Disclaimer: I do not own Tron: that would be Disney.
Risie's first opponent was also a female program. She was smaller than Risie, but after the opponent dodged Risie's first few disk throws, Risie realized the other program was just as agile as she was. The crowd roared as the opponent, her helmet masking her face, leapt at Risie, intent on crashing her into the ground. Risie smiled. That was her old trick and Tron had shown her how he had beaten her almost every time.
At the last moment, Risie spun out of her opponent's way. She slammed her disk into her opponent's back. As her opponent fell flat on her stomach, Risie put her knee on her opponent's back, using her weight to pin the other. Risie grasped her opponent by the neck and held her opponent's face into the ground. Risie raised her disk above her head.
"I yield," a young voice came from under the helmet.
Risie rose to her feet and offered her hand. Her opponent accepted it as her helmet folded open. Her opponent's snow white hair and clear blue eyes gave her the look of a child. She smiled at Risie.
"No one has dodged in time before," she said, "I'm Mari."
"Risie," a smile lit Risie's face as she spoke.
"I hope to see you here again, Risie," Mari said.
Mari waved to the crowd as she walked away. At the Arena exit, Risie saw a tall, well built program with his arms crossed over his chest. His helmet blocked his face, but his posture told Risie he was angry. Mari approached him with a smile. Risie shook her head, they were not her concern. She turned to face her next opponent.
This tall green-lit program held his disk close to his body. He watched Risie cautiously. Suddenly, he spun on one heel and threw his disk at her. Risie dodged it as he body slammed her into the wall. Her disk fell out of her hand as she grabbed his arms. She swept her left under his knee, causing him to fall, and vaulted over his head. She grabbed her disk and held it to his neck. When he tried to recover, she slammed her disk into his stomach, then his chest, knocking him out.
Two guard programs dragged the unconscious program out of the Arena. Risie rolled her shoulders, thankful that the Arena safety settings did not allow deresolution. He would fight another day. She sighed at the same thought however; these Games were not a challenge. For a moment, her thoughts went to Tron. He played in all the Games she did and though she lost most of them, it was always a challenge.
The next opponent had seen her previous matches. He wasted no time in charging at Risie, causing her to change to a hand-to-hand routine. She dodged him easily, and then clapped her hands over his ears. He fell to his knees and she clasped her hands together, bringing them down on the back of his neck. He was out cold.
As the guards took him away, the atmosphere changed. The crowd was chanting as Risie's final opponent entered the Arena. It was easy enough to guess his name as the crowd chanted it.
Cyrus.
He took up a defensive stance. Risie recognized him as the program waiting for Mari. He threw his disk at Risie a few times to test her agility. She heard him laugh in excitement as he began his attack.
His strikes were relentless and faster than anyone Risie had faced in a long time. He drove her into the wall. He hit her with his disk, causing her to fall to her knees.
Situation Assessed…Advanced Combat Routines Required…Activating Rinzler Bypass.
A sharp pain erupted in Risie's back. She took a sharp intake of breath, shaking her head.
Rinzler Bypass Failure…Activating Rinzler Core Code.
Risie yelled as a soft growl began to grow in her chest. Her opponent backed away as Risie stood and split her disks. Her face was blank of all emotion and her eyes glazed over. Deep inside herself, Risie was no longer in control.
Risie threw one disk and charged her opponent. He dodged her first disk and blocked her second with his own. Risie's helmet folded closed. The growl in her chest grew louder as she caught her first disk and swung it low. Her opponent jumped to avoid it and Risie caught him in the chest with her second disk, sending him flying. When he got back to his feet, he was clutching his chest.
"ENOUGH!" a voice yelled.
Risie froze in mid-attack. The voice penetrated her to the core, awakening her primary self.
"Cyrus," the voice said, "you won't win this one. Stand down."
Risie's opponent nodded and secured his disk. His helmet folded back to reveal his features, the same white hair and blue eyes that Mari had.
A firm hand came from behind Risie. Energy spiked in her body, shutting down the Rinzler core code. Her disks fell as she collapsed to her knees, breathing hard. Her helmet opened, showing her dark hair sticking to her face with sweat.
"Mari," the voice said as he removed his hand, "take her home."
Mari came from behind Risie and knelt in front of the exhausted program, putting a headset over Risie's ears. The sound of the crowd fell blissfully silent. Mari picked up Risie's disks as Risie rose to her feet. Risie leaned on Mari without a word and they left the Arena.
Once outside, Mari removed the headset. Risie, feeling drained, boarded a Recognizer that Mari indicated.
"I see you met my brother," Mari said.
Risie looked at her final opponent as he flew the Recognizer into the city core. Once they landed, Mari led Risie to the top floor of the central building. Risie recognized the architecture, but couldn't place where she knew it from. Mari made sure Risie was comfortable on the couch, then spoke quietly to her brother standing against the doorframe. Risie could see the anger in his eyes and knew he did not like losing a match.
The siblings fell silent as another program entered the room. A black hood from his long coat hid his face. He quietly greeted the siblings, taking Risie's disks from Mari. He pulled a chair out to sit across from Risie, whose eyes were on her own hands, folded in her lap.
"Risie?" he said, more of a question than a statement.
Slowly, Risie nodded. It was the voice from the Arena, the one whose simple touch had shut down Rinzler and brought her back.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked.
She shook her head. He threw back his hood.
"It's me, Risie," she said, "It's Flynn…sort of."
"Flynn is dead," Risie said without looking up.
He took her shoulders, trying to get her to look at him. Finally, she did and her eyes went wide.
It was Flynn, but younger than she knew he should be. He was older than what Clu looked like. His soft eyes told her that this was her Creator.
"How?" Risie stuttered in shock, "When?"
"I'm not the Flynn you knew," he said, "not exactly, anyway. I'm a program now."
"So you did die," she said.
Flynn nodded. "The shockwave. I reintegrated Clu and it caused an overload. When Sam rebooted the Grid, it brought back Clu's body and my soul, so to speak. It's like I'm two people."
Thinking of Rinzler, Risie muttered. "I know that one."
"I still have all the abilities I had as a User," Flynn said, "I can create programs and reorganize code."
"You just can't leave," she said.
He nodded. "Sam's not happy about that."
Risie jolted upright and her eyes narrowed. She started to yell, but Flynn stopped her.
"Before you blame Sam, let me explain," he said, "the reboot did fail on some points and succeeded on others. All of the programs were reset, but the Grid itself was not. The virus Clu infected the Sea of Simulation with gained consciousness. It has the Gridbugs in its thrall. It took form and tried to destroy the system. I called Sam in here to help me build barriers to protect what's left of Tron City. I told him that, until I told him otherwise, he was to keep you, Tron and Quorra out of the Grid."
"Why?" she asked angrily.
"I hurt you three enough," he said, "this isn't your fight anymore. Besides, I wanted to protect you from the virus."
"Flynn," she said, her anger fading to sadness, "we could help. That's what you programmed us to do, isn't it?"
Risie heard Mari whisper at the doorway. "Told you so."
"The first day I came online, Tron took me to the Game Grid," Risie said, "do you remember?"
"It was a good match," Flynn said.
"Before I went into the Arena, he told me something," she said, "I was nervous. He told me 'Live in the moment, and let it all go.' Flynn, let this one go."
Flynn looked at Risie's clear eyes. She was determined to stay, that much he could see.
"Let the past go, Flynn," she said.
"Thank you, Risie," he said.
oOoOoOoOo
Elsewhere in the city, another figure from the User world emerged from the old arcade. Tron knew Risie was here. He looked outside cautiously. He stayed in the shadows as he made his way to his destination. Risie would be in one of two places; her old house or the Game Grid. Since her house, hopefully, still logged who was playing on in the Games, he headed that way first.
