Alter Egos, Blades and Porings?!
by Thunderwrath
Disclaimer: It's sad that I don't own Mai-Hime or Ragnarok!
Summary: Follow the adventures of Natsuki and Shizuru as they live out their Ragnarok Online alter-egos and take on quests around the cities in Rune Midgard!
A/N: Hey there. Let's say this is the same universe as the one my other story, Tracked. All I can really say right now is that this won't be a one-shot. Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Creating Kruger; Creating Viola.
"Ice Princess? No. That name sucks."
A pale girl with hair as dark as midnight blue was busy hunched over a computer in a dimly-lit room. A rapid tapping of keys on the board confirmed that the young girl had once again attempted to name the character displayed on her desktop's screen.
"Kuga- Argh! I don't want my avatar's name to have anything to do with my real name! " Natsuki Kuga had this notion that using your real name for an avatar in an online game completely destroyed the essence of conjuring an alter ego. This was the reason her brows were currently furrowed in frustration. Who knew that naming a character would be so hard? Some people would give theirs shitty names like "Congo Machine" and "SuperKnight1789". However, Natsuki believed that her alter ego's name should embody who she is in real life.
"Dogs. Hmm.. I do like canines. Wolves! What if I went for a name that gave off an impression of a wolf? Yeah.. Something to make me sound like I'm the Big Bad Wolf of Midgard!"
She grinned at the idea. Truth be told, Natsuki was a lone wolf in real life. She preferred to isolate herself from regular people. If ever people did reach out to her, she would dismiss them by giving them a very practiced and very chilling "Kuga Death" glare coupled with a cold shoulder. The same anti-social technique worked on the general public save for a few who were considered by Natsuki as friends. She didn't know why Mai Tokiha, a bubbly orange-haired classmate of hers, wanted to hang out with someone like her.
"Maybe Mai's motherly instincts are always acting up when she's around me. She does like to prepare meals for me and Mikoto.", thought Natsuki.
Ah yes! Mikoto Minagi was Mai's little pet kitten. It was always a chore to pry off Mikoto from their busty friend during the mornings since the little cat-like girl would cling on to Mai while she slept. Too bad Mikoto sleeps like a log: an ironically light log with a really strong grip.
"Natsuki!" Mai's voice through her headphones broke Natsuki from her musing. "We've been waiting for you to name your character for 30 minutes already! Just pick a name so we can start playing!"
"Psh. Stupid mutt is too dumb to type her name on the keyboard. Maybe she should just go for a name that best describes her: Ice Princess." Her emerald eyes rolled upon hearing the comment.
"Shut up Nao. You guys can start playing without me! I wanna do this at my own pace. I'll meet you somewhere in town or something."
"Okay then. Send us a PM when you're done with the Training Grounds. Remember our names ok? Nao's in-game name is Juliet and mine is Kagutsuchi." Mai sighed. She was always the one who broke off the arguments between Natsuki and Nao, the latter whose objective in life was to annoy the shit out of the former. Nao Yuuki is another friend of Natsuki. She goes to the same school as Natsuki, Mai and Mikoto but she's younger so she's in a lower grade.
"Yeah, yeah.." came the nonchalant reply of our heroine.
Another 15 minutes passed and Natsuki still didn't have anything; however, the next tick of the longer hand would make all the difference. It struck her, the perfect name for her character!
"Kruger!" It sounded just right. The name gave off a commanding aura and it should fit the job that her hero would choose: a Knight. With a few taps of the mouse, she fixed her characters look. Midnight blue hair that flowed up to the girl's toned back similar to hers. A few more clicks to allot points to her primary stats: strength, vitality and dexterity; one last click to confirm her character's creation.
"Midgard meet Kruger."
-break-
Shizuru Fujino was currently faced with a dilemma. The student council was tasked by the school board to play video games such that they may find the root of the increasing cases of student violations; however, her current predicament was partially preventing her from doing so. She believed that her first online character's name should be well-thought and should reflect her whole being. She was not one to place any sort of detail that would give away her true identity. No, the heir to the Fujino Corporation was not supposed to be playing video games. She should be preparing herself for her future by engaging her full attention to her studies. She should- she broke off her own thoughts with a giggle.
"Ara, it seems like I should take Reito-san's advice and try to live like a normal teenager." Not that the word "normal" is a befitting description for Shizuru. Her beauty was unmatched. Long wavy locks of silken honey adorned her head and her body was quite curvy for a girl of her age. Puberty worked her body in all the right ways rendering her beauty comparable to that of Venus herself. The most striking feature of her face however, was her crimson eyes. They were intimidating and captivating at the same time, as told by her fan girls of course.
"Now what do I name you?" A chibi version of herself was rotating in the screen.
"How about..Viola, Shizuru-san?" a deep voice belonging to Reito Kanzaki, the only male in the group of friends responded to Shizuru's query. In the video game, the young man named himself "Obsidian Lord" since he believed that his hair was his most valuable asset due to its jet black sheen. He prided himself to be quite an attractive young man and he was quite relieved that the crowd that he involved himself was not smitten with him like other girls. He had always wanted to be a "bad boy" so he wanted to become a Shadow Chaser in-game.
"Bubuzuke! What's taking so wrong?!" A loud voice disrupted the author's attempt to describe Reito.
"Long, Haruka, I mean, Armitage.." A small voice squeaked. It belonged to a mousy young brunette who was correcting the loud, bossy blonde who was currently tapping random keys on the keyboard in frustration. Shizuru was hearing their little exchange over the headphones but she could clearly see in her mind how her friends interacted with each other. Haruka Suzushiro or Armitage in the Ragnarok world was the more passionate one between the two. She was big, blonde and beau-well.. loud. The blond girl believed herself to be Shizuru's rival and stopped at nothing with the goal of exceeding the young Fujino at almost anything; be it the elections that declared Shizuru as the president of the student council or a simple race to the top of the stairs. Of course, Haruka hasn't score yet because Shizuru manages to beat her at any challenge she proposes. That doesn't stop the proud lioness in her. The only person who could dowse the blonde's fire was Yukino Kikukawa. In contrast to Haruka's larger and more confident form, Yukino was petite and reserved. Aside from keeping the lioness calm, the brunette would often find herself correcting Haruka in word usage. In return, Haruka would protect Yukino from any harm be it physical or emotional; hence the reason why Haruka would become her Paladin and Yukino, a Sorceress. The two were quite a pair; needless to say, they needed each other.
"I did say that didn't I? Bubuzuke, we're going to play with or with-trout you. I'm gonna prank down the students who play this violent game! Right, Yukino?"
"Haruka is quite eager to cause bloodshed among the adorable monsters around the training grounds. Ne, Yukino-san?" the quite chuckle of Reito could be heard.
"It's without and track, Haruka-chan. Okay, Shizuru-san, the three of us will meet you in the training grounds. You won't get lost since you'll find Haruka killing off more porings than she can handle."
"Eh? Yukino, those little drops of jelly are not a threat! I'll prove you gong! Come on! Reito! I'll lead!"
And with that, her friends warped off to another part of the game. She considered Reito's proposal in character naming and typed "Viola".
She already planned in mind what her character would be doing in the Ragnarok realm. She would become an Assassin, a Guillotine Cross to be exact.
"Let's kill off every Fuuka student's avatar and force them to queer!" The student council's plan resounded in her head. In fact, it sounded just like how Haruka had said it a few hours ago, accompanied by Yukino telling the former that "quit" was the right word. There was an increase in the number of students who violated the academy's rules and the board wanted the student council to take care of it. Apparently, the rise in the number of cases was associated to a video game that most of the students in the academy played. It was called Ragnarok Online. How it was associated to student violence, the board did not say. However, rumor has it that Mr. Suzushiro, the head of the academy's board, (aka Haruka's Dad) wanted to distract her daughter and let her try living like a teenager for once. Let's say 3 out of 4 of the student council executives knew this and there was no way they'd let the loud-mouth blonde spoil their fun.
Shizuru put in points in her character's Strength, Dexterity and Agility. She liked the idea of her being able to dodge blows and return them at twice the speed her attacker inflicted them upon her.
"Enough dilly-dallying. Let's play!" She confirmed her avatar's creation.
Crimson eyes blinked and looked around. She found herself in a Novice's costume and alongside with her was another novice like herself. The other girl had her back turned and was fumbling over something. Her black hair coupled with a strange shade of blue cascaded along her back.
"Excuse me, miss?" Shizuru tapped the other girl's shoulder and when the girl turned around, Shizuru's breathe hitched. The girl was beautiful, by god! Her lips were pouting and she was blushing. What caused Shizuru's heart to thump even louder was the startling emerald eyes of the girl before her.
"It looks like this experience is going to be much more enriching than I assumed."
A/N: So here's my attempt at writing a multi-chaptered story. Let's hope I can bring the same amount of humor without messing up the plot too much. I do hope my chapters won't look so rushed. Thank you for taking the time to read! Leave a review if you liked it. ;D