AN: I'm sorry about the wait. I've been super unmotivated lately, just started a summer class and asked a friend to help me review the chapters before I post them.
Yay! First Disney world! I never really understood how Space Paranoids existed or how things worked compared to the rest of the worlds, since it's inside of a computer. So a lot of the "explanations" are based on my interpretations of the world, and my limited understanding of computers. I hope it makes sense. And I'm trying to keep the actual party size small 'cause it's hard to keep track of a lot of people. Anyway, enjoy!
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Never have, Never will.
"Ugh…What the hell just happened?" whined Edward as he pulled himself to his feet.
"What's the matter? Tired already?" Sora wasn't really one to talk though; the first time he'd entered the computer world he'd felt like someone had smacked him over the head with a brick or something. Then again, he'd been sucked in against his will. It certainly wasn't the most comfortable sensation on the planet. But he wasn't about to admit any of that to Edward.
Ed glared at him. "Where are we?" It sounded like more of a demand than a question.
"We're inside the computer," Sora answered. He gestured towards Ed who looked down and observed the glowing blue, digital armor he was wearing with wide eyes.
"Wha-What the hell!" he shouted. "You mean we're inside that machine?"
"Yup, there's a whole world inside here!" Sora explained.
"And it can be a dangerous one if you're not careful," came a voice from behind the terminal used to connect to the real world. Tron stepped into view holding a few wires in his hands. "Sora! It is good to see you again! How have you been?"
"Pretty good," he lied, "You?"
"I have been well." He examined Sora's new companions. "What happened to Donald and Goofy?" he asked.
"They stayed with the King for now, this is my friend Riku, and uh, Ed, right?" Sora turned towards Ed as he asked the question.
Ed fumed, "You forgot my name already? You idiot!"
"Hey! I've only known you for, like, 2 hours!" Sora fumed back.
"Enough!" exclaimed Riku as he stepped between the two of them. There was enough authority in his voice to quiet them down. He took the chance to talk to Tron. "We really need to access that information we asked about."
Tron's smile faded. "Yes, the information. There is one thing you might want to know first." He held up the wires he was holding. They'd obviously been pulled from the back of the terminal. "It seems that trying to access the data 'woke up' the security program, it has placed the entire system into a state of lock – down."
"Which means?" asked Ed.
Tron looked grim. "I managed to get you in here by tampering with the system." He tossed the wires on the floor. "But until we shut down the program, you will not be able to leave."
"YOU MEAN WE'RE STUCK HERE?" Ed shouted.
"Um, yes, you know, you are rather loud for your size." Tron said. Sora snickered.
"ARE YOU CALLIN' ME SHORT? YOU DATA FREAK?" Ed fumed.
"Please, stop shouting, you will attract them," pleaded Tron.
"Attract who?" Sora asked, but his question was answered as a number of robotic creatures appeared in the area they were standing in. "H-heartless?" Sora observed in disbelief.
"No, not really," answered Tron. "They were created by the security program to defend the data from hackers and threats, it is simply tapping into the data left behind by the heartless' infection of the system. They only resemble the heartless…and have their attacks."
"So the program thinks that we're a threat?" asked Riku. Tron nodded.
"And to get out we have to destroy it," Ed said.
"If they're not really heartless, then this shouldn't be too hard." Sora summoned his keyblade and ran towards the nearest fake, which resembled a magnum loader heartless. Sora swung his keyblade but the creature easily dodged the attack and attacked Sora from behind, sending him flying into a nearby wall.
"Owww…" he groaned as he stood up.
"Sora! Are you okay?" Riku asked as he and Tron ran to his side to help.
"If it were that easy, I would have been able to do away with it myself," Tron explained. "This program is protecting information that was clearly very important."
"Or very dangerous," corrected Riku.
"Wait!" interrupted Sora. "Aren't you a security program too? Can't you, I dunno, tell it to stop? Or something?" he asked Tron.
"I was created to keep the system running smoothly. This program was created to protect information." Tron explained, "We have different purposes and were programmed differently. So I cannot communicate with it, and I am not strong enough to terminate it alone."
"Right, that's why we're here…" mumbled Sora
"Where's Ed?" he asked, observing that the boy wasn't standing with them.
"He was right over…there…" Sora's words trailed off as he realized that the blond boy was nowhere to be seen. "Uh-oh…"
The fake heartless swerved around until they were in a line formation and then they ran at the group. Sora dodge rolled and swung his keyblade at one of them, hitting it from behind. The weapon hit with a loud cracking sound and the creature fell over and struggled to get back up. When it did, Sora could see that its side was damaged where it had been hit. He ran towards it again, using the same strategy, he dodge rolled to avoid the first attack and then swung at it, aiming for the same spot. He hit his target head on and the creature exploded into a cloud of data that quickly vanished.
Sora turned to see Riku finish off another fake and turn to deal with a third. Tron was throwing his disk weapon which was proving useful in landing multiple attacks, but didn't seem to have enough strength to kill the creatures. Sora ran over to help and swung his keyblade in a wide arc. He managed to take out two creatures at once, as they'd already been damaged by Tron, and then spun around to swing at another. He hit it with the keyblade at the same time as Tron's disc and the combined force of the two attacks was enough to destroy it. Sora turned around to see if there were any more, but they were all gone. Riku walked over to join them and Sora dismissed his keyblade.
Sora looked around, "Looks like we lost shortie…" He waited, hoping to hear a response to the short remark, but when he heard nothing, it only confirmed that they'd actually lost him.
"I'm sure he can take care of himself," said Riku.
"Yeah right, he doesn't even know what a computer is!" exclaimed Sora. "Where did he go anyway?"
"I may know," said Tron, who had gone to examine a dark shadow in the floor on the other side of the room. Sora walked over and looked down only to see that the shadow wasn't a shadow, but a hole in the ground. "I ran into a few of these on my way over. I believe that they are corruptions in the system being caused by the security program tapping into the old heartless data."
Sora looked down the hole; it was pitch black and he couldn't see. "You think Ed was dumb enough to fall down there?"
"Doubt it," replied Riku.
"It has nothing to do with intelligence," said Tron. "They have been opening up randomly all over the place, and are not easy to see."
"I guess we should go help him…" Sora said.
"Where does it lead?" Riku asked Tron.
Tron shook his head. "I cannot say. They are basically holes in the data, it could lead anywhere."
"One way to find out," said Sora, and he dove in head first.
ooooooooooooo
Ed was standing in a large open space. He wasn't really sure what had just happened. He'd been with Sora, Riku and that computer guy as some Heartless-like creatures attacked. Then a weird hole had suddenly opened in the floor beneath his feet and he'd fallen through into this place. He looked around. He could see walls rising in the distance in all directions, and there didn't seem to be anyone or anything else other than him.
"Sora? Riku? Computer guy?" No response. "Al? Leon?" Still nothing. "…Colonel Bastard?" He figured it was worth a try, but there was still no response. He looked at his surroundings. There had to be an exit somewhere and there didn't seem to be anything there to stop him.
"Too easy," he said to no-one in particular. He took one cautionary step, unsure of what would happen, but expecting some sort of trap. Suddenly a wall rose quickly out of the ground to his right. He jumped back and almost collided with another wall that rose on his left. He could hear numerous walls rising out of the ground all around him, filling the space. "What the hell?" He gawked at the radically altered space.
A glowing light next to him caught his attention and he looked down to see a cloud of numbers and symbols solidify into a glowing bike like vehicle. He'd seen a similar one in Radiant Garden; they'd called it a motorcycle. Was he supposed to ride this?
An echoing mechanical voice answered his thoughts. "Welcome to the game grid. Mount your light cycle."
"Light cycle?" He looked at the bike. Guess that's what it's called.
"Mount your light cycle," the voice repeated.
"Okay, okay." Ed sat on the bike. He didn't really know how to ride one of these things, but how hard could it be?
"Get ready," the voice stated.
"Ready for what?" Ed questioned. "Wait, game grid…is this a race or something?"
"Set," said the voice.
"Wait, what do I do? I don't know how to drive this thing?"
"Go."
A green light flashed, and Ed didn't have time to think. He hit the gas and the bike took off.
AN: I didn't want space paranoids to be the first world, but chronologically it made the most sense.
I actually really liked playing this world in the games (though the cool cyber armor probably had something to do with it…) I hope I can do it justice.
Useless fact: Tron was one of the first movies to use extensive computer animation, but there was actually only about twenty minutes of it. The sequel/remake looks cool though. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!