When I woke up, I immediately got dressed and went over to Lucas’s house. My computer sat, a little neglected as of late, since I did most of my designing by hand on paper.

I sighed. I never mean to neglect my computer, but I just seem to do it more and more often as of late.

My name is Beatrice Hightower, or Bea, as my friends call me. My aforementioned friend is Lucas Harrell. We’ve got two other, good friends: T.J. Hubman and Cheryl Glass.

I ran over to Lucas’s house and let myself in. No one minded over at his house, of course. I went up to his room to find him at his computer. “Hey,” I said, “You better get a move on, if we’re going to get to school without being late.” That’s what I say to him every morning.

“What, not even a good morning?” he teased, “Why don’t you go get some of the breakfast leftovers. I’ve got something I need to finish.”

“Sure,” I said. I resisted the urge to give him a kiss. I stepped out of the room and went downstairs.

“Okay, S.” Lucas said, “There’s no viruses anywhere on the net, right? I have to check now, so that you, hopefully, don’t call me in the middle of a class.”

“That’s right for the moment,” Samurai-1 said, “But I might have to call you at any time, though I’ll try to keep it between classes, using the schedule you’ve put in the computer’s memory.”

“Thanks,” Lucas said, “Well, I’ve got to be going. See you after school, or maybe even sooner.

“Good bye, Lucas,” Samurai-1 said.

I was just finishing up when Lucas came down. “Let’s go,” he said. We left the house and walked to school.

When we got there, Jackie was making a public nuisance of himself, as usual.

“And when we’re done with you,” he was saying, “We will rule over you, with an iron fist.”

“Hey, Jackie,” I said, “Stuff a sock in it. You try to threaten us every other week with some new ‘I’m, or we’re, going to take over the world.’ Give us a break for once.”

Jackie scowled at me. “By the way,” he said, almost civilly, “How is your computer, Lucas? No nasty viruses or anything, is there?”

From the way Jackie was talking, Lucas was starting to get really suspicious. "There was one,” he said, “But my computer’s okay. Better than ever, actually.”

Jackie seemed to be shocked for a moment, and then walked off. I looked down, and saw something on his watch. Since it looked like an ordinary watch, I ignored it. We met T.J. and Cheryl outside homeroom.

“Hi guys,” Cheryl said, “New watch, Lucas?”

“Yep,” he said, “Just got it yesterday.”

“Cool,” T.J. said.

We stepped into the classroom. Jackie was sitting in the back, as usual. We’ve all tried to be his friend, but he was always rebuking us. Lucas was the only one who tried just about every day to be his friend. The rest of us had given up some time ago.

At lunch, Lucas tried to get Jackie to join us for lunch. Like every other day, Jackie didn’t. Today, he almost seemed to consider it, but didn’t in the end. We all sat down.

“I think it’s supposed to be mashed potatoes,” T.J. said, “But you just can’t be too sure these days.” Every day, one of us would make fun of the food. It was T.J.’s turn today, obviously. I think it’s Cheryl’s turn tomorrow. We finished lunch in peace.

“Send the virus, GigaTron,” Jackie said, “It’ll mess up the school’s computer.”

The next day, we got our report cards. We all made bad grades, which we could not understand.

“I know I did good in shop,” T.J. said, “I couldn’t have gotten an F. My parents are going to kill me.”

“I know what you mean,” Lucas said, “Man, a D in math.”

“That can’t be right,” I said, “I happen to know that you’re the best in your math class.” All of a sudden, I heard a chirping sound. “What was that?”

“Watch alarm,” Lucas said, hitting his watch. “I’ve got to go.”

“Right,” Cherryl said, “See you later, Lucas.”

“Bye, Lucas,” I said. T.J. gave him their usual goodbye, a high five. Lucas left, and the rest of us went our separate ways.

Lucas made sure no one was around before hitting the communications button on his watch. “I read you S-1,” he said, “What’s up?”

“A virus has been sent into the school’s computer,” Samurai-1 said.

“That’s why our grades were so bad. Well, Servo’s on the job. I’ll take it down so fast, its head is going to spin a hundred miles an hour.” He let go of the communications button, and hit another button on his watch. “Uplink: Servo.”

In a few seconds, he was sent by cordless modem onto the net as Servo. “There’s the virus,” he said, “Any specific weaknesses, S-1?”

“The dot on his forehead,” Samurai-1 said.

“Right,” Servo said. He grew. “Si-kyahh.” He threw himself at the virus full force, hitting it over and over. Even though he hit the dot almost every time, nothing happened.

“What in the world?” Jackie said. He was surprised when he saw something appear out of nowhere and start battling the virus. “GigaTron, what is that?”

“It’s called Servo,” GigaTron said, “A human interface onto the Internet, quite literally. Unfortunately, I have no way of controlling it.”

“The virus?” Jackie said, “This ‘Servo’ knows its weakness, and is hitting it there, but its not destroyed.”

“It takes a high energy burst to the weak spot,” GigaTron said, “Servo doesn’t stand a chance.”

Servo took another major hit. “S-1, I need help,” he said, “What kind of weapons do I have?” A sword came out of nowhere in his hand. “Good answer.” He went after the virus again. A few minutes later, he was knocked on his butt again.

“I have found the person destined to hold the second set of powers,” Samurai-1 said.

“It’s about time,” Servo said, “Get them here. I need some major help.”

“Right.”

I was finally scanning the armor designs into my computer, when I got pulled into the computer. “My name is Samurai-1,” a voice said, “If you wish, you may call me S-1, or whatever you wish. You are one of the four chosen to protect the cyber realm. Your team designation is Spryte. Servo needs help, so I’ll be blunt. Do you accept?”

“Servo?” I said, “Whoa, this is too cool. Of course I accept.” It was then I noticed that I was in a suit of armor. It was like Servo’s on Superhuman Samurai Cybersquad, except it was pink and had a metallic skirt. I flew into a tube, and found myself not very tall and watching Servo getting his butt kicked.

I grew and went into a fighting stance. Servo did a double take. “Whoa,” he said, “You’re the help S-1 went to get?”

“Yes,” I said, “Lucas?”

“Bea?” Just then, he took a major hit in the chest.

I rushed to his side. “Sorry about distracting you Lucas,” I said, “There will be time to talk about this later. Let’s kick some gigabutt.”

“I think I have the answer,” he said, “I think a big burst of energy to that weird dot will destroy it. I don’t have a blaster. Do you?”

A gun like weapon appeared in my hand. “I guess I do,” I said, “Thanks, S-1.”

“You’re welcome,” Samurai-1 said, “Good luck you two.”

“I’ll distract it,” Servo said, “You charge the weapon to full capacity and fire as soon as possible.”

“Right,” I said, “Be careful.” I could swear that the eye like projections on his helmet winked at me.

“Always am,” he said. With that, he jumped towards the monster and started grappling with it with a fierce “Si-kyahh.”

“We need to have a talk soon,” I said quietly. I know he has good hearing, but I when I said it, it was barely audible. I hit a glowing button on the gun. Across the space, Lucas, I mean Servo, was getting his butt kicked pretty royally by the monster.

“Who is that?” Jackie demanded. “And what is that weapon she’s holding?” Luckily, his couldn’t hear what was going on with the battlefield, and couldn’t hear us calling each other by our real names.

“It’s a blaster,” GigaTron said, “Are you blind? The new one is called Spryte, the second power on their team.”

“Do something,” Jackie said, “They’re going to beat it.”

“I’m trying,” GigaTron said, “They’re programs are locked into a far spot on the web. I can’t get into it. There’s nothing I can do, except hope that your next virus monster is better.” With that, GigaTron disappeared. Jackie screamed out his frustrations.

A beeping came from the gun. “Servo,” I called, “The gun’s charged. Get clear.” Before he could respond, the monster knocked him away. “Thanks ugly. C’ya.” A huge ball of energy came out of the gun and hit the monster on the dot, destroying it.

Servo came over. “Good to have you on the team, Bea,” he said.

“Thanks Servo,” I said, “But it’s Spryte on the battlefield.”

“Right, Spryte,” Servo said, “Come to my house when we get out of here, and S-1 and I will explain things to you. Oh, and expect a watch like mine to be on your wrist in real life.”

“Right,” I said, “Now, how do I get out of here?”

Servo laughed good naturedly. “Just say download. It’s that simple. I’ll explain how to get here when you come over. Ready?” I nodded. “All right. Download.” He disappeared down the tube close by.

“Whoa, cool,” I said, “Download.” I went spiraling down a different tube, and found myself in front of my computer. I hit the sleep button and went downstairs, outside, and ran to Lucas’s house. My parents didn’t even look up as I breezed by the living room, where they were sitting.

I let myself in and went directly up to Lucas’s room. “Glad you’re here,” he said, “Now, you’re more than likely wondering what this is all about, right?” I nodded. “S-1, would you do the honors?”

“I’d be glad to,” Samurai-1 said, “Beatrice...”

“I prefer to be called Bea,” I said.

“Sorry,” Samurai-1 said, “Bea, you are one of the four chosen to protect the cyber realm, just like I said earlier. Again, your team designation is Spryte, and Lucas’s designation is Servo. I was given AI by a freak melding of a computer virus and the almost magical properties of a lightning bolt. I gave Lucas his Servo powers to defeat the virus. When he needed help today, I was forced to call upon you and give you the powers you were destined for. The ‘watch’ on your wrist is a low powered wrist computer. All it does is bring you into the cyber realm and stores the information about your Spryte powers. The cordless modem allows you to access the cyber realm from any place. Just hit the main button on your wrist computer and say ‘Uplink: Spryte’ to get there. You know how to get back to reality already.”

“Awesome,” I said.

“Now, one question, S-1,” Lucas said, “What are these other powers?”

“They’re known as Tinkerer and ‘Smith,” Samurai-1 said, “I will call up one of them when there is a need.”

“We might not need them,” I said. Lucas raised his eyebrow. “Not for a while, at least. The two of us are an awesome team. We should be able to handle anything thrown at us.”

“Right,” Lucas said, “Well, I don’t know about you, but fighting takes a lot out of me. Are you tired?”

To answer, I yawned. “Oh yeah,” I said, “I better get on home.”

“It’s late,” Lucas said, “Why don’t you sleep here? You can take the bed, and I can sleep on the floor.”

“I don’t want to be a bother,” I said.

“You won’t be,” Lucas said, “You always said that your parents wouldn’t notice a thing if you stayed out all night, right?”

“Yep,” I said, “If I’m not too much of a bother, then sure. I’m going to have to go to my house to get some clothes, and my backpack, though.”

“Cut through cyberspace,” Lucas said, “That’s the only way to travel.”

I laughed. “I think I will. S-1, prepare to open a tube from the main space to my computer. Then, when I come back to the main space, one here, all right?”

“Done,” Samurai-1 said.

“Thank you,” I said. I hit a big button on the wrist computer. “Uplink: Spryte.” I was sent into the main cyber room. “All right. Download.” I was sent to my computer. I quickly got some clothes together and grabbed my backpack. “S-1, what will happen to my clothes and backpack as I go through cyberspace?”

“They will be turned into code for your character,” Samurai-1 said, “Then, it’ll come back in your hands on the other side.”

“Cool,” I said, “Uplink: Spryte.” I was soon back in Lucas’s room. Lucas was already crashed on the floor. I went into the adjoining bathroom and switched into a nightshirt.

Though we were tired, neither Lucas or I could fall asleep. We stayed up a while talking.

“This all is still hard to believe,” I said, “I mean, two teenagers and an AI going against who knows what. No one’s going to believe me.”

“I know what you mean,” Lucas said, “You have to imagine how I felt when I was going at it solo. And you can’t tell anyone. The war between us and whatever is behind these viruses has to stay a secret.”

“Right,” I said, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think about that.”

“Well, good night, Bea,” Lucas said, “I mean Spryte.”

“Good night Lucas, I mean Servo,” I said. We both finally drifted off to sleep.

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