Ryou blinked sleepily as his eye sight adjusted to the darkness of the room he was in. It was completely unfamiliar to him. Shifting his weight to his left side, he quickly realized that his right side was asleep, and that chains bound his hands. The bed he lay on was actually pretty comfortable, if only he could figure out how he'd gotten here.
A muffled moan told him he wasn't alone, and his crimson gaze landed on a blue haired boy…a few seconds later he realized it was Endrance, dressed exactly like his online character, sword lying not a few feet from him at the foot of the bed. With a start, he glanced at hi own attire; that of an adapt rogue. The tattoos on his stomach, arms and face, he quickly learned, were real, if the sting had anything to say about it. They burned and itched, as if they, whoever had captured him, had just finished them the day before.
A feminine cough bought his attention to the prone figure of Atoli, also dressed as her character; a harvest cleric. Her long staff was propped against the bed, next to a broad sword and some twin blades. Sitting up took a bit of work, but finally he did. "Endrance! Atoli! Wake up!" slightly panicked, he felt a draft from the doorway, and summarized that they must be in some kind of basement…or according to their outfits, a dungeon.
With a moan, Endrance suddenly sat up. "Haseo? What's going on? Are we in real life?" he asked, and Haseo noticed that his voice matched the character perfectly, if a bit deeper.
"I don't know where we are, and yes, we are in real life. I can feel the chains, the draft, and the softness of the bed. And Atoli is here as well, next to me."
Speaking of Atoli, she chose that moment to joint he land of the living. "What's going on?" she murmured, sitting up, but leaning against Haseo.
"Don't know," Haseo repeated, glad to note that her voice wasn't really that high pitched. A voice modifier, he concluded.
"I thought I heard something, glad to see your awake!" a beat cleric entered, and he certainly looked the part. A fake mask, though very real looking, had been glued to the poor kid's face, and extra padding added under it's armor to emphasize the beasts' weight. ""Welcome to the real world version of 'The World!' You have been selected as participants due to the number of hours you logged into on the online version. The live action version, or the real world version, is much like the online version, with a few changes, of course.
"First and foremost, each players outfit is customized with a life counter, if your life counter reaches Zero, and a resurrect, or an echo screen is not used before the end of a battle, you will be considered dead, and removed from the game immediately. All party members will be asked to leave the dungeon immediately upon this occasion.
"Die, as in really, really die?" Atoli interrupted.
"I don't know, never died before. As I was saying. The normal potions and such will be available, and each is electronically keyed to your character, and those you select to use them on. Additionally, upon activating your life counters, you will be issued a head set in which you may send short mail, or have a private conversation if you will, to the people on your short mail lists. Removal of the headset is prohibited, and will result in game over. Almost everything is voice activated, so if you lose your headset, you cannot get it replaced as it is unique to you and your character. You will be issued packs with which you may carry items you gather in fields, and anything you would wish to bring with you, baring the capacity it holds.
"Quest shops, magic armor, and weapon shops are available and run by administrators. Money will also be issued with your headsets and packs, which contain beginner items. A PDA will also be issued with each pack, to keep track of your levels, items in your storage, or bank, your money count, and your short mail lists. Do not lose this either, or game over!
"Pking is strictly forbidden in town, or any level dungeon between 1 and 20. When entering a battle, a purple field will show around the battlesite…"
"Wait, your telling us that pking is allowed!?" Haseo was now slightly pissed off. He really, really didn't want to be here right now. He had a headache, his side was still asleep, and he was kidnapped, of all things!
"Yes, now if I may finish!" the beast was clearly irritated. "If you wish to rest, or eat, inns are available at anytime, and if you gain enough money, you may purchase guild space, or a home space. Meals will automatically be served in rooms at the standard times. If you wish to carry food with you into a dungeon, please leave a list with an admin and they will see to it by the next day."
"What about the chains?! What's with the chains?" Haseo gestured with his hands, and they made a loud clinking sound.
"A precaution only. Some players panic upon entering The World for the first time."
"What if we don't want to play?" Atoli chirped, shifting her weight.
"Then you will be brought before an administrator and forcibly extradited from the area, or you will change your mind and play the game. Now, in order to be released form the chains, simply state your character name, your class, and your normal password is to be imputed into your PDA."
"I don't want to play!" Haseo glared at the thing, and he could swear the thing was gleeful.
"I'll fetch the admin then, while the other two are deciding." And the creature left.
"Haseo!" came two shocked voices.
"What? I want to know if we can leave this place safely. Or haven't your guys realized, We've. Been. Kidnapped!" Haseo glared at a wall, "I have no intentions of spending the rest of my life in a test tube dungeon getting job extensions glued to my body in some weird make believe place that isn't real life!"
"What if…What if they hurt you? You said we've been kidnapped, if that were true, then why kidnap so many people? I'm an online junkie, according to everyone, and my parents support me, we're not rich." Endrance surmised
"My parents always fight, and my dad is working two jobs, I'm not rich either," Atoli murmured.
"My parents are, unfortunately, maybe they brought you here to keep me here?" Haseo mused allowed.
"But why would they give you the option to leave? Maybe it is just as he said, and our parents gave permission to get rid of their unwanted children?" Endrance murmured.
"Gah, I don't know, but if you see me again, I'll tell you what I learned while I was away..."
"It couldn't be AD.." Atoli stopped speaking as a black dressed man entered, grabbed Ryou's leg, and hauled him down the bed. He quickly found himself thrown over a bulky shoulder, and his outfit dug painfully into his stomach.
"Put me down! I can walk!" Haseo growled, kicking his legs at the man's face.
"Not for long, kid," the man was certainly sadistic, pressing painfully on Haseo's back, shoving him further down onto one of the shoulder spikes of the man's armor. His words weren't much comfort either. They approached a warp point and Haseo blinked as they walked through it completely. A new-age hologram? The room was dark, lit only by a small panel, which blinked "select warp point field," in a loop.
"Administrative command, Alpha beta AIDA." The man intoned.
"AIDA?" Haseo swallowed hard, this was not good…not good at all. He thought he'd destroyed AIDA! Shino...Alkaid! The room blanked out, and Haseo found himself in hell...
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Atoli turned to Endrance, who was now leaning against the headboard. "I'm going to play," he finally decided, "Endrance, Blade braider (SP?)" and he entered his password. "I'm hungry, and I see nothing wrong with this, I've always wanted to be inside the game for real..." he murmured, and Atoli followed his example, playing with the PDA in her hand. Their chains, held together by strong magnets, suddenly fell into their laps. "Right, lets check out the surrounding area, get our bearings," Atoli murmured, picking up her pack, her headset, and her staff.
"Right, I'm sure Haseo will catch up to us later..." Endrance put the earpiece-headset around his ear, and spoke softly, "Atoli, send me your short mail address, and I'll send you mine." A few more moments of checking their belongings, figuring out how to use the items inside, and making sure they fully understood their PDA's, they left the room and checked out the town they were in.
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Haseo moaned in pain, his head ached terribly, and he was hungry, tired, and in desperate need of a bath. It'd been a week since he'd been brought into the 'game,' and already he didn't like it. The bastards were infected by AIDA and wouldn't let him go. Apparently he served two purposes, his parents were paying them to keep him alive, and they couldn't let him go off on his own, as his avatar would cause lots of problem. Thus, they had only one of two solutions available to them. The first was to try and turn him to their side, so not going to happen. And the next, infect him with AIDA, in which the only way he were to get free, would be if Kuhn were to use propagation on him, and data-drain the virus before it got too far out of hand. He'd been fighting the thrice damned thing ever since they put that chip in the base of his skull.
It whispered, seductively into his mind, where only he could hear it. He screamed again, locked in his tiny little cell, until his voice was hoarse, and he could no longer speak. It alternated between pain and pleasure, making him feel happy, elated, joyous, and then pain…agony beyond anything he'd ever felt before. The impact of thousands of voices, screaming, crying out in pain, and feeling each wound as if they were his own, was maddening. Though he had no physical wounds, really, only the bruise on his stomach where the guards had knocked him out in order to do the surgery for the chip, which was just a small cut really. Bandages wrapped around his head, and a mircosealer later, he was already growing his hair back.
With a silent whimper, he curled in on himself. The door suddenly opened, and a very large man dragged the fifteen year old out of his cell. "Now it is time for the real fun to begin, since you have yet to make up your mind." The man threw him in the center of a pool of light, cracked his knuckles, and gave an evil laugh. Haseo shuddered, the physical stuff was about to begin. He didn't know if he could take it! His pride, though, damn his pride, reared it's ugly head and he snapped, "Never in a million years! Kiss my ass you bastard!" Guess he found his voice, though it cost him to speak.
Hours later, he really was a mess, but they used a mircosealer on him, therefore the wounds healed, but he still felt their impact. Days, weeks, or months had passed in this manner, but finally, in a fit of desperation, Haseo weakly bowed his head, and murmured, "I give up, I'll play," and thus he was reintroduced into the real life game. An ear piece was attached to his ear, and a small, skin colored wire was connected to the chip in his head. That was sealed into his skin in the most painful way they could imagine. Using a skin grafter to grow his own skin over the wire, leaving what looked like a very thin scar from the base of his right ear, to the back of his skull. "That way the AIDA administrators can monitor you." A cheerful voice informed him. He screamed in agony as they ripped the skin, buried the wire, and then grew the skin over it.
Finally he was released to bath, which he did gratefully, fully aware that the male guards that had beaten him up before were standing not two feet away with glowers on their faces. It was a three hour bath, and the water had to be changed several times in order to get rid of the blood, muck, and the smell of a human gone too long without bathing. It was amazing he didn't break out in acne from it all.
He was reissued his adapt rogue outfit, which he carefully donned, being careful of very sore muscles. Everything hurt, even his hair! A pack was painfully buried into his stomach, and a PDA shoved into his hand. "Haseo," he croaked, "Adapt Rogue." And then he entered his password, and his PDA beeped a welcome. The PDA was then plucked out of his hand and placed in a hip holster next to his blunted weapons. His broad sword was strapped to his back, and his twin blades at his side. "You have been granted you second form," he was told, "You'll find your outfit already in your at home space, which has been graciously given to you by AIDA, because you'll be one of our more…permanent guests. The warp point will take you home, simply impute your name into the option menu. Ohh, I have also taken the liberty of inviting your friends to your home...I hope you don't mind..." and then he was shoved into the hologram warp point. Stumbling over to the panel, he leaned against the wall, clutching his pack with one shaking arm, and did as he was told for once. There was a shudder, then an electric door opened into a brightly lit room.
Using the wall as a support, he hobbled over to the doorway, peering cautiously inside. It was red and black, very morbid looking, and matched his character outfit perfectly. He wondered vaguely, as he entered the room to stare around the room, noting the bed, the cooking space, and a washroom, why they hadn't issued his costume where he'd been. With a groan, he dropped the pack on the floor, listening to the door close as he stumbled to the bed and fell face forward onto it. He was asleep before his head hit the too soft pillow...
"...been asleep for a while. I'm worried, he didn't even notice us when we entered!" Haseo vaguely heard a girls voice in the back of his aching head. A cold cloth was placed on his head, and it eased the ache. He moaned, shifting closer to the cool relief, almost whimpering when it grew hot to the touch.
"He is simply exhausted. Have you not heard of children who are tired, sometimes gain fevers? I checked him over myself, there are no wounds on him that I can discern. Wherever he was, they must have been doing something to keep him awake, or something on his mind prevented him from getting much sleep. Here, use this, place it in his pillowcase. It will protect him from the cold, and will probably bring his fever down faster." Endrance, he'd recognize that voice anywhere. Ice, cool, wonderful ice was placed under his head, and he signed in relief, relaxing tense muscles he didn't know he'd been tightening. Another ice pack was placed on his stomach, and another under his feet, and he signed softly again, realizing just how hot he'd been. His mind quickly grew befuddled, and beckoned him back to restful sleep, but he had to acknowledge them. Didn't he say that he would never take his eyes off them ever again?
"..anks.." Haseo forced through chapped lips that just didn't want to separate.
"What did he say?" Atoli asked, but Endrance ignored her, "Shh, Haseo, rest, all will be better when you awaken."
"tay `ere?" he murmured, for some reason, not wanting to be left alone.
"We shall not leave your side for anything until you awaken. One of us shall remain, regardless of the situation."
"………`k," Haseo turned his cheek into his now cold pillow, nuzzling the hand the brushed his bangs away from his closed eyes, much like he'd done when his mother took care of him when he was younger and sick. Then he slept.
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End Chapter 1