"The system! It¡¦s shutting down!"

Chaos broke out in Mainframe. Panic. Everywhere. Buildings were crumbling and innocent people were being killed. After all that¡¦s happened, this is probably the worst.

I am Dot Matrix, the Command.com of Mainframe. It is my duty to save as much of Mainframe as I can. Seeing what Mainframe is now, I can hardly remember what it was like before the war started. Before all the pain and suffering. When every second was easy to live through and I could just peacefully work on my businesses. It is even harder to remember when my father was alive and there were no viruses in Mainframe. But that was before Bob came. I¡¦d rather be in war with Bob than to live peacefully without him.

***

This called for a plan! I quickly organized everyone to help gather the people in Mainframe. We were going to keep them in the Principal Office until some kind of miracle happened and everything went back to normal. I vidwindowed Enzo and AndrAIa.

"Enzo, how are you doing?" I said through the vidwindow.

"So far so good," he replied, "The evacuation plans are going smoothly."

"Good. I want the people of Mainframe to know that they can find shelter inside the Principal Office."

"Mouse and Snake are spreading the news and gathering up the stragglers," Andraia said.

"That Snake," I asked suspiciously, "Can we trust her?"

"Enzo and I can vouch for her," she replied, "Mouse trusts her. But that¡¦s probably because they¡¦re sisters."

***

Snake and I searched the streets for wandering binomes. At first she was hesitant to do this. I argued that innocent lives were at risk so at last she agreed to help me. Snake wasn¡¦t used to saving lives but only skilled in fighting. I treat her like a sister, mentor and a leader with the most respect. She doesn¡¦t treat me that way. Snake has always thought of me as a child and continues treating me like that.

It was easy for both Snake and me to spot binomes with the senses of our third forms. The third forms of Anidexes are always the most powerful. My third form enables me to be an expert hacker and spy. Because of Snake¡¦s third form, she is a healer and strikes with faster-than-the-eye speed. It is also what makes her isolated to other people¡¦s emotions. When it comes down to it, Snake only cares about herself and fulfilling the code her species, the Anidex. Everything else is just extra.

We zipped near Megabyte¡¦s Tor, which was still standing and occupied because Snake. Girl suddenly hissed furiously and motioned for Snake to look towards the Tor. Snake¡¦s eyes widened with surprise and zipped down survey whatever Girl found so interesting. I waited for her to return.

When Snake came back, she had two snakes entwined around her arms. One of them, which I recognized as Boy, started talking almost too fast for me to make sense of his hissing.

Of course, Boy was not speaking the standard language but I could understand him because that is what Snake usually talks like.

"When I came out of the portal," Boy hissed, "(really fast) There were numerous guards after me and I quickly defeated them all but their leader tried to catch me but he caught Skuzzy and I fought him and I won but I couldn¡¦t get out until you found me."

"Yeah, right." Girl shot back. "I know you are lying, Boy. You always stretch the truth!"

The two snakes started quarreling, yelling insults at each other. Snake rolled her eyes and told the arguing pair to shut up. When Boy finally calmed down, he noticed me.

"Who are you?" he asked and bared his fangs as if I was an attacker.

"Don¡¦t you remember you idiot?" Girl hissed and pushed Boy¡¦s head gently with the flat of her spine blade. "It¡¦s Mouse. Snake¡¦s sister."

Boy flicked out his forked tongue and tested the air. "Oh yeah, you," he said nonchalantly. "Can we GO already!? I¡¦m HUNGRY!!" he complained.

We headed back for the Principal Office with both Girl and Boy arguing the whole way. I honestly wished that we didn¡¦t go near the Tor in the first place.

We went back to the PO to drop off the binomes that we picked up. Just as the last of the binomes entered the PO, tears opened all around us.

From the tears, Users from many Games stepped out into Mainframe. I was mildly surprised and of course, the sprites were shocked. But Snake, she smiled evilly with her fangs bared and hissed at the likely concept of a bloody battle. With her on our side, the Users wouldn¡¦t stand a chance!

TO BE CONTINUED¡K