Chapter 17 Space Paranoids
Riku groans and opens his eyes to find himself lying face down on a cold metal floor. Spots from the flash he had seen the the computer room float in his vision and he blinks to clear them as he pushes himself into a standing position. Raising a hand to brush the hair out of his eyes he realizes he is wearing some sort of helmet and a look down reveals all his clothes have changed to a sort of strange futuristic metal suit giving off blue light.
"You okay, Riku?"
Riku turns to see Zack, also wearing the strange new clothes, being helped to his feet by another man whose pale blue face makes Riku think he isn't human. "Fine I think," Riku replies looking around the room they are in to see to his surprise that it is small cell with large locked door. "What is this place?"
"You're inside a mainframe computer system," the stranger says.
"A what?" Riku asks.
"A computer system - for processing data." The man's voice is not quite human, but there is something familiar about it.
Riku looks to Zack completely lost as to what is going on, but Zack is giving the man a strange look. "Tron?" He says. "Is that you?"
"Affirmative," the man replies and Riku's eyes widen in surprise.
"What are you doing here?" Zack asks.
Tron sighs and crosses his arms. "I'm under arrest same as you, Zack." He turns to Riku. "And I don't know your name new user."
"It's Riku."
"Well Riku, Zack, how did you end up inside the computer?" Tron asks looking between the two of them.
"We were trying to pull up the castle's camera feeds when this voice started saying we didn't have access and then the machine on the back wall zapped us here." Riku gestures around the cell they are in, glaring at the confining walls.
"The voice called itself the Master Control Program," Zack adds, glancing at Riku who is starting to pace around the small space.
Tron's face darkens. "I should have guessed the MCP was behind all this."
"What does this MCP want?" Zack asks.
"As far as I can tell it wants to eradicate the users," Tron replies.
"Why?"
"Revenge I would guess," Tron says. "This computer's previous user, Xehanort, trapped it in an endless loop because of the unfixable bugs in its program. After you left the heartless attacked the computer and enough programming was lost for the MCP to break out. Now I'm in here and it has taken over the computer."
"Well how do we get out of here?" Riku asks, frowning at Tron. "We need to get back to the outside world and we need access to those video feeds if we are going to find Kairi."
Pointing to a bulky machine in the corner Tron says, "This terminal could've gotten you back to the User world. But the MCP cut the power 50 microcycles ago. As long as it is still in control, you'll be trapped here."
Zack adjusts the sword belt of his new clothes slightly. His sword has turned blue and glows the same as the lit up parts of his outfit. "Where is the MCP?"
"The Central Computer Core," Tron says. "But it doesn't matter because we are stuck-" Tron cuts himself off, looks to the bright light shooting out of Riku's keyblade.
Riku aims the beam at the cell door and the click of a lock opening echoes around the small room as the light fades. Lowering his keyblade, but not making it disappear, Riku turns to Zack and Tron the latter of whom has an expression of complete shock. "So how do we get there?"
"...Solar Sailer," Tron says, finding his voice again.
"Lead the way," Riku says gesturing for Tron to go first. Still staring at the keyblade in Riku's hand, Tron moves to the door and opens it.
"The MCP won't be working alone," Tron says. "Be on guard for his underlings." He glances outside the cell before slipping out into the hallway and motioning for the others to follow him.
Riku goes out next with Zack behind him and Tron takes off at a careful pace. Riku starts to follow, but Zack touches his shoulder to stop him. Turning, Riku gives him an annoyed look, "What?"
Zack fixes him with a serious stare for a moment and says, "We're going to find her."
Riku ducks his head at this, thinking of his red haired best friend and what she must be going through as Ansem's prisoner. Zack's grip on his shoulder tightens and he looks back up finding it hard to meet his stare again.
"What happened to her isn't your fault," Zack says. "You know that, right?"
Riku swallows hard, but is saved from having to answer by a low whistle from the end of the hallway. Tron is gesturing for them to hurry up and pulling himself out of Zack's grip, Riku jogs down the hallway to him with Zack following behind. Tron pauses at a corner and peers around it as Riku and Zack catches up with him.
Pulling back from the corner, Tron whispers, "The Solar Sailer terminal isn't that far, but it seems the MCP has let loose some bugs in the system." Riku sticks his head around the corner to see the so called 'bugs' are heartless, but a type that fits in with the computer world. He turns back to Tron as the program says, "We're going to have to fight our way through. Are you ready?"
"Ready," Zack says hefting his sword which looks almost like it does in the real world, but with a slight blue tinge to the normally silver blade.
Riku nods and takes the lead in the charge to face the heartless that stand in the way of him getting back to his friends.
…
Panting, Riku stabs through the last of the heartless, a red one with a single wheel in place of legs, and the heartless disappears as its captive heart is released. He lets his keyblade disappear seeing there are no more heartless trying to stop them from taking the solar sailer and he hops aboard the float metal ship. Tron and Zack are at the controls at the front working to override the system and get the sailer moving.
"How's it going, Riku?" Zack asks, glancing over his shoulder.
"The heartless are taken care of for now," Riku replies. "But if we don't get moving soon, they're going to start popping up again."
"We only need one more passcode to access the controls," Tron says, tapping at the screen of swirling numbers trying every possible combination. A red error message flashes with every wrong entry and each time Tron's frown deepens.
A slight sound behind him makes Riku turn and he swears under his breath to see a new hoard of heartless has appeared. They try to climb aboard the sailer, but before the first one can pull itself up Riku is there with his keyblade to knock it back. Taking up a battle stance, Riku readies himself for another long fight.
"Got it!" Tron shouts from the front of the ship and the floor under Riku's feet trembles. His momentary lapse in focus lets one of the heartless succeed in climbing onto the sailer, but Riku blocks its attempt to slash at his legs. With a fast counter attack, he knocks the short heartless back of the ship where it tumbles into the others.
The sailer shudders again and Riku almost stumbles as it jerks up into the air. It starts to move away from the boarding platform where the heartless are standing and in a final attempt to keep their targets from escaping, three try to jump at the leaving ship. Thier claws reach out to grab the edge of the platform at Riku's feet, but they miss by inches and fall down into the hazy pit below. Riku watches them until they disappear from view and he turns to hurry to Tron and Zack at the controls.
"That's the Central Computer Core," Tron says to them, pointing at a large metal structure in the distance that reminds Riku of a circular arena. "The MCP is housed there."
Zack squints as he assess the building. "What exactly are we up against, Tron?"
"The MCP is a very advanced program," Tron replies. "It is capable of high level functions that will make it a difficult opponent. Expect it to have strong defenses. However, if we can weaken it, I can install an Eradication Program that will -"
The ship suddenly lists to one side and the three of them grab hold of the control panel to keep from falling down. Looking behind him, Riku sees a huge purple and black heartless climbing onto the deck of the Solar Sailer like a spider on its four long legs. It scurries to the center of the sailer and the ship evens out again letting Riku charge forward with Zack beside him.
The heartless gears up for the fight with a cannon like weapon on its front starting to glow with dark energy. A moment later it is released, but Zack already has his sword up, deflecting the blast and sending it shooting harmlessly away from the sailer. Before the heartless can launch another, Riku has moved in close enough to swing and his keyblade bites into the tough metal encasing the heartless' body.
It pulls away, spinning as it does so, and its legs whip around in a circle to keep it airborn. One strikes Riku in the side, knocking him down.
He rolls to his feet as fast as he can and resumes a fighting stance. Zack is slicing at the heartless, but it keeps dancing away from him, making it impossible for him to land a solid hit. Raising his keyblade Riku yells, "Fira."
The fireball that slams into the heartless isn't enough to kill it, but it is enough to make it flinch and that is all the opening Zack needs to stab his sword through it in a final fatal strike. As the heartless fades Riku relaxes, letting his keyblade disappear, but Zack remains tense, his eyes darting back and forth across the sailer's deck.
"Are there any more stowaways," he asks, glancing at Riku.
Riku shakes his head slowly. "I don't think so," he says, gritting his teeth as he does. It had been his job to protect the ship from the heartless while Zack and Tron got it moving, but he'd messed up and let one sneak on without him noticing. He can't even be sure it was the only one.
Zack relaxes his battle stance, but doesn't sheath his sword. With a final glance around the deck he turns back to the front where beyond the controls Tron is standing by the Central Computer Core is much closer. Riku follows, trying not to sulk, but his eyebrows are turned down and his arms crossed at the thought of his most recent failure.
…
"Where's the MCP?" Riku asks, looking around the large circular room they have entered. The middle of the floor is missing leaving a deep pit and floating at the center is a spinning red cylinder. He turns to Tron for an answer, but jumps at an unfamiliar voice.
"Tenacious little bugs!"
Zack's sword is in his hand instantly as the three of them look to where a man in grey and orange outfit is entering the Central Computer Core with a scowl. "Is this the MCP?" Zack asks.
Tron shakes his head. "That's Sark he's-"
"I am the MCP's number two and it is my orders to de-rezz all threats to the system," Sark says and Riku summons his keyblade.
"Sark is here to protect the MCP," Tron says in whisper to Riku and Zack. "With him around we won't be able to get close enough to install the Eradication Program."
Zack steps forward, adjusting his grip on his sword. "Leave Sark to me," he says, not taking his eyes off the advancing man. "Riku, stick with Tron and get him wherever he needs to go."
"Okay," Riku says and Zack moves to close the distance between him and Sark with his sword at the ready.
Tron points across the hole in the floor to the other side of the room where a keyboard and screen are mounted on the wall. "That terminal is where I can install the Eradication Program from."
"Tron…"
The deep voice echos around the room and Riku looks around trying to find the source. Tron however takes off towards the terminal leaving Riku to hurry after him a second later.
"Who was that?" Riku asks already guessing the answer.
"The MCP," Tron replies over his shoulder. He nods towards the spinning cylinder in the center of the room.
Riku looks at it and does a double take, glimpsing a face. "This thing is the MCP?" He asks, nearly tripping over his feet caught up in staring at the red cylinder.
"That's it," Tron says. "Ugly, isn't it?"
"Tron." This time the deep voice of the MCP booms out.
Riku feels something invisible smash into him and knock him back on his butt next to Tron who is holding his shoulder. Looking up he can can see the faint out line of an almost invisible barrier that had sprung up in front of them, blocking their way to the terminal.
"Why are you helping these Users?" The MCP asks. "We don't need them - they're superfluous." The cylinder stops spinning and the wide face of the MCP rotates to stare down Tron. "We are advanced. Join me, Tron, and together we will take over the User world."
Tron shakes his head. "MCP. That is not our place. These Users have not wronged you or this computer. They are not Xehanort. Your plans for revenge are unjustified."
"Your code is indeed full of errors, program," the MCP says his voice full of anger. "If you choose to ally yourself with there insignificant Users then their fate shall be yours as well."
Riku glances at Tron, worried that he might hesitate at the MCP's threat, but there is a smile on Tron's face. Reaching over his shoulder, Tron pulls the glowing disk off his back and with a well practiced flick of his wrist he throws it at the MCP. The small disk strikes the MCP and a roar of anger echoes around the room. As the disk comes flying back to Tron's hand, Riku tries to follow his lead with a blizzard spell, but walls spring up around the edge of the hole, blocking the ice shards from reaching the MCP.
"Now what?" Riku asks as the barrier of walls begins to spin. He looks over at Zack to see him pursuing a battered Sark. It doesn't look like he needs any help.
"Attack the barrier," Tron says. "We have to weaken the MCP's defenses to get to the terminal."
Riku frowns at the still spinning barrier. Hitting the walls with his keyblade over and over doesn't seem like it is going to be all that effective in stopping the MCP, but it's the best plan they got. He swings his keyblade and strikes the spinning walls. His arm jars from the impact as the spinning of the barrier deflects the power of his attack away. Gritting his teeth he tries again.
And again. And again.
Beside him Tron is doing what he can, but his little disk is even less effective than Riku's keyblade. Still, with sweat pouring down his face and his muscles screaming in protest of another swing, Riku can see the walls have slowed to a near stand still and with a final strike the one in front of Riku cracks and falls apart.
The MCP howls in pain and the other walls also fall into the hole at the center of the room. The almost invisible barrier that had been blocking their path shimmers for a moment before fading too and wasting no time Tron races around to the terminal with Riku at his heels.
Reaching the keyboard, Tron begins to type furiously entering a jumble of numbers and letters that makes Riku's head swim. "How is Zack doing with Sark?" Tron asks without glancing up.
Riku looks back to the other side of the room where Zack is sheathing his sword, standing over Sark's still body. He looks up to meet Riku's gaze and then his eyes jump to the MCP glaring at him from the center of the room.
Jogging over to the terminal, Zack peers over Tron's shoulder. "Anything we can do to help, Tron?"
"No...just a few more lines of code…" Tron mutters to himself.
"Sark…" The MCP calls out and Riku and Zack turn to look at it. It is staring intently at Sark's body lying on the other side of the room.
Raising his eyebrow, Zack looks at Riku who shrugs, but then frowns, looking past Zack. A narrow beam of light shoots from the MCP to Sark and his previously still body courses with energy. His eyes snap open and he pushes himself to his feet, growing to an impossible size as he does so.
Riku's mouth drops open in shock. "Zack," he says grabbing his arm and spinning Zack around to face the now five times as tall Sark.
"Sark! All my functions are now yours," the MCP says and in response Sark cracks his overly large knuckles. "Stop Tron and eliminate the Users."
"C'mon," Zack says to Riku, pulling his sword out again as he runs towards Sark.
Riku follows and the giant computer program glares down at them, trying to squash the two of them under his foot. Dodging to the side, Riku points his keyblade at Sark's head, shouting, "Thundaga!"
The bolts of lightning shock Sark and he bellows in pain, stomping his feet in a monstrous tantrum. Zack stabs at him anywhere he can reach, but his sword is a toothpick in comparison of size leaving him doing little more than aggravating Sark further.
Jumping back to a safer distance, Riku winds up and throws his keyblade end over end, striking Sark square between the eyes. Another bellow of pain shakes the room and Sark doubles over, clutching his face. One arm swings blindly out in rage, looking to crush Riku, but Zack is the one blindsided by the attack. Backhanded by the giant, Zack is knocked into the air and slams into the wall.
"Zack!" Riku shouts in panic seeing him slide to the ground in a crumpled heap. He starts to run to Zack, but a shout from behind him distracts him.
"I got it!"
Tron's shout catches Sark's attention as well. As Tron's hand goes down to press the enter button and launch the Eradication Program, Sark sends the the large disk on his back flying at Tron.
"Tron-" Riku tries to shout a warning, but Tron is only able to turn slightly towards him before the disk curving through the air slams into him. Caught off guard, Tron doesn't stand a chance and the large disk knocks him across the floor to the edge of the hole where he teeters for a moment, his eyes wide with shock, before falling in and disappearing from sight.
"No…" Riku breathes out a hand still reaching out uselessly for Tron. He stares at the spot he'd fallen, trying to understand what had happened, and he feels anger sparking to life in the pit of his stomach.
The disk flies back like a boomerang to Sark and Riku slowly turns to face him as the program returns the disk to the spot on his back with a smug smile. Glancing to the side, Riku sees Zack still crumpled against the wall and the anger in him continues to rise.
Part of it is directed at Sark and the MCP for hurting his friends, but most of it is directed at himself. He is the one who can't protect his friends. He is the one making promises to protect and save without ever following through. Kairi, Tron, Zack, he's failed them all. Thier suffering, their pain, is his fault.
He can feel it inside him. The same power that had appeared when he'd failed to save Cinderella. His anger at Ansem had made it manifest, just like his anger is doing now. This time he has more control. Instead of letting it explode out of him he channels it and looks down at his hand to see a swirling ball of dark energy there.
In some corner of his mind there is a voice telling him this is wrong, but his need to avenge his friends drowns everything out. He raises his hand to point at Sark and lets the energy go. The ball of darkness streaks through the air and punches Sark in the center of his chest. The giant stumbles back, clutching the wound and Riku fires a second attack. Catching Sark under the chin, it knocks him down and his eyes roll back in his head as he falls still once more.
Riku stares at him, smirking, while the darkness in his hand dissipates leaving him tired and confused. A groan makes him look over to see Zack clutching the wall as he pulls himself to his feet.
Riku hurries over and steadies Zack seeing the bleeding cut on his hair line. "Riku…" Zack says in a strained voice. For a moment there is a flash of fear in his unfocused eyes when he looks at Riku and a wave of shame hits Riku. "The MCP…"
Looking around in alarm, Riku sees the MCP staring at Sark's body. Remembering how it had revived Sark before, Riku mutters a quick curing spell over Zack and leaves him to heal in the green light as he hurries to the terminal. Seeing it makes the memory of Tron's last moments flash in his eyes, but Riku forces himself to focus and pushes the enter button Tron never had the chance to.
The effect is instantaneous. The MCP starts to rotate again and it screams, the sound rising higher in pitch as it turns faster. Riku cringes and covers his ears as the sound reaches an unbearable level. Then all at once there is silence. The MCP and Sark are both gone leaving Riku slumped over the terminal and Zack slowly approaching.
"Tron is…?" Zack asks in a voice that sounds like he doesn't want to know the answer.
Riku takes a deep breath and forces out, "Gone."
"I'm not really gone."
Tron's voice echoes around the room and both Riku and Zack's heads shoot up. "Tron?" Riku asks in disbelief.
"This system is under my directive again," Tron's voice says. "The MCP won't be causing you anymore trouble. I've unlocked the computer room back in the User world and brought up those video feeds you were looking for. The terminal back at the cell is up and running. It will take you back."
"Thanks Tron," Zack says grinning. "We owe you one."
"No thanks needed," Tron replies. "We're friends and I'll help you anytime you need it."
"Alright, see you on the other side," Zack says and starts off for the way back to the cell they had first arrived in with Riku following behind, his head down and his mind a mess of conflicting thoughts.
…
In the computer room the red emergency lights shut off as the normal overhead lighting comes back on. From their spot in the corner of the room farthest from the computer Sora, Donald, and Goofy get to their feet, looking around cautiously. The three of them jump at a whirling machine sound that comes from the walls a moment before the doors that had been locked shut open.
"Gwarsh do you think Riku and Zack did that?" Goofy asks and Sora grins.
"Yeah, I bet they just kicked that Master Control Program guy's butt."
Donald cautiously approaches the computer monitor and his eyes widen. "Sora," he says. "You're gonna want to take a look at this."
Hurrying over, Sora stops short, staring down at the video feeds now up showing real time images of various rooms in the castle. In the one in the center is Kairi.
She is lying on her back with her eyes closed and her hands clasped over her chest. It would have almost looked peaceful if she hadn't been so still.
Sora's keyblade is in his hand in an instant and without a word he takes off, running out of the computer room and into the castle beyond.
"Sora!" Donald calls after him.
"Don't you think we should wait for-" Goofy tries to say, but Sora is already gone and exchanging looks, Donald and Goofy head after him.
…
Without a heartless in sight to cause problems, Riku and Zack easily set the Solar Sailer on its course back the way they had come. Once they had gotten moving an uncomfortable silence had fallen on them, but Zack can't take it anymore.
"I saw what you did to Sark," he says in a quiet voice and notices the way Riku's turned back stiffens. He waits a moment to see if Riku will say something, but when he doesn't he forces himself to continue. "You used the darkness to beat him and there was something in your eyes...are you sure using darkness is the right thing to do?"
Riku turns his head. "Zack," he says unable to meet his eyes. "Would you do anything to protect the people you care about?"
Zack stares at Riku for a long moment before finding the voice to whisper, "Of course."
Riku nods several times and looks away again. "Sark and the MCP are gone for good," he says. "That's all that matters in the end."
Zack nods uncertainly and they continue their flight on the Solar Sailer in silence.
…
"Where's Sora?" Riku asks as the bright light that had brought them back to the real world fades. He looks around the room again, but his best friend is missing and so are Donald and Goofy.
"I don't kno-" Zack starts to say, but cuts off suddenly, catching a glimpse of the computer monitor. Several feeds from cameras around the castle that are still working are on the screen, but as Riku approaches its the one in the middle that catches his eye.
Kairi.
Zack turns to him and they exchange a look before running out of the computer room. They had found Kairi and Sora must have gone after her, but there is a sense in Riku's mind that Sora is heading right into a trap.
Thanks all of you awesome readers out there for being patient for this update that took way too long. I didn't intend for it to take this long, but life threw me a curve ball. A little more than a week ago I took a line drive to the head at my softball game (DO NOT try that at home) and I got a small concussion. Doctors orders were to stay away form TV and computer screens so I haven't been writing like at all. Oh yeah, and I had AP test to take while dealing with the mother of all headaches. (Life = sucks)
I basically wrote this all today because I really wanted to get it out this weekend so it hasn't been proofread yet. Hopefully its not too bad, but I'll read it over and fix any little mistakes in a few days.
I think you can all see where this is going. BTW this is just the halfway point (ish) of the story. This won't end where KH1 did - there is lots more to go. So review and stuff. :)