The Call of "The World"
by rkOujirou

Author's note: This is an alternate universe Ranma ½ story that takes place in The World R:2 sometime after the events of .Hack//Roots, the .Hack//G.U. Games, and the Returners anime episode.

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ is not my idea, nor is .Hack//G.U. The only characters I'll claim are any OC's I may add into this story. Just so you know.


Chapter 1

"Master Yata! Master Yata!"

Inside a digital room filled with screens displaying scrolling lines of text, a woman with pink pigtails frantically ran toward a bald, dark-skinned man who was busy browsing through game logs.

"What is it, Pi?" Yata asked. The man dressed in a maroon robe had his hand placed over a golden orb that acted as the main terminal for what was known as the Serpent of Lore, a system used to investigate bugs and monitor certain players, among other things.

The woman named Pi quickly brought up onto a screen a log file that had caught her attention. "Please look at this!"

Looking over the lines of text, Yata's eyes narrowed slightly as something caught his attention. "Another instance of PC altering?"

"Exactly, just like the other two we've been monitoring," Pi explained with concern in her voice. "Master Yata, what could be causing this? I thought AIDA weren't disrupting The World anymore..."

"True. Although we know AIDA still exist within The World, they don't appear to have any malicious intent," Yata replied, folding his arms over his chest as he tried to calmly analyze the situation. "I still believe the most likely scenario is that the players are illegally altering their own character data, but we've yet to find any irrefutable evidence of that."

The controversial system administrator took a deep breath and skimmed over some more of the file just brought to his attention. "This character was just created recently. Did you set up a check program?"

"Yes, based on the similar pattern we observed in the other two instances," Pi replied, adjusting her glasses slightly. "Should we take action?"

"No. For now, we will continue to observe their actions," Yata told her. "Pi, please continue to watch for more cases of these altered characters."

"Yes, sir," she answered obediently.

The woman with pink pigtails bowed politely and walked out of the room, leaving Yata to himself. Intrigued by the arrival of the new anomaly, he brought up two more text-filled screens next to the one Pi had just brought to his attention.

"It's been extremely quiet since the Cubia incident was resolved," Yata said, a faint smile crossing his face.

"A Chaotic PK, a high-ranking member of Kestrel, and now a newly created Tribal Grappler. What is it that links all of you together, I wonder?"


Inside the round, green-colored Dome in the virtual city of Mac Anu, there were a number of players standing around conversing with each other when a male character with a black pigtail warped in next to the Chaos gate. Seemingly unfamiliar with the game, he looked around at the other players for a moment and began scratching his head.

"So this is The World, huh?" he said to himself.

The boy's name was Ranma Saotome. He was a skilled martial artist in the real world, but a complete newbie when it came to online games. In fact, he never would have even considered trying "The World R:2" had his close friend not been bugging him about it constantly.

Curious about how his character design had turned out, Ranma took a quick glance down at his clothing and was pleasantly surprised by the result.

"Hey, nice..."

Just like he'd chosen, he had a mostly white outfit including boots and pants with black lining, a sleeveless, leather top, and a white gauntlet on each hand. He also had a red streak going down the front left side of his dark hair, which was barely noticeable out of the corner of his eye.

Shifting his gaze to his limbs, he then noticed something odd about his right shoulder area.

"The heck's this?" he wondered, poking at a red tattoo on the shoulder that looked like a giant flame. It wasn't something he remembered adding, but it wasn't all that important, he figured.

Wandering around the circular room some more, Ranma noticed a bulletin board by a set of double doors that read simply, "Welcome to Mac Anu."

"Well, least I know I'm in the right place," he mumbled, recognizing the name of the city from some detailed directions he was given. "Guess I'll go try to find Yuuichi-"

"Move it!!"

The pigtailed boy blinked as he suddenly heard what sounded like a girl yelling from outside.

Out of nowhere, the doors then burst open and a girl with red hair down to her shoulders stormed into the Dome. She had black pants with an orange sash tied around her waist and a revealing, sleeveless black top with a white, fan-like accessory on the back.

"Look out! Coming through!" she shouted. Unfortunately, her eyes were focused on whatever was behind her, and she didn't happen to see the unseasoned player standing in her way.

With a loud thud, the girl slammed into Ranma, knocking the both of them to the ground.

"Ow! What in the-?!" she growled, glaring down at the pigtailed boy beneath her. "Watch where you're going!"

"H-huh?!" Ranma stammered, still trying to shake off his surprise. "Hey, you ran into me!"

The two of them went silent when they heard a man's yelling coming from outside the Dome and growing closer by the second.

"Alkaid, my love! There is no need to run from the magnificent Tatewaki Kuno!" the man shouted, his voice laced with passion for the girl as he ran into the Dome. "Now, let us go to the Isle of Kings and join together in...holy...matrimony..."

Clearly annoyed, the girl named Alkaid stared up at the brown-haired man with a furious look in her eyes. "Would you leave me alone already, you creep?! I told you I'm not interested!"

Tatewaki Kuno, dressed in dark pants and a decorative, loose-fitting, white and navy blue coat that was open at the front and ran all the way down to his feet, seemed aghast as he looked down at the sight on the Dome's floor. "My love...what is the meaning of this? Who is that man?!"

Glancing down again, the confused redhead realized that she was practically laying on top of the pigtailed boy with one hand pressed to the ground on each side of his head.

This was an embarrassing situation, she thought. Alkaid certainly didn't want the image of a flirt attributed to her name. On the other hand, she quickly noted, this might be a good chance to get the arrogant Kuno to leave her alone.

With a devious grin, the girl wrapped her arms around Ranma's head and clutched him to her chest. "This is my man, and he's a lot more of a man than you are!"

"What?!" the two men exclaimed simultaneously.

Not wanting Ranma to blow her story, Alkaid leaned in close to him and gave him a sharp look as she whispered into his ear. "It's your fault I couldn't ditch this guy, so you'd better go along with this. Got it?"

The puzzled beginner couldn't believe what he was getting dragged into, and hardly a minute after logging into the game at that. The attitude of the arrogant man standing near the Dome entrance, however, was beginning to get to him, and somewhere deep in his heart he really felt like sticking it to the guy.

"You owe me," he muttered to the red-haired girl.

"Is this true?!" Tatewaki Kuno yelled, demanding some clarification from the newbie in white clothing.

Reluctantly, Ranma wrapped his arm around Alkaid's midsection and smirked up at her pursuer. "Sorry, man. She's taken already."

Feeling enraged as other players in the Dome watched the spectacle with amusement, the man in the long coat angrily pulled out a sword resembling a katana and pointed it down at the one who he believed had stolen his love interest. "How dare you?! You...you fiend! You are not worthy of Alkaid's love!"

"Deal with it, you big crybaby!" Alkaid hissed venomously. "Stop embarrassing yourself and leave us alone!"

"Yeah, get lost," Ranma added, continuing to play along with a hint of enjoyment.

The sword wielding Kuno was furious, but there was nothing more he could do right now, he realized. Defeated for the time being, he stepped over to the Chaos Gate and glared down at Ranma one last time. "Remember this, foul wretch! My name is Tatewaki Kuno, Blade Brandier extraordinaire and Emperor of the Arena's Demon Palace! For taking my love from me, I shall smite thee with the fury of a thousand suns! Mark my words!"

After making everyone endure his long declaration, the arrogant Kuno warped away, leaving Alkaid to breathe a sigh of relief.

"We done now?" Ranma asked the fiery redhead.

Looking aggravated as the onlookers began to go about their business again, the girl known as Alkaid quickly got to her feet and kicked Ranma in the gut.

"Hey!" the pigtailed boy shouted.

"That was humiliating!" Alkaid snarled down at him. After taking a deep breath, she seemed to calm down following her initial burst of embarrassment. "A-anyway, it got that annoying guy off my back for now, so I suppose it's okay."

"Good to hear," Ranma muttered sarcastically, slowly getting back to his feet. "You can thank me later."

"Like I'd thank you for that!" the redhead yelled back at him. "Just so you know, I've already got someone I'm interested in. So don't go getting any funny ideas!"

The newbie in white watched as Alkaid then walked over to the Chaos Gate in a huff.

"See ya 'round," she said, still looking a bit embarrassed as she gave a brief wave of her hand before disappearing to another map.

Not sure what to make of what had just happened, Ranma placed his hands on his hips and snorted in the direction of the gate.

"Man, what the heck was her deal?"

With the peculiar situation over and done with, the pigtailed boy decided to continue his search for his friend. Pushing open the doors leading out of Mac Anu's Dome, he began strolling down a long walkway toward the more populated part of the city.

As he looked around at the numerous other players he passed by, Ranma noticed that they seemed about evenly divided between males and females, which came as a surprise since he'd always imagined these types of games were mostly played by guys. Some players were difficult to differentiate between genders since they used beast race characters, and there could always be some weird guy that liked playing as a girl character, he figured, but it at least appeared to be a strikingly diverse population.

Once the real life martial artist reached the city's central area, he immediately noticed a number of tables and displays filled with items around a large fountain.

"This looks like what he was talkin' about..."

Scouring the area near the fountain, Ranma almost immediately was able to pick out the character he was looking for.

"Near the fountain and next to a dog-lookin' character with pink fur," he muttered, staring at a pair of players standing behind a table. "That matches so well it ain't even funny..."

The pigtailed newbie wasted no time walking over to the table and giving a funny look to a brown-haired male character with a long ponytail and a pale green outfit.

"Yo," he greeted him.

"Welcome!" a round, dog-like character replied, smiling happily. "Is there anything in particular you're looking for today?"

"Oh, I ain't shoppin', but thanks," Ranma answered, then turning his attention back to the taller of the two. "I just came to see Yuuichi here."

The boy with the ponytail looked curiously at the character in the white outfit for a moment before he began to recognize him. "Ranma?! Is that you?!"

"What's up, man?" Ranma laughed. "Your descriptions are dead on, y'know that?"

"I can't believe you actually logged in!" his friend beamed excitedly. "By the way, call me Silabus here. That's my in-game name."

"Silabus, huh? Alright, if ya want," the pigtailed boy shrugged.

The green Blade Brandier took a moment to analyze the character class his friend had chosen. "I see you went with the Tribal Grappler class. No surprise there."

"Hey, I'm a martial artist. After lookin' at the instructions, I figured this was probably the best fit," Ranma explained.

"That's true," Silabus laughed.

Standing next to him, the small beast character, dressed in a red and orange outfit with black suspenders, began tugging on the Brandier's shirt. "Hey, who's this guy, Silabus?"

"Oh, sorry about that, Gaspard!" he chuckled, pointing over at the pigtailed boy. "This is my friend, Ranma! And Ranma, this is Gaspard, a guildmate of mine. He's a Shadow Warlock, and he's also in charge of our guild's shop."

"Yo. Nice to meet ya," Ranma said, nodding his head at the rotund character.

"Nice to meet you too!" Gaspard replied excitedly. "Does this mean you'll be joining our guild?!"

"Actually, I never asked him about that," Silabus interrupted, rubbing the back of his head as he looked over at the white Grappler. "We're members of a guild called Canard that was created to help beginners get accustomed to The World."

"Really? Sounds like somethin' you'd do," Ranma casually noted. "So...you don't want me joinin'?"

The boy with the long ponytail seemed surprised at the remark. "No, not at all! We'd love to have you join us! I just wasn't sure you would want to..."

"I only came here 'cause you kept buggin' me about it. What else am I gonna do?" the pigtailed boy joked. "Count me in, man."

"That's great! Just a second," Silabus told him, toggling with something on his screen. "There! Did you get the guild invite?"

Seeing the prompt come up on his screen, Ranma chose to accept the invite right away. "Yeah, think that did it..."

"Yay! A new member!" Gaspard shouted with glee. "Welcome to Canard, Ranma!"

"Yeah, thanks," the Grappler said, not quite as enthused as his new guildmate. "How many people you guys got in this guild?"

Somewhat ashamed, Silabus held up three fingers in response. "Just us three, actually..."

"What? Seriously?" Ranma asked, sounding disappointed.

"Well, our last guild leader, Haseo, still drops by from time to time, but he's usually busy with Atoli in real life," his friend explained.

"Atoli?" the pigtailed boy asked.

Thinking about his two old allies, Gaspard began giggling to himself. "His girlfriend."

"Ohh, I get it," Ranma chuckled. "Well, that's fine. We gonna go fight stuff or what?"

"Sure! Nothing like a guild outing to get you acquainted with The World," the beast-like Warlock answered approvingly.

"Yeah, sounds good," Silabus said in agreement. "The busy time of day is almost over, so we'll close the guild shop soon. Why don't you take a look around the rest of Mac Anu until we're done, Ranma?"

"Alright, think I'll do that," the newly created Grappler said, giving a brief wave of his hand as he started to walk off. "See ya in a bit."

"Oh, hold on a second!" his brown-haired friend suddenly interrupted him.

Ranma blinked curiously as he heard a light dinging sound. "What was that noise?"

"I sent you my member address," Silabus told him. "Just accept it. That way I'll be able to message you when we're done."

"Oh, good idea!" Gaspard said. "I'll send you mine too."

Hearing another dinging sound, Ranma toggled with his controls and eventually accepted both of the addresses.

"Alright, got 'em," the pigtailed boy said, turning and heading out again. "Don't take too long."


Elsewhere, standing on the bridge at the Arche Koeln Waterfall, a girl with short, pink hair silently watched the streams of water falling in the distance. Dressed in a black corset, stockings, and a round hat with a tassel on one side, she always enjoyed coming to this area because of its feeling of tranquility.

The map was a Lost Ground, its existence not known of by most players, and because of this it was a rarity for anyone to disturb the girl. So when she began hearing the sound of footsteps behind her, she immediately turned to see who it could be. The sight of the visitor's round, orange sunglasses was all it took to put a smile on her face.

"Ovan..." she mouthed, surprised but happy to see her friend again.

The man with short, light blue hair, a white and blue coat, and a blue scarf flowing from around his neck smiled as he walked up next to her. "It's been a while, Shino."

The girl in the corset nodded and shifted her gaze to the waterfall once again. "How is Aina doing?"

"She's never been happier," Ovan replied, speaking of his little sister. "And you?"

"You know how I am," Shino said to him.

The man behind the sunglasses chuckled a bit at the response. "I suppose so."

The two seasoned players of The World were quiet for a minute, taking in the feel of the area like old times, before Shino spoke up again.

"This world got quiet when Haseo stopped logging in as much," she said, a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"That's true," Ovan acknowledged. "Things have started to get noisy though."

"You mean the fighting between Moon Tree and Kestrel?" the reserved girl asked.

"No..." he answered, a slight grin crossing his face. "Something unusual is happening within The World again."

Looking up at her friend with interest, Shino could see a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. "What is it?"

"Time will tell," Ovan told her.

Amused by her old acquaintance's typical cryptic answer, the pink-haired Harvest Cleric looked back out at the falls and giggled a bit. "You haven't changed at all."

Laughing to himself, Ovan gazed down at her and smiled.

"Sorry for that..."


After exploring Mac Anu on his own for about half an hour, Ranma eventually wound up in the Alchemist District of the city. He'd talked to a few NPC's along the way and scoped out the shops, although not much of anything made sense to him yet.

Starting to become impatient, the pigtailed boy leaned over the district's bridge and began staring down into the canal below.

"I wish those guys would hurry up. This is gettin' boring," he groaned.

It was then that Ranma heard what sounded like an angry grunt coming from his left side. Peeking over to see what made the noise, he noticed that a female character with short, turquoise colored hair and a similar colored star-shaped tattoo on her left cheek had leaned against the bridge's railing next to him.

Dressed in a greenish-blue corset with a white flap running down her back from each of its shoulder straps, along with a pair of knee-high white boots, she turned and looked back at him with an annoyed scowl on her face.

"Hey, you," she addressed him, sounding none too pleased. "You're a guy, aren't you?"

Ranma quirked an eyebrow at the girl, having no idea what she wanted from him. "Uh...yeah?"

"Then explain something to me!" she demanded, jumping up and getting in his face. "Why is it that every time a guy sees a girl Harvest Cleric, namely ME, he tries flirting with them?!"

The Grappler in white narrowed his eyes at the girl, not appreciative of being lumped in with the members of his gender with out of control hormones. "Beats me. I thought they only hit on cute girls."

"Excuse me?!" she growled. "Would you mind repeating that?!"

"Yeah, I would, actually," Ranma answered, brushing it off as he rested his chin on his palm. "Why don't you just go along with it and sweet talk 'em into givin' ya free items and stuff? I've heard lots of girls do that in these types of games...umm...?"

"It's Akane," the girl said, hopping up and taking a seat on the bridge's railing. "Jeez, you sound just like my sister. I don't want free items, I just want to have fun and be treated normal..."

"Hmm...makes sense," the pigtailed boy said. He didn't care for her hostility toward male players, but he did sort of admire the fact that she played for the experience and not for the items.

"What's your name again?" Akane asked him.

"Huh? Oh, it's Ranma," he said.

The turquoise-haired girl turned her head away from him, starting to look upset again. "I bet you hit on girls in your parties too."

Ranma looked up at her and blinked several times in confusion. "What the heck's a party?"

"What's a party?!" Akane asked, spinning around and staring at him in disbelief. "What are you, a newbie?! How long have you been playing?!"

"For like an hour. Get off my back," Ranma snorted in his defense.

Curious, the short-tempered girl looked down at the gauntlets on his hands and began snickering. "Oh wow, those are the lowest level gauntlets in the game! You really are a newbie, aren't you?!"

"Would you quit callin' me that?!" the Grappler snapped. He hated being belittled by anyone, even if he really was new.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Akane laughed, her demeanor seeming to brighten up a bit. "So, what are you doing just standing around here?"

"Just waitin' for a buddy of mine to close his shop or whatever," Ranma replied with a deep sigh. "Wish he'd hurry up already..."

"Ohh, so you already know someone here. Well, that should make it easier for you," the Cleric smiled. "You know, if you want-"

"HAHAHAAAA!!"

The sudden booming laughter of a man in gold plated armor made both Ranma and Akane jump and startled pretty much everyone within hearing distance. Running along the bridge with incredible energy, he stopped and folded his arms across his chest, posing proudly as he stared out at the number of players before him.

"Fear not, players of The World! Piros the 3rd is always looking out for you!" he shouted soundly before running off. "Play on, my friends! Play on!"

Next to the bridge's railing, Ranma and Akane were left stunned by the sheer stupidity of what they'd just witnessed.

"What in the heck was that all about?" the white-clothed Grappler asked.

"Who knows," Akane muttered. "There's all sorts of weirdos playing this game."

A moment later, the turquoise-haired character seemed to stop for a moment as she was distracted by something going on in the real world.

"What's up?" Ranma asked, noticing her unusual behavior.

"Oh, sorry. My sister was calling me to dinner," Akane answered, hopping down from the railing. "I have to go eat."

"Dinner, huh? Alright," the pigtailed boy said, shrugging as he stared down at the canal again.

Akane looked torn as she stood on the bridge, trying to decide whether she really wanted to do something or not. Then, after a good ten seconds of inner struggle, she finally gave in and turned back toward the newbie Grappler.

Hearing a familiar ringing sound, Ranma curiously peered back at the Cleric standing behind him. "What's this?"

"My member address," she smirked, folding her hands behind her back as she strolled away. "You're kind of a jerk, but you're still more tolerable than most guys. And seeing as how I'm such a nice person, I figure I could help a newbie like you out if you ever need it."

"H-hey, I never asked for-!" Ranma began to say, but Akane was already in the process of logging off.

"Buh-bye!" she waved, disappearing before his eyes in a flash of blue light.

Annoyed, the beginner threw his arms into the air and slumped himself over the bridge's railing again as he reluctantly accepted the address.

"Whatever. Loggin' off after gettin' the last word in like that," he grumbled, peering at the name "Akane" in his address list. "Like I need an uncute girl like that to help me out..."

For a few minutes, Ranma simply stood against the railing with his head resting on one hand again. Then, unable to wait any longer, he decided he was going to go back and coerce his new guildmates into closing their shop early.

When he turned around, however, he came face-to-face with a taller man dressed in blue and white. Being stared down at through a pair of orange sunglasses, the pigtailed boy was amazed that a character within a game could carry such an intimidating presence.

"You're...?" Ranma asked him nervously.

"Ovan," the man with light blue hair answered. "We will meet again."

With a slight grin, the unusual man turned and walked off as quickly as he'd appeared, leaving Ranma to wonder to himself just what he meant.

"Man, this place really is full of weirdos..."


End of Chapter 1