January 12th, 2022
"You sure we'll be able to find each other once were in?" She asked quietly plugging in her own helmet in the drive just underneath her brothers.
He rolled his eyes and brought up a screen, "Don't worry Kushina, it's not that complicated. There is a center town where everyone first enters. Once you log on just stay close to the warp zone and I'll meet you."
Kushina gave him a smile, "shouldn't we have like some sort of code for when we do find each other?"
He sighed and brought both the helmets to his bed. "If that will make you feel better, we can phrase it as a question like what's your favorite color and if you were to say Azure Sky or what ever I would say oh mines burnt Orange or Pumpkin or whatever." He picked up the game case looking at the dark cover, the words Rhygan City of Hell were written across the front in a Comic print.
"Okay but mines Candy Red. You'll answer with Pumkin won't you?" She climbed on the bed and slid over to her helmet watching as he put the game disk into the drive.
Naruto sighed again, "Yes I'll answer with Pumpkin. Kushina stop worrying will you?" He nudged her over and took up his space underneath his helmet.
They both slid the helmets over their heads and laid down flat.
"Naruto?" Kushina whispered quietly.
"Hmm?" He hummed in answer.
"Will you hold my hand?" He reached over and locked their fingers together.
"Meet you on the other side!" Naruto said cheekily, "Link Start."
The world suddenly blurs away and several modules pop up too fast for his eyes to follow then one stays up long enough for him to read, Language; Japanese.
Then the white took over the screen and he slowly came to on the cobbled stone of the warp zone. He blinked and took in the gloomy beauty of the Castle of Balam. He walked forward carefully and watched as more people logged into the warp zone looking beyond the black bangs of his Avatar. He needed to find Kushina and then they needed to get out of here, it was already so crowded with people staring up at the gloomy overcast that slightly covered the bone white full moon, its creepy cracked smile reminded him of Jack Skelington from the Nightmare before Christmas.
They were probably awed by the black brick on the walls of the buildings around them, even under their feet. The cover of the game had showed the uppermost level in all its darkened glory and he was excited to up there. This time he was sure of it. This time he'd make it to the final levels.
A female with fire red hair that fell to her ankles, and a red gaze to match. He looked at her cursor and heaved a great sigh, of course she used her real name. "Kushina!" He raised his hand and waved slightly at her as she too looked around in awe.
She met his eyes with a smile and pushed her way over to him. She was dressed in a navy blue vest over a white short dress, navy blue stockings up to her thighs and white ankle high combat boots.
"What's your favorite color?" She asked coming to a stop directly in front of him, a huge smile lit up her sharp facial features.
"Pumpkin." He rolled his azure eyes.
"Candy Red." She replied and jumped onto him with a large hug. He took a few steps back as she made impact but circled his arms loosely around her. She started giggling and pulled away from him, "You've got a tail."
He gave her a foxy smile, "I chose Yokai as my race, which one are you?"
"Nymph, the others seemed either too girly or too weird." She laughed slightly at his put out expression. "Oh come on you've got little kitty ears and a black fluffy tail." She grabbed the offending appendage as if to prove a point.
He flashed his fangs again, "actually I chose fox, the color just happened to match the same as my hair options."
She rolled her eyes and poked him in his chest. "Well are you going to show me around?"
A large smile took over his face and he grabbed her hand, "come on I have to show you how to fight properly in here now don't I?" He teased and forced them both in a run dodging the ever growing crowd.
Her laugh tinkled behind them as they passed the warp zone gates and past the markets that expanded Balam into an actual city. They passed through the giant gate, "Where do you wanna go first? A city, valley, or lake first?" He asked dragging her along the paved path, it was dark but in Rhygan it never got sunny.
On the path down a ways away from their current location he could see several Grims lurking. Their black hides made them almost indistinguishable to the normal eye but he knew where to look and could see the glowing red of their eyes trained on them.
The closer they got the more he could see, there were three of them-because Grims didn't travel in packs it was odd to see more than two in the same place at once usually an Upir was with them but those nasty dark Vampires weren't anywhere to be seen. He got a good look at their sharp teeth before Kushina yanked her hand out of his with a terrified cry.
"What the hell are those things?!" She stumbled backwards a little bit but he wasn't paying any attention.
He never slowed his run and brought a hand behind his back as his energy built before a swirl of chakra came to life on his hand. "Rasengan!" He pushed the creation into the face of the nearest Grim watching in satisfaction as it violently tore the beast apart.
"Naruto!" Kushina called out horrified.
"My gamer's tag is Menma. Better get used to calling me that." He winked over his shoulder. "Come on, these are low level monsters called Grim. They may look like giant wolves but they do have some human characteristics, on this path they would barely give any level one trouble and because of that they don't drop anything good and barely give you any monetary value but they do boost your XP pretty far."
Kushina gaped at him for a moment before nodding, "Okay what do I do?"
"Nymph races have the ability over nature, Vampires have blood, and poison, Fairies are more healers than fighters but they have the ability to summon animal familiars to fight for them, Shifters usually change shape to fight with claws and usually do hand to hand combat only, and finally Yokai? Yokai use chakra to kill." Naruto brought the same energy from before to his fingers, "I can't really tell you how to access your Nature as all Nymphs are different-try feeling the energy around you."
He slammed his hand into another Grim, "Lastly they won't attack you until you make the first move. If you make it count you never have to take damage from them."
Kushina furrowed her eyebrows, "That doesn't make very much sense." She muttered but closed her eyes anyways wondering just what in the world he was talking about-her eyes shot open there was something there. It was light and felt like summer beaches and she locked eyes with Naru-Menma. He gave her a smile and a thumbs up. She pulled on it, "Tsunami!" she pushed her arms out letting out a title wave from the palms of her hands that crashed into the third Grim. She saw the life points dwindle down into the red but the wave wasn't strong enough to kill it.
Menma grabbed her around her waist and jumped out of the way of the lunging Grim. A terrible growl came from that beast. "Okay one more time, but Kushina you need to be faster at it."
He set her back down and stepped away. She pulled on the humming energy again, "Tsunami!" The wave caught the Grim mid lunge and the beast died. She looked at her own cursor, if she fought and killed another Grim she would be level two.
She laughed and wrapped her arms around Menma. He laughed and swung her around in a circle, "see it's not that hard!"
He set her down on her feet. "You mentioned a valley, city, or lake earlier?"
Menma shrugged slightly, "this path takes us to a three way fork in the road, one leads to Nybbas Valley, another takes us to Xaphan, and the third takes us to another fork. One leads to Abaddon and the other leads to Alastor Lake. However I would recommend staying away from Alastor Lake until you reach level ten, and don't go to Nybbas Valley till about level five."
"Okay, should we head to Abaddon or Xphan?"
"The closest one is Abaddon and the forests are mostly filled with Grims and Upir." Menma took her hand and they began walking again, "both of which are low level monsters with high XP drop for low level players when you reach ten it takes a hoard of Upir to level up."
"What are Upir?"
"They're vampires but NPC vampires here look like they have actually been dead for quiet some time. The further up we get the more gruesome the monsters get. On level thirty they call it Wonderland in honor of the Alice in Wonderland books. Trust me when I say those creatures there do not look anything like what is in Alice's dream." Menma gave her a look. "I'd rather deal with Vampires that look like their eyes have been gored out than the marsh hare."
She giggled. "This world is freaking awesome."
Abaddon; Market; Armor and Shields
"Oh wow, Menma come look at this!" Kushina called as she disappeared into the racks.
He heaved a sigh and followed after wanting nothing more than to roll his eyes. "What is it?" She swung around with a black trench coat in her hands.
"Look! It'd look perfect on you!" She held it up to him over his armor plated shirt. It would reach his mid thigh and it had an opening in the back for his tail to fit perfectly. It had three belts that looked like they could be done up but weren't meant to be and it looked like it wouldn't close any other way. One belt would be around his pelvis, hips, and the middle of his chest. It had dark gray cuffs at the end of the sleeves. It was lined with a dark gray and to top it all off it had a hood.
He pursed his lips slightly and took the item from her hands, "how much is it?"
"100 jeuls." She shrugged. "It's not that much but it's an enchantment item*."
Menma smiled, "Sold."
Kushina nodded, "Good because I don't think anything would drop such a good item."
He rolled his eyes at her, "Says the Newbie."
She smacked his shoulder, "Just because you Alpha and beta tested this game doesn't mean I don't know a thing or two about games."
"Yeah, yeah, lets just get this stuff and go." Menma walked past her towards the NPC cashier.
"Spoilsport!"
The NPC had kitten ears the color of gold that matched her short hair, a shop outfit clothed her form in gray and white. Her digital gaze was white, "Is that all for you?" Her voice was soft and sweet.
Menma gave her a wicked smile, "all we have time for today."
The NPC giggled and readied the purchased items, "That will be 1000 Jeuls please." Menma grumbled under his breath but handed over the coins anyways, why was he the one buying if only one of the items were his? "Thank you and have a nice day."
He took the items and shoved Kushina's at her and equipped his coat. Amon's cloak was the item name, and it indeed fit really well.
"Well I think it's time to log out." Kushina stretched her arms up high showing off the black fingerless gloves that extended down to her elbows.
She swiped at the air in front of her with her right hand and clicked on the profile menu that came up when she did. "That's weird." She muttered and turned to Menma, "shouldn't the log out button be right there?" She pointed to the empty box in her menu.
Menma's eyebrows furrowed. "That's were it always was." He brought up his own menu and the same empty box sat there. "Maybe it's a glitch their working on. I'm gonna contact the game masters." He scrolled down to where the option would have been if it wasn't empty. "The Hell?"
The loud tolling bell sounded out through the entire level.
Balam Citidale; Warp Zone
Menma righted himself quickly and grabbed Kushina's bicep to keep her from toppling over, "What's going on?" She asked, her voice laced in panic.
"Some one must have forced a teleport." More and more players continued to show up as the bell from the steeple chimed six times.
Kushina grabbed a hold of his hand tightly. They looked around but nothing seemed to be the thing behind the forced warp. "This doesn't make any sense. Who would have the authority to force all of us into teleporting to Balam?" Menma muttered to himself as he dragged Kushina closer to the center of the Warp zone. In the center was a large fountain made in the image of a fairy spurting water out of her cupped hands above her head.
"Look!" Some one yelled pointing to the moon high in the sky. The smile cracked and opened wide as what looked like blood pored from the opening gathering at the point above the warp zone wall. The blood pooled together and became a towering cloaked figure standing imposing above every one in the zone. "What's going on?" Several whispers and yells swelled and crashed in the crowd.
Kushina smushed herself into his side, "Menma do you have a clue what's going on?"
He shook his head, "No this has never happened before."
She hugged him tighter as the blood stopped poring from the moon's mouth.
"Welcome players to my world." The voice was male and seemed to vibrate off of the walls. "My name is Madara. I am the founder and creator of Rhygan. As of this moment I am in control of this world." Murmuring sounded through out the throngs of people, some in awe and others doubt. "I am sure that some of you have noticed an item missing from your main menus, the log out button." The figure swipes up his own menu to show where he is talking about, "Let me assure you that this is not a defect in the game."
Menma felt his body go shock still, "I repeat this is not a defect, this is how Rhygan City of Hell was designed to be."
"That isn't true is it?" Kushina looked up at Menma in terror.
"You can not log yourselves out of Rhygan, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the Nervegear from your head. If any one attempts to do so a transmitter inside the helmet will discharge a microwave signal into your skull destroying your brain and ending your life." Silence reined for a few moments before startled cries demanded what in the world he was talking about and that he was lying. Some even went so far as trying to leave the zone only to come up against a barrier.
"That can't be true, right?" Kushina tugged slightly on his arm, "Right?"
Menma glared at the ground, "It's true the transmitter signals in the head gear work just like microwaves if the safeties disabled it could fry your brain."
"What if they cut the power or something?"
"That won't work, the Nervegear has an internal battery."
Kushina whimpered and buried her head into his shoulder.
"Despite my warning families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the Nervegear an unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result the game now has two hundred and twenty less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Rhygan and the real world."
Menma started, "Two hundred twenty?" His voice was a mere whisper among the outraged players in the center.
Little screens of news podcasts and entries came into existence in front of the figures body, "As you can see international media outlets have round the clock coverage of everything including the deaths. At this point its safe to assume the likely hood of a Nervegear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings-" Menma felt his jaw tighten as he caught a glimpse of his mother and father both in tears on one of the floating screens. "You a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important that you remember the following; there is no longer any way to revive some one with in the game. If you HP drops to zero your avatar will be deleted from the system forever." The screens close and leave, "and the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain."
Silence met his words and Menma could feel his heart rate accelerating.
"There's only one way for a player to escape now, you must clear the game. Right now you're gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Rhygan. If you can get through the monsters and defeat the boss you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor one hundred and you will clear the game." Murmuring started up again. "Last but not least I have placed a little present in the item storage of every player, please have a look."
Menma swiped down with his right hand, "A mirror?"
Kushina looked at the menu from his side confused.
Just as suddenly as the mirror landed in his hands did players start lighting up with an electric blue. Kushina lit up right before Menma did. When the light subsided he looked down at the mirror and felt his eyes go impossibly wide. What was supposed to be a black fringe was now his natural golden blonde and the black ears were gone. He looked at his back, the tail was missing as well. He looked at Kushina and saw her waist length curly red hair and her purple eyes blink back at him with her rounded features. Their heights haven't changed much besides that Menma had gotten taller.
"How?" Kushina whispered reaching up to touch her face.
Menma frowned. "It must have been the scan. It can see our faces, but how does it know our height and body type?"
"Remember when you first put on the Gear how they did a calibration thing-had you touch your body all over." Kushina muttered.
"Why would they need all that information?"
Kushina shook her head and pointed at the large figure still looming over the zone.
"Right now you're probably wondering why. Why would Madara Uchiha do this? Ultimately my goal was a simple one the reason I created Rhygan was to control the fate of a world of my own design." Menma scoffed in anger. "As you can see I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the Tutorial and the official launch of Rhygan City of Hell. Players I wish you the best of luck." His body began turning to smoke that wafted back up into the Moon's mouth.
No one spoke as they were too shocked to say anything.
"Kushina, we need to get going." She nodded against him to let him know that she understood.
Some one dropped their mirror and as it shattered so did the silence. Many of them demanding to be let out of the game and lots of them complaining absurdly to a blank sky.
Menma took off at a run dragging Kushina behind him with her hand.
They came to a stop just beyond the main Market, not the way they had gone when Menma had been training her. "Look Kushina we've got to get to the next town. Only the Beta testers know of this exit. It'll take us down another path-there won't be any Grims to fight-only different types of Vampires with what are called Creeps. They'll level us up faster. A lot faster, but the thing is they are about five levels above what we've been fighting all day today-but don't worry they can't and won't attack unless we provoke them. Meaning if we use combo attacks we can split the XP and Jeuls they drop. Thing is we've got to get going now."
"Okay," Her hand squeezed his tightly.
Majorly based off of SAO. If you haven't watched it yet-I suggest go check it out. Seriously it's freaking amazing.
*Enchanted Item: Meaning an item you can level up in dexterity, defense, and so on and so forth.
I literally wrote this in a day. So please excuse any mistakes I went through it once but not as closely as I should have. I am willing to answer any and all questions and also this is NOT an NaruxKushina fic.
Project.