#raxeoch

I said to Riku; “I’ve been thinking about Tron and the Grid. Had Sora ever gotten him back?”. Riku gave a sigh and said that he didn’t know. He added, “Sora’s never really mentioned anything about that world since the Mark of Mastery exam”. I remarked, “I guess he’s moved on to other things, right?”. Riku confirmed my assumptions. I then asked Riku, “What would it be like if I went there and found Tron?”. Riku giggled as he realised I was conjuring up another hero mission of my own. Riku spoke, “You want me to go with you to the Grid and see if it’s possible to reunite Tron with Sora, right?”. With me having given Riku my answer, he went back outside to ask Master Yen Sid to see if could have some more time to fulfil his Keyblade Master duties.

Thinking that Yen Sid wouldn’t be so sparing, he rather surprised Riku; “Part of being a Keyblade Master is helping others, and she can be included in that case. And as Karla is your dreamer, I suspect she wants you to guide her through that world so that she makes it back safely. She could have just as easily taken Sora, but deep down, she knows that Sora can be too easily swayed by the hearts around him which in turn may end him up in trouble like during the exam. I think deep down, Karla is like Sora, but by being under your wing, she has matured and can watch herself more closely. As much as she can make it herself, the mission will be easier if you’re there with her and can teach her the ways of the Grid”. Riku giving an assertive nod to Yen Sid’s allowance, and suggestion of a new duty.

- Time Skip -

With Riku and I walking out the front entrance of the tower, the teddies didn’t notice until it was too late. Riku had opened up the portal with his keyblade, when Selvian and Sierra came running. Their small figure and little legs made them not very fast as Selvian called out, “Hey!! Where are you going!?”. Sierra was puffing and panting as she yelled out, “Stop!”. Just as Riku was about to prompt me to jump through the portal, I noticed the bears, and so I turned back”. “Where are you going?”, asked Selvian again, but in a calmer manner. “I’m going to The Grid”, I answered. “The what? I’ve never been there before”, he responded. “The Matrix”, added Sierra. I didn’t know whether they meant a literal mind-control matrix, or simply the officially produced movie, and so I said no to this being ‘the Matrix’.

Riku, now himself wondering what was going on, turned around to see me talking to a pair of small exhausted bears. “Are you guys alright?”, asked Riku. “We want to know where she’s going”, answered Selvian. “She and I are going to the Grid. It’s a place made of Data, and in that world, we’re going to go and rescue a friend”. Clinging on to the word Data, the two bears clenched their teeth. Selvian gained a feeling in his bones of the uncertainty of data worlds, and what would happen if I was to be trapped in one. “You guys just can’t come”, I said to the bears, “You don’t have keyblades nor advanced enough fighting skills in general”. Both bears shrieked “what!?”. Riku answered, “She’s with me, so she’ll be alright. You guys stay here and help out Yen Sid, Mickey, Donald and Goofy if they need it. Either that or you can go and check in on Terra and the others at the Land of Departure”. Riku gave the bears a soft smile as he escorted me to the portal, and he and I finally jumped through it.

“I hate how we can’t wield keyblades”, said Selvian to Sierra, “It means that if she’s in danger, we can’t help her”. Sierra responded to Selv, “Being a clingy father bear again I see”.

- Time Skip -

On arrival to the Grid, Riku had changed appearances. He was now back to his 15yo self, just as he appeared in DDD. I myself had kept my same age and physical appearance, but my clothes had changed, and I got a special keyblade for the Grid, that didn’t even look like my two main ones ‘Mahna Templestowe’ and ‘Spirit of Brigid’. Rather, it was an alternative version of my recently acquired keyblade ‘Bloom Buster’, but this one was called ‘Grid Buster’. Noticing my new outfit, Riku asked me, “Do you always fight in dresses?”, in which I answered a long and drawn out “Yes…?”. Riku seemed to revert back to his nature like in DDD, where he was slightly awkward around girls as he said to me, “The fact that you do that… You’re a strange one”. I was lost for words, I could only say, “I mean…”.

Quickly, Riku caught himself and realised his old nature as he quickly corrected himself; “Sorry, I mean I find it quite striking how you can fight well but still look pretty”. I then wondered about Kairi as I asked, “What about Kairi? Doesn’t she wear a dress these days?”. Riku gained a look a surprised as he answered, “Oh, I forgot all about that. She does wear a dress; although I’m not sure how she’d look in a data world as she’s never been in one before”. I then tapped Riku as I noticed heartless arriving on the bridge. Even though Riku was in his DDD appearance, this was in-fact a real version of the Grid, especially if Tron’s return was to be cannon. “Thanks”, remarked Riku as he was suggested that he was proud at me for noticing the heartless first.

Even though one wave of heartless had been defeated on the bridge, more waves kept coming. Each in clusters about about sixteen to twenty heartless. “Where are they all coming from?”, I asked Riku. “They seem to be coming from that floating arena up there; that place where I rode the light cycle. I think maybe we should go and take them out at the source”, he replied. “We can’t get up there…”, I remarked, as I then gritted my teeth. Riku reassured me that we could, and that he knew someone that could help us out. With the heartless getting ready to chase us down the bridge, Riku signalled for me to follow him to where he was going.

We eventually lost sight of the heartless and ended up at Kevin Flynn’s old quarters. “Who are we looking for?”, I asked Riku. He told me, “We’re looking for Sam. I was hoping that he would be able to help us find a way to get to that floating stadium”. At first I had no idea, but then something sparked in me, making me remember what happened to Sam; “Wasn’t Sam sent outside to be a user in order to rescue this world?”. Riku once again pondered, but then confirmed that I could be right; willing to accept that this plot wasn’t just simply unique to Riku’s DDD story. Riku then said to me, “There’s one more person”. I asked him, “And that is?”. He revealed that it was the iso, Quorra.

- Time Skip -

Riku and I eventually found a way up to the floating grid stadium, but we still hadn’t found Quorra. In-fact Quorra was seen at the opposite end of the stadium, talking to two small creatures. Riku and I were too far away from the opposite end to identify the two creatures, but Riku called out, “That’s Quorra!”. I said to Riku, “She’s talking to two small entities over there, but I can’t make out who they are”.

Meanwhile, Selvian and Sierra had indeed found their way into the Grid, after paying a visit to the Land of Departure (LoD) and having Selvian whine to Terra. It was realised that while at the LoD, Selvian and Sierra had found their ability to summon keyblades… Mini keyblades fit for their size, though because they had paws and claws, it was hard to hold their keyblades properly at the beginning. But once again, this was enough for them to make it to the Grid and sneak into whatever Riku and I were doing, and they must have met Quorra along the way, having her help them.

“How do we make a light cycle?”, asked Selvian in a panic. “It’s that key of yours that becomes one”, answered Quorra. Sierra gritted her teeth as she pointed specifically to Selvian’s Grid clothes for some reason. And then Sierra spoke; “Uhhh; you’d better do this one Selv. I have no idea on how to use light cycles at all”. Quorra said to them, “You’re small, so you can probably get away with enrolling into the games together, and riding on one shared light cycle. The winner gets to talk to Rinzler, and if you both go together, then you both win”. Wait what?! So because Tron was left for too long, CLU had managed to make him Rinzler again. So someone would have to repeat the process like Sora in DDD, but then act quickly enough to make the connection with Tron so that he would stay in his good form and not turn back.

Back to where I was with Riku, I noticed all the heartless in the stands, but here in the stadium, they were not coming down to attack anyone. Rather, the heartless seemed quite content to stay in their seats, and it’s rather like they had a big interest at seeing who the winner of this light cycle battle event was going to be. Riku then said to me, “I think this game is for new participants only. So because I was already in one in my dreams, I don’t think I’ll be able to participate in this one”. My heart sank as I realised I had to handle the uncertainty, and possible d-rezing of a light cycle event myself. Riku reassured me as he said, “Don’t worry. I’ll teach you how to use the light cycle”.

- Time Skip -

With Riku and Quorra watching from their own ends of the stadium, myself and Selvian and Sierra got lined up at the starting line, unbeknownst to each other. There were multiple programs from CLU’s side also participating in the race, and the teddies’ tiny vehicle was buried amongst them, and so I could not see them. Quorra did not know me, and so could not comment on me when she saw me, but it was the opposite for Riku and the teddies. After blasting a few of the orange vehicles to pieces, the teddies found some space on their own. Coincidentally, they were also approaching Riku, in which he realised who they were, he gasped. Riku was about to go running on to the arena to pull them off, but quickly stopped himself, realising that this would be dangerous. Riku then had thoughts to stop me to tell me what was going on, but he didn’t want to be responsible for taking away my potential win.

Selvian quickly over as he exclaimed to Sierra, “Riku!?”. Sierra screamed at the top of her lungs, “Watch the road Selv!”. Being distracted by the sight of Riku, the teddies were approaching a sharp turn, and Selvian being the driver, took the turn more suddenly and sharply than needed, consequentially sending Sierra flying off the vehicle. I was behind the bears’ vehicle, but with a horde of orange vehicles chasing and shooting at me. It was a sudden shock to see Sierra hurtling towards me while screaming, but lucky for her, she hit my chest and ended up dropping onto the central bar of my vehicle. “What the hell Sierra!?”, I thought. With Sierra exhaling like she had fainted, she said, “I’ll tell you later…”.

Another lap had passed, and this time I passed Riku again, with Sierra. Sierra looked from the vehicle as she attempted to wave to Riku. However, now without a companion, Selvian was struggling on his side of the race and found it super hard to drive and operate the Commando/Cobra’s nano-drone cannons at the same time. Riku had his eyes fixed on the little vehicle as he noticed Selvian going haywire. “I have to do something” thought Riku. That’s when despite what Riku said earlier, he turned his keyblade into a light cycle vehicle and entered the track. Lining up as much as he could next to Selvian’s vehicle, he prompted the bear to have faith and jump on to his vehicle.

Now that I was with Sierra, I knew what Riku was doing when I saw Selvian and him on the one vehicle. It was agreed that Riku and I would drive as fast as we could for the top spot, but made the mental pact not to shoot at each other. A few bullets couldn’t be helped though as we aimed for orange vehicles, but missed them as they swerved in and out, trying to get at us instead.

A few more laps passed, and no one seemed to be stopping the race. Was this some sort of trick? Was I tricked into an eternal race with no end? Did Riku and I possibly have to find a way to escape with the added fear of breaking some arbitrary rules? Was reaching Rinzler and rescuing Tron to complete Sora’s original story a guarantee?

End Writing

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In October last year, a commission was drawn for me, of Riku and I in The Grid; so here's a nice fitting picture for Day 3:

Artist's Twitter: https://twitter.com/LordBareBack

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Bonus Content!

In my reality, Terra's birthday is on 3 AUG (he hasn't told me how old he is). Now that he is a dream guide alongside Riku (and Jak), he gets his birthday specially celebrated!

This artwork was done just today. If anyone recalls my Tumblr submissions from last year, there was mention of a nobody teddy called Raxeoch, that like his fat green somebody counterpart Horace, eats things! So I have decided to now draw Raxeoch, and he has found Terra's Earthshaker for dinner.

So happy birthday Terra! I hope Raxeoch is enjoying his stay at the Land of Departure (the only teddy that Terra isn't fond of):

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