As the purple game cube lifted from the foreign system the indicating voice announced that the game was over. Enzo sighed a deep breath of relief at finally having beaten the user in the game. But his happiness was short lived as he and AndrAIa realized that they were not staring out at Mainframe. Frisket made a whimpering sound as he watched the face of his master melt from proud relief to panicked horror.
“Wh-where are we?” Enzo studdered as he stumbled to the edge of the building the game had deposited them on.
“I do not know.” AndrAIa said slowly, walking up behind the green boy and placing a consoling hand on his shoulder.
The city was broken and bleeding, it was dark and desolate, crumbling from the inside out. The buildings were tattered and riddled with deterioration. What Enzo believed to be the Principle Office was a sad shadow of the powerful place it should have been.
“They’re game sprites.”
A fearful voice traveled over the top of the building. Enzo and AndrAIa turned toward some recycle bins that seemed to be the source of the sounds while Frisket sniffed the air and promptly began growling at the scent he picked up.
“Hello?” AndrAIa called, moving forward slowly, “Is someone there?”
“Look at the beast they’ve brought with them!”
“They’ll bring destruction to us all!”
Frisket stopped growling at the mention of him being a beast and looked to Enzo as the young sprite sank to his knees. AndrAIa made a face at the thought of them bringing destruction to a place and shook her head in protest.
“We are friends and Frisket is no beast. Before you is a Guardian, he will not bring harm to your world.”
The heads of four binomes, two female and two male, and two boy sprites popped up from behind the recycle bins they had been hiding behind. Their wary eyes looked over AndrAIa and studied Frisket, when their gazes landed on Enzo’s back they were still skeptical.
“What kind of Guardian is he?” One of the females asked.
“Yeah, he is just a little sprite?” One of the boy sprites said with a skeptical stare.
“He is no mere boy.” AndrAIa said with an angry voice, “He is the Guardian of a system called Mainframe, his keytool and he keep the peace, they mend and defend!”
“I can’t protect anyone.”
Enzo’s voice floated on the air and pulled AndrAIa’s attention away from the skeptical people of the city. She looked over and exchanged looks with Frisket before walking over to kneel in front of the disheartened Guardian.
“Enzo,” AndrAIa started.
But Enzo interrupted her with a hard looked and cold words, “I couldn’t even keep us in our system. Dot is on her own now, I can’t protect her from Megabyte!” He shook his head as angry, sad and worried tears threatened to erupt from his downcast eyes, “The User help anyone who relies on me.”
AndrAIa was shocked, she’d never heard Enzo be so negative, even when everyone was telling him that he couldn’t do something. He was always positive, always the voice the believed that everything would work out.
“I told you he was no Guardian.” The other sprites scoffed to their friends.
Enzo’s head fell farther as the words of the sprite hit his ears. Bob would have been so disappointed in him, Bob would never have lost a game, he would never have left his friends or his system. He was a real Guardian.
As if reading his thoughts AndrAIa grabbed Enzo by the shoulders and pushed him backward, she caught his eyes with her angry and piercing aqua blue ones and held his gaze, “Enzo Matrix, Guardian of Mainframe, *I* need you. *Frisket* needs you. *Bob* needs you. *Your sister* needs you. And an *entire system* needs you. You can not give up. You can not lose hope. There are sprites who are relying on you to guide them back home. You must conquer your fear and sorrow, Guardian.”
Enzo blinked and shook his head. He took her words into his heart and searched for the sprite who still believed in good and right. He thought of his sister and his friends, fighting for a system that had been left in his care. Searched for the things that Bob had taught him and the code that spoke to him under his conscious, and he smiled as a voice sounded over the unfamiliar system, “Warning; Incoming Game. Warning; Incoming Game.”
Enzo slowly lifted himself from the position where his sorrow had left him and with a glance at Frisket spoke to his friend.
“AndrAIa.”
“Yes Guardian?”
Enzo smiled a coy grin, “Stay frosty.”
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"To Mend and Defend" copyright 2007 by Bella Luna (beautifulmoon29@aol.com)
Reboot and its associated characters copyright Mainframe Entertainment, Gavin Blair, Ian Patterson, Phil Mitchell, and John Grace.
The text of this work was created by Bella Luna (beautifulmoon29@aol.com) an is her exclusive property. It is not to be used without her personal permission
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