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Dot Matrix arrived back at the scene of the disaster, barely a nano after Mouse's call. They'd managed to find a pocket of space under all the debris, and were now working triple time to get to it. She wanted to be there when.... if... no, /when/.. Bob was found.
Almost as soon as she arrived, she heard the yells coming from the rescue team, affirming their find. Hopping on her zipboard, she raced over to them to see the last of the girders being lifted up. Hope sprang back to life deep inside. Oh please...
She hovered as low as she dared near the space, and shone her flashlight down inside. The light glanced over the debris... over a hooked talon... and then -
"BOB!"
* * *
Everything was blurry.
Well, that was something, Bob thought to himself. Better than nothing.
Things became a little less blurry as he stared at them. After a nano he could make out his surroundings. They looked reassuringly familiar.
"Bob! You're awake!"
Enzo's face popped into his line of vision. Bob wasn't sure there was a time when he'd been more relieved to see the little sprite.
"Hey, Enzo!"
Bob managed to shift himself into a sitting position. Enzo seemed fit to burst, and promptly did so in a flood of speech.
"What happened? Are you OK? What were those things? Did they hurt you? Are they coming back? Do they have friends? Are - "
"All right, tiger, time to give the Guardian a break," came a feminine voice from across the room. Dot entered the medlab, a smile on her face.
Bob rubbed his temples gingerly as she approached him and shooed the frustrated Enzo outside. His head hurt still, but his arm didn't anymore. This was a fair trade-off, he figured. At least the pain told him he was still alive.
"I told you I'd fix it, didn't I?" he grinned.
Dot narrowed her eyes, resisting the compelling urge to smack him. How /dare/ he be so smug after... after.... ooooooh!
Bob seemed to read her mind, as his expression sobered. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"What happened?" she asked. "We found you right next to that... thing. Did it hurt you?" She reached up, to touch the bandage covering Bob's forehead. Bob deflected the hand. Dot looked puzzled.
"No... and his /name/ was Dracus."
"What?"
"He was a Guardian, Dot. A Guardian. He was protecting us."
"Bob, I don't understand - "
"You don't have to. Look, I have something to do..." He began to move out of the bed, but Dot placed a hand firmly on his shoulder to restrain him.
"You aren't going anywhere!" Bob didn't budge. "You barely got out of that hole alive and - "
"I /have/ to do this, Dot. Please. After that, I'll lie around and recuperate all you want. This is important."
She relented.
"All right. Just... don't be long, ok?"
Bob nodded an acknowledgement as he got off the bed, and left the medlab.
* * *
He stood in the now-cleared hole that had almost claimed his life, and knelt beside the great old dragon, still pinned beneath the girders. After a few moments, he stood again, and moved away.
"See you around, Dracus," he said. "Glitch... decompile."
Glitch chittered, and emitted a yellow beam that suffused to encompass the dead Guardian. A nano later, there was nothing of him left; his pixels disintegrated to the winds.
The girders that had pinned his body clanged to the ground. Bob sighed, and lifted his face to the sky as he stepped onto his zipboard.
"We'll be ready, old timer. I promise. I won't let you down."
* * *
End... or is it?
Disclaimer: All characters in this story are copyright Mainframe Ent., except for Dracus, who is the creation of this author. Story copyright Alryssa Kelly, 2001. I promise to wash and iron Bob and the others before I give them back. :)