Xweetok : Legacy (Tron x Neopets)

1 /\ Digitized

The young Xweetok opened her eyes. She gazed blearily around her. Everything was white. Slowly, the world came into focus as she blinked repeatedly.

Two people were standing in front of her. They fixed her with soft stares and made cooing noises as she awoke. The Xweetok's eyes fully focused and she took in the sight of two humans - Owners, she presumed - one male, one female, crouching in front of her. Behind them, the room was just white, crossed here and there by squares, and dotted with white furniture, and books. Behind the Xweetok, a long glass pane stretched from one end of the room to another, offering a birds-eye view of the vast, rough terrain of the off-Grid Outlands outside and the warm blue glow of the Grid.

The newly-created Neopet squeaked. She didn't understand what was going on. It was there in her head, programmed before her birth somehow - the unspoken rule that once a Neopet had been created it would be given to its owner, who would be waiting in the Welcome Center's lobby. This didn't look like Neopia Central's Welcome Headquarters. This didn't even look like Neopia. This strange land matched none of the descriptions of the different countries of Neopia, not even one. It reminded her a bit of the Virtupets Space Station, all lights and metal, but this place was way different.

"I think she's confused," said the female to the male. The girl pushed a bowl of milk towards the Xweetok, who squinted at it as if she thought it was full of poison. She lapped up the milk anyway.

"She would be," replied the male. "She's been programmed to recognize Neopia, not the Grid." He then scratched the Xweetok under her chin. She purred.

"Can you talk?" he asked. The Xweetok understood him perfectly, and she opened her mouth to give him a yes, but only a meow came out. She reeled back in horror. The female Owner giggled, she clearly thought it was adorable. The Xweetok was surprised. Neopets should be able to communicate properly and freely in their Owner's language. Why was she unable to speak properly?

The male Owner got up and paced the room. It was a brightly lit room, with tiles of light serving as the floor. The Xweetok noticed that her Owners' black suits were illuminated too, with strips of blue-white light running down them and meeting the occasional circle. There was also a donut-shaped disc strapped to their backs that glowed as well. The Xweetok wondered what it tasted like. Did it even taste like a donut?

"There might have been a glitch in her speech program when we brought her here, or maybe it just doesn't work in other domains. I could try and rewrite her speech code; see how that works. But first, she needs a disc." The Xweetok flinched at the male's words. Whatever rewriting code was, it sounded like she was going to lose a part of herself. And this disc thing... was it the giant glowing donut attached to their backs? Maybe life here wasn't going to be that bad after all.

The female noticed. "There now, don't be scared. I've had my code edited once as well, by my..." Here there was a sad pause, as if she was remembering something that had caused her grief in her past. "By my mentor," she finished. "He was a good man."

The Xweetok sensed her sadness and knew that this mentor person had indeed been a good man, and that he was gone - dead, or as they called it in this 'Grid', derezzed by re-integration.

The male was pretending not to hear her, but the Xweetok saw him tense as well. He had probably been very, very close to this 'mentor', as well, surmised the Xweetok.

The female leaned closer to the Xweetok, her short black bob nearly touchiing her snout. She introduced herself as Quorra, and stated that she was an 'isomorphic algorithm', or ISO, whatever that meant. The Xweetok cocked her head to one side, not understanding.

"That's Sam Flynn," said Quorra, pointing at the male who was doing something on a touch-screen computer. "He is the Son of Flynn, my mentor and creator. We adopted you after returning from a visit to Earth, so that he could keep tabs on this world, and make sure that Clu does not reform or his army does not rise against us."

Who was Clu? Who was Flynn? What was an ISO? Where was this Grid? Many question floated around in the Xweetok's head.

"I've put some of my knowledge about us into her disc so that she'll receive it when she integrates with it," announced Sam Flynn, the Son of Flynn suddenly. He then returned to the Xweetok's makeshift bed and strapped on two glove-like strips of armor just like his and Quorra's suit. They felt like paw-guards to the Xweetok, not uncomfortable but stiff, even though they had gaps in them to allow joint movement.

After the paw-guard gloves came the chest piece. It covered the top half of the Xweetok's torso and reached to the back as well, providing a semicircular holder that was the perfect size of the Xweetok's disc. The disc slipped into the holder perfectly.

The Xweetok's blue eyes dilated and the whites disappeared for just a fleeting second, before she returned to her normal self and licked her paw. However, with the disc came a new understanding of what and where this Grid was, and its history of feuds. With this knowledge, a feeling of deeper respect for her new owners arose. How lucky she was, to have an ISO and the Son of Flynn as her family. Too bad about the identity disc though. It would probably have made a brilliant donut.

Sam approached her. "I think I'll call you Heather," he said, lifting the small catlike creature up as one would lift one's puppy or kitten. The newly named Heather purred.

"Heather Flynn," Quorra mused. "What a wonderful name."

Sam turned red. "Where does my last name fit into all this?" he exclaimed.

"She's part of the family," explained Quorra calmly but firmly.

Sam sighed and set the Xweetok down gently onto a white tile. Heather poked at it, wondering if it would burst and release a rainbow or something similar to a rainbow. Perhaps a leprechaun will appear, Heather thought.

"Okay, now I'm going to try and fix your speech program," Sam told Heather. "Sit tight. You might have to go offline for a moment."

Heather's eyes widened in fear. Go offline? That sounded as scary as rewriting code. She scrambled away from Sam, but he caught her. Quorra stroked her back, trying to calm her.

Then the world faded as Heather Flynn, Household Pet of Flynn, went offline.