LOVE HINA: Virtual Surreality

By Petran

Well, here we are in the virtual world where the story will finally begin to take off. Hopefully, I will make the best I can out of this...

I would like to thank all the people who reviewed my story... All two of you... And, hey, I don't like logging in to write either, but I think it's sometimes good to tell the person that you like (or don't like) what he is doing and where he is going with the story. As for Shinobu she WILL play an important part in the story later. Let's just say that Shinobu in the virtual world actually stands a chance to win over Keitaro.

As for Kaolla Su's name, in the Manga she is called either Kaolla or Su, by people. I merely use that device because I don't want to repeat the same name a lot. From now on I will just call her Kaolla.

OK, here is the usual legal stuff:

Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina. Love Hina is a property of Ken Akamatsu, Tokyopop and Studio Xebec and TV Tokyo (am I forgetting anyone?). I only wrote this because I like the anime and LOVE the manga, not to make money out of it, so please don't legally kick my ass… please!

"*"=Spoken Words

'*'=Thoughts

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Chapter 1: The Bright Light

The light was so bright that it hurt Keitaro's eyes. His eyelids were kept shut for a couple of minutes, before he decided to slowly open them and let his eyes adjust. It was a strange feeling. All the pain he felt was somehow gone. He felt light…Are you ready for the cliche?

'Oh my God! Did Su's machine end up killing me? Am I dead? Is this supposed to be heaven?' He pinched himself... 'Ouch! Painfull! But at least this means I am alive!' Relieved for the first time that he could actually feel pain, Keitaro took a look at himself.

He was not wearing his glasses. And he didn't have a crutch on. He was still wearing his striped pyjamas.

"OK, clearly I am not in heaven. I definitely wouldn't be wearing those types of clothes there... But where am I?"

He took a look at his surroundings. The room was completely empty, save for a couch, a wardrobe, some sort of television, and what appeared to be a door. There was also a sort of mirror.

A voice was heard behind him...

"This is a simulated program Keitaro! Rules of the world do not apply here!"

Keitaro turned around to see a chibi version of Kaolla...

"I always wanted to say that!"

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"Remind me to keep you away from science fiction movies... Is this the virtual world? it seems kind of... well... empty to me."

"That's because you have not entered the virtual world yet. You are at the entrance program..."

"Entrance program?"

"Yes, it's function is to prepare you for the virtual world... It is basically a room where you accustom your self to what you want it to look like..."

"Really? How?"

"Just step over the mirror over there!"

Keitaro walked in front of the mirror. He could see his reflection, but something was...well... different. He knew he was seeing himself, but it was as if the image in front of him was not coming from his reflection but rather than what he thought was his reflection. He could see himself, but the image he saw in the mirror was sort of unstable.

"Now, all you have to do is close your eyes and imagine the image you see in front of you turn into something else."

'Lets start with something easy... I'll just change my clothes.' Keitaro closed his eyes and pictured himself wearing a blue shirt, black trousers and sneakers. He opened his eyes and looked himself in the mirror. Sure enough he was wearing exactly what he was imagining...

"This is fun... and I can change anything in my appearance?"

"Yes, anything."

He closed his eyes again, opened them up again, made sure that Kaolla was looking another way, then took a look inside his pants and said "Hey, this is really effective!"

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Keitaro experimented with his appearance quite a bit. He tried to make himself look big and muscular, but the resulting image was not that good. To his amazement, a big set of muscles created quite a contract with his normal face. He tried several different clothes that were considered to be "in fashion" but for some reason they just didn't look good for him. He tried at some point wearing a "Matrix" type of outfit -black clothes, black boots and black sunglassed- made him look more like Al Gore than Keanu, and the spandex was giving him a squingy.

In the end he decided that it would be better if he just appeared the way he was supposed to be, minus the glasses. Naru had once told him that he looked cute without them. The initial look he chose for himself, with the blue shirt and the black trousers was the best one so far, so he stuck with it.

"OK, I think I'll give my look a bit of a rest... All this imagining is giving me a headache..." He sat in the couch and looked at the chibi-version of Kaolla.

"By the way, Kaolla, what's with the chibi look?"

"Oh, that? That is just a communication program I made to keep in touch with you while you guys are in the virtual world, and provide help. Kind of like a chat program."

"You mean you are not really in here?"

"No... I am not connected like you are..."

Keitaro sighed. Of course she wouldn't be here... Kaolla, in a time-honoured tradition among scientists, did not try her disastrous inventions on herself.

"And how exactly do I get out of this place? I mean... It's nice and all, but I think that at some point I will need to get out of here to do my job, study and stuff..."

"Get out?!" The chibi version of Kaolla changed it's expression from playlike to concerned... "I knew I forgot something!"

"What?!"

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"You mean that there is no way for me and the others to get out?"

"Not yet! But I will work on it! But, hey... take it the good way... This means that you can actually explore this world a little bit longer!"

Keitaro sighed... "Fine, It looks like I don't have a choice... By the way where are the others?"

"They are around the virtual world right now, in different places. You will bump into them sooner or later."

"And how do I get into this world exactly?"

"Just walk through the door... "

Keitaro walked through the door into the outside... As soon as he closed the door, everything went dark and he noticed that he just walked into a great black void... He started falling at an increasing speed... to where?

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It wasn't much the falling that concerned Keitaro... Having gone through -too- many trips into Lower Earth Orbit with the Naru Punch, he knew that the flight itself wasn't as painful as the landing. He seriously considered at some point of asking Kaolla to make him a portable parachute, but, knowing her, he was sure that whatever she made for him would definitely be WAY much more what he originally asked for. Mental images of a parachute with mecha armour and rockets made him discard that solution.

Kaolla was a firm believer in cramming anything she can in even her simplest inventions. For example, a simple surveilance robot she once made to monitor Keitaro, also contained a jet propulsion and an explosive self-destruct mechanism. It managed to send Keitaro into orbit AND blow him up while he was up there. Her inventions had the weird disadvantage of doing much more than what was written in the box. You wanted ground-to-air missiles? All you had to do was ask Kaolla to make you a spring fountain. And now he was trapped in a virtual world made by her? Who knows what he will encounter there?

Keitaro noticed that he was falling towards something spherical in size which was getting closer and closer. As he grew closer, he noticed that it was getting larger, until it became apparent that ,what it was, was actually a planet, or at least something that was supposed to be a planet. And he was falling towards it at top speed.

There was a loud thud...

End of Chapter 1

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OK, that chapter was shorter than the prologue, I know, but I had plenty of work this week. No references this time, except for the obvious (Matrix and Love Hina). Thankfully, things are starting to cool down a bit, which means you will get to see the next chapter very soon. I promise you it's going to be a lot better than this one. By the way, before you ask, Keitaro will encounter another member of the Hinata-Sou VERY soon...

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Preview of Next Chapter:

"He took a look around his surroundings. He was inside what appeared to be a forest. There were some really nice mountains around it. There were herbs and flowers and a lake with a bronchosaurus in it and...

A bronchosaurus?

Where the heck WAS he?"

Join us in Chapter 2: Jurassic Pork

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