Thread: .Hack RP "The World"

Mia wandered through a lush, green field of aromatic grass. Taking in it's fragrant smell she lay down in it and stared at the azure sky. White,cotton candy clouds waltzed idly by. I'm finally free she thought with glee and giggled. Macha was finally gone for good - separated from Mia's programming, and Mia was now free to roam about without worry of Macha taking over her. A faint breeze had picked up and it made the tall strands of aromatic grass brush against each causing them to whisper. Tsukasa... she thought sadly.
She sat up and picked a small bunch of the grass and held it close to her nose. The smell reminding her of her love. She was sitting atop a hill and looked out over the small valley down below - a small crystal lake shimmered in the light of the perpetual sunset that was characteristic of this field. She walked down the gently sloping side of the hill and plopped herself down on the bank of the lake. She dangled her right paw in the water - it's cold temperature excited her skin and as she lifted it she let the water trickle through her claws and saw it had matted her purple fur.

*Email received*

Hello Mia. I'm glad you're alright. Please come to Netslum if you're not busy.

Subaru

Mia face lit up with a subtle smile as she read it. She gated out and gated it into Netslum. She was standing in the middle of the gate when she saw flashes of blue streak by. She wasn't sure but she was positive it was a person. She took a step forward and the streak collided with her. She crumpled to the ground with Subaru who hadn't quite got used to her new floating ability. Mia and Subaru just laughed. They laughed and laughed until they had tears in their eyes. They hugged each other saying they were glad each other was safe.

“Hello.” Count opened his eyes to see a green-clad twin blade staring down from the bridge railing. “What are you doing?”
“Waiting.”
“For us. Jechtael, this is the… character we wanted to meet.”
“Hmph. You are the ones who wanted to see me? A perfectly normal if low-level blademaster, and what I can only assume is either an AI or a moron? Not very impressive.”
Jechtael started to react, but Brigit interrupted. “Just follow us to a battle area, and I can not only explain, but possibly make things interesting enough for you to help us.”

Later, at Delta Lonely Silent Great Seal, Count was laughing. “Are you trying to tell me something about the Parasite Dragon? That glitch is a myth, every player has tried to invoke it without success.”
“Um… Actually…” Jechtael rushed straight into the battle mode area of the dragon. “Keep watching!”
He raised his arm, and suddenly the world shattered into the characters, the dragon, and a burst of static. Projectiles of corrupt data flew from the crystalline bracelet now visible around his wrist, and pierced the Dragon’s core. Returning to the bracelet, the background faded back to the field, and the dragon had been replaced by a small lizard, dispatched with one attack from Jechtael. “That good enough?”
“You idiots! You’ll have the admins on us in no time!” Before Count could gate out, Brigit told him to wait.
“They aren’t going to notice, look closer.” He did, and exclaimed…
“It’s part of The World! Not a separate program!”
Jechtael replied this time. “It seems to be the legendary Kite’s bracelet, or something close to it. We’ve been calling it the Dusk Bracelet, for clarity and so the administrator bugs don’t notice. Now would you like to hear our story, and why we need your help?”
Count nodded. “I’m listening…”

Mia and Subaru sat down on the ground talking to each other. They mostly just talked about their past such as battles and such. Subaru informed Mia about how she got the ability to float. Half way through the conversation Mia became thoughtful. Subaru looked at her friend and asked what's wrong.

"Something's been bothering me. When Kite got his bracelet it was originally a "Twilight Bracelet - Daybreak" and didn't have a shadow. Yet, after defeating the phases it developed one - Cubia." She said her voice worried.

Subaru nodded in agreement, "And you're wondering about Jechtael's bracelet?" She asked.

Mia nodded. "I'm afraid in case Cubia comes back, but there has been no encounter with him. Helba would have told me." She replied.

Subaru became the thougtful one. "Actually the bracelet he has is called the "Twilight Bracelet - Dusk". Which would mean it already had a shadow when he recieved it also hinting it had been used already." Subaru murmered.

Mia looked surprised at this. Then she raised an eyebrow, "Didn't Aura give him the bracelet?" She asked Subaru.

Subaru shrugged her shoulders, her face creased with confusion. "Probably. But that wouldn't make sense as Aura never uses data drain. I think it may have been Morti. Which is strange considering how Shugo data drained her a while back. Maybe Michi made her again?" She asked Mia.

Mia shook her head. "No way. Helba's been keeping an eye on user traffic and she hasn't noticed Michi's name anywhere in the CC Corps user databases." She replied.

"I thought Michi was a hacker?..." Subaru asked and then Mia stared at her with half-open eyes. "Oh right. Dumb question. Helba's the best." She smiled.

But she stopped after a few seconds.

Who had used the Dusk Bracelet before Jechtael?

“Kyah- so I- Hya! –think that Count might-kyaaah-actually joins us! Healing potion!”
“Really? Vak Don! I got the impression that- Tiger Claws! –he just wants to find out more about –SP Potion!- the Bracelet!”
“Yeah, he- GiVak Slash! –probably does. Your point? Heal me!”
“Healing potion! We need a wave- Ha! –master next run.”
“You’re telling- The Death! Me! Anyway- The Moon! I was wondering about your bracelet anyway! Kya!”
“Tiger Claws! What about it? Tiger Claws!”
“Well… Vak Slash! Mayumi was telling me about Kite’s bracelet, and- Hya! –one thing really stood out- Vak Slash!”
“Yeah? Tiger Claws! What’s that? Tiger Claws!”
The monster dead, battle mode exited and both Brigit and Jechtael leveled up.
“Well… For one thing… The bracelet’s got shadow throughout it, right? It glows, but it’s still got dark between the bits?”
“Yeah… And?”
“Well, are you sure it was Aura who gave you the bracelet?”
“No. But it was a girl in a white dress, long white hair, who else would she be?”
“Did you see her face?”
“No.”
“Hmmm. Well, I’d just be even more careful about using that bracelet from now on, okay? We don’t know what it could do, just use it when we’re going after the Okay?”
“Okay.”

Meanwhile, in the depths of the World, something stirred. “Yes, child. Keep using that against my phases. You will get your- due. And I- I will have surpassed that wretched daughter. Someday, you will love me like her, I can be just as alive as that was… Or that brat Zephie, or even as alive as a real human.” The disembodied head of a teddy bear hit the darkened, shadowy floor, and the rest of the light faded from the room.

Subaru was flitting about θ Soft Solitary Tri-Pansy and admiring the lush wild life that frolicked here. What a lovely place.. she thought wistfully and listened as the tall tropical trees whispered amongst themselves. There had been several monsters of course but only the low levelled one - none posing as any threat. I wonder if Gardenia still wanders about here? She thought, but remembered Gardenia had left after she helped the .Hackers stop Morganna the first time.
The sun shone gently on the soft green grounda and glittered on the surface of a small pond Subaru came across. She tried to back away but wasn't fast enough. Just then she found herself wet and chest high in water.
"Ugh!" She cried and clambered out of the pond and shook herself dry. Just then she thought she heard someone calling her name. She noticed a small girl in white run deep into the dungeon. "Hey wait!" Subaru said and gave chase. She had no idea why she was going after her, only that she felt like she should.

Jechtael decided to waste some time messaging Subaru from each root town, to see if she would like to run a higher-level dungeon, but in every town the result was the same: Player is unavailable on server. Perhaps it might be time to find a wavemaster? Not to replace Mirei, certainly not, but it could help them rescue her. Jechtael logged out and entered the system boards, LFG subforum…

i’m sorry, marcoh, mirei, i really wish i had been there to help, i miss both of you, but I want you to know, we’re doing the best we can. until the hacker decides between helping us or not, or the next phase appears, there’s nothing i can do. just… wait for me, okay? oh, if mia were here, she’d berate me for stealing her moping spot, since players can’t even smell foxtail grass in the world. well, i’d better go anyway… i swear to rescue you soon, and anyone else whose live were stolen by morganna and the cursed wave… i promise…
Brigit wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, half-heartedly cursed the increasing realism of The World, and gated out.

(OOC: I would have preferred to leave the last sentence off, but that would make it unclear as to whose internal monologue it is.)

occ: I like the last sentence it really gives a sentimental feel to the whole post. Great work Jet!!


Subaru floated slowly through out the dungeon looking for the white girl. It was dark and no monsters were in any of the rooms which was quite peculiar. Where is everything? Subaru thought. Surely a monster was supposed to have spawned by now. Also what had happened to the girl? Subaru hadn't been that far behind. Then again the rooms did look alike and the whole dungeon felt like a maze. In fact Subaru felt like she was roaming around in circles. What made the matter even worse was that Subaru neither had a "Fairy's Orb" or a "Sprite Ocarina" so she coudln't teleport out the dungeon or create a map of it.

"Hello!" She called out. As her voice echoed off the walls an image suddenly leapt into her mind. She was back in Net Slum and then Magus suddenly appeared and tried to destroy her. She shivered at the thought of another phase attack and began zooming through room after room. She evenutally made it to a big white room. "Huh?" Subaru cried. In the middle of it was a small girl with white hair and in a white dress. Suddenly opera-like music filled the room. "Aura!" Subaru exclaimed. The small girl walked slowly toward Subaru and reached out for her arm. Subaru held out her hand and Aura took it smiling at her. Just then the graphics warped and went black. Subaru then woke up somewhere within Wailing Capital Wald Uberlisterin at Θ Hidden Forbidden Hades. She was lying on the ground and looked around. There was a large castle a few feet to her left and it was surrounded by a large forest cast in darkness. "Oh no," Subaru began, "the Forest of Everlasting Darkness."

Subaru stood up and gated out. However when she tried it sent up a message saying she couldn't use that function. She was trapped within the forest.

"Help me!" Subaru called out into the perpetually dark forest as several crows took flight into the night sky. No one responded to her cry.

Brigit laughed when she saw Jechtael. Interviewing for a wavemaster to join the group, he had gone all out with equipping the novelty items: He had the Greenvisor cross-class helmet, a Spectacles accessory, and the 3rd-party Clipboard application that replaced one’s weapon while equipped, adding an additional pop-up screen for typing notes. The clipboard was obvious, and the glasses granted the ability to read certain stats on monsters and PCs, but the visor had to be just for fun.
“You look ridiculous.”
“Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries. You find anyone decent?”
“No.” Brigit hadn’t even looked. The only wavemasters she knew were her old friends from her earlier days in The World, and didn’t want anyone involved that didn’t have to be.
Jechtael sighed. “Well, I’ve been having Random running around the upper-level battle zones, seeing if he can find any magic users in solo-battle, but so far everyone of a high enough level that answered my notice are somehow complete tactical dunces.”
(From the background: “Hey!” Jechtael shouted: “You were too low a level!” ...then whispered to Brigit, “and can’t sling a spell to save his life.”)
For the moment, Brigit was dazed in contemplation. “Random?”
“Um, yes, you know, little wavemaster AI, keeps showing up every... oh.”
“Yeah.”
“O-kay... I don’t know if he’s even been programmed with Wavemaster powers, but I can ask.” de-equipping all but the glasses, Jechtael switched to /call chatmode. “Random!”
The AI appeared in under a second. “Yessir?”
“I don’t know if . You use a Wavemaster avatar, right? It doesn’t just look like one?”
Random looked down at his hands. “No, I’m pretty sure I’m a basic Wavemaster avatar frame. I don’t know what I can do in battle, I’ve never tried fighting.”
Jechtael grinned. “Brigit, I think you may have found our wavemaster. Come on, I know the perfect place to see if you have any skill.”

OOC: Sorry I was gone for so long, really sick over the break. Feeling better, though. Anyway, this can resume in at least two ways: “That... Was... AWESOME!” and “Lets never bring an AI into battle again.” It depends on how the story goes, and if the Random character bio is accepted. It may even be put off until further notice.
And, Subaru, I’m not ignoring your character’s peril. I’m just not 100% sure she’s about to encounter a phase, and bursting in may ruin whatever you’ve got planned and anyway, you can fight; you can fly; you can.... type. If you get it down to a data break, there are at least 2, if not three or more characters with both means and motive to drain a data broken Phase. Not all of them necessarily friendly. *drama DUHN-duhn dunnn*

ooc: I haven't really thought of the reason Subaru was brought into that field. But still welcome back!

Subaru walked around the strange field. She kept glancing into the forests dark interior positive that she felt someone's eyes on her. She wasn't exactly keen on going into the castle either. The bold and dark building seemed threatening and scary even to look at.

After a while however she edged closer to the castle and after summoning some courage eventually entered it.

Jechtael, Brigit, and Random had gated back to the Net Slum, and were enjoying a celebratory round of simdrinks. An idea abandoned by the World administrators, the items caused a player’s headset to emit pleasure-inducing sound frequencies, and had recently gained much popularity in the Net Slums.
“That... was... AWESOME! Brigit, you were totally right. Random, want to join our team as an official, full-time wavemaster?”
Random smiled brightly. “Of course! It would be nice to do something more helpful than delivering messages... though I’ll still help when the World chat system isn’t secure enough.”
“Actually, Random, I’ve been meaning to ask...” Brigit tried to think of a way to tactfully phrase the question. “What exactly is it... like, using magic, or even battling, as an AI?”
“Well, I’ve seen how player characters use a menu, but since I’m not actually part of the game, and I can interact directly with code, I just... activate the animations and target effects. It’s probably easier for me than for a human with a game controller, except for causing status effects. I’m sure I can get used to that quickly.”
Brigit continued the questioning. “That brings up some interesting points. Do you see us as data and as a visual construct? And these drinks aren’t even having an effect on you, are they?”
“To answer your most recent question first, quite the opposite. You have your headsets and your programmed responses to stimuli, I just get the information directly from the code. About ten minutes ago, I added an adjustment that means I find this particular object to be a somewhat positive experience, on a scale ranging from ‘pain,’ like death, that must be avoided at almost all cost, to addictive ‘pleasure.’ Nothing on that end of the scale, or I could never focus on anything else. It’s not an exact explanation, but verbal language wasn’t made to explain much more than food or boundaries... sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Random continued: “As to your first question, well, that’s even harder to explain. I can’t really see or hear, or even smell in any way analogous to a human. It’s just that AI tend to use words like ‘see’ for ‘within range of sense’, and ‘smell’ for identification, though it is easier to tell player characters apart by recognizing their speech. Some of my memories are philosophical writings, a number of which say that even different humans may not decode sensory input in the same way as each other. I hadn’t understood that until now.”
For the first time in this portion of the conversation, Jechtael spoke. “So is that why you thought I was Kite? You knew what a twin blade with the Bracelet would... appear as, and that’s the description I fit.”
“Pretty much.” Random looked genuinely proud of getting the ideas across.
“You’ve seemed more expressive, and much more talkative today than before.”
“That’s a question?” Random was getting better at reading the nuances of verbal conversation, but it still helped to have punctuation makes things more clear. “I’ve updated more memories, and received more information on which to base conjecture, in the last two hours than I had in the previous month. It’s actually a very positive experience for me, and all I ask in return for answering any of your questions about AIs is that you answer any of my questions about humans and your viewpoint.”
Brigit and Jechtael both answered. “It’s a deal.” “That’ll be great.” Jechtael mentioned that he would have to go, considering how long he’d been in the game conducting interviews, and gated out. Brigit continued the conversation with Random for a while after.

OOC: will most likely be edited to speed up the pacing a bit in the final compilation, it depends on how it flows with other entries. And the idea would probably have been dropped by CC Corp to avoid comparisons to the Twilight incident.
Edit: This looks awful in fori=um post format. It had much less of a headache-inducing effect in MSWord.

occ: I don't mind.

Subaru wandered around the castle's dark interior. Odd portraits hanged upon the cold, brick walls. Portraits of people with missing heads. One of the paintings in particular caught her attention - it was of a green hill with a tall tree with amber leaves fluttering down upon the lush, verdent grass. There was a woman with a long black dress holding a parasol of the same color and a golden sunset behind her. The only strange thing about the portrait was, again, she did not have a head. She walked up to it and read the title - embossed upon its golden frame. Emma it said. The name danced around Subaru's mind, Emma, Emma she then realized it was the name of Harald's - the creator of "The World" - love and the "mother" of Aura.

She walked down a few more hallways before reaching a large oak door. She pushed it open and entered a white room with strange panels floating around a wooden chair. Above the chair there was a large rock with writing engraved upon it. Subaru gasped, "Oh my god...Harald." She said. Just then everything began warping and she stood in front of a large creature which resembled the legendary creature Cubia. "What do you want with me?" She yelled, "I can not harm you". Just then a large blast of light blasted from it's mouth and struck Subaru sending her flying. She landed on the ground and lay there unconscious and within the same field as Cubia.

A strange lavender and white cat appeared beside her and smiled. It looked up at Cubia and held out a hand is if motioning it to stop. Then the cat disappeared.

If you wanted to gain information on the more legitimate parts of The World, the Net Slums were a poor place to go for information... Unless you knew those who traded, rather than in data, in knowledge. There were stores of information ranging from vast libraries of information, to small facts so valuable that they couldn’t be kept online. The weaknesses of the Morganna, the program they now knew to be in charge of the Phases, had to be one of them. With Brigit’s contacts, Random’s inherent knowledge of The World and the Net Slums, and Jechtael’s connection to the dotHackers via the bracelet, there would be nothing they couldn’t find out... That is, had anyone actually cared about the Phases and their creation for more than just purposes of lore.
“I can’t believe nobody has ever bothered with this!” Jechtael was frustrated at having gone through so much work for nothing.
“Be reasonable, the phases have only shown up, what, twice before? If they even were the real Cursed Wave the second time. I’m sure Mayu-chan could help, but not only does she have her own things to deal with, I haven’t been able to contact her in a while.
“If only we knew where the original dotHackers were...”
“Brigit, that’s it!” Jechtael looked so pleased with himself that Brigit was almost sorry to point out the inherent flaw in his plan.
“That’s the point, we don’t know-“
“Not the original dot hackers, your niece and nephew! They knew Mireille, and Balmung! They might even know more, or even how to contact Aura!”
Brigit was stunned by how much she had underestimated Jechtael, and by how easily she had overlooked such an obvious idea herself. “Well, Rena doesn’t even play online games any more, but I could check with her and Shugo, see if they remember anything.”

Subaru awoke in a strange field. She was kneeling beside a huge waterfall. "Arche Koeln Waterfall?" she said quietly and gazed about. It was a beautiful spot, much prettier than the previous one. But why was she moved. Was it because of Cubia? She wandered around and tried gating out but couldn't. Perhaps I'm meant to learn something here she thought. She wandered around the field looking for whatever it is she was supposed to be looking for and her thoughts couldn't help turning back to Jechtael. She couldn't help but think that something bad was going to happen to him and that the reason she was kept here was so she couldn't help him.

Brigit ran into Mireille’s hideout, that the team had been sharing since she’d joined.
“Jechtael! You need to know-” She stopped. Something was wrong. Not only was Jechtael wearing that Twin Blade cap he’d always degraded, but his sleeves- no, his clothing was the wrong color. He turned around in the swivel chair.
“Hello.”
Brigit cursed, turned to run, but it was too late. Behind her, she heard the voice intone:
“data drain.”

OOC: Before you freak out, Brigit is not comatose. I have plans, and it involves the beginning of the G.U. games, and why Haseo’s not dead. She may be unconscious, so it really doesn’t matter to me if your characters freak out (or, well, act all nonchalant, in the case of Count), but... Well, this will probably go well no matter what happens. Not for the characters, necessarily, but for the RP. Oh, you have no idea how happy excellent I find this turn of events. Any one (or more) of three people might be bait for any of half the cast, so many things Brigit may have found out depending on what information might be rendered important (or useless)... I’m arching my fingers and doing a villain laugh just thinking about it!
Oh, and I’m thinking of using different typefaces for certain characters, to denote... certain things of interest. If it is decided that it remain in the final draft of the compilation, I shall go back and edit instances in which characters with font-ID’d voices talk.
Oh, and sorry it took me so long to respond the last time. I’ve been sick, or stressed to where it feels like I’m unwell, and it’s messed with both my sense of time and my dream frequency, so I though it had been less time since I’d last been here.
Huh, my OOC message is about twice as long as the RP entry. Interesting. Or not. Anyway, to the continuation of the RP!

occ: I use different fonts and stuff for different characters in the RP, so I think it's okay if you do that too. Shee-eesh! It's been a while since I've last posted here. Anyway, I'm back. Hi. Now, let's continue...


RP

The waterfall cascaded down a beautiful ornate cliff and reminded her of the sound of the wind through a pine forest. She floated over to the banks of it and gazed at the crystalline surface. Oh how I wish I could see the real world again... she thought morosely. Hey! Wait a minute! she thought suddenly, If I can't log out, does that mean I'm comatose in the real world? She tried fumbling around for the headset on her head and shivered when she only pulled her avatar's blue hair. Oh no.....she thought, Hey! If I'm comatose, then why can I still remember?

Just then a rainbow colored portal opened up over the waterfall and a specter appeared. Subaru sighed and lifted her axe. A grueling bout of fighting happened and Subaru fell to her knees after defeating it - having only 10 HP left. Just then everything warped and it resurrected and had creepy, bright green markings on it. Subaru panted, "..data bug..." It's HP was infinite.

It suddenly made it's way towards Subaru and Subaru began panicking. "If I'm not in a coma now, I'm going to be after this..." she thought sadly.

Jechtael had arrived back at the hideout to find much of it in ruins, though not one rare item was stolen; however, neither Brigit, Subaru, nor the still-elusive Mia were to be found, and there was, in the chair in the center of the room, a stuffed bear. He left for the field with Harald’s Room, preparing for any possible trap.

Running the trace, Random looked up at nothing in particular. Whispering, though Subaru couldn’t hear even had he shouted: “Found you.”

OOC: Not my best work, but it'll do for now. May need some adjustment in the final draft. Shouldn't change anything important.

OCC: Don't worry about it ^^ I create crap posts all the time.

RP

Subaru took off through the field with the data bug in hot pursuit. It launched a couple of attacks at her but she managed to dodge them. However her luck ran out when she became cornered at the bottom of a cliff.
Subaru began panicking as the specter edged closer, away to finish her off.

Mia was feeding a grunty at Dun Loireag when she suddenly got the feeling that something was wrong. She ran to the chaos gate and gated to a field in which she felt this feeling the strongest and she came across an unknown field. However, when she tried to enter it she was bounced back and it turned out this was a protected field. She sighed and began searching for Jechtael. A group of giggly shadow warlocks told her they had saw a character like him head to Mac Anu. After arriving there she went to Mireille's hideout and found him stanind there staring at the remains of the destroyed hide out. "Jechtael, I need the power of your bracelet." She said.

“Mia, I... Welcome back.”
“Did you hear me?” the catlike blademaster was obviously in a hurry.
“Yes, you... Know about... where Brigit is? Or Subaru?”
“Yes, but we have to hurry. It could be too late.”
“Okay, then lets go.”

Random stood at the gate, focusing on the codes for the different fields. The string of data at which he knew Subaru was had been locked, but there were ways around it. The simplest way would be the gate core skill that came with Aura’s bracelets, but he might be able to work through it... in time. Fortunately, Jechtael and Mia arrived. “Come with us,” she said, “you’ll be useful.”

OOC: Sorry it took so long to get back to where I could post.

OCC: No problemo. I'm just happy I've got someone to RP with.


Subaru saw an opening through one of it's attacks and leapt out the way.
She was tiring fast and she knew she could not keep dodging and running forever. Well it doesn't really matter, I'm already in a coma she thought. Then she decided to just stand her ground.

Mia stood beside Jechtael and Random getting impatient. That feeling of dread she had got even worse. "Jechtael please hurry. Gate hack now." She urged him.

OOC: Sorry, I just wasn’t sure what your plans were. It seems pretty obvious by now that we;re supposed to be rescuing Subaru, but I hadn’t previously wanted to do something in case it ruined your plans. That’s one thing about RPs that have GM responsibilities spread amongst the players. Again, will adjust for edited draft.

Jechtael entered the area code, pressing the hand with the bracelet into the chaos gate, and the bottom of the universe fell out from under them. There were two data cores missing, both of which he had collected while training... It seemed like years ago, but was it really only a matter of days? The chaos gate opened up, pulling the three through into a stream of data.

Subaru opened her eyes to see Random casting a healing spell on her, and Mia and Jechtael had already tackled the phase head-on. “Are you okay, Lady Subaru?”
“Yes, I’m... How did you... Mia! Jechtael! Protect Break it!” The former cobalt knight moved to help them, though still worn from the earlier fight, as they continued to attack it, hoping for the lucky break that would signify an opening to data drain.

OOC: Sorry, I logged into the thread, and typed this in a text file while going through the forum, but forgot I hadn’t posted it yet when I logged off.

occ: To be perfectly honest whenever I create an RP I barely plan anything.
I just go with the flow.


Subaru looked back at Random and smiled at him mouthing "Thank you" as Mia suddenly jumped into the air and landed a vertical strike onto the specter as Subaru landed a horizontal one below. The "PROTECT BREAK" sign suddenly blared at them and Mia, Subaru and Random all said to Jechtael "Now!".

Activating the Bracelet, Jechtael felt the familiar sensation of data streaming by, tearing through the monster’s shell and bringing back the corrupt data. The green glow disappeared, and Jechtael collapsed to his knees: Corruption at 85%. The entire party was poisoned, but Mia quickly defeated the data bug, Random easily healing them with a single spell. He and Subaru rushed to help, but Jechtael insisted he was fine.
“I didn’t know. I thought it was a phase, and I really couldn’t deal with that right now.”
Subaru tried to comfort him. “It’s okay, you got here. We’re safe for now.” She tried to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but Mia stopped her.
“He filled me in on something that happened on the way here. Brigit’s gone, and it’s probably Morgana.”
“Oh.” Subaru looked over toward the twin blade. It was surprising for her, but they had rarely been separate while in The World, and seemed almost like an abandoned puppy.
“I think I can find her.” The three turned toward Random. “I found you, Lady Subaru, just before Mia had us come here.”
“Random...” Jechtael nodded. “Please do that.”

OOC: I really thought this was going to be a phase. I didn’t know how to handle that, narratively, especially since nobody mentioned which it was, but then noticed that it had been referred to by the specific term “data bug” in an earlier post. So yeah. And this actually works well with the earlier "filler" posts. Always nice when it turns out you can use something that had been originally complete fluff, thrown in to fill a half hour, or a few pages.
And isn’t it just chilling when you can see exactly which bits of you use for your characters? Especially when one of those characters has been weighed, measured, and found wanting, to paraphrase a quote from a most excellent film.

Ever since she heard Brigit was gone, possibly due to Morganna, the whole event where Subaru saw Cubia kept repeating itself in her mind. Why was she spared from him? It made no sense. As she kept pondering over it, an image kept becoming clearer and clearer in her mind. As she was passing out she could have sworn she saw a purple cat there as well. Subaru closed her eyes and tried to think what the cat looked like - pointy hat, strange clothes, red eyes. "Om my god! Macha!" She eclaimed. She suddenly remembered where she was as everyone turned around to look at her - Mia gave her a strange stare.
"I was just thinking..." Subaru said, "what makes us all think that Morganna was ever defeated by the .Hackers? Who says she wasn't just biding her time and trying to figure out a perfect way of getting what she wanted." The others continued to stare. "Maybe Morganna was gaining power during the fight with the .Hackers and afterwards. Whenever she uses data drain the vicitms data is rewritten. Maybe Morganna can also copy your data and make it her own?" The others blinked at her response and she continued "My point is, maybe we can't defeat her now."

occ: Finally I managed to post. It's nuts over here. Got lots of school stuff to do. Whew! Still, it's nice to see ya again. Ciao.

OOC: That’s cool. Nice ta see you on the RP again.

“The Morrigan!” Jechtael exclaimed. “A creature we fought, it seemed almost like a cross between an AI and an incredibly powerful monster... If she was more than a pawn, or a shadow, and Morgana is truly unbeatable...”
“We may need to completely destroy the system.”
In shock, every human present stared agape at Mia. “I suggested nothing, I was merely stating what you seemed hesitant to say.”
Subaru shook her head. “Mia, you know what this means, if The World is gone, you...” She choked, trying to verbalize that one of their closest friends would be gone forever, and Jechtael reminded her of another factor to consider:
“You’re stuck in the game, Subaru, it’s not just Mia. It’s you, too, and all the AIs, anyone who’s stuck in the game. For now, you’re safe, and we need to focus on finding Brigit and making sure none of us are in danger before worrying about Morganna.”
“Found her, by the way.” Random had stopped staring vaguely into the distance, now looking toward the direction of the Chaos Gate. “It’s a place called ‘Harald’s Room.’”
“That explains the stuffed bear.”
“Stuffed bear?”
“I’ll explain on the way. Ready?”
Mia and Random nodded. Subaru replied: “Let’s go!”

OOC: Sorry if I've represented either of your characters differently from the way they would normally act. I think I got Mia's personality down properly, but it's been a while, so 'm a bit unsure if I wrote Subaru's part close enough.