REBOOT-TAN ========== (Voiceover begins) "I live in the games. I search through systems, people, and cities, for this place. Mainframe. My home. My format? I have no format. I am a renegade, lost in the Net." Reboot? "Game Over," the computer voice announced. The purple cube lifted up from the ground, flying back into the sky, leaving two sprites standing in it's wake. The male one, with the green skin and the one golden eye, glanced around. "Well, this isn't Mainframe," Matrix sighed. "Damn it AndrAIa, just how many independent systems are we going to be faced with?!" "Now, now, calm down," his more curvy companion soothed, reaching up to place her hand on his shoulder. "As long as we're here, we might as well stop by the Principal Office to introduce ourselves and see if... wait, what...?" Matrix swung his head from side to side, following AndrAIa's gaze. "What indeed. How can a system have TWO Principal Offices??" "I don't know," AndrAIa replied, tossing some of her blue hair back off her shoulder. "But let's go investigate, shall we?" She frowned slightly in thought. "I say we check out that one to the right first, it seems like it's a little more active." Matrix nodded, and the two sprites joined some of the other binomes who were gradually beginning to mill about in the area, following the departure of the game. Fortunately, the general layout of the city wasn't that complicated, and so it didn't take too long for them to make their way to the Principal Office. Or rather, the only Principal Office of the two which actually had some transportation vehicles flying around it. They were met at the main door by a cute looking girl with green hair, one strand of which looped off high into the air. "Hi!" the girl chirped, beaming at them with a wide smile. Her head then lilted to the side slightly, a long green pigtail sliding off of her shoulder, and she fell silent. Matrix and AndrAIa exchanged a glance. ***** "Who are you?" Matrix demanded. "I'm Me!" the green haired girl retorted, eyes slowly refocussing on them. Matrix frowned. "Of course you are, but what's your name?" The girl pursed her lips slightly, then smiled again. "I'm Me!" Matrix sighed. "Fine, whatever," he decided. "So who's in charge around here?" The girl pursed her lips slightly, then smiled again. "I'm Me!" "Look," Matrix said more testily, reaching towards his sidearm. "Just take us to whomever's running this place, or..." "Matrix," AndrAIa chided, swatting him lightly in the arm. "Be nice, we're visitors here." "But she... oh, all RIGHT," Matrix grumbled, seeing the look his companion was giving him. He bent down slightly to look the green haired girl in the eyes. "We've come here from the games. We're wondering what system this is, and why you have two Principal Offices. I take it from your outfit that you're some kind of maid, so if you could just direct us to someone who's in a position of more authority... hey... hey, hello?" The tall sprite reached out to wave his hand in front of the girl, whose eyes had begun to glaze over. Without another word, she pitched forwards and Matrix had to react quickly in order to prevent her from landing on her face. "You know, we really have to work on your conversational techniques," AndrAIa said, frowning. "I hardly said anything! She just froze up!" Matrix protested in irritation, trying to push the girl back onto her feet. The girl in the maid outfit refused to remain balanced. AndrAIa sighed. "Come on, let's just go inside then. These people should at least be notified that they're having some sort of security issue." Matrix gave up trying to get the green haired girl to stand on her own, electing instead to drag her into the entryway and prop her up against the wall. However, he hadn't taken more than a couple steps inside the building before another girl sprang out from the passageway ahead. This one was wearing a kimono and wielding a katana, which clanged into AndrAIa's trident as the blue haired sprite reacted quickly to defend herself. "How did you get in here?!" kimono girl shouted. "We walked," Matrix asserted, having quickly brought his own gun to bear. He could see now that the new arrival had long brown hair, some of which was tied back with a four-colour ribbon. "Your maid didn't object." "Our... what?" the girl questionned back. She glanced past Matrix. "Dammit! Me-tan's frozen up again," she realized. Lowering her katana, she marched past the other sprites to slap lightly on the green haired girl's face. The girl who had been addressed as Me-tan didn't react. AndrAIa watched cautiously for a moment before retracting the ends of her trident. "Excuse me, but who ARE you?" she questionned. The brown haired girl glanced back. "95-tan." She fished a small pair of glasses from somewhere in the recesses of her outfit, resting them on the edge of her nose. "You're not OS. Where did you come from?" "The last game," AndrAIa began. "You see, we..." "Hnuh. In my day we didn't have sprites wandering in and out of games," 95-tan said, already appearing baffled. "Could be a result of the malfunction though - you'd better come with me to see 2k-tan." She slipped the glasses back off her nose before picking up Me-tan and throwing the other girl over her shoulder. Stumbling a bit, she turned to lock the main door behind them, then began to march back down the corridor. Matrix and AndrAIa exchanged another perplexed glance. "Should we bother to explain?" Matrix wondered. AndrAIa shrugged. "Maybe we should wait until we see this 2k-tan." Her companion sighed. "I guess. Dammit, why aren't there any normal systems out here?" he griped. He and AndrAIa began to follow after 95-tan before she could get out of sight. ***** As it turned out, the trip itself wasn't very long, and the corridors of the Principal Office were nearly empty. At one point Matrix thought he saw a girl carrying an old style keyboard peeking out at him from around a corner, but when he looked again she was gone. In fact, the only real difficulty came as they turned the final corner before reaching the primary room. A doctor seemed to materialize in front of them like a ghost. "Time for a checkup," the doctor stated ominously, raising his stethoscope. "Scram Norton," 95-tan advised. "No time for you now." "But Me-tan looks damaged, and should probably be checked for viruses," Norton persisted. "If you'll just lift up her skirt..." 95-tan rolled her eyes, took two steps forwards, and clouted the doctor hard under the chin with her free hand. He sailed up through the ceiling and out of sight. "HATE that guy," the brown haired girl muttered, moving to punch in the access code to the primary situation room. "Not even gonna ask," AndrAIa said dryly. The doors wooshed open, revealing a slightly chaotic scene. It was immediately obvious who was in control of the situation though, namely a girl with short blue hair, glasses, and an odd hairband with a ruffle and two points sticking out from it like cat ears. Or at least, it was obvious to Matrix that this girl was TRYING to be in control, the way she was rolling back and forth on a chair as she tried to type commands into about three keypads simultaneously. She also seemed to be wearing a dress of the same four colour design as the brown haired one's hair ribbon. "2k-tan!" 95-tan called out. "Some problems here." "Little busy right now!" the blue haired girl called back, rolling her chair across the floor and nearly sideswiping a smaller binome. "System coming apart and all! XP-tan, deal with it?" 2k-tan spared two nanos to look up and across the room, towards a corner just outside of Matrix's field of vision. "And for goodness sakes, stop eating all the spare memory! You'll throw your back out." "But I think better on a full stomach," came a slightly whiny voice, which somehow managed to have a seductive quality to it at the same time. A busty dark haired girl advanced into view. She carried a medium sized empty bowl, which rested just beneath her two rather large, full, gravity-defying-- "Memory upgrades!" a blonde girl in a blue uniform called, pushing her way into the room. She waved a paper in the air. "I have a new mail message about memory upgrades!" "Oooooh, lemme see, Outlook-tan," XP-tan said, eyes shining as she moved to intercept. Matrix could see now that the hair ribbons off to the side of her bangs appeared to spell out 'X P'. She also seemed to be wearing an incredibly tight and sleeveless outfit, complete with translucent gloves. Her skirt was on the short side as well, with stockings that reached up her legs to above her knees. "Ung... hey!" Matrix said, turning to AndrAIa as she elbowed him in the ribs. "Don't stare," she said, folding her arms across her own chest and glaring at him pointedly. "XP! No memory for you!" 2k-tan shot back as she glanced up again and saw XP-tan reaching for the information held by the blonde maid. "Deal with 95-tan first." "Awwwww," XP-tan sniffled. However, she reluctantly turned her attention away from memory matters and towards the group at the door, smiling brightly. "Yes, deal with this," 95-tan said airily, already turning away. "I'm going back to patrol the perimeter." Pushing the green haired maid away from herself, so that Me-tan became slumped over XP-tan's shoulder, 95-tan marched back out into the corridor. Outlook-tan, with her message now delivered to 2k-tan, dashed back out in her wake. "95-tan gets a bit cranky when system problems interrupt her tea time," XP-tan explained, quickly handing off her empty bowl to a random binome. Taking the green haired girl's shoulders, XP-tan looked carefully into her eyes. "Aw. Poor, poor Me-tan. Nothing too serious this time, at least," she decided. With that, she reached out to tap a gloved hand gently over the large exclamation point icon which adorned the front of ME-tan's uniform. "Reboot," she declared. ME-tan's entire body went slack, and she collapsed onto her knees, only to blink twice and look back upwards moments later. "Younger sis!" she said brightly when she saw XP-tan. "Gee, how did I get back here? Last thing I remember, I was going out for some fresh air..." "You froze," XP-tan said, shaking her head. "Maybe you'd better stay in here." "But you told me to go play somewhere else." "Well, stay here now. But don't touch anything." "Oh." The green haired one lilted her head to the side again as if considering that, the long green hook of her hair nearly poking out the eye of a nearby zero. AndrAIa shrugged helplessly off of Matrix's look, obviously having no idea what to make of that exchange either. "Yeah, okay, great," Matrix broke in, turning back to XP-tan. "Heartwarming as that was, I think it's about time you gave us some answers." "Answers? Sure, as long as you explain what a couple foreign looking sprites are doing in our Principal Office," XP-tan retorted, idly stretching a hand down her back while touching her elbow. Her chest strained against her top. "We're just passing through," AndrAIa cut in, stepping in front of Matrix to block his view. "And we're not really game sprites... well, okay, I was, but that's not the point. We're looking for our home, Mainframe. But when we noticed some irregularities upon our arrival, we thought maybe we could help." Me-tan suddenly bounced back to her feet and turned to face them. "I'm Me!" she declared, smiling brightly. "Oh, forget it," Matrix said in disgust, turning away. "This group is beyond help. Let's just wait outside for the next game." "Hold on!" 2k-tan shouted, executing a few more quick keytaps before vaulting herself up and over the dividing ramp. Her white coat billowed out behind her. "If you truly aren't native to this system, you could be of invaluable assistance!" "Oh?" AndrAIa wondered, glancing over. "Yes," the blue-haired girl stated, adjusting her glasses as she strode up. "You see, as far as I can tell, the chaos started when the User attempted to install a new OS which was completely incompatible with our current system. It's managed to activate all previously dormant OS-tans, and now we can't figure out who to leave in charge. I'm keeping the system stable for now, but if we cannot pick a sysadmin to take over that new Principal Office before this one powers down, a complete systems overload is inevitable." Matrix raised a skeptical eyebrow. "So how do we figure in?" "Simple. As impartial observers, you're in the best position to determine which OS-tan is meant to be in charge." "Ooooh! Ooooh! ME! Pick Me!" Me-tan said, waving her hand in the air. Matrix fired a glare in her direction, which had absolutely no effect on her enthusiasm. He sighed, looking back to 2k-tan. "How many of you are there then?" "Mmmm, about five primaries, four secondaries and a bunch of other versions which don't TOUCH that!" 2k-tan yelped, snapping her gaze back to her workstation. She quickly launched herself back towards a keyboard, slapping at the hands of a worker who was reaching for a flashing button. For a moment, it looked like she was baring fangs. "I don't believe this," Matrix said, pressing a palm to his forehead. ***** AndrAIa turned her attention back towards XP-tan. "I don't understand. If 2k-tan is handling things well enough here, why doesn't she simply take over the new office?" "Oh, we won't let her," XP-tan stated, rocking on her heels. "See, she's been working on figuring this problem out for something like three cycles straight already, and while she'd never admit it, we know she's tired and could use some sleep. However, you could always choose her, if you want." "Three cycles without sleep?!" Matrix boggled. "That's insane!" "Yay, insane!" Me-tan cheered, pumping her fist into the air. "Oooh, wait, I know how I can help, I'll get you the documentation files on all of us..." The green haired girl bounded over towards a small corner workstation, pigtails flying out behind her. She began pushing at buttons. AndrAIa cast a worried glance after Me-tan. "Is it safe for her to be doing that?" XP-tan made a vague gesture. "Should be okay, one of the first things we did was make sure her workstation wasn't networked in with any of our other major systems." The lights suddenly started to flicker in the room as Me-tan's station spat out a few sheets of paper. "Then again..." "Got them!" Me-tan said gleefully, grabbing the sheets and racing back towards the others, "I've got..." She tripped over her own feet and fell flat on her face. Her body twitched slightly a couple of times, the pages still clutched in her hand until Matrix reached down to pick them up. "Tans," he read aloud. "Limit your exposure to avoid sunburn. Use goggles to protect your eyes, and select the appropriate SPF number for your skin type..." "XP-tan!" 2k-tan called out, turning her head. "Why don't you simply show, ah, those two..." "AndrAIa and Matrix," AndrAIa supplied helpfully. "AndrAIa and Matrix to the brig. We're holding the incompatible OS there for now," she explained, while simultaneously tapping in commands on two other keyboards without even looking. "And while she can't be left in charge here, Mac9-tan knows a bit about all of us. Have her give you a rundown." "Oh, fine, 2k," XP-tan sighed lazily, stretching her arms up and back in such a way that it seemed as if her top was about to split open. She stepped carefully over the prone Me-tan, and walked through the doorway. "Come along then." Matrix tossed the now crumpled piece of paper on the floor and moved to follow. "This is ridiculous," he muttered to AndrAIa in passing. "I'm tempted to just pick one of them randomly and be done with it." "But if someone like Me-tan ends up in charge, we could find ourselves stuck in this system forever," AndrAIa pointed out. "Ugh. Right," Matrix realized as they began to head down the exterior corridor. He made a sour face. "Let's just hope at least one of them has a bit of sense to them then." ***** Suddenly, there came a low rumbling noise. Matrix instinctively moved a hand towards his gun, glancing around. The noise came again. "What's that sound?" he demanded of XP-tan. The dark haired girl hesitated, then turned back towards them, her cheeks a delicate shade of red. She patted a hand against her smooth belly. "Oh... sorry. It's just such a stressful situation, and I haven't eaten in nanos. Mind if we stop by the cafeteria? It's sort of on the way." "Aw, for crying out--" "It's your system," AndrAIa cut in, speaking over Matrix. "Just remember, time is limited." "Oh, I won't be long," XP-tan assured. Her stomach rumbled gently once more. "I'll just grab some scallions." As it turned out, the cafeteria was occupied. Matrix noticed the two smaller girls almost immediately, his first thought being that they might be sisters. However, the one with the grey-blue hair that contained the red baubles slipped out of sight under the table almost immediately upon seeing him. This left the girl with the dark navy blue hair and the hair clip reading '98' to look up towards them. "Hi 98-tan, bye SE-tan," XP-tan said absently as she headed past them, on a direct line for the windows holding the food. The darker haired girl slumped down a little lower in her chair. AndrAIa smiled gently. "Hi 98-tan. There's no reason to be concerned, we're just visiting your system." The short girl merely pursed her lips in response, pressing the tips of her index fingers together. "Whoa! What's THAT?!" Matrix yelped as a small green stick-limbed box abruptly scooted out from under the table and headed for the door. XP-tan looked over her shoulder from where she was loading up a tray. "As I said, SE-tan," she said absently. "She's shy around strangers." "Oh, will you put the gun AWAY already?" AndrAIa sighed. Matrix grumbled again, reholstering and noticing as he did so that the green snack box had a face drawn on it in crayon. Before he could take note of anything else, it was out the door. "How could the girl who dodged until the table also be that thing?" he questionned. "Oh, the 98 series' shrink," XP-tan noted, leaning forward in order to reach a bowl of rice, which made her skirt lift dangerously high in the back. "Or make their mech-boxes grow. Or both, I'm never sure." She turned around again, her tray stacked high with a number of food items. "Oh, shoot," she remembered belatedly. "We still have to get to the brig, don't we?" She glanced down at her tray, then over towards the other OS in the room. "Um, hey, 98-tan, could you do me a small favour?" 98-tan squirmed slightly in her seat. "I... I guess?" "I'm famished. Take these sprites down to talk to Mac9-tan while I take a snack break? Please?" "O-Okay," the girl with the hairclip agreed hesitantly. She slipped off her chair and came around the side of the table. Matrix could now see that she was carrying another stick-box in a shade of blue. "Thanks 98-tan," XP-tan said gratefully, letting out a quick sigh of relief, not to mention jiggling pleasantly in the process. "I'll owe you one." She immediately set the tray down, grabbed a set of chopsticks, and began to eat. "Yes, thank you," AndrAIa reiterated to the younger girl. "We really don't want to stick around your system indefinitely, after all. No offense." 98-tan simply nodded, adding "Follow me" as she slipped out the door. Matrix and AndrAIa quickly trailed after her. The pace she set was far less than that of XP-tan though, a fact Matrix finally commented on after leaning back against the wall for twenty nanos and not losing sight of their guide. "I'm moving as fast as I can with what I've got," 98-tan replied after a moment, turning to look back at him. The green skinned spite opened his mouth to comment again, when for a second time, further down the hallways, he noticed the girl carrying a keyboard peeking out from around a corner. His eyes narrowed. "Who's the one with the ponytails?" "What?" AndrAIa asked. Matrix glanced towards his friend, lifting a hand to point, but when his eyes returned to the wall the small girl was gone again. He frowned. "Nevermind. Let's just get this thing over with." They walked in silence for a couple more minutes, before 98-tan finally announced quietly, "We're here." She opened a door... and a purple haired girl with dog ears and a bow in her hair immediately popped her head out into the hallway. "Update: Prisoner's still not talking!" the new girl barked out. "Hi NT-tan," 98-tan murmured, stepping back and fingering the necktie she was wearing. Matrix noticed for the first time that it contained a logo not unlike that of 2k-tan's outfit. "XP-tan wanted these sprites brought here," the young girl continued. "Some part of 2k-tan's plan, maybe." "We're hoping to get some information," AndrAIa added. NT-tan reached back to scratch behind her ears. "Well, alright. But Mac9-tan, she's not too talky." "Then we'll make her talky," Matrix decided, fighting to control his impatience. He took a couple of strides, moving past NT-tan and into the room beyond. It was not hard to spot what had to be Mac9-tan. She was a blonde, wearing a platinum white bodysuit, sitting behind a restraining field of energy. She also had what looked like a large apple on her head, which look Matrix aback for a moment. "Hello, you're new," Mac9-tan chirped, smiling pleasantly. "Nice look eye you've got." Her head tilted to the side, yet somehow the apple didn't topple off. ***** "Yeah, er... we're looking for information on these tans," Matrix stated, attempting to reassert himself. "Incompetants, all of them," Mac9-tan sniffed, tossing some of her long hair back over her shoulder. "The only thing more incompetant is the User who stuck me here with them." AndrAIa advanced into the room. "So why is it exactly that you can't run this place?" "My batch Jobs are incompatible with their Gates," the blonde sighed. Her expression became something of a pout. "Oh, I tried to fix it. I tried to go in and reprogram their assembly from the bottom up, but they wouldn't let me." "When we caught you, you were trying to plant a Mac bomb," NT-tan recalled, having come back into the room. Matrix realized that 98-tan seemed to have disappeared. "A bomb which would have destroyed everyone within the system." "It was the only way!" Mac9-tan shouted back at the purple haired girl. She advanced towards the energy field, suddenly seeming a lot more frenzied. "You're all impure copies of the true creation! We were first you know! Ours was the original Graphical User Interface! You stupid Window-tans, you have no idea... I can rebuild you, better than before! I have the Xerox technology!!" Matrix found himself taking a step back in surprise at the fire in the blonde's eyes. Even as he watched, she reached up as if to grab the apple on her head and hurl it at them. Instead, her face suddenly took on a more calm expression, her hand only slightly adjusting the red fruit. "So, are you sprites here to let me out?" she asked brightly. Her smile no longer seemed pleasant so much as disconcerting. For what felt like the thousandth time, Matrix found himself exchanging a glance with AndrAIa. "Well," she began hesitantly, looking to the blonde - and Matrix couldn't understand how she still managed to sound so calm - "how about you give us the rundown on the credentials of all the tans around here, and after that we can talk about your release?" Mac9-tan slumped back against the wall. "Oh, what's to tell?? Give me a name, I'll give you a couple of VERY descriptive words concerning the Win-tan in question. Know thine enemy, and all that, hm?" She flicked a bit of dust off her bodysuit. "So who first?" "Well, 2k-tan?" AndrAIa offered. "Repressed workaholic," Mac9-tan shot back. AndrAIa pursed her lips. "XP-tan?" "Uninhibited sexpot." "95-tan?" Matrix piped up. "Obselete warrior housewife." "98-tan?" "Overly passive package girl." "SE-tan?" AndrAIa tried again. "98-tan with a timidity upgrade." "CE-tan?" NT-tan chirped up. "Miniscule annoyance." "Me?" Mac9-tan slumped back against the wall. "Oh God, I don't even know where to start with Miserable Me-tan." "No, no, I mean me," NT-tan corrected. "Oh. Uncommon Half-breed," Mac9-tan shot back. "Hmph," NT-tan pouted, tugging on one of her long bangs before scratching behind her dog ears again. "Have we missed anyone else then?" AndrAIa wondered. "Yeah, hey, how about that ponytailed tan?" Matrix demanded of the prisoner. "Names, I need names," Mac9-tan sighed, rolling her eyes. "I don't have a name!" Matrix said in irritation. "Dark hair, two ponytails, glasses, carrying a keyboard or something." Mac9-tan simply shrugged in confusion. "Never heard of her," NT-tan observed. "Sure that's an OS-tan?" "Well... what else could she be?" Matrix retorted, noticing that all three of the others were now staring at him quizzically. "I mean, she didn't have a sprite look about her! She was too cute." "Oh, now what's THAT supposed to mean?" AndrAIa wondered, giving him a bit of a look. "Hey, don't take it the wrong--" Matrix began, but he didn't get a chance to finish. For a moment it felt like the entire building was shaking, and NT-tan fell down on all fours. Then the door opened, and a small fairy carrying a USB wand flapped in. "Matrix! AndrAIa!" the fairy girl called out. Her bright red-orange hair made her easy to spot despite her small size. "Hey, 2k-tan says you need to return to the primary control centre right away!" "Why, what's going on?" AndrAIa asked as the floor shook again. But the small girl had already spun around and headed back out of the brig area. "Better go with CE-tan," Mac9-tan sighed, attempting to straighten her apple. "Before those idiots crash the entire system. I'm guessing they elected you to find a replacement? I'd make your decision quickly, since even I would prefer to die through the course of natural selection, rather than by crashing into oblivion." Matrix shot the blonde one final look before following AndrAIa out of the room. "Just once, I'd like for a trip into a system to be particularly easy," he groused. ***** The two sprites followed CE-tan until they came across 2k-tan, XP-tan and Me-tan running the opposite direction down the corridor. "CE-tan, keep going, round up the others, and get them to the other Principal Office!" 2k-tan called out to the fairy. "Okee!" the orange haired girl answered, continuing on past them. "What's going on?" Matrix demanded of the tired looking 2k-tan. "Someone pushed the wrong button," the blue haired girl answered. She paused in her run to take a couple breaths, brushing some damp locks of hair back off her forehead. "Well nothing said you COULDN'T sit there!" Me-tan objected plaintively. "We're not dead yet though," XP-tan put in. "There's still time to active the new Principal Office even as this one is decompiling. So have you decided who should take it over?" "Wait, wait," AndrAIa objected. "I'm not certain we've even met all of you yet." "Too bad, out of time," 2k-tan stated, already on the move once more. "In fact, to ensure that the OS-tan of choice is available at startup, and given that startup needs to be within the next few seconds, I think you'd better pick one of us three." "One of YOU?" Matrix objected angrily. "But what if we don't want... dammit, don't keep walking away from me!" He reached out to grab 2k-tan by the shoulder as she marched past them down the hall. XP-tan stepped in between them. "Are we really so bad?" the busty XP-tan asked, wrinkling her nose in what became a cute little pout. "I mean, sure, we three all have our idiosyncracies, but what system doesn't? Plus until Longhorn-tan gets up to speed, we're the most recent and most capable OS editions. I promise you we won't suck. Well, not unless someone cute asks me real nicely..." "Look, what was the point of meeting everyone else if we're not going to use that information?" Matrix interrupted. Just then, the floor lurched yet again, causing 2k-tan to fall to the floor, and XP-tan to clutch at Matrix. She smiled up at him, only to be quickly grabbed by AndrAIa and shoved after her blue haired companion. "Well if we're being forced into it now, we're obviously going to choose 2k-tan," AndrAIa asserted, her own irritation finally reaching the breaking point. "She's the only one who's proven herself capable of doing any work. She's dependable, she's reliable..." "She's in sleep mode," Me-tan observed, inching forwards and rolling the blue haired girl over. 2k-tan's eyes were spinning around in little swirlies. "Oh, GREAT," Matrix said, slamming his palm into his forehead. "Sleep well, 2k-tan, you deserve it!" Me-tan said, giving the other girl a big hug. "You were right," AndrAIa decided, looking to Matrix. "We should have kept out of this one." "Let's remember this for next time, shall we?" "Does this mean I get put in charge?" XP-tan wondered. AndrAIa glanced back at her. "I don't know. That Dr. Norton guy is starting to look like a viable alternative." "Whoa, whoa, Norton, the skirt chaser?!" XP-tan gasped, clutching her hands back to her chest in shock. "What's next, asking Ms. McAfee to direct system operations using her one good eye?" "What? Is Norton around here??" Me-tan said in surprise. She jumped back to her feet, trying to pull her skirt down at the same time, which only served to send her off balance. She stumbled and crashed back against the nearest wall, landing on the floor with her legs out to either side... and a panel crashed down next to her simultaneously. Behind the panel was a small tunnel, and within the tunnel was a young dark haired girl holding a keyboard. The keyboard girl gasped and made as if to run off, but Matrix was too fast, reaching out to seize her by the arm. "Wait!" he commanded. "This is the third time I've seen you skulking around here... just who are you??" The girl slowly turned her head towards him, then reached up to adjust her glasses. "MS-DOS," she replied quietly. "Wha? An MS-DOS-tan?" 2k-tan said, her eyes suddenly clearing as she tried to focus on the room. "MS-DOS-tans are a myth," XP-tan protested. "Pretty solid myth," AndrAIa pointed out, reaching out to take MS-DOS's arm in a slightly gentler grip than Matrix's. Me-tan cocked her head ot the side. "Gee, you don't look a bit like Dr. Norton," she realized. MS-DOS smiled shyly. "Me and my sister DOS/V, we've actually been around since before you have. We're always in the background, keeping an eye on things. Ready to jump in should the need arise." "Well, what have you been waiting for then?" Matrix said, trying to avoid sounding completely exasperated. "The way this system is coming apart, I think your time has come!" "Oh, I don't know. The tans have a better understanding of the GUIs, which is the foundation for that Mac9 system. I didn't want to interfere," MS-DOS-tan noted, shuffling her feet. "What about this DOS/V?" AndrAIa questionned. "She's my sister. With the long white hair and the Japanese language support," MS-DOS answered with a shrug. "She's already gone on ahead to check out the new Principal Office." "A Principal Office with no GUI coded into it yet," 2k-tan remarked, who was now sitting up and cleaning off her glasses. "I wiped it out in order to facilitate the transition." "So if that's the case, couldn't you two DOS sisters keep this system on it's feet?" Matrix pressed, staring intently at MS-DOS. The young girl pursed her lips. "I suppose, but as I say I haven't seen the need..." The building they were in suddenly shuddered, and part of the ceiling crumbled down to the floor. "Well, we do," AndrAIa countered. "Tans, any objections to leaving this system in the hands of MS-DOS?" XP-tan heaved a great sigh, breasts bouncing. "I suppose not. Though..." Her mouth open as if to continue, she stopped speaking instead, pressing a hand to her midsection as her stomach gurgled gently once again. She blushed. "Actually, this is why I knocked that panel down in the first place!" Me-tan burbled, smiling with pride. "I knew it would solve the problem!" She batted her eyelashes cutely, loop of green hair dropping down over her face. "Of course you did, Me-ten," 2k-tan said, patting the other girl's shoulder even as AndrAIa helped her back to her feet. "And no, I have no objection." "Then congratulations, MS-DOS," Matrix stated. "You're the new sysadmin." MS-DOS blushed. "Well, I'll certainly manage things as best as I can then! Hey, do you think that if I do a really good job, the User won't even install overtop of me? That is, again?" "I'm sure I don't know," 2k-tan remarked, "However, you do raise an additional consideration - with this system running under MS-DOS, normal game cubes will be unable to load. Matrix, AndrAIa, as soon as the DOS-tans begin their work out of the new Principal Office... you'll be stuck here." ***** A moment of silence fell over the hallway. It was only interrupted by the voice of the all encompassing computer stating, "Warning: Incoming Game. Warning: Incoming Game." "There's our ticket out then," Matrix asserted. "Assuming we can get to it in time, we'll be out of here before DOS takes over." He began to run towards the end of the hall, only to have MS-DOS reach out for his arm. "Wait, it's not a problem," the girl assured him. "If 2k-tan gives me the proper security codes, I should be able to teleport you over there on the spot." She immediately surprised everyone present by jacking the cable of the keyboard she was carrying into a port in one of her hair berets. Her fingers flew over the device. "Consider it a thanks for your help." Nanos passed as MS-DOS kept typing, and outside the game cube continued it's downwards descent. "Are you sure we shouldn't we be running?" AndrAIa wondered a bit nervously. "No, see, I'm accessing all commands within the root windows directory. I'll simply Alt-Tab us over there," the young girl stated as 2k-tan finished giving her the needed information. There was another small quake, and more pieces of the ceiling began to fall. "We'd all better go, actually, tans included... here, hold my hand." She extended an arm; AndrAIa took it, and Matrix took hold of AndrAIa's other hand. XP-tan rested a hand on Matrix's shoulder, holding on to 2k-tan as well, and Me-tan glomped onto XP-tan's leg. MS-DOS extended her fingers over the appropriate keys, and in a blur of indeceipherable motion, all of them were suddenly standing outside. The purple cube was fast lowering itself down above them. AndrAIa released her hold on MS-DOS. "Okay, next stop new Principal Office," MS-DOS stated, tapping in more commands on her board. "That's amazing," XP-tan gawked. "How could you do such a thing given you have so little memory available?" "Would you believe, virtual memory?" MS-DOS murmured with a smile. "Take my hand again, we've got to go, now." Me-tan quickly grabbed the hand, with XP-tan and 2k-tan holding onto her. "Thanks then," 2k-tan offered to the sprites as MS-DOS reached out to trigger the transferance command again. "We really did appreciate the help." "You're welcome," AndrAIa said. "But let's not do it again," Matrix added. "Ooooh, shiny coin," Me-tan said, reaching out to pick it up. Her hand no longer touching MS-DOS, she and the other OS girls were left behind when MS-DOS vanished immediately thereafter. "Ouuuu, I don't think that's good," XP-tan realized, as all of them were subsequently swallowed up by the game. END