“Bob!” Enzo enthusiastically ran towards Bob, and knocked him over.

“Whoa! Enzo! What’re you doing here? You should be outside! Where it’s safe! Not in here!”

“Aw, Bob! Not you too! Dot thinks the same thing! But you guys always win so quickly, so why can’t I at least watch! There hasn’t been anything fun in so long! Come on Bob, Please! Pretty please!” Enzo turned his wide, purple, angelic eyes towards Bob, who shook his head and gave an exasperated sigh.

“All right, BUT! You have to promise me you’ll stay out of trouble! Got it? Promise me that!”

“You got it, Bob! So what kind of game is this?”

“I’m not sure…It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and I’ve played games in the Supercomputer!…”Bob’s voice trailed off as he looked around.

AndrAIa, Matrix, Dot, Surfr, Enzo, and Bob were in a deserted back alley. There was a door, slightly adjar, on top of a fire-escape ladder. The script on the door said: “the Red Spade Detective Agency”. There was a large garbage dumpster on one wall, overflowing with trash, to match that against every wall, with graffiti covering every inch.

“This is definitely not a place I’d like to get lost in!” AndrAIa took a step back, and bumped into Surfr, who took her arm and whispered in her ear.

“I’m with you, love.”

Matrix gave a low growl at this sight, which caused AndrAIa to nervously back away from Ray, who cast his eyes in a different direction, and noticed the icon Chaos had thrust into Bob’s hand.

“Uh, Bob…What’s that in your hand?”

“Huh, oh…Well, it’s a…Gift? From Chaos. She--“

“So. She’s already giving you gifts!” A snide remark was heard from Dot who was leaning against the dark dumpster.

“Dot! It’s not what you think! If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t even be here! And – And she said the icon would help me – er, us in the game! Please try to understand Dot! It’s just –“

“So now I’m not understanding! Is that it? And I’m not thinking straight! And we owe everything to your – your – your girlfriend!” Dot regretted the words the nanosecond they left her mouth. She took a small gasp, and felt her left eye fill with tears. She bit her lip before continuing. “Um…If you don’t mind, I have a game to win. ReBoot!” Dot’s angry outburst had caused the other sprites to look in her direction, and Bob’s healthy blue skin changed to a deep shade of red. Dot looked away not sure weather to be hurt or ashamed as she tapped her icon. In a flash of bright light, she had disappeared out of sight.

“Dot? Dot, where did you go? Bob’s face was a mix of concern and puzzlement.

“Sis? Where did Dot go!” Matrix turned an enraged face towards Bob, who shrugged his shoulders.

As they began to search around for her, the icon in Bob’s hand began to glow. Bob looked at it for a moment, trying to figure out what to do, then placed it over his own icon and tapped it twice while calling out: “ReBoot!” Bob was wearing a dark trench coat and hat. Instead of being his normal shade of blue, his entire appearance was in black and white.

“What the -?” Bob starred in bafflement, as the others looked him over. On Bob’s left wrist was a watch, but instead of a face it was that glowing icon. Bob tapped it twice, again.

“Bob?”

“Chaos? Is that you?”

“Bob! Good, I was afraid you wouldn’t understand what the icon was for until it was too late!”

“Too late? Too late for what? Chaos, what’s going on? I’m, I’m greyscale!”

“Calm-down Bob! I knew what game it would be, and I wasn’t sure if Glitch could help you out, so this icon is a temporary “Glitch””

“OK, but what’s the deal with everything being black and white? And what kind of game is this?”

“This is a new kind of game…At least to your system. It’s a MovieMaker game. The User is creating a story/movie, and you guys are characters. It’s a hard game to win, and so far has become pretty much impossible to beat. The only known way to beat it to hope that the user doesn’t kill any of you off, and that you are the good guys who win. Otherwise, you will be deleted, or go wherever the game takes you depending on your icon, or you will be saved in the game until the User feels like opening you again.”

“Do you mean that we could never escape this game? And that our only chance for survival depends on the User?” AndrAIa stepped forward to ask.

“No! There is always a way out! Even if we have to delete every user to do it!” Matrix pulled out his gun and gave a low menacing growl.

“Not this time, buddy! You have to do what the User tells you to do. You have no freewill in this game. You’re puppets on a string.”

“What? You mean we can’t even control our own bodies?”

“Yep! But, lucky for you, it appears as though Bob is one of the good guys, so you have a fairly good chance of getting out!”

“I see…But what is the point of this game?”

“It appears to be a detective story set in the 1940’s, and –“

“1940’s?”

“Uh…It’s about 60 seconds before your present time, in the User’s timescale.” The sprites gave a blank look, but nodded their heads, pretending they knew what she was talking about. “Anywho…Good-luck in the game, and watch-out. You can be nullified!”

“Nullified! You mean permanently? Forever off-line!” Enzo’s voice became hyper as he grabbed hold of Bob’s arm.

“Chaos, will we all disappear like Dot when we reboot?” AndrAIa’s face was thoughtful as she peered into the watch.

“What? Dot disappeared?”

“Yeah, mate. She ReBooted, and was gone!”

“Hmm…I can only assume she was needed somewhere else in the game. You might all need to be elsewhere! Well…Have fun, and try no to get deleted!”

“Wait! You’re going?”

“Uh, yeah. I’ll check in with you later. Ciao darling!” The icon suddenly stopped glowing while everyone exchanged looks.

“I guess we should ReBoot then.” AndrAIa looked around then casually tapped her icon twice while calling out. In a bright flash, she was gone.

The rest of the sprites gave a weary look at each other, then slowly ReBooted. They all disappeared, except for the Surfr, who was dressed similar to Bob.

“So, you and Bob go way back, huh? Well so do we.” Mouse gave a smug look at Chaos, who was sitting, or rather, floating in the air.

“Oh, yes, I remember you. You were that annoying troublemaker, with the behavior problem. You were always getting Bob into trouble! Yeah, I remember you.” Chaos gave a maniacal laugh as she stepped down to the ground and walked off past Phong.

“Annoying?”

“Mouse?”

“Trouble-maker.”

“What is wrong, my child?”

“Behavior problem! Ooh! That girl! She’s so – so – Augh! Well, this little trouble-maker is about to get a lot more annoying!” Mouse stormed out of the Principal office and headed for her jet.

It all started on a dark Tuesday night. All was quiet except for the occasional alleycat knocking over a can. It seemed like any other ordinary Tuesday; little did I know that tonight was the beginning of my big break…Literally.

“Bob? Did you say something?” Ray looked quizzically at Bob and raised an eyebrow for further expression.

Bob looked blank for a moment then, just as curiously replied, “No, but it sounded just like me, and I think it came from inside that door!” Bob pointed towards the door with the sign: “Red Spade and Black Ace Detective Agency” on the door.

Bob and Ray looked at each other for a moment, then headed for the door.

As they stepped inside they were suddenly sitting at a couple of desks. Bob was sitting with his back to the door, facing the window. Ray was sitting at his own desk off to the right. He was facing the door with his two feet on top of his desk. Footsteps were heard slowly approaching the door. A feminine shape was seen from behind the glass window. Three knocks a pause, then she opened the door.

She was gorgeous. Her golden hair flowed around her shoulders. Her blue eyes sparkled. She was a heavenly vision. Her ankle length red dress swished and swayed and she stepped forward. She eyed the room and walked up to Ace, my partner’s desk.

“Excuse me, Mr. Spade?” Ace looked up from his reverie and gave an inaudible whistle. He removed his feet from his desk and sat back.

“Can I help you?”

“Oh, yes Mr. Spade. I’m in trouble.”

The moment I heard her voice sweet lilting voice, I was hooked.

“What kind of trouble?”

“Terrible Trouble.” Her eyes widened in fear, and she bit her lip looking over her shoulder.

“I see…Can you tell me happened?” Ace leaned forward, but never noticed that odd flash in her eyes.

“My twin sister has been…murdered.” She gave a small gasp. “You have to help me Mr. Spade. My brother said that the Red Spade could help me. Please.” She had leaned forward and placed both hands on the desk as she pleaded for help.

I could resist no longer. I spun my chair around and was momentarily silenced by her beauty.

“Can I help you miss…?” She gasped as she spun towards me. Her eyes displayed her confusion as she looked from me to my partner.

“Are you…?”

“The Red Spade. And may I ask who you are?”

“Wait a minute. If you’re the Red Spade, then who are you?” She pointed towards Ace. He gave a small chuckle and stood up.

“I’m the Black Ace. Red’s partner. Please to meet you miss…?” He gave a charming smile and offered his hand.

“Miss Lynn Montana. And I need your help.”

“Yes, Miss. Montana. We’ve established that point already. So tell us why you think you’re in danger.”

“Well, I believe that the killers were really after me, and got my sister by mistake.”

“And why is that?”

“Oh, well my sister would never harm a fly, and she was just a waitress down at “Bixxies”, and-“

“And you’re some sort of druglord?”

I hated how I came off so rude and uncaring, but that was my nature.

“No. I sing at “Le Fantaisie Renard”, but I think they were trying to get to my boyfriend through me.” Her narrowed eyes returned to normal.

“We’d love to help you Miss. Montana.”

“Please, call me Lynn.”

She gave a coy smile at Ace that broke my heart

“I’m sorry…Lynn, but we don’t have the time for such trivial cases as this.”

“But! But we’d be happy to make room for yours. We’ll make you our top priority! Won’t we Red?”

“Ace…We can’t –“

“Of course we can! Lynn, it is my honor to formally accept your case. I – er, we’ll do our best to solve your mystery!” As they shook hands, Ace kissed the back of hers and Red gave a small low growl.

“They’ve been in that game cube for milliseconds! Something must have gone wrong! Is there any way to stop this game?” Mouse looked imploringly at Phong.

“My child, all signs show that they are all right. We must be patient, and wait for the game to finish itself.”

“I don’t know, sweetie. I’m getting a bad feeling from the cube…Very bad.”