.Hack//ARBITER

Log Two

"The Trial and the Blockade"

As the fields rain pounded against Arisuno's back he drove his blade through a goblin's rib cage. The monster let out a scream of pain as he drew his blade out of its corpse. The arena's blue fight barrier dropped and Semio stepped forward.

"Just in time. We need to move to some cover. I thought I spotted another player and without knowing we assume that they are a P.." Semio looked over his shoulder then back to Arisuno. He started to head for a weathered old monument made of a yellowish stone.

The two of them continued passed the monument until they arrived at a tall building made of the same material as the monument. There was a large opening at the front of the building and it looked as if it went on forever, stretching upwards into the sky. Arisuno swallowed a lump in his throat and looked to Semio who grinned a very cocky grin and started in. Arisuno looked back over his own shoulder and saw a shadow peaking out from the monument. A chill ran up his spine and he chased after Semio, hollering for him to wait up.

After countless battles inside the building, as well as a long exploration of room after room, Arisuno looked at Semio, "C-Can't we … take a break?" He asked between pants. Semio looked at him with condescending eyes.

"Not yet. We'll finish this dungeon and then get something to eat."

"How long have we been playing, feels like hours."

"Actually you're close. Though it's only been an hour or so."

"What?" Arisuno exclaimed as he bolted upright, "You're joking right? I thought this was supposed to be fun!"

"Well, aren't you having fun?" Semio asked him sounding worried.

"Eh? Well … Yeah, but—" Before he could get out anymore, Semio slapped him on the back.

"Good! Now then, onwards to the next room!" He cried as he charged off. Arisuno sighed heavily and reluctantly followed him. When he finally caught up Semio stood defiantly and looked at a few rather large enemies, "I'll bet you can take them down single handedly." Arisuno's mouth dropped open and he stared at his friend in disbelieving.

"Okay, that's it. You are officially crazy!" Arisuno threw up his hands in protest and turned away from his friend, getting ready to storm off.

"Its either keep fighting the monsters and know you're safe until we reach the beast at the bottom, or stop and find out whoever it is that is tailing us. Besides, if you fail this test that just means tomorrow I get to drill you even harder." A crooked smile appeared on Semio's face and Arisuno turned back to face him.

"I take back what I said about you being crazy,"

"Why's tha—"

"You're insane." Arisuno charged at his enemies and was able to catch one off guard by hitting them in the back. It bounced off the fight barrier and landed on the ground in front of him. He turned his attention to his other opponent and reached behind his back. A blinding light enveloped his hand as he drew his blade, a simple long sword. The monster behind him rose from the ground, now this was going to be interesting.

A shrill cry arose and the beasts stood frozen. As if all of The World had frozen. Rift cursed as he thought he was experiencing a server glitch. He called out to Trick, "Hey are you experiencing a sever glitch too?"

"I don't know if it's a glitch, but I've sent out a report to a CC Corp. Admin. Maybe we should head back to the gate and choose a different world." Trick replied. Rift nodded to himself and turned back to the monitor. As an experiment he had Arisuno attack the frozen monster and to his surprise he was still able to fight! He waited for the monster and the barrier to drop before he went over to Semio and shrugged.

"Glitch or not, I was still able to kill the NPC's." Arisuno said with a slight shrug of his shoulders. Semio looked at him sideways and then looked away. He started forward when a malicious chuckle echoed through the room.

"My oh my. How quaint. I feel like I'm watching some cliché anime where two friends work to improve themselves for battle. And here I am walking in on your training. That can only mean one thing! Baa baa baam~!" The voice echoed another laugh and both Semio and Arisuno turned so they were facing the only entrance to the room. Semio had a long spear out and ready to charge. Arisuno brought his blade up to his torso and readied himself as well.

From the entrance walked in a slender male character with green hair. His bangs fell down to his chest and he wore slender black clothing. A purple scarf was wrapped around his neck and a cruel grin appeared on his face. His emotionless silver eyes were augers that felt like they were burrowing their way through Arisuno. Arisuno swallowed hard felt a shiver run up his spine. This guy looked like he might be a P.K.

"What is it you want?" Semio asked. He seemed to ignore the other mans drilling eyes with the way he stood, straight backed and defiant. Arisuno was jealous of his friend for being so cool. The other shrugged and tilted his head awkwardly to one side.

"A few things actually. 1) To know if you guys are Rpers or P., 2) I want your member addresses, and 3) I want to fight." By his tone he sounded like he was talking about something so trivial.

"Okay. Those are easy enough to answer: 1) Rpers mainly. But if it comes to it we're P.K.K.'s, 2) No. We're not just about to give out our member addresses to someone who just asks for them, and finally 3) Look some place else we're busy." Semio's voice was firm and level. He wasn't going to take any kind of manhandling from this guy. The other mans shoulders sagged and he sighed.

"Shame. I was looking for more people to join my P.K. guild, but seeing as how you guys are being stubborn and you claim to be P.K.K.'s, I'm gunna have to fight you anyways." A malevolent smile spread across his face as two blades slid from his wrists. This guy had a custom design that Rift recognized from some of the BBS boards. He looked to be designed after a P. from the R: 1 version named "Sora". Somewhat of a legend, Sora went around P. people for member addresses. Normally he went after beautiful women, but this guy only followed Sora's M.O. as far as P. for member addresses. He didn't seem to care from whom.

The Sora doppelganger launched himself at the two and with swift feet they leaped out of his way. The P. cursed and spat, his lips curled in a feral snarl as he launched another charge aimed at Semio. Semio twirled his spear by the haft and grinned in satisfaction as the spears pole collided with the side of his enemy's skull. The P. was flung into a wall where his body ricocheted off of and into the fight barrier. This time when he got up he charged at Arisuno, no doubt hoping to take out someone weaker than him.

Semio jumped in his way and brought the haft end of his spear up into the P.'s s jaw. By twisting his body, Semio moved behind the P. and finished him off by bringing the point of his spear upwards, running the enemy through the groin with it. For what seemed like minutes neither of them moved. Finally the P.'s data began to flicker and his body started disappearing.

"Heh. Good fighting. I'll be on the watch for you spear boy. Good thing I saved my progress…" With that he was gone. Semio brought his spear point down and looked back at Arisuno.

"Lets go." Arisuno nodded and followed after his friend as they left. Arisuno would have questioned his friend about going further into the dungeon, but he figured that if they stayed without knowing how many more levels there were, the P. could come back with friends. Something he doubted Trick didn't want to deal with. As they reached the exit Semio suddenly stopped.

"What is it?" Arisuno asked as he stopped short of his friend.

"There's no exit."

"What are you talking about? Its right there."

"That's not the exit. Look closely." Puzzled, Arisuno walked over to the exit and stretched out a hand ready to tell his friend he was messing with him, but when his hand reached where what should have been an opening into the field, his hand met solid wall.

"W-What is this?" Arisuno wretched his hand back and stepped away, "What's going on?"

"I don't know, but what ever did that also won't let us use items to get out."

"How do you know?"

"While you were walking for the fake exit I tried using an item."

"You were gunna leave me here?"

"Of course not!" Semio yelled. Arisuno flinched slightly. Trick hadn't yelled in some time. Rift swallowed a little as Arisuno's shoulders sagged. Semio sighed, "Look," he started, "I wasn't going to leave you hear, but I thought that if I could get out I could contact an Administrator to come and get you out."

"So if you can't do that then … what?"

"Come on. We'll head back down and claim the treasure here by beating the boss." Semio turned and walked away. Arisuno followed close behind.

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Sabaku: Hey there guys. Sorry this one took so long to get out. Normally I try and get one new chapter out for each of my fanfics before I work on the other, but I haven't been able to think of anything good for my Bleach on. Don't worry though! I feel something coming. Anways I hope you are all enjoying my .hack// fanfic. Reviews are appreciated!