Chapter 1: V i r u s
World: Radiant Gardens/ Space Paranoids
Byte Bashing - Uploading File...
"The Real-time Operating system Nucleus"
About 3 gigs worth of memory and cool coloured friendly features, ENCOM security guard Tron was enjoying the rush he felt as he sped in a light cycle. He was fully aware as he was not biological, and therefore could not produce the hormone adrenaline, but could not resist but to grin wildly at his near fatal encounter with a wall. The scenery around him was nothing but streaks blinking, trying to catch up. Truly exhilarating.
He could not understand why his user-friend Donald hated this fast paced game. The memory file of the tempered duck made Tron laugh out loud as he narrowly avoided collision with another corner.
The point gage span frantically. Tron was just a few digits away from topping the User High Score. Tightening his grip on the handlebars, Tron leaned in to speed forward. He could picture the discouraged frown on user-Sora's face when he relayed to him the newest game stats, with Tron's name typed all across the board. Perhaps that would cause their next meeting to be longer.
Just as he was about to cross the finish line and claim his victory, an unexpected phenomena happened. In a flash of zeros and ones, a firewall downloaded itself right in front of him. Tron crashed right into it, recoiling onto the virtual floor scorched. He staggered to his feet again and shook himself alert. "It must have a server lag or glitch of some sort..." He ran a system scan just to be sure.
"Virus detected." Tron's face became grave, a complete opposite to the wild grin he wore earlier. Quickly, he shut down all automatic transports in the world. This would slow the progression of the virus throughout the system. An alarm sounded from behind him.
SYSTEM MALFUNCTION ERROR DE-REZZ ERROR LOL PWNS HACKORZ LMAO ERROR
"No!" Tron mounted his light cycle again and veered to the direction of the alert. The lights now flashed red and blue and his world around him was De-rezzing itself. Bits of data were missing in fragmented patches around him. Space Paranoids was in chaos. He could only imagine in terror what this was doing to the User World.
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World: Radiant Gardens
The townspeople rushed indoors at the sound of the alarm. Everyone was in panic. (Which by surprise, you would have thought the inhabitants would have gotten used to, what with all the heartless and nobody threats over the years.)
All of the grown men with their beer and one too many drinks in the 7th Heaven were quivering in their boots. It was almost comical to the hostess how easily they were frightened. She had long forgotten what fear was, or at least was too busy being brave and strong hadn't the time for it. Tifa Lockheart left the bar warning all of the customers if they so much as thought about sneaking a free drink she would have their #&$ ripped off.
She ran out into the streets expecting heartless, monsters but she found nothing. If this was some sort of drill, she swore the same threat on Leon as she had the drunks. "Where would he be hiding?" she hummed to herself, gloved hand on her chin thinking deeply. "Tron!" Tifa snapped her fingers at her brilliance, flashing a small grin as she made her way to Hollow Bastion Castle.
"It wasn't me..." Leon explained monotonously upon seeing Tifa. "I can't get in. The doors are locked." he stood up from his defeated sitting position, answering before she had time to ask.
"So much for brilliance…" She sighed and shut her wine red eyes and paused. "Can't you men ever do anything for yourselves?" A large smirk now grew on the woman's face. "Move aside!" she cheered as the woman fluttered her eyes open and pound a fist in her palm.
"Remind myself never to upset you..." he murmured quietly to himself as Tifa had just broke the door in.
"What was that!" she snapped.
"Let's just get inside and see Tron..."
World: Radiant Gardens- Hollow Bastion Castle
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"Technology is so slow!" A girl growled at the computer's screen. "I wonder if Haste will make it go any faster?" she tapped her dark painted nails on the metal impatiently. Nothing much of her could be seen for she wore a long hooded black coat, which did not belong to her.
"Organization Xlll?" Tifa and Leon both arrived at the computer lab to find a familiar uniform. Suspicions rose, but Tifa had buried her questions first policy around the same time she forgot the meaning of fear. She dove at the intruder, aiming to grab them from their collar. They were surprised at how fast Lady Lockheart was and fell backwards, stop-drop-and-roll style. Coat tails flailing behind her, the girl stumbled back onto her feet and fled to Ansem's Library.
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Leon rushed to the computer and desperately typed away on the keyboard. "Tron!" he called out to the program. A static image appeared on the screen, the voice of his friend barely audible.
"Virus... system failure... shut...shut...down...shut down..." Tron responded, however the man on the other side of the screen only caught bits and pieces of the message.
Tifa glanced back at Leon, and followed the suspect in pursuit. She found them in the study room, tossing books off the shelves in a hurried fashion. The hooded figure turned around and stood up. Taking note of her height and physique, Tifa was surprised at how young they were and slowly dropped her fists. "Who are you?" she asked the girl, her expression softened. (If Tifa ever had a weakness it was her love for children.)
She received no response but a tilt of the head. "What do you want?"
The girl reached into her pocket to pull out a crystal ball. She looked back to the large portrait of the scholar hanging in the study and eyed the painting carefully. The figure raised her weighted arm theatrically, the smoke tendrils inside storming. Her loose sleeve folded over to her elbow revealing a long arm attached to delicate, ornamented fingers. A small whisper escaped the intruder's unseen lips, and the globe sparked.
Tifa was quick to move out of the lightening bolt's way, turning her torso only slightly so that it struck the lab table behind her. The chemicals laid all about the desk behind her a splattered mess. She retaliated by dashing at the figure once again, ready to grab their outstretched arm. She held the intruder clutched firmly in her grip, wine red eyes fixed on the dark shadow of the hood. The captive struggled to free themselves, pulling on their arm desperately, but Tifa held strong. The woman reached out to remove the covering from the wriggling person.
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"Tron!" the screen went dark. Defeated, Leon pound his fists on the keyboard and his jaw clenched tightly. He turned to face away from the screen when he heard a beep sound from the monitor.
ANOMOLIES DETECTED SCANNING... SOURCE IDENTIFIED COMMENCING DE-REZZ...
A little machine digitized into view, scanning the surrounding area. Tiny green lasers traced over the walls and everything in between. It flashed red in alert mode as it was joined by others of its design. A flurry of beams shot out from each, attacking all in view. In its silicon and wire hard drive they flagged everything they scanned as a threat. The HBSS Units were going haywire. Complete system meltdown.
They surrounded the man, shooting in every direction. He keenly narrowed his eyes and tightened the grip on his blade. He designed the Hollow Bastion Security System to be flawless. Now he grudgingly wished he was wrong.
"You're too late..." the hooded captive sang playfully.
SYSTEM FAILURE SYSTEM FAILURE
Tifa hoisted the small framed girl and pinned her to the wall, holding the armed hand tightly. The frame of Xehanort's portrait dug into the girl's skin. "What did you do!" she yelled, pushing on frail shoulders.
"Gee, that hurt Lady..." she mimicked a young child's voice. "Thats not very nice!" her own voice taunted back. The crystal ball was tossed to her free arm. Immediately, an explosion of electricity struck Tifa.
The woman was tossed backward, her shoes breaking against the ground. "Now look who is not being nice!" she cried back, her arm singed.
"Still you Lady." the girl giggled from under the hood. "Ooo, " they mused as they noticed the time. "Right on schedule too."
Just as Tifa was about to tackle the intruder, a heap of HBSS units launched themselves at her. The girl rubbed her wrist bitterly and watched for a moment as Tifa dealt generous dents into the machines turned scrap metal. The woman seemed unstoppable. She immersed from the pile, panting, scorched marks from the lasers. Casualties were evidenced throughout the room, or at least what remained. A globe was mobbed, furniture sliced, wallpaper torn and the once grand portrait was now a burned ash pile littering the patches of carpet that survived.
"My escape!" the hooded girl exclaimed rushing to the closing door sliding down. Staffer Heartless digitized at her heels and lurched themselves at Tifa who tried after. She ducked her head and stepped under through the doorway, narrowly making it before it had shut itself. Her escape was nearly flawless until barely six inches clear, a loud ripping of thread sounded. "They don't even make these anymore..." she groaned, holding the tattered remains of leather and Kevlar. A loud bang hit the door and her heart pounded. "Good day to you too, Madame." the girl sprang on her toes and ran into the empty corridors of the castle. As she descended down the damp steps to the basement, her belted boots splashed into a puddle. As she stepped into the shallow water, the girl began to miss her warm leather cloak that she had left behind. The cold chilled her exposed skin on her shoulders and face. She wore shorts and stockings completed with what seemed like men's formal-wear, but still her bare arms held close to her chest for warmth. Being uncomfortable and hunched over did not help make the already short figure seem any bigger at all. Briefly, the formerly cloaked magician scanned the area and peered into a puddle. Frowning at her reflection, she re-pinned her dark hair and fiddled with her bangs that framed her face. The sound of lasers distracted her from the moment of vanity and she continued through the castle hallways, holding a small glowing lock in her hands.
"Time to put you to use..."
Kupo!
Chapter 1: V i r u s -End
Notes from the Author://
Here is my very late rewrite. I hope I did not disappoint anyone with this new take on the story. Technically its a change of order. Some parts from the previous story will be in the new one. I apologize for the inconvenience this may cause some.
About the Organization coat---The author will like to stress that this has relevance to the plot, if not small, but the organization is not making a comeback, and does not have a new member. (Side note: Tifa is referred to as 'woman' and the hooded person is 'girl' 'figure' and 'they'. I hope this clears up any confusion) Did anyone notice the gadget and internet lingo references?
Thank you for reading and making it this far. Do the majority prefer to read with the story aligned to the center or to the left?