Disclaimer- I don't own anything.
How he's changed
Haseo was a bit bored in 'The World' today. Silabus, Gaspard, and Kuhn were offline, which left Canard's duties up to him and Death Grunty for the day. "Never would've guessed peace and quiet would make me so anxious." He lounged on the stairs in the Home. "Guess I'll log out or something..."
"Haseo." A voice called. Haseo stood and faced the visitor with a bored expression.
"Hey, Shino. What are you doing here?" Shino smiled walking up to him.
"What? I can't just talk to you?" She asked, only to get a suspicious look from the Rogue. "You look bored. Do you miss them?"
"Tch. No way! I'm having enough fun on my own." He lied. Shino sat down next to the Grunty, which sat itself in her lap oinking.
"Right, if you say so." She teased him. "I actually have something for you to do." Haseo turned to her a bit interested.
"Like what?"
"I just met a beginner in Mac Anu, and since I know someone who is in charge of beginner-helping Guild..." She hinted.
"I'm not going to help a beginner. That's Silabus and Kuhn's job!" He crossed his arms. "Get Atoli, to help." He began to walk out, but what Shino said next made him freeze.
"Okay, then I guess everyone knows about your incident last year?" Haseo turned to Shino in slight panic.
"You wouldn't? Shino!" Even with that smile on her face, Haseo hadn't more scared in his life. "Fine I'll do it!" Shino put down Death Grunty, and walked past Haseo.
"Follow me."
Mac Anu
An Adept Rogue with black, spikey hair, and white eyes waited on the his 'guide' to show up. "I hope I don't get tricked into being PK'ed or whatever. It sounds scary even for a game." He noticed someone warping in. "The girl from before." He eyed the white PC and his annoyed appearance.
"So, where is this guy?" Shino spotted the Rogue walking over to them.
"This is him." Shino smiled at the teen. "I hope you didn't wait to long?" She asked. The boy shook his head. "Good. Let me introduce my friend." She nodded to Haseo. "This is Haseo." She held her hand out to the beginner. "This is Ian an Adept Rogue."
Haseo eyed Ian annoyed before turning to Shino. "This isn't funny, Shino." Shino just giggled. "Fine, so kid when did you start?" Ian jumped a bit at the question.
"Today, I just started a few minutes ago." He rubbed the back of his head. "I heard about this game from a friend and wanted to try it out." Haseo crossed his arms, and glared at Shino for a few seconds.
"I don't know if Shino, here has told you, but I am also an Adept Rogue." Ian nodded. "I also am Guild Master of Canard, and we help players like yourself ."
"He's a good friend of mine, and he will take good care of you. I have to go so I'll see you later." Shino warped out leaving the two alone.
"All right Ian, I'll teach you the basics in the areas." Haseo explained Bookmarks, and Area Words then the two warped out.
Delta Buzzing Swift Phoenix
"Okay, I've explained the map and everything about missions. There anything you don't get?" Haseo asked.
"No, I get it."
"Good so why don't you take on those monsters over there." He pointed to the guarded altar. "By the way what are your jobs?"
"I picked Shadow Warlock and Twin Blade." Ian couldn't help but be curious. "What about you?"
"I have Twin Blades, Flick Reaper, and Edge Punisher. Okay, now do a sneak attack, and don't worry I'll back you up." He assured.
Ian pulled out his swords, charging in. Haseo healed him when necessary, and soon Ian finished off the last goblin with Gale Blade.
"Next time use the Rengeki." The two got along well and soon they reached the Beast Temple, and opened the chest inside.
Mac Anu
The two warped in. "Well that wasn't so bad, and I don't feel bored anymore..." He turned to Ian. "Good work, but don't get cocky the rest you need to figure out."
"Thank you Haseo. I hope we'll get to party again." Ian then logged out.
"Maybe, I should get more involved with these guys..." Deep in thought Haseo logged out for the day.
A few weeks later Haseo warped in to the town. "Wonder what Bo called me here for?" He used the warp point to go to the Central District, spotting Bo a few minutes shortly after.
"Haseo!" Bo had a worried tone to him causing Haseo, to be worried. "You gotta help!"
"What's wrong Bo?" Haseo knelt down to him.
"I tried to help these guys practice for the arena, but I just heard it was a common PK trainee hangout!"
"Who are the Players, so I can help them?"
"Ian, and another Adept Rogue named Kutz. The word's are Delta: Hidden Military Raven."
"I'll help 'em just wait here." Haseo rushed over to the Chaos Gate and warped.
Delta: Hidden Military Raven.
Ian now level twenty-four just finished off a bird-like monster, and had fun with his new friend, Kutz. "I told you this Area wasn't too hard."
"Yeah, I just thought being Adept Rogue it would be harder on us." He confessed. "Let's just hope we can get to the statue in one piece." They both chatted away unknowingly crossing paths with two PK's and their group.
"Huh?" The two Rogues looked at the PK's.
"Hey, look Asta there are some Players in our Area." The guy Pker playfully stated.
"What should we do about that IYOTEN?" Ian felt nervous he ran into a few PK's every now and then, but these are the first ones to probably notice him.
"Hey, you trainee's." The three parties behind IYOTEN looked at him. "Here is your first targets for the day." They looked at the two Rogues. "Their Rogues so their easy prey."
The two Rogues were soon dragged into a battle three on two. Ian saw they were outmatched and began to lose after holding on for a while. The Edge Punisher was about to finish him off when a smoke bomb went off and the two were grabbed by their wrists.
"Let's go!" They ran into the next room. Ian looked to see who saved them, and recognized the PC.
"Haseo!" Kutz looked confused at the Epitaph user. "How did you know?"
"The kid who gave you the words is a friend and asked me to save you, after finding out this was place was for PK's." He eyed the two of them. "Don't blame him."
Kutz just looked discouraged. "I knew being a Rogue was a bad idea, I mean after all their weak." Haseo crossed his arms. "I should start over." Ian was about to agree seeing the disadvantage when Haseo spoke up.
"And then what? You do know even if you start over you'll get targeted even more than before." He glared at both of them. "Don't be such cowards, I'm an Adept Rogue and I turned out fine."
"Yeah, well it's not like were the 'Terror of Death' he is a lucky Rogue." Ian looked down. "And plus we could learn skills faster."
"Experiences taught me having friends is important, and it's not all about power. Adept Rogue's have trouble on their own, but with friends to back them up they become strong." He turned his back to them.
"Always remember 'The World is also a image of the real world too, people are like those guys minus the killing. Turning away now just means your a coward!" The two flinched and had thoughtful looks. "I'll help you take them down, but we gotta work together."
The two entered whisper chat. "Do you think we should stay, Ian?"
"He's helped me before, so I think if we follow we can show them Rogues kick butt!" They nodded and quit the whisper chat.
"Okay, we'll help how we can." Haseo smirked.
"All right, those PK's are annoying and arrogant. I need to follow this plan."
IYOTEN and Asta with the other three parties went to room to find the rookies. They were surprised to see them healing each other, and wipe open.
"Wow, you two must be really stupid to stay here." Asta insulted. The Blade Brandier, and Twin Blade just glared taking out their weapons.
"You act tough, but when comes to it you need your groupies to fight for you!" Ian taunted.
"What was that punks?" IYOTEN threatened. "Keep talking and I'll PK you myself!" Asta summoned her broadsword and IYOTEN his blade.
"You heard us, or do you need a hearing aid you old bags!" That baited Asta into an attack which the two dodged.
"Rue Kruz!" Kutz hit IYOTEN with the attack, and Ian managed to block Asta's attacks. IYOTEN shook off the spell and attacked Kutz with a skill immediately killing him.
Ian quickly revived him with a healing potion, and shook off Asta with Gale Blade. IYOTEN swung his sword at Ian's head, but he ducked and rolled away. The two continued to attack and retreat until they ran out of healing items.
"I'm surprised you held on this long twerps!" Asta kicked Ian into the fence, and IYOTEN slashed Kutz dead again. "But now you get PK'ed for good." IYOTEN charged sword aimed for Ian's head, he closed his eyes expecting to find himself in town, but instead found IYOTEN on the ground getting revived.
"Good work." Kutz was revived and ran to heal Ian. "I'll take it from here." Haseo glared at the two PK's. "I would've thought you two stopped hunting beginners by now." The two looked in fear at the new foe.
"'Terror of Death'!" They both cried out in fear. Ian and Kutz looked shocked at what they called their friend. "What are you doing here?"
"Look, these two didn't know that this was a PK zone so just leave, or end up like your friends." He pointed behind them. The two saw all three extra parties start to vanish.
"Forget that we'll kill you here and now!" IYOTEN declared.
"We won't lose like in Sage Palace tournament!" Asta declared also, before both ran forward. Haseo sighed, pulling out his scythe, with two quick strikes PK'ed them.
The trio decided to head back to town before more showed up. Haseo looked at the two of them.
"I'm a bit impressed you held out that long against them." The two rubbed their heads.
"That means a lot coming from the 'Terror of Death'." Ian said. "But how did you get so strong as a Rogue."
"I said it before, you need friends to help support you." Haseo turned to the Chaos Gate. "I owe a thanks to my friends when I lost my way. Don't run away all the time when things get rough, otherwise you'll never make anything of yourself. Game or not." With that he warped out on the two thoughtful players.
About a month later Haseo found himself in the Home again alone, as his friend were busy that day. "Talk about Deja Vu..." He turned to the new visitor that entered. "Hello." He forced a cheery tone, but dropped it when he noticed who it was. "Oh, hey Atoli."
"Haseo, I came to tell you something." Haseo raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't happen to know of a Adept Rogue Guild would you?"
"No. That's the first I've heard of it." Atoli giggled. "What's funny?" He asked annoyed.
"It's just that I heard from Shino, about the newbie you helped." Atoli stopped her giggling. "I think he is the one who is in charge."
Haseo's eyes looked surprised. "I guess what I said got through to them."
"And what would that be, Haseo?" He blushed looking away from her.
"N-Nothing." Atoli got closer to him. "Stay back!" He turned his back to her blush still on his face. Atoli giggled again before turning away.
"I have to go to Moon Tree, so I'll see you later." She began to walk out when Haseo called her. "Yes?"
"Do you remember what I said before about what's real in this world?" Atoli looked confused until a memory rushed to the front of her mind.
"There's only one thing that's real about this world. And that's us the players. Getting stronger and defeating your opponent; those are the ways that all of us keep connected!"
"Yes...what about it?" What he said next surprised Atoli.
"I wanted to say I'm sorry for that, and I wanted to correct myself." Atoli tilted her head in question. "While getting stronger and fighting are ways to keep us connected it's also the friendships, and memories that we make here." He turned around and walked past her.
"I was selfish back then, but you and everyone made me see that this place is like a second home. Thank you..." With that he logged out, and Atoli wiped the tears from her eyes.
Shino watched from the Bike Shop with a smile on her face as she watched the exchange between the two. "It's nice to see how much you've grown as a person, Haseo... Even if you are still a little impatient towards others hehe."
End
I got bored. This was also to see about something else, but that's for me to know. Leave a Review.