Matrix was startled awake when he heard knocking on his front door. Frowning, he climbed out of bed (wearing his pajamas with icons and guns all over them) and left his room (with the Reboot logo wallpaper.) Rubbing his eyes, he headed for the door and pulled it open. "Is there a reason for you to be knocking so late?," he demanded.
'Dot' stood there, leaning against the door-post. She was wearing her regular black suit, and her dark hair was combed neatly. Not something he'd expect from a girl slumber party. Frowning, he asked, "Dot! What are you doing here?"
'Dot' smiled at him. "I'm not Dot. I am the representative of Dot. May I come in?"
Matrix looked at her doubtfully, but since his gun wasn't around and he had already been warned by the representative formally known as Bob, he let her in. "I'd ask for you to make yourself comfortable," he said, "but maybe you wouldn't have any trouble with that."
'Dot' sat down on the couch. "We are wasting time," she said, "we should be going out." Matrix frowned at her. "Whoa, that's okay. I may kiss Dot good-night and everything, but I will draw the line at going out with the representative of my sister." "Remember, I am not Dot."
The renegade sighed. "Yes, yes, we've gone through this before. So, what do you want me to call you then?"
The representative thought for a moment, and Matrix rolled his eyes. Finally she replied, "Dot."
"Go figure." 'Dot' stood up. "Well? Let's go!"
"Wait a minute." Matrix stepped in front of her. "We're not going anywhere. Where would you want to go, anyway? It's not like there's anything open out there. Look, I don't know what you representatives want, but maybe you should go-"
"I will not go until I've done my job!" 'Dot' exploded suddenly, pushing him into his seat, "I may not be your real sister, but I can sure act like her."
Matrix glared at her still. "Okay, okay, fine. I'm listening."
'Dot' sighed. "Thank you." She looked at him up and down. "Well, if we're going to go somewhere, I suggest you change out of you� uh� PJ's and meet me back down here."
Matrix glanced down at his pajamas, and his cheeks turned slightly pink. "Uh� yeah, I'd better change." He turned and went upstairs.
Dot peeked around the corner into the main room to find Bob, AndrAIa, Mouse, Hexadecimal, and Ray all gathered together, still playing truth or dare. Fully clothed, she stepped into the room.
Mouse glanced up then and smiled. "Dot! How nice of you to join us! Come on, sugah, join the fun!" Dot held her shirt down as far as she could, making sure this time no one could pull it off. Walking over to them, she saw Ray and Bob looking at her, their cheeks slightly pink. Scowling, she said, "I swear, I will not do another dare in my whole life."
Hexadecimal sighed. "That's just too bad, Dot. We were having fun, weren't we boys?" She winked at Bob and Ray, who tried hard to avoid eye contact with the fuming Command.com, still standing in the middle of the room.
"Well then," AndrAIa spoke up, "we'll just play another game. Suggestions anyone?"
"Watch more TV?," Mouse asked. "I hear that one show is on. It's about these really cute, young sprites that take care of these strange animals. Wasn't it 'Binomon?"
"Actually, I think it was 'Pok�mon," Ray corrected.
Dot frowned. "Pok�mon? No, I was pretty sure it was Binomon. After all, Binomon makes more sense, you know? Binomial monsters. I mean, what could Pok�mon possibly stand for? Pocket Monsters?"
"Hey! The Pay Per View channel!," Hexadecimal announced suddenly, grabbing the remote.
"I know!" AndrAIa cried, "Let's watch the funny channel!"
The others frowned at her, confused. "Funny channel?"
"Guys, I think she means 'comedy channel,' Mouse explained. "Nah."
"Let's just not watch TV," Bob said. "I know! Let's prank call someone!"
Matrix walked back downstairs to see 'Dot' waiting for him. Swallowing, he spoke up, "Okay, I'm ready."
'Dot' smiled. "Matrix, you don't have to worry about anything. Nothing bad is happening."
"I know that," Matrix said, "this is a dream. It has to be the energy bars I ate before I went to sleep. That's it. You're just the energy bars."
"Whatever you want to think," 'Dot' said. "Now come on." She opened the front door and let him out. Deep down, he didn't know where she could be taking him, and he hoped she wouldn't stick around long.
Right when they left the house, Matrix found himself in Dot's Diner. He glanced around, surprised. How did they get there? Looking at 'Dot,' he saw she was looking around also.
The diner was filled with binomes and sprites, like always. What surprised him most, though, was the younger (season 1) Dot standing at the counter, talking to a younger Bob. (Also from Season 1) "What's going on here?"
"Listen," 'Dot' replied, pushing him forward.
Dot was laughing. "Please, don't even try getting me away from work. You know it's not going to work."
"But Dot, it's Valentine's day!" Bob argued, "come on! Enzo and I will take you on a picnic. Just get away from it all."
Matrix had to smile. It was so obvious that those two had an unknown thing between them, yet they never knew.
Just then, little Enzo came skidding into the diner. "Bob! Bob! Bob!" He cried, crashing into the guardian and knocking him to the ground. Matrix jumped back in surprise to see his younger self. I mean, sure there was that little Enzo during his time, but this was him. It made him feel strange.
"Enzo!" Bob cried, surprised. "I� what are you doing here?"
"I need to ask you something, Bob," Enzo replied.
Dot shook her head, but a smile tugged at her lips. "Enzo, it might help if�I don't know, you get off him first before talking?"
"Sure thing, Dot!" Enzo climbed off Bob, then sat down on one of the stools. He waited impatiently as Bob climbed to his feet and sat down beside him. "So Enzo," Bob said, "what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"There's this girl�" Enzo started to explain, only trailed off. He glanced wryly at Dot to see her listening intently on what he was going to say. "Uh, Dot?" he asked, "Um, this is guy talk."
Dot frowned. "Guy talk! Well if it's about a girl, you sure won't get good advice from Mr. Guardian over here!"
"What!," Bob cried.
"What!" They all heard Al's voice coming from the kitchen.
Bob frowned toward the kitchen, then looked at Dot. "Come on Dot. Enzo and I need to have a man to man talk."
"Man to man," Dot laughed as she started toward the kitchen. "Can you believe him, Al?," she called.
"What!"
They waited until Dot was gone, and then Bob turned to Enzo. "So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" he asked.
"You see, it's Valentine's Day," Enzo began, "and there's this girl, right? I think she's totally alphanumeric, only I don't know how to tell her. Help me out here, Bob, I don't know what to say!"
Bob chuckled. "First crush, eh? Well, the first thing is, does she seem interested in you?"
"I guess, I mean she slugged me in class today."
The guardian paused for a moment, trying to figure that out, but shrugged and decided not to. "Well then, I guess it's quite obvious she's into you."
"Really?" Enzo's eyes lit up.
"Yeah! I mean, what girl couldn't resist you?" Bob coughed and cleared his throat. "Anyway, the first thing to do is talk to her."
"But I don't know how to talk to girls! It's scary!" Enzo's eyes became wide and innocent.
"Okay then, than do what I do," Bob decided. "Buy her chocolates and leave it at her desk with a note telling her how much you like her. Whether you sign your name that's up to you. But it's a start. Either that or talking to her face to face is okay."
Enzo thought for a moment. "Chocolates."
Bob smiled. "There you go! Now, buy a box of chocolates, and take it to school with you. Better hurry, though."
"Okay!" Enzo turned and scampered off. Right as he left the diner, a watchful Dot came back from the kitchen and over to Bob.
"So," she said, "what was that all about?"
"Oh, Enzo's trying to woo a girl," Bob replied.
Dot smiled. "Oh, how cute!"
Matrix was watching the whole diner scene, but the next thing he knew, he was standing in the middle of his old classroom, little binomes running around. Little Enzo was the only sprite there, and he was sitting intently at his desk, watching the desk of another young girl, in which he had hidden the chocolates in.
Matrix turned to 'Dot'. "Not here!," he cried.
"Watch," 'Dot' replied.
Matrix sighed and continued to watch. Just then, the girl Little Enzo was particularly interested in came prancing into the room and to her desk. She was a binome, with long blond hair a blue eye. Her name was Cassy, and one of the popular girls at school. When she opened her desk to get something out, that's when she saw the chocolates. Her eyes lit up. "For me?," she cried to no one particular.
Enzo sat there, trying to figure out if he should confront her or not. He decided against it, since he had scribbled his name very messily at the bottom of the card, hoping against hope the girl wouldn't see it.
Cassy opened the card, and read whatever was written in it. Her eyes lit up. That is, until she read the very bottom. Then she sent a disgusted look over at Enzo.
Enzo felt like melting into the floor of the classroom. He quickly turned away and stared hard at his desk. He could hear Cassy start laughing as she showed the card to her friends. He felt humiliated.
Matrix frowned at the girls. "If I were there, I wouldn't have put up with that," he decided.
"But you were just a little sprite then," 'Dot' pointed out, "and just started to like girls."
Matrix shook his head. "I was a wimp, I knew it!"
Just then, he watched as Cassy saunter over to Enzo's desk and dropped the box of chocolates in front of him. "Sorry," she told him, "You must have meant to put it in someone else's desk, since you should've known that there's no way that I will ever like you."
Enzo glared at her, a hurt expression on his face. He didn't know what to say, so he watched as Cassy returned to her seat. Then he hid is face away, not bearing to look up and stand the embarrassment. If only Bob were here, he thought. Then he realized. If it weren't for Bob, I wouldn't be in this mess now! It's all his fault this happened!
Matrix sighed and looked at 'Dot.' "I was just a little boy," he said, "this has no effect on the way I am now."
"You were rejected," 'Dot' pointed out. "You never really were happy until Little AndrAIa came, didn't you? But then, you still didn't have good luck when it came to Valentine's Day. You hated it even back then."
Matrix opened his mouth to say something, but the next thing he knew, he was standing back in Dot's Diner. Apparently, time had moved up a bit, and an older 'Little' Enzo stood at the counter, talking to little AndrAIa.
"It's Valentine's Day!," Bob cried, walking into the diner. He grew serious, then, expecting a blow from an excited Enzo, but all he got was air. He frowned. Enzo hadn't even looked up from his seat.
"Uh, Enzo?" he asked. He started to walk toward the boy, only Dot came out of the kitchen, wearing an exceptionally new outfit, for the celebration of Valentine's Day. It was a shimmering pink gown, with white edgings and jewelry. He couldn't help but stare at her, although she wasn't aware of it.
"So," AndrAIa said, picking up her energy bar she had ordered from Cecil. "Anything new happen to you today?"
Enzo shook his head. "Nope."
Just then, Cecil came swinging by, a letter in his hand. "For Miss AndrAIa," he said, "from a customer." He handed the letter over to him, then swung away. "What do I look like, a waiter?" came ringing over to them as Bob tried to ask him for a drink.
Enzo frowned. "What's that?." he asked. Secretly, he was holding another letter behind his back. A Valentine letter addressed to AndrAIa, and he still hadn't worked up the nerve to give it to her yet.
AndrAIa was also frowning. "I don't know." She opened the letter and read it aloud. "'Dear AndrAIa. You are the prettiest sprite in all Mainframe. Will you be my Valentine? From'�" she trailed off. "It doesn't say who wrote it!"
Enzo scowled. "Someone's asking you to be their Valentine?" The little game sprite nodded. "I guess so. But who? If I knew, then maybe I'd like to be his Valentine." She looked over at him meaningfully, wondering if he wrote it.
Misunderstanding what she said, Enzo stood up. "Fine then!" he said, "go be his Valentine! See if I care!" With that, he turned and ran out of the Diner.
AndrAIa dropped the letter. "Enzo? Enzo, come back! I didn't mean that!"
Matrix watched as the little AndrAIa actually started crying. "I made her� cry?," he said, surprised. "I didn't mean it�I was�angry, I'm sorry AndrAIa!"
The surrounding started to fade, and he jumped when he felt 'Dot's arm on his shoulder. "You okay?," she asked. The appeared back in Matrix's house, present time. Angry, Matrix shoved her away. "No! You showed me all the hard times in my past! You didn't make me feel better! You made me feel worst! Do you actually think I'm going to like Valentine's day now? You're not my sister, so get out! I don't want to see you again!"
"You don't understand," 'Dot' argued, "you needed to see those images. You needed to remember!"
"I don't care!," Matrix yelled. "Get out!"
'Dot' sighed. "Okay then. But another representative taking the form of one of your friends will visit you. I suggest you get ready for that." With that, she turned, and disappeared from the room.