Okay Booters. Here we go. This ends the first stage of the story.
The next part picks up in Mainframe starring a certain virus. I am WAY behind on the story due to eye problems coupled with my job (Or a Job as I call it on bad days. I’m talking about the Biblical Job. Look him up sometime).
BTW: I found an old copy of Changing of the Guardian. I don’t think its the one up on Julia Cat’s Web Site, but I have some plot errors in it.I’m likely going to revise it and put it up on my Deviant when I get the chance.
That story is extremely important for future reference.
And Jeff? Text Edit for Mac is now my best friend. 
God Bless
Divine RoseBoot
EDIT: Oooookay. I fixed it again. It seems I can’t do any repairs without Text Edit. I found the other version. It’s only a few line corrections.
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Bob located Warpan and Weblash below deck. One of the Saucy Mare’s cargo holds now served as a temporary stable for their Web creatures. When Bob first made eye contact with Warpan, the Guardian felt his mouth go dry. He started to speak, <<May a warrior enter?>>
<<If the warrior is worthy.>>
Bob remained standing at the doorway as if he didn’t deserve to enter. Warpan said, <<Just because you are going home, doesn’t mean you are abandoning us.>>
Bob asked, << Does that offend you?>>
Warpan admitted, <<I envy you.>>
<<I’m sorry. I have offended you.>>
<<Sorry?>> Weblash chuckled, <<I’d give my left arm to get your chance.>>
<<We are not offended,>> Warpan corrected. <<We have lost our former lives. You still have yours.>>
Bob responded, <<You’re been like - You are not only my friends. You are family to me also. I’m sad to leave you. I was given this leadership roll.>>
<<You earned this leadership,>> Warpan insisted. <<Unix would be proud of you, Web rest his soul.>>
<<You have been hard on me in the past,>> Bob recalled.
<<You need to be tough to survive here.>> Warpan then added. << And I was jealous of you. I wanted your place in this tribe.>>
<<Now you have it,>> Bob said.
<<Not until you leave,>> Weblash joked. <<We like when you boss us around.>>
Weblash’s bit of humor made Bob smile a moment. He then asked, <<What about the Souless One?>>
<<What about her?>> Warpan snarled with a tone of anger not meant for Bob, << She didn’t scare us when she came here. She doesn’t scare us now.>>
<<I know how brave you are, but I am still worried. She wanted me for some reason.>>
<She took other Webriders and sprites to work for her.>> Weblash said, <<You are no different.>>
<<I am different. I am a Guardian. It makes me valuable. If only I knew what she wanted.>>
<<We’ll ask her politely before we delete her,>> Warpan chuckled.
Princess Bula peaked inside the room and said, “Party! Now!”
“We’re coming Princess Bula,” Bob answered her in Netspeak.
When she had left, Weblash asked, <<Is she really a Princess?>>
<<No,>> Bob replied with a grin, <<but do you want to tell someone who beat up several Webriders any different?>>
Weblash laughed loudly. Warpan told Bob, <<Enough worrying about ‘what if’. Guardian. Now we eat and drink, for tomorrow we may delete.>>
<<No. You will return to the Web my friend,>> Bob corrected. <<And I will see you again after we fight this battle. I promise. Come on. I know you will like getting to know my friends.>>
***
When Bob arrived with the Webriders, the Guardian received a seat of honor next to Gavin. ROM ale was the first beverage served and consumed. It didn’t take long for the over indulged pirates to start getting rowdy. Matrix and AndrAIa stepped out to get away from the loud noise, and growing drunkenness. Bob figured they deserved some alone time after all they had been through.
Bob restrained himself from over energizing himself so he could converse clearly with Gavin, but that lead to more parched throats, and the necessity to quench it with more energy. Bob was grateful that he had somehow managing to hold onto his wits as other pirates became falling down drunk. Bob paused to offer toasts to Gavin’s crew. He began the statement in Web speak.
<<To the Captain and crew of the Saucy Mare,>> Bob quickly switching to Net language. “The finest bunch of cutthroat binomes who ever sailed the two Cs!”
Gavin jumped up on the table and gave a salute as well.
“A toast! To the Webriders, the ugliest bunch of merciless blaggards I ever had the pleasure of sailing with!”
Gavin promptly took a swig of ale from his mug, and fell off the table. Bob quietly laughed to himself.
Ray Tracer followed up with a well-deserved toast as well.
“To Matrix and AndrAIa, the Sprites who brought us all together!”
That spurred a roaring cheer.
“I’ll drink to that!” Bob quickly emptied his mug of ROM.
How long has it been since I’ve been this happy, Bob thought. I should enjoy this while I can.
The overflow of drinks had dulled Ray’s rational thinking long enough for him to try eating a Web slug. Ray swallowed the creature down and promptly to keel over. His stunt nearly stopped everyone’s heart drives, but Ray promptly sat up and cheered, “Yeah! All right!”
Warpan praised the Search Engine’s bravery, <<You are a warrior! You have Honor!>>
The Webrider slapped Ray’s on the back hard. Warpan knocked Surfr right into Matrix as he entered the room. The hulking sprite over reacted, pulling his weapon as if he were under attack, threatening Ray and then the Webriders.
Bob became outraged with Enzo.
“Enzo! What do you think you’re doing? Put that gun down! Now!”
AndrAIa came up behind Enzo and lowered Matrix’s arm, quickly defusing the situation. Matrix looked very distressed by his actions. He quickly apologized. “I - I didn’t mean to. I just… reacted. I’m sorry.”
Matrix turned and walked out. AndrAIa gestured for Bob to go speak with Matrix, giving the Guardian a chance to be alone with his old friend.
When Bob located Matrix up on deck, the sprite couldn’t maintain eye contact with the Guardian. He apologized once more.
“Bob, I’m… I’m so sorry. I wanted you to be proud of me, and I blew it,” Matrix then asked him, “What’ve I done? What’ve I become?”
Bob reassured Matrix, “Look, you survived the games and brought this crew together and rescued me. I am proud of you, Enzo.”
“I’ve done… questionable things,” Matrix doubted.
“You did what you had to do. We’ve all changed, all grown, and now it’s time to fight back.”
Matrix still didn’t sound too confident. “A lost Guardian and a renegade, and not a keytool between them.”
“And a big job to do, but we’ll be okay. The Surfr can get us back to Mainframe. We’ll deal with Megabyte and then Daemon, together.” Bob offered Matrix his hand to help him up. “You ready?”
Matrix agreed, “Yeah.”
Bob help Matrix up, and they started to walk back to the party. After telling each other how good it was to see each other, Matrix used a brief moments pause to ask, “Bob? What exactly happened to you?”
“What do you mean?”
“The Chimera. What did she do to you?”
Bob became a little rigid. He concentrated as he recalled, “She captured me, took my icon, and ran some kind of probe using a device I’d never seen before. There was no fail safe during the scan. It hurt really bad.”
“It sounds like a PID extraction?”
“Maybe. But it failed.”
“I knew she hurt you! That monster!”
“I called her a monster. I shouldn’t have. It made her more angry,” Bob remembered. “When the Webriders relocated her ship, I looked for the device, but it was gone. That’s when I found that pearl. It looked so familiar to me.”
“But you didn’t know what it was,” Matrix reminded him.
“That’s what’s so strange! It like I can’t remember something. What did she do to me?”
Bob rubbed his forehead. Matrix’s rage softened into concern, “Maybe you should rest for a little while.”
“No. I’ll be okay,” Bob assured him. “Let’s go back to the party. And let’s keep this Chimera incident between us and AndrAIa for now. We’ve got bigger things to worry about.”
“But Bob -.”
“We’re going back Matrix. We have to find Dot and the others. And take care of Megabyte.”
Matrix nodded. He figured if he couldn’t delete Bob’s Web tormentor, he could take it out on the next best option, a stinking blue virus named Megabyte.
