Disclaimer - I will never own the original cast of Ronin Warriors. All the original cast belongs to his/her respective producers, artists, voice actors, and all those associated with the series. Alix, however, is mine.
Notes - Official Fan Fiction University - better known as OFU - was originally started by the author misscam for her story The Official Fanfic University of Middle-Earth. While she no longer needs to give writers her permission to allow these stories, I must give full credit to her for starting the whole series. If you want verification of my claim, please PM me so I can give you the URL of her webpage. Also, a huge thank you to all my Beta Readers. Without their editing and critiques, this story would not have gotten off the ground.
Official Fan Fiction University of Ronin Warriors
Bianca Yeager
The color of the sky reminded her of rainbow sherbet ice cream as the sun slowly dipped below the horizon. Checking her watch to make sure she had enough time, Alix Mason stepped out of her messy—yet—logically—organized room. She smoothed down her t-shirt, making sure that her jeans and flip-flops were presentable. Her brown eyes checked that her equally brown hair was done up in a tight pony-tail before cleaning her thin, black-framed glasses.
Normally, Alix would be going to the campus cafeteria. It was a good place to socialize with her friends while eating pizza and sushi, two of her favorite foods. Right now, however, she decided to ignore her growling stomach and take a right to the campus post office—she hadn't checked her mail earlier due to classes. Besides, the cafeteria stayed open until eight in the evening.
With a slight push against the old, jointed door, Alix made her way past the brass-rimmed rows of campus post office boxes. Their numbers were faded from years of having fingers run along the cheap gold leaf paint. Turning the combination lock to her own box, Alix plucked out some white envelopes, a large manila envelope, and a couple of flyers. She started with the flyers. "Let me see. Alpha Phi Omega is recruiting for rush—I don't think I'll join a fraternity, even a service one. Greek life has never interested me. And, the campus life director is holding an ice cream social to welcome back students."
After she sorted through the flyers, she opened the white envelopes. 'Cell phone bill. I swear I should go on one of those pre-paid services. I'm being charged an arm and leg to text. Studying abroad interest meeting—I don't know if I have the grades to be considered. What else—International Club is hosting its first meeting this Friday, I might go to that and then the ice cream social. Though, I still have some fan fictions I should be working on.'
When Alix started to open the bracket for the large manila envelope, something told her to look at the return address. "Kailua-Kona, Hawaii?" she said, confused. "Who the hell do I know in Hawaii?" Curious about the strange pull the envelope had on her, Alix opened it to find two sheets of paper. Carefully pulling out the first sheet, Alix read was what looked like a welcome letter.
"Ms. Alix Mason
833 Montlieu Avenue
P.O. Box 4516
High Point, NC 27262
(240) 373-6993
August 25, 2011
Carmen Luciano
Headmistress
The Official Fan Fiction University for Ronin Warriors
237 Pa'o Way Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740
United States
(808) 418-2561
Dear Ms. Mason,
We have looked at rough drafts of your first two Ronin Warriors fan fictions and believe that your writing will make an impact in the Ronin Warriors' fan fiction community. As you probably plan to post these stories online, we invite you to come to the Official Fan Fiction University of Ronin Warriors.
At our university, we will teach you various subjects on how to write quality fan fiction. Inside this envelope is a list of school supplies needed for the school year. A member of our staff will come to greet you upon your desire to attend to our school.
Sincerely,
Carmen Luciano"
Alix looked at the sheet of paper, looked away, and then looked back at it again. How did this woman know about the unpublished stories she was working on? Especially if she was from Hawaii? In fact, how did anyone know she was dabbling in fan fiction? Especially Ronin Warriors fan fiction. She had just recently taken up the hobby.
Someone else must have gained access to her computer. That was the only explanation.
Without realizing it, she had let the other sheet of paper fall on the scuffed white tile. Alix picked it up and read:
"Supplies for the Official Fan Fiction University of Ronin Warriors
One laptop computer with wireless internet capability
One five gigabyte flash drive to save schoolwork
Pens in blue, black, and red ink
Five black and white marble composition books
College-ruled notebook paper
Five three-ring binders for each subject
Mechanical Pencils with 0.5 mm Lead
Kneadable Erasers Art Supplies for Fan Art (Optional)
An open mind"
It seemed strange that one requirement would be for Alix to possess an open mind, "let's see...an open mind? Do you really need that to write fan fiction?"
"Yes," a male voice answered her from behind.
Startled, Alix almost jumped into the air before whirling around. Behind her was a middle-aged man with dark brown hair and green eyes. "Who are you?" Alix demanded, surprised and worried that someone could just sneak up behind her without her hearing footsteps.
"My name is Harry Vanderhaus, associate headmaster of the Official Fan Fiction University of Ronin Warriors. The reason I'm here is to welcome you to the university."
"Welcome?" Alix questioned. "I never decided to come to your school."
"Yes, you did." Harry answered her. "You activated the keywords."
"Keywords? What keywords?"
"An open mind."
Alix looked at Harry like he had lost his mind. "Wait a minute. You said I activated the 'keywords'. How did I do that?"
"You missed the obvious," Harry smiled again.
"What did I miss?" Harry took the supply list and pointed at it. "Maybe you didn't notice, but the phrase 'an open mind' had different colored ink. The list, except for 'an open mind' was in black ink. 'An open mind' was in pale blue, much like a URL link. When you said the word, you did what a link was supposed to do: take you to another place. In this case, it made a connection to the university."
"That is some crazy shit," was all Alix could say. "Letters with different colored words don't work like hyperlinks. They're just two dimensional words printed on paper. The physical world doesn't just take people to some school."
Alix glanced back down at the supply list and then back at Harry. "Speaking of your so-called school, how did you know I like the anime series Ronin Warriors? I've only recently started writing fan fiction."
Harry grinned. "One of our students is from your old high school's anime club. He found a copy of your draft in the student lounge where your group used to hold meetings. He brought the draft in, we looked over your work, and the Board of Directors gave us their decision."
"So basically you snoop on other people's work?"
"No, you were careless enough to leave a fan fiction draft between the cushion of the lounge couch. With some teenager jumping up and down—well, you get the idea."
Alix clenched and unclenched both fists while mentally counting to ten. When she did calm down, she told Harry, "My answer is no. I'm not going to some school to write fan fiction. Fan fiction doesn't pay the bills, college tuition, or put food on the table. I need to get a real job that will help me in the real world -"
"I talked to your academic advisor," Harry assured her. "He's willing to let you do your classes online for your Criminal Justice Degree. Of course, the fact that he's the department's chair makes it easier for us."
"What about my parents?" Alix folded her arms across her chest, still unsure if she should call campus security to arrest Harry for trespassing or humor him by letting him continue talking about some school she already knew she wasn't going to. "They're not going to spend money for me to go to a fan fiction school."
"Your parents have been told that you have the grades to study your core classes abroad in Japan. They were very happy to hear that."
"How did you get my parents and academic advisor to buy into these stories?" Alix demanded.
"You'd be amazed at how much paperwork can come from a real college. As far as your parents and advisor are concerned, you will be heading to Keio University for a full school year."
"Wait a minute." Alix tried to rationalize the whole lie fest. "You're saying that Keio University, if this is a real university, has some sort of partnership with your school? You've got to be kidding me!"
"Actually, it is quite rational," Harry continued. "There are various schools around the world for fan fiction writing in almost every fandom. Keio University students have joined our school for academic purposes - mostly studies on fan fiction for humanities students' elective papers. In fact, because some of our first students are now Keio University students, we entered into a partnership with the school in the 1990's. Our relations are still strong, and they provide a cover for our students."
Alix raised an eyebrow. 'And he expects me to believe this crap? If he doesn't leave in the next five minutes, I'm going to call campus security. Seriously, I wonder if he understands that no means no.'
"My answer hasn't changed."
"Keio University does exist," Harry assured her. "I can give you the website address if you want to look at it. With the required, legal documents in my hand, I showed them to your advisor and parents. I told them that I was from their international studies department, and they bought it."
"Do you realize how offensive it is that you didn't even consult me before going to my parents and advisor?"
"It can't be helped," Harry shook his head. "You can fight about this all you want, but you activated the keywords. In fact, because I had to explain all of this, the link is starting to glow yellow."
"What do you mean 'starting to glow yellow'?"
"The link waited too long for your consent. After a specific amount of time, the link automatically teleports students to the university."
"Teleports? You mean that crazy stuff you see in science fiction series?"
"Yes, the things you see it in science fiction stories." Harry smiled a third time.
"I'm not buying it." Alix stood firm in her desire to stay on campus.
"Then the university will do you some good. I'll see you at the headmistress's office after we collect your personal belongings."
"Hold on! Nobody gave you permission to enter my dorm room and touch my stuff! If you steal anything from my room, I'll report you to campus security for trespassing and theft -"
Before Alix could say another word, a sudden yellow light circled the area she was standing in. Then she remembered that this was the way the warlords had teleported from Talpa's castle and into the human world. Alix tried to jump out of the light's circumference, but when she moved, so did the light. Frightened, Alix walked at a brisk pace across the hallway towards the second exit door close to the cafeteria. The light followed her pace, almost as if it was waiting for her to stop. When Alix saw that the light was following her, she broke into a run. By then, the light had encircled her completely and lifted her off the ground.
Her scream was a delayed reaction once she was in the air. 'If this is flying, I don't like it! Put me down, put me down, put me down...'
Full-blown panic sent her body into fight-or-flight mode, and she tried punching the wall of light surrounding her. The first punch to the wall sent an electrical shock through her arm, causing Alix to pull her hand away. Sure that she was going to get electrical burns, she tried stomping at the bottom to fall out of the light. At that moment, the same current ran up her legs and almost electrocuted her.
Then she tried kicking the wall. Again, all she felt was that same electrical current. Alix continued to punch, stomp, kick, and scream until her throat hurt and her hands and legs were throbbing with pain. Realizing that she couldn't win while surrounded by the teleportation beam, Alix decided it was better for her to close her eyes and wait for the whole thing to end.
Chapter 1 End