Note: Suppose Daemon was a Shinma? (god + demon of Japan) And why is it, whenever people write about Daemon's infection of the Guardians, they alwayswrite about Turbo finally giving in to Daemon? Uh, huh. No way. To quote Bob, "I don't think so." Give Turbo some credit, will ya? He's not Prime Guardian for nothing, you know! Also, Miyu speaks in Japanese, simulated in the text by the greater-than, less than signs [ ], ala the comics. Assuming that Glitch could also be a translator, --and I would be very surprised to find out that he could not-- Bob will be the only one capable of understanding her speech. (Well, him, and any other Guardian with a keytool...)
Mainframe was back on-line, after the system crash and the restart. The cyber-city was back to its old glory, before the virus, Megabyte, was even heard of. Everything was back to were it belonged: Dot's Diner sat on Baudway; Bob's apartment building --complete with the huge eight ball-- towered over the docks in Kit's Sector; Al's Wait 'n' Eat diner still served up slow food on Level 31; and so on.
There were some differences in the inhabitants, however. Bob, Guardian 452, was merged with his keytool, Glitch, adding more power to his growing arsenal. His time in the Web has also forged a new Guardian out of Bob. He is stronger, wiser, and more of a leader then ever before. He has grown into a powerful warrior and the perfect leader of Mainframe's forces.
Dot Matrix has gone from businesswoman, owning most of Mainframe, to the COMMAND.COM of the super-cyber city. She runs the system with both the calm, cool efficiency of a businesswoman, and the compassion of a mother. Her new-found love for Bob has the capability to be more. Where it takes them is for the future to decide.
Enzo Matrix has grown from hyperactive little boy to a strong, rage-filled warrior. He grew up in the games, nursing his hatred for Megabyte. When he returned, Matrix --as Enzo now wanted to be called-- confronted the virus, and defeated him. Matrix had spared Megabyte, showing honour, even as the virus escaped. Megabyte's trip to the Net was detoured into the Web, forcing him to live the horror he had given Bob at the climax of the Web Wars.
Little Enzo --the back-up copy of the original Enzo Matrix-- harkens back to the time when Matrix was still a little sprite --hyperactive, excitable, and loyal. Even he has not been entirely untouched by the Wars. He had been in the audience when the Mainframe Strolling Players performed the Recap Song, so he knows about Megabyte's betrayal of Guardian Bob. He had learned the history of what happened to Matrix, AndrAIa, Frisket, and Bob after the Web Wars and before and after the final battle with Megabyte. Like his precursor, Matrix, Little Enzo wants to be a Guardian when he compiles up.
AndrAIa, the game sprite who had escaped her game, became friend and companion to the first Enzo Matrix. In the games, she was something more. Ever the peacemaker, AndrAIa was --and still is-- the voice of reason to Matrix's rage. Even so, she is an incredible warrior in her own right.
Mouse --hacker, freelancer, anti-hero, rebel warrior. She has come a long way from hacking the Super Computer to fighting for what is right. At first, Dot's rival for Bob's affections, Mouse surrendered her own happiness with the Guardian so that Dot could have him, even going so far as to encourage Dot to make her feelings known to Bob. In doing so, she allowed Ray Tracer, the Web Surfer, access to her heart. She has not regretted her decision since.
Hexadecimal, once an enemy, now an ally. Used and abused by her brother, Megabyte, Hex escaped from her enslavement to Lost Angels, her island home. Growing more and more insane by the nanosecond, it came to a head when she kidnapped Bob. With his new powers, Bob healed Hexadecimal, fusing her masks into a real face and defragmenting her mind. In return, she sent him back to his friends.
During their time in the Web, Matrix, AndrAIa, and later, Bob, learned about Daemon, the super virus that had taken over the Guardian Collective. Of all the Guardians, only Bob and Matrix had escaped infection. Turbo, the Prime Guardian, was infected, but he was also fighting the infection. Sooner or later, Daemon would be defeated, and the Guardians would be set free.
Sooner then anyone thinks...
"WARNING; INCOMING GAME! WARNING; INCOMING GAME!" the computer's voice boomed unemotionally. It was the first time since just before Mainframe crashed that the citizens had heard the voice. They almost welcomedit. Almost.
Bob, Matrix, AndrAIa, and Hex raced to the game.
"Hex!" Bob cried. "What are you doing here?!"
"Going into the game with you!" Hex grinned. "I've never been in a game!"
Bob groaned. That's allthey needed; an inexperienced ex-virus inside a game. But it was too late to protest. The game cube had already landed.
The game environment looked to be pre-World War Two Egypt. The pyramids were in the background of an archaeological excavation site. Game sprites representing Egyptians, Americans, and Europeans wandered around, doing various tasks.
"It's a game in the Indiana Jones series of games," Bob said. He tapped his icon and said, "REBOOT!" In a column of green energy, Bob was dressed in a khaki shirt, brown pants, black boots, a brown, leather jacket, and a brown fedora hat. He carried a bullwhip and a pistol. To complete the look, he had a five o'clock shadow beard.
"REBOOT!" Matrix, AndrAIa, and Hex tapped their icons. Matrix became an American soldier, AndrAIa, an archaeology student, and Hex, an Egyptian native.
Bob concentrated, scanning for game stats.
"We have to beat the User to the Statue of Isis. This way," he said, leading them toward the pyramids. The others followed.
Behind them, shadowing their movements, was the User. Quietly, he followed the Mainframers.
�
The pyramid where they entered was dark and musty-smelling. The stone floor was littered with bones from previous tomb-robberies, unlucky persons from the past that had triggered hidden booby traps. Sensing where the traps were, Bob led the others through the maze. The User followed them through the dark corridors of the tomb.
Finally, Bob and the others reached the hidden chamber where the statue of the goddess, Isis, was kept. Torches lined the walls. With precise aim, Bob used his energy powers to light the torches, bathing the room in soft light. The room was five stories high, the walls covered with hieroglyphics. In the centre of the chamber was a marble altar, upon which the statue stood.
The life-size statue, about the height of a sprite, was carved of mahogany wood. The pupils of the eyes were onyx stones, set in alabaster whites, and had kohl eyeliner of obsidian. The lips were inlaid with red jade. The statue was dressed in a long, thin, white shift and adorned with gold and jewels. In the light of the torches, it looked alive.
"All we do is grab the statue and we win?" Hex asked.
"Yes," Bob answered. Matrix moved to get the statue.
"I wouldn't do that, my friend," said a voice from the shadows. The Mainframers turned to see a man in the uniform of a Nazi officer.
The User? Somehow, Bob did not think so. He knew the Indiana Jones games too well to believe that the User was a Nazi.
"The Egyptians not only booby-trapped their tombs, they also booby-trapped their treasures. A last minute warning to tomb robbers. Anyone disturbing the statue is said to meet with a cruel and painful death." The Nazi walked toward them, his gun aimed at Bob.
"Which is why youare going to trip it for us, Nazi!" said another voice. Heads turned to the newcomer.
Now, the Mainframers got a surprise they never thought possible. Standing in the doorway was a young girl dressed all in white. She had a gun trained on the Nazi officer, who dropped his own weapon.
This was the User. But why was she helpingthem?
This alliance is only temporary, Bob thought. As soon as this Nazi is deleted, the User will turn against us. She will be our enemy, as she has always been.
The User waved her gun, indicating that the Nazi was to move to the statue and lift it from its pedestal. The Nazi walked toward the statue.
"I am not alone," the Nazi said. "An entire company of German soldiers will find us here. And if they find me dead..." he let the sentence trail off, implying a thinly veiled threat.
"We'll deal with them when --and if-- they get here. Move!"
The Nazi officer picked up the statue. For a nano, nothing happened. The Nazi turned to face them, about to proclaim Nazi superiority, when he began to convulse and writhe. He fell to the floor, dead. Unlike most game sprites, the Nazi did not disappear when deleted.
Must be part of the game plotline to have the body of the officer lying there, Bob thought.
"Cleaver of the Egyptians," the User remarked. "They coated the statue with the poison of the asp, a very deadly viper. It can be washed off, of course, will no ill effect on the statue."
Bob faced the User, knowing that the alliance was off. The User was sure to have a way of picking up the statue without herself falling victim to the poison.
As the officer had told them, his troops had found them. Without a word, they attacked. The Sprite/User alliance held a little longer as the Mainframers did what they never dreamed that they would do: Join forces with the User to battle the game sprites.
Between the sprites and the User, the battle was quickly won. Once again, Bob faced the User, wondering how he was going to pick up the poisoned statue and win the game.
Now, the most miraculous of all happened. The User grinned and gave Bob a piece of cloth.
"The statue is yours, Dr. Jones," the User smiled. "Until we meet again." The User then walked away. As she turned, she dropped the game-persona of a 1930's archaeologist, and became almost child-like in her mannerism. With a girlish giggle that sounded like tiny bells, the girl said, "Bye-bye," in a most child-like voice. Then, she was gone, cherry blossom petals floating in the air in her wake.
Stunned, Bob wrapped the cloth around the statue and picked it up.
"GAME OVER!" the computer intoned. The game cube lifted.
"That was weird," AndrAIa said.
"What was weird?" Dot asked. She slid her arms around Bob's neck and kissed him, welcoming her hero home.
"The User actually teamed-up with us to fight the game sprites. And get this: The User let us win the game!"
"He's never done that before!" Dot exclaimed. She looked at Bob for an explanation. He could only shrug. This was new to him, as well.
A vid-window popped up; Phong's worried face in its surface.
"Bob! Dot! It is happening!" he cried.
"What's happening, Phong?" Bob asked.
"Daemon! She is coming to Mainframe and bringing the Guardians with her!"
This news threw the binomes into a panic. Except for Bob and Matrix, all the Guardians were infected by Daemon, a powerful super-virus.
The sky darkened again, as if another game cube was about to come down. A silvery portal formed and from its shiny surface there emerged a hideous, shadow-creature. The shadow quickly took form, resembling the silhouette of a sprite with viral-green and red eyes and a mouthful of sharp, pointed teeth. Behind this figure came the figures of the infected Guardians. Stumbling after them, but refusing to give in to the virus, was Turbo. He staggered to where Bob and the others were, still fighting the infection.
"Daemon!" Matrix growled, his cyber-eye turning red, his gun instantly in his hand. Bob helped Turbo to stand.
"Greetings, 452," Daemon smiled. "And greetings to Mainframe, as well. It has taken a long time, but we have finally caught up to you. You will now join us...eh?" A sound from above caused Daemon to look upwards.
[You will do nothing, Shinma. ] came a voice from above. When the Mainframers turned to look, they saw a pretty, young girl in a shortened, white, Japanese kimono. Both feet were bare, although the left foot had a red ribbon tied around it. Her brown hair was braided on her left side, a red ribbon twisted into the braid. In her hand was a red, Japanese fan.
[Ktuuketsuki Miyu! ] Daemon gasped. [You will not send me back to the Dark!]
[I will!] Miyu replied. [Clever of you to use the English version of your real name in this world of computers, Daemon. But it is over. When a Shinma's true name is spoken; the Shinma is rendered powerless. Larva!]
Behind Miyu, a figure in a flowing black cloak and a white mask appeared. In Miyu's hand there formed a sphere. A slender flame burned within the sphere.
[NO! ]Deamon screamed. Drawing the darkness around her like a cloak, Deamon teleported herself and her infected slaves to a dark, secluded part of Mainframe. Only Turbo --unwilling to surrender to Deamon-- was left behind.
The girl lowered her hand and the flame-sphere faded away. Gently, she floated down to them, followed by the one she called "Larva". Up close, the girl's skin was pale ivory and her eyes, a beautiful amber.
"Bob!" Dot whispered urgently. "She's a User!"
"More than that, Dot. She's a vampire. And a princess, at that." As he let this data sink into the minds of the Mainframers, Bob spoke to the girl in her native Japanese.
[Greetings, Ktuuketsuki Miyu. What brings you to Mainframe?]
[The one you call Deamon is a Shinma. I have come to send her back to the Dark, from whence she escaped.]
[Shinma?] Bob asked. "That's a Japanese combination of a demon and a god," he explained to the others.
[Hai. Shinma Deamon used the English translation of her name to gain power in your world. When a Shinma's true name is spoken, the Shinma loses its power.]
[But she hasn't lost her power. She still holds the Guardians in her spell.] Bob said.
[Hai. Deamon is drawing power from the place you call, the Web.]
Miyu had spoken the word, "Web", in English, and the binomes began to become nervous.
They really started to panic when Bob translated the rest of Miyu's information.
Miyu noticed Turbo as he struggled with the infection, determined not to give in to Deamon. Lightly, she glided across the ground to stand in front of the sea-green Prime Guardian. She smiled sweetly as he looked at her with bewildered eyes. Very lightly, Miyu placed the tips of her fingers on Turbo's temples. Softly, she sang a song, a sweet melody in her native Japanese.
Slowly, the infection faded from Turbo. The glowing lines on his temples faded away, and his eyes cleared. His icon --the grey colour of an infected sprite-- returned to its normal black and gold, the badge of the Guardians.
When the song was over, Miyu removed her fingers from Turbo's head. He blinked several times as he looked into her smiling face.
[There.] she said. [He is free of Daemon's power. She cannot cast her spell on him again.] Now, Miyu turned toward Bob. She seemed to walk on air as she came near him.
[I can cut off Daemon's link to the Web,] she told them.
[Then, please, do so,] Bob said.
[But first, I must find where that link is. Larva!]
The cloaked figure leapt up into the air and vanished.
[Larva will locate the link for us,] Miyu said. [When he finds it, he will call for me, and I will go to him and break the link.]
She looks so familiar, Bob thought. As if I have seen her before. But where? And when? He studied the slim figure before them. She seemed as delicate as a daisy wheel blossom, too delicate to be a demon hunter. But that was what she was. And a very good one, it seemed. She always seemed to know what to do, no matter what the problem was.
Now, she looked up, gazing at the sky above them. She seemed to be searching for something ...or listening.
[Ahh...Larva has found it!] she smiled. [Come! This will not take long.] With Miyu leading them, the Mainframers moved toward the hidden link.
Only when they were right on top of it, did they realize where Deamon established her link to the Web.
"The Tor!" Matrix exclaimed. "We are where the Tor was!
"Yes," Bob replied. "Deamon would choose the location of an old viral stronghold, even if no trace of the stronghold existed anymore."
On the spot where Megabyte's Tor once stood, was a pulsating cylinder of green energy, about the size of an oil barrel. From this, reached a thread-thin line of green energy, heading straight into the sky and beyond it, into the Web.
From the folds of her kimono, Miyu now withdrew a bamboo flute. Playing a soft, sweet melody, similar to the song that she sang to free Turbo, Miyu danced on air as she played. The notes caused the thread to quiver, like a plucked bowstring. It shimmered as the girl played the flute, as if trying to dance to the music. It was very thin, and one could only see it when the light bounced off of it.
As the music reached its crescendo, the energy-thread shook with more force, dancing wildly to the tune. With a last hard tug, the thread snapped, falling gracefully to the ground. A nanosecond later, the barrel and the remains of the link vanished, as if they never existed.
The Mainframers cheered as Miyu floated down to the ground.
[She will come,] Miyu said. [Shinma Deamon will know that her link is broken. She will come to try to fix it.]
[Hai,] Bob agreed. [Deamon will attack when she finds us here, and the link gone. We must be ready to...]
Suddenly, ribbons of green energy wrapped themselves around Miyu, lifting her into the air by the waist. Instantly, Larva was slashing at the ribbons, cutting her loose.
Once free, Miyu removed her obi from around her waist. She searched the shadows until she found who -- or what -- she was looking for. With a deft movement of her hand, Miyu had bound Deamon in the red sash.
"Guardians! Attack!" Deamon shrieked.
But without her link to the Web, Daemon's power over the Guardians was fading. They moved slowly, unsure, as if their Guardian programming was warring with the orders from Deamon.
[You do not command them any longer, Shinma Deamon!] Miyu announced. [Now, you shall be returned to the Dark! Larva!]
Again, the black-cloaked figure appeared behind Miyu. The vampire princess once again raised her hand and formed the fire-sphere. The fire lanced out, forming a word in kanji -- characters in the Japanese language, similar to our alphabet-- above Deamon. The letters glowed, forming Daemon's name in fire kanji. Cherry blossoms swirled around the entrapped Deamon. Slowly, the maho -- magic -- forced Deamon back to the Dark. As the super-virus/Shinma faded away, her infection of the Guardians ended. They moved around in a daze, as if they had been asleep, and had just woken up.
"Daemon's...gone...?" one young Guardian asked, his voice sounding as if he were speaking in a dream.
[Hai,] Miyu smiled. [She is gone, and will not return. Now, I must go, as well.]
[So soon?] Bob asked. [We have just met. We've hardly had time to get to know you.]
[Hai, I must go. My work here is done. Shinma Deamon has been sent back to the Dark. Do not be sad. We will meet again. I will not be leaving the world of computers entirely. Now, I must go into the Web, itself. There is another Shinma that must be sent back to the Dark.]
['Another' Shinma?] Bob was startled. [But who...]
[You call him...Megabyte...I think...] Then she gave a child-like laugh and rose into the air. Larva wrapped her in his cloak.
"Bye-bye!" Miyu giggled, speaking in English. [And remember, use a cloth to pick up the statue of Isis and win the game.]
Bob's eyes widened with surprise. Now, he recognized her. But how had she done it?
Before he could question her about it, Miyu was gone, along with Larva.
"What is it, Bob?" Dot asked.
"The Game!" he gasped. "Remember that I said the User helped us while in the game?"
"Yes...but what...?"
"The User in the game was a young girl. Before she left, she laughed the same way Miyu just laughed. And when she said, 'Bye-bye', it was the very same voice."
"You mean, Miyu was the User in that game?" Dot stared at Bob in disbelief.
"How would she know about the game, and even the game's goal, if she wasn't in the game with us?" Bob reasoned.
"Miyu entered the game to help us," AndrAIa smiled.
"Did she say that she was going into the Web, after Megabyte?" Hexadecimal asked.
"Yes," Matrix answered. "And she referred to him as a Shinma."
"I heard. But I am Megabyte's sister. Does that mean I'm a Shinma, too? And if I am, will she come back to send me to the Dark?"
Bob and the others just looked at one another. Would Miyu come back to Mainframe to send Hex to the Dark? If so, how could they prevent it? Would they have to battle their new friend to protect an old enemy?
Will they...?
Afterwards: Okay, so Turbo had to have help curing himself of Daemon's infection. He still did not give in to Deamon. I did leave the story hanging. There just may be a sequel. Or even two. What do you think? Should I write a sequel or two to this story? How would Miyu handle Megabyte? And what about Hex? If Hex's brother is a Shinma, so is Hex, right? Can Bob and the others convince Miyu that Hex is no longer a threat? I will have to write the sequels and see. But my next ReBoot/Something Crossover is going to be a ReBoot/Sailor Moon Crossover. I know there is several of those already out there, but one more will not hurt, right? What happens when a new, never before seen, Negaverse villain shows up in Mainframe? Will the Sailor Scouts be able to help the Mainframers against this new threat? And when I say "never before seen", I mean "never before seen". Totally new. Watch for it! ^_^