Author's Note: Thanks to all the people who reviewed my fanfic! I still don't own anything about .hack. Here's chapter 3! The black robed man's identity will finally be revealed!
Plenteous Smiling Hypha
Ancient is sitting, cross-legged, on top of a rock, watching Elk cast a fire spell. Behind him is a Twin Blade, kneeling, that is dressed in a blue ninja outfit, and his face is covered with the usual ninja veil. Elk doesn't even notice the Twin Blade, because he is behind the rock. (It has been about a week since Balmung figured out that he couldn't log out.)
"So, you are certain that he is the one that forbid Balmung from exiting 'The World'? You are absolutely sure, Kenjutsu?" (AN: kenjutsu means swordsmanship in Japanese)
"Absolutely, Master Ancient," he replied calmly. His voice was a low whisper.
"Then he has become more powerful than even I first thought. I can barely imagine how powerful he will become if he gains what he seeks. Keep a close eye on him. Alert the rest of your ninja to be on full alert," Ancient spoke.
"My ninja? Master Ancient, you created the Blue Ninja! And our organization has remained a secret from the rest of 'The World' thanks to you!"
"I did nothing," Ancient said. "I just told them to keep their original character images, but just change the color of their eyes and shirts to the blue color that matches my robes, so that I would know who they were. But I must admit, it is surprising that the System Administration has found out about us. After all this time, one would think that they would have found out!"
Kenjutsu smiled behind his veil. "I shall alert of the Blue Ninja to watch carefully, Master Ancient."
"Thank you, Kenjutsu. My best wishes go with you."
Kenjutsu inclined his head and gated out.
"Ancient-sensei!" Elk said, running up to Wavemaster. "Ancient-sensei," he said, leaning over, breathing hard. "I…mastered…fire…spells."
"You think you've mastered it, do you?" Ancient inquired, with a lifted eyebrow. "Then," he said, jumping off the rock, "try to defeat my fire spells."
"WHAT?!"
Ancient sighed and said, "How do you expect to master it if you can't even make your spells have equivalent strength to mine? Now get ready."
Elk walked a distance away from his master, turned around, and got into a fighting stance.
Ancient-sensei is truly the best. His power surpasses that of any Wavemaster in 'The World'. I'll just have try my best.
"Well?" Ancient inquired. "What are you waiting for?"
Elk sighed, then raised his Fire Rod in front of him and focused.
Think of a tiny flame, Ancient had said. Focus on that little light. Make it bigger and bigger and bigger. Then cut the flame into smaller lights, and make those lights bigger.
Elk's eyes snapped open. The multiple fireballs launched at his teacher in full force. At the same time, Ancient had launched one gigantic fireball in Elk's direction.
Soon, Elk's fireballs collided with Ancient's single gigantic fireball.
Elk was focusing on that fireball. It's too big! I can't crack through it! But he hasn't passed through my multiple fireballs, which is a good sign. I just need to strengthen them enough to hold him off.
Suddenly there was a surge of pressure against his body.
Now he's taking the offensive! Elk thought. If I can hold him off just a little bit longer, the two spells should cancel each other out.
And, soon enough the two spells did. Elk was leaning over, again, breathing hard. Ancient seemed as calm as ever.
"You," Elk whispered, "were holding back, weren't you?"
"Yes," Ancient replied. "Had I put any more pressure on your spell, I could've made you have a concussion. Nonetheless, you did very well. Now," he said then, "we'll continue this tomorrow. See you soon."
"Bye!" Elk replied, watching his teacher exit the field.
Ancient, however, did not log out. He instead went to the field 'Chosen Hopeless Nothingness'. He did not know why he thought that he would be here. He had simply guessed. And (as was to be expected) he was right. At the top of a hill stood the black robed man, gazing out at something in the distance. Ancient silently walked up behind him, and said, "I thought that you never showed your back to anyone. At least the man I used to know didn't ever do that."
The black robed man turned around sharply and glared at Ancient.
"It's you," he hissed. "What are you doing here? Still wanting me to accept my fate as a human being?"
"No," he replied. "I have given up on you. But I have come to ask you, why did you trap Balmung in 'The World'?"
"You should be thanking me," the black robed man spoke. "I did not kill him after all. And you know what happens when I kill someone in 'The World'."
"Yes," he said. "When you kill someone in 'The World'…they will die on the outside too."
"Yes," he said. And then he laughed maniacally. "Yes! That is just a portion of the power I have obtained these past few weeks!"
"But you sacrificed the greatest gift that is given to everyone. You sacrificed your life, for this…this false-immortality. You left your body in the graveyard, and yet you let your mind still wander, in this realm of virtual reality. You ran away from the ultimate fate of all men: death. But, death comes for all……Jonathan."
"SHUT UP!" he roared.
"So, you fear your own name now?"
He snorted. "I have beaten death! I fear nothing!"
"Death doesn't give up so easily, Jonathan. And death isn't the thing you should fear most. The thing you should fear most…is I, Jonathan."
"Stop calling me that name!" he yelled. "Jonathan is now a rotting corpse! I am Zechran! And why should I fear you?"
"Because, I have the power to defeat you. And you know that I can."
"For now, you may be able to defeat me. For now. But not for much longer. Which brings up the question: why not just kill me now?"
"Because, you now have complete control over this area. You have the tactical advantage. You can force me out if you are losing. When I kill you it will be on neutral ground."
Zechran barred his teeth, and glared at Ancient. "I could attack you right now."
"True," Ancient replied. "You can. But you know you will lose. And that, would damage your ego, horribly. Being beaten, on your own turf, when you started the fight."
"Be gone," Zechran snapped, and Ancient gated out. Ancient did this willingly, he was not forced to do it by Zechran.
"And so," Zechran whispered, "the day Ancient finally falls draws nearer. I can sense it. Your time is running out Ancient. Soon, the Successor shall be brought forth. Soon…"
Cultural City Carmina Gadelica
Ancient gated in to the large city, and looked at the buildings.
I'm running out of time! he thought. At this rate-his thought was cut short.
"HEY!" Sera yelled at him.
That girl, the Wavemaster thought, has remarkably well-developed lungs.
"Yes?" he inquired. "If you're looking for Balmung, puppy-girl, I'm afraid I haven't seen him."
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!"
"Did you? I just recall you saying that I was going to pay for saying that," he replied smoothly.
Sera's teeth ground inside her mouth. "Orca's here too. You might want to go see him."
"Thanks, lost puppy."
"WHAT WAS THAT?!"
Cultural City Carmina Gadelica: Outside Item Shop
After a lot of heated discussions and about fifteen chase scenes, the two of them finally met up with Orca.
"Well, what took you two? And what's wrong with you, Sera? You look like you just did the 2400 meter dash."
"I….," she breathed, "did." And she collapsed.
"Chase scene," Ancient replied smoothly.
"Still didn't catch you?"
"Nope."
Orca chuckled to himself and said, "Well, what have you been up to? We haven't heard from you in a week."
Ancient sighed and said, "There are some things that I need to tell you."
"What things?" Sera asked with a creased brow.
"Some very dangerous things. I'll tell you when we reach the Grunty Ranch. No one is over there right now."
A deadly silence enveloped the group as they walked. Sera noticed that Ancient's eyes were filled with, was it worry…or pity?
When they reached the Grunty Ranch, he began to explain. He started with this sentence: "It was Zechran, Orca."
Orca's eyes widened to the size of golf balls, as Ancient explained the situation. Apparently this Zechran was the one who had trapped Balmung in 'The World' and had done some other pretty nasty stuff too. He'd shut down the field 'Chosen Hopeless Nothingness' and was creating a gigantic virus in it.
"So this Zechran-guy is a hacker?" Sera asked.
"He's not just any ordinary hacker," Orca replied. "He must be a better hacker than even Helba to do this kind of damage!"
Sera's mouth dropped open. Helba, the legendary hacker, who had defied the System Administration since it's beginning, had a superior?
"He's not some ordinary guy," Orca finished.
"You don't know half of it," Ancient said. "He has powers that go beyond the boundaries of 'The World. Such as…when he kills someone in 'The World', that person dies in the real world, too."
Orca and Sera in unison, "Impossible!"
"Quite possible," Ancient replied. "You remember the Pluto's Kiss incident, and how seven people died, right?"
"Yes, who wouldn't remember something like that?"
"He's harnessed the data that was left over from that virus and is quite capable of killing someone through this game."
"We need to tell the System-" Sera began.
"They won't help. They would be too afraid to fight against him."
"Why's that?" she asked.
"They're only human. They're naturally afraid for their own lives. They wouldn't do anything to fight him, even if we did tell them."
"They could shut down the game for a while," she suggested.
"That would give him all the time he needs to take over 'The World' and gain what he seeks."
" 'What he seeks'?" Orca inquired.
Ancient sighed and spoke, "And when the Predecessor has fallen, there shall be a hole in the universe. And from this hole shall come forth the Successor. It shall have its ancestor's strength and power, but it shall not have a mind of its own. One who wields the Sphere shall be able to control it, for it shall be the heart of the Successor. It's an excerpt from 'The Chronicles of Twilight'. There is some more to that paragraph, apparently, but I have not been able to find the rest."
"So he's after this Sphere-thingy right?" Sera asked then.
"Yes," Ancient replied.
"Any idea what this Successor is?" Orca asked.
"Not a clue."
"So, we know who our enemy is, we know what he wants. We can't rely on the Sys. Admin. Is there anything else?"
"Yes, actually," Ancient said. "He's dead, on the outside world."
Both shot their heads at him.
"Now that is impossible," Orca said. "Check the entrance and exit logs, that the System Administration has, Orca. They will be completely blank. He did that, so that the System Administration wouldn't be able to see how long he stays in 'The World'. And, you might want to check up the name," he continued, examining his fingernails, "of Jonathan White."
"Jonathan White?" Sera inquired, again.
"That's his real name, isn't it?" Orca asked.
"Yes. You should be able to ask the System Administration for his character's name, correct?"
"If its just his name, probably. I'll ask the for the character name of Jonathan White."
"What if they ask for a reason?" Sera said.
"Tell them," Ancient said, "that we have received some data that Jonathan White may be causing problems in 'The World' and you need to find his character's name. Also, if you need further proof, check through the internet to see if he's dead. You'll find that I'm right."
"You'll make us do all this, just to prove that you're right?" Sera remarked.
"Yep."
"Then there's no reason to go looking. You gave us so many ways to prove you're point that we know you're right," Orca replied with a smile.
"But, that takes all the fun out of it!" Ancient said.
"Two seconds ago, you were all serious. Now, you're like a three-year-old! Man!" Sera exclaimed.
Ancient returned to his serious mode and said, "You two give this information to Bal-"
"No need," and Balmung swooped down from the sky and landed gracefully on the ground. "I heard it all."
"BALMUNG!" Sera exclaimed. She suddenly goes all teary eyed and tears fall down her face (like in anime cartoons). "I was looking for you all day! Where were you?!"
"Trying to escape you, perhaps?" Ancient inquired.
"OH, SHUT UP ANCIENT!"
Orca chuckled.
"Where is your student?" Balmung asked. "Yeah, where is Elk?" Orca and Sera asked simultaneously.
"More than likely, he logged out after the lesson."
"Oh," the three said in unison.
"Well," Sera said, "tell him we said hi!"
"Sure," Ancient said and nodded. "And one last thing. If you should see him, don't tell him anything that I've said about Jon-I mean Zechran, okay?"
Balmung, Orca, and Sera nodded.
"But, why not? He also knows about my situation," Balmung asked with a puzzled frown.
"He's too young, and too good a person, to die just yet," the Wavemaster replied.
All three just stared at him for a while, then said, "Sure thing." Then, Ancient gated out.
"He's really worried," Orca commented.
"Can you blame him? This guy can kill people through a video game," Sera replied.
"He is very dangerous. And. Much as I hate to admit it, he's right. We can't rely on the System Administration."
"So what should we do?"
"We can do nothing for the time being. We must simply wait, watch, and hope," Balmung replied to Sera.
"Well, I'm going to go to bed. I need to sleep on this," Orca said with a yawn.
"Me too," Sera replied. "Well, see you tomorrow, Balmung!"
Balmung nodded to the two of them watching them log out.
What do I do now? Should I just fall asleep here? I mean, I don't need to, so what should I do? But, I am sure of this, to be able to return to reality, I will have to go through Zechran.
Any suggestions, complaints, or comments that you have, please send them in! Also, if you think I should put in another character from the show or game, please tell me!
