Chapter Three: Rage

A hum pierced Mia's eardrums. She ducked quickly, throwing a glare at Rinzler. He simply purred in response. Not that she expected anything else. A second disc pierced her side and her knees buckled, sending her to the floor. She let out a few curses, clutching at the cut. Rinzler rushed over to her and she glowered up at him. He held out a hand and she pushed it away, punching him in the crotch. He spluttered and clutched at his stomach, falling on his backside. His rumble turned to a constant snarl. Mia stood up, wincing at the pain in her side and pulled her disc off. Rinzler's purr echoed through the training area menacingly as he stood up and faced her. He split his discs into two and stepped towards her slowly. Mia continued to glare at him angrily.

He lunged at her, slashing his discs in front of her face. With a squeak, she ducked down and he sailed over her head. There was a light thud as he landed and spun around. Mia dropped flat on the floor as he aimed a kick for her face. Quickly she flicked her legs around and knocked his out from under him. He purred irritably.

Mia jumped up and sprinted away from him. The gravity changed, sending her to the ceiling. Rinzler landed gracefully on his feet and began to run at her. She dove through his legs and rolled over, wincing as blood began to drip out of the hole in her suit. He spun around quickly and lunged at her again, throwing his discs too. One would have cut her ear, had it not been nearly all cut off earlier. The second was aimed directly at her face. She bent back quickly and it flew over her. Both of them came back aimed at her neck. She squeaked, dodging them in the nick of time. Suddenly she was pinned to the floor with Rinzler straddling her waist. He bent down to pin her hands down and one of the circuits on his chest brushed her stomach. Electric shocks spread around her body. A blush spread across her cheeks. His purring lowered to a growl and his helmet focused on her face.

Clapping suddenly echoed through the room. Clu stood above them, smirking widely.

"Well done. I would have been more impressed if you had have used your disc a bit more." He commented. Mia huffed and lay there limply, Rinzler still sitting over her. He shifted his weight slightly and another blush crept up to her cheeks. Clu grinned in amusement. "You can remove yourself from her, Rinzler." He smirked. Rinzler stood up and bowed before going to stand next to him. Mia stood up and fixed her hair before looking at Clu. He was grinning. A small smile crossed her face and he patted her shoulder. "Let's go and watch the real games." His voice was supposed to be calm and genuinely happy, but it came across as creepy. Mia nodded slowly and followed him up in to the ship. Rinzler followed but went down a different hallway. Mia was slightly confused until she remembered he played in the games.

Clu sat her on the couch and sat down himself, putting his legs on the table in front of it. Mia shifted over to the end of the couch; as far away from him as it would allow. Clu seemed amused.

"User." A voice muttered in disgust. Mia locked eyes with Jarvis and glared hatefully at him.

"Shut up!" She snapped. He flinched and walked away, head bowed to the floor. Clu chuckled amusedly, mouth twitching up into a smile.

Mia focused her attention to the window in front of her. Several new players stepped out of their personal cubical-type things. One looked extremely confused about the whole situation. The others just had a look of sombre acceptance.

The worried looking program looked incredulous as his opponent pulled off his disc. The program hurled it at him and he ducked to the floor. It bounced off the wall and back into his hand. The program stood up and pulled off his own disc, watching in amazement as it lot up and a helmet firmed over his face.

Mia's heart beat rapidly in her chest when she remembered where she had seen his face before. It was Sam Flynn. That must have been why Clu had asked about him. He led San here.

Sam threw the disc at his opponent, who dodged nimbly. He threw it back, smashing the floor under Sam's feet. He fell through, struggling to get back up. The opponent threw his disc again and Sam rolled just in time. His opponent ran forward and jumped towards him. Sam smashed the spot below him just as he landed and the program fell through, derezzing on the next platform. Sam looked horrified for a moment before looking around.

"I won, now let me out!" He shouted but his voice was barely audible through the glass. Mia snuck a glance at Clu to see him smirking slightly at Sam's comment.

The second opponent cane out and growled at him. Sam shook his head. He murmured something she couldn't quite catch before hurling his disc at the wall. He dove forward as it derezzed the program and caught it before falling onto the next set of platforms. Programs stared up in wonder as he rolled and set off running. His hands slipped when he went to grab the other platform. He fell down and landed into a room Mia knew only too well. Techno music blared through the stadium and programs began to chant.

"Rinz-Ler! Rinz-Ler!" They cheered. Rinzler stepped into the light and Mia was certain that he was purring. Clu picked up a couple of black spheres on the table and spun then around in his hand.

"You gotta be kidding me." Sam remarked. Rinzler pulled off his disc and split it. Sam threw his head back before attempting to do the same thing. "Come on! Is that even legal?" He complained.

Rinzler flipped gracefully before throwing one of his discs at Sam. Sam ducked quickly and Rinzler thrust the other one at him. Sam sat up and had to duck again as the second nearly hit his face. Rinzler flipped around and caught both of them.

Sam took a step forward and threw his disc at him with an angry grunt. Rinzler twirled around on the ground for a few moments before flipping through the air on his side, missing it by an inch. Sam caught his disc and waved it around.

"I feel like I just got dunked on." He grumbled. A beep sounded through and Rinzler froze. Sam took a few steps forward. "Come on!" He bounced. Rinzler took off sprinting in the other direction, leaving Sam confused. The gravity shifted and he slammed into the ceiling. Groaning, he pulled himself off the floor. Rinzler spun through the air and Sam began to try and hit him. Rinzler dodged every hit and ducked to the floor at one point. He sliced Sam's arm and was a little bit confused when he didn't derezz. He pushed him back and kicked him to the floor.

The gravity changed again and he hit the floor. He stood up shakily and was pinned to the floor. Rinzler held a disc at his neck.

"De-rezz! De-rezz!" The crowd chanted. Rinzler spotted blood dripping out if his arm. He stood up and hauled Sam to his feet. The crowd booed loudly, expressing their distaste.

"Identify yourself, program." Jarvis ordered behind her.

"I'm not a program!" Sam yelled. Clu stood up, helmet sealing over his face.

"Identify." He demanded.

"My name is Sam Flynn." Sam shot back. Mia exhaled deeply. Shit.