Chapter One: Encounter
Delta Server Root Town: Mac Anu
It has been ten months since the happenings of the first coming of the twilight. The .hackers that took part in the final fight have moved on and returned to their normal behaviors both in The World and out.
The water city is as vibrant as it ever was. The city is a bustling center of activity as thousands of players carry out various activities. Some are engaging in trading. Others are engaged in crafting activities. Still others are merely socializing. At the Chaos Gate a young woman appears in a column of yellow light. She is a blonde haired woman of small build wearing a white elegant dress. From behind, a pair of moderately sized angel wings can be seen coming out of her back. Her blue eyes stare out into the town seemingly lost in the vastness of what was happening. On her forehead a small tiara with a red stone in it can be seen. Above her head, a small gold halo floats. Her forearms are covered in gauntlets that match her dress but her fingers are not covered and are exposed. In her hand she carries a massive axe nearly the size of her own body. As she looks around, she has a gentle and peaceful smile on her lips. She hums to herself as she walks towards the main part of Mac Anu.
"I wonder what will happen today..." She thinks to herself. As she enters the main square, she looks around for anybody that she recognizes. As she looks around she hears a familiar voice call out to her.
"Ryoko! Terajima Ryoko!"
Curious, Ryoko turns to the direction of the voice. She sees a male blademaster approach. He is wearing silver plated mail. His white hair coming straight down over his shoulders as large angel wings come out of his back. Unlike Ryoko's though, they look more like a cloak than functioning wings. The blademaster's arms and legs are covered in blue armor. It's Balmung of the Azure Sky.
"Oh, hi Balmung!" Ryoko shouts towards him as she walks towards him. "What's up?"
"I thought that I would go leveling to try to regain what I lost while Kite, Orca, and I were wiping out the data bugs. Would you like to come train as well?"
Ryoko smiled looking at Balmung. She hadn't been leveling in a long time. Ever since the events ten months ago, she began to explore lower level fields and help the lowbies that she saw who needed it. Her level was still only 44, most of which she achieved while leveling with the other associates of Kite when he was busy on his quest.
"Sure! Hey Balmung…what is a data bug again?" Ryoko says a little confused.
Balmung sighed to himself.
"You don't remember? Kite killed many of them during the events that happened ten months ago."
"Not really…Kite never invited me that often…in fact I think he invited me only when I asked him to come to a field with me. I haven't seen him around lately, have you?"
Balmung folds his arms over his chest thinking for a moment.
"Kite has been busy with school lately. Orca too. As for data bugs, it's kind of hard to explain, but I wouldn't worry about them anymore, Kite, Orca, and I destroyed them all. Unfortunately, they had the power to drain levels from us among other things…I went from level 85 down to level 50 in the process of hunting them…and it is only now that I have time to start training my character again. I am kind of excited actually, especially now that they have raised the maximum level to 140."
"If you say so Balmung…so where are we going?" Ryoko says with her arms behind her back leaning forward a little bit in her curiosity.
"Well, we need to invite one other. Let me see who is available."
Balmung closes his eyes and points his head downwards slightly as he looks at his member address list. Ryoko looks around while Balmung is doing this. She watches a group of players dancing in the square rather oddly. A few seconds later he turns to Ryoko.
"Okay. Mistral is coming."
"Great! I haven't seen her in a while either. I'll be back in a moment!" Ryoko says as she begins running towards a nearby item shop.
Balmung simply stands there with a bemused look on his face.
"Attack of the high pitched voices…" Balmung sighs to himself. "I better turn the volume down before it gets too busy."
Mistral appears rather quickly. She runs towards Balmung in her blue and white robes with her red hair flowing behind her.
"Hello Balmung!" Mistral says. The pitch of her voice makes Balmung cringe slightly. "Let's go!"
"Greetings Mistral…we will leave shortly."
"Okay! So what field are we going to? Will there be rare items?"
"Hm, Lambda server seems to be a good server considering the level range…"
"Well I am 47…you're 50…who else is going?"
"Terajima Ryoko"
Mistral frowns slightly.
"I see…what level?"
"44…"
"Oh well, we'll still do okay I guess." Mistral says while swinging her staff around with her wrist. "Where is she?"
Balmung points at the item shop that Ryoko went into.
"Oh no…why did she go to that shop?!" Mistral exclaims.
"Why? What's wrong with it?" Balmung replies perplexed.
"That item shop is one of the worst! It's run by that Black Star guild!"
"The PK guild?"
"Yeah. The poor girl will get ripped off. Let's go before she gets swindled out of everything!"
By the time Mistral finished her statement, Balmung was already walking towards the Black Star guild shop. Mistral runs behind Balmung to catch up.
Inside the Black Star guild shop.
A rather fat heavy blade is behind the counter. He wears a loose fitting getup of black clothing as he tends behind the counter.
"Welcome beautiful maiden! How may I help you today?"
Ryoko blushes a little at the statement but then realizes the obesity of the shopkeeper and gets her thinking straight again.
"Hi! Could I buy some healing elixirs?"
"Why sure! Only 4000gp each!"
"That's a little expensive…do you have anything else?"
"Well, I have these special health drinks, rare edition! They heal one thousand hit points a shot, and quite a bargain at 1000gp each! "
"Well…I guess that will be good enough…okay! I'll take ten…"
"Very good milady! Ten thousand gold please."
A door is heard opening and slamming in the back of the shop. A male voice is heard.
"Hey! Santo! I heard you trying to rip off some newbie, have some decency you fat bastard. Now get your lard ass back here, we have business to discuss."
Santo cringes as he recognizes the voice. He turns to Ryoko with an awkward look on his face.
"Young lady, I apologize for my rude business associate back there…but I have been instructed by my guild master to have a discussion with him on a serious matter of business. I will have to ask you to leave."
"Back here. NOW. I don't have time to waste while you try to rip off a bunch of newbies."
"Err heh…coming!"
Santo runs to the back, waddling as he goes. Ryoko couldn't help but giggle at the sight of the fat player running. Curious, she goes around the corner to the doorway to the back and listens from around the corner. The first voice she hears is that of the unknown person. She peeks around the corner trying to see who it was that called Santo out from the back, but all she could see what the back of Santo's fat character obstructing her view.
"So…one of your boys found something that I am looking for?"
"Ah yes…that unusually strong monster they found. They ended up having to retreat."
"You are sure that your boys aren't just pathetically weak? That it wasn't some quest or event monster?"
"Are you saying Black Star members are weak?"
"Only the ones that try to PK me in the field."
"…"
"Very well then, I will investigate. What is the area word?"
"Your end of the bargain first sir."
"Oh that…here is your trinket."
A metal clang is heard as the unknown person drops something on the floor. Santo picks it up bending over but is still obstructing Ryoko's view with his fat much to her dismay.
"Wow, a Rising Sun! How did you come across one of those at your level?"
"I was given it by a source."
"A hacker?"
"No. A legitimate source."
"Whatever you say buddy, heh. Okay here's your keyword. Lambda: Dying Elusive Ice Wall."
"Thanks Santo. Have fun ripping off newbies."
The door in the back can be heard opening and shutting again. Santo puts the Rising Sun in a nearby chest.
"Bastard…it's how Black Star chooses to play this game. Not our fault people are so susceptible to our methods. Who is he to judge us, a member of the defunct Crimson Knights? Hah! Those losers wouldn't last one minute in the game today."
Santo begins to turn around and head back to the counter. Ryoko quickly runs out the door just as Balmung and Mistral open it. She crashes into them causing a small mess outside. A few passing players look awkwardly at the scene and then go on their business.
"Ryoko! What is going on?" Mistral exclaims getting up.
"Oh…nothing!" Ryoko says a bit flustered.
Balmung shrugs.
"Whatever, lets get going." Balmung says as he walks towards the gate.
Ryoko sighed to herself.
"I never got the he healing items we may need." She said quietly to herself. Mistral hearing this turns to Ryoko.
"Don't worry, I can heal well enough, I have Ol Repth. Besides, that guild shop is the worst you can go to! Those people are really shady…they PK whenever they get the chance. I wouldn't go there even if they had the rarest item ever!"
Ryoko lightens up a little and smiles.
"Yeah…you're right! Thank you so very much Mistral for telling me that."
Mistral smiles, grabs Ryoko's arm, and starts running with her towards Balmung.
"Come on! Let's go before he wonders where we went!"
Ryoko laughs and runs with Mistral towards the Chaos Gate. As they go up the stairway leading to the platform, Ryoko notices Kite and Blackrose descending the stairs. Kite seems to be oblivious as he continues downwards while looking downwards but Blackrose notices them. Blackrose and Ryoko make eye contact and Blackrose glares daggers into Ryoko's eyes with a triumphant smile on her face. Ryoko looks a little shocked and gets a bit flustered as her face goes slightly red in anger. Ryoko grips her axe tightly and nearly starts walking towards Blackrose but stops midway deciding to not hold up Balmung and Mistral any longer. She turns away from Blackrose closing her eyes and continues upwards with her head pointed up trying to communicate to Blackrose that she thinks herself better than Blackrose. Blackrose gets slightly insulted by Ryoko and reaches up to grip her sword as Ryoko reaches the top of the stairwell and walks out of visible sight. Kite finally wakes up and looks at Blackrose perplexed.
"Blackrose? What is it?"
"Oh nothing…I just saw a whiny rat."
"A rat? Where?"
Blackrose laughs and grabs onto Kite's arm while urging him downstairs.
"Oh nothing, don't worry about it."
The two continues down the stairs. Ryoko walks back to the top of the stairway not being able to help herself from seeing if Blackrose was still insulted. She notices Blackrose clinging to Kite and crosses her arms over her chest shaking her head. When Blackrose turns around noticing this, Blackrose sticks her tongue out at Ryoko. Ryoko gets flustered by this raises her axe and almost starts to charge her when she hears Balmung.
"Ryoko! What are you doing?"
Ryoko sighs calming herself down. She walks towards the gate where Balmung and Mistral stand waiting.
"So Balmung, what area do you have in mind?" Mistral asks.
"Hm…I suppose I will select random areas until an appropriate level range pops up."
Ryoko, remembering the events in the Black Star guild shop, realizes the opportunity for excitement. She steps forward towards Balmung.
"Oh Balmung! When I was in that shop, I heard the shopkeeper talking to somebody about a special area."
"Special Area? Rare items!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mistral screams jumping around in excitement. Balmung crosses his arms across his chest.
"Okay…so what is it?"
"What is it? Oh yes! Let me see…Lambda…Dying...Elusive Ice Wall…that's it! Lambda: Dying Elusive Ice Wall."
"Well, let's go to Lambda and see what area level it is." Balmung says touching the gate.
"Lambda Root Town: Carmina Gadelica "
A column of golden rings surrounds Balmung as he disappears. Ryoko turns to go to the gate when Mistral stands in front of her glaring into her eyes.
"Mistral? What is it?" Ryoko asks a bit surprised.
"I saw that."
"Saw what?" Ryoko says with a nervous laugh afterward.
"You and Blackrose…"
"…I'm sorry. She just makes me so mad."
Mistral puts her arms to her side and leans forward a little.
"Why?"
"It's just the way she acts…"
"How so? Tell me."
"I…oh don't worry about it. It really is no big deal."
Mistral shakes her head.
"So much hostility with no words, I know there is something to it. Is it the fact that Kite and Blackrose are dating?"
Ryoko turns red faced nearly instantaneously and she turns away from Mistral.
"Oh…uh…no!"
"Ryoko…I was your age once. I probably would react similarly. It's obvious that you have feelings for Kite, but you've got to realize. Blackrose and Kite were in the whole thing together from the very start. I know Blackrose somewhat…and I know what she and Kite went through. Is it really any surprise that they started dating after it was all over?"
"No..." Ryoko says frowning.
"I will say this though. You are a bit more mature than Blackrose is. Just cheer up! You play The World to have fun right? What fun is it to worry about such silly things? Just vent your frustration out on the monsters in the area we are about to go to!"
Ryoko smiles a little. Mistral grabs Ryoko by the arm again and pulls her towards the Chaos Gate.
"Now let's go, Balmung is going to PK us if we take much longer!" Mistral exclaims laughing. Ryoko laughs a little and the two place their hands on the gate to warp to Carmina Gadelica.
Mid warp, Ryoko thinks to herself.
"Mistral…I know you mean well, but it's not as easy as you make it sound to forget about it."
Ryoko smiles to herself as she continues the thought. Her wings seemed to flutter a little nervously as she became lost in her thought.
"Maybe she has Kite, but one day, Blackrose and I will settle the score once and for all. I don't know how, but I know that some day it will happen. One of us will prove ourselves the better. I need to get stronger to make sure it's me!"
As Mistral and Ryoko manifest at the Carmina Gadelica Chaos Gate, Balmung is standing there with his arms across his chest.
"So sorry for the wait Balmung." Ryoko says a bit flustered seeing Balmung's stance.
"Women…now I remember why I was a soloist…" Balmung muses to himself.
"So Balmung! What's up with that field Ryoko told us about?"
"It is a level 48 water elemental zone. It probably isn't the best area for training."
"Who cares? If it's a secret Black Star field, then it must have a rare item!!!!" Mistral says laughing a bit. Ryoko just stands there quiet. In her mind she was going over all the possibilities of how she could settle the score with Blackrose
"Maybe some contest…or maybe I could hunt her down and PK her!" Ryoko thought to herself. The PK thought made her smirk a little. Balmung looks at Ryoko strangely momentarily although Ryoko doesn't notice.
"So do you guys really want to go to this field?" Balmung asks putting one arm at his side.
"Yeah!!!" Mistral yells. Ryoko merely nods her head a bit lost in her own thoughts.
"Fine" Balmung says turning to the Chaos Gate. He shakes his head slightly as he places his hand on the gate."
"Lambda: Dying Elusive Ice Wall."
A column of golden rings appears around Balmung as he is warped into the field. Mistral runs up to the gate placing her hand on the gate.
"Come on Ryoko! Lambda: Dying Elusive Ice Wall!!!!"
Mistral laughs joyfully as the golden rings surround her transporting her character. Ryoko shakes her head a little.
"It's funny how she gets so worked up over the possibility of rare items." Ryoko thinks to herself with a quiet smile. She walks to the gate and places her hand on the gate.
"Lambda: Dying Elusive Ice Wall."
Ryoko is covered in the golden rings of light as the transfer process begins. In the middle of the warp she thinks to herself again.
"I'm worrying too much about things. Who cares about Blackrose? Why should I get her immaturity keep me from enjoying my time in this game?"
As Ryoko appears in the field, she looks around the area. It is an ice covered field. A blizzard is raging as arctic winds swirl all around Ryoko making it hard to see into the distance. On a nearby hill a few White Cherries can be seen dancing in the blizzard. Nearby, a frozen lake has a magic portal over it. Strewn across the field are various objects and ruins such as signposts and structures. Before long Ryoko hears Balmung's voice.
"Ryoko, a little help please…ugh!"
Balmung gets knocked down by a Harpy Queen's slashing claws. Apparently Mistral and Balmung have been fighting a couple of monsters while waiting for Ryoko to finish warping. There is one Harpy Queen remaining. Ryoko fumbles a little bit at first pulling her axe forward slowly. Balmung takes another hit as his health drops into the red. Mistral quickly begins to start casting Ol Repth on Balmung. Ryoko charges the Harpy Queen and leaps through the air using her wings to gain extra height. As she gets in range she swings her axe at the harpy's head but the harpy evades the attack by flying backwards. Ryoko knocked off balance lands on the ground awkwardly. She looks up just in time to see the Harpy Queen swoop downwards and kick upwards with its feet knocking Ryoko back a few feet. The monster's attack was a critical blow and subtracted about half of Ryoko's health.
"That was so embarrassing…" Ryoko muttered to herself as she got back up. Balmung began engaging the creature again with a series of sword blows, most of which the harpy evades. Mistral holds her staff forward and begins to gather energy.
"OrVak Kruz!" Mistral yells as a number of bright fireballs appear out of nothingness and simultaneously onto the Harpy Queen. This attack does substantial damage to the monster causing it to become infuriated with Mistral. It breaks away from Balmung and charges Mistral. Mistral turns to run from the monster knowing that in melee combat she would easily fall. While the harpy is running towards Mistral, Ryoko runs at the beast from the side. Just as she gets in range, the monster is nearly at Mistral ready to rend its claws into the wavemaster. Ryoko raises her axe as dark elemental energy encases the edge of the blade.
"MeAni Cleave!" Ryoko yells as she leaps into the air and swings her axe vertically across the Harpy Queen. The attack connects as the axe rips straight through the monster's form. The Harpy Queen falls over with a scream as the body of the monster turns gray. A pillar of light surround's Mistral briefly as the words 'Level Up' appear.
"Yay! A level up!" Mistral yells jumping.
"Congratulations Mistral!" Ryoko says smiling. Balmung is quiet for a moment. Mistral notices this and turns to him.
"Balmung? What is wrong?" Mistral asks. At this point Ryoko turns to Balmung with a perplexed look on her face.
"That monster was unusually powerful…especially since this is a level 48 area. It evaded most of my attacks and my character is two levels above this area's level. It just seemed unusual that such a monster would give a party of three such a difficult time."
"Oh you worry too much Balmung! To the dungeon! Rare items!!!" Mistral yells as she uses a speed charm. She begins running in a straight line towards the entrance of the dungeon. Balmung can't help but laugh a little bit as he uses a speed charm to do the same. Balmung begins running towards the dungeon trying to catch up to Mistral.
Ryoko reaches to get a speed charm out of her inventory when she realizes she didn't have one. It was another item she meant to buy while in town. Ryoko lets out a deep sigh and begins to walk towards the dungeon entrance. Her character begins to shiver due to the cold environment and the less than adequate clothing for this type of weather that the character wears. As she walks towards the entrance she can't help but to admire the field. Winter is Ryoko's favorite holiday. She had many fond memories with her family in various places during the winter. Looking at the purple star filled sky reminded her of when she went to the auroras as the North Pole on a school field trip.
Before too long, the entrance to the dungeon appears. It is a simple looking stone structure with a few torches around it. Icicles come down from the doorway leading to the stairs into the dungeon. As Ryoko turns to enter the dungeon, she notices a bright flash of light on the horizon.
"What was that light?" Ryoko thinks to herself. She walks towards the source of the light and looks out into the distance. Ryoko sees two Harpy Queens and an Ancient attacking the outline of a single player. She bites her lip witnessing this.
"I hope that player can get away from them." Ryoko says still a little wary from the last fight where they struggled to bring one monster down let alone three. The figure in the distance holds his hand forward as a long weapon appears in his hand in a flash of light seemingly out of thin air. The player leaps into the air and comes down on one of the Harpy Queen's heads. The blow is a one shot kill as the Harpy Queen falls to the ground. Ryoko's eyes widen a little at this.
"So strong…I need to get strong like that if I am to settle the score with Blackrose." Ryoko thinks to herself as she prepares to walk forward to get a better look at the player when she hears Mistral call out.
"Ryoko?! Did you get lost? Do you need help finding us?"
Ryoko gets flustered and her face turns red in embarrassment as she quickly turns to go into the dungeon. Mistral is standing there looking around while Balmung is sitting down.
"Sorry you two, I didn't have any speed charms on me." Ryoko admits a little embarrassed. Mistral frowns at this news.
"We should be sorry; we made the assumption and did not ask. That was rude of us." Mistral said a little apologetically. Ryoko had the feeling though she said that out of obligation more than heartfelt sincerity. It was common knowledge that players should carry speed charms or equipment capable of using Ap Do at all times to lessen the burden of the party. Ryoko couldn't help but stay embarrassed that she had not restocked.
"Well let's get going." Ryoko says walking towards the dungeon's next room. Mistral shakes her head.
"Balmung is away. He had something to do." Suddenly her head piques up as something gets her attention. Ryoko looks around to see what was captivating Mistral. Mistral then sits down herself.
"I'll be back! I have to take care of the baby!"
Ryoko shrugs. Ryoko shakes her head a bit which causes some snow to fall off of her character. This causes a little more snow to come out of her wings. Alone in the dungeon while the others are away, Ryoko looks at her surroundings. The dungeon took a palace theme. At the entrance a carpet can be seen leading deeper into the dungeon. On the wall are various immovable paintings with frames inlaid by various jewels. Torches lined against the walls give brilliant illumination. The palace seems fit for an emperor until a growl deep in the dungeon sends chills down Ryoko's spine.
Balmung and Mistral come back from away nearly simultaneously. Balmung gets up first.
"Ah so you made it. I apologize if I made you two wait long." Balmung says as he heads to the corridor leading deeper into the dungeon. He pulls a small green orb out of his pocket and throws it into the air. The orb explodes in a flash of sparkles as three fairies appear and run into the dungeon.
Mistral stands up. She looks at Balmung mischievously.
"A fairy orb? You cheater! Where is the sense of adventure?" She says laughing. Ryoko gets embarrassed again. She wished that she had thought to use a fairy orb herself while the other two were away."
Balmung gives Mistral a sly grin.
"Well if we are here on a treasure hunt, it does us no good to be poking around in dead ends."
Mistral nods and runs into the next room. Balmung follows her after motioning for Ryoko to follow. She gasps a bit as she comes to attention. She had become lost in thought again. Balmung sighs as he goes through the doorway. Ryoko enters the doorway and looks at the new surroundings. A magic portal hovers in the air ominously. Balmung is looking at a parchment while Mistral stands by. It appears to be the map that the fairies drew for Balmung. Balmung puts the map away and turns to Ryoko and Mistral.
"This dungeon is rather straightforward. We head north for three rooms and then east to the stairwell downstairs." Balmung says walking towards the portal. The portal begins to expand and contract quickly as Balmung draws his sword. Ryoko takes a combative stance waiting to see what appears.
"This time I will do better!" Ryoko thinks to herself. She readies her axe and waits in anticipation. The portal reaches it's peak of movement and a flash of light occurs. Ryoko runs forward thinking a monster will appear but a monster does not appear. Ryoko looks around each direction confused. The portal had put out a blue treasure chest.
"A chest!" Ryoko says walking towards it. She relaxes her grip on her axe a bit and places it on the ground as she bends down over the chest. Balmung stands there with a bemused grin of anticipation on his face. Mistral calls out to Ryoko not sure if she realized why the chest was blue.
"Fortune Wire!"
Ryoko jumps a little bit at the sudden input but turns to Mistral nodding. She then focuses on the chest again as she reaches into her inventory and pulls out a small glowing wire. Balmung gets a look of disappointment on his face as he looks at Mistral. Mistral grins a little.
"You know that would have been mean." Mistral whispers to Balmung. Balmung just shrugs. Ryoko uses the wire on the chest and it begins to disarm. When the bar that appeared on her screen was full, the chest should have been disarmed. However, there was a small pocket of server lag. Not enough to be noticed by her, but enough to interfere with the disarm process. Ryoko pops the chest open immediately when the bar filled on her screen when in reality the chest was slightly behind due to the lag. The chest explodes violently and sends a wide eyed Ryoko flying into to the air, hitting the ceiling, and then landing on the ground on her stomach. Her character is stunned briefly. Balmung turns around unable to keep a straight face and starts to laugh, but not after turning off his microphone temporarily. Mistral closes her eyes annoyed and swats Balmung in the face with her staff. Ryoko sighs and buries her head into her arms as her character lies on the ground. She was too embarrassed to get up and face her group.
"Ol Repth" Mistral says as blue light covers Ryoko healing her. Mistral casts the spell several more times to bring the angelic heavy axe back to her full health. Mistral then walks over to her and outstretches her hand.
"What happened?" Mistral asked innocently enough.
"I don't know." Ryoko says as she takes Mistral's hand and finally gets up. "The bar filled before I opened the chest."
Mistral sighed.
"I guess there was a bit of lag or something, it has happened to me before…more times than I care to admit really." Mistral says trying to encourage Ryoko. Ryoko nods and then walks ahead into the next room. Mistral waits for Balmung whom after regaining his composure walks up to Mistral.
"Do you really set off traps by lag often?" Balmung asks. Mistral grins at him.
"Never; I make it a rule to wait 30 seconds for that reason." She says smiling and pulling Balmung with her into the next room. The rest of the first floor was a clear shot to the stairway leading down. The group proceeds quietly until Ryoko looks at Balmung. Mistral continues walking ahead with Balmung as Ryoko pauses.
"Hey Balmung…"
Balmung still walking turns his head to Ryoko. Ryoko starts walking again to keep up.
"Yes?"
"Have you ever seen a player walking about without a drawn weapon and when needed pull it out of thin air?"
"Like he was pulling it out of a pocket of light?" Balmung asks. Ryoko nods her head.
"Yeah, I saw another player in the field do that before entering the dungeon."
"Well there is a quest out there that gives a player the ability to do that."
"Really? What is it called?"
"It is a level 55 quest called Dimensional Generator. It is an extremely time consuming quest where you need to go to fifty fields to gather components for the key item that would allow you to pull your weapon out of thin air like that. Only a handful of players have actually taken the time to do that quest. I have only done five of the fields needed, and now that I have de-leveled I cannot progress further until I regain level 55." Balmung says sighing to himself.
"Is it a big advantage to have that ability?"
"Not really…it is purely cosmetic. I am surprised that a player who finished that quest would be in this field."
Ryoko nods satisfied with the answer as the group reaches the stairway. Mistral jumps down the stairs and runs into the second floor. Balmung and Ryoko descend the stairs afterward. Ryoko's wings flutter slightly in anticipation of what comes next. The three enter a room containing a magic portal in the middle of a bridge. The bridge has no railing on the side and hovers over a massive pool of lava. Balmung draws his sword and steps forward. Mistral stands back as Ryoko readies her axe in both of her hands.
The portal rotates and pulses rapidly until in a flash of light a Squidbod appears: A massive hulking monster covered in thick armor with a lance grafted into one of it's arms. Balmung curses to himself as he charges the creature. Ryoko follows shortly after charging forwards with her axe ready to swing when she gets in range. Mistral begins gathering energy for a spell.
Balmung slashes horizontally at the Squidbod only to be denied by a translucent shell of energy nullifying the damage. Ryoko swings her axe as hard her character can at the monster's head but the same thing happens. The monster turns to Ryoko ready to thrust with its lance when Mistral's voice is heard.
"Damn! Physical Tolerance!" Balmung says gritting his teeth. Ryoko moves away from the Squidbod while thinking of another strategy. She stands to the side of the beast near the edge of the bridge.
"OrRue Rom!" The wavemaster screams. A frozen wind erupts on the Squidbod with chunks of ice appearing shortly after to crash into the Squidbod's form. Dents began to be seen in the monster's armor. Balmung leaps back behind the Squidbod swatting it to get it's attention and then run backwards.. He quickly changes his gauntlets to an exotic looking pair of wavemaster gloves. He holds his hands out as energy forms between them. Ryoko notices what Balmung is doing and looks in her inventory for an item to cast a wavemaster spell herself. Mistral's shrill voice is heard again as the Squidbod begins to charge Balmung.
"MeRai Don!"
A powerful bolt of lightning appears out of the sky and bursts into the Squidbod's form. The lightning rends a critical wound in the beast's back slowing down its movement. Balmung nearly finishes with his spell. Ryoko changes her footwear and begins to gather energy between her hands after putting her axe to a side.
"I hope this will work…" Ryoko says to herself. She never had much faith in the magical abilities of her character.
"MeRue Zot!"
The air around the Squidbod freezes as a sharpened pillar of ice impales it from below. Mistral begins casting another spell as Ryoko finishes her own spell.
"MeAni Zot!"
The area around the Squidbod turns unnaturally dark and bones shoot out of the ground impaling the beast. The Squidbod becomes infuriated with the barrage of attacks; it charges at Ryoko, who is closest to it, with its lance. Ryoko is slow to react as the lance plunges into her character and knocks her off the bridge. In the process of doing this however, the Squidbod also falls into the lava, its bulk coupled with the inertia causes it to be unable to stop. Mistral seeing this stops casting and runs over to the edge looking for Ryoko. Balmung does the same shortly after. As the two look for the heavy axe, she is nowhere to be found.
"Ryoko!" Mistral calls.
"Where are you?!" Balmung shouts.
On the other side of the bridge, Ryoko's voice is heard.
"I'm over here…"
Surprised, Balmung and Mistral turn around. Ryoko is slowly coming up the other side flying with her wings. A moment later she lands on the ground safely and smiles gently. Mistral smiles back at Ryoko glad to see that she is alright, but Balmung shakes his head in disgust.
"This is why you do not stand at the edge of bridges like that. You should consider yourself lucky." Balmung says. Ryoko's expression instantly goes from happy to depressed and Mistral glares at Balmung with malice in her eyes. Balmung turns around and starts walking towards the doorway leading to the next room. Ryoko goes to recover her axe while Mistral approaches Balmung. The doorway has not opened yet. The group was still considered to be in combat.
"Odd." Balmung says as he goes back to where the Squidbod fell. Peering down he sees the Squidbod slowly dying in the lava. Sighing Balmung holds his hand towards the monster gathering energy. Ryoko and Mistral turn to Balmung noticing what he is doing.
"What is it?" Mistral asks. Ryoko stays quiet still upset over Balmung's words. Her wings lower somewhat reflecting her mood.
"It's still alive, but not for long. Rue Rom!"
A blue flash occurs at the Squidbod and it dies. The three gain experience as a golden glow surrounds Ryoko. The words 'level up' appears above Ryoko's head as she is automatically healed to full. Ryoko feels happiness again as her wings perk up. It had been some time since she gained a level; she almost forgot what it was like. Mistral smiles at Ryoko and congratulates her. The doorway opens now that the battle is over. Balmung walks through it paying no attention to Ryoko's level up. Perturbed, Ryoko puts her hand at her side while looking at Balmung.
"He doesn't like me, does he?" Ryoko asks looking at Mistral.
"He doesn't really like anyone…except Orca and Kite." Mistral says walking forward. "Don't take it personal, he just has a really bad superiority complex."
Ryoko nods after a sigh and follows Mistral into the next room. It is a three way intersection. Skeletons in hanging cages are scattered all across the room. A pile of bones rests in the center of the room. Balmung stands there thinking about which path would lead out. Ryoko pulls a fairy orb out of her inventory and throws it into the air. A few moments later, the map is drawn for her.
"If we go left, there is just one magic portal and then the stairwell to the next level." Ryoko says. Balmung silently begins walking to the left and into the room. Mistral follows Balmung quickly. Ryoko looks at the room for a minute, gets shivers from the creepiness of the layout, and then goes into the room with the other two dragging her axe behind her. It is a narrow corridor with a magic portal in the center. More skeletons hang from cages above. Ryoko halfway expected the skeletons to leap out of the cages and attack. Balmung draws his blade and walks towards the magic portal. An Ancient appears; an undead sorcerer's wraith. Mistral quickly casts a spell as Balmung begins to charge the creature. Ryoko follows Balmung and raises her axe.
"Rai Don!" The wavemaster shouts. A bolt of lightning bursts down above the Ancient, but a shell appears around it as it laughs. The bolt is deflected by the shell and it flies into Balmung shocking his character.
"Shoot! Magic Tolerance!" Mistral yells. Balmung leaps into the air and brings his blade down on the Ancient's Head stunning it briefly. The Ancient retaliates by casting a spell causing a number of meteors to fall on Balmung causing some hefty damage. Balmung then falls back barely evading a fatal physical attack from the Ancient. Mistral begins casting Ol Repth on him. Ryoko remembers what she saw earlier before she entered the dungeon; the player leaping onto the monster's head using an attack to instantly kill it. Ryoko leaps up using her wings to glide above the Ancient. Electrical energy begins to be channeled into her axe. Ryoko then allows herself fall onto the Ancient.
"Rai Tornado!" Ryoko yells as she begins to spin her axe around quickly. Her axe's blade covered in electricity as it pummels the Ancient repeatedly. Each connecting hit knocking away pieces of the beast's undead body. When Ryoko's attack finishes, the Ancient is all but dead. She raises her axe to finish the attack but Balmung thrusts his blade into the monster before she has the chance. The Ancient screams in pain as it falls over dead. The three gain experience as the doorway opens.
"Not bad…" Balmung says while looking at Ryoko with a grin. He then walks out of the room and into the next. Ryoko is immediately red faced with shyness. She couldn't help herself. Mistral walks up to Ryoko and pokes her.
"See? He's not all bad." Mistral says smiling. She then goes into the next room urging Ryoko to follow. Ryoko nods and goes into the next room. Torches line the room as they lead to a stairwell down. The three descend to the third floor.
On the third floor, Balmung uses another fairy orb.
"Interesting…this floor has only one room with no magic portal in it, then the Gott Statue." Balmung muses.
"Yay! The treasure!" Mistral says yelling as she walks into the corridor into the next room. Balmung walks after her until Mistral releases an ear piercing scream of terror. Balmung rushes into the room. Ryoko confused follows. She wondered what could make someone as jovial as Mistral scream like that. As soon as Ryoko enters the room, her question is answered.
A massive monster stands before the three: A house golem. Not only that, but it was covered in corrupted green polygons and code. This was a data bug. Ryoko grips her axe tightly and her knees begin to shake. She fought only a handful of these with Kite, but she knew they were very dangerous. Mistral begins to back up.
"Impossible!" Balmung yells. He turns to leave the room but the door closes behind them causing Balmung to yell in frustration. "Damn it!"
"Now what?! We can't kill this!" Mistral yells obviously afraid.
"We have to try. Perhaps now that the incident is over, they can be defeated." Balmung says as he leaps towards the golem. He brings his sword down on the monster's body causing a lengthy gash into it. Balmung grins as he follows up with a vertical slash that causes the monster to howl in pain. To Balmung's horror, however the wound glows and becomes covered in virus data immediately regenerating the monster. The golem reaches back with its fists and crash into Balmung sending the blademaster flying into the wall. He is stunned as he is slow to get up. The golem walks forward as Mistral finishes casting a spell.
"RaJuk Rom!"
A wind picks up around the golem as razor sharp leaves and life energy crashes into the golem causing it to be blown apart. The golem seems to be literally torn in half by the spell's violent energy. Mistral smiles vindicated but that smile quickly fades as the golem restores itself. Ryoko takes action and charges the Golem from the side. She leaps up onto the beast's shoulders and calls out.
"Axel Pain!"
Ryoko begins to spin her axe around gathering inertia and force behind it. A moment later she strikes the golem in the head with the full force of the attack. The golem's head flies off its shoulders and onto the ground nearby. Balmung and Mistral look at Ryoko in disbelief of what happened and then breathe a sigh of relief believing at first the bug is dead. Ryoko walks towards the two with her back to the golem smiling. Midway however, Balmung and Mistral's expressions change to those of shock.
"Look out!" Mistral calls. Ryoko turns around barely in time to see a virus covered boulder fly straight at her. Ryoko tries to leap to the side of it but does so too slowly and is hit. She goes flying past Balmung and Mistral and hits the wall of the room only to be crushed by the boulder again a split second later. Ryoko feels a sharp sensation of pain in reality. The real player feels as though she were hit by the boulder in reality. The character Ryoko falls to the ground stunned while the beast walks over to its head and picks it up. It puts it's head back in place and it quickly regenerates. Balmung runs behind the House Golem swatting it with his blade as he runs by it. The golem focuses its attention on Balmung and turns away from Ryoko. Mistral begins casting Ol Repth on the heavy axe but she doesn't move.
As Ryoko lies on the ground, a number of thoughts entered her head. The seriousness of the situation dawns upon her.
"The old data bugs never caused pain like that in reality…they just caused normal damage. How can we fight something like this? Kite isn't here to data drain it and all of our attacks are meaningless. I am scared…I can't move here or in reality…what is wrong with me?!"
"Ryoko! Are you alright?" Mistral's voice calls out.
"Get up!" Balmung grunts as he fends off the data bug with a series of parries.
Ryoko is silent for a moment.
"But…if I let a data bug get me this badly…how will I ever face Blackrose and come out on top?" Ryoko thinks to herself. The images of Blackrose belittling her encourage her to think of something. She slowly gets up and picks her axe up. Mistral sighs with relief and focuses on healing Balmung who is taking some hits as well. Due to Balmung's higher level, he can absorb them easier and does not feel as much shock in reality when he fails to stop the attacks. Ryoko runs up to the data bug swinging her axe horizontally causing a wide gash. The gash quickly regenerates itself and then lets a burst of energy fly at Ryoko sending her flying across the room. She feels the sensation of real pain again as she gets up angered. She gets ready to run at the data bug when she hears a loud crashing noise from behind her. Ryoko turns around and looks at the door.
The doorway behind them begins to feel something pounding against it. Dents appear in the door and a few moments later it collapses into fragments. Ryoko breathes a sigh of relief that something opened the door. She had forgotten that closed rooms can be broken into by force from outside the locked room. Now escape from the losing battle was possible, but she was curious to see who or what tore down the door.
A new player enters the room. He carries no visible weapon and his body is of a build slightly smaller than Balmung's. His torso was covered in black chain mail. The rings of the mail appeared to be made of a strong alloy that reflected light quite well considering the color. Covering this chain mail is a loose white tunic of sorts. Where the arms come out of the chain mail, a pair of white pauldrons can be seen guarding the player's shoulders. The player's arms have black metal plating over them, but not fully. If the player were standing with his arms at his side, the plating covers the external part of the arm, but the inside of the arm is uncovered. The plating is only of moderate thickness with the edge of the plating covered in a separate white alloy. Parts of it are raised with increased thickness to allow for the player to parry weaker attacks with his arm versus his weapon.
His hands are covered in gloves that are made of the same material and cover his hands similarly to his arms. The fingers end in spikes which almost look like claws which would allow the player to attack with his empty hand between swings of his weapon or if his weapon was knocked away. Around his waist his some light white plating secured to his waist by a gold rope. The player's legs are covered in loose fitting white pants and on his feet are somewhat normal looking boots covered in the same black metal plating as his arms. Across the player's entire body are white markings indicating that his character favored all elements equally. The most attention casting thing in Ryoko's eyes was an amulet that hung around the player's neck by a silver chain. It was a light green gem held to a silver back by polished silver bands. The bands seemed to form a symbol of infinity. The gem sometimes appeared to glow faintly in the darkened room. Looking at the player's face, Ryoko could see dark blue eyes in a face that wasn't particularly different from anybody else's. White symbols could be seen on the player's cheeks underneath his eyes which matched the symbols on the rest of his body. His light tan hair, which almost seemed gold colored in the lighting, was of a fair length that seemed to form spikes that flowed behind him when he moved. The spikes flow mostly backwards except for his bangs which form short spikes covering some of the player's forehead. The overall appearance was almost exotic.
He walks forward and looks at the data bug. He places his hand as his side and leans back with a bemused smile on his face.
"Ah, so here it is." The player says walking a step forward.
Ryoko immediately recognized the voice; It was the voice that called out Santo in the Black Star guild shop. The surprise makes her feel a bit vindicated as her curiosity was finally sated. Her attention focused on the new player is noticed by the data bug as it runs past Balmung and Mistral towards Ryoko. The House Golem raises its arms ready to come down on Ryoko's head as soon as she is in range. Balmung calls out to Ryoko to watch out as Mistral looks for an SP recovery item to use. Balmung tries to catch the data bug in it's backside to stun it but misses it. Ryoko turns around to notice the data bug only a few feet away. Her eyes widen as a look of terror crosses her face. She closes her eyes and braces for the blow when she hears a metal clanging.
The newly arrived player in a split second movement intercepted the attack with his arms. He stands in front of Ryoko with both of his arms above him. The House Golem's data corrupted arm pushes down against the new player trying to break past him but he stands firm able to hold off the attack for the moment. He turns his head towards Ryoko.
"Do you mind getting out of the way so I can deal with this thing?" The player asked in a confident voice. Ryoko a bit puzzled as to what the player intends to do quickly moves away and goes to recover her axe from across the room. Balmung and Mistral stand looking at the scene a bit shocked. The player leaps back causing the golem's arm to crash into the ground. He holds his hands forward and gathers red energy between them. Ryoko picks up her axe and looks at the player curiously wondering what he will do now.
"GiVak Kruz!"
A number of large fireballs appear around the data bug and crash into it which sends it flying clear across the room over the heads of Balmung and Mistral. The data bug is stunned briefly. Mistral gives a gleeful shout quite impressed with a non-wavemaster's ability to use that spell. The player walks up to Balmung and Mistral and puts his arm at his side looking at the two. Ryoko walks towards them wondering what will happen now. Balmung opens his mouth to speak, but the unknown player beats him to first words.
"You three, get out of here. This thing is way out of your league." The player says in a blunt tone. Balmung gets angered by this player's brazen arrogance and steps forward.
"Now look here you, we were here first and I believe that this thing is out of YOUR league. We have experience in dealing with monsters like this."
"Oh your experience really shows. I am so impressed by your ability to stun the beast off your weakest teammate." The player says dejectedly with a sigh. Ryoko couldn't help but smile to herself at this statement making Balmung look like a fool. Balmung's face turns red with anger and he draws his sword forward.
"Do you know who I am?! I am Balmung of the…"
"Azure Sky." The player responds with contempt in your voice. "I guess what they say about you is true."
Balmung has a vindicated grin on his face.
"Then you know of my exploits and famous adventures."
"Actually, I was referring to how your are known to some as Balmung of the Azure Ego. How you're known to have a mouth of which size is dwarfed only by your oversized ego and with nowhere near the skill to match said ego."
Mistral and Ryoko can't help themselves anymore and giggle a bit out loud despite the fact that there is a dangerous data bug slowly coming out of its stunned state. Balmung is silent momentarily, but not for long.
"You arrogant bastard. Begone! We will deal with this creature ourselves. Come on Mistral, Ryoko!" Balmung says as he walks towards the data bug. Mistral and Ryoko do not move however. Balmung turns around noticing this and his anger knows no bounds towards the unknown player. Ryoko sighs knowing the inevitable outcome. She holds her axe behind her and swings her hips back and forth waiting. She bites her lip not looking forward to what is going to happen.
"Who do you think you are?" Balmung yells at the player.
"I think I am ten levels higher than you Azure Mouth. Now get lost. The thing is starting to wake up." The player says stepping forward. He holds his hand out and a flash of light occurs as a weapon materializes. It is a black metal pole. Around the middle is a handle of sorts with a few small buttons inlaid into the metal on them. The end of the pole is a long sizable light green spearhead; a finely crafted work of metal with arcane symbols on it. The edge curves upwards slightly and the top of the edge is serrated. A number of gears and glyphs can be seen along wear the blade meets the pole indicating that it may have more function.
"You took the time to do that stupid time consuming quest to have a fancy weapon drawing animation?" Balmung sneered. He was running out of material quickly to put this guy down on.
"It is really an easy quest with good friends. I am surprised that one so 'famous' as you never did the quest." The player says with a grin. Balmung's patience runs out. He walks towards the player with a murderous look in his eyes that almost scares Ryoko. Ryoko had only ever seen Balmung calm and collected and seeing this side of him was both interesting and strange. Mistral slowly walks away when she notices the data bug standing up all the way and moving slowly towards them.
"Um guys…the monster is coming." Mistral says with a hint of worry in her voice that makes Ryoko uneasy. She looks at the data bug with worried concern in her eyes. How were they going to get away from the dangerous bug? Without Kite, they could not defeat the bug. Balmung turns his attention to the bug but the player walks between Balmung and the bug and then starts walking towards it.
"Hey! I told you we got it!" Balmung yells as he grabs the player's shoulder. The player doesn't turn around but speaks to Balmung.
"This is your last warning. Get out of here." The player says coldly.
"No. I will not." Balmung says indignantly.
"Fine…then it comes to this." The player says as he turns to Balmung looking him in the eye. A silence is observed by Ryoko momentarily until it is broken by the player.
"Rai Penetrate!"
Balmung has a look of surprise on his face but it is too late. In a flash of movement, the player thrusts his spear straight through Balmung's chest penetrating straight through the armor and coming out of Balmung's back. Electricity crackles off the spear as he pulls it out of Balmung. Balmung gasps as his character turns gray and falls to the ground. Ryoko gasps herself in shock that the player would take such a measure.
"Sorry, I despise player killing, but it was necessary. Besides you had it coming for your arrogance." The player says to Balmung's corpse. turning to Mistral and Ryoko.
"You two, please leave this thing to me. Your party is not sufficiently leveled to deal with this monster and Azure Mouth there would have undoubtedly gotten you killed needlessly."
Mistral nods and immediately runs off grabbing Ryoko by the arm. Ryoko pulls away from Mistral motioning for her to go ahead without her. Mistral shrugs and runs out of the room. The sound of a sprite ocarina can be heard and Mistral leaves the dungeon. The player looks at Ryoko with a frown on his face.
"What is it? I need to deal with this thing." The player says noticing that the data bug is nearly upon them.
"You know, you can't defeat that thing no matter how strong you are. But I know someone who can! I'll bring him here as soon as possible!" Ryoko says trying to smile pleasantly.
The player just looks at the monster approaching then looks at Ryoko.
"Sure, whatever, just go and get your friend."
"You should leave too…I'm told that this monster is dangerous."
"Nah, not really, just a tough one." The player says as he readies his attack taking a combative stance.
"Hey…what is your name?" Ryoko asks leaning forward trying to look cute and impossible to ignore.
The player doesn't look at Ryoko more focused on the monster.
"Why do you want to know?"
Ryoko immediately breaks the pose and looks at the player dejectedly.
"Why not?"
The player sighs a little and looks at Ryoko.
"Ryzen. Now leave!" The player says as he charges the House Golem and locks with it in melee combat. Ryoko hesitates at first and steps forward to help him when she gets a message from Mistral.
To: Ryoko
From: Mistral
What are you still doing there?! Kite is coming to Carmina Gadelica, meet with us there to go to the dungeon to take care of that thing. Also Balmung logged off…he was mad but I thought he did kind of deserve what happened to him.
Ryoko sighs and runs out of the room. She turns back to look at how Ryzen is doing. Ryzen gets hit flying back a short distance. He rights himself in the air and lands on his feet sliding backwards while reaching into the ground with one of his clawed hands to slow the backward movement.
"I can't help now…I need to hurry and bring Kite here!" Ryoko thinks to herself content that Ryzen can handle himself relatively well against the undefeatable monster.
Ryoko pulls a sprite ocarina out and begins to play it. The golden rings surround her character and transport her back to the field. She quickly gates out and shortly ends up in Carmina Gadelica. Mistral is waiting for her by the Chaos Gate.
"I'm glad you made it here alright! I was afraid if you hung around that player for too long he would PK you like he did to Balmung." Mistral says smiling.
Ryoko laughs a little bit and looks around for Kite.
"Where is Kite? We need him to help us defeat that monster!"
"He said he would be here shortly…though the tone of his short mail leads me to think he doesn't believe that a data bug could possibly still exist." Mistral says shrugging. Ryoko rests her axe on the ground and halfway leans against it while waiting. She is quiet in thought. Mistral notices this and jumps in front of Ryoko.
"What's up?" Mistral asks innocently enough.
Ryoko snaps to attention.
"Huh?"
"You're quieter than usual." Mistral says poking Ryoko's side which causes her to lose her balance off her axe. She quickly regains her balance and puts her hands behind her back looking at Carmina Gadelica's sky.
"Just something about that player. He was the one that I heard talking with the shopkeeper of that guild shop. There is something about him that I can't put my finger on." Ryoko says with a look of wonderment on her face.
Mistral shrugs and then looks at Ryoko with her head tilted to a side slightly.
"Just a game! Why think so much instead of playing? I mean it was just some random level 60 long arm right?" Mistral says smiling.
Ryoko shrugs and just drops it. Kite and Blackrose appear at The Chaos Gate a few seconds later. Kite has a pleasant look on his face. Blackrose does as well until she notices Ryoko. Blackrose glares daggers at Ryoko again but Ryoko doesn't show any reaction. She was more concerned about the data bug than petty jealousy right now. Kite is the first to speak.
"Hey everyone, I came as soon as I could. So where is the data bug?" Kite asks Mistral and Ryoko.
"Dying Elusive Ice Wall" Ryoko says quietly before Mistral has a chance to speak. Blackrose looks obviously irritated.
"There had better actually be a data bug here. You pulled Kite and I from the middle of a dungeon." Blackrose says gripping her weapon with one hand. The irritation in her voice is obvious. Mistral gives Blackrose a dejected look as Kite sighs. Blackrose relaxes her grip on her sword and crosses her arms over her chest looking away. Ryoko looks mildly irritated herself but tried to not show it.
"Who does she think she is, queen of The World?" Ryoko thinks to herself.
"So what kind of data bug is it?" Kite asks looking at Mistral.
"It was a big golem type…I think it said House Golem."
Kite folds his arms over his chest in thought for a moment.
"That's a powerful data bug. I thought we destroyed all of them." Kite muses. He then walks over to the gate.
"Lambda: Dying Elusive Ice Wall" Kite says as the golden rings surround him transporting him to the field. Ryoko and Mistral walk towards the gate but Blackrose rushes ahead of them knocking Ryoko aside slightly which causes her to bump into Mistral.
"How rude of you!" Ryoko says looking at Blackrose with quite a bit of malice in her eyes. Blackrose ignores her and utters the keywords at the gate transporting to the field. Ryoko stands there with her eyes closed and a clenched fist. Mistral looks at Ryoko with a sincere look on her face.
"Don't try it…Blackrose is level 85 right now. She always has been a bit…abrasive to other people. She was even like that to Kite when they first met." Mistral says trying to calm Ryoko down before war erupts in the field.
Ryoko sighs and relaxes her grip. She knew that Mistral was right. At the very least she would need to become a better and stronger player to deal with Blackrose. She turns to Mistral was a pondering look in her eyes.
"What does Kite see in her? A girl with no sophistication or grace."
"Maybe that is what he sees in her." Mistral muses as she walks towards the gate and says the keywords. Before Ryoko can respond Mistral disappears. Ryoko walks up to the gate.
"Lambda: Dying Elusive Ice Wall" Ryoko utters as she begins the warp process to enter the field. Golden rings surround her character as she is transported to the field. Two minutes after Ryoko warps out, three golden rings appear at the Chaos Gate as a player begins to appear. Ryzen walks forward with a look of disgust on his face. He holds his weapon
"Not even the slightest bit closer. Just another brainless bug." Ryzen sighs as he walks into the main part of the town. He takes his spear and motions as though he were going to attach it to his back. The spear glows brightly and disappears until it is drawn again. He seems to be limping as he walks forward as though he sprained his ankle. A few minutes later his character flashes green and he walks normally again.
Kite, Blackrose, and Mistral are waiting at the entry point when Ryoko materializes. Blackrose sighs and uses a speed charm. Mistral does the same and stretches her arms behind her head. Kite changes his footwear to his Time Boots and casts Ap Do on himself. Before Ryoko can react, Kite casts Ap Do on her and then puts his normal armor back on. Kite smiles at her briefly and then begins running towards the dungeon entrance. Ryoko turns slightly red faced for a second, but Blackrose glares at Ryoko while grabbing her blade and then runs after Kite.
Mistral shakes her head agitated by Blackrose's behavior and runs behind the two. Ryoko follows shortly after with a frown on her face. The group of four enter the dungeon shortly and begin to clear it as they head to the bottom. Due to Blackrose and Kite's high level, they make quick work of anything that crosses their path. Ryoko a couple of times had to dodge a wild 'accidental' swing that Blackrose would somehow always make in her direction while fighting a monster. She would give an insincere apology that would boil Ryoko's blood to no end. On the third floor of the dungeon, the group stops before the room the data bug was seen in. Ryoko walks forward in the direction of the doorway.
"Here it is...the data bug should be inside that room." Ryoko says.
"There had better be a big green virus covered monster here." Blackrose says agitated.
"Blackrose…" Kite says with his arm at his side. Even though he was Blackrose's boyfriend, even he was getting tired of Blackrose's attitude. Blackrose gets an annoyed look on her face and crosses her arms over her chest quietly. Ryoko rolls her eyes as she charges into the room axe first.
"Ryzen?! Are you still here?" Ryoko shouts while looking through the room for the data bug or Ryzen. Neither is there to be found.
"Ryoko?" Kite asks a bit confused.
"I knew it! This was a waste of our time! Damn you Ryoko, I can't believe you got Kite and I into this dungeon!" Blackrose says through her teeth. Ryoko runs around the room frantically trying to find something that would prove the data bug's existence. Mistral shakes her head angrily and goes straight to Blackrose's face.
"I am the one who called Kite. Not Ryoko. If you are going to be angry at anyone be angry at me! I don't know what's wrong with you, but chill out! This was a bit of an adventure like old times! So the data bug isn't here…isn't that a good thing?"
Kite scratches his chin in thought. He sighs and drops his hands to their sides.
"Mistral is right Blackrose. You are acting a bit out of line even for you."
Blackrose turns red faced that Kite called her out. She looks at Kite with an apologetic look on her face.
"Sorry Kite…I'm just a little easier to anger lately..."
Kite nods his head and says nothing else on the matter. Mistral immediately drops her anger understanding what was going on. Ryoko walks back. Blackrose tries to look at her with a straight look on her face.
"So…what happened?" Blackrose asks in Mistral and Ryoko's direction. She had a tone in her voice that made it obvious she still didn't believe the claims that a data bug was here.
"I'm telling you guys, there really and truly was a data bug here!" Mistral shouts. "You can ask Balmung when he comes back in!"
Kite nods.
"I believe you. I don't see why you and Ryoko would lie about such a serious matter. It's just we cleared the data bugs after the incident was over. I don't see how they could still be around. Both Helba and Lios told us that no more virus data could be found."
"Maybe CC Corp Administration deleted it."
"No…they never had the capability to delete the data bugs." Kite muses almost to himself. "In any case…the bug is gone. I guess there is no reason to stay here." Kite says pulling a sprite ocarina out. Blackrose nods and looks at Mistral and Ryoko, then focuses her attention on Mistral.
"Sorry that I was so angry. See you…guys later." Blackrose says grabbing Kite's arm.
"Bye Kite, Blackrose!" Mistral shouts waving.
"Goodbye." Ryoko says quietly with her arms straight behind her back. She had a look of disappointment on her face though nobody else seemed to notice. Golden rings surround Blackrose and Kite as the two disappear. Mistral begins running towards the back room of the dungeon. Curious, Ryoko turns to Mistral.
"Where are you going?" Ryoko asks Mistral. Mistral turns around and looks at Ryoko.
"Well since we are done with this dungeon, we might as well get the Gott Statue items!" Mistral says with a wide grin on her face. Are you coming?"
"No…I think I have had enough of this dungeon for the day." Ryoko says. Mistral shrugs.
"More for me I guess! If I find anything you can use I'll send it to you! You know, Blackrose wasn't really mad at you personally."
This gets Ryoko's attention. She looks at Mistral with a questioning look on her face. Her wings rise a little bit to reflect the expression on her face.
"Oh? What then?"
There is an awkward silence for a minute. Mistral closes her eyes with a bemused grin and rests her hand on her waist.
"Never mind…but trust me, it's not you." Mistral says running to the Gott Statue room. Ryoko closes her eyes and plays her sprite ocarina. The golden rings appear around her character transporting her to the field where she promptly gates out. Back at Carmina Gadelica, Ryoko walks to a nearby bridge. She walks onto the stone bridge and walks over to the side of it. She rests her axe against the side of it and then leans against the bridge herself with her arms resting on the top of the bridge. She looks out into the night sky of Carmina Gadelica, the wind of the town blowing through her hair mildly making it flow slightly along with her more flowing parts of her outfit. She sits in quiet thought for a minute, the expression on her face a little saddened as she stares.
"Maybe Blackrose doesn't have a problem with me personally…today. But she doesn't like me and probably never will. I guess that is her right…I had obvious feelings for Kite…I still do kind of. He was the first guy to be nice to me for who I am instead of what I looked like…either in the game or in the real world. No other male aside from my father showed me such kindness like that."
Ryoko shakes her head and sighs.
"I know I should give up on him, but I can't. No matter how I try to put it out of my head it still remains. I know that him and Blackrose are inseparable, and I don't want to disrupt Kite's happiness after what he went through…but what do I do? How do I move on?"
Ryoko sits in quiet thought for a minute. She then smiles a little bit.
"I will start training seriously. I will become Blackrose's better and make her admit it. Maybe it won't change Kite's feelings, but it will at least settle the score once and for all between the two of us. I still can't believe she perpetuates this thing even after her and Kite started going together. I wonder if I can get that…oh what was his name… Ryzen to show me how he became as strong as he is."
Ryoko turns around and looks the other way, her arms supporting her weight as she leans slightly. Her quiet eyes staring out at the water and the lights.
"I wonder what the deal with that guy is. How someone could charge a dangerous looking creature like that without the ability to destroy it? It doesn't make sense…but he must have done something to take out that thing if it wasn't there when we returned."
She turns back around and takes her first position with her arms on the rail.
"Guess I'll log out for now. If I stay up all night I won't do very well in school tomorrow." Ryoko sighs to herself as she picks up her axe and walks to the Chaos Gate. She initiated the logout procedure and a few seconds later the player known as Terajima Ryoko was no longer in The World…for now.
That finishes the prologue and first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it and if you have any constructive thoughts, please feel free to review it to let me know your thoughts.