Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from the .Hack series or Bandai.
.Hack//Penetration
By ZEROChapter Four: Race Against Time
"I promise, I will help you."
Kite and ZERO had just faced a creature that was unlike any they've seen. They won, but ZERO had realized that he was out of vaccines and was also unconscious. ZERO gave a Kite a list of items needed to make the vaccine. What's the catch? Kite has 24 hours to complete this task or else ZERO will be deleted and the user will die. To make things worse, the System Administration was still after them, despite what they saw.
"I couldn't save Orca, but maybe I can help ZERO. Let's see here. It asks for Aromatic Grass. Hmmm…maybe I can trade with my Noble Grunty."
Kite approached his faithful grunty.
"Oh! Mon ami! Do you want something from my treasures?"
"Uh huh. I need Aromatic Grass. I'll give you a Grunty Doll. I don't need it anyway."
"Thank you mon ami! Thank you!"
"That was easy. What's next on the list?"
Kite took a look and saw that the following items were going to be harder. The following items were a Healing Elixir, Emperor's Soul, and a Noble Wine. He didn't have to worry about the Noble Wine. It was the Healing Elixir and Emperor's Soul that really had him worried.
"Maybe I can get it through trade, but who am I going to get it from? Wait, I know!"
Kite had used Data Drain many times. To be exact, he had Data Drained 97 creatures and every ten times he Data Drained, he gained a Ryu Book. He knew that maybe the Ryu Book III would tell him which player had the two items. Kite was still puzzled why no one noticed him opening a book that emitted such bright light. Kite had no time to ponder. He opened the Ryu Book and scrolled through the list of people he had met.
"Here's someone. Her name is Hayate. She's a Twin Blade just like me. She doesn't have good weapons, but her skills are deadly. Hopefully, this won't cause any trouble."
She was on the same server as him. She was currently on a dungeon adventure. Kite waited by the Magic Portal for about three hours before she finally appeared again.
"Ummm…Hi Hayate."
"Oh, it's just you. You got good weapons, but your skills suck. You can barely defend yourself."
"I don't want to fight you, I just want to trade."
"Okay, what items do you want from me?"
"Ummm…Your Emperor's Soul and Healing Elixir."
"What!? Those are my best items! No way I'm trading those items to a newbie like you! You'd just waste them on nothing!"
"I need them to help a friend of mine. Have you heard of ZERO?"
"ZERO? No way…it's just not possible. ZERO your friend?"
"Ya, what's the problem?"
"You're dealing with the hacker who caused Pluto's Kiss! No way I'm gonna let you use them to help him!"
"You don't understand. He tried to save me from something we fought. He used him infamous Data Load, but he doesn't have any vaccines to help himself. I need those to create the vaccine and help him. If I don't give him the vaccine, he will die. Look, I got 21 hours to create this thing and help him before he dies."
"You want it? Fine! But there's a catch. You have to beat me and take it from me."
"I was trying to avoid this."
"What? You chickening out? If you want those items, you have to beat me!"
"Okay, I will."
They both agreed to the fight. They both used the Recorder before starting the battle.
"Let's get this over with. I have to go on another dungeon adventure with my friend in an hour."
Kite knew he was in trouble. He had to think of a strategy to beat her. She was an expert and knew all the advantages of a Twin Blade, despite the fact that she wants to be a Heavy Axeman. They both had their blades out. She was using the Hell's Gate and he was using the Hyakkidourans given to him.
"Ready?"
"Go!"
They rushed forward and attempted to finish the battle quick. Their blades met with each other. Kite withdrew his blades and attempted to slash her stomach. She blocked the attack and even pushed Kite back. He was at the edge of the board. If he fell off, he was done for and he would never get those items. He balanced himself and carefully moved forward away from the boards.
"Is that the best you got? Huh, I knew you were a newb."
"This isn't done yet."
She charged forward at him and had one of her blades about to strike his head. He used both blades to block the strong attack, but he forgot about the other blade. She struck him in the stomach and he lost 10% of his health.
"She's good. I have to come up with a plan to strike her. Hmmm…she defends against my blades and them strikes. I have to do something with her defenses. Wait, I got it!"
Kite waited for her to charge forward. She did just that. This was her fatal mistake.
"Twin Dragons!"
Kite went in a flurry of fiery slashes. She tried to defend, but it was pointless. She lost 25% of her health.
"Dammit! I didn't realize he had skills that were that good! I have to avoid facing him head-on."
She stood still and waited for Kite to do his worst. He did just that. He was literally running circles around her. When he got close to her, he used the Twin Dragons skill. Kite had a total of 150 SP. He had 60 SP remaining, but that should do it. He would just strike her with regular slashes. He intended on doing the same tactic on her. This time, she was running to the board and balanced herself. Kite carefully walked forward. Hayate got careless again and assumed that Kite couldn't strike her with the skill, unless he wanted to fall off. Kite jumped back a bit and performed Twin Dragons yet again.
"Ha! Got you! Now I need to do one more Twin Dragons and I'm finished."
"Humph! You don't have the SP. You only have 15 SP remaining!"
"She's right. I need to recharge the SP regularly. Maybe I can stall her! Ap Do!"
Kite's speed increased significantly and was definitely faster than Hayate.
"Just hope it holds up in time. I have to do this for ZERO's sake."
Kite ran away from Hayate and hoped beyond hope that his SP would recover in time. She couldn't manage to hit Kite with his current speed. She just couldn't do it and she didn't have the Ap Do skill.
"I know! I'll wait for it to wear off. Then I can strike him relentlessly and finish him off."
Her strategy was a perfect one. She knew with his level, he wouldn't be able to regenerate the SP that fast. If he tried another Ap Do, it would take even longer to regenerate the SP. She stuck close to Kite, but not that close. Soon, his Ap Do wore off. She rushed forward and slashed him relentlessly. He only had 10% of his HP.
"Now, any last words before you and your friend are done for?"
"Ya, farewell."
"Wha?"
"Twin Dragons!"
She didn't expect his SP to regenerate so fast. It took the last bit of her HP and she was finished. Kite waited for her to re-connect and soon enough, she appeared.
"I can't believe that a rookie like you beat me! Oh well, I can't break a promise. Here's the Emperor's Soul and Healing Elixir as promised."
Kite took the items and proceeded forward to ZERO's unconscious body.
"ZERO, you awake?"
"Ya, I'm okay. Do you have the items?"
"Ya, I do. What do I do next?"
"First you-look out!"
Kite looked behind him to see a player for the System Administrator attempt to strike him. ZERO pushed him out of the way and took the blow.
"Kite, run! Don't worry about me,I'll be fine. You just get somewhere safe."
Kite ran as fast as he could. He entered random keywords and escaped from the players of the System Administration.
Kite arrived at a location he didn't even bother to look at. He used his grunty to travel to the inside of the dungeon, but didn't bother going any farther. He could hear them talking, but barely.
"Did you find the little punk?"
"No, not yet. Well, at least Lios Data Drained his friend by now. He deserved it after what he did to me."
Kite knew he heard that name before. It sounded very familiar, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. He knew that he had to log out first or they would chase him. He exited the dungeon quietly and gated out. Once he arrived at Dun Loireag, the players of the System Administration were there and charged forward only to see Kite log out.
(16 hours later)
Kite logged back into "The World." He went immediately to ZERO, who was sprawled on the ground.
"ZERO, you okay? I heard you got Data Drained.
"I'm fine. I was able to set up a firewall, but it only protected all my skills and items. I can't hack or set up the firewall anymore unless I get them back from System Administration."
"ZERO, I overheard one of the players mention a player named Lios. He sounds familiar, but I just can't put my finger on it. Who is he? Another player from System Administration?"
"Kite, he isn't a player for System Administration…he is System Administration. Only he could take my hacking skills with the firewall on."
"Him System Administration?"
"Ya, but forget that. Do you have the ingrediants?"
"Ya, here they are."
"Thanks."
ZERO took the items from Kite. He poured out the Noble Wine, Emperor's Soul, and Healing Elixir in some sort of pot. He had to crush the Aromatic Grass into bits and put it in the pot. He took out a sort of spoon and mixed the items together. Then, he poured it in a sort of vile and drank it. ZERO was now looking better. His image became more clearer. Kite could clearly see his black cape that covered his body and the two long bangs that were slightly bigger than his head. He could also see his sword as shiny and sharp as usual.
"I must depart now. I promise to contact you later. Farewell."
Kite watched ZERO log off. Kite still wondered what was in store for them now that the System Administration itself was after both of them.
"Will I ever be able to figure out what happened to Orca? Or is there something else in store for us."
To Be Continued…
Kite gets an e-mail from ZERO. This time, he has found an area containing the remaining Virus Cores. However, there is yet another trap in store for them. What is it this time?