No, your eyes are not deceiving you; I have indeed changed my username a little bit. Don't worry; I'm still the same, lovely, charming (hah) Hikari-just with a shiny new last name ^^.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Gaia's. Except maybe my username, which you'll see in this fic. All the others are made up.
2
Into the Fire
"Hell yes."
A smiled quirked up the corner of Maxwell's mouth. "Then just slip those rings onto your fingers. Your PDA will do the rest." He activated Stunner again. "Good luck."
He set off at a run, and Kira faced the Animated in the hall alone. She leaned the rifle shape up against the wall and opened the box in her hand. Sure enough, it contained eight loose rings, a pouch with several more, a PDA…and a few other things.
Kira pulled out the PDA and the loose rings. She slipped the PDA into her pocket and slid each of the eight rings—Guns Guns Guns, Hot Foot, Bump, Fire Rain, Rock Armor, Keen Eye, Divinity, and Meat—onto a finger. She held out her hand and thought about attacking the Animated with Hot Foot.
Nothing happened.
Kira swore. "Da fuck?" She gave the rings on her hands a dirty look. "You're no use!"
The PDA in her pocket beeped. She pulled it out and saw an alert; "Activate Rings". It was giving her a tutorial on how to activate her rings.
She glanced up. The Alarmskeeters had her in their sights and were coming for her. She tapped the alert on her PDA.
The Rings on her fingers each flashed with neon purple light, which washed over her hands, up her arms, and over the rest of her body. Where the purple light faded, her form changed; skin darkening to a dark, gray-blue; a very familiar jacket replaced her hoodie, her jeans and sneakers morphed into black Goth pants and combat boots, and her hair changed to red.
The change took only a few moments. Kira blinked as words appeared in her vision:
Username: Shadows10000.
Status: Online.
Ring status: Charged.
Charge level: 6.8
Null Connection: Steady.
It's a HUD. Kira blinked, and the notations disappeared. Text drifted at the edge of her vision, presumably some other sort of information. She turned to the Alarmskeeters coming her way, and a red crosshair flickered on each. Accompanying it was another line of text:
Targets Acquired.
Kira smiled. This was as easy as thinking.
She charged out of the protective circle, yelling a battle cry, activating her Rings. Her vision flared purple, rocks encased her arms for a moment, and guns appeared out of the air in her hands. The Alarmskeeters gravitated towards her.
"Eat lead!"
XXX
"Fuck off!" Rosalyn smacked at the skeeter. As she backpedaled from the mechanical nightmare, she slipped in a puddle of former Peelunger. Unceremoniously she landed on her butt in said puddle of pee.
Fan-flipping-tastic.
"Hey! Catch!"
Rosalyn almost missed the small black box tossed her way. She caught it right before it made contact with her nose. "Da hell?"
The girl who'd thrown her the box was a dark elf with red hair, yellow eyes, and wearing black skinny jeans, heeled boots, tight shirt, and a sleeveless leather jacket.
And a ring on each finger.
"Thirteenth-Dragoon, right?" The girl asked.
Rosalyn recognized her Gaia username. "Who're you?"
"Amria Fasaka, dark elf Shard." The girl said. "That box has your PDA and Rings from zOMG. Just slip on the rings and activate them on your PDA; you do the rest."
"Wait!" But the dark elf was gone as quickly as she'd come, and Rosalyn was again alone in the classroom. Her classmates and teacher had already vacated the room, and Rosalyn had been the only one to stay and fight off the Peelungers and Alarmskeeters.
It wasn't going well.
She looked to the box in her hand as she pulled herself up. She backed away from the window, no knowing when the next skeeter would come crashing through. It fit nicely into her palm, and the G-Corp insignia was emblazoned on the top. She pulled off the lid and pulled out the rings inside and slid them onto her fingers.
Then, tapped the prompt on the PDA. Neon purple washed from the Rings over her, and her clothes changed from her hoodie, t-shirt and jeans to a black turtleneck, black skirt, purple leggings, black Mary Janes, and a purple newsboy cap.
Username: Thirteenth-Dragoon.
Status: Online.
Ring status: Charged.
Charge level: 6.0
Null Connection: Steady.
Rosalyn yelped and blinked rapidly several times. The text went away, only to be replaced as several new Alarmskeeters came through the broken windows.
Targets Acquired.
"Shut up goddamn it!" She threw out her arm and one of her Rings glowed neon purple and katanas flickered into existence and sliced into the skeeters. They fell to pieces on the ground.
Rosalyn looked at her hand. Seven rings; Mantis, Fire Rain, Heavy Water Balloon, and Dervish on her right, and Fleet Feet, Divinity, and Healing Halo on her left. She glanced to the window, and figured she'd better get out of the classroom and find others who were fighting.
She activated Fleet and ran down the hall. Laurenciel had PE this hour…hadn't he said today was softball day at breakfast?
XXX
The boy in question torched several very obnoxious, very corny lawn gnomes as they battered away at the fence. Laurenciel had several long cuts over his arms and torso and he could feel the bruises forming under the leather of his coat; he couldn't see the black-and-blue marks yet, but he knew they'd be there in the morning.
As well as the accompanying pain.
But for now, his whole appearance had changed; his skin was dark, his hair forest-green, and he was wearing a pair of chained pants, sneakers, a blue flame-patterned top, and a long, leather coat. His avatar, as it appeared currently.
Online, he thought it looked badass. In real life…he looked like a dork.
A fresh wave of the irritating gnomes started back on the fence, joined by some yard flamingo backup and a weird shrub…monster…thing. His classmates had run for cover; they'd been the smart ones.
Laurenciel wasn't. So here he was, getting his skinny, dorky ass kicked.
By lawn gnomes. Fucking lawn gnomes. Of all the undignified ways to go, death by corny porcelain lawn gnomes topped the list.
Okay, maybe not the number one spot; that had to go to death by toilet seat. But death my lawn gnome came in at a very close second.
Laurenciel heard the sound of rending metal behind him. He went from smirking at the sound of dying lawn ornaments—it sounded less…breaking-glass-y than he'd thought—to a cold sweat.
That was not a good sound.
That was a very not good sound.
He turned. He had something, at least, to take these things on with. He'd been doing pretty well at taking down the living lawn ornaments; whatever that was could be taken on as easily, right?
When he saw what had torn through the chain-link fence, Laurenciel wished he hadn't looked.
Oh, nope. Nope. No way. I am not dealing with that.
Sawblades. With eyes. Flaming, bright red eyes. And pissed; very, very pissed.
So it's either death by lawn gnome or death by demon buzz saws. Neither of which are great choices.
Laurenciel looked around. Unless he wanted to go running into the school—which was probably infested with more of these demented things—and therefore draw the attacking lawn ornaments, shrubbery, and sharpened metal into a building with panicky classmates, he didn't have many options. Hell, he didn't have any options.
He felt the PDA buzz in his pants pocket, where he'd dropped it after he activated it. A moment later, an alert flashed in the corner of his vision.
Friends nearby: Thirteenth-Dragoon, Spacer3234. Join Crew?
Laurenciel hissed in frustration and blinked the alert away. He dove to the side as the shrubbery decided to take advantage of his distraction, attacking him. He hissed as the barbed vine slashed through his pants and into his leg, and heard it tear a long rip in his coat. Shortly followed by shrieking as it blundered into the demonic buzz saws and was summarily torn to mulch.
Which he would've been if he hadn't started running.
"Oh fuck off!" he screamed, activating Hot Foot, setting several gnomes and saws on fire. Not enough; hell, if anything, all he did was piss off the rest of them even more. Dammit, he thought as he sprinted for the football field, I wish I hadn't salvaged Fleet Feet. Kira said it was useful, but I didn't think it'd be in such a literal sense.
"Hey Laurey! Duck!"
Opting not to hiss at Rosalyn's nickname for him, Laurenciel did as she said. Or, ordered, anyway. He felt the hair on the back of his neck move as the swords from Mantis flickered into existence and slashed over his head, cutting into lawn gnomes, plastic flamingos, and demon buzz saws.
As the sounds of Rosalyn's rage and metal against metal raged, he felt warmth surge through him, accompanied by the crawling itchiness of closing wounds. Relatively sure now that he wouldn't be beheaded via katana, he rolled to his feet….
And came face-to-face with a cat.
In a space suit.
What.
Laurenciel blinked. "Um. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess Riley?"
The cat smiled. "You'd be guessing right." She said. "I'm sending you an invite to the Crew Roz started. I'm guessing you haven't seen Kira or Marcia?"
Laurenciel shook his head as the alert popped up in his vision. Scowling, he dismissed it and accepted the invite on his PDA. Rosalyn glanced back to the two. "Oi! Laurey! A little help would be nice!"
"Always diplomatic," Laurenciel grunted, activating Hot Foot again and turning several more Animated into ash. He was in the middle of activating Hack when arrows thunked into the last of the gnomes on one side, and ninja stars peppered the saws on the other. "What the—?"
Two figures strode up to the group. "Yo." One of them—a dorky-looking vampire whose blue hair looked suspiciously like Vash the Stampede's—and a blonde with (literally) white skin wearing a biker jacket and skinny jeans started towards them. "We were starting to get worried that there weren't any Gaians nearby."
"Do you know what's happening?" Riley asked.
The duo exchanged looks. "…Mostly." The white-skinned blonde replied. "But first, are there any other Gaians you guys know of running around? People who've played the MMO?"
"Yeah," Rosalyn said before Laurenciel could reply. "Kira and Marcia—Shadows10000 and Elle Elf—are in the high school somewhere, still. Viv's probably still home with the flu…."
The vampire was nodding and had his eyes unfocused. "I think I've found them. They're inside, near the main entrance on the other side of the school." He said. "And one of them's using a lot of fire."
"Kira." The three deadpanned. If there was anyone who could be counted on to go for as much overkill as possible, it was Kira Daile. Laurenciel hoped she wouldn't burn down the school—well, not entirely, at least.
The duo exchanged another look. "You kids, get home. Stay there, barricade the doors, and don't come out until things have died down." The blonde said. "It's dangerous out here. Really dangerous. And you guys only have mid-level Charge Levels—"
"Hell no." Rosalyn interrupted. She crossed her arms, scowling. "And in case you didn't hear it the first time, hell fucking no. Our friends are on the other side of the school? Well, then that's where we're headed."
The vampire raised an eyebrow. "You're sure?"
"Yes," Laurenciel took a spot next to Rosalyn, crossing his arms as well. On his other side, he felt Riley take up a similar pose. "And I wouldn't advise trying to stop Rosalyn; she tends to be about as destructive as a raging bull when she decides to do something. You'll probably end up with a few broken noses for your trouble."
Rosalyn glared at him. He responded with a big, wide grin.
The vampire shook his head as the blonde let out a loud sigh. "All right then, fine. We'll add you three to our Crew and let you tag along. Just let us take on the stronger stuff; you won't do anyone any good if you get yourselves killed."
The three nodded as two more names flickered onto the Crew list, before fading out of Laurenciel's field of vision. Then, it was back into the school, to track down the pyromaniac and the derp.
XXX
By the time they'd regrouped and the Animated dispersed, Kira was exhausted. She was only too glad to dismiss her avatar and collapse into Roz's couch, more tired than she thought was possible. In the distance, she heard sirens, no doubt the police and ambulances, finally able to get to the school. The Cadet could have cared less; all she wanted to do was sleep.
That, and know what the hell was going on.
"Good news; there doesn't seem to have been any fatalities. A lot of injuries though." A redheaded dark elf—Amria, was what she'd introduced herself as—said, returning to the living room. She sank down against the couch, next to Kira. "And a lot of destruction. Not as bad as it could've been, though. Wouldn't be surprised if there were more Shards come through that've already 'ported back."
"Okay, explain." Kira said, wincing as she flexed her neck. She was pretty sure she'd pulled every muscle possible in the fighting. "What're Shards, why could we change into our Avatars, and why the hell are the Animated in the real world?"
The three…Shards, they called themselves, exchanged a look. "That…is going to take a while to explain." Amria said, slowly. "And I'm not sure if you guys'll believe any of it."
"Honey, after being attacked by bubbles of pee, green mutant hamsters, lawn ornaments, and demonic buzz saws from Hell, I think we're good on the believing part." Rosalyn said. "And frankly right now, I'm too tired to give a shit. You could be talking about purple flying elephants from Mars causing all this and I'd be too exhausted to care."
Kira barked out a laugh. Then groaned as it jostled her ribs—owww. That hurt. I hope nothing's broken; I can't afford a hospital visit. She thought. "I'm with Roz on this one." She said. "I'm so tired right now my brain probably won't start processing any of this until tomorrow. At which point I'll probably panic so bad I'll turn into an incoherent puddle of jelly, so you may as well take advantage of the exhaustion-induced calm now."
"Right," the dark elf said with a sigh. "Just don't blame me if you don't believe any of this…."