To my faithful fans: Yet another story from my creative mind. Hope you guys like it, it was supposed to be based on Dot Hack/G.U., like an after math of the three games.

Now for the Disclaimer: I do not own Dot Hack/Sign or Dot Hack/G.U. or any of the characters in it.

Claimer, I do, however, own Zane and Sasha Delarova, the two main characters, and Darphonous.

Okay, here's chapter 1!

Chapter 1

"Now this is what I'm talking about!" His eyes scanned the new area as he stood in the middle of a huge city. Skyscrapers towered over him as his character slowly began to take in his surroundings. On his character he wore a red muscle shirt, on which flames red and orange and yellow flames danced on the back and front. He also wore an orange belt around his waist, where what looked like a large gun holster was placed on his side, and long red sweat-pant-like pants that had flames creeping up the outer sides of the legs. These covered his black work boots. Under his eyes were two red V's that ended at his cheeks, and on his arms were black tiger stripes. A pair of black fingerless gloves rested on his hands, his eyes were a bright green color, and his hair was long and maroon. His character had started the game out at level 25, even though he had never played the game before. due to a contest he had won, and thanks to the virtual reality goggles that he had borrowed from his school's computer lab, Zane felt as though he were doing more than playing a simple RPG game.

His interests were more than peaked when he began to move the control stick on the controller to move his character in what seemed like the direction to the center of town. Many different colored and types of character ran around in this strange place, passing his field of vision as he walked gracefully into the center of what looked like a marketplace. There he saw two female type characters, one short and animal-like, the other human sized. They were fighting over a piece of armor that seemed to look like a normal piece of chest armor. Zane walked up to them and tried to resolve the situation calmly.

"Excuse me," he started, to which the ladies both turned and glared at him, "What about this armor is the root cause of this fight?" The taller, violet armored woman pulled the piece toward her, while the other lady still clung to it, and frowned.

"I saw it first and it's the last one in the shop, there isn't another one like it! I need it more than this pathetic little bunny does, so it's mine!"Very aggressively, the other, rabbit-like lady pulled the armor toward herself and glared at the other.

"That's a load of bull, you ninny!" she exclaimed, "I'm a higher level than you are, and I can use the attributes on this armor better than you can! So I should have it!" Again, they went back and forth, pulling the armor between each other. Sighing out of resignation, Zane turned to the shop keeper, who was shaking his head at the two.

"How much is that armor? What does it do, exactly?" he asked the man, whom just turned to him languidly.

"It's a five star armor, meaning it's very rare, and very expensive," he replied lazily, "That particular piece is said to give the wearer the power to poison their opponent and put them to sleep so that they can't do anything."Zane shook his head at the ladies once again, then noticed that the armor in their hands was beginning to glow. It glowed brighter and everyone shielded their eyes for a split second. As suddenly as it had occurred, the glowing ceased, and in the armor's place were two identical pieces of the same thing over which the women had just been arguing. Smiling, the women then parted ways without another word to each other or the men beside them. The salesman banged his hand on the table, screaming at them "Hey! Where's my money?" A chuckling and the sound of jingling coins could be heard as a large coin purse landed with a loud thud onto the table next to the man. Zane and the salesman looked up to see a strange looking man chuckling an flipping his long gray hair behind his head. He looked to be in his thirties, with a blue long sleeved shirt underneath an orange vest, and red Shinto priest's pants that ballooned at the bottom. Like Zane's character, this character had V's under his eyes, but there were blue, not red. The man also wore a priest's headdress, which matched all of the colors of his outfit, and he was wielding a staff with sharp edges that looked more like curved knives. Zane had truly never seen anything like it. He had to shake his head and look again in order to make sure that he wasn't dreaming or seeing things. The suspicious character only smiled slyly to him and continued gazing at the two ladies as they disappeared from view.

"Who are you? And what was that trick you used back there?" Zane got the courage to ask, to which the man turned to him and chuckled heartily.

"Ah, a newbie, I suppose you wouldn't know the art of duplication when you saw it," he replied, "The name's Darphonous, and should you ever need a piece of armor duplicated, I am the man to call." He then flipped his hair behind his shoulder once more, spun around, and walked off in the opposite direction. Zane stood there, completely and utterly dumbstruck. Duplicating weapons and armor, even at high star ratings? Was it possible? It had to be, for he had just witnessed it with his own eyes. Behind him came a scoff as the salesman turned and restocked his supply. Zane gave him a confused look, to which the salesman looked back at him with irritated eyes.

"That man is nothing but a phony and a crook. Sure, he pays me back for all of the things he copies, but never for the actual price. Those two sets or armor are now worth less than what the original had cost. He paid for he two lower class sets, meaning I didn't get my full money's worth for it." He turned and put something on the table, a shiny sword that looked like it hadn't been used in ages. Zane felt bad that Darphonous hadn't given the man the full price of the armor, so he took whatever money he had started in the game and gave it to the man. He then turned back to Zane and sighed. "Look, I know you are just trying to be nice, but I really don't want to take your money for something you didn't buy. I don't rip people off, like that Darphonous idiot." He shook his head as he looked in the direction that Darphonous had gone. "I don't know what you were thinking about that man, but stay away from guys like him. If you didn't know, he's a PK, a player killer. Guys like him scam and rip off newbies and other players so that they can get them killed in the field, and some of them flat out will attack you no matter where you are and kill you." Zane didn't know what to think. He had been feeling like the duplication idea was a bit far fetched and too good to be true; he guessed he was right then. Zane scanned the area around the market, then looked back at the salesman.

"Hey, it looks like you are on your own out here. Would you like some help?" he asked genuinely, to which the salesman gave him a bewildered, yet somehow satisfied and relieved look.

"You know, no one in this damn game has ever offered to help me, let alone ever been kind to me, like you have," he replied, and for the first time since Zane had met him, he cracked a smile, "What's your name, son?"

"Zane, sir."

"And when can you start?"

"Immediately." Zane hopped behind the table with the man, who was now grinning from ear to ear. Zane smiled too, glad to have made his first friend in "The World". The man turned to him.

"Well you can start by helping me move this stuff over to the table and laying it out," he started, pointing to a box of necklaces and bracelets, "By the way, the name's Josef. And believe me when I say if you EVER need anything at all, come see me. I may not give it to you for free, but my prices are cheaper than any other you'll find around Mac Anu." When Zane gave him a curious look as he took the box over to the table, Josef chuckled. "It's the city we're in now. Delta Eternal City Mac Anu. While we're at it, let me just tell you about the whole game." And the two chatted endlessly about how "The World" 3.0 worked and told of it's many secrets.

Zane remembered that day like it was yesterday. He had been a newbie himself, not knowing who the good and bad people were and where everything was. He used this knowledge and helped out other newbies who were struggling in the game, and those who asked him questions, he gave them very detailed instructions of where to go or what to do, depending on the inquiry. In the real world, Zane even bought himself a pair of virtual reality goggles so that he wouldn't have to keep borrowing the ones from the computer lab. He was a visual programing student, and so his teacher let him use the video game as his project. All of his assignments came from the game, and he aced all of his classes.

One day he was helping a group of new players to find their way to the Mercenary District, when he spotted a young girl, dressed in a red decorated kimono, white thigh high stockings, and red slippers decorated with gold embroidery. She seemed to be all alone, which was the worst way for a new player to be, so he carefully walked up to her, smiling gently.

"Hello there, little one," he said softly. The girl nearly jumped out of her skin, but nodded back.

"H-hello..." she replied timidly. Zane's smile softened and he held out a hand to her.

"You must be a new player," he started, to which she nodded quickly, "My name's Zane. Nice to meet you...?" The girl curtsied and shook his hand, smiling slightly.

"Sasha D- Uh... Just Sasha," she answered, being careful of what she said. Zane could tell that she was a little uneasy about being in the world, and wanted to make her stay as smooth as possible. He chuckled a little and stood up straight.

"Well if you'd like, Just Sasha, I could show you around and tell you how the game works," he offered, to which Sasha's smile broadened.

"That would be lovely, Zane," she replied. Zane then offered his hand again, and when she took it, he started to lead her around the city, explaining what every building and every shop was for. He figured since it was her first log in, he wouldn't take her into the field to try fighting.

Once they were done with the tour, they came to a bridge that linked the Mercenary District to the Harbor District. He picked her up and sat her on the red railing, then leaned up against it, facing away from the water below, while they both looked at the setting sun. It looked like a real sunset, one that Zane was used to seeing, but was still amazed by. Feeling less shy, Sasha turned her pink haired head toward Zane and smiled broadly.

"Thank you for everything today, Zane. I really appreciate it," she said, to which Zane smiled back and nodded.

"It was my pleasure, little lady." They turned back to watch as the sun disappeared over the the horizon. Once the sunlight had completely vanished, the many street lamps lit up the cobblestone streets. It was then that Sasha decided to ask a very strange question.

"Zane, can you walk?" Zane was a bit taken aback by the question, but he figured she meant in the real world, since he could clearly walk and run in the game, so he nodded.

"Why? Can't you?" Sasha shook her head sadly.

"Unfortunately no."

"Oh... Sorry to hear that, Sasha..." He turned around and looked into the darkened water. Sasha couldn't walk? Why not? What had happened to her? Zane was more curious now than he ever had been. As though she were reading his mind, Sasha looked at him.

"It's a condition I was born with," she started, "Something in my legs didn't develop the right way, so I never learned to walk. I was bound to a wheelchair since the age of three, and now I'm thirteen years old." Zane couldn't believe his ears. A girl bound to a wheelchair by age three? A condition in her legs that prevented her from ever learning to walk? It sounded crazy, but Zane had seen a lot of crazy things in his lifetime, so this wasn't something about which he should be surprised. He looked down at his own two legs, that worked perfectly fine, that walked, ran, jumped, sprinted... He could do almost anything with them. He felt bad for Sasha. She must have read his mind again, because she put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him and smiled again.

"It's alright, Zane. The doctors are working very hard in order to get my legs working again. It's not fatal, so I have time. Don't worry, okay? I'll be fine." Well at least she's confident in herself, he thought to himself. He just returned her smile. Just then, aloud alarm could be heard in Zane's head phones.

"Uh oh, time for class," he announced, standing up and turning to Sasha, "I have to go for now, but I will be on later if you are. Feel free to explore without me, but just be very careful of the people you meet. Some of them aren't the nicest of people, remember? Oh, and here's my member address, so that when I log on again, you can see it and send me a short message." He handed her a box that had a bunch of numbers inside. "Well, see you soon, Sasha." With that, his character became surrounded in blue circling lights, and his character vanished right before her eyes. She was very confused, and absentmindedly looked down at the box of numbers in her hand. A member address? What was she supposed to do with that? She decided to search her many side menus until she found it. Finally she came to the one that said PARTY on the top. Her character held up the box and, as she manually typed in the member address, a loud noise sounded in her own headphones, then the box dissipated. Zane's username then popped up under the party list, and a message flashed next to her list, saying USER MEMBER ADDRESS SUCCESSFULLY ADDED. Smiling, Sasha decided to leave the exploring for the next day, and signed off also. Her character became surrounded in the same blue lights, and then disappeared from the screen.

Once logged off, Sasha checked her email before she turned the computer off. She had but one message, from Zane. He told her that he was glad to have shown her around "The World" and hoped to do it again real soon. She smiled broadly, her pearly white teeth showing, and wrote back to him right away. She had a lot of fun and she wanted Zane to know. After she finished her letter, she turned the computer off, wheeled herself over to the side of the bed, carefully climbed in and put her pajamas on, turned off the light beside her bed, and finally pulled the covers over her and lay her head down on the pillow, falling fast asleep.

Letter from: ZANE

Sasha,

I had so much fun showing you around "The World" today. I think it was the most fun I've had in a long while, aside from actually playing the game.

Sorry I had to bail on you so quick. I'm in college, so I can't really afford to miss class. But I would love to chill with you again sometime, that's why I gave you my member address, remember? Hopefully you figured out how to use it... I'd feel really bad if you didn't.

Like I said I had a blast. I'm sorry about you condition, and I hope they find a cure for it soon. I feel bad that there isn't anything I can do, but that's for another time, right? Anyways, if you've signed out by the time I get back, with the mountains of homework I have to finish, just leave me a message and I'll see you when we both are in the world together, alright?

Have a good one, and hope to see you soon in "The World",

Zane B.

Letter from: SASHA_D (Reply)

Dear Zane,

I really appreciated what you did for me today. Thank you so much for helping me out. I did figure out how to use the member address thingy, and I would like to "chill" with you sometime soon if you wouldn't mind, but my schedule is pretty busy for the next two weeks, since I'll be in the hospital getting tests done. I don't know when I will be online again, plus I have homework that I need to do, but I will let you know as soon as I can.

I hope to see you again real soon.

Sincerely,

Sasha D.

So that's the end of Chapter 1! What did you all think?

The Letters between Sasha and Zane I will put at the end of every chapter because they constantly email each other.

See you next time on...

dot Hack/F.C.