.Hack/Sign

Chapter One: Locked Inside

A girl wielding a long sword sat next to a boy on a dock staring out into the water in the root town Mac Anu. The girl's character was a Heavy Blade a class that wielded massive swords and did hand to hand combat while the boy was a Wavemaster, a magic based character. The two had just met not long ago in the new game sweeping the globe like a storm known as The World.

"Well just start from the beginning. Let me know everything you can remember." The girl said.

"Sigh…Alright…The day was going great. I just picked up my copy of The World and took it home to play it. I logged into the servers and made my Wavemaster character. As soon as I logged in and was next to the warp gate I was greeted by a bunch of people I didn't know. I'm not one who likes to be around or talk to a lot of people so I entered random keywords and warped myself to another area in hopes of being alone. There was something there. A girl in a white dress; she appeared to be running. Something appeared behind me; before I could see it my character was killed. I don't remember much after that. My character was moved back to the root town and I haven't been able to log out of the game since." The boy replied.

The girl had a puzzling look on her face.

"I don't know what to even suggest Shou. Can I ask you a question though?" The girl replied.

Shou looked a little worried. He wasn't sure if he wanted her to or not. He gave an unwilling nod of approval to her.

"Why…Why did you ask these questions and seek my help of all people?" The girl asked.

Relieved by her question he let out a breath of relief.

"Honestly Cho, I don't know. I guess when I saw you log in you had an aura about you that was comforting and approachable." Shou replied.

Cho began to blush. Although this was an online game the interacting between everyone felt as real as people standing face to face engaging in conversation.

"I just wish I knew what to do or how to help. I have some friends who I want to introduce you to maybe they can help out!" Cho said enthusiastically.

Shou jumped up from his sitting position and slowly began to back up.

"I…I don't think that's a good idea." Shou responded.

Cho stood up and appeared to be shocked by his answer.

"You really don't like to be around people much or communicate with them at all do you?" Cho asked.

Shou a little embarrassed by her remark turned around to walk away. It was the truth though and it hurt him to be reminded of it.

"Hey h-hold on! I didn't mean to offend you Shou." Cho called out.

Shou continued walking moving towards the warp gate. Cho sprinted after Shou to catch up to him.

"Please just leave me alone…I'm sorry to have bothered you." Shou said.

Tears began to run down his face. Cho startled by this immediately started feeling guilty and hurt. She didn't mean for anything like this to happen. She had only known Shou for a little bit, but felt a connection with him. Shou moved to the warp gate and teleported to a different area. Cho hung her head in disappointment.

"How could I be so ignorant? I know I don't know him that well and I don't know why I feel guilty about all of this. I'm not going to give up on him though. He did ask for my help. Shou doesn't have to meet my friends on here, but it sure wouldn't hurt to get more advice on the situation." Cho thought to herself.

Cho brought up her in game email and made out a letter to her friends and sent it.

Shou ended up teleporting to a beautiful grassland area. A big tree was only a few yards from him. Shou walked over to the tree and laid his staff down as he sat down leaning against the tree.

"What the hell is going on? I can't log out. I can't check the message boards. I can't do anything."

Little did Shou know, outside of the game his body had fallen into a coma like state…

~End of Chapter One