.hack/The Rising of the Wave

A fanfiction by Sargent Snarky

Genre: General

Rating: T / PG 13 for mild language, thematic elements, etc.

Summary: A novelization of the games. Nothing more. Nothing less. Kite is, of course, the central character.

Spoilers: Not if you take it as you play the game. If you haven't played the games and you skip to the, like, fifty seventh chapter, of COURSE there'll be spoilers, but if you just read it as you play the game or something like that, then there won't be.

Note: Although I will in many instances be taking thing directly from the games, in conversations, descriptions, et cetera I take artistic license, so it won't be exactly like the games.

I do hope you will permit me this drivel. In a way, this will probably serve as notes for me for other .hack stories in that it is a basis, more or less, of how I tend to picture things in the games.

As of right now, I'm not sure how the whole thing will be told. Most of it will likely be told in the third person, but some of it may be told from Kite's point of view, or there may be snippets from others' points of view, as well.

Yet to return, the shadowed one.
Who quests for the Twilight Dragon
Rumbles the Dark Hearth,
And Helba, Queen of the Dark, has raised finally her army.
Apeiron, King of Light, beckons... At the base of the rainbow they meet.
Against the abominable "Wave," together they fight.
Alba's lake boils.
Light's great tree doth fall.
Power - all now to droplets turned in the temple of Arche Koeln.
Returns to nothing, this world of shadowless ones.
Never to return, the shadowless one.
Who quests for the Twilight Dragon.

- An excerpt from the Epitaph of Twilight

Prologue

"Ah, finally!" exclaimed a fourteen year old boy, sitting before his computer's monitor.

The flat-screened computer resided on a desk in the corner of his small room. Accompanying the screen and keyboard upon his desk were a game controller, a headset, two speakers, several jewel cases and their contents, an instruction manual and various personal affects, including two picture frames. One held a picture of the boy with his immediate family, which amounted to his parents and elder sister. The other contained a picture of the boy clowning around with his best friend, who appeared a bit older. There was also a can of soda (on a coaster, but only because of parental insistence) and a cup with various pens and pencils.

As for the room itself, it had a mattress in place of a bed or a more traditional bed roll in the opposite corner of the desk. A small table between its head and the wall served as a headboard and nightstand. On the 'bed' were, of course, pillows and sheets and two old and battered stuffed animals (one was a red fox given to him by his uncle, who had emigrated to America, and the other was a green dragon, given to him by his father, who was, for no apparent reason, a fan of the baseball team the Dragons) the teenager had retained from childhood. The only other furnishings were a set of shelves holding books, for the most part, and a small chest. There was also a shallow closet right next to his desk in which he kept his clothing, among other things.

The walls of the room were one green, the curtains on the window were another green, and his sheets were yet another shade of green. His desk lamp was even green. Yup, the teenager rather liked green. He wasn't wearing any now, but he often did. It was his favorite color. Which is why it might be a bit surprising that he didn't have green glasses frames. Nope, those were dark brown, unlike his eyes, which were a hazel sort of color, contrasting nicely with his black hair.

While that color might have been unusual in Japan, where dark brown, nearly black eyes were the norm, it ought not to have been unexpected with the boy's ancestry. But that's another story for another time. He did have a bit of Western blood running in him, but it makes little difference to this story.

Anyway, at the moment, his sister, who was the only one home besides him, was lying upon his mattress, reading a magazine, and she looked up. "Hmm?"

The boy glanced over at her. "I've finally finished loading and registering for The World." He looked back to the screen. "And now for a name…"

His sister thought for a moment. "How about Kite? No one outside of the family and Yasu's going to know who you are based on that name, and it's personal…" She grinned. "After all, we've only been calling you that for, what, thirteen years?"

'Kite' arched an eyebrow. "Ok… I guess that works." There was a pause as he typed it in, confirmed it, then considered a password. "Yasuhiko's probably already there, waiting for me… I should hurry."

"No, really?"

Kite ignored his sister's comment and typed in the password 'soccerfreak' and confirmed it. A few seconds later, after the information was processed and stored, Kite was informed that the installation was complete. It was at this time Kite noticed that he had new email. Three new messages, to be precise. So, he opened the new messages one by one, the first of which was from Yasuhiko, his friend.

From: Yasuhiko
Title: Registered Yet?
Message:

"Hey, did you finish registering? What kind of character are you?

Oh, and like I said at school, you'll regret it if you use a smartass name. I'm Orca in The World, so keep that in mind. Don't call me by my real name!

You can be a different person while you're there… well, more like the guy you want to be. Anyway, I'll be at Root Town. Hurry up!"

The second email was a Thank You and Welcome sort of message from CC Corporation, one of those automatic courtesy emails. And the third email was a brief explanation about some of the updates that had come with version 2.75 of The World and a referral to a topic on the BBS. Kite did little more than skim them before leaving his email browser; he didn't even bother to read any of the new News Flashes.

Kite grinned, a thrill of excitement running through him; he only hoped The World was all it was cracked up to be. Taking a deep breath, he clicked upon the icon for The World on his desktop and logged in…

Thus, his adventure would begin.

Author's Notes:

The First Chapter ought to be up tomorrow evening. I've got most of it written down already, anyway.

Anyway… Hey, guys! I know it's been a long time since I've written any fanfiction, and rest assured I do not mean and did not mean to abandon it. X.x I've just been so terribly busy and unmotivated. HOWEVER, getting (finally) the soundtrack of not only .hack/SIGN, but also the games (YES, they DID produce a CD with the 'best' music from the .hack games. It doesn't have all of the music, but it does have the good stuff.) has inspired me to replay the games.

And as long as I'm replaying the games, I've been taking notes on them. And as long as I'm taking notes on them, I've decided to write a novelization of the games, since no one else (that I have found) seems to.

The reason I'm not working on my other fanfictions is that I've been out of .hack mode for so long that it'll take me a while to get back in the swing of things, and this piece will serve that goal nicely. ALSO, it will take me a while to reread them and remember where I was going with the individual works. Besides, on a few of them, part of the reason I stopped was because I had to replay a certain point in the game because I couldn't remember what happened.

Also, please note that this project will take me a while, as I have to replay the games, record all that is going on in the games and then write up a chapter based on my notes.

As I said, artistic liberties have been taken with some of the dialogue, emails actions, etc. So don't flame me on that account. Otherwise, if you really want to flame me, do so. I don't care, though I'd LOVE you IF you would CRITICIZE this piece by TELLING ME WHAT I DID WRONG and HOW I might FIX it. Also, telling me what you liked would be good, because then I might add more of the same in later.

Thanks for putting up with me…? Er…

Summary of First Chapter:

Kite receives a basic tutorial from Orca-sensei, but, towards the end, as they are leaving the dungeon, things fall apart. Or at least the dungeon does.