A/N: Natsume will join the party in the next chapter. So here is part 2 of the Ranma group's appearance!

Chapter 7: Anything Goes

The next day

It didn't take long for Ranma and his friends to create their characters.

Ranma's avatar is like his real world self, only he now sported red hair like his female form, with his clothing being red body armour, with green gantlets and yellow boots covering the feet. A high-resolution red axe completed his form, if he was still a "he," that is.

Akane's character is like her real world self, though she now had symbols painted on her face, with a blue robe and brown pants being their attire. As evidenced by their class, a glaive glistened in the lighting effects. Everyone else, most likely because they had no idea how online verse's worked, made their characters exactly like them; a few pixels different here and there, but roughly the same.

They all logged into The World at once. "Now what?" asked Akane, never being a part of this whole "online gaming" craze. In fact, almost none of them were ever a part of this, and many suspected that this step was actually all they had to do.

Thus, when all else failed, they turned to look at Ranma. Needless to say, he (or was he currently a she?) were pretty confused. "This is all I know from here. I never played before." stated the cursed one.

They all sighed. "Then how the heck are we gonna save the internet?!" panicked Ryouga, realizing all his "sexy" pics of Akane would be lost.

Suddenly, they overheard two players chatting. "I heard there are two players that look different from normal players." A Heavy Axe-man commented, rubbing his head, though due to this computer's graphic card, the gesture went through his head.

The Long Arm with him made a laugh gesture for some reason. "I heard. The first one is a boy in red; I think he's a Twin Blade, so he's probably a newb, while the second one is a girl in purple, and strangely enough, a blademaster. Some say they have really weird skills."

The random snooping and technically violation of privacy gave Ranma's lofty group a strange sensation. "Maybe those two players mentioned the viruses! That has to be it!" Ukyo guessed.

However, at least one member of the group was rather confused by this. "We shall look for bad virus people?" asked Shampoo.

No one else noticed this strange idea, and instead actually agreed with her rather than questioning further; odd, really. "Wonderful idea!" cried Mousse. In retaliation, Shampoo hit him with her sword as the freak of man poofed out of existence.

I feel that it needs to be pointed out. Before anyone thinks that these characters were actually hurt, all damage caused to them is happening to their gaming avatars, rather than their actual personages, unless specified. That being said, any damage done on them cannot hurt them, meaning slapstick is expected!

"Wha- what happened to Mousse?" gulped Ranma.

The rest of the party was disturbed by this, too; I think the bigger disturbance, however, is how they were all logged into the game at once in a small place like this. "You're the one who knows the most about this game," Akane said, giving Ranma a look.

Then, just as it happened, Mousse reappeared, blinking for a few seconds before winding down. "Buddy, you all right? What happened?" asked Ukyo.

His avatar randomly did a jig; he was trying to scratch his head again, but he typed the wrong emote code. "I blanked out, but then I logged in again and I was back. I guess that happens when you die," Mousse stated.

While the explanation he gave was pretty standard for video games, it was most definitely not when it came to real life. Unfortunately, one of our fellow cast members didn't distinguish this difference in realms. "Mousse die?" said Shampoo, sounding a bit confused.

Some of the others got understandably annoyed at the woman. "You stabbed him with your sword! How can he not die?" yelled Akane.

Seeing that the situation was quickly getting out of hand, one member of the brigade quickly took the home plate. "Do you suppose we split up and get this virus?" asked Ryouga, admonishing the sight of a Shampoo trying to make a scratching gesture within the game; I don't know how, but she succeeded at it.

"For once, you're using your brain," mumbled Ranma, the snarky one in the large group.

"What was that, Ranma?"

"Nothing."

With that, the six of them decided to split up. Mousse ended up in charge with one of the groups, consisting of both Ryouga and Shampoo. They decided to head to Delta Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field (they wanted to question the funky name, but chose not to) to begin leveling up to fight the supposed viruses.

"Man, I hope we find something."

"Me too, Ryouga," said Mousse. You may question why I didn't specify who spoke above. Well, if I did, it would spoil the fun. Remember those shenanigans I spoke about before? Well, I wasn't lying, was I?

"Ryouga? In The World, I am called Yukio," proclaimed Ryouga, looking as proud in the virtual world as he did in real life.

Mousse tilted his head in dire confusion; what on Earth does that mean? However, as though a rock hit him directly in the head, he remembered that they actually made names for this game. "Ah, that's right! In The World, I'm called Qiao!" proclaimed the man, stomping on the ground with one foot, pulling off a pose reminiscent of the great kings of lore.

Shampoo, however, burst into laughter."What is so funny, Shampoo?" asked Mousse.

The girl was laughing as much as she was purring. "What Yu Jie find funny? Is name Qiao. Mousse no handsome." she continued to laugh along with Ryouga.

This clearly did not please the man. "Shut it, Yukio!" growled Mousse.

"Ok…Qiao~. Oh man, my sides!"

"It's not Cue-ee-ow! It's ch-ee-ow! Hear the difference between 'cue' and 'ch'!" yelled Mousse.

The cat-like woman slapped her knee. "Yu Jie find funny," she laughed.

In order to gain the advantage in this randomly placed war of names, Mousse had to come up with a counter-joke. "Yu Jie; the perfect name for you, Shampoo!" he praised.

His joke may have worked in the end, but he made a grave mistake; he decided to say her real name, which was already established as a naughty no-no. "Is called Yu Jie," Shampoo yelled, and tried to hit Mousse with her sword. Man, look at those numbers fly! I think I saw a critical hit!

Ryo-Yukio was realizing the horribleness that he had supported. "At this rate, we're never gonna get some info in this area…" he muttered. Suddenly, his eyes were removed from the bickering duo, and were soon laid upon a group of players chatting. Curious, he decided to eavesdrop.

"Some say some weird characters were seen here. One of them is a monster," Fina34, a Twin Blade, had begun once Yukio started listening.

The other player gulped. "What does the monster look like?" Dena, a Heavy Blade, asked in return.

The Twin Blade placed a finger on their chin. "The monster looked like it was made of stone, and had a really weird red wand. Not only that; it was chasing a girl!" Fina34 replied.

"A-A girl?" Gallian, the Blademaster of the group, asked confusedly.

Fina, who had to be the leader of the pact, jumped in front of them with glee evident everywhere. "Yeah! She was white as snow: hair, clothes, everything! She had no arms or legs, I think, and she moved without making a sound!" she described what she heard.

'A girl in white and a monster with a red wand…?' Yukio thought as he walked back to his group. He managed to stop the bickering Shampoo and Mousse, who were literally about to kill one another, both here and in real life. "I got some info. I overheard three players talking about a girl in white and a monster with a red wand."

Well, that was certainly the lead they needed. "Is it true, Yukio?" Mousse questioned.

Our current main man shrugged. "I dunno. We should check the dungeon in this area."

With a jump, Sham-Yu Jie bursted with verve. "Maybe Girl in White and Monster with Red Wand lead to bad virus people?" she guessed.

Our two main heroes right now did not expect that sort of answer. "Maybe you're right, Yu Jie! Once we destroy the bad virus people, we'll be hailed as heroes of Nerima. Hell, maybe the world and 'The World'!" Mousse praised, hearing an audible drum in the background.

While this praise was genuine, the cat lady did not enjoy it one bit. "Yu Jie still doesn't like Qiao…" Shampoo glared at Mousse, her eyes filled with sickest of all disturbances.

The poor sod began to cry, and begin muttering out, "Why do you like that fool, Ranma, over me?"

Oh god, not this again. "Let's just go…" Ryouga moaned, hoping to get this game over with. Besides the countless number of laggy moments with the "tough-guy" points, the whole quarreling was not what he paid for.

Back to Ranma and his group…

"Hey Akane, what did you choose for a username?" asked Ukyo once the group settled in.

"Hm, nothing. I just kept my name as is. What did you choose?"

"I chose Ucchan," Ukyo grinned along with Ranma.

He of current subject (?) decided to play along. "I chose Ran-chan." Both Ukyo and Ranma grinned. Once she realized the joke, Akane couldn't help but glare.

After the fun-parts were over, the group went back to being serious. "I wonder how we're gonna find them?" wondered Ranma, doing the famous Hiro Mashima depiction. Akane and Ukyo looked around with him, looking rather bored as absolutely nothing occurred at first. Everything just seemed quiet and muted, with the colors occassionally glitching out. Was this the servers for the game, or do our heroes need an upgrade to the computer? Probably both.

Suddenly, all three of them noticed Kite and Zoey talking to each other. Let's hear them, shall we?

"I found a great place to train on the Board. It's called Delta Crying Forbidden Forest, and it's level 11, so we can get good EXP from it." Kite suggested.

This wowed the Mew. "Sounds like a plan! Let's head over there now," Zoey smiled as she and Kite went towards the Chaos Gate.

Akane and Ukyo tried to get Ranma to start following them, but the main man was currently lost in thought of how to get him. Wait…what was he looking at?

"Ran-chan! The virus is going that way!" yelled Ukyo, realizing their leader was not even focused on the right thing.

However, their leader still thought he was correct. "No, I thought of that already," said Ranma, still thinking about something completely stupid.

Akane, in response to the word "Stupid", smacked Ranma over the head with her spear. "Ranma, you idiot, it's the virus right there!"

The boy looked surprised as he changed targets. Sure enough, Kite and Zoey were about to leave the area. "Hey you two! Stop!" Ranma ran as fast as he could to them. Though it looked like time was not on their side, he managed to quickly grab Kite's arm. Finally, some success for him today! Unfortunately, the result was much more hilarious. Kite, Zoey, and now Ran-chan were warped to Delta Crying Forbidden Forest.

"Ranma!" cried Ukyo and Akane in shock.

Back to Mousse and his group.

Mousse's group was checking the dungeon where the Girl in White and the Monster with the Red Wand were spotted. "I don't see any Girl in White and Monster with a Red Wand in here…" Ryouga muttered.

Suddenly, Shampoo tensed. "Yu Jie hear something. Maybe bad virus people?" She got her sword ready, prepared to fight for her life. Ryouga and Mousse did the same, hoping that this was geniune, for if it were not, they would look pretty stupid right now. They were sweating virtual sweat, and their body shook in the strangest way possible. They are low-leveled, and don't know if the virus is strong or not. Out of the thicket of darkness creeped a shadow, and it started to get closer.

Then, it was the revealed that the shadow belonged to Balmung. "What are you players doing here?" the elite player demanded.

Even though he was asking a pretty good question, the party did not enjoy his tone. "Hey, we should be asking the same thing about you, bud!" Mousse countered.

Balmung did not falter in his stance, and instead laughed at Mousse's pathetic attempt at fighting back. "You must be newbies… Too bad, this area for newbies is currently under investigation. I just told the other players who were outside to 'Gate out' until the investigation is complete…"

Yu Jie quickly pounced in front of her party. "We looking for bad virus people, Mean Winged Man!" Shampoo frowned as she placed her hands on her hips and huffed.

The girl's interesting style made the experienced player laugh some more. "…It's best if you don't get involved… Cease searching for the virus. That's an order!" Balmung snapped.

With that random bit of authority, the party snapped back. "Who the hell are you supposed to be, asshole?!" Ryouga growled.

"I'm surprised newbies like you haven't heard of me… Fine, I'll tell you who I am… I am Balmung of the Azure Sky, one of the Descendants of Fianna! Leave now, 'till this area is done with the investigation." Balmung glared at Mousse's group before he used Gate Out.

Once he was gone, the party went to catch their breath. "Who was that guy?! Acting like he's famous or something…What nerve!" Mousse scoffed.

The weird antics of his friend made Ryouga feel at peace for the time being. "I don't know… Why does he want people to leave this area? It's a place for beginners." he scratched his chin.

"Yu Jie suggest we go back Root Town. Ranman-chan may know." Shampoo suggested.

With Kite, Zoey and Ranma…

"Let go!" Kite struggled as Ranma tightened his grip on the boy's arm. Zoey couldn't help but watch in shock as this new player interrogated her friend.

"Not until you tell me how you messed up the computers in Nerima! Then, I'll delete you two permanently!" Ranma shouted as he tightened his grip around Kite's arm. Really, threaten him in a terrible way? You can tell this guy wasn't the smartest at interrogation.

The boy, however, did not give the answer our newcomer was looking for. "I don't know! Me and Zoey can't be deleted! We need to help our friends!" Kite shouted.

Somehow, a strange logic entered Ranma's head, and this was the line that popped out: "So you two have friends, meaning you two are viruses!" Splendid, dear boy!

The Mew couldn't watch this anymore. "We're not! Listen to what we have to say!" Zoey reasoned.

"They are telling the truth." A familiar voice vouched for our heroes.

All three of them turned to look towards a strange being. "Huh?" was the general consensus. However, Ranma had the biggest reaction, with his face growing ever-so white.

"C-C-Cat!" he let go of Kite's arm and fell on his butt, stammering in fear. Compared to what he was about to do, our other two heroes couldn't help but chuckle, though they soon stopped this action once they recognized the person.

"Mia!" Kite shouted happily as the catgirl walked up to her new friends.

"Heya Kite, Zoey. What are you doing here in this forest area?" she smiled.

The two of them scratched their heads. "We were about to head here until a Heavy Axe-man grabbed Kite, and when we got here, he accused us of being viruses," Zoey pointed to Ranma.

"Oh, is that so?" Mia smirked as she walked up to Ranma who gulped. His memories of cats torturing him as a child came flooding into him. "Listen boy, I don't know who gave you this info, but the players Kite and Zoey are not the viruses you seek. Is that clear, Ranma Saotome?" she winked.

That last part scared him the most. "How… How did you know my name?!" Ranma gasped.

"Don't know, nor do I care." Mia shrugged like a boss before turning to her friends with a smile, and stated with a meow, "Tell Ranma everything that has happened, ok? Cya!" she winked again as she used Gate Out to leave.

When she left, the newcomer could barely breathe. "What the hell was that… cat talking about?" Ranma demanded. Kite and Zoey began explaining to their once almost-killer about the events that have happened, and some that may happen, about the Girl in White, the Monster with the Red Wand who used Data Drain to put poor Bridge and Orca into a coma, and the friends they met and befriended.

"I'm sorry… I didn't know that the Monster with the Red Wand put your two friends into a coma…" the newcomer repeated my damn lines.

"That's ok. That's why we're searching for the Girl in White. She may hold the answers we need," Zoey smiled.

"And also," Kite tightened his fist angrily, "defeat the bastard who put our two friends into a coma…"

With that, Ranma couldn't help but laugh. "Sounds like you two are determined to use those bracelets you got from the Girl in White to save them. If Akane were to fall into a coma because of the Monster with the Red Wand, I would be hell-bent on revenge, even without the power of Data Drain." He soon stood up and smiled at Kite and Zoey. "Kite, Zoey… Allow me and my friends to aid you on your quest to find the Girl in White." He stated.

The next line could be eskewed as essentially surprise, but to many, it sounded more like he was being a douche. "You have friends?" Kite asked. Did you hear that? Ah, Ranma didn't, so it's all good.

With the party fully agreeing with one another, they began waving their arms in happiness. "Let's head back to Root Town to meet them." Zoey suggested. Kite and Ranma nodded as they used Gate Out to leave.

When they got to Mac Anu, standing on the bridge was Akane and Ukyo. "Ucchan! Akane!" called out Ranma happily. Ukyo and Akane turned to the call of their names."Look who I found!" Behind Ranma stood Kite and Zoey, who both waved like the good children they were.

"The viruses!" Akane was about to attack until Ranma stopped her and began telling Kite and Zoey's stories.

After that, the rest of Ranma's party was deep in thought. "So that's what happened… Sorry about accusing you two of being viruses, and sorry about the whole falling-into-a-coma thing…" Akane apologized, "I'm Akane, and this is Ucchan." Ukyo smiled as Akane waved. Zoey replied with an earnest hello.

Mousse's group arrived at Mac Anu last. They saw Kite and Zoey and were about to attack, but Akane and Ukyo stopped them. "Why Akane and Ukyo stop us from hurting bad virus people?" Shampoo demanded.

"They're not the ones we seek. Currently, they're trying to find a girl in white who holds the answers of why their two friends fell into a coma." Akane explained.

"I never heard of people falling into a coma while playing this game!" Mousse gasped in shock.

This drew anger into the boy's eyes. "It's because of the Monster with the Red Wand. He's the reason Bridge and Orca are in a coma…" Kite frowned.

"I heard players talking about that monster, but they haven't seen it." Ryouga stated.

With that, Ranma's group had to describe why they were here as well. "We came to The World because something is causing our computers in Nerima to go on and off at the same time. It's back to normal according to an email from my sister, but who knows when it'll start again." Akane stated.

A gasp was heard from the Mew. "Could the Monster with the Red Wand be behind this somehow?" Zoey wondered as she placed her hand on her chin in thought.

Luckily, the douchebag of the group was fully prepared to look powerful. "Not to worry! I, Mousse, will help Kite and Zoey save their friends and defeat the fiendish Monster with the Red Wand. And, just as an added bonus, earn Yu Jie's love, and she'll dump Ranma and-ow!" Shampoo bopped the proud man in the head with her sword.

"Yu Jie still doesn't like Mousse being show off man."

Kite and Zoey stared at what happened. "Are they always like this?" Kite asked Ranma.

"Trust me, if you go to where we live, strange and crazy things happen there all the time." he muttered back. After exchanging member addresses with Ranma and his friends, they decided to stop for the day and go back into The World tomorrow to find out more info.

To be continued…

Next chapter: The Spiral Edge

A/N: Next chapter will be the appearance of that lovable and klutzy newbie, Natsume! So stay tuned!