Friday, May 12, 2006

My .hack fanfiction- .hack//resurection
For some reason the quotations " didn't show up... now I don't feel like going through this entire fiction adding quotes where needed just for Myotaku since my original has them. If your gonna read... please be cautious of the above. Thnx
-Cablle 00


CHAPTER 1: I logged in. My consciousness left my body and jumped into my avatar. My feet touched ground at the chaos gate of the root town Aqua Capital Mac Anu . Wow... The World is so.. realistic I whispered. This was my first time in The World and I was excited. I spent 2 days reading over the manual and learning how to act online so I wasn't afraid of not knowing what to do. I walked down the steps ahead of me and looked over to my right. That must be the recorder, I said. The recorder is the guy you go to to save your game progress. If you die and didn't save your progress lately you'll lose all your data since the time you last saved so it was important you did every time before you leave the root town.

I continued down the cobblestone walkway while staring up at the flags that lined the walls of this city. Lost in my gazing I accidently bumped into a male twin blade. I looked down and into his face. He wore a orange suit and hat. He had long blueish-green hair than puffed out from underneath his hat. He gave me a strange look then told me I might wanna be more careful.

Some players in The World aren't as friendly as I am, he exclaimed with a wink.
Thanks..... , I looked down at the chat window that recorded every word spoken. It scrolled up in the bottom of my perspective as we talked, Kite, I finished after looking down to see what name appeared next to his text. He gave a slight laugh and closed his eyes in a happy manner then turned back to his group. I noticed he was conversing with a female heavy blade and...... no, it couldn't be. Kite and that girl were talking to Balmung of the Azure Sky. I read about him before logging on. He was supposed to be very famous. I read he and someone by the name of Orca beat The One Sin a while back. That's how he earned those wings. Balmung wore a large pair of brilliantly white wings on his back. He was a great character model I thought.

I noticed I couldn't hear what they were saying. That must be because they were talking in party chat mode. I thought back over the manual. There were three types of speech modes here in The World. Open chat which allows everyone in the immediate area to hear what you say, Party chat which only allows fellow party members to hear what you say, and whisper which only allows the person you direct your whisper at to hear what you say. If every one had to talk in open chat my head-mounted display would be blaring voices into my ears non stop. I gave Balmung one last glance and continued on my walk down the cobblestone streets.

I saw a bridge ahead arching over a long river which flowed through the middle of the city. Many players were conversing on the bridge. There were enough players talking in open chat mode for Mac Anu to have the quite murmur of voices like a usual small city. I walked over the bridge looking at the wonderful character designs people have created. I thought back over mine and whether it was a good choice. I named myself Praige as I had in many other RPG's before this one. I chose the class Long Arm which was a spear carrying fighter. There are Long Arms (such as myself) wavemasters, twin blades, blade masters, heavy swordsmen, and heavy axemen. Long Arms don't have great defenses and can't wear heavy armor but they are good in attack. I chose a tall avatar with long dark hair that covered my right eye, silver chain mail, lots of belts (both around my waist and my left arm), baggy green slack that tucked into my black boots. The slacks had black designs running up the side of them on both legs. I also sported a pair of silver gauntlets. On my face I had a red tattoo of a gothic letter M, and on my right arm I had three octagon that fit in unison with each other forming a big polygon. It was blue representing my alignment with the element water. I almost forgot my favorite part. My eyes were a bright blue that shone brightly through my black hair. Yeah, I liked my avatar. It was sort of different than most The World's players.

What should I do first, I thought to myself. I was just so amazed with how beautiful and realistic The World was I decided to sit down on the bridge and let my legs hang off over the edge in between the wooden railings. I dangled my feet above the water below. It looked like it was real enough for me to jump right in, but of course I couldn't. Even thought The World was great there were boundaries like any video game. In the real world I could have easily jumped right off into the water, but here it was programmed just to be for looks. Invisible boundaries kept your avatar from passing over the bridge or step off the streets into the water. Unless you took a ride in one of the boats that transported players down the river to places they may need to get within Mac Anu.

I watched the boats peacefully pass by underneath me, carrying happy passengers to their destinations. They couldn't leave outside of the root town because of magical boundaries that kept the monsters out. You could only go so far until you saw a big wall or building that couldn't be passed through. The only way to leave a root town was from the place I just came into it with. The only transportation. The rip in the magical seam. The chaos gate. Every root town had one; even some field areas. You just step up to the chaos gate and state the three words that will take you to a specific area. Every area had three words that took you to it if they were said at the chaos gate. Such as the beginner area Bursting Passedover Aquafeild . That was where I needed to start adventuring and doing some leveling up, I remembered the manual saying.

Yeah, I guess I'll go there, I thought as I picked myself up to my feet.

Oh, wait, I almost forgot, I said to myself out loud. I needed to buy some potions. Potions were things such as health drinks resurrects restoratives antidotes . They helped you in the battle field. I purchased (with the 5000 gold given to me as starting money) a few health drinks (which recovered a little of my health points (hp)) and a few antidotes (for curing poison and various other status ailments.) I wouldn’t need any resurrects just yet. Those revived a dead party member and since I was going out there solo for now I had no party members to revive. You can't revive yourself from death. When you die your dead unless you have a party member to revive you with either the resurrect or a spell. If you die soloing you are immediately sent back to the last root town you saved at and, as I mentioned earlier, lose all your progress since you last saved. If you die while in a party and you still have at least one remaining party member still alive in the field your avatar remains with them as a translucent shadow, a ghost, if you will. That is, of course, until they revive you ( if they can). Once all party members are dead and no one was revived by another party member when they were alive then it goes like if you were soloing. Game Over.

I made my way back up to the chaos gate and recited the words, Bursting PassedOver AqualFeild With a cylinder of yellow light surrounding my avatar I was lifted upwards. My feet touched down on healthy looking green grass. The yellow lit cylinder evaporated above my head and there I was. It was a huge expansive green field with tall bent structures dotting the 3-D map here and there. Large cumulus clouds floated peacefully overhead. I was so mesmerized once again by the beauty of The World that I hardly noticed a goblin wonder right up to me.

It raised its spiked club and bashed me over the head with it, causing me a considerable amount of damage. I had just started so a weakling such as this was still a challenge for me. I drew out my beginner's spear (it was very simple, long brown stick with a metal sharp at the end, after all it was just a beginner Long Arm's weapon) and started Primary Attack .

I slashed it across the goblin's front and dealt it a fair amount of damage myself. Fighting was fun in The World I knew form now on I'd be doing a lot of it. The goblin attempted another swing at me but instinctively I blocked it with the end of my spear then jabbed it deep within the gob. Its health meter dropped to red meaning it was almost defeated. After a couple more attacks I finished it and victory was mine (not without being hit a number of times again myself).

I took a health drink from my items inventory and filled my health gauge back to maximum with it. When a player or a monster was perfectly healthy their health gauge was green. The gob fell to the green ground and turned a stone gray color then dissenigrated away leaving a treasure chest. Ah, I was hoping for this. Sometimes after you defeat a monster it will leave behind treasure. I tapped the treasure box with the sharp of my spear and it opened revealing a resurrect.

Cool, I thought. Now with my items inventory a small percent more filled I continued walking through the Bursting PassedOver AquaFeild.

According to the manual in most battle field areas there is a building you can enter that takes you to a place called the dungeon. Once in the dungeon, I read, you have to find the deepest room of the lowest level, usually around B4. I found the dungeon by moving towards it on the map in the top right corner of my screen.

On my way there I engaged in more battles with gobs and low level harpies. I actually grew a level. I was now level 2. Feeling confident I entered the dungeon through a stairwell leading into a crack in the ground. I stepped into the dungeon on level B1. Dungeons were quite like mazes and unless you had a Faerie's Orb you couldn't see the map so you had to guess your way through. I didn't have enough gold to buy any faerie's orbs though.
This was a typical stone wall, dark, and barred looking dungeon. I walked through the first threshold. I emerged into a long hallway. There, in the middle, was a bright yellow portal. When approached monsters appeared from these portals. I ran into a few out in the field. I stepped up to it and it disappeared, producing 2 goblins. Both of them wielded twin blades. I drew back out my spear and charged forward, uppercutting the first one with the sharp. It flew up and as it fell I jabbed my spear through the middle of it. That killed the gob and it dissenigrated on my spear. I gained some experience (exp) before the other goblin dealt a blow to my mid section. I brought my spear right down into its head taking its hp down by half. I brought my spear around my waist and with a sharp turn I sliced the gob directly in half, finishing it. This one left behind a treasure chest. I tapped the sharp of my spear to the top of the chest and it popped open. Stepping forward I looked down into the box. There lay a golden grunty.

No way I exclaimed, dumbfounded. I know from my studying before I started the game that a golden grunty was an extremely rare item. No way it could be found in a level 1 area such as this. Not to mention no ordinary goblin drops such a spoil. These were usually found in the Divine Statue Room (treasure room) that I mentioned earlier, and only in high level dungeons. I reached down slowly and touched the golden treasure. I know I must sound crazy for saying this, but it felt cold. You can't actually feel in video games of course. The World was no exception, but it was cold.

I lifted it and studied it more closely. Then, as my eyes wondered across the golden grunty a monster materialized in front of me. A large dragon with a skull head.

What was this? What the hell..... I said, shocked. First thing monsters don't just materialize out of no where unless from a portal; second, monsters didn't have what seemed to be a protective green shield surrounding their bodies. At least, I didn't think they did.

OH MY..... I managed to scream before with one bite I was sent to my knees. My avatar's eyes froze wide open as I'm sure my own did while I watched my health gauge deplenished rapidly to 0.

My avatar turned a stone gray and fell flat on his back while he dissenigrated away. Okay, I thought, I should just return to the root town I last saved at, Mac Anu. I gotta contact a system administrator My screen erupted in statically fuzz and then blacked out. The World came back into view and I was laying in a dark room of nothing. That moment I realized I wasn't even holding the controller anymore. I... I couldn't move my body I wont be able to take off my head-mounted display(HMD), and I knew something was wrong My consciousness was still with my avatar, but where was I?

(avatar) I sat up and scanned my surroundings. Nothing but darkness. All of a sudden a light flashed on from somewhere way above revealing, right before me, a mass of unconscious stone grey avatars all floating in the air amongst each other in the darkness.

W-what is this place? Is this what happens when you die? Was I mistaken? I really don't remember reading anything about this in the instruction manual I bellowed. I brought myself to my feet and stood perplexed into the darkness. I was scared. I couldn't move my body, I didn't know where I was, and I desperately needed to contact a system administrator. Then a bright searing white lit up my screen and almost blinded me.

A girl appeared from it and the white light disappeared. The girl floated before me wearing all white. Her dress covered over her feet like a cloak and it blew in slow motion around her legs as she hovered in mid air. She had a young face with long flowing white hair. She opened her big eyes and looked into mine. I began to speak but she put her hand over my lips and at that moment my body in the real world gained mobility again. I threw off my HMD and dived under my computer desk for the controller I dropped. Once I found it I put myself back into The World. When my HMD was back on securely I returned back to Praige's point of view (POV). I was in Mac Anu. What had happened? Was Praige brought back here when I was looking for my controller? Who was that girl. I wonder if that is what always happens when you die..... Maybe she was an angel.

PING. that was the sound to let you know you have mail. A sentence appeared on my screen in the top of my perspective reading, You have new mail. I accessed my mail and read who it was from. I didn't have any friends here in The World yet. It was from someone named Aura. I opened it and it showed me a little picture of my sender up in the corner of the message. It was that girl from a moment ago. I looked at the message, but..... It was illegible. Corrupted symbols that I couldn't make out. I disregarded the mail and went about my business in The World.

Ah man... I sighed, Since I died I lost my level up. At least I should have, because last time I saved was here in town before I gained my level 2, but when I checked I still had it.

What in the.... I know I haven't been playing in The World for long and I know I don't know everything that goes on here, but I know something weird was happening around me. Something was bending the rules of the game. That reminds me. I gotta contact a system administrator.

I did as the manual told me and sent them my message, telling them all about the girl in white and the super strong monster that appeared in a level 1 area.

Oh yea.. I thought. I reached into my items inventory and pulled out the golden grunty.

I forgot about this, I said. Hmm.. I don't know what to do with it. I put it back and figured I should keep it. Before it was completely tucked away a female wave master ran up to me.

Oh wow, is that a golden grunty? she inquired with her eyes wide open with disbelief.

How would someone your level have such an item?

I just found it in a dungeon, I thought it best not to let her know about everything. It was something for the system administrators to take care of and not to involve the public with.

Can I see it?

no.

Why? She gave a disgruntled face.

I don't want it falling into the wrong hands.

You can trust me.

She had red and white robes and long red hair with big blue eyes.

That looks like a high level staff, I changed the subject.
Well yeah... I'm no n00b, she exclaimed. Any way how would you be able to survive in such a dungeon that would contain a golden grunty? she rambled on with questions.

I... Uh.. have connections.

Ooooh. Are you a hacker?

No of course not

Then what are your connections?

She was kinda getting annoying with her questions, but I liked having someone to chat with here. I am a loner right now of course. Trying to change the subject again I said, Can I have your member address?

What? You are asking for my member address after we just met?

Well, I don't have any friends here in The World. I just started.

You just said you had connections.

I lied.

Then how did you obtain that golden grunty?

Back to square one. Every time I tried to change the subject it came back to my golden grunty.

Lets just forget about my golden grunty, I exclaimed. I walked right over to the nearest shop (she was following close behind) and sold the damn thing right there and then for a large amount of gold.

What did you do that for? She screamed directly into my ear.

Cause I don't know the damn use for that item. I need gold anyway. Im new.

Well I coulda helped you out with money. I got it coming out my ears.

That’s nice, I sighed. I didn't care for braggers.

Oh well, it was your loss, she said tilting her head up and giving off an attitude expression.

Okay, I said.

Okay? ? ? Only Okay?

Yes.

You're hopeless.

Whatever.

Well now that you sold it I guess there is no use in bickering, she said finally giving up, Here you still want my member address? I can help you level up.

Okay, I said again, yet more enthusiastically. We exchanged member addresses so now we could contact each other whenever we want. I opened my friendlist and her name was added right next to a picture of her.

Riu, I said.

Yes? she turned to look at me.

Oh nothing sorry, I'll see you later, Riu, I said waving.

Heh, yeah, see you, Praige.

I was tired so I logged out for the night. Blip. My screen went black. I turned my computer off and went to sleep.

CHAPTER 2: I awoke the next morning very tired form staying up so late. It was Saturday. No class today so I thought I'd log into The World again. After I prepared a frozen breakfast meal and ate I went back up to my room and sat down in front of my computer terminal. After I placed the HMD securely over my face I picked up the controller and hit the initiation button. The hair on the back of neck prickled as my consciousness once again left me to become one with Praige.

The usual yellow cylinder of light dissenigrated above me after it left me standing at the chaos gate in Mac Anu.

I had new mail I realized. I opened my mail folder and saw I had two new mail. One from the CC corp. and one from Riu. The CC corp. message was a reply from my system administrator contact. They said my problems were valid and they were investigating a cause. I opened the mail from Riu and began to read:

Hey how’s it going? I know how you obtained that golden grunty, it's all over the message boards. You should check it out. Your quite famous (^_^') and in one night. Wow your really making me jealous. We need to meet up. Meet me at (delta) Hidden Forbidden Sacred as soon as you log on. Peace. and that was it.

I logged out to check the message boards on The World home page. A lot of topics had sprung up about an encounter with the girl in white. I read through them.
A male Long Arm reported that he saw this Aura person we keep hearing about. He says he found a golden grunty in (delta) Bursting PassedOver Aqualfeild, and then Aura appeared to him. someone replied to this post, Wow, Who is this Aura people keep running into? And how is there a golden grunty in an area like that?

All the topics about me and the girl in white went about the same way as this one. I guess with the system administrators sending the Cobalt Knights out to investigate my problem word got out.

The Cobalt Knights were the enforcers of the law in The World. Their job is like the police of the real world, to make sure proper conduct online is followed and to hunt down bugs and hackers or people who break the rules of The World.

I logged back on to Mac Anu which by the way was the delta server, so every three word combo (keyword) that takes you to an area here is delta. There are other servers, and they all had the same words to choose from to make a keyword and take you to an area but say you chose a keyword in delta server and chose the same keyword in omega server, the two areas will be different because of the server that you use that keyword in. So (delta) Hidden Forbidden Sacred is a different area than (omega) Hidden Forbidden Sacred.

At the chaos gate I recited Hidden Forbidden Sacred, and the yellow cylinder whooshed me away high into the sky. The cylinder rose and dissenigrated leaving me on a flat stone bridge in the middle of a huge canyon. The bridge lead to a huge gothic style cathedral that sat on a small island in the middle of this canyon. The bridge didn't go past the cathedral.

I turned around to see where the bridge lead behind me, but it was cut off. It just stopped leaving whoever was in this area stranded on the small island with the cathedral, not able to cross to the land that was visible very far away.

I went over to the edge of the bridge and looked down over it to see what was below. No water or anything just mist, preventing me from seeing what was at the bottom of the canyon.

I straightened myself back up and walked towards the cathedral. As I got closer it seemed to tower higher and higher over my head. As I approached the double doors a soft serine background music filled my HMD. I walked into the church. Once inside the music was louder and more audible. The diamond tiled floor was very clean as to see the ceiling's reflection which was cross-hatched and marvelous. Rows of wooden church benches faced up to the altar. I stood in the walkway between the two sides of benches looking up at the altar. A tall statue of the girl in white, Aura, stood over looking the rest of the church.

Chains entangled her and she seemed sad. In front of her was a railing to keep players from crossing, and leaning against the railing looking into Aura's sad eyes was Riu.

I walked up to her and began to speak. She cut me off and started reading from the etched paragraph on the statue's stone basin.
Skeith, Innis, Magus.. I can't read anything else, it's illegible, she spoke softly. She turned to me and jerked her head in the statue of Aura's direction.

Is that her? The girl in white? The one you encountered? she questioned me again, but it wasn't annoying.

Uh.. Yeah, That’s her.. That’s Aura, I said wondering what she knew about the subject.

You aren't the only one who has reported encountering 'the girl in white',

Aura.. I interrupted.

Yeah, Aura, she continued, she's been all over the message boards lately. She continues to appear before players.

Really? I exclaimed, she isn't just part of the game.

No, Aura just became known to a few players recently. The cobalt knights are desperately trying to find clues to her whereabouts and what she is doing, or what she even.. is. She doesn't seem to just appear in one place. She comes to players randomly. All the areas that she has appeared in have been set as sacred areas, or protected areas. Normal players cant enter these areas, only cobalt knights and system administrators. Not many people know of Aura's existence in The World, only people who have encountered her and the people they have told.

Uh.. yeah, I see, but Is this all you called me here for? I wondered.

Mostly, she gave a dissatisfied look, and, to tell you this.. she continued, I'm a system administrator, I lead the cobalt knights. I'm the one who received your message.

You, Riu? Is that how you know so much about Aura and the sacred zones? I questioned.

Yes.

Well anything else?

I brought you here to ask you about Aura, since her statue is erected here I could ask you if this was the one you saw.

Okay, I see.

I need more information about her. She seems to like you, she did present you with a golden grunty after all.

Aura did? How do you know?

Because we have monitors here at CC corp. who monitor every e-mail that passes from one player to another and we saw one addressed to you from Aura.

Yeah, I remember that one but It was illegible. I just tossed it.

Well we cleaned it up at CC corp. and made out the message. She talked about how she wanted to be your friend so she gave you a golden grunty, That’s why she used a large part of her power to save you from going comatose when that data bug killed you.

Data bug? Comatose?

Ever since Aura and the coming of the twilight, random players within The World have fallen into comas. That data bug that killed you in (delta) Bursting PassedOver Aquafeild was one of many that have shown up. They have a hit point that is infinite and aren't made by the games moderators. They are bugs, viruses in the system. If you are killed by one an evil suggestion is placed in your head that you have died, so you stay comatose. When you fell victim to that data bug you had that very same suggestion placed in your head, but Aura used a lot of her power to resurrect you. She believes The World needs you.

Wow... I was speechless, Aura saved me? Wow she is great.

No, she is a bug in the system herself. A bug throws off the balance of the world. We are hunting her down to delete her.

You can't do something like that

She is a rogue NPC (non player character) damaged data, nothing more than a bug. She has to be dealt with.

Why, what’s she doing to The World? What has she ever done to upset the balance?

Ever since her appearance people have fallen into comas, and these data bugs keep showing up. We can't let her continue, she is a threat to the system and people will stop playing The World.

I refuse to believe that, I yelled looking up at Aura's face, She does exist she is real. She was so nice she wouldn't do something like the things you accuse her of doing.

I need your help in tracking her down. You’re the key to finding her. She likes you, and needs you in some way.

Then I'll help HER, you can leave Aura alone

A NPC is a character that no one controls, it was preprogramed and it does, only does, what it was programmed to do, such as the merchants in town. No one controls those characters they are just their to sell goods to you. Usually when they talk it is only in text but sometimes they have prerecorded voices and can only say what the recorded voice says, but Aura wasn't like that I remembered. She seemed independent, and had a conscious of her own.

You say Aura was a NPC, but she seemed like a PC (player character, like me) to me.

She is what we call a Vagrant AI.

Vagrant AI?

Yes, these are NPC's that gained a little to much consciousness and are independent from how they were programmed, however we believe no one at CC corp. created her so she appeared here in The World the way she was. Independent.

That’s why you can't delete her. She is just like you and me. She is alive. She has a conscious.

Like I said before she is not real, she is just old corrupted scrap data, and she needs to be dealt with.

You're different than I thought you would be. I said just before I gated out of the area (gating out is when you leave the area and return to the chaos gate you cam to that area from, in this case Mac Anu. You can gate out anywhere in the field as long as you aren't in a dungeon.)

As the cylinder took me away I heard her scream, I need you to help.... and that is all I heard before I found myself back at the chaos gate in Mac Anu.

I think I'll log out until later and go see my friends, I level up a bit when I get back on, I figured, and I logged out.

CHAPTER 3: I had went out to see a movie in downtown Osaka with my friends. It was okay but all I could think about was getting back to The World and figuring out this incident with the girl in white, Aura. I felt a little angry toward Riu, but I knew she was just doing her job and working for that corporation must have made her a bit less open minded to the fact that things can happen and that there might not always be an explanation for stuff. I liked Aura, I wanted to see her again and talk to her.

A couple of my friends came up to my apartment because they claimed they wanted to see me play. I used the laptop in the living room and connected it to the tv, that way they could watch me play in The World. They wouldn't see through Praige's perspective as I did. They would be viewing it from third person.

I sat down on the couch and set my laptop down on my lap. (my friends on either side of me) I placed my HMD on and took the controller. I was back in one of my favorite places of all. The World. Once again I was in Mac Anu (maybe I should try visiting some other servers once in a while.)

Each server is a bit harder than the last, and each one has a different root town. The beginner's server was of course delta, who's root town was, again, of course, Aqua Capital Mac Anu. Players can move about freely from the chaos gate to the other servers. Once you are a truly high level there’s not much point in staying in Mac Anu, except if you just like being here or you are with a friend or whatever.

Well, I didn't wanna make my friends outside bored so I needed to find something exciting to do. I said I might level up when I got back, but I'm not so sure now.

I set off walking down Mac Anu looking around and taking in the twilit air. It seemed to be dusk here in The World. I turned a corner and saw a young looking twin blade character standing alone in an alley. He was panicking. I ran up to ask what was the matter, but then I stopped. There was no need. He was running to me. Well not to me, in my direction because what I saw chasing him I couldn't believe.

It was a harpie, one of the monsters you fight in the battle fields, but monsters aren't aloud to come in town The mighty bird brought up a large claw and extended its talons. Then the harpie brought it's claw down upon the new player and finished him like that. The boy dropped at my feet and dissenigrated, screaming.

I looked up at the Harpie. She's found a new target now, me. I immediately drew my spear and tried to block the beast, but it just grabbed up my spear and with a hard clutch, busted it into pieces. The bird gave a menacing kaw and swooped down upon me grabbing me in its claws. I was lifted into the air.

I remember from studying up on monsters and their ability that this was the harpie's special attack. I was gonna be lifted and flung into the air only to meet a one hit kill at the ground. This harpie was to strong for me. When I was hanging in the air by the force of the mighty harpie's strength I looked down upon Mac Anu.

Everyone was getting attacked by monsters. A lot of the higher level players had teamed together to ward off the beasts, but it just wasn't enough. The town was rapidly filling up with ghost characters.

I heard they hold events such as this here in The World sometimes, but this couldn't be. If it were the monsters would be more of a beginner's level since this was Mac Anu. Also usually with this sort of thing there was.... sure enough, I just located it right on the large bridge in the middle of the city. The boss. It was a monstrosity of a being. Large and dark.

It looked sort of like the Harpie that held me at my demise now but it was more like a demon.

Before the harpie dropped me I screamed, YOU GOTTA BEAT THE BOSS, THEN THIS WILL ALL GO AWAY Then I fell. Like a sky rocket I plummeted down towards the city. Wait what was this? I was headed for the river. Since the harpie brought me so high it must have taken me past the barriers. I was going to fall into the water.
SPLASH I sunk deeper and deeper into the pool of pixels until I brought back the will to move onward. I must not have been killed by that harpie's attack because of my land in the water.

I swam back up to the surface and looked up upon the bridge. A group of extremely high level characters were teamed up and fight the massive boss. I saw a familiar face. Riu was amidst them, helping to bring the demoness harpie to its down.

I couldn't move praige since he was in a area where characters weren't meant to be. He just floated there. I wasn't paying to much attention to that fact though. I watched Riu and the others hacking away at the demoness. Its hp wasn't deplinishing. Was this? Yes, the demoness had that same green glowing shield that dragon had back at the dungeon. This was a data bug.

The whole town was in chaos. Newbies dying every which way. Riu was screaming orders and throwing spells at the demoness constantly. A group of cobalt knights were working on killing the monstrosity with the rest of the normal players. I looked around, wondering if any kind of help would come soon. Then I saw him. That character Kite from the other day came running up from the chaos gate's direction.

He must of heard the news and came as quickly as he could. He stepped up onto the bridge and threw his right arm out fisting his hand towards the demoness. Everything became deathly silent as every player in the immediate area heard the command bellowing from Kite's mouth,

DATA DRAIN All the scenery around us dissolved leaving nothing but white. All the characters floating in nothingness had their eyes locked upon Kite. I noticed that since the scenery had disappeared I was free from the water. My eyes locked upon Kite too, I couldn't tear them away. A magnificent translucent blue bracelet appeared around Kite's wrist. It emitted multicolored strands of data that shot like a bullet out of a gun to the demoness. They pierced through her and busted her into small cindered slices. A ball of 0's and 1's wrapped around the cinders and disappeared with them.

The scenery dissolved back and Mac Anu was as beautiful and peaceful as it had been always before this incident. I could move Praige again, but I wondered why because I figured he was back in the water, but when I looked down I was sitting atop a small wooden boat.

I looked up into the sky and around the city. All the monsters had turned stone grey and they all dissenigrated away in unison. By the time everyone had turned back to look at Kite, he had logged out.

What kinda skill is Data Drain? I thought, I want it.

Sigh. No you don't. (who actually says, sigh?)

I whipped around and sure enough there was Riu crouching behind me on the stern of the boat.

I don't need you telling me what to do anymore. Why souldn't I want such an awesome ability?
Because, he is wanted heavily by the cobalt knights for possessing it.

Why, I said with a sigh, Another bug, is it? I was joking with her.

Yes.

oh my god..

The World doesn't posses such an ability. We think he hacked an made that bracelet himself.

Of course you do.. I said sarcastically.

Hmph

She acted younger than I would have thought she was.

Well even if that is the case, that bracelet sure did save your ass today. It might be the only thing that can defeat those data bugs you mentioned.

Maybe so.

Then why is he in trouble for having it?

because it throws off the balance of The World. We said in unison.

Well we wouldn't need that bracelet to help us tonight if you could help us track down Aura and delete her. If she was out of the picture this wouldn’t of happened tonight. I know you are new, but this is not how The World is run. Monsters do not show up in root towns. People don't normally slip into comas.

That’s not my problem.

I'll make it your problem She yelled. We couldn't help but fight like this.

How come every time I log on something like this has to happen. I just wanna play The World, how it normally is. I don't want all these creepy side effects.

Then help us find and delete Aura.

NO, she is not the one causing this I'll prove it

Well the cobalt knights can't force an average player to cooperate. You have to volunteer, but for showing a system administrator a disobeying attitude I think I'll just suspend your account. she gave a slight chuckle.

WHAT? You can't do that. Don't I have rights?

I can do what I want. I'm a system administrator. One of the highest ranks at that.

I was smart. I didn't stick around any longer to let her suspend my account or worse. I opened my menu and selected -log out-. Back to myself on the couch I removed my HMD and looked to my friends.

Yeah.. that's The World, but uh.. they are having some difficulties right now, I said sweating to death. They were a bit shocked from all the screaming and my little fight with Riu.

Looks fun I'll have to get that game, Akira said.

Uh. yeah, same here, muttered Watarai. I don't think they understood all that. they just think its a game. They didn't know what was going on or how much trouble The World is in.

Okay you guys, see you in class, I said as I walked them to the door. They left with a smile and I closed the door, back to my lonely apartment.

CHAPTER 4: I unplugged my laptop from the television and went back up to my room where I kept my house computer. I wanted to get some leveling up done. I wanted to become stronger.

I plugged in and logged back on. My eyes opened as Praige’s and I studied Mac Anu. Everything seemed back to normal. The system administrators must of passed this incident off to everybody as an event. I knew the truth.

I turned to the chaos gate and made a keyword to a level 2 area. I recited the keyword and off I went. This place wasn't as peaceful as the Bursting PassedOver Aquafeild. The ground was red and so were the skies. There weren’t trees just tall structures meant to look scary for eye candy.

I began walking forward, locating the portals on my map where the monsters should appear. I fought all night leveling a bit and collecting items. I got to level 10 before deciding to log off for the night. I was so proud of myself for my accomplishments. I stood there and bragged to the recorder NPC who was saving my data about how I triumphantly vanquished the monsters and gained my 10 levels. He just went about his business.

I knew NPC's weren't real people. He couldn’t understand me. If any words NPC's only understood yes or no . With my data saved and my items inventory stocked full of health drinks, resurrects, restoratives, and antidotes I slept soundly that night. Did I mentioned I fell asleep in the game. I was so tired and had been playing for so long, I seemed to forget the fact I needed to log out to go to sleep.

I awoke with a tremendous headache. Outside I was laying down in the floor, and sleeping in a HMD was not comfortable. I felt like I had a hangover. I brought my avatar to his feet (as I took a seat back in my computer chair) and scanned my surroundings. I didn't really remember where I fell asleep last night but I know it wasn't here. I was in a cell. A small dark stone room with bars at the front.

What in the hell... I whispered to myself rubbing my eyes. I walked up to the bars and looked beyond them. There was a long hall way with other cells lining the walls. They were all empty except mine.

PING. Huh? new mail.. I accessed my mail and saw Riu's name. What does she want? I opened her message and read:

You are now wanted under the cobalt knights for the following, Disobeying a system administrator's orders- Escaping when account was going to be suspended- and associating with illegal data.

Aura I screamed at the mail.

Did I hear someone mention, Aura?

I closed my mail and looked into the hall way. Riu came waltzing towards my cell.

Where am I?

Under arrest by the cobalt knights.

After we reported you to the public a lot of calls came in saying they saw you asleep in one of the alleys of Mac Anu.

I didn't do those things you accused me of

Oh yes you did. If I remember correctly, you wouldn't cooperate with us and you displayed to me an attitude of defiance. For that I was forced to the conclusion I needed to suspend your account so you could learn to be a better person in The World, but at those words you logged out. I know you read the rules and that is like running from the police, and we can have you arrested for it.

What about my 'associating with illegal data'. I'm no cheat or hacker.

Aura. When you refused your duties to the cobalt knights you told me you were going to help her. That is associating with a bug. Illegal data. Something that CC corp. didn't create. Something that can throw The World out of balance.

You know this isn't at all fair

I can do whatever I want Now prepare to have your character deleted.

I opened my menu and selected -log out-. The yellow cylinder appeared at my feet as always and lifted over my head. When It was gone I should have been at the home screen, but I was still in the cell.

What the hell. I was shocked.

This place is for felons who need their punishment. You really think CC corp. would allow players to log out here. There is a barrier. You are stuck with me, so ACCEPT YOUR PUNISHMENT

NO, I screamed as she opened the cell bars and placed the tip of her staff to my stomach.

Prepare, for deletion, she said in a whisper. Her face in a maniacal expression, her pupils very small. A bright light started erupting from her staff and enveloped me. Before all sound was cut off except for blaring static I heard her laughing. My screen was white and strips of static were zipping up my screen very often. I looked down at my avatar's hands. Praige was turning stone gray which meant defeat was closing in.

AAAAGGGGHHH, I screamed as I accepted my fate. Praige’s hands started to dissenigrate before, with a deafening bang, the light that enveloped me busted into little strips of data. The data form long strands and filled back in my character data that I had lost while being deleted. Praige was whole and in color again. I looked into Riu's eyes and she gave a small gasp.

'Character protected'? What does that mean? she said. You, you can't be deleted Is this a cheat of yours? IS IT? She screamed. I opened my mouth to retort, but at that moment The same light that Aura first appeared to me in started swirling up from the floor. It came up between Riu and me, and expanded then retracted leaving Aura floating amongst us.

She faced Riu and with a voice as pure as an angels she spoke, No, Praige is no hacker, her voice was very soft, When I revived him he gained my protection. He cannot be deleted.

A-Aura, Riu was speechless. She had her chance. She raised her staff and pointed it at Aura, ready to delete.

I have you now, she growled. Aura raised a hand and with that Riu's staff turned translucent and exploded in bits of data that dissenigrated at the floor. Wide-eyed Riu started to scream at Aura about how rare that staff was and what she had to do to obtain it. Aura ignored her and turned to me.

You are free to log out now. It is not yet your time to be deleted, The World needs you, Praige, she said then faded away. I had no time to lose and logged out right there in front of a fuming Riu.

CHAPTER 5: I slept all day in my warm bed. I had to go to class the next day too so I needed rest. I awoke in the middle of the night. Class was in 3 hours. I couldn't sleep anymore so I got myself out of bed and looked at my computer. The screen shone brightly in the darkness of my room. The World home page was on. Did I forget to turn it off earlier?

All of a sudden all the tv's in my apartment and both my other computer's screens flashed on. Everything with a screen started flickering in bad static. Amidst the static I could see words. They became for clear for one second. The World . Out my window all the windows of other buildings emitted bright light. Everyone's computers and televisions must be doing the same thing. It was starting to scare me. The lights started flickering on and off. It was like an earth quake.
I ran to the computer and logged in. At that moment all the chaos ceased and everything was calm and dark again. I could hear some screams outside. I turned back to my computer and placed the HMD on my head. I opened my eyes as Praige yet again.

This game has gone crazy. I didn't sign up for all this when I bought it, I thought to myself. If this was upsetting me so bad I don't know why I continued to log back on. I couldn't stop loving The World, maybe That’s why I wanted to fix it so bad. So it could be a fun place for me to go. I heard Aura's voice clear in my memory. The World needs you. I gave a sigh and looked up. My eyes met with Kite's. He stood before me with Balmung, that female heavyblade, and a male blademaster who wielded a katana.

Hello, Kite said, eyeing me, We’ve heard the wants for your arrest and we know you associate with Aura.

Uhh.. yeah. I'm not in trouble with you people too am I?

No, of course not. We are the .hackers and we are against CC corp. We wanna help Aura too.

Oh really? my eyes lit up. have I found people I can trust? You know of Aura?

Yes she appeared to me my first day in The World too. She gave me this. He held up his right arm. There was that bracelet.

The bracelet, I said.

So you can see it? he seemed surprised.

Yeah, clear as day right there around your wrist. Can't everybody?

Not everyone. It must be because of your association with Aura.

Oh.. I just remembered, What was that ability you possess? The one that bracelet gives you? Data Drain?

It's one of the bracelet's abilities. I can rewrite a monsters data to make it weak.

You must trust me a lot to be divulging your information to me. I heard from the system administrator that arrested me that you created that item, and that it was illegal.

So says CC corp. They don't understand anything. I didn't hack it. Wait.. you got arrested? We knew you were wanted but.... If you were arrested how are you still here. They would have deleted your character.

They tried, but Aura protected me.

Aura... huh? He was really itching for my information.

Yes, after she resurrected me from a comma she gave me her protection. Apparently I cannot be deleted.

Same with us, he said. We all have her protection. That is all the more reason you should join the .hackers.

You guys seem like just the thing I need to help me. I am on a quest here in this world, but my level is sufficiently lower than all of yours.

We can help you with that. We'll get you trained in no time He closed his eyes in a happy manner.

Yes, I need help and guidement in The World. I will join the .hackers.

Great They all seemed happy.

We all exchanged member addresses and I got to know all of them. The female heavyblade called herself Blackrose and the katana wielding player was Sanjuro. They took me to a dungeon in another server with the root town called Carmina Gadelica that had been rid of all the monsters. We all sat together in the divine statue room. We had to make plans.

So Balmung Wow I've read a lot about you. You are really famous in The World aren't you?

I don't think of myself that way but I have been playing for a very long time. I suppose I'm well known, he said very casually. Wow he's modest. I looked to Kite. He must be the leader.

Any ideas of our first move? he spoke with his eyes closed.

Well.. they all looked up at me. They seemed surprised I was already making suggestions, There is a problem I would like to deal with.

Yes? Blackrose said, throwing her short white hair out of her eyes to get a better view of me while I spoke.

There is a system administrator who wont get off my back. She is the one who arrested me for not helping track down Aura. Her name is Riu.

Oh she is a nasty piece of work, Sanjuro stated.

Yes, I would really like to deal with her, I said staring at Kite.

Good idea. Lets give her something to cry about.

SIR. the rest of us stated in unison.

Kite held up a sprite ocarina and teleported us all to the surface of the dungeon.

Where will we find her? I questioned the group.

We'll contact Helba, Balmung said, She is one of the greatest hackers of The World. She can locate Riu's location.

Helba, huh? I said. I remembered that name from the Epitaph of Twilight.

Message sent, Kite said. Then we all gated out of the area back to Carmina Gadelica.

This city sat on a mass of water and it was always night here. The buildings towered high into the starry sky and shops lined the streets. The chaos gate here sat in the middle of the city with streets branching off from the north and south of it. This was a way higher level server than my level. The areas you could access from Carmina Gadelica were at least level 30 and went into the 40's.

I have a reply, said Kite and he read the message from Helba aloud to us all.

I have located the system administrator, Riu, wondering about (delta) Hidden Forbidden Sacred....

The church, I interrupted.

Good luck, Kite continued the letter, I will be watching over you. He finished and we all looked to one another.

Lets go, Sanjuro said.

We all teleported from the chaos gate to Mac Anu, and from there we recited, Hidden Forbidden Sacred We didn't warp away. Instead a message popped up on my screen that said, AREA PROTECTED.

Area Protected? I said.
The system administrators have closed that area off to the public. We'll have to gate hack, Kite exclaimed.

Gate hack? What is that? I asked.

Its another of the bracelets abilities. Something else CC corp wouldn't be happy to know I can do.

He held his right arm up to the chaos gate and the bracelet started to glow yellow. He recited the keyword once again and the yellow light of the bracelet expanded and engulfed us all in a large rushing tunnel of light. We sped off through the internet to Hidden Forbidden Sacred. We all touched down on the bridge that stretched before us to the large cathedral.

Cobalt knights were lining the bridge on both sides guarding for whatever was going on inside. At the site of us they immediately grasped their spears and came charging at us. Kite wielded his twin blades and began slashing in a graceful Twin Blade manner, making quick work of the leading knights. The other .hackers engaged the other knights with great high level skill.

A show of fireworks lightened up my HMD as such high level spells and abilities were activated. With quick stabs and slashes all the knights fell to the ground stone gray and dissenigrated.

Wow you guys are real good, I said.

What did you expect? Newbies? came the reply from Balmung. We ran up to the church and as before the soft background music began seeping from my speakers. We passed through the threshold only to meet more cobalt knights guarding the doors. On the left Balmung made a quick jab of his sword and the knights fell and died. On the right Sanjuro did the same. At the sound of the swords Riu, who was at the front studying Aura's statue, turned and faced us.

Praige Now you are hanging around with these players. You couldn't be in anymore trouble

What are you gonna do? I have Aura's protection

Once I destroy her you'll be at the mercy of the cobalt knights.

They are no match for us. Your friends outside should all be frantically trying to reconnect right about now, Blackrose interrupted. Riu grinned.

You are all just asking for it aren't you? she sniggered. Fine. YOU GOT IT She grabbed up her new staff and thrusted the top of it high into the air while bellowing, ORBIANI DON

A mass of giant skulls shrouded in a dark aura pumbled Blackrose doing a fair amount of damage. The rest wielded their weapons and charged. Blackrose followed behind after recovering from the spell. They all brought their weapons down simultaneously upon Riu who lifted her staff and blocked them for the time being. Their strength almost overwhelmed her while they pushed on her staff trying to break her hold. She, in return, pushed as hard as she could against their weapons to try and get them to back off.

Riu, being a system administrator, had a very high level highly over that of the .hackers, but it was 4 against 1.

Praige we need your help This is your chance to get your revenge, Kite yelled over his shoulder.

Right I yelled back with a nod.

I charged forward with my Long Arm speed and flew to the ground sliding under the others to reach Riu. I smiled up at her from the floor as I brought my spear into her. She lost her hold and the rest sliced their blades through Riu as well. That was just enough to bring her to her knees.

She sat their critically low in hp looking into my eyes. I got to my feet and stared back into hers. I muttered, Vak Don and a bolt of lightning materialized around her and struck, bringing her health gauge to 0. She laughed a bit then fell backwards and died.

I lifted my HMD off my face for a moment to look at the time. I was missing class. No point in going now. I dropped the HMD back over my face and turned to the .hackers.

Mission complete, I said with a smile.

Yep, and before we can move on to the next part we need to get you trained, Kite said closing his eyes in a happy manner.

CHAPTER 6: I stuck with them for a while, training and mastering my skills. After just a couple of weeks of nonstop training I had become closer to their level. I was now level 40 Kite was level 50. The rest were in the high 40's. I had won myself a new rare weapon called Hagane . It was a halberd with a long black handle and the blade was silver with intricate designs. On the bottom there was a little silver skull. We had won it from the boss in a real tough dungeon.


I was sitting alone with Blackrose in Dun Lorieg (another root town) atop a big grassy hill. It was sun set and we were waiting for the others. I was finally of a sufficiently high enough level to begin our quest.

So.. she said as be both looked off into the sunset, why do you play The World. I didn't expect such a question. Me and Blackrose had become real good friends over the past weeks and we were almost always together.

Well I such saw a trailer for it and...

No, no, she interrupted, Why do you really play the world? She looked into my eyes.
I'm.. I'm on a quest, I don't wanna see The World as it is right now anymore, I wanna right the wrongs and misconceptions of CC corp., I want to stop the data bugs and end the incidents of players slipping into comas, I don't want there to be another coming if the Twilight, and I want to prove Aura innocent. I believe she wouldn't do such things as CC crop. says she does. She helps The World. Without her, I wouldn't be here with you right now. I looked into her eyes. They sparkled.

That’s deep, she replied.

Why do you ask?

Well I don't know. Me and Kite have deep meanings for playing The World too. I lost my brother here. He fell into a coma while playing a game, I sat up and looked at her with more intensity, at the fault of a data bug I dropped my gaze and studied the grass. It was so real. How could such a great game, so perfect in every way, do such horrible things.

and Kite? I asked.

He witnessed his friend, Orca, get thrown into a coma, because of Data Drain.

Orca.. Orca of the Azure Sea? He helped Balmung beat The One Sin, I said. She nodded.

We wont stop until we see what we lost again, she said. I clutched the grass and let it go watching it straighten back to its original stature. I heard the yellow cylinder of light appear and dissenigrate behind me. They must be here. I looked over my shoulder and there they were.

I tapped Blackrose on the shoulder and we both turned around in our sitting position. Kite, Balmung, and Sanjuro took a seat with us and we all began working on our plans to save Aura.

We talked into the twilight until the skies grew dark. We had our plan. We had to prove Aura wasn't the problem. We all believed there was someone or people out there on the net causing this evil.

Right, said Kite, Okay, commencing operation reincarnation.

SIR, the rest of us said in unison.

How will we go about finding the players responsible, I mentioned.

We have to find a data bug, Kite exclaimed, raising his head to look me in the eye. His face was shrouded in shadow. We'll use Helba again to help us access one of the sacred areas that a data bug was sighted in, He said, then logged out.

As the cylinder took him away Blackrose said, See you tomorrow. and she logged out, followed by Sanjuro and Balmung.
I stayed on the hill of Dun Lorieg and starred at the stars. You couldn't see the stars like this outside in the city. So mesmerizing..... The brightness from my screen started to burn my eyes as I was getting so tired. I wasn't so dumb this time and logged out before falling asleep.

I dreamed all night of The World and Aura continued to show up in some shape or form. I was abruptly awoken early by my blaring alarm clock. I had to go to class, I couldn't miss again. I had finals. The other .hackers knew my schedule, we were starting operation resurrection directly when I got home from class.

All the computer hardware in my school building were damaged and didn't allow access to the internet. The incident a while back with all things connected to the internet damaged a lot of computers. I was jotting notes, desperately trying not to think about Aura. My life has changed so much since The World. School was so different and I wasn't excited to see my friends.

Finals started today and I think I did pretty well. No matter. I had to get back to my apartment. On my way down the street I passed by a technology shop. They had these new big screen tv's in the window that were playing the news.

I stopped my fast paced walk as I heard The World seep out of the newscaster's lips. I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to the news. A small dark haired woman was speaking about latest information proved a new net game called The World was the cause of the small internet crisis that occurred 2 weeks ago. They were scared it would bring upon another Pluto's Kiss.

The Pluto's Kiss incident occurred on December 24, 2005. Every thing connected to the internet shut down. This virus called the Pluto's Kiss destroyed the entire internet, and almost caused a nuclear holocaust. It all turned out to be caused by a 10 year old boy. No information is known today about what happened to him. After that a larger cable internet called Altimit OS was developed. It is the only internet used today because it can accommodate the heavy traffic. It is flawless. That is when CC corp. began work on The World.

The MMORPG, The World, may have to be taken off the market forever if the people at CC corporation can't fix the flaws, she said very serious then turned to another subject that didn't interest me.

What? I said. How could this be. We, the .hackers had less time than I thought. We had to save The World.

CHAPTER 7: At my computer I went frantic because I couldn't locate my HMD. I found it carelessly strewn behind the computer. I slipped it on and gabbed up my controller. I hit initiation and logged on. As praige I immediately went to theta server, root town Dun Loireag. There they were. The other .hackers, sitting atop the largest hill we sat upon last time.

With my halberd in hand I raced up to him, making graceful leaps upon rocks every so often. One last Long Arm leap and I stood tall and serious before them, planting the end of my Halberd into the ground. I was really starting to love the things The World aloud me to do. They all greeted me graciously and I took a seat crossing my legs and lying my halberd over my lap.

Did anyone catch the news? I asked holding my head down.

Yes,

Yep,

Uh-huh,

Yeah, they all replied clockwise. Sitting beside me, Blackrose looked up and said, I can't believe they would want to do something like that. It's all on our shoulders now. We are the only ones who have the power, the will to do something. We have to catch the evil behind all this. I nodded in agreement.

I know The World isn't the culprit itself. It's my home. I've played it for years and I refuse to believed it is flawed, added Balmung. Sanjuro nodded. We began operation reincarnation.

We all stared deeply at Kite as he contacted Helba. His avatar sat poised in a non-moving position. He sat with his arms crossed and his head down, shadowing his face. After a few minutes he lifted his head and looked around at all of us.

She has found us a sacred area where some data bugs have been sighted before. As I said it is a sacred area so it is not open to the public of the players. We'll have to gate hack again, Kite explained.

So, no problems right? I inquired.

Well yeah.. she needs to meet up with us to give me some virus cores. I need the correct combination of them sometimes to gate hack, he said, Helba will be arriving here right about....... now,

At those words all the scenery around us except for the hill we sat on shattered away leaving just white.

We were the only ones who could see this. If others looked up at the hill they would only find it to be unmounted.

In the white nothingness a rip appeared revealing a black screen with green 0's and 1's scrolling rapidly up and down. Out of the tear emerged a tall female wavemaster with a long white robe. She wore a hate that covered over her eyes. Where her eyes should be a red screen stretched around her face that obviously granted her sight. From the head piece she had long flowing blonde hair. She floated down and landed on the grassy hill. She looked down into all our eyes and spoke with dominating echoey voice.

Good Luck. Save The World for me. She laid out her hand to Kite and he placed his in hers. She took up her staff and the cylinder warped her away as the scenery piled back into view and The World shined forward.

I got 'em, lets go Kite exclaimed as he stood up. I followed, continued by Blackrose and the rest. We all jumped down to the chaos gate. Some cobalt knights must have been on to us because we were ambushed there by 2 of them.

As Kite did his business at the chaos gate the others kept him concealed. I pulled out my halberd and brought it around my waist. As they charged for me I unleashed my weapon back around with as much force as possible. It cut through them like butter and they turned gray then dissenigrated as they fell. At that time Kite had preformed the gate hack and we were all frozen in cyber space and warped away. We landed in a corrupted area with static and bad data floating around everywhere. The skies were just 0's and 1's.

So, should we go to the dungeon to find one or... I began.

No need. Look, Sanjuro pointed beyond us. A large tree began moving. It turned around and displayed its big yellow eyes and jagged teeth. The tree up rooted itself and the green outer skin shield appeared around it like all data bugs.

GET READY yelled Balmung as the tree charged.

How will we get the data we need to find the players who made it? I asked Kite.

Just kill it. I'll Data Drain after you get it weak enough.

Balmung charged it followed by me. Balmung drew his sword and hacked and slashed, blocked and dodged. Every time he hit, the damage he did wasn't readable just corrupted numbers. I gave it a try.

I ran up beside Balmung and ducked as one of it's limbs came flying around. I jumped straight back up and brought my halberd down like an axe doing the same corrupted damage as Balmung.

We were joined by the rest, all ripping off damage bit by bit of the monstrous beast. After a lot of healing and hacking away at the tree the green shield around it broke into hundreds of pieces.

DATA DRAIN Kite bellowed, and the monster was magically diminished by Kite's multicolored data streams. After Kite finished Sanjuro gave it one last slice with his katana bringing its hp down to 0.

I got it, Kite said, I got the data that will lead us to the origin of the recent catastrophe.

Well, lets go.. I said in a whisper. I was excited. Kite held out his right arm and we all grabbed hold of his bracelet. The bracelet grew illuminous with a yellow light and our avatars froze as they were. The light enveloped us all and warped us away as a giant cylinder of light. Cyber space flew passed me before my eyes as we were on our way to save The World.

CHAPTER 8: Our feet touched down on an expansive dirt field. No monsters were in sight, just upside down floating buildings in the night sky. It was like a wasteland of cyber space. Atop one of the floating buildings I noticed 2 avatars sitting and chatting.

There, I said as I pointed in their direction. We walked closer towards the building, but there was a problem.

How are we to get up there? Balmung said crossing his arms, Just cause I have wings it does not mean I can fly. The World does not allow players to move up and down on the 3-D map unless there are stairs or you make your character jump, but even then you have to fall back down and no one can jump that high. I gave it a shot despite what Balmung told me. I stepped forward beyond the rest and gave a leap. I didn't come back down to the dirt earth. I stayed in the air.

I moved about freely up and down and side to side. Just another great thing I could now experience in The World that I couldn't do in the real world. I was flying. The other's eyes grew large with shock.

N-no way, Balmung muttered.

It's impossible, Sanjuro added. By this time Blackrose had already joined me and up came Kite. Balmung was still sour about it but he gave a great leap followed by Sanjuro. We were all defying the set in stone laws of The World. It felt amazing. Just like an in your face to the CC corp. we all loathed.

I lead the .hackers in the most amazing thing any of them had probably done in their entire lives. We flew upwards like birds. I believed Balmung looked awesome with his wings flowing majestically behind him.

Our avatars reached the top of the building. It was a really big space, about as big as a mall parking lot. Lifeless data bugs sat around the edges that looked as if they were merely turned off machines.

I laid my feet flat down on the surface and my avatar suddenly was back in a walking position. The other .hackers touched down on the building behind me. We caught the attention of the 2 players sitting in the middle. They looked to be very high level. They're characters looked like they should be working in HotTopic. Very dark and gothic and concealed. One was a Long Arm and the other was a Heavy Axeman.

Who are you? I said loud enough for them to hear me, but not yelling, Did you create these? I motioned around to indicate the lifeless data bugs that lined the edges of the building, ARE YOU THE REASON FOR THE COMAS AND THE REASON THE WORLD MIGHT BE SHUT DOWN ? I was becoming infuriated with the thought of the things they had caused.
Sanjuro grabbed for me as I charged the 2 players. With my Halberd ready my speed increased.

How did you get here? The Long Arm inquired with a feminine voice. He stood to his feet followed by the Heavy Axeman who said with a deep voice, Mind your own damn business You don't know what we are doing.

I went for the Long Arm. He raised his own halberd (which I bet he hacked. I doubt players like these have done an honest days work in their lives) and blocked my jumping attack. We exchanged hacks and slashes for a few seconds before the Axeman came for me. The other .hackers came to my aid and took the big one off my hands. I continued with my counterpart slowly, if even, shaving off his hp.

You Can't beat us. Our levels exceed any other in The World, he said maniacally as he brought his halberd around with quick swipes. I was swiftly ducking and jumping. His speed was incredible. It hardly ever gave me the time to attack.

If you are the ones we think you are, I replied, Huff, huff, Then you didn't gain those levels. You CHEATERS I ducked an attack of his and brought my halberd up under his head and jumped back nicking his weapon out of his hands. That brought his health down a tiny percent. He may have cheated his way to the top but is was the top none the less.

I glimpsed over and saw the axeman easily throwing back any of them that tried to get an attack in. They died often but were always brought back with a resurrect. That wasn't to bad of a thing, death. Because when you were brought back by a party member your health started back at full.

I turned back to see the Long Arm going for his halberd. I rushed to beat him. He reached it just before me but I jumped and grabbed it from him. I turned sharply on my heels bringing both the weapon in a cross at his neck.

Go ahead, you can't do much damage to me at your current level. The great Hiroyuki is invincible He bellowed.

I yelled, VAK DON and sent lightning bolts down the halberds that gave him, in reality, a deadly shock just to be followed by the two blades slicing through his neck. His avatar was catapulted backwards. As he lay on his back I used a spell to my element advantage.

RUE RUM, I bellowed and a mass amount of water bombarded him with deathly pressure. I watched with a smile as I finally cut a good amount of hp from his health gauge. He lay there with his head thrown back and his eyes closed. I was surprised to see a smile stretch across his face.

Good, good, he said, I under-estimated you, but you still aren't as GREAT AS ME I used a scroll or paralysis to let him lay there for a while. I needed to help my friends.

I turned my head only to see Kite and Blackrose as ghosts and the other two critically low on hp.
Phal Repth, I said with my halberd pointed to the stars. That healing spell recovers every remaining party member's health to full. It came with the weapon. I knew with a big avatar like that Axeman my speed would be the advantage. I ran over to them and picked up my pace.

My name is Ginjo here my roar He bellowed and with a large swipe knocked Sanjuro and Balmung back to the ground. What a corny line I thought. Once at Ginjo I released my halberd over my head to get his attention with a surprise attack. I, as before, did little damage. He turned and blocked my next attack. I had a plan.

As fast as I could I kept running at him and attacking knowing he would try and jump backwards and block me. I wouldn't let up causing him to constantly walk backwards as I hacked and slashed. I continued running while attacking, pushing him to walk the direction I wanted him to. We were soon to come to the edge of the building. He took a step back to find his foot didn't meet solid ground. He staggered to catch balance, but I unleashed an attack as hard as I could that sent him off the edge.

My assumptions were correct. You could fly in this area but only if you jumped and had the will to. Ginjo fell like a rock, but to my surprise before he met the ground a portal opened and caught him. At that moment hundreds of yellow cylinders appeared around us leaving cobalt knights from each one. They appeared on the building , on the ground, and on other buildings surrounding ours.

One of the knights yelled, We have confiscated one I turned to see Hiroyuki still paralyzed. A yellow cylinder appeared before me stopping my tracks back to my party. It left someone then dissenigrated away. I knew the worst had come as I stood, and looked into the eyes of Riu.

CHAPTER 9: Well, well, look how you've grown, Praige, She said with a smirk on her face.

What are you doing here? I said almost breathlessly.

Well we have been searching for the cause of these data bugs thinking it would bring us to Aura and here we are. Now where Is she are you here helping her?

No I am not, but I told you she is not the cause. We are here trying to stop the true culprit. These psychopathic cheaters. I pointed at Hiroyuki, and the one your knights just captured.

So now you are working with them huh?

NO, damn it. I just said we are here to stop them I care about The World I don't wanna see it destroyed. Why wont you believe I am on the good side. The evidence is right in front of you Aura didn't do it She is here to help The World.

I threw her out of my way and went for my friends. She stayed in her spot looking after me. Maybe I was getting through to her.

Hiroyuki's paralysis wore off and he got to his feet. A dark aura swirling around him. He was about to use some sort of ability. He threw out his arms and shots of the darkness bulleted to each of the giant data bugs that the two had been developing. They all came to life and each had a hit point that was infinite. They started moving in towards us stepping on the cobalt knights.

Every avatar that will be killed by these data bugs will cause the player to go comatose. Some of the knights tried to use their debugging commands to delete the data bugs but they weren’t fast enough to get them all just a few.

Cobalt knights were dying fast and I didn't know what we were gonna do. The data bugs closed in closer and closer until doom was definite. Riu charged one and with one sweep of it's giant club she was thrown into the air.

RIU I screamed as she died before me. I can't believe I cared about her, but I did. I guess I felt sorry for her. I can't believe she is gone.

I was snapped out of my sadness by the screams of my party. I looked back into reality (well virtual-reality technically) and saw my teammates ducking for cover of almost true death. The beasts were closing in. A handful for all of us.

Just before I was swept away by the slash of a dozen swords I screamed, AURA

Everything around us went jet black as the monsters froze, swords and clubs half way to meet our helpless bodies. Everyone took their head from under their arms and looked around. It was deathly quiet.

A bright white light appeared over all our heads even higher than the giant data bugs. It expanded throughout the darkness covering everything leaving my screen blind with white. When it cleared Aura was floating where the light originated, and all the monsters had gone gray.

She spoke still soft and innocent even in this situation, Kite, use the data drain.

Right, he replied and ran to the middle of all the monsters. He thrusted his right arm directly up into the air and the bracelet shown bright blue and gigantic around his wrist.

DATA........ DRAIN He bellowed with might. A blue light swirled around his bracelet and exploded into hundreds of multicolored data streams that rocketed into the air and came together to form a colossal blue ray of data rewriting force. It flew into the air and swirled around Aura. She raised her arms and the force expanded across the sky circling the same path way above us all. It was so beautiful. The swirls broke apart into enough for each monster. They continued to swirl. So many of them. Then one by one they departed their group to absorb themselves into one of the data bugs. When one was struck with one of the blue forces it turned completely blue and shattered into millions pieces. Soon all the monsters were shining brightly blue and at one time they all shattered creating a mass amount of blue around us. The pieces disappeared at the ground and it was over.
The scenery didn't reappear. The entire area stayed black, and all the knights had been killed. It was just us five standing in the middle of a boundless area of cyber space.

Wait I said, What happened to Hiroyuki? I turned around and saw him laying almost lifelessly on the blackness. Activating all those data bugs must have taken a lot of power out of him. Plus he was data drained because his avatar was completely blue, but it flashed red because his hp was deathly low.

A-are you gonna k-kill me? he muttered.

Ye.. began Sanjuro, but I interrupted.

No, we have to take you back to whatever cobalt knights are left. I grabbed his arm and with my other I held on to Kite's wrist with the others. In the blink of an eye we were gone leaving that barren bit of cyber space forever.

We arrived at the chaos gate of Dun Loireag only to find a mass amount of cobalt knights guarding it. The news must have been spread about the happenings. At our appearance they immediately bombarded us with their spears.

Wait, wait, wait, wait... We brought back the true culprit, I held up Hiroyuki by his arm.

This fellow, one knight said, taking him off my hands.

Yes, him and the one the other cobalt knights captured by the name Ginjo, created all the data bugs for their sick little psychopathic games.

Thank you very much Praige, he said, We are truly sorry for ever suspecting you, but I must tell you this does not prove Aura innocent. She is still a wrong in the rights of The World that..

Needs to be dealt with, I finished for him.

He stared me in the eye and said, Come with us. He grabbed my arm and teleported me away from the yelling .hackers. I appeared with the knight at the jail cells I had been to before, but I wasn't in a cell.

He walked me down the hall of empty cells and stopped at one to throw Hiroyuki inside. After that he continued to lead me down the hall to a door at the end. Two sconces burned flames brightly on either sides of the door. He pulled it open and bowed gesturing me inside.

I walked passed the threshold to find two chairs facing each other. One was filled by a very important looking person. A tall Blademaster with spiky dark hair. His top had a neck that covered his mouth, and he carried a beautiful sword.

I took the other seat and looked him in the eye, he spoke.
Praige, we have many reports about you from Riu, and her department have been after you for quite sometime. From what I've heard, frankly, I think of you as a threat to The World. You continue to break the rules and defy us. Now I have a proposition for you. We understand your in association with the vagrant AI, Aura. I can't completely believe that she is not causing any harm to The World, but you and your party's recent discoveries have lifted a large bit of weight of her shoulders. I suppose you have succeeded somewhat of your goal to prove her innocent. We'll will drop the Aura case completely if you do me one thing.

What's that? I questioned. I was worried he was gonna say...

Let us take your avatar.
Yup, he said it, but this time it was different then before. I had no more purpose for Praige.

Fine...

What? That easily?

Yes. I did what I needed to do and to fulfill my duties to Aura and The World. I must give up my avatar, but.. You must promise me to leave Aura alone and let her be about her business. She is only here to help the players and has nothing to do with the recent events. You'll see. Now that Ginjo and Hiroyuki are out of the picture there will be no more attacks. So I thought....

By the power of the cobalt knights, I promise, He replied. I could tell he was telling the truth. Aura helped The World, not hurt it, and I proved that. That means the only way to keep The World safe is to give up Praige. If I didn't they would continue to track her down and destroy her. Then more like the unforgivable two could hurt The World. I would do anything for this place. Even this.

Aura, I spoke out loud in front of the spike haired man, Please relieve me of your protection. This is something I must do.

I was standing when I finished and I opened my eyes.

Do it, I commanded. He drew his sword and placed it on my shoulder. Oh, please tell my party I'm sorry and that I said thank you and... good bye, I mentioned. He nodded.

The World is a better place because of you, and I thank you, he said solemnly.

He hit his debug command and the last thing I would ever see in The World appeared before me. The bright white light that has taken many a bug and fugitive of The World in the past. It enveloped me for the second time but this time it was not stopped. A tear fell from my eyes as I watched Praige disappear from The World forever.

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