Chapter 12: Deceit

The parties, along with Inuyasha and friends, were back in Dun Loireag. The Wolf-boy from the bizarre Feudal Era looked around in awe and confusion.

"What the hell is this? It doesn't look like any part of Japan I been through. Hell, I don't thinkanything has an endless sky!" Inuyasha muttered as he looked around.

His ladyfriend from the future scratched the back of her head. "Um, Inuyasha, remember when I told you about The World?" Kagome stated, wondering how the boy would react.

The boy's eyes widened in shock. "No fricking way… We're inside this veedeeooo game you told us about?!" his jaw dropped to the virtual ground.

"Kag, who are these weirdoes? Especially the idiot who asked me to bare his children?" BlackRose gave Miroku a mean look. The monk smiled nervously and sweat dropped.

Kagome sighed. There is no way out of this now; she had to tell the truth eventually. She turned to her online friends with a serious look and stated, "They're… my friends from the Feudal Era."

Kite and Zoey gasped in shock. "No way… You mean to tell me these people are from the past? It's not possible… Is it?" Kite gawked.

The girl of Inuyasha's dreams (apparently) sighed as she sat down on the virtual ground, Shippo on her lap. "Believe it or not, time travel is possible through a well in my home. The well acts as a portal between the present and the Feudal Era." Kagome stated as she looked at the virtual sky of The World, hoping no one will call her out as insane.

"But how…?" Zoey couldn't believe it. However, as she questioned the true reality of all this, she remembered what the Girl in White told her about the Feudal Era, and those with purity in their hearts, arriving in The World… Does she mean Kagome's friends from the Feudal Era?

"What are your names?" the Mew asked.

"Name's Inuyasha. As you know Kagome in this world, I'll tell you something. I'm a half demon." The wolf-boy stated as he quickly looked away; he sometimes hated to admit that he's a half demon.

Some of that revelation didn't sit well with our teammates. "Demons?!" BlackRose covered her mouth in shock, "So demons do exist?!"

"I'm a real live demon, so get used to it!"

Well, after that ramble, Kite decided to continue the introductions. "And what about the other four, including that cat-like monster?" the boy asked.

The monk stood up, looking up at the sky as though it was a hummingbird in the cool, summer breeze. "My name is Miroku, a humble monk who is friends with Lady Kagome," the man bowed politely.

BlackRose didn't like that. "Humble monk my ass! You asked me to bare your children!" she was fully prepared to bash the man in the face until Kite stopped her.

"No, BlackRose, we don't want to be rude to Inuyasha and his friends." he smiled. BlackRose sighed, walking over to a corner with an angry expression.

"M-My name is Sango. I'm a demon hunter, and I see you already experienced this Monk's trait!" the woman glared at the perverted monk.

That little fox thing on Kagome's chest stood as tall as he could. "I'm Shippo, and I'm a fox demon!"

BlackRose stared at Shippo and began to pick him up and cuddle him. "Oh my God… You're so damn cute!" BlackRose squealed.

"I-I'm not that cute!"

The boy of the original party was still confused. "But one thing I don't get is… how did you manage to travel into the past, Kag?" Kite asked, wanting to know how she was able to do such a feat.

The school girl scratched her head. "Well, it all started one day when I was looking for my cat. When I found him, a centipede-like demon sprouted from the well and dragged me into the past," Kag stated as she looked at the virtual sky.

"A demon?!" BlackRose and Zoey gasped in shock.

"Yeah. It's because it wanted the Shikon Jewel in my body." Kagome stated, feeling more afraid about being called "weird".

Some more bits of info left the girls confused beyond all relief. "The Shikon Jewel?" Kite, Zoey, and BlackRose asked at the same time. Kagome looked at Inuyasha, who was still looking gloomy. She knew he didn't want to be reminded of the tragic past, but she had to. Otherwise, her online friends wouldn't understand.

"I believe Sango will do a good job explaining what the Shikon Jewel is. You don't mind, do you Sango?" the girl smiled.

"I don't mind at all, Kagome." Sango smiled, though she quickly earned a reprimation over the fact of not using Kagome's nickname, which happened to be "Kag." She wasn't that original, but it still had to be used. "Right. So, in this world, I'll call you Kag from now on until we find a way back to the Feudal Era," she nodded as she cleared her throat. "The Shikon Jewel is known as the Sacred Jewel or the Jewel of Four Souls as some may call it. It has the power to create powerful creatures, and also turn half breeds into full," she gave Inuyasha a worried look. Inuyasha looked at the ground in a sad manner before nodding to Sango to continue:

"It was created in my village a long time ago and given to a powerful priestess to guard it." Her head turned to the wolf-boy at this point. He looked gloomy once more, remembering the painful memories. "She died in an attack from Naraku, but she managed to keep him away from the jewel. In the end, she was cremated with the jewel, and it vanished off the face of the earth. Well…that is until Kagome, or Kag in this world, arrived."

The listeners had all sorts of feelings right now. "Wow… It's like a tragic fairy tale…" BlackRose looked down in sadness.

"But it seems so real if Kag was able to go back in time using her family's well…" Zoey added.

One of the teammates had to ask the looming quesition, though. "But who is Naraku? Why did he kill this priestess to get the Shikon Jewel?" Kite wondered, now intrigued on Kagome's Feudal Friends.

Miroku knew it was his turn next. Who could blame him? Naraku had caused so much pain and death.

"Naraku is a terrible demon. He was born about fifty years ago from the evil in a human called Onigumo."

Wait, how did…we'll let BlackRose ask further. "But how can a demon be born from a human? No matter how evil a human is, it just can't be formed."

Miroku nodded. "Yes, but not when you sacrifice your body to be devoured by hundreds of demons."

"!"

This was getting weird. "Onigumo let himself be eaten by demons, and somehow, that had created Naraku. Now he has the completed Shikon Jewel, and can use it whenever he wants," Miroku frowned.

"Complete? What do you mean?" Zoey asked, curious on what he meant by completed Shikon Jewel.

"When I first met Inuyasha, who was sealed into a tree because of Naraku's treachery of him and… Kikyo, I managed to unseal him, but when we first met, he wanted the Shikon Jewel to be a full fledge demon." Kagome looked at Inuyasha who looked at the ground with his back turned, sad to the highest level. She could understand how Inuyasha feels about losing his first love.

"Anyways, a demon crow managed to engulf the Shikon Jewel, and was about to fly away until I shot an arrow at it, causing the jewel to break into many pieces, which scattered all over Japan. So, that's why we have to get the Shikon Jewel back from that blasted man before he uses it for his evil purposes or worse, use it to take over the world." Kagome stated seriously.

All this bashing on one, er, thing, was pretty alarming, to say the least. "You guys must really hate this Naraku guy. What else did he do?" Kite frowned.

Miroku huffed and puffed, but chose not to blow the house down. "I have a cursed hand called the Wind Tunnel. My grandfather was a monk like myself. He was pretty much like me-"

"A lecher!" Sango interrupted, sounding disgusted.

"Y-Yes, he was." he continued, "Anyways, Naraku tricked my grandfather, and lured him into a trap. He disguised himself as a beautiful woman to get close to my grandfather, and then cursed his right hand. My grandfather started the wind tunnel, which in time, destroyed him. As you grow older, the hole of the wind tunnel grows larger and larger… and in time, destroys the person as well. My father died when I was still pretty young, and I'm really the last..."

Such a sad tale to describe such a hilarious character trait, and if you listen closely, the sad violin could be heard. "So that's why you're like that with women." Kite frowned, "You don't want your family line to die."

"That's still no reason to be a pervert!" BlackRose shouted angrily, still holding a grudge for that "children" one-liner.

Hoping to prevent another confrontation, Kite changed the stage to another soul. "What about you, Sango and Shippo?" the boy asked, "What did Naraku do to you?"

"Nothing to me." Shippo said quickly, "My father was killed by the Thunder Brothers. Inuyasha and the others helped me avenge him, and now I'm sorta paying my debt."

Sango, however, soon had a tear run down her cheek. "I have a younger brother named Kohaku. He was really kind and gentle, but he tried his best at being a demon slayer nonetheless. One day, we were sent on a mission to exterminate some demons in a castle. It was a trap set by Naraku, and he was controlled by him…" She broke down in tears. Miroku took her in his arms and held her close, while NOT rubbing her butt.

"No…" BlackRose gasped, on the verge of virtual tears herself.

Kite closed his eyes for about 59 seconds, then he opened them with a serious look. "1 Minute. This Naraku guy is lower than we thought. He is even worse than the Monster with the Red Wand…" he clenched his fists tightly, wondering if that was actually true.

That bit of info perked more interest than ever before. "Monster with the Red Wand? What are you talking about?" Shippo asked, wondering what Kite meant. The boy, the Mew, the Third Wheel, and Kag decided to tell them everything; about the Girl in White, the Monster with the Red Wand who is responsible for Orca and Bridget's comas, and the powers of Data Drain.

Inuyasha stared at Kite and Zoey. At first, they thought he was gonna say "You're lying! There's no way you can do that!" But to everyone's surprise, he replied with, "Sorry to hear that…"

Kagome looked at Inuyasha in surprise. Then, something hit her. "Wait, how did you guys enter The World? You guys look real to me," Kagome asked, wanting to know how her friends got into The World with their real world bodies.

The rest of her cast gave her a question mark. "We don't know, Kag. All we know is that a rainbow-like portal appeared and sucked us into, well, this weird place," Sango stated.

"And to top it all, my Wind Tunnel wasn't working. Maybe it's because of, what do you call this place? The World?" Miroku scratched his chin in thought.

The fox-thing was jumping around, questioning the physics-engine. "And you know what else is strange? I don't feel hungry all of a sudden, like I'm never hungry at all!" he added.

That's something you never hear! "The runt is right for once. I don't feel hungry either." Inuyasha nodded in agreement with Shippo

"I wonder how…" Kagome wondered that as well, at least until something else preoccupied her mind. "Oh no! I got to get back to my studies! I got to go! See ya!" she bowed politely as she logged out.

"Well, what the hell are we supposed to do now?!" Inuyasha shouted, raising his hands in the air in frustration.

This was an interesting dilemma. They were almost killed for real by those disturbing creatures, so they had to level up. However, could they level up? That's freaky as hell. "Well, players in the game may mistake you for new players, so since you're in The World, you're all at level 1. Strangely, you somehow know your skills from the Feudal Era, and I guess they work except for that Wind Tunnel of yours. Why don't you guys hang out here in this server and we'll be back. We promise, don't worry!" BlackRose stated as she logged out as well.

Realizing they were slowly becoming alone, the Inuyasha Brigade grew worried. "I hope so," Sango sighed.

"Why don't we head back to Mac Anu? Maybe we can learn something from Delta Server?" Kite suggested to Zoey, who simply nodded as the two of them headed towards the Chaos Gate and warped to Mac Anu, Delta Server.

Meanwhile at Delta Server…

Elk looked at Mia oddly and then said, "Mia, you've been acting weird lately. Why do you care about those guys so much?" The cat-girl looked at the boy sternly.

"What I do is none of your business, Elk…"

"Mia… Do you like that Kite guy?" Elk asked, feeling depressed.

The girl grew concerned. "Like him? What do you mean by that?" the girl began to grow tired of these questions, especially since she had no idea what he was even alluding to.

"Mia, uh…uh…" Elk pressed his fingers nervously and blushed. This is going to be good. "I like you…"

The girl was silent for a moment until she tensed. "What? What's this? I feel strange…" she stated as she ran off to who knows where. Elk sighed sadly, hoping a certain zone refrained its appearance.

1 hour later…

Kite and Zoey appeared near the Chaos Gate in Mac Anu. They saw Elk waiting for them. He ran up to them and said, "Hey! Can we all talk for a minute?" Elk asked.

"Hm? What's up?" Kite asked with a smile.

"I have a favorite area, but it's been looking odd lately. It might have been caused by a Data Bug," he stated. Zoey stared at the peculiar boy; she got a bad feeling about this. "You two are the only ones who can help. The area is Delta Plenteous Smiling Hypha. Can you two come with me?"

"Uh, Sure." Kite and the Mew agreed in unison.

The boy appeared relieved, though at the same time devilish. "Thank you!" Elk closed his eyes and smiled. After forming their party, they warped to Delta Plenteous Smiling Hypha.

The party arrived at a lively area filled with yellow flowers. The classic duo looked at the area. Besides a few screen tears and some faulty textures, it looked fine to them. Nothing a patch couldn't fix.

"We don't see anything wrong with this place." Kite turned to Elk for answers.

"I'm sorry. Actually, um… There's something I wanna ask you two…" he looked at them with pleading eyes.

"…"

"I'll give you two every item I have. In return for…um… Can you two give me your bracelets?" Elk asked desperately, before going on to plead. "Please! I beg you two! If I get them… Mia will hang around with me again, just like we used to." he looked at the ground. Kite and Zoey looked at Elk sadly. Suddenly, the screen flashed.

"What the- What?! What's happening?!"

"Let's go to the dungeon. We might find something." Zoey stated seriously, completely ignoring what the hell just happened, at least for now. The others nodded in agreement, as they entered the dungeon.

Inside, they see the dungeon corrupted. Elk stammered as he looked at the mangled area in horror. "This place didn't use to be like this. The lie I told is true…" he stammered.

"Is that why you brought us here, all because of a lie to get our bracelets?" Zoey looked at Elk sternly.

Elk nodded sadly. "I lied to you two to get you to come here, and now it's come true." Elk looked at the ground sadly.

"Forget about it. We got to get to the bottom of the dungeon to find the Data Bug." Kite told him seriously. Elk nodded meekly as they pressed on.

Eventually, they made it to the end and saw Mia standing near a magic portal. "Mia! What are you doing here?!" Elk gasped.

"Elk!" Mia gasped as the magic portal activated and it revealed a monster inflicted by the Data Bug.

"Mia is calling me… Mia is calling me!" Elk gasped happily as the party rushed to her aid. The monster was called a Killer Snake.

"Rue Kruz!" Elk cast a water spell on the Data Bug, giving it some minor damage.

"Crack Beat!" Both Zoey and Mia shouted out their attacks as they give the Data Bug some added hefty amounts of damage.

"Saber Dance!" Kite spun like a tornado and gave the Data Bug some bigger damage.

The beast spewed out a poisonous breath that hit the party for medium damage. Kite and Zoey quickly administrated healing potions for everyone.

"Juk Rom!" Elk cast a spell that made a wood tornado appear and hit the Data Bug for large damage.

"Repth!" Kite cast a healing spell that healed Elk's wounds. Zoey charged at the Data Bug.

It lashed its tail at her, but she dodged every hit, rushed in, and slashed it three times.

Mia jumped onto the Data Bug's back and thrusted her sword into its skin, giving it some pain. Kite leapt into the air and slashed it three times in the face. Mia managed to get off it before it could hurt her.

Kite and Zoey nodded to each other as they rushed in and attacked the Data Bug at both sides, giving it some large damage. The Data Bug lashed its tail at Zoey, knocking her into a wall, but she recovered quickly and shouted "Vak Don" A fireball appeared and dropped on the monster, harming it.

The words 'Protect Break' appeared and disappeared, meaning it was now okay to Data Drain it. Kite smiled as he activated his bracelet and shouted "Data Drain!" He fired and rewrote the monster's data. The Killer Snake was freed of the Data Bug's influence. Kite also got a new Virus Core. The party combined their efforts to defeat it. Accordingly, they earned good EXP from the Killer Snake.

Mia looked at Elk. "Elk… I thought you would be here. I was looking for you." Mia sighed in relief.

"You were looking for me? Me?" Elk blinked in surprise.

"I'm not sure, but… I miss you when you're not around." Mia smiled.

"Thank you, Mia. But… our favorite area is now ruined." Elk looked down in sadness.

"In theory, there are an infinite number of areas. We'll find another one somewhere else." Mia smiled as she walked up to Elk and pat him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, you're right." Elk looked up, closed his eyes, and smiled. They Gated Out to Root Town.

"…"

Kite and Zoey were silent as they exited the dungeon.

To be continued…

Next chapter: The Kotesu

A/N: Next up is Sanjuro, and you won't want to miss this! See you next time!