Elemental Force
by WebMistressGina
Chapter 21 - Power Struggle
Phong stood in the crowded room, trying to block out the loud and raucous sounds coming from around him. The old sprite was trying to answer a question that had been asked earlier. What was it that the new visitor, Alexander Gain, hoped to achieve by attacking two of their citizens. The same thought, it's persistence being annoying and yet hard to ignore, began to push its way to the fore front of Phong's processor. He had heard about the elements of power as a young sprite, but didn't believe in it. Truth be known, with the strange events of the last couple of hours, the system administrator had begun looking into the matter, especially now that Chip's and the twins' powers had been brought to his attention. Looking at the group that surrounded him, he couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before.
Fire.
Air.
Water.
Metal.
Earth.
And two sets of them.
The wise sprite's eyes did a double take at what he had just realized. The very thought of what could be happening easily rivaled that of any of Megabyte's plans, even Daemon. Not only was their system in danger, but the whole Net as they knew it could be potentially destroyed if something wasn't done about this. "My children, a horrible thought as just occurred to me!" he exclaimed, causing everyone to look at him.
"You think Nikki and Jet are in trouble?" Bob asked.
"It's much more than that, Guardian." Phong replied, quickly heading for the door. "I must speak to the ten of you immediately!"
The sprites left in the room began to mentally count out the ten people he wanted to see. Nodding and assuming Phong wanted to speak to the immediate family, Alex gave Enzo a kiss goodbye and watched as everyone left. Stopping at the door, Kit turned to her and asked, "Alex, you gotta find where Nikki and Jet are. Right now, Bri's the only one who's safe."
"I'll do my best." the young guardian replied. "Chris, what's all this about?"
"I don't know." Kit sighed. "But I can tell you it's not going to be good."
* * *
"Jet, hurry!"
As their family started following Phong into his office, Jet and Nikki found themselves in the same predicament their cousin and brother had experienced. They were now running for their dear lives, hoping to out run Gain, as he started to catch up to them. The twins had now noticed something was clearly wrong. No matter how hard or how fast they ran, Gain was always there, almost having them in his hands. It was like Chip had entered the sprite's body and...
"Nikki, he's catching up!" hollered Jet, as he and his sister ran around a corner.
They thought they might be saved as soon as they were out in the open. Surely the binomes on the street would see something was wrong, but when they reached the streets of Beverly Hills, gain was no where to be seen. "Think we lost him?" Nikki asked.
Jet looked all around them, not seeing anyone, but knowing he was there. "No." he huffed. "He's around, Nikki. He's somewhere."
"So what do we do?" his sister asked, panic starting to be come evident in her voice. "And how did he get so fast?"
"I'm beginning to see why you guys don't like him." Jet muttered. Looking around a last time, the two started walking towards the Principal Office.
Gain watched from atop a building, as his prey headed towards an ultimate goal. With his new found speed and lightening abilities, he was able to keep hidden from the two. He realized he could also hear their conversation, though he was at least a foot away. He accounted that to Chip's powers. Marvelous. He watched the boy, Jet, trying to scan the area, looking for him. He knew he was around, but he didn't know where.
Gain liked that.
The twins began their walk towards the P.O., Jet on critical alert. The boy couldn't get the feeling they were being watched, followed, but every time he turned around to check, there was no one. He didn't like this. Not one bit. All of a sudden his suspicions of the new comer had intensified during the cycle, especially now when he had begun an assault in the children as they left school. Stopping in his tracks, he caught Nikki's arm, pulling her back.
"What...?"
"Shh." he hissed, his senses on red alert.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes. It had been a long time since he had used his powers. Unlike Nikki, who enjoyed flaunting them every once in a while, Jet had taken his brother's approach and kept them hidden until he had found a use for them. But just like Kit, not using his powers for a least two hours, Jet felt shaking about doing what he was thinking. Besides that, he had never tried to transport himself and another person before.
He tried picturing the Principal Office, more importantly, Phong's office. Hopefully, the wise sprite would be there so the two could tell him what was happening and that they needed to take Gain into custody immediately. But it was hard. Not only was he basically scared about the whole thing, his senses were off the charts, telling him Gain was in the vicinity and was heading straight for them. Jet again tried to clear his mind and concentrate. He shut out all the sounds from around him, blocked the danger signs popping up in his processor. He could see the hallways of the building and finally, the office of choice. Concentrating harder, Jet felt a tingly feeling inside, almost like he had Rebooted in a game. Opening his eyes, he was in Phong's office, with everyone staring at him.
"Jet!" exclaimed several of the sprites.
"Dude, am I glad to see you." Chip replied, hooking an arm around his cousin. "But where's Nikki?"
Jet's smile slowly turned to a frown, then a look of terror.
Nikki wasn't with him.
* * *
A group of nine sprite assembled in the office of the system administrator. To say they were confused and upset would be an understatement. "Phong, will you please tell me what's going on?" Dot demanded, her tone seeping with frustration and worry. And anger.
"Right now, I'm more worried about Nikki and Jet." reminded Kit.
"User, why?" AndrAIa asked, her curiosity turning to frustration.
"On the account that they're out there with some loony bin, that's why!" Kit challenged.
The two were stone walled, until Sabrina stepped between. "All right, fighters." she joked. "Go to your separate corners until the bell rings."
"Dad? Uncle Bob?" Chip asked, looking up at the two. "Are you guys okay?"
Bob and Matrix seemed to be in their own little eternet, tuning out everything that was happening around them. To everyone, especially Dot, this was extremely odd behavior. The only time Matrix seemed concerned about Chip's welfare was when he had been brought from the lobby of the M.U. Even Enzo and Alex had said the renegade seemed "out of it". And as for Bob's behavior, Dot didn't know what was going on. First their son is attacked and now their twins couldn't be found. Normally, the guardian would've been worried to deletion, but lately even Dot had to admit he had been out of sorts.
Suddenly, the chaos that had left the examining room and entered the office was enhanced when Jet Lan appeared out of no where.
"Jet!" exclaimed several of the sprites.
The boy had a smile on his face, happy for one: making it to the image he had pictured and two: for actually being able to use the power he had long ago hoped to surpress. He chuckled when Chip threw his arm around him, but at the news that his sister wasn't with him, his face suddenly fell from the happy one it had been just a few nanos before.
She was still out there.
With him.
* * *
Nikki had a pretty good idea what Jet was about to do. Looking behind them, she could see Gain walking slowly towards them, a smile on his face. The sprite actually thought they had stopped and he was taking his time on capturing them. Nikki also got a smile on her face, more of a smirk, knowing they'd be long gone before he ever came near them. But when Jet disappeared and she was still there, her smirked turned to a look of shock and then a frown of frustration and anger.
"That little son of a..." she cursed, not believing Jet could just leave her like that.
But now she had her own problem.
Gain was still heading towards her, his smile getting larger by the microsecond.
Putting her hands behind her back and readying a ball of energy in both hands, she asked, "You really don't think I'm just gonna let you hurt me, right? I mean, I'd stay away if I were you. I'd be pretty afraid of me right now."
Gain chuckled. "Funny." he replied. "That's exactly what your cousin Chip said before...well, why go into details?"
Nikki's green face turned pale. He couldn't have! she though. Could he?
"That's why you're so fast now." she surmised. "You stole his powers."
"Bright girl." Gain smirked. "Must be something you got from your mother. As for your father, I'll settle things with him later."
"Leave my family alone!" the girl shouted, removing her hands and shooting the balls of light at him.
Gain was taken by surprise, but was only hit with one of them. Rubbing his shoulder, he glared at the girl, who seemed to be out of breath already. Nikki had never done that before, so the shock to her circuits was a little much. That took a lot out of her! Shaking her head, she stood straight. She couldn't let her guard down, not with him. Gain managed another smirk and said, "Nice trick. Wanna see a trick of my own?" With lightening speed, an energy mass came from his hands, something that Nikki barely managed to dodge away from.
"Kit too?" she asked, her voice shaky from the near fatal attack.
"Think of it as giving something back from all the people that have been hurt." he said.
"What in the Holy Hacker are you talking about?"
"You and your family of murderers." he said, his voice growing cold. "At first I just thought it was your father, but after doing some checking... tsk, tsk, tsk. Everywhere you go, you seem to just delete people left and right."
"That's not true!" the girl exclaimed.
"Isn't it?" Gain asked, advancing on her. "Ask your uncle how it feels to delete someone. Or even your mother."
Nikki backed away from the sprite, gulping as she did. She thought she knew everything about her family's past, but apparently she didn't. She had known her father, uncle, aunt, and even mother had done some things they weren't proud of during the time of Megaframe. Even Kit had to do something in order to survive the harshness of the UFL. But she never thought they could be capable of murder. They had to do what they had to do, she repeated to herself. If they hadn't she wouldn't be here. Nor would Jet or Chip, even Enzo to an extent.
"Why bother asking?" Nikki stood her ground, ready to give Gain a reason to back off. "Why don't I find out myself?"
Gain looked at the girl with renewed interest and some slight fear. The last thing he wanted was to hurt the girl. At least before he got his hands on her power. The girl was already to take him on, no matter what the consequences. He couldn't take the chance of harming her, even deleting her. Besides, he narrowly escaped those first blasts from her and his arm was deleting him. Gain back spaced and then turned, leaving Nikki standing there, looking after him.
"You're going to be in big trouble once I get to the Principal Office!" she shouted after him, but to no avail.
Using his new found speed, he was gone in a flash.
* * *
He was coming apart, she could tell. His time here was driving him to the breaking point. Her as well. She hated to see him suffer, what could they do? They could hope to find Mainframe the next game. And it became a mantra. Next game, next game, next game, next game... and always, always, the next game took them somewhere else, further and further from home. Their breaking point always came to a head, either with each other or to a character in a game.
Last time, it had been a real character...
* * *
"Phong, now will you tell us what's going on?"
The question broke AndrAIa from her thoughts. Looking up, she realized they were still in Phong's office. Alex had been able to find Nikki and the girl was lead in to his office. The game sprite felt a hand on her shoulder and saw Dot looking at her, in concern. She gave the commander a confused to which Dot replied, "You were out of it for a bit. Just like Bob and Matrix." Looking over, AndrAIa saw that the two seemed to have awoken from the same kind of flashback she had just nanos before. Shaking her head clear, she looked over at Phong, as he began an explanation.
"My children, something of great importance and of great horror has come to our system."
Ten sprites looked at him.
"Go on." Dot replied.
"Let me first ask, have any of you heard of the elements of power?" he asked.
"I think I speak for everyone when I say no." Bob said, several nodding in agreement.
"The elements of power, five to be precise, are the very foundation of protection across the Net." he stated.
"You're kidding." Chip replied.
"Don't interrupt." Sabrina scolded, slapping her brother on the back of the head.
"It is said to be legend, but with things of late..." the wise sprite shook his head. "I can not believe I didn't see it at the time." Phong cleared his throat and continued. "The legend has it the User delivered the elements into the Net for added security if you will. Five sprites or binomes are said to be the equivalent of the powers. Fire, water, wind, earth, and metal. Those five special people take on the attributes of the their elements, the power manifesting itself into personality or characteristics. It is said, the User also made the elements known to the viruses he implanted in the net and systems in it. To a virus, the five elements give a deadly combination to an already great power within himself."
Again, ten sprites looked at him.
"Forgive me for being rude, Phong," Kit replied. "But what in the Great Norton does any of this have to do with us?"
"I have a strong inkling our new friend may be seeking those powers." Phong said.
"Okay." Dot replied. "I still don't see what this has to do with us."
"Legend goes the User, in order to keep the elements from the viruses who might search for them, separated the elements, making the task of finding all five people harder than possible." Phong continued. "It is very rare when all five of the elements are in the same system at the same time."
"Phong, you're moving away from the question here" Sabrina stressed. "Are you gonna land this baby or are you gonna circle the docking bay?"
Phong looked at the girl in confusion. "I do not think..."
"She means are you gonna get on with it or not?" Chip replied bluntly, to the embarrassment of everyone in the room.
"You were always to get straight to the point, Young Chip." Phong added, dryly. "I'm building to something. As I was saying, if the legend is true, it's rare that the elements are all together at the same time, same system. It is also said the User made another set of elements, in order to confuse anyone who might try and search for them. That way, if the first set of elements is discovered, the second would be able to combat against whatever force has over taken them."
Again, the wise sprite only received looks of confusion, but many were turning into looks of frustration and annoyance.
"Before you say anything, my children," he continued, stopping any questions that were to be asked. "Think about our present situation, as well as the events that have happened recently in our system."
This time, only nine sprites were confused.
"Phong, you can not be serious." Kit whispered.
Sabrina leaned over to him. "Serious about what?" she whispered.
"He thinks we're...oh no! You've really got to be joking!" Kit exclaimed.
"Are you saying you think we're the element guys?" Chip asked, causing everyone to look at the wise sprite.
Kit laughed. "As random as this is..." he started, a thoughtful look coming to his face. "It's not a farfetched idea."
"You're joking, right?" Bob asked.
"Think about it?" Kit insisted. "We've to be the...oddest system, why shouldn't we be the elements? I mean, how many guardian cadets do you know, Dad, that get lost and end up in the wrong system?"
"That was purely an accident, you know." Bob defended. "I mean, they were really close together at the time and..."
"That's not the point." the young sprite continued. "If you hadn't come to Mainframe, you wouldn't have met Mom. I mean, the coincidences in this whole are scary to pass up! It's not every system where stuff that happens to us happens to them. There's no game sprite living outside of a game in any other system. There's no sprite who's survived the games or even the Web in any other system..."
"Hey Kit's right." Jet said, also getting a thoughtful look on his face. "And look at us! No other kid can do what we can. Weird..."
"There's something else, too." Kit pondered. "Phong, you said there were five elements?"
"Yes."
"When Dad, Matrix, and AndrAIa came back, especially Matrix, and the system restarted, it caused Enzo, right?" Kit continued.
"With Dot, that makes five of them!" Sabrina exclaimed, finally seeing what her cousin was.
Kit nodded. "And together..."
"There's five of us." Jet concluded.
"Talk about double sided." Nikki mumbled, a smile coming to her face.
"Yeah, but why is Gain going after us?" Chip asked.
"You guys are the ones with the power." Enzo spoke up, silent no more.
"That must mean Gain's really a virus." AndrAIa stated.
"Great." Matrix muttered, coming from his reverie. "Just what we need."
"I have some bad new for you, folks." Kit reminded. "We've lost two of our "elements" if you will. Remember? Chip and I are out of the race." Turning to the wise sprite, Kit asked, "Phong, what happens if Gain gets a hold of all five elements?"
"All I can say, my son," Phong replied. "Is very bad things."
"Not good." Enzo said.
"This is really not good." Matrix echoed.
"Phong," Dot replied, confusion still etched on her face. "I have another question. What happens if Gain finds a way of getting to the twins and Sabrina?"
"That, I do not know." Phong uttered sadly. "I can only hope that a power struggle with take place in his codes, overloading them and hopefully destroying him. As to how and whether we will be able to give Christopher and Chip back their powers is uncertain to me."
"Well, that does nothing to boost our confidence." Sabrina replied, sarcastically.
"I said it once and I'll say it again." Chip said. "I got a real bad feeling about this."
"Believe when I say we all feel the same way." Dot murmured.