.hack/The.Rabbit.Role.htm

Chapter 1

by

Chad 'Graeystone' Harger

xxxxx

Author's Note: This is the prequel to .hack/Polarized. This story takes place sometime after .Hack/Quarantine and before .Hack/Legend of the Twilight Bracelet mangas.

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The World was once the biggest online video game of all time. At its peak it boasted 100 million players. During that time disaster struck the game and this time there was no repairing it and The World was destroyed.

While The World is no more there are still events and people who are still affected by it. Some things are predictable and the unexpected still happens.

Twilights come and go and sometimes there must be an ending . . .

and yet the saga still continues . . .

Before the saga can look forward it must first look into the past.

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Dramatis Cast:

Alice Warren: A player who finds herself trapped in The World in the worst possible way. If she does not find a way out of the game she will die.

Aura: An AI and the Core of The World. She is on the verge of making an important decision. The appearance of Alice forces Aura to consider the impact of her decision.

Balmung: One of the legendary Descendents of Fianna and Dot Hacker. A player of legend he is facing a decision in the real world that will change his life.

Orca: One of the legendary Descendents of Fianna and Dot Hacker. Because Kite and the other Dot Hackers have overshadowed him, Orca is feeling a lack of worth with his role in The World.

Terajima Ryoko: One of the Dot Hackers who is upset at losing Kite to Blackrose. Terajima chooses to forget her feelings by attempting the most difficult of jobs in The World: becoming a solo adventurer. While on a solo adventure she discovers Alice.

Unknown: As the name implies, nothing is known about this player. No one knows if Unknown is male or female, a vagrant AI or an actual player. The only thing that has been confirmed is that Unknown is one of the most powerful Pole Arms in The World.

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For Aura her private place was Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground. Here she could absorb the information and data the players and items released when there was interaction. As a precaution against intrusion and interruption, Aura made the keywords vanish from the Chaos Gate until she was finished. Aura's body glowed a gold color as the data was absorbed into her. She never gorged herself nor did she force data out of players. She remembered all too well the horrors her brother wrought with Deadly Flash and Pluto's Kiss before she and Harald finally stopped him. She also knew the powerful affect a Bracelet had on a real person. She also felt the Bracelet's power and even for an AI, the pain was immeasurable.

When Aura finished she decided to take a form of a female Wavemaster. Aura took the form of characters whenever she wanted to have contact with players so she could directly learn from players. While simply absorbing data and information was easy, contact like this gave her valuable knowledge and experience with interacting with people. Of course there was also the fun factor. While she was the Core and true administrator of The World it did not mean she could not have fun from time to time.

Aura walked out of the building when she doubled over in pain. She felt a giant influx of information and data coming straight at her. She saw glimpses of the real world. The noises and images of the other world nearly overwhelmed her. Aura concentrated with all her strength and blocked the information and data out.

She reverted back to her true self. She sat against the walling of the temple feeling exhausted. The last time she felt this much pain was when she was data drained by Skeith. After gaining some strength back, Aura scanned The World while wondering what could have caused the border between the two worlds to weaken like that. She watched the data pass through her as she analyzed it.

"It cannot be," she said as one piece of data caught her attention. Aura quickly probed the information stream the data came from. Aura shook her head and closed her eyes. The source of the disturbance had to come from the last place in The World that Aura did not want to think about ever again.

Aura used the backdoor commands to see if any of the Dot Hackers were online. Only three were playing at the moment and one of them just entered the area where the disturbance took place. Aura made up her mind. She would summon them as another adventure and threat to The World began.

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Alice Warren turned twenty-two today. Her parents sent her a new computer along with the game The World. The next day Alice started to play The World. She chose her character, a female Swordmaster she named Belias. She logged into Mac Anu. She walked around town seeing all the players. "Wow, just like my friends said it was like," she said with wonder.

Alice decided to take Belias out for an adventure. She chose a simple level one area to get some practice in. She walked to the Chaos Gate and used the gate's random command. To her surprise it always came up the same: Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field.

"This is odd," said Alice. "Well, at least its level one. Must be something to protect newbies from getting in way over their heads."

Alice teleported Belias to Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field and was introduced to whole bunch of nothing but grassland and sky. Alice shook her head in disappointment. She decided to try the dungeon. If there was nothing there then she would logout and e-mail CC Corp about this.

Alice explored the first level of the dungeon when she reached a dead end with a treasure chest. She opened the chest and got a health drink. She turned around when she saw a portal. "Now we're talking. About time something interesting happened," she said.

Alice moved Belias to the portal and looked at it. It looked dark at first. The portal brightened and became clearer. Alice's mouth slowly opened as an image appeared. "No way," she whispered.

Alice felt something pull at her. She took off her headset and turned around. Her eyes widened followed by her screaming.

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Elsewhere in a light field, the Descendents of Fianna met. "You wanted to see me?" Orca asked his long time partner and friend Balmung.

Balmung looked at Orca. He did not seem very well. He looked depressed. Balmung decided now was not the time to drop the bomb on his friend. "You and I need to talk. You've seemed distracted lately. Are you still feeling the affects of the Bracelet?"

"Its nothing like that," said Orca. "I'm thinking about quitting the game."

That brought Balmung up short. "Why?"

"I know this is going to sound stupid but I'm nothing now," said Orca.

Balmung resisted the urge to shudder. Those words were what a player said before committing character suicide. That was when a player would find the hardest field or dungeon possible, go into it, and fight till the bitter end. After their character died, the player would cancel their account for good. "You're being ridiculous," said Balmung. "You're still one of the best players I know hands down."

"I used to be one of the best players hands down," said Orca angrily. "The key words being 'used to'. I've tried so many times to catch up to everyone else but I can't!"

Balmung look at his friend. He could not tell if it was Orca who was saying it or Yosihiko. "Hey, I know how you feel. When I saw Kite doing all that stuff I got a little jealous to. Have you talked to him about it in real life?" asked Balmung.

"I haven't and I won't. I won't make him feel guilty for overshadowing me," said Orca.

Balmung put a comforting hand on Orca's shoulder. "How about this. We take a break. When we return we can cut loose like in the old days. Frankly we both deserve a vacation," he suggested.

Ocra looked at his friend. If there was one thing he knew about Balmung was that he was the worst liar in the real world and The World. "What are you up to Balmung?"

"I'm not up to anything," Balmung said innocently.

"I may be a little depressed but I can still read you like a book. You said 'we'. Now spill it flyboy," said Orca.

The background music stopped and changed to something they both recognized. "Aura is nearby," said Balmung with concern. She only appeared when something bad was about to happen.

"As long as it's not a repeat of the last time," said Orca. "Having my mind yanked out like that just plain sucked."

"Balmung of the Azure Sky, Ocra of the Azure Sea. You both must go to where it began," said Aura. "There you will find a new mystery."

"Is she talking about the area where she was Data Drained?" asked Balmung.

"No, where I was," groaned Orca.

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Terajima Ryoko stood at Mac Anu's chaos gate. With her was Natsume. The female Twin Blade looked up at Terajima. "Are you sure about this?" she asked. "This sounds like something I'd do to get stronger. Besides, only two players have pulled off solo adventuring."

"Yes, I know. Star Hammer who retired his character last year and the mysterious Unknown," said Terajima. "I did my research. Even they had to start from scratch."

"But why here? With your level its too easy," said Natsume.

"Its something I need to do. Start at the very bottom and work my way up," answered Terajima. "My level is not what it used to be either."

"You didn't," said Natsume with disbelief. Natsume admitted she had strong feeling for Kite also but those feelings faded and they remained good friends. Natsume was jealous of Blackrose but she eventually got over it.

"My father used his influence to knock my character back down to level one," said Terajima. "I don't regret losing everything. I'll regain it all sooner or later . . .on my own."

There was something else in her voice that bothered Natsume. There was something in Terajima's voice that went beyond her feelings for Kite or her goals within the game. Natsume chose not to press the issue. "If you ever need any help I'm just a flash mail away."

"Thank you," said Terajima.

"I have to log out for now. E-mail me and tell me how you're doing," said Natsume.

"I will," said Terajima.

After Natsume logged out, Terajima activated the Chaos Gate and went to Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field. As usual the area was empty. Terajima never understood why neither Aura nor CC Corp repaired the area. It was something she would have to ask her father. Terajima took a deep breath and tightened her grip on her ax. It was time to start over and from this point she would carve out her own story.

Terajima neared the dungeon entrance when it happened. The ground shook and the screen on Terajima's visor flickered hard. "This can't be good," she said. Now she wanted anyone, even Piros, at her side. "I won't back down now. Its probably a glitch," she said to herself.

Terajima took a deep breath and walked into the dungeon. As usual the safe and booby-trapped treasure chests were there. Terajima went to use a Fortune Wire when she heard groaning. She looked around and saw something in the left corner of the room. A player on the floor was convulsing. Terajima could not make out whom it was.

Terajima walked closer when she stopped. She was trying to become a solo player. That meant she only worried about herself and no one else. "Sorry," said Terajima. "Don't worry, getting a game-over isn't that bad. Its just a game after all."

"Please," groaned the player.

Terajima sighed and said, "This is the last time." She walked over to the player to get a better view. When Terajima got a good look at the player she yelled. "This can't be happening!" In a panic she knelt beside the player to get a good look. The player was gasping for air, her skin turning blue. Terajima touched the player and in the real world she swore she could feel the player's skin.

"Someone help!" yelled Terajima. "Aura, please, where are you!" Terajima made a decision. She would go back to Mac Anu and flash mail Helba. The hacker had to know of this.

Terajima ran to the dungeon exist when she heard familiar voices. "Everything seems fine so far." Terajima was relieved. It was Orca.

Terajima waited for them to enter. "Terajima, what're you doing here?" asked Balmung.

Terajima grabbed Balmung's hand. "Quick, this way!" said Terajima. She led the Descendents of Fianna to the player she found.

"Tell me this is some fancy trick with graphics," said Orca.

"I don't think so," said Terajima. "I touched her skin and I could've sworn I felt it in the real world."

"That would mean we aren't just dealing with a trapped mind," said Balmung. "This is a real life person who's been completely pulled into The World." He knelt down and checked the person. He looked at his friends with concern. "She can't breathe! Without air she'll die!"

To be continued . . .

Author's Note: This story is going to take awhile. This idea came to me while writing .hack/polarized so isn't really part of the original idea but I felt it would still be a good part of the over all series. Please bear with me as the updates might be a little slow. Thanks.