A User in the Works

Chapter 1 - Unexpected Arrival

 

Gohan cautiously entered the lab. He had no clue what sort of gizmos might be flying around the place. Gradually he picked up the sound of hammering in the distance and followed it to its source. After a few mix-ups, he finally found Bulma, tinkering with a large robot.

"Konnichiwa, Bulma-san," he said, approaching the inventor.

"Ah, konnichiwa, Gohan-kun!" she said happily. "I'm glad you could make it."

"Hai. So, is this what you were so excited to show me?" Gohan asked her, peering at the robot.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no," she said emphatically, "this is." Triumphantly, she threw the tarp off of an object, revealing what looked like some oversized, futuristic ray gun from an exceptionally bad B movie. Gohan peered at the contraption, unsure how to respond.

"It's uh, great, Bulma-san," he said hesitantly, staring at the device. Bulma seemed to deflate.

"You have no clue what it is, do you," she stated, almost sounding depressed. Suddenly she brightened. "Well, of course you don't! It's so innovative I doubt anyone could guess what it is."

"Oh," Gohan said. "So… what is it?"

Bulma thought for a minute, trying to figure out how to respond. "Well, Gohan, have you ever seen the movie Tron?" Gohan nodded slowly, still not getting it. "Remember what happens in that movie?" Gohan nodded again. Suddenly realization dawned on his face.

"You mean this thing…"

"Can send people into a computer," Bulma grinned. "I call it the Digitizer. Out of all my friends, I thought you would best appreciate it. I tried showing Vegeta, but he just grunted and asked when dinner was. Hmph, typical response. Here, let me show you how it works…"

Bulma went over the technicalities of the machine while Gohan watched, fascinated. Unseen by either of them, two figures crouched behind one of the other inventions littering the laboratory floor, whispering to each other. The taller one whispered to the spiky-haired one, pointing at the Digitizer. They both giggled, and crept closer to the machine. Gohan was staring at it from the front as Bulma walked over to grab a potted plant from nearby.

"…This little baby's already been through the machine. All that's left is to test it on animals, and I can start really experimenting."

"This is just so… cool," Gohan said, at a loss for words. There was a sudden burst of noise as two small blurs emerged from behind one of the larger inventions. They both leaped towards the Digitizer.

"Bang! I shot you, Gohan!" Trunks yelled as he pulled the trigger. Goten giggled madly until he saw the bright beam emerge from the machine and envelop his older brother. When the beam disappeared, so had Gohan.

"Trunks, Goten," Bulma's horrified voice asked, "what have you done?"

Bob looked out the window in suspicion. He had been in Dot's Diner when the sky had turned dark, warning of an incoming game. No game had come and the glow had faded, but Bob couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

"Bob! Dot!" Enzo cried as he and AndrAIa burst through the door. "You'll never believe it, but there's a sprite falling from the sky!"

"Now, Enzo," Dot said in her patient, yet exasperated 'I'm-the-older-sister-and-you're-being-silly' voice, "you know that's impossible. How could a sprite get far enough above Mainframe to be falling and not have hit, yet? To do that he'd have had to…"

"….....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" *CRASH!* *THUD!* "…ow."

Dot stared in surprise at the sprite who had just crashed through her roof and landed in one of the booths.

"See, I told you," Enzo smirked.

Dot ignored her younger brother for a minute, turning her attentions towards the groaning sprite who had just fallen through her roof. He was currently trying to sit up, coughing violently amid the clouds of dust he had brought down with him.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked the stranger.

Gohan looked around himself, taking in his new surroundings. It looked like he was in some sort of restaurant. He blinked at the people around him. Something seemed… off.

"Uh, yeah," he said intelligently. The woman who had spoken smiled at him.

"That's good. I'm Dot Matrix. This is Bob," she said, indicating the man who stood a little behind her. She pointed to the little girl standing next to him, then at the boy. "This is AndrAIa, and this is my brother, Enzo."

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Gohan," the teen replied a little distractedly. He still felt like there was something wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Enzo couldn't hold in his excitement any longer.

"Oh man, that was so cool! You fell hundreds of bits and fell right through the roof, and you're not even scratched! That is so alphanumeric!! How did you do that?" Bob's eyes narrowed in suspicion. He suddenly pulled Glitch out.

"Glitch! Wide-field energy beam, on my signal! Now, how exactly did you do that?" he asked, his tone low and dangerous.

"Bob?" Dot questioned, her voice wondering.

"Don't be so basic, Dot," Bob shot back. "What is the only this we know that could have survived a fall like that?" Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Megabyte? But surely he wouldn't…"

"A virus like that would do anything, Dot, even disguise himself as a new sprite."

"But…" The argument was cut short by a short gasp of surprise from Gohan. Things had finally clicked into place for him.

"Weird skin colors. You guys are colored all wrong, except maybe AndrAIa, and you said I fell bits, and talk of viruses and sprites…" he began to laugh, nervously at first, but picking up speed and volume as he went on. There was no humor behind the laughter, though.

"It worked," he gasped out between laughs. "Bulma's invention worked. I'm in the computer. I'm talking to sprites inside a computer." Gohan continued his insane laughing until it broke down into sobs. "I-I'm in the computer, and I have no idea how I'm going to get home."

Everyone was at a loss for words. AndrAIa put a comforting arm around his shoulders. Everyone just stared in amazement. AndrAIa was a game sprite. She didn't know the significance of Gohan's words, that he came from outside the computer. Enzo looked Gohan.

"A-are you a User?" Gohan looked up at the wonderment in Enzo's voice.

"I, umm, don't know. What's a User?"

"They say the User lives outside the 'Net," Bob replied, "and inputs games for pleasure."

"I guess I am," Gohan said, smiling a little.

Unseen by any of the sprites in the Diner, a metallic blue binome in a trench coat and fake nose slipped out the door. Hurriedly he opened a Vid Window.

"Sir! The bread is stale in the kitchen and the rolling stone gathers no potatoes!"

Megabyte stared blankly at the binome. "What are you talking about?"

"Megabyte, sir! There is a User in Mainframe." Megabyte leaned forward in excitement.

"What? Are you sure?"

"Affirmative, sir."

"Excellent. This could prove a most fortuitous occurrence."