So! Its finally here! The start of a new adventure... no really. Give me your honest opinion (but no flames) if you don't like something give me a reason and a way that it could have been better. (Which all of you who have been following me have always been good at) :) And if you like it, well feel free to say whatever and however much you want! I am nervous about this because this will be my 3rd 'published' attempt at a chaptered story and the first two have been left unfinished, mostly due to lack of feedback which led to lack of motivation. So, hopefully 3rd time is the charm. (And just so you know... this almost didn't get posted in time because I popped the movie into my laptop to check some lines and was so excited to watch my favorite parts again... it was very difficult to pull away and come back here haha!)

Chapter One

"Quorra, there's something I need you to do" Flynn played with the disc in his hand as he looked over at the Iso piloting the light fighter. He made sure to receive a nod of agreement from Quorra before proceeding with his request which she was sure to dislike. "I need you to take my disc and make sure Sam gets to the portal if I don't make it." He saw her mouth open in protest, "Ah. Quorra you must promise me that you will get Sam home and go with him yourself." She closed her mouth and nodded grimly.

"Why, Master Flynn? We defeated Rinzler and Clu back there, why would you not come with us?" Flynn sighed at her question.

"Because I know Clu, he is a part of me. We have not seen the last of him yet." he spoke, grief beginning to trickle into his voice. "I have one other request of you, kiddo." He called her by his favorite nickname in an effort to lighten the mood. "And this one I think you will enjoy." He smiled at Quorra as he passed her the disc and she reached behind to place it on her back. "I want you to find something for me, a gift to Sam. It will require some traveling so I don't want you to tell him what it is, just say that I told you to explore the world a little and he will follow. This will help you find your way." Flynn removed one of the beaded bracelets from his wrist and handed it to Quorra. "Keep it safe, this is the only way to find what I have hidden." His eyes twinkled before shifting to the portal ahead as Sam was returned to his original position behind the two of them. Quorra slid the bracelet into a hidden pocket and focused on the task of landing the damaged light fighter.

Quorra sat curled up in the canvas beach chair on the back deck watching the city revolve around Encom tower, her fingers exploring the bracelet in her hand as she contemplated the day. Sam was at work late again, she hated when he did that although she knew he hated it just as much. Flipping a switch to become the corporate head that the company needed him to be was extremely difficult after leading a life of carefree extreme sports. That day to busy herself while Sam was at work she decided to tidy up the small living space. Sam had been planning to buy a house but Quorra told him she would rather wait for him to finish renovating the stack of shipping containers he called home. She liked the boxy structure and its lack of anything beyond the basic necessities, it made her feel more in touch with the simpler side of the user world that Flynn was always trying to explain to her. While cleaning up her "room" Quorra ran across a bag of possessions which she had forgotten about. The bracelet that fell out onto the table made her breath catch in her throat. Master Flynn's second request! How could I have forgotten! She had been in the user world for a month now, at least that was what Sam told her, she had lost count of the days. "But even so, that is no excuse to forget this mission..." Quorra reprimanded herself before closing her eyes to contemplate Flynn's final request until Sam came home.

She had nodded off at some point and woke to the sound of a motorcycle engine revving as it drove across the bridge followed by the opening of the front garage door as Sam pulled in and parked his modern Ducati. Flynn's was almost finished but he insisted on waiting to ride it until all the restorations were complete.

"Hey there, sorry I'm late." Sam told her as he walked up behind the chair and took a deep breath of the fresh air coming off the bay. "Today was rough, it felt like the never ending stack of e-papers being shoved at me tripled and the time I had to read them all in was cut in half." He looked down at Quorra and noticed the bracelet in her hands.

"That sounds very stressful. Why do you insist on this life if it drains you so?" Quorra asked before Sam could comment about the bracelet. She already knew the answer to her question but she wanted to hear him speak it.

"Because my father would have wanted it and after all these years of hate and disdain for him I feel like I owe the old man. I do it out of respect," he paused, "and love." Quorra nodded, a small smile gracing her lips as she accepted his answer. "What'cha got there?" Sam asked, motioning towards the bracelet in her hands before turning to pull a beer from the fridge.

"Your father's, he gave it to me and told me to 'explore' this world. I had completely forgotten about it until I was cleaning today and found it in my bag." she placed the beads in his outstretched hand before continuing, "but I am still not sure what he meant when he said that this was the key. He had a plan for me to learn about this world, I just need to figure it out." she laughed at herself. "Unimaginably wise... that's what he called us, the Isos. And yet I have been sitting here for hours trying to figure out his puzzle and have not gained the slightest idea how to solve it."

"Oh don't be so hard on yourself Quorra..." Sam trailed off as he inspected the beads. He noticed that there were numbers etched into the beads on one side. "Hey, did you see this? There are numbers here." Sam began running all the beads through his fingers and reading the numbers to himself as Quorra moved in closer to see. Sam heaved a sigh and passed the bracelet back to Quorra. "Well, what do you say we look at it tomorrow and we hit the couch with a nice movie tonight? I'm beat."

Quorra looked at the clock and then back at Sam's face and nodded. "That sounds nice. But I get to pick tonight! You picked last time." she playfully shoved Sam before prancing over to the video shelf. Sam groaned inwardly. Usually he liked the movies she picked out but something in her voice told him she was going to torture him for making her watch such a gory movie last time.

So... is your interest perked? What did you think? Any ideas where I might have this going? Again, I have it all outlined but writing it will be the difficult part, esp once I start getting around to the bad guy. I was always bad at conflict. As always, suggestions, comments, constructive criticism and declarations of admiration are all appreciated! Chapter two is in the works but I need your help to complete it!

Hope everyone has an awesome Labor Day weekend!

Sabi2~