Alter Egos, Blades and Porings?!

by Thunderwrath

Disclaimer: It's sad that I don't own Mai-Hime or Ragnarok!

Summary: Follow the adventures of Natsuki and Shizuru as they live out their Ragnarok Online alter-egos and take on quests around the cities in Rune Midgard!

A/N: Let's get some Shiznat on. Let me clarifiy first that Shizuru does not know that Natsuki is Kruger and vice-versa so don't be confused with how I put in their names.

Chapter 2: Leveling up!

"Excuse me, miss?" Shizuru tapped the other girl's shoulder and when the girl turned around, Shizuru's breathe hitched. The girl was beautiful, by god! Her lips were pouting and she was blushing. What caused Shizuru's heart to thump even louder was the startling shade of green that the eyes had of the girl before her. "I think I'm starting to like emerald.."

A few moments ago, Natsuki was looking around and wondering where she kept the leather bag that held her Zennies. Zeny was the currency that the people in Rune Midgard used so it would be very inconvenient for one to wander around without a few hundreds of it. The longer she fumbled and poked into her knapsack, the more it felt like the small pouch had purposely hidden itself to annoy her. She really needed the money to buy a few potions. Odin, help her! If only she had listened to Mai who periodically reminded her to arrange the items in her inventory. She was more than just simply annoyed now and she felt like she would snap at the next person who approached her to ask if she was single. She really didn't need the extra attention that's why the tap to her shoulder made her feel like a gun that's trigger was pulled. Valhalla help the person to withstand the bullet that was her glare. Lo and behold, she was glaring not at another mediocre bard but a novice such as herself. She shrugged the feeling of the girl's touch off her shoulders as if it were pixie dust (yes, she hates pixies) and asked with a voice as deep as the ocean blue and as smooth as vodka, "What do you want?" If Natsuki were to grade the girl's looks, she'd definitely be above average. The long chestnut mane that framed her face looked soft to touch, the gentle gaze those scarlet orbs held and the quivering pout that those pink lips were making it hard for Natsuki to properly hold her glare. She lost it when saw a tear roll down the honey-haired girl's cheek.

"Stranger-han must think that my help will not be worth her time?"

Natsuki panicked as she watched Shizuru sob into her own hands. She really didn't mean to make her cry. Heck, all she wanted was some peace so she could think straight and find her moolah.

"Do you not want my help? All I wanted to do was do something good for stranger-han.."

"Er, miss.. I'm s-sorry!.." she was stuttering. It felt too damn awkward to apologize to a stranger who picked crying over scampering away from her. Shizuru was grinning on the inside. It looked like befriending this girl would be easier than she thought. Natsuki, on the other hand, was panicking. This has never happened before. She hated having contact with people she didn't know but this looked like an emergency. She reached out to Shizuru and began patting her head. The softness of the other girl's chestnut hair was soothing and it strangely reminded her of a kitty. "This doesn't feel as awkward as I thought it would feel.."

A sniffle and a lithe laugh snapped Natsuki out of her thoughts. She was feeling very uneasy with the way Shizuru looked at her. It felt different from all the other appreciative gazes that people sent her way. It was unnerving and that was not something she was used to. "What?"

"Thank you, stranger-han. I feel all better." And she had to smile. That smile was blinding and it was exposing like any bright light. Natsuki couldn't help but feel heat rise to her face. Shizuru internally squealed at the sight. "How could a girl be so adorable and cold at the same time?"

"Well, now that you're all better now.. I suppose I can leave?" Natsuki spun around.

She was about to take another step but a hand grabbed her wrist, preventing her from moving.

"Wait! I.. I don't know where to go.. I'm fairly new here.. my friends went ahead and.. I've never played a game like this before." Shizuru's eyes were cast-down and Natsuki could tell that this girl was telling her the truth.

"Oh well.. might as well, level-up while I'm with her.. I wonder where Mai and the others are.." The dark-haired novice took the other's hand and pulled at it. "Come on. I'll teach you how to play. I won't leave until you find your party mates, okay?" She pulled off a lopsided grin and tightened her grip on Shizuru's hand to reassure the latter. Her heart fluttered at this simple gesture. "Ara.."

"Okay. Since we'll be stuck with each other for awhile, I should ask you what your name is since I really don't like calling you just "miss".

"My name is Viola. I was hoping to become an Assassin."

"Are you sure? You look more like a Priestess to me or something.. The name's Kruger. Just Kruger. I hate having any honorifics attached to my name. I want to become a knight. I think living for honor is a pretty cool way of life."

"It does suit you, Kruger."

"Hey, let's get started. We're wasting time here just dawdling around. Come on and follow me."

They walked through the forest and settled upon a field bustling with players who were fighting off monsters. The monsters here looked relatively weak, judging by their size and it was a perfect place for new players to adapt to the game. Natsuki and Shizuru decided to stray away from all the others since the emerald-eyed novice's temper halved when she was around a large group of people. The party of two settled for a small area at the edge of the field teeming with little monsters. Shizuru spotted a pink jelly-like monster who was bouncing towards an apple. Kruger called it a Poring, Viola recalled. Apparently, like animals in real life, the monsters in Ragnarok had names. The chestnut-haired girl was a sucker for adorable things so she tried to pet the monster. As soon as her fingers poked into the mass of jelly that was its body, the monster threw its own body into Shizuru. The resulting force was enough to knock the girl down to her knees.

"Ouch.." She rubbed her knee as if to relieve the throbbing in her knee, she didn't expect the monster to attack again but she still managed to move out of harm's way just in time; she even gave it a very painful kick. The Poring crashed onto the bed of grass. The pink jelly blob was about to attack Shizuru again but Natsuki drove her knife into its soft body. Before they knew it, the Poring exploded into a thousand jelly bits that splattered anywhere and everywhere.

"Viola! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" A slime-covered Natsuki was hunched over a Shizuru who was equally covered in the same amount of grunge and muck.

"I am perfectly fine, Kruger. In fact, I've never felt better. I feel..stronger for some reason.."

"Oh! That?" Natsuki smiled at her again. Shizuru was touched at her concern for her welfare. "You leveled up! Since we killed that monster, we earned experience! You're getting closer to becoming an Assassin, Viola!"

"Could it be just that Kruger being so near and caring is the source of my strength?"

Natsuki's nostrils flared at Shizuru's teasing. She backed away upon realizing that they were close. The sudden loss of Natsuki's support enabled gravity to successfully pull Shizuru's body to the ground. The impact made Natsuki wince after realizing what she had done. That had got to hurt but instead of showing compassion, she snorted.

"Ha! You deserve it coz you're a big tease!" the emerald-eyed novice finished off her gloating with a roar of laughter accompanied with a bit of rolling in the grass.

"Ikezu.. Kruger is enjoying my misery.. but I will get back at her, ne?" Shizuru gave Natsuki a smile that the latter can only describe as "malicious". Natsuki gulped at her display and clammed up. She held Shizuru's arm and hoisted the girl up to her feet.

"Ehem. So anyway! If you keep killing more monsters, you'll eventually gain more experience. The experience gain enables you to level up. You have two kinds of levels to pump up, though. There's the base level. This enables you to increase your base stats. You'll be able to increase your Strength, Agility and the like. Since you're aiming for assassin, I'd suggest you to pump up your Strength, Agility and a bit of Dexterity and Luck. Now for the Job level, that's-"

"Is it correct to assume that I'll need to gain certain skills, Kruger?" Shizuru dusted off the flap of her novice pants and took out a red potion. The fight a while ago had reduced her health bar's color from the emerald green of Kruger's eyes down to her tomato impression. She pressed her lips to the vial and took a swig. She then offered some to Kruger who turned it down with a wave of her hand.

"Yeah! You're right. Since we're still novices, we'll need to learn the basic skills like trading and party formation. Every time you level up as far as Job Level is concerned, you'll get a skill point. That skill point can be used to learn a skill. Once we reach Job Level 10, we can change to our first class jobs. The jobs, Assassin and Knight are 2nd class jobs. So we still have a long way to go!"

"Kruger, when you become a knight, will the position of being your "damsel in distress" be open? I'd like to submit my application as early as now. "

The blush that Natsuki sported on her face came out instantaneously. Shizuru had gained another point over Natsuki and she decided to celebrate her victory by filling the air with her rich laughter. Natsuki's jaw dropped at the carefree display that Viola showed her. It was beautiful and playful.. it was sexy. Natsuki cussed as another blush threatened to creep out of her skin but she managed to keep it down. The dark-haired girl decided to rain on the crimson-eyed girl by throwing an apple at her. The former's aim was accurate and the apple hit the latter on the head. "Bull's Eye!" Natsuki stopped laughing after hearing a soft "Ikezu!".

The two girls continued to kill off monsters as they moved from area to area. Shizuru was a fast-learner and soon enough, she was keeping up with Natsuki in facing the monsters. They were able to face a wide variety of dark creatures along the area. Some were intimidating; some were just downright weird and most looked harmless. There were dead, walking trees called Willows and caterpillar-like creatures Fabre. The dead carcasses of the monsters held precious items as well and both Kruger and Viola had agreed to share the zennies they would get once they sold an Emerald they had picked up when they headed back to town. The novices were rewarded with experience for their endeavors leading them to be at Base level 10 and Job Level 9 as they rested under the shade of a tree. Natsuki's back was rested against the bark and Shizuru was sitting beside her, her fingers playing with the midnight blue strands of Kruger's hair. A comfortable silence rested between the two as they recuperated their energy. Just as Shizuru was about to doze off, she picked up a loud booming voice. "Haruka?" The scarlet-eyed girl felt Natsuki's head raise as she said, "Nao? Mai? "

They looked at each other and nodded. The party followed the sound of people arguing nearby however, they couldn't pick up what they were fighting about. Natsuki crawled behind one of the bushes and motioned to Viola to come over. They could hear the voices more clearly now and it sounded like there were two parties arguing over who gets to kill a boss monster.

"We saw it first! It's ours! Besides, that blonde bimbo there won't even last a second in the battle!"

"Excuse me? I am a lot more durable than little swirls such as you! I could beat you to a bloody pulp right now!" The malapropism was a dead give-away. Shizuru smiled upon her discovery but she didn't feel like telling Kruger that she knew some of the people outside because the other girl's focused expression was too cute.

"Haruka-chan.. it's girls and I do believe that we can settle this dispute with a less violence, right Reito-kun?" The smaller brunette squished herself between the Juliet and Armitage as if too act as a wall to keep the two from exchanging fists. Obsidian Lord decided to help his friend out and pulled Armitage away.

"Nao, let it go. They can have it. We'll find another one." An orange-haired Kagutsuchi was trying to calm down the flaring Juliet. Natsuki's eyes lit up upon hearing Nao's name. It looked like the two had gotten themselves into quite a situation. She was about to tell Viola that she knew these people however the other girl seemed to be in lalaland judging by her smile that was a bit wider than usual.

The sound if a branch breaking alerted the group. The Mastering, an oversized Poring, was staring at them with unimaginable rage and bloodlust. It gave out a mighty, "BOING!" and more than fifty porings came out from behind it. Armitage's and Juliet's jaw dropped as they watched a whole army of Porings rush towards them. The porings latched onto Reito, effectively smothering him under their gooey goodness, disabling him from protecting the flailing Mai who had Porings nibbling on her hair and shoulders. Nao wasn't fairing any better since her arms and legs were pinned by the cute droplets of demonic goo. The poring on her left hand managed to gobble up her knife, rendering her disarmed.

Yukino was warding off the porings who had ganged up around her with her dagger. "I have a knife and.. I'm not afraid to use it! Keep your distance! Or else!" Her legs were shaking. She was scared. She didn't want to die in the hands or goo of such adorable creatures. Haruka was a few feet away from her. She was busy trying to clear a path to get closer to Yukino. No matter how hard she tried to kill the little buggers, more of them would come right back to her. It's as if there was a never-ending supply of Porings. The blonde girl noticed the enormous Mastering bounce towards Yukino. Haruka gulped and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Yukino! RUN!" Haruka was using all of her strength to clobber the Mastering on the head with her mace. She needed to distract the thing. Yukino was frozen on the spot so she jumped and rode the Mastering.

"PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!" Haruka was now beating the Boss monster with her own fists but her punches felt like a child's thump to the gigantic creature.

Shizuru watched as her friends were overpowered by the adorable army. She needed to act so she did the one thing that she knew would get the Poring's attention. She waived the emerald they had gotten a while ago. Natsuki's face paled. Oh shit! Shizuru had noticed that the Poring race were looters and couldn't resist items. The Mastering shifted its gaze to Shizuru and Natuski and began to bounce like crazy towards them. The others were freed since the Mastering commanded its underlings to go after Shizuru, who was holding the gem. The crimson-eyed girl ran for her life as the enormous monster and the hundreds of Porings chased her. Natsuki couldn't just sit back and watch. She felt a sense of over-protectiveness blossom in her chest and with a battle-cry she charged into the mass of jelly monsters, slicing and dicing and hacking with all her might. She wasn't gonna let these ridiculous monsters get to Shizuru! When killing them didn't seem to work anymore, Natsuki enveloped Shizuru into a hug and used her body as a shield to protect the crimson-eyed girl. Shizuru was panicking. She didn't want Natsuki to be hurt because of her! They needed help!

"Natsuki! Hold on!" Shizuru noticed the busty carrot-top that was whacking porings left and right with her rod. Thank God! Help was coming! Natsuki's hold on her was loosening. The emerald gaze that was locked with hers was lost as the dark-haired girl lost consciousness. She diverted her attention to the red-head who was beside the other girl. The lime-eyed girl was working with Reito who was also doing his best to clear her and Natsuki of the mob that had gathered around them. Once there were fewer Porings around them, Shizuru cradled Kruger on her lap. The girl was badly beaten up from taking all those blows for her. She chose to act quickly by taking a yellow colored potion from her bag and letting the yellow liquid flow into Natsuki's mouth as the vial touched her lips. Natsuki drank it and her color returned. She immediately blushed when she realized where she was. Natsuki tried to get up to fight but Viola stopped her as if saying "Oh no, little lady." The dark-haired girl shook Viola off and threw her dagger towards the Mastering who was currently busy fighting Haruka and Yukino. The monster bounced towards Natsuki again but Haruka immediately whacked in on the head with her mace. The diversion worked and the Mastering exploded into a thousand pieces. Everyone got slimed in the face however some of them took it more gracefully than the others.

"We did it!" Mai's voice rang out and before they knew it, all of them were cheering. An aura enveloped each individual and before they knew it, they had all leveled up. All of them were now ready to take on 1st class jobs!

The group decided to head to a nearby town called Izlude where they stayed at an Inn. After all of them had cleansed themselves of sticky Poring goo, they opted to celebrate their victory over dinner. This was where both parties where formally introduced to each other. Natsuki was seated beside Shizuru and she noticed that her other best friend Mai, had taken quite a liking to Viola's friend, Obsidian Lord. She didn't like prying into other people's business so she shook the thought out of her head.

At the end of dinner, the two groups decided to separate since all of them were ready to take their respective job exams to become 1st class players. However this was only the beginning. Shizuru was quite sure that she would meet Kruger one more time.

-TBC.

A/N: This chapter seemed rushed to me. Hmm.. School sucks. It hinders the writing process though school was the institution that taught me how to write properly. Thank you schooling! :D Maybe I should try to make omakes as well? Those seem kind of fun. Thank you for reading! Leave a review if you liked it.