Disclaimer: the .Hack series, as much as I would love to own, I do not.

Sorry not mains are here. They're coming in part two C:

"Plug this up to the internet," Satoshi said as he handed me a long black cord. I snatched it from his hand as I pushed back my hair and crawled back behind my computer desk. It was a tangle of plugs and electrical sockets and long lost items that were haphazardly tossed behind there whenever I had to clean my room, but I pushed all of the unneeded things aside as I searched for the phone plug in my computer. "Found it," I called as I re- emerged from behind my desk and dusted myself off. "You know, you could've actually helped me install it. I mean, instead of hogging my desk chair." He merely smiled and got up, stretching his back while blowing off what I said. "Congratulations, you just finished installing the ultimate, most coolest, funnest, bestest MMORPG in… well, the world!" he laughed and I giggled. "Anyway, now that you've got it all hooked up, I'm gonna go home and log in. You should read the manual before you actually begin, though. At the very least, learn how to move and some of the basic commands. I'm not too good at teaching people how to do that." Satoshi then opened my door and with a cheerful wave, he left, leaving me alone with The World's User Manual. I relaxed in my desk chair and opened the small paperback booklet.

"Welcome, User, to The World!"

My computer showed a screen with The World's homepage on it. I looked around on the boards for a bit before I registered my new account. After I put in all the essential information, like my Email address, I had to pick a class. I remembered what Satoshi had told me about the legendary .Hacker's "BlackRose" and "Kite", and decided to be a Heavy Blade. It seemed pretty cool, having a giant sword to swing around. After choosing my class, I had to designate physical and magic points, as well as offensive and defensive points. I figured I might need more physical points to attack with my sword than magic, so what I took away from the magic bar I added on to the physical bar. Now, since the manual said that Heavy Blades use weapons that require the use of both hands, I added more defense points than offense. Finally, I was allowed to create my character's name. I leaned back in my chair and stared up at the ceiling. There were over twenty million users in The World. That probably meant "Akashi" was taken. And "Kasha", as well. Sighing, I reached over to the other side of my desk and picked up my Japanese-English Dictionary. I closed my eyes, opened it to a random page, and pointed to a spot on the page. As I opened my eyes again, I saw that my finger had landed on the kanji for Kodama – Echo.

Kodama was a pale skinned, dark haired female wearing a dark, sleeveless tunic with a white sash around her middle and a pair of puffy white pants that clung to her ankles. On her waist were several leather carrier bags, I presumed for items. Ankle high leather boots adorned her feet. On each shoulder, three dark hexagons strongly stood out against her skin. Smiling at myself, I snapped on my FMD and clicked the Enter button on my screen. A few seconds later, Kodama made her first step into The World.

Δ (Delta) Server Zone: Root Town, Port Town, Mac•Anu

My first thought of the world was, "Wow…" I was standing before what looked like a town from a fairy tale, only with an Italian hint running throughout it. Gondolas floated on the clear water of the canal in front of me as Irish music played gently in the background. Brick and stone houses lined the canal as colorful flags waved in a nonexistent breeze. It was a sunny day; white cloud lazily drifted across the blue sky above me, but on the ground was totally different. There were people everywhere…! Hundreds of avatars were walking around, talking and buying things and generally having a good time. As I stood in front of the Chaos Gate, marveling at the Delta Root Town, a male Long Arm and his companion, a female Twin Blade passed right through me and to the Chaos Gate, giving me a look. I smiled with the command "/smile" like it said in the manual and hurriedly walked away.

I walked to the top of a bridge overlooking the canal and stopped. Satoshi never said where to meet him when I entered The World, and how was I supposed to know it was him if I saw him? I was about to take off my FMD and call him when someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was a male, with short white hair that was practically hidden under his hat and purple eyes, wearing a long brown robe with a white hood and sleeves that covered his hands. There was a marking under his left eye that resembled a feather. He carried a wand that curved at the end, with a large red orb suspended in the middle. "Are you by any chance Iwazaki Akashi?"

I had no idea what to do. Was this Satoshi? What if it was so kind of pervert? But how did he know my name? I decided to take my chances and answer him. "Um… yes. And who are you?" The player smiled at me. "I found you!" he said in a sing song voice that I instantly recognized as Satoshi's. "I've been up and down this root town asking newbie's if they were you. I probably scared a couple of 'em in the process." I laughed. "Oh, it's you Satoshi!" I breathed a sigh of relief. "I had no idea who you were at first. You scared me!"

He brushed off my comment with a laugh. "I always scare you." then he paused. "You know, now that we're in The World together, you gotta know some stuff. First off, you can't call me Satoshi. Here in the game, I'm called Wara." I nodded, just barely following along with him. "And you can't go by your real name, either. Only by the name you chose for yourself. It makes role playing a lot more fun that way." Wara winked at me and started to move back to the Chaos Gate. "Also, if we want to work together as a team, we have to trade member addresses and form a party. Do you want to work together with me as a team?" he asked me, using the command "/look". I nodded my head a few times with "/yes". "Of course I want to!" Wara smiled again. "Cool!"

Suddenly, a little box icon popped over my head.

Wara wishes to form a party!

I accepted his invitation, and Wara's health and skill point gauges appeared on the lower left hand corner of my screen. It also said that Wara's level was currently at level ten. "So," Wara began. "Your name is Kodama. Very nice. I'm guessing you might want to get a hands-on experience at fighting monsters, so let's go! I heard that they programmed a new newbie area. It's called—"

"They?"

Wara stopped walking and turned to look at me. "You don't know who 'They' are? Cyber Connection Corporation, also lovingly called CC Corp. They programmed the entire world, and they also manage it. I think a few people who work there play as normal users so they can catch other people… without them knowing who they really are." Wara turned back around and marched to the Chaos Gate again, waving his wand in the air. Kodama followed close behind as to not get lost as she listened to Wara speak. "Anyway, as I was saying. We're going to this new area CC Corp. only just programmed. It's called, "Bursting, Passover, Aqua Field."

…End Part One…