Do you wanna play~?

[stillpurring]

Who: Rinz and you
What: He's regressing slightly back into Rinzler and getting violent. Come spar with him? Hugs might be acceptable too, but expect some yelling first.
Where: some..place...where people fight and train?
When: now?
Warnings: some violence, plenty of angst

Comments

[voiceless_anon]

If Anon were a program who admitted to frustration, he would be feeling very frustrated right now. The Rinzlers were proving elusive, and Anon was out on yet another patrol, trying to track one down.

Wait. Was that . . .?

Anon changed course, leaping diagonally down the walls between two closely located buildings. He'd seen a glimpse of orange inside an old and roofless training facility, one that had (according to the Archives) once been a Resistance base, eventually destroyed by Clu and his forces. Landing on top of the old walls, he ran along the tops of them until he found the right room. The figure there was a paler orange than he was used to, but still.

A Rinzler.

[stillpurring]

It had been a long time since Rinz had felt this much emotion, and combined everything amounted to deep, uncontrollable rage. He didn't know what to do with it. The only thing he could think of was to train.

So train he did, throwing his discs with much more force than necessary at projector targets and executing moves that were not at all needed. It was just an effort to vent, to get it out.

[voiceless_anon]

Interesting. This Rinzler was over-doing the power needed for those actions - Anon knew those moves well enough, some from performing them himself. He was also well acquainted with body language. Rinzler was angry, and taking it out on training targets instead of programs.

For a moment, Anon wondered if he should just leave Rinzler to it. But some little subroutine was running deep in his code, telling him that he hadn't been in combat for quite a while. While he enjoyed training with Lizor, sometimes Anon wanted something a little less cooperative.

There was room in the training pattern Rinzler had chosen for another program, and Anon dropped into that hole. His disc flashed out, hitting a target, and Anon leaped into a completely unnecessary flip to catch it. It felt good.

[stillpurring]

He fell into a defensive crouch at the other program's approach, dark eyes flashing across the room until they focused in and identified.

Interesting. How long had it been since he'd seen Anon? Before Clu broke Tron, surely. He only allowed himself a few moments before returning to his training with a fresh bout of aggressiveness. Anon would not disturb him. In fact, the presence of another security program, particularly one that he had once been fairly close to, was almost calming.

[voiceless_anon]

Anon found himself falling into old subroutines, ones that told him he was working with Tron, even though he knew better. He meshed with the pattern, watching Tron-Rinzler's back, taking out the discs that the other program didn't have the time or the correct angle to hit.

His processes seemed to be taking their cue from his training partner. Anon was using the flips and strikes he'd been programmed to use in combat, and putting as much energy into them as he'd done when his life was on the line. At one point, he actually somersaulted right over Tron-Rinzler and then ducked while the other's discs returned to him. It was good to return to what he'd been made to do. Security patrols were all well and good, but Anon had been fighting from almost the moment that he was rezzed.

He'd missed it.

[stillpurring]

It felt...surprisingly good to be training with his old protege once more. Anon had always had an interesting effect on him. No arguments, no words at all, actually, but...he seemed to understand in his own way. Even after everything, the program had a vague idea of what would help to calm Rinz down.

He shifted his position and style, watching to see what his partner would do. Somewhere down inside he felt like it was the old days, back when he'd trained Anon as quickly as he could so he could go off to fulfill his directives. In some way, this was another test. How much had Anon learned since last they fought together?

[voiceless_anon]

The answer to that was, a lot. Since the last time they'd fought side by side, Anon had taken down hundreds of hostile programs, at increasing levels of difficulty. His abilities had grown with him, just as Flynn had made him, with a nearly infinite capacity to learn. It was quite possible that, by now, he was one of the few programs who'd survive combat with a hostile Rinzler. Maybe not win, but certainly survive.

Anon shifted fluidly along with Rinz, changing the pattern and taking on a new area as the frequency of the targets speeded up. He'd almost entirely forgotten that this wasn't Tron, now. Deliberately, he held himself down to a normal disc only. No supercharge, no heavy disc, no bomb disc . . . all abilities that he still had, but would only use now in an emergency.

[stillpurring]

He was impressed and more than pleased with Anon's quick adaptation. Definitely he'd grown since the last they'd trained together, which was always a very satisfying feeling.

He fell back, allowing Anon to take the lead position and moved to cover him rather than the other way around.

[voiceless_anon]

For a moment, Anon was surprised as Rinz fell back, but it didn't show in the way he moved. He took on the quickly-appearing targets, spending extra energy on speed and power, knowing that the other program had his back. It felt like two nanocycles, it felt like forever, but suddenly the round was over.

Anon landed from his last flip, straightened and blinked as he snapped out of combat mode. Docking his disc, he turned to face Rinz and nodded. He doubted, now, that this was one of the hostile ones. For a start, he wasn't wearing a helmet. There was also the fact that, when Anon had dropped in unexpectedly, he'd switched over to team mode instead of trying to attack him.

[stillpurring]

A small smile of approval had lit up the monitor's face, and he nodded back quietly at Anon. It took him a moment to recognize the emotion in his chest. Pride.

"You've grrrrown," he said quietly. "I would be surrrprrrised if therrrre's anything left I can teach you."

[voiceless_anon]

Anon ducked his head, a little embarrassed. Yes, he'd grown, his abilities having expanded both before and after his deresolution, but there was still so much experience that he was missing. He could function just fine as a solo fighting machine, or with a partner, but all the non-combat procedures that most programs took for granted? Those, he wasn't sure about.

There was a reason he was almost permanently on the job, and only part of it was the workload.

Detatching his data pad, he loaded text onto it. There's always something more to learn, he commented.

[stillpurring]

Rinz couldn't help but smile. Of course, Anon would have adapted and adjusted. The lack of a voice module was a bit of an annoyance, and he'd worked around that.

"Of courrrrse," he agreed.

[voiceless_anon]

Anon felt oddly warmed by the approval in Rinz's smile. He dismissed the sensation as a code glitch and instead opted to change the subject.

If I can ask . . . what is the reason for your extended rrrrs? I haven't heard any other program use that particular pattern.

[stillpurring]

Rinz shrugged slightly and sighed a little. "Leftoverrrr glitch," he replied. "It's the only thing I can think of. I was...temporrrarrrily alterrrred into anotherrrr shape, that of a Userrrrr pet," he scowled his disapproval, "and when I rrrregained my prrrroperrrr shape, this was the glitch that didn't go away."

[voiceless_anon]

User pet? Anon queried. That small oddly-shaped Rinzler program that attacked a gridbug nest - that was you?

It made more sense, now. Of course a Tron - or even a Rinzler - would be protecting the Grid from gridbugs.

[stillpurring]

Oh. Had Anon been the one to pull him out of that? His early memories as a kitten had been so confused. He ducked his head in some embarrassment and nodded.

"Unforrrrtunately yes, that was me."