.HackRelapse
A .Hack fanfiction by Renfro Calhoun
Disclaimer: Project .Hack and attached characters/concepts do not belong to me.
Notes: Takes place during Outbreak. Parentheses = thoughts, brackets = text. Y'know, it's weird when I look back over these stories, hard to believe it's me that wrote it. To be specific, I just realized (or remembered, I suppose would be the proper term) that there's a good deal of time between chapters 13 and 14. While I don't intend on making this half longer than the first half (lest it cease to be called a 'half') it does seem like I have to cover more time.
What I'm bracing you for is that, in the interests of covering that time, you're going to see just a tad bit more of what I've already written. But fear not, there's some new stuff here too, as there will be from here on in. Please bear with me; I may look experienced, but trust that I'm still a n00b at heart :)
Chapter 18 - Just Business
--------------------------
"Hey, Kite!"
Hearing his name, the Twin Blade spun around, away from the counter of the item shop; his eyes swept across the bridges connecting the Theta root town, and he smiled as he spotted a familiar black-robed Wavemaster. "Stolls!"
"Hey man," said the disguised detective, coming to a stop before Kite and smiling back. "How you doin'?"
Having all day to ruminate on the confessions of his pink-haired online compatriot, Kite had no shortage of ways to answer Stolls' question. Initially relieved and even somewhat glad that he now knew why BlackRose had stuck by him for so long, he was hard pressed to feel much better about himself; quite the contrary, it wound up leaving him with an even greater feeling of responsibility, a reminder that there were lives, plural, at stake in this so-called game. And not having to bear that burden alone didn't make it any more comfortable when it got bigger.
Disregarding that line of thought, Kite's response was instinctual. "Pretty good, and you?" he asked, not yet up to sharing the details of his day.
Fortunately, the Wavemaster had things of his own to talk about. "Oh-ho-hoooo, man... busy day. I'm actually glad I ran into you, I've been finding out more about this Tanaka guy you mentioned."
Barely remembering the name, Kite cocked his head to one side, curious. "Oh?"
"Crazy stuff," he continued. "A guy I know helped me to meet Tanaka face-to-face. Turns out there was this AI - or, something close to it, at least - called Morganna. It was intended to administrate Fragment; you know, the game that 'The World' is based on?" He folded his arms across his chest, tucking the staff against his shoulder. "They never actually used it, though; it was Seijiro that modified it to work with 'The World' when they incorporated Fragment, and they wanted to use it for basically the same thing, but they never did."
Kite looked at him strangely. "Did you say Morganna?"
Stolls threw the look right back at him. "Yeah... you know what it is?"
"Kind of... a while back I found a note in the game with her name on it, and Helba spoke about it, too. She said... that Morganna was 'The World'."
He sighed. "That sounds about right, least that's what I've been finding out. Tanaka said... well, it was technical, but the end result is a part of her code is almost everywhere in 'The World'."
"But... why use something like that to control a game?"
Stolls' lips twisted into a bizarre amalgam of a smirk and a frown. "I'm not so sure about... Seijiro said they wanted something that would evolve with the game itself, handle quality control and be self-updating, or something like that. They put the kibosh on her when they figured out they were in over their heads; couldn't get it to work right, or it wasn't advanced enough or something, so they tried to delete it. Somehow, it survived, grew back."
"It sounds awfully advanced to me," Kite mused.
"I agree. Seijiro said the AI wasn't complete, but that doesn't add up when you consider all it's done here. And even he admitted he wasn't sure about Morganna's original purpose, or why this all is so closely following the Epitaph of the Twilight." He paused, cocking his head at the Twin Blade. "I still don't buy that this is the work of an incomplete AI that was never even put to use. At the very least, I'm positive Seijiro wasn't telling me everything about her."
"Me too." He frowned. "If she's following the Epitaph, then it's almost like someone meant for this to happen. But what for?"
"I have no idea." Stolls relaxed his arms, gesturing vaguely with his free hand. "But this whole thing stinks. Just tonight there was a pack of thugs trying to kidnap a few of the people I interviewed. Commando-types. No idea why, but it seems like they're working for Seijiro."
"Wow..." Kite muttered; he had brief images of men in black military gear storming his house, laser-equipped assault weapons swinging left and right as they closed in on his room.
"Yeah, I know. Like I said... busy night," said Stolls with a weak chuckle.
A series of twelve chimes echoed in the distance, hollow and light; Kite's ears were drawn offline, to an old wall clock several rooms away as it rang out the midnight hour.
"How about you? You okay? You find out anything on your end?"
Coming back to 'The World', Kite found Stolls staring at him, an inquisitive look on the silver-haired Wavemaster's face. It was then that the Twin Blade made an appraisal of himself, and realized just how much the night's events - to say nothing of duration - had effected him. BlackRose's confession inevitably led to another sleepless night, the weight of time tugging at his eyelids and clouding his mind as he pondered just how high the stakes had risen.
Stolls' information hadn't helped matters, stories of anonymous military units and a rogue, defective AI roaming the network having set the boy firmly on edge.
"Well, yeah," he muttered, feeling compelled to tell somebody, anybody. "Actually, I... I-I saw BlackRose earlier today, and she... told me about why she's here, in 'The World'."
"Really?" said Stolls, audibly intrigued. "What'd she say?"
"It's..." Kite began, obviously hesitating. "It's the same reason that I'm... playing." The word 'playing' tumbled from his lips, as if he were searching for a more suitable verb. "Her brother is in a coma because of this game."
He heard the Wavemaster mutter "oh, no" under his breath. Kite dared to meet his eyes again, and saw that all trace of weariness and exhaustion had left him, replaced instead with a slight frown and a serious gaze.
"Yeah... she said that he was attacked at the church, the one at Delta, Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground. I think it was the Data Bug we ran into when we went there together, but... I'm not sure." He made a slight gesture with his hand, turning it palm up and motioning briefly to his left. "He's in the hospital right now, and she started playing to find out what happened to him. She might not show it, but... she's really worried, and scared."
(And me too,) he added silently.
Stolls regarded him silently, his frown fading as his jaw slackened into a gape. After a moment, he spoke up. "So... that's why she's playing."
Kite nodded. "Yeah... because of her brother Kazu. I had thought it was something big, but I didn't know..."
"Me neither," said Stolls. "That explains it, though; it seemed to me like she took this whole thing kinda personally."
Hiroshi let Kite's head droop forward, along with his own. "I guess we all have our reasons for playing," he mumbled, feeling responsibility close in around him again, suffocating and all-encompassing. A chill swept across his skin, causing both his real and digital bodies to shiver.
"Guess so." The detective behind Stolls sighed. "Some game, huh?" he remarked flatly.
Hiroshi gulped hard, shaking his head slightly, making no effort to reply.
"Although... if you think about it..."
The boy lifted his head, facing Stolls; his face didn't budge, but past experience with the detective and his erratic, yet kind behavior helped form a tiny sliver of hope.
"If you think about it," Stolls repeated, "it means she trusts you."
Hiroshi could feel his eyes light up at the idea; despite having momentarily realized this concept hours earlier, it still felt different to have someone else acknowledge it.
The Wavemaster continued. "Well, she's stuck by you through all this, right? I told you before, she'd have to like you to stick by you for so long. Now we know she's got as much stock in figuring this out as anybody." He pointed to Kite. "And you have somebody who knows what you're up against, someone else for whom this isn't just a game."
"It's not like that," Kite dismissed. "I don't feel like I'm alone in here anymore, I know that my friends are willing to help me, especially her." He paused, his eyes falling into a thousand-yard stare, releasing a wistful sigh. "In a way, I knew that back when we fought Delphi together. She risked her life to help me out."
"You both risked your lives," corrected Stolls, a smile on his deceptively youthful face. "For me, for us. For your friend, for her brother. All this means is that now you know you're both after the same thing, instead of just thinking you are; she trusts you enough to want you to know why she's helping you, you obviously trust her with the same."
Kite couldn't help but smile now, hearing his own toughts and feelings parroted for him in an audible medium. "Yeah," he said softly. "I do."
"Well, there you go!" Stolls suddenly exclaimed, stepping forward and clapping the Twin Blade firmly on the shoulder. "Now you got a partner you like, you trust, and now you know she's feeling likewise for you. Instead of feeling down about it, I say bust out the party favors."
Whether the Wavemaster's enthusiasm was intentional or incidental, it succeeded in upgrading Kite's smile to a grin, and the boy replied with a smiling emote.
Stolls laughed upon seeing Kite's reply. "And wouldn't you know it," he said, silliness creeping into his voice, "boy meets girl while trying to save the world." He almost cut himself off with his next vocal thought. "Hey, do both you guys a favor, you gotta make your move before the final climactic battle between good and evil."
Hiroshi felt his ears begin to burn, and he turned away slightly, hiding an invisible blush. "What do you mean by that?" he asked needlessly, more than sufficiently familiar with the mechanics of typical game plots - or fiction plots, for that matter - to guess what the detective was driving at.
Stolls called him on it. "C'mon, man, you play RPGs, you know how it is." Grandeur and exaggeration began to inflate his words, and he made wide, sweeping gestures with his hands. "In all the best stories, either just before or just after the final battle, the guy and the girl have a private moment to themselves to confess their feelings for each other. That's the way these things work!"
Hiroshi's blush grew harder to ignore, embarassed - but only slightly uncomfortable - with what the Wavemaster was insinuating. "Um... well, uh, I guess so... I mean, I do like her and all," he muttered bashfully, not even noticing his admission to that fact until after he had done so.
"Just like the games, it's scary, I tell you," Stolls continued, grinning like an idiot. "Everybody likes to see a little romance now and then. At least here you don't have to worry about some hack writer awkwardly pairing you guys off in fanfiction because he has too much time on his hands and is overly obsessed with the minutiae of videogames and their characters."
Kite couldn't decide whether the concept amused him to no end, or frightened the living hell out of him. He settled on the former, and chuckled. "Well, THAT makes me feel better," he replied jokingly.
The silliness vanished from Stolls' voice, but not the mirth; he waved nonchalantly with his hand, still smiling. "Nah, y'know what? You gotta do what you gotta do," he said, pointing a gloved finger at Kite. "Yours is a relationship I would highly encourage for you to continue, and that constitutes the end of my meddling, my friend."
Recalling an earlier bit of advice from his companion, Kite managed an uncharacteristically sly grin. "Just forget about the 'what ifs', huh?"
"Hah! It seems my work here is done." Placing an arm across his chest, Stolls bowed deeply to the Twin Blade. "But that's how you gotta do it, Kite, that's how you gotta do it." His smile vanished, but not the softness of his eyes. "This isn't a game, no one's doubting that, but that doesn't mean you can't have fun along the way. Doesn't mean you have to be 100% serious all the time."
He raised his arms to his sides and turned away from Kite, facing the sky surrounding Dun Loireag. "Gotta have these things, my friend. This is my release, right here; and you, you and BlackRose," he said, glancing over his shoulder, "this is yours, too. Just 'cause you're here on business doesn't mean you can't have a little fun too."
Kite met Stolls' eyes once more. Like with BlackRose, he knew it wasn't just the Wavemaster he was looking at, speaking with; a priceless moment of honesty in a World built on mystery and run by deceit.
He smiled. "You're right. Thanks, Dean."
"Anytime Hiro," replied Stollis. "And thank you earlier for your tip; you take care of things in here, I'll get to the bottom of this in the real world."
A surge of confidence spurred Kite's quick and firm reply. "You can count on me."
"All right, enough pep talk. I should probably get go- oh, wait, wait, there was one other thing I wanted to ask you."
"Yeah?"
The Wavemaster's face fell into a flat, no-nonsense expression, and his voice followed suit. "I don't suppose you have any Piney Apples I could borrow, do you?"
Thrown somewhat off-guard by the juxtaposition between his expression and his question, Kite nonetheless shook his head. "No, sorry... fed the last of mine to my Grunty earlier."
Stolls groaned. "Man... me too. Got the same one as last time; that damn l33tleb0i got the formula wrong in that FAQ, I just know it. Ah well... thanks anyway, man." He waved, spun on his heels, and scurried off.
With another chuckle-laden smiley, Kite bade the Wavemaster farewell, and turned around to resume his trading with the Item Shop NPC.
"Let's see..."
"Do you have a minute to talk?" the NPC said abruptly. The voice was a familiar one, and Kite had no trouble picking it out.
"Lios?" he asked, peering curiously at the possessed shopkeeper. "What is it?"
"I overheard your conversation," he explained. "There is a matter that requires your immediate attention."
"What's that?"
"It has to do with Orca," said Lios in a low voice. "I... need your help."
- End of Chapter 18
A .Hack fanfiction by Renfro Calhoun
Disclaimer: Project .Hack and attached characters/concepts do not belong to me.
Notes: Takes place during Outbreak. Parentheses = thoughts, brackets = text. Y'know, it's weird when I look back over these stories, hard to believe it's me that wrote it. To be specific, I just realized (or remembered, I suppose would be the proper term) that there's a good deal of time between chapters 13 and 14. While I don't intend on making this half longer than the first half (lest it cease to be called a 'half') it does seem like I have to cover more time.
What I'm bracing you for is that, in the interests of covering that time, you're going to see just a tad bit more of what I've already written. But fear not, there's some new stuff here too, as there will be from here on in. Please bear with me; I may look experienced, but trust that I'm still a n00b at heart :)
Chapter 18 - Just Business
--------------------------
"Hey, Kite!"
Hearing his name, the Twin Blade spun around, away from the counter of the item shop; his eyes swept across the bridges connecting the Theta root town, and he smiled as he spotted a familiar black-robed Wavemaster. "Stolls!"
"Hey man," said the disguised detective, coming to a stop before Kite and smiling back. "How you doin'?"
Having all day to ruminate on the confessions of his pink-haired online compatriot, Kite had no shortage of ways to answer Stolls' question. Initially relieved and even somewhat glad that he now knew why BlackRose had stuck by him for so long, he was hard pressed to feel much better about himself; quite the contrary, it wound up leaving him with an even greater feeling of responsibility, a reminder that there were lives, plural, at stake in this so-called game. And not having to bear that burden alone didn't make it any more comfortable when it got bigger.
Disregarding that line of thought, Kite's response was instinctual. "Pretty good, and you?" he asked, not yet up to sharing the details of his day.
Fortunately, the Wavemaster had things of his own to talk about. "Oh-ho-hoooo, man... busy day. I'm actually glad I ran into you, I've been finding out more about this Tanaka guy you mentioned."
Barely remembering the name, Kite cocked his head to one side, curious. "Oh?"
"Crazy stuff," he continued. "A guy I know helped me to meet Tanaka face-to-face. Turns out there was this AI - or, something close to it, at least - called Morganna. It was intended to administrate Fragment; you know, the game that 'The World' is based on?" He folded his arms across his chest, tucking the staff against his shoulder. "They never actually used it, though; it was Seijiro that modified it to work with 'The World' when they incorporated Fragment, and they wanted to use it for basically the same thing, but they never did."
Kite looked at him strangely. "Did you say Morganna?"
Stolls threw the look right back at him. "Yeah... you know what it is?"
"Kind of... a while back I found a note in the game with her name on it, and Helba spoke about it, too. She said... that Morganna was 'The World'."
He sighed. "That sounds about right, least that's what I've been finding out. Tanaka said... well, it was technical, but the end result is a part of her code is almost everywhere in 'The World'."
"But... why use something like that to control a game?"
Stolls' lips twisted into a bizarre amalgam of a smirk and a frown. "I'm not so sure about... Seijiro said they wanted something that would evolve with the game itself, handle quality control and be self-updating, or something like that. They put the kibosh on her when they figured out they were in over their heads; couldn't get it to work right, or it wasn't advanced enough or something, so they tried to delete it. Somehow, it survived, grew back."
"It sounds awfully advanced to me," Kite mused.
"I agree. Seijiro said the AI wasn't complete, but that doesn't add up when you consider all it's done here. And even he admitted he wasn't sure about Morganna's original purpose, or why this all is so closely following the Epitaph of the Twilight." He paused, cocking his head at the Twin Blade. "I still don't buy that this is the work of an incomplete AI that was never even put to use. At the very least, I'm positive Seijiro wasn't telling me everything about her."
"Me too." He frowned. "If she's following the Epitaph, then it's almost like someone meant for this to happen. But what for?"
"I have no idea." Stolls relaxed his arms, gesturing vaguely with his free hand. "But this whole thing stinks. Just tonight there was a pack of thugs trying to kidnap a few of the people I interviewed. Commando-types. No idea why, but it seems like they're working for Seijiro."
"Wow..." Kite muttered; he had brief images of men in black military gear storming his house, laser-equipped assault weapons swinging left and right as they closed in on his room.
"Yeah, I know. Like I said... busy night," said Stolls with a weak chuckle.
A series of twelve chimes echoed in the distance, hollow and light; Kite's ears were drawn offline, to an old wall clock several rooms away as it rang out the midnight hour.
"How about you? You okay? You find out anything on your end?"
Coming back to 'The World', Kite found Stolls staring at him, an inquisitive look on the silver-haired Wavemaster's face. It was then that the Twin Blade made an appraisal of himself, and realized just how much the night's events - to say nothing of duration - had effected him. BlackRose's confession inevitably led to another sleepless night, the weight of time tugging at his eyelids and clouding his mind as he pondered just how high the stakes had risen.
Stolls' information hadn't helped matters, stories of anonymous military units and a rogue, defective AI roaming the network having set the boy firmly on edge.
"Well, yeah," he muttered, feeling compelled to tell somebody, anybody. "Actually, I... I-I saw BlackRose earlier today, and she... told me about why she's here, in 'The World'."
"Really?" said Stolls, audibly intrigued. "What'd she say?"
"It's..." Kite began, obviously hesitating. "It's the same reason that I'm... playing." The word 'playing' tumbled from his lips, as if he were searching for a more suitable verb. "Her brother is in a coma because of this game."
He heard the Wavemaster mutter "oh, no" under his breath. Kite dared to meet his eyes again, and saw that all trace of weariness and exhaustion had left him, replaced instead with a slight frown and a serious gaze.
"Yeah... she said that he was attacked at the church, the one at Delta, Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground. I think it was the Data Bug we ran into when we went there together, but... I'm not sure." He made a slight gesture with his hand, turning it palm up and motioning briefly to his left. "He's in the hospital right now, and she started playing to find out what happened to him. She might not show it, but... she's really worried, and scared."
(And me too,) he added silently.
Stolls regarded him silently, his frown fading as his jaw slackened into a gape. After a moment, he spoke up. "So... that's why she's playing."
Kite nodded. "Yeah... because of her brother Kazu. I had thought it was something big, but I didn't know..."
"Me neither," said Stolls. "That explains it, though; it seemed to me like she took this whole thing kinda personally."
Hiroshi let Kite's head droop forward, along with his own. "I guess we all have our reasons for playing," he mumbled, feeling responsibility close in around him again, suffocating and all-encompassing. A chill swept across his skin, causing both his real and digital bodies to shiver.
"Guess so." The detective behind Stolls sighed. "Some game, huh?" he remarked flatly.
Hiroshi gulped hard, shaking his head slightly, making no effort to reply.
"Although... if you think about it..."
The boy lifted his head, facing Stolls; his face didn't budge, but past experience with the detective and his erratic, yet kind behavior helped form a tiny sliver of hope.
"If you think about it," Stolls repeated, "it means she trusts you."
Hiroshi could feel his eyes light up at the idea; despite having momentarily realized this concept hours earlier, it still felt different to have someone else acknowledge it.
The Wavemaster continued. "Well, she's stuck by you through all this, right? I told you before, she'd have to like you to stick by you for so long. Now we know she's got as much stock in figuring this out as anybody." He pointed to Kite. "And you have somebody who knows what you're up against, someone else for whom this isn't just a game."
"It's not like that," Kite dismissed. "I don't feel like I'm alone in here anymore, I know that my friends are willing to help me, especially her." He paused, his eyes falling into a thousand-yard stare, releasing a wistful sigh. "In a way, I knew that back when we fought Delphi together. She risked her life to help me out."
"You both risked your lives," corrected Stolls, a smile on his deceptively youthful face. "For me, for us. For your friend, for her brother. All this means is that now you know you're both after the same thing, instead of just thinking you are; she trusts you enough to want you to know why she's helping you, you obviously trust her with the same."
Kite couldn't help but smile now, hearing his own toughts and feelings parroted for him in an audible medium. "Yeah," he said softly. "I do."
"Well, there you go!" Stolls suddenly exclaimed, stepping forward and clapping the Twin Blade firmly on the shoulder. "Now you got a partner you like, you trust, and now you know she's feeling likewise for you. Instead of feeling down about it, I say bust out the party favors."
Whether the Wavemaster's enthusiasm was intentional or incidental, it succeeded in upgrading Kite's smile to a grin, and the boy replied with a smiling emote.
Stolls laughed upon seeing Kite's reply. "And wouldn't you know it," he said, silliness creeping into his voice, "boy meets girl while trying to save the world." He almost cut himself off with his next vocal thought. "Hey, do both you guys a favor, you gotta make your move before the final climactic battle between good and evil."
Hiroshi felt his ears begin to burn, and he turned away slightly, hiding an invisible blush. "What do you mean by that?" he asked needlessly, more than sufficiently familiar with the mechanics of typical game plots - or fiction plots, for that matter - to guess what the detective was driving at.
Stolls called him on it. "C'mon, man, you play RPGs, you know how it is." Grandeur and exaggeration began to inflate his words, and he made wide, sweeping gestures with his hands. "In all the best stories, either just before or just after the final battle, the guy and the girl have a private moment to themselves to confess their feelings for each other. That's the way these things work!"
Hiroshi's blush grew harder to ignore, embarassed - but only slightly uncomfortable - with what the Wavemaster was insinuating. "Um... well, uh, I guess so... I mean, I do like her and all," he muttered bashfully, not even noticing his admission to that fact until after he had done so.
"Just like the games, it's scary, I tell you," Stolls continued, grinning like an idiot. "Everybody likes to see a little romance now and then. At least here you don't have to worry about some hack writer awkwardly pairing you guys off in fanfiction because he has too much time on his hands and is overly obsessed with the minutiae of videogames and their characters."
Kite couldn't decide whether the concept amused him to no end, or frightened the living hell out of him. He settled on the former, and chuckled. "Well, THAT makes me feel better," he replied jokingly.
The silliness vanished from Stolls' voice, but not the mirth; he waved nonchalantly with his hand, still smiling. "Nah, y'know what? You gotta do what you gotta do," he said, pointing a gloved finger at Kite. "Yours is a relationship I would highly encourage for you to continue, and that constitutes the end of my meddling, my friend."
Recalling an earlier bit of advice from his companion, Kite managed an uncharacteristically sly grin. "Just forget about the 'what ifs', huh?"
"Hah! It seems my work here is done." Placing an arm across his chest, Stolls bowed deeply to the Twin Blade. "But that's how you gotta do it, Kite, that's how you gotta do it." His smile vanished, but not the softness of his eyes. "This isn't a game, no one's doubting that, but that doesn't mean you can't have fun along the way. Doesn't mean you have to be 100% serious all the time."
He raised his arms to his sides and turned away from Kite, facing the sky surrounding Dun Loireag. "Gotta have these things, my friend. This is my release, right here; and you, you and BlackRose," he said, glancing over his shoulder, "this is yours, too. Just 'cause you're here on business doesn't mean you can't have a little fun too."
Kite met Stolls' eyes once more. Like with BlackRose, he knew it wasn't just the Wavemaster he was looking at, speaking with; a priceless moment of honesty in a World built on mystery and run by deceit.
He smiled. "You're right. Thanks, Dean."
"Anytime Hiro," replied Stollis. "And thank you earlier for your tip; you take care of things in here, I'll get to the bottom of this in the real world."
A surge of confidence spurred Kite's quick and firm reply. "You can count on me."
"All right, enough pep talk. I should probably get go- oh, wait, wait, there was one other thing I wanted to ask you."
"Yeah?"
The Wavemaster's face fell into a flat, no-nonsense expression, and his voice followed suit. "I don't suppose you have any Piney Apples I could borrow, do you?"
Thrown somewhat off-guard by the juxtaposition between his expression and his question, Kite nonetheless shook his head. "No, sorry... fed the last of mine to my Grunty earlier."
Stolls groaned. "Man... me too. Got the same one as last time; that damn l33tleb0i got the formula wrong in that FAQ, I just know it. Ah well... thanks anyway, man." He waved, spun on his heels, and scurried off.
With another chuckle-laden smiley, Kite bade the Wavemaster farewell, and turned around to resume his trading with the Item Shop NPC.
"Let's see..."
"Do you have a minute to talk?" the NPC said abruptly. The voice was a familiar one, and Kite had no trouble picking it out.
"Lios?" he asked, peering curiously at the possessed shopkeeper. "What is it?"
"I overheard your conversation," he explained. "There is a matter that requires your immediate attention."
"What's that?"
"It has to do with Orca," said Lios in a low voice. "I... need your help."
- End of Chapter 18