.hack//Gates (the Canon Version)

[Sheraton]

.hack//Gates

By Bith the White _(Sheraton)

[Sheraton]

Suburb,

Chicago, Illinois

Alina Crux, a short girl with brown hair and glasses sat down at her computer desk. She was ignoring her homework for the night; it was her blow-off night. Eagerly, she read her E-mail. There was an E-mail from her brother, Jeffery Klissenger, who lived far away in Australia. The only way the two siblings could ever see each other now was through a M.M.O.R.P.G. (Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game) called The World. Sighing, she saw that he was only calling her to work again.

The two of them, though they were playing a game, belonged to a vigilante group known as the Crimson Knights. They were a Guild, meaning a group of Player Characters(PCs) with a similar goal. The Crimson Knights were founded to protect the moral state of The World, which had been over-run with Player Killers(PKs) who rampaged the game killing innocent Newbies. Even though it was a worthy cause, it still felt like work some times. The E-mail read like this:

Dear Yuuko,

It’s kinda been awhile hasn’t it? Sorry about the busyness lately, but the Kestral PCs, since the Mass hallucination incident of a few months ago, have been going a little crazy. Especialy after the fall of Moon Tree to that Sakaki guy. It’s been getting really crazy...and Subaru-sama has been taking it really hard. Anyway, that’s beside the point. There’s been some crazy PK reported in the area: Θ Unseen Hardship’s Alga Grass Could you meet me there, please? That’d be great sis, thanks again.

Sighing, she dawned the M2D (Mount 2nd Display), a visor that displayed the screen to her, and had ear buds in the ears. A small mic came down to her mouth so that she could talk to the other people in-game. Somewhat Grudgingly, she pulled up The World’s screen on her M2D and Logged in.

[Sheraton]

Theta Server,

Unseen Hardship’s Alga Grass

In The World, you can warp to a seemingly endless amount of different areas. These areas are located by use of a Chaos Gate, which is found in any Root Town. The World has four Root Towns, and therefore four servers for which to use the Chaos Gate. There are the Delta, Theta, Sigma, and Omega servers. The Theta server is the second most difficult server in terms of Character Level. A specific area is found by typing in three key words. These keywords make up the name of the area.

Satsu, a small, benign PC stood alone at the Platform. Her long white hair shifting slightly in the artificial wind. She wished fleetingly that she could really feel that wind. Wind...what did wind feel like, she wondered? Oh well. It didn’t matter. She cocked her head and looked around. She couldn’t remember why she had come to this area...oh, that was right! She had received a mysterious E-mail that requested her presence. It had said to go to th e Beast Statue.

She looked flightily around at the tall trees that stood around her. The area was a forest-ruin type Area. It was peaceful and serene. Until the three strange men, an Edge Punisher and two Twin Blades, surrounded her. “Ooooh...” Satsu laughed playfully. “Who’re you? Did you call me?”

“Sorry, No, Kid.” the Edge Punisher laughed. “We’re PKs. You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.” he Smirked, and stepped forward, initiating a battle. Satsu, a Flick Reaper, found herself surrounded with just her scythe to protect herself.

“W-What...?” Sastu hugged her scythe close in fear, as if afraid they would break it. “Why are you doing this...? what did I do to you...?” She tried to back up in vain. “P-Please...” She squinted her eyes.

“Heh, heh, heh...” the laughter was scathing in her mind; tramatising. Suddenly, her PC was surrounded with rings of light, and the cute, little PC of Satsu dissolved and was replaced by a taller, more angular beauty. The White-haired girl dressed in black that had appeared from Satsu spun her scythe around dangerously and maliciously. Her mad swing hacked both the Twin Blades in half. Their Cloven bodies fell limp and faded. The Edge Punisher grimaced and backed up in apprehension. “What the hell are you?” he nearly shouted at her. Without answering, the new character, Uchitoru, sliced through the PC and continued down into the forest dungeon, her mission clear in her mind.

...When Uchitoru had made little of every weak monster in the dungeon, she found the Beast Statue room at the bottom of the dungeon. Walking up to it, her screen inverted in color, and a strange circle materialized before her. It was a deep shade of Purple, and spun slowly like a Chaos Gate. But it was too...ancient looking to be a Chaos Gate...Plus Chaos Gates never appeared in Areas. Stretching out a slender hand, and sensing a mission complete, Uchitoru selected the gate with her cursor, and activated it.

Kisuke, Jeff Klissenger, was a Steamgunner with tall blue hair and a serious face, and Yuuko, Alina Crux, was a Flick reaper with short blond hair that fanned out at the bottom; she wore a long ;ink dress that you’d think would get in the way of combat, but not in The World. The two arrived at the Beast Statue in short order. They had scoured the area for signs of life, but found no living thing anywhere. The PK must have annihilated everything. Stepping into the green grass of the Area, the two found themselves face to face with a terrible countenance. Her four long white braids swayed as she turned to them. From the Gate that she seemed to have just touched, she pulled out a long white scythe with red Wave Marks all over it, and floating red and white spikes around it. The PC said nothing to them, only regarded the two with a deranged look.

“Kisuke...I don’t like this...something’s strange about her...” Yuuko spoke into her Mic.

“I feel it too. What should we do?” Kisuke replied. They were talking in Party Chat so that the girl couldn’t hear them.

Without even opening her mouth, the girl, Uchitoru, launched herself at the two. Yuuko, a Flick Reaper, matched her scythe for scythe. “Gah!” Yuuko exhaled in exasperation, “she’s strong...!”

Kisuke Jumped back, “right.” he pulled his steamgun out and took aim at the PC matched with his sister. “Bludger Bullet!” he called, shooting at the Flick Reaper.

Uchitoru sidestepped the shot, still locking her scythe with Yuuko’s struggling one. Spinning, she whirled the scythe out of Yuuko’s hands and caught her throat with her own. Yuuko’s body fell instantly limp, and began to fade.

“Yuuko!” Kisuke cursed himself for not having brought revival items. He’d just have to take out this maniac on his-

Uchitoru cut off his train of thought by severing head from body. The party of two that had attacked Uchitoru was no more, and she left the fading corpses as if she hadn’t known they existed.

[Sheraton]

Delta Server,

Hidden Forbidden Radiation

Knight stood overlooking the vastness of the lake below him. To his right, he could easily glimps the Arche Koeln Waterfall. This was his favorite Lost Ground; his favorite area. He was awaiting the company of his a good friend of his. Her name was Subaru. She seemed to have made a name for herself recently, he hoped she still had time to meet with him.

At the sound of the warp circles delivering a PC, Knight, clad is white and blue armor and cloth, turned around to see his visitor. It was her. Her blue and white Dress was all too familiar. And so was her pink bikini top and tiny white angel wings. On her fore-head was her Wave Mark of wind. To some it might look like an overly intricate question mark. “Hey, Katsu.” she smiled lightly-forced, using his offline name.

“It’s Knight on line, Subaru. I read the BBS. It seems you and your guild have been getting quite a lot of attention recently.” he laughed at her benign expression.

“Yours too.” Subaru sighed and stalked up to him. /HUG made their characters hug each other. “‘the Gate Masters’ so recently after you’re formed, the strange Gates appear in the areas of the Delta and Theta servers...” she said releasing the hold. There was an implication in her voice that Knight thought might be distress, “The World Beet’s been eating it up...”

Knight grabbed Subaru by the shoulders suddenly. “You don’t believe those news hounds do you? What evidence do they have?”

“None worth mentioning...” Subaru admitted, “but, being the leader of the Crimson Knights...I must take every threat seriously.”

“I’m not a hacker, Subaru. I don’t cheat at anything; you know that. Infact, I’ve been thinking about launching an investigation into those damned Gates myself...”

“You mustn’t!!” Subaru took an unnecessary step forward, “don’t do anything stupid, alright?”

“Subaru...Asteroth, Kage, and I won the Holy Palace Tournament on our first try. Everything I do is done with tact and efficiency. You don’t need to worry about that. And remember, I. Do. Not. Hack,” he said the words one at a time, as if tasting the truth in them.

Knights smile was infectious. Subaru caught it and looked up at the Adept Rogue lightly. “Okay...just...be careful,” she said finally, turning around. “I have to get back to the Knights...they’re lost without me.”

“For their namesake, I hope you never quit The World.” Knight mumbled after her, sighing in exasperation. When she had Gated Out to the Town, Asteroth came from behind the Platform. “Well, Aster?”

“It was an interesting conversation, to be sure, Knight.” Asteroth replied, seemingly inspecting the scenery around them. “I’m not sure if she’ll be a help or a hindrance in the future...”

“Oh, she’ll be a big help, once I victimize my PC.” Knight said deviously, regarding Asteroth with keen blue eyes. “Then she’ll see that it’s not our fault. Don’t you agree?”

“Indeed. Sounds intriguing. Just don’t get carried away, Knight.”

“Don’t worry,” Knight sighed, “I won’t.”

[Sheraton]

Theta Server,

Galloping Corrupted Two Wings

Knight and his friend Xepher warped into the grassland area. Knight had discovered this area on the boards, and decided to explore it with Xepher, while leveling up for the next Arena Tournament. He had an ulterior motive in coming her, though; he wanted to find one of those Gates that the BBS was talking about.

Xepher followed Knight through the area dejectedly. He hated the mundane task of Leveling up. He preferred the Arena much better, but the cruel fact was that PKing hardly increased one’s experience points at all. Luckily, he had Katsu, his room mate in collage, to accompany him while he did it. Katsuhisa Jounochi was his 19 year old Roommate and sat beside him in their computer room.

“So have you read the Beat recently, Xephie?” Knight asked as they began a battle with a few goblins. He knew Xepher well enough to know he had. Xepher lived on the forums. There wasn’t a The World scandal that he wasn’t informed on.

“Indeed.” Xepher was glad for the new subject of conversation. “I hope they don’t give us any trouble.” He sighed, “bad publicity is the last thing our tiny guild needs.”

“Yeah. Speaking of that, I was contacted by that New Subaru that leads the Crimson Knights.” Knight continued, assuming Xepher had read the forums and knew all about it. As he spoke, he Weapon Changed to his Longsword and laid into an enemy.

Behind him, Xepher cast a poisoning spell on an enemy not far off. He watched sadistically as the creature he’d immobilized writhed and then died. He finished it off with a swift knock on the head with his plumed fans. Knight smiled at his elegant friend. Xepher ran a hand through his pink-tipped bangs, eyeing Knight with the uncovered eye. “Really? What was it she wanted?” he picked up the conversation.

“She first seemed to think that I had something to do with it...” he remembered the conversation at Arche Koeln, “Because of our guild’s name.” He flung his opponent into the air and slew it, sending it flying into the third goblin, who was weakened enough that it was nearly killed by the attack. “I soon convinced her otherwise, though, and now she’s telling me to stay out of it. That they’ll take care of it. As if I’m not going to try to clear my guild’s name...”

“She obviously means well.” Xepher replied placidly, spinning into a spiral attack that finished off the goblin. As the victory music sounded, they continued their conversation, “Is it true that she’s the same Subaru from R:1?”

“Naw,” Knight replied, sheathing his sword, “there’s no new Tsukasa. Don’t you think they’d come together? And besides, she’s more like Silver Knight than the old Subaru, anyway.”

“I see...considering how Subaru was always getting onto Silver Knight’s case, that’s rather amusing,” Xepher mused, continuing on. Suddenly, he sighed. “Is there anything else planned for today, Knight-kun? I’m dying of Boredom.”

“Sorry, Xephie, but we can’t beat the next stage of the tournament unless we level up some more.” Knight replied, “the monotony of Leveling up is an important part of MMOs. You should know that.”

“I do,” Xepher sighed, “I do indeed.”

Suddenly, the colors of their screens inverted for a second. There was a dissonant ping like a tuning fork, and a strange red wreath glitched into their vision. It rotated slowly above the ground, and resembled a thin mirror. “What the hell...” Xepher regarded the Gate with a wary expression. “Knight, I think we should get out of here...that’s one of those Gates that the forums are talking about.”

“Xepher...I’ve stood Idly by too many times in the past. Now I want to be part of the action...” Knight edged closer to the gate and looked intently at it. His whimsical smile broadened as he read it’s name on the screen. ‘Skeith Gate’ is was named after a phase of the Epitaph. “I have to clear the Gate Masters’ name...” he selected Activate on the menu screen and the red gate stopped spinning. The colors inverted again, and the static sound got worse.

“Gah!!” Xepher held his hands to his ears, “God, Knight, let’s get out of here!!”

“Yeah...” Knight agreed, holding his head. He watched as the gate he’d touched with his right hand dissipated like a forgotten dream. Forgotten, but not yet gone. As he turned to run, he noticed something on his character: the tips of the fingers on his right hand were red like the gate. At the time he didn’t think much of it, but he ran after Xepher and gated out to the Town.

[Sheraton]

Theta Server,

Malicious Her Shadow

Kaze, Folset’s Demon, was a green clad Tribal Grappler. He fought with spinning blades that protruded from wave marks on his gloved hands. His white hair spiked up in back, and was pulled into a single bound strand on the left side of his head in front. Currently he was standing in the center of a group of PKs that had decided it was a good Idea to PK a couple of n00bs in this area.

He clenched his fists as he shielded the small childish Shadow Warlock. The PKs smirked as they surrounded him. “Bring it on.” he said, smiling wryly. “I’ll take you all on. One day, I’ll surpass the Terror of Death himself!!” with that, he assumed his fighting pose and extended his spinning blades from his gauntlets.

“Pretty cocky...” one of the PKs mocked, stepping forward, “we’ll see about that.” lunging forward, he tried to take Kaze by surprise. Kaze sidestepped him, and planted a shredding gauntlet in his face. He kicked the carcass and turned to meet the onslaught of PKs.

He jumped over a broad sword and bounded off the Edge Punisher’s skull, landing feet first in the face of a Shadow Warlock. Spinning, he took out both hoodwinked characters, and ducked beneath a pair of Twin Blades. The Twin Blade soon found himself sprawled out on the dirt.

Kaze soon met fist-to-fist with another Tribal Grappler. The two exchanged a few blows before Kaze slid in behind a fist and flipped the PC into a Blade Brandier that had come up to flank him. A swift blast of energy sent them both flying.

Deflecting a Steam bullet, Kaze quickly turned to his right to check on the small Shadow Warlock he had been defending. She was trying in vain to defend herself against a couple of PKs. “What’s wrong?” Kaze called, running towards them. “Am I not enough for you...?!” He jumped over the Warlock and into the faces of the PKs and landed a few solid punches, and tossed a healing Item her direction. “Sorry. I got a bit carried away there.” he smiled triumphantly down at her; a man in his element.

He continued to defend the girl with all his might for the next few minutes. He spun and dodged and kicked and slashed. It was a beauty to watch, and inspiring to the Shadow Warlock. Occasionally he nearly hit the girl, but it was to protect her from the enemies. He was always careful to steer clear of his damsels. Finally he nodded, and inspected the scattered and battered PKs that surrounded him. “There. All taken care of,” He assured the girl he hind him. He squatted to get eye level with her. “Don’t worry, the fee’s been taken care of ahead of time. If these bastards trouble you again, you just let me know, okay?”

“Okay...” the girl said in a shy, trembling voice. She skittered off to the Platform to Gate back to town.

Looking over the PKs again, he heard laughing. He was immediately indignant. “Who’s that?” he called, spinning to look for the cause.

A PK, Lord Partizan by the looks of him, was sprawled out in the dust and laughing hysterically, “The Terror of Death! Hah!”

“Something funny?” Kaze fumed, kneeling down on the PC’s gut. “What about the Terror of Death?”

“Haven’t you been paying any attention to anything? The Terror of Death is no more. He’s a complete pansy!” the PK continued to Laugh.

“Really...? I’m not sure you’re in a position to point fingers.” Kaze retorted incredulously, pressing spinning blades to the guy’s half dead face.

[Sheraton]

Delta Server

Eternal City Mac¥Anu.

Xepher ran through the throng of people that had gathered around the fountain in the Alchemy District. Why they were all there at once, he could only assume some one posted on the forum about his performance. A Kestrel member no doubt. Running swiftly to the fountain, he slammed down a large crate he stole from the harbor district and stood atop it. "Ladies and Gentleman! Beast and Hume alike! Have you ever been wronged here in The World?" The crowd shifted to look up at the man bellowing from the on top of the box. "Have you been in a field, minding your own business, when suddenly someone..." He lurched towards a small Harvest Cleric, looking about to attack, "Rushes up behind you and kills you?" The Cleric, looking frightened, nodded nervously. Xepher then turned to a group of beasts that were staring up at him. "And you three! Have you made it to the Beast Statue, after hours of toiling and fighting, only to be attacked and forced to start from your last save?" The three beasts nodded enthusiastically. Xepher held his hands out to the crowd as a whole. "And all of you! Have you ever seen someone, anyone, with an item you so long sought after but failed to get? Have you had an item gained and lost because of another wanted it?" The crowd shouted affirmatives in unison.

Xepher turned around to face the sunset, this part he had rehearsed and was his favorite. "Then..." For effect, he looked over his shoulder. "... Why not get even?" The crowd murmured various responses at his question. He turned to the crowd again and jumped into the throng, watching as it spread to allow him space. "Why not retaliate? Why not get back that item you lost? Why not kill the person you loathe most? For taking your belongings, for having what you want, for being there?!" The crowd's murmurs became louder, just the effect Xepher wanted. "You're thinking, 'I'm not strong enough', or 'I don't have the guts'. Well that is why I'm here, my dear fellow players." Xepher motioned for the crowd to come closer, as if he was about to whisper a grand secret. "Join Kestrel." he said, louder than most would've thought. He walked back to the box as he continued. "This notorious guild welcome PKs and PKKs alike, and there you can become stronger! Gain the courage to face your adversaries without fear!" He jumped atop the crate again. "So go! Seek the revenge you so desire! Find your hated enemy! Join Kestrel and gain everything you want!" The crowd roared and pumped their fists in excitement. Some people threw GP for the performance and soon after the group had dispersed into it's normal sparse numbers.Xepher lost his enthusiastic look and sighed heavily, jumping down from the crate and looking cynically at it. "I think I'm going to be ill." He said, holding his head in exasperation. He looked to the box, which had started to shake. Grinning slightly, he gave it a good kick and watched the Chim-chims scurry away, and the remaining players make chase after them.Finally alone, he sat on the fountain edge. "Advertising for a pointless guild like that was not worth 14 grand..." As the group below dispersed, Xepher sat down on the crate hefd been standing on. He felt horrible about having made Kestralfs guild look good, and watched dejectedly as Knight, his Guild Master, walked up to him. gI came as You requested.h Knight Smiled at him to cheer him up. gBrilliant as always.h

A few days had past since the Skeith Gate incident, and Knightfs hand was almost completely red. gDoes it hurt?h Xepher asked, as Knight sat next to him on the crate. gWhyfs it growing...h he reached over to touch the hand that was red.

Knight let Xepher hold his hand for a second before pulling it back. gNo. It doesnft hurt at all. Thatfs the weird part, I think. Ifve never seen anything like it...h He remembered Kuhn telling him once about Atolifs hand becoming paralyzed when her Epitaphfd been stolen. He thought it might be something like that, but his hand was fine in the real world. He was beginning to wonder what the purpose of the red color was.

gPeople on the forums are talking about those Gates a lot. It seems theyfre steadily beginning to show up more. No one can figure out what they do yet. One, called the Corbenik Gate, reduces your character to level 1...h Knight listened intently as Xepher related the news from the BBS and The World Beet. He didnft have a lot of time to check that sort of thing, but Xepher loved it.

gCorbenik...the Rebirth...makes sense...h Knight mused aloud to Xepher. gThen Skeith is...the Terror of Death...h his gut suddenly felt heavy. The terror of death...

gOoooooh...!h a childish voice came from the road leading up to the square. Satsu pranced up to the interesting characters in the square of the Alchemy District of MacAnu. gThatfs interesting character editing!h she said to Knight, ghowfd you do that to your hand?h

gYou...h Knight inspected the PC in front of him. gYoufre that innocent PK Ifve heard about on the Boards. With a character model like that...and that innocent voice, Ifm not surprised youfre able to PK so many people by surprise.h he laughed and extended a hand in greeting gnice to meet you, Satsu.h

Xepher stared incriminatingly at Satsu, who looked hurt by Knightfs words. gI abhor Player Killers.h he stated, staring down at her.

gW-Why does everyone accuse me of Killing people?h Satsu cried, genuinely confused. The thought of someone killing people for no reason on the game she spent all of her time on seemed deplorable to her. Shefd never think of killing someone. gI wouldnft hurt a fly unless it was a monster...h her girlish eyes filled with tears. gWh...wh...h

Xepher and Knight looked at each other for a minute. Xepher sighed. gSorry, Ifm not in the best of conditions right now... my name is Xepher, nice to meet you, Satsu...h he extended a hand in greeting.

Satsu, still sniffling, took the hand hesitantly. Then turned to Knight and shook his hand.

gKnight.h He answered her silent question. gSorry to have upset you. I think my PC is hacked. Thatfs why my hand is this color...h

gHowfd youfre PC get hacked?h Satsu asked. gOne of those Gatey thingies?h

gUh, yeah.h Knight smiled, an Idea turning in his head. He wondered about her reaction to being called a PK when all PK seemed to wave their flags proudly; especially those in Kestral. gHey, Ifm pretty bored, and I bet Xepher could use a good Quest...waddaya say we all go on a Dungeon Adventure?h

gOkay!!h Satsu smiled and jumped into excitement. She was once again happy; as flighty as a little child. Even though she was really 20 years old, gLetfs go on a DUNGEON ADVENTURE!!h She called, striking a heroic if not melodramatic pointing pose.

[Sheraton]

Theta Server,

Root Town Dol Dona

Kaze, who had been E-mailed by an ‘informant’ that he should do a quest for fun, arrived at the Chaos gate of Dol Dona. The Root Town was teeming with life as always, with PCs darting around the Kiosk and Save shop preparing for various life-threatening adventures. In The World, if you died, you’d lose all experience your PC gained since the last time you saved. Therefore, to escape that, most PCs visited the Save Shop before heading out on an adventure. The Kiosk is a shop that sells a few last minute healing and support items for players that don’t want to spend time in the city looking around for them.

Kaze, who didn’t in the least feel like just ‘adventuring’, wondered why the friend who normally set him up with high-paying jobs was so insistent that he take some time off. It wasn’t like Sousuke to be so...heartfelt. Ahead of him was the large gate that led into Dol Dona’s market district. It was a city built into a mountain side, in a crevice in the rock. The market district was composed of multiple shops, the main, NPC-ran shops having been carved into a large plateau in the center, and various player-ran guild shops up against the sides of the crevice. In essence, it was a large circle, with the doors leading to the chaos gate at one end, and a long, winding road heading to the Guild Headquarters.

At the Quest Shop, directly across the green field from the Chaos Gate doors, two PCs stood seemingly discussing what quest they should take on. One was a blue-haired loser, as Kaze would describe him, and the other was a female. She had blonde hair that framed her face and fanned out at the base of her neck. She had green scale mail that fell roughly to her knees, and a pink dress the floated above the grass. Large metal shoulder blades were the only heavy armor on her Character Model. Judging by what she was wearing, and the obvious nonchalant dress of her partner, he judged she was probably an Edge Punisher, or a Flick Reaper. She wasn’t wearing enough armor to be a lord partizan, and too much armor to be a twin blade or any sort of spell caster. Kaze, in his profession, had to rely on flash-judgments to survive against the quick-to-fight PKs. He die if he didn’t know how to react to each class before they revealed their weapons.

The PC with tall blue hair regarded him with a strange suspicion that perked his interest. The girl, however, bounded over to him, much to the disdain of the blue hair loser, and opened her mouth. “Hiiiii!” she called, even though she was right infront of him. Roran, the face behind the M2D, had to pull the ear phones from his ears and rub them for a second. “What’s you’re name?” she could have ran her cursor over him to see his name.

Before he could respond sarcastically to the stupid question, his voice spoke for him, “Kaze.”

“That’s a nice name.” Yuuko smiled up at him. He ran his cursor over her PC to see her name. “Do you want to go on a quest with us? We need another person to take on a certain quest.”

“Kaze...is that name symbolic of your personality?” Kisuke, the nonchalant PC next to her, chimed in surreptitiously.

“Clever,” Kaze replied to the PC without answer either player.

“Hey, brother don’t patronize him. You just met.”

“Look at him, Yuuko, he’s not to be trusted.” Kisuke said in party chat.

“We still need another party member...”

“Do you know who that is? Look at him. A green Tribal Grappler with white hair. He’s Folset’s Demon. A PKK. The Crimson Knights do NOT condone his actions.”

“You’re so closed minded, Kisuke.” Yuuko made a face at him, “what would Subaru-sama say? She’d say this is an excellent chance to help him onto the right path. Plus, I wanted to have fun with you today, brother; it’s been too long since we just had fun. It’s not fun just sitting here waiting for someone upstanding to show up.”

Kisuke sighed. “I guess you’re right...sorry. He just...doesn’t sit well with me, y’know...oh, don’t look at me like that.” he put a firm hand in her pouting face. “We’ll take him with us, alright?”

“Okay!!” Yuuko said, shifting out of Party Chat.

“Hey, Kaze...”

Kaze, who was looking at the quests on the quest board, turned around to her. “Sure, I’ll go with you guys.” once again his voice acted independent of his mind. He had fully intended to tell her and her mal-tempered brother to go to hell. Even though there weren’t any one-person-party quests available right now. “It looks like the only available quest at this time is the ‘Mysterious Gate’ quest.”

“Then let’s go.” Yuuko smiled at him fully. His heart skipped a beat and he subconsciously wiped his hand on his pants.

They exchanged member addresses, which are unique identification cards that allow the formation of a party. Once they formed a party, and allowed Kaze to be the party leader, they signed up for the quest called the ‘mysterious Gate.’ none of them thought at that time anything about what the name might imply.

As they accepted the quest, the client for the quest walked up to them. He was squat like all the other clients of these quests. "Hullo, Adventurers!!" he sounded happy, and a little eccentric. "My name is Doctor Ulrich. I'm the chief archeologist in charge of the Lost Ground archeological sites. "As you may or may not know, there are lots and lots of Lost grounds that have been discovered. my personal favorite is the tree down in Indighut Lugh." he continued, "but you really don't care about what I like do you? well, aaanyway about your mission; we've found a passage way to a new Lost Ground. I wanna go check it out...but there suuure are alot of monsters around there. SO! your job is to help me get there, worthy adventurers. so, with no further adieu, lets head to the area keywords ‘Masqueraded Forbidden New Antique’ at once!"

Knight, Xepher, and Satsu arrived at the Quest Shop after the three had left it behind. Knight took a quick look at the quest board and sighed. “...sorry guys, but the quest we were gonna go on is a one-time event...looks like someone already claimed it. I guess we’ll have to do something else.”

“Aw...” Satsu hung her head sullenly. “That’s too bad...”

“Why don’t we go do something else then. I could use some random training to relieve stress right about now...” Xepher said moodily, like a girl trying to hide her period.

“Yeah! We don’t need to do some silly quest to have fun! Come on Knight-kun, let’s go get some treasure!!” Satsu said full of hope and youthful bliss. Knight was beginning to believe she really wasn’t a PK.

[Sheraton]

Theta Server,

Masqueraded Protected New Antique

Kaze and Kisuke arrived in the Quest area already at odds. The two of them stared awkwardly at each other paying little or no attention to the girl who was urging them on. “C’mon, you guys...” Yuuko pouted, feeling jaded, “we’re supposed to be having fun...”

“Yeah, whatever,” Kisuke said, tight-jawed, turning to follow his sister sullenly. He was constantly wary of Kaze behind him; he could turn on them at any moment, “what is it we’re supposed to be looking for again?”

“Some sort of mysterious phenomenon,” Kaze responded as if on queue. Kisuke gave him an I-didn’t-ask-you look. “At least that’s what I heard.” Kaze watched the girl with nonchalant curiosity. For some reason he was drawn to her. It was a weakening feeling to be attached to strangers. He knew that something bad would happen if he allowed himself to spend too much time alone with these people. As a result, he was dejected the entire walk, trying to respond as little as possible so as not to say the wrong thing again.

“You’re pretty quiet Kaze...” Yuuko said after a time, trying to spark conversation.

“Don’t talk to my sister you scum.” Kisuke rebuked Kaze for Yuuko’s comment.

Kaze, disgruntled by his growing desire to state his unrest, jumped at the chance for vindication, “she spoke to me, you ass hole. Pay attention to the conversations and you’d know that.”

“I was just being prepared. I don’t want my sister fraternizing with a PKK like you. PKKs are just as bad as PKs. It’s your fault the worlds in the shape it’s in!”

“So you’re telling me that if you were PKed every time you logged on to The World, you wouldn’t try to become stronger and avenge yourself!?”

“You think that justifies killing for money!?”

“Justification? What justifies killing for fun!”

“Stop it!!” Yuuko’s voice cut off their argument. “Stop it both of you...” she was on the verge of tears when they finally broke their invigorated staring contest. “Put your dumb differences, and let’s finish this quest.”

Neither agreed, but neither disagreed either. They followed her as she turned to walk away. Kaze felt deeply ashamed for making a girl cry. He looked at the back of her head, and his eyes followed the curve of her PC body involuntarily. Shaking his head, he looked instead at the path before them, hoping they’d find what ever they were looking for eventually.

Kisuke hated to see his sister distraught like that, but he was too proud to apologize for something that was clearly not his fault. Now he fell as quiet as Kaze. The resulting stupor, broken only by the footfalls of pixilated characters, served only to put a stopper in the fun factor of this adventure. No one wished now to continue the path they were traveling.

Suddenly, they all stopped at a gasp from Yuuko. “What’s that...?” Yuuko stood before an orange circular disc that was floating, revolving above the ground. Their screens inverted in color, and a sound like a tuning fork resounded in their ears. Static scratched their visors. On all screens the words “Tarvos Gate” were suspended above the Gate.

Kaze’s eyes popped wide, and his heart beat increased. His body began moving without his volition, walking slowly toward the Gate. Reaching out a hand, the cautioning calls from Yuuko didn’t stop him from activating the Gate.

Immediately Kaze’s PC rose it’s head in a bode quaking scream that wasn’t human. Roran sat stupefied at his terminal and watched as his Character began emitting an odd orange miasma. The entranced Kaze turned on his party members. The orange gate dissipated slowly and the inverting stopped. Blinded by an invisible rage, he ran towards Yuuko with his blades extended.

“Eek!!” Yuuko cried, raising her hands defensively. A shot pierced Kaze’s body, sending him flying. Kisuke stood behind Yuuko, gun extended, with an all-too-satisfied grin on his face. It was half vindication, and half enjoyment.

“What did I tell you, Yuuko? He’s an inconsiderate bastard. He can’t hold his tongue or his weapons.” Kisuke said triumphantly, keeping his gun on the recovering Kaze.

Kaze, as if in retort, charged the two with a fury that was unaccustomed in The World. Yuuko, as if by instinct, pulled her scythe out in a wide slash that cut Kaze in half. She opened closed eyes just in time to watch his ashen body melt into the grass. “That wasn’t normal rage...it was like he was...possessed...” she murmured, on the verge of consciousness.

Kisuke caught her swooning. “He had it coming.” he said simply, nonchalantly.

Yuuko stood quietly. She refused to look at her brother in the face. “Why did you do that?” she asked without looking at him.

“He was dangerous. I was protecting you.” Kisuke pled, “he was crazed, tried to kill us.”

“But you took so much...joy in it...” Yuuko replied, “and you were so rude to him the whole time too, like he was a plague.”

“But he-”

“He was our guest, and someone we could have helped...” Yuuko said lamenting, “and you shunned him. It wasn’t fun at all...C’mon, let’s finish this quest.” She stalked off in the direction they’d been going, leaving Kisuke in her wake.

The rest of the walk was forced and silent. Kisuke walked sullenly behind Yuuko, hating the fact that she was mad at him. Yuuko’s anger was quickly fading, and she was debating about what to say to Kaze the next time they met. She was having a hard time forgetting him.

Before long the two of them encountered a warp point standing alone in a field of grass. There was no land across the vast open water on the other side of the platform, so it must lead to the area they were supposed to find. “Alright, let’s go, onii-chan!” Yuuko turned around, suddenly cheerful. Kisuke looked dumbfounded, and followed Yuuko forward to the platform, and inevitably, to the end of the quest.

[Sheraton]

Theta Server

Hidden Forbidden Lost Memory

The area the two found themselves in was a plain white room. The monochromatic scenery was broken only by the large red arch that stood in the center. Pink cherry Blossom petals were suspended in time around it, and cobble stone bricks faded out into the white floor.

“What is this place...?” Kisuke asked, realizing that it must be a Lost Ground, because the status icons had disappeared from the bottom of the screen.

“It looks like one of those Japanese shrines. Except there’s no shrine, just a gateway.” Yuuko took a step forward, examining the area more explicitly. There didn’t seem to be any horizon beyond the scene, as if they could run forever and ever without hitting anything. She was tempted to try it. Looking at the arch again, she could see it was old, faded, as if it had been there for many generations. “It must be a new one...and to think, we’re the first to see it.”

“Yeah.” Kisuke said shortly, kneeling down to examine the stark graphics. The cobble stones looked as if he could run his fingers between them, but of course it was all completely flat.

“What do you think we’re supposed to do now? Just go back to the Quest Shop?”

“Probably,” Yuuko wasn’t satisfied that she had examined the area enough yet. “Let’s stay here a little longer, though, I wanna check this place out some more...”

“What’s to check out? It’s just a Japanese gate.”

Yuuko puffed out her cheeks. “God, you are so...” suddenly, a rumble shook the area, and it was impossible for a moment to hear each other speak. The static started up again, but no Gate appeared. Instead, a small boy with white hair in a white cloak drifted down from the white sky, after apparently coming from nowhere at all. He had a book in his hand, that was larger than his own head, which was adorned with intricate yet simple wave marks that neither of them were familiar with. As he descended, the rumbling slowly subsided.

He was reading something from the book, pages turning by themselves seemingly. As he spoke, the words were displayed in their Chat Boxes at the base of their screens.

“Yet to return, the shadowed one

Who quests for the Twilight Dragon

Rumbles the Dark Hearth,

And Helba, Queen of the Dark,

has finally raised her army..."

The boy landed gracefully atop the gate, his white hair waving in some wind of his own creation.

“Apeiron, king of light, beckons

at the base of the rainbow, do they meet.

Against the abominable wave,

together they fight.”

“What the hell was that about?” Kisuke called up to the kid. “Who are you?”

“They call me Aero, back home, but you may call me The Malevolent Messenger.” the boy spoke softly, but all could here him. His countenance was malicious, and disconcerting.

“Was that...” Yuuko, though new to the words, felt more than knew the answer.

“Words from the Dirge of this world. The long-forgotten tomb...that just so happens to be my favorite story.” Aero said, slamming the book shut before him. It floated up to the sky and disappeared.

“What are you doing?”

“Who knows?” the boy replied equivocally. “Maybe I was bored and wanted to have some fun...or maybe I got tired of waiting for the wheels to turn, and decided to get out and push.”

“Wheels turning?” Kisuke asked dumbly. “What do you mean by that? Are you an NPC?”

“Kisuke, he’s responding to our questions; that means he can’t be an NPC. He’s either a PC, or...” Yuuko couldn’t finish the sentence because she didn’t know what he’d be. It wasn’t possible to do the things this boy was doing in The World. He could fly, stand on scenery, and toss his items around. What was he? How could he defy The World’s physics like that?

“Smart girl,” Aero replied. “No, I exist, and yet do not exist. I am here, yet nowhere. I am a player...yet not sitting at a terminal...what am I?” he laughed, as if it was some kind of...game.

“That’s an arbitrary answer.” Kisuke mumbled angrily. “Answer me, what are you?”

“I am a god of this world.” Aero replied simply, flipping his chin-length hair.

“What...? you mean like on The World’s homepage?” Kisuke asked.

“No you-” Aero began to become angry.

“Like the goddess of the Cathedral?” Yuuko chimed in. “Who used to be chained up in R:1?”

“I’ve been here far longer than her...” Aero replied with anger that was palpable. His fumes drifted down to the party, made it uncomfortable to watch him. “I am one of the many lost and rejected pieces...” he began, then shook himself of his seemingly self-inflicted melancholy.

“I don’t think we quite understand...if you’re a god...why’d you come before us?” Kisuke asked, trying to be patient.

“Perhaps you were just in the right place...at the wrong time...” the small PC laughed, and the ground began shaking violently again. The party heard the dissonant shriek of static in their ears, and then all was silent. The boy was gone, and simultaneously, new text scrolled through the Log:

“ITEM RECEIVED:

Amendment 00

Then come the three,

the ancient ones,

keepers of the plagues.

From the wake of victory,

A new threat they bring;

A new peace they shatter.

The forsaken world

mourns once more.”

“What’s this? Some kind of riddle?” Kisuke scoffed, noting the Item’s presence in his Key Items inventory menu.

“I don’t know, brother.” Yuuko said, “but I think it’s big.”

[Sheraton]

Theta Server

Innocent Her Malice

Xepher, Knight, and Satsu warped into the Cave type area soon after leaving the Quest shop. Satsu, brimming with curiosity, searched through her map to find the area’s Goal. “This one’s a ‘get to the beast temple’ type of area!” she announced, as if, without that crucial information, the party would assuredly fail.

“Aren’t all Caves that way?” Xepher said in an aside to Knight.

“Nope, every once in a while, you find one that is a ‘defeat the boss’ goal. You can’t assume things like that, Xepher.” Knight chided, punching Xepher playfully in the arm after the second part.

Xepher beamed from the touch. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“Ohhh! What are we waiting for?!” Satsu called excitedly. “I don’t usually get to go on adventures with friends...I don’t have very many member addresses any more. For some reason...People keep putting me on their ignore list...” she looked on the verge of tears again. Knight and Xepher looked at each other benignly.

“Er...I’m sure they’re just...imbeciles who aren’t considerate of others’ feelings...” Xepher amended, looking to Knight for help.

“That’s right!” Knight chimed in. “Xephie and I will always be your friends!” Xepher looked at Knight as though he’d have done better without his aid.

“Otay!” Satsu was immediately back to her normal...bipolar self. Knight wasn’t sure weather he was relieved or disconcerted.

Sighing, Xepher followed the two through the cave. He couldn’t shake the feeling he’d had about this Satsu girl. How could so many different people have been wrong on both appearances and in name? It was true that it wasn’t uncommon to find two people sharing the same basic Character Model...but a name? Not one to judge by first time appearances, Xepher was trying hard to ignore what he’d heard about her. Brushing it off as misinformation...but Xepher, the thespian and all around information station, was never misinformed. There were signs...signs he couldn’t have missed. As a result of this wariness, Xepher followed close behind Knight, keeping an ever watchful eye on their smallish companion.

“Gotta stop for some chims to get through those doors.” Knight said aside to Xepher, on the third floor of the Dungeon. “There’s a chim track over there.”

“All right. Although I dislike this,” Xepher sighed in return, “I’m with you. Next time, we’re stocking up before we take her somewhere.”

Knight nodded stoically. Xepher looked over to Satsu, who had taken the Grown-ups talking as a time to chase butterflies, and got her attention. “Hey, Xephie! What’s up?” she asked, throwing a look at Knight behind her.

“Hey, why don’t we go look at that really big mushroom over there...it might have some rare Item in it.” Xepher herded her away with such equivocal notions. As soon as they were far enough away, Knight started his chim cultivation. The last time they’d tried this in the dungeon, Satsu went crazy about Chim-chim rights to life, and how they were so cute. She almost made Knight sorry he’d abused them all of his life. She just made Xepher feel sick. She they devised this plan so that Knight could bring the pain to the chims without Satsu’s retort. It was a brilliant tactic, Knight thought, he was glad he thought of it.

They were finally able to get through the doors now, and so Knight called Xepher and Satsu back from their escapade, and continued on through the dungeon. They had an easy enough time with fighting the monsters. They were all of reasonably high level. But Knight had picked an area deliberately that was more than their average collective level so that it wouldn’t be too easy for them. Satsu, while providing less than adequate conversation, proved an entertaining Party member. She was always trying to cuddle the cute birdie monsters once Knight and Xepher had grounded them. Xepher’s disdain for her slowly lessened as he found it necessary to bail her out of tough situations. She could have handled them herself, but her reactions weren’t exactly the quickest.

Knight had to laugh at the two of them. They seemed to be getting along in a sort of annoying child-annoyed mentor kinda way. Knight was trying to be a good friend as well, but Xepher’s natural motherly qualities made him fit the part better. Maybe it was because he was...homosexual? Yeah, Knight laughed to himself, that was it.

Eventually, the party reached the lowest level of the Cave dungeon. They stopped dead in their tracks suddenly, at the feet of seemingly murderous Player Characters. The PCs watched they with grim pleasure, “hi there, boys...and little girl.”

Knight’s face was stern and sullen. Xepher took an apprehensive step back; these sorts of encounters were always worse for spell casters. Satsu looked oblivious, then cringed as the PCs slowly approached them. “Not again...” she complained, stepping back and hugging her weapon to her. “Please leave me alone...!”

Xepher stepped protectively in front of Satsu, pulling his fans out and spinning them open. “Cease and desist,” he demanded heroically, “Or fall.”

The PKs stepped forward. A twinblade, an edge punisher, and a Flick reaper; a team without much thought to strategy. This fight wouldn’t be too terribly difficult, knight thought, if we can get Satsu to take the front I can stand behind and heal while Xepher paralyzes them...

Suddenly, Xepher’s eyes opened in surprise. He had been struck from behind, his body shook for a moment, and then fell face-first into the grass. Instead of the demure Satsu cowering behind him, a hooded figure dressed all in back held a wicked looking scythe over his remains, slowly fading away. Satsu’s status bar disappeared from Knight’s display. And their party was disbanded; Meaning that Xepher could not be revived by him. Instead, his body turned dark and disappeared. Knight looked quickly at Xepher’s assailant, leaping back and drawing his long-sword. The PKs looked bewildered, and tried to flee from the well known PK. Uchitoru, four white tails of hair flying, launched her self in rengeki towards them. She easily struck them down. Knight watched them disappear in abortive pity. He felt the hair bristle on the back of his neck. His jaw was tight.

There was no more Satsu, it seemed, she was gone to him completely. It was as if something had possessed her. He didn’t know what to do, but quickly put up to parry as she set her sights on him. “Satsu!?” he had to call as their faces came too close for his comfort. “are you...”

Uchitoru said nothing, only pushed with renewed strength that sent Knight flying backwards. Knight used his blade to slow his speed. “Who...what are you?” again Uchitoru said nothing, and rushed him again with her weapon. Their weapon’s clashed again, but this time Knight wasn’t defending, he was keeping pace with her. “Fine, if you wont talk...I’ll make you.” at this Uchitoru smiled in grim delight. There was a look of accepted challenge in her face, and a thrill of the hunt. “Right then, Ogre Sword!!” he called out an arts skill, slashing and thrusting with his katana, trying to force her into talking. She either dodged or deflected every hit. Now it was her turn.

She stepped back and swung her scythe wildly. A huge wake wave was emitted, that Knight had to bring up his blade to curtail. Uchitoru looked angry that he had halted her whirlwind, and so jumped high into the air and tried bringing her scythe down on him. He feinted just out of the way, and slashed at her opening. She flew back from the impact, recovered in the air, and landed heavily with rage. “That’s the problem with scythes, you can’t let the enemy get to close.” Knight chided, smiling wryly.

Katsu noted to Yukihito that he was ‘winning’. Yukihito said that he could have done that too, if Uchitoru hadn’t struck him down. “What do you think of all this, Yuki-kun?” Katsu asked Xepher’s player, as he concentrated on his fight with her.

“I don’t know Katsu, it’s like she’s a whole different player...”

Block. Block. Parry. Dodge. Slash. Kngiht fought desperately to gain the upper hand once Uchitoru had gone into an all-out rage mode. Her wild scythe attacks were surprisingly accurate, and her frenzied blocks were ingeniously succinct. Dodging a potentially crippling blow, Knight attempted to strike at the un-guarded female’s middle. The Handle of her scythe suddenly blocked his way, and he saw his character struck from behind. Knight coupled over from the blow, and rolled out of the way of the next few strikes. Not having the time to weapon change and heal himself, Knight quickly fought to regain footing, literally.

Suddenly, when she swung at him again, he saw his opening, and struck for her character’s stomach. The blow didn’t keep her from hitting him, but he knew that, at this point, he just needed her to need to heal, so that he’d have time to heal himself. It worked; she hopped back and took a second to look for a healing item. He took the chance to weapon change to his wand and heal himself, but didn’t have the chance to change back. She took his disadvantage for all it was worth and used it against him, pushing him back.

Knight found it impossible to effectively fight with his wand, dodging and blocking, but not attacking. But instead of weapon changing, as would be expected of an adept rogue, he looked frantically through his inventory, taking a few hits at the same time. He selected an attack spell, and stretched out his hand. Calling the spell’s name as he cast it caused the ground to open beneath Uchitoru, revealing a dark red chasm beneath. A hell beast, resembling a snake with multiple legs, coiled up out of the hole, dealing continuous damage to her and taking her aloft with it.

When the spell concluded, and Uchitoru was falling back to the ground, Knight took his opportunity to attack her in her prone state. The PK, unable to protect herself, soon collided with the battle fence, and then the grass below. Knight paced cautiously over to her, a question he’d asked before on his lips. “I protect her.” she said simply. Her voice was dark and malicious, yet held within it a type of cynical beauty that he couldn’t quite get over. “You have earned that much.” she spoke again, and Knight got the feeling he was the only human ever to hear her voice. The girl crouched, as if conceding defeat, but Knight recognized it as manual weapon changing. He stepped back a step, and gasped when she pulled out a large white scythe, white with blood-red wave marks on it. The way the smaller blades floated in a spiral around the top of the shaft made the blade look thirsty for blood. Anyone’s blood. “Now die,” the voice was hellish in tone, and caused apprehension that shatters all rational thought.

Knight tried blocking the scythe when it came for him. This scythe was strong beyond its level. Come to think of it, this PC was strong beyond her level. As their weapon’s sparked and spurted from the impact of the hit, he noticed that the red on his hand was steadily growing up his wrist. That’s weird... he thought. The thought discomfited him. Knight hopped back and tried using his best skill trigger, but Uchitoru rushed him, and her scythe, remarkably, broke his sword art. His shock delayed him a second. Only a split second, but Knight saw his character’s health go down from almost full to 0 from one hit. The force of the impact sent his head rolling on the ground. Before Game Over ran across his screen, he saw Uchitoru standing over his corpse with a satisfied smile on her face. Like the face of a kid who had just convinced their mom to buy them a new toy.

[Sheraton]

Delta server,

Hidden Forbidden Radiation

Knight lightly caressed the red on his hand with his other, not feeling, but sensing, something terrible within it. He couldn’t feel any pain whatsoever, but there was something about this that he found disconcerting. It had grown the day before. It was always growing, though, he thought, but usually it was a slow progression. It had started growing exponentially when Uchitoru pulled out that scythe. What was it? That scythe was able to break his Skill -an action impossible by the game’s guidelines- and it killed him in one hit. He’d been hit previous to that, but He knew a one-hit-KO when he saw it. Uchitoru’s level -assuming it was the same as Satsu’- was less than his, meaning she shouldn’t have been able to do something like that. He sighed in frustrated confusion. What the hell was this? He could help but try to link it to those weird gates. That would explain the fact that his hand was reacting. But her changing from Satsu to Uchitoru was a mystery. Her one phrase ‘I protect her.’ wasn’t enough nearly to go on. He could only then, assume that she came about whenever Satsu was in trouble. What made her possible?

“Am I interrupting anything?” the voice of Subaru came from behind him. She was sitting behind him, facing the other way. He cursed himself for being so engrossed in the past that he hadn’t heard her come up. “You seem so...deep in thought.”

“Hey, Chie.” he called her by her Offline name. “Do you have a point in coming here?”

Subaru’s voice was timid. “I stopped by your Guild HQ, but Kage said you’d gone to Arche Koeln again for some sort of meditation...he said he’d flash mail you that I was coming...”

Knight checked his Flash Mail. Nope, nothing from Kage...that bastard.

“I told you...” Subaru began, getting straight to the point it seemed.

“Yeah, I know what you told me. And I told you that I wasn’t going to stand idly by an let you and your boys take care of it. Investigation takes more than shiny metal suits and...order...it takes risks and,” he shot a look over his shoulder at her, presenting his red hand as exhibit A, “Motivation.”

Subaru was quiet for a second, testing. “I know that.” she said, shaking her head. “And I’m sorry... I just...didn’t want to see you lying in a hospital bed.” her voice was choked. “Promise me-”

“You know I can’t do that. The World gets what The World wants. I told you that too.” Knight sighed, standing up. “But that’s okay...I don’t want to see you in a hospital bed either. You know...I’ve stood Idle so long...”

“I know the story.” Subaru comented, following him to an upright position. “You’ve always had the chance to join the fray. And that’s why you’re still playing The World...all those people... the .hackers...Tsukasa and Subaru...Crim...none of them Play the game anymore. Seven years...and you’ve been playing just fine.”

“But I want to be part of the story, Subaru. I’ve been playing longer than anybody...I have more right than anyone to do something...and now I can’t escape it. Ironic, don’t you think?”

“Sure.” Subaru’s voice caught. She turned to look at his back, tried to say something, found her voice somewhere she couldn’t reach.

“Chie...”

“...?”

“You wanna come to my dorm this Saturday? I’m having a peremptory Halloween party.”

“Sure...I’ll be there.” Subaru struggled, letting her tears get the better of her. There must be so much going on with the Knights lately. She didn’t need to worry about him too, but she was the type of person who wouldn’t just leave it to him to solve. “I’ll...see you then...”

Knight listened to the sound of warp rings taking her away. “Yeah, Subaru...have a good cry first...The World needs a strong Subaru...so don’t break yet.”

[Sheraton]

Theta Server,

Root Town, Dol Dona

Yuuko sat on the stoop that led to the Chaos gate. Kisuke wasn’t on today. It made her sad. She wanted to call him, but if he wasn’t on that meant he either wasn’t home, or doing something that required full attention. Sometimes, if his homework was easy, he’d do it with his left hand while exploring an area with his right hand on the controller. She smiled at the memory of him. Suddenly, she remembered Kaze. The green PC that made Kisuke so angry for some reason. She felt a mix of emotions that she wasn’t adept at sorting through, she stumbled in her mind, and let the emotions pick up her heart beat. Shaking her head, she stood, maybe there were some good single-party quests that didn’t involve bikes. She hated bike quests; she sucked at them. Suddenly the sound of warping alerted her to the arrival of another PC.

It was Kaze.

Something inside Yuuko was telling her to talk to him, but the other part told her she heard her mother calling her. When Kaze saw her, he lifted his head, seemed to not know what to say. “Hey, Yuuko.” he finally said cooly.

‘Hey Yuuko’ was all he could muster. He looked at her for a moment. “Where’s Kisuke?” he heard himself ask. He wanted it to sound patronizing, like she couldn’t go anywhere without his approval, but it came out an honest question.

“Dunno.” Yuuko replied wareringly. He must think she was attached to him at the hip. At least he was being polite about it. “I’m sorry about...the other day...”

Oh, yes, Kaze remembered her. He remembered touching that gate, and then everything going black. He remembered voices, and the sight of his character attacking his party members. He wanted to say ‘’wasn’t your fault’ but instead his mouth said, “it’s fine. Be glad I didn’t kill either of you.”

That’s right...he wasn’t a PK, he was a PKK. Would he have liked to watch them die? He must have some good in him. Maybe it’s not too late to help him... “that’s nice of you, to be concerned for us.” she smiled at him.

“Yeah, whatever.” Kaze returned in frustration.

Yuuko smiled lightly at him. How would she do it though? He probably wouldn’t want to go on an adventure with her. That wouldn’t happen.

“Hey, you wanna go on an adventure with me?” Kaze asked. Yuuko blanched. She stared wide-eyed at him for a moment.

“You...really meant that?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ve got nothing better to do. And I’m sure I can treat you much better than Kisuke can.” Kaze shrugged nonchalantly. He was hoping going to an area with someone as high level as her would help him cover some lost ground from the month he wasn’t able to get on. She was a good 20 levels higher than him. Somewhere in the 70s. He smirked at her acquiescence.

“All right!” maybe she could help him to understand the error of his ways. This was awesome! He had asked her, meaning anything she said wouldn’t look like she had set him up. “Where to?”

“You pick. Somewhere you can decently level up.”

“You sure you can handle that?”

“Yuuko, I’m Folset’s Demon. I can take anything.”

[Sheraton]

Theta Server,

Irritating Her Innocence

The two of them warped into the area Yuuko had chosen. She was trying to think of exactly what to say. She was at a loss for words, and so just kept walking beside him. “We probably should have brought a healer.” She heard Kaze say.

“I’ve got Items.” Yuuko offered triumphantly.

“How good are you at timing?”

“I’m alright... I’ve never been...” she stopped what she was going to say. She was going to say that her brother had always done it before, but she decided against it. “We’ll be okay.” she settled.

Kaze nodded, initiating a battle. Yuuko was adept at picking out one foe at a time to fight. Kaze was more jumpy. He liked to go from monster to monster so that they all died are relatively the same time. In this area, however, neither of their strategies worked well with their party. Yuuko had to keep up with healing Kaze, who couldn’t do much damage to the enemy, and her One-on-one style left the weaker Kaze to fight two to survive. She saved him from dying many times. How can someone like this be a PKK? Don’t they all have to be higher level? In order to survive they do. How many times had Kaze failed to accomplish a goal. How many times did he need assistance but deny it?

Kaze was the kind of person to whom Power was everything. As he watched Yuuko square off against one opponent, and he himself take two, he couldn’t help but feel inadequate when she healed him and fought the monster alone. The two of them had to create a different strategy. “Yuuko, you’re a flick reaper, meaning you’re good at one-vs-many fights.” Kaze called, backing up to her. The enemies previously attacking him, followed him.

“Gotcha.” Yuuko nodded in understanding, and swung her scythe around in a full circle when the enemies were close enough. The ring around them gave him the time to heal both of them with his own items. Yuuko had to admit that was a good idea. Kaze stood back-to-back with her then, and they fought off of each other’s moves and defeated the enemy without much difficulty.

When the victory music began to play, Kaze wanted to say something sarcastic about her and Kisuke, but it was lost in his throat, and instead he praised, “you’re not half bad.”

“Neither are you,” Yuuko giggled at him, “for someone of such low-level. I’m impressed.”

Kaze puffed out his chest. “Yeah, I told you I could take care of myself.”

Yuuko giggled again, looking warmly at him. Then Kaze did something he’d never done in The World. As he looked at this girl with whom he was sharing this adventure.

He smiled.

His mouth cracked ever-so-slightly, and she caught it. But she didn’t say anything about it; she figured he chastize himself for it on his own. She didn’t need to do anything. Then, from the wake of laughter, she asked her question, calmly, nonchalantly, “So...why’d you become a PKK?” she knew most PKKs were trying to avenge themselves or someone else. She saw his jaw immediately go rigid. “It’s alright.” she allowed, “you can tell me.”

“I had to get stronger.” Kaze replied, looking distant. “I needed to beat him...”

“Who’s him?”

“The Terror of Death.” Kaze clenched his fists.

“The Terror of Death?” Yuuko cocked her head, “why?”

“Because...in The World, I can be someone. Here I have the chance to be known...to be feared...to be loved.”

“You don’t have that it the real world?” Yuuko was starting to feel sorry for him.

“I’m the class clown. I try to be cool, but...” Kaze snapped back to reality, just who was this girl that wanted to know so much about him? What was it to her? “Not like you care.”

“But I do...” Yuuko tried to not sound stalker-ish, but the words came out meek.

Kaze snorted, and continued to walk forward. They still had a way to go before they reached the beast temple.

The walk was silent. And the silence cut deeply into yuuko, messing with her game playing. “You’re dragging us down.” he said to her after she had fumbled her skill trigger. “What’s wrong?” he said it like he didn’t care. But if he didn’t care he wouldn’t have asked.

“Are you mad at me...?” she asked, feeling like her plan had failed epically.

Kaze sighed, deflecting a bullet and slaying an enemy. “Is that what it’s about? Look, it’s alright, okay...I just don’t...I don’t share my feelings, alright. What happens in the real world shouldn’t have anything to do with this one.” he finished with finality.

Yuuko wasn’t sure what to say to that. She acquiesced silently, allowing him to help her defeat a goblin. As it’s dead body faded to black, she spoke up again. “It’s not right to kill other player, though...it doesn’t give you as much EXP...so why-”

Kaze, his back to her, spoke roughly, “A righteous girl like you wouldn’t understand. The Crimson Knights...you guys have such hollow visions of right and wrong.”

Yuuko’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry...”

“Hey, hey...!” Kaze heard her voice crack and turned around. Why? Let her cry if she felt it necessary. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way...”

“...”

Kaze sighed. “Look, we’re obviously neither of us in the mood for a dungeon adventure...we’ll just get killed like this. What do you say we call it quits...?”

Yuuko shook her head defiantly. “No! I want...I want to learn more about you. I want to Know what it is that makes you different. I might be righteous, but I can understand...let me...let me know you...”

Kaze felt a strange sensation inside him. It welled up to his throat until it made it hard to breathe regularly. “O-okay,” Kaze replied, affected. “C’mon. We’re almost there.” He began to lead her away.

“Th-Thanks...”