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The Beginning of the End
By: Albert Einome
It was a beautiful cycle in Mainframe. Just micros before, Bob had won a game with Dot that had come down on Floating Point Park. Bob and Dot were now relaxing on a park bench, amid games and sports the binomes were playing.
"You know, it's times like these I think about how far we've come. Finally, Mainframe is rid of Megabyte, and Hexadecimal is actually a registered sprite! I wonder what else could happen in the future. What other accomplishments we could make," Bob said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, well here's something you can do right now. Duck!" Dot yelled.
"What?" Bob then got hit in the head with a red ball. "Ow!"
"I told you to duck!" Dot laughed.
"Hey, I'm sorry Guardian Bob. Please don't hurt me!" a binome said.
"Oh it's okay. And just call me Bob! No formalities, please. Here's your ball back." He tossed it to the binome.
"Thanks Bob!" He ran off to join his friends.
"So much for another accomplishment," Bob chuckled.
At Dot's Diner, Matrix, AndrAIa, and Enzo were having a lunch. Enzo was talking and talking about how he had met himself.
"Wow this is so alphanumeric! This is so cool to have someone who is me all grown up right next to me! So what do I do in the future, huh? I wanna know! Please please tell me PLEASE?"
"Whoa, you don't need to go that fast. Well, Enzo, you'll find out. But probably you won't be the person I am. You'll probably be different. Phong once said, 'The future is always changing.'. So it just might be different for you," Matrix said.
"Aw man, I wanted to know if I become really famous and if I become a Guardian and defeat viruses every day!"
"Sorry, Enzo," Matrix said.
"Hey guys, let's stop talking and start eating!" AndrAIa said.
Enzo and Matrix agreed and they all started to eat their food.
Also, at a movie theater, Mouse and Ray were watching a movie together. All in all, everything was fine. But that was about to change...
In the Read-Only Room, Phong was looking over old files about Megabyte. Then he noticed a little minimized window on the screen. He decided to maximize it, so he put his finger on it. He then read the data.
Phong then suddenly gasped. "Oh dear..." he zipped off, out of the Read-Only Room, and into the hallways. Phong didn't know that there was a tear that was steadily growing elsewhere in the P. O...
* * *
Bob started looking at the beautiful sky, and then he noticed Dot was fidgeting.
"Is something wrong, Dot?" Bob asked.
"Something just seems wrong... but I don't know what it is."
"Yeah, I feel it too. Maybe it's just my Glitch powers. I don't know."
Suddenly, Dot's datapad started to beep.
"Maybe that might tell you what's wrong!"
"Thank you, Bob," Dot said sarcastically.
She turned it on.
"Yes?" she asked. Phong appeared on the screen.
"My child! I have accessed some very important information! Please tell everyone else to come to the Principle Office as soon as possible!" Phong said.
"Right away Phong!" Dot turned it off. "Well, Bob, looks like Phong found something. Let's go."
Dot got out a zipboard, and Bob did too. On the way to the Principle Office, they notified Matrix, AndrAIa, Mouse, and Ray.
At the Diner, Matrix and AndrAIa got up and started to leave.
"Hey, where are you going?" Enzo asked.
"It's nothing. We'll be back soon," AndrAIa said.
"Don't tag along," Matrix growled.
"Aw, why does everyone else get to have fun? I want to too!" Enzo then got an idea. After he saw Matrix and AndrAIa leave, he got a zipboard and followed. But on the ground someone else was chasing Enzo...
* * *
Hack and Slash were looking around in the main control room.
"You know, I wonder why all these buttons are here," Slash wondered.
"Yeah, you're right! They wouldn't have all of them if they weren't useful!" Hack replied.
"Say, Hack, why is that button blinking?"
"I don't know! What button?"
"The one labeled Portal!"
"I don't know. Wait..."
"PORTAL?!" Hack and Slash chorused.
"Do you think- if you pressed it-" Hack stammered.
"Yeah, probably. You wanna do it?"
"Sure, whatever."
* * *
Meanwhile, the tear in the Principle Office was growing bigger and bigger. Already it was tearing away at the walls.
Bob, flying in the air, sensed it.
"What? Huh- that's weird," he said.
"What's so weird?" Dot questioned.
"Well, I'm sensing a tear, but I can't... oh, it's in the Principle Office! I'd better go on ahead. See ya!" Bob zoomed off.
* * *
"Okay, press it then!" Slash said.
"I'm thinking. Um... I don't want to do it. You do it!"
"You said you would!"
"I changed my mind!"
"Okay, fine." Slash pushed Hack aside, and pressed the button. Instantly, the lights dimmed, and an alarm went off. "Uh-oh."
"Hey, what did you do?" Hack probed.
"I just pushed the button!"
"Well why is it so dark now?"
"I don't know! I just pushed the button, like you told me."
"Well, you must have done something else!"
"No, I didn't."
"Yes you did!"
"Say, where is that portal anyway?"
"I don't know. Hey, you must have pressed the wrong button! Otherwise the Portal would be right here!"
"Hey, I know what I did. And why is that annoying alarm going off?"
"I told you you pushed something else!"
Hack and Slash kept arguing, unaware that the tear had just turned into a Portal...
* * *
Bob turned a corner in the Principle Office, and walked down the hallway. He followed his instinct on where the tear was. Suddenly, the lights dimmed, and he heard an alarm. Bob knew what that meant. Someone must be trying to break into Mainframe through the tear! Bob hoped Mouse's shielding would hold out. In the meantime, he ran faster, but then he lost where the tear was.
"Oh no! They must already have broken through!" Bob sprinted around a corner, to find himself face to face with a Portal. He slowly backed away, but then the Portal suddenly grew bigger, an arm shot out, and he was pulled in.
* * *
Dot sensed something was wrong, flying towards the P. O. She landed, and then went in.
"Bob? BOB?" she called, but there came no reply. Suddenly she bumped into Phong. "Ow!"
"Oh, sorry my child. So you are here to see what I have found out?" Phong asked.
"Yes, Phong. Have you seen Bob? He came to mend a tear here but I haven't seen him."
"A tear? Oh dear..."
"What, Phong?"
"Well, before the alarm was going off- someone was trying to create a Portal with that tear! And they already may have done so..."
"Well, I want to find Bob. I hope he's not in trouble."
"He may be, my child, he may be."
Phong rolled ahead, and then he turned a corner. Suddenly, he screamed, "AAAAA!"
"PHONG!" Dot ran ahead, and then turned a corner. She then saw a Guardian- but not Bob- holding Phong by the neck.
"Help me... child..." Phong gasped.
"You look like another sprite! You're coming with me," the Guardian said.
"No! I don't-" Dot's sentence was cut short as the Guardian file-locked her, and threw her into the Portal. He disappeared into the Portal as well. Nanos later he came out, with some more Guardians.
"Now remember, she wants them living. Find every last one. Good luck," the Guardian said. The other Guardians went off in search off some Sprites.
* * *
Matrix and AndrAIa were zipping above Baudway, wondering why Phong had called them so urgently.
"Maybe he's found out Megabyte's coming back," AndrAIa said.
"Or maybe even Daemon," Matrix said with a shudder.
What Matrix and AndrAIa didn't know is they were being followed by another Sprite.
"This is going to be so alphanumeric!" the sprite said. He zipped off in pursuit.
Matrix and AndrAIa landed, and then were met by Mouse and Ray.
"Hey, guys!" Matrix said.
"How are ya doin', sugah? We came as fast as we could. Ah hope nothin's wrong," Mouse said.
"Me neither. Come on, let's go on in," AndrAIa said. The four walked into the P. O. Enzo landed right after they closed the door.
"Wow, I wonder why everyone had to leave. It must be pretty important- and so I've got to find out what it is!" Before Enzo could move, he heard a bark. He turned around. "Frisket!"
Frisket ran up to Enzo and licked him. "Aw, Frisket. Hey boy, there's something going on inside. You wanna see?" Frisket barked a response. "Okay, let's go." Enzo opened the door and went in with Frisket.
* * *
What made Matrix and AndrAIa run is the scream they heard from up the hallway. They had signaled Mouse and Ray to follow them. Matrix had taken out Gun.
"It sounded like Phong! I hope he isn't in danger!" Matrix said.
When Matrix turned the corner he gasped. He saw some infected Guardians, talking to each other, and a Portal! He went back around the corner, and signaled for everyone to be quiet. He heard them talking, but just barely.
"-want them living. Find every last one. Good luck." Then he heard the Guardians start to move. When the Guardians turned the corner, they met Matrix and Gun.
"Say bye," Matrix said, but before he could fire, one of the Guardians had filelocked him.
"NO! MATRIX!" AndrAIa said. She whipped out her trident, and behind her Mouse got her sword out. After a few nanos of confrontation, the other three were filelocked as well.
"Pitiful, really," one of the Guardians said. They pushed them into the Portal. "Hey, I think there's a few more, I'll go get them."
"Okay, be back soon. Daemon doesn't like to wait," another Guardian said.
* * *
Hexadecimal was relaxing on her throne.
"Oh, this is so splendid. I am so glad Bob finally made my mask whole. And Scuzzy is still here!" Scuzzy, who was a little bit away, growled in response. "Speaking of Bob, I wonder how he is doing?" She concentrated on her looking glass, but it couldn't find Bob anywhere in the system. "Bob isn't here? Maybe Phong would know where he is." The looking glass couldn't find Phong either. "Then I guess this must be broken. I'll have to go to the Principle Office and find out myself." She uploaded into he mask he flew off.
Nanos later she arrived at the Principle Office, and saw Enzo and Frisket go in. She followed them, and zipped ahead of them without their notice. When she saw some Guardians start filelocking Matrix and the rest, she was wondering why they would do that. Then she noticed the Portal- and the Guardians' infection. "Well, I've seen enough of this!" she thought. She went back down the hall to warn Enzo and Frisket.
Enzo was just walking along when suddenly Frisket started to growl. "What is it, boy?" Suddenly Hexadecimal downloaded in front of Enzo and Frisket. "AAAA! Run!"
"No no no! I'm here to-" By then Enzo and Frisket were a good distance away. "Well, that was useless." She ran after Enzo and Frisket.
Enzo, who was too busy running for his life, didn't notice the Guardian coming straight at him. Frisket did, and he jumped up and bit him.
"OW! Get off!" The Guardian knew filelocking wouldn't work here, the dog was too attached and he would be filelocked too.
"That's it Frisket! Bite him!" Enzo had stopped running and was cheering Frisket on. Unfortunately, the other Guardians had heard his cries of pain. One of them went around to see what was wrong. As soon as he saw the boy and the dog, he filelocked the boy. Then he tried to pull the dog off, but it was no use. He took out his filelocker.
"Hey, I'm sorry about this. You'll be let out in a few nanos, anyway," the Guardian apologized.
"Just do it! This dog is going to make me go offline unless you doing something!" the other Guardian yelled.
The Guardian filelocked Frisket and the other Guardian, and got the other Guardians to get it into the Portal. "That should be it. Let's go." He was walking back to the Portal, when Hex caught up with him. "Hey- who are you?"
"Well, I used to be a Virus, but now I'm a sprite! But just because I'm a sprite doesn't mean I haven't lost my powers.." She winked at him.
"Say, shouldn't your mask be whole? You look like a Chaos virus."
"Oh yes, that. Well, another Guardian made it whole- one that I'm sure you have captured."
"That Guardian? Spammit! He must be a pretty powerful Guardian to do that. But what I should I do with you?"
"Well, perhaps a date, maybe sit on a dock and-"
"You want me to go out with you?"
"Hey, I thought viruses were compatible!"
"Well, my master is Daemon, a supervirus. And she's a woman."
"A supervirus? Oh joy! I've always wanted to meet one of those! Come on! Let's go meet her right away!" She pulled the Guardian along, and she ran to the Portal. One of the other Guardians raised an eyebrow at him. He did his best to shrug. Hex jumped into the Portal with the Guardian.
"All right, I think that's it. Let's go in and close the Portal. Oh yeah, remember to signal that other guy," one of the Guardians said. He and the others went into the Portal, and it closed behind them. And then there was silence.
* * *
Hack and Slash were wondering why they had heard screams, yells, and blasts. They were also very worried when it all stopped.
"Has-has it stopped?" Hack asked.
"Yes, I think so," Slash replied.
"That's good. But that was scary! I hope that didn't have to do with the Portal button."
"Say, Phong said to do something when that alarm goes off, but now I can't remember what it is."
"Yeah... wait! I think it was to press the red button labeled 'War Mode'."
"We aren't in a war, are we?"
"No, but that's what he said to do."
"Okay, let's find the button."
Hack and Slash looked at all the buttons, but they couldn't find any ones labeled "War Mode".
"Wait! I found it!" Slash said.
"Are you sure?"
"Well, it's red, and it's labeled 'War Mode'."
"That's it then. Here, I'll press it this time."
"Okay."
Hack pressed the button, and then the lights turned a red color. An alarm went off, and a recorded voice said "WAR MODE"
"Not more alarms!" Hack whined.
"So, what does this do?"
As if in answer to Slash's question, a Vidwindow popped up. It showed a tear above G-Prime, where the Tor used to be.
"Oh, it's a tear. How do we mend it?"
"I don't know. Maybe this 'War Mode' will mend it for us."
"Hey, it's turning into a Portal!"
"A PORTAL?"
"Uh-oh."
The recorded voice began repeating "INTRUDER" over and over.
"It's an intruder! Run!" Hack and Slash yelled, zipping around the room. Then they fell down after hitting each other. "Ow..."
On the Vidwindow, a small figure jumped out of the tear and landed nicely on the platform of the Tor.
"Hey, who's that guy?" Slash asked.
"INTRUDER. INTRUDER."
"It must be the intruder."
"VIRUS. VIRUS."
"He's a virus? Holy-" Hack started.
"Moly!" Slash finished.
"Maybe we should... um..."
"RUN!" Hack and Slash said, zipping straight out of the room.
* * *
The virus stood up, and looked around. He was wearing a cloak that covered his face.
"Well, this looks like the place. I guess they were right, the virus-scan did delete it. Oh well, that's why I have this!" the virus said. He took out a small container. It held a bug that was programmable. It simply built a certain structure which was programmed into it, and then deleted itself. It was good for a construction job, but now it was being used for evil.
The virus stepped back, off the platform, but not after putting the container in the center of it. Then, he took out a remote control , and pushed the button. The container opened, and the bug swarmed out. It started building the Silicon Tor, quickly and accurately. In nanos it was done, and it made a small "BOOM" and was deleted.
"Ha! I knew it would work. Now to get a nice legion..." He noticed a bunch of fear-stricken binomes, and started to infect them, one by one. Some tried to run, but he stopped them. He gave the newly-infected binomes shock rods or filelockers, and told them to round up all the binomes in the area, and bring them inside the Tor. The virus allowed himself a smirk. Everything was going well.
After a few micros, the binomes had rounded up roughly 100 binomes.
"Perfect! Okay, now this is going to hurt a little, but it will all be good in the end." So, he went through the rows of 10, infected each one and giving them a shock rod or filelocker. After a few good micros, the virus had an army of about 125 viral binomes. He led them out onto the streets of G Prime. "Today marks a new era for Mainframe. Today starts the new era in which Mainframe will come under viral rule!" All the viral binomes cheered at this. But there were two binomes that were watching in the shadows that weren't infected. They were a One and a Zero.
The One said to the Zero, "Zis doesn't look very good. Ve'd better get to ze lab and get some firepower."
"I don't like this, Professor Einome," the Zero said.
"Just hurry! Ve don't have much time!"
Professor Einome pulled out a zipboard, and he and the Zero got on it and zipped to the lab.
* * *
Micros later the two landed in a dingy part of Mainframe, around Level 31. They landed in front of a café called "Ze Lab" and they went in. He was met by his waiter.
"Hello, Professor Einome. Good to see you. Found anything out?" the waiter asked.
"Yes, und it's not very good. I have to get somezing from my laboratory, so please move!"
The waiter heeded orders and moved out of the way. The Professor opened a locked door and shut it behind him, but he let his assistant, the Zero, in too. He was in his lab. He looked through his inventions, but he couldn't find anything helpful. The assistant found some guns, one of which was a beta test of a new invention.
"Vell, it may not work, but it iz zee only chance ve have. Come on!"
Prof. Einome and his assistant went back out of the lab and the café, and back onto their zipboards. They went high above Mainframe, searching for the viral binomes.
* * *
The viral binomes started out on their mission of search and either capture those who are willing, or destroy those who are not. They split up into small groups of 5-10, but still they were enemies to be reckoned with. Some of the binomes decided to destroy the Diner, some decided to take over Kits. But everywhere they went there was destruction.
Back at the Tor, the virus smiled. The plan was going perfect. Soon all of Mainframe would be under his control, and then he would transfer power to Daemon when the job was complete. He was a little disapointed- he hoped he would be able to keep one of these systems, but Daemon was too power-hungry. He sighed. That's always how it is with supervirus. Always caring for themselves and no one else.
Above the city, Prof. Einome was trying to decide where to go. He finally decided on Taskbar Towers, which resides in the Wall Street sector. He parked outside, and entered the building as if nothing was wrong. He got lost in the hustle and bustle of the workforce, and waited for the virals. after a few micros, he saw a few coming towards the Towers. He signaled his assistant.
"So, you know vat to do, vight?"
"Yes, Professor. I'm ready."
"I veally hope my invention works. I've only tested it a few times... and then..."
"Just forget about it. This is our only chance, Professor! Let's be strong about it!"
"All vight! I am veady."
The door swung open.
"Here zey come!"
Copyright information: ReBoot, Bob, Dot, and the rest of them and related indicia are © Mainframe Entertainment Inc. ReBoot, Bob, Dot, and the rest of them were used for a non-profit purpose and therefore it is OK. Albert Einome, the virus, the Professor's assistant, and the main story are © Albert Einome (me). You can copy this story for non-profit purposes only. If otherwise, contact me (agbstarwars@hotmail.com) Thank you! Have a nice day.