chapter 7
Christmas had past, but only by a week. Rundel had immersed himself in his again again, and Roy was being kept occupied by his presents he received over the break. Rudy had made it A thing to go onto the roof every so often. It was more relaxing than just looking out his window. Up there he could get A grasp on it all. The snow had started to fall once again and it just seemed so surreal to him. As it fell heavier he knew he should get down so he retreated to his room. Tomorrow he would go back to school, surely to be harassed by the teachers about the homework no one did. The servers for Sword Strike Online would go up tomorrow too, so he had something to look forward to. As he lay there he slowly closed his eyes only to awake in the morning not remembering falling asleep. It was late in the morning. Panic stricken, Rudy jumped out of bed and rushed downstairs.
Shit, shit, shit, shit. How come no one woke me up?!
As he entered the kitchen his thoughts met up with him, then he looked out the window. The snow was piled up high against the glass door. He had guessed that Roy and Oliver were still sleeping in, so he decided to enjoy his quiet morning the best he could. He made a quick breakfast and went back to his room to do whatever he wanted. As he walked past the counter a not read that Ollie and Roy had gone out to pick up a few things, but it seemed inconvenient to go outside on a day like this. What he didn't know was that they were out on patrol after hearing that Brick had escaped. Rundel went back to his room and checked the school website, yup, school was cancelled. That meant he had the whole day to himself, and he knew exactly what he would do. The servers would open in about thirty minutes US time, because they were hosted in Japan. He was unsure if the game would have an english translation, but he wasn't too worried. Reading over the directions to pass the time, he researched the game online. The creator had received many awards, and responded to many interviews. As he read, watched, and listened to information about the game and the Cortex Gear, the minutes ticked away. It was finally time to log in.
He adjusted his helmet so it fit snug. Linking into the houses internet using his ethernet cable. The digital clock appeared in the corner, as it read two PM. The game cartridge popped in, and he laid down on his bed. Closing his eyes he was ready for what was sure to be an experience.
"Game Connect." The boy said. The voice activated command started the reaction. The helmet used artificial brain waves to control the brain, putting it into a coma-like state. His eyes shut and the game came to life. His character was created from the calibrations he had set earlier and upon going through verification, entered the surreal world. Luckily, he set the language to English, but since he was the only english speaking person on the japanese server, there was sure to be issues.
Completing the tutorials he received a few starter items, giving him a quick beginning. He had read all about the combat system and the computer aided motion. He grasped the use of weapons easily, and was able to run through the beginner are rather quickly. As he progressed he saw many people with worried looks on their faces. Some cried, others had panic stricken faces. He wasn't sure why they seemed worried, after all, the game was great. It was only until a few hours had passed, that he learned why people were beginning to distressed. In the settings of the menu he couldn't find the logout button. In the instruction manual it said there would be one, yet it was nonexistent. It was only then that there was A mass teleport to the center of the town. A private message was sent out to all the players, written by the creator himself. Upon opening it, Rudy gave a worried look around, the private message was written by (technically) another player, and the issue was that it was in japanese. Mass hysteria broke out, but Rundel wasn't sure what was going on. These strangers had looks of fear in their eyes, but it was only a game. Surely it was just a server glitch. He wanted to know what was going on so he approached one of the nearby players. He was sticky with dark brown hair, he didn't seem as afraid of the others, so he might give an honest answer.
"H-hey, do you speak english?" The question was weak, but he needed answers. The answer was not what he was looking for, as his response was in another language. It was rather important he find out what was happening now. Rudy tried approaching someone else, A girl with long blonde hair. She was talking to her friend, in a fast paced way.
"Hello? Do you speak english? I don't know how to speak japanese." She gave a gesture for him to go away, this was starting to aggravate him. It was dire now, like being left out of a joke. Just then, he heard an english voice behind him. Rundel turned around to face A girl his age, with short black hair.
"You only speak english? Why are you on a japanese server? How'd you even get a Cortex Gear?" Her tone was like the rest of them, worried. Her curiosity overcame it though, but she could see that the boy in front of her didn't get what was going on.
"Oh, okay what's going on, yea, that. A game master sent a private message to everyone saying that logging out is not a defect. If you die in the game, you die in reality." Her voice faltered at the end of her sentence. The words were engraved into the boys mind, his sudden realization put him into a daze. He wanted to get out, but the attempts would be futile.
"He also said that the only way to escape was to beat the final boss. His final words were explaining how our avatars would look like our real bodies. Uh-hm do you by chance have any friends playing as well?" She sounded desperate as well.
"I kind of logged in by myself, oh, and my name is Yuno."
"Oh, uh I logged in by myself as well. My name is Raus." He was shaky as he spit the words out. They both had desperate looks on their faces.
"I received my helmet and game as a gift, I forgot that other people here would speak another language. D-do you mind if I party up, or add you to my friends list?" She gave him a nod, and accepted both requests.
No words were needed, running off into the wild they set out to level up together. They didn't know how long they would be trapped, but they would beat this death game, together. As they partied up, they connected well. Each encounter with a mob would be a fight for their life, no matter how weak the slime was. Yuno was skilled with her dual wielding daggers. Her hands worked so fast they would become invisible. Rundel thought his combat skills were lame compared to hers. He had picked an archery skill tree thinking about Oliver and Roy as he did so. It was a support class so he chose a strong secondary to help aid Yuno if she ran into trouble. That's when he felt strong. His speed with a sword went unmatched, as together they would take down monsters higher than their own levels. Fear still ran between the two, hell, even the whole player base. That's what pushed them to play. No one knew how long they would be trapped, so they worked quickly to end it.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- POV switch -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
"If I had known it would have been this cold I would have brought another layer." Roy complained. Olli had practically dragged him out of bed early in the morning. It was A snow day too! He had told him they had to go practise, then do a quick patrol. It wasn't very quick, as the had been running the rooftops for over an hour now.
"Alright kiddo, just a few more minutes. I bet Rudy freaked out when he woke up late, so we should get back and check up on him." Oliver shouted towards Roy. They both didn't feel right leaving him all alone, but their jobs were pretty important. As they returned home they snuck into the cave and switched clothes. It was extremely quiet all throughout the house, which seemed suspicious.
"Maybe he's still asleep?" Roy blurted out. He didn't know Rundel was the kind of person to sleep late, but he thought maybe it was just an accident. When they peaked into his room it gave them an explanation. He was laying down motionless with the the Cortex Gear on his head. They let him be, but when he didn't come down for lunch they began to question it. Then when he didn't come down for dinner, or even take the helmet off they began to worry. The next morning they began to panic. They searched up for issues concerning the removal of the helmet, and it did not look good. Their resources said the only safe removal would be from within the game. Any other form of removal could cause a permanent coma, or even death if removed improperly. AKA you take it off their head, and they die. There were many reports of death in japan relating to the Cortex Gear and the players using it along with Sword Strike Online. The players were later transferred to hospitals where they would be preserved by having nutrients injected into their bodies using a series of tubes.
Oliver cradled Dinah in the hospital room where Rundel lay. Roys anger turned against as he went into a fury. They had taken his brother away from him, and he didn't know how to react. The league couldn't do anything to help with the issue as any tampering of the games system database would result in a permanent removal of all connected players. They could only hope that one day they wake up, until then they had to keep quiet, and be patient. The family grew tense as the days passed on, fearing that they would get a call from the hospital. They followed the deaths reported in Japan, as they numbers grew gradually.
As the issue grew and grew, batman kept to himself researching as to how Rundel was even born without memory from Black Canary or Green Arrow. He had Martian Manhunter do a memory scan and he found a blank spot about the time span of ten months thirteen years ago. Pretty much the exact time Rudy was born. All they needed to know was how their memory had been wiped. The mystery gave them something to think about for the next few months as their son lay in a comatose state.
If only they knew how long it would take for their son to return.
Dat plot twist doe. This is why A moderator might move this to a different section, It's almost a crossover. Emphasis on ALMOST, I changed some names and themes around. I won't write too much about what happens in the game, as this is a YJ fanfic. I might make the adventures Yuno and Raus have in the game another story, but for now I'll include just the plot points. As always PLEASE review, you have no clue how much I enjoy reading them, even the constructive criticism is nice. thanks.
