AN: Sorry this took so long. I've been busy job hunting, my –ahem- finances are starting to get a little lower then I would like to see. BTW I noticed that a few of you have commented on the fact that Ryou/Haseo lives alone, not at his parent's house. I know he lives in Tokyo but other that that I'm in the dark. So I've decided to amend the situation as best we could. Hope you like it!
So that aside, thanks for all of the reviews (again)! It's good to have your support! And Skeith is going to be…flipping out in this chapter, with bad consequences for our antisocial hero…. you'll see what I mean. Now on with the chapter!
Chapter Ten: Panic and Desperation
Haseo and Atoli had gone back to Mac Anu and then gone straight to Net Slum Tartarga. They were currently sitting on the bridge thinking about their encounter with Corbenik and what he had said to them. Well, brat what now? Do we tell The Prophet or what? Skeith asked reverting back to his usual insult, but Haseo could tell that his Avatar was shaken by what they had just experienced, so he let the 'brat' comment slide. He also didn't respond to the Terror of Death's question.
For the first time since they had 'connected' with each other Haseo could tell that Skeith was scared and he didn't quite know how to react to that. He didn't even think it was possible for a creature that only existed online to feel something like fear. Looking over at Atoli, who still rubbed her ears occasionally, Haseo could tell that she was talking to her own Avatar as well.
Neither one of them had contacted the other members of G.U. They both needed a moment to absorb everything and think about what they had experienced before calling Yata and telling him what went on.
Haseo narrowed his eyes in thought; Corbenik had said that there was something growing inside of the other Phases, something that would take over their bodies and control them. Did that mean this Aihane guy could separate an Epitaph User from their Avatar? Feeling a wave of uneasiness from Skeith, a feeling that bordered on sheer panic, Haseo immediately pushed away that idea. He didn't want to make his Avatar any more upset than he already was.
"Haseo?" he looked over and saw that Atoli was staring down at her hands. "What do we do now?" she asked hesitantly as she clenched her hands. "Aihane put something inside of our Avatars…inside of us," she said touching her chest. "And even if we do get them out somehow…there's still no way that we would be able to fight off every one those AIDA if they came at us all at once," Atoli said frankly and he frowned at that.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I don't really want to admit it…but your right about that. This guy is way out of our league, and even if we do find a way to stop him…" Haseo paused and Atoli nodded in agreement, "We're bound to lose something along the way," she whispered looking out the window. "Innis says that she can't find anything unusual, and that's just making her worry even more about all of this," Atoli added sadly.
I can't find a single trace of it either, brat. I can tell that something's not right with my data…that there's a program that shouldn't exist within me, but that's it. Even the best techs at CC Corp couldn't change my central data the way this Aihane guy has. That hacker managed to completely immobilize Corbenik, and while he might not be good at fighting…that Phase is a master escape artist. If he can be captured…any one of us can, Skeith responded nervously. Haseo could feel his Avatar's growing unease and alarm.
Atoli stood up and looked out over the water, "What do you think would happen…if we really were separated from our Avatar's? If Aihane managed to take them over completely?" she thought aloud and then looked down, "Even now…the Eight Phase's listen to us because they want to…not because they have to," the harvest cleric recognized uneasily as she clasped her hands together in front of her chest. "If they were taken from us and their full power unleashed on the Internet…they would cause twice the damage that AIDA and Cubia did," Atoli thought aloud as she turned back to him.
Haseo stood up and walked over to her, they both stood there in silence for a while and he couldn't help but notice the way Atoli kept grimacing and rubbing her ears. "Why don't you log off?" he said suddenly, distracting her from her thoughts. She looked at him questioningly and he rubbed his neck. Haseo couldn't help but fidget a little, "I can tell that your ears are still bothering you. So I'll call Yata and tell him what happened; why don't you just take it easy?" he offered and Atoli was clearly surprised.
"Oh! Thanks Haseo, that's really kind of you," she responded with a warm smile and then she bowed quickly. "And thank you so much for helping me back there. Those AIDA would have captured me if not for you and Skeith. I can't thank you enough for what you did," Atoli said gratefully and he looked away in embarrassment. "Yeah, well, it was nothing special," Haseo mumbled staring at his feet. He still wasn't quite used to people actually liking him for a change.
Atoli giggled at her friend's reaction, "Let me know how thing's turn out alright?" she asked and Haseo nodded, "Sure, I'll send you an e-mail later on," he assured before she walked off the bridge. Hey brat; you think The Prophet can help? Or maybe that weirdo from Moon Tree? Skeith asked suddenly, referring to Yata and Zelkova; Haseo shrugged as he sent the two Guild Master's a short mail.
Moment's later they walked onto the bridge and Yata adjusted his glasses, "I take it something unusual happened in the area I sent you to?" he questioned calmly and Haseo nodded and began to explain everything that had happened during and after their battle with AIDA. He also brought up Atoli and what she had said about all of those AIDA.
Zelkova looked up as a screen appeared above their heads. Area signs normal, there is evidence that a channel was made to a remote server, but the connection is no longer available. Remaining data is seamless. Tartarga explained and Yata frowned at that. "Whatever Innis did it's all but undetectable. I doubt that CC Corp will even notice something happened unless they check the footage," he commented turning to Zelkova who was examining the video from the battle.
The footage went up to the point where Skeith and Innis disappeared into the hole and then it went blank for several minutes. When it came back on it merely showed Haseo and Atoli standing up and talking to each other. Zelkova hummed at that, "Looks like you messed up the records as well. But maybe that's for the best considering how strange CC Corp can be about these things," he said with a shrug.
Yata turned to Haseo, "Pi, Zelkova, and I will investigate the matter and see what we can turn up. We have to find out where that AIDA came from and shut down that computer as soon as possible," he explained darkly and Haseo crossed his arms. "You really think that will stop Aihane?" he questioned suspiciously and the two Guild Masters exchanged a look. Of course that won't stop him brat! What we need is to get him one on one so I can twist that little head of his and pop it right off his…Skeith began but Haseo quieted the Terror of Death before he could go into any real detail.
Zelkova shook his head; "If this hacker is skilled enough to capture Corbenik, then nothing is going to stop him for long. We can only hope for more time so we can come up with a plan of attack. We'll also have to run diagnostics on all of the Avatars to see if we can find-and stop-the program that Aihane put inside them," he added already getting started.
Yata examined the Dual-Gunner closely, "Why don't you take some time off? Both you and Skeith have been in several battles lately, it might be for the best if you stayed offline for a day or so," the Macabre Dancer more or less ordered him. Haseo raised an eyebrow at that; usually Yata was all work and no play. He never let up and was always working on something or other; sometimes Haseo wondered if the man slept at all.
Picking up on his suspicion Yata smirked, "What good are you to me if you pass out in the middle of a battle with AIDA? I have to keep my members in fighting shape so I can push them harder later on," he continued pleasantly and Haseo rolled his eyes at those words, "Great…I should have known," he grumbled waving his hand.
"Fine…I guess your not leaving me much choice. I'll be back in a day or so," he added and immediately Skeith protested this development. A couple of days? You're going to leave me here all alone? After everything that's happened?! Aihane could come for us at anytime! What kind of user are you anyway?! he demanded with extreme alarm.
Haseo paused for a moment before continuing out of the bridge; he was surprised at the amount of panic in his Avatar's voice. Calm down! Yata's right, I need to relax and so do you. Stop getting yourself too wound up, your acting like your afraid I'm going to leave you behind completely or something, he retorted cynically, expecting Skeith to fire back a reply at once. But when the First Phase remained eerily quiet on the matter Haseo stopped in his tracks.
Skeith? he questioned but still received no answer and could feel no emotion whatsoever from his Avatar. I was just kidding you know… I would never just abandon you like that, Haseo assured him and after a moment of silence the Phase finally spoke up, You promise? Skeith asked in a strangely soft and tentative voice. Haseo nodded, Of course. After all you're the reason I was able to bring Shino and Alkaid back, along with all of the other lost ones. Without you we never would have stopped AIDA and Cubia, he reminded the Phase. And if Aihane is going to be stopped than we're going to have to work together, Haseo added with a slight frown.
He couldn't help but wonder at the way Skeith was reacting; whenever he so much as thought about the possibility of them being separated the Terror of Death went into a panic. Was there something else going on? Something that he didn't remember maybe? There were more then a few holes in his memory especially after he had woken up in the hospital 7 years ago; give or take a few months.
I'm not going anywhere Skeith…really…no one is going to separate us. Aihane may be talented but there's no way he could really pull us apart against our will. We're going to work together and figure out a way to stop this hacker and bring Corbenik back, Haseo continued and could feel Skeith relax somewhat. Okay…just don't stay away too long, you understand me brat? the Phase demanded.
Haseo decided to let the 'order' slide, Fine…fine…I feel like a slave now. First Yata orders me around and now you, he grumbled and felt Skeith's attitude improve slightly, And don't you forget it brat! You belong to me now! The Avatar would have been grinning at the moment if he could. Haseo sighed heavily and logged off.
Ryou groaned and leaned back in his chair. Man…I'm glad that's taken care of, he thought setting the controller aside as a meow came from the floor. He ignored the sound as he began writing an e-mail to Atoli. There wasn't much to say really but he had promised to tell her what happened. He was just getting to the part where Yata had told him to take a few days off when a pair of claws scratched his leg.
"OW! Darn it Shira! I heard you the first time!" Ryou complained looking down to where his pet was sitting. The white kitten meowed louder this time and he grumbled before picking her up and setting the white fuzz ball in his lap. She gave a couple of loud sniffs to show her displeasure at him taking so long, and then circled a few times before curling into a ball and closing her eyes.
He had found the white kitten in a back alley just over a month ago on the verge of starving to death. Ryou had taken the animal back to his apartment and nursed it back to health; he'd never really thought of himself as being an animal person but the kitten had grown on him, so here she was sleeping peacefully on his legs.
Of course Ryou had been staying at his parents house lately seeing as his stupid landlord had nearly burned his apartment building to the ground. The man had been holding off on rewiring the building because of 'financial issues' and finally a stray spark on the floor below him had started a fire. It was put out before any more serious damage could be done though. So finally the landlord decided to do his job and use his money to fix the place instead of getting himself a new car. Thus all of the residents had to find other places to stay until the building had power and new wiring.
Thankfully Ryou's mom and dad had decided to keep his room as it was and had let him, and his stuff, move back in until everything at his apartment was straightened out. They had been a bit suspicious of his kitten Shira at first, but the feline stayed in his room most of the time and didn't really care for anyone other than her master.
Ryou pulled himself from his thoughts, finished up his e-mail and sent it off to Atoli before turning his computer off. He began stroking Shira before the kitten could start complaining again about his lack of attention. With a small sigh Shira curled closer to him. "Stupid cat…" Ryou grumbled still feeling the sting of her claws on his leg.
He frowned as he thought about how Skeith had reacted earlier. Didn't he mention that we had quite a history together? Ryou remembered suddenly. There must be something I'm missing here…something I've forgotten, he thought with a frown. I'll get something to eat and think about it later, he considered shaking his head.
It had been two weeks since Ryou had been unceremoniously expelled from his apartment, and his landlord had called earlier to tell him that he could move back in anytime. He could use really these next few days off to get settled back in again.
After spending a total of three days completely offline, Ryou was back in his own apartment and enjoying the peace and quiet. It had felt good to just be able to relax and only worry about school and his job. Thankfully he would be done with school soon. And at the moment Shira was eating so he didn't have to worry about being bothered by her, so he was ready to log back into The World. He powered up his computer, put his FMD on and entered the game.
Opening his eyes Haseo took a deep breath as Skeith's voice came to him. What took you so long?! I've been waiting forever for you! he growled angrily. Haseo rolled his eyes, I have a life and a home outside of this game you know, he fired back sternly and the Avatar grumbled at that before coming alert again. Something's wrong! There's an AIDA coming! It's HUGE! Skeith warned as static sparked across the screen.
What? Here in Breg Epona? Haseo asked as a hole opened up in the sky and an AIDA with about a dozen flailing legs began pressing through. Great…not even a minute back in the game and this happens. Will I EVER have a normal life again? Haseo thought summoning Skeith as a gigantic scorpion type AIDA landed in the central square right on top of the quest shop.
It blinked once before locking its gaze on Skeith's white form. Narrowing its many eyes the scorpion snapped its tail forward with incredible speed, nearly impaling the Avatar in the process. Haseo danced out of the way just in time as players scattered and ran out of the area. He ordered Skeith to attack and the Terror of Death targeted the AIDA before firing off dozens of shots, but the attack did nothing.
What is this thing? I've never seen an AIDA this big before! Haseo thought as Skeith swung its scythe around in wide arc, sending shockwaves toward the scorpion. But instead of hitting they merely bounced off. The AIDA shot forward at a speed that shouldn't even be possible for a being of its size, and extended one of its' claws captured Skeith. "Let me go you stupid virus!"the Avatar roared punching and pounding on the scorpions claws but the AIDA wasn't letting go and none of their attacks did any damage.
Slowly the scorpion AIDA raised its tail and slammed the long spike on the end straight into Skeith's chest. Black dots swarmed onto and around the First Phase causing him to spasm and jerk uncontrollably. Haseo ordered his Avatar to do everything possible to get away but even their strongest attacks merely bounced away, not even scratching the surface. Even Cubia hadn't been able to resist Skeith's attacks like this.
The creature was so big it easily dwarfed the Terror of Death and there was really not much place to move even if they did escape. Haseo gritted his teeth as a wave of pain hit him and Skeith cried out. "You…won't…take…Haseo….AWAY FROM ME!" the Avatar roared furiously as his body began glowing a furious crimson. The glow became so bright and powerful that the AIDA let go and backed away slightly holding up its claws for defense.
Red tendrils shot out from the Avatar's body and slammed into the surrounding area, draining the data. "YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM!" Skeith screamed in an obvious rage and panic. What are you doing? Stop it! Haseo demanded but the Phase was out of control. Skeith continued absorbing the data into his body and Haseo felt as if he was being dragged towards something that he couldn't escape. The familiar feeling of the controller in his hands and the FMD on his head quickly faded away as he felt Skeith grab him.
They can't take you from me! I won't let them take you from me! You are mine and no one else's! MINE! I won't lose you again! Skeith howled frantically as he locked firmly onto Haseo's mind flooding it with images and memories that quickly overwhelmed him with their speed and intensity. Skeith! Please! Stop it! I can't… Haseo tried to get out as the pain in his head grew more forceful. But Skeith was already in full control and frantically focused on getting Haseo and himself away from the scorpion AIDA in any way possible. His only thought was on not being separated from his user and he wasn't listening to reason. Moments later everything went dark and Haseo blacked out completely.
Chigusa had been in The World using Atoli as usual when suddenly the power cut out. Quickly pulling the FMD off of her head she looked around curiously. Her parents weren't home, as always, so she couldn't ask them what happened. She had been in Breg Epona when people started screaming and suddenly there was a crimson glow; then just moments later the power had gone out completely.
What's going on here? Is this because of what just happened in The World? Chigusa thought flipping the light switch a few times, but nothing happened. She frowned and moved away from her computer and went into the kitchen, thankfully her cookies had just finished baking so she didn't have to worry about throwing them out or something.
Chigusa pulled the tray out of the oven and set the cookies on the counter to cool off as she considered things, Things have been so strange lately…I wouldn't be surprised if The World really was the cause of this blackout, she thought sitting down at the table, there was nothing she could do for the moment but wait for the power to come back on.
Hours later the power flicked back on; looking up at the clock she saw that it was close to midnight. Chigusa turned on her computer and checked the news, immediately catching the headline, Teenager falls into mysterious coma. She watched closely as the new report rolled on.
"18-year-old Ryou Misaki is the son of wealthy businessman Misano Misaki and was ago found unresponsive on the floor of his apartment. He has been taken to the hospital but doctors are baffled as to why he has fallen into a coma-like condition. Reports say that although the teenager is still not responding to outside stimuli, there is highly elevated brain activity. Which means that something is clearly happening to him, and he is still alive and well," the reporter said.
"He is known to be an avid player of the popular MMORPG known as 'The World' and some think that may have something to do with this unusual case," they rambled on as a picture popped up on the screen. Chigusa felt her heart skip a beat the minute she saw the photo. Those eyes…they're just like Haseo's, she thought feeling very uneasy. But there was no way that guy could be Haseo's player, it wasn't possible…or was it?
Immediately Chigusa switched the new off and wrote a quick e-mail to her friend. He was good about responding to e-mails quickly so it should only be a few minutes right? Haseo would respond, tell her that she was just be paranoid and ask if she shouldn't be the one taking some time off instead. But still Chigusa waited anxiously as her eyes continued to dart back and forth to the clock on her wall. When he didn't respond she sent another one. 10 minutes later there was still no response. She entered The World and checked her party list; the roster showed that he was online and she fired off a short mail that bounced back, unsent, a second later. Chigusa felt her heart plummet from her chest as she tried several times more but to no avail.
All night she altered between e-mail and short messages asking the other G.U. members if they knew anything, her worry and fear growing with every message she sent, but Haseo hadn't spoken to them either and they hadn't seen him at all. Chigusa knew that something terrible had happened to him, she could feel it in every fiber of her being. But no matter how many messages she sent…Haseo never responded.
AN: HA! How's that for a cliffhanger? I hope that was enough drama for you all :) Skeith has flipped out and poor Haseo is REALLY going to suffer for it. Next chapter you find out what's happened and Aihane appears again. (And he's none to happy about the situation.) I'll get the next chapter up ASAP so press that pretty little button and tell me what you think! Until next time everyone!