do that?
Bob: I'm not sure... and I know for a fact that I can't do that.

Then he let out a heavy sigh.

Tom: (Mouse) OW! Will you watch where you drop that thing!

"But this is something new, we'll have to do a manual search."

Crow: (Mouse) Bob, I didn't know you felt that way.
Mike: (warningly) Crow...

They searched for seconds for the source of the disturbance until it just disappeared from the screens. The only trace of a virus was Hexadecimal the other signature had just vanished.

Tom: Kinda like all the punctuation.

****

Dot was asleep in her room she was ecstatic that Enzo was back, in two forms none-the-less.

Crow: She was asleep and ecstatic at the same time? Neat trick!

The brother she had lost to a game returned

Tom: Much to her regret.

and her little hyperactive brother sleeping safely in his room.

Bob: Talk about a neat trick. Having a brother that sleeps hyperactively.

She used to cry so much for Enzo, and Bob as well.

Bob: (sniffing) I'm touched.
Tom: Yes you are.

She was just glad to have them all back.

But out in the hall Enzo was not safely asleep in his bed.

Mike: He was hanging from the roof by his elbows.

He was instead standing outside of his sisters’ still open bedroom door.

Tom: (Enzo, concentrating) Dot, I want a new bike for my birthday and a new hat... not a red one.

It had taken him awhile to hide his viral signature under his Sprite signature, but he had done it.

Tom: (british accent) ...and there was much rejoicing.
All: (unenthusiastically) Yey.

He walked silently into her room standing by her bed.

Crow: It's the Matrix's standing room.

He gazed with interest at her.

Mike: (Enzo) This specimen is ...intriguing...

He wouldn't kill her or infect her for that matter.

Tom: Why not?

He remembered her as a protector and mother since his was gone.

Tom: Oh.

Matrix too was safe, the larger version of him could teach him many things.

Crow: How to shoot things...
Bob: And how to get a really devoted girlfriend...
Tom: ...
Crow: ...how to shoot things.
Tom: Right.

But if things got out of had with him Enzo could always use AndrAia to gain co-operation. But only as a last resort.

All: Ooooo...
Tom: Dem's fightin' words!
Bob: If only AndrAIa could hear that!

But the Surfer and Mouse could be problems, he couldn't just dispense with them,

Tom: I think he means dispose of them.
Crow: (Enzo) Their bodies are just too heavy!

they were tied into Dot and Matrix too tightly.

Tom: The rope he used was old.
Crow: And the gags kept coming off.

He would just have to be careful.

Then there was Bob. The Guardian would probably overlook any thing that was wrong.

Bob: (insulted) Oh gee, thanks!

For a while at least, but as a Guardian he was a danger. There could be no dangers to Enzo's survival, ever.

Mike: No, never.
Tom: None what-so-ever.
Bob: Uh huh.

He would have to do something about that, but what?

Bob: (Voice) Kill him. Blame it on Matrix.

He turned and quietly went back to his room.

Crow: (Enzo) Now back to my evil plan.

Frisket was already asleep on the bed, the large dog hadn't noticed what Enzo had become.

Bob: Even though "Frisket always did have a thing about viruses".

Mainly because the boy used his Sprite codes to mask his viral ones, but that didn't matter.

Bob: Oh I see.

He climbed into bed and quickly fell asleep, a cold smile on his face.

Bob: He forgot to warm his smile up before he went to bed...
Crow: Ah, that was refreshing. Now we go to Amanda Stone's "The Adventures of the Queen". It's about Hexadecimal and her personal reflectings on her past. We enter the story were she first meets Mouse.

After the incident with Megabyte, I decided to flee the system.

Tom: (british accent) Run away! Run away!

Why he was so bent on having me destroyed, I don’t know.

Mike: Maybe it was because of the taffy in the hair incident?
Bob: Megabyte doesn't have any hair.
Mike: Well, I bet it was still a killer to get out anyway.
Tom: No, I bet that's why he doesn't have hair.
Bob: Touché.

Perhaps my obvious power over his own made him jealous.

Tom: (sarcastically) No!

At any rate, I had grown tired of staying there, and was soon through a portal to a system called Mercury.

(giggles from the guys)

Bob: Mercury?
Crow: Is there Mars?
Mike: Jupiter?
Tom: Sailor Moon?

Mercury was a smallish system.

Crow: Ah, smallish.
Tom: Yes.
Mike: ...
Bob: Is that like Swedish?

It had ports to the net, not that I needed them, and a modest Principal Office, but not much else.

Crow: (Hex) The system didn't have any inhabitants.
Tom: (Hex) Or other buildings.
Bob: (Hex) Just ports, a Principal Office and me.

I liked it for the fact that it was not near the Supercomputer,

Crow: Even though it did have ports to the Net, which ultimately leads to the Super Computer.

a place I was not yet ready to handle as a virus, should my actions there alert it.

Crow: (Hex) All I did was blow up twenty buildings. I don't see what the big fuss is about...

I floated lazily above the city.

Mike: (Hex) On my inflate-a-raft.

They had no idea of my presence, yet.

Tom: (Hex) Even though I hired a sky writer to sign "Hexie is here!"

I had masked (no pun intended)

Tom: Yeah. Suuure!

my entrance with my powers and was now just content to watch and wait for any opportunities.

As I floated closer, a girl on the street caught my attention.

Mike: (Girl) Hey! Watch where you drop that! You could kill somebody!

It was obvious she was being arrested for something. Her hands had been pinned behind her

Tom: Ouch! That must hurt!
Crow: Any idea where I could get a pin that size?

and she was attempting to wiggle away. Not only that, but she was making such a fuss over the whole thing.

Tom: Oh the nerve of her. Being upset while getting arrested.

Screaming and shouting as if the very Web were at her heels.

Crow: Well, maybe it was. You never know...

"Hey, Ah didn’t do anything!

Crow: (girl) The bank was robbed when I got there!

Leave me alone! Don’t-don’t you touch me! Ah said, Ah didn’t do anything! Let me go! Lemme go!" she screamed

Mike: (girl) I'll be your best friend...

and twisted as two police sprites, speaking in the low tones of the law, handcuffed her.

Crow: That's really mean. First, they're arresting her, and now they're handcuffing her.

She piqued my curiosity. What had this girl done to make her cry out so?

Bob: Um... something worth getting arrested for?

Suddenly deciding, I landed on the quiet street corner. The two police sprites got to look at me for barely a nano when I spread out my hand and had my power push them away. They struck the wall behind them and were still.

Bob: Still policemen?

The girl had fallen to her knees in front of me, breathing hard, and I finally got a good look at her.

Crow: (Hex) And discovered that it wasn't a her at all.

Her hair was as fiery as any one of my energy balls, and her skin sported pretty lavender.

Mike: Lavender is a sport now?
Bob: Is it going to be the new olympic event?

She was dressed simply,  with a white sleeveless, strap shirt, army boots, and black pants.

Crow: Hmmmm... can't put the description to the character...
Tom: It's Mouse, idiot!
Crow: I know that, Tightwad.
Mike: Happy thoughts, guys. Happy thoughts.

But what caught my eye was that upon her skin were strange white markings, like tattoos. My sharp sight told me otherwise. Those markings had been there from birth.

Bob: Those are tattoos!

She clenched her teeth, and I noticed small fangs in her upper jaw.

Crow: (Hex)  She's a vampire!

I smiled to myself.

Tom: (Hex) Where's Buffy when you need her?
Mike: Probably talking up a storm in ReBu... I... I can't even say it.
Bob: It's okay Mike. We get the idea.
Crow: Hey wait a minute! Bob, what are you doing here then?
Bob: It's a special MSTing. I have visitation rights.

She was probably a hybrid, born from some low-level virus and abandoned.

(all make faces)

Tom: A sprite?
Bob: And a virus?
All: Ewwww!!

She struggled with the cuffs for a moment, finally edging her hand to her front pocket and taking out a pin.

Tom: She let it dangle, just like the sentence structure.

Her hands replaced themselves behind her back, but now there was the sound of swift clicking and the cuffs clattered to the ground.

Crow: Waking the guards.

She stood quickly, backing away as she did so, staring at me with a mixture of curiosity and malice.

"I s’pose you want some thanks." She said, straightening herself a little.

Mike: Because she was crooked.

"Well you might as well leave ‘cause you ain’t gettin it."

Bob: (Mouse) So there!

She brushed herself off, then turned to the policemen’s bodies.

Crow: And burned them.

Bending, she snatched up what looked like some sort of sword that had landed next to them, and placed it on her hip.

Bob: And watched it falls since, the sheath wasn't on her hip, but in her boot.

She looked back at me, her maroon eyes still regarding me with concern.

Crow: (Mouse) Are you my mother?

"What'er you still standing there for?" She barked. I smiled still.

Tom: (Hex) I enjoy annoying you.

"What is your name, youngling?" I hadn’t caught myself in time. Youngling was a term older viruses used for newer ones. This purple urchin must have been no more than 1.11, an adolescent.

Mike: Well that explains the attitude problem.

"M’name’s Mouse, and Ah ain’t no 'youngling.' Ah could’ve taken them." She nodded toward the police.

Bob: Taken them where?

"Ah didn’t need help from no witch." She snapped.

Tom: (Mouse) Ouch!
Crow: Then she bought a rifle, found a bell tower and went buck wild.

I tried to look hurt, but inwardly I was pleased. Flattery, to me, always came in strange places.

Crow: (Hex) I love getting insulted by little bratty half virus kids.

"Really?" I asked, glancing at the sword. "Are you a warrior?"

(Snickers sound)

"Yeah," she stood proudly. "Ah’m a mercenary."

"A bought soldier?" She nodded.

Tom: That is the definition of a mercenary....

"Ah do the work, if the price is right." She rubbed her thumb and forefinger together to emphasize her point. "Ah can hack into anything. You want it, Ah can get it."

Crow: (Hex) Can you get me a silver haired, blue Guardian?
Bob: Hey!

"Can you now?" Mouse looked at me strangely.

Mike: (Mouse) Are you sure you're not my mother?

"What ‘bout you?" If I could have blinked, I would have.

(Mike and bots laugh)

Mike: (Hex) My eyes are drying out!
Crow: (Hex) Help! Help! I can't blink!
Bob: But she couldn't blink!
Tom: Quiet, Icon-boy.

How could she not know? Perhaps she hadn’t guessed my viral nature, but how could she miss it?

Bob: (Hex) My long nails, my viral smile...
Crow: (Hex) ...the fact that I don't blink.

I regained myself.

Mike: After losing herself.

It was no matter to me what she thought, this girl amused me and I wished to watch her for awhile.

Bob: (Hex, giggling) You're goofy lookin'!

Tom: Wonderful. Wish we could continue on this... gem, but we have more shorts to make fun of.
Mike: Now we have a section of RoeBoot's long/short entitled "Girls Night Out". In this story, all the male sprites of Mainframe...
Bob: That being Bob, Matrix, Ray and Enzo...
Mike: Were in a slightly serious car accident on their way to circuit racing. Bob broke his wrist, Matrix broke his leg, Ray hit his head and Enzo got off with a cut chin.
Crow: Matrix was probably driving.
Mike: So the girls are left to defend the system when a game cube drops.
Tom: (eagerly) And what type of game drops, Mike?
Mike: A Cleopatra 2525 game.
Crow: My favourite kind!
Bob: We know, Crow. We know.
Mike: Bob gave Dot his icon to help them out in the game and this is where we pick up the story.

Despite his injury, Bob had zipped over to the Principle Office

Bob: Zipboarding - having nothing to do with broken wrists, wouldn't have effected the his ability of using the board.

to be beside Phong when the game arrived. Little Enzo had tagged along at his urging.

Crow: I could do so much with that...
Bob: But please don't...

The guardian feared the worst in the back of his mind while remaining confident the girl's would survive at risk to his own PID.

Crow: (Bob, thinking) I fear that the girls will be successful in defeating the game!

****

"We have tah go in there?" Mouse said in amazement.

Tom: (Mouse) But Ah'm not dressed for the occasion.
Bob: (AndrAIa) Actually, you're hardly dressed at all.
Crow: And how!

Mouse hadn't expected them to find a bunch of game sprites in a bar setting beneath the surface of the game.

Mike: She was expecting more along the lines of giant squid that ate hippopotami for brunch.

The sprites were anything but normal.

Crow: Normal being compared to... what?

They were a jumble of assorted freaks, creatures and mutants.

Bob: I'd say that's about normal.

Mouse smiled. "This is too cool!"

Tom: (Mouse, pointing) That one is kinda cute.

"Hmmm," AndrAIa looked around. "It reminds me of the bar Matrix met Turbo in. Only this time, I get to see the kind of people who were in it.

Mike: (AndrAIa) Because last time, Matrix scared them all away. (darkly) He always ruins my fun!

Do you know why we have go inside?"

Bob: (Dot) To get plastered my friend!
Crow: (Mouse) And check out the guys!
Bob: (Dot) Work with us Andy, huh!

"The exit on the other side leads to the next chamber. We have to go there to find the weapon."

Crow: Dum dum dum!

"Think we have time for a drink?"

Tom: (Mouse) I just have this craving for a Shirley Temple!

"Mouse you have to take game's a little more seriously," scolded AndrAIa.

"Or yah end up in the Funhouse?"

Bob: Darn right!

"Trust me. You don't want to go there," Dot and AndrAIa said in unexpected unison.

Mike: (Dot) The outfits are just horrible! I had purple hair! Can you believe it?! Purple!!

When the trio entered the bar it got much quieter.

Crow: (game sprite, whispering) I'll take the one on the left.

The bartender, a mutant sprite with multiple tentacles instead of arms yelled at them. "Keep the mutt outside!"

Crow: (AndrAIa) That's no way to talk about Mouse! I know she looks like... oh.. you mean Frisket... heh heh.

AndrAIa aimed her laser at him. Mouse raise her arm also.

Crow: (AndrAIa, whispering) Mouse, you're suppose to raise the arm that has the laser.
Bob: (Mouse) Oops! Boy, is mah face red! That would have been awkward. Heh heh.

"Wanna arm wrestle tough guy?"

Mike: (bartender) Would there be mud involved?

The bar keep snarled. "I don't let weapons in my bar either!"
Dot tried to mediate.
"We need both for our safety."

Bob: (Dot) If you don't like it, you can take it up with my boyfriend! (lifts up icon) Tell him honey.

"Being human you'd need it."

Mike: Hey! I resemble that remark!

The bar patrons laughed.

Mike: (patron, sarcastically) Ha... ha... ha... (lowly) I need a drink.

Dot suggested.

Tom: Tom exclaimed.
Bob: Bob inquired.
Crow: Crow puked.

"You keep our weapons and we'll keep our dog."

"Dot!" AndrAIa and Mouse said alarmed.

Crow: (AndrAIa) Stop talking about Mouse that way. She's... oh... Frisket again. Right. Heh heh.

"It's the only way."

Bob: (Dot) See the sign? It says, "One way"

AndrAIa and Mouse gave up the lasers on their arm bands. Frisket's growls and pungent odor helped clear a path to a circular table in the rear of the bar.

Mike: Oh yes readers, we forgot to tell you; Frisket fell into a sewer, so he smells.
Crow: And how does he smell?
Bob: (matter-of-factly) With his nose.

The girls sat down. They noticed some of the sprites were willing to stare them in the eye.

Crow: (Mouse) Waddya lookin' at?
Bob: (sprite) Not much.

Across from them were a strange pair of game sprites, both female. One looked like a she was made of rock while the other was a silvery cyborg.

Bob: And here is an extremely short cameo of Jade and Tekla from Shadow Raiders. Thank you.

AndrAIa commented. "I'm getting this strange feeling of deja vu."

Crow: (AndrAIa) Which I will not elaborate on.

"Soooooo," asked Mouse, "exactly why did we have to give up our weapons?"

Tom: (Dot) Because we're stupid.

"We couldn't get to the exit for the chamber unless we did."

Crow: Sure you could. It's called the "Blast-your-way-through" strategy. Everyone does it now in the movies!

"Bob's directions?" Moused figured.

Tom: "Sentence fragment." Tomd concluded.

"And what if someone in here decides we're fair game?"

Bob: (Dot) Then we're screwed and we blame Bob.

"Don't worry I'm sure no one else in the bar is armed either."

Mike: Famous last words.

"Like you've been here before."

"Mouse," AndrAIa said, "part of game playing is patience.

Bob: Unless it's a high speed game where if you wait long enough... you're a null.

Just keep alert."

A waitress looking like a oversized iguana came to the table and put three drinks down. "What's the occasion?" AndrAIa inquired being suspicious of every sprite.

Crow: She doesn't trust her own kind?

"The gentlemen issssss buying," she pointed her clawed hand towards a heavily muscled human sitting at the bar.

Tom: (waitress) And the authorss sss key iss ssticking.
Mike: (quietly) Precioussss....

He wore sunglasses over his eyes and had buzz cut blonde hair.

Bob: What he was wearing wasn't important; only his head was worthy of detail.

"Looks like a cross between Matrix and Ray," Mouse said coyly. "Is he tryin' to pick us up?"

Tom: (cringing) That's a mental image I could have done without.
Bob: Guess his name would be Ratrix.
Mike: Or... May.
Crow: Or Massive Orange Guy Who Likes To Shoot Things.

(Everyone looks at Crow)

Crow: (meekly) So, I've been looking at the Spork-man fan art. Sue me.

The human's gaze intensified until his eyes glowed red. Dot stood up. "More like pick us off! That's the User!"

Bob: (Mouse) Damn. He was cute, too.

The User reached behind his back and took out a weapon. The bartender actually tried to stop him and got the first shot.

Mike: (AndrAIa, sarcastically) No one else in the bar is armed, eh Dot?

It gave Mouse time to flip over the table and push Dot and AndrAIa down to take cover.

Mike: (Dot) Hey! Watch it!

Frisket wanted to charge the User, but AndrAIa pulled him back into hiding.

Bob: (AndrAIa) No! You're not going to get deleted today. No! Bad dog!

The panic in the bar obscured the User's attempts to lock on his targets. He started firing, ever if game sprites were in the way. Several laser bolts tore through the table. The User came closer, firing two more salvos, turning most of the table to splinters. He kicked the table remains of the table away.

Crow: (sighing, happily) Random acts of violence. I love these scenes.

The girls had disappeared.

Tom: (bartender, announcing) And for my next trick...

He heard someone whistle and shout. "Hey bits for brains! Looking for me?!"

Mike: (User) No, actually. I dropped my contact lens somewhere here. Could you help me find it?

The User saw AndrAIa hop on the bar. She rearmed herself with her laser,

Crow: Which popped out of nowhere.

activated her shield, and fired several times. AndrAIa saw the sparks fly off his cybernetic components beneath the exposed skin from the wounds she inflicted, but they were not effective at slowing him down.

Mike: (AndrAIa) He's like some... non... giving up... User guy!

The User fired back. AndrAIa shielding held as she ducked back behind the bar.

Frisket whined to her in a bit of worry. AndrAIa asked him.

Tom: (AndrAIa) Why do we have sentence fragments everywhere boy? Fragments that don't make sense?

"Have Dot and Mouse gotten out?" The dog nodded. "Good!" The liquor bottles and glasses above AndrAIa shattered as the User tried to hit her. "Let's show this User a thing or two!"

Bob: (AndrAIa) You stand on the beach ball and I'll juggle.

****

Mouse and Dot ran along the passageway leading them closer to the weapon they needed. Mouse adjusted the laser on her wrist. "Glad I came after all honey?"

Mike: (Dot) Where'd your laser come from?
Bob: (Mouse) Plot hole.

"As glad as I was all those minutes you helped us fight Megabyte. Your cut and paste tricks are the best way out of a bad situation."

Crow: I just wish you wouldn't use so much glue!

"I hope Andy and Frisket will be alright facing the User without us."

"She'll catch up to us in nanoseconds. It's better off we keep going. WHOOPS!"

Bob: Dot said as she slipped on dog doo, fell, then quickly got back up.

They stopped short when they saw a mutant game sprite from the bar standing in their way. He looked like the User from the Funhouse, only more frightening and dressed less silly. His grin was more then a little eerie.

Crow: (author) Because I'm too lazy to create my own character, I'm going to steal off of Mainframe and just change it a little.

"HEL-lo there lovely lady,"

Bob: Said Ray.

the mutant cooed.

Crow: Ah! Mutant pigeon, then?

Mouse snarled at him. "I'm no lady!"

Crow: I knew it!
Bob: (warningly) Crow...

Before the hacker could attack, another sprite tackled the chaotic game sprite.

Tom: 25! 94! 42! HUT! HUT! HUT!

The female mutant sat on the male mutant's chest the way Enzo did after bowling over Bob. She resembled a futuristic Japanese kabuki in the bright red kimono and silver go go boots.

(Snickers from the guys)

She had the traditional white face and high black hair with chopsticks for pins. She turned and smiled at Dot and Mouse. It wasn't too hard to recognized her.

Mike: (Dot) Hello Deadpan.

"HEXADECIMAL!?!"

Bob: (Hex) That's my name. Don't wear it out.

"Hi girls! Having fun? I know I am! Aren't we handsome?"

Mike: (Dot) Well, I'd prefer to call myself beautiful, but you can suit yourself.

She looked all love sick and fawning at the choatic game sprite. The clown faced freak screamed, shoved Hex off and ran away. Hex sighed. "He enjoys playing hard to get! Oooooh sweetie! Hexy wants a kiss!"

Crow: Is it just me, or is Hex getting more desperate?

(Everyone just shrugs)

Hex lifted up her skirts

Bob: (shocked) Gah!

(Everyone panics and covers their faces. Mike ducks underneath his seat.)

Tom: Aaahhh! Quick! Someone cover my dome! Please!
Bob: (whispering) I did not want to see that! I did not want to see that!
Crow: (shuddering) I think I'll be scarred for life!

so she could chase after her quarry easier.

Mike: (hiding) If I were that game sprite, I'd run too.

****

Bob: (peeking) Is it over? Can I look now?
Mike: (getting up) It appears to be.

(Everyone gives a sigh of relief)

Crow: Alright. Who's next?
Bob: Jada's short called "The Day the Women Got Even"
Tom: A truly evil title. Let's watch.

The door to Dot's Diner slammed open and Mouse stormed in, throwing herself onto one of the stools by the bar.

Crow: Immediately followed by falling off the stool.

AndrAIa was already there,

Mike: With a broken ankle from those nasty heels.

drowning her sorrows in an energy shake.  Dot was on the other side of the counter, fastidiously wearing a hole into the countertop with her sponge.

Tom: (Mouse) What are you using? Nitroglycerine?

"Need a shake?" Dot asked the hacker with a sigh and Mouse nodded morosely.

Bob: (Dot) There's a paint mixture machine in the storage room.

"Actually, sugah, Ah need somethin' strongah than a shake, but Ah suppose you don' serve tha' kinda stuff here."

Crow: (Dot) No, but we do have a warrior's drink.
Tom: Good old prune juice!

"What's your trouble?" AndrAIa asked, taking another sip of her shake, eager to focus on somebody else's problems.

Bob: (AndrAIa) I love to pry into others personal lives!

"Ray!" Mouse announced, as if that explained everything, accepting with another nod the shake that Dot handed her.  "You'd think tha' we women couldn' do a thin' for ourselves."

Crow: You mean they can't?
Mike: Shhh!

AndrAIa made a face.

Tom: (Mouse) And how does a monkey face help me Andy? Real mature!

"I hear you.  I'm just as good - if not better! - than Matrix at the Games, but when one shows up, he and Bob say that they can take care of everything without me."

Bob: (AndrAIa) It's my turn to almost get myself deleted and turned into a energy sucking worm!

"Bob," Dot said with a shake of her head.  "That's a whole 'nother story in itself!

Crow: (Dot) And grandma gets locked in the closet in this one too.

I swear, if he had his way, I'd spend all my time holed up in this diner.  He's just plain forgotten who LED the rebellion against Megabyte - and who the Command.Com is!"

Tom: (Dot) Not to mention practically all the business in Mainframe are owned by moi!

"Ah thin' those boys need to be taught a lesson," Mouse said, her face set in a scowl.

Tom: (Mouse) You still have the paint ball guns, don't you Dot?

AndrAIa's eyes took on a cheeky glimmer.  "One they won't forget."

Bob: (AndrAIa) I still have the box of rubber chickens.

The three sat in silence for a moment before Dot grinned slowly.  "Girls? I think I have the perfect plan…"

Bob: And dark clouds begin to collect in Mainframe's sky.
Crow: Lightning flashes.

Crow: Bob.
Mike: No.

an oversized pillow.  "Hey, Andi, do you want to spar a bit? Enzo's been bugging me to let him watch us…"

Crow: Say...

AndrAIa sighed dramatically and switched her file to the other hand so she could carefully manicure a teal fingernail.  "I don't know, lover… I might break a nail."

Matrix froze

Bob: *Chink*

and stared at her.

Mike: (Matrix) Duuuuh....

"AndrAIa, I've seen you SWORDFIGHT with those things,

Crow: (Matrix) Not to mention multiple victim stabbings...

I doubt you are going to break them mock-fighting with me."

"But I MIGHT…" AndrAIa whined, pouting at him.

Matrix blinked and looked at her again.

Bob: (Matrix) Okay, who are you and what have you done to my Andy?

Shaking his head, he stepped away from the door.  "Whatever you say, love…"

Mike: (Matrix) Well, I'm just going to go beat up Enzo alone then?

Unseen by Matrix, AndrAIa smirked and continued filing her nails.

Tom: (AndrAIa, lowly) Sucker!
Bob: Wonderful. We'd love to find out what happens, but we have to move on - from the wacky to the deep.
Mike: Next we have someone who's named themselves after a Matrix star.
Crow: (confused) Huh?
Mike: I mean "The Matrix", Keanu wrote our next submission "Another Time, Another Place".
Tom: The story takes place during the battle with Daemon, from Bob's point of view. Matrix was injured and when we pick up the story, our greatest dreams come true.

Andraia knew her lover was dead.

Crow: And there was much rejoicing!
All: Whoo!

She ran over

Bob: Matrix.

to Matrix. She cradled his head and gently rocked back and forth

Tom: Back and forth, back and forth...

while smoothing his hair out of his face.

Crow: AndrAIa used an elastic band to hold it back while she applied mascara and liner.

When he became translucent and started to fad into deletion

Bob: Quick! Get his wallet!

began bawling and kissed him until there was noting left of him but his memory.

Mike: And that wonderful fresh smell of pine.

She then whispered to the cold wind that was now blowing threw us all.

"I will always love you Enzo. I'll never forget you."

Bob: (AndrAIa) At least, until the next muscle, gun waving guy comes along.

She cried and cried.I started to go to her but Mouse put a hand on my shoulder and shook her head.

Mike: (Mouse) It's AndrAIa. She doesn't need comforting.

Andraia then stood up and started walking towards

Crow: Ray.

the camp.That's when I broke down.

Bob: My engine overheated.

I started crying.

Tom: I hoped it would act as a coolant.

Maybe seeing me,the big strong

Mike: Hairy...

guardian ,cry started everyone else ,

Tom: The poor comma is lost it's way!

or maybe it was just time.I don't know.

Bob: But it makes me feel better.

Either way that's when we all broke down.

Crow: (Bob) And then we all checked into the Self Help classes at the Principal Office.

I don't know when I got back to my tent.

Mike: (Bob) Must have been after 4 am.

I don't know much about the days after that except Andraia wouldn't leave the camp.

Tom: Something about Black Riders after her.

Someone always stayed with her usually a sprite from another system.

Crow: 'Cause no one from her home system really cared for her.

Ray stayed with her the first few days, but never me.

Bob: I just couldn't stomach the smell of fish.

I was always needed to fight Daemon.

Mike: But you couldn't find it in your busy schedule to help a hurting friend.
Crow: Shame on you.

Even now three year after Enzo died I still can't get over it.

Tom: (Bob) He had promised me to take me to a ball game!

Now all I have are the memories of him from another time in another place.

(All get up and  begin walking out of the theatre.)
Bob: (author) Well, what did you expect? I had to pop the title in somewhere, didn't I?
 

@ . .  2 . .  3 . .  4 . .  5 . .  6 . .

(Back on the SOL, Crow is now painted all green with a red baseball cap on backwards and a white t-shirt with 'Enzo' painted roughly on the front. He reaches out and touches a glass of water and the glass turns green.)

Crow: (Enzo) Cool!

(Tom enters the view looking an awful lot like Hex with paper crown pieces taped to his dome.)

Tom: (Hex) Hello. I am fleeing from my brother, of whom is less powerful than I. I will search for a boring system to entertain myself while abroad.

(Mike enters wearing a bikini pattern t-shirt, a turquoise wig with a plastic starfish and holding a nail file. He looks at Cambot.)

Mike: Welcome back. We're dressing up as our favourite characters from the contest. Crow is viral Enzo, Servo here is Hexadecimal, I'm attention deprived AndrAIa and (looks around) I'm not quite sure who Bob is dressing as.

(Bob walks on, looking completely normal.)

Bob: Hi guys.

Crow: Um, Bob?

Bob: (lightly) Yeah?

Tom: Aren't you suppose to be someone?

Bob: Sure am.

Mike: Well, where is it?

Bob: I don't need anything for it. Watch.

(Bob walks behind Tom and Crow and crouches down out of sight.)

Bob: There.

(Everyone looks confused.)

Mike: And who are you suppose to be Bob?

Bob: (off screen) Deleted Matrix.

(All nod.)

Crow: Hey, that one is so much easier! Why didn't I think of that?

(Lights flash)

All: WE HAVE SHORTS SIGN!

(They all scramble in different directions. Bob stands up, starts to run off screen, trips and falls out of sight.)