Author's Notes: Hey! My first attempt at a .hack fic! Basically about a new group of friends finding out that strange things are happening in "The World". Can they meet and save the day?!

Okay, don't be cruel if it's awful, I do my best.

Here we go!


Log On! By Magical Girl Pretty Sammy-Chan.

"'The World' is so totally cool!"

"I know! I'm a level 30 Wave Master!"

"I'M a level 34 Heavy Blade!"

"Hey maybe we should party tonight! I hear they just made a new area!"

"Cool, what's your member address?"

Mai Yanagi, a high school freshman of the age of fifteen sighed and tapped her pencil lightly upon the paper in her black three-ring binder. Her short, straight, blonde hair bounced and she did so and her chocolate brown eyes glazed over as all the students talked about the coolest MMORPG game... "The World."

Of course everyone had a copy of the game and everyone played together with their Waveyhoos and Bladewhatzits. Mai thought it all very silly, who needed video games when there was always a good book to read or a good story to write. That was Mai's passion, story-writing. She wrote every day and new stories were always popping into her head. Right now she was thinking about writing one about a girl who desperately tried to get away from the annoying students at her school by transferring to Germany where she met her true love...

"Okay students, quiet down, quiet down!" Mrs. Yokomori told the students and they quietly dispersed from the desk they had crowded around at. As the students took their seats, Mrs. Yokomori quickly wrote the days Geometry assignment on the board and the lesson began.

Mai had to stifle a yawn at the boring math lesson. She had already done this lesson, along with five others after it in the textbook. She found school to be extremely easy and sometimes found herself slipping ahead of the class. Often times she had gotten penalized for it. Mai thought this was ridiculous, "What's wrong with getting ahead in life?" she had argued more times than she could count.

The one thing keeping her at least mildly interested in the day was that it was November 8th and that meant it was her birthday. Her parents had already gone out "shopping for groceries" and come back with packages that went into their closets. Mai smiled. She hoped that she would get that new novel collection she had wanted...

"Mai!" Mai's head shot up as Mrs. Yokomori called on her, "If you could come up and do the problem on the board."

"Yes Yokomori-sensei," Mai obediently nodded and did the problem with ease on the whiteboard. Today was her day, nothing, not even monotonous math problems could keep her down.


"Welcome home dear!" her mother called as she threw open the door to show Mai a giant chocolate birthday cake in the kitchen, covered with pink frosting! Mai didn't especially like the color pink, she liked violet, but a violet cake would look odd and Mai liked chocolate. "Woah! Thanks Mom!" Mai ran in and smiled at the large cake...

"Hey dear!" her father, blonde hair as messy as ever and blue eyes as shiny as ever walked into the room and gave his daughter a hug. "How was school?"

"Okay," Mai gave her usual response, "So...where are my gifts...?"

"What gifts?" her mother asked, blank face. Mai laughed.

"You know, the gifts!"

"We didn't buy any gifts," her mother kid, but looked completely serious. An expression of worry spread over Mai's face...

"Just kidding!" Her father opened the kitchen door to reveal a spread of gifts all over the coffee table. Mai laughed and ran in.

"Hey Mom, Dad?" Mai's little brother, Shizuma ran into the room carrying a wooden play sword, "When are we going to open Mai's gifts? Did I get a gift too?"

"No honey," his mother hugged him, "You'll get gifts on YOUR birthday."

"But that's all the way in April..." he whined, "That's..." he counted the months on his fingers. "Five months away!"

"It'll come honey, it'll come," his mother sat him down on the couch, "Well honey, go ahead, open your gifts."

"Open this one first!" Shizuma picked a crumply wrapped gift that was covered in tape and a bow stuck on quite awkwardly. "I bought it myself!"

"Really?" Mai asked, quite touched at her brother's thought. She smiled and with a bit of difficulty opened the package. It was a scarf, a red one. She smiled and hugged her brother, making him blush, "Thank you."

Mai went through her gifts, opening book after book, new notebook after new notebook, and other things that she didn't really have uses for, but were still thankful for. Finally, she came to the final gift. It was large and rectangular. She KNEW it was the novel set...

"Go ahead, open it," her mother smiled, "It's something I know you'll like."

Mai nodded, "I know I will too," she stifled a laugh and opened the silver wrapping paper. As she did, a look a disappointment and shock came over her face. It wasn't the novel set she wanted. It wasn't even any set of books, or even A book. It was something completely different, the last thing in the world she wanted.

It was "The World."

"I heard all your friends talking about it," her mother smiled and Mai looked at the gift, a look of surprise on her face. Mai didn't mention that those people weren't her friends...or maybe she couldn't, she was too stunned. "How everyone plays it? I thought you'd like to fit in with the crowd."

"I DON'T NEED TO FIT IN WITH ANYONE!" Mai found herself shouting, "I don't need this garbage!" she threw the box into her mother's arms and stormed out of the room. It was a cruel thing to do, but she hated the gift. She hated being just like everyone else. She WANTED to be different, didn't anyone get that?

Mai locked herself up in her room, crying into her pillow. She hated video games, she wanted her novels. She knew she was being selfish, but something about the game just made her want to hate it.

A small knock came on the door. "Who is it?" Mai asked through the sobs.

"It's your mother..." her mother whispered.

"Come in," Mai whispered hoarsely. There was no need to be mean to her mother, she was just trying to get her daughter a gift she'd like.

"I'm sorry you don't like the gift honey," her mother sat next to her and gave her a warm hug. Mai noticed the box in her hand and scowled at it. "I can return it if you want..."

"Please do," Mai told her, "I HATE video games..."

"But..." her mother started, "Maybe you should give it a chance. Do something you aren't familiar with. You may turn out to like it. You've never tried playing a computer game, and this might be a fun experience for you..."

Mai sat on her bed for a second, taking this in. It was true... She HAD never played a video game. She had always had her nose in a book, or writing something with a pencil. If she really let this opportunity pass, how would she know if she liked it or not...?

"I'll try it," Mai finally said and took the box in her hands. "Just try it...if I don't like it I'll send it back..."

"Okay honey, whatever you want," her mother kissed her on the head, "Your brother's scarf is still in the living room."

Mai smiled, "Tell him I'm sorry and Dad too..."

"I will," she nodded, "Have fun."

As her mother shut the door, Mai looked uneasily at the computer in her room. She only used it for school but it did have Internet access. She wearily walked over to it and turned it on. As the computer booted up, Mai opened the large box and took out the contents. A Player's guide on jobs and areas. A user's manual on installation and trouble shooting. The CD's needed to install the game. And the headset she would wear that would put her in it as though she was actually her player.

Mai looked over her User's Manual as she installed the program which was relatively simple. She hooked up the headset and put it on herself as the game started up from the Internet...

PLEASE LOG IN, the screen said and Mai became confused. She couldn't log in, she didn't have anything to log in WITH. But then she noticed another link that said "REGISTER WITH "THE WORLD"" Mai smiled and clicked the link.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD it read and Mai smiled as it went through the tutorials on how to play and such. She finally came to the point where she could make her own character and she smiled. This was kinda cool...

She looked over the jobs. Twin Blade, Wavemaster...six jobs to choose from.... But one called to her. She quickly selected "Long Arm" a spear user and clicked "Proceed."

Now she had to customize her character's body. She picked some armor that was said to be a new model, although to Mai everything was new. The armor had a vest that went up her neck and had a zipper down the front. The character wore a pair of shorts that had longer pants underneath and sleeves that held on at the elbows. Fingerless gloves and a headband completed the look, along with short hair to the shoulders.

Now, she could color the armor and hair. She gave the character pale skin and dark black eyes. She made the vest, shorts, pants, sleeves, and gloves a bright red and the hair was a dark shade of violet. Her starter weapon was a silver spear with a dark brown handle called a "Spear" what else?

Finally, the most important part...naming her character... She looked at the character...and smiled. She typed the name, "Iam" and selected "enter".

Iam, the perfect name for the exact opposite of herself. As she selected enter she quickly selected "Log In" and she was in the world...


As Iam materialized near a strange portal, she noticed she was in the "Delta Server" and in a strange town. Behind her was a blue portal that her player had read was the place where you could go to areas and other servers.

Iam took the first step and smiled. It wasn't so hard after all.

"Hey!" Iam looked up as someone called out. She noticed it was a man with a strange armor on and an eye-patch. He held a sword and she guessed he was a Blade Master. "Nice character design! Really like the color scheme!" With that he walked off, leaving Iam completely immobilized to say anything back.

"Hey!"a harsh male voice called rom behind her. The voice annoyed Iam and she looked behind her to see a young man, a young man with a bright blue set of pants, a blue puffy vest with long blue billowing sleeves and tall black boots yelling to her. He had white spikey hair and had a bright blue headband on. He didn't look happy, "Hey newbie, you're holding up traffic! Move aside!"

"Hey!" Iam turned around clumsily to defend herself, "How dare you?! I got just as much right to stand here as anyone else!"

"Move aside newbie!" he yelled.

"Who are you anyway," Iam spat, "To tell me to move?"

"I'm Orizo," he told her, "Who might you be? I can tell you're a newbie just by your weapon..."

"Urgg..." she grumbled, "I'm Iam..."

"Iam?" he laughed, "Like I AM? What a lame name!"

"It's pronounce E-am not I am you blockhead!" Iam yelled to the laughing man taunting her, "And Orizo isn't exactly the most wonderful name either!"

"Better than I AM!" he screeched.

"GET OFF MY CASE KNUCKLE HEAD!"

"MAKE ME!"

"IF I COULD FIGHT YOU I WOULD!" she yelled and stomped her feet. "What are you anyway?"

"I'm a Twin Blade, can't you tell?" he held out two daggers for her to see.

"What's your le--" Iam started but was cut off buy Orizo.

"Hey wanna go level together? I know a lot of great areas for newbies," he gruffly rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh..." she smiled, "Sure, why not!"

"Okay, what's your member address?" he asked her.

"Umm...one sec..." she paused as her player looked at her information and found her address. "57434432..."

"Okay," Orizo stopped, "I added you to my friends list, is that okay?"

"Sure, what's yours, I can put you on mine..." she told him.

"56944331," he told her and she added the address to her list and the name "Orizo" popped up.

"Okay, let's go," he smiled and the two partied up. He walked to the blue portal and and Iam did the same. She noticed that she had to put in keywords to get to an area... "How about... Passing Doom's Sunset?" she asked, "It says it's for level 1s..."

"Sure," Orizo smiled, "I mean it'll be too easy for me of course, but you can handle it pretty well."

"Then let's go!" Iam popped into the portal and Orizo followed quickly after her.


"Eeeks..." Iam stuttered as they entered the area full of yellow portals, "What is this place?"

"It's an area," he rolled his eyes, "If you go into the yellow portals monsters pop out and you fight them. Sometimes monsters come from no where..."

"Oh! That seems easy!" she smiled and walked into one of the portals. A small goblin appeared and rushed to attack her. "Ack! It's angry!"

"Fight it!" Orizo drew his blades and rushed at it. He threw one of the daggers and...

Missed. Iam stifled a laughed and Orizo blushed. "Let me try!" she yelled and drew her spear. A swift attack came across the Goblin's face and it came after her. Orizo drew his blades once again and gave the Goblin two swift cuts. "Eat this!" she yelled and the slashed the Goblin with the spear, defeating it. "Yay! We won!"

"Yeah," he told her, rolling his eyes again, "You'll get about 50 exp for that...I guess...we should probably head down to the dungeon right?"

"Dungeon! That sounds scary!" Iam told him.

"Yeah, but if you get to the final level, you get treasure," he told her and her eyes became wide.

"Treasure! Wow!" she smiled, "Let's go!"

"Wait," he told her, "Let's fight a couple more monsters up here first."

So the pair fought a few more monsters, easily destroying them and Iam was sure she had almost gained a level.

"Just one more monster and I should level!" she excitedly told him.

"Okay," he smiled and pointed to another portal, "Let's fight one more!" The two charged in and the enemy was defeated even more quickly then before. Iam smiled as a big "Level Up" flashed near her and a message said, "Iam gains Level 2!" "Yes!" she pumped her fist into the air but then saw another message across the screen. "Orizo attains level 3!" she looked at him and then giggled, "So YOU'RE a newbie too eh?"

"Hey!" he blushed furiously, "I'm more experienced then you are!"

"But not much!" she laughed some more, "Acting all big and hot-shot like!"

"Eurrgg..." he gulped, "Let's just get to the dungeon okay?" Orizo blushed some more and walked toward the dungeon, not wanting to make eye contact with Iam.

"Okay," she dropped the subject and the two headed for the dungeon...

The dungeon had been a scary experience, but the two of them had made it and she had earned herself a "Rainbow Card" which she could sell for some money! It was late she realized, almost 10:30 and as Orizo and she teleported back to Root Town in the Delta Server, she sighed, "I have to go now, it's pretty late..."

"Yeah me too," Orizo admitted, "Hey, let's party again tomorrow at let's say...5:30?"

"Great!" Iam smiled and nodded, "Can't wait, don't level too much without me okay?"

"Okay," he agreed and the two logged off.


Mai took off the headset and wiped the sweat that had accumulated on her brow. "Honey?" she heard a knock at the door, it was her mother.

"Come in," Mai smiled and her mother opened the door.

"Do you like the game?" she asked. Mai scowled.

"Of course not," her mother's face fell, but Mai smiled, "But I promised my friend I'd meet him on tomorrow, so I can't possibly throw the game away." Her mother smiled too and she nodded.

"Of course, now get ready for bed," she told her and Mai nodded. As her mother shut the door, Mai shut off the computer and started to change into her pajamas. "I like Orizo," she giggled, "He's a bit of a screw-up and a big head, but..." she smiled as she climbed into bed, "Something about him makes me wanna hang out with him..."

Mai found herself drifting off t

o sleep, but the last thing she saw in her mind was her computer's blank screen...

The next day at school, everything was just the same, especially in Math class. Mai came in and started reading a new book about a Chinese Girl who ran away from her family after being forced to marry a man she didn't love when she heard the normal chatter of "The World" fans.

"I got to level 24 yesterday!"

"I think I'm gonna try the Beta Server!"

"My grunty just got a bit bigger yesterday!"

Mai looked at them, then back at her book, then back at them, then back at her book. She smiled slightly, put her bookmark in and stood up. She walked quietly over to the desk of students talking and cleared her throat. Silence partook the room and everyone turned to her, "I just started playing yesterday," she smiled.

There was a stunned silence and one girl's mouth even hung over, "Woah...Yanagi plays "The World...""

"Hey everyone, guess what, Yanagi plays The World!"

Soon everyone was gathered around her and she blushed at the attention.

"What class are you?"

"What's your level?"

"Do you have any people on your friends list yet?"

"Can I have your member address?"

"Umm..." she tried to answer all the questions at once, "I'm a Long Arm and I'm only level 2, just started yesterday...I have one person on my friends list..."

"Who? Who? Who!?"

"Umm...his name is Orizo..."

"IAM?!" one voice shrieked and Mai looked over the crowd of people. A boy with short scruffy brown hair and blue eyes came through the class and stood right up to her. Mai noticed he was a little taller than her, with the top button of his uniform jacket unbuttoned. He was Hiromi Mimura, number one slacker in her class. "You couldn't be...Iam could you?"

Mai found herself in a state of utter shock. He couldn't be... "Orizo?"


It was true, Hiromi Mimura was Orizo and Mai Yanagi was Iam. The number one slacker was a "The World" friend with the number one outcast. Her only friend. The two were awkward around each other, not having much to say to one another at school. Rumors started flying of course. About how Mimura and Yanagi were together and what a cute couple they made. Mai blushed when anyone called her "Mimura's girl" and quickly told them it wasn't true. At lunch time, she sought Hiromi out to find him eating under a tree with his friends. She walked up to him, bag in hand. He ignored her, talking to his friends.

"AHEM!" she did a fake clearing of her voice to make her presence known and Hiromi nonchalantly looked up.

"Oh, yeah Yanagi," he said, trying to put on the "I don't care about who you are" attitude, "What's up?"

Mai's face grimaced and she took her bag and swung it over Hiromi's head.

"OW!" he yelped, "WHATCHA DO THAT FOR?!"

"That's for telling me to move yesterday," she told him, "Can we talk over there?" she pointed to a row of trees and Hiromi shrugged and got up.

"Be right back guys," he told his friends and followed Mai into the trees.

"So..." she started once they had reached the thicket of thick trees and they were alone, "We still on for 5:30?"

"You dragged me here to ask me that?" he asked and shook his head, "You're really weird Yanagi..."

"Call me Mai," she told him and his head darted upwards, "Just Mai..."

"Umm...sure..." he nodded, "Mai, and you can call me Hiromi..."

"Okay...Hiromi," she smiled, "You know, I could just tell all the kids at school how YOU'RE a newbie too!"

He gasped, "You wouldn't!"

"I think I'll go tell your friends right now!" Mai laughed and started to run out from the trees. Hiromi gasped and grabbed her wrist.

"C'mon Mai, don't!" he laughed and she felt herself slipping on the grass.

"Eeeks! Hiromi!" she squealed as she slid onto him.

"I've got you!" He told her as she fell onto him. She looked up.

"Thanks, I thought I was a goner there," she laughed, but then noticed Hiromi's cherry face and the fact that she was lying on him... She notice her lips...only inches away from his. She felt her eyes drooping...

"Sorry about that," Hiromi lifted her up and she shocked back to reality.

"No, completely my fault," she smiled, but her face was still red, "I won't tell anyone about how you're a newbie, I promise," she held out her pinky for him to take.

"Thanks," he smiled and took her pinkie, "It's a promise then."


Author's Notes: Oooo! Chapter One complete! What did you all think? I know it wasn't extremely long, but it was a moderately long chapter, especially for an opener! What do you think of Mai and Hiromi? Cute couple, want more romance scenes? Tell me your opinions! R&R!

Until then,

Ciao for now!