Fanfiction ► Kingdom Hearts: Hearts in Unison (Chapter 68 posted)

[Sephiroth0812]

*chuckles* What a Mega-Flare that was! The Guardian took the entire blast of it.. except for the Library. D:

At least Fang gave them some munny for starters. I sure hope Zidane will be okay.

But now we're going to Isa and Braig, huh? Looks like something is going on inside Space Paranoids/The Grid..

To be honest, I was expecting more fight sequences of Ansem vs Fang/Dragoon.. Ah, well.

Yea, but it's not like the Guardian got away unscathed from it. In fact, Ansem actually sacrificed the Guardian to get away safely from the Mega-Flare and won't be able to summon it for weeks until it can sufficiently regenerate.
Now you can ponder on how Xehanort will react when he gets to know that and how Ansem copes with it as well as what side effects it may have.

While she's strict and willing to dirty her hands, Fang does admit when she causes unneccessary damage and it also cannot be denied that she used Bahamut out of anger and frustration rather than actual planning. So it's partly a sort of an apology on her part for losing her cool as well.
It's painful, but Zidane's wound isn't life-threatening and blood loss will also only be a minor issue if they can get medical attention fast enough.

Yep, Isa is going down into the laboratory where both Lea and the Chamber of Repose are while Braig is looking for the data black box Xehanort placed as "Ansem" in the computer system which also holds copies of Ansem the Wise's (before he became DiZ) and Apprentice Xehanort's research results.

Ansem had no reason to stay any longer though, in fact Master Xehanort explicitly ordered him to abandon the fight earlier through mental connection. In order to safely disengage, Ansem used the Guardian as a decoy and sacrifice.

Oh boy, this can't be good if, Braig is lurking about in the computer system. I wonder what life form, could be lurking about in the Heartless manufactory? :3

I feel really bad for Zidane. I hope it's not permanent damage to his tail. I can understand why, Leon and Yuffie would be frustrated with the situation with their former comrades, but hopefully they can meet up again under better circumstances.

I like this chapter a lot. Can't wait to read more, Sephy.

Heh, of course Braig is up to no good, but I assume you'll be surprised on how Braig decides to do things inside Space Paranoids.
There is also one more surprise in store when Braig finally finds the black box that was first mentioned in chapter 8, as there is something Xehanort and Xemnas didn't tell him about it.
That lifeform is Lea, Isa is heading to the Heartless manufactory because there is the entrance to the secret laboratory which also houses the Chamber of Repose, as seen in KH 2 Final Mix.

While the damage is serious and hurts, it can be remedied if treatment is applied quick enough. Yuffie's frustation stems from her confusion of not understanding the reasons they won't join up with them again, while Leon does suspect that during their escape as well as the ten years that passed something changed within them that caused their distancing from their former home.
The reasons and relationships between the three groups of FF-characters that survived the Fall of Radiant Garden and escaped will be further elaborated upon in later parts of the main story, shown through observations and things learned by several original characters, including Sora, Kairi, Data-Sora, Naminé and Vanitas. I can already reveal though that the Order Preservers know some things the other two groups do not, and those have to do with both the Fall of Radiant Garden itself as well as with their Founder, who isn't an actual member of them.

Thanks, I'm myself eager to finally find time to write further, as the best things are all yet to come and only glimpses of the whole connected net are already visible.

And so the fight ends with a heavy... defeat? Interesting. Also, it's funny seeing how Ansem had to hold his own asshole for that Mega Flare.

Meanwhile, we finally get back to Lea and Isa, as well as we finally start to watch Braig's course of action, in his classic "as if" line.

That again depends on interpretation, strictly spoken in battle terms Fang won because she literally destroyed the Guardian and sent Ansem into retreat. In long term consequences and objectives it is a defeat because Ansem secured the shard and high collateral damage was dealt to both Zidane and the library of Hollow Bastion.
Despite being ordered to retreat by Xehanort Ansem had no reason to stay any longer in any case because he has what he wanted. He used the Guardian to cover his retreat not because he feared the Mega Flare, but because he saw no reason to continue the battle and had to obey an order from MX.
He could have unleashed a counterattack immediately after the Guardian had absorbed the majority of the damage if he had chosen to stay.

Yep, these two plotlines will run parallel for about three chapters before a temporal resolve, then we will get a resolution to the battle at the town square before returning finally to Kairi and the issues with the main trio.
---

While I had my vacation days I actually did find some time for HiU, although not writing on the story itself but planning issues.
I resolved to split the whole tale into three standalone stories who form a trilogy (with chapter numbers restarting at 1 in each "substory") because it's so big.
I contemplated this a while before already but I hadn't actually the time to look into it further until the free time around Christmas and New Year's eve.

When still treating it as one story, I feared that I would have to radically cut down the "screentime" and focus on both the FF characters including the Order Preservers as well as Maleficent's group in order to fit the main plot with the KH original characters vs Xehanort all into it with the detail I want, but by doing this, I hope that I do not have to cut significantly into the different arcs and detailed descriptions most readers seem to like so much even for these other groups.

 

[Roxie1563]

Well, whatever you decide on this, I'll still be here to read it all!

 

[Sephiroth0812]

Alright, it is finally time for Braig's "adventure" in Space Paranoids.
More mysterious things are going to happen as another part of the intricate web that connects the story arcs together is going to be slowly unraveled.

#####

LIV. Astounding parallels
​

"Welcome User, I am Tron, the Central System Control Program of this system. I haven't yet been introduced to you, but I presume you were sent inside here by the Restoration Committee?"
"Correct, I am not part of the Committee itself, but merely an archivist of old written documents from the worlds former ruler Ansem the Wise, which also include the passwords to the routines for opening the secret floor you cannot access right now."
Braig enjoyed playing the innocent ally without giving away any hint at his true nature, smirking at the inside the whole time.
This is just so laughable, programs can be fooled so easily.

Tron's eyes lit up at Braig's explanation.
"These are good news, then I do not need to hack the system and risk causing instabilities or bugs to be created. After all, I am a security program at the base so hacking and bypassing is normally against my basic routines."
"I've even better ones. We already have dispatched someone who can check out that weird new lifeform down in that facility once we've opened it. So the current Heartless problems do not delay anything." Braig continued with vigor.
"Very good, I will grant you privileged access to the Communication Interface for a few cycles then." Tron answered and started to move towards the communications room of the I/O-Tower.

"Alright, then lead the way please." Braig performed an indicated bow to hide another smirk.
It took only a few minutes until Braig and Tron had reached the main communication room of the current I/O-Tower and a semi-transparent, floating keyboard appeared before Braig.

"Good, things are done quickly." He quipped as he entered the seven passwords faster than anyone could possibly see, augmented by his powers over space.
"That was a fast input almost worthy for a program." Tron remarked with a hint of admiration.
"However, there is a side effect to all this. Opening up these routines also gave access to a hidden partition of the server where a sort of 'black box' with old data is stored. This data is corrupted and could possibly crash the entire system. If it is alright with you I will remove that black box completely and take the damaged data to the user world. That's actually the main reason why I choose to get personally into the system." Braig turned towards Tron as he explained this, very satisfied as to how things had developed so far.

"I see, that explains things. If this dataspace is really that harmful any access by the system itself could already cause damage, but if a user alone accesses and removes it no problems should arise." Tron nodded in agreement.

"Exactly, that's why I would also ask for a quarantine zone put up around that particular partition with as few system activity as possible. I will deal with it completely manually." Braig answered in a professional tone.
"That can be arranged if we know the sectors this blackbox is located at."

"No problem at all for that one." Braig quipped as he produced a sort of flash memory device or mini computer from one pocket of his coat.
Turning it on, he invoked a procedure that showed a set of long hexadecimal numbers on the small display.

Nodding, he showed the readout to Tron.
"Here are the addresses of the memory banks of this "black box"."

With his added functions as the new Central System Control Tron could check and verify the provided range of memory addresses in an instant.

"Fascinating. Just like in the user world there is an entire additional floor hidden within the castle, this "black box" is an entire partition as big as the system partition hidden on the main server. Not even the archives have any trace of this partition. The user who hid it must have used very strong encryption procedures to make it untraceable even by the system itself, removing it also from all address registers and possibly even manually removing the device from the Master Register so it can't be recognized except if used with a special mapping device that has the exact memory areas like your small computer apparently does."

Braig followed this rather long explanation with a certain irritation.
So that's what happens when a program gets excited? A flood of technical gibbering?
As if I would understand even half of this gobbledygook.
He scratched his head with a grunt.

Forcing himself to maintain the masquerade, Braig displayed a thin smile.

"Like I already pointed out, this bunch of data is highly dangerous and could possibly corrupt the whole Hollow Bastion Computer system to a point where it crashes down. I found this device together with the old written documents of Ansem the Wise, and one of them also speaks about purging all traces of this data from the system in order to minimize the danger of it being accidentally accessed. Thus, to resolve it the most effective way, I will go there personally and upload the whole data structure to this special device here with cut and paste, then you can run a complete reformatting of that partition in order to purge the last traces of this menace."

Tron put one hand on his chin in thought for a moment before he continued.
"Since this whole partition is so far detached from the system I doubt that we can establish a secure Solar Sailer connection with it, and traversing the sea of simulation or the data buses by yourself is too dangerous."

"Then how about you lend me one of these things over there and let me fly there by myself." Braig answered and pointed at a Recognizer that was flying past them in the distance.

Following the direction with his gaze Tron nodded.

"Good idea, that should be possible without much trouble, although I may need to accompany you because for flight outside the normal routes the highest system authorization is needed."

Braig wasn't too keen on having Tron on his heels the whole time, but he paid attention to not let any dissatisfaction show.

"It's inevitable I guess, but I have to ask you to stay away from the black box itself. If there's any in-built security measure or if removing it causes any of the corrupted data to leak, I do not want the main system operating program to be infected."
As if, that would probably be the best solution to erase any evidence here and make the system unusable without having to dirty my own hands...

"That is self-evident. I will stay on the Recognizer once we reach the target area." Tron answered as one of the Recognizers landed right behind him.
"Shall we go then?"

This time Braig answered with a simple nod and they boarded the Recognizer. Setting the coordinates at the main control console, Tron carefully plotted a manual course and also put up an energy shield around the vessel.
"This should do it, we are just short of the influx of the latest status message streams and reconnaissance reports of the Claymore defense system and the surveillance devices that monitor the safety of the town and I do not want to accidentally colllide with them."

"Ah, so there comes quite a bunch of them, huh?"
"Yes, due to the recent attacks of Heartless and lesser Nobodies the message stream is of course even bigger than usual."

The Recognizer took off and raced across one of the vast databuses of the system, away from the I/O-Tower, passing many more System components in the process.
About five minutes later they passed by a huge Network node where a gigantic stream of data was downloaded.

Braig whistled slightly impressed.
"It looks like a giant waterfall." He murmured.

"That's the message stream I mentioned earlier. It seems to be an even bigger transfer than I anticipated so the automatic sorting algorithms may face trouble interpreting them by themselves. This automatically activates the first supporting procedure for additional processing power."

As Tron pointed that out, several unarmed Light Jets that looked a bit like flying tugboats passed by steered by additional programs from small cockpits.

These flying vehicles started to pick out some cubic packets of the data stream with what looked like small tractor beams and transferred them to alternating data buses running parallel to those filled by the automatic sorting algorithms.

Shortly before these data packets were send into different parts of the system to be further processed, they were combined with the ones coming from the automatic sorting algorithm by small, green glowing, bumblebee-like robotic helpers that were part of another sorting algorithm.
Braig couldn't help but grin at these events.
It's hilarious, that all really looks like a baggage handling system on a big airport, with all those "data-streams" on the buses reminiscent of big, glowing baggage conveyor belts.

The Recognizer circumvented the whole scenery in a wide, long curve and it wasn't long until it disappeared from sight. The way of the bus it was travelling on progressively went down more and more levels where activity became more and more sparse.
"Not much going on here, huh? That's good, less opportunity to damage something." Braig stated into the relative silence.
"These memory banks seem to be rarely used, I guess some of them are even damaged sectors that do not function anymore anyways. To hide that cluster of data even behind the damaged memory sectors shows just how well Ansem or whoever hid it wanted it to be hidden."

Tron paused for a moment to check some values on the main control console.
"We're approaching the lowest point of this server that can be possibly reached by a vehicle. The last two layers cannot be travelled with something as big as this Recognizer."

"Even better, if anything happens then you're safely out of the way."

"Alright, I will land over there on that service platform. Here, with that we can still remain in contact."
He tossed Braig a small communication device.

As he catched it he gave the program an ambivalent smile.
"Thanks, Mr. System Controller, it's pretty fruitful work we did together here."
This is really too easy. He didn't even check on my background or anything. Pretty helpful guy though, I must admit. It's almost a pity that I will need to blast him apart anyways later on to cover my tracks.

Braig stepped out of the Recognizer and started to walk across a rather eerie "Landscape" as far as it could be called that. It wasn't too much different from the usual scenery that Space Paranoids provided, but the subtle differences like vastly dimmed light and almost total silence except some odd electrical buzzing sometimes or the sound of a few data packets being moved provided a rather obvious contrast to the more "lively" upper levels.

Ten or eleven corners turned later, he didn't really count, suddenly something odd catched his attention.
"Huh? What's that? Seems one of those green little robots followed us down here." Braig wondered as he recognized one of the bumblebee-like robots hovering some metres away from him, apparently stopping when he also stopped.

"What? That's strange. Those are part of a Sorting program and should not roam freely through the system. Is there a malfunction...or..." Tron's voice over the comlink wavered a bit.

"Or what?"

"It may be a rogue program disguised as one of the Sorting modules. Does it display any aggressiveness?"
"As if. It just hovers there and does nothing. The only interesting thing to note about it is that it moves when I move, it stops when I stop, always maintaining the same distance to me."
Almost like a flying surveillance camera.

"Maybe it's a virus, when have you last updated the virus scan and firewalls?" He quipped half-heartedly while swiftly summoning one of his arrow guns.
Try to get funny with me you weird bunch of data and I use my personal delete "routine" on you which has no breakpoint in the recycle bin.

For a seemingly long moment, only the dampened noise of Trons fingers tapping on the keyboard of a console was heard.

#####

 

[Roxie1563]

Okay, I half-understood all the computer jabber, but so there's something in Tron's world that Braig is going to get.. Okay then.

Seems like Braig has a stalker.. xD but he had better not blow off Tron! D: I love him!!

As usual, I can't wait for the next chapter!

 

[KingdomKey]

I have to ask, is Tron suspicious of Braig? He's capable of some emotions, and I feel like the surveillance camera is Tron's doing. I find it impressive, how you described the grid itself, Sephy. I like how well Tron and Braig were getting along. I'm surprised Braig pities having to get rid of Tron, after doing his dirty work. Why doesn't he just turn Tron into Rinzler?

 

[AdrianXXII]

I really like how you wrote the battle sequence. Especially the fight between Fang and Ansem. I like how Fang and Zidane were pretty much able to hold their own against him, well to a certain extent. I also found the banter between Zidane and Ansem quite amusing. Isn’t it a bit odd that Leon and Yuffie were fighting the heartless for such a long time? Sure that heartless has a lot of HP and are it’s a pain, but they still shouldn’t have needed that long did they hold back on their stronger moves? Yuffie being a healer was definitely something I wasn’t aware of, always though Aerith was the healer of the group.

I like how you described the conflict within Zidane after getting the shard, seeing I’m guessing according to protocol he probably should have left with the shard as soon as acquiring it. It would have prevented them from losing it. Though who knows what would have happened to Leon and Yuffie.

Fang’s Summon showing up was unexpected, I was assuming she and the others wouldn’t be able to summon them, seeing they came from being a l’Cie. It sure did cause quite a bit of damage. That poor library didn’t stand a chance, Belle would be devastated if she saw what happened to it.

Saïx piecing together what the live form probably is was a nice touch. Though if I think about it, shouldn’t there be more people recompleting there? After all Sora has already slain so many of the heartless some of them must have been some of the subjects.

Norton.exe and Kaspersky.exe? I think it’s funny you decided to name the after to anit-virus programs. The Notion of there being a second portion as big as the System’s is quite interesting. I definitely wasn’t expecting the black box to be that big or to be a second system.

Hm, seems like Tron isn’t as blind to Braig’s shadiness as Braig might have assumed. I’m curious whether he had a subroutine do a check up on Braig and the situation of side.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

Okay, I half-understood all the computer jabber, but so there's something in Tron's world that Braig is going to get.. Okay then.

Seems like Braig has a stalker.. xD but he had better not blow off Tron! D: I love him!!

As usual, I can't wait for the next chapter!

It's the blackbox that contains, among other things, Apprentice Xehanort's and Ansem the Wise's (before he became DiZ) research results. Braig was tasked by Xemnas (then only known as the hooded figure) in chapter 8 to retrieve it.

Yep, I can foresee you'll probably surprised who controls the stalker and why.
We'll see how things develop, although right now the odds aren't too good for the whole Hollow Bastion computer system.

I have to ask, is Tron suspicious of Braig? He's capable of some emotions, and I feel like the surveillance camera is Tron's doing. I find it impressive, how you described the grid itself, Sephy. I like how well Tron and Braig were getting along. I'm surprised Braig pities having to get rid of Tron, after doing his dirty work. Why doesn't he just turn Tron into Rinzler?

Tron finds him to be a bit odd for a user, but he doesn't mistrust him yet. If it is, Tron would be a very good actor, wouldn't he? Considering how he speaks to Braig about the thing and is himself befuddled of the behaviour of that thing.
Thanks, environment descriptions make up quite a part in order to get readers a feel for the world we are currently in.
That's because for one Tron is nearly always "for the users" and I can't exactly recall that he had to do with treacherous users often, in most times it were programs/AIs who went nuts that Tron had to battle. For two Braig figured that it would probably easier to find what he searches when he goes along with the system for a while instead of going in with guns blazing from the beginning.
It's not like he genuinely cares, as he says only almost a pity. It's practically Braig's silent way to acknowledge Tron's abilities and their use to him, that's however all he's willing to give.
There are two things that prevent the Space Paranoids-Tron from being transformed into a second Rinzler:
1st there would still be the chance that the transformation can be reversed especially since Braig, thanks to Xehanort, knows about Sora's heart connecting abilities. That's something he would not want to risk.
2nd in Space Paranoids, which is a copy from the original ENCOM system from before Kevin Flynn copied it for himself and created "The Grid" that we see in Tron: Legacy, there exists no CLU 2.0 who could perform such a repurposing nor is someone like the MCP still around. Braig may be a user, but he's not the most computer savvy guy around (better than Sora, but still) so he wouldn't know how to do it even if he would consider the option.

I really like how you wrote the battle sequence. Especially the fight between Fang and Ansem. I like how Fang and Zidane were pretty much able to hold their own against him, well to a certain extent. I also found the banter between Zidane and Ansem quite amusing. Isn’t it a bit odd that Leon and Yuffie were fighting the heartless for such a long time? Sure that heartless has a lot of HP and are it’s a pain, but they still shouldn’t have needed that long did they hold back on their stronger moves? Yuffie being a healer was definitely something I wasn’t aware of, always though Aerith was the healer of the group.

I like how you described the conflict within Zidane after getting the shard, seeing I’m guessing according to protocol he probably should have left with the shard as soon as acquiring it. It would have prevented them from losing it. Though who knows what would have happened to Leon and Yuffie.

Fang’s Summon showing up was unexpected, I was assuming she and the others wouldn’t be able to summon them, seeing they came from being a l’Cie. It sure did cause quite a bit of damage. That poor library didn’t stand a chance, Belle would be devastated if she saw what happened to it.

Saïx piecing together what the live form probably is was a nice touch. Though if I think about it, shouldn’t there be more people recompleting there? After all Sora has already slain so many of the heartless some of them must have been some of the subjects.

Norton.exe and Kaspersky.exe? I think it’s funny you decided to name the after to anit-virus programs. The Notion of there being a second portion as big as the System’s is quite interesting. I definitely wasn’t expecting the black box to be that big or to be a second system.

Hm, seems like Tron isn’t as blind to Braig’s shadiness as Braig might have assumed. I’m curious whether he had a subroutine do a check up on Braig and the situation of side.

Heh, thanks, Ansem definitely didn't expect such a strong resistance from both of them, not to mention they both actually managed to give him serious wounds. The damage was serious enough that Ansem had to actually resort to his Drainra-spell, which he normally keeps concealed, in order to remain fully operational.
Zidane's behaviour was quite something Ansem found to be surprising. As the ruler of the Darkness and the Heartless he is used to be either feared, revered or at least being spoken to respectful/with caution rather than bland disrespect and callousness like Zidane did.
As for Leon and Yuffie, there are two things to consider. First is that they never faced Heartless like the Zip Slashers before, as they do not only have much more HP but also stronger attacks than most Heartless so far. Second even Roxas, a Keyblade wielder, need quite some time to defeat a Zip Slasher. Even if you use a Limit in Days, you cannot defeat a Zip Slasher in one round.
Yuffie can heal in the Olympus Tournaments in KH 1 and "Clear Tranquil" is an actual Healing Limit Break she can use in the original Final Fantasy VII. Aerith's Healing Techniques are of course way more effective and she's still the main healer of the group, but Yuffie and Tifa can make good secondary healers.

Exactly, normally the success of the mission is first priority and had it been Fang instead of Zidane in this position, she would have left immediately. It's Zidane's "you don't need a reason to help people"-philosophy that goes into effect here alongside the fact that they all were comrades in the same academy in the past.
Fighting the Zip Slashers and Ansem alone, I guess you can imagine what the end outcome would have been if Leon and Yuffie had not decided to flee.

Since this is the KH universe with different backgrounds they're obviously no l'Cie. That they can summon though is because of their leader, the Grand Mistress. Yea, lol, Ansem's Guardian got also quite the beating out of it.

It won't be long now until he finds out that this lifeform is actually Lea with his current memory problems. We don't know yet what happened down there since Lea blasted his cell door apart...but keep in mind that for HiU no concepts presented in Dream Drop Distance hold any merit because the story was planned before DDD came out. Any similarities or even "nearly" identical explanations to something stated in DDD are thus coincidental, so the rule that "a person that is recompleted comes back exactly where he/she lost his/her heart first" that we got presented in DDD does not apply.
The person may be in nine of of ten cases recompleted in the same world where they lost their heart, but it does not have to be the exact same location.

I made that as a slight nod to the computer game Tron 2.0. I never played it myself but a former classmate of mine did and I noticed the hilarious names of some programs there. For security guard programs, I thought these were fitting.
That was intended as a surprise, as the sheer size of the "black box" may lead to the assumption that there is stored more than copies of the Ansem Reports and some research results. Fun fact is that not even Braig knows everything as Xehanort and Xemnas didn't feel the need to completely fill him in.

That's not yet clear, although I can say that Tron does not mistrust Braig per se, with the current influx of observation data and the "Claymores" also being used full force against the Heartless and Nobodies throughout the Town and Castle the system is running under near full capacity, so additional search quests or subroutines would be greatly delayed.
Not to mention there isn't really any information about Braig Tron could check up upon and from the Restoration Committee there's no one around atm he could ask.

 

[AdrianXXII]

Heh, thanks, Ansem definitely didn't expect such a strong resistance from both of them, not to mention they both actually managed to give him serious wounds. The damage was serious enough that Ansem had to actually resort to his Drainra-spell, which he normally keeps concealed, in order to remain fully operational.
Zidane's behaviour was quite something Ansem found to be surprising. As the ruler of the Darkness and the Heartless he is used to be either feared, revered or at least being spoken to respectful/with caution rather than bland disrespect and callousness like Zidane did.
As for Leon and Yuffie, there are two things to consider. First is that they never faced Heartless like the Zip Slashers before, as they do not only have much more HP but also stronger attacks than most Heartless so far. Second even Roxas, a Keyblade wielder, need quite some time to defeat a Zip Slasher. Even if you use a Limit in Days, you cannot defeat a Zip Slasher in one round.
Yuffie can heal in the Olympus Tournaments in KH 1 and "Clear Tranquil" is an actual Healing Limit Break she can use in the original Final Fantasy VII. Aerith's Healing Techniques are of course way more effective and she's still the main healer of the group, but Yuffie and Tifa can make good secondary healers.

Exactly, normally the success of the mission is first priority and had it been Fang instead of Zidane in this position, she would have left immediately. It's Zidane's "you don't need a reason to help people"-philosophy that goes into effect here alongside the fact that they all were comrades in the same academy in the past.
Fighting the Zip Slashers and Ansem alone, I guess you can imagine what the end outcome would have been if Leon and Yuffie had not decided to flee.

Since this is the KH universe with different backgrounds they're obviously no l'Cie. That they can summon though is because of their leader, the Grand Mistress. Yea, lol, Ansem's Guardian got also quite the beating out of it.

It won't be long now until he finds out that this lifeform is actually Lea with his current memory problems. We don't know yet what happened down there since Lea blasted his cell door apart...but keep in mind that for HiU no concepts presented in Dream Drop Distance hold any merit because the story was planned before DDD came out. Any similarities or even "nearly" identical explanations to something stated in DDD are thus coincidental, so the rule that "a person that is recompleted comes back exactly where he/she lost his/her heart first" that we got presented in DDD does not apply.
The person may be in nine of of ten cases recompleted in the same world where they lost their heart, but it does not have to be the exact same location.

I made that as a slight nod to the computer game Tron 2.0. I never played it myself but a former classmate of mine did and I noticed the hilarious names of some programs there. For security guard programs, I thought these were fitting.
That was intended as a surprise, as the sheer size of the "black box" may lead to the assumption that there is stored more than copies of the Ansem Reports and some research results. Fun fact is that not even Braig knows everything as Xehanort and Xemnas didn't feel the need to completely fill him in.

That's not yet clear, although I can say that Tron does not mistrust Braig per se, with the current influx of observation data and the "Claymores" also being used full force against the Heartless and Nobodies throughout the Town and Castle the system is running under near full capacity, so additional search quests or subroutines would be greatly delayed.
Not to mention there isn't really any information about Braig Tron could check up upon and from the Restoration Committee there's no one around atm he could ask.

Yeah, it seemed their strong resistance and strength really did seem to take him by surprise. So why would he keep his drainra-spell concealed, how does it pose a disadvantage for him?
Really I don’t think Sora or Riku talk to him with too much respect or any of the other things you mentioned, so he probably has to be used to youngsters disrespecting him.
This is true.
I completely forgot about Yuffie healing in KH1. Considering what happens to Aerith in FF7 it makes sense that there are other skilled healers in the group. That’s definitely good to know for when I continue playing FF7.

Yeah I could see Fang take of once she’s got what they’ve came for, she was pretty much like that in FF13 too and only really seemed to stick around because of Vanile, at least at first. I’m guessing Zidane’s philosophy has gotten him into trouble with the guild before, I really doubt this is the first time he made a decision that wasn’t really in favor of successfully completing the mission.

Thought as much, having l’Cie in the KHU would be weird. It’s interesting that the summons (I’m guessing it’s not just the Eidolons) are linked to the Grand Mistress.
Yeah, but who cares about the Guardian?

Well it will be interesting to see the confrontation between those two. Well personally I assumed that to be the case even before DDD. I find it interesting that they might even recomplete in other worlds, that would be a bummer.

That’s a neat bit of trivia and a cool nod to the game. Well judging by its size I feel it’s safe to say there’s a lot more stored on it than just the Reports and research. I’m guessing we’ll learn more about what’s being stored there. I can easily see Braig learning this the hard way though, if something dangerous is stored on that partition.
Right so the Systems running at its limit and probably can’t do to many additional thing without slowing down the system. Well I guess the information Torn can access would probably actually color Braig as trust worthy unless the Restoration cometee updated the records. Still even if the records were updated it probably wouldn’t hold any information on him unless the RC was briefed on the events that took place in TWTNW.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

Yeah, it seemed their strong resistance and strength really did seem to take him by surprise. So why would he keep his drainra-spell concealed, how does it pose a disadvantage for him?
Really I don’t think Sora or Riku talk to him with too much respect or any of the other things you mentioned, so he probably has to be used to youngsters disrespecting him.
This is true.
I completely forgot about Yuffie healing in KH1. Considering what happens to Aerith in FF7 it makes sense that there are other skilled healers in the group. That’s definitely good to know for when I continue playing FF7.

Yeah I could see Fang take of once she’s got what they’ve came for, she was pretty much like that in FF13 too and only really seemed to stick around because of Vanile, at least at first. I’m guessing Zidane’s philosophy has gotten him into trouble with the guild before, I really doubt this is the first time he made a decision that wasn’t really in favor of successfully completing the mission.

Thought as much, having l’Cie in the KHU would be weird. It’s interesting that the summons (I’m guessing it’s not just the Eidolons) are linked to the Grand Mistress.
Yeah, but who cares about the Guardian?

Well it will be interesting to see the confrontation between those two. Well personally I assumed that to be the case even before DDD. I find it interesting that they might even recomplete in other worlds, that would be a bummer.

That’s a neat bit of trivia and a cool nod to the game. Well judging by its size I feel it’s safe to say there’s a lot more stored on it than just the Reports and research. I’m guessing we’ll learn more about what’s being stored there. I can easily see Braig learning this the hard way though, if something dangerous is stored on that partition.
Right so the Systems running at its limit and probably can’t do to many additional thing without slowing down the system. Well I guess the information Torn can access would probably actually color Braig as trust worthy unless the Restoration cometee updated the records. Still even if the records were updated it probably wouldn’t hold any information on him unless the RC was briefed on the events that took place in TWTNW.

It's not because it would be any imminent disadvantage to him, but because Ansem does not like for opponents (or possible future opponents) to know too many of his techniques/moves. The more an opponent knows about him, the better they can prepare to counter him.
As for the Drain-series of spells themselves, besides being reasonably cruel (the user drains energy from an opponent to heal him/herself, practically a more sinister version of Cure), they are comparatively rare because they are very difficult to learn and master.
Only true Masters of Darkness have access to this series of spells.
That may be true, yet still neither Sora and Riku have behaved as bold (and callous) as Zidane did. ^__^
Yep, although with correct Materia configuration or if you get White Wind from Zemzelett on Enemy Skill materia (you need to manipulate the monster) everyone can be a potent healer. White Wind has even additional benefits in that it can heal several negative Status Effects too. With 34 MP cost it is also vastly cheaper than Curaga (Cure3).

Fang would have reasoned that Leon and Yuffie do not need help because if they could'nt win they would/should retreat. Within the Order Preservers retreating is not seen as something bad if there can be reasonable gain from it and if possible, Agents should always prioritize their mission goals first and their own lives second, only after these comes helping outsiders.
That's definitely correct, but Zidane is just being himself, it's something he cannot act against even if that means trouble with the leadership of their guild.

I also think it would bloat up things unneccessarily to have also to deal with l'Cie-stuff. There are quite some tidbits already laid out concerning the Order Preservers, and in the next arc we will certainly get some more in-depth views of them.
*ggg* You'll see that certain persons in-story do...

That's for sure. This situation will be the focus after all in Space Paranoids is said and done. After Lea and Isa, we'll take a short look at how it is going in the Radiant Garden town with Aerith, Tifa, Balthier and the others before returning attention to Kairi.
When I planned the story I did not pay too much attention on the "where" with the revival/recompletion process but rather the "how", which also ties in with Lea's current memory problems.

A good feeling indeed, this partition holds indeed several other things besides the obvious, which will be addressed already in the next two chapters. Who knows? Considering though that in this partition there are things stored that were put there by Ansem the Wise, Apprentice Xehanort and Xemnas over the course of most of the time experiments were done, some may be definitely not pretty...
Good observation, that the RC was briefed on the final battles of KH 2 and Xigbar's/Braig's involvement in the whole is unlikely as KH 2 explicitly states that SRK went back to DI while MDG returned to Disney Castle. Beatrix knows about Braig's true colors, but she just joined the RC recently as seen some chapters before and there are enough other things to worry about right now than to update the Computer system with information on Braig, not to forget that they all believe the Organisation members, as well as Xehanort and the apprentices, are history.

 

[AdrianXXII]

It's not because it would be any imminent disadvantage to him, but because Ansem does not like for opponents (or possible future opponents) to know too many of his techniques/moves. The more an opponent knows about him, the better they can prepare to counter him.
As for the Drain-series of spells themselves, besides being reasonably cruel (the user drains energy from an opponent to heal him/herself, practically a more sinister version of Cure), they are comparatively rare because they are very difficult to learn and master.
Only true Masters of Darkness have access to this series of spells.
That may be true, yet still neither Sora and Riku have behaved as bold (and callous) as Zidane did. ^__^
Yep, although with correct Materia configuration or if you get White Wind from Zemzelett on Enemy Skill materia (you need to manipulate the monster) everyone can be a potent healer. White Wind has even additional benefits in that it can heal several negative Status Effects too. With 34 MP cost it is also vastly cheaper than Curaga (Cure3).

Fang would have reasoned that Leon and Yuffie do not need help because if they could'nt win they would/should retreat. Within the Order Preservers retreating is not seen as something bad if there can be reasonable gain from it and if possible, Agents should always prioritize their mission goals first and their own lives second, only after these comes helping outsiders.
That's definitely correct, but Zidane is just being himself, it's something he cannot act against even if that means trouble with the leadership of their guild.

I also think it would bloat up things unneccessarily to have also to deal with l'Cie-stuff. There are quite some tidbits already laid out concerning the Order Preservers, and in the next arc we will certainly get some more in-depth views of them.
*ggg* You'll see that certain persons in-story do...

That's for sure. This situation will be the focus after all in Space Paranoids is said and done. After Lea and Isa, we'll take a short look at how it is going in the Radiant Garden town with Aerith, Tifa, Balthier and the others before returning attention to Kairi.
When I planned the story I did not pay too much attention on the "where" with the revival/recompletion process but rather the "how", which also ties in with Lea's current memory problems.

A good feeling indeed, this partition holds indeed several other things besides the obvious, which will be addressed already in the next two chapters. Who knows? Considering though that in this partition there are things stored that were put there by Ansem the Wise, Apprentice Xehanort and Xemnas over the course of most of the time experiments were done, some may be definitely not pretty...
Good observation, that the RC was briefed on the final battles of KH 2 and Xigbar's/Braig's involvement in the whole is unlikely as KH 2 explicitly states that SRK went back to DI while MDG returned to Disney Castle. Beatrix knows about Braig's true colors, but she just joined the RC recently as seen some chapters before and there are enough other things to worry about right now than to update the Computer system with information on Braig, not to forget that they all believe the Organisation members, as well as Xehanort and the apprentices, are history.

Okay that makes sense, keeping his abilities as unknown as possible does give him an ace up his sleeve .
This is true, but Sora and Riku aren’t as bold as Zidane in general, at least from what I gather.
Hm, thanks for the info this will definitely come in handy. White Wind really sounds like a great ability to have.

I think Fang probably would have been right about Leon and Yuffie retreating, if they had to face the Zip Slashers and Ansem alone.
I kind of expected that to be the Order Preservers' mentality in regards to missions.
Yes, though considering how big the Universe is it would be possible, but it would have overcomplicated the story unnecessarily.
Sounds promising, I’m defiantly looking forward to learning more about them.

Hehe seems like there’s still quite a bit of story to this arc. I’m guessing, it’ll be a few weeks until we get around to Kairi’s story.
Okay that sounds pretty interesting.

Wow, they’re already going to be addressed in the next two chapters. Okay I wasn’t expecting Ansem the Wise to have any hand on this partition. So is this partition on the same hard drive as the main partition or is it another?
Yes, it is quite unlikely. Well I guess they’ll learn otherwise soon enough.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

Okay that makes sense, keeping his abilities as unknown as possible does give him an ace up his sleeve .
This is true, but Sora and Riku aren’t as bold as Zidane in general, at least from what I gather.
Hm, thanks for the info this will definitely come in handy. White Wind really sounds like a great ability to have.

I think Fang probably would have been right about Leon and Yuffie retreating, if they had to face the Zip Slashers and Ansem alone.
I kind of expected that to be the Order Preservers' mentality in regards to missions.
Yes, though considering how big the Universe is it would be possible, but it would have overcomplicated the story unnecessarily.
Sounds promising, I’m defiantly looking forward to learning more about them.

Hehe seems like there’s still quite a bit of story to this arc. I’m guessing, it’ll be a few weeks until we get around to Kairi’s story.
Okay that sounds pretty interesting.

Wow, they’re already going to be addressed in the next two chapters. Okay I wasn’t expecting Ansem the Wise to have any hand on this partition. So is this partition on the same hard drive as the main partition or is it another?
Yes, it is quite unlikely. Well I guess they’ll learn otherwise soon enough.

Exactly, that goes for Xemnas and Xehanort himself as well though, as they all have some more abilities and spells available we do not know yet.
There are personality differences, no question, yet that explains Ansem's reactions as he has not yet encountered a personality as Zidane, lol.
It is very handy also because you can calculate how much it will heal: It always restores the HP of the entire party to the current amount of HP the caster has. Thus, the only time when White Wind isn't useful for healing is when the entire party has HP below 500 or so.

Yep, but unlike her, abandoning them would not even cross Zidane's mind due to his life philosophy and code of honor.
Even if it is their main modus operandi, that doesn't mean all of them like it that way, not even among the leadership. It is seen more as a grudging necessity rather than actual conviction.
Correct, the story is very big as it is already.
It's like another part of the big net that connects the whole narrative, and I can already say that they have connections that go beyond just the other FF characters, despite those being their most close ones.

Oh yeah, there definitely is, that's why I spent part of my Christmas/new year vacation on reorganizing the whole tale and effectively split Hearts in Unison into a trilogy of three stories. When I first planned it I simply did not see that all the stuff that there is to tell simply does not fit into one continuous story.
The storyline about Braig and his time in Space Paranoids will be finished soon, I do not know yet if it will fit into the next two chapters or if it will need three. We have reached a part now where the story parts I have written aren't yet organized into chapters.
After that, there will be one or two chapters each dedicated to Isa and Lea's part as well as the FF characters fighting in the town of Radiant Garden before we return to Kairi.
So, the lowest possible chapter amount until return to Kairi would be three chapters, while the most would be six.
It's one of the central themes of the story, mainly it also concerns the relationship between memories and the heart, and how hearts are created. Lea in this case represents a certain "step" or level of something, but more than that would be spoilers.

Yep, there are more surprises in store, some more and some less shocking I suppose.
Ansem the Wise was the one to originally create one part of this partition by expanding it when the experiments started and the secret laboratory was built, Xehanort later just took over like he did with everything else. The other part of that partition was already present when Ansem purchased the copy though.

Just like the secret laboratory and the Chamber of Repose are in a hidden floor beneath the castle, the computer system has a hidden additional main harddrive that is identical in scope to the one in view.
At least they will get to see the consequences of it.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

Okay, it's time for the continuation, things are heating up in the Hollow Bastion computer system:

#####

LV. An old acquaintance
​

"I ran a quick check of this particular module's signatures, but there's nothing unusual at first glance. The fact that it does have some extra procedures not usual in this type of program module is suspicious though. It could be an irregulary evolved program with just a high portion of what you users call "curiosity" but it could also be a camouflaged hacker program. Of course, a hidden virus is also possible, but the users did update the firewalls just two weeks ago and the Hollow Bastion system is normally not connected to any outside network."

Braig shrugged in indifference.
"Whatever it is, it's not supposed to be here right? So how about just deleting it?"

Raising his arrowgun he fired a shot without waiting for Tron's answer.

The robotic program turned tail and darted away around the corner with amazing speed, dodging the shot.
Now it should understand my stance.

"What are you doing? Just attacking it without provocation may cause unneccessary complications." Tron said with a low tone of displeasure.

"Unneccessary complications? AS IF, I just fired a warning shot and the thing fled like the devil was behind it. I guess it was really just a little program with too much curiosity."

"Is this what they call "hot-headedness" in a user? To prove if it is really a potential danger or just a harmless program module that is evolving for whatever reason, it should be monitored and in the worst case quarantined, but chasing it into the system won't help."

"In that case I have a great idea. How about you start to scan or whatever you programs usually do in such situations for that little rogue while I take care of that potentially dangerous black box?" Braig gave his voice a business-like spin again, but he could feel that his self-control was somewhat wavering. This weird rogue module was just an annoyance straining his patience and he didn't know how longer he could afford to play nice.
So much for it being "too easy". But that it would be such a random, annoying chain of events that provides the hindrances...

"Alright, that can be done, although then I won't be able to be of any assistance if there gets really something awry with that black box." Tron responded, his voice much more reserved an wary than before.
"Even better, then there won't be any danger of you or the system being damaged." Braig lied with false concern. "As you may have noticed, I am pretty capable of defending myself, even against some rogue data." He continued with an amused tone.
For a program having such "feelings" of concern for a human is, from a scientific view, surely interesting and may actually be taken as a hint of it evolving into a true living being, maybe even the development of a heart...wait...damn, I'm starting to sound like Even or the old coot.
Braig slapped his free hand against his forehead and shook his head as he moved forward further.
More sentimental persons may also find this "touching", but not me, hah, as if.
Grinning, he twirled the arrowgun around in his hand as he turned one last corner and reached a big, circular hall which was also a dead end.

Directly before him, opposite the entrance to the hall, laid a huge wall littered with red colored circuitry, the world SEALED blinking up on different parts of the wall in different intervals in red letters.
Aha, looks like this is the main gateway to the hidden partition. Now I need to find a terminal to connect my special mini computer to.
Braig scanned the circular hall, looking for a form of input console or port. It didn't take more than two seconds for a familiar buzzing sound to be heard.
He swirled around with a sour expression on his face.
"Still behind me, you stupid curious subprogram?"
Raising his arrowgun he fired another shot at the small green robotic program.

This time however the program didn't turn tail and fled.
"Protection Routine started: Activate Light Shield!"
A translucent, red glowing hexagonal shield appeared in front of the small robot and deflected Braig's shot.

"Huh? A sorting subprogram with a shield? AS IF, talk about some modifications...show your true colors as you sure ain't some measly subprogram!" Braig quipped as he summoned his second arrow gun and went into a battle stance.
"Your usefulness has come to an end, user, prepare for immediate deresolution!"

"Heh, as if. We'll see who gets a free ride to the recycle bin..." Braig retorted and fired three shots from each arrowgun.
The shield deflected them all, but flickered shortly.
"Futile attack pattern, user. I will finish the game."

The small robotic subprogram transformed into a humanoid program with red circuitry who held the Light shield in his left hand. With the other he prodcued a red identity disc from his back.
Swinging around he threw the disc in Braig's direction, who easily teleported out of the way with his powers over space.

"As if playing frisbee would be effective, comrade." Braig laughed and fired a whole salvo of energy shots while moving in order to strafe his opponent with fire from several directions.
Noticing his shield won't help against this the program jumped away as well, running on the side walls and catching his disc again.

Braig fired another round of shots which the program partly blocked with his shield, partly jumped over as he made his way to the other side of the hall, the identity disc now glowing in a red hue.
Without further words he threw it again, but this time against the floor where it ricocheted off and in the process split into two red glowing discs which both homed in on Braig from two directions.
"Better, but still pretty predictable." He snorted as he raised his arrowguns to blast the two discs out of the air.
While his attention was focused on the two energy discs however, the program suddenly pulled out another identity disc and he realized in shock that the "thrown" disc that had split in two was actually a copy of the true disc which the program now threw straight at him from a third direction.

He blasted the two energy discs apart, yet was too slow for the third, real one and realized he had to teleport again.
Before anything else could happen though a blue identity disc came flying in and deflected the red one, sending it flying back towards the program.

Tron stood at the entrance of the hall, a focused, battle ready look on his face that turned into surprise as he looked at the other program.

The heck? Did this "Tron" program just jump in to defend me?
Braig was flabbergasted.

"SARK! How can you be here? Sora, Donald, Goofy and I derezzed you together with the MCP!" Tron barked at the red program.

The addressed turned towards him with a mocking smile.
"I see, you must be the Tron of this system, the copy...so you and these three other weirdly named programs are responsible for repeating the events from the original ENCOM-mainframe in this copy of the system as well? I guess that proves that my original version was really hampered in several areas."

"Original version?" Tron stiffened. "So you're not Sark?"

"Correct, I am not Sark, at least not Sark as you know him. I am Sark Zeta, the new and improved version of this program."
"How did you get access to the system and could impersonate one of those sorting subroutines? The Hollow Bastion OS is not connected to the wider network nor can any programs just hijack one subroutine of a sorting algorithm without damaging the whole program."

"That's nothing of your concern. I am just here to access the hidden partition in order to retrieve what my Masters want." Sark Zeta stated coldly and threw his disc again, this time at Tron.
Before Tron could counter with an own disc throw however a shot of Braig's arrowgun blasted Sark Zeta's disc out of the air, sending it clattering to the floor.

So we are even, Tron...
"Not so fast here Egghead, I'm afraid all that data is off limits to you and whoever you are working for." Braig declared with a casual and cocky tone, marching fowards with one gun pointed at Sark Zeta while the other was slouched over his shoulder.

Sark Zeta turned towards him.
"We'll see about that."

Sark Zeta plunged his shield into the floor which immediately transformed into a translucent, red tinted wall of energy that split the circular hall exactly in half, with him on the half that housed the gateway entrance to the hidden partition.
"Dammit, clever little sneak." Braig snorted as he fired a shot at the wall only to have it ricochet off it.

"Do not open the seal, Sark, the corrupted data within may destroy the system." Tron warned.
"Corrupted data? Since when are you so uninformed." Sark Zeta laughed. "This partition holds the research results of Ansem the Wise, Xehanort and his apprentices, copies of all Ansem Reports as well as a backup of this entire system that was made when this copy was sold to Ansem years before."

Both Braig and Tron shouted in surprise, although for different reasons.
"What? How can you know this?" Tron narrowed his eyes at the red program.
Braig decided to remain in-character.
"Idiot! The documents of Ansem the Wise I found in the archive of the castle clearly warn about corrupted parts of the partition which could cause a system crash if activated."
How the heck can this guy know what really is in there? Wait, he said that it also contains a backup of this system that was made when it was sold...that could only mean that...

Braig's expression changed to a knowing one, which Sark Zeta noticed.
"I see you got a clue, user. You are correct. My user was the one who sold this system to Ansem the Wise years ago."

"And I bet he's also the one who send you here right now, isn't that right? Although I do wonder which backdoor he uses or how he can even access it since this system isn't connected to some outer network." The corner's of Braig's mouth curled up into a thin grin.
"Sark's user?" Tron interjected. "You don't mean...Dillinger?"

As if it was a keyword suddenly a floating, rectangular image appeared above Sark Zeta's left shoulder. It showed the figure of an older man with blonde hair in a silver business suit sitting in a comfortable desk chair.
"It's an interesting sight to see that even the copy of Bradley's little security toy still remembers me after having been used for entirely different purposes in the last eleven years." The man spoke in a controlled, mildly interested tone addressed at Tron."

"Edward Dillinger!?" Both Braig and Tron exclaimed.

Now that explains things at least partly. Dillinger was the one Ansem purchased the copy from after inter-world travel became available shortly after Xehanort did the weirdy stuff with that door and the initial set of experiments with him as subject were finished. Still, that doesn't explain how Dillinger can send his new Sark program into the system nor how he can know about things stored in that black box that go beyond the initial system backup like research results.
"That explains things partly. The documents I found do state that this computer system was bought from ENCOM by acquiring a copy of its own mainframe system, but that only means that you know what originally was on that partition. How can you know about the other stuff?" He asked then aloud.

"And more importantly..." Tron added, readying his disc, "...how can you send Sark Zeta into this system when it has no connection to outside networks?"
It was obvious that Dillinger was enjoying himself as he leaned backwards in his chair with an amused huff.

#####

 

[Roxie1563]

Okay, that was surprising and interesting at the same time.. Only thing is, who the heck is Edward Dilligner?? I don't know who he is, but seems he has a connection with Ansem the Wise.

Ugh, computer stuff is hurting my head AND my brain. >.<' lol. But as far as I can tell, there is another copy of Sark, but it's not the Sark I know from KH2.

I think this Sark is from the Grid.. Probably before CLU was the boss of the world.

Hmm, I'm looking forward to more revelations and the next chapter, Sephy!

 

[Zero Dozer]

Well, well, so Braig's invasion isn't going so well as he planned, specially when a new Sark appears, ALONG WITH HIS INVENTOR.

I'm just itching to see how long he will take until he decides to ditch that cover up and nail Tron into a wall.

 

[KingdomKey]

Braig is becoming my most favorite character in Kingdom Hearts. Looks like he has come competition in getting to the black box for, his own purposes. Unless he decides he's on the same team as Dillinger and Sark Zeta. Although, I think that would be too easy, and Braig is impulsive with his own decisions. Between him and Tron backing up each other briefly from close calls is truly astonishing. I bet they'd make a good tag team in a fight. With that said, I wonder what Braig will do with Tron, once he betrays him.

Can a user do whatever they want on the Grid? A part of me wonders, how teleportation could work in a computer data world. Yet, this might be just me thinking too hard on it, and it's four in the morning here. xD Another exciting chapter, and things are starting to heat up.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

Okay, that was surprising and interesting at the same time.. Only thing is, who the heck is Edward Dilligner?? I don't know who he is, but seems he has a connection with Ansem the Wise.

Ugh, computer stuff is hurting my head AND my brain. >.<' lol. But as far as I can tell, there is another copy of Sark, but it's not the Sark I know from KH2.

I think this Sark is from the Grid.. Probably before CLU was the boss of the world.

Hmm, I'm looking forward to more revelations and the next chapter, Sephy!

Edward Dillinger is the guy who programmed Sark and the MCP, the main "human" villain of the original Tron movie: Edward Dillinger
His connection with Ansem the Wise boils down to the fact that he brokered the business deal in which Ansem acquired the Space Paranoids system.

Correct, this is a completely new, improved copy of the Sark program, modified by Dillinger himself.

Not exactly, the Grid is a different computer system that was invented and programmed by Kevin Flynn and is not a part of the ENCOM-system. Dillinger has no access to Flynns system (at least as far as I know from the original Tron-Universe, most information I have about Tron and Tron: Legacy is only from the wiki and watching some trailers as I never got to watch the movies).
CLU (who is actually CLU 2.0, as there existed a different CLU in the first Tron movie) was created and programmed by Flynn specifically to be an administrator of the Grid.

There are quite some revelations in store, short, but with potentially heavy impact. *ggg*

Well, well, so Braig's invasion isn't going so well as he planned, specially when a new Sark appears, ALONG WITH HIS INVENTOR.

I'm just itching to see how long he will take until he decides to ditch that cover up and nail Tron into a wall.

Heh, well, Braig did complain that it all worked out too easy, lol. Yep, Dillinger is monitoring and giving orders to that new Sark directly.

That depends on how the events unfold further, with Sark Zeta also around and trying to access the data, Braig probably would not be wise to betray Tron and risk a three way battle between him, Tron and Sark or even worse, have Sark and Tron team up against him.

Braig is becoming my most favorite character in Kingdom Hearts. Looks like he has come competition in getting to the black box for, his own purposes. Unless he decides he's on the same team as Dillinger and Sark Zeta. Although, I think that would be too easy, and Braig is impulsive with his own decisions. Between him and Tron backing up each other briefly from close calls is truly astonishing. I bet they'd make a good tag team in a fight. With that said, I wonder what Braig will do with Tron, once he betrays him.

Can a user do whatever they want on the Grid? A part of me wonders, how teleportation could work in a computer data world. Yet, this might be just me thinking too hard on it, and it's four in the morning here. xD Another exciting chapter, and things are starting to heat up.

Originally I did not even plan to expand Braig's little episode that much and only jump right to the events that are slated to happen next chapter, but since I changed the overall build up of the story into a trilogy of three big stories, I voted to flesh this part of the story out a bit more. Great you come to like Braig so much though.
Exactly, Sark has the orders to download the data from that partition as well because someone else has a use for it too. The next chapter will clear up much about how Dillinger can access Space Paranoids at all, and while the revelations will not particularily surprise Braig, they will serve to make him realize that his team isn't as far ahead as they think they are.

Since most of the data in there is classified and Xehanort wants it out of reach for anyone but himself, Braig would probably earn Xehanort's ire if he chooses to work together with Sark Z and Dillinger, not to mention that Braig right now has an alliance with Tron (who still thinks he's a member of the Restoration Committee).
It's an unusual sight of those working together, right?
Since Tron believes Braig to be a good guy, his backing him up is of course genuine, however Braig's is not. The disc throw of Sark Zeta wasn't that close of a call so Tron could have dodged or countered in time. Braig just reacted even faster and "bailed" Tron out because he does not want to have an open debt.
That's not just because they are actually enemies normally, but because Braig generally does not want to be indebted to anyone.
I won't spoil the following events, but it might turn out to be quite unexpected.

What I took from the Tron wiki and other materials across the net, users are said to have capabilities way beyond any program and since Sora could use things like his Drive Forms while inside the system, I figured that Braig would be able to use his powers as well.
We're just one chapter short of the boiling point, which may set the bars even higher for what will transpire in the future.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

Time for the next chapter. Let's look what happens when that hidden partition is finally unsealed.

#####

LVI. Pandora's box is opened
​

"It's quite the sight to see you all getting worked up over these trivial matters, but I am not obliged to tell you anything worthwhile. To give you something to mull over though, let's just say that the basics about the answers you seek were some leftover gifts from a party named "Organisation XIII" that we could bring back into shape due to the enourmous resources and funds we acquired. Sark Z, unseal the gateway and start the download of the partition."

"No, stop, I won't let you destroy the system with your recklessness!" Tron yelled as he charged forward and threw his disc, ignoring Dillinger's cryptic statements as his concern for the Hollow Bastion Computer system overrode any other thoughts.
The disc crashed into the wall, resulting in an energy discharge but no noticeable damage. Tron followed this up with an actual tackle to break through the wall, but another discharge sent him flying backwards across the hall.

Braig just observed all this from afar and let Dillinger's words sink in.
Gifts from the Organisation? As if, what is this weird kook talking about...?

As Sark Z laughed at Tron's efforts Dillinger shifted a bit in his chair, revealing a bit of the background of the room he was situated in on the floating screen.

Braig's eyes narrowed.
Damn it, can it be? These white walls, the rose ornaments...is Dillinger lounging in Castle Oblivion? The "gifts" of the Organisation could be then our old facilities and computer systems there, as those did have a secret connection to the Hollow Bastion system just like the computers at the Castle that never was had. Xemnas needed those for data transfer between all three places, but I thought we cleared our facilities at C.O. out after the disaster with Marluxia and Axel made all the devices inoperable?
Moreso, how did that goon manage to take residence in Castle Oblivion? That would mean he discovered to travel between worlds.

Remembering more of Dillinger's speech, he snorted.
Oh yeah, right, he spoke of "bringing the gifts back into shape" due to enourmous resources and funds. Seems like we were not thorough enough with clearing out our stuff at C.O.

Sark Zeta turned around and marched towards the sealed gateway, summoning a datacard along the way.
"Just in case there is really something off with it, set up a quarantine routine around the gateway." Dillinger ordered.
"Understood."

Braig grinded his teeth in some suppressed anger.
If they have access to the old data banks from the Organisation, they also have the correct access codes.

"Tron, we have to stop that moron, let's combine our powers to break through that wall!" He shouted loudly towards the security program which was just now getting back to his feet.
"Ok, but how? The wall seems to be too powerful to be broken by an identity disc and this hall is too small for any vehicle with stronger weaponry."
"Can your disc store energy?"
"With a small modification, sure. What have you in mind?"
Braig grinned as he reloaded both arrowguns.
"I'll fill your disc up with a plethora of energy shots. The accumulated energy should get us through that wall."

"Sounds good, let's go." Tron let his hand slide shortly over his disc, setting it to absorb energy before throwing it again from the entrance of the hall so that it would have a longer way to travel.
"Alright, here comes the "upload"!" Braig quipped as he fired salvo after salvo of projectiles at the flying disc, the energy of the shots being incorporated into it.

The flying disc grew larger the more shots it absorbed, eventually resembling a blue glowing small rotating galaxy roughly twice the normal diameter of the disc.
At contact with the red wall, the energy dispersed through the whole structure with a flash that made even the ground shake before the wall itself was blown apart into countless little shards.
"What?" Sark Z and Dillinger shouted in unison.

"Bulls eye." Braig sneered with glee.
"Step away from the gateway!" Tron demanded.
Sark Z's expression changed to a mocking grin. "Too late. Initialising download right now!"

"AS IF!" Braig shouted and suddenly appeared right beside Sark Z with his space powers and blasted a shot at his chest at point blank range.
The red program let out a howl as he stumbled backwards while Dillinger let slip an angry snarl.
"The gateway is unlocked, watch out!" Tron warned from a few steps afar.
The red blinking SEALED-words disappeared one after the other as a portal opened up.
Braig ripped Sark Z's datacard out of the terminal and tossed it away in order to connect his own mini computer.

Sark Z had recovered by now and tackled Braig from the side, ramming him away.
"Damn it." He fought to maintain his balance and again reloaded his arrowguns.
Meanwhile Tron stepped into the brawl, punching Sark Z in the hip before forcing him backwards with an elbow blow directly to the face.
"Enough with the play, Sark Z, derezz them!" Dillinger barked.
"Shut up, you old crow!" Braig countered and leveled a shot at the floating screen beside Sark Z's shoulder.

Suddenly there was a high-pitched beeping that immediately ceased any fighting.
"What the heck is that?" Dillinger asked.
"The download of the first program has been finished!?" Braig suspiciously eyed the display on his mini computer.
"No, nothing has been downloaded anywhere." Tron retorted with a grim voice.
"The two attempts to download something actually have activated something."
"Huh?" Braig and Dillinger exclaimed in confusion.
Sark Z had also an alarmed expression.
"It seems there are some security measures already implemented..."

With a loud bang all three combattants were catapulted away from the gateway, a storm of both lime green and cyan lightning bolts unleashed from within the gateway.

Feeling a burning sensation on his face, Braig tried to get up as fast as possible, but had to realize that all his limbs felt somehow numb. Sark Z and Tron, despite being programs and no flesh and blood users, also struggled to get up again.
"Looks like finally someone unauthorized tried to access the partition of the master." A shrill, high-pitched voice announced that was answered with a very mean laughter.

At the gateway blocking the entrance stood two very tall female figures clad in some black armor with a black cape draped over the right shoulder and a similar hood covering the head. One of them sported lime green colored circuitry, the other cyan. Unusually though, their circuitry was shaped like cracked lightning bolts instead of the normal plain one for programs.
Looking closer, Braig realized that these girls could possibly identical twins, as their facial features as well as the jet black hair was completely identical. The only physical difference were their differently colored eyes, matching their circuitry color.

"Just who are you?" Sark Zeta inquired, by now back into a battle stance.
Instead of an answer, both of the girls just grinned and with two flashes summoned their weapons. The one was a huge scythe lined with lime green circuitry, the other a big iron fan with cyan circuitry.

Tron and Braig had also recovered and, as weird as it looked like, lined up with Sark Zeta in one battle line.
"Nice toys, ladies, but that's not really an answer." Braig said in his usual cocky tone, spinning one of his arrowguns around.
"How about that as an answer then?" The girl with the cyan circuitry snarled as she swung her fan around, releasing an energy tornado that looked like a mix of wind and water.

Tron, Braig and Sark Z could just barely dive to the side to evade the attack which left a crack in the floor.
"Looks like they can use attacks with combined elements, nasty..." Braig mumbled.

Both Sark Z and Tron threw their discs loaded up with energy, which was met only with more laughter from the two girls.
"Your turn, Scylla." the cyan-colored girl quipped as she jumped over one of the flying discs, directly countering with several energy blasts released from her fan.
Braig intercepted those, countering each blast with a shot of his arrowguns.

The girl with the lime-green colored circuitry called Scylla entered the fray lightning fast, swatting both discs away with two swings of her scythe. Following up with a third swing she released a crescent-shaped green energy projectile with mixed fire and darkness attributes.
"Re-Upload Protection Routine!" Sark Z yelled and a new red energy shield appeared in his hand which he used to block Scylla's projectile.
The power was so much that the shield almost shattered right away.
"You need more energy for that shield, activate the Expansion Function!" Dillinger barked as he noticed the power level of those two "programs".

"Puny programs, you're no match for us." Scylla snarled as she slammed the other end of her scythe into the ground, causing a massive Earthquake with fissures opening that spew out lime-green flames.
Braig avoided the attack by teleporting right under the ceiling, walking upside down and strafing the other girl with several salvos of energy bolts which she either dodged or blocked by moving her fan.
Tron skillfully jumped around between the erupting earthspikes, avoiding the flames and recovering his disc while Sark Z simply hovered and enlarged his shield to a protective bubble around him.
"Look at that red program there Charybdis, looks like a prime opportunity to play waterpolo." Scylla laughed.
"You got that right, sister." Charybdis giggled as she disappeared in a column of cyan colored fire and reappared right behind Sark Z.
Scylla raised her scythe again and with a flick of the blade all the green fire turned into water, the earthspikes from the quake functioning as small islets.

What enourmous functions these two programs posess. They have a broader palette of routines and subprograms than even the MCP during its best times.
Tron thought with great worry as he got some alarming messages from the System core.
What? Their attacks and techniques are corrupting the system data wherever they touch it?
Charybdis swung her fan another time, creating a strong current of wind which blew Sark Z in his protection bubble forwards in Scylla's direction.
"Aaaannd...STRIKE!" She yelled as she swirled around and slammed her scythe against the bubble with all power she could muster, the blade glowing in lime-green.
The force of the attack blew a hole in Sark Z's protective bubble and threw him back towards Charybdis. The rim of the hole started to glow lime-green as well as slowly thin, vein-like threads spread out over the shield.
"What is that?" Dillinger looked surprised.
"An infection!" Sark Z barked. "She has the properties of a virus. Immediate Quarantine!"

"Enough!" Tron interjected as he came jumping in sideways and threw his disc directly into Scylla's face.
"Security programs of the black box with properties of a virus? As if, what a stupid combination is that?" Braig quipped as he suddenly appeared behind Charybdis and blasted two shots directly in her back.
Still, how do these two digital chicks fit into the old coot's black box? And why did Xemnas not tell anything about this "security" measure?

Two unearthly, inhuman howls erupted from the two "programs" as a liquid-like substance in their circuitry color sprayed from their wounds.
Scylla had earned a deep diagonal gash across her whole face, even splitting her lips, from Tron's disc while Charybdis' back armor displayed two enourmous holes from Braig's shots.
Where the liquid-like substance hit an obstacle, it immediately started an infection.

"That doesn't look good." Braig said in a dull tone.
What an unexpected lucky strike.
"The Infection is spreading, I need to close off the rest of the system." Tron said alarmed.
"To prevent further infection, shouldn't we "derez" these ladies?" Braig answered with a grin.

"Indeed, an appropriate measure." Sark Z chimed in, readying his disc again.
"Denied! It doesn't concern us what happens to the Hollow Bastion system. Get a hold of the data we need and then retreat, Sark Z!" Dillinger stated with slight anger.
"But as long as these weird programs exist, the danger of the virus spreading to our system is imminent." Sark Z countered.
"That can be taken care of by that user and Tron, don't you think?" Dillinger continued with a thin smile, but Braig could notice that by now two other persons where standing behind his chair.

#####

These security programs mean really tough business it seems...

 

[Roxie1563]

Yay! A new chapter is here!

And I didn't think of the three interacting computers that Xemnas used before his 'death' between C.O., Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden, and The Castle That Never Was. Interesting tibit, huh? I bet Tron will tell the others soon once this crisis is over with.

I can imagine the fight between this new virus and Braig/Tron, lol.. Pretty colorful, wouldn't you say? xD

 

[Zero Dozer]

Hmm, Charybdis and Scylla, two viruses left by Xehanort as a security measure. Clever as hell.

Well, at least Braig got some small fun along his mission. Not to mention the idea that Dillinger somehow took Castle Oblivion for his own.

 

[KingdomKey]

Who knew, programs could get so deadly. I was outright astonished to see Braig team up with Tron against Sark Z and Dillinger. Then they all fight together to face the viruses. I'm really curious what else, could be inside of that box, and why, Braig didn't know about these extra security measures. Again, it's been a pleasure to read your chapters, Sephy.

Just to ask you, Sephy, did you purposely use an 's' to spell Organization? If not, you spelled it wrong.

"That can be taken care of by that user and Tron, don't you think?" Dillinger continued with a thin smile, but Braig could notice that by now two other persons were standing behind his chair.

Where I bolded it, you had 'where' instead of 'were'. I may of missed something else, but that's just me checking for errors.