Yes, the NPCs really are color-coded
I started outlining, and then I wound up with an actual scene. Not entirely sure how this happens, but there you go. \O_o/ KH3, Tron: Legacy, unbeta'd, have fun~
~~*~~
“We’re looking for a program - the Radiant Garden defense system. Have you seen him?” Or her, Aqua realized belatedly. Programs having genders was not a concept she was at all familiar with.
“Oh. Den.” Quorra shook her head sadly. “They took him to the Lightcycle grid a few cycles ago. He didn’t come back.”
There was a brief pause, as what exactly that statement meant really sunk in, before Sora spoke up. “What about Tron? Where’s he?”
The look Quorra gave this time, snapping from Sora to Aqua and back again, was defensive, searching, and very confused - as though she couldn’t believe they’d just asked that. “Tron hasn’t been seen since the reconfiguring,” she replied slowly, her tone making it very clear that this was something everybody supposedly knew.
“The reconfiguring?” If they were going to awe her with seemingly obvious questions, Aqua figured they may as well continue and get all the information they could.
Quorra glanced between them, then slunk further into the dim alleyway, nodding to them to follow. Only when they were further hidden did she continue talking. “Several hundred cycles ago, after the defeat of the MCP, a sole program began to repurpose the entire grid. There was something about him - something no program should have, but he somehow managed to find it. It didn’t take him long to rise to power and completely reconfigure the grid. The programs close to him don’t know how he got to the top, or they don’t care; most of the programs down here don’t say anything for fear of being derezzed. They hunt those of us who are still fighting him.” She looked defiantly proud of that statement.
“It’s not the MCP again, is it?”
“No,” Quorra’s glance returned to Sora, and she shook her head. “His designation is-”
She fell silent as the spotlight swept through the alley, momentarily blinding them all before settling on Aqua. “THIS PROGRAM HAS NO IDENTITY DISK,” intoned a deep, slightly warped voice.
“Recognizers,” Quorra gasped, already turning. “Run!” She bolted, Sora keeping pace slightly behind her. After a split second, Aqua turned and ran the opposite way.
Sora was the first to notice, skidding to a stop. “Aqua!”
“Sora, go with Quorra!” Aqua never even slowed down - she couldn’t with the spotlight following her so closely. “They haven’t seen you yet!”
“But-”
“I’ll meet up with you again! Now go!” She didn’t wait for an answer, charging out of the alleyway back into the open street - not the best way to stay out of trouble, but that wasn’t exactly the point of a distraction. Her strides turned into leaps as the street itself rose piecemeal in uneven octagonal chunks, until there was nowhere else to go and she skidded to an abrupt stop, too close to the still-lifting edge for comfort. The pavement had been rising too fast for her to keep ahead of - a leap from this height would land her with broken bones at best.
She took a deep breath and turned, defiantly staring up at the Recognizer and the orange-lit programs that waited within.
“Remember, the good guys are blue. Orange ones will give you trouble.”
If there was one thing she had no shortage of experience in dealing with, it was trouble.
~~*~~
“We’re looking for a program - the Radiant Garden defense system. Have you seen him?” Or her, Aqua realized belatedly. Programs having genders was not a concept she was at all familiar with.
“Oh. Den.” Quorra shook her head sadly. “They took him to the Lightcycle grid a few cycles ago. He didn’t come back.”
There was a brief pause, as what exactly that statement meant really sunk in, before Sora spoke up. “What about Tron? Where’s he?”
The look Quorra gave this time, snapping from Sora to Aqua and back again, was defensive, searching, and very confused - as though she couldn’t believe they’d just asked that. “Tron hasn’t been seen since the reconfiguring,” she replied slowly, her tone making it very clear that this was something everybody supposedly knew.
“The reconfiguring?” If they were going to awe her with seemingly obvious questions, Aqua figured they may as well continue and get all the information they could.
Quorra glanced between them, then slunk further into the dim alleyway, nodding to them to follow. Only when they were further hidden did she continue talking. “Several hundred cycles ago, after the defeat of the MCP, a sole program began to repurpose the entire grid. There was something about him - something no program should have, but he somehow managed to find it. It didn’t take him long to rise to power and completely reconfigure the grid. The programs close to him don’t know how he got to the top, or they don’t care; most of the programs down here don’t say anything for fear of being derezzed. They hunt those of us who are still fighting him.” She looked defiantly proud of that statement.
“It’s not the MCP again, is it?”
“No,” Quorra’s glance returned to Sora, and she shook her head. “His designation is-”
She fell silent as the spotlight swept through the alley, momentarily blinding them all before settling on Aqua. “THIS PROGRAM HAS NO IDENTITY DISK,” intoned a deep, slightly warped voice.
“Recognizers,” Quorra gasped, already turning. “Run!” She bolted, Sora keeping pace slightly behind her. After a split second, Aqua turned and ran the opposite way.
Sora was the first to notice, skidding to a stop. “Aqua!”
“Sora, go with Quorra!” Aqua never even slowed down - she couldn’t with the spotlight following her so closely. “They haven’t seen you yet!”
“But-”
“I’ll meet up with you again! Now go!” She didn’t wait for an answer, charging out of the alleyway back into the open street - not the best way to stay out of trouble, but that wasn’t exactly the point of a distraction. Her strides turned into leaps as the street itself rose piecemeal in uneven octagonal chunks, until there was nowhere else to go and she skidded to an abrupt stop, too close to the still-lifting edge for comfort. The pavement had been rising too fast for her to keep ahead of - a leap from this height would land her with broken bones at best.
She took a deep breath and turned, defiantly staring up at the Recognizer and the orange-lit programs that waited within.
“Remember, the good guys are blue. Orange ones will give you trouble.”
If there was one thing she had no shortage of experience in dealing with, it was trouble.