Thread: .Hack RP "The World"

OOC: Yay! Welcome back, Subaru! Will post next move once I have time to write it without timing out of the forum- probably this evening, but maybe in the morning.

occ:it's okay. Take your time. I'll be getting an internet connection at home in around eight days so I'll be able to come on this site a lot more YAY!!

Jechtael & Brigit
Ф Cursed Despaired Paradise
There hadn’t been any problems so far, as the players had explored every room of the dungeon save that behind the door filled with purple haze. Jechtael had wanted to check the room as soon as they cleared the other rooms (no rare items), but, to his surprise, Brigit was reluctant to enter. She wouldn’t say why.
Eventually, there were no more excuses, and they crossed the threshold to find… nothing. Nothing but a white room, empty save for a canopy bed surrounded by stuffed animal dolls.
“It’s so… sad…” Jechtael was surprised at his fellow adventurer’s reaction. To him, it seemed more austere, a place that should have been safe… But wasn’t. “Brigit, look at the stuffed bears!”
Brigit didn’t understand at first, but she soon saw what he meant. Every bear had a hole through the center of its chest, and several had missing limbs or even a slit throat. One of them, propped on the unmade bed, was staring creepily at the door and holding a small roll of parchment. Neither Jechtael nor Brigit wished to approach it, but after several minutes of no movement, Brigit used the tip of her sword to sweep the paper off of the bed.
-Coder’s Log: Harald, June 23, 20XX-
I’ve been talking with… Her. She’s not supposed to be an AI, but she seems to react more than any previous intelligent program. I can’t even bring myself to refer to her program as an “it” any more. She’s too human. She even asked if she had a name. Morganna… It sounded strange, telling someone their own name… But I worry. When the ultimate AI is born… Will she be nurturing, like a mother? Will she be cold, like a machine? Or… I dare not say it. For now… she… is the most important part of the Frägment plan. May I be forgiven if I’m wrong…

The note faded, and the two were returned to the hall outside, the door to the white room now sealed.

OOC: I wish I could find more about Harald and the origins of Morganna. As it is, I’m just hoping I’m not introducing something contradicted by canon.

occ: I don't think it is contradictory information. I think it's fine. Now, lets continue.......

Subaru's arm ached from being pulled along the oak bridge in the centre of Mac Anu. The soft, rushing sound caused by the flowing tranquil waters washed over her but were drowned out by Mireille's incesant cheery voice.

"Oh, wow! Monster! Oh you should come! Treasure! Rare item! An event! Yay!"

Mireille had been this way since the whole event at Net Slum. After a couple of seconds they came face to face with a strange building. Mireille cheered and ran inside. Subaru justed waited outside, but a white sleeved arm reached out and yanked her inside.
They were in a room which was filled with rare goodies - as Mireille loved to call them. She actually began picking a large group of them and tossing them in the air, laughing. The whole room looked well furnished in traditional Japanese fashion and actually looked like a typical living room.
"How did you get this room?" Subaru asked bewildered. Mireille stopped dancing and stared at Subaru - for a split second Subaru felt Mirei had forgotten about her. It turns out this entire place is a rare item itself and Subaru hearing this couldn't help but laugh. Soon they were both on the floor giggling and sun light filtered through the window and landed upon the two hysterical girls.
They just sat there for hours talking randomly: about their families, hobbies, school. As the time passed the weather got gradually worse and worse until rain pounded upon the glass. Subaru stood up and wandered to the window, her face solemn.

"What's wrong?" Mireille asked.

"I'm worried about everyone. Us. We could all get in trouble with the admins - we're affiliated with an illegal character. Remember what happened to you when you hanged out with Shugo?" Subaru whispered to her friend.

A thought flashed into Mirei's mind. Bars. Solid, metal bars. The threat of character deletion - all her rare items gone and no more Rena, Shugo, Ouka or Hotaru. The memory still made her shudder.

Just then Subaru had a sense of foreboding. Just then the door to Mirei's hideout flew open revealing the sneering face of Kamui and her cobalt knights. And soon there they were trapped behind those familiar bars.
Subaru heard Kamui whisper to one of her subordinates:

"Soon, their friend will hear about this and come running. Then we'll catch him."

The cackle of her laughter stung her ears and Subaru began to worry about Jechtael's safety.

Brigit
After following the directions in an e-mail arranging a meeting, Brigit found herself entering a low-rent, almost filthy tavern in one of the mostly abandoned rest areas of The World. Aside from the bartender, an NPC- no, an AI, there was only one other person. He was sitting in the corner, with ice-blue eyes and a mark on his forehead. “Are you… the Sage?”
He nodded. “That I am,” he said, “now sit, and let us converse.”
She did, and his next question was even more cryptic than the e-mail: “What do you remember after Zaiwan Shin?”
“What, you mean the One Sin event? I lost. I quit the game, there was nothing left for me.” Haruna had been offered her first job in North America at the time, and was suffering from bouts of depression while contemplating leaving her homeland and family. She didn’t see anything worth keeping her character for, since e-mail would be as useful as online games with the time lag. “I never played after that.”
“Ah, this… Will be difficult for you, then.” The Sage mimed pulling something from his satchel and appeared to twist an invisible cord into a complex pattern before reaching for Brigit’s forehead. “This will feel unusual for a moment, but you have to know, it’s all real.”
“What’s all-” she gasped. The time… It wasn’t dreaming. None of it had seemed real, but… What was real in The World? Especially now?
The Sage smiled. “I hoped that would work. You see, the game affects people, gets inside their head. Sometimes, if a character is deleted, even if it’s through normal means, there’s a backlash. When someone is data drained… It’s worse. The coma victims were just part of what happened.”
Brigit shuddered. “It’s… Because of me, they…”
“Because of you, they could escape. The important thing is that Altimit believes you still recall nothing of the events surrounding the dot hackers, and we need to keep it that way. Don’t contact anyone in a way that Altimit can take note of. Do you understand?”
Feeling close to tears, she replied: “Yes, I… It’s a lot, but I can… I’m okay. Thank you, mister…?”
“You don’t know me, and I shouldn’t be here now. Goodbye.” Brigit left.

To: HuntressMistral@ Altimitmail. net
From: Haruko@ triggerpower. online
RE: Ask Mayumi-San: The new online game search engine
Miri-chan, this is important. If you remember, I’m the one who mistook you for your mom a few days ago. The… company may be scanning yours and certain other players’ email for names and words, but could you ask your mom if the name Sylph means anything to her? If it does, have her use a different email host to contact me at MaShinSaga .us. My ID is crescendo. Hope to see everyone soon, in the meantime, have fun!

OOC: If someone wants to handle Mistral’s side of the conversation, go ahead. My plan, however, is to leave Mistral’s responses unvoiced, and just have Brigit/Haruna/Crescendo’s e-mails posted. If Subaru wants to play Mireille’s character as being controlled by Mistral/Mayumi occasionally, I have no problem if nobody else does. (I’m not suggesting it, just saying I consider in-game characters played by more than one person to always be the same character. For all it matters, Mistral’s player could set up a new account with a level 1 axmaster.) Oh, I just remembered Mireille was captured by the cobalt knights… I guess the assumption could be made that Mayumi and Miri share Mistral’s old e-mail account.

Jechtael
“Sir! Your friends need you!”
Jechtael had been spending another uneventful day leveling up, and was suddenly accosted by a small boy dressed In white.”What do you mean? Who are you?” Worry crept into his mind that it was the Morrigan, or another Phase monster.
“I’m Random, sir, your friend knows me. But Mireille and Subaru are in trouble! The blue knights have them!”
“The blue… Police? They’ve been arrested?”
Random paused a moment, seemingly in thought. “Um… You could say that. But in the game. It’s a trap, sir. You can’t try to ’spring’ them from the ‘poke’ without help.”
“Huh… I can only think of two people strong enough to fight an entire digital police force. One is Balmung, and he won’t be any help… The other… Well, maybe, three, if Helb@ can fight, but whoever killed Skeith might be willing to help. Random, you found me in a field zone, can you find Brigit, Mia, Marcoh, and Helb@, and tell them to meet me in the net slum, due east of the main area? And Balmung, while you’re at it.”
“Yes, sir. At least, I can find Brigit, Mia, and Balmung of the Azure Sky. I don’t know about the others, or if I can ask anything of Balmung of the Azure Sky.”
Jechtael nodded. “Thanks. Random, any help will be appreciated.” Random gated out with an unusual mosaic pattern, and Jechtael left to return to the net slum, wait, and plan.

OOC: Fun Fact: Jechtael still thinks Helba’s name is actually spelled Helb@, pronounced “Hellbat.” Also, this is getting quite interesting, and depending on how the other players handle things, I have a couple of possibilities for who (or what) killed Skieth, who they work for and why, and how many Phases are left (along with, possibly, the fate of The World). Although it will be quite interesting to see how this story turns out with the ideas of the other players. Always the best part of a DM-less RPG.

occ: I agree, also I was wondering if you'd be willing to tell me those ideas?

Subaru paced back and forward in her cell. The bleak stone walls didn't even dent when she struck them with her weapon - neither did the bars. She was looking for a way out - a glitch, something, anything! Only there was none.
She glanced over into the cell facing hers and found Mireille sitting on the stone floor, hugging her knees and rockiing back and forth. Subaur was close to cracking too, but she had to remain strong for both her, and Mireille's sakes. Her thoughts kept springing back to Jechtael. I hope he isn't dumb enough to fall for the trap she thought.
The main door opened and Kamui entered regally with a smile upon her face. She glanced from Subaru to Mirei and then back again and laughed,

"You're friends are coming to help you. Such a pitiful little force. When they get here, I'll personally delete all of you."

Mirei began howling and Kamui began to walk back out but Subaru yelled after her, "Who do you think you are? You can't do this! We'll stop..." Kamui cut her off:

"Oh, you'll find I can. People like you have spoiled this game and I will never forgive the likes of you for doing so!" She whispered, her voice full of venom.

Just then one of her subordinates burst in, "They're here!"

A Twin Blade, a Blademaster, and a purple catgirl burst in… and ripped straight through the subordinate guards. Kamui was furious. “Fools! These aren’t the hackers, they’re AIs! Destroy them!” With that, she leapt forward, brandishing her spear as though it were the ultimate weapon. She struck down the green twin blade and the silver blademaster, but as she reached the purple cat avatar, a pulse of light from its gauntlet shattered her spear. “No-!
It reached forward, pressing its other hand against the center of Kamui’s chest. “I’m not done with these people. And, just for your information, these aren’t AIs. They’re shells. How you’re head of the Cobalt Knights, I’ll never know.” The avatar started glowing, fracturing, and Kamui still couldn’t move. Finally, with a great noise, the avatar and the cobalt knight shattered in a burst of corrupted data. The cell opened, allowing Mireille and Subaru free passage from the holding cell.

Subaru ran to the fallen players and helped them to their feet. She looked around the cell. "Huh! Where'd Mia disappear to?" She asked. Mireille's voice broke in, squeaking with fright, "She didn't." Subaru glanced at her wavemaster friend and saw the frightened glaze of her eyes. She spun round and noticed the entire cell had transformed into a desolate floating island, in the middle of which rested this large, cream sphere which began to unfold and a cat like creature appeared from within it. "Oh no! Macha!" Mirei shrieked. Macha seemed to smile as the "BATTLE" sign lit up the screen.

It looked as though the two were doomed, but Jechtael ran in, and tossed Subaru her confiscated axe. “Mirei! Keep us healed! And don’t worry, I brought plenty of status items!” The battle raged, Jechtael and Subaru attacking and Mireille healing for damage. The tide had almost turned in Macha’s favor as Mirielle was Charmed, but a status restore item took care of that. Subaru finally protect broke Macha, but it reared up, brandishing a bracelet on its left wrist: “I grew to love you humans, and then you betrayed me, ripping out my heart for your precious friend! Well, NO MORE!” [DATA DRAIN]
The party began stumbling about, poisoned, confused, and less half their HP. Mistral shook it off first, and then… “Data Drain!” Jechtael activated his bracelet, moving into the data drain screen and absorbing Macha’s corrupted data. In its place was a small cat wearing a pointy hat, asleep. From it shot a purple sphere, up through the sky like when Skeith had been killed, and the battle mode was deactivated. “Are you two okay?” Jechtael asked the two just-escaped prisoners.
“We’re… We’re fine.” Subaru wondered, though…. “How did you know Macha’s powers?”
Jechtael looked at Mireille quizzically for a moment, and then replied: “Actually, it was Mirei’s mother. She was with the original dothackers, when they took down some of the phases. I got an email from here through a first person shooter system, of all thinks. Thank her, Mireille, as soon as you log off.”
“My mommy saved us? I knew she was a hero in the World! I’lll definitely say thanks!”
Jechtael turned solemn. “However, I haven’t yet heard from Brigit or Helbat, all I know is that we need to get out of here. Ready to go?”
The others replied in unison, “Ready!” and gated out.

Net Slum
A slender female blademaster with silver armor was talking to a cloaked figure.
“This is bad. Very bad. You knew what would happen if you tried to get rid of Aura, but…”
“We didn’t know. We hoped… She would have been powerless after the phases were incapacitated, but she’s back now, and getting stronger.”
“You always were a bunch of fools, thinking since you were gods, the humans couldn’t destroy you… Ever heard of Neitsche?”
“Yes. I look back on how we used to be… And pity myself, and those who are no longer here. What’s past is past, though-“
“And what’s present must be confronted. It was… nice, seeing you again.”
“Same here. One last thing, though… Can you leave?”
The blademaster hesitated… “No.”
And walked away.

OCC: I like. I like.

Nice work with the "Net Slum" part; introducing mysterious characters.
Well done.

RP:

Kurokawa Household

Mirei stood in her bedroom just taking in what had happened just previously. Wow! Mommy's a dot hacker!She thought excitedly. She ran into the living room and hugged Mayumi (her mother). "Arigato mommy." She whispered. Mayumi nodded, relieved that her daughter was safe and then they both sat down and had waffles with strawberry sauce.

"The World"

Subaru tried and tried again to get back to that field but she knew her efforts were futile. "I'm sorry Mia." She muttered sadly and then gated to Mac Anu and from there to ΔHidden Forbidden Holyground - which is where Subaru always went to pay her respects. As Subaru walked towards the ornate cathedral she couldn't help have the feeling she was being watched.
As she got to the gate everything warped and she was suddenly in Net Slum standing next to Helba. "Hel..?" She began but Helba cut her off with a finger raised to her violet lips and a soft "ssh." sound. She then motioned with her head to a spot within the center of the town.
Characters she had never seen before were muttering to each other and looking shifty. "Why can't they see us?" Enquired Subaru as she and Helba were standing next to a piece of rubble a few feet away from the group.
Helba chuckled, "I'm running a concealing program which shields our avatars from other players." She whispered. One of them, a female blademaster began walking away. Helba leaned forward towards Subaru and whispered in her ear, "Follow her."
Subaru's face creased in puzzlement, "Why?" She asked spinning around, but was met only with empty space. She looked around for Helba, but she must have gated out. She then looked for the blademaster and then began following.

“Brigit! Calling Brigit on Server Σ!” No answer. Jechtael had been trying to find Brigit for the past three days, to no avail. Nobody had seen her recently in the net slums, and she didn’t show up on the message list for the other servers. Without answering her email, it was unlikely that she would just drop out of the world when something so important was happening. He turned to leave, but an AI appeared, a young girl holding a teddy bear with an orange hat and green face markings.
“You smell like Shugo did when he had Mommy’s bracelet. Do you know a person named Brigit?”
“Erm.. Yes,” Jechtael replied. “I was just looking for her. Do you know where she is?”
The AI shook her head. “No, but she says she’s okay, and not to worry. She’ll be back once she takes care of a few things.”
“Okay. Um… Can I ask you your name?”
“Yeah,” answered the AI, but with an impish grin continued: “But I won’t tell you.” She laughed and ran off.
Jechtael thought, what strange people must program these intelligences. Ah, well, Brigit’s okay, that’s all that matters until we find the next Phase. I may as well get some level-gringing in, maybe try that grunty racing game I’ve been hearing about…

Brigit sat in a field of aromatic grass, crying. “Mia… I’m sorry we couldn’t save you, I know I could have done more to help…” She picked up a stalk and let it flutter away in the wind. “I was hoping you might have been here, I know how much this grass reminds you of Tsukasa… I wonder, could you smell the aroma of the foxtail grass? What did it smell like?... Oh, I’m being stupid-“
“If you’d give me a millisecond to answer, I would remind you that everything in the digital world has its own unique digital ‘scent.’”
“Mia!? Mia!” Briget jumped up and hugged the catlike avatar. “I thought you were gone, along with Macha!”
Mia huffed in annoyance. “How many times must I remind you? It’s been a long time since Macha and I were the same… person. Just because I still have our old memories...”
“It’s great to see you’re okay. Do the others know you’re okay?”
“No. It’s only coincidence you were here, I was going to reflect on things for a while. Well, if they’re that worried, I think I can go see the group.”
“Thanks, Mia. That would be nice.”
Mia hesitated. “Um… You’re welcome…?”
Suddenly, Brigit jumped up. “I have to be going anyway! I’m glad to see you are back!” Her voice faded in the distance.
“Hmm,” muttered Mia. “Humans are still so illogical… Then again, who am I to judge?”

"The World"

Mireille looked at the map of the dungeon she was currently exploring, "Hmm, if I go left it will be dead end, but if I go right I can get to the gotte statue and get my treasure, but would have to fight monsters." She murmered to herself. As she entered into the right room the graphics flickered. It happened so fast Mireille wasn't even sure what had happened. Pretty soon, she defeated the level eighty monsters and walked towards the gotte statue room.
However, a strange purple light blocked the door way and a loud boom of static exploded in Mireille's ears. She turned around and came face to face with a small pink and white cat in strange clothes. Before she could respond, a large flash of light errupted from the cat and struck Mireille in the chest. Mireille slumped to the ground and images began floating past her eyes: the time when she first joined the world; her friends Shugo, Rena, Ouka and Hotaru; Subaru and her giggling at her hideout. Everything started going dark and the last thing she saw was her and her mother hugging and telling each other how much they loved each other.

Kurokawa Household

When Mayumi woke up from her afternoon nap she was surprised to find the house quiet. Normally it would be filled with laughter as Mirei played on "The World". She walked upstairs and into her daughter's room to find her lying unconscious on the floor. Mayumi screamed with terror and wept as she clutched her comatose daughter.

OOC: Hm, I'd like to join in with this again, but I'm lost as far as where y'all are in the story. Any ideas how to get me in?

Welcome back Gestalt!

Hmm, let me think...oh wait this may help it's a summary so far of what we've done.

This is part 1:

*New Player <Jechtael> Logging In*
Server: Delta
Root Town: Mac Anu
Level: 1
J___ had just joined The World, an online virtual reality game where players could be their favorite type of hero class, or even become a villain among the people. A world where monsters roamed the fields and labyrinths, and order reigned only in the towns and where bands of wandering heroes had passed. For the past three years, peace had encompassed The World, since the legendary dothackers had found the secret behind the realm. Now, a new generation of players was online, and another legend was soon to begin…
His character Jechtael was a Twin Blade, clad in forest green and wielding two daggers. Quickly learning about the game, Jechtael had looked through his recent emails and the Altimit forums, from the people who designed and moderated The World. There was not much of interest to such a new player, though a couple of low-level challenges such as tag with a goblin did exist. After wandering a bit through the root town of Mac Anu in the Delta Server, he had gathered a bit of information.
For one thing, buying items before starting any significant quests would be a necessity. Also, there existed some fields specifically for low-level people to practice. One such field was in the Bursting-Passed Over-??? keyword combination, though there were three passwords for each field on each server, so it would have to wait for later. He decided to search the Chaos Gate transport system for a good low-level field or two, and trained there until he got the feel of the game, even defeating the first goblin in the Goblin Tag games. A good day for gaming, he thought, as he logged out.

A girl dressed in a blue dancer’s costume approaches the Mac Anu chaos gate. Her name is Subaru, and her eyes fill with sadness as she types in the code for Δ Hidden-Forbidden-Holy Ground.
The sad music floats upon the air as the huge ornate cathedral comes into view. Cautiously she glances around and only sees the silvery water surrounding the small island the beautiful structure rests upon. Reluctantly she walks up the steps into the building and sighs. The expansive interior only houses six pews and the small statue of Aura wrapped in chains. The music becomes louder, and Subaru thinks about gating out. She steps towards the statue, every footstep resounds through the hall.
As she reaches the statue, the tears begin to flow and Subaru collapses in front of it. "Oh Tsukasa.." she weeps, "I'm sorry." The statues sad eyes seem to glisten also, maybe with tears too. "Tsukasa, I failed." Her sobs and the melancholic music are the only sounds that can be heard out of the temple.

Trying to find the new player area he heard of yesterday, Jechtael is finding the chaos gate to be uncooperative.The code isn’t working for Δ Bursting-Passed Over-Aqua Field.
*Area Invalid*
Suddenly, the chaos gate burst open. Something rushed through, surrounded by a hole in the graphics. He can't see what it was, because it disappeared, but it wasn't one of the character classes from the basic game. It seemed to be a large, not unnoticeable monster, but when he asked the others around the square, they just insulted him for his new player status. He tries moving to the β Server, but gets an error message: *Player Not Authorized, Please Choose a Different Root Town* Jechtael logs out.
He sends a message to the e-mail help line at Altimit, and no sooner is it sent than he receives a reply.
__________________________________________________ _______________________
Sent: Hel6@
RE: Forget What You Saw
Message: The administrators gratefully accept your input. Please send no further messages, as our email servers are often busy and unnecessary messages can cause problems. If you observe further problems, reinstall the game with a new name and product code. Do not message us again.
This Hel6@ seems suspicious, so he went back online and asked anyone with relevant information to meet him at Δ Bursting-Passed Over-Sea of Sand the next day at 6:00 P.M., being careful not to leave any keywords that this Hel6@ or other moderators might be scanning for. Then he runs a virus scan, just in case the person wasn’t with Altimit.

Mia opened the e-mail composer, and began a letter.
If you want to know more meet me at the omega server root town.
Come alone.

Mia
And she sent the e-mail to Jechtael.

The next day, having found the message from this mysterious Mia, Jechtael looked up what others had said about the omega server. It was a server created for hackers and wandering AIs, to escape the prying eyes of the system moderators. It could be found at Δ Pulsating Worst Core.
He made it there, though the trip through the Chaos Gate was stranger than ever. He called out, “Is there a player here that goes by the name of Mi-” A purple catgirl cut him off. “Yes,” she said. “Now stop yelling across the entire game.”
"You're Mia?” Jechtael had never seen such a character before. “What are- erm, who are you, and what is your character? And what do you know about the... thing at the chaos gate?"
She glared. "I am a hacker, I created this avatar myself. And as for what happened, well... she turned around making sure no one was listening, "it depends on what it looks like. Was it a little girl, white hair, white clothes? If it was, then that was Aura."
"No," replied Jechtael. It was this big ugly thing, like an Evangelion, but all pale and spikes. I think it was bleeding, or it had something red across its back. It disappeared before I could see it clearly."
Mia waited a moment before talking. "No. It... I couldn't tell you what it is. But it sounds... almost... Like something I saw before."
*Ding! Request for Mia to join a group.*
A new player had just arrived.
Mia stared at Jechtael for a minute as if studying him. She smirked a little. She leaned forward as if confiding something "You can't defeat it, not even with other people in your party. I suggest you go to Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground at the Mac Anu server to learn more."
She walked away from the confused boy and said, "I decline to join your party.....for now," and gated out.

The subtle breeze of Mac Anu washed over the young man as soon as he materialized before the Chaos Gate. Standing at nearly six feet tall, the twin blade walked, his onyx cloak snapping and waving with each firm step. The skies were as blue as always-- adorned with wispy clouds more beautiful than reality. Players of all shapes and sizes gathered along the brown shop huts, laughing and chatting with due enthusiasm. Cutting across the center of the city glimmered a beautiful river. Cannoes and gondolas carried various people across the gentle stream. Coming to an arched cobblestoned bridge, the seasoned cloaked player stopped to give a quick glance over his shoulder. There are no game masters or crimson knights around, he thought. still, I promised never to do anything stupid in a root town.

Count, as was the user's name, strolled to the peak of the bridge and leaned against the railing. He gazed out at that river and felt a smile form on his face. Playing for more than a year didn't take the magesty out of the reality that was The World. Here he didn't have to worry about deadlines, sickness or a phone call from his boss. If he had but a single wish, he would wish The World could be reality, where love and adventure proved abundant, where every player had some greater cause than himself. Be it helping other players, or even the vulgar act of slaying others. Shaking the thoughts from his mind, Count turned his back to the river to lean his back against the bride side, casting glances at both sides to see if he recognized anyone. No such luck. It may have been a boring afternoon, but it beat the alternative of studying.

What to do? he thought with the shrug of his shoulders. Perhaps he should continue his climb up the levels, or explore more of the vast jungle of servers he had yet to explore. Whatever the case, he decided it would be best to get started.


Having gated out from the Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground of the Mac Anu server, Subaru immediately felt her spirits lift. Tsukasa... The guilt still stung her mind and she warned herself to not cry in a public place. A couple of seconds later, she got a strange email from an unknown user:

An illegal character is traipsing around the current root town you're in. Go and find him.

Hel6@

“That’s odd,” thought Subaru. She descended the steps to the bridge and found him gazing happily into the river's pure, flowing waters. She quietly crept up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me; I would like a word with you." She called to him in a loud tone of voice.

Count woke from a state of half-sleep by a firm tap and a command from a voice he thought he recognized. Spinning around he took in the woman's features. Short azure hair with a written symbol blazon on her forehead. If that hadn't been enough to jog his memory, her tiny angel wings, blue dress and stern eyes were. Not just a Crimson Knight, but the leader of them! Everyone who visited the less than reputable message boards were informed to avoid this one.

Leaping back with the prowess of a leopard, Count balanced on the side of the bridge. His thumbs itched to withdraw the blades from his gauntlets, knowing full well it would not do any good in town. Instead, like a hawk, he narrowed his blood colored eyes and watched down on her every subtle nuance.

"My," Count said, "to what do I owe the honor of being visited by Lady Subaru?" Before she could respond he continued. "As it turns out it's a bad time, so I apologize but you cannot have a 'word' with me."

Sprinting past her, Count sped away as fast as he could. With any luck, he could escape detection...


Since his meeting with Mia, Jechtael had levelled up several times, and increased his in-game wealth. He told himself it was because there might be a dungeon at the Hidden Forbidden area, but it was really because he was afraid... both of the creature from the gate, and of getting too involved in the game. He'd heard of people dying from a virus imbedded in the system, but it wasn't soemthing he'd thought about until now.
"Hey, Jet, are we going, or what?"
Brigit was a player he'd met on the Altimit forums. She was a Blademaster, the second character of a former One Sin attemptor. Jechtael had run across her trying to find more information on Delta Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground, and she knew things about the game only a veteran player would, but used a low enough level character that she could party with people new to the game. She had heard legends about the cathedral at Holy Ground, but hadn't visited recently.
*Chaos Gate: New Password: /\ Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground*
The two appeared before a cathedral amidst a sea of mist. Jechtael was surprised at the detail and quality of the area, but Brigit was nonplussed. They entered the sanctuary, and...
*BATTLE MODE ON!*
A goblin appeared, and was quickly dispatched by a Tiger Claw and Vak Don from jechtael, and a single swipe from Brigit. As the battle music faded, an eerie melody filled the air.
Birgit sighed. "This place always feels so sad, as though it was made as a tribute to a lost loved one. I always used to enjoy coming to this place."
"I... don't like it. I can see how it's peaceful, but the statue..." Jechtael didn't continue. He didn't have to. THe statue of the goddess had been cast in chains, and was now covered in the accumulated dust of ages. He walked to the pedestal and tried to read it. "Keith... Magus... This is ridiculous, the text shouldn't have been painted over with tarnish. That might just mean it's unimportant."
*BATTLE MODE ON!*
A great earth turtle came flying into the sanctuary at a surprising rate. Jechtael moved to attack it, but Brigit stopped him. "It's too high a level for our avatars! Run!" They tried, but the turtle was between them and the doors. It looked bleak, until a streak of white and blue came rushing from the hall.
"Hya!*Swipe* Didn't..*slash* I...*jab* Kill..*slice* You...*slash* Before!? *STAB*
"Run, this thing can't be killed, I've tried before!"
Brigit and Jechtael tried to move to the hallway, but the newcomer was bowled over by the creature and Jechtael was attacked. He suddenly found himself in an area similar to the hole in the sky at the chaos gate, and heard a voice.
"Use the book."
An item shaped like a book flew toward him.
*Jechtael used Book of Dusk*
A shudder ran through him. His virtual reality set was malfunctioning! He was going to die in the game! Strange glyphs pulsed through him, as waves of energy struck his body outside of the game. A ring of light, forming a crown of golden spikes, formed around his left gauntlet, and released a stream of data. It pored through the turtle, and they were returned to the sanctuary.

The other person destroyed the turte with a final sweep of his blade, and then turned on the adventurers. "You're just like that. Another virus-ridden creature, with your monsters and your 'magic arm cannon.' You don't deserve the game, and I swear on my honor as Balmung, of the Azre Sky, Descendant of Fianna, that I will one day rid The World of hackers like you!" "But-" Jechtael and brigit both began to protest, but to no avail. Brigit seemed upset. "You just associated me with hackers in the eyes of Balmung! He's my hero, and the reason I attempted the One Sin event in the first place! If I hadn't seen that you got that attack from an item in the game, I wouldn't forgive you." "jechtael tried to apologise.
"I'm sorry, the book was just there, it was the only thing I could do to-"
Brigit laughed. "I didn't say I don't forgiuve you now. Lets go to a few more areas and check out this new skill. It must be amazing if even the legendary Balmung hasn't seen it before."
With that, they gated out.

*Logging In*
*Server: Delta - Loading Complete*
*Root Town - Loading Complete*

*Welcome to the world KoNeko.*

*You have no new messages.*

"What to do, what to do...I'm not really sure what I want to do." I thought to myself. "I haven't really figured out that gate thing...and last time I used it, I ended up in some weird place and was attacked by some high leveled monster. So it's probably best I stay away from that for now."

I walked around the town for awhile and looked through the shops to see what kind of items they had. Of course everything was too expensive as I had no cash on me, but I liked to see what some of the swords looked like.

I was too shy to ask anyone around me how to play to game. I had some little knowledge about "The World" and I lost my guide book on how to play it. I'd really just like to know how to use that gate thing and get some cash. I noticed a girl standing near an alley way holding a staff. She had on some white-ish silver clothes, almost like a dress you would see at a school dance or something. It was very pretty looking and attractive to the eye. She had long pink hair, and the orb in her staff matched the color of her hair.

I decided to get my courage up and ask her if she would be willing to help me. I guess she didn't see me come up to her because when I tried to get her attention, she squealed and jumped backwards a little.
"Don't scare me like that!" She said.
"Oh, I uh, I'm sorry...I was just trying to get your attention."
"W-what do you need?" She asked while putting her head down a little and clutching her wand closer.
"Well, I'm new to The World, and I was wondering if you could help me start out." I hope that I wasn't scaring her. I didn't think my character looked to scary when I made it, and I'm not trying to be scary.
"I-I can't help you. I'm also new to this game. I just started today...I was invited by a friend, but after I joined, she got into some accident and was hospitalized. Oh! I shouldn't have said that! I'm so sorry, you didn't need to know that!" She started waving her hands back and forth.
"Oh, sorry to hear that...Well, I'm sorry to bother you, I guess I'll be on my way then." As I started to walk off, she said...
"E-excuse me..."
"Hm?"
"C-can I add you to my friends? I just started this game today, and don't have any friends..." She seemed really shy to ask this, as she was staring down and twisting her foot on the ground.
"Sure! My name's KoNeko. What's yours?"
"M-my name is Lilium. You can call me Lily if you'd like..." She seemed sort of emmbarresed to say that. I wasn't sure why though, I thought it was a nice name.
"Lilium huh? That's a nice name. Well I'll catch you later then Lily. Nice meeting you!"
"It was nice meeting you too KoNeko!" She had a big smile on her face and proceeded to walk the other direction."

I headed back to the gate to log out. As I made it to the gate...

*You have one new message*
*Lilium would like to be your friend. Do you accept?*

*Accepted*

*Logs out*

Brigit was experience-grinding, with low success. She went to the Omega Server/Net Slum mirror to looks at different modifications people made (lower quality than those who used to play, she thinks). An avatar of a small, pale child walks up to her.
“Hello,” she says. “What do you want?”
He stared up at her. “You smell familiar, and sound the same. But you look different.”
Brigit is disconcerted. “Um, I don’t live in Japan anymore, so I didn’t know there was a beta hardware test for scent-“
“You sound like the girl who almost saved Her.”
Who? Brigit wondered silently. “I don’t know what you mean, I never saved anyone, I wasn’t even a PK’er when it was legal.”
“No,” said the other avatar. “You died, and She was sad. Then the angel saved Her.”
“I-” She didn’t understand. The boy smiled, and began to walk away. Before leaving the visible area, he calls back to her: “We hope to see you again.”
*Player //random Requests Addition to Friends List*
*Player //random Added to Friends List*
*Player Brigit logs out*

This is part 2:

Subaru gave chase to the strange looking twin blade through the crowds. This one's fast... she thought to herself, and he was. In an instant he was gone leaving Subaru lost amongst the crowd. "Damn it." She cursed under her breath. She walked back to the bridge, dragging her axe behind her letting it scrape the ground. Maybe he'll be there again...

*email received*

Subaru, come to the cathedral, we need to talk.

Balmung

Startled by the aptness of the email Subaru ran across the wooden bridege, up the stone steps and to the chaos gate and warped directly to Hidden Forbidden Holyground. The familiar sad music floated through the air, and sad thoughts pushed to the back of her mind threatened to fight their way back. She ran to the huge, golden doors and walked through into the expansive cathedral.
Pale golden light filtered through the windows and landed on a figure in the middle of the hall. "Balmung!" Subaru called to him. He turned, the light gave his white hair a form of irridesence. "You came." He replied. They hugged each other, or rather Subaru hugged him, he just froze up. "So what's going on?" She asked him worriedly. He told her about the battle that had happened previously, and about Jechtael's newly aquired ability. "It's starting again. You must find Jechtael before anything bad happens." He warned. She nodded.

*email received*

Subaru, I'm tracking Jechtael, meet me in the omega server pronto.

Mia.

With a quick hug and peck on the cheek Subaru ran out of the cathedral and then gated back to root town. Here she went to the Omega server and came face to face with the strange avatar of Mia, and the legendary hacker Helba.
Helba smiled, "We need to talk."


“Gyaaah!” What was thr problem with that thing? If I earned a skill, I should be able to use it!”
Jechtael had been trying for days to use his new skill. It wasn’t available in the skills list or the magic list, and the book had disappeared when he picked it up Perhaps it was a one-time use skill? Part of the event? That could have been why that Balmung player thought he was cheating. Oh, well. If it’s a one-time event, then why didn’t he get any recognition? He had gone back to the cathedral, only once in case he met another person who thought he was hacking the game, and the turtle was back. It wasn’t as green any more, and it didn’t move while Jechtael kept out of its battle mode range in the halls to the back of the cathedral, but it was there nonetheless. So maybe it was a new event? Nobody else seemed to be talking about it. He tried to call the people on his friends list, but they were all either gone or not answering. Eventually, back at the chaos gate in Mac Anu, he noticed there had been a new option since the event of the cathedral: Change Root Town. The only option was something called Dun Loireag, but it was an option, so he went.
“Hi! I’m Johnny, The Lone Grunty!” If not for the inability to do so, Jechtael would have fallen from the platforms of the city when encountering the great, ox-like muzzle. Several other players laughed, one of them said something about new players always getting scare by the grunties. While exploring the town, others of the creatures, which he found were, in fact, called Grunties, could be talked to as NPCs. There was a human NPC next to what appeared to be a baby of the species, who told him all about the creatures and even offered him the first one to raise himself. It began saying that it washungry, and after being fed a number of the formerly useless plants he had found across the server, it grew nearly a foot taller. Jechtael left, checking the chaos gate toi make sure the Mac Anu choice was still there, and logged out.

The walked towards the middle of the the root town and began having an intense discussion, or rather Helba was doing the talking and Mia and Subaru just listened. "That boy, Jechtael, faced a corrupted monster in the cathedral and then was visited by the girl AI. He installed the item. You both know what I speak of." Helba said. Mia and Subaru nodded in unison, glancing at each other worriedly. Helba's calm smile hardened slightly as she continued, "I want you both to watch over him. The problems that arised before are starting again, and the administrators will think the boy was the cause of it, as he is now in a sense a corrupted character himself now he has installed that item. I will try and gather the others together and once more we will defeat this problem. In a couple of hours let’s rendezvous back here." With that she gated out, leaving Mia and Subaru gazing worriedly at each other.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Mia asked. Subaru nodded. She was told about Mia's predicament last time. Mia isn't actually a real life player, she is a program herself, one of the virus programs. During a confrontation with Kite and Elk, she transformed in Macha and was destroyed, but later reborn as Mia. Although the virus part of her was seemingly destroyed last time, so there shouldn't be any problems this time. "Don't worry." Subaru said as she gave her a hug. "Let's go." She whispered to her feline friend. They nodded and headed for the chaos gate and gated to Dun Loireag. There they found Jechtael at the Grunty Ranch, feeding a growing grunty.
"Excuse me," called Mia to the boy, who turned and pointed to himself. "You, yes you." She nodded. She stopped in front of the surprised boy and looked intensely at his right wrist. "That's a unique bracelet, can I see it?" She asked lifting up his arm. Subaru stopped behind her, a worried expression covering her normally calm features. She didn't see any bracelet.

“What bracelet?” Jechtael asked. “You mean the Dusk thing from the book?”
“Yes, that ‘dusk thing,’” replied Mia, with a sickly-sweet tone of voice.
“Well, I thought it was a one-time attack, it disappeared the first time I used the attack. The book’s gone, so…”
Mia was suddenly very serious, and and Jechtael stopped talking almost immediately. After a pause, she began to speak again. “Well, you must certainly be weak if you don’t even know it’s there. Well, now you know, you might even be able to understand the power it gives you. Hm, we’ll meet again. For now, just keep that bracelet safe.” She walked away.
“That was odd,” wondered Jechtael. “What a strange player.”
Subaru /whisper: “Mia? What bracelet?”

Party defeats dungeon /\Raging Eternal Nothingness. Player Brigit receives Item: Rose Shield. Player Brigit gains a level.
“Thank you for inviting me on the dungeon raid, it was fun playing with one of my friends from back home.”
“No problem! You’re the best strategist for half the server, which more than made up for your character level.”
“Thanks, but I have to go right now. I hope to see you again soon, if only in the game.”
“Okay, we’ll see you, then.”
Player Brigit left the party.
Player Brigit logs out.

As they walked away from Jechtael, Subaru kept glancing back at the confused player. No bracelet... She thought. She looked at Mia, who hadn't spoken a word for five minutes, which was unusual. Her face was calm. "Mia..?" Subaru asked the cat player. Mia seemed in a trance. "Mia!?" Subaru's voice heightened. Mia blinked, and looked blankly at the frightened girl. "Mia are you okay?" sounded the worried voice again. Mia began to speak but they were cut of by the hiss of electricity. Suddenly, a strange character shot by. The background graphics warped and there was a strange symbol, like a red cross. But as soon as it appeared, it vanished. "Oh no, not again!" Mia muttered.

By the time he caught up to Mia, she was already leaving, along with at least one other person. There was no sign of whatever had made the sound, or caused the rift just visible over the edge of the buildings.
*You have received new messages*
He was glad of the recent patch allowing people in-game to know when they got an e-mail. He logged out, and checked his mail.
*You have 2 new messages*
$*#g@^^a
I @^ 6&c(. *ou !i)) n%t r3m4#% #e 7#is 7!m2, m7 #3dd!i9g d@*^t$r n?tw!&h+t4n%ing. 9 w!ll L!5#!!!1!
End of message
“That was… odd. IIt doesn’t seem to be carrying any data, so it can’t be a virus…. Some sort of spam possibly?” The unusual message was forgotten as soon as Jechtae opened the other message.
hkunisaki@altimitmail .us (Username Brigit)
Hey, I just got news from one of my friends who plays a Wavemaster. There’s a rumor going around that a new monster has been seen in /\ Hidden Forbidden Requiem. It’s supposed to be really hard to beat, nobody’s done it yet. I can be logged in and waiting if you reply within 45 minutes of receiving this message. Want to go? Y/N
End of Message

By the time he caught up to Mia, she was already leaving, along with at least one other person. There was no sign of whatever had made the sound, or caused the rift just visible over the edge of the buildings.
*You have received new messages*
He was glad of the recent patch allowing people in-game to know when they got an e-mail. He logged out, and checked his mail.
*You have 2 new messages*
$*#g@^^a
I @^ 6&c(. *ou !i)) n%t r3m4#% #e 7#is 7!m2, m7 #3dd!i9g d@*^t$r n?tw!&h+t4n%ing. 9 w!ll L!5#!!!1!
End of message
“That was… odd. IIt doesn’t seem to be carrying any data, so it can’t be a virus…. Some sort of spam possibly?” The unusual message was forgotten as soon as Jechtae opened the other message.
hkunisaki@altimitmail .us (Username Brigit)
Hey, I just got news from one of my friends who plays a Wavemaster. There’s a rumor going around that a new monster has been seen in /\ Hidden Forbidden Requiem. It’s supposed to be really hard to beat, nobody’s done it yet. I can be logged in and waiting if you reply within 45 minutes of receiving this message. Want to go? Y/N
End of Message

Jechtael was waiting at the chaos gate, when Brigit arrived with a wavemaster he hadn’t seen before. “This is Marcoh. He doesn’t play on this server often, so we won’t be seeing him much until later levels, but a rare monster would bring anyone back to the delta server.”
Jechtael introduced himself. Marcoh replied, “Pleased to meet you. Any friend of… Brigit, now, is a friend of mine. Now, what say we head to find this new creature?”
*/\ Hidden Forbidden Requiem*
The party got through the dungeon pretty easily, as it was rather straightforward and didn’t contain many dead ends. Reaching the lowest level, there was a new door in the side wall of the statue room. Quite unorthodox, the trio passed through and encountered…
*Battle Mode!*
*Enemy Morrigan- Level ????*
Jechtael was surprised. Was this black-winged, scarecrow-looking being another creature like the turtle? When he begfam to ask, Marcoh replied, “No, it’s level 78, but it shouldn’t be here! Less talk, more fight!” With that, he cast a speed spell and a series of talismans on the party. The creature, however, glowed with the effects of the same spells. Jechtael and Brigit tried attacking with skills, but every time a skill with a magic effect was used, it also hit the party. Brigit yelled, “Marcoh! We need to break this thing! You know that reflecting monster in the old Final Fantasy game, back when the PS2 was still around? Maybe we can reflect spells off of us to hurt this thing!” Alas, Marcoh had no such spell equipped. The two blade users were still attacking, but Jechtael thought… Maybe the bracelet will work now? He tried to remember how it felt when the bracelet was activated the first time… A sudden sound, and the dungeon disappeared, to be replaces by rushing lines of code. A burst of light went from his wrist through the monster, and the dungeon returned to normal.
*Party at full health! Party has zero SP! All spell effects removed!*
Brigit and Jechtael couldn’t see the level of the monster, but Marcoh started. “It just went to level 90!” The creature’s HP bar, however, had dropped to a sliver of red. In a scratchy, screeching voice, it yelled, “I’ll return, you will not stop me! You will die within my game!” It then flew through the ceiling of the room, and the three adventurers were suddenly in front of the chaos gate at Mac Anu. After some discussion, it was determined that Marcoh would look into the creature around the higher-level servers, and Jechtael and Brigit would stay on servers of their level or lower until they were strong enough to traverse the later servers, and see what else the bracelet does.
*Player Brigit logs out*
Player Jechtael logs out*

*You have new mail!*
healthoffice@xxxxxhighschool .jp (no username)
Miss Kunisaki: A student of ours, Marcus Corvin, recently collapsed in our computer labs. He was wearing a virtual reality headset and gloves, and according to the computer’s log, you were the last person he contacted via e-mail and game. His condition is stable, but due to the controversy surrounding The World and recent other virtual reality systems, we thought it might be best if you could provide an account of what happened when you last saw each other. Please reply when next you can.
End Message

*Subaru receives new mail*

Hi!!!!
Haven't seen you in a while, Helba says we need to get together and talk.
Hope it's nothing serious.
See ya!!

Mireille.

Subaru glanced at the mail and smiled. Mireille was a friend of hers and someone no one could forget. She was an avid treasure hunter and always cheery, just like her mother. Subaru logged into the game and warped to Net Slum where she found Helba chatting to Mireille. Helba seemed to be exhausted, probably due to Mireille jumping about, chatting and laughing. Helba caught sight of Subaru and gave a grateful smile.
"Thanks for coming. We really need to talk..." Helba was cut off as Mireille screamed with delight and dove upon Subaru giving her a hug. Helba cleared her throat, clearly irritated and said, "Morganna Mode Gone." Then she gated out, leaving two stunned and silent faces gazing into space.

*Email sent to Jechtael*

I am giving you access to net slum. Please come at once.

Hel6@

“Mayu-chan!” Brigit had been wandering the net slums, when she found another familiar face from her earlier days in The World.
“What?” The wavemaster looked confused. “Oh, no, you knew my mom from when she played. I’m Mirei, Mireille in the game.”
Brigit was ecstatic. “Oh, that’s soooo cool! I didn’t even know she was expecting, how is your mother?”
“She’s fine.”
*Player Jechtael has arrived*
“Hey, Brigit, you’re here! Do you know where… Helb@... is? I’m supposed to meet him here.”
Mireille, not Brigit, replied. “Um, if you’re talking about Helba, she’s a girl. And she just left. I’m Mireille.”
“Jechtael. Nice to meet you.”

Mireille stared at Jechtael grinning. "Hey are you the one with the bracelet?" She asked. Then she pouted, "No fair! Was there an event I missed?" She then glanced at his wrist, it began to glow an eery blue-green.
"Hey! Wow! What's going on?" She said jumping about. The entire field of Net Slum vanished and was replaced by a strange field full of floating rocks. Then the background graphics started warping and a strange monster appeared, with a red cross. Mireille screamed, as the "BATTLE" sign appeared and the monster began to attack.

“Oh, no!” yelled Subaru. “It’s a phase AI!”
The others didn’t understand. “Is that bad?
“Very!”
Jechtael told the others to move away. “If this bracelet works like it should, I can bring it down to our level… Dusk Drain!”
The bracelet began to glow with visible yellow light, and a rushing sound began as it aimed itself toward the phase… And stopped. Jechtael dropped to the ground, his skin and clothing flashing bright red.
*Infection at 91%. ?Data Drain failed. Party SP at zero. Party HP is halved.*
Mirielle scrabbled for an SP restore and began to heal the others, and Brigit and Subaru began to attack the phase. Jechtael activated a speed potion, and joined the other two fighters.
“Why didn’t it work?” he asked. Nobody knew, or at least nobody could say during the fight. A sudden flash of green rose in a particulate ring about the creature, and a voice appeared:
*Protect Break active: Enemy Skeith*
Another rushing, staticky sound began, and a beam of red light shot from the peak of a nearby building. It pierced the AI, who then shattered, sending a small, lavender-glowing sphere up through the sky.
The four turned to see who had saved them, but all that could be seen was a shadowy figure silhouetted against the sky before it gated out.

There is a bit more to the story, but I'm sure after reading these, you'll be able to get the gist of everything again.

You should thank JET73L as he's the one that made these summary's.

OOC: I mostly just took the text from the thread and adjjusted it from an RP format to a short novel format. I'll be editing for continuity and readability once the RP gets to an end.

“Brigit! You’re back!”
“Yeah, I’m sorry it took me so long. Is there anything I missed while I was gone?”
Brigit had returned to find Jechtael and Subaru elated at her reappearance. The two had asked about where she had been, but no details were forthcoming, so they ended up filling their reunion with small talk, enjoying the party’s reunion.
“That reminds me, Subaru, Jechtael, have you seen Mirei-chan?”
Jechtael shrugged, and Subaru answered: “No, but early this morning she was planning to do a dungeon run for some randomly spawned rare item, so if she’s not still there she’s probably logged off to get some rest.”
Brigit laughed. “Mirei-chan is just like her mother, always wanting the coolest new rare items. I guess I can wait to see her. So, Jechtael, you’ve leveled up quite a bit in my absence, and the poison grunty is new as well. You however, Subaru… You’ve been pretty quiet, anything interesting happen since the fight with Macha- oh.” Seeing Subaru’s fac, she realized they hadn’t yet met up with their other absentee friend. “I take it you haven’t seen Mia yet?”
Subaru was glum for a moment, before realizing… “Wait, ‘yet’? Mia’s alive?”
“Yeah, I thought she’d already have reminded you ‘I’m not Macha any more, quit being a weepy baka, why so sentimental?’” This revalation lightened the tone of the meeting even more, leaving Subaru to answer Brigit’s question of what she’d been doing since the appearance of the Eighth Phase.

*Subaru receives new mail*

Meet me in net slum immediately.

Helba


That's peculiar... thought Subaru to herself, as she gated to Net Slum.
She looked around but the entire place was deserted - not even any of the AI players were roaming absent - mindedly around anymore. Subaru walked into the center of town hoping to find Helba but was met with emptiness. Every couple of seconds the graphics would flicker.

"Hello!" Subaru called out, her voice reverberating from the tall buildings. The flicker rate was slowly increasing and now Subaru's avatar began warping as a result. Just then everything relaxed and she looked up - she notcied a strange object floating in the sky.

"Huh? A leaf?" She muttered. Her eyes widened when she saw the "BATTLE ON" sign lighting up the screen. "Oh no, not again." She cried as the strange object slowly descended upon her.

Brigit and Jechtael debated going after Subaru, but eventually decided not to. One reason was that she would be long gone, and difficult to track. The other was the burst of static accompanied by a Battle Mode On sign. The two prepared for yet another Phase battle, but… The Morrigan appeared instead.
Brigit groaned. “I thought we’d already gotten rid of you!”
“No, children- nay, fools even, how could you get rid of me? I am irreplaceable. This is just an avatar of my power, my true self, as were those filthy AIs I cooked up in your image.”
“You!” Jechtael raged. “You sent those creatures! Why are you trying to destroy our friends!?”
“Not because they pose any threat, certainly. You bother me, and you are trying to bring back that awful thing I was forced to raise. Why do you think I gave you that bracelet?”
Jechtael gasped, and Brigit rushed forward, attacking wildly. “You lie! Aura gave him that bracelet!” The Morrigan just laughed, raised a hand to disintegrate Brigit’s sword, and answered in a condescending tone: “Oh, did I say that out loud? I suppose you can think what you want. Ah, well, goodbye. It seems my intent carrid through moiré easily than I thought.” It faded away, leaving Jechtael stunned and Brigit raging.
“Jechtael, can you gate hack?”
Jechtael recovered a bit, not not much. “I… Think so…”
“Good.” Brigit began her gate to the root town. “We’re going to find Subaru.”

Subaru was tiring from her fight with Magus. Her health was dangerously low, she had mp left and had run out of items. Also to make matters worse her attacks seemed to have no effect on this strange monster - its health was still infinite. Subaru lowered her axe, I'm going to be one of the lost ones She thought sadly to herself.

"Subaru don't give up, I believe in you." She heard a faint voice whisper - Tsukasa's. How? How is that possible? She thought to herself. Then her face hardened. She picked up her axe and launched a downward strike at Magus. For you Tsukasa She thought.

However Magus whacked her away. She fell to the ground with a grunt and when she glanced up at the monster, she gasped. A bright blue ring of light was forming in front of it. "Oh no!" She cried, "Data Drain!"

She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable, feeling the projectiles of fragmented data pulse through her avatar- until the creature started screaming. She looked again; it was writhing and shrinking, before Brigit swept her sword through it in a killing blow. Jechtael had data drained the creature itself, before rushing to Subaru’s aid. She could hardly take in everything at once, and decided to focus on the most unimportant detail in the scene:
“Um. Brigit, why did you re-equip to a level 3 sword?”
“Long story. For now, it should suffice that I lost the old one.” She and Jechtael continued at the same time: “Are you okay?”
“I-” Subaru stuttered. “I think so.” She tried to stand, but her avatar’s legs collapsed beneath her, and she gaped in shock. Brigit mentioned that it’s unprecedented for one data drain to be interrupted by another, so there could be any range of side effects, and Jechtael tried to be consoling. Subaru broke down in tears before telling them the whole story of why she loved The World so much, after which the others were nearly heartbroken with sympathy. As in real life, Subaru’s avatar in the world would not walk on her own again.

OOC: I can have a sick sense of irony sometimes. This does, however, turn the poison grunty introduced earlier into a retconned Checkhov's Gun. I expect that could help her get around until something else is rigged up that can go in dungeons.
Oh, and you may recall that although Elk was the subject of an interrupted data drain, that was from being pulled out of the way. So this is unprecedented. (I didn't think it would be good for too many characters to turn up in comas, considering Marcoh and Mireille already. A delayed coma could still occur, if I ruined anything. Or this might not even have happened, all a data-drain induced nightmare.)

OOC: Thanks for the review JET73L and for posting it, Subaru. While still a bit lost I'll get into the swing of things soon enough.

Net Slum, an anomalous land hidden deep within the world, existing everywhere yet nowhere. Count emerged from a green, static chaos gate and glanced around to take in the sight for the first time. The land's two moons partially hidden behind sickly clouds watched down on partially damaged skyscrapers along a junkyard outskirt. In the center stood better constructed structures of black, though their appearance was marred from trashy fragments of construction lying over the arid ground. In the distance Count saw a mountain of sorts. It flickered and warped indicating something in the "server" wasn't right.

is it always like this here? Thought the man. Are those voices I hear? Hm...

Count proceeded towards the closest skyscraper, the dark cape of his cloak-armor swaying from side to side. When he was sure he heard something odd the man pressed the trigger on his gauntlets extending both shining blades. Fortunate for him he'd leveled up a dozen times since his encounter with the Crimson Knight leader. In addition he ran a couple programs he filched that enabled slight speed and status boosts. In regular circumstances he would not dare take such chances, but in coming to Net Slum he was fairly certain no one from CC Corp or otherwise would catch him.

Count came to an alleyway and crept through with the caution of a thief. This time he was certain he heard voices just up ahead. Removing the coarse black hair from his eyes Count picked up his pace closing in on his target.

He came before the others, speechless.

While glad Subaru had survived, Jechtael was worried. Data Drains could have unusual effects on the users, and her condition could deteriorate at any time. Brigit had gone to see Mistral, or Mayumi considering that Mistral no longer existed except as Mireille, to see if there was any sort of precedent. She also wanted to check on Mirei-chan, in case she wasn’t feeling well enough to go online. He stressed because the only thing he could do to better his avatar was wiping out mid-level monsters for exp, even though a character of any level could be data drained into a coma if the Phase so wished.
“Jechtael!” Brigit’s voice rang out. He turned to see her running toward him, and she seemed troubled.
“What’s wrong? Is the data drain going to cause more problems?”
“No, it’s-” Brigit sobbed. “It’s happened before, to a wavemaster named Elk. He was pulled out of the way, but fell into a- a… Mirei-chan was attacked by a phase! She’s in a coma!” She shuddered, then calmed visibly, her face assuming a stoic expression.
“Brigit, she’s going to be okay, we just need to stop the Morganna. We’ve got the bracelet, most of the phases seem to be gone, and Helba has a plan to-“
Brigit interrupted. “It’s not going to be enough. She took Marcoh, she took Mireille, she tried to take Subaru… We fight back now. We have the bracelet, but we can’t win just with the power of the dothackers. We need a system cracker, and I’ve heard of one hiding in the World who still hasn’t been caught.”

OCC: WOOHOO!!! Gestalt's back! I like what you've done with Count, I wonder how Subaru will react? ^^

Jet, nice work so far. I like that bit about Brigit how she can be emotional one second and then totally revert the next. Also, is it Helba or Count that you were referring to and the end of the post? I guess I'll have to wait....>_<

Oh Jet, I'll try and put what we talked about in the pms into the rp - you know to help Subaru.


RP

Subaru remained sitting on the ground with the other's talking around her. She just stared at her legs. Oh god, I can practically see the wheelchair. She thought sadly. When she first logged into "The World" she was overjoyed as she could walk; compared with her real self who was paraplegic. Her eyes glistened at the thought of never walking again here. She tried pushing herself back up but she fell back down again. She felt an angry growl develop deep in her throat and she suddenly yelled, "Helba! Come here please!" The strange wavemaster appeared before them and laughed softly,

"No need to shout. What's wrong?" She asked.

She helped Subaru to her feet and was surprised to see her drop again. Helba grimaced,

"I see. Do you want me to help?" She asked Subaru.

Subaru nodded and Helba gated out for a minute or two. Then when she came back she held out the white-ringed end of her staff towards Helba.

"Hold out your hand Subaru." She commanded gently.

Subaru did as she asked and found her avatar slowly begin to float until her dress was a couple of inches off the ground. Subaru laughed with joy and hugged Helba. Helba only looked grave.

"This effect will only last until the Wave is wiped out for good. As it was the Wave that did this to you. I'm sorry." She muttered softly and then gated out.

An elderly man with silver hair and a sigil on the center of his brow was enjoying a nice cup of tea when the portal slammed open. A thin, armored girl walked in, and dropped her sword on- and partially through- the edge of the table.
“Okay, Sage. You knew who I was, you know what’s happening, now I request that you give me the location of this new system cracker who’s been hanging around the net slums.”
With a brief wave of the Sage’s hand, the edge of the table repaired itself. “Hello, Brigit. What may I help you with today?”
Brigit paused, thrown off by his seeming non-sequitur, but then remembered who he was. “Sir, I request, if you can tell me, where I might find this ‘Count’ referenced in rumors throughout the Net Slum?”
“Much more polite, but no. I can, however, tell you how you might meet him…”

OOC: I just figured out Haruna's character previous to Brigit. (Not part of the existing series, or at least not on the .hack wiki characters page). Just have to think of how to utilize this with the story properly, if it's even used at all.