Chapter 34

“Does it feel right?” Donald asked. “This is a very strange program…” The shining disc illuminated Tron’s puzzled face. “That’s Merlin’s magic!” said Donald with a streak of pride in his instructor. “Huh? There’s a power boost for me, too!” Tron replaced the disc on his back and turned to Sora. “So…it’ll work?” Sora grinned. “Well, like you users say—we won’t know until we try!” said Tron. Sora nodded. “Then let’s try it!” “It’s time to face the MCP. Let’s go!” Tron led the way out of the tower. “The MCP is straight ahead.” Tron had brought them to a huge round building with some kind of cylindrical machine hanging from the ceiling. “So there you are.” The man who greeted them was dressed like Tron, except with orange glowing lines and patterns, and regarded them with stern disdain. “Who’s that?” Sora whispered to Tron. “Commander Sark. Second only to the MCP.” Tron quietly readied his disc, which also served as his weapon. “Does that mean he’s the strongest after the MCP?” Tron nodded as Sark fixed a nasty glare on him. “Tenacious little bugs. Your time is up. Prepare for de-resolution!” Sark summoned up Heartless to attack them. “Wak!” Donald furiously waved his wand. “You take care of those things,” said Tron. “I’ll deal with Sark!” “Roger!” Sora replied, and the trio took on the Heartless to cover Tron as he charged at Sark. “Traitor!” Sark also had a disc, which he hurled at Tron. “Sark!” Tron knocked it aside with his own. The weapon rebounded and struck Sark in the chest. “Guh—!” Sark collapsed to one knee. Sora rushed in with the Keyblade, and Sark toppled face forward to the floor. “…Tron.” The new voice rumbled from above their heads, where the alarms were blaring. The four of them searched for the source until they saw the eerie bright red face on the enormous cylinder before them. “Is that the MCP?!” Sora repositioned the Keyblade. “That’s right. Didn’t pay much attention to visual interface, did it?” Tron remarked, looking up at the program. “Tron, you still don’t understand?” it said with its unsettling voice. “We have no need for users. We programs have advanced; they are superfluous. Merge with me, and the world will be ours to control!” “You’re the one who doesn’t get it.” As Tron glared back, the expression on the huge, weird face twisted with anger. “Sark… Sark!” Hearing his name, Sark dragged himself upright. “All of my functions are now yours,” the MCP told him, and Sark’s body grew. Barriers of light formed around the MCP. “Whoa!” Sora jumped back. “Sora—let’s do this!” Tron tossed his disc up at Sark, now towering over them, and it found its mark on his jaw. Sark halted for a moment, so Sora leaped up high and bashed at his head with the Keyblade. “Wak!” The barriers of light surrounding the MCP began whirling with ferocious speed, knocking Donald and Goofy aside. “Wa-whoa!” “Sora, over here!” Tron called. There was a gap in the barriers. Sora jumped down from Sark and dashed over to Tron. “We’ve got to feed the program into the MCP through here!” Tron put his hand on Sora’s shoulder. Sora felt a mysterious power flowing into him. He raised the Keyblade, and a beam of light shot out at the MCP. “Wow!” Donald marveled. “That’s neat!” But as soon as the words left him, an earsplitting metallic shriek rang out. The face of the MCP warped and disappeared from the cylinder, and white light swirled in its place. “We did it!” Tron jumped for joy and hugged Sora. “Whoa! That’s not very program-like.” Sora laughed, a bit embarrassed. “A-hyuck! So Tron has a not-so-serious side, too,” Goofy said cheerfully. “I learned it from you three!” Tron let go of Sora. “I do have my limits, though. I’m still a program.” “Oh, okay. I’ll tweak your programming when we get back out.” Sora grinned. “You…? Er…maybe we’d better not try that,” Tron said with some concern. His worried expression wasn’t very like him, either. Sora had to laugh. “Aw, how about it? Singin’ Tron or Dancin’ Tron… Whatcha think?” “Sounds like fun to me!” Donald agreed. Tron laughed. “Well, before you all crash me… Sora, Donald, Goofy…” They looked up at him as his voice turned earnest again. “And all the other users out there…” He turned his gaze upward to address the ones on the outside, even though they couldn’t see him. “Thank you. You truly helped me, and you made me so much stronger. You taught me what friendship is. I’ll never forget that. As soon as I met you, I knew we would defeat the MCP and free the system together.” Tron held out his hand to Sora, who grasped it, only to be pulled into another hug. Seeing the boy’s bewildered expression, he pulled back and grinned. “Isn’t this what users do when they’re sorry to say good-bye?” “Uh… It’s a first for me.” Sora shrugged sheepishly. “It’s kinda like a promise that we’ll see each other again, Tron,” Goofy explained. “Oh, I see. Well, then…” Tron caught Goofy in a hug, then Donald. “I promise.” The trio nodded. Tron gave them a smile, a real one that showed how glad he was for their friendship, and then began to walk away. “Where are you going?” Sora called out. Tron went to where the MCP had been, to the swirl of white light—and flung himself into it. “Tron…” He seemed to dissolve into the brilliant glow. As the others stood wondering, a rumble shook the entire building. As Aerith closely watched the screen in the computer lab, Yuffie came running in. “Things are settling down in town!” she announced. “The only Heartless left anywhere are the local variety. And there aren’t as many as before.” “What a relief,” said Aerith. “Now, if we can just get those three back in one piece…” She turned back to the computer to find it humming with effort again. Sora and his friends appeared with flashes of light. “There you are!” Aerith dashed over to them. Yuffie grinned. “Good work, guys!” But Sora, Donald, and Goofy didn’t smile back. “…How’s the town?” Sora mumbled. “A-okay!” Yuffie gave him a thumbs-up. “Not a trace of the MCP,” Aerith added brightly. “It’s all back to normal. We did it.” “Hey, why the long face?” Yuffie leaned in to peer at Sora. “Did something happen?” “Tron just…disappeared.” Donald was downcast, too. “And he promised he’d see us again…” But the moment Sora said that, an alert beeped from the computer. “What now?!” Aerith spun toward the screen. “Greetings, friends. System is up and ready for user input.” It was Tron’s voice. “Tron!” The trio scurried to the computer. “Stay in touch,” said Tron. He was definitely talking to them. “Hooray!” Donald shoved himself in front of the keyboard and pounded on it for sheer joy. “Hey, stop it! That tickles!” “Tron is ticklish?” Goofy cocked his head. Sora crept up to the keyboard and mischievously started mashing random keys. “How ’bout this?” “Please—stop it!” Tron protested. “And this!” Donald joined in, poking at the keyboard. “G-guys, cut it out! Really!” At that, they finally stopped. “I want to show you something, to thank everyone,” said Tron. “Something I dug up in the system archives. You can see how the town looked back when it was first built.” Bright light shone from the screen, filling the computer lab—as well as the entire town outside, they found when they left the castle. “I was wondering when our town got an awful name like Hollow Bastion…” Yuffie squinted against the brilliance. “You know, the town had another name once…,” Aerith murmured, gazing at the shimmering scenery. “What was it?” said Sora. “Radiant Garden.” The light scattered into tiny glowing motes streaming through the streets as if they had welled up from springs throughout the town. And as that radiance filled the world… The glory of days gone by took shape before them—as did their hopes for the future.