Here's another chapter for you guys.

Shout out: SpringBorn

Disclaimer: Same as all the last ones.

Chapter 36: Hollow Bastion is no more

Everyone was happy to be back in Hollow Bastion, if the gummi ship was the travelling home for the group Hollow Bastion was the base that they would always return to. Just as Traverse Town had once been to Sora and the others. I raised an eyebrow as Sora stopped and tilted his head with his arms crossed as some Soldiers ran across the rooftop the boy commenting "Wait a sec…I thought everything was supposed to be under control here!"

We shrugged and turned to look at the town's defense system that had popped up as Donald exclaimed "Hey, look!"

They watched the glowing orb for a moment before Sora said, concern lacing his voice, "Must be Organization XIII again. We better go see Leon." He glanced back at the rest of us and we nodded in agreement heading further into town towards Merlin's house; the boys stopping to talk to Uncle Scrooge due to the fact that he had recreated Sea Salt ice cream, all of us getting some and proclaiming it to be very good. I could certainly understand why Roxas loved the stuff so much, it was addicting. Sora had three bars and probably would've had more if Donald hadn't started yanking him into movement. Both Twilight and I laughed at the boy as he tried to reach for another bar, protesting, as Donald pulled him away trying to get him back on track with the important things.

I shook my head as the duck shot a pleading glance over at me and Twilight and said "I think Leon can handle the place for fifteen minutes without us rushing to him."

Donald huffed and let the boy go but I snagged onto his arm and started dragging him along "Wha? But you just said?"

I glanced over my shoulder at Sora saying "Yes, but we really don't need you on a sugar high if Leon actually does need your help…which knowing your luck he does." Sora grinned and scratched the back of his head sheepishly before twisting around so he wouldn't have to walk backwards. Donald had moved ahead of us so as we rounded the corner to Merlin's place he was the one that almost got hit by the rouge claymore causing the duck to let out a surprised yell. The lot of us gave surprised yelps as Heartless that should've only been in the computer popped up, my sword appearing in my hand as I asked, feigning ignorance, "Anything special I need to know about these guys?"

Sora glanced over his shoulder at me with a frown, his concern doubling that something was wrong, and shook his head saying "Just beat 'em up, like the rest of the Heartless. The only thing though is…" He had to stop short to parry one of the computerized, black and yellow, Heartless that jumped him. I swept up and sliced into the creature forcing it to face back into oblivion, Sora continuing as if nothing had happened even I was taking this fight very easily, "…they shouldn't be out here. The only time I've seen these Heartless was when we were in the Castle computer." I raised an eyebrow at Sora, spin kicking another Heartless that had come up behind me sending it flying only to be met with Goofy's shield. I blinked in confusion at the fact that there were no longer any Heartless attacking us and shrugged as I let my sword vanish, the silver and red bracelet reappearing around my wrist. This fight had been short-lived and easy…which was unusual to say the least, normally they usually posed at least a little bit more of a challenge.

I glanced over at Sora as he caught my eye and I shrugged with a slight smirk stating "Well not all fights can be hard." He laughed in response getting odd looks from the others, who hadn't been paying any attention to our conversation.

"Come on in!" We all jumped at Yuffie's sudden appearance, not having noticed the girl walk out of Merlin's house.

Sora let out a slow breath as he tried to regain control over his racing heart before asking "Wait just a second…What happened to this place?"

Goofy tilted his head as he stated the obvious, as he normally did though sometimes one would wonder what we would do without him and those obvious statements, "Didn't that Heartless look like the ones from Tron's world?"

Yuffie, frowned slightly as she insisted quickly "C'mon, just get inside!" We glanced at each other and shrugged, following the hyper ninja into the house to see Cid, as per usual, typing furiously at the computer. This time was different though, I could practically feel the tension coming off the man as Yuffie urged him "Hurry up, Cid!"

The man huffed "Give me a second!"

We blinked in surprise at Merlin as he too insisted "Confound it! Hurry!" I raised an eyebrow at the old wizard; Merlin wasn't one to insist for someone to hurry it up unless it was important.

We turned back to the blonde mechanic as Cid growled "Why, you…!"

Sora walked forward as he asked "What's going on?" Cid turned around as Twilight and I moved forward, Twilight headed towards a chair while I moved to look over Cid's shoulder at the computer screen.

The relief was evident in the older man's voice as he said "Talk about yer good timin'!"

I glanced back as Yuffie explained "The MCP is wreaking havoc inside the computer." I turned back to the computer screen and blinked, I was no experienced hacker and the rate at which the text, filled with computer jargon, was moving almost made my head spin…though I did understand some of it; having a cousin and friends who were computer programmers apparently did help every once in a while.

Cid glanced over at me for a moment as I tilted my head, trying to make sense of what was being said on the screen, before the man told us "Accordin' to Leon, anyway…He went on over to Ansem's study to find out what all the ruckus was about. Turns out the MCP is using the data in that computer to crank out Heartless. The MCP's been messin' around with the town's control system, too."

I propped my hands on my hips, leaning back slightly as Yuffie asked drily "That MCP sure doesn't know when to quit, does it?"

Cid held up his hands saying "That's a computer program for ya."

I glanced down at him, finally being able to make some sense of what he was doing, "That also explains why you've been puttin' this little program together."

Cid looked up at me and nodded, he was about to say something but Sora interrupted him, saving me from the hacker rant that I could just tell would've happened, "How's Tron doing?"

Cid's mouth turned into a grim line and he shook his head as Yuffie explained "We can't reach him. We figure he must have been forced onto the game grid."

Cid nodded as he stated grimly "And it don't sound like a particularly fun game, either."

Donald made a sympathetic sound as Sora nodded to himself resolvedly saying "We'll go check on Tron."

Cid's mouth turned up slightly and he lost a little of the tension and grimness that had been consuming the man as he said "Thanks, kid. We're puttin' together an MCP Eradication program. I got a hunch it's almost finished, too."

Merlin crossed his arms and huffed irritably "Well, I hope your hunch is right for once!" Cid threw a dirty look over at the old wizard and I had hunch myself that if Sora wasn't here Cid would've been swearing up a storm at the old man; for whatever reason Sora had the power to make people cut back on swearing…it certainly worked on me.

Yuffie ignored the silent exchange between the two older males and said "Listen, we're gonna need Tron's help when that Eradicator's completed…"

Sora grinned and nodded saying "Don't sweat it. We'll make sure to tell Tron!"

Merlin turned to us and wagged a finger "Remember, boys and girls….we're counting on you."

I rolled my eyes at the old man while Sora nodded with a wide smile "Roger!" Donald and Goofy just nodded at the man though I could see a hint of indignation in Donald's eyes at being treated like a child by Merlin, I wasn't so happy about it myself either though we both covered up our irritation with small smiles. We headed out; I gave a small wave over my shoulder to the people inside as Cid got back to work on his program.

We had just reached the Postern when a voice rang out "Liars!"

Sora stepped back confused as to where the voice came from "Wha…?"

He blinked and looked down at the pixies that floated before him, Rikku fluttering up pointing an accusing finger at the boy "Leon doesn't have any treasure!"

Paine with her arms crossed glanced at us sideways as she said monotonously "And we fought for you guys."

Goofy looked down at Donald anxiously "Donald…?"

The duck waved his arms briefly as he exclaimed "Well, I had to tell them something!"

I tilted my head curiously as Yuna placed a fist under her chin saying quietly "I don't see how we're gonna work this out."

Sora tilted his head as he questioned "So what should we do?" I raised an eyebrow as the pixified Gullwings got together to have a conference, I was able to catch a few words here or there but I wasn't really all the worried about it.

They came back and Yuna clasped her hands behind her back as she grinned up at us saying "We're just going to take YOUR treasure."

I rolled my eyes as Sora and the boys gasped, glancing over at Twilight, we grinned at each other as Sora exclaimed "But we don't have anything!"

Paine raised an incredulous eyebrow at the boys asking "You sure?"

I blinked as Rikku circled around Sora saying "Hm…let's take a look."

She circled around both Donald and Goofy before coming over to me and Twilight; I just raised an eyebrow at the pixie sphere hunter as she flew back to her companions saying "Hey Yunie, I took a good look and sure enough…"

The boy's tilted their heads curiously as Rikku whispered something in Yuna's ear, the girl grinning and turning towards us proclaiming cheerily "Okay, we've decided! The Gullwings are taking all your items!"

Sora's jaw dropped and he lurched forward, his arms spread open as he pleaded "You've gotta be kidding me!"

Yuna pouted muttering "Oh, foofie."

Rikku dropped shaking her head, her arms limp at her sides complaining "This stinks!"

Paine rolled her eyes and in her stoic way stated drily "So not cool…"

Sora scratched the back of his head trying to explain "Look, sorry we tricked you, but…"

Paine cut him off with a sigh saying "Forget about it. Leon told us the whole story. He said your journey's been pretty rough."

Yuna gave a gentle smile, one that came from her summoner days, explaining "So it wouldn't really be right if we took your things."

Rikku grinned and pumped a fist into the air proclaiming "We'll root for you. Here this is from us." She raised a hand and with a poof a treasure chest, the one thing other than trouble that was irresistible to Sora, appeared a few feet away.

Yuna spun and grinned waving at us "Bye! Good luck on your journey!" I laughed as the three of them posed in their YRP stance and vanished in what looked like mini-pyreflies. Sora grinned back at us in relief before heading over to the chest and opening it open to pull out another keychain.

I grinned and shook my head at the boy as he shoved the thing into his hammerspace pockets while I commented lightly "You're gonna have one large collection of those things by the time you're done with this trip." Sora laughed and nodded in agreement as we headed out of the postern and towards the castle.

Getting welcomed by a gunblade to the face is not a fun experience; believe me I would know as that's exactly what we were greeted by when we opened the door to Ansem's Study. I had my hands up in a second drily stating "Halt. We come in peace." I heard Twilight snort from behind me, Leon raising an eyebrow at me as he lowered the weapon and I stepped aside letting the others to enter the room as well.

Aerith stepped forward explaining the tight security, "You can't talk to Tron if this room gets taken over."

I just smirked and shrugged in understanding as Leon shot me a small apologetic glance before asking "Did you check in with Cid?"

Sora nodded as he answered easily "Uh-huh."

Leon raised an eyebrow asking "And the Eradicator?"

Donald held up a wing with a grin stating "It's almost done."

Aerith clasped her hands together in front of her excitedly exclaiming "Great! Say, Leon, why don't you go work with Cid? I have this place under control."

Leon turned to her, a hint of worry tingeing his face, as he asked "Are you sure? All by yourself…?" The flower girl shot him a miffed look that had him backtracking as fast as he possibly could "…Er, sorry. It's all yours."

She grinned and I stifled my chuckles as Sora asked Leon, who looked like he wanted to escape through the door, "How's Tron?"

Relieved for a subject change he shook his head saying "We still can't get in touch with him. Maybe you guys should give it a shot."

Sora shook his head and said "No, we'll just go talk to him in person."

I rolled my eyes as Leon ignored the fact that that was what he had been asking Sora to do in the first place by replying "Then I have a favor to ask. When you find Tron, could you tell him to come to the I/O tower? That's where we'll upload the MCP Eradication program."

Goofy nodded and reiterated to make sure he got it right "The I/O tower. Got it!"

Leon gave an acknowledging nod saying "Thanks. And watch your backs." They nodded and we watched as he left the room; I wiggled my fingers in farewell as Twilight and the boys headed towards the computer room, Twilight practically skipping there. She was obviously looking forward to the lightcycles…I didn't even want to be on the same world as Twilight and lightcycles which explained why I was staying behind.

I glanced over at Aerith, once the others had vanished into the other room and we heard the laser revving up, and asked the pink clad girl "How much you wanna bet that Cid and Merlin are still fighting?" Aerith laughed quietly and gave a gentle smile towards me as I settled down in one of the chairs prepared to wait for the others to return.

It couldn't have been more than twenty minutes when Leon returned, disk in hand. By this time though I was lounging in the chair, old habits dying hard as I leaned back on the back two legs balancing precariously there, Aerith was sitting on the desk idly flipping through some papers there. He glanced at the two of us asking "Anything happen?"

Aerith shook her head as I leaned further back with a sigh saying "The only interesting thing that happened was I tried to get Aerith to make paper airplanes…she said that maybe I was a little bored." Leon raised a slightly amused eyebrow and shook his head and hurried into the computer room. I dropped forward and followed after him with Aerith close behind.

The man immediately began to type on the computer faster than I had ever seen him do previously, everyone ignoring the deep computerized voice as it said "Warning. User control is terminated indefinitely."

I raised an eyebrow and glanced up at the ceiling as I said "Oh, shut up."

I turned back to Leon as he slammed his fist against the keyboard exclaiming quietly "No good!"

He straightened up as Aerith stepped forward saying "Leon, let me try." He paused momentarily and you could see the internal debate going on inside his head before the 'eh, why the hell not', side won and he nodded handing her the disk.

She took it with a small nod as the computer started talking again "This is your final warning. Stop at once."

I laughed as Aerith put the disk into the drive with a cheery "Bon appétit!" Propping her hands on her hips she scolded "Don't talk with your mouth full." Leon placed a hand on his forehead in…I couldn't really tell if it was exasperation or embarrassment but it was something.

I was still laughing as the computer demanded "What…what are you loading?" Aerith grinned and turned back to Leon who crossed his arms with a small smile before the flower girl turned to me, the two of us high fiving with wide smiles on our faces.

I rested an arm on her shoulder asking "You think it worked?"

Leon shrugged as he stared at the computer stating "We'll just have to wait and see." I shrugged and turned back to the computer with a neutral expression; waiting was something I could do. I glanced briefly over at Leon as he left and gave a small smirk in his direction before moving towards the back wall so I could lean there and continue waiting while Aerith moved so that she stood in front of the keyboard.

It wasn't but a moment later that a noise came from the computer and Yuffie ran in saying "Things are settling down in the town! The only Heartless left anywhere are the local variety. And it looks like there are fewer than before."

Aerith nodded and raised a hand as she said "Now if we can just get those four back in one piece…" I grinned as the transfer system started back up again and pushed off the wall as they reappeared back into the flesh and blood world. Both Yuffie and Aerith grinned Aerith clasping her hands in front of her happily stating "You're here!"

Yuffie still grinning greeted "Welcome back!"

I tilted my head curiously at his sad expression as he nodded, pausing for a moment before asking "How's the town?"

The ever cheerful Yuffie was the one who answered enthusiastically "A-okay!"

Aerith going on to say "Not a single trace of the MCP, either. Everything's back to normal. We made it."

Noticing his expression Yuffie walked up to Sora leaning towards him so that she could peer up into his face asking concernedly "Hey, why the long face? What happened?"

Sora jerked back in surprise as the ninja wagged a demanding finger in his face as Donald answered sadly "Tron just disappeared."

Sora stared at the ground as he continued "And he promised we'd see him again…" I stepped forward and ruffled the boy's hair comfortingly causing him to glance over at me before a very familiar alarm went off causing almost everyone to jump, Twilight and I being the exceptions.

Aerith spun around to the computer exclaiming "What's happening?"

I tilted my head as the alarm stopped and a different computer voice, one that sounded a lot friendlier, came on "Greetings, friends. System is up, and ready for User input."

I grinned at the shocked smiles that appeared on the boys' faces as they all called "Tron!"

The computer, apparently Tron, practically ordered "Stay in touch."

Sora nodded in agreement "Yeah!"

I watched as Donald ran up to the keyboard accidently typing on the keyboard causing Tron to exclaim "Hey, stop that! It tickles!"

Goofy turned to Sora with a confused look, as I bit my lip to keep from laughing, the bi-pedal dog asking "Tron is ticklish?"

Sora grinned and Goofy laughed at the boy's mischievous expression, Sora stalking up on the computer and started to type away as he teased "How 'bout this!"

I couldn't help myself and started laughing outright as Tron giggled pleading with the teen "Please stop that!"

The boys laughed and Twilight joined them in their torture of the computer while Yuffie pointed at them saying "I think Tron's been hanging around those guys too much."

I raised an eyebrow asking sarcastically "No, really? What was your first clue?" She spun around and stuck her tongue out at me, only getting a grin in return Aerith all the while giggling in the background at everyone's antics.

We all paused as a still giggling Tron begged "W-wait, wait just a moment. I want to show you something I dug up from the system archives. You can see the town back when it was first built." The screen lit up and Twilight and the boys said their goodbyes before everyone headed outside to the postern. We all gasped as we spotted the beams of light shooting up into the sky and the rain of magical particles, that looked like very shiny snow, fell from the sky. I raised a hand up to catch one of the falling bits and grinned as it floated above my hand. I glanced over at Twilight and laughed as I saw her trying to catch a particle on her tongue.

I let my bit go and turned to Aerith as she said to Sora "You know, this town had another name once." He looked up at her curiously and she smiled and turned to stare up at castle as she said "Radiant Garden." I grinned and turned to look up at the castle myself, I could certainly understand a name like that for this place.