"Carry the two...divide both sides by that...and it should be this,"Ryo said aloud, doing some of the worksheets.
Ryo had to get ready for the tests that would decide his grades for the next week. The work itself was pretty simple, he figured the grades would be decent in the least. He put aside the math and began working on history. Tomorrow would mark the end of the first week Ryo had been working under Code. The training had proven to be useful, he had a better grasp for basics when it came to martial arts. His swordsmanship had improved rapidly, at least he believed so. Things were more or less falling into place just fine, Orion managed to get laptop for Ryo to check his e-mail with. As far as the "The World" went, Shot, Coinchii, and Orion made a good team. Coinchii not only managed to catch up to Gyuni and Cuoka's level but managed to pass theirs. Unfortunatly he didn't as much free time with them as he used to.
Putting the weekly tests aside Ryo had been told earlier that day that the preperations for the last section of his training was almost complete. The weekends were still free days for Ryo, he was allowed to take a break from training and was allowed to play "The World" at his liesure, although they still would keep track of data. The AIs went into hiding last Ryo heard of. Since that incident where Coinchii and Mohi were kidnapped and the AIs' base was discovered they hadn't been seen.
Ryo yawned, and put down the worksheet for history, he felt like taking a break for now. Someone knocked on his door as he was putting away the work. He opened it to find Data and Code.
"Hey, what's up?"Ryo asked casually.
"We have news concerning the AIs, Code wants you to see it also,"Data answered.
"What kind of news?"Ryo asked, walking with the two to the computer room.
"Meh, he didn't say anything specific, but in his tone it sounded like it wasn't either bad or good,"Orion answered, walking with his hands in his pockets.
"He works on weekends also?"Ryo asked as they walked into the elevator.
"He never stops working. In fact it's rare to catch him sleep,"Orion replied, making it sound mysterious.
"I doubt he's an insomniac though, he doesn't really have any traces of insomnia,"Data followed up with.
They exited the elevator and continued walking. Ryo let out another yawn, he had been studying since late last night and was running on little sleep.
"Now that I think about it, since that incident Code really hasn't said anything about the AIs' base. Wouldn't you think this might have some relation?"Data asked.
"We'll figure out when we get there, I suppose,"Orion replied casually, shrugging.
Orion put his hand on the wall, revealing the doorway. The three walked in, finding Code sitting indian style in his chair.
"Grab a seat, this will probably be lengthy,"Code replied, without looking over.
The three did so.
"As we all know 10 days ago we stumbled upon a remarkable discovery for us. It was the day where we finally found the AIs' hideout due to the fact Coinchii and Mohi were kidnapped. I recorded the data from that day, but later on when I went back to check into their location, it was gone,"Code began.
"Gone? Like the AIs got rid of it?"Ryo asked.
"Well, more like it appeared as though it never existed. When I went back through the data to see if I made any mistakes in the access point I found I didn't make any from the data at that time. This meant one of two things, either the data itself was removed by someone or something or that the data itself moves. Knowing this I began to run a series of test. By the looks of the data as I'm sure you all will agree,"Code said, turning on an image of the AIs' main area,"The place looks like a damaged Mac Anu, mixed with a damaged Dun Lorieg, and with the temporary theta server thrown in. Also player characters seemed to be walking around as some form of a city population. I looked into them and it turned to be old deleted characters and deleted accounts. I'm sure you can three can decide what this means?"
"The AIs made a base in a constantly moving garbage truck for "The World","Orion replied, staring at the image on Code's monitor.
"Exactly what I figured, not that it's hard to come to the conclusion. I decided set up a 'fake server' in order to find a way to track where it was. I started off with a few objects, but there wasn't much of a trail to follow. Afterwards I cloned Coinchii's character from the time after he got out of their the first time. I used this clone so it would act as a player character, making it easier to follow. This time it ended up being successful. It turned out that, yes, the 'garbage truck', as Orion put it, did infact change location. After finding it through the cloned character I did a bit more research into the trash theory. The objects I had previously deleted, including the clone, turned up in that place."
"That's nice and all, but did you find out anything relating to the AIs?"Ryo asked, trying to be polite, but not really caring about the trash heap their base was in.
"I'm getting there now. As I've said before, when trying to scan the AIs something in it corrupts computers, because of this I couldn't directly look into the AIs. However, I have come to the theory that these AIs, might be some form of the remnants left behind by the incident a few years back. This being said, we need to get the alliance with CC Corp going as soon as possible. Skyld and AnakinseZ have information. Previously I didn't plan on making use of them, but in light of this new evidence, I see no way around it. In future negotiations, Ryo, I would like you to accompany the team I assign to it."
"Like I would refuse that, I've been wanting to get on good grounds with them for awhile, but there have been too many complications,"Ryo answered, half sullenly, half sarcastically.
"That's all I wanted to share as far as that goes. On to the other matter. Ryo, your PK character, Oblivion, is now ready for your use."
"Oblivion?"Ryo replied, dumbfounded.
Code handed him a packet of papers.
"As I just said, your PK character. This is the last stage of the training you'll be doing daily here. The concept is simple. Going out to kill people makes it so you get hunted. We don't want that. Becoming a PKK itself also requires more effort than we need. We've decided to go with something simple. Through the use of a the bulletin board system I'll have the people who work for me and have accounts post up rumors about your character. This will naturally attract people through curiosity. After you get used to using your character we'll post on the BBS a time and map to challenge you. The winner will be given a prize. For safety reasons, though, we made this character completely legit. This way we'll be able to attract a large variety of people who want to challenge you."
"And in doing so it's not really PKing or PKKing, but dueling. Meanwhile I'm training for fights against AIs. It doesn't seem like a bad idea,"Ryo replied.
"Lastly, report later, Ryo. You're going to try out Oblivion in some dungeons. That's all for now,"Code said, dismissing the three.
Orion and Ryo parted ways and began walking down the hall towards nothing in particular.
"What's a Scythe Wielder?"Ryo asked looking through the papers.
"Oh, that class,"Orion replied.
"What's that class?"Ryo replied with a sweatdrop.
"It's an old class, rarely used."
"But the stats look good, his speed, strength, and defense are incredible,"Ryo replied looking at the stats of Oblivion.
"Yeah, but even with that speed the scythe causes a character's speed to drop drastically."
"What's wrong with the scythe?"
"Is there a picture?"Orion asked, looking over at the papers.
Ryo flipped through a few pages and saw Oblivion's appearance. Everything he had on was black, the metal armor that made up his pants, the chainmail he wore, the metal boots, and the spiked bracers on the character. The hair came down to his waist in the back and in the front he had bangs that dropped to the same elevation as his mouth. The skin color was incredibly pale, almost pure white.
"Ah, in that picture,"Orion said, pointing to the a picture in the bottom corner of the page
Ryo looked over the scythe's were rediculously large, the handle was easily two or three feet longer than Oblivion himself, and on top of that it was made of some dark metal. The blade of the scythe was probably the length of the character. On the blade was a yellow streak going along the center.
"I see, anyone would come to the conclusion that a weapon that big would kill the character's speed,"Ryo muttered.
"The scythe is probably the worst type of weapon ever created in "The World". It's powerful, but because of its problems it's really rare to find a Scythe Wielder, despite it being an old class.
"Code said I was going to try the character in some dungeons later, right?"Ryo asked, suddenly going wide-eyed.
"Yeah, why?"
"I better get some studying done, this means that I have less time to study test I have to take later."
Orion scratched the back of his head, and let Ryo go.
"Glad I'm not in school,"Orion muttered to himself, walking off.
Ryo closed the door and went back over to his work from earlier. He tried to continue where he left off, but the curiosity about the new character distracted him. After a sigh, he closed the book and returned to the paper about Oblivion.
Hey, are you there, voice? Ryo asked, although he already knew what to expect. He waited for a moment, but as expected nothing came. Even though the voice was with him against his will, he had to admit he missed having the voice in his head.
"If I recall the voice did say he was from "The World"...I wonder what he meant by that exactly,"Ryo thought to himself.
I wonder what Skyld and AnakinseZ are up to as well. It's been awhile since I've seen either of them. Suichi hasn't called since Tuesday... Ryo began to think. Since coming with Code he had noticed improvements in his fighting, but everyone else was becoming more distant it seemed. Sakura and the others were still in the hospital. Looking back on everything Ryo realized how much of wreck they had been up until now. Instead of going after the AIs like they should have they were sitting idle and allowing the AIs to make their moves first. The only thing they could really call progress wasn't even accomplished by themselves, but by the AIs doing as they were supposed to.
"We'll have to start taking the initiative in order to accomplish anything at this rate. I'm putting my faith in you, Code,"Ryo said aloud to himself.
His stomach growled afterwards so he decided to get lunch before reporting to the computer room. Once in he was instructed to log on to Oblivion for the first time.
"Is Orion coming?"Oblivion asked.
"Just give him a moment,"Code's voice answered into the headset.
Oblivion sat down against the wall of Mac Anu, behind the Chaos Gate. Golden rings appeared and Orion ran over.
"For the record, I'm not going to be fighting, I'm just here to watch per orders,"Orion said, giving Oblivion an advanced warning.
The two formed a party.
"Hmm..what sounds good?...Hidden...Forbidden?...Hmm..Holy ground?"Oblivion answered slowley.
As he finished golden rings surrounded them and they were off to the map. As the rings disappeared they found themselves on the end of a stone walkway.
"Huh, what kind of dungeon is this?"Oblivion asked, walking over to the miniature, stone wall.
They appeared to be in the middle of large dried out lake.
"For a randomly chosen area, this map is wierd,"Orion replied, looking down the pathway at a chapel-like structure.
"Let's try going in and see what the dungeon is like,"Oblivion suggested, leading the way.
The two slipped into the large door which was cracked open. The inside looked like an old church as well, the seats were demolished for the most part, but the interesting thing was the statue at the back end of the structure. It was a young boy kneeling on the ground and behind him was a robed figure, carrying a scythe, probably the Grim Reaper. He walked up to a pedestal in front of the statue.
"The one who is of this world, but not of this world, is now home. The twilight leads to both salvation and destruction. Foolishly, but without a choice this child of the world follows the twilight, for the sun has to rise the next day," Orion said, reading it aloud.
"I wonder it means,"Oblivion replied, walking up to a fence that blocked off the statue.
Oblivion grunted and fell to the ground, holding his head.
"Code! Look at this!"someone from the data phase said quickly.
Code jumped up and ran over to the computer.
"The two brain waves, are falling into line!"Code replied, wide-eyed.
"No, the secondary waves are starting to take over!"the data phase replied.
"Someone, get video recordings of whats happening on Oblivion's face!"Code ordered.
"Ryo, Ryo!"Orion replied, shaking Oblivion.
Oblivion let out a screech, his blue eye turned gray with the red streak.
"His right eye changed to the same kind as the left one when the secondary waves took over,"Code replied.
He looked over at Ryo's body which was shivering for a brief moment, but returned to normal. Oblivion began moving in "The World", but Ryo's hands in the real world weren't doing anything with the controller.
"What is this..."Code said slowly to himself.
"Ugh,"Oblivion said, pulling himself up on the fence.
"Whew, you're okay Ryo,"Orion said.
"This place...must have triggered my awakening,"Oblivion replied, looking up at the statue fiercly.
He then looked down at his character as though it was first time seeing it.
"Are you okay?"Orion asked, offering him a hand.
Oblivion ignored him and jumped over the fence walking up to the statue. He suddenly appeared angry and in a puff of black smoke the scythe appeared in his hands. He brought the scythe up and dropped the pointed end down into the Grim Reaper, breaking it in half. He then used the top side of the blade to cut the child in half.
"What are you doing, Ryo!?"Orion asked, getting aggrevated now.
"I'm not Ryo,"Oblivion replied, making the scythe disappear in another puff of black smoke.
"Orion, be careful, the secondary brainwaves I told you about have switched and are the primary waves now,"Code said to Orion.
"So this is like another Ryo,"Orion replied, confused for the first time in awhile.
"Could it be that the statue was referring to now, instead of back then?"Oblivion asked himself, grabbing a chunk of stone from one of the statue's debris.
"Record all the data that takes place from now until he returns normal,"Code ordered to the data phases.
"There's no way I'm going to let Ryo die,"Oblivion replied, dropping the stone.
He put his hands on the broken statue about to swear oath, but it suddenly began turn into a white light. He took a few steps back and watched as the figure began to change. The statue now appeared as a two boys, one with a + shaped cracked along the face leaving ominous shadow and the other with an odd light shining from it. Oblivion looked back at the pedestal and ran over, as the rainbow stream of light faded.
"A child of this world, a child from no world, a child of another world. Admist one lurks freedom, admists another lurks death, admists the last lurks shadows. The twilight is no longer a key for there is no longer day or night,"Oblivion slowly read.
"Code, did you get that passage?"Orion asked.
"That and everything else going on in that map,"Code replied into Orion's headset.
"What are you two doing?"someone suddenly said walking into the door.
Oblivion and Orion looked over to find Momiri, Venus, Skyld, and AnakinseZ.
"Hey, even I don't know what's going on,"Orion replied.
"You guys,"Oblivion replied.
"I know that long arm, he's a hacker, but he's yet to do anything bad. I don't completely trust him though,"Skyld replied, refering to Orion.
"By the looks of the IP, this Scythe Wielder would have to be Coinchii...or someone at his house,"Venus answered, hitting some things on her clipboard.
"Coinchii is still with those hackers,"Skyld said sullenly.
"These hackers are working to save "The World","Oblivion replied.
"Coinchii, we have been monitoring what they do, and they have cooperated in fighting off the AIs in your absence, it's likely we would be able to work together, but the hacker behind Orion is Code, so we have to be careful,"Momiri explained.
Orion looked over at Oblivion's eyes. They were still gray and red, which meant he still wasn't back to normal.
"This is bad,"Orion complained to himself.
"Hello?"Code's voice said aloud throughout the room.
"Who's voice is that?"AnakinseZ asked, looking around.
"Unfortunatly, I would've liked to meet under better circumstances, but this is Code. Ryo...Coinchii...or Oblivion if you prefer...something odd is happening to him, perhaps later we can discuss something some form alliance, but for now we need to return him to normal."
"I'm just fine, Ryo will return to normal in time, but for now there's something I have to do,"Oblivion replied, looking at the roof.
"Now that I think about it..."Skyld said slowly.
The other three looked over.
"Did you notice something?"Venus asked.
"It should be impossible, but this voice sounds nothing like Ryo's. In fact it sounds like someone we all know..."Skyld said, with a very grave face.
"Huh, now that you mention it...it couldn't be..."AnakinseZ forced out, coming to some form of realization
"You guys know something?"Orion asked walking over.
Oblivion grinned.
"Even I can't completely explain it, so don't bother asking, but yeah, it's me,"Oblivion replied.
Skyld and AnakinseZ gasped. Venus went wide-eyed and dropped the clipboard. Momiri stared straight at him, her face looking as though it was in shock. Skyld went to take a step forward, but it was as though something was holding him down.
"What is it?"Orion asked seriously, looking over at the four.
Oblivion's eye suddenly returned back to normal and some odd sound was made as he fell to the ground.
"Code, Ryo just threw up,"someone said.
Code jumped out of his seat and ran over to Ryo. His head was laying on the keyboard and in front of the chair was the a mutilated form of whatever he had for lunch. Code quickly took the controller and logged out of "The World" and tore the headset off Ryo's head. Orion quickly ran over, still logged in "The World". He pulled Ryo away from the computer and laid him out on the floor. Orion began checking for signs to diagnose what happened to Ryo.
"It seems as if it's nothing more than sleep, but so suddenly after something like happening,"Orion said, worried.
"Someone, get on Orion's character now, see if you can find out what those four know!"Code shouted fiercely, before returning to Ryo,"Even if it turns out just to be nothing more than sleep let's get him to our clinic."
"Right," Orion said, picking up Ryo gently.
"Eh, hello?"Orion's character in "The World" replied, in a small female tone.
Someone from one of the data phases must've taken over Orion's character.
Orion looked on as the four remained the same as when they had connected whatever knowledge that led them into shock. He/she walked over and slapped Skyld in the face, causing him to wake up.
"You four, I need to know what happened, it might be important for Code!"Orion shouted, in a out of character girly voice.
"No...it was supposed to be in our past...we should be happy he's back, but with these AIs..."Skyld slowly answered.
"That was J-"Venus began.
"No!..."AnakinseZ suddenly said, cutting her off.
"Why can't we accept it?"Venus replied sullenly.
"Because...the person behind that character isn't him, yet the character is, even if it was him, wouldn't he be no more than old data?"Skyld answered.
Momiri suddenly let out a sob and warped away, followed by quickly by Venus who was probably able to consul her in real life. AnakinseZ fell to his knees.
"Would...he really want to live as data?"AnakinseZ asked, holding himself up on by hands.
"I...I need to think,"Skyld replied, logging out.
"Oh, hopefully Code can use this data,"Orion replied nervously, logging out.
"Code, I know you're worried about Ryo, but there isn't much to do for him besides let him rest, wouldn't it be best if you went over the information you just gathered?"Data suggested, leaning against the wall by Ryo's clinic bed.
Code look up at Data, then back down at Ryo. He sighed and got up, walking out.
"I want to know what happened. Everything from an outward appearance would suggest a mental illness..."Orion replied.
"Yeah, but there was the whole thing about two different kind of brainwaves in his head. Usually a chemical imbalance that would typically cause that sort of behavior would just leave unbalanced brainwaves,"Data responded.
"And the way he acted...it was really as though it was another person within his character."
"Is it true about his eyes?"Data asked.
"Yeah, when the normally secondary type of brainwaves took the place as the primary type his right eye became gray with red streaks. When we first met him his eyes were both blue, but by the time he joined us his left eye changed, and stays changed."
"Eyes are connected straight to the brain...there's a saying that when you look into one's eyes, you're looking into their soul, but I could only imagine whats going on in Ryo,"Data comented.
Ryo suddenly groaned and his eyes cracked open, both of their respective normal color.
"What happened?"he said, drearily.
"You don't remember?"Orion asked, pushing a glass of water towards him.
Ryo took a drink to get rid of the puke taste lingering in his mouth.
"The last thing I remember is walking up to that fence on that map, after that I found myself waking up just now,"Ryo replied, holding his head.
"I'll go see if I can offer Code any help, this defies anything logical,"Data replied, walking out.
"When did I get in here?"Ryo asked, now fully awake and looking around, but with a bad headache.
"I'd like to say 'don't worry about it', but I honestly don't know myself. Let's wait and see if Code discovers anything,"Orion replied, smiling out of relief.
"Why am I thinking about Skyld and AnakinseZ?"Ryo asked, putting down the cup.
"Huh, what exactly are you thinking about?"
"I'm not sure, something familiar about them. It's like something I should know, but don't know,"Ryo answered.
"Well whatever it is, as long as you're fine don't worry about it,"Orion replied, standing up, offering Ryo a hand.
Ryo, still not completely sure to the situation took Orion's hand...