Chapter 2: Process

The sun rises high on a Saturday morning. Car's drive from and to across the city. A few Girls hanging out with their girlfriends and boys chilling with their school buddies stood on the sidewalk. The temperature was cool and warm at the same time. Birds flew out of the trees as the store gates opened to start off business for the day. The streets quickly filled up as the clock dwindled to the 8 A.M mark.

The Shimokita shopping district was especially busy that day. Bargain sales and cheap items were on the display. The crowds poured in on there daily round about.

At a drug store a shady girl walks in. She looks to her left and right cautiously and slowly walks towards one of the aisles. She looks up and down through the shelves and grabs a pair of training bras. She then paced herself to the second aisle. She looked up at the sign above.

"Soap / Detergent / Toothbrush / Toothpaste / etc"

She walks forth searching the shelves on her left.

Girl: Come on.. Where is it.? .

She stops by the toothbrush section.

Above without her knowing a camera kept an eye on her.

At the security room.

A security guard stares at one of the monitors. It showed a girl grabbing a toothbrush and shoving it under her shirt.

Security Guard: . Oh shoot. We got a thief.

He stands up from his seat and runs over to the front desk. He calls the clerk over and tells him the news. The clerk looks somewhat startled and then nods. The police office nods as well and runs around the front desk to seek out the thief. At this time the girl just reached the front door.

Girl: I'm almost free. .

Security Guard: HALT!!! STOP RIGHT THERE!!

The girl gasps and runs without looking back. Outside awaited crowds of people. This made running hard so she struggled through the crowd; pushing, nudging, forcing her way through. The security guard followed rapidly behind yelling.

Security Guard: STOP!! GIRL!! STOP NOW AND YOU WONT BE IN THAT MUCH TROUBLE!!

The girl ignores his warning and continues running. As she ran her face turned pale and tears ran down her face. Her arm fidgeted with fear as she swung them while running. .

Girl: (Breathing hard) There's. no hope.

The girl slowly stopped and turned around. She fell to her knees and gave up. The security guard eventually caught up to the girl. His face filled with anger as he gasped for air.

Security Guard: (Breathing hard) So you decided to stop. All right. come with me.

He grabs the girl off her knees and pulled her up then walked her back to the shop.

At the shop the clerk looked at her with a stern face and told her to go to the backroom of the shop. She walked in quietly sniffing up her tears. The security guard pulled up a chair for her to sit down on by the table. The clerk walked up to the girl.

Clerk: What's your home phone number?

The girl quietly told the clerk. He pulls out his cell phone and dials in the number.

Clerk: Um. Hi? . This is the clerk of the Shimokita drugs store. Yes. The shop next to the Starbucks. . Yes. I'm contacting you because of a situation with one of your family members. . Yes. Yes. Your daughter I believe.

"WWHHHHAAATTT!!!!"

The yell could be heard clearly from outside. The Girl stiffened and shuttered. She put her head down on her arms. She trembled. and trembled.

Clerk: . Sir. I'll appreciate if you didn't. (Click)

The phone hanged up abruptly.

Clerk: Well. .

He looks over at the girl.

Clerk: Your father isn't the most easy going type.

The girl continued to tremble. .

About a half an hour later, the father arrived at the scene. He ran into the shop to the front counter. The clerk watches the man run in with an outrage.

Father: WHERE IS SHE!

Clerk: calm down sir. . She's in the back room. Come with me.

The man followed the clerk to the backroom. As they walked the clerk explained the situation to the man. The clerk first walked in.

Clerk: Hey. Your dads here.

The girl stopped trembling and moved her head up slowly. She put on a guilty face and looked down.

The father walked in. His eyes were reddish.

Father: You!

He walked over to the girl and grabbed her by her hair and pulled her head up.

Father: WHAT MADE YOU THINK!!! STEALING STUFF WAS OKAY!!! WHAT MADE YOU THINK GETTING ME INVOLVED WITH THE LAW ONCE AGAIN WAS FINE!!! YOU WANT TO DISGRACE THIS FAMILY NAME!!! HUH!!!!!!

Girl: (sniff) I'm sorry father.

Father: . heh. You're sorry. Oh you'll be sorry all right. wait til we get home.

Clerk: Sir. .

Father: What?!

Clerk: our store policy is that if a person is to steal they will have to pay a fine.

Father: ... How much.

Clerk: 5 times the amount of the goods that your daughter tried to steal.

The father grunts and looks back at the girl again. His eyes widen and then quickly turns his head back at the clerk.

Clerk: . Here's the items she stole.

The clerk puts down the training bras and the toothbrush on the table.

Clerk: The price tag is on the side.

The man picks up the 2 items. He checks the price and calculates. His face afterwards was filled with even more anger then before. The girl continued to look down in disgrace.

Moments later outside. The girl following her father silently to his car. The father constantly profaned his daughter as she walked behind him. When they arrived at their car the father shoved the girl into the back. He walked around to the front and started the car. The girl silently got up. She started to tremble like before.

Girl: (sniff sniff) . (sniff sniff)

She silently cried as the car drove home.

Later in the day at their house.

Father: YOU BITCH!!

SMACK!!!

The girl falls off her chair onto the floor.

Father: DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY HOURS I HAVE TO WORK TO GAIN THAT CASH BACK!!!

The girl slowly got back onto the chair forcing herself not to cry.

Father: WELL!!! AN?!!! WELL!!!

The girl stood silent.

Father: TELL ME!!! .

Girl: I don't know.

She kept her head down but her eyes glared at the man.

Father: ..

The father sees her glare.

Father: . YOU GLARE AT ME!!!

He raises his hand once more but..

Beep beep. Beep beep.

His watch went off. He pulled his arm back down and looked at his watch.

Father: Shit. My shift is about to come on once again. .

He rushes over to grab his jacket and walks over to the door. He opens the door and exits but closes the door slightly.

Father: I'LL DEAL WITH YOU ONCE I GET BACK!!

SLAM!!

The girl starts trembling once again but this time uncontrollably. Her face quickly filled up with tears. She got up and walked to the restroom. She looked up at the mirror. Her face was heavily beaten. The girl turns on the sink and washes her face. . Afterwards she walked to her own room.

Girl: . why. . why me. . why can he. I don't want to be with him. why can't he leave me alone. .

She looks to her side at her computer. Down on the floor was her virtual goggles and the game, "The World." She stood up and walked to her computer.

Moments later a newcomer arrives at Dun Loireag. The character walked out of the gate and walks onto the regular path. The character walked slowly across the rigid ole wooden path, passing overflowed stores and people running back and forth around the area.

WM: This is just like the real world. chaos. . why wont it just leave me be.

The person walks by the Grunty farm and sits down.

WM: Why. how come. I hate all of this. . I wish it would all end. why is my life full of pain?. .why.

The noise of people chatting or the sound of the environment couldn't rest the character's mind. He tries to cover up his ears with his hands, but the noise of the environment still leaked through.

WM: I want to go to a place. a place where I can think. why must I be stuck with all of these people. why.

The player lays down onto the ground. He turns his head to his right. He sees a weird type plant sprouting up next to him.

WM: . Aromatic. Grass...

He reaches for the strand and pulls it out.

Right at that moment.

Pzzzzzzzzzzpzzzzzzzzzzz.

The graphics in front of the young player slowly disfigures.

WM: What's going on. what is this.

The player quickly stands up to confront the situation.

The data slowly configured itself into a human shape. but then it slightly changed. Ears grew out from the top of its head. A hat sprouted out as well.

Pzzzzzzzzzzzzpzzzzzzzzzz.

The graphics stopped manipulating. The end product was a cat figure.

WM: Who. who. who are you.

The cat's lips slowly moved to make out some words.

WM: What. how do you know my name! Who are you?.

The cat said something once more.

WM: Your name is Maha? . You want to be my friend?

The cat nods happily.

WM: I don't know.

The cat says something once more.

WM: How do you know. how do you know this information.

The cat floats to the back of the player and whispers to his ear.

WM: You can help me to get away from all of this. to escape. . escape.

The cat floats to his front once again and signals the player to follow. Without a word the character followed the floating cat. As they walked through the wooden path, suspicious people on the side whispered amongst each other.

HB: Is a cat avatar available?

LA: I don't know.

BM: I think that's a hacked character.

The 2 arrive at the chaos gate. The cat turns around to face the player. She speaks once again.

WM: Theta. Rejecting. Oblivious. Wavemaster? . I see.

The player closes his eyes and repeats the location.

WM: Rejecting. Oblivious. Wavemaster.

Rings form around the player as they gated out.

Right after the two gates out another player gates in. It was a blade master. He had two other blade masters with him that gated in right after him. The 3 walks over to the shops to replenish there stocks. On their way they overheard the chatting about the hacked player. He quickly froze. His head turned and eyes grew red.

BM: Yeah. That was creepy. I hope the hacked character doesn't mess everything up for us players.

LA: Agreed.

The blade master walks in to interrupt their conversation. The 2 others followed.

SK: You. Long arm. What is this about a hacked character?

LA: Why should I.

He looks over to see the guy and shuts his mouth.

LA: . um. um. It was a Cat player.

SK: A cat player you say. That is odd. . Was there anybody with this cat player?

BM: A wave master I believe.

SK: What did this wave master look like?

LA: I forgot. But I did catch his name by checking out his info box.

SK: What was the name?

LA: Tsukasa. I believe.

SK: I see. Tsukasa. . Thank you.

He turns over to face the other 2 blade masters.

SK: Replenish your stocks and go find this Cat player and this wavemaster named Tsukasa.

BM's: SIR!

SK: A hacked player. this has to be stopped as quickly as possible. I must report this to my lady.

He swiftly turns around and walks back to the Chaos Gate.

The 2 arrive in the field. The scenery was filled with dead trees, and graves. Fallen warriors and fallen monsters filled the area. It was melancholy. It was gloomy. It was devastating. It was perfect for his mood. He walks over by a tall skeleton. The boy looks up at the skeleton and smiles. He then sits down on its foot dwindling with the aromatic grass in his hand. The cat floats by the boy's side.

WM: Quiet. peace. that's all I want. This world is perfect. I can escape from that ludicrous world out there. I can. I can be. free.

The cat nods at his comment. The cat speaks once again.

WM: . I can be who and what I want. (He smiles) you understand my problems you say. heh. my problem. my problem is the.

Maha: (In a disfigured and soft voice) Outside.

WM: . yes.

He looks up at the cat and smiles again.

WM: Maha is your name. Here Maha.

He hands the cat the aromatic grass.

The cat looked startled for a sec and says something.

WM: . yes. it's for you. . no need to thank me.

The cat hesitant takes the aromatic grass from the boy. She rubs the grass on her cheek and looks back at the boy. Now she was very hesitant, but had a weird feeling within her. He mouth opened up to say something. but.

Voice: MAHA!! PROCEED WITH THE PLAN!!

She stiffens up and hustles around then nods.

WM: What's the problem?.

She looks down on the ground unhappy and signals the boy to follow her. She says something as well.

WM: Come with you? . I guess. . you have something to show me? Something that will make me happy?. I guess I'll follow.

He gets up and follows the floating cat to a dungeon. She signals to go in. The two enters the dungeon. Maha knew ahead there were going to be many difficult monsters in the dungeon so she teleports the boy and herself to the Gott statue room.

The 2 appear at the Gott Statue level.

WM: . what? . What's this? A Gott Statue? . On the first floor?

The cat nods and says something.

WM: Open the chest..?

The cat nods slowly.

The boy walks over to the treasure chest.

WM: Well. .

He points his rod at the chest.

(In the real world.)

Girl: Open! .. .. . . What. there's nothing in the. What's that light? . . .

She stiffens up from her chair. The girl stands up wailing her head around.

Girl: No! . What's happening! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!

. . . .

The girl releases the controller.

Girl: .. .. . ...

She falls over to her right and crashes on the floor.

(Inside the world.)

The cat opens her eyes after the light diminished. She sees the boy on the floor past out. . The cat puts on a puzzled face. She takes out the aromatic grass that the boy gave to her. She stared at it and put on a face of guilt.

Voice: RETURN MAHA!!

The cat stiffens up once again and fades away.

(In the real world.)

"Knock! Knock!"

Girl 2: An? Are you home? An?

"Knock! Knock!" (creeeeek)

The door opens up.

Girl 2: O_O! Guess they forgot to lock it.

The girl knocks again and hears no response. She hears some type of game music coming from one of the rooms inside.

Girl 2: An? So you are home.

She enters the house.

Girl 2: I forgot to copy down my homework on Friday and.

She enters her room and sees the girl lying on the floor seemingly dead.

Girl 2: O_O! AN!! Oh my god!!

She quickly goes to her side and nudges her. She gave back no response.

Girl 2: AN!!

She puts her hand on her hand. There was a bleak heart beat.

Girl 2: Oh my god!! What happened!?

She reaches into her pocket and grabs out her cell phone. She dials in a number and puts it to her ear.

Girl 2: Hello!! . . I just found my friend in a coma!!