//------------------------------//
// Between a Byte and a Game 
// Story: Reboot: New Generation 
// by The Irish Brony 
//------------------------------//

“Pipp?” Phong asks as he rolls into the control room. Pipp sits at a circle table with the map of Mainframe on it. Raised above the ground, surrounding the table in a semi-circle is a row of computers. In the front of the room is a giant vid window.
“Hmm…” Pipp says, looking over at Phong as he slides over to her.
“Have you been up all sleep cycle?” Phong asks.
“Yes,” Pipp responds before stretching her back out.
“My child, you need your sleep,” Phong says with worry in his voice.
“And we need to get Hitch out of the hard drive before Megabyte deletes him,” Pipp responds sternly.
“He’ll be fin Pipp,” Sparky says as he walks into the room.
“As Sparky so bluntly put it,” Phong says. “Yes, Hitch will manage,” Pipp sighs as Sparky walks over to the two. “Have you at least gotten communications with Hitch working?”
“Working and encrypted so Megabyte can’t get in,” Pipp responds before the vid window on the wall beeps. The group looks up at it as Hitch shows up on the screen. Hitch stands on his zip board as he hovers far enough away from the exit port to not get shot from the ships if they break out of the energy barrier.
“The energy barrier will not hold on for much longer,” Hitch says. “Please say you’ve been able to figure out how to get me back to Mainframe?”
“Not yet I’m afraid,” Pipp replies before yawning.
“Have you been up all cycle?” Hitch asks. Pipp nods yes. “You should go and lay down,”
“Not until you are back in the city, and safe,” Pipp says with a stern voice. Hitch sighs as he slowly shakes his head. He opens his mouth to speak, but the sky around him turns bright gold.
“Oh, no,” Hitch says, as he looks up at the sky as the announcer says incoming update.
“What’s going on?” Pipp asks.
“The user,” Hitch says before turning back to the vid window. “He’s installing another core into the hard drive!” Hitch says as the ground turns yellow. Highlights of buildings start to appear around the platform. Hitch moves out of the way as a building appears next to him. “Glitch, return!” Hitch yells. The gear part retracts the energy shield before flying back towards Hitch and landing on the key tool.
“Why is that bad?” Pipp asks.
“It means Megabyte can infect the system,” Phong replies.
“And if he does enough damage, the user could unplug the USB!” Sparky yells in worry.
“What!” Pipp yells.
“It is a possibility, but as long as the hard drive stays functional,” Phong says before looking up at Hitch. “You should be fine,”
“Meaning I’m gonna have to mend and defend an empty city,” Hitch says as Megabyte’s ships start flying into the system. The sky returns back to normal as the building solidifies.
“Just keep him from the core and you should be fine,” Phong says before the vid window collapse.
“I’ll try,” Hitch whispers before dodging a laser bolt from one of the ships. “Glitch! Shield!” Hitch yells as the gear extends out and energy pulses out into a shield shape. Hitch starts flying away as more bolts are shot at him. The shield blocks the few that end up pointed at him. “Glitch, energy gun,” Hitch says as the orange rod morphs into a handle that wraps around Hitch’s hand. The blue brick the gear and rod sit on morphs into a gun-like weapon with the barrel by the handle.
Hitch stops and points the weapons at the ship. “Eat energy Megabyte!” Hitch yells as he shoots energy beams at the ships following him. The beams hit the ships, causing them to blow up. The few remaining ships retreat back as a vid window shows up in front of Hitch.
“Tisk, Tisk, Tisk,” Megabyte says, slowly shaking his head in disappointment. “Why must you blow up by little toys?”
“Why are your toys shooting at me then?” Hitch responds. “It’s just self-defense,” Hitch says right before Glitch beeps at him. Hitch turns around and aims his weapon at the two ships flanking him. One ship get’s hit as the other dodges and shoots back. Hitch uses his shield to block the beams from hitting him.
“I will tell them to stop it you agree to help me get to the supercomputer,” Megabyte kindly overs as Hitch shoots back. The ship dodges the first few shots but goes spinning when the last one cuts threw the bottom of the ship. Hitch takes a deep breath before turning to look at Megabyte.
“I would rather be deleted than work with a virus like you,” Hitch says with anger seething out of his voice.
“My offer will stand for as long as you do,” Megabyte says with a wicked smile. He starts laughing as the vid window collapses. Glitch beeps as the vid window closes. Hitch looks around him to see he is surrounded by Megabyte’s ships.
“Surrender now, or be deleted,” a viral binom says over the intercom of one of the ships.
“Delete me?” Hitch asks, pointing at himself with his thumb. “I don’t think so!” Hitch yells before jumping off his zip board. The ships shoot at where he was, missing him completely. Hitch grabs the zip board as he falls by it and returns it back to its one circle state. He raises the shield over his head right before beams start bouncing off of it.
Hitch looks down to see the ground racing quickly toward him. He throws down his zip board and lands on it before flying down the newly formed road. Hitch looks up and points his weapon at them as the ships follow. Hitch shoots at them, the energy bolts hitting a few ships, causing them to blow up and spin out of control to the ground. Hitch looks forward to see a few ships coming at him.
“Glitch! EMP!” Hitch yells, pointing it up into the air. A small blue energy ball comes out of the end of his gun right before Hitch dive bombs out of the way. The blue ball shrinks down before blowing up into white sparks. Hitch pulls up so he doesn't hit the ground and flies away. He looks back to see the ships start falling to the ground as they get hit by the EMP wave. Hitch sighs to himself as he flies away from the ship wreckage.



“So if we can pull most of his army away from the port, we can slip a group of sprites into the port with one of the stolen ships,” Pipp explains to the group of army generals in the control room. “You will then get in, grab Hitch, and get out. Got that?” Pipp says as she leans on the map table.
“Yes sir,” one of the binom nods as the others nod their heads.
“Good,” Pipp says, looking up at the big vid window with a visual on the port. Megabyte’s ships sweep the entire section of the system, shooting anyone who defies them. “Get to preparing!” Pipp yells at the binoms. They run away and out of the room as she sits down in a chair. She sighs as Sparky and Phong walk up to her.
“You ok Pipp?” Sparky asks.
“No, not at all,” Pipp responds before she sits up. “But I’m trying to be,”
“So what do I do?” Sparky asks with a smile. Phong and Pipp look at each other before turning to Sparky. 
“You are staying here with me,” Phong responds. Sparky's smile turns into confusion before anger sets in.
“What!” Sparky yells.
“We think it’s too dangerous for a small sprite like you to be out there in the middle of a war,” Pipp explains.
“I can take care of myself, if dad was here he would tell you the same thing,” Sparky defends himself.
“No I wouldn’t,” Hitch responds. The group look up at the vid window of Hitch, who was currently flying away from a group of Megabyt’s ships.
“What!” Sparky yells up in confusion. “B-but…”
“But nothing!” Hitch interrupts Sparky. “You are not ready yet to help out in a battle like this,” Hitch says, toning down his voice. “Hold on a nano,” Hitch says before he turns around and starts shooting the ships.
“Hitch is right my child,” Phong says, gently placing a hand on Sparky’s shoulder. Sparky sighs before nodding and walking away.
“Do you think he’ll be ok?” Pipp asks as they watch him walk out of the room.
“He’ll be fine,” Hitch says, turning back to the vid window. “Trust me,” Pipp nods before Hitch asks, “So is the attack ready?”
“I’ll cheek,” Pipp says before splitting the vid window in half. The other half shows the general on screen. “Ready?”
“Ready and waiting!” The general responds, saluting.
“The scramble!” Pipp commands as the vid window collapse, leaving Hitch on screen. “You know what to do Hitch,” Hitch nods before the screen returns back to black.



“So they are trying to attack?” Megabyte asks himself as he watches the CPU ships fly out of the Principal Office. “They are going to find it a hard time to even get to the port,” Megabyte flips the vid window to a binom in a lab coat. “What’s the progress on the hardware?”
“It should be fully operational in less than a cycle,” The binom responds with a heavy german accent.
“Good,” Megabyte says, taping his fingers together with an evil smile forming on his face. “Make sure it’s at the port as soon as you can,” Megabyte commands.
“Of course your league,” The binom responds as the vid window collapses. Megabyte turns around to face Hack and Slash behind him.
“Hack, Slash,” Megabyte says as the two straighten up. “Slow the CPUs down,” Megabyte commands.
“Of course!” Hack responds.
“As you wish your evilness,” Slash responds. The two turn around and head for the elevator.
“Again with the evilness,” Hack complains to Slash.
“What?” Slash says, shrugging.
“It sounds weird,” Hack says as the two slide into the elevator. “Try boss or league,”
“I didn’t know you were so picky with words,” Slash responds back as the elevator door closes and goes down. Megabyte gently places his forehead on his hand as he slowly shakes his head.



“Almost all the forces have been diverted,” The general says to Pipp, who stands on her zip board in the data waist tunnel.
“Good, tell me when it’s clear,” Pipp responds.
“Sir!” a binom says, splitting the vid window in half. “The ABCs! They’ve got reinforcements coming from the tower!”
“Cover your ass and keep putting pressure on the front line as best you can soldier!” The general responds. The vid window returns back to just the general. “Look’s like you’re gonna have to go now,” Pipp nods before the vid window collapse.
She flies up to a manhole cover before gently pushing against it and lifting it off the ground. She slides it off the hole before peeking out. She looks around and spots the last reaming ship that hasn’t taken off to fight. She flies up before jumping off the zip board and landing on the ground. She picks up the zip board before placing it on her hip.
A group of binoms flies out of the manhole before Pipp covers it back up with the cover. The binoms follow Pipp over to the ship. They hid against the ship’s side as a group of viral binoms run onto the ship. Pipp turns to the binoms and nods her head. They nod back before heading to the entrance and going in.
Pipp climbs onto the top of the ship as energy fire can be heard from within. She crawls to the front of the ship slowly. She makes it to a bright red hatch. She spins the valve with a grunt before pulling the lid open. She jumps in and closes the lid at the same time. She has landed in the pilot room, where two chairs sit. She looks to see two remaining virl binoms pressed up against the closed door to the holding bay.
Pipp walks up to them before picking them up with her hands. The two binoms drop their weapons before slowly turning to look at her. She smiles as the door opens, the group of binoms run in before two jump into the pilot seat. She walks into the bay and to the edge as the ship starts to fly.
“Don’t fallow us,” Pipp says, throwing the two out the back as the ship heads for the port. The sky turns purple as the announcer yells out incoming game. “Not now!” Pipp yells as she looks to the sky. The game starts to fall onto the port as the ship moves toward the entrance of the USB. “Keep going!” Pipp yells at the binoms.
She turns around before gasping. Sparky is flying towards the game with Frisket running along the road below him. Pipp grunts before yelling over her shoulder. “Carry out the plane without me! I have a kid to save!” Pipp says before jumping off the ship right as it enters the tunnel. The back closes as Pipp runs towards Sparky. “Sparky!” Pipp yells up at him while waving her arms.
“Shit,” Sparky whispers as he looks down at Pipp.
“Go back!” Pipp yells as Sparky makes it to where the game is going to land. The game comes down on him as Pipp runs as fast as she can toward the game. She slides onto her stomach into the game right as it hits the ground.
Pipp stands up as she rubs her stomach. “Note to self, don’t slide on concrete,” Pipp says as she looks around. She stands on a smallish tug boat with two other binoms at the steering wheel.
“Hello there Miss Pipp,” the tall binom greats Pipp in a British accent.
“Hello Wyatt,” Pipp responds. “Do you know what game this is?” Pipp asks as she double-taps her icon. The green energy transforming her outfit into a sailer.
“I think it’s battleships,” Wyatt responds.
“Coco?” the other binom asks, holding up a tray with three cups of hot cocoa.
“Thank you,” Pipp says before picking up a cup and taking a sip.



Hitch hovers to the side of a building near the port exit. He hovers just a few feet off the ground. Hitch looks around the corner of the building to see the two ships blocking the exit. He ducks back around the corner before looking down at Glitch.
“Glitch, prepare EMP,” Hitch says before Glitch beeps. The gear screen turns blue as a little orb appears above the gear.
“You ready Hitch?” Phong asks as the vid window appears to Hitch’s right.
“All set,” Hitch responds.
“Good, because they are almost there,” Phong says before the vid window collapses and is replaced with Megabyte.
“I see you are trying to escape,” Megabyte says, taping his finger together.
“Why would I want to,” Hitch says sarcastically. “You have such good hospitality,”
“Nice of you to say that,” Megabyte says with a kind, but some how still evil, smile. “But you will not be leaving that easily,”
“And what’s going to stop me?” Hitch asks before turning around and looking around the corner. A ship slows down and stops at the exit as the other two ships land on the ground and lower their back hatch. A group of viral binoms come out and walk over to the new ship.
“Because even if you get out, I have the sector locked down,” Megabyte says before Hitch closes the vid window.
“Talk about a chatter box,” Hitch says before hovering over to the ships.
“Halt!” a viral binom says, turning around and pointing a staff with a green gem on the end of it at him. The rest of the group does the same as the binoms walk out of the other ship behind the virl binoms.
“I’m not doing much else,” Hitch says, raising his hands up. The binoms shoot down the virl binoms before Hitch flies over to the group. “Were’s Pipp?” Hitch asks, looking around for the mare.
“She went after Sparky,” a binom responds.
“He went into a game,” another one adds.
“What!” Hitch yells. “Is the game covering the port?”
“Barely,” the binom responds.
“So we are still trapped in here,” Hitch sighs. “Guss we are gonna have to hold this position for now,” Hitch says.
“Look out!” a binom yells as a laser bolt hits one of the empty ships causing it to blow up. Hitch turns around to see a fleet coming down from the sky.
“Glitch, fire!” Hitch says, pointing Glitch at the fleet. The little blue ball shoots off toward the ships. It hits one, causing an explosion to hit the rest. The ships start to fall out of the sky before slowly turning back on. “Looks like Megabyte has warned the entire fleet,” Hitch says before turning back around to the group. “Get into the ships and start firing at them! The EMP will not last long,” Hitch commands. The binoms salute him before running into the two remaining ships.
“Come on Sparky, win that game for us,” Hitch says before flying toward the fleet.



“Sparky!” Pipp yells out. The little tugboat looks tiny compared to the giant aircraft carrier. Sparky looks over the edge of the ship down at Pipp. Sparky is wearing a black caption outfit with black, fingerless gloves.
“I’ll get you a ladder!” Sparky yells back down before running away. Pipp crosses her arms over her chest before sighing. She taps her finger against her arm as Sparky runs back with a rope ladder in his arms. He places it on the ground and ties it to the aircraft carrier before rolling it over the edge. The rope ladder falls in front of Pipp before she starts climbing up.
Pipp makes it to the top as the little tugboat floats away. She stands up as Sparky pulls the ladder back up. “We told you to stay at the Principal Office,” Pipp sternly states as Sparky raps the rope ladder back up and places it on the ground.
“You told me not to join in the battle,” Sparky corrects. “So I didn’t,”
“So you decided to go into a game!?” Pipp responds in angry confusion.
“Neither of you were going to, so I decided to go in,” Pipp goes to talk but Sparky interrupts her. “Dad also has trained me to go into games from a young age. I can handle this,” Pipp sighs before nodding.
“What are we up against?” Pipp asks.
“Battleships,” Sparky says, opening his hand and pushing his palm up, causing a grid pattern to show up in front of him. “A simple game of one v.s one ship battle,” Sparky explains before an airplane flies over them. The ship is black with green stripes.
“Megabyte,” Pipp says. “His binoms must have already infected the user,”
“I thought the ABCs were distracted by the CPUs?” Sparky asks.
“They brought in reinforcements,” Pipp responds, looking down at Sparky. “Meaning we are dealing with a viral user now,”
“One who will cheat to get his way,” Sparky responds. “So what should we hit first?” Sparky asks.
“I say we start with the center and go out in a spiral slash checkered pattern,” Pipp explains.
“That sounds good enough,” Sparky says, pushing the square in the middle. “Fire!” Sparky yells as a missile is launched from the ship. The two look at the grid and wait. The box stays gray for a bit before turning green.
“Hit?” Pipp asks. Sparky looks up at Pipp and nods. “I hope he can hold out long enough for us to win,”



“This is not good!” Hitch yells, hanging from his zip board by the end of his fingertips. He grits his teeth as he pulls himself onto the zip board. He looks over to see three of Megabyte’s ships pointing their weapons at him. “Shit!” Hitch yells, letting go of the zip board before grabbing it as he falls. The ships shoot at where he was as he throws the zip board below him. He lands on the zip board before flying off.
“Glitch, energy gun,” Hitch says, looking down at Glitch. Glitch beeps weakly at the command. “Crap, running out of energy,” Hitch says, looking over at the Principal Office in the center of the dome city. “If we can get to the Principal office, we can charge you up with the diverted core energy,” Hitch says, looking down at Glitch, who beeps loudly in response. Hitch ducks as a laser grazes his hair. “If I don’t get deleted first,”
Hitch turns towards the Principal Office as the ships keep following him. He dodges the shots they fire at him before his eyes widen. A group of ships goes charging at him from the other direction. Hitch looks back at the ones following him before smiling. He squats down before jumping up. He front flips over the group of ships before landing on the zip board.
He looks back to see the ships try and turn around to chase him, but run into the other ship and blow up in a fiery explosion. He smiles to himself before heading towards the Principal office. He turns around the corner before stopping in his tracks. “Of course, it’s not that easy,” Hitch sighs as he stares down an entire fleet of ships. A vid window pops up in front of the fleet with Megabyte on it. 
“Now come Hitch, we don’t have to do it this way,” Megabyte says. “You could just help me to the supercomputer. I’ll then leave Mainframe alone, I swear,” Megabyte says, clasping his hands together.
“I will never work with you!” Hitch yells back.
“Oh, bad choice,” Megabyte says. “Delete him!” His voice booms out before the vid window disappears. Hitch’s eyes widen as he dodges the energy lasers. He flies towards the fleet as they fly towards him. He ducks under and dodges in between the ships. They slow down and turn around before going after him. Hitch points the zip board almost straight up as he grabs onto the board so he doesn’t fall off. He flies up the side of the Principal Office as the ships shoot at him.
“Glitch, EMP!” Hitch yells, pointing Glitch down at the ships. The gear lifts off the key tool and points at the ships. The gear glows blue before shooting out a little blue ball. The ball hits a ship and blows up, disabling the other ships around it. “Now you’re out of power,” Hitch gumballs as Glitch returns to normal. Hitch leans the zip board forward before standing up as he gets to the top of the Principal Office. “Glitch, decode,” Hitch says, pointing Glitch at the hatch on the top of the Principal Office.
Glitch’s gear detaches and lands on the hatch. The gear beeps and turns before returning back to the key tool. The hatch opens up before Hitch jumps in, grabbing his zip board, and landing inside. The hatch shuts as the lights turn on. The room he has landed in is a circle with controls along the walls.
“Let’s see what the user gave us in terms of controls,” Hitch says as he walks over to a control panel. He starts tapping on it as his eyes scan the screen. “Yes, energy recharger,” Hitch says with a smile. The ground shakes as firing sounds from outside. “Have fun getting in,” Hitch chuckles as he turns around to the center of the room. Coming up from the ground in the middle of the room is a platform with a clear tub container with controls facing Hitch. He walks over to the device as he takes Glitch off his arm. He places it into the container before it closes.
“I hope Sparky and Pipp are having better luck than I am,” Hitch sighs as Glitch floats up in the container.



“I hope Hitch is having better luck,” Pipp says as she watches the missile hit a small ship to their right. The aircraft carrier’s back end is now blown out from return fire.
“I hope so too,” Sparky responds. “Because we might lose this,”
“How many ships have they sunken?” Pipp asks, looking at the grid in front of Sparky. 
“One and a half,” Sparky responds. “And they’ve sunken 2 and a half of our ships,” Sparky says, turning towards Pipp.
“Great,” Pipp sighs as she pinches the bridge of her nose.
“Any ideas?” Sparky asks.
“If Megabyte wants to cheat, then we should too,” Pipp responds.
“But how?” Sparky asks.
“Leave that to me,” Pipp says before walking to the edge of the ship. She waves her hands in the air, trying to get the little tugboat’s attention.
“You’re going to board his ship,” Sparky says, walking over to Pipp.
“That’s the idea at least,” Pipp responds back as the little boat comes towards them.
“Here, take this then,” Sparky says, handing a communicator to Pipp.
“Thanks,” Pipp responds, taking the communicator and strapping it to her hip. “Make sure not to hit us will ya,” Pipp says as she pushes the rope ladder over the edge of the boat.
“No promises,” Sparky responds as the little boat drives up next to the ship. Pipp shakes her head before climbing down the ladder. She makes it to the bottom before landing on the boat. The ladder starts going back up as she turns to the two binoms.
“We are heading to Megabyte’s fleet to spy on them,” Pipp says.
“Are you crazy!” Wyatt replies in suprise. “You are going to get us deleted,”
“We’re going to be deleted anyways if we don’t win the game,” Pipp points out.
“She has a point captain,” The other binoms respond.
“To Megabyte’s fleet!” He yells to himself before turning the steering wheel.
“Coco?” The binom asks, lifting up a cup for her.
“Not this time,” Pipp replies with a kind smile.



The ships keep shooting at the Principal Office where they think Hitch is, but in reality, he appears out of thin air far below them and flies towards the open exit port. “Hidden File Command,” Hitch says in disbelief. “Can’t believe that the user actually gave us something to use,” Hitch says as he flies towards the tunnel. Ships lay in runes on the ground around the exit. As he flies up to it, a group of binoms climb out of the downed ships before running over to him.
“The game is almost over,” one binom says to Hitch.
“All right, we need to go then,” Hitch says as the binoms throw down zip boards before climbing onto them. Some of them even doubled up. Hitch goes down the tunnel with the binoms behind him. The group flies down the tunnel till they hit the purple wall at the end. “You said the game was almost done?” Hitch asks before the game lifts off the ground. The announcer saying game over.
Standing on the other side from Hitch are Sparky and Pipp. Hitch smiles before yelling out to them. “Sparky! Pipp!”
“Dad!” Sparky yells with a big smile on his face. Hitch starts to fly towards them before being grabbed in the throat by Megabyte. Hitch claws at Megabyte’s hands as Megabyte raises Hitch up in the air. “Dad!” Sparky yells, going to run after him, but is stopped by Pipp.
“We can't help him, we need to go,” Pipp says.
“Let me go,” Sparky says, trying to get away from Pipp’s grip.
“Now where do you think you’re going? Guardian,” Megabyte asks, choking Hitch with his hand.
“Delete me,” Hitch responds.
“Now that would be too easy,” Megabite responds. “It would be no fun,” He says as an evil grin forms on his face. Megabite then winds back and throws Hitch back down the USB tunnel screaming.
“Dad!” Sparky yells as Pipp picks him up before jumping on Hitch’s zip board that had flown over to them. “No!” Sparky shouts, struggling against Pipp as she flies away.