Hey all. I have done a major improvement to my fanfic. Once upon a time this fanfic was about 5 pages long. It was horribly written and I couldn't live like that. So now I have rewritten it to the best of my knowledge. I hope it's still good. If you find any problems with it, let me know right away. Thank you.


Disclaimer – I do not own any of the .hack plots and characters, I just enforce them. XD

DRAGON

Chapter 1 –

Into the Unknown

"The only way you can

enjoy life is if you

try new things."

OFFLINE

"Damn rain."

It has been raining for three days. The streets of Kyoto and the small community on the hills have been washed down by the storm. Cars were soaked with water both outside and inside. In some parts of the community, the power had gone out. Nobody left their houses except for the people that had to go to work and kids that had to go to school. The sound of the rain and thunder was almost the only thing you could hear. It looked like the storm wasn't gonna stop anytime soon.

Young, 14 year old Jack is walking down towards his home. His umbrella has, luckily, kept his body dry from the rain. The only things that got wet are his hair and legs. He stopped and looked up. He was in front of his house. There was a white wall that was made out of bricks. It was curved, so you could see the bushes on the other side. On the flat part of the wall was a plant that grew fast when given lots of water. The gate was black and made out of chromium steel. The house was two stories tall and has a peach coating. The roof is brown and it has a porch with a ceiling so the white wood wouldn't get wet. He opened the gate and went up the small stairs. He put down his umbrella, removed his shoes, and went inside.

"Mom, I'm home!" he yelled out. He knew his mother was here because he saw her car parked in front of the house. Then he heard her faint voice. "Hello Jack. I'm in the bathroom right now so I can't really talk."

"That's okay. I'm gonna go take a shower now."

"Okay then, just don't take too long." Then Jack went up the stairs and into the bathroom.

Jack closed the door and locked it. Then he went towards the shower, opened the glass door, and turned on the hot water. Then he closed the door again. He went up to the mirror and removed his school uniform shirt. He looked at himself in the mirror. His hair was soaked. He has an amore' black hairstyle, so some of his hair covered his left eye. He has round, blue eyes, pink lips, a medium sized Romani nose, and a peach colored skin tone. He put his hand on his hair. The hair went right in between the fingers. Then he shook his hair so that some of the water came out. Small sparklettes came out and glistened in the light. He then removed the rest of his clothes and went into the shower. He turned on the cold water and the water became timid, or warm.

When he dipped his head into the water, he thought about what his friend had told him about a certain game

"The… World?" Jack asked.

He and his friend, Kinoko, were caught in the rain. They ran towards the nearest room. "Yeah! It's a really awesome game!" Jack looked at her and smiled. She has long, wavy black hair, round, crimson eyes, pink lips, and soft light pink skin. The rain made her skin look even more soft and fragile. Jack blushed a little and continued running. "I'm actually a pretty decent player on it. If you join, I can happily lend you a hand." She winked at him and smiled. He smiled and blushed more. Then they continued to run. By the time they reached the nearest room, they were soaked with rain water. Water dripped from the tip of their hair and clothing. They laughed as they tried to dry themselves up. There were other students sitting on seats, tables, talking and laughing.

"I'm…not sure…" X finally said.

"Not sure about what?"

"You know, being a part of 'The World'. I'm not sure if I should join."

"Well, I think you should join. Besides, I can really help you out. Come on! It'll be fun!"

He looked at her for a moment and said, "Well…I'll give the game a shot, but only because you make it sound good." Then he laughed and rubbed his hair. The drops of water glimmered in the light. Kinoko laughed and did the same thing.

:

After ten minutes, he turned off the water and got out of the shower. He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist and grabbed another towel and started to dry his hair. Maybe, he thought. Maybe I will join. It'll probably be fun. Then he dried the bottom of his feet and his ankles and went towards his room. He closed the bathroom door, opened his room door, went inside, and closed and locked it.

After he put on his clothes, he went onto the computer and went to 'The World's website. He registered and started to download the game. After a few minutes, the download was complete. He went to his backpack and took out a controller and a Virtu-Goggle. He connected them behind the council and opened the file that contained the game data. Then a light blue-navy blue screen appeared on the screen that said ALTIMIT. Then another screen, this time yellow-orange, popped up. He looked at his mail and one of them said:


From:

CC Corporation

To:

User

Subject:

"The World" v4.65

"The World" has recently been upgraded with new features and events. The first one is that now you can use all five senses: see, hear, smell, taste and feel. Now "The World" will feel more realistic. WARNING: When in a battle, be aware that you may feel pain when you are struck by any attack, so be very careful.

The limit of people you can have in a party has been raised. Now, there can be up to 8 people in your party. It's a feature that players have requested for a very long time, and now, its here!

Your characters can now be immune to magic. If any of your elemental stats are higher than 60, then you are immune to that element. If all of the elemental stats are higher than 60 then you are now immune to magic imbued attacks.

There are two special events out there. Some players will be chosen out of random and will be given 50,000GP and a rare item. This event will be on for this month only, so hope to be chosen. The second event is that you can now get wings in stores, but the cost of the wings is 2,000,000 GP and you can buy them anywhere. Also, some monsters that have wings themselves will leave their wings behind when they die, but they are ultra powerful. The monster wings event will be up for two months. The area where these winged monsters are found is (OMEGA) Destined Dark Matter Abyss.

Good luck and have fun!

CC Corp.


Then he logged onto "The World".

ONLINE

He closed his eyes and held his breath when he was warping into the beginners' server, Aqua Capitol Mac Anu. He couldn't breathe anymore. He released the trapped air and started to cough. Then he opened his eyes and saw static.

Only static, pure, white static.

He sighed in relief as he thought he would see something that would scare the hell out of him. Then he looked up and saw a small dark hole. Is that where I came from? He thought. Then he continued to look around as he fell from the hole.

/There is nothing to be afraid of. You will like this place. I am sure of it. You have to learn to loosen up. Plus, I, your conscience, will help you step by step/

What the hell are you talking about? You don't know how to play this game! You are as good at this game as I am! Damn conscience…

/Heh. Like I've said before, loosen up/

He snickered and stopped thinking to his conscience. Then he continued to look around until he saw colors. Colors of the rainbow. He stared at the colors and focused on them. Then the colors started to warp. It started to take shape of a mythical creature. He just continued to stare, open eyed and open mouthed. What the, he thought. The colors finally stopped warping and stayed in its shape. It's a…a…The creature looked at X for a moment, and then it disappeared into the static chaos. He remained wide eyed and whispered, "Dragon."

"I don't think he's coming."

Kinoho, or Nina in "The World", was waiting in front of the Chaos Gate with her friend, Yasu. "What do you mean?" Yasu asked.

"You won't understand." She looked down and frowned a little. She put her hand behind her back and grabbed the elbow of her other hand and looked down. She was really hoping that Jack would join the game. She has waited for him with her friend in front of the Chaos Gate for a short while now. Yasu just looked at Nina in a puzzled way. Then it hit her.

"Do you like him?"

"Like who?"

"You know!"

"Well, I…uh…ahem…" Nina scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. Yasu just laughed and slapped her gently on her back. They remained silent for until Jack logged on. Nina walked up to the Chaos Gate and said, "You're an idiot, Yasu!" She smiled and laughed. Yasu pouted and walked up to Nina.

"So are you!" Then Jack logged on in front of the two friends. They startled each other and jumped back. Jack, known as X in "The World", sighed and looked at the two friends in confusion. Then he looked at Nina's eyes and finally said, "Kinoho?" Nina looked at him and then said, "Jack?" Then they both ran up to each other and gave each other a hug. Then they backed away and scratched the back of their heads. Yasu just stared in amusement.

"You look…different…" Nina told X.

"So do you." X replied.

X's wardrobe was very different than what Nina would expect. He's wearing a black robe with a white scarf that covers his neck. He's also wearing a black overcoat that was all buttoned up and he carried a white wand and had long, silver hair. He also has wings that were as dark as the darkest black hole in the universe. He also has boots that went up an inch higher than his ankles. He also wore white gloves that symbolized the purest of all hearts. He seemed ready to face anything.

Nina's wardrobe was much, much different than X's. For starters, she has silver armor equipped with red lines as its pattern. Her boots were made of the same material and has the same pattern. Below all that armor is a black jump suit. She carried a weapon that had a fire pattern around the sharp edge of the sword. There are holes drilled near the handle of the blade and was very long and sharp. It was thick as well, so it was difficult for her to get heavy damage.

Yasu's is also a little weird. She wore a twin blade suit that let her move easily in tough terrain. The color was a greenish blue with silver linings all around it. She wore brown boots and her skin was all a light pink. She had green hair and red eyes. She carried around twin blades that look like fish scales. She didn't seem all that tough. But looks can be deceiving.

Yasu continued to stare at them until finally, she said, "Okay then. Shall we get going?"

Both friends looked at her. "Where are we going?" X asked.

"We are going to a dungeon where we test new people. I'll tell you all about it as soon as we get there. Me and Nina go there with new recruits to see if other players are worthy of entering our 'Rare Hunters' clan."

"What do you mean' The Rare Hunters' clan?"

"In the last update, not counting the one that just happened, players are able to create their own clans and be able to fight other clans and make money out those fights and we can make money when we go into a mission that the admins post on the BBS. The amount they give to the clan depends on their performance during the mission. If all goes well, then we get a lot of GP. If it all goes to waste, we get a very small amount of GP. Ill give you more detail when the time is right. Now, we prepare to go to the test area!"

Then Yasu ran towards the bridge and yelled out, "Are you coming or not?"

X and Nina smiled and ran towards her. Then she crossed the bridge and went up to the 'Magic Scroll Store'.

:

The water was calm and peaceful. A boat was moving through the water and made little ripples that glowed in the sunlight. The sound of the water could calm both the body and soul. That was exactly what Subaru was doing on the boat. She was sitting on the mini stairs on the boat and looked at Crim, who was on the other side of the boat. He had his eyes closed and was looking down. He has his arms crossed and had a smirk on his face. His long, blue hair waved in the wind. Small sweat droplets slowly went down his peach colored skin. The sun beat down with a strong heat that felt the same as the Earth's sun. It was also making Subaru sweat a little. Silver Knight was also on the boat. His helmet made him sweat the most and brushed off the sweat every once in a while with his blood red gloves.

"Why did they have to make the sun so real as well? I don't like it one bit." Silver Knight exclaimed.

"Why don't you send a message to them about their sun?" Crim told him. "And leave us out of it this time. We are not complaining about it." Subaru giggled a little. "Anyway," Crim put his head up and looked at Subaru. "I got an email from Mimiru. She told me to forward the message to everyone we knew, but I forgot. So, I'm telling you now. Sorry about that."

Subaru shook her head and smiled a little. "It's all right. Just tell me the message and I will tell everyone."

"Okay, Mimiru told us to meet her and her party at…" Silver Knight looked at Crim with wide, interested eyes.

:

After 10 minutes, X and his party met back on the bridge. Then after a few minutes of Yasu talking, she said "Change of plans! We are going to (LAMBDA) Obsessed Peaceful Wavemaster! We will go there! It is full of really cool items!" She closed her eyes and giggled a little. X and Nina looked at each other and then at Yasu. X smiled and said "Sure! Is this, like, a mission area that was posted on the BBS?"

"Yup, and the first person to complete this mission get 5000GP each and 20000GP for the clan donations! We can make our base bigger with that much GP!" Yasu giggled and started to run towards the Chaos Gate. "Let's go then," X said. He ran as well.

"I have a bad feeling about this one," Nina whispered to herself and ran to catch up.

:

Floor Level B1

"Our clan is rich already. The .HACKERS doesn't need more GP. Our base is as large as a field. Actually, it is a field. (DELTA) Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground is what it is." Silver Knight told Mimiru. They were in (LAMBDA) Obsessed Peaceful Wavemaster sooner than X's team. They were in the entrance of the dungeon and they had found Mimiru, Tsukasa, and Bear sitting on the dungeon floor.

"I DON'T CARE! I WANT MORE GP AND I CANT GET ANY FROM OUR DONATIONS!" Silver Knight and Mimiru were at their throats when Kite and BlackRose started the clan.

"Stop fighting, both of you." Subaru told them. Silver Knight stopped and said "Yes, me lady."

Mimiru stared a SK. "Kiss up." She told him in a low voice.

Then he stared at her. "What did you say?"

"Oh, nothing." She looked away and smirked. SK just turned away.

Bear chuckled. "BT and Sora should be here soon."

"Let's hope so," Tsukasa said. "It looks like these two are gonna beat the crap out of each other." Everyone laughs while Mimiru and SK fight. "Okay, you can calm down now. TAROT OF THE HANGED MAN!" At an instant, both Mimiru and SK froze.

"What the hell! Why did you do that! Let me go!" Mimiru screamed out.

"You need to calm down. He is not your enemy." Subaru told her. "The data bug in this area is."

"And I wont let go," Tsukasa added. "Now calm down. We have work to do."

"Yes, we do." A voice echoed throughout the room. Everyone looked at the dungeon opening. BT and Sora were standing on the lowest stair and Sora was jumping around.

"Hello, everyone. Let's play!" He was smirking and looked at Mimiru. "What do we have here… a Mimiru statue! I will destroy it! MWA HAA HAA!" He stuck out his blades and was about to attack until BT used a TAROT OF THE HANGED MAN. "Why'd you stop me, you old bag!"

BT clutched her fist and squeezed her wand. Her face reddened and she yelled at Sora, "IM NOT OLD!" She sweated more as she gritted her teeth. Her eyes turned a bright red and huge. Her hair was swirling in the air. She stomped her feet on the ground and went up to Sora. "Say it again…"

Sora repeated, "Old… Bag…" He smirked. BT lunged at him, but Crim grabbed her before she hit him.

"Calm down damn it! Not you, too!" BT quickly settled down. Then all of the tarots wore off.

"Ah, finally!" Mimiru screamed out. She flexed her fingers and swirled her arms around. "I feel better now!" She smirked and looked at SK. "Sorry about that. I got carried away."

SK brushed dust off his torso and said, "Don't let it happen again… and I'm sorry too." Then he walks up to Subaru's right side. Mimiru just stared.

"Well then," Sora said. "Shall we get going?" He walked up to the door and then looked back at the party. "Now, were all here? Let's go!" Subaru looked around. Everyone is here; Crim, Silver Knight, Mimiru, Tsukasa, BT, Sora, Bear, and herself.

"Okay then," Subaru said. "Let's go deeper into the dungeon!"

"Now you're talkin' my language!" Sora said and ran through the opening.

"Hey, wait up!" Mimiru ran after him and the rest followed. Subaru waited until she and Tsukasa were last.

They looked at each other as if what they knew what the other person was thinking.

I have a bad feeling about this…

Then they ran through the door.

A very bad feeling……


:

Floor Level B7

The room is cold and dark. Almost nothing was visible, but they were able to see the boss. It was a bright green and seemed protected by it as well. The green light was the only light around, but every once in a while it disappeared so no one was able to see anything. The creature roared as it killed its foe. The character Gray Darkness was killed within a matter of seconds. His other three party members, LeeGlow, xPKx, and Yeti tired to get out of the room. The creature saw them and swung something at them. They dodged the attack and fell to the ground. The cage that blocked the exit was bent.

"Do we have any resurrects left!" Lee screamed out.

"Were not only out of Resurrects, were out of everything else! We have no items left and I'm out of SP!" Yeti yelled back.

"Aren't Wavemasters suppose to heal SP faster!" xPKx asked.

"Yeah, but the monster is used a spell on me and my SP is actually decreasing!"

"Damn it Yeti!" Lee screamed out. Just then, something slammed him and he fell to the floor. He had lost his entire HP count. Then the creature used a spell and carried both his and Gray's bodies. Then a green and purple bracelet encircled them and a beam of light hit both bodies. Lee and Gray screamed in pain and then their bodies disappeared. Two red orbs encircled the creature and then went into its torso. The creature roared and started to look for the other two. Yeti was hiding in one of the dark corners and xPKx was trying to break the bar door with his sword.

"Damn… it… damn…" he grunted as he swung his sword. "Where the hell did we go wrong…?"The floor shook behind him and he stopped hitting the bars. He slowly turned around… slowly… slowly…and looking down… Then he slowly looked up and saw the face of the creature. Its fangs were large, sharp and white/yellow. Its skin is black and scaly. Its eyes were small and red. It was drooling and some of it fell on top of xPKx's head, but he didn't care. He was too scared to move. Then the creature raised its hand and revealed four long and sharp claws. xPKx wanted to scream, but it stopped at his throat. Then the creature lunged at him and hit him hard. It left four large claw marks on xPKx's body. His armor was torn apart and his inner clothing was torn as well. He fell dead on the floor, his body covered in his own blood. Yeti heard everything. The creature grabbed xPKx's body and threw it up in the air. The same bracelet that encircled Gray Darkness and LeeGlow appeared around him and was also drained down. He screamed until it was a mere echo and his body disappeared.

Yeti was all teary. She got up and held on to the wall. She tripped on her feet and fell on the floor. The thump echoed through the room. IT turned around and looked directly at Yeti. She tried to get up, but she felt like her feet were frozen to the floor. IT charged at her in full speed. IT struck her on her side and IT slammed her on the wall. It left her two large bruises on her sides. Blood covered her from shoulder to knees. She fell down unconscious. IT grabbed her by her ripped clothes and slammed her to the ground. Its green glow disappeared as it roared. The same bracelet from last time surrounded her unconscious body and was drained. Her body disappeared and IT went to the middle of the room, sat down and disappeared.

OFFLINE

It's the rain that helps it all go to hell.

The sounds of a thud echoed throughout the house. Jeremy Grey Darkness was the only person home that day. His mom went to the store and his father was still at work. His older brother was at basketball practice. He had the family phone inside his room just in case someone called. He lied there for half an hour until his mother came and called the hospital. His heart slowed during the time he lied there, but he has a slow, but steady beat in the hospital bed.

Lee LeeGlow was playing in an internet café. Everyone noticed him fall. Everyone surrounded him. Someone checked his pulse. It was slowing fast. Another person called the hospital and waited for six minutes. Many people were nervous. The rain made it more nerve-wreaking. He was put on a stretcher and into the ambulance. Then the driver hurried to the hospital.

Peter xPKx was using the living room computer. He also invited his friend, Mai to play on "The World" on his computer. His brother and girlfriend Stacy were in the other room watching a horror movie. Just when the killer popped out, Peter screamed in pain and made them both jump up from their seats. His brother got angry and put pause on the movie. He opened the door and screamed out, "Shut up! You're lucky my girlfriend is here!" He expected him to say something like "Like I care!" or "Fuck off!" but he didn't hear anything from him. He got a bit concerned. "I'll be right back…" he told Stacy. He got out of the room and went into the living room. He saw his brother collapsed on the desk. He walked up to him and punched him on the right shoulder. He didn't wake up. That's weird, he thought. He checked him and felt a low pulse. "Son of a bitch!" he yelled out. "My moms gonna kill me! I have to call the hospital. Something is very wrong with him." He ran into the room and got the phone. He called and waited with Stacy in the front porch with Peter on their laps. Soon they came and questioned Drew. Peter was sent to the hospital for being comatose.

Mai Yeti was at her friend's house, playing on the other computer. Her friend, Peter, was playing on the living room computer. The shriek that came from him scared her and she wanted to log off, but something made her stay to the bitter end. She wanted to kill the creature that killed her friend, but she was too scared and weak to do anything. So she just ran and hid until she was the only one left. All the noise she did led her to her downfall. While the police and the paramedics got Peter, she shrieked in pain fell to the floor comatose. The police ran in and had their guns ready. They went upstairs and opened every door until they found her almost dead body lying there on the floor. They called up for a stretcher and they picked her up gently. They put her on the stretcher and they put her in the same ambulance that Peter is in. Then they were sent to the hospital.


:

ONLINE

Floor Level B4

There were faint screams and roars coming from the lower floors. Kite stopped attacking a Head Hunter and tried to hear the shrieks, but only to hear a faint roar from a monster. BlackRose looked at him, but then continued to attack the Head Hunter. The Head Hunter threw its sword at her, only for it to be stopped by Balmung's sword. Then he jumped and hacks and slashes it to oblivion. It left a blue treasure chest after its body disappeared. BlackRose walked up to Kite and put her hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?" she asks.

He turns around and looks at BlackRose's eyes. "Didn't you hear it? I heard a scream coming from the lower floors."

"I didn't hear anything." BlackRose closed her eyes and shook her head. She put her blade on her back sash and looked at the treasure chest. "I didn't hear a scream, and I don't care. All I care about is opening that chest right there. Can I have a Fortune Wire?" She sticks out her hand so that he can put it on her hand. Kite laughs and gives her the wire.

Balmung stares at BlackRose and says, "You've been hanging out with Mistral too much." He smiles and chuckles. Then he walks up to Kite and says, "Which way should we take?"

They were in a large room with a platform in the middle. There were three hallways with an opening on each one. Every step echoed throughout the room as he walked around the room. "Let's go this way!" He pointed at the west door.

"Let's go then!" BlackRose ran towards the door. Kite smiled and looked at Balmung. Balmung just chuckled and both of them ran after her. "You two are slow! And Kite is supposed to be faster than us!" She went through the door and Kite screamed out, "We'll see who's faster!" Kite started to run faster and Balmung tried to catch up. Kite passed BlackRose after going through the door and started to laugh. He turned around and told BlackRose, "So fast! Cant touch this!" Then he bumped into a scaly creature and fell to the floor. He rubbed his head and looked up. There were three Head Hunters ready for battle and one Armored Shogun guarding the stairs.

"Oh great, an Armored Shogun." Balmung yelled out. "We didn't mean to put that shogun here! Reki must've wanted it to be more difficult as you progressed down the dungeon. There were supposed to be five Head Hunters here. It was too easy."

"Doesn't matter!" BlackRose said. "The harder, the better!" She grabbed the handle of her blade.

"Yeah," Kite got to his feet and grabbed his blades. Balmung grabbed his sword and said, "Well then, shall we get started?" He started to run towards the nearest Head Hunter. Kite ran towards the one on the left and BlackRose took on the last one. In just a few hits, they were destroyed. All that was left was the Armored Shogun. BlackRose and Balmung attacked hit so that he can lose its weapons. All four of its weapons fell to the floor. Then Kite went in for the kill. He threw his blades at it and struck it on the torso. Then its body started to crack and soon there was nothing left of it except dust and large pieces of its armor. "Too easy," BlackRose said. She kicked a large piece of the armor and something came out of the crack. Balmung jumped and landed in front of it. He went down and licked it up. It was a sphere.

"That's funny," Balmung said. "I don't remember any sphere items in the games roster. Must be a special event made by the Admins. I'll e-mail them to make sure." Then a screen appeared in front of Balmung and he started to write on it.

"Wonder what it is," Kite murmured.

"What was that?" BlackRose asked.

Kite just started to sweat. "Oh, nothing. I was just talking to myself again."

"Whatever," BlackRose replied. So weird… Balmung finished e-mailing them and threw the sphere at Kite. "Kite, catch!" Kite caught it and looked at it closely. Then BlackRose walked up to him and swiped it from his hand. "So this is a sphere in "The World". I don't like it. Looks the same as in the real world." Then she gave it back to Kite.

"The Admins replied back. They know nothing of this sphere. It's not in the roster nor is it a held event."

"Just like my bracelet…" Kite said.

"Yes, exactly. It's an illegal item here in the world. An administrator like me can't be seen with an illegal item so you hold it Kite. You already have the illegal bracelet."

"Right. This sphere may actually prove to be useful." BlackRose said. She looked at it and said, "You know, the colors and patterns of this sphere remind me of our base and the Twilight colors. Think there's any connection between them?"

"Maybe. There's only one way to find out. I'm gonna data drain it." Kite suggested.

"BlackRose, lets got out of the way." Balmung told her.

"Right." Then they mover to the stairs. Kite threw up the sphere into the air and performed data drain. A green and purple bracelet encircled the sphere. Then a beam of twilight colors came out of Kite's palm and hit the sphere. Then the light disappeared, the sphere fell to the ground. It had no effect at all. "What happened?" Kite asked.

"I'm not sure, but it could be that this sphere may be immune to being data drained. Or, maybe we can't use this item. Administrators can't use illegal items so that's why I can't use it. Kite. You already have a special item. Characters may have the capacity of only 1 special item. And BlackRose. You're just impatient." Balmung started to laugh and then stopped. BlackRose's face turned red. "I'm just kidding! Anyway, I think this item can be used by a special player. It can be anyone except the party. That includes everyone that has joined your party in the past."

"So no one in my past parties is able to use this item. Then that means we have another mission! We need to find the missing character! But, how are we gonna find him or her?"

"Easy!" BlackRose said. "We'll just let the sphere lead us to him!"

Kites and Balmung looked at BlackRose in a confused way. "Look. Aura may be behind this just like she and the bracelet! Let's call her and see if she has anything to say about this!"

Kite smiled and stared at Balmung, then back at BlackRose. "That's a great idea! Let's do it later though. First, let's clear this mission." He smirked and ran downstairs. "Let's hurry! I have to leave soon!" Both BlackRose and Balmung nodded and they both ran down the stairs.

Level B6 (10 minutes after Kites team and Subaru's team made it to the corridor that leads to the boss battle.)

The area seemed blurry and humid and red. The torch that's on the wall was burning off. There were other torches to light the way. X and his party were exhausted from fighting so many monsters. X had leveled up big time. First he was at level 1 but now he's at level 11 thanks to the many high leveled monsters and his teammates. Yasu is at level 56 and Nina is at level 49. They were all heavily wounded and in need to heal. It's a good thing Nina prepares for these things. Since X ran out of SP, she used an Artisan's Soul. This healed 250 of his total SP. Then she used a Mega-potion. This new item made in the game heals everyone's HP. Then X sat down on the floor next to the burning out torch. "Thanks," he told her. "I needed that."

Nina smiled and sat next to him. "We all needed it," she corrected him.

"Right, we all needed it." X started to laugh. Yasu looked at them and said, "Aw look at the cute little couple!" Then she started to laugh. They stared at her and then stared to laugh too.

"Oh yeah," Nina said. "Then what about you and that Yurasami dude! You two would make such a cute couple!" Then she started to make kissing noises and laughed.

"You said you wouldn't say it out loud!" Yasu screamed at her.

"There's no one around. Besides, X doesn't care! He's new and he doesn't know him!"

"Right." X smiled and got up. "Well, I feel better. Let's continue down to finish this." Both looked at him and also got up. Then they stared to walk towards the stairs when they heard a voice coming from behind them. "Hey, you three! Where do you think you're going?" They turned to see who it was. There were four of them. One had colorful yukata that made him look like a samurai. He also had an eye patch on his left eye and was growing a beard. Then there was a little boy with blue Wavemaster wears and a blue hat with white and red jewels. He had a green pattern on his face and had crimson colored eyes and cream white skin. The tan was very thin, but it was there. Then there was the cat character with the purple fur and light green armor. She had large cat eyes and whiskers. The fourth person was another Wavemaster, but she wore white clothing with blue patterns. She had red eyes and always carries a rare item with her. She looked at X's wings and then she exploded with excitement. "You're wing are so cute!" She cuddled the wings and said, "They're so soft! You must've worked a lot to get these!" He looked at her and blushed a little.

"Not really," he scratched the back of his head. "I chose it when I was making my character. Supposedly, I won a contest and got these wings." He smiled a little more and asked her, "Can you get off now?" She stared at him and blushed.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm not used to seeing such a rare item." Then she ran back to her party.

"Anyway," then samurai said. "Like I said before, where do you think you're going?" He took out his katana and pointed it at them.

X stepped up in front of the girls and pushed the katana away with his wand. "WE are going to finish this mission." The he pointed his wand at the samurai. The samurai got mad. "Get out of our way or we'll have to make you."

X looked at Nina and Yasu. "Get ready to fight!" Wow, my very first PVP battle! I'm really excited, but he's a jerk and he may be at a high level so I have to be careful. I must constantly heal my SP as well as everyone else's HP. Okay, here we GOOOO! He then dashed at the samurai and struck him on the torso. He dropped his katana and put his hands on his chest. "Ack! I'll get you for that! Everyone attack!"

"Yasu, Nina, switch places with me! Ill just use my magic!" They agreed and X took the back side. He jumped up into the air and was floating. Then he targeted the female Wavemaster and used a level 1 fire magic spell on her. It did very little damage. Damn…she must be at a really high level... He looked down and saw Yasu and Nina attacking the cat and the samurai. They were using a spinning attack. They dealt damage of about 259+ each hit. That probably wasn't a lot of damage. The male Wavemaster used Phal Repth on his party. Everyone was fully healed. X then thought of something. Maybe he can use a spell that decreased SP. He looked through his inventory and found two Curses. He used them both on the Wavemasters. They worked, but he knew they weren't gonna last for long. Then he used La Repth to heal his team. Nina jumped up and slammed her weapon on the cat character. It was a direct hit and the cat fell to the ground.

"MIA!" the male Wavemaster yelled out and used Phal Repth again. Then he ran up to her and helped her up. "Are you okay Mia?"

"Yes, I'm fine Elk. Thanks for the concern. Now let's finish this!" She bent down to grab her weapon when Yasu came in and kicked the blade away. Then she used Darkness Dance and hit Mia hard. Then she used Tiger Claws on both Mia and Elk and both fell to the ground. Both have lost much HP and Elk ran out of SP. The female Wavemaster then used a level 4 fire spell and it hit Yasu hard. X came flying hard and smacked the white Wavemaster on the head. Then she fell to the floor and X picked up her wand and threw it at the other end of the room. He did the same thing with Mia and Elk's weapons.

"Mistral never loses!" the female Wavemaster screamed out. She then ran towards her wand only to get caught by X. "Let me down! Let go of me!"

"Okay," X agreed and let her go. She screamed as she started to fall. The samurai looked up and saw Mistral in the sky. He stopped fighting and tried to get away but she fell on top of him before he could escape. X grabbed his weapon and threw it at the other weapons. They were now unarmed. X landed on the ground and walked up to the girls. "Job well done, right?" X smiled.

Mistral got off the samurai and said, "Sorry Sanjuro. They caught me off guard. I'll try better next time. Promise." The other two got up and looked at X's party. "Sorry Sanjuro. We lost." Mia and Elk walked up to Sanjuro and Mistral walked up to them. Then they all looked at Nina, Yasu, and X. Sanjuro walked up to X and said, "Sorry about that. The winning streak we had in the upper floors got to out heads."

"That's okay," X said. "It was fun fighting other characters. It was my first time fighting others. I'm sort of a newbie in "The World"."

"A newbie! I'm at the highest level and I'm defeated by a newbie! What'll the others think…"

"You don't have to tell them a thing," Mia told Sanjuro. "This can be out little secret. We all lost."

"Yeah!" Mistral and Elk agreed with Mia. "Besides, we don't ALWAYS have to tell them everything we do!" She hesitated a little then said, "Let's just make sure that Wiseman or Helba don't find out as well. They can find out just about anything!" They all stared at Mistral and nodded. X, Nina, and Yasu were the only ones that were confused.

Then Yasu yelled out "Helba! The Helba! The one that helped the famous .HACKER Kite! I have to meet her!" Hearts were bouncing on her eyes and her smile looked like a cat's mouth.

"The one and only and she doesn't like it when people do that…" Mistral warned her.

"Right sorry," Yasu laughed nervously as she wiped her drool away. X and Nina laughed at her and Yasu glared at them. "Shut up!" She too then started to laugh and then the others joined in as well.

"Oh," Sanjuro said. He stuck out his hand and said "I almost forgot. My name's Sanjuro." X shook hands with him. "Names X."

"I'm Mistral!" She screamed out and jumped in front of X. Then Mia and Elk walked up to X and said "I'm Mia and he's Elk."

"Hello," he said shyly and stuck out his hand. X shook with everyone and then Yasu and Nina came up in front of Sanjuro and his party. "Here, I think these belong to you guys." They gave them back their weapons and backed away slowly.

"Thanks, now let's get going team!" Sanjuro lead his party down the stairs. Nina, X, and Yasu stared at them. "They've become energetic all of a sudden…" Yasu whispered. They agreed with Yasu and started to follow then. X then grabbed Nina by her arm. Nina turned around and asked, "What?"

X paused for a minute. "Nevermind. Forget it. Let's just go on." X passed Nina and shook his head. Nina stared at him as he walked closer to the others. Then she followed.

X shook his head again and placed his hand on his forehead. Sweat was rolling down his face. His vision was getting a little blurry. His knees felt weak and his mouth felt dry. He placed one hand on the dungeon wall for support. Everyone passed him and went down a level. They didn't see him suffering. He started coughing and fell on his knees. He was coughing harder and closed his eyes in frustration. He opened his eyes and saw red spots on the floor. He then realized he was coughing out blood. He tried to yell, but his words were caught in his throat. He threw up and fell to his side. Tears were rolling down his cheek. No… It can't end… Like this… He stared at the stairs that led downward. His vision became nothing but darkness and he lay there, almost lifeless. Then, his body disappeared.

Yasu turned around and noticed that X wasn't with them. "Guys, where's X?"

Nina stared at her, then at the group, and back at the stairs. "Oh no… I knew it…" Then she ran towards the stairs.

"Hey wait for us!" Mistral yelled out and ran after her. The others followed her up the stairs. Nina stood there, staring at the red splotches on the floor.

:

It was an eerie silence. The sound of the wind moving and water droplets echoed in this room. The room was completely white, but there was a green hill with a cherry blossom tree on top. There was water on the pedals and fell off slowly. One landed on X's forehead. X groaned and opened his eyes slowly, his vision coming back to him. He looked up and saw the tree hovering above him and saw the blue sky. Another water droplet fell right between his eyes. He jumped up, sitting on the ground and looked around, confused. "Where am I? Am I dead? Is this where you appear when you die?" X got up and walked at the hills edge. As soon as he stepped on the white floor, the grass grew at an extreme pace. Hills popped out of the ground, flowers bloomed, and the sakura trees rustled in the wind, the pedals floating on the air. "Whoa…" He looked up and saw a full, blue sky. Clouds hovered above the ground and castes shadows on the ground below. X looked around the new area and saw something glowing in the distance. He gasped as he saw it coming closer. He stood his ground as the light abruptly stopped in front of him, a gust hitting them three seconds after it stopped, causing him to collapse. He stared at the light, wide eyed and open mouthed. His wings covered him as he got up, holding his wand. He stuck out his hand, trying to touch the light, but then it exploded, causing him to cover his eyes with his wings. When the light disappeared, he lowered his wings. To his astonishment, he found a large wooden door in front of him. And because of his curiosity, he turned the knob and opened the door. Then a blinding light shot out and covered the entire area. He closed his eyes and felt the floor below him to disappear. He opened his eyes and looked down. The ground shattered like glass and he fell into the darkness. Below was his body, lying on the floor, waiting for a spirit to return to it. He landed in front of his body and stared down at it. "What the hell! What's going on here!" He backed away and felt a wall behind him. He looked around the area then back up. The hole closed up, but there was still a light shining on his body. Then he heard a voice.

/That's your real body. Walk up to it and touch it. /

"What!" But he didn't hear the voice reply. He stood there and stared at his body. He wasn't sure whether to do what the voice said or to find a way out of this place. He sighed and decided to do what the voice said. "Fine. Ill play it your way." He walked up to his body and kneeled down in front of it. The stared at his body and extended his hand. When the tip of his finger touched his foot, everything disappeared completely. Nothing was left. Not even darkness. Only static…

Pure, white static.

X looked around his new surroundings. Just like before, he is going down the narrow static path. "What!"

/Now, go back and face the one with the power of the twilight. /

"Wait, face who! Answer me!" But it was too late. He was already warped out of there and appeared…

:

Kite felt something shaking in his pocket. He placed his hand in his pocket and took out the sphere he obtained earlier. It was glowing and shaking fiercely. "Wh-what's going on!"

"I'm not sure! Throw it!" Balmung yelled out. Not only was the sphere shaking, so was the dungeon itself. Kite threw it and toppled over. Balmung fell backwards and looked at the sphere.

BlackRose screamed and fell down. "What the hell is going on!" The dungeon began shaking fiercely. Then the ground began deteriorating. Kite got up and ran towards the next room. Balmung jumped up and flew that way. BlackRose got up, only to lose balance and fall back again. "Kite, help!"

Kite turned around and ran to help her. "BlackRose!" Then the roof above them fell down and blocked his way. Balmung flew at Kite and grabbed him.

"There's no time! We must go, now!" Balmung lost balance again and fell down. Kite fell too and the ground completely deteriorated. Not only that but some rocks have damaged Balmung's wings. Both have fallen down into the darkness.

:

Tsukasa heard a low grumbling noise. He stopped and stared forward with a fearful expression on his face. Subaru stopped next to Tsukasa and stared at him. "What is it, Tsukasa?"

Tsukasa looked down at Subaru. "Something bad is about to happen."

"How do you know this?"

"Because I can feel it…"

Crim looked back and saw Tsukasa and Subaru. "Hey, what's the hold up?" Everyone else stopped to find out what's up.

"Yea, come on! Let's finish this thing!" Mimiru looked at them and smiled.

Tsukasa stared at them and said, "We shouldn't go any further."

"And whys that?" Sora asked annoyed.

"Because… This is our dead end." After he said that, the area began shaking ferociously. Everyone lost their balance and tried to get up. The shaking was too much and they stayed down. Soon, the ground below them started breaking up piece by piece. Everyone grunted and ran away from the holes that were created on the floor. Tsukasa grabbed Subaru's hand and pulled her closer to him. BT held her balance, but only to be knocked down by Sora. BT hit him on the head with her wand and Sora rolled off the edge of the floor. He managed to grab BTs wand, but only to pull her down with him. Silver Knight crawled towards the stairs. The floor broke off below him. He jumped up and grabbed the edge of that was left of the floor. Mimiru held onto Bear as she tried reaching for Silver Knight. She made it too late. His grip wasn't strong enough and he slipped off the edge. Then the walls started collapsing as well. Then the four fell down into the darkness. Their screams echoed as things settled.

:

It was an eerie silence. The only thing that was audible was a water droplet falling on a puddle. That sound echoed throughout the dark room. There lay a body on the floor next to the puddle. A groan came out of the shadowy figure. Slowly, he got up and rubbed his head. Then he stretched and yawned. He looked around. He couldn't see a thing.

"Hello?" His voice echoed throughout the room. It was X. I was X who discovered himself in the dark. It was X who stumbled upon the room which would seal his fate forever. It was X who brought back the legend… the Epitaph… the rebirth of the dragon.

To be continued…


A/N – I have added a few new characters to the story. I'm planning on changing they're names, but that will be much later in the story. Either way I appreciate sparing some of your time to read my story. I appreciate. Thank you and Ill try to have up the next chapter as soon as I can.