"I'm not entirely sure how this has happened," Bob looked down at the upgraded Key tool, "Glitch must've held the other half of my code. I didn't even notice it was missing"

"However it happened. It's good to have you back Bob," Matrix smiled, for the first time in a very long while.

The sprites looked sadly out over Mainframe from the deck of the 'Saucy Mare'. Inside Bob felt shattered, if only he'd thought ahead, had a plan. He sighed and looked down at his shiny new boots; saw the sad look in his eyes, Dot would have had a plan. Where was she now? Had the Principle Office withstood the viral attacks? A tear rolled down his cheek, splashed onto the wooden deck. Bob wiped his face on his arm and looked up, his eyes suddenly full of the fire and drive that was once within him.

"Matrix, let's do this" He threw out his zip-board and jumped on.

"Where are we going Bob?" Matrix asked following his hero's lead.

"Everyone has changed Matrix. Waiting for the time to fight back; and now is the time to do it," Bob rose high above the deck on his Zip-board, "AndrAIa, you stay with the crew we're in for a tough fight. I can feel it. Make sure everyone is prepared" The two sprites glided into the ruins of Mainframe taking with them the low hum of their boards.

"Stay frosty boys" AndrAIa said quietly watching them shrink into the distance.

"Where's the Firewall?" Matrix pondered looking out over G-Prime, "We had the viruses contained" He and Bob looked over to where the Tor was normally stood in all its Viral glory. Stood there now was a wreck, the top half had been blown clear off and was lying a good distance away burnt out, almost unrecognisable amongst the rubble.

"It looks as though it was blown apart from the inside," Bob half whispered as they flew in closer.

"Hex must've gotten free. I bet she was pretty mad," Matrix replied looking down at a piece of the hardware used to make the firewall. Bob glided swiftly around the area mending the minor tears which had appeared around the wreckage.

"I wonder who won" he looked over to Matrix, "Come on, I think the answer lies this way" They flew towards the centre of Mainframe, to where the Principle Office, the beacon of hope for all Mainframers stood.

The horrified looks on their faces spoke volumes when they turned to each other again.

ABC's were patrolling the border to the Principle Office, search lights were scanning the rubble filled surroundings, watch towers had been built and were now occupied with Megabytes highest ranking Viral Binomes.

"So Megabyte is in the Principle Office," Bob pondered looking out over the desolate area.

"But... But Dot" Bob hadn't heard panic in Enzo's voice for Cycles.

"Relax, she's a Matrix. You survive. I'm sure she'll have found a way to do the same" He reassured the grown up sprite. Bob sighed, somewhere in that angry green body was the little green sprite Bob had left in charge.

"Reach for the sky! Freeze! No. What are you saying they have to reach for the sky! Then freeze! Hold it right there!"

Bob and Enzo turned around suddenly.

"You two!" Enzo growled angrily drawing his gun.

The battered looking duo of Hack and Slash recoiled in fear.

"Matrix, stop that, they were never that bad," Bob said resting a calming hand on the larger sprites shoulder.

"Uh, Slash? Yes Hack. Doesn't that look like, uhm, Bob? Bob? Yes, It does" The pair looked at each other blankly for a moment, "Bob!" They leapt down from the battered burnt out CPU car and rolled speedily towards Bob, "Oh Bob we have missed you so much! Yes we have. Oh boy have we, Bob, who is the big green fellow?"

Bob looked towards the grumpy looking Matrix, "It's Enzo," he replied simply.

"Enzo? You've gotten so big. Wait until she sees you. She'll be so surprised"

"Dot?" the sprites asked, "Where is she?" Matrix growled.

"We have been taking very good care of Dot. Oh yes. Like a baby in our arms. Let's go see Dot!" The two battle damaged robots rolled off amongst rubble and damaged vehicles, mostly CPU's. Bob and Matrix looked hopefully at each other before gliding after the duo with a low hum.

The rebel hideout, Bob had to admit, was very well hidden. As they entered behind Hack and Slash two big battle guns turned on them. Matrix's hand twitched momentarily over his gun before he remembered where he was, and relaxed instantly.

"Dot! Oh Dot we have brought you a surprise! A very big surprise"

Bob looked around, unable to catch a glimpse of the green sprite he'd left behind all those cycles ago. A familiar head of glowing orange hair met his eyes. The hacker stared back at him, wide eyed with disbelief. He hadn't changed one bit.

"Hi there sugah," she whispered.

Matrix had no idea what to do now he was finally stood in front of his sister. He suddenly felt small and shy; his eyes preferred the floor now for some reason.

"Uhm," he stammered looking up, "Hi, sis"

Dot stared still, she looked confused. Her brain for the first time, couldn't process. Her eyes widened as she slowly recognised the boyish features on the now rough and manly face. Her hands came up to cover her mouth.

"Enzo? Enzo! Oh Enzo!" she threw her arms around him as far as they would reach and sobbed desperately against his chest, "I thought you'd been nullified. I thought I'd lost, everything"

"I had a promise to keep. I brought Bob home," he said quietly looking into her tear filled eyes.

"Bob's here?"

Matrix nodded and moved to show her Bob stood behind him. Dot froze. It'd been so long, everyone had changed, and everyone had aged. Yet there he stood not a cycle older than when she'd last seen him. She couldn't hug him, she couldn't even move. Emotion over came her and she burst into unstoppable tears.

Bob stood awkwardly a look of shock on his face, he'd learnt many things during his time with the Web Riders but he'd not been taught how to deal with emotional sprites. Mouse silently urged him to go to Dot.

"Dot I..." he started.

"You left me!" she screamed back at him, pounding his chest with her fists, "Look at what you've done! It's all your fault!" Mouse rushed in and pulled Dot back as she continued to hit out, "How could you!" Dot yelled before bursting into tears once more and sobbing quietly into the Hacker's shoulder. Bob backed away sadly, he'd dreamt about this reunion. It had gone so much differently in his dreams. He looked to Matrix who just stared back confused, mouth open in shock.

"Come on" Matrix finally whispered, "Let's go" Bob turned to where Mouse was comforting Dot, she shook her head at Bob, and signalled with a wave of her hand, that he should go. He followed Matrix back out of the hideout; the guns were still aimed at them.

Bob stumbled through the rubble, his legs felt so weak and shaky; he sat on the burnt bonnet of a CPU. He put his head in his hands. It was Matrix's turn to stand awkwardly; he folded his arms and raised a hand to cover his eyes. He sighed,

"Bob she's just emotional yanno. Don't dwell on all that" He cringed under the safety on his hand; he wasn't very good at this. Where was AndrAIa when he needed her?

"Enzo, let's face it, she hates me. I messed up; I trusted those viruses and went against everything I stand for I went against my code. I've failed Dot; and I've failed Mainframe," he pulled his knees up to his chest and hugged them tightly. Matrix had never seen Bob look so defeated, in all the time he'd known him. Since the very first second Bob had entered Mainframe as the angry inexperience Cadet chasing the virus that had deleted his partner and become Megabyte and Hexadecimal.

"Bob, both Mainframe and Dot are still here. They didn't give up and you shouldn't give up either. We need to fight back and delete that virus trash," Matrix paused a moment, a thoughtful look flooded across his usually angry face, "Hey, where was Phong?"

Bob's head rose suddenly and he was instantly distracted from his despair.

"We had to leave him behind. We had no choice, we had to get out of the Principle Office," Mouse explained.

"Poor Phong, you never should have left him there," Bob said quietly.

"We had no choice Bob. We didn't want to leave him!" Mouse cried, "He wouldn't come with us" For the first time in his life Bob saw the hint of a tear in Mouse's eye.

"I'll find him," Bob promised, "We'll get him back. Somehow"

----------

"Commander, status report," the deep smooth viral voice demanded.

"It was definitely the guardian your hugeness, he didn't look a cycle older and he was with another sprite," the Binome reported importantly. Megabyte closed the Vid-Window suddenly and turned to face his right hand Binome,

"You know what this means Herr Docktor," Megabyte said calmly, "Megaframe is back online. Now, ready the tear. All we need are the codes to convert it into a portal so that I may escape this dying system," he turned and walked heavily towards a jar set aside on a small column, "And you're going to give them to me, aren't you Phong?" The old sprite's head lay inside, broken and battered, lifeless wires hung out where his head had once attached to his body. He looked up through glasses that now barely clung to his face.

"I will... fight you until the last... virus," he stammered weakly.

"Yes, yes. We've heard all this before," Megabyte sighed smugly, "Herr Docktor, throw the switch"

Phong cried out in agony as the codes were painfully extracted from the depths of his read only memory.

"Excellent," Megabyte growled with an evil viral grin, "Release the tear immediately"

-----------

A loud, low rumble swept through the deserted and destroyed streets. Bob, Matrix and Mouse turned their heads to look up at the Principle Office just as a large tear was released from the top of the large sphere.

"What the...?" Bob gasped staring up at the giant ball of energy, he'd never seen anything like it, "Glitch, scanner" The new upgraded key tool beeped and buzzed, "Oh boy, class 5 tear, it can stabilise to form portals to the supercomputer. It's got Megabyte written all over it"

"Well, Megabyte always did want access to the supercomputer darlin'" Mouse sighed looking up at the giant ball of unstable energy, "Looks like he's finally gonna get there"

"No!" Matrix yelled, "We have to stop him! We have to... Gun..."

"Matrix no," Bob cut in quickly, "No. Listen to me. If Megabyte could stabilise tears then he would have done this cycles ago or at least done it the second he got power over the Principle office. Phong must be alive; he's the only one inside there with codes to convert tears. Megabyte mustn't have got the codes from him yet"

"Sugah, I think you might be right," Mouse smiled weakly, she desperately wanted to believe that Megabyte hadn't yet taken the codes from Phong. Why hadn't she thought of encrypting his mind when she'd had the chance?

Bob turned to face the two, "Now what we need. Is a plan" A set of large Vid-Windows suddenly popped up to surround the Principle Office. Bob looked around and finally set eyes upon the monster that had shot him into the web and terrorised his friends. Angry surged through him as he rose up on his zip-board to be face to face with one of the windows.

"Attention remaining in habitants of Megaframe," he said with a smug metallic grin on his face, "Your struggle is very nearly at an end. Soon I will be leaving this dying system. And leaving you to total deletion"

"Over my deleted bitmap!" Bob yelled shaking his fist at the giant image.

"As you wish Guardian," Megabyte turned to look directly at Bob who stared back in utter confusion.

"He knows," Matrix whispered. Bob turned around to see their reaction only to be faced numerous ABC's flying right at him.

"Ahh!" he cried fleeing on his board in the opposite direction.

"This is bad," Matrix said angrily, "Very bad" He threw out his zip-board.

"Hey now you wait right there mister," Mouse snapped. She instinctively snatched his gun away, "You said it yourself. A plan, he'll be fine, let's go see Dot. We gotta getta move on here sugah"

--------

"But how does Megabyte know about the Guardian!?" squeaked Specky, the little Principle Office binome.

He rattled quietly as he shook with fear. Specky had been through every disaster that had hit Mainframe since Bob's first arrival from the Supercomputer. He hoped that they could get through this one, but with a system crash looking likely. There didn't seem to be a way out of this one.

"Megabyte has spies in every sector," Dot explained as calmly as she could. Even now she was fighting back the urge to cry. How could she hate another sprite so much? He'd done this. He'd left. And they'd had to cope, they'd had to. And they'd been doing just fine without him. And the second he stepped back into their lives all this had happened. He'd brought Mainframe back online, he'd given Megabyte another shot at escaping and leaving them facing a system crash.

"But... what about Bob?" Matrix quizzed her.

"Enzo, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear any more about Bob," Dot snapped back, "He's gone to me. The Bob I knew was lost in the web. A long time ago"

Dot turned quickly to examine the radar screens they'd managed to set up in the primitive hideout. Matrix was silent for a nano and frowned thoughtfully at his sister's back. He began marching towards her, avoiding Mouse's attempts to stop him.

"You can't keep doing this," he blurted out, "When Megabyte took over. When everything went wrong. You wanted Bob then. Everything is wrong now. So what's the difference?!"

Dot turned around tears now flooding down her green cheeks.

"I thought he was lost forever. I'd come to terms with the fact that he never coming home. I thought you'd been nullified Enzo. I thought I'd lost both of you. And suddenly you're both here," she wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

"We all thought you were gone sugah," Mouse cut in, "It's been hard for us all. And when the firewall failed, well, we just had to carry on as though nothing had happened. For Mainframe's sake"

"Look let's gather our defences and stop that Mega-trash before he converts the tear," Matrix shrugged.

"Aaaahhh"

The whole hideout turned around to greet the loud crashing noise just outside the entrance.

"Alphanumeric," Dot sighed with exasperation and Bob stumbled inside clumsily.