AN: We're back! Time to stop Herbert and his opposing racers!

Race 9: The Grid

With some technological know-how from Team SEA Racer, Adam was able to pinpoint the first location of their challenger in the computer world of Tron. Gabriel stepped in to help stabilize a portal to their destination, but it would be a one-way trip: they would have to use the exit portal within Tron itself in order to leave. Popping out on the other side, the teams looked around to see a black sky with stormy clouds, the ground equally as dark as neon lights lit up the buildings in the distance.

"Heck yeah, we're on the Grid!" Gabriel cheered. "And we all got cool Tron outfits as well."

"Huh, I think I can make this look work," Rocket nodded, pulling at his new outfit.

"Jasiri, you look adorable in that outfit," Lop said with a smile, making the hyena blush.

"Well, I don't usually wear clothes outside of my necklace, but when I do, I make them look good," Jasiri smirked.

"I wonder who Herbert hired to race against us here?" Beth asked aloud.

Her question was answered when a Light Cycle came zooming up to the racers, with a Program stepping off of the bike and recalling it. The Program wore the standard black uniform of the Tron universe, with white lines all over his body and a prominent "T" on his chest.

"Herbert got Tron himself to race us!?" Logan shouted in alarm.

Adam shook his head. "Not Tron. This guy's a fake."

"So you got me," the Program said, removing their helmet to reveal that they had circuitry-like lines all over their skin. "Look at you all, a bunch of Users. I figured it'd be easier to fool you than most."

"Everyone, this guy is Cyrus, a rogue Program that used to be Tron's apprentice as the first Renegade," Gabriel explained. "But he went crazy and believed that the only way to stop CLU was to destroy the entire Grid and everyone in it. He also caused a lot of trouble for Beck when became the second Renegade."

"What my goals are don't matter now," Cyrus said, putting his helmet back on. "All I have to do is make sure you guys don't win. And once I finish you, Tron and Beck will be next."

"This is still a race, right?" Silver asked, his teammates giving him confused shrugs.

"Let's make the finish line the Portal," Gabriel said, pulling up a map. He then turned to the others and held out a hand. "And remember guys, we're a team this go around, so aim your attacks as Cyrus and don't give him any room to de-rez you."

"Right!" everyone nodded, putting their own hand in before breaking up to their vehicles.

"Let the challenge begin," said a computerized voice as the arena around them roared to life with a crowd of Programs watching on. "Users vs. Cyrus. The race will begin in…"

3

2

1

GO!

Cyrus activated his Light Cycle and raced ahead of the heroes, his vehicle emitting a trail of energy that would do major damage to their cars if they ran into it. The race began in the Light Cycle Arena itself, though it soon became apparent that something was up.

"Hey, we don't have any items to fight back with!" Toren exclaimed.

"To be fair, this wasn't one of the races we were supposed to be a part of," Rachel called. "They didn't have any set up for us to collect."

"Luckily for all of us, I can use my powers of technology to hack some in for us," Adam said. He tapped some buttons on his robot arm and soon item boxes appeared on the track in front of them. "You can thank me later!"

The teams all grabbed up some items to defend themselves with as Cyrus continued to create light trails for them to dodge around. Aline and Beth got on either side of Cyrus, and when the Program pulled out his disc to attack with, they put up shields to knock the attack back at him. Rachel and Logan tossed bombs to attack, while Gabriel launched a firework to disrupt the light trail for a moment to give the teams some breathing room.

"Okay buddy, I'm doing this for my friends!" King called as he built up special power. "Titan Screech attack!" He sent out his shockwave ability, knocking Cyrus over and through the wall of the arena out into the Outlands of the Grid.

"Nice hit, but this race is far from over," Cyrus taunted, driving out into the rocky terrain.

"For a Program he's taking a lot of hits," Adam noted.

"I detect that he has been enhanced to sustain more damage than is normally capable of his kind," Athena said.

"Well we can't let him win now," Iron Man said. "Let's show this piece of software who's boss!"

Another summoning of item boxes and the teams were ready for the next wave of attacks. With the more open space of the Outlands, Cyrus could leave his light trail in more complex patterns, making it harder for the teams to get in and attack. He also started tossing his disc more to attack as well, which Silver only just managed to block with a shield.

"Return to sender!" Toren called, using his own shield to counter one of Cyrus' disc throws back into his face. This gave Beth time to pull ahead of the Program and drop a banana to slip him up, setting up Aline to come in with a firework attack.

"Teamwork makes the dream work!" Molly said, giving her team captain a high five.

Gabriel and Logan used Cyrus being stunned to launch their own fireworks attack as well, before pulling off to the side as Rachel came up with a charged special attack in hand.

"Face my sword!" Rachel called. She pulled out Maleficent's Bane and managed to catch Cyrus' disc on the end of it, charging the sword with magic, she launched the disc as part of the attack, hitting the Light Cycle in the back wheel and permanently disabling the light trail.

"Argh!" Cyrus grunted. "Lucky shot. You Users are tougher than you look. But can you keep up with me once we hit city limits?"
The race was now in Tron City, the capital of the Grid, and it looked like Cyrus had some backup here to try and hinder our heroes. Despite not being able to attack with his Light Cycle, Cyrus knew the city better than the teams, weaving between buildings in ways that made it difficult to track him.

"Okay guys, I think we should split up," Adam suggested. "We'll meet up at the other side of the city near the Solar Sailer, where it's a straight shot to the Portal. If you see Cyrus, use these items to slow him down."

Another set of items was sent their way, and the teams split up through the city streets to make them harder to find. CLU guards set up blockages, but they were no match for the superior driving skills of the heroes. Silver and Gabriel ran into Cyrus first, both of them launching bombs. Unfortunately, he turned a corner so tight the items collided into each other, bringing down debris to block the path ahead.

"Guess we should go to the meet up point and let the others find Cyrus," Silver sighed.

Adam found Cyrus next, tossing a banana his way, only for Logan to take the hit instead. "At least I had a shield to block that one," Logan said.

"You guys having trouble getting this guy too?" Rachel asked, driving up next to Logan alongside Aline. "This city and its tight streets are making it hard to actually land a hit on him."

"Yeah, chasing someone is a lot harder than just racing against them," Logan said.

"Cyrus isn't invincible though," Adam said. "What we should do is box him in so he can't just run away. Like how you play Light Runner."

The four nodded, following Cyrus and cutting him off whenever he tried to get around them. As they reached the end of the city, their strategy paid off as the Program had nowhere to run as Toren came in for a boost attack from the back and Beth with a banana attack from the front.

"Let's take it to the end guys!" Gabriel said as they exited Tron City. "Rocket went ahead and did some reprograming on the Solar Sailer pathway so we can drive across it."

"And when I'm the one that finishes, I'll use the portal to delete the Grid in its entirety from the outside!" Cyrus laughed evilly.

"You know, we probably should have thought about that first," Lop said, chuckling nervously.

The path ahead of them glowed as the pillar of light that was the Portal shone in the far-off distance. Adam loaded up a final set of items for the teams, and it was a matter of who could get ahead of Cyrus first in order to win this race. The Program was getting more aggressive in his driving now as well, actively ramming into the other racers to try and knock them off of the track and into the digital sea below.

"How about you don't shove us into a pit of oblivion?" Jasiri said, activating her team's shield power to counter and attack from Cyrus.

"Yeah, I'd rather not be lost to the digital code of this computer world forever," Nico agreed, his team also using a shield counter.

Adam boosted up from behind to bump Cyrus, and the Program's lights started to flicker as his health was now severely drained. "I'm not… giving up now!" Cyrus said, his voice starting to glitch out.

"He's on the ropes, and the portal is just ahead!" Gabriel said. "Let's give him one more push, team!"
"Cinderella, you got this!" Silver cheered, his partner using her special to toss a pumpkin at Cyrus.

"See you later alligator!" Logan called as he passed the Program.

"And after a while, crocodile," Gabriel added.

"Calibrating Portal opening sequence as we speak," Adam said.

"Then let's make sure we do this right," Rachel nodded.

"One slingshot special, coming at ya!" Sprig called as he used his marksman skills to bean Cyrus in the head, knocking his helmet right off.

"You don't mind if I leave this here, do you?" Bonkers asked as the Toon Buggy drove up next to Cyrus. The bobcat pulled out an anvil and dropped in on Cyrus' Light Cycle, making the vehicle gitch out as it finally took enough damage to fade away.

"Nononono!" Cyrus shouted, tumbling along the ground as the heroes made it to the portal. He stood up, his form damaged and sparking as he looked to be almost done. "I can't lose, I am better than Tron, than Beck, and the Users! I am-!"

"Yeah, I think you're done," Toren said, flying up to Cyrus' face and blowing a raspberry before bopping him on the nose. "Boop!" And with that, Cyrus fell to the ground, his body giving out as the damage he took caused the Program to be de-rezzed.

"So did we just kill that guy?" Silver asked.

Adam shook his head. "He's a being made of computer program, so he can be repaired and remade. I'm sure CLU will have some use for a guy like Cyrus in his neverending battle against Tron and the Users. For now though, let's get out of here."

"Hey, can I activate the portal? I've always wanted to do this," Gabriel asked.

"Be our guest, kid," Rocket laughed.

Gabriel nodded, smiling like a kid on Christmas as he walked over to the Portal. He took the disc on his back and held it up into the light, the glow surround himself and his friends as he stood in the iconic Tron pose. Soon in a flash, the teams were all out of the Grid and onto their next challenge to race towards Herbert.

Total Points

Gabriel (47)

Rachel (45)

Logan (44)

Toren (41)

Aline (36)

Silver (34)

Beth (33)

Adam (31)

Author's Note

And with that, the first challenger race is completed! If you didn't know, Cyrus is one of the villains from the Disney XD series "Tron Uprising" which was a prequel to the Tron Legacy film following a Program named Beck who was trained by Tron to fight back against CLU and his army. It's a pretty cool show that got overlooked and totally deserved another season as we never found out what happened to Beck afterwards.

You may notice that the point totals changed a bit this time, and that's because for the Challenger Races, points are determined by the attacks done to the challenger instead of based on the place everyone finished in. Like with the race placements this was all determined by dice rolls, so it was completely random who's attack hit or missed here.

Next time: the teams head to New York City to face a Spider-Man villain, but which one is revving up to race against our heroes?