CHAPTER 3

"Holy..." Kristy didn't get to finish. She was struck speechless by the sight that greeted her as she hit pavement. There were humans... No they couldn't be humans! Kristy thought.

They looked human but their outfits weren't. They were in a world that looked. Amazing was all she could think of. What were they? They had what looked like black body suits with different colored circuits running through them. Kristy racked her brain for anything Alan had said that looked like this. Programs! Kristy realized.

"Um, hello?" Kristy called out to an older program with green circuits. She took one look at Kristy and fled. "Well I'm not that scary!" Kristy mumbled and then turned around. That was as far as she got before she was knocked out.

Kristy woke to a sharp slap on the face. A program with orange circuitry was staring at her. Another one of similar build stood behind it. "Send this one to the games!" He barked and the second one scribbled down something. Kristy looked around and realized she was flying. Her and some other programs were cuffed into what looked like a gateway. Also orange.

"Wait! What are the games?" Kristy asked but she just got another slap.

"Clu is going to be interested in this one." The orange program laughed. "Very interested indeed."

"Who's Clu?" Kristy begged but she got no response. No, you can't cry! She told herself. Don't be weak!

"I admit, you've got spirit kid. But you're going to need more than that to survive in the games." The program next to her said. "A whole heck of a ton more." Kristy didn't answer. Deep in thought.

Kristy was locked in a room. She was alone and all she could see were little hatches. Suddenly they opened and 8 female programs came out. All white circuits. She couldn't speak. She was dumbfounded. Only when they yanked off her clothes did she find her voice.

"WHAT THE CRAP!" She yelled. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Before she had a chance to react she been put into a black suit. What looked like the leader program pulled- what? A disc? She walked around Kristy and placed it on Kristy's back.

"Everything you say or do will be on this disk." She said. "Don't lose it or else."

"What?" Kristy replied.

"Deresolution." They all said and walked back to their compartments. Kristy looked down to see her circuits had a light blue color.

Better than orange, She thought grimly, as she started walking down a long hallway. When she reached the end she started to rise. She looked around and realized other programs were surrounding her, each in their own glass room. The wall next to her was shattered and she found herself facing the man from earlier.

"I told you you'd need more than spirit." He smiled nastily and waved to the crowd. Wait, crowd? Kristy thought.

"I'm in an arena!" She realized as she saw millions of programs cheering. "This must be the games." Kristy said, just barely managing to dodge a disc aimed for her neck.

"Stay on your feet newbie!" The program across from her taunted as his disk came back to him.

"So that's how it works, huh?" Kristy spat and yanked off her disc. Gripping it tightly, she launched it at her opponent. He was caught off guard, she realized and then with horror, as he split into pieces and fell through the floor.

"Now what?" She asked and another disc just missed her head. Kristy felt a rush of adrenaline as she faced her new opponent.

"You're dead!" She hissed and started to advance. He was better than the first, she realized, but not better than her. Within a matter of minutes he was gone. Kristy turned to another room and saw two programs fighting. One a girl, the other with a mask and orange circuiting. They both looked murderous as they fought, neither side giving in.

"Pay attention, freak!" She heard before the floor below her shattered and she was left dangling by one hand. Her enemy laughed and was about to step on her fingers before she managed to get her other hand on the break and launched herself upwards, crashing into him. "You idiot!" He shrieked and tried to punch her. With reflexes Kristy didn't know she had, she grabbed his fist and slammed her disc into the side of his head. He went down without a sound. She heard a crash as the crowd gasped. The girl next to her had fallen, barely conscious.

"Get away from her!" Kristy heard herself shout before she smashed the glass and started to attack the program with a mask, anything to buy the other girl time. She gave a whimper as a second disc cut her arm. He had two? Definitely not fair. Kristy cleared her head and started to fight.