Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait before posting. I just want to reiterate what I mentioned in my other fic. My motivation has been dropping, but I will continue writing more chapters, so don't worry.
I recently created a Patreon! Those who are interested can support me by subscribing to it. You'll also gain early access to the chapters I post on all my fanfics. I've included the link in the author's thoughts for you all. Alright, enough rambling. Enjoy the chapter!
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"Be-!"
Muffled calls. I couldn't hear properly. However, it sounded like someone was trying to get my attention.
'Huh?' My eyes opened slowly, allowing light to flood in from the cracks. I saw a shadow hovering above me, its figure distorted by the light.
"Bec-!!"
Again, they called out to me, and this time I heard them better than before, though still not as clearly as I'd hoped.
"BECK!!!"
Finally, their shouts broke through. I could hear them perfectly now. My eyes shot open as I jerked my head forward.
"I'm up!"
"Argh! My nose!"
Turning to the person who was now screaming in pain, I stared at him for a moment before a blue-haired woman helped me up.
"Oh, stop being such a baby. You were the one leaning too close to his face, dummy." The woman laughed as she patted my back before walking to check on the guy.
"That's easy for you to say. Your nose isn't the one that got smashed."
"Uh-huh. Anyway, Beck, we were just about to go to the club to meet up with Bodhi. Wanna join?"
'Beck? Who's Beck?' Steadying myself, the woman let go and gave me a worried look.
"Are you alright? You seem a little out of it." She asked in a concerned tone.
"I'm fine, Mara. Just… a little tired." I said as I held my head.
As soon as those words left my mouth, I paused.
'Wait, I didn't mean to say that, did I?' It felt like my mouth was moving independently of what I was trying to express.
I intended to say one thing, but my mouth said another. This situation was becoming more confusing as time passed.
"Alright, as long as you're fine. Zed and I will meet you at the club, ok?" Mara said, waving goodbye as she left with the man now known as Zed.
"Alright. I'll catch up to you guys soon." I replied as I watched them leave the building.
Wincing, I held my head again. Memories of a life I never lived began bombarding me from all sides.
'I think I understand what's happening now.' I was experiencing those memories through that program's disc.
I sighed mentally as I got up and walked toward the exit. It felt strange to experience memories like this.
'Whatever, let's just finish this little memory lane crap.'
—
Entering the club, I scanned the room before spotting the others. They waved at me, motioning for me to join them.
"Finally. Do you know how long we've been waiting for you?"
"Don't be too hard on him, Bodhi. Beck wasn't feeling well." Mara laughed as I approached the table.
"Yeah, yeah. Did you all order your drinks already?" I asked as I sat down.
"Yep, you can go ahead and order yours. I'm going to have some fun dancing!" Mara exclaimed as she stood up to go dancing.
Chuckling at her antics, I called over a waiter and ordered a glass of liquid energy. Zed soon got up to join her, leaving me to chat with Bodhi.
"Any progress on upgrading those wrenches you made?" I asked Bodhi.
"Nope, they're already a masterpiece." He smirked.
"I wouldn't say all that. Maybe I could give them an upgrade somehow."
"Yeah, right! You don't even know how I made them to begin with." He laughed.
"Yeah, but seriously, they've made everyone's workload less stressful."
"Tell me about it. So, are you going to dance after finishing your drink?" Bodhi asked as he sipped the last of his own.
"Nah, I'm probably just going to sit this one out."
"You're boring, Beck. You know that, right?" Bodhi said as he got up to join the others.
"So I've been told." Smirking, I took a sip of energy.
.
.
.
"Alright, that's enough partying for one day." Grumbling, I rubbed my temples as we walked out of the club.
"Ugh, I'm with Beck on this one. My back is killing me." Zed groaned, stretching right before Bodhi slapped his back, causing him to nearly trip over himself.
"Lighten up, it's just a bit of partying." Bodhi said, laughing.
"Enough, you guys. Let's get back to the garage. I need to take a serious sleep cycle." Mara yawned in exhaustion.
—
It's been a few cycles, and I was fixing up a light cycle. It wasn't until Bodhi came in that I stopped what I was doing.
"Hey, Beck, wanna play some Disc Wars?" Bodhi asked as he sat next to me in the break room.
"You know you're not going to win, right?" I turned to him and gave him a smug grin.
"You never know. Today might be the day." Bodhi grumbled in annoyance.
"You're on then."
.
.
.
"Ugh!"
I slammed Bodhi into the ground, his disc landing just beside him. I stood above him, my unactivated disc pointed at his neck.
"I won. As usual." I smirked, watching him get up.
"Damn… I'm going to win sometime in the future. It's only a matter of time." Bodhi grunted as he stretched his back.
"Well, until that day comes, who's the champion?"
"I hate you..."
"Noted..."
We deadpanned at each other, staring silently before bursting into a full-blown laughing fit. Turning around, we began to head back to the garage.
—
Once we finally returned to the garage, I saw everyone tirelessly repairing various types of vehicles.
"Users… how do programs mess their bikes up so badly?" I sighed as Bodhi walked ahead of me.
"Who knows, but these vehicles aren't going to fix themselves."
.
.
.
.
"Ugh, I'm so tired." Zed groaned, slumping over the table.
"And it's only been a few hours…" I mumbled, following his lead.
"Yeah, hours filled with pain and misery. My hands feel ready to fall off." Mara complained as she entered the breakroom.
"Hopefully, this cycle ends soon." I sighed.
While we chatted, the break room door swung open. We turned to see Bodhi hunched over, staring at us before silently joining the group.
"This cycle is terrible…" He said, thumping his head onto the table.
"No kidding…" The rest of us agreed in unison.
We sat in silence, resting until someone barged into the break room.
"Alright, folks! Break time's over. Back to work."
"Aw, come on, Able." I groaned, with others joining in my protest.
"Sorry, but you've got jobs to do. I need all hands on deck today. Now, let's go!" he replied, turning to leave.
"I just want to sleep…" Mara said.
"What she said…" Zed added.
"Ugh, come on, we have a long cycle ahead." I groaned, prompting them to moan a bit more before reluctantly following me.
—
It's been a while since that dreadful work cycle. Things slowed down, allowing us more time to relax and enjoy our cycles.
Though I still had work to do, it wasn't too bad. I was fixing a bike when I felt someone sneak up behind me.
"What do you need, Bodhi?"
"Are you almost done with that bike?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because I want my rematch."
"Let me finish this bike first, then we can head out."
With a sigh, he pulled out the wrench he had made for the mechanics, which was remarkably helpful.
"Here, just use this."
"Wow, didn't think you were so eager to be beaten." Smirking as I activated the wrench.
As I used the wrench on the light cycle, I derezzed its shell to reveal the frame. The engine glowed red, flickering slightly.
Identifying the issue, I suited up with my gloves to retrieve the engine, then tapped on it, prompting it to display hollow graphic windows.
I quickly scanned each one, took hold of a part of the engine, and removed a small piece from within before pulling on its center, releasing a cylindrical piece.
After twisting it several times, I nodded in satisfaction before quickly reassembling the components and placing the engine back into the light cycle.
Removing the wrench, I watched the shell rematerialize over the light cycle's frame before I grabbed the bike's handle.
"Now for the final test." I revved the bike, which roared to life.
Turning around, I noticed Zed and Mara had joined Bodhi, who was scoffing at how quickly I fixed the bike.
"Showoff." Mara scoffed, regarding me with narrowed eyes.
"I like to think I have a natural talent for it." I replied with a grin.
"Still seems like showing off." She snorted.
"Agree to disagree. Now let's go. Someone's waiting for their butt to be kicked." I laughed as they followed me.
—
In Argon Park, Bodhi and I battled in the arena, each trying to knock the other down.
I threw my disc at Bodhi, watching as he dodged it and flipped into the air. He then caught my disc mid-air, landing before he threw his and my disc back at me.
Ducking the flying discs, they ricocheted off the arena's light barrier. We maneuvered through the arena, catching our discs before throwing them again.
Colliding, we catch our respective discs as I start throwing insults at Bodhi, hoping to throw him off his game. Judging by his expression, they were working.
"Wow, Bodhi, looks like you're getting better…just not better than me." I said with a smirk, dodging his disc and hurling my own.
"I don't need your comments, Beck." He scowled, sliding under my disc and catching his own just in time to block its ricochet.
"Looks like you do." I shouted, grabbing my disc.
Grunting, he threw his disc at me. I somersaulted over it, catching it midair like he had done with mine, before hurling both discs back at him. He attempted to dodge by flipping between them.
He smirked at me once he landed, only to see me grinning and gesturing for him to look behind him. As he turned, the two discs bounced off the barrier, smacking his face dead.
"Oh~, that's gotta hurt." I grimaced while catching the discs.
Walking over to him, I extended my hand as the arena announced me as the winner.
"Player 2 Defeated. Game Over. Would you like to play again?"
"Want to go again, tough guy?" I asked, grinning as I helped him up.
"I'm just getting started, Beck. This is nothing."
"That's what we like about you, Bodhi. You never give up."
Just as we were about to start another round, a loud, blaring noise erupted in the distance. Turning towards the sound, we saw numerous recognizers surrounding a large orange aircraft.
As the airship approached the city, we waited in suspense. Then we heard it, a voice announcing their arrival.
"Greetings, Programs. I am General Tesler. In the name of our great leader, Clu, I now claim Argon City as occupied territory."
As we processed the announcement, several recognizers hovered above us, dropping a rectangular pod.
We scattered to avoid being crushed. When the pod landed, an explosion of orange erupted, engulfing the entire park in a hue of orange.
"Users!" Mara cursed as she and some others were thrown back from the explosion.
The pod then derezzed its shell, revealing a statue of Clu inside.
As I went to help her up, light tanks and guards approached the park. A crowd began forming as everyone watched in stunned silence.
Only one thing was on my mind when I saw all this happening, and I couldn't help but voice it out loud.
"If Tron were here…"
"You mean if Tron were alive…" Zed quickly corrected me, causing me to glare at him slightly.
I was about to respond until we saw Bodhi begin approaching the line of guards.
"Hey! That's our field you just took over." He shouted at one guard.
"This field belongs to the occupation. It's ours now."
"You can't just-" Bodhi was slapped in the face with the guard's staff, cutting his sentence off as he was sent crashing to the ground.
The crowd gasped as we watched the scene unfold.
"Bodhi!" Mara exclaimed, and just as she was about to help him, Zed grabbed and stopped her.
"No more games, leave." The guard commanded before turning around.
Getting back up, Bodhi once again approached the guard.
"You think I'm afraid of y-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the staff the guard was holding glowed orange before slamming it into Bodhi. I watched as he crashed into the ground.
"Bodhi!"
I ran up to him only to see a gaping hole in his chest. I could only watch as it spread outward, and he slowly began to be derezzed. I held him in my arms, watching as life left his eyes.
Then he turned into a pile of cubes, derezzed and gone forever, leaving only his disc. Gritting my teeth, I picked up the now-ownerless disc before activating its blade.
"You won't get away with this…" I hissed at the guard who had just killed my friend.
"You want to be next." He snorted as he activated his staff once more.
As I was about to attack him, Mara grabbed my shoulder, sadly shaking her head. Deactivating the disc, I shot the guard a glare filled with hate.
With gritted teeth and clenched fists, I seethed with rage. I turned to leave, pushing past the crowd as only one thought went through my mind.
'This isn't over…'