Random talk: Three things. One, the other yaoi pairing appears, but it's very minor compared to EnderancexHaseo. I mean, very minor. It will be brought up like twice. Second, there is gender-bending, kinda. I say kinda because it was actually a misprint in AI Busters, and I'm using it to my advantage. Third, I'm actually mixing the anime and manga versions of Legend of the Twilight, but only a little. I'll follow the manga mostly since it's not only cannon, but I don't feel like going through every single episode. Plus I only have the first DVD while I have all three manga.
The Forgotten One
Login 9: Legends
Back in R:1, Tomonari Kasumi saw the Descendants of Fianna as both his idols and rivals. They were the reason he chose the name Sieg. It was short for Siegfried, the wielder of the sword Balmung in Ring of Nibelung. He remembered saying that he wouldn't lose to them at the final battle with Corbenik. Yet he could never compete with them.
That was the problem with legends. Everyone wanted to be like them, yet they fail. Few succeed to become legends; they don't mean to become one. Kite played on request of his friend, Orca. He ended up saving several people in comas and The World itself. Shugo and Rena just wanted to play so they could be together. They ended up helping Aura and her daughter, Zefie. Haseo played because he heard that it was fun. He became one of the most feared PKK and later saved The World as well.
Two legends in particular were that of Aura and the Key of the Twilight. Very few knew where Aura came from. Few even believed she even existed, only believing she was only part of The World's back story. The Key of the Twilight was different. Everyone knew about the supposed item, and a few would actually go after it.
The thing about legends is, no matter how much it gets exaggerated, there is always some part of truth that remains.
When Kaito got the email three days ago, the memories of 7 years ago flooded him that night in his dreams. He was 14 again, and it was his first day of playing The World. He watched his friend, Yasuhiko, get data drained by the monster. He met BlackRose, Mia, Elk, Mistral, Balmung, all his new online friends. He went up against the 8 phases and Cubia. He didn't know if this was a nightmare or a sign.
What could Helba want with them? He had gotten emails from a few of the other .hackers asking the same thing. He knew that The World had its problems, he seen the news. Yet, it seems like someone had it under control seeing as things have gone back to normal. But what could be so bad that she needed them?
He reached the park only to see some familiar faces. Yasuhiko was catching up with Akio with another man next to the motorcyclist. Akira and Fumikazu were talking with two teens, a male and female, along with a woman and her daughter. There was a man, Saki Shibayama if his memory served him correctly, talking with two women and another man. There were a lot more people he didn't recognize. He doubted that all of them were .hackers since there were too many there.
"Kaito! Over here!" Yasuhiko yelled, waving over his friend. Hikaru smiled and ran over to his friends.
"Hey, Yasuhiko, Akio," Kaito said to his friends. "Who's this?"
"I'm Fujio Satoshi," the man said.
"Akio's boyfriend," Yasuhiko whispered to Kaito, whose mouth made an "o" shape in understanding.
"Hey!" the two men yelled, blushing. They had obviously overheard the young adult.
"Alright everyone," a man said, standing on a nearby fence, "if I could have everyone's attention!"
"Ichiro?" a woman and man said.
"It's nice to see you two," Ichiro said smiling. "Back to the matter at hand. It is imperative that we move quickly to our home base. There, everything will be explained. I'm sorry for the inconvenience but we couldn't take chances on revealing our location. If you need a ride, we have several prepared. For those with rides, please come up to get a map. Do not use your cell phones or GPS. It will be explained later."
For the past three days, he hadn't gone online to play The World. Instead, he caught up with his ex-girlfriend, Mai. It was great seeing her again, telling her about his true feelings. He told her about GU and AIDA, even though he probably shouldn't have. He just had to tell her everything he went through. He spent so much time with her that he took some time off from his part time jobs.
Yet he knew that his vacation from reality was over. Something told him to log onto The World, and he did. He had a few emails from Silabus, Gapard, and a few girls. There was also a message from Pi saying that he had to investigate Sif Berg. A strange player had appeared there that was based off an R:1 Wavemaster. Kuhn figured that the Wavemaster might have a hint to what was going on.
When he got there, he saw the Wavemaster sleeping. The boy looked familiar with his purple outfit and pale blue hair. Even though he was curled up on the ground, he still stuck out like a sore thumb. It was surprising there was nothing on the boards about the boy. Maybe Kuhn had over looked them or something. Even though Sif Berg wasn't one of the more popular locations, it still was frequented enough that someone should have noticed him.
"Hey, kid," Kuhn said, kneeling in front of the mysterious player. "Wake up kid!"
"Hn," the Wavemaster moaned as he slowly opened his eyes. "Oh! Are you the one Mother told me about? Are you my brother?"
"What are you talking about?" Kuhn asked. "I don't have a brother."
"But… Mother said you would come," the boy said as he stood up. "You're the only one who came, so you have to be my brother."
This confused the blue haired Steam Gunner. He knew that a few people liked to visit the Sugar Mansion, so he had to have been seen. Unless…
"Shit!" Kuhn yelled. "I have to get out of here." He tried to make a dash for the platform, but the Wavemaster somehow grabbed his arm preventing his character to go.
"You can't go!" the Wavemaster yelled. "Mother said you would help wake him up! I need to wake him up!"
"Who are you talking about?" Kuhn asked, having a feeling he knew the answer.
"The boy in white!" the other responded. "He won't wake up until I find someone. Mother said you can help me wake him! You have to help!" Kuhn watched as the Wavemaster started to glow purple. That could mean only one thing.
"Wait, you're," Kuhn started to say but lost his train of thought when he saw the Avatar appear. Right before him was Macha in all her glory.
Kuhn realized then that he fell into a trap.
From the outside, the warehouse looked abandoned. Inside was a different story. Several people were either running around setting things up or typing away on computers. The large group of strangers stood in smaller groups trying to figure out what was going on.
"Alright, I think everyone made it!" Ichiro said to the group, getting their attention. "Sorry about all this. We couldn't take any chances of her finding out about this. Somehow she managed to integrate with the system, as I'm sure a few of you figured out. Hey, Lilith! Do you have a secure connection with America yet?"
"Just got it!" a female's voice came from behind a computer screen. "Fili, you there?"
"We're here," a male voice came from some speakers. An image of a male appeared on a TV screen. Another male and female stood behind him.
"Great!" Ichiro said. "Vesper, open the connection with Helba." That got everyone's attention. Practically everyone in that room knew who Helba was.
"Shut up everyone!" a male's voice came from another screen. "I just got the connection up, Bith!"
"Thanks!" Ichiro said. "Helba, are you there?"
"Yes, Bith," a female voice came from the speakers. "I'm glad you all could make it. A few of you know of part of the current situation. For those who don't know, two people have fallen into a coma due to The World."
"What's different from what was going on a few weeks ago?" Akira asked. "It was all over the news."
"That was caused by an AI called AIDA," Helba said. "This time it is caused by a common foe, the AI called Morganna." This caused the whispers to return. Few of them recognized the name from their time playing The World.
"How is it possible?" Kaito asked. "I thought we destroyed her."
"CC Corp brought back the Phases in an attempt to bring back Aura," Ichiro answered. "The Phases contain a part of Morganna. It laid dormant until a certain player joined R:2. Morganna attached to his psyche somehow."
"How is that possible?" a woman with long hair asked.
"I think Saeki-san can explain this," a woman said as she walked in. She was followed by another woman.
"Reiko!" three voices rang out from the group.
"I was worried you wouldn't make it, Saya," Ichiro said.
"Sorry we're late," the woman said. "Traffic. Saeki-san, would you explain about the Epitaphs?"
"Right," Reiko said. "A few years ago, CC Corp started Project GU to bring back Aura using the eight phases. The plan was for eight players to control them and use their power to bring her back. The short version is that it failed.
"The phases, called Epitaphs, can only be used by particular people. Recently, two of them fell into a coma. After we analyzed some data, we discovered that the same data as found in the Epitaphs has been slowly spreading across The World. That could only mean the program Morganna Mode Gone was activated. What its intent is, we are unsure of."
A cell phone interrupted Reiko's speech, turning out to be said woman's cell phone.
"You might want to take that," Helba said, her voice sounding grave.
"Right," Reiko said. She walked off to a corner as she answered the phone.
"As for the rest of you," Helba continued. "We are working on bringing back some of your old characters. We still need a few days since CC Corp just agreed to work with us. We need a few of you to work within CC Corp to make sure things go smoothly. Bith will fill you in on your roles. Now if you will excuse me, I have some work to do."
"Thanks Helba!" Ichiro said. A woman ran up to the man and handed him a sheet of paper. "Alright, there will be three teams: one at CC Corp, one will work as a go between here, and one will be in The World."
"I'm sorry, I have to go," Reiko interrupted. "Mai, you better come with me. Our two might have just become three."
TBC
Random talk: Okay, this was a bitch to write. Right in the middle of the chapter, I ran out of inspiration! Just as a heads up, I have no clue when I'm going to update next. I have to sort out what I'm going to do again.
Okay, now to reveal my thought process behind the things in the warning. For the first one, I was rereading Legend of the Twilight. The idea of Balmung and Reki being together popped in my head and I thought it was cute. It just wouldn't leave me alone!
The second warning steamed off the first one. I get some of my information from the .hack wiki. On Balmung's page, it says he doesn't understand women, while on Kamui's page it says that they dated. It also state's on Kamui's page that in AI Busters her gender was mistranslated to male. Also in the original draft of Legend of the Twilight she was supposed to be male. So, all of this plus the pairing I just discovered, Saki became male in the real world.
As for the third, I had already started the starting section when I remembered that Rena and Shugo's parents weren't divorced in the manga. That and the tidbit about Kamui and Balmung dating was only mentioned in the anime. I just didn't want to confuse anyone who just read/watched one and not the other.
Now for an interesting fact: I was going to have Kite's name to be Hikaru since that's what I named him in my game. Then I looked on the .hack wiki on Kite's page and they had some names that were planned for Kite. Kaito was one of them. I thought it would be cute if Kite's character name was based off his real name.
Until next time!
Rubi-chan, over and out!