Chapter 24

CHAPTER 6 SPACE PARANOIDS “SORA!” The boy woke at the sound of his name. “Donald…?” “Oh, good!” Goofy anxiously leaned over him, too. “Where are we…?” Sora found himself in a strange place bathed in bluish light from a web of glowing lines that appeared to connect somewhere. Sora squinted at it. “What kinda world is this, anyway?” “You are inside a mainframe system,” said an unfamiliar voice. “A what system?!” the trio echoed, noticing a man perched in front of a screen. He wore a suit covered in radiant blue lines, not unlike the room, and a kind smile. “For processing data. This is a copy of a large-scale system created by a corporation called ENCOM,” he explained freely, and stood up to approach them. “This copy was acquired by another user. The new user updated and customized it, renaming the system Hollow Bastion OS. He used this computer for town administration and private research.” The trio tried to take this in, still totally bewildered. Finally noticing how lost they were, the man scratched his head. “My name is Tron. I’m a security program,” he told them, smiling brightly. “But now I’m in custody, the same as you.” That didn’t do much to clear things up. “Did any of that make sense to you?” Sora whispered to Goofy. “Uh, maybe we should just introduce ourselves,” Goofy said, not too worried about it. Sora and Donald agreed. “I’m Sora.” “I’m Donald.” “Nice to meetcha, Tron. I’m Goofy.” Tron folded his arms. “With that configuration, I’m guessing you’re users?” “Users?” Sora cocked his head. Instead of explaining, Tron expressed his concern about something else. “You’d better get out of here quickly. There’s no telling what the MCP will do to you.” Sora couldn’t follow a thing Tron said. “M-C-P?” “The Master Control Program. It controls the whole system. If you stay here too long, you’ll be de-rezzed.” “De-rezzed?!” Donald jumped. “How do we get outta here?” Sora asked desperately. De-rezzing sounded pretty bad. “This terminal should be able to get you back to the user world.” Tron pointed to the screen behind him. “Hooray!” Goofy ran to it. “But the MCP cut the power about fifty microcycles ago. If we could bring the energy core in the canyon back online, we could power it up again. The problem is…we’re stuck in here.” Tron indicated the door on one side of the room. “The door won’t open?” “That’s right…” Sora strode over and held up the Keyblade. The Keyblade shone—and the door opened. “So? How do we get to this energy core thing?” He grinned back at their new friend. “Remarkable! You seem to have some unique functions,” Tron marveled. “I’ll go with you to the canyon. You’ll need someone who can interface with the energy core, right?” “Yeah—thanks, Tron!” Sora said. He replied with a friendly nod. Outside the cell was a narrow hallway, and Heartless of a kind they’d never seen before seemed to be lying in ambush for them. “Shucks, they’re in here, too?!” Goofy lifted his shield. “The MCP probably released them to deal with your infiltration,” Tron said, completely unruffled. “Seriously? What a pain!” Weapon raised, Sora charged into the fray and laid the Heartless to waste. “You three really are something else!” Tron exclaimed, impressed, after the battle had finished. “Eh, you know.” “But how did the MCP get a hold of you in the first place?” Tron asked as they forged ahead. “I don’t really know… Oh yeah! Tron, do you know anything about Kairi and Riku?” Sora inquired hopefully. “Kairi and Riku?” “They’re his friends!” Goofy explained. “No…I don’t know,” Tron replied. “But maybe you’ll find out something if you can access the DTD.” “D-T-D?” Sora echoed again. “It’s a restricted dataspace. I don’t know the current password, so I’m locked out. But the keywords that led to the MCP arresting you might be in there, with the sensitive data,” Tron explained as they headed down the hallway. “What’s that mean?” “It means the MCP might have been programmed to automatically arrest someone when they ask about Kairi or Riku.” Sora looked at Donald and Goofy. “Anyway, we’ve got to get out of here first,” Tron said. “Let’s go.” They nodded and continued down the passage. The gang arrived in a spacious hall with a huge device in the center. “Is that the energy core?” Sora wondered. “That’s right.” Tron began tapping at the keyboard in front of it. The terminal buzzed with a low hum, and the luminous blue of the circuitry brightened into white. “So, mission accomplished?” Sora said. “Yes.” Tron shyly lowered his head. “Actually… Will you do something for me?” “Sure!” Sora replied immediately. “Don’t you want to hear what it is first?” “You helped us, so now it’s our turn,” Donald said brightly, as if stating the obvious. “You guys really are users. Your actions are totally illogical.” Again, Sora echoed him. “Illogical?” Tron had to smile. “Never mind.” He shook his head and went to a small terminal in the corner of the room, similar to the one from their cell. Tron set to work at the keyboard, and the screen glowed. “So, what did you want us to do?” He turned to them. “Find my user. He’ll give you the password to access the DTD.” “Understood!” Donald replied with a salute. “Um…” “That’s the name my user gave to the dataspace,” Tron explained over his shoulder. “Copies of the original programs are stored there, along with any sensitive data.” “The restricted dataspace? So that’s where all the secret stuff is?” Goofy asked, watching the program that appeared humanoid, his fingers dancing over the keys. “Yes. A number of my functions were appropriated the last time I took on the MCP. But if I can get inside the DTD, I can access my original backup program and restore everything. Then I’ll be able to get this system back the way it was before the MCP was modified. The way it was supposed to be—a free system for you, the users.” Mystified, Goofy tilted his head. “Gee, Tron…” “What is it?” He paused to look back. “Isn’t the MCP one o’ those programs, too? Do ya know who it was who changed it?” “Well…” They waited, but Tron didn’t seem to have an answer. “Actually, I don’t know,” he admitted, and his shoulders slumped a bit. The trio exchanged glances at that. “Okay, we’ll just have to find your user and ask him for the password,” Sora said. “What’s his name?” “I thought you already knew! It’s the user of this system—Ansem the Wise.” “Ansem?!” The three looked at each other again. They’d never imagined Ansem would have set up a system like this. “You know, Tron…,” Sora started. “Yes?” The moment Tron replied, the steady bluish lights in the room flashed red. “Looks like the MCP’s onto us. I’ll keep this terminal up and running. You’d better exit the system now!” He returned to the screen. “Um, Tron, Ansem is—” “We’ll get ya the password!” Goofy pulled Sora by the arm. “Okay. You’re good to go. Hurry!” Tron urged, and light beamed from the screen. The trio disappeared into it, just the same as when they’d come. Leon stared at the screen after his friends vanished—glared at it, in fact. But if he tried to mess with the computer himself, the same thing would probably happen to him. He couldn’t touch it if he wasn’t absolutely sure what he was doing. “Sora…,” he muttered, just as a light shone from behind him. “Now what?!” When he turned, Sora, Donald, and Goofy materialized before his eyes. “What are you—?” “We did it!” Ignoring the stunned Leon, the trio hugged one another with delight. “Where have you been?” Leon demanded. They let go and filled Leon in. Not everything Tron had said made sense to them, but they conveyed the most important parts. When they came to a pause, Leon sighed heavily. “So, basically, we can’t get into Ansem’s research data unless we know the password… But you already defeated Ansem…” “Gawrsh, maybe we’ll never find the password.” Goofy folded his arms, trying to think. “Which means this is all a wild goose chase,” Leon said. The gang checked to see if anyone had any ideas. “Maybe we’ll find something if we look around Ansem’s study…?” Sora thought aloud. “All right,” Leon agreed. “You three search the study. I’ll try going through this computer a little more.” The trio agreed and headed back up the passageway. “D’you suppose DTD stands for anything?” Goofy wondered. Sora cocked his head. “Data…data…something, something?” “Anyway, let’s see if we can find any clues!” Donald ran into Ansem’s study with Sora and Goofy close behind him. The study, of course, was still a mess. They opened every single book, rifled through the memos cluttering the desk, left no stone unturned. “Say, fellas, whatcha up to?” Donald, startled out of his reverie, sprang up from his position atop the desk—then recognized the voice. “Your Majesty!” Not quite hidden underneath a black cloak was King Mickey. Goofy promptly swept him up in an embrace, and Donald joined them. The king laughed as their greeting knocked him over. “Whoa!” “Where’ve you been, Your Majesty?!” Donald asked, peering at him closely. “Shh!” King Mickey held a finger to his lips. “Organization XIII might be listening.” He got calmly to his feet, glancing this way and that. “It’s good to see you, Your Majesty!” Sora grinned once Donald and Goofy had managed to calm down. “Were ya lookin’ for something?” “The password to the DTD.” “DTD?” King Mickey tilted his head thoughtfully. “Now, what’s that mean?” “Um, well…” Sora didn’t exactly have an answer. The newcomer pointed to some scribbles on the wall. “Huh?” The trio moved for a closer look. They’d gone through everything in the room, but they had missed the literal writing on the wall—a single phrase scrawled in small letters. “‘Door to Darkness’?” Sora touched the letters with his fingertips. “D…T…D…” “DTD!” Donald and Goofy both exclaimed. “The Door to Darkness… That’s what Ansem was trying to open,” King Mickey explained. They all looked at one another. “But that can only happen with the seven princesses… Remember?” The trio nodded. With the help of their other foes, Ansem had captured the seven Princesses of Heart in order to open the door. “So what’re you trying to do?” King Mickey asked. Sora explained the part he could understand. “If we find the password, we’ll be able to access Ansem’s research data.” The king grinned. “Oh! Then you might be able to find out where he is!” “Aw, quit joking around,” Sora said. “We already beat Ansem! You know that.” Why would the king want to find Ansem so long after they’d defeated him? King Mickey was rather nonplussed himself. “…Looks like I’ve got a lot of explaining to do.” “We’re listening, Your Majesty!” Donald stayed close to the king as if he couldn’t stand to let him out of his sight for a moment. “But fellas, isn’t there someone waiting for your help?” Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at one another again. “Don’t worry,” the king said with a reassuring smile. “I’ll stay right here in town—I’m not going anywhere. If those Heartless attack, I’ll stand and fight with everyone else.” “So will we!” Sora smiled back. “Okay—we’ll talk more later.” “That’s a promise, right?!” Donald pressed. “I’ll see ya when you get back.” The king nodded to them, and the trio returned to the computer lab. When they arrived, they found Leon glaring morosely at the screen. “Leon!” Sora ran up to him. “Did you find out the password?” “Yup!” Goofy said. “So you’re going in again?” Sora nodded. “See ya soon!” Leon tapped a few keys, and the laser beam from the device behind them shone on Sora, Donald, and Goofy. After a few moments in the dark, a familiar bluish glow illuminated the room around them—apparently the same place they’d first met Tron. “Where’s Tron?” Sora wondered, searching for his friend—and finding him collapsed on the floor. “Tron!” Sora rushed to him, and he seemed to wake up upon hearing his name. He rose unsteadily to his feet. “I don’t understand. Why are you here…?” “We came to give you the password!” Tron rubbed his forehead, sounding upset. “You could have just transmitted the data.” “‘Transmit’?” Donald asked, but before Tron could explain, his legs wobbled and nearly buckled under him. Sora barely managed to catch him. “Hey, are you okay?” Tron smiled weakly. “I’ll be all right…once we access the DTD.” “Well, okay, but…” They regarded him with concern. “Let’s get going.” Tron walked—well, staggered—forward, and Sora slipped his shoulder under Tron’s arm to help. “Are you sure you’re okay?” “Yes…” It was hard to tell under the bluish light, but Tron seemed horribly pale. “Did the MCP do something to ya?” Goofy asked anxiously. “…Don’t worry.” Tron smiled without confirming or denying. “The DTD isn’t far. Let’s go.” They forged ahead with Tron leaning on Sora. The route to the DTD was teeming with Heartless, but they made it through. The room containing the restricted dataspace had three big screens. “Is this the DTD?” Sora said. “Yes… Now, what’s the password?” Tron rested his hands on the keyboard in front of the screens. “Uh, Belle…Snow White…” Tron typed in the names as Donald gave them. Goofy continued the list. “Aurora, Alice, Jasmine, Cinderella…” Before he named the last one, he turned to Sora. “Kairi.” Sora pronounced it slowly. “…Kairi, right?” Tron looked back at Sora for confirmation. He nodded. “K-A-I-R-I…” The moment Tron finished typing, the screen began flashing. “It worked!” He jumped into a victorious pose. The password had granted them access to the DTD. He placed his hand, palm down, on a panel in front of the screen, and his outfit glowed blue white. “All my functions are restored. I’m as good as new!” Tron told them with a grin, and he did look healthier. “That’s great, Tron!” Sora grinned back—but then the buzz of an alarm filled the chamber. A voice broke into sinister laughter. “Ha-ha-ha-ha! Finally, I have full access to the DTD! My takeover of the system is complete. I might have anticipated such a simple password…” “It stops now, MCP! We won’t let you do this!” Tron shouted. “Hmm, what’s this? A self-destruct program for the entire town. Let’s see how it performs…” “No!” Tron’s fingers flew across the keyboard. “You, program—you changed the password!” the MCP bellowed. Tron ignored it. “That should buy us some time,” he told the trio. “Tell us what’s going on!” Sora pleaded. “The MCP is loading a hostile program into the I/O tower.” “Gawrsh, does that mean Hollow Bastion’s gonna be destroyed?” “Wak! What do we do?!” “We’ve got to protect the users’ town. Let’s head to the tower!” Tron said, and the trio agreed. A broad pillar with red lights zooming along it stretched high into the strange sky. Sora stared up at it. “So that’s the I/O tower…?” Beside him, Tron strode toward the nearby terminal when they heard a huge rumbling—and something enormous fell from the sky. Two powerful-looking arms protruded from a round body covered in spikes. It could be a Heartless, but Sora figured it was the hostile program meant to destroy the town. It definitely radiated hostility. “Here it comes!” Sora brandished his Keyblade. “Your actions are disconcerting, Tron,” the voice of the MCP declared from somewhere overhead. “Why do you insist on allying with these selfish users?” “Because I want to help them.” Tron took a step forward. “Something in my code commands me to.” “Really? What sort of code would command that?” Tron considered the question for a moment before he replied, looking at his new companions. “I don’t really know for sure.” “Friends help each other, that’s all!” Sora declared. “Uh-oh—look out!” Just as he spoke, the program fired a laser from its arm. “Ngh!” Tron evaded it and ran. “Fire!” Donald cast his magic, while Goofy charged at the program with his shield. There was a clang! and the program briefly halted. “Huh…? It stopped?” “Don’t let your guard down! It just froze!” Tron dashed in under the program and withdrew the small device he’d been carrying to start typing on it. “Sora!” he called. The device emitted a ray that seemed to damage the program. “Got it!” Sora lunged and slammed the program with his Keyblade, and in the next moment, light burst from the gaps between its parts, and it fell to inert pieces. Tron and Sora high-fived. “We did it!” “That’s a load off our minds,” Donald added cheerfully. “All right, I’d better get you users out of here.” Tron headed for the terminal off to the side and crouched down at the keyboard. “With my functionality restored from the backup, I think I’ve got a chance at getting control of the system back from the MCP. I have to get to work fast. It’s what my user would want.” The keys clicked as he talked. “What your user—what Ansem would want…,” Sora murmured. Donald and Goofy gave him a look. “Sora…?” “I know. I’ll tell him.” Sora nodded. Tron was still facing the screen. “Listen, Tron…” “Yes?” He stopped and turned to them. “We didn’t get the password from Ansem,” Sora told him. “We just happened to find it back in the user world. And one more thing. Ansem—he was our enemy. Well…he still is, I guess.” Tron narrowed his eyes slightly and got to his feet. “The truth is…he’s my enemy, too.” He sounded determined. “What do you mean?” Sora asked. “Ansem built this system by customizing ENCOM’s original system for his own use. I was part of that original system, and Ansem modified me, too. That makes him my user.” The trio nodded, following so far. “But he’s also the one who made the MCP the way it is now. The Ansem I knew wouldn’t do that. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” “Okay, but…” Sora cocked his head. “Now I really don’t get it.” Ansem had created this system to protect Hollow Bastion, but then he’d altered it? In that case, Sora had no idea what Ansem was trying to do. “I don’t think it’s in my programming to understand,” Tron admitted. “Users like you will probably be the ones to figure it out. You have the capacity to take illogical routes to arrive at the answers you seek.” He shrugged with a shy smile. “You should go now, before the MCP starts acting up again!” Tron gestured at them to get in front of the screen. “Any data you need from the DTD can be accessed directly through my user’s terminal. I’ll keep a dedicated access channel open for you. And since I changed the password, you won’t have to worry about the MCP for a while.” “Access…channel?” Sora repeated. Tron laughed for some reason. “I knew you’d ask. It’s important—the link between our worlds. It’s how we stay connected.” That made sense—or at least, it felt right. The trio nodded, and finally a device by the screen fired the familiar beam at them. “Sora—my friends are the new password!” Tron told them as they blurred and pixelated in the transfer. Tron’s friends. “Does that mean—?” Tron held a finger to his lips, then grinned. “Don’t let the MCP hear it. You’d better go!” “Thanks, Tron. Take care!” Sora said as they waved to Tron. “You too. And give my best to the other users!” they heard Tron say as they disappeared from the system. “All taken care of!” Sora announced eagerly, back in Hollow Bastion’s computer lab. “Look at this.” Leon gestured to the screen, as if he’d been waiting to tell them something. The screen showed little caricatures of Sora, Donald, and Goofy with the caption THANK YOU! “Hang in there, Tron,” Sora said softly, peering at the image. “So…where do we start?” Leon asked. “I know—let’s access the DTD!” Sora went to the computer and leaned over toward the screen. Behind him, Donald and Goofy scanned the room for something. “The king’s checking the situation in town,” Leon said. “Don’t worry, he’ll be back soon.” “That’s good to hear!” Donald smiled, relieved. “So…how do we use this?” asked Sora. “Just a second.” Leon started typing. “Hey, it’s asking for a password.” He turned expectantly toward the trio. “Oh, that’s easy.” Goofy eagerly shifted closer to the screen. “It’s…” “Sora!” The boy cut in with his own name. “Sora…?” Leon frowned, dubious, as he typed it in. “Donald!” “Goofy!” The other two completed the list. The password was “Tron’s friends”—which had to mean their names. “Well, that’s…to the point,” Leon remarked. “Did it work?” Sora watched Leon’s hands on the keyboard. “Yeah, we’re in. Now I have to go into town and see how things are.” “You’re not gonna look at the data?” Sora complained. “It wasn’t exactly easy to get!” “I’m coming right back. Sora, why don’t you get started on loading the data and copying it?” Sora squinted, a little confused by the instructions. “You just use the keyboard to tell it what to do. It’s pretty straightforward.” Leon left with a little wave and not a glance behind him. “…You think you can do it?” Donald said, not looking very confident. “Maybe, if you’re not on my case!” Sora reached for the keyboard, took a deep breath, and tried pressing the biggest button. The screen immediately displayed something else—strings of questions for them. “Whoa… It’s doing something!” “‘What would you like to search for?’” Goofy read aloud. “Riku and Kairi!” Pecking at the keys with his index fingers, Sora input their names. The monitor showed a progress bar, and then went red, clearly indicating that something was wrong. A voice came from the computer. “No data.” “No way…” Sora slumped over in dismay. “Even Ansem’s computer doesn’t know…?” I really thought we’d find something about Riku and Kairi in here. He shuffled away from the workstation, and Goofy took his place. “Whatcha doin’?” asked Donald. “Well, I thought we could ask the computer about those Nobodies.” Frowning in concentration, Goofy punched in the query. This time the screen answered with lines of incomprehensible text. “What’s all that?” Sora muttered from behind Goofy. “The data is corrupt.” The same red light flashed as the computer spoke. “How about Organization XIII?” Goofy tried again. After a few seconds, it happened again—the lines of text, the alarm, and the computer’s inorganic voice announcing, “The data is corrupt.” “Stupid computer!” Sora banged the keyboard with his fists. “Sora!” Goofy tried to stop him, but Sora kept on hitting, unwilling to be pulled away. “You’re gonna break it!” Donald scolded. But then an image of a person appeared on the screen. It was an elderly man, his hair and beard pale, and he wore a red scarf over what appeared to be a lab coat. “Who’s that?” Sora asked as they stared at the unfamiliar man. “Well, I see ya got things working!” a voice exclaimed from behind them. “Your Majesty!” Donald jumped. The king was back. “Shh!” King Mickey shushed them with a finger to his lips again. “Good going! This computer should tell us what we need to know.” He came closer to the screen. “But it just keeps on sayin’ the data’s all kerskuffled,” Goofy said dejectedly, and Donald bobbed his head in agreement. “All we got is a picture of some guy we don’t know,” Sora added. King Mickey peered at the monitor. “Why, that’s Ansem!” he exclaimed. Sora, Donald, and Goofy exchanged confused glances. The man on the screen was someone they’d never seen before. It couldn’t possibly be Ansem. Sora folded his arms. “Come on… Are you trying to pull one over on us?” “Didja forget what Ansem looked like, Your Majesty?” Goofy wondered, a little worried. “’Course not! This is Ansem the Wise!” King Mickey said, still focused on the screen. “Quack?” “Uh, Your Majesty, would you come over here a minute?” Sora grabbed the king by the arm and took him back to Ansem’s study. Donald and Goofy followed them. The painting in the study was a portrait of Ansem. That should remind King Mickey what he looked like, Sora thought. He stopped in front of the painting. “See, this is Ansem. You know, the guy we all worked really hard to defeat?” “Oh, that’s right—I never finished explaining.” “Wak?” Donald peered nervously at the king. “The man in that picture is definitely the one who tried to take over Kingdom Hearts—the one you fellas defeated. But what you actually fought was his Heartless. He wasn’t really Ansem—he just went around telling everyone he was.” At this revelation from King Mickey, the trio could only stare up at the portrait. “Wait… Whaaaaat?!” they shouted in unison, startling the king. “We went through all that trouble fighting an impostor?!” Crestfallen, Sora hung his head. “Yup, a fake—but he still had to be stopped,” King Mickey said, trying to be supportive. “Boy, this is kinda depressing,” Donald grumbled at the portrait. Goofy was the only one who seemed confused rather than discouraged. “Gee… Then, if he was a fake, what happened to the real one? That Ansem the Wise fella?” “That’s just what I’m tryin’ to find out,” King Mickey replied. “Ansem the Wise should know all about Organization XIII’s plans and what’s been happening to the worlds. I’m pretty sure he can help us out. I came close to finding him once…” Goofy still looked bewildered. “So there’s more?” Sora said. “I’m lost enough as it is!” “Uh, so… Let’s see…,” Goofy started, trying to sort it out. “Somebody who wasn’t really Ansem became a Heartless?” The king nodded. “So, does that mean a Nobody got created when that happened?” Goofy observed the painting again. “That’s right! And that Nobody’s the leader of the organization.” “Whaaat?!” the trio shouted, flabbergasted again. “I know I’ve met that fake Ansem before…,” King Mickey went on, looking up at the portrait. “And I’ve seen the leader of Organization XIII, too. Kinda felt like being around the same fella.” “So where did you meet this guy?” Sora asked. “I can’t remember.” King Mickey crossed his arms, looking frustrated. “But Ansem the Wise—the real Ansem—he must know who the impostor really is. That’s why I’ve gotta find him.” Sora furiously glared at the painting. If it weren’t for this fake Ansem, none of this would have happened. Riku and Kairi would be safe. He’s the one who started all this. Sora hated the man so much he could hardly think. I hate him. I really do. He’d never loathed anyone like this before. No matter how angry or sad anyone had made him in the past…hating someone like this had been unthinkable until now. He thought of Riku and Kairi. Where were they now? What were they doing? Then, suddenly remembering, he turned to King Mickey. “Oh, right! Your Majesty, do you know where Riku is?” The king jumped a bit, as if the question caught him by surprise, and kept his back to Sora as he replied, “He’s… I’m sorry. I can’t help.” Sora walked around to look King Mickey in the eye. “Really? You don’t know? Are you sure?” But the king avoided him and turned away again. “I’m sorry, Sora.” The boy bit back more complaints and asked a different question. “What about Kairi? Organization XIII might’ve kidnapped her.”