Disclaimer: I own nothing having to do with project .hack, except for a collection of DVDs and the games. Any characters from .hack are in a strict copyright protection law.

Author's Notes: Well this is my first .hack fan-fic but it was originally considered to be my first until I decided to do Soul Calibur 2 fan-fics instead. I love the story, and I realized that if you aren't familiar with .hack, the names may start to confuse you. If you didn't guess, Magicka is supposed to be me. Anyways, ch. 1

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Ch. 1 - A Deranged Disease

"The truth is… we aren't sure who made it." said an older looking female warrior, with short blue hair, green eyes, a short sword, and a green robe with golden designs of a phoenix as she then continued, "The rumors say the virus is spreading and has infected five players already, it seemed like a ((#Compensator.900.mopv)) virus extension, one of the more devastating computer viruses infecting the internet." A much younger male figure was listening to her, with full black armor and cape but no helmet, medium blonde hair, and a heavy blade. They were both on the message board conversing. The man decided reply to her, "You think it will continue to spread through ((The World))? And if so, what should we do?"

There was also a third figure there (also a man), with long brown hair tied back, a kimono without either of the sleeves on so his chest and arms were bore bare, and the top draped around the part of the legs. It was white with red designs on the leg area. He carried a staff that was sharp on the bottom and was two crescent crossing on the top with a blue orb floating in the middle. It was obvious this man was more or less a leader to the other two as he then replied, "This is ((The World)), and there are many fake rumors about things like this. But if it happens to be true, this virus will, in any case, end up hacking itself into a monster program. All you have to do is find the bastard and kill it. After, you then kill off any traces left of the virus."

He then raised his chin a little before continuing, "SilverRaven…" as the women looked at him as he spoke her name while he continued, "Wolfe…" as the black knight found recognition as his name was spoken. He asked, "Are you thinking what I think your thinking Hokusai?" he asked knowing the answer and happy for it. Hokusai replied, "Yes, let us get Kriticos go hunting."

~*^*~

A character that looked younger, in his young teens, stepped out of the chaos gate to Dun Loreag. He had medium green hair, red eyes, a left ear ring, and a tight blue shirt. He also wore baggy blue pants that tucked into his combat boots, and black gloves with the fingers cut off. He carried a blue javelin showing he was Long Arm. Though he was an excellent fighter, he also was moderately new to ((The World)). His name was Magicka, and he was one of the biggest klutzes in the game itself.

He had his eyes closed and his arms crossed behind his head(while holding his javelin of course). He then proceeded by walking towards the center of the town, talking to himself, "Beat me a level today, yep, got a golden gruntie and I'm gonna raise my stats so I can show those idiots a thing or two that I, Magicka can….AAAGGH!" As he tripped over his pet gruntie, Walo, forgetting he was walking in front of him. Walo was only a little gruntie and just nearly missed being crushed by his master.

He was flat on his face when he quickly got up, "Oops, sorry Walo, forget you were there for a second. Heh heh heh" The gruntie was obviously annoyed by disregarded the action and continued walking as Magicka continued, paying attention to where he was going this time. He was minding his own business when he was surrounded by three other players with smug looks on there faces. One with brown hair and a rather large blade spoke up to him "We see you've got a golden gruntie in your pocket there"

A second one with black hair and two daggers added on "Maybe you'd like to hand it over to one of us?" He laughed grimly. The third one was bulking large and had blue hair, and carried a very large axe laughed with him and tightened his grip. Walo backed off seemed to be prepared for anything, but Magicka himself laughed harshly as the three stopped laughing, "Your kidding, right? You really think you would stand a chance?"

Little did those four realize they were being watched by four other players off to the left about 26 feet, enjoying the show. It was Hokusai, Wolfe, Silver Raven, and another player known as Kriticos. Kriticos looked about as young as Magicka but had medium white hair. He wore a black leather cloak that was unbuttoned showing a blue undershirt, and black leather pants that buckled to his dark blue boots.

He was a Wavemaster, carrying a long black staff that a floating white orb on the end, which was surrounded by spikes the shade of the staff itself. Hokusai made a snide bet with Wolfe whether the three would win or Magicka, and Hokusai trusted in the Long Arm.

Magicka looked confident as rubbed underneath his nose and challenged, "I really hope you all saved the game before you came to me, otherwise you've made a big mistake." The largest one's eyebrow twitched as raised his axe and yelled, "I'll make you eat those words!" And brought it downward.

Magicka quickly parried and flipped over his head, jabbing the end into his back. The man fell forward and fell, struggling up as the other two charged forward. "A Twin Blade and a Heavyblade? You kind of guys I eat for breakfast." As he sidestepped and did a large leg sweep tripping them both at one time, and began to continually hack away at their HP. When those two were done, he saw the third guy try to escape the scene, "It isn't gonna' be that easy when you mess with me!" he yelled before launching the javelin into his back for a second time, as he fell with not hit points left.

Wolfe looked surprised, but shrugged as the four then began to walk over towards Magicka. He noticed them and raised his weapon in defense. "Do not be alarmed" said Wolfe as they approached. "Good job on your victory." congratulated SilverRaven. Magicka looked curious and suspicious as he asked, "What is it you want?" as Walo then reproached him.

Hokusai simply answered, "We wanted to know if you would like to join our team."