A commission for  ironwolf85 of his "PXE" universe's version of an embodied lynx-Phage in a fighting game versus Thorn. Mini-story description below:

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Even computer viruses – or sentient ones, at least – need friends. And, like so many other creatures, they tend to find the deepest companionship with those of their own kind. So it was that two such powerfully peculiar programs – Phage and Thorn – developed something of a kinship. Sure, they were rivals; neither one could very well conquer the net without taking down the other, and they were constantly battling it out to see who could be faster, stealthier, or more efficient.

But when they needed someone to talk to about the interests and issues a piece of thinking malware has, they had nowhere to turn but to each other. As such, their clashes became less and less serious. Truces were negotiated, discussions were held, challenges were faced together. Eventually the truce became unofficially permanent.

That's not to say their competitive spirits burned out; the pair simply found less confrontational ways of fulfilling them. Racing to infect the same system, trying to be the first to crack a new security program, playfully defacing each other's conquests... and, yes, eventually, literal games. Sometimes they just yearned for a fight, and, to keep things from getting out of hand, they went ahead and made themselves a game within a simulation within a sandbox, all highly-secured and isolated from any outside networks, played with specially-formatted backups of themselves meant to be messed with.

Nothing that happened in the game mattered; neither one could really be harmed, nothing was at stake with the possible exception of pride, and no one else could intrude. But the two had a place where they were free to test out new techniques on each other – provided they obeyed the rules of the game. Eventually it became more than just an outlet for their rivalry. It became a vital tool for their ongoing development and improvement, and a social tether that united them in ways neither would necessarily admit. Gradually they found themselves meeting for the game more and more often, until even they could no longer deny it to themselves: They were friends, having fun. What an illogical concept it seemed.