I was on TV Tropes and saw that Remember the Tides was on its recommendations page for KH fanfics, and that is just all kinds of awesome. Thank you Dorked for recommending it, and hello to anyone who found their way here from TV Tropes!


Chapter 29: Going Digital

Deep within Hollow Bastion's basement, Mickey leaned in close to a bookcase. Despite Ansem the Wise's study being abandoned for the better part of a decade, there wasn't a lot of dust. Sure, there was some, but not nearly as much as Mickey expected. "Who do ya think was here recently?"

Ansem – or DiZ, which he had insisted on being called – stood across the room, leaning over his old desk with his hands on the aging wood. "Sora and his friends, I would imagine. They must have come here seeking answers, or perhaps the Keyhole."

"The Keyhole is here? I should lock it!"

DiZ shook his head. "For the time being, Hollow Bastion is safe from the Heartless. The Organization wants the Heartless manufactory, and Maleficent seeks to retake this world as her base. Let Sora worry about the Keyhole."

Mickey sighed; he was feeling rather useless with DiZ putting everything on Sora like that. DiZ walked over from his desk to the bookshelf and picked a paper up off the floor. His mouth narrowed as he read the paper.

"What is that?" Mickey asked, standing on his tiptoes. Even then he couldn't see high enough to read the paper. A picture attached to the paper slipped out of DiZ's grasp and fell the floor; it was a photo of Even, Xehanort, and Ansem.

DiZ crumpled the paper up and dropped it onto the floor. "It is simply an old report of mine from a more naïve time. Let's keep moving, Mickey. The faster we get done here the faster we can attack the Organization's world."

The two of them entered a metallic corridor leading to the computer room. "I guess ya still won't tell me what this project you're working on is?" Mickey asked.

"I am sorry, but it is best the information does not spread. If Organization XIII was to discover my research, they would not hesitate to hunt down and capture Sora," DiZ shook his head. "I know you would never willingly reveal it, of course, but for now I am keeping it to myself."

In the computer room, Mickey looked around in awe and confusion at all of the machinery. DiZ immediately moved to what Mickey assumed was the main controls and started typing. As he worked his ever-present frown grew deeper.

"There isn't a speck of dust in here," Mickey said in an attempt to break the silence that had grown.

"Yes, I noticed. The laboratory must have seen regular use even before Sora and his friends arrived. Use by Xemnas, I would imagine." Mickey heard a computerized voice declare "ERROR" from the control console and DiZ shook his head. "It would appear that Xehanort changed the password to get in. Every last file is blocked from my reach."

"Password? Oh, you mean like a code!" Mickey, curious, turned to the computer and looked up at the screen. Most of it was way above his understanding, but he couldn't mistake the big red words flashing in the middle of the screen:

ACCESS DENIED
TRON-JA-307020
ENTER PASSWORD: _

"Well, maybe I can help…" Mickey said, running his eyes over the computer screen for anything that might help out. 'The Boy in White Armor', 'Chambers of Repose/Waking'… nothing looked too obvious. That is, until Mickey saw a folder in the corner simply labeled 'DTD.' "What does that stand for?"

DiZ shrugged slightly. "The file is unfamiliar to me. Xehanort must have added it in after he exiled me. The only thing I can think of with those initials is…"

"…the Door to Darkness," Mickey finished Ansem's thought. "The Door to Darkness can only be opened by the Princesses of Heart. Do ya think that could be the password?"

"There is no harm in trying, I suppose." DiZ began typing once again, entering as many combinations of the names of the seven princesses he could until one finally worked:

ACCESS DENIED
TRON-JA-307020
ENTER PASSWORD: bellesnowwhiteauroraalicejasminecinderellakairi

"We're in. Well done, Mickey!" DiZ successfully opened the DTD file and now had access to everything in the Hollow Bastion system. "Now, to find Tron…"

"Wait, wasn't that security Tron? It said Tron-JA-something."

DiZ chuckled. "While that is true, there is so much more to Tron than a simple security program. The Hollow Bastion computer system is a copy of one created by a company called ENCOM. Tron is an artificial intelligence who inhabited the original, so naturally he exists in my copy."

"You're kinda goin' over my head here."

"To put it simply: there is an entire world inside this computer. We need to get a man named Tron out of it" DiZ held up a small object. "and into this flash drive, so that I may transfer him to Twilight Town. That way he can protect my research data."

"Sounds simple enough."

"I had expected it to be simple, yes. But it seems I misjudged things… I cannot locate Tron. Something must have happened to him." DiZ turned around and looked over at the circular machine on the opposite wall. He sighed. "Mickey, I hate to ask this of you, but you may need to enter the computer and find Tron for me."

"I can do that if ya need me to! But, uh… how?"

"The machinery here can digitize real matter. It is rather primitive compared to what I have in Twilight Town, but it will work." DiZ began typing again and the circular machine started to glow. "It may tingle, but it shouldn't hurt. Once you have retrieved Tron, go to the I/O Tower. There, I can bring you back to the real world and send Tron to the flash drive. Tron should know the way."

"I got it! Beam me up, Ansem!" Mickey said with his usual cheerfulness. DiZ smiled and pressed one last key, and then Mickey was blinded by a bright light from the machine.

x-x-x

"Master Control, there has been unauthorized access from the User world."

Commander Sark stood at his terminal, facing the digital face of the Master Control Program who commanded the world. The MCP frowned—or as close to a frown as it could get with its projected face.

"Is it Ansem?" the MCP asked.

"I do not believe so," Sark replied. "The signature is unfamiliar."

"He may be working for Ansem nonetheless. With the DTD unlocked, I am far too busy going over Ansem's data to deal with pests. Handle him on your own, Sark."

"Understood, Master Control. I am redirecting the intruder to the Pit Cell. He will not bother us any more."

x-x-x

"Are you okay? Hello?"

The light faded gradually and the ringing in Mickey's ears fell enough for him to make out a voice. Mickey grabbed his head—he had one major headache. What happened?

"Good to see you're okay. You gave me quite the scare."

Mickey stood up and stumbled a bit. He was dizzy, but he could manage. "Gosh, it was a bit of a wild ride from Hollow Bastion. Is this the computer world?"

"Hollow Bastion? Then you must be a User!" Mickey finally had enough of his bearings to look around. He was in a small room with blue walls. In fact, everything was blue—everything except a yellow computer, that is. The man speaking to him was sitting on the ground, his back against the computer. "My name is Tron. I'm a security program. But now I'm under arrest, same as you."

"Under arrest? Gosh, then is this a prison?" Mickey looked around at the room, investigating it closer this time. It was certainly small enough to be a prison cell, but what was he doing here? During his investigation, Mickey noticed that he had changed as well. He now wore a grey jumpsuit with electric blue lines, same as Tron. Wait... "Tron! Wow, that was fast! I'm sure glad I found ya!"

Tron stood up. "You were looking for me?"

"Sure was! My name is Mickey. DiZ – er, Ansem the Wise – said I was supposed to come and get ya out of here!"

Tron frowned. "Oh… you're with Ansem? Well, that's…" he trailed off, appeared to think something over, and sighed. "Look, you better get out of here. Who knows what the MCP will do to you."

"MCP?"

"The Master Control Program. It controls this whole system. When Ansem the Wise first created the Hollow Bastion OS he deleted it, but then ten years ago had a sudden change of heart and restored the MCP. My world has been under its rule since."

"Gosh, why would Ansem do that?" Mickey scratched his head. "Wait, ten years ago? Tron, listen. That wasn't Ansem! It was his apprentice, Xehanort, who stole his name and his research. Xehanort musta been the one who brought this program guy back. The real Ansem is in Hollow Bastion right now, and he needs your help!"

Tron put his hands on his hips and sighed. "Ansem was my User and my friend before his sudden change of heart, so I'd like to believe you. But even if what you say is true, the MCP stripped me of my command programming when I was arrested and we'd need to get it back before I could be of help to anyone. And even besides that, we're still stuck in this cell."

Mickey grinned and summoned his Keyblade. "Leave escape to me! Do ya know where your program is?"

"Yes, I do. It's kept in the Dataspace at the far end of the canyon."

"Is that near the, um… Eye-oh Tower?"

"The I/O Tower? Yes, it's close by. From there we can activate a terminal and you can logout. Ansem should also be able to upload me onto a flash drive."

"Then let's get going!" Mickey held his Keyblade to the locked door and used its powers to open the way. To his credit, Tron didn't sit around in slack-jawed awe as the Keyblade made the lock simply disappear. "You go first. You know this world better than I do."

The two of them traveled only a short distance before arriving on a circle-shaped platform. "This will take us up to the canyon," Tron explained. Once the two of them were aboard it moved out into space, leaving the prison behind.

At the dock on the other end, Mickey ran forward to a staircase up ahead. Tron lingered behind as he looked into a large room to his left, and then called Mickey back to him.

"What's up?" Mickey asked.

"The energy core here is offline. Without its power, we won't be able to access the terminal and get out of here."

"Sounds important, alright! What do we need to do?"

Tron pointed up to several blocks embedded in the top of the energy core, but there was one square hole with its block missing. "Mickey, I need you to find the part to fill that hole. Once you do, I can restore the energy core."

"Count on me, Tron!"

Tron pressed a few keys on the energy core's controls and a ring of blocks appeared in the room. "Only one of these is the real thing, the others are rigged with an explosive program. Mickey, locate the one that is glowing red!"

It all sounded simple enough. There was the red block, just a few yards to Mickey's right. With a shrug, Mickey scampered over to the block and pressed his hand on its side, trying to find some way to move it over to Tron. As soon as his hand made contact, however, all of the blocks in the room began spinning around, including the red one. Mickey was knocked onto his back by one that was a quarter of the way around the room just a second ago flying into him. Down but not out, Mickey quickly jumped back onto his feet and looked for the red block. There, across the room! He ran as fast as his short legs would allow, but by the time he reached it the red glow had faded and the block Mickey was looking for was lost in the crowd of all the others.

"Tron! The glow faded, I dunno which of these blocks is right!"

Tron looked up at Mickey for only a moment and then turned back to the controls. "With the rate the blocks are spinning, at this point in time the one we want should be… Mickey! Hold your weapon out to your right in three, two… one!"

Mickey called the Keyblade and flung it out to his side just in time to knock a block out of the spinning ring and onto the floor. Once it hit the ground it began glowing red once again. Tron walked over from the control and placed a hand on the block.

"Excellent work, with this we can get the power back online. The exit terminal will be waiting for us at the I/O Tower." When Tron lifted his hand from the block, it floated upwards slowly and locked itself into place in the empty slot on the energy core. The center of the energy gore came to life with a bright light and then the large machine lowered into the ground. Shortly afterwards, tracks of light like those on Mickey and Tron's suits spread across the floor.

"Great!" Mickey cheered. "Now let's go get your program out of that Dataspace, and then it's off to the outside world!"

Tron nodded. "Of course. The Dataspace is this way, up those stairs from earlier and inside a red tower."

x-x-x

From his control terminal, Sark frowned. "What is this? Interference in the canyon by the Pit Cell? It must be the User, but how could he have known?" Sark's eyes narrowed. "Tron. I forgot we had sent him to the cell."

Sark moved a finger over to the key to call the Master Control Program, but hesitated before pressing it. The MCP was busy with digging through Ansem the Wise's files. 'Handle him on your own, Sark,' that's what he had said. Sark moved his hand away from the key, deciding against contacting the MCP.

"Very well, then. I don't know what Tron is up to, but I will face him myself."

x-x-x

Mickey blinked as he and Tron entered the new room. In contrast to the blues and purples in the rest of this world, the Dataspace was a bright green. It almost blinded him for a moment there. Tron approached the terminal at the far end of the room and place his hand on it. A large screen appeared on the wall in front of them.

"So, you know how to work this thing? Wouldn't it be locked?" Mickey asked.

Tron gave a confused shrug. "I thought it would have been too, but it's wide open. Hold on, if I check the access logs…" He typed something into the computer. "The password to the DTD was entered under an hour ago."

"Wait, this is the DTD?"

"Yes, that is what Ansem – excuse me, Xehanort – named the Dataspace. It holds all of the information in Hollow Bastion's entire system."

"Well, ya can thank the real Ansem for opening it! He was the one who put in the password just before I came here."

Tron shook his head. "Yes, I am thankful… but this also may be a problem. The DTD is open to absolutely anyone now, including the MCP. If he knows about this – and believe me, he does know – then he could be digging through files at this very moment and finding something incredibly dangerous to the User world."

Mickey gulped. "Gosh, then we'd better hurry. Once we're out of here, I'm sure Ansem can delete the MCP!"

"That may be the best course of action. Okay, I'll begin. But the MCP will certainly notice me, and I'll be helpless during the download. Mickey, I need you to protect me from any hostile programs that appear while I am working."

"Leave it to me, Tron!" The MCP indeed noticed Tron, almost immediately. Red screens saying 'WARNING' activated all along the green walls, and strange black and red blocks appeared in front of Mickey. But there were still no enemies. Mickey looked around warily for anything that might come out and attack him, turning away from the blocks for an instant only to be blindsided when one of them tackled him. "What-?!"

Mickey spun around to see that the blocks had all grown limbs—legs resembling spider legs. A single eye blinked on the front of each of the creatures. The one nearest to Mickey screeched and jumped forward, trying to tackle him once again. Now that he knew the enemy he was facing, Mickey reacted in time and countered the block bug's tackle with a slash of the Keyblade. It crashed into the ground and exploded in bits of data. Well, at least they fell quickly.

"Blox Bugs, I should have expected them." Mickey heard Tron say behind him.

Another Blox Bug jumped toward Mickey and he swatted it away just as easily. But two more came at Mickey then, then three when he defeated those two, then five, then seven. Soon Mickey was surrounded by a swarm of Blox Bugs, with a couple more coming in to replace every one he defeated.

Several Blox Bugs wrapped their spider-like arms around Mickey and squeezed tightly, pinning his arms down and preventing the king from swinging his Keyblade. "Tron, are ya done yet? I sure could use some help!" Mickey gasped out as he struggled against the ever tightening grip.

"Download complete!" Tron declared happily. Mickey couldn't see him through the black and red swarm of Blox Bugs, but something glowing a bright blue flew through the crowds and de-rezzed several of them. It looped around like a boomerang back to where it came from, where Tron grabbed the object. Its glow faded just long enough to reveal it was the disc Tron had kept on his back, but Tron recharged his weapon quickly and it began glowing brightly again. He tossed it back out into the crowd and got rid of Mickey's captors, allowing Mickey to use his Keyblade and finish off the last of the Blox Bugs.

"I'm as good as new!" Tron said with a smile once the enemies were gone. "All my functions have been restored!" He looked around at the walls, where the red 'WARNING' signs were still flashing. "Now let's act quickly and keep the MCP from finding anything dangerous."

"I am afraid you are too late, Tron," came a deep, computerized voice. "I have full access to the DTD and my takeover of the system is now complete."

"Are you the MCP?"" Mickey asked, looking around for the source of the voice.

The MCP ignored Mickey's question. "What's this? An emergency destruct program for the town. Let's see how it performs."

"No!" Tron shouted. He quickly turned back to the keyboard and hastily typed something in. The red signs vanished and the MCP's voice was suddenly cut off.

"Gosh, what'd ya do?" Mickey asked.

"I changed the password to the DTD, but it won't work for long," Tron said. "We need to get out of here and have Ansem delete the MCP before the password is cracked, or else the User town will be in grave danger!"

"Let's hurry! Which way to the exit?"

"The I/O Tower is across another sailing platform, like the one we took from the Pit Cell. Follow me!"

Mickey and Tron ran to the I/O Tower as quickly as they could, though the unfortunate slow speed of the platform lost them valuable time. But despite that they made it to the tower before the MCP found out Tron's new password, and that was what mattered. Now they stood at a crossroads in a building. Tron pointed down the right path.

"This way to the communications room," he said.

The right path opened up into a large circular chamber. The door at the far end was their goal, but a figure stood between them and the way out. His hands were behind his back and his grey jumpsuit had red lines that stood out against the blue covering most of the world.

"Sark," Tron practically spat out the name. He turned to Mickey. "He's the MCP's number two."

"That's far enough, Tron. Your time is up." Sark removed the disc from his back and it began to glow red. "Prepare for de-resolution!" Sark tossed his disc with an overhand throw, though Tron acted quickly and countered the disc with his own. The two weapons returned to their wielders and Mickey leaped toward Sark, coming down on him with a spinning strike.

"Data transfer!" Sark said seconds before Mickey hit him. Mickey's Keyblade passed through empty air, and now Sark stood against the other wall. Had he teleported? Mickey didn't have much time to think about it though, since Sark tossed his disc again. Mickey knocked it away with his Keyblade and it clattered to the ground at Tron's feet. Tron kneeled down and picked up Sark's disc with a smile.

Sark scoffed. "Two Identity Discs, Tron? It's madness!"

"We'll see," Tron replied. With a disc in each hand he ran forward, dodging lightning bolts that rained down around him at Sark's command. Tron jumped into the air and spun around, tossing one of the discs and scoring a direct hit on Sark's forehead. The disc flew back into Tron's hand just in time for him to bring both down on Sark from above.

"D-Data transf-augh!" Sark's teleport was interrupted by Mickey sweeping his Keyblade under Sark's legs, knocking him off balance and leaving him wide open for Tron's attack. The two discs came down hard and pierced Sark in the chest. Sark coughed as his body began to fall apart like the Blox Bugs before.

"Tron, why? Why do you always go against Master Control?"

"Because I fight for the Users." Sark vanished, his body de-rezzed, and Tron put both discs onto his back. "This way, Mickey. Let's go to the outside world."

The I/O Tower's communications room was smaller than the last chamber, though still of decent size. A yellow computer like the one in the Pit Cell was to Mickey's right, and Tron kneeled down in front of it to type something in.

"What are ya doin'?" Mickey asked.

"Telling Ansem that everything is ready," Tron said. "I really owe you one, Mickey. Thanks to you all my systems are up and running again."

Mickey blushed. "Gosh, it was nothin'. Anything to help a friend."

"A friend? Yes, I suppose we are friends, aren't we?" Tron moved over to Mickey and kneeled in front of him, wrapping his arms around the king awkwardly. Mickey's eyes widened and he returned the gesture rather slowly. "Isn't this what Users do when they're sorry to say goodbye?" Tron asked innocently, pulling away from the hug.

Mickey chuckled. "Gosh, Tron. It's more like a promise. A promise saying 'see ya real soon!'"

"Okay. Well then…" Tron walked over to a purple platform in the middle of the room, removed one of the discs from his back, and held it up above him with both hands. "I promise." Tron smiled brightly and a white light fell down from the ceiling onto the platform, illuminating Tron until Mickey couldn't see him anymore. The light faded and Tron was gone, which Mickey knew meant he was inside DiZ's flash drive now. A tingling sensation swept over Mickey's body and he felt himself fading away as well.

x-x-x

"Welcome back, Mickey."

Mickey opened his eyes to find himself back in the computer room at Hollow Bastion, facing DiZ once again. "Ansem! Er, sorry; DiZ. How's Tron?"

DiZ smiled and held up the flash drive. "He's right here. And he left a present for you." DiZ motioned over to the computer, where a digital image of Mickey was on the screen with the words 'THANK YOU' above it. Mickey smiled, but his smile quickly fell when he remembered what was still inside the computer.

"DiZ! The world in there, it's in trouble! This thing called the MCP—"

"Already taken care of, Mickey," DiZ said. "I noticed the Master Control Program accessing the database shortly before I brought you home. He has been deleted; hopefully for good this time. Hollow Bastion is in no danger."

"Great! So now we're off to the Organization's world?"

"Not quite yet," DiZ said. "Tron needs to be brought to Twilight Town. It should not take very long, would you like to stay here?"

"Stay here? Why?"

"While you were inside Tron's world, I did a little bit of exploration in the town. It would seem your friends Donald and Goofy have arrived. Why don't you go see them one last time? In the mean time, I will leave the computer running and the DTD open. That way the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee can find anything they need without searching for a password."

Mickey nodded. "Okay, then. I'll see ya real soon."