Natural Warrior
Chapter 3: Liberations

Disclaimer: I do not own .hack/ or any of the characters involved except for Guardian N. Nature

"A war!" Shugo shouted "You expect two kids to help in a war?"

"No. I except you and Rena to help in the war." Nature replied "After all you've been through you really consider yourself kids? If so I came to the wrong place."

"No, but. A war, that's deadly. We could die." Rena said

"No, you can't. Only I can die in that war. If you were to meet the criteria of 'dead' you would wake up in your bed and remember everything up to that point in your life. After that you'd go on living your life as normal. At least until one of us Guardians shows up." Nature said with a grin at the old joke

"So then. What kind of war is it?" Shugo asked

"What kind of war do you think? The classical good versus evil. We, the Guardians that is, are a group that tries to help worlds, like this one, live their own lives and allow them to grow at their own pace. The Dark Guardians, our sworn enemies, are ones who seek power and the ability to keep it. They would take the worlds and turn the residents into slaves and soldiers for their own gain. We Guardians fight to prevent that." Nature said

"So, Why do you need us?" Shugo asked

"Well, We figured that it's a little un-fair to have us fight foryou all the time and never tell you that we're doing it. So we figured we'd let you fight for yourselves for once. We'll help of course, but almost every Guardian has been sent to a world to gather up recruits to help fight the Dark Guardians." Nature explained

"That's some pretty deep stuff."Rena said to herself as she held her head

"Yes. It can be intimidating to some, but I trust that you two are able to handle it." Nature replied "So, in three months time I will return to 'the world' and seek you at this castle. If you are not here or decline my offer I will leave without a word, if you accept then you know the risks." He stood up as he finished and stepped out of the conference room. "I'll leave you two to decide what you'll do about the here and now. Remember, we have a large force of crimson knights coming for you in a few hours." Nature said

He left and Shugo looked at Rena "What do you think sis?" He asked

"Well… I… I don't know. This is all really overwhelming, I mean, other worlds? I find that part a little hard to believe, but these 'dark Guardians' they seem to worry Nature so I know he's not making that part up."

"Even so. To join a war is a little-"

"Extreme?"

"Yeah…"

"So then what do we do?" Rena asked

"Well. You remember what Nature said. We have three months to decide that. Right now we have the crimson knights to worry about that." Shugo said

Rena nodded and stood slamming her hands on the table "So! We have a whole army of crimson knights who want to ban us? I say let 'em try!" she shouted with a smile

Shugo looked at her worriedly at first, but then he smiled to himself remembering how his sister could be at times.

"And as for Nature's war? We need to help him! He helped us today. And he'll help us again in a few hours. We need to repay him." Rena explained

"Sounds like a plan." Shugo nodded

Nature walked back into the conference room. "So, you two have come to a decision?"

They both looked at him, determination set in their faces. "We'll help."

"Good!" Nature shouted clapping his hands together. A smile forming on his face. "If you'll follow me then." He led them out of the conference room to a smaller room off to the side. Inside was an armory. Swords, axes, bows and quivers full of arrows lined the walls.

"This is my personal storage of weapons that the Nature Knights use. They're a lot stronger than anything you can find here in the 'the world' I'd like you two to use these in the battle ahead. You'll find the armor and weapons that are fit for your character over there." He pointed his finger at a small annex that was labeled "Shugo and Rena"

"I've got some business to attend to with the defences. I'll leave you two to try out your new armor." He said before leaving.

Rena looked with Shugo to the area ahead. They stepped into the annex and before them were two dressing rooms each with a stool next to the curtain that served as a door. On the stool were boxes marked with their names. They stepped forward and took the boxes into the rooms and changed. A few minutes later they stepped out, their normal armor and equipment were in the boxes, they set these down on the stools and looked at each other.

Shugo was astounded to see Rena. She was wearing a full suit of green steel armor complete with a full helm that had three slits down the face for her to see out of. She looked like a menacing warrior that you could never tell was a sweet girl underneath the outer- shell of her armor.

"So? How do I look?" Rena asked spinning on the spot. As she twirled Shugo caught a glance at a large sheath on her back. The handle of a sword protruded from the top.

"You look really intimidating Rena." Shugo said a little awkwardly.

She stopped and stared at him "You look a little sneaky Shugo."

Shugo's normally poufy hat was missing from his head. His baggy clothes were replaced with shirt and pants that had small amounts of armor plating on the front and back. At his side were two daggers held in small sheaths. All of this was green.

"Well, you two certainly look the part." Nature said as he stepped inside the annex. "Our guests are here… shall we go greet them?"