DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT MY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS!

A/N: As you might've been anticipating, CHAPTER 16 has now OFFICIALLY arrived!

Just for the record, there is ONE word from Kingdom Hearts 3D I had to fix to make this story "Less Offensive". Thus, I changed it... IF you know what I mean!

Either way, that's all I have to say.

Let's continue with the world of TRON: LEGACY!

CHAPTER 16
The Father, Son, & Portal

As he cautiously climbed out of the cockpit, Riku felt his head begin to whirl around in circles; dizziness was starting to conquer over him. Without any prior notice, his legs gave way from beneath and caused him to collapse onto the white tiles that made the design of the floor. As he took a few moments to allow his vision to restore itself, the silver-haired youth allowed himself to recollect the events that had recently taken place.

Just after Sora, Violet, and him had first arrived in the Sleeping World called The Grid, they had realized their appearances had altered once more. While he and Violet were pondering over where they were, Sora had instantly recognized the environment as someplace he had travelled to previously. Yet, Sora was unable to reveal more information before they were descended upon by a 'Recognizer' — at least he believed that was what it was called — and a group of black-dressed guards. Though Riku was still baffled about why, the guards had hastily attempted to arrest the trio; he and Violet were taken prisoner whilst Sora broke free and darted out of the vicinity.

While situated aboard the 'Recognizer', Riku and Violet had become acquainted with a young man named Sam Flynn, who informed them what the identity of the world was. However, they were separated from Sam at a large stadium. It wasn't long before they were escorted into an arena-like structure and came across Sam once again. The silver-haired Keyblade wielder and the angel were forced to assist their new-found 'friend' when a 'special' program named CLU challenged them all to a battle involving motorcycle-resembling vehicles called 'Light Cycles'.

After defeating the majority of their opponents, Violet had lost control of her cycle and rammed into Riku's. The outcome was a 'domino effect' (as Kairi had sometimes put it), in which Violet's impact had caused Riku to collide with Sam's cycle and throw them all onto the arena's floor. For a brief moment, things appeared to be hopeless when CLU came speeding at them. Fortunately, they were swiftly rescued by a vehicle driven by a young woman named Quorra, who had previously run across Sora and insisted the group escape out of the arena with all haste.

Thus, they had driven out into the middle of nowhere until Quorra had parked the vehicle within a garage concealed inside a greyish-colored mountain deep in the rugged environment. As he had clambered out of the vehicle, Riku had felt extremely dizzy from all the swerving, zigzagging, and speeding that had befallen the group as Quorra drove them into a region she referred to as the 'Outlands' — a deserted environment situated far beyond the arenas and stadium.

"You okay, Riku?" Sora inquired, pulling the silver-haired teenager out of his current recollection.

"Yeah," Riku affirmed as he succeeded in regaining his balance. "Just felt a little… unsteady."

Sora nodded in understanding. "Well, c'mon! Violet and the others are already waiting for us at the elevator."

With a nod in return, Riku followed his best friend as the latter led the way to a corner of the well-lit room. After the pair had regrouped with Sam Flynn, Quorra, and Violet, the group of five stepped onto a dim-lighted platform which rapidly began to rise. After they had entered an elevator-like shaft of darkness, the platform quickly became lit up to illuminate the surrounding walls of rock. Before long, they reached the top floor.

Sora was amazed; the whole room they had just arrived at was shrouded in complete darkness while the elevator was still lit up. Yet, that was not all; on the far wall he noticed a window-like surface having been organized into a grid of evenly-spaced dots with an excellent view leading into the far distance. For some unknown reason, the brown, spikey-haired Keyblader was positive this world seemed extremely familiar. However, he couldn't quite place when he had last been there or whom he had met. Why was that the case?

In the exact center of the room was the form of an older man sitting on the floor in a state of what one could classify as meditation. Quorra told the others to wait while she casually strolled up to the man.

"Quorra," the man spoke out the instant he heard her footsteps. "I fear something has happened."

Quorra knelt down beside him. "Something has happened," she replied. "We have some guests."

The man chuckled. "There are no 'guests', kiddo."

After Quorra backed away, the man gradually stood up and turned to face the group. As he stood up as straight as possible, the darkened floor speedily lit up as though a ripple of liquid water had flowed directly through it starting from where the man stood.

Now Sora was impressed. All around the room were objects he had expected to see typically in a futuristic-styled house. Nonetheless, he knew he was exploring a Sleeping World, so the items he saw were most-certainly from the past rather than the future. Among them was an entire setting of a table and matching chairs bearing a striking resemblance to what he would have anticipated to be within a house back in the Radiant Garden, a bookshelf lined entirely with a whole assortment of literature, a fireplace-like section with magical-like flames, and even a motorcycle-shaped vehicle sitting off to the side of the room.

One look at the group and the man was clearly astounded. Even so, he still had to capability to say, "Sam?"

Riku and Violet both froze in place with the same, strange sensation the young man they had encountered before knew who this older man was. Their feelings were expanded when Sam asked, "Long time?"

The man stared back with what seemed to be a sense of familiarity. "You have no idea."

A minute later, the man had stepped over to where Sam had already planted his feet. By this point, Sora was able to make out the man's appearance. He was wearing long, pure white-colored robes and sporting long, grey hair, and a bushy mustache and beard upon his face. He took a closer look at Sam, sputtering, "You're… you're here?"

Less than a second later, the man gave Sam an enormous hug as tears began to form in the former's eyes. "You're here!"

Sam's eyes immediately began filling with tears of his own. "I'm here… "

Watching from the sidelines, Sora was both startled and mystified. Why was a total stranger giving Sam Flynn such a caring-like embrace? Who was this guy? Perhaps the older man was related to Sam? The possibility of such was still evident.

As the man released his arms from around Sam, he said, "You're big!"

Sam was somewhat perplexed. "And you're?"

The older man gave a friendly grin. "Old."

With that, Sam gave a smile in turn. The older man gestured towards Sora and the others. "Friends of yours?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

"CLU had them all on the 'Light Cycle Grid'," Quorra explained as she strode over. "I intervened."

The man gave a nod of understanding. "Dinner," he stated. "We'll talk then."

Seconds after the man had walked off towards the window, Quorra turned to Sam. "He thought he'd never see you again."

Sam nodded. "Yeah!"

Unable to contain his continuously growing number of questions, Sora blurted, "Sam, who was that?!"

Before Sam could answer, Riku spoke up. "Was that a… 'relative'?"

Sam gave another nod. "It's my Dad — Kevin Flynn. I haven't seen him since he vanished twenty years ago. He was here all this time… "

"Yeesh!" Violet commented. "Something tells me there is an extensive, detailed story there."

Sam nodded. "And I'm going to find out what it is at dinner."

Riku crossed his arms. "If I was separated from someone else," he began. "I'd like to know what happened, too."

"Whoa!" Sora's voice perked up. "What is this?!"

Whirling around to spot what the spikey-haired Keyblade wielder was referring to, the group took note of how he was closely inspecting the motorcycle-shaped vehicle. The machine was shaped almost identically to a typical 'Light Cycle' except it had a little cockpit. The color scheme of it consisted of a silver frame with white-colored armor and yellow-colored circuitry.

"Vintage," Quorra confirmed. "Flynn built it cycles ago for the Games. It doesn't get out as much as it used to, but it's still the fastest thing on the Grid."

"Cool!" an excited Sora proclaimed. "Wish I had something that fast. I'd never be late for anything!"

"Better keep wishing," Riku contradicted. "Your mother would never approve of something like that!"

Sora paused after Riku had spoken. When was the last time the former had bothered to speak a decent conversation with his own mother? Every time his mom had insisted on something or other, Sora would either refuse or ignore her.

The only time he recalled this being an exception was when his mother had become so flustered with Sora's determination to explore the outside world with his friends Riku (who she thought was nice and 'sweet') and Kairi (who she often referred to as 'The Mayor's Girl') by sailing on a raft they had constructed out of wood. Thus, she had lectured him by telling a story about her older sister — Sora's Aunt Shelly — who had ventured into the unknown for reasons his mother refused to reveal. This had made the brown-haired youth feel slightly uncomfortable. Still, who was his Aunt Shelly? He had long since known his mother's married name was 'Star Hikari', but what type of person had her older sister been? Such query had indirectly influenced Sora to proceed with exploring the outside world. For all he knew, his Aunt Shelly might have been somewhere along the way.

"Forget me," Violet spoke up, removing Sora from his pondering. "I would lose control of it in the blink of an eye!"

Riku shook his head and smiled. Noticing this, Sora did the same.

"Do you know it?" Quorra asked, drawing everyone else's eyes to where she was standing with Sam. Situated upon a small table clearly made from wood was a board game with pieces that strongly matched the layout of a typical Chess game. "His patience usually beats my more aggressive strategy."

Approaching the game, Riku took into account of how it was already set to play from the beginning. He turned to Violet and asked, "Want to play some Chess?"

Violet stared back hesitantly. "I… I never learned!"

"It's easy," Riku reassured the Angel of Dreams. "Just give it a try!"

Violet gave a small hint of a possible reddish-tint upon her cheeks. "Okay… I guess."

Riku shook his head when he noticed Sora, Sam, and Quorra looking along the shelf of books. Quorra explained, "Flynn shared them with me. I've read them all!"

"Light reading," Sam smirked in amazement. He began to read the titles. "Tolstoy… War & Peace… The Hunger Games — must have a killer ending."

"Yeah," Sora acknowledged as he watched Quorra remove a particular book from the shelf.

"Flynn's teaching me about the 'art of the self-less'," she admitted. "About… 'removing oneself from the equation'. But just between us, Jules Verne is my favorite."

As Sora picked his way along the shelf, the spikey-haired Keyblade wielder overheard Quorra inquiring Sam, "Do you know Jules Verne?"

"Well… sure." Sam responded, unsure how to reply.

Quorra's eyes lit up with extreme curiosity. "What's he like?!"

Far away from where Sora and the others were currently located, the irregularly-shaped, orange-yellow colored ship was hovering in mid-air. From within the vehicle was the unmistakable form of CLU himself, who happened to be looking at an image being displayed from a disk in his hands. As he watched, the image occasionally transformed from an unusual-looking boy [Sora] into a display of the boy wielding a weapon shaped like 'key-sword'.

"What's this?" CLU muttered in awe. "A… 'Keyblade'?"

After a few moments longer, CLU switched off the display and tossed it to the figure behind him. The figure was the same one Sora had previously encountered moments before Quorra had grabbed him.

After the figure had left the room, CLU murmured under his breath, "Your move, Flynn! C'mon!"

As he ate dinner at the table, Riku felt discouraged. For the past hour before the food was ready, Violet and him had been playing four nonstop games of Chess. Ironically, Violet had won every single time. Though the angel had claimed she didn't know how to play, Violet had caught onto the concept especially well for such a short amount of time. All the silver-haired teen could think of doing was challenging her to a rematch.

All of a sudden, Riku detected Sora snatching each item of food and cramming them all into his mouth, much to the annoyance of Violet. With a sigh, Riku simply let the dilemma pass. It was just like Sora to have difficulties with proper table etiquette. Kairi often complained to Riku about how Sora "ate like a pig." All Riku would do was simply smirk and shake his head. Thus, it was no shock that Sora was still acting that way.

As Sora carelessly devoured his fifteenth spoonful of red yogurt with marshmallows, some of it splattered onto Violet's arms and wings. In a state of complete vexation, the angel glowered at Sora. "Sora," she snapped. "Where are your manners?!"

"'Manners'," Sora questioned with food still in his mouth. "What are 'manners'?"

Rather than answer, Violet sighed as she turned away and covered her face with her hand. Riku simply rolled his eyes when he noticed that Sam Flynn, his Dad (Kevin Flynn), and Quorra had all witnessed this awkward event unfold. Riku paused for a few moments, before carrying on with his meal. Since Violet was directly across the table from him, Sora's behavior would have been more obvious to Sam and Quorra than anyone else. Fortunately, Quorra was sitting to Riku's right with Sam's dad sitting to his left at the end. He continued to listen as Kevin Flynn was asking his son about how the latter was doing.

Finally, Flynn said, "I believe you must have a few questions of your own, Sam."

"Actually, just one," Sam replied.

Riku began to ponder what type of query Sam had been questioning when Flynn spoke up. "Why I never came home?"

All Sam had to do was nod in confirmation.

As Flynn took a deep breath, Riku caught a glimpse of Sora and Violet turning their attention to hear the former's tale. Flynn took a deep breath before saying, "Those nights when I went to the office — you probably figured it out — I was coming here. Human form into digital space — heavy stuff!"

"I'll say… " Riku commented softly.

"But I had you," Flynn continued. "I had ENCOM, so I couldn't be in here all the time. I needed help."

"Tron and CLU," Sam presumed.

"Tron," Sora exclaimed. "So this is like Tron's world! I knew it!"

Upon this sudden exclamation, Riku spotted Violet shrugging. He nodded in return, allowing the angel to relax, although still slightly confused.

Based on what he had just learned, the silver-haired Keyblade wielder understood why Sora had assumed the world was familiar to him. In truth, it happened to be the same one Sora had visited with Donald and Goofy during their last adventure. Despite being absent for that particular quest, Riku knew about Tron since Sora had taken the opportunity to fill him in on everything that the former had missed during the brown-haired Keyblader's journey.

"Right," Flynn affirmed. "Tron was created by Alan for the old system. I brought him here to protect this one. CLU was my creation — a perfect program to create a perfect world. We were jamming it up, man. Building utopia. Hours in here were just minutes back home."

"Cool!" Sora declared, adding in his random moments of feedback that Riku already knew anyone would care less about.

"Just as I thought it couldn't get any more profound," Flynn stated, causing everyone to pause in surprise. "Something happened… "

"The miracle?" Sam inquired.

"The miracle," Flynn confirmed. "You remembered! ISOs, Isomorphic Algorithms. A whole new life-form."

"You created them?" Riku finally asked.

Contrary to what he had anticipated, Flynn laughed. "No," he responded. "No, they weren't really… really from anywhere! The conditions were right, and they came into being. For centuries, we've dreamed of gods, spirits, aliens — an intelligence beyond our own. I found them in here like flowers in a wasteland. Profounding naïve. Unimaginably wise. They were spectacular."

To say Riku was astounded would be a complete understatement. He listened as Flynn continued, "Everything I had hoped to find in the system — control, order, perfection — none of it meant a thing. I'd been living in a hall of mirrors. The ISOs shattered it. The endless possibilities of their root code, their digital DNA. Disease? History! Science, philosophy — every idea man has had about the universe up for grabs! Bio-digital Jazz, man!"

Riku nodded in understanding when Flynn finished, "The ISOs, they were going to be my gift to the world."

"So what happened… to your gift," Riku questioned. He had the slightest feeling that there was still more to this story than what would be perceived as a cheerful ending.

"CLU," Flynn explained. "CLU happened."

All at once, Violet's necklace began to glow. Everyone stared at it in alarm when Sora said, "Another flashback?"

Violet nodded. "Yes."

She held up her necklace as a projection appeared on the wall opposite the table. A fuzzy image steadily came into focus to show Flynn and a program walking down a street.

"Your transport to the portal is almost ready, Mister Flynn," the program rushed. "You know I don't like it when you cut it this close."

"Would you stop worrying about it, Tron?" Flynn reassured. "Everything's going to be fine. Nothing's going to happen."

A sudden voice shouted, "Flynn!"

Both Tron and Flynn looked their left where they noticed CLU marching towards them. With a loud, voice, CLU inquired, "Am I still to create the perfect system?"

There was a pause before Flynn nodded. "Yeah," he confirmed.

Without warning, CLU's head was swiftly concealed inside a helmet. In the process, several other programs steeped into view with similar helmets and disk-shaped weapons.

Flynn sighed, "It was a coup."

In a rapid reaction, the hostile programs charged at both Tron and Flynn. In the ensuing chaos, Flynn sprinted away, leaving Tron to retaliate against the enemies with his disk-shaped weapon. Fortunately, Tron managed to strike down each opponent and obtained a second disk in the process. Unfortunately, Flynn's getaway came to an abrupt halt when CLU stepped out from behind a lamppost and snatched him by the neck. The latter declared, "You've been corrupted!"

With a violent thrust, CLU threw Flynn onto the street. Flynn turned around, only to see Tron in the distance attacking two additional enemies with his dual disks. The latter slashed, slammed, and clobbered his weapons into the enemies with exceedingly quick movements.

As CLU approached Flynn in an attempt to eliminate him, Tron charged at the former and jumped onto his shoulders. Flynn clambered onto his feet as Tron hollered, "Flynn! GO!"

With that, Flynn took off running, even as CLU tossed Tron onto the street. As Flynn hid behind a nearby wall, he heard a scream of terror seconds before the sound of a sickening crunch echoed. Horrified and saddened, Flynn darted down a side-street and out of sight.

As the flashback ended, Flynn explained, "Tron — he fought for me. I never saw him again."

Riku was baffled as the projection from Violet's necklace faded and disappeared. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. Sam's Dad, Kevin Flynn, had been betrayed by his own creation — CLU. He took note that Sora was downright miserable. All his friend could say was, "Tron… why… "

Even though he had never met the computer program Sora had befriended, Riku could still sense the depression of loss his best friend was most-likely feeling. If there was anything worse than losing a friend, it was never getting them back. According to what they had just been told, Tron was gone and never coming back.

Riku snapped back into attention when Sam asked, "So why didn't you fight back?"

"He did," Quorra acknowledged.

"CLU fed on my resistance," Flynn said, not finished with his experience. "The more I fought, the more powerful he became. It was impressive really. And my miracle, CLU saw the ISOs as an imperfection, so he destroyed them."

"The Purge… " Quorra remarked.

"'Purge'," Violet wondered aloud. "What is a 'purge'?"

"A deletion of data," Sam explained.

"Wait," Riku interrupted. "You mean CLU killed all the ISOs?!"

"It was genocide," Flynn sighed in confession. "I tried to get back, but I… I couldn't get to the portal. It uses massive power and can't stay open forever. And like a safe, it… it can only be opened from the outside."

Flynn looked at his son directly. "It closed on me, Sam," he concluded. "That's why I never came home."

"I see… " Riku remarked. All he could interpret was that Flynn had faced numerous tragedies before getting trapped in a world he had created himself. To his right, he noticed Violet comforting Sora.

Sam got up from the table and stepped up to the nearby window. "So the portal," he said. "It activated when I came in, so it's open now."

"Not for long," Flynn added, approaching his son. "Only one millicycle — about eight hours."

Riku stood up from the table and walked up to the window. He peered into the distance where a tall structure was reaching towards the sky of grey clouds and occasional flashes of lightning. Yet, it was the tiny star of white light floating just above the building that grabbed his attention. He continued to look at it in awe until Sam said, "Then we go now, go home. We'll make a run for it. We'll get you out of here."

"Sam, don't rush," Flynn interjected.

"What do you mean 'don't rush'," Sam exclaimed. "The portal's going to close!"

"Sounds like a golden opportunity," Riku encouraged.

"Once Flynn's on the Grid, CLU will stop at nothing to obtain his disk," Quorra called out.

"Why?" Violet joined along.

"Yeah," Sora spoke up, having finally finished grieving. "What's so special about your disk?"

Flynn turned to everyone around the room before explaining, "My disk is everything! It's the master key — the golden ticket — the way out!"

As Flynn turned back to Sam, he added, "And not just for me!"

"What do you mean?" Sam questioned as Riku nodded.

Flynn looked out the window. "Our worlds are more connected than anyone knows. CLU figures if I can be in… "

"…He can be out?" Sam asked.

Flynn nodded. "With my disk… it's possible."

"Then what?" Riku inquired.

"Game over," Flynn responded with what seemed to be a feeling of horror written upon his face. "The guy doesn't dig imperfection."

Turning to face Sam, Flynn added, "What's more imperfect than our world? I can't let that happen. I won't!"

A sensation of realization crept into Riku's mind when he understood what the terrible outcome would be if CLU travelled through the portal. Yet, he still grew aware of his surroundings in time to hear Sam ask, "So what do we do? Nothing?"

"It's amazing how productive doing nothing can be," Flynn replied. "CLU's planning something — we've known that for a while. Programs have been disappearing. There's unrest out there, even revolution. If we sit tight, CLU might be brought down from the inside."

"The portal's closing," Sam argued. "We can't just sit tight."

"Yeah," Sora agreed. "We need to do something!"

Flynn looked directly at Sam. "Tell me," he inquired. "What brought you here to the Grid?"

Sam sighed in irritation before stating, "Alan got your page."

"I didn't send any page," Flynn said. "It was CLU — CLU sent that page. That's why you're here. Don't you see? This is all his design. He wanted another piece on the board to change the game! With you, he got more than he ever dreamed! This is precisely what he wants! It's his game now! The only way to win is not to play!"

"Yeah, well that's a heck of a way to live!" Sam retorted. This brought out looks of surprise upon the faces of Sora and Violet. Riku felt the same surge of shock flow through him despite not showing it. What a shock! Throughout all his adventures with Sora and Mickey, Riku had never heard anyone talk in such an awkward and forceful manner.

"But it is a way," Flynn argued. "Sometimes life has a way of moving you past things like wants and hopes."

"That's great, Dad," Sam said in a sarcastic tone of fury. "Keep telling yourself that!"

As Sam stormed out of the room in anger, Flynn sighed. "Good night, Sam."

After Flynn had left the room, Quorra, Sora, Riku, and Violet hurried after Sam. They found him sulking in a hallway.

"Sam?" Riku spoke up.

"How can he be so afraid of his own creation?!" Sam snapped without warning. "He made CLU! Why doesn't he just end him?!"

Sora admitted, "I was thinking the same thing."

"He could," Quorra confessed. "But the process would require reintegration. Flynn would not survive the event. It would mean the end of them both."

"Then what can we do?" Violet questioned.

"I'm going through that portal," Sam persisted. "It may be CLU's game in here, but outside I can delete him with one keystroke."

Riku paused for a moment. "How would you get there?"

"I know a program who can help," Quorra spoke up. "His name is Zuse. He fought alongside the ISOs."

"Where can I find him?" Sam inquired.

"I'll help you!" Riku added.

Even though Riku seemed to be on the verge of having an adventure of his own, Sora and Violet both agreed to stay put with Quorra in case anything went wrong.

A/N: Now you know the TRUE STORY about what happened to Sam's father, KEVIN FLYNN!

Seeing as I do not have much to say today, I'll just conclude...

...HERE - PLEASE DON'T LEAVE WITHOUT REVIEWING! THE FATE OF THIS STORY DEPENDS ON IT!

This is SoraLego278 saying, "See Ya Later, Keybladers!"