Kairi opens her eyes as the bright lights around her wake her from her slumber. She pushes herself off the floor before turning to the lookalike girl next to her. Kairi helps Xion onto her feet before looking around.
"What is this place? Some sort of futuristic mall?" asks Kairi. She looks down and notices the change in outfit. "What's this getup anyway?" Xion looks at her, then at herself, before realizing what she's wearing.
"This is user armor. . ." she thinks aloud
"User armor?" Kairi seems confused
"It's the type of armor people like us wear when we enter Tron's world," Xion explains
"But wait, isn't Tron's world inside Ansem's computer? Why would it be a sleeping realm?" asks Kairi. Xion seems stumped at this answer for a moment before she remembers something.
"While in his world, Tron mentioned how the dataspace inside Ansem's computer is a copy of another world created by some company, similar to how I was made to be a copy of Sora," says Xion. "If the one in Ansem's computer is a copy-"
"Then this one must be the real one," Kairi says. Xion flinches a little as she hears this, and Kairi notices. "I- Original. . . I mean the original. . ." Kairi sighs as she looks to the ground. "I'm sorry."
"No- It's fine. . . I'm just-" Xion sighs as she collects herself "I'm just not completely used to being my own person, even now. . ." She says as she looks to Kairi. "That's why I need to give Sora his memories, So I can really be my own person." Says Xion as she smiles
"Right." Says Kairi, the two feeling their confidence coming back to them. The two look at the path in front of them as a large aircraft flies above. They dash from the dead-end where they stand, ready to explore everything ahead.
After taking out many nightmares, the two find themselves in the Throughput. They catch up to the aircraft in time to see it land. Two men in black with orange lights illuminating on parts of their armor exit the aircraft as more men in similar armor approach it, hopping on.
"Who are they?" asks Kairi
"I don't know. . . They don't look like Tron or the other programs. . ." Xion responds. As she says this, one of the men overhears them and directs his fellow guards in their direction. The two girls step back as they're approached by the four men.
"State your handle, program." commands one of the men
"Um- . . .Kairi and Xion?" Kairi says, phrasing it more of a question than an answer
"Verifying handle. . ." there's a moment of silence before he puts his hand on Xion's shoulder before speaking "Handle not found. Stray program recognized."
"What the- Hey!" Xion tries to resist the man's grasp as the other three men grab her and Kairi.
"Let go of me!" shouts Kairi as she tries pulling herself back. The men start forcing them towards the aircraft. "I said let go!" she yells as she manages to escape their grasp. She materializes her keyblade, known as Destiny's Embrace, before knocking two of the guards away and taking aim at the two holding XIon. She casts two blizzard spells, knocking them back a bit as they let go of Xion, who materializes Rejection of Fate. They make a run for it as the four programs chase them. The two split up as the four pursue them, forcing them to split up as well. Two of the men stop as they find Xion has disappeared. Before they can even guess where she went one of them is derezzed as they're stabbed from behind by her keyblade. The other one turns around and attacks but Xion dodges before destroying it with a balloon spell.
Kairi is knocked into the wall as the two guards manage to overwhelm her, throwing bombs and swinging staffs at her as she fights to the best of her abilities. The flying program steps onto the floor as its wings disappear, they prepare to take her into quarantine, when one of them is suddenly blasted from behind by a balloon spell. They turn around to see a fat cat-like creature growling at them. Before they can even react to the strange creature in front of them, Kairi jumps on her feet and slashes right through one of the programs, derezzing it instantly. The other jumps back as he prepares to strike but is knocked down by another balloon spell by Strela. Kairi stabs the program as it tries to recover, derezzing it. Kairi takes a deep breath before turning and crouching down to be on Strela's level.
"Good girl," she says as she pets Strela's head. "We really need to get you a leash, we can't keep leaving you behind after all," she says, smiling before standing back up. "C'mon Strela! Let's go! Xion might need our help!" she says in a cheerful tone before running off, Strela follows closely behind. It doesn't take long for the two girls to find each other. After healing Kairi's minor injuries, Xion, Kairi, and Strela make their way to the end of the path, until they run into the unmanned aircraft once again.
"Do you think we can use it?" asks Kairi
"Hmm. . . give me a second," says Xion as she climbs aboard. She messes around with the aircraft, messing with programs and the hardware onboard. Suddenly, the aircraft's orange lights turn white as Xion reaches out for Kairi and Strela to hop on board. They jump onto the aircraft's platform as it flies into the air and carries them off to a different section of the digital world.
The aircraft stops as Xion, Kairi, and Strela hop off onto a seemingly empty bridge, thinking they're finally alone and safe. Suddenly, they hear steps from behind that force them to turn around. Behind them stands another program in black and orange armor, though this one's armor is a bit different, looking more tighter and sleeker. The man pulls out an identity disc from his back, before grabbing it with his other hand, and pulling it apart to reveal dual identity discs, The man takes on a battle stance as he faces the three. Kairi and Xion materialize their keyblades as they prepare to clash with the man in front of them. Suddenly, the man stops as he puts his hand to his head where his ears would be, he nods, before putting away his identity discs. The man surprises Kairi and Xion by backflipping at an incredible height over them. He turns around as he lands and runs off down the bridge in another direction.
"What was that all about?" asks Kairi, before getting her attention, as well as Xions, directed over to a voice behind them.
"Hey, that weapon. Can I see it?" asks a woman who approaches them, with two men following from behind. They don't resemble the other programs. Kairi and Xion look at each other for a moment, before Xion cautiously hands the woman her keyblade.
"This is just incredible. What a program, the weapon and the wielder." says the woman, handing the keyblade back to Xion and looking back at the older man behind her.
"Uh- we're not programs," says Kairi. "This weapon is called a Keyblade. I'm Kairi, and this is Xion."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Sam." says the younger man behind the woman. Xion looks around for a second, before asking a question.
"This world, it's the original version of Tron's world, correct?" she asks, catching the older man off guard.
"You know Tron?" asks the older man
"Well. . . I know a version of Tron, but he may not be the same Tron you know," says Xion.
"Alright, well, listen, that program you just fought WAS Tron." explains the older man, Xion practically jumps back as she hears this
"What? That was Tron?" She asks, covering her mouth as she takes that in. The man takes a deep breath and nods sadly.
"Tron used to be a good friend," he explained. "Together, we created this place, the Grid." says the man as he reminisces on old memories. "It was something, man. . . but then CLU staged a coup. I was exiled, and. . . Tron wound up getting Derezed." Xion's eyes widen as she hears those words. "Or so I thought." The man turns around and takes a few steps forward. "CLU made him into a new program called Rinzler." the older man takes a sad breath. "That's the thing about programs. Mess with the code just a little, and their whole nature and memory can change." Xion pulls her arms over her chest as she crosses her arms and closes herself off at the prospect of someone's data being rewritten and changing them.
"That's horrible. . ." She utters shakily
"Wait, if he's just a program, wouldn't it be possible to just change him back?" Kairi proposes. The man smiles and turns around to face them
"Bingo. And now you're up to speed." the man takes a moment to take a deep breath, as he notices Xion has yet to recollect herself. Once she's done so, he smoothly starts the conversation up again. "If we're lucky, CLU kept a backup of Tron's source code. CLU's also a program, after all. He'd be methodical like that."
"But. . .where is CLU? We'll need to find his base of operations if we want to find Tron's source code." says Xion.
"I can show you the way." says the lady who first approached them
"Quorra, we have to keep moving." says the older man
"Yeah, what if Rinzler attacks again?" asks Sam
"If we're in a hurry, we have to take care of Rinzler first." Quorra responds
"Yeah, we can take care of him if we need to," says Kairi. The older man takes a moment to think before finally agreeing to this
"All right. Do what you can. Maybe you, Kairi, and Xion can help Tron." Same seems frustrated that the older man is agreeing to this
"Dad, no!" Sam insists, but his father interrupts him
"Relax, Sam. I have a feeling Kairi and Xion are people we can trust," says Sam's father. "Now you and me need to press on."
Sam tries to argue, but he can't find it in him to think of a rebuttal. "Okay. . ." he says begrudgingly as he follows his Father, he turns to Quorra as he leaves. "Quorra, be careful."
"You too," she says as Sam and his father walk off. She turns to the two younger girls beside her. "All right, are you guys?" she asks
"Yeah. Let's do this, Quorra," says Kairi
"Alright, CLU should be at the helm of his battleship, the Rectifier. We can get there with a Solar Sailer from the underground docks." Quorra explains as she hops onto the ship Xion, Kairi, and their cat friend arrived in. She takes them to the Docks where they manage to find and hop onto a solar sailer. The four of them navigate the Solar Sailer's innards with relative ease, taking out any nightmares they come across, and Xion hacking into any turrets when needed, and making them explode to create new paths ahead.
After some time, they reach the farthest car on the solar sailer, they sit there and wait for a while until the solar sailer stops at its destination, the Rectifier. They manage to find leave the solar sail undetected and navigate the enemy battleship. It takes some time, but they manage to find CLU's command center.
"Are you sure we'll find Tron's source code here?" asks Xion
"Possibly." Quorra answers. "We'll need to search every part of this room if we want to find it, assuming it is here," she says. Kairi and Xion nod and the three search the entire room and its computers for Tron's source code, while Strela acts as a lookout near the entrance. After some time, they find nothing. "It's not here. Maybe CLU has it with him." she thinks aloud before turning to Xion and Kairi. "Xion, Kairi, let's look elsewhere."
"Alright," says Kairi. The three gather up before Strela runs up to them and whines, before looking in the direction of the door. On cue, the door opens, revealing Rinzler. Quorra grabs her identity discs while Xion and Kairi materialize their keyblades.
"Tron, stop! You don't have to do this!" Says Xion, as she tries to connect to this version of her friend.
"It's no use Xion. He's a program, He doesn't have a heart," says Quorra
"That's not true. The Tron I remember had something," says Xion. as the two are distracted, Rinzler grabs his dual identity discs and throws them at the two.
"Watch out" yells Kairi, stepping in front of them to block the identity discs. She manages to block one but the other hits her and knocks her back. Quorra throws her identity disc and Rinzler leaps over it, the disc spins around and returns to Quorra.
"Xion, I don't think Rinzler. . . is quite the friend you remember," says Quorra as she gets on her feet and dashes at Tron. the two clash, but Quorra is overpowered incredibly fast, and falls to the ground.
"Quorra!" yells Kairi, Xion, and Strela run to her aid. Rinzler raises his identity disc into the air as if to finish her off.
"Tron! No!" Xion cries as she reaches out to him, but before they can reach him or Quorra, the door shuts in front of them. "Tron. . ." Xion says dejectedly as she puts her hand to the door.
"That's what we do. Put the most precious memories in the back of our minds where they're safe." The two girls and their cat companion turn around and hold their keyblades tightly as they're approached by the silver-haired boy in the black coat yet again. He looks to Xion in smirks "Or in your case, someone else's most precious memories."
Xion tightens the grip on her keyblade as she stares down the boy in front of her, fire in her eyes. "You-!" before she can say anything, however, there's a chill in Xion and Kairi's spines as they hear the voice of someone they had thought was gone.
"The memory and heart are tightly linked." Xion's eyes widen as she steps back. A corridor of darkness opens and from it comes a tall, silver-haired man with yellow eyes, in a black coat.
"No. . . that's not possible! You're supposed to be dead!" Xion yells as she and Kairi takes a step back.
Xemnas ignores the reminder of his death as he continues to approach the two. "Rub a few memories together, and you get a spark of emotion, a feeling. But in a digital world, memory does not work like that. Nothing is ever felt. You can hold a thousand, a million times the information, but there is still no heart with which to parse it." Xemnas takes a breath, before continuing "Once, my master, Ansem, found an old system and made a copy of its Master Control Program and used it to serve his own ends. This is the original data of that system. Here, data can be copied. Memory can be changed and easily manipulated. Tron is a digital entity, so why would he be any different?" Xion takes shaky breaths as Xemnas continues "He obeys the rules of this world."
"What are you getting at!?" yells Kairi as she stands closer to her friend, Strela growls at Xemnas as he takes a step closer.
"I'm saying that someone here really isn't that different from that program."
"Shut up! Xion isn't some robot you can toy with!" yells Kairi as she takes a step forward.
Xemnas smirks as he turns around. "We'll see. . ." he says as a corridor of darkness opens before him and he steps in, disappearing,
"What does he mean by that?" shouts Kairi turning to the silver-haired boy in front of her.
The man decides to give them a hint to the truth "You think this is the realm of dreams, but there, you are mistaken. Data does not dream, cannot dream." suddenly the door opens behind them, pulling the back a bit as they brace themselves. "This world is real. You haven't the slightest idea where you are, that you have already wandered off the path."
"What are you talking about!?" yells Xion. The man smiles, before turning around and disappearing into a corridor of darkness. The two try to resist as the wind pulls them back, but their strength cannot keep up any longer, forcing them back and out of the ship, The three pass out, and Strela disappears into a ball of dream energy, taking shelter within Kairi's body as they brace themselves for impact.
Xion and Kairi awaken as they hear the sound of cheers around them. They get up and look around, to find themselves in some sort of glass arena, with a large crowd watching them from the outside.
"What in the world-?" says Kairi, before the stadium's speakers blare.
"Combatant thirteen, combatant fourteen, versus, Rinzler." Their eyes widen as they hear this, and notice a platform rising in the center of the arena. From it stands Rinzler, behind a man in black and orange armor.
"Greetings, Kairi, Xion. I've been waiting."
"Who are you?" asks Kairi angrily
"I am CLU."
"So you're the one who turned Tron into Rinzler!" says Xion as she and Kairi materialize their keyblades, and Strela reappears behind them.
"Correct. I had to repurpose his code," he explained
"Well, then undo it!" demands Kairi.
"Well, Under the right parameters, I might." Xion and Kairi are taken aback by the man's willingness to lose his greatest combatant
"You two have little items, called keyblades. It can open any lock, isn't that right?" he asks. "Hand it over, and I'll change Rinzler back into Tron." Xion looks down at her keyblade hesitantly, unable to decide if she should save a version of her friend who doesn't even know her, or keep the one thing she believes makes her special.
"And why would we trust you?" asks Kairi as she assumes a battle stance, catching Xion off guard. "This is what lights the darkness. A chance to make everyone happy!" CLU laughs as Rinzler walks in front of him.
"Ha! Flawed reasoning. I'll have to take it by force." The platform lowers, taking CLU out of the arena before the opening on the floor closes. Rinzler takes out his two identity discs as he assumes a battle position. Xion reluctantly does the same as she faces the original Tron.
Rinzler throws his identity discs as he jumps back. Xion blocks one but does not see the other one turning at an angle to hit her from behind, Kairi dives in and parries the disc with her keyblade, the disc goes straight to Rinzler, who catches it without a second thought. He jumps as he prepares to strike Xion with his identity discs as melee weapons, but she blocks his attack, allowing Kairi to knock him away with a few slashes. Xion runs up to him as he lands on his feet and strikes him with her keyblade. Rinzler is knocked into a wall by Xion's powerful strike. He looks up at the two, then at the wall behind him, which he promptly runs up, defying gravity.
Xion and Kairi are stunned by this until they suddenly find themselves spinning around as the gravity reverses. They land on the ceiling as the gravity shifts. Rinzler strikes them as they land, pushing them apart before attacking Kairi. Rinzler jumps into the air as he prepares to strike down Kairi, but he's stunned by a balloon spell cast by Strela from behind. Kairi gets on her feet and jumps into the air as Rinzler falls, she strikes him multiple times as he falls before sending him flying towards Xion. Xion casts a fire spell before throwing her keyblade in a circular motion. Rinzler is struck multiple times before falling to the ground. The two dash at him, preparing to strike, when the arena's gravity suddenly shifts back to normal. Kairi, Xion hits the ground hard while Strela bounces harmlessly off the glass. Xion tries to get up but is kicked in the face by Rinzler as he falls. Kairi looks up and pulls up her keyblade in time to block a strike from Rinzler.
Rinzler tries to kick Kairi while she's stuck blocking him but is surprised when Xion attacks from behind, not expecting her to be back up so soon. He turns to strike her but she parries his dual identity discs out of his hand before she and Kairi slash through him at the same time. As he falls to the floor Kairi points her keyblade at him.
"Running executable. . ." she says mimicking Tron, before shooting a beam of light from her keyblade. The beam hit Rinzler and for a moment he was still. But then, Tron starts to stir, as he notices Clu rising from the elevator behind Kairi and Xion. CLU takes his identity disc and throws it at Xion, Tron quickly leaps onto his feet and pushes Xion and Kairi aside, before blocking the identity disc with his own.
The identity disc bounces around the room before crashing through the glass below Tron.
"No! Tron!" yells Xion as she reaches out to him, Tron reaches out, and their hands get closer, before growing farther apart as Tron falls to the depths below. Xion looks at her hand as Kairi comforts her, looking down where Tron had fallen
"I'll deal with you two later. I have to retrieve Rinzler." CLU says before taking the elevator out. The two turn as he disappears, and for a moment, there's silence, before a bright light appears against the glass in the shape of a keyhole.
"Will he be okay?" asks Xion
"Yeah, don't worry. This is just a sleeping world. These aren't the real versions of the world's inhabitants, I'm sure Tron's fine." Kairi reassures her
"But, what Xemnas said. . . What that creep said. . ."
"Don't pay them any mind Xion, since when has listening to Xemnas ever brought you or Roxas any good?" says Kairi
"Yeah. . . your right." Says Xion getting back to her own two feet. The two point their keyblades at the keyhole. The keyblades shoot out beams of light that pierce the keyhole and cause a great light to shine from it. The two pass out as the sense of drowsiness washes over them once again.