"ANDRE! Where are you? ANDRE!" A scared AndrAIa yelled as she furiously swam through the caves of their game. "It's not funny anymore!" Suddenly, she saw a sprite screaming for help. He had a paler orange than her, and a sandy blonde hair. She would have mistaken him for Andre, if it weren't for the having a tail and the blonde hair. Andre was a Game Sprite, like her, and had paler skin, a slightly darker aqua hair, and fins, just like hers. This sprite, she had not seen before.
What he was screaming about, she couldn't tell. She swam down to see. She then noticed the body. It was Andre's. "ANDRE!" She screamed. Andre was the only other sprite in this game, and she couldn't bare to live without him. He was still, barely functioning. Andre, was older than her, about 1.8, and she often looked up to him as a mentor. Not to mention her brother! The sprite leaning over him, as she got closer, looked around 2.0.
AndrAIa came by Andre's side and pleaded with her eyes for the sprite to do something. All he could do was shake his head sadly before a small dolphin ship came up and scooped them all in.
A woman stood up from the console. She had a very pale blue complexion, and with a dramatic change her hair changed to a blood red. She took Andre's icon and clicked a few things on the back. "What are you doing?" AndrAIa asked.
"Saving his life." The female replied. "Would you mind telling telling me your friend's name?"
"Andre." AndrAIa replied. "What is yours?" The female seemed to pause for a moment. Obviously she liked asking the questions, not answering them. "My name is Alicia."
"And mine is Ra-" the male was soon cut off by the rumble of the game cube lifting. "What's yours?" The female asked quickly
"AndrA-" The sprite never heard her answer, for the cube lifted, leaving Alicia and Ray standing on the streets of their system, Hard Disk. Alicia clicked her icon and Andre appeared. It was not unusual for Hard Disk to have Game Sprites out of the game. It was full of them!
"I need a medic down here A.S.A.P!" Alicia yelled into her walkie-talkie.
As things would have it, Andre's life was saved.
Andre had heard that his pal 'Ray Tracer' lived in a system called 'Mainframe'. So, of course, he was coming for a visit. He had never found what happened to Alicia or Ray. Most thought they were deleted when Hard Drive exploded. But now, he would see Ray after 5 weeks! 'Wonder where he lives.' Andre thought to himself, as he walked down a street called 'Baud way'
Binomes whispered to each other as he walked past. "He has fins!" "Must be a Game Sprite!" "Who is he?" Andre listened to their whispers with amusement till he heard one that REALLY caught his attention "Is he related to AndrAIa?"
'AndrAIa is here?' he thought. He couldn't wait to see her! He figured she'd be around 1.5 by now. Oh boy was he wrong.
He saw a small diner, 'Dot's Diner', it was called. He thought he would stop in for a bite.
"Ha. Ha. and Ha. VERY FUNNY GUYS! Give me my organizer!" Dot whined, as Matrix, and Bob, and Mouse tossed her organizer back and forth. Dot, being rather petite, was not able to reach their high tosses.
Andre stepped in the diner and Ceil came up to him and told him to wait at the bar. Soon, he was given a menu and seated in a booth.
Mouse threw the organizer to Matrix, who threw it to Bob. Bob dived for it, but it sailed high over his head and hit Andre in the back of the head. The trio stared as Andre stood up, organizer in hand, and gave it to Dot. "I think I'll take my shake somewhere else." He said, and walked calmly out.
"He kinda looked like Andi," Mouse stated. "Ya know, wit da fins and all."
"Maybe he's her brother or something." Bob said.
"HER BROTHER?!" They all screamed at once, scaring a few customers, and making a baby binome cry (And poop in it's diaper while holding a green doll) .
AndrAIa walked slowly into her apartment, and flopped down on her couch. She didn't have the slightest idea why she was so tried.
"Ding Dong!" Her doorbell rang. She got up answered. It was a face she never thought she'd see again. He had greeny-blue hair in a low ponytail, with a few wisps of curly hair around his face. His skin was a sandy color, his eyes a deep green with light blue backing. What was most unusual about him was the fins.
"Andre?" She asked, still a bit unsure. "Is it you?"
"Last time I checked." He replied with a grin.
"I've missed you so much!" She cried, hugging him.
"Yeah, I missed you too."
She invited him in and they talked about what they had been doing for the past 5 weeks.
"So. What have you been doing all this time?" AndrAIa asked.
"When I got out of the game, I was badly injured by the User and I was treated at the Hospital. When I got better I found out all about the net and everything. I became system manager, and was assigned with a group of others to repair the ports to the net. When we did it had been about 1 weeks. We were extremely happy, but in our celebration a viral snuck in to the principal office and made the entire system crash. Only a few escaped. I never found out what happened to Ray or Alicia." He paused for a moment, "That's the reason I came to Mainframe, to find Ray."
The trio stared at eachother in shock. Brother? Was it possible? They had no idea.
"You are scaring off thee customers!" Cecil said, annoyed at their sudden outburst.
"We better find AndrAIa, " Said Matrix, just recovering from that shock.
"Ray? "AndrAIa asked, her eyebrows arching.
"You know him?" Andre replied, smiling a bit. 'What a coincidence...'
AndrAIa stood up, "He was at the docks last time I saw him, want me to take you there?" He stood up beside her and laughed "Let's go!"
They walked outside and flipped out their zip boards. On the way, they made small talk, "What's an interesting place you've been"...ect. Soon they reached the docks and jumped off of their zip boards, "There he is, "AndrAIa said, pointing. She quickly waved him down.
"G' day, AndrAIa!" Ray said, hovering about the docks slightly before jumping down and kicking board under his arm. "Hello, Ray,"AndrAIa replied. Ray hadn't seen Andre, because he and AndrAIa had decided to surprise Ray. Andre would jump out of behind a cargo box when he got 'the signal'. The signal was, AndrAIa saying, "I've got a friend visiting, who know you."
Andre crouched silently, listening. He was surprised at how much these two flirted, and snickered. He regretted it instantly, AndrAIa could hear him perfectly. "So, AndrAIa, what brings you ta th' docks at this time?"
"Oh, I've got a friend visiting who knows you, "She replied, Andre jumped up and yelled, "Hi, Ray!"
"Andre! It's you!"
:::FLASHBACK, SYSTEM RULLIA:::
White. Pure white. Everything was white. The room was white, so was the bed, covers, walls, doors, everything. The only thing that was a contrast to this white madness was Andre. His blue hair and orange skin stood out profoundly against the white. "Ugh." he moaned, sitting up. 'Where AM I?' he wondered as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and standing up, regretting it instantly. Wave after wave of nausea hit him hard and he stumbled as he walked. Suddenly alarm came over him, 'AndrAIa! Oh no! I left her alone, I broke my promise!'
He felt the urge to swim! Swim away! Swim to AndrAIa! Swim! Swim! SWIM! He reached the front desk without anyone noticing him, it being late at night, no nurses where out. Except for one. The desk clerk. She looked up when she heard him stumble by, "Stop!" She yelled.
Andre looked over at her, her skin was a deep green with static blue hair. She was short and a bit on the overweight side. He ignored her and continued on his way to the front door. She ran behind the desk and hit the help button. Since Andre was so dizzy, a nurse made it the the door and they hauled him back to bed and had him monitored by a nurse named 'Sally'.
"So, what's your name?" Sally asked, smiling.
He didn't answer, he just glared. "Ahh, "She replied "You don't trust me, right? Well, don't worry, I'm just trying to help. You took a big bump on the head in that Game. Luckily Alicia and Ray found you! You could have erased! "
Andre didn't understand a word she said. Who the heck is Alicia or Ray? Game? What was a game? "Where's AndrAIa?" He asked. She looked at him, confused, "AndrAIa? Who's AndrAIa? "
"She's not here?" Andre asked. Sally just shook her head, "There's no one named AndrAIa in this system."
Andre sighed and slunk farther into the covers of the hospital bed. "Wanna tell me your name now?"
"Andre."
The doorbell rang many many MANY times at AndrAIa's house, but Bob, Dot, Matrix and Mouse got no answer. "Hey AndrAIa!" "Open up!" "Heeelo?" "If you don't open up in ten nanos I'll sit on the motorcycle!" "We know you're home!"
Well, at least they thought she was home, her motorcycle was parked in the driveway, and the garage door was open. "Maybe she took her zip board," Bob said, "and went looking for us?"
"Leaving the garage door open? And besides, if she wanted to find us, she'd take the motorcycle,"Matrix replied.
"Maybe something happened..."Dot trailed off, letting the words hang in the air.
"Yeah, right."Mouse snorted, "If anything happened, it was her killin' the guys tryin' ta do it."
"Either that, or she's behind you!" A voice giggled from behind them, it was AndrAIa. "That's the guy who hit me on the head with an organizer!" Andre burst out, seeing Matrix.
"Nice ta meet ya'll too, "Mouse whispered under her breath, making Andre stare at her strangely.
"Are we going inside, or are we going to sit here talking in front of my door?" AndrAIa asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"...So, you two are Brother and Sister?" Bob asked, sitting down on the couch with Dot.
"Yep." Andre replied, looking over at AndrAIa.
"Wait a nano! Andre! You never told me you had a sister!" Ray said, sitting up, "Even less one named AndrAIa!"
Andre laughed, "There's some other things I never told you or Alicia."
"So, where are your parents?" Dot asked, causally. Andre and AndrAIa suddenly got sour looks on their faces.
"It's not something I want to talk about, "He said quickly, standing up and leaving the room.
All heads turned to AndrAIa. She sighed, "He took it hardest when it happened, I suppose you want to know what I'm talking about, right? Well, I don't know the whole story, but I'll tell you what I do know."
"What happened to the fish?" An 8 week old Andre asked his mother, Irene. She cradled her new baby, AndrAIa in her arms. Sitting in the rocking chair, she looked down at Andre and smiled, "It's nothing to worry about, Andre, everything will be all right." She stared back out from their small dome house on the game floor, dead fish littered the sky, energy spewing from their sides.
One hit the roof and splattered on the glass. AndrAIa began to cry uncontrollably, "Shhh,"Irene hushed her, rocking back an forth in the rocking chair. Alex, their father entered the room and shook his head sadly. Irene looked back up at him and frowned, placing AndrAIa in her cradle and walking over to him.
"But, how? How could it have gotten you?" She asked, urgently.
"Not just me, "He replied "You too. Only Andre and AndrAIa didn't get it, yet." She looked over at Andre peering at AndrAIa through the bar of her cradle. Suddenly her tiny hand latched onto his pinky and didn't let go. "Mommy! AndrAIa won't let go!" He squealed.
"Hush, dear."She replied, and turned back to Alex. "What can we do?"
He shook his head and handed her a knife. "There's no other way." A tear rolled down Irene's cheek, "What about our children? Eventually, they too..."
"I found a cure, for the rest of the game, but we are too far gone," He said, "Before we go, we must spray it all over, and it will kill the infection. Eventually, the game will be clean."
Irene nodded and called to Andre, "Andre, can you come here for a moment?"
Andre skipped over to his mother and Father happily, "What is it mommy?"
"Andre, "His father began, kneeling down. "Your mother and I have to...to go away for awhile. You are not to leave this house until after the fish have stopped dying like that."He pointed at the fish floating lifeless.
"But, Daddy! You promised you'd take me swimming in the caves today!" Andre protested, "You can't go away!"
Irene kneeled down beside Alex and kissed Andre on the forehead, "When we get back, your daddy will take you wherever you want."Irene's tears increased, "I promise."
"But, Andre, "His father said, through tears, "Watch after AndrAIa, you're to take care of her now."
"Until you get back,"Andre replied.
"Until we get back."
"That's all I know, I still don't know what the infection was, all I know was that it took my parents and the rest of the AI Game sprites."AndrAIa finished, "Andre might know, but he doesn't like to talk about it."
Andre lay on his back, staring at the ceiling in AndrAIa's room. 'Why'd
it happen?'
He asked himself. It was a question that had never been answerd, and
never will be. 'Why them?' 'What'd they do to deserve this?' All
these questions floated around in Andre's mind, and one simple, 'Why?'
His parents weren't bad people, they where just the opposite. Loving,
caring parents.
A small knock came on the door, AndrAIa entered. "Hey," She said quietly.
TO BE CONINUED....
(A/N:Yep, I'm much prouder of the way it's going this time. *G* And I PROMISE I won't kill everyone this time, LoL. Please review, and PLEASE tell me if you think it's good, and I should continue it, cause, that's what I need, REVIEWS. Thankies. ~Daemon~)
